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"Put Me to Suffering" profiles Rev. Ted Dotts' end-of-life decision to forego treatment after being diagnosed with cancer in 2014. A journey through his past details how a man of unwavering faith stands by his principles up until his final moments on earth. How do we live? How do we die? These fundamental human questions are answered through the light of Ted's positive outlook on what comes next.
Paul Allen Hunton
Paul Allen Hunton is a two-time National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Emmy winner in the Lonestar Region for his nonfiction film direction. Growing up in New Mexico and the Southwest, Hunton strives to share the stories of the people, art, and culture he grew up around, connecting his world to the larger human experience. He currently serves as the General Manager of KTTZ-TV. Hunton's new film, "Between Earth and Sky," looks at climate change in the arctic and is set to be released in 2017.
Reagan Doyal
Reagan Doyal is also a two-time Emmy winner in the Lonestar Region and a Multi-ADDY winner. He is currently a producer and the education content director for KTTZ. His other interests include volunteerism, theology, rearranging things in Paul's office, Ken Burns marathons and finishing up his graduate degree in Education Curriculum and Instruction.
When Director-Producer Paul Hunton met with Reverend Ted Dotts and Betty Dotts, he was struck by their courage and strength as Ted both refused treatment for and battled cancer. A story of acceptance, "Put Me to Suffering" takes the audience through Ted's life as he makes peace with death and discusses the importance of tolerance and respect for others.
PBS: The film begins with a childhood story from Ted Dotts and footage of a storm. It later ends with Ted speaking about death and similar storm footage. Can you explain this artistic direction?
PAUL HUNTON: The dual imagery was a decision to show how Ted was the calm in any storm. The first storm is described as sort of a constant in physical weather in West Texas, but then Ted goes on to describe the racism of his family members and how he did not like it and wanted to rise above it. Ted consistently rose above the storms in the world whether it be racism in the south or the church, or discrimination of the LGBTQ community. Ted always rose above it to be inclusive and loving to every human he encountered. And finally, even in the face of death — the final storm — he was calm and walked bravely into it.
PBS: What was it about Ted and Betty that compelled you to share their story and how did you learn of the couple?
PAUL: Ted hosted a local radio show called "Faith Matters" on our NPR station. I did not know he had cancer and our development officer, Sherril Skibell, told me that Ted had been diagnosed with cancer and was choosing to not seek treatment. We had received a grant from WETA to tell local "stories of cancer" as interstitials for "Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies." We were well under way when I found out about Ted and I immediately decided to reach out and ask if he would be willing to share his powerful story.
Surprisingly, he was interested in being interviewed, as we were worried with his unknown timetable he may have not been willing to share that time with people he hadn't met before. Our location was the church that Ted called home for many years, St. Johns. Ted was patient with us as we prepared and set up the interview. He was patient again with my questions and the interview lasted a little over an hour. To our surprise he even called someone to push another appointment to later to spend more time with us. The appointment was him counseling someone, which is amazing — that a man facing his own death was still taking the time to lift up his friends.
PBS: Though the focus of this story is about Ted, the audience has the opportunity to learn more about Betty and witness her strength through such a difficult and emotional time. What was it like working with her on this project?
PAUL: Betty Dotts is the most incredible person I've ever met. We had interviewed Ted and it was apparent that no story was complete without talking to his wife and best friend, Betty. I had asked Ted if he thought it would be ok to interview Betty (he knew he had very little time left and I was hesitant to take up any more of their precious time together). Ted agreed and gave me the contact information to get ahold of her. We scheduled the interview for 11 days later. Ted died on the 10th day, Sunday, and beyond my own grief over the death of this amazing man I also thought it meant we would not get Betty's interview.
The morning of the scheduled interview my phone rang, it was Betty. She asked if I heard about Ted, I told her I did. She then said if Teddy thought she should do the interview she wanted to go ahead and do it. We interviewed her a little over 24 hours after Ted died. The emotions in the room were a lot to handle for everyone as Betty recounted a love and marriage that had lasted for decades among the chaos and turmoil of a church and humanity trying to find itself. Betty's bravery is something I'll always remember and something I don't think I could do myself. She is an incredible person and someone I admire very much.
PBS: When filming this, Betty mentions how Ted died on a Sunday morning when the sun was coming up. Do you remember where you were that day and what your reaction was upon learning of his passing? What do you feel is the most important part of Ted's message?
PAUL: I was heartbroken but simultaneously hopeful. I am hopeful that I can face death with the bravery that Ted did. The only guarantee in life is that we will die; yet we as a culture and society rarely discuss it in any meaningful way. End of life decisions are being made around the clock across the world yet what that looks like and means for an individual or a family is hardly ever taught or understood in a way that would benefit humanity. Ted fought for civil rights in the '60s, for LGBTQ rights in the '80s, '90s and up until his death, and in his final moments he showed us all that death can be a beautiful and meaningful thing. He showed us that love conquers everything, even death.
The Federal Communications Commission assigned an educational television channel to Texas Technological College in 1958. The station began broadcast operations in October 1962. On Jan. 15, 2012, KTXT-TV, Channel 5 changed its call letters to KTTZ-TV. From its tower located on the Texas Tech university campus, the station broadcasts 24/7 with its digital signal reaching 13 counties surrounding Lubbock. With cable and satellite the signal extends to additional 7 counties, the station's coverage area is currently accessible to approximately 161,450 households and 401,000 potential viewers. With the station's focus on arts, education, community outreach and quality programming for both children and adults it is a vital part of the Lubbock and South Plains area.


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StAR supports international efforts to end safe havens for corrupt funds.
Countries received StAR assistance in 2022
countries adopted new laws or amendments related to asset recovery in 2022
countries receiving StAR assistance opened or concluded at least one AR case in 2022
countries received technical assistance on legislative reform in 2022
countries received StAR support to improve domestic coordination processes in 2022
people trained globally by StAR in 2022
global policy events contributed to [in-person and virtually] by StAR in 2022
countries received StAR support to improve international cooperation processes in 2022
Restoring proceeds of corruption to their rightful owner is a development imperative. By returning corrupt funds, we can mobilize resources to reduce poverty and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. It is also the right thing to do.
The StAR Publications Library
StAR's policy work is grounded in extensive practical expertise and innovative and in-depth knowledge products by its staff who are drawn from a number of disciplines.
Taxing Crime: A Whole-of-Government Approach to Fighting Corruption, Money Laundering, and Tax Crimes
This publication focuses on the benefits of interagency cooperation between tax authorities and law enforcement agencies working on preventing, detecting, and recovering the illicit financial flows derived from tax evasion, corruption, and money laundering. Although the magnitude of illicit financial flows is a matter of debate, their important implications for …
Signatures for Sale: How Nominee Services for Shell Companies Are Abused to Conceal Beneficial Owners
This report analyzes a family of related corporate arrangements in which nominees act as agents of principals in control of shell companies. It focuses on how nominee arrangements can be abused to facilitate financial crime by obscuring the identity of those in control of shell companies and on policies designed …
Automated Risk Analysis of Asset and Interest Declarations of Public Officials
Asset and interest disclosure by public officials has been widely used to build integrity and combat corruption. Asset and interest disclosure (AID) systems have become a universal instrument to enhance public sector transparency and accountability, and prevent and detect corruption. According to World Bank data, over 160 countries around the world have …
Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners, Second Edition
Designed as a how-to manual, the handbook guides practitioners as they grapple with the strategic, organizational, investigative, and legal challenges of recovering assets that have been stolen by corrupt leaders and hidden abroad. It provides common approaches to recovering stolen assets located in foreign jurisdictions, identifies the challenges that practitioners …
The StAR Blog
And let's not mince words: we need to deal with the cancer of corruption. In country after country, it is the people who are demanding action on this issue…we all know that it is a major barrier to sound and equitable development. Corruption is a problem that all countries have to confront.
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Corruption steals from the poor. It steals the promise of a bright future.

subset: commoncrawl


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An artful bit of spin that's both true and deceptive. The truth: The fundamentals really haven't changed much. The deceptive part: O's touting that as a good thing when in fact the fundamentals have always worked against him, not for him. That was the point of Sean Trende's terrific piece yesterday at RCP, that Obama's campaign strategy has been carefully crafted to counter the effects of electoral "gravity" — high unemployment, sluggish economic growth, and massive deficits, all fundamental to the quadrennial question of whether you're better off now than you were four years ago. Trende's thesis is that The One's best/only way to neutralize "gravity" is to nurture a perception in the media and, by extension, in the electorate that victory is inevitable. The more Romney's seen as a flailing loser, the fewer donations he'll get, the more depressed the GOP base will be, and the less interested right-leaning undecideds will be in voting. That was the game plan as of last Wednesday, until Romney shattered it by destroying Obama at the debate. The fact that Mitt now looks like a plausible winner to the press is the one and only way in which the fundamentals really have changed, and that's why you see O here desperate to recapture a sense of inevitability. The debate was just a blip, you see; the "fundamentals" will carry him inexorably on to victory. The more he can convince people that that lie is true, the greater the chance that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Lest you had any doubt about how nervous his team really is, though, here's something tasty from The Hill. The One has but two pastimes, but that's one too many given the new problems Romney's debate triumph has created for his campaign:
President Obama will attend his last fundraiser of the 2012 campaign Thursday and then shift into top gear following his disastrous recent debate performance that vaporized his polling lead over challenger Mitt Romney.
With momentum in the race flipping to the Republican, sources have told The Hill the president will spend the rest of the campaign at swing-state rallies or preparing for the next two debates instead of attending more private fundraisers…
They acknowledge that they could be outspent, as Obama warned donors in July, but take comfort from their belief that they have a better get-out-the-vote operation in the swing states.
I don't think he's in panic mode yet, but if Biden goes "full Biden" tomorrow night and O craps the bed again at the upcoming town-hall debate, things may turn desperate. And that could mean … suspending the weekend golf game. If/when it happens, expect a Humpbot cameo. Exit question: He seems pretty excited here about the non-troversy over Romney's abortion legislation comments yesterday. (Romney has since clarified them.) Who wants to be the one to tell him that his own VP once voted for a constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade?


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I can't believe New York Fashion Week is over! It was a week filled with fashion shows, events, parties, dinners and fabulous company. I am already missing hanging out with my CFL chicas and getting all dressed up regardless of the weather. Yes, I was "that" gal that rocked a pair of 6-inch Louboutins, without socks, and a short leather dress in 20 degree weather! Estoy loca, but I would do that and more for the love of fashion!
My favorite show was definitely Oscar de la Renta, the collection was beyond beautiful and magical. The gowns left me speechless and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Oscar de la Renta makes us Latinos proud!
Besides the ODLR collection there were a few pieces from different designers that cut my eyes, especially because they are wearable and not only for the runway.
More From Cosmopolitan
Looking at the BCBG Max Azria and Herve Leger coats (pictured above) make me long for next winter, I know I sound crazy, but they were just beautiful and not your typical coat. They came in different patterns, materials and designs. I'm so obsessed with them I can't get this white Herve Leger coat off my mind.
Mara Hoffman can do NO wrong in my eyes, and every collection I fell more in love with her, this time was no difference. Niria and I could not stop talking about her collection for days. I personally love all the ponchos, the tunics and especially the earrings that went from the ear to the back of the head and back to the ear. You girls need to check them out; they are so fierce!
Our very own Cesar Galindogot me obsessing over long gloves. And that's because during the Czar by Cesar Galindo collection he had his models walk out in arm sleeves, so sexy and glamorous at the same time. If you don't have arm sleeves or long leather gloves I suggest you get yourself some!
One of my favorite shows, maybe because I'm very into leather right now, was Kaufman Franco, sight. I LOVED everything about it and since you know I'm addicted to shoes I could not help but last over the over the knee open toe boots that some of the models were rocking. So sexy, I am gong to start saving up to get a pair comes next Fall!
You know when you wished you had gotten something and then later on you see it somewhere else and think "why didn't I get it". That's exactly what happened to me at the Milly by Michelle Smith show when I saw some models sporting metallic bags. I'm talking futuristic bags that had me drooling over them. I think I'm going to go back to Forever 21 and get myself one!
For more fashion & beauty tips visit my blog flordemariafashion.com
Want more from Flor? Follow her on Twitter @FlordeMariaF


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Authors affected by Amazon's contract dispute with publisher Hachette have started to band together against the online retailer, reported The New York Times on Thursday. More than 900 authors have signed a letter condemning Amazon for "using writers as hostages in its negotiations," referring to Amazon's choices to keep low stock of certain Hachette titles and taking weeks to ship them as the two companies battle over e-book prices.
The effort was spearheaded by 58-year-old Douglas Preston, a writer whose thrillers have been published by Hachette. Preston reports to the Times that Amazon has contacted him repeatedly, trying to get him to stop his campaign against the company and to see its side of the argument, but Preston will not be silenced.
Amazon has uncharacteristically tried to defend itself with forum posts over the last few weeks. First, the Books team stated that its decision to keep low Hachette stock is barely affecting its business, then it followed that up with a math-based argument for mandating that Hachette charge a lower cover price overall.
Preston's letter to Amazon asks readers to contact Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos directly and has been signed by writers including John Grisham, Stephen King, Tom Perrotta, Barbara Kingsolver, and Suzanne Collins. The letter is set to run as a full-page ad in the Sunday edition of the Times at a cost of $104,000, paid for by "a handful of the more successful writers," according to the Times.


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But the standard intellectual inquiry, for some reason, does not apply to the long, intimate relationship between Barack Obama and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who called himself a "second father" to young Barack.
Sen. Obama described his 20-year relationship with his pastor this way: "What I value most about Pastor Wright is not his day-to-day political advice. He's much more of a sounding board for me to make sure that I am speaking as truthfully about what I believe as possible and that I'm not losing myself in some of the hype and hoopla and stress that's involved in national politics." Indeed, Obama describes a relationship that is closer, far closer than the relationship that many sons have with their fathers.
Leftist New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd confidently places the actions, policies and decisions of George W. Bush at the feet of his father. Dowd insists, for example, that George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq was Dad-driven. She called the Iraq War "a Freudian tango" that provided a "chance for W. to complete his transformation from the screwup son to the son who fixed his father's screwups." None of that fear of chemical or biological attack in the wake of 9/11 national security stuff for Dowd. No, it's all about Dad.
In a recent column comparing blue-blooded "patricians" Bush-41 and Mitt Romney, Dowd writes, "Their political philosophies were not shaped by a passion for ideas as much as a desire to serve and an ambition to climb higher than their revered fathers. Pragmatism trumps ideology; survival trumps conviction. Both men, to the manner born in Greenwich and Bloomfield Hills, adapted uncomfortably to the fundamentalist tent meeting mood of the modern GOP, knowing their futures depended on Faustian deals with the right."
But Obama and Wright's relationship tells us nothing.
In a column about presidential aspirants and their fathers, Dowd puts the Bush and Romney quartet on the couch: "American politics bristles with Oedipal drama. Sons struggling to live up to fathers. Sons striving to outdo fathers. Sons scheming to avenge fathers. Sons burning to one-up fathers. Sons yearning to impress fathers who vanished early on. Sons leaning on fathers. Sons using fathers as reverse-play books. ...
"It's daunting, so soon after 'Junior' Bush crashed the Bush family station wagon into the globe in an effort to both avenge and outshine his dad, to gear up for another Republican presidential candidate (Mitt Romney) whose resume copies his famous Republican father and whose relationship with dad sculpts his outlook."
But Obama and Wright's relationship tells us nothing.
About Abraham Lincoln, historian David Herbert Donald writes: "Abraham's pulling away from his father was something more significant than a teenage rebellion. Abraham had made a quiet reassessment of the life that (his father) Thomas lived. He kept his judgment to himself, but years later it crept into his scornful statements that his father 'grew up, literally without education,' that he 'never did more in the way of writing than to bunglingly sign his own name,' and that he chose to settle in a region where 'there was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education.' To Abraham Lincoln that was a damning verdict. In all of his published writings, and, indeed, even in reports of hundreds of stories and conversations, he had not one favorable word to say about his father."
About John F. Kennedy's relationship with family patriarch Joseph, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin says: "There was no way (Jack) thought he could be what Joe. Jr. had been to his father. So the two of them circled around each other, I think for years, with Jack wanting to satisfy some need of the father's, the father wishing Jack could satisfy it but the father never could see Jack at that point as a politician."
Critics blasted Republican former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain for seeking -- and then repudiating -- the endorsement of a controversial Texas televangelist even though the Rev. John Hagee had never been McCain's personal pastor, let alone for 20 years.
But one "injects race" by asking simple questions about Obama and Wright. It is no stretch to argue that Wright's view of economics -- that America became successful not because of its founding principles but by exploiting the weak -- reflects Obama's own economic worldview.
Four years ago when Wright belatedly erupted as a possible campaign-ending scandal, Obama called his relationship with his then-pastor "a legitimate political issue." And Fox News' Chris Wallace recently said that in retrospect "McCain was crazy" not to use this issue.
What, the statute of limitations has run out?


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With Deb away, I guess its up to Geoff and I to make sure that there is something for Deb's readers to consider on this day, and since Geoff doesn't really post anything, it appears that it falls to me.
So this morning, I read about a new translation of the Bible, that is "easier to comprehend".
Professor David Capes says the Bible "is probably the most owned and least read book out there. That's because, for many, it's too difficult to understand."
The "own it but haven't read it" demographic is his target market, says Capes, who teaches the New Testament at Houston Baptist University and was part of a team that compiled "The Voice," a new translation of the King James Bible. Capes told CNN that the motivation behind the translation, seven years in the making, was to emphasize the meaning behind the words.
"'The Voice' considers the narrative links that help us to understand the drama and passion of story that is present in the original languages," according to the website for the book. "The tone of the writing, the format of the page, and the directness of the dialog allows the tradition of passing down the biblical narrative to come through in 'The Voice.'"
I really have mixed feelings about this. While there are several translations of the Bible that are the result of years of translation from original greek texts, that have allowed for a deeper, richer understanding. This still requires an effort from the reader, and it is precisely the difficulty in understanding certain portions that causes me to read from these translations in the first place.
But what makes this different is the fact that it is someone re-writing a King James Version because it is too difficult to understand. This smacks of the same thinking in which people denigrate the Constitution, because it is too hard to understand, or refuse to read the Federalist Papers because they are difficult, or CS Lewis' apologetics, or…well, you get the point. It isn't the average person who benefits when such books are "dumbed down", and it empowers the ones doing the dumbing down. You don't value what you don't pay for, and when this version has abandoned the use of "angel", "Christ", and "apostle", I don't get a sense that it ends well. It smacks a little too much of the continual "redefinition" of all things being forced upon us in other parts of culture and society.


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Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani's culture column in Ottawa Magazine and follow her on Twitter @fateemasayani
How's this for a double bill? Ottawa duo Eraserheads—the band named for the David Lynch film—open for Toronto trio Eight and a Half—the band named after the Fellini film, 8 -1/2. If ever there was a moment to geek out, this is it. Capital G.
The show, taking place at Zaphod's Saturday, is the music nerd's ball—it is where obscure film and musical references will be traded, reverb pedals will be depressed, and beards will be grown.
Eraserheads have done well to make metaphorical links between screen and stage. The duo—Jamie Kronick on drums and Omar David Rivero on guitar and laptop—play experimental tunes that are as non-linear as the movie plot.
Eight and a Half possess a fine lineage. The band comprises members of The Stills (Dave Hamelin and Liam O'Neil) and Broken Social Scene (Justin Peroff). Their music brings the best parts of The Stills debut album (melancholy!) with the big sound managed by the multi-headed Broken Social Scene—though with fewer people, and almost as many guitar pedals. Yeeesssss!
Eight and a Half play Zaphod Beeblebrox, 27 York St., Saturday, May 5 with Eraserheads and guests, The Gallop. 9 p.m., $10, www.zaphods.ca.
Lee Fields speaks as he sings. He's got a preacher's patter whereby he espouses about god's great earth, love, and the power of the music.
"Most of the ballads I sing, I sing with as much truth as I can," he says on the phone from his home in New Jersey. "People can recognize when you're saying something from your heart and when you're not."
This is standard-issue lyrical fodder for soul dudes of that ilk, and in the musical canon, Fields keeps company with Al Green and James Brown. That's why some people refer to Fields as a legend—other people drop the l-word because the crooner, now 62, has had a 40-year-career that has lasted throughout a number of soul surges; those revivalist movements brought people like Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings to the fore and saw Motown-type music being played live in hipster bars.
Fields continues to tour the circuit, hitting up tastemakers' proms such as South by Southwest—the annual new media festival that takes place in Austin, Texas—earlier this year. That's where he continued the revivalist movements by playing to new audiences, as well as those crate-digging DJs who source out the series of seven-inches Fields released over the years for nightclub sets.
Fields is chuffed by the reception he's getting from a new generation. "I was at a point in my life where my expectations were that I would make music and one day it would be appreciated, whether or not I was around to see it. I was hoping it would take place—and I am very elated that it has."
He feels a deep sense of reciprocal duty and talks often about trying to entertain audiences to the fullest with his backing band The Expressions. The rhythm section is rounded out by a horn section and a keyboardist, and it's brought together by showman and soulman Fields.
His other big push is to remind people to take care of the earth—God's house, is how he says it—and all the creatures within. He brings it up so often, I ask if he'll ever write an eco-urgent "Mercy Mercy Me" type tune.
"I try to leave the preachin' to the preachers," Fields says. "Sometimes my opinions pop up out of the blue, but as for being an activist, I think people are born that way. Music was what I was born to do. I leave the lawyering up to the lawyers, the politics up to the politicians, and singing up to the singers."
Lee Fields & The Expressions play Ritual Nightclub, 137 Besserer St., Friday, May 4 with Slim Moore & The Mar-Kays and DJ Zattar. 9 p.m. $22, www.worldfamousmusic.net.


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What we endeavor to do is to organize and present this information as best we can, linking up people whose work shares a common interest or heritage.
Very briefly, here's a run down of the major sections of the website:
This section is open to all artisans from any African country, who are engaged in a visual craft. Each artisan or cooperative group has their own set of web pages displaying their work, photos of their workshops (optionally)
and links to information on AfricanCraft.com or elsewhere on the Internet, relevant to their craft.
Open to all artists and product designers whose work incorporates, or is influenced by African materials or designs.
The online shopping area of AfricanCraft.com, offers the catalogs of various retailers, with a unified ordering mechanism.
Offering lesson plans and educational materials; in the future we plan to facilitate cooperative projects between schoolchildren in Africa and the rest of the world.
Other sections
Articles, book excerpts, more to come - stay tuned...


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Oddball superhero flick Green Hornet has certainly had its share of troubles. After losing Stephen Chow, twice, the latest Hornet news is that the release date has been pushed back to December. You know, when real movies come out.
Hitfix spoke with star Seth Rogen after learning news of the movie's delayed release date. Not surprisingly, the actor is in full spin mode, or else genuinely happy that his odd ball, little known superhero flick will have to stand toe-to-toe with big-name productions and Oscar bait.
We're both relieved and psyched about the change. It gives more time for post [production], which would have been immensely rushed if we were to come out in the summer. It also affords us more time to promote the film, (now we can go to Comic-Con with more than a car!) and ultimately is a great vote of confidence from the studio. We got the same date that movies like 'I Am Legend' and 'Avatar' are getting, so we're thrilled to be there."
More time to make a decent movie is never a bad thing, and perhaps a bit more exposure is exactly what this film needs. But it still feels like the move from July 7, 2010 to December 17, 2010 was an effort to quietly dump it off into a cold pasture.


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Actor Michael Rapaport has reunited A Tribe Called Quest — on movie screens, at least.
The pioneering New York hip-hop group, best known for classics like "Check the Rhime," "Bonita Applebum" and more, split upon the release of 1998's "The Love Movement." While they've reunited for performances since then, a long-simmering clash between childhood friends Q-Tip and Phife has kept them out of the recording studio ever since.
Rapaport, a longtime fan, says he started work on his recently released documentary in 2008, hoping to determine why they broke up and answer the question, "Will they continue to make music going forward ever?"
Not a likely scenario.
"We haven't recorded an album in like 13 years now. We don't just want to go in there for the money and it sounds like crap. The consensus would be, 'I've waited so-and-so years for this and y'all come out with this?' So we'd rather not do it than for that to happen," Phife told The Associated Press while helping to promote Rapaport's film, "Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest."
Though made with the group's cooperation, Q-Tip has criticized the movie for focusing too much on infighting and not enough on music. He didn't show for its screening at the recent LA Film Festival and voiced his anger at Rapaport via Twitter, although he has recently retweeted other people's positive thoughts on the film
Even Phife — who is supporting the film — isn't enamored of the director.
"He was very animated, adamant, any word you could mention with an 'A,'" Phife said. "Sometimes he'll lose his composure, and he'll get it back. He was just real antsy."
Rapaport says tension between the Q-Tip and Phife was "very apparent the minute I started filming. The minute they were in a room together, you could just feel something was a little off. I didn't know — or try to dictate or manipulate the film at all. And I was persistent, diligent and open and non-judgmental."
"Their conflict and their strife is the same thing that the Beatles and 'N Sync and Destiny's Child and Guns N' Roses went through," added Rapaport, whose acting credits include "Mighty Aphrodite" and "Hitch." "Talking to the press and getting the accolades and who is in charge. 'Q-Tip is better than Phife!' 'No, Phife is better than Q-Tip!'"
Phife, whose real name is Malik Taylor, seems to remain bruised by his clash of egos with Q-Tip. In the film, he blames Q-Tip for dissolving the group for a solo career, a claim that Q-Tip has denied. The two feud so much that at one point, they get into a brief scuffle on tour.
Rapaport interviewed each of the group's original members separately. Rapper Jarobi left after the group's first album, "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm," to become a chef. Beatmaker Ali Shaheed Muhammad has moved on to other projects. But like many fans of New York hip-hop's early-1990s "golden age," all speak fondly of Tribe in its prime.
Tribe's mostly laid-back style and inclusion of jazz samples shifted the soundscape of New York hip-hop and wielded a powerful influence on current hitmakers ranging from Pharrell Williams to Kanye West, both of whom make appearances in the new film.
The contrast between Q-Tip's humble approach in songs like "Electric Relaxation" with Phife's aggressive style on "Buggin' Out" was "what made A Tribe Called Quest," Phife said. "He wasn't as braggadocio so people paid attention. And I was. So we bounced off of each other. ... It was a matter of playing to our strengths."
Phife hasn't been so strong in recent years. A diabetic, he received a kidney transplant from his wife in 2008 and is shown struggling with weight loss and nervously entering the operating room. He says he's glad for fans of Tribe's music to see his struggles.
"With this documentary, I want them to see when I was cool, when I fell by the wayside with it, when I was turning the corner, and now I'm back," he said.
As to whether fans will ever be able to welcome Tribe back, Phife demurs: "We're taking it one day at a time. We're friends right now. Q-Tip and I are friends. We're brothers, better yet. And um, I'm happy with that right now."
Ryan Pearson is an entertainment reporter for The Associated Press and AP Television. Follow him at ... http://twitter.com/#!/uscreno


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Book 1
Gina Conkle
Genre: Hot Contemporary Romance
Date of Publication: Dec. 13, 2017
Number of pages: 225
Word Count: 56,000
Cover Artist: Rebecca of Dreams2Media
Book Description:
2 Stories in 1 Book
Proper Care and Feeding of a Broken Heart
Bookstore clerk Abbie is off-the-charts nervous her first night moonlighting in a sex-for-hire job. If she only kept her mouth shut…but nothing goes as expected, including the intense blue-eyed surfer who walks through her door. Mark wants to work out a few kinks —and leave the lifestyle for good. Past mistakes still haunt him, but sweet Abbie turns Mark's plans upside down, and two broken hearts discover honesty is the hottest aphrodisiac.
Anything But Safe
Former trophy wife Jennifer wants to thrive again, but when her new life hits a speedbump, her unlikely hero is rough working man AJ. The woman AJ rescued is out of his league, but the two together are magic. Jennifer smooths his hard edges, and when she's with AJ, her true, quirky colors show. A surprise threatens to derail the two who quickly learn…love is anything but safe.
Excerpts: Waiting for a Girl Like You (2 stories in 1 book)
The Proper Care and Feeding of a Broken Heart (story 1)
My cheeks burned but I stood taller. "I don't know what Mrs. Smith told you but when she said 'fresh face' that was code for I don't know what I'm doing. I've never done this before. Any of it. Not sex for hire. And certainly not BDSM. Much as I want to bolt, I need the money. So can we get this over with?"
Another dry chuckle. "You know how to get a man going."
I glared at him through my bangs and hugged myself tighter. Music pulsed from the room next door, but I couldn't say what the song was. Did they need a sound track to get going? The frazzled side of me surrendered to how little I knew about sex. Despite standing bravely, I was small and adrift on an unknown sea.
Surfer Man stepped within touching distance, his blue eyes on the verge of grey, lit with a strange mixture of hard shell and tender patience. A faint line traced the left side of his mouth like contempt came easy.
"First rule," he said evenly. "You only talk when spoken to."
"Then what am I supposed to call you?"
The question startled us both. I was throwing out the no names rule and for good reason. Something dawned on me. With the closed door, it was just the two of us. This square room was my island. Control could go either way. Surfer Man's mouth opened, but an adrenaline rush took over and my hip cocked sideways. In the world of fight or flight, my body tensed with its version of fight.
"Oh, let me guess. You're going to say Call me master or some crap like that. I work at a bookstore. I've read those please spank me Mr. Billionaire books."
I liked a few of them. Reading the books was one thing. Living them was another.
One side of his mouth curved up. "Maybe you should tell me how you really feel."
I exhaled slowly, blowing bangs off my forehead. No sense in telling him what I really thought. Talk about a mood killer. No man wanted to hear me say this place is for losers who can't find a girl. Yet, this guy was no loser.
"Real billionaires don't look like you do in those jeans of yours."
He chuckled, his blue eyes flaring wider. "I'm no billionaire."
Oh, but you are one hot man. Thankfully my filter worked and I kept that to myself.
"You know what it is? It's the whole BDSM scene thing. Sex isn't a scene. It's sex. Two people being honest skin to skin."
Sinews under his forearms flexed while music cranked louder in the next room. His hard shell scrutiny narrowed, and I cringed. Sneering at my customer's preferences wasn't a smart idea. How he got his rocks off was his business.
"Honest sex." He let the words settle in his mouth. Surfer Man shook his head and made for his gym bag.
"What? Are you leaving?" My voice notched higher. I didn't want him tying me up, but I didn't want him to leave.
"This wasn't a good idea."
Scowling at me, he stood under the bulb, the red light pouring over him. How was it a nice looking man in his thirties paid a hefty price to tie a woman up yet he was the one getting all contorted about it? I was pretty sure he could get the average beach bunny to shed her bikini and play sex games for a night. Unless his tastes ran too dark.
I eyed the bag at his feet. Dust lined a few creases. "Maybe we could talk instead."
He laughed harshly. "You're naked. I paid for sex with a pretty woman.
Not conversation."
"Want me to cover myself with the sheet?"
"No," he said, his face screwing up like I wasn't playing with a full deck. "I don't want you to cover yourself."
Feet planted wide, the bulge in his jeans was gone. The lost reaction bugged me. He didn't find me attractive anymore? To add to the strangeness, my reversal irked me. I should be glad. I could run down the hall, grab my clothes and purse, and run out the door and never come back.
Red-tinged light cast shadows over his features. He set both hands on his hips, his raw voice reaching out to me. "Why do you want me to stay?"
Anything But Safe (story 2)
Tendons stood out on AJ's neck. If she read him right, he was flummoxed by their sizzling chemistry. What made this different was liking each other so quickly. It was powerful. Overwhelming and mind-consuming. Conversation flowed naturally. She'd dumped her troubles at his feet last night without a second thought. AJ listened. And when things weren't hot and heavy, he was fun. She needed fun.
His long legs stretched out under her old table last night did things to her. Her nerves shot to life when predatory blue eyes tracked her movement in the kitchen. AJ was different. Comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. And his thoughtfulness with the herbs? She wanted to kiss every inch of skin on his body.
"No need to glower at me," she said. "You brought up how different we are last night right after I got into your truck."
His mouth's hard line softened. "That's what's bugging you?"
"It didn't bother me. Not at first. Then, after Richard's call, I wondered if I was making another bad decision." Her voice faded. "You were a great listener, but it crossed my mind that you were after one thing and one thing only."
AJ's crystalline blue eyes pierced her. "Sex."
The nicest shiver ran down her legs. "Yes."
Hot sun beat down on the rest of the world. It was August. Standing under the pepper tree, AJ was a tall, cool drink of water. Stained coveralls didn't put her off nor did his tattoo and the rough cadence of his speech. Under the gruff exterior was a real man with a good heart. He visually devoured her every time they'd crossed paths around town, and last night was no exception. But, could she be content with a sex only fling?
"Well, that's a relief." Faint sarcasm edged his last word.
"What is?"
His steady gaze never wavered. "I thought you might be going in a different direction."
She cocked her head. "Did you think I was about to give you the 'let's be friends' talk?"
"I thought you were about to give me the 'let's hook up for sex only' talk."
"Oh AJ," she said around hiccups of laughter. Her cheeks burned. She shook her head, a little dazed. "I…I don't know what to say to that."
"It's not the first time a woman like you propositioned me."
Eyes rounding, she laughed at the absurdity. "I'm not propositioning you."
"Good because my answer would be no."
She'd come for lunch and conversation of the talking variety. A kiss or two was more than welcome, but they needed to slow down, let things simmer. AJ's forbidding frown told her some of Hidden Valley's well-shod women had dallied with him, and he was having no more of it. The town was an eclectic mix of gated communities, small farm-to-table co-ops and wineries. A lot of working class people had lived here long before it was hip.
Hurt bloomed in her chest at the idea of any woman taking advantage of AJ's goodness. Or his body. His past was likely more colorful than hers, but his flat out refusal to hook up intrigued her. He'd messed around in the past. What made him change his mind?
Gina Conkle writes Viking, Georgian, and contemporary romance. She grew up in southern California and despite all that sunshine, she love books over beaches and stone castles over sand castles. Now Gina lives in Michigan with her favorite alpha male, Brian, and their two sons where she occasionally gardens and cooks. Living in snow gives her the perfect excuse to get lost in reading and writing.
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A placebo is an inactive drug or treatment used in a clinical trial. It is sometimes referred to as a "sugar pill." A placebo-controlled trial compares a new treatment with a placebo. The placebo is usually combined with standard treatment in most cancer clinical trials. People who receive a placebo are in the control group.
The use of placebos in cancer clinical trials is rare. When a placebo is used in a study, it is done with the full knowledge of the participants.
Cancer.Net talked with Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FSCT, FASCO, and ASCO's Chief Medical Officer (2013–2021) to learn more about the use of placebos in cancer clinical trials.
Q. Why are some cancer researchers now using placebos in clinical trials?
A: In past years, it was generally not necessary or possible to use placebos in cancer clinical trials. This is because most chemotherapy treatments caused obvious tumor shrinkage and striking, sometimes severe, side effects that could not be produced by a "sugar pill."
However, many of the newer, targeted drugs slow tumor growth but may not cause tumor shrinkage. Testing these drugs requires that clinical trials have a control group, so that researchers can tell whether stabilization of the tumor growth is an effect of the treatment or just reflects the natural behavior of the tumor. Furthermore, many of the newer drugs are given by mouth and have side effects that are hard to distinguish from the symptoms of cancer itself, such as fatigue.
When clinical testing of new a drug begins, it is not known whether the drug will be effective against any kind of cancer. Because new drugs are often tested in patients who have already received all known, effective treatments, comparing a new drug with a placebo may be appropriate and allows researchers to easily and definitively determine the good and bad effects of the new drug.
Q. Why are these clinical trials necessary for the advancement of cancer research?
A: The fastest way to improve access to new cancer treatments for all patients is the timely completion of well-designed, definitive clinical trials that provide evidence of the safety and effectiveness of a new drug and lead to marketing approval. In some circumstances, such clinical trials may require the use of placebo controls to provide convincing evidence of drug safety and clinical benefit.
Q. How can the design of a clinical trial address some of the ethical concerns around using placebos?
A: Placebos should be used in cancer clinical trials only when
(1) it is scientifically necessary,
(2) ethically appropriate,
(3) and when patients have been clearly informed that they will receive a placebo and whether they will receive the active drug at some point during the clinical trial, if not immediately.
Use of placebo controls may be justified in these situations:
- To prove effectiveness of a new treatment for diseases with high placebo response rates
- In conditions that alternately become worse or better, have spontaneous remissions (the disappearance of the signs and symptoms of cancer, but not necessarily the entire disease), or have an uncertain and unpredictable course
- When existing therapies are minimally effective or have serious side effects
- In the absence of any effective therapy
Furthermore, patients randomly assigned to a placebo must not be substantially more likely than those in active treatment group(s) to: die; suffer irreversible illness, disability, or other substantial harms; suffer reversible but serious harm; or suffer severe discomfort.
Thus, placebo-controlled trials should also ensure that patients receive outstanding supportive care during their participation in the study. Specific clinical trial designs can be used to minimize the chances that a patient receives a placebo. For example, the clinical trial may permit crossover to the active drug at the time of disease progression, which is the point at which the cancer continues to grow or spread. In such clinical trials, all patients have the opportunity to receive the new treatment, although some receive it sooner than others do.
Q. What are some examples of when it is not appropriate for a person with cancer to participate in a placebo-controlled trial?
A: Placebo-controlled trials are never appropriate when a highly effective or potentially curative therapy is available for a patient. An exception is unless the trial allows the patient to receive the new treatment/placebo in addition to the potentially curative therapy. For example, let's say that a promising new treatment is in development for advanced testicular cancer, a disease that is curable in many cases with the use of chemotherapy. It would not be appropriate for a clinical trial to randomize patients between the new treatment and placebo because potentially curative chemotherapy already exists. However, it might be appropriate to randomize between standard chemotherapy plus the new drug or standard chemotherapy plus placebo because in both cases, patients will receive the standard, potentially curative treatment.
Q. What questions should patients ask their doctor about placebo-controlled clinical trials?
A: The main questions that patients should ask are about their treatment options. If a patient has already received all known, effective therapies for their disease, options may include supportive care or participation in a clinical trial. If participation in a clinical trial is an option, patients should understand the rationale and goals of the trial, whether it involves use of a placebo, and the likelihood of receiving the drug being studied or a placebo.
It is also important to ask about the likelihood of benefit from the investigational treatment and the potential side effects. If a placebo is administered as part of the trial, patients should ask whether there will be an opportunity to receive the study drug at any point in the trial, if not immediately upon enrollment.
Related Resources
Drug Discovery and Development
What Is "Treatment Switching" in Cancer Clinical Trials?
The Importance of Clinical Trials in Treating People With Cancer


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New myopia genes uncovered
Eye research An international team of researchers has identified 24 new genes linked to short-sightedness.
The discovery may one day help with the development of new treatments for a condition that affects billions of people around the world.
The meta-analysis of genetic data from more than 46,000 individuals is published today by the Consortium for Refraction and Myopia (CREAM) in Nature Genetics.
"The ten-fold increased risk of myopia for those carrying the highest number of risk alleles shows the clinical significance of our findings," the authors write.
The researchers analysed genetic information from individuals of European ancestry and Asian ancestry separately, then combined the data to look for similarities and differences in the genes associated with myopia.
They identified 16 genetic regions associated with myopia among the European cohort, eight of which were also identified in the Asian cohort, as well as eight additional regions when all the data were combined.
"The substantial overlap in genetic loci for refractive error between individuals of European ancestry and Asians provides evidence for shared genetic risk factors between the populations," the authors write.
A complex condition
The genes identified in the meta-analysis correspond to a broad range of functions within the eye, says Associate Professor Paul Baird from the Centre for Eye Research Australia, at the University of Melbourne.
"One of the interesting ones was involved in retinoic acid metabolism, which is found in the retina, so [that relates to] the turnover of your retinal cells and the biochemistry behind those," says Baird, one of the researchers involved in the project.
Other genes included one that plays a role in the extracellular structure of the eye, and genes involved in eye development and neurotransmission.
"So it gives you an idea that there are multiple pathways rather than just one which means that refractive errors and myopia are very complex," he says.
The findings advance understanding of the development of myopia and may in future allow doctors to predict with far greater accuracy who is likely to develop the condition, Baird says.
"If we can actually pinpoint some pathways that seem to be very important, there may be avenues where we can actually tweak genes in those pathways so we can either block them or enhance them."
The genes discovered in the study only account for 3.4 per cent of the variation in myopia, meaning there are still a huge number of unexplored factors - genetic and environmental - that contribute to development of the condition.


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Xbox One's promise of integrated, specialized media apps has yet to see a wealth of content, but the company's Destination Brazil initiative, launching on June 12 alongside the World Cup, sees Microsoft edging closer to the new console's multimedia aspirations. The whole thing, announced this morning, will revolve around Brazil Now, an app that collects your cable TV data and then tailors itself to your favorite team to deliver system notifications and deliver a statistics overload via the "snap" side-of-screen information panel.
It's similar to the Xbox One's NFL app, which debuted last fall and allowed users to pull up the snapped version of the app while playing games or watching media apps, but Brazil Now's root system integration, particularly its ability to pop up notifications, is an improvement—and a feature that should have been in the NFL app in the first place. Even better, in light of the Xbox's welcome transition away from the Live Gold paywall, Brazil Now won't require a subscription to use (but will lose a lot of its luster if users don't have a cable TV subscription).
Additionally, neither Live Gold nor cable subscriptions will be required to watch Every Street Unlimited, a soccer-scouting reality series that marks the first-ever offering from Xbox Entertainment Studios. The show will debut on June 15 within the Destination Brazil hub, where Microsoft will also advertise the latest Ultimate Team trading-card add-on for FIFA 2014, which went live for the game's owners this morning and added a World Cup-themed Ultimate Team mode. The "free" update hinges on virtual coins, which can either be earned in gameplay or purchased through "player pack" microtransactions.


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It's been a long (very long!) blogging hiatus for me.
Whilst there are a large number of contributing reasons – more work at the Univ, kids getting older and requiring less sleep (and thus more keeping an eye on and even the occasional bit of help with homework), new hobbies (blog and work-unrelated) etc.etc. – there are a couple that stand out.
The first is running out of things to say – or at least things I didn't feel I'd said already, and possibly better, if it was the first time around and I was thus relatively fresh to the topic. To take just one (recurring) example. how many new ways can one find to point out that homeopathy is nonsense?
The second reason is Twitter. 150 characters is great for bashing out a quick thought, and if the 'extended version' is something you've already done, you can just post a link. No need for long conversational and/or explanatory posts. So I am pretty sure much of my 'blogging impulse' has transferred to Twitter. I assume the hits here on the blog – I'm interested to see they still run at a few dozen a day – are 'referrals' from the Twitter feed.
Actually, there is a third reason too, though not entirely separate from the two just described. That is the feeling that the main work of explaining / exploding 'Alt.Reality' has been done, at least for those who are actually seeking explanations. For instance, I find it difficult to imagine that people who are mostly 'undecided' about alternative therapies CANNOT now find reliable information about them if they hunt around.
Of course, this may not apply to Conservative Secretaries of State for Health, or to members of the British Royal Family (Warning – links to the Daily Mail). But then again, those people pay a lot of money to be permanently surrounded by people whose job it is to agree with them, no matter how idiotic, evidence-free or nonsensical the view expressed is.
Anyway, these days, it takes a really 'out there' Alternative Therapy story to make me sit up and take notice. I thought I'd seen it all.
So what has picqued my attention this week? Well, it is this terrifying story, which was re-tweeted by Frank Swain, aka The Sciencepunk, who BTW is now a published author.
If you've not seen the thread, which is from a 'natural treatments for skin cancer' forum , you will be quite unable to do so without gasping. That was certainly my reaction.
I am utterly, utterly unable to fathom what would make someone do this to themselves – in essence, give yourself a completely uncontrolled chemical burn in the middle of your face It is so wrong, on all sorts of levels, that to list them would take pages.
Perhaps the scariest thing of all is the people on the forum offering advice and encouraging the person to keep on going. At a scan down the thread, I couldn't find a single person saying 'Run, don't walk, to a conventional dermatologist' – not even once it became abundantly clear that the treatment was burning a big hole in the patient's nose.
Anyway, I feel very sorry for the person at the centre of it all. Hopefully she will stay cancer-free, and the reconstructive surgery to rebuild her nose will be a success. But I am still left with that question:
What, for goodness sake, would leave you so phobic about mainstream medicine that you would go, instead, for giving yourself a serious chemical burn across the middle of your face? When the conventional treatment would be minor surgery designed very specifically to remove the least possible tissue?
Answers on a postcard, please.
And coming back to an earlier point about 'finding information', the patient refers a few times on the thread to 'doing my research' on the alternative treatment. Which again is one of these phrases that I cannot compute.
Research? Really?
In some ways I'm amazed people are allowed to sell products that do stuff like this, even over the internet.
Anyway – perhaps blogs explaining basic science-y stuff, like that a chemical burn can just as easily come from chemicals from plants as from 'petrochemical products', are still needed after all.


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Job Information
Deloitte Senior Consultant, Global Trade Advisory in Jericho, New York
Do you enjoy providing powerful business solutions to some of the world's most well-known and respected companies, including more than 75 percent of the Fortune 100? Would you like to join one of the leading professional services organizations in the United States specializing in effectively managing global trade decisions and obligations, and providing strategic significance to a company's global supply chain? If this is you, come travel the world in our world!
What you'll do
As a Senior on our Global Trade Advisory team, you will participate in engagements requiring regulatory analysis for a variety of entities and their affiliates. You will work with U.S. and multinational companies, understand national and international trade requirements, and align client trade functions with their business objectives. You will also have the opportunity to develop and pursue creative strategies using the latest technologies.
Responsibilities include:
Working with clients to assess and deploy technology solutions to enable international trade management operations.
Helping importers and exporters achieve worldwide compliance and realize efficiencies in their global supply chain.
Advising U.S. and foreign multinational companies on global import and export strategies and compliance.
Planning and compliance assistance, and exploration of automated import and export solutions.
Supply chain efficiency planning including trade and security, customs valuation planning, first sale for export planning, and the analysis of transfer pricing policies to work toward compliance with customs valuation requirements.
Process improvement planning and implementation assistance.
Trade compliance audit assistance and representation before trade authorities around the world.
Limited Sponsorship may be available.
The team
Our Global Trade Advisory practice is a national practice within Deloitte Tax LLP's International Tax business and advises U.S. and foreign multinational companies on global import and export strategies, compliance, and trade automation. The Global Trade Advisory practice is composed of attorneys, operations experts, customs brokers, auditors, and trade management professionals who help importers and exporters achieve worldwide compliance and realize efficiencies and advantages in their global supply chain. The group works with clients to assess and potentially automate their international trade management procedures within all major trading regions.
2+ years of experience in Import, Export and/or Technology Enablement experience (operational, government, law firm, or consulting)
Bachelor's degree in a legal, business or technology related field
Experience with U.S. import regulations
Knowledge of export regulations including ITAR/EAR
Ability to travel 50%, on average, based on the work you do and the clients and industries/sectors you serve
One of the following accreditations obtained, in process, or willing and able to obtain:
Licensed CPA in state of practice/primary office if eligible to sit for the CPA
If not CPA eligible:
Licensed attorney
Enrolled Agent
US Customhouse Broker's License
Certified US Export Compliance Officer (CUSECO)
Other- foreign equivalent of the above and various tax technology accreditations may be acceptable based on business review and approval
Big 4 experience
Advanced degree such as MST, MAcc, JD, or LLM
Knowledge of non-U.S. import/export controls
Data management and analysis experience
Foreign language skills
Demonstrated leadership and problem-solving skills
Familiarity with implementing and configuring trade management software such as SAP GTS, Oracle GTM, etc., to manage import/export compliance
Demonstrated interest in international trade or international business
Strong research, writing, verbal communication, and project management skills
Familiarity with global trade management software
Software aptitude in PowerPoint, MS Project, Access, Excel, and/or Visio
SAP SD/MM Certifications
The wage range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. At Deloitte, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is $73,500 to $161,200.
You may also be eligible to participate in a discretionary annual incentive program, subject to the rules governing the program, whereby an award, if any, depends on various factors, including, without limitation, individual and organizational performance.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or protected veteran status, or any other legally protected basis, in accordance with applicable law.
- Deloitte Jobs


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State pension commission is not balanced, critics say
Some call them biased insiders. Others see them as experts with years of experience.
Regardless, several members of a special commission recommending further changes to the state's pension system have come under criticism.
"I don't think it's a very balanced commission," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a watchdog group on public spending. "The makeup is heavily biased toward those with an investment in the current system."
Three of the special commission's 15 members are top officials at state retirement agencies, each of whom is legally required to be there. They are Joseph Connarton, executive director of the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission; Nicola Favorito, executive director of the State Retirement Board; and Joan Schloss, executive director of the Massachusetts Teachers' Retirement System.
The panel's composition is dictated by statute, with 10 members appointed by state officials including the governor, state auditor, Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo.
The commission was created as part of the 2009 state budget to study the state's pension system. The pension reform bill signed into law earlier this month expanded its mission, and it is due to issue a report with recommendations by Sept. 1.
Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth, said last week he was frustrated that amendments proposed by Republicans during the pension debate were voted down for later consideration by the commission.
"I will be diplomatic and say there are people on the commission who have some track record as to resist a lot of the provisions that I put forward toward debate," he said.
But Connarton said Wednesday that assuming he and other retirement officials will be biased is "stereotypical."
"Many of the people on this commission have been in government for a long time," he said. "If that makes us disqualified because of our years of experience, that's a sad commentary on public service."
State Sen. Kenneth Donnelly, who previously held Connarton's job and is former secretary-treasurer of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts, was one of Murray's appointees.
When asked about Donnelly's appointment, a spokeswoman for Murray said in a statement, "As she does with any appointment, the President looks for members who have done work on issues relative to the Commission's scope, and chooses her appointees on those grounds."
Alicia Munnell, the commission's chairwoman and a gubernatorial appointee, declined to comment until after the commission's report is released late this summer. She is the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and a professor of management science.
Beacon Hill's top leaders – Gov. Deval Patrick, Murray and DeLeo – also have declined to comment on the next steps in pension reform, saying in statements issued this week only that they look forward to the panel's report.
The pension reform bill signed into law two weeks ago by Patrick closed some glaring loopholes in the retirement system, but intentionally failed to address several other issues.
Instead, the commission was told to look at potential caps for annual pension payments, eliminating termination allowances and imposing criminal penalties for pension fraud, among other changes.
As a provision of last week's pension bill, two new members will be appointed by the governor. They have not yet been announced.
Rep. Robert Spellane, D-Worcester and one of DeLeo's appointees, said he believes no member "feels improvements can't be made." He also said he believes the commission's report will lead to further legislation.
"If by chance this pension commission does not come back with meaningful recommendations, it will be incumbent on me as chair of the Committee on Public Service to push for legislation," he said.
Reach Nancy Reardon firstname.lastname@example.com.
The special commission studying the state's pension system was created last year, when legislators passed the budget for the 2009 fiscal year, which started in July. The commission's scope was expanded by the pension reform bill passed two weeks ago.
The 15-person commission – as dictated by statute – includes a combination of mandatory members and appointees of top state officials.
The governor has appointed two members. He still has to appoint two more, one an "expert" and another from a group recommended by the AFL-CIO.
Current commission members include:
Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, gubernatorial appointee and chairwoman of the commission
Peter Diamond, economics professor at MIT, gubernatorial appointee
Sen. Kenneth Donnelly, former commissioner with the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission, appointed by the Senate president
Sen. Thomas McGee, Senate chairman of Joint Committee on Public Service, appointed by the Senate president
Rep. Robert Spellane, House chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Service, appointed by the House speaker
Rep. Michael Rodrigues, House vice chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Service, appointed by the House speaker
Sen. Michael Knapik, appointed by the Senate minority leader
Rep. Todd Smola, appointed by the House minority leader
Pam Kocher, deputy chief of staff for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, appointed by the secretary of administration and finance
John Parsons, general counsel in State Auditor's Office, appointed by the state auditor
The following members are from organizations required to be represented on the commission:
Joseph Connarton, executive director of the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission
Nicola Favorito, executive director of the State Retirement Board
Kate Fitzpatrick, Needham town manager, member of the Massachusetts Municipal Association
Joan Schloss, executive director of the Massachusetts Teachers' Retirement System
Ralph White, president of the Retired State, County and Municipal Employees Association of Massachusetts


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It's a week after Easter, so here is one final post on the theme of resurrection.
History records many dying-and-rising saviors. Examples from the Ancient Near East that preceded the Jesus story include Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, Adonis, Attis, and Baal. Here is a brief introduction.
Tammuz was the Sumerian god of food and vegetation and dates from c. 2000 BCE. His death was celebrated every spring. One version of the story has him living in the underworld for six months each year, alternating with his sister.
Osirus was killed by his brother Set and cut into many pieces and scattered. His wife Isis gathered the pieces together, and he was reincarnated as the Egyptian god of the underworld and judge of the dead. He was worshipped well before 2000 BCE.
Dionysus (known as Bacchus in Roman mythology) was the Greek god of wine and dates to the 1200s BCE. The son of Zeus and a mortal woman, Dionysus was killed and then brought back to life.
Adonis (from 600 BCE) is a Greek god who was killed and then returned to life by Zeus.
Attis (from 1200 BCE) is a vegetation god from central Asia Minor, brought back to life by his lover Cybele.
In Canaanite religion, Baal (Baʿal) was part of a cycle of life and death. Baal and Mot are sons of the supreme god El (yes, one of the names of the Jewish god). When El favored the death god Mot over Baal, the heat of the summer took over and Baal died. He was resurrected when his sister-wife kills Mot.
All these gods:
- came from regions that were close enough to the crossroads of Israel (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Asia Minor) for the ideas to have plausibly made it there,
- were worshipped well before the time of Jesus, and
- were of the dying-and-rising sort.
This is strong evidence that the gospel writers knew of (and could have been influenced by) resurrecting god stories from other cultures.
Is it possible that Judea at this time was a backwater, and the people were unaware of the ideas from the wider world? That seems unlikely. The book of 2 Maccabees, written in c. 124 BCE, laments at how Hellenized the country was becoming. It says that the new high priest installed by Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes "at once shifted his countrymen over to the Greek way of life." He "introduced new customs contrary to the Law" and "induced the noblest of the young men to wear the Greek hat." The book complains about "an extreme of Hellenization and increase in the adoption of foreign ways" and the youth "putting the highest value upon Greek forms of prestige."
In fact, the gospels themselves report that the idea of dying and rising again was a familiar concept. Jesus in the early days of his ministry was thought to be a risen prophet.
King Herod heard of [the ministry of Jesus], for His name had become well known; and people were saying, "John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him." But others were saying, "He is Elijah." And others were saying, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old." But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, "John, whom I beheaded, has risen!" (Mark 6:14–16)
One Christian website does a thorough job attacking poorly evidenced parallels between Jesus and these prior gods. For example, was Dionysus really born to a virgin on December 25? Did Mithras really have 12 disciples? Was Krishna's birth heralded by a star in the east? The author offers $1000 to anyone who can prove that any of these gods' lists of parallels are actually true.
I'll agree that there are strained parallels. One early work that has been criticized for too many claims and too little evidence is The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors by Kersey Graves (1875). The recent "Origins of Christianity and the Quest for the Historical Jesus Christ" by Acharya S also seems to be reaching, in my opinion.
I don't have the expertise to weigh in on these many issues, so let's grant the complaints and dismiss the many unsupportable specific parallels. What's left is what really matters: that the Jesus story arose in a culture suffused with the idea of dying and rising saviors.
Apologists raise other objections.
Many of these gods actually came after Jesus. That's why the list above only includes dying-and-rising gods who are well-known to have preceded Jesus. There are many more such gods—Mithras, Horus, Krishna, Persephone, and others—that don't seem to fit as well. In fact, Wikipedia lists life-death-rebirth deities from twenty religions worldwide, but I've tried to list above the six most relevant examples.
But Jesus really existed! He's a figure from history, unlike those other gods. Strip away any supernatural claims from the story of Alexander the Great, and you've still got cities throughout Asia named Alexandria and coins with Alexander's likeness. Strip away any supernatural claims from the Caesar Augustus story, and you're left with the Caesar Augustus from history. But strip away the supernatural claims from the Jesus story, and you're left with a fairly ordinary rabbi. The Jesus story is nothing but the supernatural elements.
Most of those gods were used to explain the cycles of the seasons. Jesus isn't like them. Christianity is different from all the other religions, just like any religion. If Christianity weren't different from one of the earlier religions, you'd call it by the name of that religion.
In another post I explore the Dionysus myth more fully to show the parallels with the Jesus story. That post also notes how Justin Martyr (100–165 CE) not only admitted to the similarities but argued that the devil put them in history to fool us.
Okay, they're all myths, but the Jesus story is true myth. This was the approach of C.S. Lewis, who said, "The story of Christ is simply a true myth; a myth working on us in the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference, that it really happened, and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is God's Myth where the others are men's myths."
So you admit that the Jesus story indeed has many characteristics of mythology but demand that I just trust you that it's true? Sorry, I need more evidence than that.
And the throw-in-the-towel argument:
Just because Christianity developed in a culture that knew of other resurrecting gods doesn't mean that Jesus wasn't the real thing. Granted. But "you haven't proven the gospel story false" isn't much of an argument. Those who seek the truth know that proof is impossible and try instead to find where the evidence points.
And here's where the evidence doesn't point: that humans worldwide invent dying-and-rising saviors (except in the Jesus case, 'cause that one was real!).
Photo credit: Wikipedia
Related posts:
Related links:
- Jonathan Talat Phillips, "Gnosis: The Not-So-Secret History of Jesus," Huffington Post, 1/7/12.
- Acharya S, "The Origins of Christianity and the Quest for the Historical Jesus Christ," Stellar House Publishing, 2011.
- "Dying god," Wikipedia.
- "Jesus Christ in comparative mythology," Wikipedia.
- "Were Bible stories and characters stolen from pagan myths?" Tekton.
- "Was Jesus Christ just a CopyCat Savior Myth?" Christian Thinktank.
- Comparison of the traits of the Jesus story against those of Dionysus, Osiris, Tammuz, and Baal at Religion is Dumb.
- "Pagan Origins of Christianity?" Answering Islam.
- "Mystery Religions—Isis, Osiris, Dionysos, Orpheus," AskWhy!
- "Mystery Religions—Tammuz and Adonis, Attis and Cybele," AskWhy!


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The bridge is considered seismically and structurally complete except for the long-term fix for the broken bolts. The key projects that need to be completed before the bridge opens involve connecting the finished span to the Toll Plaza. And those projects are nothing compared to some of the extreme engineering they have pulled off in the past.
A concrete barrier is the only thing still separating the current westbound approach from the new one. When connected over the Labor Day closure, traffic will have a more direct alignment from the toll plaza to the ascent across the bay.
That's true at the western end of the new span as well. Westbound traffic will soon have a straight shot through the Yerba Buena Tunnel when a final connection is made and the eastbound deck will also be less curvy coming out of the tunnel. In addition to a straighter alignment, motorists might have a touch of vertigo as they fly across the bay unfettered by the old cantilever.
"This will be... I don't want to call it jarring, but it's going to be a very, very different experience for people when they drive over this bridge in terms of what they've been used to for the past several decades," Bay Bridge spokesman Andrew Gordon said.
Some lane striping is done, but there's still plenty more left to complete. Also, temporary bike and pedestrian path sections are staged just outside Yerba Buena Island, though they are headed for the eastern access point in Oakland. A section of old bridge has to be torn down during closure before they're installed.
"Everyone is very confident that this work is going to get done. I would say this is important critical work to connect the bridge and open it to the public, but we've done much more complicated work during past closures," Gordon said.
Asked if the new span could open earlier than scheduled, Gordon said, "We want to have people focused on the fact that the bridge is going to open by 5 a.m. no Tuesday, September 3. If there is the possibility of earlier opening, we'll certainly let people know. But we don't want to send out multiple times and confuse people."
There's only one week and one day left to drive on the old bridge.


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Woman gets into elevator. Closes door. Guy slams his motorized wheelchair against the door. Guy gets mad, keeps ramming door. Door breaks. Guy falls down elevator shaft. I know this is what happens here. I just can't understand it.
The scary thing is that this is not the first time something like this has happened, except that the other cases don't involve an apparently deranged—and now dead—Korean guy. In 2009, another man in a wheelchair fell down an elevator shaft in Detroit. Sadly, he died. And in 2007, a guy in Ohio was injured after he fell down another shaft. After the accident, he declared that the elevator car was waiting in front of him, in the darkness.
Perhaps the Korean guy's wheelchair controls went nuts, but it looks like he is the one who went crazy. [Naver via Buzzfeed]


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Tsunami motorcycle owner located in Japan
Harley-Davidson hopes to restore bike discovered on remote West Coast beach
The Japanese owner of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that was washed out to sea in the tsunami of March 2011 says its discovery on a remote beach on the West Coast of B.C. last week is a miracle.
The owner, Ikuo Yokoyama, a 29-year-old resident of the town of Yamamoto, in Miyagi Prefecture, was tracked down by a Harley-Davidson representative in Japan who saw the story, first reported by CBC News, in the media.
A company spokeperson told CBC News they are now hoping to pay for the return of the bike to Yokoyama and to see if they can restore it for him.
[IMAGEGALLERY galleryid=2284 size=small]
Yokoyama told Japanese television station NHK that the discovery of the motorcycle was miraculous and he wished to thank the B.C. man who found it personally, but so far he has only been able to do so on TV.
He said he lost his home and three family members in the tsunami and is now living in temporary accommodation. The motorcycle was being kept at his house in the back section of a cube van that he was using as a storage shed when the tsunami struck.
He said he bought the bike five years ago and some of his fondest memories were of his tours around Japan on it.
When asked if he wanted to say anything to his bike, Yokoyama laughed and and said, "Thanks for coming back buddy," in Japanese.
Drifted 5,000 km to Haida Gwaii
After it was washed out to sea in the tsunami in the makeshift storage container, the motorcycle apparently floated 5,000 kilometres across the Pacific Ocean
It was discovered by Peter Mark, a resident of B.C.'s Haida Gwaii, while he was exploring a remote beach on Graham Island.
Your story
If you live along the B.C. coast and discover debris that may be from the Japanese tsunami, we'd like to post it as part of a special online feature. Send photos to email@example.com.
The bike was rusty, particularly on the wheels and handlebars, but the logo on the fuel tank was unmistakable.
The motorcycle's licence plate showed it was registered in Miyagi Prefecture, and writing on the container matched photos of a commonly used Japanese moving van. Mark also found a few golf clubs, tools and camping equipment in the container.
Miyagi Prefecture, on Japan's east coast was the worst hit part of the country in the tsunami, with more than 11,000 people dead and missing.
Experts estimate more than 1.5 million tonnes of tsunami debris was swept out to sea and is now drifting across the Pacific Ocean toward Canada's West Coast.
The Kuroshio ocean current runs in an almost direct path from Japan's east coast over to North America, passing right by the islands of Haida Gwaii.
Until now only bottles, buoys and other small items have washed ashore, but one unmanned fishing boat was sunk by the U.S. Coast Guard before it reached the West Coast of Alaska last month.


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Looking out to sea I feel her pain on a day like this
A point where the waves splashed over and took some of this back out with it.
A popular section of NH along the ocean "what ocean"you say lol we said the same thing we go to the beach all winter you know that as followers but this day in order to take a ride along the sea and actually see the horizon or waves you would have to climb these snow banks and I was wanting to see it bad enough to try but there was no place to park. This is where hundreds of surfers begin to park on days when the storm surge is crazy see they love crazy lol
I found a spot I could see the sea 🙂
Boy he or she must be hungry with storm after storm 😦
Just driving and shooting so photos could be so much better
Now for a few from Massachusetts
Storm battered summer homes
Much work for us hearty souls who call New England home 🙂