text:
Trevelyan, George Macaulay
Trevelyan, George Macaulay, 1876–1962, English historian; son of Sir George Otto Trevelyan. Educated at Cambridge, he became professor of modern history there in 1927 and was master of Trinity College from 1940 to 1951. He was a master of the so-called literary school of historical writing, and his reaction against
scientifichistory has had tremendous influence. He did not, however, ignore the scientific aspects of historical scholarship; rather he asserted that the historian must elucidate his subject through imaginative speculation, based on all possible evidence, and present it by means of highly developed literary craftsmanship. His most ambitious works are an extended study of Garibaldi (3 vol., 1907–11) and a history of England under Queen Anne (3 vol., 1930–34). He is perhaps better known for his one-volume History of England (1926), his British History in the Nineteenth Century (1922), and England under the Stuarts (1907). Other works include biographies of John Bright (1913), Lord Charles Grey (1920), his father, Sir George Otto Trevelyan (1932), and Lord Grey of Fallodon (1937); The English Revolution, 1688–1689 (1938); English Social History (1942; pub. in an illustrated version in 4 vol., 1949–52); and An Autobiography and Other Essays (1949).
See biography by D. Cannadine (1991); study by J. H. Plumb (1955, repr. 1969).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: British and Irish History: Biographies


text:
MILLVILLE -- Girl Scout Gabriella has a birthday wish, but not for herself.
Gabriella , a member of Troop 54748 in Millville, is more than a month into an effort to collect enough birthday party supplies to brighten that special day for more than 40 area children.
"Birthday-In-A-Box" is the 14-year-old's community project and, if successful, proof that she deserves scouting's Silver Award.
The "box" in the project is a package of party necessities -- from cake mix to a gift.
Gabriella , a Vineland resident, came up with the idea during a visit here to the Holly City Family Success Center.
"My mom has an outreach Girl Scout troop here, where she has meetings with younger girls," Gabriella said. "A lot of times, I'll help her with that. So, I was there and I was talking to one of the girls. I think we were actually leaving and she said, 'It's my birthday.'"
Gabriella said the girl told her she would not be having a party or even a special meal. "That totally wrenched my heart out," she said.
"It also must be a terrible feeling as a parent to know you can't provide that for a child because you don't have the means to make their birthday special," she said.
The encounter gave her an idea for her scouting project, however. In mid-March, she began organizing the drive and recruiting help from other troops and at her school, Bishop Schad Regional School in Vineland.
"I've broken it up where I'll ask different age groups of girls for different things," she said. "Like, I'll ask the Daisies to bring in cake mix. I might ask the Juniors to bring in frosting. And I did the same thing with my school, Bishop Schad. And they've really helped a lot."
Gabriella said she has a $5 limit for the gifts to avoid great disparities in gifts.
The final day for collection is being pushed into June. So far, the collection has brought in enough material to pack about 20 boxes. "Honestly, with the amount of support I'm getting, I'd like to make that much bigger," she said.
The Family Success Center, an operation of Gateway Community Action Partnership, is helping Fusco and acting as a drop-off location for donations. The boxes are coming from a UPS store in Linwood.
Jennifer D'Alessandro, the center's director, said the completed Birthday-In-A-Boxes will be distributed to families that come to the center, as well as at a Gateway center in Bridgeton.
In addition, the boxes will go to a South Jersey Healthcare System center in Vineland.
D'Alessandro said the centers keep useful data on families, including birth dates.
"We send them a birthday card," she said.
Kim Vinnick is a Girl Scout advisor to Gabriella, and her husband owns the UPS store that donated the boxes.
"It's very doable," Vinnick said. "The objects are not very expensive."
Gabriella said the project also should last beyond this year. Her school and its Samaritan Club have agreed to take it on as a continuing effort, she said.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Deloitte presents the 2015 Media Predictions for the Middle East as the official Media Partner at the Arab Media Forum has been saved
Press releases
Deloitte presents the 2015 Media Predictions for the Middle East as the official Media Partner at the Arab Media Forum
Press release
The report reveals the latest trends and emerging issues shaping the TMT industries across the region in the year ahead and beyond.
-Deloitte: Middle East millennials to spend up to US$15 billion on media content
-Deloitte: Online short-form video to represent under three percent of all video watched in the Middle East
-Deloitte: Print is alive and well, at least for books
17 May, 2015 - Deloitte has presented the 2015 Media Predictions for the Middle East at the Arab Media Forum, from its 2015 Technology, Media & Telecommunications Middle East Predictions report, launched in March. The report reveals the latest trends and emerging issues shaping the TMT industries across the region in the year ahead and beyond. Deloitte was named the official Media Partner for the Arab Media Forum.
Deloitte's TMT predictions are built around hundreds of discussions with industry executives, analysts and commentators, along with tens of thousands of consumer interviews. They are tested with clients, industry analysts, and conference attendees, while leveraging Deloitte's international and regional TMT project experience.
"We are very pleased to present Deloitte's Media Predictions for the Middle East at this year's Arab Media Forum event," said Santino Saguto, Consulting Partner and Technology, Media and Telecommunications leader for Deloitte Middle East. "We are grateful to the Government of Dubai Media Office, for honoring us as the official Media Partner for this important event, a key agent in driving forward Media industry developments."
"In some cases the Predictions report seeks to identify the drivers behind major inflection points and milestones, such as the take-off of Digital Islamic Services, for example, and in other cases to explain why we are not expecting fundamental change, such as in the consumption of long-form television, or in print for books," Saguto explained. "We also consider it critical to examine sub-trends, such as the increase, but also disparity, in broadband speeds and smartphone adoption, which are increasingly influencing the way we consume media in the region."
Contrary to other trends and beliefs, Deloitte predicts that the 'generation that won't spend' is actually spending a lot on media content, with millennials in the Middle East anticipated to spend up to US$15 billion on media content in 2015 (around US$120 per millennial, in purchasing power parity terms). High rates of smartphone adoption, broadband, technological advancements and increasing literacy rates play a key role in the growth of media consumption in the Middle East in 2015 and beyond. Despite these advancements however, media spending by millennials in the region is quite low in comparison to more developed markets such as North America.
In relation to television trends predictions, the Deloitte report details how total time spent watching short-form video online in the Middle East in 2015 will represent under three percent of all video watched locally on all screens. On average, the region's viewers will consume an estimated 545 million hours per month, of short-form video (5.5 percent of global short-form estimates) in addition to watching over 23 billion hours per month of traditional long-form television (about 5 percent of global long-form viewership).
In contrast to many industry views, print is not dead, at least for print books, as global sales from print books will be five times the sales of eBooks. In 2015 print will represent more than 80 percent of all book sales in dollars worldwide. In the US, the world's largest book market, the figure is lower at just under 80 percent, but the percentage of print is higher in other developed world countries, and even more so in the developing world. As such, the trend is expected to carry forward into the Middle East. eBooks have not substituted print books in the same way that sales of CDs, print newspapers and magazines have declined. Young people (age 18-34) are as attached to print books as their elders and read at about the same rate than older demographics, and they are willing to pay for them.
To view the whole report, go to: http://www2.deloitte.com/me/tmtpredictions2015
Press contact
Nadine El Hassan
Middle East Public Relations
Deloitte & Touche (M.E.)
Tel: +961 (0) 1 748444
Fax: +961 (0) 1 748999
Click here for the Arabic version
About Deloitte
Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee ("DTTL"), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as "Deloitte Global") does not provide services to clients. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a more detailed description of DTTL and its member firms.
Deloitte provides audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. With a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries and territories, Deloitte brings world-class capabilities and high-quality service to clients, delivering the insights they need to address their most complex business challenges. Deloitte's more than 200,000 professionals are committed to becoming the standard of excellence.
About Deloitte & Touche (M.E.)
Deloitte & Touche (M.E.) is a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) and is the first Arab professional services firm established in the Middle East region with uninterrupted presence since 1926.
Deloitte is among the region's leading professional services firms, providing audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services through 26 offices in 15 countries with more than 3,000 partners, directors and staff. It is a Tier 1 Tax advisor in the GCC region since 2010 (according to the International Tax Review World Tax Rankings). It has received numerous awards in the last few years which include Best Employer in the Middle East, best consulting firm, and the Middle East Training & Development Excellence Award by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).


text:
The Kochs Can't Control the Monster They Created
The billionaire conservatives join the ranks of business interests trying to rein in the populist right, but they're no longer in a position to dictate to the movement.
The government shutdown and looming threat of default have pitted House conservatives against the Republican Party's traditional allies in the business community. Populist Tea Partiers driven by ideology care little for the pleas for sanity from banking lobbyists and the Chamber of Commerce; indeed, they wear their disregard for Big Business as a badge of honor.
Where does that leave the Koch brothers? The billionaire industrialists have funded a sprawling empire of libertarian-conservative activism; they've been dubbed the bankrollers of the Tea Party. Liberals frequently accuse them of seeking deregulatory policies to further their company's financial interests. But what happens when the Tea Party's ideological warfare threatens to plunge the U.S. economy into chaos?
The answer: The Kochs appear to be distancing themselves from the movement they've helped to create. In a letter released Wednesday, Koch Industries' chief lobbyist, Philip Ellender, says the company does not favor the House's push to defund Obamacare as a condition of keeping the government open. Koch Industries would prefer to see Congress focus on fiscal issues: "We believe that Congress should, at a minimum, keep to sequester-level spending guidelines, and develop a plan for more significant and widespread spending reductions in the future," Ellender writes.
Ellender's letter came in response to Democrats' attempts to pin the shutdown on the Kochs. Speaking on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Majority Leader Harry Reid said: "Very rich people in America who don't believe in government have used Obamacare as a conduit to shut down the government .... This has been led by, according to the news article, a former attorney general of the United States, Ed Meese, and the Koch brothers, who have been raising and spending hundreds of millions of dollars to get us where we are right now," Reid said. He added, "By shutting down the government—and that is what has happened—we are satisfying the Koch brothers and Ed Meese, but millions of people in America are suffering." Reid cited a front-page New York Times article on Sunday that traced the government shutdown's origins in a network of right-wing pressure groups opposed to Obamacare, many of them funded by Charles and David Koch.
But Ellender, in his letter, accuses Reid of distorting Koch's stance. "Koch believes that Obamacare will increase deficits, lead to an overall lowering of the standard of health care in America, and raise taxes," he writes. "However, Koch has not taken a position on the legislative tactic of tying the continuing resolution to defunding Obamacrare nor have we lobbied on legislative provisions defunding Obamacare."
In addition to keeping spending at sequester levels, Ellender adds, "We also believe that Congress should work to rein-in rampant government spending so that it becomes no longer necessary to continually raise the debt ceiling."
Even as the Kochs attempt to disavow the defund movement, their money has supported it. The brothers have given half a million dollars to Heritage Action, which toured the country rallying support for defunding Obamacare over the summer, Politico reported Wednesday. Heritage Action continues to insist the way to end the shutdown must be defund or nothing: Talk of a fiscal deal constitutes "losing focus," according to a Heritage Action blog post on Tuesday, and "the House should use its leverage to battle President Obama's failed health care law." The Koch-funded group Americans for Prosperity officially supports repealing Obamacare, not defunding it, but state chapters in New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, and Virginia have voiced support for defunding.
Like others in the business community, the Kochs appear to believe that the push to defund Obamacare is a doomed and destructive distraction and that the Republican-led House should refocus on fiscal issues. A bigger fiscal deal is the goal House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan pushed in a pair of op-eds Wednesday. But it's adamantly opposed by many conservative activists who still see defunding as achievable, and who see the threat of default not as a looming calamity but as a politically motivated ruse. It's this insistence that Obamacare be gutted at all costs, backed by the archconservative faction in the House, that's keeping the shutdown from ending.
The bigger picture here is the continuing splintering of the mainline GOP from its restive, angry base. Many in the Republican establishment hailed the Tea Party when it seemed like merely a source of grassroots enthusiasm for GOP politicians. But now it has turned on them, and even the Koch brothers find they are powerless to stop it.


text:
Clarke Takes Home Honors from Theater Festival
Clarke University students and faculty took home several awards from the American College Theater Festival Region V event held Jan. 19-25 in Lincoln, Neb.Regional awards for Clarke's performance of "Next to Normal" went to assistant professor of music Brian Burns for orchestration and musical direction, and Clarke student Carrie Pieper for stage management.Regional Awards for "Oleanna" went to Clarke professor emerita Carol Blitgen for direction, Clarke associate professor of drama Joe Klinebriel for acting, and Clarke student Mary Zanger for acting.Second place in the load-in/load-out competition went to the company of "Oleanna." Clarke student Ben Graham made the semifinal round of the Irene Ryan Acting Competition. Clarke student Traci Johnson was selected to perform in the Musical Theatre Intensive Showcase.National awards went to Clarke student Adam O'Dell, who took second place in the sound design category for "Oleanna.""The students performed exceedingly well and had a marvelous overall experience," said Ellen Gabrielleschi, professor of drama and chair of Clarke's drama department. "Besides the rigors of taking their production, they attended workshops, seminars, stagecrafts intensives, manned a Clarke table for prospective transfer students, and attended other invited productions."More than 220 productions from the six-state Region V (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota) were entered for consideration. "Oleanna" was one of five selected to be performed at the Region V Festival. The festival is sponsored by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.For more information, contact the Clarke University Marketing and Communication Office at (563)588-6318.Clarke University is a Catholic, liberal arts and sciences university dedicated to preparing students who positively impact their workplace, family and community. Academic offerings include more than 40 undergraduate liberal arts and pre-professional programs, a robust adult degree program and six graduate degree programs. Founded in 1843 by the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Clarke is located near the Mississippi River in the thriving city of Dubuque, Iowa. It is the only BVM university in the country.


text:
Seahorse Layered Design for cutting
This is a DIGITAL file! No physical product will be sent!
This is a vector model of Seahorse. Layered Design for laser cutting (Glowforge, etc.), paper cutting machines (Cricut, Cameo, etc.) and other cutting machines.
Seahorse Design includes AI, PDF, CDR, DXF, EPS, SVG files.
After payment you will get a link for downloading of ZIP-file.
Size of the Seahorse Layered Design: 35x14cm (13.8×5.5″). But you can scale it if necessary.
Number of layers: 8
You can use next materials: Plywood, Wood, MDF, Cardboard, Paper, Plastic, Metal.
Material Thickness: 1 – 6 mm (0.04 – 0.24″)
Please do not hesitate to ask me if you have any questions.
SKU: 26009769593369 Category: Animal & Nature Designs Tags: 3d svg mandala, cricut svg mandala, glowforge 3d svg, Glowforge mandala, layered design for cricut, layered paper cut design, paper cut 3d svg, paper cut mandala, vector file for cricut


text:
The Rays complete the sweep of the Red Sox, widening their first place lead to 3.5 games over the Sox and 7.5 games over the Yankees.
The Oakland A's sign a 16-year-old Dominican, Michael Inoa, to a pretty nice contract, with a $4.25 million signing bonus. Get money. I wonder if I can spawn a 6'7″ hurler.
The Cardinals won on a Troy Glaus walk off HR against some team or other.
According the NY Daily News, A-Rod and his wife Cynthia are splitting up. Get money.
Happy Fourth of July, and enjoy a few Olympic pics (USA, USA!):


text:
Reba, Swift and Brooks among early ACM winners
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Reba McEntire, Taylor Swift and Garth Brooks have won special off-camera Academy of Country Music Awards.
ACMs host McEntire is this year's career achievement winner, Swift won the Jim Reeves International Award for spreading an appreciation of country music around the world and Brooks won the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award with the Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers. The award honors pioneers in the genre.
The awards were announced Tuesday. The ACMs will air live Sunday in Las Vegas on CBS.
Other winners include Tom T. Hall and Hank Cochran (the Poet's Award for songwriting), Paul Worley (producer of the year) and the film "Country Strong" (Tex Ritter Award for use of country music in film).
A complete list of winners is on the Academy's web site.


text:
The strategy cleared a path to power for the Taliban in the Swat Valley, where the government allowed Islamic law to be imposed earlier this month, and it carries broad dangers for the rest of Pakistan, particularly the militants' main goal, the populous heartland of Punjab province.
In Swat, accounts from those who have fled now make clear that the Taliban seized control by pushing out about four dozen landlords who held the most power.
To do so, the militants organised peasants into armed gangs that became their shock troops, according to the residents, government officials and analysts.
The approach allowed the Taliban to offer economic spoils to people frustrated with lax and corrupt government even as the militants imposed a strict form of Islam through terror and intimidation.
"This was a bloody revolution in Swat," said a senior Pakistani official who oversees Swat, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation by the Taliban. "I wouldn't be surprised if it sweeps the established order of Pakistan."
Taliban militants who had seized a district just 60 miles from Pakistan's capital Islamabad began pulling out on Friday after the government warned that it would use force to evict them.
The withdrawal from Buner, if completed, eliminates the most immediate threat, but it is unlikely to quell fears that Islamabad is failing to deal forcefully with Islamist militants slowly expanding into the heart of the nuclear-armed country from lawless areas close to the Afghan border.
The top US military officer said that he was "extremely concerned" by the situation in Buner.
"We're certainly moving closer to the tipping point" where Pakistan could be overtaken by Islamic extremists, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said from Afghanistan, even as reports indicated a pullback was under way.
The Taliban's ability to exploit class divisions adds a new dimension to the insurgency and is raising alarm about the risks to Pakistan, which remains largely feudal.
Unlike India after independence in 1947, Pakistan maintained a narrow landed upper class that kept its vast holdings while its workers remained subservient, the officials and analysts said. Successive Pakistani governments have since failed to provide land reform and even the most basic forms of education and health care. Avenues to advancement for the vast majority of rural poor do not exist.
Analysts and other government officials warn that the strategy executed in Swat is easily transferable to Punjab, saying that the province, where militant groups are already showing strength, is ripe for the same social upheavals that have convulsed Swat and the tribal areas.
Mahboob Mahmood, a Pakistani-American lawyer and former classmate of President Barack Obama, said: "The people of Pakistan are psychologically ready for a revolution."
Sunni militancy is taking advantage of deep class divisions that have long festered in Pakistan, he said. "The militants, for their part, are promising more than just proscriptions on music and schooling," he said. "They are also promising Islamic justice, effective government and economic redistribution."
The Taliban strategy in Swat, an area of 1.3 million people with fertile orchards, vast plots of timber and valuable emerald mines, unfolded in stages over five years, analysts said.
The momentum of the insurgency has built in the past two years, as the Taliban, reinforced by seasoned fighters from the tribal areas with links to al-Qaeda, fought the Pakistani army to a standstill, said a Pakistani intelligence agent who works in the Swat region.
The insurgents struck at any competing point of power: landlords and elected leaders – who were usually the same people – and an underpaid and unmotivated police force, said Khadim Hussain, a linguistics and communications professor at Bahria University in Islamabad, the capital.
At the same time, the Taliban exploited the resentments of the landless tenants, particularly the fact that they had many unresolved cases against their bosses in a slow-moving and corrupt justice system, said Hussain and residents who fled the area.
Their grievances were stoked by a young militant, Maulana Fazlullah, who set up an FM radio station in 2004 to appeal to the disenfranchised. The broadcasts featured easy-to-understand examples using goats, cows, milk and grass.
By 2006, Fazlullah had formed a ragtag force of landless peasants armed by the Taliban, said Hussain and former residents of Swat.
At first, the pressure on the landlords was subtle. One landowner was pressed to take his son out of an English-speaking school offensive to the Taliban. Others were forced to make donations to the Taliban.
Then, in late 2007, Shujaat Ali Khan, the richest of the landowners, his brothers and his son, Jamal Nasir, the mayor of Swat, became targets.
After Shujaat Ali Khan, a senior politician in the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, narrowly missed being killed by a roadside bomb, he fled to London. A brother, Fateh Ali Mohammed, a former senator, left, too, and now lives in Islamabad. Nasir also fled.
Later, the Taliban published a "most wanted" list of 43 prominent names, said Muhammad Sher Khan, a landlord who is a politician with the Pakistan Peoples Party, and whose name was on the list.
All those named were ordered to present themselves to the Taliban courts or risk being killed, he said.
"When you know that they will hang and kill you, how will you dare go back there?" Khan, who is in hiding in Punjab, said in a telephone interview. "Being on the list meant 'Don't come back to Swat.'"
One of the main enforcers of the new order was Ibn-e-Amin, a Taliban commander from the same area as the landowners, called Matta. The fact that Amin came from Matta, and knew who was who there, put even more pressure on the landowners, Hussain said.
According to Pakistani news reports, Amin was arrested in August 2004 on suspicion of having links to al-Qaeda and was released in November 2006. Another Pakistani intelligence agent said Amin often visited a madrasa in North Waziristan, the stronghold of al-Qaeda in the tribal areas, where he apparently received guidance.
Each time the landlords fled, their tenants were rewarded. They were encouraged to cut down the orchard trees and sell the wood for their own profit, the former residents said. Or they were told to pay the rent to the Taliban instead of to their now absentee bosses.
Two emerald mines that were dormant over the past few years have reopened under Taliban control. The militants have announced that they will receive one-third of the revenues.
Since the Taliban fought the Pakistan military to a truce in Swat in February, the militants have deepened their approach and made clear who is in charge.
When provincial government bureaucrats visit Mingora, the capital of Swat, they must now follow the orders of the Taliban and sit on the floor, surrounded by Taliban bearing weapons, and in some cases wearing suicide bomber vests, the senior provincial official said.
In many areas of Swat the Taliban have demanded that each family give up one son for training as a Taliban fighter, said Mohammad Amad, executive director of a nongovernmental group, the Initiative for Development and Empowerment Axis.
A landlord who fled with his family last year said he received a chilling message last week. His tenants called him in Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier province, which includes Swat, to tell him his huge house was being demolished, he said in an interview here.
The most crushing news was about his finances. He had sold his fruit crop in advance, though at a quarter of last year's price.
But even that smaller financial yield would not belong to him, his tenants said, relaying the message from the Taliban. The buyer had been ordered to give the money to the Taliban.


text:
The LG Optimus 3D Max is one of several LG phones to be shown off at MWC 2012 and follows on from the original Optimus 3D delivering a faster, brighter and slimmer handheld 3D experience.
The Optimus 3D Max runs a 1.2GHz dual-core processor accompanied by 1GB of RAM, 4.3-inches 3D WVGA display, 5MP dual-lens 3D camera capable of capturing 720p 3D footage and 1080p 2D footage, 8GB of internal memory and Android 2.3.6 (Gingerbread).
TechRadar was told by Lee Seob Keun, part of the LG Platform Planning Team, that the Optimus 3D Max will hit stores in the UK in 20 days.
To see the 3D capabilities of the LG Optimus 3D Max in action, have a gander at our first look video:
The Optimus 3D Max is slightly on the heavy side thanks to all that 3D technology LG has crammed inside, but it has all been squeezed into a case which is just 9.6mm deep and thus does not feel cumbersome in the hand.
Turn on and the Optimus 3D Max's display springs into life and while LG has made it brighter, it's not the brightest screen we've seen and we're not sure how it would fare in direct sunlight.
The 4.3-inch screen on the Optimus 3D Max is large enough to make viewing apps, webs pages and messages comfortable while not being too big that we found ourselves straining our fingers to reach the far corners.
LG has enhanced the 3D capabilities of the screen delivering a much improved effect and it will reduce the number of headaches which plagued a number of people using the original Optimus 3D.
Rather disappointingly for a next-generation handset the LG Optimus 3D Max comes running Android 2.3.6 (Gingerbread). We were hoping that all top end devices revealed at MWC 2012 would pack the latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich.
Keun said that there are issues with the 3D user interface on Ice Cream Sandwich, but LG is working on it and expects to have an update ready for the Optimus 3D Max by the end of Q2 / the start of Q3 this year.
The Optimus 3D Max does not run as slickly as the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S2 or iPhone 4S as we found a slight lag when scrolling through the 7 home screens and navigating through various apps.
The touchscreen was responsive to our touch and LG's own overlay on Android is simple and does not detract from the user experience on the Optimus 3D Max. Icons have been given a 3D-cube style in 2D mode to remind you that you're using a 3D phone. We found the Optimus 3D Max easy to navigate with the menus and options we've come to expect from the Android OS present on the device.
By pressing the 3D button on the side of the handset you're taken to the 3D menu, offering up options such as the 3D gallery, camera, games, applications and video. The 3D effect works well when face on, but is lost if you are viewing the Optimus 3D Max from the side.
A unique feature on the Optimus 3D Max is the world's first video editing suite on a mobile phone which allows the user to create a movie by selecting 2D and 3D film clips, pictures and audio tracks and adding them to a timeline.
The simple drag and drop interface makes adding, re-ordering and removing sections easy and the Optimus 3D Max delivers a super quick video export function thanks to the 1.2GHz dual-core processor.


text:
You can't expect a university that helped to fund a speaker who downplays the Holocaust and mocks Jewish students before and during his speech to denounce something they have zero relation to ("Rage against the Stool," This Just In, February 3). Northeastern wouldn't even issue an apology after Norman Finkelstein came to speak using our Student Activity Fund — don't look for any miracles here.
Regarding your recent feature on sexism in the literary world ("All (Male) Things Considered," January 27), this is why many writers are self-publishing and using blogs instead of the New York Times and the like to market their books. As a black woman who writes about "non-traditional black stuff," it's even harder. I think there is a new generation of writers who are utilizing social media, literary magazines, and the Internet more than waiting for the Times and NPR to wake up. Plus, I'd rather be reviewed by blogs like White Readers Meet Black Authors or Smart Bitches, Trashy Books than the Times and NPR. They get a lot more traffic and reach a wider audience.
See all articles by:
All Slideshows


text:
Rodeo hogtied; fair board pulls request; will try again next year
A request to have a rodeo and beer tent at the Cheboygan County Fairgrounds the week before the fair has been taken off the table until next year.
The Cheboygan County Fair Board decided at its May 6 meeting to pull its request, which was on the agenda for a decision at Tuesday's meeting of the Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners. Cheboygan County Commissioner Pete Redmond, who is a liaison on the Cheboygan County Fair Board, reported the issue to the Board of Commissioners on Tuesday.
Redmond noted that although the Fair Board was excited about bringing the rodeo to the fairgrounds this year, they decided to hold off due to a scheduling conflict with the Cheboygan Downtown Music Festival, which is also slated for July 26 and July 27, and because it wasn't budgeted as a special event for 2013.
Cheboygan County Fair Manager Dan O'Henley confirmed the Fair Board decision Tuesday.
"Timing was a lot of it," O'Henley said. "It was a little bit late at this point to put it together. We will regroup, and plan for it next year. The Music Festival was already set for that date and has been advertised, and the Fair Board didn't want to take away from any other event in the community. The Fair Board just wants to do things right."
He noted that the Fair Board will budget for the special events it wants to have in 2014, so there are no concerns about the event not making enough money.
"It's better to wait and do it right and have a great turnout, than to do it halfway at the last minute and break even," O'Henley added.
The rodeo had already been approved by county officials at a previous meeting, but the approval was subject to administrative financial review and analysis. According to a report that would have been given at Tuesday's meeting if the event was still planned, a loss was projected, which would have required an appropriation of general fund revenue.
A beer tent request from the Cheboygan Jaycees was also pulled from Tuesday's meeting since it would have taken place in conjunction with the rodeo. County officials had already given an unofficial general consensus that a beer tent would be permitted in this case, but no formal request from any organization to run the tent had been been submitted for official approval prior to this.
Despite some controversy on whether alcohol should be allowed on fairground property, O'Henley said the beer tent played no part in the rodeo event being withdrawn.
"The beer tent was not an issue as far as I know," O'Henley said. "It may have been for a few people, but the county has determined that it is legal and allowed."
Particular concerns have been expressed by Jo Ann (Spies) Behringer, who is a relative of the family who deeded the fairgrounds to the county and argues her family did not want alcohol to be allowed on the grounds. However, alcohol was permitted at the Wanigan Festival several years ago when it was held on fairgrounds property near the DNR boat launch, and county officials have said the event ran smoothly and no problems were reported.
County Administrator Jeff Lawson has assured the Board of Commissioners that no restriction on alcohol exists in the property deed.
"The County Fairground Policy identifies that the sale of alcohol is prohibited during fair week but is permissible outside of fair week subject to approval of the event by the Commission," Lawson has reported previously to the Board. "The sale of alcohol on fairground property has been contested by descendants of the family that donated the fairground property to the county over the years. A review of the deed of the property does not restrict the sale of alcohol on the property, but does have a provision restricting any betting on horse races on the property."
The rodeo event would have been put on by Broken Horn Rodeo, out of Ripley, Ohio, and was going to take place on Saturday, July 27, a week prior to the Cheboygan County Fair. According to a contract from Broken Horn, the rodeo would have included bareback, saddle bronc, bull riding, calf roping, cowgirls' barrel racing, steer wrestling and team roping events.


text:
OK Kids, can you guess what time it is?
Love the old Woody Wagon
Wrestling Tacos!
It's a good day to be red.
Running boards and Everything!
Too Much Money
A selection of blues
An old guy and his Ford
This guy was going for maximum Dork points.
"The Short Bus"
No, really, that's its name.
C Bodies Rule.
I remember how lame I thought these were...
An old Fairlane
I see this car ever year and love it.
Tuff 'Burban
OK, so what color is it?
Cutlass Ragtop
Shaved Riv.
I guess they couldn't find Polyglasses in that size.
Another car we see every year.
Mopar or no car.
Dat's a big 'ol Chebby.
Another bunch of regulars.
Saw a few falcons this year.
I remember these from High School
Mighty big for a cruiser.
Old man and the TBucket.
Hilborn on a Goat.
Red Snake
Rich Corinthian Leather. I can smell it from here.
So awful they're wonderful.
We're just here for the Bitches.
RT. Magnum RT.
Musical Car.
Sometimes I wish still photos had sound.
Both are made of steel I think.
Classic Rod at Woodward.
Turq Merc
29 Model A Roadster
58 Buick Century
For Sale!
Skylark Raggy
Gold Riv
Lemans with period-correct pipes.


text:
A Christmas story…
A cold wind rattled the window frame and whistled through the cracks, lifting the faded cotton curtains like a summer skirt. It was dark outside, but Ruth hadn't noticed, so intent on keeping warm.
The last of the coal was gone, nothing but ebony dust in the scuttle. The embers were nearly cold. Time to go to bed, she thought, at least it would be warmer there.
A loud knock on the front door made her jump, but she made no move to see who was there. It was probably those rotten kids from the Council estate again. They were always knocking on her door and running away.
There was another knock on the door, followed by another. This was unusual, she thought. They didn't usually knock twice. But who else could it be?
Pulling the old knitted shawl closer around her shoulders, she shuffled in her shabby slippers to the front door. She peered through the peephole, but its field of vision was quite small and distorted. But even in the darkness she could see there was no one there. She turned and made her was to the kitchen, thinking a nice cup of cocoa would set her up for a good night's sleep.
As she passed the living room doorway, her mind played the same familiar trick again and she saw Jim, her husband, sitting by a blazing fire. His snow-white hair flopping over his eyes the way it always did. As she opened her mouth to ask if he wanted any cocoa, he slowly vanished; taking the blazing fire with him and her heart sank. She missed him so much, especially at this time of year.
They had never made much of a fuss about Christmas. Something nice for dinner, and maybe some shop bought mince pies. And every year without fail he bought her two white sugar mice. She had confessed her love of them when they were courting and he always managed to find some every year since. This would be her first Christmas without him. She prayed every night that she would be allowed to go to him, but no one was listening and every morning she woke up in an empty bed.
Ruth had no family and no real friends. Days would pass when she wouldn't see or speak to anyone. One of her neighbours would wave if she saw her at the window, but that hadn't happened lately.
Sipping the hot milky cocoa in her chair by the dead fire, she listened intently, hoping to hear the carol singers again, but all was silent. Not even any traffic to prove she was not really so alone.
She sighed and struggled to her feet, intent on rinsing her cup in the kitchen. Just as she reached the hall, a muffled sound from outside the front door drew her attention. Two more knocks, and she moved slowly to have another look. Again, there was no one there; at least she couldn't see anything. But someone had to be out there, for she could hear something.
Then a very small voice said, "She must be asleep," followed by a giggle.
"Knock again, and then we'll give up…"
From where Ruth stood, she could hear small scrabbling noises, moving up the door to the letterbox.
Up close, the door echoed with another knock, accompanied by several giggles. She looked through the peephole again and saw nothing. Convinced she was losing her mind, she turned towards the stairs. The sound of the gate swinging shut stopped her. Someone was there. What on earth did they want at this time of night? Knowing they were probably gone now, she slowly opened the door.
On the doorstep was a small boy, clutching a small pink paper bag that had reindeer on it. Another child, a girl by the looks of it, was swinging on the gate. "I told you she was in," she said, and as she smiled, a dimple appeared on her left cheek.
"These are for you…" the boy said. "Me mum made 'em."
Ruth reached out and slowly touched the paper bag. It had been used before and was wrinkled and soft. He pushed the bag into her hand and let go. Ruth didn't know what to say. What should she say? That it was far too late to be banging on her door? Or would a simple thank you be enough?
But it was no good. The emotions racing through her mind had rendered her dumb. That someone had thought of her and brought a gift, overwhelmed and saddened her in equal measure and her eyes filled with tears.
When Ruth looked up, she noticed the mother, standing just a few feet away on the other side of the hedge. She looked thin and worn out, but somehow peaceful, watching her children with a small smile on her face. "Come on now, you two," she called. "Say good night now."
A chorus of good nights and they were gone, leaving Ruth standing there, suddenly stupid for not saying anything. She should have said something.
As she closed the front door, she wondered what was inside the bag. In the kitchen where the light was better, she opened the crumpled paper and looked inside.
What she saw made her heart leap with unexpected joy.
Inside, lying next to each other, were two white sugar mice…


text:
A Clinical Trial Comparing Cangrelor to Clopidogrel Standard Therapy in Subjects Who Require Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) (CHAMPION PHOENIX) (CHAMPION)
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01156571
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : July 5, 2010
Results First Posted : June 18, 2013
Last Update Posted : February 4, 2014
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- Study Results
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
|Condition or disease
|Atherosclerosis Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Acute Coronary Syndrome
|Drug: cangrelor P2Y12 (platelet) inhibitor Drug: Clopidogrel - 300 or 600 mg (study arm) Drug: Clopidogrel 600 mg post cangrelor
|Phase 3
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Actual Enrollment :
|11145 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Parallel Assignment
|Quadruple (Participant, Care Provider, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|A Clinical Trial Comparing Cangrelor to Clopidogrel Standard of Care Therapy in Subjects Who Require Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (CHAMPION PHOENIX)
|Study Start Date :
|September 2010
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|December 2012
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|December 2012
Experimental: cangrelor
Cangrelor was administered as a 30 µg/kg bolus followed by a 4.0 µg/kg/min cangrelor IV infusion for a minimum of 2 hours or until conclusion of the index procedure, whichever is longer. At the discretion of the treating physician, the infusion could be continued for a total duration of 4 hours.
Following the discontinuation of the cangrelor infusion, 600mg of clopidogrel was administered.
Drug: cangrelor P2Y12 (platelet) inhibitor
Drug: Clopidogrel 600 mg post cangrelor
over-encapsulated clopidogrel (600 mg)
Active Comparator: clopidogrel
Clopidogrel 300 mg or 600 mg administered pre or post PCI. Selection of dose and timing of dose were per investigator discretion.
During the PCI a placebo infusion was given to maintain the blinding of the trial. In addition, placebo capsules were administered at the end of the infusion mimic the 600mg post infusion dose provided in the cangrelor arm.
Drug: Clopidogrel - 300 or 600 mg (study arm)
Over encapsulated tablets.
- The Composite Incidence of All-cause Mortality, Myocardial Infarction (MI), Ischemia-driven Revascularization (IDR) and Stent Thrombosis (ST) [ Time Frame: 48 hours after randomization ]Clinical Events Committee (CEC)-adjudicated results (modified intent-to-treat [mITT] population)
- Individual Incidence of Stent Thrombosis (ST), Death, Myocardial Infarction (MI) and Ischemia-driven Revascularization (IDR) [ Time Frame: 48 hours after randomization ]CEC-adjudicated results (mITT population)
- Incidence of Major/Minor Non-coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG)-Related Hemorrhage by Clinical Relevant Criteria - GUSTO Severe/Life-threatening, Moderate and Mild [ Time Frame: 48 hours after randomization ]GUSTO = Global Utilization of Streptokinase and Tissue Plasminogen Activator for Occluded Coronary Arteries trial
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
Patients may be included in the study if they meet all of the following criteria:
- Male or non-pregnant female at least 18 years of age
Patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI):
- Stable angina (SA) patients with diagnostic coronary angiography within 90 days prior to randomization demonstrating atherosclerosis
- Non-ST-Segment Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome (NSTE-ACS) patients with diagnostic coronary angiography within 72 hours prior to randomization demonstrating atherosclerosis
- ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients (diagnostic angiography not required)
- Provide written informed consent
Exclusion Criteria:
Patients will be excluded from the study if any of the following exclusion criteria apply prior to randomization:
- Receipt of any P2Y12 inhibitor at any time in the 7 days preceding randomization
- Eptifibatide and tirofiban usage within 12 hours preceding randomization (most recent dose must have been administered ≥12 hours prior to randomization)
- Abciximab usage within 7 days preceding randomization
- Receipt of fibrinolytic therapy in the 12 hours preceding randomization
- Increased bleeding risk: ischemic stroke within the last year or any previous hemorrhagic stroke; tumor, cerebral arteriovenous malformation, or intracranial aneurysm; recent (<1 month) trauma or major surgery (including bypass surgery); currently receiving warfarin; active bleeding
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01156571
|United States, South Carolina
|Anderson Area Medical Center
|Anderson, South Carolina, United States, 29621
|Responsible Party:
|The Medicines Company
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|First Posted:
|July 5, 2010 Key Record Dates
|Results First Posted:
|June 18, 2013
|Last Update Posted:
|February 4, 2014
|Last Verified:
|January 2014
Acute Coronary Syndrome
Myocardial Ischemia
Heart Diseases
Cardiovascular Diseases
Vascular Diseases
Arterial Occlusive Diseases
Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors
Purinergic P2Y Receptor Antagonists
Purinergic P2 Receptor Antagonists
Purinergic Antagonists
Purinergic Agents
Neurotransmitter Agents
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
Physiological Effects of Drugs


text:
The logo above was drawn by my latest blog discovery, Kasia Charko. Her name may not be familiar, but I'm betting that you will recognize the work she did for Biba, the London store and mail order company owned by Barbara Hulanicki in the 1960s and 70s. What makes Kasia's blog so good is that she is telling the story of the early 1970s fashion scene in the UK as only an insider could tell it.
Kasia graciously agreed to answer a few questions for me.
1. Tell us about your training as an artist.
2. How did you land the position at Biba?
3. What were your responsibilities there?
4. How did Art Deco become so much a part of the imaging of Biba?
5. How were you personally influenced by the Art Deco movement?
6. After your work at Biba was finished, did you continue to work as an artist?


text:
This authentic vintage tribal Persian Sarab runner is hand-knotted in Persia with an all wool pile on a cotton foundation. There is some very minor wear on the pile, see photos, this rug is in very good condition.
- Pile: Wool
- Foundation: Cotton
- Weave: Hand-Knotted
- Background Color: Red
- Border Color: Ivory
- Other Colors: Blue, Brown, Green, Ivory, Pink
- Size: 3'8" x 10′
- Origin: Persia
- Condition: Very Good
- Age: 40-50 years
One of a Kind
* The images provided are as accurate as possible. Due to the differences in computer monitors, smartphones, and tablets, the colors of the rug may slightly vary.


text:
In a mac os, when I try to run an external exe by the process builder I get the next exception:
ava.io.IOException: Cannot run program "installation/osx/program": error=13, Permission denied
at java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java :460)
at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Runtime.java:593)
at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Runtime.java:431)
at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Runtime.java:328)
In windows I dont this issue, the process is well instantiated. I could I do?
Thanks in advance.


text:
It's pretty clear that by the time Steven Spielberg made Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, he was becoming a different kind of director from the younger man who made Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. By 1989, Spielberg had long chafed at being a magician at kiddie parties. He'd stretched quite a bit with The Color Purple (1985) and Empire of the Sun (1987); whatever else can be said about those films, they're a definite demarcation line between (brilliantly done) juvenilia and (hit-or-miss) grown-up cinema. So when Spielberg reunited with George Lucas and Harrison Ford to make Last Crusade, it's not quite accurate to say his heart wasn't in it. It's more that he was on his way to being the director of Schindler's List, the movie that didn't use Nazis and Hitler as the punchlines of gags. Spielberg was casting around for something that would render this last Indy adventure — well, clearly it was conceived as the last one at the time — relevant to who he'd become. So the movie is all about reconnecting with Dad.
Arnold Spielberg (who turned 91 a few months ago, as I write this in 2008*) was a computer programmer when little Steve was growing up. In the words of Bright Lights Film Journal, Arnold "buried himself in his work and drifted farther and farther from his wife and family." Sounds a lot like Henry Jones, Sr. (Sean Connery), who has nursed a lifelong obsession with the Holy Grail at the expense of his relationship with young Henry Jr. (River Phoenix). In the film's prologue, the teenage Indy, off in Utah with his Boy Scout troop, stumbles upon a group of mercenaries boosting the Cross of Coronado. As is the prologue tradition in Indy films, Indy loses the prize to the thieves, one of whom wears the familiar fedora and leather jacket. We see that this mystery man (Richard Young, who'd played Davy Crockett on an episode of Spielberg's Amazing Stories) gives Indy more validation than his old man ("It can wait. Count to twenty…In Greek").
From there, Spielberg seamlessly cuts to the adult Indy, still chasing after that damn Cross of Coronado. (One wonders how many nearly-acquired artifacts Indy has had a hard-on for over the years.) The action unfolds aboard a ship at stormy sea, and it's probably the first indication that Last Crusade will focus more on character than on action: it's staged rather clumsily. This will be true of just about every other action set piece in the movie — Spielberg simply doesn't mount the sequences with the same unholy kinetic snap that distinguished Raiders and Temple of Doom, which felt like they'd been shot out of a gun and edited with a whip. When Indy is sent by smoothie Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) to find Henry, who has apparently disappeared on the trail of the Grail (like father, like son), one action piece after another is either played as light comedy or, in the case of the boat chase, is allowed to dribble to an anti-climax. (The tank chase near the end has some fine tense moments, but it's too little too late.) Moreover, Indy's new love interest, Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody), has almost no chemistry with him — for retrospectively obvious reasons.
So Last Crusade is a bit of a letdown as an Indy adventure. But it plays like gangbusters as a character comedy starring Harrison Ford and Sean Connery. It often plays as though Spielberg made a third Indy film simply as an excuse to get these two in the same room. Connery as Indiana Jones' dad, of course, is one of the great casting strokes of genius in modern film, and not just because Connery-as-James-Bond was Indy's conceptual dad (the whole shebang started with Spielberg telling Lucas he wanted to direct a 007 flick). Connery brings out a vastly appealing dorky-kid side of Ford we haven't seen before in the Indy films, and Ford parries with Connery angrily yet lovingly. It's a complex and real relationship — Henry's guilt, Indy's resentment. Whenever they're onscreen together, Connery and Ford are on a shared wavelength of mutual disappointment and high tomfoolery ("Junior, the floor is on fire. …Aaand the chair"), an unstable mix that works beautifully.
The rest of the movie occasionally feels tired and schlocky, and not schlocky in a good way. Many have commented bitterly, and rightly so, on how the script reduces Denholm Elliott's Marcus Brody and John Rhys-Davies' Sallah to comic-relief oafs, though Rhys-Davies hits the perfect incredulous pitch with "You are named after the dog? HA HA HA HAAAA." Yes, Indy the icon, the hero, the stud, the brilliant archaeologist and world adventurer, named himself after a dog (actually Lucas' dog). It's sort of apropos, given how Indy ceaselessly digs in the dirt for bones. But the whole movie, starting with the prologue that explains Indy's facial scar, whip preference, and fear of snakes, demythologizes Indy while ultimately sending him off into the sunset, a myth reborn as a flawed son, gullible lover, and humbled archaeologist who, along with his dad, has finally learned that life is about more than the chase.
So the action scenes seem obligatory. The comedy is sometimes too broad, and the movie as a whole feels softer and lighter than what came before (an obvious break from the hysterical darkness and heaviness of Temple of Doom). But when the legends are up there together, all is forgiven. More than simply a valentine to his own dad and an acknowledgment that obsessive fathers deserve some slack (Spielberg, a father himself by that time, could probably relate), Last Crusade is a dream-team tribute to the men whose movie adventures have inspired and enthralled so many.
* As I edit this in 2020, Spielberg pére is, at 103, still processing oxygen.**
**As I revisit this in October 2020, Spielberg pére excused himself in August.


text:
President Barack Obama is throwing his support behind a continued government role in the mortgage market, even as the government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are phased out. Here's what it may mean for residential borrowers: Q: How will this affect mortgage interest rates? A: The president's approach is expected to cause interest rates to rise slightly, because private lenders would assume more risk. But government support would allow homebuyers continued access to the traditional 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage. His proposal is similar to the Senate's Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act, or "Corker-Warner." Q: Are there competing proposals? A: The House of Representatives' Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners (PATH) Act would end any government role in the mortgage industry, turning it all over to the private market. Supporters say this proposal will create a sustainable housing finance system that taxpayers won't ever have to bail out. Critics say it endangers the 30-year mortgage and will cause substantial increases in interest rates. Q: Why would either bill cause interest rates to rise or affect the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage? A: Currently, Fannie and Freddie buy mortgages from lenders, selling some as securities and assuming the risk of default. That allows private lenders to make more loans and charge lower interest rates for them. Under either of the competing proposals, lenders are likely to assume more risk, which will be reflected in interest rates. The support of the government also reduces the risk of making loans with an interest rate fixed for three decades. Obama wants to preserve access to these mortgages. The mortgage industry says the government's support also allows buyers to lock in an interest rate before actually buying a house. Q: What about the Federal Housing Administration, which lends at low interest rates to buyers with less than stellar credit? A: Obama called for strengthening the FHA to keep housing affordable for first-time homebuyers and buyers "trying to climb into the middle class." Q: What's he proposing for homeowners with underwater Fannie or Freddie loans, who can't refinance under current rules? A: He wants to change the rules so that Fannie and Freddie can refinance their mortgages and these struggling borrowers can take advantage of current low interest rates. Q: How will the government role in the mortgage market change under Obama's proposal? A: Currently, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy the vast majority of mortgages, which forced the federal government to cover those mortgages and take over the two companies during the financial crisis. The president wants the two mortgage giants to wind down operations, but presumably the federal government will continue to play a role, albeit smaller, in propping up the 30-year fixed rate. Q: What does the real estate industry say about his proposals? A: Gary Thomas, an Orange County Realtor and president of the National Association of Realtors, called Obama's plan "a good start. Corker-Warner is much better for 30-year loans, and interest rates would probably react pretty conservatively." Q: And the mortgage industry? A: The Mortgage Bankers Association applauded Obama's plan to "primarily rely on private capital" while ensuring the availability of the 30-year fixed rate mortgage. "The president is saying that whatever is created to replace Fannie and Freddie, let's make sure it's got a guarantee that the 30-year fixed rate continues," MBA President David Stevens said.
Mortgage reform effort could drive up interest rates
Start the conversation


text:
Mr.X Blind Items Part Five
9) Which B/C-list foreign born mostly television actor best known for his role on an almost network show which ended a while back was seen making out with a guy at London's infamous Heaven nightclub?
10) What former almost A-list actor whose been in the news lately has privately told some of his friends that he was molested by the former CEO of that company which gave him his start? Might explain a whole lot.


text:
Germany: Member of the United Nations Security Council in 2019-20
On 8 June 2018, Germany was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2019-20 term. This is the sixth time that the country has assumed major responsibility for peace and security in this function.
With its five permanent members and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms, the UN Security Council is the only body whose decisions are binding under international law. Germany last held a non-permanent seat on the Security Council in 2011-12. Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia and South Africa were also elected to non-permanent seats on the Security Council.
Germany's engagement
Germany is already strongly engaged in the United Nations - politically, financially and increasingly also in terms of personnel - as the fourth-largest contributor to the regular and peacekeeping budgets, and as the second-largest donor of humanitarian aid and official development assistance. In addition, Germany has become one of the largest western troop-contributing nations to UN peacekeeping missions.
The Federal Government will be focusing on four key goals during its Security Council membership:
In a globalised world, the international community is being called on more than ever before to work together to address conventional and new security challenges. Germany is a reliable partner in this endeavour. It has contributed both personnel and funding to peace missions for almost 30 years now. Conflict prevention, stabilisation, post conflict peacebuilding and arms control are among the pillars of German foreign policy.
Germany is committed to a functioning, values-based global order. Human rights are the foundation of our global coexistence. Gender equality and the self-determination of all women and girls, social inclusion as well as economic, social and cultural rights are among the fundamental values that Germany is working to promote around the globe each and every day.
A main priority of German foreign policy is climate policy. The legally binding climate agreement negotiated in Paris sets important parameters for a genuinely sustainable energy supply worldwide. As a founding member of the United Nations Environment Programme, Germany shares its wide range of experiences and ambitions as the architect of the energy transition. Equal and high-quality education for all children and young people is another top priority. These are issues that, at first glance, may not appear to be relevant to security, but which are key to peaceful and free societies. There can be no security without access to education and water, or without an intact environment.
Germany is a reliable partner in the world. Partnership is about working together as equals. Moreover, Germany wishes to draw on its experiences to support development. Development policy is an investment in the future in order to create structures, share knowledge and ideas and help people to help themselves. Germany wants and is able to help to give the world a more humane face. This also includes treating refugees justly and humanely. The causes of flight have to be dealt with in the countries of origin. Germany is therefore making a substantial contribution to relief organisations such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme.


text:
Monday, 13 July 2015
My Favorite Comic-Con Moments 2015
So San Diego Comic-Con is over, and there were lots of big announcements and blah-blah-blah Star Wars blah-blah-blah Batman v. Superman blah-blah X-Men Apocalypse blah-blah. You already know all about all of those, so I ain't gunna get into 'em.
These are the things that happened at Comic-Con that I really enjoyed:
Junior Braves of the Apocalypse
A friend of mine had a comic book signing at Comic-Con. I still can't get over that!
A FOOL DOES SOMETHING AWESOME: Congratulations to Michael Tanner, AKA the retired GREEN FOOL (on the right with the…
Posted by Fools Play Improv on Thursday, July 9, 2015
I mean, comicbookresources.com even did previews of this book. Hooray Michael Tanner! I <3 my famous friends.
Conan Goes to Comic-Con
The opening segment of Conan O'Brien's week of shows filmed at Comic-Con was undoubtably the best part:
Joss Whedon's Twist
Now that Joss Whedon is no longer the shepherd of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he has time to do projects for himself for a change! First up: an original comic book about an original character:
Joss Whedon had (unsurprisingly) my favorite single quote of the whole weekend when he described the book:
Basically deals with the most important moral question facing us, which is, why isn't there a Victorian Female Batman? [1]
Steven Universe Extended Theme Song
There was a Steven Universe panel. And this happened:
I made the mistake of watching that during my lunch break at work last week. Fortunately no one else was around, so I didn't have to explain that I was crying about a cartoon.
Marceline Sings!
There was an Adventure Time panel, which also contained Rebecca Sugar, the creator of Steven Universe. See, she worked on Adventure Time before starting Steven Universe, and she wrote a bunch of the most memorable songs for them. And she's written a new song for Marceline. Whose voice actress, Olivia Olson, also just happened to be on the panel. So, y'know, she helped out:
Ash vs Evil Dead
I do believe this speaks for itself. Let me know if you're confused about anything:
And, of course, one of my favorite Instagram accounts: Wrongplayed, that purposefully (and hilariously) misidentifies the various cosplay of the con:
So that's what I enjoyed and/or am looking forward to. How about you?
[1] http://io9.com/joss-whedon-just-explained-the-meaning-of-life-to-us-1717277218
Categories: Cartoons, Celebrities, Comics, Featured Posts, Music, My Famous Friends, News, Round-up, TV, Videos.


text:
More than 26 million watch World Cup final in U.S.
NEW YORK — With an estimated 26.5 million viewers, Sunday's World Cup final stands as the most-watched soccer game in U.S. history.
The Nielsen company said Monday that 17.3 million people watched Germany beat Argentina 1-0 on ABC. An additional 9.2 million tuned in to the game on the Spanish-language Univision network.
That tops the 24.7 million who watched the U.S.-Portugal match earlier in the tournament, and the same number of people who saw the 2010 World Cup final between the Netherlands and Spain. Between well-played games and a time zone compatible with U.S. viewing, both networks were up significantly throughout the tournament from four years ago.


text:
Pam Adams: Catching up with Carol
You'd think her name might come up this election cycle.
With all the talk about a certain rock-star politician from Chicago, you'd think her name might have been mentioned.
When it comes to women, high political office, and 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, you'd think she'd at least get the where-are-they-now treatment.
"I am a recovering politician," Carol Moseley Braun said in a recent telephone interview.
She is, she said, "100 percent out of politics, totally involved in building an organic food product company."
You can argue there's nothing more political than food. What we eat, how it's produced, labeled, transported and commercialized, not to mention what it costs, is the raw meat of governance. The Boston tea party was no party.
Moseley Braun's latest venture - Ambassador Organics, a line of teas, coffee and spices under the umbrella of Good Food Organics - morphed out of her original intent to transform the family farm in Alabama into a sustainable, organic farm after her stint as ambassador to New Zealand ended. Sept. 11, 2001, changed her plans, and the sustainable farm idea turned into a business that blends modern marketing with sustainable farming techniques dating back to a time when dinner came from just beyond the back door and the moon told Mama when to plant.
But . . .
Before Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrat from Illinois, there was Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, the Democrat from Illinois. Before Hillary Clinton's groundbreaking run for president, there was Carol Moseley Braun's somewhat groundbreaking run for president. It was a shortlived campaign in 2004, but she qualified for the ballot in 21 states and the District of Columbia, more than any woman before and until Hillary Clinton.
And before 2004 there was 1992, the year Moseley Braun, on the shoulders of a broad, bipartisan, biracial coalition, shook up Illinois politics by defeating long-time incumbent Alan Dixon in the primary and went on to win a U.S. Senate seat. You may recall she was the first black woman ever elected to the Senate, the first black senator elected as a Democrat, and the first female senator from Illinois.
(I am still amazed that the country has only elected five black senators ever, two of them from Illinois, and that one of them might be president.)
With her historic Senate win, Moseley Braun became a symbol of pride and progress, attracting cheering, multiracial crowds throughout the country. It was a big deal, as it should have been, for a former state legislator and Cook County recorder of deeds elected from the south side of Chicago, as it is now for another former state legislator elected from the south side of Chicago.
Hers turned out to be a one-term affair, doomed as much by extraordinarily high expectations as the extraordinary level of scrutiny she encountered as a freshman senator. Much of the controversy and criticism she garnered for questionable activities, some of it fair, some of it not, turns out to be tame compared to the scandals some of her congressional colleagues, not to mention the Bush administration, have survived.
Past controversies aside, party unity is the main-course issue at this week's Democratic National Convention. Moseley Braun's issue is biodynamic farming, a sustainable farming technique that stresses the union between food, body, spirit and farming.
Biodynamic farming is sometimes called authentic organic farming. "Everything on the farm is treated as one unit," she explains, "with particular attention paid to the quality of the soil and the quality of the water. The idea is the whole farm is a complete organism."
Products the company currently sells are grown on biodynamic farms in Sri Lanka, India and Mexico. Moseley Braun wants to see biodynamic farming expand in the United States and see more locally produced biodynamic products on the market. She knows that's going to take education and a change in attitude, from the ground up to more government support for sustainable agriculture.
"That's not just politics, that's policy, and I remain very interested in policy."
Pam Adams can be reached email@example.com.


text:
Negative Leakage
Filed Under (Environmental Policy, U.S. Fiscal Policy) by Don Fullerton on Apr 20, 2012
What is that, a gastrointestinal disorder? No, it's the title of one of my recent research papers (joint with Dan Karney and Kathy Baylis) about unilateral efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). When worldwide agreement is not possible, then the question is whether GHG abatement policy might be implemented by only one country, or bloc of countries (or region or sector). The fear of any one country or bloc is that they would only raise their own cost of production, make themselves less competitive, and lose business to firms in other countries that may increase production and emissions. When only one country limits their emissions, any positive effect on emissions elsewhere is called "leakage".
Yes, that's a word in economics, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leakage .
In efforts to "abate" or to reduce GHG emissions, the fear of lost business has pretty much deterred any attempt at unilateral climate policy. That positive leakage might be called a "terms of trade effect" (TTE), because unilateral policy raises the price of exports and reduces the price of imports. But our recent research paper points out a major effect that could offset part of that positive leakage. The "negative leakage" term in the equation might be called an "abatement resource effect" (ARE). That is, one additional thing happening is that the domestic firms face higher costs of their emissions, and so they want to substitute away from GHG emissions and instead use other resources for abatement – such as windmills, solar cells, energy efficient machinery, hybrids, electric cars, and even "carbon capture and sequestration" (CCS). Thus they have at least SOME incentive to draw resources AWAY from other sectors or other countries. If that effect is large, the result might shrink those other sectors' operations overall, and thus possibly SHRINK emissions elsewhere.
I don't mean to oversell this idea, because it probably does not completely offset the usual positive "terms of trade effect". But in some circumstances it COULD be large, and it COULD result in net negative leakage. The best example is probably to think about a tax or permit price for carbon emissions only in the electricity generating sector, within one country. For simplicity, suppose there's no trade with any other countries, so the only choice for consumers in this country is how much to spend on "electricity" and how much to spend on "all other goods". Demand for electricity is usually thought to be inelastic, which means consumers buy almost the same amount even as the price rises. If firms need to produce almost as much electricity, while substantially reducing their GHG emissions, they must invest a lot of labor AND capital into windmills, solar panels, and CCS. With any given total number of workers and investment dollars in the economy, then fewer resources are used to produce "all other goods".
The ability of consumers to substitute between the two goods (electricity vs "all other") is called the "elasticity of substitution in utility." The ability of firms to substitute between GHG emissions and those OTHER inputs is called the "elasticity of substitution in production". If the former is bigger than the latter, then net leakage is positive. If the latter is bigger than the former, then net leakage can be negative.
Okay, too technical. But the point is that other researchers have missed this "abatement resource effect" and overstated the likely positive effect on leakage. And that omission has led to overstated fears about the bad effects of unilateral carbon policy. What we show is that those fears are overstated, in some cases, where leakage may not be that bad. With some concentration on those favorable cases, one country might be able to undertake some good for the world without fear that they just lose business to other sectors.


text:
This article is more than 1 year old
Tasmanian devil whirling onto endangered list
Dubious accolade hoped to help in face cancer fight
The luckless Tasmanian devil is to be added to the official list of endangered species in a move intended to save it from extinction, The Times reports.
Tasmania's top carnivore since the human-assisted wipeout of the thylacine in the 1930s is under severe threat from a communicable face cancer, unique to the species. Australian environment minister Peter Garrett said that the official 'endangered' stamp will give the beasts a better chance, as it affords greater protection under national environment law.
The devil population has dived by 70 per cent* since the first emergence of the grotesque inbreeding-augmented cancer 13 years ago.
Efforts are being made to curtail the spread of the cancer, but lack of funding and somewhat of a paucity of give-a-damn from the Tasmanian government together with the extraordinary efficiency of the disease have hampered progress. $10m Australian dollars (£5m) over five years has been thrown at the problem, and insurance breeding programs are ongoing to preserve a healthy population.
It is feared the marsupial carnivore may be extinct within 25 years, leaving foxes, feral cats and stray dogs to scrap over the mantle of food chain supremo. That is unless the planned gorilla introduction program comes to fruition.**
Keep it Reg for your continuing obscure emperilled fighty creature health updates. ®
*Far be it from us to snipe at the errors of other outlets, but we must take issue with the insistence of the Times that the population has been 'decimated'. Because strictly speaking, it hasn't. Anyone who can correctly express the percentage decline in a single word will win a wallaby.
**Our sources say this is in fact highly unlikely.


text:
Washington (CNN) – Supporters of the Senate immigration bill's path to citizenship are blasting comments Iowa Rep. Steve King made last week where he said that for every young undocumented immigrant who is a school valedictorian, 100 more are "hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert."
King made the comments in an interview Thursday with conservative news organization Newsmax. They were in response to criticism from anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist, himself a supporter of the Senate immigration overhaul.
The controversial comments focused specifically on so-called DREAMers, advocates for a path to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants, especially those with strong school records, who were brought to the United States by their parents. King acknowledged that there are undocumented immigrants for whom he has sympathy, with strong connections to the community and exemplary school performance.
"But they aren't all valedictorians, they weren't all brought by their parents," King said.
"For everyone who's a valedictorian there's another 100 out there that, they weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. Those people would be legalized with the same act."
Senior White House advisor Dan Pfeiffer went after King's comments in a Tweet Tuesday afternoon. "Every member of the GOP should condemn Rep King for comparing the Dreamers to drug mules, they represent what is great about this country," he said.
And House Speaker John Boehner, a fellow Republican, chastised King, saying, "What he said is wrong. There can be honest disagreements about policy without using hateful language. Everyone needs to remember that."
In an interview set to air on Piers Morgan Saturday, King told guest host Morgan Spurlock that he stood by his comments.
"Of course I do. It's utterly true, and I haven't found anybody who came up with a competing number," he said. "Certainly I pulled 100 out of a hat, but I think that's probably a low number."
Earlier in the Newsmax interview, King lashed out at voices who have called him anti-immigrant. "There isn't anyone that can fairly characterize me as anti-immigrant," the Republican said.
"They're conflating the terms anti-illegal immigrant and anti-immigrant."
Even before the drug-running comments surfaced, the six-term Congressman has been defending himself against accusations of racism against immigrants. In an interview Sunday with Univision, he disputed allegations that he compared immigrants to dogs at a 2012 event in Iowa.
King has been critical of the path to citizenship in the Senate-passed immigration bill, calling it amnesty. That bipartisan bill passed the Senate by a 68-32 vote in June but has faced uncertain prospects in the Republican-controlled House.
House Republicans have vowed not to take up the Senate bill, instead preferring their own version with stronger border control provisions and without a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants estimated to be living in the United States.
Immigration's prospects in House still not clear
It was King who proposed legislation passed by the House of Representatives in June that moved to end an Obama Administration policy deferring deportation for some young undocumented immigrants.
The GOP Hispanic outreach continues to over reach.
There are better ways to call attention to the immigration problem. Insulting people by calling them all drug mules just shows that he is unaware of the full problem. There are people who are, but many aren't anything but trying to make their way in the world.
He's just thinking out loud. If only the rest of his GOP colleagues had the guts to really say what they think then we could be done with this.
What is not true about that statement?
He is 100% correct. We need to put all of these illegal scum on trains and send them back where they came from.
Well, Here is one more Republican Gasbag making up "facts". Where would he get the data to support his assertion? Does anyone with an ounce of common sense think that some organization is keeping a database that compares valedictorians to drug runners? Of course not. There is a wonderful Yiddish slang word that applies to Steve King – "schmendrick". the people who elect him should get counseling for supporting such a dope.
The message may not be put in a way that suits people but the future burden on the economy with large families and disability can be seen when Regan gave amnesty to 3 million illegals. I do not predict but the economy will go bankrupt
Unbelievable. It's hard to fathom that someone that ignorant could manage to dress himself each morning much less serve as a representative in our government. Absolutely pathetic. I hope video of his comments is running on a continuous loop on Univision – you know Univision – the highest rated station in July.


text:
Video analytics startup Prism Skylabs announced today that it has raised $15 million in Series B funding.
The company launched at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2011 (co-founder Ron Palmeri is also co-founder of MkII Ventures and Layer, which took the top prize at the most recent Disrupt). It says it can use footage from existing security cameras to provide retailers and other businesses with "web-style analytics".
For example, the company says it can provide graphics showing footpaths through the store, heat maps of customer interest, and customer counts and conversion. It supposedly works with more than 80 customers.
The new funding was led by Intel Capital, with participation from Presidio Ventures, Triangle Peak, Data Collective and Expa. Prism Skylabs last raised a $7.5 million Series A. (Past investors include CrunchFund, which, like TechCrunch, was founded by Michael Arrington.)


text:
– 12 oz chopped white chocolate (use Lindt bars)
– 1 cup creamy peanut butter (use Squirrel Brand)
– 3 cups crisp rice cereal
– 1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
– 1/3 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1. Lightly grease an 8-by-8-inch square baking pan. Alternatively, line with lightly greased parchment paper. This recipe can easily be doubled to fit a 13-by-9-inch baking pan.
2. In microwave-safe bowl, melt the white chocolate bars (broken up) in the microwave on medium powder for 30 seconds. Stir and heat for an additional 1 to 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until the chocolate is melted.
3. Add the peanut butter to the melted chocolate and stir until smooth.
4. Place the rice cereal in a large bowl. Pour over melted chocolate mixture and gently toss until completely coated. Continue to stir until the mixture is no longer warm to the touch, about 10 minutes.
5. When the cereal mixture has cooled, fold in the marshmallows and 1/3 cup of the mini chips.
6. Spread into prepared pan, compressing lightly with the back of your spoon. Don't press too hard or you'll crush the cereal. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips and a handful of marshmallows and press lightly to adhere.
7. Refrigerate until set, at least 30 minutes, then cut into 2-inch squares and serve. Bars will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 5 days.


text:
Oh Dog! Today for Christmas I'm sharing a song I wrote several years ago. It's sung to the tune of White Christmas, written by Irving Berlin.
I'm dreaming of a snow-covered landscape
Just like past winters don't ya know,
when it didn't stop snowing,
No grass was showing,
The ground was frozen to the core.
I'm dreaming of rolling in snowbanks
and licking ice from off the deck.
Oh to run and play and frolic
On a day that's not hotter than heck!


text:
Financial Freedom Seminar
Facing financial pressures or simply trying to avoid problems? Interested in what the Bible has to say about finances?
This 16-hour video seminar, taught by Jim Sammons, has helped thousands of people avoid financial disaster as they have understood what the Bible teaches about money and and have begun to apply those principles in their lives.
Jim explains universal financial principles from God's Word and uses down to earth illustrations from his own life. The seminar gives practical training on topics such as:
- What it really means to be financially free.
- God's four purposes for money.
- Identifying and rejecting false financial concepts.
- Establishing the tithe as a "weekly reminder."
- Learning to live within your income.
- Developing sales resistance.
- How to get the best buy.
- Reasons to avoid business partnerships.
- And much more!


text:
Catholic Relief Services vs. Malaria: The Real Issue
By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Jul 22, 2013
Catholic Relief Services has once again set off alarm bells in the pro-life community, this time by granting $2.8 million to Population Services International to fight malaria, even though PSI's primary purpose, as the name suggests, is to control population through contraception and "safe abortion". Our Catholic World News report provides considerable detail and a number of related links. But the questions raised by this story are not easy to answer.
Highly-respected and experienced pro-life organizations like the American Life League, Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, Human Life International, the Population Research Institute, and LifeSite News have been sharply critical of CRS. CRS counters that the grant is strictly tied to fighting malaria, that by contract it cannot be used for PSI's other purposes, and that PSI was chosen not by CRS but by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is the ultimate source of the funds. In other words, again, the reality is complex.
The Fungibility Test
One aspect of this complex reality is what we may call the fungibility test. The spokesman for CRS argued that "some will say that all money is fungible, but that is not true. There are very tight controls over the money to ensure it only goes toward the malaria program in Guinea." Unfortunately, this argument does not really address the question of fungibility. A resource is fungible, like grain, if it doesn't matter which instance of the resource is used for a particular purpose. If I purchase an automobile, I expect to receive the automobile I personally chose. If I purchase a hundred bushels of grain, I do not care at all whether my hundred bushels come from the grain silo I happened to be looking at when I placed my order. In the same way, people do not care which money they receive, as long as they receive the right amount.
As a medium of exchange, money is intrinsically fungible, and restrictions on the use of funds will be significant only if the availability of funds in one area does not free up other funds for use in other areas. Organizations which live by fundraising, including CatholicCulture.org, face this issue all the time. If we raise funds for a specific purpose (or receive a grant for a specific purpose), we are morally obligated to use the proper amount of money for that purpose. But this means that we will not have to use general funds for that purpose, which ultimately means that more general funds will be available to meet the rest of the budget.
Sometimes an organization will receive a grant for a one-time project that it would not otherwise have done. This project is not part of the budget; in the absence of the grant, the project will not be performed. In an unusual case such as this, the fungibility argument has very limited applicability. But as soon as a particular kind of project becomes a regular part of an organization's mode of operation—with the revenue raised for this kind of project sustaining the organization, its staff, and its facilities—a grant for a special purpose helps the organization in question to maintain itself as the kind of organization it is, freeing other funds for other aspects of its mission. And in this far more common situation, the fungibility argument has a definite application. Controlled funding becomes almost meaningless.
Thus I am not convinced by the CRS emphasis on non-fungibility.
Who's Available?
But wait. The fungibility argument is only one part of the moral dilemma associated with funding organizations which engage in immoral activities, and it is not at all the most important one. A more important question is: What organizations are available to undertake the project? In the present case, fighting malaria is a highly moral purpose and a pressing need. A sizeable chunk of money is available to address this need. How many organizations are available, on the ground, to implement the required program? The CRS decision was further complicated by the manner in which grant recipients were chosen, but prescinding from that issue for the moment, using an organization which pursues some immoral purposes to effect this particular moral purpose would not ordinarily be immoral if there is no reasonable alternative.
In a world in which the dominant financial culture approves of contraception, sterilization, and abortion as normal and desirable features of psychological, physical and even planetary health, it will sometimes be as hard to find unobjectionable organizations to implement good programs as it is to purchase legitimate medical services from a doctor or pharmacist who is morally unobjectionable with respect to these same practices.
What is most often at stake is the kind of remote material cooperation with evil which is inescapable for anyone living and operating in the world. We may not directly fund evil, and we may not provide even a small indirect support of evil because we desire the evil (which would be formal cooperation). But generally an indirect support of (or cooperation with) evil in the course of pursuing perfectly good aims in an imperfect world is not only inescapable but morally acceptable. Our Heavenly Father "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Mt 5:45), yet we may pray as needed for both fair weather and rain.
Therefore, paradoxically, neither am I convinced that the pro-life critique of CRS is, in this case, well-founded.
Controlling the Pipeline
But I ask the reader to wait again. As I mentioned, the CRS dilemma in this case is complicated by the fact that the organization which is the source of the funds also chose Population Services International to be the ultimate grant recipient in Guinea. Perhaps less objectionable organizations, equally competent in this area, were readily available; if so, the nature of the arrangement did not permit CRS to choose one of them. Apparently we are dealing with massive funds provided by several different governments and administered through Catholic Relief Services, which has an excellent presence in most world regions. Some of these funds come with strings attached.
Quite apart from whether the use of PSI in this case is morally acceptable, it is the continuing reliance of Catholic Relief Services on government funds which is not only the elephant in the room, but the wooly mammoth. I have insisted repeatedly that Catholics cannot put themselves in the position of passing out grants and providing services which are funded, and therefore controlled, by others, especially the State. Catholics have their own international organization, the Church, with its own moral principles. The Church has dedicated personnel capable of reaching anywhere Catholic action is permitted, and some places where it is not permitted. The Church should control her own pipeline of funding and activity from beginning to end.
Catholic charitable work, which was explained and clarified very recently in Pope Benedict XVI's 2006 encyclical Deus Caritas Est (especially sections 31-39), must always be directed toward the whole person, in all his dimensions, including the all-important moral and spiritual dimensions. This requires a formation of the heart in Christ. For this reason, Catholic charitable organizations "ought to do everything in their power to provide the resources and above all the personnel needed for this work" (31a). While they should be well-disposed to work in harmony with other organizations, this must be done "in a way that respects what is distinctive about the service which Christ requested of his disciples" (34).
Over the past few years, the Church has tried to stimulate a genuine renewal of her social services. Catholic Relief Services appears to be striving toward this same end (see, for example, its renewed commitment to natural family planning). But there is a long way to go. Catholic charity cannot allow itself to be shaped by the secular State, or by the half-truths which a secular culture applies to every human problem. In the end, no Catholic charitable institution can purify its mission without both weaning itself from government funds and using properly-formed Catholic personnel to do the actual work.
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
Posted by: -
Jul. 24, 2013 6:17 PM ET USA
Come on, you must be joking. Get the $2.8 million back. Ridiculous, scandalous, bizarre.
Posted by: -
Jul. 24, 2013 6:15 PM ET USA
We trust the murderers of babies to put the money toward malaria? REALLY? Why not start a catholic malaria organization? There is no excuse for this crap. It is just absurd.
Posted by: -
Jul. 23, 2013 10:17 AM ET USA
Come on, Dr. Jeff, toughen up and call a spade a spade. From your first paragraph I knew that the fungibility issue was the controlling influence to this story, but I read the whole thing to learn some of the details. And it dawned on me that with all the Church's reach, and the availability of numerous organizations run by our separated brethern, CRS still chose to unite with Satan? In the end, none of the details mattered, and your last paragraph told me so. The answer WAS easy after all.