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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher is one of five co-principal investigators in a new collaborative network created to study genetic determinants of Barrett's esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma.
Nicholas J. Shaheen, MD, MPH, professor in the UNC School of Medicine, adjunct professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and director of the UNC Center for Esophageal Diseases and Swallowing, will co-direct these Barrett's Esophagus Translational Research Network (BETRNet) projects. Shaheen is also a member of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The BETRNet is funded by a $5.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The other co-principal investigators of this BETRNet consortium are Dr. Amitabh Chak, professor of medicine at the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine, Dr. Sanford Markowitz, Ingalls Professor of Cancer Genetics at the CWRU School of Medicine, Dr. Nathan A. Berger, Hanna-Payne Professor of Experimental Medicine at CWRU, Dr. Robert Elston, Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at CWRU, and Dr. William Grady, Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
"Collaborations such as these between basic and translational scientists and clinical researchers will be essential to unravel the complex interplay between environmental and genetic influences on cancer development," said Shaheen.
Roy C. Orlando, MD, Mary Kay & Eugene Bozymski and Linda & William Heizer distinguished professor of gastroenterology and adjunct professor of cell and molecular physiology at UNC, is also a member of the BETRNet faculty.
Although the rate of many common cancers has declined in recent years, the rate of esophageal cancer has increased greater than six-fold over the past three decades. The prognosis for this cancer remains poor, accounting for over 1 in 50 adult male cancer-related deaths. Though Barrett's esophagus, a precursor of esophageal cancer, can be easily recognized at endoscopy, current medical strategies of performing endoscopy based on the close association of Barrett's with chronic heartburn in adults are very inadequate. Nearly 40 percent of patients who develop esophageal cancer have no preceding symptoms of heartburn, and most people with heartburn never have endoscopy. Less than 5 percent of cancers are diagnosed at an early stage in patients whose Barrett's was recognized prior to cancer diagnosis.
The BETRNet projects include discovery of genes that cause Barrett's esophagus to run in certain families, genes that become targets of DNA methylation in Barrett's and in esophageal cancers, and genes that are either turned on or turned off in Barrett's esophagus and in esophageal cancers. The overall aims of the network are to develop new methods of identifying individuals at risk for Barrett's esophagus, early detection of Barrett's and esophageal cancers, and monitoring Barrett's esophagus to recognize when it is likely to progress to cancer.


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Hi everyone,
I've been a user of mRemoteNG for years now but since the last three years, I've been working for an enterprise of over 35k users. I have so much connections to deal with now that I can't keep up with all of mRemoteNG quirks.. so it's time to move back to RDCMan. More limited but more stable. Furthermore, the security team has been hounding me for months now because mRemoteNG stores password with an easy to break encryption scheme.
I was wondering if anyone took this route and successfully imported the hundreds of RDP connections into RDCMan..

subset: commoncrawl


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Frozen: Cold Weather Shuts Down Large Portion Of U.S., Causes Power Outages, Disrupts Travel
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Frigid air that snapped decades-old records will make venturing outside dangerous for a second straight day, this time spreading to southern and eastern parts of the U.S. and keeping many schools and businesses shuttered. Meanwhile, residents driven from their homes by power outages in the Midwest worried about burst pipes.
Monday's subzero temperatures broke records in Chicago, which set a record for the date at minus 16, and Fort Wayne, Ind., where the mercury fell to 13 below. Records also fell in Oklahoma and Texas, and wind chills across the region were 40 below and colder. Officials in states like Indiana already struggling with high winds and more than a foot of snow urged residents to stay home if they could.
"The cold is the real killer here," Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard said Monday as he asked schools and businesses to remain closed another day. "In 10 minutes you could be dead without the proper clothes."
The polar air will next invade the East and South on Tuesday, bringing with it the prospect of more records falling. Highs in the single digits were expected in Georgia and Alabama, and wind chill warnings stretched as far south as Florida, with forecasts calling for minus 10 in Atlanta and minus 12 in Baltimore.
In downtown Louisville, Ky., where wind chills dropped to 22 below zero Monday, John Tyler gathered with friends at a McDonald's. The self-described homeless man spent Sunday night sleeping on the street.
Dressed in a sweatshirt, two coats and a black woolen cap, Tyler said there's no way to adequately prepare for this kind of cold.
"How we're dealing with it? You can't deal with it," Tyler said. "There's no way you can deal with it."
Forecasters said some 187 million people in all could feel the effects of the "polar vortex" by the time it spreads across the country. Tennessee utility officials braced for near-record power demand, while Ohio prepared for its coldest temperatures in decades.
PJM Interconnection, who operates the power grid supplying energy to more than 61 million people in parts of the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and South, has asked users to conserve electricity Tuesday because of the cold, especially in the morning and late afternoon.
Recovery will be the focus in several Midwestern states Tuesday, since the subzero cold followed inches of snow and high winds that made traveling treacherous — especially on interstates in Indiana and Illinois — and was being blamed for numerous deaths in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence issued disaster declarations, paving the way to request federal aid.
More than 30,000 customers in Indiana were without power late Monday night. Utility crews worked to restore electricity as temperatures plunged into the negative teens, but officials cautioned some people could be in the cold and dark for days.
"My kids are ready to go home, and I'm ready too," said 41-year-old Timolyn Johnson-Fitzgerald, of Indianapolis, who faced a second night sleeping on cots at a Red Cross shelter with her three children, ages 11, 15, and 18.
More than 500 Amtrak passengers spent the night on three stopped trains headed for Chicago because of blowing and drifting snow in north-central Illinois. A spokesman said the trains — coming from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Quincy, Ill. — are operating on tracks owned by BNSF railroad and crews are working to reopen the tracks.
Bob Oravec, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Md., said the blast of frigid air raised concerns that roads wet from melted snow would freeze over.
"In Maryland, we lost a lot of the snowpack and a lot of water is draining off, and the temperatures are dropping fast," Oravec said.
But there are signs things are returning to normal.
JetBlue Airways, which stopped all scheduled flights to and from New York and Boston on Monday, planned to resume some flights Tuesday morning. Southwest Airlines operations in Chicago resumed Monday night, even if it was, as a spokesman for the Texas-based airline called it, "a trickle."
The Minnesota Zoo announced it would reopen to the public Tuesday. State lawmakers in Indiana planned to kick off their 2014 legislative session after a day's postponement.
And warmer temperatures — at least, near or above freezing — are in store for the Midwest. Indianapolis should reach 27 degrees on Wednesday, and other parts of the central U.S. could climb above freezing later in the week.
Even International Falls, Minn., had something to look forward to. Wind chills dropped as low as -55 Monday, but were expected to rebound to 25 below Tuesday. By Friday, the low was expected to be 5 to 10 above zero, Oravec said.
Until then, take advice for dealing with frostbite- and hypothermia-inducing cold from Anthony Bickham in St. Paul, Minn., who jumped around while waiting for the bus Monday.
"You gotta keep it moving," Bickham said. "Stay warm at ... all costs, you know."


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Originally from Yorkshire, Giles studied art foundation at Sheffield before moving to the South West to study illustration and graphic Design at Exeter College of Art.
Experimentation is at the heart of Giles' painting. Working pre-dominantly in oils his canvases take on other-worldly textures with the addition of acrylics, pen, inks, varnishes and anything else he can lay his hands on.
Also a sculptor, photographer and published novelist Giles is a passionate advocate of the creative arts.
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UPDATE: I fully support Gov. Martinez, and though I disagreed with her position on this bill, I am dedicated to reelecting her as Governor. She has fought corruption in our state, worked to keep us financially stable and has protected the traditional values which make our state great.
* * *
What is Governor Susana Martinez thinking?
SANTA FE — Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican who who has courted the pro-gun vote, said Monday that she supports a compromise bill that would require background checks on people who buy guns at gun shows.
Asked by a reporter about House Bill 77, which passed the House Judiciary Committee Friday on a bi-partisan vote, Martinez said, "I think I could support it if it stays the way it is." She said she likes the bill because it would help in "keeping the guns out of the hands who people who don't have any business having guns."
Said Martinez, "We want to make sure that guns aren't sold to a felon or someone who's mentally ill at a gun show."
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Miguel Garcia, D-Albuquerque, will be debated by the full House on Wednesday, Feb. 13, said a news release from House Democrats. If it passes there, it still must go through the Senate before it reaches the governor's desk.
Martinez said a major reason she backs the bill in its current form is that it would establish a procedure to align the state's mental health and criminal conviction records with the federal instant background check system.
The law currently requires background checks for gun purchases from licensed dealers, whether at retail stores or gun shows. However, bill supporters say that a significant number of gun sales in the state do not require background checks.
When I supported Martinez in 2010, it was because of her agreement with issues I held dear. A value for life and the traditionally defined family, our freedoms and a determination to end corruption.
In 2010 we were still being governed by a very corrupt administration under Bill Richardson. After eight years in Santa Fe as governor, Richardson was leaving and planning to pass the reigns on to his Lieutenant Governor, Diane Denish. Eager for a chance at ending corruption and excited with the idea of the nation's first Hispanic female governor, New Mexicans selected Martinez from the five Republican choices, and again embraced Martinez in November sending her to Santa Fe.
A couple years before, Richardson had run for president, becoming the only presidential candidate to ever be endorsed in a primary by the National Rifle Association. Following the New Mexican tradition, Richardson supported the second amendment. Democratic legislators have carried out their constituents desires over that of their political party, and in the past we have had many conservative Democrats in the Roundhouse.
On the campaign trail Martinez would proudly tell the story of her first job, working for her father's security company. If that wasn't enough Martinez husband, Chuck Franco an under-Sheriff for Dona Ana County at the time, always functioned as her security guard which was evident by his well-armed presence at each events I attended. Martinez even warned CNN she was had a permit and was carrying. Martinez is a Republican and someone who values the second amendment in a state where many traditional Hispanic Democrats even respect this right…so why is she going against New Mexicans and playing lip service to this legislation which cripples our rights?
HB-77 would, in it's present state, require gun show registration and background checks on nearly all firearms. Our state does not need this.
Perhaps the NRA explained the legislation best:
The most recent version of HB 77, which the House Judiciary Committee ultimately approved, calls for organizers or promoters of gun shows in New Mexico to provide the services of an FFL to process background checks for private firearm transfers, which would now be required at these events (except if the transfer is to a New Mexico concealed handgun licensee). It provides immunity from liability to the transferor and the FFL for complying with this requirement. It requires mental health records that would disqualify someone from being able to purchase or possess firearms to be reported to the FBI for inclusion in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and establishes a process for restoration of rights if the disqualifying condition is removed. Make no mistake, this legislation isn't just about banning private sales at gun shows. This is the first step toward criminalizing ALL private firearm transfers, even between family and friends, in New Mexico.
There is absolutely no way to completely ensure that criminals will not get guns through legal channels until ALL guns are registered. And this can't be done without throwing away our Second Amendment. Even then law-breakers will still get guns because…they are law-breakers.
* * *
HB-77 may be found and tracked on the New Mexico legislature site here. If you wish to contact members of the New Mexico legislature, you can look them up here. The best ways to influence elected officials is to visit their office or snail mail. Phone and email are helpful and always encouraged, but do not have as much potential, so if you live near Santa Fe and can make a quick visit, or can drop a quick hand-written note in the mail, it is the most powerful thing that can be done.
The message of New Mexicans should be unified. We value our second amendment rights! And to our elected officials, please remember who elected you before voting for this legislation or signing it into law. We can vote you out as quickly as we voted you in!


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$30M campaign boosts activities in Atlantic City
ATLANTIC CITY – Atlantic City is taking its show on the road, targeting partiers in Philadelphia with a mobile nightclub that will bring 300 of them back here to experience the seaside resort's nightspots.
It's also launching social media efforts to recruit fun-seekers to come to Atlantic City.
The outreach is part of the $30 million annual campaign by the Atlantic City Alliance to promote the resort city as more than just a gambling center.
"Atlantic City is a lively destination all year round," said Liza Cartmell, the group's president. "These promotions are designed with specific social media components included in order to showcase all that there is to do here even during the coldest months. We encourage visitors to enjoy the indoor pools, spas, restaurants, shopping, nightclubs, entertainment and gambling, and share their experiences over social media with their friends."
The Alliance this week unveiled three campaigns aimed at winter tourism:
? Do AC Nightlife features a 45-foot-long vehicle to take partygoers in the Philadelphia region to Atlantic City for a VIP night on the town. Over four weeks, 300 people will be given luxury rides to and from Atlantic City nightspots.
? Show Us Your Bling is aimed at female travelers looking for a group getaway for such events as bachelorette parties. Recently engaged couples are encouraged to upload a picture of their engagement bling at www.doatlanticcity.com or on Facebook. They also can submit via Instagram, Twitter or Vine with the hashtag #ShowUsYourBling by March 14. One couple will win bachelor and bachelorette parties at Atlantic City locations that were featured last summer on the ABC show "The Bachelorette."
? The Taste of Summer campaign features pools, spas and summer cocktails at all 11 of the city's casinos, with sand sculptures and beach balls in many of the lobbies.


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Author: Eric Gislason
The one hundred years between "Seward's Folly" (1867) and statehood (1959) comprise an intriguing though often ignored narrative about the importance of the "great land" to United States history. The following brief history of Alaska statehood considers the region in the political and imaginative contexts of (contiguous) United States history and emphasizes certain themes revealed in this effort. First, throughout the late-19th and early 20th century, Alaska serves as an advertisement for American colonialism. A colonial economy developed in which much of the territory's natural wealth (minerals, furs, salmon, timber) was extracted from the region and used elsewhere for the profit of absentee business interests. Second, Alaska served as an extension of the American frontier, a "great northern and western citadel," in the words of one observer. This notion received a new resonance in the Cold War Years when Alaska represented the edge of American interests menaced by the Soviet Union.
A third theme, which may be surprising to some readers, is Alaska's centrality in numerous national political disputes. The Ballinger-Pinchot affair of 1910--covered in more detail below--fractured the Republican party and had far-reaching consequences for the political course of the U. S. Discriminatory national legislation such as the Jones and White Acts demonstrated the extent of U. S. imperial control over the region. And the machinations of the conservative coalition of Taft Republicans and "Dixiecrats" during the Eisenhower years delayed Alaska statehood in the interest of maintaining a tenuous Republican majority in Congress.
Finally, the issue of self-determination is at the heart of the issue of statehood: The early federal denial of self-rule and the practice of taxation without representation in Congress should be familiar echoes of the injustice suffered by colonists' of the prior century. The eventual response to these policies is a stirring chapter in the history of concerted democratic effort: the populist vigor of the Constitutional Convention and the adoption of the aggressive "Tennessee Plan" for statehood combine with national efforts from individuals like Bob Bartlett and Ernest Gruening to achieve statehood for Alaska.
On March 30, 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward signed an agreement with Baron Edouard Stoeckl, the Russian Minister to the United States. The agreement, widely referred to as "Seward's Folly" (and "Seward's Icebox") ceded possession of the vast territory of Alaska to the United States for the sum of $7.2 million. Few citizens of the U. S. could fathom what possible use or interest the 586,000 square miles of land would have for their country. In a speech given at Sitka on August 12, 1868, however, Secretary Seward claimed he did not doubt "that the political society to be constituted here, first as a Territory, and ultimately as a state or many States, will prove a worthy constituency of the Republic."1 President Andrew Johnson sent General Jefferson C. Davis to command a military force of about 500 men to maintain peace and order, and expected that Congress would establish the civil organization of the territory.
The 40th Congress (1867-1869) passed a law which made Alaska a customs district of the U. S. but made no other efforts to establish the civil infrastructure that President Johnson had hinted at. The relations between settlers and natives of Alaska were tense and the Navy forces of Commander L. A. Beardslee were called upon to maintain order. From 1879-1884, the Navy governed Alaska, as most of its inhabitants were located in the coastal southeastern "panhandle" of the state. The passage of the First Organic Act (1884) made Alaska a civil and judicial district and provided the territory with judges, clerks, and marshals. Curiously enough, the general legal code of the state of Oregon was adopted. A total of thirteen officials were made responsible for a population of 32,000 people, of which only 430 were white settlers.
Many settlers came to Alaska with the expectation that the territory would follow the path of the Western states to official state status. The First Organic Act did not provide for eventual representative government, however, and Alaska was consigned to a territorial status much like that of the Newfoundland fisheries of the 17th-century British Empire. 2 The U. S. government asserted imperial administrative control over the noncontiguous territory, but due to the overriding late-19th century concerns of Reconstruction and rapid incorporation of the contiguous states demonstrated little interest in Alaska. Although some reports had been circulated about the wealth of furs, seals, fish, and minerals to be found in Alaska, the conventional wisdom about the territory was summed up in the New York Herald by James Gordon Bennett, who suggested that any impoverished European monarchs who wanted to sell worthless territory should apply to "W. H. Seward, State Department, Washington, D. C." Alaska was just too remote to inspire much interest.
The Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-98 was the first event to garner significant exposure for the great, white North. During the decade of 1890-1900, more than 30, 000 people surged into the Yukon Territory and Alaska when gold was discovered in places like Dawson, Fairbanks, and Ester. Mining, fishing, trapping, and mineral production flourished and a true "colonial economy" developed, in which outside interests exploited the material resources of Alaska and took the profits elsewhere. In an article for the Atlantic Monthly called "Colonial Lessons of Alaska," journalist David S. Jordan declared that the disarray in Alaska could be attributed to four sources: "lack of centralization of power and authority, lack of scientific knowledge, lack of personal and public interest, and the use of offices as political patronage."3 Could the U. S. in good conscience hoist its flag over a colony if it was not prepared to care for it? Surveying the situation, President McKinley acknowledged the urgent need for further civil organization in Alaska and called for legislative relief which would address Alaska's bulky backlog of civil and criminal cases. In 1900 Congress passed an official code of civil and criminal procedure, appointed more judges, and put in place a system of taxation. Furthermore, the duty-free exchange of goods with Canada was established and construction was approved for a railroad between the port city of Seward and the city of Fairbanks, in the Interior, to aid in the distribution of goods.
Efforts toward self-government were complicated by the influence in Washingon of the "Alaska Syndicate," formed in 1906 by the fortunes of J. P. Morgan and Guggenheim. The Syndicate had purchased the large Kennicott-Bonanza copper mine and controlled much of Alaskan steamship and rail transportation, as well as a major part of the salmon canning industry. The Syndicate lobby in Washingon had successfully opposed any further extension of Alaskan home rule. James Wickersham, who had been appointed to an Alaskan judgeship in 1900 by President McKinley, became alarmed by the potential influence of incorporated interests in the territory and took up the struggle for Alaskan self-government. Wickersham argued that Alaska's resources should be used for the good of the entire country rather than exploited a select group of large, absentee-controlled interests--home rule, he claimed, would assure more just utilization of the territory's natural wealth. The 1910 Ballinger-Pinchot affair, which involved the illegal distribution of thirty-three federal government Alaskan coal land claims to the Guggenheim interests, culminated in a Congressional investigation and brought Alaska directly into the national headlines. Wickersham, surveying the fallout of the affair, determined that it
destroyed the friendship between Theodore Roosevelt and President Taft; split the Republican party into two great factions; defeated President Taft for re-election in 1912; elected Woodrow Wilson President of the United States; and changed the course of history of our country.4
A chastened President Taft, in a special message to Congress on February 2, 1912, urged the enactment of legislation which would help Alaska develop its resources along the lines that Wickersham had urged.
The Second Organic Act, passed by the U. S. Congress in April 1912, conferred official territory status upon Alaska and provided for an elected legislature of eight senators and sixteen house members.5 Congress refused to give significant power to this legislature, however, or make the position of governor of the Territory a popularly elected one. Everything the local legislature did was subject to the (dis)approval of Congress. The federal government retained the power to regulate the territory's fish, game, and fur resources, a function no organized territory had thus far been denied. These restrictions would chafe Alaskans and eventually lead to efforts to amend and change the Second Organic Act. Nonetheless, this official act of incorporation by Congress did bind the region more firmly to the United States.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 had provided the framework for the territorial system and had, for over a century, served well the purposes of expansion. The last two contiguous U. S. territories, New Mexico and Arizona, had become states in 1912. But Alaska (like Hawaii and Puerto Rico) was non-contiguous and sparsely populated. These two factors, as well as Congress' uncertainty about Alaska's indigenous non-white population of Aleuts, Indians, and Eskimos complicated Alaska statehood. To be sure, political considerations had often been part of statehood questions: the 1864 elevation of Nevada from territory to state (though it only had a population of 20,000 at the time) gave Abraham Lincoln needed votes for re-election and also helped ratify the 13th Amendment.6
Alaska had a population of about 58,000 in 1916 when Wickersham, now Delegate to Congress, introduced Alaska's first statehood bill. It failed due to lack of interest on the part of Alaskans; not even President Harding's 1923 visit to the Territory could create sustained widespread interest in statehood. Efforts to amend the Second Organic Act, which had not quite extricated Alaska's fishing industry from the influences of the "Fish Trust," took up much time yet proved fruitless. In fact, some Congressional legislation was overtly discriminatory to the Territory. The U. S. Maritime Act of 1920--commonly referred to as the Jones Act, after its sponsor, Senator Wesley Jones of Seattle--stipulated that all commercial ships travelling between American ports had to be American-owned and American-built. Thus, all merchandise entering or leaving Alaska had to be transported by American carriers, which meant that all shipping had to go through Seattle. The Supreme Court ruled that, because Alaska was not officially a state, the Constitution's provision that one state should not hold sway over the commerce of another did not protect Alaska. Routing ships through the Canadian ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert would have been much cheaper for Alaskans; nevertheless, under the Court's ruling, the Jones Act allowed Seattle business interests to charge much higher than average prices for shipping. This in turn raised the cost of living in Alaska and funnelled Alaskan dollars out of the territory and into the pockets of Washington businessmen. Another piece of discriminatory legislation, the White Act of 1924, was referred to as the "Magna Carta of fishery conservation" by both federal officials and industry spokesmen. In fact, the White Act favored the big companies' fish traps and worked against the development of small operators in Alaska.7
National discrimination was compounded by regional conflicts among the territory's judicial divisions and these squabbles further blurred the focus on statehood. Under the conditions of the Second Organic Act, Alaska had been divided into the four divisions, each with a capitol city: the First Judicial division (southeastern Alaska) at Juneau; the Second Division (northwestern Alaska) at Nome; the Third Division (southcentral Alaska) at Valdez, and later at Anchorage; and the Fourth Division (the interior) at Fairbanks. The Southeastern division, or "Panhandle" region, had by far the largest population and began to wonder if perhaps it could become a state separate from the other three less-populated divisions. Government control over Alaska was the primary concern, as over 52 federal agencies had a hand in the daily workings of Alaska! Exasperated, Wickersham declared "there actually exists today a congressional government in Alaska more offensively bureaucratic in its basic principles and practices than that which existed here during the seventy years of Russian rule under the Czar." 8 Federal attempts in the 1920s to streamline administration had little success changing either the bureaucratic control over Alaska's development or the unfair Congressional legislation, and the exploitative resource industries of the contiguous states still had the power to completely withdraw the sources of many Alaskans' livelihood.
The Depression hit Alaska hard as prices paid for fish and copper, the territory's two chief commodities, declined. Between 1929 and 1932, the work force decreased by more than half, and wages dropped. Help came from New Deal programs such as the National Reforestation Act of 1933 and various Public Works Administration construction efforts. Most famous among government efforts in Alaska during the Depression is the 1935 Matanuska Valley colonization scheme. President Franklin D. Roosevelt imagined that Americans from depressed agricultural areas could be transplanted to Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna region and given a fresh chance at agricultural self-sustainment. Around 1,000 colonists were selected from some 15,000 applicants, largely from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota--on the assumption that the similar climate of these areas to Alaska would best suit settlers for life in the North. A related but completely ill-fated idea was Dr. Joe Thomas' "Alaska Colonization Branch of the United Congo Improvement Association," which proclaimed that "Alaska offers the American Negro full political rights." 9 The UCIA asked that President Roosevelt settle some 400 Negro farmers in Alaska, but existing racial prejudices and prevailing beliefs that only people from northern lands were suited for life in Alaska doomed the proposal.
While the New Deal aided Alaska, it took an event of much greater scale and purpose to truly bring the Territory onto the national stage. As early as 1933, Delegate Anthony J. Dimond had recognized Japan as a threat to America's security and asked Congress for military airfields and planes, a highway to link the territory with the United States, and army garrisons. Telling his colleagues in the House of Representatives that Japanese fishermen off Alaska's coast were actually disguised military personnel scouting out information on Alaska's harbors, Dimond pleaded that Alaska was as much a key to the Pacific as Hawaii and must be defended. In 1940, Congress appropriated money for military installations, but it took the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the 1942 occupation by Japan of Attu and Kiska islands on the Aleutian Chain for military mobilization to begin in earnest. Billions of dollars in defense spending came into the state in the construction of the Alaska Highway, the capture and eventual fortification of the Aleutian islands, and the construction of military bases throughout the state.
Left: 341st Army Engineers working near Tok, AK, 1942.
Right: Completed road near Muncho Lake, YT, 1943.
In 1940, about 1,000 of Alaska's 75,000 residents were military. By 1943, 152,000 out of 233,000 belonged to the armed forces stationed in Alaska. And even though there was a post-war drop in population to about 99,000 in 1946, Cold War military expenditures pushed it back up to around 138,000 by 1950. The war years irrevocably changed Alaska.
Attention in the national press increasingly raised awareness about Alaska's situation, described by Richard L. Neuberger in Newsweek as a "feudal barony" where the absentee-owned mining and fishing corporations took out millions in natural resources and left next to nothing behind in the form of social and economic benefits--a "looted land." 10 It became increasingly obvious that keeping territorial government and tax structures to a minimum benefitted Seattle-area interests such as the Alaska Steamship Company and the Northland Transportation Company, who enjoyed an effective monopoly on steamship travel and shipping and charged unusually high rates. Alaskan businessmen such as Austin E. "Cap" Lathrop--Alaska's premier "capitalist"--were able to benefit greatly from the minimal taxes and argued against statehood for fear that its' stricter tax laws might diminish their position. The anti-statehood faction had a powerful hold in the Territory, and might have quelled the issue were it not for two especially vigorous pro-statehood advocates, Ernest Gruening and E. L. "Bob" Bartlett.
Ernest Gruening, an Easterner with a history of progressive politics, had served as publicity director for Senator Robert M. LaFollette's presidential candidacy in 1924 when LaFollette polled five million votes but lost the race. Gruening traveled and worked in Mexico and Europe before serving as editor of the Nation until he was appointed by F. D. Roosevelt in 1934 to run the fledgling Division of Territories and Island Possessions. In 1939, FDR appointed Gruening to the governorship of Alaska. Edward Lewis "Bob" Bartlett, with whom Gruening was to work closely for the next quarter-century, had served as secretary to Congressional delegate Anthony J. Dimond, remaining in Washington until 1934. Bartlett operated a placer gold mine for a while before President Roosevelt appointed him secretary of Alaska in January 1939. In 1944, Bartlett ran for and won the position which Wickersham and Dimond had held--Territorial Delegate to Congress. Beginning in 1945, Delegate Bartlett acted as Alaska's only representative in the halls of Congress.
Historian Claus Naske divides the statehood movement in Alaska into two phases.11 First, between 1943 and 1953, Alaska's governor (Gruening), the delegate to Congress (Bartlett), and a cross-section of the territory's established business and professional men and women engineered numerous legislative efforts to achieve statehood for Alaska. Gruening was frustrated by the fact that after three decades under the American flag, Alaska was still without adequate roads, airfields, tuberculosis hospitals, and dependable shipping at reasonable cost. What was more, the aboriginal rights issue had not yet been settled, and homesteaders were not yet legally able to acquire land from the federal government. He felt that the only tools by which Alaskans could amend their plight were two United States senators and a Representative in the House, each with a vote.
The 3:2 passage of a 1946 referendum in favor of statehood led to the formation of the Alaska Statehood Association--an ad hoc group of concerned citizens--later that year. Meanwhile, Gruening lobbied hard in Washington with the members of the influential Senate Public Lands Committee, especially Senator Hugh Butler of Nebraska. Delegate Bartlett introduced a statehood bill in April, 1948 which was corralled in the Rules Committee by Senator Butler. It never came up for debate, but many Alaskans had testified to their desire for statehood and the interest of numerous others was aroused as the possibility of statehood became more plausible. Furthermore, Alaskan voters decided that year to reform the territory's tax structure to loosen the hold of the special interests.
The Alaska Statehood Committee was formed in 1949 to intensify efforts toward statehood, calling on national and labor organizations, newspaper editors, and state governors to support and publicize Alaska's situation. Gruening himself compiled a "committee of one-hundred" prominent Americans who supported Alaska's aspirations, including Eleanor Roosevelt, actor James Cagney, Pearl S. Buck, John Gunther, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. 1949 was a watershed year for the statehood movement, as it received growing attention both in Alaska and in the nation at large. A bill for statehood passed the House by a vote of 186-146 early in 1950, but was killed in the Senate by a coalition of conservative Republicans and southern Democrats, backed tacitly by President Eisenhower. This coalition wanted to preserve the tenuous Republican majority in Congress, and opposed Alaska's entry into the Union for fear that its congressional voice would be Democratic. The Korean War, which began in June of 1950 and lasted into 1952, effectively put concerns about Alaska statehood on the back burner.
The second, or "populist" phase in Naske's analysis, involved the efforts of thousands of regular Alaskans to foment popular interest in the statehood drive. The New York Journal-American put the situation dramatically:
Alaska wants statehood with the fervor men and women give to a transcendent cause. An overwhelming number of men and women voters in the United States want statehood for Alaska. This Nation needs Alaskan statehood to advance her defense, sustain her security, and discharge her deep moral obligation.12
Such enthusiasm served as a counterweight to the typical arguments made against Alaska statehood: noncontiguity with the rest of the country, lack of population, inadequate political maturity, and meager financial resources. Senator Butler and five members of the Senate Interior and Insular Affairs Committee decided to hold hearings in Alaska on a statehood bill; they wanted to hear the "reaction of the "little people" of Alaska. The Butler committee heard testimony in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Ketchikan. The visit of Butler's committee brought together many Alaskans sympathetic to the statehood cause, and popular publicity movements such as "Operation Statehood" put increased pressure on Congress for Alaska statehood. Women in the committee, for example, made artificial bouquets out of the Forget-me-Not, Alaska's official flower, and mailed them to members of Congress prior to the consideration of statehood legislation. The citizens of Alaska sent Christmas cards to friends in the contiguous U. S. which urged: "Make [Alaskans] future bright/Ask your Senator for statehood/And start the New Year right."13 Members of Congress could no longer invoke "lack of public interest" as an argument against Alaska Statehood.
President Eisenhower, in his 1954 State of the Union address, requested the immediate admission of Hawaii into the Union but did not mention Alaska. The editor of the Washington Post wrote of a "murky cloud of politics" surrounding such a position, as it was becoming evident that the Republican administration thought Hawaii would come into the Union as a Republican state, while Alaska would come in favoring the Democrats. Eventually the Senate put together a combination statehood bill, which provided for the admission first of Hawaii and then of Alaska. This bill immediately became the centerpiece of Congressional partisan wrangling. Operation Statehood swamped the White House with telegrams asking for "statehood now." A delegation of Operation Statehood's members flew to Washington, D. C. to meet with President Eisenhower, and they made a dramatic impression. John Butrovich, a Fairbanks insurance agent and senior Republican in the territorial legislature, told Eisenhower:
We feel that you are a great American. But we are shocked to come down here and find that a bill which concerns the rights of American citizens is bottled up in a committee when you have the power to bring it out on the House floor. 14
Eisenhower reddened as Butrovich banged his fists on the Chief Executive's desk to emphasize his dissatisfaction. The President denied that any partisanship played a role in the Alaska statehood issue and assured the members that Alaska statehood posed many problems which needed attention. He was most likely concerned, however, with preserving the narrow Republican margin in Congress.
The next effort to derail the statehood cause came in the form of a Senate proposal to make
Alaska and Hawaii "commonwealths" of the U. S., with elective governorships. National
columnists such as Walter Lippmann and Richard Strout favored this step, but the interest of
the people of Alaska was not swayed from statehood. No one savored the prospect of paying
federal taxes yet remaining, in effect, a stranger to the Union. Another series of Congressional
hearings about Alaska's situation instilled in many Alaskans an interest in more aggressive
action. Such enthusiasm ultimately brought about the 1955 Constitutional Convention, held in
the newly appointed "Constitution Hall" on the grounds of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.
It was here that Senator Ernest Gruening delivered his galvanizing "Let Us End American Colonialism" address. The convention received
phenomenal national exposure and was praised by numerous journalists for its idealistic attention
to "the good of Alaska" rather than partisan politics. The convention was an intensely emotional
event for all involved, as passions about the future of Alaska ran strong and deep among
convention members. In 1956, the resulting Constitution--which the National Municipal League
called "one of the best, if not the best, state constitutions ever
written"--was overwhelmingly accepted by Alaskans.
With sectional conflicts breaking down and the power of the "Dixiecrats" diminishing, Congress reconvened in January 1958 to the sounds of President Eisenhower fully endorsing Alaska statehood for the first time. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson assured Bartlett that the southern Senators would not filibuster the Alaska bill. Johnson's was an important commitment, yet Representative Howard W. Smith of Virginia, Chairman of the powerful Rules Committee, stepped in to obstruct the statehood bill. Life magazine tartly characterized Smith as a "Virginia gentleman whose impeccable manners include little real respect for either free enterprise or democracy." 17 Additionally, Representative Thomas Pelly of Washington state demanded the right for his constituents to fish Alaskan waters on the same basis as residents. An amendment was subsequently drafted seeking retention of federal jurisdiction over Alaska's fish and game resources until the secretary of the interior certified to Congress that the state met provisions for their conservation and nonresident access. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner responded to Pelly's petulance by printing excerpts from Edna Ferber's impassioned novel Ice Palace. The passages featured the character of Thor Storm, the grizzled Nordic pioneer, informing his granddaughter, Christine, about the legacy of Seattle and San Francisco cannery operators' unmerciful exploitation of Alaska's fisheries. Ferber's book had sold well and widely. Ice Palace had such an educative effect on the nation's populace that one critic was moved to refer to it as "the Uncle Tom's Cabin of Alaska Statehood."
After some maneuvering, the effort to bypass Representative Smith's Rules Committee succeeded when the statehood bill was brought up on "privileged status" by a roll-call vote of 217-172. The Senate, which had before it both its own version of the statehood bill and the House version, passed the House version at the urging of Delegate Bartlett by a 64-20 margin. The House then passed the bill by a vote of 210-166. New York Representative Leo W. O' Brien, when asked about the almost miraculous materialization of needed Congressional support for the statehood bill, considered a key factor to be the friendship so many lawmakers felt for Bob Bartlett.
Through the combined efforts of Ernest Gruening, Bob Bartlett, and many other unacknowledged Alaskans, the statehood cause was finally victorious. On January 3, 1959, President Eisenhower signed the official declaration which made Alaska the 49th state. The new American flag featured seven rows of seven stars each.
Return to Home Page | Senator Ernest Gruening's "Let Us End American Colonialism" Speech


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Hannah Higgins
(Australian Associated Press)
Australian women are still at least a decade away from achieving economic equality.
Data shows the pace of improvement for women in pay, work, education, leadership positions and superannuation is actually slower now than it was four years ago.
The figures released by the Financy Women's Index on Wednesday reveal that, despite a 20-year-low in the nation's gender pay gap and record numbers of women in full-time work and higher education, long-standing imbalances in labour force and superannuation are holding females back.
"Disappointingly the rate of progress in educational attainment is not being matched in the labour force, the superannuation gender gap remains too wide and female board appointments stalled in the second half of 2018," Women's Index founder Bianca Hartge-Hazelman said in a statement.
Official figures show the gender pay gap stands at 14.6 per cent for full-time workers, down from 15.3 per cent a year ago.
However, the gender gap in superannuation hasn't gone anywhere – with women still falling 34 per cent short compared to men at retirement age.
While the FXW's final scorecard for women recorded an overall 4.4 percentage point improvement in economic progress, experts say they are frustrated with the continued small gains.
"The Index reveals that Australia is screaming out for systematic change," AFA Inspire's national chair Kate McCallum said.
"In no other endeavour in business would we continue to invest so much precious time and energy into initiatives that gain so little traction in improving the pathways to women's economic progress."
On the basis of the current trends, it will be another decade until women achieve economic equality in Australia.
AMP Capital's chief economist Shane Oliver says more needs to be done to support women in the workforce if society wants to see that change.
"We need to do more in making it easier for women to participate as much as they would like in the workforce and to ensure they receive all the same opportunities and rewards as men," Dr Oliver said.


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Weekly Round Up
Time for this week's round-up of the best of the blog posts which I've read over the past week. These are the posts that have moved me, taught me something, inspired me, and which I've wanted to share with you. Don't forget if you have written a post which you would like readers to see, just leave a comment below.
Thank you all for your beautiful responses to the posts I wrote this week on grief. I wrote them not just as an outlet for my own grief, but also in solidarity for those who are grieving in these days leading up to Christmas. In her own grief this week, Yvonne writes of feeling "like a barn sparrow in a nest and in spite of years of practice and watching others do it so effortlessly, I cannot remember how to fly". And although Beth is writing about forgetting a "cancerversary" this week, her post has echoes for me on my reflections on grief. To experience cancer is to experience grief. We grieve for the loss not just of a breast, but also the person we once were. The fact that Beth forgot a milestone cancerversary is a healthy sign that she is moving on with her life. We will never forget cancer, but hopefully in time the experience will become a rough patch in the fabric of the new life we are now weaving. (I am conscious as I write these words, that this rough patch is a daily experience for those living with metastatic cancer).
Spending the holiday season here in Australia has liberated me from the usual busyness of Christmas shopping, cooking, and visiting. It has given me time to step back and reflect, and I find this beautifully echoed in Debbie's latest post, as she outlines her plans to rest and refresh. Continuing with the Christmas theme, Chris is reflecting on what the Christmas season means to him now; the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has advice for those struggling to cope with difficult emotions; Elizabeth shares her family's annual Christmas tradition of writing a reflective letter on the year that has just passed and Jo Taylor writes about the sadness and joys of her Christmases.
Elsewhere in the blogosphere
Nancy has a book giveaway and a guest post by Teri Smieja, BRCA patient advocate. Hurry the competition ends Sunday.
Adventures with chemobrain feature on the Adventures of OBB blog this week.
Philippa is resharing her 12 Days Of Chemo post.
Warning! Spoiler alert. If you're a fan of the Danish political series Borgen, and you live in a country where the series is a little behind the UK, then I don't want to spoil things for you by sharing the most recent storyline which has an unexpected twist – Audrey reveals all for those who are up-to-date.
And that concludes another week of blogging. I say this every week at the start of the round-up, but I'd like to emphasize it again – if you have written a post which I have missed out on, please do feel free to share with us in the comments. I only get to read a small selection of blogs each week, and I am aware there is more great writing out there which deserves a wider audience.
Until next week.
Keep blogging, reflecting and taking good care of yourselves.
Yours with love


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Salzburger Sportwelt
Surrounded by mountains...
...and stunning natural scenery lies the historic small town of – the ideal base for summer in the fresh air. Families wanting to spend their holidays away from all the hustle and bustle without compromising on variety will appreciate the many nearby places of interest and family-friendly facilities that promise great adventure for younger guests.
Summer Holidays in Radstadt
Walkers meet in the green countryside with a holiday in Radstadt: Hiking trails at over 2,000 m and lush alpine meadows open up a magical world of mountains and walking. As a reward for all the effort, for example, a unique panoramic view out over some 150 alpine peaks lies in store from the 1768 metre high Rossbrand. Add to that a hiking test centre where equipment can be tested free of charge. Radstadt is also a paradise for cyclists and mountain bikers however: In addition to major events such as the International Amadé Bike Marathon, the region boasts many well-signposted biking routes of all levels of difficulty.
Even golfers will be in their element: At the Radstadt Golf Course fans of the sport can tee off on the well-tended 18-hole championship course, the 9-hole compact course or the amply dimensioned driving range.
Festivals are a must in Radstadt!
The summer is marked by a host of events – from the International Hofhaimer Culture Days, Dumpling Festival and the arts and crafts market to the Bauernherbst Harvest Festival and numerous traditional celebrations – never a dull moment!
More information about Radstadt
Contact & location
Tourismusverband Radstadt
Stadtplatz 17
5550 Radstadt


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Given the dearth of quality titles available for Xbox One right now, any enjoyable video game is a welcome addition to the lineup.
But while 'Halo: Spartan Assault' is a competent third-person shooter and does an impressive job of staying true to series' atmosphere, it lacks enough replay value to be a wholly satisfying adventure.
'Spartan Assault' has been available to Windows users since July, but it's new to Xbox One with a $14.99 price tag and will also release this month for Xbox 360. The top-down shoot-'em-up serves as a training simulator for the United Nations Space Command, allowing players to reenact a series of battles against Covenant forces.
In one moment, you're escorting a group of tanks across enemy lines. In the next, you're laying down cover fire while civilians scramble to an evacuation airship.
Developer 343 Industries does a phenomenal job of making 'Spartan Assault' feel like a part of the Halo universe. You'll find loads of familiar weapons, vehicles and enemy types. Despite the far-off camera angle, splattering the opposition across the windshield of a speeding Ghost is every bit as enjoyable as you remember.
343 also deserves praise for building an impressive amount of variety on top of a simple premise. Each mission starts players with a unique loadout, making good use of the series' diverse arsenal. Players can also equip ability-restricting skulls if they crave even more difficulty.
The better you perform during a mission, the more experience points you earn. In turn, those experience points can be used to purchase one-time weapon, shield and boost upgrades to help max out your score on those tricky levels.
Of course, 343 is happy to let you spend real money if you prefer – yet another in the new generation's dubious trend of milking every last dollar out of free-spending players. However, it could be worse. Experience points accrue quickly enough that you're not missing out if you refuse to plunk down the extra cash.
Though small, each map feels unique. Due to varying terrain and changing objectives, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself relying on mission-specific loadouts, and even swapping gear mid-level to gain a tactical advantage.
The graphics don't by any means strain the Xbox One's capabilities, but the on-screen action is sharp and colorful. Everything from guns to unit types is easily identifiable to Halo fans, and vehicle and weapon sound effects match their counterparts from the first-person games.
It all comes together to create a convincing, authentic Halo experience. Even the between-mission text provides interesting background on the strategies employed by UNSC and Covenant troops.
But while 'Spartan Assault' is fun while it lasts, it doesn't last long. Once you've beaten a mission, and perhaps given it a second run for a higher score, there's no motivation to go back. You can surge through the entire campaign in a few hours, and by then the levels have long since begun to feel repetitive.
One way to spice up the action is to play cooperatively online with a friend. It's a head-scratching shame there's no option for local co-op, as the maps and objectives seem well suited for teaming up with a buddy on the same screen.
'Halo: Spartan Assault' is an enjoyable ride and an interesting trip back to the Halo franchise. If you're starving for new titles on Xbox One, you could do a lot worse. Just be aware that the fun is fleeting.
Final score: 6.5 out of 10


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VIDEO: Dirty Projectors, live at South by Southwest
Things fall apart: Hip-hop finds room to move at South-By. By Chris Faraone.
The Phoenix's complete South by Southwest coverage.
Unsurprisingly, Mr. Hetfield's understanding of SXSW (more colloquially and douchily known as "South-by") is as oddly off as his band's presence here. Ten years ago, SXSW was widely accepted as the ultimate opportunity for baby bands and A&R representatives to make goo-goo eyes at each other until a hastily drafted record contract could be signed and the mutual process of fucking each other over could be commenced. These days, there are a lot more of the former than the latter — and younger, wiser bands simply don't bat their eyelashes at the majors like they used to.
What is actually a "conference" — complete with pricey badges, keynote speakers, and complimentary tote bags heavy with promotional swag — has steadily melted into a straight-up "festival." Even as the Austin Convention Center stuffs its function rooms with panels that unwittingly detail the desperate scramble within the music industry ("A&R 3.0," "Should Artists Be Paid for Radio Airplay?" and "Bloggers Are Now in Charge"), the red meat (or pulled pork) of South-by has increasingly shifted to its unofficial domains: day parties, BBQs, shows on bridges and boats, in bookstores and parking lots, or virtually anywhere that has electricity and foot traffic.
Despite an increasing level of hipster-borne grousing over SXSW being not much more than a vomitous swirl of industry shitbags, self-appointed tastemakers, and Twittering shutterbug nincompoops (guilty!), the slow crawl of the conference's raison d'être toward these badge-less, unsanctioned territories is actually good news: the experience of SXSW has become less about the industry rescuing bands from the underground, and more about rescuing the underground from the industry. If the frontier mentality displayed by some of this year's most eagerly queued-for bands is any indication, indie music is primed for a wave of serious radness.
Without making a tract out of this (or resorting to oversimplifications like "Hip-Hop in the Age of Obama" — an actual panel), let's just suppose that, if the past 10 years have found us desperately seeking order, control, and familiarity in the midst of grim cultural conditions, our new paradigm — with its emblems of hope and copacetic illusion — has the underground hungry for chaos, disruption, and newness.
Precision-preened image (see: the Strokes, SXSW Class of '01) has been ousted in favor of pure spectacle (like Israeli garage-torchers Monotonix, whose Ami Shalev splayed his hairy ass while surfing his band's own kick drum across thousands of fans at Waterloo Park). Cutesy innocuous hookage (see: Peter Bjorn & John, Class of '07 — roundly booed this year) gave way to atonal kicks and explosive noise (from the likes of Montreal's AIDS Wolf or LA's HEALTH). And highly iffy hype-pop (see: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, Class of '06) fell pretty-face-first to limit-testing party bands with actual talent, like the Mae Shi and King Khan.
It's as though all of that precious security we've demanded from our music is being hastily dismantled: Dave Longstreth's guitar work at the Dirty Projectors NPR showcase was simultaneously feral and refined, erudite yet aphasic; the note-less scratchings of Michachu and the Shapes glimmered with an unmistakable pop sheen; and the ritualistic hoedown dealt out by the innumerable membership of Georgia's Dark Meat made their leaf blower stuffed with confetti seem right at home alongside their trombones and banjos.
Who knows? This explosion of the exploded could simply be the product of an unconscious defense mechanism: the underground's immune system protecting itself from the normals by any means necessary. Then again, rock music may finally be bust — good thing for us it sounds better busted.
For oodles of exclusive photos, videos, and show reviews from this year's installment of SXSW, check out thePhoenix.com/sxsw. Michael Brodeur can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.
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A study presented at the Third AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities found that Puerto Rican women who had breast cancer that lacked estrogen and progesterone receptors and did not overexpress the HER2neu protein (triple-negative) had worse survival than those with other types of invasive breast cancer.
"As the incidence of breast cancer rises in Puerto Rico, following U.S. trends, it is important to understand the association of disease subtypes with survival," said Ana P. Ortiz Martinez, M.P.H., Ph.D., associate professor and researcher at the University of Puerto Rico Cancer Center and the department of biostatistics and epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Puerto Rico. "Breast cancer is a complex disease, with distinct subtypes with widely differing therapeutic indications and clinical outcomes."
This is the first published study on the impact of tumor subtypes and other clinical factors on breast cancer survival in Puerto Rico.
The risk of breast cancer death for Puerto Rican women who had the triple-negative breast cancer subtype was more than twice as high as women with other tumor subtypes, even after accounting for a woman's age and cancer stage at diagnosis.
Women who were 50 years old or younger at the time of diagnosis and had regional/distant disease were also more likely to die as a result of their breast cancer.
Of the women studied, 22.5 percent had breast cancer that was HER2neu-positive (meaning that it overexpressed this protein); 60.9 percent of the breast cancers were positive for estrogen or progesterone receptors, but negative for HER2neu; and 16.6 percent were triple negative, neither overexpressing HER2neu nor receptive to estrogen or progesterone.
Findings, which were consistent with results described in previous studies of U.S. populations, will be useful in the development of cancer control strategies in Puerto Rico and may have an impact on future studies of targeted therapies to improve breast cancer survival in other Hispanic populations, said Ortiz Martinez.
Source: Eurekalert


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George S. McGovern, the three-term senator from South Dakota who carried the Democratic Party's liberal banner in the Vietnam War era, launched a star-crossed bid for the presidency in 1972, and energized many of the leading Democrats of the past generation, died Sunday at a hospice in Sioux Falls, S.D. He was 90.
In a public career spanning more than five decades, Sen. McGovern may be best remembered for a presidential campaign of near-epic futility, in which he lost 49 of 50 states. The senator's liberal agenda — supporting civil rights and anti-poverty programs and strongly denouncing the Vietnam War — were critical to his landslide defeat to President Richard M. Nixon. But those views also helped define the future vision of the Democratic Party.
"In many ways, he revolutionized the Democratic Party," said Ross K. Baker, a Rutgers University political science professor and an authority on congressional politics. "His followers drove out the old guard. . . . Some would say it was the end of the old Democrats, but others would say, no, it opened up the party to women and others."
Family spokesman Steve Hildebrand confirmed Sen. McGovern's death to the Associated Press. The cause was not disclosed.
Among those who worked on his 1972 campaign were Bill Clinton, a future governor and president; Hillary Rodham Clinton, a future senator and secretary of state; and Gary Hart, a future senator and presidential candidate. Political consultant Robert Shrum and Washington lobbyist Gerald Cassidy also gained experience working for Sen. McGovern, as did future national security adviser Samuel R. Berger and future White House chief of staff John D. Podesta.
"George McGovern dedicated his life to serving the country he loved," President Obama said Sunday in a statement. "He signed up to fight in World War II and became a decorated bomber pilot over the battlefields of Europe. When the people of South Dakota sent him to Washington, this hero of war became a champion for peace. And after his career in Congress, he became a leading voice in the fight against hunger. George was a statesman of great conscience and conviction, and Michelle and I share our thoughts and prayers with his family."
Sen. McGovern, a minister's son, was raised in a South Dakota farm community during the Depression and served in World War II. Both experiences — seeing people asking for food at his family's doorstep and witnessing emaciated child beggars in wartime Italy — molded his political career from the moment he was elected to Congress in 1956.
In the early 1960s, he conceived the idea of the U.S. Food for Peace program, which gave foreign nations credit to buy surplus U.S. crops, and served under President John F. Kennedy as the program's first director. In that position, he played a central role building the United Nations' World Food Program, a humanitarian organization that has provided food assistance to hundreds of millions of victims of wars and natural disasters.
After winning his Senate seat in 1962, he spent much of his public life working on the expansion of food stamp and school lunch programs and championing civil rights and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in the Senate. After being defeated for reelection to the Senate in 1980, he served as the U.S. representative to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization in Rome and as a U.N. global ambassador on world hunger.
"It is in our self-interest to end hunger," he wrote in a 1998 editorial published in the Los Angeles Times. "After all, we live in one world. Rich and poor alike, we breathe the same air; we share a global economy. . . . The chaos associated with political instability rooted in poverty and desperation is rarely contained within a single country."
As part of his wide-ranging humanitarian interests, Sen. McGovern was synonymous with the antiwar movement. In September 1963, he became the first person to challenge the burgeoning Vietnam War on the Senate floor, with five paragraphs tucked into a speech about disarmament.
But Sen. McGovern voted for the Tonkin Gulf Resolution in 1964, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson almost blank-check authority to escalate the war. By the next year, Sen. McGovern joined a small group of senators who called U.S. involvement in Vietnam a mistake.
"We are fighting a determined army of guerrillas that seems to enjoy the cooperation of the countryside and that grow[s] stronger in the face of foreign intervention," he said in a widely noticed Jan. 15, 1965, Senate speech that marked him as the leading Senate pacifist. "We are further away from victory over the guerrilla forces in Vietnam today than we were a decade ago." He then laid out a five-point program for withdrawal from the war.
Later that year, he traveled to Vietnam and, between briefings, saw the coffins and the maimed soldiers in military hospitals. The former war hero declared himself sickened, and upon his return home he continued to speak out.
Allard Lowenstein, the organizer of a dump-LBJ movement, asked Sen. McGovern to challenge Johnson in the 1968 presidential primaries, but he refused. After Johnson unexpectedly withdrew, Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-Minn.) battled incumbent Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and a late entry, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.), until Kennedy's assassination on June 5, 1968.
Sen. McGovern, who had been a Kennedy supporter, got into the race shortly before the party's tumultuous Chicago convention, but his 18-day campaign made little splash. Humphrey received the Democratic nomination, and Nixon won the general election.
With Sen. Mark O. Hatfield (R-Ore.), Sen. McGovern proposed an end to the Vietnam War by Dec. 31, 1971. The McGovern-
Hatfield Amendment failed on a 55 to 39 Senate vote in 1970, but millions of Americans embraced Sen. McGovern as a prophet; millions of others considered him a traitor.
"Every senator in this chamber is partly responsible for sending 50,000 young Americans to an early grave," he scolded his colleagues before the vote. "This chamber reeks of blood."
After being reelected to the Senate in 1968, Sen. McGovern led a commission to overhaul the Democratic Party's nominating process. The result was that candidates could gain the nomination only by winning delegates in contested primary elections, rather than by making deals with statehouse and big-city pols.
The experience proved crucial; Sen. McGovern entered the 1972 presidential race knowing the rules better than anyone else.
He launched his campaign with a letter to 200,000 supporters asking for donations. He campaigned on a pledge to immediately withdraw all U.S. troops from Vietnam and to cut the Pentagon's budget by 40 percent.
His underdog primary campaign vanquished numerous competitors, including onetime front-runner Sen. Edmund S. Muskie of Maine and conservative Alabama Gov. George Wallace. After Wallace was paralyzed in an attempted assassination while on the campaign trail in Laurel, the former governor withdrew from the Democratic primaries and much of his support went to Nixon in the general election.
Sen. McGovern's liberal stances were a handicap against the Republican incumbent. Sen. McGovern urged diplomatic recognition of Cuba and China and pledged to decriminalize marijuana, offer amnesty for draft evaders, raise corporate taxes and guarantee a minimum national income. He was blamed for turning the Democratic Party away from the working class and toward the embrace of minorities, women, the gay community and other practitioners of "identity politics."
The race against Nixon was seen by most as a sure loss. The revelations of the Nixon administration's involvement in the Watergate scandal — which stemmed from a 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters — had not yet sunk into the public's consciousness.
During the 1972 Democratic National Convention, Sen. McGovern lost a critical opportunity to reach millions of television viewers when a chaotic floor fight delayed his acceptance speech until nearly 3 a.m.
He offered the vice presidential slot to several prominent Democratic lawmakers, but he was turned down. When Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton of Missouri accepted the No. 2 position, Sen. McGovern said he backed him "a thousand percent."
Within two weeks, Eagleton stepped down amid revelations that he had undergone psychiatric treatment.
Sen. McGovern replaced Eagleton with R. Sargent Shriver Jr., the Kennedy in-law who was founding director of the Peace Corps and U.S. ambassador to France. But the campaign never recovered.
"I wish I had stayed with my initial judgment to keep Tom" on the ticket, Sen. McGovern told The Washington Post in 2005. "I could have stood up for him had I known more about mental illness at the time."
The McGovern-Shriver ticket received only 38 percent of the popular vote, carrying just Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, for 17 electoral votes. Nixon won 520 electoral votes.
At the 1973 Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, Sen. McGovern was able to joke, "Ever since I was a young man I wanted to run for the presidency in the worst possible way — and I did." But the defeat hurt for a long time.
Twelve years later, after Walter F. Mondale, a former Democratic senator from Minnesota and vice president under Jimmy Carter, was beaten by incumbent Ronald Reagan in the 1984 presidential election, he asked Sen. McGovern how long it would take to get over the pain of losing in a landslide.
"I'll let you know when I get there," Sen. McGovern said.
George Stanley McGovern, the son of a Wesleyan Methodist minister, was born July 19, 1922, in Avon, S.D., and grew up in Mitchell, S.D. He left Dakota Wesleyan University to serve as an Army Air Forces B-24 bomber pilot during World War II. He flew 35 missions over Europe, with his exploits described in Stephen E. Ambrose's "The Wild Blue" (2001). He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and several Air Medals.
After the war, Sen. McGovern graduated from Dakota Wesleyan in 1946. Torn between the ministry and the study of history, he attended the old Garrett Theological Seminaryin Evanston, Ill., for one year before transferring to Northwestern University, where he received a master's degree in 1950 and a doctorate in 1953, both in American history.
He returned to South Dakota to teach history and government at Dakota Wesleyan. He had been a delegate to the Progressive Party convention in 1948, but he found its politics too radical. Given the chance to become executive secretary of South Dakota's moribund Democratic Party, he created a base for two successful runs for the U.S. House of Representatives, beginning in 1956.
After his first bid for a U.S. Senate seat failed in 1960, he joined the new Kennedy administration and began his work on alleviating hunger. In 1962, he was elected to the Senate from South Dakota by 597 votes, a rare win by a liberal Democrat in a heavily Republican state.
After Sen. McGovern's overwhelming loss in the 1972 election, Democrats lost three of the next four presidential contests. That prompted the centrist Democratic Leadership Council to urge the party's subsequent nominees to avoid "McGovernism," which it defined as far-left stances that were out of sync with Middle America. By 1992, Bill Clinton was elected president on a moderate platform that steered away from hard-left positions.
Sen. McGovern won reelection to the Senate in 1974 but was targeted for defeat by Republicans in 1980 and lost by a wide margin to then-Rep. James Abdnor. Angered by the political attacks, Sen. McGovern founded the political interest group Americans for Common Sense in 1981. He launched a brief presidential bid for the 1984 nomination, promoting a national health-care system and reductions in the military budget, but he ended his bid after losses in the early primaries.
He served as president of the Middle East Policy Council from 1991 to 1998, after which President Clinton appointed him representative to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome.
In 2000, Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor. At the ceremony, Clinton called Sen. McGovern "not only a hero in war but a stalwart voice for peace in Vietnam. . . . For decades, his conviction never wavered, nor has his early commitment to bringing food to the hungry."
In 2001, Sen. McGovern was appointed the first U.N. global ambassador on hunger and published "The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in Our Time," in which he proposed a plan to alleviate world hunger by 2030. In 2008, he and former senator Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) shared a $250,000 award from the World Food Prize Foundation for their work combating hunger among children.
Sen. McGovern wrote more than a dozen books, including a biography of President Abraham Lincoln, published in 2009.
The George and Eleanor McGovern Center for Leadership and Public Service at Dakota Wesleyan University is named for him and his wife of 63 years, the former Eleanor Stegeberg, who died in 2007 at 85.
One of their daughters, Teresa McGovern, an alcoholic, collapsed and froze to death in 1994 in the snow near Madison, Wis. She was 45. The family's efforts to cope became the subject of one of Sen. McGovern's books, "Terry: My Daughter's Life-and-Death Struggle With Alcoholism."
In The Washington Post, reviewer Carolyn See likened the book to William Styron's classic "Lie Down in Darkness" for its "brooding inevitability" as it details the story of "a precariously stable family trying to hold on to a child who — because of drugs, drink, depression — cannot be held on to, and who sinks away, into some form of oblivion."
Sen. McGovern's son, Steven McGovern, died in July. At the time, Sen. McGovern's daughter Ann said her brother had had "a long struggle with alcoholism."
Survivors include three daughters, Ann, Susan and Mary; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Sen. McGovern was often asked to reflect on the significance of his ill-fated 1972 race. He said it was notable for motivating and training a generation of young Democrats who became the party's future leaders.
"For the last 25 years," he told the Dallas Morning News in 1998, "I've been running into mayors and state legislators and city council people and governors and others who say that that was where they got their first real fire for politics."


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Teachers Teaching Teachers #198 – David Niguidula and Bill Fitzgerald Give New Life to Digital Portfolios – 04.28.10
We asked two of our favorite software developers/consultants/activists/dreamers, Bill Fitzgerald and David Niguidula to talk to us about digital portfolios on this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers.
Bill Fitzgerald and FunnyMonkey
At an Educon 2.1 session in January, Bill Fitzgerald showed us a Durpal-based digital portfolio system that he and his colleagues at FunnyMonkey had been developing. As always with Bill, it was more than a software demonstration. With this project, he is leading us in a process of "Rethinking Portfolios."
The promise of the portfolio is that the demonstration of learning remains as close as possible to the process of learning, while allowing individual elements of the learning process to be highlighted and discussed as part of evaluation. This type of assessment creates a nuanced picture of how a person is developing as a learner.
Portfolios have been around for a while, yet they are still largely viewed as an "alternative" means of assessment. What are some of the barriers for adoption that exist? What are the arguments against using portfolios?
When used effectively as part of ongoing professional development:]
- A teaching portfolio shows what and how a teacher is teaching;
- In conjunction with a student portfolio, organic ties can be made between student learning and the role of the teach
- The process of creating a teacher portfolio accomplishes (at least) two things
- it transforms curriculum development from an individual endeavor into a community endeavor; and
- after maintaining a teacher portfolio for one year, a teacher will have created a fully portable outline of their entire course, which has the potential to eliminate the need for a textbook.
We were happy the opportunity in this podcst to learn more about FunnyMonkey's Digital Portfolio project.
David Niguidula and Richer Picture
Fifteen years ago, Paul Allison and Shantanu Saha were working at University Heights Secondary School in the Bronx when we had the opportunity to begin building a digital portfolio for our school. David Niguidula was the leader of this project with the Coalition of Essential Schools. That project was a life changer for both Paul and Shantanu. It was the experience with technology that would put each of us on our own journeys into educational technology that continue today. Occasionally our paths meet up. Both Shantanu's and Paul's students work on Youth Voices, a Drupal site developed by Bill Fitzgerald.
We were excited to have this opportunity to catch up with David Niguidula! This is how his site describes their work:
Richer Picture® products and services help schools use technology to personalize teaching and learning. Our digital portfolios provide a new way for your students to show that they are meeting standards — while celebrating who they are as individual learners.
We have the most extensive experience in developing and implementing electronic portfolios in K-12 schools. In the 1990's, Ideas Consulting Founder David Niguidula led the first research project on digital portfolios while at the Coalition of Essential Schools. Since then, we have accumulated over a dozen years of experience working in elementary, middle, and high schools across the country and around the world.
We provide both technology tools and the professional development to help you use them effectively. Our software is customized for your school and is designed to fit your needs. Our professional development goes far beyond learning how to use the tools; we help your staff address the essential questions of assessment and school change.
These tandem descriptions made us wonder if these two guys had ever met before. Well, they didl meet, on this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers. Enjoy!
Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.


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A life to fry for: hot on the trail of bighorn
Night slides down the mountainside, and the temperature in the Tule Desert sinks to 108 in the shade. A bighorn sheep 50 yards away gawks at me while I nervously work down a steep stone slope. I can see amusement in her big, dumb eyes. Suddenly, my backpack nicks a boulder. I hear a horrible grind as the hefty stone slips, slices open my calf, and finally comes to rest on my heel. I am wearing running shorts, running shoes, and a T-shirt, and I am not pleased.
I wince from the pain and inspect the big rock now snoring on my heel. The sheep does not blink - I have made her day. I gingerly move my foot; the slab rumbles down toward the boulder-choked wash below. It can't get any better than this.
The light is a gray gauze as I reach the bottom of the rock face, and then I stagger across the half mile of wash toward my camp. Warm blood dribbles a Jackson Pollock pattern on my leg. The air is a blazing Jell-O, a solid blob of molecules that has napalmed my body since dawn. Sheep drippings decorate the arroyo, ironwood and palo verde sketch out neat red slashes on my whimpering hide. I slip and slide through a maze of boulders, visit with thorns and cactus eager for a piece of me. A vulture pops up from underneath a boxcar-sized boulder, then another grinning buzzard and another and another. I walk over to see what the fuss is about. A coyote lies stretched out on the sand, flies buzzing around the gray-and-tan body, the flesh swollen just a bit with heat and death. My nose stops me 15 feet from the carcass.
I think: he has solved the heat problem.
Twenty minutes after exiting the rock face, I stumble into my camp. Home is a simple place: 15 gallons of water, five freeze-dried dinners, a generous larder of Spam, 16 granola bars, three pounds of sunflower seeds, 12 books of almost unbearable dullness, a jar of industrial-strength instant coffee, and, most importantly, no ice. A thin blue pad defines my bunk on the smoldering ground (soil temperatures here sizzle around 150 to 160 degrees), and nearby is a folding chair, the aluminum Chippendale of my genteel life.
I make a small fire of ironwood twigs, boil water for a crime against my digestive tract called Burgundy Beef with Noodles, and then relax in the blast furnace while slopping down my gruel from an aluminum pouch. Bats flutter around my face.
I call it a day, stretch out on the blue pad, note the stars puncturing the sky as night comes on, and wait for the music. At precisely 11:30 each night a coyote explodes into a mixture of heavy metal and punk about one meter from my eardrum. The concert lasts two to four minutes, and then there is nothing left to do but bake until dawn.
I have been here for five days. I am alone, 40 miles east of Yuma, maybe 60 miles west of Ajo, 30 miles south of Interstate 8, and deep in the heart of one of America's favorite bombing and gunnery ranges. I am on the west flank of a rockpile called the Sierra Pintas. Nearby is a tank - a hole where the rains collect; that is, when and if they happen by every year or two. The water is green scum encrusted with a fine carpet of dead honey bees. Dung flavors this beverage.
I am here on serious business. I am counting sheep. Yes, I am.
The Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge covers 865,000 acres, and nobody lives there. The gunnery range covers even more ground, and nobody lives there either. We are talking about a couple of thousand square miles with live rounds, bighorn sheep, no paved roads, no people, and me, an official sheep counter for the United States government. Every June for the past 30 years, the feds have dispatched a handful of pilgrims to various water holes to inventory the sheep. Such workers sit motionless in the heat for five days, busily count off the herd on their fingers and toes, and then go home again. This is called science.
I would like to claim that I am here as a peculiar punishment for some act against God or man. But this is not the case. I volunteered for the job, as did a dozen other fried souls scattered about the Tule Desert, the Lechuguilla Desert, the Growler Valley, and other landmarks in hell.
I wanted to be alone. I wanted to see what heat was really like when there was no escape. I wanted to think big thoughts: I have a completely empty notebook sitting on my lap as evidence of this last goal.
I will tell you everything.
It is noon and a white flame of light sweeps across the desert floor. I am walking, a brief coffee break from my sheep-counting duties back at the tank. Heat boils up from the ground through the soles of my running shoes. I wear no socks. I wear no shirt. I wear no shorts. I wear no hat. Heat Solution No. 817. This solution is not working.
I look down at my feet and see a pottery fragment. A closer examination reveals similar debris everywhere. To the north a half mile are two small caves where early men and women and children, damnable litterbugs that they were, left busted pots, old sheep bones, and random garbage. Folks used to call this place home. In 1699, Father Kino may have ambled through here on one of his interminable marches across the desert seeking lost souls and new geography. Then, in 1939, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, at the prodding of the Ajo Boy Scouts and others, scratched his pen on a document and made the whole joint a refuge for desert bighorns. Then the war came and more ground was set aside as a shooting gallery. Now I am here. That's history for you.
I hear a big boom; my head whips toward the noise; a jet arcs across the sky and plays war games while giving the sound barrier a thorough drubbing. Then silence, absolute silence. The birds refuse to speak in the heat of midday, the insects shut up, too, and the wind has not yet started. Silence flattens the land.
I listen to the blood coursing through my veins.
It is 112 in the shade as I lie in the blind near the waterhole. The structure is a frail ramada (shelter) of saguaro ribs. All the wild animals know I am in here; I can see this knowledge in their eyes. But the blind is a necessary courtesy. I am that unspeakable thing to them, a human being, and it is best that I keep out of their sight as they bake through another Tule Desert day.
A golden eagle stands on the edge of the water hole. The beak is open, the tongue hangs down, the bird pants. The talons look like murder. The eagle peers up at me and then down at the water. It is 2 p.m., and eagle time is apparently as rigorous as factory time, since the big bird appears punctually each day. At noon, the red-tailed hawks always come in, four of them, and drink and splash in the water. The doves prefer dawn, 1 p.m., and dusk. Four ravens always show up around 4:30 p.m. The sheep are not so simple. They can go up to nine days without water.
The eagle pants and pants. I pant and pant. I literally do not think. I sense, I know, I feel, but I do not think. I have no anxiety, I cannot think enough to be concerned about anything. Here is a sample of my mind at 112 degrees: Six vultures land at the tank, they space themselves two feet apart, they drink one by one, they leave. Bees roar. Sun thuds off the stone. The eagle pants and no one pays any attention. The vultures course down the canyon and land near the dead coyote.
I can go on like this for hours. And I do.
At night I see satellites zip across the heavens. To the east, flashes of lightning suggest the monsoon has arrived in Tucson. One evening at dusk, I sit in my chair and stare at a rock face 60 yards away while I eat Sweet and Sour Shrimp with Rice. A coyote slips down the slope, the tail flowing. The animal does not hesitate and refuses to look at me.
I sprawl out on the blue pad, moths land on me, and then the bats flit by a foot off the ground and eat the moths. I am a dining-room table.
I had assumed that ideas about Nature would flood my mind during this five-day stay. I am happy to report this does not happen. I see a coyote. I see a sheep. I listen to silence. I swelter in the heat. Each day I stop by the dead coyote and check on how the vultures' work is progressing. A hummingbird hovers six inches from my face, an antelope ground squirrel nibbles seeds a foot from my leg. I pick up a jug and the fluid splashes in my mouth like it was straight from a hot water heater.
But thinking about Nature here would be an insult. Thinking itself is an insult. There is nothing to contribute. I can tell by looking into the eyes of a bighorn; I have no doubt when watching the careless disdain of the coyote for my presence. This is a place to be. I am not sure how to define being, but I am getting quite good at being. I sleep very soundly and awaken an hour before dawn. The air is cooler then, in the mid-80s, and the smells are stronger and richer and the desert requires nothing because everything that is necessary already is.
One day a huge ram, perhaps six to eight years old, walks up to the tank. His big horns have more than a three-quarter curl, his body is well fleshed, and he moves with dignity. He stands for half an hour before the tank of water, trying to decide whether to drink. He decides, moves forward, and lowers his head for six minutes and 25 seconds. I time him: Science demands this deed.
I read a book on bighorn sheep. The author states that rams will only associate with other rams that have horns the same size as they do.
He ain't heavy, he's my brother.
Early Spanish explorers found pyramids of sheep horns in this desert. Later scholars stumbled onto a similar pyramid near the tank where I now bake. No one is quite sure what the pyramids of horns were supposed to do, but they were clearly some kind of gesture by early Tule Desert people. The Sand Papagos who frequented this area until early in this century said the piles of horns stopped the wind. The wind here is a potent force, a blazing surge that comes up around noon and streams across the flats, withering everything in its path. I drink water all the time but I cannot keep up with the power of this wind.
Scholars also found sheep bones, usually vertebrae, that had deep burns on them. They had been fired at high heats for long periods of time, far longer than was necessary to cook the flesh. The sheep had been cremated. This desert in southwestern Arizona and the Pinacate country just to the south in Sonora are the only known places in the Western Hemisphere where human beings cremated nonhuman beings.
No one is quite sure why this happened either. There are whispers of explanation. The Papago at the turn of the last century said it was to placate the sheep, to calm them and win them over so that their spirits would not be angry and go visit the living sheep and say bad things about men, things that would scare away the herds. This makes sense to me. If I ever kill a sheep out here, I am certain I will cremate the beast.
There are other variant forms of cremation taking place here. Below my tank spreads the Tule Desert, a pan of fire that officially hosts four inches of rain a year. In the first 10 days of June, the Border Patrol took four dead Mexicans out of this area. They were illegals heading north toward work. There are all kinds of dead people out there, and most are never found. No one cremates their bones. No one knows how to still their spirits.
In a week it will be the Fourth of July. I peer into the volcano of the Tule Desert at noon. They are out there. But we have no striking rituals to handle this dying. When a body is found, we toss the flesh and bones into a rubber bag and tote it off to a pauper's grave. This does not seem like quite enough. We have lost the knack of desert cremation, and I suspect the spirits are not at peace, but wander this ground. And I do not want to think what they say about us.
I have not moved for four hours. Sweat streams from my body. I drink; more sweat pours out. The tank is still, just a bunch of white-winged doves sitting on the rock in the sun and broiling nicely. I hear a kind of scream; a brown form plummets, misses, wheels, and dives again. I stare into the face of a prairie falcon 30 yards away. A dead dove is gripped in its talons. The flock explodes and flees. The falcon looks up at me, and for a second or two there is nothing but the beautiful raptor, the dead dove, the heat, and death.
Then the bird vanishes. I know it leaves, I witness this exit, but in fact it simply vanishes. One second it is there with the dead dove gripped by its black talons, the next it is gone. I have no conscious memory of the falcon flying away.
The tank falls very still. A few gray feathers flutter down the rock where the kill took place. For 31 minutes, no doves come to the tank. Yes, I time it. Science once again. Then a flock lands, putters around the rock, sits in plain view under the sun, and returns to whatever life means to a white-winged dove.
I think there should be precautions, drills, air alerts. But there is nothing. The death is not even memory. This is the Tule Desert and it is 112 degrees and no one is up to anything but life itself.
In five days of watching, I see three ewes and two rams, or maybe five ewes and two rams. After a while, all those ewes start to look pretty much the same.
My notebook remains absolutely empty. I sit in the morning light and wait for a truck to come by and pick me up and take me away. A stone tumbles nearby, I glance over and see a two-year-old ram romp off the rock face and then calmly walk down the wash, nibbling at ironwood shoots as he goes. He is 50 or 60 yards away and I do not interest him. Gnatcatchers and verdins and other birds flit from tree to tree.
I hike up the wash and check on the dead coyote. The vultures are gone; I can see them overhead riding a thermal. There is not much left of the coyote: the outline of the head, the empty rib cage, a pile of fluff marking the discards of his fur. He is in the Tule Desert now, powering the muscles of the vultures as they scan the bare ground for things that have run out of time.
I sit in the sun and drink a cup of black coffee. I do not think of Nature at all. I have not spoken in five days. My leg and heel are mending nicely.
An American poet once wrote, "Do not listen to the birds / They are ignorant."
Like hell they are.
Charles Bowden has written about the desert since 1977. His essay is part of Gary Paul Nabhan's anthology, Counting Sheep: 20 Ways of Seeing Desert Bighorn, University of Arizona Press, 1993.


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About this item
|1 x 1.75"
The finest of Italian luxury is represented in the bold designs of Moschino. Known for it's use of symbols and gold, we have put together one of the most extensive Vintage Moschino Jewelry Archives to date. The archive consists of a huge array of products from the signature runways pieces, to the simple ready-to-wear pieces. Be sure to get a piece of the Vintage Moschino Jewelry archive because it may just be the last time you have the chance.
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