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The secret George W. Bush project
George W. Bush worked on the book in secret for two years, without a book deal, without dribbling a word out to Bush alums or other Republicans who would have leaked it in a second. As far as the outside world knew, he was just spending all of that time working on his paintings.
Only his family and friends knew about the secret book project. And, of course, he told the star of the book: his father.
On Thursday, Bush stunned the political world with the news that his next book will be about his father, George H.W. Bush. One president writing about another — 43 writing about 41. And, on a more personal level, a son writing about a father with whom he was supposed to have a tense rivalry — from everything else we've read about them.
When Bush's book comes out on Nov. 11, it's sure to force a re-evaluation of the Bushes on many levels: the history of the elder Bush's presidency, the true nature of the relationship between the father and the son, the novelty of one president writing about another, the evolution of the younger Bush in his post-presidential years, and the political future of the Bush dynasty.
( PHOTOS: The art of George W. Bush)
And it promises a unique perspective — it's not as if there's a massive collection of presidential biographies by other presidents.
"Look, we have only had two father and son acts in presidential history so far, and to my knowledge John Quincy Adams didn't talk about his father," said Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian at New York University and the author of a biography of George H.W. Bush.
The book will mark the most important step George W. Bush has taken to re-emerge from the low political profile he's kept since he left office. Ever since he returned to Texas in 2009, the 68-year-old Bush has largely stayed out of politics, declining to criticize President Barack Obama's performance even as other Republicans, including his own vice president, Dick Cheney, have had no such reservations. He did promote his memoir, "Decision Points," in 2011, but otherwise has focused on his presidential library and his paintings.
The timing of the book won't be ideal for another Bush: former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who will have to decide around the release date whether to try to become the third Bush president. He'd be competing for attention with his brother's book about his dad, and the whole setup might spark yet another round of speculation about the brothers' rivalries.
( Opinion from POLITICO Magazine: Why are politicians books so terrible?)
Some top Republicans in Washington are convinced that Jeb Bush will pass on a 2016 bid, so it might be a moot point. An aide to the ex-governor did not respond to requests for comment.
News of the book came as a surprise to the political world, even among people who follow the Bush saga closely. Matt Schlapp, George W. Bush's former political director and now the chairman of the American Conservative Union, said he had "no inkling" of the project — no talking points to help promote it, or even a heads up.
"The first I heard of it was on the news," said Steve Munisteri, the chairman of the Texas Republican Party, who recalls meeting George W. Bush several times when Bush was an operative on his father's presidential campaign in 1988.
Munisteri said he is eager to read it and thinks it's time for a reassessment of the elder Bush. But the younger Bush has something to gain, too, he said. Bush has already displayed his artistic side with his late-blooming painting hobby, Munisteri said, and "if his book is any good, people might look at him as a renaissance man."
Here's what we know about the book: It will be published by Crown Publishers (the book contract came recently), it doesn't have a title yet and it runs roughly 300 pages. As reported in POLITICO's Playbook Thursday, Bush got the idea in 2010, did some work on it in 2011 and 2012, and wrote it over the last two years, mostly on his own but with some research and editing help.
"It has 43's wonderful humor — very familiar to people who know him, but always a surprise to people who just know the caricature," said a friend of the former president.
It will come at a time when George W. Bush's approval ratings are slowly recovering from their disastrous levels when he left office, as happens to many immediate ex-presidents (his numbers are still nowhere near as high as his father's.) By writing the book, the younger Bush can bring himself a bit closer to the story of his more popular, less polarizing father.
How much it affects his own place in history is less clear. Presidential scholar George Edwards of Texas A&M University said the Iraq War and the botched response to Hurricane Katrina have defined the second Bush presidency the most, and "I think writing a book about his dad is not going to be enough to overcome that."
But Bush could be more successful in another goal of the book: to set the record straight with the public that he really does admire and love his father, the World War II veteran who's still jumping out of planes at age 90. According to people familiar with the project, that's one of his biggest motivations in writing the book.
That could be a heavy lift, given all that has been written about the tensions and rivalries between the two. Among them: the challenge to go "mano a mano" with his dad as a young adult, the determination not to make the same mistakes he believed his father made in the White House, and even the in-your-face nature of some of his decisions as president, like hiring Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary despite tensions between Rumsfeld and his father. All of that drama has Republicans and students of the presidency eager to see what the younger Bush has to say.
Still, Bush insiders insist that his love for his father is genuine, despite everything the public thinks it knows.
"I've never seen a son that loves his father more. Absolute and unconditional," said Mark McKinnon, one of George W. Bush's former political advisers. During one visit to Kennebunkport, Maine, with both Bushes, McKinnon said, "the interaction was so pure, sweet and compelling that afterwards I snuck off to call my father to tell him how much I missed him."
It's not the only biography of George H.W. Bush in the works. Jon Meacham is at work on another one — "The Last Gentleman," tentatively scheduled for fall 2015 — that will draw on the elder Bush's diaries and a trove of documents from his presidential library. But the books will make different contributions, and the younger Bush's book is likely to have a more personal touch.
Schlapp said Bush's book could set the record straight by showing the close relationship he and other Bush staffers saw when the two were around each other.
"There wasn't a more important person on the face of the earth than his dad," Schlapp said. In his view, Bush wrote the book because "he's doing what his heart tells him to do and what he wants to do, and not overthinking the politics of it."
Other Bush alums are keeping their comments safe and bland — usually variations on "can't wait to read this," Karl Rove's tweet when the news broke. Ken Mehlman, George W. Bush's former campaign manager, said "I look forward to buying and reading" but declined to comment further.
Bookstore owners are expecting heavy interest from political junkies.
"It is quite unusual enough to have a son writing a biography of the father, but when both were former presidents it is quite a conversation starter," said Bradley Graham, co-owner of Politics and Prose, the popular Washington, D.C. bookstore.
Graham said the book will be interesting "in terms of what the son might know about the father and has not been revealed, but also in what the younger Bush might choose to reveal about himself, both in terms of early influences his dad had on him and, perhaps even more significantly, insights into the role that the senior Bush played in his son's major decisions during the presidency."
Munisteri said the timing of the book will be significant for another reason. Even as the political world waits for Jeb Bush's decision on whether to get into the 2016 race, his son, George P. Bush, is likely to be elected Texas land commissioner in November — a statewide office that could be a launching pad for a long-lasting political career of his own. That's likely to keep the Bush political dynasty alive, whatever Jeb Bush decides.
"You've got an older generation that's taking perspective, while the younger generation emerges," Munisteri said.
Mike Allen, Nicholas Fandos and Maggie Haberman contributed to this report.


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You Can't Take The Hills Out Of The Girl
The life of an author can be lonely and frustrating but occasionally something comes along to add a little excitement to the day. Today is that day. Cash advance payday loans online.
This summer my nephew, Kenny Harrah, sent me an email about a Writer Residency program for the New River Gorge in Fayetteville, WV. He said Fayetteville was a cool and happening place to be and thought I might be interested. He said he sent it on a lark and on that same lark I decided to enter the competition.
Today I got word I am a finalist and they are coming to Columbus to interview me this weekend. It will be an opportunity to be a voice for the people and the state. The New River Gorge is known not only for its majestic mountains and white-water rafting but also for the area's artists and craftsmen. If fortunate enough to be selected as the winner, I look forward to returning to my native state and spending an extended amount of time among the mountains. I also relish the opportunity to be with fellow artists and to promote their work. But, more than that, I look forward to being with the good people of West Virginia.
You might say West Virginians never knew a stranger. They are open, warm, and welcoming and will do anything for you. The famous movie star, Will Ferrell, experienced some of the state's hospitality this summer when his rented car broke down. He was pulled to the side of the road when two men stopped to help. One had a brother who owned a tow truck and while Ferrell's car was towed to the shop and being repaired they took him to lunch where he had a friend bologna sandwich. Ferrell said this would never have happened in LA.
I love this story for a couple of reasons. First it shows the genuine helpfulness of the people and, secondly, where else would you be treated to a fried bologna sandwich? I think that should be the official sandwich of the state. My father used to eat them all the time. Ferrell said the people had no idea who he was, they were just out to help a stranger.
I want to thank several people who enabled me to get to this point and first is my publisher Rick Lakin of iCrew Publishing. It is hard to believe I have known Rick for five years and during that time he has been my web designer, agent, publisher, and friend. Without his belief in me, and occasional prodding, none of this would be possible. Ironically, Rick and I took a trip this summer through this very area retracing the steps of his great grandfather during the Civil War. Letters to Sallie: the Civil War Letters of A.C. McClure, is my next book and if I am named the Writer in Residence it will enable me to delve into more research on the book. Rick and my neighbor Martha Smith both wrote letters of recommendation for me so I also want to thank Martha for her encouragements. It feels a little like home with two West Virginians next door to each other in the big city of Columbus, Ohio. We also have our friendly rivalries on football Saturdays in the fall.
I also need to thank my family, friends, neighbors and all those who have followed my blog and bought my book, Peach Cobbler for Breakfast—surviving a life-altering event.
So, to all those reading this, please send positive vibes my way. I would love the opportunity for a new adventure. I am now at a place in my life where I have no responsibilities—no husband, no kids, no pets—and would like to make up for lost time where life got in the way. It would be "Almost Heaven" to return to my native state and work among those beautiful West Virginia hills.
As they say—you can take the girl out of the hills but you can't take the hills out of the girl.
Hey Mister, My Eyes Are Up Here!
A lot has come out recently about women being sexually exploited in and out of the workplace. The incidents involving Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly, Bill Cosby, Donald Trump, and Harvey Weinstein have grabbed the headlines займ на карту. Although these all involved the news or entertainment industry, almost any woman can tell you, you don't have to be rich or famous or even attractive to undergo the same humiliation.
Over the course of my careers I have been groped, harassed, embarrassed, discriminated against, and patronized; all because I am a woman. As a young college grad teaching in high school I was only a few years older than my students and whenever I had a parent/teacher conference involving the dad some comment was usually made regarding my youth or appearance. Perhaps these were intended as complements but they also instantly downgraded my position to something less respectable. When a man called in the parents of a problem student, I'm sure the mother or father never commented on the man's attractiveness, attire, or his ability to teach and manage a class. In a profession dominated by women for years the male teachers received more respect than the women, at least in my environment.
I went from a female dominated profession to an almost all male world of construction. I was a construction reporter and my duties were to interview architects, engineers, and contractors. One of the most important aspects of my job was to gain credibility. The men seemed to think a woman couldn't understand the design, bidding, and construction process, therefore, many of the professionals decided to give me a crash course in Construction 101, even after I told them I knew it well. They would arrogantly lecture me until I would ask a question involving the knowledge they were patronizingly passing on to me. I would ask a technical question that was more of grad school quality which showed them I really knew what I was talking about. This approach usually shocked them into silence and it gained me the respect I needed to do the job.
Although this approach worked on an intellectual level it did not get passed the sexual innuendos and awkward proposals. One man didn't want to be interviewed at his office but wanted to take a stroll through a park. I refused. Another greeted me with a very strange handshake which I'm sure had some kind of sexual intent which I'm still trying to figure out. I couldn't get out of his office fast enough.
It was difficult walking the fine line of creating good rapport with these men but at the same time refusing their advances. However, my boss was another story. He was the only male in an office of eight women and he made crude and rude advances to all of us. I made it known I wasn't playing his games and I was the only one he did not lean on, lean over, or rub against; but I paid the price. My work hours were changed so I had to work late into the evening—with the state parole board offices across the hall. I was given impossible workloads, especially just before the weekend or a vacation, causing me to work late in the night or during the weekend. I was told that while on vacation he double checked all of my reports and sources trying to find a slip-up. He didn't find any.
He pleasured himself in the office and even had sex with a coworker during a Christmas party, in his office with very thin walls. I finally quit because of all the pressure and even took a lawyer to my exit interview with the district manager. At the interview the district manager told me I was, "a hell of a reporter," and he would be glad to give me a letter of recommendation anytime. I asked for the letter right then and he said he would mail it to my house. It never came. I inquired about it and even went through HR at our headquarters in New York but the only thing I got was a run around. Six years of hard work and good reporting and in the end, I got nothing because I wouldn't play along with the boss's games and become a member of his harem.
After these incidents I began freelancing where I could set my own rules. I still encountered difficulties but the consequences weren't as drastic. If I didn't like a situation I could walk away. One of the most shocking incidents occurred at a state-wide church conference. I was sitting next to a judge and when we broke into discussion groups he suddenly slipped his hand under my skirt and right up my thigh. This happened very quickly and it took a moment for me to process what had happened; in addition, I had had back surgery which left some nerve damage and numbness in that leg and I didn't immediately feel it. I was shocked and didn't know how to react so I ignored it and did nothing. A few months later I was at a national conference and, much to my chagrin, he and his wife were there and even on the same tour bus as mine. I was vigilant but there were no more problems. I was embarrassed and confused and very uncomfortable on the trip.
I can't tell you how many times I have been in a discussion with a man and the whole time he talked to my chest. I have always wanted to say, "Mister, my eyes are up here," but I haven't had the nerve. No one ever taught us how to handle these situations. My generation usually ignored it and continued on in awkward silence. I'm glad the world is changing to the point that more women are approaching this topic and finding the nerve to publicly condemn their molesters.
It takes courage to bring this to light because society usually blames the woman. Were her clothes or actions provocative? Was she not capable of doing the job? Was she too emotional? Was she not respectful? Society wants to turn the situation around and make the woman the aggressor. She must have done something to invite the sexual advances or punishment she received after her refusals. Surely, she did something to invite these reactions from the men. After all, "boys will be boys. It's just locker room talk."
How many women's careers have been ruined or derailed by refusing men's advances? Women ask themselves when in these situations, "Are the consequences worth exposing their harassers?
It is time for the women to band together and report such transgressions. We then need to support the brave women who come forward. And, we need to teach our young girls it is not alright for men to talk about us in a sexual way. It is not alright for men to touch our bodies without permission. It is not alright to think of women as inferior. It is not alright to retaliate for rejected advances.
I am strong. I am woman.
Do You Know Proper Flag Etiquette?
United We Stand; Divided We Fall
A lot of tweets, Facebook posts, and memes have been flying back and forth regarding the controversy over the NFL teams kneeling, linking arms, or staying in the locker rooms during the national anthem. It appears this might even filter down to the colleges and high schools. But if you ask the average citizen what is proper flag etiquette, I bet few people know.
I thought I knew the answers, after all I was a Girl Scout, until I decided to do some research. Even the most self-righteous of those weighing in on the kneeling controversy probably have broken some of the flag codes. Why, even our own president is at fault. He has been photographed standing during the national anthem but not putting his hand over his heart. The first lady, an immigrant, had to remind him to do this.
According to military.com, "Flag Ettiquette Dos and Donts," the following should be observed:
All persons present in uniform (military, police, fire, etc.) should render the military salute. Members of the armed forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute.
All other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, or if applicable, remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart.
How many men stand and remove their hats and hold it with their right hands at shoulder level while placing that hand over their hearts? I have seen many people stand but continue to talk during the anthem. Men and boys sometimes must be reminded to remove their hats and many fail to face in the direction of the flag. So, while we are on the topic of the NFL and flag etiquette, many players do not place their hands over their hearts nor do they remove their helmets.
The same web site goes on to list many more Do's and Don'ts but some of the most commonly violated which I have observed are:
- Don't let the flag touch the ground.
- Don't fly the flag upside down unless there is an emergency.
- Don't store the flag where it can get dirty.
- Don't use the flag as decoration.
Traditionally, the flag should be displayed only from sunrise to sundown and if it is left up after sunset it should be illuminated. I have seen many flags flown from houses and not taken down at sunset or during inclement weather. I have also seen flags drooping to the ground or rolled up and stuffed in the corner of the porch when not in use; all of which is a, "No, no."
I once rescued a flag from the trash. It had been wadded up and thrown to the curb along with the other trash. I took it to the fire department which routinely ceremoniously burns flags according to the flag code.
The web site USA.gov, The American Flag and Its Protocol, states that the flag is a symbol of freedom and liberty to which Americans pledge their allegiance by standing at attention and facing the flag with their right hand over the heart.
The most interesting and insightful web site which I found is Senate.gov, CRS Report for Congress. The CRS is the Congressional Research Service and its report can be summed up in the first paragraph.
No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America.
The most interesting statement of the 17 page report is:
Thus, the Flag Code does not prescribe any penalties for non-compliance nor does it include enforcement provisions; rather the Code functions simply as a guide to be voluntarily followed by civilians and civilian groups.
Yes, there are no laws and therefore no punishments for failing to follow protocol. Therefore, the teams have the freedom to do as they wish. This is called freedom of speech and freedom of expression which is what this country was founded on. This means that if one wants to kneel rather than the standard traditional salute we have the freedom to do so.
This movement began as a peaceful way of bringing attention to the racial inequalities in this country. There are many forms of protest which are much more disrespectful but kneeling is a sign of respect. We kneel at church and in prayer so why not kneel during the anthem?
When players are injured on the field the teams will take a knee, which is a way of showing respect for the injured player. Considering this country's current state of affairs, you might say that taking a knee is showing respect for the flag and the country for which it stands, just in a different way.
This country is facing many serious problems, most much more important than what the NFL does during the national anthem. Experts say we are the closet to nuclear war than we have ever been. The states and the American territory of Puerto Rico devastated by the recent hurricanes are facing billions of dollars and years of rebuilding. And, as if this isn't enough, the Russians are quietly laughing at us as they create chaos within our government.
Before we begin throwing stones let us look inward and analyze our own actions measured against the Federal Flag Code. We shouldn't let this dog whistle divide us but, rather, let us link arms in the brotherhood of humanity. In 1986 Hands Across America was held to raise money for the homeless in which a human chain was formed reaching from one coast to another. Why not a link chain stretching across the country where people of all races, religions and countries of origin can stand shoulder to shoulder, linked arm in arm. A way of showing our strength and commitment to what this country has always stood for—liberty and justice for ALL.
Remember: United we stand; divided we fall.
There are many other Do's and Don'ts besides those I have discussed. For those wanting more information I recommend the following sites:
What is better than free?
To quote the famous Yogi Berra, "It was déjà vu all over again."
Soon after publication of my first book, Peach Cobbler for Breakfast—surviving a life-altering event, I was forced to take my own advice займ без процентов первый раз. It is the story of my journey from discovery to recovery after the death of seven family members within a two-year period, including my father and husband, and how I found a new life. I was excited over seeing my book published but never thought I would have to take my own advice so soon.
Just six weeks after publication my mother died suddenly and the following year my second husband died. I was once again suffering the physical, mental, and emotional pains of grieving a loved one. I turned to my book for comfort.
Fortunately, this time the grieving process was not as devastating because I was armed with knowledge of what to expect and how to cope. Knowledge I had gained from research which led to my book, Peach Cobbler for Breakfast. My world was turned upside down when I lost the two men who were the center of my universe, both to cancer just six months apart. I was overwhelmed with grief and didn't know where to turn for help so I did what my background as an English teacher and journalist had trained me to do—I turned to books for answers.
Fast forward 20 plus years and when I lost my mother and husband I knew what to expect. I knew that when I couldn't concentrate, or I sighed for no reason, or I couldn't remember what I was doing, I knew it was part of the grieving process and to just relax for a moment and I could carry on. I reread my book and took my own advice. This new journey is documented in the updated version of Peach Cobbler for Breakfast 2017.
The book is completely revised with fresh editing, new pictures, and a new ending. I am very proud of this new version and feel it is a good summary of what grief is, the different kinds of grief, and how to cope. My life hasn't been easy and, in truth, almost everything I have done has been difficult; but I have pushed myself and refused to give up, no matter the challenge. My hope is that my story, with its ups and downs, can be a light for those finding their way in their own dark tunnel.
Many ask why the title, Peach Cobbler for Breakfast, and my answer is:
it was a moment of epiphany when I realized I was master of my own world and I could have anything I wanted out of life, even if it was peach cobbler for breakfast that morning long ago, and that has made all the difference.
To celebrate this new release my publisher, iCrew Publishing, is graciously offering the e-book for FREE Tuesday, September 18, through Friday, September 22 at https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D154606011&field-keywords=Peach+Cobbler+for+Breakfast.
Be sure to order the 2017 version. You can also order the book version from this site but only the e-book is free. For those who don't have a Kindle, it can be downloaded to your computer or phone.
The Free Press Versus Fake News: Should We Be Worried?
Several times over the past year I have posted something on Facebook and someone replied, "Fake news." We are hearing this term more and more every day and this seems to be Trump's favorite phrase.
Although the term may be new, the intent behind it isn't. There has been an on-going effort by the Communist party to undermine our society by creating doubts, distrust in authority, and chaos to make it easier for them to then take control. It was all spelled out in a file titled Communist Rules for Revolution published in 1919 and obtained by our armed forces in Dusseldorf, Germany. Here are the instructions issued to those who would bring about revolution:
- Corrupt the young, get them away from religion. Get them interested in sex. Make them superficial, destroy their ruggedness.
- Get control of all means of publicity and thereby:
- Get people's minds off their government by focusing attention on athletics, sexy books and plays, and other trivialitie[contact-form][contact-field label="Name" type="name" required="true" /][contact-field label="Email" type="email" required="true" /][contact-field label="Website" type="url" /][contact-field label="Message" type="textarea" /][/contact-form]
- Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial matters of no importance.
- Destroy the people's faith in their natural leaders by holding the latter up to contempt, ridicule and obloguy (strong public criticism or verbal abuse).
- Always preach true democracy but seize power as fast and ruthlessly as possible.
- By encouraging government extravagance, destroy its credit, produce fear of inflation with rising prices and general discontent.
- Foment unnecessary strikes in vital industries, encourage civil disorders, and foster a lenient and soft attitude on the part of government toward such disorders.
- By spacious argument cause the breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, faith in the pledged word, ruggedness.
- Cause the registration of all firearms on some pretext with the view of confiscation of them and leaving the population helpless.
Although this was published nearly a hundred years ago, it is very current today. Each point has been endlessly discussed in social circles and on cable news. We see examples of these points happening everyday but the one I'm most concerned about is item #2—get control of all means of publicity. Coming from a journalistic background I know words are important. What we say and how we say it can influence people's minds and opinions. To quote an old saying, "The pen is mightier than the sword."
It has now been revealed that during the election cycle people were making up fantastic stories and publishing them on the web. I will call these people word factories because that is what they were. They were mindlessly putting together a string of words and making up ridiculous stories to bash a particular candidate or party. What this has done is create a great mistrust in all media. We don't know what is the truth and what came from the word factories—or—fake news. Therefore, since we can't trust the media we don't know if what was reported about a political figure is true or not.
Or, at least, that is the plan from various nefarious groups. How can we combat this trend and defeat the perpetrators? By educating ourselves.
Don't believe the lies being spread that reporters and news organizations are evil, nasty, bad guys. Being a reporter is a difficult job. Reporters do what their name implies, they report the news, they don't manufacture it. Reputable reporters and news organizations dig, and dig, and dig to find the facts. Many times, public figures don't want the facts, or whole truth, out for one reason or another. After the reporter writes the news story it goes to an editor who double and sometimes triple checks the facts. This is why government and public officials are wary of reporters. They know they can't hide the truth from them. This is why reporters aren't the most popular people in the room.
So how do we, the consumer, know if our news source is reliable or not? First check the source or news organization reporting it. If it comes from Joe Blow News then disregard immediately. If it comes from a known source such as Reuters, AP (Associated Press), a network news station or cable station such as CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc. then it is fairly safe; but, beware that there might be a left or right slant to the presentation.
The current president and attorney general are even threatening to begin jailing reporters and loosening the libel laws. This is a very dangerous move. The initiative comes about because reporters are doing stories on information the administration does not want out and the reporters won't reveal their sources.
Reporters never reveal their sources. Reporters give their word to protect their sources and many have gone to prison rather than renege on that promise. If they are hit with a libel suit the defense for libel is truth. If it can be proven in court that the information revealed in the reporter's story is true that is all the defense needed.
The press is the watch dog over our three branches of government, that is why it is called The Fourth Estate. To protect this unofficial fourth leg of the foundation of our society, our founding fathers established the first amendment to the Constitution under the Bill of Rights—Freedom of the Press.
Now that there are attacks to this freedom we must be vigilante and educated and support the work the responsible news services are giving us. Let us respect, honor, and thank these hard-working people rather than ridicule them. What the public doesn't see is that members of the press know their responsibilities. Along with freedom of the press comes responsibilities and reliability. Good reporters know this and constantly strive to report the news fairly and accurately.
If you think these discussions are new, this blog post is based on a newspaper clipping dated May 1, 1970. It begins:
If you think most of the problems that beset the world and our nation today just happened that way; if you think it is a natural trend born of the modern age; if you think that it will suddenly all dissolve when we, the people, get tired of being bothered, then read an excerpt from a file on Communist Rules for Revolution….these were the instructions issued to those who were to bring about world revolution.
Yes, this was 47 years ago; before cell phones, computers, HDTV, fitbits, iPads, etc. The modern age of 47 years ago was just as worried about world affairs as we are today. The Communist Rules for Revolution was written in 1919 as instructions for those who were to bring about world revolution. The newspaper article ends with words that are just as relevant today as they were in 1970:
Just fifty-one years later those who were given the plan of attack can check full 100 per cent success in their efforts. We are sure there is now another such set of instructions, going on from where these left off. This time past history presents full reason to be concerned, if not completely frightened. Your enemies are patient but thorough. Your greatest enemy, however is your disregard of the danger signs.
Here is a list of generally accepted top reliable news sources. The Associated Press is viewed as the most trustworthy:
New York Times
The Associated Press
The Economist
Wall Street Journal
If you didn't find your favorite news source there, here is another compiled by compiled by Business Insider in 2014 from the most trusted to the least:

subset: commoncrawl


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Simulation et optimisation de filtres, mesures d'enceintes acoustiques
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'Highest Paid Man on Wall Street' Ignites Culture War at His Kid's Prep School
Hugh "Skip" McGee III has a rumored $25 million salary at Barclays, and he finds lefties and lesbians just sickening. In an epic letter to the board of his son's school, he implores the "silent majority" to strike back.
Obtained by Dealbreaker, the letter concerns McGee's son, John Edward, who attends Houston's Kinkaid School and wanted to wear cheerleader costumes with his football friends in a pep rally skit, but was barred from performing due to "negative gender stereotyping."
Entitled "The Tipping Point," McGee's letter begins with a single violin playing the world's saddest melody, Ballad of the Rich White Guy Who Takes Himself Entirely Too Seriously:
I am writing to you today with a heavy heart but also with a strong sense of obligation. I am sad that things have gotten to the point they have at Kinkaid but feel I must speak up on behalf of the "silent majority" before the situation gets to a point of no return. ... I submit to you that the values, methods, beliefs and actions of the current Administration are not in synch [sic] with those of the majority ... So this letter is about much more than a cancelled pep rally—it's about taking back control of the Kinkaid School. [emphasis mine]
What follows is a three-part, bullet-pointed explanation of the new white man's burden: getting subversives fired from your kid's prep school. His rationale includes "the parent whisper circuit," "a gay female coach," and the time a "leftist" teacher made his son cry.
In the first section, entitled "The Catalyst (see attachment 1—my email to Don North the afternoon of the pep rally)," McGee lays out the myriad wrongs associated with barring his son from performing a funny dance in a dress in front of the school. The unjust harshing of John Ed's mellow may have been part of an elaborate vendetta perpetrated by student president Andrew Edison, who "had previous issues with football players" and—J'accuse!—once distributed a video of himself in drag, too:
The real instigator, though, is "The Teacher," Ms. Leslie Lovett, who apparently led the anti-skit battle. Lovett "is regularly ranked among the least desired teachers (at least on the parent 'whisper circuit')." Her class is a "leftist invective" of anti-i-banking propaganda. Also, she hates football and doesn't know her place:
Last year, she commented to an 11th grade history class including my son
that somehow both Lehman and Barclays made a bunch of money on the Lehman
bankruptcy, and that all investment bankers were "sleazeballs" and dishonest. With tears in his eyes, John Ed called her out in front of the class and said his dad worked for Lehman Brothers and had been working around the clock trying to save 11,000 jobs and that she had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.
...Last year, Ms. Lovett suggested that Homecoming should be at a girls' field hockey game rather than at a football game. She also complained that there were no women on the football team and poked her nose into the yearbook with nonsense issues that she has no business raising.
Look, Skip: I get that you're sad about Lehman. But when everyone knows you get a 7-figure paycheck every month, maybe don't complain about how emotionally difficult it was for you to steer 11,000 people's job losses, not to mention setting off global economic freefall and bankrupting entire nations. That said, the image of a Lehman exec's teenage son blinking back tears of confused rage, shame, and filial protectiveness makes for a somewhat fascinating tableau on the concept of "inheritance."
In his "Conclusion," McGee expands his disgust with Ms. Lovett to include all teachers who care about "diversity" and are total buzz kills:
What happened to our ability to laugh at ourselves and have fun? What happened to common sense and good judgment? Why is a married, heterosexual coach considered an oddity at Kinkaid? Why is a gay female coach telling high school girls on her team that she was disappointed in them for belonging to the spirit club (SOK) and that by doing so they are just pandering to the football team?
My personal favorite part of the letter is when McGee explains that the case of the party-pooped pep rally is actually the story of America:
The number of parents who have been talking about this particular pep rally is enormous. It is not because they care about football or pep rallies, it is because they have all encountered the same issues in some form or fashion. We have lost our way.
McGee closes by reminding everyone that his eldest daughter Katie "is now a senior at Princeton," so he knows a thing or two about kids and education. Today's battle, though, is not about Katie. Nor is it about John Ed. It's about the future: little Lizzy McGee, a wee eighth grader who walks into the light of tomorrow's daybreak with heavy feet, not because of lefty teachers and the P.C. police all up in her grill—but because her father, Hugh "Skip" McGee III, is really embarrassing
Read Skip's four-page masterpiece at Dealbreaker.
[DealBreaker] [The Daily Beast]


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After facing off against the Kansas City Chiefs' defense, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady had no problem taking a lightsaber to Star Wars' Kylo Ren and a unit of stormtroopers.
A mask-wearing Brady visited the Star Wars-themed section of Walt Disney World with his family and friends on Monday, two months after he led the Bucs to a Super Bowl win against the Chiefs.
Since 1987, heroes from Super Bowl games have filmed an ad during post-game celebrations, saying "I'm Going to Disney World," followed by an appearance the next day for a parade at the Florida theme park resort.
This year, Brady and Bucs teammate Rob Gronkowski filmed the ad after the Super Bowl game, but the parade was nixed because of pandemic restrictions. Brady, who has seven Super Bowl rings, has filmed the ad more times than any other NFL player.
Gronkowski visited Disney World in February, the day after the Super Bowl was played in Tampa.


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Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan-Tatum have named their baby girl born two days ago, Everly Tatum. Aww! That's such a pretty name. Us Weekly
The woman who got her head smashed by Miguel's leg during his Billboard Music Awards performance might have brain damage. We smell a lawsuit. TMZ
Kate Middleton's baby bump is growing and of course the princess looks like drop dead gorgeous in pink. Radar Online
More From Cosmopolitan
And, Best Husband of The Year goes to Brad Pitt. First he sticks by Angelina Jolie during her double mastectomy, and now he surprised her with an intimate birthday dinner. People
Kris Jenner and mother hen of the whole Kardashian krew is getting her own talk show, which premieres July 15. Check out the trailer here! Perez Hilton
Want more from Dara? Follow her on Facebook and Twitter @dadeeyo.
Photo: Getty Images


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Obama's Strange Dependence
on Valerie Jarrett
By Karin McQuillan at the American Thinker: article sent by Prager fan, Steve Levin:
"President Obama canceled the operation to kill Osama bin Laden three times before saying yes, because he got cold feet about the possible political harm to himself if the mission failed. Instead of listening to advisors from the U.S. military, Defense, or even State, Obama was acting on the advice of White House politico and close friend Valerie Jarrett. Valerie Jarrett?
This account comes from Richard Miniter's upcoming book Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors who Decide for Him. Miniter has written a half-dozen books on the war on terror. He is relying on an unnamed source within the U.S. military Joint Special Operations Command who was directly involved in the operation and planning of the Osama bin Laden kill mission.
Is the story credible? According to Edward Klein, a reporter once asked Obama if he ran every decision by Jarrett. Obama answered, "Yep. Absolutely."
Edward Klein, former foreign editor of Newsweek and editor of the New York Times Magazine for many years, describes Jarrett as "ground zero in the Obama operation, the first couple's friend and consigliere." Klein — who claims he used a minimum of two sources for each assertion in his book on the Obama presidency, The Amateur — writes in detail about Jarrett opposing the raid on bin Laden. She told Obama not to take the political risk. Klein thought Obama ignored Jarrett's advice. Miniter tells us he listened to her, three times telling Special Operations not to take the risk to go after bin Laden.
We need to understand the role Valerie Jarrett plays in Obama's private and political life.
"If it wasn't for Valerie Jarrett, there'd be no Barack Obama to complain about," starts Klein's chapter on Jarrett. He quotes Michelle Obama on Jarrett's influence over her husband: "She knows the buttons, the soft spots, the history, the context."
No one outside Michelle has the access or power over Obama's decision-making like Jarrett does. Here's an odd little fact that gives some insight into what kind of president Obama is: Michelle, Michelle's mother, and Valerie, and only a few others in Washington, are allowed to call Barack by his first name. After work, Jarrett joins Obama at night in the Family Quarters, where she dines often with the First Family. She goes on vacation with them.
Jarrett's title is the weird mouthful "Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs." She is the gatekeeper, but she is also much more than that. She occupies Karl Rove's and Hillary's old office and has an all-access pass to meetings. She shows up at the National Security Council, at meetings on the economy and budget. She stays behind to advise Obama on what to think and do. Obama uses her as his left-wing conscience. Klein's sources describe how at each pressing issue, Obama turns to ask her, "What do you think the right thing to do is?" As president, he likes to have her next to him "as the voice of authentic blackness in a White House that is staffed largely by whites."
A longtime friend told Klein that Jarrett is the "eyes, ears and nose" of the Obamas. She tells them whom to trust, who is saying what, whom to see at home and abroad. Michelle wants her there: "I told her … it would give me a sense of comfort to know that (Barack) had somebody like her there by his side." As Obama told the New York Times, "Valerie is one of my oldest friends. … I trust her completely."
To understand why Obama relies so heavily on Jarrett, we must remember the president's identity crisis as a black man, which is the main subject of his memoir, Dreams from My Father. Valerie Jarrett's adoption of the Obamas as her friends and protégés in Chicago's upper-crust black society was one of the greatest things that ever happened to Obama. Until becoming a community organizer, Obama tells us he felt himself to be an inauthentic American black. Nothing in his life helped him understand or fit into the American black community.
Within a few weeks of Obama's birth, conceived out of wedlock as he was, his mother moved away to a different college, leaving Obama's African birth father behind in Honolulu. There may have been a shotgun wedding or not — in the memoir, Obama says he is not sure. The only time Barack set eyes on his father was a brief visit when he was ten. Our president lived with his white mother, then with her and her Indonesian husband in Indonesia from age six to ten. He was so unhappy that he chose to leave his mother and live with his white grandparents back in America. Obama's America was the tolerant, wealthy American world of Honolulu's top prep school.
His only black experience was his grandfather's creepy old friend, Frank Marshall Davis, a card-carrying Communist and self-disclosed pederast, who was Obama's voice of authentic blackness. One result of this lonely and unhappy childhood as a mixed-race child was Barack Obama's envy problem. The key to understanding Jarrett's power over the president is that Obama didn't just envy people with normal parents and loving, successful fathers. He envied American blacks, especially those who grew up in intact black families, knowing who they were, comfortable in their black skin.
Valerie Jarrett reflects Obama in many ways. Like himself, Valerie looks more white than black. Her mother had three white grandparents, and her father was black. Like Obama, she lived in the Muslim world for part of her childhood, when her father practiced medicine in Iran. Like Obama, she is a committed leftist. But there are crucial differences. Her father was not a drunk Kenyan polygamist like Obama's, but a famous pathologist and geneticist. Her mother was not a leftist expatriate like Obama's, but a distinguished psychologist. Valerie married into Chicago's black elite, the top rung of African-American society. She went to Stanford, got a law degree from Michigan, and became Mayor Richard Daley's deputy chief of staff, "the public black face" of his administration.
When Valerie Jarrett hired Michelle to work for Daley and befriended her, the Obamas gained access to the exclusive world of upper-class black Chicago politics. Valerie knew everyone whom it was important to know in black and Jewish money circles. She gave Barack entrée and legitimacy. She financed and promoted his ambitions for national office.
Obama finally belonged. Not that Jarrett's record in Chicago was anything to be proud of. Jarrett was known for her corruption and incompetence. Daley finally had to fire her after a scandal erupted over her role in misuse of public funds in the city's substandard public housing. She went on to become CEO of Habitat Executive Services, pulling down $300,000 in salary and $550,000 in deferred compensation. Again, she managed a housing complex that was seized by government inspectors for slum conditions. The scandal didn't matter to Obama. The sordid corruption was all part of Jarrett's Chicago success story.
Every insider in Chicago told Klein the same thing: Jarrett has no qualifications to be the principal advisor to the president of the United States. She doesn't understand how Washington works, how relations with Congress work, how the federal process works. She doesn't understand how the economy works, how the military works, how national security works. But she understands how Obama works.
The president turns to Valerie Jarrett for definitive advice on all these issues. She has given him terrible advice over and over, and still he turns to her.
Her true job is to make Obama feel proud of himself. When Obama looks at Jarrett, he sees himself as whole and good and real. He is no longer the fake black, the fatherless kid flailing around in a white world, tortured by the unfairness of it all. She fills the emptiness at the core of his identity. She admires and adores him. Jarrett told New Yorker editor David Remnick that the president is "just too talented to do what ordinary people do." And the icing on the cake — she shares his left-wing politics that project unfairness out onto white America.
Obama relies on Jarrett to create the White House bubble he likes to live in, where his narcissism is stroked and his desire to do the big, left-wing thing is encouraged. Jarrett is the doorman. She runs access to the president. As Klein puts it, she guards him from meeting with "critics and complainers who might deflate his ego." No one gets past Jarrett who has an incompatible point of view.
Jarrett pushed ObamaCare. At the beginning of Obama's presidency, there was pressure on Obama to focus on the economic crisis. Rahm Emanuel advised a small, bipartisan health care reform with popular items such as coverage for young adults — to get it passed quickly and focus on the country's money problems. Jarrett urged the president to be true to his left-wing agenda. She was all for having Reid-Pelosi create the ObamaCare assault on the American health system and ramming it through on a one-party vote, using Chicago-style politics, while Obama crossed the country doing what he does best: make speeches. Obama liked Jarrett's idea. Emanuel is now out of the White House.
Jarrett pushed the Solyndra fiasco. Jarrett promoted Solyndra because one of her richest Chicago connections, billionaire George Kaiser, a top Obama bundler, had a 35% share in Solyndra. Kaiser visited the White House sixteen times.
Larry Summers, the director of the president's National Economic Council, warned Obama that the federal government should not get involved in venture capital of any sort. Summers understood that crony capitalism sabotages economic growth. Huge government funding distorts and destroys whatever market segment it touches, replacing economic decisions with political ones.
A member of Obama's finance committee warned the president that Solyndra was going bankrupt. But it is Obama and Valerie who see eye to eye, and they saw the value to Obama of rewarding his political cronies. It worked fine in Chicago. Larry Summers is now out of the White House.
Jarrett pushed Obama to take on the Catholic Church over contraception, arguing that it would appeal to single women (she was right) and that religious freedom isn't important (she was wrong). Bill Daley, who had replaced Rahm Emmanuel as chief of staff, argued against Obama pushing contraception on the Church and invited Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York to meet with a displeased Obama, who didn't appreciate hearing from the Church. Daley is now out of the White House.
Valerie Jarrett is the most powerful woman in Washington. She has guided the president's decisions on health care, the budget, the stimulus, the deficit, foreign affairs.
So when Jarrett told Obama that the mission to kill bin Laden was too politically risky, and to play it safe, it is entirely plausible to believe that the president listened to her. It is consistent with everything we know about Obama's dependence on her. According to Miniter's source in the U.S. Military Joint Special Operations Command, Obama listened to her for four months, dithering and deciding no the first three times the military told him that the time to get bin Laden was now.
In The Amateur, Klein reports that another worry won out. Obama was even more scared of the political fallout if voters learned he'd passed up the chance to get bin Laden. What decided him wasn't the national interest, but politics. For once, the president disagreed with Valerie Jarrett."
Comment: Don't forget this is the president who boasted about "leading from behind."
Filed under: Barack Obama, Economics and Finance, Marxism, National Politics, Religion |


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What the Infrastructure Deal Means for Climate
November 2021
Like no other period in human history, we get around. Fossil fuel-powered automobile and air travel has shortened the distance between cities and continents, allowing us to make unprecedented connections—at a great cost. From high-speed rail to high-efficiency airplanes, the future presents opportunities for decreased dependence on fossil fuels while allowing us to enjoy the benefits of travel for work and play. Climate One brings together many perspectives on the future of transportation, with the goal of helping us get to where we need to go, responsibly.


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I was mulling over the IPCC release schedule, which has a procedure that is, shall we say, unprecedented in my experience with public disclosure documents. The schedule has been available for some time, but, to my knowledge, no one has commented on its combination of absurdity and condescension.
On February 2, 2007, they are releasing the Summary for Policy-Makers to great fanfare. But the actual WG1 Report will not be published on Feb 2, 2007. Amazingly, the actual release of the 4AR (Fourth Assessment Report) does not come until a few months later in May 2007. Thus, there will be no possibility for external readers to verify what IPCC insiders say will be an "iconic statement" against the actual WG1 report during that period.
By making access available only to insiders, IPCC has created a structure where IPCC insiders will try to shape perceptions of the WG1 report for 3 months before any critical appraisal of the final report (available since October 2006) is possible.
Here's what the schedule at the IPCC-UCAR website says:
It is expected that the approved text of the Summary for Policymakers will be released at a press conference in Paris on February 2, 2007, and that it will also be available on this web site from that date.
Prior to its final approval on February 2, the content of the report is embargoed in order to allow the final stages of review and revision to be carried out in a balanced way. Speculation as to the content of the report has been inaccurate and unhelpful. All those interested in this new assessment of climate science are asked to accept the need to wait for the report to be completed according to normal IPCC procedures.
The full Working Group I report will be available online from May 2007. It will also be published by Cambridge University Press and is expected to be available in book form by late June 2007.
In an electronic era, it is completely trivial to post chapter pdf's online. Indeed, that's what IPCC WG1 did during the review process and plans to do in May 2007. The Second Draft was distributed in April 2006.
The Fourth Assessment Report should be released online on Feb 2, 2007 concurrently with the Summary for Policy-Makers.
Update (p.m.): If you're wondering about this procedure which, to my knowledge, is unprecedented in public commission reporting, here's what IPCC procedures (section 4) say about Technical Report acceptance:
Changes (other than grammatical or minor editorial changes) made after acceptance by the Working Group or the Panel shall be those necessary to ensure consistency with the Summary for Policymakers or the Overview Chapter.
So the purpose of the three-month delay between the publication of the Summary for Policy-Makers and the release of the actual WG1 is to enable them to make any "necessary" adjustments to the technical report to match the policy summary. Unbelievable. Can you imagine what securities commissions would say if business promoters issued a big promotion and then the promoters made the "necessary" adjustments to the qualifying reports and financial statements so that they matched the promotion. Words fail me.
IPCC insiders should not be allowed to change a comma of the WG1 Report after Feb 2, 2007 to "ensure consistency" with the Summary. If the two are inconsistent, let the chips fall where they may.


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The King County Board of Health passed a controversial proposal Thursday that bans the public use of electronic cigarettes, despite protests that the battery-powered, nicotine-delivery sticks emit no second-hand smoke and are often used for harm reduction.
The measure is not a complete ban on e-cigarettes. Rather, it prohibits e-cigarette smoking in the same places where real smoking is forbidden by the state, such as restaurants, bars and workplaces.
Article continues below this ad
But the state's tobacco smoking ban, adopted in 2006, was based on the fact that second-hand smoke causes cancer and other diseases. The rationale behind King County's e-cig ban was a fear of eroding "social norms."
Health officials reasoned that the fake smokes - which emit a less-smelly, combustion-free vapor - are so similar to real smokes that they may cause people to think it's OK to smoke in public. And that may lead to more nicotine addiction and second-hand smoke, officials said.
"By returning smoking to the public eye, public e-cigarette use threatens to undermine the social norming impact" of the smoking ban, testified Scott Neal, manager of the tobacco prevention program for Public Health -- Seattle & King County.
Article continues below this ad
The regulation also prohibits the sale of e-cigarettes, often marketed in bright colors and fun flavors, from minors. It also bans free giveaways and heavily discounted sales of the products.
The Board easily passed those regulations, saying young people needed to be protected from the products, while the federal government figures out what to do with e-cigarettes. Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration lost a court fight to ban or regulate e-cigarettes as unapproved drug delivery devices.
But the Board was divided on the public-use ban, with four of 10 members voting for an amendment to drop that portion from the rule. The amendment failed.
Kathy Lambert said it was reasonable to ban sales to youths, but worried about being a "nanny state" in banning public use for adults.
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"It becomes kind of a nanny state, like we take the fork away from you on Tuesday if you've had too many calories," she said.
Nick Licata said the public-use ban appears to be based on slim evidence and may set up the county for legal challenges.
"We don't really know what the impact might be on social norms," he said. "We're projecting."
But Board chairwoman Julia Patterson said the potential for diminishing anti-smoking efforts was great.
Article continues below this ad
"I would like to see us protect those public places and places of employment from the image of someone sitting at their desk with something that looks identical to a cigarette and puffing on it," she said.
"That is a very powerful subliminal message."
The proposed public-use ban had caused a storm of protests from e-cig users and makers, who say the products are a "healthier alternative" to smoking, or a way to quit smoking.
One man, who drove from Vancouver, B.C. to testify, said e-cigarettes were the only product that had helped him quit a 40-year smoking habit. The man, who said his name was Gary Addleson, said e-cig users don't consider themselves as "smoking."
Article continues below this ad
Rather, they're "vaping," he said.
"They became very helpful to me," he said.
"I don't want to be forced to have to go outside and stand with a bunch of smokers, and have my smoking desire be triggered again, and have to stand with the second-hand smoke I once caused."


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Table of contents | How to Obtain this Publication | Contact
ISBN Number: 9264029281
Baltic Partnerships: Integration, Growth and Local Governance in the Baltic Sea Region
Published by the OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme
The Baltic Sea Region is rapidly becoming one of the world's more competitive regions. The region is capitalising on its strengths and making the most of its diversity to stimulate innovation, build a strong pool of skilled labour and foster entrepreneurship. A deep spirit of co-operation and integration has led the Baltic Sea countries to set up ambitious governance frameworks to pursue economic development objectives jointly from Oslo to St. Petersburg. Yet major challenges at the local level lie ahead for the Eastern shores of the Baltic, where economic transition still needs to be accompanied by more innovative strategic planning, new forms of governance and dynamic civic entrepreneurship. Policies will need to be made more adaptable and capacities will need to be strengthened if prosperity and living standards are to increase on the Baltic Rim.
Fortunately, the Baltic Sea Region includes some of the world's most innovative countries. From Denmark to Finland, the Region possesses a breadth of experience in facilitating policy co-ordination, adjusting policy to local conditions and involving business and civil society in shaping policy measures. There is a great deal that other countries can learn from this experience in setting up partnerships and other forms of governance. The learning process has already started, with the Baltic Rim becoming a unique laboratory for economic and employment development. This book analyses the new developments in the Baltic States and Northwest Russia and provides suggestions on how to speed up this progress. It is essential reading for all stakeholders in the Baltic Sea Region and for those elsewhere wishing to apply emerging lessons to their region of the world.
Chapter 1. Integration, Growth and Governance in the Baltic Sea Region by Silvain Giguère
Chapter 2. The Governance of Employment and Economic Development in the Baltic States by Alf Vanags
Chapter 3. Enhancing the Development Process in Lithuania: Toward Truly Participative Governance by Micheál Ó. Cinnéide
Chapter 4. Reforming Both Local Government and Local Governance: The Challenge to Latvia by Mike Geddes
Chapter 5. Consolidated Local Governments in Partnerships: A Key to Promoting Economic Development in Estonia by Jussi s. Jauhiainen
Chapter 6. The Governance of Economic and Employment Development in North West Russia by Irina Denisova and Marcus Svedberg
Chapter 7. Area-Based Partnerships as Forms of Collaborative Governance in Germany by Holger Kuhle
Chapter 8. Cross-Border Co-operation and Local Governance - The Case of Kaliningrad by Alexey Ignatiev
Chapter 9. The Possibility of Creating Regional Governments in the Baltic States: The Case of Latvia by Ligita Zacesta and Maris Pukis
Chapter 10. Regional Co-operation on Innovation and Cluster Development by Emily Wise Hansson
How to obtain this publication:
Readers can access the full version of Baltic Partnerships: Integration, Growth and Local Governance in the Baltic Sea Region by choosing from the following options:
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Japanese-Tree Lilac (Syringa reticulata)
Japanese-Tree Lilac Species Description
These plants are from foreign areas (those that occur outside of North America north of Mexico) that have been released intentionally or unintentionally. Plants that have been disseminated or escaped as a result of human activity, and become established somewhere within the United States, Canada or Greenland.
Allergenicity: No allergy has been reported for Japanese-Tree Lilac (Syringa reticulata) species.
Pollination: Occurs in following seasons depending on latitude and elevation: Spring.
Angiosperm - Flowering Dicot: Plants in this group have two embryonic leaves (dicotyledons). Examples of dicotyledons are beans, buttercups, oaks, sunflowers, etc.
Tree: A large plant, not exactly defined, but typically over four meters in height, a single trunk which grows in girth with age and branches (which also grow in circumference with age).
Shrub: A woody plant smaller than a tree, and usually with several stems from the same root.
Perennial: Living for many years.
Woody Stem: Non-herbaceous. Lignified.
Japanese-Tree Lilac Species Usage
Hummingbird Plant: A plant that is known to attract hummingbirds, usually brightly colored.
Butterfly Plant: A plant that is known to attract butterflies.
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More Japanese-Tree Lilac (Syringa reticulata) imagesby Jessie M. Harris from BONAP


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Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark is gearing up again this time with a lead actor and producer
It's official – Reeve Carney, the lead singer of the band Carney, will be playing Peter Parker (ie. Spideman) in the upcoming Broadway mega-spender Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark.
Why cast such an unknown in the lead role? Director Julie Taymor said they wanted a "Peter Parker who could really act and sing, but who still brings a kind of performance that could be new to Broadway audiences. We wanted something a little more authentically rock and roll."
And to help with that rock and roll vibe, Michael Cohl, a rock concert promoter with ties to the Rolling Stones and U2, is stepping in as lead producer, hoping to stop all the speculation that the show would never make it to opening night.
The show, which is reputed to have spent $52 million to date, will open in 2010 at the Hilton Theatre in New York.
American Idiot will be making its way to Broadway
On November 9, the producers for American Idiot announced Equity Principal Auditions for a Broadway run of the nearly sold-out Berkley Rep production. According to spokesman Michael Hartman, "there is a Broadway future for the show, but at this time no dates or theatre are confirmed."
RUMOR: Ashlee Simpson may star in Chicago on Broadway
Multiple sources are reporting that Ashlee Simpon-Wentz, the former Melrose Place star, will be playing Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway for a six week run this December. Though she did play the role on the West End, her Broadway appearance has not been confirmed by any official sources.
A bittersweet anniversary on Broadway for Shrek
On November 8, the cast of Broadway's Shrek celebrated one year on Broadway, but the festivities were somewhat bittersweet. The show, which was nominated for 8 Tony Awards, will be closing January 3 after playing 441 performances and 37 previews. The national tour will launch at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre for a limited engagement, running from July 13 – September 5, 2010.
Title battle – Dame Edna's It's All About Me vs. Michael Feinstein's All About Me
I don't know if you've been tracking the hilarious banter between Dame Edna and Michael Feinstein, who have very similarly named shows headed to Broadway this fall. Of the mishap, Edna said "It's All About Me is my title. While I was saddened to hear that Mr. Feinstein did not heed my sage advice to change the title of his show, I'm overjoyed to hear that he at least took my suggestion to open his show after mine. I'm sure Mrs. Feinstein is very proud of her son."
Broadway Stars on TV this month
A number of big tars will be appearing on television in the next few months. Check out the list below:
"The View" ABC, daytime
- Wednesday, Nov. 11: Finian's Rainbow
- Thursday, Nov. 19: John Stamos
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" ABC, late night
- Tuesday, Nov. 17: John Stamos
"The Today Show" NBC, 7AM ET
- Wednesday, Nov. 18: Liza Minnelli


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The U.S. fossil fuel renaissance has sparked job booms in the oil fields of North Dakota and Texas, shrunk the national import tab, and led to a whole lot of talk about energy independence. But, as Bloomberg Businessweek noted recently, one thing it hasn't done is lower the price of gasoline for American motorists, who are still paying $3.71 a gallon.
Why not? There are a lot of ways to answer that question, the simplest being that despite all our drilling, oil remains expensive. Worldwide, demand still beats supply. And since the cost of crude accounts for 72 percent of the cost of gasoline,* pump prices have stayed high.
But that doesn't quite put the issue to bed. After all, Americans are driving and fueling up less, which should theoretically encourage the oil refiners that produce our gasoline and diesel to cut their prices. Businessweek points to a few reasons why that hasn't happened, but I want to focus on just one of them: exports.
As the magazine's graph below shows, U.S. exports of refined oil products have surged over the past couple of years, at the same time as the price of gas rebounded hard from its recession-time drop.
Coincidence? Some say not. Refiners, the argument goes, are choosing to make products that they can sell for a premium on the global market rather than more cheaply at home. And there's certainly truth to that. When something scarce is sold to the highest bidder anywhere worldwide, prices inevitably go up (See: Oil). But does that mean it's time to clamp down on exports? Not necessarily.
First, it's not clear how big an impact they make, partly because we [Americans] don't export a huge portion of our fuel supply. Of the 3 million or so barrels a day of refined products U.S. refiners ship abroad, only about half are either distillate fuels (which include diesel) or gasoline. American drivers and truckers, meanwhile, use roughly 12 million barrels of fuel each day. Meanwhile, there's no guarantee that if we suddenly clamped down on exports, refiners would choose to dump their extra supply on the domestic market. Instead, they could choose to reduce production, or as the industry argues whenever someone suggests cutting them off form the world market, simply shut down the refineries that stop being profitable. That might sound like fear mongering, but companies have done it in the past.
And finally, fuel exports offer certain perks. Namely, they're exports. Fuel and other petroleum products combine to make our largest export category by dollar value, bigger than cars, machinery, or jets. That, in turn, helps out our growth, and creates jobs in places like the Gulf region.
So in short, yes exports are probably costing drivers a bit more. But it's not clear that ending them would be worth losing their benefits.
*If you're really interested in the breakdown of what goes into gas prices, the California Energy Commission offers a handy year-to-year cart.


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If you received (or are receiving) a tax refund this year, it often feels like a surprise influx of cash. Many people are tempted to splurge, buying big ticket items they want but may not actually need.
However, you can spend that money wisely by investing in necessary dental treatments. There are health and financial benefits to using your tax refund to visit your Frisco dentist. Here's what you need to know.
The Importance of Good Dental Health
Spending money on your oral health is always a smart move. Many conditions cause pain, and that can wear on you over time. Plus, poor dental health is associated with numerous other health problems, including potentially deadly diseases like oral cancer and diabetes as well as heart disease and stroke.
Even if your mouth is healthy, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy some other health benefits of dental care. Correcting discolorations with professional whitening or veneers and filling gaps with implants can increase your confidence, improving your mental health. The same goes for teeth straightening treatments like Invisalign or braces.
Whether you want to improve your physical or mental health, dental treatments are a worthwhile investment.
Managing the Cost of Treatments
Many families, including those with insurance, struggle to handle the cost associated with needed treatments. This creates a financial hardship and increases stress, neither of which are fun.
By using your tax return for dental care, you can make the cost more manageable. Your Frisco dentist can help you make the most of your insurance and then discuss payment arrangements that help you do something beneficial with your tax return.
Plus, by acting now, you can avoid potentially costly treatments in the future. Some conditions degrade over time, only making them more expensive to address. By using your tax return and taking action, you can limit your long-term costs.
In the end, you can alleviate some of the financial challenges that can come with caring for your teeth, gums, mouth, and smile. In the end, you'll be glad that you used your tax return on something that makes your financial well-being easier to sustain.
If you have your tax return or know how much you are going to receive, contact your Frisco dentist to discuss any treatment options that may benefit you. They will work with you to come up with a suitable plan, ensuring your smile is cared for properly.
Call our Frisco Dental Office to make an appointment with a dentist who may be able to help you find out more about this topic, and improve your oral health.


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PALM DESERT, Calif. » Michelle Wie will celebrate her 18th birthday this fall by playing in the Samsung World Championship for the fourth straight year, joining the 20-player field at Bighorn Golf Club where she made her professional debut.
Wie has not played since missing the cut on the PGA Tour at the Sony Open in January. She has been recovering from a wrist injury and is expected to return May 31 at the Ginn Tribute on the LPGA Tour.
She is set to graduate this year from Punahou, and has said she will enter Stanford in the fall. Wie turns 18 on Oct. 11, the start of the four-round tournament.
Wie made her pro debut at Samsung in 2005 and was in fourth place until she was disqualified for taking an improper drop during the third round. A year ago, she finished 17th in the 20-player field, failing to break par all four rounds.
"There is nothing like going back to where my professional career started, and playing against the best players in the world," she said. "I'm excited for the opportunity."
Lorena Ochoa is the defending champion, and 18-year-old Morgan Pressel has earned a spot at Samsung by winning the LPGA Tour's first major of the year at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
The other 17 spots go to major champions in 2007 and leading money winners from the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour.


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What Are the Most Annoying Photos People Post on Facebook? — Survey of the Day
According to a new survey, your friends might not be as enamored with the photos you post on Facebook as you are.
In fact, a MyMemory.com poll of 1,671 Facebook users found that 21 percent have dumped friends because they've found the photos they post annoying.
And what type of photos are most likely to draw the ire of your cyber-buddies? Sixty-one percent said images taken with Instagram or other photo apps were 'irritating,' followed by 58 percent who called out baby pictures.
'Obviously posed photos' got the thumbs down from 53 percent, and holiday photos (46 percent) and food photos (32 percent) also had their detractors.


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Occupational Therapy
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Areas of treatment within occupational therapy may include functional independence, maintenance of wellness, prevention of further disabilities, or increasing safety awareness.
Speech and Language Therapy
Our speech pathologists make individualized plans with residents to improve areas of chewing, swallowing, communication, fluency, and cognitive-communication impairments. Our speech and language pathologists most often treat those affected by stroke, brain injury, and dementia.


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Tuesday, 14 January 2020 11:39 AM EST
STRASBOURG, France (AP) — Nigel Farage, the self-declared "pantomime villain" of Brexit, is leaving his favorite theater — the European Union's parliament in Strasbourg — this week with a sense of mission accomplished.
Ridiculed for years, and thriving on the abuse he got from, and dealt to, pro-EU legislators and politicians, he now feels he got the last laugh. On Jan. 31, the U.K. will be leaving the EU, in a historic loss for the bloc — and a historic gain for the likes of Farage.
"When I first came here, I started saying the U.K. would leave the European Union. Everyone thought it was hilarious," Farage told The Associated Press in an interview, speaking about his early days in the EU legislature in the late 1990s.
The European Union was still thriving, expanding at the time, and could shrug off a loud and sometimes foul-mouthed British parliamentarian as just a nuisance about to be swatted aside by the force of history of closer integration.
Britain may have been a halfhearted member with rumbling about holding onto sovereignty and complaints about "unelected bureaucraats" from Brussels having too much say in their lives. But thoughts of actually leaving? No. Those were left to fringe politicians like Farage.
Conventional wisdom and expert economic studies galore showed that Britain was better in than out, certainly richer. Yet through the hard years, Farage kept on hitting the same nail of national sovereignty and foreign interference.
On top of that, he said in the plenary that then EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy "had the charisma of a damp rag" and sought to get under everyone skin as much as possible.
The former City of London trader had no shame, and now, no regrets.
"I've been the pantomime villain. You know what? People stand up and they will boo. And I shall miss that," Farage said as he faces a deadline to clean out his office by the end of the week.
His fortunes started turning for good on May 29, 2005 when France, ground zero for further EU integration, stunningly rejected plans for a new EU treaty in a referendum.
It was the show of the people's power he needed. A master at spreading a populist message, sometimes bordering on xenophobic, slowly the signs of the time were starting to move his way.
He said it was a revolution that could never happen from within. Farage quit the Conservative party early on to co-found the U.K. Independence Party in the early 1990s.
"The British Labour Party and Conservative Party, they would have moaned about bits of European legislation. But the idea of leaving, the idea of secession, would never have been tolerated within those parties," Farage said.
Sensing the groundswell that Farage had nurtured, the Conservative Party accommodated the anti-EU feelings ever more, and finally relented to a referendum in 2016.
In the final days before the referendum with the outcome anyone's guess, Farage's leave campaign produced a poster depicting a stream of immigrants at the border of Britain, with the now infamous words "Breaking Point."
Savagely criticized for fear-mongering, it didn't stop Farage from celebrating a massive win.
His whole career has been marked by such bravado.
"I come along and say, 'excuse me, I've got a different point of view.' They all scream. They all scream: 'racist, extremist,'" he said. "All I did was to give people an opportunity to express what they really thought"
Now as then, he is watching Brexit happen before his eyes as an outsider. T he job of delivering Brexit falls to the Conservative government led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Farage has railed from the sidelines against striking too close a relationship with the EU, and formed a new party, the Brexit Party, to press for a clean-break departure. The party failed to win any seats in last month's U.K. parliamentary election.
With Strasbourg doors slammed behind him, he should still attend a final mini-session in Brussels on Jan. 29 when the EU legislature will vote on Brexit, two days before the exit.
Many have taken credit for making Brexit happen, and so does Farage.
"No, if I hadn't been here, we would not be leaving," he said.
Jill Lawless contributed to this report from London.
Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit and British politics at https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
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NEWARK, N.J. – While longtime middleweight Chael Sonnen was a long shot in his bid for the UFC light-heavyweight title, some believed that if he could get champ Jon Jones on his back, he might have a chance. Quite simply, though, he couldn't.
Instead, Jones survived a gruesome toe injury and punched out the challenger in the first round.
The light-heavyweight title bout headlined today's UFC 159 event at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.
As promised, Sonnen pushed forward quickly at the bell, though it was Jones who scored the first takedown. Sonnen, who recently coached opposite Jones on "The Ultimate Fighter 17," scrambled up to his feet, and Jones surprisingly elected to fight inside the clinch rather than use his massive reach advantage. Several takedowns followed as Jones seemed intent to prove he was the superior wrestler. A barrage of punches and elbows followed, and Sonnen was clearly in trouble as he lay on his side.
As Jones methodically picked apart the undersized challenger, he pulled Sonnen's arm away and blasted him with vicious elbow strikes and a devastating knee to the body. The onslaught ripped apart Sonnen's face, and referee Keith Peterson called a stop to the fight with 27 seconds left in the opening frame.
In a bizarre turn of events, as Jones celebrated his victory, he looked down to notice a gruesome break of his left big toe. It quite possibly could have threatened to end the fight in freak fashion had Jones not gotten the first-round stoppage.
Afterward, Jones said he didn't immediately know when the injury occurred.
"I don't know, but when my adrenaline calms down, I'm going to be in some pain tonight," he said.
With the win, the 25-year-old Jones ties UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz's record for the most-consecutive defenses of the UFC light-heavyweight title at five. It also ends a months-long feud with Sonnen that began with this past September's canceled UFC 151 event and continued through their stints as "TUF 17" coaches.
"I was just so happy to get past Chael Sonnen," Jones (18-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) said. "Chael Sonnen's an awesome opponent. We went through a lot of drama that motivated me a lot.
"I really wanted to try to 'Chael Sonnen' Chael Sonnen. I think I did a good job of that."
Meanwhile, Sonnen (27-13-1 MMA, 6-6 UFC) has now fallen short in three UFC title fights in his past five appearances, which included a pair of defeats to middleweight champ Anderson Silva. He remained gracious in defeat and hinted that his fighting days may be done.
"He's an excellent fighter," Sonnen said. "I have no problem with the decision or the stoppage. He's very powerful. When he went for the kill, he never stopped. I thought I was alright, but I think he's the better fighter.
"I'm not going to be one of the guys to hang around. If there's not a road to the title, then this sport isn't for me. I believe that was probably my last opportunity."
Complete UFC 159 results include:
- Champ Jon Jones def. Chael Sonnen via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:33 – retains light-heavyweight title
- Michael Bisping def. Alan Belcher via technical decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Roy Nelson def. Cheick Kongo via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 2:03
- Phil Davis def. Vinny Magalhaes via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Pat Healy def. Jim Miller via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 4:02
- Rustam Khabilov def. Yancy Medeiros via TKO (thumb injury) – Round 1, 2:32
- Ovince St. Preux def. Gian Villante via majority technical decision (30-28, 30-29, 29-29) – Round 3, 0:33
- Sara McMann def. Sheila Gaff via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:06
- Bryan Caraway def. Johnny Bedford via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 4:44
- Cody McKenzie def. Leonard Garcia via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
- Steven Siler def. Kurt Holobaugh via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
For complete coverage of UFC 159, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.
Matt Erickson and Steven Marrocco contributed to this report on-site in Newark.


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Jewish World Review Dec. 24, 2003 / 29 Kislev, 5764
Walter Williams
Parting company is an option
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | A fortnight ago, in "Let's Do Some Detective Work," I provided unassailable evidence that Congress had vastly exceeded powers delegated to it by our Constitution. In last week's column, "Getting Back Our Liberties," I argued that liberties lost are seldom regained, but there was an outside chance to regain them if enough liberty-minded Americans were to pursue Free State Project's proposal to set up New Hampshire as a free state.
Free State Project (www.freestateproject.org) intends to get 20,000 or so Americans to move to New Hampshire and, through a peaceful political process, reduce burdensome taxation and regulation, reform state and local law, end federal mandates, and attempt to restore constitutional federalism as envisioned by the nation's founders.
Since there was only a remote possibility that we could successfully negotiate with Congress, the Courts and White House to obey the U.S. Constitution, I speculated that liberty could only be realized by a unilateral declaration of independence -- namely, part company. Quite a few readers criticized the idea, calling secession unconstitutional. Let's look at it.
On March 2, 1861, after seven states had seceded and two days before Abraham Lincoln's inauguration, Sen. James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin proposed a constitutional amendment that said, "No State or any part thereof, heretofore admitted or hereafter admitted into the Union, shall have the power to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the United States."
Several months earlier, Reps. Daniel E. Sickles of New York, Thomas B. Florence of Pennsylvania and Otis S. Ferry of Connecticut proposed a constitutional amendment to prohibit secession. Here's my no-brainer question: Would there have been any point to offering these amendments if secession were already unconstitutional? I'm guessing, no.
But there's more evidence. The ratification documents of Virginia, New York and Rhode Island explicitly said that they held the right to resume powers delegated should the federal government become abusive of those powers.
There's more evidence. At the 1787 constitutional convention, a proposal was made to allow the federal government to suppress a seceding state. James Madison, the father of our constitution, rejected it, saying: "A Union of the States containing such an ingredient seemed to provide for its own destruction. The use of force against a State would look more like a declaration of war than an infliction of punishment and would probably be considered by the party attacked as a dissolution of all previous compacts by which it might be bound."
Professor Thomas DiLorenzo, in his revised "The Real Lincoln," provides abundant evidence in the forms of quotations from our Founders and numerous newspaper accounts that prove that Americans always took the right of secession for granted. Plus, secession was not an idea that had its origins in the South.
Infuriated by Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase, in 1803, the first secessionist movement started in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and other New England states.
Every single bit of evidence shows that states have a right to secede. There's absolutely nothing in the Constitution that prohibits secession. What stops secession is the brute force of a mighty federal government, as witnessed by the costly War of 1861. Only one thing good came out of that war. It eliminated slavery. It's had a devastating legacy for future generations of Americans, in that since the issue of secession was brutally settled, the federal government is free to run roughshod over the safeguards envisioned by the Framers, namely the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.
There's little to suggest that the same brutality wouldn't be encountered if secession were tried again, as
one writer cautioned: If New Hampshire seceded, massive troops along with today's deadly modern military
equipment would be on its soil before lunch.
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