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Edward A. Purcell Jr.
Joseph Solomon Distinguished Professor of Law
Edward A. Purcell Jr. is the Joseph Solomon Distinguished Professor at New York Law School and one of the nation's foremost authorities on the history of the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal judicial system. In 2013, he received the "Outstanding Scholar Award" from the American Bar Foundation.
His most recent book, Antonin Scalia and American Constitutionalism: The Historical Significance of a Judicial Icon (Oxford University Press, 2020), is a critical study of Justice Antonin Scalia's jurisprudence, his work on the Supreme Court, and his significance in the history of American constitutionalism. After tracing Scalia's emergence as a hero of the political right, it examines his general jurisprudential theory, arguing that he failed to produce either the objective method he claimed or the "correct" constitutional results he promised. Focusing on his judicial performance over his 30 years on the Court, it examines his opinions on virtually all of constitutional issues he addressed from fundamentals of constitutional structure to specific interpretations of most major constitutional provisions. The book argues that Scalia applied his jurisprudential theories in inconsistent ways and often ignored, twisted, or abandoned the interpretive methods he proclaimed in reaching results that were generally consistent with the political and ideological values of the post-Reagan Republican coalition. Most broadly, it argues that his jurisprudence and career are particularly significant because they exemplify—contrary to his own persistent claims—three paramount characteristics of American constitutionalism: the inherent inadequacy of "originalism" and other formal interpretive methodologies to produce "correct" answers to controverted constitutional questions; the relationship—particularly direct in Scalia's case—between constitutional interpretations on one hand and substantive political goals on the other; and the truly and unavoidably "living" nature of American constitutionalism itself. As a historical matter, the book concludes, Scalia stands as a towering figure of irony because his judicial career disproved the central claims of his own jurisprudence.
Professor Purcell's earlier book, Brandeis and the Progressive Constitution: Erie, the Judicial Power, and the Politics of the Federal Courts in Twentieth-Century America (Yale University Press, 2000), examines how the Erie case provides a window into the legal, political, and ideological battles over the federal courts in the twentieth century and also offers an in-depth study of Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis's evolving constitutional jurisprudence. The book has been hailed by reviewers as a work destined to occupy an important place in the constitutionalhistorical canon. It was awarded an American Bar Association Silver Gavel Certificate of Merit, the Supreme Court Historical Society's Triennial Griswold Prize, and the Association of American Law School's Coif Triennial Award.
After writing the book on Justice Brandeis, Professor Purcell published Originalism, Federalism, and the American Constitutional Enterprise: A Historical Inquiry (Yale University Press, 2007), examining the original structure and subsequent operations of the federal system and refuting the widely accepted belief that the founding fathers crafted a careful constitutional balance of power between the states and the federal government. The book argues that there was no clear agreement among the founders regarding the "true" nature of American federalism, nor was there any consensus on a "correct" line dividing national authority from state authority. The book maintains that even if there had been some such true "original" understanding, the elastic, dynamic, and underdetermined nature of the constitutional structure would have made it impossible for subsequent generations to maintain any such specific balance.
Professor Purcell first became interested in legal and constitutional issues when he was studying twentieth century American intellectual history at the University of Wisconsin, where he began work on legal realism and its relationship to democratic theory and on the rise of totalitarianism during the 1930s. After completing his Ph.D., he taught American history at the University of Missouri and, while there, took a year's leave of absence to serve as Charles Warren Fellow in American Legal History at Harvard Law School. "My research on legal realism had made me realize that I was dealing with issues I didn't fully understand," he recalls, "and I knew I needed some legal training." At Harvard he sat in on first-year classes, which he found "fascinating," and finished his first book, The Crisis of Democratic Theory: Scientific Naturalism & the Problem of Value (University Press of Kentucky, 1973), which was awarded the Frederick Jackson Turner Prize by the Organization of American Historians. Returning to the University of Missouri, he became a tenured professor in the department of history but found himself increasingly drawn to legal subjects and decided to return to Harvard to complete his legal education. "While I was in law school as a fulltime student," he remembers, "I concluded that, if I was really going to understand law and the legal system, I had to go into practice for a time."
After graduation, Professor Purcell joined Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP and remained there from 1980 to 1989, periodically taking leaves of absence to work on what was to become his second book, Litigation & Inequality: Federal Diversity Jurisdiction in Industrial America, 1870–1958 (Oxford University Press, 1992). "By 1988 I realized that I wasn't going to finish the book if I remained a practicing lawyer," Professor Purcell says. "Then, I got a call from New York Law School asking me to teach Federal Courts and Civil Procedure—exactly what I was writing about. Both the timing and the subjects were perfect." The law school environment has provided the "intellectual crackle" he loves. "When a law school class goes really well," he believes, "it's a fantastic experience." In addition to teaching Civil Procedure and Federal Courts, he also teaches courses on Civil Rights Law and Complex Litigation.
Professor Purcell was born in Kansas City, Missouri, where he grew up and attended Rockhurst College. Subsequently, he received an M.A. in American history from the University of Kansas before attending the University of Wisconsin. Prior to law school, Professor Purcell also taught at the University of California, Berkeley and at Wellesley College. He has served on the Board of Directors of the American Society for Legal History and the Community Law Offices of the Legal Aid Society, and he is currently a member of the Advisory Board for the Federal Judicial Center's Narrative History of the Federal Courts and the Board of Academic Advisors of the Institute of Constitutional Studies at George Washington Law School. He has been active in the Association of the Bar of the City of New York on its committees for Housing Court, the Legal Needs of the Poor, and the President's Committee on Implementing the Report of the Pro Bono Housing Court Project. In 2004 he was elected Program Chair of the Federal Courts Section of the Association of American Law Schools, served as the Section's Chair in 2005–06, and continues to serve on the Section's Board of Directors. In addition to his books, he has published widely in law reviews (including the Virginia Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, the Harvard Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Law Review, and the UCLA Law Review) and history journals (including the American Historical Review, the Journal of American History, the Law and History Review, and the American Quarterly). He has also contributed chapters to several books, including International Law in the U.S. Supreme Court (Cambridge University Press, 2011), the Cambridge History of Law in America (Cambridge University Press, 2008), Progressive Lawyering, Globalization and Markets: Rethinking Ideology and Strategy (William S. Hein & Co., 2007), and Private Law and Social Inequality in the Industrial Age: Comparing Legal Cultures in Britain, France, Germany, and the United States (Oxford University Press, 2000).
Antonin Scalia and American Constitutionalism: The Historical Significance of a Judicial Icon (Oxford University Press, 2020).
Originalism, Federalism, and the American Constitutional Enterprise: An Historical Inquiry (Yale University Press, 2007)
Brandeis and the Progressive Constitution: Erie, the Judicial Power, and the Politics of the Federal Courts in Twentieth-Century America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000.
Litigation & Inequality: Federal Diversity Jurisdiction in Industrial America, 1870–1958. Oxford University Press, 1992.
The Crisis of Democratic Theory: Scientific Naturalism & the Problem of Value. University Press of Kentucky, 1973.
"The Supreme Court and International Law, 1901-1945: Historical Commentary," in David L. Sloss, Michael D. Ramsey and William S. Dodge, eds., The U.S. Supreme Court and International Law: Continuity or Change? (Cambridge University Press, 2011), 285-313
"Comment on Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain" in David L. Sloss, Michael D. Ramsey and William S. Dodge, eds., The U.S. Supreme Court and International Law: Continuity or Change? (Cambridge University Press, 2011), 499-504
"Some Horwitzian Themes in the Law and History of the Federal Courts," in Daniel W. Hamilton and Alfred L. Brophy, eds., Transformations in American Legal History: Law, Ideology, and Methods–Essays in Honor of Morton J. Horwitz (Harvard University Press, 2010), Vol. 2, 271-286
"The Story of Michigan v. Long: Supreme Court Review and the Workings of American Federalism," in Judith Resnik and Vicki C. Jackson, eds., Federal Courts Stories (Foundation Press, 2009), 115-139
"The Courts, Federalism, and the Federal Constitution: 1920-2000," in Christopher Tomlins and Michael Grossberg, eds., The Cambridge History of Law in America, (Cambridge University Press, 2008), Vol. 3, 127-174.
"Progressive Lawyering: An Historical Overview," in Claire Dalton, ed., Progressive Lawyering, Globalization and Markets: Rethinking Ideology and Strategy (William S. Hein & Co., 2007), 7-22
"The Story of Erie: How Litigants, Lawyers, Judges, Politics, and Social Change Reshape the Law," in Kevin M. Clermont, ed., Civil Procedure Stories
(Foundation Press, 2004), 21 – 74
– Second Edition, revised (2008), 21 – 79
"The Action Was Outside the Courts: Consumer Injuries and the Uses of Contract in the United States, 1875–1945." In Private Law and Social Inequality in the Industrial Age: Comparing Legal Cultures in Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, at 505–535, edited by W. Steinmetz. Oxford University Press, 2000.
"Violence and Social Change: The Homestead Strike." In Present in the Past: Source Problems in American History, at 259–264, edited by A. Rappaport & R.P. Traina. MacMillan, 1972.
"The Fateful Republican Party Gamble," The Hill (2020)
"The Senate Itself is on Trial," The Hill (2020)
"Why Law of Evidence Supports the Verdict that the President is Guilty," The Hill (2020)
"Nancy Pelosi is defending the Constitution with her actions," The Hill (2019)
"Republicans Must Not Abandon Originalism of the Constitution," The Hill (2019)
"Trump and the Coming Moment of Truth for the Federal Judiciary," The Hill (2019)
"The Historical Significance of Judge Learned Hand: What Endures and Why?" 50 Arizona State Law Journal 855 (2018)
"Exploring the Origins of America's 'Adversarial' Legal Culture," 70 Stanford Law Review Online 37 (2017)
"What Changes in American Constitutional Law And What Does Not?" 102 Iowa Law Review Online 64 (2017)
"The Judicial Legacy of Louis Brandeis and the Nature of American Constitutionalism," 33 Touro Law Review 5 (2017)
"Capitalism and Risk: Concepts, Consequences, and Ideologies," 64 Buffalo Law Review 23 (2016)
"Reflections on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the March and the Speech: History, Memory, Values," 59 New York Law School Law Review 17 (2015) – reprinted in 19 Legal History eJournal (July 15, 2015)
"Paradoxes of Court-Centered Legal History: Some Values of Historical Understanding for a Practical Legal Education," 64 Journal of Legal Education 229 (2014)
"Democracy, the Constitution, and Legal Postitivism in America: Lessons from a Winding and Troubled History," 66 Florida Law Review 4 (2014)
"From the Particular to the General: Three Federal Rules and the Jurisprudence of the Rehnquist and Roberts Courts," 162 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 7 (2014)
National League of Cities: Judicial Decision-Making and the Nature of Constitutional Federalism, 91 Denver University Law Review Online 179-190 (2014)
Semi-Wonderful Town, Semi-Wonderful State: Bill Nelson's New York (Symposium: The Making of a Legal Historian: Reassessing the Work of William E. Nelson), 89 Chicago-Kent Law Review 1085-1108 (2014).
"Issues and Readings on the Recent History of the Federal Judiciary," Legal History Blog (2013)
"The Umpire Changes the Rules," co-authored with B. Goldstein, Huffington Post, (2013)
"Understanding Curtiss-Wright," 31 Law and History Review 653 (2013)
"Scholarly, Graceful, and Illuminating: The Books of James F. Simon," 57 New York Law School Law Review 483 (2013)
"The Ideal of Judicial Independence: Complications and Challenges," 47 Tulsa Law Review 141 (2012)
"Barry Friedman's The Will of the People: Probing the Dynamics and Uncertainties of American Constitutionalism," 2010 Michigan State Law Review 663
"Ex parte Young and the Transformation of the Federal Courts, 1890-1917," 40 University of Toledo Law Review 931 (2009)
"Naming and Blaming: The Case of 'The Rehnquist Court'," 37 Reviews in American History 440 (2009)
"The Class Action Fairness Act in Perspective: The Old and the New in Federal Jurisdictional Reform," 156 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1823 (2008)
"Evolving Understandings of American Federalism: Some Shifting Parameters," (Symposium: From Warren to Rehnquist and Beyond: Federalism as Theory, Doctrine, Practice, and Instrument), 50 New York Law School Law Review 635-698 (2005-2006).
"The Particularly Dubious Case of Hans v. Louisiana: An Essay on Law, Race, History, and "Federal Courts," 81 North Carolina Law Review 1927–2059 (2003).
"Caseload Burdens and Jurisdictional Limitations: Some Observations from the History of the Federal Courts," 46 New York Law School Law Review 7–28 (2002–2003).
"On the Complexity of 'Ideas in America': Origins and Achievements of the Classical Age of Pragmatism," (A review of Louis Menand's "The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America"), 27 Law & Social Inquiry 967–999 (2002).
"The New Deal 'Constitutional Revolution' as an Historical Problem," 78 Virginia Quarterly Review 238 (2002)
"Brandeis, Erie, and the New Deal 'Constitutional Revolution.'" 26 Journal of Supreme Court History 257–278 (2001).
"Reconsidering the Frankfurterian Paradigm: Reflections on Histories of Lower Federal Courts." 24 Law & Social Inquiry 679–750 (1999).
"Learned Hand: The Jurisprudential Trajectory of an Old Progressive." Book Review of Learned Hand: The Man and The Judge, by Gerald Gunther. 43 Buffalo Law Review 873–926 (1995).
"Rethinking Constitutional Change." 80 Virginia Law Review 277–290 (1994).
"Geography as a Litigation Weapon: Consumers, Forum-Selection Clauses, and the Rehnquist Court." 40 UCLA Law Review 423–515(1992).
"Social Thought," 35 American Quarterly 80 (1983)
"The Professionalization of Philosophy," 7 Reviews in American History 51 (1979)
"Alexander M. Bickel and the Post-Realist Constitution." 11 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 521–564 (1976)
"Service Intellectuals and the Politics of 'Science'," 15 History of Education Quarterly 97 (1975)
"Brandeis and the Democratic Vision," 1 Reviews in American History 253 (1973)
"American Jurisprudence Between the Wars: Legal Realism and the Crisis of Democratic Theory," 75 American Historical Review 424 (1969)
"Ideas and Interests: Businessmen and the Interstate Commerce Act," 54 Journal of American History 561 (1967)
"Erie v. Tompkins," The Encyclopedia of American Federalism, ed. Ellis Katz et al. (forthcoming)
"Henry M. Hart, Jr.," The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law, ed. Roger K. Newman (Yale University Press, 2009), 255 – 56.
"Consensus" in A Company to American Thought, ed. Richard Wightman Fox and James T. Kloppenberg (Blackwell, 1995), 140
"Bennett Champ Clark," Dictionary of American Biography, Supp. Vol. 5 (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1977) 113.
"Dudley Field Malone," Dictionary of American Biography, Supp. Vol. 4 (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1977) 541.
"Martin Conboy," Dictionary of American Biography, Supp. Vol. 3 (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973) 180
Book review of Susanna L. Blumenthal, Law and the Modern Mind: Consciousness and Responsibility in American Legal Culture (Harvard University Press, 2016), 35 Law and History Review 267 (2017)
Review of Charles Zelden's Bush v. Gore: Exposing the Hidden Crisis in American Democracy (January, 2011)
Book Review of Kenneth O'Reilly's White Collar Radicals: TVA'S Knoxville Fifteen, the New Deal, and the McCarthy Era, 97 Journal of American History 841 (2010)
Book Review of Dalia Mitchell's Architect of Justice: Felix S. Cohen and the Founding of American Pluralism, 95 Journal of American History 250 (2008)
Book Review of Steven Harmon Wilson's The Rise of Judicial Management in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, 23 Law and History Review 481 (2005)
Book Review of John I. Esposito's Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam, 227 New York Law Journal 2 (June 7, 2002)
Book Review of Louis Menand's The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America, H-law, H-New Reviews, April 2002
Book Review of Richard C. Cortner's Civil Rights and Public Accommodations: the Heart of Atlanta Motel and McClung Cases, 107 The American Historical Review 248–249 (2002)
Book Review of The Supreme Court under Edward Douglass White, 1910–1921, by Walter F. Pratt, Jr. 106 American Historical Review 588–589 (2001)
Book Review of Judging Jehovah's Witnesses: Religious Persecution and the Dawn of the Rights Revolution, by Shawn Francis Peter. 224 New York Law Journal 2 (July 28, 2000)
Book Review of Shifting the Blame: Literature, Law, and the Theory of Accidents in Nineteenth-Century America, by Nan Goodman. 220 New York Law Journal 2 (November 3, 1998)
Book Review of The Strange Career of Legal Liberalism, by Laura Kalman. 102 American Historical Review 1264 (1997)
Book Review of Reclaiming the Federal Courts, by Larry W. Yackle. 15 Law and History Review 206–208 (1997)
Book Review of American Legal Realism and Empirical Social Science, by John Henry Schlegel. 83 Journal of American History 254–255 (1996)
Book Review of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: Law and the Inner Self, by Edward White. 61 Journal of Southern History 620–623 (1995)
Book Review of The Constitution Besieged, by Howard Gillman. 81 Journal of American History 750–751 (1994)
Book Review of Legal Hermeneutics: History, Theory and Practice, edited by G. Leyh. 79 Journal of American History 1567 (1993)
"The System of Corporate Diversity Litigation: Method and Implications." 12(1) In Brief 13 (Spring 1993)
Book Review of Earl Warren: A Public Life, by G. Edward White. 70 The Journal of American History 201–202 (1983)
Book Review of Furious Fancies: American Political Thought in the Post-Liberal Era, by Philip Abbott. 68 Journal of American History 443–444 (1981).
Book Review of From the Diaries of Felix Frankfurter, by Joseph P. Lash. 49 New England Quarterly 314–317 (1976).
Book Review of Karl Llewellyn and the Realist Movement, by William Twining. 19 American Journal of Legal History 240 (1975).
Book Review of Roscoe Pound: Philosopher of Law, by David Wigdor. 48 New England Quarterly 298–300 (1974).
Book Review of Constitutional Change: Amendment Politics and Supreme Court Litigation Since 1900, by Clement E. Vose. 17 American Journal of Legal History 393 (1973).
Book Review of The Modern Supreme Court by Robert C. McCloskey. 58 The American Historical Review 180–181 (1973).


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With The Beatles Lithograph
This lithograph was produced on the
finest lithograph paper stock. It is a
beautiful piece of art meant for framing.
The edition size for this lithograph is 9800
copies. Each copy comes with a certificate
of authenticity from the manufacturer, and
is part of the one and only edition of
Beatles Album Art Lithographs!

subset: commoncrawl


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Style conscious parents will fall in love with the bold prints and super soft minky fabric One Lucky Baby provides. All blankets come pre-washed and are made with the highest quality materials. You'll be surprised how easily style and function come together.
At fawn & forest they believe that good design should be enjoyed by the entire family. It's clear the package they're providing today will do just that. The comfortable baby wrap is free of buckles, buttons and snaps, providing a comfortable and giving fit, the baby food trays are divided into twelve 1 oz. portions providing easy access, less waste, and perfect baby size portions, and the First 1000 Days journal celebrates baby from their birth story to jumping in their first mud puddles, stories that will be read by generations to come.
This is sure to bring a smile to any infants face. The lady bug ride on toy is handmade using the finest materials. It goes forward, backward, sideways and around in circles providing hours of entertainment for you and your child.
This is at the top of my next baby want list. The perfect "coming home from the hospital" outfit. Soft, comfortable and personalized with your choice of sayings, thread color and dye. Your pictures will be beautiful (proof above) and you'll have a priceless heirloom for years to come.
BabyLegs: $60 gift certificate for the BabyLegs of your choice.
Celebrate brilliance, versatility and originality with your choice of BabyLegs. Go retro or modern or funky. They're the best in baby accessories for girls and boys.
Resa Design: Drool Baby Set
We've all been victim to the drooling stage, and if you're like me, there's nothing worse than getting your baby all dressed up only to find their shirt soaking wet 5 minutes later. The drool baby set provides a stylish matching bib that you'll be proud to have your baby wear, it eliminates the wetness, stretched out neckline and multiple outfits a day. I love it! The perfect answer to one of my least favorite stages of babyhood.
My bath-time go to. I couldn't live without the hooded towel. It wraps generously around your baby's body, while the hood keeps their head warm, as they grow it continues to be the towel of choice, and it's pretty enough to hang in your bathroom every day, so pretty in fact I designed my bathroom to go with it.
Baby Star: Snap Suit and Diaper Burp
Super soft cotton, modern design and easy access to diaper changing ensure you'll never want to take the snapsuit off your baby. The coordinating diaper burps allow your baby to spit up in style, and truth be told, there's a good chance you'll be wearing the burp cloth around, babystar got it right when they made it functional for baby and fashionable for you.
Secure2me: eclipse blanket
If you're tired of dealing with messy sunscreens, this is your answer. The eclipse blanket was designed by an RN and mother of three. Made of sheer, breathable fabric it attaches to all strollers, carseats and baby carriers with a baby safe clip in each corner. The eclipse blocks up to 95% of the sun's harmful UVA and UVB rays keeping baby cooler and more comfortable. Now that is something to celebrate!
Mango ink continues to provide the ultimate in modern and fresh photo cards. They've created the perfect templates for all your picture-perfect moments. They're one of the best ways to welcome and celebrate new life!
The ultimate in baby essentials, really. Soft organic cotton wraps your baby in the very best and most comfortable clothing out there. It's good for baby, good for mamma, and good for the environment.
Puj: Go Sling
We love Puj. They truly do simplify parenthood. You won't find a better sling out there. The Puj sling allows your baby to sit up right, without pressure on your lower back or shoulders. With both hands free you'll be able to browse the farmer's market and even carry your goods home, do the dishes while talking on the phone, and walk through airport security. Easy to put on while holding baby and it folds up small enough to store just about anywhere. It's a must have for every mother.
Two Tinas: My name snapsuit and blanket.
Two Tinas brings together ultra soft ringspun cotton with whimsical fonts and fun graphics providing the ultimate in baby apparel. Add to that the perfect lightweight cotton blanket, good for swaddling, rides in the stroller or covering their car seat, and you've got it made.
fawn&forest: 10% off any purchase with code "fawn", free shipping on orders over $50 and no sales tax.
puj: Free ground shipping on any purchase with code "shower me too" through 6/20
You'd like to win? be sure to:
*comment on this post - with your name
*please only enter once
*entry will be open until 7 am Tuesday morning (6/17)
*winner will be announced Tuesday morning
note: winner must contact us by Thursday (6/19) 8 am in order to claim prize, so be sure to check back if you enter.


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After spending some time on the Autodesk Labs, the Autodesk Vault 2013 Integration for MicroStation is now available for download from the Autodesk Subscription Center under Downloads>Product Enhancements.
The MicroStation integration for Vault enables MicroStation V8i users to connect to Autodesk® Vault Collaboration AEC 2013 from within MicroStation, permitting MicroStation users the ability to manage their design data from within their design tool. Specifically, the integration provides users the ability to manage file versions via check in and check out, manage file references, manage title block attributes, batch plot, get Vault status, and dynamically create visualization files for sharing data with downstream non-CAD users. This integration also works with Vault Workgroup, Vault Collaboration, and Vault Professional.
There are components of this integration that reside on both the client and server machines, as well as the DWF publisher which resides on the Job Processing machine. Please refer to the administrative guide for more details on installation and use.


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Having a baby or bringing a child home soon and want to share the news with the world? I love birth announcements – tiny pictures, sweet cheeks, happy news. If you're looking for one that share Scripture or scriptural truth as well, we've got some choices for you!
This beautiful one-photo design has Psalm 139:14 – "I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made …" You can find it at Photo Card Cafe, and there's also a blue version.
Another favorite verse for parents of newborns is "For this child I prayed" (1 Sam. 1:27). Here's a lovely black-and-white card with hints of blue or pink.
I wish I had seen this design for one of my babies! This one shares, "The Lord has done great things for us!" (Ps. 126:3). You can customize it to be in any font and color you choose. What Joy indeed! (And how perfect for an adoption as well?)
I love that the Scripture on this one is a little different from what you normally see. It says, "With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations" (Ps. 89:1). And isn't announcing the birth of a child or an addition to your family just that? The Blessed Family birth announcement comes to you via a digital file, so you can have it printed wherever you want. There is a choice of pink, lavender, green, and blue backgrounds.
This announcement has a poem, with the words to the poem in one color and font and the announcement information in another color and font. A little more formal. This one is also a digital file purchase.
{We were not asked to blog about any of these companies or compensated in any way. We simply hope this is helpful for you!}


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|Number of bridges on the course
|Main Street and Hart Bridge
|Runner's nickname for Hart Bridge
|"Green Monster"
|Time runners have to reach Hart Bridgebefore it opens to traffic
|2 hours
|Distance up Hart Bridge and incline
|½ mile up, 6% incline
|Largest 15K in the country
|Gate River Run
|Name of runners who have run all 32 River Runs
|Number who have run all 33 River Runs
|Number of American records
|3 - Todd Williams 1995, currently held on GRR course; Deena Drossin 2003, Colleen DeReuck 2005 (masters)
|Number of past champions in the this year's field
|3 - Janet Cherobon, Ben True, Jen Rhines
|What is Gate River Run "Battle of the Sexes"
|Women start 6 minutes before men, with both competing for equalizer bonus
|Amount of equalizer bonus for first man or womanto cross finish line
|Number of Olympians in field
|Only man to ever win the race six times
|Meb Keflezighi; 2001, '02, '03, '04, '06, '07
|Only woman to ever win the race six times
|Deena (Drossin) Kastor; 2000, '01, '02, '03, '07, '08
|First finisher's time in 2013
|43:38 - Ben True
|Last finisher's time in 2013
|Average run time for 15K
|85 to 95 minutes (9-10 minute pace)
|Number of police officers on the course
|Number of traffic cones on the course
|Number of bands on the course
|Number of Publix bagels for post-race party
|Number of volunteers
|More than 1,000
|Amount of water
|120,000 cups, 1 million ounces or 65,078 pounds; 700 gallons at each water station; 67 ozs. per 15K runner
|Number of portalets
|Number of volunteers at each of nine water stations
|30 to 50
|Number of finish line water bottles recycled
|Number of years Doug Alred has served as race director
|Todd Williams' average pace setting course record in 1995
|4:53 per mile; 42:22 finishing time
|Amount of prize money first year
|Amount of prize money in 2013
|Shoes collected at expo for charity since 2003
|More than 5,000 pairs
|Weight of 15,000 finisher medals
|8,000 pounds
|Number of benefiting charities
|Largest 2013 finisher age group
|Women ages 25 - 29
|First year number of women 15K finisherssurpassed men
Fun facts about Gate River Run
Copyright 2011 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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It's not as difficult—or expensive—as you might think to build a green parish.
Church design is evolving as people reawaken to the ancient wisdom that the environment is a series of exquisite interconnections. Forward-looking congregations are building and renovating in ways that reflect the belief that God resides in the world and all creation resides within God.
Older churches are often key community landmarks, so their preservation has social as well as environmental implications. Because existing structures possess "embodied energy," the energy used to make and transport the building's materials, reusing them is, by its very nature, more energy-efficient.
Many inexpensive steps can be taken to green an older church, such as installing zoned heating systems; installing occupancy sensors, which automatically turn lights on or off in spaces that have sporadic use; and caulking, weather-stripping, and insulating pipes and roofs. Such corrections can pay for themselves in less than a year.
For new construction, congregations should look for architects who have designed and built green buildings, preferably houses of worship or similar institutional structures. Ideally, the design team would also include environmentally responsible mechanical and structural engineers and landscape architects to ensure the greenest possible building.
LEED certification, a rating system administered by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), is the recognized standard for measuring building sustainability. Congregations can find LEED-certified architects and contractors on the USGBC site. The caveat is that anyone can become LEED-certified by studying and passing a test; the key is finding someone who also has practical experience.
To green new buildings, follow the old maxim, location, location, location. "More energy is used getting to and from the building than is used by the building itself. A building's location is essential—it should be easily accessible by public transportation or by walking. Religious communities could make a huge environmental impact simply by encouraging carpooling. It also builds community," says Jonathan F. P. Rose, president of Jonathan Rose Companies, a leading developer of affordable green construction.
It's not necessarily more expensive to build green. "If all you do is add solar panels to an older building, for example, you will spend more money," Rose says. "But if you rethink the building, reorganize it to bring in more daylight, invest more in insulation, you will typically spend no more than one percent more in creating a very green building. Green means stripped of indulgence, but full of essence."
This article is a web-only feature that accompanies Upon this empty lot and New homes for old treasures, which appeared in the April 2011 issue of U.S. Catholic magazine (Vol. 76, No. 4, page 12-17).


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Famous Captain Jack Sparrow to launch new After Dark party at the Blue Lagoon water park, Narberth, Pembrokeshire
School holidays will never be the same again as 'Pirates of the Blue Lagoon' land ashore at Pembrokeshire's all weather, undercover water park, the Blue Lagoon, for a new family interactive spectacular this summer.
With a sparkle of Hollywood, courtesy of Johnny Depp impersonator Simon Newton as Captain Jack Sparrow, the Blue Lagoon, near Narberth, launches its latest After Dark adventure with a launch party on Saturday, 20th July.
Pirates of the Blue Lagoon is led by pirate Black Bart and his shanty crew who tell their story through games, music and even walking the plank, while guests enjoy the adventures, waves and a whole host of interactive fun between 20th July and 2nd September – Tuesday to Thursday and Saturdays and Sundays – between 6pm and 9pm.
"We've invested in a whole new After Dark experience with Pirates of the Blue Lagoon," said Head of Marketing, Yvonne Buckingham. "This will be an adventure following Black Bart and his crew on their adventure around the Blue Lagoon and we hope as many people as possible can come along to the launch party for some great fun."
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Categories:The Blue Lagoon


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Ed. Sec. Duncan's Policy Leverage May Be Put to Test
Persuasion and sanctions, not cash promises, loom larger on policy horizon
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan faces an increasingly rocky education policy landscape and wavering support for his aggressive K-12 agenda—at a time when his stack of bargaining chips is dwindling.
Compared to his assets in President Barack Obama's first term, Mr. Duncan has few sweeteners left to use as leverage. That's likely to leave him even more dependent on sanctions and persuasion in the administration's final three years.
On the incentive side, he's spent nearly $100 billion in economic-stimulus money approved by Congress in 2009 and used his own authority to hand out No Child Left Behind Act waivers to nearly every state.
But Congress seems more dysfunctional than ever, and less and less likely to give the Obama administration what it wants. After the 2014 midterm elections, when the administration will enter its twilight, Mr. Duncan's clout will diminish even more.
Yet this is a crucial time for education policy. Most states are on the verge of fully implementing the Common Core State Standards and are bracing for the tests aligned with them. New teacher evaluations tied to student academic growth are being rolled out across the country. And the No Child Left Behind waivers granted to states so far let them set up school rating systems approved by the U.S. Department of Education with student-achievement goals and interventions for struggling schools that differ fundamentally from provisions of the NCLB law.
With most of his carrots gone, and no new money coming in, Mr. Duncan primarily has two tools left to protect his K-12 agenda and keep states in line: the bully pulpit and enforcement sticks.
"We never really believed the sticks were a great lever," said Peter Cunningham, who served as a top adviser to Mr. Duncan in the administration's first term and still consults with the federal department.
"The big role as he gets into his second term is highlighting reform," Mr. Cunningham said. "I think the best he can do is build support for the things that are going on out there."
Already, as Mr. Duncan's second-term strategy unfolds, some states and their schools chiefs are balking. At least four states are fighting with the Education Department over their waivers, Georgia plans to appeal a federal decision to withhold a small portion of its Race to the Top award, and California continues to test the bounds of what it can and can't do on school accountability under federal law.
In contrast to the early years of the Obama administration, Mr. Duncan is now "wildly unpopular," said Maria Ferguson, the executive director of the Center on Education Policy at George Washington University.
"He's got three years to secure his legacy and defend his record," she said. "I'm not sure he's going to have the ammo to do that."
Powerful Incentives
From Day One, the secretary has said that incentives are the most powerful and effective tools at his disposal in pursuing the administration's education agenda.
He used a $4 billion Race to the Top competition to cajole states into eliminating firewalls between student and teacher data, lifting caps on charter schools, and adopting the common standards. He fast-tracked work on common tests by funding two consortia of states to work on them. And he got nearly every state to plan to implement teacher evaluations tied to student test scores—to be used eventually to inform personnel decisions—as part of his NCLB waiver initiative.
But now, some states are choking on those carrots.
Three NCLB waiver states—Kansas, Oregon, and Washington—are on "high risk" status for failing to comply with federal conditions placed on their waivers. Arizona is refusing to budge on federal demands over its waiver involving graduation rates and teacher evaluations.
California tried to devise its own approach to testing students in light of the transition to the common core, and Mr. Duncan told the state in very clear terms that its way—not testing every student in math and reading—was unacceptable. But this week, Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed a bill that suspends accountability testing for a year as the state transitions to the new common tests, setting up a confrontation with federal officials.
Among Race to the Top states, Hawaii's $75 million grant was placed on high-risk status over problems with carrying out its teacher-evaluation system; more than a year later, it was put back in good standing. State Superintendent of Schools Kathryn Matayoshi said in an interview that the federal warning came with its headaches—such as additional reporting—but provided some motivation to keep working on sticky teacher-union negotiations.
Georgia is in worse trouble over Race to the Top. Federal officials are taking steps to revoke nearly $10 million from the state's $400 million grant after the state decided it could not implement its performance-based pay plan during the 2013-14 school year as it had promised. Georgia is planning to appeal.
"We want to do this, and you gave us the money," Georgia Superintendent of Schools John Barge said of his stance toward federal officials. "We are committed, but this timeline was not even feasible."
In general, Mr. Barge said, "the heavier the stick, the more the states are going to pull back. We do not want to be forced into directions that we may or may not agree with."
But many policy experts doubt Mr. Duncan will go much further in enforcement, which could give states more leverage to do what they want.
"There are no indications that they intend to be very strict," Charles Barone, the policy director for Democrats for Education Reform, a New York City-based political action committee, said of the Duncan team. "They've fought the big fights and have taken their hits."
What's more, virtually no one thinks federal enforcement is a good way to get states or districts to do what policy officials want. Mr. Duncan himself has said he doesn't like using sticks and would prefer to work with states as a partner.
Anne Hyslop, a policy analyst with the New America Foundation, a Washington think tank, said that it's far easier for Mr. Duncan to accomplish his goals by working with states. For that reason, she predicts that he will never revoke a state's NCLB waiver.
Bulging Portfolio
Still, the coming three years will find the Education Department managing a complex portfolio of programs, and holding states and districts accountable for promises they made to get waivers and competitive grants. A range of advocacy groups are hammering the department to use its leverage to improve everything from the importance of graduation rates in school accountability systems to the models used to turn around failing schools.
Mr. Duncan, who declined to be interviewed for this article, has acknowledged the implementation challenges his department faces. But spokesman Cameron French said through its programs, the department can still partner with states, working to raise standards and expand early learning opportunities.
"I promise you—none of us will get everything 100 percent right the first time," Mr. Duncan said in a Sept. 30 speech at the National Press Club in Washington, in which he was critical of Congress for failing to overhaul immigration policy, expand preschool, and reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the current version of which is the NCLB law.
"But we are all learning what's working—and, where necessary, adjusting," he said. "We are seeing extraordinary courage and leadership by states, as we challenge them to maintain a high bar, while offering them as much flexibility as possible to be creative and innovative."
Federal Meddling?
Many schools chiefs hope to hear little from Washington during the administration's final years.
"What will define their success is their ability to let the states go and implement what they've said they would, and resist the traditional federal impulse to constantly layer on more regulation and more process," Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White said in an interview.
Mr. White pointed to one example of what he sees as federal meddling: When his state board of education changed its teacher-observations protocols involving how often and for how long a principal does a classroom observation, federal officials called his office to say that he needed to get the changes approved because of the state's NCLB waiver.
That kind of involvement, Mr. White said, "erodes the trust and, more importantly, it consumes precious time. We also have a time clock."
In essence, the department has laid the groundwork and should now get out of the way, said Richard Laine of the National Governors Association. That applies to everything from promotion of the common core to NCLB waivers, he said.
"He should allow the states to lead now," Mr. Laine, the education division director of the NGA's Center for Best Practices, said of Mr. Duncan. "The track record of compliance to achieve quality doesn't play well."
Since the start of President Obama's second term in January, Mr. Duncan has spent much of his media capital, and time, lobbying for the president's plan to expand preschool. But the ambitious, $75 billion plan has virtually no shot of being approved in the current congressional climate.
To be sure, even as Congress is likely to refuse any requests for additional education spending, Mr. Duncan can do many things to leave his mark.
The department is working on long-delayed new rules that seek to tighten the accountability of schools of education for teacher preparation.
The secretary is also a vocal supporter of the Federal Communications Commission's move to modernize the federal E-rate program, which uses revenue from taxes on telephone land lines to help connect schools and libraries to the Internet.
And the 42 states and the District of Columbia that have won NCLB waivers are already starting the waiver-renewal process, to which Mr. Duncan has attached more strings.
That's one way to bring states "back to court," said Sandy Kress, a lawyer in Austin, Texas, who as an education aide to President George W. Bush helped craft the bipartisan NCLB law in 2001.
"And that's a way to keep power," Mr. Kress said. "But over time, states and districts tend to wait the federal government out. They're in it for the long term, and he's not."
Using His Megaphone
Mr. Duncan—who has said he wants to serve for the duration of Mr. Obama's presidency—will presumably have his bully pulpit until it's time to turn out the lights on the administration. He's used his high-profile office to support Kaya Henderson for District of Columbia schools chancellor, to criticize education in Texas, and to lobby Washington state legislators to support a plan to consolidate education functions into a single department under the governor's control.
In July, Mr. Duncan issued a public statement from his office in response to a district fiscal meltdown in Philadelphia. He urged district, city, and state leaders to fix the financial mess.
But it remains to be seen how much of a difference the secretary's speeches and statements will make between now and January 2017, especially given the few carrots he has left to dole out.
Mr. Kress said: "He's got some decisions to make about how he uses his waning power. He's going to have less power. People will pay less attention. It happens to every administration."
Vol. 33, Issue 07, Pages 1, 22-23Published in Print: October 9, 2013, as Duncan's Clout May Be Sorely Tested as Incentives Dwindle
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Idaho Archives, Libraries, and Societies
This entry was originally written by Dwight A. Radford for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
Idaho State Historical Society
The Library and Archives
1109 Main St., Ste. 250
Boise, ID 83702
Idaho State Library
325 W. State St.
Boise, ID 83702
Idaho Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 1854
Boise, ID 83701-1854
Brigham Young University'Idaho
224 D MacKay Library
525 S. Center St.
Rexburg, ID 83460
Two excellent resources for southeastern Idaho research are the Genealogical Library in the David O. McKay Resource Library at Ricks College in Rexford, Idaho; and the Idaho Falls Family History Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho. The latter has all the area mortuary records, cemetery records, and the 'Post Register' obituary index (to 1955).
The Idaho Library Directory www.lili.org/directory/index.php is an extensive website to the libraries in the state. This includes current information on public, academic, and private libraries and links to these library websites.


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While the landing of the Curiosity rover last week got people imagining what it would be like to send humans to Mars, likely no one was picturing the way artists Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick show it.
Their photo-montages depict a Martian landscape populated by two stoic women climbing rock formations, walking among romanesque ruins, examining technological relics and giving birth to children – and all the while in their space suits.
"Richard and I have been playing these kinds of games together since college, like we're 11-year-olds," says Kahn. "We create these alternative universes and try to make them real for each other. We love to pop back and forth between the future and the past. We're not very good at the present."
After exhibiting their previous lunar series, Appollo Prophecies, the two were approached by NASA's Media Relations contact, Bert Ulrich, about a commission for a panorama. "They [NASA] told us Mars is where we're going to next and if you're going to do this project we'd like you to do it about Mars," says Kahn. "We didn't start thinking about mars until they told us to."
Ulrich pointed Kahn and Selesnick toward high-resolution photo-mosaic panoramas taken by the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which for them sparked an entire fantasy world. What began with a single panorama became Mars: Adrift on the Hourglass Sea.
"The thought that these diligent little machines were inching their way across this distant inhospitable land sending these pictures back to us – it just seemed awe-inspiring," says Selesnick.
The rover's images comprise about a third of each montage. For the rest of the landscapes, Kahn and Selesnick had to search out earthly terrain that looked plausible. The two were drawn to photograph the Pyramid Lake region in Nevada and the sand dunes and red rock formations in southern Utah.
As for the imagined parts of the photos, the artists brought in a wide variety of eccentric influences. The futuristic sci-fi illustrations of Chesley Bonestell, for example, guided the painterly look of the montages. Their arrangement and composition came largely from Romantic paintings they found at an exhibit on sublime landscapes. Their narrative ideas came from "thought-form companions" – the manifestation of the physical by means of meditation – from Alexandra David-Néel's Magic and Mystery in Tibet. After seeing prototype photos of slim-fitting astronaut suits they decided they wanted to try and "bring NASA into a kind of Barbarella age again." And since Mars is named after the Roman god of war, seeing the red planet ridden with the relics of a fallen empire seemed natural.
"We were interested in trying to give the viewer a sense of vast geological time periods," says Selesnick, "this sense of a kind of geological detective story came especially clear to us photographing in Utah when we came across hematite deposits similar to those found on mars."
Intoxicated by the space race as they were growing up, both artists came to expect many of the those futuristic visions to come to fruition, "It seemed like all the future was about space travel and then it sort of petered off," says Kahn, "so we have these kinds of longings of the future ... the great age of space travel, so we're kind of keeping these longings out there for other people who it might seem exciting to again."
The Hourglass Sea was originally a name given to a shield volcano on Mars now known as Syrtis Major, first thought to be a crater in 1659, and is the first documented surface feature ever seen on another planet. "Our female explorers seem to be simultaneously visiting mars in the present, the past and the future, so naming the project after the first geological feature humanity discovered on another planet seemed appropriate," says Selesnick. "Especially since that feature was originally named for its resemblance to a timepiece."
With circular time and the repetition of history as over-arching themes, Kahn and Selesnick assembled the narrative of the project around Martian dystopia and a hope based on gender dynamics.
"I think Earth wouldn't be on its path toward destruction if it was run by women," says Kahn, "So we decided to give mars a little hope by sending two women up who wouldn't necessarily see conquering and seizing all of its minerals as a main thing and that a new birth for this dying planet would be two women and their child that is seemingly conceived without a male involved. It gave it a utopian aspect amidst the gloom of the post-colonial sad ruined-empire quality that we gave it – so it was kind of a sweet counterbalance."
As the Curiosity rover begins its time on Mars, the two are planning to continue the project and potentially publish the final product as a book. "It can be hard to describe the intensity of the experience of working day after day on Mars images," says Selesnick, "I often find myself feeling a sense of longing or nostalgia for those places, as if I had physically occupied them myself, as if I had actually been there."


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Why is the official OWS website in league with lobbying fronts for the Wall Street-backed Obama White House?
Paul Joseph Watson
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Fears expressed by some that the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement is being hijacked by the Democratic Party establishment have intensified after the official OWS website announced that it "stands in solidarity" with MoveOn.org, a lobbying group for the Wall Street-backed Obama administration.
The front page of the http://occupywallst.org/ proudly announces that numerous union groups will be present in New York today to join demonstrators in marches taking place this afternoon.
"Together we will protest this great injustice. We stand in solidarity with the honest workers of….MoveOn.org," states the website, as well as listing numerous other organizations.
What is MoveOn.org?
MoveOn.org is a lobbying organization that routinely backs Democratic candidates. The group aggressively supported Barack Obama's 2008 election campaign and is now "Perhaps the lead lobby organization for his policies….apart from Obama's own Organizing for America," reports Source Watch.
When MoveOn organized an online donation drive for Obama which raised $320,000, the Obama campaign responded in kind with the legally dubious action of paying MoveOn $18,000 in "credit card processing fees".
The group also received a $5 million dollar donation from George Soros, who is a keen supporter.
Back in 2007, many leftists spoke of their betrayal by MoveOn.org after the group advocated Nancy Pelosi's funding bill that actually prolonged the war in Iraq and prevented the troops being brought home.
"Join us on Wednesday to create a huge show of support for anti-Wall Street actions nationwide. Together, we'll add hundreds of thousands of voices expressing our solidarity with the protests at Occupy Wall Street and across the country targeting the bankers who wrecked our economy," states MoveOn.org's website.
Yes – the very same bankers – Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup prime amongst them – who financed the Obama campaign, the same campaign vehemently supported by MoveOn.org.
Why does Occupy Wall Street's support for MoveOn.org represent a problem? Because MoveOn.org is little more than a lobbying front for the Obama administration, which itself is a creature of Wall Street.
Another group that OWS website expresses its "solidarity" with, AFL-CIO, has also announced that it will likely back Wall Street puppet Obama in 2012.
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
- {openx:74}
The OWS website also stands in solidarity with SEIU (Service Employees International Union), a group that spent $28 million dollars supporting Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, making it the "organization that spent the most to help Barack Obama get elected president."
Why is the website that has positioned itself as the central hub for Occupy Wall Street activists announcing its support for groups which are little more than Barack Obama lobbying fronts? Wall Street spent millions financing Obama's path to the White House and are supporting him to an even greater extent in 2012.
Why is a website that claims to represent anti-Wall Street demonstrators siding with groups that have aggressively supported the Wall Street-backed Obama administration?
Some have argued that it is not fair to cite postings on OccupyWallst.org as representative of the movement's character or goals. However, this is not a forum posting by an individual, it is prominently displayed on the front page of the website claiming it represents OWS.
Either the Occupy Wall Street website represents an accurate reflection of the sentiments of the protesters, that is supportive of the Wall Street-financed Obama administration and its lobbying front groups such as MoveOn.org, or the message has been hijacked by these very groups.
Either way it represents a threat to the promise made by other OWS activists to remain non-partisan.
Who is running this website and why are they 'standing in solidarity' with organizations like MoveOn.org that have aggressively supported the Wall-Street backed Obama administration?
I am going to submit this question to the forum users on the 'Occupy Wall Street' website and write a follow up piece on their response. That way we can move a lot closer to understanding whether what is posing as the official website for this "leaderless" group is really representative of the OWS demonstrators or not.
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.
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Disagreement over just what's in that glass of raw milk
The federal government and virtually all public health agencies oppose consumption of raw milk because it can carry dangerous bacteria such as E. coli 0157:H7, listeria and campylobacter. In March, 13 people in Michigan were sickened by campylobacter in an outbreak tied to raw milk sold at a northern Indiana farm.
But raw milk drinkers argue that they should be allowed to decide whether to take that risk.
Many who drink raw milk believe that the unprocessed, non-homogenized version is more nutritious and that it can ease ailments such as allergies, asthma and gastrointestinal issues, although public health agencies and nearly every major medical association in the country say those benefits are unproved.
"It's more than a health issue; it's a human rights issue," said Kathryne Pirtle of Addison, Ill., a professional musician who credits raw milk with eliminating the chronic pain she experienced for 25 years. "Real food and the raw milk movement are the answers to our healthcare crisis and the future of our populations."
The FDA bans interstate sales of raw milk, but states regulate its sale within their borders. Sales are now legal in 27 states under some circumstances, with bills to legalize it pending in Georgia and Wisconsin. In several states, including California, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, raw milk can be sold in retail stores.
In some states, consumers who want raw milk must take their own containers directly to the farm. Another option is a cow share, in which a consumer contracts with a farmer or "milk club" operator to buy a share of the animal. As part-owner, the customer is entitled to some of the cow's milk.
Industry watchers suspect these arrangements may be one reason that federal officials are cracking down on raw milk sales, stepping up efforts to warn consumers of the dangers and urging states to strengthen their regulations.
Keith Parrish and Donna O'Shaugnessy, co-owners of a dairy farm in central Illinois, raised four children on raw milk and are avid proponents of its virtues.
"Consumers have a responsibility to decide what they will put in their mouths," O'Shaughnessy says. "It isn't our goal to convert everyone into drinking raw milk. We're not evangelists. We're just farmers."
Outbreaks tracked
From 1998 to 2008, 85 outbreaks of human infections resulting from consumption of raw milk were reported to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, causing 1,614 illnesses, 187 hospitalizations and two deaths.
The outbreaks — about five per year over the last few years — are due primarily to campylobacter, salmonella and E. coli, according to Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the CDC's food-borne and bacterial diseases division. "We view it as an ongoing problem, one that puts everyone who drinks raw milk at risk," he said.
Drinking contaminated raw milk can cause vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Most healthy people recover quickly, but the bacteria can be especially harmful for pregnant women, the elderly, children or those with weakened immune systems.
What confounds health officials is the sense that the more they warn against raw milk, the more people seem to want it. In addition to the supposed health benefits, drinking raw milk is seen as a way to support local farmers and bypass the industrial food chain.
"In America we've lost our sense of community, and we're trying to reestablish ties to that which sustains us," said Tim Wightman, founder and president of the Farm-to-Consumers Foundation and the author of the Raw Milk Handbook, a resource guide for farmers. "Raw milk is the gateway; it allows us to begin to question everything we call 'normal.' But this is widely misunderstood by governments and corporations."
Wightman says raw milk drinkers include older farmers, hippies and even doctors who drink it in secret. But health-conscious mothers are the core group pushing sales these days, he said.
Although the exact figure is unknown, an estimated 1% to 3% of milk consumers drink it raw. Many people go to great lengths to procure the controversial drink, which can sell for $4 to $16 a gallon. Some are reluctant to talk about where they get their milk, lest their supplier be shut down.
Raw milk, which fans say tastes like unsweetened vanilla ice cream, is hardly a new phenomenon. People have been gulping it straight from the source since sheep and goats were domesticated in the 8th or 9th century BC. A healthy animal's milk is sterile, but it can be contaminated by an infection in the udder, feces, dirt or unclean processing equipment.
Before pasteurization was instituted in the 1920s, disease outbreaks from raw milk were the No. 1 food safety concern in the country, the CDC's Tauxe said.
A pasteurized debate
Pasteurized milk is heated to a specific temperature for a set period to slow the growth of harmful pathogens. Some enzymes are destroyed, but "the enzymes in raw animal milk are not known to be important in human health," said Dr. Michele Jay-Russell, a veterinarian who is a food safety and security specialist at the Western Institute for Food Safety at UC Davis. "Vitamin C is also reduced by heat treatment, but even raw milk is not a good source of vitamin C."
The FDA and public health experts say there are no "meaningful" nutritional differences between pasteurized and raw milk.
The Weston A. Price Foundation — which advocates for community-supported farms, pasture feeding of livestock and universal access to clean, certified raw milk — disagrees. It also argues that pasteurization has outlived its usefulness.
"Modern stainless steel tanks, milking machines, refrigerated trucks and inspection methods make pasteurization absolutely unnecessary for public protection," its website states.
"Not true," responded Tauxe, who says that the dairy environment is inherently dirty. "Animals and bacteria are natural companions. Normal-looking and -tasting milk from a healthy cow can still be contaminated."
Research supporting the health benefits of raw milk is limited. Proponents often cite a European study that suggests it may have a protective effect against asthma and eczema in children. But the study authors note that other factors might be at play, including the farm environment, and concluded that the risk of pathogens in raw milk outweighs its potential benefits.
Taking a chance
More than three years ago, Mary McGonigle Martin, 51, believed many of the claims she found on the site of the Weston A. Price Foundation. A health-conscious mother who ate organic, she bought some raw milk from a California health food store for her son Chris, then 7.
For two weeks, Chris' chronic congestion eased, she said. But the third week he became violently ill; the milk had been contaminated with E. coli. Chris ultimately developed a serious complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome, marked by prolonged renal failure and pancreatitis. Although he has recovered, he may need a kidney transplant in the future, and the entire family is still shaken, McGonigle Martin said.
"People can drink raw milk their whole life and not get sick," said the Murietta, Calif., mother, who tells her story on realrawmilkfacts.com, a site started by health professionals and researchers. "But the reality is that you don't know when a pathogen is in there. And it's promoted to children and infants, which I think is a crime.
"I support people's right to choose it," she added. "I would never condone it."


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Reed, Langevin Introduce Bill to Protect South County Waterways
U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI) renewed their push today to make federal restoration and conservation resources available to the Pawcatuck River, as well as other South County and Southeast Connecticut streams. The Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Protection Act, which passed the House last year, would preserve and enhance the benefits of the Wood and Pawcatuck Rivers to Rhode Island's economy. Now reintroduced in the House and Senate, it would pave the way for the rivers to receive federal funds and protections under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, which currently does not cover the South County waterways. This change would not increase federal spending.
"The Wood and Pawcatuck Rivers are important to Rhode Island's economy and environment and we must protect these natural resources. These rivers and open spaces should be added to the list of protected areas and this legislation is an important first step toward achieving that goal," said Reed, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Environment, which oversees funding for the National Park Service. "This legislation would help develop a collaborative river management plan, which could address issues ranging from fish passage to the restoration of wetlands to assistance with flood mitigation, as well as balance the preservation of the natural resources with the recreational opportunities that contribute to the local economies."
"Our state's economy relies on the health of our waters, which have a tremendous impact on our tourism and fishing industries, offer opportunities for businesses, and increase the overall quality of life in our state," said Langevin. "The bipartisan support that this bill received when it passed the House of Representatives last year is a testament to the value of the Wood-Pawcatuck watershed. I'm hopeful that the growing recognition of the essential protections provided by this legislation will allow it to be signed into law during this Congress."
Reed and Langevin also worked with Congressman Joe Courtney (D-CT) and watershed advocates in Rhode Island and Connecticut, including the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association (WPWA), to author this bill in order to best serve our communities' needs. U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) are cosponsors of the Senate version, while Congressmen David Cicilline (D-RI), and Courtney have cosponsored the House version.
Last year, Langevin brought WPWA Program Director Denise Poyer to Washington to testify with him before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands about the Act's significance for the Ocean State. Poyer emphasized the unique qualities of the waterways impacted by the bill and their many contributions to the region.
"[These rivers] represent the core of our local economy and serve as the foundation of our culture, our history, and our identity in the region," said Poyer to the Subcommittee. "Any investment in protecting and restoring these rivers is an investment in our economy and in the future of our children and grandchildren. Local businesses depend on clean and healthy rivers to attract tourists and visitors. People are encouraged to come to our region and locate their homes and businesses here because of the natural beauty that is so close to major metropolitan centers."
The legislation mandates a study on the "wild and scenic" values of segments of the Beaver, Chipuxet, Queen, Wood, and Pawcatuck Rivers in Rhode Island and Connecticut to evaluate which portions provide extraordinary natural, cultural and recreational benefits that require special attention to maintain. Its passage would allow a committee made up of state, local, tribal, non-profit, recreational and agricultural representatives to proceed with an evaluation of the portions that would best fit into a special classification under the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
These segments would then be designated as eligible for existing federal funds. In addition to providing for better upkeep of those areas, the designation would prevent federal support for actions that would harm the rivers' free-flowing condition, water quality, or outstanding resource values.
For more information on the rivers affected by this legislation, visit the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association's website at www.wpwa.org.


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NASA / JPL-Caltech /ASI
This radar image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, acquired on Sept. 26, shows a vast river system on Saturn's moon Titan. Check out the full-size version from NASA or the European Space Agency.
NASA's Cassini orbiter has spotted a river system on the Saturnian moon Titan that's reminiscent of the River Nile — except that this river is presumably filled with liquid ethane and methane instead of water.
The Titanic Nile shows up on a grainy, black-and-white picture from Cassini's radar imager, which can look through Titan's thick, smoggy atmosphere to map the surface features beneath.
The picture was taken on Sept. 26 and released today by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the European Space Agency. It shows a branching river valley, running more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) from its headwaters to Titan's Kraken Mare, a hydrocarbon sea that's somewhere between the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean in size.
Just as Earth has a water-based hydrological cycle, Titan has a weather cycle that moves ethane and methane around its surface and through the atmosphere. That's due to Titan's surface temperature (averaging minus-290 degrees Fahrenheit, or -179 degrees Celsius) and atmospheric pressure (one and a half times that of Earth's atmosphere).
"Titan is the only place we've found besides Earth that has a liquid in continuous movement on its surface," Steve Wall, the radar deputy team lead, said in JPL's news release. "This picture gives us a snapshot of a world in motion. Rain falls, and rivers move that rain to lakes and seas, where evaporation starts the cycle all over again. On Earth, the liquid is water; on Titan, it's methane; but on both it affects most everything that happens."
During the eight and a half years that Cassini has been passing over Saturn and its moons, the bus-sized orbiter has mapped Titan's seas, lakes and rivers in amazing detail. The orbiter even dropped a mini-probe known as Huygens down to Titan's surface for an on-the-ground view of the terrain.
From March 14, 2007: Cassini finds evidence of huge seas on Titan. NBC News' Dara Brown has the details.
Scientists have proposed sending out another, more sophisticated probe that would parachute through the atmosphere and float on one of the moon's seas — either Kraken Mare or another huge lake called Ligeia Mare. Two proposed missions are in the works, nicknamed TiME and TALISE. So far, neither of the missions have gotten the go-ahead for launch — but who knows? Maybe this view of an alien Nile will whet our appetite for a taste of Titanic seas.
More about Titan's lakes and seas:
- Tropical lake found on Titan
- Could Titan's seas harbor life?
- Orbiter sends images of Titan's seas
- One moon's forecast: Chance of methane rain
- Titan has a soft and crusty surface
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.


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A new study suggests that one of the most popular antibiotics on the market for treating bacterial infections could be deadly among certain patients.
Zithromax, commonly known as the Z-Pak, is prescribed for all types of bacterial infections from ear infections to strep throat.
In the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at Vanderbilt University looked at the records of thousands of Medicaid patients over a 14-year-period. They found a 2.5 percent greater risk of death from heart disease in the first five days of using Z-pack other than using other antibiotics or no antibiotic at all.
The latest news from around North Texas.
"The study suggests that if you have heart disease or a serious heart condition and you take Zithromax, you really shouldn't," Dr. Mitchell Brooks, a Dallas physician.
But Brooks, who received a heart transplant in 2007 because of severe heart disease, said he is not overly concerned about the new research on the Z-Pak.
"No. 1, I would say, 'Calm down,'" Brooks said. "The numbers are not that great -- they are rare. You have a greater chance of having something happen to you if you get in your car this evening."
Brooks is currently taking the drug. He said he wants to see more information about the study before he is willing to stop taking it.
As for prescribing it to patients with heart problems, he said: "You have a litigious atmosphere in this country, and no physician in his right mind is going to give someone who has heart problem Zithromax, given this study."
Pfizer, the company that manufactures the drug, released a statement that reads in part: "Patient safety is of the utmost importance to Pfizer, and we continuously monitor the safety and efficacy of our products to ensure that the benefits and risks are accurately described."
The drug has been available in the United States for two decades


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Six Illinoisans who have excelled in law, business, education and social service will become laureates of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois, Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced Monday.
Six Illinoisans who have excelled in law, business, education and social service will become laureates of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois, Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced Monday.
The title is the highest honor for outstanding achievement the state bestows to persons who were born or have resided in Illinois.
"These individuals honor us with their achievements and make us proud to be Illinoisans. Their scholarship, leadership and contributions to our world make them giants in their fields," Blagojevich said in a news release.
The 2008 laureates include:
*David Herbert Donald, one of the world's foremost Abraham Lincoln scholars, two-time Pulitzer prize winner and the author of more than 20 books.
*Judge Joel Flaum of the 7th Circuit U.S Court of Appeals in Chicago.
*William Norwood, who was the first African-American quarterback on the Southern Illinois University-Carbondale football team and the first African-American pilot to fly for United Airlines.
*Kenneth Shaw, a retired chancellor of Syracuse University who spent 30 years as a university president in Wisconsin, Illinois and New York.
*Thomas Siebel, founder, chairman and CEO of Siebel Systems, which merged with Oracle Corp. in 2006 to form one of the world's leading software companies.
*Irl Engelhardt, one of the nation's most successful business leaders and former chairman of Peabody Energy. Engelhardt formed the Future of Pinckneyville Foundation Inc. and has made contributions to area schools in his southern Illinois hometown.
Academy officials will present honorees with the Order of Lincoln Medallion at a ceremony April 26 at SIUC.
The Lincoln Academy was established in 1965 to honor Illinois' most distinguished citizens, either by birth or residence. Past honorees have included Ronald Reagan, the Chicago Bears' Walter Payton, poet Gwendolyn Brooks, author Michael Beschloss, business leader Lester Crown, Nobel scientist Leon Lederman, and educator Stephanie Pace Marshall.
Meagan Sexton can be reached at (217) 782-6882.


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In January, RIM renamed itself after its flagship product, BlackBerry. But is a new smartphone enough to save the beleaguered company?
The Z10 marks BlackBerry's first foray into the smartphone arena. It's a keyboardless device; its sibling the Q10 has a physical keyboard and will be released soon. Although BlackBerry is late to the game, the Z10 is a good introductory phone that packs enough features to appeal to consumers and corporations alike.
The first thing you'll notice is that the Z10 is light and quick. In size it's roughly the same as an iPhone: 5.1 by 2.6 by .35 inches, weighing 4.8 ounces. It feels comfortable in the hand, as you would expect from a mobile that will quickly become your close companion.
It's surprisingly responsive for a device that doesn't have much by way of horsepower. Inside the easy-to-open case you'll find a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor with 2GB of RAM. It comes with a 4.2-inch 1,280-by-768 LCD display at 356 pixels per inch. That's good enough to view videos and play basic games.
But the hardware exists primarily to showcase the BlackBerry 10 software. BlackBerry has put a great deal of effort into this latest version of their system. It's easy to use and, better still, offers corporate manageability.
BB10 allows you to flow through its various functions via swipes and gestures. It doesn't offer much by way of customization, so if you're used to arranging your icons just so, you'll be disappointed. Otherwise BB10 provides a smooth, integrated experience that doesn't get in the way.
The Z10's functions center around the Hub, which collects notifications from email, text messages, and social media. Unfortunately your ability to filter this list is limited, so if you get a barrage of updates from one account it may drown out notifications from another.
While the idea of a BlackBerry sans keyboard seems strange, the Z10's software keyboard is so accurate you may not miss it. Predictive completion quickly becomes second nature. BlackBerry is known for the world's best mobile keyboards and, in this regard, they've lived up to their reputation.
Help features are front and center, essential for a brand new device. During setup you're given an interactive tour which gets you up to speed on the Z10's gestures. The comprehensive Help section contains everything from FAQs and Getting Started guides to tips and techniques.
From a security standpoint I was pleased to see a prominent Passwords and Security section with all the info you need to protect your phone. Security is one reason the BlackBerry remains popular, since companies can integrate its security into their existing networks. This may boost the Z10's sales, as corporates who have already bought into BlackBerry upgrade their infrastructure.
One major disadvantage of the Z10 is the lack of apps. As this is a first for BlackBerry, its app store is new and you may not be able to find all of your favorites. This could seriously hamper their ability to market this device to consumers if they are unable to get more developers on board.
BlackBerry has a lot riding on this phone. Gone are the days when addicts swore by their BlackBerrys, which have gradually been replaced by a steady stream of alternatives. It may be too little, too late for a company that's betting the farm on the Z10 and the upcoming Q10, and the BlackBerry 10 software they run.
Will the Z10 be able to compete with industry stalwarts like Apple, Google, and Samsung? Time will only tell if it can reverse BlackBerry's fortunes.
• Triona Guidry is a freelance writer and IT specialist. Her Tech Tips blog (http://www.guidryconsulting.com/techtips) offers computer help and social media advice. She can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or via Twitter @trionaguidry.


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France Will Show U.S. How (Not) to Do It
Francois Hollande is a man on a mission—to increase the top rate of tax on income to 75 percent. The Socialist candidate, who is poised to beat Nicolas Sarkozy in the French presidential election, said, "Above 1m euros [£847,000; $1.3m], the tax rate should be 75% because it's not possible to have that level of income."
Hollande's "unassailable" logic aside, the measure would remind those who are too young to remember the 1970s of what happens when the rapacious state makes work really unprofitable. I can just see the Whitehall mandarins wring their hands with joy as thousands of French high‐earners, from actors to businessmen, pour across the English Channel to London. If anything, the disastrous effect of the French tax will be greater than four decades ago—the world, after all, has become even more competitive and the cost of relocation has fallen appreciably. Karl Marx is supposed to have said that "history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." Hollande may well prove him right.


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Patrick Semansky / AP
Zachariah Long, left, and Edward Ritchie protest against a gay marriage bill in February in Annapolis, Md. Thirty-eight states have laws or constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. But four states -- Maryland, Maine, Minnesota and Washington -- will vote on this issue, with gay-marriage supporters hoping to net an historic win.
Same-sex marriage advocates have outraised their opponents in many state ballots but have ended up on the losing end in every case.
But this time, their adversaries are worried the large amounts of cash raked in by gay marriage proponents could tilt the balance in high-stakes votes in four states this November.
In Washington, same-sex marriage supporters have raised at least $10.5 million compared with $1.8 million for their opponents. In Maine, they have some $3.35 million as opposed to about $430,000 on the other side, and in Maryland, they have about $3.2 million while the anti-gay marriage camp has more than $835,000, according to public disclosure filings.
"The concern that I have is that the other side will be able to swamp voters with messaging," said Frank Schubert, campaign manager for the four state campaigns opposed to same-sex marriage.
"I am worried ... about the particular disparities in Maine and Washington state and somewhat in Maryland," Schubert said. "What's occurred in the past -- that we've been able to win despite being outspent -- you know, is certainly going to be challenged this time by just the sheer disparity that exists."
For 1st time, gay marriage may win statewide vote
From 2004-2011, all but one of 28 measures to either ban or limit same-sex marriage or partnerships on statewide ballots passed, according to the nonprofit National Institute on Money in State Politics. The one win for same-sex marriage campaigners was in Arizona in 2006 to strike down a constitutional amendment, but their opponents were later victorious at the polls in 2008.
Anti-gay marriage groups were outspent by their opponents in 17 of those contests but won nonetheless, according to Denise Roth Barber, the institute's managing director. "Regarding same-sex marriage, raising more money has thus far not equated to success at the ballot box," she wrote to NBC News in an email.
Political scientists who conduct research on same-sex marriage votes have reached similar conclusions.
"A money advantage in any race is generally not what it's blown up to be," said Patrick Egan, an assistant professor of politics and public policy at New York University whose research includes public opinion on gay rights.
Research shows that a big-money advantage has moved votes by a few percentage points, but those effects tend to die out within a week, he added.
"Gay marriage is an issue on which a lot of people have made up their minds a long time ago and they're not going to have their minds changed necessarily by a stream of advertisements. You can imagine a number of other kinds of ballot measures that are more confusing or more technical," Egan said. "Everybody knows exactly what is meant by a ban on marriage or ... approving a law that would allow gay people to get married."
But the fundraising continues for both sides. Paul Singer, a New York hedge fund titan and Republican, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, just announced $250,000 contributions each to the campaign to maintain Maryland's same-sex marriage law passed earlier this year.
Like Maryland, same-sex marriage supporters are asking people in Maine and Washington to vote yes on the ballot, rather than in Minnesota, where they will ask them to oppose a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman (same-sex marriage supporters in Minnesota have raised $5.96 million this year, compared to $1.2 million for their opponents).
A yes vote "requires a heavier lift," said Fred Sainz, a spokesman for Human Rights Campaign, a national nonprofit backing efforts to legalize same-sex marriage, including financially. "Whenever you're trying to convince someone to vote yes it's going to require more resources because the onus is on you to change the status quo."
That has meant setting up a number of field offices in each state as well as running a ground campaign that involves volunteers going door-to-door to add a personal plea to voters.
Though they have ads and fliers, the personal touch is key to their work, with volunteers in Maine having now spoken to some 200,000 people about the issue since 2009, according to the state campaign. Similar work has been done in Maryland and Washington over the last 18 months, Sainz said.
"Our messaging has changed considerably over the years to now be all about family, love and commitment, and the establishment of a common human bond with the voter," he said. "Explaining that narrative and that story takes time and money. … It is not a campaign that can be done in two months."
Appeals court: Denying federal benefits to same-sex couples is unconstitutional
Despite marriage progress, gay couples face big hurdles to parenthood
Conservatives target Republicans who back gay marriage
Same-sex couple fights to stop deportation, gay marriage ban
Obama: 'I think same-sex couples should be able to get married'
The National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriage, is running a new fundraising campaign it began two weeks ago that it hopes will net an additional $3 million in the same-sex marriage battle.
"I've always said and I continue to believe that really what matters more than what our opponents spend is how much we spend and so my focus has been on working with the campaigns to improve their fundraising across the board so that they have the resources necessary to communicate with voters," said Schubert, who is also NOM's political director. "Even though we're behind, we're making good progress and I'm hopeful that at the end of the day we will be able to have a strong finish to each of the campaigns to get our messages out."
Schubert said between 75 to 80 percent of their money will be spent on advertising, noting that they did not have the same infrastructure or staff costs as their opponents since they have a grassroots network through churches they can access.
"Our messaging is just now being delivered … because of the funding disparity," he said. "I definitely can see a path to victory everywhere. A lot of the path does depend on us being able to raise the resources though … and so, you know, money is not an insignificant factor in a statewide campaign like this."
"I remain optimistic everywhere but that doesn't mean I don't have concerns," he added.
Joel Page / AP
Rev. Michael Gray, a United Methodist pastor speaks on Sept. 10, 2012 at a rally outside of City Hall in Portland, Maine, in support of a same-sex marriage.
Kenneth Sherrill, a professor emeritus of political science at Hunter College in New York whose research includes elections and the politics of LGBT rights, questioned if NOM was facing any difficulties.
"They could be playing an expectations game or they could have data," he said. "It may also be that when you're running a campaign that is appealing to pre-existing prejudices it doesn't matter if you're coming in late or if you're getting outspent. There are certain attitudes that money can't change."
NOM's opponents are also used to them coming out late in the game, such as in California during the battle over Prop 8, a citizen's a ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage that passed in 2008 but was declared unconstitutional on appeal (Schubert led the campaign there, too). That decision was appealed to the Supreme Court, which has not yet said if it will review the case.
Did Supreme Court justice tip hand on gay marriage?
"If you compare their fundraising numbers to our fundraising numbers right now it clearly shows that they are having a cash flow problem," Sainz said. "What that means to me is that there are very few people that are excited about this issue."
But that does not mean it will stay that way, he said.
"The way in which they do business is that all of their money comes in late," he added. "We would not be surprised if they flooded, you know, all four … with last minute money."
Today, 38 states have laws or constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Polls indicate that same-sex marriage may win this go-around, with a majority supporting keeping such state laws in Washington (56 percent), and Maryland (49 percent), and approving a citizen's initiative in Maine (57 percent), according to September surveys. However, in Minnesota, 49 percent say they will vote in support of the ban on same-sex marriage, compared with 47 percent opposed.
The importance of these state votes is not lost on either side.
"This November we have one goal in mind and that is to take away the talking point from our opponents that we have never won at the ballot box," Sainz said.
Schubert said if his opponents netted a win they could use the victory in arguments before the Supreme Court, which is expected to hear same-sex marriage cases during their current term. They may also try to qualify state ballot measures of their own to legalize such unions in other states "that would roll back protections that we've already enacted and would open up a whole new front for us to have to fight."
"There's a lot riding on what happens here in three weeks," he said.