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Joe Nickell to Appear on CNN on the topic of Exorcism
CSI's senior research fellow Joe Nickell will take part in a discussion about the practice of exorcisms this afternoon (Friday, October 31) at 2:45 pm (EST) on CNN's Newsroom. Hosted by Kyra Phillips, other guests include Rev. Bob Larson and Pastor Roger Miller. Well-known exorcist and founding pastor of Spiritual Freedom Church, Bob Larson debuted his new "reality" TV series THE REAL EXORCIST last night on the Sci Fi. Channel. Joe Nickell will provide a hard-nosed dose of science and skepticism to the subject of exorcism in general and Bob Larson in particular on today's CNN Newsroom.
Joe Nickell's article (2001):
"Exorcism! Driving Out the Nonsense"
Belief in demonic possession is getting a new propaganda boost. Not only has the 1973 horror movie The Exorcist been re-released, but the "true story" that inspired it is chronicled in a reissued book and a made-for-TV movie, both titled Possessed (Allen 2000). However, a year-long investigation by a Maryland writer (Opsasnik 2000), together with my own analysis of events chronicled in the exorcising priest's diary, belie the claim that a teenage boy was possessed by Satan in 1949.
Psychology Versus Possession
Belief in spirit possession flourishes in times and places where there is ignorance about mental states. Citing biblical examples, the medieval Church taught that demons were able to take control of an individual, and by the sixteenth century demonic behavior had become relatively stereotypical. It manifested itself by convulsions, prodigious strength, insensitivity to pain, temporary blindness or deafness, clairvoyance, and other abnormal characteristics. Some early notions of possession may have been fomented by three brain disorders: epilepsy, migraine, and Tourette's syndrome (Beyerstein 1988). Psychiatric historians have long attributed demonic manifestations to such aberrant mental conditions as schizophrenia and hysteria, noting that-as mental illness began to be recognized as such after the seventeenth century-there was a consequent decline in demonic superstitions (Baker 1992, 192). In 1999 the Vatican did update its 1614 guidelines for expelling demons, urging exorcists to avoid mistaking psychiatric illness for possession ("Vatican" 1999).
In many cases, however, supposed demonic possession can be a learned role that fulfills certain important functions for those claiming it. In his book Hidden Memories: Voices and Visions from Within, psychologist Robert A. Baker (1992) notes that possession was sometimes feigned by nuns to act out sexual frustrations, protest restrictions, escape unpleasant duties, attract attention and sympathy, and fulfill other useful functions.
Many devout claimants of stigmata, inedia, and other powers, have also exhibited alleged demonic possession. For example, at Loudon, France, a prioress, Sister Jeanne des Anges (1602-1665), was part of a contagious outbreak of writhing, convulsing nuns. Jeanne herself exhibited stigmatic designs and lettering on her skin. A bloody cross "appeared" on her forehead, and the names of Jesus, Mary, and others were found on her hand-always clustered on her left hand, just as expected if a right-handed person were marking them. She went on tour as a "walking relic" and was exhibited in Paris to credulous thousands. There were a few skeptics, but Cardinal Richelieu rejected having Jeanne tested by having her hand enclosed in a sealed glove. He felt that would amount to testing God (Nickell 1998, 230-231). Interestingly enough, while I was researching and writing this article I was called to southern Ontario on a case of dubious possession that also involved stigmata.
Possession can be childishly simple to fake. For example, an exorcism broadcast by ABC's 20/20 in 1991 featured a sixteen-year-old girl who, her family claimed, was possessed by ten separate demonic entities. However, to skeptics her alleged possession seemed to be indistinguishable from poor acting. She even stole glances at the camera before affecting convulsions and other "demonic" behavior (Nickell 1998).
Of course a person with a strong impulse to feign diabolic possession may indeed be mentally disturbed. Although the teenager in the 20/20 episode reportedly improved after the exorcism, it was also pointed out that she continued "on medication" ("Exorcism" 1991). To add to the complexity, the revised Vatican guidelines also urge, appropriately, against believing a person is possessed who is merely "the victim of one's own imagination" ("Vatican" 1999).
With less modern enlightenment, however, the guidelines also reflect Pope John Paul II's efforts to convince doubters that the devil actually exists. In various homilies John Paul has denounced Satan as a "cosmic liar and murderer." A Vatican official who presented the revised rite stated, "The existence of the devil isn't an opinion, something to take or leave as you wish. Anyone who says he doesn't exist wouldn't have the fullness of the Catholic faith" ("Vatican" 1999).
Unchallenged by the new exorcism guidelines is the acceptance of such alleged signs of possession as demonstrating supernormal physical force and speaking in unknown tongues. In the case broadcast by 20/20, the teenage girl did exhibit "tongues" (known as glossolalia [Nickell 1998, 103-109]), but it was unimpressive; she merely chanted: "Sanka dali. Booga, booga." She did struggle against the restraining clerics, one of whom claimed that, had she not been held down, she would have been levitating! At that point a group of magicians, psychologists, and other skeptics with whom I was watching the video gleefully encouraged, "Let her go! Let her go!" (Nickell 1995)
"True Story"
Demonstrating prodigious strength, speaking in an unknown language, and exhibiting other allegedly diabolical feats supposedly characterize the "true story" behind The Exorcist. The 1973 horror movie-starring Linda Blair as the devil-plagued victim-was based on the 1971 bestselling novel of that title by William Peter Blatty. The movie, reports one writer, "somehow reached deep into the subconscious and stirred up nameless fears." Some moviegoers vomited or fainted, while others left trembling, and there were "so many outbreaks of hysteria that, at some theaters, nurses and ambulances were on call." Indeed, "Many sought therapy to rid themselves of fears they could not explain. Psychiatrists were writing about cases of 'cinematic neurosis'" (Allen 2000, viii-ix).
Blatty had heard about the exorcism performed in 1949 and, almost two decades later, had written to the exorcist to inquire about it. However the priest, Father William S. Bowdern, declined to assist Blatty because he had been directed by the archbishop to keep it secret. He did tell Blatty-then a student at Washington's Georgetown University, a Jesuit institution-about the diary an assisting priest had kept of the disturbing events (Allen 2000, ix-x).
The diary-written by Father Raymond J. Bishop-consisted of an original 26-page, single-spaced typescript and three carbon copies, one of which was eventually provided to Thomas B. Allen, author of Possessed, and included as an appendix to the 2000 edition of the book. The copy came from Father Walter Halloran, who had also assisted with the exorcism. Halloran verified the authenticity of the diary and stated that it had been read and approved by Bowdern (Allen 2000, 243, 301).
The diary opens with a "Background of the Case." The boy, an only child identified as "R," was born in 1935 and raised an Evangelical Lutheran like his mother; his father was baptized a Catholic but had had "no instruction or practice" in the faith. The family's Cottage City, Maryland, home included the maternal grandmother who had been a "practicing Catholic until the age of fourteen years" (Bishop 1949, 245).
On January 15, 1949, R and his grandmother heard odd "dripping" and scratching noises in her bedroom, where a picture of Jesus shook "as if the wall back of it had been bumped." The effects lasted ten days but were attributed to a rodent. Then R began to say he could hear the scratching when others could not. Soon a noise as of "squeaking shoes"-or, one wonders, could it have been bedsprings?-became audible and "was heard only at night when the boy went to bed." On the sixth evening the scratching noise resumed, and R's mother and grandmother lay with him on his bed, whereupon they "heard something coming toward them similar to the rhythm of marching feet and the beat of drums." The sound seemed to "travel the length of the mattress and back again" repeatedly (Bishop 1949, 246). Was R tapping his toes against the bed's footboard?
Poltergeists and Ouija Spirits
At this point the case was exhibiting features often attributed to a poltergeist (or "noisy spirit"). Poltergeist phenomena typically involve disturbances-noises, movement of objects, or, rarely, serious effects like outbreaks of fire-typically centering around a disturbed person, usually a child. Believers often attribute the occurrences to "psychokinetic energy" or other mystical force imagined to be produced from the repressed hostilities of the pubescent child. Skeptics can agree with all but the mystical part, observing that one does not explain an unknown by invoking another. Skeptics have a simpler explanation, attributing the effects to the cunning tricks of a naughty youth or occasionally a disturbed adult. When such cases have been properly investigated-by magicians and detectives using hidden cameras, lie detectors, tracer powders (dusted on objects likely to be involved), and other techniques-they usually turn out to be the pranks of young or immature mischief-makers.
Consider some of the "other manifestations" associated with R in the early part of the case, as recorded in the diary:
An orange and a pear flew across the entire room where R was standing. The kitchen table was upset without any movement on the part of R. Milk and food were thrown off the table and stove. The bread-board was thrown on to the floor. Outside the kitchen a coat on its hanger flew across the room; a comb flew violently through the air and extinguished blessed candles; a Bible was thrown directly at the feet of R, but did not injure him in any way. While the family was visiting a friend in Boonesboro, Maryland, the rocker in which R was seated spun completely around through no effort on the part of the boy. R's desk at school moved about on the floor similar to the plate on a Ouija board. R did not continue his attendance out of embarrassment [Bishop 1949, 248].
It is well to consider here the sage advice of the late investigator and magician Milbourne Christopher not to accept statements of what actually happened from the suspected "poltergeist." Regarding one such case Christopher (1970, 149-160) pointed out that all that was necessary to see the events not as paranormal occurrences but as deliberate deceptions was to "suppose that what the boy said was not true, that he was in one room when he said he was in another in some instances. Also let us suppose that what people thought they saw and what actually happened were not precisely the same." Experience shows that even "reliable witnesses" are capable of being deceived. As one confessed "poltergeist"-an eleven-year-old girl-observed: "I didn't throw all those things. People just imagined some of them" (Christopher 1970, 149). In the case of R, we must realize that the previously described events (the flying fruit, etc.) were not witnessed by Father Bishop, who reported them in his diary as background to the case, and so were necessarily second-hand or worse.
It was indeed trickery that was behind the poltergeist-like disturbances of 1848 that launched modern spiritualism. As the Fox Sisters confessed decades later, their pretended spirit contact began as the pranks of "very mischievous children" who, Margaret Fox explained, began their shenanigans "to terrify our dear mother, who was a very good woman and very easily frightened" and who "did not suspect us of being capable of a trick because we were so young." The schoolgirls threw slippers at a disliked brother-in-law, shook the dinner table, and produced noises by bumping the floor with an apple on a string and by knocking on the bedstead (Nickell 1995).
The Fox Sisters were followed in 1854 by the Davenport Brothers, schoolboys Ira and William, who were the focus of cutlery that danced about the family's kitchen table, and other odd events. Ira sometimes claimed that, when alone, spirits had whisked him to distant spots. Soon the boys advanced to spirit-rapped messages, "trance" writing and speaking, and other "spirit manifestations." In his old age, Ira confessed to magician/paranormal investigator Harry Houdini that the brothers' spirit communication-which launched and maintained their careers as two of the world's best-known spiritualistic mediums-had all been produced by trickery. Indeed, they had been caught in deceptions many times (Nickell 1999).
The Foxes and Davenports are not isolated examples. It should therefore not be surprising to learn that the case of R, which began as a seeming poltergeist outbreak, soon advanced to one of alleged spirit communication, before finally escalating to one of supposed diabolic possession.
R had been close to an aunt, who often visited from St. Louis. A devoted Spiritualist, she introduced R to the Ouija board. With their fingers on the planchette, they saw it move about the board's array of printed letters, numbers, and the words yes and no to spell out messages-she told him-from spirits of the dead. (Actually, as skeptics know, the planchette is moved not by spirits but by the sitters' involuntary-or voluntary!-muscular control [Nickell 1995, 58].) She also told R and his mother how, "lacking a Ouija board, spirits could try to get through to this world by rapping on walls" (Allen 2000, 2).
R had played with the Ouija board by himself. Then began the outbreak of noises, and eleven days later he was devastated by his aunt's death in St. Louis. He returned to the Ouija board, spending hours at the practice and "almost certainly" used it to try to reach his beloved aunt (Allen 2000, 2-6). As R, his mother, and grandmother lay in R's bed and listened to the drumming sound, his mother asked aloud whether this was the aunt's spirit. If so, she added, "Knock three times" (thus adopting a practice of the Fox Sisters). Thereupon, the diary records that the three felt "waves of air" striking them and heard distinct knocks followed by "claw scratchings on the mattress."
Then, for approximately four continuous nights, markings appeared on the teenager's body, after which the clawlike scratches took the form of printed words. Whenever the scratching noise was ignored the mattress began to shake, at times violently, and at one time the coverlet was pulled loose (Bishop 1949, 246-247).
R's parents were becoming frantic. They had watched their son become unruly, even threatening to run away, and he seemed to be "on the verge of violence" (Allen 2000, 57). They sought help from a physician, who merely found the boy "somewhat high-strung," then from a psychologist, whose opinions went unrecorded. A psychiatrist found R to be "normal," but "declared that he did not believe the phenomena." A Spiritualist and two Lutheran ministers were consulted (Bishop 1949, 248). One of the latter eventually advised the parents, "You have to see a Catholic priest. The Catholics know about things like this" (Allen 2000, 24).
A young priest was called in, but the boy's condition was worsening and R was admitted to a Jesuit hospital, some time between February 27 and March 6. The priest, Father E. Albert Hughes, prepared for an exorcism as seeming poltergeist and demonic outbreaks intensified. Reportedly, the nuns "couldn't keep the bed still," scratches appeared on R's chest, and he began to curse in "a strange language." A later source said it was Aramaic, but a still later "well-documented record" failed to mention "any such language competence" (Allen 2000, 36). The attempted exorcism reportedly ended abruptly when the boy, who had slipped a hand free and worked loose a piece of bedspring, slashed Hughes's arm from the shoulder to the wrist, a wound requiring over a hundred stitches (Allen 2000, 37).
One investigator, however, doubts whether this attack-or even this first exorcism-ever occurred, having searched in vain for corroborative evidence (Opsasnik 2000). In any event the parents considered making a temporary move to St. Louis, where relatives lived. When this possibility was discussed the word "Louis" appeared across R's ribs; when the question arose as to when, "Saturday" was seen plainly on his hip; and when the duration was considered, "3 weeks" appeared on his chest. The possibility that R was producing the markings was dismissed on the grounds that his mother "was keeping him under close supervision," but they might have been done previously and only revealed as appropriate, or he might have produced them as he feigned being "doubled up" and screaming in pain.
According to the diary, "The markings could not have been done by the boy for the added reason that on one occasion there was writing on his back" (Bishop 1949, 247). Such na•ve thinking is the reason "poltergeists" are able to thrive. A determined youth, probably even without a wall mirror, could easily have managed such a feat-if it actually occurred. Although the scratched messages proliferated, they never again appeared on a difficult-to-reach portion of the boy's anatomy.
In St. Louis, there were more poltergeist-type effects, whereupon Father Bishop (the diarist) was drawn to the case. Bishop left a bottle of holy water in R's bedroom but later-while the boy claimed to have been dozing-it went sailing across the room. On another occasion R's parents found the way into his room blocked by a fifty-pound bookcase. A stool "fell over." Initially, Bishop and another priest, Father William Bowdern, believed R could have deliberately produced all of the phenomena that had thus far occurred in St. Louis, recognizing that stories of alleged incidents in Maryland were, while interesting, hearsay (Allen 2000, 61-76).
Eventually Bowdern changed his view and was instructed by Archbishop Joseph Ritter to perform an exorcism on the boy. Bowdern was accompanied by Father Bishop and Walter Halloran (mentioned earlier as providing a copy of the diary to author Allen), who was then a Jesuit student. Bowdern began the ritual of exorcism in R's room. Scratches began to appear on the boy's body, including the word "HELL" on his chest "in such a way that R could look down upon his chest and read the letters plainly." A "picture of the devil" also appeared on the boy's leg. "Evidently the exorcism prayers had stirred up the devil," the diary states, because, after a period of sleep R "began sparring" and "punching the pillow with more than ordinary force" (Bishop 1949, 255-257).
Soon Bowdern "believed deep in his soul that he was in combat with Satan" (Allen 2000, 117). R thrashed wildly; he spat in the faces of the priests and even his mother; he contorted and lashed out; he urinated. Reports the diary:
From 12:00 midnight on, it was necessary to hold R during his fights with the spirit. Two men were necessary to pin him down to the bed. R shouted threats of violence at them, but vulgar language was not used. R spit [sic] at his opponents many times. He used a strong arm whenever he could free himself, and his blows were beyond the ordinary strength of the boy [Bishop 1949, 258].
The exorcism continued on and off for days. At times R screamed "in diabolical, high-pitched voice"; he swung his fists, once breaking Halloran's nose; he sat up and sang (for example the "Blue Danube," "Old Rugged Cross," and "Swanee"); he cried; he spat; he cursed his father; he mimed masturbation; he bit his caretakers. On March 18, there seemed a crisis: as if attempting to vomit, R said, "He's going, he's going . . ." and "There he goes." He went limp and seemed back to normal. He said he had had a vision of a figure in a black robe and cowl walking away in a black cloud (Bishop 1949, 257-262).
However, after the priests left R claimed there were odd feelings in his stomach and cried out, "He's coming back! He's coming back!" Soon the tantrums and routine of exorcism continued. R seemed even more violent, hurling vulgarities, and he had spells of Satan-dictated writing and speech, for example: "In 10 days I will give a sign on his chest[;] he will have to have it covered to show my power." R also wrote, "Dead bishop" (Bishop 1949, 262-269). Subsequently on April 1, between disturbances, the youth was baptized in the rectory.
During all this time the markings - the random scratches and words - continued to appear on R's body. When there was talk of his going to school there, the boy grimaced and opened his shirt to reveal the scratched words, "No school" (Allen 2000, 46), a seemingly childish concern for truly diabolic forces. (The diary mentions only that "No" appeared on the boy's wrists.)
Reportedly, on one occasion R was observed using one of his fingernails (which were quite long) to scratch the words "HELL" and "CHRIST" on his chest. It is unclear whether or not he realized he was being observed at the time. Earlier, the priests reportedly "saw a new scratch slowly moving down his leg" (Allen 2000, 180). This sounds mysterious until we consider that the boy could have made a quick scratch just before the priests looked-which they did because he suddenly "yelped"-and what they observed was merely the aftereffect of the scratch, the skin's developing response to the superficial injury. (I have produced just such an effect on myself experimentally, observed by SI's Ben Radford.)
On April 4, the family decided to return to their Maryland home due to the father's need to work and also to relieve the strain on the Missouri relatives. But after five days R was sent back to St. Louis and admitted to a hospital run by an order of monks. He was put in a security room which had bars on its single window and straps on the bed. During the days the teenager studied the catechism and was taken on outings, but at night the "possession" continued. There were failed attempts to give him Holy Communion, "the devil" at one point saying (according to the diary), that he would not permit it (Bishop 1949, 282).
On April 18, R again announced "He's gone!" This time, he said, he had a vision of "a very beautiful man wearing a white robe and holding a fiery sword." With it the figure (presumably Jesus) drove the devil into a pit. There were no further episodes and Father Bishop (1949, 291) recorded that on August 19, 1951, R and his parents visited the Brothers who had cared for him. "R, now 16, is a fine young man," he wrote. "His father and mother also became Catholic, having received their first Holy Communion on Christmas Day, 1950."
Was R possessed? Or did superstition mask a troubled youth's problems and invite elaborate role-playing? Interestingly, Archbishop Ritter appointed a Jesuit philosophy professor to investigate the matter. According to a reportedly informed source, the investigator concluded that R "was not the victim of diabolical possession" (Allen 2000, 234). Without wishing to make a categorical judgment, Halloran states that R did not exhibit prodigious strength, showing nothing more than what could be summoned by an agitated teenager. As to speaking in Latin, Halloran thought that was nothing more than the boy's having heard repetitious Latin phrases from the exorcising priest. (Or one occasion "the devil reportedly spoke school kids' 'pig Latin'"!)
Nothing that was reliably reported in the case was beyond the abilities of a teenager to produce. The tantrums, "trances," moved furniture, hurled objects, automatic writing, superficial scratches, and other phenomena were just the kinds of things someone of R's age could accomplish, just as others have done before and since. Indeed, the elements of "poltergeist phenomena," "spirit communication," and "demonic possession"-taken both separately and, especially, together, as one progressed to the other-suggest nothing so much as role-playing involving trickery. So does the stereotypical storybook portrayal of "the devil" throughout.
Writer Mark Opsasnik (2000) investigated the case, tracing the family's home to Cottage City, Maryland (not Mount Rainier as once thought), and talked to R's neighbors and childhood friends. The boy had been a very clever trickster, who had pulled pranks to frighten his mother and to fool children in the neighborhood. "There was no possession," Opsasnik told the Washington Post. "The kid was just a prankster" (Saulny 2000).
Of course, the fact that the boy wanted to engage in such extreme antics over a period of three months does suggest he was emotionally disturbed. Teenagers typically have problems, and R seemed to have trouble adjusting-to school, his sexual awareness, and other concerns. To an extent, of course, he was challenging authority as part of his self-development, and he was no doubt enjoying the attention. But there is simply no credible evidence to suggest the boy was possessed by demons or evil spirits.
A Catholic scholar, the Rev. Richard McBrien, who formerly chaired Notre Dame's theology department, states that he is "exceedingly skeptical" of all alleged possession cases. He told the Philadelphia Daily News (which also interviewed me for a critical look at the subject), "Whenever I see reports of exorcisms, I never believe them." He has concluded that ". . . in olden times, long before there was a discipline known as psychiatry and long before medical advances . . . what caused possession was really forms of mental or physical illness (Adamson 2000). Elsewhere McBrien (1991) has said that the practice of exorcism-and by inference a belief in demon possession-"holds the faith up to ridicule." Let us hope that the enlightened view, rather than the occult one, prevails.
- Adamson, April. 2000. Ancient rite generates modern-day skepticism, Philadelphia Daily News, October 3.
- Allen, Thomas B. 2000. Possessed: The True Story of an Exorcism. Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse.com.
- Baker, Robert A. 1992. Hidden Memories: Voices and Visions from Within. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.
- Beyerstein, Barry L. 1988. Neuropathology and the legacy of spiritual possession. Skeptical Inquirer 12.3 (Spring): 248-262.
- Bishop, Raymond J. 1949. Typescript diary of an exorcism, April 25 (reprinted in Allen 2000, 245-291).
- Christopher, Milbourne. 1970. ESP, Seers & Psychics. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.
- "The Exorcism." 1991. ABC network's 20/20, April 5.
- McBrien, Richard. 1991. Interview on ABC's Nightline, April 5.
- Nickell, Joe. 1995. Entities: Angels, Spirits, Demons, and Other Alien Beings. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus books, 79-82, 119-120.
- ---. 1998. Looking for a Miracle. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.
- ---. 1999. The Davenport Brothers. Skeptical Inquirer 23:4 (July/August): 14-17.
- Opsasnik, Mark. 2000. The haunted boy, Strange Magazine 20 (serialized on www.strangemag.com/exorcistpage1.html).
- Saulny, Susan. 1999. Historian exorcises Mount Rainier's past. Washington Post, March 24.
- Vatican updates its rules on exorcism of demons. 1999. The Arizona Daily Star, January 27.
Joe Nickell is CSICOP's Senior Research Fellow and author of numerous investigative books.
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Britney's Spears' ex-manager wants the pop princess to testify in a defamation case against her parents, but her mom says her daughter is too mentally incapable to do it.
The former manager, Sam Lufti, sued Momma Lynne Spears for blaming him for manipulating and alienating Britney in her new memoir, Through the Storm, and tarnishing his reputation. The ex-manager is apparently confidant Britney will support his case and wants Britney to testify on his side, Billboard reported.
According to a request filed in Los Angeles last week, Luft wants a psychiatric evaluation of the singer to prove she's perfectly sane enough to do it.
Britney hasn't submitted to a test yet, but Lufti showed a March interview with Ryan Seacrest to his own expert UCLA Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Joshua Pretsky, to study her behavior.
"…she responds logically and coherently to questions, evidencing logical thinking and mental competency," Pretsky wrote in a declaration to court, obtained by Billboard. "The edited interviews in the [MTV] video documentary also evidence coherent and logical thinking, responsiveness to questions, and mental competence…"
Lufti, who was fired in 2008, claims that Britney's life was already a mess before he got involved in 2007.
The Spears parents beg to differ. In Through the Storm, Lynne Spears alleges Lufti was a master manipulator who controlled their daughter and drugged her. Britney's turbulent days made headlines when she divorced Kevin Federline, shaved her head and sought rehab in a train reck that began in 2004 and continued to damage her career in 2008.
With her new album, some music critics have applauded her comeback. Spears is currently under the conservatorship of her parents and works under a new manager, rumored boyfriend Jason Trawick, according to People.
U.S. & World
Although Britney hasn't commented about her mother's feud with her ex-manager or her mom calling her unstable, she doesn't seem to think she's crazy.
"I'm pretty normal," she told Harper's Bazaar in the upcoming June/July cover story to promote her summer tour. "The type of day I love is just like everybody else's. I'm like everybody else."
Selected Reading: PopEater, The Huffington Post, Billboard


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As Seen In Hood River News: FlyBoarding Lands In The Gorge
For most people, watching a YouTube video of an extreme sport usually instills a sense of awe — and then they go back to their regular lives.
Neil McCormick, however, became inspired from a video he saw, and set off to Florida to purchase the necessary equipment and get all the required training. What started as a simple video link posted on Facebook by his nephew quickly turned into a new passion, and a business opportunity. With his wife, Sue, McCormick started Gorge Flyboarding, which is now up-and-running and ready for customers.
Flyboarding is one of the newest action "boardsports," born in Italy in 2011 and brought over to the U.S. in 2012. If you haven't heard of it, you may have seen it on the Columbia River just east of the bridge and asked yourself, "is that someone on a jetpack?"
The concept of flyboarding is fairly simple: It's a small setup about the length of a skateboard strapped onto a rider's feet with wakeboard bindings, which is connected to the outflow of a jetski via fire hose. As the operator of the jetski revs the engine, water flows at high pressure through the hose and out a valve under the feet of the rider, which provides lift and enables him/her steer through the air by simple body movements.
McCormick explains the technical side of the sport on the website www.f78.c67.myftpupload.com: "Realistically speaking, the flyboard is 1,000 gallons of water per minute, at over 60 PSI and almost 400 pounds lift of pure adrenaline-pumping, heart-pounding, eye-catching fun."
"I learned about it in February and thought this is going to be huge, so I started training for it in March," said McCormick, who lived Cascade Locks for 23 years before moving to Maui with his wife. The two say they plan on being in Hood River every summer to run Gorge Flyboarding.
McCormick saw flyboarding as a unique sport and a great business opportunity for a town like Hood River. People in the Gorge tend to love their action sports and McCormick says that "Hood River has always been on the cutting edge of sports since windsurfing started up here." His vision is that flyboarding will give people another option for playing out on the river.
Gorge Flyboard is the only certified school currently operating in Oregon and is one of about 30 currently in business in the United States
As an early adopter of this new sport, McCormick is excited for the possibilities in flyboarding as it continues to evolve and he hopes to share this enthusiasm with others. He is confident he can get just about anybody to fly, but they do need to be at least 18 years of age. Most people are able to fly within 5-10 minutes, and they can become fairly comfortable with it by the end of their first experience. In just one short lesson, boarders will learn proper steering controls, taxi position, flying position, recovery, and landing.
McCormick hopes that flyboarding will serve as an attraction for people who come to town to play in the wind and the water, as well as those who aren't necessarily extreme sports athletes. Gorge Flyboarding is operating from the dock in front of Best Western Hood River Inn and started giving formal lessons two weeks ago. They'll operate into the fall, as weather permits, and will be back early next summer.
For more info or to book a lesson, go to www.f78.c67.myftpupload.com.
Learning to Fly
A couple weeks ago as I was driving by the Best Western as a passenger of a car, I saw something that I couldn't believe — a rocketman was in the Columbia River and just hovering above the water. We ended up backtracking to the hotel parking lot, got out of our car, and walked over for a better view. The "rocketman" was connected to a jet ski by what looked like a fire hose. We watched for about 10 minutes in amazement and I took photos on my phone that were promptly sent to some family members saying something along of the lines of "You'll never believe what they are doing in Hood River now."
After finding out that this rocketman scene was actually a new player in the watersport world called flyboarding, I really wanted to give it a shot. As someone who spends a lot of time in the water, I thought it'd be great to experience it from a new vantage point. I figured that it might be tough, though, as I didn't know anyone with a jet ski, let alone a flyboard setup.
Then I heard about Gorge Flyboard. It's a brand-new company in Hood River that teaches you the sport, run by Neil and Sue McCormick. I met up with them at the dock right at the Best Western hotel and Neil ran through the basics. It was then that it occurred to me that maybe the fact that I'd never done a true board sport in my life might be a problem — my feet have always been independent of each other in everything I'd done!
Neil was quick to reassure me that it would not be a problem and it could even help me out a bit as he plopped a helmet on my head. I also donned a lifejacket for obvious safety reasons and went ahead with the recommended wetsuit — anything to soften the blow of the impending falls.
After the run-through, things were sounding fairly simple. Knees straight. Back straight. Look at the horizon. Make very small adjustments. The instructions were fairly basic for something that has such a commanding presence on the river.
After plopping in the water like a Labrador jumping from a dock (a graceful dive was out of the question with my feet attached to the flyboard), I was propelled away from the small dock. I felt a little like a flying fish since the jet ski was already filling the hose and moving me forward. Much easier than swimming. We got out in the open water and Neil said to go for it. I brought my legs underneath me, started rising up, and then fell straight forward on my face. At least that was out of the way. Once I was straightened out, I gave it another try — same result.
Neil gave me a couple pointers and I went for it again. This time I actually got out of the water. I'm fairly certain I was soaring high, but in all likelihood was probably just inches above the surface. Then my moment of glory ended with another splash into the water. With each attempt though I found I was able to get up a little higher, hold it a little longer, and I started keying into the balance aspect. My affinity to putting more weight on my toes did lead to a few more falls, but then I started to realize that it led to a very natural dolphin motion. It quickly became my favorite part since I have never managed to master the butterfly in the pool, but felt like Michael Phelps without putting in any real effort.
With just a few tweaks to my balance stance after some really ungraceful crash landings and some very helpful reminders from Neil, I found myself able to stand on the board with ease. It was amazing that once I found the right position how easy it became. With just a slight bend of a knee I was able to turn the board and I felt like I actually had control instead of just being at the whim of the throttle of Neil's jet ski.
Compared to the first day of snowboarding where people go home battered, bruised, and a little down on themselves, I left feeling like I actually accomplished something and had an idea of what I was doing. I know I didn't master flyboarding by any means, but it was nice to learn something new in such a short time frame.
Even when I was landing hard on the water, I knew it was the perfect action sport to learn — falling in water is much more forgiving than falling on cement, snow, or dirt and even a few hard slaps in the water doesn't turn you off from wanting to give it another go.
Gorge Flyboard definitely succeeds in leaving you with a positive experience and a huge grin on your face.
Article published by Hood River News. Read article here


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Ruti G. Teitel
Ernst C. Stiefel Professor of Comparative Law Chair, Global Law and Justice Colloquium Co-Director, Institute for Global Law, Justice & Policy Visiting Fellow, London School of Economics Visiting Professor, Hebrew University School of Law, Mt. Scopus
An internationally recognized authority on international law, international human rights, transitional justice, and comparative constitutional law, Ruti Teitel is the Ernst C. Stiefel Professor of Comparative Law at New York Law School and Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics. Last year, she was a Straus Fellow at New York University Law School's Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law and Justice (2012-2013).
Her most recent book, Globalizing Transitional Justice, just published by Oxford University Press, provides observations and insights on how the practice and discourse of transitional justice has been evolving, especially in relation to the rise of international criminal law and the increasing centrality of international human rights. Her path-breaking book, Transitional Justice (Oxford University Press, 2000), examines the 20th century transitions to democracy in many countries. Born in Argentina, Professor Teitel's interest in the topic grew out of the dilemmas confronting that society in the transition out of junta rule. Her book explores the recurring question of how new regimes should respond to past repression, contending that the law can play a profound role in periods of radical change in advancing a new sense of legitimacy.
Her book Humanity's Law (Oxford University Press, 2011) explores a paradigm shift in international affairs. For an online Roundtable Discussion on Opinio Juris, click here. Click here for mention in NewStatesman Books of 2011. Click here for a review in Foreign Affairs, published by the Council on Foreign Relations. Click here for a review in The European Journal of Internatonal Law. A panel discussion about the book was held on May 23, 2012 at Tel-Aviv University Law School.
Her extensive body of scholarly writing on comparative law, human rights, and constitutionalism is published in many law reviews, including: "Beyond Compliance: Rethinking Why International Law Really Matters" in the Global Policy Journal (Vol. 1, Issue 2, May 2010), which won the GPPN and the Global Policy Journal Best Article Prize. Other recent articles include: "The Law and Politics of Contemporary Transitional Justice" and "Humanity's Law: Rule of Law for the New Global Politics," both in the Cornell International Law Journal, as well as "Comparative Constitutionalism in a Global Age" in the Harvard Law Review. She has contributed dozens of book chapters to published volumes relating to law and politics, including "Transitional Justice and the Transformation of Constitutionalism," in the Comparative Constitutional Law Handbook (ed. Rosalind Dixon and Tom Ginsburg, Edward Elgar 2011 ); "Global Justice, Poverty and the International Economic Order," in The Philosophy of International Law (Samantha Besson and John Tasioulas, eds., Oxford University Press 2010) (coauthored with Rob Howse) ; "The Transitional Apology" in Taking Wrongs Seriously: Apologies and Reconciliation (Stanford University Press, 2006), "Transitional Rule of Law" in Rethinking the Rule of Law After Communism (Central European University Press, 2005), "Empire's Law: Foreign Relations by Presidential Fiat," in Sept. 11 In History: A Watershed Moment? (Duke University Press, 2003), and "Transitional Justice as Liberal Narrative" in Transnational Legal Processes: Globalisation and Power Disparities (Butterworths 2002). She also writes on human rights issues for a broader audience, having published in The New York Times, Legal Affairs, Findlaw.com and Project Syndicate. She serves on the Board of Editors of Oxford's International Journal of Transitional Justice, of the Journal, Humanity as well the Editorial Advisory Board of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Human Rights Law.
A cum laude graduate of Georgetown University, Professor Teitel received her J.D. from Cornell Law School and has been a Senior Fellow at the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. She has taught at Yale, Fordham and Tel Aviv Law Schools, as well as Columbia University's Politics Department and its School of International and Public Affairs, where she is currently a Distinguished Research Scholar.
She is the founding co-chair of the American Society of International Law, Interest Group on Transitional Justice and Rule of Law. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is a member of the International Law Association Human Rights Law Committee, London and US. She is on the Steering Committee at the University of Leiden Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies Post-Conflict Justice and 'Local Ownership' Research Project. Prof. Teitel is an Advisory Board Member, Security in Transition Research Programme, European Research Council, London School of Economics. For more info, go to: http://www.securityintransition.org/.
GLOBALIZING TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE: Essays for the New Millennium (Oxford University Press 2014).
Click here for more information.
HUMANITY'S LAW (Oxford University Press, 2011).
Click here for more information.
For an on-line Roundtable Discussion on Opinio Juris, click here.
Click here for mention in NewSatesman Books of 2011.
TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE (Oxford University Press, 2000; paperback edition, 2001).
American Journal of Comparative Law, Spring 2001
American Political Science Review, September 2001
Times Higher Education Supplement, February 2001
Yale Journal of International Law, Winter 2001
On the subject of the genesis of the term "transitional justice," click here for for David Lubin's review of Closing the Books: Transitional Justice in Historical Perspective by Jon Elster. New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2000; paperback edition, Oxford University Press, 2001.
"The Transitional Apology," Chapter 5 in Taking Wrongs Seriously: Apologies and Reconciliation at 101-114 (E. Barkan & A. Karn, eds) (Stanford University Press, 2006).
Chapter, "Transitional Rule of Law," in Rethinking the Rule of Law after Communism (Adam Czarnota, Martin Krygier, and Wojciech Sadurski, eds.) (CEU Press, 2005)
"De la dictadura a la democracia: el rol de la justicia transicional," Chapter 17 in Democracia Deliberativa Y Derechos Humanos at 321-341 (Dworkin, R, et al) (Editorial Gedisa, S.A., 2004).
"Transitional Justice as Liberal Narrative," Chapter 15 in Transnational Legal Processes at 316–324, (Michael Likosky, ed., Butterworths Lexis Nexis 2002), reprinted as "Transitional Justice as Liberal Narrative," Chapter 1 in In and Out of Authoritarian Law at 3–13 (A. Sajo, ed.) (Kluwer, 2003),
"Empire's Law: Foreign Relations by Presidential Fiat," Chapter in September 11 in History: A Watershed Moment? at 194–211 (Mary L. Dudziak, ed.) (Duke University Press, 2003).
"Bringing the Messiah Through the Law." Chapter in Human Rights in Political Transitions: Gettysburg to Bosnia, 177–193, edited by C. Hesse & R. Post. Zone Books, 1999.
"Millennial Visions: Human Rights at Century's End." Chapter in Human Rights in Political Transitions: Gettysburg to Bosnia, 339–342, C. Hesse & R. Post, eds. Zone Books, 1999.
"Nuremberg and Its Legacy, Fifty Years Later." Chapter in War Crimes; The Legacy of Nuremberg, 44–54, B. Cooper, ed. TV Books, 1999.
"Constitutional Costs to Free Market Transitions." Chapter 20 in Western Rights? Post-Communist Application, 361–383, A. Sajo, ed. Kluwer Law International, 1996.
"How are the New Democracies of the Southern Cone Dealing with the Legacy of past Human Rights Abuses?" In Transitional Justice: How Emerging Democracies Reckon with Former Regimes, Volume I, 146–153, N.J. Kritz, ed. United States Institute of Peace, 1995.
"Persecution and Inquisition: A Case Study." Chapter 10 in Transition to Democracy in Latin America: The Role of the Judiciary, 141–153, I. Stotsky, ed. Westview Press, 1993.
Does Humanity Law Require (or Imply) a Progressive Theory of History? (and Other Questions for Martti Koskenniemi) (Symposium: Engaging the Writings of Martti Koskenniemi), 27 TEMPLE INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW JOURNAL 377-397 (2013) (with R. Howse).
Humanity Bounded and Unbounded: The Regulation of External Self-Determination under International Law, 7 LAW & ETHICS OF HUMAN RIGHTS 155-184 (2013) (with R. Howse).
Rethinking Jus Post Bellum in an Age of Global Transitional Justice: Engaging with Michael Walzer and Larry May, 24 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 335-342 (2013).
Delphic Dictum: How has the ICJ Contributed to the Global Rule of Law by its Ruling on Kosovo?" 11 German Law Journal 841-846 (2010) (coauthored with Rob Howse).
"Global Justice, Poverty and the International Economic Order," in The Philosophy of International Law (Oxford University Press 2010) (coauthored with Robert Howse).
"Beyond Compliance: Rethinking Why International Law Really Matters," in Global Policy Volume 1 . Issue 2 . May 2010 (co-authored with Robert Howse). Winner of the GPPN and the Global Policy Journal Best Article Prize.
"Cross-Judging: Tribunalization in a Fragmented but Interconnected Global Order" (co-authored with Robert Howse) (41 NYU J. of Int'l L. and Politics 595, 2009).
"Humanity Law: A New Interpretive Lens on the International Sphere (77 Fordham L. R. 667, 2008).
"Militating Democracy: Comparative Constitutional Perspectives," 29 Michigan Journal of International Law 49 (2007).
Introduction (Symposium: Perspectives on Post-Conflict Constitutionalism), 51 New York Law School Law Review 456-465 (2006/2007).
"Transitional Justice: Postwar Legacies"(Symposium: The Nuremberg Trials: A Reappraisal and Their Legacy), 27 Cardozo Law Review 1615-1631 (2006).
"The Law and Politics of Contemporary Transitional Justice" (), 38 Cornell International Law Journal 837-862 (2005).
Book Review of Post-Conflict Justice (C. Bassiouni, ed.), 98 American Journal of Internationl Law 872–875 (2004).
"Comparative Constitutional Law in a Global Age," Book Review of Comparative Constitutionalism: Cases and Materials (N. Dorsen, M. Rosenfeld, A. Sajo & S. Baer, eds.), 117 Harvard Law Review 2570–2596 (2004).
"Transitional Justice Genealogy" (Symposium: Human Rights in Transition), 16 Harvard Human Rights Journal 69–94 (2003).
"Transitional Justice in a New Era" (Symposium: Transitional Justice – Northern Ireland and Beyond), 25 Fordham International Law Journal 893–906 (2003).
"Humanity's Law: Rule of Law for the New Global Politics," 35 Cornell International Law Journal 355–387 (2002).
"The Future of Human Rights Discourse." 46 Saint Louis University Law Journal 449–463. (2002)
"On Wellington Interpretation: A Timely Reappraisal (Harry H. Wellington Festschrift Issue)." 45 New York Law School Law Review 225–234 (2001).
"The Constitutional Canon: The Challenge Posed by a Transitional Constitutionalism (Symposium: The Canon(s) of Constitutional Law)." 17 Constitutional Commentary 237–240 (2000).
"The Universal and the Particular in International Criminal Justice." 30 Columbia Human Rights Law Review 285–303 (1999).
"Vouchsafing Democracy: On the Confluence of Governmental Duty, Constitutional Right, and Religious Mission (Symposium on Law and Religion)." 13 Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy 409–420 (1999).
Discussant, "1998 Otto L. Walter Lecture: Justice Richard J. Goldstone, International Human Rights at Century's End." 15 New York Law School Journal of Human Rights 262–268 (1999).
"Human Rights Genealogy (Symposium: Human Rights on the Eve of the Next Century)." 66 Fordham Law Review 301–317 (1997).
"Transitional Jurisprudence: The Role of Law in Political Transformation." 106 Yale Law Journal 2009–2082 (1997).
"Judgment at The Hague." 5 East European Constitutional Review 80–85 (Fall 1996).
"Transcript (Symposium: Nazis in the Courtroom: Lessons From the Conduct of Lawyers and Judges Under the Laws of the Third Reich and Vichy, France)." 61 Brooklyn Law Review 1149–1153, 1160 (1995) (with J.B. Weinstein, R.H. Weisberg & D. Luban).
"Paradoxes in the Revolution of the Rule of Law (Symposium: Constitutionalism in the Post-Cold War Era)." 19 Yale Journal of International Law 239–247 (1994).
"Post-Communist Constitutionalism: A Transitional Perspective." 26 Columbia Human Rights Law Review 167–190 (1994).
"A Critique of Religion as Politics in the Public Sphere." 78 Cornell Law Review 747–821 (1993).
"Postmodernist Architectures in the Law of Religion (Symposium: New Directions in Religious Liberty)." 1993 Brigham Young University Law Review 97–115.
"Reactionary Constitutional Identity (Comparative Constitutionalism: Theoretical Perspectives on the Role of Constitutions in the Interplay Between Identity and Diversity)." 14 Cardozo Law Review 747–757 (1993). Reprinted in Constitutionalism, Identity, Difference, and Legitimacy: Theoretical Perspectives, 233–244 (M. Rosenfeld, ed., Duke University Press, 1994).
Book Review of Religion and the State: Essays in Honor of Leo Pfeffer, by James E. Wood, Jr. 8 Journal of Law and Religion 663–670 (1990–1991).
"Original Intent, History and Levy's Establishment Clause." Book Review of The Establishment Clause: Religion and the First Amendment, by Leonard W. Levy. 15 Law and Social Inquiry 591–609 (1990).
"Responses to World War Two Criminals and Human Rights Violators: National and Comparative Perspectives; European, American, and Canadian Responses (Panel Discussion: Holocaust and Human Rights Law: the First International Conference)." 8 Boston College Third World Law Journal 3–45 (1988) (with G.P. Fletcher, H. Friedlander, F. Weinschenk, A. Ryan, Jr., B. Einhorn, E. Rosenbaum, H. Stanislawski, D. Matas & I. Cotler).
Book Review of The Human Rights of Aliens in Contemporary International Law, by Richard B. Lillich. 19 New York University Journal of International Law and Politics 479–490 (1987) (with O. Kupferschmid).
"Debating Conviction Against Conviction—Constitutional Considerations on the Sanctuary Movement." 14 Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly 25–41 (1986).
"The Supreme Court's 1984–85 Church-State Decisions: Judicial Paths of Least Resistance." 21 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 651–688 (1986).
"When Separate is Equal: Why Organized Religious Exercises, Unlike Chess, Do Not Belong in the Public Schools (Symposium: Freedom of Association)." 81 Northwestern University Law Review 174–189 (1986).
Book Review of Reconsecrating America, by George Goldberg. 2 Constitutional Commentary 529–535 (1985).
"The Unconstitutionality of Equal Access Policies and Legislation Allowing Organized Student-Initiated Religious Activities in the Public High Schools: A Proposal for a Unitary First Amendment Forum Analysis." 12 Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly 529–595 (1985).
"Judging and Judgment in the 21st Century: The ICC's Confrontation with Africa's Leaders." Security in Transition: An Interdisciplinary Investigation Into the Security Gap.
"Bringing Transitional Justice Home: President Obama's Dilemma about the Past Administration's Human Rights Abuses — What is to be Done, and Who'll be the Judge?" Op-ed oline at FindLaw.com.
"The Best Route," by James Podgers in the ABA Journal, December 2006 (in connection with that ABA Conference on Transitional Justice, New York University Law School, "From Nuremberg to Africa: The Evolution of Accountability and Recovery From Conflict")
Columnist, Findlaw's Writ—Legal Commentary; http://writ.news.findlaw.com/ (Thomson).
"Through the Veil, Darkly: Why France's Ban on the Wearing of Religious Symbols is Even More Pernicious Than it Appears." FindLaw's Writ: Legal Commentary http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20040216_teitel.html February 16, 2004.
"IRAK Les victimes de Saddam Hussein pourront-elles enfin solder leurs comptes? Une exigence insatisfaite de justice," Le Figaro (Debats et Opinions) September 2, 2003.
"Made to Measure Justice," The Globe and Mail July 25, 2003 at A13
"The Road to Justice in Iraq," Korea Herald (Op Ed) (August 9, 2003), also printed as "The Journey to Justice in Iraq," Jakarta Post (Op Ed) (August 13, 2003).
"Operation Iraqi Freedom: Just or Unjust War? Humanitarian Action, or Simply Geopolitics?" FindLaw's Writ: Legal Commentary http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20030408_teitel.html April 8, 2003.
"National Sovereignty: A Cornerstone of International Law and an Obstacle to Protecting Citizens," Legal Affairs 27–29 (September/October 2002).
Moderator, "Symposium: The International Criminal Court: Contemporary Perspectives and Prospects for Ratification." 16 New York Law School Journal of Human Rights 505–551 (2000).
Panelist: "War Crimes and the Political Future of Bosnia and Herzegovina" (Council on Foreign Relations Symposium) in After Dayton: Lessons of the Bosnian Peace Process at 67, 73–77 (R. Wedgwood, ed., Council on Foreign Relations, 2000).
Panelist, "Debate 3: Do School Vouchers Violate the Establishment Clause? Are They Good Policy? (Conference on the First Amendment and Government Support for Religion and Religious Institutions)" 1 Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion 5 (1999/2000).
Book Review of War Crimes: Brutality, Genocide, Terror, and the Struggle for Justice by Aryeh Neier. 8 East European Constitutional Review 112–114 (Winter/Spring 1999).
Moderator, "Panel III: Identifying and Prosecuting War Crimes (Symposium: 1945–1995: Critical Perspectives on the Nuremberg Trials and State Accountability)." 12 New York Law School Journal of Human Rights 631–688 (1995).
"Nuremberg's Lessons for Today." Hartford Courant (Commentary), October 15, 1995, at C1.
"Dilemmas of Justice." 1 East European Constitutional Review 20–21 (1992).
"The 'Ivan' Case: Cold War Injustice." Washington Post, at A21 (December 10, 1992).
Moderator, "Symposium: Truth and Justice: The Question of Accountability for Stalinist Crimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union." 9 New York Law School Journal of Human Rights 599–641 (1992).
"Tribute to Owen Kupferschmid and Opening Address (Symposium: Holocaust and Human Rights Law: The Sixth International Conference)." 12 Boston College Third World Law Journal 191–198 (1992) (with C.C. Lichtenstein, A. Berney & W. Mandell).
"Freedom of Speech and Holocaust Denial (Panel Discussion)." 8 Cardozo Law Review 559–594 (1987) (with G. Tishler, I. Cotler, A.M. Dershowitz, A. Berney & N. Ackerman).
"Rex Lee Selectively Abandons Judicial Restraint." 6 Legal Times 8 (April 30, 1984) (with M. Eisenberg).


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Christ Is Risen!
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For some (many?) women, breastfeeding acts as a natural contraceptive. It's a characteristic in certain members of my extended family.
That's interesting. I guess my concern is that nursing is acting as an "abortifacient" since I am conceiving but the pregnancies are terminating. I know any kind of abortifacient BC is generally not condoned by the church.
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Arab Christian Hospital Receives Honour from the Chairman of the Israeli Parliament
05 Dec, 2012, 08:00 GMT
GLASGOW, Scotland, December 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
A hospital in Nazareth, owned and operated by UK Christian charity, The Nazareth Trust, has become the first non-Jewish organisation since the creation of the State of Israel to receive the annual Chairman of the Knesset Award (Knesset is the Parliament of Israel).
The hospital, known locally as 'The English Hospital', received the award for demonstrating a positive, national impact on the country, its cross-community cultural sensitivity, educational outreach and contribution to Arab healthcare. Based in Nazareth, in the Northern Galilee region of Israel, it serves the local population (who are predominantly Arab) without distinction, regardless of religion, community or political affiliation. It operates a 24 hour accident and emergency department and delivers a full range of hospital and community based services.
Owned and managed by UK charity, The Nazareth Trust, Chairman Ian Lyall and CEO Joseph Main joined Dr Bishara Bisharat, Head of the Hospital, in Jerusalem today at a ceremony in the Knesset where they accepted the award from Reuven Rivlin, Chairman of the Knesset, who remarked in his opening speech that the "English" Hospital has served the whole of Israel by also serving as a bridge between the Jewish and Arab communities in the country.
The Nazareth Hospital was founded 150 years ago by P K Vartan, who along with his Scottish wife, Mary Anne Stewart, established a simple four bed clinic within their home. Today the hospital has 146 beds, treats 50,000 within its emergency department each year and delivers 2,000 babies annually.
Accepting the award of the commemorative certificate on behalf of the Nazareth Hospital EMMS, Dr Bishara Bisharat said, "We are truly honoured to accept this award, which crowns the year of celebration for our 150 year anniversary. When asked how we have continued for so long in this region, our answer is that we have remained true to the mission and values upon which we were founded."
The Hospital, which is fully integrated into the Israeli health system, is the second largest employer in the city and is part of the Scottish Christian Charity, The Nazareth Trust, which also owns and operates a nursing school and international volunteering programme called SERVE.
Ian Lyall, Chairman of the Trustees of The Nazareth Trust added, "The Hospital has a remarkable history and against all odds, has continued to have a real impact on the healthcare of this community, by seeking to serve all as part of our foundational mission. "
"Its ability to operate in such difficult circumstances has enabled it to attract continued support from around the world and we are indebted to that. This award is significant for our staff, volunteers and supporters."
The Chairman of the Knesset Award is presented annually to recognise organisations which have made a contribution of national importance to communities and the wider society.
Joseph R. Main, CEO, The Nazareth Trust, added, "At a time when the world is focused on conflict and its aftermath in the Middle East, it is significant for an organisation such as ours - that is a Scottish Christian Charity, delivering the general hospital in an Arab city, in the Jewish State of Israel - and even older than the Modern State of Israel itself - to be honoured by the Israeli Parliamentary body in this way. It is significant because the services we provide, our motivations, methods and aspirations have been recognised by the nation as vehicles for peace, co-operation and the building of bridges between peoples."
The Nazareth Hospital EMMS was founded in 1861 by Dr P K Vartan, originally from Istanbul and a graduate of Edinburgh University Medical School. Dr P K Vartan was sponsored to go to Nazareth by the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society, which was founded by a group of Edinburgh doctors to train medical students to work as missionaries overseas.
BBC presenter and author, Malcolm Billings, has just published a book on the life of P K Vartan and the hospital's history.
Further information is available from http://www.nazarethtrust.org.
For further information:
Sharon McEwan
Loop Public Relations
SOURCE The Nazareth Trust


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The Holistic Nature of Attraction And ManifestationBy Taylor & Klingler in Book Reviews on April 15th, 2008 / 2 Comments
"Consciousness Creation is about the power of our thoughts to create the life we wish to experience."
– Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
What have you created today? Whether you realize it or not, you've been very busy in the act of creation. Perhaps you've been hard at work or maybe just hanging out "doing nothing," but either way you've actually been forging your future.
This ongoing construction of your destiny is taking place every moment of every hour of your life, and the most significant source of your future invention is your own individual consciousness.
The Universe is a sparkling river of unending potential, one that flows with both purpose and serendipity; its seemingly random direction leads to very specific outcomes. In this unending paradox, which is the background of our earthly experience, there's a power that can't be denied—the power of consciousness. Consciousness is a force that exists outside of time and moves freely through the Universe (although there's some discussion about whether it moves from place to place or merely exists – and exerts its influence – in all places at the same time).
It has long been known in the quantum physical world that consciousness creates reality. Fascinating theories that discuss this principle have been applied to the measurement of light, the formation of the cosmos, and even the life (and death) of a cat! I recommend a look through the Suggested Reading section at the end of this book to see a list of works that describe how this incredible line of thinking functions in the physical world. For our purposes here, however, we'll be focusing on how consciousness-created reality influences your personal life and career experiences.
Your life force reaches beyond this time and space into unknown quadrants of existence. The consciousness that you project in the form of thought, perception, vision, and expectation has a very real impact in the world. While you may be unaware of what your consciousness is doing in distant places, you can – at a glance – become keenly aware of how it's shaping your life. In fact, most of what you see and experience is a result of your own consciousness creation.
This is the function of the Law of Manifestation, a law that works the same way in the Universe as it does in your daily existence. It reveals a fundamental truth in the cosmos: Consciousness does create reality. This is globally true, and your individual consciousness can't be exempt from its implications. Consciousness-created reality governs all types of manifestation – from conjuring up a funny joke to affecting world economy. Consciousness is always the originating element.
It can be very liberating to finally realize that your consciousness is the primary generator of the situations and people that make up the tapestry of your life. Over time, you can see how each experience follows the patterns of your powerful, yet predictable, consciousness output. And if you don't like the trends you've been experiencing, at least there's something you can do about it. You can shift your consciousness projection so that you can determine for yourself exactly what you want to create.
Hologram of Self
From quantum physics to biomechanics, the hologram has been used as a model for such complex things as the nature of the Universe and the workings of the brain. A hologram is a three-dimensional picture that's created when a laser beam is split in two; the first beam is reflected off an object, and the second beam is directed to collide with the light of the first. The "picture" on the film – or plate – is a record of this light-interference pattern. Unlike a normal negative, the holographic film looks like a mishmash of circles, rings, and wavy lines. However, when another laser light is beamed through that film, a three-dimensional picture is formed, revealing all aspects of the original subject. A hologram isn't limited to two dimensions; the picture shows what's behind and on every side of the object being photographed.
The fascinating properties of this phenomenon don't stop there. If you were to cut the holographic negative into pieces, an entire three-dimensional image would be revealed by directing a laser through any one of those fragments. No matter what scrap you chose, the entire image would be revealed over and over again. No matter how small the piece – or its place on the film – the hologram would reveal the entire picture – front, back, and sides.
This irreducible, three-dimensional element is why the hologram is used to represent the many nuances of consciousness, and why it's an apt representation of how your own individual consciousness works in the world. You're like that wavy, undefinable picture on the film because your full consciousness isn't really visible on the surface. It's only when you shine a light on your own true nature that you see the real and full picture of your consciousness creation. It's not just your individual desires or intentions that get projected out into the world; it's the many dimensions of your personal consciousness that will create your destiny.
This is the undeniable truth of your consciousness-created reality. All of you – everything that you're conscious of – gets projected into the cosmic formation of your future. And what becomes manifest reflects the innermost recesses of your personal worldview.
This holistic nature of the process of attraction and manifestation requires you to look much more deeply than simply focusing on what you want. It's not enough to have a single-minded intention, for that's only part of the process. The pursuit of happiness and success – no matter what the arena – calls for an honest look at the energy of your entire life. Your consciousness is a picture of your whole self. It's not just the surface information that you choose to reveal; it's also the multidimensional representation of who you really are – everything from your most deeply held beliefs to idiosyncratic behaviors. All that is you broadcasts your truth in waves of thought-forms, perceptions, and expectations.
So your investigation into your destiny creation must start with this question: If you were to project a laser light through the hologram that is your own consciousness, what would that picture hold? What would be revealed in the front, in the middle, in the back, and all the way around? Would there be a confident image on the surface with fear hiding behind it? Would there be an exterior of optimism with an interior of doubt? If so, you need to know that the Universe sees your entire truth – every bit of it – and responds accordingly.
So if you're visualizing meeting your perfect partner, yet a part of you thinks such a person doesn't exist, then that consciousness of limitation overrides your specific intention and actually creates a stronger vision of lack. If you've created the goal to attract a better job but you consistently doubt your ability to make it happen, then that failure-consciousness will move out into the Universe, projecting a dark void where no real value can come to be.
Your entire consciousness needs to be considered. You may send out intentions, treasure maps, and even prayers to make something happen, but all of that will go unanswered if it's the only approach you take. Without a supportive consciousness, your individual desire will just float out in space, and your results will be hit-or-miss at best – or nonexistent at worst.
But if you add an optimistic and focused life force to your individual intentions, they'll be propelled by the irresistible power of consciousness creation. They'll shoot out into time and space, and the abundant Universe will send unexpected blessings in return. It's the power of your whole life – all that you are conscious of – that determines your present.
So what's your worldview? How do you perceive yourself and your place in this amazing Universe of ours? Whether you realize it or not, you are a powerful manifestor. You may not like what you've brought into being so far, but you have both the ability and the option to change everything. Happiness isn't a future commodity. It exists right now within the hologram of your eternal self, and it can be the accelerant that will ignite a future of endless joy.
This excerpt is taken from the new book, Secrets of Success by Sandra Anne Taylor and Sharon Klingler. It is published by Hay House (June 2008) and available at all bookstores.
Also available at amazon: Secrets of Success
It will look like this: The Holistic Nature of Attraction And Manifestation


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Perfect for your little girl who is either your newest addition or just simply likes to look up to her older sibling. These 100% cotton jersey dog bandanas have a fashionable cover-stitch edge and quality silk screened lettering. They are completely machine washable and prewashed to avoid shrinkage. Our bandanas are hand screened in the USA with love.


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This fact sheet can be used for identification of the Webbing clothes moth should your collection become affected by pests. Included are photographs of the adult and larva and information on the life cycle, how to spot signs of damage and the materials likely to be affected and similar species of pest.
Clicking the link on this page will allow you to download this resource as a PDF.


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RGN- UK - NR8 ,Taverham (IELTS-7/OET B MANDATORY)
|Job Title:
|RGN- UK - NR8 ,Taverham (IELTS-7/OET B MANDATORY)
|Contract Type:
|NR8 , Taverham
|£25,000/- to £30,000/-
|Start Date:
|Contact Name:
|Steve Ray
|Contact Email:
|Job Published:
|January 15, 2018 10:02
Job Description
Are you committed to providing excellent patient care in a nurturing and supportive environment? NursingJobsUk is looking to support qualified overseas nurses obtain their registration with the NMC and work within our services during and after obtaining registration.
Can you meet the following criteria?
· To assess the individual needs of the patients and to ensure that they receive the highest standard of personal care and attention.
· To have the ability and knowledge of nursing and management the home ensuring the well-being of the residents and their physical, emotional and social needs.
· To have responsibility for frontline supervision and supervise the care staff.
· To be in charge of the shift and take the responsibility for the smooth running of the service and whilst they are on duty, liaise with managers and senior nurses to ensure effective communication for the benefit of clients and their family.
· Typical duties of the job include: Assessing and planning, nursing care requirements ,Monitoring and administering, medication, taking patient samples, pulses, temperatures and blood pressures, Writing records, Supervising junior staff and organizing workloads Salary during Supervisory Period - £ 17,000/- to £ 22,000/- per annum.
We offer:
· Free OSCE training.
· Free OSCE exam fee(£992)
· Free flight ticket
· For those applying from within the UK, we pay the VISA expenses.
You will need to be:
1. A qualified Nurse having at least 1 year experience as practicing nurse.
2. Should met NMC language criteria in order to start with the NMC application process. Know more.
3. Should have undergone OSCE & Computer Based Training (CBT). Know more.
We are an equal opportunity employer, applications from Job Seekers who require, Tier 2 sponsorship will be considered priority and sponsorships are offered to successful candidates where UKBA regulations are met.
Student nurse/ Non EU qualified overseas nurses/ EU qualified nurses progressing towards NMC Registration will be considered alongside with other applicants. Training, support & assistance will be provided in attaining NMC Pin Tier 2 Certificate of Sponsorship (COS, formerly a Work Permit).
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It's irreplaceable in a Mai Tai and essential to the classic Japanese cocktail. Orgeat syrup, with its rich almond flavor and exotic touch of orange water, is matchless among cocktail mixers. You can pick it up at a well-stocked spirits shop, but serious almond lovers often prefer to make it in their own kitchens, where they can control sugar content and flavor. "There's a brightness that fresh ingredients bring to it," says Daniel Shoemaker, owner of Portland, Oregon's Teardrop Cocktail Lounge. "In a cocktail, the almond and viscosity of homemade orgeat syrup shine through in ways that a store-bought product never would." Shoemaker started making his own orgeat after being disappointed by the artificial-tasting flavors and high-fructose corn syrup he found in some store-bought brands. Inspired by a recipe that was originally conceived by Darcy O'Neil, keeper of the Art of Drink blog, Shoemaker eventually settling on what would become Teardrop's house orgeat recipe.
Step 1
Place 2¼ cups of raw, sliced almonds in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Cover with 3½ cups of tap water and let sit for 30 minutes. Strain, discarding the water.
Step 2
In a food processor or blender, lightly pulse the almonds until they are coarsely ground. (You can also do this with a rolling pin—to reduce mess, put the almonds in a plastic bag first.)
Step 3
Return the ground almonds to the bowl, cover with 3½ cups of distilled water and soak for 4 to 5 hours, stirring the mixture well every hour or so. Strain liquid into a 1-liter glass jar through a cheesecloth-lined strainer, pressing to extract as much as possible. Discard the almonds.
Step 4
Add 3½ cups of cane sugar to the liquid, close the lid tightly and shake the jar vigorously, repeating several times over 15 minutes, or until the sugar is dissolved.
Step 5
Add 1 oz. of vodka and ¼ tsp. orange blossom water and stir thoroughly. Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Makes 2 to 3 cups of syrup.


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Samsung has been on a major roll this year, pushing Android smartphones and tablets into the top tier, with its Galaxy S III smartphone, supersized Galaxy Note II "phablet," and Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet rivaling Apple's iconic and category-defining iPhone and iPad. That's a sea change for Android, which for several years was clearly inferior to iOS, settling for "good enough." HTC and Motorola Mobility have also improved their Android offerings, but Samsung has led the way, especially in mobile innovation.
So I was intrigued by the Galaxy Note II Smart Dock, a $99 peripheral that you plug a Note II into via the MiniHDMI port and connect to an HDTV or other monitor via HDMI. Optionally, you can use it to connect a mouse, keyboard, or extra storage via the three USB ports. When connected, the Smart Dock theoretically could transform the Note II into a portable Android PC. In truth, it can't do anything of the sort.
[ If the Galaxy Note II is too big for you, see who wins InfoWorld's face-off between the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S III. | If the Note II isn't big enough, see which small tablet InfoWorld recommends in our hands-on review of the iPad Mini, Google Nexus 7, and Kindle Fire HD. | Get expert advice about planning and implementing your BYOD strategy with InfoWorld's "Mobile and BYOD Deep Dive" PDF special report. ]
The Smart Dock at first blush seems to be alike in concept to Motorola Mobility's Lapdock, which offered similar connectivity options and came with a Linux-based Firefox browser to do "real" Web work the standard Android browser could not. Although its concept was intriguing, Motorola never figured out the Lapdock, and the product died after several unsatisfying versions. I suspect the Smart Dock will face a similar fate.
Contrary to the name, the Smart Dock isn't so smart. Once you plug your Note II into it and connect to a TV or monitor, you get a mirrored image of your Note II's screen. The screen is in portrait orientation, so most of your big screen is wasted. Only videos auto-adjust to play in horizontal mode and take advantage of the screen real estate.
I expected the Smart Dock to at least display apps, games, and so on in horizontal mode, so what you saw on the big screen looked like a PC desktop. I even hoped that the screen resolution might be larger than the Note II's; that way, you'd get not just a blown-up screen, but a true desktoplike experience. I got neither. On the bright side, I didn't miss the lack of a desktop browser, such as the Lapdock's Firefox -- the Android browser app that comes with the Note II's and S III's "Jelly Bean" update is as capable as its desktop equivalent, unlike previous versions.
Ironically, when I plugged a Galaxy S III into the Smart Dock, its screen did auto-rotate; apps, games, and the home screens all were in horizontal mode. How bizarre that the S III -- which is not designed for the use with the Smart Dock -- uses it better than the Note II, which was designed for the Smart Dock.


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Dental plans provide a comprehensive range of services, including the following:
To review your enrollment details under the Federal Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) (including the plan and enrollment type you have now), log on to your account at www.BENEFEDS.com. Those without access to a computer can contact BENEFEDS by phone at 1-877-888-FEDS (3337), TTY 1-877-889-5680.
To find out the specific details of coverage under your dental plan or vision plan, review your plan brochure (dental or vision) or contact your plan directly.
You may make certain changes to your plan during Open Season or if you have specific Qualifying Life Event (QLEs) (i.e. death or birth of a dependent, marriage, etc.).
Log into your account at www.BENEFEDS.com to make changes to your FEDVIP coverage. Those without access to a computer can make changes to their coverage by phone at 1-877-888-FEDS (3337), TTY 1-877-889-5680.
Review Section 8, "Claims Filing and Disputed Claims Processes", in your dental plan brochure or vision plan brochure and follow the steps provided.
There was an unexpected error when performing your action.
Your error has been logged and the appropriate people notified. You may close this message and try your command again, perhaps after refreshing the page. If you continue to experience issues, please notify the site administrator.


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Monday bustle: Diners skate out for Restaurant Week
Tony and Ana Jorge were making their way back to their car on Water Street as the rain stopped and the mercury dropped Monday evening, the first night of Restaurant Week. They had just enjoyed a romantic dinner at Tempo where they sampled French chef Brice Cunningham's duck breast in a savory carrot cream sauce accompanied by Swiss chard from Hi-Five Farm in nearby Shadwell.
"It was really very good," says Mr. Jorge. "The sauces and reductions especially— these are what you come out for."
Luscious sauces aren't the only reductions. On July 9, sixteen restaurants began offering a $26 three-course prix fixe menu— a tempting week-long deal considering that a single entree at such participants as Maya, Blue Light Grill, or The Melting Pot can easily top $30.
If the Jorges represent the typical customer experience— sated on good food and a good deal— then Cunningham might represent the average chef's experience during a week when even Charlottesville's most prepared kitchens brace for a rush of hungry foodies expecting exquisite concoctions from their favorite local spots.
As Cunningham rattled off Tempo's French-fusion and progressive-American menu additions, his frenzied team of cooks sliced perfectly circular discs of beets to slide onto appetizer plates and drizzled glazes in elaborate patterns over seared skate. Add to this an unrelenting tide of servers balancing piles of the delicate food compositions in the crooks of their elbows, and the result is well-ordered chaos.
Tempo, enjoying an earlier-than-usual swarm of diners Monday night, is the third Charlottesville restaurant (Petit Pois and Fleurie are the other two) opened by Cunningham, who studied under world-renowned chef Alain Ducasse in France. The chef's father left France in 2011 to join forces with his son at Tempo.
Where Tempo put its robust signature flavors on display for Restaurant Week, the nearby Blue Light Grill came up with a "something for everybody" menu aimed at drawing in diners who hadn't previously eaten at the shellfish-centric Blue Light.
"This summer we've been very into pickling things, and we're keeping everything very fresh, very organic, very local," says assistant head chef Corey Kuck. "This Restaurant Week we're trying to show a little bit of what we do and still give customers what they want— very nice food from local purveyors."
Like Tempo, Blue Light is also offering a skate dish with additional offerings of fettuccini and roast chicken breast. Its Restaurant Week desserts— a chocolate mousse triffel, crème fraiche panna cotta, and grilled peaches— could tempt the most refined palates. Yet a little past 7pm, the restaurant was about half-full, and a server mentions that it felt a little empty.
"We're looking to have a steady Monday and Tuesday, because we know Wednesday through Friday is going to be really busy," says Kuck. "It's just the nature of the beast."
Over at Maya, the menu reflects the restaurant's standard nouveau southern vibe as well as some playful touches, like champagne sorbet garnished with Pop Rocks, the ubiquitous '70s-era carbonated candy.
"I had to go to the Dollar Tree to pick those up," says owner Peter Castiglione as he stands in front of the nearly full patio facing West Main Street.
"We had people walking through the door at 5pm, right when we opened," says Castiglione. "Last winter, we did about 1,000 people, so we're hoping to pull in around eight or nine hundred this week."
One thousand diners will equal one thousand dollars for the PB&J Fund, a local non-profit that that connects kids with healthy eating habits and gets the 26th dollar of each Restaurant Week meal.
Maya's menu features shrimp and grits in a smoked tomato gravy, grilled Wagyu sirloin, and seared salmon with fennel and spiced carrot couscous, enough choices for diners Kelly Oakes and Carolyn Polson.
"I had the fried green tomatoes and then for dessert a blackberry and basil sorbet," says a smiling Oakes.
"We had the salmon entrée and the shrimp and grits appetizer— it was fantastic," enthuses Polson, who runs The Inn at 400 West High, a new downtown bed and breakfast.
"We love that some of our dinner went to the PB&J fund," says Polson. "We always go to Restaurant Week."Read more on: Charlottesville Restaurant Week
10 comments
remember you server only makes $2.13 an hour... tip accordingly
I notices that many of what I could consider marquee restaurants that have participated in the past are not participating this year? I hope it means that they are doing so well that they don't need to do something like this to fill the restaurant during a typically slow week.
It seems like many of the places that have filled the holes are mid line restaurants where i expect good food, but not necessarily over the top interesting food and where i would consider a $26 dollar meal (sans alcohol) to be expensive for the restaurant.
At one point the hook did something similar to restaurant week, but you only got 2 plates (Main + app or desert) at a lower cost. It seemed like a good way to check out some of the restaurants that i wouldn't consider fancy and have a lower average price, but that i haven't had the excuse to check out yet.
ohh yumm melting pot! can't wait for that. Is that better? I forgot they advertise with you. Olive Garden Rules!
My guess, Logan, with absolutely no data to support it whatsoever, is that restaurants who participated in the past and are not doing so this time either didn't see any appreciable repeat business from customers who came for Restaurant Week or don't have summer staffing levels that would allow for a slammed restaurant. My bet is the former. Discounts and coupons and the like are good ways to get new people in the door. But just as with Groupon and similar bargain sites, a lot of businesses have found that bargain shoppers will move on to the next bargain and aren't necessarily going to be come regular customers.
Good points Chris. Also it costs the restaurants well over $1000 (in a check to The Hook, not the PBJ fund) just to participate. They have to pay The Hook for the "privilege" of participating in this "charitable" event.
That said, it does raise good money for a local charity and there are a lot nice menus and options.
does it really cost the restaurants well over $1000, paid to the hook?
Orzo apparently did over 1000 covers this week....the economics of the scale like that might, in fact, work out well for all involved.
Yes, some straight cash to The Hook plus a large commitment of advertising dollars.
Past restaurant weeks have gotten me to try places I would not have tried otherwise, and in many occasions I have gone back after restaurant week.
Overall i think it can be good money spent for the restaurant. It seems to be better than groupon (etc) because it is a slow week and they can achieve economies of scale.


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British Columbians have legitimate concerns about the Northern Gateway proposal. But they shouldn't altogether reject the idea of transporting oil to the coast.
Right now, any such discussion is complicated by a provincial election slated for next May, with Liberal Premier Christy Clark and New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix playing politics with the issue.
Just as a U.S. election is delaying a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, so any debate about transporting oil to the west coast should be shelved until spring.
That would provide a badly needed "time out" in the fight over Northern Gateway.
I can recall living in Newfoundland during the 1980s when everyone was debating the prospect of offshore oil development.
Some argued vehemently a petroleum industry would destroy Newfoundland's fish stocks, the lifeblood of the local economy.
As it turned out, it was fishermen, not oil workers, who destroyed the cod stocks. Oil development has been a godsend for the province and did not harm the fishery.
Are British Columbians similarly being too pessimistic about Northern Gateway?
Maybe. But it appears Enbridge is promoting a route and tanker port that's most cost-effective instead of being most environmentally sound or most respectful of aboriginal concerns.
And, based on Enbridge testimony delivered to a federal review panel in Prince George last week, the project lacks the oversight, clean up and insurance components sufficient to give comfort to a nervous B.C. public.
Meanwhile, Ottawa is being criticized for failing to properly consult with affected aboriginal groups in a process separate and apart from the federal review.
No one should expect B.C. to rubber stamp a project it views as high risk and of modest benefit.
But there are reasons why the province should keep an open mind about transporting bitumen to the Pacific.
The fact is, transshipment of resources across provinces is a part of doing business in any country.
B.C. certainly covets its right to ship its own resources east, across Alberta.
The province also should recognize the national importance of getting oilsands product to a port on the coast — something that would enable Canada to access world prices for a depleting resource.
The oilsands, located in a landlocked province, benefit not just Alberta. B.C. has received, and stands to gain in future, six per cent of all oilsands employment — 112,000 jobs today, growing to 500,000 over the next 25 years.
According to a July report by the Canadian Energy Research Institute, the pipeline project to the coast would generate for B.C. incremental GDP of $5.1 billion. B.C. could use the economic activity.
A report last week from the Bank of Montreal Financial Group warns that B.C.'s housing market "has finally shown evidence of a real slowdown. ... There's no longer any doubt that a correction is underway in Vancouver."
And prospects are dimming in B.C.'s natural gas sector. These things will have an impact on the province's economy.
Nationally, economic growth has been led by the Western provinces — no surprise, largely because of the resource sector.
None of which is to say that British Columbians should embrace the Enbridge project. The company has done a poor job of convincing B.C. residents that the pipeline is in their interest.
The best starting point next spring for a renewed debate about transporting oil across B.C. would be an open-minded consideration of routes that would be the least damaging and disruptive (and ways to incentivize companies to propose such routes).
We also need a discussion of mechanisms and safeguards that could be put in place to ensure the safest possible transport options.
So far, this hasn't been tried.


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Thanks to Matlo for recently helping me to upgrade from GIMX 5.7 to the latest version of GIMX (6.3). I use GIMX to allow my Logitech Momo Force Red wheel to emulate a G29 in Project Cars on the PS4.
The first improvement I noticed was the effectiveness of the authentication process. With GIMX 5.7, I often had to launch it a second time at the outset before my wheel would be recognised as a controller on the PS4. The connection was also interrupted from time to time in the course of play, requiring GIMX to be restarted. With the latest version the connection is made first time every time and there have been no interruptions to play at all.
The second improvement is a more subtle and detailed level of force feedback in Project Cars. The wheel only appears "powered" once Project Cars has started, unlike before. I guess this is because the G29 emulation is now more complete. allowing Project Cars to properly control the wheel's force feedback effects.
So in summary, the latest version of GIMX is now completely painless for me to use, and provides me with a much richer and more authentic driving experience using my old but much loved wheel and pedals.
GIMX keeps getting better
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Established in 1962 and recognised for being one of the premier Pinball dealers in the UK, The Games Room Company always carries a wide selection of new and vintage machines. Themes range from popular films and TV series through to cultural icons and much more, all of them manufactured by renowned companies like Stern, Williams, Bally, and Gottlieb. Our technicians' knowledge of vintage tables is second to none so you can be sure that every refurbished machine we offer for sale has been exhaustively stripped down, re-built and tested.
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