text:
Food assistance, a waste or necessary?
Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:05:41 GMT —
Around 10-million people live in Michigan. Nearly 2-million, almost 20%, receives money for food through government assistance.
More than $2-billion was distributed to Michigan residents in food assistance in 2009. This year, is on pace to be closer to $3-billion. That's more than Michigan's Department of Corrections budget.
More than $250-million went to families in September 2010 alone.
Every month, Michigan adds around 30,000 additional recipients.
Some abuse it, while others say it's a life-saver.
Candi Boyne, her husband James, and their four kids live in Lapeer County's Mayfield Township.
Candi stays at home while her husband James works in computer aided design.
They found out they qualified for government assistance when their second child was born.
"Six years we've had WIC assistance, and it's a life-saver," says Boyne. She says they pay their taxes, are honest in their dealings, and need the help.
"For us, it's point blank, without the assistance that we get from the state even though my husband works and he works more than 40 hours a week, it's still just doesn't necessarily cut it all the time."
James makes around $15 an hour. The family qualifies for $70 a month from WIC and a little more than $400 a month from the Bridge Card.
Candi says she's able to pay for all their food with the assistance.
NBC25 discovered another family of five (mom, dad, and three kids) that meet several other qualifications. They receive around $700 a month for food and say they can't spend that much.
However, whatever money isn't used through food stamps is banked to be used later.
Some say, that's too much and that assistance is supposed to help supplement, not pay for everything and then some.
In MidMichigan, Genesee County (111,851) has the most residents on food assistance. It's 4th in the state. It's followed by Saginaw County (47,784), Bay County (20,284), Midland County (11,577), and Tuscola County (10,283).
Michigan's Department of Human Services says assistance programs are not a waste of money, but rather good for farmers, distributors, grocery stores, and jobs. It's website says, "Just this one program could put an estimated $16-million in additional direct food dollars into Michigan communities each month and nearly $200-million into communities each year."
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says every $5 in food benefits generates about $9.20 in economic activity in communities.
Candi says, she had to swallow her pride before applying for assistance, but that her children are worth it.
She has this message for those quick to judge. "Put yourself in their shoes. What would you do if your family lost their job or had to take a pay decrease and you didn't make enough to feed your family?"
NBC25 asked the Department of Human Services who sets the amount of money people get in assistance. DHS says it's set federally, but they do not know who is responsible for setting those amounts.


text:
Need Help With Essays? Ask an Essay Tutor Online.
Hi, I just needed a paragraph or two. I need it by tonight. I will figured something out. Thank you for your help.
Hello, I'm a moderator for this topic. I've been working hard to find another professional to assist you right away, but sometimes finding the right professional can take a little longer than expected. I wonder whether you're ok with continuing to wait for an answer. If you are, please let me know and I will continue my search. If not, feel free to let me know and I will cancel this question for you. Thank you!
I would really like a answer to the question. Is there anyone who could help? I asked two questions on here yesterday and neither one has been answered. :( I paid for the "rush". Will I get my deposit back if these are not answered?
Thank you for your patience while we continue to search for a professional to assist you.
I believe field studies. I am looking through my notes again.
They are classified in the reading/work as field studies.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Walk from Soller to Fornalutx - PHOTOGRAPHER COMMENT
The walk from Soller to Fornalutx is marked as taking 50minutes. It is a combination of paved paths and smaller well trodden routes like the one in this photograph. The climb is mild but continual.
Along the side of the valley you have lovely views down into soller, and also across towards the peaks which seperate the valley from Orient, and then over the top towards Alaro.
This unsuspecting groups of walkers rounded the bend as I was shooting. They are from Scotland. May be they are lost.
Walk from Soller to Fornalutx - FURTHER INFORMATION
Walk from Soller to Fornalutx - Mallorca visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Walk from Soller to Fornalutx' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Balearic Islands.


text:
Baldness is very common in men and the risk of this condition increases with age. The span of balding occurs between five to fifteen years and it could vary from one person to another. Some men get to bald earlier but there are chances to retain hair when it is treated at the initial stages. Men fear about losing hair and they take many chances to regrow it. There are many factors like genetics, Stress, unhealthy eating habits, vitamin A deficiency, thyroid problem and negative impact of certain medications that cause baldness in men. One of the best recommendation is to take Propecia, which happens to the brand formulation of generic Finasteride. Does Propecia help to regrow hair in men is the question that would be in the minds of every men suffering from baldness. Yes, this drug helps men battling baldness to regrow hair from the thin hair follicles thereby controlling hair loss.
The main cause of hair loss is due to the male sex hormone called as testosterone. Usually the hair is grown from the hair follicles that are present in the scalp. The male hormone testosterone gets converted into dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and the reason behind the conversion is not known. The hair follicles are very sensitive to DHT and it leads to hair loss. At initial stages, hair falls loss is concentrated in the crown and temple areas, and if this condition is not treated it would lead to baldness. It is not known why the conversion of the male hormone does not affect hair in other parts of the body. Propecia prevents the conversion of testosterone to DHT hence hair loss is controlled gradually. Hair follicles would have become thin due to this condition, but Finasteride, the active ingredient contained in the drug enables hair regrowth from the thin follicles. The hair loss drug regrows the hair, simultaneously inhibiting the process of balding. Since it is very difficult to regrow hair from the bald area, it is important to get treated at the initial stage. To get authentic pills, it is advised to purchase the pill from Canadian online pharmacies at an affordable rate.
Will I be able to retain hair growth after discontinuing Propecia?
The hair growth drug is very effective in treating condition like male pattern baldness. The medication should be taken for at least 3 months of time to achieve visible changes in the scalp. It takes some period of time for the hair to regrow completely. When the intake of drug is discontinued, there are chances for hair loss because the conversion of male hormones starts to occur again. Some men lost hair initially but at later point of time, it grew again in their scalp region. Hence, it is difficult to generalize the pattern of hair regrowth.
How to handle Propecia withdrawal symptoms?
When you experience any withdrawal symptom it is wise to consult the doctor before starting the course of therapy again. Do not take any two hair loss drugs together as it would reverse the effect. Since the medication is taken only once in a day chances of overdosing are very minimal. It is important to consult the doctor before taking the pill and take only the prescribed dosage strength. Propecia is only for treating baldness in men so women should not take it. Keep the pills out of reach of children and store in a dry place away from direct sunlight and moisture. The most important factor to get benefit from the pills is to take only the prescribed dosage strength.


text:
Marshall Softball Signs Two
Nov. 18, 2013
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Elicia D'Orazio and Taylor McCord have signed National Letters of Intent with Marshall, softball coach Shonda Stanton announced, Monday.
D'Orazio, a Montverde, Fla., native, currently attends Montverde Academy and as a junior, was crowned the Central Florida Athlete of the Year, earned first-team all-state honors and played with the Puerto Rico women's national team.
"I chose Marshall because I instantly fell in love with it," D'Orazio said. "Marshall is a school that has its history, and I love that the town and everyone around is so supportive. It gives that home feeling, and coming all the way from Florida, that is what I was looking for."
"Elicia [D'Orazio] is a baller and such a versatile athlete, who can play multiple positions for us," Stanton said. "She will be a huge spark plug to our office with her quickness. She has such natural aggressive instincts on the bases that fit right into our style of play."
McCord hails from Gilbert, Ariz., attends Gilbert High School and plays on the Arizona Firecrackers travel team.
"Marshall was the one place that I could see myself really succeeding," McCord said. "After visiting Marshall I knew it was where I wanted to spend my college career, and I couldn't be any more excited about the decision I have made. I love the school. It was an easy decision for me. I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else."
In her junior high school season, McCord hit .435 and boasted a .722 slugging percentage for her alma mater. She led the fastpitch division with 60 RBIs, hit .465 and earned a .513 on base percentage.
"Taylor [McCord] is so fundamentally sound as a catcher and pretty refined already behind the plate," Stanton said. "She has an accurate and very strong arm with the ability to play the corner, as well. She has the power potential to be a middle-of-lineup hitter for the Herd."
The 5'7" utility player lettered as a freshman on varsity, was named honorable mention as a freshman on the all-state team, was second all-region and first team all-city.
"Elicia [D'Orazio] and Taylor [McCord] are smart ballplayers and understand the game well, which will make for an easier transition at the next level," Stanton concluded.


text:
Is there any programs are fashion add ons that can be imported into corel draw that will give presets like in Fashion design software or are there any tools (instructions) on how to make things like fashion fabric, textiles, designs and also most important the layouts.
If you have any suggestions please tell, all are welcomed
© Corel Corporation. The content herein is in the form of a personal web log ("Blog") or forum posting. As such, the views expressed in this site are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of Corel Corporation, or its affiliates and their respective officers, directors, employees and agents. Terms and Conditions / User Guidelines.


text:
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had hoped to marshal an unequivocal show of public support on the revolution's 31st anniversary, but security forces were deployed to dispel hundreds of protesters shouting opposition slogans near a vast pro-government gathering.
Hundreds of thousands of people carrying banners reading "death to Israel!", Iranian flags and pictures of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei marched along the city's broad avenues to hear the President speak in the central Azadi Square.
But witnesses said riot police fired paint-filled balls at hundreds of protesters chanting opposition slogans in Sadeghieh Square, about a half-mile from the huge pro-government gathering.
Opposition leaders were reportedly attacked in their cars during the marches, and several were said to have been detained with their families.
Celebrations to mark the day the shah was toppled 31 years ago are traditionally used as an opportunity for Iranian leaders to showcase popular support for the establishment.
But the elite Revolutionary Guards and police this year gave warning that they would crack down heavily on protests which have threatened the pillars of the Islamic regime and split the senior clergy since they first erupted last June.
"If anyone wants to disrupt this glorious ceremony, they will be confronted by people and we too are fully prepared," Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam, the country's police chief, warned on Wednesday.
He added that some people who had been planning to protest were already in custody.
Dozens of hard-liners with batons and pepper spray attacked the convoy of a senior opposition leader, Mahdi Karroubi, as he tried to join the anti-government protests, his son Hossein Karroubi said.
The attackers — believed to be members of the Basij civilian militia — damaged several cars and smashed windows on Karrobi's car, though he escaped unharmed, his son said.
Mohammad Khatami, Iran's former reformist president, was also reportedly attacked in his car as the pro-government rally got under way, and his wife and brother were arrested by security forces, according to the opposition website Rahesabz.
Zahra Eshraqi, the granddaughter of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late revolutionary leader, was detained with her husband by security forces, according to reports on opposition websites.
Iranian authorities again tried to shut down text messaging and web links in attempts to cripple the protests.
Internet service was sharply slowed, mobile phone service widely cut and there were repeated disruptions in popular instant messaging services such as Google chat.
Foreign media were only allowed to cover the ceremonies in the square and the speech by Ahmadinejad, with photographers bussed to the site and then away. There is an explicit ban on covering opposition protests.
Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election last June plunged the Islamic republic into one of its worst ever political crises, with the opposition refusing to back down despite a series of deadly crackdowns by security forces.
Eight people were killed on the Shiite holy day of Ashura on December 27 and hundreds were jailed as authorities battled protesters they accuse of seeking to topple the regime and siding with Iran's enemies abroad.
The opposition is led by former stalwarts of the Islamic republic, including the former president Mir Hossein Mousavi, who says the 1979 revolution failed because the shah-era "roots of tyranny and dictatorship" still exist.
Ahmadinejad announced in his speech that the Islamic republic has produced its first package of highly enriched uranium just two days after beginning the process, proclaiming that Iran was now a "nuclear state."
"The first package of 20 percent fuel was produced and provided to the scientists," he said, without specifying how much uranium had been enriched.
Iran announced on Tuesday that it was starting for the first time to further enrich uranium from around 3 percent purity to 20 percent purity, bringing sharp criticism from the United States and its allies, who accuse Tehran of trying to develop a nuclear weapon.


text:
Brownstone Furniture Saratoga Coffee Table
$ 1,288.00
The Saratoga table collection offers a unique blend of beautiful cement tops with solid oak bases. The architectural lines of the collection's design give an updated feel, while rich, smoke colored cement tops add depth and beauty that is special and distinctive.
- Collection: Saratoga
- Finish: Driftwood, Smoke
- Materials: Tops have a surface layer of cement over plywood. Bases are made of solid white oak
- Overall Dimensions: 54" w x 32" d x 17" h
- Weight: 89 pounds


text:
LAREDO, TX (KGNS) - A historical part of our town receives some special recognition.
Members of Laredo Main Street joined forces with TxDot to bring focus to the importance of the downtown business district.
"Right now it's really a great time for downtown Laredo," said Councilwoman Cindy Liendo. "We've got a lot of new projects coming up, an arts and entertainment district, so we want people to know where it is and we want them to come down and invest in the beautiful part of our city."
They hosted a sign unveiling ceremony to direct more traffic into the Central Business District Streets of Laredo. The sign's location is on I-35 South, pointing directly to the district.
"This is the heart of our city," said Liendo. "This is where the city began, and we're very happy to promote it more and working with Laredo Main Street, who has done so much for downtown Laredo."
"Laredo Main Street's mission is to promote and revitalize downtown," said Laredo Main Street Executive Director Pilar Montoy. "So for us, having this sign and directing traffic to historic downtown is a big accomplishment."
The historic streets of Laredo form the oldest independent settlement in the state of Texas.


text:
|By Tony Pugh and David Lightman, McClatchy Washington Bureau
|McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
Now President
''I absolutely believe that somebody should be held accountable,'' said Rep.
As lawmakers prepare to grill federal contractors Thursday about the performance of the Healthcare.gov website at a
Wednesday was the first full day the
Even the chairwoman of the
But House Minority Leader
''I don't support that,'' Pelosi said, adding that the state-run
But he said those problems ''pale in comparison'' to the uncertainty facing sick people who would be unable to get health insurance without the law.
While support for Obamacare among Democrats has never been unanimous, Wednesday's developments show a growing unease among the president's supporters with the law's implementation.
Since the launch of the 2014 open enrollment period on
Even a longtime family friend from across the aisle, Sen.
Her decision to travel to
Republicans are scheduled to meet with
Federal health officials ''and staff have conducted numerous in-person briefings on the Hill, and we are happy to hold additional ones as requests come in,'' said HHS spokeswoman
There have been no calls on the Democratic side for Sebelius to step down. But Sen.
''They should wait and get the thing up and running and then determine and let somebody be held accountable,'' Nelson said in an interview with a
The House hearing Thursday offers the first chance to do so. It will feature representatives from four software contractors, including
''As a former computer programmer, I have a lot of serious questions about how the program could be such a dismal failure,'' said Rep.
Many now question whether contractors were pressured by HHS officials to move ahead with the
''There's no question that testing was done and testing should have been more thorough, and therefore we would have been more prepared for this _ this kind of challenge,'' Carney said.
At first, the Obama administration blamed the website's delays, malfunctions and crashes on an unexpected deluge of users. Recent reports suggest the problems are much deeper and could take months to resolve. Experts now say much of the system's software coding must be rewritten and that interfaces with various government databases aren't working properly.
Insurers report getting duplicate enrollments and misinformation about new enrollees. They also have received faulty determinations on the ability of applicants to get government subsidies to help pay for marketplace coverage.
Sebelius and
Carney reiterated that the administration was working ''24-7'' to fix the computer problems. Beginning Thursday, he said the administration would begin holding daily briefings for reporters to update them on the progress of the web fixes.
Many of the website's problems are par for the course for a project this large and complex, said
''It's not shocking that this didn't work,'' Johnson said. ''To me it would be very shocking if it did work.''
An analysis by Standish of more than 3,500 large IT projects of
He said the marketplace's ''big bang theory'' rollout _ with a well-publicized launch date that was guaranteed to draw large numbers of users _ only increased the likelihood of failure. He said the rollout should have occurred incrementally, in stages, possibly in several states at a time instead of all at once.
''They needed to take baby steps,'' Johnson said. ''Test it out. See that it works. Go to the next step. Do a little more testing, Go to the next step. That's the way successful projects work.''
Johnson said he told HHS officials the same thing at a presentation at the
''I don't think this thing is fatally flawed,'' he said.'' I think there are problems, but these are normal problems you have with the big bang theory.''
Carney wouldn't comment on estimates by Johnson and other computer experts who suggest the problems could take even up to six months to fix.
''Our approach is to look head-on at the problems and try to fix the everyday, knowing that this is going to be a constant effort and that each day we're going to make some progress,'' he said, ''and that each day there'll be an improvement to the user experience.''
(Email: [email protected], [email protected]; Twitter: [email protected], @lightmandavid)
(c)2013 McClatchy Washington Bureau
Visit the McClatchy Washington Bureau at www.mcclatchydc.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services


text:
A Framework For The Treatment Of Financial Contagion Effects In The Context Of The Actual European Turbulences
There is still a debate regarding a possible restoring of the confidence in European financial markets because there are still underlying problems from the super-sized finance that actually worsened. Anti crisis strategy efficiency and future costs of real reform make analysts more prudent in forecasts. In addition, a possible reduction risk appetite and the loss of confidence will fuel a negative perspective regarding the recovery of emerging economies, extreme fragile to regional or global contagion effects. In modern financial crises, the events spiral out of control, panic and contagion come very fast. Greek debt crisis is the most serious extreme financial event in the Eurozone, with severe contagion features. An analysis of Eurocontagion effects in the context of Greece crisis by using a dynamic version of the Hawkes jump-diffusion model is suggested.
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Volume (Year): 1 (2010)
Issue (Month): 2 (December)
Pages: 456-461
|Contact details of provider:
| Postal: Universitatii str. 1, Office F209, 410087 Oradea, Bihor
Phone: +40259408799
Fax: 004 0259 408409
Web page: http://anale.steconomiceuoradea.ro/
More information through EDIRC
References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Nikitin, Maxim & Smith, R. Todd, 2008. "Information acquisition, coordination, and fundamentals in a financial crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 907-914, June.
- Andrew Ang & Geert Bekaert, 2002. "International Asset Allocation With Regime Shifts," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(4), pages 1137-1187.
- Kaminsky, Graciela L & Reinhart, Carmen M, 1998.
"Financial Crises in Asia and Latin America: Then and Now,"
American Economic Review,
American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 444-448, May.
- Reinhart, Carmen & Kaminsky, Graciela, 1998. "Financial crises in Asia and Latin America: Then and now," MPRA Paper 13877, University Library of Munich, Germany.
- Reinhart, Carmen & Kaminsky, Graciela, 2000.
"Crisis financieras en Asia y Latinoamerica: ahora y entonces
[Financial Crises in Asia and Latin America Different: Then and Now]," MPRA Paper 13735, University Library of Munich, Germany.
- Mardi Dungey & Renee Fry & Brenda Gonzalez-Hermosillo & Vance Martin, 2005. "Empirical modelling of contagion: a review of methodologies," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 9-24.
- Vance L. Martin & Brenda Gonzalez-Hermosillo, & Mardi Dungey & Renee A. Fry, 2004. "Empirical Modelling of Contagion: A Review of Methodologies," Econometric Society 2004 Australasian Meetings 243, Econometric Society.
- Mardi Dungey & Renee Fry & Vance Martin & Brenda Gonzalez-Hermosillo, 2004. "Empirical Modeling of Contagion; A Review of Methodologies," IMF Working Papers 04/78, International Monetary Fund.
- Martin, V. & Dungey & M., 2004. "Empirical Modelling of Contagion: A Review of Methodologies," Econometric Society 2004 Far Eastern Meetings 574, Econometric Society.
- Vance L. Martin & Mardi Dungey, 2007. "Unravelling financial market linkages during crises," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(1), pages 89-119. Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ora:journl:v:1:y:2010:i:2:p:456-461. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Catalin ZMOLE)
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.


text:
Browse the offices below or
Call Us now for expert advice
on your office search.
Enquire about this office space on +44 203 355 5584
A business centre housed in a magnificent historic building boasting one of the best addresses in Paris; this office space in Place Louis Armand, Paris, offers up to 80 offices and 12 meeting rooms spread over 3 floors with the buildings reception area featuring a monumental staircase.
Facilities at the centre include 24 hour access; 24 hour voicemail; meeting rooms; conference rooms; boardrooms; digital telephone system; virtual office services; comprehensive IT network; kitchen facility; on-site management and office cleaning.
The centre has immediate access to Gare de Lyon Station, which provides comprehensive train and subway access throughout the city. Alternatively the centre is also serviced by a wide range of bus lines.
Enquire about this office space on +44 203 355 5584


text:
Module 4. Evaluation and Preparation for Hepatitis C Treatment
Lesson 2. Making a Decision on When to Initiate HCV Therapy
Section Navigation
Section Navigation
- Module 4 Overview
Evaluation and Preparation for Hepatitis C Treatment
- 0%Lesson 1
Goals for Treatment and Predicting ResponseActivities
- 1A.Core Concepts
- 1B.Goals for Treatment and Predicting Response
- 1C.ACG Treatment Resources
- Lesson 1 Quiz/CME/CNE
- 0%Lesson 2
Making a Decision on When to Initiate HCV TherapyActivities
- 2A.Core Concepts
- 2B.Making a Decision on Whether to Initiate Treatment
- 2C.Impact of Successful Treatment of Hepatitis C
- Lesson 2 Quiz/CME/CNE
- 0%Lesson 3
Cost and Access to Direct-Acting Antiviral AgentsActivities
- 0%Lesson 4
Evaluating Persons with Substance or Alcohol Use Prior to Treatment of Hepatitis CActivities
- 4A.Core Concepts
- 4B.Addressing Substance and Alcohol Use Prior to HCV Treatment
- 4C.Harm Reduction Coalition and Hepatitis C
- Lesson 4 Quiz/CME/CNE
- 0%Lesson 5
Addressing Anticipated Adherence Problems Prior to Treatment
- Module 4 Self-Assessment
Activity 2B. Making a Decision on Whether to Initiate Treatment
Learning Objective Performance Indicators
- Reflect on the indications, contraindications, and patient readiness when considering initiating hepatitis C therapy.
- Integrate knowledge of new medications when considering the timing of initiating hepatitis C therapy.
CNE/CME Continuing EducationThis lesson qualifies for 1 CME AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ or 1 CNE contact hour. View CE Notices.
Steps to Acquire CE for this Activity:2
Give FeedbackComplete survey3
Print CertificateObtain proof of CE
InstructionsTo complete this lesson you must work through all Lesson 2 Activities (listed below and on the left-hand navigation bar). After finishing the lesson activities, take the Lesson 2 Quiz. You can choose to obtain Continuing Medical Education (CME) or Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) credit at that point, but you must answer at least 80% of the questions correctly. After finishing the Lesson 2 Quiz, proceed to the next Lesson. After finishing all Module 4 lessons, you will be ready to take the Module 4 Self-Assessment.Raymond T. Chung, MD
Director of Hepatology and Liver Center
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts
DisclosuresThis presentation is part of a collaborative effort involving the University of Washington and the International Antiviral Society-USA (IAS-USA).IAS USA
Share by e-mailCheck
QuestionsThe Check-on-Learning Questions are short and topic related. They are meant to help you stay on track throughout each lesson and check your undestanding of key concepts.
You must be signed in to customize your interaction with these questions.
Funded by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- HCV Medications
- Daclatasvir (Daklinza)
- Elbasvir-Grazoprevir (Zepatier)
- Glecaprevir-Pibrentasvir (Mavyret)
- Ledipasvir-Sofosbuvir (Harvoni)
- Ombitasvir-Paritaprevir-Ritonavir (Technivie)
- Ombitasvir-Paritaprevir-Ritonavir and Dasabuvir (Viekira Pak)
- Peginterferon alfa-2a (Pegasys)
- Peginterferon alfa-2b (PegIntron)
- Ribavirin (Copegus, Rebetol, Ribasphere)
- Simeprevir (Olysio)
- Sofosbuvir (Sovaldi)
- Sofosbuvir-Velpatasvir (Epclusa)
- Sofosbuvir-Velpatasvir-Voxilaprevir (Vosevi)
- Course Modules
- Screening and Diagnosis of Hepatitis C Infection
- Evaluation, Staging, and Monitoring of Chronic Hepatitis C
- Management of Cirrhosis-Related Complications
- Evaluation and Preparation for Hepatitis C Treatment
- Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C Infection
- Treatment of Special Populations and Special Situations
- Special Topics
- Slide LecturesCore ConceptsMaster Bibliography
ContributorsSite OverviewContent Bundles
- Clinical Calculators
Copyright © 2017 Hepatitis C Online - AWS
Contact Us | Terms and Conditions | Privacy PolicyHepatitis C Online
CE (CNE/CME) Notices | Copyright and Attribution Notices
CE (CNE/CME) Notices | Copyright and Attribution Notices
Since you've received 80% or better on this quiz, you may claim continuing education credit.
You seem to have a popup blocker enabled. If you want to skip this dialog please Always allow popup windows for the online course.
Current Version: 2.4.3-a


text:
In connection with the list of men to whom Commencement parts have been assigned, it is interesting to see what these men do except to study, and also to see what proportion of men do nothing but study. Of course this last classification must not be taken literally, for there are very few men in the list who have not some interest outside their books. However, in order to draw some line between those who do and those who do not enjoy social advantages in the college, the class of "members of societies" is made to include members of the Hasty Pudding Club, Pi Eta, Delta Upsilon, Institute of 1770, O. K., and the Signet. Then besides the members of the 'varsity and athletic teams, the class or 'otherwise athletic' includes all men who have identified themselves strongly with athletics. Members of 'varsity musical organizations are also recorded. The table is made up from the list of provisional assignments of Commencement parts published in the CRIMSON of December 15.
Total assignment of parts 105
On 'varsity teams 7
On class teams 7
Otherwise athletic 3
Total of athletic men 17
Members of societies 42
Not members of societies 63
In musical organizations 11
Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.
Read more in NewsNo Headline


text:
North Hollywood, CA, US
Queens Road was taken in on May 2013 for a complete remodeling and a backyard pool/deck addition to be completed spring 2014. Vracko Design took me in for space planing, drafting, 3D rendering and conceptual designs for the current home owner.
The owner of this property wanted storage to be number one priority, therefore we designed a space where shows good taste and ideas put together. We took our clients ideas and suggestions during the entire first phase of this design process. Together we achieved a final design to be completed later this year.
Status: Under Construction
Location: West Hollywood, CA, US
My Role: Space Planing, Drafting, 3D RenderingD
Additional Credits: Vracko Design + Construction


text:
Here's the process.
First, the women harvest the olive-sized nuts from the argan trees, which grow only in southwestern Morocco. This is a picture of a goat harvesting some nuts of his own. Apparently, Moroccan goats are great at climbing trees. We spotted him on the side of the highway and had our driver pull over so we could snap a few pics.
Next, the women let the nuts dry. When they pick them, they look like green olives, but when they dry, they look brown and shriveled. To make a liter of oil, you need 88 pounds of fruit!
Finally, they squeeze the paste by hand to extract the oil. The oil is bottled and the remaining solid stuff left from squeezing is fed to the goats as a special treat (one of the women said it was the animal's version of chocolate).
Cool, right? What's your favorite argan product?
Editors' Picks: Best Argan Oil Products
How To Fix Hair That's Gone Crazy Town
Why Friends Help You Slim


text:
Final Fantasy II
Review by TKDBoy1889
"An underrated title of the series"
When people think of Final Fantasy most people's minds stray to a few of the games right away, such as 7 and 10, while others are not mentioned as much. Sad, because this game is a very fun game. Not the best title in the series but well above average and enjoyable, and it brought many things that became commonplace for the Final Fantasy series. This is the fourth game in the series, labeled 2 in the US since the real 2 and 3 were only released in Japan.
Graphics: 7/10
Final Fantasy 2 (4) was originally planned for the NES, but after various delays the development team decided to wait and release it out to the SNES instead. Graphically, speaking, this point is somewhat noticeable throughout the game, as sometimes the sprites look like slightly enhanced 8-bit sprites rather than pure 16-bit graphics.
That said, they aren't BAD at all. The artwork is actually pretty nice, and the visual of magic attacks are are beautifully rendered as well. The various dungeons also fit their themes fairly well. They are just somewhat primitive at times and a bit bare, failing to take full advantage of the SNES's powers. Ultimately though, it's far from a disappointment in terms of graphics. Could definitely be better, but it's pretty good.
Audio: 10/10
As is standard of the Final Fantasy Series the soundtrack is excellent. Nobuo Uematsu is something of a legend among videogame music composers. He really knew hot to make complex beats that are simply amazing. And this game is one of the many games that are proof of that. The battle music and boss music are especially epic, and the opening theme has a very powerful tone to it , fitting the opening scene very well and grabbing your attention from the start.
Music is a very important aspect of gaming, especially in games like this. And this game hits a bulls-eye with it.
Story: 8/10
Final Fantasy 2 (4)'s story was somewhat generic as it revolved around a similar core feature to most previous FF titles at the time: Elemental crystals. Elemantal crystals were, since the first game, a core element of the series. The main story revolves around the bid of an evil character looking to wield their powers to take over/destroy the world. Not very original.
But story-wise, Final Fantasy 2 (4) does incorporate many elements that had not been seen in the story before. For one, all the characters are pre-named real characters of the world with unique personalities and back-stories. It was also the first game of the series where the main protagonist was not a righteous moral hero from the start. The games main character, Cecil, actually starts off as a more conflicted character doing things that he feels might be wrong, but it takes a while for him to realize he's on the wrong path. And Cecil, while trying to save the world, is also seeking atonement. And character interaction fairly deep, with various relations established between many character, each cemented thanks to events during and/or before the game.
Final Fantasy four also has it's fair share of twists along the way in terms of the story. It's not the most complex but there are things that surprise you, keeping it entertaining throughout the game. This game is more character driven than previous titles, and that pays off. The core plot in itself is pretty typical, generic, but the details surrounding it give it good flavor.
Gameplay: 9/10
Just like the story, Final Fantasy 4's gameplay is similar to the older titles, but brings about many new aspects that become common in later titles. The biggest point is the introduction of the ATB (Active Time Battle) system. Rather than a pure turn-based system, this system revolves around the speed stat of every character determining how long they wait between turns. Also, enemies can attack independently of the player's turns, keeping the gameplay intense and somewhat quick-paced as you constantly try to stay ahead of the enemy in terms of attacking.
Final Fantasy also introduced many more playable characters than older establishments of the series: a total of twelve. It also introduced the concept of characters frequently joining and leaving your party. Throughout the game many party members join and leave, sometimes multiple times. This keeps the gameplay and fighting fresh throughout the game as the constant changing of party members means you have a constantly different set of classes to make use of. This helps keep the it from becoming too repetitive.
Aside from the above point, the gameplay can get repetitive over time. Also, grinding is, especially for a starting player, almost essential. And that can be a bit grating from time to time. This is countered somewhat by an open ended world that at various points allows you to explore and perform optional quests, often yielding nice rewards. And ultimately, most games are repetitive to an extent. The main question is "Is it fun?" And the answer to that here is "Yes."
Replay Value: 7/10
The replay value of this game largely falls under playing the game to do optional exploring you didn't do before or to go through the game without doing said exploring. Otherwise, the game's pretty linear and straightforward so it ultimately comes done to the fun factor. If you enjoyed playing the game first time, you'll enjoy it again. If you don't like your first playthrough, you probably won't like a second attempt.
Verdict: 8/10
This game is overshadowed by many other titles of the series, which is a shame because while it's not perfect, it's really fun and it started many concepts that later games owe to it. It's at times repetitive, and feels a bit generic. But overall it's loads of fun with it's combat system and it's cast of memorable characters that keep you wanting to learn more about the story. If you like Final Fantasy, or RPGs in general, I suggest this one.
Reviewer's Rating: 4.0 - Great
Originally Posted: 05/31/12
Game Release: Final Fantasy II (US, 11/23/91)
Got Your Own Opinion?
Submit a review and let your voice be heard.


text:
|Prihlásiť sa k tejto téme
Členom od Jun 08, 2011 17 príspevkov
ForexDTrader (partnerfx)
Aug 11 2011 at 16:18
I have been with RAS which stops copying my market orders for 2 weeks and http://forexdtrader.zulutrade.com/ for a month.
As your autosignal provider, I can only earn performance fee everytime I produce 100% net new profits for your account through my direct service. I don't earn cash rebates but you should so you may still make profits as long as I don't lose more than your rebates.
Many new thing you have never seen before. Please check me out at http://www.1onlyforex.com .
I am currently accept $10K or equivalent until my performance is at 200% which currently is at 179%.
Členom od Jun 08, 2011 17 príspevkov
ForexDTrader (partnerfx)
Aug 12 2011 at 15:28
(upravené Aug 12 2011 at 15:50 )
Pre zaslanie komentára sa musíte najskôr prihlásiť.


text:
Leah's Profile
Artisan of handmade Geek and Nerdcore crafts of various mediums, such as Sterling Silver, Resin and Glass.
Commissions are handled as business and daughter permit. :) Most items are made to order when purchased, please allow up to 10 days for your item to be created before it is shipped.
I recently began silverworking, and I've been working to improve that skill over the past year or so. Geeky fandoms and space rule my insprirations and many one off items that show up in the store occasionally are practice pieces to improve my skill and applying those to new geek inspired work.
I'm a rabid video game fan nad have been since my first Nintendo in 1989. I take a lot of inspiration from the games I have played over the years and also from the busy-minded friends that share my passions. :)…
- Female
- Born on October 31
- Joined August 8, 2009
Favorite materials
- Leah
- North Chattanooga, TN, United States


text:
I love a good food blog, don't you? They are not only fun to look at, all those drooling delicious pictures, there are really good must-try recipes!
I recently went to an event with Dole Salads and met a few fabulous foodies. I'm head over heels for their amazing blogs. You must follow them too. And to see more about the Dole event, scroll through the twitter feed for pics and links.
Here are 13 fabulous foodies to follow:
- 1 – This Week for Dinner – Jane and I go way back, hosting SocialLuxe Lounge together. But she also writes a weekly menu blog, helping you plan your week of meals. And be sure to see her new blog Kitchen Tunage all about her playlist of songs to listen to as you cook!
- 2 – Gimme Some Oven – Ali is the brains behind these quick and easy meals for fresh, simple and delicious. She's also recently added more "gimme" for film, life, reads, and style. Check her out!
- 3 – A Farm Girl's Dabbles – Brenda is the author of these farm-tastic recipes. She shares a mix of recipes, photos, and life on her blog. She "blends traditions of family into the modern foodie world". How cute are these mini lemon cakes?
- 4 – Rabbit Food for My Bunny Teeth – Catherine's blog started out sharing her personal story of weight loss, eating like a rabbit (she even has a bunny phone case). Her favorite food is kale, so she's a true bunny at heart!
- 5 – Damn Delicious – it's all in the name with Chung-Ah's food blog. Along with delicious recipes that are quick and easy, she shares restaurant and recipe reviews as well. Go to her!
- 6 – Farmgirl Gourmet – Heather's food blog has lots of great recipes, but she also writes about her home and garden. Her mission is to "inspire home cooks to think outside of the box and make real food from local, sustainable and homegrown sources." Love it!
- 7 – Foodie Crush – Heidi is the author of Foodie Crush, food blog and online magazine. As she has a "crush" on food, she loves to showcase other amazing foodies as well. I love all the food photography happening over there!
- 8 – Iowa Girl Eats – Kristen blogs about her food philosophy, of which I'm going to adopt: eat well, run often, travel far! She has fabulous photography, making me want to eat right through her pictures.
- 9 – Authentic Suburban Gourmet – Lisa has a passion for cooking and culture and it shows on her blog. She shares recipes and tips for food, wine, and entertaining.
- 10 – The Lemon Bowl – Liz blogs about healthy living, having shared her own personal healthy eating and lifestyle story. It's healthy meets delicious and it works so well!
- 11 – Chef in Training – Nikki has been inspired to blog about her experience as a "chef-in-training". She's always experimenting with new recipes and has found a passion in food. And it shows, see all her fabulous recipes!
- 12 – Reluctant Entertainer – Sandy shares her art of hospitality and entertaining on her blog. There are all kinds of tips and tricks for dining and entertaining, making it doable for anyone wanting to host a party!
- 13 – Handle the Heat – Last but not least is Tessa, handling the heat! She shares all kinds of yummy recipes and food tips. Tessa just published her first book, Cookies & Cream in stores now. Be sure to look for it!
What fabulous foodies are you following? Share the links in the comments!


text:
Ruling Passions:
This file is also available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format
This is a book about how different kinds of politicians ought to act. By this I mean not which policies they should pursue or which interests they should further--in a democracy, the people decide that--but how they should pursue them.
The work is organized around the idea of a political office. My use of this phrase needs explaining, since its several everyday meanings contradict one another, and my own specialized use differs from all of them. In British usage, a public "officer" or "official" tends to mean a civil servant. In American usage, the word "official" tends on the contrary to mean an elected politician, and "officer" is mostly limited to military and police use. Michael Walzer's well-known treatment employs yet a third sense of the word: for him, an office is something one competes for, and attains, based on standards of merit or just entitlement.1
My usage is based on that of Cicero, whose book on "offices" (De Officiis) refers to recurring public duties or responsibilities.2 A similar usage appears in the work of John Rawls, who uses "office" to mean any public role stemming from a morally justified social or political practice, including nonpolitical roles such as "promisor" and baseball player.3 So understood, an office may be defined as a social or political position that embodies ethical value: a position, devoted to a characteristic kind of action, whose existence is judged to serve worthy purposes, and whose grounding in those purposes gives rise to particular duties and privileges that derive from the position. Like Rawls, I prefer "office" to terms like "role" and "function" because the usual sense of the latter words is descriptive and value-neutral, while talk of office retains a moral connotation. By an office, then, I mean a position, profession, occupation, or status that has both social and ethical meaning.
Political office means something narrower, of course. What counts as "political" is endlessly controversial: among plausible definitions are those so narrow that they include only formal occasions of state sovereignty and those so broad that all private choices count as political. My own usage is somewhere in between: a political action is one which attempts to influence others on matters that require common decision. In this case my definition does seem to track common intuitions. Surely few people would call civil rights marches or community organizing drives "nonpolitical" (whether one favors them or not); on the other hand, few would call a preference for zucchini over broccoli a political choice, except to be contrary.
To talk of office is to stress the moral character of political action. Each office, even when there are no written rules governing it, involves obligations and licenses different from those of ordinary citizens. The term "office," with its emphasis on a particular job or task, also stresses the diversity of political action and the variety of moral requirements associated with different kinds of action. One office is not like another: different modes of political action have different requirements and should be judged by different standards. This work will argue for an approach to ethics and politics that I call "governing pluralism," which attempts to do justice to this diversity in political action and to the ethical diversity that goes with it.
I shall address, and distinguish, the habits of governance proper to three offices. They are all taken from the politics of the United States, but with the hope that conclusions reached will apply to modern democracies more generally. One is formal, and elected: United States senator. Two are informal and unelected: the hortatory moral activist, articulator of high public principles, and the political or community organizer, builder of movements and assembler of pressure on the basis of interest. These are not the only political offices in the United States or a similar democracy, but focusing on them has both commonsense and scholarly advantages. Those who fill these offices address issues of fundamental importance in public life, do so with great fanfare and under great public scrutiny, and labor under the burden of great responsibilities. Such officers--as opposed to, say, campaign canvassers or city planners--are the kind of people we think of when we praise great "leaders" or castigate inept or irresponsible "politicians."4
The responsibilities of these offices have received comparatively little attention from ethicists and political theorists, who tend to stress the duties of executive, judicial, and administrative positions. The proper performance of these duties is of course very important. Yet an exclusive focus on such offices distorts our picture of what political life generally involves and what kinds of moral problems politicians most commonly face. In particular, it encourages the belief that the most important ethical questions in political life involve whether (and when) occupying an office gives people an excuse to do things that are simply unjust or immoral by everyday standards.
Administrative office involves keeping secrets for the sake of larger goods, denying justice in particular cases for the sake of smooth bureaucratic functioning, and implementing policies one regards as ill-advised, even unjust, but imposed through legitimate channels. Judicial office involves the adjudication of conflicting rights (and inevitably the denial of some rights that parties think they clearly and absolutely deserve), and judicial decisions invoke such distinctively moral arguments having to do with legitimacy, authority, liberty, and equal justice that the occasions for moral and immoral outcomes receive our full attention. Executive office involves, as Weber famously claimed, the authority to use legitimate force--less euphemistically, a license to kill.5 On a more mundane level, it involves the responsibility of ordering all the administrative tasks that already arouse moral worries when taken individually. The potential immorality of all these roles is so striking that political ethics has become almost synonymous with the "dirty hands problem," the question of when politicians may do the wrong thing for good reasons, and how both politicians and the wider public should respond to their consciousness that it was indeed wrong.6 Or else political ethics involves an insistent denial that such questions are relevant, either from a hard-nosed consequentialist perspective that denies that actions with good outcomes can be morally wrong or from a Kantian perspective that denies that either office or the prospect of good outcomes can justify violations of moral duties.7
If hard cases make bad law, easy cases of moral conflict make bad political philosophy. By focusing on cases in which politicians clearly violate (or are tempted to violate) commonsense moral duties, we guarantee drama at the cost of perspective. We portray day-to-day politics as worse than it is. More subtly, we may encourage the lesson that political ethics is only interesting when the prospect of evil-doing is acute. This, however, is very misleading. In a more or less stable democracy, after all, most political hands are sweaty with handshakes, not dirty with clear moral filth.8 Everyday political morality involves questions of judgment and rhetoric in which our intuitions of good and bad are not clear morality of ordinary life does not tell us how to reconcile good policy and popular politics; which sorts of compromises on legislation and movement strategy are permissible (even required) and which involve selling out too much; how to make strong public appeals without offending people's prerogatives of disagreement, dissent, and simple self-assertion; how to persuade people that their true interests lie in collective action without denigrating the important private projects to which most people naturally devote their lives. Such decisions rarely involve clear "wrongs" by everyday standards. They result in neither death nor dismemberment; even their effects on property are slow and moderate, and take place through legitimate channels. They do not even involve clear lying and insincere manipulation nearly as often as people think, for such acts are remembered and hurt the offender later.
In fact, the kinds of collective reasoning and public appeals involved in legislative and citizen politics have few analogues in everyday life. Some of the nastier kinds of executive action do indeed look like ordinary butchery dressed up in nice words.9 But the deliberation and bargaining of the legislator, the hortatory rhetoric of the activist, and the patient listening and persuasion of the community organizer are different: the everyday, "unofficial" analogues of these activities simply do not have moral bite. Speculating about policy, trying to convince others of a moral point in a philosophy study group, or trying to understand why two of one's friends dislike each other are not immoral acts. (One is tempted to say they are never immoral.) One reason that politics is interesting, and the ethics of political life counterintuitive, is that it transforms "cheap" talk and mundane virtues into vital questions involving democratic respect, the nature of democratic collective action, and the special responsibilities of those whose daily actions embody power. As Amy Gutmann has pointed out, there is a great moral difference between a mere discussion, which may yield interesting conclusions, and deliberation, which aims at "action-guiding decision."10
As a way to get at such questions, this work applies the concept of office to both institutional and noninstitutional politics, and seeks a common theoretical starting point for the political actions appropriate to both. This is not usual, and may be controversial. Neither the advocates of "citizen" or noninstitutional politics nor its opponents would normally describe those who practice it as holding an office or facing the responsibilties of office. Advocates would find the label demeaning: to call Martin Luther King or Gloria Steinem an "officer" is to associate them with the duplicity and corruptions of power that the holders of office are assumed to embody. Opponents would find the label too flattering: conservatives and others have often argued that protest politicians lack moral standing since "nobody elected them." Both responses, I think, start from the association of office with authority: elected officials have the authority to make law; elected and appointed officers have the authority to enforce it; and both kinds of authority stem from institutions that cannot easily be questioned or challenged. Those who distrust authority do not want citizen politics tainted by association with it. Those who value authority do not want formal politics debased by association with activities that have lesser dignity and that in fact seem to undermine authority.
Without denying the link between formal office and authority, a work focused on political action rather than the design of formal institutions has reason to place questions of authority to one side and focus instead on how power of all kinds may be responsibly exercised.11 As I shall argue, the test for political officers is not only whether they cause the right outcomes but whether their actions stand to make democratic politics as a whole better or worse. So understood, the relevant question is not "Who has the authority to make and enforce law?" but "Who has the power to help or harm the democratic polity through his or her actions?" The latter question clearly involves broader issues than the former. To the extent that political ethics has focused on the actions of law-makers and law-enforcers, it has ignored not just an important set of theoretical questions but important kinds of political action that have serious implications for the quality of our public life. In my discussion of office I shall retain the everyday sense that an office involves difficult work and distinct moral responsibilities, while avoiding the natural but hasty assumption that only formal or institutionalized roles embody these qualities.
When we try to judge the behavior of politicians, or consider whether to take a more active role in supporting or opposing them, we immediately encounter problems. To judge politicians, we must balance democratic accountability against governing discretion. We must grapple with contradictory intuitions--that politics is at once a distinctively immoral business, that it is (or can be) somehow nobler than other ways of life, and that it is simply one kind of human action among many, subject to the same ethical rules. And we must decide what it is we fear most from political action: fanaticism, selfish indifference, gridlock and inefficiency, baseness and ignobility, unthinking cruelty, incompetence.
At least three different fields of inquiry claim to be helpful on these issues: leadership studies, political ethics, and political theory.
Leadership studies, a branch of political science, is concerned with political success and failure. A good leader is one who succeeds in getting done what she wants to get done: she is good at using power.12 Some leadership theorists argue that the things conducive to success and power are also conducive to "viable policy," meaning effective, durable policy.13 Others, more confident in moral progress and more romantic in their picture of how leaders are linked to followers, call for "transformational" leadership: they hope for leaders who will empower the inchoate moral strivings of the electorate in opposition to the self-interested demands of bureaucrats and political hacks.14 Both outlooks are forceful, as well as moral in their own terms, but neither is good enough. Constitutional, pluralistic government aims at limiting political power, not just promoting its effectiveness. Leadership studies, generally written as advice to princes, should always provoke the question about when we should root for princes to succeed and when we should cheer their failures. When it avoids talking about the ends and principles of governance, leadership studies stacks the deck in favor of the politicians it counsels. It is insensitive even to the claims of opposing politicians--let alone to the claims of ordinary citizens, who lack power and whose ability to control the top leaders may be more notional than real. To the extent that leadership theory claims to fill this moral gap by borrowing from psychology, or by making appeals to the needs of democracy, it does not (I shall argue in chapter 3) put forth well-supported theories of the psyche or of democracy to back these claims up. This weakness in theory is more or less fatal, and the current project will take only three things from leadership studies.
First, a concern with cases. To force clarity and avoid ambiguity, ethical statements about political action should cite concrete examples of when the rule has been broken, the office disgraced, as well as concrete examples of when the rule has been followed, the office done credit to. Second, a concern with character. As citizens, we must select which politicians to trust with power before we can judge actual actions in office.15 To do this we need an idea of which qualities of character are conducive to acting well in office, and how to discern these qualities. Third, a wide definition of what an examination of office should concern itself with. Politicians can and do lie, solicit bribes or more subtle forms of influence, embezzle, abuse their offices, and break laws; we want to know when we should condemn them for such things. But in talking of "ethics," which Bernard Williams has rightly returned to its ancient and broad sense of "how one should live,"16 we should consider not just what it means to act badly but what it means to act well. Political ethics must address the substance, as well as the form, of a political life. How politicians should aggregate interests, engage in complex policy negotiations, or make public appeals are ethical questions, not just pragmatic ones. Plain corruption is morally wrong but also morally simple: where we most need guidance is in judging more complex actions, which offend no formal law or ethics code but affect all our fortunes. I shall focus in this project on the affirmative duties and proper habits of political life, both because corruption has received more attention than these questions and because it is easier to recognize betrayal or malfeasance when one knows what one means by trust and good service. Leadership studies, then, asks many of the right questions about political life, though it often gives inadequate answers.
The relation of the present project to moral philosophy is more complex. In a sense, of course, all moral reasoning about politics and society (or at least all careful reasoning that makes serious arguments and rebuts objections) is moral philosophy. Yet the field of moral philosophy as currently constituted tends to embody not only a set of approaches but a characteristic set of premises. First, moral philosophy tends to be universalist in scope: the standards of morality are assumed not to vary among different spheres of life. Second, moral philosophy is universalist in justification: a moral action is one that can be justified from the standpoint of the rights and/or interests of the whole human race (and on some accounts animals as well); to favor some people's interests over others' is precisely the kind of selfish and narrow impulse that moral philosophers regard it as their duty to oppose. Third, in making exceptions to general rules, moral philosophy prefers instrumental to intrinsic arguments: even those philosophers who justify occasional violation of people's rights, or occasional preference for one group's interests over another's, find such actions justified only when carrying them out will ultimately serve the rights or interests of all. That certain special relationships or practices might overule universal rights and interests permanently and in principle is not seriously considered. Finally, moral philosophy distrusts political compromise as a response to moral diversity. Starting from the natural (but perhaps mistaken) assumption that only one moral position can really be best on a particular question, the moral philosopher tends to regard deep moral disagreement as a problem or a tragedy, and to regard most everyday compromises as potentially dangerous concessions to "simple human badness."17
I shall dissent from all these positions. I shall argue that politics involves special relations between politicians and the constituents or followers on whose behalf they act. These relations acquire particular moral force in democratic politics, where equal democratic respect for each citizen's opinions requires that politicians limit their reliance on their own personal, fallible judgment. I shall claim that politics rightly involves links between politicians and particular groups (constituencies, voluntary political associations, parties, local neighborhoods) and that in respecting these links politicians normally should give partisan and partial attention to the claims of those to whom they are connected. I shall defend these partial attachments on intrinsic grounds--having to do with democratic values and the special vulnerability of the unaffiliated citizen in the face of collective power--rather than claiming that they always lead to good consequences (though they may). Finally, I shall defend in principle, and not only as a second best, the goods of pluralistic, constitutional politics as "made for people of fundamentally differing views."18 Once a moral position has proven persistently appealing and incapable of clear refutation, the only way to show respect to those who hold it is to accommodate them, and their views, into the democratic polity as much as possible--while looking for ways in which the pursuit of their views can be made maximally compatible with the legitimate claims of others. At some point in moral disputes, the highest moral imperative is not further moral remonstration but an effort to reach principled compromise.
All of these dissenting positions, to be sure, have vocal defenders from within moral philosophy, and I shall have cause to mention them. But these defenders are often seen by both themselves and their opponents as marginal or exotic, their works regarded as interesting and provocative japes at mainstream moral philosophy positions rather than threats to the ultimate status of these positions. Departures from austere moral universalism are taken seriously, by and large, only in the applied fields: professional ethics and political and constitutional theory. As I shall claim in chapter 1, these fields should in fact be regarded not as poor or inexact cousins of "real" ethical theory but as containing their own independent and subtle insights, which respect the complexity of our moral experiences and political lives.
For such reasons, the study of political office turns naturally and all but inevitably to political theory, with its focus on more or less acceptable political orders and more or less salutary political actions. Political theory starts where the admittedly more ambitious aims of moral philosophy are left at an impasse. In the second chapter, I shall argue that a certain account of the relation between political office and the purposes of a democratic polity provides better answers to the ethical questions surrounding political action than do the simple and uncompromising theories of both ethical universalists and their particularist critics. I shall defend the merits of deriving the privileges and limits of a political office from an analysis of the purpose that office serves in a democratic and constitutional political arrangement.
This is not to claim that political theory solves these questions easily or immediately. For the clash between moral universalism and democratic particularism affects our political intuitions as well as our philosophic debates. Not just moral theorists but ordinary citizens want politicians to respect everyone's rights and interests equally--at the same time as we all want special attention paid to our own. A political-theory treatment of office, therefore, cannot start with "ordinary" opinions or a supposed consensus on political norms. Something more is needed if political theory is to avoid merely replicating the interminable disputes over principle that wrack political life--disputes between populists and elitists, fervent activists and determined insiders, instinctive purists and instinctive compromisers. As with the conflict between vocationalists and universalists in the sphere of ethics, this work will try to settle these political disputes in the political sphere through a third alternative that recognizes and accounts for the appeal of each perspective while finding well-grounded principles to settle unavoidable disputes between them. This does not mean bloodless compromise, but a new account that accommodates more concerns than either unmodified perspective yet captures some of the appeal of each.
What this means will be fleshed out in chapter 2 through a reading of three theories of the democratic political order: Aristotle's Politics; Hamilton, Madison, and Jay's Federalist, and Tocqueville's Democracy in America. The basic conclusion will be that political officers must in different ways embody, and promote in the populace, the half-virtue I shall call "democratic constancy," which resembles not so much ancient "virtue" as the effective pursuit of interest. Democratic officers' function is not to tell ordinary citizens how to live but to restrain us from overhasty and ill-shaded methods of getting what we want, while prodding us to pursue difficult and farsighted projects whose worth we might not see on our own. Senators embody constancy directly in the course of governance, by responsibly listening to, evaluating, transforming, and enacting into good laws public passions and desires that already exist. Moral activists and organizers encourage constancy in the population by using the moral appeals and organizational structures that Tocqueville noted were so important for fighting individualistic and shortsighted tendencies in democratic life.
Thus, against current trends in democratic theory to define democracy in very demanding terms that stress deliberative rationality, human perfection, and/or universal participation, this work argues for a view of democracy grounded in competing interests. Aspects of this interest theory can be derived from the political philosophy of theorists like Madison and Tocqueville, from the old pluralist tradition in democratic theory and political science, and, in a different and more recent version, from certain sophisticated forms of rational choice theory. Interest theories are often criticized for being reductionist in their view of human nature and indifferent to questions of power and social justice in the portrait they paint of human affairs. This work seeks to address both criticisms by stressing a complex definition of human interest that incorporates Humean sympathy for others and Tocqueville's "self-interest properly understood," as well as a complex definition of democracy that stresses how citizen politics and social movements are needed to challenge the tendency of interest politics to favor the powerful and connected. The work seeks to generalize Madison's insights in Federalist No. 10: democratic politics, if it is to avoid tyranny and factional domination, needs not only the checks of representation and geographic diversity within formal governing structures but effective mechanisms for enabling moral critique and organized pressure from powerless people who stand outside those structures.19
In chapter 3, I shall address the objections of those who concede the link between political office ethics and larger theories of democratic politics, but whose accounts of democracy, and hence of office, differ from mine. My claim will be not that opposing accounts of democracy are incoherent or simply wrong, but that my account makes fewer controversial assumptions, is less time-bound in its judgments, and is more helpful for guiding practical assessments of political figures given people and democratic politics as they are. First, I shall examine the attempt of moral perfectionists to claim authority over office ethics, not (as some moral philosophers do) by claiming as an axiom that moral philosophy defines the only legitimate framework for practical ethics, but by claiming that a certain portrait of moral reasoning can best define what democracy needs, what true egalitarian political principles look like. I will argue that the proponents of this view cannot and do not consistently hold it. Once they examine actual political examples, it becomes clear that moral philosophers who seek to avoid political irrelevance (or worse) must acknowledge the importance of politics, must acknowledge that philosophic truth and moral perfection are not always the standards that motivate political argument. Once we realize this, moral philosophy ceases to have any special claim to distinctive expertise about political discussion (though it can give us useful starting points and questions for political inquiry). Second, I shall examine three works on leadership, which put forth explicitly or implicitly "functional" definitions of leadership success but whose notion of good democratic functioning differs from mine. I will argue that these theories combine, to a greater or lesser extent, dogmatic and time-bound theories of psychopathology with unexamined and utopian ideals of democracy, using arguments from one of these standpoints to cover up weaknesses in arguments derived from the other. Democratic constancy theory is more credible, more durable, and more honest. Finally, I shall examine "economic" theories of democracy that lay claim to a hardheaded understanding of the incentives that drive political action. While sophisticated versions of these theories do tell us much about how politicians and ordinary citizens can be expected to act and to respond to each other, and remind us not to make moral suggestions that contradict democratic realities (especially the need for politicians to maintain public support), they also leave room quite explicitly for considerations that they cannot themselves address. Within the bounds of electoral reality and voter preference, there remains room for ethical action, political judgment, and voter deliberation, and on these subjects economics provides less insight than political theory.
Three succeeding chapters will examine the three political roles I have selected for inquiry. As mentioned, one of these, the senator, holds formal office and has special obligations of governance; the other two, the moral activist and the organizer, do their work in civil society, that is, by rallying ordinary citizens outside formal institutional roles. This work will argue that the last two offices should be treated much like the first. They are political offices, no less real for being informal and voluntary. They are needed for the good functioning of the polity, and their occupants should be scrutinized with the same mix of hope and skepticism that we apply to elected politicians.
First I shall address the office of senator. The office obviously involves representation, often considered the most difficult single issue surrounding the discussion of political office. I will argue that an analysis of democratic and constitutional purposes provides a persuasive account of representation in the particular case of legislative representation (though other accounts may be better suited to other political and nonpolitical roles). Senators, in a constitutionalist analysis, contribute two distinct functions to the regime: deliberation and interest mediation. Deliberation requires that senators force a second look at proposals that are politically popular but perhaps unwise or badly formulated. Interest mediation requires that senators find some way to reconcile both the objective interests of their own states and the deeper fears and concerns of the states' voters (not necessarily the same thing, but both necessary for legitimacy and stability) with the interests of other states and the concerns of other voters. These might seem like two different functions, or three, but I will argue that the same process, or habit of action, serves all of them. Senators who act well will frustrate, as much as possible, unwise or evil public passions while seeking to articulate and address the legitimate concerns and fears that promote these passions. They will look for sets of policies that the electorate may not feel strongly about now nor even understand, but will accept in time (six years being a long time in politics) as conducive to their long-term aims. A bad senator will do the opposite: she will indulge constituents' most ill-advised passions and create new and more dangerous ones, will avoid opportunities to recast debates when demagoguery is easier, and will let an inordinate obsession with reelection overwhelm any concern for longer-term goods of a state or country. The difference is neither obscure nor partisan in nature, as I hope to show by a comparison of Everett Dirksen's senate career with that of Joseph McCarthy.
The moral activist and the organizer do not control the coercive power of the state. This gives them (in comparison to senators) more freedom to make the kinds of appeals we do not want our rulers to make. But it also gives them duties to improve the quality of public desires and demands in ways consistent with democracy, and to limit their ambitions for themselves and their offices lest they become new sources of coercive rule--"antidemocratic" officers in the double sense of unelected and acting contrary to democratic principles of freedom and moral diversity.
The moral activist seeks to achieve social reform primarily by making public appeals (spoken, written, or both) to widely shared public values. Having no direct power over law, the activist seeks to improve society by improving mores--the "habits of the heart" that shape our daily life and personal aspirations--and public opinion, the force that enforces mores. The difficulties and dangers of doing this can be seen from a reading of Rousseau, who claimed that mores could not be altered by force and could only be affected by enlisting those with social prestige on the side of change. The moral activist enlists the prestige of numbers in order to buttress a moral argument for changing mores. Combining the two roles that Rousseau called "minister" and "tribune," she uses her standing as a leader of a voluntary moral community to gain a hearing for her appeal to civic values. To combine the two roles requires a subtle understanding of democratic political theory--an ability to distinguish old or new versions of the City of God from the City of Man--and a great deal of personal restraint in keeping one's ministerial ambitions within the bounds of a moral association and one's political ambitions outside it. Martin Luther King Jr. exemplifies the best case. He is to be valued not only for his moral stature and rhetorical nobility but for his subtle perception of constitutional powers and limits, which his own soaring rhetoric often concealed. King not only combined the minister and tribune roles but used each to enrich the other. At the other extreme, however, activists are tempted to try at remaking society in the image of their religious ideals, and to deform the principles and wisdom of their religious and moral traditions out of political impatience with their restraints. Frances Willard, the prohibition activist and social reformer of the nineteenth century, will serve as an example of the harm that can be done to our liberty and our democratic structures when moral activism is done badly.
Finally, there is the office of organizer. The organizer, as distinct from the activist, displays little interest in the question of shared values and in the method of moral appeal. An organizer's function is to exert pressure on the political process (or on private organizations) in order to promote the interests and civic activity of a class, neighborhood, or social group. She does this by enlisting the allegiance and participation of that group. "Pressure" here means the attempt to force change through fear of political damage or economic losses. And the means of building organizations and adding pressure generally involve unabashed appeals to self-interest, pride and ambition, and constructive anger. Any interest theory of democracy must make room for this office, both because the free pursuit of interest allows it inevitably to arise, and because without organizers those who lack power would be treated unjustly and in ways that endangered the values and peace of the democratic order. Even though organizers must be allowed and encouraged to operate, however, the tactics of pressure, when effective, are crude and dangerous. Once again, an account of democratic constitutionalism provides ethical limits on action even in the absence of formal laws. A good organizer seeks to extend either the formal tools of democracy--voting and pursuit of interest--or the effective exercise of these tools, to groups who have previously seen little benefit from such mechanisms. The goal is full and equal integration into the life of the polity. Good organizers want those they are organizing to develop their civic capacites and improve their material opportunities (this does not require a narrow "bourgeois" attitude, though it is consistent with one). The degenerate organizer has no such goal. Driven by anger and pursuing hatred as an end in itself, he--for he is generally male--is accurately accused of "loving the ghetto," or slum, or sweat-shop, for the hatred it fosters and the angry audience it provides for the organizer. Because the end is the glory of the organizer, not the civic development of the community, the intelligent interests of the community are soon abandoned as the organizer seeks out meaningless confrontation. Ella Baker, the unsung hero of civil rights organizing, provides a fine example of hardheaded organizing in the service of human ends; Black Power leader Stokely Carmichael demonstrates the danger of an organizer whose hatred led him to miss the difference between real progress and flamboyant self-promotion.
I shall close with two wider points about the project. First, a functional or purposive analysis of democratic office need not imply a quietist acceptance of the status quo or even the assumption that only minor changes are needed. The functionalist political analysis pursued here is distinct from the kind of functionalist sociology that sees society as an organic whole with well-designed and well-ordered parts contributing to the good of that whole. While it claims ethical neutrality, such sociology contains a tacit moral preference for keeping social structures the way they are: in a vulgar form of Hegel's "the actual is rational," we are supposed to accept the system, and the roles within it, as the best possible, or at least avoid fundamental criticisms lest the whole edifice come crashing down. To speak of function in political philosophy or legal theory, however, is only to suppose that political offices exist for good reasons, and that filling them well means acting according to, and with attention to, those reasons. A democratic constitutional order is a good thing, but it will not work well, or at all, unless the people who run it--including ordinary citizens--act, in some sense, decently.
The actions suggested by political ethics must, if they are to be taken seriously, be politically possible, but that does not mean that they are easy or that the habits supporting them are common. An office can be said to have an ethic appropriate to it even if few people currently appreciate this ethic or act according to it. In fact, it is very likely that political offices will be filled by the wrong people, and be performed rather badly, much or most of the time. All we can do is set forth the best possible arguments and examples as standards, so that we have something clear to look for in our officers and yardsticks to assess when they are falling short. In sum, this work shall try to abide by the first rule of good political theory: "be pessimistic."
Second, the animating spirit of the whole inquiry should be made clear. While it aims to provide useful insights to members of all democratic polities, this work frankly values the special genius of American political thought and practice, which I shall call governing pluralism. Americans insist, both in theory and in practice, on denying that any organ of government is sovereign.20 Different state, county, local, and national levels of government have different duties and functions; within the federal government power is not concentrated in a parliament but dispersed among branches; and we expect the voluntary institutions of civil society to play a role in political affairs that in other countries would be monopolized by the state. This principled plurality of governing institutions implies a principled plurality of office ethics: since the functions of governing offices are diverse, so are the characters and habits that conduce to the good performance of each office. Our representative and voluntary institutions not only allow diversity of character, by letting citizens live various nonpolitical lives and not requiring citizens to subscribe to a single national ideology. They also require diversity of character even within the broad class of politician, since the good functioning of the polity demands diverse political officers who vary (systematically, not arbitrarily) in their outlooks, styles, and temperaments.
Doing justice to governing pluralism is more radical than it sounds, since many thinkers talk of pluralism without having this governing pluralism in mind. Theories of moral pluralism, in particular, can recognize a plurality of moral beliefs and ideologies in the population while still thinking of politicians as having a single function: to create order amid this Babel. (After all, one undeniable moral pluralist is Thomas Hobbes.) A concern with cultural pluralism is consistent with having nothing to say about the different modes of government. A theory of interest-group pluralism can lead to conclusions opposite to those of this project: while interest-group pluralists often claim that clashes among groups will lead to order, liberty, and approximate justice if left alone, this work denies this and claims that at least a certain attention to the principles and purposes of the whole polity must animate the actions of all political officers.
Finally, it is often thought that theories of universal democratic participation or deliberation by their nature do justice to all the different viewpoints present in the regime. But one can speak of democracy as a standard while using this concept in a rigid way that denies governing pluralism. Kantian and deliberative ideals of democracy sometimes argue as if a modern democracy were, or should be, a single rational conversation among the whole citizen body.21 I shall defend instead the mix of barter, persuasion, moral appeal, group power struggle, and limited rational deliberation that at its best gives modern democracies both vitality and stability--and is in any case the only way democracy is ever likely to be practiced. To engage in political life is not to join an austere Kantian or deliberative order, but to play one of several different positions in a loud, democratic contest where power and persuasion are hard to separate and rarely need to be separated. This is not to deny that the contest has rules, reasoned rules. What follows will aim to do justice to both the reasons behind the rules and the excitement of the game.
File created: 8/7/2007
Questions and comments to: email@example.com
|New Book E-mails
|New In Print
|PUP Blog
|Princeton APPS
|Sample Chapters
|Princeton Legacy Library
|Exam/Desk Copy
|Recent Awards
|Princeton Shorts
|Freshman Reading
|PUP Europe
|About Us
|Contact Us
|PUP Home


text:
Prices from €320 per night in a deluxe room
Fantastic value for money starting at €629.00 for 5 day tour. Check out site for full details of whats included, WOW!!!
Prices from 50 Euro per day
£49.50 per person sharing
Prices from £45 per tour
Prices from 45 Euro per day
Car ferry plus driver from £75 one way.
Prices from 40 Euro per day
2 nights with breakfast sharing twin/double room incl breakfast & car ferry crossing from £159 per adult
Inclusive of lunch of oysters ciders and other local food and drink
€7.50 per Adult/Family & Group Rates available on request
Car ferry plus driver from £75 one way
£85 per person for 2 people or £75 per person for groups of 3 or more. Inclusive of brunch.
Doolin Cave tour admission for 12 euro, normally 15 euro
£55 per person - minimum 4. Cost is inclusive of Irish coffee and sweet treats
€10.00 per Adult for a fully guided tour/Family & Group Rates available on request
Want to know more? Ask a question in our Community, they're the people who know Ireland best.
For more information on travel, accommodation and attractions have a look at our brochures and maps.
If you're a visitor from the island of Ireland you may want to visit one of these sites… Otherwise proceed to Ireland.com
Ireland.com uses cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies from Ireland.com.