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Publication: The New York Times
Author: Jackie Calmes
02/16/2010 - Senator Evan Bayh's comments this week about a dysfunctional Congress reflected a complaint being directed at Washington with increasing frequency, and there is broad agreement among critics about Exhibit A: The unwillingness of the two parties to compromise to control a national debt that is rising to dangerous heights.After decades of warnings that budgetary profligacy, escalating health care costs and an aging population would lead to a day of fiscal reckoning, economists and the nation's foreign creditors say that moment is approaching faster than expected, hastened by a deep recession that cost trillions of dollars in lost tax revenues and higher spending for safety-net programs.----Many analysts say the president and Congress could send a strong signal to global markets by agreeing this year to a package of both long-term tax increases and spending reductions, especially in the popular entitlement programs, that would not take effect until 2012. That is the recommendation of two new studies, one from a diverse group sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and a separate joint project of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.Read the full article Party Gridlock in Washington Feeds Fear of a Debt Crisis on The New York Times Web site.


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What the sick, self-pitying part of me meant when I said I needed an edgy dude was that, at heart, I needed a man as confused and crazy as I thought I was.
internet dating
Here are a few translations (from BS to English, of course) of some of the more ridiculous things I've seen guys write on OKCupid. All in fun, people, all in fun.
A hard-hitting journalistic exposé.
A depressing new study found that dudes on OKCupid are most attracted to women who claim to be cheaters.
This post brought to you by 1-900-Mix-a-Lot.
do this don't
I've been rejected A LOT. I felt compelled to find out why.
Hooking up wasn't the problem; the problem was how I compulsively relied on alcohol to help satisfy my bottomless need for male approval.
good guys
Why is it that so many "good guys" act like adult babies, and not in a fetish sense?
In other news, water is wet, astronauts are attractive, and Carrie Underwood is the perfect post-breakup singer-songwriter to sing at one's baffled hallmates from a dorm room floor.
I will never have hair as voluminous and curly as Marc Bolan's, but I can try.
I'm the opposite of those girls who say, "I don't get along with women," or "I hate girls, they're too catty." My friends are almost exclusively female and it's been this way since the beginning of time.
I may kind of hate Pinterest, but that doesn't mean we need a "dude equivalent." Particularly when it just features photos of scotch tumblers and animals holding Bowie knives.
I had a full fledged Overreaction to an email from a stranger. Here's the uplifting note he wrote me back
"You are even more delicious than the foam in my Guinness" and other valid reasons for calling it quits.
Dudes! They're the best.
bill hicks
The second time, you were a little more confident, a little more adventurous, and a lot more capable of processing your surroundings and committing them to memory.
I mean, this IS the most important thing to me, so, obvi, I know what I'm talking about. Also: Roxy surfer chicks try to actually surf. And it pisses a few guys off. SHOCKING!
Sadly, as a female who's been watching NFL games in bars since the 90s, I have a lot of experience dealing with men who can't fathom that a girl knows her football.

subset: commoncrawl


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Boxing Kiss A few words of advice. Dont ever kiss the boxer you are about to fight. 1/5/2006 12:00:00 AM 1,054,275
Couple's Impressive Pool Trick Shots From the looks of it, those aren't the only balls she'll be playing with... 6/6/2013 10:37:23 AM 13,419
Dolphin Kisses Dog And Jumps For Joy A magic moment caught between a dolphin and a dog. 6/26/2012 12:00:00 AM 17,572
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Escape Convicts A man escapes from prison where he has been for 15 years. He breaks into a house to look for money a...read more 5/26/2010 12:00:00 AM 9,216
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Girls Kissing This one is for the fellas. Its always hot to see a couple girls making out. 1/5/2007 12:00:00 AM 482,589


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A modest proposal: return baseball to the olympics
The Olympics are a time for the best and brightest of the nation to come together and prove who is the best. Intense physical competitions requiring precision focus and animal strength are stacked around the clock, leaving one with no time to catch their breath. Over two weeks, human perfection is on display as athletes are pushed to their limits, all for the honor of hearing their country's anthem playing for all to hear as they stand atop one of the most prestigious awards platforms of all time
And baseball isn't invited to the party
Snubbed by the International Olympic Committee (in favor of such athletic competitions as horse dressage and skeet shooting), baseball now joins a cluster of misfit sports at the bottom of the IOC wastebasket. It just doesn't seem right. America's pastime sharing the same spot on the shelf as has-beens like croquet and polo? This should not be. The world is now deprived of seeing Mark Trumbo blast a line-drive clear over the left-field wall. With few exceptions, those outside the States will never know the speed of a Peter Bourjos steal, or a Mike Trout dash-and-leap into center field. The eyes of Earth will not be looking when Weaver, Wilson, Haren, Santana, and now Zack Greinke leave 'em lookin. How can these feats of dynamic strength fall off the radar while sailors compete to see who can make their boat go the fastest?
Baseball is clearly a sport worthy of more respect, perhaps other fallen Olympic events deserve some respect as well. Maybe by combining with another physical contest, baseball can get that little extra push that the Olympic Committee needs to see to bring it back to the limelight. Unfortunately, rejected sports like jau de plome and racquets weren't known for their nail biting excitement and water motorsports doesn't have a place outside of the Kauffman Stadium fountains. To narrow it down: The choices are rugby, or tug-of-war. Rugby has a reputation for being a violent sport, and the Halos are one injury away from an extended string of Vernon Wells starts.
Tug of war it is.
The problem now is the MLB's notorious resistance to change. It is no secret that, despite the outcry of fans, Commissioner Selig has been resisting the pull of instant replay for years. The solution is to start small. Take the NFL's formula for change and introduce tug of war rules only in the playoffs to start. Wild cards are contested by full team 40-on-40 tug of war matches. World Series games go best-of-seven games and best-of-3 starting roster rope wars. Soon, all tie games and tied records go to tug-of-war tiebreaker. Coaches will be train Triple-A players to be "pullers" and keep them on the bench like NHL enforcers. Baseball is back in the Olympic Games and the MLB has a new draw that should bring in fans by the thousands.
And if the Angels can somehow manage to coax Bengie Molina out of retirement to act as an anchor, they will instantly become one of the most feared tiebreakers in the game.
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By Harry Haun
Having grown up with the Peron legend, Roger is a little bemused by Cerveris' homework on the role. "He did so much research to do Peron. When I go to his dressing room, I laugh because he has all those pictures, and he has a lot of stuff from Argentina up there — Juan Peron, Evita — and he's buying tango recordings. If you go to his dressing room, it's like being in a very small flat in Argentina."
Cerveris agreed. "I have to say that some of my finest work on this show is my dressing room. Eric, my dresser, and I try to evoke Argentina, and I think we've done a good job. Elena calls it my bulin, which is the Argentine word for a room for a rendezvous.
"The whole production has been a thrill and incredibly hard work, but easy in such a fantastic way and bounded in such an immediate and meaningful way."
06 Apr 2012
photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN
"Elena's very sweet. I love watching her perform. I've learned a lot from her. She's been incredible and tremendous and very kind and very giving. I've certainly asked her a lot of questions, and she has been wonderful in providing every single answer. Then, it's just figuring it out as an actor." One nice thing: they've cut her some slack about duplicating Roger's authentic Argentine. "We don't have to do a Spanish accent. They've been fantastic about it. 'Well, you're not Argentine, so don't do it.'"
Martin, who's top-billed but defers to Roger at the curtain call, came late to the party, made a fast pass through the revelers smiling broadly and left.
What press activity there was came at the start of the evening, with the red carpet in the alleyway in front of the hotel getting a heavy workout from celebrities.
Starting with: Debra Messing and Will Chase of "Smash," Brian Boitano, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Rent's Anthony Rapp, producer-actor Michael A. Alden, Love Never Dies' Sierra Boggess, Relatively Speaking's Marlo Thomas and hubby Phil Donahue, comedienne Kathy Griffin, Vogue's Anna Wintour, Jill Paice, Alexandra Silber, Elizabeth Stanley, Tony winner David Hyde Pierce and Brian Hargrove, Barbara Walters in shocking pink and subdued manner ("No, Evita was a little before my time"), Tonya Pinkins, CBS's Gayle King, Come Fly Away's Karine Plantadit-Bageot, director Lonny Price (toiling on his Merrily We Roll Along documentary), Cheyenne Jackson ("I just spent this last year writing an album. We haven't decided on a title yet"), Harvey Evans, John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey and a fit-as-a-fiddle-looking Michael Douglas.
Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN |
Also: John Noble, Adamari Lopez, Desmond Child, Bernie Williams, Amy Fine Collins with daughter Flora, Ruth Wilson, John Quinones, Rafael Marquez and Jaydy Michel, Maggie Grace, Elizabeth Vargas, Andy Cohen and Khrystyne Haje.
Bryan Batt arrived with his Love Letters pen-pal, Patricia Clarkson, and his life partner Tom Clanfichi: "Tom and I met 23 years ago doing Evita at the Carousel Dinner Theatre in Akron, OH — and we've been together ever since. I was Che and he was a Magaldi understudy. So we had to come tonight."
"I caught a preview and came back," admitted Vanessa Williams. "Ricky's enunciation is great. I was completely blown away by it. You can understand every word."
The Tony-nominated Maria of Broadway's last West Side Story, Josefina Scaglione, headed up a large Latin contingent that included Jorge Arguello and Susan Sega, Karla Monroig and Tommy Torres, Marco Zunino and Bianca Marroquin, Ruben Blades ("I'm here for Ricky and Puerto Rico") and Luba Mason.
Constantine Maroulis recognized there was a role for him in Evita but is now too concentrated on his Jekyll & Hyde ("We start rehearsing in August, hit the road a bit and be back here the end of the year"). Similarly, lyricist-director David Zippel said he's planning to tour his Primary Stages show, The Best Is Yet To Come: The Music of Cy Coleman, and, hopefully, bring it in.
Richard Jay-Alexander, the first to put Ricky Martin on Broadway (in Les Miserables years ago), starts directing Kristin Chenoweth April 7 for her 19-city tour that will begin May 9 in Seattle.
Lin-Manuel Miranda with wife Vanessa, was reeling from the news he got about Evita's missing corpse, alluded to in the show's last lines and amplified by a friend after the show. "Google it," he challenged.
Read more about the Broadway history of Evita in the Playbill Vault.


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I don't know about you, but I'm having a lot of trouble trusting nuclear scientists these days. They couldn't prevent Fukushima and, now that it's happened, they can't fix it. It's still spewing, and their best estimates are that it will take 30 years to "clean up" -- AS IF there was ANY place to put the mess! Tank farms of highly-irradiated water is NOT a solution!
After Chernobyl we were assured that "Western" reactors are different, and completely safe from meltdown. They are different, but they are not safe. Now, a year after Fukushima, yesterday's Japan Times contained an article by an MIT-trained nuclear engineer. The author apparently could not conceive of the idea that it is essentially impossible to make a safe nuclear power plant. By that I mean that even with infinite funds, you'd still have to contend with human error. But even so, funds are NEVER unlimited. The author listed about a dozen things that went wrong in Fukushima, claiming that if any of them hadn't gone wrong, the meltdowns could have been prevented.
Perhaps that's true, but there will be other meltdowns, and even if all the author's recommendations were taken (which has a snowball's chance in a reactor core of happening) there would still be meltdowns or worse at our reactors. He hasn't covered airplane strikes against dry storage casks, for instance.
I suppose his main suggestion should be considered wonderful in theory. "If you are operating a nuclear reactor, you must find a way to bring it down to a cold shutdown in any type of emergency."
Isn't that grand? An MIT-trained nuclear physicist, writing in the Japan Times, tells us this! If only they had listened to him 50 years ago, when then designed those old Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactors! But there are SO MANY "Achilles' heals" in THAT design! Nevertheless, even I can assure the MIT-trained nuclear engineer that avoiding meltdown was PARAMOUNT in the original engineers' minds, as well! What does he THINK they were thinking about?!? They thought of everything that they could think of that could possibly go wrong, and designed a way that would unquestionably (probably, hopefully, maybe, possibly... within budget constraints) prevent that triggering event -- or series of events -- from happening. That's how nuclear power plants have ALWAYS been built! What is he, the one that can suddenly fix everything? Let him stop Fukushima from spewing then.
The ONLY constraint on safety has ALWAYS been money. First there's the problem of getting enough of it to build the reactor in the first place. You can't convince Wall Street to invest in them, so it's invariably the ratepayers at the insistence of the government who pays, and they want to pay as little as possible, as would anyone else. Then cost over-runs start to set in: Bad parts get delivered, bad welds get discovered, bad concrete pours have to be torn up and redone.... or you could look the other way, and that's what often happens.
Lack of testing equipment means you can't make sure the metals your supplier supplied you with are of the quality they say they are. Everything costs money, and nuclear power plants are in the business of making money out of something that's here today, and... here tomorrow, as nuclear waste. The electricity that is generated is gone in an instant -- used or not. Most is used, of course, so it can be billed, but any that's unused is lost forever, and the nuke plant itself needs dozens of megawatts just to run its own pumps.
When building or making repairs to a nuclear power plant, it's always a question of money. The MIT-trained nuclear engineer points out that San Onofre -- pardon me, thats my local nuclear power plant, which is just as bad but of a different design -- he points out that Fukushima had one functioning generator but needed two or three. The author explains that the one functioning generator was ONLY functioning because plant operators wanted to SAVE MONEY by placing it far away, which happened to be up a hill. Saving money at nuclear power plants usually doesn't help, but in this case apparently, two of the six reactors at Fukushima were able to be cooled because of this piece of luck. The author seems to miss the obvious: If it wasn't this mistake, it would have been something else.
San Onofre, my local nuclear reactor, is completely shut down right now (like all but one reactor in Japan) and may never reopen. Why not? Because the steam generator tubes (made in Japan, by the way) clang into each other. Why does that happen? Apparently because the plant tried to increase the power output of the reactor by adding nearly 400 extra tubes when they ordered a "like-for-like" replacement of the original (four) steam generators, which were supposed to last the entire lives of the (two) reactors.
The original steam generators didn't last because they ran 'em too hot, I suspect. A couple of years ago they realized that as soon as the tubes wear out, they can replace them with steam generators that have more tubes inside but still fit in the same locations. (Or thought they could.) So they upped the power output of the reactor, which caused the tubes to fail more quickly than the normal life of the reactor -- but they didn't care. They knew our California Public Utilities Commission would stick the ratepayers with the cost of the replacement steam generators when the time came -- and they did. SanO's owners wanted to avoid having the steam generator replacement happen at the same time as the much more risky license renewal because there's ALWAYS a lot of opposition to that.
San Onofre's owners got through several steps of this process. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission saw it as a "like for like" replacement even though it wasn't, the ratepayers were charged with the costs of replacement, it happened years before license renewal, and best of all (from the utility's point of view), the utility ALSO made billions of extra dollars while they ran the reactors at extra-high power, pressure, and temperature, blowing out the gaskets, seals, and tubes!
It's like how you treat a rented car.
Only the difference is, things can go wrong when steam generator tubes burst. They are very thin, fragile things, with a thousand pounds of pressure differential on one side from the other. One tube failure can lead to another, and another, and another, which can lead to an inability to cool the reactor. Fukushima USA. is what it could lead to!
But the utility company's biggest worry isn't that, because they figure one of the backup systems will work (they might be right, but they might not be). Their biggest worry is this: Because the new replacement steam generators have ALSO failed, just like the old ones but faster, they now have to try to stick the ratepayers with the whole cost over again, and it's only a few years from license renewal, AND Fukushima happened in the meantime. And the Internet grew. And the local citizens are up in arms. And many of the local politicians want the plant closed permanently, too. Everyone grasps what could happen there. Our homes could be lost, our lives ruined, our economy destroyed.
So getting San Onofre up and running again is not such an easy battle for the utility this time. Japan may be down to zero reactors soon, and California is already at half it's normal strength and might stay that way.
What's wrong with probabilistic risk assessment? Nothing, in theory. because in theory, the probability of critical bolts rusting out at critical moments can be estimated. That's some theory, though! To think you can put an accurate estimate on human failure is pure folly, especially when most of the time, those failures come from financial cost-saving measures, or job-saving measures. ("If I tell anyone what I just did, I'll get fired" is a hell of a thought to have after dropping a wrench into a reactor's primary coolant loop, but stray tools have been found in very odd places inside of reactors over the years...)
The real nuclear nightmare is undoubtedly just beginning. Not only is the probability of accidents ever-increasing as old reactors get older and their parts (and their replacement parts) wear out, but complacency has plagued every industry where vigilance is necessary, and the nuclear industry is no exception. It happens to pilots in cockpits, astronauts in space capsules, lookouts on watch for sneak attacks during war, it happens to people trying very hard NOT to get pick-pocketed. Then they get bumped by a pretty girl, a deft hand on the other side grabs the wallet, a third person helps hide the activity, and then leaves with the booty after a hand-off. It's orchestrated.
The nuclear industry orchestrates to steal lives. They steal them from children, infants, and everyone else, as well as from the animal kingdom. In addition to causing billions of deaths in the animal world from Fukushima alone, radiation disasters have caused millions of deaths in the human world already, and Fukushima will undoubtedly increase that toll substantially -- especially if Spent Fuel Pool 4 falls. Meltdowns are hardly the only worry at nuclear reactors. In fact, it's the ever-growing, glowing, spent fuel that worries many people the most.
Solar, wind, geothermal, wave, tide, biomass... these are all ready to replace nuclear power. They need a fighting chance, instead of handouts to the nuclear industry.
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VIA Technologies has introduced its new VIA Nano 3000 series processors, bringing digital media performance and low power consumption to Windows 7-based ultra-thin notebook and all-in-one desktop PC markets. Based on the 64-bit superscalar Isaiah architecture, VIA Nano 3000 series processors support playback of high bit-rate 1080p HD video, while delivering low power consumption resulting in longer battery life.
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Available at speeds from 1.0GHz to 2.0GHz, VIA Nano 3000 series processors deliver up to 20% higher performance using up to 20% less power than current VIA Nano processors and boasts VIA VT virtualization technology.
VIA Nano 3000 series processor samples are currently available for OEMs and motherboard vendors, and will enter mass production in the first quarter of 2010.
- Trends in the upstream LED equipment and materials industries, 2H13
This report examines the outlook for upstream, which includes MOCVD equipment, rare earth materials and sapphire substrates, is also particularly significant as an indicator of trends in the LED industry as a whole over the next year.
- Global AMOLED market analysis and forecast, 2011-2015
This report analyzes the current state of development and strategies of the two largest AMOLED panel makers, Samsung and LG Display, examines the potential of the AMOLED handset panel and OLED TV markets, and takes an in-depth look at the competitiveness of S. Korea in the AMOLED sector.
- ASPs of TD-LTE chips to remain stable initially as suppliers are limited
While a number of IC vendors have begun shipping chips supporting TD-LTE, including base band chips, radio frequency chips, APs, SoC solutions and soft modems, shipments of base band chips account for a majority share of total TD-LTE chip shipments currently, according to Digitimes Research.


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Benjamin Butler (politician)
Benjamin Franklin Butler | |
Portrait by Brady-Handy studio, 1870s | |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 5th, 6th & 7th district |
In office March 4, 1867 – March 4, 1875 March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1879 |
Preceded by | John B. Alley Nathaniel P. Banks John K. Tarbox |
Succeeded by | Daniel W. Gooch Charles P. Thompson William A. Russell |
33rd Governor of Massachusetts | |
In office January 4, 1883 – January 4, 1884 |
Lieutenant | Oliver Ames |
Preceded by | John D. Long |
Succeeded by | George D. Robinson |
Personal details | |
Born | November 5, 1818 Deerfield, New Hampshire |
Died | January 11, 1893 (aged 74) Washington, D.C. |
Resting place | Hildreth Family Cemetery Lowell, Massachusetts 42°39′39″N 71°18′36″W / 42.660798°N 71.309928°W |
Political party | Democratic Republican Greenback |
Spouse(s) | Sarah Hildreth (1844–1876) |
Children | Paul I (1845-1850) Blanche Paul II (1852-1918) Ben-Israel |
Signature | |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States of America Union |
Service/branch | Union Army |
Rank | Major General |
Commands | Department of Virginia Army of the James |
Battles/wars | American Civil War |
Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives and later served as the 33rd Governor of Massachusetts. In 1868, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Butler had a prominent role in the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson.[1] As Chairman of the House Committee on Reconstruction, Butler authored the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant, that gave federal authority to prosecute and destroy the Klan in the South.[1] Butler authored, along with Sen. Charles Sumner, the Civil Rights Act of 1875, signed into law by President Grant.[2] This law, a final act of Reconstruction, gave African American US citizens the right to public accommodation such as hotels, restaurants, lodging, and public entertainment establishments.[2]
During the American Civil War, he served as a major general in the Union Army. His policies regarding slaves as contraband so they could be treated as free men, his administration of occupied New Orleans, his ineffectual leadership in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign, and the fiasco of Fort Fisher rank him as one of the most controversial political generals of the war. Butler was the first Eastern Union General to declare runaway Virginia slaves "contraband of war"; refusing to return them to their masters.[3] He was widely reviled for years after the war by Southern whites, who gave him the nickname "Beast Butler." Although considered a hostile Union Army general while commanding New Orleans, Butler, through his Christian charity, made efforts to care for the poor and needy, giving $1,000 of his personal money to purchase food for those who were starving.[4] As all business activity was shut down, Butler gave railroad and steam loading permits to operators, relieving the city of starvation.[5] Butler received permission from the city to employ the poor to clean up the streets and under the supervision of Col. T.B. Thorpe, a million dollars of land was added to the state from the Mississippi River deposits.[6] At the request of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, Butler was relieved of duty on January 8, 1865 having failed to capture Fort Fisher.[7]
Early life[edit]
Benjamin Franklin Butler was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, the sixth and youngest child of John Butler and Charlotte Ellison Butler. His father served under General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812 and later became a privateer, dying of yellow fever in the West Indies not long after Benjamin was born.[8] He was named after Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. His elder brother, Andrew Jackson Butler (1815–1864), would serve as a colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War and joined him in New Orleans.[9] Butler's mother was a devout Baptist who encouraged him to read the Bible and prepare for the ministry.[8] In 1827, at the age of nine, Butler was awarded a scholarship to Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spent one term. He was described by a schoolmate as "a reckless, impetuous, headstrong, boy", and regularly got into fights.[10]
Butler's mother moved the family in 1828 to Lowell, Massachusetts, where she operated a boarding house for workers at the textile mills. He attended the public schools there, from which he was almost expelled for fighting, the principal describing him as a boy who "might be led, but could not be driven."[11] He attended Waterville (now Colby) College in pursuit of his mother's wish that he prepare for the ministry, but eventually rebelled against the idea. In 1836 Butler sought permission to go instead to West Point for a military education, but did not receive one of the few places available. He continued his studies at Waterville, where he sharpened his rhetorical skills in theological discussions, and began to adopt Democratic political views. He graduated in August 1838.[12]
Butler returned to Lowell, where he clerked and read law as an apprentice with a local lawyer. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1840, and opened a practice in Lowell. He quickly gained a reputation as a dogged criminal defense lawyer who seized on every misstep of his opposition to gain victories for his clients, and also became a specialist in bankruptcy law.[13] His trial work was so successful that it received regular press coverage, and Benjamin expanded his practice into Boston.[14]
After an extended courtship, he married Sarah Hildreth, a stage actress and daughter of Dr. Israel Hildreth of Lowell, on May 16, 1844. They had four children: Paul (1845–1850), Blanche (1847-1939), Paul (1852-1918) and Ben-Israel (1855-1881).[15] Butler's business partners included Sarah's brother Fisher, and her brother-in-law, W. P. Webster.[16]
Entry into politics[edit]
Butler's success as a lawyer enabled him to purchase shares in Lowell's Middlesex Mill Company when they were cheap.[17] Although he generally represented workers in legal actions, he also sometimes represented mill owners. This adoption of both sides of an issue manifested when he became more politically active. He first attracted general attention by advocating the passage of a law establishing a ten-hour day for laborers,[18] but he also opposed labor strikes over the matter. He instituted the ten-hour day at the Middlesex Mills.[19]
During the debates over the ten-hour day a Whig-supporting Lowell newspaper published a verse suggesting that Butler's father had been hanged for piracy. Butler sued the paper's editor and publisher for that and other allegations that had been printed about himself. The editor was convicted and fined $50, but the publisher was acquitted on a technicality. Butler blamed the Whig judge, Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, for the acquittal, inaugurating a feud between the two that would last for decades and significantly color Butler's reputation in the state.[20]
Butler, as a Democrat, supported the Compromise of 1850 and regularly spoke out against abolition. However, at the state level, he supported the coalition of Democrats and Free Soilers that elected George S. Boutwell governor in 1851. This garnered him enough support to win election to the state legislature in 1852.[19] His support for Franklin Pierce as president, however, cost him the seat the next year. He was elected a delegated to the 1853 state constitutional convention with strong Catholic support, and was elected to the state senate in 1858 (a year dominated by Republican victories in the state).[21] Butler was nominated for governor in 1859 and ran on a pro-slavery, pro-tariff platform; he narrowly lost to incumbent Republican Nathaniel Prentice Banks.[17][22]
In the 1860 Democratic National Convention at Charleston, South Carolina, Butler initially supported John C. Breckenridge, but then shifted his support to Jefferson Davis, believing that only a moderate Southerner could keep the Democratic party from dividing. A conversation he had with Davis prior to the convention convinced him that Davis might be such a man, and he gave him his support before the convention split.[23] Butler ended up supporting Breckenridge over Douglas against state party instructions, ruining his standing with the state party apparatus. He was nominated for governor in the 1860 election by a Breckenridge splinter of the state party, but trailed far behind other candidates.[24]
Civil War[edit]
Although he sympathized with the South, Butler stated that "I was always a friend of southern rights but an enemy of southern wrongs", and sought to serve in the Union army.[25] His military career prior to the Civil War began as a private in the Lowell militia in 1840.[26] Butler eventually rose to become colonel of a regiment of primarily Irish American men. In 1855, the nativist Know Nothing Governor Henry J. Gardner disbanded Butler's militia, but Butler was elected brigadier general after the militia was reorganized. In 1857 Secretary of War Jefferson Davis appointed him to the Board of Visitors of West Point.[27] These positions did not give him any significant military experience.[28]
After Abraham Lincoln was elected president in November 1860, Butler traveled to Washington, D.C. When a secessionist South Carolina delegation arrived there, he recommended to lame duck President James Buchanan that they be arrested and charged with treason. Buchanan refused the idea. Butler also met with Jefferson Davis, and learned that he was not the Union man that Butler had previous thought he was. Butler then returned to Massachusetts,[29] where he warned Governor John A. Andrew that hostilities were likely, and that the state militia should be readied. He took advantage of this mobilization to secure a contract with the state for his mill to supply heavy cloth to the militia. Military contracts would constitute a significant source of profits for Butler's mill throughout the war.[30]
Butler also worked to secure a leadership position should the militia be deployed. He first offered his services to Governor Andrew in March 1861.[30] When the call for militia finally arrived in April, Massachusetts was asked for only three regiments, but Butler managed to parlay this to include a request for a brigadier. He telegraphed Secretary of War Simon Cameron, with whom he was acquainted, suggesting that Cameron issue a request for a brigadier and general staff from Massachusetts, which soon afterward appeared on Governor Andrew's desk. He then used banking contacts to ensure that loans that would be needed to fund the militia operations would be conditioned on his appointment. Despite Andrew's desire to assign the brigadier position to Ebenezer Peirce, the bank insisted on Butler, and he was sent south to ensure the security of transportation routes to Washington.[31][32] The nation's capital was threatened with isolation from non-slave states because it was unclear whether Maryland, a slave state, would also secede.[33]
Baltimore and Virginia operations[edit]
The two regiments Massachusetts sent to Maryland were the 6th and 8th Volunteer Militia. The 6th departed first, and was caught up in a secessionist riot in Baltimore, Maryland on April 19. Butler traveled with the 8th, which left Philadelphia the next day amid news that railroad connections around Baltimore were being severed.[34] Butler and the 8th traveled by rail and ferry to Maryland's capital, Annapolis, where Governor Thomas H. Hicks attempted to dissuade them from landing.[35] Butler landed his troops (which needed food and water), occupying the Naval Academy. When Governor Hicks informed Butler that no one would sell provisions to his force, Butler pointed out that armed men did not necessarily have pay for needed provisions, and that he would use all measures necessary to ensure order.[36] After being joined by the 7th New York Militia, Butler directed his men to restore rail service between Annapolis and Washington via Annapolis Junction,[37] which was accomplished by April 27. He also threatened Maryland legislators with arrest if they voted in favor of secession, and eventually seized the Great Seal of Maryland. Butler's prompt actions in securing Annapolis were received with approval by the US Army's top general, Winfield Scott, and he was given formal orders to maintain the security of the transit links in Maryland.[38] In early May, Scott ordered Butler to lead the operations that occupied Baltimore. On May 13 he entered Baltimore on a train with 1,000 men and artillery against no opposition.[39] This was done in contravention to Butler's orders from Scott, which had been to organize four columns to approach the city by land and sea. General Scott criticized Butler for his strategy (despite its success), as well as his heavy-handed assumption of control of much of the civil government, and recalled him to Washington.[40] Butler shortly after received one of the early appointments as major general of the volunteer forces.[33] His exploits in Maryland also brought nationwide press attention, including significant negative press in the South, which concocted stories about him that were conflations of biographical details involving not just Butler, but also a namesake from New York and others.[41]
When the two regiments Massachusetts had been sent overland to Maryland, two more were dispatched by sea under Butler's command to secure Fort Monroe at the mouth of the James River.[33] After being dressed down by Scott for overstepping his authority, Butler was next assigned command of Fort Monroe and of the Department of Virginia.[42] On May 27, Major General Butler sent a force 8 miles (13 km) north to occupy the lightly defended adjacent town of Newport News, Virginia at Newport News Point, an excellent anchorage for the Union Navy. This force established and significantly fortified Camp Butler and a battery at Newport News Point that could cover the entrance to the James River ship canal and the mouth of the Nansemond River. By May 29, Butler's force, which included the 1st Vermont Infantry, Colonel John A. Bendix's 7th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (a regiment of German speakers), the 4th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Scott's Life Guards, and a detachment of U.S. Regulars to man artillery, completed the mission.[43] On June 8, the camp, which was commanded by Colonel Phelps of the 1st Vermont Infantry, was reinforced by the 9th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Hawkin's Zouaves).[44] Butler also further occupied and expanded Camp Hamilton, started by Colonel Dimick in the equally lightly defended, adjacent town of Hampton, Virginia, just beyond the confines of the fort and within the range of its guns.[45]
The Union occupation of Fort Monroe was considered a potential threat on Richmond by Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and he began organizing the defense of the Virginia Peninsula in response.[46] Confederate General John B. Magruder, seeking to buy time while awaiting men and supplies, established well-defended forward outposts near Big and Little Bethel, only 8 miles (13 km) from Butler's camp at Newport News as a lure to draw his opponent into a premature action.[47] Butler took the bait, and suffered an embarrassing defeat in the Battle of Big Bethel on June 10. Butler devised a plan for a night march and operation against the positions, but chose not to lead the force in person, for which he was later criticized.[48] The plan proved too complex for his untrained and undertrained subordinates and troops to carry out, especially at night, and was further marred by the failure of staff to communicate all passwords and precautions. A friendly fire incident during the night gave away the Union position and they were further harmed by advancing without knowledge of the layout or strength of the Confederate positions.[49] The commander in the field, Massachusetts militia general Ebenezer Peirce, received the most criticism for the failed operation.[50] With the withdrawal of many of his men for use elsewhere, Butler was unable to maintain the camp at Hampton although his forces did retain the camp at Newport News.[51]
While in command at Fort Monroe, Butler declined to return to their owners fugitive slaves who had come within his lines. He argued that Virginians considered them to be chattel property, and that they could not appeal to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 since they claimed independence. Furthermore, slaves used as laborers for building fortifications and other military activities could be considered contraband of war.[52] The U.S. Congress later mandated that other Union commanders refuse to return slaves to their former masters, using similar arguments. Butler promptly received official approval for his decision from President Lincoln.
New Orleans[edit]
Later in 1861, Butler commanded an expeditionary force that, in conjunction with the United States Navy, took Forts Hatteras and Clark in North Carolina. He directed the first Union expedition to Ship Island, off the Mississippi Gulf Coast, in December 1861.[53] In May 1862, he commanded the force that conducted the capture of New Orleans after its occupation by the Navy after the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip. In the administration of that city he showed great firmness and political subtlety. He devised a plan for poor relief, demanded oaths of allegiance from anyone who sought any privilege from government, and confiscated weapons.[25]
In an ordinary year, it was not unusual for as much as 10% of the city's population to die of yellow fever. In preparation, Butler imposed strict quarantines and introduced a rigid program of garbage disposal. As a result, in 1862, only two cases were reported.[54]
Many of his acts, however, were unpopular. Most notorious was Butler's General Order No. 28 of May 15, 1862, that if any woman should insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and shall be held liable to be treated as a "woman of the town plying her avocation", i.e., a prostitute. This was in response to women in the town who were pouring buckets of their own urine on Union soldiers, and who at the time could get away with anything as respectable women. Butler's order had no sexual connotation; rather, it permitted soldiers not to treat women performing such acts as ladies. If a woman punched a soldier, he could punch her back. The order stopped all of their behavior,[25] without arresting anyone or firing a bullet, but provoked protests both in the North and the South, and also abroad, particularly in England and France. He was nicknamed "'Beast' Butler" or alternatively "'Spoons' Butler," the latter nickname derived from an incident in which a woman was arrested for smuggling and the silverware she was carrying was confiscated.[55] While no proof exists that Butler was corrupt it is possible that he knew of the illegal activities of his brother Andrew, also in the army in New Orleans.[25]
However, upon arriving in the city Butler immediately began attempts to participate in the lucrative inter-belligerent trade. He used a Federal warship send $60,000 in sugar to Boston where he expected to sell it for $160,000. However, his use of the government ship was reported. Instead of earning a profit, military authorities permitted him to recover only his $60,000 plus expenses. Thereafter, his brother Andrew officially represented the family in such activities. Everyone in New Orleans believed that Andrew accumulated a profit of $1–$2 million while in Louisiana. Upon inquiry from Treasury Secretary Chase in October 1862, the General responded that his brother actually cleared less than $200,000.[56]
Shortly after the Second Confiscation Act became effective in September 1862 General Butler increasingly relied upon it as a means of grabbing cotton. Since the Act permitted confiscation of property owned by anyone aiding the Confederacy, Butler reversed his earlier policy of encouraging trade by refusing to confiscate cotton brought into New Orleans for sale. First he conducted a census in which 4,000 respondents failing to pledge loyalty to the Union were banished and their property seized. It was sold at ridiculously low auction prices where Andrew was often the prime buyer. Next the general sent expeditions into the countryside with no military purpose other than to confiscate cotton from residents assumed to be disloyal. Once brought into New Orleans the cotton would be similarly sold in rigged auctions. To maintain correct appearances, auction proceeds were dutifully held for the benefit of "just claimants", but the Butler consortium still ended-up owning the cotton at bargain prices. Always inventive of new terminology to achieve his ends, Butler sequestered (i.e. made vulnerable to confiscation) such "properties" in all of Louisiana beyond parishes surrounding New Orleans.[57]
At his death, Butler's net worth was about $7 million. "The source of his fortune is a mystery, but much of it came from New Orleans..."[58]
Butler censored New Orleans newspapers. When editor of the Commercial Bulletin William Seymour asked Butler what would happen if the newspaper ignored his censorship, an angry Butler reportedly stated, "I am the military governor of this state — the supreme power — you cannot disregard my order, Sir. By God, he that sins against me, sins against the Holy Ghost." When Seymour published a favorable obituary of his father, who had been killed serving in the Confederate army in Virginia, Butler confiscated the newspaper and imprisoned Seymour for three months.[25] He also closed The Picayune when it ran an editorial that he found offensive. Historian John D. Winters wrote that most of the newspapers "were allowed to reopen later but were so rigidly controlled that all color and interest were drained away" and that churches that planned a special day of prayer and fasting for the Confederacy were forbidden from doing so. Several clergymen were placed under arrest for refusing to pray for President Lincoln. The Episcopal churches were closed, and their three ministers were sent to New York City under military escort.[59]
On June 7 Butler executed William B. Mumford, who had torn down a United States flag placed by Admiral Farragut on the United States Mint in New Orleans. Most, including Mumford and his family, expected Butler to pardon him; the general refused, but promised to care for his family if necessary. (After the war Butler fulfilled his promise, paying off a mortgage on Mumford's widow's house and helping her find government employment.)[25] For the execution and General Order No. 28 he was denounced (December 1862) by Confederate President Jefferson Davis in General Order 111 as a felon deserving capital punishment, who if captured should be reserved for execution.
Butler also took aim at foreign consuls in New Orleans. He ordered the seizure of $800,000 that had been deposited in the office of the Dutch consul, imprisoned the French Champagne magnate Charles Heidsieck, and took particular aim at George Coppell of Great Britain, whom he suspended for refusal to cooperate with the Union. Instead, Butler accused Coppell of giving aid to the Confederate cause. U.S. Secretary of State William Henry Seward sent Reverdy Johnson to New Orleans to investigate complaints of foreign consuls against certain Butler policies. Even when told by President Lincoln to restore a sugar shipment claimed by Europeans, Butler undermined the order. He also imposed a strict quarantine to protect against yellow fever, which had the added impact of delaying foreign commerce and bringing complaints to his headquarters from most foreign consuls.[60]
With the Federal occupation, runaway slaves and slaves from abandoned plantations arrived in large numbers in New Orleans. These unattached persons had to be fed and housed. A Union officer complained of "a big problem" with the new arrivals. John D. Winters wrote that "Soldiers resented the fact that the pampered Negro was given better tents, equal rations, and was allowed to tear down more fences for sleeping boards than were the soldiers. General Phelps [an abolitionist] had organized a few squads of Negroes and drilled them daily. ... Not knowing what to do with so many Negroes, Butler at first returned the runaway slaves to their masters. But still the contrabands came. Some of them were employed as cooks, nurses, washwomen, and laborers. ... [Finally] Butler ordered ... the exclusion of all unemployed Negroes and whites from his lines."[61]
Although Butler's governance of New Orleans was popular in the North (where it was seen as a successful stand against recalcitrant secessionists), some of his actions, notably those against the foreign consuls, concerned President Lincoln, who authorized his recall in December 1862.[62] Butler was replaced by Nathaniel Banks.[63] The necessity of taking sometimes radical actions, and the support he received in Radical Republican circles drove Butler to change political allegiance. He also sought revenge against the more moderate Secretary of State Seward, who he believed to be responsible for his recall.[64]
Army of the James[edit]
Butler's popularity with the radicals meant that Lincoln could not readily deny him a new posting. Lincoln considered sending him to position in the Mississippi River area in early 1863, and categorically refused to send him back to New Orleans.[65] He finally gave Butler command of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina in November 1863. In January 1864 Butler played a pivotal role in the creation of six regiments of U.S. Volunteers recruited from among Confederate prisoners of war ("Galvanized Yankees") for duty on the western frontier.[66] In May, the forces under his command were designated the Army of the James. General Ulysses S. Grant, who did not think highly of Butler's military skills, ordered him to attack in the direction of Petersburg from the east, destroying the rail links supplying Richmond and distracting Robert E. Lee, in conjunction with attacks Grant would make from the north. Rather than striking immediately at Petersburg as ordered, Butler's offensive bogged down east of Richmond in the area called the Bermuda Hundred, immobilized by the greatly inferior force of Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard, and he was unable to accomplish any of his assigned objectives. But it was his mismanagement of the expedition against Fort Fisher, North Carolina, that finally led to his recall by General Grant.
Fort Fisher and Butler's recall[edit]
Butler's status as a key political ally of President Abraham Lincoln prevented General Grant from removing him from military service prior to the presidential election of November 1864.[67] As a prominent Radical Republican, Butler was also under consideration as a possible opponent of Lincoln in that year's election,[68] and Lincoln had asked Butler to serve as his Vice President in early 1864.[67] After the election, however, Grant wrote to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton in early 1865 asking free rein to relieve Butler from military service. Since Stanton was traveling outside Washington, D.C., at the time,[67] Grant appealed directly to Lincoln for permission to terminate Butler, noting "there is a lack of confidence felt in [Butler's] military ability".[69] In General Order Number 1, Lincoln relieved Butler from command of the Department of North Carolina and Virginia and ordered him to report to Lowell, Massachusetts.[67]
Grant informed Butler of his recall on January 8, 1865, and named Major General Edward O. C. Ord to replace him as commander of the Army of the James.[67] Rather than report to Lowell, Butler went to Washington, where he used his considerable political connections to get a hearing before the Joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War in mid-January. At his hearing Butler focused his defense on his actions at Fort Fisher. He produced charts and duplicates of reports by subordinates to prove he had been right to call off his attack of Fort Fisher, despite orders from General Grant to the contrary. Butler claimed the fort was impregnable. To his embarrassment, a follow-up expedition led by Maj. Gen. Alfred H. Terry captured the fort on January 15, and news of this victory arrived during the committee hearing; Butler's military career was over.[67] He was formally retained until November 1865 with the idea that he might act as military prosecutor of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.[70]
Postbellum political career[edit]
At the urging of his wife, Butler actively sought another political position in the Lincoln administration, but this came to an end with Lincoln's assassination in April 1865.[71] Butler instead turned his eyes to Congress, and was elected in 1866 on a platform of civil rights and opposition to President Andrew Johnson's weak Reconstruction policies. He supported a variety of populist or social reform positions, including women's suffrage, an eight-hour workday for federal employees, and the issuance of greenback currency.[72] He served four terms (1867–75) before losing reelection, and was then once again elected in 1876 for a single term.
In 1868 Butler was selected to be one of the managers of the impeachment of President Johnson before the Senate.[73] Although Thaddeus Stevens was the principal guiding force behind the impeachment effort, he was aging and ill at the time, and Butler stepped in to become the main organizing force in the prosecution. The case was focused primarily on Johnson's removal of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in violation of the Tenure of Office Act, and was weak because the constitutionality of the law had not been decided. The trial was a somewhat uncomfortable affair, in part because the weather was hot and humid, and the chamber was packed. The prosecution's case was a humdrum recitation of facts already widely known, and it was attacked by the defense's William Evarts, who drowned the proceedings by repeatedly objecting to Butler's questions, often necessitating a vote by the Senate on whether or not to allow the question. Johnson's defense focused on the point that his removal of Stanton fell within the bounds of the Tenure of Office Act. Despite some missteps by the defense, and Butler's vigorous cross-examination of defense witnesses, the impeachment failed by a single vote. In the interval between the trial and the Senate vote, Butler searched without success for substantive evidence that Johnson operatives were working to bribe undecided Senators.[74] After acquittal on the first article voted on,[75] Senate Republicans voted to adjourn for ten days, seeking time to possibly change the outcome on the remaining articles. During this time, Butler established a House committee to investigate the possibility that four of the seven Republican Senators who voted for acquittal had been improperly influenced in their votes. He uncovered some evidence that promises of patronage had been made and that money may have changed hands but was unable to decisively link these actions to any specific Senator.[76]
Butler wrote the initial version of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act). After his bill was defeated, Representative Samuel Shellabarger of Ohio drafted another bill, only slightly less sweeping than Butler's that successfully passed both houses and became law upon Grant's signature on April 20.[77] Along with Republican Senator Charles Sumner, Butler proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1875, a seminal and far-reaching law banning racial discrimination in public accommodations. The Supreme Court of the United States declared the law unconstitutional in the Civil Rights Cases (1883). Racial minorities in the United States would have to wait nearly a century before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would reenact and expand the provisions of the law Butler backed.
He exercised a marked influence over President Grant and was regarded as his spokesman in the House. He was one of the foremost advocates of the payment in greenbacks of the government bonds. During his time in the House, he served as chairman of the US House Committee on Revision of the Laws in the 42nd Congress and the Judiciary Committee in the 43rd Congress.
Butler was a wealthy industrialist who founded the United States Cartridge Company of Lowell, Massachusetts.[78] In 1872, Butler was one of several high-profile investors who were deceived by Philip Arnold in a famous diamond and gemstone hoax.
Butler ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Massachusetts as an independent in 1878, and also, in 1879, when he ran on the Democratic and Greenback tickets, but, in 1882, he was elected by the Democrats, who won no other state offices. From 1883 to 1884, he was Governor of Massachusetts. As governor, he appointed the first Irish-American judge, and the first African-American judge—George Lewis Ruffin. He also appointed the first woman to executive office, Clara Barton, to head the Massachusetts Reformatory for Women. As presidential nominee of the Greenback and Anti-Monopoly parties, he polled 175,370 votes in the presidential election of 1884. He had bitterly opposed the nomination by the Democratic party of Grover Cleveland and tried to defeat him by throwing his own votes in Massachusetts and New York to the Republican candidate, James G. Blaine.
Butler's income as a lawyer was estimated at $100,000 per year shortly before his death. He was an able but erratic administrator, and a brilliant lawyer. As a politician, he excited bitter opposition, and was charged, apparently with justice, with corruption and venality in conniving at, and sharing, the profits of illicit trade with the Confederates carried on by his brother at New Orleans and by his brother-in-law in the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, while General Butler was in command.[citation needed]
Butler died while attending court in Washington, D.C.. He is buried in his wife's family cemetery, behind the main Hildreth Cemetery in Lowell. His daughter Blanche married Adelbert Ames, a Mississippi governor and senator who had served as a general in the United States Army during the Civil War. Butler's descendants include the famous scientist Adelbert Ames, Jr., suffragist and artist Blanche Ames Ames, Butler Ames, and George Plimpton.
The inscription on Butler's monument reads, "the true touchstone of civil liberty is not that all men are equal but that every man has the right to be the equal of every other man - if he can."
Butler is credited with beginning the tradition of the "lone walk", the ceremonial exit from the office of Governor of Massachusetts, after finishing his term in 1884.[79]
After the war, there was a very lucrative business in selling "Beast Butler" Chamber Pots. In the South, even to this day, he is a much hated figure.
Since 2004, a "Benjamin F. Butler Society" has met at the Hildreth family cemetery in early November to celebrate the birthday of General Butler, and to replace the American flag that flies over the cemetery. This is the only time of year the family plots, behind two locked gates and fenced off from the public cemetery, are open to the public.[80]
See also[edit]
- List of American Civil War generals
- List of Massachusetts generals in the American Civil War
- Massachusetts in the American Civil War
- ^ a b Schlup-Ryan (2003), Historical Dictionary of the Gilded Age, p. 73
- ^ a b Rucker-Alexander (2010), Encyclopedia of African American History, p. 669–700
- ^ Finkleman (2006), Encyclopedia of African American History, p. 277
- ^ Bland (1879), Life of Benjamin F. Butler, p. 87
- ^ Bland (1879), Life of Benjamin F. Butler, pp. 87–88
- ^ Bland (1879), Life of Benjamin F. Butler, p. 89
- ^ Catton (1969), Grant Takes Command, pp. 402–403
- ^ a b West (1965), pp. 8–9
- ^ LAW REPORTS.; The Will of Col. A. J. Butler. Surrogate's Court--May 31..., New York Times, 1 June 1864
- ^ West (1965), pp. 9–10
- ^ West (1965), pp. 10–13
- ^ West (1965), pp. 13–16
- ^ West (1965), pp. 17–23
- ^ West (1965), p. 27
- ^ Hearn (2000), p. 13
- ^ West (1965), pp. 25, 27
- ^ a b Hearn (2000), p. 19
- ^ Hearn (2000), p. 14
- ^ a b Quarstein (2011), p. 29
- ^ West (1965), pp. 32–35
- ^ Hearn (2000), p. 18
- ^ Dupree (2008), p. 11
- ^ Hearn (2000), p. 20
- ^ Hearn (2000), p. 21
- ^ a b c d e f Jones, Terry L. (2012-05-18). "The Beast in the Big Easy". The New York Times. Retrieved May 19, 2012.
- ^ West (1965), p. 20
- ^ West (1965), pp. 41–42
- ^ Wells (2011), p. 40
- ^ Hearn (2000), p. 23
- ^ a b Hearn (2000), p. 24
- ^ Hearn (2000), p. 25
- ^ Quarstein (2011), p. 31
- ^ a b c Wells (2011), p. 34
- ^ West (1965), pp. 51–53
- ^ West (1965), p. 54
- ^ West (1965), p. 57
- ^ West (1965), pp. 58–60
- ^ West (1965), p. 61
- ^ West (1965), pp. 65–70
- ^ West (1965), pp. 65, 70–73
- ^ West (1965), p. 76
- ^ West (1965), pp. 72–74
- ^ Lossing, Benson John and William Barritt.Pictorial history of the civil war in the United States of America, Volume 1. Philadelphia, George W. Childs, 1866. OCLC 1007582. Retrieved May 1, 2011. pp. 501–502
- ^ Quarstein and Mroczkowsi (2000), pp. 38–40
- ^ Lossing (1866), p. 502
- ^ Quarstein (2011), p. 38
- ^ Quarstein (2011), p. 62
- ^ Quarstein and Mroczkowski (2000), p. 48
- ^ Lossing (1866), p. 505
- ^ Poland, Jr., Charles P. The Glories Of War: Small Battles and Early Heroes Of 1861. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2006. ISBN 1-4184-5973-9. pp. 232–233
- ^ Quarstein and Mroczkowski (2000), p. 49
- ^ Quarstein (2011), p. 53
- ^ Mississippi History Now: Union Soldiers on Ship Island During the Civil War
- ^ Robert S. Holtzman, "Ben Butler in the Civil War," The New England Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Sep. 1957), pp. 330–345
- ^ William Dana Orcutt, "Ben Butler and the 'Stolen Spoons,' North American Review, CCVII, 66 (January, 1918).
- ^ Hearn (1997), pp. 194, 195
- ^ Hearn (1997), pp. 185–187
- ^ Hearn (1997), p. 240
- ^ Winters (1963), p. 131
- ^ Winters (1963), pp. 128–129
- ^ Winters (1963), p. 143
- ^ Trefousse (1969), p. 242
- ^ Trefousse (1969), p. 281
- ^ Trefousse (1969), pp. 281–282
- ^ Trefousse (1969), pp. 242–244
- ^ Brown (1985), pp. 65–67
- ^ a b c d e f Foote, pp. 739–740
- ^ Trefousse (1969), pp. 294–295
- ^ West (1965), p. 291
- ^ West (1965), pp. 312–313
- ^ West (1965), p. 320
- ^ West (1965), p. 321–325
- ^ Stewart, p. 159
- ^ Stewart, pp. 181–218
- ^ Stewart, pp. 273–278
- ^ Stewart, pp. 280–294
- ^ Trelease, Allen (1971). White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. pp. 387ff. ISBN 0-8071-1953-9.
- ^ "U.S. Cartridge Company". Lowell Land Trust. Retrieved 2013-02-06.
- ^ "A Tour of the Grounds of the Massachusetts State House". Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
- ^ Lowell MA event Nov 1st - Find A Grave Forums
- Brown, Dee (1985) [1963]. The Galvanized Yankees. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-6075-X.
- Butler, Benjamin F. The Autobiography and Personal Reminiscences of Major-General B. F. Butler: Butlers Book. New York: A. M. Thayer & Co., 1892.
- Catton, Bruce. The Centennial History of the Civil War. vol. 1, The Coming Fury. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1961. ISBN 0-641-68525-4.
- Dupree, Stephen (2008). Planting the Union Flag in Texas: The Campaigns of Major General Nathaniel P. Banks in the West. College Station, TX: Texas A & M University Press. ISBN 9781585446414. OCLC 153772989.
- Foote, Shelby. The Civil War: A Narrative. Vol. 3, Red River to Appomattox. New York: Random House, 1974. ISBN 0-394-74913-8.
- Hearn, Chester (2000) [1997]. When the Devil Came Down to Dixie: Ben Butler in New Orleans. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 9780807126233. OCLC 45756792.
- Lossing, Benson John and William Barritt. Pictorial history of the civil war in the United States of America, Volume 1. Philadelphia, George W. Childs, 1866. OCLC 1007582. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
- Parton, James. Butler in New Orleans. New York: Mason Brothers, 1863.
- Poland, Jr, Charles P (2006). The Glories Of War: Small Battles and Early Heroes Of 1861. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. ISBN 1-4184-5973-9.
- Quarstein, John V; Mroczkowski, Dennis P (2000). Fort Monroe: the Key to the South. Charleston, SC: Tempus Publications. ISBN 978-0-7385-0114-7.
- Quarstein, John V (2011). Big Bethel: The First Battle. Charleston, SC: History Press. ISBN 9781609493547. OCLC 710903915.
- Stewart, David (2009). Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781416547495.
- Trefousse, Hans L (1957). Ben Butler: The South Called Him Beast!. New York: Twayne. OCLC 371213.
- Trefousse, Hans L (1969). The Radical Republicans: Lincoln's Vanguard for Racial Justice. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. OCLC 170051.
- Wells, Bruce (2011). The Bermuda Hundred Campaign: The Creole and the Beast. Charleston, SC: History Press. ISBN 9781609493141. OCLC 755712553.
- West, Richard Sedgewick (1865). Lincoln's Scapegoat General: A Life of Benjamin F. Butler, 1818–1893. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 241783.
- Winters, John D (1963). The Civil War in Louisiana. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0-8071-0834-0.
Further reading[edit]
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Butler, Benjamin Franklin. |
- Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher. Civil War High Commands. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- Summers, Mark Wahlgren. Rum, Romanism & Rebellion: The Making of a President, 1884. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-8078-2524-2.
- Warner, Ezra J (1964). Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Benjamin Franklin Butler (politician). |
- Benjamin Butler (politician) at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Benjamin F. Butler in Encyclopedia Virginia
- Story of the bust of Butler at the Smithsonian Institution
- Image of Benjamin Butler from "1888 Presidential Possibilities" card set
- Private and official correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler : during the period of the Civil War Vol. I at archive.org,Vol. II, Vol. III, Vol. IV, Vol. V
- Official Massachusetts biography
- Goodheart, Adam (April 1, 2011). "How Slavery Really Ended in America". New York Times Magazine. Retrieved April 5, 2011. Account of Butler's sheltering of slaves at Fort Monroe.
Military offices | ||
Preceded by none |
Commander of the Army of the James April 28, 1864 – January 8, 1865 |
Succeeded by Edward Ord |
United States House of Representatives | ||
Preceded by John B. Alley |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 5th congressional district March 4, 1867 – March 4, 1873 |
Succeeded by Daniel W. Gooch |
Preceded by Nathaniel P. Banks |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 6th congressional district March 4, 1873 – March 4, 1875 |
Succeeded by Charles Thompson |
Preceded by John K. Tarbox |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 7th congressional district March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1879 |
Succeeded by William A. Russell |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by John D. Long |
Governor of Massachusetts January 4, 1883 – January 3, 1884 |
Succeeded by George D. Robinson |
Party political offices | ||
Preceded by James Baird Weaver |
Greenback Party presidential candidate 1884 (lost) |
Succeeded by (none) |
- 1818 births
- 1893 deaths
- People from Deerfield, New Hampshire
- Governors of Massachusetts
- Louisiana in the American Civil War
- People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War
- Massachusetts lawyers
- Massachusetts State Senators
- Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
- Members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts
- Union Army generals
- Union political leaders
- United States Army generals
- United States presidential candidates, 1884
- Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
- Colby College alumni
- Deaths from myocardial infarction
- People from Lowell, Massachusetts
- Anti-Monopoly Party politicians
- Massachusetts Greenbacks
- Massachusetts Democrats
- Massachusetts Republicans
- Radical Republicans
- Massachusetts Independents


text:
+ Libraries, Orioles team up to promote reading
For the second year, Sarasota County libraries and the Baltimore Orioles are teaming up to promote reading through the Orioles Big League Reader program.
During February, children ages 6 and up who read three or more books from any of the nine Sarasota County public libraries will receive a Home Run Reading Card. As they read books and return them to the libraries, a library staff member will initial their reading cards, with a full card entitling a child to a reserved grandstand ticket to the March 14 game at Ed Smith Stadium. The Orioles will play the Pittsburgh Pirates that night.
Last season, more than 100 Sarasota-area children completed the program and were eligible to receive a free ticket to an Orioles spring-training game.
March 14 is also "Kids Run the Bases Day." Following the game, youngsters 14 and under will be invited onto the field to take their turns running the bases.
"The Orioles are excited to once again partner with Sarasota County libraries to promote a love of both reading and baseball among area youth," said Orioles Director of Florida Operations Laura Williams.
The Baltimore Orioles spring training season begins at Ed Smith Stadium on Monday, March 5, when the Orioles take on the Pittsburgh Pirates at 7:05 p.m.
+ Correction
An article in the Jan. 12 issue of the Pelican Press, about Mary Ann Pelley, incorrectly characterized the reason the Broken Egg Restaurant closed on Avenida Madera in the Village in 2007. The closing was necessary after Broken Egg co-owner Bob Kirscher and property owner John Davidson were unable to work out an extension of the restaurant's lease of that site. Kirscher and his partners later were able to lease space on Avenida Messina, where they re-opened the Broken Egg.
Meetings & agendas
• Siesta Key Association — 4:30 p.m. Feb. 2, St. Boniface Episcopal Church, Room F, 5615 Midnight Pass Road, Siesta Key.
• Siesta Key Village Association — 8:30 a.m. Feb. 7, Daiquiri Deck Raw Bar, 5250 Ocean Blvd., Siesta Key.
• County Commission — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 7, Anderson Center, 4000 S. Tamiami Trail, Venice; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 8, Administration Center, 1660 Ringling Blvd., Sarasota.
• School Board — 6:30 p.m. Feb. 7, Sarasota County School District offices, board chambers, 1980 Landings Blvd., Sarasota.
Currently 0 Responses
- Mar
12 LWRBA March Membership Luncheon
11:30 am - 1:00 pm - Mar
12 March Membership Luncheon
11:30 am - Mar
15 Irish Celtic 5K, Lakewood Ranch
8:00 am - 10:00 am - Mar
15 Palma Sola Botanical Park plants, antiques and crafts sale
8:00 am - 3:00 pm - Mar
22 5th Annual Ponies for Pups
11:30 am - Mar
22 Lakewood Ranch Community Fund 'Havana Nights' Gala
6:30 pm - Mar
23 The Bridal EXPO
12:00 pm - 4:00 pm - Mar
26 LWRBA March Executive Briefing
7:30 am - 9:00 am


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The following people were arrested by the Levy County Sheriff's Office on the charges listed below. All are presumed innocent until proved guilty in a court of law.
Thirteen people have been arrested on drug charges in Williston, including one man with 72 arrests on his record and a second man with 31 arrests on his record - including failure to appear in court on four drug charges.
The arrests by the Levy County Sheriff's Office and the County Drug Task Force this month are for offenses dating as far back as April.
Shannon April Brown, 30, 244th Street, Old Town, charged with retail theft less than $300. The incident report says Brown was detained by WalMart security after being observed putting merchandise in her handbag and exiting the store.
Jason Sandora, 26, Commissory Road, Otter Creek, charged with domestic batter of a person over 65 and battery. The sheriff's report says Sandora, a relative and a third person were drinking at his home when Sandora had a disagreement with the relative and pushed him to the floor. The third person tried to intervene and was punched by Sandora, according to the report. Bond is $7,500.
A routine traffic stop for a tag light that was not working led to the arrest of a Palm Harbor man on charges of possession of about a pound of marijuana and over $7,000 cash and a recommendation you don't hire him to be your house sitter.
Bobby Dale Burnett, 28, was driving a 1999 Dodge Durango stopped by Chiefland Police Officer F. Macy at about midnight on August 7 in front of the Pizza Hut on Young Boulevard for the broken tag light.
The Levy County Sheriff's Office reports the following arrests:
David Maxwell Williams, 55, Southeast 55th Court, Inglis, probably wishes he had asked for a divorce a little differently.
According to a police report, Williams and his wife were sitting on the couch when he said they were going to get a divorce and she said she wanted to talk about it.
Williams then pushed her head down to the floor, but she got back up and sat next to him, according to the report. He pushed her to the floor again, this time on her back and held her down until she kicked him in order to get up, the report said.
Police are seeking a black male, about 18-19 years old, about 6 feet, 180 lbs, medium build, with shoulder length hair in the robbery of a 14-year-old boy on July 8.The boy said he was riding his bicycle on Northwest 11th Avenue when the man confronted him and asked for the bicycle, the report said. When he refused and tried to leave, the man grabbed the bicycle and hit him , the report said. The man took the bike, described as a gray and black 10-speed, according to the police report.
Arrested were:
_ Dawn M. Bremer, 39, Northeast 61st Lane, Bronson, was charged with DUI after the sheriff's office received a call about a possible intoxicated person, according to the deputy's report.


text:
Thread: [LPF] Dwarven Crusade: Khuldun
Monday, 9th April, 2012, 04:35 AM #91
Myrmidon (Lvl 10)
- Join Date
- May 2006
- Location
- Columbia, MO
- Posts
- 5,859
ø Ignore GlassEyeThe tavern and its occupants seem to be holding their collective breath as Borric, Nathan, Sylvain, and Zelena exit escorting Dorummn out and followed quickly by Aldino. The tension lessens as they all step into the street and move off to an alley for a bit of privacy. For everyone except Dorummn: the little Grippli man seems even more nervous now that his moment of revelation has come. His skin appears waxy and damp and he wrings his hands nervously.
"Good, ahm... news?" He gulps and the skin around his throat puffs in and out much like a bullfrog's. Finally, it all comes out in a halting monologue. "The tadpoles told me of your misfortune, Master Hawkins, and I am shamed to relate that the theft occurred in my very own home by my very own offspring; but not the tadpoles, they're good little ones. But my eldest, ah, Loab, he's in a spot of trouble, you see." He hastens to explain further. "And he knows, we all know, that Rissa is only attracted to men of wealth so after she left, while you slept... He stole your gems and used them to pay off a substantial debt to the grayscales."
Dorummn pauses to see what sort of reaction his revelation elicits but then rushes on, stumbling over himself to apologize. "I am shamed that the hospitality I offered you was broken; I'll pay you back. I don't have the money, but somehow, I'll pay you back!"
GM: FYI: Sylvain reached 6th level on April 1st. Go ahead and work up your level-up, Gerald.
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Monday, 9th April, 2012, 03:49 PM #92
Defender (Lvl 8)
- Join Date
- Mar 2010
- Location
- Tokyo, Japan
- Posts
- 6,946
ø Ignore perrinmillerBorric Hawkins, Male Human Fighter
Borric follows what Dorummn says and mutters, "You have got to be kidding me. Hummph."
"Well, this is not all bad. Assuming Rissa is not so offended that I came looking for her as a possible thief. Bah! I will cross that bridge when I come to it."
With a rueful smile, he looks at the grippli and asks, "Okay, mate. Just how are you planning to pay back 2500 gold coins worth? That is a healthy amount loose change. I am taking it you did not just expect pity from us and going to leave it that."
"Just how did the lil' blighter get so in debt to begin with?"
The brash fighter is really beginning to regret starting his day still sore from bedroom wrestling and short on sleep.
Mini Stats
Borric HawkinsPlaying & DMing: PF and SWSE
Monday, 9th April, 2012, 04:19 PM #93
"Well, let's look on the bright side. At least we don't have to fight a whole bar! No seriously, let's think this through. We need to talk to your tadpole if he's still around. If not, can you tell us who he paid and where they are located? We can go reacquire our funds, and teach the fella a lesson, who have them."
[ooc]Will work Syl up this evening, DM![\ooc]
Monday, 9th April, 2012, 04:50 PM #94
Nathan Tchanlach, human sorcerer
Nathan's shoulders slump as the grippli makes his revelation. He turns slightly to the air over his right shoulder and glares at some comment his unseen attendants apparently made, then returns his attention to the matter at hand.
"I'll assume this debt wasn't for legitimate business, either?" Nathan asks. "If so, well, maybe we can just reclaim the gems as part of a reward for nabbing local nasties," the sorcerer offers, trying to add to Syl's 'look on the bright side' philosophy.
Tuesday, 10th April, 2012, 07:56 PM #95
Myrmidon (Lvl 10)
- Join Date
- May 2006
- Location
- Columbia, MO
- Posts
- 5,859
ø Ignore GlassEyeDorummn is a bundle of nerves as he continues to talk with Borric, Nathan, Sylvain and Zelena and can hardly keep his hands still. He plucks a kerchief from where it was tucked into his belt and wipes at the sheen of sweat that covers his rubbery looking skin. He has the decency to look abashed when Borric makes his comment about not expecting pity; it's fairly clear that he hoped putting himself at the party's mercy would count for something.
The skin of his throat swells and contracts several times in Dorummn's agitation. "Ahm... well. You see, I don't know how exactly." He continues on in a rush. "It may simply be a matter of coin to you but it is much more to me. The bonds of hospitality have been broken and I have been shamed. I wish to restore my honor and to begin to make amends then you shall, of course, continue to be my guests without charge." He hesitates and looks hopefully up at the group. "If you trust that you and your belongings will be safe in my home."
When Sylvain and Nathan pipe up Dorummn briefly smiles and bobs his head. "Yes, yes! I thought you might wish to speak with Loab and so I told him to await my return! If we can aid you in the return of your funds then that will lessen our not inconsiderable debt!" He begins a slow progression down the street to the Lilypad.
"Ahm... no. No, legitimate business, I'm afraid. I can't get the whole story from him but it seems he may have been caught by them in some petty thievery and forced to pay some sort of obscene restitution to them for intruding in their business. He couldn't pay it, of course, and so they demanded even more as time went on. Impossible. And that he even became involved with such actions and hooligans in the first place... I am a failure as a father."
By this time the procession has arrived at the Lilypad and Dorummn throws open the door and everyone enters. Fears and suspicions that Dorummn might have foolishly left Loab to wait alone allowing him to flee and escape punishment of any sort are allayed as they enter: Brog, the boggard help, squats on the floor and holds one meaty hand around Loab's arm. Loab tugs ineffectually against Brog's grip but slumps in defeat when everyone gathers round.
Loab peers up with his one good eye at Borric. "What're ya gonna do to me?"
Tuesday, 10th April, 2012, 08:33 PM #96
Waghalter (Lvl 7)
- Join Date
- Aug 2004
- Location
- BC, Canada
- Posts
- 1,638
ø Ignore SongdragonZelena looks to Booric as he throws his anger her way and is about to reply but holds her tongue and takes a deep breath. She looks to Nathan and smiles, "You did well in there. Nice work."
She listens to Dorummn's tale before nodding in understanding. It was not his fault but he at least has taken responsibility for the actions of a wayward child. She does empathize with the grippli and holds him with a respect for that.
The gnome appears at Borric's side... "Perhaps you might want to tell your tale... in full and we shall see what can be salvaged."
Tuesday, 10th April, 2012, 09:22 PM #97
Nathan Tchanlach, human sorcerer
Nathan gives a sheepish grin at Zelena's compliment, trying to avoid catching too much of Borric's attention after he's vented he spleen at the gnome.
"Thanks. I'm not as smooth as I've seen you be, but I've spent a bit of time having to talk myself out of sticky wickets, as it were," he returns.
Nathan relaxes a bit as Zelena takes the lead in questioning the young grippli, hoping things are a bit more successful here than they were at the pub.
Tuesday, 10th April, 2012, 11:59 PM #98
Sylvain pulls Dorummn to the side and speaks to him in a low voice. "You aren't a failure as a father. You can't control what he does once he gets old enough to leap onto his own lillypad, so to speak. You've been square with us. We'll try to keep Borric's considerable ire focused on the ones what really deserve it."
Wednesday, 11th April, 2012, 04:51 PM #99
Defender (Lvl 8)
- Join Date
- Mar 2010
- Location
- Tokyo, Japan
- Posts
- 6,946
ø Ignore perrinmillerBorric Hawkins, Male Human Fighter
Borric fingers the flail at his belt, with an obvious impatience, "Hummph."
"Bashing your fookin' head in will not get me anywhere. Nay, we need your head intact to try and get my money back. Do as the lass says, and tell us everything."
"If things work out, maybe we get you out of trouble and we get my money back. Win, win."
"And if we can finish it up quickly I can buy a nice piece of jewelry to apologize to Rissa once that bastard bartender tells her that I was accusing her of thievery."
Mini Stats
Borric HawkinsPlaying & DMing: PF and SWSE
Wednesday, 11th April, 2012, 07:07 PM #100
Myrmidon (Lvl 10)
- Join Date
- May 2006
- Location
- Columbia, MO
- Posts
- 5,859
ø Ignore GlassEyeLoab looks sullenly up at the men and women surrounding him and tugs feebly at his arm still held fast in placid Brog's grip. He starts when Borric mentions bashing in his head and it's clear he's beginning to realize he is in serious trouble. Dorummn seems grateful for Sylvain's reassurance though still worried and he startles and almost runs to his son's defense. However, the look on his face shows him determined to not enable his son's criminal activity and he stands resigned at the sidelines.
Loab is slow starting but once he gets started, much like his father, the words tumble out in a rush. "I'd pick up things in the market. Trinkets, ya know? An' sell them so I could buy sweets for my sibs." He gazes up to see if he's earned any sort of sympathy but the ring of faces around him convince him otherwise and he continues on. "Sold the trinkets to Vanner the Hook, skinny human with greasy hair and big rings in his ear, works with Kremuur Grayscale. Gave me good money, too. I did it a lot." He shoots a shamed look over at his father who seems to wilt further with each revelation. "Then Vanner comes to me, says I owe the grayscales a cut of my work. Gold was spent by then and he says to me its ok, and I can pay next week. So, next week I have a little something from the market to pay off but it ain't enough and the amount he says I owe keeps going up and up 'til I need something big to pay it all. Vanner starts gettin' nasty and him and a couple of Kremuur's other boys come and say they gotta beat me up if I don't pay." He motions towards his eye, clouded over from an injury, but he flinches away from the painful memory and pushes ahead with his story.
"And I see Rissa come in with a rich foreigner..." He shrugs and stares at the floor. "I snuck in your room early, after I saw Rissa left, and went through your stuff when you was sleeping. I needed something small but worth lots of gold and when I saw those gems I thought I was finally free. I took 'em to Vanner over at Kremuur's place."
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text: Bestiaire by Denis Côté (Quebec, 2012, 72 min.). Filmed at a Quebec zoo, Bestiaire blurs the line between the observer and the observed. While absent of traditional narrative, there is breathtaking dramatic tension in every exquisitely framed shot: the sight of a lion attacking the doors of its cage or the scurrying striped legs of zebras in a holding pen. "For the most part, it shows exactly what it shows, so that when even the simplest cinematic mediation insinuates itself, it feels a bit like poetry—or conceptual magic" (NPR).


text:
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Cripple Creek Ranch / Christy Bourbonnais - Natural, versatile, sound, training from foaling to showing.
Harvard, IL
Ride With Excellence / Sarah Sanders - Our riding program will get you to where you want to be as a rider in most disciplines!
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Iman Shumpert cleared for full contact practice with Knicks
Second year swingman Iman Shumpert was cleared by New York Knicks team doctors this morning to participate in full contact practice with the team, according to tweets he sent out today. A member of last year's NBA All Rookie First Team, Shumpert tore the ACL and meniscus in his left knee during a playoff game against the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs last season.
Nate Taylor of The New York Times reported in September that Shumpert could return to the court in December if he is ahead of schedule. The fact that he will likely make his return in the middle of January is reason to believe that he didn't suffer any setbacks throughout the eight months of rehab. Last year for the Knicks, Shumpert averaged 9.5 points and 3.2 rebounds per game while showing moments of promise as a young, perimeter defender. He finished fifth in the 2012 NBA Rookie of the Year voting and was the only rookie to receive votes for the Defensive Player of the Year Award.
He tweeted this morning that he lives for games like the one the Knicks played last night. New York lost by six at home to the Boston Celtics but a rematch is scheduled for Jan. 24 in Boston.
Cleared for full contact by the team Doctors! Let the countdown begin!!! I live for games like last night. See you soon Boston. #post90s—
Iman Shumpert (@I_Am_Iman) January 08, 2013


text:
No pants, no problem: Boston holds 7th annual No Pants Subway Ride on the MBTA
Hundreds of Bostonians on Sunday participated in the city's 7th Annual No Pants Subway Ride, organized by a self-described "society of shenanigans," BostonSOS.
Truth in comedy in 'Let's Pretend We're Famous'
Tony Braithwaite and Jennifer Childs are self-confessed comedy nerds. The local actors can recite bits from obscure vaudeville acts, Woody [...]
Elizabeth Banks goes off-script in 'Hunger Games: Catching Fire'
Elizabeth Banks would do great on a Hunger Games themed improv team.
VIDEO: Improv Everywhere pranks Macy's shoppers with 'The Matrix In Real Life'
The shoppers were definitely questioning reality.
Funny folks go head to head at ComedySportz Philadelphia
It's always a close match between the visiting New Jersey Turnpikes and the Philadelphia Fightin' Amish. Each team may rack up quite a few fouls but in the end, the audience will let you know who wins.
It's just another Saturday all-star matchup at ComedySportz Philadelphia
Craig Robinson talks about improvising on 'Rapture-Palooza'
Craig Robinson, of "The Office" and the forthcoming "This is the End," talks about improvising with fellow stars in the new "Rapture-Palooza."
Film review: 'The Kings of Summer' revels in comic improvisation
In "The Kings of Summer," three high school boys run away from home to live in the woods, while dad Nick Offerman stays home and broods.
VIDEO: 'Shakespeare Star Wars flash mob' on Philly's Art Museum steps
Quirk books, together with Drexel University improv groups, celebrated May 4 with a "William Shakespeare Star Wars flash mob" on Philly's Art Museum steps.
When the office gets goofy: Improv for professionals
When most people think about improv comedy classes, they think about over-the-top performances and aspiring future Saturday Night Live cast members.


text:
35 U.S. Code § 324 - Institution of post-grant review
The Director may not authorize a post-grant review to be instituted unless the Director determines that the information presented in the petition filed under section
321, if such information is not rebutted, would demonstrate that it is more likely than not that at least 1 of the claims challenged in the petition is unpatentable.
Additional Grounds.—
The determination required under subsection (a) may also be satisfied by a showing that the petition raises a novel or unsettled legal question that is important to other patents or patent applications.
The Director shall determine whether to institute a post-grant review under this chapter pursuant to a petition filed under section
321 within 3 months after—
(Added Pub. L. 112–29, § 6(d),Sept. 16, 2011, 125 Stat. 306.)
Effective Date
Section effective upon the expiration of the 1-year period beginning Sept. 16, 2011, and applicable only to patents described in section 3(n)(1) ofPub. L. 112–29(35 U.S.C. 100 note), with certain exceptions and limitations, see section 6(f)(2), (3) ofPub. L. 112–29, set out as a note under section
321 of this title.
The table below lists the classification updates, since Jan. 3, 2012, for this section. Updates to a broader range of sections may be found at the update page for containing chapter, title, etc.
The most recent Classification Table update that we have noticed was Tuesday, August 13, 2013
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text:
The Calgary Flames claimed netminder Joey MacDonald off waivers on Monday in hopes that he can help out a thin and injured goaltending situation.
The Flames needed a goalie after starter Mikka Kiprusoff sprained his MCL last Tuesday in a game against the Detroit Red Wings.
Kiprusoff is listed as day-to-day and was on the ice Monday morning. If all goes well, he could come off Injured Reserve and play Wednesday with MacDonald expected to be Kiprusoff's backup.
The 33-year-old MacDonald, who saw some time with the Red Wings last season, was waived by the team on Sunday with the intention of sending him down to AHL Grand Rapids.
In 14 games last season, MacDonald had a 2.16 GAA and .912 save percentage. He is 31-48-13, with a 3.04 goals-against average and .903 save percentage in parts of six seasons with Detroit, Boston, Toronto and the New York Islanders.
Martin St. Louis is a Ranger, Matt Moulson is a member of the Minnesota Wild and the Montreal Canadiens have Thomas Vanek. Look back at all the big name deals that went down.
Complete Trade List
Photo Gallery: Behind the scenes at TradeCentre
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