text:
Further comment superfluous.
Further comment superfluous.
The latest utter drivel coming from the right in America is that they're going to impeach Obama for using (well, threatening to use, anyhow, and he probably will) an Executive Order to break the (Republican organised) log-jam on Immigration.
Now, we don't wish to comment on American immigration policy – too complicated from this distance, and we have enough problems with our own in Australia – but we sure as hell feel able to comment on the idiots who think he should be impeached.
Can you see the difference between Obama and these enthusiastic users of Executive Orders? There are two essential differences.
Yes, we think you spotted the two differences pretty quickly didn't you?
Given the staggeringly low level of achievement of both the House of Reps and the Senate since Obama came to the Oval office, and the GOP's deliberate and unashamed obstructionism which looks set to get even worse, we suggest that #uppittydemocratniggerwhoinsistsonfuckingdoingstuff just about explains the current impeachment push.
And just for the record, in case any of our Republican readers don't do big three-digit figures, Obama has used Executive Orders less than any of the others except Lincoln.
Frankly, if the hard-right GOP continue to eschew any attempts to create any bipartisan agreement, then we're hopeful that Obama just presses on and gives the Republicans the regular whacking they so richly deserve. He has been altogether far too polite and reserved with them thus far for our liking. It's time to give these Tea-Party-led-by-the-nose numpties a lesson in Government. Which is not the same, please note, as Opposition.
In doing so, he'll give his own party and supporters something to cheer, too. Which they need.
An exceptionally well-researched piece of work by AP and Rachel Maddow which you can read here goes even further than our irritated rant. It points our that at least three former Republican Presidents used exactly this sort of action to grant – yes, you've guessed it – protection to illegal immigrants living in the USA, when Congress couldn't get it's shit together.
Bizarre. Bring it on, we say.
They came as slaves; vast human cargo transported on tall British ships bound for the Americas. They were shipped by the hundreds of thousands and included men, women, and even the youngest of children.
Whenever they rebelled or even disobeyed an order, they were punished in the harshest ways. Slave owners would hang their human property by their hands and set their hands or feet on fire as one form of punishment. They were burned alive and had their heads placed on pikes in the marketplace as a warning to other captives.
We don't really need to go through all of the gory details, do we? We know all too well the atrocities of the African slave trade.
But, are we actually talking about African slavery?Fascinatingly, in this case, no.
King James II and Charles I led a continued effort to enslave the Irish. Britain's famed revolutionary Oliver Cromwell furthered this practice of dehumanising one's next door neighbour.
The Irish slave trade began when James II sold 30,000 Irish prisoners as slaves to the New World. His Proclamation of 1625 required Irish political prisoners be sent overseas and sold to English settlers in the West Indies. By the mid 1600s, the Irish were the main slaves sold to Antigua and Montserrat. At that time, 70% of the total population of Montserrat were Irish slaves.
Ireland quickly became the biggest source of human livestock for English merchants. The majority of the early slaves to the New World were actually white.
From 1641 to 1652, over 500,000 Irish were killed by the English and another 300,000 were sold as slaves. Ireland's population fell from about 1,500,000 to 600,000 in one single decade. Families were ripped apart as the British did not allow Irish dads to take their wives and children with them across the Atlantic. This led to a helpless population of homeless women and children most of whom died. Britain's solution to their penury was to auction them off as well.
During the 1650s, over 100,000 Irish children between the ages of 10 and 14 were taken from their parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies, Virginia and New England.
In this decade, 52,000 Irish (mostly women and children) were sold to Barbados and Virginia. Another 30,000 Irish men and women were also transported and sold to the highest bidder. In 1656, Cromwell ordered that 2000 Irish children be taken to Jamaica and sold as slaves to English settlers.
Many people today will avoid calling the Irish slaves what they truly were: slaves. They'll come up with terms like "Indentured Servants" to describe what occurred to the Irish, and it is true that some were, and were held under less onerous regimes than the slaves. However, in most cases from the 17th and 18th centuries, Irish slaves were nothing more than human cattle. They never became "free", and they never returned home.
Meanwhile, the African slave trade was just beginning during this same period. And it is well recorded that ironically African slaves, not tainted with the stain of the hated Catholic theology and more expensive to purchase, were often treated far better than their Irish counterparts.
African slaves were very expensive during the late 1600s (50 Sterling). But Irish slaves came cheap (no more than 5 Sterling). If a planter whipped or branded or beat an Irish slave to death, it was never a crime. A death was a monetary setback, but far cheaper than killing a more expensive African.
The English masters quickly began breeding the Irish women for both their own personal pleasure and for greater profit. Children of slaves were themselves slaves, which increased the size of the master's free workforce. Even if an Irish woman somehow obtained her freedom, her kids would remain slaves of her master. Thus, Irish moms, even with this new found emancipation, would seldom abandon their kids and would remain in servitude.
In time, the English thought of a better way to use these women (in some cases, girls as young as 12) to increase their market share: the settlers began to breed Irish women and girls with African men to produce slaves with a distinct complexion. These new "mulatto" slaves brought a higher price than Irish livestock and, likewise, enabled the settlers to save money rather than purchase new African slaves. Some mulatto children obviously were born as a result of rape or consensual sex between owners and black slaves. Many more were the result of a deliberate breeding programme.
This practice of interbreeding Irish females with African men went on for several decades and was so widespread that, in 1681, legislation was passed "forbidding the practice of mating Irish slave women to African slave men for the purpose of producing slaves for sale." In short, it was stopped only because it interfered with the profits of a large slave transport company.
England continued to ship tens of thousands of Irish slaves for more than a century. Records state that, after the 1798 Irish Rebellion, thousands of Irish slaves were sold to both America and Australia. There were horrible abuses of both African and Irish captives. One British ship even dumped 1,302 slaves into the Atlantic Ocean so that the crew would have plenty of food to eat.
It is hardly ever spoken about, but there is little question that the Irish experienced the horrors of slavery as much (if not more in the 17th Century) as Africans did. There is, also, very little question that those brown, tanned faces you witness in your travels to the West Indies are very likely a combination of African and Irish ancestry. In 1839, Britain finally decided on it's own to end it's participation in this highway to hell and stopped transporting slaves. While their decision did not stop pirates from doing what they desired, the new law slowly concluded at least this chapter of nightmarish Irish misery.
As we look ever more clearly at our past, Irish slavery is a subject worth remembering, not erasing from our memories. Or is their story to be one that their English pirates intended: to have the Irish story utterly and completely disappear as if it never happened?
None of the Irish victims ever made it back to their homeland to describe their ordeal. These are the lost slaves; the ones that time and history books conveniently forgot. It is time they were remembered.
I wrote this poem remembering attending so many Remembrance Day services with my mother, whose husband, the father who I never knew, died at 46, a cheerful but essentially broken man, after six years of service in the Royal Navy..
I am very proud of this poem, both as a poem, in and of itself, and as an authentic expression of my feelings and some things I consider important.
I am largely a pacifist in my outlook, but I have great respect for those who put their lives on the line defending values I hold dear, and opposing tyranny.
It references not only those solemn services attended at memorials with my mother, but the many times since I have seen elderly people stand and pay their respects to the dead of both World Wars, and other wars.
There is a wave of emotion sweeping Australia at the moment when Anzac day rolls around, with record numbers of people attending Dawn Services both around the country and in places overseas such as Papua New Guinea and Galipolli.
Increasingly, those people have young faces. The great grandchildren, grandchildren and children of those who were wounded, broken, and died. Why the sudden upsurge of interest? Perhaps younger people today look back to a past when the issues were simpler and convictions stronger.
I am also sure that the 39 Australian service people killed in Afghanistan since hostilities broke out there have something to do with it. The Americans and others have lost more people, of course, but those 39 lives are a grievous loss to a country with a population as small as Australia's, just as the disproportionate sacrifice of the World War I diggers left a scar across the country that took generations to heal: the faces and stories of those brave young people killed in Afghanistan in recent years sure focuses the mind.
I am also reminded, on this solemn day, of the most important thing ever said about conflict, which is, of course:
"War will continue until men refuse to fight."
If you are interested to purchase my collection of poems called Read Me – 71 Poems and 1 Story - just head here.
(Article re-published for Anzac Day 2013 and Remembrance Day 2014.)
Look at her. Bright, beautiful, intelligent, her whole life ahead of her. And dead.
Georgina Bartter, 19, was found unconscious and convulsing at the Harbourlife festival at Mrs Macquarie's Chair this Saturday.
Friends reported the teenager, one of 5200 people at the festival, took one and a half pills, before she died of organ failure.A "beautiful, outgoing girl", Georgina would not have taken drugs knowingly, her family told 7News.
Superintendent Mark Walton says a report is being prepared for the coroner. "(A post-mortem) is a matter for the coroner and the family and that will be determined next week," he said.
An autopsy would find what was in the pill that contributed to her death.
The teen from Longueville on Sydney's north shore was taken to St Vincent's Hospital just before 5pm, but suffered multiple organ failure and died.
Police arrested 78 people at the waterfront dance party for drug offences.
Superintendent Mark Walton said he's concerned large electronic dance parties are closely associated with illicit psychoactive drugs. "It does not matter what location they are held in, there is no doubt the nature of the entertainment is intrinsically linked to that drug use.
"She fell to the ground more or less and then people started waving down the security and paramedics," witness Andrew Demetriou told 7News. "Quite simply, you do not know what you're taking."
In a statement, Harbourlife organisers said their thoughts were with the teenager's family.
"We can hardly imagine the pain and heartbreak they must be feeling and they have our deepest sympathy," a statement on Facebook said.
Organisers said a paramedic was with the girl just one minute after she collapsed. A first-aid tent at the festival included paramedics and an emergency doctor.
Police are asking anyone with knowledge about synthetic substance sellers to come forward.
The Bartter family has told 7News Georgina would never have taken the drugs knowingly althugh they later apparently said it was "very out of character". But whether or not she did, she certainly didn't expect to die.
Ms Bartter was the eldest of three children and graduated from Wenona private school last year, where she was a top student.
She had only just returned from a dream holiday to Europe during a study break from university.
Her close friends said they were "completely shocked" by Ms Bartter's death and were receiving counselling last night.
"She was really lovely to everyone at school. She was the life of the party," one friend said.
"Everyone's in shock. She had so much potential and it was way too early."
Ironically and sadly, Ms Bartter was born in 1995, the same year Anna Wood, 15, who became the face of the anti-drug war after she died from popping an ecstasy tablet at a rave party.
We have a message for the young of our country and all countries.
When you take illicitly supplied drugs you have no idea what is in them. The people who create these drugs and profit from them have no quality control, and no care for what damage they may or may not do. They simply want your money. Cocaine, for example, is regularly cut with poisons and other drugs (such as veterinary) that are not intended for human consumption. Psycho-active drugs can be a cocktail of whatever the drug maker has at hand.
You have no idea how your body will react to any illegal drug you ingest. Worse: just because you had no bad reaction last time does not mean the same will be true next time, because different drug batches contain different substances and mixtures.
We are not wowsers, by any means. We're not talking here about the occasional puff on a joint. We are talking about the vast range of party drugs that have swept the world in recent years. You simply can't know what's inside what you are taking. And they can kill. Anyone. Suddenly, and without warning.
We have long argued that proper quality control is the strongest reason why illicit drugs should be legalised and regulated.
The other advantages of this approach would be a generalised harm minimisation regime, fewer casualties, more immediate access to advice for drug users, better and more freely available drug information, an inflow of tax dollars to fund better prevention and care provisions, and above all draining the criminal underworld of their vast financial wealth generated from illegal sales.
Prohibition has failed, and has little or no effect on the quantity of drugs illegally entering our society. Whole countries, like Mexico, are now in thrall to the trade, with over 100,000 deaths in that country directly attributable to it in recent years.
Many leading police officers and politicians around the world agree with us that a new way must be found, and fast.
Meanwhile the president of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation, Alex Wodak, said the tragedy highlighted the need for a shift away from a "criminal- justice approach" to illicit drug use.
"Instead of relying heavily on law-enforcement measures like sniffer dogs we should be doing what they are in Europe and be providing pill testing," Mr Wodak told The Australian.
"You can get the pills tested at these sorts of events and they will tell you what is in them - it turns it into a less dangerous practice."
The widespread use of sniffer dogs could be counterproductive and encourage risk-taking behaviour, Mr Wodak said. "People who are carrying substances they have bought off the streets illegally might swallow excessive quantities in order to get rid of the evidence quickly and sometimes this has led to death."
We say: Until drugs are legal and quality-controlled, or until someone can tell you everything that is in a pill and you can make an informed decision about what you are putting in your body, avoid them. Unless you think seeking a good time buzz is worth risking dying for.
Rest in peace, Georgina. Our deepest sympathies to you and all who knew you.
As we have pointed out before, Australia has been slow and mealy-mouthed in sending aid/health workers to try and control the Ebola outbreak at source.
Yet even now some small move has been made, as PM Abbott and Health Minister Dutton have been dragged kicking and screaming to the table, people around the world, and indeed at home, could be forgiven for being a little confused about Australia's response to the Ebola crisis.
The government has been sending out somewhat mixed signals over what help it can offer, as is now pointed out for the world to read on the front page of the BBC website in the UK. Nice.
First, the Abbott government refused to send any official medical or military personnel to West Africa, a decision for which he was widely criticised on this blog, inside Australia, and overseas, at the same time as President Barack Obama was saying the US should be encouraging health workers to volunteer to go to the frontline.
Mr Abbott has now bowed to pressure and announced Australia will be contributing A$20m (£11m; $17m) to help fund a British Ebola response clinic being set up in Sierra Leone. However, the prime minister has been vague about who will be staffing it.
The Australian side of the operation has been contracted out to the private health provider Aspen Medical and Abbott suggested most of the staff would be recruited locally, but contradictorily health officials in Sierra Leone have said the principal thing they are lacking is qualified local doctors.
Meanwhile, the managing director of Aspen Medical, Glenn Keys, has said around 350 Australians have registered with the company to go and help.
What is clear is that the prime minister is sticking by his line that no government medical teams or military personnel will be dispatched.
Mr Abbott said the decision to contract in Aspen had been reached after Britain agreed to treat any Australians who become infected while in West Africa, something the Australian leader had said was his principal concern.
It's now emerged though, that the European Union had already made a similar offer to treat Australian staff that Mr Abbott had rejected.
Yet the media in Australia have been perfectly silent in asking him "Why?", and still are. Especially as the end result is Australia's response has looked very tardy and been delayed by crucial weeks. Meanwhile the poor of West Africa continue to face death rates from Ebola of up to 90% of all those infected.
Add to that the strong criticism Australia has faced after it became the first developed country to ban the issuing of visas to anyone from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. The Sierra Leonean government called the move "discriminatory" and "counter-productive" suggesting it created a climate of panic.
As the BBC say, anyone who's visited Australia will know they take a tough line on bio-security. There are strict rules about bringing in food products due to fears of bringing in disease.
But given that only a handful of people have been tested for suspected Ebola in Australia and all have tested negative, the government here risks being accused of showing a lack of compassion in the eyes of many around the world.
What is more important is that if this outbreak is not stopped AT SOURCE, and somehow transmits itself into other poor areas of the world with bad sanitation and inadequate health services – the rest of Africa, India, Pakistan, Central and Southern America, great swathes of South East Asia, even China – then we would be looking at an Armageddon scenario. In the face of which, Abbott and Dutton looked nothing more nor less like rabbits stuck in the headlights. So much for "strong leadership", eh?
Meanwhile, the political and media beat up worldwide on the outbreak has continued, with near hysteria levels, in the USA in particular.
A couple of weeks back we predicted that there wouldn't be another Ebola case in the USA in the next seven days. It's now 14 and counting.
But has the fever of commentary died down? Hardly. And why is so annoyingly obvious. The Republicans knew that by making Obama look "weak" on Ebola, by terrifying the population, in simple terms, then they would hurt the Democrats. And so they did, as seen in their "wave" of wins in the mid-terms on Tuesday just gone.
In fact, as is widely acknowledged, Obama's response has been a small miracle of intelligent healthcare policy.
That he has not received the credit for acting smartly, promptly and effectively – not just in the USA, but in West Africa – is truly sickening.
It's going to be a hot topic in the coming days and weeks. Having taken control of the Senate, is there a new GOP mandate for it to pursue with its new-found control of both houses of Congress?
That's a question Republicans and Democrats will be debating in coming days, as the GOP makes the case that its election victories add up not only to an electoral "wave", but to a mandate – a genuine endorsement of conservative policies – while Democrats cast them as something less.
Part of the problem is that we're dealing with terms that have no specific, generally accepted meaning. For example, was this a "wave" election? Maybe, but there is no actual definition of the word, and because it's somewhat subjective, opinions vary.
A "mandate," meanwhile, also seems to mean different things to different people. Traditionally, it's supposed to be part of a democratic model: a candidate or a party presents an agenda to the public, the public then endorses the candidate or party, and the winners claim a popular mandate. That is, by prevailing in an election, the victors believe they've earned the popular support needed to pursue the policy measures they presented during the campaign.
As of this morning, Republicans are predictably claiming just such a mandate, and at the surface, it may seem as if they have a point. The GOP took control of the Senate, expanded their House majority, flipped some state legislative bodies, and fared surprisingly well in gubernatorial races. The result, they say, is an endorsement from the American people that affords them the right to pursue their top priorities.
It's a nice argument, which just happens to be wrong.
Right off the bat, perhaps the most glaring flaw with the Republican pitch is that the GOP seems to believe only Republicans are capable of claiming a mandate.
Two years ago, President Obama won big, Senate Democrats kept their majority for a fourth-consecutive cycle; and House Democratic candidates earned far more votes than their House Republican counterparts.
Did this mean Dems had a popular mandate for their agenda? GOP leaders replied, "Absolutely not."
Indeed, the Republicans said the opposite, concluding that Obama and his agenda may have been endorsed by the nation, but it was the GOP's job to kill the every Democratic priority anyway. They proceeded to be the most obstructionist Congress in history, rendering the nation effectively ungovernable.
Elections have consequences? Republicans have spent the last two years insisting otherwise. It's laughable for GOP officials to now change their mind and declare, in effect, "Mandates only exist when we win."
What's more, the obvious question for those arguing that Republicans have a mandate this morning is simple: "A mandate to do what, exactly?"
Think about the policy platform Republicans emphasised over the course of the last several months. Let's see there was … well, we can't forget about … but they certainly pushed … there was a real debate about issues such as … Ebola-stricken terrorists crossing the border from Mexico?
Look, it's not exactly a secret that the GOP's priorities, such as they are, do not enjoy broad national support. The party did its best to obscure its unpopular ideas for fear of losing. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) even went so far as to tell reporters the other day, "This is not the time to lay out an agenda."
Not to put too fine a point on this, but that, in a nutshell, effectively ends the "mandate" debate. A party, no matter how well it does in an election, cannot claim a mandate for a policy agenda that does not exist and was not presented to the people. Vaguely blathering on about smaller government, or using explicitly abusive negativity, (as we said yesterday), doth not a mandate make. What exactly do the Republican Party stand for as opposed to against?
Republicans ran an "agenda-free campaign." Did it produce big wins? Yes. Unarguably. Did it create a mandate? Very obviously not.
We do not consider ourselves to be either Robinson Crusoe or Nostradamus in predicting a poor day for the Democrats today in the USA. It does not require us to be especially prescient to predict a dark day for the centre left, and a big celebration night for the centre-right. Commentary and polls have been running strongly that way in the last ten days.
Many races will be a lot closer than people have been predicting, but in general we expect the Republicans to do better tonight USA time. We are ambivalent on whether they will take control of the Senate: on balance, we have suspected JUST not until very recently, but as the counting continues it is increasingly possible, undoubtedly, especially if the Democrats are in trouble in a swathe of Southern and Western States where they had hoped to hold off GOP challenges, as in states like Arkansas and Colorado.
Why the Republicans are doing well is perhaps more interesting.
A referendum? Maybe. But on much more than just the Presidency.
There is a general assumption that the result will be a "referendum" on President Obama, who has been struggling in the polls for some time now, despite a strong bounceback in the American economy.
There is a pervasive view in America that the economy is not doing well: despite a recovery from the depths of the recent recession, markedly higher employment levels and a soaring stock market, the economy remains the top worry for voters, with an overwhelming majority pessimistic that conditions won't get better soon, according to Tuesday evening exit polls.
When Bill Clinton won the Presidency he famously had a large sign on his campaign headquarters walls that cried out "It's the economy, Stupid", to remind him and all spokespeople to focus on the economy as by far the most important issue for voters. Well today, 78% of Americans said they are worried about the economy, according to CNN reporting on national exit polls. Another 69 percent said that in their view economic conditions are not good. Nearly half of voters said the economy is the most important issue facing the country at 45 percent. Health care, foreign policy and illegal immigration are also top concerns, but ranked well below.
Overall, 65 percent said the country is on the wrong track and 31 percent said it's headed in the right direction, the exit polls found.
The survey of 11,522 voters nationwide was conducted for AP and the television networks by Edison Research. This includes preliminary results from interviews conducted as voters left a random sample of 281 precincts Tuesday, as well as 3,113 who voted early or absentee and were interviewed by landline or cellular telephone from Oct. 24 through Nov. 2. This will bias the results against the Democrat incumbent, as pre-poll votes favour the Republicans, and the poll quotes a sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Nevertheless, the broad thrust of the poll is essentially right.
But Republicans shouldn't celebrate too hard
The voters have thoroughly had it right up to their yingyang, according to exit polls released Tuesday evening. The national survey of voters showed broad dissatisfaction with both parties, the Obama administration and Congress.
58% of those casting ballots in the midterms were either dissatisfied or angry at the White House, while just 11 percent said they are enthusiastic with the administration and 30 percent said they were satisfied, according to CNN.
Another 54 percent said they disapprove of President Barack Obama's job while 44 percent said they approve.
But the winners are winners by default. The Republican leadership does not fare well in the eyes of voters either, with 59 percent saying they are not happy with GOP leaders in Congress.
And as for the parties as a whole, 56 percent view the GOP unfavourably, while 53 percent say the same of Democrats. Hardly a crushing endorsement for the Republicans. More like "a plague on both your houses".
And a whopping 79 percent said had a negative view of Congress, according to CNN. This statistic has hardly changed since the Republican-led shut downs of Government some time back.
Politics as a whole is the loser
Meanwhile, voters are split on how much the federal government be involved in people's lives, as 41 percent said the government should do more and 53 percent said the government does too much.
The trust level is also staggeringly low. Sixty-one percent said they trust lawmakers in Washington only some of the time. Democracy itself is under question here. Accordingly, we expect to see some solid swings against incumbents of both parties tonight.
We also expect to see a bigger turnout from Republican voters than Democrats, favouring the GOP, and that's before we factor in the ludicrous "Voter ID" push from the right which may have effectively disenfranchised as many as 7 million Americans, almost all of whom would have voted Democrat. If the Republicans take control of the Senate by less than those 7 million votes in the States that have enacted voter ID legislation then what we will have been watching is little more than a legalised coup d'etat. It won't be the first time, either. Remember the Gore-Bush fiasco in Florida?
Whatever you believe about the ID laws, the other factor is that GOP voters are currently more motivated to vote partly through their visceral hatred of Obama – some of which is undoubted racially-based, sadly, but also through perceived American weakness on the international stage, and other hot buttons – but also through deep concerns about the size of Government debt, especially on the far right with the Tea Party and its fellow travellers. The other significant factor is that voters that identify as Independents can expect to break heavily in favour of the Republicans, reversing recent trends, and again reflective of the generalised malaise with all incumbents and with Democrats in particular.
There is little question that along with a generalised dislike of Government per se in the Western world at the moment, there is a pervasive concern about the size of Government, and the arguments of small government libertarians have gained some traction with those who feel especially disgruntled. Whether this will turn into a broadly-supported consensus for what a small government democratic society would look like is, to our mind, far less likely. Small government is all very well until they start to abolish the bit you happen to like.
Building agreement to substantially reduce the role of Government following sixty years of mixed-economy high-touch post-WW2 consensus politics will be much more difficult than promising to keep expanding spending inexorably. We suspect pork barreling is not about to disappear anytime soon.
Ye will reap what ye sow. So be careful what you sow.
However, what we see in this election is the net result of years and years of relentlessly negative campaigning by the Republicans, in effect "talking down" the economy, talking down the President's performance, and talking down confidence generally. In our entire adult life of closely following American politics we do not recall ever having seen such a sustained barrage of brutal criticism, virtually entirely unsupported by any serious policy alternatives.
In reality, apart from the race card, this is due to one factor above all others. Let down, in our opinion, by an inability to strike the right note in promoting their successes, the Obama Administration has actually been one of the more successful in recent American history, in a variety of areas, but this news has completely failed to cut through the miasma of rabble-rousing from the Republicans.
Examining just one of the key areas of Obama's activity (there are many we could point to) reveals this to be true.
The economic cataclysm of the Global Financial Crisis can be laid squarely at the feet of two very contrasting Presidents, Messrs Clinton and Bush, who both bowed to pressure to de-regulate Wall Street and American banking practices, which led directly to the economic crisis and cost millions of innocent little folk worldwide their savings, and worse, their homes and jobs.
The resulting "austerity" measures didn't touch those who played fast and loose with the world's money, none of which was their own.
What the f*** did Obama ever do for us? Well, this lot, for a start.
In response, in terms of Consumer Protection, the Obama government has been one of the most involved and proactive in history. Just consider, he:
Ordered 65 executives who took bailout money to cut their own pay until they paid back all bailout money. http://huff.to/eAi9Qq
Along with Congressional Democrats, pushed through and got passed Dodd-Frank, one of the largest and most comprehensive Wall Street reforms since the Great Depression. http://bit.ly/hWCPg0http://bit.ly/geHpcD
By signing Dodd-Frank legislation, created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau http://1.usa.gov/j5onG
Created rules that reduce the influence of speculators in the oil market. http://bit.ly/MDnA1t
Fashioned rules so that banks can no longer use consumers' money to invest in high-risk financial instruments that work against their own customers' interests. http://bit.ly/fnTayj
Supported the concept of allowing stockholders to vote on executive compensation. http://bit.ly/fnTayj
Endorsed and supported the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 that closed offshore tax avoidance loopholes. http://bit.ly/esOdfBhttp://bit.ly/eG4DPM
Negotiated a deal with Swiss banks that now permits the US government to gain access to the records of criminals and tax evaders. http://bit.ly/htfDgw
Signed the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, which closed many of the loopholes that allowed companies to send jobs overseas, and avoid paying US taxes by moving money offshore.http://1.usa.gov/bd1RTq
Established a Consumer Protection Financial Bureau designed to protect consumers from financial sector excesses. http://bit.ly/fnTayj
Oversaw and then signed a bill constituting the most sweeping food safety legislation since the Great Depression. http://thedc.com/gxkCtP
Through the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, extended the False Claims Act to combat fraud by companies and individuals using money from the TARP and Stimulus programs. http://bit.ly/SLTcSa
That's quite a list. Yet these directly attributable, unarguable and very welcome successes – and this is just one area of government we could look at – have been largely drowned out by the constant cat-calling and nay-saying across the aisle.
No matter how much we support historic measures like Obamacare, the "pivot" towards Asia in foreign policy, and other historic changes, we freely concede as natural supporters of Obama that small revolutions are never without controversy, and even the success of a reform like the new health insurance system in the USA will always be something of a "curate's egg". Massive reform always involves partial failure, and results in future trimming of the sails. This is natural, and acceptable.
What bemuses us is how so much of our politics has descended into complete opposition to the party in power, and viciously so in many cases, whereas previously the role of Opposition was to oppose with principle, to achieve bi-partisanship where possible, and to propose alternatives where the difference of opinion was unbridgeable.
We condemn this drift into mindless yahoo-ery as unhealthy for society.
The fault is by no means all on one side of politics – indeed there will be those who leap to accuse us of the very same failing, and possible sometimes justly, (we are only human) – but in general the verbal (and sometimes physical) thuggery is demonstrably more common on the right, often hiding behind the cowardly anonymity of the Internet – the modern equivalent of scrawling on a wall – to spread their ridiculous and offensive "memes". And overwhelmingly, the target for these memes has been Obama himself, and his family. No President in history, even George Bush who was viscerally detested by the Left, was subjected to this level of abuse, vindictiveness, and outright falsehood. As my mother would say, "give a dog a bad name" … Well, it's worked.
Which is why, as they celebrate their likely successes tonight, we urge thinking Republicans to crow less and think hard that this is a very dangerous furrow to plough.
What we are seeing is a wholesale abandonment of decency and consensus as principles worth following, and that is a very dangerous and unwelcome step.
The GOP need to pause and consider that if they achieve some measure of power tonight by winning control of the Senate, then if they are not careful they will - in due course -find themselves hoist by their own cruel and destructive petard.
Is it too much to hope that faced with the reality of power the right will abandon their childish name calling and rediscover a sense of purpose beyond blind obstinacy and negativity? Yes, we rather fear it is.
We will post comment on the individual races in due course.
The Australian government is facing yet more criticism for not sending health workers to Africa to help fight Ebola.
A 25-bed US field hospital that will treat international health workers who contract the virus is due to open soon.
The Australian government now has no excuse not to fund health workers to travel to Africa, said Labor health spokeswoman Catherine King. And she's right.
"It is now up to the Abbott government to act," Ms King told journalists in Canberra on Friday.
Australia has so far refused to send health workers to Africa because it says it could not evacuate and treat them if they got infected with the virus.
It has provided A$8m (£4.4m) to frontline services and A$40m (£22m) to the World Health Organization and has not ruled out increasing that contribution.
'A risky situation'
"We will not be putting Australian health workers in a risky situation in the absence of evacuation plans and an appropriate level of medical care and we cannot currently supply that," Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said last month.
But the Australian Medical Association, the Public Health Association, the Healthcare and Hospitals Association and non-government organisation Medecins sans Frontieres have all called for the Australian government to substantially increase its contribution.
Sierra Leone and Amnesty International have condemned Australia's decision to suspend entry visas for people from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa as "counterproductive" and "discriminatory".
Ms King said there was a split in Cabinet about its response to the crisis, with Immigration Minister Scott Morrison "taking charge" and Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Health Minister Peter Dutton losing control of the debate.
Nearly 5,000 people have died of Ebola so far. More than 13,700 people have been infected in total, the vast majority in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
UPDATE NOV 5th It has today been announced that the Abbott Government have caved in and will allow volunteer medical staff to travel to the affected areas in a government-supported effort.
You can see, in this beautiful, soft face, the gentle soul of a professional who dedicated her life to helping others. A soul with hopes, fears, dreams, just like the rest of us. And now she is dead. For being a dentist.
We are posting this photograph in memory of Dr. Rou'aa Diab, a female dentist, who was arrested by the Islamic State on August 22, 2014.
She was arrested with four others in Al-Mayadeen, a city on the border of Iraq.
Without a trial, Diab was charged with the crime of "treating male patients", and was executed by decapitation.
Dr. Diab was was beheaded for the crime of helping prevent and treat dental disease. She should be recognised by the dental community, and the world community, for her innocence, and her bravery and dedication.
And her name should never be forgotten.
May you rest in peace Dr. Rou'aa Diab.
IS are rabid animals who have slaughtered thousands upon thousands of completely innocent people. They must be put down.
OK, forget Cock Flavour Soup. I mean that was good, but we've gone one better.
Thanks to our eagle-eyed correspondent, we have now have what must be the all-time unfortunate packaging f*** up – yes, two in just a week!
OK, it's from Iceland. Or at least, it's from the frozen foods retailer called Iceland. But they speak English in both places, right?
This apparently got through the client, the marketing department, the quality control dept in the agency … no one in the retailer said anything …
Honestly. I mean, really?
And you thought the horse-meat pies was big news.
Rumours of single men heading to Iceland for Christmas are greatly exaggerated. And if you don't get the joke, which we're sure you do, just click here. If you absolutely feel you need to. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=minge
As always, for a full list of F*** Ups we have brought to the world for group derision, just pop F*** Up in the search box top left of this page and hit Enter.
Go on, you know you want to.
This has to be the best ever. Unless, Dear Reader, you know better? And yes, we're not idiots, we know it could be a photoshop internet meme joke thing, but at this point, sans evidence from Snopes.com, we're treating it as a real F*** Up, especially as we have seen other equally unlikely ones that we know to be true.
Meanwhile, just coz we're nice, here's the best mice pie recipe ever. After all, Christmas isn't far away now, right? And Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without mince pies. This easy recipe for the rich, sticky, sweet fruits wrapped in pastry reveals why they are so more-ishly delicious.
Mince pies have been eaten as part of a traditional British Christmas since as long ago as the 16th century. Back then they were made with meat (hence the name) but now they are made with sweet mincemeat; a mixture of dried fruits, sugar, spices and brandy.
Home made "mincemeat" is quick and easy to make and there are also many great commercial brands out there to use instead. The advantage of making your own is that you can, ahem, sample it as you go. Fun for all the family. And your tummy. And the kitchen smells simply awesome.
Suet is an important part of the mincemeat and is an animal fat, so if you don't eat meat, look out for vegetarian version or make mincemeat using an alternative fat.
Shortcrust pastry is my preferred mince pie case, some like puff pastry, you choose.
Heat the oven to 205°C/400°F/Gas 6
Make the Pastry
Assemble the Pies
Mincemeat recipe
If you prefer, add whiskey instead of brandy.
If you prefer, have a glass or two yourself while cooking.
It's Christmas. You're allowed.
Nom nom nom.
There is a curious and well-known phobia where otherwise sane, rational people are scared of clowns.
The phenomenon is relatively recent, as the white-faced red-nosed version of clowns that some people find so alarming is a construction of the 20th century. Before that people with anxiety found something else to fixate on.
Now it seems there's good reason to be worried. At least in Europe and the USA.
Clowns attack passers by
Freakish aggressive clowns, some allegedly armed with knives, pistols, and bats are driving French towns crazy, chasing down and attacking people.
In the southern port town of Agde, about 15 'clowns' were arrested in a high school car park for 'laughing manically' while chasing people. In nearby Marseillan, a clown was detained for damaging a car.
In Montpellier: a 'clown' beat a man 30 times with an iron bar and then stole his wallet. Three motorists in the area also complained of "scary clowns."
The French freak-clown wave began in the north a couple of weeks ago, in suburban Douai. In Bethune, a fake clown got a six-month suspended jail term for threatening passers-by.
A French police statement blames the web. "Since mid-October, a rumor inspired by videos published on the Internet has created the presence of threatening and aggressive clowns in France. Symptomatic of the impact of the Internet, this phenomenon can lead to damaging individual acts and disturbances to public order".
The 'clown craze' is thought to have been triggered by a viral YouTube video and a recent episode of American Horror Story featuring a killer named Twisty.
Clown attack cases didn't begin in France though: London's Metropolitan Police dealt with 117 clown-related incidents in 2013.
In Portsmouth, UK, a masked figure began stroking passers-by in the city streets with a single red-gloved finger. As we come from Southampton, we'd believe anything of people in that particular locale.
US police have also made dozens of clown-related arrests, most prevalent in California.
Fear of clowns? It's understandable.
But why be scared of the very look of a clown?
Coulrophobia – fear of clowns – is difficult to understand. They straddle a cultural nexus between fear and entertainment, but are generally intended to be affectionate, especially towards children.
The phobia may grow from the fascinating concept of "the uncanny valley". The uncanny valley is a hypothesis in the field of human aesthetics which holds that when human features look and move almost, but not exactly, like natural human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among some human observers.
The "valley" refers to the dip in a graph of the comfort level of humans as something moves toward a healthy, natural human likeness but does not become entirely indistinguishable from a human. Examples of the effect can be found in the fields of robotics and 3D computer animation, among others. Unless the simalcrum is perfect, some people find it disturbing – and some find it so in the extreme.
The term was coined by the robotics professor Masahiro Mori as Bukimi no Tani Genshō (不気味の谷現象) in 1970. The hypothesis has been linked to Ernst Jentsch's concept of the "uncanny" identified in a 1906 essay "On the Psychology of the Uncanny". Jentsch's conception was then elaborated by Sigmund Freud in a 1919 essay entitled "The Uncanny" ("Das Unheimliche").
Mori's original hypothesis states that as the appearance of a robot is made more human, some human observers' emotional response to the robot will become increasingly positive and empathic, until a point is reached beyond which the response quickly becomes that of strong revulsion. However, as the robot's appearance continues to become less distinguishable from that of a human being, the emotional response becomes positive once again and approaches human-to-human empathy levels.
This area of repulsive response aroused by a robot with appearance and motion between a "barely human" and "fully human" entity is called the uncanny valley. The name captures the idea that an almost human-looking robot will seem overly "strange" to some human beings, will produce a feeling of uncanniness, and will thus fail to evoke the empathic response required for productive human-robot interaction.
For robot, read clown. But why would humans react this way to something which is "almost" human, but slightly different, like a clown? The science is fascinating.
A number of theories have been proposed to explain the cognitive mechanism underlying the uncanny valley phenomenon:
So there you have it. If you're frightened of clowns, you may have deep biological reasons to be so. Although frankly, we think having your new iPhone nicked by a hoodlum is the best reason to view with alarm someone approaching you in the street looking like a refugee from Billy Smart's circus.
Thanks to Mix FM for gathering together people's photos of the monstrous electrical storm that hit Melbourne in the wee small hours of Monday morning and to Colin for alerting us to them.
It was a real doozey, and the traffic and train chaos from power outages and flooding the next morning was astonishing. It is only a matter of time, of course, before some religious nut blames it all on God being angry over homosexuality, abortion, or the Australian cricket team. Actually, looking at the result against Pakistan, I think the cricket team were to blame.
The Wellthisiswhatithink household was certainly bleerily woken up, with candles lit in advance of the expected blackout which for some reason didn't occur, unplugging computers from the wall etc. We're only sorry we couldn't take our own photos, but the new camera hasn't arrived yet … of that, more soon!
The so-called "Arab Spring" was hailed at the time in the West as the beginning of a creeping democratisation of the Middle East, belatedly joining most of the rest of the world on the faltering path to democracy, separation of powers, and so on.
What is clear is those expectations were vastly overblown.
What happened in Egypt was one nasty dictatorship was replaced by an even nastier one when "democracy" elected a Government unacceptable to the military, to the capitalists, and to the West. In Libya the West got rid of Gadaffi but a lack of central leadership meant we replaced him with a series of vicious tribal warlords controlling their own little chunk of the country. We fomented an uprising against Assad in Syria and ended up with a brutal civil war and IS. In the deeply conservative Gulf States any change has been entirely negligible. If nothing else, the West has learned that involvement in the Middle East is always a matter of herding cats.
But there is one shining example of success. In the cradle of the revolutions that swept the Arabic-speaking world, the secular party Nidaa Tounes has now won the largest number of seats in Tunisia's parliamentary election, defeating its main rival, the Islamist party Ennahda, according to two analyses of results across the country. The Islamist party has apparently accepted the result with good grace. "We have accepted this result and congratulate the winner," Lotfi Zitoun, an Ennahda party official, told Reuters. Zitoun said the party reiterated its call for a unity government, including Ennahda, in the interest of the country.
North Africa expert Michael Willis, a fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford University, said the decline in Ennahda's electoral popularity reflected public discontent with their handling of the economy. "On the doorsteps, the economy was the main issue. Nidaa Tounes is seen as having the expertise to get the economy back on track." Nidaa Tounes is 10 percentage points ahead of Ennahda. It has won 83 seats, with roughly 38 percent of the popular vote, to Ennahda's 68 seats, representing about 31 percent of the vote, the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported after tabulating its own count of 214 of the 217 parliamentary seats.
A parallel tabulation conducted by a Tunisian election observer organization, Mourakiboun, placed Nidaa Tounes at 37 percent and Ennahda at 28 percent. Those figures were based on a random sample of 1,001 polling centers across the country, with a margin of error of 2 percent and 1 percent on the respective totals.
Officials from both parties said that although premature, the counts matched their information.
Official results have not yet been released, and parties are restrained by law from announcing their own count before the election commission does. Provisional results are expected on Monday, but final results will take at least 48 hours.
Early results also showed a surprise gain for the party of the Tunisian tycoon Slim Riahi, who ran a flashy campaign that included handouts and pop concerts. Some of the smaller political parties fared badly under a new voting system, in particular Ettakatol, a coalition partner in the former government.
Nidaa Tounes, led by former Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi, 87, is an alliance of former government officials, liberals and secularists that was formed in 2012, largely in reaction to the post-revolutionary chaos under the Ennadha-led government. It was sharply critical of the Islamists' performance and ran a campaign for a modern, secular society.
The results, if confirmed, would be a blow for Ennahda, which won a large popular vote and 89 seats in 2011 but struggled to manage rising insecurity and a sliding economy.
Tunisians filled polling stations on Sunday to elect a new Parliament, expressing a strong desire and some trepidation that, after months of political turmoil, the country would turn a corner nearly four years after a revolution.
Officials said the provisional turnout was nearly 62 percent, which election observers said demonstrated Tunisians' support for democracy.
The elections are the second in Tunisia since the popular uprising that overthrew President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 and set off a wave of change that was later dubbed the Arab Spring. They will bring in a new Parliament and government for a five-year term. Presidential elections are scheduled for next month.
The immediate return for Tunisians in maintaining a lid on tension and achieving a peaceful transition will be, of course, yet more tourism dollars flooding into the country. The country has also maintained close relations with Europe, and with France and Italy in particular, with growing mutual trade.
An island of sanity in troubled north Africa, it is also an exceptionally interesting and beautiful country, with a fascinating history of civilisation going back thousands of years, notably being the home of the Carthaginian Empire which was so dominant in the Mediterranean area in centuries before Christ, and it was later occupied by Rome which made good use of its vast fertile soils to produce huge amounts of cereals, plus olive oil, figs, and more. Various waves of conquerors including Ottoman, Arab and French have created a multi-layered and outward-facing culture.
The country lies within a couple of hours flight from the major population centres of Europe. No-one could begrudge them this "peace dividend" and let us hope they continue to provide a beacon for sanity for the whole Arab-speaking world. Indeed, the rest of the region can learn much from Tunisia beyond its peaceful transition of power – it also has a large number of women MPs, a highly progressive code of individual freedom for women, Islamic extremism is rare (although not non-existent), the country enjoys a relatively open low-tariff economy, and it is accepting of Christian and most significantly Jewish minorities.
Today, we salute the Tunisian people for their fortitude and commonsense. When we rail and wail at the inability of much of the region to behave intelligently, let us look to the example of Tunisia, and hope.
A Sydney teenager who ran away to join jihadists in Syria is the pawn of terrorists who "groomed" him just like pedophiles groom their child victims, a terror expert says.
Abdullah Elmir has turned up in a propaganda video for the IS group, also known as ISIL, after disappearing from his Bankstown home in June, saying he was going fishing.
The video is the fourth in a series called "Message of the Mujahid" which features foreign fighters, with previous releases showing British, French and Moroccan jihadists.
The Grand Mufti of Australia, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammad, urged Muslims to reject calls from abroad tocommit violence against Australia and said it was "utterly deplorable for violent extremists to use Islam as a cover for their crimes and atrocities".
In a joint statement, the nation's peak Muslim organisations expressed "profound concerns and sadness" over Abdullah's appearance in the Islamic State video and said there was an "urgent need" to examine how and why the teenager felt the need to leave the country and fight with a terrorist organisation.
In the clip, the 17-year-old threatens Australia and any nation that would try to stand in the group's way.
Professor Greg Barton from Monash University's Global Terrorism Research Centre says Elmir was recruited by wanted terrorist Mohammad Ali Baryalei, an Australian based in Syria.
He says terror recruiters lure targets by making friends through social media, like many sexual predators.
"It's like sexual predation," Professor Barton told the media.
"Somebody might strike up a friendship in an online chat forum and present themselves in a different fashion – to try to get them into their web. By the time they actually meet the people they're speaking with, they may be in too deep to know better."
He says the boy appears as a "pawn in the machine" in the chilling video.
"He thinks he's the star … but the reality is, his new friends have got him a one-way ticket," he said. "He's not in charge of his own destiny at all, he's being used."
Prof Barton says young people are the easiest to radicalise.
"Teenagers, 20-somethings, particularly young men more than young women, are vulnerable to making rash judgments," he said. "And they tend to be more rebellious toward (older) generations and sceptical of establishment figures."
It is believed former Kings Cross bouncer Mr Baryalei, 33, recruited Elmir through western Sydney street preaching group Parramatta Street Dawah.
"He's said to have recruited 30 plus young people – mostly in western Sydney through Street Dawah" Professor Barton said.
We agree with Professor Barton. What we are seeing is teenage braggadocio. No 17 year old understands the geo politics behind the likes of IS, they have no idea what the reality of death and injury is on the battlefield, they do not yet have an understanding of the terrible implications of the violence they may wreak on other families or what it really means to take another life, nor do they have the discretion to understand varying views of their own religion. What we are seeing here is the sophisticated internet version of the gathering of child soldiers by unprincipled militia in Africa and elsewhere.
This young man will, one day, without any doubt, die a bloody death unknown, unmourned and unmarked in the conflict in Iraq. Those who recruited him as a footsoldier will not bat an eyelid at his passing.
Even if he does not, his life is effectively ruined, as he will no longer be welcome in his home country. The very best outlook he probaby has is to become a stateless refugee, in hiding.
It is all very sad, and a huge burden of guilt lies on the souls of those who recruit our innocents. The cases recently of two young Austrian women who travelled to join IS only to find themselves pimped out to fighters, impregnated, and now unable to leave after becoming utterly disillusioned, is yet more evidence that these people deserve our unflinching condemnation.
Meanwhile, Abdullah's family have said they are shocked and devastated. They believe he has been "brainwashed" and they want to know who paid for his air ticket and encouraged him to go. They have described him as academically bright and caring: and it is often so - those with intelligence, compassion and passion are the easiest to turn to the darkness.
We should all pray this young man somehow survives and is reuinted with those who can care for him. That, however, is vanishingly unlikely.
Note to Real Estate Advertisers … remove Lorum Ipsum from your website and replace with actual captions before you let the site go live.
What do they teach the young people nowadays? Mutter mutter, grumble grumble.
Mind you, it's easily done.
I well remember many years ago my company was preparing a website for the Liberal Party who were about to defend their Victorian Government in a general election. (Don't shoot me, fellow leftie peeps, it was paying work and not all my partners were lefties.)
Anyhow this work mainly consisted of sticking up simple web pages with each Liberal candidate on, and then a short bio after them.
But in preparing the draft of the website for the notoriously mecurial Jeff Kennett and the Liberal Party luminaries, the junior flog who was doing the grunt work on the website hadn't been provided with a list of names of the candidates, so he just typed "Some Liberal Wanker" as a placeholder under each photo. He was presumably a leftie, too. Or maybe just sceptical about politicians generally.
Anyhow, the account executive concerned bundled up the website draft without looking at it and emailed it to everyone for their approval. Like that.
When we realised the error, with a sick feeling in the pit of our stomachs, a few bottles of wine were opened and we bunkered down waiting for the phone call telling us we'd been sacked.
But apparently, when Jeff saw the mock up, he laughed like a drain and commented, "Well, most of them are!"
A politician with a sense of humour? Who knew?
Since those days Jeff has gone on to reinvent himself as a media personality, a passionate supporter of his beloved Hawthorn Football Club, and most of all as an effective and thoughtful advocate for the anti-Depression group Beyond Blue. And good on him, too. Having once been one of Australia's most polarising personalities, he is now considered something of a local treasure, and the work he's done on Depression has changed lives. Funny old world.
The name of the blog says it all, really. My take on interesting stuff + useful re-posts :-)
You join clubs at Uni: Be warned!
Showcasing the designs of an Australian glass artist
A topnotch WordPress.com site
So when the world knocks at your front door, clutch the knob and open on up, running forward into its widespread greeting arms with your hands before you, fingertips trembling though they may be. Anis Mojgani
Rosie Waterland is a writer based in Sydney. She finds her own jokes particularly hilarious.
Join me on this wonderful journey exploring the gorgeous world of glass!
A Humor Blog For Horrible People
Randomness at its finest
The last words I'll say during the rapture, until then there's the writing...
It's the thin line between reality and fantasy. It's the thin line between sanity and madness. It's the crazy things that make us think, laugh and scream in the dark.
Aligning Execution With Strategy
Philosophically Speaking the World in Motion
Yes, I take 25 pills a day. Boom.
Writer, social activist, a lot of Israel/Palestine, and general mental rambling
If necessity is the mother of invention, then divorce is the mother of re-invention...
A Vital Source of Unfiltered News and Information for Tea Party and Freedom Activists
speaks to the masses of people not reading this blog


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Latest World Bearing Association Stories
2010-11-02 09:17:00
CANTON, Ohio, Nov. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- NOTE: The Timken Company is issuing this news on behalf of the World Bearing Association (WBA): In the last two decades, counterfeiting in general has grown by 10,000 percent, globally.
Word of the Day
- One of a pair of round metal cymbals attached to the fingers and struck together for rhythm and percussion in belly dancing.
The word 'zill' comes from a Turkish word meaning "cymbals".

subset: commoncrawl


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How to Ease Your Family Into Healthy Eating
Many of use aren't eating as healthy as we should be. Every year we all seem to vow to eat better – usually at New Years and just before beach season. The reason many of us can't stick to healthier plans is because we try to do too much at once. We throw out all the things we love and fill our house with healthy, but often less tasty foods. The trick is to ease ourselves into a healthy regimen so we don't feel the shock.
Eat seasonal and local … Read more
Reasons to Encourage Kids to Play Dress Up
The importance of play is sometimes underestimated for young children. Play is not only beneficial in terms of allowing your child to have fun by themselves and with others, but it also provides many developmental skills for their growth. When kids play dress-up, they are receiving these benefits as well, but in a very unique and different form. The importance and benefits of playing dress-up are as follows:
Dexterity and Strength
When a child plays dress-up, they are virtually becoming another little person for a short period of time. In … Read more
Fall Decorations For Your Home
Fall is the season best known for the beautiful changing colors of the trees and foliage. With the temperature also changing and becoming a lot colder, there's no better time to spend time indoors discovering new ways to decorate your home. The changing colors of the season will not only serve as an inspiration for your creativity, but you can also use it towards your decorations. If you're looking to liven up your home this fall, try some of these decoration ideas:
Thankful Tree
The Thankful Tree will not only … Read more
Ways for Moms to Be Organized
Moms may quite possibly be the busiest individuals in this world. Not only do they deal with the normal day-to-day tasks of a full workday, tons of bills and expenses, and other personal activities, but they also have kids to take care of. Having children to care for is almost a full-time job in itself!
Due to all of these different priorities, moms need to stay organized in order to ensure success during the day and maintaining good-mom status at home. We have some tips to help you keep organized … Read more
Cleaning Pet Toys and Bedding
Our pets are a part of our families. We want to make sure they're taken care of just like all the other members our family. For the same reason you insist on using natural, safe detergents and cleaners for your spouse and children, you'll want to do the same for your pets.
Your pets have likely collected a few possessions over the years: balls, chew toys, stuffed animals, beds, blankets, and baskets. Many people don't clean these items as often as they should, or simply throw them away when they … Read more


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Reading Programs & Storytimes
Library Branch
Songs, stories, rhymes and a craft for the whole family. Drop- in only. No registration required.
Bring your 2 to 6 year old and join us for stories, songs, rhymes and a craft. Presented by Braeburn Ontario Early Years Centre. Drop-in only.
Thu Jan 01
Fri Jan 02
Thu Jan 08
Fri Jan 09
Thu Jan 15
Bring your 2 to 6 year old and join us for stories, songs, rhymes and a craft. Presented by Braeburn Ontario Early Years Centre. Drop-in only....
Fri Nov 28
Thu Dec 04
Fri Dec 05
Thu Dec 11
Fri Dec 12
Silent Storytelling:...
The Jane/Dundas Library would like to extend to an invitation to all French speaking students or anyone interested in practicing their French to join our French storytime/conversation circle....
Mon Dec 01
Mon Dec 15
Children and their caregivers enjoy stories, songs, rhymes and fingerplays.
Sat Nov 29
Have you been good this year? Nikolaus knows! For German children, the tradition of cleaning your shoes before Nikolaus visits is very important because if your shoes are dirty, where will Nikolaus put the presents? Will you ...
Love a good story? Sit back, relax and escape from the everyday as we bring you gripping short stories and oral tales. Just bring ears, imagination, and less than an hour of your time....
Thu Jan 15
Thu Feb 12
Thu Mar 12
Children (Grades 1-6 as of Sept 2014) requiring help with reading skills receive individualized help for one hour per week. Free program. Registration required.


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Sunrise Lawn & Landscaping
Serving East Bernard, TX
There is nothing better than having a beautiful lush green lawn.We provide full-service and environmentally-friendly lawn maintenance for residential and for commercial properties. We want to be your one-stop shop for lawn care. We are committed to maintaining a clean environment. Our representitiv...
Munoz Landscaping
Serving East Bernard, TX
Mario and Son's Landscaping
2 Reviews
"He does all kinds of landscaping work, including design and maintenance. Mario is very talented. I have been a clien..."
Serving East Bernard, TX
SMM Property Services
1 Review
"Lawn maintenance, flower beds, mulch, tree trimming, ect. Scott is very professional and punctual. He does a great j..."
Serving East Bernard, TX
SMM Property Services handles your total lawn care and landscape design. We specialize in both residential and commercial accounts. We service Sugar Land, Stafford, Richmond & Katy along with other surrounding areas. Call us today for a estimate (713) 454-3218. Owned & Operated by Avalanche Propert...
When you have a landscaping problem in your East Bernard home or business, choose a landscaper located in East Bernard, TX.
By reading reviews posted by your neighbors, you can hire the East Bernard Texas landscaper you want, and be assured of their professionalism.
By reading reviews posted by your neighbors, you can hire the East Bernard Texas landscaper you want, and be assured of their professionalism.
More Professionals in East Bernard
East Bernard Carpenters | East Bernard Concrete contractors | East Bernard Electricians | East Bernard Flooring contractors | East Bernard Garage door pros | East Bernard Handyman services | East Bernard HVAC contractors | East Bernard Painters | East Bernard Plumbers | East Bernard Remodeling contractors | East Bernard Roofers | East Bernard Tile contractors
Landscapers Near East Bernard:
Richmond, TX Beasley, TX Brookshire, TX Fulshear, TX Kendleton, TX Needville, TX Orchard, TX Rosenberg, TX Simonton, TX Wallis, TX
US Census Information for East Bernard, Texas
Male population age 25-29 52 Male population age 18 and older 795 Female population age 25-29 68 Family households 646 Households with a lone, female resident 100


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Sorrento, Italy Vacations - Travel guide to Sorrento, Italy accommodations and vacation packages. Visit Sorrento, Italy for getaways and adventure travel. Plan your Sorrento, Italy vacation today.
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Sorrento, Italy Youth Hostels - DESCRIPTION:
Two-roomed apartment of 45 m 2, sleeps 2 + 2 (on ground floor, no steps), is composed of:
Sorrento, Italy Vacation Rentals - This old mansion is at Capo di Sorrento, 1 mile away from Sorrento centre.
Sorrento, Italy Youth Hostels - Residence Tasso is waiting for you with a warm welcome!
Sorrento, Italy Hotels & Resorts - The hotel was built between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, in the classical style of Sorrento farmhouses. Nowadays a fresh
Sorrento, Italy Youth Hostels - Relais Francesca is situated in a residential area in the middle of the Sorrento plain, immersed in green and surrounded by a citrus plantation. It is close to the sea and only 2km from the centre of Sorrento.
Sorrento, Italy Youth Hostels - Located in a quiet residential area of Sorrento, within easy reach of the city centre and its beautiful beaches
Sorrento, Italy Youth Hostels - Two-roomed apartment of 50 m2, sleeps 3, composed of: large living-room with cooking corner and a table with chairs
Sorrento, Italy Bed & Breakfasts - Fattoria Terranova is situated at Sant'Agata sui due golfi, a few minutes from Sorrento(by car or bus), indeed we are a true 'fattoria' or farm, an 'agrotourism' establishment as people choose to call it nowadays.
Sorrento, Italy Youth Hostels - The hotel is situated on the main street of Sorrento, 'Corso Italia', 100 mt from 'Piazza Tasso', from the Railway Station 'Circumvesuviana' and from the 'Sita' bus to Positano and Amalfi Coast.
Sorrento, Italy Youth Hostels - Set in a luxuriant citrus groveand shaded by centuries-old magnolia trees, The Secret Garden Relais is the ideal destination for those who want to spend their vacation in the Sorrentine peninsula at a relaxing and peaceful hotel
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Egos, dog-killing, prison time, and man-sloring are all reasons why some of these guys made Forbes list of America's Disliked Athletes of 2011.
Check who made the list and who tops as "America's Most Disliked Athlete"….
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Peugeot 508 prices released
Friday 07 January 2011
Peugeot has released prices and outline specifications for the 508 saloon and estate which go on sale in the UK in April. The new range, which starts at £18,150 will replace the company's current 407 models.
The 508 will top out at 29,975, and will be available with seven different drivetrain choices. The emphasis is on diesels, but two 1.6-litre petrol options will be offered. The first is a 120 horsepower unit paired with Peugeot's electronically-controlled "automated manual" EGC gearbox, while the second is the company's turbocharged 156 horsepower THP engine in combination with a conventional manual.
Diesels are available with capacities of 1.6 and 2.0 litres. Two 1.6 options will be offered, both with 112 horsepower; the first of these is a normal manual, the second is an economy-oriented set-up fitted with Peugeot's e-HDI package; this includes a fuel-saving stop-start system and the EGC 'box, and allows this variant of the 508 to slip below the important 110g/km mark for CO2 emissions and achieve a combined cycle fuel consumption of 64.2mpg.
Three different 2.0 litre diesels will be available, with 140, 163 or 200 horsepower; the first is paired with a manual transmission, the others are automatics. Even the top-of-the range 200 horsepower diesel emits only 150g/km (154g/km for the estate version). It is a sign of these economy-conscious times that this most powerful diesel is badged GT and positioned as the sportiest car in the range; it gets a special double-wishbone front suspension set-up designed to improve road-holding and steering accuracy.
Five different trim levels will be available; Access, SR, Active, Allure and GT, although Peugeot hasn't yet released detailed specifications for these. Access, Active and Allure are new trim designations, but the SR badge was applied to the better equipped versions of many of the company's models in the seventies and eighties.
While the 508 is a direct replacement for the 407, the decision to badge the new model as a "5" series car will recall the popular 504 and 505 models that formed the mainstay of Peugeot's range between the late sixties and the early eighties. If the 508 worms its way into the affections of buyers in the way that those cars did, the company will have cause to be very pleased indeed.
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For helpful comments we thank Enneth Chan, David Harless, Kevin McCabe, Edward Millner, stuart Mestelman, Andrew Mueller, Robert Reilly, Four anonymous referees, and seminar participants at McMaster University, the University of Arizonea, the University of Mississippi, and a session at the 1999 ESA/PCS meetings. The Usual disclaimer applies. Finanical assistance from the National Science Foundation and from the Virginia Commonwealth University Faculty Excellence Fund is Gratefully acknowledged. The date reported and the experiment instructions are available online at http://www.people.veu.edu/ddavis.
Article first published online: 26 MAR 2007
DOI: 10.1093/ei/40.2.213
Economic Inquiry
Volume 40, Issue 2, pages 213–230, April 2002
Additional Information
How to Cite
Davis, D. D. and Wilson, B. J. (2002), COLLUSION IN PROCUREMENT AUCTIONS: AN EXPERIMENTAL EXAMINATION. Economic Inquiry, 40: 213–230. doi: 10.1093/ei/40.2.213
Publication History
- Issue published online: 26 MAR 2007
- Article first published online: 26 MAR 2007
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Slide Photo of David Beckham and LA Galaxy Out to Dinner in LA
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David Beckham and the LA Galaxy enjoyed a dinner out in LA on Monday.
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