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Economist Paul Krugman Is a Hard-Core Science Fiction Fan
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Wired: You had a recent blog post in which you compared your number of Twitter followers to people like Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, and Sarah Palin. What effect does that kind of social media have on your role as a newspaper columnist?
Krugman: I actually don't tweet. I have a kind of bot that tweets when I put up a blog post. Blogs turn out to be my sort of thing, but 140 character droplets not. It's only when there's something that's really breaking, when I really want to know what's happening, I'll read some news Twitter feed, but aside from that I don't, so I'm not much into the social media thing.
What it does mean is that I've got an audience. What's happened is that the blogosphere has turned into a really effective means of having rapid fire, real time intellectual discussion, and I guess the social media helps to bring that together, because people are more aware of what's happening in an even shorter period of time. But I don't do social media directly myself because I'd be swamped.
Wired: Does that give you more independence, do you think, because even if The New York Times were to fire you, you would still have this online audience?
Krugman: Well, that's not what I think of much, but I think the Times is aware of the online audience. That's the kind of thing that they want to see happening, and they're even friendlier than they would be otherwise, but … you know, things are happy with me and the Times right now, because I sell papers. And I actually sell digital subscriptions too, and the Times paywall thing is going pretty well, so we're all happy.
Wired: Do you have any ideas about how punditry might develop into the future with all this electronic stuff?
Krugman: It's interesting. It does mean that you don't have to have the imprimatur of a major media organization, and I'm not sure exactly how major media organizations are going to survive in the long run. I think the Times is doing pretty well at this, but it's a long, tough haul. So it does mean that anybody who is smart and writes well and is able to react can get into this.
I think we thought for a while that it was going to be very democratizing, and it turns out not to be. It turns out that because people have limited attention and have to make priorities, you end up with what is a very hierarchical system, in which a few people really do garner the great bulk of the attention in any particular area of discussion. So I'm not sure whether it may not even at some level be even more oligarchic, in a peculiar sort of way, than the old system. But it certainly means that there's more variety of the ways in which somebody can come to have an intellectual role in shaping discussion.
By the way, science fiction prefigured that. If you read Ender's Game, his brother and sister actually end up shaping planetary debate through their online aliases, and the debates they have with each other under assumed names. So all of this was prefigured, which is why science fiction is good for your ability to think about possibilities.
Wired: So your new book is called End This Depression Now! What's that about?
Krugman: Well, look, we're suffering the greatest economic disaster since the 1930s. An enormous human cost, never mind the dollars. We've got 13 million people unemployed, another probably 12 million or so that are involuntarily underemployed, 4 million people who've been out of work for more than a year. This is a huge catastrophe, and it doesn't have to be happening. The basic economics of how to solve this are very clear, and have been confirmed by recent events. There are quite straightforward policies that could bring us out of this very fast, but we're not doing it, and we're not doing it partly because no one is making that case clearly and effectively.
I've been trying, in the column and in the blog, but those short form arguments have their limits. If I make some point in a column or a blog post, people will say, "Well, but what about this?" or "What about that?" And the answer is, "Well, actually I've answered those on a previous occasion." But it's just a series of memos. So the book takes all that and puts it together. The arguments about why this doesn't have to be happening, why the objections to the things that could get us out — which is first and foremost government spending, temporarily, but we need the government spending now, some change in monetary policy, and some work on debt relief. It puts all that together in one place, with some new material also, but presenting that long form argument. There's still a place for books that make a long form argument in an attempt to move the discussion, to get us to actually, finally, after trying all the alternatives, do the right thing.
Wired: If people want to keep up with you and other economists online, which websites and blogs should they be following?
Krugman: I read The New York Times, The Financial Times — the Financial Times has a blog, FT Alphaville, which is just for market stuff, but the next stop is a blog called Economist's View, which is Mark Thoma at the University of Oregon. It's a personal blog, but he actually gathers material and produces what really amounts to a daily economics magazine, with links to much of the stuff that's going on out there in the discussion. Brad DeLong at Berkeley has a more personal blog. He was there first; he was an inspiration to me to start doing it, and he's still a really interesting guy. I read a bunch of others in rotation, but I think basically I start each morning with those, and then I actually usually read a couple of more political blogs: Ezra Klein at the Washington Post, Greg Sargent, also at the Washington Post, on more politics, The Washington Monthly. And at that point it's time to prepare the next class, so I move on from the blogosphere and start putting my lecture notes together.


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A defense of Rashad Hussain
As Fox News notes, President Obama's newly-announced envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Rashad Hussain, "is at the center of a controversy." He is not only beset by criticism for a quote he has admitted to making about the prosecution of Sami al-Arian in 2004 (at the age of 24) but also by insinuations and accusations about his participation in, as Cal Thomas calls them, "events connected with the Muslim Brotherhood." Much of the criticism has taken on a crude sensationalistic tone. The American Thinker calls Rashad "pro-jihadist" and the Jawa Report calls him a "terrorist sympathizer," while Brad Blakeman argued in a Fox News appearance that Rashad has "more in common with our enemies than what we stand for as a nation." Most directly, Pamela Geller suggests that Rashad Hussain is a "jihadist in the White House." I write to provide a different perspective on Rashad Hussain's views and character.
Before I address the various controversies that have surrounded Rashad, I'd like to make clear that I have known him for a considerable length of time, since 1998. Those familiar with my own biography will realize that I was a practicing Muslim back then. So I have known him as a co-religionist; and know him now as someone who worships a different God than I do, but whose religious practice I respect. My first contact with Rashad came through intercollegiate policy debate. I had won the national championship in 1997, in my junior year, and decided not to debate my senior year but to stick around and occasionally judge at tournaments; when we met, Rashad was a freshman. We have been groomsmen together at a wedding; Rashad worked as a summer associate at the law firm where I briefly was a litigator; and we continued to see each other periodically for coffee or a meal after I became involved in counterterrorism full time. Rashad once attended a speech I gave at Harvard Law School when he attended the Kennedy School of Government, and was complimentary of my "balanced" approach to CT work. The last time I saw him was shortly after he took his job as deputy associate White House counsel. He was thrilled to be able to bring about "change" as part of this administration, while I (consonant with our different political outlooks) cautioned him that the public's expectations for Obama were far too high. In short, I have known Rashad in a number contexts, and consider him a friend.
Friendship can be a double-edged sword. It can truly illuminate for us how a person views the world, show us what he cherishes and fears, give us insight into his character. It can also have a distorting effect, causing us to be defensive when we should not be, and to overlook our friend's flaws. But as I will explain, I think the dozen years in which I have known Rashad and had the opportunity to assess his beliefs and character provide important context for this defense. Many of the attacks on him are the proverbial view from 50,000 feet: and it is sometimes easy to misunderstand what you see from that distance.
From my experiences with Rashad, I can say that policy debate had a profound impact on him. Different people learn different lessons from debate, both the right ones and the wrong ones. At best, debate can train people to understand that there is more than one side to an issue, and to think dispassionately before making up their minds. At worst, it can show people that they can succeed at dogmatically defending positions regardless of the truth of the matter. Rashad learned the right lessons from debate, not the wrong ones. In addition to (and more important than) debate, Rashad has also been shaped by his faith. As an American Muslim, he is self-critical of that community even while being a respected part of it. There is much talk of Muslim "engagement" among scholars in the counterterrorism field, and Rashad in many ways exemplifies engagement at its best, discounting neither the American nor the Muslim part of his identity during the course of his success within the political world. Despite his intemperate remarks about al-Arian, I do not know Rashad to be an individual given to extremes, political or otherwise, nor do others who know him well; he is someone whom I and others who have interacted with Rashad know to be calm, rational, thoughtful.
So what of the attacks against him? First I would like to examine the finding of the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report (GMBDR) that Rashad "has a history of participation in events connected with the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood as well as support for Brotherhood causes." It is on the basis of the information in the GMBDR that Cal Thomas argues Rashad's appointment "should be of serious concern to Congress and the American public ... because Hussain, a devout Muslim, has a history of participating in events connected with the Muslim Brotherhood." This is where we get the view from 50,000 feet: reports on events that Rashad attended without any context for why he was there.
The GMBDR's first link between Rashad and the Brotherhood is an October 2000 event "sponsored by the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS) and the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University (CMCU)" entitled "Islam, Pluralism, and Democracy." GMBDR notes that the event "featured many leaders of the global Muslim Brotherhood including former German diplomat Murad Hoffman, and International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) leaders Louay Safi, Jamal Barzinji, Hisham Al-Talib, and AbdulHamid AbuSulayman." At the time of this conference, Rashad was a graduate student at Harvard's Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. I spoke with another person who was a Harvard graduate student at the same time, who reports that Harvard students working in this academic area were heavily encouraged to submit papers to the conference by their (non-Muslim) academic advisers; a large number of graduate students applied to present papers there. Part of the culture of academia includes a push for this type of engagement, and for conference presentations. Given that context, it would be wrong to read something sinister into Rashad's attendance.
The GMBDR lists several other alleged Brotherhood-linked events that Rashad attended. Without getting too much into the weeds, Rashad's attendance at these other events does not make me question his character and allegiance. For example, one of these linkages was that Rashad, while at Yale Law School, "was listed as part of the organizing committee for an April 2004 conference organized by a student organization known as the Critical Islamic Reflections (CIR) group. Among the CIR sponsors listed on the their [sic] web site was IIIT and the Fairfax Institute, the IIIT educational arm." CIR is a reputable event, attended by many top American Muslim scholars -- people who have tenure and tenure-track positions. The GMBDR's reporting does not provide us with enough information to determine much. Was IIIT an established sponsor, beginning prior to 2004, or was that its first year? Was Rashad responsible for bringing in IIIT sponsorship? Or was he only working on the academic side of organizing this reputable conference? Moreover, given IIIT's wide influence in academia, is it legitimate to say that the group's sponsorship is a red flag? I am not a fan of IIIT, largely because I find its "Islamization of knowledge" program highly questionable academically, but without any context this linkage -- Rashad Hussain + IIIT -- cannot be interpreted in any meaningful way. [Note: Paragraph edited after finding web page for the CIR event.]
And so it is with the other events to which Rashad has been connected. Rashad's attendance may or may not give an observer reason to be suspicious, and to desire more information -- but if red flags are indeed raised, the next step should be pursuing that additional information. That is why I outlined in such detail my relationship with Rashad, and my own observations of his character: because they go beyond the view from 50,000 feet and hone in on the person who stands behind that conference attendance. I strongly believe that it is wrong and unfair to suggest, as Cal Thomas does, that Rashad might possess "a personal ideological or religious agenda that is not just un-American, but anti-American."
The other controversy surrounding Rashad is a comment he made about the prosecution of Sami al-Arian on a 2004 MSA panel, that it was a "politically-motivated persecution." Rashad initially said he had "no recollection" of making this statement, and the White House press office attributed it to another panelist; but after being shown a transcript of the event he admitted that those were in fact his words. Politico provides much more context on the quote. Though I strongly disagree with Rashad's 2004 comment (which he now describes as "ill conceived or not well formulated"), it does not justify the overblown attacks on Rashad: in my experiences with him, I know this kind of intemperate remark as the exception rather than the rule. The fact is that Rashad was quite young when he said this, 24 years old. Almost all of us have said and done things that we regret at a similar age; and it is far easier to say something intemperate or unwise when speaking extemporaneously.
The fact that there is controversy about this quote is not unfair, but let's not misunderstand where his views were coming from. Rashad's concerns about the al-Arian prosecution, and other prosecutions that he discussed in that context, stemmed not from an Islamist ideology but rather from a civil-libertarian ideology. It is clear from his 2004 speech that Rashad is a Kerry-supporting Democrat rather than a bin Laden-supporting jihadist. To be clear, I largely disagree with Rashad on the issue of selective prosecutions, which was the main thrust of his panel remarks: I co-authored a monograph in 2007 defending what I dubbed the "Al Capone model" of anti-terror policing. (Al Capone's activities were ultimately shut down through selective enforcement of US income tax law.) But I see our differences on these issues as policy disagreements, and not the kind of thing that should lead one to believe that Rashad has "more in common with our enemies than what we stand for as a nation." As I wrote in the Washington Times in 2007: "Working alongside moderates with whom we may disagree on some issues but who nonetheless genuinely oppose jihadist violence and the forceful imposition of Islamic norms will help bring more valuable, authentic voices into the discussion. Indeed, listening to and respecting differences of opinion are among this nation's strengths." Rashad is not pro-terrorist; he is not a "jihadist in the White House."
I realize of course that gullible journalists have in the past been fooled by some Muslim figures with nefarious agendas. But I am far from being naive about these issues. My first book describes my time working for an extreme Islamic organization; it names names. I have helped to expose the Muslim American Society's highly problematic Brotherhood-influenced curriculum. And at times I have been attacked by dishonest and highly ideological journalists who place themselves in the role of propagandists for jihadist groups. I do not defend Rashad out of gullibility or false hope, but rather based upon a course of dealings that has given me insight into him in many contexts.
This is not to say, of course, that there are no legitimate lines of criticism in this case. Part of politics in the United States is public scrutiny of nominees and appointees. There is now controversy about whether Rashad lied about his al-Arian remarks rather than suffering a memory lapse. If he did lie about the matter, I would find it highly disturbing as a citizen; as a friend, I would fear that it signaled Rashad's growing cynicism consonant with the process of US politics. There is also very legitimate criticism to be made of the OIC (see, for example, this column by my colleague Claudia Rosett), and there are real questions about whether we should even have a special envoy in the first place.
But these are not my concern today. Rashad exemplifies so much of the best about Islam in America, and I write to defend him against the overblown attacks on him -- many of which have been far more intemperate than anything Rashad said in 2004. Rashad deserves better than this; we as a country deserve better than this.
READER COMMENTS: "A defense of Rashad Hussain"
Posted by IK at February 20, 2010 3:20 PM ET:
Rashid Hussain played the same "Us poor Muslims are victims of the political and evil United States government" card as every other Islamic group.
He took the side of a person who funneled money to blow up buses in Israel. He said the US engaged in "politically motivated prosecutions"� by listing a series of terrorism cases, almost all of which later ended in convictions.
He tried to cover up his statements once he realized how damaging they would be to his political career. He lied about his statements, saying at first he didn't say them, then lied again and said someone else did. Only after a reporter found written proof of his statements did he tell the truth.
He has rote memorized the Koran, emphasizing the worst aspect of madras teaching, the empty-headed worship of written words.
So he's a liar, who when caught accuses others for his own misdeeds. He only tells the truth if caught in a lie. He automatically believes any arrested Muslim is innocent, and the US government is out to get Muslims.
In other words, he's a perfect fit for this administration, and to represent the US to an organization diametrically opposite everything we hold dear - freedoms of speech, religion, separation of church and state, and against compulsion of religion.
I'm sorry that interferes with the image of your buddy from a debate contest, but it's the truth. If this character represents the best of Islam in American, its best isn't very much.
Posted by Steve Klein at February 20, 2010 3:55 PM ET:
Mr. Gartenstein-Ross, you wrote: "Friendship can be a double-edged sword. It can truly illuminate for us how a person views the world, show us what he cherishes and fears, give us insight into his character. It can also have a distorting effect, causing us to be defensive when we should not be, and to overlook our friend's flaws."
Exactly. I'm sorry, your friendship with this man has had a distorting effect. It has caused you to overlook your friend's flaws. Please be honest, if not with the reader, then with yourself. I listened to the audio of Mr. Rashad Hussain on Politico. Mr. Hussain mentioned George W. Bush's intimate associations with Sami Al-Arian and his family during his 2000 campaign for the White House, to President Bush's eternal shame and discredit - as though this ought to legitimize Rashad's statement that Al-Arian's prosecution was politically motivated? I only reluctantly voted for then Governor Bush in 2000. Had I known of his and his father's intimate associations with America's enemies, I would never have voted for this man.
Posted by Bing at February 20, 2010 3:56 PM ET:
So this guy Rashad is like almost every other politician?
He'll fit right in Washington.
Posted by Oz at February 20, 2010 6:12 PM ET:
Bill thank you for maintaining objectivity and Posting this on your website. I also admire Mr. Ross for publishing this because I know he will take a lot of heat from the Right, particularly the so called "anti-Shariah" camp. I think the anti-shariah camp makes no distinction between Muslim radicals and Muslims and therefore plays a negative role withh respect to US-Muslim relations.
As you have rightly pointed out so many times Bill, American Muslims (like myself) and Rashad Hussain are not only allies in this fight but essential components to its success. An attempt to demonize or guilt by associate every Muslim involved in national security is a misguided and ultimately self-defeating tactic. Judgment on Rashad should be decided on how he represents US National Security interests at the OIC not speculation about his alleged personal motivations.
Posted by t at February 20, 2010 8:54 PM ET:
Nice example of a distorting effect.
Posted by Mr T at February 21, 2010 1:48 AM ET:
al taqqiyah. Color me skeptical.
Posted by T Ruth at February 21, 2010 3:53 AM ET:
Bing, 15 words of wisdom to a 13 long paragraphs post.
Posted by Johnabraham at February 21, 2010 11:36 AM ET:
I hope you understand what you said.
In US there is anti-Shariah camp, yes and US constitution is the primary anti-Sharaiah document.
Shariah (even with a moderate interpretation) does not allow anyone to criticize Islam(Mohammad) without punishment.
US constitution allows freedom of speech(not calls for violence). So if someone expresses their opinion/beliefs about Islam they will not be punished under US constitution, diametrically opposite of Sharia judgment.
Sharia demands that anyone leaving Islam must be put to death, US Const gives people freedom of(from) religion.
Sharia includes Diyyat laws according to which a Muslim man is worth about 4 times as much as a Christian woman.
US const does not allow such blatant discrimination.
Separation of religion and state guaranteed by US const is negated by Sharia.
SO I guess the anti-Sharia camp has their perspective from US const. And the essence of being a US citizen lies in abiding by US constitution.
So ant-Shariah camp is actually pro-Constitution camp. I don't see anything un or anti American about it.
I do see Sharia as inherently anti-American and with reason so shall you.
Posted by M. Muthuswamy at February 21, 2010 2:49 PM ET:
You have given a compelling defense of Rashad Hussain.
Since you have been reasonably close to him, you can shed light on issues he may not have talked about in public.
I notice that his parents originally belonged to the Kashmir Muslim community in India. I strongly suspect that he discussed with you the "plight"� of Kashmir Muslims under the Indian "rule."�
A typical jihadist mentality is showing their community as the "victims."�
1): Did he portray the Kashmir Muslim conflict with India, with Muslims being the victims and India the aggressor?
Did he ever tell you the following:
2) The Muslims in Kashmir valley hardly any tax at all. However, they take large handouts from the Government in New Delhi. The non-Muslim-majority provinces of Kashmir (Jammu and Ladakh) do pay taxes.
(Kashmiri Muslims form the majority and rule Kashmir. Most non-Muslims live in Jammu and Ladakh)
Get this: thanks to the Indian subsidies the poverty rate in Kashmir is 3.4%, while in the rest of India, it's about 26%.
3) Educational opportunities in Kashmir are disproportionally taken away by Kashmiri Muslims from non-Muslims in Jammu and Ladakh regions.
4) The Kashmir Valley Muslim community is largely responsible for driving out about 300,000 Hindus from the Valley, when the call was issued in the name of Islam in 1989.
A classic jihadist strategy is calling victims as oppressors or aggressors, in order to impose an endless jihad on them. And to bleed them to death by using economic and other forms of unarmed-jihad.
We would much appreciate an answer from you.
Moorthy Muthuswamy
Posted by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross at February 21, 2010 3:03 PM ET:
It is, as always, good to hear your feedback. With respect to Rashad's opinion of the Kashmir conflict, it is not something that he ever brought up. This is not to say that he does not have views on the conflict, but that he never expressed them to me -- such that I have simply thought of him as an "Indian Muslim" during my time knowing him rather than as Kashmiri.
There have been other reader comments that deserve some response, but I'm off to spend the rest of the day with a very good friend whom I rarely see. I may weigh in again later.
Posted by M. Muthuswamy at February 22, 2010 9:48 AM ET:
As always, thank you for the clarification.
We all continue to evolve our thoughts on all issues; Rashad Hussain should be no different.
Since you and others didn't, I need to bring up here Obama's Cairo speech.
According to ABC's Jack Tapper: "Hussain is a devout Muslim and helped inform the speech President Obama gave in Cairo - particularly with the speech's references to the history of Islam and the Koran, and its general tone."�
Obama's Cairo speech was neither well thought out nor was in the national security interests of the United States. It failed to identify that that we all (including the Muslims) have a common enemy - the Islamic extremists. It also didn't point out that certain attributes of Islam may be spawning terror in Muslim communities.
Obama failed to bring clarity and authority in his Cairo speech, which I believe he is in general capable of delivering.
In other words, Obama, guided by the likes of Rashad Hussain failed to identify the problem in Muslim communities and in their religion. How can we then mitigate the threat of Islamic terrorism?
Obama's Cairo speech is a testament that the likes of Hussain should not be in a position to influence policies in the war on terror, let alone be an envoy to the OIC (not that I support even taking OIC seriously).
Posted by Render at February 22, 2010 10:19 AM ET:
Given that Geller openly published articles from the BNP I fail to see why her opinion is relevent to anything at all.
Posted by Magnolia at February 22, 2010 4:20 PM ET:
"In other words, Obama, guided by the likes of Rashad Hussain failed to identify the problem in Muslim communities and in their religion."
Really? Is that was what that speech was supposed to do?
I can't imagine that would've been well received.
Posted by M. Muthuswamy at February 22, 2010 6:54 PM ET:
"Really? Is that was what that speech was supposed to do?
can't imagine that would've been well received."�
Mr. Obama was partly elected for his perceived problem-solving abilities and to win the war on terror.
If he thinks that due to the problems in Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Sikhism or even atheism, certain Muslims are fighting all of us, he is not the right leader for us, period.
I strongly suspect that he doesn't think so. One has to read his Nobel lectures to see where he thinks the problem is.
War leadership is not just sitting in the White House and send our citizens to fight the enemy; it's about defeating the enemy ideologically when it has become clear that military might alone will not give us victory in a war of ideas.
All of this translates to the need for him to point out to the Muslims that their retarded development and embrace of radicalism is wholly and squarely due to certain attributes or deficiencies of Islam.
Of course, many Muslims will be initially unhappy, if he says so. But in the end they will thank him for getting liberated to alternative way of life that offers hope and future.
Unfortunately, successful Muslims may not necessarily see problems in their religion. They just may fail to realize that an ideology's or theology's success or failings come down to how the majority, not the minority of the followers do.
Posted by WDSF at February 22, 2010 9:05 PM ET:
I thank you for writing this article. Even though I do not agree on all your points on the OIC, the right-wing has taken this story and spin-ed so badly. To implicate an American Citizen as being un-American by using subjective evidence is wrong, and other right-wing commentators should be ashamed of themselves.
Posted by Jim at February 23, 2010 2:52 PM ET:
Thanks for your comments, Moorthy, and, more importantly (although slightly off-topic here), thanks for your excellent book, Defeating Political Islam. I learned a lot from it and deeply appreciate your contribution to this global struggle.
Your questions regarding Hussain's views on Kashmir are excellent. Would that Hussain, this kid, really, with no more credit to his name than being a pedigree as a devout Muslim with a law degree, was available for interviews, press conferences and some real scrutiny. About his own bona fides and also about his new job-related issues.
I've begun to think that Muslims who, like him, argue that Islam's "hijacked" by violent misunderstanders and those who invoke the religion's teachings to say quite the opposite are ALL insincere. If they weren't they'd be challenging each other to frank, detailed open debate. Instead, they conveniently participate in the endless shell game that leave the rest of us spinning in our tracks and going nowhere.
What if, hypothetically, western leaders honestly declared jihad itself to be as threatening a doctrine to liberal values as the communist disregard for democracy? We'd then embark on a real war of ideas and, as you argue so well in your book, we need to do that because we're otherwise fighting and losing it anyways.
Posted by M. Muthuswamy at February 24, 2010 8:50 AM ET:
Thank you, Jim.
Let me follow through on your earlier post.
I think you are right on the mark. Conviction in their thought process drives the jihadists and those Muslims who claim that Islam has been violently "hijacked"� by misunderstanders.
This conviction has been driven by literature and constant indoctrination process in mosques that have been almost devoid of critical analysis. The dynamics is such that introspection of Islam comes at a terrible cost, including one's own life.
This why, we, the outsiders, have to force the issue and make Muslims take a deep critical look at their religion. In my view, there now exists a body of knowledge to do just that.
As I have explained in my book, an effective strategy is to articulate that the Muslims themselves are, first and foremost, the primary victims of certain attributes of Islam itself. In other words, Muslims are the first "victims"� and that the clerics are perpetrating "injustices"� on Muslim masses by denying them hope and future. The concept of "victimhood"� has a powerful resonance in Muslim communities.
We won the Cold War by portraying the people under the Soviet-communism as victims of a non-performing communist ideology.
Posted by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross at February 25, 2010 11:13 AM ET:
Josh Goldberg, a long-time friend of Rashad Hussain, has a piece today defending him. Goldberg has known Hussain for 17 years, and makes the point that he has discussed most every issue imaginable with him: "I have eaten in his house more times that I can recall and discussed every issue imaginable - from Middle East peace to Tiger Woods."
We had a brief exchange of e-mails earlier today, and he confirmed my earlier statement that Hussain has never really discussed the Kashmir conflict: "Rashad has never, ever mentioned anything about Kashmir in 17 years."
Posted by Mr T at February 25, 2010 9:49 PM ET:
And his parents are from Kashmir? That just doesn't sound right. I have been away from my home state for 20 years but I talk about it quite often. I have a lot of roots there.
Complete absence of mention is illogical to me and raises red flags. Is it reasonable, sure. Is it suspicious in light of his overall controversy, certainly. Thats a big ticket item and for someone with roots there who is politically active to not have mentioned it is strange. Almost political in itself.
Posted by Josh Goldberg at February 26, 2010 11:55 AM ET:
Mr. T - the comment referring to Kashmir says that Rashad's parents "originally" belonged to the Kashmir Muslim community. I am not sure what that means but Rashad's heritage is in India, not Kashmir; hence why Kashmir wouldn't ever come up in conversation as it would not be relevant.
The specious Kashmir claim has no basis in fact - and I can attest to the fact that Rashad does not, based on my discussions with him over a 17 year period, view it is a topic of expertise or interest.
Rashad is an American. He was born here, grew up here. and attempts to "foreignize" or radicalize him are not just wrong but reflective of attempts to undermine and delegitimize him.
I think it is time to dispense with the conspiracy theories, it is getting a bit ridiculous at this point.
Posted by M. Muthuswamy at February 26, 2010 2:41 PM ET:
I am the one who initially brought up the issue of Kashmir.
This was based upon the background of his parents, which appears to have Kashmir links.
The Kashmir jihad is one of the most popular causes among the jihadists and can be considered a litmus test of Muslims here in America whose families are from the region.
We have every right to vet Muslims or anyone for identification with jihadist ideologies for important federal positions. To do so is not to ""foreignize" or radicalize him [Rashad] are not just wrong but reflective of attempts to undermine and delegitimize him."�
That said, from your and Daveed's responses, it appears to me that Rashad Hussain has passed the jihadist litmus test. That's good.
However, as I pointed in an earlier post, Rashad shouldn't be anywhere near a mile of helping to shape to America's policy toward Muslims. The reasons, stated again, are straightforward: he apparently helped shape Mr. Obama's Cairo disastrous Cairo speech.
We need in our government, people with Muslim background who are willing to identify attributes in Islam that are spawning terrorism (if that's the case - as it appears to be) and help liberate Islam's followers from jihadist ideologies. Rashad's involvement in Cairo speech suggests that he is certainly not that guy. In fact, it suggests that his continued influence at the highest levels of our government will be a set back to our national security.

subset: commoncrawl


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I started off brewing all grain using traditional batch sparge techniques but have been experimenting with full volume mashing as well. I'm wondering.... why not somewhat blend the two techniques and would it actually work? So here's my theory (for what it's worth): 1. Use the common 1.25 quarts per pound of grain in the mash 2. Instead of a second infusion add the rest of the water needed for preboil volume at the end of the mash to bring temp to 170 for mashout. no second infusion... How would this differ from a full volume mash? I figure this should yield better results than a full volume mash since the water\grist ratio is more ideal. Could this turn out higher efficiency? maybe somewhere in between what i would get with batch sparge\full volume? My mash tun can fit all the water as long as my grain bill is kept under 10 pounds for a 5 gallon batch which is fine with me. I'm going to try it anyways but was hoping somebody out here has been down this road and can provide some insight. Thanks everyone
As long as you can fit all sparge water in the tun at the same time there is no need to do two steps. In addition, it is important to be sure your Ph is within proper range and not to use water in excess of 170. If Ph is high and water is too hot there is a possibility of extracting tannins and creating astringency issues
I think what you're describing is a mash out - rather than drain the wort, add sparge water, then drain again, you add the mash out water - to bring the temp of the mash to 170, then drain the wort. I believe that BYO did a comparison of the two techniques, and found very little difference. Pete
If I understand the question you want to add the sparge water in on top of the mash water mix it up and drain it all to the kettle for your boil, hitting the correct volume and gravity? Your efficiencies will drop dramatically. Batch sparging is a game of dilution. Taking the high gravity wort left behind in grain and diluting it with fresh sparge water. Draining this sparge leaves behind wort (in the grain) that is at a much lower gravity. Doing it twice or three times continues to lower gravity of the wort left in the grain. If you mix in the sparge with the first runnings, the wort left in the grain will be much higher this will directly impact efficiency of sugar extraction.


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Chewbacca, Tigger, & Teletubby — This Halloween's Sexy/Strange Costumes [PHOTOS]
Halloween is that one day of the year when women can put on a pair of booty shorts, a bra, and cat ears and walk around pretending to be a "sexy kitten." So what happens when your sexy costume is just awkward for you and those around you that have to look at you?
Honey Boo Boo: How To Halloween Costume [PHOTOS]
It's no secret that when we think of Teletubbies, we're definitely not thinking of the girl that's getting hit on at this year's Halloween party. So from the lovable Teletubbies, to our friends on Sesame Street, we're finding out that it's easier than we think to have a sexy costume gone wrong. Here are our favorites of sexy costumes that scream "epic fail."
Caution: The following photos may ruin your favorite childhood characters forever.
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Video: L.E.P. Bogus Boys – Streetz Talkin/Johnny Cochran
Directed by Jonah Schwartz & Will Gates.
Count and Moonie take the cinematic route for their latest visual. It's a movie, literally. Be sure to check out L.E.P.'s Now Or Neva if you haven't already.
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Count went in!!!!! "Talkin bout you run my city nigga run it how, only thing you running in my city is yo fucking mouth"!!!


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Tips And Tricks For Savvy Home Business Owners
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Millions of users create and share Excel spreadsheets every day, but few go deeply enough to learn the techniques that will make their work much easier. There are many ways to take advantage of ...
Just as bananas provide an excellent source of carbohydrate fuel, this guide boasts timeless, inspirational, energy-boosting tips and advice for today's entrepreneur. Striking a balance between ...
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Robert Irwin is America's #1 real estate expert. But don't take our word for it--the sales figures speak for themselves. To date, his real estate titles have sold more than one and a half million ...
Robert Irwin is America's #1 real estate expert. But don't take our word for it--the sales figures speak for themselves. To date, his real estate titles have sold more than one and a half million ...
In this new, third edition of Theater Tips and Strategies for Jury Trials, David Ball updates his methods and approaches to jury persuasion. This practical step-by-step guide helps you navigate the ...
Why use the traditional approach to study the stars when you can turn computers, handheld devices, and telescopes into out-of-this-world stargazing tools? Whether you're a first timer or an ...
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Success! in ACLS Tips and Tricks for Passing ACLS was created to help students pass the ACLS course. This study guide emphasizes the practical, hands-on application of ACLS that will help ...


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Did Jesus have biological brothers and sisters? - Today's Christian Videos
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You ask and the Bible will answer, is the challenge of Bro. Eli Soriano to whosoever would ask him anything under the sun. Be it religious, health, politics and science, Bro. Eli answers anyone who would ask with the use of the Bible as the formidable basis to resolve doubts and questions in the minds of truth-seekers and even skeptics, in hopes of salvation of the souls. Sources: www.theoldpath.tv www.truthcaster.com esoriano.wordpress.com
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Applications' operations covers all services related to the proper operation of applications and the application of associated management procedures. Due to the critical nature of this activity, entrusting these operations to a managed services provider requires particular industrial expertise, proximity and sectoral skills.
Taking place in project mode, with a dedicated team backed by experts, the purpose of the transition phase is to prepare the target technical infrastructure and organisation for handing over operations and responsibilities to the provider. For Bull this can equally mean taking over the existing technical and/or human organisation in full or undertaking a total redesign of the architecture combined with a ramp-up of skills. Once this step is completed, the technical environments and levels of industrialisation are in place. The procedures are formalised. The relationship between the client's project management and the contractor is structured thanks to reference materials and the implementation of real governance of the contract.
A firm commitment to service levels combined with invoicing per work unit enables rigour and visibility of the contract to be combined with the flexibility needed to respond precisely in a high responsive way to the emergence of new needs and exceptional situations. Transparency is the key to the relationship between Bull and its customers. It uses monitoring and control tools at the operational, tactical and strategic levels. Far from confining the company within standardised contracts, Bull's flexible managed services consist of establishing customised legal, technical, financial and practical arrangements that provide IT departments with the real conditions required for controlled and sustainable progress. For more information...
En savoir plus sur la gouvernance du système d'information >>
Bull offers services from its datacenters and applications hosted in its datacenters, or remotely from its datacenters and for applications hosted in its customers' datacenters [Remote Operation
Bull's approach is to provide the required flexibility and a comprehensive response, including defining a scalable architecture, the supply and installation of infrastructure, hosting, operations and support for applications. Pre-eminence is given to the "Security" and "Networks" aspects.


text: So over the next couple of days I am going to be forced to drive through Illinois and West Virginia(Love WV, just doesn't recognize my permit) and have made the decision to simply store my firearm while driving instead of dealing with the hassle of taking it out and putting it away 4 times. My question is this, I have looked at the Federal Statute regarding firearms transportation and didn't see any mention of it, but does the case carrying your firearm in your trunk need to be of a locking variety? Or is simply being cased and in the trunk sufficient?


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A rather weak and splitting storm is bringing the first measurable snowfall to the Rogue Valley Friday morning. Cold air trapped in the valley, combined with a low snow level and light winds…will allow light precipitation to fall (as snow) as low as 800 to 1200 feet. Some higher hills above 2,000 to 2,500 feet will see 1 to 2 inches, and slushy conditions, while most valley snowfall will melt on contact with the asphalt, there may be a period between 4 AM and 8 AM when the bridges and overpasses will see a build-up of slush or a little accumulation. Most snow will accumulate on the grassy surfaces and will melt quickly within a few hours.
Mountain passes, however, will have a coating of snow in the 1 to 3 inch range…and above 3,000 feet, snow packed roads, slush build-up and even compacted ice…could create some treacherous driving conditions for a while in the morning. Extra caution should be taken, or travel delayed until later in the afternoon or on Saturday morning if possible.
Several very large, cold, Gulf of Alaska storms will slam into Southern Oregon and Northern California late Saturday through Monday morning, Tuesday, and again on Thursday. Several feet of snow will accumulate above 4,000 feet and likely as much as 4 to 8 feet of snow above 7,500 feet by the end of next week. Mountain passes will be hit hard at times, so staying alert to the latest weather conditions on NewsWatch 12 and KDRV.com in the weather area is paramount for those who will be traveling.


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Sometimes, quite by chance one comes across a gem. I had been on the summit of the Peñon de la Mata (1669m) before, but had failed to recognise the scrambling possibilities. This time there was to be no mistake.
The 5 of us parked as close to the peak as we could get, which left us an easy 45 minute amble to the start of the rocks. Away to the south of the col the Sierra Nevada gleamed white after the fresh snowfall of the past days.
Not knowing exactly what we were in for we donned helmets and harnesses. Although we were all experienced scramblers and used to exposed terrain a rope was packed away, but handy.
We picked a line on the NE side which gave continuous scrambling for some 300m. All on good clean limestone. Perfect!
Sections could be by-passed or taken as required. Three of us decided on some exciting lines that gave some entertaining and very exposed moves (we named our route "Los Tres Amigos"!). On one occasion the situation warranted the use of the rope to protect the crossing of a gap. The others preferred more relaxed fare and eventually joined us at the summit having made their own way. And I guess that is what scrambling is all about? Finding a rocky route to a fine summit at whatever grade you feel relaxed at.
Grade? Between 1 to 3(S) scrambling with some moderate rock climbing thrown in if desired.
After lunch it was off round on a tour of the peak before returning to the cars, Cogollos Vega, Alfacar and eventually back for some welcome beers in Lanjarón. A great mountain day.
We shall be running regular day tours to scramble on Peñon de la Mata. Let us know if you are interested?
Photos and videos below.


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Food Allergy ResourcesSchool Planning Key for Allergic Kids (A Personal Story)
By Julie L. Autumn was turning four, and it was time for her to start pre-kindergarten. She had successfully attended a private morning program for two years, but pre-k would be in public school. The public school system offered a full-day program, from 7:40 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. This meant eating at school - and not just once, but three times a day. The school provided breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack. This was a forbidding challenge, because Autumn is anaphylactic to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, white potatoes and allergic to eggs. She is contact reactive to all of her allergens. The nurse at her new school told me the school had no children with life threatening food allergies that she was aware of. We knew we had a big project ahead of us to keep her safe. The first thing we did was to gather as much information as we could, so we would be prepared for anything that came our way. We thoroughly researched the laws and asked for a copy of the district's 504 policy so we would know the district's appeal process ahead of time. The Internet was an invaluable resource. We were able to locate a copy of the Massachusetts Department of Education Guidelines for Managing Life Threatening Food Allergies in Schools. It is an unprecedented document on how to handle food allergies in schools. We also printed a copy of the , Mystic Valley Regional Charter school case which involved a school unwilling to provide a peanut/nut free classroom. We ordered The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network's (FAAN) Preschool Guide to Food Allergies and any other materials that we thought might be helpful. We spent close to a year just researching information and talking to other parents on the Internet about what had worked and not worked for them. One of the first things we noticed was that this process needed to be handled as a professional business transaction. It may sound cold, but the schools handle it that way and do not respond well to emotional appeals and over reactive parents. We used the word "Teflon" a lot. Our motto was, "Keep the feelings hidden under a layer of Teflon and remain professional at all cost at all times." There were moments that this was difficult for me, but that is when I had my husband return the phone call or handle the meeting. I saved the crocodile tears for when we arrived home. It was also important that we communicated with the school as a family unit. My husband was actively involved in the process and attended most meetings with me. We tag-teamed responsibilities. He was much better at controlling his emotions and handling the situation with more clarity. I am the detailed organizer and social butterfly. We each used our strengths to successfully negotiate with the school. The next thing we did was to think positive, but prepare for the worst. Before we even spoke with the school we had a completely organized system of communication that could be used if a legal battle occurred. In this process, we learned a lot from the book Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy: The Special Education Survival Guide by Pam and Pete Wright, to organize our communications with the school system. We started by creating a contact log that would record the name, date, time and topic of conversation each time we spoke with anyone from the school. We then had a journal that we would make references to and record any specifics of the meetings. It was very important to keep all emotional content out of the written communication and just record facts. We then created a master document binder to hold all written communication and documents. Every conversation I had with anyone from the school regarding food allergies was followed up with a letter summarizing the communication and any important points. I always hand delivered the letter and on my copy of the letter I noted the time and person I delivered it to. We made sure that all the ducks were in a row and we had proof of all our communications. This also presented a professional image to the school which helped them take us seriously. In January, we were finally ready for the negotiations to begin. Our first contact was the assistant superintendent of the school system. She was the person in charge of the preschool program. My husband was not able to attend the first meeting because of work, so I asked an impartial acquaintance to attend with me as a witness to the conversation. Sometimes, you hear things differently than they were actually meant and it is good to have another person's perspective on the meeting. I provided the assistant superintendent with FAAN's Preschool Guide to Food Allergies, the Massachusetts document and other materials that I thought might help. I explained our situation, and instead of making demands, I said that we heard that she loved and cared for children and could she help us in our plight. It worked! She contacted the principal and set up a meeting with all the necessary people. Things were not all roses in the beginning. The district did not move quickly. We contacted them in January and they did not really get serious until the last moment. That was frustrating, but we kept our cool and kept following up. We tried to avoid making demands and instead offered several options for each situation. We basically provided a list of all the problem areas with two to three ways each one could be handled safely. We then let them make the decision as to which option would work best for their school. It is all about convincing them that they are making the right decision to keep your child safe. The first positive result was that the school agreed to send the Lead District nurse and the individual school nurse to the FAAN conference. That was a big surprise to us. When I asked, I expected a "No" response. The conference really helped the nurses understand the severity of food allergies and properly instruct the administration. The school nurse has been a huge advocate for our family. I make sure that we send her flowers on school nurse appreciation day and thank her regularly for caring about our child. The end results of this two year project were wonderful! Negotiations went so well that we felt we did not need a 504 plan and felt comfortable with a written Individualized Health Plan. The school agreed to the teacher carrying the medicine bag and they purchased walkie-talkies to go with it. An Emergency Action Plan was created, and the nurse contacted the local Emergency Medical Services (EMS) department. All of the teachers and staff involved with our daughter attended training and had to sign a training sheet stating they had received the training. The training is repeated every six month on an individual basis. Autumn's classroom is free of all unsafe foods. The snack is provided by the preschool, but they order food that they know is safe. I then double check the labels every Friday. The cafeteria manager is very important in this process. Autumn has a designated seat in the cafeteria and the table is wiped down for her. She has five colorful place mats that our friend made just for her and she eats her safe lunch from home on them. The school has removed the seat from the stool beside her so that no one sits next to her. She sits on the end and someone sits across from her so she is not isolated. All students wash their hands immediately after lunch in the neighboring bathroom. Students also wash their hands as they enter the room in the morning. There is a poster in the teacher's lounge, the school office and outside the classroom door explaining about the food allergies. We did have some differing opinions on how to handle birthday parties. The teacher did not agree to any of my suggestions. When that happened, I contacted the school nurse and asked if she could help us reach a compromise. The nurse spoke with the principal, and he came up with an excellent solution. We agreed that unsafe food would be allowed at birthday parties; however the parties would not be held in the classroom, but would be held in the cafeteria or hallway. Autumn sits in her usual seat and eats a safe snack provided from home. Sometimes the teacher chooses for the students to have a picnic on blankets outside the classroom. I was thrilled with that compromise. This process was definitely not easy or stress free. They key was that we started early so that we had time to step away and take a break when things became overwhelming. We continue to document and log all communication and communicate on a very professional level. We are always prepared for a possible difficulty, but still continually praise the school and individual personnel for their efforts. In summary: 1) Start very early and do thorough and complete research. 2) Document and organize your communication with the school system. 3) Work as a team with your spouse and use each other's strengths in the negotiations. 4) Although it is difficult, separate your emotions from the process. Treat it like a business negotiation. 5) Do not make demands, but instead offer 2-3 options for them to consider. 6) Do not attend meetings alone. Julie is a stay at home mom living in South Carolina with her husband and three daughters. This story first appeared in the Fall, 2006 edition of Support Net. Links updated May 2013. Kids With Food Allergies is a nonprofit charity. More than 80% of KFA's financial support comes from donors like you. If KFA has helped you in some way, please make a donation to support our work. |


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quote:Nutshell brings back some memories. I used to lay in bed at night, and play it on my phone. It calms me down and inspires thought more than any other song. It's just so serene
quote:I can't keep up with bands these days - they have so many one hit wonders and pretty much all sound like recycled crap. I gave up on modern rock when Nickelback/Staind/Kid Rock all got big. Edit - yes, I'm old; get off my lawn.
quote:Is there still talent out there that would do this challenge? (I want links)
quote:What bands/groups today would dare do an MTV Unplugged?


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Australian Bureau of Statistics |
3236.0 - Household and Family Projections, Australia, 2006 to 2031 Quality Declaration
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If the information you require is not available as a standard product, then ABS Consultancy Services can help you with customised services to suit your needs. For inquiries contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or email firstname.lastname@example.com. The ABS observes strict confidentiality protocols as required by the Census and Statistics Act, 1905. This may limit access to data at a detailed level. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window. This page last updated 7 June 2010


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Find your voice. A home for original thinkers, Essex gives you the skills and knowledge to succeed and make a difference.
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We're among the UK's elite for social sciences and best in Britain for politics. We are top 20 in the UK for research excellence.
Our first TEDx event in our 50th anniversary year tackled issues from the rise of robot warriors to how we can save the planet.
If you're looking for a vibrant and stimulating research environment and outstanding postgraduate training, welcome home.
Discover what you can achieve via consultancy and collaboration with our world-leading researchers and business experts.
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The Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex is offering its five day summer school on Human Rights Research Methods at its Colchester campus from 29 June to 3 July 2015. This will be followed by a second week (6-7 July) of thematic modules on cutting edge issues in human rights. These include:
Different packages will be available for booking combinations of the two parts of the 2015 Summer School. Full programme and booking details will be available shortly. For more information about the Essex Human Rights Summer School, please email Ville Karhusaari, Research & Business Partnerships Manager, email@example.com.
Following our highly successful launch of this unique summer school, we are offering the Human Rights Research Method summer school again in 2015. The motivation for the summer school is the recognition that very little attention has been paid to methodology in human rights. This is in spite of the level of research on human rights that is carried out by academics, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and intergovernmental organisations such as the United Nation and the direct bearing methodology has on the strength, persuasiveness and legitimacy of research findings and their impact on policy and practice.
This summer school provides the core methods and skills needed to carry out human rights research whether for academic scholarship, bids for large research projects or reports for NGOs, international organisations and governments. Someone taking the summer school will learn how to design research proects and carry them out anywhere in the world. They wil learn about the range of tools and methodologies for human rights research (whether academic or practical) and when, why and how to employ particular research methods in particular research contexts. It is an essential course for postgraduate students, academics, lawyers and human rights professionals working in NGOs, government and international orgaisations.
"These are exactly the types of skills needed by researchers in NGOs and in the UN and other international organisations. Knowing the Human Rights Centre, I am confident that it will deliver a summer school that is not only strong in academic content but very relevant and applicable to practical contexts." Ian Martin, former Secretary General of Amnesty International and head of UN human rights missions and peace operations in Rwanda, East Timor, Nepal and Libya
If you cannot see this video, you canwatch it on our Vimeo channel within your browser.
Our first six-day summer school took place in July 2014 at our University's Colchester campus. The event attracted over 50 human rights practitioners and researchers from around the world and included a keynote lecture from Professor Harold Hongju Koh, 22nd Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State and Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law School.
The below information is based on our 2014 edition. Full details of the 2015 programme and teaching team will be available shortly.
Participants on the Essex Summer School in Human Rights Research Methods learn how to design research projects and carry them out anywhere in the world. They study the range of tools and methodologies for human rights research (whether academic or practical) and when, why and how to employ particular methods in particular research contexts. All sessions address research design, methodology and impact and will draw heavily on examples and case-studies.
In taking this course, participants will:
The Essex Summer School in Human Rights Research Methods is taught by a combination of leading Essex and external human rights academics and practitioners. Teaching draws heavily on examples and case-studies, including the academics' and practitioners' own research and practice in the field. You also benefit from the range of multidisciplinary perspectives our teaching team brings.
The 2014 teaching team included:
Teaching sessions on the 2014 Essex Summer School in Human Rights Research Methods included:
This session will provide an introduction to qualitative interviewing: theory and method. It will look at how to do an in-depth interview; the strengths and weaknesses of this approach; how to develop interview questions and how to engage with your participants.
Data analysis is far more than simply providing a summary of interview transcripts. This session will cover: how to transcribe interviews; how to identify patterns in the data; and how to make sense of research material using discourse analysis.
Looking into the situation of survivors of gross human rights violations when they are seeking justice and reparation, often many years after the traumatic events, losses etc., represent major challenges for a researcher. A number of conditions must be dealt with, such as, creating a relation of trust, present the research interest in ways that engage, at all times respect the boundaries of the person and always be attentive to problems in relation to the interviews. One should always be in contact with persons or professionals that may be supportive in case informants need this. These issues, ethical dilemmas and other challenges will be dealt with and examples from ongoing research in the field will be presenter and discussed.
Research into areas such as intimate life, equality issues, or with minority groups, can generate difficult research quandaries. This session explores how to manage these research moments during the data collection process, analysis and writing up.
Ethics are an area of considerable importance, particularly in today's research climate. This is equally true for academics as it is for NGOs and International Organisations. This session will explore the ethical guidelines provided by social science bodies, such as the British Sociological Association. It will cover: understanding research ethics; incorporating ethics into research design; how to get ethical approval for your project; and ethical dilemmas. It will also address how to deal with ethical issues in the absence of an ethics committee as is common in NGOs as well as how to deal with ethical issues particular to researching in different countries, such as whether or not to enter a country and under which circumstances.
This session will take the form of a panel discussion by different donors that fund academics and NGOs to carry out human rights research, litigation and advocacy. The donors will discuss the different approaches they take to supporting human rights work and provide advice on how to write strong applications.
In this session we look at some human rights issues from the perspective of anthropological research and, in particular, the tension between cultural rights and individual rights. Focusing particularly in Latin America and Africa we will be looking at issues including legal pluralism, indigenous rights, domestic violence, and female genital cutting. We will look at some of the methods that might be used to investigate such issues and discuss some of the problems that arise from looking at rights cross-culturally.
This session will focus on how to use social science qualitative methodologies in human rights research. It will concentrate particularly on the adaptation of ethnographic methods; methodology most closely associated with the discipline of anthropology, to law-based human rights research projects. It will outline the advantages of transposing ethnographic methodology to human rights legal research, where the choice of methodological tools can be limited, and explore how engaging in field research can enhance understanding of legal problems. Conversely, the session will reflect on the limitations and challenges of this approach to interdisciplinary legal research.
This session will begin by providing an empirical overview of human rights fact-finding and advocacy reporting trends since 2000. It will then turn to recent developments in human rights fact-finding, investigations, and research, including the embrace of metrics and measurement, lessons for fact-finding from social science, and the use of technology and social media. The session will conclude by engaging participants in a search to identify principles, investigatory procedures, and methodological strategies common to the diverse range of human rights research methods.
Through an interactive dialogue, Professor Paul Hunt, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health and Rapporteur; Professor Sir Nigel Rodley, former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, the current UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran will reflect on their approach to research in these posts.
Professor Hunt will offer an additional session examining the research design and methods and how they had an impact on policy and practice through a recent project he worked on for the World Health Organization on women's and children's health.
This session provides an introduction to the research and fact-finding methodologies used by international human rights organizations, including specific methodologies used for visits to prisons and other closed institutions, as well as for research on "closed" countries (where on-site visits are barred). The sessions will discuss interviewing techniques, the collection of forensic, visual and documentary evidence, and the challenges of conducting research on difficult issues such as sexual violence.
This session will focus on issues of research methodologies in the context of post-conflict and repressive societies. This will include discussion of handling state and other power structures, traumatised informants and ethical concerns around the role of foreign researchers in these contexts.
This session examines events-based data on individual violations of human rights that has been developed in the work on truth commissions, commissions of inquiry, conflict research and other projects that utilise the 'who did what to whom' framework developed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Benetech Initiative, and Human Rights Data Analysis Group. It discusses the challenges around source material, event complexity, reporting biases, and making strong inferences.
This session looks at 'standards-based' measures of human rights practice that code country performance on ordinal scales for comparative analysis and survey-based measures based on perceptions and experiences of human rights practices. Standards-based scales are very popular in development work and policy analysis at a higher level of abstraction, and have formed a large part of the existing social science literature on explaining the cross-national and time-series variation in human rights protection. Survey-based measures rely on designing and administering questionnaire instruments to samples of the population within countries, and have been used to assess a wide range of human rights violations experienced by particular parts of the population. For both types of measures, discussion will focus on sources of information, types of samples, external and internal validity, and the limitations of each style of measurement and assessment.
This session examines the use of socio-economic and administrative statistics, which involves using existing or creating new indicators for governmental activity that has a bearing on human rights, including input, process, output, outcome, and impact indicators. The United Nations has developed a framework for incorporating these kinds of measures into the work of treaty bodies, as well as other kids of human rights project work.
These sessions will address how to carry out comparative case studies of human rights issues. They will explore the types of projects that comparative case studies are suited to and the theory underpinning how they should be carried out. They will then look at the design and implementation of a successful Economic and Social Research Council-funded project involving a comparative study of human rights in five different countries.
The Summer School includes keynote lectures from world-leading experts in the human rights and international law. The 2014 keynote lecture was being delivered by Professor Harold Hongju Koh, 22nd Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State and Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law School.
The Essex Summer School in Human Rights Research Methods is accredited by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to provide Continuing Professional Development training. The Summer School is accredited for 15 CPD points in total. Attendance at the whole event is required to be awarded the points. For more details please contact Gail Howell, Executive Officer in the School of Law.
The second week of our summer school will offer a range of thematic modules on cutting edge issues in human rights. These include:
Full details about the thematic modules and how to book will be available shortly.
Fee information for the 2015 Summer School will be available later in the year.
The fee levels for the 2014 Essex Summer School in Human Rights Research Methods were:
Eligible Essex postgraduate students are able to use their Proficio funding allocation towards the costs of taking part in the Essex Summer School in Human Rights Research Methods. The fee includes tuition, lunches and refreshments, and essential course materials. The fee does not include accommodation costs. Accommodation is available at our Colchester campus and can be booked separately.
Information about booking will be availabe later in the year.
For more information about the Essex Summer School in Human Rights Research Methods, please email Ville Karhusaari, Research & Business Partnerships Manager, email@example.com.
Attendees who cancel a previously booked place on a Proficio course or event, including the Essex Summer School in Human Rights Research Methods, will be liable to the following cancellation fees:
Attendees cancelling a course/event booking have the right to appeal against any cancellation fee charged to them by following the Proficio Appeals process. Please note that appeals against cancellation fees charged should be on the basis of mitigating circumstances only.
Accommodation is available at our Colchester campus in en-suite student accommodation with shared kitchen facilities at £40 per night on a bed and breakfast basis (2014 price). Accommodation is available for the duration of the summer school only.
Please use our online accommodation booking system, entering your arrival and departure dates, and the promotion code HRSS2014.
The Essex Human Rights Summer School takes place at our University's Colchester campus. Colchester is an hour away from London by train. See our information pages for further details of how to get here and our campus accessible travel guide:
For more information about the Essex Human Rights Summer School, please email Ville Karhusaari, Research & Business Partnerships Manager, firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
quote:He could get an LSU offer if he has an outstanding season
quote:He just finished his senior season...
quote:There is a reason he was offered so late, & only extended a gray shirt, I think it has more to do with the future players at John Curtis. He's a team captain & very well respected by all. While I think he is LSU material, I sense he may get caught in a numbers game, considering the LBs we took last year
quote:It's not my fault you can't grasp what I'm saying
quote:If Duke commits here I have $1 that says he starts as a red-shirt freshman or at the very least gets playing time...of the people you just named i still say he is the most technically sound MLB of the class...
quote:Duke might be the most overrated player out there by Tiger fans. He has Ole Miss, TCU and not a damn thing else. Not Nebraska or a Tx Tech or a Louisville or a Arizona yet yall want to put him on full ride. LSU can get better players this year or next instead of offering him to keep him away from Ole Miss essentially. He is good, pretty damn good but let's get serious about what caliber players we should expect here.
quote:but Riley was just quoted that he received a full scholarship for next year. No longer a grey shirt
quote:No longer a grey shirt. It is now between LSU and Tulane. Judging by some of his tweets, they may have the lead.
quote:Is Duke of any relation to Dietrich Riley who plays for UCLA?
quote:Draper Riley


text:
Plug Power Receives NASDAQ Notice Regarding Non-Compliance With Minimum Bid Price Rule
LATHAM, N.Y., Oct. 12, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Plug Power Inc. (Nasdaq:PLUG), a leader in providing clean, reliable energy solutions, today announced that it received a notice on October 12, 2012 from the NASDAQ Stock Market. The notice stated that the Company was not in compliance with NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 5550(a)(2) because the bid price of the Company's common stock closed below the required minimum $1.00 per share for the previous 30 consecutive business days. The NASDAQ notice has no immediate effect on the listing of the Company's common stock.
In accordance with NASDAQ rules, Plug Power has a period of 180 calendar days, until April 10, 2013, to regain compliance with the minimum bid price rule. If at any time before April 10, 2013, the bid price of the Company's common stock closes at $1.00 per share or more for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days, NASDAQ will notify the Company that it has regained compliance with the minimum bid price rule.
In the event the Company does not regain compliance with the Rule prior to the expiration of the 180-day period, NASDAQ will notify the Company that its securities are subject to delisting. However, the Company may appeal the delisting determination to a NASDAQ hearing panel and the delisting will be stayed pending the panel's determination. At this hearing, the Company would present a plan to regain compliance and NASDAQ would then subsequently render a decision. The Company is currently evaluating its alternatives to resolve the listing deficiency.
About Plug Power Inc. The architects of modern fuel cell technology, Plug Power revolutionized the industry with cost-effective power solutions that increase productivity, lower operating costs and reduce carbon footprints. Long-standing relationships with industry leaders forged the path for Plug Power's key accounts, including Walmart, Sysco, P&G and Mercedes. With more than 2,800 GenDrive units deployed to material handling customers, accumulating over 8 million hours of runtime, Plug Power manufactures tomorrow's incumbent power solutions today. Additional information about Plug Power is available at www.plugpower.com . The Plug Power Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=4446 Plug Power Inc. Safe Harbor Statement This communication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on current expectations that are subject to certain assumptions, risks and uncertainties, any of which are difficult to predict, are beyond Plug Power's control and that may cause Plug Power's actual results to differ materially from the expectations in Plug Power's forward-looking statements including the risk that we continue to incur losses and might never achieve or maintain profitability, the risk that we expect we will need to raise additional capital to fund our operations and such capital may not be available to us; the risk that the previously disclosed expected uses of the Company's recently raised capital may change; our lack of extensive experience in manufacturing and marketing products may impact our ability to manufacture and market products on a profitable and large-scale commercial basis; the risk that unit orders will not ship, be installed and/or convert to revenue, in whole or in part; the cost and timing of developing Plug Power's products and its ability to raise the necessary capital to fund such development costs; the cost and availability of fuel and fueling infrastructures for Plug Power's products; market acceptance of Plug Power's GenDrive system; Plug Power's ability to establish and maintain relationships with third parties with respect to product development, manufacturing, distribution and servicing and the supply of key product components; the cost and availability of components and parts for Plug Power's products; Plug Power's ability to develop commercially viable products; Plug Power's ability to reduce product and manufacturing costs; Plug Power's ability to successfully expand its product lines; Plug Power's ability to improve system reliability for GenDrive; competitive factors, such as price competition and competition from other traditional and alternative energy companies; Plug Power's ability to manufacture products on a large-scale commercial basis; Plug Power's ability to protect its intellectual property; the cost of complying with current and future governmental regulations; and other risks and uncertainties discussed under "Item IA-Risk Factors" in (i) Plug Power's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on March 30, 2012 and (ii) in Plug Power's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 filed with the SEC on May 15, 2012, as well as in the other reports Plug Power files from time to time with the SEC. Plug Power does not intend to, and undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events.CONTACT: Media Contact: Reid Hislop Plug Power Inc. Phone: (518) 782-7700 ext. 1360 Investor Relations Contact: Cathy Yudzevich Plug Power Inc. Phone: (518) 782-7700 ext. 1448
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