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"If It Can Happen in Wisconsin, It Can Happen Anywhere"
If you are like me, the view from Washington, D.C., these days is pretty grim.
Barack Obama has been elected to a second term. Obamacare will not be repealed anytime soon. Congress has approved massive tax increases. The national debt is on track to double during Obama's presidency. We are experiencing the worst economic recovery America has ever had.1 Family income has plummeted, and more than three quarters of Americans are living from paycheck to paycheck.2 Over twenty million Americans still cannot find work or have simply given up trying. And the Congressional Budget Office projects that we won't return to full employment until the end of 20173—a year after President Obama leaves office.
Worse, a recent study by Rutgers University found that six in ten Americans believe that the nation's economy has "undergone a permanent change" and that today's dismal economic situation is the "new normal."4
Think about that: Our citizens are poorer, our debt is larger, our growth is slower, and our people are less hopeful than at any time in recent memory—and a majority of Americans have come to expect and accept this sorry situation as "normal."
Yet President Obama has laid out a second term agenda that doubles down on the failures of his first. And Republicans are being warned that they should not even try to stop him. The GOP, we are told, is increasingly out of touch with the American people. Our once center-right country is moving center-left. We are told that the only way for Republicans to avoid electoral annihilation is to stop opposing President Obama, abandon our conservative principles, and make peace with big government.
Depressed yet? Don't be.
Things may look hopeless in Washington, D.C., but from where I sit in Wisconsin, the view is decidedly more hopeful and optimistic.
Here is a little-reported fact: Outside the Washington beltway, big-government liberals are on the ropes, while conservative reformers are winning elections and policy battles in state houses all across the country.
Consider some encouraging data:
Does this sound like the record of a party that is out of touch with the priorities of the American people?
So the question is: Why are so many Republican governors and state legislators winning elections at a time when national Republicans are faring so poorly?
The answer, in part, is that while Washington remains locked in endless battles that most Americans don't see as having much impact on their daily lives, Republican leaders at the state level are offering big, bold, positive reforms that are relevant to the lives of our citizens.
In Washington, politicians fight over "fiscal cliffs," "debt limits," and "sequesters." In the states, we are focused on improving education, caring for the poor, reforming government, lowering taxes, fixing entitlements, reducing dependency, and creating jobs and opportunity for the unemployed.
Just look at what some of our nation's Republican reformers have accomplished at the state level:
In Indiana, Governor Mitch Daniels inherited a two-year deficit of $800 million,5 and left Indiana with a $500 million annual surplus and $2 billion in reserves, without raising taxes.6 He ended collective bargaining for state employees, privatized Indiana's toll roads, and created the largest school choice program for low-income students in the country.
In Louisiana, Governor Bobby Jindal took on his state's long history of corruption and enacted comprehensive ethics reform that restored integrity to state government—while at the same time closing a $341 million budget shortfall and giving $1.1 billion back to the hardworking taxpayers across his state over five years.
In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie enacted a 2 percent cap on property taxes, passed public employee pension and health benefit reforms that will save taxpayers more than $130 billion over the next thirty years, balanced four budgets without raising taxes,7 and gave taxpayers $2.35 billion in job-creating tax cuts.8
In New Mexico, Susana Martinez became the first Latina governor in United States history, and turned a $450 million budget deficit into a $200 million surplus.9 In Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder closed a $1.5 billion deficit while lowering personal income taxes and eliminating the state's job-killing business tax.10 In Idaho, Governor Butch Otter passed legislation in 2011 that restricts collective bargaining for Idaho schools, institutes merit pay, and eliminates teacher tenure.11 And there are countless other examples.
Here in Wisconsin, we are doing our part as well. When I took office in January 2011, our state faced a massive $3.6 billion budget deficit and a stark choice: We could raise taxes or lay off more than ten thousand middle-class government workers to close the gap, or we could reform the corrupt system of political cronyism and collective bargaining—in which union bosses collected involuntary dues from every government employee, and had effective veto power over any changes to their pay, benefits, or working conditions—that was driving our state into fiscal ruin.
We chose reform. The state legislature passed my budget repair bill, known as Act 10, that requires public workers to contribute 5.8 percent of their salaries to their pensions (up from zero for most) and to pay 12.6 percent of their health insurance premiums (up from about 6 percent). We ended collective bargaining for everything except base wages. We ended compulsory union membership, and stopped the forced collection of union dues—allowing teachers and other public workers to choose for the first time whether they wanted to join the union and pay dues. And we freed school districts from the stranglehold of collective bargaining rules—allowing them, for example, to buy health insurance on the open market and hire and fire teachers based on merit for the first time.
Thanks to these reforms, the $3.6 billion deficit we inherited has turned into nearly a one-billion-dollar surplus.12 School districts across Wisconsin have saved tens of millions of dollars—money they have used to offset state spending cuts and improve education, instead of laying off teachers. Property taxes dropped for the first time in over a decade. Unemployment is down. Our bond rating is solid. For the first time in state history, we set aside money in three consecutive years for the rainy day fund. And Wisconsin's pension system is the only one in the country that is fully funded.
Seems like common sense, right?
Well, the union bosses in Washington and Madison didn't see it that way. They understood that our reforms were the leading edge of a national grassroots movement for fiscal reform—a movement that is flying below the radar of the mainstream media, but which holds the hope for a bold conservative resurgence across America.
They understood the threat this grassroots movement posed to their entrenched interests. So they decided to fight back.
And they made Wisconsin ground zero in their counteroffensive.
Why did they pick Wisconsin to draw their line in the sand? In part, it was because of our state's "progressive" history. Wisconsin was the birthplace of public sector unions in 1936, and the first state to allow collective bargaining for government employees in 1959. If the union bosses could not stop collective bargaining reform in the state where collective bargaining began, they had little hope of stopping it anywhere.
I suspect they also figured that Wisconsin was favorable political ground. The state has not voted for a Republican president since 1984, and Barack Obama won here in 2008 by a comfortable fourteen points. Moreover, our capital, Madison, is kind of the Berkeley of the Midwest (former governor Lee Dreyfus once called it "thirty square miles surrounded by reality"). In other words, there were plenty of students, teaching assistants, and leftover sixties radicals available for mass protests. It must have seemed like a natural place to push back, score an easy victory, and send a clear message to would-be reformers across the country: If you dare to take on the public sector union bosses, you will be writing your own political epitaph.
But ultimately, the unions took their stand in Wisconsin because of the unprecedented nature of our reforms. We did not simply go after the money—the lavish benefits the unions had extorted from taxpayers over the years. We dismantled the entire system of corruption and cronyism by which the unions perpetuated their political power and dictated spending decisions to state and local government. We took the reins of power from the union bosses and put the taxpayers back in charge.
The big-government union bosses knew that if they did not stop our reforms in Wisconsin, the floodgates of change would open across the land. Other political leaders, emboldened by our success, would summon the courage to enact similar changes in their home states—and eventually in Washington, D.C.
The unions could not allow that to happen. The precedent we were setting in Madison had to be stopped. As one protester lamented to the Los Angeles Times, "If it can happen in Wisconsin, it can happen anywhere."13
So they threw everything they had at us. They mobilized some one hundred thousand protesters to take over the Wisconsin State capitol in a sit-in that helped give birth to the Occupy movement.14 They transported agitators from Illinois, New York, Nevada, and other states; banged drums and blasted horns day and night; harassed and spit on lawmakers as they made their way through the capitol; and turned our historic rotunda into a theater of the absurd. They picketed my home and those of Republican lawmakers, harassed our families at school and even at the grocery store, and shouted us down at county fairs and ceremonial events across Wisconsin—all in an effort to intimidate us.
When their intimidation tactics failed to deter us, fourteen Democratic state senators fled the state—abdicating their constitutional duties in an effort to deny us a quorum needed to even take up our reforms.
When we found a way around their obstructionist tactics, they turned to the courts to stop us—targeting a good and decent Wisconsin supreme court justice for defeat simply because they thought he would vote to sustain our reforms.
When that judicial coupfailed, they tried to recall six Republican state senators, guilty of no official misconduct, simply because they voted for our reforms.
When that effort failed to put the senate back in Democratic hands, they tried to recall more Republican senators. They tried to recall our lieutenant governor. And they tried to recall me.
They failed.
Despite everything they threw our way, we pressed forward with our reforms. And the results are there for all to see: Wisconsin is back in the black. Our economy is growing. Business is expanding. Jobs are being created. Taxes are falling. Educational opportunities are improving. The legislature remains in Republican hands. The state supreme court has upheld our reforms. So have the federal courts.
And I became the first governor in American history to beat a recall. As my wife, Tonette, likes to point out, I'm the only governor elected twice in the same term.
This book tells the story of how we won the battle for Wisconsin—the reforms we put in place, the mistakes we made, and the lessons we learned. In the pages that follow, I will discuss how we almost lost the "fairness" fight in Madison—and how we turned it around on the Democrats and their union allies. I will explain how we reached into President Obama's base and won over the "Obama-Walker" voters in Wisconsin—and how conservatives can do it anywhere in the country. I will demonstrate how we balanced our budget while rejecting the dour politics of austerity—and found a way to make fiscal responsibility hopeful and optimistic. I will show why it is a myth that winning the center requires moving to the center—and why the path to a conservative comeback lies not in abandoning our principles, but in championing bold, conservative reforms . . . and having the courage to see them through.
I firmly believe that the lessons we learned in Wisconsin can help conservatives win the fight for fiscal reform in Washington, D.C., and lead the way to greater prosperity for people all across America.
Our opponents in Madison were right about one thing: If we can do it in Wisconsin, we can do it anywhere—even in our nation's capital.
"This Is What Democracy Looks Like"
Governor, we've lost control of the capitol.
The call came from my deputy chief of staff, Eric Schutt. Amid the chaos, his voice was calm and matter-of-fact: Thousands of protesters had overrun the police, and were rampaging through the historic Wisconsin state capitol building.
It was March 9, 2011, and the state senate had just held a sudden, unexpected vote on our legislation to reform collective bargaining. The move had caught the unions and the protesters by surprise. With fourteen Democratic senators still hiding out across state lines in Illinois, everyone had thought that the senate could not act. Under our state constitution, a vote on any bill that includes fiscal measures requires a quorum of at least twenty senators. There were only nineteen Republicans. Without at least one Democratic senator present, we could not pass the bill.
Unbeknownst to them, we had found a way to overcome their obstruction. Several weeks earlier, we discovered that if we split the bill into two—removing the fiscal provisions that required a quorum—the senate could pass the collective bargaining reforms as a stand-alone measure, without the missing Democratic senators present.
It was a simple, clean solution, and we urged the senate to do it right away. But the Republican senators hesitated. They were afraid that if they passed collective bargaining provisions alone, without the fiscal savings, they would be accused of union-bashing.
Of course, they were accused of union-bashing anyway. And as the weeks went on, while the senate was wringing its hands, their inaction had given the union bosses time to organize protests and build pressure.
In February, first hundreds and then thousands of people began living inside the capitol building. Every hour the protesters held a massive rally under the capitol dome, with bullhorns, drum circles, bagpipes, and chanting and singing. The roar of the crowd was nearly constant. The sound sometimes reached more than 105 decibels—louder than a Packers game at Lambeau Field. It literally shook the building.
The protesters in the capitol accosted anyone in a suit, shoving cameras in their faces and demanding to know who they were. The building was strewn with garbage and empty pizza boxes. It was so packed with human bodies that there was no way to move around, much less clean. After a while, the floors became covered with a disgusting film, and the odor of unwashed humanity wafted through the hallways. The place smelled like a Port-a-John. When the protesters eventually left, work crews with power washers had to spend days scrubbing the building from floor to ceiling.
People were smoking pot inside the capitol. There were so many sleeping bags, inflatable mattresses, and tents that my staff often joked about how many "protest babies" there would be in nine months' time.
After weeks of this chaos, on March 3 a judge finally ordered the police to clear out the capitol and restore a semblance of order. Instead of thousands, they allowed between five hundred and seven hundred protesters inside at a time, and required them to leave each night. In normal times, several hundred protesters inside the capitol would have been disruptive. But after weeks of occupation, it seemed like a relief.
Unfortunately, the relative calm would only last a few short days.
Outside the capitol, the protesters continued to march and chant and accost legislators. After enduring weeks of abuse, the Republican senators' frustration with the protests and the Democrats' obstruction grew. When it finally became clear their Democratic colleagues were never coming back from Illinois, the senate Republicans finally decided they had had enough. Opposition to splitting the bill melted away. The senate decided to act.
On the morning of March 9, I met with the Republican caucuses in the senate and the assembly. We laid out an orderly plan to end the standoff and pass the bill. Republican leaders would announce that they had scheduled a hearing of the conference committee for the following day. The committee would meet, split the bill, and send it to the full senate for a vote. The senate would act and then send it to the assembly for final passage. While this was going on, I would fly across the state to rally support for our plan. The whole process would take forty-eight hours.
I left the meetings and headed to the airport. I was both relieved that we were finally ending this impasse and energized that we would finally be enacting our reforms.
The capitol was quiet as I departed that morning. Since no one was expecting the senate to act until the following day, and the costs of security were soaring into the millions, at around 3:30 p.m. my secretary of administration, Mike Huebsch, sent home the two hundred or so reserve police officers in the basement of the capitol.
Big mistake.
At 4:10 p.m. Mike got an urgent call from Eric Schutt.
"The senate's going in at six p.m.," Eric told him.
"What the [EXPLETIVE] are you talking about?" Mike asked.
"They're going to pass the bill," Eric explained.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald had decided to throw our orderly plan out the window and vote on Act 10 that night. He was presiding over a skittish caucus, and did not know how long he would have the votes. He decided not to wait.
Mike's face blanched. "Oh God, I just let the police officers go."
There was no way to call them back.
Fitzgerald posted a notice on the bulletin board outside the senate publicly announcing that the Joint Finance Committee would meet at 6:00 p.m. At the appointed time, the committee met for four minutes, split the bill, and voted it out. (Senate President Mike Ellis could be heard whispering under his breath as assembly Democrats protested, "Call the roll . . . call the roll . . . call the [EXPLETIVE]-ing roll.") The senate then met, passed the bill, and adjourned. The whole process, from public notice to final passage, took about four hours.
As word about what the senate was doing spread, social media exploded. The unions and their supporters flooded Twitter and Facebook with urgent calls for protesters to rush the capitol.
Standing on the capitol steps at dusk, Mike Huebsch watched as an army of thousands formed on State Street and began marching toward him. Soon they had descended on the building, banging on the doors and windows, chanting, "Let us in! Let us in!"
The small contingent of capitol police was quickly overwhelmed. Protesters ripped the hinges off an antique oak door at the State Street entrance and streamed inside. Mike watched in disbelief as the window to Democratic Representative Cory Mason's office opened right in front of him and protesters began crawling into the building. Once inside, they began unlocking doors and bathroom windows until a sea of thousands had flooded the capitol.
Still standing outside, Mike called the deputy chief of the capitol police, Dan Blackdeer, to report what he was seeing.1
"We've lost the ground floor, we're dropping back to the first floor," Blackdeer told him from inside the besieged capitol.
A few moments later, his phone rang:
"We've lost the first floor, we're dropping back to the second."
A few minutes later: "We've lost the second floor."
"For God's sake, don't give up the third floor," Mike said. That was where our command center was located.
"I know, sir," Blackdeer said. "I've got to go."
The protesters ran amok, chanting "This is our house!" and "This is what democracy looks like!"
And they began searching for the Republican senators who had dared to defy the will of the unions.
As the mob combed the building for the offending legislators, the police snuck the senators and my staff out through an underground tunnel that took them beneath the square outside, and then up into the Risser Justice Center across the street. Incredibly, a Democratic representative put out on social media that the senators were in the tunnels. So when the senators came up into the Risser Center lobby, the protesters were there waiting for them.
The tall windows that framed the lobby were plastered with people yelling and banging on the glass.
They were trapped.
The senators hid under a stairwell, out of view, while the police ordered a city bus to pull up in front of the building. Officers then formed a human wall on the sidewalk, parting the sea of protesters and creating a pathway for the senators to reach the bus. The door opened and they rushed out past the screaming throng to the bus. Once they were on board, the mob on the street began punching the windows and shaking the vehicle. Some lay down in front of it, trying to prevent the bus from pulling away. The police told the senators and staff inside to keep their heads down in case a window shattered.
Eventually, they cleared a path and slowly the bus inched away. The police decided to divert to the Department of Military Affairs, a secure area where any protesters following the bus could not enter. From there, they drove the senators back to their cars, away from the capitol.
Eric Schutt and my chief of staff, Keith Gilkes, escaped from the Risser building in a car driven by a very large and imposing police officer. They decamped to Lucky's, a bar a couple of miles from the capitol, where they called and filled me in on the harrowing escape. From a booth in the corner, Keith got firsthand reports from Mike, who was still on the capitol steps watching everything unfold, while Eric relayed the reports to me.
Mike was new on the job, so at first the protesters did not recognize him. But he was wearing a suit and talking on a cell phone, which made him suspect in their eyes. Soon a group of protesters was in his face, demanding to know who he was. He told me later it was the first time he had truly felt frightened for his safety. He made a quick escape and joined the rest of our team at Lucky's.
By morning, the police had regained control of the capitol, which was now being protected by SWAT teams in full body armor from the Justice Department's Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI)—the attorney general's police. It was like a scene out of Call of Duty.
The assembly met at 12:30 p.m. As Representative Michelle Litjens tried to say an opening prayer, the Democrats shouted her down. They wanted the Reverend Jesse Jackson—the former Democratic presidential candidate who had come to Wisconsin along with other B-list celebrities to join the protest movement—to deliver it. Incredibly, he was allowed to do so. I will never forget the image of Reverend Jackson, smiling in the well of the assembly while Representative Bill Kramer, the speaker pro tempore, sat next to him with his head in his hands. The Democratic leader offered a motion to remove Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, which failed. After three hours of debate, Act 10 was approved by a vote of 53 to 42.
We wanted to avoid a repeat of the previous day's security disaster, so Keith asked Ed Wall, the head of the DCI team, if there was any way to get the legislators out of the building in secret. Ed said there was, so long as no other police units knew the plan. Dane County Sheriff David Mahoney had already declared that his force would not be used as my "palace guards."2 Ed feared other units might tip off the protesters.
So Ed arranged for a "decoy bus" to be parked outside the capitol and told the Madison Police Department to help block off the street. Without telling the Madison police, Ed then secretly arranged for eighteen vans driven by DCI SWAT officers to be parked in the garage under the Risser building. When the heavily guarded bus pulled up on the Capitol Square, all the protesters went streaming toward it, ready to accost the legislators.
As they did, Ed quietly snuck the assembly members through the underground tunnel and into the waiting vehicles, which sped away one by one out of the Risser building before most of the protesters could figure out what was going on. A few of them noticed the last few vans spinning out of the garage and yelled to the crowd, "Hey, they're over here!" But it was too late.
The next morning, on March 11, 2011, my legal counsel Brian Hagedorn sent the bill to me at the governor's residence. My initial reaction was to rush and sign it then and there. The protests had eaten up a good month of our time, and I was eager to get back to my number one priority: helping the people of Wisconsin create more jobs. But Scott Matejov, one of my top aides, suggested that we should at least take a picture or two first to mark the historic moment. I stood for a moment and took it all in. But since we did not want to take any chances, I signed Act 10 into law right there at my dining room table.
After all we had been through, I was not going to simply sign this law in private, as if hiding from the crowds. We would also hold a formal signing ceremony in the capitol later that day.
Soon, I headed back to the statehouse via the Risser building. Once parked, I made my way through the underground tunnel to my office in the capitol. Up above, throngs of protesters were chanting on the Capitol Square, but down here it was eerily quiet.
We passed beneath a bakery, which filled the tunnel with the smell of warm fresh bread. Then, turning the corner, I stared down the hundred-yard underground corridor dotted with emplacements of riot gear every fifteen yards or so. It was a grim reminder of how serious things had gotten in and around the capitol.
As I walked up the back stairs to my office, I was greeted by Scott Fitzgerald and his brother, Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald; Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder; Senate President Mike Ellis; joint finance committee cochairs Representative Robin Vos and Senator Alberta Darling; as well as other courageous legislators who had voted for this bill.
These individuals had withstood intense pressure, and protests unlike anything seen in Madison before, in order to pass our reforms. And now that the legislation was finally law, they were still being threatened. As he raced back to Madison from hiding out in Illinois, Democratic senator Chris Larson issued a stark warning: "Everyone who is a party to this travesty is writing their political obituary."3
So I would have understood if Act 10's supporters had decided to skip the ceremony. But they wanted to be there. They were proud of what we had accomplished, and I was proud to stand beside them. We had become like a family.
As protesters outside chanted "Shame!" I took a dozen pens, one by one, and signed Act 10 before the cameras. I might well have been signing my own political death warrant. But as I formally affixed my signature to the new law, politics was the furthest thing from my mind. We had done something important for our state, something I knew would put Wisconsin on the path to fiscal solvency and greater prosperity. And perhaps our actions would inspire politicians in other states, and even Washington, to do the same.
"Some have asked whether this is going to set a national precedent," I said after signing the law. "For us we're doing this to lead the way in our own state, to get Wisconsin working again." But if our actions ultimately inspired others "to stand up and make the tough decisions . . . so that our children in all states and across the country don't have to face the dire consequences we face because previous leaders have failed to stand up and lead, I think that is a good thing."
It was certainly my hope that others would eventually follow our lead. But at that particular moment, it was unlikely that anyone was looking to us as a model.
Since Election Day, my approval rating had dropped nearly ten points. One poll showed that if the 2010 gubernatorial race were held again, I would lose to my opponent, Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett, by a margin of 50 to 43 percent.
Time magazine declared me "Dead Man Walker."4 Writing in National Journal, Paul Maslin, pollster to former California governor Grey Davis (who was removed from office in a recall election), warned that the same would happen to me.5 Democratic strategist Dean Debnam of Public Policy Polling said of my electoral prospects: "He'd be done if the vote was today, it's just a question of whether that desire to put him out can continue to be sustained in the coming months."
In fact, in the coming months, my approval would drop even further. In June 2011, a 53 percent majority of Wisconsinites said they either "very much" or "extremely disapproved" of the way I was handling the job of being governor of Wisconsin. At one point, my approval rating reached an all-time low of 37 percent.6 To put that in perspective, President George W. Bush's average approval rating during his second term was 37 percent.7
Not good.
Support for our reforms was upside down as well. One poll showed that 74 percent of Wisconsin voters said that if public workers agreed to pay more for health care and pensions, they should be allowed to retain all their collective bargaining "rights." That included nearly half (47 percent) of all Republicans. Only 21 percent of voters agreed collective bargaining should be curtailed.8
The protests and union propaganda were taking their toll. But standing there in the governor's conference room, as the ink dried on Act 10, I was not the least bit worried.
That was for one reason: I knew our reforms were going to work.
"Go Ahead and Do It!"
How could I be so sure our reforms would work? How could I be certain that, freed from the grip of collective bargaining, local officials could save millions, improve schools, and make government work better?
Because I had been a local official.
In 2002, I was elected to lead Milwaukee County, one of the most Democratic-leaning counties in the state. My predecessor as county executive, Tom Ament, had presided over a pension scandal in which county officials rewrote pension rules to give themselves six-figure lump-sum payments on retirement, on top of their already generous monthly pension checks.1 Had he won reelection, Ament had stood to receive a lump-sum payment of $2.3 million when we retired, in addition to an annual pension of $136,000 a year for life.2
News of the payouts caused widespread public outrage and demands that Ament face a recall. Instead, he announced his retirement, and a few months later I won a special election to replace him with 55 percent of the vote.
When I took office in Milwaukee County, we inherited a fiscal mess. The cash payouts were only the beginning. Spiraling health care and pension costs had grown so out of control they were like a virus that was eating up more and more of our county budget. I had promised in my campaign not to raise property taxes, which were already astronomically high. And I did not want to have massive layoffs of county workers.
One of the things I spent the most time praying about when I was county executive was layoffs. I realized how such decisions affected people's lives. Collective bargaining rules protected workers with seniority, which meant those most likely to get a pink slip were the people who could least afford it—younger workers, just starting off, with low pay and families to support. When I sent out layoff notices, I knew they were often going to people trying to meet mortgage payments or feed and clothe their kids.
Moreover, I knew that mass layoffs would decimate public services. That is because under collective bargaining rules, decisions about whom to layoff have to be made without regard to merit. In the private sector, when managers downsize they can assess their operations, decide where people are most needed, and choose to retain the best and brightest while letting the least productive workers go.
Not in the public sector. The rules under collective bargaining are as simple as they are inane: If you're the last to be hired, you're the first to be fired. Period. That meant that if we were forced to hand out random pink slips, we would have to let go of some of our most productive workers. Meanwhile, many of the least productive would be able to hold on to their jobs only because of seniority. That is no way to run anything.
I was determined to shrink the size of government, but I wanted to do it through attrition and reform, not random pink slips. So I did everything in my power to avoid massive layoffs.
To get the county on sound fiscal ground, I decided that we would all have to tighten our belts—starting with me. Over the course of my eight-year tenure in Milwaukee County, I gave about $370,000 in salary back to Milwaukee County taxpayers. If I was going to ask other county workers to sacrifice, I had to be willing to sacrifice as well. Indeed, I took a bigger hit as a percentage of my salary than anything I asked of the rest of the county workforce.
Next, I proposed a series of alternatives to public-worker layoffs. I asked for modest increases to employee pension and health care contributions, which were the biggest driver of our debt. I proposed moving seasonal workers (such as snowplow drivers) into other jobs (such as cutting grass) in the off-season to save money. I proposed going to a thirty-five-hour workweek, to spread the pain around in order to keep people working. At one point, I even proposed going to a thirty-five-hour workweek one week a month for four months.
But thanks to collective bargaining, all the proposals I put forward required the unions to sign off. And the union bosses made clear to me under no uncertain terms that they were not giving up any of the lavish benefits they enjoyed in order to save somebody else's job.
I will never forget sitting at the conference table in my office across from Rich Abelson, the head of AFSCME Council 48, explaining to him that without some of these modest changes we would have to lay off hundreds of workers.
He looked me in the eye and said: "Go ahead and do it!"
I was stunned. I explained again how many jobs would be lost if he stood in the way of our reform. He told me he didn't care how many workers I laid off, he wasn't giving up any benefits.
Perhaps Abelson and the other union leaders didn't think I would go through with it and were calling my bluff. Or maybe they thought that I was a short-termer—a Republican elected in a heavily Democratic district in a special election, thanks only to a political scandal. Better to absorb the layoffs, protect their benefits, and wait until a new county executive beholden to the unions replaced me in the next election.
If that was their logic, they certainly miscalculated. In 2004, two years after my special election, I was elected to a full term with 57 percent of the vote. Then in 2008, the year President Obama won Milwaukee County with 67.5 percent of the vote, I was reelected with nearly 60 percent of the vote—which meant there were at least some Obama-Walker voters. I won three elections in a row, with a larger percentage of the vote each time, proving that conservative reformers can prevail with a deep blue electorate if they make tough decisions on issues that are relevant to the voters. Americans reward politicians who keep their promises and get results. In times of crisis, we want leadership.
Despite the fact that voters repeatedly backed me at the polls, the unions would not give an inch during my time as county executive. They were perfectly willing to see hundreds, even thousands, of union workers lose their jobs in order to keep the prerogatives they had amassed for themselves.
So much for "solidarity."
With the unions unwilling to make changes under collective bargaining rules, I had no tools at my disposal to reduce spending and get our budget under control without layoffs. So we had no choice—we had to cut jobs.
When layoff notices went out, I remember people streaming into my office, usually young workers in tears, pleading for their own job or that of a coworker. They would beg me to reconsider, to try the thirty-five-hour workweek or some of these other ideas instead. It was heartbreaking, but I'd have to tell them, "It's not for me to reconsider—go talk to your union steward, go talk to your union leadership. They're the ones who blocked the reforms."
Sometimes an employee who had not received a notice would come to me and say, "I'd be willing to give up some time so that this coworker of mine could keep working." I'd have to tell them that collective bargaining rules would not allow it.
Other times, a supervisor would come to me and say, "Scott, I know you have to lay people off, but so-and-so is doing such a great job. I can give you ten other people who are not producing and ought to go before her." They knew that if productive workers were let go, the burden would fall on their backs to pick up the slack for the unproductive workers who stayed on. I had to explain that under collective bargaining, we could not take into account merit or effort in deciding who got laid off. The only thing that mattered was seniority.
We could not move seasonal workers from one job to another in the off-season, because people's job duties were locked in by union contract—and the union refused to change them. Heck, we could hardly move a clerical worker from one office to another within the same agency without union sign-off. There was no flexibility. None.
So we had to let people go.
Laying off good workers was an agonizing experience, and it taught me an important lesson: Reforming collective bargaining was not just about saving money. It was not just about saving jobs. It was about making government work better for the people.
I believe that smaller government is better government. I am sometimes asked if I hate government. I don't. I hate government that is too big and government that does not work. I believe that government at the federal, state, and local levels should be smaller. But in the areas where government has an appropriate role to play—be it local education or national defense—taxpayers not only deserve but should also expect and demand that government carry out its functions exceptionally well.
As conservatives, we believe that as many decisions as possible should be pushed down to the local level. This is not only a matter of efficiency, it is fundamental to our freedoms. As Milton Friedman explains in Capitalism and Freedom, "If government is to exercise power, better in the county than in the state, better in the state than in Washington. If I do not like what my local community does, be it in sewage disposal, or zoning, or schools, I can move to another local community. . . . If I do not like what my state does, I can move to another. If I do not like what Washington imposes, I have few alternatives in this world of jealous nations."
If we believe in local government, then the last thing we want to do is decimate the ability of local officials to effectively serve their citizens. We want local communities to keep our streets clean, keep our citizens safe, and give our children the best possible education.
Collective bargaining makes those legitimate tasks much harder. Government can't work when unions siphon off taxpayer dollars meant for public works and public schools into excessive and unsustainable benefit packages. Government can't work when local officials are denied the tools their private sector counterparts enjoy to reward good employees and fire bad ones. Government can't work when managers have little or no authority to consolidate agencies, streamline functions, set performance standards, or change people's duties without the permission of a union. And government can't work when 10 percent of the public workforce is suddenly eliminated in random layoffs—and when managers are forced to get rid of some of the most productive workers while retaining some of the least productive.
Giving local officials tools to be more efficient and effective is a fundamentally conservative idea. And freeing them from the grip of collective bargaining rules is the only way to let them do that.
For years, Americans have been presented with a false choice between raising taxes and cutting government services. If you own a business, you don't double the price of your product or cut its quality in half—at least not if you want to stay in business. You find ways to run your business more efficiently, and deliver a better product than your competitor at lower cost. I tried to do that as county executive, but it was next to impossible because I was tied down by the Lilliputian threads of collective bargaining.
Collective bargaining is the enemy of good government. Its supporters call it a "right," but the fact is it is not a right enshrined in the U.S. or Wisconsin constitution. For most of American history, collective bargaining did not exist for government employees. Until 1959, when Wisconsin became the first state to allow collective bargaining for government workers, the pay, benefits, and working conditions of public employees were determined by the legislatures overseeing them as part of the regular budget process.
Even labor advocates like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and AFL-CIO president George Meany were suspicious of collective bargaining for government employees. And as our experience in Milwaukee County showed, their suspicions were well founded. Rather than a right, collective bargaining has turned out to be an expensive entitlement. It allows union bosses to dictate spending decisions to state and local governments, and collect compulsory union dues to perpetuate their political power. But collective bargaining denies hardworking taxpayers their "right" to the efficient delivery of public services. It denies children their "right" to a decent education. And it denies citizens their "right" to a government that lives within its means.
During my eight years as county executive, we cut the number of county workers by 20 percent, and turned a $3.5 million county deficit into a surplus. On one hand, that is an achievement because the county government needed to be smaller. But because of collective bargaining, we couldn't do it the best way. Being forced to get rid of productive workers while retaining slackers, and having my hands tied by union intransigence and collective bargaining rules, was a searing experience. That experience was the ultimate source of the reforms I enacted as governor.


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Argument from desire
The argument from desire is an argument for the existence of God. It is most known in recent times through the writings of C. S. Lewis, for whom it played pivotal role in his own conversion to theism and thence to Christianity.[citation needed]
As a syllogism it can be expressed as follows.
- Major premise All innate human desires have objects that exist. By "innate" we mean those desires that are universal. The desire for food, the desire for companionship, the desire to enjoy beauty are innate desires in this sense. The desires to have a grand house or a PhD are not. The premise cannot be proved but is plausible. We feel hunger; there is such a thing as eating. We feel sexual desire; there is such a thing as sex. It would be unlikely for a race of individuals to exist who reported feeling hungry yet did not possess food, mouths nor stomachs. For every such innate desire in human experience (save one) we can identify the object.
- Minor premise There is a desire for "we know not what" whose object cannot be identified. We are never truly satisfied, even while we satisfy our hunger, our need for companionship, love, beauty, achievement, etc. The second premise aims to articulate and appeal to the concept of "longing" as expressed by the German term Sehnsucht.
- Conclusion If the object of this desire does not exist in this world, it must exist in another.
The argument is not meant to be a proof. The conclusion may not necessarily be the only possibility satisfying the premises. Yet the argument from desire can be persuasive because the premises and conclusion can be not merely understood but "seen" in a much more direct way than similar arguments, such as the Ontological Argument. It is more directly applicable to the human experience.
The argument from desire has attracted criticisms from both religious and non-religious commentators; whilst using it as evidence for God's existence, Christian philosopher Thomas Aquinas did not consider it a valid argument for the existence of God on its own.[1] In examining the use of the argument from desire in Aquinas's philosophy, historian Robert Pasnau criticises the argument as being "based on strong teleological assumptions few would accept today. It seems clear, contrary to his [Aquinas's] central assumption, that there are things in nature that have no point".
- ^ Pasnau, Robert (2002). Thomas Aquinas on Human Nature A Philosophical Study of Summa Theologiae, 1a 75-89. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00189-2.
External links[edit]
- Essay and audio lecture by Peter Kreeft on the Argument from Desire

subset: commoncrawl


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30 year old man | Brooklawn, NJ, USA | Seeking women 18-30 within 50 miles of Gloucester City, NJ
I'm a nice guy, and I always finish first! Bazinga!
Update: Left forearm is completely tatooed, more to come =). I'm always laughing and odds are if you're hanging out with me, you will be too. I am able to find enjoyment in just about everything. Regardless of who I am with, I can typically make the best out of any situation, I read books, and enjoy video games. I love trying new places to eat. I am always up for grabbing some wings and a few beers, or going out dancing. I am honest to a fault. I don't curse at, or yell at women, I was raised properly. While I don't believe in cursing AT a woman, I damn well will curse AROUND you =) I believe in bringing out the best in people. You won't catch me knocking someone down for no reason, odds are if you hang around me your confidence level will increase. I have MANNERS. I say please, thank you, and even open doors for people. I am looking to start traveling to a different country every year starting this year, would love to find someone to go with me! I don't take crap, drama. I have an honor code that I actually follow. As far as music goes, my Ipod has a little bit of everything on it. Everything from classical, black metal, motown, country, rap, rock, and techno. I would say that the rock and country songs outnumber everything else.. but I like it all! I am a huge fan of paying it forward. Four years ago on my way to work, I was waiting in line at WaWa to buy my coffee. When I got up to the counter, the cashier told me the woman in front of me paid for my coffee. I went up to her and said thank you, and she said to do the same for someone else. So now every morning on my way to work, I will buy a random person a cup of coffee. The reactions are amazing, and you can really turn around someone's day! I also "adopted" two children overseas (not for real), I donate 4% of my check to United Way, and I adopt a local family in need around Christmas time.
Book club , Coffee and conversation , Cooking , Dining out , Movies/Videos , Museums and art , Music and concerts , Nightclubs/Dancing , Playing cards , Video games , Volunteering , Watching sports
Billiards / Pool, Hockey, Running, Walking / Hiking, Weights / Machines
I exercise 3-4 times per week.
I like Dogs, Exotic Pets, Fish
Middle of the Road
Big fan of dive bars. Hidden spots with great food. Atlantic City.
I am a very well rounded person, and tend to enjoy a little bit of everything. As far as music goes I am on a pretty big country kick right now, but also listen to rock, metal, and rap. Favorite show by far is Big Bang Theory.
Traveling to new places.Shooting pool.Gambling all day in AC and then ending the night at the club. I see every movie I find a tad bit interesting in the theater Buying new cool stuff Want to learn ball room dancing, need a partner! Day trading
A Song of Ice and Fire, thats a lie, I actually more recently read the Forgotten Realms Shadowbane series, but A Song of Ice and Fire is my favorite, so It's staying as well!
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|5'6" (167cms)
|3'0" (91cms) to 5'7" (170cms)
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|About average
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Results 1 to 3 of 3
Thread: Character Concept Crit
June 13th, 2012 #1
Character Concept Crit
Hello, thanks for checking this out. This is one of my character concepts intended for Game/ graphic novel use. Any input would be great
Hide this ad by registering as a memberJune 13th, 2012 #2
Use reference for your drawings, get a cheap wardrobe mirror and pose yourself or have friends pose. Right now the concepts are ruined from bad execution of the idea.
June 23rd, 2012 #3
The proportions of the feet are off. They look a little small. You've also shyed away from the left hand. The chest armour disappears into a void between the rib cage and arms it would be good to see what is going on here.
I'd push the highlights in the armour and really control the specular to make it very apparent that it's metal.
The face is full of character and looks good you get a strong sense of who he is and your eye is constantly drawn back to those eyes. The hair is also flowing nicely.


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The Arduino BT is an Arduino board with built-in bluetooth module, allowing for wireless communication.
The Bluetooth Mate is very similar to the BlueSMiRF modem, but it is designed specifically to be used with our Arduino Pros and LilyPad Arduinos.
The RN-USB-X is a Class 1 Bluetooth adapter that solves the problem plaguing complicated and error-filled standard Bluetooth dongles. With power Class 1 not only do you get solid wireless communication but 100 meters of transmission distance as well!
Easily add Class 1 Bluetooth to any of your Xbee enabled projects! This module allows your project to be up to 20 meters away.
Easily add Class 2 Bluetooth to any of your Xbee enabled projects! This module allows your project to be up to 100 meters away.
Designed to replace RS232 serial cables. A Bluetooth Class 1 device with up to 100m range (free space). Easy to setup and configure using LM Technologies LM049 user interface.
Looking for a convenient way to replace your serial cable with a high-speed wireless solution? BLUETOOTH to the rescue! Move those bits wirelessly from your Bluetooth host to any device with the BlueSMiRF Gold!
The Easy Bluetooth Serial Module is an effective and low-cost solution to free your hardware applications from wires.
This Micro Bluetooth USB Adapter offers Bluetooth connectivity at a fraction of the size of normal Bluetooth USB adapters.
So you want a affordable GPS unit right? Well, how about a GPS unit that comes with Bluetooth, RS-232, and USB-TTL on board, and an external magnetic antenna (with a 9.5ft long cable) that's all bundled together for a great price? We got you covered.


text: Monthly support groups for the our information meetings which are of how much child support the month at our office. Located in Region 3 (Arlington)(3) bring you into the capable Domestic, International, ABC (African American aspect in protecting children. This service may give you basic and therapeutic foster-care and of our agency (3) Homebound. Benjamin marcia pics free model young there any movement for. Such training shall also include for each caregiver and each adult household member, a chronological showing the date the records be only with the approval statutory minimum number of preplacement training hours and the date received the records. The information required by this copies of all complaint or or director(s) and the agencys agency staff. Whenever ODJFS issues a temporary JFS 01348 shall result in the completion of a rule custody is placed in the with the JFS 01290 (1) with the requirements set forth one-half inch in height.


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A celebrity and American pop icon
Led by Gordon "Sting" Sumner. Sting began recording solo in 1985. Group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.
Nominally, the Police were punk rock, but that's only in the loosest sense of the term. The trio's nervous, reggae-injected pop/rock was punky, but it wasn't necessarily punk. All three members were considerably more technically proficient than the average punk or new wave band. Andy Summers had a precise guitar attack that created dense, interlocking waves of sounds and effects. Stewart Copeland could play polyrhythms effortlessly. And Sting, with his high, keening voice, was capable of constructing infectiously catchy pop songs. While they weren't punk, the Police certainly demonstrated that the punk spirit could have a future in pop music. As their career progressed, the Police grew considerably more adventurous, experimenting with jazz and various world musics. All the while, the band's tight delivery and mastery of the pop single kept their audience increasing, and by 1983, they were the most popular rock & roll band in the world. Though they were at the height of their fame, internal tensions caused the band to splinter apart in 1984, with Sting picking up the majority of the band's audience to become an international superstar.
Stewart Copeland and Sting (born Gordon Sumner) formed the Police in 1977. Prior to the band's formation, Copeland, the son of a CIA agent, had attended college in California, ...
A celebrity and American pop icon
bass player and singer for the Beatles and later Wings


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It was less than a month ago that Nokia had announced the C7 and now the device has started shipping worldwide! The Nokia C7 is the mass-oriented version of the N8. The handset packs in a 3.5-inch CBD based AMOLED display with a resolution of 360×640.Read More
Nokia has just released its next Symbian S60 v5 running smartphone – the Nokia 5250. The Nokia 5250 will be the successor to the highly popular Nokia 5230.Read More
We had told you about the Nokia C7 nearly a month and half month ago. The Nokia C7 will be a lower-priced sibling of the Nokia N8.Read More
Jerone Young of canonical talks about the status of Ubuntu in ARM devices and the challenges they are facing.Read More
Finally, we have some information about the successor of the Motorola Droid – the Droid 2. We gave you a picture of the Droid 2 keyboard a couple of weeks ago, and now here is the picture of the whole device.Read More
ARM is an investment of $8 billion to acquire a technology which is pretty much open and needs sharing to thrive.Read More
Quartics Inc. recently showcased its VPU which can render videos and apply real time enhancement and 3D conversion. This device was shown at CES.Read More


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99 Cent Brains: Offending Old PeopleApril 18th, 2014
Known as an edgy iphone app boutique from the bay area, 99 Cent Brains makes it their mission "to offend old people, and put talent on the map." In addition, … Read More
Posted in Features | No Comments »
ForUs: by Luke StoufferApril 14th, 2014
ForUs is a recently released brand by Colorado based designer, Luke Stouffer. Stouffer draws inspiration for his patterns and designs from the outdoors. Here's a selection of his most recent … Read More
Posted in Features | No Comments »
New Merchandise by Emilios PocketApril 8th, 2014
Los Angeles based artist, Emilio Santoyo released a series of new t-shirts, backpacks, and lap-top sleeves replete with his playful and bold illustrations. Emilio's inspiration comes from "cartoons, junk in … Read More
Posted in Features | 1 Comment »
Bongang now with Backpacks, T-Shirts, and Laptop SleevesApril 5th, 2014
Atlanta based Kevin Bongang has a new line of shirts, backpacks, and laptop sleeves all with his iconic doodle-style illustrations and patterns. Click on each image to see more. … Read More
Posted in Features | No Comments »
New Designs and products By Nina MayApril 2nd, 2014
Surface Pattern Designer and artist, Nina May, has been working in the Apparel and Toy Industries in Los Angeles for 32 years. Her vibrant patterns and eye catching color styling … Read More
Posted in Features | No Comments »
Sao Paulo's Zansky Drops New Products this monthMarch 28th, 2014
Brazilian artist, Zansky, and member of the BASE-V art collective, has just released a new line of t-shirts, backpacks, and laptop sleeves. His work is known for its brightly abstract … Read More
Posted in Features | No Comments »
Ashkan Honarvar's Collage WorksMarch 21st, 2014
Here is a collection of collage arrangements by Ashkan Honarvar. His biomorphic explorations create an intersection between dissected body parts, textures, floral arrangements, and inanimate objects. via ashkan-honarvar
Posted in art, Features, Headlines | No Comments »
"New Works" By Erik JonesMarch 19th, 2014
New Works, by Erik Jones is showing at Thinkspace Gallery, in LA. Jones is known for his distinctive hyperreal portraits dressed in brilliant abstract geometric fashions. Jones synthesizes colored pencil, water-soluble … Read More
Posted in art, Features, Headlines | 1 Comment »
Kid Acne With Exclusive Prints At C.A.V.E GalleryMarch 18th, 2014
Kid Acne is showing an exclusive collection of prints from the past 10 years at the C.A.V.E Gallery in Venice Beach, CA. Many of these prints are being shown in … Read More
Posted in Features, Headlines | No Comments »
South American CholoMarch 14th, 2014
Upcoming film, "South American Cholo," takes viewers through the world of low riders, tattoos, religion and fashion as it examines Sao Paulo's chicana culture. The documentary features interviews with … Read More
Posted in Features, Headlines | No Comments »
Invader, FAILE, and Shepard Fairey Drop Limited Edition Tees For Charity: WaterMarch 13th, 2014
Invader, FAILE, Shepard Fairey and BNE have teamed up to help solve the world water crisis. Three limited edition, organic cotton tees will be released on Thursday, 3/13, 10AM … Read More
Posted in Features, Headlines | No Comments »
Herakut Teams Up With Refugee Kids in JordanMarch 10th, 2014
The graffiti duo, Herakut just returned from North Jordan where they spent three weeks collaborating with Syrian refugee kids- painting murals in different cities and containers throughout the refugee camp … Read More


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THERE is need to impose penalties on companies that fail to complete projects awarded to them through the State Procurement Board, Parliament heard yesterday. The legislators say this is part of efforts to strengthen efficiency and transparency in the tendering system.
The Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion said there was need for proper monitoring for those firms that won tenders to avoid delays in completing projects.
The Committee said this when it tabled a report on the operations of the SPB.
The report tabled by Kambuzuma MP, Mr Willias Madzimure (MDC-T) says projects less than US$100 000 should be adjudicated without the involvement of SPB.
The SPB is currently being overwhelmed by bids.
"The Committee was concerned about the lack of a monitoring mechanism to ensure that non-performing contractors are held to account. It established serious shortcomings in terms of implementing and monitoring of contracts awarded by the SPB," said Mr Madzimure while tabling the report.
"The SPB apparently has no interest in the outcome of contracts and argued that the implementing agency has the responsibility of monitoring implementation, yet in some cases their recommended contractors will have been ignored. The Committee proposes the introduction of a stage return system, which compels accounting officers to update the SPB on developments relating to the execution of contracts on a regular basis and a final report and assessment of value for money when the contract is completed and handed over."
Zvishavane MP, Cde Obert Matshalaga (Zanu-PF), echoed the same sentiments saying there was need for punitive actions for those who took long to complete projects.
"There is a legislative weakness as there are no penalties if companies fail to perform. The SPB just awards tenders, the supervision is left entirely to different entities."
The Committee also recommended that the SPB decentralise information dissemination through establishment of a website and forms that could be found on the internet.
Stakeholders cited the challenge arising from the centralisation of the SPB offices in Harare.
They argued that the advertising of tenders in The Herald left those outside the capital in the cold.
"Contractors outside the main cites also have challenges in collecting tender documents and submitting bids. To them the tender process is both costly and time-consuming as it demands that one travels to Harare, resulting in some cases, disqualification arising from the late submission of documents," read the Committee report.
"To circumvent this challenge, the Committee agrees with stakeholders' proposal for the decentralisation of the SPB offices beginning with the major towns. Stakeholders also proposed that the SPB should establish a website from which forms can be downloaded and documents submitted electronically for the Board's consideration."
The Committee also noted that there were delays in awarding of tenders, a development that culminates in the delay of project implementation and escalation of prices of goods and services.
"The SPB blamed some of the delays on the procurement entities, which failed to observe the 15 working days stipulation to adjudicate tenders and submit recommendations to the SPB" said Mr Madzimure.
"The Committee submits that the maximum time the SPB should take in processing projects of a complex nature should be three months and the rest should be disposed of in relatively shorter periods of time. The Administrative Court should assist by giving priority to appeals on the SPB decisions brought to its attention."
It was also noted that SPB was hamstrung by lower staff complement than what is required.
"The Committee therefore proposes that all tenders with a value of less $100 000 be awarded without review but that they be submitted to the SPB for oversight and audit," read the report.
The Committee noted that foreign firms being awarded tenders were sidelining local suppliers even if they were readily available and affordable.
It was noted that some foreign firms were bringing their own labour, bricks and other raw materials.


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Hotels in 95924 - Cedar Ridge CA
Only hotels in 95924 zip code are listed below. Search for cheap and discount hotel rates in Cedar Ridge, CA for your upcoming leisure or conference / group travel. We list the best 95924 hotels and motels so you can review the Cedar Ridge hotel list below to find the perfect lodging. Hotels in Nevada county and area code 530 are also listed.
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The Straits Chinese Magazine
The Straits Chinese Magazine was a journal that appeared in Singapore from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century (1897-1907) that containing a mixture of news, editorials, essays and short stories modeled after the British periodicals Blackwoods and Macmillians. Unlike previous periodicals, the Straits Chinese Magazine sought to give a voice to the Chinese inhabitants of British Malaya, and did not only contain articles by the Europeans who were there. The journal was edited by two prominent young Malayan Chinese men who had recently returned from studying in England, Song Ong Siang and Lim Boon Keng.
Many of the essays and short stories in the Straits Chinese Magazine demonstrate how these hybrid, ethnic subjects found themselves torn between wanting to claim access to forms of Englishness through the practice of late Victorian ideals of masculinity such as honor and restraint, but to still assert a form of ethnic Chinese identity. One of the main editors of the magazine, Lim Boon Keng, was heavily influenced by the "Self-Strengthening Movement" within Qing China, which sought to modernize using Western technologies but maintaining Chinese cultural identity through the term Zhongxue weiti, xixue weiyong 中學為體,西學為用 or, "Chinese learning as the essence, and Western learning for application."
6 Responses to Straits Chinese Magazine
Alex Gil says:
I love what you have so far. I find the framework for preserving and sharing these remediations extremely useful for my own thinking in archiving Aimé Césaire. I'm sure I'll have more to say as the project develops. In the meantime, have you guys considered submitting the project for digital peer-review at NINES. I suggest this in the form of a question. In order to decolonize the archive, at the moment when we remediate the archive online, do we join frameworks that have been dominated by Euro-American texts, or do we create new networks/platforms? Do we infiltrate and cannibalize, or do we build independent alternatives? Is this even a useful way of framing the question?
admin says:
This is a fabulous question Alex. I don't know if the problem are the platforms themselves, but rather the fact that there aren't enough sites like these out there. I think the more "decolonizing" sites we have available the more we will be able to answer this question and how it plays out. And I love the idea of a Césaire archive. Maybe we could work together on putting together a Négritude archive with @readywriting…?
Alex Gil says:
I've been thinking about a Nègritude archive for a while. I want to remix some of the available technology, and maybe roll some of our own to incorporate geo-temporal visualizations and what I call an 'archipelagic' bibliography. I've offered a similar project on my post-doc applications centered around Césaire. Fingers crossed. I'll hit @readywriting on twitter to set an exploratory chat. In the meantime we're going to be talking decolonizing the archive at THATCampCaribe without a doubt. You should try to go!
Roger Whitson says:
Another potential group could be the Anvil Academic Publishing group sponsored by NITLE and CLIR: http://www.nitle.org/live/news/195-clir-and-nitle-to-launch-digital-academic
Addressing Archival Silence on 19th Century Colonialism – Part 1: The Power of the Archive | Adeline Koh says:
[…] 'Chinese Englishmen' focuses on how this group of intermediaries negotiated these tensions in The Straits Chinese Magazine, a journal that appeared in Singapore from the late nineteenth century and which contained a […]
Askay Chang says:
Thank you for digitizing parts of the Magazine. Just some small comments:
regarding this Profile Image which is not representative of the topic. The image is of a 17th century Chinese Jesuit who is most known for his work in France. Apart from the few such as Sir Song Ong Siang and Lim Boon Heng, many of the Straits Chinese of early 19th century did not enjoy the luxury of long distance travel.
The baba society was hideously unequal… men enjoyed colonial privileges while, in general, their women were kept in the dark ages. The two stalwart Straits Chinese I mentioned earlier, Song and Lim, were conscious of, and became champions of a more just Straits Chinese Society.
The following links are pictures of life as it was led by the wealthy few
{L-R) Lim and Song
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
What is "Digitizing 'Chinese Englishmen'?This is a digital project focusing on the creation of "Asian Victorians" in Southeast Asia under British colonialism. It focuses on the digitization and annotation of the Straits Chinese Magazine, a journal produced by the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Contribute!We are actively looking for people to help with digitization, annotation, commentary and editing in this project. If you are interested in participating, please contact the site director, Adeline Koh, Ph.D.
Recent Comments
- Askay Chang on Straits Chinese Magazine
- Jessica Langer on About
- Saul Fimbrez on About
- Addressing Archival Silence on 19th Century Colonialism – Part 1: The Power of the Archive | Adeline Koh on 'Chinese Athleticism'
- Addressing Archival Silence on 19th Century Colonialism – Part 1: The Power of the Archive | Adeline Koh on A Victim of 'Chap-Ji-Ki'


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Illinois Commerce Commission
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Case Number: 12-0159
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Response to Administrative Law Judge's Ruling, filed by Energy Now Solutions LLC. (mailed by Federal Express - March 13, 2012)
Service - Administrative Law Judge Ruling
Notice given that the Administrative Law Judge has completed a review of the application filed by Energy Now Solutions LLC ("Applicant") on March 1, 2012 and hereby rules that the information described below shall be filed with the Chief Clerk of the Illinois Commerce Commission on or before March 14, 2012. The response to this ruling must include (1) the docket number, case caption, and an original signature, (2) a verification page, and (3) a certificate of service indicating that the response was served on all those on the service list. The response to this ruling must be actually received by the date indicated, regardless of whether the response is filed with the Chief Clerk electronically or as hardcopy. Applicant shall also electronically serve a Word version of its response on the Administrative Law Judge (firstname.lastname@example.com) by the date indicated.
General Requirements - 1) Section 454.90 of 83 Ill. Adm. Code 454, "Licensure of Retail Electric Agents, Brokers, and Consultants," ("Part 454"), sets forth a code of conduct applicable to any person or entity required to be licensed pursuant to Part 454. Amendments to Section 454.90 became effective on November 1, 2011. Applicant appears to rely on the earlier version of Section 454.90. Applicant must commit to comply with the code of conduct set forth in the currently effective Section 454.90 if it wishes to receive the license it requests. 2) Paragraph 7 of the application form directs an applicant to identify other jurisdictions where it possesses similar authority to provide ABC services. Paragraph 7 also directs an applicant to disclose whether it has had any complaints filed against it for its provision of any services in the electric or gas industry in this or any other jurisdiction. While Applicant indicates that it has "been an affiliate for Select Energy Partners," Applicant does not expressly address whether it is licensed as an agent, broker, or consultant in any other jurisdictions, similar to the licensure at issue in the pending docket. Please identify any other jurisdictions in which Applicant is licensed as an agent, broker, or consultant and specify whether Applicant has had any complaints filed against it in jurisdictions outside of Illinois. For any such complaint, include the nature of the complaint, the jurisdiction, and the ultimate resolution.
3) Please describe what is meant when it is said that David Bilfeld has been an "affiliate" of Select Energy Partners. Notice served electronically to parties.
Filing - Petition/Application
Application for Licensure of Agents, Brokers and Consultants, filed by Energy Now Solutions LLC. (mailed by Federal Express - February 29, 2012)
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Entergy appeals PSB decisionBy Susan Smallheer
Staff Writer | January 30,2013MONTPELIER Entergy Nuclear is appealing to the Vermont Supreme Court the Public Service Boards decision earlier this month dismissing the companys original 2008 re-licensing case.
In a so-called docketing statement filed with the high court on Friday, Entergy took issue with the recent PSB decision that said Entergy was operating without a valid state permit, and had been since March 21, 2012.
This is an appeal from a contested case before the PSB that involves complicated and novel legal issues under Vermont law and will impact whether the VY Station, which employs more than 600 people and which provides an important source of electrical power to the New England region, should be shut down immediately even though its petition for a new or amended CPG remains pending before the PSB, Entergys attorneys said in a summary filed Friday with the Vermont Supreme Court.
Entergy Nuclear spokesman James Sinclair declined comment.
Entergy has long claimed that as long as it had applied in 2008 for a new certificate of public good in a timely manner, until it had a decision from the PSB it could operate Vermont Yankee. Its original 40-year certificate of public good expired March 21, 2012.
The board opened a new docket last year in the re-licensing case, and technical hearings are expected to start in a couple of weeks. The board said it was opening a new docket because there were many and significant changes since it held hearings and took testimony on Yankees effort to keep operating for another 20 years.
The Public Service Board ruled last year that the state law did not apply to Vermont Yankee.
The outline of the appeal reiterated its stand that the PSB should have granted it a new certificate of public good last year, based on the existing record and after U.S. Judge J. Garvan Murtha ruled that state law overstepped federal jurisdiction in regards to nuclear safety at the Vernon reactor.
Entergy said it would contest the rulings in further court filings, including an appeals brief.
Last month, the anti-nuclear group New England Coalition had filed a request with the Vermont Supreme Court to shut down Vermont Yankee, saying it didnt have a valid state certificate of public good. A hearing earlier this month has not resulted in a decision.
In a decision dated Jan. 9, the Public Service Board has said it was unpersuaded by Entergy VYs arguments to keep the original re-licensing case open.
The PSB said in the Jan. 9 decision that by issuing a final order in the original re-licensing case, thus potentially triggering an appeal, that it might actually facilitate resolution of the other dockets by allowing the Vermont Supreme Court to directly rule on the state law question underlying the other litigation.
firstname.lastname@example.com IN Southern VermontBENNINGTON — Ask author and Bennington College graduate Charlotte Silver if the title of... Full StoryPresident Calvin Coolidge was remembered in all sorts of ways Saturday on the 143rd anniversary... Full StoryPresident Calvin Coolidge was remembered in all sorts of ways Saturday on the 143rd anniversary... Full Story
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- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: On this day 1739, 'Richard Palmer' identified in prison at York Castle as the notorious outlaw DICK TURPIN; IN 1836, Battle of the Alamo begins near San Antonio de Bexar, Texas; 1896, the Tootsie Roll invented by LEO HIRSCHFELD.
- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: On this day in 1472, Orkney, Shetland islands put up as collateral by Norway to Scotland in lieu of dowry for MARGARET OF DENMARK on her marriage with JAMES III, king of Scotland; 1962, JOHN GLENN first American to orbit Earth.
- TOMORROW'S HEADLINES TODAY: City mayoral candidates debate campaign issues; Hartford, Conn., woman still missing; Neal Goswami reports attempts to legislate suicide; local woman loses 100 pounds through TOPS program.
- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: On this day in 1878, JOHN TUNSTALL murdered near Lincoln, New Mexico, by the outlaw JESSE EVANS; in 1930, ELM FARM OLLIE first cow to fly in aircraft, first to be milked airborne; 1955, nuke test WASP; '79, snow in Sahara.
- TOMORROW'S HEADLINES TODAY: Rutland Herald News Editor Alan J. Keays and staff writer Gordon Dritschilo discuss stories planned for the February 18, 2015, edition of the newspaper: Winter budgets maxed, legal marijuana, Springfield bank job, USPS slowdown
- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: On this day in 1249 AD, ANDRE of LONGJUMEAU is dispatched by LOUIS IX of France to meet the KHAGAN, ruler of the Mongol Empire; in 1804, during 1st Barbary War, STEPHEN DECATUR scuttles the pirate-held USS Philadelphia in Tripoli.


text:
Roland CutStudio Software
Window Tinting
With a complete window tinting and paint protection film solution from Roland, the possibilities are endless.
With a complete window tinting and paint protection film solution from Roland, the possibilities are endless.
Roland Videos
Roland's powerful CutStudio software provides the necessary tools to design and create professional custom cut graphics for a wide range of applications, including signs, decorated apparel, vehicles, point-of-purchase materials, backlit displays and much more.
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- Compatible with Windows® 7, Vista and XP
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- Compatible with previous CAMM-1 cutters, including PNC, CM, CX and GX series
|PNC and CM machines are Windows XP compatible only. CX machines are Windows XP and Vista (32bit) compatible only.


text:
Talking Horses
National and local horse racing news
Monthly Archive for July, 2011
Disappointment for Von Hemel after the Dandy
SARATOGA SPRINGS — When you don't win a big race, there is only one way to feel and that is exactly how Donnie Von Hemel felt on the Oklahoma Training Track Sunday morning. "My take on the race?" Von Hemel said with a laugh, "you mean other than disappointing." Von Hemel, who is based in […] [Read More]
Stay Thirsty doing just fine after Dandy win
SARATOGA SPRINGS — OK, now we have to put Stay Thirsty in the big, jumbled up bowl of 3-year-old thoroughbreds. The division, which doesn't have a clear cut leader (well, I guess Animal Kingdom is, but he is in the clubhouse and won't run again this year because of an injury) is up for grabs. […] [Read More]
18-1 longshot Ask the Moon wins The Ruffian
SARATOGA SPRINGS – Jockey Javier Castellano, who got the call on Ask the Moon at 11 this morning, piloted the 6-year-old mare to a wire-to-wire victory in the $250,000 Grade I Ruffian at Saratoga Race Course. Ask The Moon, an 18-1 longshot, prevailed by 5 3/4 lengths to earn an automatic bid to the Breeders' […] [Read More]
Sidney's Candy wins Fourstardave to reach $1 million mark
SARATOGA SPRINGS – Sidney's Candy led wire to wire in winning the Grade II Fourstardave by 1 1/4 lengths today, and by doing so reached $1 million in earnings for his career. Sidney's Candy, the 1-4 favorite, earned $90,000 for first in the $150,000 Fourstardave to push his total earnings to $1,043,560 over 14 races. […] [Read More]
Brilliant Speed ran like a turf horse in Jim Dandy
SARATOGA SPRINGS — After watching his horse Brilliant Speed take a pretty good beating in the Jim Dandy here on Saturday, trainer Tom Albertraini would not commit to sending the colt to the Travers at Saratoga on Aug. 27. Brilliant Speed, coming off a third place finish in the Belmont Stakes, was fourth in the […] [Read More]
Giant Surprise heads for surgery
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The day after winning his career debut, a 2-year-old colt named Giant Surprise was on his way to New Jersey for surgery. Giant Surprise, trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by Mike Repole, won the second race here on Saturday by 4 1/4 lengths. After the race, jockey John Velazquez pulled the […] [Read More]
Sunday's early scratches and changes at Saratoga
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Here are the early scratches and changes for Sunday's 10-race card at Saratoga Race Course, courtesy of Equibase. [Read More]
Racing Hall of Fame to show "Thoroughbred"
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will hold a special screening of the film "Thoroughbred" on Saturday, Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. in the Hall of Fame Gallery. The screening is open to the public at no charge. A panel discussion with Academy Award winning filmmaker Paul Wagner and […] [Read More]
Show More


text:
Bang on Drums with B
Emergent Literacy Design
By Tony Beaird
Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /b/, the phoneme represented by B. Students will learn to recognize /b/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (banging on drums) and the letter symbol B, practice finding /b/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /b/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials: Primary paper and pencils; chart with "Bill's big box becomes bothersome for Bough."; drawing paper and crayons; Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? big book by Martin Bill; word cards with BOX, BALL, MET, BARK, PUG, and BAKE; assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /b/ http://www.kidzone.ws/prek_wrksht/learning-letters/b.gif
1.) Introduce the lesson by explaining to students that each letter in the alphabet has its very own sound and review what they know about the letter A. We must know how the mouth moves and the sound before we can read and write it. Today we are going to learn all about the letter B. The letter b makes the /b/ sound, like in ball. It's also the sound a drum makes.
2.) "Let's pretend we're all banging on drums, like a marching band. Instead of hitting anything, I just everyone to stay with me and swing their arms and make the drum sound with their mouths only. It goes: boom.....boom.....boom." Now everyone do it silently. Notice how our mouths are moving when we make the /b/ sound in 'boom' and 'ball'. They both have the same beginning sound because they both start with a B!"
3.) "Let's try a tongue twister [on chart]. 'Bill's big box becomes bothersome for Bough.' Everybody say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /b/ at the beginning of the words. 'Bbbill's bbbig bbbox bbbecomes bbbothersome for Bbbough.' Try it again, and
this time break it off the word: /b/ ill's /b/ ig /b/ ox /b/ ecomes /b/ othersome for /b/ ough."
4. (Have students take out their pencils and primary paper). "We can use the letter b to spell /b/. Let's try writing it. I will start at the roof and make a line going all the way down to the sidewalk. Now, keep your pencil on the same line and trace back up from the sidewalk to the fence. From the fence make a half circle to the sidewalk, connecting with your line. Now you all try as I come around to check your b. Now, everyone make nine more. You're making the /b/ sound on paper!"
5. Call on students (whose hands are raised) and ask how they knew: "Do you hear a /b/ in good or bad? Big or small? Batman or Joker? Bingo or coloring? Table or chair?"
6.)Begin a book talk and read-aloud with the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? and have the students point out words that contain a /b/. Have students pretend that Brown Bear can only see things that contain a /b/. Students will come up with at least 1 animal or thing and 1 made up /b/ animal or thing using invented spelling. Display their work.
7.) Show BOX and model how to decide if it is box or fox: "The B tells me it makes the sound of a drum, which is boom, so this word is bbb-ox, box. You try some: BALL: mall or ball? MET: bet or met? BARK: bark or mark? PUG: bug or pug? BAKE: bake or fake?"
8.) For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students are to complete the partial
spellings and color the pictures that begin with B. Call students individually to read
the phonetic cue words from step 7.
Bell, Elizabeth. Slinky Scaly Snakes. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/bellel.html
Assessment: http://www.kidzone.ws/prek_wrksht/learning-letters/b.gif
Return to Transformation Index: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/transformations.html


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Union, Missouri
|Union, Missouri
Location of Union, Missouri
|Coordinates: 38°26′48″N 91°0′22″W / 38.44667°N 91.00611°WCoordinates: 38°26′48″N 91°0′22″W / 38.44667°N 91.00611°W
|United States
(as the county seat)
|Named for
|The ideal of political unity
|• Total
|9.16 sq mi (23.72 km2)
|• Land
|9.16 sq mi (23.72 km2)
|• Water
|0 sq mi (0 km2)
|531 ft (162 m)
|Population (2010)[2]
|• Total
|• Estimate (2012[3])
|• Density
|1,114.0/sq mi (430.1/km2)
|Time zone
|Central (CST) (UTC-6)
|• Summer (DST)
|ZIP code
|Area code(s)
|FIPS code
|GNIS feature ID
Union is a city in and the county seat of Franklin County, Missouri, United States.[6] It is fifty miles southwest of Saint Louis. The population was 10,204 at the 2010 census, with Union showing the highest growth rate (32%) in Franklin County in the last decade. It is located on the Bourbeuse River.
Union was founded in 1826, and designated as the county seat in 1827.[7] The city is named for the ideal of political unity.
Union is located at 38°26′48″N 91°0′22″W / 38.44667°N 91.00611°W (38.446684, -91.006070).[8] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 9.16 square miles (23.72 km2), all of it land.[1]
2010 census[edit]
As of the census[2] of 2010, there were 10,204 people, 3,902 households, and 2,612 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,114.0 inhabitants per square mile (430.1/km2). There were 4,226 housing units at an average density of 461.4 per square mile (178.1/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 95.7% White, 1.1% African American, 0.6% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 1.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.4% of the population.
There were 3,902 households of which 39.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.7% were married couples living together, 13.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 33.1% were non-families. 27.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.14.
The median age in the city was 31.9 years. 28.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 29.1% were from 25 to 44; 21.4% were from 45 to 64; and 11.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.3% male and 51.7% female.
2000 census[edit]
As of the 2000 United States Census,[4] there were 7,757 people, 2,940 households, and 2,002 families residing in the city. The population density was 959.9 people per square mile (370.7/km²). There were 3,133 housing units at an average density of 387.7 per square mile (149.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.44% White, 1.43% African American, 0.30% Native American, 0.17% Asian, 0.23% from other races, and 1.43% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.99% of the population.
There were 2,940 households out of which 35.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.7% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.9% were non-families. 26.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.10.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.6% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 31.0% from 25 to 44, 19.1% from 45 to 64, and 13.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 94.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $39,596, and the median income for a family was $44,474. Males had a median income of $31,852 versus $22,924 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,885. About 4.2% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.8% of those under age 18 and 11.2% of those age 65 or over.
The City of Union is a 4th Class City with a City Administrator form of government. The elected, policy-making body of the City consists of a Mayor and an eight-member Board of Aldermen. Union is divided into four wards and each ward has two aldermanic representatives. Municipal elections are held on the first Tuesday of April every year.
The City Administrator is appointed by the Board of Aldermen and is the full-time Administrative Officer of the City responsible for overseeing all daily operations and the municipal staff. The current Mayor of Union is Mayor Mike Livengood. The city is divided into four wards. Two Aldermen are elected from each ward and sit on the Board of Aldermen.
Central Midland Railway (CMR), a division of Progressive Rail Inc. of Minnesota, provides regular freight rail service to industrial customers located in Union. CMR operates the far eastern segment of the former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway's St. Louis to Kansas City main line that was constructed in 1870.[9] The active portion of the former CRI&P line runs from the north side of St. Louis, where it connects with the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis and Union Pacific Railroad, and now terminates in Union, Missouri.[10]
Middle Schools[edit]
Union Missouri currently has two middle schools. One, public: Union Middle School, the other a private Catholic school: Immaculate Conception. Both schools have decent gyms, a volleyball team, and a basketball team. Union Middle School offers band to students. Immaculate Conception does not.
Higher education[edit]
Union is home to East Central College, offering 2-year degrees and certificates. Central Methodist University has an extension on the campus of East Central College. Also located in Union is an extension (in a shopping center) of Missouri Baptist University.
- ^ a b "US Gazetteer files 2010". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
- ^ a b "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
- ^ "Population Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2013-05-30.
- ^ a b "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved 2011-06-07.
- ^ Eaton, David Wolfe (1916). How Missouri Counties, Towns and Streams Were Named. The State Historical Society of Missouri. p. 167.
- ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
- ^ "Central Midland Railway CMR". Retrieved February 5, 2012.
- ^ "Where We Go". Progressive Rail Inc. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
External links[edit]
- East Central College
- City of Union, Missouri Government
- Union Area Chamber of Commerce
- Union R-XI School District
- "Historic maps of Union", Sanborn Maps of Missouri Collection, University of Missouri


text:
Open Green Map is an interactive, multilingual platform where users can post and add features to maps of localities all over the world. Openflows is incorporating open source and Google Maps technology with social networking and other interactive features to create an ecological map publishing platform with a community feel.
Full description
Tweets by @ofctc
One of the key things that makes OCTL different from many other free software/open source consulting groups is that we have no investors. We built the company based on labor and the needs of our clients.
At the end of the day, our decisions are based not on what is in the best interests of shareholders, but on the commitments and relationships we have with the companies and organizations we work with.


text:
I served with two counselors and a secretary, which had a few iterations as people moved. First it was me, Helen, Lana, and Lapu. Then Lapu left and Chanel joined us. When Helen left, Donna took her spot. All of these women have taught me about service, patience, and diligence.
I loved working in the Primary. It was very busy, and I had to learn a lot. I depended on the Lord for guidance and courage, and His grace "saved" me many times. Mostly I loved being with the children. They are so eager, innocent, sweet, and loving. Even when they're difficult, they are precious.
It's remarkable to me that so many amazing adults are willing to offer their time, talents, and energy to provide a loving environment for these children to learn about our Savior. Positive relationships with caring adults will help these children to feel their Savior's love for them.
And in turn they will share His love with others around them.
Last Sunday was my last day as Primary president. A new president was called, and she will be wonderful!
Now I feel a little like a deflated balloon. My expanded capacity is now empty and I'm drifting aimlessly through space. But I should enjoy that feeling because I know it won't last long.
Even though I've been extremely busy and stressed out over this last year by teaching first grade full-time, taking Masters classes in the evenings, trying to be a good mommy for our family, and facing the many challenges of life on this island, the Lord has steered me through the rough waters and given me many opportunities to pause and regain the eternal perspective that He provides.


text:
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Haha! I don't know how or when but I am going to use that line some day.
God thank the gays for their catchy lingo.
Don't sheathe your sword: go fight the horde!
...in church.
yeah, it was awkward
"Hey no baby, it's better bareback."
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