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The American Dream - Recap
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The scene opens with Fiona and Jimmy sleeping. She awakes and comes to terms that she gave up the $1000 to promote a night when she had to pay the Property Tax. Jimmy tells her that she used it to help her progress and that is not bad. Jimmy starts to use the bathroom while Fiona is in the shower and she is grossed out. She makes her way into the hallway, but the kids are all running to their rooms. Frank is drunk and looking for a place to sleep. Debs tells Frank that he can sleep in her bed and Debs uses Carl's tent as a sheet. They make their way downstairs and Fiona takes money from Frank's back pocket. She comes downstairs and tells Mandy to put on some pants. Lip asks for the money for the Property Tax bill and she tells him that she doesn't have it because she put it down as a deposit to promote. He is upset with that and says that they should spend all the money. Fiona tells him that she is doing something good.
The kids get their lunch and Debs runs Frank's breakfast up to him. However, he shows that he is not grateful when he pushes Debs and tells her to give him some quiet. Jimmy escorts Carl outside and sees the Escalade outside. He goes up to it and it is Nando's man. He says that he is going to be watching him and going everywhere he goes. Lip serves some of his Community Service and a group of City Youth come with flowers. One of the kids recognizes Lip. Fiona and Veronica go up to Meg at the club and tells her that they will split it 85/15 and they will supply the beer. Meg agrees, but says that it will be an 80/20 split. At Ian's school, Ian is under the bleachers having sex with one of the other students and the guy is making a show out of it. They hear a voice and quickly get dressed. It is Mickey. He goes up to the kid who was enjoying it too much and kicks him. He leaves and Mickey asks Ian if he has anything left in him. They undress and get "busy".
Shelia is exhausted and takes Jamie out with her and the trash. She dumps the trash and leaves Jamie on the trash can. She gets inside and when Chody comes downstairs asking about him, Shelia realizes her mistake. They run outside and get him before he is taken with the trash. She tells Chody that she is a horrible mother and Chody tells her that she isn't, just exhausted. Lip and another Community Service crook are smoking weed when Casper, the guy from the City Youth, comes up and buys 5 blunts from Lip. He says that he is helping out because it looks good on his college CV. Lip tells him that he might have a run down neighborhood that they can clean up. Ian and Mickey finish and Mickey tells him that he missed that. Ian asks Mickey if he is going back to school and he tells him that he isn't. Fiona and Veronica go into Kev's bar and tell him that they are going to need booze. He shows his supply and it isn't much. He tells them that Fiona can go to the Mafia and that they will start a credit and want some collateral. She tells him that she will pay the $3,000 upfront to the mob for the booze. Veronica asks Fiona where she is going to get the money from.
Jimmy is at the house looking through the classifieds and he keeps an eye on the Escalade. Fiona and Veronica get in and asks Jimmy for $5,000. He tells her that he doesn't have it. Fiona now feels bad. Frank comes downstairs with Fiona's pants and cuts them. He says that his clothes were tossed out. Jimmy is confused and says that he can't believe that Fiona is mad at him for not having money. He sees Frank eating the chicken that is for dinner and Frank tells him that it is his house and so therefore, his chicken. He realizes that he cut the shorts too short. Lip gets into school and grabs Mandy's butt. He tells her that he met an Northside kid and that he can make some money off of him since Fiona blew the money for the Property Tax. Mandy tells Lip that he should be in charge of the family's finances and not Fiona. The science teacher comes up and tells Lip that the guidance counselor wanted him to ask her for a recommendation, but Lip doesn't seem so thrilled of that and ignores her.
Fiona and Veronica go to see the mob and the total is $4,853. She says that she will pay by check. She tells Veronica that it will be there by the time the check clears. Veronica doesn't like it. Mandy sees the Guidance Counselor and tells him that she is there to talk about Lip. Mandy asks what Lip should be doing and she tells him that she may be able to help him. Jimmy pulls up to the house and gets Liam out of the car. The Escalade pulls up right behind him and Jimmy asks him if he is really going to be following him. He says that it is his job. Jimmy calls Estafania and tells him about Nando's man outside. She tells him not to worry and that her father will call him off soon. Frank wakes up from his drunken stupor and Jimmy gives him another beer. Lip goes up to a construction site and asks the man in charge how much he is paying the cleanup crew and says that he may have a cheaper way for him.
The kids are back from school and Carl calls Jimmy their maid. The Escalade takes off and Jimmy sees this as his chance to get out on his own. He leaves Carl in charge and takes off. Frank comes in with Carl's toothbrush and Carl is grossed out. Debs tells Frank that she is going to be alright walking home by herself late at night because she has a pillowcase full of soap. He ignores her. She sees that he left his blunt on the couch and she dowses it with water. Ian puts a lock on his door and asks Mandy how he should know when a guy likes him. She tells him that he will have the look in his eye. Debs goes to Shelia's and watches Jamie. However, all she is doing is letting him cry while she makes her log cabin from popsicle sticks. Sheila tells her to go for a walk with Jamie. Jimmy is breaking into a car when Fiona calls. She tells him that she is going to the club to talk to a promoter. Nando's man grabs Jimmy and tells him he betrayed him. He breaks Jimmy's finger and says that they will go to the hospital now.
At the club, Fiona and Veronica go up to Meg and ask where Wendel is. She points him out. At the Alibi, Frank gloats of his time in Mexico. He says that it was a "business opportunity" and says that he was a drug mule. The bartender tells Frank that a chick with a baby is there. He bolts outside to find out that Debs is the chick with a baby. She asks him for some help with Shelia's baby. He gives Jamie volume and he falls asleep. At the club, Fiona asks Wendel for his email list and he tells her that it is not going to happen unless for 50% of the bar. Veronica tells Fiona that she nicked Wendel's phone from his jacket. Debs gets back to Shelia's and she is shocked to hear that Frank was the one who put Jamie to sleep. Jimmy gets back to the house and Fiona catches him. She sees his finger and tells him that he has been a bad boy. They go to the bedroom and have sex. Lip realizes that he is going to have to make up the money that Fiona lost and tells Mandy that it is hard to concentrate with Fiona and Jimmy. They start to have sex too.
The next day, Lip asks Fiona about the preparations for the club and tells her that she can't live the "American Dream" and tells her that she has to steal it or con it. Frank gets in and Ian sees that Frank broke his bike. Fiona tells Frank and his friends that this is their food. Frank tells her that he will pay their way and he gives them drugs. He tries to go upstairs and Lip and Ian block him. Frank pushes through them and Frank's friends start to urinate in Deb's room. Fiona tells Frank to get up and Frank falls into the log cabin that Debs worked on. He calls it a piece of shit and Debs loses it. She hits Frank with her bag of soap repeatedly. She cries while the Fiona looks down in shock. Lip and Ian get Frank outside and throw him in the dumpster. Later, the Northside kids from City Youth go to the construction site and Casper tells Lip that the Wilco concert is hard to get tickets to. Lip sees another opportunity. The man in charge pays Lip $400 and the illegal immigrants complain that Lip is taking his job. Lip tells him that he is "living the American Dream".
The Mob Beer arrives at the club and the liquor inspector comes and tells Fiona that for $1,000, he will wave the applications. Jimmy gives Nando's man some coffee and tells him that he wants to go to the club tonight. However, he says that he will stay at home. Mickey gets into the school and shakes down one of the kids for money. Ian tells the kid to get out of there and Mickey tells him that he can't be doing that. Ian is too busy trying to see if Mickey has the look in his eye, but it only creeps Mickey out. Fiona gets ready and Jimmy is making himself throw-up. Fiona thinks that he is sick. Veronica goes to the door to find a woman there. She tells Veronica that she is Kev's wife. Frank is at the alibi trying to find a place to crash when Kev gets the call from Veronica. He tells the bartender to watch the bar and tells her that he has to get home. Frank calls up child protective services on Fiona and the bartender tells him that was low even for him to do that.
The club is doing good business and Lip is outside telling the Northside kids that there is a secret Wilco concert in the club and makes money parking cars. Frank tries to sleep in the bar and is kicked out. He goes to Shelia's and tells them that he will be their baby nurse. He gives Jamie some more volume and puts him to sleep. Chody and Shelia agree to let Frank stay there. Fiona counts the money at the end of the night and has over $10,000. However, after all the cuts, she has $900. Meg says that is good and that she lost money the first 8 gigs. Fiona gets back at the house to find Veronica on the steps. She asks to stay there tonight and Fiona agrees. Lip asks Fiona what she made and tells her that he has the Property Tax covered and that the only reason that she made anything was because of his scam. She realizes that she was a failure tonight. Shelia and Chody realize that Frank is good with babies, but in reality, Jamie is high from the volume. The episode ends.
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Facing a crossroads in her life, a divorcee (Julia Roberts) travels to Italy, India and Bali on a quest to change her life and find true happiness.
Movie Reviews from Rotten Tomatoes®
" It's a thin line between "self-aware" and "self-involved" and it's one the movie treads uncertainly. "
" Try not to hoot when the gaunt Roberts makes a bring-on-the-flab speech to persuade the equally slender Tuva Novotny to eat pizza, even if they get "muffin tops." "
" It's about something important, the search for meaning and happiness, about finding one's inner life amid the clutter and confusion of modern existence. "
" We're not so much involved in the movie as idly registering it -- eavesdropping, almost, on a conversation at an adjoining table. "
" The movie is aware of its own riches; it fills up your plate and dares you not to eat. "
" A minor and superficial summer diversion that offers female viewers not much more than a two-hour escape fantasy. "
" It may come as a bit of a shock to some that the most interesting turns in the woman-on-a-quest sojourn don't belong to Roberts, luminous though she is. Those are owned by a number of misty-eyed if masculine menfolk. "
" Glibly portrays selfishness as a life choice, ranking gluttony on a par with finding God and a life partner. "
" The film version is pure wish-fulfillment fantasy. "
" For two decades, Julia Roberts has been a bona fide movie star, and she shines in his gorgeous if overlong travelogue. "
" 'Eat Pray Love': Me! "
" Eat Pray Love is mostly a slog; never giving us a compelling reason why its heroine does what she does, or how she became quite so tiresomely self- absorbed. "
" The film's most crucial constituency -- the book's rabid fans -- are likely to feel well served by Murphy's adaptation, which hews pretty faithfully to Gilbert's story. "
" I stopped trusting the movie. "
" The movie left me with the feeling of being trapped with a person of privilege who won't stop with the whine whine whine. "
" The movie is completely aware of its own riches; it fills up your plate and dares you not to eat. "
" An insane fantasy for rich people. "
" The movie is above all a lovely travelogue, plunging us viscerally into the middle of every country. "
" Eat Pray Love is like an overstuffed lightweight suitcase, with little room for us to feel the emotional connections Liz makes with new friends along the way. "
" Even if you buy Roberts as an introspective writer (I didn't), there's no real sense of an emotional journey here. "
See all Eat, Pray, Love Reviews

subset: commoncrawl


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FLOR Story – Addicted to FLOR samples
A nursery is the perfect application for FLOR. Not only can you clean it after spitups and spills, but you can add to it and change the design as your baby grows. Check out how this customer used FLOR to cover up their old wood floors and create a neutral background for their son's colorful space.
Dear FLOR,
This is our son's little nursery – we debated for a while whether to use something plush like Rake Me Over, but ultimately we went with Toy Poodle. (Has anyone mentioned that ordering Flor samples can be addicting?) And it's been a great choice! The hardwood floors in the nursery were rather worn and splintery – couldn't have a baby crawling around on that! Toy Poodle has stood up to countless spitups, spills, and rolling toys. And no worries about splinters!


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Brad Keselowski will lead the field to the green flag for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race after qualifying on Friday was washed out by heavy showers.
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Submission Period runs from July 1st until December 1st.
Petrichor Machine is only looking for previously unpublished, original work. We do not accept fanfiction or fanart of any kind. We DO accept simultaneous submissions — we only ask that you notify us promptly if you have decided to publish your work elsewhere.
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Petrichor Machine is looking for short fiction, poetry and visual art in all its forms. We are even hoping to see some works that push the boundaries of form itself. We are looking for work that is unafraid to use whatever means necessary to evoke the feelings behind its story.
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Only one period since giving birth 7 1/2 months ago?
Hello. I gave birth to my son in July of 2010 via emergency c-section. We both did very good during and after surgery. I recoverd very quickly and very well. I was not able to breast feed due to not being able to produce enough milk :( So my son has been bottle fed from birth. I got my first period since giving birth in November. It was very heavy, with clotting, and very painful. My OBGYN said that is typical for the first peiord after giving birth. However, I have not had a period since then. I am NOT pregnant. I have taken several at home pregnancy tests. I made a doctors appointment because of this, and he gave me a pregnancy test, as well as some hormonal blood tests which all came back negative. He perscribed me estrogyn pills, which I have not taken because I am not a fan of the side effects they can have, or my OBGYN for that matter. He seems to just write a perscription for ANYONE for ANYTHING, to get them out of his office asap! I have made an appointment with another OBGYN, but I am waiting for him to get back from vacation. I realize that most of you are not doctors, however I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar experiance, or knows what could be going on? It is driving me crazy and I am very worried. I am wondering if this is a common risk that can happen after a c-section, or could my OBGYN have possibly messed something up durring surgery? I have done research online but I have turned up with nothing...If anyone knows what could possibly be wrong please help me :)
Posted: 02/23/2011 by a BabyCenter Member
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I also don't have an answer but I am dealing with the same thing. I gave a vaginal birth so it might not be the c-section for you. I had my daughter in December and had my first real period in Feb. It was heavy but I expected that. it lasted about a week and went away. But it came back like a week later and again was heavy and lasted about 7 days. And I have yet to have anything since. I get on off cramping and think it is coming but it never does. I have taken multiple at home tests and I am not pregnant. If you find anything out keep this updated I would love to find out.posted 05/01/2012 by melannbilger
I don't have an answer but you are not alone! I had my baby in July 2010 an I had a period in November (not to heavy) and just one more in March. I haven't seen a doctor because I no longer have insurance for myself just my daughter. And I too have been taking lots of pregnancy test..So I hope someone has an answer but it makes me feel better I'm not the only one!posted 05/03/2011 by SaraElizabeth87
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David Hume, Lonely Philosopher
This article from the May/June 2016 issue hasn't yet been published online. For now, it's just available to subscribers—to read it right away, subscribe here and access the digital edition of the magazine. If you're already a subscriber, log in here.
Burkean Politics Don't Keep Win-Loss Records
In an otherwise strong review of Yuval Levin's The Great Debate, Elizabeth Corey sets conservatism on the wrong footing in relation to liberalism.
First, let me say that Corey is quite right that "the essence of the conflict" between Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine can be found in their "different orientations toward the entirety of human experience." Furthermore, I agree with her that "most people who call themselves conservative" are actually followers of the ideologically-oriented Paine. Most conservatives "are concerned with efficiency, problem-solving, and changing the world." Most "have qualms about technology … but we no longer resist it." Most are willing to "give up on the rule of law as an ideal and promote policies that encourage our own favored outcomes."
I agree with Corey's general assessment of the current state of political conservativism. As Mark Signorelli recently commented about Corey's piece, "We occupy a political order determined not merely by liberal ideas, but by liberal emotions." Taking this one step further, I would say that the current political climate mirrors G.K. Chesterton's definition of a maniac. The maniac is a "clean and well-lit prison of one idea: he is sharpened to one painful point. He is without healthy hesitation and healthy complexity." Without the kind of hesitation that comes with concern and care for tradition and the recognition of human complexity, our public discourse plunges into the gloom of rancor, vituperation, and indifference to others' opinions.
There is, however, a mistaken notion that Corey puts forward in addition to her review. She writes that "in most respects, and particularly in politics, it appears that Paine has won the day." While I wholeheartedly support Corey's conclusion that what we need is a "reorientation of the modern soul," I fail to see how Corey's capitulation that "Paine has won" is at all necessary or helpful.
In an effort to make her point, Corey gives the discussion over to the kind of slavish power discourse of winning that is all-too-often misappropriated today. Here, the misappropriation is blatantly apparent. What game were Burke and Paine playing? What has Paine won? Was Burke not informed about the competition? What were the rules? When did it end? Will there be a rematch?
An essential aspect of the conservative mind is the belief that society and civilization are neither competitions nor games to be won or lost. They are not contests between hostile ideas or policies or movements. In Reflections on the Revolutions in France, Burke defined society as "a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection." The basic contours of this kind of partnership—things like justice, charity, fellowship, temperance, and patience—build a lasting civilization. Read More…
Adam Smith, Communitarian
Legend has it that at the age of four, Adam Smith was kidnapped from his Scottish home by a traveling band of gypsies. A gentleman passing the gypsies on the road noticed the crying baby and alerted town officials, who rescued young Adam hours later. Of this near tragedy, Smith's 19th-century biographer John Rae sardonically commented that it was very fortunate because Smith "would have made … a poor gipsy."
This story is where Jack Russell Weinstein begins a fascinating examination of Smith's moral philosophy. He is convinced that in a way Smith's philosophy continues to be held hostage by political pundits and intellectuals on the right and the left. In his academically rich study, Weinstein argues that the significance of Smith's sweeping exploration of human virtue has been eclipsed by countless oversimplified readings of his economics. Weinstein believes, however, that in the modern world of diversity and multiculturalism it is Smith's moral philosophy that we need more than his economics.
Ever since 1776, the first year of its publication, The Wealth of Nations has proved more popular than Smith's first book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Smith's emphasis on free markets, his colorful metaphors like the invisible hand, and his farsighted expectations for the industrial revolution have made Wealth of Nations essential reading in our market-based, technologically-driven world.
This favoritism for Wealth of Nations has made Smith a "widely misunderstood" thinker, according to Weinstein. Smith is too often positioned as the godfather of "unfettered markets, libertarian governments, interactions solely for the purpose of satisfaction, and atomistic cosmopolitanism." What has been lost is Smith's "clarion call for personal relationships" as the basis for human society and his advocacy for a functioning pluralism—though Smith did not use the term—that is at the heart of Theory of Moral Sentiments.
Adam Smith's Pluralism is the first volume in a trilogy Weinstein intends to write on Smith. Here he proposes a "Smithian shift" in contemporary liberal theory, emphasizing Smith's key principle of sympathy and his efforts to find a method of achieving harmony in the disparate motives and passions of individuals. The book pays particular attention to the roots of Smith's moral philosophy found in the works of Thomas Hobbes, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Bernard Mandeville, and David Hume. With this context and his own mastery of Smith's writings, Weinstein hopes to rescue Smith's moral philosophy from a host of abductors and put it to work for the 21st century.
After briefly bemoaning the deformation of Smith's philosophy at the hands of political pundits, Weinstein offers a critical assessment of previous literature on Smith. Many scholars have investigated what is known now as the Adam Smith Problem, which pits the altruism of Theory of Moral Sentiments against the self-interest of Wealth of Nations, demanding from Smith's thought a singular, overarching cause to explain human action. This oversimplified perspective, Weinstein contends, fails to see Smith's promotion of "multiple motives," which Smith believed were not only "essential" for society but also consistent with human nature.
Weinstein also takes issue with philosophers like John Rawls and Alasdair MacIntyre who, in their different ways, "badly misrepresent Smith." For Weinstein, however, the greatest impediment to a thorough appreciation of Smith's moral philosophy is the specter of Immanuel Kant. Weinstein points to Kant as an unfortunate addition to liberalism's intellectual framework:
many of liberalism's shortcomings are the product of its Kantian foundation. The conceptions of autonomy and universal reason that Rawls and others build on do not allow for complex notions of identity, political consideration of affection for individual persons, the importance of subjectivity, the emotions in moral and political commitments, and variations in human reason.
Assertions like this alone make the book worthwhile. To appreciate Smith fully, Weinstein rightly suggests, we must dispose of Kant's quest for singularity and uniformity and, following thinkers like MacIntyre, acknowledge the permanent reality of differing moral traditions.
Much of the book is spent illustrating Smith's appreciation for the kind of variety and depth in human nature and reason that is absent from the Kantian tradition. Smith, Weinstein argues, did not bifurcate the human faculties of reason and emotion, which is why any attempt to develop a single Smithian motivation for human action is erroneous. Reason and emotion are too interlinked in the human condition to be separated. This is why Smith distrusted any logical or analytical approach to human society that demoted emotion and intuition to a second or third tier of experience. Weinstein explains that for Smith, far from emotions being the antithesis of reason, they regularly "initiate, are the consequence of, and are often indistinguishable from reason."
The complexity that Smith sees in human reason flows over into his study of human society. Smith refused to accept the cynical view of human nature propounded by Hobbes and Mandeville. Yet he was also a moral realist who acknowledged human vice and vanity, which were at odds with an equally evident inclination toward virtue. Following from this, in a particularly insightful portion of the book Weinstein completely discredits any purely economic reading of Smith. He contends that "life is not a marketplace" for Smith. Instead, "it is often familial, pedagogical, spiritual, and natural; it is only sometimes commercial." Competition and self-interest were means to an end, not ends in themselves. Rather, Weinstein sees the healthy notion of harmony as the most dominant ideal running through Smith's philosophy.
Weinstein builds upon Smithian harmony, explaining that while life is not always commercial, it is always communal. Community, in turn, derives its lifeblood from "imagination," because imagination creates the capacity for sympathy. Unlike Kant and other Enlightenment thinkers, Smith "presumes human difference" as a necessary and inherent aspect of civilization, rejecting the Kantian ideal of "noncontextual normativity." Smith recognized that cultural, temporal, and social differences shaped norms and values, making it impossible to create a single, all-inclusive norm of human behavior. This is why sympathy is so important. It offers a means that is natural to the human condition—our desire to commiserate with our fellow man—to bridge the gap between our differences.
Smith believed that "political society is not derived from a social contract," according to Weinstein. Instead, society is a natural expression of what it means to be human. The state of nature for Smith is one of community, and the ultimate questions related to human society are questions of morality and virtue, not economics and politics. Thus, a broad, morally robust education rooted in a particular community is essential to forming sympathetic individuals. While Smith did not idealize the role of education—it could not completely eliminate human selfishness and vanity—he believed it had the power to "direct vanity to proper objects" and to "convert competing passions into a harmonious character."
The role of language is an essential component of Smith's moral philosophy because it is the fundamental connection between the individual and the community. In his Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, Smith expounded on the virtue of both poetry and prose, which "provide the capacity for exchange and agreement" in different contexts of human relations. It is in the sections of Adam Smith's Pluralism on the importance of language that Shaftesbury's influence on Smith shines through the strongest, particularly with Shaftesbury's stress on language as a vehicle for unifying "the good and the beautiful."
Language is so basic to Smith's moral philosophy that toward the end of the book Weinstein feels compelled to contend with Michel Foucault and the postmodern critique of the discontinuity between language and reality. Though interesting, this chapter is something of a belabored effort, as Weinstein's examination finishes with the same stalemate as everyone else who contends with the postmodernists. In Weinstein's words, "Smith may have nothing to say" to them, "but they, in turn, have no means of refutation."
Adam Smith's Pluralism is a refreshing study of Smith, but it is not without its problems. Weinstein neglects the relevance of Smith's metaphysics, dismissively referring to "whatever the metaphysics that underlie Smith's system." Further on, in an attempt to assure the reader that Smith's pluralism can transcend its Judeo-Christian heritage, he asserts, "there appears to be no divine revelation for Smith." If this is true, it is neither self-evident in Smith nor evident in Weinstein's analysis. Nor does Weinstein address such obvious influences on Smith's metaphysics as Isaac Newton's natural theology, which is essential to Smith's baseline understanding of a created order in both the moral and physical universe.
If this were another exposition of Smith as the grand economist, then the neglect would be acceptable. But Smith's principle of sympathy is rooted in metaphysical assumptions about human nature and society and their purpose in absolute reality. Without this foundation, the argument for sympathy as a compass for morality, as well as a mediator of competing motivations, loses much of its potency. The liberal who embraces Smith's sympathy but refuses to deal with his metaphysics must do so either arbitrarily—sympathy being as good a guiding principle as any other—or, as Steven D. Smith has argued in The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse, surreptitiously, smuggling in certain beliefs about human nature without explanation or defense. Either way, the options are quite pale and shallow.
Nevertheless, even without Smith's metaphysics, this is an invigorating reorientation of liberal theory. There are striking similarities to Burke's moral imagination, which is particularly evident in Weinstein's analysis of the intersections of beauty, language, and moral choice. Weinstein rescues Smith's moral philosophy from its economically obsessed captors will prove an extraordinary blessing for conservative and liberal alike.
David J. Davis is assistant professor in history at Houston Baptist University and author of Seeing Faith, Printing Pictures: Religious Identity During the English Reformation.


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/ Workshop Teaches Ranchers How To Become More Profitable
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Story by Alexa Singh, NRCS Student Intern
A self-sustaining, profitable ranch is the goal for many Texas ranchers. However, obstacles such as high input costs, weather and volatile economic markets can keep the dream from becoming a reality.
More than 160 attendees learned from the experts how to turn ranching into a more sustainable and profitable operation at a recent ranch management workshop held in Beeville.
�The agriculture industry is changing and the ranching community is not immune to this change. It is increasingly more difficult to be profitable and sustainable in ranching when inputs and costs have dramatically increased, while returns have remained relatively constant,� said Tim Reinke, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) range management specialist and Coastal Prairies Grazingland Conservation Initiative (GLCI) coordinator. �The importance of this workshop was to provide landowners and managers the necessary tools to become or remain profitable in the tough economic times, while profiling ranchers who are successful in doing it.�
Speakers included local ranchers Steven Lukefahr of Lukefahr Cattle Ranch in Kleberg County and Daniel Boone of San Pedro Ranch in Dimmit County. Ranching for Profit trainer, Dave Pratt of Ranch Management Consultants, also spoke at the workshop.
Lukefahr presented information that focused on helping ranchers minimize production costs, while maximizing returns. He focused on cattle bred specifically for resistance to south Texas obstacles; such as drought.
�Having the correct type of cattle is the first step to a successful, profitable ranch,� said Lukefahr. �Cattle from Africa, India, and similar climates have been subjected to natural selection, allowing them to be more heat tolerate.�
Lukefahr favors the Senepol breed of West Africa and the Tuli breed of South Africa. He said when these are crossbred with Red Angus, the �ideal South Texas hybrid� is created.
�A sound cattle breeding program � in combination with proper grazing and forage management, even in droughts, with careful monitoring and maximum flexibility � can generate reasonable profits in south Texas,� said Lukefahr.
Keep the best and cull the rest was a reoccurring theme throughout the workshop. Boone manages a 24,000-acre ranch that is divided into 16 pastures where large scale rotational grazing is practiced. His livestock management philosophy is centered on utilizing efficient animals that will harvest standing grass with as few costs as possible.
Boone employs a rotational grazing system, believing that �the cattle will tell you when they want to be moved � only they know.� He only keeps cattle with a favorable disposition and performance. Boone said drought is not an obstacle, but an opportunity when used as a culling tool.
�The animals are culled based on how they deal with what Mother Nature provides,� he said.
Boone advocates using cattle grazing to manipulate and enhance wildlife habitat. The combination of cattle and wildlife is a factor that has contributed to profitability on this large ranch. Rotational grazing has helped Boone keep exotic grasses in check, while allowing for efficient use of the forage produced. Plenty of grass is left in the pastures for wildlife cover and speedy drought recovery.
Pratt was the workshop�s keynote speaker. He spoke about cattle ranching profitability. �Seeing is believing. Believing is seeing. You must believe that your ranch can be a profitable, self- sustaining business in order to turn it into one,� said Pratt.
He explained that some producers focus on ranching�s lifestyle and working on a ranch, when they need to be focusing on the money and running the ranch as a business.
Pratt highlighted the difference between a collection of workable assets and a profitable business, concluding that unprofitable ranches are not truly businesses. Pratt encouraged ranchers to consider changing their management practices. �The world is not the same. It has gone through ecological, environmental, and social change. It�s time for a new challenge. The old �rules� will not work anymore.�
Pratt addressed the current drought situation with an ultimatum. �Crisis is a threat or an opportunity�you cannot wait for a crisis to make a change or else you will lose the opportunity.�
He encouraged producers to turn their ranch into a profitable business by preparing for a change, instead of when they are forced to make a change.
Pratt also discussed obstacles to profitability, including overheads (land and labor) and direct costs (feed, herd health, transport, marketing), as well as economic and financial motivations.
�The only three ways to increase profit is to reduce or cut overhead and direct costs, increase turnover and increase the gross margin,� said Pratt.
In turnover, Pratt referred to buying and selling livestock at opportune times in order to optimize profitability. For example, selling calves and buying replacements where they can be bought cheaper as opposed to being produced on the ranch.
Since most ranchers� fixed assets are tied up in land, Pratt gave examples of how ranchers can capitalize their land, while still ranching and living on the property. Opportunities include wind energy, hunting leases, a working cowboy ranch, and even selling the rights to create and manage a recreational business on the land.
Pratt said only 30 percent of ranch owners are successful in passing their ranch intact to the next generation.
�Until cattle ranchers can accept and make the needed changes to work smarter and not harder, they will not realize the reality of their dream of a self-sustaining profitable ranch,� concluded Pratt.
Dr. Poncho Hubert, who ranches in Riviera, was a workshop attendee. He said the workshop increased his awareness about business possibilities in ranching, along with the realities of ranching.
�After attending the seminar, I become more aware of the business possibilities with ranching, coupled with the reality of ranching. This program was able to help me identify, quantify, and prioritize risks associated with ranching and develop options on how to deal with them,� said Hubert. �A few of the specific points include the livestock philosophy of finding opportunities to enhance the value of your animal, e.g. grass fed beef, taking advantage of opportunities unique to your locale, and integrating today�s technology in marketing.�
For more information on dealing with drought and ranch profitability, visit Pratt�s website at www.ranchmanagement.com or for more information on technical and financial assistance for drought conservation planning, visit your local USDA-NRCS office or www.tx.nrcs.usda.gov.
Dave Pratt tells ranchers that they need to plan ahead for drought. It won't be the drought that determines whether they make or lose money, rather how they position their business in relation to the drought risk and the decisions they make once the drought hits. In drought, the negative effects of poor management are increased while the positive effects of good management are intensified. An effective drought management plan has to address land, livestock, money and people.
Steven Lukefahr of Lukefahr Ranch discusses how cattle production on small ranches can be profitable when you incorporate cattle that have genetics for dry hot conditions that manychallenge ranchers in south Texas as well as optimize the land management.
Dave Pratt used a stuff Longhorn to illustrate many of his presentation points and add humor to his Ranching for Profit session.
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text:
Company Name:United Way of Olmsted County
Internship Available:Running Start for School Summer Intern
Distance from St. Cloud:61 - 100 Miles from St. Cloud State University
Company Overview:The Running Start for School Intern coordinates a county-wide school supply collection and distribution, which includes working with business partners, communicating with referring agencies, posting volunteer positions, supervising volunteers, inventorying supplies, and maintaining a database of referred students. The Running Start for School program coordination utilizes United Way of Olmsted Countys community drive model.
Responsibilities:Minimum Requirements: 3 years college Demonstrated project management experience Execute work plans achieving measurable results Work harmoniously with people from varying backgrounds to achieve results Working knowledge of Microsoft Office products Read, write, speak, and understand English Maintain professional appearance and behavior Essential Job Functions: Ability to work independently and with groups Knowledge of developing meeting agendas and minutes preparation Managing electronic access to a variety of volunteer opportunities Managing the recruitment, training, and supervision of volunteers General office skills: photocopy machines, phone systems, fax machine, printers Travel within Olmsted County Analytical and Problem Solving Skills Hours and days may vary Organize, manage, and prioritize multiple projects simultaneously Physical Requirements Occasionally push, pull, lift and/or move objects weighing up to 24 pounds Continuously perform moderately difficult manipulative tasks such as typing/keyboarding, writing, filing, phone work Occasionally stand to obtain files from top drawer of 4-drawer file cabinet Continuously sit for prolonged periods to perform computer and clerical deskwork Must have clear speech and writing ability to make self clearly understood in face-to-face, phone and electronic interactions with staff, volunteers, and customers Frequently articulate with extreme accuracy and precision to give instructions, describe a project plan, answer questions Continuously see objects closely to proofread work, perform word processing, filing Continuously hear normal sounds and voices with some background noise to receive verbal instructions, answer telephone, communicate with employees, volunteers, customers Sensory and Cognitive Requirements Continuously concentrate on moderate detail with some interruptions Attention span ranging from 20 to 45 minutes for administrative responsibilities, and up to 60 to 120 minutes for meetings Understand and relate to specific ideas, generally several at a time Relate to the concepts behind specific ideas Remember, organize, and prioritize multiple verbal and written messages, information, and task assignments from a few hours or days to several weeks or months Make independent decisions when circumstances warrant such action Cope with the mental and emotional stress of the position EOE AA Employer
Apply to:United Way of Olmsted County
United Way of Olmsted County, Inc.
903 W Center St., Suite 100
Rochester, MN 55902
Email: email@example.com
Phone: 507-529-4831
Application Information:Email resume, cover letter, and three references by 3/15/2012 to: Becky NahviCommunity Impact email@example.com 507-529-4831 United Way of Olmsted County 903 West Center Street, Ste. 100, Rochester, MN 55902
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Please contact Internship Supervisor Bill Huntzicker, firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Lemon Poppyseed Pound Cake Recipe
- 2 1/2cupspowdered sugar
- 2cupsbutter, softened(NOT margarine)
- 6eggs
- 2teaspoons gratedlemons, rind of
- 3tablespoonslemon juice
- 4cupsflour
- 3teaspoonsbaking powder
- 1 (12 1/2 ounce)packagecanned poppy seed filling
- 1cuppowdered sugar
- 1-2tablespoonlemon juice
- In large bowl, beat sugar with butter until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs 1 at time, beating well at medium speed after each addition.
- Beat in lemon peel and juice.
- At low speed, gradually beat in flour and baking powder.
- In medium bowl, blend 3 cups of the batter with poppy seed filling.
- Spread half of plain batter in bottom of ungreased 10" tube or bundt pan.
- Using a large serving spoon, alternately add spoonfuls of poppy seed batter and rest of plain batter.
- Bake at 350°F approximately 1¼ hour until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool 15 minutes, then remove from pan.
- Cool about 1 hour until all cooled.
- Blend together glaze ingredients; if necessary, add more lemon juice for desired drizzling consistency.
- Drizzle glaze over cake.
Posted in Recipes | No Comments »


text:
126,995pages on
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this wiki
The Second Sith Civil War occurred during the New Sith Wars, sometime prior to 1,010 BBY. In it, the New Sith Empire collapsed into infighting. The Jedi Master Skere Kaan conquered the feuding warlords and unified them, declaring himself a Sith Lord. Kaan established the Brotherhood of Darkness, with Kopecz and Qordis as two of the highest-ranking members.
- Star Wars: Knight Errant (First appearance)
- Darth Bane: Path of Destruction (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars: Darth Plagueis (Indirect mention only)
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace novelization (First mentioned)


text:
Top Definition
going bra-less, particularly in cases of individuals with perky or hard nipples.
did you see the top she wore last night? I'm sure she was going nipples-up!
av zazamua 11. november 2013
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See All Contributors »
Somebody didn't save enough money over those big contracts throughout the year....
Manny Ramirez says he is seeking reinstatement, will serve 100-game suspension - ESPN
This is the definition of: karma
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text:
May 5, 2016
CARTER COUNTY, Okla. -- A fatal wreck in Carter County involving one vehicle happened around six o'clock Wednesday morning on Dickson Road just south of Highway 199.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says Randall F. Forman, 26, and Mark A. Cryer, 35, both of Ardmore, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities say Forman's vehicle went off the right side of the road when the driver over-corrected and rolled two-and-a half times.
OHP says neither the driver nor the passenger was wearing a seat belt.
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text:
The Power of Independent Thinking
Ben Powell on Government Consumer Safety Videos & Media Piracy Enforcement
Recorded: Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Benjamin Powell engages with Tracy Byrnes on Fox Business Networks Freedom Watch on Government consumer safety videos and
the enforcement of media piracy laws.
Experts: Benjamin W. PowellType: TelevisionIssues: Business, Culture/ Society, Entertainment, Government Waste/Pork, Public Health/ Consumer Protection, Regulation and Deregulation
Benjamin Powell on Federal Fiscal Irresponsibility
Recorded: Friday, September 23, 2011
Benjamin Powell, Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute, speaks on Fox Business Networks Freedom Watch on irresponsible government spending on dead retirees & Hostess Twinkies.
Experts: Benjamin W. PowellType: TelevisionIssues: Fiscal Policy/Debt, Government Waste/Pork, Taxes
Benjamin Powell on U.S. Pork Barrel Farm Policies
Recorded: Friday, August 20, 2010
Benjamin Powell on CNBC discusses the pitfalls of U.S. protection of the farming industry with pork barrel farm policies, and how they hurt both Americans and producers in underdeveloped countries.
Experts: Benjamin W. PowellType: TelevisionIssues: Agriculture, Government Waste/Pork, Trade
Charles Peña on Closing U.S. Military Bases
Recorded: Sunday, January 17, 2010
Part 1 |
Part 2
Part 3
Originally aired on January 17, 2010 on "Two-Way Street." Charles Peña, Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute, joins a panel of foreign policy experts to support the discussion topic: The U.S. should close its military bases around the world.
Experts: Charles V. PeñaType: TelevisionIssues: Defense and Foreign Policy, Fiscal Policy/Debt, Government Waste/Pork, Labor and Employment


text:
Grilled lobster with warm tomato, chervil and caper dressing
Grilled lobster with warm tomato, chervil and caper dressing
Recipe by Lesley Holdship
Lobster is often seen as a slightly extravagant ingredient, but it has a taste and texture that can't be rivalled by crab meat. That alone makes it worth the investment!
Serves 4
Preparation time 40 minutes
Cooking time 30 minutes
2 large live lobsters from Shellseekers Fish & Game
200g tomatoes from The Tomato Stall
2 shallots, peeled and very finely chopped
Zest and juice of a lemon
100ml olive oil
2 tablespoons of chopped chervil or tarragon
1 tablespoons of capers, drained and rinsed from Gastronomica
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
50g butter, melted
Preparation Method
About 2 hours before cooking the lobster, place them in the freezer. For me, this is the humane way to prepare lobsters as they shut down and lose consciousness. It's never a nice job to cook lobster, but it is best to buy them live for wonderful taste.
Bring a very large pan of water to the boil. Plunge the lobsters in to the pan and cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the pan and submerge in cold water to cool them off a little.
To make the dressing, with a knife make a little cut in the tomato skin, placing them in a bowl. Cover with boiling water for about a minute to loosen the skins. Peel, then cut in half and remove the seeds. Cut the tomatoes into a small dice, called concasse.
Warm the tomatoes for a minute or two in a small pan along with the shallot, olive oil, lemon zest and juice. Add the chervil and capers, season really generously then set aside.
To serve heat the grill to high. Using a large knife, cut the lobster in half lengthways. Remove the gills. Place them on a baking sheet with the flesh facing upwards then brush with the melted butter and season.. Grill for 4-5 minutes until you can really start to smell the hot shells. Stand for a moment and take that smell in, it's wonderful! You can also complete this final stage on a barbeque – in the garden or perhaps on the beach.
Plate up the lobster then drench with the warm dressing. Serve with a crunchy green salad and plenty of crusty bread to soak up the delicious juices!


text: Brian Fetherstonhaugh is Chairman and CEO for OgilvyOne Worldwide. Brian has a unique vantage point on how brands are built, how corporate cultures are created, and what happens as the world goes digital. In the course of the past 25 years, Brian has worked hands-on with many of the world's leading brands including, IBM, American Express, Cisco, Coca-Cola, Motorola, Unilever, Nestlé, BP, Kodak, and Yahoo!


text:
VAIL, Colo. (AP) -- Ever wonder how a ski resort can report a foot of new snow while the weather service reports only a few inches?
Vail Resorts says snow reporting is an inexact science after it was forced to retract its report of a foot of snow on Feb. 23 and change it to 2 inches.
The resort said the reading of the mountain's snow measuring stake was inaccurate because high winds had blown in too much snow.
Vail Mountain security manager Bob Norris tells the Vail Daily talk of Vail Mountain intentionally inflating its snow reports is ridiculous.
He says the resort wants to be as accurate as possible. He says resorts are not doing it to increase the number of skiers.
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text:
I recently read a study published by TheLadders, a comprehensive job-matching service, that determined you have an average of six seconds to catch the eye of a recruiter. Six seconds is an extremely short time for such a life changing opportunity. That recruiter could hold the key for you to get your foot in the door to your "dream job," or at least an opportunity that might be better than your current one. I wanted to take a quick second to take their findings and compare it to the perspective of a recruiter. Below the findings from TheLadders, I have included my input on each of the topics:
- Less is More. We all know the one-page rule, but that doesn't mean one page with smaller margins, in 8-point font. By knowing what recruiters are scanning for, you can emphasize what is apparently important to them. Knowing what they spend the majority of their time looking for, gives you the benefit of proper delivery.
The concept of "less is more" is relevant but I do have to take a stance against some of their arguments. The "one page rule" is very elementary and just doesn't apply in the IT world. It is extremely hard (almost impossible) to fit an experienced technical candidate's technologies and projects on one page. I agree with not including irrelevant information but sometimes one page just isn't going to give the detail that a recruiter wants and needs.
- Cut the Clutter. No one except for your buddies cares that you enjoy ice fishing. Stay relevant and cut out anything that doesn't relate to your professional experience. Extra words and jargon have to go as well. According to this research, an impressive vocabulary and wordy resume won't get you anywhere.
"Cut the clutter" is something that I believe every recruiter, IT or not, can agree on. I will read a resume and see "Enjoys skydiving" on the resume and think to myself, who cares? A good recruiter will look at a candidate's abilities and then take the time to get to know the candidate and assess their cultural fit with their client.
- Format for Success. The easier your resume is to read, the easier it is to absorb the information. You already know what they're looking for, give it to them and give it to them in bold. The eye loves white space. It sounds counterproductive, but leave room for some paper by cutting down on the clutter and avoiding large blocks of writing.
"Formatting for success" can be productive, but I feel that, sometimes, it can hurt a candidate. Nothing will turn a recruiter or hiring manager off more than when someone bolds a relevant technology and then cannot speak thoroughly about the skill. You lose all credibility if you bold, underline, or highlight something that you are not an expert in. Be careful in what you are claiming to know/have done, if you are claiming to be an expert by bolding, you better be ready to talk the ins and outs of what you know about it.


text:
Grand Cru's annual chili cook off Sunday afternoon
Bord on Sundays?
This Sunday afternoon, from 3 to 6 p.m., Grand Cru hosts its third annual chili cook off for the chefs of Belvedere Square. Pay some money, and you get to be a judge.
Call (410) 464-1944 for more information.
Posted by Richard Gorelick at 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)


text:
Top Definition
1.) to wiggle around in a worm like fashion
2.) to overall be gross
2.) to overall be gross
Mauricio and Megan were fanegaling in class and it was grossing everyone the fuck out
by dogmeat29 December 08, 2010
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text:
A great trigger is all about the lack of distraction. Think about forcing your self to man up and make a really good shot with a sorry assed staple gun feeling trigger, you know the type. What do you have to do to shoot that trigger well? You shift a large part of your attention, your mental focus onto trigger control. Willing your eye onto your sight and keeping it on target while you slowly struggle through distractions caused by the crummy trigger action – GRIT PING CRUnnnnCH Bang. It's not that you can't do it, it's that it slows you down and forces you to take your attention away from the sight and the target.
Quality of trigger pull is everything to a shooter. The AR Gold trigger is the best there is. Not only is it lightning fast, the reset is so short I don't even have to think about it , I just shoot and the trigger takes care of itself. The AR Gold trigger is a must-have for both high speed and precision shooting."
- Jerry Miculek
In contrast a great trigger is great because of what it's not – distracting. It is noticed after the fact, after the shot – because during the shot there was nothing to notice. You knew you had your finger on the trigger and were at the engagement point (which is why you want a light, 1911 type, take up). Once there your attention is focused on your sight placement as your finger adds weight to the trigger. A great trigger reports nothing of its internal doings to your trigger finger. You add weight, it stays mute, the guns fires with a surprise break. Only then, after the fact do you say to your self, "wow, that is a great trigger."
"The AR Gold trigger is an incredible advancement in AR trigger design. The design allows for a wide range of trigger weight without compromising the reliability at all. The short reset movement allows shots to be fires at a high rate of speed when necessary, the beautiful action allows for precision fire that was only obtainable in a two stage design in the past. When I first heard about the trigger I was skeptical, but after installing it in a rifle... I will be installing these triggers in all my rifles!"- Michael Voigt
While all serious shooters understand the importance of a good trigger, when it comes to the AR, there is a consensus view among most of the top trainers to stick with a stock setup. Why? Because the track record for reliability and durability of highly tuned AR triggers is not good. The Garand type trigger in the AR was never designed to be light and crisp, quite the opposite. The AR trigger is designed to provide a mass producible, heavy (safe), military single stage trigger. To take that trigger and reduce the engagement surfaces to the bare minimum, requires building and maintaining extremely tight tolerances in a system that really doesn't have all that tight tolerances.
This is not to say that it can't be done. A real deal AR guru can fit up top grade aftermarket trigger parts into an AR and produce a pretty decent trigger that will last. Of course it will still be an AR trigger, which is to say most of the weight in the first stage or take up with a smaller percent of the total weight in the second stage– not the best thing for precision work or high speed hitting.
Why not "just" remove the first stage from an AR trigger? In a word safety. Unless you have lots of travel and weight, removing the first stage from an AR trigger can create a safety issue because of the manufacturing tolerances in the receiver and the safety leaver. You can get around this with a custom adjustable safety, but are again dependent on the quality of installation – AR Guru required.
While an AR trigger can certainly be made serviceable, and even match grade with the very precise installation of tightly made parts – it is still a Garand type trigger and as such cannot really be made great with out hanging on the edge of reliability and safety.
"The AR Gold trigger is extremely elegant, innovative and affective design incorporating the modular, drop-in trigger concept. A serious upgrade for any AR15 type rifle and certain to be one of the most important and desirable new accessories in 2009. I'm looking forward to using an AR Gold trigger this hunting season in one of my long range, high precision AR rifles."
- Chip McCormick
We set out to see if we could build a better trigger with added safety features around the hole locations and dimensional constraints of an AR receiver. To do this we designed and built our trigger into a self contained trigger cassette, so that we control the relationship and tolerance between the working parts. The only thing the two assembly pins do is locate the trigger cassette in the AR receiver, we do not function off of those pins and they do not effect trigger feel in any way.
Our primary sear is actuated by a disconnector, conceptually not unlike the trigger of a 1911. The sear captures the hammer at the very back rather then close to the pivot point. The results is both a lighter pull and much less stress on the sear and hammer bent because we are operating farther out on the lever (hammer). After the gun fires, the bolt drives the hammer back pressing the disconnector down, which disconnects the sear from the trigger (the same way the slide on a 1911 presses the disconnector down) and and releasing the sear to capture the hammer. The trigger has a short reset to re-engage the disconnector for the next shot. "For those that demand the best in a precision trigger for the AR-15 rifle, American Trigger has cracked the code with the AR Gold trigger, It simply is the final word in 'crisp sear release' for target or competition shooting."
- Ken Hackathorn
It's rarely mentioned but well know fact that dropping a gun with a light trigger will cause it to fire. AR's are no exception (neither is your favorite bolt gun). This is why military guns are required to pass Drop Tests. We wanted to provide a trigger which in addition to having a great trigger feel, also had added safety features.
"From the moment I first saw the AR Gold trigger, I could see that it was a completely new concept in trigger design. It was clearly well thought out and engineered to address the problems that have hounded conventional AR triggers for years. I had complete confidence in it from the start."
- Jerry Miculek
To achieve added safety we made two fundamental changes to the AR trigger design. First we added a second independent sear or as we call an Intercepting Sear to the system, not unlike the Holland & Holland system of the 1800's (having the second barrel of your 600 Nitro Express fire from the vibration of the first would really hurt). With the trigger forward (which means you are keeping your finger OFF the trigger) the Intercepting sear is poised to block the hammer if it is jarred off of the primary sear. If the hammer is captured by the intercepting sear the gun can still be fired, but it will have a much higher weight trigger pull.
We also make use of the action of the thumb safety to positively capture the hammer, as is the case with a Garand, and actually roll it back below the primary sear making the gun as inert as we can make it with the safety on.
Can these safety systems be defeated? Yes, absolutely. This system is not fool proof. If something pressed the trigger back, be it your finger, a stick or the shock of being tossed from a moving vehicle, the gun WILL fire. Ultimately safety comes down to the operator's strict adherence to the Four Rules of firearm safety.
Copyright 2008, 2009. American Trigger Corporation. Carson City, NV
Web Design by Pierce Colman


text:
HIV/AIDS in the Gay Community
Timothy Kincaid
July 31st, 2008
Anti-gays often seek to portray all gay persons as diseased. There is a presumption that HIV/AIDS is an automatic consequence of "homosexual behavior" and that all gay persons (gay men in particular) are contagious and dangerous.
Just this week, PFOX's Regina Griggs made the outlandish claim that 70% of all gay youth aged 13 to 24 are now HIV-positive. And last month we spent considerable time trying to educate Insure.com's Robert Bland that HIV has not reduced the average age at death of gay men by 20 years.
But in the process of responding to Bland's homophobic claim, I found that there did not appear to be an easily accessed answer as to just how many gay people are infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. So I set out to make some calculations of my own.
It is very difficult to say with certainty exactly what percentage of gay persons are living with HIV/AIDS for a number of reasons:
- Difficulty in estimating the gay population
- Difficulty in estimating the total number of persons infected with HIV
- Difficulty in estimating those infected with HIV that are gay or bisexual
However, I've taken the best source information I could find and made some assumptions. Wherever possible I've erred on the side of caution and my estimations propably understate the total number of gay persons and overstate the extent to which gay persons are infected.
Here is what I've found:
- There are at least 5.3 million gay and bisexual men and 5.5 million gay and bisexual women over the age of 15 living in the United States today, for a cumulative GLB Community of at least 10.8 million people.
- Around 12.3% of gay and bisexual men – 6.0% of the Gay Community – are living with HIV/AIDS.
For detail about by assumptions and the sources for my calculations, see our new page:
The Prevalence of HIV in the Gay Community