text:
USCIRF Annual Report 2008 - Sudan
|United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
|Publication Date
|1 May 2008
|Cite as
|United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, USCIRF Annual Report 2008 - Sudan, 1 May 2008, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4855699a45.html [accessed 1 June 2016]
|This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
The government of Sudan commits egregious and systematic violations of freedom of religion or belief in the areas under its control, particularly against Christians, Muslims who do not follow the government's extreme interpretation of Islam, and followers of traditional African religions. Due to the ongoing, severe human rights violations committed by the government throughout much of the country, the Commission continues to recommend that Sudan be named a "country of particular concern," or CPC. The State Department has repeatedly adopted the Commission's recommendation that Sudan be designated a CPC.
In the past, the Commission has identified Sudan as the world's most violent abuser of the right to freedom of religion or belief and has drawn attention to the Sudanese government's genocidal atrocities against civilian populations. As a result of the government's policies of Islamization and Arabization, more than two million people were killed and four million driven from their homes in the North-South civil war from 1983 until January 2005. The civilian victims of that conflict were overwhelmingly Southern Christians and followers of traditional African religions in contrast to the Arabic-speaking Muslims dominant in Khartoum.
Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on January 9, 2005, conditions for religious freedom have improved in the South and in the contested areas in central Sudan. The Commission continues to be seriously concerned, however, about severe human rights violations being committed by the Sudanese government in other regions of the country, including against both non-Muslims and Muslims who dissent from the government's interpretation of Islam, as well as in the western region of Darfur, where the State Department has determined that acts of genocide have taken place and may still be ongoing. Continued attention and monitoring by the United States and the international community are necessary to ensure that the terms of the CPA, particularly those relating to freedom of religion or belief and other universal human rights, are implemented fully.
The CPA followed and subsumed a series of partial and preliminary agreements addressing the relationship of state and religion, the national capital, power-sharing, wealth-sharing (i.e., of oil revenue), and security. The CPA affirmed the Machakos Protocol of July 2002, which established a number of principles regarding freedom of religion or belief, and the Protocol on Power-Sharing of May 2004, which committed the parties to respecting a range of human rights. Moreover, the Protocol on Power-Sharing states explicitly that "The Republic of Sudan, including all levels of Government throughout the country, shall comply fully with its obligations under the international human rights treaties to which it is or becomes a party."
The CPA committed the parties to a number of interim measures for the governance of Sudan during a six-year Interim Period, to end in July 2011. According to the CPA:
- a referendum will be held at the end of the Interim Period to determine whether the South stays within a united Sudan or becomes independent;
- the 10 Southern states would be exempt from sharia (Islamic law), which, however, would continue to prevail in the North, and special provision would be made to protect the rights of non-Muslims in the national capital;
- the National Congress Party in power in Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) dominant in the South would form a Government of National Unity, with the SPLM/A having a minority share of offices; the SPLM/A would assume responsibility for the government of Southern Sudan;
- local autonomy would be granted to the contested areas of the Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile State, which would, however, remain part of the North, and a special administration would be established in the oil-rich area of Abyei, whose boundaries would be determined by an independent commission; a popular referendum would determine whether Abyei continues to have a special status in the North or becomes part of the South;
- elections for President of Sudan, President of Southern Sudan, the national legislature, state governors, and all state legislatures would be held "not later than the end of the fourth year of the Interim Period" (i.e. by July 2009); and
- constitutional arrangements for the Interim Period would be according to an Interim National Constitution and an Interim Constitution for Southern Sudan.
Since July 2005, Sudan's current Government of National Unity has officially governed under the Interim National Constitution, which contains provisions guaranteeing universal human rights, including freedom of religion or belief. As of this writing, however, many of these provisions, including those advancing human rights, have yet to be fully implemented. To protest the National Congress Party's apparent lack of commitment to CPA implementation, the SPLM/A suspended its participation in the Government of National Unity at the ministerial level for more than two months, from October 11 to December 27, 2007.
Last year, movement finally began on the constitutionally-required Commission on the Rights of Non-Muslims in the National Capital. In February 2007, a chairman was appointed, who later selected 28 commissioners from the judiciary and the Ministry of Justice, as well as from among representatives of the Islamic, Christian, and other religious communities. The Commission has met once since that time. In August 2007, the Commission on the Rights of Non-Muslims reportedly approved plans for subcommittees, including one on religious education; however, no further efforts have been made. The National Human Rights Commission, called for in Sudan's Interim Constitution, has yet to be created. In the now-autonomous South, the Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan, adopted in December 2005, separates religion and state and contains provisions for freedom of religion and for equality before the law regardless of religious belief. The Government of Southern Sudan has established a human rights commission for the South, as well as a special court to prosecute crimes committed for religious reasons, including crimes against members of the South's Muslim minority.
In government-controlled areas of the North, the religious freedom and other human rights protections agreed to in the CPA and enshrined in Sudan's Interim National Constitution have not yet resulted in significant changes to the government's practice of enforcing its interpretation of Islam to the detriment of those holding other views. Muslims reportedly receive preferential access to limited government services and preferential treatment in court cases involving Muslims against non-Muslims. All Sudanese in the North, including Christians and followers of traditional African religions, are subject to sharia. Corporal punishments adopted from sharia are imposed on both non-Muslims and on Muslims who did not traditionally follow such practices. There is discrimination in granting governmental approvals required for the construction and use of places of worship. Although permits are routinely granted to build mosques, permission to build churches is often difficult to obtain. The State Department reports that since 2005 the government has issued three permits for new churches in the Khartoum area; permits for church construction were last issued in 1975. However, two of the permits were never formally received by the communities and Christian leaders remain skeptical that any actual construction will be permitted by government authorities. Churches built without such official permission by owners who register land for personal rather than church use exist at the authorities' sufferance.
Church-owned properties that are legally recognized are nevertheless vulnerable to seizure in a legal atmosphere in which government action is not constrained by an independent judiciary. Prior to the establishment of the Government of National Unity, governments confiscated church property in the North and adequate compensation has yet to be provided. Reportedly, the National Unity government is pressuring some churches and other Christian facilities to move from central Khartoum to less prominent locations outside of the capital. In addition, for the first time since the signing of the CPA, there are reports that police disrupted a religious gathering. In January 2007, police raided the Episcopal Church of Sudan Diocese of Khartoum's New Year prayer service using tear gas, injuring six worshippers.
Public religious expression and persuasion of non-Muslims by Muslims is allowed, but that of Muslims by non-Muslims is forbidden. In May 2006, four Sudanese Christians, including an Episcopal priest, were detained following contact with a Muslim woman who may have been interested in converting to Christianity. As the woman was estranged from her family and in hiding, the police acted under cover of a "kidnapping" investigation. Although all the detained Christians were released after a few days, three of them reportedly had been beaten while in custody. The woman was returned to her family and no further legal action was taken.
Conversion from Islam is a crime legally punishable by death. In practice, suspected converts are subjected to intense scrutiny, intimidation, and sometimes torture by government security personnel who act with impunity. Converts to Christianity from Islam face societal pressures and harassment from the security services to the point that they typically cannot remain in Sudan. The law against apostasy is also of concern to Muslims; the last instance in which the death penalty was applied was to a Muslim reformer in 1985.
In contrast, government policies and societal pressure favor conversion to Islam. During the North-South civil war, some children from non-Muslim families who were captured and sold into slavery by pro-government militias were reportedly forced to convert. Reports continue of coerced conversion in government-controlled camps for internally displaced persons, as well as among prison inmates, Popular Defense Force trainees, and children in camps for vagrant minors. The government has also allegedly tolerated the use of humanitarian assistance to induce conversion to Islam. In government-controlled areas, children who have been abandoned or whose parentage is unknown are considered by the government to be Muslims and may not be adopted by non-Muslims.
The government also harshly punishes those it claims are engaged in alleged "blasphemy." In November 2007, a British teacher was arrested for "abuse of religion" under sharia law for permitting her 7-year old students to name a teddy bear "Muhammed." In December, she was convicted of blasphemy, inciting religious hatred, showing contempt for religious beliefs, and insulting Islam. She was subsequently pardoned and immediately deported. The school at which the teacher worked, a 105-year old British international school with more than 700 students, suspended its operations for several months after the incident, out of fear of reprisals. Additionally, throughout 2007, the Government of National Unity continued to ban all independent reporting on the 2006 beheading by persons unknown of Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmed, the editor-in-chief of Al-Wafaq, who had been arrested and charged with blasphemy for publishing an article in 2005 claimed by some to be disrespectful of the Prophet Muhammed.
Although relative North-South peace has brought improvement in human rights conditions in the South and in the Nuba Mountains, in the western region of Darfur, government forces and "Janjaweed" soldiers (government-backed militias from Arab tribes) since 2003 have employed abusive tactics and brutal violence against African Muslim civilians, tactics similar to those used previously against non-Muslim Africans during the North-South civil war. Serious human rights abuses have included aerial bombardment of civilians, forced starvation as the result of deliberate denial of international humanitarian assistance, and the forcible displacement of civilian populations.
To date, efforts by the international community to protect Darfur's civilian population have been wholly inadequate. Throughout 2007, Khartoum successfully delayed the full deployment of a joint UN-African Union (AU) peacekeeping force, as mandated by the UN Security Council, by imposing different limitations on the composition and independence of the forces. On January 1, 2008 the joint UN-AU force took over from the AU force; however, only one-third of the promised 26,000 soldiers and police officers have been deployed. With villages destroyed and lives at risk from further attack by government-supported Arab militiamen, many civilians remain in camps, unable to return home to raise crops and thus end their dependence upon international humanitarian assistance.
The perpetrators of these crimes, both members of the Sudanese armed forces and allied militias, have acted with impunity. In May 2007, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued warrants for crimes against humanity and war crimes against Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs Ahmad Harun and Janjaweed commander Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (also known as Ali Kushayb). Khartoum has refused to hand the two men over, claiming there is no evidence against them and that the ICC has no jurisdiction in Sudan. In September 2007, Harun, the former State Minster for the Interior in charge of the "Darfur Security Desk," was appointed co-president of the national committee charged with investigating human rights violations in Darfur. Kushayb was reportedly imprisoned in November 2006 on "suspicion of violating Sudanese law" for acts committed in south and west Darfur; however, Amnesty International reported witnesses having seen him move freely in Darfur under police protection. On October 1, 2007, he was reportedly released from custody. This lack of accountability and the persistent use of such methods by the government of Sudan raise serious questions about the government's commitment to abide by the terms of the CPA.
Actions resulting in mass killings by the government of Sudan against its own citizens have been repeatedly condemned as genocide. In the Sudan Peace Act of 2002, Congress found that the Sudanese government had committed acts of genocide during the civil war. By concurrent resolution in July 2004, Congress found the atrocities being committed in Darfur to constitute genocide. In congressional testimony delivered in September 2004, then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell announced that the State Department "had concluded that genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility – and genocide may still be continuing." In a statement issued by the White House the same day, President Bush urged the international community to work with the United States to prevent and suppress acts of genocide in Darfur. In April 2007, in an address announcing new sanctions against Sudan and individuals responsible for the violence in Darfur, President Bush once again referred to actions in Darfur as genocide.
The government's genocidal actions stem in part from a policy of the governing elite in Khartoum forcibly to advance an Arab and Muslim identity in all parts of Sudan. This policy effectively relegates non-Arabs and non-Muslims to a secondary status and, moreover, conflicts with the reality that Sudan is a religiously diverse country with a large minority of Christians and followers of traditional African beliefs, as well as Muslims from a variety of Islamic traditions. Opposition to this coercive policy has fueled support for armed resistance by non-Muslim and non-Arab populations in the South, the Nuba Mountains, and elsewhere. During the North-South civil war, the current regime in particular used appeals to Islam, including calls by senior government officials for jihad, to mobilize northern Muslim opinion. Religious incitement by government officials contributed to the horrific human rights abuses perpetrated by government security forces and government-backed militias.
The Plight of Sudan's Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees
One of the major issues facing Sudan is the situation of the refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). The North-South civil war and the conflict in Darfur have together driven approximately 7 million people from their homes, including 5.4 million currently internally displaced from the two conflicts, making Sudan the locus of the largest IDP crisis in the world. Sudan's total population today is just over 40 million. Most of the 4 million displaced from the North-South civil war are internally displaced, having fled to other parts of Sudan, particularly to the North. Of the 4 million, 500,000 became refugees in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, or Uganda. The overwhelming majority of those who fled as a result of the North-South civil war are Christians or followers of traditional African religions. Since 2003, the Darfur conflict has produced an additional two million internally displaced persons and sent another 250,000 into neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic as refugees. Unlike those who fled the North-South civil war, the Darfurians are almost all Muslims, members of tribes identified as African rather than Arab.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) oversees refugee returns, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in collaboration with Southern and central Sudanese authorities, coordinates IDP returns in Sudan. Both agencies emphasize that all returns by refugees and IDPs must be voluntary. Surveys indicate that most Southerners indeed wish to return to the South because of a desire to return to areas of origin, to take part in a new Southern Sudan, and to leave some of the harsh or restrictive living conditions in camps. IDPs living in the Khartoum area, for example, have limited access to employment or basic services and continue to face discrimination and harassment based on religious identification. They have also been subject to forced relocations as the Khartoum government has demolished IDP camps in the capital city several times. There have been allegations that school enrollment for Sudanese refugee children in Kenya has recently been limited in order to encourage their families to return to Southern Sudan. Rising costs for food and fuel constrain international efforts to assist refugees and IDPs, increasing hardships faced by these vulnerable populations.
Since the signing of the CPA in 2005, more than 250,000 refugees have returned to the South; 100,000 organized by UNHCR and the rest "self-assisted." In addition, more than 1.4 million IDPs have returned to their homes, although only 140,000 have been assisted. The IOM plans to assist 400,000 IDPs in Khartoum to return to the South in 2008. Returnees assisted by the UN or IOM receive a reintegration kit, which includes food rations for three months, cooking utensils, agricultural tools, landmine protection kits, and applications for micro-credit schemes to support the local economy. Those who return on their own, however, receive little assistance, either in transit or in their destination community. Most of the returnees are settling in urban areas, either because rural areas lack the services required to integrate the incoming population, or because after years of living in urban-like camp settings or Khartoum, the refugees and IDPs have become accustomed to urban living. This has led to a significant "squatter" problem, increased competition for overtaxed resources, and in some cases, discrimination against returnees.
The return of refugees and IDPs to the South is important for the planned 2009 elections and 2011 referendum in which millions of displaced persons are an important constituency and the votes of those who decide to return may be decisive. A much-delayed national census was finally conducted at the end of April 2008, despite SPLM objections that IDPs and refugees who had not yet returned to the South were not to be included in the count. However, Southern Sudan faces major challenges in its capacity to absorb and provide services to the large number of returnees. Years of civil war have devastated the South, making infrastructure, including the development of mass communications, schools, health clinics, and water and sanitation facilities, one of the steepest challenges to be met by the new government. Returnees also face obstacles, including limited employment opportunities, continuing security concerns, restitution of displaced persons' land and property, potential communal tension, and unmet funding needs, which have limited the amount of assistance given to returnees and hindered development projects. The challenges that returnees face in the South, coupled with unmet high expectations for the what many Sudanese feel should be a faster pace of development for the South, have led many IDPs to return to Khartoum, despite pressure from authorities there and terrible camp conditions.
Commission Actions on Sudan
Sudan was one of the first countries to be a focus of attention by the Commission. Since its inception, the Commission has met with a broad range of government officials, religious leaders, human rights monitors, civil society representatives, and others knowledgeable about Sudan; has held public events to focus attention on religious freedom abuses in Sudan; has testified on Sudan at congressional hearings; and has visited Sudan to see the situation on the ground, traveling most recently to Khartoum, Kadugli in the Nuba Mountains and Juba, as well as to Nairobi and Lokichokio in Kenya in January 2006. In March 2006, the Commission issued Policy Focus: Sudan at a press conference with Members of Congress. In March 2007, the Commission co-sponsored a Capitol Hill event with the Hudson Institute's Center on Religious Freedom and the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights of the American Jewish Committee, to highlight congressional efforts on human rights and religious freedom in Sudan, in particular the work of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus's Task Force on International Religious Freedom. The same day, the Commission sent a letter to President Bush urging renewed U.S. leadership to achieve implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and to advance UN protection efforts in Darfur.
The Commission has made a series of recommendations regarding U.S. policy toward Sudan. In September 2001, following a Commission recommendation that the U.S. government appoint a nationally prominent individual to bring about a peaceful and just settlement of the North-South civil war in Sudan, President Bush appointed former Senator John Danforth as Special Envoy for Peace in Sudan, energizing the peace process. In September 2006, President Bush appointed former USAID Administrator and Special Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Andrew Natsios as Special Envoy for Sudan, again following a Commission recommendation. On January 10, 2008, Richard "Rich" Williamson succeeded Andrew Natsios in this position. Other U.S. actions have followed Commission recommendations, including the Administration's decisions to give peace in Sudan a higher priority on its foreign policy agenda, engage actively to move the warring parties toward peace, monitor progress toward implementation of a series of partial and preliminary peace agreements, limit the impact of U.S. Sudan sanctions on the South and other areas that have suffered from Khartoum's abuses, and use U.S. assistance more effectively in alleviating the suffering of the Sudanese people and in aiding development in Southern Sudan.
In addition to recommending that Sudan continue to be designated a CPC, the Commission urges the U.S. government to remain engaged at the highest levels in bringing about a just and lasting peace for all of Sudan. In April 2007, in a major policy address on Sudan, President Bush announced that should diplomacy on Darfur continue to fail to secure Khartoum's compliance with UN Security Council resolutions, the Administration would impose stronger measures on Khartoum, several of which the Commission recommends below. The Commission believes that the normalization of relations with Sudan and the lifting of U.S. sanctions must be preceded by concrete action and demonstrated progress by Khartoum in ending abuses, cooperating with international peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance operations in Darfur, and fully implementing the CPA.
I. Coalition-Building
The U.S. government should:
- build on the Special Envoy's efforts by lending the President's personal prestige to enlist international support, including from the European Union, Sudan's neighbors, and nations such as China and India that have major economic investments in Sudan, to press Khartoum to end its delaying tactics on CPA implementation;
II. CPA Verification and Follow-through
The U.S. government should:
- continue to press for the complete and timely implementation of the CPA's human rights, power-sharing, revenue-sharing, and security arrangements, compliance that must include 1) Khartoum's unconditional acceptance of the ruling of the Abyei Boundary Commission, which the U.S. government has a special obligation to enforce and see through to its implementation, 2) the verifiable termination of all support for militias or elements of the Ugandan insurgent Lord's Resistance Army operating in the South, and 3) the lifting of restrictions on peaceful political activities throughout the country in advance of elections;
- hold both the Northern leadership and the SPLM/A to the current schedule for elections and referenda, ensuring that these are true expressions of popular will and that their results are accepted and implemented;
- investigate and publicly report to the Congress every six months on the status of implementation of the CPA, with a particular focus on violations, assessing responsibility and indicating what actions are to be taken by the U.S. government in response; violations to be investigated should include the role of the Sudanese Armed Forces and associated militias in the November 2006 fighting in Malakal, and Khartoum's possible continued support for the Lord's Resistance Army; and
- consider new sanctions as needed to respond to non-compliance with the terms of the CPA, including targeted sanctions such as asset freezes and travel bans against individuals and institutions, e.g., the National Congress Party, identified as responsible for serious human rights abuses or for impeding CPA implementation.
III. Southern Sudan
The U.S. government should:
- continue to support and strengthen the Government of Southern Sudan, assisting in the development of institutions and infrastructure necessary to protect human rights, deter a resumption of civil war, support the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, and prepare the South for the 2011 referendum on the South's political future;
- alleviate the impact of remaining U.S. sanctions on all areas under the control of the Government of Southern Sudan and local institutions in the border areas of Abyei, Southern Blue Nile, and the Nuba Mountains, including sanctions on communications equipment; and
- provide, well in advance of the 2011 referendum, specific security guarantees for the South in the event that Khartoum seeks to renew the North-South civil war or otherwise impose its will by force in violation of the CPA.
IV. Promotion of Human Rights, including Freedom of Religion or Belief
The U.S. government should:
- use U.S. bilateral discussions with Sudan, as well as UN mechanisms and bilateral discussions with third countries with influence in Sudan, to urge Sudan's Government of National Unity to:
- allow all religious groups to conduct their activities without harassment, discrimination or undue interference, including activities such as publishing or importing religious literature, building, repairing, and operating houses of worship, and operating social service programs;
- repeal laws that punish changing one's religion or encouraging another to do so; end official accusations of blasphemy, apostasy, "offending Islam," or similar charges used to stifle public debate or restrict the right to freedom of expression;
- dismantle the burdensome bureaucratic obstacles the government places on international humanitarian assistance; remove the state security services from their current role in regulating humanitarian assistance;
- establish an independent and impartial national Human Rights Commission as called for in the Interim National Constitution and in accordance with the international standards1 for such bodies in terms of independence, adequate funding, a representative character, and a broad mandate that includes freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief;
- abandon efforts to force religious organizations to register as non-governmental organizations under regulations that give government officials effective control over their activities;
- permit relations between national religious communities and their co-religionists abroad in accordance with universal human rights norms;
- reform the state security services to be representative of all Sudanese and ensure that all national institutions such as the military, law enforcement agencies, and the highest levels of the judiciary are representative and equally protective of all Sudanese regardless of religious affiliation or belief;
- end the impunity with which members of the security forces and others acting as agents of the government have engaged in human rights abuses; urge the establishment of effective mechanisms for accountability for past abuses; and in the absence of such bodies, provide full cooperation with international institutions, including those mandated by the UN Security Council;
- cease using government-controlled media for messages of intolerance and discrimination against non-Muslims;
- exclude negative stereotyping in school textbooks; include in school curricula, in textbooks, and in teacher training the concepts of tolerance and respect for human rights, including freedom of religion or belief; history texts should reflect the religious and cultural diversity of Sudan's past;
- undertake a comprehensive review, in collaboration with Sudanese civil society and independent international experts, to bring Sudanese law into compliance with Sudan's international human rights obligations; and
- cooperate fully with international mechanisms on human rights issues, including inviting further visits by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Sudan, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the UN Human Rights Council's High-Level Mission on the Situation of Human Rights in Darfur and comply with the Mission's recommendations.
V. Personnel Resources
The U.S. government should:
- ensure that the Special Envoy has the personnel and other support needed to fulfill his mandate of facilitating the implementation of the CPA and pursuing peace in Darfur;
- appoint a high-level official to ensure that U.S. resources and influence are used effectively to assist the safe and voluntary return of Sudan's refugees and internally displaced persons; and
- strengthen the capability of the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum to monitor implementation of the crucial human rights provisions of the CPA and to report on human rights abuses, including religious freedom in the North, as well as to advance the U.S. human rights agenda in Sudan by appointing a ranking official reporting to the Ambassador and working full-time on human rights.
VI. U.S. Foreign Assistance
The U.S. government should:
- ensure that USAID, the State Department's Human Rights and Democracy Fund, and other providers of U.S. government assistance develop a strategy and fund specific programs to 1) promote implementation of the human rights and religious freedom provisions of the CPA, and 2) advance legal protections and respect for freedom of religion or belief throughout Sudan, in recognition of (a) the central role of religion as a factor in the North-South civil war, and (b) the emphasis within the CPA on religious freedom concerns; the programs funded by USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives should also be expanded;
- adopt as specific objectives for these U.S. programs:
- improved citizen awareness and enforcement of the legal protections for human rights included in the CPA, the Interim National Constitution, the Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan, and the international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Sudan is a party;
- grassroots reconciliation and "peace through dialogue" among Sudanese, including building on steps USAID has already taken to promote reconciliation among Southern Sudanese, recognizing that participants in such programs must be transported, housed, and fed; participants should specifically include religious and other civil society leaders from Sudan's diverse religious and ethnic communities;
- greater capacity of those elements of civil society throughout Sudan (i.e. the North, the South, and the transitional areas) that promote religious tolerance, respect for human rights, and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, to advance those goals on both the national and the local levels; and
- development of an independent and impartial judiciary in Southern Sudan, including through training of judges, prosecutors, court administrators, and support personnel, with the aim to ensure international standards of due process, fair trial, and non-discrimination;
- expand the use of educational and cultural exchanges, such as the Fulbright Program, the International Visitors Program, and lectures by visiting American scholars and experts, in order to introduce more Sudanese to the experience of societies in which religious freedom and other human rights are protected by law; preference should be given to programs that bring together leaders from various religious and ethnic backgrounds from the North, South, and the transitional areas;
- expand international radio broadcasting to Sudan to provide objective sources of news and information and to improve awareness of the CPA and its implementation, including specific programming promoting grass-roots reconciliation and respect for freedom of religion; support independent television and radio broadcasting, including in the South, to the same end; and
- promptly dispense financial assistance for humanitarian purposes, to build civil society, and to promote economic development in Southern Sudan, including in the area of an independent telecommunications network.
VII. Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons
The U.S. government should:
- increase support to UN agencies and their NGO partners in facilitating the spontaneous – as well as organized – voluntary return of refugees and the internally displaced, including through intensified efforts to monitor spontaneous or "self-assisted" returns to the South, provide safer modes of transportation, de-mine roadways, and develop a comprehensive return and reintegration strategy, as well as development plans, to enhance the capacity of Southern Sudan to absorb large numbers of IDPs and refugees;
- increase technical assistance programs to assist the Government of Southern Sudan to develop and provide for basic services, including education, health, and water sanitation, to the returnees;
- work with UN agencies and NGO partners to ensure that the populations that remain in refugee and IDP camps continue to receive at least the same level of humanitarian assistance as before, so they are not unduly pressured into making "voluntary" returns; and
- work with other resettlement countries, UNHCR, and its NGO partners to ensure that UNHCR expeditiously identifies those refugees for whom repatriation is not an appropriate or imminent solution to their displacement, including those who have suffered from past persecution; secure, as appropriate, timely local integration in countries of first asylum or resettlement to third countries for such refugees; and promptly devise a strategy to achieve this concurrent with efforts to repatriate refugees to Sudan.
VIII. Victims of Slavery and Human Trafficking
The U.S. government should:
- urge Sudan's Government of National Unity to prosecute strictly the crime of abduction into slavery, most of whose victims are women and children taken during the North-South civil war or in Darfur by government-sponsored militias, and ensure the speedy identification, voluntary return, and family reunification of victims, as well as measures for their rehabilitation and reparation.
IX. Peace in Darfur
The U.S. government should:
- closely monitor the Sudanese government's compliance with UN Security Council resolutions addressing the conflict in Darfur;
- support a stronger international presence in Sudan sufficient to protect civilian populations and to monitor compliance with the peace accords and Security Council resolutions, including by:
- urging the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) to protect civilians in accordance with the highest international standards for peacekeeping operations;
- providing resources such as improved communications equipment, reliable vehicles and helicopters, and logistics assistance to enable peacekeepers to move quickly to places where abuses are occurring;
- bringing in advisers on civilian protection issues in armed conflict to train and work with international force commanders;
- ensuring that there is a secure environment for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the return of refugees and the internally displaced; providing an early warning system with GPS (global positioning system) capability to warn camps and villages of approaching forces;
- supporting the assignment of designated protection teams to camps for internally displaced persons;
- supporting the active enforcement of the aerial "no-fly" zone already specified in Security Council Resolution of March 29, 2005, which calls for the immediate cessation of "offensive military flights in and over the Darfur region";
- taking measures to prevent – and providing aid to those victimized by – widespread sexual violence and rape in Darfur, including by training advisers for the international forces in Darfur and by encouraging participating nations to include female troops and female police officers in their deployment to handle rape cases effectively; and
- supporting a substantial increase in the number of human rights monitors from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and in the number of international peacekeepers deployed in Darfur;
- prevail upon the government of Sudan to provide needed humanitarian access to international relief organizations;
- continue efforts to aid the suffering civilian population of Darfur, including by seeking an end to killing, to ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, and to Sudanese government impediments to the distribution of international humanitarian assistance; assisting refugees and internally displaced persons to return home in safety; and promoting a ceasefire as well as a peaceful and just resolution of the grievances that underlie the crisis; and
- urge the Sudanese authorities to cooperate with the international prosecution of those accused of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law in connection with the events in Darfur since July 1, 2002, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1593 of March 31, 2005, by handing Ahmad Harun and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (also known as Ali Kushayb) over to the International Criminal Court.
1 Principles Relating to the Status and Functioning of National Institutions for Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, found in the Annex to Fact Sheet No. 19, National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu6/2/fs19.htm, accessed April 3, 2008).


text:
Thank you for your interest in Ko Olina Resort News! The public relations team at Ko Olina strives to support the media in every way and are committed to providing materials in the most accurate and timely manner possible. For more information contact our public relations team at: firstname.lastname@example.com.
A couple of weeks ago, a FlightScope Xi+ launch monitor landed on my desk. This state-of-the-art Doppler radar launch monitor will track your golf ball as it flies through the air, as well as detect your golf club as it passes through the impact area. (The integral components of the monitor were designed to track missiles off warships, so tracking your golf ball over a few hundred yards is child's play for it!)
The data transferred wirelessly to a tablet will then give our trained club fitters the information needed to properly tune a set of irons and woods to your swing. The FlightScope's data set includes: club head speed; ball speed; smash factor; launch angle; spin rate; carry distance; total distance; side deviation.
When we fit clubs, we look at several different parameters – head style; shaft flex; shaft weight; shaft kick point; shaft length; lie angle; loft; and grip size - to find the best possible combination for your game.
The Ko Olina Golf Academy has recently doubled its inventory of club fitting options by adding Mizuno and Nike to its original stable of Taylormade and Titleist fitting systems, giving the consumer a wider variety of options for their new set.
If you are interested in seeing what the latest technology can do to improve your game, click here for our Club Fitting Web Page, call (808) 676-5300 or email email@example.com for an appointment or for more details.
We are the only facility on Oahu that offers public access to an outdoor Doppler radar launch monitor!
Visit Ko Olina Golf Club »
Stay informed, Sign up to receive upcoming Ko Olina Resort events and specials.
Post Comment
by , Monday, April 25, 2016, (200)
by , Thursday, April 14, 2016, (200)
by , Friday, April 08, 2016, (262)
by , Thursday, April 07, 2016, (450)
Request information: email@example.com
Sign up and request our Press Kit today.
Contact information here.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
WASHINGTON (AP) - Dozens of people opposed to President Barack Obama's call for a U.S. military strike against Syria are picketing outside the White House.
Chanting "They say more war; we say no war," speakers say Saturday's picket line marks a line Congress should not cross as it prepares to vote on the issue.
Many lawmakers in both parties oppose President Obama's request for Congress to authorize using military force against Syria for a deadly chemical gas attack the Obama administration blames on President Bashar Assad.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee cleared the authorization measure earlier this week. The first votes by the full Senate could come Wednesday.
President Obama left the White House during the protest, traveling by car to Andrews Air Force Base to play golf with three aides.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


text:
Ever since I was deposited in the office of my first psychiatrist as a teen, I've thought that every single person in the world could benefit from therapy. Which is ironic, since I haven't actually liked most of my therapists until I met the one I'm currently seeing. But that aside, there are myriad benefits to psychoanalysis, including but not limited to the fact that it helps you sort through your issues.
Why I Love Therapy: A Gallery
- 5 years ago by Jessica P. Ogilvie
- 2 Comments »
- Share a Tip
|When I Need a Brazilian Bikini Wax, I Go To A Waxer, When I Need Therapy, I Go To a Therapist
|Apartment Therapy, Relationship Therapy: When Should You Move In Together?
|Review: HeelTastic Intensive Heel Therapy


text: For the most part this board is the metal/punk type..... in no way do I dislike that. I truly like just about every type of shit. But I love electronic music and know there are those that love it too....not just electro or techno, hip/hop, etc...Im calling out ENM, Whitey, and Cernoch, (also those Burleque boys...Diplo, spankrock, I see that shit) and others who love this shizzzzz so, show your F-A-C-E!


text:
Man dead after metal beam falls on him
Victor Lizarraga was employed with Metal-Bilt Construction LLC. He was working on a project to expand a building on 38th Avenue.
Published: Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 6:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, January 15, 2010 at 10:51 p.m.
An Orlando man died Friday morning after a metal beam weighing approximately 1,500 pounds fell on him.
Victor Lizarraga, 40, employed with Metal-Bilt Construction LLC out of Orlando, was reportedly attaching a safety cable to the beam when it fell.
He was working on a project to expand an existing building at National Parts Depot at 900 S.W. 38th Ave.
Metal-Bilt is a subcontractor on the project.
The accident occurred in an outdoor area where several beams were being erected.
Reportedly, Lizarraga and others were attempting to erect two I-beams in an "X" pattern when one of the 35-foot-tall beams fell.
According to Ocala Fire Rescue officials, they got a 911 call at 8:47 a.m.
The man was pronounced deceased at 8:50 a.m.
OSHA officials were en route to the scene Friday morning.
Officials with National Parts Depot did not respond to requests for comment.
Contact Austin L. Miller at 867-4118.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.
Comments are currently unavailable on this article


text:
You searched for: Subjects Addresses Remove constraint Subjects: Addresses Start Over
1 to 1 of 1
Search Results
1. An address to the class of medical graduates of the University of Pennsylvania, delivered at the public commencement, March 29th, 1856
- Author(s):
- Wood, George B. (George Bacon), 1797-1879
Welch, Thomas B., 1814-1874, engraver
University of Pennsylvania. Dept. of Medicine
McClees & Germon, photographer
- Publisher:
- Philadelphia : T.K. and P.G. Collins, 1856
- Subject(s):
- Character
Life Style


text:
Top 50 Trucking Companies: Strongest get smarter
April 01, 2012
Emerging from the three-year freight recession that slashed freight capacity and rates, the nation's top trucking companies view themselves as innovators, collaborators, technology leaders, and operational experts—not just as survivors of the Great Recession.
They also say that they've had to be part psychologist to retain drivers, part soothsayer to try and predict the future cost of fuel, and part accountant to keen eye on ever-rising costs wherever possible.
Trucking insiders add that although all trucking companies basically use the same equipment over the same highways with the same pool of drivers, the Top 50 manage to differentiate themselves on many levels. According to John Larkin, longtime trucking analyst for Stifel Nicolaus, it starts at the top.
"When management intensity is high the organization pays attention to the details," says Larkin. "Management at the Top 50 is thinking 3 years to 5 years down the road to make sure that changes in the market and the industry don't leave the company up a creek without a paddle," he says.
Logistics Management's (LM) annual listing of the nation's top trucking companies, compiled by leading trucking analyst firm SJ Consulting, runs the gamut of size and scope. There are units the likes of UPS Freight and FedEx Freight that are subsidiaries of multibillion corporations; and then there are family-owned companies such as New England Motor Freight, a unit of the Shevell Group overseen by founder, Myron Shevell, a man with six decades of trucking experience.
But what all of these top operators have in common is operational excellence. Here's a look at what's making the Top 50 run like clockwork, and what shippers can expect from the best in class.
Common denominators
All trucking companies basically utilize the same trucks with the same population of drivers and run the same routes. Yet, there are key differentiators that set the best players apart from the rest. The nation's leading trucking executives recently opened up to LM to explain what they do best.
Herb Schmidt, president of Con-way Truckload, says one common denominator among the Top 50 carriers is certainly their commitment to safety, among other basics. "It's the ABCs of doing things right," says Schmidt. "That encompasses compliance, having top-notch equipment, hiring the best people, all of that."
Trucking analysts comb all aspects of a carrier's operation and they say they see certain values, an operational culture of excellence, and other expertise that sets the best apart from the rest. "They all have great information technology systems because you can't manage intensively without the information to make high quality decisions," says Larkin.
And if you dig a little deeper you also find that all of the Top 50 have a culture that accepts and positively reacts to management intensity. To this point, Larkin adds that the best trucking companies offer "customer communication that is a two-way street in the spirit of collaboration, not the old take-or-leave-it approach under the regulated mindset of the industry prior to deregulation in 1980."
Today's trucking leaders say they have to be part crystal ball reader, part operational genius, and part sales person extraordinaire to survive in an industry where even in the best of the times, the industry operates on razor-thin profit margins.
"We're always thinking ahead, trying to predict the future," says Steve O'Kane, president of A. Duie Pyle, a leading regional LTL company. "We have been correct often enough to remain not only viable, but healthy, debt-free, and profitable."
Then, there are the operational nuts and bolts—the blocking and tackling—that all the top carriers share. This allows their asset utilization to be high through elimination of empty miles. They also run fleets that are relatively new and highly fuel efficient, allowing their asset life cycle costs to remain relatively low, according to Larkin. "And to fill the cabs of that equipment, they all offer top-notch driver recruiting, training, and retention programs," he adds.
And to top it off, the Top 50 have been able to keep their financial houses in order as well. This fact is especially important now, as the industry appears to be entering a period of tightening capacity and rising freight demand. At the same time, shippers with tight just-in-time inventory replenishment cycles simply can't afford to be without carriers with sufficient financial staying power, analysts say.
"Pricing is reflective of the service provided," adds Larkin. "Their balance sheets are not overly leveraged."
About the Author
Contributing Editor
John D. Schulz has been a transportation journalist for more than 20 years, specializing in the trucking industry. He is known to own the fattest Rolodex in the business, and is on a first-name basis with scores of top-level trucking executives who are able to give shippers their latest insights on the industry on a regular basis. This wise Washington owl has performed and produced at some of the highest levels of journalism in his 40-year career, mostly as a Washington newsman.
Subscribe to Logistics Management magazine
entire logistics operation. Start your FREE subscription today!


text:
Morning Marketplace
This FOX Richmond Morning Marketplace segment spotlights GRTC Ride Finders the premiere agency that promotes carpooling, and ride sharing.in the Richmond area. They are also partnering with Richmond 2015, to bring world class cycling to Richmond.
Wednesday, September 18 2013, 10:52 AM CDT
Who's on the show?
Video List
Morning Marketplace Bio
Watch Morning Marketplace weekday mornings after FOX Richmond Morning News.. Get expert advise from the area`s top businesses and organizations and find out what`s happening in and around RVA. That`s Morning Marketplace, weekday mornings right here on FOX Richmond..


text:
Spokane, WA (Sports Network) - The No. 3 Gonzaga Bulldogs take aim at their
eighth win in a row as they host the Santa Clara Broncos at the McCarthey
Athletic Center for a West Coast Conference matchup.
The Bulldogs defeated Santa Clara, 81-74, in the first meeting this season
between these teams on Jan. 5 to increase their all-time series lead to 47-32.
Kelly Olynyk registered a monster double-double of 33 points and 10 rebounds
to lead Gonzaga, while Kevin Foster pumped in 29 points to pace the Broncos.
Santa Clara has completely turned things around after going winless in WCC
action a season ago. The Broncos come in with a 19-8 overall record including
a 7-5 mark against league rivals. SCU notched its second win in a row on
Saturday as it downed Pepperdine, 70-60, at home. Foster is one of the top
scorers in the conference at 18.4 ppg, but he has plenty of help on the
offensive end with Mark Trasolini (15.4 ppg, 8.1 rpg), Evan Roquemore (12.5
ppg, 5.7 apg) and Raymond Cowels III (9.9 ppg).
Foster continued to spearhead the charge against Pepperdine, finishing with a
game-high 22 points to push the Broncos to the 10-point decision. Brandon
Clark chipped in 15 points in the contest, while Roquemore tallied 10 points,
six rebounds and five assists for SCU, which connected on 47.2 percent of its
field goal tries and limited the Waves to just 38.3 percent field-goal
efficiency. Coach Kerry Keating has done a terrific job getting his squad to
maintain balance, as the Broncos are fourth in the WCC in both scoring offense
(75.4) and scoring defense (66.3).
Mark Few's Bulldogs continued their winning streak on Saturday as they invaded
San Francisco's War Memorial Gymnasium to seize a 71-61 victory over the Dons.
Olynyk posted 26 points and Elias Harris registered a double-double of 17
points and 13 boards. Gonzaga's No. 3 ranking has been achieved through
excellence on both ends of the court, as it leads the WCC in scoring offense
(78.3) and scoring defense (61.2).
Olynk is a tremendous weapon in the post for Gonzaga as he is converting 64.9
percent of his field goal tries to produce a team-best 18.0 ppg which he
accompanies with 6.9 rebounds per outing. Harris adds 14.5 points and a team-
high 7.5 rebounds per contest from the forward slot. While the Zags' forwards
demand attention on the interior, sophomore point guard Kevin Pangos punishes
opponents from the perimeter with 12.0 points, 3.4 assists and 1.5 steals a
game. Pangos is one of most explosive 3-point shooters in the nation with 43.8
percent efficiency from beyond the arc.
The Sports Network


text:
Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Chicago Blackhawks right wing Marian Hossa was
back in the lineup for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Boston
Hossa, whose 15 points this postseason is tied for the team lead, sat out
Monday's 2-0 loss to the Bruins after suffering an upper-body injury during
pregame warmups. The three-time 40-goal scorer did not participate in
Wednesday's morning skate as a precaution, but did take part in the pre-
game warmup.
Hossa, a 15-year NHL veteran with 434 career goals, has tallied seven goals
and eight assists along with a plus-eight rating in 19 games during this
year's playoffs.
Chicago enters Game 4 trailing the best-of-seven series 2-1 after losing the
last two matchups with Boston.
The Sports Network


text:
By David Colton, USA TODAY
Now, with the choice of Rep. Paul Ryan, a boyish and sure-footed policy wonk from Wisconsin, Romney heads a Republican ticket that returns the focus to the economy, with a detailed and controversial budget plan on the table.
Ryan is the GOP's favorite deficit warrior, and his selection had been urged by numerous worried conservatives.
The buzz of the morning is that a decidedly nasty presidential contest might end up being "about something'' after all, pitting Democrats against Republicans on the bottomless pocketbook issues of spending, taxes, jobs and entitlements.
But the choice of the 42-year-old, a seven-term congressman, may be more perilous than that. Paul Ryan's public vetting has only just begun.
There's no doubt that Romney, struggling in recent polls, has deftly recast November, at least for now, as a pivot point for the future - choosing a budget-cutter who could not view government more differently than Obama and the Democrats.
Ryan's attempts over several years to remake the normally untouchable Medicare program - he'd allow those under 55 to leave Medicare and instead buy their own insurance with government assistance - passed the House but was assailed by Democrats and died in the Senate. The plan was even criticized as "right-wing social engineering" by Newt Gingrich.
But Ryan's ideas to limit entitlements remain hugely popular with most conservatives. If nothing else, Romney's pick of the plain-talking and personable congressman could attract deficit-worried independents and Democrats as well as charged-up Republicans.
The Romney campaign issued a press release labeling the Romney-Ryan ticket "America's Comeback Team."
Even before the two appeared on stage together, Democrats appeared delighted by the choice, eager to go after a Romney running mate who, they say, had targeted popular social programs and promised to - as Obama characterized it - "end Medicare as we know it.'' As a preview of what may be coming, Obama in April called the Ryan's budget plan "thinly veiled social Darwinism."
Beyond the economic divide, though, the choice of the relatively unknown Ryan is not without substantial political risk:
•Who's in charge here? Unlike most vice presidential hopefuls, Ryan brings a clear and well-articulated agenda to the ticket, policies that, as Romney hinted to NBC News on Thursday, are "a vision for the country that adds something to the political discourse."
And Ryan told CNN back in April that Romney needed to offer voters "the right kind of referendum, the choice of two futures."
But if Ryan is seen as the intellectual engine of the ticket, where does that leave Romney? He is already under fire from Democrats and some Republicans for changing positions on issues such as abortion and the health care plan he pioneered when he was governor of Massachusetts.
•Is energizing the base enough? Political history is full of vice presidential footnotes who "energized" the party faithful but ultimately brought little to the election itself.
Democrats were ecstatic when Geraldine Ferraro was named Walter Mondale's running mate in San Francisco in 1984. But mired by questions about her husband's real estate dealings, she mostly watched as Mondale was crushed by incumbent Ronald Reagan.
More recently, of course, Sarah Palin's pop star popularity had a flip side for John McCain's chances in 2008. Palin's "hockey moms" weren't enough to stop Obama's message of change.
At the same time, Ryan's blue-collar Wisconsin background and personal popularity - he's won his last six races with no less than 63% of the vote - could give Romney a boost there and in other Midwest states such as Ohio, desperately needed if any Republican is to oust an incumbent Democratic president.
•What about foreign affairs? Ryan has been in Congress for 13 years, including his chairmanship of the House Budget Committee. His career almost exclusively has centered on economics and the budget, so much so that he has called himself a "policy entrepreneur."
Democrats will question his foreign policy experience, and the contrast with Vice President Joe Biden on that score could be a flashpoint at the vice presidential debate in Danville, Ky., Oct. 11.
Still, it is rare that a vice presidential candidate's foreign policy experience - Palin's interview blunders notwithstanding - have counted for much.
•Can he be president? Finally, and possibly most importantly, will Ryan be seen as capable of stepping in as a potential president?
He is young at 42, although if elected he'd be the same age as Theodore Roosevelt, and older than vice presidents Dan Quayle (41), and Richard Nixon (40). The youngest vice president ever was John C. Breckinridge (36 when sworn in with Democratic President James Buchanan in 1857).
Presidential elections are more than policy debates, and how Ryan defines himself before the voters could be as important as the details of spending cuts and appropriations. A product of Washington - Ryan worked as a congressional aide and think-tank staffer before being elected at the age of 28 - Romney's vice presidential choice now must take center stage on his own, at least for awhile.


text:
Day One: Tech InspectionWritten by Mike Finnegan on September 9, 2012 Contributors: Elana Scherr
It's Day One of Hot Rod Drag Week 2012 Presented by Gear Vendors and Tulsa Raceway Park is packed solid with the fastest street cars in the world. This truly is a worldwide event as competitors from Australia, England, and Canada have traveled to the U.S. to prove who's driving the baddest street legal car around. We capped the event at 250 entries and even with last-minute drop-outs we are rapidly approaching the limit. For now, enjoy the first wave of photos from tech inspection and check back tomorrow for more Test N' Tune session dragstrip passes.


text:
The American Motorcyclist Association fears
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be trying to reduce
motorcycle use. What triggered this concern?
A Nov. 21, 2013 letter from U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) to the
Centers for Disease Control questions the work of a CDC advisory group
called the Community Preventive Services Task Force. Walberg asked the
CDC if it is trying to reduce motorcycle ridership by pursuing a federal
mandatory motorcycle helmet-use law. The concern arises from a
presentation at a task force meeting in October 2013.
What happened at the task force meeting?
At its meeting in October 2013, the task force viewed a CDC
staff-prepared presentation about the benefits of universal helmet laws.
One of the slides links the adoption of universal helmet-use laws to a
potential reduction in motorcycle riding, which would help meet the
CDC's goal to reduce injuries and fatalities. (The task force had
previously approved a recommendation for universal motorcycle helmet
laws at its meeting in June 2013.)
Why is the AMA concerned?
Like Rep. Walberg, the AMA questions what expertise and authority the
CDC and its task force have in the traffic safety arena. Motorcycling is
not a disease to be cured; it is a legitimate means of transportation
and recreation enjoyed by an estimated 11 million Americans.
What are the ramifications of a potential reduction in motorcycle ridership because of a universal helmet-use law?
The ramifications are deeply troubling and potentially very damaging to
the future of motorcycling. If, as the task force suggests, a universal
helmet-use law reduces ridership, the outcome would be the loss of
thousands of jobs in an industry that generates nearly $20 billion
annually in consumer sales and services, state taxes and licensing fees.
It's also a direct attack on the lifestyle of millions of motorcycle
riders in the U.S.
Is the AMA against helmet use?
On the contrary, the AMA strongly encourages the use of a properly
fitted motorcycle helmet certified by its manufacturer to meet the DOT
standard. However, the AMA does not support universal helmet laws. The
AMA believes that adults should have the right to voluntarily decide
when to wear a helmet. Helmets do not prevent crashes and the AMA
believes government resources should be directed toward programs that
reduce the risk of crashes occurring such as voluntary rider education
and motorist awareness programs.
What has been done so far?
The AMA has been in touch with Rep. Walberg, who is asking the CDC to
explain itself on this issue. Additionally, AMA Vice President for
Government Relations Wayne Allard has delivered a letter to the CDC
director and the task force asking for an explanation of their goals.
What can I do to help?
Your voice helps tremendously and we urge you to take action. Tell your
elected representatives that this issue is important to you. The best
way to do that is through the AMA's website,
www.americanmotorcyclist.com, and the rapid-response tools available by
clicking on Rights > Issues and Legislation.
What happens next?
The AMA remains vigilant on this issue, and you can find the latest information on www.americanmotorcyclist.com.


text:
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia
Other Names for this Disease
- Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy
See Disclaimer regarding information on this site. Some links on this page may take you to organizations outside of the National Institutes of Health.
ventricle of the heart is replaced by fat and/or scar tissue. The condition is progressive and over time the right ventricle loses the ability to pump blood.[1] Individuals with ARVD often develop abnormal heart rhythms known as arrhythmias, which can increase the risk of sudden cardiac arrest or death. Other symptoms of ARVD include chest palpitations, dizziness, fainting and shortness of breath. Often, sudden cardiac death can be the first sign of ARVD. ARVD is caused by genetic mutations in genes that instruct proteins to link one heart cell to the next. There is also some evidence that ARVD could be caused by an infection of the heart muscle. Treatment options can vary by patient and may include anti-arrhythmogenic medication, implantable cardioverter defibrillators and catheter ablation.[2][3]Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD) is an inherited heart condition in which the muscle of the right
Last updated: 1/30/2013
- Cleveland Clinic. Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia (ARVD). March 2010; http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/disorders/heartfailure/arvd.aspx. Accessed 1/28/2013.
- Johns Hopkins Medicine. Symptoms and Diagnosis. ARVD. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/heart_vascular_institute/clinical_services/centers_excellence/arvd/symptoms_diagnosis/patients/index.html. Accessed 1/28/2013.
- Eric Anderson. Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia. American Family Physician. April 2006; 8:1391-1398. http://www.aafp.org/afp/2006/0415/p1391.html. Accessed 1/28/2013.
GARD Video TutorialsLearn how to find information on treatment, research, specialists, and more.
Your Questions AnsweredView questions about this condition answered by GARD Information Specialists. You can also submit a new question.
On this page
In Depth Information
- Medscape Reference provides information on this topic. You may need to register to view the medical textbook, but registration is free.
- Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) is a catalog of human genes and genetic disorders. Each entry has a summary of related medical articles. It is meant for health care professionals and researchers. OMIM is maintained by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
- PubMed is a searchable database of medical literature and lists journal articles that discuss Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia. Click on the link to view a sample search on this topic.
Other Names for this Disease
- Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy
See Disclaimer regarding information on this site. Some links on this page may take you to organizations outside of the National Institutes of Health.


text:
44th Annual NSRA Street Rod Nationals - Part 1Written by on January 22, 2014 Classic Pickups Head to Louisville
This past August marked the 44th annual National Street Rod Association Street Rod Nationals, bringing thousands of street rods and classic trucks to the fairgrounds at the Kentucky Exposition Center. This year was the 19th year the Nationals has been held in Louisville and the 16th at the fairgrounds.
During the course of these years there has always been a pretty darn good turnout of street rod pickups (1927 to 1940s), F-1s, and of course 1947 and 1948 Chevys, but in all honesty, it's been mainly the domain of street rods for years. But, a couple of seasons ago the NSRA has opened up the year break for the Nats up to and including 1980, so now we post 1948 vintage classic truck owners have the opportunity to be a part of one of the biggest and most exciting events in the hobby, and though the classic truck turnout was huge compared to any previous gathering, I'm hoping that the Nats will become a premier classic truck destination in the future.
Take a look at a small fraction of the great-looking classic pickups that were on hand keeping in mind that the show draws cars and trucks numbering anywhere between 8,000 and 12,000 entries every year. Speaking of numbers, since we didn't have anywhere near the space we needed in this issue, we're going to show you even more of the cool classic trucks from Louisville in our Part 2 of the coverage next month. This is a show you've just got to add to your event calendars; you won't be sorry, we promise.
More Photos From This Article View Slideshow
Ernie Barrett's beautiful 1958 Ranchero stopped us in our tracks. I have owned three Rancheros over the years (a 1963 and two 1957s), so you might imagine that I have a soft spot for these babies as well.Lone Star Lug Nuts member Durwood Beach made his way to Louisville from Kilgore, Texas, with his slick 1965 Chevy short Fleetside. We're finally starting to see a bunch of 1963 to 1966 Chevys this past year or so and we're lovin' it.We've run across Rick and Karen Basham's way-cool suede 1956 Chevy in years past and like it better and better each time we see it. The couple's small-window just plain has "the look" and I'll be happy if my own 1957 project comes out even half as nice.Don't get the impression that the fairgrounds are filled with Chevys by any means. There are plenty of lovely Fords on hand every year too, like Don and Kentrena Story's 1946 and 1948. What a great example of classic trucking family style!Roy Pickerill's five-spoke-shod 1947 is another great-looking Chevy we came across at the Nats and it's a body style we'll never get tired of for sure.The 1947 to 1954 Chevy 3100s are the epitome of the classic Chevrolet pickup and Dave Hougham's beautiful 1948 is a perfect example as to why.Jack Sorich calls Louisville home, so it made for a short trip to the show behind the wheel of his show-winning ISCA-caliber 1956 F-100. This is one of the nicest Effies we've run across in years.Tim Cimbanio(?) made his way all the way up to Louisville from Jarrell, Texas, to enjoy the show. If Tim's 1965 Chevy drives as well as it looks it must have been a pleasant trip!
Jason McKeller went all out rodstoring his awesome Little Rock, Arkansas-based 1966 F-100. The cool tilt-nose setup we're so used to seeing on earlier style pickups really works for the later models too.Steve Southard's great looking F-1 is a great example of the many "survivor-style" pickups that are all the rage these days. If I were to venture a guess I'd have to say there were hundreds of equally patina'd classic pickups in Louisville this past season.


text:
iCheapskate: 35 amazing free games for iPad and iPhone
It's strange to think that Apple's pricey mobile hardware led to an extremely diverse ecosystem of hugely affordable games. But whereas handheld consoles have historically been lumbered with expensive cartridges, Apple pioneered a digital-only approach and embraced all-comers - indies and majors alike - leading to a staggering number of titles being created for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
With such a selection on offer, the fight for gamers' eyes and thumbs now often involves minimising barriers to entry, and so thousands of free iOS games exist. Many of them would embarrass a type-in listing for a ZX81, but the standouts are among the best titles mobile gaming has to offer.
The 35 you'll read about here encompass a wide range of genres, from frantic arcade fare through to thoughtful multiplayer turn-based strategy. Although most of our choices include some kind of in-app currency system, none require payment in order to get some enjoyment from them; that said, if you love one of the games to death and want to reward the developer accordingly, they'll always be grateful for a few bucks sent their way.
READ MORE: The 15 best Mac games right now
35. Radical (iPhone/iPad)
From the creators of the superb 'Mikey' series, Radical is reminiscent of what might happen if someone squashed Super Hexagon flat with a rolling pin. You move your little ship left and right, in order to not smash into a wall. The screen's wraparound nature means you must often exit stage right, in order to reach a gap on the left. It's easy at first, but soon becomes a tough endurance test.
Download Radical here
34. Sky Force 2014 (iPhone/iPad)
Sky Force 2014
Sky Force titles have been providing old-school shoot 'em up larks on the iPhone since 2009, but this latest release takes things to a whole new level.
It's gorgeous, with beautifully rendered environments and waves of ships zooming about the place. More importantly, the addictive gameplay that's the hallmark of the series remains intact, giving you a dazzling blaster with plenty of character for no coins at all.
The sole drawback is that it can get a bit grindy, although you can always spend some IAP on a star doubler to help you upgrade your craft more rapidly.
33. Sid Meier's Ace Patrol (iPhone/iPad)
Sid Meier's Ace Patrol
What-ho! The master of turn-based strategy takes to the air, in this rather jolly version of World War I ace pilots and their victories over the bally enemy. Essentially chess in the clouds, you strategise your way to the best locations for yelling "Chocks away!" and blasting foes into oblivion. IAPs open up more missions, but there's plenty here for nowt.
32. Punch Quest (iPhone/iPad)
Punch Quest
Most endless runners are more concerned with your character leaping about like a deranged bunny. Not here, where the heroes punch their way to victory. Jab! Uppercut! Slam! Pummel! Eight fingers and two thumbs are apparently all you need to defeat evil — at least until you discover power-ups and find a tame laser-spewing dinosaur to ride!
READ MORE: Apple iPhone 6 review
31. Groove Coaster Zero (iPhone/iPad)
Groove Coaster Zero
The rhythm-action game distilled to its purest form, Groove Coaster Zero merely demands a single digit and a sense of timing. As the music plays, you prod, press or swipe at precise moments to build your chain. Throughout, your eyes are wrenched from your skull as the track whirls, dives, and gleefully fires dazzling vector shapes every which way.
Liked that? Read this...
40 best free apps for Android
The 35 best games on Android right now


text:
Related Movies
My Best Friends Wedding
|Release Date: June 20, 1997
|Running Time: 105 mins.
|MPAA Rating: PG 13
|Box Office: $126,805,112.00
|Genre: Romantic Comedy
Julia Roberts
Dermot Mulroney
Cameron Diaz
Rupert Everett
All Cast & Crew >>
Summary:A 28-year-old woman, who years earlier made a pact with her closest male friend that if neither were married in ten years time they would marry one another, now faces the fact that the man is about to marry someone else. He asks her to be his "best man" and she agrees, planning to go to the ceremony and then break up the couple before they exchange their vows. Instead, she accepts the turn of events and realizes she doesn't need to be married to be happy.


text:
Evergreen's Give Green, Be Green holiday gift program is amazing! I'd love to give this to a fellow gardener or eco-minded pal.
Check out the Plant Green category. You can have a native sapling planted in a Canadian city or a pollinator garden planted in a public park or school; you can adopt an apple tree and Evergreen will share the fruit with a community in need or have a community garden planted in an urban space. It's so simple: You donate and Evergreen does all the dirty work (quite literally). Your recipient will receive an e-card letting them know that a donation has been made in their name (and you get to avoid the hectic shopping mall – talk about a win-win).
Other categories include Play Green, Build Green and Eat Green.
To see how these gifts make for greener cities, check out the Plant Green video. Visit givegreenbegreen.ca for more information and to purchase your green gift.


text:
- 1181Promote
Tote Bag
Dreamy Tribal Part VIIIby Pom Graphic Design
Our quality crafted Tote Bags are hand sewn in America using durable, yet lightweight, poly poplin fabric. All seams and stress points are double stitched for durability. Available in 13" x 13", 16" x 16" and 18" x 18" variations, the tote bags are washable, feature original artwork on both sides and a sturdy 1" wide cotton webbing strap for comfortably carrying over your shoulder.
My art focuses on nature elements in all its force. We can see many organic and geometrical shapes in them. I communicate life, energy and forces of nature through my art. I chose to paint in oils and acrylics and do illustrations in pencil, charcoal and rapidograph pen.
sensational my friend
this is one of my favorite!
Adam, Ilgradiconet and Life through the Lens thank you very much!
This is a great design, Pom. I love everything about it!
Thank you so much Cheryl! :)
Love this!!
beautiful designs :)
lovely design
Thank you Federico, Tyler, Kakel and Figen much appreciated!
Killer pattern design!
Very pretty and looks great on phone skin! These color and one gradations make is so fine!
Nice pattern :)
LOVE it!
Tordis, Valeria, AhaC, Eye and Elephant Trunk thank you so much!
Loving this pattern Pom, looking awesome on the products!
Thank you so much John! :)
Thank you Pete!
Stunning artwork! I'm absolutely in love with it)
Thanks a lot Ilyianne!
great dising!!! you are so talented!
I love this
Interesting pattern work! :)
Wonderful details!
Thank you so much everyone!
I love the way you mix the blue shapes and colours, great work! :)
Thank you very much Bamboo Words!
Love your designs !!!!!!!!
great work
Not bad as a print, but excellent on objects! :)
excellent work!!
I just got this as an ipad mini cover, AND IT IS PERFECT! I can's stop looking at it!!
Nice one - It will be even better if you could add 2 or 3 art editing tricks to your arts to make them brilliant. Check how to at: http://j.mp/artediting
Julia, Andrew, Nguyen, David, Trigun, Kara and Franchesta thank you so much!
Great design!
thank you Bekim!
Gorgeous design awesome colors!!!
Thank you so much Haroulita!
Really enjoyed looking through your work. Great stuff.
So beautiful!
Terrific design!
Absolutely gorgeous
Love it!
i also found a great message with a simple graphic is the best art ever! check out mine! see if we can sync!! http://society6.com/product/pm-051-32...
Love this!
love all your beautifully patterned work! very inspiring to me
Magnificent work!!!
Beautiful pattern!
that's a great design
just wonderful------ari
Nice! Love it!
ooh nice :)
Thank you so much everyone! much appreciated :)
Great ! A pleasure for the eyes.
The colours in this are amazing!
I absolutely love the colors. This is amazing.
These are gorgeous!!
Awesome design! Leggings are fabulous! :)
soooo cool!
Nice ! I promoted it plz do the same :)
Cool pattern! Love the colors.
Looks absolutely gorgeous as an All-Over T-Shirt!
Lovely design. Have followed and promoted the duvet cover. Thank you!
Very cool design!
good design
Beautiful design
beautiful work
Thank you so much everyone for your nice comments, much appreciated! :)
What a cool design! Love it on the shirt as well.
Love this so much! Promoted!
So good!
Perfect !
Gorgeous exploration of oriental and organic patterns
thank you so much everyone! ♡♡♡
So beautiful!
Love your Designs!
thank you very much Regan and Haylar!
This is an amazing design!
Happy to discover you!
Happy to discover you!
love it! so cool design!
Amazing design! Really like your works. Following ☺
Great design.
Makes a beautiful looking phone case !
love this color palette!
i love this
Wow, this is so dreamy and beautiful!
See More Comments


text:
McLean, Va. (WUSA)-- Deep brain stimulation is a life-changing surgery performed while the patient is awake. Its goal is to control the tremors and stiffness of movement disorders like Parkinson's Disease.
New research out today in the New England Journal of Medicine says it should be done earlier, before symptoms progress to a severe state. In fact, people with early motor complications of Parkinson's report a 26% increase in quality of life scores in the German study compared to people who kept trying to manage symptoms with medication alone.
Sutapa Kasibhatla is a Leesburg, Virginia mother who was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2004 at the exceptionally young age of 36, when her boys were only two and five years old.
WUSA 9 interviewed her in the fall of 2012, when Kasibhatla's uncontrolled tremors and rigidity in her limbs made it more and more difficult for her to do things with her family.
She said, "After almost eight years of Parkinson's, I've reached a stage where medications are not helping much."
So on November 15th, 2012, she underwent a deep brain stimulation procedure at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, an institution that's been performing DBS for more than 10 years.
In the operating room, a metal frame kept Sutapa's shaved head perfectly still, as neurosurgeon Dr. Howard Eisenberg guided a probe into the part of the brain that controls movement. He then implanted a stimulator that uses electricity to jam abnormal brain signals. During the procedure, neurologist Dr. Paul Fishman talks to the patient, and asks her to open and close her hands, move her feet, and follow other commands.
Later, a pacemaker to control that stimulator is implanted into Sutapa's chest that will send signals to the brain. After several weeks, when the surgical incisions have been able to heal, WUSA 9 interviewed Sutapa on the day the stimulator was turned on for the first time.
That day, she was full of anxious hope for a more normal, enjoyable life.
She described her hopes this way, "Normal stuff, to be able to run errands. To hug my kids. To be able to make lunches without shaking. To be a normal mom, and a normal wife. "
University of Maryland Medical Center neuropsychiatrist Karen Anderson showed Sutapa how to control the DBS settings with a remote, then adjusted the strenghth of the impulses to her brain. She had not taken any medication all morning, and her tremors and shaking were pronounced.
Her husband helped Sutapa try to stand and walk as the deep brain stimulation was re-adjusted. It wasn't easy, but progress was made in baby steps.
Finally, WUSA 9 visited the couple at home just this week, and Sutapa's improvement was evident. She had enough control of her movements to enjoy cooking again; she's even stenciling a wall with flowers, and walking up the stairs on her own. These are the reasons she underwent DBS in the first place.
Before the procedure, Sutapa says she told herself, "Others have done it and come through it and seen positive results. There's no reason I can't do it. I just have to be strong. "


text:
Style #:
For further details regarding our pricavy policies including the use of cookies please click here. For instructions on how to enable cookies please click here. If you need assistance one of our customer service representatives at 1-800-850-7463 would be glad to help.
Price: $99.95
Sale Price: $64.97 Save 35%
Select Your Size
Then, Select Your Width
Additional Views
Give your feet essential support and comfort while running with the M080 men's running shoes from New Balance. This multi-purpose shoe is built with Vibram outsole and a lightweight and flexible upper design for a versatile outdoor performance. A flexible trail running shoe from the New Balance Minimus line.
No Customers Have Reviewed This Product Yet
Share your thoughts with other customers
Enter email address to join our mailing list


text:
Makes 4.
1 litre vanilla icecream
1 1/2 cups pouring cream
1/4 cup icing sugar, sifted
8 currants, to decorate
Spoon the icecream into 4 x 1 1/4 cup-capacity white paper cups and freeze until required. Place the cream and icing sugar in a bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form. Spoon the cream into to a piping bag fitted with a 1 1/2 cm plain piping nozzle and pipe on to the icecream. Decorate each ghost with 2 currants for eyes. Serve immediately.
Tips and tricks
Soften the icecream for the ghost cups in a food processor before adding a few drops of green food colouring, roughly chopped chocolate-peppermint biscuits and a swirl of chocolate topping. Spoon into the cups and freeze until you're ready to serve.
* For more recipes by Donna Hay, click here.


text:
Style #:
For further details regarding our pricavy policies including the use of cookies please click here. For instructions on how to enable cookies please click here. If you need assistance one of our customer service representatives at 1-800-850-7463 would be glad to help.
Price: $89.95
Sale Price: $0.00 Save 100%
Select Your Size
Then, Select Your Width
Additional Views
To add a style to your alluring look, get the Spring Step Dreamer. Boasting of superior quality leather upper, this strappy slingback sandal with metal decorations offers extended durability and wear. For an easy on off, secure fit, and adjustability, there is a hook and loop closure. With a polyurethane insole, it provides amazing cushioning support and moisture control to keep your foot cool, calm, and dry. It offers excellent traction control and balance on all surfaces with its rubber outsole.
No Customers Have Reviewed This Product Yet
Share your thoughts with other customers
Enter email address to join our mailing list


text:
Todd Marcus
The Baltimore-based bass clarinetist, composer, and arranger performs with his own ensemble.
Related Artists
Recently Added Videos
Culinary Demonstration and Lecture from Chef Cathal Armstrong (Alexandria, VA)
Chef Cathal Armstrong (Restaurant Eve in Alexandria; multiple James Beard Award nominee) leads a cooking demonstration to showcase his commitment to complex, thoughtful dishes that combine his Irish roots and French training with American cuisine.
Featured Artist(s)
| Cathal Armstrong |
The Tossers (Chicago, IL)
Formed in 1993, the six-piece Celtic punk band from Chicago has been proudly spreading their Irish gospel across the globe, with no plans of slowing down. The Tossers' five albums have shown their impressive command of song structure and instrumentation.
Featured Artist(s)
| The Tossers |
Meet the 2016 Citizen Artist Fellows
The Gothard Sisters (Seattle, WA)
These three siblings from the Pacific Northwest bring the exciting rhythms of Ireland to their live shows with dance, music, and storytelling. Their special brand of performance blends folk and classical with new arrangements for a distinct Celtic flair.
Featured Artist(s)
| The Gothard Sisters |


text:
Tampa, Florida-- Hillsborough Attorney Renee Lee may be one step closer to losing her job following a deposition obtained by 10 News from former Commissioner Kevin White. The county is suing White, and Lee had several lunches with him and then lied about it.
When Lee's lies became public through a series of 10 News stories, it created a furor with commissioners, who are her bosses. Commissioner Mark Sharpe said last week he was going to tread strongly and follow the truth. However, the truth is going to be a problem for Lee. In the deposition, White says at one lunch with Lee she asked about his family then discussed how the case was going.
He says Lee then said, "I don't know why we are pursuing this (lawsuit)." White says Lee also said, "Anything I could do to help lighten the load, please feel free to let me know."
But she told commissioners she never discussed the case with White.
Lee told us she didn't violate any rules and there was no reason she and White couldn't have lunch. However, there are rules against an attorney having a legal conversation with someone her organization is suing, as well as rules against concocting a false story and lying. What the deposition proves is that Lee, who has already been labeled a liar by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, has a problem with the truth.
White says Lee learned 10 News was going to do a story and says, "Renee called me panicking about that story that was coming out."
Richard Harrison, the lawyer conducting the deposition, asks, "OK. What did she say?"
White replies, "Well, she said, 'Kevin, Mike Deeson is doing a story regarding this. We need to get our story together.'"
And while the county is suing White, Lee seemed sympathetic saying, "Sorry about the bad press you've been getting. I feel sorry for you. Hope you make it through OK. You have my sympathy, my prayers. We'll help you get through it."
Sharpe says there was a statement from Lee saying it was a boneheaded move and that is not good for the county in the legal battle.
It is a boneheaded move that could cost Lee her job.


text:
Today's hearing of the Helsinki Commission is focusing on the plight of those in southeastern Europe who have relatives and loved ones missing as a result of the conflicts associated with Yugoslavia's disintegration in the 1990s. The personal and heart-rending stories we will hear today are a good reminder that the wounds of war have a lasting and deep impact on societies and families feel the pain not only in this generation but the next.
Our panel consists of four individuals. Two of our panelists are from Kosovo and remain displaced from their original homes. One has many family members who were abducted by Kosovar militants in 1998 before NATO intervention, and the other has a family member who was abducted in June 1999, immediately after the NATO intervention. Regarding the two other panelists, one is originally from Croatia with a family member who has been missing since being captured by Croatian troops retaking the Krajina area in 1995. The last individual is from Serbia proper, with a family member who was captured in Bosnia-Herzegovina while serving in the Yugoslav Army and last known to have been held in Croatia.
The group is here on the State Department's International Visitors Program being organized by the Meridian International Center, and the Commission is grateful that they are available for this morning's hearing.
It is estimated that as many as 40,000 persons are missing as a result of a decade of deadly conflict in the former Yugoslavia beginning in 1991. Mass graves continue to be uncovered, like the one in Republika-Srpska reported on just two days ago. All the while, the quest for information on lost relatives continues with government officials and possible witnesses to the acts of war or crimes. In some cases, the quest for truth and the unknown about the fate of loved ones have brought together individuals representing different ethnic groups.
Our panelists today happen to all be Serbs, but their ethnic background is irrelevant. Families are the same the world over, with hopes and dreams shared with parents, siblings, spouses and children. When we hear their personal testimonies this morning, we can empathize with the shattered dreams and hopes. When we hear your stories, we join you in the quest for truth.
In addition to their own stories, these individuals represent non-governmental organizations composed of others who want to find answers to questions about the fate of friends and relatives. They are part of civil society, individuals seeking healing for their losses. We are also asking them to speak about these groups and their ability to communicate with their own government, authorities of other countries of concern and the international community in advocating their cause.
Of course, this hearing touches on only one aspect of the larger issue of missing persons in southeastern Europe. The Commission considers this issue as a priority. Like the prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the resolution of missing persons cases can help bring closure and help individuals recover from a very tragic time.
On this day, the 28th anniversary of the signing of the Helsinki Final Act, nothing is more appropriate for the Helsinki Commission than to have a public event not about policies or programs, but about real people with real life issues.


text:
Sweet Maria's Weblog
The Unofficial 2010 Dogs of Coffee Calendar
I am very happy to announce the availability of Sweet Maria's Coffee Unofficial 2010 Dogs of Coffee Calender!! Tom and I had the idea to print a calendar of all the great dog photos he has taken at origin, but alas, that great idea occurred to us last March. Not a good time to sell a calendar. But November is! The calendar has 15 full color images of dogs from all parts of the coffee producing world. (We even slipped in a photo of our old dog Francy under one of the Typica trees in our backyard in Oakland.) The price is $6 and $2 of that will be donated to a number of charities active in coffee producing countries, including Coffee Kids, Grounds for Health, Doctors without Borders, etc. Check it out! (Can you tell I am excited about it?)- Maria


text:
Tuesday afternoon news, August 28th
(Le Mars) -- Taking care of small children in Northwest Iowa, that's the job of Northwest
Early Childhood Iowa.
Takysia Larsen is the director in charge of Plymouth, Sioux, Cherokee
and Lyon counties. She went before the County Board of Supervisors this week to update them
on what services they provide in this region for kids age birth to 5.
Funding for the organization comes primarily from state funding, with a small amount from
federal as well. Northwest Early Childhood Iowa has a budget of about $722,000 for the year,
which is down from nearly $1.4 million four years ago.
A local board, including representitives from all four counties, decides what to do with the
funds on a local level. This means that each county can tailor their funds to meet their
specific needs.
$337 thousand of their annual budget is dictated by the state to go toward parent support,
which is used to fund the Healthy Families Program. Larsen says this program, in our area,
is contracted out through County Public Health Agencies.
In Plymouth County specifically, 40 families were served through over 800 visits last year.
Families are chosen to participate in this program through referrals, often from doctors,
and outreach efforts. Participation is completely voluntary. Families of any income are
considered, and risk factors such as drug abuse, put a family higher on the list to receive
Another major program that's part of NW Early Childhood Iowa is pre-school support. Low
income and poverty level families are provided with no charge head start programming. Larsen
says that middle income families who can't afford pre-school care can get help from NW Early
Childhood Iowa.
30 pre-schools participate in the program throughout Plymouth, Sioux, Cherokee and Lyon
Counties. All of them must have a "3 star" rating or higher on Iowa's Quality Rating System,
"5 stars" being the highest. To find out ratings for preschools around the state log onto:


text:
I got this in my email today...
After a month of testing we have realized that our Huntin' Fool Online Forum has the potential to be one of the top research tools on the internet for hunters. Therefore, we have decided to open it up to all current Huntin' Fool members, not just Premium members. As of December 20th, all current Huntin' Fool members will have full access to our Online Huntin' Fool Forum. We hope that this will be the best research tool we have ever offered our members. Our consultants will be manning the Forum to help answer your questions and offer their knowledge. Giving access to 100% of our membership will give you, the member, a much larger pool of hunters to receive and share information with.
As a business we are constantly trying new things; however, if we see that something isn't working, we are not going to continue to make that mistake. We will modify it for the benefit of our members. If you renew for a Standard Membership, but maybe later on you draw a tag and would like to call in to get some help from our consultants, you can upgrade your membership to Premium at ANY TIME. We never want to upset our members. If you have already renewed as a Premium member for the sole purpose of using the Online Forum, please call us and we will happily refund you the $100 to become a Standard member.
So, it looks like unless I upgrade my membership I can't call in for any advise from the consultants? Is that the way everyone reads this? Being able to call in and talk to the guy's has always been part of the membership. Without it your basically getting a $100 a year magazine with information you can get from other places. I do like the lay out and ease of use of the magazines come application time but I'm not sure it's worth $100? This might have been the last straw for me and the Huntin Fool. I probably will not be renewing after this latest stunt. Like most other trophy hunting, this will go the way of the wealthy. I've always had somewhat of an issue with there OVERLY trophy mentality anyway.


text:
Refine Your Search
Displaying 1 result
Empire Today Llc - Denver, CO
Sales Empire Today, LLC, a leading home improvement and home furnishing shop-at-home company featuring quality name-brand Carpet, Flooring and Window Treatments with next day installation, is currently hiring: IN-HOME SALES PROFESSIONALS Realistic $70K earning opportunity. NO cold calling; Appointments are set for you from our call-in television and online leads. Local territo...
Application Deadline: None More Less
- Veteran committed job