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The lively press disappeared along with its independence in the media concentration engineered during the Clinton administration. Shortly thereafter all the liberal news anchors disappeared as well. Today the US media serves as propaganda ministry for the government's wars and police state. Yet, some conservatives continue to rant on about "the liberal media."
That other conservative bugaboo, liberal academia, has also been crushed. Universities once controlled their appointments, but no more... Today academic freedom has disappeared just like the independent media. No one but powerful organized interest groups has a voice.
— Paul Craig Roberts, "Conservatism Isn't What It Used to Be"
He's right, of course, and the fault for this wretched, dire, planet-threatening situation lies nowhere but in our own laps. I'll go further and say that if anyone is to prove able to draw us all back from the hideous cliff's edge we now stand teetering on, that saving force, too, will and must and can be none other than ourselves.
Let me explain a little bit why I say these two things. I wrote a book, published back in 2006 A Nation Gone Blind: America in an Age of Simplification and Deceit, that argued not only that most Americans can no longer think but also — after six decades of manipulation and conditioning through the mass media — that they can no longer see the simplest of things in front of them for what they really are. Instead of seeing what's really there, most Americans see what their minds or imaginations have been trained, indoctrinated, or conditioned to see. Most Americans stopped thinking, per se, quite some time ago, and, worse, most Americans accept as reality or truth what's in actuality a media-generated concept, a prefabricated and extraordinarily familiar image of what passes for the true nature of what's real.
If we're ever going to save ourselves from the Bushiscti, that is to say, we've first got to see the Bushiscti for what they really are, and we've first got to see each and every one of the Bushisctis' acts and deeds for what they really are and really have been.
You can read all about it in the book, if you like, but here's something more immediate. Yesterday, Sept. 18, 2007, a news item appeared on Global Research under the headline "Poll: Almost one third of the US population do not accept the official explanation of 911." It's apparent that this announcement, along with the news item carrying it, are intended to be taken as essentially good news, and even I, however grudgingly, am willing to accept it as good news, at least sort of. But on the other hand, both more tragically and more truly, what the piece really brings is insanely, horrendously, disastrously bad news.
After all, 9/11 was now six years ago, and the bad news is that still only a third of the population sees it for what it really was. That's very bad news. Good news would be that ninety-nine percent see it so.
Since back a long way — at least since the 2004 publication of Michael C. Ruppert's Crossing the Rubicon — the case against 9/11 as anything other than an inside job has been absolutely transparent and clear, backed by true cornucopias of incontrovertible evidence. It's a clear, transparent, criminal case of murder, treason, and crimes against humanity that in any normal world, were it to be tried in any normal court of justice, would long ago have resulted in the impeachment and conviction of very, very large numbers of and within the "Bush-Cheney" administration. (If by any chance you'd like to know what I myself think should be done to those figures once they're convicted, you can have a look here. And if by any other chance you'd like a concise list of sixteen of the very best of the many books that tell the truth about 9/11, making the case transparent and clear, you can get one by clicking here.) The Global Research news item echoes Paul Craig Roberts' contention that we no longer have a free press, but that, in place of one, what we've got instead is a "propaganda ministry for the government's wars and police state."
Known and very popular cialis coupon which gives all the chance to receive a discount for a preparation which has to be available and exactly cialis coupons has been found in the distant room of this big house about which wood-grouses in the houses tell.
"The number of people who question [the official explanation of 9/11] is growing," Mike Berger of 911Truth.org, a leading 9/11 conspiracy Web site, told Cybercast News Service. "The issue is that there has not been mainstream media coverage of any of the anomalies, the omissions, the lies regarding what we know."
"The mainstream media have basically tried to dismiss anybody who raises questions," he said.
I agree completely with both Roberts and Berger both about "coverage" and about "dismissal," and I've tried to show why I agree — especially about "dismissal" — in essays analyzing recurrent examples of propaganda, fraud, cover-up, and deceit in, say, Amy Goodman, papers like The New York Times, Matthew Rothschild of Progressive Magazine, columnists such as Frank Rich, editors like Alexander Cockburn of Counterpunch, and even the despicable, conscienceless, and quisling Popular Mechanics.
And yet, however monolithic, culpable, complicit, and traitorous the media and those working inside the media may be, our present vulnerability under the regime — including the possibility that we won't be able to escape the regime's worst and most murderous ofplans for us — are the result of distant sources and deep origins that reach far beyond only the media and its workers.
The media may be the cause, but what that cause has resulted in is a disease that now infects us all. And this is a disease that we've got to rid ourselves of if we ever hope to resist, let alone defeat, the Bushiscti regime and restore the republic that's already been lost to us in all but name.
This disease is one that has to do with seeing. It's one that has to do with the mind. But, most basically of all, it's a disease that has to do with language, a disease that has corrupted language to the point where it can no longer help us but can only make us impotent and empty and thereby harm us.
Unless we can change this situation, we're doomed.
Just take a moment to consider: It's a simple truth that people can't think if they don't have language as a logical and coherent tool to think with — any more than they can drive ten-penny spikes into oak slabs without a hammer or its equivalent as the tool that makes it possible. I'll grant at once that some high geniuses can think without a language that's necessarily a verbal one in the familiar sense. I've got no wish to rule out, say, mathematicians, composers, painters and others who may not need "words" as they're familiarly "spoken" in order to do their own kind of thinking. Such cases, however, invaluable as they may be, are in the infinitesimal minority. Most people need words. Most people need language.
And one of the most terrible, crippling, and paralyzing things about America today is not only that language itself has been made simultaneously toxic and impotent — toxic, that is, when it's used against us, yet impotent when we make any effort use it for ourselves. That's a situation already more than bad enough. But worse is that Americans — being so thoroughly uneducated, de-educated, and anti-educated — don't even know that it's happened.
What patients can be cured who don't even know they're sick? And here's an even more despairing question: What patients can cure themselves if they don't even know they're sick?
And that's the situation we face in the U.S. today. Nobody else is going to save us, that much is for sure. Our so-called leaders aren't going to save us. Congress isn't going to save us. The Bushiscti aren't going to save us — but are hell-bent, instead, on destroying us.
So if anyone is going to save us, it's got to be ourselves. We're the ones who've got to get a grip on our language again, have got to detoxify it, have got to make it real again, make it potent, make it again into an instrument that we can use for ends that are good.
Can it be done? I fear not but pray so. I'm afraid that it's a little bit like asking a physician-surgeon to save you from peritonitis by taking out your inflamed and near-bursting appendix. Sounds reasonable and fine, except that this physician-surgeon is so senile, so afflicted by Alzheimer's, that he can' remember what a peritoneum is, or what or where an appendix is, or, god knows, even what a scalpel is.
Little help from him. And that's the way it is now with Americans. They're so deeply undone through undergoing so much non- and anti- and de-education that they no longer know the least thing about language, are even in the least way conscious of language, know what it is, what it's for, how to use it, or how, in turn, it's used. After all, like almost anything else that's very, very powerful, language can both nurture and destroy. The sun, for example — as all who know Euripides' Medea are well aware — can give birth, warmth, food, generation, and life itself, but, on the other hand, it can also, like gunpowder, whiskey, or atomic energy, if you don't know how to use it or know what it is, turn against you and not just not help you, but destroy you so thoroughly that not the faintest outline, shape, or remnant of what you once were will remain.
And that's what we, as a republic, are facing now.
Ditto for all those who know The Bacchae of Euripides.
The "anti-schools," as you might call them, include very nearly the entirety of the mass media (including movies, ads, images, marketing methods, the works). They include the mercenary, death-embracing hallways of the corporatocracy most assuredly. And — here may be a surprise for some — they include most of academia itself, certainly in its so-called "higher" reaches. Far and away the best, soundest, and most humane education in the United States today takes place in kindergarten and pre-school, with a fall-off gradually occurring up to grade six or so. High school is worse yet, college dismal and dangerous (see A Nation Gone Blind), while graduate work in the humanities offers education just about as pernicious as any coming from the mass media and corporatocracy themselves (ditto A Nation Gone Blind).
Higher academia, after all, like the corporatocracy itself, is now made up of very, very few people — and those few rapidly disappearing — who were born earlier than my own birth year of 1941. What this means is that soon no one in corporate work or in academia today will have lived any part of his or her life outside the atmosphere and reach of the contemporary mass media. None of them, as a result, will any longer have a personal memory of what I call in A Nation Gone Blind the "old" America, which I date as having existed in 1947 and before. Here's a passage from the first age of the book:
I have become grateful for the fact that I was born in 1941, since if I had come onto the scene even, say, five or six years later, I would have missed one of the most important experiences of my life, which was being privileged to get a meaningful impression, at first hand, of what I and many others now think of, rightly, as the "old" America.
That is, I was born just early enough that I was able to see, hear, smell, feel, taste, and walk around in the "first" America, the real one, as opposed to the one we're left with now: the mass media America, the corporation America, the television America — the empty America.
I doubt very much, if it weren't for the indescribably powerful influence of the mass media as we know it, that we would now be watching the United States — under the putative governance of the Bush-Cheney regime — being systematically dismantled as a republic and rebuilt as a police state at home and as a crushing military empire abroad. Without the mass media as we've known it now for sixty years, the chances of so enormous, ruinous, cataclysmic — and successful — committings of crime, murder, treason, rape, law-breaking, invasion, and pillage as the Bush regime is already guilty of — well, without the help of the mass media, I doubt that such a thing would have happened, would have been capable of happening, certainly not on so vast a scale.
Call me naïve, but I still think that bad education as opposed to good is what's gotten us into the deep and malicious hell we're now in. As for the word "naïve," I'm pretty sure that the brilliant and energetic John Hanks would most likely use it on me, since the implied answer to his rhetorical question (which follows), at least for me, is yes:
Is it true [he asks] that liberals are starry-eyed idealists that think a better class of humans can be produced in classrooms?
Let me clarify. I would answer "yes" to the "classrooms" and "better class of humans" parts of the question. At the same time, I'd give a resounding "no" to the "starry-eyed idealists" part.
Here's why.
Forty centuries of history (western history, to be more precise) show with a near absolute clarity that nobody is going to get anywhere in the bringing about of a "better class of humans" until such a person first tosses onto the permanent junk heap the "idealist" notion altogether and turns to the "holistic."
That said, allow me to turn to the "classrooms" part of the question, the part that's about "education." With idealism having been thrown far, far away out through the window, I won't just give my answer, but I'll shout out that, yes, education matters; that, yes, education can and does make people better; and that, yes, education alone is the thing that can save us (or could have saved us) from the collapse and fraud and deceit and murder and brigandage and rape and crime and sadism and greed and pandering and torture and death that we see now everywhere "round us and under us, [and] over us" in our poor, hideous, dying world.
I'll shout all that out. I'll do it from the rooftops.
But only after it's absolutely clear to everyone that the education I'm talking about is the right kind. That is to say, it can't be a fraud or a fake, and it can't be any of the myriad sorts of pernicious and ruinous "lying-projects" that pass for "education."
No. It's absolutely got to be the real thing and nothing else, nothing less, nothing other.
If you'd like illustration, begin by reading Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Then you could read Plato and watch him demolish the prospering and vigorous world of holism portrayed in the epics and the tragedies in order to replace it with the repugnant and life-negating (death-desiring) imaginary dichotomies that comprise the philosophic disaster we know as idealism. Then watch the Christians carry on the big mess, Des Cartes make doubly sure it remains alive and kicking (after the Renaissance's noble effort to kill it forever), and existentialism at last fight grandly against it one last time: Until the Age of Simplification (read A Nation Gone Blind to find out what that is) discontinues education altogether, so that down the Memory Hole goes the very notion that 1) philosophy either exists or matters, and that 2) it can conceivably have anything to do with the nurturing or improvement of life in human societies.
A bit of history first. At the end of World War II a huge and historical opportunity was missed, lost, or thrown away. It can easily be argued that the U.S. at that time breathed free, stood on the high ground of right victory, and — this isn't stretching believability, no matter how many may call it naïve — could have overseen the formation and nurturing of a world era unlike any known before. That era could have brought into existence a global balance of powers and a conscientious husbanding of global resources that would make it a period of undeniable historical significance. But, as we know all too well, nothing of the sort came about. In fact, one of the worst periods in all of human history came about instead.
Nineteen forty-seven can be thought of as an especially significant year by merit of having been filled with the magic of unsought blessings and simultaneously cursed with the cruel promise of their certain betrayal. The year could have been famous as the first in long period of global peace. Instead, infamous 1947 marks the exact moment when the United States set out knowingly, deliberately, and calculatingly on a course not of peace but of unending and purposefully self-aggrandizing war.
That is to say, 1947 saw passage of the National Security Act of that year, an act that brought about the creation of the National Security Council and transformed the old OSS into the new CIA. Why was it done? There are some who will argue down to this very day that the National Security Act was a patently necessary and entirely reasonable response to a dire and pressing international threat, primarily from an aggressive Soviet Union. Others will argue exactly the opposite: That there was no such threat, that the Soviet Union had been brought to its knees by the long and costly campaign to defeat the Nazis and by its final tally of almost 24,000,000 war dead (13.4% of its population — as compared to the 0.32% of its population lost by the U.S.). Seen from this latter point of view, the U.S. decision to turn away from peace and toward war was taken as almost wholly cynical, a decision based on greed, self-interest, and a desire for economic — corporate — growth of the same intensity and degree as the war-economy in the second half of the 1940s had brought into existence and had in those years maintained.
For those who lean to or who hold the second view — as I do — the matter boiled down simply to this single, awful, desolating, ruinous truth: That the world war had proven itself so profitable for so many corporate interests in so many areas of production and supply and finance — that the leaders and groups of leaders in those industrial and manufacturing and corporate areas wanted the war to go on forever because only in that way they could go on making more and more money than ever — forever.
No one I know puts the matter more succinctly — or bitterly — than Gore Vidal in his short book Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace. You can also read the relevant passage — the one below — by going to this site. There, you'll find the author of the site, B. John Zavrel, explaining that the quotation comes from a chapter that was "actually a letter (written for Vanity Fair before the November 7, 2000 presidential election) to the new President-Elect."
". . .fifty years ago, Harry Truman replaced the old republic with a national-security state whose sole purpose is to wage perpetual wars, hot, cold, and tepid. Exact date of replacement? February 27, 1947. Place: The White House Cabinet Room. Cast: Truman, Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson, a handful of congressional leaders. Republican senator Arthur Vandenberg told Truman that he could have his militarized economy only IF he first "scared the hell out of the American people" that the Russians were coming. Truman obliged. The perpetual war began. Representative government of, by, and for the people is now a faded memory. Only corporate America enjoys representation by the Congress and presidents that it pays for in an arrangement where no one is entirely accountable because those who have bought the government also own the media. Now, with the revolt of the Praetorian Guard at the Pentagon, we are entering a new and dangerous phase. Although we regularly stigmatize other societies as rogue states, we ourselves have become the largest rogue state of all. We honor no treaties. We spurn international courts. We strike unilaterally wherever we choose. We give orders to the United Nations but do not pay our dues... we bomb, invade, subvert other states. Although We the People of the United States are the sole source of legitimate authority in this land, we are no longer represented in Congress Assembled. Our Congress has been hijacked by corporate America and its enforcer, the imperial military machine... "
Euripides, The Bacchae, trans. Paul Roche (from the Fifth Choral Ode, preceding line 1329).
Anyone who may really think I reveal myself as not only naïve but also mad as a hatter (an idealistic hatter, I might add) by saying such things as I do here about what could have happened in 1947 might take a look at these absolutely wrenching passages about Eisenhower and the way he was shanghaied by the corporate pressure-men near the same time we're talking about. The passages are from The Tragedy of American Diplomacy, by the late, towering historian, William Appleman Williams (from his timely Chapter 8, "The Terrifying Momentum Toward Disaster").
"I am now of all humors that have showed themselves humors since the old days of Goodman Adam to the pupil age of this present twelve o'clock at midnight." Henry IV, pt. 1 (II, iv, 89-91).
4And so, thanks in good part to Gore Vidal, we can now take in at a single glance the whole sweep of time from February 27, 1947, on down "to the pupil age of this present twelve o'clock at midnight," if I may borrow a few of Prince Hal's words. When he spoke them, he was at the very top of his spirits. Our own "midnight" is far less appropriate to revelry, far more appropriate to sorrow, fear, horror, and despair.
A way back, we were talking about education and language. Education first.
I promised a passage from A Nation Gone Blind that would describe the truly prospering form of education that came into existence near 1947 and has continued ever since in its growth, reach, and ever-increasing technical sophistication. This is, of course, the nation's single most prominent and influential "school," an institution that provides the "education" most formative on and of the population in general than any other, bar none, not even churches, families, or faiths. We're talking about the mass media, of course, from television's first snowy, flickering black-and-white images in the corners of living rooms (preceded at dawn and followed at midnight by "test patterns") on through today's cell phones, i pods, MTV, the whole ball of wax.
And here's a passage (from chapter two, "The Death of Literary Thinking in America: How It Happened and What It Means") describing what this "school" teaches and how it goes about doing so:
The corporate state, with its policing and proselytizing arm, the mass media, wants, in all citizens, to create and maintain passivity, lack of individual thought, and as low a consciousness as possible of the nature, meaning, and full potential of the individual self. And if this is so, how can it be, how can it conceivably have happened, that the bringing into being and the nurturing of those very same deleterious qualities and characteristics — rather than their desperately-needed and deeply undervalued opposites — could have become the routine business even of the intellectual, academic, and artistic classes in the nation?The passage actually takes up two subjects. The first is the subject of what this omni-pervasive educational institution teaches. And what it teaches is passivity, simplification, the removal of individual perception up at least one level of abstraction above actual reality, and therefore as much as possible the non-consciousness insofar as possible "of the nature, meaning, and full potential of the individual self."
And the second subject is the sheer and all but incredible success of this "educational" institution. So unbelievably successful is it that not only has it had its effect and made it mark on the general mass of the population, but it has done the same with "the intellectual, academic, and artistic classes in the nation." And there comes trouble. There comes the huge significance of the counting up of years, of the simple recognition that people born any time after, just say, 1947, are now at least sixty years old and have lived their entire lives, from earliest formative years on up, sitting dawn-to-dawn and every single day in the classroom chairs of that educational institution, the one that patently beggars the powers of "real" school, of parents, of home, of church, of peers, to compete with it in any significant way whatsoever.
The result? Well, that's what A Nation Gone Blind is about, which is why it has the title that it does. Right here and now, however, I'm interested in looking more specifically at the overwhelming and pernicious result of this massive, monstrous, six-decade-long educational success on three things: First, on language itself and consciousness of language; second and almost simultaneously, its influence on education, especially higher education; and, third, an obvious product of the first two, its influence on making Americans freeze instead of act or even react as they watch a radical and unelected junta abominate 230 years' worth of their nation's history, discredit or destroy the freedom-guaranteeing legacies of that two-and-a-third centuries' history, turn freedom into tyranny, innocence into guilt, peace into war, lies into truth, and citizens into subjects.
My inclination at times like this is to turn to an example. As everyone knows who genuinely understands the virulence and enormity of the disease that's destroying us (and that's not being stopped), just reading the newspaper can be a crushingly dismal and hope-destroying experience. Take The New York Times of Tuesday, September 19, 2006 — for an example that I've kept in my files — and turn, again for example, to page B3. There, you'll find a headline saying that "Princeton Plans Expansion Of Black Studies Program." Under that headline you'll see a photo of the familiar and famous Cornel West, the scholar who, after having been "disrespected" by Harvard's president, Lawrence Summers, put on a nationally publicized hissy-fit, snatched up his marbles and toys, and stomped off to Princeton. There, it would seem, he was warmly welcomed by that university's president, Shirley M. Tilghman.
The reporter of the Times piece, Karen W. Arenson, wrote this lead paragraph:
Princeton University, one of the leading universities in black studies, yesterday announced an expansion in its program, including at least a doubling in the number of faculty members, the introduction of a major for undergraduates and the creation of a new center for teaching and research on race in America.
Now, readers of A Nation Gone Blind will be aware that the news contained in this paragraph is, to me, not good news. After all, the third chapter of the book ("Consumerism, Victimology, and the Disappearance of the Meaningful Self") argues unequivocally and very closely against "victimology studies," the very thing that Princeton University, a year or so ago, was so happy about expanding. Everyone is aware of these programs of study and aware of how thoroughly they've been adopted into the college and university curriculum — Women's Studies, Black Studies, Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies, Asian Studies, and so on. But the omnipresence of these programs is the last logical reason to approve of them. "It is one thing to study history and gain knowledge," says A Nation Gone Blind:
to insist upon the importance of that knowledge and use it in every possible way to preclude the recurrence of suffering, injustice, cruelty, pain — these are not only understandable pursuits but right ones. Victimology, though doesn't do this. Victimology is fatally confused, if only because it argues simultaneously that suffering is bad and that suffering has meaning — that it is meaningful to suffer and that that meaning can and should be studied. This is an impossible situation, since it argues that suffering must be ended, yet at the same time that suffering must not be ended, since then, if it were, there would be nothing to study.The "victim," in other words, must remain victim in order to remain meaningful. This fact makes it impossible to escape the conclusion that victims' studies programs are based on a deep, even vicious, and certainly corrupting hypocrisy.
These are strong words — but they're words also that consist of a strong logical argument. And in the Age of Simplification, as I call it — our age — a strong logical argument is usually the last thing wanted. After all, that kind of argument is intended to result in actions based on logical thought. And the more that sort of thing happens, the more there'll be people in many a calling — certainly in academic callings — who will less likely be allowed to go on enjoying their essentially non-logical — "feeling-based" or "politically-based" — sinecures.
Again, anyone who's read A Nation Gone Blind knows how seriously the book takes matters of these kinds. Salient among its concerns is the now-commonplace establishment of victims' studies, a troubling thing specifically because such programs invariably fail to be built on intellectual foundations. Consequently, they are also incapable of being defended on intellectual grounds:
In order to maintain an intellectual position that was untenable and could not be maintained, the victimologists weighted things away from thought and toward feeling, a position where logic could not make its customary demands. In order to maintain a moral and ethical position that was untenable and could not be maintained, the victimologists gave up the last vestige of the true, authentic, irreducible, free self and replaced it with the group, or with the tribe, then took refuge in the idea of "the people" who make up that group or tribe. By this time, thinking had ended, since the self was gone, while feeling, instinct, and an un-intellectual sense of the just and righteous gained prestige through being identified not with a single individual and accountable human mind, but with the democratically enshrined concept of a "people."
Brothers joined brothers, sisters joined sisters, and the programs were here to stay — built on sand, inward-looking, self-involved, not really political, not really intellectual, not really ambitious for reform, not really honest. And so academia began its fiddling — and is fiddling still — while the Age of Simplification helps see to it that America burn.
Using as examples essays of a number of writers, among them Almaz Abinader, Julia Alvarez, Sven Birkerts, Robert Olen Butler, Richard Ford, and Naomi Shihab Nye.
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf. The lines come from the brilliant and moving section VII of the "Time Passes" chapter of Woolf's great novel.
5Now, if black studies (as, it's clear enough, it is in my view) is really a bad thing, why would it be written up in the newspaper as a good thing while, at the identical same time, actual goodthings are happening that don't even get mentioned? More on this in a moment, since we've got to consider another question first.
Now let's assume, for the moment, that black studies really is a bad thing (for a full argument for that position, go to the third chapter of A Nation Gone Blind). Further, still assuming that it's a bad thing, let's assume also — just for the moment — that you, the reader, and not Shirley M. Tilghman, are the president of Princeton University. It's obvious that you've got to say something about the university's new expansion of black studies. But what? Still assuming that you consider black studies a bad thing — what would you do?
Well, you could say that the expansion of black studies is therefore also not good but bad — though if you did do that, the next morning you'd find the wheels turning in the elaborate though unrelenting process that brings about the firing of one president and the hiring of a new one.
Luckily for you, though (that is, assuming that you really did want to remain president), there remain other choices. One choice is, of course, that you could lie. That is, even if you thought black studies was a bad thing, you could say it was a good thing. But who wants to lie? Liars are awful, and lies themselves are destructive both of personality and of society.
Now let's change the terms of the situation and imagine that you haven't read A Nation Gone Blind and that you do think (or think you think) that black studies is a good thing. If such really were the case, the entire matter would be easy. That is, you could tell the truth. You could say that you did think black studies was a good thing, then say why you think so, and then you could laud the expansion of black studies at Princeton, and your praise would be logically related to what you'd said from the start. In this case, not even concerning ourselves with the question of who's right and who's wrong, there would at least actually be some content, some personality, some felt purpose in the speaker's words.
All right, now let's switch back to the way things actually are. We know perfectly well that you the reader aren't the president of Princeton University. And we know that the real president is Shirley M. Tilghman.
Now that we know a bit about some of the options open to someone in the president's position — to tell the truth, to lie, or to change either oneself and/or the truth — let's look and see how Shirley M. Tilghmanherself handled the situation. Watch closely. Here's Karen Arenson's second paragraph:
Uh, oh. Do you see the choice she made? I'll give you the news article's third paragraph. After that, there'll be no option for us but to declare that whatever is, is. Then we'll be able — maybe — to find out which choice — if it was a choice — Shirley M. Tilghman made. The paragraph consists of a quote:Shirley M. Tilghman, Princeton's president, said in a telephone interview yesterday that she hoped the effort would help the university contribute greater insights to issues like the nature of racial identity and help train a "new generation of leaders to solve problems that have persisted too long."
"Of all the challenges that confront America, none is more profound than the struggle to achieve racial equality and understand the impact of race on the life and institutions of the United States," she said.
I wish I could cast this part of our discussion in the form of a quiz or a poll, so that readers could write in saying what they think happened: Whether they think Tilghman made a choice or didn't make one, and, if she did make one, which one it was. I may sound like a broken record, but, again, people who have read A Nation Gone Blind are likely to be ahead of those who haven't. The reason is that the book dedicates a lot of its energies to analyzing exactly the kind of thing given us here by President Tilghman.
And what is that? Well, there's no question that what we're seeing is a form of lying, though it's probably impossible to tell whether it's intentional lying or unintentional. The difference between the two is of huge importance in a good number of ways — but the truth about the distinction lies hidden within the heart and mind of Shirley M. Tilghman. Or the truth of it may lie there. In any case, it's invisible to us.
Three things we can tell, however, are these: First, that Tilghman's words are lies (though we can't say whether they're intentional or not); second, that these lies come in the form of what we can call code; and, third, corollary to the first and second things, we can define the words as lies by merit of their implicit claim to be saying something while in fact they are saying nothing.
The president's words are a bit like those of someone who claims to be saying to another, "I love you," while in actuality the words being whispered into the waiting beloved's ear are "tile, air horn, cat litter."
Let's analyze, in other words, the emptiness, deadness, vacuity — and therefore the plain and clear deceitfulness, since they're claiming to say something while in fact saying nothing — of Tilghman's words.
Just look at these words and phrases: "help the university contribute"; "greater insights"; "issues"; "the nature of racial identity"; "new generation"; "leaders"; "problems"; "persisted too long." These words are code because, as the first chapter of A Nation Gone Blind demonstrates and discusses at length, because
1) they mean nothing whatsoever in and of themselves. The words possess no correlatives in the real or observable world, suggesting that, as she spoke them, Tilghman was not looking at anything concrete nor did she have in her mind a memory or image of anything concrete. She and all others who use language the way she uses language — a grotesque and frightening thing to realize — have been such successful students in the great Wurlitzer of the never-pausing school of media that, through endless practice and imitation, they've mastered "the removal of individual perception up at least one level of abstraction above actual reality";
2) since the words have no meaning, Tilghman was therefore aiming them — how could it be any other way? — at listeners about whom her assumption was that they already thought of the words in a pre-determined way, a way that, again, depended at all upon a connection between those words and any object or thing physically observed — or remembered — in or from the physical world;
3) so that, consequently, since nothing whatsoever was said, a corollary can be formed to the effect that nothing whatsoever was said that consisted of or was a result either of thinking or of thought;
4) a fact in turn reveals the truth that, in light of the absence of thought, the only thing that could possibly have been present in Tilghman was a vague, general, probably very familiar set of feelings and attitudes that were
5) sent out by her to an audience presumed already to share those feelings and attitudes and themselves to hold and value the same contentment with non-thinking and the same contentment with non-thought as were demonstrated by Tilghman herself.
And so — what happened?
Well, here's what happened: Nothing was said by anyone to anyone. Nothing was identified, defined, or thought by anyone. Therefore, no thinking and no ideas could possibly have been communicated by anyone to anyone else.
Please pause and consider for a moment the importance and enormity of what we're talking about. What we're talking about, what we're seeing demonstrated, is the utter and total and absolute inanity of the code-driven non-think that substitutes for actual thinking, actual thought, among the greatest figureheads in advanced research and pedagogy, among those who stand at the pinnacles of American higher education in the early 21st century.
Does anyone want to go to college? Does anyone want to pay great amounts of money to attend "Indoctrinate U"? If any people still do want to, let them remember that these are the words that in reality ought to be inscribed, in this our Age of Simplification, over the gates of all our great American colleges and universities:
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw...
Here's some of what you'll find out when you listen closely to people, however eminent — like Shirley Tilghman or Cornel West — who think they're thinking, or who think they're talking about "significant topics." Just click here and start reading.
6It's time to recall Paul Craig Roberts' comment from some time back: "Today," he said, "academic freedom has disappeared just like the independent media. No one but powerful organized interest groups has a voice."
In Tilghman and West, indeed, we're seeing exactly those "organized interest groups" in action — and yet we must go a step farther even than Paul Craig Roberts did. These interest groups are even more pernicious than the ones Roberts was talking about, the kind indicated by his reference to the Norman Finkelstein case and "Censorship at Harvard." It's perfectly true that the Larry Summers vs. Cornel West incident (without which we'd never even have had the Shirley Tilghman incident) does demonstrate "organized interest groups" at work. And it's also perfectly true that, insofar as such groups gain leverage in academia without first laying intellectual foundations to justify that leverage, they, de facto, constitute and demonstrate instances of the disappearance of academic freedom. If I were to advocate the establishment of a White Studies Center at Princeton, I'd be dismissed out of hand — although not if I were to advocate the establishment of a Women's Studies Center. These are matters not of academic freedom or of intellectual contest, but of "idiot games... [as if] the universe were battling and tumbling, in brute confusion and wanton lust... "
But there's worse news still. And that worse news is that this collapse of academic freedom is in actuality a collapse into academic emptiness. And, worse still, the emptiness was created first. And then, after the emptiness was ready, academics, freedom and all, collapsed into it.
This is what's so important about language and about what's happened to it over the sixty-years' worth of indoctrination and simplification that its everyday users have undergone for their whole lives, users from the lowest halls of Walmart on up to the ivied halls of academe and beyond. Even the most intellectual of Americans have stopped being able to see for themselves, very possibly able to see at all. It's not just a matter of nit-picking when, in the first chapter of A Nation Gone Blind, I analyze the work of fifteen American writers and find their average grade to be "D." The reason for that shocking and egregious failure? The central reason is that so many of them are unable to think, see, or feel by and for themselves. Instead, they're able to "think" only by beginning the process from a point that's "at least one level of abstraction above actual reality." Instead of writing about human beings they've known, for example, or about ideas that they have had or gained through experience, they write about abstractions like "race, class, gender, and ethnic identity" and they imagine all along that they're actually writing from the first, initial, fundamental level of observed reality when, truly, they're doing no such thing at all.
Instead of seeing for themselves, they're receiving from sources already prepared, already simplified, already categorized, narrowed, and, most important of all, already moved up — yes, that's right — at least one level of abstraction above actual reality.
Try it and see for yourself. Start listening to people who are putatively thinking about the standard-issue "subjects" and "topics" that they passively and unquestioningly accept, over and over and over, as if they were "real" or "true" or "relevant" to something or other, when in actuality they're nothing more than stock notions and prefab, fake "concepts."
If Americans weren't already so badly damaged both intellectually and emotionally — hadn't been so extremely simplified and been made so extraordinarily passive — the war in Iraq could and would never have gotten off the ground. Not for a minute. The whole project was far too absurd and laughable, a thing built far too inanely on a transparent foundation of lies, falsehoods, deceptions, hissy fits, childish "outings," and frat-boy-worthy vindictive accusations ever to have survived more than a very, very short career by merit of possessing a worthiness as nothing more than a public laughing stock before dying away altogether.
But we're a nation gone blind. The American population really has been damaged that badly, badly enough that not even after six whole years can people see — for themselves and by themselves — the simple, obvious, overwhelmingly evidenced truth that 9/11 was pulled off by our own country for the very purpose of cashing in on precisely and exactly the inability of Americans to see for themselves that we've been talking about. And what do we get at a time like this? What do we get when we're under greater oppression and threat from a "foreign" power — a power that's internal and yet that's set upon destroying the American Constitution and thus America — than we've been at any time since the years preceding 1776?
You know what we get. We get pap. We get inertia. We get boilerplate. For intellectual leadership we get the likes of Shirley Tilghman and Cornel West. For political leadership we get the likes of Nancy Pelosi, who lies like a rug because she knows that Americans won't do anything about it, or the likes of John Kerry, who can't even see — can't see for himself, can't see it for what it is — the tasering and arresting by rogue police of a student in broad daylight and in a public place for doing nothing whatsoever except asking a factual question about Skull and Bones. Watch that video of Andrew Meyer being tased as neither John Kerry nor the audience does a thing and ask yourself who is not seeing and what they're not seeing and why they're not seeing it and therefore why they're doing nothing.
Americans can no longer see reality for themselves, and therefore they can't and won't believe it even when it's stuck right in front of their blinded eyes. This statement — the one I just made — is no longer metaphoric, but now it's real. With the destruction of language and the raising of it up at least one notch above the empirical real; from that destruction follows the destruction of thought and its replacement by pseudo-thought; and from those two processes of destruction there can only emerge a people frozen, a people of no self-reliance whatsoever, a people numbed and confused into stasis and doubt by their own inability to tell the unreal from the real.
How did it happen? How could it have happened?
Dr. Johnson remarked that "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel," and I'm convinced that we can say with equal certitude that abstraction, boilerplate, and cliché are both the sign and the destiny of the non-thinker. Having lost the language to do it with, Americans can no longer think, and because they can no longer think they can no longer see, and certainly they've lost the power once given them by the language that's theirs no longer, the power to explain objectively and accurately what it is that they actually see and therefore be able to respond to it as reason and ethics would normally direct.
It may be that we're lost, but I know now — I didn't always — that the loss came before George W. Bush. The loss is an emptiness, already there, and he — and all the banal evil and fierce destructiveness he represents — simply fell into it.
I also know that if we can't regain our language, can't regain our access to it and the traditional uses we were once able to make of it — I know that if we can't do those things, then we truly are doomed. It may be true already. Without language, we can't speak. And if we can't speak, how can we possibly save ourselves?
Here's the last sentence from the Paul Craig Roberts essay we started with, "Conservatism Isn't What It Used to Be": In America today, speaking your mind in the media or in academia is a thing of the past. A country that has no voices independent of powerful interests is a country in which freedom is dead.
In computer programming, it used to be said routinely, "garbage in, garbage out." Why in the name of all things holy should we ever have imagined that the case would have been any different with regard to human beings?
— Eric Larsen
— September 25, 2007
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Comments (2)
Jimmy Montague said:
Yeah, right.
For years I have argued that the end of the present system that we call "education" in America will come when business will no longer hire applicants with degrees from American institutions. Anybody who knows, as I do, that our colleges are selling BA degrees to people who cannot read, write, or do algebra, knows that such a time is coming soon. Employers were beginning to catch on at least 10 years ago, and the situation has only gotten worse.
You say it started with television. I won't argue the fact. But I will say that today's abjectly corrupt educational administrators were shaped in no small way by books such as Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" and by education as an academic discipline. There can be no hope of meaningful reform in American education before the NEA is busted and education as a discipline is abolished.
a guest said:
The Words Get in the Way
Wonderful, extremely thought-provoking piece.
Language was originally meant to be a bridge between humans. Today it is a wall, being reinforced brick by brick each time useless words are uttered without a brain behind them to give them meaning.
Today, we make sounds but we don't communicate...our words are as empty as elevator Muzak.
Rosy Baldwin
Write comment


text:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon [Blu-ray] Action & Adventure
- Summary
- Reviews / Ratings
- Photos
- Videos
- Events
Legendary martial artist Li Mu Bai is tracking the murderer of his master. The poised and self-assured Li can handle anything -- except his feelings for lithe, pantherish Yu Shu Lien. Jen Yu, the tremulous and spoiled daughter of the Province's governor, is also fascinated by Shu Lien's glamorous life: that a woman can have so many adventures and such freedom is marvelous to her.
Though the refined Jen is soon to be married off into respectability, she harbors a sinister plan. By night she transforms into a masked and cunning thief, out to steal the Green Destiny, an invincible blade once wielded by Li. At the same time, Li embarks on his own quest to recover the missing sword, possibly the key to his master's murder.
Apr 26, 2013
Aug 31, 2012
Aug 23, 2012
Sep 20, 2011
More Details
Released - Tuesday, July 27 , 2010
- Starring - Chang Chen, Cheng Pei-Pei, Chow Yun Fat, Luung Sihung, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi
- Directed by - Ang Lee
- Distributed by - Sony Pictures Classics
- MPAA Rating - PG-13

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Last.fm Ltd.
- October 13, 2015
( 72,690)
Millions of people use Last.fm every day to track the music they listen to from their favourite services and power their music & event recommendations.
- Spotify
Tracking all of the music you listen to via your Android device has never been easier.
This update includes the much requested support of Soundcloud, plus the following services:
- Spotify
- Deezer
- Rdio
- Google Play
- And many more!
The app also allows you to:
- View your personal artists, albums and tracks charts
- 'Love' tracks
Follow Last.fm on
It scrobbles only the first song played. What is the point, then? Actually, this behavior occurs whenever a bluetooth speaker is used - only the first song is scrobbled. If the music is played on the phone itself or with headphones, no problem. Unfortunately, I use bluetooth speakers A LOT - by my bed, in the car, on my bike. For the record, I am using a Samsung Galaxy S7 phone, android 6 (Marshmallow), scrobbling from Google Music app.
The only one that actually scrobbles all my songs when listening to them. I tried the Simple Last.FM Scrobbler and worked flawlessly with my LG Optimus Fuel, until I upgraded to a ZTE Citrine, the default player would not scrobble any song with any of the apps on here, not even this one. Now I am using custom music player from CM called Eleven and it works nicely with this app. Can't get the darn Simple Last.FM app to work with any music player on the Citrine phone at all. There is one issue I have and that I do not care for apps with ads and this has one annoying ad on top with CBS when you are on wifi or any connection. If those were removed, then this would be a 5 star app.
This app is a joke Ugly ads. Everything in settings opens up a window in my phone's browser, which would be bad enough but the website is awful too. Plus there's no way to turn off the persistent notification, so now I have to have it taking up space on my notification bar. I just want it to run in the background.
Used to work years ago, broken and useless now Scrobbler hasnt worked for me across 2 different phones and multiple android OS updates. Use simple last fm scrobbler if you want to track your music anymore.
I'm disappointed!!! :/ When I visualize my profile on the browser, it shows me that I've listened to an artist 45 times, but when I access the app to see the same artist, there are only 35 scrobbles... it's making me sick! I've listened to a band, scrobbling more than 25 tracks according to the Lastfm website, but the information displayed on the app is quite different... please, fix that... or I won't think twice before uninstalling it...
New redesign, finally, but loss of features and introduction of broken ones! However I feel like many of the features of the old app have been redirected to the website, and I don't really like the tiles redesign, give us the option for lists too. Scrobble notification now not in idle section of notifications either. Please let us change this. Update- top artists section displays the wrong artists and wrong amount of scrobbles! SORTITOUT
What's New
• Bug fixes
A scrobbler that submits information to Last.fm on what music you play.


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Michael Caine on the secrecy of The Dark Knight Rises
Reprising his role as Alfred in The Dark Knight Rises, Michael Caine lifts the lid a little on just how secretive director Christopher Nolan is…
Inevitably, you're not going to get any story news here, given that the cast of The Dark Knight Rises have been well schooled in giving absolutely nothing away. Still, the Daily Mirror had a go, chatting to Sir Michael Caine about several things, including the new film.
Reporting that Caine reckons this one is the best of the Batman movies yet (although, to be fair, he's hardly likely to say it's the worst!), he confirmed that he couldn't spill any details. "On Batman, you get shot if you speak about it", he said. "When you do one of the films, it's like signing the Official Secrets Act".
Talking about director Christopher Nolan in particular, Caine describes him as "the most secretive guy", In particular, "the first time he came to me for Batman he came to my house in the country on a Sunday morning."
Caine continued: "I opened the door and he was standing there with a script. He said, 'do you want to play the Butler?' He stayed while I read it and took the script away. He wouldn't trust me with it!"
It's almost inevitable that, as Nolan and star Christian Bale move on from the Batman franchise after The Dark Knight Rises, that Sir Michael Caine will be hanging up his suit, too, and playing Alfred for the last time. Still, "this one will definitely be the best ever", he assures us. Certainly hope so…!
Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.


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Welcome to the Millbrook Industries Job Opportunities website...
At Millbrook, we recognise that the success of our business depends on the efforts of all our employees. We offer all Millbrook employees:
The Millbrook Group values diversity and we welcome applications from people of all different backgrounds.
If you would like to join us then please send your CV and covering letter with details of the type of role you are looking for firstname.lastname@example.com download an application form.


text:
Washington's source for compelling television and inspiring classical music. Donate Online
The game is on! A new trio of highly anticipated Sherlock cases premieres on Sunday, January 19 at 10:00 pm on WETA TV26 and WETA HD! Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman return to their acclaimed roles as master sleuth Sherlock Holmes and his partner, Dr. Watson. This contemporary reinvention of the Arthur Conan Doyle classic finds Holmes and Watson battling
the worst the modern criminality has to offer in 21st century London. Holmes is a loner, oddball, genius, and his best and only friend, Dr. John Watson, is a retired military doctor wounded in Afghanistan. The season two finale ended with a shocking cliffhanger that left Holmes presumed dead at the hands of his nemesis, Moriarty. Season 3 begins two years after the devastating effects of The Reichenbach Fall. Watson has moved on with his life but with London under threat of a huge terrorist attack, Sherlock Holmes is about to rise from the grave. Watson has been longing for Sherlock's return, but as a wise man once said, "be careful what you wish for". If Sherlock and Watson think everything will pick up just where they left off, they are in for a very big surprise.
Do not miss the rest of Sherlock Season 3, airing Sunday nights after Downton Abbey!January 19-February 2 at 10:00 pm on WETA TV 26 and WETA HDCatch repeats airing Fridays and Wednesdays, January 22 through February 5 at 10pm on WETA UK!
This Earth Day, join WETA Kids and America's favorite monkey for a new one hour Curious George special: Curious George Swings into Spring. From spring fever to spring cleaning, from a canoe ride to a hot air balloon journey, George and his friends get WETA Kids ready to explore the outdoors this Earth Day. Tune into WETA Kids Monday, April 22 for the premiere and throughout the week to swing into spring with George again, and again!
You know it must be springtime if a curious monkey named George is dancing on the balcony at sunrise! The Man with the Yellow Hat is sure that George has spring fever, so he takes George to the park to experience all the wonders of spring. George is so excited about spring that he wants Hundley the dog to have spring fever, too, but Hundley and the Doorman are busy trying to win the Mayor's spring cleaning prize. When a broken water pipe floods the building, Hundley has to stay with George in the country, and George tries to make sure Hundley enjoys spring, too. Even blooming flowers, baby animals and a canoe ride can't make Hundley love spring. What's worse – Hundley gets lost in the country! Searching for his lost friend, George accidentally launches a hot air balloon rally and, piloting a balloon, sails over the countryside. Luckily George manages to grab Hundley from a hilltop along the way. Together they balloon triumphantly to the city. The Man with the Yellow Hat and the Doorman stage a daring rooftop rescue. Not only are George and Hundley saved, but they manage to win the coveted Spring Building Prize! Finally, to George's delight, Hundley now has spring fever, too!
Watch the trailer here!
WETA's Start with a Book offers adults engaging ideas for getting kids into books and reading. The free resources from Start with a Book build on topics that children already like — dinosaurs, building, animals, sports, superheroes and music — so that parents, camp counselors, and others can have fun and interact meaningfully with children while helping to strengthen their reading skills.
In conjunction with the WETA Kids special episode Curious George Swings into Spring, WETA's Start with a Book has three resource topics that relate to the show:
Check out these resources and head to your local library to begin exploring!
The holiday season is upon us and WETA UK is celebrating with great British Christmas specials. Not only do we have festive shows this week, but we begin new mystery adventures with our favorite detectives like Inspector Morse and the Waking the Dead team. We also begin Masterpiece Classic: Downton Abbey the successful PBS period-drama from the very beginning and continue our favorite British comedies including Coupling and Blackadder II. There are lots of exciting programs on WETA UK, so dive on in to our highlights for the week!
Monday at 9:00pm tune in for a new adventure with Foyle's War: Bleak Midwinter part 1. When Grace Phillips dies in what appears to be an industrial accident, Foyle looks into her death for good measure. Grace had always been such a cheerful girl but recently something had been bothering her. Foyle establishes a link between this death and anothers, the latter who just found out her husband was having an affair. Could Grace have been the mistress? Is the adulterer the murderer? Come back next week for part 2 of this dynamic tale!
Tuesday at 5:00pm catch the first episode of All Creatures Great and Small season 3! Download our WETA UK ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL SEASON 3 EPISODE GUIDE here!
Tuesday at 8:00pm begin the story of Downton Abbey from the very beginning. Learn more about this program on the PBS website and tune in every Tuesday at 8:00pm to watch Downton Abbey.
Wednesday at 8:00pm join in on another investigation as Inspector Morse takes on Ghost in the Machine part 1! Morse investigates the reported theft of erotic paintings belonging to the now missing Sir Julius Hanbury, a local baronet who is one of those standing for election as the new Master of Courtney College, Oxford. Morse finds Sir Julius's dead body and at first it looks like murder, but police pathologist Dr Grayling Russell believes he killed himself. Return next week for part 2 of Ghost in the Machine.
Thursday at 9:00pm get mysterious with Waking the Dead: Fugue States part 1. In 1990, two 5-year-old twins, Jason and Cindy, disappeared from their home, and even after a nationwide search was launched, they are still no where to be found. Thirteen years later, Jason is found is in a hospital suffering from car accident related injuries. But where's his sister Cindy? Boyd and the team set out to find her with or without Jason's help.
Friday we're getting in the Christmas spirit with some of our favorite British holiday specials.
At 4:30pm kick off the festivities with My Hero season 2 episode 1 Christmas. George tries to get into the spirit of Christmas by creeping into the houses of Janet's parents on Christmas Eve dressed as Santa to leave them all presents. This doesn't go down as well as he had planned, and Christmas dinner is a bit of a miserable affair until George appears with the real Father Christmas who has a special present for everyone! Repeats Saturday at 7:00am, December 28 at 3:30pm.
Friday continue the laughs and holiday merriment at 5:30pm with Good Neighbors: Christmas Special 1977! When Margo sends back the Leadbetters store bought Christmas gift, they are unable to entertain their high society friends. So as a result the Leadbetters go to share the holiday with their neighbors, the Goods. Who knows what antics this will bring about! Repeats Saturday at 6:00am, December 26 at 9:00am and December 28 at 2:00pm.
Friday at 9:40pm join us for the Outnumbered 2011 Christmas Special! Learn more about this holiday program and more in our blog post: An English Holiday in DC | British Christmas Shows on WETA UK!
Friday at 10:20pm begin watching the hilarious comedy Coupling from the very first episode! When a group of friends begin thinking about love, the results are a wild mix of one-night stands and two-timing and partner-swapping. Often compared to the American television sensation Friends, this British sitcom isn't one to miss so tune in Friday for season 1 episode 1.
Saturday is loaded with back-to-back Christmas specials from 10:00am – 7:00pm! Click on this link to read more about the episodes on our blog post: An English Holiday in DC | British Christmas Shows on WETA UK!
Sunday at 9:00pm Blackadder II begins! A favorite at the Court of Elizabeth I, Edmund Blackadder keeps his head from being chopped off by the capricious Queen with rapier-sharp wit, cunning and bravado. Meanwhile, his rival Lord Melchett loses no opportunity to try to disgrace him. See what classic British actor Rowan Atkinson can do with these characters in the second season beginning Sunday! Download our WETA UK BLACKADDER II EPISODE GUIDE here!
Looking for free, compelling, exciting, and commercial-free movies in DC, MD, and VA this weekend? WETA brings great feature films and documentaries right into your home every Saturday beginning at 9:30pm! This weekend, a 1960s drama-dy and three contemporary documentaries divulge into the many facets of friendship. We'll discover that no friendship is alike and a "friend" can take on all types, forms, and meanings. Be sure to tune into WETA TV26 and WETA HD every Saturday night for movies galore!
Opposites Attract: Soldier in the Rain (1963)
The most unlikely pairs are proof that opposites attract. Master Sergeant Maxwell Slaughter forms an unlikely friendship with Sergeant Eustis Clay and neither status, nor rank, nor intellectual capacity prevents the two from building an admirable and loyal friendship. Eustis eagerly awaits the end of his stint in the military and his inexhaustible attempts at convincing Slaughter of the perks of civilian life provide opportunities for comedic adventures and antics. As in any good friendship, each provides meaning and importance in the other's life. But friendships are not without their flaws and their hurdles, and the friendship which forms in Soldier in the Rain is put to the test. What Slaughter and Eustis learn and take away from each other becomes life-changing.
Watch Soldier in the Rain (1963) Saturday, December 15 at 9:30pm on WETA TV26 and WETA HD. Repeats Sunday at 11:30am.
Through Thick & Thin: Garbage Dreams (2009)
In Cairo, recycling is a bit more complex than the American standard of sorting plastic, metal, paper, and glass from trash. In fact, recycling garbage is the Zaballeen's (translating to "garbage people") livelihood. The Zaballeen make their living collecting and recycling eighty percent of the garbage which accumulates in Cairo. For years, the city had no sanitation service and depended on the Zaballeen. And for the Zaballeen, trash is all they know. But in recent years, the city has turned from tradition and begun to rely on private companies to collect trash with garbage trucks. With machines replacing men, the shift in tradition comes as detrimental and dangerous to the Zaballeen's future. How will they make a living? How will they survive?
Independent Lens: Garbage Dreams tells the stories of three teenagers experiencing the life-altering transition directly. Adham, Osama and Nabil, all born into the business of trash, must confront the possibility of losing the security their people have had for decades. But, when one door closes another one opens, and maybe Cairo's stab at modernization is a blessing in disguise for these three young men to pursue new and exciting opportunities.
The United States recycles 30 percent of its waste. Impressive? Not in comparison to the 80 percent recycled by the Zaballeen. How eco-friendly are you? Test your ability by playing the Garbage Dreams online game!
Watch Garbage Dreams (2009) Saturday, December 15 at 11:00pm on WETA TV26 and WETA HD.
In Sickness & In Health: We Were Here (2011)
San Francisco is a melting pot for people from different walks of life but they all seek the same things: happiness, freedom and acceptance. For a large population of gay men, San Francisco proves to be a source of solace and a place they are happy to call home. In the 1980s, the city was also the site of what was, to some, believed to be the "gay cancer", plaguing the gay community and swiftly. Time would soon tell that the mysterious disease was the AIDS virus. At the brink of its arrival, San Francisco's response to the epidemic showed compassion and empathy, but most significant was the vastly different actions taken by other cities. Subsequently, "The San Francisco Model" became the ideal for creating a healthier and humane society in a world now struggling with AIDS.
Independent Lens: We Were Here tells the inspiring and poignant stories of five individuals who lived in San Francisco prior to the epidemic and were all effected in one way or another by the devastation, loss of life, compassion of strangers, and kindness of humanity that accompanied it. The firsthand stories of these ordinary people who experienced the change and assumed roles as activists and caregivers, friends or lovers to victims of AIDS, and living testimonies of those who suffer from the virus comprise We Were Here.
Check out an educational and informative timeline tracing the history of AIDS.
Watch We Were Here (2011) Sunday, December 16 at 12:00am on WETA TV26 and WETA HD.
Man's Best Friend: The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (2003)
St. Francis of Assisi made it his life's work to care for animals. His compassion for all creatures is admired and praised long after his death. Animal shelters and advocates recognize the importance of animals and family pets are common in modern day society. Whether consciously or not, one man has followed suit of St. Francis of
Assisi and dedicates his days to feeding, caring for and protecting the wild parrots of San Francisco's Telegraph Hill. He is known as the "Bohemian St. Francis". Former homeless musician Mark Bittner was on a search for his life's purpose, and the parrots he affectionately, and rather impressively, recognizes by name just happened to collide with the timing of his search, and help him in ways one wouldn't think a bird could.
Not your typical nature or wildlife documentary, Independent Lens: The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill puts the spotlight on parrots but more significantly on relationships between animals and people, and finding meaning in life.
Watch The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (2003) Sunday, December 16 at 1:30am on WETA TV26 and WETA HD.
Watch a preview of The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill here!
You may not be able to tell "Patrick" the parrot from "Sophie" like Mark Bittner, but learn more about the wild parrots and their background, and explore a photo gallery of the birds.
WETA UK is your DC, MD, VA all-British broadcast television channel and this week we have new shows, new seasons, and new adventures to share with you! Here's what's coming up this week on WETA UK.
Monday at 7:00pm begin watching the new comedy My Family! This British family sitcom follows the Harper family: married couple Ben and Susan and their three children. Each character has a unique and hilarious personality, get to know them Mondays – Thursdays at 7:00pm. Learn more about the series in our Coming to WETA UK in December | New British Shows blog post and download our WETA UK MY FAMILY SEASON 1 EPISODE GUIDE!
Monday at 8:00pm join us for the premiere of Reilly Ace of Spies, the suspenseful dramatization of the real-life adventures of Sidney Reilly. Tonight at 8:00, discover the man who was said to be the inspiration behind Ian Fleming's James Bond. Learn more about the series in our Coming to WETA UK in December | New British Shows blog post!
Tuesday at 6:00pm tune in for the start of season 4 Born and Bred. Life is changing for the villagers in this new season of the popular countryside drama. Dr. Tom Gilder has left to make peace with his father so Dr. Donald Newman takes over the practice. New face Dr. Logan, young, good-looking and very confident sets feathers flying and even some romantic sparks! Deborah's pretty, but self-centered and immature younger sister, Nancy, comes to live with the Gilder family.
Tuesday at 10:00pm kick off season 4 of the action-packed detective series MI-5! A terrorist attack hits London and MI-5 has only 48 hours to prevent a catastrophe. Adam faces a life-and-death situation and by going undercover, Fiona hopes to put her demons to rest. Blackmail, manipulation, personal agendas, and more means this season of MI-5 isn't one to miss! Click here to download our free WETA UK MI-5 SEASON 4 EPISODE GUIDE.
Wednesday at 6:00pm catch the first episode of season 4 Ballykissangel! Continue to experience the spark of forbidden love and whimsical goings-on of this rural Irish community. Be sure to check out our WETA UK BALLYKISSANGEL SEASON 4 EPISODE GUIDE to help you stay on top of the drama and excitement! This episode repeats Sunday at 11:00am!
Wednesday at 8:00pm open a new case with Inspector Morse: Death of the Self. He and Lewis head to Italy to investigate the death of an Englishwoman. Ruled an accidental death, the woman's husband thinks otherwise. What will Inspector Morse uncover about this mysterious death?
Wednesday at 9:00pm Detective Superintendent Tennison's career heads toward its inevitable conclusion in this new story of Prime Suspect: The Final Act. When the body of missing schoolgirl Sallie Sturdy is discovered, the hunt for her killer begins. But as Tennison and her team work to identify their prime suspect, the emotional fallout from the brutal murder starts to take its toll. This episode re-airs Saturday at 6:00pm!
Thursday at 8:00pm continue the light hearted mystery series Rosemary and Thyme as they begin a new adventure, Sweet Angelica. While trying to restore the lawns at a school that caters to the children of wealthy foreigners, Rosemary and Laura find themselves involved in a murder mystery. Angelica, an attractive Polish student, spurns the advances of more than one male at the school. When one of her suitors turns up dead, she is among the suspects.
Friday at 8:00pm start Fawlty Towers from the beginning! Watch season 1 episode 1 at 8:00pm then stay tuned for two more episodes at 8:30pm and 9:00pm!
Saturday at 8:00pm we invite you to the WETA UK Event: The Complete Wallander! Start watching this week with two back-to-back episodes beginning at 8:00pm Sidetracked and Firewall. Learn more about the series in our Coming to WETA UK in December | New British Shows blog post!
Sunday at 3:00pm is the first of many new seasons today! Watch the global phenomenon Red Dwarf from the very beginning! On board the Jupiter mining ship Red Dwarf, Dave Lister ranks 169 out of 169, lower than the Skutters, the maintenance robots. Lister has recently been dumped by Officer Kristine Kochanski but is still in love with her. By the end of the first episode, all the crew except Lister dies from a radiation leak caused by a badly sealed Drive plate. Click here to download our free WETA UK RED DWARF SEASON 1 EPISODE GUIDE! Episode 2 follows at 3:30pm!
Sunday at 6:00pm watch episode 1 of Monarch of the Glen season 4! This season brings more drama and romance, be sure to schedule your day around this British favorite!
Sunday at 8:00pm celebrate the premiere of Yes, Minister season 3! Government Ministers come and go, but Civil Servants are in the Ministry forever. Therefore it is the job of every responsible Government bureaucrat to ensure that meddling politicians do not rock the boat. This is the last season and certainly one of the funniest. Print and download our free WETA UK YES, MINISTER SEASON 3 EPISODE GUIDE!
Sunday at 10:00pm Doctor Who takes on season 3 episode 1. From the moment the Doctor walks into the life of medical student Martha Jones he changes her forever. Together they find themselves travelling through time and space encountering extraordinary events, amazing worlds and faces both old and new.
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Though you may know and love and/or fear it as The Snuggie, it's marketed some states north of Minnesoata and east of Kentucky as The WTF Blanket. Here is its ad [NSFW], which, according to unconfirmed outsider sources on non-attribution background, could be angling to snatch up one of the the last Super Bowl ad slots using a modified eBay snipe-bot. [via Bon Jour, Pee Wee]
You Say Snuggie, I Say WTF Blanket
This sounds like every thing I have read in the comments about this thing. I'm amazed I missed this video on youtube.
@MightyDwarf56: Hilarious"ad," but I think I may enjoy the ShamWow parody even more:
@supercereal: Thanks that's great as well
As if "Snuggie" isn't a ridiculous enough name on its own…
funny this article comes up today, my friend just bought a snuggie and excitedly drove all the way over to my place to show it to me.
@ds143: you need new friends…
@ds143: So are you gonna get one now? Was it as amazing in real life?
…I am strongly tempted to drive all the way over to your friend's place to smack him. Or her, as the case may be.
The Snuggie too will end up in the basement along with the Cabbage Patch dolls and Kerbangers.
@ds143: Was your friend wearing it when he/she showed up?
@samurailynn: And holding a knife, while inviting you to a "meeting" with some "friends"?
This video is funny… and I'm as snarky as the next guy, and I see jokes all over the Internets about the Snuggie. I'm sure it's all just as hilarious as this video, but I really don't see the point of making fun of a blanket.
I have no intention of buying one, but it's just a blanket and it seems like right now to be Internet Cool and snarky in the right way, you have to be making fun of Snuggies.
Am I missing something?
@humphrmi: Can't speak for anyone else, but I just find it ridiculous that the ads make the Snuggie seem like an astounding new invention, when it's basically just a bathrobe worn backwards.
@SybilDisobedience: OK, I get it. Ridiculous, yeah! So, where's your video?
@humphrmi: Are you familiar with comedy and/or the internet?
Let me explain:
1. A person, place or thing exists
2. Someone on the internet discovers this person, place or thing.
3. It gets made fun of endlessly and in different fashions, from family friendly to uncomfortably offensive to the absurdly irreverent.
4. Sometimes it becomes an "internet meme".
5. Profit!
You're missing a sense of humor.
@WickedKoala: Maybe I'm being a wet blanket.
@humphrmi: I think it's mainly a function of them buying up all the now-dirt-cheap airtime. Everyone has seen this thing, everyone is baffled by it, and so when you make fun of it everyone gets it. It's not just some internet wildfire.
Amazingly the WTF blanket can give you herpes AND super herpes all while not getting laid. Well, I'm sold.
This thing is the tits! It's waaay better than that over-sized robe I put on backwards.
I always call the Snuggie the "Monk Robe" b/c everyone lounging around in it looks like a freakin' monk.
Or they look like their at Hogwarts attending a game of Quiddich.
@geekgrrl77: Or a Jedi
@Dansc29625: Or a KKK Member who mixed up their whites (No pun intended).
@humphrmi I think the reason it's so funny is that it's a totally useless invention. Someone got me a Snuggie for Christmas, because I'm always cold. The thing is, it's a cross between a bathrobe and a blanket, and fails as both. If you wear it the way it's shown in the ad, it doesn't cover up your neck, so unless you're sitting in a really overstuffed chair, your neck is cold. If you wear it like a bathrobe, you have to wrap the front parts around you, and it doesn't have a belt or buttons, so you just have all this fabric bunched in front of you. Plus, you can't walk around wearing it, because it trails on the floor, and falls off (due to the lack of buttons/belt/zipper). I think anyone would be better off with a really warm fleece bathrobe. And when I tried using the Snuggie on my bed as a blanket, when my heater broke, the sleeves bunched up and got in the way, making it fail as a blanket as well.
I think the reason people find the ad so funny (other than the usual dumb infomercial stuff) is that the product itself is unnecessary, since blankets and bathrobes already exist and serve their respective purposes better than the Snuggie. But maybe I'm just a frustrated Snuggie owner. Blanket + bathrobe = FAIL.
@worksanddays: My Slanket covers up my neck adequately; there's a bunch of extra fabric at the top above the sleeves. But I don't want to get into any sort of WTF Blanket flamewar here. ;)
I have a Slanket and I am not ashamed to say that I love it. It's pretty essential for a couch/computer potato in a northern state.
Can someone explain why a damn parody youtube video in on the front page? WTB better editors.
@lannister80: Because it is funny. WTB lannister.
@lannister80: THE NEWS IS SERIOUS BUSSINESS
@lannister80: LVL 50 MAGE LFG.
@lannister80: I'm actually with you on this one. Another, better video maybe. Unfortunately, this video frugally attaches a bunch of old internet memes to the product. God knows we can't live without another "Snape kills Dumbledore" joke.
First time I saw the ad here in Denver, I thought it was some kind of cult robe, trying to dress everyone for Armageddon, ala Heaven's Gate….
@hahamaximus: Looks great with Nikes.
@hahamaximus: Didn't Tom Cruise wear one in Eyes Wide Shut?
This clip basically said everything I thought the first time I saw the infomercial. It's a $60 backwards robe but I guess if your going for that "I'm in a cult look" its worth it.
The part that scares me is how many people honestly think ugg blanket so hard. . . are you flipping serious?!
I'm going to get one to use for Halloween next year….and dress as a Byzantine monk.
I guess the Snuggie was just marketed better. In my heart the Slanket > Snuggie.
When I first saw this commercial I thought "what a ripoff of the slanket"
I saw an above comment about the snuggie not having enough fabric for the neck; not a problem with my slanket.
Does this guy sound like Sarah Haskins [consumerist.com] to anyone else?
You know the economy is bad when people want something like this because their house is 60 degrees or below — and the only ad space that is being sold is to mail order houses.
BTW — whatever happened to Ron Popeil?
I'm just glad someone finally had the courage to say it. This thing is just a robe you wear backwards! People might have said it before, but this is the first I've heard someone say it. CNN has a news article about it calling the Snuggie a "marketing phenomenon". I…I just wanted either my life or the entirety of human civilization to just end in that moment.
I was just talking/ranting about this last night. It's about time someone parodied it.
Whoever mocks this should remember to make fun of the people nodding idiotically throughout the commercial.
*Lets you hear conversations from across the room!*
"God, John is such a dillhole…see, he's wearing one of those eavesdropper things!"
*someone sees John wearing the eavesdropper device and blasts an airhorn nearby*
@SRSco: It creeps me out that they are drinking out of the same glasses I own..
The more bloggers make fun of the Snuggie, the more Snuggies sell. So I'm sure they're laughing all the way to the bank. Just like Jessica Simpson who showed the world her "mom" jeans and now all the cougars are snapping them up.
They have sold more than 4 million in the last 3 months.
oh, wee. whew.
I almost shot peanut butter out of my nose on this one.
Why can't you just turn up the heat and be comfortable? Oh yeah – you also bought one of those "Amish" space heaters.
That's golden, "I can't believe a black man is president." Good find.
They should add in that you're a hood shy of looking like a klansman.
Very creative and funny vid with super low cost of production. ++
looks like something you would wear if you were in a secret cult.
My husband got me a snuggie and I love it. As to why not just turn up the heat? Well, it's already set to 70 and he's comfortable, why should I make him uncomfortable when a blanket with sleeves fixes the problem? A few bucks for a blanket or raising my heating bill even more for several months during the year. It's more than paid for itself.
I hate the snuggie commericals…they are creepy as hell.
I wom one of these at a Super Bowl party last night. It's a blanket with 2 arm holes cut into it. Since it's useful for sporting events, I may wear it to my daughters basketball game this weekend.
Yeah, I don't hate my kid or myself that much – but hey don't let that stop you.
Er, Minnesota only has one A.
Yeah. Robe worn backwards. Did this in the hospital for months and then started seeing the commercial. Wow.
I will send the snuggie pics of my family, I just ordered four from [getsnuggies.net] We are planning to go out around vegas with our snuggies on LOL


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By Heather WilburnNovember 12, 2008
A line of shoppers formed at the doors of Stout Physical Fitness Center Saturday morning, waiting for the start of the Fort Bliss Noncommissioned Officers Wives' Club Holiday Bazaar.
At promptly 9 a.m., the first customers made their way past booth after booth of handmade crafts, baked goods and more, marking the bazaar's 21st year of holiday spirit. Organizers estimated the event, which housed more than 130 vendors, would draw a crowd of 3,000 to 3,500 over its two-day span.
While the bazaar is a hit with local shoppers, it serves a higher purpose, said Sue Gonzales, bazaar chairperson.
"We hold the bazaar to raise money for the NCO Wives' Club's welfare projects," she said. "We give the monies we earn from booth rentals and admission fees to both El Paso and Fort Bliss organizations."
This year, the club found an additional cause to support: Fort Bliss' Soldier and Family Assistance Center.
"We had a table out front to take up donations for our wounded warriors," Gonzales said. "And we partnered with them to let participants of the Wounded Warrior Walk [held immediately preceding the bazaar at Stout track Saturday] in free."
Stacy Massey and her family were a few of the Wounded Warrior Walk participants who made the short trek from the track to the gym.
"We were out at the Wounded Warrior Walk, so we came over here just to check it out, really," she said, noting that she hadn't been to one of the club's bazaars before. "It's pretty neat. They've got it set up really well, and there's lots of stuff, a lot more than I thought there would be."
In contrast, Barbara Cole has been a longtime supporter of the bazaar.
"I've been before, many times over the years, even when they had it at a hangar out on Biggs [Army Airfield]," she said. "I always enjoy it."
The best part of the bazaar, Cole said, is "seeing what wonderful things are created by some very wonderful people."
"I also like what the money goes for, toward the charities," she added.
The community appreciates the event, Gonzales said, and the feeling is mutual.
"We appreciate all the people who come," she said.


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A Perfect Day for Bananafish
by J.D. Salinger
Muriel Glass Timeline and Summary
- While waiting for a phone line to open up, Muriel reads a magazine article, moves a button on her blouse, and paints her nails.
- While on the phone with her mother, Muriel repeats over and over that she's fine. It soon becomes clear that her husband, Seymour, has some sort of mental illness. While this concerns her mother, it doesn't seem to worry Muriel too much.
- Muriel giggles over Seymour's nickname for her, "Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948."
- She asks her mother if she left the book of German poems Seymour gave her at home, as she can't find it.
- They discuss Dr. Sivetski and his opinion of Seymour. We find out that Muriel waited for Seymour while he was in the army during the war.
- Muriel tells her mother that there is a therapist staying at the hotel, though she hasn't had time to talk with him seriously about Seymour.
- The two women move on to chatting about clothes and fashion. Muriel's mother makes one last plea for Muriel to come home before hanging up. Muriel insists everything is fine.


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Review: Super Laser by EpicForce
By Eric Pankoke
When iFighter Lite came out and I saw the screen shots I thought to myself "I'm buying the full version when it comes out". The full version came out, I bought it, and even though I had forgone trying the lite version first, I didn't regret my purchase at all. When I saw the screen shots for Super Laser I thought "I want to get this game", and the feeling was cemented when I realized it was from the same developers that made iFighter. After spending some time with Super Laser I can only hope that this isn't the last scrolling shooter we'll see from EpicForce. Super Laser not only ups the ante from iFighter, but it feels like the game Assault Squadron should have been (minus the horizontal scrolling levels, though).


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Kohlmaisliftweg 626 - 5753 Saalbach | Saalbach-Hinterglemm Austria
Jump to: » Location » Info » Facilities
Located in the centre of Saalbach. Public indoor swimming pool: Hinterglemm 4 km Grocery store: Saalbach 400 m Shopping possibilities: 400 m Railway station: Zell am See 15 km Airport: Salzburg 90 km Glacier: Kitzsteinhorn Kaprun 35 km Altitude resort: 1,003 m Ski area / mountain railway: Kohlmaislift 150 m Cross-country ski track: Hinterglemm 4 km Ski bus (the next stop): 500 m Ski-in - ski-out possible: yes - with snow canons Hotel shuttle bus free of charge: no
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Hotel Details
Hotel Category: Superior Tourist
Stars: 3
The cosy, newly built apartment hotel with a nice atmosphere is situated in a quiet and sunny location. Reception, newly designed 'Stube' (parlour), internet corner: free of charge, heated ski storage room with boot dryer, 1 parking lot or garage parking per apartment free of charge, à la carte restaurant in the Tyrolean style for a fee, house bar, café, terrace, non-smoking rooms; no washing machine available. Included: Sauna, quiet room; opening hours: daily open from 4 pm until 7 pm. Extra charge: Solarium: Euro 6.- per 20 min., opening hours: daily from 4 pm until 7 pm. Cot: free of charge, playroom Not permitted. Credit cards: Visa Suitable for wheelchairs: no Arrival from 2 p.m., departure until 10 a.m. We take no responsibility for any errors, misprints or omissions; subject to alterations.
Shower/toilet, balcony or terrace, radio, telephone, sat-TV, non-smoking. All rooms are equipped with a vanity mirror, bath towel dryer and soap dispenser.
Included: Extensive breakfast buffet with cold and hot dishes.
Services and information about the hotel
Hotel facilities
The Aparthotel Astrid is perfect for who wants to travel by car.
The hotel provides either its own car park or a nearby one with a special agreement; being not included in the room price, for a paid parking the payment have to be carried out directly on the spot.


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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Newegg.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
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Pack Of 6 Artificial Berry Candle Rings From The Outdoor Wild Berry Collection Item #P775306Candle rings add elegance and class to any room, you can use them with jar candles, pillar or votive candles. Simply place your candle in the middle of the ring and voila you have a beautiful decoration for your home in seconds! Product Features: Color: Red Dimensions: 10" (total diameter), 5" inner diameter, Berries are approx. 0.19" (5mm)in diameter. Material(s): Plastic/Foam Weather Resistant, these items have been treated with a special glossy finish and are suitable for indoor or outdoor use to prevent fading. Pack includes 6 of the candle rings shownNote: Photo shows a red & burgundy candle ring but the candle ring that you will receive has JUST RED berries. Candles not included Type: Decorations Occasion: Christmas Mapping: Null. Price: $38.99
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Graffiti is regulated by the Community Standards Bylaw. Graffiti includes any inscription, slogan or drawing placed on a wall or other public surface without the permission of the building's owner.
Graffiti is a Crime
Graffiti is a criminal offence when placed on public or private property without the owner's consent.
Private property owners are required to remove graffiti from their property within a reasonable amount of time.
Buildings and structures should not have graffiti on them that is visible from any surrounding property.
You should call 911 if you witness a graffiti crime in progress.
Graffiti Removal
Keep the exterior of your business clear of graffiti. Tidy walls have a positive effect on your property value and business sales.
The 3Rs of graffiti management are:
- Record: Take photos of the vandalized area and record when it occurred
- Report: Inform the Edmonton Police Service and the City
- Remove: Wash or paint over the graffiti
Reporting Your Concerns
If you have a concern about graffiti:
- Discuss the concern or notify the business owner so they may contact police
- Record the address of the violation and a description of the problem if you can't resolve it directly with the business owner
- Call 311
- Provide your name, address, phone number, and the details of your concern in case your testimony is required in court
Responding to Your Complaint
After you call 311, the City takes these steps to help with your issue:
- A file is created specifying your concerns
- A Municipal Enforcement Officer (MEO) opens an investigation
- The officer investigates your complaint within 4 business days
- The MEO may issue a warning notice with directions to remedy the problem within a specified time frame or issue a bylaw ticket with a $250 fine depending on the circumstances
- The officer may issue an order, which allows the City to fix the problem and bill the property owner for the cost
- The City may contact you to appear as a witness, if the matter goes to court
Protecting your Privacy
The information you provide will be used to process your complaint, but your name and address will not be made available to anyone else. For more information on how the City protects your privacy visit Freedom of Information and Privacy.
For More Information
Permits and Licensing Service Centre
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Edmonton, AB T5J 3P4
Hours of Operation:
Monday to Friday
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In Edmonton: 311
Outside Edmonton: 780-442-5311


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JAN 12, 2013 - Boston Globe
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — After nearly three decades in the U.S. Senate, Democrat Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia said Friday he was ready to retire, calling his unrelenting fight to protect the nation's coal miners one of his proudest achievements.
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View the original article at: http://www.countryweekly.com/news/cma-music-festival-breaks-mark
The average daily attendance in 2009 was 56,000. By comparison, in 2008 the average daily attendance was 52,000. The increase was felt in single-concert tickets and attendance in the festival's free zones and concert venues, including Riverfront Park, which was free to the public for the first time. Tickets for the 2010 CMA Music Festival, which will be held June 10 through 13 in Nashville, are available now. For more information, go to cmafest.com [1].
[1] http://cmafest.com
[2] http://www.countryweekly.com/news/rascal-flatts-breakfast-platter
[3] http://www.countryweekly.com/news/sugarland-sets-cddvd-package