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What Seneca Habitat for Humanity has been doing for 25 years
November 1985 - Citizens meet informally to discuss starting an affiliate for HFH. Items discussed: educate the public and gain its support; investigate land possibilities; select board of directors; set up bank account;. incorporate for tax-exempt status; develop a project; and form a public relations group.
1986 - The Seneca County welfare director supplies a report stating that 75-80 percent of the welfare families have housing problems, especially with utility bills. A steering committee is formed, and a board of directors is elected: the Rev. Charles Selby, John Kauffman, Mary Jane Swinehart, Gaylord Snavely, Robert Joyce, Marion Blue, Wilma Recker, George Deinzer, Joan Groce, Sister Leanne Kerchner, the Rev. Alex Dandar, Faye Lyon and Eugene Werling. Articles of incorporation and bylaws are accepted.
Article Photos
In 2000, Tiffin Lions Club members helped to build a Habitat house at 227 Sixth Ave.
1987 - Helen Pfeifer donates her home at 66 Grace St. to SHFH. Three families apply, and the Thomas Dayton family is chosen to receive the house. Next, SHFH closes on 402 N. Washington St., which becomes the home of the Smith family. SHFH sells a home on Elm Street and the seller pays $12,900 to SHFH for the sale.
1988 - Ground breaking is done for 121 N. Monroe St. to be occupied by the Magers family.
1989 - A house on Crocker Street in Fostoria is purchased. Later that year, SHFH buys a parcel at 292 Clay St.
1990 - SHFH moves into the United Way building on Jefferson Street for office space and a meeting room.
1991 - Fourth Avenue and Vine Street properties are purchased. Dedications take place for Clay and Crocker street homes. Two more families are accepted for home ownership.
1992 - The Acre home is dedicated, and Baker and Kiesel families are approved. SHFH buys property on Hall Street and the Reedy home.
1993 The group of homes on Fourth and Warren avenues and Vine Street is named Habitat Village. A donor gives SFHF a double lot on Seventh Avenue. Property is purchased on Sixth Avenue.
1994 SHFH receives grant money from Federal Home Loan Bank, National Machinery Foundation and the Meshech-Frost Foundation.
1995 The Highland Addition is replatted for SHFH. Habitat constructs a warehouse on Grace Street on a lot donated by Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Bernet.
1996 - Two groups of SHFH volunteers traveled to Paducah, Ky., and Farrell-Sherard, Miss., to work on Habitat homes there. Wilbur Mackling donates 26 Ash St. for rehabilitation. Heidelberg students help with rehabbing.
1997 - After 10 years in existence, SHFH hires Suzanne Donaldson as its first executive director. Homes at 190 Fifth Ave., 133 Warren Ave. and 230 Second Ave. are dedicated.
1998 - Dedications at 184 Fifth Ave. and 278 Seventh Ave. take place. Sentinel building trades students work on houses at 196 and 202 Fifth Ave.
1999 - A map of Habitat homes is created. Income is obtained from Methodist churches and matching donation from anonymous donor. Application is filed for a self-help opportunity program grant from Housing and Urban?Development, and SHFH works with WSOS on installation of water heaters and insulation. Church group from Bath donates $1,000 and volunteer workers for three days. American Standard donates nine fixtures. Much of the work crew goes to Mississippi to work on homes. Partner families receive Christmas boxes. Two families pay off their mortgages.
2000 - A homeowners' association is formed. Property is purchased on Sixth Avenue, and building begins. Habitat owns nine lots on Fifth and Sixth avenues. The Ohio Legislature contributes $10,000 toward construction of a home for the Santillana/Hernandez family, who are refugees from political turmoil in El Salvador. J&J Builders puts roof on a Sixth Avenue house; Whirlpool donates refrigerators and ranges for all Habitat homes built this year and a new computer for the office; American Standard donates more fixtures; First Lutheran youth group and Master Gardeners do landscaping. Lions Club donates $26,250 and volunteer labor for Sixth Avenue home. SHFH becomes associate agency of United Way.
2001 - SHFH participates in Circle of Hope Build with an appearance by Hope Taft. Habitat purchases site of former Cook's store at First and Vine. Whirlpool extends donation of refrigerators and ranges to all new U.S. Habitat houses through 2004. Larson Door Co. donates storm doors, and Certainteed company donates shingles for two houses. The six homes on Sixth Avenue is designated as Habitat Corners. SHFH participates in Make a Difference Day.
2002 - Plans for the first three houses at Habitat Corners are approved. Meshech-Frost Foundation donates $10,000 for a house at that location. A grant application to Aid Association of Lutherans Sponsorship and Partnership for $20,000 is submitted and later approved.
The Habitat office moves to the warehouse at 65 Grace St. Closing takes place on Sixth Avenue house, and lots are purchased on Elm and Seneca avenues. Seneca Habitat participates in Make a Difference Day by doing a project in Republic.
2003 - The Perotti-Dutt Duo gives a benefit concert for SHFH at The Ritz Theatre.
2004 - A website committee is established. Construction begins on the Seneca/Elm site. Michelle Neidermier is accepted as the new executive director.
2005 - A church relations committee is established. Neidermier resigns, and Michele Bighouse becomes the new executive director. Three houses on First Avenue are dedicated. SHFH pursues purchase of former ball field on Third Avenue.
2006 - Parsonage of Second United Church of Christ is donated to Habitat and sold for a net profit of $36,187.10. Elks and Seneca Kruisers make donations; Sentinel students work on wiring for 230 Elm Ave. The city of Tiffin arranges a Community Development Block Grant for street extension and infrastructure on Third Avenue. Habitat hosts a golf scramble and raffle at Seneca Hills. Three houses on Elm are dedicated. New website begins operation. Director's position is changed from 20 to 40 hours per week.
2007 - Building chairman Bob Rice dies. Grace Street warehouse is named for him. Cliff Farmer is elected SHFH president, and Bob Overholt and Faye Lyon are honored as charter members. Construction continues on 187, 193 and 199 Fifth Ave., with wiring on one house by Sentinel students. Water company donates cost for Third Avenue water lines. Firefighters set trusses and complete roof at 203 Fifth Ave. Golf outing at Nature Trails brings in more than $18,000, with an additional $1,020 from blimp ride drawing. Smith and LeGrant homes are dedicated. SHFH is approved for Lumber Program Grant Agreement.
2008 - Third Avenue property is paid off. Dan Galaba becomes president. City puts in storm sewer, curbs and street paving on Third Avenue. Homes must have electric heat because no gas line exists, and SHOP grants require Energy Star construction. Golf scramble moves to Fostoria Country Club. A partner family is de-selected for not contributing sweat-equity hours. Bighouse participates in Women Build in Michigan. Lowe's donates to SHFH by matching the money customers spent on gift cards during the store's grand opening.
2009 - Wayne Kromer is elected president. Contributions come from Alpha Phi Tau at Heidelberg, Softwood Lumber, two estates and participation in Kroger Rewards Program. Habitat forecloses on one partner family. Bighouse resigns, and Josef Swora is selected as executive director.
2010 - Sentinel students work on 14th house, under leadership of Tom Renninger. Foreclosed home is sold at sheriff's sale. Several families file for bankruptcy, but mortgages are not affected. One family pays off its mortgage after 13 years. Grants come in from SHOP, FHLB, National Machinery, Softwood Lumber and others. Tiffin Charitable Foundation, Attica Raceway Park and Hancock-Wood Electric Co-op also award grants. Alvada Construction, Clouse Construction and J.B. Roofing put on a roof. Church and Dwight donates cleaning supplies for new partner families. YMCA gives free one-year memberships to new partner families. Bob Evans gives a portion of a day's sales to SHFH. Ballreich's donates snacks for volunteer lunches and donates $1,000 towards mortgage of each new partner family.
2011 - Gala for 25th anniversary is planned for June 3 at Camden Falls. Sentinel does plumbing for Habitat houses. Clouse Construction plans to put up a roof on a Third-Avenue home.
Volunteers are needed to continue the work of Seneca Habitat. In addition to builders, people are needed to serve on the family selection committee, family support committee, church relations committee and as board members. To volunteer, apply for a home or receive more information, call the Habitat office at (419) 447-4270.


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Objectives | Fields of Study
| Timetable | Program Requirements
Westminster offers a 3-2 Engineering Program in conjunction with the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, California (USC), and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Students who successfully complete the requirements for this program will earn two degrees:
A Bachelor of Science or Arts with a major either in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Physics, and Mathematics. (Students may pursue other majors, but it may take them longer than 5 years to complete the two degrees.)
A Bachelor of Science in an engineering discipline from either Washington University or USC.
The 3-2 program is perfect for the student who wants to enhance and broaden their undergraduate education as a prelude to the focused work of engineering school. In all their pre-engineering classes, students receive the benefits of Westminster's small class sizes and tradition of teaching excellence. Westminster's math and science programs offer "learning communities" that couple courses like math and biology and utilize group-based, hands-on learning. Moreover, students often develop close nurturing relationships with faculty and their peers at Westminster that might not happen at a larger school.
Under the 3-2 program, a student attends Westminster College for approximately three years and then transfers to either the University of Southern California (USC) or Washington University for an additional two years of study in the selected engineering discipline. (1) As Westminster freshman, students must meet entrance requirements for USC or Washington University. (2) The 3-2 program advisor at Westminster College must recommend them. (To be considered for this recommendation a students must satisfy all the program requirements listed below, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.00, and maintain a 3.00 average in the major courses.) (3) Students must complete at least four semesters of full-time study at Westminster before transferring to the engineering school. (4) Students must have completed 12 upper division credits in their major prior to transfer. Students who complete the 3-2 program by transferring to either USC or Washington University automatically have the Westminster residency requirement waived. (Westminster requires that the last 36 hours of course work be completed at Westminster.)
After successful completion of both portions of the program the student is awarded degrees from both institutions.
In order for the student to complete the dual degree program in five years, it is important to follow closely the timetable set up by the advisor. The following is a sample timetable for a student majoring in Physics at Westminster and desiring a dual degree in Electrical Engineering. A particular student's course schedule will depend upon their prior coursework, their major at Westminster, the desired engineering discipline, and the specific requirements of the engineering school.*
Year 1, Freshman
See the 3-2 advisor**
*Some engineering disciplines require specific pre-engineering classes. These can be taken at the engineering school.
**The current 3/2 advisor is Dr. Peter Conwell, Assistant Professor of Physics.
***Westminster College requires all freshmen to enroll in one learning community. These are classes linked with a common theme. Typically at least one of these courses will satisfy a liberal education requirement.
^Typically taught every other year
^^Taught every other year
Merit-based and need-based financial aid is available from Westminster College and the engineering schools. However, these programs are not linked. Students receiving financial aid from Westminster must reapply for financial aid at the engineering school.
Students in this program are encouraged to meet with the program director at Westminster College during their freshman year to ensure satisfaction of all the requirements for their chosen field of engineering during their time at Westminster College and to learn about the coursework that will be required during their two years at the university.
Students must complete all their Liberal Education Requirements (see the "Undergraduate Degree Requirements" section of this catalog) and the following set of engineering core courses:
Principles of Chemistry I and II and Lab
Introduction to Computer Science
Directed Studies (FORTRAN, C++, or Java)
Composition and Research, LE
Calculus I and II
Multivariate Calculus
Linear Algebra and Differential Equations
Differential Equations II
Physics for Scientists and Engineers I and II and Lab
Introduction to Modern Physics
Additional classes that may be required, depending on the field of engineering
chosen, include:
Invertebrate Zoology and Lab
General Botany and Lab, LE
Organic Chemistry I and II and Lab
Quantitative Analysis and Lab
Biochemistry and Lab
Physical Chemistry I and II and Lab
Operating Systems
Elementary Statistics
Probability and Statistics
Linear Algebra II
Numerical Analysis
Mathematical Methods for Physicists
Analytical Mechanics
Quantum Mechanics (Same as CHEM 421)
Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics and Lab (Same as CHEM 422)

subset: commoncrawl


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White Paper: Adams Industries Air Ground Warrior Battery Pack for Aviation
Operators from the U. S. Army Special Forces and others have been conducting multiple recon and surveillance operations as well as direct action missions and engaging targets utilizing Army aviation night vision systems such as the AN/AVS-6 (or AN/PVS-23s) and ancillary hardware, helmet mounts and battery packs. These ANVIS systems represent the best of the best in terms of optical performance of any night vision system available however they are designed for air operations and may sacrifice ruggedness and durability in conducting ground operations.
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Baltimore Police: 8 wounded in attack, 3 shooters still at large
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My Shoulder, Phoenix Workshop, and Beloved Xena
Concerning my shoulder, the immobilizer is now off. The doctor and I agree that my shoulder does not have sufficient range of motion. In fact, half the time when I move my arm, I involuntarily cry out in pain. To even think of moving my arm to wash a window makes me cringe. I wouldn't be able to write on a blackboard. I still can't really scrub pots. I can cut many vegetables now (but not beets), especially when I hold the knife in my right hand, and press down on it with my left. I am working on regaining mobility. Meanwhile, I am so grateful to have my arm. I love it every day.
Carol and Judy, the two sponsors for a mid-March Godwriting workshop in Phoenix, Arizona, are arranging my flight and setting up a workshop. Exact dates will be posted soon. Blog Readers, you are invited. I sure hope you will come!
The third update concerns Xena. Actually it's more about my discovering how much I have bought into the propoganda of the world. You'll see what I mean.
You already know that Xena is the mildest dog I ever saw. She would never hurt a flea -- well, maybe a flea!
Yesterday, to my shock, I found out that Xena is a pit bull. Yes, a pit bull. I have heard enough that pit bulls are viewed as dangerous, and some cities even ban them. How awful is even the name -- pit bull.
When Lauren told me that Xena was a pit bull, I was in shock. I couldn't believe it. Xena, a pit bull? I didn't believe it. How could I? Any connection to Xena and stereotype pit bull is impossible. Xena is a lambie-pie through and through.
The very existence of Xena, who is scarred physically and emotionally, has to end such bigotry once and for all. How absurd to imagine that Xena could hurt anyone. Xena's very existence and her right to be seen with love must end the stereotype attached to pit bulls right now. Xena, who would have an excuse to be aggressive, was born one of God's most gentle creatures and remains the sweetest most patient forbearing canine angel the world has ever known.
May we all throw away all that old thinking and never repeat it, okay?


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Assembla offers free public and private SVN/Git repositories and project hosting with bug/issue tracking and collaboration tools.
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Operation Blessing International teams in the Philippines have concluded a week-long medical mission.
The teams were able to visit nine different communities, serving a total of 10,250 people.
They provided general medical and dental services and also distributed wheelchairs to disabled children and adults.
During the week, 1,267 people also received salvation.
Based in Virginia Beach, Va., Operation Blessing International is a charity aid organization affiliated with the Christian Broadcasting Network.
Find out how you can help Operation Blessing help people in need all around the world.
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It was quite a sight to see over Lake Michigan off the Kenosha shoreline Thursday afternoon when waterspouts formed.
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The Declaration and the Promise of a Democratic Culture
Copyright 1999 Jack M. Balkin. All Rights Reserved.
The Declaration and the Promise of a Democratic Culture
by J.M. Balkin(1)
What is the point of constitutional government in the United States of America? It is the eventual redemption in history of the principles of our founding document. I do not mean the written Constitution of 1787. I mean the Declaration of Independence of 1776. American constitutionalism is and must be a commitment to the promises the Declaration makes about our future as a people. Our country sprang forth from a revolution in political and social structure. The Declaration explains the point of that revolution, and hence the point of our constitutional enterprise.
Abraham Lincoln understood this well. At Gettysburg he told his audience "[f]our score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation."(2) Eighty seven years before 1863 is not 1775, the date of Concord and Lexington, but 1776, the date of the Declaration of Independence. The new nation, Lincoln explained, was "conceived in Liberty."(3) But it was "dedicated to [a] proposition."(4) That proposition was the Declaration's declaration "that all men are created equal."(5) This, Lincoln said, was the most profound meaning of the Revolution and of the new nation it brought forth.(6)
Shortly before Lincoln took the oath of office in 1861, he addressed an audience at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration was debated and signed. When Lincoln spoke several southern states had already seceded; more would soon follow.(7) Arguing for the preservation of the Union, Lincoln asked what principles the country stood for as a whole. "I have often inquired of myself," Lincoln mused, "what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together."(8) The Union, he said, was not kept together by "the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the mother land."(9) It was kept together by the ideas in the Declaration, ideas that did not simply give liberty to Americans, "but hope to the world for all future time."(10) The Declaration, Lincoln argued, "gave promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance."(11)
For many, the Civil War began as a fight over Union; northerners claimed that the point of the war was to preserve the Union. Even Lincoln himself once said that if he could preserve the Union with slavery he would do it.(12) Standing at Gettysburg he no longer said this: Lincoln argued that the Civil War was not about the preservation of the Union for its own sake. The Civil War, he claimed, was a test of the national soul, a test of the spirit of the American Revolution, a test to see "whether ... any nation so conceived and dedicated"(13) to the proposition contained in the Declaration "can long endure."(14)
The Declaration is our constitution. It is our constitution because it constitutes us, constitutes us as a people "conceived in liberty, and dedicated to a proposition." Long before the United States had a written Constitution it was already constituted, already dedicated, as an ongoing social and political project. It was constituted and dedicated by We the People, constituted and dedicated by a promise we made to ourselves in our Declaration. Courts today do not hold the Declaration to be part of the Constitution; they do not read the text of the Declaration as if its clauses had the force of law, in the way they read the First Amendment or the Equal Protection Clause. Yet there is no text that is more a part of our Constitution -- or our constitution as a people -- than the Declaration. Without its ideals our written Constitution would be an empty shell; without its ideals we would not be a nation "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."(15)
The Declaration is our constitution, the constitution that our Constitution exists to serve. Lincoln once said that the Declaration is an "apple of gold"(16) framed in a "picture of silver,"(17) which is our written Constitution.(18) His metaphor comes from the Book of Proverbs, which tells us that "[a] word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver."(19) The Declaration, with its promise of equal liberty for all "was the word, `fitly spoken,' which has proved an `apple of gold' to us. The Union and the Constitution are the picture of silver subsequently framed around it."(20) This is their right relation. "The picture was made not to conceal or destroy the apple, but to adorn and preserve it. The picture was made for the apple, not the apple for the picture."(21)
In these few words Lincoln explained the point of our Constitution. The Constitution exists to fulfil the promises made by the Declaration; it provides a legal and political framework through which those promises can be redeemed in history. Thus, if we want to understand the meaning of the Constitution, we must understand the meaning of those promises. The Constitution creates a structure of government; but the Declaration tells us why governments are instituted. Our Constitution is a living document; but the Declaration explains the reason that it lives. The Constitution is a body of law; but the promises contained in the Declaration are its soul.
The Declaration makes promises, promises that have yet to be fulfilled. It tells us that things are true-- and self-evidently true-- that are not yet true at all. It declares that all people are created equal; yet many people still live under the yoke of inequality. It says that all people are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; yet these rights are alienated every day by the rich and powerful. It says that to secure these rights, governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; yet people still live under unjust governments, unjust laws, and unjust social conditions to which they have never consented.
What was the point of saying things, which were not true in 1776 and are still not true even today? What is the point of declaring them to be true? To declare these things are true is to make a promise and a prophecy. It makes a promise to ourselves and to future generations that someday what we declare to be true will be true. It makes a prophecy that someday the promises we make will be redeemed; if not by us, then by those who come after us. The Declaration is a prophecy of redemption, that someday "every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill laid low, the crooked straight and the rough places plain."(22) It even tells us how its prophecies will be fulfilled. Listen to the words of the Declaration: "[W]henever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."(23) We rebelled against Great Britain to create a new government. That new government was imperfect, as all governments are. We the People retain the right to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, government that better realizes the promises we made in the Declaration. So we have done before. So we shall do again.
The Declaration declares, calls out to us: Remember what they did there. Remember what we did there. And let us do this thing again, until the prophecy is fulfilled, the promises redeemed.
To understand the meaning of the Constitution, we must understand the promises that we made to ourselves in our Declaration. And to understand those promises, we must understand who we are and where we came from. We must understand a central fact about ourselves: We are the children of a revolution. That revolution continues, in ever new forms and guises, to this very day.
The American Revolution was not merely a political revolution. It was also a social revolution. When we threw off the government of Great Britain, we threw off a form of society as well.(24) The American revolution was a revolution against monarchy, but monarchy was both a form of governance and a structure of social relations. For the revolutionary generation, monarchy meant more than simply the existence of a King. The King sat at the top of an elaborate system of social hierarchy with intricate gradations of social rank that established and maintained social betters and social inferiors. Monarchy was a status hierarchy-- it featured and fostered elaborate social meanings of superiority and inferiority that helped foster a structure of social power and that made this hierarchy of status seem normal, natural and just.(25) Monarchy was less a form of government than a technology of social power. It was a system of social rank, and rank had its privileges, both material and social.
The high-handedness of the King of England is the object of much of the Declaration's complaints, but behind these complaints lies a still greater objection: an indictment of an entire social system and a social structure that gave special esteem and social power to those judged noble and denied status and power to the rest. Monarchy was a world of corruption and cronyism, in which the favored few were given privileges because of their social connections to the King and their place in the social hierarchy. In place of this system the revolutionaries hoped to establish a new realm of republican citizens, who recognized no King or nobility, but who were equal in political and social rank.
This rejection of a system of social hierarchy is the point of the Declaration's famous statement: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."(26) This truth was hardly self-evident in 1776; many people believed that human beings were by nature born unequal, and that the nobility were a special kind of people, superior in skills, intelligence, and temperament to the common rabble.(27) The natural inequality of human beings and the special nature of those judged noble is an old idea in human history, reflected in the very term "gentleman," from the Latin "gens" or "kind," suggesting a man of a special kind, different from ordinary folk.(28) More than once people have taken the world as they find it as proof and justification for the inequality of human beings. The Declaration denied this: it asked us to look beyond the social structures we live in and to understand how the norms of a society can disguise injustice and oppression, make the false seem true and the true seem false.
The revolutionary ethos sought to disestablish unjust social hierarchy that disguised itself as natural and normal and justified the found inequality of human beings as the natural order of the world. The nobility were granted special privileges both by law and by custom; their superior merits were apparent on the face of things, in their style, their dress, their education, their manners, and their culture. Their superiority in all things went without saying; they even prided themselves on their condescension to the lower orders. Condescension was a social virtue, the beneficent attitude of social superiors towards people who knew their place.(29)
The revolutionary generation sought to rid America of this social hierarchy, a social structure complete with an elaborate set of social meanings of superiority and inferiority, complete with its own vision of human merit and its own conception of "the best and the brightest." The desire to smash this social hierarchy, alter its social meanings, and disestablish its unjust social structure was the true radicalism of the American Revolution, a radicalism so successful that we no longer remember monarchy's ubiquitous forms and force in everyday life.(30) Hoping to stem the growth of monarchical privileges in the new nation, the framers of the 1787 Constitution forbade the states and the federal government from granting titles of nobility.(31) Yet so effective was the social transformation brought on by the American Revolution that these clauses soon became superfluous, a distant echo of a world and a form of social inequality entirely strange to us. To understand the meaning of the Declaration today, we must remember that forgotten world. We must look back to the Titles of Nobility Clauses and to the excoriation of monarchy in the Declaration to remind ourselves that the revolutionaries who fought for liberty and equality sought to change not only the forms of government, but also the structure of society.
The revolutionaries' demand for social equality was an ideal. It was not completely achieved in the years after the Revolution, nor did the revolutionary generation understand how great a social transformation true social equality would require. Few thought the idea of social equality should apply to women, or to slaves, and many did not even think it should apply to white men who lacked property. Even after the Revolution, prosperous families in both the North and South tended to think of themselves as a natural ruling elite, failing to see that their aristocracy of "natural" merit disguised yet another form of social hierarchy.(32) Ironically, they too would be resented by a later generation of ordinary Americans who regarded them with the same degree of distrust as they had regarded the King and the English nobility.(33)
But the limitations of the revolutionary generation are beside the point. What is important about their ideal of social equality is precisely that it was an ideal: It was something that future generations could look to, something that they could employ to critique the social inequalities of their own time, something that they could invoke against previous generations who had realized it only partially and incompletely.
The struggle against the social structure of monarchy is the deepest meaning of the American revolution -- a fight for political equality that was also a fight for social equality, a revolution in social as well as political structure, a transformation in mores and manners as well as in the organs of representative government. But the call for social equality did not cease with the Revolution. It continues even in our own time. The revolutionary generation set loose a set of social forces that would prove more lasting and more powerful than any of them could have dreamed.
The world of monarchs and nobles has long since dissolved. Yet the revolutionary opposition to unjust social hierarchy has not subsided. That original call for social equality has reverberated again and again throughout American history. It underlies many of the most important social movements in American history; from the original revolutionaries to the Jacksonians, the Free Labor movement, the abolitionists, the Grange movement, the women's movement in its various incarnations, the Labor movement, the Populists, the New Dealers, the Civil Rights movement, and the Gay Rights movement of our own time. Each of these social movements has carried on, in its own way, the cause of the American Revolution -- the demand for the disestablishment of forms of unjust social status and social hierarchy, the demand for full recognition that all of us are equal and equal citizens.
The Declaration and Democratic Culture
The ultimate goal of our constitutional order is not merely to produce democratic procedures but a democratic culture: a culture in which all citizens can participate and feel they have a stake, a culture in which unjust social privileges and status hierarchies have been disestablished. Democracy is more than a matter of fair legal process. It is a feature of social organization, of social structure. Democracy inheres not only in procedural mechanisms like universal suffrage but in cultural modes like dress, language, manners and behavior. Political egalitarianism must be nourished by cultural egalitarianism. A culture of democracy must include both legal rights and institutions as well as cultural predicates for the exercise of those rights and institutions. For example, freedom of speech is formally guaranteed by legal doctrines, but it is even more important to democracy that we have a culture that respects and tolerates freedom of speech. We must have not only legal tolerance by governments but social tolerance by private citizens who respect the rights of people with whom they disagree.(34)
General guarantees of formal equality and liberty are not sufficient to produce a truly democratic culture. Rather, social structure itself must be altered. This is the lesson we should take from the American Revolution. To ensure a democratic culture, we must examine the historical forms and methods of social stratification existing in our own time. We must ask how law can be used to dismantle them, or, at the very least, how we can keep law from reinforcing and reproducing them.
Redeeming the promises of the Declaration requires that we understand democracy sociologically and historically as well as procedurally. Human beings must be freed not only from the power of the state, but from the customs and institutions of social hierarchy, and from the overweening ambitions of private power. People must have a genuine chance to participate in all of the institutions of society that affect their lives; these institutions include not only governments but the market and the larger culture as well. The social movements that followed the American Revolution have always had this dual character-- they have sought not only change in forms of state governance, but also changes in the structure of society. They understood the important connections between political freedom, social status and economic independence. When the Jacksonians protested special economic privileges for the wealthy, they identified this with "class legislation" that created a new class of economic nobility.(35) The populists of the 1890's were deeply concerned with the concentration of economic power in private hands that occurred in the second half of the 19th century. The labor movement and the New Dealers understood that legal rules that preserved economic impoverishment and dependence were necessarily linked with lack of political and social status.(36) The women's movement has always been concerned not only with equal legal rights for women, but with the economic status and social position of women in the workplace and in the family.(37) The civil rights movement sought not only equal opportunity for blacks but also a dismantling of a system of social meanings that granted special racial privileges to whiteness.
In short, if we are to realize the promise of the Declaration in our own time, we must try to understand the forms of unjust social hierarchy that exist in our world and how law and society together conspire to maintain these status relationships. We must challenge all of the forms of status enforcing state action, not merely those that overtly preserve status hierarchy through direct classification. And we must resist all attempts by law to reproduce unjust status hierarchies.
The goal of a democratic culture is a continuous process rather than an achievable endstate, for democracies always exist and have existed in societies shaped by existing social hierarchies and previous injustices. Democracies always live in social conditions partially hostile to the attainment of democratic ideals. As Lincoln pointed out, the Declaration's Framers well understood that the promises of liberty and equality they declared could not fully exist in the world they inhabited. They put those promises in that document so that future generations could strive to redeem them.(38) The vindication of the principles of the Declaration can come only through a transformation of society into a truly democratic culture, the kind of society that can produce in reality what the Declaration only promised in theory. That is the point of constitutional government: the eventual redemption of American democracy, the creation of a government, in Lincoln's words, of the people, by the people, and for the people.(39)
Narrative Constitution and Narrative Justification
This argument is distinctive in three respects: First, it is a narrative argument; second, it is an narrative about redemption; and third, it is an argument about the redemption of a people. Let me address each of these in turn.
First, the argument and the form of justification are narrative. Narrative justifications help us understand what is happening and what we should do by calling upon an existing stock of shared stories about ourselves, our past, and our relationship to others. We understand ourselves in terms of stories about who we are and how we came to be. These stories help us understand the situation we are currently facing and the ways we should respond to it. They give us roles to fill and obligations to fulfill. Narrative justifications are persuasive when they draw upon and make sense in terms of our narratively constituted identities. The stories we tell about ourselves are full of normative lessons: They explain who we are, where we came from, what we have done, what we have yet to do, what we stand for, what promises we made to ourselves, what we hope for, what we fear, what we said we must never let happen again, and what we said we must make happen again.
We Americans have a narrative that explains the meaning of our Constitution: We are the people who broke from Great Britain, fought against monarchy, and rebelled against an unjust social hierarchy in order to found a democratic culture of equal liberty and social equality. This story about ourselves explains our obligations toward ourselves and toward our future. It explains the direction in which we should continue our national project; it explains how we should interpret our Constitution.
Second, the argument draws on a story of redemption, a story about the eventual fulfillment of promises made long ago. Invoking the past might look at first like an appeal to original intention or original understanding. However, narratives of redemption use the past in a different way than most originalists do. Redemptive stories argue that we progress from our origins, which are fallen and unjust, but hold the promise of reformation. Over time we free ourselves from the sins and inadequacies of the past, and hold ourselves ever more true to those best parts that have always been within us. We free ourselves from ourselves, and through this freeing we become the selves we deserve to be.
A narrative of redemption worships neither the past nor the present. To the contrary: it assumes that we exist, and always have existed, in a fallen condition. We live in compromises with the evils of the past, and we are compromised by them. The need for redemption means that many elements of the past, many features of social structure inherited from the past, and many original understandings that reflect that social structure, must not be honored but reformed or discarded. The founding generation begins the journey, but it has no privileged insight into the future. It does not possess the institutional and social imagination to grasp what a fully democratic culture would look like. The founding generation knows only its own culture. It wrestles with its own compromises with history; it can extrapolate only partially from them to imagine what the future would be like.
The revolutionary project of imagining a democratic culture and realizing it in history is the work of many generations, not a single privileged one. The mistake of originalism as conventionally understood is that it takes too seriously the concrete understandings of a past generation. It mistakes past compromises with injustice for the meaning of justice. It mistakes our fallen condition for our rightful condition.
One might assume then that the argument is simply one of natural law or best consequences. But that too is not quite correct. A narrative justification does not argue that the Constitution means something because this interpretation is the best from the standpoint of liberal political theory or economic efficiency. Rather, the Constitution means what it means because We the People made a promise in the past to ourselves that we strive to fulfill. The promise and the story constitutes the people who strive to fulfil the promise and the story. A different people with a different history and a set of commitments might have made a different promise; the results, although similar in some respects, might be very different in others.
For example, Gary Jacobsohn has pointed out that major differences in the constitutional traditions of the United States and the State of Israel are reflected in differences between the American Declaration and the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel.(40) The Israeli Declaration affirms that Israel is to be a democratic and a Jewish State. The Israeli Declaration arises out of a long history of Jewish persecution and a long-held religious narrative of eventual return to a Jewish homeland. The Israeli Declaration also involves a redemption narrative, but the nature of this redemption is very different from the American version. Clearly the trajectory taken by a country with such a founding story and such a set of narrative commitments may be very different from our own. That is why constitutional government is not simply a matter of liberal political theory. Quite the contrary: liberty and equality are always realized through the particular history of a people; as each is constituted differently, so each will have its own constitution.(41)
The story of redemption is also a story of contingency. The founding generation has no privileged authority because the constitutional tradition develops in ways that cannot be determined in advance. The story of our country is not a Hegelian story in which the oak is already contained in the acorn. Contingent events -- wars, waves of immigration and settlement, new religions and technologies, economic booms and depressions -- all play an enormous role. The future is something that we make, with our narrative self understanding as our goad and guide. In every generation it is given to us to redeem the promises of the Declaration in ever new ways. The revolutionaries who signed the Declaration could not have known about the women's movement, the Civil War, the populists, the New Deal, or the civil rights movement. Yet all of these "alterings and abolishings" of government have been folded into the story of the redemption of the American Constitution, a redemption whose full contours could not be known in advance. One might say that the meaning of the Constitution is revealed to us as we take upon ourselves the burden of redemption. But it is more correct to say that we reveal it to ourselves through our actions. Its meaning is not foreordained, but is created as we commit ourselves to the project of redemption, meeting new and unexpected circumstances as they arise.
The story is contingent in another way as well. A narrative justification does not claim that the eventual redemption is assured. It claims only that we should strive to achieve it. It does not deny that we have often strayed from the path of redemption. Indeed, it repeatedly calls attention to this fact. It claims only that we should recognize the path and return to it. The narrative is prophecy, not fortune telling. It does not say that redemption will occur without any effort on our part; it says that we must make the story true. As Lincoln explained, the Declaration was meant "to set up a standard maxim for free society, which could be familiar to all, and revered by all; constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people of all colors everywhere."(42) The Declaration tells a story that we can take into our hearts and live by, and by living it, we can hasten the day when the story will become true.
I have argued that we should interpret the Constitution in order to fulfill the promises that we Americans made in our Declaration, promises that are to be redeemed in history, and that we should understand many of our most important social movements as a continuation of the original social revolution against unjust hierarchy that began with the American revolutionaries. I have argued that we, the generations before us, and the generations after us, have a role to play in the furtherance of this great project of constitutional redemption.
But, one might object, this story is just that -- a story. It takes certain features of the history of our country as morally salient and weaves them together into a coherent narrative of redemption. But if it is just a story, why does it have any moral force? Why is the promise made in the Declaration of Independence our promise, and why is the burden of redemption our burden?
This brings me to my third and final point. The narrative argument is a claim about Americans as a people. Narrative arguments are appeals to collective memory -- a stock of stories that bind people together and make them a people. Nations, peoples, and collectivities of all kinds see themselves as existing over time and across generations because they understand themselves in terms of stories about who they are and how they came to be. For example, every year at the Passover Seder Jews tell the story of how they left Egypt. This story unites the Jews who live today with those who lived thousands of years ago. We Americans tell each other stories about how we rebelled from Great Britain and established a new republic based on principles of liberty and equality. The stories that people tell themselves about who they are and how they came to be connect the past with the present, older generations with newer ones. These stories are constitutional stories -- constitutive narratives around which and through which people can imagine themselves as a people, with shared hopes, memories, goals, aspirations and ambitions.
Constitutional stories construct collective subjects with collective destinies who engage in collective activities. Constitutional stories bind together human beings existing in different times and places as one people. They allow people to see the actions and the ambitions, the hopes and the achievements of people who lived long ago as their actions and ambitions, as their hopes and achievements. So Jews living today tell themselves that they were slaves in Egypt, that God brought them forth from the house of bondage with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with signs and wonders. In the same way, Americans identify with the achievements of the revolutionaries and of the founding generation who wrote and ratified the Constitution. The story of constitutional redemption allows Americans to say that we ended slavery, that we expanded political and civil rights, that we struggled to make this country a promise of hope to the entire world. The people who live today did not literally do these things; indeed, some of their ancestors probably opposed many of these reforms. But that is beside the point. Our narrative understanding of ourselves as part of a greater whole, collectively working towards the fulfillment of the principles of the Declaration, allows us to identify with those who fought for redemption in the past. We can see their struggle as our struggle. This vision of ourselves as part of them and them as part of us gives the story its moral force. Our collective identity creates hopes and dreams, obligations and responsibilities, desires and promises to fulfill in time. We are motivated and moved by the story because we accept the collective identity that accompanies the story. We identify with the story because the story identifies us. In short, the story is binding on us because it is our story.
When I speak of the promises we made to ourselves in the Declaration of Independence, I am referring to nothing other than the collective memory that binds us together as a people. The story of our rebellion against monarchy is our constitutional story. It is constitutional in two senses of the word: It constitutes us as We the People of the United States, and it explains the point of our constitutional system of government.
Constitutional stories constitute us as a people with a purpose and a trajectory: They remind us what we have done in the past and therefore what we should be doing today. They explain to us where we have been and therefore where we should be going. As we did before, so shall we do again. As we fought for liberty and equality before, so shall we fight again. Constitutional stories give meaning to our existence as a people; they offer us models for action, goals for fulfillment, heroic acts to imitate, ambitions to aspire to, promises to redeem.
A story like this is not "just a story." You live in it, and it lives in you. It is true for you because it is part of you, because you see yourself as part of it. If you are committed to a narrative in this way, it is not just a story, but a just story, an appropriate story. And if you are committed to it in this way, it becomes more than a story. It becomes a way of life. It becomes a destiny. It becomes a world.
1. Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment, Yale Law School. My thanks to Bruce Ackerman and Akhil Amar for comments on a previous draft.
2. Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address (Nov. 19, 1863), reprinted in The Portable Abraham Lincoln 295 (Andrew Delbanco ed., 1992).
6. Gary Wills' excellent book on the Gettysburg Address argues that Lincoln's interpretation of the Declaration was an intellectual slight of hand that established equality as a core value in our Constitution. Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America 243 (1992); cf. William Michael Treanor, Learning From Lincoln, 65 Fordham L. Rev. 1781 (1997) (noting the transformative role of the Gettysburg Address). In my view, the question of transformation is beside the point. Lincoln understood himself as fulfilling the promise already contained in the Declaration when he emphasized our equal citizenship. Redeeming the promise of the Declaration inevitably requires improvisation on its themes and the point of the enterprise is a transformation of our society. In any case, I do not believe that so central a constitutional value could have been added to our Constitution or to our national consciousness by a slight of hand.
7. South Carolina seceded in December 1861; Mississippi, Florida, Alabama and Georgia in January 1862; and Texas and Louisiana in February 1862.
8. Abraham Lincoln, Speech in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Feb. 22, 1861), reprinted in 4 The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln 240 (Roy P. Basler ed., 1953).
11. Id. (emphasis in original).
12. Letter from Abraham Lincoln to Horace Greeley (Aug. 22, 1862) reprinted in The Portable Abraham Lincoln 234 (Andrew Delbanco ed., 1992).
13. Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, supra note 1, at 295.
16. Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on the Constitution and the Union, in 4 The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln 169 (Roy P. Basler ed., 1953).
18. This famous phrase, and its accompanying theory, forms the basis of Gary Jeffrey Jacobsohn's comparative study, Apple of Gold: Constitutionalism in Israel and the United States (1993).
20. Lincoln, Fragment on the Constitution and the Union, supra note 14, at 169 (emphasis omitted).
22. Isaiah 40:4; cf. Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream, in A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. 219 (James M. Washington ed., 1986) (invoking this biblical passage as part of his account of "the American dream").
23. The Declaration of Independence para. 2 (U.S. 1776).
24. See Gordon Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution 240-43, 276 (1991).
26. The Declaration of Independence para. 2 (U.S. 1776).
27. Wood, supra note 23, at 27, 235; J.M. Balkin, The Constitution of Status, 106 Yale L.J. 2313, 2350 (1997).
28. Wood, supra note 23, at 25-37.
29. Wood, supra note 23, at 41-42; Balkin, supra note 26, at 2333.
30. Balkin, supra note 26, at 2350-51.
31. See U.S. Const. art. I, §9, cl. 8 (prohibiting federal grant of titles of nobility); id. §10, cl. 1 (prohibiting state grant of titles of nobility).
32. See Wood, supra note 23, at 253-55, 299-300; Balkin, supra note 26, at 2345-51.
33. See Wood, supra note 23, at 298-300.
34. See Lee C. Bollinger, The Tolerant Society: Freedom of Speech and Extremist Speech in America 80-81 (1986).
35. See J.M. Balkin, supra note 26, at 2347-49; William E. Nelson, The Fourteenth Amendment: From Political Principle to Judicial Doctrine 71-80 (1988); Melissa L. Saunders, Equal Protection, Class Legislation, and Colorblindness, 96 Mich. L. Rev. 245 (1997); Mark C. Yudof, Equal Protection, Class Legislation, and Sex Discrimination: One Small Cheer for Mr. Herbert Spencer's Social Statics, 88 Mich. L. Rev. 1366, 1366-68 (1990).
36. Kenneth L. Karst, The Coming Crisis of Work in Constitutional Perspective, 82 Cornell L. Rev. 523, 536-37 (1997); William E. Forbath, Why Is This Rights Talk Different from All Other Rights Talk? Demoting the Court and Reimagining the Constitution, 46 Stan. L. Rev. 1771, 1797-99 (1994) (reviewing Cass R. Sunstein, The Partial Constitution (1993)); William E. Forbath, The Ambiguities of Free Labor: Labor and Law in the Gilded Age, 1985 Wis. L. Rev. 767, 800-14.
37. See Reva B. Siegel, Home as Work: The First Woman's Rights Claims Concerning Wives' Household Labor: 1850-1880, 103 Yale L.J. 1073, 1179-89 (1994); Amy Dru Stanley, Conjugal Bonds and Wage Labor:
Rights of Contract in the Age of Emancipation, 75 J. Am. Hist. 471, 481-500 (1988).
38. Abraham Lincoln, The Dred Scott Decision, (June 26, 1857), in Abraham Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings 1832-1858 361 (Roy P. Basler ed., 1946).
39. Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, supra note 1, at 295.
40. Jacobsohn, supra note 17, at 5-17.
41. Indeed, liberalism itself is the reflection of a particular historical narrative: the story of Enlightenment, in which humanity frees itself from the superstitions and conflicts of the past -- many of which are identified with religious wars and religious persecutions -- and seeks to install principles of human reason in human governance.
42. Lincoln, supra note 37, at 361.


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The Robertson family is used to breaking records, but their latest one is going down in the books.
In Florida this week, the stars of "Duck Dynasty" led a crowd of 3,028 in making simultaneous duck calls -- a feat recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Record guidelines required the crowd to duck-call for one minute, but the quack-fest lasted for two.
"That was amazing!" Maj. Tom Louden of the local Salvation Army said. "I don't know about you, but I can still hear ducks!"
The record was set Sunday at a fundraiser for the Salvation Army, named "The Call: Faith, Family and Facial Hair."
Willie and Korie, Jase, Missy and their three children were there, along with their famous Uncle Si.
Before the mass duck call, the event featured group prayer and performances from bands like The Farm, Switchfoot, and transMission.
The funds raised from Sunday's event will be used to combat hunger and homelessness in southwest Florida.
Why All the Hype? Duck Dynasty a Cable Ratings Hit
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Inspections, Compliance, Enforcement, and Criminal Investigations
Gulf Medical Fiberoptics, Inc. 7/27/11
Department of Health and Human Services
|Public Health Service
Food and Drug Administration
|Florida District
555 Winderley Place, Suite 200
Maitland, Florida 32751
Telephone: 407-475-4700
July 27, 2011
Patrick R. Bennetts
Gulf Medical Fiberoptics, Inc.
448 Commerce Blvd
Oldsmar, FL 34677
Dear Mr. Bennetts:
During an inspection of your firm located in Oldsmar, Florida on April 27, 2011 through May 3, 2011, investigators from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined that your firm manufactures endoscopic fiber optic cables and Visualux™ surgical headlights. Under section 201(h) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act), 21 U.S.C. § 321(h), these products are devices because they are intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or are intended to affect the structure or function of the body.
This inspection revealed that these devices are adulterated within the meaning of section 501(h) of the Act (21 U.S.C. § 351(h)), in that the methods used in, or the facilities or controls used for, their manufacture, packing, storage, or installation are not in conformity with the current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) requirements of the Quality System (QS) regulation found at Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 820.
We received a response from Mr. Craig S. Vogeley, Vice President Operations, dated May 23, 2011, concerning our investigator's observations noted on the Form FDA 483, List of Inspectional Observations, that was issued to you. We address this response below, in relation to each of the noted violations. These violations include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Failure to establish and maintain adequate procedures for implementing corrective and preventive action that include the requirements for verifying or validating the corrective and preventive action to ensure that such action is effective and does not adversely affect the finished device, as required by 21 CFR 820.100(a)(4). For example, you did not implement Section 5.6 of your Complaint/Corrective Action procedure, P-852, Rev C, which requires proposed corrective action to be verified or validated prior to implementation. You changed the dimensional specifications for one of the connectors, Drawing #1000043, used as a component of your Endoscopic Cable device, which was proposed under Corrective Action #32; however, your records do not demonstrate this proposed specification change was verified or validated prior to implementation.
We reviewed your response and conclude that it is not adequate because your firm did not conduct or document the verification for corrective action # 32 that was specific to dimension changes to the (b)(4) connector. Your firm has been aware of this issue since the initiation of this corrective action on July 19, 2010. Your firm's previous response dated October 5, 2010, to the FDA 483 issued to your firm on September 17, 2010, stated that all of the required information would be added to this corrective action no later than October 29, 2010.
2. Failure to adequately ensure that when the results of a process cannot be fully verified by subsequent inspection and test that the process is validated with a high degree of assurance and approved according to established procedures, as required by 21 CFR 820.75(a). For example:
- Your validation study for your process to manufacture optical fibers, conducted under Fiber Optic Drawing Tower Validation Master Plan, F-750-009, Rev A, did not include complete analysis of the Furnace Temperature process variable in order to demonstrate the effect it may have on finished product quality. The OQ portion of the protocol did not analyze temperatures above 1800°F, and records covering the PQ portion of the protocol did not demonstrate inclusion of operating temperatures above 1804°F, although your listed 1810 - 1775°F as the acceptable range for the Furnace Temperature processing variable.
- Your records covering validation of your process to manufacture optical fibers, conducted under Fiber Optic Drawing Tower Validation Master Plan, F-750-009, Rev A, do not include identification of the instruments used to measure the Furnace Temperature and Take-Up Wheel Speed process variables and, thus, do not demonstrate these measuring devices were calibrated at the time of their use in the study.
- You have not validated the cleaning process for your Visualux brand surgical headlight device, listed in the Instructions For Use that you distribute with the device, in order to demonstrate the cleaning process is consistently effective.
The adequacy of your response cannot be determined at this time. Your firm did not include documentation or evidence of the corrections and corrective actions specific to the cleaning validation for the surgical headlights. However, your firm provided adequate validation documentation for the furnace temperature and calibration data specific to the tachometer and thermometer. Additionally, this was a repeated deficiency from your previous FDA inspection of September 9 - 17, 2010.
3. Failure to establish and maintain adequate procedures for validating the device design. Design validation shall be performed under defined operating conditions on initial production units, lots, or batches, or their equivalents. Design validation shall ensure that devices conform to defined user needs and intended uses and shall include testing of production units under actual or simulated use conditions. Design validation shall include software validation and risk analysis, where appropriate, as required by 21 CFR 820.30(g). For example, you did not re-evaluate the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) for the Endoscopic Cable device as part of Corrective Action #32, and your record of the previous FMEA for this device listed a maximum likelihood for detecting a failure mode resulting from incorrect dimensions being selected during the design process.
The adequacy of your response cannot be determined at this time. Your firm did not include documentation or evidence of the corrections, corrective actions, or evidence of implementation specific to the updated Failure Mode and Effects Analysis for the Endoscopic Cable and Corrective Action procedure P-852 to ensure corrective action findings require a re-evaluation of the failure mode and risk. Additionally, this was a repeated deficiency from your previous FDA inspection of September 9 - 17, 2010.
4. Failure to document acceptance activities, as required by 21 CFR 820.80(e). For example, you do not document the results of final acceptance testing covering connector fit testing for your Endoscopic Cable device.
We reviewed your response and conclude that it is not adequate. Your firm's current F-750-010 Final Inspection form, Revision D, did not have a designated area to document the end tip final polish length. Additionally, your firm did not provide evidence of implementation for the Work Instruction WI-750-028 Fiber Optic Cable In Process and Final Inspection. Additionally, this was a repeated deficiency from your previous FDA inspection of September 9 - 17, 2010.
5. Failure to establish and maintain adequate requirements, including quality requirements, that must be met by suppliers, contractors, and consultants, as required by 21 CFR 820.50(a). For example:
- Your Supplier Evaluation Form, F-740-002-A, referenced for use under Section 4.2.4 of your Purchasing procedure, P-740, Rev D, does not ensure vendors are evaluated based on criteria demonstrating their ability to meet quality requirements.
- You did not implement Section 4.2 of your Purchasing procedure, P-740, Rev D, covering procedures to evaluate and select the contract servicer (b)(4) and laboratory (b)(4) used to execute the validation study covering the cleaning process listed in the Instructions for Use for your Visualux Fiber Optic Headlight.
We reviewed your response and conclude that it is not adequate. Your firm did not provide any evidence that they qualified their contract servicer (b)(4). Additionally, your firm did not provide evidence of implementation for the revised Purchasing Procedure P-740 or the proposed draft version for the Supplier Evaluation Form F-740-002.
6. Failure to maintain adequate device history records (DHRs). Each manufacturer shall establish and maintain procedures to ensure that DHRs for each batch, lot, or unit are maintained to demonstrate that the device is manufactured in accordance with the DMR and the requirements of 21 CFR 820. The DHR shall include, or refer to the location of, the primary identification label and labeling used for each production unit, as required by 21 CFR 820.184(e). For example, the DHRs covering production of your Endoscopic Cable devices for March 11 - 15, 2011, and April 8 - 26, 2011, did not include or reference all labels applied to the devices such as:
- The stick-on label applied to the device identifying the responsible firm information was not included or referenced in 7 of 55 records reviewed.
- None of the records reviewed included or referenced the sterilization label.
The adequacy of your response cannot be determined at this time. Your firm stated they will open a corrective action to determine why the DHRs were missing the responsible firm's label. Additionally, your firm did not include documentation or evidence of implementation specific to the revised F-750-010 Final Cable Inspection Form and Work Instruction WI-750-028.
7. Failure to maintain adequate device master records (DMR's), as required by 21 CFR 820.181. For example, the Device Master Record for the Endoscopic Cable device did not include or refer to the location of the following manufacturing and quality acceptance procedures utilized by your production employees to manufacture your Endoscopic Cable device:
- Fiber Bundle Acceptance, WI-750-014
- Low Temperature Epoxy Application, WI-750-012
- High Temperature Epoxy Application, WI-750-001-013
The adequacy of your response cannot be determined at this time. Your firm did not include documentation or evidence of the corrections, corrective actions, or evidence of implementation specific to the proposed Endoscopic Cable device master record revision.
8. Failure to establish and maintain adequate procedures to control all documents, as required by 21 CFR 820.40. For example:
- Unapproved, electronic quality system documents are available for use by your department managers.
- Section 5.3.1 of your Document Control procedure, P-423, Rev D, requires only the hard-copy signature of your Quality System Management Representative to demonstrate approval of a document, although the procedure also requires your department managers to approve documents used in their area of responsibility.
- You have not implemented Section 5.3.1(b) of your Document Control procedure which requires you maintain a Master Document List, F-423-001, listing all approved quality documents.
Your response to this observation appears to be adequate. However, this was a repeated deficiency from your previous FDA inspection of September 9 - 17, 2010.
9. Failure to establish and maintain adequate procedures to ensure that the design requirements relating to a device are appropriate and address the intended use of the device, including the needs of the user and patient. The procedures shall include a mechanism for addressing incomplete, ambiguous, or conflicting requirements. The design input requirements shall be documented and shall be reviewed and approved by a designated individual(s), as required by 21 CFR 820.30(c). For example, your Design Plan for Endoscopic Cables, F-730-001-A, dated March 2, 2002, did not list all appropriate design input requirements, including:
A. Light transmission performance requirements.
B. Dimensional requirements for optical fiber components.
C. Dimensional requirements to ensure compatibility with standard connectors.
D. Capability to withstand/prevent physical stress.
Your response to this observation appears to be adequate.
10. Failure to establish adequate procedures for quality audits and conduct such audits to assure that the quality system is in compliance with the established quality system requirements and to determine the effectiveness of the quality system. Quality audits shall be conducted by individuals who do not have direct responsibility for the matters being audited. Corrective action(s), including a reaudit of deficient matters, shall be taken when necessary. A report of the results of each quality audit, and reaudit(s) where taken, shall be made and such reports shall be reviewed by management having responsibility for the matters audited, as required by 21 CFR 820.22. For example:
- You did not implement Section 5.2 of your Internal Audits procedure, P-822, Rev B, which requires the initiation of the internal audit based on the master schedule, in that you began internal audit procedures on June 22, 2010, although the Internal Audit Plan, F-822-001, for this audit was not created until June 23, 2010. Further, the record for this audit plan was not approved by the Quality System Management Representative as required under Section 5.1 of the procedure.
- Your Internal Audits procedure, P-822, Rev B, does not require a report of the results of each quality audit be reviewed by the management responsible for the matters audited, and your records do not demonstrate such reviews have taken place.
Your response to this observation appears to be adequate.
A follow up inspection will be required to assure that corrections and/or corrective actions are adequate.
You should take prompt action to correct the violations addressed in this letter. Failure to promptly correct these violations may result in regulatory action being initiated by the Food and Drug Administration without further notice. These actions include, but are not limited to, seizure, injunction, and/or civil money penalties. Also, federal agencies are advised of the issuance of all Warning Letters about devices so that they may take this information into account when considering the award of contracts. Additionally, premarket approval applications for Class III devices to which the Quality System regulation violations are reasonably related will not be approved until the violations have been corrected. Requests for Certificates to Foreign Governments will not be granted until the violations related to the subject devices have been corrected.
Please notify this office in writing within fifteen business days from the date you receive this letter of the specific steps you have taken to correct the noted violations, as well as an explanation of how you plan to prevent these violations, or similar violations, from occurring again. Include documentation of the corrections and/or corrective actions you have taken. If your planned corrections and/or corrective actions will occur over time, please include a timetable for implementation of these activities. If corrections and/or corrective actions cannot be completed within fifteen business days, state the reason for the delay and the time within which these activities will be completed. Your response should be comprehensive and address all violations included in this WL.
Your response should be sent to Andrea H. Norwood, Compliance Officer at 555 Winderley Place, Suite 200, Maitland, FL 32751. Refer to the Unique Identification Number (CMS case # 195372) when replying. If you have any questions about the content of this letter please contact: Ms. Norwood at (407) 475-4724 or by facsimile (407) 475-4768.
Finally, you should know that this letter is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of the violations at your facility. It is your responsibility to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations administered by FDA. The specific violation(s) noted in this letter and in the Inspectional Observations, Form FDA 483 (FDA 483), issued at the closeout of the inspection may be symptomatic of serious problems in your firm's manufacturing and quality management systems. You should investigate and determine the causes of the violations, and take prompt actions to correct the violations and to bring your products into compliance.
Edwin Ramos
Acting Director, Florida District


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It appears that Nokia's CEO has come to the realization that
many of us came to months, if not years ago: Nokia's smartphone efforts are in
trouble. The company has been a bit lacking on the innovation front and has
never quite made its way back into the hearts of the consumer -- especially in
North America -- since the arrival of the iPhone in 2007.
Stephen Elop, a former Microsoft Business Division
executive, took
over Nokia's CEO position back in late September. It didn't take long for
him to see the writing on the wall when it comes to Nokia's position in the
market, and he fired off a memo (which was obtained
by Engadget) to state the sad
position that the company is in. In fact, Elop says that the Nokia is standing
on a "burning platform" and that the company must decide what it wants
to do to stay relevant.
Here are a few highlights from the 1,300+ word memo:
2008, Apple's market share in the $300+ price range was 25 percent; by 2010 it
escalated to 61 percent. They are enjoying a tremendous growth trajectory with
a 78 percent earnings growth year over year in Q4 2010. Apple demonstrated that
if designed well, consumers would buy a high-priced phone with a great
experience and developers would build applications. They changed the game, and
today, Apple owns the high-end range… The first iPhone shipped in 2007, and we
still don't have a product that is close to their experience.
Love 'em or hate 'em, it's true that Apple really turned the
smartphone market on its head. Apple knows how to create buzz for its products,
and while the iPhone may not have the most dazzling array of hardware at any
point in time compared to its competitors, the user experience (hardware +
software ecosystem) is hard to fault.
Elop goes on to praise Google's Android platform which has
taken a few short years to topple
Nokia from the top of the worldwide sales charts:
came on the scene just over 2 years ago, and this week they took our leadership
position in smartphone volumes. Unbelievable…Android
came in at the high-end, they are now winning the mid-range, and quickly they
are going downstream to phones under €100. Google has become a gravitational
force, drawing much of the industry's innovation to its core.
came on the scene just over 2 years ago, and this week they took our leadership
position in smartphone volumes. Unbelievable…
came in at the high-end, they are now winning the mid-range, and quickly they
are going downstream to phones under €100. Google has become a gravitational
force, drawing much of the industry's innovation to its core.
Elop continues in his memo talking about the company's unhinged
efforts with MeeGo, troubles with Symbian, and the fact that Chinese OEMs
are able to crank out low-cost smartphones at a rapid pace. Basically, Nokia is
being assaulted from all sides and isn't taking enough action to stay relevant.
Nokia's CEO even goes so far as to say that the answer to
Nokia's problems may be to adopt smartphone platform which has a strong
ecosystem (Android, Windows Phone 7 perhaps?). Windows Phone 7 seems like a
good choice given Elop's past ties to Microsoft, but we'll hear a little more
about Nokia's plans for the future on February 11.
You can read Stephen Elop's full memo here.
quote: quote:a) A reputation for quality. One may argue that this is deserved or undeserved but if Apple again and again tops reliability and customer service polls consumers will and do notice. Any consumer researching a possible purchase would come across this unambiguous message based on polls and surveys and not press releases.I guess you missed Marketing 101. This IS media attention and bias TOWARDS Apple.


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Nobody would ever mistake Berkeley or Dorchester counties as bastions of tax-and-spend liberalism.
So it's no surprise that Mitt Romney carried Berkeley with 56 percent of the vote and Dorchester with 57 percent.
Yet at the same time, voters in both counties approved school bond referendums of nearly $200 million each by a 60 percent margin.
That's huge. And it's another sign that this whole tea party fad has about run its course. In Berkeley County particularly, tea partiers and others ran an organized campaign against the school district's $198 million referendum.
While conceding that there certainly were facilities needs there, they just didn't want to take on the debt.
But then, that's what they say about everything: No.
And that's just not practical, as Lowcountry voters realized.
There's no question that you have to invest in private companies for them to be successful. Sometimes, it's the same with government. But some people don't want to hear that.
Understood the need
The Yes 4 Schools groups in Berkeley and Dorchester ran good grass-roots campaigns.
They involved PTAs and employed social media to great effect. They made their case rationally. And they showed exactly where the money would go. That's key.
"I really believe a majority of the people in Berkeley County truly understood the need and believe it was important for the children's future," says Jane Pulling, co-chairwoman of the Berkeley referendum campaign. "They were willing to make the sacrifice for their children and grandchildren."
And it's not that huge a sacrifice. For someone with a $150,000 home, the price tag on the Berkeley referendum will be about $6 a month for three years, and double that for another seven years.
In Dorchester, the cost to someone with a $150,000 home is going to be about $102 a year. And still it passed, even though it was twice the size of a referendum that failed in 2003.
"I'm a pretty conservative guy, and I don't like my tax bill going up," says Robby Robbins, co-chairman of the Dorchester referendum campaign. "But I do know there's a time when you have to invest in things. If it has to hurt a little bit, it has to hurt."
That's exactly the right attitude to have about this.
Divorced from reality
Bottom line, no one wants their taxes to go up — not even Pink Commie liberals. But occasionally the need is greater than the revenue governments take in. Some folks don't believe that because people on talk radio claim we can pay for everything by cutting waste or fraud.
Good luck with that.
Just as the tea party cost Republicans control of the U.S. Senate by nominating people who don't believe in divorce but are divorced from reality, they have further eroded their credibility by going all Nancy Reagan about everything.
Sometimes you can't just say no. Most things are more complicated than that.
So bravo to Berkeley and Dorchester county voters. They recognized there is a need to invest in their schools. It's not the end of the world, it's a couple of Starbucks Frappuccinos a month.
Reach Brian Hicks at firstname.lastname@example.com.
or follow him on Twitter at @BriHicks_ PandC.


text:
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Ingles Markets here said last week it attributes a 2.8% increase in comparable-store sales in the third quarter ended June 28 largely to successful promotions, including triple coupons, and added that it intends to continue promoting heavily. During a conference call with industry analysts to discuss results for the quarter, Brenda Tudor, Ingles' chief financial officer, said, "In order to drive sales, we ran more aggressive promotions and were pleased with the results." ...
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At the expense of a few trees, there is a extensive record book maintained by District 3 for its football playoffs. There's all sorts of juicy nuggets and lessons to be learned in this roughly 200-page gem.
So as the high school football playoffs in District 3 head to arguably the most exciting Friday night of the season, class get out your pencil and notebook because it's time for your history lesson.
Central Dauphin
The Rams are the defending champions, winning their third district title in school history last year over Wilson. Central Dauphin owns a 16-11 record in the postseason and head coach Glen McNamee's club is trying to reach the final for the fifth time.
The semifinal opponent of Central Dauphin, the Cougars won their only championship in 2007. Harrisburg is 9-9 overall and is gunning for its third appearance in the championship game.
This is the only school not from the Mid-Penn Conference to claim a District 3-AAAA championship. The Bulldogs last toasted victory at this level in 2008 with a 35-7 victory over Cumberland Valley. A win on Friday would send Wilson to its eighth championship game to go along with a stellar 25-16 overall record.
Governor Mifflin
No team from the Berks County League has ever won a Class AAAA championship. Reading in 2003 was the first to make an appearance, and the Mustangs navigated the road to Hershey in 2006 and '07 but lost in the championship game. The surprise semifinalist, Governor Mifflin now stands at 13-7 overall in the postseason.
Bishop McDevitt
The two-time defending champion, the Crusaders have a rich playoff history much like their semifinal opponent - Lancaster Catholic. This is the 16th postseason appearance for McDevitt, and the program from Market Street owns a stellar 35-6 record. Bishop McDevitt has its sights set on the 10th district title in school history.
Lancaster Catholic
The purple-clad Crusaders have won three of the last four Class AA championships, but is the new-kid-on-the-block in Class AAA. This is the 14th playoff appearance for Lancaster Catholic and its won 23 of those 30 games. New territory for this program.
Susquehanna Twp.
Searching for that elusive first District 3 title in school history, the Indians did make it to Hershey in 2009 but fell to Manheim Central 35-29 in a wild final. Under head coach Joe Headen, the Indians have earned a playoff invitation every season since 2008. One more victory and their overall record reaches .500 at 10-10.
West York
The only program from York County to win a District 3-AAA title in 2008 with a 15-7 victory over Manheim Central, the Bulldogs do have a respectable postseason history. West York has made the playoffs every year since 2006 and is 16-10 overall.
Is this the team that claims the third District 3-AA title in school history. Wyomissing is making its third consecutive appearance in the title game and fifth since 2003. Who can forget the hail mary pass in 2006 to stun Lancaster Catholic 28-24. Wyomissing owns a 21-13 overall record.
Bermudian Springs
It's been a long time for the Eagles. Champions of Class AA in 1992 and '93, Bermudian Springs needed nearly two decades to make a return visit to the big stage. Prior to this seaon the Eagles had dropped five of their previous seven district games. Two wins in 2012 puts them 11-7 overall.
Delone Catholic
A rich Class AA history, this is the first appearance for the Squires in the small-school classification since 1995. Delone Catholic's only District 3-A title cam ein 1994. After three straight losses at the AA level, the Squires' semifinal triump last week bumped their overall record to 23-10.
From 1997 until their fourth consecutive title in 2008, the Rollers won eight District 3-A championships. It's been three years, but Steel-High is back. Overall this program owns a spectacular 25-4 record in the postseason.
SHAY ON TWITTER: @PNews_AShay


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3rd Quarter 2013 Commentary - ASTON/Silvercrest Small Cap Fund
3rd Quarter 2013
The Fund outperformed its Russell 2000 Value Index benchmark during the quarter. We were pleased with the relative outperformance given the headwinds facing our high-quality focused style. This was especially true during the third quarter, as overall it was another"risk-on" quarter with cyclical and lower-quality names tending to outperform. The top performing sectors of the benchmark were Healthcare, driven by a rally in biotechnology stocks, Energy, and Technology. The laggards included Utilities and Financials.
As was true during the second quarter, the Fund's underweight position in Financials helped relative performance, as did our underweight to the real estate investment trust (REIT) sub-sector of Financials. REITs continued to perform poorly overall amid the rising interest rates surrounding talk of whether the Federal Reserve would taper its quantitative easing bond purchases. The portfolio's REIT holdings did manage a positive return, however.
Most of the Fund's relative outperformance came from stock selection, paced by Horace Mann. The insurance company has posted better than consensus results the last few quarters. Lithia Motors was the single best performing stock during the quarter. It posted strong results amid a rebounding sales environment for its new and used cars.
Holdings within Utilities and Healthcare detracted from performance. Portland General Electric declined after a below-expectations quarterly report, while ICU Medical dropped following a lackluster earnings report and ebbing takeout speculation.
Buys and Sells
We initiated a position in EnerNOC, a leading provider of demand response and energy intelligence services, during the quarter. The company develops and provides clean and intelligent power solutions to commercial, institutional and industrial customers, as well as electric power grid operators and utilities. With about 25% of its current market-cap in cash and a strong order backlog, we think earnings can grow strongly over the next few years.
We eliminated positions in Hexcel and Astec Industries. Hexcel appreciated to the largest market-cap in the portfolio and above our comfort zone for continued inclusion in a small-cap strategy. Although Astec appeared undervalued, we had limited conviction and decided to sell the position and use the cash for more compelling ideas.
Looking into the final quarter of 2013 and toward 2014, the broad U.S. economic picture seems constructive. We keep hearing comments from company management teams about a manufacturing renaissance in the U.S., with low or stable energy costs among the factors making the U.S. a compelling place to invest. The near-term, however, seems mired in Beltway posturing as Washington has plunged into a contentious autumn with continuing resolutions a prelude to the important debt-ceiling matter. At this writing, the government was in shut-down mode and Congress in early negotiations. To our minds, we expect the majority of legislators to be rational and reach compromise on the debt ceiling, though we remain perturbed that some political actors treat the full faith and credit of the U.S. as a bargaining chip. While we don't think Congress will allow a default, the periodic inclination for politicians to push the nation to the brink justifiably troubles investors.
Returning to the long-term equity view, the investor wall-of-worry seems comparatively small now. With the Syria, Larry Summers, Fed tapering, Iran, Italian government, and other issues on the mend, sentiment isn't as bearish as it was back in late August.
We continue to favor modestly the cyclical areas of the market, as we see the U.S. economy slowly improving. Earnings reports several weeks ago from two major home-builders confirmed that the U.S. housing market's recovery troops along, with tight supply-demand conditions and rising prices. We think the wealth effect of housing strength should buoy confidence. Farther afield, some management teams of companies in the portfolio are even starting to talk about stabilization in the beleaguered European region.
Amid the equity market's short-term preoccupations, we continue to hunt for those hard-to-find companies that earn high returns on capital with a record of deploying those returns profitably and in shareholder-friendly ways. We remind investors that we will adhere to our core investment tenets of company quality, solid business models, and attractive value. We think the portfolio remains attractively valued, though we are cognizant that some higher growth segments of the small-cap market appear somewhat generously valued. As we have said over the past few quarters, we believe there is a fair amount of pent up merger and acquisition demand in the small cap arena, and remain hopeful that the portfolio will catch its share as it unfolds.
Silvercrest Asset Management Group
New York, NY
As of September 30, 2013, Horace Mann Educators comprised 2.77% of the portfolio's assets, Lithia Motors – 2.36%, Portland General Electric – 1.75%, ICU Medical – 1.48%, and EnerNOC – 0.97%.
Note: Small-cap stocks are considered riskier than large-cap stocks due to greater potential volatility and less liquidity.
Before investing, consider the Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. Contact 800 992-8151 for a prospectus or summary prospectus containing this and other information. Please, read it carefully. Aston Funds are distributed by Foreside Funds Distributors LLC.
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text:
City-County All-Star Game postponed
The players were in place for Monday's 49th annual Walmart Erie City-County All-Star Baseball Game, but the tarp at Jerry Uht Park wasn't.
And so the game was postponed until today at 7 p.m.
Monday afternoon's heavy rain left most of Uht Park's infield dirt a gooey mess by the time teams arrived there. Members of the grounds crew finally recommended that the game be called off 45 minutes before the first pitch.
All tickets purchased for Monday's game will be honored today, with tickets still available at the gate. The cost is $5 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens.
Children age 13 and under who wear a baseball uniform top or shirt, and are accompanied by a parent, will be admitted for free.
Proceeds from the game, sponsored by the Erie County Baseball Umpires Association, will benefit the Saint Vincent Children's Miracle Network.
The County blanked the City 6-0 in the 2013 All-Star Game at the Uht.
MIKE COPPER can be reached at 870-1614 or by e-mail.


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Which kind of pregnancy test would you use?
which brand works best? i've heard bad things about the blue dye ones not working...
the blue dye ones can give you false hope very easliy. When I got my bfp 2 years ago, I used a cheap dollar tree one.
Quoting Brittanyann10:
I like the first response:)
I usually use $ tree, but I've switched to walmarts 0.88 ones.
I say NO NO NO to blue dye. Its just not worth the risk KWIM! But I suggest FRER! They are the most sensitive I believe.
Right now in my cabinet I have 20 wondfo (which I dont trust but they are cheap. I have got dozens of false positives on them) I have 2 88cent walmart tests (Never had a evap on one yet) 1 FRER and 4 Digital Clearblue tests that say Pregnant or not Pregnant.


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In honor of its D-FW debut: 10 awesome Trader Joe's products
Photo: TraderJoes.com
In two days Texas will officially have Trader Joe's, including a store in Fort Worth. Check out some of the products that we and other TJ's shoppers love. We're kicking off the list with "Joe's Diner" Frozen Mac 'N Cheese,w which gets raves from fans. A couple of Chowhound comments: "this stuff is FANTASTIC!!!" and "has the perfect cheese/noodle ratio."
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