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North Carolina State University has established administrative policies for the reduction and prevention of on-the-job accidents and illnesses, and the protection of the environment. These policies are to be used as a foundation for establishing safety and environmental health programs in each organization.
It is NCSU's environmental health and safety policy that no job is so important and no service so urgent, that we cannot take time to perform our work safely, and in an environmentally conscientious manner.
NCSU will operate its facilities and conduct its operation in compliance with all applicable regulation to protect:
The purpose of NCSU's environmental health and safety program are to:
The University EH&S policy shall be implemented through a series of manuals and other documents, as appropriate to the operations of NCSU. These manuals are listed below.EH&S shall be responsible for the development, distribution, and maintenance of these manuals. Manuals provide specific policies and procedures and recommended practices for implementation.
These Documents provide information on environmental health and safety policies that students, faculty, and staff must follow at University workplaces. The policies are intended to provide personnel with information to meet all local, state, and federal guidelines for occupational health and safety.
Information on environmental health and safety training programs is available by contacting the NCSU Environmental Health and Safety Center. University safety programs are designed to reduce or prevent occupational injuries and illnesses through appropriate training and preventive activities.
NCSU believes that the health and safety of students, faculty, and staff are of the greatest importance.
NCSU will conduct its operations and construct and maintain its facilities in a manner conducive to the creation of a healthy and safe work environment for all personnel and the surrounding community.
Employees should realize the following goals through the health and safety policy:
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Managers and supervisors are responsible for being knowledgeable of and implementing applicable policies and directives and taking other action, as required, to assure that personnel and operations they supervise comply with applicable requirements. This includes taking positive action to determine and reduce, to as low as reasonably achievable, the accidents and incidents associated with their operations, informing employees of the safety hazards associated with their work, instructing employees in safe work methods, keeping the individual performing the specific tasks apprised of the most recent procedure and trained in its implementation, and ensuring that they perform their work according to requirements.
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Deans, Directors and Department Heads have the primary responsibility for operations in their organizations and for taking the necessary measures to make certain that all division or department-related activities comply with established safety requirements. They shall comply with all components of the NCSU safety program as set forth in the NCSU Health and safety Management Plan, including all NCSU policy and procedures applicable to their operations, as well as other directive memoranda.
The Vice Chancellors and Deans are directly responsible to the Chancellor for all aspects of safety in their respective organizations.
Within their organizations, management is responsible for conforming facility operations and all other activities under their direction to the requirements specified by the NCSU Health and safety Management policy and its implementing plans and procedures.
Within the University, the Chancellor has the ultimate responsibility for safety. That responsibility is met through establishing requirements on all operations.
North Carolina State University has a comprehensive environmental health and safety program that affects all members of the University community. The purpose of NCSU's safety programs is to provide employees with a safe and healthy work environment. Our goals are to develop a safety consciousness among employees and others engaged in work for NCSU to reduce accidents and occupational illnesses to a minimum, identify and control safety, public health and environmental hazards, and work constructively with government agencies and others to develop laws, regulations, and standards to protect public health, safety, and the environment. Each member of the University community has the responsibility to work within the framework of established safety programs and policy. Each team member is also responsible for carrying out their activities in a manner that will protect those involved, the rest of the University community, the general public, and the environment.
To assist you with your work, this manual describes the structure and goals of the University's programs, your responsibilities as an NCSU employee, and NCSU's responsibilities to you. Please read this manual carefully and if you have any questions or comments please call the Center.
David Rainer


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Over the last decade or so, geographers have begun to critically engage with the maritime realms of the past and the present, signalling something of a shift from the territorial focus which had dominated the discipline for so long. The worlds of sailors and ships, slaves and merchants, dockworkers and ports, and even the sea itself have been explored through the lens of geography. This has led to the foregrounding of new debates and perspectives in relation to existing concerns within the discipline and has reworked understandings of processes such as imperialism and slavery. It has also offered new points of departure from which geographical research can emerge. Geographers have, among other things, begun to engage with the politics of maritime networks (Lambert 2005), the spatial constitution of maritime networks (Ogborn 2008), explore forms of subaltern agency and identity constituted by maritime workers (Featherstone 2008), and interrogate the spatial imaginaries of the ocean (Steinberg 2001).
Much of this work has been positioned in relation to productive theoretical and empirical attempts to Ĺhistoricise the oceanĺ (Klein and MacKenthun 2004); a paradigm shift in historical studies which advances a major challenge to existing work in social and political history. This work has included pioneering work on various forms of Atlantic radicalism (Linebaugh and Rediker 2000; Rediker 2004, 2007, Scott 1986), an historical ethnography of the HMS Bounty mutineers (Dening 1992), an account of slave-ship sailors (Christopher 2006), and work on the presence of Africans in the Atlantic (Bolster 1997; Gilroy 1992). This work has led to an important revisioning of nation-centred histories of radical movements and forms of social practices and opened up new ways of engaging with subaltern identities, agency and practices.
While drawing on this body of work for inspiration, this conference seeks to critically engage with the work that has been advanced in maritime geographies thus far and prompt new research agendas in the process. The programme of events spanning three days will include keynote talks, papers and workshops dealing with methodological and theoretical issues.
Key questions:
ĽHow does a focus on maritime connections refigure terracentric conceptions of nation and empire?
ĽWhat are the sites/spaces of the ship?
ĽHow does a focus on the littoral refigure notions of space and place?
ĽWhat are the dynamic spatial practices of maritime workers/ sailorĺs politics/ organising practices?
ĽWhat are the geographies of pirates and piracy?
ĽHow does thinking in explicitly spatial terms reconfigure the terms of debate of existing work on maritime histories?
ĽHow are maritime spaces constituted through transnational and multi-ethnic relations?
ĽWhat are the gendered spatial practices of maritime worlds?
ĽWhat human/ non-human configurations are constituted through maritime networks?
ĽWhat productive methodologies are engendered by an attention to maritime geographies?
Invited speakers include:
Professor Marcus Rediker, Professor and Chair of History, University of Pittsburgh
Professor Lakshmi Subramanian, Professor of History, Department of History Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi
Dr Jeremy Anderson and Dr Paula Hamilton, International Transport Workersĺ Federation
Dr Dan Clayton, School of Geography and Geo-sciences, University of StAndrews
Dr Stephanie Jones, English, School of Humanities, University of Southampton
Dr David Lambert, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London
Dr Andrew Smith, Centre for Research on Racism, Ethnicity and Nationalism, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences, University of Glasgow
Dr Carl Thompson, School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University
Abstracts of around 250 words should be submitted to William Hasty (email@example.com) and David Featherstone
(email@example.com) by May 31st 2010, including the following information: name, affiliation, contact email, and technical requirements (data projector, audio equipment, etc...).

subset: commoncrawl


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The Moral Responsibility of Volunteer Soldiers
Opening the Debate
Traditional just war theory has it wrong. Soldiers are morally culpable for fighting in unjust wars, and thus deserve the option of selective conscientious objection.
|Reply: Jeff McMahan
U.S. Army recruits wait their turn to go through the convoy live-fire course during basic combat
training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
The military services in the United States have been organized on a volunteer basis since 1973, when President Richard Nixon abolished the draft. The end of conscription came as a relief to most people—to young men, their parents, and eventually the leaders of the military services, which had been plagued by internal dissent and a lack of professionalism, partly as a result of having so many unwilling members.
Though isolated voices have always challenged the shift to a volunteer military, their criticisms have recently become more widespread and more vocal. The main objections come from two quite different directions.
Some critics argue that the reliance on an all-volunteer, professional army has led to diminished public concern and vigilance with respect to the wars the government decides to fight. Limiting the burdens of military service to volunteers has, according to these critics, weakened inhibitions against the use of military force. When the Iraq War was debated in 2002–3, most citizens were not concerned that they or their children would be required to fight. This eliminated a powerful constraint against the resort to war. According to these critics, the reintroduction of some form of conscription is necessary to reestablish greater democratic control over the practice of war.
Other critics come from the ranks of just war theorists. Their concern is not with diminished public vigilance but with individual moral responsibility. They argue that volunteering for military service in current conditions is morally problematic. Those who join the military may be motivated by a desire to serve their country; to prove, improve, or reform themselves; to have a steady income with benefits; to get an education; to carry on a family tradition; or some combination of these. Whatever their motivation, they are committing themselves to become weapons controlled by others whose purposes cannot be reliably predicted. Some just war theorists question whether it can be permissible for people thus to convert themselves into instruments for killing without knowing whom they may be required to kill, or why. In contrast to the problem cited by the first group of critics, this one would be exacerbated rather than resolved by the reintroduction of conscription.
I will focus here on the second, less familiar critique. I believe that the all-volunteer military can survive the challenge, but only if it undergoes significant reform and acknowledges a right of selective conscientious objection.
Traditional Just War Theory
The idea that voluntary enlistment in the military can be morally problematic derives from a neglected tradition of just war thinking. This approach to the ethics of war informed the work of some of the classical just war theorists, such as the 16th century Spanish philosophers Francisco de Vitoria and Francisco Suárez. It was, however, gradually abandoned by thinkers whose views together constitute what I call "traditional just war theory." The traditional theory has been ascendant since at least the 18th century, but the older approach has recently been resurrected by a group of "revisionists." The best way to understand revisionist just war theory is to contrast it with the traditional theory, which has had a profound influence in shaping common sense thinking about the ethics of war, in part because it was developed in tandem with the international law of armed conflict.
According to traditional just war theory, a soldier does no wrong by fighting in an unjust war, provided that he or she obeys the rules regulating the conduct of war. This theoretical idea finds powerful expression in public sentiments. For centuries it has been regarded as not merely permissible but conspicuously noble and admirable for a soldier to go to war without any concern for whether the war's cause was just. Although the famous lines in Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade" refer to obedience to tactical commands within a war, they articulate a general Victorian ideal of soldiering: "Theirs not to reason why / Theirs but to do and die / . . . When can their glory fade?" Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was even more explicit:
In the midst of doubt, in the collapse of creeds, there is one thing I do not doubt, that no man who lives in the same world with most of us can doubt, and that is that the faith is true and adorable which leads a soldier to throw away his life in obedience to a blindly accepted duty, in a cause which he little understands.
Traditional just war theory offers a theoretical basis for this familiar sentiment. A foundational tenet of the theory is that the principles governing the conduct of war (jus in bello) are entirely independent of those governing the resort to war (jus ad bellum). One implication of this fundamental dualism in traditional just war theory is that what it is permissible for soldiers to do in war does not depend on whether the war is just. Whether the cause is just or unjust, soldiers are prohibited, for example, from intentionally attacking noncombatants. And whether the cause is just or unjust, soldiers are permitted to attack and kill enemy combatants. Typically in a war between states, one state's war is just while the other's is unjust. Yet according to the traditional theory, the principles of jus in bello are neutral between soldiers on opposing sides and are equally satisfiable by all.
Even though soldiers do not make decisions about whether their states will go to war, they can make decisions about whether they will go to war.
One rationale for this traditional dualism is provided by a view about responsibility. Soldiers cannot do wrong by violating the principles of jus ad bellum because, it is claimed, those principles do not apply to them. The principles of jus ad bellum govern decisions concerning the resort to war, but ordinary soldiers have no control over those decisions and thus are not responsible for them. Only those who are involved in making such decisions—political leaders—are capable of either violating or complying with ad bellumprinciples. But even though ordinary soldiers cannot be responsible for whether a war is fought, they are responsible for how it is fought. And according to the traditional theory, there are permissible and impermissible ways of fighting even in a war that is unjust.
The traditional theory seeks to reinforce its claim that one can permissibly fight in an unjust war in part by observing that all soldiers fighting in a war pose a threat to others. Because they pose a threat, even if they are fighting for a just cause, they forfeit their right not to be attacked. But even though they forfeit this right, they retain their rights of self- and other-defense. Hence all soldiers, including those who fight for unjust aims (unjust combatants), are permitted to attack enemy combatants because those combatants pose a threat and are thus liable to attack. The traditional principle of noncombatant immunity is an extension of this line of argument. Noncombatants pose no threat and thus do not forfeit their right not to be attacked. Hence no soldiers, even those fighting in just wars (just combatants), are permitted to attack noncombatants.
We can refer to the traditional theory's claim that it is always permissible to fight in a war, whether just or unjust, provided that one obeys the principles of jus in bello, as the permissibility of participation. It is a moral principle that is echoed by a parallel permission in the law of armed conflict, which allows that it is legal to fight in a war that is itself illegal.
The Revisionist Critique
Revisionist just war theorists reject the permissibility of participation. They think it is in general impermissible to fight in an unjust war even if one complies with the principles ofjus in bello, interpreted in the traditional way. Consider the argument that unjust combatants are permitted to attack just combatants because all soldiers make themselves liable to attack by posing a threat to others. That argument for the permissibility of participation has no force. For it is false that posing a threat to another is sufficient to make a person liable to defensive attack. When, for example, a police officer, having no other option, attempts to kill a rampaging murderer, she does not thereby become liable to attack, and the murderer has no right of self-defense. If the murderer kills the officer, he will be guilty of another murder.
In addition to having no theoretical grounding, the permissibility of participation is implausible on its face. Can one really believe that a Nazi soldier did nothing morally wrong by invading Polish territory and killing Polish soldiers who, perhaps just a few days earlier, were civilians who enlisted to help defend their society against foreign conquest? More generally, how can it possibly be morally permissible to kill people who have done no wrong as a means of achieving ends that are unjust?
Traditional just war theorists respond by claiming that the moral principles that apply in war are different from those that apply outside the context of war. Yet there is no reason to suppose that morality is schizophrenic in this way. War is on a continuum with other forms of violent conflict, and traditional just war theorists have never offered a criterion for distinguishing wars from conflicts that fall just short of war that would explain why entirely different principles come into effect when a conflict crosses the threshold to become a war. Suppose, for example, that we could identify a point at which the violence in Syria ceased to be a domestic conflict and became a civil war. Can anyone explain why what occurred at that transition was sufficiently significant to suspend the application of one set of moral principles and bring a different set into effect?
If the principles governing the morality of killing in war were different from those governing killing outside of war, one would often be unable to determine whether an act of killing was permissible without knowing whether it was part of a war, or of a conflict short of war. Yet if a person were involved in a conflict and were deliberating about whether it would be permissible to kill another person, it would be absurd for him to base his decision on whether the conflict satisfied the criteria, whatever they might be, for being a war.
The revisionists therefore argue, in my view correctly, that the permissibility of action in war cannot be divorced from the ends that the action serves. To use the language of just war theory: they deny that jus in bello can be independent of jus ad bellum. They reject the dualism that lies at the heart of the traditional theory. If military action serves ends that are unjust, and bad from an impartial point of view, and in particular if the means employed include attacking people who have done nothing to forfeit their right against attack, that action cannot be morally permissible.
For centuries it has been regarded as not merely permissible but noble for a solider to go to war without concern for whther the war's cause is just.
These theorists add that unjust combatants, fighting for an unjust cause, cannot in general satisfy even the principles of jus in bello, properly understood. Consider, for example, the principle of proportionality. Simplified somewhat for purposes of exposition, this principle requires that the good effects that an act of war can be expected to achieve not be outweighed by the expected bad effects, mainly collateral harms to innocent bystanders. (In recent debates about Syria, for example, those who have argued against limited strikes on the grounds that they would cause excessive civilian casualties and provoke the Assad regime to commit further atrocities have, in effect, been denying that such strikes would be proportionate.) But when the aims that military action is designed to achieve are unjust, and bad from an impartial point of view, the action cannot be expected to have good effects that outweigh the bad. Hence it cannot be proportionate.
A final point about the permissibility of participation is practical. Not only is this doctrine theoretically indefensible, but its incorporation into common sense thought about the morality of war also has had terrible consequences. For, by reassuring soldiers and conscripts that they can always fight with a clear conscience, even if they are certain their war is unjust, it has facilitated the initiation of unjust wars.
Why Enlistment is Morally Contentious
If the revisionists are right that it is impermissible to fight in a war that is unjust because the aims it serves are unjust, then voluntary enlistment in the military is morally problematic. Some people draw that conclusion because they think that submission to authority is never permissible. As moral agents, we must always—they say—preserve our moral autonomy, which means that we should not act against our own judgment by submitting to authority. But that seems too extreme. Suppose you could be certain that your action would, over time, conform better to the requirements of morality if you were to obey some authority rather than be guided by your private judgment. Then it seems right to obey the authority. But even if we accept this more plausible view, we should still have doubts about the permissibility of voluntary enlistment in the military. For no government's moral judgments about its own resort to war can be expected to be more reliable than those of a well-informed, impartial, and morally scrupulous individual.
The problem with voluntary enlistment is not so much that it involves pledging to obey another or committing one's will to obedience. It is, rather, that by enlisting, a person assumes the risk of becoming an instrument of injustice, either because he will fail to perceive that a war in which he has been commanded to fight is unjust, or because he will recognize it as unjust but fight in spite of that knowledge. In short, if the permissibility of participation is false—if it can, contrary to the traditional just war theory be wrong to fight in an unjust war—then enlistment involves a risk of engaging in serious wrongdoing.
This risk is substantial. When soldiers are commanded to fight in a war that is objectively unjust, they almost invariably obey. There have been countless unjust wars but comparatively few instances of conscientious refusal to fight in them by active-duty soldiers. There are many reasons for this. One is that soldiers often lack access to relevant facts about the war. Another is that they are often lied to by their government—even in the most open, democratic societies. Yet they generally trust their government and their superior officers. And even if they knew all the relevant facts, they might still be unable to recognize that their war is unjust, for they are usually actively discouraged from engaging in independent, critical thinking about the orders they receive. Military life is filled with activities, such as drills, that are designed to ingrain habits of obedience. Furthermore, even soldiers who are rightly convinced that their war is unjust are likely to fight. Not only have they been trained to obey orders, but they also tend to believe that obedience is a professional duty that overrides other considerations. They feel loyalty to their country, to the military institution of which they are members, and to their comrades in arms. And they can usually expect to be punished, perhaps severely, if they refuse to fight.
Much of this was recognized by another Victorian, John Ruskin, who, in a lecture to a group of soldiers, observed:
you have put yourselves into the hand of your country as a weapon. You have vowed to strike, when she bids you . . . . all that you need answer for is, that you fail not in her grasp. And there is goodness in this, and greatness, if you can trust the hand and heart of the Britomart who has braced you to her side. . . . But remember, good and noble as this state is, it is a state of slavery. . . . In thus vowing ourselves to be the slaves of any master, it ought to be some subject of forethought with us, what work he is likely to put us upon.
Perhaps many of those who join the military trust themselves to be able to distinguish between just and unjust wars and to have the courage to refuse if they are ordered to fight in an unjust war. If so, all but a few of them are deluded. There is some reason, though far from conclusive, to believe that the majority of soldiers throughout history have fought unjustly rather than justly. This is suggested by the plausible claim that there are only three types of war: wars in which one side is just and the other unjust, those in which both sides have just and unjust aims, and those in which both sides' aims are entirely unjust. (If the opposition to the Assad regime in Syria consisted exclusively of jihadists determined to impose an Islamic theocracy—which fortunately it does not—the current civil war there would be an example of the third type.) If, as I think is true, there cannot be wars in which both sides' aims are wholly just, but there can be wars in which both sides' aims are wholly unjust, that makes it probable that there have been more unjust wars than just wars, and thus that more soldiers have fought in unjust wars than in just wars. Yet the record of testimony by soldiers indicates that most soldiers have believed their war was just.
In particular cases, of course, the general statistics may be misleading. If one is considering whether to enlist, the probability that one will be led to fight in an unjust war depends substantially on the recent history of one's state and the nature of its government. The moral risks are higher, for example, for those who enlist in the Sudanese army than for those who enlist in the Swedish army.
A Proposal
We face a dilemma. There seems to be a moral presumption against enlistment, based on the serious risk that enlisting will lead one to attack and kill people in the service of unjust aims. Such killings are unjust. Yet most political communities require a military to protect their security and ensure their survival.
It would be embarassing for a government if its war effort were met with substantial, morally motivated resistance from its own soldiers.
The best response to this dilemma is to adopt provisions for selective conscientious objection by active-duty soldiers. Volunteers could then enlist in the knowledge that if they are commanded to fight in an unjust war, they will not have eliminated all options other than wrongful obedience and submission to punishment for disobedience.
This suggestion may seem hopelessly utopian and naïve. But there are precedents. A right of conscientious objection—indeed a duty of conscientious objection—is now recognized by the United States in matters of jus in bello. Soldiers are required to disobey a "manifestly unlawful order," even during emergency conditions of combat, which seems in various ways riskier than permitting a soldier to refuse on moral grounds to go into combat at all. Moreover, conscientious refusal to fight occurs more often than most civilians are aware. The public seldom learns of these cases because the military often reassigns the objector to some other duty, thereby avoiding unwelcome publicity.
There are legitimate and quite serious concerns about having a legally protected option for conscientious refusal to fight. Perhaps the most obvious is that the option could be exploited by malingerers whose aversion to fighting is merely personal rather than moral. A person could join the military, perhaps "see the world" (as the recruiting ads used to say), but then refuse to do what he has been paid and trained to do.
I see no good solution to this problem. There would have to be tests for assessing a soldier's sincerity, but such tests are highly fallible. There would also have to be tests for the plausibility of a soldier's reasoning. It could not, for example, be an acceptable ground for conscientious refusal to fight that a soldier claimed to have heard the voice of an alien, or even the voice of God, telling him not to fight. It would, moreover, be necessary to impose penalties even on successful conscientious objectors as a means of deterring malingerers. Conscientious objectors might be required to do onerous tasks unrelated to the war and perhaps even refund some of the wages they had been paid while being trained for the work they now refuse to do. This would be unjust to those who rightly believe that their participation in a war would be morally wrong.
Still, the difficulties of solving the problem of malingering need to be weighed against the case in favor of permitting conscientious objection. There are two principal elements to this case. One is that it would diminish the moral risks a person takes in enlisting. When those risks are reduced, they are more likely to be outweighed by the moral reasons people have to serve in the military, which are primarily concerned with a society's ability to fight just wars. The other is that if a country's soldiers were to have a conditional option of conscientious refusal to fight, this could help to deter the government from attempting to initiate an unjust war. For it would be a profound embarrassment for a government, and would threaten its domestic legitimacy, if its effort to fight a war were met with substantial, morally motivated resistance from its own soldiers.
One might respond that just as the threat of conscientious objection by soldiers could prevent the initiation of unjust wars, so too could it prevent the fighting of just wars. This seems highly unlikely, though, in the case of a war of national self-defense. Yet in the United States, self-defense has seldom been a serious issue on those occasions since World War II when the country has used military force. Apart from the initial strikes against al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan in 2001, the major uses of military force by the United States that might be considered just have been instances of collective defense (for example, the Korean War) and humanitarian intervention (for example, Kosovo). And some soldiers might well have sincere and understandable moral objections to military intervention in another country even when there is an objectively compelling case for humanitarian intervention.
I accept, then, that allowing selective conscientious objection by active-duty soldiers could inhibit the fighting of just wars of humanitarian intervention. (The same is true of the reintroduction of conscription.) But given that it could also inhibit the fighting of unjust wars, the main question seems to be which of these effects would be greater. As I observed earlier, soldiers are strongly disposed to believe that any war in which they are commanded to fight is just. This partially explains why governments have always found it relatively easy to initiate unjust wars. And the evidence available to soldiers and others that a war is unjust is likely to be much stronger when the war really is unjust than when it is just. If these two claims are correct, then soldiers are considerably more likely to believe that their war is unjust when it is in fact unjust than when it is just. This suggests that permitting conscientious objection is more likely to inhibit the fighting of unjust wars than to inhibit the fighting of just wars. If that is so, the trade off between these two effects seems desirable, and an improvement over the status quo.
Allowing selective conscientious objection by soldiers would not eliminate all the moral risks involved in enlistment. Volunteers may still lack relevant information, be deceived by their government, or simply fail to care about whether a war in which they have been commanded to fight is just. And even if they believe that the war is unjust, they will still face pressures to fight rather than avail themselves of the option of conscientious refusal. But having the option of conscientious refusal would appreciably decrease the moral risks that volunteers would assume by enlisting.
Serious physical risks are ineliminable from the job of soldiering. For obvious reasons, those who take those risks must in general be relatively young, with more to lose than older people. It is therefore unconscionable that civilians should require soldiers also to take graver moral risks than are necessary. There are at least two additional ways in which these moral risks could be reduced, both of which would aid soldiers in thinking responsibly about the option of conscientious objection. One is to include in soldiers' training some education in the morality of war. Soldiers should have some familiarity with the major issues in just war theory and the positions that prominent writers in the tradition have defended. Our various service academies already offer this to many of our future officers, but moral education needs to reach enlisted personnel as well.
The second way that civilian society can reduce the moral risks that soldiers face is to provide sources of guidance on the morality of particular wars that are independent of the government. How this might be accomplished is a subject for future debate. I hope at least to have shown why such a debate is necessary.
Photograph: Senior Airman Desiree N. Palacios / U.S. Air Force
While I find McMahan's replyThu, 2013-11-07 16:01 — LK McPherson
While I find McMahan's reply compelling overall, I am not among those who "suggest that conscientious objection might be better supported by the claim that the sate may not coerce its citizens to act against their conscience."
I agree that an objector's conscience alone is not a sufficient moral basis. Generally, I don't doubt that fair judgments of "a person's moral reasons" can be made.
But there is a practical obstacle to fair judgments of an objector's moral reasons. The state would be the binding authority testing not only the "seriousness" but also the "plausibility" of these reasons. States are highly averse to admitting moral doubt about their wars, especially in real time.
When I referred to an objector's "sincerity," I had tried to establish a context where the reasons would have to be relevant and morally serious--even if not deemed plausible by the state. In effect, the bar for state recognition of selective objection would appropriately be lowered.
Moral agencyMon, 2013-11-11 07:43 — Phil Rees
I read this article with great interest. However, it may be in danger of taking for granted that soldiers are in fact moral agents. We can reasonably assume that all of a country's citizens who are sane and of a reasonable intelligence can be counted as 'moral agents' but I'm not sure that remains the case once a person joins the military. For one of the main aims of military training is to replace moral agency with obedience to orders - that is surely the beginning and the end for all soldiers. To the extent that this is successful soldiers will usually just not concern themselves with moral issues such as whether a war is just. So yes, by all means give them the right to object to involvement in manifestly unjust wars, but don't assume it will make much difference.
There is also the problem that whether or not a war is deemed unjust will often depend on individual perspectives. For example, many men of middle-eastern origin may deem all military interventions in the middle-east as unjust, while the rest of us may disagree. Would the kind of law proposed here give carte blanche to all American Muslim soldiers to decline to serve in the middle-east on the grounds that THEY believe that to do so is ipso facto unjust?
Formal systemsMon, 2013-11-11 14:40 — Seth Edenbaum
A military in service to a democracy is an authoritarian order in service to a free one: every soldier is simultaneously both a soldier and a citizen. There's no way to resolve that contradiction; it has to be negotiated by each soldier individually. It doesn't matter if they're conscripts as part of a system of universal service, or volunteers.
Formal non-contradictory systems of democratic liberalism are bound to fail. And that's a good thing, not a bad thing.
Useful pieceMon, 2013-11-11 19:27 — Wourvivecreme
Bravo, this remarkable phrase is necessary just by the way
Democracy and Discussion in a Military ContextThu, 2013-11-14 16:48 — Jerry Fields
Several responders have mentioned that selective conscientious objection is only meaningful when there is an institutional forum for discussion of the causes and justifications of the war within the military itself. The purpose would be to inform a soldier who might otherwise be ignorant of the causes of the war. The existence of such a forum would have profound implications for democracy in general.
We have in history a few examples of discussion of what are traditionally political issues within a military context. The first to come to mind is the Putney debates which followed on the English Civil War. This instance highlights both the opportunities and perils of taking political decisions in a military context, because it associates political decisions with military power. The reason the Putney debates are so famous is precisely because sentiment in the New Model Army contemplated a real democracy, and there was at least a potential that it might use force to impose it. It was, at the very least, a crucial episode in the development of the English Constitution even though the Puritan oligarchy managed to quell the storm.
In another case, when George Washington used his prestige to moderate the demands of his officers at the end of the American Revolution, we had anexample of how discussion of political issues is frought with potential for calamity rather than benefit. Washington's action put an end to what would otherwise likely have developed into a coup by the military.
I am deeply sympathetic to the moral problems of soldiers when confronted with an unjust war. However, institutionalizing selective conscientious objection causes more problems than it solves. The decision to go to war is inevitably political. To allow a focus for discussion of political questions in a military context is extremely dangerous. It implies that the military is entitled to make political judgements, and if a sufficient portion of the military colaesces in opposition to the civilian government, a military coup is very likely.
The subordination of the military to the civilian government is no mere idle conceit. It has material consequences, and helps to protect democratic government from military intereference.
No, the place for controverting the causes for war belongs exclusively in civilian contexts. Our duty lies in making our civilian leaders conform to the requirements of a just war. That is how we protect our soldiers from immoral wars.
Democracy is meaningful only when there are no material concentrations of power. Neutralizing the potential political power of the military is essential, a sine qua non of democracy.
Where does this leave the soldier's conscience in an unjust war? A soldier's moral agency remains intact, and no power can relieve him of either the privilege or the duty to act morally. When confronted with an order to fight in an immoral war, refusal is moral and honorable. Unfortunately, there is no practical way to relieve him of the burden of consequences that follow on his refusal. That is the way of the world.
Gallagher's ObjectionSun, 2013-11-24 14:26 — jaylemieux
"It's likely we'd be left with troops who believe whatever the government tells them, aren't too worried about the complexity inherent in decisions to use force, or don't ever consider ethical questions."
What we have now is much closer to this than Gallagher would like to admit. But in any event, it would bear no practical difference from our system that requires troops to follow orders with no allowance for empathy.
very nice kissesThu, 2013-12-05 22:02 — MarkFS
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.
Just warsWed, 2013-12-11 22:21 — Old Man
Too often, "Just Wars" are like beauty, in the mind of the beholder. Quite a few people objected to the U. S. entering both World Wars. Subsequently, each was was viewed as not only just but necessary. I was an Infantry officer in the '60's amd 70's and resigned because I could see that the Army was on its way to becoming a cesspool, not because the war in Viet Nam was or was not unjust. Perhaps my view of the war as being entered into with noble intentions, only to see that the conduct of the war simply fumbled away public support will be percieved as simple, but opinions are like noses, everyone has one and noses and opinions are too often stuck into places that they do not belong.
Soldiers and Just WarThu, 2013-12-12 06:50 — Richard Adams
It is critical that just societies promote justice in their militaries. Soldiers have a right to serve with a fully formed moral conviction that their cause is just, and that the means by which they advance this cause are right. The contemptible decay of modern politics makes it impossible for soldiers to trust the word of politicians, and raises the bar for soldiers who must make deliberate moral choices. All fights are not the same.
Soldiers are SlavesThu, 2014-10-23 17:01 — openeyedamerican
Nobody ever belonged being "drafted" or even "volunteering" their "services" as we oppressively market spin it, in any combat. Whether male or female, rich or poor makes NO difference. The fact of the matter is, USA has always taken itself into costly wars for entirely spurious reasons. This fact is not more apparent than over the past 12 years of non-stop "military intervention" abroad which has had no reason to start. Please, no ignorant comments about 9/11! anyone naive enough to think 9/11 was a reason to "fight back" has no knowledge of our true history. Hint: American history cannot be learned throgh any of ur textbooks. They have been written by special interest, with bellicose "glory". Hitler did same exact thing with his millions of patriotic followers. Germany is now 15th most peaceful nation, USA ranks 88th. Just like the Germans back in Nazi days, Americans are unaware of their reality, lacking social/political awareness, as our media has manufacturedl labotimized zombies.
We are a violence for profit entity. USA now a corporaion, not "free"nation", the US Military by social and political terms is exactly like a ferocious rogue cell mass of cancer, which has spread like a tumor throughout our moral tissues, killing our nation exactly as any cancer kills a person. We have developed a culture of irelevant revenge, with our media all owed and controlled by media puppets that are ALL actresses and actors contracted out by Hollywod with spam videos. How else do you suppose we an stay politically gridlocked into perpetual cycles ofelf-destructive war puttig toxic profits into pockets of perpetrators? Or founding fathers warne of this. Google YouTube video "Military Cancer", and become enlightened. "Ebola" and "terrorism" were never a main threat. Military Cancer is...jsutlook at te toys we market to boys! Horrific.
Moral responsibility of GovernmentThu, 2014-11-20 15:15 — G Morris
Soldiers are not to be sacrificed as in primitive societies such as the Aztec, Mayan, or in Greek mythology; some need the money, some like to fight, and some are patriotic, but they do not lay themselves on an alter presented to the enemy.
MilitaryFri, 2015-05-08 13:50 — Gage C
I think that a Member of the US Military has a right to decline orders given to s/he. If they deem that the orders are morally wrong, and that they should not be followed then that is great! That probably could've prevented us from going into Iraq or Afghanistan.


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The best bag I have gotten in a long time. The size is...
By Glory
from Richmond,TX
Comments about Levenger Oxford Messenger:
The best bag I have gotten in a long time. The size is prefect for iPad, iPhone and iPod along with folders and pens.
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
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Purple lover
By PianoPlayer
from Albuquerque, New Mexico
I recently started taking piano lessons and needed another bag to transport my books and supplies to and from my lessons. As soon as I saw this bag, I knew that it would be perfect; and it is. I especially like the color. It is stylish and professional, but also fun.
Love this bag!
By desie
from New Jersey
I purchased this bag last week - love it! The purple color looked a little intense online, but in person it's perfect. Just dark enough so it looks classy. Quality item.
I bought this in blue, and it's a beautiful bright ocean...
By Molly
from Undisclosed
I bought this in blue, and it's a beautiful bright ocean blue, love the color! This is perfect for files, carrying my laptop, papers, all the things that you would normally stuff into a briefcase, but don't necessarily fit well into a purse or tote. Visually it is a nice alternative to a traditional briefcase, and can also be used as a purse. Great quality leather, and did I mention the color??
Great Purchase
By SocialWorker
from Clinton, IN
Quality leather and color (Cobalt Blue); weight with laptop inside is good but limited space. Complements received by others. Excellent is you are looking for something to just carry your laptop.
Pricey, but worth it
By Magster
from Miami,FL
I have long wished for a smallish leather bag to accommodate a tablet and function as my purse,yet not be heavy, bulky, or boring black or brown. I am very pleased with my (sale!) purchase of the Oxford Messenger Bag. Color, materials, and workmanship are excellent. My tabletis a snug fit in the exterior pocket, even in it's leather case.Levenger does it right - again!
By Gardener
from Greenwich, CT
Finally a bag that fits both file folders and an iPad ! Have had lots of compliments on the style.and color. Would love interior to have a three pockets for cell phone and keys rather than two and a spot for pens. Also would love for the shoulder strap to be padded since it is heavy with all that I load into it. Overall a great product especially considering the price.
Terrific bag
By Saya
from New York, NY
Perfect size for phone, iPad, pens, notebook, wallet. Perfect for travel. Keeps me organized - and looks very stylish.
Beautiful bag
By gardenerJane
from Bloomington, IL
This was a birthday present for a daughter. She loves the softness of the leather and the blue color is just magnificent. So happy for this bag, perfect for carrying her iPad to school, an elementary school teacher. Love it.
Finally, the Perfect Bag!
By Myrtha
from Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
For years I've been searching for the perfect bag: the one that would hold everything I need, including letter-size papers; the one that would have a shoulder/crossbody strap without an extraneous handbag handle; the one that would be slim enough so that it rests on my body and doesn't bulk out; the one that would be easy to open and easy to close. Finally, I have found it! This is that bag! I no longer need to carry a purse and a tote to go into the city--this messenger bag holds everything, and worn crossbody, it leaves my arms free to swing while I'm walking. In addition, it's a beautiful object, aesthetically pleasing to look at, which means a great deal to me when it's something I carry with me every day.
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Headless Males Make Great Lovers: And Other Unusual Natural Histories
University of Chicago Press, 2005
Cloth: 978-0-226-12199-4 | Paper: 978-0-226-12202-1 | eISBN: 978-0-226-12208-3
Library of Congress Classification QL751.C8825 2005
Dewey Decimal Classification 590
The natural world is filled with diverse—not to mention quirky and odd—animal behaviors. Consider the male praying mantis that continues to mate after being beheaded; the spiders, insects, and birds that offer gifts of food in return for sex; the male hip-pocket frog that carries his own tadpoles; the baby spiders that dine on their mother; the beetle that craves excrement; or the starfish that sheds an arm or two to escape a predator's grasp.
Headless Males Make Great Lovers and Other Unusual Natural Histories celebrates the extraordinary world of animals with essays on curious creatures and their amazing behaviors. In five thematic chapters, Marty Crump—a tropical field biologist well known for her work with the reproductive behavior of amphibians—examines the bizarre conduct of animals as they mate, parent, feed, defend themselves, and communicate. Crump's enthusiasm for the unusual behaviors she describes-from sex change and free love in sponges to aphrodisiac concoctions in bats-is visible on every page, thanks to her skilled storytelling, which makes even sea slugs, dung beetles, ticks, and tapeworms fascinating and appealing. Steeped in biology, Headless Males Make Great Lovers points out that diverse and unrelated animals often share seemingly bizarre behaviors—evidence, Crump argues, that these natural histories, though outwardly weird, are successful ways of living.
Illustrated throughout, and filled with vignettes of personal and scientific interest, Headless Males Make Great Lovers will enchant the general reader with its tales of blood-squirting horned lizards and intestine-ejecting sea cucumbers—all in the service of a greater appreciation of the diversity of the natural histories of animals.
Marty Crump is Adjunct Professor of Biology at Northern Arizona University and a Conservation Fellow of the Wildlife Conservation Society. A recipient of the Distinguished Herpetologist Award, she is coauthor of In Search of the Golden Frog, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
"Zoologists collect nature stories. We pull them out like worn bandannas at field-site campfires and conference socials, keeping lecture-hall sleepers awake. We hone our favorites to their finest edge and listen to those told by the masters, hoping to learn something new. Now there is an entire book of such inspiration in Marty Crump's Headless Males Make Great Lovers. With short, descriptive sentences, Crump paints an impressionistic portrait of five fundamental aspects of animal existence: mating, parenting, feeding, self-defense, and communication. Stepping easily between her subjects as if they were golden frogs, Crump weaves together natural history, poetry, mythology, family memories, and good humor with appropriate amounts of drama and distance. Each chapter begins with the intriguing, moves to the bizarre, and ends with the most spectacular examples of animal lore, seasoned with experiences from academia, personal friendships, and an elegant grasp of evolutionary and behavioral biology. Regardless of one's background, there is space at this campfire for all."
"Marty Crump has an unerring eye for bizarre and perplexing aspects of natural history. She writes with great zest, using her carefully selected examples to show how natural selection has shaped all aspects of animal biology. With great clarity, she explains how even the strangest phenomena conform to the basic, simple laws of nature. This book is a bravura performance, based on a lifetime of careful observation of the earth's fast-vanishing biodiversity." —Tim Halliday, coeditor of Firefly Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians— Tim Halliday
"From penis-gnawing slugs to tadpole-transporting frogs, Marty Crump's Headless Males Make Great Lovers captivates readers with remarkable stories about animals and their bizarre behaviors. With examples ranging from sponges to elephant seals, the book covers all major aspects of animal behavior and will be of interest to scientists and laypersons. I am certain her stories will inspire many to pursue studies of natural history and behavior."— Maureen A. Donnelly, coeditor of Ecology and Evolution in the Tropics
"A marvelous introduction to the whys and wherefores of animal behavior..."— Booklist
"It's not just about insect sex—though there is a lot of it here. Marty Crump's book is a trawl through the whole gamut of weird animal behaviours. Watch out for spine-anointing, toad-chewing hedgehogs; tortoises that stomp the ground to draw up worms; and the mantids of the title that mate more effectively once the female has bitten off their heads. With Crump's 30-plus years of experience in the field, this beautifully written and charmingly illustrated book combines acute observation with helpful explanation. Nature has never seemed so bizarre and splendid."— Adrian Barnett, New Scientist
"Weird words have their fans; and so do weird moments in natural history. In this book, biologist Marty Crump celebrates animal diversity, with the emphasis on the bizarre. Her aim is to bring the stuff of scientific papers to the general public. She ranges widely, from elephant seals to bowerbirds. The headings include sex, of course, as well as eating, young-rearing and defensive behaviour. Who would believe that hedgehogs anoint themselves with toad venom as a defence? That rabbits eat their own dung? Or that sea slugs like group sex? The book grosses out, but also educates. Not for intelligent design proponents."— LUCY SUSSEX, The Age (Melbourne, Australia)
"The author has written an unabashed natural history—a celebration of the oddities and weirdness that can be found in the world of animal behavior. . . .With luck, this book will stimulate some younger readers to develop an interest in behavioral science, a stated goal of the author, while also building a greater appreciation in readers of all ages for the diversity of life."—John Alcock, Quarterly Review of Biology
"[Crump's] greatest strength is her ability to interpret natural history with an evolutionary perspective; such popular science writing is rare and refreshing. Moreover, because she meticulously documents her sources in a bibliography of references consulted, her book can be extremely useful to instructors looking for examples to spice up a lecture in an introductory biology class.—May Berenbaum, Ecology
"This unnatural history of the diverse social and sexual practices of insects and animals makes you glad that you are not a slipper limpet, even though it spends most of its life engaged in group sex and changes sex regularly. Nobody has a worse life than emperor penguins which breed in temperatures as low as minus 95F (-70C) and in wind speeds that reach 120mph. Female spiders chew the heads off their mates during sex—but they're game guys so they find another mate which eats what's left of them. Do they care? They're just doing what a guy's gotta do."
"Crump has compiled a book of odd and icky tales. . . . What Crump has done is monumental of a sort--taking dry, eye rolling, yawn-generating technical scientific observations and making them fun for the general audience. These are the types of chronicles that Robert Ripley . . . made young, wide-eyed, budding scientists drool over in his Believe It or Not! challenge. . . . The book is packed with science, but more importantly, it's a lot of fun. Enjoy!"—Biology Digest— Biology Digest
"Crump starts with sex but then explores other natural phenomena with an engaging down-to-earth approach that will keep you turning the pages from blood meals to legs modified into fangs to pheronomes as alarm signals. It's a great read."— Sharon Wooten, The Olympian
"The combination of bizarre facts and rational, evolution-based explanations will make this an ideal book for an intelligent, nature-obsessed teenager (or, indeed, any-ager). I wish I could have read it 50 years ago. . . . We are living at a time of exponential growth in zoological knowledge, and inspired popularizers like Marty Crump . . . are needed to interpret the new findings for the rest of us."— Nicholas Gould, International Zoo News
1. Ain't Love Grand!
2. The Mamas and the Papas
3. Eat to Live and Live to Eat
4. Don't Tread on Me
5. Ya Don't Say!
Parting Thoughts
Appendix: Scientific Classification
References Consulted and Suggested Reading
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text:
Event Studies and the Law: Part II: Empirical Studies of Corporate Law
Sanjai Bhagat
University of Colorado at Boulder - Department of Finance
Roberta Romano
Yale Law School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
American Law and Economics Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 380-423, 2002
This article is the second part of a review of the event study methodology, which has proved to be one of the most successful uses of econometrics in policy analysis. In this part we focus on the methodology's application to corporate law and corporate governance issues. Event studies have played an important role in the making of corporate law and in corporate law scholarship. The reason for this input is twofold. First, there is a match between the methodology and subject matter: the goal of corporate law is to increase shareholder wealth, and event studies provide a metric for measurement of the impact upon stock prices of policy decisions. Second, because the participants in corporate law debates share the objective of corporate law, to adopt policies that enhance shareholder wealth, their disagreements are over the means to achieve that end. Hence, the discourse can be empirically informed. The article concludes by sketching the methodology's use in evaluating the economic effects of regulation. While event studies' usefulness for policy analysis is by now familiar in the corporate law setting, we hope that our two-part review will suggest appropriate applications to other fields of law.
Date posted: February 29, 2008
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Ɫukacz Stanek. Henri Lefebvre on Space. Architecture, Urban Research, and the Production of Theory. 2011. Minneapolis, London. University of Minnesota Press. 369 pp. ISBN 978-0-8166-6617-1
Reviewed by Christopher Knoll (Cultural Studies), Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
[…] to think of space as a whole means to keep it open to everybody. (Stanek: 137)
Ɫukacz Stanek's book on the French urban sociologist Henri Lefebvre is a detailed, well-researched and balanced account of both Lefebvre's intellectual biography and the development of his conceptual frameworks.
From agrarian to urban space
Stanek stresses how Lefebvre's early intellectual interests in agrarian societies [e.g. his study of a Pyrenean village] were methodologically shaped by a combination of the Annales school and dialectical materialism, which lead him to an early insight that neither the production of territory and the production of community, nor mental concepts of spatial planning and the actual way of 'living space out', could be separated analytically.
After having written his PhD and becoming professor in Paris, Lefebvre's focus switched from agrarian planning policies to urban spatial planning, partly because in the early 60s, the authorities of the USSR, Algeria and Cuba denied Lefebvre to carry out empirical research on their agrarian policies.
(Urban) Space as concrete abstraction
During this formative period, Lefebvre developed his concept of space as concrete ('lived') abstraction, a concept which should critically surpass and dialectically overcome (aufheben) central state urban planning as well as dismantle notions of space and housing that are perceived by Postfordist or Keynesian capitalism as mere reified objects of consumption.
On a theoretical level, this lead to Lefebvre's critique of both functionalism and structuralism – both, according to Lefebvre, operating as closed, largely unalterable and mentally preconceived systems, either of 'needs' for which there are allotments of preconceived 'satisfactions' (functionalism), or else of preconceived sets of 'signification processes of differentiational signs' which can be 'consumed' (structuralism) – as both symptom and tool of a bureaucratic society.
As Stanek stresses, Lefebvre's criticism aims at central planning's ensuing depoliticization, fragmentation and segregation of 'possible communities', in other words, the very denial of every citizen's right to the city as ongoing communal project of co-habitation (Lefebvre writes extensively about the Paris Commune as an attempt at collectivizing the 'equal right' to the city for all citizens).
He thus wanted to dismantle 'Cartesian'-masterplan notions of l'espace conçu (expert knowledges that mentally pre-conceive space for the consumer to live in) in opposing them to notions of space as perceived – l'espace perçu (by the consumers or users), and via open discourse of their mutual incongruencies come to a dialectical understanding of what might be 'fully lived' urban spaces of the future – l'espace(s) vécu(s), without risking systemic closures (Lefebvre's closeness to Derridean and Deleuzian poststructuralism seems evident here).
Lived spaces as concrete utopias
The advantages of Stanek's book become quickly become clear: He not only embeds Lefebvre's thinking in the larger context of postwar French thought (Lefebvre's ongoing discussions with
structuralism, situationism, poststructuralism), but also reproduces, by way of analogy, Lefebvre's larger dialectic of the production of space in the built-up of the book itself, thus covering the triad of Lefebvre's immense productiveness in (open) theory, his public interventions by publicly debating and commenting on the consequences of concrete architectural planning procedures both in the present and in history (e.g. the Nanterre campus as functionalist misère playing a major role in declenching the 68′ student revolt, the IKEA -style modularized consumptive petit-bourgeois differentiation à la Bourdieu of the habitat pavillonaire, the segregationist urban planning policies leading to the peripheries of grands ensembles and HLMs; the segregationist policies of a Hausmann in the 1850s indirectly leading to the claims for a right to the city of the Paris Commune) and Lefebvre's participation in 'utopian projects', meaning his co-participation in 'utopian' urban planning design such as Ricardo Bofill's 'city in space' or Nieuwenhuys's New Babylon (and thereby demonstrating his own attempt at a praxis of an 'Aufhebung' of divisions of labor as regards architectural planning) as well as his analyses of historical utopian planning (e.g. his positive reevaluation of Fourier's phalanstères as an historical architectural dream enhancing communal solidarity).
CC: http://blog.sfmoma.org/2010/02/tati-macdonald/ [2011-9-13]
The city as œuvre: toward an architecture of communal solidarity
All the way throughout the book, Stanek thus stresses Lefebvre's search for an urban architecture which would replace social isolationism and antagonism by opening up to possible spaces of solidarity and association. Stanek shows a Lefebvre's whose take on 'spaces as always unfinished œuvres in process', in which the individual (Hegel's concrete universal) can come into discourse with the communal collective and in this way overcoming segregations of work-space and spaces of leisure, remained true to his own humanist marxist version of fighting for an equal right to the city for all its inhabitants."]
It is therefore logical that Stanek concludes, in his afterword, with an outline of a late and unpublished manuscript of Lefebvre's with the title 'Toward an Architecture of Jouissance', in which he departs from both individual and social bodies (still reminscent of Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology trying to surpass Cartesian mentalisms) countering their own fragmentation in the division of labor and their identification with 'spectacular images' referring to other images (Baudrillard's concept of a mere simulation of the 'real' in consumption) in order to envisage a broadened concept of architecture as a 'spatial pedagogy' of the body and its multifarious rythms: an architecture of jouissance as a prerequisite for an universal formation of the senses.
Further reading:
Davis, Mike (2002). Dead cities and other tales. New York: New Press.
Davis, Mike (2000). Magical urbanism: Latinos reinvent the US city. London: Verso.
Harvey, David (2003). Paris, capital of modernity. New York: Routledge.
Lefebvre, Henri (1996). Writings on cities. Oxford: Blackwell.


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Credit Card Processing: Red Flags for Ecommerce Merchants, Part 2
Editor's Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with ecommerce merchants on ways to lower their processing costs. Hinke believes merchants frequently overpay for credit card processing. His piece below is the second installment of a three-part series on "red flags" that can indicate a merchant is overpaying. His first installment we published last month.
This is "Part Two" of a three-part series where I identify indicators — I call them "red flags" — that you may be paying too much for your processing or you may not have the agreement you thought you had with your provider. In "Part 1," I identified three red flags: (a) Failure of the Merchant to Review the Processing Statement, (b) Misleading Analyses by Merchant Account Providers, and (c) Complacency. This "Part 2" installment picks up with Red Flag 4.
Red Flag 4: Provider Lowers Rate without Prompting
I very recently completed an audit for a merchant whose provider is a well-known, publicly-traded bank. The bank had the merchant on what I considered to be a horrible tiered pricing plan and had been overcharging the merchant by $50,000 per year. In December, the bank placed the merchant on an "interchange plus" pricing plan. However, the merchant was still overpaying by $46,000 per year.
If you read my three-part "Interchange Plus Pricing Doesn't Automatically Mean Fair Pricing" series of articles last fall — see "Part 1," "Part 2,", and "Part 3" — this is a case where the merchant is still grossly overpaying even though he is now on an interchange-plus pricing plan.
But why would a provider lower a merchant's rate or change his or her pricing plan without the merchant asking the provider to do so? There can be several reasons. In this case, there is a lot of buzz about interchange-plus pricing. The bank may have decided to offer this pricing plan, at a minimal cost savings to the merchant, to make him feel important and in the process prevent the merchant from looking elsewhere. I am seeing some providers now have a form of "debit rebate" on their tiered pricing plans. Of course, from what I have seen thus far, they are only giving the merchant a small percentage of the debit-card interchange reduction — I addressed this in "Durbin Amendment May Foster Deceptive Credit, Debit Processing Fees" — to which the merchant is entitled. However, many merchants may not know that and the provider likely knows the merchants may not know that. Here again, it makes the merchant feel good and helps prevent the merchant from looking elsewhere.
Another reason providers may lower a merchants' rates or change their pricing plans is because the merchants implicitly tell the provider that another provider is soliciting their business. If a merchant calls customer service and asks questions about his rates, fees, terms and conditions, expiration date, or notification requirements, those are tips to the provider that someone may be soliciting that merchant's business. The provider may proactively lower the merchant's rate slightly to appease him.
Of course, if you tell your provider that that you have been offered a better rate, your provider may say, "We'll match the new rate." And, if you have read any of my previous articles you know that I believe "We'll match your rate" means nothing without first doing your homework and understanding all costs and terms and conditions that accompany the new rate.
Many merchants stay with their current processors even after a new provider offers a fair and honest processing value. Why do many merchants reward their current providers by staying with them even after the provider has been grossly overcharging the merchant for years? It's because many merchants do not want to spend the time to change providers. Providers that consistently overcharge their merchants know this and love their merchants for it.
Red Flag 5: Working with a Member Warehouse or Office Supply Store
Did you obtain your card processing from a member warehouse or office supply store? I am amazed at how many business owners walk into these stores and possibly think they are automatically guaranteed the perfect deal on card processing just by filling out the contract. I am sure there are merchants who receive good pricing from these types of stores. However, understand that selecting a merchant account provider is not like buying printer toner.
The merchant that I saved the most money obtained his card processing from a well known member warehouse store. Again, I am not saying that you cannot get good pricing from these stores and I'm sure they are trying to provide merchants a fair service. However, in my opinion you need to treat them like any other provider. You need to do your homework, understand the ins and outs of the pricing plan, and read their terms and conditions. Also, understand that the store is not doing the actual processing. It has simply put together some sort of profit sharing arrangement with the actual providers. In fact, you may have salespeople calling on your business who represent the same providers.
Red Flag 6: Business Owner Is Inflexible
Are you open to suggestions? In my experience, the more closed-minded you are, the higher the probability you are overpaying for your processing service. Two businesses that seem to overpay for processing more often than they should are CPAs and attorneys. The fact that these two businesses can overpay speaks to the complexity and convoluted nature of the processing industry. However, I also believe that being closed-minded plays a part as well. These are people who know numbers and contracts. Why would they need help? I recently audited a statement for a large CPA firm that was paying over 6 percent for processing. I showed my own CPA that he was paying almost twice as much as he thought he was.
A percentage of the statements I audit each week are priced correctly and fairly. I do not have an issue telling these business owners that they did a great job negotiating their processing costs. I may offer a few suggestions for further improvement that they can do on their own, but they do not need my help. The one thing I consistently find with business owners that have done a good job of minimizing their processing cost is that they don't know if they have done a good job of minimizing their processing cost. They don't know because they are not closed-minded and don't let their ego or preconceptions get in the way of conducting their business.
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Comment ( 1 )
"many merchants reward their current providers by staying with them even after the provider has been grossly overcharging … Providers that consistently overcharge their merchants know this and love their merchants for it."
There's certainly a lot to be said for a processor that offers fair competitive pricing in the first place. Processors in our marketplace very often spend quite a bit of time educating people about how processing fees truly function, and what to look for in a competitive offer. Unfortunately, there are people that take the time and service of the representative for granted by bringing "rates" to their current processor.
This behavior rewards processors for overcharging and perpetuates the problem of gouging and opaque pricing in the industry.
However, it's a tough sell to convince people to switch if they don't place any value on the service and honesty being offered by the new processor.


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Upon years of observation of political processes, I have developed a theorem:
The veracity of any conclusive statement that is put out by any group charged with political damage control is inversely related to the number of people in that group.
The Obama administration obviously has an awful lot of people involved in its various spin control efforts.
Dan Speas
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Elizabeth Eulberg was born and raised in Wisconsin before heading off to Syracuse University and then making a career in the New York City book biz. She lives outside of Manhattan with her three guitars, two keyboards, and one drumstick. In researching The Lonely Hearts Club, she tried swearing off boys forever. It didn't work.
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Old grass cutter stolen in HalifaxMay 09,2013Old grass cutter
stolen in Halifax
HALIFAX Vermont State Police are looking investigating the theft of an antique horse-drawn grass cutter in Halifax.
The grass cutter was taken sometime between Sunday and Tuesday at 829 Lucier Road, according to Trooper James Matthews. The cutter is rusted and in poor condition.
Anyone with information should call state police at 254-2382.MORE IN This Just InMONTPELIER After sitting on the Vermont Supreme Court for nearly 30 years, Justice John Dooley... Full StoryBRATTLEBORO Entergy Nuclear says it has found a potential source of water infiltration into... Full StoryMANCHESTER A little more than a week after it was shut down, the website for the town of... Full Story
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A: As someone who has served on the ground in Iraq, I believe the best decisions regarding a withdrawal in Afghanistan should be determined by the commanders and military leaders we have overseas who defend our country day in and day out. I support a timetable that is put in place by these men and women, but I feel we must not allow our enemies to learn of any definite plan.
A: I believe Iran is an imminent threat to the US and also one of our greatest friends, Israel. Protecting our citizenry from any threat--foreign or domestic--is an obligation the federal government must uphold;
We have a massive opportunity to invest in renewable energy and jobs in this country and instead we're dumping money in a country because they have oil. I doubt if there were not one drop of oil in Iraq that we would have been there this long. If it were human rights that we were concerned about, we would be helping the people of Darfur and other countries.
We need to withdraw within the next twelve to eighteen months & have the United Nations security force help us out. Right now our leaders have no exit strategy and we are ignoring the pain of our own people.
We must shift the responsibility of Iraq to the Iraqi people and their government. The answer to this war is not solely a military one. There have to be diplomatic solutions and I am prepared to provide the leadership to help determine the solution and complete this mission.
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LSU coach Les Miles on Wednesday indicated that he wasn't predicting Tyrann Mathieu's return to the LSU football team in 2013 when he said he expected a "happy ending" for Mathieu.
Miles made the happy ending remarks yesterday on ESPN Radio's Scott Van Pelt show but told the media at his post-practice briefing that he was misunderstood.
"Everybody seems to have picked on that phrase," Miles said. "The only thing that I can tell you is for me, to get your degree, that you handle your business, get your life in order and you go do the things you want to do. I can't imagine he won't have a great post-college career at whatever he would decide to do.
"I am in no way presupposing football. That's not something I'm visioning at this point. I just want to look at my team and do the things that will make this team ready to play Saturday at Florida."
On Tuesday, Miles left fans wondering what he meant with his radio appearance.
"There is a very legitimate chance this will have a happy ending," Miles said during the radio interview.
"I think the point of degree, and the point of handling your business and making sure everything is right and correct, and getting your feet on the ground -- I think that that is a tremendously happy ending."
Mathieu at first considered transferring to a Football Championship Subdivision school, after which he would be eligible to enter the NFL draft in April. Instead, he underwent drug rehabilitation in Houston under the guidance of former NBA player John Lucas. Mathieu has since re-enrolled at LSU as a student but his future plans are unknown.


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Wall Street pulled back in early trading today as investors paused from a four-week rally to take profits ahead of first-quarter earnings reports.
Signs of trouble in talks between IBM Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. also weighed on the market.
Investors have been more optimistic in recent weeks, sending the Dow Jones industrials up 22.5 percent since early March, amid improving economic data and as governments around the globe step up efforts to end the recession.
This week, investors will begin poring over first-quarter earnings for more clues on where the economy is headed -- and analysts warn that worse-than-expected reports could upset the market's advance.
Even more important than companies' results will be their forecasts for the remainder of the year. Sectors that will be in particular focus include banking, retail, technology and industrials.
"Companies have to come across with commentary that the worst is passed," said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at BNY ConvergEx. "That is the most critical thing and you have to hear it from a broad range of companies in a wide variety of industries."
In morning trading, the Dow fell 76.86, or 1.0 percent, to 7,940.73. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 11.07, or 1.3 percent, to 831.43, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 28.95, or 1.8 percent, to 1,592.92.


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o r u
m s
Newest message board threads:
Question for any of the NJ DoD/DA/ etc guys.... Is NWS Earle finally going to have civilian police officers? I just happened to noticed my name pulled from a cert with the NWS Earle location number.
I would like to work for Earle just to be able to hunt those woods. Some big bucks lerking in that area
Plan is to go civilian police force starting October 2011. They have been looking to hire one or two civilians in the next couple of months for vehicle inspections.
Earle has had a civilian security force for years
They have had a contract security company for years along with Navy MAs, there has been talk of them hiring 0083 Police Officers at that location to , they have not had any in the past.
Yes the spots are for GS-07 0083 under the Lockheed contract.
Anyone get any further info on earle navy base possibly going with civilian police? Sounds like it could be a good opportunity to get in with a new PD at the beginning.
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Deputies looking for booze thief in Volusia County
One or more burglars broke into two condominiums in the same New Smyrna Beach area complex early Sunday and stole liquor from both units, according to deputies.
Deputies said the victims were hit within minutes of each other at the Southeaster Condominiums on Saxon Drive just before 5 a.m.
In both cases the residents woke up because they heard clinking noises --apparently bottles of alcohol being moved, or rather removed.
At one home, the booze thieves made off with $50 worth of alcohol and at the other, $200 of liquor was stolen.
Anyone with information about the thefts should contact authorities.
Related: Counties with the most drinkers
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For more information, call 1.866.CALL.MLH.


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Saturday October 1, 2016
Volume 24 Issue 35
Wee Walk 2010
Saturday the Early Learning Institute's 3rd annual Wee Walk was held at Alicia Park in RP. The event raised $2,300 and event chair, Ronnie Echavarria said the monies raised supports ELI programs allowing aid in scholarships and supplies to help make its programs successful.
Click on any photo to be taken to our purchase form.


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Marcus Hicks was set to testify against Arthur Avery, but was killed before the January trial.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office announced an arrest in Hicks' killing Monday, Dumars Williams, who will be charged with first degree murder.
Originally law enforcement thought Hicks was killed during a carjacking, but now detectives are investigating to see if the shooting is connected to the trial Hicks was scheduled to testify at in January.
Avery is accused of killing Dunyell McGriff at a home on Monk Avenue in Apopka in June 2012.
Hicks was on the witness list, but died last month when he was shot to death in front of the same home.
Deputies said they are still investigating to see if the killing is connected to Avery.


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A warm welcome awaits visitors in this Montreal-based spa. Some of the beauty services and treatments it offers include manicures, pedicures, facial treatments, massage therapy, infratherapy, and hair removal. Minévia Spa is dedicated not only to the beauty of its clients but also the environment, using only organic products, free from toxic ingredients and animal testing.


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This time lapse video shows how EXIMO can dominate years of oil buildup in just 30 days! Are you ready to take the 30-Day Challenge?
Did you know that a clean and safe environment is a core customer need? Maintaining a clean outdoor image will boost customer loyalty. Watch this video to see how clean can work for you!
ORUS TABS was chosen at this year's NACS Show as a Cool New Product Top 10 Pick! ORUS TABS is the first squeegee solution to actively reduce odor!


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Packaging & Bagging
Mobile Connectivity Means Optimal Production Capacity for Cement SuppliersMay 28, 2013
A cement supplier has 12 hours to fill a 15,000-bag production order for a new customer. During the seventh hour, the filling machine shuts down with no warning. The machine operator attempts to troubleshoot and diagnose the problem, but is unable to do so. After consulting with other employees and...comment
Polycarbonate-Encased Bulk Bag UnloaderMay 24, 2013
This bulk bag unloader system is designed for use in highly contaminant-sensitive process areas handling bulk materials known to generate combustible dusts. A 9.525mm, polycarbonate encasement surrounds the bulk bag unloader to prevent migrant dusts that piggyback on the exterior of bulk bags from...comment
Low-Level Palletizer with Extended Accumulation TableMay 24, 2013
The Model 72AE palletizer combines the economy and accessibility of a floor-level palletizer with the speeds typically associated with high-level machines. This design incorporates an extended accumulation table that allows continuous layer forming during completed layer transfer and stacking,...comment
Heavy-Duty Case SealingMay 24, 2013
The SR4000T automatically indexes random size cases from a powered in-feed conveyor. It automatically folds all top flaps and applies up to 3-in.-wide pressure-sensitive tape to the top and bottom of the case. Designed for 24-hour duty, the SR4000T seals up to 15 cases per minute in random sequence...comment
IBC-Based Semi-Automatic Packing UnitMay 23, 2013
The Powder Packer is an IBC-based semi-automatic packing unit that has a modular design and is developed for applications where efficiency, simplicity, and lean and fast changeovers are the driving factors. The Powder Packer offers the following advantages: fast pack into 10-25kg bags, sacks, or...comment
Low-Pro Super Sack ContainerMay 22, 2013
The Low-Pro Super Sack container is ideal for work environments with low ceiling clearances, from cramped production floors to space-limited food processing facilities. Its baffled design allows it to maintain a more compact, square footprint, instead of rounding. The Low-Pro container provides a...comment
Pneumatic Bag Agitator PaddlesMay 22, 2013
Hapman's bulk bag agitator paddles reduce bridging and improve the flow of compacted or difficult-to-dispense materials. Fabricated of carbon or stainless steel, these pneumatic paddles gently massage the contents of bulk bags, allowing for complete dispensing of material into the process....comment
Material Master Bulk Bag Discharger with Integrated Dust Collection SystemMay 17, 2013
The patented Material Master bulk bag discharging system offers features that maximize production efficiency. An integrated pulse-jet dust collection system returns collected dust to the product stream, and features stainless steel product contact surfaces. The dust collection system helps maintain...comment
Minister of State Goodyear Kicks Off Powder Show CanadaMay 14, 2013
The Honorable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology), kicked off PTX/Powder Show Canada Tuesday morning by delivering opening remarks to a standing-room only audience, on the importance of innovation, the adoption of new technologies, and the benefits of government-industry...comment
Conitex Sonoco Adds BulkSak Brand Name to Flexible Products DivisionMay 7, 2013
Conitex Sonoco introduces BulkSak, the FIBC brand of its Flexible Products Div. Since the acquisition of Bulk Sak International in late 2012, Conitex Sonoco has strategically repositioned its FIBC bag line as BulkSak. As a U.S.-manufactured product, BulkSak allows Conitex Sonoco's...comment


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If you follow me on Facebook, you've already seen this, but I can't help but show it off here. I stumbled across Valerie aka The Tiny Hobo via Tess & pretty much fell in love with her adorable art. She accepts commission and at a more then affordable price. This what she came up with for me, I gave her a link to my blog and artistic freedom & I couldn't be more happier! I think I may have actually squealed when I noticed she put my Mr Frodo in!
Designs! Art, Invoices & Media Kits!Posted on May 31, 2011 Design
My insomnia has kicked in and I'm finding myself left with a whole lot of time to fill. So, what do I do? Design. be it drawing,m painting, web designing, I like to keep my head occupied. Above is about 2 hours work.
I've also been updating my personal identity/branding. Trying to merge my design work with my blogs. Above is my new invoice. I've also re-done some of my online portfolio.
I'm now currently in the process of designing my first media kit for this blog. Yay!
Don't forget to enter HERE to win a years supply of Tampons!
Design Update!Posted on April 28, 2011 Design
Slowly trying to get out of bed a little. Been going a little crazy. It's times like these I wish I had an outside chase lounge. Even though it is supposed to Autumn, the sun has been out and it's been a rather hot 26°c.
To dwindle away the time, I've been watching Doctor Who, reading & designing! To the left is some vector art I kicked out in about an hour (click to enlarge). It's been ages since I've drawn. Also, I've set up a self hosted wordpress blog for Cait of Closet Confessions. She's having a friend design the header, but I designed the layout, installed the wordpress & then transferred all 50+ of her entries over. Phew.
Now is the time if you want any web or design work done, seeing as I can't really get up to any mischief out of the house!


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How I Carry While Pregnantclairegoss
Last week I was at a the Blissdom conference in Dallas, TX. It was awesome! The week before I went I decided to go shopping for a few new things to wear so I could look like a proper, professional pregnant lady. On Friday I wore my new favorite outfit: comfy black leggings with a super colorful striped shirt from the Jessica Simpson maternity line.
The thing about this outfit is that it's, uh, a little form fitting or tight. It is not in the 'baggy/loose/flowy' category of clothing. It is in the, 'Hey, look! I'm pregnant! Check out my bump!' category. I wasn't too surprised when I started getting comments on my shape. I'm a fairly petite woman and my 27 week bump is anything but petite. So, I got all the comments you can imagine:
"Wow! Look at you!"
"You're all belly!"
"I can't even tell you're pregnant from the back! Do you have crazy stretch marks?" (Yes. Yes, I do.)
"It's a boy, right? I can tell by your shape!"
And on and on. The last comment really caught me off-guard because do people really still think that women carry differently depending on the sex of the baby?! Is there any truth to this at all? I have carried all three of my pregnancies the same way, regardless of what's growing in there.
Thankfully, only one person felt the need to actually touch my belly and no one mistakenly asked if I was 'about to pop'–one of my least favorite questions to receive while pregnant.
In any case, because I wore an outfit that "put it out there" I subsequently spent the day wandering around meeting new people and weathering the onslaught of comments about my belly. By the time I got back to my hotel room that night I took a moment to assess my shape in the full-length mirror. The longer I stared, the bigger my belly seemed to look in relation to be legs and chest. Oh my god, I AM carrying like a torpedo. But you know what? I kind of like it!
The next day I surrendered and threw on a looser top with jeans. I had belly-comment-fatigue.
How did you carry when you were pregnant?
Get my new favorite maternity shirt (above) at Motherhood Maternity for $44.00!
Read more of Claire's writing at Rants from Mommyland. And for even more silliness follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.