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Kathryn Leggitt, RNC, MS, CNM, is a certified nurse-midwife at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minn. She has additional experience in childbirth and adolescent sexuality education and is a Reiki [1] practitioner. Her interests in women's healthcare include adolescent pregnancy prevention, the use of imagery [2] to promote healthy body image, and domestic violence education.
[1] http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/glossary/3#term34
[2] http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/glossary/3#term21


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Reform Chronology
Dear Peace Corps Community:
The two of us, Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff, have pressed for fundamental reform of the Peace Corps since 2004. As background for the Peace Corps reform effort, let us provide an overview of our efforts to secure fundamental reform and then our recommendations for where to focus next.
- 1 Overview of Peace Corps Reform Campaign: 2005-Present
- 1.1 Before departure to Peace Corps
- 1.2 Service in Senegal
- 1.3 Ron Tshetter's Nomination
- 1.4 Introducing a Bill to give Volunteers Whistle Blower Rights
- 1.5 Kate Puzey Tragedy and Chuck's involvement with NPCA
- 1.6 Misrepresentation of Early Termination Rates
- 1.7 Country by Country Volunteer Surveys
- 1.8 Political Appointees
- 1.9 Transfer of Authority to Investigate Crimes Away from Inspector General
- 1.10 Gutting Reform from Congressional Bill
- 1.11 NPCA's Expansion campaign
- 1.12 20/20 Expose on Kate Puzey Murder
- 1.13 Peace Corps Mall Monument
- 1.14 Denial of Country by Country Surveys
- 1.15 Lack of Investigative Coverage
- 2 Agenda for Reform
- 3 Summary Observations
- 4 Sources:
Overview of Peace Corps Reform Campaign: 2005-Present
We both served as PCVs in the '60s (Kenya and Nepal). We went back to serve again in Senegal (05-07) because we had loved our experiences as Volunteers and looked forward to serving together.
Before departure to Peace Corps
Two years before our departure for Senegal, while Chuck was serving as legal counsel in the Senate, he pressed the Peace Corps to support legislation pending in the Congress to suspend the "two out of five" capital gains tax rules for home ownership sales during the service of a Peace Corps Volunteer or Peace Corps staff. The pending legislation would suspend these rules during the service abroad in the Foreign Service and CIA. Only the House bill included Peace Corps service. Despite its professed interest in recruiting older Volunteers, the Peace Corps did nothing to support application of the legislation to Peace Corps Volunteers and staff and it died. In 2007, Chuck resurrected this issue, asked for the support of the Peace Corps, received an email from Director Ron Tschetter belittling his efforts, and went on to secure enactment of the tax rule change. The Peace Corps did nothing to support this legislation. This measure eliminated a disincentive for service by older Volunteers and staff.
A year before leaving the US for training in Senegal, we secured an agreement from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that it would promulgate rules to permit Federal retirees receiving health care benefits (Chuck's situation) to suspend their premium payments during service and re-enroll upon completion of service. This new rule would mirror ones that permit other Federal retirees to suspend enrollment when they have other health insurance coverage, and OPM agreed that such a rule would be appropriate for Peace Corps Volunteers. Without this rule change, we would have had to pay $7,000 for health insurance that we didn't need. Despite its professed interest in recruiting older Volunteers, the Peace Corps offered virtually no assistance in securing promulgation of these new rules and it took over a year to get them finalized. This measure eliminated a disincentive for service by older Volunteers.
The day we left for Senegal, we also filed a FOIA request for the Peace Corps Medical Screening Guidelines and six months later when they were produced, Chuck had them published online with a guide to the medical screening process. We felt strongly that applicants should know what guides Peace Corps in determining their medical eligibility.
When Chuck retired from Capitol Hill in 2005 (after working there off and on over 40 years), the Washington Post had written an article praising Chuck for not cashing in to become a lobbyist on K Street. After the Senegal Country Director read it (months before he met me), he told staff at a meeting that he'd "sit on" Chuck the moment he arrived so that he couldn't cause trouble. The Senegal training staff told us this soon after we arrived.
Service in Senegal
As we went through training and started our service in Senegal, we were shocked at the agency mismanagement we encountered. Our Country Director treated the Volunteers with contempt. He sabotaged any serious development work, including fundraising through the Peace Corps Partnership Program. There were no Best Practices Guides available to the Volunteers. Training was marginal. Even language training was marginal. Three of the development programs were so poorly crafted that Volunteers had virtually no opportunity to achieve sustainable results within program guidelines. Site placement and counterpart recruitment was haphazard. The most important priority seemed to be enforcement of the out-of-site regulations. One staff program officer was sexually harassing female Volunteers. Morale among the Volunteers was low. The Early Termination rate was high. When we decided to serve again, we had no idea that there were any issues regarding the professionalism of the Peace Corps or in its treatment of the Volunteers.
After he'd learned that he'd been assigned to service in serve as a forestry agent in Senegal, Chuck had spent three months getting prepared, learning to graft, assembling resource manuals, and recruiting experts to provide him with technical support. Chuck had no interest in serving in agriculture (cereal crops), which had been his assignment in Nepal. The day he arrived in Senegal, Chuck was informed that he'd serve in agriculture (cereal crops) and said if he didn't like it he could Early Terminate. He objected but there was nothing he could do. Chuck had retired, we'd rented our house and sold our cars, and if Chuck was terminated, Paula would have to leave as well. Chuck was assured that despite the switch, he could focus on forestry. It soon became clear to him that the agriculture program was an abysmal failure. It focused on distributing new hybrid cereal crop seeds on the theory that the farmers would like them so much they'd buy the seeds themselves. In the eight-year history of the program it seems that no Senegalese farmer had ever bought the seeds.
Six months into his service, when he was doing all he could to work on forestry as well as cereal crops, the Country Director tried to terminate his service for not working enough on seed distribution. Chuck mentioned being Shanghaied into the agriculture program, and he was accused of lying about the switch. When Chuck produced a copy of the invitation proving that he had been recruited as a forestry agent, the Country Director refused to apologize for accusing Chuck of lying.
We had gone to Senegal hoping to become bee keepers and extend it in Senegal. The Country Director made this impossible.
We proposed an overhaul of the language training program to give more written materials to older Volunteers, who often struggled to learn Wolof. This proposal was ignored.
Ron Tshetter's Nomination
When Ron Tschetter was nominated to be Peace Corps Director in 2006, Chuck went to his Senate friends and they let him write the questions for his nomination hearing (focusing on issues of concern to Volunteers); he answered none of these questions. After Tschetter had been confirmed, Chuck sent him a detailed reform plan focusing on empowering Volunteers and reform. Director Tschetter refused even to acknowledge it. Chuck pushed for six months for a response and got none.
So, Chuck went back to his former Senate colleagues and Dodd introduced Chuck's plan as the Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act (March 1, 2007; S. 932). It was a bold plan to empower Volunteers and hold the Peace Corps staff accountable. The key features of the bill included giving protections to Volunteer Whistle Blowers, including confidentiality and protections against retaliation.
Introducing a Bill to give Volunteers Whistle Blower Rights
All other federal employees were granted Whistle Blower rights in 1978, but the Peace Corps had chosen not to give Volunteers or staff these rights. The legislation also directed the Peace Corps to conduct annual confidential surveys of the Volunteers regarding staff professionalism and program effectiveness and use the results in personnel reviews; it designated a small portion of the annual Peace Corps budget for Volunteers to use as seed funding for demonstrations at their sites; it loosened the restrictions against fund raising by Volunteers; it brought the Peace Corps into the digital age by establishing websites and email links for Volunteers to use in-country; it removed certain medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older individuals from serving; and it created more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process.
When Senator Dodd scheduled a hearing on the bill in July of 2007, he invited us to fly in from Senegal to represent the current Volunteers. The Peace Corps threatened to terminate our service if we testified. We testified anyway and told them if they terminated us, we'd seek to have the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hold them in contempt for obstructing a Senate hearing, and they backed off of their threat. We paid our own airfare, which cost half of our combined readjustment allowances.
The key issue in the hearing was Whistle Blower rights for Volunteers -- our testimony at the hearing is posted on the Peace Corps Wiki. The Peace Corps vociferously opposed the Dodd bill, belittled it, and said, in effect, that there was no need for reform.
The House had been all set to introduce the bill, but after the Peace Corps objected, it was never introduced. Senator Dodd ran for President in 2007-08, abandoned the legislation, and it languished and died at the end of the Congress (Fall, 2008).
Kate Puzey Tragedy and Chuck's involvement with NPCA
In January 2009 Volunteer Kate Puzey blew the whistle on a Peace Corps staffer in Benin. Her confidentiality was blown to the accused, who slit her throat while she slept. Kate might have lived had she been afforded protections as a Whistle Blower (confidentiality and protection against retaliation) as provided in the 2007 Dodd bill.
In February of 2009 Chuck was appointed as an adviser to the Obama Transition Team for the Peace Corps, which was led by a former Peace Corps staffer who had never been a Volunteer. He raised all the reform issues from the 2007 Dodd bill and our testimony but the team ignored them, writing a bland report overlooking the problems and calling only for expansion. Chuck tried unsuccessfully to block the team report.
Chuck was elected to the Board of NPCA. His goal was to stop NPCA executive director Kevin Quigley from pressing for a doubling of the number of Volunteers – the "More Peace Corps" campaign. Quigley had become the leading opponent of the 2007 Dodd bill reforms because it would undermine Quigley's campaign for expansion.
In 2009 Chuck worked successfully to help secure enactment of an authorization for the Volunteers for Prosperity (VfP) program in the Kennedy Serve America Act. VfP would place volunteers with NGOs at 1/10 of the Peace Corps cost of $104,000 per Volunteer (over two years). VfP has languished at USAID, unsupported by the coalition that secured enactment of the Serve Act so that it cannot provide an alternative to the top-heavy, more expensive Peace Corps model.
Misrepresentation of Early Termination Rates
Working with Peace Corps Wiki Co-Founder Michael Sheppard, we found that the Peace Corps was misrepresenting the Early Termination rates of Volunteers, reporting them to be 1/4 as high as they really are. The Peace Corps had changed the method for calculating the rates when it was compelled by the Office of Management and Budget to begin complying with the Performance and Results Act. That act requires agencies to set metrics for their performance and report how well they perform. With a worldwide Early Termination rate of 35%, the Peace Corps found a ingenious way to report it as 8%, a much less embarrassing figure. Because the Peace Corps misrepresents the Early Termination rates, it does not use them to identify the troubled programs in need of fundamental reform.
We filed a FOIA request for any documents at the Peace Corps that explained the change in methodology and the Peace Corps reported that there were none. In 2011 we filed another FOIA request and were able to secure the accurate Early Termination rates and published them country-by-country on Wiki. We found that there are 35 countries where the Early Termination rates have exceeded 40%. With this data now public, the Peace Corps no longer mentions Early Termination rates in its Performance and Results Act reports. In publishing the accurate date, we seek to empower applicants to make choices and put pressure on the Peace Corps to reform the country programs with the highest Early Termination rates.
Country by Country Volunteer Surveys
In 2009 we secured copies of the country-by-country breakouts of the 2008 Peace Corps surveys of the Volunteers and published them on Peace Corps Wiki in a spread sheet so the applicants could compare the countries against each other. This was to empower applicants to make choices and put pressure on the Peace Corps to reform the poorly ranked programs. We interpreted the surveys to indicate that about 15 country programs were well-managed. Because the Peace Corps refuses to publish the country-by-country survey breakouts, it does not use them to identify the troubled programs in need of fundamental reform.
Political Appointees
We learned that the Peace Corps has the highest number of slots for political appointees per capita of any agency in the Federal government and that it has been a dumping ground for the political well-connected.
Transfer of Authority to Investigate Crimes Away from Inspector General
We learned that the Peace Corps had transferred authority to investigate crimes against Volunteers away from the Peace Corps Inspector General. The motive was that the Peace Corps IG took these investigations seriously and sought to prosecute the perpetrators, which prolonged the bad publicity arising from these crimes. We later learned that after the Kate Puzey murder the Peace Corps had waited two months before sending anyone to Benin to investigate the case and then sent two auditors who had no experience investigating crime scenes. Because the investigation was botched, the Country Director in Benin has informed Volunteers in Benin that that the Peace Corps staff who perpetrated the murder will be released for lack of evidence against them. Director Aaron Williams was aware of this when he testified at the May 2011 hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee but failed to mention these developments.
Gutting Reform from Congressional Bill
Senator Dodd told us that he'd reintroduce his 2007 bill at the start of the new Congress in 2009, but the Peace Corps persuaded him to gut the bill and require that the Peace Corps publish only a comprehensive report. The new Dodd bill contained no substantive commandments, no empowerment of Volunteers, no mandate for reform. In his 2009 bill Dodd explicitly directed the Peace Corps to address the Whistle Blower issues in the report.
In July of 2009 we published a comprehensive Peace Corps reform report. It's posted on the Peace Corps Wiki. It analyzed the 2008 surveys, the high Early Termination rates, the Peace Corps' failure to organize effectively as an agency of development, and, for the first time, exposed how the Peace Corps de-emphasizes investigations of crimes against Volunteers. It included affidavits from Volunteers in nearly 30 countries testifying about the mismanagement at the Peace Corps. We sent the report to every Peace Corps staffer but not a single one got back to us with any comments or reaction.
In response to the new Dodd bill, in June 2010 the Peace Corps published its "comprehensive assessment" of itself. It was a white wash that addressed none of the issues raised in the 2007 Dodd bill or hearing or our mega reform report. Shockingly, in its report the Peace Corps refused even to assess Whistle Blower mechanisms – ignoring Senator Dodd's explicit request that it do so. This is more than a year after Kate was murdered because she was a Whistle Blower.
NPCA's Expansion campaign
In 2009-10 we lobbied against NPCA's expansion campaign and in favor of a focus on quality and reform. We proposed budgets for reform and quality to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. We got nowhere because of the NPCA/Quigley expansion campaign.
Through FOIA we found that, contrary to the campaign's claims, Peace Corps has no surplus of applicants to fuel expansion: 97-98% of the applicants who survive the medical screening process are invited to training. There is no selectivity.
We filed a FOIA request for the list of "20 countries" shovel-ready for Peace Corps programs – another of the expansion campaign's claims – but the Peace Corps refused to provide any such list. We argued that with a worldwide Early Termination rate of 35%, it was fair to say that the Peace Corps was already wasting about 1/3 of its budget. To expand the number of Volunteers without addressing the root causes of the high Early Termination rates would yield a costly and scandalous treadmill of new trainees and early quitters.
20/20 Expose on Kate Puzey Murder
In 2010 we became involved in the 20/20 expose that aired on January 14, 2011 about the Kate Puzey murder and the mistreatment of Volunteers who had been raped or sexually assaulted. 20/20 took a two-hour tape of our views. We had emphasized that a Peace Corps staffer murdered Kate Puzey because she was a Whistle Blower who had exposed his misdeeds and that the Peace Corps had killed the Dodd bill Whistle Blower protections. Our interview was expunged from the program that aired.
It was not a coincidence that the first Peace Corps rules for Whistle Blower rights for Volunteers were issued on January 14, 2011, the date of the 20/20 expose on the murder in Benin and on rapes of Volunteers. We analyzed the rules and found them confusing, filled with loopholes, and not well designed to protect Volunteer Whistle Blowers: our analysis is posted on Wiki. To this day Peace Corps staff have no Whistle Blower rights.
Since the rules were promulgated, we have documented a case where the Peace Corps has clearly violated the new rules and terminated the service of Volunteer Whistle Blowers – retaliation against them for blowing the whistle. We also have documented a case where staff Whistle Blowers have been fired.
We were deeply involved in the planning for the May 2011 hearings of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in response to the 20/20 program. We were invited to testify but then our invitation to testify was cancelled. Nonetheless, we submitted testimony for the hearing, which is posted on Wiki.
After the hearing we lobbied Members and outsiders who were drafting the reform bill – as their response to the 20/20 scandal – to resurrect the tough and comprehensive provisions of the 2007 Dodd bill. Sadly, the sponsors insisted on negotiating the bill with the Peace Corps to ensure that it would "hurt the Peace Corps." The Peace Corps remained adamantly opposed to reform, and as a result, only one provision from the 2007 Dodd bill was included (surveys of the Volunteers). The Kate Puzey Act became law in November 2011. It's a weak version of the 2007 Dodd bill.
Peace Corps Mall Monument
Chuck came out publicly against the Peace Corps Mall monument in August 2011 because it would undermine our campaign for reform. From his service on the NPCA Board, he knew that the monument proposal was designed to support the expansion campaign and undermine Hill oversight. Quigley had Chuck ejected from the Board of NPCA for opposing the monument, even though Chuck had been elected by NPCA members.
Denial of Country by Country Surveys
Even though in 2009 the Peace Corps had acknowledged that the Volunteer surveys and the country-by-country breakouts of these surveys are subject to production under FOIA, the Peace Corps has recently denied our FOIA request for the 2009-11 surveys. We found a law firm to file a FOIA lawsuit for us pro bono. We understand that the Peace Corps will not settle the case. We are confident that we'll win the case; when we secure the country-by-country breakouts, we'll post hem on Peace Corps Wiki in a spread sheet so applicants can rank the countries.
Lack of Investigative Coverage
Throughout these years of efforts we have met with many reporters urging them to write accurate and penetrating reports on the Peace Corps. Some of them end up writing puff pieces, while others never publish anything, perhaps deciding that reform they don't want to write critically about an American Icon or that the reform story is too complicated. The NPCA remains implacably opposed to reform. The only good news is that the budget squeeze has killed the Peace Corps expansion campaign.
Agenda for Reform
So, where do we go from here? Here are our recommendations:
The Peace Corps must abandon its decades-long quest to expand the Peace Corps and focus instead on improving the quality of the Volunteer experience. If this leads to a smaller Peace Corps, as it inevitably will, this is the right outcome. The insane quest for quantity is killing the Peace Corps; improving quality might save it.
The Peace Corps should dramatically expand its Peace Corps Response program. This program places Returned Peace Corps volunteers (RPCVs) in specific, well-designed jobs with high expectations for achieving results. The Response program is the model for the Peace Corps going forward. It focuses on quality in ways that the regular Peace Corps does not.
It has become clear that the Peace Corps model of service – an expensive top-down government bureaucracy – is a 1960's approach that is out-of-date and ineffective. Just as VISTA morphed into AmeriCorps, which places Volunteers with NGOs at a fraction of the cost of VISTA, a good portion of the Peace Corps budget should morph into Volunteers for Prosperity, which would place Volunteers internationally with NGOs at a fraction of the cost of the Peace Corps. VfP has the potential to become a decentralized, non-bureaucratic, bottom-up, and cost-effective version of the Peace Corps. With VfP the NGOs become the counter-parts for the Volunteers, which enhances the prospects that the service of the Volunteers will achieve sustainable results.
The VfP authorizing statute needs to be amended to make it a full-blown alternative and competitor to the Peace Corps model and it should be managed by the Peace Corps, not US AID, which has no interest in VfP. This reorientation, along with the expansion of Peace Corps Response, will enable the US government to support many more international Volunteers, avoid the harsh and ineffective results that come with the Peace Corps bureaucracy, and lead to more sustainable results.
The regular Peace Corps must enable and encourage Volunteers to enter into more partnerships with NGOs and USAID. For decades the Peace Corps has pursued a go-it-alone approach that squanders the advantages that come with these partnerships. Where appropriate, the Volunteers should be placed inside NGOs, especially local NGOs. Placements with well-managed NGOs is the best approach to sustainable development.
The Peace Corps should make First Goal grassroots development its paramount objective. Today's Volunteers want a job, and an opportunity to achieve sustainable results. The egregiously high Early Termination rates are due in large part to the failure of the Peace Corps to give Volunteers meaningful jobs. When Volunteers don't have well-crafted assignments, and strong relationships with local counterparts, they gravitate to the district centers and the capital, where they carouse and take risks. The way to keep them in their villages, where they are far safer, is to give them powerful reasons to stay there.
The Peace Corps must document successful and unsuccessful projects and develop hundreds of Best Practices Guides for Volunteers. The failure of the Peace Corps to do this over the past 50 years has, in effect, squandered the learning of 200,000 Volunteers.
When the Peace Corps identifies an exceptionally successful development strategy, it should take this strategy to scale in multiple countries. That the Peace Corps has never done this represents a egregious and catastrophic failure.
The Peace Corps should develop site-by-site strategies where it documents every project pursued at a given site and charts a "next steps" strategy for subsequent Volunteers. Volunteers going to a site where Volunteers have served before must be given a detailed dossier on the site and information about everything that has been tried there, with recommendations on the appropriate next steps.
Volunteers should each be given a $1000 account to draw on during their service to reimburse them for project-related expenses. This was a commandment of the 2007 Dodd bill.
Volunteers should be permitted to solicit contributions for demonstration projects from persons personally known to them, including family members, friends, and members of their home community in the United States, and from government and nongovernmental agencies, including, but not limited to working through the Peace Corps Partnership Program. This was also a commandment of the 2007 Dodd bill.
The Peace Corps should move towards requiring that Volunteers have at least five years of experience before they serve as Volunteers, the standard set by VSO, the British volunteer agency.
The Peace Corps should become selective and invite no more than 1/3 of the number of applicants who survive the medical screening process instead of 97-98% of them. Teach for America invites 1/8 of its applicants to serve. If this selectivity leads to a substantial downsizing of the Volunteer corps, it's the right result. Being more selective should help to reduce the Early Termination rates.
The Peace Corps should be much more transparent with applicants. It must give them the country-by-country break outs of the Volunteer surveys so that they can see how the country to which they have been invited to serve ranks against the others on each question. We will continue to prosecute our FOIA lawsuit to secure the country-by-country breakouts of the 2009-10 and subsequent surveys of the Volunteers and post them on line for the benefit of applicants. We want applicants to be able to rank the countries before they decide whether or not to accept an invitation to serve. We hope that the Peace Corps will find it difficult to place Volunteers in the worst managed countries because this will put pressure on the Peace Corps to reform these programs.
The new Peace Corps reform legislation calls on the Peace Corps to conduct this type of surveys of the Volunteers. These surveys, which are fundamentally the same as the previous surveys, should be made public on a country-by-country basis and given to applicants. Again, we want applicants to be able to rank the countries on each question before they decide whether or not to accept an invitation to serve. We hope that the Peace Corps will find it difficult to place Volunteers in the worst managed countries because this will put pressure on the Peace Corps to reform these programs.
We urge Volunteers in each country to use this opportunity to provide specific and forceful comments on the quality of their managers, the programs, the training, site development and support. Basically we urge the Volunteers to organize themselves – much as unions do – to demand change.
Applicants should also be given the country-by-country Early Termination rates. This will give them useful information in determining whether or not to accept an invitation to serve. We want applicants to be able to rank the countries before they decide whether or not to accept an invitation to serve. We hope that the Peace Corps will find it difficult to place Volunteers in the countries with the highest Early Termination rates because this will put pressure on the Peace Corps to reform these programs.
The Peace Corps should divulge – especially to applicants and the Congressional Appropriations Committees – accurate data regarding the Early Termination rates of Volunteers. This means it must present Early Termination rates that measure the percentage of Volunteers who complete and do not complete their service – the cohort rates.
The Peace Corps should set as a paramount goal reduction of the worldwide Early Termination rates to less than 20% and it must launch a major reform intervention in any country where the rate exceeds 30%. This will lead to reforms in selection, training, site preparation, counterpart recruitment, program design, program support, and medical support.
The Peace Corps should shutter the 25 worst managed country programs, especially the ones with the highest Early Termination rates and poorest survey results.
The Peace Corps should set metrics for Volunteer performance as development agents. It should review their performance and in cases where the Volunteers are clearly not devoting themselves to their work as Volunteers, the Peace Corps should send them home. Entirely too many Volunteers are "hanging out" in the Peace Corps, not spending substantial time in their villages, not becoming proficient in the local languages, and not achieving sustainable results.
Headquarters staff should be substantially reduced – cut by at least 25% – and the savings distributed among the country programs. Paperwork requirements imposed on country staff should also be cut drastically – by at least 50%.
Associate Peace Corps Directors should supervise no more than 30 Volunteer and Medical Officers should manage the medical care for no more than 40 Volunteers.
The 5-year rule should be repealed. In its place staff should be given 5-year contracts that can be renewed indefinitely. This will enable the Peace Corps to retain the best staff and not be bound to keep the worst. In practice the 5-year rule often leads staff to begin to look for a new job 2 to 2 ½ years into their contract. The constant turnover creates chaos. It also means that the civilian staff cannot stand up to the dysfunction of the political appointees.
Peace Corps staff should be given the same personnel rights as Foreign Service Personnel under 22 USC 3905. Today staff, including staff Whistle Blowers, can be fired without due process.
Peace Corps staff should be given pay and cost of living, and "hardship post" benefits on a par with the Embassy staff. This same parity should apply to home leave and professional development benefits.
We should drastically limit the number of political appointees at the Peace Corps.
The selection of Country Directors must become much more transparent and the Peace Corps should adopt procedures that prevent political considerations from influencing the choices. The Peace Corps should comply with the FOIA commandments. If the Peace Corps has not responded to a FOIA request within the statutory deadline, the agency should be prohibited from withholding any portion of the records under "discretionary" authority and the agency shall be required to release it. Also, the Peace Corps should not charge requesters any fees for any FOIA request which is not answered within the statutory time limits. And it should publish on line all information that it has supplied to the public in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. Both Michael Sheppard and Will Dickinson of Wiki have performed brilliantly in utilizing FOIA to pry open the secrets of the Peace Corps. We need to secure permanent funding of Peace Corps Wiki so that it can continue to serve as the beacon for Peace Corps reform. Without the Wiki we will never be able to secure reform at the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps should publish the Medical Screening Guidelines on line to make the selection process more transparent. Even though in 2005 it provided these Guidelines to us under FOIA, it has recently denied a FOIA request for the updated guidelines. The Peace Corps should again authorize its Inspector General to take the lead in investigating crimes against Volunteers or staff. The Peace Corps should be forced annually to issue a detailed report on the status of investigations of crimes against Volunteers and staff and prosecutions of alleged perpetrators.
The Peace Corps should comply with the Administrative Procedure Act (e.g. permitting interested parties the opportunity to comment) in promulgating rules, manual amendments, and similar guidances. Within one year it should publish all existing rules for public comment.
The Peace Corps should establish a system for promoting, by electronic means, improved communication among Peace Corps volunteers and staff, including the establishment of websites and e-mail links for use on a password-only basis by Peace Corps Volunteers in country to discuss development strategies, funding sources, best practices guides, Peace Corps management practices and policies, and other issues. (The Peace Corps might oppose this because it enables Volunteers to organize for reform and hold Peace Corps staff accountable.) Such websites need an alumni section for returned Volunteers with an interest and experience in supporting Volunteer goals and programs, and this section would be integrated into the larger system accessible to all Volunteers. All close of service reports shall be available on such websites or e-mail links.
When it comes to Volunteer health, the Peace Corps should not cut corners. The Peace Corps should discontinue use of Lariam as a malaria prophylaxis because of its high and troubling history of side effects. Instead it should use Malarone or Cortem. It does not switch because these newer products cost more than Lariam.
The members of the National Peace Corps Association must demand that the Association support reform, hold the Peace Corps staff accountable, and champion empowerment of Volunteers.
Realistically, we will not secure fundamental reform at the Peace Corps until it is led by someone who understands and embraces reform. It is clear that Aaron Williams does not support and will not implement fundamental reforms.
Our reform effort has focused largely on enacting reforms into law. We have done this because we do not believe that the Peace Corps will embrace reform unless Congress forces it to do so. Only if reforms are enacted into law do they become permanent. Also, because Chuck worked as staff on Capitol Hill over a 40-year period, we are familiar and comfortable with the legislative process. The 20/20 expose presented an existential challenge to the Peace Corps and led to the enactment of a few reforms, but overall a major opportunity to enact reforms was lost. So, it is unlikely that the Congress will enact another reform bill any time soon unless additional scandals on the scale of those exposed by 20/20 come to light. This means that the main reform thrust must come from pressure from applicants and current Volunteers.
Summary Observations
For sight years we have pressed for fundamental reform, focusing on empowering the Volunteers, improving quality rather than increasing quantity, and improving First Goal performance. We are championing a more transparent and accountable Peace Corps. Because we are prominent critics of the Peace Corps, we continue to receive many sad and outrageous reports from Volunteers about the pervasive mismanagement at the agency. At all times we've been constructive in our criticism and proposed reforms. We have not engaged in Ad Hominem attacks on individuals.
We see nothing at the Peace Corps that indicates that it is focusing on quality rather than quantity, organizing itself effectively for First Goal accomplishments, or empowering the Volunteers. We see a secretive agency, extremely risk averse, lacking any clear sense of its mission. It's a defensive, rule-bound agency mired in paperwork and obfuscation. We see widespread malaise, debilitating high early quit rates, and a sparse record of accomplishments. The agency continues to misrepresent the Early Termination rates, remains intentionally opaque with applicants (e.g. refusing to give applicants the country-by-country Early Termination rates and survey results), and minimizing the dysfunction in the agency in its annual performance reports. The highest priority of the Peace Corps remains to avoid bad publicity.
Overall, we need to overhaul the culture of the Peace Corps so that it respects and empowers the Volunteers. The service of the Volunteers is the only way the Peace Corps can accomplish anything. That the Peace Corps is unable to focus on its own culture is a sad commentary on its failure to fashion a program that assists other cultures.
We have not once been invited to meet with the Peace Corps to discuss any of these issues. The culture of the Peace Corps has not changed with the Obama Administration.
It is clear that the Peace Corps remains adamantly opposed to reform or any suggestion of a need for reform. To admit that reform is needed would generate bad publicity for an agency that believes that it is sacrosanct and can do no wrong. The agency remains impenetrable and monolithic. The Iron Law of Bureaucracy reigns supreme at the Peace Corps; the imperatives of the bureaucrats trump the agency's mission.
Individual Volunteers accomplish great things but they will say that this is in spite of the bureaucracy. Volunteers know to "fly under the radar" to avoid becoming a target. We've heard this same phraseology innumerable times.
We have campaigned for Peace Corps reform because we love the ideals of the Peace Corps. That bureaucrats are crushing the idealism of thousands of Volunteers is sad and outrageous. We have no desire to damage the Peace Corps. We seek to enhance its effectiveness and to get back to the ideals upon which it was founded.
We will continue our reform effort. We know that thousands of dedicated Volunteers and staff as well are seeking to make the Peace Corps ideals a reality.
We invite Peace Corps Wiki users to join the discussion, to comment on our reform efforts, and especially to press the Peace Corps for fundamental reform. Without a dedicated corps of reformers, we cannot go forward with this effort.
This is our history and these are our recommendations. We do not assume that we have all of the answers for the Peace Corps or have followed the best strategy in pursuing reform. We are sure that some will take issue with some of them and offer others. We invite comments on our reform activities and our proposed agenda.
Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff
Peace Corps Nepal (68-70)(Chuck)
Peace Corps Kenya (68-70)(Paula)
Peace Corps Senegal (05-07)(Chuck and Paula)

subset: commoncrawl


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- Marketing
- Product
- Other
- Recruiting
- Creative Director Influencer Marketing Coordinator Marketing Coordinator - Podcasts & Radio Search Marketing Analyst SEO Product Manager Social Media Coordinator
- Data Scientist GIS Project Manager Infrastructure Engineer iOS Engineer Pricing Strategist Software Engineer
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We're making it easier to experience the thrill of live events.
We're an assortment of bright, talented, and interesting people united by the mission to change the way people buy tickets.
By day, we're a group of talented developers, designers, marketers, and businessfolk working together to build something new and different. We represent live event junkies of every kind: diehard sports fans, passionate concert-goers, sophisticated theater enthusiasts, and more. From our lives outside the office and before SeatGeek, we all have interesting stories to tell.
Our ranks include
- a concert violinist
- a prolific vuvuzela player
- a wanderluster who's visited 41 US states by car
- ex-bassist of the Kingston12
- a trained beekeeper & spreadable honey magnate
- a top-50 worldwide open source contributor
- a retired contender on the competitive eating circuit
- the guy who made this infuriating game
- an All-American fencer
We're a tech startup to the core
Our team is small and agile, and we're keenly focused on building a great user experience.
We stay focused
Red tape, office politics and buzzword-driven development are not allowed.
We're religiously analytical
That's why we built and open-sourced our own A/B testing software.
Working at SeatGeek has its perks
Monthly Ticket Stipend
Employees get a monthly allowance to attend concerts, sports games, Broadway shows, and more.
3 weeks paid vacation
We cover all the basics like health, dental, & vision insurance, 401(k), and 3 weeks paid vacation.
Fully-stocked kitchen and lunches
Our office is fully stocked with snacks and drinks. We have catered team lunches every week.
Freebies & Subsidies
Get a Citibike annual pass and a premium Spotify account on us.
Team Events
Happy hours, bowling, board games, paintball, and retreats to the Hamptons. We like to do stuff together.
Choose or build your own setup
Everyone chooses their own hardware. Retina MBP? 16GB RAM? Dual Thunderbolts? You're the boss.


text:
Of course, Greece gets its own paragraph in the magazine. The Greek government and international financial institutions can't agree on what the country needs to do in order to get its next bailout installment. Regardless, it needs to cut costs. On September 21st, officials announced higher taxes, faster public-sector layoffs, and the trimming of some pensions.
"The outlook for the euro-area economy is deteriorating fast, which augurs ill for attempts to wrest the finances of indebted countries under control. At best, there will be a wrenching slow-down; at worst, a relapse into recession."
And I can't leave out this sentence from the Economist, which sums up the direness of the whole euro economic outlook: "A vicious feedback loop between growth, sovereign-debt concerns, and banking woes is now in train."
A number of options now are under discussion in Europe. One option would be Greece defaulting and leaving the euro. If this happened, Greece would replace the euro with a "new drachma" currency, which might lose value against the euro. With so much EU and other European capital investment in Greece, this would be a shock to all of Europe.
Another option is for Germany to leave the euro and create a "new deutsche mark." This might protect Germany from more debt obligations, but this could be almost as bad as the aforementioned option. If Germany exited the euro, other nations might follow. The economic patterns of all of Europe and around the globe rely on an integrated Europe. The European economy could suffer and inhibit recovery elsewhere for years until a new economic and trading order developed. Interestingly, as I write this, news comes that Germany's parliament approved an expansion of the European Financial Stability Facility, a significant step to limit Greece's debt crisis from escalating to other nations and financial institutions. While noteworthy, there are other hurdles to overcome if there is to be constructive and sustainable economic recovery.
Austerity is the solution that most European leaders favor. There is increasing talk of a huge bailout fund to help address the problem of banks struggling with Greek debt. But such a fund may need trillions of euros to cover the contingency of more countries defaulting. Plus, leaders don't agree the EU should be this powerful. Management of such an enormous fund could effectively dictate fiscal and monetary policy to EU states.
The economy and the supply chain
What does all of this mean for operations and supply chain management professionals? Global supply chains thrive in a stable and prosperous European customer market, capital market, and political environment. Uncertainty in these areas forces more short-term rather than long-term capital supply and demand planning, investment, production, distribution, planning, and risk-taking. Long-term investment for long-term prosperity becomes less important to most. Also, the value of a company's inventory, accounts payable, and accounts receivable may rise or fall as currency uncertainty continues. Lastly, credit for major investment in factories, machine tools, and expensive goods becomes more expensive and rare.
Operations and supply chain management professionals play key roles in uncertain times like these. They need to be efficient with assets, add as much value as they can to value chains, and forecast and respond as accurately as possible to changes in supply and demand. Doing this adds value back into the global economy, creating more prosperity that could pay back existing debt.
The 2011 APICS International Conference & Expo theme becomes more and more relevant as the negative economic news persists__"Achieving Sustainable Productivity: Meeting Customer Demand in an Unpredictable World." It's not too late to commit to joining APICS for this important conference, October 23-25, 2011, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Register at http://www.apics.org/careers-education-professional-development/events/conferences.
In other news
How APICS Operations Management Now relates to you
Operations management is everywhere. Today, operations management professionals have unprecedented impacts on the global economy. Consider these questions and how today's edition of APICS Operations Management Now relates to you and your career.
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text:
Cassine Station
Destination: Beaches of South Walton
Area: Seagrove Beach
Type: Condo/Villa
Number of Floors: 4
Bedrooms: 1
Baths: 1
Cassine Station is a small condo building which shares grounds with the quaint Cassine Garden subdivision in old Seagrove Beach, offering a touch of privacy with the convenience of a location right across the street from beautiful beaches.
Amenities at this Emerald Coast gem includes access to two pools, tennis courts, a grill area and a nature trail with a gazebo. Beach access is is easy and safe with a crosswalk over to the sugar-white sands at the edge of sparkling emerald waters. An outdoor shower at the beach access makes it easy to wash off sandy toes as you head back to the condo at Cassine Station.
The condo building has an elevator for easy unpacking and settling into your condos, some of which are conveniently located above shops and local favorites. What this means is that everything you need for an amazing beach vacation to Northwest Florida is right here within walking distance of these Beaches of South Walton vacation rentals.
|Pool/Hot Tub/Sauna
|Complex Features
|Parking Features
|Services Available
|Closest Airport: PCB
|Nearest City: Panama City Beach
|"Cassine Station" Check-In Office
|Check-In Information
|Check-In Office Name: Seagrove Beach Office
4514 East County Highway 30-A
Santa Rosa Beach, Florida
Check-In Time: 4:00 PM
Check-Out Time: 10:00 AM
Open: Monday - Saturday 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Sunday 9:00AM - 4:00PM
850-267-2693 (check-in line)
850-267-2693 (office)
After Hours Check-In Procedure:
Pick up telephone next to office door. Telephone automatically rings to after hours call center. Customer service agents assists with check-in via lock box next to telephone.
GPS: Longitude -86.102423 Latitude 30.309764
877-565-5738(after hours phone)
There are currently no active reviews for this property, please click below to be the first guest to provide a review.
Come Relax & Save!
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Travel Start Date: 05/16/2017
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Minimum Night Stay: 3
Bedrooms: 1
Extra Sleeping Area: Other
Baths: 1 Full + 1 Half
Type: Condo/Villa
Sleeps: 6
Proximity: Across the Street from Beach
3 - 4 BR | 3 - 4 BA | Sleeps 6 - 10
1 - 2 BR | 1 - 2 BA | Sleeps 2 - 8


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Rodriguez spoke about veterans of Taft and their great patriotic missions over in the wars of Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. The main focus of concern revolved around a lack of coordination with the all ready existent VFW, who works with foreign veterans and holds many events in Taft.
Rodriguez made it clear to the council that this point was previously discussed with potential future board members who have already begun to plan a working foundation with VFW members.
Partnership activities may include events which honor veterans like parades, ceremonies, etc.
The potential future Veteran's Board members "expressed an interest and very strong potential to serve and to recognize (veterans and their service])," Rodriguez said.
The establishment of duties, such as advising Taft City Council, rules and regulations for the board and other requirements, would be decided upon at a later council meeting. A website may also be established in the future. Council members Rodriguez motioned and Alderwoman Denise Hitt had seconded the motion to pass the establishment of the Veteran's Advisory Board.
The council considered whether or not to take action on granting a variance for a manufactured home, which will be located in the B-1 business zone, at 417 Victoria St., Taft. There was initial concern surrounding the variance.
City Attorney Roxann Cotroneo explained to the council that they may add "reasonable stipulations; what they deem to be in compliance of the variance." Wind storm insurance would need to be purchased and the foundation requirement would need to be approved during the building inspection. Hitt motioned the approval for the variance and Alderwoman Donnie Sue Riojas seconded the motion.
Road maintenance is always a big part of the discussion when it comes to improving Taft, and Fred Farias, director of public works, has been working diligently on fixing up the streets in Taft. Some improvements have all ready been made on Green Avenue, Mcintyre Street, Victoria Street, and the 900 block on College Street, to name a few areas. Patching of some of the holes have been done with asphalt mixed with tar from pallets. Three 18-wheelers, full of asphalt and four 55-gallon drums of tar, have already been utilized.
An important element to easing the financial woes is regarding the collection of debts. The city of Taft and Santos McBain Management and Planning (SMMP), who are filling in as city manager at the point, are continuing to pay off past debt. Utility debt collected in June was $196,000, and $225,000 was collected in July, which was a significant change. They pulled in about $8,400 in revenue for the month of July.
Payments were made to the jail for housing, to the sheriff's office for dispatch services and the elections office. The sales tax deposit went from $23,000 in June to $33,000 in August. Interest payments are implemented on bonded debt. There is approximately $250,000 in funds for city of Taft to pay bonded debt.
"While we chip away at some of the past due debts, it's still significant." said Ray de los Santos, co-owner of SMMP.
Another important item on the agenda is affiliated with the upcoming election on Tuesday, Nov. 4. The public will have the opportunity to make a decision about whether or not there should be a monthly fee implemented for both residential and commercial utility accounts. These accounts are within city limits only. The fees would go towards providing further funding for new streets, street repairs, and street maintenance.
The council adopted an imposed five-year limit for the fees, motioned by Hitt. After the second motion was made by Riojas, the motion passed. The public will choose if they wish to adopt the fee of $5.00 for residential accounts (968 total) and $10.00 for commercial accounts (108 total), which would equate to $71,040 per year. These located only within the city limits of Taft.
Please note the Stage 2 mandatory water restrictions for Taft:
• Sprinkler irrigation is limited to one day per week, the designated watering day is on the customer's garbage pickup day.
• Handheld and drip irrigation is allowed any time (handheld hoses, buckets or irrigation system equipped with a positive shut off nozzle which includes soaker hoses.
• Car washing is limited to designated watering day, except at a commercial car wash.
• All residential fountains and indoor commercial fountains are permitted to operate. Outdoor commercial fountains must have a variance permit.
• Filling pools is limited to designated watering day.
• Water use from hydrants is permitted for construction purposes with special permit.
• Building foundations may be maintained with a handheld or drip hose only.
• You may fill pools, but only on designated watering day.
• Washing buildings, sidewalks, amongst others, is prohibited except for business purposes or in interest of public health and safety in which a permit is required.
• Also note that no sprinkler irrigation shall be used between 10-6 p.m.
• Contact Fred Farias at the Public Works Dept. or The city of Taft at 528-3512, if you have any questions.


text: Starwest Botanicals opened as a small retail herb shop in 1975, and today they are one of the biggest organic herbs suppliers in the United States. They focus on fresh, pure and potent bulk organic herbs, organic culinary herbs and spices and organic loose leaf tea. Their quality control team works directly with botanical and herb experts to ensure the quality of their raw materials and finished products. Their commitment to direct source, high-quality herbs at an affordable price makes them a favorite in the herbal community.


text:
The Commish
An interesting discussion arose yesterday based on Jeff's post about Bud Selig's "coolness." Basically, the question of who Selig's successor will be introduced itself into the commentary and made for some light jabs at the soon to be ex-president. However, the more I think about it, the more I think that the best possible person for the job would be my old friend, George W. Bush. Think about it.
There's no possible way that GWB could run the league more ineptly than
has Selig. Now, I know his record of fiscal spending has not been what
one might call conservative but Bush's handling of the Rangers as a
managing partner showed the first flash of business acumen that had
made his father and grandfather rich men. And who knows, maybe that
compassionate conservativism would make him want to help lower ticket
prices. I can dream, right?
Additionally, the man knows and loves baseball. You get that from watching him and from listening to him talk about the game. The Rangers definitely became a better team under him than they have been in the past several seasons and his actions made construction of a new ballpark possible. In addition, his dad even played baseball while attending Yale.
All of these things make him the anti-Selig. When I see Bud walking around, I get the feeling that he's never even worn a baseball glove. He's the guy who's mom pinned a note to his shirt to get him out of gym class in middle school. It would be a nice change to have someone who actually cares about the game shepherding the league.
As if these weren't reasons enough, I'll leave it to the man himself to give the best reason of all. In the words of our 43rd president, "I never dreamed about being President, I wanted to be Willie Mays."
So, it may still be a few years away but I would like to officially nominate George Walker Bush to be the next commissioner of Major League Baseball. And George, if you need it, I'm sure my friend, Mr. Lung, would be more than happy to be your chief-of-staff.
11 Comments
I am on the fence about this right now. Maybe in about 4 years I will be more inclined to want Bush back into a position on power like this over baseball.
We could at least be kept busy in the blog world with Bush-isms and obvious misquotes or missed definitions of his thoughts. But the more I think about it, the closer I can be to realizing there is merit to the idea. As long as the Texas Ranger do not try and revolt, it might be a good idea.
Rays Renegade
When I first read: "I think that the best possible person for the job would be my old friend, George W. Bush." I couldn't believe it because George Bush has kind of gotten us into a very, very sticky situation. And I don't like him very much.
But then I thought about it, like you said… and I came to realize, this could possibly work! Maybe he can't run the country properly, but maybe he can run baseball. Just as long as it's not Sarah Palin, I think we might be alright.
I'm not sure GWB would do much for baseball's reputation overseas. What about Selig for President?
I may throw my hat into the ring. Baseball needs a strong, decisive commissioner; and one young enough to handle the rigors of the job without getting emotional to the point of looking like he's about to cry as Selig did during the World Series.
That's it. I vote for Paul (aka The Prince).
I second that."The Prince of Baseball" would be a great title.
Personally, I'd vote for Alyssa Milano before I endorsed the incompetent, bumbling, soon-to-be former president.
Steve T.
Ironically I just posted a blog about how much I dislike Selig! I'm all for George Bush taking over baseball, your right it is a good fit.
Every commish has to confront challenges, like expansion, labor concerns and the spiraling economy, and Bush could prove better than the passive, milquetoast Selig. Regardless of the issue, at least you know he'll go to war.


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#BestOfLax: Vote for LM's Best Men's Player of 2012
by Clare Lochary | LaxMagazine.com
Lacrosse Magazine's "Best of Lacrosse 2012" series recognizes the players, coaches, teams and moments that shined above all others in our sport this year. We want to know what you think. Fans can vote for their favorites in 10 categories. The results of each poll will be published alongside staff selections in the December issue of Lacrosse Magazine. Voting ends Monday, Oct. 29 at 3 p.m. Eastern.
See any snubs? Make your case by commenting at the bottom of this page or at #BestOfLax on Twitter.
Don't get the mag? Join US Lacrosse and its 400,000-plus members to start your subscription today.
#BestOfLax VOTING HAS CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING AND CHECK OUT ALL OF THE RESULTS HERE.
Nominees for Best Men's Player
Peter Baum, Colgate
Baum, the first men's Tewaaraton finalist and winner from west of the Mississippi, was the NCAA statistical leader in points per game (5.39) and goals per game (3.72). The junior attackman led Colgate to 14 wins and a quarterfinal finish, both of which were program bests.
John Grant Jr., Mammoth/Bayhawks/Lakers
Grant was a triple threat in 2012 – the NLL named him the league's Most Valuable Player, and he won both an MLL championship with the Chesapeake Bayhawks and the Mann Cup with Peterborough Lakers. With the Mammoth, Grant hit several NLL milestones – 1,000 career points, 500 career goals and 1,000 ground balls and set the NLL single-season scoring record. At 37, he set a career record for assists (66) as well.
Brendan Mundorf, Outlaws
The seven-year MLL veteran attackman won his first league MVP honors in 2012, when he scored 32 goals and dished out 27 assists for Denver. Mundorf led the Outlaws to a franchise-record 11 wins and the top seed in the MLL playoffs.
Paul Rabil, Cannons
For the third time in four years, the midfielder won MLL Offensive Player of the Year honors. He broke his own single-season points record (72), scoring at least two points in each of the Cannons' 14 games.
Steele Stanwick, Virginia/Machine
The attackman finished his career in Charlottesville as the Cavaliers' all-time points leader (269). Despite drawing lots of defensive attention, Stanwick led the team and the nation with 51 assists in 2012, in addition to scoring 29 goals. He was the first Cavalier to win the USILA's Jack Turnbull Award, presented to the nation's top attacker, since 1996.
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text:
News flash: SABBATH-BREAKING HAS NOT BEEN DOWNGRADED TO A MISDEMEANOR.
Oh, for years most of us have heard amateur theologians and Bible "pseudo-scholars" asserting with the kind of loud confidence always reserved for the most seriously mistaken, that, of the Ten Big Commandments, we could certainly forget about #4. After all, the "old Law" that used to so tie people up in knots has been done away with, and now we're under a new law, by which they generally mean the New Testament, which they contort into an upgraded system of law to use to continue to tie people up in pretty much the same old knots.
Well, what Jesus has done on the cross has indeed released us from slavery to a written code and established a completely new covenant based on the Spirit and not the law. But it has most certainly not altered God's character as revealed in those Ten Commandments. Up might as well become down. Lies and murder might as easily become as godlike as truth and love. Don't look for the truth of those commandments—God's very nature—to change.
And that Sabbath commandment? Well, there's mystery here we'll never fully understand, but I think we can be sure of these things:
*God gave us this "Sabbath" commandment, this principle of rest, to bless us, not to tie us up with a picky law and tempt us to become piety police. I'd not at all bind rules about particular days and what constitutes "work" on anyone, but . . .
*If even God needed to rest after the work of creation, isn't it incredibly arrogant for me to act as if I never do?
*Regularly taking time for rest is an act of faith proving that I trust God to be true to his word to care for me and keep the world spinning even when I try to stop my own spinning for a few moments.
*Taking time to truly rest (and being wary of making even my rest a kind of work) is an act of creaturely humility, a dose of the Creator's antivenom for my poisonous pride.
*A time of rest recalibrates my perspective and helps me better learn to separate what is truly important from what is only "urgent."
*Taking time to rest is an act of discipline. You may know some lazy people in danger of starvation or poverty, but I'll wager you know hundreds more who along with their stressed out families live near the brink of exhaustion, depression, anxiety, and a multitude of relational dysfunctions—largely because they don't have the discipline ever to stop and be still.
Most families, by the way, have a "barometer," a person who most quickly registers pain or discomfort when the family is under too much pressure. Even if I have a need to think that following God's commandment to rest is only for those who are weak (It most certainly is not!), I need to ask God to help me love the "weak" people around me enough to obey him in faith, give them and myself a break, and soak up a little "Sabbath," a little rest.
God wants that for us. And in a thousand more ways than I can list here, he'll use that intentional rest, that move toward balance, that simple act of faith, to bless us and those around us as we obey our Father. He knows best.
Curtis Shelburne is pastor of 16th & Ave. D. Church of Christ in Muleshoe. Contact him at firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Most complained-about credit card companies
Published On: Jan 15 2014 12:59:50 PM CST Updated On: Jan 15 2014 01:04:23 PM CST
JPMorgan recently stated that the company is replacing 2 million credit and debit cards after a massive breach at Target that affected as many as 110 million Target customers. Take a look at the most complained-about credit card companies.
The views expressed are not those of this company or its affiliated companies. Please note by clicking on "Post" you acknowledge that you have read the Terms Of Service and the comment you are posting is in compliance with such terms.


text:
I've been learning php/mySQL thru a manual by sitepoint and have run into a problem trying to complete a challenge in the book.
They've asked me to create a delete confirmation screen for a db of jokes. I'd like to list the the name of the author to be deleted and all of his/her jokes. I believe the bindValue command is causing me issues...
Any insight as to what my be wrong in this code would be great help. Cheers!
Code: Select all
include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/phpbed/includes/dbconnect.php';
echo 'test3
';
echo 'id ' . $_POST['id'] . '
';
echo $_POST['id'];
$sql = 'SELECT joketext FROM joke WHERE authorid = :id';
$sql->bindValue(':id', $_POST['id']);
$result = $pdo->query($sql);
echo "test4";
while ($row = $result->fetch())
$joke[] = $row['joketext'];
echo 'test5';
including all of this authors jokes?
<?php foreach ($joke as $bleh): ?>

<?php echo $bleh; ?>

<?php endforeach; ?>
Please note that i've plopped a bunch of test echoes and i can't seem to get past test4.
Thanks guys!


text:
Buy for$20.99(3 items)
Written by strade on 05.01.2012 at 02:54
The finest thrash album of 2011 for me, easily. Old school, badass sound with no compromises made.
Edit: Fuck it; after dozens of listens, make that THE album of 2011. Laugh if you may, but I'm that entranced by it.


text:
Backyard Safari Adventures™ Camouflage Net (5' x 8')
Poof-Slinky • In Stock • 00943
6 years & up. Hide in plain sight with this Camouflage Net! Whether you are trying to blend in with the forest, make shade from the sun, or create a place to hide, this Camouflage Net is a must-have! Observe animals in their natural habitat while you remain undiscovered. The unique die-cut design is stretchable and can fit over a tent or shelter. Measures 5' x 8'. Tent not included.
Customers Also Bought


text:
Buy for$7.29(6 items)
Written by Baz Anderson on 06.04.2011 at 09:21
I have it. It's quite a good album.. although I was never a massive Origin fan. I didn't even remember they had a new singer through most of my first listen through...
Written by The Benighted on 30.07.2011 at 00:56
I thought Antithesis would be their hugest achievement, but I stand corrected. What a ridiculously great album.
Written by Dangerboner on 26.08.2011 at 19:41
This album made me realize that I prefer Origin's longer songs. Antithesis, the near-10 min track on their previous album, always stood out as one of its biggest highlights, and every long song on this album are my favorites. Generally, the short songs on Entity suck for me, especially Committed. Ugh. But the long ones, such as Saliga, are really fun to listen to.


text:
INGREDIENTS:1 lb. boneless, skinless duck breast 2 Tbsps. sesame oilMarinade: 2 cups strong brewed Lapsang Souchong tea 1 tsp. sugar 1 tsp. salt 2 cloves garlic, crushed, minced 1 orange, zest onlySmoking mix: 1 cup raw white rice ¼ cup brown sugar 1 cup fragrant loose tea 6 cinnamon sticks 6 whole star anise 6 whole cloves 1 sweet apple, cut into wedges 1 orange, cut into wedgesSauce: Reserved marinade, drained from duck ½ cup reduced sodium soy sauce 2 whole star anise 1 cinnamon stick 1 ...
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Course will teach people how to be good tenantsBy Patrick McArdle
STAFF WRITER | March 20,2014BENNINGTON A group addressing housing issues and poverty in Bennington will be starting a five-part course March 27 to help people understand how they can be successful at renting a place to live, even if theyve had problems in the past that affect their credit.
After the Vermont Council on Rural Developments Community Visit in 2012, there were several challenges identified as priorities by community participants. The members of the poverty group have been working on several actions that fall under their purview, including housing for low-income residents.
One of those actions is Renting 101, a course designed to help people find homes of their own, organized by members of the housing subcommittee, Denise Main, Joy Kitchell, Dianna Leazer and Maryann St. John. Kitchell said the expected audience would be people who are new to renting who may be attempting to move on from transitional housing or have struggled to maintain an apartment.
At the first session on March 27, Leazer will lead a discussion on sound financial management, budgeting, prioritizing, credit and related issues. Leazer said it will be a little bit packed with information, but the topic was chosen to lead the course because its the foundation needed on which future renters can build their plans.
Future class topics will include searching for housing and what to look for in an apartment; the responsibilities the tenant must meet; establishing and maintaining good communication with the landlord; and successfully and responsibly `ending the relationship when the tenancy is at an end.
Professionals who will be joining the class include a realtor, a Vermont Legal Aid lawyer and a mediator. Local landlords will also be attending the final two classes.
Main said her committee recognized the need for a course such as Renting 101 after meeting with a small group of local landlords who were asked what they would need to be able to rent to challenging tenants. For instance, one landlord said he wouldnt rent to someone who didnt have a checking account.
The members of Mains committee also work in various agencies that provide human services. One of the challenges those agencies face is finding housing for their clients, and the course can make younger people or people with a troubled past more appealing to a landlord because it will teach them how to be better tenants.
The organizers of the course have connections with agencies such as BROC and the Sunrise Family Resource Center. Therefore, word has gone out to refer community members who might benefit from Renting 101, but Main and others said there is still room for other area residents who believe they would benefit from participating.
We really hope this will be an ongoing program and a tool and a resource that folks who have the most difficulty can use to rebuild maybe a not-so-great past. Even going forward, maybe someone who just needs these skills, needs a refresher, needs to learn them at all, we hope that it really is a good tool that people use, Leazer said.
Kitchell said she hopes participants will come out of the course empowered to take ownership over maintaining their own home.
The class size is being restricted to maintain interaction between the committee members and the participants.
The initial class meeting is from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. March 27 at the Second Congregational Church. There is no charge, but registration, through contact with Main by phone at 442-6934 or email to firstname.lastname@example.com, is required.
patrick.mcardle @rutlandherald.comMORE IN This Just InMONTPELIER A new report from a commission that studied the cost, availability and quality of... Full StoryVermont fish hatchery changes focus, looks inland
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The Weekend College is part of Project OASIS, which is a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) grant focusing on increasing the number of Hispanics and low income students obtaining degrees in STEM fields.
Registration is open for the Weekend College at the Beeville and Alice campuses, and students wishing to enroll can see any Coastal Bend College advisor to register.
"The weekend college is structured so that students can focus on one class at a time rather than trying to juggle and balance four classes," says Danny Garcia, Weekend College coordinator. Students who enroll in the program will be assigned a case manager to assist them with financial aid questions, tutoring services and general academic advising.
Classes will be held every other weekend on Fridays from 6-10 p.m., Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon and 1-5 p.m., and Sunday from 8 a.m. to noon. The average class size will be about 25 students, and there is financial aid available to those who qualify.
While only the Beeville and Alice campuses are participating in Weekend College this academic year, both Kingsville and Pleasanton will be offering the Weekend College in the fall of 2013.
Garcia adds, "The flexible schedule of the program is perfect for students with full-time jobs and family obligations preventing them from attending during the week."
If you'd like more information about registering for Weekend College, contact Danny Garcia at 354-2570 or toll free at 1-866-722-2838, ext. 2570. You can also visitwww.coastalbend.edu for more information.


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2014: The Ultimate Warrior, one of professional wrestling's biggest superstars, dies at age 54 in in Scottsdale, Arizona. An autopsy later revealed he died when suffering a myocardial infarction caused by atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Born James Hellwig, he legally changed his name to just Warrior in 1993 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame just days before his death. He began his career as the Warrior in 1987 and defeated Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VI to become WWE Champion in 1990.
2014: A day after the University of Connecticut men's basketball team beat Kentucky to win the NCAA tournament, the UConn women's basketball team wins its ninth NCAA crown by beating Notre Dame 79-58. Connecticut is the only school to have won both men's and women's titles in the same year, having also done so in 2004.
2013: Actress Annette Funicello, best known as one of the most popular "Mouseketeers" on "The Mickey Mouse Club" and for movies in the "Beach Party" genre in the mid-1960s, dies of complications from multiple sclerosis at the age of 70 in Bakersfield, California.
2013: Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dies from a stroke at the age of 87 in London, England. Known as the "Iron Lady," Thatcher governed Britain from 1979 to 1990. Britain's first and only female prime minister, she is known for transforming the country's economy and being a formidable rival on the international stage.
2009: In the first successful pirate seizure of a ship registered under the American flag since the early 19th century, Somali pirates hijack the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama 240 nautical miles southeast of the Somali port city of Eyl. The cargo ship's crew quickly retook the vessel, but the four pirates escaped in a lifeboat with Capt. Richard Phillips as their hostage. After a four-day standoff, U.S. Navy sharpshooters aboard the USS Bainbridge killed three of the pirates and Phillips was then rescued. The fourth pirate, who was aboard the Bainbridge negotiating a ransom at the time of the rescue, was taken into custody.
2005: More than four million mourners gather in Rome, Italy, for the funeral of Pope John Paul II. Between 250,000 and 300,000 watched the funeral mass from within the Vatican's walls.
2002: Suzan-Lori Parks becomes the first black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for drama for her play "Topdog/Underdog."
1997: Singer-songwriter Laura Nyro, best known for writing hit songs such as "Wedding Bell Blues," "Stoned Soul Picnic," "And When I Die" and "Eli's Coming," dies of ovarian cancer at the age of 49 in Danbury, Connecticut. Nyro, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, also received critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the late-1960s albums "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession" and "New York Tendaberry." Her best-selling single was her recording of Carole King and Gerry Goffin's "Up on the Roof."
1992: Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has HIV, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries. After his diagnosis, Ashe (seen here in 1975) began working to educate others about HIV and AIDS. He founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS and the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health before his death from AIDS-related pneumonia on Feb. 6, 1993.
1990: Ryan White, an Indiana teenager who became a national celebrity and spokesman for AIDS research and public education after being expelled from middle school following his diagnosis with HIV, dies at the age of 18 in Indianapolis. White, a hemophiliac, became infected from a contaminated blood treatment and was given six months to live when diagnosed in December 1984. White participated in numerous public benefits for children with AIDS during the last years of his life and befriended many celebrities, including Elton John, Michael Jackson and John Mellencamp.
1990: The drama "Twin Peaks" premieres on television. The show, created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, followed an investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) into the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer. It would run for seven more episodes in its first season and another 22 in its second, and final, season, becoming one of the top-rated shows of 1990 and developing a cult fan base.
1987: Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Al Campanis is forced by the team to resign over remarks he had made while on ABC's "Nightline" two days earlier, saying that blacks "may not have some of the necessities" to hold managerial jobs in Major League Baseball.
1986: Clint Eastwood is elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. He would serve one two-year term as mayor of the Monterey Peninsula town from April 30, 1986, to April 30, 1988.
1981: Actor and model Taylor Kitsch, best known for the TV show Friday Night Lights and movies such as "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "John Carter," "Battleship" and "Savages," is born in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.
1980: Actress Katee Sackhoff, best known for playing Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on the Sci Fi Channel's television program "Battlestar Galactica," is born in Portland, Oregon.
1979: The sitcom "All in the Family" airs its last episode after nine seasons on the air. The show, which starred Caroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Sally Struthers and Rob Reiner, ranked No. 1 in the yearly Nielsen ratings from 1971 to 1976, becoming the first television series to reach the milestone of having topped the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive years. In September 1979, a spinoff show, "Archie Bunker's Place," picked up where "All in the Family" had left off, running for another four seasons.
1977: The Clash's self-titled debut album is released.
1975: Frank Robinson manages the Cleveland Indians in his first game as Major League Baseball's first black manager. In his first at bat as player/manager of the Indians, he homered at Cleveland Stadium off Yankees pitcher Doc Medich. He would also go on to manage the San Francisco Giants, the Baltimore Orioles and the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals.
1975: At the 47th Academy Awards, "The Godfather Part II" becomes the first sequel to capture the Oscar for Best Picture. The movie received a total of six Oscars to double up its predecessor's total, including Best Director for Francis Ford Coppola and Best Supporting Actor for Robert De Niro.
1975: Aerosmith releases their third album, "Toys in the Attic." The album would end up being the band's most commercially successful album in the United States, selling eight million copies. Its first two singles, "Sweet Emotion" and "Walk This Way," hit No. 36 and No. 10, respectively, on the U.S. Hot 100 singles chart.
1974: Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th career home run to surpass Babe Ruth's 39-year-old record. As he rounded the bases at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, two college students sprinted onto the field and jogged alongside him for part of his trip around the bases, temporarily startling him. Aaron would hit a total of 755 homers in his career, a record that stood until surpassed by Barry Bonds in 2007.
1973: Spanish artist and sculptor Pablo Picasso, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, dies at the age of 91 in Mougins, France. Picasso, who was widely known for co-founding the Cubist movement and his co-invention of collage, is best known for works such as "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," "Guernica" and "The Weeping Woman."
1968: Actress Patricia Arquette, best known for the supernatural drama series "Medium" and for movies like "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3," "True Romance," "Ed Wood," "Stigmata" and "Boyhood," is born in Chicago, Illinois. She won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance in "Boyhood."
1966: Actress Robin Wright, best known for movies such as "The Princess Bride," "Forrest Gump" and "Unbreakable," and the Netflix series "House of Cards," is born in Dallas, Texas.
1964: Rapper Biz Markie, best known for his 1989 Top 10 single "Just a Friend," is born Marcel Theo Hall in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey.
1963: In a ceremony otherwise dominated by "Lawrence of Arabia," which wins seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, Gregory Peck wins his first and only Academy Award, Best Actor for "To Kill a Mockingbird," in his fifth nomination. "Mockingbird" also won for its screenplay and art direction while Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke won for their performances in "The Miracle Worker."
1960: Actor John Schneider, best known for playing Bo Duke on the television series "The Dukes of Hazzard" and Jonathan Kent on the series "Smallville," is born in Mount Kisco, New York. Schneider also performed as a country music singer in the 1980s, releasing nine studio albums and a greatest hits package, as well as 18 singles.
1954: Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter, who played 21 years in Major League Baseball, mostly with the Montreal Expos and New York Mets, is born in Culver City, California. An 11-time All-Star, Carter hit 324 home runs in his career and won a World Series title with the Mets in 1986. He died of brain cancer at age 57 on Feb. 16, 2012.
1953: At a conference in Belgium, Lawrence Bragg, the director of the Cavendish Laboratory, makes the announcement that molecular biologists James Watson (center) and Francis Crick (right) had deduced the double helix structure of DNA. Watson and Crick would submit a paper to the scientific journal Nature describing their discovery, which was published on April 25, 1953. They, along with Maurice Wilkins, were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries.
1953: The first 3D motion picture produced and released by a major company, "Man in the Dark," opens at the Globe Theater in New York City. The next 3D feature movie, "The House of Wax," was the first from a major company in color and opened only two days later, at New York City's Paramount Theater.
1949: Film director John Madden, best known for directing movies such as "Shakespeare in Love," "Proof" and "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," is born in Hampshire, England. "Shakespeare in Love" won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1999 and Madden also received a Best Director nomination for the film.
1946: Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter, who pitched from 1965 to 1979 for both the Kansas City/Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees, is born in Hertford, North Carolina. An eight-time All-Star, Hunter won the 1974 Cy Young Award, pitched a perfect game in 1968 and won five World Series titles, three with the A's and two with the Yankees. He died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at age 53 on Sept. 9, 1999. He's seen here, at left, in 1979 along with Yankees manager Billy Martin and catcher Brad Gulden.
1940: Basketball Hall of Famer John Havlicek, who won eight NBA titles in his 16 seasons with the Boston Celtics, is born in Martins Ferry, Ohio. The 13-time NBA All-Star also won NBA Finals MVP honors in 1974 was part of Ohio State's 1960 national championship team. He retired in 1978 as the Boston Celtics all-time leading scorer, a record he still holds today.
1935: The Works Progress Administration, the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law. The WPA employed millions of unemployed people to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads.
1926: Comedian Shecky Greene, known for his nightclub performances in Las Vegas and guest starring roles in movies such as "History of the World, Part I" and "Splash" and on various TV shows, is born Fred Sheldon Greenfield in Chicago, Illinois.
1919: Frank Winfield Woolworth, the American businessman who founded the F.W. Woolworth Company, dies at age 66 in Glen Cove, New York.
1918: During World War I, actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City's financial district. The two actors can be seen here, with Fairbanks lifting up Chaplin.
1918: Betty Ford, the U.S. first lady from 1974 to 1977 during the presidency of her husband, President Gerald Ford, and the founder of the Betty Ford Center, is born Elizabeth Ann Bloomer in Chicago, Illinois. She died of natural causes at age 93 on July 8, 2011.
1913: The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of senators, becomes law. Under the original provisions of the Constitution, senators were elected by state legislatures. The amendment also altered the procedure for filling vacancies in the Senate, allowing for state legislatures to permit their governors to make temporary appointments until a special election can be held.
1912: Figure skater and actress Sonja Henie, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, a 10-time World champion and a six-time European champion, is born in Oslo, Norway. After retiring from amateur competition in 1936, she took up a career as a professional performer in acting and live shows, becoming one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood during the height of her fame. She died from leukemia at age 57 on Oct. 12, 1969.
1906: Auguste Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, dies. The disease was first described by German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer, one of the first doctors to examine Deter after she started showing symptoms of dementia.
1904: Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
1893: The first recorded college basketball game occurs at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, with the Geneva College Covenanters defeating the New Brighton (Pennsylvania) YMCA.
1892: Actress Mary Pickford, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is born Gladys Marie Smith in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Pickford was best known for silent movies like "The Poor Little Rich Girl," "Pollyanna," "Little Lord Fauntleroy" and "Rosita." She died of cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 87 on May 29, 1979.
1861: Elisha Otis, the founder of the Otis Elevator Company and inventor of a safety device that prevents elevators from falling if the hoisting cable fails, dies of diphtheria at age 49 in Yonkers, New York.
1820: The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Greek island of Milos. Created sometime between 130 and 100 B.C., the marble statue is believed to depict Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, and is thought to be the work of Alexandros of Antioch.
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Opposites attract. This is true in many areas of my life and especially in my marriage, where my husband and I have different personalities. I am the more exuberant type, and he is the more coherent one. I am more fun — he may say impulsive — and he is more boring — he may say rational.
I noticed how our differences have enriched our lives when one of my childhood dreams was realized for a few short but intense hours. I have always wanted to own a German shepherd named Rex. When I was growing up in Italy I used to watch this show about a police dog named Rex who chased bad guys.
Then one morning, I opened my door and found a puppy version of Rex staring up at me. He didn't have collar and there was no one in sight. A miracle! I couldn't contain my excitement and ran inside the house yelling to my children I had found a new puppy named Rex.
We all rushed into the bedroom where my husband was trying to sleep after a long overnight flight, and told him that a German shepherd had magically appeared at our doorsteps, and that we had to keep him, never mind that we already had two dogs and a cat.
As a military man would do, he sprung into action and made an efficient sign —"Lost puppy, inquire within"— and called animal control, while the kids and I chased the puppy around and yelled, "Rex ,come," "Rex, sit," "Rex, roll over" (not that these commands meant anything to the puppy who kept running in circles).
I wanted to keep Rex. I was hoping he didn't have an owner, so I told my husband it was simply meant to be that I found Rex. Trying to temper my excitement, my hubby told me: a) Rex was female, and b) she had an owner somewhere. But I pressed on with my dream, making only the concession I would call her Rexa.
As I watched my husband lay out a plan to find the dog's owner, I realized we couldn't keep the dog, and my morning excitement and ability to ignore the fact that I had to focus on finding the owner were possible because I knew my husband would be there to do the right thing.
My exuberance was tempered by his rational demeanor. I focused on the fun aspect of finding the puppy while he focused on the practical aspect of finding the owner.
When my husband is deployed I am not as carefree, but because he was there I enjoyed my childhood dream of playing with Rex – OK, Rexa.
After a couple of hours, someone knocked at our door, and the owner, a nice lady, recognized the dog, Maggie, immediately. To my dismay, the dog clearly recognized her, too.
My husband will deploy again soon, and he is clearly concerned – with some reason – that he'll return to find a house full of puppies. More likely though, when he leaves I will have to go back to taking on full control of our home and my impulses – including all the boring rationality involved.
Hum, it's much more fun when he's home.


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text: I started taking fenugreek and blessed thistle on Wednesday. Thursday my pee started to smell like maple syrup! I understand this is all normal and good - that for the herbs to be working I *want* to smell like that. I did notice an increase in supply over the weekend, but now today the smell is hardly noticeable. Does this mean the herbs aren't working anymore? I'm taking 3 each 3 times a day.


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The container ship Rena pictured where it struck a reef 12 nautical miles off the coast of Tauranga at about 2:20am this morning. Authorities have been monitoring the ship during the day in case of an oil spill.5 October 2011 New Zealand Herald Photograph by Alan Gibson.
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Aurora Red Lace Trim Cami
Style: 570052287
Out of Stock
The perfect shade of red for fall. Soft, stretch cami designed with thin satin straps and soft, floral lace trim. 95% Nylon, 5% Spandex. Machine wash, cold; tumble dry low. Imported.
- Close stretch fit.
- Adjustable straps.
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