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Rated 4.7 out of 5 by 307 reviewers.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Deborah Colorful and comfortable...you can wear almost any solid colored top with it. March 22, 2010
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Rated 5 out of 5 by sznbks Colorful skirt I was pleased to see that the layers or stripes were all horizonal and coordinated with the ribbons. Some skirts I've seen had stripes that were off by an inch or more on the diagonal. March 27, 2010
Rated 5 out of 5 by thejclady Cheery I am so thrilled with this skirt. I can wear it with so many different color tops and it is so comfortable. I feel really good when I wear it and I get lots of compliments. I intend to wear it often. April 16, 2010
Rated 5 out of 5 by Funseeker Fun Skirt Love this skirt which I bought before I went on a Caribbean cruise. It is so comfortable and goes with everything. April 28, 2010
Rated 5 out of 5 by studentessa A travel favorite I love this skirt. Each time I wear it, somebody asks me where to buy one. It has so many color options for tops, and I really like the lining that keeps people from seeing through it. It's nice too that it comes in petite length. April 28, 2010
Rated 5 out of 5 by malteselover Great skirt!! Very comfy and beautiful. I get lots of compliments. It goes with any color solid top. Very nice quality. April 28, 2010
Rated 5 out of 5 by Traveler3 I LOVE this skirt!!! Every time I go to the closet to select an outfit, I seem to gravitate to this skirt. I believe that I wore it at least twice a week all last Spring, Summer, and Fall! Afraid of wearing it out, I have just bought my second one - just in case! This skirt really does go with any color top and is the most comfortable skirt I own (and I don't need to wear a slip with it, so it's cool all summer). Now, I'm ready to buy more such skirts from TravelSmith ASAP! April 28, 2010
Product:2335-Crinkle Fiesta Skirt


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Artist Collection: (49 of 85)< Previous | Next >
Tags: Southport, Merseyside, moon, seascape, landscape, reflections, mist, pier, sea, blue, sun, sky, seagulls, seaside, flood, coa
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southport pier reflectionsby david french
- Medium
- Photography
- Artist Notes
- Southport in Merseyside pier and the sea misty reflections, the pier the sun give it a bit of a misty look .
- Contact Artist Send Artist an Email
More about david french
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- Artist Biography
- I studied photography at Southport Art College in the Mid 1970's and then worked for a large photographic studio in that area perfecting my trade. Wanderlust then caught me and I took my profession round the world photographing in the Far East including China, Japan, The Philippines and the Hong K ...

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Share Your Orders Thread
Like many other people in this thread I caved today and ordered from Verdant.
500g Master Han's 2013 Sheng Pu'er
4oz Master Han's Looseleaf 2004 Shu Pu'er
2oz Golden Fleece
1oz He Family 1st Picking Flat Pressed Laoshan Green Tea
2oz Laoshan Black
In my defense the green tea is a Christmas gift for someone, but the full brick of 2013 Pu'er was a moment of weakness… I just couldn't say no to those savings! And the $25 of tea cash to spend by January only means I'm going to be back again to make an already too-large stash bigger…
Herbal Infusions suckered me in with their delicious sounding Santa's Milk and Cookies Black Tea. I also threw in some Pumpkin Pie Rooibos and Marshmallow Snowflake Earl Grey to round out the trio.
I would say "oh no!" but you are going to be getting what I could only assume are some pretty tasty teas. Also, I may have ordered Cacao tea on Friday, in addition to a bunch of samples.
Yeah but I also have an order from them that I received about 10 days ago that's still sitting here in the box….I have to stop…
Where are the pumpkin and marshmallow ones? I might not be on the right site lol, I can't find them, but they sound delicious!!
Oh nevermind, found it in another thread, darn it must be sold out now! Looked intriguing!
Oh darn! But maybe good haha I don't need more tea :D although I always would like more haha. Thanks for the info!
Dexter, I think we have an addiction.
MissLena, I can probably send you a sample when mine arrives if you like.
I don't "think" I have an addiction – I'm starting at the first step….Hi my name is Dex – I'm addicted to buying tea…
And I added a Red Leaf Tea order. However I behaved and only ended up getting the two matchas on sale.
At last count, I've bought 84 teas this weekend – that's not counting any free samples that will be in with them. I'm also pretty impressed that two of the orders have been released from Customs already – two of my orders haven't even shipped yet (or I haven't been notified that they've shipped). I'm going to be on hiatus for a year…
haha oh dear. I actually lost track. I placed an order with 52 teas, Herbal Infusions (twice), Harney & Sons, Red Leaf Tea, Della Terra, Butiki, and American Tea Room and I think that is it. I think I will be on that hiatus with you.
@variaTEA : ok ill let you know :) once my cupboard is down to a more manageable size haha :D
I just placed my first Butiki order!
Coconut Cream Pie Rooibos
The Killer's Vanilla
Creamy Eggnog
Gui Fei Oolong
Almond Indulgence
Irish Cream Cheesecake
Maple Pecan Oolong
Flowery Pineapple Oolong
I forgot to write in my free teas, but I just emailed Stacy! I asked for:
Caramel Vanilla Assam
Premium Taiwanese Assam
I'm so excited!!!
I had a long, full day job interview today and have a second full day of it tomorrow, so when I got home I definitely placed this order. Golden moon, 30% off, finally restocking my beloved coconut pouchong!
Coconut Pouchong – 2.2 ounce Tin
Sugar Caramel Oolong – 1oz Bag
Yay!!! I got my Butiki order in just under the wire!
Didn't think it was gonna happen….been crazy busy
I ordered:
1 oz Caramel Vanilla Assam
1 oz Creamy Eggnog
1 oz Apricot Guayusa
0.5 oz Champagne & Rose Cream
0.5 oz Flowery Pineapple Oolong
Free Stash I am looking forward to:
1 oz Caramel Vanilla Assam
1oz Ruby Pie
0.5 oz Purple Sunset Oolong
Woot! Woot! ~ Only regret is, I wish I could have afforded 2 more oz Apricot Guayusa…lol…
Now, I am anxious as a cat on a not tin roof ;-)
Outside of a few, small tea purchases this sales weekend, I finally purchased a canister I've been eyeing on Aliexpress.
Taking advantage of Harney and Sons 25% off and free shipping still going on today.
Love, love, love spicy teas…. so going with
Decaf Hot Cinnamon Spice 4 oz. (so many good reviews, hard to resist)
-Can't wait for this one to arrive!
Hubby likes milder teas and thought it might be good to find a tea that would be great iced that our son might like too so went with….
Blood Orange Herbal blend
-Hoping we like it since I went w/4 oz. Hard to beat the price difference between a sample and the 4oz tin! Not many reviews on it, but decent responses… We'll see about this one.
Was tempted to grab Paris, but have several teas on their way… not sure how many Hubby can handle at once being this is a new hobby/adventure in tasting. Might cave and order it too before the day is over.. We'll see.
IF anyone has any suggestions for things to try… feel free to chime in. We don't have too much experience with teas yet. Hubby tends to like green or black with mild flavors. I don't care much for green, but I like blacks, not sure yet about roobios (my fav bag tea has a blend of roobios and other teas, but tried a roobios chai from Tea & Spice Exchange and not crazy about it).. but I love almost anything so far with a spice to it, as I mentioned above :)
Without a good tea shop near us, and having just gained an interest in tea, we haven't tried Oolongs, Pu-erhs, etc. Just getting started, so the ones with easy to identify names are the ones we have been starting with until we get a taste for what our likes are.
Dön't feel rushed. There are many good teas out there.
My two favorite vendors are Verdant
& Butiki
Thanks CelebriTEA… & You're right, I'm too eager to try new things. I need I take my time and do my research, & then enjoy as I sample and learn.
I did look seriously at Butiki, but couldn't justify spending enough to qualify for their sales without having tries any of their teas before. They look like a favorite around here, so I'm sure I'll get started with them sometime soon.
The Verdant site looks familiar, so I think I was looking at their sales… Not sure what pulled me in another direction. Too many choices I suppose :)
I'm kinda jealous you were able to get an order in. I haven't been able to due to the site crashing.
Jeweled thumb… I didn't have any problems with it crashing it just went really slow !!
Well…I had a really awful day yesterday and missed out on cyber monday for all companies that i was looking to order from. I had "free money" on my paypal account so i figured what the hell and just placed an order for the following:
I would have also ordered from Theodor, but their shipping to canada is like 30Euro…so forget that. I'll just have to dream about celebration and the du loup…
A little tea buying makes everything a little brighter. I'm also quite sure that swaps could be arranged for some of the things you may have missed…..(Herbal Infusions 12 Christmas blends….)
heh yeah a few people took advantage so i'm sure between you and cavo and omg and a few others i'll be covered. Not overly upset, just had a bad day! I think i'm fighting getting sick so that always makes me more easily frazzled heh.
sara – yeah except that with my luck i'll get dinged with some random charge of a bajillion dollars when it gets here LOL. I just wish theodor had reasonable shipping or someone could tell me how to get some without paying 40euro for stupid shipping/taxes
….BUT Sil I thought you had that problem all worked out – you fly to Paris for the weekend….problem solved :))
yes but dex…i lead SUCH a busy life that there's no possible way to get away until the new year…so i might as well just order them now giggling
I just have to say I really like that Adagio gives you points for free tea and that they are so easy to acquire. I just placed an order and got it for under $8.00 :D
Tree House Gift Pack
Summer Rose
Chestnut sample
White Peach sample
Puerh Chorange sample
Puerh hazelberry sample
Currant sample
Cherry Almond Cookie
Today was a good day :]


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About the Author: Lori Shoemaker serves as Assistant Press Attache at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. You may also read Secretary Clinton's blog entry from Japan.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Tokyo the evening of February 16 on her much-anticipated first trip abroad as Secretary, to reassert our commitment to our allies and partners in Asia and discuss common approaches to the challenges facing the international community. In her arrival ceremony Monday night, she met Japanese female astronauts and members of Japan's Special Olympics team. On Tuesday, she started the day with an early-morning visit to the Meiji Shrine, one of my favorite spots in Tokyo. Walking under the Meiji Shrine's majestic tall trees and historic torii (traditional wooden gates), you can leave the concrete, glass, and steel of modern Tokyo behind for a moment and feel a real sense of traditional Japanese culture.
Next Secretary Clinton stopped by the U.S. Embassy to meet and greet embassy employees and their families, expressing appreciation for our work preparing for her visit and in representing the United States abroad. Although I had to miss the "meet and greet" because I was already working at the Secretary's next stop, Iikura Guest House, her close attention and willingness to listen to embassy staff meant a great deal to all of us.
Iikura Guest House is a beautifully-appointed Foreign Ministry building with a large reception hall, meeting rooms, and dining room. Secretary Clinton came to Tokyo to meet with senior Japanese officials for discussions on the strategic bilateral alliance and cooperation with Japan on regional and global issues such as the financial markets turmoil, humanitarian issues, and security and climate change. At Iikura House, the Secretary had a meeting and working lunch with Foreign Minister Nakasone and then together they addressed and took questions from a group of more than 100 journalists, including camera crews, assembled in the hall. My own role was to work out arrangements at the site for the traveling press which accompany the Secretary. After her meeting with Defense Minister Hamada and then a few moments with Ambassador Ogata, the president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Secretary returned to the U.S. Embassy to meet with family members of Japanese citizens who were abducted to North Korea, an issue to which she attaches great importance.
The Secretary then held a busy round of interviews with ABC, CBS and NBC in the embassy's small television studio, before proceeding to the Imperial Residence, where, as a former First Lady, she was received by Empress Michiko. (In 1994, President and Mrs. Clinton held a state dinner in honor of the Emperor and Empress.) After tea with the Empress, the Secretary returned to her hotel to continue interviews, on-camera with two Japanese broadcasters, and then with two Japanese newspapers. (My job involved setting these up.)
The Secretary's schedule was tight, timed down to the minute, and next she was whisked off to Tokyo University for a "Town Hall" meeting with Japanese college students. My colleagues told me that Secretary Clinton was in her element at the college "Town Hall," warmly greeting individual students after answering a wide range of their questions. (If you have a question for the Secretary, you may ask her one yourself online.) Since I wasn't at the "Town Hall," look for more about it later.
From Tokyo University, the Secretary proceeded to a meeting and working dinner with Prime Minister Aso, where I am sure that both the conversation and the cuisine were high-level. She then had a meeting with opposition party leader Ozawa, before the end of her long day's schedule.
As a mid-level press officer not at the Prime Minister's dinner, I enjoyed a "conbini obento" (box lunch from a convenience store) back at the office while finishing up assigned tasks, including this blog, in order to rush home to see my (sleeping) children. I'm sure that our Secretary, as a hard-working mother and professional for many years, would understand.
Paul in Florida writes:
Thank you Sec. Clinton for sharing these photos of your first trip as Secretary of State! I am so glad you are Representing us! God Bless You! :)
Terry in Connecticut writes:
Whoop! Check out the main State Dept. Homepage on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton press conference w/ the Japanese Foreign Minister. The wait was worth for a bunch of videos and pics of Sec. Clinton doing her work abroad. Thanks Dipnote for keeping us posted and imformed of Hillary's travels. my only grip is it takes too long to post comments.
Rosemary in New Jersey writes:
Great post, Lori! You worked hard and it appears you pulled it all off without a hitch. If I know our Hillary, and I think I do, even though your work was behind the scenes, she took the trouble to find out who made these arrangements. She knows logistics do not work themselves out.
Thanks for giving us such an interesting and beautifully written account of the day.
Carolyn in New York writes:
Dear Mme Secretary,
I enjoyed seeing the photo of you with the Japanese female astronauts. Did you feel a twinge of envy? I did. I think I remember reading that as a girl you had dreams about becoming an astronaut, as did I. In fact, I didn't really relinquish those dreams until age 50, when I visited NASA and learned that migraine-prone types are absolutely miserable at zero gravity -- that counts me out! I'm embarassed to say I didn't know Japan had female astronauts, but it will be a pleasure to follow their careers here on in.
I don't need to tell you how much good you have done and are doing for the cause of women's rights around the world. Call me an eternal optimist, but I look forward to the day when you will continue that endeavor as our first woman President.
Herold in South Korea writes:
Thank you Sec.Clinton for your Blog. We hoped traditional American-Korean Military allience & Close Relations could had been regarded more important than any other country in Asia. Anyway,you are No.1 Secretary of DOS in American History.
Patrick in Maryland writes:
I am happy to see your trip to Tokyo japan went so well. I think this is a golden moment in history. I like the photo of Hillary,The Astonauts and The Olympics team members. I think the Japans are a very spiritual people and that The United states can learn a lot from them. I am glad to see they will be working with us on the problems of the world.
I also think China,Korea,and other Asia countries will be a big part in solving some of the problems in the world today.I also like that Minister Aso will be visiting the United States on Febuary 24th.
Keep up the good work. Cya :)
Zahra in Washington, DC writes:
It is a pleasure to have Secretary Clinton representing the United States abroad. I like the picture very much. Only by working closely, the United States and the Asian countries will be able to build a better understanding of each other's different cultures and traditions.
Thank you.
Tommye Jean in Texas writes:
I have U.S. Dept of State saved to Favorites and will follow the work of the State Dept and our Madame Secretary, whom I have followed and supported for years. I have no questions about Asia but listen carefully to Madame Secretary's words and, as always, learn a great deal. I am excited and so pleased and proud that she is our Secretary of State. I share in the excitement and enthusiasm of the people in the State Department with whom she will work to accomplish the many challenges our nation faces. I wish I were one of you who can call her your "boss", but, I must watch, support, and cheer you on from afar. Thank you for your work all over the world on behalf of our country. Thank you for your very warm embrace of Madame Secretary. I believe you have someone that you have deserved for a very long time.
Koji in Japan writes:
It was our pleasure that Ms. Clinton came to Japan. The alliance between the United States and Japan is a cornerstone of our foreign policy. We hope that the relationship between North Korea will be improved. The abduction of North Korea should be resolved immediately. Hope the U.S. will help our government to solve this problem.
Lori in Japan writes:
Thank you Tommye Jean, Zahra, Patrick, and others, for your comments. As I mentioned in my original blog, the Secretary had a lively Town Hall meeting with Japanese students. There's a nice one-minute clip of it posted in the Multimedia part of state.gov, or you can copy and paste this link into your browser: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1857622883?bctid=1331261....
Shelley in Connecticut writes:
This blog is a great place. I first came here to follow Secretary Clinton, and am enjoying the chance to hear from & learn more about our hardworking representatives around the globe.
Annette in California writes:
I have been following SoS Clinton throughout her travels this past week. She is such an amazing and brilliant talent! I am thrilled that we have her as our representative and I have the utmost respect for her as clearly do many others around the globe. Oh, what I wouldn't give to work for a Department that she is heading!
Jennifer in Japan writes:
Dear Lori,
Thanks to you and all the others here in Tokyo that made Mdm. Secretary's visit a success. I was one of the family members at the Embassy "meet and greet" with Mdm. Secretary and it was very special.
Mary in Canada writes:
Thank you so much for this informative blog! It is gratifying to see the hard work that you are all doing to ensure Madam Secretary's visit to Japan is a success.
HIllary Clinton is a wonderful, perhaps the best ever, diplomat and best represents the hard working values and ethos of a country that seems to be waking up to its great potential abroad. HIllary is an icon to all girls and women all over the world and she is already humanizing the political process with her grace, dignity and compassionate intelligence. Keep on informing us of her travels!!! Thanks.
Chris in Washington, DC writes:
Sec. Clinton is a shining example of a diplomat. She is a positive influence and role model for all many you men and women of this nation. Through tremendous achievements she has shown the progress of our nation. Thank you for a very successful trip to Asia and strengthening the bond of our nations.


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Garrison, William Lloyd
William Lloyd Garrison 1805-1879
American social reformer, journalist, nonfiction writer, speech writer, and biographer.
Generally regarded as the foremost figure of the United States abolitionist movement, Garrison was a widely recognized speaker, political agitator, and voice of reform in nineteenth-century America. Expressing radical views through his influential anti-slavery periodical the Liberator (1831-65), Garrison was an outspoken supporter of alcohol prohibition, women's suffrage, nonviolent resistance, and other social issues. Religiously devout and fervent in his opposition to injustice, Garrison earned a reputation for political extremism, once setting fire to a copy of the United States Constitution, declaring it "a covenant with death and an agreement with hell" for its sanction of slavery. In devoting three and a half decades of his public career to the complete elimination of slavery in the United States, Garrison contributed to the polarization of American society in the years leading up to the Civil War, and in his zealous drive toward racial equality he became a rallying figure for both adherents and opponents of abolitionism. Faced with the unforgiving task of rousing Northerners from their general indifference to slavery and condemning Southern slaveholders for their immorality, Garrison saw his goal realized with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which emancipated all black slaves in 1865. The remainder of his life Garrison devoted to less visible causes in the name of social and moral progress in American society.
Biographical Information
Born on December 10, 1805 in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Garrison was the son of a Nova Scotian immigrant, Abijah Garrison, and his wife Frances Maria Lloyd. His father abandoned the family before Garrison was three years old, leaving Garrison's mother to raise three children alone. Poor economic prospects prohibited the young Garrison from completing his education. After only a few years of grammar school he began a period of indentured labor, eventually becoming an apprentice printer with the Newburyport Herald in 1818. The apprenticeship lasted seven years and Garrison proved well suited to the work. He continued his career in journalism as editor of the Essex County Free Press in 1826. The newspaper failed, but Garrison persevered, transferring to the National Philanthropist, a Boston-based prohibition paper. His work with the National Philanthropist demonstrated the young Garrison's growing reformist zeal. He began to write editorials in favor of moral and political improvement, speaking out against the consumption of alcohol, sexual promiscuity, and the institution of slavery, among other social ills. With increasing visibility in the anti-slavery circles of New England, but little local response to his opinions on reform, Garrison accepted a position with the Genius of Universal Emancipation, a Baltimore journal he began to co-edit with abolitionist Benjamin Lundy in 1829. In its pages, Garrison advocated the full and immediate emancipation of all American slaves, an extremely radical anti-slavery position at that moment in United States history. He also rebutted arguments for the colonization of freed slaves in Africa, a position he had previously supported but no longer found suitable. Garrison's broadsides against slavery in the Genius of Universal Emancipation were accompanied by personalized attacks, including one aimed at Newburyport businessman Francis Todd for his involvement in the slave trade. Todd sued Garrison for libel after learning of the accusation, and a Baltimore court sentenced Garrison, who was unable to pay his fine, to six months in jail. During his incarceration, Garrison composed a small pamphlet entitled A Brief Sketch of the Trial of William Lloyd Garrison for an Alleged Libel on Francis Todd, of Newburyport, Massachusetts (published in 1834; but circulated in 1830). The sketch attracted the attention of philanthropist Arthur Tappan, who paid Garrison's fine, thereby securing the journalist's release after seven weeks of imprisonment. Returning to Boston, Garrison found support for his anti-slavery attitudes still modest, but on the rise. He initiated a new periodical, calling it the Liberator, in January of 1831. That year also witnessed the outbreak of the infamous Nat Turner slave rebellion. The insurrection, which resulted in the murder of sixty-one whites and the eventual execution of its black instigators, prompted a fevered outbreak of racial tension in the United States. Even as he decried the brutality of this rebellion, Garrison capitalized on the climate of unrest it had created to promote his abolitionist campaign in the Liberator. Meanwhile, the outspoken Garrison had attracted numerous detractors, culminating in a call by the Georgia state legislature in November of 1831 to arrest and abduct the Liberator's editor in exchange for a $5,000 reward. The payment was never claimed, and Garrison used the publicity to slight the moral disposition of the slaveholding South. In 1832, the reformer published his Thoughts on African Colonization. That year, the New England Anti-Slavery Society was assembled and named Garrison as its secretary. He sailed across the Atlantic for the first time in 1833 to meet with anti-slavery supporters in Great Britain. After his return in the fall of 1834, he married Helen Benson, daughter of an eminent New England abolitionist. Appearing at a meeting of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society the following year, Garrison was attacked by an angry mob. The intervention of city police allowed Garrison to escape unharmed. Later, he would parlay the incident into a public relations spectacle. In the ensuing years, divisions within the American abolitionist movement, especially between Garrison and members of the New England clergy, threatened his success. In the summer of 1840, Garrison returned once again to England, as a delegate to the International Anti-Slavery Convention in London. The segregation of women from the main convention floor, however, forced him to silently demur in protest for the duration of the conference. In 1843 Garrison became president of the American Anti-Slavery Society, occupying the position for more than two decades as the face of abolitionism in the United States. As the 1840s progressed, the nation witnessed a steady increase in public awareness of, if not direct sympathy with, the anti-slavery movement, in part due to Garrison's political agitation and speaking. Political tensions swelled as the union continued its westward expansion, culminating in the pivotal Compromise of 1850 and ratification of the notorious Fugitive Slave Law. Garrison decried the law and similar political concessions to the South. Having publicly denounced the framers of the United States Constitution for condoning slavery, Garrison refused to placate his enemies or soften the tone of his rhetoric. The infamous raid by abolitionist John Brown on a federal weapons arsenal at Harpers Ferry in October of 1859 once again stirred public unease. Brown was executed, and Garrison, while disparaging his violent methods, credited him as a champion of the abolitionist cause in the Liberator. The election of Abraham Lincoln to the United States presidency in 1860, followed by the secession of the Southern states and the eruption of the American Civil War in 1861 ensured a violent resolution to the anti-slavery conflict. Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the freedom of all slaves, became the law of the land in 1865 after the conclusion of the war and ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. With his efforts to eliminate slavery largely realized at this time, Garrison supported the dissolution of the American Anti-Slavery Society and retired from a prominent role in public life. He continued his social reform efforts, however, protesting against the sale and use of alcohol and tobacco, and working to protect the rights of women and Native Americans until his death on May 24, 1879.
Major Works
Garrison's written and oratorical works overwhelmingly demonstrate his radical approach to the major reform issues he recognized in nineteenth-century American society: moral laxity, the consumption of alcohol, deficiencies in women's rights, institutional corruption, and above all, the practice of slavery. In a series of fiery public addresses, delivered throughout New England, Garrison exhorted the American people to free themselves of non-Christian practices and to wage war against sin by supporting an impulse toward the universal abolition of black slavery. Garrison expanded his arguments to include other reformist inclinations, including his desire to promote the religious doctrine of perfectionism—the urge to emulate the perfected moral state of Jesus Christ—and his belief in nonresistance to violence—pacifism, or nonviolent civil disobedience—in the pages of his newspaper the Liberator. For Garrison, the journal became a personal mouthpiece of reform, and, despite its relatively small circulation, it exerted a major influence on public opinion about slavery. In numerous speeches Garrison articulated his confrontational and steadfast position. Among his notable addresses, No Compromise with Slavery (1854) endeavors to sway listeners to halt the unethical practice of slaveholding, and to undertake this mission without equivocation, conciliation, or appeasement. In his 1859 speech "No Fetters in the Bay State!" Garrison singled out the odious Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which allowed slaveholders to forcibly retrieve slaves who had fled north to freedom and return them to southern plantations, as a central example of the hypocrisy and moral vacuity of a nation that allowed and excused the practice of slavery. Among Garrison's written works, Thoughts on African Colonization (1832) details his arguments against the proposed recolonization of Africa by former slaves, a plan promoted by some moderate abolitionists but never actualized. In the work, Garrison laid bare the flawed nature of such a scheme that would presume to resolve the problem of slavery by sending American blacks to a continent where they would largely be received as outsiders and members of the underclass. A single example of his purely literary work, Garrison's collection of lyric verse Sonnets and Other Poems (1843) is thought to attest to the vigor of his moral conviction and sentiment, rather than to his talent as a versifier.
Critical Reception
Popular and critical reaction to Garrison during his lifetime was anything but ambivalent. As a provocative, radical, and highly visible agitator, actively engaged with the most hotly debated issue of social reform in nineteenth-century America, Garrison generally elicited views as extreme as his own. Supporters heaped praise, calling him a courageous champion of justice and morality. Detractors responded with vehement condemnation, labeling him a dangerous fanatic. Meanwhile, divisions within the antislavery movement in the 1840s and 1850s, frequently generated by Garrison's unswerving belief in his principles and complete refusal to compromise, caused even former adherents, such as the charismatic freed slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, to split with him over the methods of eliminating slavery and enacting social reform. Additionally, Garrison's tendency to denounce a host of social ills in conjunction with abolitionist claims, always with an unwavering, missionary zeal, frequently led to major rifts among his allies. With the conclusion of the American Civil War in 1865 and the forthcoming era of black emancipation, however, the main thrust of Garrison's position on slavery had been realized. Moderate abolitionists tended to realign with Garrison, allowing him to enjoy victory as the most immediately identifiable hero of the movement. Nevertheless, by the late nineteenth century, social and political historians had begun to question elements of the Garrison legend. The appearance in 1913 of John Jay Chapman's adulatory biography of the reformer, which de-emphasized Garrison's radicalism in order to mold a figure more satisfying to the mainstream, did little to halt the process. In 1933, historian Gilbert Hobbs Barnes published his revisionist study, The Antislavery Impulse, a work that halted the conciliatory trend and forcefully questioned Garrison's success, accusing him of a counterproductive extremism that contributed to the outbreak of armed hostilities between North and South. Barnes's assessment dominated scholarly opinion of Garrison for two decades, until the mid-1950s when critics began the process of harmonizing extreme views. Since this time, contemporary critics have tended to accept Garrison's significance as a historical embodiment of American abolitionism, while noting that he did not actually lead the abolitionist movement, but rather served as a focal point. By the end of the twentieth century, few would dispute Garrison's overall influence as a reformer. Meanwhile, a number of postmodern commentators have shifted scholarly concentration away from historical assessments of Garrison in order to conduct rhetorical and literary analyses of his speeches and writing, usually within the cultural contexts of mid nineteenth-century America and from the vantage point of a contemporary awareness of the ongoing process of social reform.
Principal Works
An Address: Delivered Before the Free People of Color, in Philadelphia, New York, and Other Cities, During the Month of June, 1831 (speech) 1831
An Address on the Progress of the Abolition Cause: Delivered before the African Abolition Freehold Society of Boston, July 16, 1832 (speech) 1832
Thoughts on African Colonization (pamphlet) 1832
Address Delivered in Boston, New-York and Philadelphia: Before the Free People of Color, in April, 1833 (speech) 1833
*A Brief Sketch of the Trial of William Lloyd Garrison for an Alleged Libel on Francis Todd, of Newburyport, Massachusetts (nonfiction) 1834
(The entire section is 529 words.)
Lewis Tappan (essay date 1833)
SOURCE: Tappan, Lewis. "Lewis Tappan Praises Garrison." In Great Lives Observed: William Lloyd Garrison, edited by George M. Fredrickson, pp. 74-76. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1968.
[In the following excerpt from a speech delivered to the inaugural convention of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833, Tappan praises Garrison as a pioneer of the abolitionist movement and defends him against his critics.]
Some men, Mr. President, are frightened at a name. There is good evidence to believe that many professed friends of abolition would have been here, had they not been afraid that the name of William Lloyd Garrison would be inserted prominently...
(The entire section is 959 words.)
Frederick Douglass (essay dates 1847 and 1855)
SOURCE: Douglass, Frederick. The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, edited by Philip S. Foner, pp. 217-60, 350-52. New York: International Publishers, 1950.
[In the following excerpts, from a speech and letter of 1847 and an 1855 lecture, Douglass honors Garrison the man, but critiques the Garrisonian anti-slavery doctrine in practice.]
Sir, the foremost, strongest, and mightiest among those who have completely identified themselves with the Negroes in the United States, I will now name here; and I do so because his name has been most unjustly coupled with odium in this country. [Hear, hear.] I will name, if only as an expression of gratitude on my part, my...
(The entire section is 1897 words.)
Henry Wilson (essay date 1873)
SOURCE: Wilson, Henry. The History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, pp. 184-88. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1873.
[In the following excerpt, Wilson offers accolades to Garrison for his singular courage in promoting the anti-slavery cause.]
Mr. Garrison's partner in the publication of The Liberator was Mr. Isaac Knapp, a printer, like himself, and also a native of the same town. The paper was commenced without funds and without a single subscriber. Bearing the comprehensive and cosmopolitan motto, "My country is the world, my countrymen are all mankind," it appealed to no party, sect, or interest for recognition and support. Both editor and...
(The entire section is 1564 words.)
James Schouler (essay date 1889)
SOURCE: Schouler, James. History of the United States of America Under the Constitution, vol. 4, pp. 210-21. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1892.
[In the following excerpt from an essay originally published in 1889, Schouler characterizes Garrison as a fanatical agitator whose radical methods demonstrated a complete lack of regard for constitutional law.]
This new abolition movement at the North did not, like the Quaker one of former days, respect constitutional bounds and seek mild persuasion of the white master who held the local law in his hands. It boldly proclaimed that the laws of nature were paramount to a human institution; it preached freedom as of divine...
(The entire section is 2919 words.)
James Ford Rhodes (essay date 1892)
SOURCE: Rhodes, James Ford. History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850, vol. 1, pp. 56-63. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1892.
[In the following excerpt, Rhodes considers Garrison's work in relation to slave uprisings of the 1830s, and presents an assessment of his impact on mid-nineteenth-century American politics.]
In August of this year (1831) occurred the Nat Turner insurrection in Virginia, which seemed to many Southerners a legitimate fruit of the bold teaching of Garrison, although there was indeed between the two events no real connection. But this negro rising struck terror through the South and destroyed calm reason. The leader, Nat Turner, a...
(The entire section is 2185 words.)
Leo Tolstoy (essay date 1904)
SOURCE: Tolstoy, Leo. Introduction to A Short Biography of William Lloyd Garrison, by Vladimir Tchertkoff and F. Holah, pp. v-xii. London: The Free Age Press, 1904.
[In the following essay, Tolstoy acknowledges Garrison's decisive articulation of "the principle of non-resistance to evil by violence," which champions rational and moral persuasion over violent coercion.]
I thank you very much for sending me your biography of Garrison.
Reading it, I lived again through the spring of my awakening to true life. While reading Garrison's speeches and articles I vividly recalled to mind the spiritual joy which I experienced twenty years ago, when I found...
(The entire section is 1931 words.)
John Jay Chapman (essay date 1913)
SOURCE: Chapman, John Jay. "The Man of Action." In William Lloyd Garrison, pp. 158-98. Boston: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1921.
[In the following excerpt from an essay originally published in 1913, Chapman describes Garrison's forceful political activism, highlighting the unswerving religious and theoretical principals that guided his reformist course.]
Garrison was a man of action, that is to say, a man to whom ideas were revealed in relation to passing events, and who saw in ideas the levers and weapons with which he might act upon the world. A seer on the other hand is a man who views passing events by the light of ideas, and who counts upon his vision, not...
(The entire section is 2984 words.)
Jesse Macy (essay date 1919)
SOURCE: Macy, Jesse. "The Turning Point." In The Anti-Slavery Crusade: A Chronicle of the Gathering Storm, pp. 54-66. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1919.
[In the following excerpt, Macy recounts pivotal events in the American anti-slavery movement during the year 1831, including the first publication of Garrison's newspaper the Liberator and the Nat Turner slave rebellion.]
The year 1831 is notable for three events in the history of the anti-slavery controversy: on the first day of January in that year William Lloyd Garrison began in Boston the publication of the Liberator; in August there occurred in Southampton, Virginia, an insurrection...
(The entire section is 2575 words.)
Russel B. Nye (essay date 1955)
SOURCE: Nye, Russel B. William Lloyd Garrison and the Humanitarian Reformers, pp. 198-206. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1955.
[In the following excerpt, Nye concentrates on Garrison's religious motivation to combat human evil by eradicating slavery. The critic also stresses exaggerations in the Garrison legend, while acknowledging Garrison's considerable historical and symbolic significance to American abolitionism.]
Garrison's mind worked on two levels, the moral and the practical. On the one, his approach to issues was determined by principle; on the other, by tactics and strategy. The level of his argument fluctuated, as it did during the Civil War when he...
(The entire section is 2389 words.)
John L. Thomas (essay date 1963)
SOURCE: Thomas, John L. "'Our Doom as a Nation Is Sealed.'" In The Liberator, William Lloyd Garrison: A Biography, pp. 209-35. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1963.
[In the following excerpt, Thomas probes the political context of Garrison's religious views, particularly his belief in the Christian doctrine of perfectionism in relation to the debate over constitutional reform that occurred in the United States during the 1830s.]
In the quiet of the Benson farmhouse, where he and his wife retired after his encounter with the Boston mob, Garrison took time to reflect on the progress of moral reform. "Much as my mind is absorbed in the anti-slavery cause,"...
(The entire section is 8622 words.)
Howard Zinn (essay date 1965)
SOURCE: Zinn, Howard. "Abolitionists, Freedom-Riders, and the Tactics of Agitation." In The Antislavery Vanguard: New Essays on the Abolitionists, edited by Martin Duberman, pp. 417-54. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1965.
[In the following excerpt, Zinn addresses Garrison as a political "extremist," discussing his overall influence on the attitudes of average Americans toward the slavery question in the mid-nineteenth century.]
"Extremist" carries a psychological burden when attached to political movements, which it does not bear in other situations. A woman who is extremely beautiful, a man who is extremely kind, a mechanic who is extremely...
(The entire section is 2523 words.)
George M. Fredrickson (essay date 1968)
SOURCE: Fredrickson, George M. Introduction to Great Lives Observed: William Lloyd Garrison, edited by George M. Fredrickson, pp. 1-8. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1968.
[In the following essay, Fredrickson summarizes Garrison's theories of reform, nonviolent resistance, and social progress, while critiquing some of the more radical elements of his political position.]
William Lloyd Garrison did not, in any real sense, lead the American antislavery movement. Abolitionism was a decentralized enterprise subject to local variation and internal factionalism, and Garrison's control of tactics and strategy never extended far beyond the borders of New England (it...
(The entire section is 3203 words.)
Aileen S. Kraditor (essay date 1969)
SOURCE: Kraditor, Aileen S. "Religion and the Good Society." In Means and Ends in American Abolitionism: Garrison and His Critics on Strategy and Tactics, 1834-1850, pp. 78-95. New York: Pantheon Books, 1969.
[In the following excerpt, Kraditor examines Garrison's views on radical social issues of the mid-1800s, such as nonresistance (pacifism) and women's rights.]
In the fight over the woman question the anti-Garrisonian abolitionists showed their concern with what today would be called the movement's "public image." This is particularly evident from the fact that the assault on the innovations in women's public activity originated with clergymen outside or on...
(The entire section is 8115 words.)
Walter M. Merrill (essay date 1971)
SOURCE: Merrill, Walter M. Introduction to I Will Be Heard! 1822-1835: The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison. Volume I, edited by Walter M. Merrill, pp. vii-ix. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, The Belknap Press, 1971.
[In the following essay, Merrill encapsulates critical reaction to Garrison from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1960s and briefly characterizes the content of Garrison's correspondence.]
If Garrison could have looked across the century and witnessed the publication of the first volume of his letters, he would have considered the event propitious. In his nonviolent agitation for the black man he always had an uncanny sense of timing, a...
(The entire section is 1204 words.)
James Brewer Stewart (essay date 1976)
SOURCE: Stewart, James Brewer. "Petitions, Perfectionists, and Political Abolitionists." In Holy Warriors: The Abolitionists and American Slavery, pp. 89-96. New York: Hill and Wang, 1976.
[In the following excerpt, Stewart surveys the broad-based, political radicalism associated with the term "Garrisonism."]
William Lloyd Garrison, without question, served as … [a] focal point of dissension. It was he who first associated abolitionism with an even more radical opposition to religious and political institutions. As early as 1835, Arthur Tappan had shown discomfort over Garrison's harsh attacks on orthodox New England Calvinists. But by 1837 it seemed to many...
(The entire section is 1861 words.)
David Henry (essay date 1997)
SOURCE: Henry, David. "Garrison at Philadelphia: The 'Declaration of Sentiments' as Instrumental Rhetoric." In Rhetoric and Political Culture in Nineteenth-Century America, edited by Thomas W. Benson, pp. 113-29. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1997.
[In the following essay, Henry conducts a rhetorical analysis of the American Anti-Slavery Society's "Declaration of Sentiments," drafted by Garrison, and studies its links to the Declaration of Independence.]
In the opening chapter of Rhetorical Questions, Edwin Black attends to the relationship between his most recent book and the path breaking Rhetorical Criticism: A Study in...
(The entire section is 7211 words.)
Robert A. Fanuzzi (essay date 1998)
SOURCE: Fanuzzi, Robert A. "'The Organ of an Individual': William Lloyd Garrison and the Liberator." Prospects: An Annual of American Cultural Studies 23 (1998): 107-27.
[In the following essay, Fanuzzi regards the tension between sentiments expressed by Garrison in his newspaper the Liberator and his self-portrayal as a disinterested public advocate who favored abolitionism and other social reforms in nineteenth-century America.]
The political agenda of William Lloyd Garrison and his adherents within the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society (MASS) can be reconstructed with the rhetoric and practices of print culture, starting with its assumption...
(The entire section is 9381 words.)
Paul Goodman (essay date 1998)
SOURCE: Goodman, Paul. "The Assault on Racial Prejudice, 1831-1837." In Of One Blood: Abolitionism and the Origins of Racial Equality, pp. 54-64. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.
[In the following essay, Goodman centers on Garrison's Thoughts on African Colonization as among the reformer's most critical efforts to educate the American public about race, promote absolute racial equality, and denounce the nineteenth-century movement in favor of black American colonization of Africa.]
In June 1831, full of optimism, William Lloyd Garrison made a tour of urban black communities, including New York City and Philadelphia, to speak directly with...
(The entire section is 4741 words.)
Christopher Castiglia (essay date spring 2002)
SOURCE: Castiglia, Christopher. "Abolition's Racial Interiors and the Making of White Civic Depth." American Literary History 14, no. 1 (spring 2002): 32-59.
[In the following essay, Castiglia explores the dynamics of American social reformist discourse as mediated through a scheme of white sympathy and virtuous black suffering, using Garrison's writing and speeches as principal sources.]
How social order became understood in relation to the description and reform of specific types of citizens' interiority (their "natures" or "characters," emanations of the "deep" self) is a topic central to understanding how social reform affected public opinion in the...
(The entire section is 9664 words.)
Further Reading
Barnes, Gilbert Hobbs. The Antislavery Impulse, 1830-1844, pp. 55-170. New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1933.
Presents a revisionist judgment of the Garrison legend, maintaining the Garrison's role in the anti-slavery movement was largely that of a fanatical agitator whose real impact was negligible.
Browne, Stephen H. "Encountering Angelina Grimké: Violence, Identity, and the Creation of Radical Community." Quarterly Journal of Speech 82, no. 1 (February 1996): 55-73.
Close analysis of a letter written by Angelina Grimké to Garrison regarding the symbolic uses of violence in the creation of a...
(The entire section is 469 words.)


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Educational value
CASSADAGA – Education is a hot topic for many. The League of Women Voters knows how important education is and invited the community to a conversation on the topic with local college professors.
The League of Women Voters hosted three SUNY Fredonia education professors Thursday in Cassadaga to discuss the optimism in education.
Dr. Larry Maheady, who has a background in special education, discussed some of the strides that has been made in education over recent years, including the Race to the Top initiative and funding for education increasing for teachers.
"We've had mandates that hire more qualified teachers, teachers with more credentials and more advanced degrees," Maheady said.
While there has been advancement in teaching qualifications, others say more needs to be done in terms of reform. According to Maheady, reform has been taking place in the school system for 30 years but still students aren't seeing the improvement they would like. He said the variable of student achievement has been neglected. "We forgot about what it is that teachers do," Maheady said. "If you look at the latest formula, Race to the Top, it's all centered around growth and student learning. That hasn't been a priority (in the past)."
Maheady said that while there are new initiatives to help students succeed, one-third of students are set up to fail before they even enter into the classroom. Dr. Mira Berkley, who specializes in early childhood education, said good education standards need to start during early childhood so students will succeed later on in their education. Berkley said play learning has advantages for young children as long as they are "actively engaged."
"We need to see children actively engaged in a first hand, concrete experience in things that make sense to learn about. They can do an awful lot of appropriate learning," Berkley said. "We know these young children are capable of a lot of intellectual growth and learning the skills that they need."
The final speaker, Dr. Cynthia Smith, who has worked in elementary, middle and high schools as well as higher education, focused more on research in conjunction with education. Smith also works in the Dunkirk City Schools and helps supplement teaching plans for teachers in the elementary school with research. She noted that as a parent, to receive data and research on her student "floored" her.
"I'm the parent of a kindergartener. … The first time I went into a parent teacher conference, I was floored by the amount of data the school had on my six-year-old child. It was very exciting for me to see all the data. I have the same kind of data for the children I work with in fifth grade," Smith said.
Following the speakers, the floor was opened up to questions from the audience. The panel discussed technology and what can be done to help students educationally.
"I think technology … there are all kinds of opportunities to be a blessing and a curse," Berkley said. "I think there is a time and a place."
Berkley said younger pre-school students should not be using computers or iPads all the time, but there is a place and time for students to use technology. Maheady said technology is a good learning tool for students with disabilities. Smith said it is nice to bring education to life if students have questions during reading, she can bring up information from the internet in real time.
Maheady concluded by touching on the amount of information students are required to learn. He described the "inch deep" curriculum where students learn only a little bit about a wide variety of subjects.
In other countries, he said, students go in-depth into only few selected areas of study.
Comments on this article may be sent to firstname.lastname@example.com.


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In with mall, out with cows
By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published May 26, 2007
WESLEY CHAPEL - To them, it was just grass.
They never knew they were transients on a white-hot slice of prime Pasco real estate.
For three years, the cows stayed oblivious as controversies unfolded around Cypress Creek Town Center. Lawsuits were flung over the property. Powerful people cut million-dollar deals to decide its fate.
The cows just chowed down.
Who can blame them?
They had hundreds of acres to romp on. They had plenty of food while they hung out.
Now, as the supermall gets ready to start construction, the cows will soon be gone from the bowl of land between Interstate 75 and State Road 56.
"The cattle on the Cypress Creek Town Center site are being moved as we speak, " said Deanne Roberts, a spokeswoman for the mall.
Cypress Creek Town Center got its final permit to start moving dirt last week.
The cows are already a fading memory.
Where will they go? Representatives of the mall developer, the Richard E. Jacobs Group, weren't sure, but said they would be moved to nearby pastures.
"There are approximately 200 of them on the site and they belong to a local cattle rancher by the name of Larry Bennett, " said Bill Fullington, Jacobs' spokesman. Attempts to reach Bennett were unsuccessful.
J. Robert "Hi" Sierra, the scion of the Pasco ranching family who brokered the mall deal, leased the land to Bennett while waiting for the mall to get going. No comment from Sierra about the cows.
They probably were Black Angus, or Brahmin, or Hereford breeds, said Octavio Blanco, an Odessa veterinarian. Herefords are known by their white faces.
These are beef breeds. They are no pampered dairy cows. They can live with bugs and heat. They don't eat so much, and produce maybe two gallons of milk a day.
"Dairy cows can produce 10, 15, 20 gallons a day, but they eat massive amounts, " Blanco said. "If you put them on Cypress Creek, they will die."
Animal rights activists looking for a cause to champion might not find much in these moo-makers.
"It's not like the mall will mean the death of the cows, " Blanco said.
The mall makes no difference in the cows' ultimate destination. That would be a stopover at the you-know-what, followed by a final resting place at McDonald's or Publix.
The cows were there for a very human reason - taxes.
Agricultural land gets what ranchers call the "greenbelt exemption."
It makes a big difference.
With the cows on the land, the estimated annual tax on Cypress Creek Town Center's nearly 500 acres was $32, 329, according to the county property appraiser's Web site. The bulk of that - $29, 531 - came from a 4-acre corner of the property that did not qualify for the greenbelt exemption.
Without the cows? $818, 130.
That is why landowners lease unused property to cattle ranchers. Plus they get a ranch hand to take care of things and keep an eye on the place, said Ted Schrader, a Pasco county commissioner and second-generation rancher.
You can structure a rent deal in any number of ways, said Robert Thomas, a third-generation Hernando County rancher who also owns 3, 500 acres just south of Zephyrhills.
You can charge by number of cows. Or you can charge by acreage. Or by a combination of both. Or you can offer a lower rent in exchange for the ranch hand picking up the tax.
The quality of the land makes a difference. So do things like fencing, wells and pens. The more work you expect the ranch hand to do, the lower the rent you charge, Thomas said.
By acre, a landowner could charge something between $7 and $12 an acre per year, Thomas said. The Starkey family charges about $10 for its 1, 000-acre property near New Port Richey, Frank Starkey said.
By head, it could be $90 to $120 per cow per year, Thomas said.
Out west, Thomas said, they tend to use AUMs, or "animal unit measurements, " which is a fancy way of saying "per cow." In Florida, acreage is the more popular measure, he said.
Assuming $10 per acre, renting cow space on Cypress Creek Town Center would cost about $5, 000 a year.
But not for long.
County planners are expecting the megamall to churn out something like $9-million a year in taxes.
So we say goodbye to Central Pasco's most blissfully ignorant tenants. They just got new landlords.
That's called moo-ving on.
Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at (813) 909-4613 or email@example.com.


text: This set of slides contains the mid-program review from CenterPoint Energy which was granted a "Good Cause Exemption" from the Texas Public Utility Commission to deploy up to 500 In Home Energy Displays. CenterPoint Energy reports results back to Texas Public Utility Commission and ERCOT Retail Market Subcommittee. The purpose of this pilot project includes: Encouraging the adoption of Home Area Network in the Texas Retail Market, and Gaining experience with the technical interactions of Home Area Networks devices with the Itron Meter before Energy Management is deployed by REPs and Mass Markets.


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text:
by Anton Shilov
A recent survey of consumers in the U.S. conducted by ABI Research found out that notebook is by far the most preferable form-factor of personal computer at present. Two times more people plan to get a PC in clamshell or slate form-factors than in desktop flavour.
The survey revealed that while desktops are the most common type of computer in consumers' homes, consumers are more than twice as likely (35%) to buy laptops, netbooks, or media tablets than desktops in the next six months. The results clearly show changing attitudes across all classes of computing devices.
"What somewhat surprised us was that while price is still important – in fact the single most important characteristic for laptops – in other computer types features such as processor speed, screen resolution, and memory, were considered more important. Consumers have a price-range expectation and within that range they look for certain features and specifications," said Michael Inouye, an industry analyst with ABI.
Price remains the most important criterion for laptops because most new laptops purchased at retail will perform most functions that a typical user wants so price is seen as critical.
But for desktops, which are often priced lower (per spec) than laptops, respondents picked processor speed, memory, and storage capacity above price. Consumers perceive these computers as offering processing power and plenty of storage, perhaps acting as the central hub for a digital library.
"In netbooks, much media attention has been devoted to the processors because this often has an impact on users' experience. So the majority of consumers cite processor speed as a netbook's most important feature. As well as a definite shift to laptops, there is greater overlap between netbook and laptop segments," added Janet Wise, primary research director at ABI Research.
Cost figures even further down the list of important criteria for media tablets, outranked by processor speed, screen resolution, memory, screen size, storage and operating system.
ABI surveyed two thousand of U.S.-based consumers in August, 2010.


text:
He just pushed JOrdy's head into the ground. Then was illegally pushing Cobb after the play. Both of which were 15 yard penalties. Just a jerk.
finnegan's a jack…
One Response to "finnegan's a jack…"
56coop Says:
October 21, 2012 at 1:08 pm |
Ram's receivers have way to much space. Jackson just might make a fool out of our defense before this day is done.


text:
The law requires a tremendous amount of analysis and the EPA has frankly been paralyzed by the analysis.30 years. On almost every other statute since that time, Congress has revised its approach, sometimes several times, as in the case of the Clean Air Act and the Pesticide Act.
All 62,000 chemicals that were grandfathered under the Toxic Substances Control Act were not evaluated at all.very different than in the world of pesticides, where a chemical is registered for a use. So I know that when I'm looking at a label on a pesticide, that pesticide is for use on corn to control insects, and I know what are the other pesticides that are used on corn to control insects. But if you're looking at chemicals — say you're looking at a flame retardant or something used to make a plastic baby bottle — it's very helpful to know what are the other chemicals being marketed for that use. The industry has been very reluctant to provide that information to the EPA.
If there are gobs of chemicals coming across the Pacific from China or India, we can still be impacted by them.observable — what that implies is all we're going to be concerned about is basically poisoning. Any reasonable assessment of risk is going to have to look at lower dose exposures, impacts that occur chronically over a number of years, or maybe acutely with birth defects. But you're not going to be able to determine that without doing either really thorough toxicological testing or, if it's already on the market, possibly epidemiological studies.
MORE FROM YALE e360
From the Fields to Inner City,
Pesticides May Affect Kids' IQ


text:
Tabletop Easel
- Overview
Crafted to sit easily atop a table or desk, this double-sided design lets kids write, draw and create all kinds of artwork.
- 17.5" wide x 14" deep x 18" high
- Made of a solid wood frame with a chalkboard and magnetic/whiteboard finish.
- Portable fold-and-store easel for desk or tabletop use.
- One side for chalk, the other side for magnets and erasable markers (not included).
- Includes easel, paper roll, board eraser and metal clip.
- Use with our Easel Accessory Set (sold separately).
- Ages 3 and up.
- Dimensions & Care
- Dust with a soft, dry cloth.
- Shipping & Return Info
This is a general shipping item.
View Our Shipping Information
Return Policy
At Pottery Barn Kids, we take great pride in the quality and craftsmanship of our products. Attention to design, materials, safety and construction is our priority. We carefully inspect your order prior to shipment; upon receipt, please inspect your purchase and notify us of any damage. We will arrange for a prompt replacement. If, within 7 days for Quick Ship upholstery and 30 days for all other products, you are dissatisfied for any reason, you may return your purchase for a refund of the merchandise value.
If your return for Merchandise Credit Cards is greater than $10,000, we will issue $10,000 in Merchandise Credit Cards to you that day, and then mail additional Merchandise Credit Card(s) for the amount in excess of $10,000 to you.
We cannot accept returns on monogrammed, personalized, special-order items, or on items damaged through normal wear and tear. We also cannot accept returns of final-sale items, which are identified by a price that ends in $0.99.
For returns of items purchased from your Pottery Barn Kids registry, we will gladly provide a refund or exchange for the merchandise within 90 days of your event or within 90 days of purchase, whichever date is later.
For assistance, please contact Customer Service at 800.993.4923
International Returns: Online returns are available only for items that were shipped to the United States. If you would like to return items that were shipped outside the US, please see International Returns and Exceptions.


text:
Gemma James is adjusting to professional and personal changes - and a future now intricately entwined with Duncan Kincaid. But her new responsibilities are put to the test when she is placed in charge of a particularly brutal homicide: The lovely young wife of a wealthy antiques dealer has been found murdered on fashionable Notting Hill.
The main focus of Gemma's investigation is Karl Arrowood, who had the most powerful motive for killing his unfaithful wife. But this case sets off warning bells for Duncan: It's far too similar to an unsolved murder in which an antiques dealer was killed in precisely the same way.
Investigate more mysterious doings with Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James.
©2002 Deborah Crombie. (P)2010 BBC Audio
"Great story, well narrated"
Loved this good story, which unfolds layer by layer. The writing is literate---not Dorothy Sayers good or John Le Carre good, just plain solid, entertaining, interesting good. If you've listened to all the super-star literate mysteries then try the Deborah Crombie series that features a sympathetic, smart, not-too-hard-boiled, but just tough enough woman detective. Narration is excellent.
"Possibly my favorite"
Love the way Deborah Crombie braids the past and present together throughout the book. It took great skill to write a novelette within a novel that takes you through some fifty years of storyline so well. All believable and interesting. Many surprises in this one and a bitter sweet ending.
"Deborah Crombie is always a favorite!"
This was not Deborah Crombie's first in the series, but I liked hearing the male reader, as opposed the the females, who have read most of her works.
"Skillful Blend of Past and Present"
So far I've loved everything about this series. Main characters Duncan Kincaid and Jemma James are interesting, complex characters who have changed and matured as the series progressed.
The story lines are intricate, but not confusing. The pace of the stories is steady, but not overwhelming. In this book Debra Crombie once again skillfully weaves elements from the past into the current mystery. There is tragedy, but there is also hope.
Narrator Michael Deehy is excellent. The tone of his voice is pleasing, his diction is excellent.
I look forward to listening to more books in this series.
"Great writing and performance"
This series is beautifully written with elegant prose. I'm so glad that Michael Deehy has returned as the narrator. He did a great job at the beginning of the series, and I was disappointed with the change midway. He performs the characters nicely, and makes clear who is speaking at any given time--something that hasn't been true with the interim reader.
"So many characters! So confusing!"
Although I really like this series, I felt like I needed a detailed program to keep track of all the characters. The time jumps were equally befuddling, and perhaps were easier to follow in written form. by the time I finished I was still confused about one of the main characters.
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ALBANY, NEW YORK -- While working with Citizens Bank to secure a construction loan we were required to provide documentation multiple times, even after documenting that we had previously submitted it. Every timeframe for each process they provided was incorrect and always took much longer. Our loan processor lost our paperwork and instead of telling anyone, did nothing, which resulted in us having to submit the paperwork again. The Vice President – Sales Manager then took over our application, only to loop back in the same loan processor who had no idea what he was doing. It was very difficult to get a hold of anyone during this whole process.
It took four months for us to get any sort of answers from the bank. They kept saying it was because construction loans take a long time to process. I know the issue was incompetence. The kicker: once we finally received something in writing (they basically refused to provide anything in writing and would avoid our questions) it was all wrong, and none of the numbers lined up.
Still unsure how the underwriter (who had all documentation submitted to him multiple times), the loan processor and the VP-Sales Manager all missed this. Needless to say we walked away. I would never refer Citizens Bank to anyone and am shocked how they operate. Albany, NY Branch 833 Broadway, Albany, NY.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- I cannot imagine a more horrible banking experience. Do you like having money in your bank account? Then don't bank with Citizens. They charge fees for everything. Deposit, overdraft, transfers, pretty sure they would charge a fee to login online if they could. Customer service support is useless and you end up on hold for hours on end only to have them hang up on you. Avoid this bank at all costs!
PO BOX 1790 FLINT, MICHIGAN -- My family as well as the rest of the country has fallen on bad times. I am a boat owner for the last 6 years who has struggled with a payment that was never supposed to be mine longer than a month. To make a long story short, I have had to struggle with this burdensome payment that has put my family's well being at an additional risk since I have been injured, laid off, and lost my personal business.
I had advised Citizens of my job status, communicated, asked to have the loan modified, I made sale efforts recently and successfully was able to sell the boat, or so I thought. I connected the bank and buyer and both parties had decided on a price of 20k discounted from 27k and to take the boat on a cash deal.
The auction price of this particular 21' Crownline and trailer even with the low 300 hrs would probably bring 10 to 12k I had been advised by many local boat dealers and buyers. All that being said, we the buyer and I asked the case worker lady to provide us with the bank wiring instructions and the buyer would wire the 20k immediately. The buyer had viewed and inspected the boat and immediately offered 5000.00 Cash to put down and to wire the balance within 24 hrs!
Apparently bank changed their decision without warning and did not provide the wire instructions to us or answer our constant phone calls for two days... I personally called at noon to the bank and asked politely via our case workers voice mail to please call back so we could find out what's was going on? 45 Min before their close of business time on the 10th of November (the dead line date), the nice lady who I had been dealing with got nasty and said we had not called and that we were now passed the given dead line!
I was very angry and asked if they were one of the banks that had taken the federal bailout money and if that was how they were going to pay my boat off and double their money? After the heated discussion I offered to return the boat and even drive it to the repossession man who I had spoken with multiple times previously. After hanging up at 5:00 pm the buyer called and said he spoke to the seller twice and was waiting on final closing instructions and we are still 8 days later!
I am trying desperately to keep a repo. And or a bankrupt off my record by paying this boat payment by feeding my family Mac and Cheese without gifts special treats or turkey for holidays and Christmas the past 2 years going on 3 we were on temporary disability and loans from friends! I can't believe that America is being manipulated by such crooked banks and employees! This is crippling Americans and our economy!
Instead of Citizens Bank of flint Michigan taking nearly double the auction price they would rather bankrupt a small American family who has taken bread off their table and assumed a personal responsibility for helping their institution sell a boat saving the bank thousands in repossession and legal costs!
These selfish narrow minded folks are not willing to do their jobs and cooperate civilly to save their corporation from a larger loss that might require them to do their job correctly and fight to help a fellow Americans family who cooperated and communicated honestly during the loan, and went out of their way to find a solution to their own personal 6 year family problem rather than take the easy way out and bankrupt on their personal debt!
Shame on these crooks in flint. Imagine this; if every boat, house, or car owner in default would try to be responsible, citizens could save 10 k per loan possibly like I am trying to! At that point citizens might be able to fix this little balance problem they have.
Companies » bank (public) citizens republic Bancorp $300,000,000 committed 0.3% of bank bailout commitment 0.1% of total bailout commitment. Disbursed $300,000,000, returned $0 revenue to gov't $13,875,000 net outstanding $286,125,000. Jump to table of transactions, profile, sec filings, Google finance static map? Corporate headquarters of citizens republic Bancorp. Flint, Mich. See all recipients in Michigan.
DELAWARE -- From the moment I opened a Citizens Bank account, they started nickel and diming me with fees. I applied for a home equity. I had to open a checking and a savings account I didn't want to avoid fees. And then all 3 of these accounts had service fees that had nothing to do with the fact that I was a high-quality loan customer. Minimum balance fees, annual fees, inactivity fees.
As soon as I could close the loan without an 'early payment' fee(!), I did. Closed all of the accounts. 1 year later, I just got a letter saying I owe $10 for a 'dormant account' fee. Ridiculous! But every time, it was not worth the effort of fighting. I'll just go and pay like I did all of the others - even the ones that were their fault. I just want out!!!
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA -- I had three pending transactions with Citizens Bank which I notice on June 11, 2014 put my account in the negative. These transactions were still pending and the funds didn't actually leave my account yet. On June 12, 2014 my payroll check was directly deposited in my account. When I checked my account everything was fine. On June 13, 2014 I was charged $105.00 in fees.
I contacted customer service regarding this matter and the girl told me she was not able to refund any of the fees because I was not eligible for any refunds. So I asked to speak with her supervisor. When ** got on the phone he was extremely rude and showed utter contempt for having to speak with me on this matter.
I explained the situation and he continually told me I was ineligible to receive any refunds on any fees and that I caused Citizens Bank to lose money so I deserved to be charged these fees. I have never been treated like such a piece of garbage in my life. This bank needs to be stopped. They are completely unethical. They do not care about customer satisfaction and they apparently believe that they are better than you.
CONNECTICUT -- I have had a checking account with Citizens bank for about 16 years but as of lately have used it only for limited use because the closest branch is too far. When I originally opened it I lived in another state and the branch was five minutes from home. I have my SS Disability checks deposited into the account which I then used to pay my health insurance premiums and other bills. I receive SS disability because I have stage 4 breast cancer.
On July 13 I find a letter in my mail box dated July 9 from Citizens Bank telling me that all accounts associated with my name would be closed effective immediately and that any balances in the account would be sent back to me after August 20. I had called their 800 number on July 9 to check my balance and was told that I had an available balance in excess of 1200.
I then wrote a check on the account and deposited into another account that I have with another bank. When I received the letter on the 13, I called the bank and was told that yes the account was- depending on who I talked to- under review, closed, being closed etc and that they had reversed the check that I had written even though there was sufficient money to cover it (and charged me a fee).
I am then told that if I go to the bank branch to get my money I am not guaranteed that they will give it to me and I will have to wait until August 20 to get it out. I explain that I am very sick and need my money and that since they have already decided that the account is closed and are not honoring any checks they need to give me back my money. I then spend forever on the phone and finally get someone who gives me a code to give to the teller (it is already after banking hours) that they can look up to see that I need my money for medical reasons and to let me have my money.
I then call Social Security to ask them to change my direct deposit and they tell me that I am too late for this month and that the present months payment has already been sent to the bank (but is not yet showing as part of the balance) so the SS telephone agent and I call Citizens Bank and are told that the auto deposit of the SS disability check will not be rejected (in which case SS could have reissued a check), but will instead reopen my account with Citizens and that there is no guarantee that Citizens will allow me to withdraw my money.
I explained that I depend on my SS disability for many things mainly my health insurance payment since I have end stage breast cancer and cannot lose my insurance. No go. Apparently Citizens must freeze my account while they take forever to close it while denying me access to my money. Even money that was not in the account when they closed it. How can this be legal? I am so sickened beyond belief.
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND -- Let me start by saying, I live in Florida and my parents live(d) in Vermont. My mother and father had a mortgage with Citizens Bank. My dad died 10/23/10 and my mother was in the hospital. I was in Vermont helping with things at that time. Citizens Bank called about payment, I explained the situation (and that my mother would be getting to her financial business when she got out of the hospital). I wrote the check out and had my mother sign it. All was right with the world again.
I returned to Florida in late November, but booked a flight back to Vermont, as my mother was still in the hospital when I left and I felt I needed to get Power of Attorney and take over her bills until she was better. Sadly, after having flown my mother down to Florida (with her money) so I could care for her in my home, my mother passed away 1/23/11. I had to return north to arrange for her funeral and start the paperwork to become executor to her estate.
I contacted the people that needed to be contacted and explained the situation. Everyone was understanding and sympathetic. However, the day after I contacted Citizens Bank a very rude woman called asking for, first my dad, and then my mom. It was Citizens Bank. I could not believe these people! Even after I told her the situation, she was coarse and rude. She told me to fax the death certificates and executor paperwork as soon as I was named.
After returning home, my sister, who lives down the road from my parents' house and stops in frequently, called to tell me on 2/25/2011 that Citizens Bank called and I needed to call them. I did and spoke at great length with **, who told me to fax both death certificates, my driver's license, my contact information, and a note asking what I can do to keep the account in good standing until the paperwork gets through the courts (how customer friendly is that!?!). I did all of that on 2/25/11.
Thankfully, I had received a check from my mother's insurance and was able to pay all the bills due (I am still waiting for the court to name me executor). I paid Citizens Bank's February payment (due the 10th) and March's payment on 3/4/2011.
Yesterday, 3/7/2011, I receive two letters from Citizens Bank, one addressed just to my dad and one addressed to both my parents demanding they contact them within 10 days of the date of letter (dated 2/28/11, mailed 3/1/11) or they would turn the account over to a collection agency! My mother and father never paid these people late and have $8000 in one of their local branches. It wasn't like this was a problem account...not to mention the fact that I had spoken to numerous people there explaining the situation AND faxed everything their employee asked me to fax!
Needless to say, I called them in a rage. I did not call the number on the threatening letter, as it is their Consumer Counseling Dept. and I did not need help with paying my bills...although I will probably need counseling after dealing with these inept buffoons. After dialing and connecting to their automated service, I had to put in my father's social security number so they could "better serve me," and waited for "the next available representative," ** was finally available.
I told her I wanted to speak with a supervisor. She needed the account number I was calling about...thanks for serving me better. I gave it to her and she stated she would take a look at the account. I told her no, that I wanted to speak to a supervisor for the reasons listed above.
After some back and forth, she said she needed to connect me to the 'correct' department and asked what kind of loan it was dealing with (did she not just get the account number?!?)...I told her it was a mortgage. She transferred me to **...in the Customer Counseling Dept!
** requested the account number, which I gave her. I told her I didn't need to speak to someone about anything other than the fact that I had notified them numerous times over the phone of the situation and had even faxed over all the things listed above and now I just wanted to speak to someone about the threatening letters and ineptitude of their bank. We had a few more back and forth.
** then told me that they had received the faxed death certificates...to which I responded that "I knew that. That wasn't the point," and that I wanted to speak to a supervisor about the things listed above. She then interrupted me to tell me they had received payment (which I had already told her I had paid with the insurance money); I again went over why I was calling and when she interrupted me the 3rd time, I finally screamed at her...asking her what part of, I know they received the death certificates and payments and that I just wanted to speak to a supervisor, did she not understand?!?
Finally, and very condescendingly, she agreed to get one; asking several times if I would mind being put on hold...each time I told her that would be fine as long as I would be speaking with a supervisor. After about 5 minutes, ** comes on the line and informs me that I have contacted the wrong department...to which I tell her, "No, one of your employees transferred me here!" She then tells me that this is the auto loan department (but, ** told me it was the Customer Counseling Dept?!?) and she would need to transfer me to the mortgage department and to please bear with her and she would supply me that number as well, in case I needed to call back.
She was stumbling over herself because she was lying through her teeth...and, after more hemming and hawing, starts to give me an 800 number, which I finished for her because it was the number I had called initially...she then ignored what I had said and asked to put me on hold to get the number.
When she came back to the phone, she gave me an 877 number (877-754-7366) and was mumbling something about everyone still thinks this department deals with all loans...an email had been sent out, but she guessed not everyone had read their email...to which I responded that that was why I was calling...information given to that bank seems to fall into a black hole. She then tells me she will transfer me to the correct department.
I'm on hold again waiting for, "The next available representative". Finally ** answers. She asks for the account number. I calmly give her the account number, my name, and that I'm calling about my deceased parent's account. I also inform her that I have already spoken to ** as well as numerous other employees on different occasions and I am just trying to talk to a supervisor.
She asks if I can verify who I am by giving her my home address, phone number, and last 4 of my social security. I tell her I have faxed all that information to them and she should be able to see my parent's death certificates and all the other things I faxed and to put a supervisor on the phone. She then says she would just like to get a few bits of... I finally just told her that I would contact my lawyer and hung up.
I have not dealt with one employee there that gave me the confidence I was dealing with a professional business. They are a waste of space and as soon as the executor paperwork comes through, we are paying off the mortgage and pulling all my parent's money out of their bank. I can only hope my parents insured the mortgage against their death...which might explain why they are so eager to put a loan that has been in outstanding status into a delinquent status for a payment 15 days late.
NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE -- Summary of Experience: Branch customer service is good - but corporate office eventually ruins it. Placing your money with Citizens Bank is not a safe bet; e. g., my fiancée and I made a deposit worth thousands of dollars: this deposit was returned by no fault of ours. When the deposit was returned we were assessed a $10 fee, which we paid. We had also spoken extensively with our branch and phone banking service and made sure to correct the problem in less than 24 hours by depositing the returned amount in cash.
Despite this, the bank's "fraud" department closed our account - even after all the evidence of our acting in good faith to correct a problem we never caused. Our ChexSystems record is now soiled with an "account abuse" item based on an event which we addressed immediately and was not our fault - the branch gave up on helping us and succumbed to the corporate decision, which was based on partial information. Citizens Bank is as problematic as Bank of America. DO NOT OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH CITIZENS BANK.
Branch service is initially good - but eventually the corporate office will ruin it - quite unjustifiably too. The branch will make the effort to work with you and most other branches have friendly personnel too, but they struggle as mediators between customers they are trying to keep and a bank corporation eager to assess fees unfairly whenever it can. After many months of working well with us - and in some cases going out of their way to help us as customers - our account was closed by way of a unilateral decision on their part.
My fiancée and I deposited a check for thousands of dollars. This check was returned by no fault of ours. When it was returned we were assessed a $10 fee, which we paid despite not being responsible for the returned deposit check. Over the course of the next 24 hours my fiancée and I spoke repeatedly and consistently with branch employees as well as phone banking employees making sure to understand the repercussions of this returned deposit (to find out, for example, how payments coming out of our account would be affected, etc.).
We also spoke at length of how we could correct this issue immediately. Within 24 hours we re-deposited the money in CASH. We left the bank relieved that this problem was taken care of only to find out a couple of days later that Citizens Bank had frozen our funds - we could not withdraw a penny - and that the account was scheduled to be CLOSED. Shocked by this, we called the branch, the phone bank service, etc. and received conflicting feedback: everyone but the branch employees ascertained that the branch could correct the problem.
The branch insisted that they could not do anything and seemed eager to close the account and stop speaking to us - there was no intent to resolve an obvious misunderstanding. The corporate Citizens Bank office, specifically a "fraud" office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had flagged our account as fraudulent simply because a deposit that we made was returned by the bank it came from. There was never any recognition of the effort we made immediately to resolve the matter nor did employees at the local branch acknowledge this effort.
At the corporate level no one ever accounted for our effort, in good faith, to fix the problem by depositing the cash amount the account was now missing due to the returned deposit. Citizens Bank has now soiled our ChexSystems record with an "account abuse" label - something that is most definitely not merited in this case. We had NEVER had a check deposit returned and we took care of the problem by replacing the returned deposit with an equal amount in cash within 24 hours.
When we spoke with the branch it was like speaking to completely different people - there was no human element whatsoever in their effort or conversation and we left baffled that the bank had made this decision, treated us like delinquents, and moved swiftly to clear us out of their system - all while damaging our ChexSystems record with an inaccurate picture of what happened and a partial account of the story.
DO NOT OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH CITIZENS BANK - they are as problematic as Bank of America and by the admission of at least one employee we spoke to in the course of this event they are getting worse. The online banking system is also very deceiving - you will never really know what your accurate balance is because they take days and days to post items against your account: many of these items are hidden fees and this is most likely by design and meant to catapult you into a nightmare of fees.
For your sake and the sake of your hard-earned money, please don't feed this monster of a corporation. I am a pro-business, pro free-market conservative Republican and I can admit that this company has gotten out of hand in abuse – I cannot stand by their business practices. We should not have "account abuse" and fraud all over our ChexSystems: Citizens Bank should have that all over their customer reviews and ratings.
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND -- On Monday evening May 18, 2009, while out of town, I knew I had to get to a computer to add funds to my account as I had several small debits coming in. I knew I had enough to cover 12 out of the 13 incoming debits. I unfortunately never got to a computer to transfer funds. BUT, what I did NOT realize until Tuesday morning is that Citizen's "practice" of debiting accounts is NOT, as I thought the smaller debits all paid first, or even as they are posted, BUT "intentionally" from LARGEST debit to smallest.
Now, when I called Citizens I was given the canned response that Citizens does this to "help the customer pay for their most important payments first". WOW! Thanks Citizens for knowing so much about ME and what is important to ME! What a nice company, looking out for their customers… And, YOU'RE WELCOME for the SEVEN overdrafts which you just profited over $270 on.
And get this, on May 19, 2009 my last 8 debits were all under 10$ but of course didn't clear because Citizens overdraft system was sure to deplete the funds with all the higher debits FIRST. Resulting in SEVEN $39 overdrafts for debits under $10
Now, such a comment from Citizens is of course nonsense and we all know WHY Citizens has "designed" their overdraft system to post HIGH to LOW. At least while inquiring at Bank of America about the overdraft policy they were honest enough to admit the "real agenda" of banks employing this sleazy tactics was to increase their bottom line with overdraft profits.
And, I am sure it has added a nice revenues increase to your bottom line. But, I must say it is quite shameful that this "hidden tactic" is being employed against Citizens customers. I can assure you if most people were asked about this they would have no idea HOW the overdrafts policy works AGAINST Citizens customers. Unless, they get to read about such a scandalous experience it is pretty much a hidden policy. I am sure it must be buried in the checking account terms and condition in the 3pt font, somewhere on page 5.
And, to top it off before I knew what happened I charged $6.80 for Chinese food, but with Citizens $273 overdraft charges I was as a result $208 negative (because they charged my account and THEY made my account negative), they charged me ANOTHER $39 overdraft fee which would have cleared had they not charged my account $273. The scary issue here is probably 90% of Citizen Bank customers (and other Bank's customers) are unaware of the details of these seedy overdraft tactics.
I may have to bite the bullet and lose over $300, while I take time to move all my personal business accounts to a more reputable, respectable bank. But as Congress is just now debating the unethical fees being charged by credit card companies, I will do my part to make sure they are aware of, and hopefully also address these unethical "overdraft" practices. Is it illegal? Surprisingly no. Is it disgraceful, immoral, and shameful? Unquestionably! The days of personal relationships with your banker are OVER. It's just a computer program ready and waiting to suck your account dry with the slightest opportunity.
RIVERSIDE, RHODE ISLAND -- I have an ongoing problem with Citizens Bank gift cards. The bottom line is this: they cancelled my two active gift card before their expiration date, but they continued to charge me a monthly 'service charge' for these cards, cards which were no longer in service. When I complained, they refused to reimburse me for service charges on the out of service cards. Doesn't a service charge mean that you are paying for a service? If Citizens cancelled the service (i.e. use of the gift cards), how can the service fee continue to be charged?
I am just as angry about the very poor way I have been treated. Citizens could have made it easy to find out that the cards had been deactivated, but they did not. I used the card and it didn't go through at one business. Odd I thought, so I tried a second time, different place, a few weeks later. Still no luck. I went to the citizensbankgiftcard.com website, typed in my card info, and all looked fine (i.e. there was money on the cards).
Figuring my website verification might have activated something on my cards, a few weeks later I tried a purchase again, and still no luck. I tried the 800#. There was no option to talk to an operator, and pressing 0 did nothing, but I keyed in my card info, and the system said there was money on the cards. I shopped again. No luck again. Back to the 800# to do the optional card registration, figuring this might solve my problem. I was surprised that this option leads to a human operator, who told me that citizens had cancelled the cards.
I was sent checks for the card balance LESS card service charges. The 800# person gave me a Massachusetts Citizens bank address to write to for service charge reimbursement. I wrote. Citizens ignored my letter. They didn't even respond! Am I not worthy of a response? I emailed Citizens customer service. They said they couldn't help me, but gave me an address, this time in Atlanta, to send yet another letter to. I did so. Once again, I never got a response! I am pretty shocked at this. Is this the practice now, to just ignore letters from customers? I wrote to the places Citizens told me to write to, and they just ignored me.
I didn't give up though. I wrote to the head of Citizens at their Providence HQ and I actually, finally, got a response. It was a short letter saying that Citizens was just following service charge policy as outlined in the gift card rules they had attached to the letter. They presented no justification for charging a service charge for cards that they had taken out of service, nor did their gift card rules address this situation.
What I felt even more disappointed about was that Citizens HQ did not offer one word of apology for ignoring both of my previous letters, when I had sent those letters to the very people Citizens told me to contact in order to resolve this issue. Ignoring a customer letter once is bad enough, but twice is pretty rotten, and then failing to apologize when I told them about this says to me that the people at Citizens HQ care very little about their customers.
I know I share blame, as service charges don't start until the "13th month after issuance". I got the two $300 giftcards from my siblings. It was their way of thanking me for taking care of our 92 year-old mother as she needed 24/7 care, and my job had been outsourced to India, so I had time to do so. To be honest I felt guilty taking money from my siblings to take care of our mother so I just had a hard time using the gift cards. Weird, I know, but it didn't sit right with me. I did use one of the cards once, but after that I just put them aside.
I lost $45 in service charges ($2.50/mo for 9 months, on two cards). The 800# person told me that Citizens cancelled the cards on 6/3/2009, and I got my check, less service fees, in December 2009. Of the nine months of service fees, 3 months were while the card was active, and 6 months (June through December) are service charges on cards that had been put out of service. Those service fees bought me nothing but bad service!
They made it so difficult even to find out why my cards were suddenly not working, and they expect me to pay them service fees for all this aggravation. It is beyond belief to me that Citizens would, when I have repeatedly presented them with these facts, all the way up to the very top of the corporation, would not make things right. I am really very surprised how little they care about doing the right thing for their customers, and it is obvious that this poor attitude is prevalent at the very top of the corporate ladder. I am left to again ponder the question in Citizens online ads: "Is this how you define a good bank?"