text:
Updated: Welcome Home: National Guard Unit Returns to Redding From Afghanistan
REDDING, Calif. - Dozens of friends and family members waited at the Redding Airport Sunday for a welcome home celebration for members of the 132nd Engineer Company of the California Army National Guard.
The unit spent almost a year building bridges and other projects in Afghanistan.
The group received a huge welcome as they returned to Redding Sunday afternoon.
132nd Company was part of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
The soldiers transported, assembled as well as maintained bridges and roadways covering more than 11,000 miles.
For many returning home on Sunday it was all about reuniting with family.
Rusty Chambers, 25, from Corning was happy to see his girlfriend and meet his niece for the first time.
Chambers said he was thankful for the community support, saying he expected the Patriot Guard riders but was surprised by how many people were there to welcome him home.
There were plenty of happy couples on hand like Scott and Tanya Delnero.
"I'm still kind of in shock that he's back, it's been difficult having him gone for the last 11 months. It will be nice to spend time with our two year-old," said Tanya Delnero.
The 132nd's daily operations exposed them to the constant threat of roadside bombs and insurgents.
No one was killed during the tour, however 11 did receive a Purple Heart.
In total more than 140 soldiers in the 132nd Multi-Role Bridge Company are set to come home.
An Army National Guard spokesperson said others returned to Chico and more are set to fly into the Redding Airport later Sunday night and on Monday.


text:
As a Blogger we all know how important it is to network and be knowledgeable if we want our blogs to be successful. One of the best tools for this is attending conferences. After you add up the cost of your ticket, airfare, rental car, accommodations and food… going to a conference can be extremely expensive!
The Blog Workshop is a 3-day online workshop May 17-19, 2013. The best part is you can attend this conference in the comfort of your home while sipping on coffee in your jammies! This conference is an excellent way for Bloggers and Vloggers to learn how to take their craft to the next level.
The great part is that The Blog Workshop Conference is only $175! I've been searching google for workshops and after travel/hotel/registration fees the cost has added up to almost $500. As a WAHM (work at home mom) that is just not in my budget.
Discounted tickets are also available through Indiegogo Campaign perks. Click HERE for more information.
The best is that The Blog Workshop Conference will be in the evening. So if you work during the day then you also don't have to worry about using your personal or vacation time to attend the conference. Check out the agenda:
There will be awesome speakers sharing what works, Q&A sessions and giveaways. There will be speakers at the conference from IZEA, Blog Trends, The Blog Frog and more!
Can't wait to "see" you all there!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I have ancestors that were plantation owners. Some of them had multiracial offspring. The terminology at the time was "Mulatto" for a person of half-white and half-black parentage. From there "Quadroon" was for someone with one black grandparent, and "Octoroon" was for someone with one black great grandparent.
I have been using the terminology of the time (And what is found in my source books) as the designation for the ethnicity of these multiracial relatives. I'd like to know what the community thinks about this topic. Should we be using historically accurate terms to denote ethnicity/race, or should we be using more modern terms for all profiles?
I surely don't want anyone to be offended if they stumble upon the profiles.
Here was my reasoning:
1) Trying to represent the source material as accurately as possible.
2) Keeping track of the race in some way or another makes it easier (For me, at least) to visualize the relationships in historical context.
Also, most of these interracial relationships were between free black women and white plantation owners in Jamaica. Actually, some of the multiracial offspring owned slaves.
In early Virginia and North Carolina, mulatto did not always refer to black heritage. Many early settlers were Cherokee-white heritage and were called mulatto. It simply meant someone who was not 100% white but was a freeman and paid tithes or taxes.
If my notes say someone was part this and part that, I put it in the overview, with the source, and I put it on the ethnicity box. I don't try to carry it to the following generations.
Maria is right...Mulatto was also used for people who were mixed with American-Indian. It meant 1/2 White, 1/2 Colored.
The problem with adding Mulatto onto someone's profile is the fact that 2 years later, in census they could have been listed as Negro. It's better to just leave it blank and input documents that allow someone to see for themselves what the ancestor was ethnically.
My father's birth certificate lists him as White, but his father was Asian, so it doesn't make sense to me. I'd rather let people define what the ancestors are by where parents are from, religions they practiced, photos and all other information.
I would vote for historical accuracy first then the modern term if necessary. This could have a bearing on native American tribal members. Many of today's people may not have heard of the old terms. If a person was shown as a slave, that would be a hint as to where to search deeper. Surely no offense should be taken over historical usages, they were facts of life. I'm sure revisionists will not agree, but?
Here is the interesting, and complex monkey wrench:
The white plantation owners in Jamaica would often take mistresses that were black, half-black, quarter-black, and so-on.
For example, my cousin Alexander Falconer has four white children with his wife, four half-black children with his first mistress, and three quarter-black children with his second mistress. This is the scenario when I am most liekly trying to keep track of who was which race.
This is a repost from one of my earlier postings on this subject. Not everyone that has a "label" may be what that "label" implies. I do believe that we should stick to historical information no matter what. I hope that the following information helps.
One of my great grandmothers was labeled Mu, black and then white...it depends on who was taking the census, how they felt about the people whom they were interviewing and where they lived. If you lived in say VA or in a southern state you my be labeled Mu or Black or colored. If you lived in Md or in a northern state you could be white or Indian...it makes it hard to sort things out. Just remember that we are dealing with historical documents and radical identity may not always be clear.
I found this on a site and I hope that this helps some of the family understand what you may be finding as to who and what our family lines are. Frankly there is a very really possibility that thought out our family lines...those who lived in the Maryland and Virginia Colony's have some native blood in them. So if you find this term anywhere...read the history of the state and its policies on Native Peoples.
I hope soon to post a list of all tribes that were in the area's where our family lived.
I hope it will help us sort out who some of our family members were.
Re: Mulatto Classification of Indian Families & Related Laws
By Stacey Ricketts
10 Sep 2006
For the last 200 years numerous Indian descendants have been fighting a legal, and often racially charged, battle due to historical and modern-day race classification. The dreaded historical beast of southeastern Indian communities that continues to rear it's ugly head is the fact that from the mid 1700's to after 1900 most Indian groups or individuals east of the Mississippi were racially classified as "Mulatto." The reasons and justifications for this are rooted deeply in the history of southern slavery, land ownership, and political power.
Prior to 1850 the federal census and most county tax books only distinguished 4 types of persons; free white males, free white females, free persons of color, and slaves. By the record keeping of the time Indians not taxed were not supposed to be recorded at all. These non-taxed Indians supposedly lived on reservations and therefore were not required to be subject to federal census or county tax recordings. However, the inhabitants of many state reservations and some federal Indian land grants were recorded on these documents.
In 1705 the Virginia Legislature passed into law that "the offspring of an Indian and a White is a Mulatto." This law went on to state that if the half-Indian 'mulatto' was to marry a white person then that 'mulatto' and his or her offspring were to be legally regarded as 'white' (this is undoubtedly where the notion that a person should be of at least ¼ blood to be considered an Indian arose). The Virginians were using the word 'mulatto' in its historical usage, from the root word 'mule', meaning any crossbreed. With the independent formation of the lower southern states, each state adopted racial classifications roughly equivalent to that of Virginia. Florida's official race laws stipulated that any mixed-blood person, whether of white/Negro, white/Indian, Indian/Negro, white/Hispanic, or whatever, were to be legally and socially classified as 'mulatto'.
Prior to 1850 federal censuses were performed primarily for tax and land ownership recording purposes, and most Indians were either not recorded, or included in the 'other free persons' or 'free persons of color' categories. Beginning in 1850, persons contracted to perform the federal census were encouraged to inquire as to person's self-identification due to the fear of "Light skinned Negroes trying to pass them selves off as whites or Indians." Given that there were only three available categories, white, black, or mulatto; that persons who appeared to be obviously mixed-blooded of any kind were to be listed as 'mulatto'; and that persons taxed could not be listed as 'Indian' (who were inherently non-taxed); it is not surprising that there were few Indians recorded east of the Mississippi from 1850 to 1900.
Any Indian person, family, or community not living on well-known reservated areas were more likely to be recorded as mulatto than either Indian or white. In fact, some Indian individuals who were living on land set aside for Indians were still the target of this racial arrow. Recording individuals on a land reserve as mulatto, or otherwise suggesting that the inhabitants mere mixed with Negro blood, was one of the most popular methods used to usurp the natural land rights of an eastern Indian people. The list of tribal remnants who were, at some point, recorded as mulatto include the mixed Creek-Cheraws of Alabama, mixed Choctaw-Chowans of Alabama, Lumbees of North Carolina, Nanticokes of Delaware, and others.
For a perfect example of the confusion suffered by lawmakers attempting to place these mixed-bloods into some neat category, read this excerpt from the 1871 North Carolina Joint Senate and House Committee as they interviewed Robeson County Judge Giles Leitch about the 'free persons of color' living within his county:
Senate: Half of the colored population?
Leitch: Yes Sir; half of the colored population of Robeson County were never slaves at all…
Senate: What are they; are they Negroes?
Leitch: Well sir, I desire to tell you the truth as near as I can; but I really do not know what they are; I think they are a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese and Indian…
Senate: You think they are mixed Negroes and Indians?
Leitch: I do not think that in that class of population there is much Negro blood at all; of that half of the colored population that I have attempted to describe all have always been free…They are called 'mulattoes' that is the name they are known by, as contradistinguished from Negroes…I think they are of Indian origin.
Senate: I understand you to say that these seven or eight hundred persons that you designate as mulattoes are not Negroes but are a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish, white blood and Indian blood, you think they are not generally Negroes?
Leitch: I do not think the Negro blood predominates.
Senate: the word 'mulatto' means a cross between the white and the Negro?
Leitch: Yes sir.
Senate: You do not mean the word to be understood in that sense when applied to these people?
Leitch: I really do not know how to describe those people.
Regardless of the tax or land reasoning behind the 'mulatto' classification, a close examination of other factors can give a clearer picture of a group's social and legal standing. Although members of the Apalachicola Cheraw Indians were marked as mulatto on federal censuses, they were not held to the same legal or social restrictions as free persons of Negro blood. For example, Florida Legislation of 1848 required free Negroes and mulattoes to have a white guardian appointed by the local magistrate and were restricted from owning property. No Cheraw was ever assigned a white guardian, and Jacob and Absalom Scott were both early Florida landowners. Jacob Scott's 160 acres, mill and ferry were valued at $2,000 in 1860, actually making him one of Calhoun County's more prosperous citizens.
As the country hung on the edge of Civil War, the southern white power structure was making huge efforts to disempower and regulate any non-white non-slave persons in their midst. White slave owners feared that "free Negroes, Mulattoes and Indians" held natural anti-slavery sentiment and would support the North should war break out. To encourage free mixed-bloods to move beyond the boundaries of their states, many southern Legislatures approved tax regulations which imposed double taxes on "freepersons of color", required them to pay tax on their wives (a financial burden not imposed on white households) and restricted them from carrying firearms. Every state, which passed these restrictions, was the subject of petitions by Indian individuals and families who felt that they should not be the subjects of such 'free person of color' laws. In 1857, William Chavis was arrested and charged as "a free person of color" with carrying a shotgun, a violation of North Carolina state law. He was convicted, but promptly appealed, claiming that the law only restricted free Negroes, not persons of color. The appeals Court reversed the lower Court, finding that, "Free persons of color may be, then, for all we can see, persons colored by Indian blood, or persons descended from Negro ancestors beyond the fourth degree."
Prior to 1850, the Apalachicola Cheraws were recorded as 'other free persons' or 'free persons of color' on Jackson and Calhoun County tax rolls. In 1856 Florida tax books changed their format from a 'free persons of color' bracket to a 'free Negroes & Mulattos' bracket. At that point, the Cheraws were taxed as 'white'. After the conclusion of the Civil War the tax books changed again, this time with the race of an entire page of taxed persons being listed at the top of the page. On these new books, some of the Cheraw head of households are taxed as 'white', some are taxed as 'colored', and the Scott families were listed on a separate page with no racial header.
Often the tax records of Jackson and Calhoun disagree with the racial classification of Cheraws recorded on the federal census. Taxed as 'free persons of color' Jacob Scott and his wife Polly Harmon are recorded as 'white' on the 1850 census, and then later as 'mulatto' on the 1860. Francis E. Hill and his wife Elizabeth Scott are first censused as 'white' in 1850, then as 'mulatto' in 1860, while Francis Hill was consistently taxed as 'white'.
As has been discussed by many scholars, the 'Indian' stereotype was already prevalent among eastern whites as early as the 1850's. The typical understanding among southern whites was that all Indians had longhair, did not speak English, and, most importantly, all lived out west. Eastern Indian descendants were known to have varying hair colors and textures, varying eye colors, and a wide range of skin complexions, even as early as the 1700's, most probably due to intermarriage with early Spanish, French, and English traders. Most officials were at a loss when trying to categorize these people into a social structure that allowed for only two races, black and white.
An excerpt from the 1910 petition of the 'Croatan' Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina, shows the prevalent attitude of southern whites towards mixed-blood Indians:
"Since 1868, the white people in Sampson County, as a rule, have classed these Indians with the Negroes and refused to accept them except as Negroes. They have consequently been forced, in a measure, with the Negro race, but they steadfastly refused to be classed with Negroes. They have refused to attend the churches and the schools of the Negroes or to co-mingle with them on terms of social equality. It is marvelous that they have been able to maintain their racial status so well under the adverse social and political status which has been forced upon them by the white people."
Physically described over the years as "darkskin-dark hair-dark eyes", "mixed-blooded almost white", "at the least mixed-blooded","Caucasian-Indian" and to quote the Jackson County School Superintendent "…from their appearance can very easily be considered as belonging to the white race…of course possible that they might have a large percentage of Indian blood."; we must take all of the evidence as a whole, boil it down, and come to a conclusion. The Apalachicola Cheraw were considered to be persons of Indian ancestry, and were not legally or socially held to the restrictions of bearing Negro blood.
Here is the question, then:
What should we be using to denote Ethnicity/Race? Should we be using terms that accurately indicate where their ancestors came from, or should we be using terms that were either used by them or on them?
If, by chance, a person was labeled mullato, but they were actually Amer-Indian, which term should be used?
All of the complexities of Ethnicity/Race really make me think that maybe Geni should switch to nationality-based labels instead. I know it's been discussed before.
By way of example. There was a long period of time, where us Jews were NOT considered "white" in America. This despite the Jews in America at the time being almost exclusively from Europe, and externally indistinguishable from any other "whites". Today, when about a third of American Jews are "dark", from Asian or Mediterranean countries, no-one would consider us anything but "white".
Robert, if someone was Native-American and they were labeled Mulatto, if you know what tribal nation they were of (for instance Powhatan), label the person's Powhatan Mother as a Powhatan and the father a as "Whatever."
It made me think of Pocahontas as she was a Powhatan princess, but her children were half English. What would they be labeled on a Census intake? Probably Mulatto. But, the Powhatan nation accepts her biracial children such as Thomas Rolfe as a Powhatan. However, racially he was
"mixed." So, without denying his "White" side, just list his mother's ethnicity as Powhatan and his father as English. This will allow people to "define" Thomas how they want. I'
Terri, thanks for the extremely interesting history of racial labeling in the Southeast. Robert, thanks for starting this discussion. I think that, as with any historical reconstruction, the proper thing to do is to report what was said about them in historical documents, but realizing that all you are doing is reporting the *labelling* and not trying to determine what someone "really" is ethnically or racially. Our own categories of labelling today may be different but are not necessarily any more accurate. Labelling is a sociopolitical way of dividing up a population and "putting them in their (social) places"--granting them privilege or discriminating against them, but always generally creating inequalities in wealth, power and prestige.
Good discussion happening! I too have inter-racial marriages in my tree, ancestors and more recently, two of my nephews. One married a Cree (plains native), and the other of African Gauna heritage. Her parents are from Gauna. The nephews now have children. Of course they are beautiful! No bias there.... hehe. I think its cool that they have such a varied ethnicity. They are my blood. Canadian. I agree with Mimi. Let the reader determine for themselves what ethnic background they are.
Good read @Terri, Re: Mulatto Classification of Indian Families & Related Laws. I love stuff like this. Thanks everyone! :)
There are ethnic labels that bug me, too. I've seen "O" for Oriental. Nowadays that word describes objects and not people. It would be almost awkward to have. If you know the actual "ethnicity" then wouldn't it be "better" to say for a Mulatto of 3 ethnic backgrounds to be something like English, Choctaw and African? Or White, Native-American and Black? And if you can, back it up with documents that may say "Mulatto" in it so people can see how history has evolved.


text:
More than 30 kids came to library on December 29 to play Bingo! It was a rousing time as Miss Carlotta called out the numbers and everyone kept their fingers crossed for that lucky win. Â
Winter Break Fun
Are you looking for something fun to do while school is out? Here are some activities happening at the library during the winter break. Family Chess Night - for all ages Monday, December 28 - 6:30-8:00 p.m. @ Indian Creek Branch Play Bingo - for 1st-6th graders Tuesday, December 29 - 1:00 p.m. @ Main Library Bedtimes Stories for a Winter's Night - a family storytime Tuesday, December 29 - 7:00 p.m. @ Indian Creek Branch Read to a Dog - for young readers of all ages Saturday, January 2 - 1:30-2:30 p.m @ Indian Creek Branch Make a Silly Weather Forecaster - for 1st-6th graders Monday, January 4 - 2:00 p.m. @ Main Library Free Family Movie SHORTS - for all ages Tuesday, January 5 - 2:00 p.m @ Main LIbrary Make a Silly Weather Forecaster - for 1st-6th graders Wednesday, January 6 - 2:00 p.m. @ Indian Creek Branch For more details about these and other programs, visit our Programs web page. Don't forget that both libraries will be closed on December 24, December 25, and January 1. We will also be closing early at 3:00 p.m. on December 31. Happy holidays!
Wash Your Hands!
During this cold and flu season, everyone is trying to stay healthy. Here are four ways to keep from getting sick and spreading your germs:    1. Get vaccinated.    2. Cover your cough.    3. Stay home when you're sick.    4. Wash your hands! Children's musician Bill Harley has written a fun song to remind us all about the importance of washing our hands to stay well and healthy. Click the graphic below to hear this great little song, "Wash Your Hands (lávate las manos)." And don't forget to wash your hands!
Reading - A Family Holiday Tradition
Doesn't it seem like all the grown-ups are complaining about how busy and stressful life is during the holiday season? Everyone is rushing about to and fro---baking, shopping, decorating, sending cards, attending special events... Why not take a break from all the madness and read a book together as a family? Make it a part of your holiday traditions.  Below are a few of my favorite Christmas books, perfect for sharing together.  The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski The widow McDowell and her seven-year-old son Thomas ask the gruff Jonathan Toomey, the best wood-carver in the valley, to carve the figures for a Christmas creche. Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck On Christmas Eve a man recalls the holiday many years ago when he gave his father, a struggling farmer, a most-appreciated gift by rising extra early to do his father's biggest chore---the milking. Night Tree by Eve Bunting A family makes its annual pilgrimage to decorate an evergreen with food for the forest animals at Christmastime. The Trees of the Dancing Goats by Patricia Polacco During a scarlet fever epidemic one winter near Union City, Michigan, the grandparents in a Jewish family help make Christmas special for their ailing Christian neighbors by making their own Hanukkah miracle. Based on a memory from the author's childhood. Christmas in the Country by Cynthia Rylant In this nostalgic story, a girl reflects on Christmas at her grandparents' home in the country, with its fresh-cut tree, handmade ornaments, gifts from Santa, and special church services. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson This book's young narrator, whose mother is saddled with directing the church's annual Christmas pageant, becomes newly aware of the season's true meaning after the horrible Herdmans, a family of truly terrifying brats, bully themselves into the major roles of the pageant. This chapter book is a perfect holiday read aloud filled with humor and heart.
Do You Love Toy Trains?
Model trains are coming to the library! This Thursday night and all day Saturday, model trains will be on display at the Main Library. The trains will be running, and experts will be on hand to answer any questions about the trains and the display.  Below are the times you can drop by the Storytime Room and see the model trains in action:
Thursday, December 10 between 6:00-9:00 p.m. Saturday, December 12 between 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. If you are a fan of toy trains, you won't want to miss this special display. And while you're at the library, why not check out a book or video about trains? The I Love Toy Trains series is especially popular. All aboard!!
Holiday Staff Picks 2009
Once again the Children's staff at the Olathe Public Library and Indian Creek Branch have compiled a list of some of our favorite books from the last year---with maybe a few old favorites thrown in for good measure. If you are looking for a special book to give that special child on your holiday shopping list, we hope you might consider some of our staff picks. We've tried to select a wide variety of books for all different age levels:  picture books, chapter books, easy readers, nonfiction, poetry, and more. You're sure to find just the right book for your holiday giving. All of the books on our Holiday Staff Picks list will be on display at both Olathe libraries through the end of the year. The books on display cannot be checked out, but we're always happy to request any titles for you. Click here to see the list. Copies of the list may also be picked up at the Children's Deparment.
Watch the Movie & Meet the Author
This coming Sunday night, November 29, the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie A Dog Named Christmas will be shown on CBS stations at 8:00 p.m. This movie is based on the novel by local Olathe author Greg Kincaid. This is a movie for the whole family to enjoy. Then on December 7 you will have the opportunity to hear the author himself speak. Greg Kincaid will be at the Indian Creek Branch Library on Monday, December 7, at 7:00 p.m. He will be discussing his book and the movie as well as the holiday foster home for pets program. This is a family program for all ages, but registration is required. Register for this program at the Adult Reference Desk at either Olathe library or call (913) 971-6888.
Monarchs in Space
University of Kansas professor Chip Taylor has spent much of his career tracking monarch butterflies, but next week he will be tracking some monarchs to a place they've never been before. On Monday, November 16, three of Taylor's monarch caterpillars will be traveling to outer space aboard the space shuttle Atlantis and will eventually end up on the International Space Station. This project is designed to study the effects of gravity. Researchers hope the caterpillars will turn into butterflies sometime after Thanksgiving. You can read more about this project at Monarchs in Space.
Storytime for Expecting Families
Is your family expecting a new baby? Join us for a special family storytime on Saturday, November 7, at 10:15 a.m. at the Indian Creek Branch. We will read stories, sing songs, and talk about being a new big brother or big sister! No registration required. Stories will be geared to 3, 4 & 5 year olds, but all ages are welcome.
Day of the Dead Activity
More than 40 people came to make sugar skulls at our Day of the Dead program. Unfortunately, we had so many attend the program we ran out of skulls. Still everyone seemed to have a good time.                                                                                Â


text:
Information about Universal Credit benefits can now be found on
The Department for Work and Pensions revealed the new system after a turbulent introduction of the Universal Credit programme
The Department for Work and Pensions revealed the new system after a turbulent introduction of the Universal Credit programme
Big Ben is to be silenced during Baroness Thatcher's funeral as a mark of respect to the former prime minister, it was announced today.
The Home Office is to be hit by a week of strikes in an escalation of a campaign of industrial action in a row over pay, jobs, terms and conditions.
Claims of impropriety after shortlist includes company where Cabinet Office Minister was non-executive chairman
Former mandarins said to be behind attack on reforms to selection of Permanent Secretaries
The latest advice from the Government to motorists to avoid a petrol crisis is to drive slower.
Minister urged to resign as woman is badly burnt in jerry can accident. Industry chief blames 'self-inflicted insanity' as panic-buying continues
Government is raking in an extra £32m in excise duties thanks to the panic buying it sparked at the petrol pumps
Ministers were last night accused of irresponsibly triggering an artificial nationwide fuel crisis after thousands of motorists took official advice and began stockpiling petrol ahead of a threatened strike by hauliers.
TUC leader attacks government's 'fantasy economics' as war of words escalates in run-up to next week's public sector walk-out
The case for reforming Britain's strike laws will become "very pressing" if public sector workers push ahead with industrial action later this month, ministers warned yesterday.
The biggest strike for five years closed thousands of schools and disrupted courts, driving tests and jobcentres today, with warnings of fresh industrial action to come.
David Cameron will attempt to relaunch his idea of the Big Society for the fourth time today, after a senior cabinet minister admitted that the Government had still "failed to articulate" what it stood for.
Chancellor targets potential savings of £500m in the £300bn being spent on schools, hospitals and other public projects
'Unreserved' apology follows questioning of move by minister
It cost just £5m a year to run Consumer Focus and the public will enjoy less protection now its work is going to Citizens Advice
The head of the civil service today launched a mole-hunt after the leak of lists of around 180 public bodies apparently facing abolition in a "bonfire of the quangos".


text:
Hi sweetie! I just love Guiseppe Zanotti shoes ... can't tell you how many times I've seen a pair in a magazine and when I check the designer, guess who it is? Love ALL your pics, btw!! I'll take one of each, thank you! ;)
That is quite a wish list! I invested in some shoes with similar heels just this month, I decided to invest and it really was worth it. I now have a self imposed shopping ban until London in July eek!
great selections, love the shoes and accessories.
I really like the first Victoria Beckham top. It's really cool!
These Giuseppe Zanotti shoes are just divine
lee x
I'll take one of each please. Those PC cases are fab because they could double as a clutch.
Totally agree on the Leigh & Luca scarves! Perfect for summer.
All the picks are classy, but reminds me of an executive look with a funky touch bec of the bracelets and scarves..I love your taste! p.s thanks for the magazine response...i had drafted some ideas and will send to you once i've Word it...=)
amazing picks...I love the scarves and the Victoria Beckham tops!!!
For sure, those skirts would be on my list too. I love the pleating...they are just so pretty!!! Really works with the ballet trend for spring.
Those Giuseppe Zanotti shoes are hotttttt


text:
Apr 3, 2013|
Doc Rivers pregame with Sean Grande: We just need to find consistency for the playoffs
Transcript - Not for consumer use. Robot overlords only. Will not be accurate.
Celtics are present in my Lexus continues from the garden. Back at the art for game homestand begins tonight for the Celtics and it goes Doc Rivers joins us refusal by Harvard Pilgrim Health -- harbored no health care. Count us in what is topped your list of what is the most important thing too costly. It's over these final two weeks it's religious just cuts that would. This is this a board game we have so many. In parts. With guards injured in this game is coming back from injury and guys. It's just we just try to. -- much continuity of the group as there. Are you comfortable with your level of trust with the new additions over the last few weeks. And I don't really narrow some. But the war between group practices with the -- so. I trust them in the fact that. Floor and work and I'm not upset if they make no mistake because you know I don't expect him to know ourselves. -- well. How many strategies that you run the first place bravery. -- five or six there strictest retirement came through. And it's it seems the you know in video game world in which everyone assumes guys shoot 40% in every two out of five shots that make you forget to human element. About confidence that was shot it was the second 13 when he took and it winning it. -- in its shot he's missing any kind of pumped his fist. As -- one finally -- form and I can forget that human element that relieves the kind of game even lost it again and they'll. Yeah I just never. See the ball go where earth you know like -- it would percentages and derided. You know -- two with Rico and patents. It's more difficult when you were shooting 50% or thwarted thwarted by certain -- account number. Because that -- -- a lot and so. -- This is look different late in the year obviously there -- it Don Young anyway that guy a couple of young bigs which a lot of teams don't have lately but it's really funny I think debt. Guys go through this -- could become good players never talked about maybe because of where they play but Jose called room wherever he goes. Things seem to be a lot more call you guys it's a good player. It is solid player. Never going to be the superstar. But the players at their one -- it was low more. The longer you know you have coaching runs the board to different people -- to trickle in and out of your staff over the years it's been. I've really enjoyed the years that Lawrence Frank was around here you don't really get to know somebody obviously with a run the team to travel with him when you're around -- what did you learn about -- in the year he was here that you might not. Well. Always thought he had great knowledge. But I. You never know or did -- -- you know a guy and indicated -- -- that knowledge to his players and I thought he was phenomenal and that. I thought he prepared himself but spirit. To put old dish as far as he's lived this in sleek. -- -- -- -- his mouth with his dirty and that is what. What UN need to look at is -- look at this guy and it looks like an accountant. And he swears -- retirement Kevin Garnett should have been -- countless obstacles that they didn't know about Orange right. -- Well it's funny regular coaches to ever Sunday we talked in the immediate aftermath of the capital where injuries and ask you as a coach as a player it's his father what your reaction was to. -- -- -- Seen on college basketball world rally and 48 hours later we have the story on the opposite end of that scale with Mike rice Rutgers and again I can't think of an original question but of that it has as a coach -- As a player. As a father. When you saw that tape and seen what was going on workers how did you react. Or I don't know -- had a reaction. Woods this out of shocked. There's some news news at the -- which she's really have to watch. You know I've. Noticed players you know it's such an emotional day and but that just when. Just chips unit over in different practices excuses -- that's with immediate right take you know media there. That would. We should do -- Starting next game bird -- Celtics and pistons next on the WEEI Celtics radio network.


text:
Guest reviews
Overall rating
9.2 Excellent
Based on 2 reviews
Recent reviews
- All reviews
- Positive
- Neutral
- Negative
Find reviews that mention:
Featuring free WiFi throughout the property, Xiao'ermei Cafe Hostel offers accommodation in Dali Ancient Town. Free private parking is available on site. Jianggongci Temple is 1,313 feet from Xiao'ermei Cafe Hostel. Dali Foreigner Street is 2,625 feet away. Dali Huangcaoba Airport is 10.6 miles from the property. Each room in Xiao'ermei Cafe Hostel is fitted with a TV. The private bathroom comes with a shower and a toilet. The 24-hour front desk can help with luggage storage and tour guidance. A range of beers and wines can be found at the bar.


text:
Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Mesquite
Select your stay dates to check availability at Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Mesquite
Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Mesquite
About the Hotel
Property Location
With a stay at Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Mesquite in Mesquite, you'll be minutes from Mesquite Convention Center and Mesquite ProRodeo. This hotel is within close proximity of Resistol Arena and Mesquite Community Theatre.
Make yourself at home in one of the 74 air-conditioned rooms featuring refrigerators and microwaves. Flat-screen televisions with cable programming provide entertainment, while complimentary wireless Internet access keeps you connected. Private bathrooms with shower/tub combinations feature complimentary toiletries and hair dryers. Conveniences include desks and complimentary newspapers, as well as phones with free local calls.
Take advantage of recreational opportunities offered, including an indoor pool, a spa tub, and a fitness center. This hotel also features complimentary wireless Internet access and gift shops/newsstands.
A complimentary continental breakfast is included.
Business, Other Amenities
Featured amenities include a business center, complimentary newspapers in the lobby, and dry cleaning/laundry services. Event facilities at this hotel consist of conference space and a meeting room. Free self parking is available onsite.
Hotel Facilities
- Indoor pool
- One meeting room
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- 24-hour front desk
- Free WiFi
- Business center
- Fitness facilities
- Free breakfast
- Laundry facilities
- Roll-in shower
- Total number of rooms - 74
- Number of floors - 5
- Gift shops or newsstand
- In-room accessibility
- Coffee/tea in common areas
- Multilingual staff
- Conference space
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Year Built 2002
- Accessible bathroom
- Elevator/lift
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Free self parking
- Spa tub
Room Facilities
- Free newspaper
- Iron/ironing board
- Rollaway/extra beds (free)
- Cable TV service
- Daily housekeeping
- Hair dryer
- Coffee/tea maker
- Air conditioning
- Private bathroom
- Sofa bed
- Free local calls
- Premium TV channels
- Shower/tub combination
- Free WiFi
- Microwave
- Minibar
- Free cribs/infant beds
- Phone
- Refrigerator
- Pay movies
- Desk
- Flat-panel TV
- Free toiletries


text:
Observation HTML version
until the one becomes stressed over the two. Then it becomes perfect. We see much of the
same in life, always emphasizing one facet over another. Should you naturally drive on the right
side of the road, the left seems unnatural. You may genuinely be a talkative person, if so; a
quiet and shy person may weaken your energy.
There are two important facts in the law of rhythm. First is "there is time for everything, with
no exceptions." If you can ride out the bad knowing the good is on its way then you have won
half the battle. Second "the more you fight it the longer it will last," when you worry, your
attention is focused on fear and produces more of it.
As a side note, in my studies I have heard many people speak on the Law of Rhythm and its
effect on their lives. What confuses me is when educated people, who clearly have knowledge,
miss an opportunity to correctly explain the given theories.
In any case, I've heard the Law of Rhythm used in statements such as, "if you're having a down
day, the law of rhythm is in action and you'll have better days soon" or "when going through
times of sorrow, know the law of rhythm will bring you times of joy." Though true, I believe
these statements are missing the true value of the law.
Knowledge of natural law and its operation holds little significance to if you don't use it to
increase your life. In other words, knowing the pendulum is shifting in your life, you should
change your attitude, alter your actions and increase your will, "cause," and a down day will
brighten, you will find joy in your sorrow, "effect." You don't have to let rhythm control you and
accept the swings of energy, you're in control of your destination, change your circumstances.
As you recall we spoke of the interaction of universal laws and how they're likened to a rainbow
of colors, one fading into another. Never feel that any law is operating in your life and there's
nothing you can do. Realize you may be in the midst of a dominate energy, but other laws are
also in operation and you have the power to manipulate the given outcome.
The Law of Rhythm is a constant circulation of energy which guides our lives; and since we
know there is no absolute completion of anything, only change, then energy is always moving
into higher forms and cycles. Look at the forest 10 years after a fire, they're thriving with life.
The old has been destroyed, earth rejuvenated and is flourishing; wouldn't it hold true that we
are in constant expansion. This illustrates rhythm and the law of nature, the rising and the
setting of the sun, the hidden laws of man, rhythm is everywhere.
Rhythm in your life is based on feelings, thoughts, beliefs and habits and the most important of
these being habit. The habits you form are your potential for growth and display the way you
believe and your personal rhythm. Think about it this way. The Law of Rhythm is like a calm
ocean of life. If you relax amongst the soothing waves, the unseen current will draw you to a
direction you may or may not want to go.
This law is often what attracts us to another person; and it's an outstanding guide for our
relationships. You've heard your friends say, "Once a cheater, always a cheater" or "they'll do it
again," chances are they are right. People often live in the repetitive patterns of their emotions
and habits. Fear, more often than not, shows up along the same lines as does commitment and


text:
Support Services
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to support you and your organization!
Your work is changing the world and AVF is honored to help you accomplish your mission by providing you with white-glove service. We know customer support is important to your organization, which is why we're committed to delivering exceptional service, answering all of your questions, and resolving your issues as quickly and effectively as possible.
AVF Online Help Desk
Need help with a product question or issue? Submit a support ticket here.
To expedite support and enhance communications between our clients and Customer Care Consultants, AVF utilizes an online Help Desk. The Help Desk is designed to allow clients to submit support requests, monitor the status of support issues, and view the support history of all users within the client organization. Additionally, the Help Desk enables users to:
- Subscribe to a ticket to monitor its progress, even if they are not the ticket owner – users will receive e-mail alerts when the ticket changes.
- Attach important support files to tickets.
- View ticket history or attach a ticket to an email or document.
- Receive ticket reminder e-mails after a certain period of inactivity.
Our Customer Care Team is available to answer questions regarding your system Monday-Friday from 8:30 am to 5 pm via the Help Desk or via phone.
IT Services
AVF Consulting's team of Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers (MCSEs) builds, installs, and supports IT solutions that are specifically designed to meet your most challenging requirements. From the initial consultation to custom production and integration, our IT professionals are equipped to service all of your needs.
AVF offers supplementary training to help ensure that your organization is taking full advantage of its accounting software system. All of our courses are designed to be interactive so that when we conclude your employees leave feeling confident in both the system and their ability to use it. Visit our Training Page to learn more about our classroom and on-site training options.
Thank you!
Our mission is to make the world a better place by working with the nonprofit community. We look forward to partnering with your organization and helping you accomplish your mission!


text: It's all in the detail with Alexander Wang's impeccable tailoring. Known for its louche, effortless silhouettes that feel as good to wear as they look, the New York-based designer has amassed a cult-like status. Work that inimitably cool aesthetic when the weather cools with a structured coat. Peaked lapels, double-breasted fronts and sharp, boxy cuts ensure the label's androgynous attitude. Peacoats and parkas are best for day, while double-faced wool and leather add dapper refinement to simple evening looks. Layer yours with skinny jeans and an oversized knit to channel the Downtown style-set.


text:
ED Magedson – Founder
Ripoff Report
Double Tree Hotel 6000 Memorial Parkway SW, Huntsville, Alabama, 35802, USA6000 Memorial Parkway SW, Huntsville, Alabama, 358 6000 Memorial Parkway SW, Huntsville, Alabama, 358, Alabama USA
Double Tree Hotel 6000 Memorial Parkway SW, Huntsville, Alabama, 35802, USA Sub Contracted Alexander Cleaning Service to employ workers less money and i believe they knew these house keepers werent making min wage. Huntsville, Alabama
Does your business have a bad reputation?
Fix it the right way.
Corporate Advocacy Program™
tHE SUPERVOSOR AT dOUBLE Tree also told new housekeepers that any beer they find must be giving to the Supervisoer and any food al well.Normally those items if unopened are always a house keepers perks.This manager i beleive to be also taking tips that are left for the house keepers.They also employ 3 questionable migrant housekeepers which i think were the before HB-56 law went into affect.The Sub Contract Alexander Motors cleaning service lady so they can exploit there less than min wage 3 dollar a room system.These housekeeprs even on a good day take 30 min to clean a room and two times 3=6 Gollars an hour.When these high rollers leave a beer or 2 or a dollar or two they dont expect it to go to a manager that does no manual work at all do they?These low pay practices were commen when illegal workers were in Alabama now that HB-56 makes companys use E Verify Comapnys like Hilton just cheat and use temp services that will have there workers make less than min wage.Hilton restore your good name drop Companys that exploit people !
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 05/24/2013 03:55 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/double-tree-hotel-6000-memorial-parkway-sw-huntsville-alabama-35802-usa/6000-memorial-parkway-sw-huntsville-alabama-358-alabama-35802/double-tree-hotel-6000-memorial-parkway-sw-huntsville-alabama-35802-usa-sub-contracte-1053673. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content
Click Here to read other Ripoff Reports on Double Tree Hotel 6000 Memorial Parkway SW, Huntsville, Alabama, 35802, USA
If you would like to see more Rip-off Reports on this company/individual, search here:Search Tips
In order to assure the best results in your search:
#1 UPDATE Employee
Proof of Per Room Wage
SUBMITTED: Wednesday, March 19, 2014POSTED: Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Proof can be provided with no problem for anyone that wishes to come and see wage statements for this property. All our financial information is stored in the system for the past year. This also goes for all E-Verify information. We do not hire employees who cannot provide valid right to work status in this country.
As mentioned in the previous rebuttal - ALEXANDER CLEANING is not responsible for the policies put in place by the hotel regarding taking home items left in the room by previous guests. That is a rule put in place by the HOTEL - if you have a further issue with not being allowed to take home alcohol then take it up with the hotel and stop the ridiculous accusations against this company.
If you are unable to clean two hotel rooms in a one hour period then you are in the wrong profession. We have a lot of staff that can clean 3 to 4 rooms an hour - professionally, pristine and with no issues found by the inspector/housekeeping manager. Again, good luck with your future ventures.
Are you an owner, employee or ex-employee with either negative or positive information about the company or individual, or can you provide "insider information" on this company?
#2 Author of original report
SUBMITTED: Thursday, February 06, 2014POSTED: Thursday, February 06, 2014
Alexander paid there housekeepers only 3 dollars a room x2=6 dollars which is below minimum wage.Dont get on here and lie or ill produce a copy of what they paid some1 i know.As far as getting a diffrent line of work id suggest you do that since your clearly allowing a sub contractor to get away with wage violations.Alexander only paid 3 dollars a room and many times cleaning 2 rooms in one hour was almost impossible.Nexy about your polocy not to take items home i have proof the mananger that told hosekeeprs not to take stuff home took stuff home daily.So thats another 0 for you.Show me mr manager were u pay Alexander 4 dollars per room and then show me that you know they recieve all 4 dollars per room=you cant.
Are you an owner, employee or ex-employee with either negative or positive information about the company or individual, or can you provide "insider information" on this company?
#3 REBUTTAL Owner of company
Regarding Alexander Cleaning
SUBMITTED: Friday, January 31, 2014POSTED: Friday, January 31, 2014
Alexander Cleaning were sub contracted by this hotel to clean the rooms that guests stayed in and vacated. With regards to the minimum wage comment. This company pays it's employees by the room. Hotel standards dictate that two check outs (a room that is vacated) or three stayovers (longer term guests) are to be cleaned within a 1 hour period. If an employee cannot clean two rooms in one hour then they need to choose an alternate profession. As these rooms are suites, the employees here were paid $4.00 per room ($8.00 or $12.00 per hour depending on which rooms they clean - MORE than the minimum wage). With regards to the Housekeeping Manager telling the housekeepers that they couldn't take home items left in the rooms, that is a policy of the hotel and nothing to do with Alexander Cleaning or Alexander Automotive.
Are you an owner, employee or ex-employee with either negative or positive information about the company or individual, or can you provide "insider information" on this company?
Advertisers above have met our
strict standards for business conduct.


text:
Do Linux desktop distros work for business settings?
This Article Covers
Linux news and updates
With regard to which is the right distribution for you, there are a plethora of good choices. Red Hat, SUSE and Mandriva all have commercially-supported desktop-oriented products as well as community-based products. There are also other community distributions available like Debian, Gentoo and Ubuntu. All of them provide good and similar functionality.
Download: Expert tips for monitoring your Linux network connection
Network connection failure: a common, yet extremely damaging IT pain point. Read this expert guide for tips and tricks on how to monitor your Linux network connectivity more actively, and how to troubleshoot and get back online quickly.
By submitting your personal information, you agree that TechTarget and its partners may contact you regarding relevant content, products and special offers.
You also agree that your personal information may be transferred and processed in the United States, and that you have read and agree to the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy.
From the editor: You may also find the following links useful:
Dig Deeper on Linux news and updates
Related Q&A from Bernard Golden
Best practices for Xen?
Expert Bernard Golden answers a question regarding best practices for Xen.continue reading
Uniform standards for the Linux/OSS community
An open source software and applications expert describes his observations about the progress the Linux Foundation has been making towards creating ...continue reading
Red Hat, Canonical and marketplace presence
Find out why one open source software and applications expert doesn't think that Red Hat's and Canonical's refusals to partner with Microsoft will ...continue reading
Have a question for an expert?
Please add a title for your question
Get answers from a TechTarget expert on whatever's puzzling you.
Meet all of our Enterprise Linux experts


text:
What the Media Forgot to Mention When Bob Toricelli Dropped Out of the Race for SenateFact & Fiction
Toricelli's lower house constituency embraced Union City, N J. That had become, by 1992, a branch of embittered expatriate Miami emigre Cubans, dominated by a segment bitterly hostile to the Cuban Revolution.
In behalf of this segment of his district, Rep. Torricelli drafted (or accepted their draft of) a bill that more stringently tightened the embargo against Cuba that had previously been based on executive action. (That status, product of presidential fiat left the embargo more vulnerable to reconsideration and revocation.)
The Torricelli Bill (as it was widely known) was vetoed by then President Bush (the elder) on the ground that provisions with intended extraterritorial application, i.e. directed against other nations and their nationals, would violate International Law.
During the 1992 campaign, Bush vs. Clinton, Torricelli and the leaders of the Miami hardliners, persuaded candidate Clinton to announce that if he were elected, he would sign the Torricelli Bill. At about this time, reportedly, a six-figure sum was given to Clinton at a Florida campaign stop by Jorge Mas Canosa, the extremist anti-Castro campaigner.
Competing candidate Bush then reversed himself, and knowing that he would (or had) Rep. Torricelli led the Congress in re-passing the bill, the prior veto of which had not been overridden. The Torricelli Bill became law and remains on the books, as the Cuban Democracy Act. Helms-Burton, a law that came later, did not enact the embargo. It merely made it worse.
Arguably, his role in this affair greased the path to elevation of Torricelli to the Senate seat that he was obliged to desert.
Amnesia of Americans and their media to international law and its norms could be said to have contributed, at least in part, to the absence of any reference to the bipartisan scandal of the Torricelli contribution to the embargo.
comments powered by Disqus
More Comments:
Bill Heuisler - 10/31/2002
We clumsy polemicists recognize gross ineptitude when we see it.
Torrecelli is not Meyer's subject, Castro-kissing is.
Mr. Meyer piles word on word, awkwardness on absurdity; and he can scarcely restrain his venom for Cuban refugees.
He writes:
"In Union City, N J. That had become, by 1992, a branch of embittered expatriate Miami emigre Cubans, dominated by a segment bitterly hostile to the Cuban Revolution."
Fairly drips, doesn't it? Embittered and bitter, expatriate and emigre, is this "author" being paid by the word? His contempt for Cuban/Americans who fled Communism is embarrassing. His use of the words "Cuban Revolution" is pathetic on a history site.
Meyer continues his barely intelligible hate-fest:
"...given to Clinton at a Florida campaign stop by Jorge Mas Canosa, the extremist anti-Castro campaigner."
Extremist? Campaigner? Is it extreme to be anti-Castro? For Meyer, campaigning against a dictator is apparently extreme.
Come on, Mr. author, tell us how you really feel about Fidel.
Bill Heuisler
don kates - 10/28/2002
Mr. Meyer is -- or at least purports to be -- faulting the media for not reporting on this matter when it reported on Torricelli's w/drawl from the NJ Senate race in the wake of adverse polls results apparently based on charges that he had accepted what amounted to bribes -- having to do w/ the giver's personal business interests and nothing to do w/ Cuba.
Apparently Mr. Meyer is riding a giant hobby horse about the Cuban embargo which he fanatically opposes. Having no deep convictions about that embargo (or even if I had), I cannot see why the media should have said anything about the embargo issue at all in the course of reporting on the Torricelli resignation.
- Ken Burns argues that Vietnam is to blame for much of our current alienation and polarization
- Ilan Pappe says Israel Is Not a Democracy
- Drew Gilpin Faust discusses free speech in Harvard commencement address (video)
- Military Journalist Calls on General McMaster to Step Down—And Let Trump Be Trump
- Historian David Kaiser says the most exciting day of his life was JFK's election


text:
414,322Added 4 years ago
Starring: Gong, Kamol and Santipong Suggest actors
Do you recognise pornstars in this scene? Begin typing a pornstar name, then click on the button to suggest them!
DVD: Caught in the Act 21
Categories: AmateurAnal SexAsianAsian MaleBall LickingBlowjobBrunetteCollegeCreampie - AssCum on StomachEthnicInterracialLickingTeenThreesomesTowelTwinks
Asian twinks, Kamol, Santipong, and Gong, jerk each other off, get fucked up the ass, and give each other blow-jobs. They watch each other masturbate, and cum all over themselves.
Skinny punk gay emo thai teen guys naked in a hotel, start sucking and fucking in gay threesome.
Featured in playlists: Gay (203 Videos), hi (43 Videos), Sweet Gay (32 Videos), FAVS (32 Videos), Asian Guys (14 Videos), man on man (59 Videos), jo time (4 Videos), AN (6 Videos), gay (59 Videos), xx (3 Videos)Show more Report
Video Suggestions
- Bi-Guys Share A Chinese Guy And Seducing27:21
- Asian Gay Boys Fuck And Masturbate Together27:19
- Asian Teen Takes Sex Ed Classes28:43
- Asian Boys Sucking Each Other For Pleasure26:27
- Two Young Asian Boys Delight In Fucking Each Other29:06
- Asian Bitches Sharing Huge Cock For Fun33:25
- Two Asian Guys Play With Each Others Dicks30:45
- Gay Asian Men Fuck In A Jungle28:45
- A Gay Couple Enjoying Some Afternoon Ass Fucking25:00
- Pairat And Manod In Gays Mood Sex Session27:12
User Comments (54)
- Anonymous
To answer the question posted on September 22, 2014, there is almost nothing more pleasurable for a man to get a blow job, and for me, it's equally erotic to give a blow job, building up to an explosive orgasm in my mouth, which I i love to circulate in my mouth and then swallow it all!!!3 years ago1Reply
- Anonymous
I just love Asian balls bouncing when they jack off and love to lap the hot sperm off their nuts after they shoot their hot cum loads..I just shot my juicy load while watching this video and would love to have any Asian look me up for the tenderest blow job in America!2 years ago0Reply
- Anonymous
Many years ago in Manila I had 7 boys, 18-19, gangbang me. Each blew at least 3 loads each and one 18 yr old gave me 7 loads that night. He and one of his classmates spent the night and we went at it again 1st thing in the AM. Asian boys are SOOO hot!2 years ago0Reply
- johnalbyn
thais are hot!3 years ago0Reply
- ivanboy
Hot Thai threesome3 years ago0Reply
- Anonymous
which I was in bed with these three3 years ago0Reply
- Anonymous
what does it fel like to do or have a blow job?3 years ago0Reply
- Anonymous
Asian men for me always the best . hot sexy handsome. and umm i like Asian men too much to resist them yeah3 years ago0Reply
- Anonymous
They really should stop looking into the camera and at least act like they're having fun.3 years ago0Reply
- Anonymous
Bareback with condom? hahahaha4 years ago0Reply
- Anonymous
Had a 4-some with 4 thai dudes. was awesome.4 years ago0Reply
- Anonymous
I hope that whatever they got pay for was worth for they families4 years ago0Reply


text:
Pound Ridge, NY, USA < change city >
Florists (43)
Bands (38)
Caterers (36)
Wedding Day Beauty (36)
DJs (33)
Cakes (23)
Limos (17)
Videographers (16)
Coordinators (16)
Wedding Fashion (13)
Invitations (9)
Officiants (9)
Ceremony Musicians (8)
Favors (7)
Rentals (7)
Ceremony Sites (55)
Reception Sites (36)
See All Vendors >
Crabtree's Kittle House ...
11 Kittle Road
Chappaqua, New York 10514, USA
914 666-8044
Ceremony Sites, Reception Sites, Ceremony ...
2 ratings, 1 review, 3 weddings
Wedding Venue and reception site in beautiful Chappaqua, Westchester County NY. Built in 1790, a historic landmark home with 13...
Wce Carriagehouse
187 Brinckerhoff Court
Englewood, NJ 07631, USA
(201) 568-7701
Ceremony Sites, Reception S...
38 ratings, 40 reviews, 49 weddings
I would highly recommend the WCE Carriage House to anyone who wants a wedding tha...
The Inn at Longshore
260 South Compo Road
Westport, Connecticut 06880, USA
Ceremony Sites, Reception S...
3 ratings, 2 reviews, 15 weddings
Beautiful location, great food and super accomodating. The minute that my husband...
Hyatt Regency Greenwich
1800 East Putnam Avenue
Old Greenwich, CT 06870, USA
Reception Sites, Hotels/Acc...
2 ratings, 2 reviews, 19 weddings
All of our guests raved about the hotel. It's by far the nicest hotel in our area...
Airbrush Beauty at Your ...
Prospect St
Stamford, CT 06901, usa
Wedding Day Beauty, Recepti...
2 ratings, 2 reviews, 2 weddings
Donna was terrific. i couldn't have asked for a better make-up artist for my spe...
Le Chateau
1410 Route 35
South Salem, NY, United States
Ceremony Sites, Reception S...
1 rating, 1 review, 7 weddings
planning and execution by the staff was excellent. Quality of food and service w...
The Harbor Club
95 New York Avenue
Huntington, NY 11743, USA
Reception Sites, Ceremony S...
1 rating, 1 review, 6 weddings
Awesome awesome awesome.....great food, great service
Cranbury Chapel
4 Frank St
Norwalk, CT 06851
Bridal Shower Sites, Recept...
1 rating, 1 review, 3 weddings
Small, cozy old chapel tucked into a residential neighborhood. perfect for our sm...
Continential Manor
112 Main St
Norwalk, CT, United States
Caterers, Reception Sites, ...
1 rating, 1 review, 3 weddings
AWESOME! People are still telling us how much they loved the food and thought the...
Barcelona Wine Bar
63 N Main St
Fairfield County, CT 06854
Restaurants, Reception Sites
1 rating, 1 review, 2 weddings
Superb!! The food was wonderful! The service on point, everything worked like c...


text:
Hi guys!
Do you know Inkscape? It's a freeware and open source software you can download from internet. It's a very beautiful software that you can use to draw nice illustrations.
Roberto Giovannini
Imperia, IT
Interact, make friends, share tips and techniques, have fun. Dreamstime wants your ideas and thoughts whether you are a photographer, designer or regular user. Create a blog to tell your story, promote favorite images and photographers, post tutorials or simply exchange opinions with your with fellow dreamstimers.
Don't forget words and pictures go great together so make sure you choose some Dreamstime favorite pics to brighten your article. For inspiration, check out the hottest or the most useful blogs on the left.
Create a blog to tell your story, promote favorite stock images and photographers
Create your own blog in seconds!
More favorite articles
Keep in touch:
Copyright © 2000-2017 Dreamstime. All rights reserved.


text:
Russian Guys Take Their Drunk Friend Home In The Best Way Possible
During the Winter Olympics we have heard about the protests of Russian policies, the granduer and beauty of the countryside. What hasn't been presented is the great ingenuity of the Russian people. Well let that be ignored NO LONGER! I present to you, what I like to call: Russians Bringing Their Hammered Friend Home from the Bar. Enjoy.


text:
Contact us 24/7: +1 877 678 9627
Versus Versace
Stretch-cotton jersey leggings
View product details
Versus Versace
Stretch-cotton jersey leggings
Zoom In
- - Fits true to size, take your normal size
- - Low-rise, leggings design
- - Elasticated at the waist for a flexible fit
- - Mid-weight, stretchy fabric 6% elastane
- - Those with curvy hips may wish to take the next size up
- - Model is 177cm/ 5'10" and is wearing a size XSmall
Versus' black stretch-cotton jersey leggings nod to the logo trend of the '90s. The white waistband is elasticated for flexibility. Style yours with a sweatshirt and sneakers.
Shown here with: OAK Hoodie, Helmut Lang T-shirt, Converse Sneakers, Marc by Marc Jacobs Shoulder bag, Chan Luu Bracelet.
- - Black stretch-cotton jersey
- - Pull on
- - 94% cotton, 6% elastane
- - Hand wash
Product Code: 464812
For alternative suggestions, contact our Fashion Consultants
Help & Advice
Product Code: 464812


text:
mmmm warm weather
Sounds delightful! Eat a banana for me. XOXO
Taking it all in....
Trip Start Jan 04, 2008
34Trip End Apr 08, 2008
Map your own trip!
Loading Map
Loading Map
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
But this place is about so much more than the weather. Rocking around in a bus as we drove through the city today with the radio blaring Latin dance music, with people all talking at once to anyone who will listen, I feel nothing but the joy of being in South America...the Latino culture feels very comfortable and lively and fun to be moving within. I'm dying to practice my Spanish...so much so that I'm asking for directions when I don't even really need them...but the people that I speak to are just as eager to practice their English...and frankly their English is better than my Spanish....so I'm more than willing to accommodate.
Lima - a huge city - with lots of poverty (I read that 55% of the population here lives at the poverty level), but here in Miraflores, you wouldn't know that... We're right on the ocean above big bluffs that support well-groomed parks...hang-gliders flying off the edges, kids running around their parents, surfers crowding the waves, music and food, and most noticeably, multitudes of coupled teenagers making out on benches. I've never seen so many couples publicly displaying their affection at one time. Appropriately enough this is called Lover's Park...the centerpiece is a giant statue of two reclined people in the depths of a passionate embrace...so maybe these couples are just emulating the larger-than-life stone figures...however, it's almost difficult to find a place to sit without feeling as though you are being somewhat intrusive. But the ocean is the lure....the beauty of the lengthy stretch of beach beneath me...the ceaseless waves gurgling through the cobbly gravel at the shore...the smell of salty air confirming you are walking in the right direction....
So that's my picture of Lima for now. I'm getting my bearings, making some contacts with people involved in environmental work, eating as much fresh fruit as I can safely stomach at once, planning the next few weeks travel, and enjoying flip-flopping around with only shorts and a t-shirt on. It was hard to leave Syracuse...but I'm getting back in to the traveling groove again, the over-stimulation - a product of incessant, multi-dimensional input....sounds, smells, visual...all new and there for consumption and appreciation...time now to lie flat on my back, close my eyes, and process all that input quietly....except for the sound of a Latin beat that makes me wish I had paid better attention in that meringue class....


text:
It is time for one of our poker player profiles again, with us this time choosing to profile not an up and coming poker player but one that has been performing at the highest stakes online poker tables for a few years now.
He hasn't only been performing at them but in general making huge amounts of money since his emergence in 2008. Viktor Blom is that player, with the Swedish man originally starting to play online at the tender age of 18.
He had saved up a bankroll of around $2,000 and when he turned old enough to gamble legally, allegedly turned that bankroll into $1,500,000 in no more than a fortnight.
It was 2009 that he started to play at Full Tilt Poker, where he then took the tables by storm and made a staggering profit of $5,000,000 in less than a month, which was made all the more remarkable after taking that money from players of the ilk of Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan.
His aggressive style and fearless attitude has meant that he has not only been involved in the largest pot seen online, but also the nine pots after it too. His style means that whilst he can win big on occasion, he can also slip to huge losses too. This is exactly why he holds the records for the largest profit made in a day whilst also the record for the biggest losses.
Up until 2011, nobody actually knew who "Isildur1" was, with his identity being kept a secret despite being signed as a PokerStars Team Pro. The truth would come out in the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, when he first took his place at a live table event.
With him being an online player by all accounts, this has meant very little live tournament performances, though he did even prove he can step up when needed after winning the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Super High Roller for a score of $1,254,400.
2013 – Good Start So Far!
Blom started of the year on fire, with him amassing nearly $5 million profit within the first two weeks of January. Things have dropped off slightly though and he has struggled since then dropping more than half of those winnings, yet he is still the years second highest profit maker so far. The thing with Blom is that you know he is capable of going on a huge upswing and taking home multiple millions in such a short period of time.
We expect to see more of these upswings followed by a few big downswings throughout the year, but we bet he will be in profit by the time it all ends.


text:
Remove Chat Contact from Gmail
Adding contacts is very easy in Gmail. You also might have added them in Chat Contacts. Now after sometime, you don't like them and want to remove them from your Chat contacts in Gmail. Well, as I found there is no option in Gmail to remove Chat contacts, although you can remove your Mail contacts.
You must be having this scenario while you are in chat.
As you can in the fig. there is no option to Remove or Delete a contact in Chat list. But there is a way to remove your Chat contacts in Gmail.
Download and Install Google Talk.
Enter your username and password for the account you want to remove your Chat contact. Now right click on the contact you want to remove. You will be displayed with options. Select "Remove" from the options. Hurray! Your Chat contact is removed or deleted.
If you like this post, please become a fan on my Facebook page.
Related posts:
- Gmail! Stop adding contacts automatically
- How to use Mail in Windows 7: Windows Live Mail & Gmail Set Up
- Gmail! Inbox preview
- Insert Image/Greeting/GIF/JPEG in Gmail
- Windows 7 Installation: Customize, Remove unnecessary windows utilities: RT Seven Lite
- Windows 7 download: Best 30 HD wallpapers
- A SEO Tool: Check Google SERP or Position
- Disclaimer


text: Jay says GAO report shows coal needs to get cleaner By Ken Ward Jr. August 16, 2012 Story Share Read the reportCHARLESTON, W.Va. -- U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller is touting a new federal Government Accountability Office report as proof that the coal industry needs to "improve its technology to become cleaner and to reduce negative health and environmental impacts."The West Virginia Democrat had asked the non-partisan GAO to analyze ongoing changes in the nation's electrical generation system, including how new air pollution rules impact power plants and the system's overall reliability."GAO took a deep dive into the impact of new standards on energy reliability, and I greatly appreciate the extensive report," Rockefeller said. "We must address the health and environmental concerns related to the power sector, and this report shows that we can do it responsibly."In a news release, Rockefeller highlighted several of the GAO's findings:| Most power plants will install pollution controls to comply with new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards that limit emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants. Companies are investing to upgrade younger plants, and facilities that are being retired are generally much older, less efficient and have fewer environmental controls. | The Clean Air Act rulemakings EPA is pursuing were put in motion more than two decades ago, when then-President George H.W. Bush signed the 1990 amendments to the law. "Whether President Obama is president, or someone else, these standards would still be going into effect now based on the timeline provided in the Clean Air Act Amendments and as a result of lawsuits stemming from former President George W. Bush's tenure," Rockefeller said.| The benefits of these EPA standards far outweigh the potential costs. The new standards for power plants will reduce the cost impact to consumers over the long run, Rockefeller said, and "EPA standards aim to improve the health of people exposed to power plant pollution, which means a reduction in hospital visits, fewer premature deaths, and more work productivity."The GAO report comes two months after Rockefeller delivered a Senate floor speech in which he called on coal industry officials to stop using "scare tactics" in their public relations campaign against EPA and the Obama administration."The reality is that many who run the coal industry today would rather attack false enemies and deny real problems than find solutions," Rockefeller said in that speech."It's not too late for the coal industry to step up and lead by embracing the realities of today and creating a sustainable future," Rockefeller said. "Discard the scare tactics. Stop denying the science. Listen to what markets are saying about greenhouse gases and other environmental concerns, to what West Virginians are saying about their water and air, their health, and the cost of caring for seniors and children who are most susceptible to pollution."Reach Ken Ward Jr. at firstname.lastname@example.com or 304-348-1702. Story Share Story Share Trending Now 1 Free mobile dental clinic to visit 6 WV counties 2 Herbert Hoover dethrones Chapmanville, claims AA softball championship 3 Williams River Road segment closed since floods reopens 4 Ex-police officer arrested for alleged telephone harassment 5 Oak Hill teen charged with woman's murder Citizens challenge Chambers on mine permit ruling Previous Story Patriot, environmentalists reach 'agreement in principle' Next Story


text:
Advanced File Management Software
videos by date, officer's name, case #, citation #, title, and more.
and quickly retrieve files by keyword, citation #, case #, date, officer's name, and more.
with one click to DVD or CD.
allows you to split, rotate, and enhance.
video and still photo files from other sources into the VIDMIC program for easy management of all your video evidence.
and email video files for immediate use by attorneys, chiefs, city administrators, Internal Affairs, and more.
the chain of custody of evidence with multiple safeguards such as embedded date and time stamp, serial number recognition, coded entries, supervisor's audit trail, and more.


text:
Our big announcement on the Trump-Russia scandal.
There's a story Michele Bachmann likes to tell when she speaks to religious audiences. It arrives about three-quarters through her stump speech, after the warning to opponents that she is "one tough cookie" and the crowd-pleasing pledge to make Barack Obama a—say it together—"One. Term. President."
As Bachmann tells it, America's national sovereignty is slipping away, and the sanctity of the family is being overrun by an encroaching nanny state. But we can find hope in the story of the Israelites, who, after drifting from their faith and coming under siege in their own land, shunned their false idolatry and pushed back the invaders with God's help: "The men of Issachar understood the times that they lived in, and they knew what to do," she says, referring to one of the 12 tribes of Israel. "They had the courage to carry it out." Although Bachmann doesn't note this, it's the only episode in the Bible in which men are led into battle by a woman, Deborah.
This is Michele Bachmann's message, in its biblical essence: America will be restored to its founding glory by a righteous few, and it's going to take a fight. "It is my opinion that God has not given up on the United States of America," she says, the crowd beginning to feel it, "and we shouldn't either."
Since her election to Congress in 2006, Bachmann has earned a reputation as one of the lower chamber's biggest bomb throwers. She has accused the president of harboring "anti-American" views, warned that census data could be used to round up dissenters into internment camps, and declared that the Treasury Department is quietly planning on replacing the dollar with a global currency. To her critics, Bachmann is flat-out crazy, a purveyor of, as Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) put it, "psycho talk."
But beneath language that seems cribbed straight from Glenn Beck's magical chalkboard, there is a method to the congresswoman's madness. Her rise was not a fluke, and she is not, as Fox News' Chris Wallace clumsily implied in June, a "flake." Bachmann's candidacy represents the crest of a movement, four decades in the making, to restore faith as the foundation of public life in America—from public schools on up to the White House.
From her days as an abortion protester and conservative foot soldier, she has climbed the ranks, at every step of the way reshaping the political dynamic around her to reflect her own frenzied style. In some respects, her career arc mirrors the president's—a restless youth, a life-changing trip abroad, a stint as a community organizer, and then a rapid rise from the state legislature to the US Capitol. Now she wants Obama's job.
In June, when Bachmann officially kicked off her presidential campaign in Waterloo, Iowa, the town where she was born and lived until she was 12, she recast herself as a Hawkeye in exile. "Everything I need to know," she told the crowd, "I learned in Iowa." But her formative years were really spent four hours north in Anoka, Minnesota, where she moved with her parents shortly before they divorced.
It was here, at 16, that she had the religious epiphany that has guided her life. Prodded by friends, she showed up at a prayer meeting one day, still in her cheerleading uniform. "I didn't drink, I didn't party, I wasn't out chasing around," she tells supporters now, "but I was still a sinner. Even though I didn't have the big outward sins, I was still a sinner. I asked him to cleanse me and change me and turn me into his likeness." The summer after she graduated high school, she went to Israel to work on a kibbutz. The trip was a revelation for Bachmann, who, citing Genesis 12:3 ("I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse"), calls American prosperity God's reward for the nation's steadfast support for Israel.
After a stint living with an uncle in Alaska, Bachmann enrolled at Minnesota's Winona State University, where she met her husband, Marcus, through a campus Christian fellowship. Their courtship was not the stuff of rom-coms. One day, Michele was praying with a girlfriend when she had a vision of getting married to Marcus at his family farm in western Wisconsin. "I thought to myself, 'Ooh, I don't even like this guy. What's this about?'" she explained later. But God provided the spark.
Together, they discovered politics. Michele and Marcus volunteered for Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign in 1976, drawn in by the former Georgia governor's born-again faith and their own roots. (Bachmann was raised in a Democratic family; she jokes that her party affiliation was printed on her birth certificate.)
Her political conversion came in college, while reading Gore Vidal's Burr. She grew upset at the book's mocking tone toward the Founding Fathers. "I looked out the window, and I said, 'You know what? I think I must be a Republican,'" she recalled during a speech last December.
But the intellectual roots of her transformation go much deeper. Bachmann's worldview is infused with a sense of urgency driven by her religious beliefs—particularly the conviction that current events are helping to usher in the apocalypse. "We are in the last days," she said in 2006. "The harvest is at hand."
At Winona State in the '70s, the Bachmanns watched How Should We Then Live?, a 10-part historical miniseries written and narrated by Francis Schaeffer, a founding father of the religious right. The film would become central to the couple's outlook.
Schaeffer's goal was to reinject Christianity into the public sphere. The premise of his film was that modern society was dissolving in a morass of apathy, sin, and moral relativism. But there was a solution. As Schaeffer told it, Rome's decline was the inevitable consequence of an insufficient moral foundation. Without a light to guide them, its citizens became apathetic. They stopped working and relied on assistance from the ever swelling government. Rome didn't fall; it gave up.
For Bachmann, Schaeffer's series offered a frame for understanding modern times—and more importantly, it illuminated the righteous pathway forward. She enrolled in law school at ultraconservative Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma, where, in Bachmann's words, "they taught the law from a biblical worldview." Over her own initial objections, she felt a divine calling—strongly encouraged by Marcus—to study tax law. "Tax law? I hate taxes," she recalled in a 2006 address at a mega-church in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. "Why should I go and do something like that? But the Lord says, 'Be submissive.'" It's a reference to Ephesians 5:24, which instructs women to obey their spouses: "As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands." The Lord and Marcus knew best.
If tax law sounded less than thrilling, it was nonetheless a starting point. As Schaeffer had taught, Christians, whatever their professions, had an obligation to engage society and use their status to correct its wayward course. Bachmann was about to do just that.
In 1993, after giving birth to the fourth of five children, Bachmann quit her job as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service, where she'd worked since completing her legal education. But she continued to follow the path she believed God had chosen for her. She and her husband went to abortion clinics, where they ministered to women on the sidewalks outside, and began taking in foster kids—23 of them over a period of eight years. She also got involved with New Heights, a charter school that was just opening its doors in Stillwater, a quaint Minnesota town on the banks of the St. Croix River where the Bachmanns had settled. Bachmann enrolled one of her kids and joined the school's board.
The school's founder and CEO, an evangelical prison minister named Dennis Meyer, insisted on adhering to the "20 key principles of Christian management," according to minutes of the school's board meetings, and encouraged board members to choose their actions "not because we 'think' it should be done a certain way, but because God wants us to." This didn't sit well with everyone. The minutes reveal deep fissures over the role of faith in the school's mission.
If Meyer pushed the envelope, Bachmann took things further. According to Bob Beltrame, whose kids attended New Heights and who joined with other parents to oppose the efforts of the Meyer-Bachmann wing, Bachmann and an ally began attending classes and questioning the appropriateness of certain topics and materials. (Disney's Aladdin was banned for promoting the occult.)
Most bothersome to Beltrame, a geologist, was Bachmann's support for teaching creationism. "I told her, 'Everybody can have their own beliefs, but it doesn't belong in the classroom,'" he says.
With parents and board members clashing, a meeting was held to clear the air. Bachmann's critics alleged that she had circumvented the board by sending parents a survey she'd created, asking them to report back. Things reached a climax when a teacher seized the floor. "He said, 'There is evil in this room. We have to chase the evil out of this room,'" Beltrame recalls—at which point Bachmann and her allies joined in prayer to ward off the evil spirits. (It failed; Bachmann stepped down from her post shortly thereafter.)
Bachmann's first political battle had been a disaster, but she reemerged five years later as a full-fledged education activist. The impetus was a state curriculum standard, implemented under Republican Gov. Arne Carlson, called the Profile of Learning, which put Minnesota into compliance with federal legislation. Policy wonks and teachers' unions quibbled over certain aspects of the standards. But social conservatives reviled them for another reason: They saw the standards as an unconstitutional expansion of government control—an attempt, as Bachmann put it, at "politically correct indoctrination."
Working closely with a nonprofit called the Maple River Education Coalition, Bachmann argued that the federal government was using its pot of education funding as a billion-dollar carrot to turn public schools into assembly lines for a state-planned economy, akin to that of the Soviet Union. One theory floated by the coalition held that Washington bureaucrats wanted to eliminate national borders entirely. There was a thinly veiled religious subtext: Among many evangelical Christians, globalism is a tool of the devil—a view popularized by the best-selling Left Behind novels, in which the Antichrist comes to power via the United Nations.
Carlson's successor, Jesse Ventura, dismissed Profile opponents as conspiracy theorists, but Bachmann took the fight to a different audience. Armed with an overhead projector, Bachmann crisscrossed Minnesota to sound the alarm, speaking in church basements and pizza parlors. To her audiences, she went by "Dr. Bachmann," although she had never received nor studied for a Ph.D. A policy analyst named Michael Chapman was supposed to be the main attraction, but it was Bachmann who usually whipped the crowd into a camp-meeting frenzy and brought shouts of "amen!" from the back of the room.
She became a rock star within her circle of activists and in 1999 began to look for more ways to get involved. Until that point, Stillwater had been largely immune to the culture wars, but Bachmann's decision to run for school board changed that. It was a move directly out of the playbook of Christian Coalition wunderkind Ralph Reed, who once explained, "I would rather have a thousand school board members than one president and no school board members." Bachmann and four allies secured the endorsement of the local Republican party—unheard of for a school board race—and ran on a single repeal-the-Profile slate. Things got ugly. At one debate, Bachmann falsely accused an opponent of being endorsed by Planned Parenthood.
Ultimately, the unified ticket flopped. But it was a start. The next year, Bachmann challenged the district's moderate state senator, Gary Laidig. She showed up at the district GOP convention and, with the floor packed with anti-Profile activists, knocked off the incumbent on the first ballot. Bachmann presented herself as an unlikely victor, dressed in moccasins and an old sweatshirt, but it had the hallmarks of an old-fashioned putsch. Bachmann the politician had arrived.
In St. Paul, Bachmann quickly carved out a reputation as a different kind of legislator, one largely uninterested in the legislative process. Rather than adjust to the incremental, often tedious process of policymaking, Bachmann had begun to play the role she'd eventually embrace in Washington—remaining for, of, and by the grassroots, while slowly reshaping the debate on her terms.
Bachmann's unwillingness to go through the motions became apparent in her first few weeks on the job. When fellow Republican state Sen. Sheila Kiscaden invited her and three other freshman legislators to participate in informal orientation sessions, Bachmann—who had used her unfamiliarity with St. Paul as a selling point on the campaign trail—wanted no part. She served on committees with conflicting meeting times and swung by just long enough to check her name off the attendance sheet, according to several former colleagues. This so frustrated fellow lawmakers that they considered switching to roll-call votes to highlight her truancy.
Her legislative record was bereft of any landmark achievements. "A lot of sizzle, no steak," Kiscaden says. Bachmann crafted a law to encourage the teaching of select founding documents like the Mayflower Compact and the Declaration of Independence in public schools; she promoted a Taxpayer Bill of Rights but turned down a chance to put it up for a vote; and in one session, she introduced nearly a tenth of the chamber's honorary resolutions (congratulating Stillwater Cub Scouts and calling for various statewide days of prayer, among other things).
Her fixation on niche issues, and propensity for framing rivals' proposals in Orwellian terms, didn't go unnoticed. Wy Spano, a University of Minnesota-Duluth instructor and longtime observer of Statehouse intrigue, notes that one of Bachmann's early crusades in the Senate was a campaign against a state university system job-training program she believed was turning Minnesota into a fascist state by marrying government and business. That was too much for one Democratic state senator, who during a committee hearing put his hand over his microphone to ask Bachmann, "Do you believe this shit?" The crusade flopped.
Still, Bachmann emerged as the leader of a conservative insurrection within the ranks of the GOP caucus, using her office as a staging ground for what became a decadelong purge of moderates. "She was overheard on the floor of the Senate talking to another conservative about who the moderates were in the Republican caucus," Kiscaden says. "And then she started pointing at different senators and said, 'We're going to get rid of him; we're going to get rid of her; we're going to get rid of him.'"
And they did: Kiscaden was forced out of the party shortly thereafter; so was fellow moderate Martha Robertson. Party loyalists who ended up on Bachmann's bad side found themselves threatened with primary challenges, including state Sen. Paul Koering. And she played hardball. Eric Black, a political columnist for MinnPost, recounted the story of Bachmann, at a local GOP convention in 2006, threatening a woman who had opposed her nomination. Bachmann, he wrote, angrily repeated "you will pay" until the woman broke down in tears.
There was one issue that seemed to consume Bachmann. The slow creep of the gay rights movement was, in her words, an "earthquake issue," with the potential to shake the foundation of society itself: the family. Taking a page from Schaeffer, who vilified the "rampant sexuality" and moral relativism of the Romans, Bachmann saw the gay rights movement as a secular ideology that posed a direct challenge to traditional marriages.
As she'd done before with the Profile of Learning, Bachmann embraced her role as a messenger. When EdWatch, as the Maple River Education Coalition was later known, invited her to deliver a speech at its 2004 convention, she unleashed a masterful presentation, mixing slides with self-deprecating humor, that hammered home the same urgent message that has since become familiar to a national audience: The forces working against you are bigger than you think.
Bachmann ripped into pop culture, telling her audience about a dangerous show she'd discovered called Sex and the City. ("It's received critical acclaim," she said, "so that tells you, 'Don't watch it.'") She warned that The Lion King soundtrack was potentially toxic to small children because it was written by Elton John, a gay man. She urged her audience to pray for Melissa Etheridge, suggesting that the lesbian songwriter's breast cancer diagnosis might be a wake-up call for her to turn away from her sinful lifestyle. To Bachmann, homosexuals had even usurped the English language. "It's part of Satan, I think, to say that this is 'gay,'" she said. "It's anything but gay."
The Bachmanns worked as a tag team. In 2005, they both participated in the Minnesota Pastors' Summit, a conference sponsored by the Minnesota Family Council that was designed to train religious leaders for the culture wars. Michele led a session on a state gay marriage amendment; Marcus, in a rare moment of public activism, moderated a talk called "The Truth of the Homosexual Lifestyle."
Marcus delivered a 45-minute presentation that used his role as a psychologist as a basis for a range of assertions about gays. He claimed, for instance, that more than 70 percent of gay men had been abused, which ultimately led them to "the lifestyle." Then he turned the stage over to a "former lesbian" and family friend named Janet Boynes, who explained how she became straight through the power of prayer.
Boynes was a ubiquitous figure in Michele Bachmann's early career. She sat in on Bachmann's constituent meetings, attended campaign rallies, and was frequently seen at her side in the tunnels underneath the Minnesota Capitol. Marcus Bachmann's clinic hawks Boynes' book, Called Out, in its lobby, with a note from Marcus saying that it gives "insights of truth to set people free." Michele's endorsement appears on Boynes' website. (Boynes declined to comment for this story, deferring questions to Bachmann's office. Michele and Marcus Bachmann also declined to be interviewed.)
For the Bachmanns, defeating homosexuality isn't just a moral imperative; it's a business. On the stump, Bachmann sometimes talks about the Christian counseling clinic she and Marcus founded in Lake Elmo, a town over from Stillwater. In 2006, when the Minneapolis alt-weekly City Pages reported that the clinic performs reparative therapy, a potentially harmful practice in which patients are "cured" of their homosexuality through prayer, Marcus called it a lie. But his own rhetoric—implying that gay teenagers are like "barbarians" who need to be "educated"—did little to tamp down the controversy. In July, the LGBT group Truth Wins Out released a hidden-camera video that shows one of Marcus Bachmann's associates counseling an activist posing as a patient on how to become a heterosexual. ("God has designed our eyes to be attracted to the woman's body.")
Reparative therapy is part of a larger idea known as intercession—a practice that entails praying on behalf of others (for instance, women entering an abortion clinic). And it was an approach Bachmann brought to the legislative arena. In two consecutive legislative sessions, Bachmann introduced bills to place a gay marriage ban on the ballot. Openly gay Democratic state Sen. Scott Dibble says that when he wasn't there she brought a group of conservative activists—"prayer warriors," as she called them—into the chamber to pray over his desk. She held a candlelight vigil outside the Capitol to pray for the legislation's passage and, with the Legislature scrambling to finish up its session in the spring of 2004, brought the body to a standstill through her efforts to bring the bill to the floor.
Those efforts failed, but only briefly. Last May, when a considerably more conservative state Legislature took up the gay marriage ballot measure again, the congresswoman helped secure its passage by working behind the scenes. "I was at the tip of the spear," she explained later. Bachmann didn't change the law; she changed the environment.
In Washington, Bachmann has shown no signs of letting up; if anything, the stakes have gotten even higher and the nation, under the stewardship of President Obama, has careened that much further along the road to ruin. She's made her mark by framing her opponents' views in the most dire terms—charging that the Obama administration would deny conservatives health care, and that AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps' domestic equivalent, is a forerunner for "reeducation camps for young people." To Bachmann, the Obama administration is a "gangster government," unmoored entirely from the biblically supported constitutionalism she's espoused since her Oral Roberts days. Her rigid conservative dogma, an outlier at the outset of her first congressional campaign, has set the tone for the 112th Congress.
How far can she go? That's the question that's been on the minds of political observers since Bachmann threw herself into the presidential race. Early polls showed her tied with or even ahead of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the consensus front-runner, in Iowa; she's been running a strong second in New Hampshire. With Iowa and South Carolina, another social-conservative hotbed, among the three earliest contests, she's well positioned to make a serious run deep into the nomination process.
But in some respects she's already won. Whoever claims the GOP nomination will likely do so by adopting the government-shrinking, "constitutional conservative" approach that Bachmann's trumpeted for decades. As she said in 2006 while leading a prayer at a Minneapolis fundraiser for an anti-gay ministry named You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International: "I thank you, oh God, that you are, literally right now, by faith you are lighting a fire, a fire of the Gospel that would sweep this city, but even more so that it would sweep Minnesota. And that Minnesota would just become a burning incense. A sweet-smelling incense of praise and sacrifice into your kingdom." Bachmann has lit the fire. The rest is in God's hands.