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By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON As the Senate begins debate Tuesday on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, the veteran federal judge appears assured of confirmation but without the sweeping bipartisan majority her backers hoped for the nation's first Hispanic high court pick.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Senate will "make history" with a vote to confirm Sotomayor this week and expressed regret that more Republicans won't be supporting her. "I'm disappointed that not more of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are likely to vote for this outstanding nominee, particularly in light of her record and qualifications," Reid said.
Sen. John Ensign of Nevada became the 28th Republican to announce he will vote against Sotomayor, following Monday's announcement by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that he will vote no. Ensign, in a statement issued by his office, said his doubts about Sotomayor's impartiality led him to oppose President Obama's first Supreme Court nominee.
"I take my responsibility as Nevada's senator very seriously and feel I need to protect the sanctity of our Constitution," Ensign said.
McCain, his party's 2008 presidential nominee, called Sotomayor "immensely qualified" and said her life story was "inspiring," but he said she has complied a "long record of judicial activism" during her 17 years as a federal judge.
Ensign and McCain join a number of Republicans who are opposing Sotomayor despite representing large Hispanic constituencies. Others include Texans John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison and McCain's Arizona colleague, deputy Senate Republican leader Jon Kyl.
Six of the Senate's 40 Republicans have announced they will support Sotomayor.
None of the 60 senators who caucus with the Democrats has announced opposition to Obama's nominee, so the only question is her margin of victory. Democratic Senate leaders plan to make the vote on Sotomayor the last thing lawmakers do before leaving town for a month-long recess. The timing is designed to give Obama something to celebrate as he heads into a bruising debate on health care.
Yet the vote will underscore a problem he faces in selling his top legislative priority: his limited ability to bridge the partisan divide.
Sotomayor represents "a historic nomination by a popular president, and she can't even muster more votes than John Roberts, a conservative white guy," says Wendy Long of Judicial Confirmation Network, a conservative group opposed to Sotomayor.
Chief Justice John Roberts won 78 votes, including 22 Democrats, when he was confirmed in 2005 to replace the late William Rehnquist. President George W. Bush's second Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito, was confirmed the next year by 58 senators, including four Democrats, when he replaced Sandra Day O'Connor.
Democrats hope to capitalize on what they see as a GOP snub of the nation's fastest-growing voting bloc. Hispanics have held the keys to the White House in the past two presidential elections, opening the door for Bush in 2004, when he got more than 40% of the Hispanic vote, and then for Barack Obama, who won 67% of the Hispanic vote last year.
"This is one of those very decisive moments for the Latino community," said Henry Cisneros, a former member of President Bill Clinton's Cabinet. Cisneros plans to speak Thursday at a Los Angeles rally in support of Sotomayor's nomination — one of a series planned around the country to thank senators who backed her but also to "call attention to those who opposed her," he said.
Republicans have been aware of the risks involved in opposing Sotomayor. Danny Vargas, the head of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly, said a number of senators sought his advice about how to frame the Sotomayor debate. "Keep it respectful," he said he advised them. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pointed out as he opened debate Tuesday morning that Republicans had done so. He noted that Sotomayor herself and several of her top Democratic backers, including Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Charles Schumer of New York, had described the Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearings as "respectful and fair."
Those hearings resulted in a 13-6 vote in favor of Sotomayor's nomination. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of the panel's seven Republican members, supported Sotomayor.
"As a Republican, I was incredibly disappointed" by the lack of GOP support for Sotomayor, said National Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Augustine Martinez.
The National Rifle Association has announced its opposition to Sotomayor, the first time the gun lobby has taken a stand on a Supreme Court nomination. The group is worried that a Sotomayor ruling last year upholding a state regulation on martial-arts sticks indicates she might favor limits on gun owners' rights.
Several senators, including Ensign and Hutchison, cited concerns about gun rights in opposing Sotomayor. For others, including McCain, the memories of past fights over judicial nominees loom larger. The Arizona senator brought up Democrats' decision to block another Hispanic judicial candidate with "an excellent résumé and an inspiring life story." That was Miguel Estrada, a Bush nominee to an appeals court seat in the District of Columbia.
Other Republicans cited Obama's own record opposing both of Bush's Supreme Court nominees. "Sen. Obama never voted to confirm a Supreme Court justice," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, observed. "He even voted against a man who administered the oath of presidential office, Chief Justice John Roberts, another distinguished and well-qualified nominee."
Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more.


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Management Marketing & PR Retail & FMCG jobs in Epsom
Broaden your search
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We do have the following jobs available for Retail & FMCG, Marketing & PR, Management
Showing 1 - 3 of 14
Procurement Team Leader (Travel) - New Malden
A fantastic role has arisen as Procurement Team Leader in our head office in New Malden, London.
Brand Experience Manager
We're looking for a game changer with super powers to lead our award winning Ideathon brand, a unique collaboration between businesses and charities.
Category Manager (Multichannel Computing Development)
Positioned within the computing commercial team, you will be right in the centre of a fast paced, and exciting commercial team.

subset: commoncrawl


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Velocity Art And Design: Salvor Mini Squirrel Pillow
OMG what a cuddly squirrel pillow !
Put a few of these in a decorative, tall planter for a simple piece of art. Light and dark colored bamboo poles are available depending on taste.Tags: home, art, bamboo, furniture, interior design, DIY, home decor, decor, decorativeAdded 8 Years Ago from Franksupply
The lightweight design, and marine grade vinyl combine to make a truly unique concept. I can move my furniture myself, I can lay out on it in the hot sun and not burn my skin, and it looks beautiful. I feel beautiful on it. ... The lightweight design, and marine grade vinyl combine to make a truly unique concept. I can move my furniture myself, I can lay out on it in the hot sun and not burn my skin, and it looks beautiful. I feel beautiful on it. The terrycloth covers are so functional and easy to put on. The make getting out of the pool and jumping on my sunpad that much more enjoyable. I love the la-Fete line of modular furniture. Go to their webiste, www.la-fete.biz for lots of pictures and contact info!Tags: home, art, outdoor, furniture, modern, interior design, green, home decor, decorAdded 9 Years Ago from Lafetedesign
this weird chair is made out of half-dollar coins.Tags: home, gifts, art, furniture, unusual, modern, interior design, chairs, home decorAdded 9 Years Ago from Vivre
While I'm not crazy about the frame itself, I love this concept for storage.Just think of the possibilities. The footboard is removable as well.Tags: home, art, furniture, storage, interior design, bedding, home decor, bedroom, decorAdded 9 Years Ago from Europebynet
Well, this is a little different. This Trapezoid end table definitely defies the standards of symmetry followed by conventional tables. I like it. Has a nice satin nickel finish. It's a clean, contemporary look.Tags: home, art, furniture, modern, interior design, home decor, bedroom, tables, decorAdded 9 Years Ago from Eurway
It looks like a chair you could spend a lot of time on .. .Tags: home, art, furniture, interior design, chairs, designer, home decor, decor, houseAdded 11 Years Ago from Formeaustralia
Beautiful, simple, elegant furniture.Tags: home, art, furniture, interior design, designer, home decor, decor, house, interior decorAdded 11 Years Ago from Bddw


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Whats Happening This Week
There is much more to explore in our calendar. Find other important events in literary history, authors' birthdays, and a variety of holidays, each with related lessons and resources.
Looking for age-appropriate book recommendations, author interviews, and fun activity ideas? Check out our podcasts.
Home Classroom Resources Calendar Activities
September 08
Celebrate International Literacy Day!
|Calendar Activity Type
|Literacy-Related Event
Out of Many, One People: International Literacy Day (ILD) shines a spotlight on global literacy needs, which goes hand in hand with ILA's mission: literacy for everyone, everywhere.
International Literacy Day is celebrated annually by the International Literacy Association (ILA) and is designed to focus attention on literacy issues. ILA estimates that 780 million adults, nearly two-thirds of whom are women, do not know how to read and write. They also estimate that 94115 million children worldwide do not have access to education. International Literacy Day is just one way the Association strives to increase literacy around the world.
This year, ILA is focusing on Jamaica to promote the theme "Out of Many, One People" and get in step with the lengths to which students in countries with developing economies have to go to get to school each day. Visit the ILD website to download the ILD activity kit.
Join the global celebration, and be sure to let the International Literacy Association know how you celebrate. Share pictures and videos to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (using the official hashtag #ILD16), or send them to email@example.com.
- International Literacy Day
Pledge your commitment on the official #ILD15 website, and discover free printables and other goodies to share with students and colleagues.
- Little Free Library®
We're working with Little Free Library® to encourage the construction of community libraries around the world, and you can, too! Download this special kit with instructions on how to build and maintain your own Little Free Library®.
Grades K – 2 | Lesson Plan | Recurring Lesson
Learning Centers: From Shared to Independent Practice
Seven blind micesee how they spend each day of the week in this lesson that uses the book Seven Blind Mice to guide students through shared reading, writing, and listening activities.
Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
With e-pals, students develop real-life writing and social experiences, learn the format of a friendly letter and parts of an e-mail message, and discover other cultures, languages, and geographic areas.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Exploring Literacy in Cyberspace
Its not just words on a page (or screen)reading comprehension involves making sense of the text. When students become aware of the analytical strategies they are using, they can explore the similarities and differences between making sense of print and making sense of a website.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Exploring Literature through Letter-Writing Groups
Students discuss literature through a series of letter exchanges, as a one-time assignment or throughout the year with the students discussing, and making connections among, a number of literary works.
Grades K – 2 | Lesson Plan | Recurring Lesson
Literacy Centers: Getting Started
This lesson gives teachers resources and guidance to create reading, listening, computer, and poetry Literacy Centers in their own classrooms.


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The Clock Parade (The Backpack Parade):
The Clock Parade is a Blue's Clues story! It is a parody of the Dora the Explorer episode The Backpack Parade!
Tickety Tock is gearing up for a special parade, but her allergies make her sneeze, causing her to drop all her components! Steve and Blue help Tickety retrieve all her components and, with their friends, arrive at the parade on time.


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Infoshare - February 2010
N e w Y o r k Y e a r l y M e e t i n g
R e l i g i o u s S o c i e t y o f F r i e n d s
|Volume 9
|February 2010
|Number 1
|Editor: Paul Busby, paul [at] nyym [dot] org
- AFSC: Haiti Update
- EFC-Eastern Region Haiti relief efforts
- Memorial for Harold Risler
- Ramallah Friends School Director Is Touring NYYM!
- FCNL Seeks Candidates for Executive Secretary
- AFSC Seeks New General Secretary
- Earthcare Working Group Outreach
- CYF Winter Retreat Epistle
- World Ministries in the 21st Century
- World Ministries Committee Mission, Policies, and Procedures
- Prison Group Needs Native American Films.
- Hands-on-Ernie Quilt
- Christopher Sammond's Travel Calendar
- The Joy of Quaker Committees: Clerking and Working with Spirit
- Meeting for Discernment: An Invitation to Deep Listening
- YFIR Winter Wonderland Retreat
- The Family Friendly Meeting
- Advancement—Worship & Work
- FWCC 2010 Annual Meeting
- NYYM, AFSC Cosponsoring Conscience in War Event
- Imagine… (Nightingales)
- Young Adult Friends' Delegation to Israel/Palestine
- Westtown School Summer Workcamps
- Quaker United Nations Summer School
- Thoughts from ARCH: Help with Taxes
- Volunteers Needed to Write Press Releases
- Casa de los Amigos Partners with UNHCR
- Chappaqua Christmas Pageant
General Secretary's Report to Fall Sessions 2009
Oral version; click here for written version
(opens in new window)
- Request for Spark Articles
- Report from 2009 FWCC/SOA Annual Meeting
AFSC: Haiti Update
February 5, 2010
|AFSC partner Handicap International's staff helping a child in Haiti
I'm glad to report that AFSC's assessment team has returned safely from Haiti, where they spent time in Port-au-Prince viewing firsthand the immense devastation of the capital city. They report that the formal structures that keep a country running were very hard hit, especially because many government ministers and mid-level civil servants died in the quake. Many institutions that were the pillars of the community such as churches, medical facilities, and schools were badly damaged or destroyed.
According to assessment team member Jorge Lafitte, AFSC regional director of Latin America, the situation in Haiti is not like other disasters to which AFSC has recently responded. The destruction of the capital city and the collapse of the Haitian middle class, who sustain the country, make this very different.
However, some of the poorest areas in the city were not as greatly affected because buildings there are not large permanent structures and were not as lethal if they fell. People in these areas have slowly returned to informal systems of survival, and our team noted that there seemed to be little violence and looting.
A variety of makeshift solutions has developed from formal camps of 80,000–100,000 people to smaller groups of 700–1,000 banding together where they can. Some residents are camping in front of their destroyed homes. In talking with them, our team found that people hope they will reconstruct their houses and it is safer to stay close by.
Geri Sicola, associate general secretary for International Programs, was on the assessment team. While in Haiti, Geri was able to visit one of the three centers where AFSC is providing emergency assistance to people living in a makeshift shelter on the grounds of a school. On that day more than 600 people were provided a meal. Our partner, Swiss Interchurch Aid, is using a private home's kitchen to produce the food, an example of the practical and generous gestures being made by so many Haitians in this crisis. The meals include rice, beans, and vegetables, and the ingredients are purchased locally or in the Dominican Republic, bolstering local economies.
Our assessment team found that the meals are costing less than anticipated. So, instead of providing 10,000 meals, AFSC's contribution may now fund 16,600.
|A simple balloon lights up the face of an injured child
The team also met with Handicap International, another partner agency. AFSC provided funds for shipping medical supplies and purchased vital emergency kits that include sheets, ropes, mats, water filters, jerricans, and kitchen utensils for their "roving" work in devastated neighborhoods.
We are hiring staff in Haiti to set up an office, coordinate with other organizations, and continue examining avenues for ongoing AFSC work. Other staff from the Latin America region or the central office in Philadelphia will make a follow-up trip in the near future.
Meanwhile, our offices in Miami, Fla., and Newark, N.J., continue their outreach to Haitians living in the United States to inform them of their temporary protected status (TPS). AFSC staff is coordinating with other groups and volunteers to help Haitians fill out applications correctly and avoid fraudulent offers of assistance.
We will continue to find ways to contribute to Haiti's recovery and will keep you posted on developments. Your support is gratefully received and we look forward to your continuing confidence in AFSC.
In addition to our direct response in Haiti, AFSC is helping immigrants, particularly in the Miami and New York metropolitan area. Both locations have significant numbers of Haitians who, under President Obama's recent decision, now quality for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for up to 18 months.
For ongoing news on AFSC's Haiti work, visit www.afsc.org/haiti, and see pictures from Haiti on Flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/45386997 [at] N05/sets/72157623185029653/show/.
EFC-Eastern Region Haiti relief efforts
Evangelical Friends Church Eastern Region (EFC-ER), www.efcer.org, has seven affiliated churches in Haiti with around 2,500 attenders. EFC-ER's field director in Haiti and the Dominican Republic is William Bertrand, who served for a while as pastor for a Haitian Friends Church in Florida. The churches are more than thirty miles north of Port-au-Prince, so their main challenges have been shortage of food, water, and other supplies because of transportation difficulties. Since they provide material aid for their communities, this is a serious concern. Soon after the earthquake, EFC-ER sent $15,000 to Haiti through World Relief, www.worldrelief.org, to fund three food-distribution centers that are feeding 5,000 people a day and to support a 300-bed hospital with three operating rooms. EFC-ER is posting bulletins about Haiti on its Web site, www.efcer.org.
The agencies that EFC-ER and AFSC have partnered with are part of InterAction, www.interaction.org, a coalition of 150 humanitarian organizations (many of them faith-based) that offer disaster relief, refugee assistance, and sustainable development with a focus on the world's poorest and most vulnerable people.
Memorial for Harold Risler
Orchard Park Meeting
February 14, 2010, 2:00 P.M.
A memorial service for Harold Risler, member of Buffalo Monthly Meeting and former treasurer of NYYM, who died February 8, 2010, will be held on Sunday afternoon, February 14, at the Orchard Park Friends meetinghouse at 2:00 P.M. The address is 6924 E. Quaker Street (Rt.20 A), Orchard Park, NY 14127. For further information contact Rodney Pierce, clerk of Buffalo Meeting, at sparce7 [at] verizon.net.
Ramallah Friends School Director
Is Touring NYYM!
Joyce Ajlouny, director of Ramallah Friends School in the West Bank in Palestine, will make presentations to several meetings from February 10–17, 2010.
Joyce will speak about her experiences as an alumna, parent, and director of this school, which educates children from around the occupied territory.
Quakers have been educating children in Palestine since 1869, and the school has survived many wars and occupations, including a period of being used as a hospital during the First World War. Throughout its history, the staff and families of the school have remained resilient. Owned by Friends United Meeting (FUM) in Richmond, Indiana, the school is governed by a local board in partnership with FUM.
Donations to Ramallah Friends School and to Joyce's ministry account are welcome.
This is a very special opportunity. Please attend a presentation in your area!
Joyce's itinerary is:
Wednesday, February 10, Chatham-Summit Monthly Meeting. Presentation from 7:00–9:00 P.M., followed by dessert and coffee
Thursday, February 11 to Saturday, February 13, FUM board meetings, Powell House
Saturday, February 13, presentation from 3:00–5:00 P.M. at the Quaker Intentional Village Project, under the care of Old Chatham Monthly Meeting. Refreshments will be served, provided by OCMM.
Saturday February 13, 7:00–9:00 P.M., Albany Meetinghouse. Refreshments provided by Old Chatham Monthly Meeting.
Sunday, February 14, 11:30–12:55, Saratoga and Easton Monthly Meetings, at Saratoga
Sunday, February 14, 6:30–8:30 P.M., Purchase Monthly Meeting, potluck dinner and presentation
Monday, February 15, 6:30–8:30 P.M., Buffalo Monthly Meeting at Buffalo Network of Religious Communities
Tuesday, February 16, 1:15–3:15 P.M., Farmington Monthly Meeting, presentation to Farmington United Society of Friends Women International.
Tuesday February 16, 7:00–9:00 P.M., Burtt House, Ithaca Monthly Meeting
Wednesday February 17, 1:30 to 3:30 P.M., Brooklyn Friends School
Wednesday, February 17, 7:00–9:00 P.M., Brooklyn Monthly Meeting
FCNL Seeks Candidates for Executive Secretary
Friends Committee on National Legislation is seeking a new executive secretary to replace Joe Volk, who is retiring in the spring of 2011. FCNL seeks
- inspired and inspiring leadership for the organization that fields the largest team of registered lobbyists working for peace
- a Quaker who can excite coalitions, constituents and donors
- a leader motivated to change national policies and reclaim the people's democracy
- a Spirit-led executive secretary with management competence.
The FCNL executive secretary and staff team are intensely engaged in crucial policy work in Washington. Joe Volk told the FCNL Annual Meeting that he sees more opportunity for change today than he has seen at any time in his 20 years of service with FCNL. The next executive secretary will lead FCNL at an exciting time when our lobbying and education work can make a real difference.
Applications will be accepted starting March 1, 2010. Applications should include a cover letter and résumé, sent to gretchenhall.search [at] gmail.com after March 1. The description is posted at www.fcnl.org/about/jobs.htm. The new executive secretary will begin service in the spring of 2011.
FCNL, 245 2nd St. NE, Washington DC 20012; 800-630-1330; www.fcnl.org.
AFSC Seeks New General Secretary
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) recently announced that it is seeking nominations and candidates for the position of general secretary. The general secretary is responsible for assuring that the programs and administration of the AFSC are focused, coherent, collaborative, and impactful, and that they are carried out in accordance with the values and spiritual insights of the Religious Society of Friends.
Nominations and inquiries can be sent directly to the General Secretary Search Committee clerk, Sam Lowe: sam_lowe [at] me.com. Letters of interest and résumés are due March 19. More information is available online at www.afsc.org/jobs.
Earthcare Working Group Outreach
As we move into a new decade, the Earthcare Working Group, now under the care of Witness Coordinating Committee of New York Yearly Meeting, invites you to participate with us as we reorganize this working group. May we join together to meet the environmental crisis of our precious planet and to respond in unity in new directions for our Earth.
We know that you, as individuals and monthly meetings, are involved in this important work. What have you done recently? What are you currently doing? What's working? How can we combine our resources to support and encourage one another? We want to share your ideas, your successes and trials, your stories with other Friends. We know that together we can accomplish more.
We were inspired by the participation of the leaders of many nations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and private citizens at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, particularly the small island nations whose survival is already threatened by climate change. The unwillingness of the political leaders of industrialized nations to make deep commitments to emission targets only underscores the importance of our contribution as people of faith in building an Earth Community.
As Friends, we have a rich history of bringing about deeply needed social change. Let us rise to the call of our heritage.
All are invited to join this committee. Let us know what your vision might be for our work together.
We eagerly welcome your responses.
Patricia Chernoff, Morningside Meeting, clerk, patriciachernoff [at] verizon.net
Vitalah Simon, Purchase Meeting, assistant clerk, vitalah [at] verizon.net
Drawing from Deep Wells:
CYF Winter Retreat Epistle
The Kingdom of Heaven did gather us, and catch us all, as in a net, and His heavenly power at one time drew many hundreds to land…the Lord appeared daily to us, to our astonishment, amazement and great admiration, insomuch that we often said to one another, with great joy of heart, "What? is the Kingdom of God come to be with men?"… —Francis Howgill
Dear Friends of Truth everywhere,
We write to you from the snowy midwinter of central New York State where Friends from across New York Yearly Meeting and the wider region have gathered to open ourselves to God's working in our hearts and among us as a community. We have been grateful to be a part of the opening chapter of the Young Friends in Residence (YFIR) program at Beloved Community House in Newfield, New York, and for the warm hospitality shown to us by the resident Friends here.
We were blessed to have with us Christopher Sammond, who led us in a number of practices that helped us to dig down to the Source of our life together and become grounded in a living experience of God's Spirit. Focusing around the theme, "Drawing From Deep Wells," we participated in guided meditation and group sharing, both in small groups and as a whole. We have been blessed by several Friends who served as spiritual elders, helping to ground the group in prayer. We are grateful for the faithfulness of Christopher and our elders in staying close to their Guide, trusting in the Spirit's moment-by-moment leading in adapting the program to be responsive to the way that the Comforter was working among us.
As we sought to open ourselves to the Inward Light and to one another, we often revealed aspects of our spiritual lives that we had not shared before. We found that it took great courage to share about our deepest spiritual experiences; but our courage was rewarded with a joy that passes understanding. We felt ourselves, in the words of Francis Howgill, caught up "as in a net," and drawn to the shores of God's transforming love. We were surprised by wonder, and sensed that something new is emerging in our lives, as individuals and as a group.
Perhaps most wondrous of our discoveries was that as we felt our hearts opened to relationship with our Creator, we were knit together as a community. While many of us knew each other well before this weekend, others of us were new to the Circle of Young Friends (CYF) community; and a number of others had been away from the community for many years. Whatever our past involvement with CYF, we experienced God doing a new thing among us during our time together. Just as the nets of God's love drew us to shore, they drew us closer to one another, as well.
As we conclude this brief but powerful opportunity for shared listening and growth in love, we feel a sense of excitement and hope. We feel inspired to reinvestigate the roots of the Quaker tradition and to learn more about other Friends who have emphasizes different from our own. Many of us look forward to the gathering of Young Adult Friends that is to be held in Wichita, Kansas, over Memorial Day weekend, which promises to bring together a broad variety of Friends from across North America. We trust that the Spirit has more in store for us, and for the Religious Society of Friends, as we seek to be faithful to the God's guidance in our lives.
Your brothers and sisters in the love and light of the Spirit,
Friends gathered at Beloved Community House in Newfield, New York, First Month 8–10, 2010. [Approved 1/10/10]
World Ministries in the 21st Century
The World Ministries Committee (WMC), which is part of the Witness Section, continues to spend time and effort wondering how to cope with the problems and opportunities of the 21st century. The issues have to do not only with meetings and records but also with mission and policy. The Committee asked me to bring NYYM up-to-date on our progress.
More than a year ago it became clear that the WMC's business could not be conducted effectively at NYYM sessions. Too many members of the Committee are also members of other committees, and as a result a quorum was almost never present for a meeting in conjunction with sessions. Having meetings at another time and place was deemed too awkward, and incompatible with earthcare witness. WMC therefore decided to try meeting by teleconference. While it is surprisingly tricky to find a time agreeable to all for an hour on the phone, that does seem to be working. Future meetings for deciding on the distribution of funds will therefore be by teleconference.
Meetings in conjunction with sessions will, however, not be dropped altogether. Even though they are not practical for decisionmaking, they do provide an opportunity for grant recipients to describe their work in detail, and members of WMC who are able to attend profit greatly from such meetings.
Meeting by teleconference creates new challenges about the distribution of requests and reports. In the past applicants have brought hard copies of these documents. Teleconferencing means that the documents need to be distributed electronically, and that WMC needs a software system for storing them and having ready access to them. We are working on that.
Having documents in electronic form means that some of our work can be posted on the NYYM Web site. Paul Busby informs us that there is plenty of space, and we hope to be able to begin posting material by the end of the year.
One more thing we have done has been to draft a statement of our mission, policies, and procedures. The draft follows. Friends should bear in mind that it is only a draft. It still needs seasoning by the Witness Coordinating Committee. To that end, any comments or suggestions the Friends have may be sent to the coclerks of WMC (Sue Weisfeld and me) and to the clerk of WCC (Fred Dettmer).
World Ministries Committee
Mission, Policies, and Procedures
The NYYM World Ministries Committee (WMC), working with funds from bequests and the Sharing Fund, supports the ministry of NYYM Friends in the wider world. Persons or organizations applying for funds should write to us with a sense of ministry, that is, with a vision of what is to be done to spread the Quaker message of love in the wider world. Such persons should be members of NYYM, or the vision should be shared and endorsed by a meeting or organization within NYYM.
Funds available are between $20,000 and $25,000 annually. In considering the applications, WMC will focus on whether the proposed work is ministry and also whether it is in the wider world. Nonetheless there is a recognition that it is difficult to distinguish firmly and definitively between ministry and administration, or between ministry and service/development, and similarly difficult to distinguish between the wider world and pockets of oppression/poverty in the U.S.
Applications should be by letter, preferably electronic, to the clerk of the committee. The letter should say specifically what the funds are needed for as well as information about other expected sources of funding. Each application should designate someone as the main contact person for the project, and this person must have a specific connection to NYYM, usually through individual membership, and must accept responsibility for stewardship of any funds granted to the project.
The clerk will acknowledge applications and then distribute them electronically to members of WMC at least a week before scheduled meetings.
WMC plans to meet in May and November, normally by teleconference, to approve grants. When grants are formally approved, the clerk of WMC will notify the recipients of the action, inform them that checks for approved applications can be expected within six weeks, and ask that they acknowledge receipt of the check.
WMC needs to know how the funds are used. About nine months after the checks are sent out, the clerk will write to those recipients who have not yet sent in reports requesting where they are in the use of the funds received. Applicants will not receive further grants until reports are received.
The current clerks for WMC are Newton Garver (garver1928 [at] aol.com) and Susan Weisfeld (sweisfeld [at] juno.com).
Prison Group Needs Native American Films.
The Longhouse Group is a group for traditional Native American in prison who want to continue practicing their Native heritage and spirituality. The Sing Sing Longhouse group has requested a set of titles in VHS (only) format. These are titles that people may consider donating as they switch to more modern technologies such as DVDs.
Please ask people in your monthly meeting if they would consider donating any of these films to the Sing Sing Longhouse group. Please get the films to the next Indian Affairs Committee meeting or mail them to Sybil Perry (address in Yearbook).
The films are:
- Apocalypto
- Black Robe
- Broken Arrow
- Broken Chain
- Clear Cut
- Dances with Wolves
- Lakota Woman
- Last of the Dogmen
- Last of the Mohicans
- Smoke Signals
- Squanto
Other good titles with information on Native Americans would also be welcome.
Hands-on-Ernie Quilt
|Quilt presented to Ernie Buscemi
Morningside Meeting surprised Ernie Buscemi on December 20, 2009, by wrapping her in a "Hands-on Ernie" quilt to celebrate her three years as Clerk of NYYM. The quilt features a spiral of hand prints of Morningsiders cut from a deep blue fabric with specks of gold set against the raspberry color of the quilt. The First Day school created the quilt's cosmic background of dark swirls using action art after hearing the inspirational story Born with a Bang: The Universe Tells Our Cosmic Story by Jennifer Morgan with illustrations by Dana Lynne Andersen.
Christopher Sammond's Travel Calendar
February 1 to March 31, 2010
|Meet with YM clerk and assistant clerk, Maplewood, NJ
|Visit Cayuga Worship Group, Cayuga Correctional Facility, Moravia, NY
|Friends United Meeting General Board meeting, Powell House, Old Chatham, NY
|Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns Winter Gathering, Garrison NY
|Attend Joyce Ajlouney presentation, Burtt House, Ithaca, NY
|Meeting for Discernment, Purchase, NY
|Meet with Liaison Committee, Pelham, NY
|Lead Retreat for New Paltz MM, "Deepening the Spiritual Life of the Meeting," New Paltz, NY
|Spiritual Nurture Working Group Annual Retreat, location TBD
|General Services Coordinating Committee Meeting, Oakwood School, Poughkeepsie, NY
|Meeting of general secretaries of BYM, NEYM, NYYM, PYM, Quaker House, New York, NY
|Meet with Young Friends in Residence interns, Newfield, NY
|Advancement Gathering, Poughkeepsie MM, Poughkeepsie, NY
|Meet with Farmington MM Ministry and Council, Farmington, NY
|Speak at Southern Cayuga County Ecumenical Gathering, Genoa, NY
|Lead retreat for Peconic Bay Executive Meeting, Shelter Island MM, and North Fork WG, "Members One of Another," Wainscott Chapel, Wainscott, NY
The Joy of Quaker Committees:
Clerking and Working with Spirit
Pendle Hill
February 12–14, 2010
Many of us have spent countless hours in Quaker committees. How often have these hours been tedious and draining? How often have they been energizing and joyful? What causes the first—and what creates the second kind of committee? What is the special role of the clerk? While the "nuts and bolts" of committee work will receive some attention, we will focus on setting a positive tone for that work—awakening to the Spirit and to Gospel Order. In this interactive weekend we will gather the collective wisdom of all who attend. If you care about discovering the joy of Quaker committees, you are welcome!
For further information see www.pendlehill.org, e-mail info [at] pendlehill.org, or call 800-742-3150.
Meeting for Discernment:
An Invitation to Deep Listening
Learning to listen for the voice of God is a lifelong endeavor, because God communicates and guides with words that are not words, with sounds that are not ordinary sounds—in an interior, submerged landscape. As we seek to discern how we are led as meetings, how we are to go forward in faith together, our tradition and experience has shown us that we can hear God when we give over our willing and striving. God is reaching out to us in Love and inviting us to listen, follow, and serve in unity with Divine purposes.
—from a retreat on Spirit-Led Discernment led by Deborah Fisch & Beckey Phipps for Purchase Quarter
The next NYYM Meeting for Discernment will be held on February 20, 2010, from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., at the Purchase Meetinghouse. (Snow date: March 6, at the same time and place.) This will be a time for Friends to consider, in particular, the nature of our meetings and worship groups as active faith communities. Representatives from the Yearly Meeting coordinating committees will be present to listen and to communicate the joys and concerns of monthly meetings to relevant committees under their care. For registration forms, directions, and further information go to www.nyym.org/events. Note: The registration deadline has been extended to Friday, February 12, for Friends not requiring childcare or hospitality. Advance registration enables the host committee to be sure there is enough food for everyone!
If you have questions, contact Janet Hough, janet.hough [at] verizon.net; 914-769-6885.
YFIR Winter Wonderland Retreat
February 19–21, 2010
Friends, join us in celebrating the snowy season at our Winter Wonderland retreat for children grades 6–9, February 19–21, 2010, Friday 6:00 P.M. to Sunday 1:00 P.M. at the Perry City Meetinghouse! We'll take advantage of the fun aspects of winter: sledding and making snow-people and anything else we can think of, while taking the time to wonder about the meaning of this time of year. How is our experience of winter different from the experience of those who lived a hundred years ago, or those who live in other parts of the world? We'll talk about what we do to keep from getting bored or depressed in the dark months, and explore how different plants and animals adapt to the cold weather, and sometimes rely on it. We'll spend plenty of time playing and exploring outside, followed by time drinking hot cocoa in front of the fire. We'll once again have Anna's tasty food and Franklin's bedtime stories, but we'll also welcome Natalie to the group. She just arrived from Ecuador, which has a very different winter experience from upstate New York, and she's a whole lot of fun.
For a registration form and further information contact Anna Obermayer, 599 Trumbulls Corners Rd. Newfield NY 14867-9475; oberman [at] earlham.edu.
Make sure to register by February 12!
There is no charge to go to a YFIR youth retreat although donations are always welcome.
The dates for other upcoming YFIR retreats are:
March 12–14, 2010, Creating a Safe Space
April 16–18, 2010, YFIR!? Because…
April 30–May 2, 2010, Living Planet
June 18–20, 2010, You Are What You Eat
August 6–8, 2010, H2Oh Yeaaah!
Mark your calendars!
The Family Friendly Meeting
with Christie Duncan-Tessmer
Powell House
March 12–14, 2010
This weekend eventis an opportunity for Friends to strengthen the community's welcoming of children and families and create structures that support their spiritual journeys. We'll explore the ways in which important aspects of meeting life such as worship, service, learning, fellowship, and fun can meaningfully include children and families. Friends will investigate what it means to include and nurture children, identify the signs that a meeting is welcoming of children and families, and gain knowledge and skills to help children and adults live in deep relationship together with God.
We seek to include all members of Meeting communities in looking at what it means in our hearts and in our actions to make space for living in the Center with children. To this end, the attendance of the many people in our Meetings who have the care of our children is encouraged. As children are members of our spiritual community, this includes meeting clerks and committee clerks and members, as well as parents and anyone who has a heart open to children.
The event begins Friday, March 12, at 6:00 P.M. and ends Sunday, March 14, at 2:00 P.M.
Christie Duncan-Tessmer is the associate secretary for Program and Religious Life at Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Her understanding of the dynamics of including families in Quaker communities come from her personal experience being active in a monthly and yearly meeting as well as her professional experience.
Advancement—Worship & Work
Don Badgley, new clerk of the NYYM Advancement Committee, invites Friends to attend an Advancement Gathering at Poughkeepsie Meeting on First Day, March 14, 2010. We will worship with Poughkeepsie at 10:00 A.M. and then meet with the NYYM Advancement Committee at 11:30 A.M. Please bring a brown-bag lunch.
The Yearly Meeting Handbook has laid out our tasks as follows:
(1) to disseminate widely an awareness of the faith, practice, and testimonies of Friends and to encourage their observance by monthly, quarterly, and regional meetings and by members of the Yearly Meeting, (2) to reach out to seekers, (3) to knit Friends and Friends meetings more closely together, (4) to encourage outreach and growth in existing meetings, to undergird and strengthen weak meetings, and to help new worship groups.
Please let the NYYM office know if you plan to attend and if you need hospitality: office [at] nyym.org; 212-673-5750. Don Badgley's contact information is in the Yearbook.
FWCC 2010 Annual Meeting
March 18–21, 2010, Reisterstown, Maryland
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13: 34-35 (NRSV)
Hosted by Friends in Baltimore Yearly Meeting, the Annual Meeting of the Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas will be held March 18–21, 2010, at the Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center, 5424 Mount Gilead Road, Reisterstown, MD 21136, about 30 miles northwest of Baltimore-Washington International airport (BWI) and downtown Baltimore. Meetings, lodging and meals will all take place at this site. Pearlstone's Web site is http://pearlstonecenter.org/.
For information and to register, go to fwccamericas.org/events or contact FWCC, 1506 Race St., Philadelphia PA 19102; 215-241 7250; americas [at] fwccamericas.org.
Daphne Mason of Butternuts Meeting wrote a report on last year's annual meeting, which appears later in this issue.
NYYM, AFSC Cosponsoring
Conscience in War Event
March 21, 2010, Riverside Church, Manhattan
What happens when the country you have sworn to defend orders you to fight in a war that you believe is wrong?
New York Yearly Meeting and the New York Metropolitan Region of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) are cosponsors of the Truth Commission on Conscience in War, which will bring together community and religious leaders, advocacy groups and artists to explore moral and religious issues facing soldiers compelled to participate in war in violation of their consciences. The Truth Commission will hold a public hearing on Sunday, March 21, 2010, from 4 to 8 P.M., at Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Dr., New York, N.Y. 10027. At this hearing, recent veterans, military chaplains, religious leaders, and legal experts will testify about issues of morality, just war, military service, and the rights of conscience for our women and men in uniform. More information is available at www.conscienceinwar.org.
The Truth Commission is seeking additional religious and advocacy groups, which could include monthly and regional meetings, to become cosponsors, and has issued an open invitation to concerned persons to attend the public hearing. For more information about becoming a cosponsor or attending the public hearing, or if you have any questions about the Truth Commission, please feel free to contact Fred Dettmer (Purchase Monthly Meeting), fdettmer [at] aol.com or 914-738-8782 or 917-968-0369.
20 or so Friends—young, older, in between…
Sitting in a sunlit, full-windowed meetinghouse overlooking farms and fields…
Fireplace lit, songbooks scattered everywhere…
Friends bound together by the joy of music, the love of singing, picking from the books, their memories, or personal journals, the tunes of their joys, sorrows, and life adventures…
Song after song sung from the circle, each picking one and sharing the story (or not), setting the tempo and pitch…
Stir in community meals with shared job chores in local Friends' homes, wandering up or down the road to share the communion of Spirit and food…
Sprinkle in hospitality, camping, or a bedroll spread on the floor…
Add First Day worship in a rapidly growing meeting that has been so richly fed by this joyous nourishment…
Sweet goodbyes and hearty farewells until the next time, departing with the treasure of new friendship tucked in our heart pockets…
If this sounds like fun, come join the "Nightingales" once again at Mohawk Valley Monthly Meeting, April 23 –24, 2010. Continue your New Year with fun and music, company and Friendship. A potluck dish, a donation of $10, and your joyful assistance are all it takes to fill a weekend with all these visions and more. Everyone is most welcome, regardless of singing ability. For our planning for meals and beds, we need you to make reservations with Walter Naegle at the YM office: walter [at] nyym.org or 212-673-5750.
Looking forward to new faces, new music, and new Nightingale adventures at Mohawk Valley Monthly Meeting April 23–25, 2010.
Young Adult Friends' Delegation
to Israel/Palestine
June 7–25, 2010
This June, there will be a two-week trip to Israel/Palestine sponsored by the Middle East Working Group of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and the Friends International Center in Ramallah, and endorsed by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). This trip will offer a rich cultural experience, including home stays with Palestinian families, visits to historical, cultural, and religious sites, and meetings with nongovernmental organizations. The delegation will pursue a joint project with participants of the AFSC's Public Achievement youth program, which focuses on community organization, civic engagement, and leadership development.
The delegation is open to young adults (ages 18–35). Applicants must demonstrate a familiarity with Quakerism and a commitment to values congruent with the Peace Testimony.
Financial assistance will be available to help cover the estimated cost of $3,000. Please contact Travis Green, travmavgreen [at] gmail.com, with questions.
Rolling application deadline—more information and application can be found at: www.pym.org/education/yaf/ or contact Israel/Palestine Delegation, 1515 Cherry St., PhiladelphiaPA19102; 215-241-7075.
Westtown School Summer Workcamps
Once again Westtown School is offering summer workcamps for young adults. In 2010 these include an Environmental Leadership workcamp and a Mexico Summer workcamp.
Environmental Leadership workcamp, June 18–20, 2010, is an experiential leadership program focusing on the big question: Can we design sustainable communities for our future? Participants will live and work together on the beautiful campus of Westtown School in southeastern Pennsylvania and have the opportunity to explore the social, economic, spiritual, and ecological issues and skills needed for developing sustainable life practices.
Mexico Summer workcamp, June 27–July 5, 2010, is an experiential, bio-regionally based educational program focusing on cloud forest conservation, sustainable development, and cultural exchange at Las Cañadas in Huatusco, Mexico. Up to 12 interested young adults will have the opportunity to work in an ecovillage setting, enjoy the beauty of the Mexican cloud forest, develop leadership skills, and forge enduring friendships as part of Westtown's sixth exchange with Las Cañadas. Workcampers enjoy a unique opportunity to learn about the natural and cultural history of the cloud forest, as well as contribute to exciting efforts to develop sustainable agriculture and forestry practices.
Complete information and registration forms are available at www.nyym.org/events or from Paula Kline, Westtown School, 975 Westtown Rd., West Chester, PA 19382-5700; 610-399-0123; www.westtown.edu/our_program/summer_workcamps.aspx, or e-mail kline.paula [at] gmail.com.
Quaker United Nations Summer School
July 14–16, 2010, Geneva, Switzerland
The Quaker United Nations Summer School provides an introduction to the work of the United Nations, as seen through the programs of the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva. QUNO works on disarmament and peace, human rights and refugees, and global economic issues. During Summer School there will be talks by staff of the UN, nongovernmental organizations, and diplomatic missions, as well as informal discussion sessions and visits to the UN itself.
The work of some of the UN specialized agencies will also be examined, and where possible, visits will be arranged to, for example, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The 2010 Summer School will be held from Sunday, July 4, to Friday, July 16. Participants will stay in single-sex dormitories at a hostel in Geneva. The hostel provides breakfast, packed lunch, and evening meal. Participants will be expected to share in some domestic duties involved in meal preparation for meals we have at Quaker House.
The participation fee is £490 (approx. $789), which goes toward the costs of accommodation, program, and meals. Travel costs to Geneva and spending money are not included. Some suggestions on how to seek financial help will be provided if you are accepted.
We welcome applications from anywhere in the world. Applicants from outside the EU/Switzerland will need a visa, which QUNO will assist in applying for. No formal qualifications are necessary. However, an active interest in international affairs is needed, as well as the desire to share understanding with others.
Application forms are available from www.quaker.org.uk or from Helen Bradford, helenb [at] quaker.org.uk or on receipt of a large stamped addressed envelope or international reply coupon, from Helen Bradford, Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QUNSS), Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ, UK.
Closing date for receipt of applications is March 15, 2010. Usually we receive more applications than there are places available. Letters informing applicants if they have been accepted will be sent out by the middle of April 2010.
Thoughts from ARCH: Help with Taxes
By now we are all thinking of doing our taxes. Some of us will decided this year that we are no longer able, or confident of our ability, to do our taxes ourselves. AARP has trained volunteers available in many localities to provide free and competent help to seniors to file state and local taxes. To locate that service in your area contact your local Office for the Aging, your local library, or the nearest AARP chapter. To get a phone number for the Office for the Aging in your county check your state's listing.
New York State www.aging.ny.gov/NYSOFA/LocalOffices.cfm
New Jersey www.njfoundationforaging.org
Connecticut www.ct.gov/agingservices/
Let's Tell the World!
Volunteers Needed to Write Press Releases
The NYYM Communications Committee is seeking to publicize important acts of witness done by the New York Yearly Meeting community of Friends and to communicate Quaker testimonies of peace, social justice, environmental stewardship, and other values when breaking national news or world events occasion a response.
Here is how you can help with this exciting work:
- Is there a Friend in your monthly meeting who can write? We need volunteers to write press releases.
- Are you or other Friends you know making your own Web sites, blogs, videos, or podcasts? You can also help the Yearly Meeting share the Light with these tools!
- Does your meeting already have relationships with contact people in your local print, broadcast, and online media outlets? Please share with us; we are compiling a contact list of local, state and regional media for use by the YM when a message needs to be localized.
- If your meeting's Peace and Social Action Committee will agree to handle distribution of NYYM press releases to your local media outlets, that, too, would be a great service.
As you can see, we want to take our candle out from under the bushel and let it shine to illuminate the world. If you have communication skills that can serve the Yearly Meeting by publicizing Friends' works and values, please let us know immediately!
Please contact Adam Segal-Isaacson, clerk, Communications Committee, a.segal [at] elsevier.com.
Casa de los Amigos Partners with UNHCR
In October 2009, the Casa de los Amigos (Friends' House) signed a landmark Agreement of Cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Mexico. The agreement permanently reserves two rooms in the Casa de los Amigos for recent refugees and those seeking asylum in Mexico.
The Casa de los Amigos is a Quaker center for peace and international understanding in Mexico City. The Casa was established as a Mexican nonprofit organization in 1956 by the Quaker community in Mexico, and its work is rooted in Friends' values. Through its programs, community space, and social and cultural activities, the Casa fosters understanding between groups and individuals, and supports the human dignity of every person. The Casa maintains a peace-and-social-justice-oriented guest house that is open to all. For more information about the Casa's work and how to visit, please go to www.casadelosamigos.org.
When you visit the Casa's Web site, be sure to click on the link to read the Winter 2010 issue of their newsletter.
Update: As of February 9, 2010, the Casa is housing six refugees from Haiti. They arrived to the Casa via one of the Casa's partner organizations, Sin Fronteras, www.sinfronteras.org.mx. Because of the magnitude of the disaster in Port-au-Prince, the Casa expects to receive more families throughout the spring.
Chappaqua Christmas Pageant
The First Day school at Chappaqua meeting held their annual Christmas pageant on January 10, 2010, after meeting for worship, to the delight of all who attended. (The originally scheduled date in December had to be postponed due to snow.) The pageant was followed by a social hour featuring holiday baked goods and much merriment. The First Day school also plans to have a talent show on February 28, featuring many musical, comic, and theatrical talents, to help raise money to send to Haiti. Truly an event to look forward to!
General Secretary's Report to Fall Sessions
The following is a reconstruction of the oral portion of the General Secretary's Report to Fall Sessions. The written version is here (opens in new window).
First of all, I want to thank all those Friends who held me in prayer this summer as I dealt with the death of my brother, Lyme disease, and moving, all at once. I felt carried on a cloud of prayer, and don't know how I could have gotten through that time as I did without that very palpable support. Anyone who might doubt the power of prayer would only have to go through an experience of that kind of support to know its reality. Thank you.
I have been extremely grateful for the incredible level of financial support for this Yearly Meeting. Nonprofits are currently facing, on average, a 40% gap between income and expenses. The fact that we are only facing a 5–6% gap shows a remarkable level of support. Thank you.
Since the beginning of the economic downturn, I have been pondering matters of money and the Spirit, the spiritual dimension of our financial life. I have been acutely aware of how our monthly meetings have been working with issues around money. I have been witnessing many monthly meetings moving incrementally along a continuum from a place of passively receiving funds towards active fundraising. Many monthly meetings, when I first started here, did not talk about money much. I think that has something to do with our demographics and social norms; it's not polite to talk about money. It stretches us some.
Incremental changes I can note at various monthly meetings, moving along this continuum, include, for the first time: sending out a letter asking for funds; checking in at meeting for worship with attention to business once or twice a year as to how the monthly meeting is doing regarding the budget; sending out several letters in the course of a year asking for support; checking in monthly as a body as to how well the budget is being supported; and holding one or more fundraising events. What I have heard back from our communities that have become more proactive is that this has led to a greater sense of empowerment, agency, and deeper community. That it has in fact in some cases even been transformative for the meeting community.
At Budget Saturday I watched with great interest as we as a body went back and forth between a sense that we needed to cut to the bone, and beyond, to create a balanced budget, and a sense of "We can do this! We can raise the money to support work that is vital to the health and growth of this Yearly Meeting." We went back and forth many times between these two different ways of holding the question of how to deal with this budget gap.
I talked later with one Friend who was there to hold the meeting as we worked, and she had the image come to mind of a little bonsai tree, and the sense that we were trying to decide whether to take it out of the pot to trim its roots, or whether to plant it. For those of you who aren't familiar with bonsais, you trim their roots to keep them small. You do it to keep them as this cute little plant. You do it to keep them the same. Small. Manageable.
Since I have been here I have witnessed several monthly meetings dwindle down to almost nothing, and then find rebirth. Part of this process has been in shrinking down so far, they become released from any need to preserve the present or re-create the past. They can grow and flourish as something new.
Have we dwindled enough, have we trimmed our roots enough, to welcome change and growth, to become something new?
I see a connection between this phenomenon of shrinking to a point of being able to become something new, and then growing, and our budget and the programs it supports. Systems theory postulates that all systems resist change. That is the nature of any system. And yet any growth necessitates changes on many levels. Could it be that it is more comfortable for us to keep trimming the roots than to embrace change?
We say we want to grow. We are invested in that. And yet there are many groups who are trying to be a part of us who are finding that terribly difficult. Young adult Friends are having a very hard time staying with us. I have been asked if there is any way to join Quakers without joining a monthly meeting, because that Friend really liked Quakers, but just can't seem to find a way into her monthly meeting. I have had Christ-centered Friends tell me that they feel marginalized and unwelcome in their meetings. When this yearly meeting reunited in 1955, it was about 60% Orthodox, Christian Quakers. Now I would guess that number to be about perhaps 15–20%. And we as a body are not making it easy for those who are left, to stay. Is this who we want to be?
Formerly incarcerated Friends, who have worshipped as a part of us for 20, 25 years or more, tell me that they are not feeling welcomed in our monthly meetings. While incarcerated, I hear that because we did not ask them to join us, they assumed that we might not want them to. One formerly incarcerated man, a member of one of our worship groups for many years, told me "Friends never asked me to join them. The Presbyterians did. So I'm a Presbyterian now."
Friends of Color are having a hard time staying a part of us. Friends of limited financial means are speaking out about how hard they find it to be a part of us. Friends with lots of financial resources are also feeling unwelcome, hearing lots of comments denigrating people of means. And those few Friends whose politics are to the right of very liberal are also finding it terribly difficult to stay with us, persistently facing assumptions about who "we" are that leave them out.
We say we want to grow, but many of those who want to be a part of us are finding it very hard to do so.
Who we are is not defined by some narrow set of social norms. We are defined by the core experience of the spark of the Divine within each of us, not by such externals.
How we limit ourselves in our unconscious self-definition, and how we limit ourselves financially, at all levels of our Society, are two ways we are trimming the roots, avoiding change.
Let us stop trimming the roots, and plant this tree by Living Water, that it may grow!
Request for Spark Articles
The May issue of Spark will focus on the nature of membership in the monthly meeting. Our Faith and Practice says, "Friends accept into active membership those whose declarations and ways of life manifest such unity with Friends' views and practices that they may be expected to enter fully into religious fellowship with the meeting. Part of the essential genius of the Society is the experience of growth through common worship and the loving acceptance of an individual by the group. It is an open fellowship that recognizes that of God in everyone."
How would you define membership in a local meeting? How should the meeting recognize children? What should a meeting do about Friends at a distance? What about the member who no longer participates or financially supports the meeting?
Friends may wish to consult the Membership section of Faith and Practice as they think about writing for this issue.
If you would like to contribute an article to this important discussion, please contact Barbara Menzel at bjmenzel [at] optonline.net. Articles will be due by March 15 for consideration.
Report from 2009 FWCC/SOA Annual Meeting
Diversity is Beautiful
How can we explain the sense of fullness that we receive from being together at these annual meetings? Next annual meeting there is an opportunity for you to see for yourself. We are from many different styles of worship and from many different ways of thinking theologically. We are one in diversity.
The 2009 Annual Meeting of the Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas took place south of Portland in Canby Grove, Oregon. The Quakers have been in the northwest since 1847, when friends brought nursery stock to the area by oxen over the Oregon Trail. The Pacific Northwest is home to independent, nonpastoral, pastoral, and evangelical meetings. Some refer to their places of worship as meetinghouses and some call them churches. This was an opportunity for worship and fellowship with the wider Quaker world.
The theme of the Meeting was:
Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision; make it plain on tablets
So that a runner may read it
For there is still a vision for the appointed time. (Habakkuk 2:2–3)
What is the vision? How do we respond to the prompting of the spirit? We met each day in small groups and discussed: Does the Religious Society of Friends have a prophetic vision from God? What is the vision that God has entrusted to Quakers? How can the vision be conveyed on our times?
Jan Wood gave the keynote address. She is a former pastor, teacher, and minister and has authored several books on discernment and spiritual direction. She spoke of God's showing Habakkuk the way the world works. Those who put themselves into degradation will find themselves empty. There are those who seek to define others through race or status. We need to stand and walk together. Let us dance the dance of respect and independence and break through our separateness. The world is broken. We need to expand beyond our like-minded groups. Move beyond our wants and comforts. Confront our fears. Stop hiding behind our well-crafted rightness. The world is shifting beneath our feet. FWCC needs to discern its vision. Forgive one another. Often there are harshness and strife among us. Division happens because often fear overwhelms our good judgment. We are called to love everyone all the time. The vision from FWCC needs to be love. We need reconciliation. We are never free as long as we define ourselves in opposition. We need to listen together around healing. God calls us to light our ocean of darkness. Jan was reminded at the end of her talk of the hymn by Robert Jackson, "Breathe on Me Breath of God."
Friends were brought together across traditions and national borders, and a feeling of spiritual renewal was evident to us.


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Wizard of Odds: Live Odds, Form and Alerts for all Racing
David Hayes loves The Metropolitan, The Metropolitan doesn't love David Hayes. Or more precisely, The Metropolitan punters don't love David Hayes.
Twice the Hall Of Famer, who now trains in partnership with his nephew Tom Dabernig, has won the feted staying climax of Sydney's spring carnival. Twice it has been at big odds.
Just for good measure, those with shorter memories might also remember he saddled up the beaten favourite last year in Spillway.
"I've always been a bit field shy of The Metrop because they threw pies at me in the members when Glastonbury won [in 1994]," Hayes joked. "The great Bart Cummings was there and he said, 'I've never seen the members throw food away'."
Glastonbury's win that day came at 25-1, no doubt infuriating those who had parted with their hard-earned on others after Hayes' charge had finished an inglorious 18th in his Colin Stephen Quality tune-up.
Perhaps the best similarities for Hayes to draw with this year's fancy, the imported Almoonqith, will be with his most recent winner, Tawqeet, in 2006. His starting price that day was 16-1.
Punters shouldn't be as stunned if Hayes can make it a third The Metropolitan win in his illustrious career – Almoonqith is on the second line of betting at $6.50 for the $750,000 group 1 at Randwick on Saturday – a quote his co-trainer conceded is "about right".
And they should be wary Hayes has mapped an exact replica of Tawqeet's program for the cups-bound Almoonqith this spring – even to the pair finishing in an almost identical position in the Naturalism Stakes warm-up (Tawqeet was fifth and Almoonqith sixth).
"He's a different colour to Tawqeet, but he's a horse with similar quality," Hayes said. "And in my opinion I think his was a better run than Tawqeet [in their respective Naturalism Stakes].
"He drew barrier 20 and we went back and he hit the line really well. If it was a mile-and-a-half he probably wins. He was the best of the closers with the Queen's horse [Bold Sniper].
"I think he's very fit for a mile-and-a-half. First-up he was outstanding, second-up he had the inside and he got caught up and third-up he went back from a wide gate and ran the best sectionals. I would just about say he's ready to run a good race."
Most thought the same about Spillway last year, but after being trapped wide trailing a frenetic speed the long-range cups hope weakened to finish midfield.
Hayes is facing another race against the clock to further the cups cause of Almoonqith, a group 3 winner in Dubai earlier this year, but will be issuing jockey Michael Walker with a different set of instructions to the tactics employed by James McDonald on Spillway.
Almoonqith will launch from barrier 13 in the field of 14, including a four-strong army for Chris Waller.
"I want him to be patient and trying to get on the back of something that will be going forward," Hayes said.
"On my pace map there's enough speed to suggest he can go back and it won't be leader dominated. There's enough in the first five to say it's not going to be a dawdle."
Hawkspur's withdrawal from The Metropolitan means the entire field has been bred in the northern hemisphere.
Godolphin's Irish-reared Magic Hurricane, which went down narrowly in the Hill Stakes last start, was the $4 favourite with Ladbrokes on Thursday as three other runners were listed in single figures.
The race's most successful trainer, Gai Waterhouse, will be shooting for a ninth win with Grafton Cup hero Bonfire ($15).
The ultimate racing guide with the latest information on fields, form, tips, market fluctuations and odds, available on mobile, tablet and desktop.


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Hi welcome to my blog!!
As you know the beautiful, sweet,cute, polite,wonderful and talented Ariana Grande , well she posted a video of herself singing Private Party by India Arie and it was amazing as usuall. It has already reached over 1,000 Likes and even over 10,000 likes.We should be proud of Ariana. She is as wonderful as her mother!!
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The West Wing/Commencement
|Season 4, Episode 22
|May 7, 2003
|Production Number
|Aaron Sorkin
|Alex Graves
|← 4x21
Life on Mars
|4x23 →
Twenty Five
|The West Wing — Season Four
| This article about an episode needs to be expanded with more information.
Please help out by editing it.
Commencement is the twenty-second episode of the fourth season of The West Wing, and the eighty-seventh episode overall.
Starring: Stockard Channing (Abbey Bartlet), Dulé Hill (Charlie Young), Allison Janney (C.J. Cregg), Joshua Malina (Will Bailey), Janel Moloney (Donna Moss), Richard Schiff (Toby Ziegler), John Spencer (Leo McGarry), Bradley Whitford (Josh Lyman)
And Martin Sheen (President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet)
Special Guest Stars: Mary-Louise Parker (Amy Gardner), Timothy Busfield (Danny Concannon)
With John Amos (Admiral Percy Fitzwallace)
And Taye Diggs (Wesley "Wes" Davis)
Guest Starring: Anna Deavere Smith (Nancy McNally), Kathleen York (Andrea Wyatt), Elisabeth Moss (Zoey Bartlet), Michael O'Neill (Secret Service Agent Ron Butterfield), NiCole Robinson (Margaret Hooper), Arye Gross (Dr. Glazer), Trent Ford (Jean Paul Pierre Claude Charpentier Vicomte de Condé de Bourbon)
Co-Starring: Kimberly Bigsby (Molly), Shannon Miller (Randy), John Antonini (Jamie), Cliff McMullen (Chancellor), Melissa Fitzgerald (Carol), Ralph Meyering, Jr. (Civilian), Keith MacKechnie (Cooper), Jennufer Ann Massey (Waitress), Tricia Maio (Aide)
Plot Overview
Arc Advancement
SIT Room: 5 Bahi terrorists in centeral NY, that Govt. kept eye on for last 2 years are missing. Retribution for Abdul Sheriff is expected.
Big day for Toby. Andy is expecting.
Zoey is going to France. Security is detailed to president.
Danny meets C.J. Talks about link between US and Abdul Sheriff.
Toby takes Andy to new house. Proposes. It backfires.
Leo talks to Danny and tells about 5 Bahi terrorists missing and his article could trigger other unexpected things.
President gives a speech at University -- about creativity.
Charlie and Zoey catch up.
Zoey at graduation party.
Donna and Amy talk.
At Party -- A dead officer. Zoey is missing.


text:
Moran found guilty
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 09/03/2011
Judy Moran has been found guilty of murdering her brother-in-law, Des Moran, in 2009.
TranscriptLEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Will the jailing of crime family matriarch Judy Moran mark the final chapter in Melbourne's gangland war? Moran's in jail tonight after a Victorian Supreme Court jury found the 66-year-old guilty of ordering the murder of her brother-in-law Des Moran. Her conviction could be the culmination of the criminal turf battle involving her sons Mark and Jason Moran and the drug-dealing murderer Carl Williams. Mary Gearin reports.
POLICE OFFICER (Victoria Police video, 15 June, 2009): I've got a search warrant to search these premises. OK? The warrant's in relation to the murder of Des Moran, which has been (inaudible) today.
MARY GEARIN, REPORTER: One late night two years ago, the Moran matriarch sits quietly as police search her house. The investigators find inside a safe a number of weapons, one they will contend was used to murder her brother-in-law just hours before. A doona is her comfort as she pleads ignorance.
POLICE OFFICER (Victoria Police video, 15 June, 2009): There's a safe in the wall. Do you know anything about that safe?
JUDY MORAN: No.
POLICE OFFICER: Have you seen that safe before?
MARY GEARIN: Even as the 66-year-old protests her innocence, the case against her is being woven together. The case to say she ordered the murder of Des or Tuppence Moran shot dead inside one of his favourite cafes in inner suburban Melbourne.
WITNESS: I heard three shots in succession - bang, bang, bang.
VOX POP: Obviously word spread very fast as to who it was.
MARY GEARIN: Even for the infamous Moran clan, this is a tawdry tale of missing millions, old grudges and even bad disguises. It's only now we can show this vision of two men fleeing after the shooting, including one in a wig looking like the TV character Dickie Knee, according to one bystander. Witnesses also remember when Judy Moran visited the scene.
JOHN SILVESTER, CRIME WRITER, THE AGE: Some people at the scene said that when Judy arrived and started to cry and weep, that she shoulda got five years for bad acting.
MARY GEARIN: But no act, nor her plea of not guilty convinced the jurors. It took them six days of deliberation, but in the end Judy Moran has been found guilty of murder, rounding out a grubby family roll call.
It was Judy Moran's two sons who escalated Melbourne's underworld bloodshed, starting a turf war with the now-dead convicted murderer and drug trafficker Carl Williams.
JOHN SILVESTER: It was Jason and Mark who started the underworld war when Jason shot Carl Williams in 1999. Carl Williams then went on and just tried to wipe out the Morans. Her first husband Les Cole was killed up in Sydney, and then Lewis Moran and her two sons, Mark and Jason Moran. So she's had four people close to her murdered. She says she was the victim of ferocious domestic violence, which I certainly believe is true, and yet she was there at all the court dates and seemed basically to revel in it.
MARY GEARIN: As the bodies of her two sons, two husbands and their friends and enemies have fallen around her over the years, the Moran matriarch has remained staunch in her defence of her clan and disdain for their rivals.
JOHN SILVESTER: Good hater, would be the way you'd describe Judy.
MARY GEARIN: But, it would seem, not good at covering her tracks. Although she said she was visiting the grave of her slain son Mark at the time the bullets were fired, the Crown said she drove the gunman Geoffrey Armour and his mate Michael Farrugia to and from the shooting and disposed of the evidence.
BILL STUART, DEFENCE COUNSEL (Feb. 18): It is suggested you asked or got Geoff Armour to execute Desmond Moran. Did you do so?
JUDY MORAN: I certainly did not, and anyone that suggests it is despicable. I would have no reason in the world to want to harm Tuppy.
MARY GEARIN: But a former family friend told the court Judy Moran probably believed her brother-in-law knew the whereabouts of millions of dollars Mrs Moran said were missing from business dealings involving her late husband Lewis.
JOHN SILVESTER: Des felt he knew three places where Lewis had hidden his money, but when he went there, it was gone. Judy felt that Des was holding out on her and that's where the falling out came from.
MARY GEARIN: Crucial to the prosecutor's case was evidence from Michael Farrugia, the accused gunman's mate turned Crown witness, described in court as "not the sharpest tool in the shed, but straight". Farrugia testified he was in the getaway car with Geoffrey Armour and that Judy Moran was driving, which she'd consistently denied.
MICHAEL FARRUGIA, CROWN WITNESS (Feb. 7): Why should I lie about it? Put my family in danger. You think I'm that stupid? Judy told me to keep me mouth shut, otherwise I'll cop the same thing.
MARY GEARIN: Judy Moran is now in prison and her once-fearful clan is dead. In recent years she portrayed herself as a survivor of a life of intimidation and murder, talking often in her garden shrine to her slain family.
JOHN SILVESTER: Judy Moran lived a life of a grieving widow. She was paid up to $20,000 an interview by women's magazines. Her book was a bestseller and she made over $100,000 and she loved that sort of status, but that started to dry up.
MARY GEARIN: But now after decades of violence, along with losing her family, Judy Moran has lost her freedom.
JOHN SILVESTER: Well this chapter of Melbourne's underworld war is officially over, but the truth of the matter is this: the underworld will go underground for a while and then another war will start, because there is so much money and so many egos.
LEIGH SALES: Mary Gearin reporting from Melbourne.


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This page is not complete.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a stylesheet language used to describe the presentation of a document written in HTML or other markup languages such as SVG. CSS describes how the structured elements in the document are to be rendered on screen, on paper, in speech, or on other media. The ability to adjust the document's presentation depending on the output medium is a key feature of CSS.
CSS is one of the core languages of the open Web and has a standardized W3C specification.
- Writing efficient CSS
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Pages elsewhere
Here are other pages related to CSS that should be linked to from here.


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RevoStock White Strip With Copy Spaces About Healthcare 320510
After Effects Project \ Video Walls \ 3D Elements
White Strip With Copy Spaces About Healthcare 320510 by wavebreakmediamicro @ RevoStock
After Effects Project \ Commercials \ Intros \ Video Walls \ 3D Elements
Sound: no; Loopable: no; Downloads: 2; Model Release: yes
Required Software: This product is an Adobe After Effects project file. It requires Adobe After Effects version CS5 or higher as well as any plug-ins listed follow. Required After Effects Plugins: no
WBME-AE_072 Fully released with signed copy of model release available. This project has 3 1920x1080 placement layer for video or images. Simply replace the placeholders with your HD video or images. Replace the temporary logo with your own logo.
Key Words: 3d animation, 2d, composition, masking, objects, 3d, animation, 2d, composition, masking, objects, target, camera, advanced, vector, animation, digital media, game, screen, entertainment, after-effects, loop-able, contact sheet, DOF, depth of field, images, video target, pan, truck, motion media,commercial, tv, film, interactive, multimedia, fly through, gaphic, colours, panels, scroll, phone, iphone, flip, spin, text, smartphone, communication, screen, pictures, photographs, drop, table, texture, presentation, corperate, man, futuristic, figure, company, CEO, work.
Download Link


text:
(Scene opens up with Perry sitting outside a tree. He is carried up by an invention by Phineas and Ferb. It is revealed that Phineas, Ferb, and their friends are sitting inside the leaves of the tree.)
Phineas: Boy, it seems like summer flies by so fast sometimes.
Isabella: Yeah, before we know it, it'll be autumn.
Baljeet: Yes! Back to school, baby! ...Oh, you meant that like a bad thing.
Phineas: There are a lot of great things about the fall. Jumping in giant leaf piles. Perfect example.
Isabella: Yeah, the leaves turn such pretty colors in the fall. I love it.
Buford: Gourds. Gourds are great ...What? I like gourds.
Phineas: I know what we should do today. Remember how we made "S'Winter"? Let's make "S'Fall"! Hey, where's "S'Perry"?
(Scene shifts to the O.W.C.A Lair)
Major Monogram: Carl.
Carl: Yes?
Major Monogram: Did I ever tell you you're like the son that I never had?
Carl: Really, sir!?
Major Monogram: Yes. It's because you're so unlike the son that I did have! And here he is. Come on over here, Monty!
Monty: Dad, come on. You know it's embarrassing when you brag about me by belittling others.
Major Monogram: Right, sorry. Agent P, uh, you remember my son?
Monty: Yeah, good to see you, Agent P.
(Perry smiles and waves to Monty)
Major Monogram: Monty here just graduated from HSWACA! The High School Without A Cool Acronym.
Monty: Yes. I hope to follow in my father's footsteps and join you in the battle against evil.
Major Monogram: You know, son, I've been meaning to tell you something.
Monty: Sure, Dad, shoot.
Major Monogram: Well, as you know, my father was in the agency, and what you don't know is that he pressured me into following in his footsteps. But I always wanted to be an acrobat!
Monty: So that explains...
Major Monogram: Yes, the constant acrobatic lessons you've been given since birth. You, Monty Monogram, don't have to give up my dream of becoming an acrobat. You can be anything you want to be.
Monty: But, Dad, I want to fight evil.
Major Monogram: What? After all that money we spent on acrobat training? (Perry gains an awkward expression)
Monty: I never asked for that!
Carl: Sir, I'll become an acrobat if it'll make you proud of me!
Major Monogram: Really? Hmm. (Takes Carl off for the acrobatic training but comes back to the screen) Oh, yeah, Agent P, uh, stop Doof. (Perry glares at him)
(Scene shifts to Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated)
Vanessa: A video game is more important than me? That's it! I'm done! We are so over, Johnny!
Doofenshmirtz: Oh, hello, Vanessa! Let me introduce Rodrigo to you. He's starting evil science school in the fall and I'm mentoring him. I'm in mid-ment.
Rodrigo: Call me Rod.
Vanessa: Is that what your friends call you?
Rodrigo: No one calls me that. It's just that you seem rather unique.
Doofenshmirtz: So, what's wrong, Vanessa? You seem upset.
Vanessa: Nothing. It's just... Johnny, he's such a boy. I'm sick of it. No ambition, no depth...
Doofenshmirtz: You always go for the wrong type of guy, these bad-boy types.
Vanessa: Dad, perhaps you haven't noticed but you're evil.
Doofenshmirtz: Hey, there's good evil and then there's bad evil. Am I right, Rodrigo?
Rodrigo: Huh? Exactly.
(Rodrigo does a "crazy face", causing Vanessa to smile.)
(Back at the backyard)
Baljeet: So, how do we get all the leaves down, anyway?
Buford: Way ahead of you. Grab an end. (Hands Baljeet a saw)
Isabella: Buford! You can't! That's Phineas's tree. That's the tree!
Buford: Sentimentality or leaves. You can't have both.
Phineas: Au contraire. If you would kindly direct your attention to Ferb, who is modeling this "s'fall" season's fashion in rapid leaf production accelerators.
(Ferb turns the machine's handle, causing several leaves to grow and fall to the ground. Phineas, Isabella, Buford and Baljeet applaud.)
Phineas: Ooh-la-la, Monsieur Fletcher.
(Ferb turns the handle many more times, causing hundreds of leaves to grow.)
(Inside the Flynn-Fletcher house)
Candace: Anyway, Stacy, so I decided that from now on, I'm going to stop always interrupting my life with all these stu... (gasps as she sees the leaves blocking the door) Stacy, I gotta call you back. Oh I see. So they think they can stop me from seeing whatever giant project they're working on today by plastering leaves all over the door, huh? Well, it's not gonna work! A-ha! ...Um, they've built a big wall of leaves to block the door! Well, I'll just dig in here and, uh...
(Song: S'Fall (instrumental))
(The camera goes outside to show that Ferb built a leaf pile that's three times as large as their house.)
Phineas: Now that's a leaf pile.
(Back at Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, Doofenshmirtz pointing a pointer at a chalkboard)
Doofenshmirtz: Backstory! Backstory! Backstory! (Breaks his pointer.) The backstory is what drives an evil scientist. It is the "Why does he do what he does?" of the "What does he do?" (Accidentally throws a broken half of the pointing rod, causing a cat to yowl.) My point is, at its best, evil science is like undergoing deep Freudian analysis with a theremin constantly playing in the background.
Vanessa: Hey, guys, it's such a beautiful day. I thought maybe we could put the top down?
Doofenshmirtz: Oh, okay.
Vanessa: See, you are the best...
Doofenshmirtz: No tattoo.
Vanessa: Shoot.
(Doofenshmirtz pushes a button that opens the building's top. Perry comes in using a para-glider.)
♪ Perry! ♪
Doofenshmirtz: Ah, Perry the Platypus! Just in time...To be trapped!
(Perry gets trapped by a boot that looks like one of Vanessa's boots.)
Doofenshmirtz: Now that's what I call getting the boot!
Rodrigo: Wow! A real agent!
Doofenshmirtz: See, now that's a trap! I even made it based on my own daughter's fashion style. Vampire-pilgrim-scuba-diver.
Vanessa: What? Is that what you think I look lik... Wait, you made this? What size is it?
Rodrigo: Excuse me the interrupting, Dr. Doofenshmirtz, but he can get out of there fairly easy, no?
Doofenshmirtz: Well, duh, the trap only needs to hold him for just enough time for you to get through your evil scheme monologue. At that point, your nemesis escapes and the race is on! Who will win, good or evil? No one can say, except, of course, if you go by recent statistics which, it's pretty much good who wins every single time. No matter what. But, hey, if it was easy, everyone would take over the Tri-State Area, right? Every single person would be in charge and we'd be forced to, I don't know, decide the rules together by voting or something.
Rodrigo: I see. It's just that I took a few advanced trap classes in school and I was hoping to show you, the master, a few of my little ideas in the hopes that you could critique them.
Doofenshmirtz: Hmm, all right, knock yourself out.
(Rodrigo gets his bag to make a trap.)
Rodrigo: Don't worry, little platypus agent. When I'm through here, you'll no longer have to battle this inept loser anymore. Because, you see, I plan to get rid of both of you.
(Back at the Flynn-Fletcher household, Phineas, Ferb and his friends are in a hot air balloon.)
Phineas: Okay, now we've determined that the sweet spot for entering the pile is right here, at the top.
Buford: Oh, and I made gourd helmets, by the way. (Buford starts giving the gourd helmets to his friends.) Here. Here. No, wait, Baljeet, this is yours. Phineas. I like to think each individual's gourd helmet captures their unique essence in some way, you know, in gourd.
Isabella: Exactly how does this capture my essence?
Buford: Right, like that's not obvious.
Phineas: Yeah, come on. Stop kidding around, Isabella. Oh I think we're over the drop zone. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to "s'fall"!
(The friends jump from the hot air balloon and into the leaf pile. The leaf pile is revealed to contain some various fun activities that the friends go to.)
(Song: S'Fall)
♪ All the trees are ready for shakin', ♪
♪ Grab a rake if you're into rakin'. ♪
♪ Come along, it's ours for the takin' ♪
♪ There's a brand new season we're makin'. ♪
♪ All the leaves are gold and red ♪
♪ And the sun's still on our head. ♪
♪ Oh, we can have it all when ♪
♪ Summer turns to S'Fall. ♪
(The camera cuts back to the exterior of the leaf pile, revealing that Candace dug to the other side of the leaf pile.)
Candace: Huh? What are they up to today? Do they really think they can escape Mom's wrath by hiding in this fun, massive, glorious, autumnal leaf pile? Well, not if I can help it!
(Scene cuts back to Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, shortly after Rodrigo finished Perry's trap.)
Doofenshmirtz: Hmm, how does it feel, Perry the Platypus?
(Perry chatters)
Doofenshmirtz: Yeah, I thought so.
Rodrigo: Wait, you can understand him?
Doofenshmirtz: Oh, heck no, I usually just pretend he's talking about recent movies I've seen.
Vanessa: (Trying on Doofenshmirtz's boot trap) So, uh, you didn't by any chance make a left-boot trap, did you?
Doofenshmirtz: (scoffs) A left-boot trap? Whoever heard of such a thing?
(Perry uses the trap to push a button on his wrist communicator to alert the O.W.C.A. that he is in danger. The camera cuts back to the O.W.C.A. Monty is standing in front of a screen which is alerting the O.W.C.A.)
Monty: Uh, Dad? This looks pretty serious.
(Major Monogram and Carl doesn't notice the alarm as they're too focused on doing acrobatics.)
Major Monogram: Nonsense. The Zoondilini under swing is child's play.
Carl: Uh, should both my shoulders be dislocated from their sockets, sir?
(Monty takes matters into his own hands and leaves the O.W.C.A Headquarters.)
(The camera cuts back to Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc.)
Doofenshmirtz: Using my intimate knowledge of the Tri-State Area, I have installed, in two precise locations, these!
(The camera cuts to Doofenshmirtz's inator, which appears in two locations, one in a warehouse and one in a random location.)
Random person: (at a vendor) Yay! Falafel!
(The vendor opens his taco stand, only to see a part of Doofenshmirtz's inator appear from his stand.)
(Camera goes back to Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated.)
Vanessa: Cool.
Doofenshmirtz: I know, huh? These massive propellers will physically dislodge the entire Tri-State Area from the Earth and raise it up into the sky where I will then pilot it around and you know, run some errands or something, and refuse to return it, until they make me their leader. (Doofenshmirtz activates the propellers, dislodging the Tri-State Area from the Earth.) Hmm. Well, that went well.
Rodrigo: Extremely well. (He pushes a button that activates a hidden trap that ties Doofenshmirtz's legs together.)
Doofenshmirtz: Is this like a robot hug for a job well done?
Rodrigo: No. It's a trap! What does that even mean, a robot hug for a job well... Who would even consider that a possibility!? I'm taking over your evil scheme, you fool! (He pushes a button that pulls Doofenshmirtz away from the controls.)
Doofenshmirtz: (screams)
Vanessa: Dad, look out! Wha... (She tries to move but she's wearing Perry's boot trap, which is attached to the floor.) Oh, you have got to be kidding me.
Rodrigo: (Explains his plan using the blackboard that Doofenshmirtz used earlier.) You see, Dr. Doofenshmirtz, I'm going to manipulate your propellers at precise angles and literally tear the Tri-State Area apart!
Doofenshmirtz: But, hey, dummy, if you destroy the Tri-State Area, what exactly will you have left to take over? Hmm?
Rodrigo: The world.
Doofenshmirtz: (gasps) Take over the world? Tha..That's crazy! That's almost left-boot-trap crazy!
Vanessa: Oh, would you get off that? Making matching boots is normal. You with the one boot, that's what's crazy.
Rodrigo: Join me, Vanessa, and together we will take over the world. I'll let you get a tattoo. I think boots should come in pairs, like people.
Vanessa: Join you? I don't work for him. That's my father, you dweeb.
Rodrigo: Well, yeah, I just thought we had a moment.
Vanessa: (scoffs) A moment?
(Perry chatters)
Vanessa: Yeah, I know. What a dip, right?
Rodrigo: No matter. Now, time to say goodbye to your beloved Tri-State Area!
(He manipulates the propellers near a 45-degree angle. He laughs maniacally. Monty comes in using a jet-pack and tackles Rodrigo. The two fight, with Monty using his acrobatic skills to fight Rodrigo. Perry activates a camera in his wrist communicator to show Major Monogram what Monty is doing. The camera cuts back to the O.W.C.A. Headquarters.)
Major Monogram: Huh? Great googly moogly! Combining fighting evil with acrobatics? Of course! It was right in front of my face the whole time. That's my boy!
(The camera cuts back to Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, showing Vanessa free Perry from his trap.)
(Meanwhile, at the leaf pile, Phineas, Ferb and his friends are eating candy apples. Candace accidentally rides a slide inside the leaf pile.)
Candace: (screaming)
Buford: Gourd helmet. (Places a gourd helmet on Candace as she slides by.)
(Candace crashes in front of Phineas, Ferb and his friends.)
Candace: A-ha! I got you now! Ooooh, you are so busted! I can see that you're eating... candy apples. Not something I can bust you for.
Phineas: You want one, Candace?
(Camera cuts back to Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated)
Doofenshmirtz: Okay, how about this one? (He pushes a button which frees himself.) Good. Okay, well, at least I can still go on with my plan. (He manipulates the propellers in a vertical position. He raises the Tri-State Area once again.) I should go pick up my dry cleaning before it gets too...
(Perry tackles Doofenshmirtz, in the process, dropping the Tri-State Area back to Earth.)
(Outside the Flynn-Fletcher household, the impact of the drop spreads the leaves at different places outside the house.)
Linda: (from inside) Kids, I'm home!
Candace: Mom! (Runs to her) Mom! The boys are up to something huge! I just know it! But they've hidden it within a massive pile of leaves in the backyard. Come help me sort through them for a few hours to find it! (Pulls her out)
Linda: (Sarcastically) Wow. Sounds great.
(The impact of the fight at Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated puts the propellers in a horizontal position, blowing the leaves at the backyard away, just before Candace and Linda come to the backyard.)
Linda: No leaves? No nothing?
Candace: No leaves, no nothing.
Linda: (at the boys and their friends) Do you guys already have snacks?
Phineas: We do, thanks!
Linda: (With disdain) My work here is done. (Straightens Candace's gourd helmet and leaves) Nice gourd helmets, though.
Ferb: Well, who's up for "sprummer"?
(At Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, Monty ties Rodrigo to a chair.)
Rodrigo: (grunts)
Monty: Okay, you got it from here, Agent P.
(Perry traps Doofenshmirtz and salutes Monty.)
Rodrigo: But, Vanessa, I thought you liked bad boys?
Vanessa: Eh, I'm over it. I think it's time I tried a... (She watches Monty leave using a jet-pack. Monty looks at her and smiles before leaving.) A good guy.
(Perry goes to Vanessa's side. He watches Vanessa stare at Monty as he leaves. Perry realizes what she's thinking and gives a shocked expression at the camera.)
End credits
(Song: S'Fall)
♪ All the trees are ready for shakin', ♪
♪ Grab a rake if you're into rakin'. ♪
♪ Come along, it's ours for the takin' ♪
♪ There's a brand new season we're makin'. ♪
♪ All the leaves are gold and red ♪
♪ And the sun's still on our head. ♪
♪ Oh, we can have it all when ♪
♪ Summer turns to S'Fall. ♪


text: Yes. Flamingos can fly quite well, and can migrate over large distances. Retrieved from "http://answers.wikia.com/wiki/Do_flamingos_fly?oldid=3493283" Ad blocker interference detected! Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers Wikia is not accessible if you've made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected. Categories: Birds Answered questions Add category Cancel Save