text:
In my opinion the MMR vaccine can only be seen as a friend. After numerous hours of research, I felt confident enough to make the decision that all three of my children should be vaccinated.
A few years ago after the reports that the vaccine could be linked to Autism, it is under stable that parents became wary if giving their child this vaccine, but with no physical evidence, only speculation, surely it is more responsible to immunise rather than risk your child catching one of these life threatening diseases.
There will of course always be pros and cons for everything, and every parent wants what is best for their child. I would much rather my child be uncomfortable for a few seconds whilst having a needle, than to suffer, what could be needlessly and be at risk of complications from a disease that could have been prevented, by me.
The Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine (MMR) should undoubtedly be regarded as a friend to parents as it helps to keep your children healthy. As a nurse who works within paediatrics, I can assure you that any child of mine would receive the MMR vaccine because there really is no argument whatsoever to not give it!!
Although there has been controversy about the safety of the combined MMR over recent years this research has been comprehensively rejected by the medical community. The author of the original research, Andrew Wakefield, who reported a link between the MMR and autism has since be declared of gross professional misconduct as The Lancet proved that he falsified his research data. Therefore on the basis of this finding, there is no longer even any controversy about the vaccine (in my personal opinion). I can find no other conclusion that this man concocted his research for his own personal gain and I really don't think we should pay any more hedence to his lies which have probably caused the suffering and death of many children worldwide.
Measles, Mumps and Rubella are often dismissed as normal childhood illnesses and therefore the vaccine isn't necessary. However, all of these illness can be very serious and can even result in serious disability and death. For example, measles can cause encephalitis and permanent blindness, Mumps can cause sterility in males, and Rubella can cause serious congenital malformations in the unborn child. Not to mention the fact that measles, mumps and rubella is not very pleasant for your child to suffer anyway - so why take the risk of not vaccinating them??
While its true that your child may suffer some minor discomfort up to 24 hours after the vaccine is given, the effects are minor (slight temperature, irritability, cold like symptoms) which can be relieved somewhat by giving Calpol. I know whenever I've given these vaccinations the children cry momentarily when the needle goes in, but other than some minor effects of "being under the weather" I've never seen anything remotely serious.
Seriously, there is no known reason for not giving the MMR and every reason to do it. Don't take any risks with your baby's health.
This is a very emotionally charged debate for obvious reasons and every parent has the right opinion for their child. This is my view for my son.
I think it's really important that the immunity level to measles is kept above the critical level to prevent unimmunised children for catching it. At the moment in Wales there is an alarming increase in the number of cases. In healthy school children the chance of any serious complications is rare but possible.
However, what about babies? Those that have yet to develop any form of immunity and are too young for vaccination. Severe illness is much more likely in infants under one year.
Now consider that the community level of immunity is dropping due to the low uptake of vaccination, more children are catching measles, more children are spreading measles, more babies will come into contact with measles. A friends newborn baby girl came into contact with measles while on the maternity ward from a visiting child (who wasn't symptomatic at the time). She was lucky to survive after intensive treatment. The other babies all had to have treatment too just in case. Imagine dealing with that?
My fear for the next six months is not whether I will vaccinate my son with the MMR but will he catch measles before he has it. Will have had any immunity passed from me by breast feeding? Is he healthy enough to fight it off?
Immunisation is a personal choice but its effects are more widespread than imagined. If you don't trust the MMR vaccine after reading all the evidence then please have your child immunised using the single vaccine.
Don't underestimate measles... a vaccine wouldn't have been designed if it was a harmless childhood infection. Maybe this is a slightly different viewpoint, maybe you will agree, maybe you will totally disagree, maybe I've missed the point. Hopefully I've put something into the debate.
I have had 9 nieces and nephews born, and I am hopefully going to have my own little one on the way soon, and the MMR situation has been a subject which has come up alot in my life.
The MMR is the Measels, Mumps and Ruebella Vaccination given to babies at about 18 months old (i'm not 100% sure on this, so correct me if I am wrong!).
For years there has been a debate about the safety of the vaccination as people say it can "develop autism" in children, as far as I am aware there is no actual scientific proof that this is the case, and the reason the issue has come about is because children show signs of autism at the age the vaccination is given.
My child will most definitely be given his or her MMR vaccination, the way I see it, even if the vaccination DID cause autism...I would MUCH rather my child develop this, than the potentially fatal measels, mumps or ruebella....!
All of my nieces and nephews have had this vaccination as well as me, and all of my family. It isn't even a question for me about my child getting the vaccine, even if I had to pay for each needle to be given separetly, I would do this. My childs safety is much more important to me than the fact they "could" develop autism...I have a feeling that this is a 1 in a billion chance of happening...and as I said until there is sufficient proof that it IS the cause of childrens autism, then I would never stop my child from having the important vaccination!!!
Autism, although a nasty disability which causes distress to family and friends of the affected, is not the end of the world, and it is something which people can get through in life with, and can lead a nice happy life if its not the stongest strain. Whereas with the illnesses which you could contract without the MMR, may very well result in death, and I myself could not cope with the grief of the death of my child due to me not getting them vaccinated against Measels, Mumps and Reubella.
Sorry this is only short but I feel it gets across my opinion :-)
There has been a lot of debate over the mmr vaccine over the last few years as a lot of people have begun to doubt the safety of this after allegations that it is causing autism in children.
Before allowing my daughter to have this vaccine i looked into it a lot and thought long and hard about it, i couldnt find any proof any where that stated this vaccine was actually causing autism in children the only link i could find was that the vaccine was being given at the same age as autism became noticable in children so the link had been deduced from this.
We decided that there was no reason for us not to go ahead with this vaccine and protect our daughter from three major and life threatening diseases, measuls, mumps and rubella.
There are a lot of increases in the number of out breaks of these diseases over the last 5 years as more and more people have refused the vaccine, i have no idea why and will never understand why people choose not to vaccinate at all, if they dont like the 3 in 1 jab they can pay to have it done seperately, but wont part with the money as this is costly but how can you put a price on your childs health.
I can sleep safe in the knowledge that both my daughters are vaccinated.
In my opinion, the MMR vacine is a friend and not a foe. Why would doctors want to give a child, not a child, a needle that would harm them. Ok, there has been research that this vacine is linked with things like autism, but if that were 100% proven, then they would have stopped giving it out ages ago. Together me and my wife sat down and starting discussions whether or not our children should be given this vacine, along with others, and after much debating, we decided it would be for the best. This vacine is given to children in order for them to be able to defned their bodies against three major diseases, Measles, Mumps, and Rubella, three of the most deadliest diseases in the world, and the three main killers of young children, or so my research has shown me.
In my opinion, I think that all children should be given this vacine, and I am sure that any children who has suffered side effects as a direct result of this vacine, had something wrong before it even happened, and I know how that sounds, but that is my opinion.
I find this subject really frustrating. I can understand why some parents are doubtful of the MMR vaccination, because of all the bad press it has had for such a long time. But all of the research that was done, leading up to the bad press, was recently proved to be false!! It was all made up by the guy who was responsible for producing the single vaccines, and he was trying to push his jabs on the public to make money. The link between the MMR and autism has never been proved. It is a fact that autism is usually first noticed at about the age of one year. Which just so happens to be the age that you have the first MMR jab. It is mearly coincidence that the MMR is blamed for this. The rate of Measles and Mumps is on the rise, due to the lack of parents protecting their children. These diseases are serious and can cause death in severe cases. Why anyone would want to risk their childs life is beyond me. I have a little boy who is coming up one year old and he is definately having his MMR.
MMR - what a dilema for parents.
This is only my personal opinion, from my own experiences and with such a controversial topic, maybe you will agree, maybe not.
I have two children, a daughter aged 12 and a son, aged 8. Now my daughter has had both MMR vaccinations whereas my son has only had the first.
When our daughter was first vaccinated, there wasn't so much coverage about the possible adverse side effects, and we had very little hesitation about agreeing to the injections. She suffered the usual mild side effects afterwards but nothing that a little Calpol didn't put right and after a few days she was fine. She subsequently had her second and final set of jabs and Alex had his first.
Not long after the MMR vaccination became headline news following a study, which has subsequently been regarded as of dubious benefit. However the seeds of doubt were sown in our minds. We are just parents with no medical knowledge and we found ourselves being torn first one way then the other.
From what we had read, there was a greater chance of autism or Crohns disease especially in boys. It made sense, you were basically pumping three different poisons into a young child all at once - how could an immune system cope?
Alex was due his second set of jabs. He had certainly become more difficult after the first. Whether that was the jabs or simply normal childhood behaviour we don't know. What if he had the jab and developed autism - how could we live with ourselves knowing that we had authorised them? There again, what if he actually caught measles, mumps or rubella, with the risk of death, brain damage, infertility. Weighing up whether with the higher prevalence of catching it due to the declining number of vaccinations was another consideration. Again, how the hell do you live with something like that if you refuse the jabs and they catch a disease that was preventable?
From what I've read, and I may be wrong, after the first vaccination you have a 90 - 95% of having sufficient anti-bodies to do the job should you be exposed to those diseases.
However, there's one major factor that helped us make up our mind and is the reason why we didn't let him have the second jab. My wife works in a dental hospital, and the two most senior consultants, who are married, and extremely knowledgeable, have a son who became severely austistic. Prior to him having the second set of jabs, he had shown no signs whatsoever of being austistic. They are absolutely convinced that it was the MMR vacinations that brought it on.
There is an option, but most probably not on the NHS in most areas, that that you can have the vaccinations individually, one for mumps, one for measles and one for rubella. They are thought to be less of a risk as there's not so much of a hit on the body's immune system. Whether that's right or wrong I simply don't know.
It is an incredibly difficult choice for any parent to make. We can't see into the future, and it's one of those situations where you could be damned if you do, and damned if you don't.
Whatever decision you take as a parent, you hope to God it's the right one and I wouldn't criticise or pontificate whichever way you choose.
Firstly let me say I am not against the MMR vaccination. In November 1991 my fifth child was born. He developed normally for the first 14 months with good medical results at his baby checks, a very healthy and lovely baby. January 1993 I took him along for his MMR just as I had for all his other immunisations. He was given the jab. Seven days later and unexpectedly he had his first seizure, the most terrifying thing at that time I had ever experienced. I remember at the hospital telling them he'd been given the MMR as it was what I thought of straight away. This was dismissd as if I knew nothing. Over the next twelve months he continued to have seizures and I was told they were febrile and I should use paracetamol. On one occassion in hospital and my son ready to be discharged my son had yet another seizure and his temperature was raised. After this tests were carried out and we were told that he had epilepsy.
I did contact a parents help group for the MMR, they checked his batch number as there had been at that time a bad batch but it came up at that time as fine. There were numerous parents whose children had been given the MMR and were very negative and this is quite understandable as I felt and still feel it was the MMR that has resulted in my son having a very different life to what he should of had.
During that year after the MMR his development had gone backwards and he had stopped making progress and had become a very challenging little boy and life had become very difficult, the little things you take for granted had now become impossible to do with him, going to the shops, eating out, eating in, going to the park, all those every day things we take for granted.
My son after seeing many specialists was eventually tested for autism and he came out at the severe end. He was asked to leave mainstream nursery and went to a special school for severe learning disabilites which he still attends and they are marvelous.
My son will never read or write, will always need 24 hour care but I can honestly say that even though he can be a challenge at times, even though he has generalised seizures most days, he is the happiest boy and gives so much pleasure that makes the hard work worth it.
I sound negative about the MMR. No. My opinion and I thought it and felt it as his mum from that first seizure that the MMR had caused his disabilities. I remember taking him for his whooping cough vaccine and thinking there is a one in a million chance of this effecting his life but I still took himand consented to it and most of us do as we are responsible for the health of our children. If someone had told me or I had known that there was a one in a million chance of it effecting my son I would of still taken him that day and the outcome would of been the same but I would of felt that I'd done the right thing by trying to protect my son. After this with my son, my youngest child could not be given the Whooping cough vaccine which was a worry and I did decide against giving my youngest son the MMR though he was given the booster without my consent but that's another story. After seeing the specialist in relationship to that I was told that my other son was probably ill the day he had the MMR but was displaying no signs of being unwell and that he may of had a virus and then being given two more live viruses at such a young age was too much for him and that my other son who had the booster was older (4 years) and bigger.
Measles is a disease that can leave children disabled and even cause death so my advice would be to speak to your health professional, if in doubt get them to take family history, make sure your child is well, get them to check your childs temperature and look for signs of being poorly, it only takes a minute on the day of the immunisation.
My belief and feeling is that my son was effected by the MMR and it changed his life, my life and my familes lives. I believe that if the people in charge were honest and said there was a one in a million chance that your child may be effected then maybe parents wouldn't be so scared and more children would be immunised against the disease that can kill.
My son remains a happy and smiley child that gives so much pleasure.
When it was time to start thinking about the MMR jab that was coming up with my eldest i went over and over it, reading leaflets, looking on the internet, asking other friends with children what they had done and eventually came to the comclusion that i would much rather my child have the vaccination rather than get a serious illness that could be life threatening.
Yes I know that there is a possible link to autism but there is no proof and although i would not want my child to have autism, it is a much better outcome than what it could be if they contracted one of the Measles, Mumps or Rubella illnesses.
I think parents have a duty to vaccinate their children against everything that is available. We are very lucky that we have access to vaccinations in this country as a lot of countries dont and have a higher chance of their child becoming ill. I bet if they had the chance that we have they would take it no matter what the possibility as long as their children are safe.
My eldest child had the vaccine and is 3 1/2 now. He is absolutely fine. A healthy, happy little boy. I intend for my other little boy to have the vaccine in 7 months time.
As a mum of a 9 month old the whole MMR debate is something I have been paying particular attention to. The MMR (Measles, Mumps & Rubella) jab is "due" at 13 months. The combined jab is available free of charge on the NHS or alternatively you can pay for your child to have the vaccinations separately.
My daughter had her initial vaccinations without much thought from me, other than how I would deal with a crying 3 month old or how she was going to react in the short term (ie would she get a fever, be unsettled or sleepy). However, owing to much media attention on the MMR jab this decision has played on my mind. I even spent money on a neutral publication regarding vaccinations to ensure I felt as informed as possible before making my decision.
During the research I have undertaken I have sourced views from friends, family, colleagues and health professionals. I have read and re-read newspaper articles and NHS publications and as mentioned I have even bought neutral books on the matter. I have a mother in law who is adament that my daughter should not have the combined injection and constantly pressures me to opt for private individual jabs.
Well, possibly controversially (for my mother in law at least) I have decided to let my daughter have the combined vaccination. I am confident following the research I have undertaken that this is a safer option than leaving her open to the diseases.
I have made this choice based on several reasons. I have recently found out that the individual Rubella vaccination is no longer available, so by not opting for the combined MMR I will be leaving my daughter open to this disease for life (and potentially putting any future grandchildren of mine at risk during pregnancy). Previously secondary school aged girls where given the Rubella vaccination (I remember mine all too well) this is no longer offered. If opting for the individual vaccinations for the Measels and Mumps element of the MMR my daughter would remain at risk of one of these diseases for a greater period of time and would be subjected to more painful injections (and short term after effects) than is neccessary - and as someone who suffered from mumps many times in my childhood, I would rather not put my daughter through that. Also, if I opted for private there is the cost to consider - not just of the vaccination, but also of the travel to get the vaccination, my nearest clinic to offer it privately is 100 miles away. Now, don't get me wrong if I thought for one second the risk of having the MMR was medium or higher I would pay that cost without any hesitation.
The press regularly link MMR to cases of autism and chrones disease. All the literature I have read suggests that this link is weak to say the least. Symptoms of Autism generally do not present themselves in children until after 13 months of age, so many of the cases where autism has been identified following the MMR jab are, in my opinion, more likely to be coincidental than as a result of the jab. Autism is also a "boy thing" in the main (in that more boys are autistic than girls) as it is a chromosonal defect. Perhaps if I was thinking of having a son vaccinated with the MMR I would have a different stance on this aspect, but as it is my daughter I am considering this "fact" helps me to support my decision to go ahead with the combined jab. There is no scientific evidence to support the link of Chrone's Disease.
The MMR jab, although only offered in the UK since 1988 has been offered in other European countries for significantly longer. Some of which have a very high standing in the medical profession.
The bottom line of all this, is that for me having my daughter vaccinated with the MMR vaccination is the right decision - although I have to admit that there will still be a period of "was that the right decision" and looking out for symptoms of autism etc.
Interestingly, I have asked my Health Visitor (during my daughter's last development review) if she thought my daughter showed any signs of autism and received a resounding "no", so perhaps after all my research I am still not 100% convinced that the MMR is the right way to go, but a decision is needed (not having her vaccinated at all is not an option for me, as I would rather she be protected against such diseases) so this is the one I have decided on. I do wonder if the government publications regarding this are a little propaganderish, but I am hoping that this country's government hasn't resorted to that tactic - although I still wish Tony Blair had shared whether his little one had the MMR or not!
Now I just need to keep my fingers and toes crossed that it is the right one (and not change my mind in the next 4 months).
Both my children have had the MMR vaccination, in fact they have had all their vaccinations as I feel this is extremely important.
As a nurse myself, I have seen the devastating effects that these illnesses have on children who haven't been vaccinated and contract the disease, I feel very lucky that we live in a nation where we can vaccinate our children against the potential harm these diseases cause and this is FREE.
As for the MMR, I believe there hasn't been anywhere near enough research done into the side effects of the combined vaccine against individual and I am happy to go with the government recommendations. There will always be the unfortunate case where things go wrong but I feel the advantages of the vaccine far outweigh the small risk.
The media has much to answer for as they hype up and exaggerate instances where things have gone wrong and this does not represent a true picture.
I completely trust the mmr needle , i have three children and both of them so far have had the vaccine, the youngest one not yet , but in saying that the mmr and meningitis, are the only ones that i do use , and thankfully none of my children have ever been ill .In my opinion youngsters do not need so many jabs at such a young age , they are constantly ill or feel run down , and besides that , they get a booster when they start school , their tiny bodies cannot handle that many needles in the first year and a half of their life , But all children are different . This is my opinion and any parent should do what they feel is neccassary to protect their own , But personally speaking i think all parents should wait at least till the children are over two.
The argument over whether the combined MMR jab is safe has been raging for years. It pops in and out of the health agenda and, at least for parents of young children, it remains one of the biggest dilemmas that they face.
The MMR jab was widely introduced into the UK in the 1980s to combat Measles, Mumps and Rubella (German Measles). Then, in the late 1990s a link was suggested between the take up on the MMR and an increase in cases of children being diagnosed on the autistic spectrum. Poof! In one sweep parents started questioning whether they should be giving their children the combined MMR jab.
The issue became one not only of health but of politics. Politicians were asked by the media to confirm whether or not their children had had the jab and, famously, the then prime ministerial incumbent, a certain Mr Blair, refused to confirm or deny whether his youngest had had the inoculation, fuelling the argument that Blair was a hypocrite, backing the NHS stance that the jabs were safe but privately not following his own advice. One could say that such hypocrisy was rife, but it did nothing for the cause.
Despite repeated studies telling us that the link between MMR and autism was nothing to worry about (and, at the end of the day, the study sample in the original study was tiny - just 12 people) parents still worried and over the last few years we've hit a new problem. Where previously the incidents of measles, mumps and rubella had been in decline these diseases have been on the increase and this is thought to be a direct result of parents not inoculating their children with the MMR vaccine (and not giving (through choice or availability) the individual vaccines).
So, what do I think?
I had to take the decision about 9 months ago as to whether to inoculate my son with the MMR vaccine, the three individual vaccines or not at all. Unlike Blair I won't sit on the fence. My son had the MMR and I hope to tell you why.
I certainly didn't go into the decision with my eyes closed. In fact, I probably obsessed about it far more than was healthy. After all, who wants to harm their child or put them at unnecessary risk? I read articles (including excerpts from the original report), I spoke to health professionals, I sought opinion and then I formed my own.
It's not easy to get all the information that one wants prior to making an informed decision. Health professionals seem reluctant to give positive advice (this is not just the case with MMR) for fear of having influenced a parent if something does go wrong.
I came to the conclusion that the original study left unproven the link between the MMR and autistic spectrum disorders. This didn't, however, give me the answer to my question as I still had to be convinced that there was a benefit in giving my son a vaccine over not giving it.
The answer to that question was to be found in looking at what the dangers of the three diseases that the vaccine sought to prevent were and whether there were any other risks inherent in the vaccine. There was no escaping the fact that I had had each of the three diseases myself and, aside from feeling uncomfortable with mumps, had escaped unscathed. In fact, I recall parents going out of their way to allow their children to catch rubella as early as possible. Whilst the diseases themselves might not seem so frightening the side-effects and effects on others are less paletable.
Measles carries with it a risk of death (16 deaths out of 86,000 people who contracted the disease in one year), although it's a small one. Encephalitis, chest infections (1 in 15) and brain damage are far more common side effects of measles and, in my opinion, more frightening.
Mumps is one of the most common causes of meningitis, the fear of every parent. Deafness, impotence and encephalitis are also possible side effects.
Rubella (or German measles) is probably the least feared in terms of the health of the child but its effect on others, particularly pregnant women and their unborn babies is more severe. The babies of 9 out of 10 pregnant women who contract the disease suffer some damage, commonly to eyes and ears. Prior to the drop in the uptake of the MMR rubella was almost eradicated in the UK - it's now on the increase again.
Scary stuff.
The risks associated with the vaccine itself also needed to be considered. There's a risk of convulsions and 1 in a million might suffer encephalitis, but otherwise the risks are fairly negligible. It should also be noted that each of these risks are significantly lower than the risks of getting the same conditions as a result of the diseases that we are seeking to inoculate against.
For me, at the end of the research, there was no question. My son was to be inoculated.
Throughout my research I saw no reasons why I should opt for single vaccines. In fact, I saw more reasons why single inoculations were worse than the combined vaccines, including the simple fact that the child remains unprotected for longer.
The question will remain for many years to come and the only thing we can do as parents is to draw our own conclusions from the available evidence. For me, the conclusions were clear, both for my son, and society.
When my son had his first set of immunisations when he was just 2 months old, I didn't think twice about letting the nurse inject him with all these vaccines, what was in them and the side effects, probably because I had not heard anything about them, good or bad. Yet when it came to my son having the MMR when he was 13 months old, I had a huge struggle over whether or not to give him this particular vaccine.
The MMR vaccinates against 3 diseases: Measles, Mumps and Rubella. It is a combined vaccine, and a live vaccine which means small amounts of the infections are injected into your child, to allow their immune system to fight it and become immune.
Over the last few years there has been a lot of information in the press about the MMR Vaccine, it's links with Autism and the NHS and the Government telling us it is a perfectly safe vaccination and that all children should be vaccinated with the MMR. Parents have come forward to the press and said that their children have been affected due to the MMR, and this has started up the whole cycle again.
I myself did a lot of research before making a decision one way or the other, as I knew it would be a hard decision to make and I was not going to make it lightly at all. I knew that I had 3 options open to me:
1. To give my son the MMR vaccine
2. To give him the MMR as 3 seperate vaccinations
3. Not to give him any vaccine at all.
Luckily, the third option was not one I was willing to consider so I had to look into the first two options. If I am honest, I was very much leaning towards option2, single vaccines. These would have to be done privately, and would cost roughly £100-£150 per injection, but I was willing to pay that if it would keep my son safe. However, the more I looked into it, the less certain about the idea I was.
The NHS does not offer single vaccines, and therefore the vaccines have to come from abroad, This means that the vaccines are not checked in the UK and they are not monitored for content. You would have to consult the doctor who would be administering the vaccines as to where they come from and what is in them but there is no guarantee they are safe. This is really what put me off the single vaccines.
I went online for hours and hours months before my son was due his MMR and looked up many websites, both government ones, NHS ones and parenting forums to find out peoples opinions of the MMR and also read some of the stories which are about MMR and its link to Autism. The government says that the link between Autism and the MMR has been disproved but there are still stories on the web which say otherwise. it is hard to know which to believe, but I am leaning more towards the link NOT being there now.
I think the only thing you can do is to weigh up all the evidence that you are able to get and make an informed and educated decision about a controversial subject. People will always disagree about the MMR, and there will of course be parents who choose not to vaccinate at all, but I knew for me I wanted my son to be vaccinated against these horrible illnesses, and I feel I made the best choice in the end by choosing to give him the MMR.
Thank you for reading, and I hope this has been helpful to you.
For more information on the MMR vaccine see the NHS site (this was a great site to use when I was researching the MMR)


text:
Address 2233 Welch St.
Houston, Texas 77019
United States
Houston, Texas 77019
United States
|Law School
|Temple University Beasley School of Law
|Most recent firm
|G.G. GOBIN ATTORNEY AT LAW ,Houston,Texas
|Relevant Jobs
Vice President & General Counsel
Vice President & General Counsel Duties: Provide strategic leadership regarding legal matters affecting the organization to the executive management team and to the board of trustees. Direct the lega...
Apply now
Assistant Attorney General I/ii
ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL I/II Responsibilities : The candidate will perform entry-level legal work. Work involves providing legal advice, counsel, and assistance; representing the State's inter...
Apply now
|+ View more jobs
A. Harrison Barnes is a well-known attorney throughout the United States. As a member of the Malibu community, Harrison is committed to serving the needs of Malibu residents and businesses in legal matters.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Made of willow and canvas, these Picnic Time insulated promo wine custom gift baskets are a great gift item for the holidays and anyone who enjoys good wine and cheese on the go.
Nine -piece promotional wine gift set including ergonomic bottle opener and wine stoppers packed in polished wooden case with your logo.
Mahogany wooden promotional wine box packed with stainless steel wine stopper and corkscrew / bottle opener with foil seal cutter located in lid featuring your logo.
Personalized custom wine gifts make a lasting impression. Take advantage of the promotional capabilities of promotional wine accessories & gift sets from ePromos! We offer various styles of wine gift sets complete with many items, such as custom printed wine openers, which will make a big splash with your employees and clients. Our wine accessory gift sets are ideal for important client gifts. Wine gifts and accessories work great for any event or occasion. Our staff of promotional product experts can help you make personalized corporate gifts that will impress recipients and help you grow your brand. Contact us today to learn how."


text:
Hola amigos. What's up? I know it's been a long time since I last rapped at ya, but I've had a lot of crap to deal with.
First off, about a month ago, I lost my job at the meat-packing plant. They got wise to the fact that I was swiping meat, so they called me into the office. I wasn't going to tell them anything, seeing as they had no hard evidence against me. Only thing was, I had three steaks in my pants when they called me in. I had to wait alone for half an hour in that office before anyone would tell me what I was doing there. Man, that pissed me off. I was going to take out the steaks, 'cause my nuts were getting numb, but then I realized that was just the kind of slip-up they were waiting for, since they probably had hidden cameras all over the place.
I played it cool, frozen nuts and all. Then they came in and started hassling me about how they knew what I was up to, telling me to just come clean. I told them jack shit. They said I'd better cooperate because they didn't want to have to get the police involved. I told them I didn't know what they were talking about. After an hour of heavy interrogation, they still had nothing on me, so they had no choice but to let me go. As I got up to leave, they told me they didn't want me working there any more, so I shouldn't bother showing up the next day. I told them I didn't want to work there anyway, so that was fine.
Just as I opened the door to leave, I felt one of the steaks in my pants start to slip, so I had to grab it. It looked like I was grabbing my nutsack at them, which was pretty cool. What a bunch of assholes! I may have been swiping meat, but they didn't know that. They had no reason to fire me. I showed up on time every day. My pal Wes "The Bomb" Baumgartner says I should get a lawyer and sue them. I just might. I'd love to see them squirm.
The first few weeks after getting my ass canned, I was okay financially. In fact, for a few brief days there, life couldn't have been any sweeter. As you may recall, my landlord broke my lease to get me out of my apartment, so he had to pay for my first two months' rent at a new place. So, with rent taken care of, the only thing I needed money for was food and beverages. They had a sale on Gino's frozen pizzas at Food Lion, so I crammed my freezer full of them. Once that was out of the way, all I needed was some refreshing beverages.
Now, hombre, in case you weren't sure, water is free, so that ain't the kind of beverage I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is icy-cold MGD, and a lot of it. My final paycheck was for $243. I wanted to be careful, so I set aside $20 for gas and a rainy day, but $223 divided by beer is still a hell of a lot of beer. So, I called up my pals Wes The Bomb and Ron and told them to come over.
When they got to my place, I explained the situation to them. All I needed them to do was help me get $223 worth of beer and keep their yaps shut about it. In exchange for their valuable time and labor, I said I would be happy to share some icy brews with them. Well, that all went fine. We went out and got the beer and brought it back to my place. That night, we celebrated with a magical evening of Super Nintendo and MGD. What more could you ask for? Everything was going great.
Problem is, that damn Ron doesn't know how to shut his hole.
The next night, I was just settling in for some MGD and frozen pizza when Ron showed up with three people I'd never seen before. I didn't want to look like a bad host, so I let them have some beer and pizza. Now, I don't know who these people were, but they could really pound down the beer. I asked Ron about them, and it turned out he didn't know them too well, either–he used to work with a couple of them. I gave him a dirty look indicating my disapproval, but Ron's such a dipshit I had to underscore my point with a smack to the back of the head.
Ron asked what I did that for, and I explained to him that I only have so much beer, and it's gotta last me a long time, so why the hell did he bring over a bunch of strangers to clean me out? Meanwhile, while Ron and I were having the discussion, my guests were in the kitchen helping themselves to another one of my pizzas. I was trying to be all cool about it, but inside I was ready to blow my top and kick them out on their asses. Who the hell goes into another man's refrigerator and takes his damn pizza without asking?
Ron apologized and swore he'd never bring them over again. But the very next night, those guys showed up again, this time without Ron, and they brought along six more people. Then, about an hour later, Ron showed up with three more people, and, before you knew it, there was a damn party at my pad. Then, just as I was about to throw them out, this one guy I'd never met handed me a joint, so I had to let them stay. What could I do? By the end of the night, they went through all my beer and most of my pizzas, and they even busted the toilet.
The dream was over. Like my man Eddie Money, for a brief, shining moment, I had two tickets to paradise, only Ron had to come along and blow it. Now, I gotta go out and find another job pronto, 'cause with no beer and no food, I might as well be dead. I gotta tell you, Ron is my best bud, and he always will be, but sometimes I fuckin' hate that dumbass.


text:
Longest Serving Oklahoma Commissioner Takes Fifth Oath
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma's longest serving statewide official has taken his oath of office in a career that has spanned four decades.
Corporation Commissioner Bob Anthony took his fifth consecutive oath of office Thursday in the commissioner's courtroom of the Jim Thorpe Building.
Anthony took his first oath of office in January 1989 and is officially beginning his fifth 6-year term on the three-member panel that regulates public utilities, telephone companies, trucking, and oil and natural gas production.
The 64-year-old Anthony has been a statewide officeholder longer than any other current elected official in Oklahoma, and is the longest serving current utility commissioner in the United States.
Oklahoma Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven Taylor administered the oath.Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
leiLani deLuxx
Hi beautiful , How you doing?
Hi beautiful , How you doing? what's your facebook name or email address ?
VA2GA stand up Im ceo of Yella Ent. and im leaving this today...Add me and check out my new releases for my new album and mixtape shoot me back sum feed back and let me kno wat u think thanks alot and god bless
"Yella Every Thang"
ill be in dallas tx. feb.12th promoting my debute album and i would luv to meet u in person..U r so damn beautiful baby gurl add me asap!!


text:
Topic: 3 Years Ago Today
It was 3 years ago today that my dad lost his fight with CC. Really can't believe that it has been 3 years, sometimes it doesn't feel like 3 years, but on the other hand, sometimes it feels longer! Very strange.
Never good these anniversaries, but we get used to them don't we. Today I have only looked back with fond memories and had many a chuckle to myself. Of course the bad memories and the tough times will always be there, but they will always be outshone by the good memories, the laughs and the happy times! Like the time we were fishing on some rocks years ago and nearly got caught out with the incoming tide! We had to grab the gear, leggit and make a jump for it or get caught out. Dad landed in some mud, lost his welly boot and was not happy! Mum went berserk at him when she found out but I found the whole thing hilarious, as did he many years later when I reminded him about it!!! Happy days!
Dad, you are sorely missed and much loved, and you always will be.
Much love,


text:
At Coppelia, pancakes come in two spins. There are buttermilk pancakes—light, fluffy, and painfully common elsewhere—and a blue corn version, the narwhal of pancakes in New York. With a denser, weightier texture and cornbread-like crumb, they're the pancakes for people who like their breakfast with a little more substance.
These aren't pancakes you blow through in a couple minutes. Add plenty of the softened butter provided and a drizzle of agave nectar (better than fake maple syrup, more economical than real maple) to make up for their slightly drier, not too sweet crumb, and take them slow. Does the blue corn add a flavor that plain yellow corn wouldn't? We can't say, but they sure look pretty.
A short stack will run you $6.50 at breakfast and $8.95 at lunch, dinner, and brunch. They're available each of the 24 hours that the restaurant is open.
About the author: Max Falkowitz is the New York editor and ice cream maker in residence at Serious Eats. You can follow him on Twitter at @maxfalkowitz.


text: Politics 27 January 2012 I'm the Squeezed Middle and I know who's doing the squeezing Political leaders look on sadly but what are they really doing to change things? Sign up for our weekly email * Print HTML It's not fun in the Squeezed Middle, trying to cope with Alarm Clock Britain as part of a Hard Working Family. But it's nice to know that our politicians really care about us. Care about us enough to think up slogans to patronise us, anyway. So, here I am, back in full-time employment, though I've begun to realise why the Big Society isn't going to work. It's the same reason why so many working people aren't politically active. It's not so much apathy or class; it's just that doing actual hard work makes you tired. So tired that you can't be bothered to do anything other than fall asleep into a warm plate of food every evening, brushing the mouldy crumbs into your mouth for breakfast some hours later. Work seems blissful after a time of unemployment. You start to become satisfied with less: just work in itself is a reward, let alone the money. Obviously, given that you don't get a P45 straight away, it's the joys of emergency tax, but that's a small price to pay. I say "small price" but it's an enormous price to pay, if you're not getting paid that much in the first place, but that's beside the point: you get to look forward to money back at some point in the distant future, tucked away for a rainy day at 0 per cent interest. Lucky old you. No complaining, now. I'm not complaining. I like working. I like work. I like money. I like being paid for doing something other than sitting around the house all day, even if, as it turns out, my annual salary is somewhat less than what I was earning in my first ever full-time job, 13 years ago. Is that failure? Well, no: it's success just to have a job at all, nowadays. There are so many people who don't, and who have no reasonable short-term prospects of getting one, it seems churlish to put your hand up and ask if you could take home some half-decent cash as well. But this is where we are, those of us who are in the Squeezed Middle, or well below the middle. Ed Miliband would like to help us. Nick Clegg would like to help us. David Cameron would like to help us. At least, I think they would. They say they would. They look at us, sadly, like you'd stare at a mangy old mongrel faithfully limping behind its owner to the vets that last time. But in terms of actually doing something about us? Well, things aren't quite so clear cut. I like the idea of tax cuts for the low paid. I have no problem with tax cuts -- if the right taxes get cut. Increasing the personal allowance is a fine and progressive thing to do, and is to be welcomed. But it's like chucking a cork to someone who's drowning and expecting them to say thank you. It might be something, but it's not going to solve any big problems. The other tactic, of course, is to get those of us who are in work to hate those who aren't in work -- to set us against each other. The benefit cap is part of that strategy, to make those of us who are struggling to pay bills despise those of us who have some of our bills paid for us -- and it has the completely accidental side effect of kicking poor people out of nice areas where affluent Tory-leaning voters are entitled to live. Rather flimsy statistics released last week about immigrants were part of the same mission: make the less well off concentrate on the undeserving poor and foreigners, and they might forget who's really screwing them. Does it work? It might, if we let it happen. As I've said, it's exhausting trying to keep up with politics when you're away from a PC all day, when you're too knackered when you get home to glue yourself to Newsnight and digest the issues of the day. Tempting, perhaps, to blame the family on benefits across the road, or the immigrants next door, for why life sucks so much. Tempting, but wrong. I may be the Squeezed Middle, but I know who's doing the squeezing. And I know just how much all three of our political parties are really doing to change that situation: not a great deal at all. › Why Stephen Hester's £963,000 bonus is a distraction Patrolling the murkier waters of the mainstream media Subscribe from just £1 per issue More Related articles No, Virgin Trains East Coast, I will not bid for the "luxury" of first class The National Trust is right to bring gay history out of the closet I hate musicals. Apart from Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, Follies – oh, wait Subscription offer 12 issues for £12 + FREE book LEARN MORE Close This week's magazine


text:
When crew chief Jason Racliff told Matt Kenseth to pit for fuel only with 25 laps remaining in the Quaker State 400, Kenseth thought he was crazy.
Kenseth beat Jimmie Johnson out of the pits to take the lead, but thought there was no way he could hold off the dominant Johnson, who had led a race-high 182 laps. But when Johnson wrecked on the ensuing restart, Kenseth held the lead through another restart and then pulled away to win at Kentucky Speedway.
"I didn't roll the dice, Jason did. I thought he was crazy when it happened," Kenseth said.
Jimmie Johnson dominated the race, but wrecked on a restart with 21 laps remaining. He was trying to hold off a hard-charging Joey Logano for second on the restart when he lost control of his car and spun.
MORE: Jimmie complains | Junior's bad break | Results | Busch-Keselowski wreck
Kenseth held off a challenge from Clint Bowyer on the final restart and pulled away for his series-high fourth win of the season.
Jamie McMurray passed Bowyer with four laps remaining to finish second, his best finish since 2010. Bowyer finished third followed by Logano and Kyle Busch. Johnson rallied at the end to finish ninth after pitting following his spin.
An emotional Kenseth thanked his crew over his team radio after taking the checkered flag. The win was his fourth since joining Joe Gibbs Racing this season.
"I don't even know what to say. Thank you, guys. This is unbelievable. Thank you so much," he said. "Great job. It was a team effort. You guys make me look so good every week. I couldn't be any happier and prouder to be a part of this."
Ratcliff said Kenseth's only chance to win was to gamble on pit strategy in an effort to get ahead of Johnson. With three wins already in the bag, it was the perfect opportunity to take a chance, he said.
"I knew if we could get Matt in position, he would make a good fight of it, and he did. ... I knew that was our only shot and we got it done today," Rafcliff said. "In the position we were in, we've had some success this season, we can take some shots like that."
Kenseth still questioned the call — until Johnson wrecked and he cruised to victory.
"Jason did a great job. I didn't think there was any way we were going to hold on for that win," Kenseth said. "He made the right call at the right time and those guys got it done on pit road."
The race was rained out Saturday night and forced teams to make major adjustments in switching from a night race to a noon Sunday start. Kyle Busch, who finished fifth after spinning early, said the changing track conditions "threw me for a huge loop. … It was really edgy to drive out there and challenging. "
Dale Earnhardt Jr. started on the pole, but he and Johnson both suffered damage to their cars early in the race from tire debris from Denny Hamlin's car.
Johnson took the lead from Earnhardt on Lap 43 and took control of the race from there. He held a big lead and appeared headed for his fourth victory of the season until Brian Vickers crashed, bringing out a caution flag with 26 laps remaining.
Kenseth then took no tires while Johnson took two on the final pit stops, giving Kenseth the lead and setting up Johnson's wreck.
The race got off to a bizarre start with Earnhardt Jr. and Johnson suffering damage to their cars when a piece of Hamlin's shredded tire flew off his car and they can over it.
While the damage to Johnson's car was minimal, Earnhardt had to pit for repairs and struggled for the rest of the race. He rallied to finish 12th after his team spent much of the day making repairs.
"We had a good car but we ran over some tire casing and knocked the front bumper off it," Earnhardt said. "The guys worked really hard to put it back the best they could but it was bent up really good. We just had to work really hard all day to fix all that stuff and keep up with the racetrack, too.
"We just got behind early. I'm happy with 12-place from all that out."
Kurt Busch then caused a big crash when he raced onto the apron of the track and his car shot up into Brad Keselowski's, causing Keselowski to spin and igniting a crash that also collected Greg Biffle.
Busch took the blame for the crash. "That didn't work out so good," Busch told his team over his radio. "The track just threw me back into him. That was all my fault."
The crash caused Keselowski, the defending Sprint Cup champion, to fall out of the top 10 in points. He slipped to 13th with nine races remaining for the Chase.
"I know he didn't intentionally wreck me but we all know the track has a really bad bump down there and there's no reason to go down there, but he did," he said.
"He's smarter than that. He knows better than that."
Denny Hamlin crashed again later in the race and had to be treated in the infield care center. Though there was concern that Hamlin might be seriously injured after missing four races earlier this year with a back injury, Hamlin walked out of the care center and said he was only banged up and had a headache that quickly subsided.
Hamlin finished 35th and is 25th in the standings with nine races left before the Chase. He must crack the top 20 in points and likely needs to win two races to earn a Chase wild card.
Johnson maintained the points lead and leads Carl Edwards, who finished 21st, by 38 points. Bowyer is 41 points back followed by Kevin Harvick, Kenseth, Earnhardt and Kyle Busch.
Kenseth, meanwhile, continues to be amazed by his good fortune since moving to Joe Gibbs Racing.
"I dreamed about it but I probably didn't imagine that it would be realistic," he said. "It's been incredible. We've had some moments that have tested us this season already but it's great to have four wins. Hopefully we can keep it going because it's been fun."


text:
Get an overview of this hotelSmoky Mountains lodge with trout stream by Gatlinburg
Popular property highlights
Near National Park
This Adirondack-style lodge is situated on 26 forested acres just 2 miles from Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Gatlinburg is 3 miles away; Dollyland and Dixie Stampede are both within 9 miles.
Regional cuisine
The Buckberry Lodge Restaurant serves regional cuisine and offers guests spectacular views of the Smoky Mountains. Continental breakfasts are complimentary, and a trout stream offers catch-and-release fishing.
Jetted soak tubs
Guest suites at The Lodge at Buckberry Creek have balconies or patios with forest and mountain views, kitchens, and bathrooms with jetted soak tubs. Amenities include designer sheets, TVs with HBO, CD and DVD players, and complimentary wireless high-speed Internet access.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!Opens in a new window
The Lodge at Buckberry Creek
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
This Adirondack-style Smoky Mountain lodge in Gatlinburg is situated on 26 forested acres and is within a 5-minute drive of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Dollywood and the Dixie Stampede are both within a 30-minute drive.
The fine-dining restaurant at The Lodge at Buckberry Creek specializes in regional cuisine and offers stunning views of Mount LeConte. Room service is available during restaurant hours. A complimentary continental breakfast is served daily and a cooked breakfast can be ordered at a surcharge. Coffee is available in the lobby. Free WiFi and 4 meeting rooms are available to guests. Laundry facilities, a fitness room, and free parking are also provided.
The lodge's hiking path follows a trout stream to a pavilion nestled in a small valley. The pavilion has a fireplace, fire pit, rocking chairs, picnic tables, and 2 outhouses with running water and crystal chandeliers.
- Total number of rooms - 40
- Number of floors - 3
- Coffee/tea in common areas
- Free breakfast
- Concierge services
- Conference space
- Fitness facilities
- Front desk (limited hours)
- Fireplace in lobby
- Gift shops or newsstand
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Laundry facilities
- Garden
- Terrace
- Picnic area
- Restaurant
- Free self parking
- Number of meeting rooms - 4
- Year Built 2004
- Number of buildings/towers - 3
- Wedding services
- Free WiFi
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Free self parking
Room Amenities
- Access via exterior corridors
- Balcony or patio
- Separate sitting area
- Air conditioning
- Phone
- Bathrobes
- Free bottled water
- Kitchen
- Private bathroom
- Free toiletries
- Rainfall showerhead
- Individually decorated
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Cable TV service
- Television
- Ceiling fan
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Coffee/tea maker
- Cookware, dishware, and utensils
- Designer toiletries
- DVD player
- Fireplace
- Free local calls
- Hair dryer
- Daily housekeeping
- Iron/ironing board
- Jetted bathtub
- In-room massage available
- Dishwasher
- Full-sized refrigerator/freezer
- Stovetop
- Microwave
- Premium bedding
- Premium TV channels
- Separate bathtub and shower
- Sofa bed
- Turndown service
- Room service (limited hours)
- Frette Italian sheets
- Sofa bed size
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
- Free WiFi
Where to Eat
The Lodge at Buckberry Creek serves a daily complimentary continental breakfast with pastries, bagels, cereals, fresh-cut fruit, coffee, juices, and tea. A cooked breakfast is also available at a surcharge.
Buckberry Lodge Restaurant - This fine dining venue serves innovative regional cuisine and offers Great Smoky Mountain views, including seasonal outdoor dining. Open for breakfast daily and dinner on a seasonal schedule. Box lunches are available with prior notice.
Room Service is available during restaurant hours.
Nearby Things to Do
The lodge is located in a national park. A hiking trail runs along a trout stream, a half-mile through the woods, to a large pavilion. Guests are welcome to fish in the stream on a catch-and-release basis. A fitness center is also available to guests
Numerous recreational activities are available in the surrounding area including trout fishing, zip lining, cave exploring, hiking, bird watching, horseback riding, river rafting, and helicopter tours. The front desk can help arrange tours and activities. There is also a ski area nearby.
The recreational activities listed below are available on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
- Downhill skiing nearby
- Snowboarding nearby
- Rafting nearby
- Mountain biking nearby
- Ski lessons available nearby
- Ski equipment rental shops nearby
- Fishing on site
- Hiking/biking trails on site
- Snow tubing nearby
- Cave exploring/spelunking nearby
- Ziplining nearby
If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
- Accessible bathroom
Hotel Policies
Minimum check-in age is 21
Check-in time starts at 4 PM
Special check-in instructions:
Check-out time is 11 AM
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Rollaway/extra beds are not available.
- Cribs (infant beds) are not available.
- Pets not allowed (service animals welcome)
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
Hotel Name
- Buckberry Creek
- Buckberry Creek Gatlinburg
- Buckberry Creek Lodge
- Buckberry Lodge
- Lodge Buckberry Creek
- Lodge Buckberry Creek Gatlinburg
- Hotel At Buckberry Creek
- At Buckberry Creek Gatlinburg
- The Lodge At Buckberry Creek Hotel Gatlinburg
We should mention
Reservations are required for massage services. Reservations can be made by contacting the hotel prior to arrival, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. Only registered guests are allowed in the guestrooms. The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation.


text:
Raising Goats T-Shirts are an Idakoos specialtiy! Idakoos has many things to offer. Whether you want to get a Raising Goats T-Shirt for a special occasion, give a Printed Raising Goats T-Shirt as a present or need to represent with a funny Raising Goats Tee during Holidays or Family and Friends get-togethers, Idakoos is sure to have the right Raising Goats T-Shirt for you! Even if it turns out you can't find the right Raising Goats Tshirt with the perfect design for your mother, father or children; Idakoos offers all of its men's women's and children's Raising Goats Tshirts as Custom Raising Goats T-Shirts. Personalize any Raising Goats T-Shirt the way you want to ensure the perfect gift.
Showing 1 - 24 of 45 T-Shirt


text:
- Home
- News
- Sports
- Opinion
- Obituaries
- Features
- Special Sections
- Classifieds
- Public Notices
SHEPHERDSVILLE - When students and staff return to Bullitt Lick Middle School on Monday, a new person will be leading the facility.
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the The Pioneer News, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
If you are new to the award winning The Pioneer News and wish to get a subscription or simply gain access to our online content then please enter your ZIP code below and continue to setup your account.
|ZIP Code:


text:
Mail: Southern statutes symbolize suppession
Mail: Thanks for helping Aiden
More opinion
Robertson and Delsing re-elected chair, vice chair of NWB
Goat Expo set first October weekend
More Ag News
A bill to abolish the death penalty faced a filibuster challenge in the Legislature Monday.
Sen. Beau McCoy of Omaha attempted to delay the bill from coming to a vote by separating it into three amendments, each requiring its own round of debate.
After eight hours of debate, the bill will be postponed indefinitely unless supporters can muster the 33 votes necessary to end debate and bring the bill itself to a vote.
McCoy said he would make the argument that the death penalty is necessary for some crimes.
I believe the individuals we currently have on death row belong there, he said.
Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha, who is against the death penalty, responded by filing a motion that would essentially kill the bill as a way of gauging support for it among senators. The parliamentary maneuver meant that those who voted for the motion were against the bill and those who voted against the motion favored repealing the death penalty.
That vote was 18 in favor of killing the bill and 26 against, short of the 33 votes necessary to overcome the filibuster.
Ashford expressed anger over the filibuster attempt.
Do you think we should have a final vote on Sen. Chambers bill? he asked McCoy.
This bill deserves a final vote, Ashford said. This strategy of stopping votes is ludicrous and it is contrary to the way we are.
Nebraska has executed three people since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the resumption of executions after a two-year moratorium. Eleven inmates are now on death row in the state.
Senators expressed their support or opposition to the death penalty using moral, religious, fiscal and statistical arguments.
Chambers said the death penalty is applied randomly, arbitrarily and there are no standards for applying it uniformly.
People who from a distance say they love the death penalty dont know what a grotesque ceremony it is, he said.
The debate brought up deep-seated feelings about the issue. Several senators acknowledged that minds, and therefore votes, would probably not be changed.
Sen. Lydia Brasch of Bancroft opposed the bill. She said as a person who is pro-life, she believes its the innocent who should be protected.
There should be just punishment of cold-blooded murders, Brasch said. The punishment does fit the crime.
Some senators had a different definition of being pro-life, including Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln, who said it should include those on death row.
Everyone of these lives deserves protection under the law, he said.
Among the bills supporters was Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha who said the death penalty was cruel and unusual punishment and thus unconstitutional.
Lathrop said repealing it would reflect the evolving standards of decency in our society.
We can continue to put money into a system that doesnt work, that will ultimately be unconstitutional, or we can stop that now, he said.
Flatrock Publishing, Inc.
1300 E 4th St., Suite F
North Platte, NE 69101


text:
Arnold J. Toynbee
Arnold Joseph Toynbee (April 14, 1889 – October 22, 1975) was a British historian and the nephew of Arnold Toynbee.
- Of the twenty or so civilizations known to modern Western historians, all except our own appear to be dead or moribund, and, when we diagnose each case, in extremis or post mortem, we invariably find that the cause of death has been either War or Class or some combination of the two. To date, these two plagues have been deadly enough, in partnership, to kill off nineteen out of twenty representatives of this recently evolved species of human society; but, up to now, the deadliness of these scourges has had a saving limit.
- Civilization on Trial (1948), chapter 2, p. 23.
- Now civilizations, I believe, come to birth and proceed to grow by successfully responding to successive challenges. They break down and go to pieces if and when a challenge confronts them which they fail to meet.
- Civilization on Trial (1948), chapter 4, p. 56.
- Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor.
- As quoted in Reader's Digest (October 1958).
- Variation: Civilization is a movement, not a condition. It is a voyage, not a harbor.
- As quoted in The Social Welfare Forum (1968) by the National Conference on Social Welfare.
- The human race's prospects of survival were considerably better when we were defenceless against tigers than they are today when we have become defenceless against ourselves.
- "Man and Hunger: The Perspectives of History" (Speech to the World Food Congress, January 9, 1963).
- The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.
- Statement of 1964, as quoted in Mindfulness edited by Ellen J. Langer, p. 133; also in Social Creativity Vol. 2 (1999) edited by Alfonso Montuori and Ronald E. Purser.
- We shall have to share out the fruits of technology among the whole of mankind. The notion that the direct and immediate producers of the fruits of technology have a proprietary right to these fruits will have to be forgotten. After all, who is the producer? Man is a social animal, and the immediate producer has been helped to produce by the whole structure of society, beginning with his own education.
- Surviving the Future (1971), Oxford University Press, 1972, p. 95.
- Compassion is the desire that moves the individual self to widen the scope of its self-concern to embrace the whole of the universal self.
- The Toynbee-Ikeda Dialogue: Man Himself Must Choose (1976).
- … the dogma that History is just "one damned thing after another...."
- "Law and Freedom in History," A Study of History, Vol. 2 (1957). The embedded quotation is attributable to Elbert Hubbard.
- Man's true end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever. [The source of this quotation (with "chief" in place of "true") is the Westminster Shorter Catechism, http://www.reformed.org/documents/wsc/index.html?_top=http://www.reformed.org/documents/WSC.html.]
- As quoted in Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY
The Trend of International Affairs Since the War (1931)[edit]
- Address to the 1931 Copenhagen conference as published in International Affairs : Journal of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (November 1931)
- If we are frank with ourselves, we shall admit that we are engaged on a deliberate and sustained and concentrated effort to impose limitations upon the sovereignty and independence of the fifty or sixty local sovereign independent States which at present partition the habitable surface of the earth and divide the political allegiance of mankind.
It is just because we are really attacking the principle of local sovereignty that we keep on protesting our loyalty to it so loudly. The harder we press our attack upon the idol, the more pains we take to keep its priests and devotees in a fool's paradise—lapped in a false sense of security which will inhibit them from taking up arms in their idol's defense. The local national state, invested with the attributes of sovereignty — is an abomination of desolation standing in the place where it ought not. It has stood in that place now — demanding and receiving human sacrifices from its poor deluded votaries — for four or five centuries. Our political task in our generation is to cast the abomination out, to cleanse the temple and to restore the worship of the divinity to whom the temple rightfully belongs. In plain terms, we have to re-transfer the prestige and the prerogatives of sovereignty from the fifty or sixty fragments of contemporary society to the whole of contemporary society — from the local national states by which sovereignty has been usurped, with disastrous consequences, for half a millennium, to some institution embodying our society as a whole.
In the world as it is today, this institution can hardly be a universal Church. It is more likely to be something like a League of Nations. I will not prophesy. I will merely repeat that we are at present working, discreetly but with all our might, to wrest this mysterious political force called sovereignty out of the clutches of the local national states of our world. And all the time we are denying with our lips what we are doing with our hands...
A Study of History (1934–1961)[edit]
- So-called racial characteristics are not really racial at all but are due to the historical experiences of the communities in question.
- The value of the goal lies in the goal itself; and therefore the goal cannot be attained unless it is pursued for its own sake.
- There is no such thing as gratitude in international politics.
- On this showing, the nature of the breakdowns of civilizations can be summed up in three points: a failure of creative power in the minority, an answering withdrawal of mimesis on the part of the majority, and a consequent loss of social unity in the society as a whole.
- Vol. 4 (1948), part B, p. 6.
Attributed to Toynbee[edit]
- The coming of Buddhism to the West may well prove to be the most important event of the Twentieth Century.
- Lama Surya Das, Awakening the Buddha Within, Broadway Books, NY, 1997.
About Toynbee[edit]
- Toynbee predicted: "At the close of this century, the world would be dominated by the West, but that in the 21st century 'India will conquer her conquerors.'"
- Swami Prabhavananda, The Spiritual Heritage of India: A Clear Summary of Indian Philosophy and Religion (1979).


text: Free Agent Hype Chronicles: Mario Williams By Bill Barnwell on February 29, 2012 2:30 PM ET Disclaimer: This article is part of my series on free agency from the perspective of the agent, where I prepare Scott Boras-esque "books" that detail where each player stands in the marketplace and why he deserves as much of your team's money as possible. Normally, my goal is to use statistics and historical context to present the most accurate depiction of football that I can, but in this series, all I want to do is convince you to spend money on the player in question. As a result, I may include information or suggest comparisons that I don't necessarily agree with, just as an agent might try to play up his clients' strengths. Keep that in mind when you're reading. (For more on this, check out the Monday piece on Mike Wallace that started this series, and Tuesday's article covering Matt Flynn.) Once every few years, a game-changing pass-rusher hits the market and inspires his team to hit new defensive heights. Reggie White. Kevin Greene. Julius Peppers. Mario Williams is the next player in that group of legendary acquisitions, a one-man wrecking crew who carried a dormant Texans unit on his back for five seasons. And while those players were acquired after they had passed their athletic primes, Williams just turned 27 in January; he's about to hit his athletic peak. As the most well-rounded and versatile lineman in this year's class, Mario Williams is the sort of player that can make a bad defense good, a good defense great, and a great defense legendary. His combination of proven performance, elite athleticism, and room to grow with age makes him the most valuable defensive player to ever hit unrestricted free agency. The Preeminent Young Pass-Rusher Mario Williams creates havoc in the offensive backfield to an extent that only the best defenders in football can match. Unfortunately, because he hasn't had the players around him to complement that rare pass rushing ability, his performances haven't received the sort of notoriety that more prominent players have gotten. The Texans finally put together a secondary to take advantage of Williams' rushing ability in 2011, but after five sacks in five games, Williams suffered his only major injury as a pro, a torn pectoral muscle that sidelined him for the remainder of the season. If we put Williams' performance in context by accounting for that season and the players around him, a masterful pass-rusher is revealed. What's first impressive about Williams is how successful he has been without the presence of a second significant pass-rusher to play alongside him. Other pass-rushers who have hit free agency in recent years have had dynamic rushers on the other side of the field to take the heat away. Ray Edwards had Jared Allen, and Allen had Tamba Hali. Robert Mathis had Dwight Freeney. There was not a player of any note to operate across from Williams before 2011, and teams keyed on that fact by doubling Williams on virtually every single play. Despite those double-teams, though, Williams was still able to sack the quarterback at a truly impressive rate. From 2006 through 2010, the Texans sacked opposing passers 143 times. Williams had 48 of those sacks, accounting for more than one of every three Texans sacks by himself. Over that time frame, only two players produced a higher percentage of their team's sacks than Williams did: PIECE OF THE TEAM SACKS PIE 2006-10 Player Sacks Team Sacks Percentage 1 DeMarcus Ware 72 207.5 34.7% 2 Robert Mathis 48.5 144 33.7% 3 Mario Williams 48 143 33.6% 4 Jared Allen 63 190 33.2% 5 John Abraham 49 154 31.8% 6 Tamba Hali 41.5 136 30.5% 7 Dwight Freeney 43 144 29.9% 8 Julius Peppers 48.5 162.5 29.8% 9 Aaron Kampman 44.5 172 25.9% 10 Trent Cole 52 206 25.2% Williams was the only Texans player during that five-year stretch to produce six or more sacks in a season, something he did in four consecutive years. Other teams knew that he was coming and that he was the only person they really needed to worry about, and they still couldn't stop him. That says a lot about Williams' ability to be "the man" on a defense, the guy to whom the unit turns when they need a big play. What's even more incredible is that Williams was doing all this at a remarkably young age. For a 25-year-old to average nearly 10 sacks per season over a five-year stretch is nearly unprecedented. In fact, since the NFL started tracking sacks in 1983, only two players have accrued more sacks by the time they turned 26 than Mario Williams: Derrick Thomas and Dwight Freeney. SACKS BY THE AGES Sacks by 26 Player Sacks 1 Derrick Thomas 58 2 Dwight Freeney 51 3 Mario Williams 48 4 Tim Harris 48 5 Terrell Suggs 45 6 Bruce Smith 44.5 7 Simeon Rice 44 8 Shawne Merriman 43.5 9 Jared Allen 43 10 Elvis Dumervil 43 If you want to give Williams credit for that sack-per-game pace and suggest that he would have finished a fully healthy 2011 season with 16 sacks, that would give him a total of 64 sacks through the completion of his age-26 season. The only player with more sacks than that through 26 would be Thomas, and even he would only be two ahead of Williams. Let's include that 2011 season in the analysis, because once you account for the lost time, Williams' production just becomes all that much more impressive. Over the past five years, Mario Williams has sacked opposing quarterbacks 48.5 times in just 66 games. That's an average of 0.73 sacks per game, or just under 12 sacks per full season. It's a figure that's also only been topped by two players. SACKING THE AVERAGE 2007-11 Player Team(s) Sacks per Game 1 DeMarcus Ware DAL 1.00 2 Jared Allen MIN/KC 0.99 3 Mario Williams HOU 0.73 4 James Harrison PIT 0.73 5 Trent Cole PHI 0.71 6 Osi Umenyiora NYG 0.71 7 Elvis Dumervil DEN 0.71 8 John Abraham ATL 0.70 9 LaMarr Woodley PIT 0.69 10 Dwight Freeney IND 0.66 Hitting His Peak Furthermore, whichever team signs Mario Williams as he heads into free agency for the first time can expect to get a player at the top of his game, because elite pass-rushers peak at ages 26-28 before beginning a decline that becomes steep in their 30s. To test this, we took the top 50 pass-rushers (by career sacks) since the NFL started tracking the statistic and measured how many sacks they accrued per game at each age. (We assigned each season to a particular age by noting their birth date as of the opening game of the season.) [chart] Based on how those sack artists performed historically, they peaked at age 27 by sacking quarterbacks 0.71 times per game. Remember from the previous table that Williams has been sacking opposing quarterbacks at a slightly higher rate - 0.73 times per game - over the past five seasons, when he was 22-26. These dominant pass-rushers put up a roughly similar performance at ages 26 and 28 before beginning to decline thereafter. The real dropoff comes at age 32, when the top 50 pass-rushers average 0.53 sacks per game and never again approach an average above that half-sack-per-game figure. You'll note that the market's two other prominent defensive ends are 31-year-old Robert Mathis and 33-year-old John Abraham. Each of those players have likely already played his best football. Your team can lock up Mario Williams on a five-year deal and actually see him play out the entire contract before he can be expected to suffer any sort of serious decline. Conclusion Mario Williams can do a lot of things. He can play as a defensive end in a 4-3. He can move to outside linebacker in a 3-4. He can play the run effectively. He can bounce to either side of the line. What your organization is going to pay Mario Williams to do, though, is rush the passer and create big plays for your defense. And when you put the numbers in their proper context, the only player in football who compares to Mario Williams as a young pass-rusher forced to go it alone is DeMarcus Ware. Other teams will get a veteran and hope that he hasn't lost it. Only one will get the sure thing, a superstar in the prime of his career. To be quite honest, Mario Williams shouldn't be a free agent. The Houston Texans failing to negotiate a contract extension with Williams before his deal expired will go down as one of the great mistakes in league history, like the Eagles failing to lock up Reggie White, or the Falcons letting Deion Sanders go. Their inability to lock up Williams with the franchise tag is going to be a franchise-defining moment for two teams: the Texans and whatever team is lucky enough to add the most valuable defender in the history of free agency to their roster. read more: http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/18601/free-agent-hype-chronicles-mario-williams


text:
BitNami Cloud Hosting provides one click deployment and simplified management of a library of over 30 of the best open source and other applications on Amazon EC2. BitNami Cloud Hosting offers:
- 1-Click Application Deployment: Launch servers with one or more applications or development stacks from the BitNami library in one click. Currently available applications include: SugarCRM, Alfresco, JasperServer, Drupal, Wordpress, Liferay, Magento, Joomla!, Ruby on Rails, Django, Java, LAMP and many others. View a complete list at: http://bitnami.org/cloud/apps
- Automatic Backups and One Click Server Restores: BitNami Cloud Hosting offers automated backups that can be scheduled to occur hourly, daily or weekly. Backups and not just for the application data, but the whole machine, so configuration and other data is also preserved. This allows for entire servers to be restored in one click. Backups are incremental, which keeps costs low while ensuring that servers can be restored from any point in time.
- Server Scaling: Change the size of a server as needed with the click of a button.
- Server Scheduling: Set a schedule for servers to automatically start and stop, reducing computing costs.
- Automatic Monitoring: BitNami Cloud Hosting provides automatic monitoring out of the box.
- Multi-Account Management: The BitNami Cloud Hosting control panel enables you to manage applications deployed across several cloud accounts.
- Server Cloning: Clone servers in one click across AWS accounts and availability zones.
- Free Developer Tier: Like AWS, BitNami Cloud Hosting allows you to manage one micro instance free of charge! Although Amazon's free tier is limited to one year, BitNami's free tier does not have a term limit.


text:
Current Highlights on Broadway
Find a show or venue
Order by phone
Your independent guide to the best shows in New York
340 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10019
Ended 1 Apr 2011 after -48 days
JUMP is the most fun I have had in a theater in ages!
Time Out NY
|(0.0 Stars):
|Number of Reviews: 0
Printer friendly format
Please note: The term Stage 4 New World Stages as well as all associated graphics, logos, and/or other tradermarks, tradenames or copyrights are the property of the Stage 4 New World Stages and are used herein for factual descriptive purposes only. We are in no way associated with or authorized by the Stage 4 New World Stages and neither that entity nor any of its affiliates have licensed or endorsed us to sell tickets, goods and or services in conjunction with their events.


text:
Razer Edge Tablet
It's been quite a week for gaming hardware at CES — CNET crowned Razer's CES-launched Edge PC gaming tablet ($1,000) with their 2013 Best of Show prize today. NVIDIA earlier unveiled its handheld high-definition console Project Shield, and the Razer Edge game streaming device works in the same vein, but in tablet form.
This hardcore-gaming-PC-meets-Windows-8 tablet runs on an Intel i5 (or i7 for the Pro version) ($1,300) and NVIDIA GeForce graphics, so it promises to deliver high-performance tech in a portable handheld package. While the tablet itself is on par with most Windows 8 ultrabook-tablet convertibles, the Razer Edge's accessories are truly unique and certainly re-create — if not enhance — the full-console gaming experience.
We saw the Razer Edge in action at CES, and think the device adds "best of console" to the "best of tablet/PC" laptop-tablet hybrids also on display at the show. Get a glimpse of the Razer Edge from every angle, and take a peek at the handheld system's many accessories.