text:
China said that domestic politics had driven US and Mexican complaints about its tax regime, and a World Trade Organization investigation would find Beijing's policies already met global rules.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) launched a panel to investigate China's tax regime. Mexico and Washington have argued that tax refunds, reductions and exemptions discriminate against imported products, or subsidize Chinese exports.
Beijing robustly rejected the allegations. "The two parties that brought the complaints have seriously misunderstood the relevant policies, and have ignored progress and realization of reform to the Chinese economic system," the Commerce Ministry said in a statement.
Once a new tax law had been fully implemented, China's policies would fully comply with WTO rules, it added.
Although China eliminated one subsidy program challenged by Mexico and the United States, it also passed a revised income tax law that the two say appears to give new unfair subsidies.
The Commerce Ministry said the Mexican and US complaint was aimed at domestic audiences, and politicians there hoped to attribute China's independent progress in reforming its tax policies to the case they had brought.
Chinese trade is a highly sensitive issue in the United States, where many lawmakers blame Beijing's state subsidies and exchange rate policies for the huge US trade deficit with the fast-growing Asian exporter. (Reuters)


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Mini Pail of Love
|LeNae Gerig
Get all the major supplies needed to make this project with the Mini Pail of Love Bundle or you can order them separately.
Mini Pail of Love
By LeNae Gerig
Click to Enlarge
Click to Enlarge
LeNae's Tip: When applying the glitter ribbon to the paper strip, peel small amounts of the ribbon at a time while adhering along the paper. This will help prevent tangling and the ribbon sticking together.
- Mini Pail
- Little Prints & Patterns
- Silver Heart Dazzles™
- Hugs & Kisses Glitter Ribbon
- Cardmaker's Citrus Ribbons
- StazOn Ink Pad, Jet Black
- Penstix Permanent Markers
- All 3 Round Punches
- White cardstock
- Ink both long edges of a 2 1/2x 13 1/2 long strip of the aqua blue cherry paper. Adhere a length of the glitter ribbon to the center of the strip. Glue the strip around the pail sides with the ends overlapping at the back.
- Adhere small hearts and swirls Dazzles to the pail sides above the paper strip. Glue a 3 wide circle of pink dot paper to the lid. Line a large silver heart Dazzle with white cardstock and glue to the center of the circle.
- Tie dark pink gingham and aqua blue ribbon lengths to both sides of the ribbon handle. Adhere a small heart Dazzle to the small red tag and write I (heart) you. Punch a 1/8 circle at the top of the tag and thread with an aqua ribbon length and tie to the base of the handle.

subset: commoncrawl


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A quirky online lost-and-found has an Ottawa Jazz Festival employee discovering something he wasn't even looking for.
Aiming to have a little fun with the annual effort to reunite festival-goers with their lost stuff, box office co-ordinator Julian Selody posed with each forlorn item for pictures posted on the festival's Facebook page — the brainstorm of colleague Amanda Stanley who'd seen him mugging with them.
Selody — his hair a cloud of carrot top on which a string of baby hats can merely perch — poses with a purse slung over his shoulder, models a silver ring, vamps in sunglasses and vogues with a pair of cycling gloves.
"Didn't lose anything but I'll totally take the model," posted one new fan amid a spate of likes and shares.
The bottom line: "cute and clever" and the "best lost and found ever!"
"A little weird for me but it's hilarious," said 22-year-old Selody, a musician and coordinator of the festival box office — which handled attendance of over 300,000 — and describes his look as "I don't try too hard in the morning."
He hasn't landed any other modeling gigs, yet. But he's had festival fans continuing to tune in online for a glimpse of behind-the-scenes fun.
It's even working to get fans their stuff back.
"One of the guys was making jokes on Facebook then he went though the pictures and one of the things was actually his," Selody said. "He didn't even know it was lost – he was just looking through it because it was funny."
Twitter: @ottawasun_megan


text: > everyone who tried bash would have noticed, that our setup is > incomplete, we need to setup a further translator and two links. > > hurd# cd servers/socket > hurd# settrans -c inet /hurd/pfinet > hurd# ln -s local 1 > hurd# ln -s inet 2 > > Dunno why, but it's necessary, or you get "pipe error: Protocol family not > supported". That is due to /servers/socket/1 not existing. inet and 2 having nothing to do with it. You need `settrans -c /servers/socket/local /hurd/pflocal' and `ln -s local 1' or thereabouts. The names `local' and `inet' are just for humans, so all that's really required is `settrans -c /servers/socket/1 /hurd/pflocal'. The code looks up /servers/socket/N where N is the decimal PF_* number (1 is PF_LOCAL, 2 is PF_INET).


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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — UAB school officials say former UCLA, UAB coach Gene Bartow has died. He was 81.
Spokesman Norm Reilly says Bartow died Tuesday evening at his home after a nearly 2-year battle with stomach cancer.
Bartow succeeded John Wooden as UCLA's coach in 1976 and led the Bruins to the Final Four. He left two after two seasons to start Alabama-Birmingham's program. He was UAB's coach from 1978-96 before handing the reins to his son.
He won 647 games over 34 seasons. He coached Memphis State from 1970-74 and guided the school to the 1973 national championship game, where the Tigers lost to a UCLA team coached by Wooden.
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


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Contact Us
About CLDF
Centers of Educational Expertise
Slide Library
Abstract Library
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HBV | Abstract Library
The summaries are free for public use. The Chronic Liver Disease Foundation will continue to add and archive summaries of articles deemed relevant to CLDF by the Board of Trustees and its Advisors.
Abstract Details
Risk estimation for hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic hepatitis B (REACH-B): development and validation of a predictive score
Yang HI, Yuen MF, Chan HL, Han KH, Chen PJ, Kim DY, Ahn SH, Chen CJ, Wong VW, Seto WK; for the REACH-B Working Group. Lancet Oncol. 2011 Apr 14. [Epub ahead of print]
BACKGROUND: Therapy for chronic hepatitis B reduces the risk of progressing to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, there is no suitable and accurate means to assess risk. This study aimed to develop and validate a simple scoring system to predict HCC risk in patients with chronic hepatitis B.
METHODS: The development cohort consisted of 3584 patients without cirrhosis from the community-based Taiwanese REVEAL-HBV study (of whom 131 developed HCC during follow-up), and a validation cohort of 1505 patients from three hospitals in Hong Kong and South Korea (of whom 111 developed HCC during follow-up). We used Cox multivariate proportional hazards model to predict risk of HCC at 3, 5, and 10 years. Variables included in the risk score were sex, age, serum alanine aminotransferase concentration, HBeAg status, and serum HBV DNA level. We calculated the area under receiver operating curve (AUROC) and calibration of predicted and observed HCC risk.
FINDINGS: A 17-point risk score was developed, with HCC risk ranging from 0•0% to 23•6% at 3 years, 0•0% to 47•4% at 5 years, and 0•0% to 81•6% at 10 years for patients with the lowest and highest HCC risk, respectively. AUROCs to predict risk were 0•811 (95% CI 0•790-0•831) at 3 years, 0•796 (0•775-0•816) at 5 years, and 0•769 (0•747-0•790) at 10 years in the validation cohort, and 0•902 (0•884-0•918), 0•783 (0•759-0•806), and 0•806 (0•783-0•828), respectively, after exclusion of 277 patients in the validation cohort with cirrhosis. Predicted risk was well calibrated with Kaplan-Meier observed HCC risk.
INTERPRETATION: A simple-to-use risk score that uses baseline clinical variables was developed and validated. The score accurately estimates the risk of developing HCC at 3, 5, and 10 years in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Clinicians can use this score to assess risk of HCC in patients with chronic hepatitis B and subsequently make evidence-based decisions about their clinical management.
FUNDING: The Academia Sinica; the National Health Research Institute, Taiwan; and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
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Content Curation – The next wave of B2B marketing?
Posted in Uncategorized By Content Curation Marketing On November 15, 2010
For those following B2B marketing trends, "curation" is the latest wave to hit the industry. Flipboard and Paper.li are two of the hottest properties in consumer media today – they have taken social news curation to a new level. Can this trend be extended to B2B marketing? Judging by the number of vendors jumping on the bandwagon – absolutely.
Read original article at Handguns & Tequila…


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Brisbane suburbs under water as flood level reaches peak
The deadly floods that have left a trail of devastation across Queensland reached Australia's third-biggest city last night, spreading slowly like an ink stain through the streets, then faster and faster as the tide rose.
Within hours, 35 Brisbane suburbs were under water as the Brisbane River, swollen with discharges from the overloaded Wivenhoe Dam surged into Queensland's capital.For days, residents had been preparing for the worst floods in decades after the huge inland tsunami that devastated towns and killed more than a dozen people in Brisbane's hinterland earlier in the week.
At 4am local time, the river reached its peak of 4.45m (nearly 15ft), a metre less than predicted and lower than the level of the 1974 floods that killed 14 people and left…


text: English shrub rose Rosa 'Graham Thomas' http://www.whiteflowerfarm.comPhoto/Illustration: Courtesy of White Flower Farm 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 English shrub rose (Rosa 'Graham Thomas') ROE-sah Genus: Rosa This notable rose has quartered-rosette, double blossoms of rich yellow. It produces arching stems to 5 feet or more, making it an ideal candidate for training up a low structure. Noteworthy Characteristics: Most English shrub roses bloom from spring to fall, with large, single to double, mostly fragrant flowers. They make ideal companions in mixed borders, in hedges, or as specimens. Care: Grow in fertile, moist, well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade. Provide good air circulation and remove fallen leaves to help prevent disease. Prune lightly or back by up to 1/3, reducing side shoots by 1/2 to 1/3. To renovate, prune one in four or five shoots from the base. Propagation: Take softwood cuttings when bloom initiates in spring to summer; take hardwood cuttings in fall. Problems: Aphids, leafhoppers, spider mites, scale, caterpillars, sawfly larvae, cane borers, Japanese beetles, rose stem girders, rose midges, rose slugs, rose chafers, leaf-cutting bees, black spot, rust, powdery mildew, crown gall, canker, dieback, downy mildew, viruses. Overview Height 3 ft. to 6 ft. Spread 1 ft. to 3 ft. Growth Habit Clumps Growth Pace Moderate Grower Light Full Sun to Part Shade Moisture Medium Moisture Maintenance Moderate Characteristics Attracts Butterflies, Fragrant Flowers, Showy Flowers, Showy Fruit Bloom Time Fall, Spring, Summer Flower Color Primrose Yellow Uses Beds and Borders, Cut Flower, Hedge, Specimen Plant/Focal Point, Trellis Style Cottage Garden, Formal Garden Seasonal Interest Spring Interest Type Shrubs Related Plants to Rosa 'Graham Thomas' 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 English shrub rose Rosa 'Gertrude Jekyll' 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 English shrub rose Rosa 'Redcoat' 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Hybrid musk rose Rosa 'Buff Beauty' 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Climbing large-flowered rose Rosa 'Mermaid' View the discussion thread.


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Açaí Lychee Sweet lychee juice, Cedilla Açaí Liqueur, and fresh limes complement the cachaça in this Skybar cocktail. Shore Club Hotel, 1901 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, 305-695-3100; shoreclub.com
Açaí Caipirinha Practically brimming with antioxidants (and flavor), Sushi Samba's Açai Caipirinha is made with Cedilla Açaí Liqueur and fresh limes. 600 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, 305-673-5337; sushisamba.com
Blood Orange Caipirinha This ruby red libation is made with blood orange purée and fresh limes. Try it out at Prime 112. 112 Ocean Dr., Miami Beach, 305-532-8112
Sunset Passion Served at the Mondrian South Beach, this crushed ice cooler is packed with passion fruit purée, fresh lime, and simple syrup. 110 West Ave., Miami Beach, 305-514-1500; mondrian-miami.com
Fruit-Focused Caipirinhas Donning fresh limes, farm fresh fruits, and sugar, these beauties are available at Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill. 3252 N.E. 1st Ave., Miami, 786-369-0353; sugarcanerawbargrill.com
All cocktails made with Leblon Cachaça


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Werewolf Training
Taylor Lautner workout during Werewolf Training
Taylor Lautner workout
is illustrious for his six pack abs as he worked very hard to make the strong six pack abs in his 9 months
Werewolf Training
. When he was working for the first and second Twilight films, his character propagate into a dominant werewolf as Jacob turns himself to wild werewolf. Heroic versions of classic instances, new Battlegrounds, a Guild Leveling System complete with achievements, a new character progression path and much more treated and taught in Werewolf Training. Taylor Lautner taught for nine months and Taylor Lautner workout, hardly before New Moon was on its start, though his six pack abs can be credited to much more to his martial arts training of years than just this exercise, he was get trained by the Jordan Yuam. He says there is something fundamentally very different about to describe the secrets of the Taylor Lautner workout. Consider for a moment, is it really possible to get the six pack abs in just months, isn't is surprising and astonishing? But Taylor Lautner workout a lot in his Werewolf Training and Lautner's abs can be credited to his experience in the martial arts. Taylor Lautner workout leads and builds strength at fear-provoking momentum to him and maximizes inherent potential.
And it is recommended for almost all guys who dreamt to get the body like Taylor Lautner need to improve their physical conditioning as for Taylor it was easily possible because of his background in martial arts and his background in martial arts has been proved as boon to him at the time of the beginning of the New Moon and second twilight when director refused to select Taylor for this role just simply saying he is not that much suitable for the role of Jacob as they need someone with strong physical appearance and Taylor does not have this strength and physical level. And finally they selected him just because his martial art was proven helpful in Werewolf Training as well. Taylor Lautner is not a very hefty person at all, and this is productive. The amount of weight he put on his body was the normal amount of strength he was suppose to have and this could be possible through his martial arts training and 9 months Werewolf Training. Lautner trained for nine months in Werewolf Training institute before signing the New Moon and Twilight, when these were about to start his martial art training helped him a lot, then anyone can expect and though his six pack abs can be credited to much more than just
Taylor Lautner workout
. Lautner was easily able to gain the muscle accumulation that his body was ready to hold and easily able to gain mass when Taylor Lautner workout during the training period of Werewolf Training. If you want to gain muscles like him start regular exercise with proper diet control.
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text:
Hillary Clinton Super Bowl Tweet Pokes Fun at Fox
Hillary Clinton set the internet ablaze with a joking tweet posted during the Super Bowl on Sunday night.
The former United States Secretary of State issued a message to Fox during the NFL match between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 2.
"It's so much more fun to watch FOX when it's someone else being blitzed & sacked! #SuperBowl," Clinton posted to Twitter.
The tweet went on to get over 50,000 retweets and was "favorite" by almost 40,000 Twitter users. Later on, Clinton's secretary Nick Merrill confirmed that the former First Lady's message was all in good fun.
"It was good-natured, light-hearted, and self-deprecating," Merrill told USA Today.
The message had been scrutinized since Clinton is often a topic of conversation on Fox-- she may be running for president during the 2016 presidential election.
Moreover, the jocular tweet followed just hours behind President Obama's interview with Fox News host Bill O'Reilly over issues such as the health care law and the Internal Revenue Service. At one point during the heated discussion, Obama told the conservative host that IRS officials are targeted over "bone-headed decisions" and "not even a smidgen" of corruption.
"These kinds of things keep on surfacing in part because you and your TV station will promote them," the President said.
As for his push for Obamacare, the president explained that he wants to create new opportunities for Americans in the middle class and those below that line.
"What we have to do is, is make sure that-- here in America, if you work hard you can get ahead," he said during the live interview on Fox.
On a different note, Obama made prediction about the Super Bowl during the pre-game interview.
"These guys are too evenly matched," Obama said. "I think it is going to be a 24-21, but I don't know who's going to be 24."
The Super Bowl actually saw a huge win from the Seattle Seahawks 43-8.


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By Laura Baziuk
OTTAWA — A Conservative MP from rural Manitoba who fought against the long-gun registry is leading a panel to help select new judges for the Supreme Court of Canada — but she's unlikely to be in a position to stack the court with judges cut from her cloth, say experts.
Candice Hoeppner (Portage–Lisgar) was elected chair last week of the parliamentary panel tasked with narrowing down a list of contenders to fill two vacancies on the nine-member court. Other members include Tory MPs Bob Dechert (Mississauga-Erindale) and Brent Rathgeber (Edmonton-St. Albert), Liberal and former federal justice minister Irwin Cotler, and New Democrat Joe Comartin.Ms. Hoeppner is widely known for her strong stance against the gun registry — a divisive issue across the country. The Harper government has said it will scrap the registry this fall. So one political scientist said he won't be surprised if critics start worrying she might look for a right-wing candidate.
"It will draw out political teeth, if I can use that expression, from opponents of the Harper government because they'll see something nefarious here, because (they might think) Ms. Hoeppner will shop around for someone who's pro-gun," said Nelson Wiseman, political scientist at the University of Toronto. "I think that's overblown, way overblown, because of all the gatekeeping functions that go on through here."
Justices Ian Binnie and Louise Charron are retiring from the bench, and two replacements must be selected from Ontario.
The five-member selection panel Ms. Hoeppner chairs will review a list of contenders compiled by federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson with input from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and a host of other legal officials, groups and the public.
The committee must then whittle that list down to six candidates — three recommendations for each vacancy — after confidentially reviewing resumes, consulting with legal authorities and deliberating among themselves.
The prime minister and justice minister will then select two finalists from the panel's six. Those two nominees will go before a public hearing of an ad hoc parliamentary committee.
The system was first set up in 2006 to appoint a successor to then-justice John Major, resulting in the appointment of Justice Marshall Rothstein. Prior to that, new Supreme Court appointees were simply hand-picked by the prime minister and justice minister.
"There's far more openness and diversity of voices in the appointments process now then there has been historically in the past," said Adam Dodek, law professor at the University of Ottawa who teaches a seminar specifically on the Supreme Court of Canada.
"I think Ms. Hoeppner has very different views than former attorney general Irwin Cotler and Co.," Prof. Dodek said. "I think that's to be expected and I think that's to be welcome."
Mr. Comartin, who regularly locked horns with Ms. Hoeppner over the long-gun registry, said he is not concerned by Ms. Hoeppner's appointment to this panel because she is "independent and fair."
"I actually was relieved, because I can think of a number of other people from that caucus that I would have had serious concerns about, had they been on the committee, in terms of working collegially and coming up with unanimous recommendations we would be making to the minister," Mr. Comartin said. "She's not part of that group."
He said her appointment likely signals that the Conservatives want to keep boosting her profile, likely because they were happy with how she handled the long-gun file.
"I think there's this perception that she's very, very partisan, as she was on the gun registry," Mr. Comartin said. "But when she's playing the role of the chair — and I think most media people haven't seen her in that role — she plays it appropriately."
A spokesperson for Ms. Hoeppner, also parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Public Works, said the MP could not comment for this story. Mr. Cotler also declined comment.
Prof. Dodek said Mr. Harper's past appointments, first Justice Rothstein and then Thomas Cromwell in 2008, were "widely applauded."
Still, Peter McCormick argued the courts can be stacked toward a particular political viewpoint. The political scientist from the University of Lethbridge said a judge's stance on war, on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and on other public policy issues certainly can be pinned down.
But he pointed out that the "gatekeeping" measures in place, such as the five-member panel and rounds of consultations, make the appointment process "quite commendable."
Ms. Hoeppner does come to the table with certain values and priorities, Mr. McCormick said, as does everyone else.
Whatever the decision, Prof. Dodek said, two new judges on a nine-member bench will change the way the court interprets the law.
"They're going to have an impact. They will likely be on the court for the next 10 to 25 years," he said. "They will change the fact and the makeup of the court."
The court is scheduled to release judgements on several high-profile cases this fall, including one on a national securities regulator and another on Vancouver's safe-injection site. A British Columbia challenge on the rights of sex-trade workers is set to be heard in early 2012.


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Yep, it's Saturday and the {what's shakin'} link party is up a day later than usual. But for a great reason … did you see all the fun stuff posted this week?! I've got a little inside information that this holiday season is going to be SO amazing here at shaken together!
Here is a quick run down just in case you missed anything this week:
Fabulous Fall DIY Projects ~ Featuring YOU!! :: Easy Kitchen Art & Icon Wall Stickers GIVEAWAY!!
Key Lime Butter Grilled Grouper :: Skinny Eggnog :: Cheesy French Onion Soup Bread
Now, enough about me, let's get this link party started!
Here is the plan:
- Link up your latest and greatest recipes, projects, crafts, giveaways, tutorials, tips & tricks, parties you hosted, DIY, makeovers, upcycles … basically anything other than your blog's main page, other link parties or businesses.
- By linking up, you give me permission to share your amazing work via social media and here on shaken together. Features may include one photo and a direct link back to your awesome post.
- We all gush, pin, stumble, share and marvel at your awesomeness! And please remember to pin your favorite things from the original source – click on the individual project, recipe or idea linked up to head over and visit!
- Party faves and fantastic features go up over the weekend in a feature post on Sunday and shared on Facebook on Saturday – that is two big opportunities to be featured!


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Uwe Meierhenrich
This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (February 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Uwe Meierhenrich (born 23 October 1967 in Detmold) is a German Physico-Chemist. He is professor for Analytical and Physical Chemistry and teaches at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in France.
Academic Life[edit]
Meierhenrich arose in a family of teachers and professors. He studied chemistry at the Philipps-University Marburg and obtained a Ph.D. degree in Physical Chemistry at the University of Bremen by Thiemann. Meierhenrich became Post-doc at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau and at the French Synchrotron Center LURE. In 2003 Meierhenrich obtained the habilitation with the academic publication The Origin of Biomolecular Asymmetry at the University of Bremen. In 2005 he became professor at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in France. In order to honour his work on chirality the Horst-Pracejus-Prize of the GDCh was given to Meierhenrich in 2011.
Academic Achievements[edit]
Meierhenrich's name is connected with the identification of amino acids in space. In preparation of the cometary Rosetta-Mission of ESA the so-called interstellar ice was simulated in the laboratory, in which 16 amino acids were identified. Further experiments at the French Soleil (synchrotron) let assume that life's homochirality also originated under interstellar conditions.
- Munoz Caro, Meierhenrich et al.: Amino acids from ultraviolet irradiation of interstellar ice analogues, Nature 416, S. 403 - 406, 2002. doi:10.1038/416403a
- Meierhenrich et al.: Identification of diamino acids in the Murchison meteorite, PNAS, 101, S. 9182 - 9186, 2004. doi:10.1073/pnas.0403043101
- Meierhenrich et al.: Asymmetric vacuum UV photolysis of the amino acid leucine in the solid state, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 44, S. 5630 - 5634, 2005. doi:10.1002/anie.200501311
- Meierhenrich: Amino acids and the asymmetry of life, Springer-Verlag, 2008. ISBN 978-3-540-76885-2
- Meierhenrich, Uwe (2014). Comets and Their Origin. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. ISBN 978-3-527-41281-5.
External links[edit]
- Homepage of Prof. Dr. Uwe Meierhenrich at the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis
- BBC News März 2002
- New Scientist 2002
- CNRS press release 2002


text:
Fordham Prep's mission going into Sunday's CHSFL Class AA semifinal against St. Joseph by the Sea was a simple one: Go out and win the final game at Coffey Field and send the seniors out with a bang.
Mission accomplished.
Led by juniors James Drago and Logan Williamson, the Rams defeated the Vikings, 28-8, to advance to the title game for the first time since 2006. Fordham Prep will take on Kellenberg in the final Saturday at Mitchel Athletic Complex.
The Firebirds defeated Holy Trinity in the other semifinal.
"It felt really good to score and help my team," said Williamson, who had three touchdowns. "I was set up well by guys like Drago. We played awesome. Our defense shut them down and held them to only one touchdown. They definitely won it for us."
With 2:41 left in the first half, Williamson put Fordham Prep (5-5) in front 7-0 on a 5-yard touchdown run.
The score remained that way until early in the third quarter when Williamson scored on a 1-yard burst set up by a 31-yard pass from James McHale to Ben Andreycak to increase the Rams lead to 14-0 with 10:18 left in the third.
St. Joseph by the Sea (2-8) responded as John Diaz scored on a 12-yard touchdown run and added the 2-point conversion to cut the Vikings deficit to 14-8 with 4:01 left in the third.
"Their defense really played their hearts out," said Diaz, who had 34 carries for 133 yards. "We missed a lot of opportunities, a lot of missed blocks. I'm disappointed that we lost, but I'm happy that as a senior we were able to at least make it this far."
Added Sea coach Rich Clark: "Fordham's a good football team. My guys didn't come out ready to play. There's a low margin for error in these types of games, and we made too many mistakes in this one. We tried hard and definitely belonged here. I wish it could've ended differently."
With 25 seconds left in the third, McHale connected with Williamson on a 9-yard touchdown, sending the Rams into the fourth quarter with a 21-8 lead.
Drago, who had 23 carries for 118 yards, capped the scoring with a 21-yard touchdown with 52 seconds left in what Rams coach Pete Gorynski called his team's "most complete game of the year."
"We played our most complete game of the year today," Gorynski said. "Our defense did a great job. We had no turnovers and our juniors are really emerging as great players. Our game plan is to stop [Kellenberg quarterback Matt] McDaniels, who is a tremendous athlete and who hurt us last time we faced them. We will watch videos and prepare/practice all week."


text:
precisions :
<action name="RequestMenu" path="/RequestMenu"
scope="request" type="web.actions.RequestMenuAction">
<forward name="success" path="/pages/GenerateMenu.jsp"/>
<forward name="fail" path="/pages/ErrorPage.jsp"/>
If I type /RequestMenu.do in the IExplorer Address Bar Struts correctly call the RequestMenuAction (it works).
But if I want the view associated with this action to be in a FRAME I do like this :
<FRAMESET rows="170,*">
<FRAME NAME="banniere" SRC="about:blank">
<FRAME NAME="sommaire" SRC="/RequestMenu.do">
<FRAME NAME="principal" SRC="about:blank">
But Struts does not understand the request and my app Server (Tomcat) show an unavailable ressource error for "/RequestMenu.do" (.do!? shouldn't be viewed by tomcat?). The Struts servlet seems not to intercept the request.
Please help
Struts Request Pb (3 messages)
- Posted by: eric chavet
- Posted on: June 19 2003 10:55 EDT
Threaded Messages (3)
- re: Struts Request Pb by Tim Dwelle on June 19 2003 12:53 EDT
- something strange ! by eric chavet on June 20 2003 06:26 EDT
- something strange ! by Tim Dwelle on June 20 2003 01:15 EDT
- something strange ! by eric chavet on June 20 2003 06:26 EDT
re: Struts Request Pb[ Go to top ]
Just a thought...
- Posted by: Tim Dwelle
- Posted on: June 19 2003 12:53 EDT
- in response to eric chavet
Remember that /RequestMenu in the struts-config.xml is relative to your web application root.
In the frameset, the /RequestMenu.do is relative to the server root.
So, if your web application root is
the struts-config is setting up
while the frameset is requesting
something strange ![ Go to top ]
thanks a lot, it works, but this means I have to write full path to the resource at each time ?
- Posted by: eric chavet
- Posted on: June 20 2003 06:26 EDT
- in response to Tim Dwelle
There's something I don't understand (it's the same for any resource images/jsp...) :
my login.jsp page is located in /webApp/pages/login.jsp
my images are in /webApp/pages/images/.
in login.jsp
 works fine whereas
in RequestMenuView.jsp (it's the "RequestMenu.do" action's view) that is also located in /webApp/pages
if I write  it doesn't work. I have to write "/webApp/pages/images/APicture.gif"
The only difference is that RequestMenuView.jsp is forwarded from a struts action. So does it mean I have to write different paths in case I am in a struts'view or not ? Perhaps my struts config is bad ? Do I have to set the struts document root ? I'm a little lost !
something strange ![ Go to top ]
Normally, a relative link to an image, file, whatever resolves based on the original URL of the request. That's why if you directly access "/webApp/pages/login.jsp" you get "/webApp/pages/images/APicture.gif".
- Posted by: Tim Dwelle
- Posted on: June 20 2003 13:15 EDT
- in response to eric chavet
However... remember in Struts, your original request is made to the front controller servlet (eg. "something.do"). The front controller maps that request to an Action... and based on the result of the action, forwards onto the appropriate JSP view.
So since our original request URL was "/webApp/RequestMenu.do", the image link will actually resolve to "/webapp/images/APicture.gif".
That said, there is an easy solution. The HTML spec provides a <base /> tag which tells the browser "all relative URLs resolve to this specified base URL, instead of the URL of the original request". Struts provides an  tag in its HTML tag library. This will produce an HTML base tag that uses the URL of the JSP you forwarded to.
You can consult the Struts documentation on  for more details. But if you put that in your HTML ... that should fix all your relative links.


text:
Geneva (AFP) Nov 4, 2010
The UN's rights chief criticised the Iraqi government on Thursday for failing to protect religious communities, following a recent wave of violence targeting Christian and Shiite populations.
"I believe much more could be done to protect groups which are clearly targets and who are particularly vulnerable," said Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Forty-six people including two priests were killed in a massacre at a Catholic church in Baghdad on Sunday, while 64 people died and 360 were injured by a series of car bombs in Shiite areas of the city on Tuesday.
"It is imperative that the Iraqi government intervenes decisively and impartially at the first sign of incitement to hostility and violence against any religious groups or minorities," she said in a statement.
"The authorities should ensure that religious sites and other likely targets are adequately protected, and reach out and demonstrate to different communities that their safety is of paramount concern to the government."
Pillay acknowledged the difficulty of containing terrorist groups intent on provoking violence and targetting civilians, and expressed her condolences for the victims of the attacks.
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text:
Thanks to everyone who helped with the planning of our trip. I know I asked a lot of questions and I really appreciate all of the input. We just returned from our trip on Wednesday so I'm hoping to complete this trip report over the next few days. Overall our accommodations were good. The weather was ok at the beginning, great in the middle and quite bad the last few days. We flew with Qantas but thankfully the ash cloud did NOT affect us. All Qantas flights to New Zealand had been cancelled up to just 2-3 days before our New Zealand portion of our flight. Then they resumed for about 4-5 days (and we got in as scheduled) before being cancelled again for several days again just a couple days after we arrived.
Our overall trip broke down as follows:
18 June - depart home in England
20 June - arrive New Zealand
2 nights in Akaroa
1 night in Cass (in Arthurs Pass)
1 night in Punakaiki
3 nights in Fox Glacier
2 nights in Wanaka
3 nights in Arrowtown
4 nights in Te Anau
2 nights in Mt. Cook Village
2 nights at Lake Tekapo
2 nights in Windwhistle (near Rakaia Gorge)
12 July - depart New Zealand
13 July - arrive home in England
Recent ActivityView all Australia & the Pacific activity »
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- 2 Melbourne lodging locations
- 3 Coffee treasure hunt in Sydney and Melbourne
- 4 Sydney High tea
- 5 Sun Sand & Surf. Short & Sweet. Tonga & Fiji
- 6 30 Days Down Under
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- 8 Australia for two weeks.
- 9 Fine-tuning South Island Itinerary for February 2018
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- 11 Driving Valbonne - Annecy in December. Which route / where to stay?
- 12 New Years Eve in Sydney
- 13 Climbing the Sydney Bridge???
- 14 Last-Minute Trip To Australia - Dec 2017
- 15 Help planning my visit to Uluru in late February
- 16 Great Ocean Road - how much time?
- 17 Help planning Blue Mountains trip
- 18 Diamantina - what can you tell me about Castle Hill
- 19 4 days in Sydney: what would you recommend?
- 20 First time visiting Australia
- 21 Help! Samoa or Moorea, Indecisive
- 22 Australia dollar
- 23 Australia - first time
- 24 Sydney airport
- 25 Sydney Airport connecting flights
Our 3 week winter trip to the South Island of New Zealand
Thanks to everyone who helped with the planning of our trip. I know I asked a lot of questions and I really appreciate all of the input. We just returned from our trip on Wednesday so I'm hoping to complete this trip report over the next few days. Overall our accommodations were good. The weather was ok at the beginning, great in the middle and quite bad the last few days. We flew with Qantas but thankfully the ash cloud did NOT affect us. All Qantas flights to New Zealand had been cancelled up to just 2-3 days before our New Zealand portion of our flight. Then they resumed for about 4-5 days (and we got in as scheduled) before being cancelled again for several days again just a couple days after we arrived.
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There are 4 of us in our family. Me, my husband, our 10 year old son, and our 9 year old daughter.
18 June - The drive to Heathrow airport is about 4 hours from our house but we left quite early to allow for possible traffic problems. We arrived at the airport very early and settled in to wait for out 10:15pm flight. Our flight was London->Bangkok->Sydney and then Sydney->Christchurch on Qantas in economy.
20 June - We arrived in Christchurch and picked up our 4WD RAV4 with Avis. This was a good vehicle for the trip and we were glad to have the extra space that the RAV4 provided. Although it cost more than a normal car we were happy with our choice.
Kiwi_Rob had been nice enough to offer to tour us around Christchurch on our arrival. However, due to the uncertainty of the ash cloud and whether Qantas would even be flying, we decided not to take him up on this kind offer. We weren't sure when we departed on the 18th whether our Sydney->Christchurch flight would be cancelled or not. Although we got in on time we think we made the right decision. It was cloudy and drizzly when we arrived, we were all quite tired and really just wanted to get to Akaroa and find our motel. Thanks again for the offer kiwi_rob! The drive to Akaroa was uneventful. We did not stop for photos anywhere since it was very dreary weather. We stayed at the Akaroa Waterfront Motels in a 2 bedroom unit with kitchen facilities. This motel was right on the water and we were happy with it. After checking in the kids immediately headed out to play on the beach. We walked the 5-10 minutes to the port area to see the main town even though it was raining. I was surprised at how expensive the restaurants were in New Zealand. We live in England but are American so we are really comparing prices to the US dollar (not the British pound). Although the US dollar is stronger than the NZ dollar, I still thought food was very expensive, even at the grocery stores. We bought groceries at the local shop to cook in the first night and went to bed before 8pm.
21 June - Everyone slept well. We felt 2 earthquakes in the middle of the night, but nothing serious. We had breakfast at the motel and then walked out to the beach and took photos. We had nothing scheduled for the morning and just wandered around the town, let the kids play at the beach and at the playground and took photos. We had lunch at the motel and then walked to the port to meet the BlackCat Nature Cruise we had booked for 1:30pm. There was only 1 other family on the cruise. Although the weather was nice in the morning, it turned quite overcast (not rainy though) during the cruise. We saw several seals but no dolphins on our cruise. The swells were quite strong at the opening of the bay so the boat could not go out as far as it sometimes would. After the cruise we looked at some shops and then cooked dinner back at the motel.
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22 June - We left Akaroa this morning and started the drive to Arthurs Pass. We stopped along the road for my husband to take photos of some old shacks and the kids and I got out and walked along the area. There was a tree at a church that had a type of pinecone that we'd never seen. It sort of peeled off in layers. It's probably quite common in New Zealand but we'd never seen one before and I have great photos. It was a nice day and we were able to see much more on the drive. We got to Castle Hill around 11:30am and had a picnic lunch before heading out to walk and climb around the rocks. It was beautiful weather now and we really enjoyed this stop. We climbed all around and took lots of photos and did not head out until about 2:30pm. We were booked at the Flock Hill Lodge in Cass for the night with a 2 bedroom motel unit with kitchen facilities. This was a very big unit and there was lots of space on the working station for the kids to play around. We checked in and then drove just 3-4 more minutes down the road to Lake Pearson. It was now overcast though so the lake wasn't very impressive. We went back to Flock Hill and let the kids play outside. We had dinner at the lodge and then settled in for the evening.
23 June - My husband was hoping to get sunrise shots at Castle Hill but unfortunately it rained overnight and was still raining in the morning. We headed out and stopped at the town of Arthurs Pass. It was not raining very hard so we walked part of the way to Devil's Punchbowl and then walked the Bridal Veil path. It had stopped raining by the time we got back. We had lunch at the Wobbly Kea in Arthur's Pass. My husband and daughter both had fish and chips and said they were the best of the trip. We thought the scenery in this area looked a lot like Scotland. It stayed cloudy and foggy for much of our drive. We stopped at Greymouth for groceries and then continued our drive to Punakaiki. We stayed at the Paparoa Motels and our cottage was Pete's Place. This was a large 2 bedroom holiday home. We checked in and then went to the Pancake Rocks. We got there just before high tide and it had stopped raining (although it was still cloudy) so we enjoyed our visit. We were still full from lunch so we just had a small dinner at the cottage. The Paparoa Motels is a set of cottages and they had a small glow-worm grotto on site. When it got dark I walked down the path with the kids. We turned off our flashlights and all of the glowing worms looked like stars all around us.
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Hi see_the_world7 -
I'm so glad your flights worked out okay, I know it was touch and go for awhile there. I hope you enjoyed your trip to NZ - we certainly did - our trip overlapped with yours for a few days.
I look forward to reading more about your adventures.
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@melnq - we were so thankful that our flights were unaffected. I've been reading your trip report. Mine isn't nearly as elaborate, but I'm just trying to get something down!
24 June - Today did NOT go as planned. We left in the morning from Punakaiki on the way to Fox Glacier. Just south of Greymouth we had a minor car accident. Everyone was fine. Very low speeds, but significant damage to the other car. After dealing with this and going back to Greymouth to drop off an accident report at Avis, we were over 2 hours behind schedule. It was now past 11am so we just did a quick stop at the Greymouth McDonalds. We continued on our way toward Franz Josef Glacier where we just planned to do the walk to the glacier face. We walked most of the way out and back before continuing on our drive to Fox Glacier. We were rushing a bit since we had lost so much time in the morning. At Fox Glacier we stayed at the RainForest Motel in a 2 bedroom unit with cooking facilities. This was on the road to Lake Matheson just about 200 meters from town. Perfect location, free internet, and a good size. After checking in we drove to Lake Matheson. We were losing light but we went ahead and walked around the lake. Lake Matheson was not what we expected at all. I didn't realize that most of the walk was just through the rain forest with the lake not in sight at all. In fact, there are only a handful of spots where the path actually is built out so you can see the lake. After walking around the lake we bought groceries and looked at the souvenir shops. We had dinner at the motel and hoped for good weather in the morning for our planned helihike.
25 June - It rained a lot overnight, but it was fairly clear when we got up in the morning. At 8:30am we walked to the Fox Glacier Guides for our helihike. The weather held and we were able to go!! There were 15 of us booked on the morning flight so it took 3 flights to get us all to the glacier. We were on the second flight. My daughter and I sat up front and the pilot flew around the glacier a bit before landing. He did a few sharp banks with the helicopter as we were landing which my son was a bit unsure about. The kids had never been in a helicopter before so they enjoyed the trip to the glacier. After landing we all put on crampons while waiting for the last group to arrive. All in all we spend about 2.5 hours on the glacier. A good portion of that time was spent at specific features like ice caves because they allowed us to go in and explore in our family groups so that we could get photos with just our families. This was good, but it meant a lot of waiting around while each set when in. It would have been nice if we'd ended up with a smaller group, but overall we still really enjoyed it. There was one much older lady in the group who could barely walk at all. In fact, after the first location they actually had her go back and just wait at the landing site. The 3 other people in her family were younger and could get around fine. I'm not sure why she would have signed up for a helihike. I understand wanting to land on a glacier but there were other options available with a simple landing but no hiking that would have suited her much better. We had a great time on the helihike. The weather stayed nice so we were able to get in our full hike. After our helihike, we quickly changed out of our layers and went to lunch in town at the Cook Saddle Cafe. We really enjoyed this restaurant since it had a nice atmosphere and the food was good.
After lunch we drove out to the glacier and walked to the terminal face. It started drizzling but then cleared up quickly. We then drove out to the Mt. Cook viewpoint but the mountain peaks were in clouds. On the way back to town there was a very wide and bright rainbow....probably the brightest one we've ever seen. Since we'd had a later lunch we just had ice cream for dinner.
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Lucky you! Good weather for the helihike in the dead of winter!
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Wow..great luck there..no guarantees any time of year.
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June 26 - This morning we all got up early and drove to Lake Matheson while it was still dark. My husband wanted to get sunrise shots from the refection point so we all walked out using handlamps or flashlights. It turned out to be a beautiful morning. The sky was clear and there was a low fog hanging around the tree level making for a beautiful sunrise. We found out after arriving at Fox Glacier that Lake Matheson was going to be closed for work on the walkway from the 27th -30th so today was our last chance for photos. We stayed at the lake a while and then took more photos on the way out. We then drove back to the Mt. Cook viewpoint which was beautiful. The sky stayed clear and we have fabulous photos. We drove over the small bridge for a different viewpoint and our kids went down to the river to play. They built their own little rock bridge across the river. We stayed out til lunchtime and then went back to the motel for lunch. After lunch we headed to Gillespies Beach. We had no idea what to expect. The beach was nice and was covered in drift wood. But it was nice drift wood, spaced out beautifully and not all dirty and filled with seaweed like I've seen before. Unfortunately this was our first experience with sand flies. They bit every where they could find exposed skin. I ended up putting my gloves on even though I didn't need them since they were so bad. In the days to come we found out how badly these bites itch! They also seemed to last forever. My skin reacts badly to any bites but my husband and daughter also found them to be very itchy. They continued to itch for about 2 weeks!! They didn't seem to bother our son much - lucky him! We wandered along the beach for a while looking for shells and small stones and spent most of the afternoon here. We then drove back to town and went to the Cook Saddle again for dinner.
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27 June - Today we drove from Fox Glacier to Wanaka. It was very cloudy and misty when we started our drive. We drove through Haast Pass and stopped a few times for photos. We then stopped at the Blue Pools and walked out to the pools. The kids played on the beach area again and built rock towers. More sand flies though!! Yuck! We then continued the drive to Wanaka. Wanaka was much more built up then we expected. In the end we really liked the town but we didn't realize that it was such a large resort town. We stayed at the Panorama Court Apartments in a 2 bedroom unit. There was no internet, but the facility itself was probably the best of our trip. The kids thought it was very cool that there was a kiwi tree/bush in the front and the owners said we could pick some to eat. We bought groceries and had a late lunch at the apartment. We then drove along the lake and stopped to watch the sunset. We came back to the apartment and I went to the playground with the kids.
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28 June - Today was a good morning. My husband went out for sunrise photos. Our apartment was just across the street from the lake so I walked across to the lake and took some photos of the beautiful sunrise too. I then took the kids to the playground for a while. When my husband got back we started the drive down Mt. Aspiring Road. We stopped at the Mt. Aspiring Viewpoint for about 30 minutes and then continued on the drive. We saw lots of deer, sheep and cows on this road. New Zealand is the first country we've been to where we've seen deer fenced in just like sheep or cows. The road turned into packed silt and we had to cross about 9 fords. The weather was great for this drive and I thought this was one of the most beautiful areas of our trip. We stopped several times for photos and had a picnic lunch along the river. We continued on to the end of the road and started on the Rob Roy Glacier Walk. We like hiking, but between the kids playing along the river and my husband taking lots of water photos, we end up moving quite slowly on walks sometimes! The swing bridge on this walk was the bounciest we'd been on so far!. We didn't do the entire walk since we had spent so much time along the river. This drive and walk took up our entire day. We got back to Wanaka and we walked in to town for dinner. We went to the Bombay Palace for dinner. We thought it was ok, but not the best.
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29 June - Today was another good weather day. Before heading to our next location we walked in to town to look at some of the shops. We then drove to Arrowtown which was only about 1 hour away. We stopped a few times for photos and got to Arrowtown around 11:00am. We couldn't check in yet so we went in to the main town. We loved Arrowtown. It was such a cool little town. We wandered through the shops and had lunch (I can't remember the name of the place). We then checked in to the Viking Lodge Motels. This was listed as a 2 bedroom motel but in reality the 2nd bedroom was an open level upstairs. Our kids thought it was very cool since it was like an attic, but it was a bit annoying that we couldn't close the door to their room when they went to sleep. That afternoon we went to the river and walked a bit. My husband loved the trees in Arrowtown and spent hours taking tree photos. Parts of the river were frozen over so our kids had a blast playing around.
30 June - We got up early today and headed out before 7:00am to get to Glenorchy. We had a Dart River Jet Boat Safari booked and had to be there at 8:45am. We gave ourselves extra time so we could be there for sunrise. It was another beautiful sunrise! We checked in with Dart River Jet boats. First we took a bus for a while along the river and saw sites from the Lord of the Rings and other movies. Both of our kids like Lord of the Rings, but especially our son. He read the entire trilogy when he was 8 or 9 and also likes the movies, so he really was excited to see where parts of the movies were filmed. The guide also pointed out where scenes from other movies like Wolverine were filmed. We then did a short forest walk before getting in the jet boats. We were split in to 2 groups. The jet boats were great and we had a lot of fun! We were in the jet boat for about 1.5 hours. We had some spins thrown in but also just got to spend a lot of time zooming along the river. This was really a highlight of the trip. When we got back to Glenorchy we bought a book on the Lord of the Rings that listed many of the site locations. My son read this through completely by the middle of the next day! We had thought about doing some hiking in Glenorchy but in the end we decided just to start heading back to Arrowtown. We did a quick stop for lunch and then went back to Arrowtown and back to the river. The kids and I walked the Arrow River Trail up until the split for Sawpit Gully while my husband stayed along the river taking photos. We then looked up specific LOTR locations in Arrowtown and made sure we took pictures of the kids at these locations. We had dinner at the motel that night before settling in for the night.
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1 July - Today was very foggy in the morning. My husband went out for sunrise photos but said it wasn't good. I took the kids to the playground by the motel and everything was covered in frost. We then went in to town to look at the shops and bought a few souvenirs. We had lunch at the motel and then headed to Queenstown. We walked around in the town for a while. Since it had mostly cleared up we took the gondola to the top. We had gotten a family ticket with 5 luge rides. My husband wasn't interested in the luge so I went once and our kids each went twice. At first they weren't too sure about riding the luge but in the end they really enjoyed it. We then went for a short walk (the skyline walk) and took some photos. We rode the gondola back down and went to dinner at The Cow in town. The pizza was really good here and my kids said the spaghetti bolognese was excellent also. While we'd been looking in town the kids kept looking at the One Ring from LOTR or rings with the elf writing. They both decided this was the one souvenir they really wanted. They know the books have nothing to do with New Zealand, but since the movies were filmed there they still thought this would be a cool souvenir. Our son ended up getting a silver ring (sized larger so it will fit him as he grows) and our daughter got a gold plated one (also sized large). They had them put on necklaces for now and wore them for the rest of the trip.
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2 July - Today we packed up and started the drive to Te Anau. The weather was nice and we stopped for photos a few times along the way. We got to town around 11:30am so we parked and went to lunch. I don't remember the name of the place but it was nothing special. We then got groceries and came back to the cottage we had rented. Here we had 3 bedroom holiday home which was very nice and roomy. It also had a washer and dryer (so did our place in Wanaka) so we were able to catch up on laundry. The kids were super excited that they each got their own room. We planned to go to Milford Sound the next day but we went ahead and drove Milford Road as far as the Mirror Lakes. It was a beautiful day but to be honest we were a bit disappointed in the road. We really didn't think it was that special. We were also a bit disappointed in the Mirror Lakes. We thought they would be much larger. We drove back to town and let the kids play outside while we cooked dinner at home. We didn't have internet at this location so we couldn't check the weather very often. We had 4 nights planned in Te Anau so that hopefully we could visit both Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound.
3 July - Today we got up early and were out of the house by 6am. We wanted to reach Milford Sound before sunrise so my husband could hopefully get sunrise shots. The drive was uneventful since there had been no snow. We drove carefully in case of black ice but had no problems. We arrived a little before 8:00am but unfortunately it was foggy and misty. The light wasn't great so no good morning photos but we still planned to go on the cruise. We booked with Southern Discoveries. It was nice that they had a covered area in the outside portion of the boat since it started raining lightly about halfway through. It wasn't crowded so we could still stand outside and take photos without getting soaked. Again we didn't see any dolphins but we saw quite a few seals in different locations. Some were on the rocks and others were rolling around in the water playing. The captain was informative and we enjoyed the cruise but I don't think Milford Sound lived up to our expectations. This was probably partially because we did not have clear weather. I think we've also been spoiled by some of our other travels. We've been to Norway and thought that the fjords in Norway were much prettier and more impressive than Milford Sound. We had a picnic lunch in the car before heading back down the Milford Sound road. We stopped at the Chasm for a quick walk. There were probably 10 keas in the parking lot coming up to everyone that stopped. This was the first stop were we saw keas. They hopped on cars and picked at antennas and wipers. It was raining lightly now but we did the quick walk anyway. We drove a little further and stopped a few other places. We stopped at the Lake Gunn lookout and then did the Lake Gunn loop walk. This was a very pleasant walk through the woods. It had stopped raining by now. Our kids labeled this the Ent Woods (again from LOTR). We didn't stop at many of the common walks off of Milford Road because it was so foggy and misty that there was really no viewpoint and not much to see. After getting back to Te Anau we had dinner at the cottage. We ended up with a very pretty sunrise over Lake Te Anau.
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4 July - this morning my husband headed out for sunrise photos. I looked outside around 8am and the sky was on fire! So incredibly beautiful...bright orange! Unfortunately the sun doesn't come up over the lake so we didn't have anything good to put in front of that beautiful sky for good photos. We headed out to the lake anyway hoping the light would start reflecting off the clouds in that area as the sun came up. The sky did turn a bit pink in that area so I got a few decent photos. After my husband got back we headed to the Mavora Lakes. Originally we were going to do the Doubtful Sound day trip but since we'd been a bit disappointed with Milford Sound we decided to explore some lesser known areas instead. Some areas near the Mavora Lakes were used in LOTR and we thought the lakes looked interesting so we decided to explore. This turned out to be a very pretty drive and the lakes were nice too. We had a picnic lunch (more sand flies though!) We walked around a bit in the woods and spent time by the lakes before heading back down the road. We drove around a bit more just exploring before heading back to Te Anau. We took the kids to the playground, looked through the shops, and had dinner at our cottage.
July 5 - It looked like it might be another nice morning. My husband went out again for photos and my daughter and I walked out before sunrise to try to find a good spot for photos if the sky was the same as yesterday. It turned out to be a beautiful sunrise but not as good as the day before. After my husband got back we drove down to Lake Manapouri. We thought there might be more there but it really seems to be just a starting place for the Doubtful Sound cruise and not much else. We did stop at Fraser Beach for a while. It was very cloudy so we decided to just hang out for the day. We came back to Te Anau and had lunch in town. I then took the kids back to the playground. We caught up on laundry while the kids played outside. We then had dinner in and packed up for our long drive tomorrow to Mt. Cook.
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6 July - Today we drove from Te Anau to Mt Cook village. It was cloudy but not rainy. We stopped at Wairepo Culvert just south of Twizel for photos. The lake was beautiful here and the trees were so orange. The kids climbed trees while my husband and I took photos. We then drove up to Mt. Cook. It was very cloudy when we arrived and we couldn't even see Mt. Cook. Even though it was cloudy and foggy we drove out to the Blue Lakes and did the short walk to the Blue Lakes and also to the Glacier View Point. I wasn't particularly impressed with either of these. Again, I think we're a bit spoiled from our travels since the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon in Iceland was so much nicer and I couldn't help making the comparison. We stayed at the Mt. Cook Alpine Lodge. This was a great alternative to the Hermitage. It is not as expensive and only has about 14 rooms. This was the only location where we did not have a 2 bedroom accommodation. We had a large hotel room with a king size bed and bunk beds. Our view out the front would have been amazing if the clouds had not been covering Mt. Cook! The windows were very large. This hotel also had a very large shared lounge and kitchen area with 2 full size fridges and 2 full stoves and ovens plus all plates, cutlery, cups, etc... We weren't sure how much space there would really be so we only brought breakfast foods and not food for dinner. It turns out that we would have had plenty of space in the fridge. We wish we would have cooked in on our 2 nights here since our dinners here were the worst of our trip. This first night we ate at the Old Mountaineers. It was a nice atmosphere, but we did not like the food at all.
7 July - Today we woke up and it had snowed over night. It was very pretty but it quickly turned to a slushy rain. It was so cloudy and foggy that we couldn't see anything. We bought Explorer Passes for the Sir Edmund Hillary center and watched 2 of the space videos, the Sir Edmund Hillary movie, and the 3-D Mt. Cook show. We had originally planned to go hiking but the weather was so bad that we put it off. We had lunch in the lounge and then just hung out at the hotel. It rained all day long. Finally I decided that I was going to go out for a short hike even though we would get very wet. Both kids decided to come too. We walked to the Kea Point and got completely soaked. The paths were about 5 inches of slush so our feet got soaked. We then walked as far as the Mueller Glacier lookout point of the Hooker Valley Walk. By the time we got back we were all very wet. We came back and hung our coats up to dry and set our snow boots by the fire. That night we went to dinner at the Chambois Bar. Again, we did not like the dinner. This was the worst weather day of our entire trip!
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Ah yes, the weather. In all my trips to NZ, I've only seen the top of Mt Cook once. I completely understand being underwhelmed with Milford..somehow it just doesn't live up to the hype, although on a pretty day, it's quite memorable.
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I am enjoying your trip report, thanks for posting it! Love the ice cream for dinner idea...
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Thanks - glad a few people are reading it. I'll try to finish up the last few days soon!
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8 July - Today my son and I woke up early (as usual) and headed to the lounge area. The forecast had been for rain and clouds all night and day for the Mt. Cook area. However, I looked outside and I could see some stars so I went back and woke up my husband. He immediately got up and went out to Hooker Valley to try to get some sunrise shots. All of the slushy snow from the previous day had completely frozen so it was very slippery. As the sun came up I could see the base of Mt. Cook but the peak was still in clouds. As it got later it got cloudier and cloudier. It was still quite pretty and I took photos from the balcony and in front of the hotel. By late morning when we left Mt. Cook it had gotten quite cloudy and foggy. The weather got nicer as we headed south to Tekapo but it was extremely windy. We got some lunch in town and checked in to our motel. We stayed at the Lake Tekapo Motel and Holiday Park in a 2 bedroom motel unit. Our unit was right on the lake and was probably the prettiest view we had. I was nervous about this location because the reviews were mixed, but we had no problems and the location was amazing. Lake Tekapo was absolutely beautiful. Even though it was windy the skies were clear and the water was the beautiful glacier blue. After checking in we drove around a bit. We stopped at the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Dog Statue. We then spent some time on the lake shore. We then drove on the road past our motel past the spa area and came upon a small frozen over lake. It was very shallow so the kids had fun skating around the frozen lake with just their shoes. In fact, this was one of their top memories of the entire trip. We then went back to the south lakeshore for sunset near the church. The kids played on the rocks for hours while we waited for sunset. We then came back to the hotel and made dinner at the motel. There was a playground right across from our unit so the kids played outside until dinner.
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9 July - Today we woke up to lots of rain. It later turned to snow which was very pretty but unfortunately it turned back to rain and rained ALL DAY LONG. Our kids played out on the playground in the morning even though it was raining. We then went to town and looked around at the shops (even though there weren't many). We then drove around a bit exploring but everything was so dreary. We had lunch at the motel and hoped the rain would stop but it never did. The kids went back to the playground and the beach right across from our unit. I eventually went out also and walked along the beach. We then went to Pepe's Pizza place in town for dinner.
10 July - Today we woke up and it had snowed overnight. As we were leaving the owners told us that Burkes Pass was closed. There was no other way to go so we headed out anyway hoping it would open by the time we got there. By the time we drove the few kilometers to the pass it was open and was actually quite clear. We stuck to the main roads on our drive to Rakaia Gorge instead of the scenic drive so that we would not have any problems with snow and so we'd have more choices for lunch stops. We stopped in Ashburton for lunch and by that time the weather had cleared up. There was no snow in this area at all. We then stopped for groceries in Methven and continued on to the Washpen Chalet where we were staying. The chalet was actually in Windwhistle about 8 kilometers past Rakaia Gorge. It was still super windy, especially in Windwhistle!! The chalet had 3 bedrooms and a fireplace. We then went out to drive around. We stopped at Pudding Hill River and stayed there til sunset. We then came back to the chalet. It had started raining again. It had been sunny (but windy) during the day so we were hoping it would only rain overnight and would be nice for our last full day in New Zealand.
11 July - Today we hoped to do a final jet boat tour on the Rakaia Gorge. Unfortunately it had rained so much over night that the river was way too high and the jet boats were not running. We went back to our cabin and set out on the Washpen Falls walk. This was a circular track and took about 1.5 hours. I liked this walk because it didn't have a boardwalk or gravel path and felt more natural. We had lunch at the chalet and then drove back to check the jet boats again. The river had only gotten higher so the jet boats would not be running all day, but we stayed at the river for a while and let the kids play We drove to Methven to look around at the shops. We then came back to the cabin, made a big fire, and packed up.
12 July - Today we drove to the airport and flew home. The flights were on Qantas in economy again and were uneventful.
Christchurch ->Sydney
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So, did you have fun?
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@melnq8 - we did have fun and we really enjoyed our trip. The weather cooperated for most of the trip although it did turn on us at the end. We thought New Zealand was beautiful although I think I probably had an unrealistic image in my head of some areas (like Milford Sound) where I was actually disappointed in what we saw. I think New Zealand is unique in that you can see glaciers, rain forests, fjords, beaches, etc... all in a relatively small country. However, I think that Norway has better fjords and glacier lagoons, Iceland and Alaska probably have more impressive glaciers, and Switzerland probably has better mountains (in my opinion of course). That's not to say we didn't enjoy our visit or think the country was beautiful. Some of our favorite views and experiences were those we weren't really expecting. Top of the list for the best locations for me were the drive down Mt. Aspiring Road toward the Rob Roy Glacier trail. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was amazing. We also loved Lake Tekapo. The amazing glacier-blue water against the large white rocks of the shore with the mountains in the background was impressive.
We also loved that New Zealand had 2 bedroom motels available all over the island. this was great for our family that usually does self-catering. In many countries, you can't find a self-catering accommodation unless you are staying at least 3 nights. We weren't particularly impressed with the food overall, and it was more expensive than I was expecting, but most people we met were very nice, it never felt crowded, the and roads were all in good shape. I came away with loads of beautiful photographs and memories.
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Good to hear. I'm partial to the Mt Aspiring Road jaunt too, and many people never bother to go there.
I think there's a tendancy to buy into the hype and build-up about certain sites, so a bit of disappointment at the reality isn't all that surprising.
My favorite bits about the SI are the ones that no one else seems to bother with - their loss.
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Thanks for your journal - though we will go in Feb/March (with a campervan and bicycles), it was great to see some of your recommendations and experiences. We generally self-cater, but usually a week at a time and NZ just doesn't lend itself to that kind of travel. So we'll take our "self-catering" on the road with us.
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Al Qaeda sympathizer Jose Padilla, who was in the planning stages of blowing up Washington, D.C. with a "dirty bomb" laced with radioactive materials, is now in custody.
That makes the radical Left very unhappy.
That's why moral degenerates like Michael Ratner, the spokesman for the Center for Constitutional Rights, are frothing at the mouth. They are outraged that the Justice Department has classified Padilla as an "enemy combatant," which has deprived him of legal rights and protections accorded to average criminals.
You see, in the radical Left's mind, if it wasn't for that fascist "enemy combatant" regulation, Padilla could be back on the streets at this very moment, putting his plan together, with other terrorists, to blow up Washington!
And what better way to start destroying the classist, racist, sexist, and homophobic patriarchy in America?
Let's get one thing straight: it's not Islam that is the main threat to America at this moment. It's the radical left.
It's the radical left that created political correctness. And guess what? Political correctness is not just annoying. It causes genocide.
It caused 9/11.
You heard me.
Without all of the leftist crap about how we must not discriminate that has been drilled into the American mindset for years, the Twin Towers would still be standing.
The craving to be politically correct and to see the world as "culturally relative," and the utter ignorance and stupidity that this disposition breeds, is what allowed Islamic hate to make orphans out of thousands of American children in the autumn of 2001.
Just look at the latest disclosure made by the brainless Johnelle Bryant, an official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Rarely will you find such a horrifying manifestation of complete and utter unadulterated idiocy.
This U.S. official had Mohammed Atta, one of the September 11 hijackers who flew a plane into the World Trade Center, almost literally screaming "I am a terrorist!" in her office before 9/11 and, due to her respect for "multiculturalism," she never reported her run-in with this psychopath.
Because guess what? She didn't notice that anything was really wrong.
In a recent mind-boggling interview with ABC news, Bryant told the story of how Atta and three other 9/11 terrorists had visited her Florida office seeking government loans. That's right, America is so politically correct that you now stand the chance of blowing up American buildings with tax payers' money!
Atta arrived in Bryant's office in the spring of 2000, inquiring about a loan to finance an aircraft. At first, he refused to speak with Bryant because, as Atta put it, she was "but a female." When Bryant made it clear he had no choice but to deal with her, he relented. Nonetheless, throughout the interview, he persistently referred to her as "but a female" and did so, according to Bryant, "with disgust."
Atta, by the way, is the same loser who left behind the illuminating will that sternly warned against women being present at his funeral – or at his grave at any later date. He also instructed: "He who washes my body around my genitals should wear gloves so that I am not touched there."
Got that one?
Atta obviously had some serious issues. Chances are, like his terrorist colleagues, he had never experienced one normal heterosexual relationship in his life.
In any case, this guy told Bryant that he wanted $650,000 for a crop-dusting business. He informed her, moreover, that he wanted to finance a twin-engine six-passenger aircraft - and to remove the seats! This is because his dream was to build a chemical tank that would fit inside the aircraft and take up every available square inch of it except for the pilot seat.
Okay then. . . .
Let me give you a little hint of where I am headed with this: take a look at a picture of Atta and imagine him telling you this little plan of his. What normal person with a modicum of common sense would not immediately get up and run out of the office screaming at the top of his/her lungs for help?
Oh. I forgot. That would be very discriminatory. And it might hurt the self-esteem not only of Atta, but also of those who dream of following in his footsteps.
Anyway, when Bryant informed Atta that there was an application process, Atta became furious. This guy actually thought he was just going to walk out with the money that very same day.
Realizing that his plan had hit a brick wall, he started talking about the "the lack of security" in the building and asked Bryant what would prevent him from going behind her desk, cutting her throat and stealing the "millions of dollars" in the safe behind her.
That's right, in America, there are "millions of dollars" sitting in a safe at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which are just handed out arbitrarily to people who come in and ask for it.
At this point, with great tolerance and patience, Bryant explained that there was no money in the safe and that she knew karate.
Atta became dejected and pursued other avenues – but to no avail. Bryant turned down Atta's application for the loan. As a non-U.S. citizen, he did not meet the requirements. Funding was also only meant for farming purposes.
But guess what? Bryant had a multicultural heart and referred Atta to other government agencies and to a bank downstairs!
Before exiting Bryant's office, Atta became obsessed with an aerial photo of Washington that was hanging on her office wall. He was especially captivated with how all the monuments and buildings could be seen in one photograph, and he specifically pointed to the Pentagon and the White House. He then pulled out a wad of cash and threw money on her desk, asking to buy the picture.
Bryant said the photograph wasn't for sale. Atta became agitated and threw more money down. Bryant again refused. Then Atta became enraged and blurted out, "How would America like it if another country destroyed that city and some of the monuments in it, like the cities in my country have been destroyed?"
Atta then said he wanted to visit New York City, and specifically the World Trade Center, asking Bryant how security worked there. He inquired about similar details about other American cities. He then commented how the Dallas Cowboys were "America's team" and got very excited when he mentioned how the team's football stadium had a "hole in the roof."
Atta then said his homeland was Afghanistan and started talking glowingly about al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. He boasted how bin Laden would one day be the world's "greatest leader."
Bryant wasn't phased. You know: al Qaeda, bin Laden, Frazier, Seinfeld, Larry King - it's all the same thing. She never heard of bin Laden. As far as she was concerned, "he could have been a character on Star Wars for all I knew."
A few weeks later, smooth and slick Atta was back. This time he had a genius plan: he was pretending to be someone else by disguising himself with a pair of sunglasses. That's right, this time he was an "accountant" for Marwan Al-Shehhi, a terrorist who was with him, and who wanted $500,000 to buy land for a sugar-cane farm.
That particular application was also denied, but Bryant pretended not to recognize Atta, so as not to hurt his feelings.
It didn't even cross Bryant's mind to report the first interview, let alone even the second - with Atta in drag. She thought, you see, that she was helping an immigrant – in the most progressive way possible – to learn about the country. She says,
"I felt that he was trying to make the cultural leap from the country that he came from, with all the violence, as compared to the United States. I was attempting, in every manner I could, to help him make his relocation into our country as easy for him as I could make it."
Angela Davis and Noam Chomsky would be so proud.
Bryant then followed this wisdom with the genius observation that,
"I think it's very vital that the Americans realize that when these people come to the United States, they don't have a big 'T' on their forehead."
Uh, right.
So what is it exactly that Atta had on his forehead, as opposed to a T for Terrorist? E for Evangelist?
Bryant notes, "They don't look like what you think a terrorist would look like."
Oh really? Have you ever seen a picture of Atta? I mean if this guy even walked by my house I would bolt the doors, grab a knife, start peeking through the blinds and call 911.
Bryant, meanwhile, doesn't think that Atta looked like a terrorist. But she herself recalls that "he had very scary-looking eyes. His eyes were black."
Oh, I see.
But I guess we should never discriminate against "scary-looking" eyes, especially if the person that has them has already threatened to slice your throat.
Why is it that when I think about copying Atta's behavior at the bank around the corner from me, I have this suspicious feeling that I would be sitting in the back of a police car about fifteen minutes later?
When I think of Bryant and this case I can hardly control my temper. I could rip the hair out of my head just thinking about where political correctness and the radical leftist agenda have brought us.
How is it that Bryant never heard of Osama bin Laden? Why was bin Laden's name not a household name to fear and know in all American living rooms before 9/11? After all, he had already declared a holy war on America a long time ago and had been responsible for various terrorist attacks that took many American lives.
You know why? Because the radical left, represented by organizations such as the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has a long record of defending terrorists, has made it sure that we do not discriminate. That's right, it would hurt the feelings and self-esteem of Arabs and Muslims in America to have bin Laden's name and picture posted on every street corner in the United States.
Better to let airplanes get hijacked and buildings explode.
Better to let Jose Padilla back on the street.
After all, what if his continued imprisonment starts hurting someone's – anyone's – feelings and self-esteem out there?
Wouldn't it just be better to let him blow up Washington, D.C.?
According to the philosophy of the radical left, the answer is yes.
That's right, and Atta was able to fly a hijacked airplane into a building with thousands of innocent people inside because some retard, who has been transformed into an intellectually bankrupt mutant by the left-liberal culture, believed she was on the progressive cutting edge by denying who was actually sitting in front of her.
Bryant was being a good little leftist because she saw a crazed Arab with frightening-looking black eyes, who was spouting off about slicing throats, robbing safes, blowing up monuments, and flying planes with chemical plants aboard, in the most open-minded light. That's right, he was just making a "cultural leap," you see.
Why else do you think Atta made inquires about security at the World Trade Center, and gleefully referred to the "hole in the roof" in the Dallas Cowboys' stadium?
He was learning American geography.
Why else do you think he later came back to Bryant's office with the brilliant and cunning disguise of a pair of sunglasses, claiming to be an accountant?
He was trying to catch on to the latest American fad.
Maybe he was just looking for a compliment.
When you think of Atta's behavior in this whole ordeal, it is evident that we are dealing with evil. But it is also transparent we aren't dealing with rocket scientists. I mean, this guy' strategy in trying to carry out his plan is not the most brilliant thing I've ever heard of.
But he got away with it.
He got away with it because Bryant was so understanding.
Just think of all the other Bryants that were out there and let these cockroaches slip through their fingers.
It's a reality the radical left has spawned.
And the radical left continues to pursue its agenda ferociously.
Who among us will take a stand?


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NASCAR Sprint Cup officials impounded the No. 48 and No. 5 Chevrolets of Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin respectively after the Pepsi 500 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.
It was the third race in a row the two teams have found themselves under the microscope of NASCAR's technical inspectors.
The first time -- after the Dover race -- those officials came back to say that measurements on the cars were within the legal limits set by NASCAR -- but -- both were close to the edge.
The question here is: So what?
That NASCAR took the same two teams' cars the second time after Kansas and came up with the same result should have been enough to convince everyone that the HMS cars were legal, twice and for all.
To grab the cars again this past week at Fontana reeks of intimidation.
The first thing NASCAR fans should know is that after every Sprint Cup race the teams that don't win line up at the big yellow trailer complaining that the team that did win somehow must have cheated (because they all do, so the winner must have cheated better).
Also, NASCAR knows they all cheat but can't admit that because even with their multimillion-dollar research and development centre in Concord, N.C., they can't catch them.
So they do the only thing they can do and that is label the suspect teams as cheaters without every finding anything wrong with the cars.
There is something fundamentally unfair with this approach.
If NASCAR bosses think it is bad for the sport that Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus will win a fourth consecutive championship, then change the way the title is decided.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that six of the final 10 Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship are at tracks where Johnson and Knaus -- and now Martin and his crew chief Alan Gustafson -- are head and shoulders better than the rest of the field.
What needs to happen is for the rest of the grid to catch up. It's called competition.
And it should be applauded, not punished.
Racing to oblivion
IndyCar racing is headed in the same direction the National Hockey League is in the U.S. -- oblivion. That would be the place where all pro sports that have television contracts with the Versus network go to play.
In what should have been a showcase for open wheel racing in North America last week, Dario Franchitti won a 100% green flag 300-mile race at Homestead-Miami Speedway to claim the 2009 driver's championship.
It certainly was a compelling story with the native of Bathgate, Scotland, winning his second crown in three years after taking a year off to try his hand at NASCAR racing.
The race had everything but an audience and it pointed out that IndyCar racing is in real trouble if it doesn't soon find a way to get back on the sporting world's radar.
One way would be to get a title sponsor -- not an easy task in the current economic environment.
The other way is to find a replacement for Tony George to run the series. After getting the bum's rush from his mother and three sisters -- who control Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar racing -- the series lacks leadership that is needed to provide stability and vision the sport desperately needs.
The only good news on the horizon appears to be that Gil de Ferran appears close to putting together a two-car team for 2010.
At the rate other teams are going bust, though, de Ferran may be playing the part of the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke.
Schumacher picks Vettel
Seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher contends that fellow German Sebastian Vettel can win the crown this season.
Schumacher said that the two remaining races -- Brazil this week and then Abu Dhabi in November-- are enough for Vettel to make up the 16-point gap between him and Jenson Button.
"Mathematically everything is still possible, and I will keep my fingers crossed for him," Schumacher said on his website this week.
Finish lines
Richard Petty Motorsports could field a Ford Fusion for A.J. Allmendinger before the end of the current NASCAR Sprint Cup season. FoxSports reported this week the team has had at least one Ford ready to race since the start of the 10-race Chase for the Championship began at New Hampshire ... F-1 boss Bernie Ecclestone now is suggesting that Donnington Park's bid to host the British Grand Prix in 2010 is in serious jeopardy ... Felipe Massa says he is the same driver he was before his dramatic accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix after testing a 2007 Ferrari earlier this week. Massa has been sidelined from F-1 since he fractured his skull in Hungary.


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When the Best Place to be Born is the Worst Place to be Conceived
BY Jennifer Fulwiler
| Posted 7/22/11 at 6:25 AM
A friend asked a seemingly innocuous question recently: "If you could choose to be born in any time and place, when and where would it be?" Not surprisingly, my answer was: "Here in modern America." The answer seemed obvious: By being born here and now, not only would I likely make it to adulthood thanks to our blessedly low infant mortality rates, but I would go on to have a life of freedom! We have unprecedented levels of personal freedom in our culture, and what's not to love about that?
But my argument was turned on its head when my friend followed up with a similar question, to which I had a startlingly different reaction: "When and where would you choose to be conceived?"
Suddenly, modern America plummeted to near the bottom of the list.
More than one out of every five pregnancies ends in abortion. While it's almost certain that I would survive if I were born here, my odds of surviving nine months in the womb would be tragically low—and hardly better than a coin flip if my life were to start in a place like New York City.
This is a stark commentary about the undercurrents that run through our society. In particular, I think it's the perfect illustration of what happens when a people misunderstand what it means to be free.
When the founders who shaped this country's ideals talked about the inalienable right of man to be free, it was always with the unspoken caveat "...to do the right thing." Nobody ever fought for individual freedom so that people could become rapists or burglars or peeping toms if the whim struck them. Freedom meant that a person would have the opportunity to seek his own destiny, within the boundaries of morality. Self-control and self-sacrifice were always understood to be part of the package. As Lord Acton put it: Freedom is "not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought."
Now "freedom" has become synonymous with "being able to do whatever I want." Responsibility, sacrifice for the greater good, living within the bounds of millenia-old moral principles are all secondary to the pursuit of individual comfort, if not disregarded altogether. This is often touted as an enlightened, progressive path: "Do what you want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else," the thinking goes. What's not to love about that? It sounds great at first glance. The problem is that it doesn't work. What previous generations understood, that we will have to re-learn at great cost, is that the fabric of a peaceful society is always the individual's willingness to sacrifice his own self interest for his fellow human beings. When that's gone, everything starts to unravel. "Do whatever you want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else" is an impossible moral directive. When your life revolves around doing whatever you want, it will always end up hurting others.
There's hardly a better example of this truth than our current abortion rates. Sex is part of the modern personal freedom package, one of many activities where people are told they should be "free" to do whatever they want. And if that activity should create a new, dependent life? That's a big problem, because having responsibility to someone else comes with things like duty, a loss of autonomy, and self-sacrifice. In order to maintain this new kind of freedom, you have to avoid all of that stuff. And so abortion starts to look like an appealing—even necessary—option. Though this may not be the thinking behind every single abortion, certainly this tension between complete personal autonomy and sacrifice for others is a major driving force in the culture of death.
I keep thinking about my friend's two questions, and just how much they reveal about what is going on in our culture. I've read plenty of lofty philosophical discussions about the different definitions of what it means to be free, including some erudite defenses of the "do what you want" view of freedom. But I think nothing brings the faults of this line of thinking into relief better than the simple fact that the "best" place to be born, by the standards of this worldview, is the last place you'd want to be conceived.
Copyright © 2013 EWTN News, Inc. All rights reserved.


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SAN FRANCISCO Commuter rail service will resume Friday after a San Francisco transit agency and its two largest unions agreed to extend the unions' contract for 30 days. The rail system was hit by a strike Monday.
A statement released late Thursday by Bay Area Rapid Transit said trains will begin running by 3 p.m. Friday.
The two sides broke off negotiations shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday, reports CBS San Francisco station KPIX-TV, which added that talks seeking a new deal will continue while the contract extension is in place.
BART General Manager Grace Crunican said there is a wide gap of disagreements between the two sides.
"Unfortunately, the issues that brought us to this point remain unresolved," Crunican said. "Despite lots of hard work, BART and its unions have failed to come to an agreement on contract issues that matter to all of us today and into the future."
BART is the nation's fifth-largest rail system and serves more than 400,000 commuters each weekday. BART carries passengers from the farthest reaches of San Francisco's densely populated eastern suburbs to San Francisco International Airport across the bay.
The strike began early Monday after negotiations broke off. Talks resumed Tuesday as political pressure and public pleas to reach a settlement mounted.
BART has said workers from the two unions average about $71,000 in base salary and $11,000 in overtime annually. The workers also pay a flat $92 monthly fee for health insurance.
The unions -- which represent nearly 2,400 train operators, station agents, mechanics, maintenance workers and professional staff -- want a 5 percent raise each year over the next three years.
BART said it is offering an 8 percent salary increase over the next four years as well as reducing the amount of employee contributions it originally requested for pension and medical benefits.
Antonette Bryant, president of one of the unions, said BART is on notice and has 30 days to hammer out a deal.
"We're not going to let them hijack us and the riding public and we are deeply sorry this had to happen," Bryant said.