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The Constitution in 2014: health care's latest challenges
Nearly four years ago, when President Obama signed into law the most ambitious federal health care program in history, the year 2014 was anticipated to be its year of triumph. That was when its most important fixture – the mandate that nearly all individuals must buy health insurance – was to take full effect, assuring that the major changes in medical coverage would be fully financed and health care would become nearly universal.
From the beginning, this Democratic program – it drew not one Republican vote in Congress – has had very energetic critics who were determined to do it in, especially in a constitutional sense. It barely survived the opening challenge: the claim, rejected by the Supreme Court in 2012, that the individual mandate was beyond Congress's powers..
But the unrelenting challenge goes on. And, beyond that, the Affordable Care Act starts the year mired in deep doubt about whether it is a workable scheme, even if it should withstand all constitutional challenges. The frustrations growing out of the flaws in the public's electronic access to the new insurance sign-up arrangements, and out of the cancellation of many existing health policies, led Obama Administration officials into several rounds of tinkering that led many critics to suggest that the flaws were deeply embedded and could never be corrected.
Whether the sign-up process will be working by the time a March deadline arrives may depend, not on the constitutionality of the scheme, but simply upon whether its technology can be made to work.
Meanwhile, the courts will be busy with the new round of legal challenges. Potentially the most significant of these is not technically a constitutional challenge; its outcome turns on the meaning of the language in the health care law. But that has constitutional overtones, because it will require courts to decide whether to adopt a mode of interpretation that gives Congress some leeway in deciding what it meant.
That challenge involves the claim that the subsidies that are a critical facet of the new health care marketplaces, or "exchanges," are simply not available in any state where the state government has refused to set up such a marketplace and the federal government has stepped in to create one on its own.
In other words, in the more than 30 states that have opted out of the exchange arrangement, the federal exchanges that were set up as an alternative could be – if this challenge suceeds -- left without any subsidies to bring in people who cannot afford insurance, but are not poor enough to qualify for the free Medicaid program, whose participation is necessary to secure the economics of the exchange system.
A federal judge is now pondering the argument that the Affordable Care Act mentions subsidies only when a state has created an insurance exchange, and the counter-argument that, whatever the law says specifically, Congress intended that the subsidies be available at all exchanges. The very functioning of the crucial exchange system could depend on the outcome.
Separately, a federal appeals court is now pondering a seemingly long-shot challenge that the entire health care law is invalid because it includes a series of tax measures (including the one that seeks to ensure enforcement of the individual mandate to buy insurance), and thus it should have originated in the House of Representatives, not – as the challengers claim it did – in the Senate.
Given that the legal skirmishes over the law are so intensely fought by both sides, the subsidies issue and the origination clause claim appear likely to reach the Supreme Court, perhaps in 2014.
The Supreme Court, though, is already beginning to explore another constitutional challenge to a key part of the new law: the provision that seeks to assure free access to birth control and other pregnancy-related medical services for all female workers who are covered by a company health plan. That provision has stirred up more than 100 lawsuits across the country, some by religious institutions, some by private businesses or their owners, arguing that the "contraceptive mandate" is a form of abortion promotion, and thus contradicts the beliefs of those who oppose abortion for religious reasons.
The Justices are scheduled to hold a hearing in March on the business side of that challenge. That raises a constitutional question the court has never yet confronted: does a corporation have a religious point of view and a capacity to "exercise" that belief under the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause?
While a Supreme Court decision striking down the so-called "contraceptive mandate" would only nullify that provision, not the remainder of the health care law, that would be a constitutional breakthrough on the opportunity of corporations to challenge other kinds of laws that are claimed to contradict religious preferences.
Whatever the Justices decide on that controversy, their decision is likely to emerge in early summer, just when the 2014 congressional election campaign is beginning to heat up, with the future of the health care law front and center as a campaign issue. A ruling against any part of the new law in that atmosphere would very likely intensify the effort to elect members of Congress who could be counted upon to vote, ultimately, to repeal the entire Affordable Care Act. It was only a coincidence that the court stepped into a new dispute over the Act as a new election approached, but what it decides may well have a political impact.
Constitutionally, the year 2014 is one of deep uncertainty for President Obama's most significant domestic policy initiative.
Lyle Denniston is the National Constitution Center's adviser on constitutional literacy. He has reported on the Supreme Court for 55 years, currently covering it for SCOTUSblog, an online clearinghouse of information about the Supreme Court's work.
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If it's on Netflix you'll find it with our search engine. Search below to get started.
135 m -
Foreign Movies
After the death of her father, Hannah becomes concerned with the strange behavior of her mother. As her mother's troubled childhood is revealed, Hannah realizes how little she ever knew.

subset: commoncrawl


text: George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh's film production company, Section 8, has optioned Midnight Voices, the latest best-selling thriller from out author John Saul. According to Daily Variety, Clooney and Soderbergh will produce the film version of Voices. Saul, who was profiled in the August 28, 2001, issue of The Advocate, is also working on other high-profile projects, including film adaptations of his earlier titles The Manhattan Hunt Club and The Right Hand of Evil as well as what Variety describes as "a couple of TV shows based on original ideas."


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Jewelry and electronics stolen in a Newfane burglary
NEWFANE – A rear sliding glass door was shattered to gain entry to a home in the 7000 block of Dublin Avenue on Monday, according to Niagara County sheriff's deputies.
The 57-year-old homeowner told deputies that sometime between 7:50 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday someone forced their way inside and ransacked the house. She said three laptops, a wireless router and a large amount of jewelry, including five diamond bracelets and a ruby necklace, were stolen. A television was also damaged in the break-in. Loss and damage were listed at $3,700.


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At Gemvara, we believe that the jewelry you wear should be one of a kind, like you. That's why we make each piece to order, one at a time, just the way you want it. Choose green amethyst and white gold or black onyx and rose gold: it's your choice. Mix and match gems and precious metals for a look that's exactly you. It's jewelry for all life's occasions, from a birthday or Mother's Day to your own personal milestones and celebrations. Our Mother's Day gift ideas will touch her heart and make this day something she'll always remember. Gemvara uses only the highest quality materials to craft your october birthstone pink gemstone knot jewelry design with meticulous attention to detail. Our precious metals are recycled or responsibly mined. October's birthstones are opal and tourmaline, gems that span the rainbow. Choose flame-colored fire opal, soft rosy pink tourmaline, or verdant green tourmaline: there's an October birthstone for every mood. Our wide selection of october birthstone pink gemstone knot jewelry by Randy Dixon, Gemvara Essentials, Carl Ansley, and other talented designers means you can find jewelry that's exactly your style. You can also shop by style, choosing our Customer Favorite, Key, or Commitment Collections. Our Love Knot jewelry designs are a stylish way to express what matters most. Gemvara's fine quality october birthstone pink gemstone knot jewelry is designed to be passed down for generations to come, crafted by hand in the United States.
We can help right away. Chat with a jewelry expert now!


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The city of Washington plans to seek bids soon on concrete repair work for the coming fiscal year.
Over the last 19 years, the city has spent about $750,000 on projects to eliminate trip hazards on sidewalks, according to City Engineer Dan Boyce.
The 2012-13 program calls for spending close to $83,000 to repair and replace deteriorated sections of sidewalks, curb and gutter and driveways.
A schedule of areas slated for repairs was presented to the city council last week. It was unanimously approved.
The schedule includes 9,520 square feet of sidewalk, 336 lineal feet of vertical curb and gutter, 546 square feet of driveways and one handicap ramp.
Boyce noted that the engineering staff focuses first on "severely deteriorated" areas for repairs.
Originally, the city shared in the cost of repair work with the adjoining property owners. Now, the cost is paid out of the half-cent transportation sales tax fund.
Repair projects are proposed along the following streets: East Fifth Street, West Fifth Street, Cedar Street, West Fourth Street, West Third Street and High Street.
The new city budget, approved last month, has $100,000 earmarked for sidewalk and curb and gutter repairs.
Boyce told council members to contact his office if they have other repair work to be considered for inclusion in the program.


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My Nonprofit Reviews
Review for Deborah Hospital Foundation, Browns Mills, NJ, USA
I have been at Deborah on two occsions, once for a second opinion--Deborah was extremely helpful, but my local cardiologist had not sent all of the requested information ,which made it more difficult for the doctor at Deborah to give a full evaluation. On the second occasion I went for a periodic workup and found the hospital to be most amazing--the cleanliness, friendliness and timeliness with which they performed the procdeures that were scheduled. It was actually a pleasure to be there.
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New England Clam Chowder
New Englanders know that generous quantities of cream and fresh clams are key to the best chowders. Hancock Gourmet's recipe delivers on both fronts: it's packed with tender Maine clams and potatoes and smoothed out with a lively balance of butter and cream. The chowder includes two in-shell whole clams for classic presentation. Gently heat the soup and serve with oyster crackers or a warm baguette for a wonderful New England-inspired dinner.
- 32 oz. (serves 4–6 as an appetizer; 2–3 as an entrée).
- Shipped frozen.
- Made in USA.
Use & Care
Receiving Instructions
- This clam chowder is shipped frozen with dry ice. Please take care not to touch the dry ice with bare hands.
- Upon receipt, refrigerate or freeze immediately.
- The chowder will keep unopened in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, and for up to 3 months frozen.
- Thaw the clam chowder in the refrigerator overnight.
- In a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat, warm the chowder, stirring occasionally, until it is steaming and barely simmering at the edges. Do not allow it to boil. Serve immediately.
- Water, potatoes, cream, clams, onions, flour (wheat, barley, niacin,iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), butter (cream, salt), fish base (fish stock, yeast extract, potato flour, whey, corn oil), soybean oil, clam juice, salt, sugar, garlic, black pepper. Contains: milk, shellfish (clam), fish, wheat, soy.
- Topped with 2 clams in the shell.
Shipping Information
Please allow up to two weeks for processing and delivery of perishable items, which are shipped two-day delivery to ensure freshness. Perishable items are not eligible for rush shipping.
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The shipping rate varies depending on your order total and shipping destination. View Shipping Options and Charges.
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At Williams Sonoma, we take great pride in the quality and craftsmanship of our products. Attention to design, materials, safety and construction are our priority. Upon receipt, please inspect your purchase and notify us of any damage; we will arrange for a prompt replacement.
We cannot accept returns on monogrammed, personalized, special-order items, custom upholstery, food, items shipped direct from the vendor, or on items damaged through normal wear and tear. Final sale items ending in .97 or .99 cannot be returned. View Full Returns Policy.
New England Clam Chowder
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UPDATE: ProgressNow Colorado issues statement pointing to Colorado Republican candidates who are Climate Change deniers:
"In a time when Republicans in Congress are determined to sit on their hands and do nothing for the rest of the year, President Obama's leadership on this issue is critical," said ProgressNow Colorado Executive Director Amy Runyon-Harms. "Conservatives in Colorado are not only unwilling to cooperate on addressing significant environmental concerns – they refuse to even acknowledge Climate Change as a serious problem."
According to FOX 31 Denver, the EPA estimates that reducing emissions will help prevent as many as 6,600 premature deaths and 150,000 asthma attacks in children. President Obama's Executive Order gives states until June 30, 2016, to submit statewide carbon reduction plans. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy says the plan will actually reduce the average electric bill in the United States by 8 percent.
"Our two leading candidates for the Republican nomination for Governor—Tom Tancredo and Bob Beauprez—have been outspoken in their belief that Climate Change is not worth their attention," said Runyon-Harms (Beauprez has called it a "hoax,"[1] and Tancredo has said the issue is 'bull****'[2]). "Meanwhile, Coloradans continue to experience destructive wildfires, unprecedented flooding, and severe weather patterns that are unlike anything I've ever seen in our state. It doesn't take a scientist to see the changes in Colorado and worry about long-term climate problems."
As CNN Reports:
An Environmental Protection Agency proposal announced Monday would cut carbon emissions from power plants by 30%.
"Nationwide, by 2030, this rule would achieve CO2 emission reductions from the power sector of approximately 30 percent from CO2 emission levels in 2005," the proposed regulation says. "This goal is achievable because innovations in the production, distribution and use of electricity are already making the power sector more efficient and sustainable while maintaining an affordable, reliable and diverse energy mix."
The EPA says the regulation will also "reduce pollutants that contribute to the soot and smog that make people sick by over 25 percent." The agency projects the reductions will avoid 2,700 to 6,600 premature deaths and 140,000 to 150,000 asthma attacks in children.
States will have a variety of options to meet the goal, including improving energy efficiency both inside and outside plants, changing how long the plants operate each day, and increasing the amount of power derived in other ways through clean energy.
"As president, and as a parent, I refuse to condemn our children to a planet that's beyond fixing," Obama said in his weekly address Saturday.
There's nothing radical about proposing more aggressive goals for reducing carbon emissions, though we don't expect critics among Republicans and the oil & gas industry to hold their respective tongues here. Congressman Cory Gardner, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, has long carried
water oil for the oil and gas industry and been an outspoken Climate Change denier.
In the race for Governor, all four Republican candidates have been consistently in denial about Climate Change in general. As Colorado Pols first reported in March, Bob Beauprez believes that Climate Change/Global Warming is "at best a grossly overhyped issue and at worst a complete hoax foisted on most of the world." Fellow Gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo spoke for the entire Republican Party in 2009 when he said that the GOP position is that Climate Change is "bullshit."


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With California's presidential primary less than a month away, early voters may play an important role in deciding their parties' nominees.
Some analysts say that as many as half of the state's voters will cast their ballots by mail rather than at the polling place. Those voters began receiving their ballots Monday and are expected to begin mailing them back soon.
In San Diego County, about 327,000 people were registered as "absentee" voters in November 2006, according to the secretary of state. There are about 1.2 million registered voters in the county, according to the San Diego County registrar of voters.
Absentee voters are important because they tend to have higher participation rates and they make a potentially crucial voting block this primary election, said Tim Hodson, executive director of the Center for California Studies at California State Sacramento.
"It's more predictable," Hodson said of the voting block. "If you identify an absentee voter and you get him to vote early, you don't have to walk him to the polls, he's done."
There are other benefits to campaigns with absentee voters, Hodson said. Their application for a mail-in ballot is public record and can be easily targeted by campaigns.
That's important because of the compressed presidential primary schedule, which began in New Hampshire on Tuesday and continues on Feb. 5, a date also known as Super Tuesday when California and about 20 other states will hold primaries.
Getting to those early voters has become key to most leading candidates.
Campaigns that are doing well say mail-in voters could help them to hold on to their momentum from earlier states. Others say they want to lock in votes before they can be won over by other candidates.
"It's a huge slice of the primary vote," said Debbie Mesloh, aspokeswoman for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. "They are a crucialcomponent for any candidate."
Mesloh said the Obama campaign has placed more than 300,000 calls to potential voters in California trying to identify absentee voters. She said the senator is hoping to build on his victory in Iowa and his strong showing in New Hampshire.
On the other hand, Clinton supporters say they want to lock in her lead in California. A Field Poll taken in December reported that Clinton led Obama, 36 percent to 22 percent, but the survey was taken before the Iowa caucus and it showed a narrower lead than an earlier poll.
"Because of the changes, I think there will be more of an urgency to get those people (who support Clinton) to vote early," said Francine Busby, a former Democratic candidate for the 50th Congressional District seat who is now an organizer with the Clinton campaign.
California could be equally important for Republican candidates who are locked in an even tighter race, Hodson said.
Well-funded candidates, such as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, have focused much of their campaigns on California and other large states as a substitute for battles in Iowa and other early state elections.
The advantage could go to those campaigns that have better organizations in California because by the time the candidates get here to campaign, many of those mail-in ballots may be already cast, Hodson said.
"You need to start getting your committed voters to vote early," he said. "That's why the advantage goes to those who have the resources."
The number of absentee voters exploded in California after the mid-1970s when the law was changed to make it easier for people to register to vote by mail, Hodson said. At the time, people needed to prove they were too sick to go to the polls or out of the country to be given the opportunity to mail in their ballot, he said.
Since 1992, the number of Californians registered as absentee voters has increased from about 88,000 to nearly 4 million in November 2006, according to the secretary of state.
Of the nearly 9 million votes cast in the last statewide election in November 2006, 41 percent were vote-by-mail ballots, according to state figures.
- Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or email@example.com .


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I have a newbie question...I'm backing up an original DVD9 and I ripped it twice, with different results.
The first time I just copied and pasted the VIDEO_TS folder from the DVD and pasted it onto my hard drive. The second time I used DVDFab HD Decrypter and selected FULL DISC.
I expected to have the same number of files, and same size folders, but instead the folder which I copied and pasted had 7 VOBs (like the original DVD), while the one ripped using DVDFab HD Decrypter had only 6 VOBs. The VIDEO_TS folder I copied and pasted was 7.04GBs in size, while the one ripped using DVDFab was only 6.15GBs - that's a big difference!
Any ideas why this might have happened? Is the difference of almost one gig something to do with DVDFab removing encryption?
Screenshots attached.
Thanks in advance
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DVDFab HD Decrypter doesn't just remove the encryption but other things related to copy protection, such as unreferenced video. That's my guess as to what happened here. It's not uncommon to have half an hour or more of useless black screen which serves only to take up space.
But I'm not entirely sure what you mean by 'I'm backing up an original DVD9'. An original retail DVD (like of a Hollywood movie), or an original DVD of material you created yourself?
Last edited by manono; 19th Mar 2014 at 05:09.
If this were/is an original Hollywood movie, you would find out soon enough the difference between Copy&Paste vs. DVDFabHDDecrypter ripping: the C&P files would be encrypted and unwatchable (barring some kind of post-rip decryption, which I'm not sure is possible).
DVDShrink into over compressing the main movie because they don't understand that the unreferenced video is useless so they just compress everything, but that is just a guess. It's also possible that DVDShrink is smart enough to ignore unreferenced video. I truly don't know what it does in such cases.
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I have been prescribed topamax for my migraines. I asked the dr and pharmacists both how this is supposed to help migraines but dont really understand thier explaination.What it the mechanism that helps?Also I have been told to take this at bedtime so for anyone using this are there lingering side effects in the morning as well? thanks:eek:
Is Topamax effective for migraines?
- Asked
- 5 May 2007 by SOMEWHAT_DAMAGED
- Active
- 2 Oct 2017
- Topics
- topamax, migraine
Responses (12)
I was a chronic migraine sufferer! I have been on Topamax for 2yrs now and have been migraine free! That is why I joined this board-today... my concern is that I will have to be on the medication for the rest of my life! I swear by this medicine. My migraines were horrible!! Topamax has kept me migraine free now! I take it twice a day..morning and night. I do notice weight loss with it though. Small price to pay for relief.
Hi I also am a chronic sufferer of migraines and have been 4 40 years have just started taking topomax what dose r u on? They have just told me to split mine to twice rather than once
I took topamax for about a year, and yes it definitely helped my everyday headaches, that were bad. I do not suffer from migraines, but cluster headaches. I believe it works with the blood flow in the brain, and other mechanisms. The major problem I had with it with the brain fog. I could not think,speak,spell, or put words together effectively like I used too. I am just getting back to the hang of things now, slowly, but steady. I taped off of 100mg daily..over 2 weeks..This is day 2 without any topamax, and I must say, I feel a whole lot sharper. I will have to see if I can stay off this, nothing is guaranteed, headaches might come back. If a person has a serious problem with migraines, or headaches, I would recommend topamax. Don't take so much, that it is an overkill. The more I read, the more I see people taking way too much. Every case is different, everyone is different, but please keep that in mind. A person starts out slowly...
see if 75mg daily or 100mg daily works for awhile before you up it... It will take a couple weeks, to really know, so give it time. Other side effects are weight loss, soda tastes like ... lethargic and sometimes alittle depression, but not everyone. I see these things more now then when I was taking topamax. I might have to go back on it... we will see... People who suffer from headaches will do just about anything to get relief, and this did work for me... My headaches were first stress... then rebound headaches,,I kept taking too much OTC medicine, which is really bad. For any of you taking too much advil, tylenol, or other over the counter pills daily... Be careful..What I went through getting off of ibrophphen was absurd. They recommened to be hospitalized, and I thought, no way... I now see why... It hurts really bad to all of a sudden stop taking headache medicine, when your brain is so used to it... It causes more headaches. Hence,,rebound headaches for me. Made mine worse is that I took fioricet on top of that, which is a barbituiate.(sp) I kept taking them, not realizing I was making my situation worse. Learn from my mistakes..Don't overdo, you pay for that...
I have read many posts on topamax. Seems to me it is better handled by someone older then 25 or so... not saying it won't work on a 20 year old, but i saw many complaints in that age group... Read many posts to get a good grip on this medicine... Remember..Dr's are usually trying to do what is best, but not all of them. you need to do your own homework. The doctor is not taking this pill, you are... educate yourself, and slow and steady... If you take it and decide its not for you... taper slowly off... seriously...
I will post more as time goes on if I have to go back on topamax or not.. Any questions,,feel free to send... God Bless... Keep the Faith...
I was taking Topamax for about 5 years and I have no insurance and was wondering if I could get any help in filling my perscriptions.
I've been taking Topamax for migranes for 6 years & it works.I have them from time to time but i have imatrex on hand.It usualy happens from heat or stress but i don't have them every day.I'm on other bipolar meds so i don't lose weight.
I take this for migranes,i don't know how it works.It was created for epalepsy but i use to have migranes days on end every week.Now i might have 1 or 2 a month.I think as you age they lessen.My girl freind is 70 now & she stopped having them years ago.Since i've been reading about the pill for bipolar i've been uping the dose to get rid of the other pills i take for bipolar.It seems to be working & i've got rid of 3 doses of other pills.I'm a phamacy tech but i'm working with my doctor.I really feel that people won't have to take the pill forever.I think in the years your bodys hormones have alot to do with it.Both times when i was pregnaut i never had 1 migrane in the whole 9 months.I hope this helpped you.
Be careful with long term Topamax. I have been on 200 mg for a few years and I am now having eye problems. Eye twitching and pain and they tell me that yes that can happen and it can be permanent. Thanks, now you tell me.
My doctor put me on Effexor XR for my migraines. I am on the lowest dosage 37.5 mg and take it every night at the same time (7 p.m.). After 4 days of being on this medicine, I noticed that each day I felt more tired, and not very lucid at all. Actually, this medicine caused me to black out for about 5 hours on Saturday. Thank goodness I was with my family when it happened. However, when I came to, I literally felt like a million bucks. I felt better than I have in several years. I am not sure what happened, but I cannot take the risk of this happening to me randomly. This is the reason I am on this blog now. I am trying to research a preventative medicine for migraines that I'm hoping has less side effects and that will work. As you all know, your quality of life is not the same when you constantly cannot be around bright lights, loud noises, or even people for that matter. I want to start having more than 4 days in a month where I can function without a headache or migraine.
I'm talking to my doctor about Topamax, I really hope this works. Next step may be to see a Neurologist and look into that botox for migraines. Hoping that is the last result. Any information or recommendations would be appreciated.
I suffered with migraines for over 30 years before starting topamax. Then once I started taking it "as directed" I was feeling too brain fogged to function. I worked with my doctor to slowly lower my dose to one that is still effective for my migraines AND I can function every day. So I now take 50mg a day. I still have the occasional (maybe one every couple of months) migraine but nothing like I used to have. Very worth it in my book!
I've been on beta blocker/ antidepressant for years, no longer working as well, the stupid insurance will also only give me 3 pills of Zolmatriptian at a time which is like $95 for 9 pills
I regret to say that Topomax is useless. I have found that for me so far the only thing that I have found is Imitrex Stat with Amerge. I know that I am committing grievous error in reporting this to the group but I have had migraine so bad that I have taken two needles; then the darkened room, cool, and without sound. Some of these episodes have been known to go on for 3-4 days. My Doc is aware.
I am NOT a medical professional. The way I understand it is Topamax is a seizure med and it calms the blood vessel activity in my brain. My migraines are most likely caused by a combination of blood vessels that get too much stimulation and an anuerysm that was recently discovered. Which Topamax helps with as well. I take a pretty large dose and like you, I take full dose at night. My only bothersome side effects are numbness/tingling in feet and hands and loss of energy in the evening. I can live with the tingling. But recently let the nuerologist know that the energy level was too much to bear and he replaced part of the Topamax with a Calcium Channel Blocker. I am still in the tranisition process, but so far I am regaining some energy and not seeing an increase in headache frequency. So I am pleased. Topamax has been a successful drug treatment for my headaches. I have taken it for over 2 years and seen a dramatic decrease in my headaches from 2 a week to less than 2 a month.
Best Wishes to you.
Wow! I had a headache the other day that wouldn't go away for 21 hours without Chlorpromazine an anti-psychotic drug given to me at ER. Have you ever heard of this as a form of treatment?? I am so sorry for you to have experienced these type of headaches 2 times a week. Life cannot go on like that, you would have no quality left. I experienced a vague/mild headache for 5 days afterwards. And told they don't think it was a migraine, how do they know for certain, as this was the first time I'd experienced this?. I don't think they treated me properly when presenting to ER, I'm confused why they chose this approach. Do you know anything about this medicine being used?
Thanks Heidihoe
As with migraines, what works with one is a dud with another migraine sufferer.
For some, Topamax works wonders. It comes with a possibility of many side effects. My wife took it for a year or so. But it just didn't help her migraines. But she had the side effects. One being losing weight.
She loved that one, but she only weights a hundred lbs. She had the lost of words, and other side effects that were scary.And yes, she had the lasting effects in the morning(zombie)
If you don't see some relief in 3 or 4 months I would tell the Doctor. It doesn't take forever to see the results of it. If it helps, and you have side effects that are hard to tolerate talk to your Doctor about it.
The Doctor just gave you an answer he read on drugs probably. Truth was ,he just didn't know. He just knew that it does help many with migraines.
It's not clearly understood how Topamax helps migraines, but it was found by accident, such as botox, and many other medicines that are used to treat many conditions.
People took medicines for certain conditions, and found out their migraines were helped. Then guess what happened? Every headache Doctor passed it on to their patients.
Topamax is given for seizures, cluster headaches, migraine prevention, bulimia, and obesity (hence the weight loss) and several other conditions.
Topamax inhibits nerve transmission in the brain, and nervous system by blocking sodium channels, and the neurotransmitter glutamate. Nerve endings get inflamed during a migraine attack. And for some unknown reason that is the reason it does help many people.
Wishing all migraine sufferers a pain free day.
Sorry, I think I just accidentally down-voted this comment. Meant to give it a +1
I am in my 6th week of taking it to treat my migraines, and am at 100mg. I take 50mg at night, and 50mg in the morning. I do not notice any drastic fatigue during the day. But I also have had severe insomnia for years, and thanks to this medication, I am sleeping 2-3 more hours per night than I have in years, so that may have something to do with lack of fatigue for me!
As far as the mechanism it affects, my understanding is that is works to calm overexcited nerve cells in the brain. Whatever it is, it seems to be working for me. I do have all the common side effects listed, but they pale in comparison to the pain I was dealing with, so as far as I am concerned, they are worth it. But that is just my opinion, and a personal decision that everyone has to make individually. I hope that it offers you some relief from you pain! I know it has for me! Living with the terrible pain of migraines is so draining.
it has worked after trying everthing on the market, but seeing a neoropsychiatritst, and the haed aches arec a suspected brain injury, it took about 3 weeks to work, and i was in cronic pain. may have saved my life, it was a guess by mydoc but he sad it balances the electrical imulces in the brain keeping them even. i have mental ilness to so im on a cocktail of stuff and will sort through with specalist.
I've been taking Topomax for over a year now. I started out on 100 mg and am now on 150 mg. 50 mg in am and 100 at night. If you can find an alternative to this med. please do. This drug has effected my memory, concentration, and causes fatigue. At first it was a God send. It worked. But I built up a resistance to it. So Dr. increases dosage. All along little side effects, not so bothersome, not compared to the debilitating migraines. Now, I have anxiety, insomnia, personality changes. The drug will effect you the next morning. Maybe not at first, but it will build up in your system. Be careful. As soon as you notice side effects, call your Dr. to get off it. Good Luck!
Well, I learned of this med by my patient whose been on it since it first came out, she said she's had no side effects and it changed her life completely . I know it effects everyone differently, but I'm talking to my neurologist tomorrow because the beta blocker/ antidepressant isn't working as well anymore. My only concefn is the side effects of speech and memory , I'm a medtect and need my brain !
I am not a medical professional but suffer migraines at least weekly. Topamax does not work for me, as a matter of fact it actually has an averse effect - it makes me extremely anxious. So much so that I pace the room after it is given. Compazine has the same effect on me. I have found that these two medications along with stadol is a favorite for ER's to give during an episode. So far I have found that solmedrol works extremely well for me, ask about it.
It took a while, but Topamax decreased my occurrence of migraine from 4-5 a month lasting 3-4 days down to one very horrible menstrual migraine lasting about as long... I was on the drug for some time before it washed away my other migraines... I have yet been able to get that menstrual migraine under control... Imitrex injections fail... :o( So I have been really happy with the Topamax... the side effect of weight control isn't too shabby either... ;)
oh... one very important thing is when this drug builds in your system... if you miss a dose you can get into pretty bad shape really fast!!! I ran out one time and was a mess... Another time I was running low and merely went from 200 to 150mg a night just to try to make it last me... by the time I got my refill I was nearly having a panic attack!!! Thought I could come through my own skin... insomnia... So be v ery careful DO NOT run out of this medication... Also kinda scares that if they ever want to take me off of it, it will be a miserable ride!!!
I take 50mg 3 times a day and the last is before bed and I have no problems in the morning. I like it as there is no after affect and I have maybe 1 migraine every three months and they are not real bad but once you are on this don't go off as your migraines will come back and could be real bad. I also use this for pain and I have lost weight with it too.
After trying sanomigran, inderal, propranolol and most recently amitriptyline (which has made me gain crazy weight) none have managed to control my daily headaches or frequent migraine attacks. My gp has referred me to a neurologist, next move looking to be topamax. I feel really scared after reading through the various forums on this medicine and its side effects, but am at the point where i would try anything for relief. I would welcome positive feedback to help me think that this may be the one that gives me a hope! Thx
I have been taking Topamax for the past 4 years for migraine prevention. 75mg a day kept the headaches at bay but gave me side effects (tingly feet/hands and numb feet/hands) that got so bad my doc lowered the dose to 50mg a day. I had no side effects on that dosage but it also didn't get rid of the headaches. SO needless to say I did not have a bad experience with Topamax but am at a point where I need something else as it no longer helps me. Doc is trying different meds now to see what sticks. Propranolol worked but gave me TERRIBLE side effects so now I am trying Keppra. Coming from someone who has suffered from migraines since I was 2 years old and been hospitalized from them numerous times, I can tell you that finding the right medication is a MUST!
i still have headachke and not puting words together , not being happy with not being told why i was put on the meds with out doing my own research. and no one told me the most important part and that was MAYBE DRIVING ON THIS MEDICATION WAS ADVISED FOR EVERYONE ! Why doesnt any one talk about that ? i know i have been only taking it four on 2 weeks but i think this is something any doctor should advise evryone !
I had been suffering with headaches everyday and they kept getting worse as the day went on. I researched headache triggers and eliminated artificial sweeteners completely from my diet. I was using equal and aspartame in coffee, then crystal light throughout the day. I was literally Feeding and fuelling the headache!!! I have Bipolar and really didn't want to even try any medication, fortunately I found 1 trigger... I encourage headache sufferers to read about 'triggers' in your everyday diet/ additives... I wish you all the best... Hope this helps
Further Information
- Topamax Information for Consumers
- Topamax Information for Healthcare Professionals (includes dosage details)
- Side Effects of Topamax (detailed)
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Mardi Gras Party Cute Digital Clipart, Mardi Gras Clip art, Commercial Use Clip Art, New Orleans, bourbon street, fleur de lis graphics
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Head to New Orleans and Celebrate! This set of Mardi Gras graphics comes with 15 cliparts including: a King Crown, an alligator with a crown, 2 sets of beads, a comedy mask set, a jester, 2 curling filgrees, 6 fleur de lis, and a mardi gra feathered mask.
Graphics are created in vector image software and are saved at High Quality 300 dpi Resolution.
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-Graphics will be 7 inches at their tallest or widest point.
Formats Included:
-High Resolution JPG with White Background
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Artwork is NOT available for Resale, Reproduction, or Redistribution of any kind.
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All Original Artwork and Rights are © 2013 Jessica Weible Illustrations LLC.
Keywords: cute, mardi gras clipart, mardi gras, party, bourbon street, new orleans, party beads, joker, mask, fluer de lis, drama mask, comedy tragedy mask, alligator, gator, clipart, clip art, illustrations, vector, graphics


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Hip Hop uh uh Vocals
This is a lead line used quite often in rap/hip hop songs. I used the patch "Hip Hop Lead" for ...
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Final: Royals 5, Red Sox 4
Final: Royals 5, Red Sox 4: Despite a strong debut from Allen Webster, the Sox fall in the second game of their doubleheader with the Royals, 5-4.
Top of the 10th, Royals 5, Red Sox 4: The Sox are in a hole going into their half of the 10th thanks to Andrew Bailey's two-out, four-pitch, bases-loaded walk to Lorenzo Cain.
Bottom of the ninth, Red Sox 4, Royals 4: Mike Napoli, who has three huge hits already, came to the plate with two on and two out and hit another loud, tall fly ball, but ultimately it fell in Lorenzo Cain's glove in center.
The Sox will play extra's for the second time this season. It's the first time this year that the Royals will need more than nine.
Bottom of the eighth, Red Sox 4, Royals 4: Those screeches as Billy Butler's two-out laser blazed over the Wall? That was Koji Uehara's streaks of 18.1 scoreless innings and 22 scoreless coming to an end.
Butler, who dotted the wall in Game 1 for a single, did more damage, turning on Uehara's fastball for his third home run of the season.
Top of the seventh, Red Sox 4, Royals 3: After six innings, Allen Webster's night ends right on schedule at 84 pitches. He gave up three runs (two earned) struck out five and is in line for the win with Junichi Tazawa on in relief.
Bottom of the fifth, Red Sox 4, Royals 3: Mike Napoli keeps it going with an RBI single to put the Sox back up. It gives him a home run, a double and a single for the night. It's his 38th career three-hit game.
So, obviously about that triple?
He's got seven of them in his eight-year career. One, of course, came this season against the Indians.
Last year, he actually hit two in the same season. Weirdly, they were on consecutive days (May 10 and 11).
Top of the fifth, Red Sox 3, Royals 1: The Royals had their way with Webster's fastball. First George Kottaras took him for a ride. Then, after Webster struck out Elliot Johnson, Alex Gordon sent one to the Monster seats.
Still, Webster's been solid. The damage done by the home runs was minimal. He's struck out five over five innings and he's kept the Sox in the game.
Bottom of the fourth, Red Sox 3, Royals 1: Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain couldn't have been more visibly upset after some confusion with left fielder Alex Gordon turned a routine Mike Carp fly ball into a "Not Top Play." But the consolation was that the Sox weren't able to capitalize.
Consecutive groundouts by David Ross and Pedro Ciriaco left Carp stranded at third and made Gordon's error irrelevant.
Bottom of the third, Red Sox 3, Royals 1: Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a leadoff double.
When Dustin Pedroia drove him in with a one-out single, that made it seven straight games with a run scored for Ellsbury.
Mike Napoli sent another golden arch out to center for a double, but ended up in an inning ending 4-2-5-2-6 pickle.
Bottom of the second, Red Sox 2, Royals 1: Mike Napoli tatted 2-and-1 slider over the Wall and to the parking deck across Lansdowne to knot the game up.
The Sox took the lead when Mike "All He Hits Is Doubles" Carp's served up his usual and drove in Jarrod Saltalamacchia with a two-bagger. Of Carp's five hits this season, three are doubles.
Top of the second, Royals 1, Red Sox 0: Aside from Alex Gordon's double and Jeff Francoeur's pop up to second, it's been all ground balls and strikeouts for Allen Webster.
He's at 27 pitches. In his two starts for Pawtucket this season, threw 85 and 84 pitches.
Top of the first, Royals 1, Red Sox 0: Pedro Ciriaco committed the first error by a Red Spx infielder this season and it was costly. After making a diving stop on Alcides Escobars, he came up to make a tough throw but sailed it into the Sox's dugout.
Alex Gordon, who led the game off with a double, was allowed to score on the error, giving the Royals another early lead.
The Sox are 2-5 when opponents score first.
Pregame: The Sox dropped the first game of today's twinbill and will try to bounce back with 23-year-old Allen Webster on the mound.
Even though it's spot duty, there's a a fair amount of anticipation around this start with Webster being arguably the best pitching prospect in the Sox system.
Sox starters have been solid all year, and in a pinch (and with an extra roster spot), the Sox decided this was the time to give Webster his chance.
Enjoy the game. Feel free to comment.


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Madison Tech edges UW-Rock in junior college tourney
The Rattlers finished the season at 12-2-1, suffering both losses in tournament play. UW-Rock lost 2-1 to UW-Fox Valley in the Wisconsin Collegiate Conference tournament title game last Saturday.
MATC plays UW-Fox Valley for the WJCAA title on Saturday.
MATC scored all three goals within a six-minute period in the first half. Kelby Thomas got the first goal at 22 minutes. Dan Bednarczyk made it 2-0 at 25:00, and Thomas scored at 28 minutes.
�All three goals were off rebounds,� UW-Rock coach Grant McNall said. �We made the initial good play, but we couldn�t follow it up with another one.��
McNall lamented his team�s two losses.
�It�s unfortunate this team has to finish with two losses,� McNall said. �After 12 wins, it�s those two losses that are going to stick with us.��
Madison Tech 3 0�3
UW-Rock County 0 0�0
First half
MATC�Kelby Thomas (Dan Bednarczyk), 22:00. MATC�Bednarczyk (Marcus Olenburg), 25:00. MATC�Thomas (Nick Russell), 28:00.
Saves�Tyler Smith (MATC), 7. Dominic Amato (UW-R) 8.
Last updated: 2:25 pm Thursday, December 20, 2012


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The La General Hospital in Accra has been forced to convert its Out Patient Department (OPD) into a cholera unit as high number cases of the illness overwhelms the hospital.
However, the move is not helping the situation.
Health officials at the hospital are turning away patients due to lack of space to attend to the more than 170 cases of the contagious cholera disease.
Five people have so far died from the disease at the hospital in one week.
Joy News' Michaela Anderson, who visited the hospital Tuesday, said patients who do not want to go home have been waiting outside the OPD in the hope of being recalled.
Administrator at the hospital, Philip Afeti Korto, told Joy News the facility is doing its best to contain the situation.
'We have received about 171 cases as at today [Tuesday] from the time it startedabout a week or two ago. The cases are coming I think from Teshie, Nungua and La communities', said Mr Korto.
He said some of the cholera cases come as first point of call cases, while others are referrals from other hospitals.
Michaela reports that a number of patients were lying on the benches, others on their beds with drips on them as dozens of doctors flood the OPD to attend to them.
Mr Korto says his hospital is on top of the issue.
'We are managing with the resources that we have. And I don't think that the situation is [beyond control]', he assured.
He however advised the public to observe personal hygiene practices by washing their hands frequently, and abstain from eating cold foods.
Cholera is an acute diarrhoea illness caused by bacteria called 'Vibrio cholera'.
The illness can result in a profound and rapidly progressive dehydration and death. An untreated person may produce 10-20 litres of faecal matter a day with fatal results.
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Senator Lavalle Calls for Repeal of Mta Tax and Speaks Out Against East End Service Cuts
"The MTA payroll tax is unfair on its face and should be repealed," said Senator Kenneth P. LaValle. "Simply put, the MTA's fiscal problems cannot and should not be shouldered by suburban businesses that are already shortchanged by unfair MTA budget allocations and are struggling to keep their heads above water in a bad economy.
"The MTA payroll tax is a job-killing tax that hurts businesses in suburban areas of the state, drives away jobs, and forces localities to increase property taxes. Now, in addition to creating an additional tax burden for our businesses and residents, the MTA wants to cut the little service we have on Eastern Long Island.
"I find it outrageous that it took Governor Paterson until February 2010 to acknowledge that the businesses on Long Island and other suburbs of the state should have been consulted before he approved the MTA bailout plan. Instead, in May 2009 the Senate Democrats praised the bailout as 'the right plan at the right time.' (Senator Bill Perkins, Chair of the Senate Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions.) And, even with the bailout, the MTA is reportedly facing a new $400 million deficit for 2010.
"The Governor's latest proposal is to reduce the MTA payroll tax for suburban employers to 17 cents per $100 and raise the minimum income requirement from $10,000 to $100,000. This plan doesn't go far enough, especially in a region that is largely under served.
"The MTA needs to be stopped in its tracks. They have demonstrated poor fiscal judgment and a lack of accountability. This crisis provides an opportunity to look at how an authority that was formed in the 1950s should be meeting the needs of suburban communities in the 21st century.
"I have sponsored a measure that calls for the repeal of the MTA payroll tax in the Town of Brookhaven and the Peconic Bay Region. In addition, I have sponsored legislation in the Senate that would allow the public to consider the creation of the Peconic Bay Regional Transportation Authority to replace the MTA.
"East End residents are angry. They are paying this tax under protest and will not sit by idly waiting for another financial hit. The time has come for the MTA to realize that they must show greater respect to eastern Long Island."


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Guest blog by Ruud De Jonge
The world of employment is changing. There is a huge trend towards contractor-based relationships, where employers use teams or individuals for specific projects or timescales.
In the IT sector alone, our research shows that the percentage of contractors within the workforce in the UK & Ireland has increased from just over 8% to 29% in two years. Other research suggests that contractors could represent as much as 60 - 70% by 2020.
Clearly, the world of work as we know it is changing fast.
But, for many employers and contractors, finding one another can be difficult and time-consuming. Sure, recruitment agencies or advertising can help, but that can be expensive and often isn't targeted enough: many contractor roles are very specific, so while on the face of it three hundred candidates may be suitable, the reality may be that only three fit the criteria. Filtering candidates is frustrating if you are trying to build up a team very quickly.
On the other hand, there are a lot of contractors out there struggling to find projects. Even in a buoyant market, contractors can at times struggle to find projects and this can be heightened in a challenging job market with many people out of work, is something that has to be addressed.
This is what gave me the idea for RoleConnect, based on my experience first as an IT contractor for 10 years and then as the Chief Technology Officer for a major Irish company. I could see that there had to be a better way to 'matchmake' employers and contractors. We sometimes call it 'speed-dating' for employers and contractors, so that they can very quickly make up their minds about each other.
Direct relationship
Cloud-based RoleConnect creates a direct relationship between prospective contractors and employers and, most importantly, the depth of information is very rich. Immediately, employers can see not just a contractor's experience, but their availability, their proximity and their rates. This is the kind of information that wouldn't normally be available on a more public skills-matching site and saves a lot of time spent filtering candidates.
Other cool features include a networking feature, where an employer can see that a contractor also has ex-colleagues who could also form part of a team. Contractors can also use the site to go through background screening (essential for many public sector jobs) and proficiency testing (for instance, to show that they are up-to-speed in a particular technology).
Cloud competency
When I first started planning the IT infrastructure for RoleConnect, it quickly became obvious that we'd need a lot of servers to make this a scalable service able to operate in different countries. That was going to take a long time and be expensive. Then Microsoft launched Azure and it was the obvious solution for us: not only could we avoid building our own IT infrastructure, the service can scale as we grow. The support we've had from the Microsoft team in Ireland has been great: being part of the BizSpark program has meant we haven't had to spend lots of money on software licences, as well as giving us considerable support, networking and market visibility. I'm not sure that we could have launched RoleConnect so quickly, so successfully if we'd gone with another technology vendor.
RoleConnect's beta site has attracted thousands of users in just a few months and will be going live in the first quarter of 2012. We've also attracted quite a few employers – from large organisations to quite small – with more joining us all the time. Apart from IT, other industries we are looking at include construction, marketing, accounting and legal.
As we all know all too well, we have a jobs crisis in much of Europe, with people struggling to find employment. Smarter, faster matching of employers with potential employees may not be the answer to the jobs shortage, but it at least helps to make the most of what is available.


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So we have come to the end of week one of the government shut down with no end in sight. I do not usually concern myself with following the details of political maneuvering since much of it is posturing and lacking any substantive content. It is usually Kabuki theater designed to distract the public while secret deals are made behind the scenes. But this conflict seems genuine and I have been curious about what will bring the shut down to an end because of course it must at some point.
The current positions don't allow any room for compromise. The Republican members of the House of Representatives demand some cuts in the Affordable Care Act in return for passing a continuing resolution while president Obama and the Democratic party say that they will not give in on anything and will not negotiate until a clean continuing resolution is passed and the debt ceiling raised.
But such political impasses must be resolved eventually and usually involve some concessions on either side that allow them to save face. The catch is that the Democrats do not get much in return for any concession since the continuing resolution only opens the government until November 15 and it is not clear by how much the debt ceiling will be raised. It is not likely to be by much so even if they give in now, we will have a re-run in a few weeks with new demands so what's the point?
In fact, the next time it will be worse for the Democrats since they will have validated the Republican tactic of demanding concessions simply in order to keep the government functioning. Unlike negotiations over other issues where one can offer the other side something in return, here any offer represents a surrender of the functioning of government itself. For president Obama and the Democrats, this stand-off is not really about the ACA at all, though that is the proximate cause. It is about whether they can allow the government to be held hostage like this for any reason whatsoever. Today, it is the ACA. Tomorrow it may be more tax cuts for the rich or elimination of food stamps entirely or some other pet project of the Republicans. So any concession by them to open the government is costly.
For the Republicans on the other hand, conceding anything costs them much less in concrete terms since they are not really giving up anything in agreeing to re-open the government. They are merely agreeing to maintain the status quo and they can try again in a few weeks.
So using a purely rational calculation, one would expect the Democrats to hold firm and the Republicans to waver since the former have so much more to lose by conceding anything at all. But we are now beyond the stage of rational calculations. For Republicans, the ACA has taken the form of a talisman that has almost a mythical significance, a horcrux that must be destroyed.
They have vested so much emotional and political capital in undermining it that it is hard to see them agreeing to anything that does not do so. If they do, the party will suffer the political equivalent of a nervous breakdown from which it will take a long time to recover. This possibility may actually give the Democrats even more motivation to not give in at all.
What I personally would like to see happen is that those people in the Republican party establishment who think this is a losing strategy in the long term and that concerns over the ACA are hopelessly overblown and that it does not represent an existential threat to life, liberty, and the American way, stage a quiet insurrection within the party. Their incentive to do this is that they want to regain control of the party and may be willing to suffer a short-term defeat to do so. The catch is that speaker John Boehner, although part of the establishment, knows that such a coup will cost him his job and you can expect him to fight that with a passion. So he may become even more intransigent.
So we are in an odd situation where, as the shut down drags on, the dynamics is hardening positions rather than softening them.


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Here's How Facebook's Epic Cafe Earned Its Name (FB)
Published 1:35 pm, Sunday, December 16, 2012
Silicon Valley tech companies have always gone the extra mile to make their workers feel special with extraordinary perks like on-site gyms, car share programs, bike rentals, and more.
Meals are no exception. And while Google may gives it employees three free gourmet meals a day, Facebook took the perk one step further.
The largest social network in the world enlisted design firm Roman & Williams of ACE Hotel fame, to specially craft its headquarters' cafeteria.
Fast Company was recently invited into Facebook's Menlo Park campus to tour "Epic Cafe" and get a first-hand glimpse into the hub. The result is an industrial, warm cafeteria with plenty of places for collaboration with coworkers. To see more photos of Facebook's main campus dining hall head over to Fast Company.
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EAST LANSING, Mich. (Detroit Free Press) — No one expected Michigan State to be great in its first game in two months with all of its players available.
Competitive, energetic or remotely competent probably would have helped, though.
March has arrived and Tom Izzo's Spartans may already be longing for February, which saw them go 3-4. Illinois came into Breslin Center on Saturday, led for most of the afternoon and walked away with a stunning 53-46 victory to all but kill MSU's Big Ten title hopes.
"I'll throw myself under the bus – that's inexcusable. Ridiculous," said Izzo, whose No. 18 Spartans (22-7, 11-5 Big Ten) are alive only in mathematical terms in the league race with two games to play.
"Awful. Terrible. Poor," MSU senior point guard Keith Appling said to describe the performance, which was marked by more offensive struggles from him. "I mean, the list goes on. We didn't play well at all today, offensively or defensively."
Gary Harris scored 19 points for the Spartans and Branden Dawson was good defensively in a return from a nine-game absence with a broken hand. But just about everything else was broken for MSU – which fell 60-51 to Nebraska in its last Breslin outing.
Appling continues to be an offensive non-entity and senior Adreian Payne had perhaps his worst game of the season with four points, seven rebounds, four turnovers and more defensive issues.
Izzo's best team in terms of taking care of the ball coughed it up 16 times, leading to 25 Illinois points off turnovers.
"We had too many turnovers as a team and the best players didn't play good," Payne said. "I didn't play that good, and that's the main thing."
The Spartans looked like strangers, and that's not necessarily the way to be with just two games left before the postseason begins.
"My team didn't look like my team today," said Izzo, who mentioned a lack of energy and some outside distractions that found his team during the week.
Tracy Abrams had 12 points to lead three players in double figures for Illinois (17-12, 6-10), which lost 78-62 at home to MSU on Jan. 18 with Payne out of the lineup.
Harris led an MSU charge in the second half, and a 40-32 Illinois lead was down to 42-39 when he appeared to get a steal and breakaway layup, plus the foul – but an official had stopped play for a shot-clock violation.
Illinois instantly got the lead back up to 47-39 with 7:59 left, and Appling and Payne were dismal from the foul line late, negating any chance to get back into it.
"In no way, shape or form will any referee take any credence in why we lost that game," Izzo said of that play. "We lost that game because we didn't play the way a Michigan State team is supposed to play."
And this one looks less and less like it knows what that means.
"We've just got to keep playing," Harris said. "We don't want to lose three in a row, so we've got to find a way to bounce back (Thursday) against Iowa."


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The `First Socialist International of the 21st Century'
April 26, 2010 -- Venezuelanalysis.com -- During the recently concluded five-month extraordinary congress of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Kiraz Janicke and Federico Fuentes had the opportunity to discuss President Hugo Chavez's proposal to form a Fifth Socialist International with Julio Chavez, a delegate to the PSUV congress and a member of the congress's international committee, which is charged with drafting a specific plan of action to form a new socialist international.
* * *
The proposal that President Hugo Chavez made regarding the formation of a Fifth Socialist International has attracted a lot of attention at a global level. I'm interested in your point of view, as a delegate and member of the International Committee of the Congress of the PSUV, why propose a Fifth International and what is the importance of this proposal?
I believe that the proposal launched by the President Hugo Chávez, to raise at this time a global debate on historical relevance of the need to call on all parties, movements and leftist and anti-imperialist currents of the world to have a full discussion, is based on the characterisation and in-depth analysis of the crisis of global capitalism. This leads unquestionably to the conclusion that the only way to overcome the cyclical crisis of world capitalism is, in fact, by proposing a model or a path that is completely different from the neoliberal model, the predatory model, of capitalism. There is no other alternative than the path of transition to socialism.
We believe that discussion of a transitional program, a great debate, should be happen this year in Caracas due to the role that Venezuela is playing as the epicentre of the great transformations that have occurred since the beginning of this century, which have motivated and enthused the peoples of our America, and also for the leading role that Venezuela and President Hugo Chavez are playing at the global level. We think it is necessary for all these features and for all the situations that have been presented in terms of the aggressive policy of US imperialism against Venezuela, installing military bases, reactivating the USFourth Fleet and generating a media campaign of attacks and insults, both against the revolutionary process and against the leader of this process.
For all these reasons, we believe it is appropriate to the call for an organisation, which should have Caracas as the epicentre of a great global debate about the need to advance a proposal to overcome the contradiction between capital and labour, where the only option, the only alternative we see as viable, feasible as a historical project of life, is precisely the path towards socialism.
We believe therefore, that drawing on the experiences and balances generated by the four previous internationals, which had Europe as their epicentre precisely because of the industrial revolution and the great contradictions that were expressed in the context of rapidly growing capitalism that led to its highest stage, imperialism, that all these contradictions have been transferred to Latin America, and have created in Venezuela the conditions, the features, to make a call of this nature. I repeat, it must become an organisation that is permanent in nature, that is able to summon all the parties of the left, social movements, prominent individuals and historical currents of thought, and not just specifically those raising the historical project of socialism, but that anti-imperialism should be the common element that brings us all together.
Of course we don't just want one more event, one more conference. We're not just making this call to open a discussion, a debate, to produce a document, but to actually set minimum agreements, a minimum transition program, a policy of developing in all the five continents, based on the analysis of the current situation, a characterisation of each particular region, to consider expeditiously the transition towards a model that overcomes the contradictions of capital and labour.
Why is anti-imperialism being proposed as the common element and not just socialism?
We say that this call has to have a broad character, and it is possible that in some countries, such as in the Middle East, there are organisations and movements fighting against some expressions of imperialism and international Zionism as such, but that are not socialist in essence, in the programmatic sense. But, undoubtedly, they are fighting imperialism. That's why we say that it could be that in some Islamic countries that do not have socialism as an ideological element, for example the case of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, which is anti-imperialist, that this element will be an element that will involve as many parties, organisations, movements of the world to raise the battle, the confrontation with imperialism.
As well as all those who defend a model based on the worldview of Indigenous people, and also the principles and approaches of scientific socialism, elements of regional and Bolivarian thought, the ideas of Jose Mariategui, of Jose Marti, the tree of the three roots in Venezuela, and all those who are part of a historical, philosophical current that defends the claims accumulated through many years of struggle by the peoples of this part of the world.
From this perspective of an anti-imperialist character, from the vision that has been nurtured by the experience of the historical struggles of Indigenous peoples, it is possible to call as many parties, movements, and currents in the world, let us repeat, for a wide-ranging debate, that is full of discussion, in order to agree on a plan, a minimum transition program, to move concretely towards a socialist project at a world level. An anti-imperialist project is the only way at this juncture, faced with the cyclical crisis of capitalism, in which capitalism is not going to collapse by itself, but is in a process of readjustment, of realignment, of looking for the possibility of a second wind; we believe that at this juncture is possible to consider an alternative, but that it must be global and anti-imperialist.
There is a core document that we have been discussing within the PSUV congress, in the international committee of the party congress. A document in which we have assessed and taken stock of what the four previous socialist internationals signified, the context in which they were called, of the proposals, the achievements that they made, and in view of the historical relevance and the a policy of aggression against the Bolivarian Revolution and the processes of transformation that have been raised in other countries, we believe that it is possible to produce a document that contains all those elements.
We have even talked about the definition of the historical subject, those who are making the call and who are the social movements, currents and parties in different continents and different countries and who are engaged in a common struggle with us, which is the struggle against imperialism.
Therefore, we believe that through this approach and, of course, discussing what the objectives of this call for a Fifth International are – or as we also call it, the First Socialist International of the 21st Century, because there are some discussions with the Communist Party comrades who do not recognise the Fourth International, but we say it is not a question of numbers, but in any case, it would be the first socialist international of this century – and under these assumptions, by seeking to broaden the programmatic base, the doctrinal principles, with an agenda of topics to discuss, a program to develop, it will be possible to go beyond simply producing a document, but rather to produce an agreement that is expressed in very concrete policies, recognising the reality of each continent, of each country, and where this effort should lead to the articulation of a powerful global movement to allow us to move forward.
We can move forward on a debate, a discussion about what things we can agree on, opening the possibility that within the meeting there will also be a debate on the whole mechanism of coordination, of integration, beyond governments, because this is not a government event, we are talking about parties, movements, to develop an international policy which has internationalism as a spearhead of counter-hegemonic confrontation.
I think it is possible to discuss all these aspects in Venezuela, and we can then come out of it with a minimum program, a minimum plan of work, again, respecting differences, allowing us to develop a policy around different continents that would have a permanent basis, so that we have the possibility of regular meetings at a continental or regional level, to evaluate the progress of things, but it should also be binding for all organisations, movements and parties that make this call.
Here you touched on a subject that historically has always been complicated, that is, the difference between diplomatic relations of governments and the relations of parties, particularly when some of these parties are also in government, like the PSUV, which was created following the call made by a head of state. This issue has been raised, for example, about other governments with which Venezuela maintains good diplomatic relations but that are far from being a socialist, where one understands that the state should have diplomatic relations, but where left-wing forces who may be interested in participating [in the Fifth International] are part of the opposition to these governments.
I think that right now we are having a very interesting debate in the ideological congress of the party. Remember that, three years ago, we had a founding congress and this is the first ideological congress. Coincidentally, we are right now finishing the discussion and debate about the programmatic basis for a party, which is conceived for the transition to socialism. We are discussing the values, principles, statutes, and clearly we have been discussing and distinguishing that one thing is the government's foreign policy and another thing is the international politics of PSUV.
I think we're making a clear conceptualisation of these two positions where, undoubtedly, there are levels of convergence because we believe that the PSUV should be a space, a scenario where policy is discussed to be executed precisely at the level of government, in this case in ministries to which international issues apply, of course with the participation, the approval of President Chavez, who is leading the state's foreign policy and is at the same time, the party president.
There are things the government and our embassies cannot say, but the PSUV is more likely to express positions from an ideological point of view and this has been a large part of the discussion that has occurred in the PSUV congress.
So I think we're making good progress in differentiating the foreign policy of the government and the party, understanding the peculiarity that in this case the president is the president of the nation and at the same time, the party president.
We have been careful not to get involved in discussions within other countries, to not take positions on issues which correspond to the peoples of those countries and their governments to take.
But in any case, the PSUV is proposing to design, to elaborate a policy, an offensive that allows us to establish contacts at the global level with those organisations and social movements that have been doing solidarity work with Venezuela, which have been supportive of the efforts and initiatives taken by the Bolivarian Revolution, with the achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution, and this is giving us a chance to come together and network with many movements with many parties and organisations in the world that share the historical project of socialism, the historical project to overcome the contradiction between capital and labour.
We believe we have made great strides in this need to differentiate what is the government's foreign policy and what is the party's international politics. Internationalism is enshrined in the statutes in the values and principles, because this is not a party that is thinking only about the transition that is happening in Venezuela. We are talking about a party that has to assume internationalism, solidarity and to develop the necessary initiatives in terms of confronting imperialism and strengthening policy coordination with those parties, movements and organizations that defend anti-imperialist struggle.
I think we have made significant progress there. We do not believe that at this moment, just as we are finishing the first ideological congress of the party, that we have the party that we want, but undoubtedly, we have advanced, we have taken very strong steps towards building this powerful instrument within which we can discuss and debate the major issues, major policies, major decisions to advance the transition to socialism.
Has the document drafted by the commission been approved already or is it still under discussion?
The international commission was charged with the responsibility of drawing up a document. The document is circulating internally at the party; it is in the hands of the national leadership and, of course, has been raised for the consideration of the president of the party.
The document is circulating and there have been some comments, and when the president authorises it, that is the basic document that will be released to encourage and motivate the discussion on the historical relevance and the need to convene all the parties and movements across the world that struggle against imperialism and for the construction of a socialist project.
Obviously, in a revolutionary situation, things cannot simply be determined by a calendar, particularly in the context of the offensive that imperialism has launched in recent months, but is there an idea, at least, of when the founding of the Fifth International will be?
Indeed there is a whole plan of different phases that has been submitted for consideration, where it has been proposed to convene meetings at a regional or continental level, to create promotional teams, with a strategy for disseminating information so that it can be built from the bottom up. It is anticipated that all these elements, the creation of an information system, making all the communication elements that the revolution has been using, all these tools, all these resources, available to the revolution and parties worldwide, will be part of this plan by phases.
There is also the idea of holding various meetings, where there is even the possibility that our delegations will travel to other continents, other countries to discuss, to motivate, to create the conditions for starting to debate the issue.
[Kiraz Janicke and Federico Fuentes are members of the Socialist Alliance of Australia resident in Venezuela and also are part of the Green Left Weekly bureau there. This article first appeared in Venezuelanalysis.]
Socialst Internationale
I absolutely agree with the idea. The Socialist Internationale must be revived and rejenuvated in order to raise the issues confronting the oppressed people in the world and also to fight jointly agaisnt capitalism, imperialism.
As a socialist from Nepal, a tiny Himalayan country where socialist movement is vibrant but suppressed by the agents of capitalists and imperialists, I always support the cause you are raising. I also would like to express my solidarity with you and want to do whatever I can from Nepal for the success of the socialst movement in the world.
Yuba Nath Lamsal
Executive Editor
The Rising Nepal ( Nepal's pioneer English daily)
Associate Editor
South Asian Media Network
Kathmandu, Nepal
Open letter to socialists around the world: The fight for a revo
September 9, 2010
An appeal to open a discussion about convening a common conference of all organisations that have indicated agreement that the time is right to take concrete steps towards the formation of a new revolutionary working class International
Dear comrades,
The League for the Fifth International addresses this proposal for discussion to organisations that have indicated they would support steps towards the founding of a new international organisation of the working class, a new International, capable of coordinating a worldwide resistance to the capitalist classes' offensive against the workers' social gains, their democratic rights and their natural environment.
Concretely, the need for a new International has been emphasised by Hugo Chávez' call for a Fifth International. This has attracted interest from a number of socialist organisations on the far left who recognise that the building of a new International is an urgent task of the day, not a theoretical project for the distant future.
The need for a revolutionary international is posed right now by the sharp offensive of the bosses against working people all over the world. The enemies of the working class are attacking jobs, wage levels, social welfare, health, education and democratic rights.
The capitalist classes of the world survived the initial shock of the most severe economic crisis since the Second World War thanks to the weakness of the traditional leaderships of the workers. Now, they are determined to unload the full cost of the crisis onto the backs of wage earners, pensioners, the unemployed and the young.
There has been a determined fightback, but it has been hampered by the national and continental fragmentation of the forces of resistance. In Europe, the governments of the EU, led by Germany, coordinated an international campaign of vilification against the Greek workers, farmers and lower middle classes, accusing them of laziness and living beyond their means. Their journalists extended the hate campaign to most of the southern nations of the continent, describing them by the disgusting acronym "the PIGS" (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain).
At the height of the crisis in Greece, we clearly needed a body that could, and would, mobilise the workers of Germany, France, Britain, indeed the whole of Europe, against this chauvinism; that would explain that it was not Greek working people but the bankers of the City of London, Frankfurt, Zurich and the billionaires of the bond markets who were master minding the biggest rip-off in history and turn the hatred of the masses against them. There was no such body and now governments across the continent are seeking to impose their own austerity programmes, insisting that workers accept huge cuts in social spending "or suffer the fate of Greece."
What is the network, the organisation, and the leadership that could mobilise the working class resistance? It is an International. We believe that the global capitalist crisis has created conditions in which the task of creating a new revolutionary International can no longer be postponed. It is a task of the day, alongside the task of building revolutionary parties in every country.
We believe the present crisis is no "normal" cyclical recession, but marks the entry of the world into a period in which the overall trend of capitalist development is downward – constituting an historic crisis of the system as a whole which obliges the bourgeoisie to launch a sustained attack on the working class. In general, cyclical upturns will be shallow, downturns deep and protracted. Rivalries between the powers will intensify; pre-revolutionary and revolutionary situations, the rise of reactionary forces, wars and environmental disasters will increasingly pose point blank the need to resolve the crisis of proletarian leadership, the need for a socialist transformation of society.
There is great unevenness between the old imperialist heartlands and the emerging global powers on the one hand, and the underdeveloped semi-colonial economies on the other, some of which are growing while others sink deeper into debt and destitution.Although we recognise the historic character of the current crisis, we should not turn a blind eye to sporadic recoveries and speculative booms. The cyclical rhythm of capitalist development naturally continues, but it is sclerotic and painful, with expansion in one country or region exacerbating crisis in others. As the system as a whole moves in a downward trajectory, the competition for dwindling spoils intensifies.
The crisis is greatly accelerated by the contradictions generated by globalisation over the preceding period. In Europe, we are faced with the dismantling of our post war gains (the welfare state) and in the third world we are struggling under a new round of debt and austerity measures. We are seeing the beginnings of a struggle for the redivision the world between rising and declining imperialist powers, threatening regional and proxy wars and intensified diplomatic and economic conflicts. Instability is further increased by severe environmental catastrophes.
We believe the present crisis has a special significance because, by bringing to the surface of events the historic contradictions of the capitalist system, it underscores the basic insight articulated by the revolutionary Comintern in the days of Lenin and Trotsky: that the imperialist epoch is a revolutionary epoch, the epoch of capitalism's decline and fall, and that the actuality of the revolution, the potential struggle for socialism, is lodged in every episode of the class struggle.
In such a period, the intensification of the class struggle leads inevitably to the possibility of revolutionary or counter-revolutionary outcomes. Where the question of power is posed, the victory of the working class is certainly not an issue that can be left to the dynamics of some sort of objective process. For victory, the working class needs a correct strategy (a programme) a combat organisation of the vanguard (a party) and a class struggle that builds up new or renewed fighting organisations of the masses. Ultimately, none of these tasks can be completed in national isolation.
These immense challenges find the working class movement worldwide, above all its mass organisations, parties and trade unions, without even the rudiments of a revolutionary leadership. Neither is this simply an absence, a vacuum waiting to be filled. The existing leaderships of the unions, the Communist, Socialist and Labour Parties, are agents of capital who, at best, have no idea of the alternative to capitalism in crisis and, at worst, seek to thwart and divert the mass militant struggles which continue to erupt, despite them.
The period we are entering undoubtedly presents great opportunities but also great dangers. The opportunities centre on the possibility that revolutionary socialist ideas and politics can again become a mass phenomenon, winning over the actual vanguard of working class militants and of all the oppressed and exploited classes and strata that form the natural allies of the proletariat.
This possibility, however, will only be realised if revolutionaries play an organising and politicising role internationally – as Marx and Engels, Luxemburg, Lenin and Trotsky did in the previous four Internationals. In this task, we are not starting from the beginning; we have the heritage of all these historic figures on whose shoulders we must stand. In part, we will be continuing the work of the revolutionary years of the Internationals that they founded. However, we will also be addressing positive developments over the last ten years. In the period of expanding globalisation, the forces of internationalism were plainly on the march.
The most remarkable examples of this were the anticapitalist mobilisations from Seattle to Genoa, the mass mobilisations in Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, and the global antiwar movement of 2003 which, even though it failed to stop the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, significantly undermined popular support at home for the war and placed limits on further attacks. Likewise, in Europe and Latin America, links of solidarity between countries resisting capitalist and imperialist offensives, economic and military, have led to mass mobilisations.
These developments have been manifested at various gatherings such as the world and continental social forums and, most recently, in the call issued last November/December by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, for a Fifth Socialist International.
A number of political forces worldwide, generally those that have been active in the various anticapitalist, anti-imperialist and antiwar movements of the last ten years, have responded positively to this call. These have included various Trotskyist currents as well as non-Trotskyist and Marxist-Leninist organisations.
Varying degrees of criticism have accompanied this support for Chávez's call. These have mainly centred on the obvious danger that this 'International' would be subject to the foreign policy of a capitalist state (even if an "anti-imperialist" one) and the class contradictions lodged in the very heart of 'Bolivarian socialism'.
We certainly share these criticisms. The class contradictions in Venezuela are very real. They express, yet again, the simple fact that socialism cannot be brought into being in any sense without the expropriation of the capitalist class, the breaking up of the old state institutions and the establishment of working class states. The lack of democracy in the PSUV, the decline and bureaucratisation of the missiones, and Chávez's condemnation of workers fighting for pay rises amid spiralling inflation as 'counter-revolutionary', give a clear warning of what a new international would look like if it were built around his reformist vision of socialism and under his leadership.
If a new international looked like a re-born bourgeois Non-Aligned Movement, as Chávez has on occasion suggested with his appeals to the Iranian regime and the Chinese Communist Party, it would be a dead-end. We need, in contrast, a new working class international that fights for genuine socialism and the final overthrow of capitalism in a revolution.
Does this mean that those who contemptuously rejected Chávez's call, often with formally correct criticisms of his record and policies, were right to do so? Absolutely not. Firstly, they ignore one simple fact: the working class does need an International, not some distant future but now; to fightback against the massive attacks launched against it in the context of the present crisis. If workers' organisations respond positively to this call, then it would be the height of sectarianism to refuse to engage with them.
Secondly, if revolutionaries refuse to participate in any initiatives resulting from Chávez' call this would actually tend to ensure the very outcome which they say they want to prevent: the formation of a bourgeois international. Such an outcome would certainly be a crime against the working class, particularly if it were draped in the red banners of Lenin and Trotsky, but to avert this outcome requires that we do something.
That means that we do not stand passively on the sidelines, giving Chávez and company every opportunity to shape an international as they want it, but intervene and fight for a revolutionary internationalist programme and policy in any and every arena created by this new initiative. This is why we welcomed Chávez's call without endorsing his project and why we would attend any international conference he organises. Whether this conference can play a positive role depends on how many organisations respond, who they are and what they do at it.
A Fifth International must be built, but on a revolutionary basis which accords not merely with areas of agreement between existing organisations, but to the objectively determined necessities of advancing the class struggle. That is why we appeal to all revolutionary and working class organisations to join us in the struggle to make the new international stand on firm socialist foundations. The mass vanguard of the working class, presently fighting back against the savage austerity programmes of bourgeois governments, desperately needs a network of national sections (parties) and an international centre to coordinate its struggles, to hammer out a strategy for a counteroffensive which ends in the seizure of power: a world revolution.
We, in the League for the Fifth International, believe that, if Chávez calls a conference open to all who want to fight capitalism and imperialism, then all revolutionary tendencies and currents should attend it. More, they should collaborate in advance to prepare a revolutionary intervention, and argue for a militant programme of action, for class independence from all states and for a debate on our revolutionary goals and strategy (i.e. on programme).
However, we do not believe that it is right, or necessary, to wait for an event that may never happen, or that may happen in a form that discredits the very idea of an International. It is high time that all those forces who believe in the necessity for a new International themselves take an initiative to summon forces to the task of creating a new International.
For this reason, we propose that all such forces organise an open conference to discuss the linked questions of coordinated global resistance to the crisis and the austerity measures of the capitalist governments and the question of putting the issue of a new (Fifth) International squarely before the mass fighting organisations of the working class in every country.
We are eager to hear your response to our proposal.
With revolutionary greetings,
Dave Stockton
On behalf of the League for a Fifth International (firstname.lastname@example.com)


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See also the work of NYC musician Dave Soldier (Soldier String Quartet, the Kropotkins, Ice-Nine Ballads with Kurt Vonnegut, etc.). He's been doing this sort of thing for years.http://davesoldier.com/raskalz.html
All Sorts of Awesome
A couple of months ago, I heard an interesting segment on NPR about Sam Hillmer's Representing NYC project. Hillmer, a NYC school teacher, partners his students with indie-rock musicians to create hip-hop albums. The children are given an opportunity to express themselves and gain real experience in the art of commerce, while the musicians get to contribute to the working-class communities they've recently moved into.
Awesome, right? There's more.
Released by True Panther, the first Representing NYC album is Da' Brats From Da' Ville and comes from a group of young Brownsville students who call themselves Fly Girlz. Fly Girlz rap to tunes produced by Excepter's Nathan Corbin (aka Zebrablood). True Panther, by the way, is the label that released last year's excellent "Lust For Life" 7" from the dreamy, hazy pop band Girls. Yesterday, Matador announced that they and True Panther are set to release Girls' debut full-length, Album, on September 22. Oh, and remember Sam Hillmer? He's also in a great band called Zs and their new album, Music of the Modern White (being billed, irresistibly, as "25 minutes of mind-blowing genre-defying music"), is out today on The Social Registry. Furthermore, Zs will be performing live tomorrow night at Secret Project Robot, an unusually fun and friendly space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Um, what else? Oh: Zs will be performing with another band from the Representing NYC project: Nine 11 Thesaurus, who have been paired with Gang Gang Dance's Tim DeWitt!
Sheesh! So, there you go. All sorts of awesome stuff coming together to create one big ball of awesome. It's almost too much awesomeness for me to handle in one post, but I think I managed alright. And the Fader (more awesome) explains it all a bit better maybe:
See Soldier's "Essential" for string quartet and Brainwaves (!) --this Thursday, 6/25.http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=212039230435&h=-dK-2&u=q5Cji&r...