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Ha, ha could have fooled me-he repeated the same blurb about Christine's bit of piano
I would tell Christine Perfect, "You're Christine f***ing McVie, and don't you forget it!"
Hi Lola. Jewel Eyed Judy is one of my favourite Fleetwood Mac songs of all Fleetwood Mac bands.
Was Mick refering to Danny rather than Jeremy?
I was aware the Fleetwood credit was actually Jenny and I'm pretty sure the McVie credit should actually go to Christine. I was just wondering though- did Mick mean the song lyrics were entirely a poem by Jenny or do you think he meant just Danny took the title of the poem. If it was the entire poem then it sounds as if she could have had a career as a poet/lyricist.
Mick Fleetwood Tonight on BBC Radio 2
Dont miss Mick Fleetwood speaking to Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2 tonight at 8:00pm GMT. The 2-hour program will be available to listen to online, here.
Mick will be talking about his new memoir LOVE THAT BURNS covering Fleetwood Macs early days, their transformation from Blues band to global superstars, and the dynamics and relationships that made them one of the biggest bands in the world.
Celebrating 50 years since Fleetwood Macs debut, LOVE THAT BURNS* A Chronicle of Fleetwood Mac, Volume One: 1967-74 brings this chapter of the bands history to life.
Sorry if my post was a little confusing. We were driving and I was trying to take notes and use navigation at the same time. The way it sounded to me was the poem and the name Jewel Eyed Judy were used. Either Mick or the interviewer said it's about Judy Wong, which I knew. Mick talked about his first drum set not having any cases and his parents being so supportive of him..
I really want this book but the price!
Kudos then to Jenny Boyd Fleetwood. Jewel Eyed Judy has a beautiful melody but its easy to overlook the lovely lyrics that go with it.
Mick Fleetwood: why I left home at 16
Fleetwood Mac's self-taught drummer Mick Fleetwood recalls arriving in London at 16 and cutting his teeth on the blues. (Ovt. 10)
Fleetwood Mac have been making music since 1967. That's a lot of history. Most people are familiar with only the multi-million-selling albums, like Fleetwood Mac and Rumours. As great as they are, those records are only part of the band's story.
Drummer Mick Fleetwood's new book, Love That Burns: A Chronicle of Fleetwood Mac Volume 1, 1967-1974, shifts the focus to those early years. Back then, he says they were just "four young chaps who loved playing blues." But there was much more to what Fleetwood Mac created with their original lineup of Fleetwood, guitarist Jeremy Spencer, bassist John McVie and the band's leader, guitarist Peter Green.
With its treasure trove of photos and text, Love That Burns tells the tale, following Fleetwood Mac through the mid '70s, just before the band had its breakthrough moment. Fleetwood talks about the book, his early inspirations and Fleetwood Mac's underrated early contributors in an exclusive interview with Ultimate Classic Rock.
Congratulations on the new book. It's a fascinating look at the early years of the band. What first inspired you to put this together?
Well, it's a long story really. The original inspiration probably came over 20 years ago when my ex-brother-in-law George [Harrison] showed me a beautiful book that he put together in collaboration with Genesis Books. At that point, I didn't know who they were. I said, 'This thing is beautiful,' and it was one of those things where you go, One day it would be a fantastic thing to do something like this. I made an approach to work with Genesis, then sort of got lost in the mire of what I was doing, then it went off radar, but I always remembered this incredible book. They take all this beautiful care. It's leather bound, and this that and the other. Then years and years later, about two and a half years ago, I was in L.A. and was walking around a shop and picked up a book that had a picture of Jimmy Page on the front, and lo and behold it was a Genesis book. I was with my nephew, and right then and there I turned around to him and said, 'Phone them up and see if they'd like to do a book on the original band.' So he cold-called Genesis and started a dialogue, and that's how we got to where we are. So I can blame it on George Harrison all those years ago.
The book truly is like a work of art.
Well, there you go. I remembered that, and Page's book was so beautiful as well. The great thing was, and more power to them as a book company, I understand they said 'We really want to do a book on Fleetwood Mac,' which would be the whole thing, but I really wanted to keep it focused on how this all started, and the fact that they saw the credence in all that was fairly remarkable in itself, when you look at why they might not want to do it. So we've ended up with this first chronicle of this period, which needs to survive and that's why I was sort of really pushing for that to happen in this way. There is going to be Volume Two, and that's going to be a labor of love putting that all together as well. Lo and behold, as the clock was ticking, we seriously didn't even realize that we were drifting into the date to celebrate the original incarnation of Fleetwood Mac's 50th birthday, which was not part of the plan at all. So that's how we got here.
That's wonderful. When most people think of Fleetwood Mac, they immediately zero in on the late-'70s era, but there is so much more to the band's story.
I'm just really happy with the document itself and its importance, which became more profound in terms of the 50th anniversary. I am really happy with the book, and it is guided by myself, but I'm hoping that the complexion of how this whole thing stands is not an 'I, me, me' thing at all. It's me paying kudos to what this was all about, and what started this strange creature called Fleetwood Mac on its journey, and if I have achieved that to some reasonable degree, I'm happy. So far people are, with much zeal, saying we are accomplishing that. I mean Peter [Green], just by the nature of the journey he took emotionally, and the way his life ended up being framed ... One, he has so little ego about any of this. He's not going to sit there and wave his own flag. Danny [Kirwin] is off the radar and not a very happy story there, and Bob Welch has passed away. You think some of this might be forgotten about, and I'm hoping this is at least a foot through the door to say, Hey, anyone who wants to find out about all this, it's relevant and I'm glad to have done it.
Have you always been the sort of archivist of the band? There are countless amazing photos in the book. Did you seek out a lot of the photos or were they in your collection?
Part and parcel of both things. I thought, in truth, I had more bases covered with a variety of stuff, but upon looking in endless boxes and in my barn and so forth, they either got lost or we didn't find. Having said that, I'm sort of glad that the outcome was what it was, thanks to Genesis, they are so talented with finding material, which they did. I'm actually happy that it happened differently than I thought it would, because the photographs that are personal, I knew where and what they were all about to help tell the story. The unknown photographs from shoots and from people that I did not know and was not familiar with actually spoke volumes for me and made it more of journey challenging me as to what was going on. That was more valuable than the whole load of pictures that I did know. I'm glad it happened like that, where at first I thought, Oh, my God, were failing to find all the pictures we need. It became a community of input, which seemed apropos. We've ended up with a really nice story telling about the first few incarnations of Fleetwood Mac. I write about it in the book, for obvious reasons, the lion's share of the book is dedicated to Peter Green. He started Fleetwood Mac, and I say very clearly without Peter, there would be no Fleetwood Mac, period, so let's get that straight. There are those who think that I formed Fleetwood Mac, well, I didn't. I was happy to be at Peter's side when Peter asked me to play drums. The rest is, of course, a long history of me being there since the beginning, and on and on we went!
So you left home at 15 to become a full-time musician. Who or what first inspired you to become a drummer?
We don't really know! A lot of people think my father was a drummer. My father was not a drummer, but he had, unbeknownst to me, messed around in the officer's mess on a drum kit. Dad was a tapper, getting a ruler or pencils and playing wine glasses with water in them at parties or tapping money in his pockets, playing spoons or something like that. That was really the sum of it. If that sort of spawned the attitude to go and be pipe dreaming about being a drummer, then so be it. I don't really know where it came from, but I used to sit around hitting furniture while Mum listened to the radiogram. So it started pretty early, probably when I was about 8. When I was at boarding school, all I wanted was to have a drum kit. I used to send away for catalogs. I would tape them all together and walk around school, an academic idiot, no smarts at all, but I had a nice big dossier of glistening drum kits. [Laughs]
Do you remember your first drum kit?
I do! My first drum kit was called a Gigster. It was almost like a toy. Gold sparkle, tiny, almost like a toy, but it was a drum kit I used to sit on the side of the sofa. There's a picture in the book of me playing that kit. Then I was off to the races, and never stopped. Then I left school when I was spot-on 15 and, at the time I was not even 16, I was on my way to London, then shortly after that a friend, who became a lifelong friend until he passed away, Peter Bardens [later of the band Camel], heard me banging around in my sister's garage in Notting Hill Gate. He lived in the same cul-de-sac, and he said, 'Hey, I heard you playing drums. I'm playing at a youth club and managing a band called the Fenders.' I'd never played with anybody, all I'd done was play at home to the radiogram and banged along to records. That's how it started. It was like a total dream come true. That's all touched on in the beginning of the book.
Each of the early incarnations of the band had its own identity, and the book shows how they connect. Over time, people would occasionally refer to the Peter Green era, but it seems only recently have more people begun to make note of the Bob Welch years.
Bob is very much an unsung hero in many ways, considering how many albums he made with Fleetwood Mac. His partnership, especially with Christine [McVie], they worked really well together. She never really worked very closely with Danny, the chemistry thing wasn't necessarily there, but with Bob it was, and he was a great mechanism. We basically went off to America. In Europe we took a dump really, after Peter left, somewhat understandably. Peter was simply such a powerful entity in those early days. So, we went off to America to somewhat lick our wounds, and we ended up staying there. There's no doubt Bob was a huge part of the survival of this crazy band.
What did you take away most from putting the book together?
For me, the whole book has been really enlightening, a regrouping from whence you have come in terms of the dynamic of what it means to me. Hopefully if John [McVie] picks up the book, he'll go, 'Yeah, I'm glad that's been done.' It's been an education on how we started, and what it was all about and I'm glad I've done it. The book is about celebrating the music that caused all of this. There's quite a drama, there is no doubt that the cause and effect of the journey has some collateral damage on some of the people, Peter being one of them. But this is the celebration of this period. I pretty much left out that whole sensibility, not because I'm hiding it, it's certainly known about, but I didn't want it to be that. I wanted it to be something that would really put a line in the sand and say this was about four young chaps who loved playing blues and started this whole thing.
Mick Fleetwood on the early days of Fleetwood Mac and why he's a terrible drummer
Mick Fleetwood is the backbone of the band that bears his name; the man who kept Fleetwood Mac rolling through the best and hardest of times.
In the early days he was their manager, hiring and firing musicians like a soft rock Alan Sugar.
By the late 70s, he was the bandage that stopped them falling apart amidst drug abuse, infidelity and betrayal.
And sitting behind his "back to front" drum kit, Fleetwood is the band's beating heart, constructing dozens of unforgettable rhythms - from the syncopated shuffle of Go Your Own Way, to the fidgety cowbell riff of Oh Well.
But surprisingly, the 70-year-old doesn't rate his own drumming.
"There's no discipline," he says. "I can't do the same thing every night."
Anyone who's listened to the deluxe edition of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk will know otherwise. There, you can hear multiple outtakes from the title track, with Fleetwood sitting doggedly on the song's distinctive groove for more than 25 minutes.
Still, he insists: "I am very not conformed, I change all the time."
The confession is prompted by a discussion about Fleetwood's lavish new picture book, Love That Burns, which chronicles his early career and the first incarnations of Fleetwood Mac.
It's being released 50 years after the band played their first show: A 20-minute set at the Windsor Jazz & Blues Festival alongside artists like Cream, Pink Floyd and Jeff Beck.
Back then, they were a hard-edged blues combo, working under the guidance of guitarist Peter Green - who, like Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, had previously played in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.
Green called the group Fleetwood Mac "because I knew I was probably going to leave," he later recalled, adding: "I always wanted Mick and John to have a job."
In the late 60s, the band enjoyed hits with Albatross, Oh Well and Black Magic Woman (later covered by Santana) before the ominous The Green Manilishi presaged Green's descent into drug-induced psychosis.
It's a period of the band's history that's frequently overshadowed by their wildly-successful 70s incarnation, the one that produced Rumours and Tusk, and that's what Fleetwood hopes to in the new book.
"The other thing is so big and so famous that this [story] could just get swallowed up," he says, "I'm happy that at least there's something that says, 'Hey, this is how it all started.'"
As the story begins, the young Fleetwood is a three-town runaway from boarding school, who's been cut loose by his parents and is barrelling around London in a second-hand taxi, dropping in and out of blue bands as he learns his craft.
"In those days, if you had a drum kit that was worth something it was almost more important than if you were a half-way decent drummer," he laughs.
"So if you had the drums and the taxi it was like, 'Yeah, let's give him the gig!'"
'Monumental scolding'
One of his first paid jobs was with The Cheynes, who were hired as the backing band for visiting blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson when he played London's Marquee Club.
Unprepared for the star's tendency to improvise, the band completely lost their way and got a "monumental scolding" in front of the audience.
After bouncing between bands for a couple of years, Fleetwood ended up in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, replacing their previous drummer, Aynsley Dunbar.
"Aynsley is a brilliant drummer," says Fleetwood. "Technically, he's in a whole different league than I am, but he was probably getting a bit too clever.
"The band didn't want any more drum solos, so he was out and I was in - and I'm just Simple Simon, a rock and roll blues drummer."
That didn't go down well with the audience, however, who started chanting "Where's Aynsley?" every night.
"And I always remember in the early days, John came to my rescue and basically came to the microphone and told them to shut up."
It was a beginning of a beautiful friendship. Fleetwood and McVie not only gave their names to Fleetwood Mac, but they are the only constants in the band's ever-changing line-up.
In the book, Fleetwood says of McVie: "Musically, he helped me survive whenever I was drowning." And it is this comment that prompts the revelation about the drummer's supposed lack of skill.
"For a while, he thought he could train me into doing the same bass drum pattern every night but I couldn't... because of the way my mind works," he explains, "so John learned to push all his notes around what I do."
"It's become this weird thing. It's not really how a rhythm section should work. They're supposed to be doing exactly the same thing at the same time. I'm doing different stuff and he's falling in between the gaps."
After three years of success, Fleetwood Mac's future was jeopardised when Green quit, giving away most of his earnings in the process.
The guitarist's mental health deteriorated soon after, and he was eventually diagnosed with drug-induced schizophrenia, spending long periods in psychiatric hospitals and undergoing electroconvulsive therapy.
"I don't know why I left the group in the end," Green writes in Fleetwood's book. "I know that people looked at me like I was in a dream. I could tell that, even at the time."
Fleetwood describes Green's decline with tenderness and regret. It's clear he still feels responsible, in some way, for not spotting his illness sooner.
"I wish we had been better equipped," he tells me. "Maybe we could have seen something that could've helped - not to keep him in the band, but to help this person through the beginnings of a very emotional ride that, really, he's still on as we speak.
"It affected his life in a very dramatic way," he adds. "I don't think he was treated right for what turned out to be his illness, but he's healthy now and doing ok. I'm going to go and see him on Sunday, in fact."
After Green left, Fleetwood Mac floundered for a while, before recruiting John's wife Christine McVie - who was already a solo star in her own right.
She went on to write some of the band's most memorable songs - Songbird, Don't Stop, Over My Head - and remains part of the line-up today. But the band's fortunes really turned around in 1974, when they were joined by two young American singers, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
At this point Love That Burns draws to a close. Fleetwood says there are plans for a Volume Two, which promises to go behind-the-scenes on Rumours, the seventh best-selling studio album of all time, and one which was recorded as all five members' personal lives unravelled.
"That will be a big monster," laughs Fleetwood.
"I don't know when we're going to do it, but that story needs to be told."
New book heralds beginnings of Fleetwood Mac
LONDON - Mick Fleetwood was 16 when he left school, told his parents he wanted to pursue a career in rock 'n' roll and went to London in search of gigs.
A common tale, true, but this one has a happy ending. Fleetwood fell in with some talented blues enthusiasts, paid (barely) his dues and soared to stardom with the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac, and then into the rock 'n' roll stratosphere with the second, more pop-oriented version of the band.
"School was not a good thing for me," said Fleetwood, dressed in classic British style, complete with a pocket watch on a chain. "I had a learning disability, no doubt, and no one understood what those things were. I was sort of drowning at school academically. My parents were like, 'Go and do it.' They were picking up on the fact that I had found something. They saw the one thing that I loved with a passion was teaching myself how to play drums at home. So they sent me off with a little drum kit to London, and the whole thing unfolded."
Fleetwood didn't really have to rebel, though rebellion was in the air, and he had the good fortune to make friends early with Peter Green, the supremely talented guitarist whose blues sound shaped the band's early years.
Green receives the lion's share of the credit, and the dedication, in Fleetwood's memoir of the band's formative period "Love That Burns: A Chronicle of Fleetwood Mac, Volume One: 1967-1974." It has been published in a limited signed edition by Genesis Publications.
At 70, Fleetwood is anxious to acknowledge his debt to Green, who left the band in 1970.
Fleetwood and bassist John McVie later were joined by Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham for a new lineup that hit the jackpot with "Rumours," one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Fleetwood said the band's very name reflects Green's self-effacing approach.
"Peter was asked why did he call the band Fleetwood Mac," he said. "He said, 'Well, you know I thought maybe I'd move on at some point and I wanted Mick and John to have a band.' End of story, explaining how generous he was."
The photos and text of "Love That Burns" are really the celebration of an era, capturing the explosion of British music at a time when bands like the Who and the Beatles were vying for the top spots on the charts and competing with semi-forgotten bands like Freddie and the Dreamers, who actually got top billing over the Rolling Stones on a least one concert poster.
Once Fleetwood Mac made its name as a blues band, the group was able to go to Chicago's famous Chess Studios to record with some of the great American bluesmen, including a few of the pioneers who had helped perfect the driving Chicago sound.
Fleetwood remembers - with relief - that the long-haired crew of young Brits was able to at least play in the same room as Buddy Guy and Willie Dixon without sounding foolish.
"These are major, major players for anyone who knows anything about blues," Fleetwood says. "Having that take place, I don't know what they must have really thought with us funny little English kids walking into their world. I feel good about it to this day that we held our own dignity even with these guys."
He said the whole experience was "like going to their church and not just being in the congregation but actually doing our version of preaching with them."
While some fans swear the early Fleetwood Mac was better than the later, far more commercial version, Fleetwood knows the group is identified more with its string of hits, including Bill Clinton's favorite song, "Don't Stop," which earned the band a headlining gig at his inaugural celebration.
This is one reason the book focuses on the first band. Fleetwood doesn't want it to be forgotten.
"Even as we were doing it (the book), we realized that the band was 50 years old," he said. "So it's really about drawing a line in the sand to say that this happened and what caused this. And it's generally fair to say, especially in the United States, this section of the formation of Fleetwood Mac is not really known about."
Mick Fleetwood recently discovered that he got his job with Fleetwood Mac only because Peter Green felt sorry for him in the aftermath of his split with girlfriend Jenny Boyd, whom he later married.
The story of his audition emerged while Fleetwood was interviewing founding guitarist Green for Fleetwood's new book Love That Burns: A Chronicle of Fleetwood Mac, 1967-1974. I thought he was going to say, Well, I thought you were a pretty good drummer, Fleetwood told Classic Rock. But he said: Youd just broken up with Jenny and you were devastated, and I just thought you needed to do something. Thats why I asked you to join the band, because I just wanted you to get back on your feet.
How amazing was that? It really had nothing to do with whether I was a halfway decent drummer or not, it was just because he loved me and didnt want to see me in pain.
Fleetwood said Green named the band in a gesture of friendship" for their relationship. "Someone asked him why did he call the band Fleetwood Mac?" Fleetwood recalled. "And he said, Well, in truth, I thought at some time Id probably move on, and I wanted John [McVie] and Mick to have something after I left.
Crediting Green with giving him confidence as a musician, Fleetwood noted, I play from the heart. I dont know what Im doing half the time. And he told me, Mick, youre okay, just play. Peter was the consummate team player.
Green left Fleetwood Mac in 1970. In a separate interview with Rolling Stone Australia, Fleetwood insisted that a planned 2018 group tour wont be billed as a farewell. Everyone in the band has decided its not," he said. "Phil Collins called his tour Im Not Dead Yet. Well, were not dead yet, but God forbid, we might be, so you could say, I better go see them! But you wont see a poster calling this a farewell tour.
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text: TOKYO, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks rose to a two-week high on Friday as a weaker yen helped exporters, while falling oil prices benefited airline and railway stocks such as ANA Holdings Inc and East Japan Railway Co. The Nikkei benchmark ended 1.2 percent higher to 17,459.85, the highest closing price since Nov. 14. The benchmark gained 0.6 percent for the week and jumped 6.4 percent for the month, the biggest monthly gain since last November. Since Oct. 31, the Nikkei gained because of the Bank of Japan's surprise easing and the Government Pension Investment Fund's decision to increase its allocation to Japanese stocks. Also helping sentiment on Friday was better-than-expected Japanese industrial output, which unexpectedly rose 0.2 percent in October. Oil prices plunged on Thursday after OPEC chose not to cut production despite huge oversupply and prices sliding by one-third since June. [ID: nL6N0TH14H] The broader Topix gained 1.3 percent to 1,410.34. The JPX-Nikkei Index 400 added 1.2 percent to 12,835.53. (Reporting by Ayai Tomisawa; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

subset: commoncrawl


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Sesame Chicken
My tutorial for this week is an easy, yummy recipe. Come on, we are all sick of the same old chicken dishes. Let's learn a new one!
Chicken cutlets or tenderloins pounded to 1/4 inch
1 egg
3 T. white sesame seeds
3 T. black sesame seeds
1 cup panko crumbs
1 t. salt
olive oil
sesame oil
Mix together seeds, bread crumbs, and salt in a shallow dish (white and black sesame seeds and sesame oil can be found in the Asian food section of your grocery store).
Beat egg in a separate bowl.
Dip chicken in egg then press into the seed/crumb mixture.
Saute in pan with about 1 T. olive oil and 1/2 t. sesame oil until golden brown.
Serve with a salad!
Got a tutorial for me? Well, come on back here tomorrow to link up for fun and prizes!
12 comments :
I would have loved serving this to my boys when they were young and telling them it was ants on the chicken !ReplyDelete
Janet xox
PS...It does look delicious and we eat a lot of chicken..will be trying this.
We eat a lot of chicken around here. New recipes are always welcome.ReplyDelete
Oh yes, I like that idea. Totally new to me. I'm not sure what panko crumbs are!ReplyDelete
That sounds so yummy and different! We're going to have to try this soon!ReplyDelete
I love sesame seeds and sesame oil. I'll definitely try this recipe. Thanks for sharing.ReplyDelete
That sounds delicious!! You're right...plain old chicken gets old fast. ;)ReplyDelete
i am going to try this! looks yummy and pretty easy. note to self...... buy some chicken tomorrow!ReplyDelete
Yummy, Looks so good.ReplyDelete
This sounds great! I'm going to put it on next week's dinner menu :)ReplyDelete
Sorry I've been M.I.A. lately - but I think I'm ready for next week's Tutorial Tuesdy!
OMG this looks deeee-lish!!!! I actually just bought A LOT of chicken this week (it was on sale!!) so I need to use it up! Thanks for the post!ReplyDelete
Mmm, another recipe that looks yummy!ReplyDelete
Looks delish!!!!!!!!!! I know the kiddos would love it too :)ReplyDelete


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Jackie sent another award winning quilt. It's just beautiful! Her embroidery stitches were absolutely perfect! She made this with a line of fabric by 3 sisters called, Aviary. I love that line.
Anyway I just wanted to go into each element of the quilt and make it shine. Jackie requested Rosebuds and leaves in the outer border...that sweetly framed it all in. Perfect touch!
Thanks so much Jackie!
Thank you for looking!


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In past years, redrawing the district lines among the council's five districts caused considerable legal and political in-fighting. Careers were launched, stalled or ended when political subdivisions changed to keep the districts more or less equal in size after each decennial census.
This time around, the city's population shifted so little between 1990 and 2000 that only a relative handful of the city's 442 precincts will be moved from one district to another. And none of the changes is expected to make a big difference for incumbent council members.
However, term limits will force at least three incumbents to seek either at-large council seats or the mayor's job, and that could mean several new faces on the council.
Three council members are so new that they can still seek two full terms.
District A councilman Scott Shea was elected slightly more than two years into the unfinished term of former Councilwoman Suzanne Haik-Terrell, who left the council when she was elected state elections commissioner. Because he filled less than half a term, Shea can still seek two full terms. He may nonetheless face several tough opponents when qualifying opens in December.
District D councilman Marlin Gusman was elected last fall and, like Shea, can now serve two full terms. He won special election to succeed the late Roy Glapion, who died in office after a long battle with cancer.
So far, no big names have surfaced against Gusman. However, there is talk in some quarters that Gusman could become the standard-bearer of the Morial faction in the mayor's race if Mayor Marc Morial fails to convince voters to change the city charter next month so that he can seek a third term as mayor. If "3T" fails and Gusman runs for mayor, the council will get a new face in District D. For now, however, it appears that Gusman has his sights set on re-election to the council.
In District E, Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis likewise won her seat in a special election last fall. She succeeded former Councilwoman Ellen Hazeur-Distance, who was elected clerk of First City Court. Like Shea and Gusman, Willard-Lewis can now seek two full terms on the council.
In two of those three instances, term limits factored into the council vacancies. Both Terrell and Hazeur-Distance were well into their second -- and final -- terms in their district council seats. Neither figured to mount a race for councilmember-at-large, so each moved up rather than out. It proved that term limits could reshape local politics not just during citywide elections, but also in between.
The fourth member of the council who won't be forced out by term limits this year is Council President Eddie Sapir. He is finishing his first term in that job. Sapir also has been mentioned as a potential candidate for mayor if "3T" fails, but he says he's focused on re-election to the council right now.
Those forced to move up or out include Councilman-at-Large Jim Singleton, District C Councilman Troy Carter and District B Councilman Oliver Thomas. Singleton and Carter are planning to run for mayor; Thomas has his eyes on an at-large council seat, which means he'd still be on the council, but not from a district.
Both Thomas and Singleton hail from the black political group BOLD, but Thomas won't necessarily be seeking Singleton's at-large seat. That's because all voters can vote for two candidates in that contest, which makes it a double free-for-all.
Overall, term limits have replaced redistricting as the single most significant change agent in local politics -- which is exactly what proponents of the idea promised.


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Aether's Cone speaker is simple, in both its physical design and its interface. Inside, though, it has a brain that learns what you like.
The Cone is a cone-shaped AirPlay-ready speaker which also streams music straight from the internet. It learns your tastes, and even lets you cue up tracks by asking for them, just like Siri.


text: Dow, S&P Both Jump to Record Highs - Will Congress Decision Impact Marijuana Index? Carlsbad, CA / June 6, 2014 / To recap an exciting Thursday trading session -- the Dow rose 0.6% closing at a record high of 16,836.11 with an intraday high of 16,845.81; while the S&P 500 also gained 0.6%, posting an all-time high of 1940.46 and intraday high of 1941.74. The Nasdaq composite index gained 1.1% with an added 44.58 points closing at 4296.23, well below the all time high of 5,048.62.The Marijuana Index remained flat, closing Thursday at 3.23 -- leaving many investors to wonder how a recent congressional decision might eventually impact the sector.U.S. House of Representatives Peels the Proverbial Band-Aid Make no mistake, this is big news for marijuana (and possibly marijuana equities in the long-term). "Congress is officially pulling out of the war on medical marijuana patients and providers," said Dan Riffle, director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project.Last week, a seemingly overlooked announcement emerged from Washington DC: the U.S. House of Representatives voted for an end to all DEA medical cannabis raids. Technically speaking, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on an amendment to a bill for the Department of Justice, which controls the DEA and related resources. Once introduced as the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, the bill is now cosponsored by Congressmen Sam Farr (D-CA) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA). Still requiring a Democratic U.S. Senate ratification, approval from two regulatory committees, and President Obama's signature -- some feel the potential change comes too little, too late. Others believe the legal logic puts the federal government in a position which "toes the line of constitutionality" wherein the DOJ becomes the arbiter of state legislation, something which goes against the "ideals and the common practice of more than 200 years of American federalism."In any event, cannabis is firmly at the forefront of every branch of government and has just scratched the surface of financial markets -- a natural progression for the nascent industry. Widely considered an issue championed by democrats, it should be noted that Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (a republican) has been at the forefront of the marijuana movement for years. While many industry insiders are skeptical as to what this the passage means, a spirit of cautious optimism should prevail. Never before has cannabis seen more favor on the federal level, period.According to a Wikipedia page for the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, the amendment in various forms has been voted on by the House a full seven times. Never garnering more than 165 affirmative "ayes" previously, it passed last week with a staggering 219 votes in favor. These results, combined with recent advances toward definitive banking regulations and emerging capital markets, could go a long way toward restoring investor sentiment in the sector.Get FREE Periodic Updates from the Official Marijuana Index Newsletter Cannabis Science Reports Strongest Financial Position in Company HistoryWidely regarded as one of the "founders" of cannabis equities -- Cannabis Science (OTCQB: CBIS) announced positive news this week which helped shares gain more than 10% on Thursday, closing at $0.117 per share on strong volume of more than 15 million shares. The company is engaged in research and development of cannabinoid-based therapies.Cannabis Science's CFO Robert Kane announced, "Cannabis Science is in the strongest financial position in the Company's history. With a positive cash position after the successful capital raise earlier this year, the Company has the ability to conduct basic science research and to begin new cannabis-drug development programs. In fact, this has begun and our development team is analyzing proprietary data right now."Learn More about Cannabis Science by Visiting the Issuer WebsiteFREE Sign-Up for Marijuana Index NewsletterMentor Capital Announces First Quarter RevenuesPer a series of press releases this week, Mentor Capital (OTC Pink: MNTR) issued updates as the company deploys its intended acquisition and integration strategy of cannabis companies. The most recent release states "on an unaudited basis the company, as of March 31, 2014, reports that it holds $1,574,783 in cash, with consolidated assets of $14,158,030 and has common equity of $4,598,826. The quarterly revenues were $534,889 ($2,139,556 annualized rate) and it operated at a net loss of $56,171 or approximately a loss of one-half cent per share across 10,181,062 average diluted shares outstanding during the first quarter."The company also announced this week the funding of Bhang Financial, which intends to provide credit card processing for the cannabis industry, as well as $100K in start-up capital for Nevada Cannabis Ventures -- a subsidiary which intends to deploy capital in Nevada-based marijuana businesses. Mentor also detailed team additions including a California DOJ Senior Legal Analyst & CPA Director of Audit Services. Any move to bolster financial accountability in light of recent regulatory actions should be well-received, and this could be the first step toward Mentor Capital becoming a fully-reporting (and audited) company.Learn More About Mentor Capital by Visiting the Issuer WebsiteFREE Sign-Up for The Marijuana Index Newsletter GrowBLOX Sciences CEO Issues Shareholder Update; Raises $5,000,000 via Private PlacementGrowBLOX Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: GBLX), a biotechnology and research company whose mission is to grow and provide high-grade pharmaceutical cannabis to the medical marijuana industry and perfect the cultivation process, issued a series of updates this week which were summarized today in a letter to shareholders.Per the release, the first GrowBLOX cultivation chamber has come off of the production line -- the CEO Craig Ellins also said "we (GrowBLOX) are not growing from seeds, clippings or clones. Our technology will allow us to grow from tissue, something that, to our knowledge, no other medical marijuana company is doing. We are in the process of hiring a vast assortment of scientists, who collectively hold various Ph.D.'s and patent portfolios." The company also announced progress toward its Nevada medical marijuana license applications, as well as the formation of a subsidiary in Puerto Rico which is intended to position GrowBLOX in a new jurisdiction currently weighing medical legalization. The company website details more about their plans and product.Perhaps most notably, GrowBLOX appears to have sufficient capital to progress their business plan. On Monday the company detailed a $5 million raise completed via private placement. Shares were sold to accredited and institutional investors, and proceeds will be used to support GrowBLOX Sciences' continued growth, as well as for general corporate purposes. As of June 2nd, 2014 the company reports that they have just shy of 21,500,000 common shares outstanding. MJX Marijuana Index was paid for advertising services by a third-party for featuring GrowBLOX Sciences on both our website and in certain written materials such as this article.FREE Sign-Up for Marijuana Index NewsletterAbout The Marijuana Index / MJX Marijuana IndexNetwork partners of marijuana media leaders Cannabis Financial Network (http://www.cannabisfn.com/), The Marijuana Index was founded in Q1 2013 and represents the first and only registered equity tracking index for marijuana stocks, cannabis stocks, and hemp stocks – providing investors and listed companies with dynamic market data and streaming content. The Marijuana Index provides marijuana investors and interested observers with a medium for research, charts, and a centralized news source on an emerging and turbulent marijuana industry.Readers are urged to visit http://www.marijuanaindex.org/ for up-to-date information and to sign up for updates. Follow The Marijuana Index on Twitter @MarijuanaIndex. Companies or websites wishing to advertise on the index [email protected] – advertising packages are now available. DISCLAIMER The Marijuana Index (MJX Marijuana Index, the "index") is a data aggregation service and does not provide promotional efforts, other than text sponsorship or visual advertisements, unless otherwise noted. The Marijuana Index does not offer investment advice. Nothing listed on MarijuanaIndex.org or within this release is an offer to buy or sell securities. Readers are cautioned against using information obtained from The Marijuana Index as a basis for any investment decision. The Marijuana Index makes no warranties or representations as to the accuracy of posted or streamed information on MarijuanaIndex.org or from companies on the site or within the index news feeds. The Marijuana Index was paid $20,000 cash by a third party to provide visual sponsorship and newsletter placement for OTCQB: GBLX for approximately one month of services. The Marijuana Index reserves the right to buy or sell shares in listed or mentioned companies without notice. The Marijuana Index has been registered with leading financial content provider Quotemedia with the ticker ^MMJ since Q1 2013 (the word "registered" is not meant to imply registration with the SEC). The Marijuana Index makes no expressed or implied warranties or representations regarding changes to the index weighting or inclusion / removal of constituents, tier system, current and future features of the website, or any company or sponsor (either product, public issuer, or newsletter) listed or shown on MarijuanaIndex.org or their respective performance. For more information on the index disclaimer, visit http://www.marijuanaindex.org/ and click on "About" and "Disclaimer."INCLUSION IN THE MARIJUANA INDEX OR PAID SITE SPONSORSHIP BY ISSUERS / THIRD-PARTY SHAREHOLDERS DOES NOT IMPLY THAT DUE DILIGENCE OR EVALUATION ON ANY LEVEL HAS BEEN CONDUCTED ON LISTED OR SPONSOR COMPANIES.


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Great news for one of Moore's Junior Illustration Majors! Under the guidance of one of our professors. Caroline Frumento submitted a project she completed in Studio, "I Hate Winter," to the 2014 Society of Illustrators Comic & Cartoon Art Annual and it was accepted. This is a very difficult show in which to be accepted and with the astounding number of professional entries submitted this year this is quite an accomplishment for Caroline.
We all congratulate her!


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The Secret to Landing Your First Magazine Cover
In 2004, living under the canopy of clouds in upstate NY, I used to wonder how models made it to the covers of magazines. It was a mystery to me and seemed like an almost impossible goal. Fast forward 6 years to 2010 and I had landed 12 magazine covers, all without the use of a manager, agent, or outside help. In this article, I'm going to teach you how it was done.
The two basic methods
The first option is to shoot with photographers who regularly get published. Go to a newsstand and pick up the magazine you want to be in. Flip through the pages and see who the photographers are. Next, contact the photographer and set up a shoot with the intention of having your images submitted to that magazine. The photographer may get pre-approval from the magazine to shoot you for a feature, or the photographer may shoot you on "spec." Shooting on spec means the photographer does the shoot without pre-approval and submits to the magazine anyway, in hopes that they use the images.
The second option, and the one I used most, is to take matters into your own hands. Find the best photographer in your area, shoot the style of pictures you see in the magazines you want to be in, and submit them yourself. Go to the inside few pages of most magazines and look for the email or mailing addresses of the Editor and Chief or Art Director. You can also go to the magazine's website and usually find the contact information there. Once you have the contact info, start introducing yourself and submitting your photos. I've even sent actual prints via FEDEX to art directors. Everyone opens an overnight FEDEX package, right?
Don't be afraid of "NO"
Photographer: Armond Scipione
For every magazine cover I landed, there were sometimes up to 6 other magazines that passed on the same image. I used to submit a web size sample of my image to several magazines at the same time. Some editors would say no, others would say it's not the right look, and still others wouldn't respond at all. However, eventually I would get a YES! I once sat on an image for a whole year before it was picked up for a cover. I knew it belonged on a cover and I didn't stop until I got my yes.
As a model, you have to evaluate your goals. Do you want to make small amounts of money from beginner photographers paying you? Or do you have a bigger vision? Would you rather shoot with the best photographers, submit to magazines, and make a name for yourself? That's where you have an increased chance of getting sponsors, contracts, and/or endorsements. Enlarge your vision.
When I was modeling, I got to the point where I wouldn't shoot with a photographer who wasn't up to my standards, no matter how much they paid me. To the contrary, I would seek out the best photographers and I was the one paying them.
Why did I pay the best photographers?
Photographer: Armond Scipione; Model: Tamlyn Cosster
There are several reasons I paid to work with the best photographers.
- Ability to pick which images are retouched
- Being provided with both high resolution and web size images. High resolution images are necessary for publication
- Ability to choose the looks/outfits/locations that I wanted and felt were best
- Freedom to submit the images on my own to publications
***Always discuss your plans for the images with the photographer before the shoot. Make sure the photographer is ok with you submitting to magazines on your own. The photographers I worked with in the past were always happy to have me submit to magazines because it was more promotion for them.
***Always discuss with the photographer ahead of time the shoot details, such as high resolution images, and any other questions you might have.
Why did I not shoot with just anyone? Even if they were paying me
Photographer: Armond Scipione; Model: Karolina Wozniak
You have to protect your image at all costs. Look through the photographer's portfolio and find their worst image. You could be their next worst image. You have to ask yourself, does the $200 you made from the shoot justify having bad pictures of yourself circulating around the internet forever?
Other disadvantages of doing TFP shoots and some paid shoots:
- Photographer typically decides which images are retouched (not always)
- Typically only web size images are given
- Photographer usually shoots what he/she wants, which may not necessarily be exactly what you had in mind (not always)
- Often you will have to sign a release that does not allow you to submit you images to magazines
As Robert Greene stated in his famous book, The 48 Laws of Power, "Despise the Free Lunch. What is offered for free is dangerous – it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price – there is no cutting corners with excellence."
I always found these principles to be true in modeling and in life. So many models refuse to pay photographers and expect to be paid or given a free shoot. In my opinion, they are missing a key step that I used to land 12 magazine covers.
Finding a photographer
How do you find the right photographer so you have images to submit to magazines? The simple answer is, you have to find a photographer who gives you a finished product good enough to go directly on a magazine cover. These photographers are few and far between.
After my last cover as a model in 2010, I decided I had accomplished everything I wanted to on the modeling side. I needed a new challenge and I felt there was a gap in the industry. That's when I began the journey over as a photographer.
Now, as a photographer, I offer my clients everything I used to want when I was a model. I deliver a polished, realistic final product that I feel is good enough to go directly in any magazine.
Please visit my Facebook page and contact me if you have any questions. I'm always happy to give advice from the lessons I learned over the years.
Disclaimer: The information that I provided above was just my personal experience over the past 8 years in the industry. There are certainly other ways to get published and accomplish you goals. Everyone has different aspirations and there is no right or wrong way. I only want to give others insight into how I accomplished my goals without an agent or manager.


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Quick Look
by Rick K. for webBikeWorld.com
The Arai Pro Shade system adds a fold-down tinted sun shade to an Arai SAI-type face shield.
The system cannot be installed on a standard Arai face shield; instead, it replaces it with a modified face shield that has the special attachment for the sun shade.
The sun shade sits over the face shield and it can be tilted up or down manually.
It has a single detent, so it's an on or off device and the sun shade can be removed for cleaning.
When it's in the up position, the sun shade locks into position to prevent sudden closing.
The system may look slightly odd, but it works well and doesn't seem to change the aerodynamics or sound levels of the helmet, whether the sun shade is in the lowered or raised position. The new face shield also has adjustable brow vents.
The downside is the expense. Since you're replacing the entire face shield to get the sun shade, the cost is significant.
Evolution at Arai is deliberate and conservative and the company has specific design beliefs about the way a face shield should be attached to a helmet.
That is, the helmet shell should not be compromised with indents or recesses for the face shield rotating mechanism.
But the popularity of the sun shade in recent motorcycle helmets has apparently motivated Arai to develop a unique solution that would not require an internal recess for the rotating sun shade.
According to the Otte helmet study (YouTube video) and others, approximately 22% of measured helmet impacts in a crash are focused on the left and right brow portion of the motorcycle helmet.
This means that the addition of an internal sun shade must be carefully designed and implemented so that it doesn't compromise safety.
Some or most helmets with an internal sun shade have either a thinner shell in the forehead area or thinner EPS underneath (or both) to fit the device inside the helmet, which can compromise safety.
That's not Arai talking; it's me.
And since in my opinion, most of the sun shades perform poorly anyway, add weight and complexity and don't offer as much tint as a good pair of sunglasses, I'll take safety over a mild tint any day.
Arai had to come up with a sun shade system that wouldn't compromise the "impact energy management" of its helmet shell design philosophy. That meant designing some type of an add-on device for the sun shade.
I'll admit, when I first looked at the Arai Pro Shade, I thought it looked a bit clumsy at best and perhaps even slightly goofy.
I've seen add-on sun shades like this before and they look kind of dorkish.
So the Pro Shade sat in the box for a while, until one sunny day I decided to mount it on a new Arai Defiant we're reviewing.
The installation was easy enough -- as long as you're familiar with the idiosyncrasies of installing an Arai face shield. Remove the original face shield and install the Pro Shade system and you're ready to go.
The Pro Shade flips up and down manually; it has one "up" position. When you lift it, you sort of automatically push it back anyway and this locks it into place in the raised position so that it can't suddenly close.
There are triangle-shaped clips on either side that hold the sun shade in place on the Pro Shade face shield.
These can be removed if you need to clean the shade or the face shield.
The new Arai SAI (Super AdSis "I") face shield with the Pro Shade system has specially designed brow vents that are different from the Arai standard brow vents on the original equipment face shields.
The new vents can be opened half-way by tilting up the inner edge or opened fully.
All told, the Pro Shade system works very well and the sun shade provides good coverage with excellent optical quality.
When engaged, the sun shade angles up on either side but I quickly became accustomed to it. The clear area below the sun shade allows a good view of the bike's instrument panel.
I was surprised to find that there doesn't seem to be any difference in aerodynamics or sound levels with the Pro Shade installed. This is true whether the sun shade is raised or lowered; I just don't notice any difference.
It's also easy enough to use with a quick left-hand tug to lower the sun shade or a quick push to raise it.
[NOTE: Always lock the helmet's face shield when riding with the Pro Shade in the raised position! Otherwise, the wind can catch under the Pro Shade and pull the face shield up and even detach it from the helmet. See "S" comments below.]
I have to say, I'm not a big fan of riding with dark tinted face shields because I think it's important for the people in other vehicles to see your eyes and realize there's an actual human being under that helmet. A dark shield somehow de-humanizes the rider, in my opinion.
I recently asked several non-motorcyclist drivers what they think about motorcycle riders with dark tinted visors and the consensus was roughly that they don't like it because -- in their words -- it makes the rider look "weird" and "like a robot".
I suspected this, which is why I don't use a tinted face shield, but at least the Arai Pro Shade can be lifted up and then employed only if it's really necessary.
Arai says that with the Pro Shade in the raised position, the rider only has to tilt his or her head a little bit to get some sun blocking capability.
I didn't find this to be the case, however, because when it's raised, there's only a tiny sliver of Pro Shade up above my brow.
By the way, another option for shading inside an Arai helmet is the Sunax Max Sun Shield (review), which fits between the liner and the shell in Arai and other helmets.
I have been using one on my Arai RX-Q (review) for a couple of years and it works well.
The downside of the Arai Pro Shade is the cost. The Pro Shade, which includes the sun shade on the specially designed face shield, has a list price of $100.95 (current street price is ~$91.00).
The Arai Pro Shade system is Pinlock-ready, but if you already have a Pinlock insert on your OE Arai face shield, you'll have to buy another.
That's a significant cost difference that adds to the already very high price of an Arai helmet.
The Arai Pro Shade system works very well and provides good coverage with about the darkest legal tint available.
The cost is significant but if you can get over that, the Pro Shade is a worthwhile option.
From "S" (July 2016): "I upgraded my Signet-Q with a Pro Shade two months ago, and could not be happier...until this past weekend.
I have extremely sensitive eyes and must wear sunglasses underneath a tinted visor.
Before the Pro Shade, that meant that varying lighting brought on by trees and tunnels, as well as reading my GPS, were constant difficulties (the GPS readout got "double shaded", meaning that its brightness took a severe hit).
The Pro Shade allows me to remove or add the extra tint layer at the drop of a hat, plus even when down it leaves a clear band across the bottom of my vision to leave gauge readouts unaffected.
I really loved it until this weekend. Why this weekend? Because, while I was tilting my head up while yawning, the wind caught the tinted Pro Shield flip panel and ripped the entire visor clean off the helmet! (Both the Pro Shield and the face shield were gone).
After getting my wits I stopped the bike and walked back to pick up the shield. And, of course, when I was about 80 feet away a car ran over it and crushed it to little pieces. Leaving me on a 70MPH highway, on a holiday weekend, 400 miles from home with no wind protection at all.
I will almost certainly buy another Pro Shield (plus the clear Pinlock insert that was also lost - OUCH $$$), as it was the best solution I've ever tried to my lighting issues.
But, saying that, best keep your visor locked when fitted with a Pro Shield when you are not using the tinted flip!
As usual, wBW is the best motorcycle information resource on the internet. Thanks and keep up the great work!"
Follow-up from "S" (July 2016): "I spoke to Arai. Their policy is to have the face shield locked any time it is down, and with the Pro Shade that seems especially important.
If you can, pass along that important point to any current or prospective Pro Shade users.
It is certainly not especially convenient, having to make sure you take the extra effort to lock your shield every single time you start moving, but the Pro Shade's design seems to make that imperative.
As I said, the Pro Shade is a fine solution to my light sensitivity problem but I guess it brings problems of its own."
Editor's Reply: Probably most of the helmet manufacturers recommend keeping the face shield locked when riding. It's especially important with Arai helmets since the face shield rotating system does not have detents.
From "D.M." (October 2015): " 'Hello Pro Shade, Good-bye sunglasses!' I wear photochromic eyeglasses, but they don't darken in two cases when you need it the most: behind a helmet face shield and a car windshield.
So -- I have spent years experimenting with clip-on, fit-over, and fit-behind types of sunglasses. All work, but all are a pain.
Like the editor, I prefer a clear shield. Light conditions change, sometimes rapidly, and I don't want to stop every time I need to take off or put on sunglasses, let alone change face shields.
Plus, where do you store glasses or extra face shields?
Enter the Arai Pro Shield. I now ride through changing light conditions -- changing cloud cover, dark woods, shady canyons, bright sun, even tunnels (yes, they do exist) -- with no stopping, no fuss, no muss.
I just flip up or down the dark shield as needed, on the fly. Life is good!
Addressing some criticisms others have expressed:
1. Incomplete coverage. At first you are acutely aware of the bottom of the dark shield. After two or three rides, I was used to the partial coverage, and appreciate some advantages: clear (i.e. undarkened) view of instruments, especially LCD panels.
Clear view of mirrors and clear peripheral view, doing head checks. A new "long" dark shield is coming, which may be fine, but the original configuration seems fine to me.
2. Face shield vent sliding "doors" are sloppy or cheap, compared to the traditional pivoting doors. I find the sliding doors easy enough to manipulate with gloved thumbs. Once opened or closed, they stay in position. Seems like that's all they need to do.
3. Cut-outs or "notches" which give clearance to open the dark shade without interfering with face shield vents. This is my biggest complaint about the Pro Shade system, but hardly a deal-breaker.
At certain lighting angles, your face gets illuminated through the cut-outs, which reflects on the inner side of the dark shield. Once I figured out what was causing these reflections, they bothered me less. And, really, all you need to do is move your head a few degrees in whatever direction helps.
4. HIgh cost, especially after you've just purchased an EXPENSIVE Arai helmet. As of this writing, MotorcycleGear.com is selling the Pro Shade for $77.81, plus $3.99 postage (Click through wBW to purchase), which seems reasonable to me.
One final comment is that it is EASY to remove the dark shade from the clear shade, in order to thoroughly clean both. There are a few videos that show it clearly.
Oh, and I can now easily negotiate dark places, like convenience store bathrooms, and my tank filler neck as I attempt to fill up, since my dark shield flips up out of the way with the clear shield.
When the Pro Shade first hit the market, I thought it was plenty goofy looking, and I was sure it would quickly fade from the scene. Now, after a few rides, and with sunglasses left at home, I think it is a GENIUS product.
Arai designers and engineers definitely go their own way, but they are putting some serious thought into their products. This is a good example."
From "S.S." (May 2015): "I just completed a 2500 mile, 13-day trip using the Pro Shade in a variety of conditions. My experience was mostly negative.
There are several issues that I had with the system which I will share:
On the positive side, with the visor up, it did tend to work like the brim of a hat and help to keep sun out of my eyes.
In summary, this was an expensive mistake for my individual situation, and I will just go back to wearing my prescription sunglasses and a standard clear visor.
Thanks for the reviews!"
From "B.H." (May 2014): "One thing that was not mentioned in your review of the Arai Pro Shade was if you could open/close the main shield with the Pro Shade either up or down. This was not covered in the Arai video link either."
Rick's Reply: Yes, you can, I guess I thought that was obvious but maybe not. If you look at the image from Arai of the face shield in the review -- the image of the face shield with Pro Shade and Pinlock attached -- you can see that the rotating mechanism for the face shield is separate from the rotating mechanism for the Pro Shade. Here's a photo:
From "M.R." (May 2014): "When I initially saw the Pro Shield publicity material online I was most skeptical. However, I decided to put my faith in Arai and their conservative principles and get one.
I quite literally bought the demo unit off the Tucker Rocky rep early this month when he was at Bobs BMWs open house. Ended up paying full list plus tax.
After riding with it everyday for about 3 weeks now I'm very satisfied. There has been no significant increase in wind noise or any whistling and the system plain works.
Having used a similar system on an AGV and Nolan modulars in the past my only caution to buyers would be that they ensure that grit and debris trapped between the two shields if any is cleaned after every ride to prevent scratches on both shields.
The system though a bit clunky, works well. I also feel the price of under $100 is justifiable for a sun shield system that preserves the thickness of the EPS liner in the crucial forehead area and therefore retains the helmet's Snell rating.
The only full face helmet with an internal sun shield from Arai's traditional competitor Shoei, the GT-Air is not Snell certified. An added benefit of the external design is it helps reduce raindrops on the clear face-shield ensuring just that extra bit of clearer vision in heavy rain. Highly recommend with the caveat that it works for me."


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New data could help minke whale conservation efforts
Staff Report
FRISCO — If you've ever heard mysterious sounds that you can't identify, you're not alone. For decades, researchers have tried to trace the source of a unique rhythmic sound in the remote Southern Ocean that's often been recorded, but never definitively pinpointed — until now.
This week, scientists with NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center said the sound is generated by the Antarctic Minke whale, the smallest of the "great whales" or rorquals, a group that includes the blue whale, Bryde's whale, and humpback, fin, and sei whales. Rorqual whales are relatively streamlined in appearance, have pointed heads and, with the exception of humpback whales, small pointed fins.
The sound, described as a series of pulses in a highly repetitive pattern, was first described and named by submarine personnel in the 1960s who thought it sounded like a duck. Early speculation as to the source of the sound focused on submarines, oceanographic phenomena, or even fish.
The identification of the Antarctic minke whale as the source of the sound now indicates that some minke whales stay in ice-covered Antarctic waters year-round, while others undertake seasonal migrations to lower latitudes. The bio-duck sound is heard mainly during the austral winter in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica and off Australia's west coast.
"These results have important implications for our understanding of this species," said Risch, a member of the Passive Acoustics Group at the NEFSC's Woods Hole Laboratory. "We don't know very much about this species, but now, using passive acoustic monitoring, we have an opportunity to change that, especially in remote areas of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean."
The researchers were able to trace the sound by deploying acoustic tags on two Antarctic minke whales in Wilhelmina Bay off the western Antarctic Peninsula. These tags were the first acoustic tags successfully deployed on this species. The acoustic analysis of the data, which contained the bio-duck sound, was led by Denise Risch of NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and was published April 23, 2014 in Biology Letters.
The acoustic tags, which also recorded water temperature and pressure, were placed on the animals using a hand-held carbon fiber pole by researchers working from a rigid-hulled inflatable boat. Animals were visually tracked from the boat during daylight hours to identify behavior and group composition. No other marine mammal species were observed in the area when calls were recorded, providing further evidence that the recorded sounds were produced by the tagged whale or other nearby Antarctic minke whales.
The authors said that identifying the bio-duck sound will allow for broader studies of the presence of minke whales in other seasons and areas. That ability to monitor minke whales is critical for a species that inhabits an environment that is difficult to access, has rapidly changing sea-ice conditions, and "has been the subject of contentious lethal sampling efforts and international legal actions."
In addition to lead author Risch and NEFSC colleague Sofie van Parijs, other authors represent the Australian Antarctic Division in Tasmania, Australia; NOAA Fisheries Office of Science and Technology in Silver Spring, Maryland; Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany; Duke University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, North Carolina; Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Foundation in Büsum, Germany; and the Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center at Oregon State University in Newport, Oregon.
The study was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs and conducted under National Marine Fisheries Service Permit 14097, Antarctic Conservation Act Permit 2009-013, and Duke University Permit IACUCA49-12-02. Denise Risch's research was also supported by the U.S. Navy Environmental Readiness Division (N45).


text: Robin Green wrote: > What guidelines should one follow to make Haskell code least-strict? Obviously the use of "seq" and bang-patterns make code more strict. Code is strict when it evaluates values to determine a pattern match. So avoiding that makes code lazier. Values are evaluated when decisions have to be make in order to choose what an expression will evaluate to. Avoiding "case" statements and things that de-sugar to case statements such as "if then else" and pattern matching. Put off examining the input values. Occasionally the use of "lazy" patterns, preceded by ~, can help make code both more compact and less strict. Consider that the order of pattern matching can matter as well, the simplest common case being zip: zip xs [] = [] zip [] ys = [] zip (x:xs) (y:ys) = (x,y) : zip xs ys The order of the first two lines of zip's definition affects whether zip [] (error "boom") or zip (error "bam") [] will be an error. This shows that "least-strict" is not a unique goal. For the choice I just made the "zip [] (error "boom")" will cause an error because the first definition line of zip checks the second argument, while "zip (error "bam") []" will evaluate to []. The other way to reduce strictness is to be more polymorphic because this reduces what can be sensibly done with the arguments.


text:
Situated in the heart of Shepherds Bush, London, Bush Studios offers a complete solution for your rehearsal needs. We offer six state-of-the-art studios, ideal for pre-production, rehearsal, dance or showcase. We're also home to a newly refurbished Pro-Tools HD-11 recording studio.
Air Conditioned Studios
Wireless Internet Access
Fully Stocked Pro Shop
Secure Storage
Comprehensive Backline Hire / Drivers / Tour Management & Crew
Free Parking
Close to local bars, shops and amenities
Easily reached by tube, bus or road
Outside of congestion zone
Opening Hours: Daily 10am - 12midnight
Please give us a call on 020 8740 1740 or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com with any enquiries.


text:
|Re: [TowerTalk] TowerTalk Digest, Vol 106, Issue 72
|Vincent Weal <firstname.lastname@example.com>
|Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:47:36 -0400
> On 10/31/11 8:02 AM, Bill Gillenwater wrote: > > So, what is the best anchor for sandy soil, like in central Florida? > > 73 Bill K3SV > > > Either something massive enough that the weight alone holds it in place > (e.g. the big block of concrete) > > Or something with enough cross sectional area that it would have to > displace a lot of soil. (the big auger screws or a deadman scheme). > > Either works, it's all about what relative costs are. The trick is > having someone who knows YOUR soil conditions figure out which one will > work. > > My experience with sandy soil extends only to trying to make sandcastles > at the beach and watching tent stakes come out when the wind comes up. > I'm thinking that the auger/deadman approach would work, but would have > to be pretty big, compared to, say, driving it into clay. That's where > the local knowledge comes in. > > I have also been wondering what's the best type of guy anchor to use in Florida sand, and after considerable research I've come to the conclusion that lots and lots of weight is the answer! I'm going to be putting up 60' of Rohn 45G, and plan to build 3 blocks of concrete for the GAR30 guy anchors, each one 4' x 4' x 18" and sunk down 4' into the ground. According to Rohn specs each block will be a little over 5000 lbs. Since I only plan to put a Tennadyne T-12 on top (and maybe a dipole or two) I think that should be an adequate guy anchor system. Of course I'm making an educated guess since I'm a novice at tower building, but everyone I've described this to has said it *should* work fine. _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ TowerTalk mailing list email@example.com http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
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text: On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 12:02 AM, Phil Endecott <email@example.com> wrote: >> yeahhh, bottom line: i'd pick a pandaboard and use DVB dongles and >> USB-to-SATA converters. the OMAP44xx has a 4-port hub built-in so you >> will *not* be overloading one single USB channel with SATA data. > > I thought it had an external chip that combined a USB hub with an ethernet > controller. That probably still isn't a bottleneck, though. my understanding is that the 10 (12?) pins to that external chip are sufficient to carry a leetle bit more than 480mb/sec, and if there's an ethernet controller as well, that would tend to confirm that hypothesis. the datasheet will tell the full story, i'm a leetle pushed for time, spent enough time on this already, so will leave it up to someone else to do that. l.


text:
Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Washington
My mother died in Dec 2011 (in Colorado) at the age of 95. Our father died many years ago and it is just us 3 sons. After 6 months of dodging us, our oldest brother finally sent us the will, which we were shocked to find out that everything was left to him, leaving my younger brother and I out completely. Back in 2000, our brother manipulated our mother into buying a house in Colorado for him & her to live in under the guise he was taking care of her. He hadn't worked for years and needed her to live off, which was why he moved her so far away from the family. Through the years she complained to all of us that she wanted him to get a job and move out (big brother has always been a mooch) and she wanted to come home (Seattle). Around 2008 she started developing Alzheimer's, eventually requiring complete care. We tried to get him to move her back home (Seattle) so we all could help take care of her but he refused. In 2009 a will was drawn up leaving everything to him (unknown to any of us). He has had years now to clean out everything she owns and now all that is left is basically the house he got her to buy. She has always told us everything was to be split between her 3 sons. Do we have grounds to contest this will? I know in my heart our mother would never have willingly given everything to him and nothing to us. Please help.
1 Answer from Attorneys
I see lots of fact patterns similar to this. Whether you can get the court to.give you relief depends for the most part on the evidence you have to support your summary.
If I can possibly of assistance, please contact me. I have about 37 years of experience in this type of problem.


text:
Graaf GM 200 OTL power amplifier Associated Equipment
Analog Source: Forsell Air Force One (footnote 1) with the vdH Grasshopper IV, Symphonic Line RG-8, and Clearaudio Insider. XLO Signature phono cable, Shun Mook and Harmonix record weights, Winds ALM-01 Arm Load Meter.
Digital Sources: Ensemble Dichrono DAC and Drive, Forsell Air Bearing transport and CD converter, YBA CD1 Blue Laser.
Preamplifiers: YBA 6 Chassis, BAT VK-5i, BAT VK-P10 phono preamp.
Power Amplifiers: Jadis JA 200s, Transcendent T8 OTL, Forsell The Statement.
Loudspeakers: Joseph Audio RM-22 and RM-50.
Cables: Bi-wire Cardas Golden Cross on the speakers, Synergistic Research Designer's Reference everywhere else, balanced and single-ended. Other interconnects: Ensemble Masterflux, Harmonix HS-101 "Harmonic Strings," MIT MI-350 Reference and Proline Reference. Power Cords: Synergistic Research's new Reference AC Master Coupler, MIT Z-Cord II, Harmonix X-DC, and Ensemble Powerflux. Digital Datalinks: Illuminati D-60 and Orchid, Ensemble Gigaflux, MIT Digital Reference and Proline AES/EBU, Harmonix Digital.
Accessories: Shun Mook Super Diamond Resonators and Mpingo Discs; Shakti Stones and On-Lines; Harmonix RFA-78 Room Tuning Devices and RF-66 Large Tuning Feet; Ensemble Power Point six-outlet star-configured power distribution unit and Isolink isolation transformer; MIT Z-Stabilizer Mk.II, Z-Center, and Z-IsoDuo; Aural Symphonics ML Bus.—Jonathan Scull
Footnote 1: As regards its undamped linear-tracking arm, in the five years I've been running this fine 'table it has never killed, maimed, mutilated, or (to my knowledge) even insulted a cantilever of any description in any of the many cartridges mounted to it.—Jonathan Scull


text:
Syria deaths peak
Tue., April 2, 2013
March was deadliest month of conflict
BEIRUT – March was the deadliest month so far in Syria's 2-year-old civil war, as rebels pressed their offensive throughout the country, seizing a provincial capital for the first time and launching attacks on other fronts.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 5,896 civilians and combatants died last month, surpassing the 5,400 deaths the observatory recorded in August, the previous high-water mark. The observatory logged 3,893 deaths in February.
Death tolls reported for Syria's conflict are thought to be largely incomplete. A U.N.-funded study that attempted to collate death reports from a variety of sources concluded in January that at least 60,000 people had died in the conflict by then, at a time when the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had recorded 46,000 dead.
The observatory – which reports deaths as civilian, rebel, government soldiers and unknown – is considered to keep the most authoritative running tally. Examining its reports on a monthly basis provides a clearer picture of the war's trends than daily news accounts of the horrific violence do.
March's numbers reveal the extent to which better-equipped rebels on the offensive have changed the war's complexion. While virtually the same number of civilians died in March as in February – 1,780 versus 1,770 – rebel and government forces suffered far greater casualties. Rebel deaths totaled 1,720 in March, compared with 1,128 in February, a 52 percent increase, while Syrian government forces lost 1,281 in March, a 29 percent increase over the 994 reported in February.
That dramatically changed the ratio of civilian to combatant deaths. In March, civilians accounted for 30 percent of the dead; in February they were 45 percent.
"Rebel actions now frequently involve multiple units, and many rebel units are heavily armed," said Jeff White, a defense analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a research center in the U.S. capital.
White said he thought that new weapons, particularly Croatian arms purchased by Saudi Arabia and shipped to the rebels with American approval, were responsible for the apparent increase in combat deaths.
The most dramatic sign of that increase was rebel deaths, a likely reflection of the new aggressiveness with which they assaulted government positions in Syria's north and east.


text:
Roštejn castle is a preserved Gothic-Renaissance castle, which lies not far from Telč. The Lords of Hradec had built it in the second quarter of the 14th century. The Renaissance reconstructions made under Zachariáš of Hradec after 1570 changed a bit of the function of the castle. The guard castle became a comfortable hunting chateau. A large park was established at the castle. In 1604, after the death of the last Lord of Hradec the castle fell into the hands of the family of Slavata, then the family of Lichtenstein and finally the ancestry of Podstatsští.
The Renaissance reconstruction in the 16th century preserved the Gothic bottoms of towers and also the dominating feature of Roštejn; a 28 metre high prismatic octahedral tower. There are valuable Renaissance wall paintings, period movables and collections in the castle interiors. In the largest chamber, the so-called fancy-dress hall, we can find a picture-gallery with more than forty paintings from the Renaissance and Rococo periods. The walls in armorial hall are decorated with more than 700 coat-of-arms from the period when the castle belonged to Slavata ancestry. The former park is now a botanic natural reservation.
The Czech Republic is a cool little landlocked country south of Germany and Poland, with a national addiction to pork and beer. Potatos, cabbage, and dumplings are close behind them, and they also have this great bar food called "utopenec." It means "a drowned man," it's pickled sausage with onions, perfect with some dark wheat bread and beer. The Czech bread is legendary, like a meal all by itself.Czechoslovakia first became a sovereign state in 1918 when it declared independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The state of Czechoslovakia lasted until the "Velvet Divorce" of 1993, which created Slovakia and the Czech Republic.It was occupied by Germany in WWII but escaped major damage, unlike most other European cities. The nation's capital, Prague, retains some of Europe's most beautiful Baroque architecture as well as one of the largest medieval castle complexes still standing. The President of the Czech Republic has his offices in the Prague Castle even today.There was a coup d'etat in 1948 and Czechoslovakia fell under Soviet rule. For fifty years Czechoslovakia was a Socialist state under the USSR, subject to censorship, forced atheism and even the arrest of jazz musicians!In 1989, communist police violently squashed a pro-democracy demonstration and pissed everybody off so bad that a revolution erupted over it, finally ending the Communist rule.The next twenty years saw rapid economic growth and westernization. Today in Prague you can eat at McDonald's or KFC, shop for snowboarding boots and go see a punk rock show.The Czech Republic took over the presidency of the European Union in January 2009. This instantly created lots of political drama because the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, is a renowned Euroskeptic.We anxiously await the outcome of "President Klaus vs. the Lisbon Treaty", a world heavywieght fight sceduled for spring 2009.Text by Steve Smith.


text:
- Statement on the Passing of Bishop DiLorenzo
- Statement on Events Occurring in Charlottesville
- U.S. Bishops Chair Responds to Immigration Enforcement
- Statement on Governor McAuliffe's Veto of Bill Defunding Planned Parenthood
- Letter Urges Administration to Care for Creation
- Congress urged to pass conscience protections
- statement regarding catholics in public office
- guidelines for political activity in diocesan parishes and entities
- statement on the catholic church's teaching regarding marriage
- declaración sobre la enseñanza de matrimonio de la iglesia católica
- important documents and links
Statement from Monsignor Mark Lane on the Passing of Bishop DiLorenzo
"With great sadness, I announce The Most Rev. Francis X. DiLorenzo, Bishop of Richmond, died at St. Mary's Hospital, late last night. He was 75. He was a faithful servant of the Church for 49 years and a Shepherd of the Diocese of Richmond for 13 years.
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Bishop DiLorenzo, for his family and friends, and for the people of the Diocese of Richmond.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord and may perpetual light shine upon him.
Msgr. Mark R. Lane will serve as Diocesan Administrator until Holy Father, Pope Francis appoints a new bishop.
Statement on Events Occurring in Charlottesville
Richmond, Va. – Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo issued the following statement on the
actions taking place in Charlottesville:
"In the last 24 hours, hatred and violence have been on display in the City of
Charlottesville. I earnestly pray for peace. I invoke the prayer of St. Francis who prayed
"Lord make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where
there is injury, pardon." I pray that those men and women on both sides can talk and seek
solutions to their differences respectfully. The love of Jesus Christ is the most powerful
weapon against hatred. Only the light of Christ can quench the torches of hatred and
violence. Let us pray for peace."
U.S. Bishops Chair on Migration Responds to DHS Memoranda on Immigration Enforcement and Border Security
Washington, D.C. – On February 20, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued two memoranda implementing Executive Orders 13768 and 13767, relating to border and interior immigration enforcement. In response to the memoranda, the Most Reverend Joe S. Vásquez, Bishop of Austin and Chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration, has issued the following statement:
"We recognize the importance of ensuring public safety and would welcome reasonable and necessary steps to do that. However, the two memoranda issued by Secretary Kelly on February 20th contain a number of provisions that, if implemented as written, will harm public safety rather than enhance it. Moreover, taken in their entirety, the policies contained in these memoranda will needlessly separate families, upend peaceful communities, endanger the lives and safety of the most vulnerable among us, breakdown the trust that currently exists between many police departments and immigrant communities, and sow great fear in those communities.
The DHS memoranda eliminates important protections for vulnerable populations, including unaccompanied children and asylum seekers. They greatly expand the militarization of the U.S./Mexico border. Taken together, these memoranda constitute the establishment of a large-scale enforcement system that targets virtually all undocumented migrants as 'priorities' for deportation, thus prioritizing no one. The memoranda further seek to promote local law enforcement of federal immigration laws without regard for the existing relationships of trust between local law enforcement officials and immigrant communities. The engagement of local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law can undermine public safety by making many who live in immigrant communities fearful of cooperating with local law enforcement in both reporting and investigating criminal matters.
I urge the Administration to reconsider the approach embodied in these memoranda, just as it should reconsider the approach it has taken in a number of executive orders and actions issued over the last month. Together, these have placed already vulnerable immigrants among us in an even greater state of vulnerability.
Moving forward, we remain steadfast in our commitment to care for and respect the human dignity of all, regardless of their immigration status. During this unsettling time, we will redouble our work to accompany and protect our immigrant brothers and sisters and recognize their contributions and inherent dignity as children of God.
Virginia Catholic Bishops Statement on Governor McAuliffe's Veto of Bill Defunding Planned Parenthood
Richmond, VA – For the second consecutive year, Gov. Terry McAuliffe has demonstrated his unwavering commitment to the nation's largest abortion provider – at the expense of comprehensive health care for women. This morning, Gov. McAuliffe vetoed HB 2264, which would have redirected state tax dollars away from Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry, and toward community health centers that provide primary care to women and their families. This legislation had been introduced by Del. Ben Cline, R- Rockbridge.
Surrounded by Planned Parenthood supporters at a veto ceremony outside the Governor's Mansion this morning, Gov. McAuliffe said his actions protected the rights and dignity of Virginia women – when, in fact, his actions harm the dignity of the women deceived by the multi-billion dollar abortion industry as well as the tiniest females, those still in the womb whose lives are brutally eliminated by abortion.
Despite its deceptive talking points about caring for women's health, Planned Parenthood performs less than 2% of women's cancer screenings nationwide, and provides no mammograms whatsoever. It offers, instead, the opposite of health care – conducting almost 17 times more abortions than birth-oriented services and aborting 160 children for every 1 child it refers for adoption. Planned Parenthood is responsible for nearly 900 abortions every day, a third of all abortions in the U.S. And yet, despite the fact that most Americans don't want their tax dollars to pay for other people's abortions, Planned Parenthood received half-a-billion dollars in taxpayer funding in its most recently reported fiscal year. It received this money despite extensive evidence that it illegally profited from the transfer of fetal tissue harvested during abortions.
The Virginia Catholic Conference upholds the timeless truth that every human being, born and unborn, has an equal right to life. The Conference finds Gov. McAuliffe's pride in protecting an organization that destroys life and harms women and their families deeply offensive. We will continue to fight for the day when Virginia law protects all human life, at every stage of development, from conception until natural death.
The Virginia Catholic Conference represents the public policy interests of Virginia's Catholic bishops and their two dioceses.
Letter Urges Administration to Care for Creation
Washington – In a letter to the United States Secretary of State today, chairmen of the U.S. Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development and Committee on International Justice and Peace, along with Sean Callahan, President of Catholic Relief Services, urged the Administration to do everything they can to care for creation both domestically and globally.
Building upon Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato si'. . . the letter emphasizes the importance of adaptation policies and specifically calls for continued U.S. support of the Paris climate agreement as well as the Green Climate Fund, which provides poorer nations with resources to adapt to and mitigate changing climate realities.
"The Judeo-Christian tradition has always understood the environment to be a gift from God, and we are all called 'to protect our one common home,'" said Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, Bishop Oscar Cantú of Las Cruces, New Mexico and Sean L. Callahan, President of Catholic Relief Services (CRS). The call to care for the environment echoes Pope Francis' call to help poor and vulnerable people adapt to the effects of climate change.
The message also recognizes that "uncompromising support for adaptation policies in no way excludes efforts to mitigate the anthropogenic contributors to climate change" and called for an "energy revolution" to deliver "not only sustainable, efficient and clean energy, but also energy that is secure, affordable, accessible and equitable."
The full text of the letter can be found here: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/environment/upload/USCCB-CRS-Letter-to-Secretary-Tillerson-on-Care-for-Creation-02-17-2017.pdf
Congress urged to pass conscience protections
Washington – Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan and Archbishop William E. Lori – as chairmen of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities and Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, respectively – wrote to both Houses of the United States Congress on February 8, urging support for the Conscience Protection Act of 2017 (H.R. 644, S. 301).
The Conscience Protection Act, they wrote, is "essential legislation protecting the fundamental rights of health care providers…to ensure that those providing much-needed health care and health coverage can continue to do so without being forced by government to help destroy innocent unborn children."
"While existing federal laws already protect conscientious objection to abortion in theory, this protection has not proved effective in practice," the bishops noted, citing recent examples in which the federal government has refused to enforce these laws. "The Conscience Protection Act will address the deficiencies that block effective enforcement of existing laws," they said, "most notably by establishing a private right of action allowing victims of discrimination to defend their own rights in court."
Cardinal Dolan and Archbishop Lori recalled the Hippocratic oath's rejection of abortion in the profession of medicine, indicating that the Act will benefit not only Catholic medical professionals but "the great majority of ob/gyns [who] remain unwilling to perform abortions."
Finally, they explained that conscience protection facilitates access to life-affirming health care: "When government… mandates involvement in abortion as a condition for being allowed to provide life-affirming health care services, it not only undermines the widely acknowledged civil rights of health care providers but also limits access to good health care for American women and men."
The full text of their letter to Senate is posted at: www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/conscience-protection/upload/Conscience-Protection-Act-Dolan-Lori-Ltr-to-Senate-02-08-17.pdf.
For more on the bishops' promotion of conscience rights, including a video about a nurse who was coerced to take part in a late-term abortion, visit: www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/conscience-protection.
Francis X. DiLorenzo Statement Regarding Catholics in Public Office
The Catholic Church makes its position very clear as it pertains to the protection of human life, social justice initiatives, and the importance of family life. From the very beginning, Catholic teaching informs us that every human life is sacred from conception until natural death. The right to life is a fundamental, human right for the unborn and any law denying the unborn the right to life is unequivocally unjust.
Legislative issues pertaining to these matters are advocated on behalf of myself and Bishop Loverde, of the Diocese of Arlington, before the Virginia General Assembly, U.S. Congress, and with state and federal agencies and administrations through the Virginia Catholic Conference, a public policy advocacy organization. Through this organization, elected officials in Virginia are aware of the Church's positions on such important issues.
We continue to maintain an open communication with public officials who make on-going decisions impacting critical, moral and social issues. This is a responsibility I take seriously, along with my brother bishops, to reach out to public leaders to explain Catholic principles and encourage them to protect human life and dignity in all decisions they make.
We always pray for our Catholic leaders that they make the right choice, act in the best judgment and in good conscience, knowing the values and teachings of the Catholic Church.
It is the duty of all Catholics, no matter their profession, to decide through an upright and informed conscience as to their worthiness to receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
Guidelines for Political Activity in Diocesan Parishes and Entities
Our state and nation are in the midst of election season that will yet again determine the direction the United States takes in the future. In this summer of political conventions, Bishop DiLorenzo once again encourages Catholics to learn the issues being debated, to consider them using the light and wisdom of Church teaching, and to take an active role in the political process.
While our Church teaches that "responsible citizenship is a virtue and participation in political life is a moral obligation…"
(Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, USCCB), our Catholic parishes do not enter the political fray as partisans. We consider issues in light of Catholic principles, but we do not endorse candidates or show favoritism to either political party.
Several years ago, the Virginia Catholic Conference, the public policy representative of the Virginia Bishops, issued political guidelines for our parishes and other diocesan entities. Please follow these guidelines during this political season and beyond. You can find the guidelines attached to this memo or by visiting the Virginia Catholic Conference at www.vacatholic.org.
Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo Statement on The Catholic Church's Teaching Regarding Marriage
More than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on marriage, and despite recent statements from the campaign trail, the Catholic Church's 2000-year-old teaching to the truth about what constitutes marriage remains unchanged and resolute.
As Catholics, we believe, all humans warrant dignity and deserve love and respect, and unjust discrimination is always wrong. Our understanding of marriage, however, is a matter of justice and fidelity to our Creator's original design. Marriage is the only institution uniting one man and one woman with each other and with any child who comes from their union. Redefining marriage furthers no one's rights, least of all those of children, who should not purposely be deprived of the right to be nurtured and loved by a mother and a father.
We call on Catholics and all those concerned for preserving this sacred union to unite in prayer, to live and speak out with compassion and charity about the true nature of marriage – the heart of family life.
Declaración del Obispo Francis X. DiLorenzo sobre la enseñanza de matrimonio de la Iglesia Católica
Habiendo pasado más de un año después de la decisión del Tribunal Supremo de EE.UU. sobre el matrimonio, y pese a las recientes declaraciones de la campaña electoral, la enseñanza de la Iglesia Católica de los pasados 2000 años enseña la verdad sobre lo que constituye el matrimonio y se mantiene resuelta y sin cambios.
Como católicos, creemos, que todos los seres humanos merecen dignidad, amor y respeto, y lainjusta discriminación es siempre mala. Sin embargo, nuestro entendimiento del matrimonio, es una cuestión de justicia y fidelidad al diseño original de nuestro Creador. El matrimonio es la única institución que une a un hombre y a una mujer entre sí y con cualquier niño que proviene de su unión. Redefinir el matrimonio no promueve los derechos de nadie, y menos el de los niños, que no deben ser deliberadamente privados del derecho a ser formados y ser queridos por una madre y un padre.
Recurimos a los católicos y a todos los interesados para preservar esta unión sagrada a unirse en oración, a vivir y hablar con compasión y caridad sobre la verdadera naturaleza del matrimonio – el corazón de la vida familiar.