Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010.

Balkenende studied History and Law at the Free University Amsterdam obtaining Master of Arts and law degrees and worked as a legal counsel for the academic council of his alma mater before finishing his thesis and graduated as a PhD in governmental studies and worked as a professor of Christian theology at his alma mater from April 1993 until May 2002. After the election of 1998 Balkenende was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives on 19 May 1998 and served as a frontbencher and spokesperson for Finances and as deputy parliamentary leader. After Party Leader and Parliamentary leader Jaap de Hoop Scheffer stepped down before an upcoming election Balkenende announced his candidacy and was selected as his successor on 1 October 2001. For the election of 2002 Balkenende served as Lijsttrekker (top candidate) and after a cabinet formation with the Pim Fortuyn List and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy formed the Cabinet Balkenende I and became Prime Minister of the Netherlands taking office 22 July 2002.

The cabinet Balkenende I fell just 87 days into its term. For the election of 2003 Balkenende again served as Lijsttrekker and following a cabinet formation with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and Democrats 66 they formed the Cabinet Balkenende II and continued as Prime Minister. This second cabinet fell on 30 June 2006 was replaced with the caretaker Cabinet Balkenende III on 7 July 2006. For the election of 2006 Balkenende once again served as Lijsttrekker and following a cabinet formation with Labour Leader Wouter Bos and fellow Christian-democrats formed the Cabinet Balkenende IV and continued as Prime Minister for another term. This fourth cabinet fell exactly 3 years into its term. For the election of 2010 Balkenende once again served as Lijsttrekker but suffered a large defeat and announced his retirement and stepped down as Leader on 9 June 2010. Balkenende left office following the installation of the Cabinet Rutte I on 14 October 2010.

Balkenende retired from active politics at 54 and became active in the private sector as a corporate director and also works as a professor of Governance, Institutions and Internationalization at the Erasmus University Rotterdam since December 2010. During his premiership, his cabinets were responsible for several major reforms to the education system, immigration laws and reducing the deficit following the financial crisis of 2008. He is the fourth longest-serving Prime Minister after World War II and his premiership is consistently regarded both by scholars and the public to have been above average. Balkenende was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 14 October 2022 exactly twelve years after leaving office.

Early life
Jan Pieter Balkenende Jr. was born on 7 May 1956 in Biezelinge in the province of Zeeland in a family belonging to the Reformed faith, the son of Jan Pieter Balkenende Sr. a cereal grains merchant and Thona Johanna Sandee, a teacher.

During his childhood, Balkenende was an active supporter of the Dutch football team PSV Eindhoven, along with his father he frequented many matches. He also regularly visited the local music school and theatre. Balkenende went to a Reformed Protestant primary school in Kapelle. He attended secondary school at the "Christian Lyceum for Zeeland" in Goes, graduating in 1974.

He studied at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam where he received an MA degree in history in 1980, subsequently an LLM degree in Dutch law in 1982, and finally a PhD in law in 1992.

Balkenende resides with his wife, Bianca Hoogendijk, and his daughter, Amelie, in Capelle aan den IJssel. During his tenure as Prime Minister, he did not use the Catshuis, the formal residency of the Prime Minister.

Early political career

He began his career on the staff of the research institute of the CDA and as a city councilman in Amstelveen.
As a councilman, he proposed the Krokettenmotie which gave council members the right to a croquette if the council went past 23:00 and it was passed.
In 1992 he received his PhD with a thesis on "Governance regulation and social organisations" (Overheidsregelgeving en maatschappelijke organisaties), which was strongly inspired by the Communitarian ideas of Amitai Etzioni. One year later in 1993, he became an extraordinary professor of Christian-Social Thought at the Free University of Amsterdam.

Balkenende first entered the House of Representatives on 19 May 1998 while the CDA was in opposition. He became the CDA's financial spokesman and was also involved with social affairs, justice, and domestic affairs. In this role he advocated a substantial reduction of the national debt and sound public finances.

He was elected Chairman of the CDA parliamentary fraction on 1 October 2001, succeeding Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. On 3 November 2001, he was appointed lijsttrekker for the CDA in the tumultuous May 2002 parliamentary elections. These elections restored the CDA's former position as the largest political party in the House of Representatives.

Prime Minister of the Netherlands

First cabinet

On 4 July 2002 Queen Beatrix asked Balkenende to form a new government after the general elections following the resignation of Prime Minister Wim Kok. The coalition cabinet included the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) party, whose leader (Pim Fortuyn) was assassinated just days before the election. It collapsed after just 87 days in office because of internal conflicts within the LPF that destabilised the government.

Second cabinet

After early elections in 2003 Balkenende formed his second government with the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the progressive liberal D66. Once again leader of a centre-right coalition, Balkenende's policies centred on reform of the Dutch public services, social security, pre-pension facilities, public health, reducing crime, a tough immigration policy and historically large cuts in public spending. The measures gave rise to large public anger and bad results in opinion polls for his CDA party. While his party remained the largest Dutch delegation in the European Parliament after the European elections, beating the general expectation of a huge loss in parliamentary seats, the party suffered strong losses during Dutch municipal elections of 2006, losing their position as the largest party in many municipalities. Despite his unpopularity among Dutch voters (polls in 2006 showed that only 26–33% of the voters had confidence in him as prime minister), his position as leader of the CDA remained stable. In the beginning of 2006, some CDA members tried to replace Balkenende as leader with Agriculture Minister Cees Veerman. Veerman did not accept the proposition and offered his support to Balkenende. Balkenende's popularity recovered since then, surpassing that of his main competitor Wouter Bos in the autumn of 2006. By then, 53% preferred Balkenende as Prime Minister of the Netherlands while 40% preferred Bos. The switch in public opinion is sometimes explained by the steady recovery of the Dutch economy during the last year of his administration and the positive effects of the reformed policy of the Balkenende cabinet, combined with declining confidence in Bos as a good alternative for the position of Prime Minister.

On 1 July 2004 Balkenende took up the rotating presidency of the European Union.

Third cabinet

On 30 June 2006, the Democrats 66, the smallest coalition party, withdrew its support of the government over the way Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk had handled the crisis around the naturalisation of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a member of the House of Representatives. Balkenende resigned for the second time as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, announced early elections and presented his third government a week later. This rump cabinet, formed of a minority coalition of CDA and VVD, stayed in office until the elections of 22 November 2006.

Fourth cabinet

Though his old coalition partners VVD and D66 fared badly in the parliamentary elections of 2006, Balkenende managed to defend the dominant position of his CDA. Needing alternative coalition partners to form a new majority government, he formed a social-Christian coalition with the Labour Party (PvdA) and the orthodox-Protestant Christian Union. The Fourth Balkenende cabinet was formed after Balkenende was appointed formateur by Queen Beatrix on 9 February 2007. His cabinet was announced on 13 February and was scheduled to be in office until 2011, but it fell in the early morning of 20 February 2010 as the result of disagreement between the majority of the parliament and the coalition partners CDA and PvdA over the extension of the Dutch ISAF-mission in Afghanistan. In contrast to the formation of a new caretaker cabinet with full responsibility (Balkenende III after the fall of Balkenende II), Balkenende IV continued as a demissionary cabinet, a caretaker cabinet with limited responsibility. Balkenende government opposed Ukraine and Georgia becoming NATO action plan members at 2008 Bucharest summit. "Ukraine is seen by Russia as part of its own historic and cultural domain," Dutch politician stated.

2010 election and resignation
Despite serious criticism by former prime ministers from the CDA, Balkenende was the Christian Democratic Appeal lijsttrekker for the Dutch general election of 2010.
Balkenende raised mild controversy during his campaign for the 2010 Dutch elections. While appearing in a television show, Balkenende was asked by a female presenter what parties he would most likely form a coalition with. Balkenende first gave evasive answers, then when asked again by the presenter, responded saying "U kijkt zo lief" (English: "You look so cute"). The comment was regarded as sexist and criticised by several people, including Opzij chief-editor Margriet van der Linden and GroenLinks leader Femke Halsema (who stated that "[the prime minister] deserves a knee to the groin" (in Dutch: "een knietje verdient")). Balkenende apologised for the comment later.

On 9 June 2010, Balkenende resigned his position as leader of the CDA as well as his seat in the newly elected parliament, taking political responsibility for the CDA's disappointing election results in the 2010 general election.

Other issues
In 2004, during his second cabinet, Balkenende was diagnosed with necrotising fasciitis. He was treated through surgical debridement and made a full recovery after several weeks in hospital.

On 4 June 2005, the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel De Gucht said in the Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws (The Latest News) that "Balkenende is a mix of Harry Potter and a petty rigid bourgeois mentality". This comparison caused a small diplomatic controversy, and the Belgian ambassador had to apologise to Ben Bot, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs. Retired deputy prime minister Hans Wiegel commented he preferred Harry Potter to the Manneken Pis.

Balkenende has a close relationship with the Dutch people from Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles. He has visited several Keti Koti celebrations in recent years.

Balkenende's nicknames were "JP" and "Harry Potter", among others.

He was a member of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and since 1 May 2004 a member of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands.

Honours and decorations

National honours
 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau (23 November 2010)

Foreign honours
: Commander of the Order of Leopold
: Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross
: Grand Cross of the Order of Bernardo O'Higgins
: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
: Companion of the Order of the Star of Ghana
 House of Habsburg: Honorary Knight of the Order of St. George
: Grand Cordon of the Order of Independence
: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
: Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania
: Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star

Awards
Golden Honorary Medal, of the municipality Amstelveen (Netherlands, 30 May 1998)

Honorary degrees
Honorary doctorate in laws, Hope College (Holland, Michigan, United States, 7 September 2012)
Honorary doctorate in human letters, Hofstra University (Hempstead, New York, United States, 22 May 2011)
Honorary doctorate in sociology, Yonsei University (Seoul, South Korea, 27 April 2010)
Honorary doctorate in systems, design and management, Keio University (Tokyo, Japan, 27 oktober 2009)
Honorary doctorate in theology, Károli Gáspár University of the Hungarian Reformed Church (Budapest, Hungary, 10 October 2005)

References

External links

  Prof.Mr.Dr. J.P. (Jan Peter) Balkenende Parlement & Politiek
  Kabinet Balkenende I Rijksoverheid
  Kabinet-Balkenende II Rijksoverheid
  Kabinet-Balkenende III Rijksoverheid
  Kabinet-Balkenende IV Rijksoverheid

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1956 births
Living people
Christian Democratic Appeal politicians
Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star
Dutch biblical scholars
Dutch Calvinist and Reformed theologians
Dutch corporate directors
Dutch management consultants
Dutch public administration scholars
Academic staff of Erasmus University Rotterdam
Ernst & Young people
Governmental studies academics
Grand Cordons of the Order of Independence (Jordan)
Grand Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Grand Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
International relations scholars
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau
Leaders of the Christian Democratic Appeal
Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)
Ministers of General Affairs of the Netherlands
Ministers of State (Netherlands)
Municipal councillors of Amstelveen
People from Capelle aan den IJssel
People from Kapelle
Presidents of the European Council
Prime Ministers of the Netherlands
Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands
Recipients of the Order of the Star of Ghana
Reformed Churches Christians from the Netherlands
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni
Academic staff of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
20th-century Dutch educators
20th-century Dutch jurists
20th-century Dutch politicians
20th-century Dutch scientists
21st-century Dutch businesspeople
21st-century Dutch educators
21st-century Dutch jurists
21st-century Dutch politicians
21st-century Dutch scientists

Jan Peter Balkenende


Phillips & Drew was a large stockbroking partnership and company based in the City of London, England. It was fully acquired by the Union Bank of Switzerland in 1986, which itself merged with the Swiss Bank Corporation in 1998, to become UBS AG.

History

Founding and early history
In 1885, George Allen Phillips became a member of the London Stock Exchange. After several unsuccessful partnerships, Phillips formed a partnership with his chief clerk, Harvey Richard ('Dick') Drew, to form G.A. Phillips & Co. in 1895. The name of the firm was changed to Phillips & Drew in 1905.

In 1905, the firm assumed the Phillips & Drew name with the arrival of Geoffrey Harvey Drew, Dick's brother, as a new partner and the retirement of Phillips (though he rejoined the firm in 1907). Until the late 1940s, the Drew family continued to hold a controlling position within the firm.

1936–1984
The firm remained relatively small with business dependent upon individual clients until the arrival of Sidney Perry, who joined the firm as a partner in 1936. Perry, would rise to the leadership of the firm over the next decade and by the beginning of the 1950s, he was running Phillips & Drew. Under Perry's leadership, the firm shifted its focus from retail brokerage business toward institutional investors. The firm began to derive most of its income in dealing in gilts, a type of British government bond, for institutions. Perry also instituted a merit-based hiring and promotion system, moving away from hiring on the basis of family or personal connections. The firm grew to over 350 employees by the end of the 1960s.

Also, under Perry, the firm began to establish a reputation as a leading source of equity research and investment analysis.

Acquisition by Union Bank of Switzerland
In November 1984, Union Bank of Switzerland, predecessor of today's UBS acquired a 29.9% minority interest in Phillips & Drew and two years later announced an acquisition of the firm. At the time of the acquisition, Phillips & Drew, with 60 partners and 593 staff, was the leading dealer of gilts (as a GEMM), convertible bonds and other fixed income securities in the U.K. The firm was also a leading asset manager.

UBS merged their UBS Securities arm with P&D and transferred operations from the stock exchange building, and 100 Moorgate to new premises in the Broadgate development. UBS initially had issues integrating Phillips & Drew, which it had renamed UBS Phillips & Drew (UBS P&D). The firm lost £15 million when a rush of orders overwhelmed the firm's settlement system in 1987. Then the bank lost £48 million as a result of Philips & Drew positions in the October 1987 stock market crash. Between April 1987 and February 1988, UBS was required to spend as much as £115 million to shore up Phillips & Drew. Phillips & Drew unit returned to profitability in 1992 after years of losses. Due to its performance issues, the Phillips & Drew name was discontinued by 1992 and the business was renamed UBS Limited. However, the Phillips & Drew name was retained in the asset management business that became known as Phillips & Drew Fund Management.

See also
Union Bank of Switzerland

References

Defunct financial services companies of the United Kingdom
Defunct companies based in London
Financial services companies based in London
Financial services companies established in 1895
1895 establishments in England
1992 disestablishments in England
UBS
British companies disestablished in 1992
British companies established in 1895

Phillips & Drew


Spontaneous combustion or spontaneous ignition is a type of combustion which occurs by self-heating (increase in temperature due to exothermic internal reactions), followed by thermal runaway (self heating which rapidly accelerates to high temperatures) and finally, autoignition.

Cause and ignition
Spontaneous combustion can occur when a substance with a relatively low ignition temperature (hay, straw, peat, etc.) begins to release heat. This may occur in several ways, either by oxidation in the presence of moisture and air, or bacterial fermentation, which generates heat. The heat is unable to escape (hay, straw, peat, etc. are good thermal insulators), and the temperature of the material rises above its ignition point (even though much of the bacteria are destroyed by ignition temperatures). Combustion begins if sufficient oxidizer, such as oxygen, and fuel are present to maintain the reaction into thermal runaway.

Thermal runaway can occur when the amount of heat produced is greater than the rate at which the heat is lost, so materials that produce a lot of heat may combust in relatively small volumes, while materials that produce very little heat may only become dangerous when well insulated or stored in huge volumes. Most oxidation reactions accelerate at higher temperatures, so a pile of material that would have been safe at a low ambient temperature may spontaneously combust during hotter weather.

Affected materials

Confirmed
Haypiles and compost piles may self-ignite because of heat produced by bacterial fermentation, which then can cause pyrolysis and oxidation that leads to thermal runaway reactions that reach autoignition temperature. Rags soaked with drying oils or varnish can oxidise rapidly due to the large surface area, and even a small pile can produce enough heat to ignite under the right conditions. Coal can ignite spontaneously when exposed to oxygen, which causes it to react and heat up when there is insufficient ventilation for cooling. Pyrite oxidation is often the cause of coal's spontaneous ignition in old mine tailings. Pistachio nuts are highly flammable when stored in large quantities, and are prone to self-heating and spontaneous combustion. Large manure piles can spontaneously combust during conditions of extreme heat. Cotton and linen can ignite when they come into contact with polyunsaturated vegetable oils (linseed, massage oils); bacteria slowly decompose the materials, producing heat. If these materials are stored in a way so the heat cannot escape, the heat buildup increases the rate of decomposition and thus the rate of heat buildup increases. Once ignition temperature is reached, combustion occurs with oxidizers present (oxygen). Nitrate film, when improperly stored, can deteriorate into an extremely flammable condition and combust. The 1937 Fox vault fire was caused by spontaneously combusting nitrate film.

Hay
Hay is one of the most widely studied materials in spontaneous combustion. It is very difficult to establish a unified theory of what occurs in hay self-heating because of the variation in the types of grass used in hay preparation, and the different locations where it is grown. It is anticipated that dangerous heating will occur in hay that contains more than 25% moisture. The largest number of fires occur within two to six weeks of storage, with the majority occurring in the fourth or fifth week.

The process may begin with microbiological activity (bacteria or mold) which ferments the hay, creating ethanol. Ethanol has a flash point of 14°C (57°F). So with an ignition source such as static electricity, e.g. from a mouse running through the hay, combustion may occur. The temperature then increases, igniting the hay itself.

Microbiological activity reduces the amount of oxygen available in the hay. At 100°C, wet hay absorbed twice the amount of oxygen of dry hay. There has been conjecture that the complex carbohydrates present in hay break down to simpler sugars, which are more readily fermented to ethanol.

Charcoal
Charcoal, when freshly prepared, can self-heat and catch fire. This is separate from hot spots which may have developed from the preparation of charcoal. Charcoal that has been exposed to air for a period of eight days is not considered to be hazardous. There are many factors involved, among them the type of wood and the temperature at which the charcoal was prepared.

Coal
Self-heating in coal has been extensively studied. The tendency to self-heat decreases with the increasing rank of the coal. Lignite coals are more active than bituminous coals, which are more active than anthracite coals. Freshly mined coal consumes oxygen more rapidly than weathered coal, and freshly mined coal self-heats to a greater extent than weathered coal. The presence of water vapor may also be important, as the rate of heat generation accompanying the absorption of water in dry coal from saturated air can be an order of magnitude or more than the same amount of dry air.

Cotton
Cotton too can be a problem. A striking example of a cargo igniting spontaneously occurred on the ship  in the Indian Ocean on 24 August 1834.

Oil seeds and oil-seed products
Oil seeds and residue from oil extraction will self-heat if too moist. Typically, storage at 9–14% moisture is satisfactory, but limits are established for each individual variety of oil seed. In the presence of excess moisture that is just below the level required for germinating seed, the activity of mold fungi is a likely candidate for generating heat. This has been established for flax and sunflower seeds, as well as soy beans. Many of the oil seeds generate oils that are self-heating. Palm kernels, rapeseed, and cotton seed have also been studied. Rags soaked in linseed oil can spontaneously ignite if improperly stored or discarded.

Human

There have been unconfirmed anecdotal reports of people spontaneously combusting. This alleged phenomenon is not considered true spontaneous combustion, as supposed cases have been largely attributed to the wick effect, whereby an external source of fire ignites nearby flammable materials and human fat or other sources.

References

Bibliography

External links
 Article on the spontaneous combustion of coal, May 1993
 Spontaneous combustion demonstration

Combustion

Spontaneous combustion


John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV (born June 18, 1937) is a retired American politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia (1985–2015). He was first elected to the Senate in 1984, while in office as governor of West Virginia (1977–1985). Rockefeller moved to Emmons, West Virginia, to serve as a VISTA worker in 1964 and was first elected to public office as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates (1966-1968). Rockefeller was later elected secretary of state of West Virginia (1968–1973) and was president of West Virginia Wesleyan College (1973–1975). He became the state's senior U.S. senator when the long-serving Senator Robert Byrd died in June 2010.

Rockefeller is a great-grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, who died less than a month before Jay's birth. He was the only serving politician of the Rockefeller family during his tenure in the United States Senate, and the only one to have held office as a Democrat, in what has been a traditionally Republican family (though he too was originally a Republican until he decided to run for office in the then-heavily Democratic state). Rockefeller did not seek reelection in 2014 and was succeeded by Republican U.S. Representative Shelley Moore Capito.

Early life and education
John Davison Rockefeller IV was born at New York Hospital in Manhattan to John Davison Rockefeller III (1906–1978) and Blanchette Ferry Hooker (1909–1992), 26 days after the death of his patrilineal great-grandfather, John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937). He is a grandson of John D. Rockefeller Jr. Jay graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1955. After his junior year at Harvard College, he spent three years studying Japanese at the International Christian University in Tokyo. He graduated from Harvard in 1961 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Far Eastern languages and history. He attended Yale University and did graduate work in Oriental studies and studied the Chinese language.

After college, Rockefeller worked for the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C., under President John F. Kennedy, where he developed a friendship with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and worked as an assistant to Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver. He served as the operations director for the Corps' largest overseas program, in the Philippines. He worked for a brief time in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. He continued his public service in 1964–1965 in the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), under President Lyndon B. Johnson, during which time he moved to Emmons, West Virginia.

Career

State politics

Rockefeller was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1966, and to the office of West Virginia Secretary of State in 1968. He won the Democratic nomination for governor in 1972 but was defeated in the general election by the Republican incumbent, Arch A. Moore Jr.. Rockefeller then served as president of West Virginia Wesleyan College from 1973 to 1975.

Rockefeller was elected governor of West Virginia in 1976 and re-elected in 1980. He served as governor when manufacturing plants and coal mines were closing as the national recession of the early 1980s hit West Virginia particularly hard. Between 1982 and 1984, West Virginia's unemployment rate hovered between 15 and 20 percent.

U.S. Senate

Elections
In 1984, he was elected to the United States Senate, narrowly defeating businessman John Raese as Ronald Reagan easily carried the state in the presidential election. As in his 1980 gubernatorial campaign against Arch Moore, Rockefeller spent over $12 million to win a Senate seat. He was re-elected in 1990, 1996, 2002 and 2008 by substantial margins. He was chair of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs (1993–1995; January 3 to 20, 2001; and June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003). Rockefeller was the chair of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (2009–2015).

Overview
In April 1992, he was the Democratic Party's finance chairman and considered running for the presidency, but pulled out after consulting with friends and advisers. He went on to strongly endorse Bill Clinton as the Democratic nominee.

He chaired the prominent Senate Intelligence Committee (retiring in January 2009), from which he commented frequently on the war in Iraq.

In 1993, Rockefeller became the principal Senate supporter, with Ted Kennedy, behind Bill and Hillary Clinton's sweeping health care reform package, liaising closely with the First Lady, opening up his mansion next to Rock Creek Park for its first strategy meeting. The reform was subsequently defeated by an alliance between the Business Roundtable and a small-business coalition.

In 2002, Rockefeller made an official visit to several Middle Eastern countries, during which he discussed his personal views regarding United States military intentions with the leaders of those countries. In October of that year, Rockefeller strongly expressed his concern for Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction program while addressing the U.S. Senate:

In November 2005 during a TV interview, Rockefeller stated,

I took a trip ... in January 2002 to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, and I told each of the heads of state that it was my view that George Bush had already made up his mind to go to war against Iraq, that that was a predetermined set course that had taken shape shortly after 9/11.

Rockefeller noted that the comment expresses his personal opinion, and that he was not privy to any confidential information that such action was planned. On October 11, 2002, he was one of 77 Senators who voted for the Iraq Resolution authorizing the Iraq invasion.

In February 2010, regarding President Obama, Rockefeller said,

He says 'I'm for clean coal,' and then he says it in his speeches, but he doesn't say it in here ... And he doesn't say it in the minds of my own people. And he's beginning to not be believable to me.

Rockefeller faced criticism from West Virginia coal companies, which claimed that he was out of touch.

Rockefeller became the senior U.S. senator from West Virginia when Robert Byrd died in June 2010, after serving in the senate with Rockefeller for 25 years.

In July 2011 Rockefeller was prominent in calling for U.S. agencies to investigate whether alleged phone hacking at News Corporation's newspapers in the United Kingdom had targeted American victims of the September 11 attacks. Rockefeller and Barbara Boxer subsequently wrote to the oversight committee of Dow Jones & Company (a subsidiary of News Corporation) to request that it conduct an investigation into the hiring of former CEO Les Hinton, and whether any current or former executives had knowledge of or played a role in phone hacking.

He announced on January 11, 2013, that he would not run for a sixth term. On March 25, 2013, Rockefeller announced his support for gay marriage.

In November 2014, Rockefeller donated his senatorial archives to the West Virginia University Libraries and the West Virginia & Regional History Center. The archival collection documents his 30-year career in the United States Senate.

According to the website GovTrack, Rockefeller missed 541 of 9,992 roll call votes from January 1985 to July 2014. This amounted to 5.4 percent, which was worse than the median of 2.0 percent among senators serving as of July 2014.

Rockefeller, along with his son Charles, is a trustee of New York's Asia Society, which was established by his father in 1956. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit think tank previously chaired by his uncle, David Rockefeller. As a senator, he voted against the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, which was heavily backed by David Rockefeller.

Committees
Rockefeller served on the following committees in the 112th Congress:

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (Chairman)
As chair of the full committee, Sen. Rockefeller may serve as an ex officio member of all subcommittees
Committee on Finance
Subcommittee on Health Care (Chairman)
Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness
Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy
Select Committee on Intelligence
Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Joint Committee on Taxation

Political positions

Iraq War
Rockefeller initially supported the use of force based upon the evidence presented by the intelligence community that linked Iraq to nuclear ambitions. After the Niger uranium forgeries, in which the Bush administration gave forged documents to U.N. weapons inspectors to support allegations against Iraq, Rockefeller started an investigation into the falsification and exaggeration of evidence for the war. Through the investigations, he became an outspoken critic of Bush and the Iraq war. As chair of the Intelligence committee, he presided over a critical report on the Administration's handling of intelligence and war operations.

Rockefeller and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released the final two pieces of the Phase II report on Iraq war intelligence on June 5, 2008. Rockefeller said, "The president and his advisers undertook a relentless public campaign in the aftermath of the attacks to use the war against Al Qaeda as a justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein."

Television violence
In July 2007, Rockefeller announced that he planned to introduce legislation before the August Congressional recess that would give the FCC the power to regulate TV violence. According to the edition of July 16, 2007, of Broadcasting & Cable, the new law would apply to both broadcast as well as cable and satellite programming. This would mark the first time that the FCC would be given power to regulate such a vast spectrum of content, which would include almost everything except material produced strictly for direct internet use. An aide to the senator said that his staff had also been carefully formulating the bill in such a way that it would be able to pass constitutional scrutiny by the courts.

Telecommunications companies
In 2007, Rockefeller began steering the Senate Intelligence Committee to grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies who were accused of unlawfully assisting the National Security Agency (NSA) in monitoring the communications of American citizens.

This was an about-face of sorts for Senator Rockefeller, who had hand-written a letter to Vice President Dick Cheney in 2003 expressing his concerns about the legality of NSA's warrantless wire-tapping program. Some have attributed this change of heart to the spike in contributions from telecommunications companies to the senator just as these companies began lobbying Congress to protect them from lawsuits regarding their cooperation with the National Security Agency.

Between 2001 and the start of this lobbying effort, AT&T employees had contributed only $300 to the senator. After the lobbying effort began, AT&T employees and executives donated $19,350 in three months. The senator has pledged not to rely on his vast fortune to fund his campaigns, and the AT&T contributions represent about 2% of the money he raised during the previous year.

Torture
Although publicly deploring torture, Rockefeller was one of two Congressional Democrats briefed on waterboarding and other secret CIA practices in the early years of the Bush Administration, as well as the existence of taped evidence of such interrogations (later destroyed). In December 2007, Rockefeller opposed a special counsel or commission inquiry into the destruction of the tapes, stating "it is the job of the intelligence committees to do that."

On September 28, 2006, Rockefeller voted with a largely Republican majority to suspend habeas corpus provisions for anyone deemed by the Executive Branch an "unlawful combatant," barring them from challenging their detentions in court. Rockefeller's vote gave a retroactive, nine-year immunity to U.S. officials who authorized, ordered, or committed acts of torture and abuse, permitting the use of statements obtained through torture to be used in military tribunals so long as the abuse took place by December 30, 2005.
Rockefeller's vote authorized the President to establish permissible interrogation techniques and to "interpret the meaning and application" of international Geneva Convention standards, so long as the coercion fell short of "serious" bodily or psychological injury. The bill became law on October 17, 2006.

2008 presidential election
On February 29, 2008, he endorsed Barack Obama for president of the United States, citing Obama's judgment on the Iraq war and national security issues, and calling him the right candidate to lead America during a time of instability at home and abroad. This endorsement stood in stark contrast to the results of the state primary that was easily won by Hillary Clinton.

On April 7, 2008, in an interview for The Charleston Gazette, Rockefeller criticized John McCain's Vietnam experience:

McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they get to the ground? He doesn't know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues."Rockefeller Apologizes for McCain Remark" FoxNews.com (AP) 2008-04-08. Retrieved 2010-11-22.

The McCain campaign called for an apology from Senator Rockefeller and for Barack Obama, whom Rockefeller endorsed, to denounce the comment. Rockefeller later apologized for the comment and the Obama campaign issued a statement expressing Obama's disagreement with the comment. Senator Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina noted that "John didn't drop bombs from 35,000 feet. ... the bombs were not laser guided (in the 1960 and 1970s)".

Cybersecurity
On April 1, 2009, Rockefeller introduced the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 - S.773 before Congress. Citing the vulnerability of the Internet to cyber-attacks, the bill makes provisions to turn the Department of Commerce into a public-private clearing house to share potential threat information with the owners of large private networks. It authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to sequester any information deemed necessary, without regard to any law.

It would also authorizes the president to declare an undefined "cyber-emergency" which would allow them to shut down any and all traffic to what they considers to be a compromised server.

On June 1, 2011, Rockefeller sponsored the fourth West Virginia Homeland Security Summit and Expo. The event ran two days and focused on homeland security with Rockefeller emphasizing cybersecurity.

Health care
In 1997, Rockefeller co-authored the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) – a program aimed at giving low-income children health insurance coverage. Annually, CHIP has been successfully covering about 6 million children, who otherwise would have been uninsured. On September 30, 2007, the program expired, requiring Congress to reauthorize the legislation. On August 2, 2007, the vote for reauthorization passed legislation by a strong, bipartisan vote (68-31).

Rockefeller authored successful legislation that required the Department of Veterans Affairs, for the first time, to provide a wide range of extended care services—such as home health care, adult day care, respite care, and hospice care—to veterans who use the VA health care system.

Rockefeller is also a strong supporter of the fight against Alzheimer's and neurological disease.  The Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute (BRNI) was founded in Morgantown in 1999 by Rockefeller and his family to help advance medical and scientific understanding of Alzheimer's and other diseases of the brain. BRNI is the world's only non-profit institute dedicated exclusively to the study of both human memory and diseases of memory. Its primary mission is to accelerate neurological discoveries from the lab, including diagnostic tools and treatments, to the clinic to benefit patients who suffer from neurological and psychiatric diseases. A $30 million state-of-the-art BRNI research facility was opened at West Virginia University in Fall 2008. The approximately  three-level building will house 100 scientists by 2012.

On Healthcare Reform, Rockefeller has been a proponent of a public option, fighting with some Democrats on the finance committee, in particular Max Baucus, the chairman of the committee, who contended that there was not enough support for a public option to gather the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster. Baucus asked repeatedly for Rockefeller to stop speaking on the issue.

On September 29, 2009 Rockefeller offered an amendment to the Baucus Health Bill in the Senate Finance Committee to add a public option. The amendment was rejected 15 to 8, with five Democrats (Baucus, Kent Conrad, Blanche Lincoln, Tom Carper, Bill Nelson) and all Republicans voting no.

Rockefeller supported President Barack Obama's health reform legislation; he voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in December 2009, and he voted for the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Electoral history

Personal life
Since 1967, Rockefeller has been married to the former Sharon Lee Percy, the chief executive officer of WETA-TV, the leading PBS station in the Washington, D.C., area, which broadcasts such programs as PBS NewsHour and Washington Week. She is a twin daughter of Senator Charles Harting Percy (1919—2011) and Jeanne Valerie Dickerson.

Jay and Sharon have four children:
John Davison "Jamie" Rockefeller V (born 1969), who is married to Emily Rockefeller. She is the daughter of former National Football League (NFL) Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. They have two daughters, Laura Chandler Rockefeller (born c. 2000) and Sophia Percy Rockefeller (born c. 2002), and one son, John Davison Rockefeller VI (born c. 2007).
Valerie Blanchette Rockefeller (born 1971), who was married twice, initially to James Douglas Carnegie in 2000 and currently to Steven William Wayne in 2004. She has two daughters; Percy Rockefeller Wayne and Lucy Rockefeller Wayne and one son Davis Rockefeller Wayne. Her husband is an executive for Jensen Group. They reside in Old Greenwich, Connecticut.
Charles Rockefeller
Justin Aldrich Rockefeller (born 1979), married to Indré Vengris since 2006. They have two daughters.

The Rockefellers reside in Northwest Washington, D.C., and maintain permanent residence in Charleston, West Virginia. They have a ranch in the Grand Teton National Park in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. President Bill Clinton, a friend of Rockefeller's, and the Clinton family vacationed at the ranch in August 1995.

Rockefeller is related to several Republican Party supporters and former officeholders: his paternal grandmother Abigail Greene "Abby" Aldrich (1874–1948) was a daughter of Rhode Island Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich (1841–1915). John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (1874–1960) and Abby's youngest son was banker David Rockefeller (1915–2017). David's brother Winthrop Rockefeller (1912–1973) served as Governor of Arkansas (1967–71). Winthrop and David's brother Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (1908–1979) served as Governor of New York (1959–73) and as Vice President of the United States (1974–77) under President Gerald Ford. Jay is also a first cousin of Arkansas Lt. Governor Winthrop Paul Rockefeller (1948–2006).

Awards and decorations
  National Intelligence Distinguished Public Service Medal, 2009
  Grand Cordon Order of the Rising Sun (Japan), 2013.
National Consumers League first-ever Consumer and Labor Leadership Award (shared with Sen. Tom Harkin), commemorating their service to America's consumers and workers; Rockefeller also received the NCL Trumpeter award in 1992.

See also
Rockefeller family
David Rockefeller
Kykuit
US Senate Report on chemical weapons Rockefeller chaired this committee.
2005 CIA interrogation tapes destruction

References

Further reading
Jay Rockefeller: Old Money, New Politics, Richard Grimes, Parsons, West Virginia: McClain Printing Company, 1984.
The System: The American Way of Politics at the Breaking Point, Haynes Johnson and David S. Broder, Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1996. (Significant mention)
Senator

Governor
Biography at West Virginia Archives and History
Inaugural Address of John D. Rockefeller, IV (1977)
Inaugural Address of John D. Rockefeller, IV (1981)
Biography at the Peace Corps

External links

Articles
Senator Outlines Plans For Intelligence Panel Rockefeller's agenda on becoming chairman in January 2007.
Membership at the Council on Foreign Relations

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1937 births
American people of English descent
American people of German descent
American people of Scotch-Irish descent
American Presbyterians
Heads of universities and colleges in the United States
Democratic Party governors of West Virginia
Democratic Party United States senators from West Virginia
Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun
Yale University alumni
Harvard College alumni
Living people
Politicians from Charleston, West Virginia
Politicians from Manhattan
Phillips Exeter Academy alumni
Rockefeller family
Secretaries of State of West Virginia
Winthrop family
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American politicians

Jay Rockefeller


Rushbrooke with Rougham is a large civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England covering the villages of Blackthorpe, Rougham and Rushbrooke as well as Rougham Airfield. Located directly south-east of Bury St Edmunds, in 2005 its population was 1,140. One 'Henry of Rushbrook' was Abbot of Bury St Edmunds from 1235 to 1248. The site of a former stately home, Rushbrooke Hall, is situated to the south of Rushbrooke. Until April 2019 it was in the St Edmundsbury district. The parish was created on 1 April 1988 from Rougham and parts of Great Barton, Great Whelnetham and Rushbrooke.

References

External links

Civil parishes in Suffolk
Borough of St Edmundsbury

Rushbrooke with Rougham


A form taxon is a group of organisms based on what they look like (their morphology). Such a taxon may not reflect their biological relationships. In other words, they may not be a clade.

A good example are the terms snake and lizard, which are not good taxonomic terms because neither is a proper clade. On the other hand, all poisonous snakes and lizards are in a good clade, the Toxicofera.

Another good example are ducks. They are in  the same family as swans and geese, but called "ducks" because of what they look like.

References

Taxonomy

Form taxon


Devilled kidneys is a Victorian British breakfast dish consisting of lamb's kidneys cooked in a spiced sauce, referred to as "devilling". It has since become more frequently used as a supper-time dish.

Description
The devilling mixture consists of Worcestershire sauce, mustard, butter, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper.

James Boswell described devilling during the 18th century, although it was not until the 19th and 20th centuries that devilled kidneys grew in popularity as a breakfast dish. During the Edwardian era, the dish was typically served in gentlemen's clubs, and was part of a cuisine which also included items such as kedgeree or kippers. In the modern era it has mostly been promoted as a supper dish instead of at breakfast.

Variations
British celebrity chef Rick Stein created a recipe combining devilled kidneys with wild mushrooms to create an entrée. The dish is often included in cookbooks, with versions gracing the covers of books by the Canteen restaurant, as well as books by The Hairy Bikers. Chef Fergus Henderson described Caroline Conran's version of devilled kidneys as "the best recipe, ever!", and Marco Pierre White created devils kidneys for the celebrities in one of his seasons of ITV's Hell's Kitchen.

See also
 List of lamb dishes

References

British cuisine
Offal
Victorian cuisine
Lamb dishes

Devilled kidneys


John Little McClellan (February 25, 1896 – November 28, 1977) was an American lawyer and segregationist politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Representative (1935–1939) and a U.S. Senator (1943–1977) from Arkansas.

At the time of his death, he was the second most senior member of the Senate and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He is the longest-serving senator in Arkansas history.

Early life and career
John Little McClellan was born on a farm near Sheridan, Arkansas to Isaac Scott and Belle (née Suddeth) McClellan. His parents, who were strong Democrats, named him after John Sebastian Little, who served as a U.S. Representative (1894–1907) and Governor of Arkansas (1907). His mother died only months after his birth, and he received his early education at local public schools. At age 12, after graduating from Sheridan High School, he began studying law in his father's office.

He was admitted to the state bar in 1913, when he was only 17, after the Arkansas General Assembly approved a special act waiving the normal age requirement for certification as a lawyer. As the youngest attorney in the United States, he practiced law with his father in Sheridan.

McClellan married Eula Hicks in 1913; the couple had two children, and divorced in 1921. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant in the aviation section of the Signal Corps from 1917 to 1919. Following his military service, he moved to Malvern, where he opened a law office and served as city attorney (1920–26).

In 1922, he married Lucille Smith, to whom he remained married until her death in 1935; they had three children. He was prosecuting attorney of the seventh judicial district of Arkansas from 1927 to 1930.

U.S. House of Representatives
In 1934, McClellan was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's 6th congressional district. He was re-elected to the House in 1936. In March of that year, he condemned CBS for airing a speech by Communist leader Earl Browder, which he described as "nothing less than treason."

During his tenure in the House, he voted against President Franklin D. Roosevelt's court-packing plan, the Gavagan anti-lynching bill, and the Reorganization Act of 1937. In 1937, he wed for the third and final time, marrying Norma Myers Cheatham.

In 1938, McClellan unsuccessfully challenged first-term incumbent Hattie Caraway for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate. During the campaign, he criticized Caraway for her support for the 1937 Reorganization Act and accused her of having "improper influence" over federal employees in Arkansas. Nevertheless, he was defeated in the primary election by a margin of about 8,000 votes. He subsequently resumed the practice of law in Camden, where he joined the firm Gaughan, McClellan and Gaughan. He served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1940 (Chicago), 1944 (Chicago), and 1948 (Philadelphia).

U.S. Senate
In 1942, after G. Lloyd Spencer decided not to seek re-election, McClellan ran for the Senate again and this time won. He served as senator from Arkansas from 1943 to 1977, when he died in office. During his tenure, he served as chairman of the Appropriations Committee and served 22 years as chairman of the Committee on Government Operations. McClellan was the longest serving United States Senator in Arkansas history. During the later part of his Senate service, Arkansas had, perhaps, the most powerful congressional delegation with McClellan as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, J. William Fulbright as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Wilbur Mills as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Oren Harris as chairman of the House Commerce Committee, Ezekiel C. "Took" Gathings as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and James William Trimble as a member of the powerful House Rules Committee.

McClellan also served for eighteen years as chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (1955–1973) and continued the hearings into subversive activities at the U.S. Army Signal Corps, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, where Soviet spies Julius Rosenberg, Al Sarant and Joel Barr all worked in the 1940s. He was a participant in the famous Army-McCarthy Hearings and led a Democratic walkout of that subcommittee in protest of Senator Joseph McCarthy's conduct in those hearings. McClellan appeared in the 2005 movie Good Night, and Good Luck in footage from the actual hearings.

He led two other investigations, both televised, uncovering spectacular law-breaking and corruption. The first of these, under the United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management, also known as the McClellan Committee, investigated union corruption and centered on Jimmy Hoffa and lasted from January 1957 to March 1960. In April 1961, during an Investigations subcommittee hearing, contractor Henry Gable asserted that Communists would not be able to do the same amount of damage to the American missile effort as done by labor at Cape Canaveral. McClellan suggested that the comments bordered on accusations of subversion and called for more testimony from the unions.

The second televised major investigation led by McClellan was in 1964 and known as the Valachi hearings. These hearings investigated the operations of organized crime and featured the testimony of Joseph Valachi, the first American mafia figure to testify about its criminal activities. McClellan continued his efforts against organized crime (including backing the anti-organized-crime (RICO) law) until 1973, when he switched to investigating political subversion. During this period, he hired Robert F. Kennedy as chief counsel and vaulted him into the national spotlight. McClellan investigated numerous cases of government corruption including numerous defense contractors and Texas financier Billie Sol Estes.

In 1957, McClellan opposed U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's decision to send federal troops to enforce the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock. Prior to the sending of the troops under the command of Major General Edwin A. Walker, McClellan had expressed "regret [regarding] the ... use of force by the federal government to enforce integration. I believe it to be without authority of law. I am very apprehensive that such action may precipitate more trouble than it will prevent."

McClellan and fellow Senator Robert S. Kerr of Oklahoma were the sponsors of the bill that authorized construction of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers. The system transformed the once-useless Arkansas River into a major transportation route and water source.

Although his Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management already had been dissolved by 1960, McClellan began a related three-year investigation in 1963, through the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, into the union benefit plans of labor leader George Barasch, alleging misuse and diversion of $4,000,000 of benefit funds.

McClellan's notable failure to find any legal wrongdoing led to his introduction of several pieces of new legislation including his own bill on October 12, 1965 setting new fiduciary standards for plan trustees. Senator Jacob K. Javits (R-NY) introduced bills in 1965 and 1967 increasing regulation on welfare and pension funds to limit the control of plan trustees and administrators. Provisions from all three bills ultimately evolved into the guidelines enacted in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

In 1977, McClellan was one of five Democrats to vote against the nomination of F. Ray Marshall as United States Secretary of Labor.

Personal life
McClellan's second wife died of spinal meningitis in 1935 and his son Max died of the same disease in 1943 while serving in Africa during World War II. His son, John L. Jr., died in 1949 in an automobile accident, and his son James H. died in a plane crash in 1958. Both men were members of the Xi chapter of Kappa Sigma fraternity at the University of Arkansas. To honor their two fallen brothers, the Chapter initiated Senator McClellan into Kappa Sigma in 1965.

McClellan died in his sleep on November 28, 1977, in Little Rock, Arkansas, following surgery to implant a pacemaker. He was buried at Roselawn Memorial Park in Little Rock. A VA Hospital in Little Rock is named in his honor. Ouachita Baptist University is the repository for his official papers.

See also
 List of United States Congress members who died in office (1950–1999)

References

External links

 Congressional Biographical Directory.
 The Man Behind The Frown TIME Magazine Story Of Senator John McClellan, May 27, 1957
 TV.com's Episode Guide for "What's My Line" - Episode 245 with Senator John McClellan as mystery guest.
 Fearless: John L. McClellan, United States Senator - Official biography.

1896 births
1977 deaths
Arkansas lawyers
People from Camden, Arkansas
People from Sheridan, Arkansas
Politicians from Little Rock, Arkansas
Sheridan High School (Arkansas) alumni
United States Army officers
Democratic Party United States senators from Arkansas
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas
20th-century American politicians
Lawyers from Little Rock, Arkansas
20th-century American lawyers
United States Army personnel of World War I
Old Right (United States)
American anti-communists
Signatories of the Southern Manifesto

John L. McClellan


Theological noncognitivism is the position that religious language – specifically, words such as "God" – and "Allah" – are not coherently defined. It is sometimes considered synonymous with ignosticism and igtheism.

One argument holds to the claim that definitions of "God" and "Allah" are irreducible, self-instituting relational,  circular. For example, a sentence stating that "God is He who created everything, apart from Himself", is seen as circular rather than an irreducible truth.

Noncognitivism

Theological noncognitivism


Datacasting (data broadcasting) is the broadcasting of data over a wide area via radio waves. It most often refers to supplemental information sent by television stations along with digital terrestrial television (DTT), but may also be applied to digital signals on analog TV or radio. It generally does not apply to data inherent to the medium, such as PSIP data that defines virtual channels for DTT or direct broadcast satellite system, or to things like cable modems or satellite modems, which use a completely separate channel for data.

Overview

Datacasting often provides news, weather forecasting, traffic reporting, stock market, and other information which may or may not relate to the carried programs. It may also be interactive, such as gaming, shopping, or education. An electronic program guide is usually included, although it somewhat stretches the definition, as this is often considered inherent to the digital broadcast standard.

The ATSC, DVB and ISDB standards allow for broadband datacasting via DTT, though they do not necessarily define how. The overscan and VBI are used for analog TV, for moderate and low bandwidths (including closed captioning in the VBI) respectively. DirectBand and RDS/RBDS are medium and narrow subcarriers used for analog FM radio. The EUREKA 147 and HD Radio standards both allow for datacasting on digital radio, defining a few basics but also allowing for later expansion.

The term IP Datacasting (IPDC) is used in DVB-H for the technical elements required to send IP packets over DVB-H broadband downstream channel combined with a return channel over a mobile communications network such as GPRS or UMTS. The set of specifications for IP Datacast (phase1) was approved by the DVB project in October 2005.

Datacasting services around the world

North America

Ambient Information Network
Ambient Information Network, a datacasting network owned by Ambient Devices presently hosted by U.S.A. Mobility, a U.S. paging service which focuses on information of interest to the local (or larger) area, such as weather and stock indices, and personalized information will be provided with a paid ambient subscription on that particular device.

RBDS
A slight variation of the European Radio Data System, RBDS is carried on a 57kHz subcarrier on FM radio stations.  While originally intended for program-associated data, it can also be used for datacasting purposes including paging and dGPS.

DirectBand
DirectBand, owned by Microsoft, uses the 67.65 kHz subcarrier leased from FM radio stations. This subcarrier delivers about 12 kbit/s (net after error correction) of data per station, for over 100 MB per day per city. Data includes traffic, sports, weather, stocks, news, movie times, calendar appointments, and local time.

MovieBeam
The now-defunct MovieBeam service used dNTSC technology by Dotcast to transmit 720p HDTV movies in the lower vestigial sideband of NTSC analog TV. The set-top box stored the movies to be viewed on demand for a fee.  This was distributed through PBS's National Datacast.

TV Guide On Screen
TV Guide On Screen is an advertising-supported datacast sent by one local station in each media market.  It supplements or replaces the limited electronic program guide sent by each TV station, which is already mandated by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

ATSC-M/H
ATSC-M/H is yet another mobile TV standard, although it is transmitted and controlled by the broadcasters instead of a third party, and is therefore mostly free-to-air (although it can also be subscription-based). From a technical standpoint, it is an IP-encapsulated datacast of MPEG-4 streaming video, alongside the ATSC MPEG transport stream used for terrestrial television broadcasting. Heavy error correction, separate from that native to ATSC, compensates for ATSC's poor mobile (and often fixed) reception.

UpdateTV
UpdateTV is a service used by some brands of TV sets and other ATSC tuners to update their firmware via over-the-air programming. This is also transmitted on PBS stations via National Datacast.

Australia

Australian broadcast infrastructure company Broadcast Australia undertook a three-year trial in Sydney of a datacasting service using the DVB-T system for use in Australia.

The trial consisted of a number of services on one standard 7 MHz multiplex, collectively known as Digital Forty Four.

The collection included:

 A combined program guide for the free-to-air broadcasters (Channel 4)
 ABC news, sport, and weather items (Channel 41)
 Channel NSW (link) Government and Public Information, including real time traffic information and life surf webcam images (Channel 45)
 Australian Christian Channel (Channel 46)
 Expo Home Shopping (Channel 49) and
 Federal parliamentary audio broadcasts.

More recently a near-Australia wide broadcast of a datacasting channel called MyTalk commenced on April 13, 2007. Broadcasting as part of the multiplex on Southern Cross and Southern Cross Ten stations, it provided news, weather and other information, available free to anyone able to tune in. The stream consisted of text applicable to the viewer's location and a 4:3 video window of terrestrial TV from the relevant Southern Cross/Southern Cross Ten station.

On February 25, 2008, MyTalk ceased broadcasting. Digital Forty Four was shut down at exactly midnight on the night of April 30, 2010.

Malaysia
Malaysian multi-channel pay-TV operator, MiTV Corporation Sdn Bhd launched its IP-over-UHF service in September 2005. The full digital broadcast capacity was used to deliver IP services which such as multicast streaming and datacasting.

Middle East
Toosheh, or "Knapsack" in Persian is a datacasting technology that uses existing set-top-boxes for reception of files without requiring an Internet connection. No special equipment is required, the transmission is in the form of a standard video stream containing embedded data that is 'recorded' to a USB stick and then viewed using special software on a PC.

South Africa
Mindset Network has developed an IP satellite datacast platform for the distribution of educational and health content, to sites around South Africa and the rest of Africa as well. The model is a forward and store model, allowing users of the platform to view content in an on-demand fashion. Content distributed in this way includes video content, print-based content (in the form of PDF files), and interactive computer-based multimedia content.

Significantly, the model also includes access to a GPRS network that allows the receiving sites to communicate back to the Mindset central server. Communications include statistics about the physical health of the machine (e.g. power status, disk drive usage), as well as usage statistics indicating what content has been viewed.

The model also includes a distributed deployment of the Moodle LMS, allowing users to take assessments and have the results transmitted via GPRS to the Mindset server for accreditation.

United Kingdom

Teletext was used extensively on analogue channels; a type of datacasting using the overscan on analogue transmissions. Teletext Limited and Ceefax were the main providers. Within digital terrestrial television, the Digital Teletext name is used extensively although the technology used to provide this service is unrelated and uses the MHEG-5 UK profile.

Worldwide

Blockstream Satellite
Blockstream Satellite broadcasts the Bitcoin blockchain via a global network of broadcast satellites. It also gives everyone the ability to transmit arbitrary files at low cost which can be received in total anonymity worldwide by anyone with a standard DVB-S2 receiver card or USB adapter.

Outernet
Outernet's goal is to provide free access to content from the web through geostationary and Low Earth orbit satellites, made available effectively to all parts of the world. The project uses datacasting and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) through both small satellites, such as CubeSats, and larger, more conventional geostationary communications satellites in a satellite constellation network. Wi-Fi enabled devices would communicate with the satellite hotspots, which receive data broadcasts from satellites.

Advantages over Internet transmission

Datacasting has certain advantages over using the Internet, specifically concerning privacy and censorship resistance, which can be considered important in an era of mass surveillance.

Both satellite and terrestrial broadcast multiplexes can carry multicast IP data. This can be forwarded onto a LAN with a suitable receiver, such as a low-cost set-top-box running custom firmware. The software to transmit web pages over multicast is fairly easy to implement; some of the technology has been already developed. Content received can be stored automatically on the set-top box's built in hard drive, served to users over Wi-Fi or Ethernet. A fractional broadcast multiplex can transmit up to hundreds of gigabytes of content each day.

Privacy

Because the data stream is receive only, nobody can tell what a user is receiving. Thus the government cannot round up citizens for reading forbidden material in oppressive regimes. In extreme cases the receiver can be physically disconnected from the Internet to ensure maximum security, thus providing a system much more secure than Internet-based anonymity networks such as Tor. This could ultimately put a complete stop to law enforcement attempts to censor material on the darknet and making many censorship laws virtually impossible to enforce; thus restoring some of the 'anarchic freedom' of the early days of the Internet.

Censorship

It is much more difficult, on a technical and political level to jam a satellite signal compared to blocking a website. Data streams can be transmitted alongside television channels. An attempt to jam the data stream will end up jamming the TV stations as well.

Efficiency

Despite the very high cost of satellite bandwidth, broadcasting to hundreds of thousands or millions of receivers may well be cheaper than using the Internet. No build-out and maintenance of costly physical infrastructure (e.g. fiber optic cables) is required for the end-user, only a satellite dish or TV antenna is necessary, allowing services such as educational materials to be delivered to underserved communities.

See also
 Interactive television
 DVB-H
 Multimedia home platform
 UDcast
 MPEG Multiprotocol encapsulation
 MPEG Unidirectional Lightweight Encapsulation

References

Broadcasting
Broadcast engineering
Radio technology
Interactive television

Datacasting


Melba Jean Trinidad Vasquez (born February 27, 1951) is an American psychologist who served as the 2011 president of the American Psychological Association (APA). Vasquez was the APA's first Latina president. She has authored multiple works on ethics in psychotherapy. She is in private practice in Texas.

Career
Melba J. T. Vasquez attended Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University-San Marcos) and majored in English and political science.  She was a middle school English and political science teacher before beginning a psychology career. She received a PhD in counseling psychology from The University of Texas in 1978, then worked at the university's counseling center. She taught psychology both at The University of Texas and at Colorado State University before moving into private practice. She has been in practice in Austin, Texas since 1991.

When Vasquez was elected president of the APA in 2011, she became the first Latina elected to the position. She had previously served as president of the Texas Psychological Association, the Society of Counseling Psychology (APA Division 17) and the Society for the Psychology of Women (APA Division 35). She cofounded the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues (APA Division 45). She coauthored Ethics for Psychologists: A Commentary on the APA Ethics Code and four editions of Ethics in Psychotherapy and Counseling: A Practical Guide. In 2007, Vasquez was recognized with the Alfred M. Wellner Senior Career Psychologist Award from the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology.
She was also recognized as a Distinguished Practitioner of Psychology in the National Academies of Practice.

References

American women psychologists
Hispanic and Latino American social scientists
Presidents of the American Psychological Association
Texas State University alumni
1951 births
Living people
Hispanic and Latino American women scientists
21st-century American psychologists

Melba J. T. Vasquez


Alexandre Desgoffe (1805–1882) was a French landscape painter born in Paris. He studied under Ingres, and travelled in Italy from 1837 to 1842. He usually introduced into his landscapes historical or mythological incidents, and he also painted some Biblical subjects. The Luxembourg Gallery has his Fury of Orestes, and the Museum of Lyons his Cyclops. He decorated the Salle des Etudes of the Bibliothèque Nationale in 1868. He died in Paris in 1882.

His nephew was the still-life painter Blaise Alexandre Desgoffe (1830–1901).

References

1805 births
1882 deaths
French landscape painters
Painters from Paris
19th-century French painters
French male painters
19th-century French male artists

Alexandre Desgoffe


The Order of Knight-Masons Elect Priests of the Universe () or simply Élus Coëns (sometimes misspelled 'Elus Cohens' or 'Kohens', Hebrew for 'Elect Priests'), was a theurgical organisation founded by Martinez de Pasqually. It appeared in France in the second half of the 18th century and is the first branch of Martinist tradition, otherwise known as Martinezism.

Doctrine

General teaching
The Élus Coëns is an esoteric Christian order founded in 1767, with its focus on establishing an invisible church, independent of any earthly structure, to find the path that leads to the hidden knowledge of nature in anticipation of the coming destruction of the material Church. That is to say, by a progressive initiation and a direct knowledge of God to obtain the primordial unity, which was lost since the fall of Adam—the Reintegration—through the practice of theurgy, which relied on complex ceremonial practices aimed at what Pasqually termed the reconciliation of the 'minor' person with Divinity. This was to be accomplished through human communication with the angelic hierarchies. In other words, they practised theurgy which consisted of evoking the intermediary spirits, such as angels and celestial beings in order to obtain their help and support. With this in mind, the Masonic system provides an adequate structure for this course taken using occultist methods.

The teachings address essentially major themes relating to the Judeo-Christian tradition, but from an esoteric point of view, under the Cabbalistic, Hermetic, and Gnostic influences—some have claimed strong elements of Valentinian Gnostic teachings, but this is actually not as reliable as the Manichean / Mandaean elements very present in these writings and catechisms—found in Pasqually's own texts, rituals and catechisms. They drew upon the power of Church prayers, banished the influence of Satan from humanity.

The Architect
Hiram Abiff—the allegorical figure of Freemasonry—is also presented in the Martinezist tradition, but with a different view. According to an archive from Lyon Library, the Private Instructions to the Coëns of Lyon, Hiram was not murdered but simply retired from his job because the King Solomon fell into sins. He could not die because he was not an ordinary mortal but being a sublime essence, a bearer of holiness, an architect sent to Solomon by the Great Architect of the Universe. It is also described in the archive that he is one of the six great elects, among whom are Hely, Enoch, Melchizedek, Ur and Elijah. All of them precede the seventh and final elect – the Corrector or Mender, our Lord Jesus Christ. But it was Hiram, being the chief architect of the Temple of King Solomon, foreshadowed by his appearance the coming of the Son of God (Jesua Messiah), as the Great Architect of the New Testament Church.

This view of Martinezism developed in higher degrees is completely distinct from the Freemasonry's, departed from Masonic symbolism and ordinary Masonic works, the Coëns introduced a mystical philosophy, a detailed description of which can be found in Pasqually's Treatise on the Reintegration of Beings into Their Original Estate, Virtues and Powers both Spiritual and Divine ().

Structure

This doctrine, he intended for an elite chosen from the ranks of his contemporary masons, and gathered under the banner of the 'Elus Coens' (Elect Priests).
Quickly this order gained quite the reputation in French masonic circles, but the theurgic operations remained reserved for the higher degrees.
Martinez did not, to a greater extent, graft his system solely on freemasonry.
Until 1761, it is to be located in Montpellier, Paris, Lyons, Bordeaux, Marseilles, and Avignon.

In 1761 he built a special temple in Avignon, where he resided himself until 1766.
At that time, the Order of the Elect Coens is worked as a high-degree system superimposed on the Blue Lodges:
The first class has three symbolic degrees, and that of 'maître parfait élu', then the grades Coens proper: apprentice Coën, fellowcraft Coën, and master Coën, Grand Master Coën or Grand Architect, Chevalier d'Orient or Knight Zorobabel, Commandeur d'Orient or Commander Zorobabel, and finally the last degree, the supreme consecration of Reaux Croix.

Origin myth and history
The history of the Élus Coëns, like the history of any secret society, is quite complex and confusing. The history has been preserved in very few written documents that could shed light on the order that remains almost unknown for more than two centuries. However, its history can be divided into a legendary one and an actual one.

Legendary history

The legendary history, according to Pasqually's Treatise on the Reintegration of Beings, the fundamental book of Élus Coëns, the teachings taught in the order derive from the teachings that Seth, the third son of Adam, received from the Angels, which including certain rituals and reconciliation of humanity with God. But the descendants of Seth perverted this knowledge, thus it became useless, until it was retransmitted by Noah. Since then, it has passed through the ages, through a continuous chain of the tradition of initiation to the Rosicrucians. The higher mystery of the Rosicrucian brotherhood was taught at the highest level of the Order of the Elect Priests, which had the designation 'R+' that means 'Reaux-Croix' ('Pink Cross' or 'Ruddy Cross').

It is believed that the doctrine transmitted in the Order of the Elect Priests, especially the teaching of 'R+' level, was the axis and the basic doctrine of all the preceding esoteric brotherhoods, societies and orders that existed before the emergence of the Elect Priests. Moreover, according to the Treatise, all the Old Testament prophets, for example, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Solomon and his architect Hiram Abiff, among others; as well as many New Testament figures and mystics, among them the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ and theologians and teachers of the early Christian Church; also various legendary figures, such as Christian Rosenkreuz, were all the Elect Priests of the universe.

Documented history

For twenty years, spanning from 1754 to 1774, the year of his death, Pasqually worked ceaselessly to establish and promote his . In 1754 he founded the Chapter of Scottish Judges in Montpellier. In 1761, he became affiliated with the lodge La Française in Bordeaux and founded a Cohen Temple there. In 1764  La Française was reorganized by him as Française Élue Écossaise to indicate that it now had a Chapter of superior degrees.

In 1766 the directors of the Masonic province of Bordeaux declared that they were abolishing all constitutions relating to higher grades apart from the first three (Regular Blue- or St. John's degrees of: Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master). As a result, all the works of the Chapter were suspended. This same year Martinez travelled to Paris and found a new and explicit Elus Cohen-temple together with Bacon de Chivalerie, Jean-Baptiste Willermoz, Fauger d'Ignéacourt, the Count of Lusignan, Henri de Loos, Grainville, and several others that were to play important parts in the history the Order.

In 1767, he established the Sovereign Tribunal who would direct the whole Order of the Elus Coens. In 1768 he met with Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin. The personality and teachings of Pasqually made a deep and lasting impression on Saint-Martin. Conversely, Pasqually himself was influenced by Saint-Martin who decided to leave his military career in 1771 and become the personal secretary of Martinez, replacing Abbe Pierre Fournié.

From this period  the notable development of the rituals of the order starts and Pasquallys drafting of his magnum opus, the Treatise on the Reintegration of Beings, the main doctrinal foundation of the Martinist theosophy and theurgy. In 1772 Pasqually, embarked on a trip to Santo Domingo to receive an inheritance, and subsequently died there in 1774. Thereafter, the Order disintegrates.

Collapse

In 1776, the Coens Temples of La Rochelle, Marseilles, and Libourne fall into the grasp of the Grand Lodge of France. In 1777, the rites are no longer in operation and institutional use, except from some circles in Paris, Versailles and Eu.

Finally, in 1781, Sebastien Las Casas, third and last 'Grand Sovereign' of the Elus Cohens (successor of Caignet de Lester, who died in 1778) ordered the closure of the eight remaining temples that still recognize his authority. Despite the official closure, the Elus Coens continued to both practice theurgy, and to conduct initiations. On the other hand, the theosophical teaching of Martinez was not lost, in masonry, it spreads even long after the death of the leader through the Masonic system established by Willermoz shortly after death his master.

Besides Willermoz and Saint-Martin, the last known personal disciple of Martinez was Abbe Pierre Fournié. It was around 1768 that he met the teacher who would make him turn around his life completely, and of whom would be employed as secretary. Initiated as an Elus Coën, the tonsured cleric Fournié resides mainly in Bordeaux, where he mediates the correspondences between different members of the Order.

In 1776, Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin is quoted as describing him as an Elus Cohen exceptionally favoured in supernatural manifestations; the source is Fournié himself  in his own work What we've been, what we are and what we become  (1802), in fear of saying too much. At the time of the revolution Fournié emigrated to England, where he remained until his death, and in this period, from 1818 to 1821, he befriends the Theosophist of Munich Franz von Baader.

Aftermath
Two of Pasqually's disciples particularly distinguished themselves: Jean-Baptiste Willermoz and Louis Claude de Saint-Martin.

Jean-Baptiste Willermoz was an ardent adept of Freemasonry and theurgy. For him, the doctrine of Reintegration is at the base of primitive and authentic masonry that is to be found by the meeting on this basis of all 'rites and systems'. He joined the German Order of Strict Templar Observance in 1773, the order was reformed by Willermoz under a new name, the Order of Knights Beneficent of the Holy City, which combined Templar Freemasonry with the ceremonial of the Élus Coëns.

Meanwhile, Louis Claude de Saint-Martin had renounced Freemasonry and the theurgy used by Élus Coëns. By judging these methods of angelic evocation to be unreliable and even dangerous, he chose to take another path, what he called 'The Way of the Heart' to attain the Reintegration, the inward contemplation that opposes the exterior theurgic ritual.

At the end of the 19th century, various occultist currents reclaimed Martinez de Pasqually—among them, the Ordre de la Rose-Croix catholique du Temple et du Graal—founded in 1890 by Joséphin Péladan, which claimed to fight against the 'Latin Decadence' by the return to the religion of the 'Art God' and an imperial theocracy.

The only two books written by Martinez de Pasqually, the Manuscrit d'Alger and the Traité sur la réintégration des êtres have been translated in English and both published in 2021. "The Algiers Manuscript", under the title "The Green Book of the Élus Coëns", published by Lewis Masonic; and the Treatise on the Reintegration of Beings, published by The Three Luminaries.

Reawakening and final closure
In 1943, Robert Ambelain, whose mystical name was Aurifer, revived the Order of the Élus Coëns. The other two esotericists who signed the Charter to revive the Order were Robert Amadou (1924 – 2006) and Roger Ménard. Georges Bogé de Lagrèze (1882-1946) was elected Grand Master and Ambelain his Deputy Grand Master.

The degrees of this new Order were the Operative degrees of the original Élus Coëns, reconstituted with the scarce material Ambelain had in his hands. The name of the Order was later changed in "Ordre Martiniste des Élus Cohens", where candidates were also initiated into the usual three degrees of Martinism; this was the 'outer order' which formed the ante-chamber of the Operative degrees.

Ambelain, who always looked for possibilities to expand the Order, introduced elements that had nothing to do with the original Coëns: Neo-Gnosticism, Qabalah and Memphis-Misraim among others. This happened because he did not have enough material to actually do all the degrees, and found in other traditions a good solution to fill the gaps. This was quite easy for him because he was the leader of several initiatic organisations, which were closely linked with each other: The Martinist Order, the Rite of Memphis-Misraim, the Élus Coëns, the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose+Cross, the Ecclesia Gnostica Apostolica and the Gnostic Catholic Apostolic Church.

Ambelain entrusted its leadership to Ivan Mosca (1915 – 2005) – mystical name Hermete – who made the Order dormant in 1968 and then reawakened it in 1995. Upon the death of Mosca, who did not designate successors, two groups claimed the legitimate succession, a Spanish and an Italian-French one. A third group also reconstructed its 'regularity' within the Order of the United Rites of Memphis Misraim, through an Ambelain-Kloppel-Castelli lineage, and proceeded with a philological reconstruction of the original rituals and operations.

The order was officially closed, as publicly announced in the Martinist magazine L'Initiation, in 1964.

See also
Magical organization

References

18th-century establishments in France
Fraternal orders
Magical organizations
Martinism
Masonic rites
Religious organizations established in the 18th century


BBC One is a television channel in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936, and was the first television channel in the United Kingdom. The channel was Published by BBC. The channel shows lots of different programmes including famous ones such as Only Fools and Horses and EastEnders. The Channel features a Wide Range Of Covers.

History
BBC Television Service was the world's first regular public television service with a high level of image resolution.

The channel was later renamed BBC TV until the launch of sister channel BBC Two in 1964. After that it was known as BBC1, but changed to the current spelling in 1997. The channel has an annual budget of £840 million, and makes an annual profit of £900 million. Along with the BBC's other UK television stations, it is funded completely by the television licence fee - this means it shows no adverts.

References

Other websites

1936 establishments in Europe
BBC television channels
1930s establishments in the United Kingdom

BBC One


Destiny's Child was a three-time Grammy Award-winning American pop girl group. They were founded in Houston, Texas. They formed in 1997. Originally a quartet called Girl's Tyme, the group eventually became a trio whose members were Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. According to the World Music Awards, Destiny's Child is the best selling female group of all time. On June 12, 2005, they announced on tour in Barcelona that they would no longer be performing together, but pursuing individual careers in music, theatre, television and film.

They disbanded in 2006. Destiny's Child has sold in total 130 million worldwide including albums, video albums and singles; its leader Beyoncé as a solo artist has sold over 250 million records ; Kelly Rowland has sold as a solo artist 60 million records worldwide.
With Michelle Williams as the lineup Destiny's Child sold more than 45 million records.

History

1998-2000
Destiny's Child released their first album, Destiny's Child, in 1998. Their second album The Writing's on the Wall was released in 1999. It was the band's last album with four members.

2001-2003
In 2001 Survivor was released. All of the album's four singles reached number one.

2004-2005
The band released their last album Destiny Fulfilled in 2004. Four singles were released from the album.

Discography

References

1997 establishments in the United States
2006 disestablishments in the United States
1990s American music groups
2000s American music groups
African-American musical groups
American girl groups
Beyoncé

Grammy Award winners
Musical groups disestablished in 2006
Musical groups established in 1997
Musical groups from Houston
Musical trios
American R&B bands
American pop music groups
American hip hop bands
American soul bands

Destiny's Child


Booty Call is a 1997 American buddy comedy film, written by J. Stanford Parker (credited as Bootsie) and Takashi Bufford, and directed by Jeff Pollack. The film stars Jamie Foxx, Tommy Davidson, Vivica A. Fox, and Tamala Jones.

Plot
Rushon Askins, a tender-hearted, upwardly-mobile man, has been dating his self-righteous-to-a-fault girlfriend Nikki for seven weeks. They really like each other, but their relationship has not yet been consummated; Nikki is unsure if their relationship is ready for the next stage.

Rushon asks Nikki out to dinner, but Nikki wants it to be a double date. She brings her opinionated friend and neighbor Lysterine "Lysti", and Rushon comes with his "bad boy" buddy Bunz. Lysti and Bunz soon end up bonding as both are sexually adventurous and completely uninhibited, despite some initial bickering and resentment towards one another as each of them overplayed their roles by trying to come off as a player (Bunz) or overly high-maintenance (Lysti). Meanwhile, the more conservative and prudish Nikki decides it is time for her and Rushon to take their relationship to the next level, much to Rushon's surprise and excitement. However, they have one small problem: this is the 1990s, and Nikki wants to practice safe sex. Rushon produces a condom and just as he removes the wrapper, Nikki's mischievous, poorly trained, small terrier dog named "Killer" snatches and destroys Rushon's only condom, forcing him to have to go out and buy more condoms. Nikki then calls Lysterine and urges her to make Bunz (also condomless) use a condom as well. Therefore, Rushon (who has to take Killer along for his walk) and Bunz go on wild, late night adventures from store to store trying to find "protection" before everyone's mood evaporates. The two friends run across a wild assortment of characters which includes a Chinese medicine store owner, wacky Punjabi convenience store owners, a would-be armed robber, a hypocritical judge (Bernie Mac) and his female clerk/secret lover, and last but not least, a disobedient Killer who escapes his leash while Rushon and Bunz are in a store and leads them on a blocks-long chase.

Things soon lead to all four friends being at the hospital when Bunz accidentally shoots Rushon in the leg with a gun he took from a paranoid cabbie moments earlier. The group initially encounters a rude, unsympathetic admissions nurse who denies Rushon entry into the hospital because he has no insurance until Bunz runs across a doctor's credentials and impersonates the doctor to get his buddy admitted into the facility. However, "Doctor" Bunz is soon called in to help deliver a baby, which takes priority over a flesh wound, and he loses track of Rushon who is mistaken for a patient who is scheduled to be castrated (that patient shrewdly switched charts with Rushon upon finding out about his operation). The real doctor whom Bunz is impersonating eventually surfaces which leads the admissions nurse and security to search the hospital for the group. Bunz, Lysterine, and Nikki frantically search for Rushon who is soon anesthetized and prepared for castration. Nikki finds him right before the surgery begins and abruptly stops it by yelling that Rushon has no insurance. As both couples leave the hospital, everyone make up as both women take their men home for some long-delayed, kinky but safe sex.

Cast
 Tommy Davidson – Rushon Askins
 Jamie Foxx – Bunz
 Vivica A. Fox – Lysterine
 Tamala Jones – Nikki
 Amy Monique Waddell – Arguing Woman
 Art Malik – Akmed
 Bernie Mac – Judge Peabody
 David Hemblen – Dr. Blade
 Amanda Tapping – Dr. Moore
 Gedde Watanabe – Chan
 Karen Robinson – Admitting Nurse
 Ric Young – Mr. Chiu
 Scott LaRose – Singh

Production
The original script was heavily rewritten by director Jeff Pollack and Tommy Davidson. Prior to the film's release, it was noted that there were similarities with its condom plot to another film in development, Trojan War, which featured an all-white cast and which would also be released in 1997. Takashi Bufford said Booty Call was written entirely without knowledge of Trojan War'''s existence and said "Sometimes these things just bubble up from the zeitgeist."

Soundtrack

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 31% rating based on reviews from 13 critics.
Siskel and Ebert gave the film two thumbs up. They praised the vulgar humor, comparing it to Beavis and Butt-head. Ebert in particular said the scenes involving Nikki's pet Jack Russell Terrier were "very, very funny." In their review, The New York Times stated "This contemporary sex farce, directed by Jeff Pollack, has the attention span of a hyperactive child."

In a 1997 interview with Charlie Rose, black actor and filmmaker Charles S. Dutton criticized young African-Americans who went to see Booty Call rather than the historical drama Rosewood'', which was released around the same time.

References

External links

 Booty Call (soundtrack) at Discogs

1997 films
1997 romantic comedy films
1990s sex comedy films
African-American comedy films
African-American films
American romantic comedy films
American sex comedy films
Columbia Pictures films
1990s English-language films
Films shot in Toronto
Films scored by Robert Folk
Films directed by Jeff Pollack
1990s American films

Booty Call