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It truly was a family affair for the Yonder Mountain String Band (YMSB) in Chicago last week as the newgrass quartet kicked off their annual two day run at the House of Blues. Opening the show was banjoist Danny Barnes, accompanied by YMSB mandolin player Jeff Austin.
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Every time I attempt to see the Boss, disaster strikes. In May, Bruce Springsteen and company rolled through town and, needless to say, I was looking forward to the show. But on the eve of the concert, upon returning home from a trip, I discovered that my apartment had been flooded, no thanks to a busted water pipe. Out of desperation, I asked my colleague Wilson McBee if he would attend and review the show in my place while I mopped. (He kindly obliged and did one better by writing a more thoughtful review than I ever could have.) Luck was on my side, however, because just six months later Springsteen and the E Street Band were back at the Verizon Center, somehow managing to sell out the 20,000 seat Verizon Center yet again.
The Phenomenal Handclap Band played a funky, fun, lively set at the 9:30 Club to kick off their international tour. Hardly the "eye-popping spectacle that overwhelms the senses" that their press materials promise, they do have a great stage presence and a better sound. It also doesn't hurt that upfront duo Laura Marin and Joan Tick are nice to look at, in addition to having great voices. For a Sunday night at 10pm, they definitely rocked.
New York City's Bishop Allen took stage just after midnight at the El Mocambo in Toronto. Supported by Darwin Deez, also from NYC, and Throw Me The Statue, from Seattle, the band had their work cut out for them since both openers played lively sets that had onlookers impressed and actually paying attention. Frontman Justin Rice announced his pleasure at being back in Toronto, noting how much warmer the weather was than his last visit in January—which the crowd reacted to with enthusiastic clapping, cueing the band to get the set rolling. Performing a nearly gapless stream of light-hearted indie-rock ballads, Rice played his guitar peering shyly into the crowd over the top of his glasses while other core member and guitarist Christian Rudder strummed beside bassist Keith Poulson. Darbie Nowatka on keyboards also provided backing vocals while former We Are Scientists drummer Michael Tapper completed the five-piece. Musically, the band played very well together; however the first group of songs started to sound indistinguishable from one another and lacked any real uniqueness to make them memorable. I wasn't alone in this thinking as the audience's enthusiasm began to dwindle and their chatter to increase. A set break a few moments later had the audience paying attention again. Rice took the opportunity to share his knowledge of the El Mocambo's rich musical history, citing such momentous events as The Rolling Stones performance there and the scandal involving Margaret Trudeau (wife of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau ) and getting the fans laughing by stating, "Margaret Trudeau hooked up with Keith Richards here." With the crowd once again enthralled the band resumed play with older material such as "Like Castanets" and "The Chinatown Bus" from The Broken String. These much catchier, toe-tapping numbers, including fan-favorite "Click, Click, Click, Click," pulled the audience back in and kept them there for the remainder of the set. A great cover of Devo's "Gates Of Steel" and an the encore performance of "Flight 180" ended the evening on a high note.
David-Ivar Herman Düne has a problem. You see, he's really a superhero and he has to find a way to tell his girlfriend. It's a good thing he's an apt lyricist or there'd be no hope for the situation at all. It's topics like these that separate French duo Herman Düne from other bands concentrating heavily on the singer/songwriter format. The idiosyncratic makes for great conversational elements and interesting rhyme schemes. It also helps keep the audience listening and, at times, even laughing.
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Even if you're not familiar with straight pornography of the 1970s and '80s, there's still a reasonable chance you've heard of Annie Sprinkle. As an outspoken and articulate advocate of sexual liberation and exploration, she's lectured, filmed, written and "workshopped" the topic of sex from every conceivable angle.
The adventure continues today with Sprinkle — Ph.D. of human sexuality in hand — exploring monogamy with her partner and fellow academic/artist, Elizabeth Stephens. Together they've created Love Art Lab, a vehicle for them to explore love, particularly weddings. Annually, since 2005, they've been married in grand, performance-art spectacles, including a legal Canadian marriage as part of the couple's 2007 wedding that celebrated power and courage.
Having survived breast cancer and experienced menopause, power and courage seem apt. But those are just two flavors of Annie Sprinkle, who focuses more on loving than fighting. On Saturday, April 4, Sprinkle will be speaking at this year's Visions in Feminism conference at the American University.
"What these folks are trying to do is really important," she says. "I'm coming a long way because I believe in feminism. If you don't believe in feminism, come. If you do believe in feminism, come. No pun intended. Wait — pun intended!"
METRO WEEKLY: Legally marrying Beth in Canada, was that practical, personal or political?
ANNIE SPRINKLE: It is political. When I crossed the border into Canada and thought, "I can get legally married here," I teared-up. It was really moving. If we were allowed to [marry] in the United States, we might have, we might not have. But the fact is because we can't get legally married here, Beth has to pay more taxes than her heterosexual colleagues. There are rights that we don't have. If one dies, then it's always harder, more complicated to deal with wills. Now it's a little better since we are domestic partners. We can get into the hospital room now. But I remember the AIDS crisis and partners not being able to get into hospital rooms.
It was also art for us. The work we're doing is celebrating love, exploring love. I wanted to see what it was like. It was an experiment. The first year, we married each other and began the [interactive performance art weddings]. The second year, we married our community and had oranges with vows written on them: a hundred vows to our community. The third year, we had the legal wedding. The fourth, we married the earth. And now we're blue and we're going to marry the sky in England.
It's a really fun project. While the weddings are really sexy and sensual, they feel good. The idea is to create a vibration of feeling good and happy as an alternative to fear and greed. So we decided rather than protesting the war all the time, and being angry, we would create what we want, which is a world that has more celebrations of love and times where you feel really good and yummy.
I like curmudgeons, kvetching, people who are ironic. But cynicism, it's hopeless. Optimism? I think it's a survival mechanism.
Looking back over my porn career, I forget all the crappy stuff and just remember the good stuff. I can even look back at AIDS – the "days of the great dying" I call it – it was like going through war, and I can still see all the positive things, the beauty of it, too: families coming together, the love that was generated.
Looking at the bright side just lubricates you through life. It's like lubricant. It's how I prefer to live. I did work about sex for several decades, but now it's more about love. And that includes Beth, of course.
MW: Now you're coming to Washington, which is not really synonymous with either sex or love. Have you been to D.C. much?
SPRINKLE: We were at American University before. We gave a talk and did a free "sidewalk sex clinic," where we gave out free sex advice on campus.
I was there with a woman who does "passion parties." We usually gather five or six sex experts and put out tables and chairs and offer the public free sex advice. We have a big sign offering advice from sex experts. It's really fun. I think that was about three years ago. Then I was in Baltimore at a place called Load of Fun. It's a really cool art gallery and performance space. I did some performances there — and a sidewalk sex clinic! That's one of my favorites. It's kind of a performance art piece. We all wear white lab coats and it's fun.
MW: Is the advice serious?
SPRINKLE: Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Usually it is. Sometimes people don't realize – especially college students – that there's lots of free sex advice available. You don't have to be in this mystery. It's okay to talk about it. People sometimes don't realize that. Or they're not willing to pay a sex therapist or a marriage and family counselor, or have a chance to meet a prostitute or a porn star, somebody who's been around the block. It opens the door for people, even just seeing a sidewalk sex clinic if they pass by.
MW: Perhaps you could set one up in front of the Capitol while you're here.
SPRINKLE: That's a good idea. You know I make "tit prints" with my breasts, and I did make a Washington Monument tit print.
MW: You could present one to the Obamas.
SPRINKLE: [Laughs.] Yeah, I could. If I had an audience with the Obamas I'd probably do some other type of performance. I'd have to think about it.
I like Washington. I've been there for a number of marches. I've always loved the Lincoln Memorial. Although I just heard the statistics about AIDS there. That's heavy.
MW: We recently got data from the District's HIV/AIDS Administration, and they're reporting a 3 percent infection rate. That's only people who've been tested. It's not good. Many activists, clinicians I've spoken with, point to stigma as a playing a big role in the infection rate here. You've been fighting stigma for most of your life. How do you fight stigma, whether it's about drug use or sex? Any advice?
SPRINKLE: For me, the stigmas I fight, it's always from a belief that what I'm doing is valid and from the heart. Or, at least, through the prosecution of pornography, I always felt like there shouldn't be laws about what comes naturally, frankly. A victimless crime. These shouldn't even be crimes. It really comes from a belief in justice, wanting a more just world, a fair world, a loved world.
When it comes to drugs, it's harder somehow. Although I've tried all the drugs, and I'm glad I did. I learned a lot. I was never an addict. I'm not a drug addict, but I'm a cookie monster. Does that mean we should take away cookies?
How do we fight that stigma? We come out. Like Harvey Milk says, "Come out, come out, wherever you are." Be out and proud and let people get to know you. Lots of things are stigma, are scary. The only way to combat that is to talk to people, education, outreach.
I did a performance called The Legend of the Ancient Sacred Prostitute, where I would take my vibrator out and masturbate. I wouldn't really call it masturbate, because it was really with the whole audience, circulating energy from the audience. I would take prayers and wishes for the divine, like the ancient prostitutes used to do. Of all the things I've ever done, it was really the most interesting. I could feel really embarrassed, or I could really get into the role of the ancient, sacred prostitute and really have no shame about it.
It really comes from within. Even being a sex worker. If you have to tell your parents you're a sex worker, it's how you feel about it that affects how they feel about it. If you have shame and guilt and you're embarrassed about it, your parents are going to pick that up. If you've worked on your own issues, any guilt or shame that you have, and you feel proud of your work and truly believe in what you do, they'll pick that up.
Face it, there are stigmas about bodies, race, religion, cliques. Most people deal with it every day to some extent. But it's how you feel about yourself that matters. As you walk through the world, if you're embarrassed about who you are — whether it's that you're Greek, or Spanish, or white, or whatever it is.
And feminism is getting a bad rap. There are little feminist groups on campuses, and they're fighting stigma.
MW: You were born in 1954, right there for the feminism of the 1960s and '70s, the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment.
SPRINKLE: Both my parents were very much feminists. It was assumed early on, when I was in my 20s, that feminists were against porn, imagery that I was into. So then I thought, "Okay, I must not be a feminist."
Then, when I went to college later, in my late 20s, early 30s, I took a feminist-studies course and learned what it really was to be a feminist. Then we also kind of made this idea of the sex-positive feminist or the pro-sex feminist. I then I thought, "Okay, I am a feminist."
My mom's still very much a feminist. She was always pretty horrified that I was in porn and prostitution. I was pretty honest from the beginning. When I was 18 I got into that as a young hippie and I told them. She was always concerned I was using drugs, someone was forcing me. After many years, she took a women's-studies course and they brought my name up in the course. That was a very healing moment for her: "Oh, I'm Annie Sprinkle's mother." [Laughs.] Someone asked her for her autograph, and now I'm a feminist.
MW: How would you define feminism?
SPRINKLE: My definition is that I love and adore women and I want the best for them — health care, education, opportunities, equal pay. I just want them to have the best possibilities, opportunities. That includes wanting it for men and for trans people. I have a big place in my heart for trans people.
MW: With feminism and trans women, there can be friction. The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, for example, which is affirming for women, has not been inclusive of trans women.
SPRINKLE: I haven't gone to the festival for that reason. I'm part of the trans community and I really don't like that. Trans people are very special. They should be welcomed because they're so magical and wonderful and special.
The funny thing is I just won a ticket to go to the festival! Of course, I was asking them about this issue and they said, I guess it's a policy, but that trans women do go, that all kinds of women are welcome.
MW: So you might be going this year?
SPRINKLE: Hmmm. A chance. I have to find out more about that policy. People who go tell me there are lots of trans women. We'll see.
MW: In what way do you identify as a member of the trans community?
SPRINKLE: Not as a trans person, but as a trans lover and trans fetishist. I was like the original trans fetishist. I did the first [female to male] porn movie, in 1989: Linda/Les and Annie: The First Female-to-Male Transsexual Love Story. It played all over the world.
MW: I want your perspective on another corner of our community, where I think your insights as a porn star, prostitute, activist and artist are all invaluable: bareback porn. In the gay-male community, bareback porn is very popular. But is it "sero-sorting" as a form of safer sex? Glorification of dangerous behavior? What's your take?
SPRINKLE: Different people have different messages or motivations. When AIDS hit, I lost quite a few friends and lovers. Quite a lot. I tested negative myself, miraculously. I switched to all safe sex, because I wanted to explore how to do safe sex, because it didn't exist before that. The thought of having sex without body fluids was like, no way! How do you do that? What's the point? But I learned how to do it so I could do it on camera. I was interested in saving lives, so I switched to doing safe sex in all the films I made. At that point, it was fewer films than before, but I was making some. That was my motivation. I tried to start a group called Pornographers Promoting Safer Sex, but nobody really wanted to do it. For a long time, people didn't come around.
But another person might have a different motivation. For example, if I was HIV-positive, my motivation might want to be that I can still really enjoy sex, and to relieve stigma. I don't know what I would do if I was HIV-positive and making porn. I might absolutely want to show that.
Other people have different motivations. I can't really put myself in their positions. I do what I do. But I wouldn't want to put anyone in a vulnerable position. I'd feel horrible if I did. I did, it turns out, put people in vulnerable positions unknowingly, before we knew about how AIDS happens. I just wouldn't want the responsibility.
Then again, if I was a director who was HIV-positive? Who am I to judge? Different people have different motivations for doing what they do, and I think that's a good thing. It's a good conversation to have.
I think watching safe-sex porn is hot, because it shows that people are responsible and caring. It worries me watching 19-year-olds getting fucked in the ass without a condom. It's like nails on a chalkboard. That's just me. As an older person, I do feel a certain responsibility for younger people. I know when I was 18 or 19, I was invincible. I took so many risks that I wouldn't take now. I know better.
MW: With your Love Art Lab project, you promote love as the new sex. What does that mean?
SPRINKLE: In the '70s and '80s, making porn, promiscuity and kink, all that was kind of a taboo. It was sort of edgy. But now, everybody's doing that. Everybody's making porn, everybody's kinky, everybody wears fetish gear. That's like normal now
So what's the newest edge? What's taboo? It's love and sensuality and commitment. Deeper intimacy. If I say I'm doing work about love, people go, "Eeeew! Love? That's so Hallmark." It has this stereotype. That's why we're so interested in it. We're artists. We're kind of trying to reclaim love from Hallmark.
We met these two really hot gay porn starts in Spain. They actually fell on love on camera when they met. They were making a porn movie and they fell in love. They were so deeply into each other, on such a deep level, that they couldn't sell the scene. It ended up on the cutting-room floor. That's a scene I want to see. But it was too deep, too intimate for people.
It's like prostitutes not kissing their clients. Porn stars don't kiss in porn much. So we do all these performances about kissing, two-hour kisses, three-hour kisses, kiss workshops. In a way, it's almost more intimate than fucking now. I know lesbians who will fuck, but they won't kiss unless it's a committed relationship.
So, love is the new sex is saying that's the new edge almost. It's kind of a full circle. It's "radical traditionalist." In the '60s we were breaking out of the '50s idea of getting married and having two kids. We broke out of that and had lots of sex. I'm going to have sex with 3000 people! We're not going to get married.
So we've done that. Now what? Now I'm a monogamist. Beth and I are monogamous. We call it "adventurous monogamous." There's a whole kind of liberation that comes from monogamy. It's another experiment. In my world, monogamy's kinky, it's taboo. It's even frowned upon.
MW: Do you identify with a particular sexual orientation?
SPRINKLE: I can't stand "bisexual" because there are more genders than bi. And I really think of the earth as my lover. I'm "eco-sexual," you could say.
The fact is, I'm in a relationship with a woman I adore, hopefully for the rest of my life — I never would've said that before, but there's something edgy about talking about staying together for the rest of our lives. Wow, what a concept. I never thought I would do that with anybody.
I love men. I love trans people. Having to say bisexual implies there are two genders, when there are trans people and androgynous people. So that doesn't really fit.
We have a husband, Joseph Kramer. He's a psychologist. He and I went and got Ph.D.s together – his and hers Ph.D.s. He's a sex educator. He started the Body Electric School of erotic massage. We do massage rituals together. We're very committed to him as well.
We were just Mexico and I just bought Beth a lap dance from a very hot Mexican gal. We have our little adventures like that.
MW: Through so many twists and turns, what sort of place are you at in your life now?
SPRINKLE: What I'm really into now is collaborating with my partner about love. I'm 54 years old, still doing it freelance. Since I was 18, I've been freelance. Luckily, I have a partner now, who I adore.
I just went through menopause, which was interesting. It was much more intense than I'd thought. I learned that we're a lot about our hormones. I also had a breast cancer a few years ago. We actually had fun with it. I was fortunate enough that they caught it early, so we could have fun, have art projects and get through it. I'm fine now. I did chemo and radiation. The chemo kind of puts you right into menopause. The hormone thing was really intense. I cried. In fact, I still feel it sometimes. I'll wake up at night feeling this rush of hormones. It's similar to puberty. It's a little challenging. On the other hand, I feel, in a way, more happy with who I am. In a lot of ways.
MW: Is it physical, spiritual, psychological?
SPRINKLE: For me, menopause is a shift in energy, emotions. It's hard to describe, just like puberty. I think I'm coming out of it now — I'm still sorting it out. It's been a couple years, but it's still a mystery.
The Visions in Feminism 2009 conference, "Pushing Boundaries: Queering Feminism & Queer-ying our Communities," is Saturday, April 4, at the American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Ward Building, from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. For tickets or more information, visit http://vifconference.wordpress.com. For more on Annie Sprinkle, visit www.anniesprinkle.org. For Love Art Lab, visit www.loveartlab.org.

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Take That star impressed by how amazing Marcus is at 23
Gary Barlow came over all modest last week.
Speaking at the Children In Need Rocks gig in Manchester, Gary, 40, admitted that Marcus Collins, 23, is 'much better' than he was at his age.
Gary didn't expect Craig Colton, 22, to get voted off the show last Sunday and believes he too has a great career ahead of him.
'I'm sometimes sat telling them things, thinking: "Who am I to tell them this?",' he admitted.
Never forget, Gary, at their age you and the Take That boys were writhing round nekkid in jelly for the Do What U Like video.
If anything, you're overqualified.
Read all the X Factor gossip in Now magazine dated 28 November – out now!
NEW PICTURES The X Factor final 16 contestants settle into their new house>>
NEW PICTURES The X Factor 2011 Final 16>>
NEW PICTURES The X Factor 2011 Final 32>>
NEW PICTURES Tulisa Constostavlos and Kelly Rowland party before X factor launch>>
NEW PICTURES The X Factor judges launch the 2011 show>>


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Quality, Nice shifting
By David
from Fort Worth, TX
About Me Avid Cyclist
Comments about Shimano Tiagra ST-4600 10-Speed Shift/Brake Lever Set:
Works very well, as I would expect with Shimano.
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
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Reliable shifting performance.
By Clean Your Garage
from Central Virginia
My 2012 Felt Z6 came with Tiagra 4600 shifters and derailleurs. After more than 10,500 miles and 4 years, the front derailleur shifter broke. Indexing stopped, and the front derailleur would no longer move reliably to the big chain ring. I thought about getting 105 shifters, but the price on these Tiagras was just too good. I don't mind the shifter cables running outside of the bar tape. Makes it easier to replace shifter housings. So, the new Tiagra front shifter is again smooth as butter. I went ahead and replaced the rear derailleur shifter, too. I wanted to upgrade to 11 speed shifters and derailleur, but that will require new wheels, as mine are only 10 speed compatible. This set comes with all the housings and cables for derailleurs and brakes. Good deal. Mine came missing some of the shifter cable housings, but Nashbar's excellent customer service sent the housings to me. Thanks, Nashbar. I bet these will last at least 4 more years. These 4600 shifters are getting hard to find.
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I bought these to replace a set of 2009 Ultegra brifters that still are working but have over 28k miles on them. The Current Ultegras are 11 speed and I wanted to stay with 10. I am impressed with the feel and quality of these brifters. They appear to be of or nearly of the same quality of the original ultegra set. The construction is vertually the same. They cost lots less than current Ultegra or 105 level shifters.
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Solicitor believes effect of bullying ruling will be fewer lawsuits
School officials in the Alle-Kiski Valley don't expect a recent federal appeals court ruling to change their policies to deal with bullies.
There are other laws requiring school districts in Pennsylvania to protect students from bullies, according to Thomas King, solicitor for the South Butler School District and other school districts in Butler County.
"When something happens between two kids, school districts must do everything they can to make school safe to come to," King said. "We still have that duty and obligation."
However, the new ruling is significant and will impact the ability of the parents of students to sue the school for incidents involving bullying, King said.
"Society today has become very litigious and people don't hesitate to sue one another," he said.
The ruling from the higher court will dissuade parents from suing school districts for a number of cases involving bullying, King said.
"What the court said is that schools are not responsible for every social ill," he said.
School districts could potentially still be liable in certain extreme circumstances, such as if a school official knew that something was going to happen and didn't act to stop it, King said.
"But in most of these cases, the law will protect the taxpayers of a school district and district employees when they are acting properly and performing their duty."
A number of school districts such as Deer Lakes plan to consult with their solicitor and principles on the new ruling, according to Janet Ciramella, district superintendent.
"This ruling isn't going to change how we do business," said John Pallone, superintendent of the New Kensington-Arnold School District, an attorney and a former state representative.
People in the legal community have known about this case for the last several years, Pallone noted. And, as far as impact to local schools, Pallone believes that the federal court has determined that the district would not be liable in the case of a bullying circumstance.
"However, for us, we hold the value of safety for our students at the highest levels," Pallone said.
"We will continue with our discipline programs relative to bullying in school, both physical and cyber," he said.
"I can't imagine that any school district will permit bullying because of this decision," Pallone added. "How insane is that?"
Mary Ann Thomas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-226-4691 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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On Saturday, Mark Knoebl, of Sand Creek Brewing Company, and I teamed up for the second year in a row to lead a Beer, Cheese & Chocolate pairing at the Kickapoo Country Fair, an annual shindig at the Organic Valley headquarters in LaFarge. About 10,000 people interested in local and sustainable agriculture gather every year to hear a myriad of speakers, shop a mini tent city, listen to soulful music and eat amazing local foods.
This year's keynote speakers were Temple Grandin, a professor at Colorado State University, renown for her ability to work with animals and who has changed the entire landscape of livestock handling and welfare. She spoke at 11 a.m. to a full-house tent. Sunday's keynote speaker was Michael Perry -- one of my very favorite authors -- you absolutely must read his new book, "Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting".
But when crowds weren't busy listening to famous authors and amazing music acts like Corey Hart and Miles Nielsen, they were hanging out in the Kitchen Tent, eating cheese, drinking beer, and pretending to listen to Mark and me talk about the story of each beer and cheese.
I'll be brutally honest here and tell you that Kitchen Tent Organizer Bjorn Bergman and Mark Knoebl pretty much do all the work for this yearly session. Bjorn organizes the volunteers, does all the set-up, and Mark determines all the pairings, orders the beers, goes around and picks up the cheeses, and selects the chocolate and crackers.
I basically just show up, cut some cheese, drink some beer, and talk for a few minutes about each cheese. It's a pretty good gig. This year, I didn't even have to cut the Limburger - I somehow managed to outsource that job to Missy at Organic Valley. She cut 10 bricks of the stinky cheese by herself. Outside in a tent. In July. In 85-degree weather. This woman deserves a medal.
Sand Creek's One Planet Ale, paired with Organic Valley Muenster Cheese. One Planet Ale is a multi-grain beer made with Wisconsin-grown barley, wheat, oats and rye. Locally produced honey is added to enhance the flavor profile. It's a smooth beer that appeals to just about everyone, and pairs really well with any mild cheese, especially Organic Valley's Muenster, which has just the right salt content.
Sand Creek's English Special Ale, paired with Carr Valley Applewood Smoked Cheddar. This ale boasts a roasty, toasty flavor, and is red-brown in color. It's handcrafted from select roasted barleys. The smoky notes really pick up the smoky notes of Carr Valley's Applewood Smoked Cheddar, one of those cheeses that I consider to be a gateway drug of specialty cheeses. You take one bite and you can't stop eating.
Sand Creek's Oscar's Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, paired with Limburger. I've never had a beer with chocolate and oatmeal in the name before, but this one was really good. A 2000 World Beer Cup Gold Medal winner, the smoothness of this beer nicely complimented the full-flavored Limburger. I had to reassure the crowd that Limburger's bark is worse than its bite, and most people took the plunge and tried this pairing. It also helped it was the last pairing of the day, right before the Raisin Cookie Dough Truffle, and it always helps to bribe people with chocolate.
Thanks to the folks at Organic Valley and Mark (that's him pictured at right) at Sand Creek Brewing Company for another fun year of beer & cheese tasting. Hope to see you all next year!


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Tencer: What does the future hold for Ales Hemsky?
The reason that the Edmonton Oilers were interested in trading Ales Hemsky prior to the season didn't have anything to do with his ability to contribute to the team, earn significant minutes or play the game effectively. The reason, as was the case with Shawn Horcoff, is that new General Manager Craig MacTavish felt that the years of losing had taken a toll on the attitude and outlook of Hemsky and that it was preferable for both sides to freshen up.
I had multiple conversations with MacTavish over the course of the off-season and will relay to you that his main concern was how Hemsky would react to another year on a team that still has some growing to do. With the team poised to improve, but still far from a playoff lock, it made sense to look at the options relating to moving on from a player whose energy could fall a bit short of totally positive if the record started to slide again. This was particularly concerning with the strong second half of last season for Nail Yakupov and the distinct possibility that Hemsky could end up playing a clear 3rd line role on a non-playoff team.
I can tell you that, in those conversations with MacTavish, he remained absolutely convinced that Ales Hemsky had lots of game left and was going to help a winning team. From the start, with the cameras and microphones off, MacTavish was steadfast in this. As the off-season grew older, the offers for Hemsky didn't strengthen. They weren't going to give him away or take significant dollars back. So, in late July, the sides communicated and prepared for a return to Edmonton.
3 games in, we don't know how this is going to play out, but it's a very intriguing start. Hemsky has points in each game so far and leads the team with 4. He's firmly inside the top 6 based on the ice time handed out so far and has played significant minutes on both the power play and penalty kill. This performance has been a seamless continuation of the pre-season, where I thought he played exceptionally well.
On top of what's obvious to those that observe, head coach Dallas Eakins went further with some glowing praise for Hemsky on Sunday.
"The guy, for me, who has been our best forward and who has demonstrated every night a passion for the game…is Hemsky," Eakins told the assembled media at Rexall Place.
"When I was coming in, it was like, where's this guy going to fall? Is he in or is he out? He's been unbelievable. I said to our group this morning, we need more Ales Hemsky's on our team right now."
I spent a lot of years around that team every day and, even after his most dynamic performances, I can't recall hearing anything like "we need more Ales Hemsky's on our team right now". Following Saturday's abysmal outing in Vancouver that was obviously partially an indictment on the play of some other forwards, but it's also an endorsement of the commitment and ethic that Hemsky has brought to start the year, something we couldn't measure without an indication like that from the head coach.
No question, he's been one of the best forwards on the team. Watching him play, we can all see that this is Hemsky at his best, and Hemsky at his best is a damn good hockey player.
If he continues this, and the team isn't in a good position to challenge for a playoff spot by the trade deadline or before, I suspect it's automatic that he'll be dealt.
But, what if he continues it and the team has a shot?
Or, what if, as the TSN Insiders speculated last night, the Oilers are shopping for an upgrade on defense right now? One could imagine that teams that are starting to project a difficulty scoring might be keen on Hemsky having seen him in action this year.
On one hand, he's a veteran UFA forward who they tried to trade a few months ago. On the other hand, he's been their most consistent forward from the start of training camp and the head coach is praising his leadership by example.
It's only 3 games, and we've got no idea where his play or the team record will be months from now, but it'll be an interesting dilemma if this keeps up.
Dan Tencer is co-host of "Tencer & Grose", airing weekdays 9am-12pm on 630 CHED. He spent 7 seasons as host of the Edmonton Oilers Radio Network. Follow him on Twitter @DanTencer.


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This year, my older daughter announced that she wished to purchase Christmas gifts for everyone in the family with her own money. Problem No. 1: She has none.
I do not give my children an allowance because I expect them to do certain basic chores as part of their responsibility of being part of a family. I am, however, open to paying for chores that are above and beyond the regular call of duty. So, the negotiations started.
"Mom, I'll do any jobs that you ask me to do. I just want to earn my own money. The presents I give will mean more that way," she said with a level of maturity that almost brought a tear to my eye.
I would come home to find her raking a big pile of leaves, or she would offer to fold a large basket of laundry that had been sitting at the end of my bed for days. Soon, I was coming up with additional jobs that I had never considered before — wrapping Christmas presents, addressing Christmas cards, helping me clean out closets.
The other day, we were in a store and she asked me if she could borrow $10, which she would pay off by doing a chore when she got home. I lent it to her, and she promptly asked me to leave the store and wait for her in the car. I knew at that moment she was buying me a gift. When she finally came out of the store with a small wrapped package, she was beaming. It was all I needed to see to know that the plan is working.
So, forgive me if the corners of my wrapped packages aren't perfect this year, and forgive the handwriting on my Christmas card envelopes (to be honest, mine is not much better). The lesson she is getting from the experience is far greater than anything I could simply teach her or tell he r— it's better to give than to receive.
Amanda is the mom of two, a reporter for WRAL-TV and the author of several books including two on motherhood. Click here to read about her latest book. Find her here on Mondays.


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HP OpenVMS Systemsask the wizard
The Question is:
I have an alpha 800 running VMS 7.2-1 every other morning i come in to find it has shutdown and has the following message on screen.... Halted CPU 0 Halt code = 7 Machine check while PAL mode PC=c100 >>> I have installed the lates Firmware 5.7 Do you have any idea what this may be? Nothing in the Operator log ?? I have been unable to find anything in WIS.
The Answer is :
Please see topics (1038), (2829), (3562), (4582), and (6129). If you set the the console environment variable: SET AUTO_ACTION RESTART The next incident of this should trigger a MCHECKPAL system crash (bugcheck), followed by an automatic reboot. And as stated in the topics listed above, a machine check error is most likely a result of a hardware problem. Please contact your hardware support organization. Your hardware support organization may (will?) request the output from the above-mentioned crashdump file: $ ANALYZE/CRASH SYS$SYSTEM:SYSDUMP.DMP CLUE ERRLOG [CTRL/Z] $ DIAGNOSE CLUE$ERRLOG


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Ever since my trick-or-treating days have been behind me, Halloween hasn't topped my list of favorite holidays. But having Beck has kind of changed that. Yesterday I woke up full of excitement, and Beck could sense it. He was dancing and clapping and had no idea why. Then, as the candy piled in his bag, I think it sunk in.
Here's what trick-or-treating with an 18-month-old looks like:
1. Walk (climb) up to the door.
2. Parents (us) prod child (Beck) to say "trick or treat" — to which his response is silence.
3. Child stares, is handed candy, continues to stare until parents pick him up.
4. Parents (us) prod child (Beck) to say thanks. Silence.
5. Whines for the next door.
Overall, we enjoyed the holiday and I'm already plotting next year's costume. How was your day?


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Americans Don't Trust Bush Anymoreby RonChusid
According to a Washington Post-ABC News Poll a majority question Bush's honesty for the first time:
The CIA leak case has apparently contributed to a withering decline in how Americans view Bush personally. The survey found that 40 percent now view him as honest and trustworthy — a 13 percentage point drop in the past 18 months. Nearly 6 in 10 — 58 percent — said they have doubts about Bush's honesty, the first time in his presidency that more than half the country has questioned his personal integrity.
Apparently there really are political consequences for lying the country into war, and then engaging in a criminal conspiracy to discredit those who try to reveal the truth and to cover-up the actions of the White House.
Then there are all those lies told in last year's Presidential campaign. Maybe people will catch on to that also.
Filed under: In The News | Get Permalink or trackback |
13 Responses to "Americans Don't Trust Bush Anymore"
Neither does the rest of the world.
ha ha! Oh that's such a lovely poll. I liked this headline on the MSNBC copy of this story – "Majority of Americans question president's integrity"
Can anyone say "COOKED GOOSE!"
Cooked Goose.
What's the relationship between a cooked goose and a lame duck?
In the spirit of my two posts from today on evolution, I must ask what percentage of DNA do they have in common?
I believe that when someone is a lame duck and they sink low enough on the evolutionary scale they become a cooked goose. In Bush's case, being a born again, his DNA doesn't matter. This is Karma making him into a cooked goose. Call it during life reincarnation. 😉
Of course I'm no scientist so my babble about lame ducks and cooked gooses makes no sense. I like the sound of COOKED GOOSE though!
It has to be a lot of DNA considering how close they are in species. Of course we should not just assume the duck is lame due to injury – it could have been lame from birth and suffered further injury during life.
I personally prefer smoked goose, but I also don't like the
idea of lame duck that has done a lot of self pickling.
Well, seems the feathers are just falling off. Sweet 🙂
"I personally prefer smoked goose, but I also don't like the idea of lame duck that has done a lot of self pickling."
LOL! Needed that laugh before bed..
till tomorrow!
Check this out – speaking of religion and science:
That is wonderful. An uplifting idea before bed 🙂
Ron Chusid Says:
November 4th, 2005 at 12:10 am
OOH, I'm all over this one. 🙂
Lame Duck = Bush the elder
Cooked Goose = Dubya
Therefore, I think we can see the high % of DNA in common. 😉
We should have just asked you 🙂 🙂
He's getting so bad, that I wonder if he curses himself out in the mirror.


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MINETY and Supermarine battled out a tense draw, with the visitors managing to pull level with the final kick of the game.
Playing downhill, Minety opened the scoring with a try from flanker Steve Brown. Skipper Jack Ward kicked the conversion, but a try by Supermarine's Killian Spain got the visitors back into the game.
Stu Dawson missed the conversion but then put his team ahead with a penalty.
The visitors continued to attack up the hill but were unable to break Minety's defence.
Having weathered the storm, the home side spent the last 10 minutes of the half on the offensive without adding to their tally.
Taking advantage of the slope, Supermarine returned to the attack after the break and having mounted a forward push down the left, released the ball to their backs.
Excellent handling secured the best try of the game.
Minety responded by upping the pace to leave the visitors struggling. A deliberate knock-on brough a yellow card for Marine, allowing Ward to kick a penalty for the hosts.
An offside decision then allowed Ward another kick, which he slotted to draw the teams level.
Minety kept Supermarine on the rack, the visitors not helped by a further yellow card, Ward again exacting more punishment by landing the resulting penalty.
Minety appeared to have the game in the bag until a scrum collapsed in the final minute of the game, allowing Dawson the chance to level the scores.
Combe Down 2nd comfortably outpointed their Minety counterparts 41-24 in a high scoring Dorset & Wilts Three North fixture.
The home team's tries came from Mike Scott, Dellam Murray, Will Mason and Stacey Skinner.


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Starting preschool is a momentous event for your child. It's that first big step away from babyhood and toward childhood. Be particular when choosing a preschool.
Start your search at least several months before you want to send your child: In some areas, families need to get on wait lists years ahead of time to get a spot at a top preschool.
As you search, watch for the warning signs listed below. If you see any at a school you're considering, keep looking.
A so-so rating from parents
Don't hesitate to judge a preschool based on what you've heard from other parents. In this situation, word of mouth can be a source of important information.
Of course, try not to form a definite opinion about a school until you see it for yourself – disgruntled parents may simply have had a negative experience with the school or a personality conflict with the preschool director. Trust your own first impressions more than anyone else's. After you visit, if you'd be even the slightest bit reluctant to leave your child there, you should probably keep looking for another school.
Bottom line: If you share any negative opinions about a school, move on.
Loose rules
Rules and regulations are important for any institution. Schools without clearly established guidelines for everything from operating hours to how to handle emergencies are likely to have other organizational problems as well.
Similarly, preschools with a lax sick-child policy. should be crossed off your list. If children (and staff) who come down with a fever or the flu don't have to stay home for at least 24 hours, your child is much more likely to catch every little illness that comes along.
The preschool should require staff and children to have current immunizations and get regular checkups. This policy is a good indication of how seriously they take health and cleanliness concerns.
A preschool that balks at having parents drop by unannounced could be hiding something. If you run into a closed-door policy, move on.
Bottom line: If a school has loose rules and is poorly organized, it's not right for you.
A questionable curriculum
Skip preschools that either have no daily program or offer one that is static and unchallenging. Children need variety, change, and a chance to grow. If the school doesn't offer organized, age-appropriate activities that change regularly, or if television and videos are a big part of the day's agenda, keep looking.
A teacher who doesn't spend time reading to kids, encouraging creative play, and varying activities isn't meeting your child's development needs. But don't evaluate a school based solely on how many numbers and letters your child is learning – preschoolers aren't ready for a rigorous academic program.
It's also a bad sign if the school's structure seems rigid, with an inflexible schedule that doesn't leave room for children to explore at their own pace. The best programs encourage development naturally, so children may look like they're simply playing (that's okay).
The school gets another black mark if its selection of age-appropriate toys is lacking. Having enough of the right toys not only encourages your child's development by stimulating creative, imaginative play, but it may also help prevent kids from getting into too many tussles over who gets to play with what and when.
See our list of suggested preschool toys by age group.
Bottom line: Your child needs a wide range of age-appropriate toys and activities to encourage development. If the school doesn't offer them, keep looking.


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The Medicare application reporting process can be an arduous task. Re-validations, enrollments, changes of information, and reassignments are a few of the required Medicare Part A & B application submission types. Application results such as rejection, approval, deactivation, and termination can label the Medicare application at final determination. Reporting insufficient or incorrect individual and organization information, failure to meet established timelines, non-response to medicare outreach, inexperienced personnel, premature, and late submissions are a few contributing factors in the denial consideration process. Failure to meet CMS and state guidelines can result in deactivation or termination from the Medicare program. This webinar presentation will also address the relationship of system and technology data exchanges (PECOS and NPI registry, etc.) and a basic reporting overview – an informative approach in path towards the approvals process.
NCCA State Office
8412 Falls of Neuse Road,
Suite 106
Raleigh, NC 27615
The North Carolina Chiropractic Association (NCCA), based in Raleigh, NC. is the only professional association in the state of North Carolina representing doctors of chiropractic. NCCA provides a unified voice for all its members and is dedicated to promoting chiropractic through public awareness, quality post-graduate education, legislative efforts and securing equality in the health care arena. These collective efforts assure continued growth of the profession, ultimately improving the overall well-being of North Carolina citizens through chiropractic.


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"Teach Your Children Well"
Posted in: General,Protest by Mary McDonough on October 5, 2013
Recently, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame posted a brief interview with singer-songwriter Graham Nash who played with the Hollies and later, Crosby, Stills & Nash (sometimes, with the addition of Neil Young):
I love Nash's description of music as "a newspaper for the street" and as a "town crier." What a wonderful way of portraying how music can change our moral imaginations. While working on my Ph.D., I studied with a wonderful moral theologian, Richard Gula, S.S. He is fond of saying: "We see what we believe." What he means is that one's moral position and behavior depends, in part, on experiencing life from a different perspective. Moral choices are not made in a vacuum. Rather, they are influenced by the way we see the world and react to that vision.
Sweet Emotion: Music's Powerful Journey (Part Two)
Posted in: General,Lyrics,Music and the Brain,Protest by Mary McDonough on July 16, 2013
(This is the second part of a two part series on the relationship between music and emotions. Part one can be found here.)
In part one I focused on how instrumental music influences emotions. Today I'm going to discuss how harmonies and lyrics also convey emotion.
Vocal harmonies, where consonant notes are sung at the same time as a main melody, are a musical skill that gives songs depth, complexity, and a beautiful tone. They can, I would argue, also influence emotion. Harmonies not only sound good to the ear but they are also symbolic of unity, a kind of camaraderie among musical tones. In fact, a study just released last week shows that the heart rates of people who sing in unison actually accelerate and decelerate simultaneously.
In order to sing good vocal harmonies, one has to have an excellent ear for music pitch and tremendous vocal control. The harmonies of the Beach Boys, with their depth, angelic tones, and symbolic solidarity, exemplify the qualities that make harmonies particularly adept at acting as emotional conduits. While the following song contains lyrics, try to focus solely on the sound of the harmonies and how they make you feel.
Sweet Emotion: Music's Powerful Journey (Part One)
Posted in: General,Lyrics,Music and the Brain,Protest by Mary McDonough on July 15, 2013
Several days ago I listened to the podcast from SXSW featuring three of my R&T colleagues. The session, called "Into the Mystic: Secular Music as a Quest for More," is an excellent study of the relationship between spirituality and popular music. Tom Beaudoin's presentation focused on how people make spiritual sense out of popular music pointing out how we often use spiritual language, words such as healing, empowering, ecstatic experience, and joy, when discussing music. David Nantais emphasized the creative process of making music and how musicians themselves describe it as "a healing process" or an "out of body" experience. Then Monica Miller talked about culture as a lived reality in hip-hop music by explaining her notion of "faith in the flesh," a term describing how people living on the margins use their bodies to create meaning. Finally, Austin Episcopalian priest Merrill Wade told the audience about the "Soul of Musicians" series he started at a tavern near his church. Once a week he invites a musician/songwriter to come in and discuss the meaning of her/his song lyrics. A podcast of the entire session can be accessed here. If you haven't listened to it yet, make the effort to do so. It's worth your time.
One particular theme that dominated the SXSW session is the importance of meaning in people's lives. We are all seekers of meaning because life is full of moments that require interpretation. The human condition, rife with pain and suffering, joy and sorrow, life and death, needs ways of understanding the world through avenues of meaning. Emotions can act as our compass for navigating those avenues and music can be the vehicle for transporting us on that journey to create our interpretive frameworks of meaning.
I've been studying the connection between music and emotions for a book chapter I'm writing. It is still a work in progress but I thought I would share some of my findings. What I have discovered is that music influences people's emotions profoundly and through several different channels. Today I'm posting the first part of a two part series on some of the various ways music touches our emotions. The first part will look at two dominant psychological mechanisms that help explain why music influences our emotions so strongly. Part two will examine the effect that harmonies and lyrics have on our emotions.
Timothy Beal on "Pussy Riot's Theology," and from Paul to Jesus to Mary (UPDATED)
Posted in: Christianity,General,Is This The New Face of Religion?,Is This The New Face of Rock?,Protest by Tom Beaudoin on October 10, 2012
In the Chronicle Review, part of the Chronicle of Higher Education, Dr. Timothy Beal recently wrote a terrific piece displaying the substantial theological account of their actions left by the band Pussy Riot, who were recently sentenced to two years in prison in Russia — allegedly as punishment for their punk-rock protest. Michael Iafrate at R&T on the topic here. Wiki here.
Video of the "offending" event here:
Madonna, in Russia, defending Pussy Riot: "They have done something courageous. They have paid the price. I pray for their freedom."
In his article, Beal very helpfully focuses on the way in which Pussy Riot's theological claims are rooted in Pauline writings about paradoxes, like the notion of holy foolishness (1 Corinthians), as they connect to Russian culture.
As I read Beal's summary of Pussy Riot's statements, I also detected echoes of Jesus' consolations or blessings (or "beatitudes") in the gospel of Matthew (5:10-11) in Tolokonnikova's assertion that "We are reviled, but we do not intend to speak evil in return." (This also seems to be a mashup with Jesus in Matthew 5:39, "If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.") Tolokonnikova takes this "beatitude" style of Matthew 5, as it is often called, and riffs on it: "We are in desperate
On Having Ears That Hear: Pussy Riot and the Willingness to "Read" Punk
Posted in: Christianity,Is This The New Face of Religion?,Politics,Protest by Michael Iafrate on August 19, 2012
I was extremely disappointed to read Margaret O'Brien Steinfels' dismissal of the Pussy Riot "brouhaha" over at dotCommonweal, but perhaps not very surprised. (Tom wrote about PR's "punk prayer" protest here back in April. This past Friday, PR was sentenced to two years in prison.)
I have very little to add to the critique offered by Bridget, a Ph.D. candidate at Notre Dame, in "Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Become a Feminist" at Women in Theology. While acknowledging the legitimacy of critiquing Pussy Riot's protest on tactical grounds, Bridget rightly flags O'Brien Steinfels' language as "not merely critical […] but dismissive and gendered": (more…)
Religion and Music Against the Corporate State?
Posted in: General,News Items,Politics,Protest by Tom Beaudoin on July 29, 2012
I recommend Bill Moyers' excellent recent interview with renowned journalist and author Christopher Hedges. They discuss Hedges' research on the ways that corporations' and the US government's widespread, unchecked, and nearly invincible capitalist commitments, have reached a new and deeply troubling apex of wreaking economic, social, and political devastation in the United States. They also discuss Hedges' "faith" and what resistance to the dehumanizing effects of greed in our society means today. Hedges comes around to what he calls a theological point: the neglect of "the neighbor" in this society.
Here is the interview:
In recent years, I have grown more persuaded by analyses like Hedges', as I take further stock of the perpetual war economy, the aggregation of wealth in fewer and fewer hands, the deep difficulties of most families in meeting basic necessities for surviving and thriving in life while maintaining a healthy family life, and the violence and human diminishment that our participation in the everyday economy–joining "us" to impoverished workers around the world–propagates.
Hedges calls for massive nonviolent resistance, and is untroubled by questions about its short-term effectiveness. He seems to return again and again to the question of duty, to what one must do in order not to betray oneself, whether or not the system is overturned in his/our lifetime. He also focuses continually on the matter of telling the truth about the world.
I think that however we construe the relationship between theology and music, the basic question about how we are being made
When Music Criticizes Faith and Religion
Posted in: Agnosticism,Atheism,Christianity,General,Protest,Theological Production by Tom Beaudoin on May 31, 2012
Students of popular music and theology learn two things quickly: first, that religion, faith and spirituality have had a lot to do with the origins and ongoing vitality of rock and roll; second, that rock and roll has sometimes had critical, negative, dismissive and otherwise derogatory things to say about religion, faith and spirituality. I think that both aspects of this relationship are important for grasping popular music and theology in some depth.
This thought came to me today after I did an interview for a news organization writing a story on the latest round of conflicts between U.S. Catholic bishops and those who disagree with them about Catholicism's public stances on contraception, religious freedom, and Catholicism itself. The interview focused on my interpretation of an ad by the Freedom From Religion Foundation strongly criticizing the Catholic Church and inviting Catholics to leave.
During and after the interview, I thought about how understandably difficult it can be for religions and religious people to hear criticism, especially blunt criticism, of what is held dear. I know what it is like to react defensively and dismissively when it feels like someone is trying to pull the rug I know and love out from under me. This is especially true if the very way that criticism is communicated contradicts "appropriate" forms of address.
All of this put me in mind of the song "Judith," by A Perfect Circle.
It is probably very hard not to hear this song as a blunt attack on Christianity. Here are the lyrics as taken from the Perfect Circle website, and I've added a few in brackets that are sung but not listed here:
Occupying the Streets on Mayday: Marching, Music, Musement (with pictures)
Posted in: General,News Items,Protest by Tom Beaudoin on May 3, 2012
On Mayday, I was in the parks and streets of Manhattan for #M1GS, the May 1st General Strike, a daylong gathering called by a coalition of dozens of labor organizations. Like many, I was there under many motivations: as a participant in Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Faith NYC, as a member of the labor union and advocacy organization the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), and as a theologian. I joined tens of thousands in New York City and around the country, and hundreds of thousands around the world. I noticed workers of all kinds, labor union members, Occupiers, community organizers, seasoned activists, first-time participants, and all manner of allies who cheered us on from the sidewalks, fire escapes, and opened windows in the tall buildings along the march route.
There were apparently a few dozen arrests, though I did not personally see any over the course of seven hours. (Nor could I afford to get too close if things got too hot, because I needed to be free to teach the next day.) I arrived in the early afternoon at Bryant Park to find a thousand or so people getting warmed up with teach-ins, leafletting, conversations, sign-making, and picture-taking. There were also dozens of people carrying guitars (and a few basses and banjos), rehearsing for the Occupy Guitarmy, an all-volunteer guitar ensemble led by renowned rock guitarist Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine and now The Nightwatchman.
I was concerned because I thought that a thousand or so people would be a poor turnout for such a hyped-up event as this General Strike. But things changed quickly.
Around 2:00, we began marching to Union Square Park, and arrived there about 75 minutes later. As we marched, more people began joining in, and by the time we go to Union Square, there were many thousands more waiting for us. And people kept streaming in from all sides for the next couple hours. Tom Morello and a contingent from the Occupy Guitarmy played a few songs…
(Note: video contains a few obscenities, heartily sung)
…there were brief speeches about solidarity and economic justice from people representing different labor organizations, and there was plenty of Latin music to aerate everyone's spirits in preparation for the long march to Wall Street.
A couple dozen members of Occupy Faith NYC gathered near the Gandhi statue in the park, where I joined them, and around 5:30 we began to move in a march with some 30,000+ people down Broadway all the way to lower Manhattan, a slow journey that took some three hours.
As the thousands of different banners, placards, signs, tattoos, shirts, headgear, songs and chants avowed, there was no single reason for being there, but I think it is fair to say that a great many of those gathered could endorse two basic theological statements: negatively, the market is not God; positively,
The Catholic Worker, Occupy, and Getting Ready (with Tom Morello) for the May 1st General Strike
Posted in: General,Politics,Protest by Tom Beaudoin on April 28, 2012
For the New York Times, Ginia Bellafante has recently written this article relating the Catholic Worker to Occupy.
R&T readers who are interested in these matters should know that Occupy, in conjunction with dozens of other organizations dedicated to the equitable sharing of social resources, is calling for a General Strike in the United States on May 1.
For more information, see the latest from the Occupy Wall Street website here, or the MayDay NYC website here, or the InterOccupy site for various May Day General Strike cities here. Occupy Catholics are here.
Rock guitar wizard Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine and many other collaborations, will be leading a "Guitarmy" on May 1st in NYC as part of the General Strike. Information on the Guitarmy is here.
Here is Morello on #OWS:
As I have mentioned many times here at R&T, various artists and spiritual teachers have endorsed
"Punk Prayer Service" in Moscow Cathedral
Posted in: Christianity,General,News Items,Protest by Tom Beaudoin on April 10, 2012
Some R&T readers may be following this story about the Russian punk (Riot-Grrrl-inspired) band, Pussy Riot, and their February "punk prayer service" protest against Putin in a cathedral in Moscow, as a way of protesting (among other items) the close link between church and state of late in Russia. This is a rare example of a band staging a protest in a church. At least some of its members were jailed immediately and have not yet been released.
Here is some video apparently from the protest, where they apparently performed their song, "Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Expel Putin!"
In many cultures, attempting to occupy a church for a political protest, especially one undertaken with electric guitars, conjures up a powerful symbolic conflict, with allegations of desecration and sacrilege not far behind. The exact contents of that symbolic conflict in Russia, I don't know, but if it bears any resemblance to Western countries, it would have to do with an imaginary of self-assertion or aggression, license and sexuality on the one side, and an imaginary of peace, order, hierarchy, and respectability on the other.Next Page »


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(Phil finds feasible floor plan)
The sharp sweet basil salad dressing poured over crisp lettuce, ripe tomatoes, blue cheese, yummy chickpeas and the reliable hard boiled egg make this chop salad win over anybody's taste buds. Vegetarian, gluten-free main dish salad. printable recipe? Right here!
About Cynthia Lair
Cynthia Lair's web cooking show Cookus Interruptus brings humor to healthy family eating with over 160 recipe videos. Cynthia hails from Seattle, WA where she is assistant professor and culinary director at Bastyr University, School of Natural Medicine. She is the author of Feeding the Whole Family with foreword by Mothering's beloved Peggy O'Mara.


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Plan for New Rail Tunnel Takes Turn Toward Reality
By JONATHAN MILLER
Published: August 13, 2006
It was just a few years ago that New Jersey Transit's executive director would try to explain -- to anyone who would listen -- the wonders of building another commuter train tunnel under the Hudson River. And every time, he would see eyes glaze over.
''People would say, 'Great idea,' '' George D. Warrington, the executive director, said in a recent interview. '' 'Maybe my grandchildren will see it.' ''
But a series of events in the last few weeks have made it more likely that it will not just be grandchildren, but their grandparents, too, who will see the completion of what is being called the Trans-Hudson Express tunnel, which would link New Jersey with Midtown.
The 9.3-mile project would cost an estimated $7.2 billion, create as many as 44,000 jobs and more than double the number of trains that cross the Hudson River during rush hour. Gov. Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey says the second rail tunnel, with its target completion date of 2016, is ''vital to the state's economic future.''
The first action to brighten the project's prospects came last month when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey committed up to $2 billion toward the tunnel's completion -- a move that would have been considered highly unlikely several years ago.
Weeks earlier, the Federal Transit Administration authorized $82.5 million to conduct preliminary engineering. And two weeks ago, the New Jersey Transit board approved preliminary work on the reconstruction of an aging bridge in the Meadowlands that is vital to the tunnel project.
In a potential side benefit to New York residents, said one high-ranking Port Authority of New York and New Jersey official who declined to be identified, the authority has begun talking about help to finance a project in New York that would link Grand Central Terminal to the Long Island Rail Road.
All of which, leaders in both states say, means the project has reached a turning point.
''The big hurdles will be technical -- like tunneling -- rather than political,'' said Jon Orcutt, the executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, an advocacy group. When asked, on a scale of one to 10 (10 being the highest) whether he thought the tunnel would become a reality, he said, ''I think we're around 7 or 8.''
Just how the tunnel project was rescued from the scrapheap of grand ideas is a decade-long tale of cross-state rivals laying down their swords and embracing the realities of regional economics, and of a Democrat-controlled state convincing a Republican-dominated Congress of the economic necessity of the costly project.
For the last 96 years, one two-track tunnel has run under the Hudson River into Pennsylvania Station in New York, and now carries 40,000 commuters a day. During peak travel hours there are about 23 trains, including Amtrak, coming and going through the tunnel, and a second tunnel -- that would end 100 feet below 34th Street below the basement of Macy's flagship store -- would bring that number to 48. The project would create a loop south of Secaucus Junction, giving riders on the Bergen, Main and Pascack Valley Lines a direct ride into Manhattan without having to switch trains in Secaucus or Hoboken.
The plan's most forceful advocate has been Mr. Warrington, a former president and chief executive of Amtrak, who was appointed to run New Jersey Transit in 2002. Almost immediately after taking the job, he began trying to resurrect the notion of a second tunnel, taking over the stalled initiative that had been started by the Port Authority.
Along the way, he persuaded the Port Authority's chairman, Anthony Coscia, to get behind the project.
Together they began proselytizing among politicians, real estate developers and business leaders in New York, contending that the entire region and not just New Jersey would profit from building a second tunnel.
It was hard finding believers.
Kathryn Wylde, president and chief executive of the Partnership for New York City, an advocacy group for New York businesses, says this is the first project since the 1962 agreement to build the World Trade Center in which New York and New Jersey seem to have come together. There had been tension between the two states over New Jersey trying to lure businesses across the river.
''It reverses a generation in which we were accusing New Jersey of piracy,'' Ms. Wylde said in a recent interview, ''but it represents the reality of post-9/11 New York, that we are trying to keep businesses in the region.''
In addition, both New York senators, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles E. Schumer, have endorsed the project, as has Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
The solidarity was crucial in persuading federal authorities to take the project seriously.
For Mr. Coscia, the project returns the agency to its roots and a mission that he said ''we have sometimes not lived up to.''
''If our mission is to move people between two states,'' he said, ''adding another lane to the Lincoln Tunnel won't do it.''
He and others point to studies that suggest the greatest growth in the area will come west of the Hudson. ''An increasing proportion of our workforce can only afford to own a home in New Jersey, and have basically relocated there,'' Ms. Wylde said. ''Twenty-five, thirty years ago the safety valve was Long Island, twenty years ago it was Rockland and Orange. Last decade, it's been New Jersey and even Pennsylvania.''