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i said i would start a thread on this when i started reading it. partly as a way to shame me into finishing it and partly cos grizzly b said he would help me with it if i found it heavy going. have you read it? did you like it?
i said i would start a thread on this when i started reading it. partly as a way to shame me into finishing it and partly cos grizzly b said he would help me with it if i found it heavy going. have you read it? did you like it?
interesting, will print off some of that now.
Luka, have you seen the David Harvey online video lectures to accompany Das Kapital? Could be an effective way to read it, watching those as well.
i have the book of those lectures to help me baboons yeah.
there's been a good discussion going on my facebook wall (as Luka is already aware) which addresses some of the most common fallacies and misunderstandings -- in particular the last lengthy post by SOS, clearly articulates some crucial points in understanding Marx and Smith, and the limitations and falsehoods in our inherited state/market and other dichotomies.
thought i would post up some of the best bits:
Sos Nihon
Matthias GeorgiMuch of what goes under the name of Marxism -- "orthodox Marxism" or Marxist-Leninism -- are forms of state-capitalism. Some would argue (myself included) that the most interesting currents of Marxism emerged in contradistinction to this often authoritarian tradition. Harvey is useful too but the best schematic introduction I've found is Harry Cleaver's Reading Capital Politically, which has exerted a justifiable influence among autonomists all over the world:
Sos NihonThere is one thing, that I never see addressed: How do you deal with resource management in a non-capitalistic world?
This is the one thing, that capitalism solves pretty well and communism fails in. It is extremely complex to run a system that optimizes supply and demand.
Assuming there would be a possibility to run a planned economy by a super sophisticated realtime algorithm, there would be still the problem of motivation.
Matthias GeorgiMatthias, if you have followed this thread so far, what you call "planned economy" (and wrongly "communism" -- remember that even Stalinists didn't claim their social system was "communist" but a "socialist" state in transition to "communis...m", which never arrived) is, more accurately, a feature of capitalism. Historically, all forms of capitalism have required some kind of state intervention/planning (whether enclosure and destruction of indigenous land/resources, establishment of Foucauldian panopticon at the both carceral and societal levels, or, more specifically in the U.S. case, as a system of military Keyensianism) as well as market mechanisms.
As for the question of resource-management, most of non-capitalist human history until the advent of capitalism in the sixteen and seventeenth century appeared to be doing just fine, critical as some of us may be about this or that aspect of various systems that existed at the time, from seigneurial feudalism to nomadic hunter-and-gather society. In fact, given the exponentially algorithmic technological development of industrial and consumerist capitalism, tremendous wastes have been generated, as anybody who has given even a superficial glance at the global ecological crisis today know all too well -- and this "waste" is not at the microeconomic level of transactional imbalance in supply/demand within a miniscule economic sector but at the catastrophically colossal level of the world threatening all species, which surely ranks as the worst example of resource management in history. By the way, it might also be worth recalling here that the notion of "algorithm" does not originate within capitalism, as the word itself derives from the name of the medieval Persian scientist al-Khwarizmi.
Motivation: just as many Soviet workers rightly hated to work under their inefficient bureaucratic state capitalist regime, most of us in liberal capitalist societies hate to go to work at places usually under the control of a corporation that is run on essentially totalitarian principle -- I don't see how this speaks well to the motivational nature of capitalism. Plus there's a strange ideological assumption here -- that motivation toward economic development/efficiency should be an unquestionable good above all others. What if you want to live your life according to a different mode of motivation, such as the spiritual discipline of a monk or the creative expression of an artist or the moral economy of a peasant? One of capitalism's major defects is that it destroys all these various forms of human motivation under the servile dictum of "work or die". A pretty impoverished, to say nothing of repressive, form of motivation if you ask me.
Leo ZhaoSos: I see what you are trying to say. But still I have the feeling, that you are not offering any solution at all (going back 500 years is not a solution in my eyes). Capitalism is brutal, no question. But so was almost any society with th...eir class systems and suppression of the poor. My point is, that capitalism needs to be fixed not destroyed. Exploitation of natural resources for instance is a mistake in the design of the system. If people had to pay for what we take from nature, the system would regulate this problem by itself.
Motivation: capitalism by itself doesn't have any ideological assumptions. it's just a mechanism to deal with goods and services, not more. the point is, our current financial system has some huge flaws, that need to be fixed, for example how banks, debts and interests work. but the principle of a free market itself is a great way of dealing with supply and demand.
Matthias GeorgiMatthias, i don't think SOS, or Marx or anyone is suggesting that we go "back" to anything, but only that historical evidence shows that capitalism is by far not the only, and by FAR not the best functioning system for large societies. And perhaps especially in terms of resource management capitalism performs very poortly: just one example: a staggering more than 50% of food that we produce today is wasted. The everything for profit mode has shown a complete disregard for everything else: the 5 euro winter slippers i bought which broke after a single day is a good example - a waste of materials, waste of the workers' labor, waste of the consumer's time and money, a COMPLETE waste all around, and because why? because profit is the only thing people care about.
The only people who think capitalism works live on the half of the exploiting world, ignoring and rationalizing the complete lack of human rights and pandemic, extreme suffering of the exploited other half, who endure and perish en masse under economic, political, and not least of all physical violence every day. Child laborers in S.E. Asia whose legs have atrophied and no longer able to walk due to sitting for 18 hours a day making shoes since age 4. The conflict in the Congo over mineral resources which have so far claimed 5.4 million (conservative estimate) lives in the deadliest war since WW2 (UN) does not get even mentioned in Western media, and thus is not made aware to the vast majority of first world citizens. Consider hundreds of children hacked to pieces with machetes and thrown into the river, because they live in an area with minerals and diamonds, and talk to me about "resource management".
The problems are entirely foundational, elemental, structural, resides in the basic ideological premises of the capitalist system itself, and can never be fixed by adjusting this or that policy. Perhaps the most pernicious trick of all is capitalism makes itself seem neutral, and makes its ideology seem "natural" and thus invisible. But oh yes there is ideology (just a couple of examples due to time constraints):
The false exultation of competition over cooperation, so deeply ingrained as to cloud and distort the thinking of even evolutionary biologists such as Darwin, has been largely accepted by most today as "natural"; while in actual nature it is Symbiosis and Cooperation which is the driving factor behind evolution, not Competition (ask Lynn Marguilis).
The "free market" has always been a fiction in practical terms; in reality no such thing exists. Hereditary aristocracy makes sure that those born into the 1% will always have the vast majority of opportunities, power, human rights, while the rest of the first world have very little, and the rest of the world have none. So the Big Lie of "pulling one self up by bootstraps" is just that, a Big Lie, to the vast majority, regardless of how many exceptional examples are endlessly touted.
The idea that material possessions make us happy creates both waste and misery for all parties involved. the ideology of personal satisfaction and individual achievement at the expense of everyone else...
Not only capitalism, but also the ideological bedrock on which capitalism is built, needs to be completely dismantled, soon because we are about to face the disastrous consequences of capitalism, yes even we who live in the first world. The only other perspective is that it is too late, that we have already entered a new dark age of wide spread economic, political, environmental catastrophes on a global scale.
Leo Zhao: Sorry, I don't have time for a lengthy response. It's totally true, people are doing bad and horrible things for profit. In my eyes it is too easy to say it is the fault of capitalism. Not capitalism is bad, it is the human nature. It is greed for power. It can happen in any system. And again what system should replace capitalism?
Regarding resource management, if a system produces a lot of waste, it still can handle supply and demand efficiently. We have a lot of waste, because we produce so much. Apart from the negatives things you said, it shows us one good thing: we could easily live without unemployment and poverty.
Last edited by zhao; 27-02-2012 at 08:31 AM.
Eliazar de la Tierra
Bobby BistoWell. First of all, without having tried to read through the Kapital, I think that Marxism encompasses a political system if it is supposed to be anything but a Utopian story, as it is based on a special category of rights and whatnot. Seco...ndly, if I am informed correctly, Socialism is a necessary stage towards Communism (which was thought to emerge quite a long time after Socialism which is paving the way) and though not seen as an optimal system, I think that Marx and Engels did envision it something like it turned out in the end. Perhaps they didn't think it was quite that brutal and definitely not such a complete failure. However, the way the Socialist countries behaved was eventually inevitable given that the economic system is based on force.
On the economic aspects of Socialism/Communism first of all, Marx failed (like al the Classical economists) to resolve the price issue. But without prices, a proper allocation of goods is a very difficult thing to do. And just producing anything you feel like will most likely lead to a very big catastrophe very soon. I think that it is not coincidental that a black market, which determined the price of goods following demand and supply, was alway flourishing in Socialist societies, and that Lenin saved his project by a reverting to several Capitalist reforms after the awesome War Communism had such great success.
True enough, the 19th century factories might not have been the most awesome places to work in, but on the one hand, I am not so sure if it was so much better before, and then you have to take into consideration that it was a revolution in society coupled with an incredible explosion, so it is eventually a wonder that everyone even got fed after the population was more or less unstable for hundreds of years due to a lack of food. And now, in the developed world, living standard has quite improved.
As for the thought that Socialism just sucked because the Soviet Union was a feudalistic country before Japan, for example, was an isolated, feudalistic country for just about as long and they managed to become one of the world's greatest economies under Capitalism. Also, Western and Eastern Germany started out roughly the same, yet the West thrived under Capitalism while the East had to build a wall to stop the people from fleeing.
And then the necessity of the State. The State is essentially Anti-Capitalist and in no way needed in a Capitalist society. It is, furthermore, the intruder that causes most of the problems we see today, especially the disrespect of property rights (like lately in the Amazonas region, were for the greater good or whatever they decided just to flood Indian communities), warmongering, colonialism, genetic technology, atomic energy, and so on. While some might pretend they are Capitalists, it's quite ridiculous to say for, say, a banker who works with money which is a 100% government controlled commodity nowadays. Free markets can exist, but naturally not if the state takes part in the economy with 50 to 75 %, as it does now in most societies of the First World. Socialism, on the other hand, depends on the totalitarian state, as the system is not based on voluntary cooperation and the natural rights of every human being, but arbitrary allocation of everything.
Matthias Georgido you really think the free market is an infalliable way to distribute commodities? do you even beleive the government controls money
what are the downsides of a 'free market' for healthcare services to give an obvious example? why where there massive food riots in 2008?
was it to do with state intervention?
Eliazar de la TierraCoincidentally had another fb discussion about capitalism/communism and learned, that we can have both open markets and communism: http://umarvadillo.wordpress.com/201...lamic-trading/
Bobby BistoBobby: There is a state monopoly on money (you have to accept legal tender as money and are not allowed to use other stuff) with central banks determining both the amount of money they offer, the amount banks need to keep as reserve when creating credit from nothing and the interest rates for which money sells - seems a lot like the state controls the money.
Matthias: A real free market is in no way a hindrance to the emergence to alternative or parallel systems, so yeah, you can have pretty much anything you like with them (as long as it is based on voluntary cooperation). That's also the mayor difference with state controlled systems (like the economic system we have today or the failed socialist experiments), which cannot allow any alternative to the status quo.
central banks are not synomous with the state.
not all of them are independent but many are. that doesnt mean the state has no input but it does mean they are not synonomous with the state. nor does the state have direct control over the value of the national currency.
Bobby Bisto nor does the state determine the amount of liquidity in the economy. it tries to influence all these things but to say it controls money is an enormous overstatement.
Sos Nihon
Matthias: Leo is right -- never did I argue that the solution was to go back to different social formations antedating capitalism (although it might be worth noting that, with all their obvious limitations, primitivists have a point when th...ey argue that some hunter-and-gather societies enjoy far more leisure and less class oppression/exploitive labor than modern industrial societies, as Marshall Sahlins empirically adumbrated in Stone Age Economics, what Leo referred to as "original affluence"). In fact, take a look at the Jameson quote that initiated this thread: utilizing automation and computerization that capitalism developed in order to go beyond it (this idea derives from Marx's "Fragment on the Machine" in his unfinished mss. Grundrisse). This is a very classical Marxist understanding, running from Marx through Marcuse -- namely that capitalism, and its class protagonist, the bourgeoisie, are so far the most revolutionary system/class in history. If you actually read The Communist Manifesto, youll notice that the document should be retitled The Capitalist Manifesto, given its effusively ecstatic description of how capitalism revolutionizes and destroys all feudal relationships. You should be aware of the historical context: in 1844, the year of the Manifesto's composition and on the verge of a continental revolution (which the sociologist Mike Davis recently compared to the Arab Spring), most of Europe was still monarchical, its economic system overwhelmingly rural and feudal, and state institutions repressive and, if you like, totalitarian (Marx was run out of Prussia because he was an editor of a democratic newspaper Rheinische Zeitung calling for, among other things, freedom of speech). So given that the classical Marxist presupposition is that you take this revolutionary modern economic system of capitalism as the basis for a new post-capitalist society, all the objections put forward here on the basis of pitting the rational market to the repressive state are absolutely moot (also, for Marxs later views on how you go from rural traditional society to a radical democratic one in Russia, see his letters to Vera Zasulich, in which he argued AGAINST the Russian Marxists).
Also, re: human nature as the source of greed and exploitation, and not capitalism -- as Marx stated explicitly in the preface to the first edition of Capital, his analysis does not blame individual capitalists for injustices and inequalities developed under capitalism but seeks to understand capitalism as part of "natural history". In other words, Marx sought to analyze capitalism partly as an expression of human nature -- which it no doubt is, at least one variant among many, just as all social formations are (btw, this is very different from naturalizing capitalism as a singular, teleological path of human history, for thats precisely the kind of self-serving ideological rationalization he was critiquing, but to see how capitalism accentuates certain aspects of human nature, such as greed in the form of fetishizing profit via imposition of alienated labor), thus his point was not to condemn it as bad or praise it as good but to understand it as a historical system on its own terms, with a specific origin, lifespan, and terminus (as opposed to market capitalist ideologues who think a la Candide that this is the "best of all possible worlds" and that the market is an eternal principle in the same way that God was viewed as such by the feudal priesthood).
Theres a good reason why Marx doesnt offer ready-made alternatives to capitalism (at most there are only a few paragraphs about what communism is in Marxs entire work). Many nineteenth-century socialists during Marx's time tried to creat...e alternatives to industrial capitalism -- Robert Owens, an industrial capitalist in his own right, and Charles Fourier are probably the most famous examples -- but, interesting as their efforts were, they never lasted because real societies don't emerge out of such social-engineering castle-building in the air. Hence Marx's critique of the utopian socialists, which can be extended to those who offer state ownership or the market as an utopian solution to the problems of our economic system. Instead, Marx stressed the importance of diagnosing what's actually going on, figuring out alternatives from what people are doing instead of imposing utopian blueprints. And there are plenty of really-existing alternatives, from Kerala and Mandragon to traditional subsistence economies to what we ourselves do with people in relation to our hobbies, passions, and creative impulses outside the circuits of capitalist reproduction, although we may not give it any name and don't think much of it. There are also historical examples too numerous to mention, from the Diggers during the English Revolution to the workers councils in their various permutations throughout the twentieth-century revolutions. You might say this or that is going to work or doesn't work in the abstract, as if the world is the vacuum of an academic seminar, but the world never works in a vacuum. For example, the installation of free market principle has been almost always executed with state violence, as you can see in Chile under Pinochet, who took advice from the eminent Chicago-School free-market economist Milton Friedman, and even attempts at liberal democratic capitalism have called forth repeated CIA-backed military coups (as in Guatemala under Arbenz, Iran under Mosaddegh, etc.).
RE: the efficiency of the market, my suggestion is go back to its preeminent theoretical advocate Adam Smith and read what he actually says. His theory of the market stipulates that it would produce equality of conditions -- as opposed to just opportunities -- so if such conditions cannot be produced by the market we can reject it as insufficient on the very ground that it cant even meet the requirements of its most classical formulation. Also, its worthwhile to recall that capitalism makes itself possible only on the basis of destroying the market in its original historical sense, which was a place of exchange at the periphery of subsistent, largely peasant economies (cf. Fernand Braudels historical trilogy on Capitalism and Civilization) -- so if you really believe in the market as a vehicle of meeting human needs, youd have to oppose the financial market and its interlocking system of exchange which, like the corporations, are by definition anti-democratic institutions. Read Karl Polyanis The Great Transformation, a classic account of how nineteenth British market capitalists took seriously their utopian dogma about the market and, when they put it to practice, ended up generating desolation in their society. What is so ironic is that, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, many anticommunist ideologues claimed that the utopianism on the part of the socialists resulted in the economically moribund gulag state while they themselves offered a no less utopian panacea in the form of market fundamentalism, which is one of the primary roots of our present financial crisis. If you think about it, this market fundamentalism, touted among devotees of the empirically bankrupt (and really silly tautologies dressed up as serious intellectual discourse) ideas of Ayn Rand, Robert Nozick, and the Chicago School economics, is a mirror-image of the state socialist fundamentalism that claimed it as a workers paradise, except that the latter totalitarian practitioners in the Soviet Union managed to provide a relatively higher standard of living than what prevails today in greater Russia, with complete breakdown in the social and healthcare system, gangster capitalism entrenched through the mafia-dominated informal sector, and a corrupt, nominally parliamentary state not above outright assassinations of dissidents. Which of course isnt an argument to go back to the repressive Soviet state but it speaks to the principle of plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" when your only point of reference is the impoverished dichotomy of state/market (a residual cliché of Cold War invention, which conceals the structural corollary between state socialism and corporate capitalism as being both based on enclosure of the commons and imposition of alienated labor on mass industrial scale) and to the aforementioned necessity of taking into consideration how the real world works, as opposed to offering facile, universal solution in the form of the market or anything else.
Eliazar mentioned not having read Marx. I think it would greatly benefit our discussion if we base our arguments on actual readings -- not just of Marx but Smith, Ricardo, et al. -- and real-world examples.
but only that historical evidence shows that capitalism is by far not the only, and by FAR not the best functioning system for large societies. And perhaps especially in terms of resource management capitalism performs very poortly
Zhao: what is your counterfactual?
(Enter Vimothy, with a chainsaw.)
no, really. i'm not going to pretend to be anything but the novice that i am. so here is SOS again:
most of non-capitalist human history until the advent of capitalism in the sixteen and seventeenth century appeared to be doing just fine, critical as some of us may be about this or that aspect of various systems that existed at the time, from seigneurial feudalism to nomadic hunter-and-gather society. In fact, given the exponentially algorithmic technological development of industrial and consumerist capitalism, tremendous wastes have been generated, as anybody who has given even a superficial glance at the global ecological crisis today know all too well -- and this "waste" is not at the microeconomic level of transactional imbalance in supply/demand within a miniscule economic sector but at the catastrophically colossal level of the world threatening all species, which surely ranks as the worst example of resource management in history. By the way, it might also be worth recalling here that the notion of "algorithm" does not originate within capitalism, as the word itself derives from the name of the medieval Persian scientist al-Khwarizmi.Marx stressed the importance of diagnosing what's actually going on, figuring out alternatives from what people are doing instead of imposing utopian blueprints. And there are plenty of really-existing alternatives, from Kerala and Mandragon to traditional subsistence economies to what we ourselves do with people in relation to our hobbies, passions, and creative impulses outside the circuits of capitalist production, although we may not give it any name and don't think much of it. There are also historical examples too numerous to mention, from the Diggers during the English Revolution to the workers' councils in their various permutations throughout the twentieth-century revolutions.
Of course there's no denying that capitalist economies - both the traditional free-market kind and the state-capitalist kind - tend to consume resources at an unsustainable rate. But it's important to avoid noble-savage-type fantasies about indigenous people living in perfect harmony with Mother Nature. This may be the case for some pre-technological societies but certainly not for others - you only have to look at the effect the Maori had on New Zealand's biodiversity long before the first Europeans turned up. Similar pre-modern extinctions are thought to have happened in other parts of the world, too.
The big differences with technological societies is the overall far greater population density and the fact that it's much more efficient to hunt things with guns than with spears or bows.
Not that technology is synonymous with capitalism but the technologies that we see as forming the basis of modern world since the industrial revolution have generally sprung from capitalist societies.
Doin' the Lambeth Warp New: DISSENSUS - THE NOVEL - PM me your email address and I'll add you
Yeah, think the problem with capitalism is how to stop it driving people into a mad orgy of wanting more, more, more, and simultaneously neglecting the needs of others with less advantageous backgrounds, loss of empathy etc.
Am currently reading an interesting article about tensions between democracy and capitalism in the post-war period.
Yeah, think the problem with capitalism is how to stop it driving people into a mad orgy of wanting more, more, more, and simultaneously neglecting the needs of others with less advantageous backgrounds, loss of empathy etc.
Am currently reading an interesting article about tensions between democracy and capitalism in the post-war period.
vimothy doesnt mean counterfactual. or if he does i guess he is using it in a sense i dont understand.
and it sounds as if tea has been reading flannery


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"Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane already said earlier this year that there was "no way" he would host the Oscars again, after his 2013 performance garnered mixed reviews. But the return of 2013 producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron fueled speculation that MacFarlane would also be back.
The 39-year-old comedy writer and actor tweeted Monday that that he was too busy with other projects to host the Oscars next year.
"Traumatized critics exhale: I'm unable to do the Oscars again. Tried to make it work schedule-wise, but I need sleep," MacFarlane said.
"However, I highly recommend the job, as Zadan and Meron are two of the most talented producers in the business," he continued.
He put forward his own thoughts on next year's host: "My suggestion for host is Joaquin Phoenix."
Watch MacFarlane's opening monologue from this year's Oscars ceremony below:
Seth Opens With Painfully Long Monologue by zappata84

subset: commoncrawl


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As Washington braces for a possible government shutdown, House Republicans are racing toward a Friday vote on a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill. But make no mistake: This is political hardball, fast and furious.
The 1,219-page bill, if also approved by the Senate and signed by President Obama, would avert a government shutdown after Friday, when a stop-gap measure for fiscal year 2012 spending, which began Oct. 1, runs out.
The snap vote also gives House Republicans a way out of town, leaving a gridlocked Senate and a president facing reelection in 11 months to accept this spending bill – and its controversial policy riders – or to shut out the lights.
Winning a spending vote on Friday would also give House Republicans more leverage in negotiations with the Senate over extending a payroll tax cut that would benefit 160 million workers. The GOP-led House on Tuesday passed a bill that Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D) has declared "dead on arrival" in the Senate – and that Mr. Obama has already pledged to veto. Democrats don't like how the bill would pay for extending the payroll tax cut through 2012, nor an oil pipeline project attached to the legislation.
Here's the advantage to the GOP strategy: Once House members leave Washington for recess, and hence are not available for future votes, the heat is on the Senate to accept the House version of the fiscal 2012 omnibus spending bill. A darkened House also leaves the Senate with no option for extending the Social Security payroll tax cuts but to approve the House-passed version, which blocks key environmental regulations, forces an early decision on an oil pipeline that the White House had put off, and avoids raising taxes on the highest-income Americans.
The White House says Congress should pass another stop-gap measure, as it has seven times already this year.
"The president continues to have significant concerns about a number of provisions that have been reported to be in the Republican agreement on the omnibus," said White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer, in a Dec. 14 statement. These include provisions that would undercut Wall Street reforms and environmental protections, as well as the president's foreign policy prerogatives, he added.
The omnibus spending bill completes work on the nine remaining annual appropriations bills, including Pentagon spending as well as controversial Labor-Health and Interior-environment bills.
It's not clear that House GOP leaders can muster the votes in their own caucus to pass the giant spending bill. On Nov. 17, 101 House Republicans broke with GOP leaders to oppose a package of three fiscal 2012 spending bills, forcing GOP leaders to pass them with Democratic votes. These conservatives, mainly members of the Republican Study Committee, said the bills included too much spending.
The final omnibus spending bill includes even more spending, as well as controversial policy riders.
"We've barely seen the bill," says Rep. Jeff Flake (R) of Arizona. "It's an awful big bill to get a vote on that fast."
"Some riders got in, some got knocked out, and I don't even know – and I'm on the appropriations committee," he adds. "Whenever we come to an impasse, our leadership says, we can't shut the government down. We haven't had the leverage in any negotiation we've gone into. That's what's frustrating to me."
Senate Democrats, unable to move their own version of a payroll tax extension after two votes this year, also need lawmakers from the other side of the aisle to move legislation. For months, they have demanded more sacrifice from the top 1 percent of taxpayers – a keystone of their legislative and 2012 campaign strategy.
Senate Democrats have proposed paying for extending the payroll tax cuts with a 3.25 percent surtax on income above $1 million a year. By opposing this tax hike, Republicans were on "seemingly indefensible ground," said Senate majority leader Harry Reid, in a floor speech setting up the issue on Nov. 30.
"A bill that will cut taxes for 92 percent of American families and every single business in the nation without addition a penny to the deficit may not get a single Republican vote because it would cost a few incredibly prosperous Americans two weeks pay," he said at the time.
(In fact, Senate Democrats' version of a payroll tax extension did win one GOP vote on Dec. 1, from Sen. Susan Collins (R) of Maine, but fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance to the Senate floor.)
Most Americans want millionaires to pay higher taxes, polls show. Nearly 6 in 10 Americans say they want an extension of the payroll tax cut, which fell from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent in 2011 tax "holiday," according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.
But after the House GOP blitz to pass its own version of a payroll tax extension and, now, an omnibus spending bill, Democrats have lost much of their leverage. By late Wednesday, Democrats were saying privately that the surtax on millionaires may have to be dropped.
"We are willing to negotiate the millionaires' surtax to see a resolution to the payroll tax," said a senior Democratic aide on Thursday. "If negotiation means dropping the millionaires' surtax in exchange for dropping the Keystone [oil] pipeline, we're willing to have that conversation."


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Howatson of Southbridge, Canterbury New Zealand
My great grandmother Elizabeth [nee Lyon] Goodwillie's second marriage was to William Howatson. They lived in Southbridge where Williams' family farmed.
They had three children -William James -aka Jim-born 1904, Muriel 1906, and Ian Douglas -aka Beau -born 1909. I am seeking information in regard the Howatsons and also any information in regard Jim and Beau both of whom married and had families.
Also I believe my great grandmother may have been a midwife in the Southbridge or Ashburton districts.
Looking for Mary Begley Peagram
I have being doing a lot of work on my fathers side of the family - Atkinson, Goodwillie & Lyon and now am concentrating on my mothers side -Lynch,Revell, Davis, Peagram.
I have found a reference to an illegitimate child Mary Begley Peagram and am trying to find her records for school, marriage, possible children, death etc but she has disappeared.
- Displaying 1-3 of 3 Journals
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I've read about what causes people to not take action on a creative project. I've heard of "Fear of Failure" and "Fear of Success." For me, though, I get hung up on what I call a Fear of mediocrity.
I fear just doing something that's okay.
I've done bad stuff. Heck, most of my work has been bad. At least in my eyes. I always want to improve and that always makes me see previous work as bad. Well, not "bad" but not up to standards I feel are up to snuff. Most of my early work, and some of my later work has been bad. I've developed, through hard work, a level of professionalism that shows I have improved. I've done a few things that I feel were good. Some because of award nominations, but some because I see I stepped out of a comfort zone.
I always want to push myself past mediocrity. I want to do work that is better than just okay. I don't always do it. I try, but sometimes things just fall apart. So, when I start a new project, I'm not hampered by success or failure, what gets me overanalyzing is always questioning if the work is just okay. Bad is okay. I've done bad and I will probably do bad again. Heck, you can't do great without doing an awful lot of bad.
Sometimes worrying if something is just mediocre makes me push harder and that's a good thing. I want more of that worry. Not the kind that makes me stop and start.
I'm working on a pitch for a new book. I don't want it to be middle-of-the-road. So, I keep telling myself to analyze the story. Find other avenues the story could take. Don't take the safe, trite route. I'm going to try to dare to be bad to find something good.
End of 2013
So, 2013 has been a mixed bag sort of year. I've had some highs when it came to my career. And had some lows when we lost my mother-in-law in September. But, I guess that's life in a nutshell. There are good and bad things that happen all the time. Just because it happens all in one year doesn't make it any different than any other year.
I'm looking forward to the beginning of 2014. I am running the Dopey challenge in Disney World the first week, then I fly home and we launch the first to books in the children's book series with Brad Meltzer.
There's other things going on as well, but the one thing I haven't had time for has been my old strip, Misery Loves Sherman. I miss exploring my own thoughts and feelings and trying to create stories out of them. Not sure when I can get back to it or if I will, but I miss putting stuff like that out there. So, I think I may start posting more here in 2014. It's quicker and less stress. We'll see.
Maybe I'll post behind-the-scenes stuff on what I'm working on. Perhaps work I'm doing on the Heroes books or the issue of Hawkeye I'm drawing. Maybe some videos or sketches. We'll see.
Since you took the time to come here even though this place has been quiet for a while, what would you like to see? Let me know.
Until then, have a safe and healthy New Year and please, please, PLEASE, don't drink and drive. And take away the keys from someone who is planning to.
Staying In
I've been told that breaking into the comics industry is easy, it's the staying in that's hard..
I've been working in comics since 1989, so I thought I would share what I've learned over those years that helped me keep working. Some seem obvious and others outright stupid, but some people don't seem to know them.
This advice applies to not just pencilers, writers and other credited comics-makers, but all freelancers and staff people. In fact, it's pretty good advice for anyone in business.
•Be good at your job. Now, that sounds like a "duh" moment, but some people starting out think the lower-level positions aren't worth their time. Wrong. If you are sitting in the production department dreaming of being a professional penciler and slag off on your current job, people notice. If someone sees you putting pride into all that you do, they will believe you'd do the same in the job you really want.
•Don't be a jerk. Obvious, yes. But in the stressful environment of periodical publishing, things can get tense. Don't take out your frustration on others. People talk and if you become known as a jerk to one person, expect everyone to hear it.
•Don't lie. Again, obvious, but hear me out. You're a colorist and you have a crushing deadline. Do you tell your editor that you'll have it done in time when you damn well know you won't, or do you tell them honestly that it's not going to happen? Editors are jugglers. They have a lot going on at once and if you screw them over, they drop the balls. They'd much rather you be honest and work with them. More than likely they can give you more time, but more importantly, they know that you'll be honest with them in the future. I've seen too many people no longer in the business over-promise.
•Answer questions, don't ask them. What? What I mean by that is be a problem-solver. Be helpful, take charge of a problem. Do your best and then take it to an editor. Even if it's not exactly what they want, they will appreciate the effort and it may help them solve the problem.
•You're a pro, not a fan anymore. Don't geek out on your childhood idol. Within professional circles, the fan geek stands out. You are their equal, act like it. Don't ask for a sketch, don't try to be their friend, don't ask them to critique your work. There may come a time when a fellow pro will ask to check out your work, but remember don't take advantage of their courtesy. And don't start sending out samples to everyone you work with. It makes them feel uncomfortable to work with you if they feel your stuff is not up to snuff.
•Keep your mouth shut. Don't gossip, don't listen to gossip, don't assume anything to be true. Freelancers are old washer women. We like to talk. I'm guilty of it. I try not to, but it happens. For your sake, just keep out of it. No one likes a busy-body. Don't go on Twitter or Facebook and talk about other creators in a negative way. Remember, bad talk about someone could influence people into not hiring them or you.
•Get better. Don't rest on your laurels. Always try to improve or try new things. Even in the most mundane jobs. When I was on-staff at Marvel, I went from letterer to senior letterer in a year because I always tried to get better and people noticed. I came in early, I worked through lunch, I stayed late. Editors began noticing I'd come in early and they wanted me to do their corrections, so they began coming in early to ensure I did their work. Even now, I try new things and push to improve.
•If you're good enough, you're not good enough. I hear so many people wanting to be writers or pencilers. And usually, their first remark is, "Well, if that guy can get work, I should. My work is better than theirs." Wrong. You don't know why they get work and comparing yourself to the "least talented" person is not where you should be going. You, as a penciler, need to be better than Jim Lee or Greg Capullo or the Kuberts. As a writer, work to achieve to be better than Bendis or Miller or Moore. Strive for that. Make publishers need to have you. Why work to be just good enough?
•Be friendly even when you don't want to. Be nice to people. Be cheerful and upbeat. No one wants to work with a person who complains all the time (like me), when the next guy over who does the same job equally well is pleasant and a joy to work with. I know it's hard sometimes to feel that way, but a quick call or an e-mail that is nice is much better than having the person on the other end want to work with anyone but you.
•Promote your work. This one I've always had trouble with. It's okay to get online and promote your work. It's your work, not you. If someone doesn't like your work, it doesn't mean they don't like you. And, even if they don't, who cares? You can't make everyone happy. And don't be shy. Go on Twitter and Facebook and promote. I've found that the people who self-promote most, tend to do better and get more work over time. Perception is reality. You tell enough people that the work is good and exciting and it will be those things.
•Don't procrastinate. Get things done because who knows if someone will come along with another assignment. Maybe even that dream assignment, but you insisted on playing X-Box and still have to finish that first job.
•You can say no. This is another one I've had trouble with. Be honest with people. If you can't or don't want to do a job (freelance, I mean. Staff, you do what you're asked to do)say no to it. The fear as a freelancer is once you say no, that editor or publisher will never ask you again. And that may happen, but at a later date send the editor a friendly note saying that you're looking for work. People appreciate when you don't waste their time. Don't say yes, then bail on a job halfway through because you had no time or interest.
•Respect your elders. I see so many newcomers in the business for five minutes telling everyone the way things should be done. They rip people who have been in the business much longer but have no clue what they're talking about. Instead of bashing, how about contacting them and telling them how much you like their work? There are so many tips and tricks that people in the industry have gained over their years. Show them the respect they've earned.
Okay. There are plenty more, but I have a deadline to make. If you have any other tips, be sure to share them. After you get your work done!
Remembering Gene
How do you write about someone you barely knew, but had a greater impact on you than people you've known your whole life?
Most people came to know Gene Colan on the vibrant four-color comics of their youth. I met Gene in a dingy, dimly-lit classroom on 28th and 7th in Manhattan. It was the Fall of 1988 and I was studying graphic design with a minor in illustration. Secretly, I was hoping to be a cartoonist. I had a choice whether to take a fashion illustration course or another one called, "Graphic Storytelling." I chose the latter.
I had not grown up reading comic books as so many of my peers have. I was into Peanuts and Bloom County, not Spider-Man and Daredevil, so this was a bit of a departure for me, but one that seemed closer to my passion than drawing fashion. He normally taught at the School of Visual Arts, but was now also teaching at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Unfortunately, the students he had that semester where not the future comic legends a teacher would hope for.
The fact that combined, the entire class had less talent than Gene had, didn't matter to him. He loved story and loved showing others his passion. I will always remember that passion based on one event that I still think about to this day. In order to teach us visual storytelling, one class he brought in To Kill A Mockingbird on videocassette. He prefaced the viewing by informing us that it was his favorite movie and he watched it once a week and had been for a very long time. Towards the end of the movie, Gene was so moved by the film that he started to cry. He left the classroom and returned a few minutes later. That story that he watched every week still moved him to tears. I was amazed. Gene was passionate…especially about story.
As most people now know, my art is very cartoony. I would draw pages in that cartoony style and he would just shake his head. "No one buys that style of cartooning these days, you know.", he'd say to me. I'm sure I was another lost cause to him, but he still was passionate about teaching story—even to me.
One day during that semester, I was informed that I needed to get an internship somewhere as a requirement of my college workload for my final semester. That night, Gene told us that he was taking us on a field trip to Marvel Comics. A couple days later, we went and it looked like a fun place to work…and maybe intern at. So, I sent in an application and was accepted. That began my long career at Marvel.
A few years later I was offered a job lettering a Dracula mini-series that Gene was penciling. I jumped at the chance. I got to work on pages that Gene drew and Al Williamson inked. Somewhere out there are original pages where I got to share my time with greatness. It was that book that I got introduced to Al. I would always letter with a paper towel under my arm, so as to not smudge the pencils. Al appreciated that, especially with Gene's soft pencil lines which easily smudged.He thanked me.
A few years ago, while I was working on Franklin Richards, I ran into Gene at the New York Comic Con. I reminded him of the class, the field trip, the Dracula story and the fact that I would "never get work drawing cartoony." I then handed him a copy of Marvel Comics' Franklin Richards and he burst out laughing. I told him I took to heart his lessons from all those years ago. I thanked him for my career and wished him the best. I hope I made him proud.
I didn't know Gene that well, but without him, I wouldn't be where I am today.
Rest in Peace, Gene and thank you for teaching me to love story like you.
nU Beppo
DC comics is planning a reboot of their core titles. I think it's a brave move and I hope they find success trying to attract new readers. In one promo image, Superman is shown in a new costume, which appears armor-like. Some people freaked out, but I say, try anything. So, I just had a little fun drawing Beppo, the Super Monkey in his new armored costume.
Digital Download
Recently, I started selling my first Misery Loves Sherman book as a $2 download and it did remarkably well, so I've now completed my second collection which I am now offering as a digital download as well.
You can check out the website to see some of the strips, but this digital PDF that you download collects them in an easy-to-read format that's great for iPads, iPhones or even on the computer!
Give them a try!


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|Cody Cummings
Short review: Ladies AND gentlemen, meet the most hunky dude to infiltrate the internet. Cody Cummings is dark and red-hot and a real manly lad not just for the females but for boys too.
Content Amount: It truly isn't oftentimes that a pornographic star comes along that is THIS good looking. Strong, strapping, tall, dark and solidly built, Cody Cummings is a muscular buddy with 6 pack abs. He is NOT into himself and is a very quiet reserved young stud that puts out a gentle strength in his body language and presence. He enjoys sex with both genders and is a joy to look at. This reviewer thinks Cody Cummings is too good for porno!


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Cheese and mushroom casserole with chicken
This casserole is simple and delicious, and makes a perfect snack during a picnic (bento anyone?)—you should use it as a basic idea for a casserole, since the pasta sauce is the stable and the most important piece of the meal. It's also a very tweak-able recipe! :-)
Creamy scrambled eggs
I love the creamy texture of scrambled eggs, but I strongly dislike the idea of eating eggs raw, so I hacked a scrambled eggs recipe to be both completely set, creamy, and pack a crunchy punch as an extra. It's so delicious with fresh bread or toast, and the consistency makes it spreadable like a cottage cheese! I come back to this recipe quite often, because it's simple, fast and feels luxurious ;-)
Sweet potato quiche
Quiche is that one recipe that I love coming back to — it's easy to make, looks delicious and tastes heavenly :-) Plus, it allows me to come up with new fillings, which makes it very versatile!
Sweet potatoes are very smooth and creamy when boiled, then baked, and shallots add a crunchy texture. The combination of them is very mild and aromatic, so make sure you spice it up to your liking!
Tuna paste bento
Tuna paste is ridiculously easy to prepare and makes a great no cooking bento, cutting the preparation time to less than 20 minutes, including rice cooking time! Now, that's what I would call cooking on the go! You can also use the tuna paste for a great tasting onigiri or sushi.
Marinated beef and pasta bento
Bento is not only rice, but also other ingredients, like... pasta. This recipe came to life when I had some uncooked beef left-overs and just wondered what to do with them. Cooking them as a part of bento was a great idea!


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Great Walks - Heaphy Track
The Heaphy Track is the longest of New Zealand's Great Walks, located in Kahurangi National Park in the north-west of South Island.
The Track
The Heaphy Track, located in Kahurangi National Park at the north-west corner of the South Island, is the longest of the Department of Conservation (DOC) Great Walks.
For 78.4 kilometres the track crosses the Park's range of landscapes, starting from the junction of the Brown and Aorere Rivers, over expansive tussock downs, to the rivers, lush forests, nikau palms and roaring seas of the West Coast.
The track is wide, benched and well graded in most sections. Its gentle gradients and diverse scenery are popular with all ages and abilities, from experienced walkers through to first time hikers.
Most hikers complete the journey in 3 to 5 days, camping at or sleeping in the Department of Conservation huts and shelters along the way.
The huts are basic, but comfortable, and have running water, toilets and cosy fires for heating.
The five most popular huts also have gas rings to cook on. All accommodation on the Heaphy Track has to be reserved in advance, via an online booking system.
Click here for Department of Conservation Heaphy Track information.
Visitors may choose to take an all-inclusive guided option to walk the Heaphy, available through local operators Southern Wilderness.
This independent company offers a range of packages which take care of accommodation and transport, while safety, gourmet food on the trail and informative interpretation lies in the hands of a team of professional, fun and knowledgeable guides.
Click here for more information on Heaphy Gourmet Guided Walks offered by Southern Wilderness.
Geology, Flora and Fauna
The Heaphy Track is famous for its diverse landscapes and associated habitats, which support a unique range of flora and fauna.
This diversity has helped make Kahurangi National Park a viable contender for listing as a World Heritage site (currently under application).
The north-west of the South Island is a geologically complex area, containing the oldest rocks in New Zealand (fossils have been found near the Heaphy Track that are dated at ~540 million years old).
The Heaphy crosses all major rock types:
- igneous (mainly granite)
- sedimentary (predominantly siltstones, sandstones and limestone)
- metamorphic (including slate, schist and marble)
And the region has been subject to various stages of faulting, folding and glaciation.
The limestone and marble areas near the Heaphy River mouth are particularly striking, with an abundance of caves, bluffs, natural arches, sinkholes and water-worn outcrops.
Kahurangi is also a stronghold of several threatened NZ native birds, from the diminutive rock wren to one of New Zealand's largest birds - the great spotted kiwi (Roa).
Kiwi can frequently be heard from the huts on the track, calling to each other at night.
The elusive blue duck (Whio) also breeds in the area and mating pairs are sometimes observed navigating the white water of the creeks and streams crossed by the track.
Raucous kaka (native parrots) may be heard (if not seen) hanging out in the canopy of the forested sections of the track.
The park plays host to New Zealand's largest cave spider and the smallest of our giant weta - a flightless grasshopper-like insect.
Twenty species of carnivorous land snail live in the park, commonly emerging from hiding only on damp nights to feed on native worms that reach up to a metre in length.
The vegetation cover on the Heaphy Track changes markedly from one side to the other and from the coast to the tops of mountains.
In the east, beech forest is dominant, switching in the west to mainly podocarp forest with a rich understory of ferns, vines and shrubs.
On the coast huge stands of nikau palms and massive northern rata trees give the forest an almost tropical look. Some 80% of New Zealand's native alpine
In 1846 Thomas Brunner and Charles Heaphy with their two Maori guides Kehu and Etau set out from Nelson and started a mighty journey to the West Coast which saw them crossing the mouth of the Whakapoai, later to be known as the Heaphy River.
The Heaphy River mouth was once the site of a substantial Moa hunting village, and the actual Heaphy River route was one of the routes used by Maori to access the Greenstone country to the South, and their traditional hunting grounds around the Mackay and Gouland Downs.
Around 1860, James Mackay, a local farmer/explorer from the Aorere Valley area, was probably the first European to guide a group of deflated gold prospectors over the general route, which we know today as the Heaphy Track.
With no track or markers to speak of, he found his way through the rugged bush, over the sub alpine plateaus and through the river valleys to the final destination of Collingwood.
Over the years suggestions have been put forward to create a road through the Heaphy Track to link up Golden Bay and the West Coast.
This topic has fuelled much national debate; so much so, that in the 1970's, when the issue was at its hottest, a record number of people walked the track, fearing that the opportunity to do so would be lost in the future.
Thankfully, the road plans have been shelved and today the Heaphy Track is protected as one of the finest walks in New Zealand.


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Prima Named Best Performing Italian Company
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Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Laser-machinery manufacturer Prima Industrie S.p.A., with U.S. headquarters in Chicopee, MA, earned best performing Italian public company status in an independent study performed by global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney.
Prima placed second of all large companies in the industrial machinery sector, reported Italian media sources La Stampa and Il Mondo. Rankings are based on sales growth and total shareholder return for the period 2004 to 2008.
See also: Prima Electro North America, LLC
Related Enterprise Zones: Fabrication
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VIENNA (Reuters) - T-Mobile Austria confirmed it had filed an appeal against the allocation of radio frequencies that will result from Hutchison Whampoa's takeover of Orange Austria, in a move that could derail the 1.3 billion euro ($1.7 billion) deal.
A source familiar with the matter had told Reuters last month that the Deutsche Telekom unit planned the appeal over fears it will be at a disadvantage to rivals who will have a head start of up to a year in building next-generation LTE networks.
The ability to build an LTE network, which will offer data speeds up to 10 times those now available, will be a key competitive advantage in Austria's hard-fought telecoms market.
The country's four operators are engaged in a price war as they fight over a population of just 8.4 million, with all-inclusive, no-strings offers available for as little as 7 euros per month.
T-Mobile said on Wednesday it had lodged an appeal on December 31 with Austria's higher administrative court against the decision of the country's telecom control commission, the TKK, for the transfer of frequencies that will accompany the merger.
It said it had asked for the transfer to be put on hold while its legal case is being heard. It said it expected the court to decide within days on whether to grant an injunction in the case, which it thought could last until March or April.
A court spokesman said the court had not yet received the appeal.
($1 = 0.7585 euros)
Reporting by Angelika Gruber and Michael Shields; Editing by David Holmes


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>>>Full List
MT. PLEASANT, Mich. – Senior righthander Martin Dewald (Mannheim, Germany) of the No. 4 Georgia College & State University baseball team (41-16) was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-America Second Team, the association announced recently.
This marks Dewald's top All-America honor this season, after being named on the Daktronics Third Team.
The team's ace, Dewald is 11-3 this season with a 3.53 ERA and 117 strikeouts over 112 1/3 innings. His strikeouts rank fourth in a single-season effort in Georgia College history, just five behind Matt Goyen in 2005. Kevin Mobley is the record holder at 129 during the 1997 season. Dewald is also one victory away from the single-season mark in that category.
This honor gives Georgia College 13 ABCA All-Americans in school history. Dewald is the fourth pitcher for the Bobcats, the most recent honoree being Michael Antonini in 2006.
Dewald was one of four Peach Belt Conference (PBC) student-athletes named to the ABCA All-America teams.
The Bobcats are back in action Thursday, May 27 at 3 p.m. facing No. 9 University of Southern Indiana at the Division II College World Series.
The GCSU Department of Athletics, winners of the 2008-09 PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 10 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Georgia College prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the Bobcats' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at Twitter.com username GCSUSID for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit www.GCSUBobcats.com to nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GCSU Athletics Hall of Fame.


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Dreaming the not-impossible dream
Staff writer
Justin Terrel's dream of singing on national television has been deferred, as poet Langston Hughes might have written, but it will not dry up like a raisin in the sun.
Disappointed in the finals of a regional qualifying round for Simon Cowl's Fox TV series "X Factor," the Marion High School student hopes his dream will explode into a second chance to audition next year with "a more challenging song that showcases my ability better."
Justin's dream took him to Denver this summer with his parents, Rick and Sharon Terrel, and friend, Ryan Nelson.
There, after waiting in line for hours, he made it through a first audition, when a field of 6,000 was trimmed to 3,000.
After a second audition the next day, he made it into a final group of 1,000 for a third audition before learning he would have to wait another year to achieve a dream dating to when he was but 4 years old.
The scene for each of the auditions was a cacophony of nervous energy and sound. As his family and friend watched from bleachers, his mother waving a sunflower-decorated sign, he nervously trouped into one of 20 tents set up on a coliseum floor.
"It was really loud and crowded," he recalled. "There were people from everywhere. A lot of people were practicing."
Singing Michael Buble's "I Just Haven't Met You Yet" a cappella before a single crew member and one judge, Justin recalls being "terribly nervous" but was relieved to hear he had passed the first round.
A day later, in a bigger tent with two judges, he repeated his performance and again advanced to the next round.
"I could only bring one parent, my mom, to the audition," he recalled, "but we 'snuck' Nelson in, too."
The final audition was in a private office — this time with four judges and a TV camera.
"I was in the moment," he recalled, "but I was thinking how close I was to my dream."
Outside, his parents and friend waited, but Justin's dream was not to be realized that day.
"It was just a 'yes' or 'no' thing," he said, adding that the judges offered no explanation for their judgment.
He still could make it onto the show as part of clips that may or may not be shown this fall. Either way, he plans to continue his dream and try out again next year.
Meanwhile, Justin will continue to hone his vocals by participating in the Marion Singers and choir at Marion High School.
Last modified July 18, 2013


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MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The Georgia College men's basketball program and head coach Terry Sellers announced the signing of Quin Bivins Tuesday.
Bivins, a 6-foot-2 combo guard, spent the previous two seasons at Atlanta Metropolitan College under head coach Robert Pritchett. He is the third Red-Eyed Panther to sign with Georgia College this off-season. Bivins played his high school basketball in Macon at Westside High.
He finished third in the GJCAA in scoring (18.0 ppg), first in free-throw percentage at 87.2 percent (112-130), and sixth in three-point shooting (37% - 71 for 199). Bivins was named the Georgia Junior College Athletic Association (GJCAA) Player of the Year and a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Second Team All-American. He was also named to the GJCAA All-Tournament team.
"Quin is a very talented student-athlete who has excelled on and off the court at Atlanta Metro," said Sellers. "He can play both the lead guard and shooting guard positions. Quin reminds us of former Bobcat Bryan Harrison (2004-06), in that he handles and shoots the ball very well. We expect Quin to be an outstanding player in the Peach Belt Conference (PBC)."
Metro went 24-6 this past season, winning the GJCAA Regular Season Championship. The Red-Eyed Panthers went 14-4 in conference play.
The Bobcats are fresh off a 16-10 season in 2010-11, finishing third in the PBC. The Bobcats lose two seniors, including starting center Reece Wiedeman (2006-11), who was named Second Team All-PBC and starting forward Josh Hurst (2007-11), who earned a spot on the PBC All-Academic Team three years in a row.
The Georgia College Department of Athletics, two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 10 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at www.twitter.com/BobcatSports and www.facebook.com/gcbobcats for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit www.GCBobcats.com for more information, and to nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GC Athletics Hall of Fame.


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Dallas ISD expects to fire about 15 employees Friday in the athletics department, including the director and a state-championship basketball coach, following an investigation into recruiting at schools, according to district officials familiar with the case.
The employees include athletic director Jeff Johnson, assistant athletic directors Marian Willard and Goree Johnson, title-winning coach Roderick Johnson at Madison High School and Wilmer-Hutchins High School coach John Burley, the sources said. A months-long district investigation found that coaches fabricated student residency documents to get star athletes from other parts of town to play at DISD high schools.
Calls to the coaches and athletics director were not returned Friday.
Of the terminated employees, most are coaches and assistant coaches implicated in the recruiting investigation, sources said. Another coach, who was accused of improperly sharing student records, was also fired.
A team of Dallas ISD staff begin notifying the employees of their terminations at 1:30 p.m. Friday, which is the last day of school.
At a news conference Friday afternoon, Superintendent Mike Miles said the terminations should send a message that athletics violations won't be condoned.
"Despite strong efforts to put safeguards in place, violations have continued to occur. This is unacceptable and will not be tolerated," Miles said. "The actions we are taking today reflects how serious the situation is."
Miles said that the investigation into the athletics department will continue.
The district's Professional Standards Office launched the investigation after the March 24 death of Wilmer-Hutchins basketball player Troy Causey. Madison basketball player Johnathan Turner has been charged with killing him during a fight.
Turner led the Madison Trojans to the 2013 and 2014 Class 3A state championships. Turner was selected to the 3A all-tournament team this year.
After the deadly fight, Causey's mother said that Burley improperly recruited her son while he was at a residential facility for young offenders on an assault charge. Burley arranged for Causey to attend Wilmer-Hutchins even though he lived in Richardson ISD, she said. The UIL prohibits students from playing for high schools outside their attendance zones.
Causey and Turner lived together in the southeast Dallas home, but Turner still attended Madison, which is nine miles from the house. Turner's last address with the district was on South Boulevard near South Dallas, according to a DISD official.
The investigation found that Causey and Turner should not have been eligible to play for those teams, sources said.
The district's investigation expanded from Wilmer-Hutchins to Madison and then to other DISD high schools. Investigators confiscated computers, documents and other records from several schools and departments. Burley and Johnson, the Madison coach, had been on administrative leave since the investigation started. A third coach who was on leave, Conrad High School assistant football coach Broderick Sublet, was also to be fired Friday, according to DISD officials.
Dallas ISD coaches have faced allegations of recruiting athletes for years. South Oak Cliff High School forfeited its 2005 and 2006 basketball titles for having an ineligible player. None of the previous investigations, however, resulted in the type of action taken Friday.
A Dallas ISD investigation in 2012 found a "concerted attempt" by coaches and administrators to recruit athletes from other parts of DISD and surrounding school districts. That report found that Kimball High School recruited star basketball player Keith Frazier, who now plays at Southern Methodist University, right before the season started in 2011. Kimball won the state championship that season.
After that investigation, Miles called every high school principal and athletic coach to a meeting to voice his concerns about the report's findings. He implored them to raise the level of integrity in athletics and said he would not tolerate impropriety.
The district also then required coaches to make visits to the players' homes to verify that they lived there and document it in a report for the athletics department. The district's latest investigation found that, in some cases, the coaches never visited the students' homes but turned in residency documents saying they had, sources said.
The investigation found the athletic department administrators didn't falsify the documents but failed to oversee the process and make sure the residency documents were legitimate, sources said.
Willard joined the athletic department this year after the district tried to fire her when she was the principal at Madison in 2012-13. Willard, a beloved principal who has strong support from some trustees, successfully challenged the termination and received the new role.
Goree Johnson, who joined DISD in 1986, is the father of Roderick Johnson, the Madison coach. Another son, Royce Johnson, is the Kimball High School basketball coach. He was not a focus in the district's investigation. Athletic director Jeff Johnson, who is unrelated, joined DISD in 1983.
Beyond the terminations, the recruiting scandal could affect Madison's state championship titles. The district plans to inform UIL on Friday about the recruiting violations and that Causey and Turner, the Wilmer-Hutchins and Madison players, respectively, should have been ineligible to play for the teams.
Since Miles came to Dallas ISD in 2012, he has increased scrutiny on coaches and assistant coaches in the district's high schools. A few months after he started, Miles ordered the coaches to work a full eight-hour day. The district found that some coaches, who were initially hired as teacher assistants and other roles, were spending more time coaching than working in their hired role.
Staff writer Claire Cardona contributed to this story.


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8-16-11 PNC Park
On Monday, the ballhawks of PNC Park got groundscrewed. That's right. It was perfect weather for batting practice, but due to a short and light shower at 4PM, the groundscrew decided to cancel batting practice so that they could essentially have a three hour break before they really had to do anything.
This was the seen from the bridge as Nick and I watched and waited, but never saw a cage.
So on Tuesday, I was hoping to get off to a good start on the longest homestand of the year. Since Pedro Alvarez was sent down today, there weren't any balls that left the stadium out onto the riverwalk.
When I did enter, I managed to catch a Michael McKenry home run on the fly here.
Moments later, at 5:03, the Pirates were done with batting practice and running off the field.
When the Cardinals came out, I was able to glove trick a ball that had rolled out of view just inside the bullpen door.
At 5:30, I ran into foul territory where I had kept tabs on a foul ball that was hit into the upper seating area above the cross aisle. I was clearly able to see it from the upper bleachers, making it an easy run and grab mission.
While over there, I decided to look around a little more and found ball #4 behind the Pirates dugout
and ball #5 nearby.
I didn't get anything else until the end of batting practice, but noticed a toss up as the Cardinals ran off the field hit the right field seats and settle on the warning track in center field. Zac Weiss was perched above another ball on the warning track, and held the spot so I could glove trick that one as well.
I glove tricked the first ball on one attempt by Zac, the second one took much longer. The lacing in my glove is slowly falling apart, and its causing the glove trick to be much less effective. After about five minutes of trying, I finally reeled it in for ball #7, and gave it away to a group of kids. (I made them answer a trivia question to get the ball, since all four of them wanted it. One boy knew the answer to 'Who wears #53 for the Pirates?')
After that I left to go home and see Amy and Olivia, watch the movie the Source Code on Blu Ray, and walk to the local ice cream joint to have some ice cream. A great night!
Here's the six balls that I kept:
Game: 7 balls (1 hit, 3 device, 3 found)
Season: 346 balls (142 hit, 73 thrown, 83 device, 48 found)
Games: 65 games
Career: 1,468 balls
Attendance: 20,943


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CRESTVIEW � Understanding a community's history and revisiting an era of academic triumph amid racial strife are important, George Stakley, the Carver-Hill Memorial and Historical Society's president, said Tuesday.
CRESTVIEW � Understanding a community's history and revisiting an era of academic triumph amid racial strife are important, George Stakley, the Carver-Hill Memorial and Historical Society's president, said Tuesday.
The Crestview Public Library's First Tuesday series celebrated Black History Month with a presentation on Carver Hill High School, a K-12 institution that exclusively taught black students during a period when students of different races didn't mix.
"Some people don't know how important the Carver-Hill Memorial and Historical Society is to this community," Stakley said. "If we had no history, where would we be?"
"I guess we wouldn't have anything to talk about."
Understanding Carver-Hill High School's complicated past would provide plenty of discussion topics.
The institution � 1954-1969 � on School Avenue was named after scientist George Washington Carver and the Rev. Edward Hill, a local advocate for funding black students' schools.
"He was a Martin Luther King of his day," Stakley said, adding that Hill's efforts were instrumental in the Okaloosa County School Board's decision to establish Carver-Hill High School.
Stakley � who attended the school in the ninth and 10th grades � remembers that time well.
The building was small with no air conditioning.
"There was a clay basketball court for our basketball team, which I played for," he said.
Despite the school's condition � substandard contrasted with Crestview's schools today � Stakley said it still has a proud history.
"There were not too many bad days at Carver-Hill," Stakley said.
The Okaloosa County School System converted the former school � which it closed following its desegregation decision � into an office building.
The Carver-Hill Museum, on McClelland Street, preserves the school's history with sports memorabilia, yearbooks and photos.
The society continues to run the museum, with help from volunteers and donations.
Memories of the 12-classroom institution, and particularly, the 18 teachers who pushed students to perform their best, drive supporters to continue the school's legacy.
"It has meaning," Stakley said. "Those memories stayed with us."
And former students can help share them.
The museum still accepts historical donations from local families.
"We even have a personal area for you and your family, so if you want to include pictures or books, we will try to find a place for it," Stakley said.
The society's board members elected Stakley to replace Shannon Hayes, who resigned to focus on his Crestview city council election bid.
Stakley, who previously served as the vice president, has been involved with the society since 1974.
Florence Lembeck came to the event to support her former coworker.
"We both taught at Crestview High School," she said. Stakley was an ROTC instructor following his career in the United States Army; he retired as a sergeant.
Lembeck recently became a Carver-Hill society member.
When asked why she joined, she said, "I guess it's something I have always believed in."
Want to go?
The Carver-Hill Museum, 895 McClelland St., has no set hours, but opens upon request. Contact George Stakley, 803-3459, for details. See carverhillmemorialandhistoricalsocietyinc.org for more information.
Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown at 850-682-6524 or email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbMatthew.


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The World Conservation Union (IUCN) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Brian Dicks to the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel (WGWAP).
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Brian Dicks to the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel (WGWAP).
IUCN convened the WGWAP in response to the findings of an independent report, published in 2005, on the impacts of the Sakhalin II offshore oil and gas development project on the whale population. The current Panel (of ten scientists) was formally established in October 2006 (Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel (WGWAP)).
Since its establishment, IUCN and Panel members have identified the need for additional capacity within the WGWAP to address specific issues concerning oil spill prevention, preparedness and response, as these relate to the conservation of western gray whales. Following a nomination and evaluation process, Dr Dicks has been appointed by the Director General of IUCN to serve on the Panel for this purpose.
Dr Dicks brings to the Panel considerable experience and expertise in the field of oil spill preparedness and response. Following 15 years of research and consultancy, plus three years spent as an environmental adviser for North Sea Operations, Shell UK Exploration and Production, Dr Dicks joined the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Ltd. (ITOPF) (www.itopf.org) as a Technical Adviser in 1987. ITOPF is a not-for-profit organisation specialising in the provision of technical advice regarding oil spill clean-up and damages.
In his career with ITOPF, Dr Dicks advised on more than 60 oil spills world-wide, including major incidents involving Amoco Cadiz (France), Exxon Valdez (USA), Braer (Shetland, UK), Iron Baron (Tasmania, Australia), Evoikos (Singapore), Erika (France) and Tasman Spirit (Pakistan). In addition, he has been involved in numerous post-spill impact studies and in contingency planning to identify marine environmental risks and minimise impacts. He retired from ITOPF in 2006 and continues to work in this field as an independent consultant.
Dr Dicks brings extensive practical experience of oil industry operations, planning and spill preparedness/response, as well as a detailed understanding of the environmental impacts associated with oil spills. "His knowledge and experience should be invaluable as the Panel attempts to achieve a rigorous assessment of Sakhalin Energy's oil spill prevention procedures and contingency plans. I welcome him to the Panel and look forward to working with him," said Dr Randall Reeves, Chairman of the WGWAP.
For more information, please contact:
Julian Roberts, IUCN Marine Programme Officer, Tel. +41 22 999 0291; Fax +41 22 999 0025; [email protected] , Web: https://www.iucn.org/themes/marine


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You might not know this Will but at survivor fevers home page you can scroll down to read the transcripts of most all the insider videos but this episode is not up yet, probably with in the next few days. Just an FYI .........scroll down the center fo the page EP1: http://www.survivorfever.net/s18_insider_ep1.htmlEP2: http://www.survivorfever.net/s18_insider_ep2.htmland so on http://www.survivorfever.net/index18.html
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Staff writer
David Fruth spends his noon hours watering and pulling weeds out of his flower garden for one reason: to watch them grow.
"There's just something about getting dirt under my fingernails that puts a smile on my face," the 74-year-old Marion resident said. "I like to come out when the plants are smiling at the sun. They're happy. I'm happy. Everyone wins."
Fruth is just one of Marion gardeners who are enjoying the warmer weather — and the benefits it brings to their respective gardens. Fruth started his annuals indoors in February this year, not knowing that the area would be hit by several cold spells.
"Flowers and ice don't mix," he said. "It made it hard to decide when to put them out; weather was too unpredictable."
Now that the threat of frost has passed, Fruth said he has stopped throwing tarps over his flowerbeds. However, he said he never goes to bed before turning his attention to the forecast.
He said it's become a habit — something that he doesn't dare give up.
"My plants are my life," he said as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "I care about them just as I would my own children."
This year, Fruth said he planted sunflowers, zinnias, foxglove, and marigolds. While his plants are still young, Fruth enjoys watching them grow as the season progresses.
"They're my pride and joy," he said.
Fruth tries to get out in his garden as much as he can — usually four or five times per week — but he said it often depends on how he's feeling.
"When you get old, you're not always able to get around," he said.
In the past five years, Fruth has had surgeries on both of his shoulders, and has had knee and hip replacements. While he has learned to deal with the pain, he admits sometimes it is hard to kneel on the ground and take care of his plants like he used to.
"I used to be out here morning and night," he said. "But I just can't do that anymore; some things just go to the wayside when you get to be my age."
Fruth said when he was in his 40s and 50s he could spend an hour or two in his garden without a hat, gloves or sunscreen. He doesn't have that luxury now.
Every time he steps out the door, he makes sure he is adequately covered.
"I don't want to get sunstroke," he said. "That's why I clip my water bottle on my hip. Dehydration isn't fun."
Even when temperatures hit 80 and 90 degrees, Fruth said he still makes the effort to leave his comfortable recliner and take care of his flowerbeds.
"I can't think about myself all the time," he said. "If I didn't go out there, my flowers would get thirsty. They need water just as much as I do."
While he said there are times when he dreads leaving his air-conditioned home, he said he almost always feels energized after spending time in the garden.
"When you care for something, it's magical," he said. "It's exciting; there's a spark of electricity that goes through your body when you pull a weed or see the water seep down in the dry soil around a plant. Once you experience something like that, you never want to give it up."
Meanwhile, Fruth said he knows all good things come to an end, and that one day he might not be able to enjoy his beloved pastime.
"It's the circle of life," he said. "Just like my plants I know that I too will wilt and die — not that I want that to happen anytime to soon, to me or my flowers.
In the meantime, he just takes each day as it comes believing that each moment is a blessing from God.
"He's the author and finisher of life," he said.
"I know if He wants my life to be over, He just has to say the word.
"So, every time I'm able to spend time in the garden, I say a little prayer of thanks… I figure I might as well, I'm going to be spending time on my knees anyway."


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Improve The Value of Your Marketing and Transactional Email With Our New Advanced Statistics ReportingSendGrid Team
We are very excited to announce that we are releasing 4 new reports—Device, Browser, Geographical, and ISP—into public beta today. The reports will be available in our advanced statistics interface and were built to provide our customers with the ability to better understand how and where their customers are interacting with their emails.
These new reports join other email performance metrics that we already provide like open, click, and unsubscribe rates. Armed with all of this data, our customers can now make more informed decisions about how, when, and where their email is most effective at meeting user acquisition, user retention, or overall marketing goals.
The new reports track email performance across four major reporting categories:
Device Reports:
Device-level insight is critical in helping customers plan the creation of responsive templates or content that works across multiple platforms. With our device reports, customers can now understand email open rates across major device platforms, including smartphone, tablet, desktop, and webmail. Smartphone and tablet categories are further segmented by operating system, including iOS, Android, and Windows.
Browser Reports:
Customers can now determine which browsers are being used to view emails, regardless of the access device. They can also see which browsers are launched when a user clicks on active links inside of an email. This allows our customers to have a complete understanding of how their users interact with their email.
Geographical Reports:
Customers can understand where their email is being opened across the world and how much email is going to each country. They can also access state and province-level statistics for email delivered in the U.S. and Canada.
ISP Reports:
Our new Internet Service Provider reports allow customers to quickly identify trends in their email across various domains and enable them to ensure that their mail is being delivered evenly across all domains. Customers can also use this data to review success across domains and determine if content customization is required.
We're thrilled that our customers now have access to even more valuable data that will allow them to make more informed decisions when it comes to their content creation, timing of emails, and email localization.


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Thank you for registering at PlayerBlock. With your free memebrship you have complete access to all of the features we offer
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Something about cheating makes it both exciting and guilt-inducing at the same time. However, that is only for the person who is doing deceptive things behind his or her partner's back. The deceived person is made to look pitiful and stupid while the other one plays cheating games on him or her.
If you hate being made a fool by someone you like or love, watch out for the signs of a bonafide player.
Familiarize yourself with the above cheating games sign that she might be playing with you and protect yourself from possible heartaches and headaches in the future. Make sure that you are not spending your precious time with a player but with a loyal and faithful girl.
The Cheater:
Darren Ambler
The Comment :
Hello All____Below are some additional and up to date web sites about "you know who". YES- the infamous P
The Cheater:
Gary Fannon
The Comment :
I certify that I entered my own information, and give permission to be contacted at the email address and/or phone number provided by auto dialed calls/text messages and/or pre-recorded messages, by PlayerBlock and Remove Names about consumer products/services, regardless of my status on any State or Federal Do Not Call list. I understand consent is not a condition of purchase. Messaging and data rates may apply from your mobile carrier.
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text:
Disarmament Fora
Reaching Critical Will monitors and analyses international negotiations on disarmament matters. We publish and archive statements, documents and resolutions while also producing timely reports on the negotiations.
UN General Assembly First Committee
The UN General Assembly's work on disarmament is conducted through one of its main committees, the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) became international law in 1970. The states parties meet every five years at a Review Conference to assess the implementation of the Treaty.
Nuclear weapon ban treaty
The UN General Assembly has decided by overwhelming majority to initiate negotiations on a treaty banning nuclear weapons in 2017. Negotiations are set to take place 27–31 March and 15 June–7 July 2017 in New York.
Conferences on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons
So far three conferences have been held in Norway (2013), Mexico (2014), and Austria (2014) on the humanitarian and environmental impacts of nuclear weapons.
Open-ended working group on nuclear disarmament
The UN General Assembly has established two open-ended working groups to develop proposals to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations.
Arms Trade Treaty
After a seven year process at the United Nations, the first Arms Trade Treaty was adopted in 2013, setting out legally-binding standards and restrictions on the international trade of conventional arms.
UN Programme of Action on small arms and light weapons
Every two years, states meet to consider the implementation of the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons In All Its Aspects.
Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons
The Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW) was adopted in 1980. Meetings of its states parties take place on the Convention's protocols and on specific issues states decide to take up.
Check out which other disarmament meetings Reaching Critical Will covers.


text:
Only hotels in 94112 zip code are listed below. Search for cheap and discount hotel rates in San Francisco, CA for your upcoming leisure or conference / group travel. We list the best 94112 hotels and motels so you can review the San Francisco hotel list below to find the perfect lodging. Hotels in San Francisco county and area code 415 are also listed.
How should we direct your call?


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Difference between revisions of "DoD Cyber Crime Center"
From ForensicsWiki
(Added FX)
m (Defense Cybercrime Center moved to Defense Cyber Crime Center: This is the real name!)
(No difference)
Revision as of 12:02, 20 April 2007
The Defense Cyber Crime Center, or DC3, is a Department of Defense organization run by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The center consists of four divisions:
- Defense Computer Forensics Lab
- Defense Computer Investigations Training Academy
- Defense Cyber Crime Institute
- Futures Exploration
The DC3 sponsors an annual conference, the DoD Cybercrime Conference. The last conference was held in January 2007 in St. Louis, MO.
In 2006 the DC3 ran a Digital Forensics Challenge. At the 2007 DoD Cybercrime conference, the DC3 announced plans to make the challenge an annual event.
The DC3 was formed in 2001 when the newly created DCCI was merged with the existing DCFL and DCITA (at the time called the Defense Computer Investigations Training Program (DCITP).


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Arizona law requires all driver license and identification card holders to report any change of address to MVD within 10 days. Change your address online or contact us.
You will be asked to provide your name, date of birth, and driver license or identification card number. Address changes are free. There is a $12 charge if you request a replacement driver license or ID card.
If your current address is not on file, you may not receive renewal notices or other correspondence concerning your driver license or vehicle records. You may be cited by law enforcement if you do not change your address within the 10 days.
When you change your address on our records, it will automatically change the address on your driver license record and on each vehicle record where you are designated to receive the registration.
You are required by law to notify MVD of a name change within 10 days. MVD is required to verify your Social Security number before your record can be updated. Therefore, you must first contact the Social Security Administration online or at 800.772.1213 for information on how to change your name in their records.
After you have changed your name with SSA, wait two days for their computer system to be updated. You should then visit a CDL office to present identification in both your new and previous names. You must present an original (recorded) or certified copy of one of these documents:
Arizona Department of Transportation
Contact Us
Copyright © Arizona Department of Transportation – All rights reserved.


text:
Nation & World
UN says rogue Syrian rebel group ISIS should be probed for war crimes
A radical offshoot of al Qaida executed members of rival Syrian rebel groups that it had captured during brutal intra-rebel infighting in January that left more than 3,000 dead, according to United Nations investigators who are preparing potential war crimes charges related to the 3-year-old Syrian civil war.
In a report issued Tuesday by the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry for the Syrian Arab Republic, investigators said war crimes should be considered against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a rogue group recently disowned by al Qaida's core leadership. The investigators said ISIS fighters executed not only members of rival rebel groups, but also people who belonged to secular civil society movements that have been pushing for a democratic replacement for Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Both other rebel groups and the regime have long accused ISIS of not only brutally enforcing a foreign version of Islamic law on Syrians in the areas of eastern and northern Syria it controls, but of kidnapping, torturing and even murdering activists, government-linked prisoners, fellow rebels and foreign aid workers and journalists.
Investigators said that after infighting began in January, ISIS moved quickly to execute a number of hostages from rival factions as well as other prisoners in significant numbers.
"In January 2014, hostilities between non-State armed groups escalated throughout northern and northeastern governorates," the report says. "Clashes threatened ISIS strongholds and in several incidents, armed group coalitions took over ISIS bases. In the days and hours prior to attack, ISIS fighters conducted mass executions of detainees, thereby perpetrating war crimes. The number killed as well as allegations of mass graves connected to these executions remain under investigation."
Investigators cited the inability of international organizations to access ISIS-held areas as the reason that they were unable to determine either the number or identity of those killed. But they detailed several specific cases where ISIS commanders gave orders that led to clear violations of international law.
In an interview, a Syrian activist recently released from an ISIS prison in the provincial capital of Raqaa described his captivity as a macabre hell in which prisoners were randomly tortured with whips, electrical shocks and often executed after "confessions" extracted by such means. Although his account cannot be completely verified, details he provided tracked with accounts by other released prisoners and from tapes of interrogations conducted by ISIS that were later recovered from captured bases.
"We were held in a small room in a (school) ISIS was using as a base after being arrested for spying for Western powers," said the detainee, who was in hiding in Turkey after his tribe in eastern Syrian secured his release. "All day they would beat us on our feet or backs to get us to admit our links to America, Saudi Arabia and even Israel. They used electricity on some prisoners. Others were taken for questioning and never returned."
In a similar case study, investigators described the use of a children's hospital in Aleppo that ISIS had converted into a prison.
"Detainees held in this makeshift prison stated that on 6 January 2014, a prison guard began summoning certain prisoners out of their cells," the report said. "Subsequently, armed groups from Salah Ad Din discovered an 'execution field' between the Children's Hospital and Mashfa al Oyoun, the Ophthalmology Hospital. Those who escaped in the course of hostilities were able to identify co-detainees among the dead."
Investigators also cited ISIS' refusal to make areas under its control accessible to international humanitarian groups trying to get aid to the millions of Syrians displaced by the civil war and suggested that denial of such aid should also be investigated as a crime against humanity.
The U.N. report also criticized the government's increased use of so-called barrel bombs on rebel-held neighborhoods in Aleppo, saying the expanded campaign appeared to aimed at maximizing civilian casualties and clear areas of noncombatants, a tactic generally considered a war crime.
"Barrel bombs, particularly when dropped from high altitudes, cannot be precisely targeted. Their use, in this manner, is indiscriminate," the report said. "In areas where armed group fighters were present, government forces treated clearly separate and distinct military objectives located in densely populated areas with high concentrations of civilians as a single military objective. The use of barrel bombs in this context amounts to 'area bombardment,' prohibited under international humanitarian law."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-rebel monitoring group, counted at least 600 civilian deaths in Aleppo from barrel bombs in January.
"Since 20 January 2014, the Government has ramped up its campaign of dropping barrel bombs into residential neighborhoods of Aleppo city, with devastating consequences for civilians. Local hospitals detailed the
surging number of patients wounded in such bombardments. This surge in
bombardments has led to large-scale displacement from targeted areas.
Refugees detailed how they fled after their houses were destroyed and to
escape the unceasing bombardments.


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Science Friday® and SciFri® are registered service marks of Science Friday, Inc. Site design by Pentagram; engineering by Mediapolis.
|Ira talks with the playwright behind End Days, a play featuring physics, religion, young love, and Stephen Hawking. How does science make its way to stage -- and is it accessible once it's there?