text:
Topic Page: Venezuela
n 1 a republic in South America, on the Caribbean: colonized by the Spanish in the 16th century; independence from Spain declared in 1811 and won in 1819 after a war led by Simón Bolívar. It contains Lake Maracaibo and the northernmost chains of the Andes in the northwest, the Orinoco basin in the central part, and the Guiana Highlands in the south. Exports: petroleum, iron ore, and coffee. Official language: Spanish. Religion: Roman Catholic majority. Currency: bolívar. Capital: Caracas. Pop: 28 459 085 (2013 est). Area: 912 050 sq km (352 142 sq miles) Official name: Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
2 Gulf of Venezuela an inlet of the Caribbean in NW Venezuela: continues south as Lake Maracaibo
(vĕnӘzwā'lӘ, Span. vānāswā'lä), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, republic (2015 est. pop. 29,275,000), 352,143 sq mi (912,050 sq km), N South America. Venezuela has a coastline 1,750 mi (2,816 km) long on the Caribbean Sea in the north. It is bordered on the south by Brazil, on the west and southwest by Colombia, and on the east by Guyana. Dependencies include Margarita Island, Tortuga Island, and many smaller island groups in the Caribbean. The capital and largest city is Caracas.
Geographically Venezuela is a land of vivid contrasts, with four major divisions: the Venezuelan highlands, the coastal lowlands, the basin of the Orinoco River, and the Guiana Highlands. An almost inaccessible and largely unexplored wilderness south of the Orinoco, the Guiana Highlands occupy more than half of the national territory and are noted for scenic wonders such as Angel Falls. Iron ore, gold, diamonds, and other minerals are found near Ciudad Bolívar and Ciudad Guayana. The dense forests of the region yield rubber, tropical hardwoods, and other forest products. The boundary with Brazil is mostly mountainous; its rain forests are home to thousands of indigenous inhabitants. The Orinoco, one of the great rivers of South America, has its source in this region. The Orinoco basin is a great pastoral area. North of the Orinoco and about the Apure River and its tributaries are the llanos, the vast, hot Orinoco plains, where there is a great cattle industry.
Oil is found north of the Orinoco in Anzoátequi and Guárico states, but it is thick and was not easily extracted and refined. Prior to the 1990s the most vital oil region economically was an area in the coastal plains, the lowlands around Lake Maracaibo. There, since 1918, foreign and, later, Venezuelan interests have developed astonishingly rich oil fields. The coastal lowlands are exceedingly hot, but coastal ranges rise abruptly from the Caribbean to cool altitudes of 6,000 to 7,000 ft (1,830–2,130 m). These ranges soon become a region of hills, intermontane basins, and plateaus known as the Venezuelan highlands and are a spur of the Andes. Further to the southwest, close to Barquisimeto, the mountains rise to their greatest height at Pico Bolívar (16,427 ft/5,007 m) in the Sierra Nevada de Mérida.
Densely populated, the highland region is the political and commercial hub of the nation. Coffee, the keystone of the economy before the oil boom, comes from the slopes and cocoa from the lower foothills. Valencia and Maracay are, next to Caracas, the chief cities of the mountain basins. Economically dominant in the 19th cent., they are still major urban centers, despite some loss of power because of the oil boom along the coast. Cattle from the llanos are fattened on the rich valley grasses near Lake Valencia. Field crops are intensively cultivated in the vicinity.
The politically and economically dominant landowning class is mainly of Spanish descent. About 65% of the population is mestizo, 20% white, 10% black, and 2% indigenous. Spanish is the official language. There is no established church, but nearly all Venezuelans are nominally Roman Catholic. There are 20 universities in the country.
About 13% of Venezuelans are engaged in farming. The chief crops are corn, sorghum, sugarcane, rice, bananas, vegetables, and coffee. There is also extensive livestock raising and fishing. Venezuela's mountains long impeded the nation's economic development because of the communications problems they presented. The country has developed a fine highway system, but goods are still carried primarily by ship. Venezuela has petroleum reserves that are by some estimates the second largest in the world, and oil has accounted for about 90% of the export income, 50% of government earnings, and 30% of the gross domestic product. A lack of investment and other issues led to a significant drop in petroleum production in the 21st cent., which contributed to the country's accelerating economic problems in the mid-2010s. Venezuela is the largest foreign supplier of oil to the United States. Other exports are bauxite, aluminum, steel, chemicals, iron ore, coffee, cocoa, rice, and cotton. Imports include raw materials, machinery, transportation equipment, and construction materials. The main trading partners are the United States, Colombia, and Brazil. A large amount of oil is exported to the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba for refining. Maracaibo, Puerto Cabello, La Guaira, and Cumaná are the important ports.
The government has used oil revenues to stimulate manufacturing industries. Food processing, automobile assembly, and the manufacture of construction materials, textiles, steel, and aluminum have become well established. Heavy-metalworks have been built on the Orinoco near Ciudad Guayana. Venezuela also uses its rivers to great advantage as sources of hydroelectric power. Despite government reform programs, Venezuela's wealth remains in the hands of a small minority. A disproportionately high percentage of the population lives in poverty; after the end of the oil boom in the early 1980s, the percentage of poor Venezuelans increased dramatically, from 28% to 68% in 2003. Many cities have squalid shanty towns, and in the countryside many people are still tenant farmers.
Under Presidents Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, the government has held down the price of staples with price controls (since 2003; other items were added in 2011), and has increased state control over and participation in the economy generally. The government has also emphasized the use of microloans to develop small businesses and the formation of cooperatives in an attempt to improve the lives of poorer Venezuelans, has seized factories, farmland, and other assets it has determined to be "unproductive," and has forced multinational oil companies to cede a controlling stake in their Venezuelan ventures to the government. Beginning in late 2005, price pressures on wholesalers and other middlemen due to inflation and price controls led to shortages of many staples in retail stores. In Aug., 2008, the government raised prices significantly on many staples and ended price controls on others in an attempt to end food shortages. Meanwhile, oil production has decreased as the government has diverted money from the development and maintenance of the oil industry in order to fund social programs.
Venezuela is governed under the constitution of 1999 as amended. The president, who is both the head of state and the head of government, is popularly elected for a six-year term and is not subject to term limits. Members of the 167-seat unicameral National Assembly are elected for five-year terms. Administratively, Venezuela consists of 23 states, a federal district, of which Caracas is a part, and a federal dependency, which includes 11 island groups.
The Arawaks and the Caribs were the earliest inhabitants of Venezuela, along with certain nomadic hunting and fishing tribes. Columbus discovered the mouths of the Orinoco in 1498. In 1499 the Venezuelan coast was explored by Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci. The latter, coming upon an island off the Paraguaná peninsula (probably Aruba), nicknamed it Venezuela (little Venice) because of native villages built above the water on stilts; the name held and was soon applied to the mainland. Spanish settlements were established on the coast at Cumaná (1520) and Santa Ana de Coro (1527).
The major task of the conquest was accomplished by German adventurers—Ambrosio de Alfinger, George de Speyer and especially Nikolaus Federmann—in the service of the Welsers, German bankers who had obtained rights in Venezuela from Emperor Charles V. During part of the colonial period the area was an adjunct of New Granada. Cocoa cultivation was the mainstay of the colonial economy. From the 16th to the 18th cent. the coastline was attacked by English buccaneers, and in the 18th cent. there was a brisk smuggling trade with the British islands of the West Indies.
In 1795 there was an uprising against Spanish control, but it was only after Napoleon had taken control of Spain that a real revolution began (1810) in Venezuela, under Francisco de Miranda. In 1811 complete independence was declared, but the revolution soon encountered difficulties. An earthquake in 1812 destroyed cities held by the patriots and helped to forward the cause of the royalists. Later, however, Simón Bolívar (born in Venezuela) and his lieutenants, working from Colombia, were able to liberate Venezuela despite setbacks administered by the royalist commander, Pablo Morillo. The victory of Carabobo (1821) secured independence from Spain.
Venezuela and other territories became part of the federal republic of Greater Colombia. Almost from the beginning, however, Venezuela was restive. José Antonio Páez, who had conquered the last Spanish garrison at Puerto Cabello in 1823, favored independence. He was a caudillo with a strong following among the hardy cattlemen, the llaneros. In 1830 the separatists gained the upper hand, and Venezuela became an independent state. Páez was the leading figure. Although conservative and liberal parties appeared, the actual control of Venezuela was held mainly by caudillos from the landholding class. After Páez, José Tadeo Monagas and his brother entrenched (1846) themselves in power, but not before a bitter struggle was waged to prevent the refractory Páez from keeping a large measure of political control.
The Monagas brothers were overthrown in 1858, and civil war among caudillos became chronic. A brief liberal regime under Juan Falcón created the decentralized United States of Venezuela in 1864. From 1870 to 1888, Guzmán Blanco dominated Venezuela. He improved education, communications, and finances, crushed the church, and enriched himself. He was overthrown in 1888, but dictatorship was resumed four years later under Joaquín Crespo. During Crespo's regime began the Venezuela Boundary Dispute with Great Britain over the border with British Guiana (now Guyana). Cipriano Castro, a new dictator, came to power in 1899. The financial corruption and incompetence of his administration helped to bring on a new international incident, that of the Venezuela Claims.
The year 1908 marked the beginning of the rule of one of the longest-lasting of all Latin American dictators, Juan Vicente Gómez, who stayed in power until his death in 1935. His regime was one of total and absolute tyranny, although he did force the state (with the help of foreign oil concessions) into national solvency and material prosperity. His death was followed by popular celebration. Eleazar López Contreras became president (1935–41) and increased Venezuela's share of the oil companies' profits; under his legally elected successor, Isaías Medina Angarita, Venezuela sympathized with the Allies and finally entered World War II on the Allied side in 1945.
Later in 1945 a military junta committed to democracy and social reform gained control of the government, which was then headed by Rómulo Betancourt of the Democratic Action party. A new constitution promulgated in 1947 provided, for the first time in Venezuelan history, for the election of a president by direct popular vote. The first president elected under the new constitution was the eminent novelist Rómulo Gallegos. His administration, however, was short-lived.
A military coup in Nov., 1948, overthrew the Gallegos government, and a repressive military dictatorship was established. By 1952, Col. Marcos Pérez Jiménez had become dictator, and he made wide use of police state techniques. A popular revolt, supported by liberal units of the armed forces, broke out early in 1958; Pérez Jiménez fled. Elections held that year restored democratic rule to Venezuela. Rómulo Betancourt adopted a moderate program of gradual economic reform and maintained friendly relations with the United States despite the association of U.S. interests with Pérez Jiménez. A new constitution (1961) was adopted.
The country, long out of debt because of the oil revenues, reached a peak of prosperity, but the new administration was nevertheless gravely challenged. Left-wing groups, particularly the Communists, bitterly opposed the administration, and their activities, combined with the restiveness of the poorer classes and the dissidence of leftist elements in the military, led to numerous uprisings. Extreme right-wing elements also plotted against the Betancourt regime. Betancourt was succeeded in 1964 by Raúl Leoni. In 1968 the Social Christian party came to power when Rafael Caldera Rodríguez won a close presidential election. The boundary dispute with Guyana flared up again in the 1960s, with Venezuela laying claim to some 60% of Guyana's territory.
The 1973 presidential election was won by Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez of the Democratic Action party. That same year Venezuela joined the Andean Group (later the Andean Community), an economic association of Latin American nations. In 1976, Venezuela nationalized its foreign-owned oil and iron companies. Luis Herrera Campíns replaced Pérez in 1978. A decrease in world oil prices during the early 1980s shocked the Venezuelan economy and massively increased Venezuela's foreign debt.
Democratic Action candidate Jaime Lusinchi defeated Campíns in 1983. He renegotiated the national debt and introduced austerity budgets and cuts in social services, but inflation and unemployment continued to plague the country. Pérez was returned to office in 1989 amid demonstrations and riots sparked by deteriorating social conditions. In 1992 Pérez survived two attempted military coups, but the following year he was removed from office on corruption charges; he was later convicted and sentenced to jail for misuse of a secret security fund. In 1994 Rafael Caldera Rodríguez again became president, this time under the banner of the National Convergence party. He unveiled austerity measures in 1996 and privatized some state-run companies.
Venezuela's economy sagged and its budget deficit grew as oil prices fell again in the late 1990s. Relations with Colombia, long strained over control of offshore oil reserves and the illegal movement of many Colombians into Venezuela to work, deteriorated in the 1990s as Venezuela claimed that Colombian guerrillas were trafficking drugs and arms across the border. In 1999, Hugo Chávez Frías, a former army colonel who had participated in a failed coup attempt against Pérez, became president after running as an independent. He called for a halt to privatization of state assets and approved a law enabling him to rule by decree in economic matters for six months. He also cut Venezuela's oil production to force up prices, and pushed for other OPEC members to do the same.
A referendum in Apr., 1999, called for a national constituent assembly to draft a new constitution; the assembly was elected in July and convened a month later. The assembly and Chávez engaged in a contest for power with the congress and judiciary; the assembly declared a national emergency and stripped the congress of its powers. A constitution establishing a strong president with a six-year term in office and the ability to run for immediate reelection and a unicameral National Assembly was approved in referendum in December; the new constitution also reduced civilian control of the military and increased the government's control of the economy. In the same month Venezuela experienced its worst natural disaster of the century, as torrential rains caused huge, devastating mudslides along the Caribbean coast; perhaps as many as 5,000 people were killed.
The disaster slowed plans for new elections, but the congress was replaced with a 21-member interim council. In July, 2000, Chávez won election to the presidency under the new constitution; his coalition, the Political Pole, won 99 of the 165 seats in the assembly, short of the two-thirds majority needed to rule without constraints. Chávez won approval from the assembly to legislate by decree, and won passage of a Dec., 2000, referendum that ousted Venezuela's labor leaders, a move denounced by the International Labor Organization. Chávez also revived the dormant boundary dispute with Guyana, declaring that a satellite-launching facility being built by an American company in the territory claimed by Venezuela was a cover for a U.S. military presence.
In 2001, Chávez became somewhat more unpopular with the increasingly polarized Venezuelan people, although he still retained significant support among the lower classes. His attempts to assert control over the state oil company led to strikes and demonstrations in early 2002, and in April he was briefly ousted in a coup attempt. Latin American nations refused, however, to recognize a self-proclaimed interim government under business executive Pedro Carmona Estanga, and poorer Venezuelans mounted counter-demonstrations in his support. Chávez was restored to office and called for reconciliation; a subsequent cabinet shakeup gave his government a less ideological cast.
The ongoing political turmoil, which led to a prolonged, polarizing antigovernment strike in the vital oil industry (Dec., 2002–Feb., 2003), sent the country into recession and reduced oil exports. Although Chávez outlasted his striking opponents, the crisis further eroded public support for his government. An agreement between the two sides, negotiated by the Organization of American States in May, 2003, called for an end to violence and a referendum on Chávez's presidency later in the year. An opposition petition calling for a referendum on Chávez was rejected in September, however, because of procedural errors.
A new petition for a recall referendum was presented in December, but so many of the signatures were rejected by the electoral commission that the petition was unsuccessful. Negotiations ultimately led to a compromise in which the opposition was allowed three days in May, 2004, to reaffirm disputed signatures, and the petition was validated. Also in May, a number of civilians and military officers were arrested on charges of plotting a coup against Chávez. In the referendum, held in August, 58% voted to retain Chávez, and despite opposition denunciations of the result, foreign observers strongly endorsed it. Several opposition leaders were later charged (July, 2005) with conspiring to undermine Venezuela's government because their organization, Súmate, which played a major role in the petition drive, had received U.S. funds that were alleged to have been used to fund the referendum effort.
In Jan., 2005, the president signed a decree establishing a national land commission that would begin the process of breaking up the country's large estates and redistributing the land. During the same month relations with Colombia were tense after a Colombian rebel in Venezuela was kidnapped (Dec., 2004) by bounty hunters and turned over to Colombia authorities, but the dispute was resolved by the time both nations' presidents met in Caracas in February. National assembly elections in Dec., 2005, resulted in a sweep for parties supporting the president, but only a quarter of the electorate voted. Most opposition candidates withdrew from the contest before the vote in protest against what they said were biases and flaws in the electoral process, ceding complete control of the legislature to Chávez.
Chávez used Venezuela's increased oil revenues to fund social programs, to create a large military reserve and expanded militia, and to establish programs designed to reduce the effects of high energy prices on Caribbean nations. Chávez also publicly accused the United States of planning an invasion to overthrow him, while U.S. officials accused him of supporting antidemocratic forces in Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador. His public support, in 2006, for one candidate in the Peruvian presidential race and criticisms of the ultimate winner, Alan García, led Peru to recall its ambassador. Venezuela was admitted to full membership in Mercosur in mid-2006 (ratifed in 2012); at the same time it withdrew from the Andean Community, whose members included Peru and Colombia.
Chávez was handily reelected in Dec., 2006, benefiting from an economic boom due to high petroleum prices and from the social programs he had instituted for the poor, but the strong win masked the continuing polarization of Venezuelan society along class lines, with the poorer classes overwhelmingly favoring the president. At the same time, however, inflation was increasing, and it continued to grow thoughout 2007 and 2008. Proclaiming "socialism or death" at his inauguration (Jan., 2007), Chávez moved to nationalize all energy and power companies and the country's largest telecommunications firm. He also moved to consolidate some two dozen parties supporting him into a unified socialist party, which was only partially successful, and secured the right to rule by decree for 18 months. Chávez subsequently won passage of constitutional amendments that would have ended presidential term limits, increased the length of the president's term, and enhanced the president's powers generally, but the changes failed (Dec., 2007) to win the voters' approval.
After a Colombian raid (Mar., 2008) against rebels based in Ecuador there were several days of tensions between Colombia and neighboring Ecuador and Venezuela, who mobilized forces to their borders. Colombia said computer files seized in the raid had evidence of ties between the rebels and Chávez's government. Though Venezuela denied that, Chávez, who had succeeded in winning the release of several hostages held by the rebels, expressed public sympathy for the Colombian rebel leader killed in the raid. (The head of the Organization of American States said the following month that no government had presented it with evidence of ties between Venezuela and any terrorist group.) From mid-2009 relations with Colombia were again strained by Colombian accusations of Venezuela support for Colombian rebels, prompted in part by the capture from the rebels of weapons purchased by Venezuela from Sweden; Venezuela alleged that Colombia's allowing U.S. forces to use Colombian bases against drug traffickers was a belligerent move by the United States. In Nov., 2009, Chávez ordered 15,000 troops to the Colombian border; the following month he accused the United States of violating Venezuelan airspace from the Netherlands Antilles, where U.S. antidrug operations are based.
In Apr., 2008, Chávez ordered the nationalization of the cement industry and of Venezuela's largest steelmaker; additional companies and industries, perhaps most notably financial institutions, were nationalized into 2010. As his right to rule by decree expired at the end of July, 2008, Chávez signed a number of decrees that mirrored many of the constitutional amendments that voters had rejected at the end of 2007, and in Jan., 2009, he secured legislative passage of a constitutional amendment that would end term limits for all elected officials. A referendum approved the amendment in Feb., 2009.
Meanwhile, in Nov., 2008, Chávez's allies again won a majority of the posts in local and regional elections, but the opposition increased the number of posts it held and won the Caracas mayorlty. Subsequent government moves stripped significant powers from posts that opposition candidates won, further concentrating power in central government hands, and the government launched corruption investigations or other cases against a number of leading opposition figures and critics. By late 2009, drought and increasing energy demands had led to such low water levels behind the Guri Dam that industrial cutbacks and other rationing measures, including rolling blackouts in 2010, were instituted. In Feb., 2010, the government declared an electricity emergency and imposed stricter rationing.
The National Assembly elections in September were won by Chávez's party, but the opposition, which did not boycott the elections, made significant gains, winning 47% of the vote and nearly 40% of the seats and denying the ruling party a constitutionally significant two-thirds majority. In Dec., 2010, there was significant flooding in states along the central and W Caribbean coast, and flood recovery and reconstruction was the pretext for Chávez's seeking legislation to rule by decree. Decried by his critics as an attempt to circumvent the incoming National Assembly, the law gave him decree powers for 18 months in many areas, such as banking and defense, not related to reconstruction. In Mar., 2011, the government adopted rules authorizing the military to arm the nation's militias, a progovernment force made up of militant Chávez supporters; they had previously not been issued firearms.
Chávez was again reelected in Oct., 2012, after having been treated for cancer and declaring himself fully recovered; his margin of victory was much less than in 2006. Subsequently, however, the president was again treated for cancer. This time, complications kept him in a Cuban hospital and led to the postponing of his Jan., 2013, inauguration. In Dec., 2012, Chávez's party made gains in the governors elections. Chávez died in Mar., 2013, after returning to Venezuela; Nicolás Maduro Moros, his vice president, became interim president.
In the April presidential election Maduro was elected, but he only narrowly defeated opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski, a state governor who had lost to Chávez in 2012 by more than 10%. Capriles called for a recount, but a more limited audit was conducted. There was some postelection violence, and Maduro accused Capriles of attempting a coup. In June, 2013, the Venezuela government said it had foiled a Colombian-based attempt to assassinate Maduro. Maduro had previously accused former Colombian president Uribe of plotting to kill him, and his subsequent tenure was marked by recurring charges of assassination plots by various opponents.
A couple significant power blackouts affected Venezuela's electrical grid in late 2013. The government blamed the blackouts on sabotage, and in October expelled several U.S. diplomats it accused of being involved in one blackout, but no concrete evidence of sabotage was presented by the government. Maduro received the power to rule by decree for 12 months in November, which he said was necessary to fight corruption and regulate the economy; inflation rate meanwhile increased to above 50% in 2013 despite government price controls and remained high during 2014, when the country entered a recession. The country also suffered economically from the 2014 oil price collapse, and its economic troubles continued into 2015.
Antigovernment demonstrations surged beginning in Feb., 2014, after students protested alleged police indifference to an attempted sexual assault; weeks of protests were marked by clashes with security forces and attacks by armed militants loyal to government. A number of opposition leaders, mainly from more hardline groups, were arrested in February and March, and three air force generals were arrested in March on charges of plotting an uprising. Denunciations of opposition plots against the president and arrests and charges against political opponents continued into 2015. Maduro also faced criticism beginning in 2014 from prominent leftists who had been supporters of Chávez.
After the United States imposed sanctions against Venezuelan officials for alleged human-rights violations in early 2015, Maduro sought and was given the power to govern by decree during 2015. He subsequently revived the boundary dispute with Guyana, over oil exploration offshore of Guyanaese territory. A Venezuelan crackdown against Colombian migrants and smugglers in Aug.–Sept., 2015, led thousands to flee to Colombia and created tense relations between the two nations. The opposition won the National Assembly elections of Dec., 2015, in a landslide, narrowly winning a two-thirds majority, but a handful of its victories were subsequently challenged in court by the ruling party. The Maduro government subsequently packed the supreme court with sympathetic judges and limited the National Assembly's powers over the central bank; the court subsequently aligned itself with Maduro in disputes with the National Assembly.
In Jan., 2016, Maduro declared an economic emergency, allowing him to rule by edict for two months; it was extended in March and again in May, when he also declared a "state of exception," greatly increasing his powers. None of the decrees were approved by the assembly, but they were nonetheless allowed by the court. The opposition continued with its attempts to recall the president as economic conditions in the country further deteriorated, leading to widespread food shortages and looting of food markets. There were also electricity shortfalls for several months in the first half of 2016, linked (as in 2009) to issues with the Guri Dam. Maduro used the electoral council to delay a recall referendum, first postponing a possible vote until 2017 and then suspending the recall drive and delaying state governor elections. The supreme court overturned laws passed by the National Assembly and allowed Maduro to rule without legislative approval, as the opposition meanwhile mounted several mass protests against Maduro.
In Dec., 2016, the country was suspended from Mercosur for failing to align its national laws with the organization's key trade and human rights rules and accords; the suspension became indefinite in Aug., 2017. By Dec., 2016, Venezuela was experiencing hyperinflation and in Jan., 2017, it introduced large-denomination banknotes. An attempted withdrawal in the previous month of the then-largest denomination banknote had sparked protests and riots. In Mar., 2017, the supreme court declared that the National Assembly was in contempt and that it would legislate instead. Widespread national and international criticism forced Maduro and the court to reverse parts of the antidemocratic ruling, but both the president and the court continued to work together to rule without the opposition-controlled legislature. The move also sparked recurring demonstrations that continued for weeks.
In May, Maduro called for a constitutional assembly, to be elected by social organizations and municipal governments more supportive of the ruling party than the population; the new body was seen as a way of invalidating the freely elected National Assembly. The July election for the constitutional assembly was boycotted by the opposition, but the government claimed victory and a 40% turnout; the voting system company said turnout figures had been tampered with. The new assembly dismissed (August) the Socialist attorney general, who had become a vocal critic of Maduro and said she would investigate the July election results. It also claimed sole power to pass laws. The election of the new assembly also led to crippling new financial sanctions on the government by the United States. In the October gubernatorial elections, Maduro's party secured the vast majority of the posts despite his popularity; the opposition claimed fraud, and there was evidence of some unfairness in the voting process, but abstention by opposition voters also was a factor.
- See Venezuelan Archaeology (1963);. ; ,
- A History of Venezuela (tr. 1964);. ,
- The Venezuelan Armed Forces in Politics, 1935-1959 (1972);. ,
- J. D. Martz; D. J. Meyers, ed., Venezuela: The Democratic Experience (1986);.
- The Conquest and Settlement of Venezuela (1988);. ,
- Batalla, T. E. , ed., Reform of the Venezuelan Fiscal System (1989).
Related Articles
Full text Article Venezuela
19th- and 20th-Century Prose and Poetry There are different ways of portraying the literature of a country. In the following brief account the...
Full text Article Venezuela
Located on the north coast of South America, Venezuela is a country of stunning scenery and extreme cultural diversity, including the...
Full text Article Venezuela
Since 1914 Venezuela and oil have become inseparable concepts. The immense reserves of Lake Maracaibo have been both the boon and the curse...


text:
We build custom websites to fit your business, contact us today to see how we can upgrade your existing site or get your business online.
Web Services
Offering premier web design services, JGI MEDIA will be able to design and create an effective online marketing tool for you and your company. But effective online marketing doesn't stop at a good design; it includes site features and functionality that optimize your users experience while expressing your brands message. Contact us with your company's needs so that we may provide you with the solution that fits you best.
Our services include:
- Concept and design
- Coding and development
- Customizing of existing web pages
- Custom social networking layouts (i.e. Facebook, Twitter,etc)
- Manage content and updates
- Web banner design (including Flash)
- SEO optimization
- Web hosting
- Hosting and Domain Management
- Database Set up and Management
- Google Ad words Assistance / Set Up
You should be looking to reinforce your brand with everything you do. With custom business cards and stationary, our design team will assist you in showcasing your corporate brand while reaching your business goals.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
So, Ben and I made a Fall to-do list this year and so far we have done pretty good.
I decided that Fall is my probably myfavorite season....
It's not too hot and not too cold, all you need is a light jacket!
I refuse to believe that winter is here already so we still have time to finish our list.
We have...
carved pumpkins
ate pumpkin everything
drank apple cider
went to a haunted house
went on drives up the canyon
ate candycorn
and taken lots of pictures
we still need to...
make lots of soup and stew
be thankful
dress up for Halloween--ok I guess it's a little late
decorate for Thanksgiving
bake more
It has been a really great Fall so far!
|oh ya we got a new car...well new to us...we love love it!
|Went to St. George for Alex's adoption and sealing
|This was the extent of my Halloween costume....Ben had to work the 31st :(
|And the extent of my Fall/Halloween decoration
|Not quite a pumpkin patch like I wanted but close enough
|Pumpkin heads
|Sweet and Salty pumpkin seeds
|Jennica's then Jordan's=awesome, mine= amateur hour
If fall could hold out for just one more month and at least let us have leaf piles for Thanksgiving
instead of snow...I'd be very thankful
Happy Season!


text:
ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL -- Authorities from the Rock Island Arsenal police and fire departments recovered the partial remains of a body from the Mississippi River on Monday, April 17, but Rock Island County Coroner Brian Gustafson says it likely will require DNA evidence to identify it.
Gustafson said a preliminary autopsy in Rockford only determined that the body was an adult male. The age, race and cause-of-death of the victim could not be determined, he said. The body was found on the shore of the island around 4 p.m. Monday by a fisherman or recreational boater, authorities said.
"Tissue will be submitted to a lab for DNA analysis for the hopeful identification of the victim," he added.
Gustafson noted that all such deaths are investigated as homicides until determined otherwise. Whether foul play, an accident or suicide was involved in this death remains unknown at this time, he added.
His office, as well as investigators from the Arsenal police and the Illinois State Police crime scene investigation unit are researching any potentially relevant missing persons cases from around the region to determine if there is a connection to the body found Monday. Based on the condition of the remains, the victim could have died anywhere from two weeks to three months ago, Gustafson added.
Anyone with potential information about the victim is asked to call the coroner's office at (309) 558-3640.


text:
Man sought in shooting of two children
SAN ANTONIO — A man was on the run Saturday after two children were shot in the head during a domestic disturbance on the Southeast Side.
Both are expected to survive, police said.
The shooting happened about 1 p.m. in the 200 block of Anton Drive.
A boy, 6, and a girl, 11, were rushed to area hospitals with multiple gunshot wounds after shots were fired at a car in which they were sitting during an argument between their mother and a man with whom she was in a relationship.
Police were seeking Joe Ramos Mercado in connection with the shooting. He is described as in his 30s, about 5-foot-11 and weighing about 200 pounds.
The children and their mother weren't identified.
Police said a man had been arguing with the children's mother in the moments before the shooting.
The mother got into a tan Kia Forte with the children and attempted to leave. As she did, the man allegedly grabbed a handgun from inside the house and began firing at the vehicle with the woman and the children inside.
Witnesses reported hearing six to seven gunshots.
A neighbor who requested not to be identified said she saw the mother scream and run toward a nearby house with a child in her arms.
After firing on the family, police said, the man jumped into the Forte and fled on Anton Drive toward Goliad Road.
The girl was grazed on her head, among other wounds, but is expected to recover. She was taken to University Hospital.
Police said the boy was in critical condition and underwent surgery at San Antonio Military Medical Center shortly after the shooting.
When apprehended, police said, Mercado will face two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Twitter: @MDWilsonSA


text:
Celebrate 'Woody' at New Dominion
The New Dominion Bookshop will host Will Kaufman, author of the new book "Woody Guthrie, American Radical," for a music event/discussion. Kaufman utilized previously unseen materials–letters, song lyrics, personal reflections–from the Woody Guthrie Archives to present a heretofore unknown portrait of an artist whose influence continues today through Bob Dylan, Jeff Tweedy, and many others. 2012 is the 100th anniversary of Woody's birth.
For the New Dominion event Kaufman will perform a live musical documentary that will include performances of Guthrie songs and a discussion of his politics.
MOJO Magazine calls the book, "A fascinating look at Woody Guthrie's politics."


text: Arnoldo is a licensed massage therapist (LMT#80476) with over 15 years of experience using a blend of structural, energetic and intuitive massage. He has healing hands that bring health and wellness to the body, mind and spirit. His techniques are advanced, and produce excellent results for those looking for a massage that has a holistic approach, with guaranteed results. Arnold has completed multiple courses in health and safety with OSHA, HIPPA and he is also a member of Florida State Massage Therapy Association.


text:
11:13am PT by Jordan Zakarin
Elizabeth Banks Sings a Demented Ballad With Reggie Watts for 'Comedy Bang! Bang!'
Elizabeth Banks and Reggie Watts, at some point, built a Lincoln Log cabin. There was a fire involved, somehow. And marijuana. The rest of the story, well, is really up to interpretation.
Banks, who has carved out a sizable spot in the comedy scene with roles in projects such as 30 Rock and Zack and Miri Make a Porno, appears in the latest episode of the podcast-turned-IFC show, Comedy Bang! Bang!. Which means, of course, a duet with funnyman and impressive keyboardist Watts.
There is a pretty decent chance (read: 100%) that Watts and Banks improvised the lyrics here, though maybe, just maybe, they enjoyed a night of drugs and log cabins.
You decide:
Jordan email@example.com @thr


text:
Product Description
Eden Sauerkraut is made from the finest cabbage grown in nutrient rich organic soil and carefully tended, harvested and fermented in northern Ohio. Naturally fermented for at least 6 weeks, it contains no additives or preservatives and is a rich source of vitamin C and dietary
Note: Use only as directed by the physician. Incorrect use could be harmful. If symptoms persist, please consult your doctor/healthcare professional. Your healthcare professional will advise you whether this product is suitable for your condition. Don't use this product for children without doctor's advice.


text:
Oakland Structures Storage Buildings of Burke County Ga is a leading manufacturer of hand-made custom storage buildings, known for quality materials and construction. These units are fabricated with care and precision by our experienced and knowledgeable craftsman. Every building we build is made to your specific needs and tastes.
Through our website, we can now bring these fine sheds to you. Finally you can get the building you need for a price you can afford.
Oakland Structures Storage Buildings allows you to customize your barn or storage shed just the way you want it. View shed sizes, colors, styles and even base pricing online. Then you can customize with different add-ons and request a final price.
These storage buildings come fully assembled, ready to use and can be delivered to your prepared site or picked up… All with quality you can depend on.


text:
Garden Lites Muffins and Waffles are Gluten-Free w/ Veggies
For those living a gluten-free lifestyle, Garden Lites offers gluten-free products including scrumptious veggie-rich muffins and waffles. Why is this important?
May is Celiac Awareness Month, and gluten- free food is especially vital for all sufferers of Celiac Disease, a genetic autoimmune disease which damages the small intestine. Celiac Disease impacts over 3 million Americans, and since the first Celiac Awareness Month in 1987 the number of gluten-free individuals in the US has skyrocketed to 44 million;
Garden Lites is proud to provide great gluten-free options for both Celiac disease sufferers and those who are gluten-free for other reasons such as a gluten allergy or another intolerance. Garden Lites offers portable, nutritionally dense gluten free foods such as Garden Lites Muffins and Garden Lites Waffles.
Garden Lites Muffins are a great gluten-free breakfast, snack or desert for families. With a variety of flavors like Blueberry Oat, Banana Chocolate Chip, or decadent Chocolate, "healthy" will be the last thing on your mind. Garden Lites 2 oz. Muffins are made of one-third vegetables, low in calories, a good source of fiber, contain 5g Whole Grains and are Gluten, Dairy and Nut Free.
Garden Lites Muffins are available nationwide. The muffins come in a box of four with an SRP of $3.99 and can be found in the frozen section of stores nationwide, including: Walmart, Target, Publix, Costco, Shop Rite, Kroger, Meijer, Wegmans, Stop & Shop, the Fresh Market, and many more!
Garden Lites® Waffles come in two flavors: Homestyle Waffles and Blueberry Waffles. Both flavors are made with 23% vegetables (primary ingredients are Butternut Squash and Carrots), are Certified Gluten free, Dairy Free, Kosher and offer 18 grams of whole grains.
Garden Lites Waffles are available in the frozen section of your supermarket. They come six to box at an approximate retail price of $3.49.
For more information on Garden Lites products, visit www.GardenLites.com
- (1) of (2) Garden Lites Prize: cooler bag & free product coupon
Entries must be made on or before 11:59 p.m. May 3, 2017.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Winner will be selected by random.org. Giveaway entry must be completed before extra entries will count. Winner will be contacted by email and must respond within 24 hours or a new winner will be selected. Open to residents of the U.S. with a valid street address.


text:
0 items, $0.00
Home » Shop by Product » Dolls House Furniture » Barewood Unfinished Dolls House Furniture » BEF084 Barewood Carver Chair - pack of 2
$10.70 $15.28
BrandStreets Ahead
Scale 1:12
Colour Barewood
Era Traditional
Dimensions 4.5cm x 10cm x 5cm
Rating »
1/12th scale barewood furniture ready to be painted or stained
Pack of 2 carver chairs
Dimensions: 45mm wide x 50mm deep x 100mm high
Add to Wishlist
Customer Reviews
Nicely made but some parts needed sanding.
Basiliki K
Very good quality.
Basiliki K
For my Tudor banquet.
Gillian O
Just what I wanted, well made, lovely character.
Barbara L
Love all of the unfinished products. Easy to stain, and looks great!
Molly M
They may be 12 to 1 ratio but they do not look good in my dollhouse as they are to big. They look out of place in regards to size
Martin S
Exactly what I was after and the quality is good. Prompt service, well packaged items and delivered in good time.
Irene M
Lovely quality items. I much prefer to finish off my own furniture which these bare wood items allow. Usual excellent personal service from Miniature World. Items arrive well packed and very quickly. That's why I keep coming back!
Judith H
Very useful
Jenny C
Super chairs and great quality, also excellent price. These will work well for any period.
Karen S
Your rating (move your mouse over to select)
Your review
Your name
You May Also Like
D546 - Chicken Brick
BEF099 Barewood Queen Anne Dresser
BEF104 Barewood Ladderback Dining Chair
BEF108 Barewood Hall Side Table
BEF109 Barewood Serving or Dressing Table
Be the first to hear about exclusive offers and arrivals


text:
What I'll describe in below is a comprehensive list of all the standard medical, surgical, and over-the-counter options that you'll hear and read about. If you see one that I've left out, please let me know and I'll give you my opinion. Remember, many of these devices (with a few exceptions) only cover up the snoring, without treating the real cause. If you try a variety of these options to find no relief, it's time to see your medical doctor or a sleep specialist for a formal evaluation and treatment. Not doing so can cost you more than your sleep. It can cause you to lose your life.
Medical Options For Snoring
Note: Many of the procedures below, although effective for snoring, are never 100 successful. Success rates range from 70% to 95%. There is also a small chance of relapse even if initially successful.
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP): This option may be overkill, and you'll need to pay for it out of pocket if you don't officially have obstructive sleep apnea. But it does work, if you can get used to it.
Dental devices: There are multiple options with this type of treatment, with the formal mandibular advancement devices that are made by dentists. These devices pulls your tongue forward by pulling your lower jaw forward. There are many different models that all have various features that make it more likely to work depending on your anatomy. Different dentists have different preferences as well. A less expensive way to "test" whether or not these devices may work is to try one of the many over-the-counter (or over-the-internet) boil-and-bite models. These devices are softened in hot boiling water and the set as you softly clench down while simultaneously pushing your jaw forward.
Laser Assisted Uvulo-Palatplasty (LAUP): A laser is used to trim the free edge of the soft palate. It's somewhat painful, and usually must be performed 2-3 times. It can be performed in the doctor's office, and is relatively expensive.
Injection Snoreplasty: Any type of scarring agent (sodium tetradecyl sulfate, ethanol, etc.) can be injected just underneath the mucous membrane of the soft palate. Must be performed 2-3 times for maximum effectiveness, is less painful in general, and is the least expensive.
Pillar Procedure: Three thin woven braided polyester rods are inserted inside the muscle layer of the soft palate. It's usually performed under local anesthesia and is one of the least painful. Typically, only one treatment is needed, and is most expensive.
Uvulopalatopharyngplasty (UPPP): Usually used for obstructive sleep apnea, but very effective for snoring. In general, it's only about 40% successful for obstructive sleep apnea.
Some Unusual Ways to Stop Snoring
Note: All the options listed below, although not proven to help snorers on a consistent basis, have been reported to work at least some times in some people. Most of the reports are anecdotal, with no objective supportive data. One major problem is that if it works, it may only delay diagnosing and treating any underlying obstructive sleep apnea.
Tennis balls: For some people, staying off your back can make a big difference. The problem is staying on your back. The most common recommendation is to sew a sock filled with a tennis ball to the back of your pajamas. This method has mixed results, and in general, although it sounds great, doesn't work that well. It just only annoys the snorer or they just sleep on top of it.
Sleep position devices: There are a number of gadgets and devices that prevents you from rolling onto your back. They range from triangular wedges to shirts filled with foam rods to prevent sleeping on your back. The only way to know whether or not they work is to try it. For some people, it can make a huge difference, even if you have obstructive sleep apnea. For many others, you may have a mixed response, or no response at all.
Side sleep position pillows: This one positions your arm above your head and somehow forces you to sleep on your side. Again, I've heard mixed responses from my patients. If you can sleep with your arm above your head for hours without it becoming numb, then this may work for you.
"Contour" pillows: This pillow works better if you prefer to sleep on your back. The lower end of this pillow is a bit higher than the middle part that the top of your head touches. This forces your head to be cocked back a bit, lifting up your chin somewhat, thereby opening up your airway somewhat. This the the same maneuver that you're taught to do during CPR to open up the airway before you give mouth-to-mouth. Notice that after you fluff up your pillow you go to bed, the pillow height diminishes slowly, and by the end of the night, your chin is closer to your head, which closes your airway. Another option is to either roll up a towel into a "log" or get one of the Asian husk-filled pillows that are shaped like a roll. You'll have to experiment to find the right height.
Diet and weight loss: This will help to various degrees for most people who are overweight, but what if you're already thin? Also, since poor sleep leads to weight gain hormonally and metabolically, it can be very difficult to lose weight no natter how much you diet or exercise. For some, losing 10-15 pounds may help a great deal with your snoring, but chances are, it'll return sooner or later as you get older.
Nasal dilator clips: Whether external (Breathe-Rite) or internal (Nozovent, Nasal Cones, or Breathewitheez), these work sometimes by pulling your soft flimsy nostrils apart, preventing nostril collapse when you inhale. During sleep, especially when your muscles relax, any degree of nasal congestion can aggravate higher vacuum pressures that can aggravate tongue collapse. Despite being touted to cure snoring, it only works about 10% of the time. Here's one simple test to see if you should invest any money on these products: take both you index fingers and gently press on your skin, right next to your nostrils. Press gently and pull your cheeks apart on each side towards the outer corners of the eyes. This is called the Cottle maneuver.
Wind instruments: Playing any type of wind instrument (flute, clarinet, trumpet, etc.) can in theory promote throat and tongue muscle tone. Reports of success are anecdotal.
Playing the Didgeridoo: Various studies have suggested that playing this ancient Aborigine wind instrument can help relieve snoring. The mechanism in how it works is similar to any wind instrument.
Singing: The mechanical act of singing promotes profound throat muscle tone and control. Similar to all the wind instruments, prolonged periods of singing promotes relaxation, since exhalation is activated by your parasympathetic nervous system.
Tongue Exercises: Has been found to be helpful for some people, but needs continuous exercises.
Throat sprays: Various mixtures of herbs and natural ingredients are promoted for snoring, but a recent objective study showed that they were not helpful.
Acupuncture: No consistent evidence, but helps with stress and fatigue.
Bedpartner's elbow: Works to wake you up to stop snoring, but never curative. This is called the "bruised rib syndrome".
Electronic devices that wake you up when you snore: More expensive than a bedpartner elbowing you in the ribs.
Ear plugs for the bedpartner: May help the bedpartner sleep, but not very effective for the very low-frequency snoring vibrations.
Sleeping in another room: Usually alleviates the problem, but bad for relationships, and not very helpful for "heroic" snorers where the sounds vibrate the bedroom walls 2-3 rooms down.


text:
Chicks Hobby Shop
Just another WordPress site
2 in stock
#2301.1, Kit, 40′ Steel Ice Reefer. Trucks not included. 1946 R-40-14 Alum.
Car #45698
There are no reviews yet.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Your review *
Name *
Email *
Notify me of new posts by email.


text:
Lance Stroll Racing on closed cars are perceived differently
The Williams driver lance Stroll told about their feelings after the race in Daytona.Lance Stroll "It's a completely different mindset. It's great even just to be. Each warmer deep down hope to win.In Formula 1, we see that teams spend ridiculous money. It is a sport. Some of the cars two seconds faster than the other, but here all the teams are much closer to each other. Here is a very close balance of performance, which is very good for equal conditions of the struggle.So between Formula 1 and the race sport prototypes there are big differences, and it would be great to change everything. But while in Formula 1 pursued different goals - that's the whole point of the question."In Daytona lance Stroll played for the team of Jackie Chan and finished 15th.
Formula 1
Related Articles


text:
The Significance of Berlin
Berlin: The Flash-Point of the Cold War, 1948-1989
David Williamson Download this article
David Williamson explains why events in Berlin twice threatened to unleash a third world war. First Published in the History Review.
Without Germany's defeat in 1945 and the subsequent power vacuum in central Europe, in which the former members of the Grand Coalition confronted each other eyeball to eyeball, the Cold War would not have occurred in the acute form that it did. At the Yalta Conference it had been agreed that Germany should be divided into four zones, each administered by one of the victorious powers. Sovereignty passed collectively to the Four Powers, who, it was envisaged, would govern Germany through the Control Commission based in Berlin, which was itself divided into four sectors. Disagreements intensified, however, and a united Germany became a prize which neither the USSR nor the Western Allies could concede to the other.
In any East-West conflict Germany's industrial and manpower resources would be decisive. In the Ruhr the Western Powers already possessed the industrial powerhouse of Europe, and could therefore afford to risk the partition of Germany by pressing ahead in 1948 with the creation of a semi-independent West Germany. Without war the USSR could not stop this, but, with the Western military presence in Berlin, they did have a hostage. By bringing pressure to bear on this outpost they could, so they hoped, wring concessions from London, Washington and Paris. It was Khrushchev who crudely observed: 'Berlin is the testicles of the West ... every time I want to make the West scream I squeeze on Berlin'.
The Berlin Blockade, June 1948 - May 1949
With the economic integration of the British and American zones (Bizonia) in January 1947 and the announcement of Marshall Aid the following June the Americans had given notice that they were not ready to wait indefinitely for an agreement over a united Germany. The British Government, faced with subsidising its densely populated zone in north-west Germany at a time when Britain itself was nearly bankrupt, enthusiastically supported American plans for a self-governing and financially self-supporting West Germany. At both the Moscow and London Foreign Ministers' Conferences in 1947, Ernest Bevin, the British Foreign Secretary, played a key role in preventing any last-minute agreement between the USA and USSR which might have delayed or averted partition. The decision to set up a West German state was finally taken at another conference attended by Britain, France, the USA and the Benelux states, which sat from February to June 1948 in London.
In the meantime the Russians were already beginning to hint at the pressure they could exert on the Allied position in Berlin by interfering with western Allied inter-zonal traffic, and in March 1948 they walked out of the Control Commission and broke off discussions on the introduction of a single currency for the whole of Germany. Over the next two months the Western Allies prepared for the coming trial of strength. Broadly speaking, the British military authorities on the ground adopted a cautious waiting policy, which did not rule out eventual evacuation, while General Lucius Clay, the American Military Governor, argued that the Allies should stay in Berlin come 'hell or high water'. Essentially this line was supported by Bevin, who stated in the House of Commons on 4 May 1948 that 'we are in Berlin as of right and it is our intention to stay there'.
In June the Soviets were dealt a double blow to their German policy: on the 7th the Allies announced the decision to create a West German state. On the 20th the new Deutschmark currency was introduced into the western zones and three days later into the western sectors of Berlin. Stalin believed that he could force the Western Allies to drop their plans for a West German state by blockading West Berlin. Consequently on the night of 23-24 June all rail, road and canal links to the west, as well as power supplies from the eastern sectors, were cut.
Although the Russian action was no surprise, the initial Western response was confused and unsure. The French were convinced that West Berlin could only hold out for a matter of weeks, while the American administration, to quote Avi Shlaim, 'seemed almost paralysed by uncertainty and fear', even though Lucius Clay was pressing for the immediate dispatch of armed convoys to West Berlin. It was again Bevin who provided the initial leadership and steadied the nerves of his allies. His intention was to maintain the Western position in Berlin and set up a West German state without risking war. The means to achieve this was the airlift.
An airlift was an obvious way of buying time, but nobody envisaged at that stage that it would eventually be able to supply the whole of Berlin more or less indefinitely. The idea of supplying the civil population by an airlift was first suggested by Air Commodore Waite of RAF headquarters, Berlin. Bevin seized on the idea enthusiastically and convinced the Americans that West Berlin could be supplied by aircraft flying along the three 'corridors', or flight paths, allocated to the Western Allies by the Soviets in 1945. The Americans also transferred 60 B-29 bombers to East Anglia. It was rumoured that these carried atomic bombs, but in fact this was bluff, as the modified B-29s, which could carry them, only arrived in Britain in 1949. Possibly this deterred the Soviets from trying to interfere with the airlift, although there is no evidence that Stalin was at any time ready to risk war.
By late summer 1948 the success of the airlift was still far from certain. The Western Allies were consequently ready to explore the possibility of reaching an agreement with Stalin, who interpreted their approach as a sign of weakness. He uncompromisingly demanded that not only should the decision to set up the West German state be revoked but that the Deutschmark should be withdrawn from West Berlin and replaced by the new Soviet Ostmark, the currency the Russians had introduced into their zone. Essentially, as one Soviet official remarked, Stalin's aim was to restore the economic unity of Berlin, to include all Berlin in the economic system of the Soviet Zone and also to restore unified administration of the city. That would have served as a basis for winning over the population of West Berlin, and would have created the preconditions for completely ousting the Western powers from Berlin.
Not surprisingly the talks ended on 7 September without any result. The Soviets, convinced that the airlift to West Berlin could not be maintained over the winter, decided to play for time and avoid any compromise. The winter of 1948-9 was, however, exceptionally mild, and thanks to the effective deployment of the large American C54s, which flew to Berlin from bases in the British Zone, the average daily tonnage for January was 5,620. By April 1949 this had reached 8,000 tons per day, and about 1,000 aircraft were able to use the air corridors to Berlin at any one time. Consequently Stalin, unless he was ready actually to go to war over Berlin, had little option but to cut his losses, and in early May he called off the blockade.
West Berlin: Capitalist island in Communist Sea
The failure of the blockade led, as the American diplomat George Kennan predicted, to 'an irrevocable congealment of the division of Europe into two military zones: a Soviet zone and a US zone'. In the West the Federal Republic (FRG) was set up in August 1949, and two months later Stalin gave the go-ahead for the formation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). By the time of the Geneva Conference in July 1955 the Cold war division of Europe was consolidated. On the one side were the NATO states to which West Germany now belonged, and on the other were the Warsaw Pact States which the GDR was in the process of joining. Churchill's Iron Curtain had become a reality.
Yet there was one anomaly - West Berlin. The failure of the Soviet blockade ensured that Berlin became a divided city within a divided state within a divided continent. At the end of November 1948 the Germans in West Berlin in response to threats and intimidation from the SED, the East German Social Unity Party, had set up their own city government with an elected assembly, which had an overwhelming anti-Communist majority. Britain, France and the USA permitted West Berlin to send representatives to sit in the West German parliament in Bonn, but, as the city was still legally under Four Power control, they had no voting rights. There was as yet no physical barrier between East and West Berlin, although the Soviet sector became the capital of the new GDR.
It was through this gap in the Iron Curtain that thousands of east Germans fled to the West - in the first six months of 1953 it was estimated that possibly as many as 426,000 left the GDR. West Berlin also became an important outpost for the West: the American radio station RIAS was based there, as well as many US, West German and Allied intelligence agencies. In June 1953, when strikes and demonstrations broke out first in East Berlin and then spread like wild fire throughout the GDR, RIAS played a key role in informing the East German population about what was happening and in prolonging the unrest.
Berlin Crisis, 1958-61
Although the GDR had the most developed economy and highest standard of living in the Communist bloc, it remained a fragile and artificial state totally dependent on Moscow and the presence of 20 divisions of Russian troops stationed within its frontiers. It was confronted with a prosperous West Germany, the apparently miraculous economic recovery of which inevitably attracted many of its youngest and most ambitious citizens. Through the open frontier in Berlin it was still possible to flee from the drab life of Socialist planning and rationing to the bright lights of the FRG. Between 1945 and 1961 about one-sixth of the whole East German population had fled westwards. To stop this exodus Ulbricht, the East German leader, was determined to overtake the FRG 'within a few years ... in per capita consumption of all important food items and consumer goods'. Yet to achieve this, it was essential to stop skilled workers and professionals fleeing in large numbers. This meant that something had to be done about the status of West Berlin.
By the autumn of 1958 Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was increasingly confident that the USSR could force the USA into making concessions over both West Berlin and the whole German question. By exaggerating the extent of Soviet nuclear power and by putting pressure on West Berlin he was sure that he could force the Western Allies to sign the long delayed peace treaty with both Germanys, which would ensure recognition of the GDR and its postwar frontiers with Poland. In November he therefore called for a peace treaty with the two German states and issued a six month ultimatum demanding the demilitarisation of West Berlin, the withdrawal of Western troops, and its change of status into a 'free city'. If the Western Allies refused to sign a peace treaty with the two German states, he threatened to conclude a peace agreement with the GDR alone and to recognise its sovereignty over East Berlin, which was in theory but not, of course, in practice still under four power control. The Western Allies rejected the ultimatum, but agreed to discuss 'the German question' in a foreign ministers' conference scheduled to meet in Geneva in the summer of 1959.
Predictably, no agreement was secured. Over the next two years Khrushchev alternated periods of détente with spells of acute tension during which further threats were devised, to force the West into making concessions over the status of Berlin and the future of Germany. His actions were not without effect. Behind the scenes, in London, Washington and Paris, plans for creating a nuclear free zone in Central Europe, recognising both the GDR and Poland's Western frontiers, were considered quite seriously. Whether the Western Allies would in fact have made any important concessions remains a hypothetical question, as Khrushchev used the shooting down of an American spy plane over Russia as an excuse to torpedo a proposed summit meeting.
Construction of the Berlin Wall
When John F. Kennedy took up the Presidency in January 1961, he refused to make any concessions to Khrushchev, but his response to Russian threats to West Berlin indicated a possible solution to the Berlin problem. In a television broadcast on 25 July 1961 he stressed that the USA was mainly interested in free access to West Berlin rather than to Berlin as a whole. Up to this point Khrushchev had consistently rejected the option of closing off the East Berlin frontier. He had hoped to uncouple West Berlin from the West rather than to cut it off from East Germany. He thus rejected the increasingly shrill demands from Ulbricht, the East German leader, for a separate treaty with the GDR because he still wished to keep the door open for a four power agreement on Berlin as a whole. However, the growing unrest in the GDR caused by the forced collectivisation of agriculture and the ever increasing number of refugees to West Germany finally persuaded him that something had to be done to prevent an East German collapse. After a meeting of the Warsaw Pact states in Moscow on 3-5 August 1961, the decision was taken to close off the East Berlin frontier. In the early morning of 13 August the operation was efficiently and swiftly carried out. At first the border was sealed off with barbed wire; but when no Western countermeasures followed, a more permanent concrete wall was constructed.
By tolerating these actions, the Western Powers in effect recognised East Germany. The Wall both consolidated the GDR and ensured that the Soviet Union was still responsible for maintaining international access to West Berlin.
The prolonged crisis over Berlin effectively ended with the construction of the Wall, although this was not immediately obvious at the time. The Soviet Union renewed nuclear testing and tension remained high in Berlin. American troops ostentatiously practised tearing down simulated walls, while on 27 October 1961 Soviet and American tanks stood almost muzzle to muzzle for several hours at Check Point Charlie, one of the few access points through the Wall. Khrushchev was still determined to keep up the pressure on West Berlin. In October, for instance, he told the Soviet Foreign Minister, Gromyko, and the Polish leader, Gomulka, that 'we should ... exploit the weakness of the enemy. We should strive to remove the official representatives from West Berlin'.
In a series of talks with the Soviet leaders over the next year American diplomats attempted to lower the tension by exploring the possibility of an agreement over Berlin which would guarantee the rights of the Western Allies, whilst recognising what Kennedy called the 'legitimate interests of others'. By this, of course, he meant the USSR and GDR. In October 1962 the Cuban crisis temporarily forced the Berlin question into second place but, once it was resolved peacefully, discussions on Berlin continued, although the need to find a settlement was no longer so urgent. Having come so close to nuclear war in Cuba, Khrushchev shied away from another confrontation in Berlin and accepted that for the time being the Wall had consolidated the GDR.
Consequences of the Crisis
The Berlin Wall saved the GDR from collapse and gradually compelled both the NATO and West German Governments to face reality and accord the GDR legal recognition. Once Willy Brandt, the former Social Democrat Lord Mayor of West Berlin, became the FRG's Chancellor in 1969, he was determined to accept the 'political situation as it exists in Europe', which involved not only the recognition of East Germany but also of the post-1945 Polish and Czech borders. To secure these major concessions the Russians were ready in their turn to recognise the special status of West Berlin with its ties to the FRG, to renounce any attempts to interfere with traffic between West Berlin and the FRG, and allow West Berliners to visit East Berlin 'under conditions comparable to those applying to other persons entering these areas'. In return the Western powers agreed that the western sectors of Berlin were not legally part of the FRG (even if in practice they had been since 1950) and that consequently Bonn should avoid holding provocative federal ceremonies there such as the election of the President of the FRG.
Collapse of the Berlin Wall
Brandt's Ostpolitik (eastern policy) did much to defuse the tension between the two Germanys but it did not lead to the demolition of the Berlin Wall, which was still needed to prevent the mass flight, particularly of young and ambitious East Germans, to the more dynamic economy of the West. Only with the coming to power of Gorbachev, who was determined to end the Cold war, was pressure put on the GDR to liberalise.
Once this process started in the autumn of 1989, an uncontrollable momentum built up for further reforms, especially the right to travel to the FDR. In October a reformist government under Egon Krenz was formed, and on 9 November - in a desperate attempt to rally support - this conceded to all GDR citizens with a passport the right to an exit visa valid for any frontier crossing including Berlin. This was supposed to take effect from the morning of 10 November, but it was announced prematurely to a press conference on the evening of the 9th, and at 11 pm the border guards facing a crowd of 20,000 opened up the crossing points, which were never again closed. Within days the Wall had become an historic curiosity and in February 1990 its demolition began. The fall of the Berlin Wall became the symbol of the popular revolutions that ended Communist power in eastern Europe.
Berlin was the symbol of the Cold War, but also the point where the western Allies were at their most vulnerable. To stop them setting up a West German state in 1948, a blockade of West Berlin was the obvious measure for Stalin to take. Militarily it made sense for the Western Allies to pull out from such an isolated outpost, but if they had, they would have lost credibility as protectors of the West German state and abandoned the West Berlin population to the USSR and their East German allies. Contrary to expectations in both East and West, the Airlift succeeded, and the West German state was formed. Like so much of the subsequent Cold War in Europe the protagonists were shadow boxing. Stalin had no desire to risk war and therefore the Soviet airforce was never allowed to interfere with the airlift.
The first Berlin crisis ended in complete failure for Stalin, but the second crisis was at least a partial success for Khrushchev. Admittedly, he too failed to force the Western Allies to withdraw from West Berlin or to negotiate peace treaties with the two Germanys. On the other hand, with the construction of the Berlin Wall he consolidated the GDR and showed that the West was not ready to do more than defend its position in West Berlin. The subsequent long period of détente in Europe rested firmly on the status quo in Germany and Berlin, which was underwritten by what was perceived to be nuclear parity between the superpowers. Only when Russia was no longer strong enough to maintain this did the East German state crumble and Berlin eventually become once again the capital of a united Germany.
Yalta Conference
7 June
The London Six Power Conference recommends setting up a West German state
20 June
Currency reform in western zones
24 June
Berlin blockade begins
12 May
USSR lifts blockade
27 November
Khrushchev's Berlin ultimatum
13 August
East Berlin closed off from West Berlin - construction of Wall begins
3 September
Four Power Treaty on Berlin
9 November
Berlin wall breached
3 October
Germany re-unified
Issues to Debate:
- Why did the Soviets decide to blockade West Berlin in June 1948 and then end their action in May 1949?
- To what extent did the construction of the Berlin Wall lower the temperature of East-West rivalries?
- Was tension over Berlin after 1945 a cause or a symptom of the Cold War, or both?


text:
We had a spectacular time at the Italian Heritage Festival in Uniontown this past weekend! A big thank you to the organizer Terry Cellurale for the generous invitation. Tens of thousands of people packed the streets of downtown Uniontown to enjoy.
I had the most delicious gnocchi on the planet and brought home several boxes of homemade Italian cookies. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and said hello.
It was a beautiful weekend… a tad hot though… so Ally stayed close to this fan.
My good friends Mike Clark and Andrew Stockey shared in the fun.
Thanks to our good friend, Tammy who sent me all these photos I can share with you! And thank you to whomever sold my son the blue Italian Ice! LOL….
I'm already looking forward to next year! Mark it on your calendars now!


text:
view as a webpage
Earth Paint Collection Systems acts as a central contact for latex
paint recycling. They can assist with finding locations currently accepting
Latex Paint throughout Lake County – Please call (847) 231-6044 for additional
Please contact with your local Ace Hardware store – the majority of
locations do recycle latex paint. We encourage you to reach out to a few stores
in your surrounding community to find the less expensive option – The recycling
fee is typically $2.00 to $5.00 per the gallon (plus you don't have to deal with
the mess!)
Or, as the last option, treat the latex paint for dispose through your regular garbage hauler. Take & Leave the lids off, pour clay cat litter, (or shredded paper, sand or sawdust) into the can, stir to the consistency of thick oatmeal (no longer in liquid form), leave the treated
paint cans outside your garbage can on your regular garbage pickup day (please don't exceed 3-4 cans per week). The
added absorbent material helps bind the liquids together, reducing the possibility of
the paint splattering not only in the truck, but the roads and the vehicles
behind the hauler. If you're dealing with completely empty paint cans (no residual liquid at all), simply remove the lids and leave out as described above.
Another point worth mentioning: if the garbage hauler spots the
cans with the lids still on, they may assume no attempts to solidify the paint
were made and they may not take the paint cans. Focus on transparency!
you find an oil based product, we do encourage you to schedule a visit to our
HCW Facility in Gurnee. OR keep an eye out for our HCW Mobile Events - we post
upcoming events on our home page at www.swalco.org
Thank you again for your dedication and efforts in keeping Lake County resources in check! Please call with any questions or comments - We're happy to help.
SWALCO website
To stop receiving emails on this topic, manage your subscriber preferences here.
To stop receiving ALL Lake County emails, unsubscribe here.
Lake County Website


text:
Shutters and Shuttles
2517 Eugenia Ave Suite 203
Nashville , TN 37211
Nashville , TN 37211
Studio location open by appointment
Shutters & Shuttles is a textile design and production studio that offers a small collection of products, both home goods and accessories, made from textiles designed and woven in-house. Our focus is creating American made fabric woven from only natural materials that is unlike anything that can be mass produced, and making them available to anyone.
Other Places You Might Like
For the Adventurers and Storytellers
This is a guide for local pioneers and traveling trailblazers who are in search for something different. It was created to help you discover innovative makers that are the soul of the city and movers who are shifting the way we think and do.


text:
In a recent conversation with our fans on Facebook, we asked them "What Harman stove you have in your home and what you LOVE about it?" in exchange for a chance to win a $100 gift card. The result? Several fans and real customers shared personal stories, product favorites and many other reasons why they love their stoves. We'd invite you to see what real customers and fans are saying about pellet stoves we'd love for you to join our conversation.
Sign up to Save $100
Why are you contacting us?
Need a Quote
Need Service
Looking for Help Choosing a Product
Have a Question About My Fireplace
A local dealer will contact you, we look forward to helping you.


text:
Episode 262: BL and David discuss discuss Spotify's major embrace of podcasts with The Story of The Clash; LinkedIn's new Hello Monday podcast; April the Giraffe's pregnant again..and David could not give a rip; Tesla's Easter Egg troll; BBC's article chatbots; Buffer's vertical video report; a Texas school teacher's Facebook Live bedtime stories; Apple's AR Glasses; Microsoft's HoloLens 2; pharmafluencers; Sealioning; The Great Toilet Paper Controversy of 2019 featuring Walmart and Cottonelle; racist self-driving cars; deceptive from fields;…and much, much more.
McDonald's Anti-Trump Tweet, Baby Interview Crashers Go Viral
Episode 179: Co-hosts B.L. Ochman and David Erickson discussed McDonald's Trump tweet; BBC interview crashers; Pinterest's Lens; Amazon's Resistance Radio; Boaty McBoatface's return; Fender's rockin' in the digital world; Twitter Moment analytics; King Kong's Los Angeles rampage; self-defense how to videos; hijacking Peruvian highways; Progressive Insurance takes an Adult Swim; 3D-printed houses; more fake news; Alexa's Siri nightmare;…and much, much more.
Volkswagon Scandal And Apology & Snoop Dogg's Lifestyle Brand
Co-hosts B.L. Ochman & David Erickson discussed Donald Trump's ill-advised use of Twitter; the Volkswagen scandal and apology; Prime Minister David Cameron's pig problem; poorly-labeled sponsored content; Lady Gaga music video for The Hunting Ground; Peace ad-blocking app pulled from the Apple App Store; Snoop Dogg's Merry Jane lifestyle brand; a monkey selfie copyright dispute; tweeting political donations; plus great new apps and important stats and a lot of stuff in between.
LEGO Worlds Game Launches
Co-hosts B.L. Ochman & David Erickson discussed the news of the Queen's demise being greatly exaggerated; a massive hack of the federal government personnel records; a LEGO Worlds; Manspreading; tweeting potholes; Cyber seniors; Flash's long death; an Internet cat video; plus great new apps and important stats and a lot of stuff in between.
Sochi Hotels, UBERConference & Amazon Flow
This episode: Journalists are reporting on the hotel conditions at the Sochi Olympics; UBERConference becomes a Google+ Hangouts app; Coke's Super Bowl ad.


text:
Suicide Bridge by K(ittenhotep)So, the transition to the new school is not going as smoothly as I'd hoped. He had
Tim is coming home this Sunday for a few days. This is his first home visit since his transfer to
We got Tim successfully moved from OTDC to his new RTC the week after Memorial Day. It was quite the
96 days. That's how many days I have left until Tim turns 18. That's how many days in a row
So - after that second email letter, and a phone call yesterday, and another phone call today, Tim will finally
Greetings: I understand you have made an appointment with a psychiatrist employed by your sister company for Tim this Saturday
Tim had a bad day yesterday, and I fear we're seeing the start of the usual Winter cycle. Apparently he
Two years, three months, and 11 days ago, we sent our son away.We didn't want to, and we did. It
...My son Tim, who has a diagnosis of Schizoaffective Disorder, turns 18 in eight months, and he will age out
Tim's caseworker called a few minutes ago, with Tim in his office. Tim's had a bad second day in a


text:
DDD Scotland 2016
The DDD Scotland 2016 conference CFP is open, so if you've ever wanted to present at a conference, now's your chance. This is the first conference I presented at, and it's a friendly, community conference. I notice there's a Code of Conduct this year, which is a great sign, as other conferences have unfortunately found … More DDD Scotland 2016


text:
SheerID's JavaScript API provides functionality that is useful when integrating SheerID into user-facing web applications. The JavaScript API consists of a base JavaScript and a number of useful modules which can be included and configured, each of which is described in the Modules section of our JavaScript API page.
There are two instances of the SheerID REST API: Sandbox and Production, each with a distinct hostname – services.sheerid.com for the production environment and services-sandbox.sheerid.com for the sandbox. For full instruction, options, and how to obtain your token, read our page on Issuing Requests.
SheerID uses a three-state indicator of the ultimate result of a verification request: true, false, and null. For full information regarding these results as well as a breakdown of the verification status, check out our REST API-Verification Result and Status page.
Success, failure, and error are the three scenarios you should plan to test your implementation for. Read more on our Verification Scenarios page.
To speed up sandbox testing we have introduced the automatic document review feature where a specifically named file will pass or fail document review instantly. This allows the review process to be tested without the hassle of an actual manual document review for every test. Download the testing documents and find full instructions on this process on our Automatic Document Review page.
Some SheerID customers maintain firewall egress rule(s)/network ACL in order to allow traffic to and from SheerID. The default SheerID REST API service endpoint services.sheerid.com does not map to a static IP address, though it does change infrequently. In order to support customers with stricter network policies, SheerID has made available an alternate hostname that has a static IP address. To learn more, visit the SheerID Static IP Addressing page.
Using our reporting tools, you can download on-demand extracts in CSV format of verification activity for a selected time period so that you can dig into the effectiveness of a campaign or promotion – in real-time – as it is happening. To learn more, download the SheerID Reports How-To Guide.
SheerID provides easy access to editing your email templates. Email Notifiers use Velocity templates to render email content and can be modified to include images and HTML headers and footers for a dynamic customer experience. To learn more, read our Customizing Email Content page.


text:
The Land Rover Defender – one of the few genuinely classic cars you can still buy new – is to go out of production in 2015. The iconic off-roader, which has been on sale since 1948 in one form or another, gets the chop in the face of escalating safety regulations and a changing market place. Land Rover has confirmed that it will be replaced.
The Land Rover Defender is identified with the UK in much the same way as the K6 telephone box, black London taxis and the Mini are – and it's now the last bastion of original 1940s automotive hardware. The Defender's also loved by HRH The Queen and was used as Sir Winston Churchill's runabout. It even starred in the latest Bond film, Skyfall. Okay, so the number of parts shared between the Land Rover of 1948 and the Defender of today are miniscule – rather like Trigger's broom.
However, it's still fundamentally the same vehicle, with the same DNA flowing through it. The biggest evolutionary points following the Land Rover's life were the addition of long-wheelbase versions, the brilliant Series III facelift by David Bache and the arrival of the V8 Stage 1 – and, to show you just how much it hasn't changed since 1948, here's a gallery of each major model through the years.
Keith Adams
Is the Editor of the Parkers website and price guide, formerly editor of Classic Car Weekly, and launch editor/creator of Modern Classics magazine. Has contributed to various motoring titles including Octane, Practical Classics, Evo, Honest John, CAR magazine, Autocar, Pistonheads, Diesel Car, Practical Performance Car, Performance French Car, Car Mechanics, Jaguar World Monthly, MG Enthusiast, Modern MINI, Practical Classics, Fifth Gear Website, Radio 4, and the the Motoring Independent...
Likes 'conditionally challenged' motors and taking them on unfeasible adventures all across Europe.
Latest posts by Keith Adams (see all)
- The cars : Panther Solo development story - 5 December 2019
- The cars : Chevrolet Hatch - 4 December 2019
- Opinion : Jaguar F-Type 2020 facelift – a case of good, good, why? - 4 December 2019


text:
|Jesus ascending to heaven. Painting by John
Singleton Copley (source: Wikipedia)
My answer is a big 'Yes' to all of the questions above.
Why not? Even though I am well aware that Christ is still with us today, in the most personal way, I still need someone with skin, whom I could look up to and learn from. Whose voice I could hear vividly; whose hands I could hold; to whom I could write to for advice... well you know, all along that line. In short, I just want Him to be present physically. Here. On earth. Where I can see Him.
Perhaps, that is why the Feast of Ascension has never been my favourite. Yes, I knew its importance - it was merely a head-knowledge and never heart-knowledge. I imagined myself being with the Apostles, witnessing Him being taken up to Heaven. He said He would be with the Apostles until the end of time, which sounded convincing and the Apostles were hopeful. But wait, who's the Holy Spirit? How long do we have to wait? How can we recognise him? No wonder some of them doubted (Mt 28:17).
I have been questioning the Lord, "What is there to celebrate? You left Your Apostles to fend for themselves!"
The passing of John Paul II changed all that. Oh wait, maybe it was the Canonisation I attended that changed that.
As I mourned the absence of John Paul, a very good friend said this to me: "It is better that he goes back to the Father. Unless he goes back, he would never get to know you. And now that he is a saint, you can be sure that he hears you. You've got an intercessor and a friend in Heaven! Is it not better that way?"
This Ascension, I asked the Lord a different set of questions.
If You were physically present in the world today, would I have experienced You the way I did – most intimate and personally? Would I even have the opportunity to meet You face to face, when millions of people fight their way towards You, just like what's been happening at the Vatican with Pope Francis (and particularly at the Canonisation of JPII and John XXIII!)? Could You even reach out to people individually, far and wide, without the coming of the Holy Spirit? Could the Church grow to what she is today?
How crucial it is that Jesus goes back to the Father! How crucial it is that the Holy Spirit is sent!
This year, it is a different Ascension for me. I learned to let go of that sorrow of losing John Paul II. Perhaps, this very reflection also prepares me for the many "letting-go" (and detachment) I have to make in the future, be it people or materials.
It is by letting go that we enable God to give us something even better.
I shall not let Pentecost pass me by this time!
**The popular "Let It Go" song playing in the background**


text: Vasundhara is a Senior from Bombay, India, double-concentrating in International Relations and Economics. At Brown, she is the President of the Brown International Organization and the Secretary-General of the Brown University Simulation of United Nations. She will be working at Teach For America after graduation and eventually wants to pursue a career in international human rights law.


text:
Dublin Kayaking Tapas Trail Hen Party Activity
Customer Rating:
Our Dublin Kayaking Tapas Trail Hen Party Activity is one of our newest and most exciting Hen Weekend packages! Join us on the River Liffey with your group for a City Kayaking River Trip before being met by your private guide to take you on an amazing Tapas Trail Dublin.
See the city from a different angle on the water with us then explore the city in a whole new way with Tapas Trail Dublin. This package price is great value and is a fantastic way to fill your day in Dublin with the best fun going!
Dublin is steeped in romance and history, explore the atmosphere of its streets, restaurants, cafés and the casual ambiance of some of Dublin's hidden gems. Our guides aim to give you a flavor of Dublin.
Each tour will be guided by friendly tour guides who know Dublin like the back of their hand, and can let you all in on some hidden secrets of the city along with recommendations off the beaten track. Your guide will take you and your group to 3 fantastic restaurants which will remain secret until you arrive at their doorstep, in which you will get to sample and share a selection of Tapas along with a delicious glass of wine.
All our Restaurants were carefully chosen, as they sum up the fun and social aspect of what Tapas Trail Dublin is all about. Some you may know well or heard of, but there are also a few hidden gems you may not have come across before, but we will ensure you will put them on your list of places to return to!
In relation to walking distance, our tours are done at a leisurely pace, comfortable footwear would be recommended. High heels are possible (maybe bring a pair of flat shoes in your handbag just in case!)
Total Duration: 4 Hours 30 minutes approx.
City Kayaking Trip 1 hour 30 minutes
Tapas Trail 3 Hours
Group Size:
Minimum 6 people
Maximum 20 people


text:
A lot has changed the first mock draft was published.
Andre Smith may have fallen off the deep end; it was discovered Michael Crabtree's foot required surgery; we realized Malcolm Jenkins will need to move to safety... and that was only the news pertaining to the top five prospects in my initial mock draft.
Let's get to the new and improved mock.
Round One
1. Detroit: Matthew Stafford, Georgia, QB - Stafford established himself as the class of the position at the Combine. If the Lions choose to address this need with the first overall pick - and I think they will - Stafford will be their guy.
2. St. Louis: Jason Smith, Baylor, OT - Smith makes the biggest jump of any prospect (20th to 2nd) after an impressive showing at the Combine.
3. Kansas City: Eugene Monroe, Virginia, OT - I love the storyline of Monroe and last year's first rounder from Virginia, Branden Albert, protecting Matt Cassel.
4. Seattle: Aaron Curry, Wake Forest, LB - Curry dominated the Combine and is now considered by many to be the draft's top prospect. After Seattle's signing of WR T.J. Housyourdaddy and Michael Crabtree's imminent surgery, the two no longer look like the perfect match they were a few weeks back.
5. Cleveland: Andre Smith, Alabama, OT - In Eric Mangini's first year at the helm of the Jets, he selected two offensive lineman in the first round. I realize Smith has not had a great few weeks, but his talent is undeniable, and he can slide into the right tackle position for the Browns. A trade down (or up) certainly makes sense here.
6. Cincinnati: Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech, WR - The Bengals replace Housyourdaddy with Crabtree. Not a bad deal for them although they have a lot more needs than just this.
7. Oakland: Jeremy Maclin, Missouri, WR - Al Davis has always been enamored with speed, and Maclin has plenty of it.
8. Jacksonville: B.J. Raji, Boston College, DT - A great run-stuffer but I still question why he never dominated in college like his skills indicate he would.
9. Green Bay: Brian Orakpo, Texas, DE - If he can prove he's healthy at UT's Pro Day, Orakpo would help revamp a struggling defense at Lambeau.
10. San Francisco: Mark Sanchez, USC, QB - This Kurt Warner hunt seems like it's heading for an ugly ending. It would behoove the '9ers to focus on the long term future (Sanchez) instead of a short term solution (Warner).
11. Buffalo: Michael Oher, Ole Miss, OT - The whole Jason Peters mess won't solve itself. Time to move on for the Bills.
12. Denver: Peria Jerry, Ole Miss, DT - The Broncos solidified the linebacking corps and secondary with recent free agent signings. Now, it's time to work on the patchwork D-Line.
13. Washington: Everette Brown, Florida State, DE - Jason Taylor out, Everrette Brown in.
14. New Orleans: Malcolm Jenkins, Ohio State, CB / S - Jenkins won't slip this far if he improves his 40-time at Ohio State's Pro Day, but for now, he fits here.
15. Houston: Darrius Heyward-Bey, Maryland, WR - After a blazing 40 at the Combine, DHB (allow me to be the first to coin that nickname) proved he's could be a great complement to all-world wide receiver Andre Johnson.
16. San Diego: Rey Maualuga, USC, LB - Will Shawne Merriman be back at full strength? The Chargers protect themselves in case he isn't.
17. New York Jets: Sean Smith, Utah, CB - Doesn't trading this pick for Jay Cutler work for everyone? If not, Smith solidifies the secondary.
18. Chicago: Percy Harvin, Florida, WR - The Bears need more playmakers on the offensive side of the ball, and Devin Hester cannot be the number one option through the air.
19. Tampa Bay: Aaron Maybin, Penn State, DE/LB - Maybin had a terrible showing at the Combine but the Bucs would be thrilled to see him drop this far.
20. Detroit (from Dallas): Brian Cushing, USC, LB - Jim Schwartz would be the mayor of Detroit if this scenario plays out.
21. Philadelphia: Chris Wells, Ohio State, RB - The Eagles lost Correll Buckhalter in free agency but could replace him with Wells.
22. Minnesota: Hakeem Nicks, North Carolina, WR - Whether it's Tarvarris Jackson, Sage Rosenfels, Gus Frerotte or my mom playing QB for this team, they need weapons through the air. And yes, my mom could probably do a better job than those three.
23. New England: Clay Matthews, USC, LB - A hard working, fast riser, Matthews reeks of the Patriots.
24. Atlanta: Vontae Davis, Illinois, CB - After a disappointing junior year, Davis failed to change the minds of scouts at the Combine, but his physical skills are undeniable.
25. Miami: James Laurinaitis, Ohio State, LB - A Bill Parcells-type player. Measureables are average but the playmaking cannot be denied.
26. Baltimore: Alphonso Smith, Wake Forest, CB - He's short but could be the best corner in the draft. He also has the intangibles that are appealing to Ozzie Newsome and Co.
27. Indianapolis: Tyson Jackson, LSU, DE - An up and comer, Jackson has really impressed recently.
28. Philadelphia (from Carolina): Alex Mack, California, C - Great value.
29. New York Giants: Shawn Nelson, Southern Mississippi, TE - Kevin Boss just won't cut it.
30. Tennessee: Robert Ayers, Tennessee, DE - The Titans are impossible to predict (see Johnson, Chris) but the hometown Ayers seems reasonable here.
31. Arizona: Knowshon Moreno, Georgia, RB - The Cards need three things to compete again next season: Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin and a dependable running game.
32. Pittsburgh: Will Beatty, UConn, OT - The Steelers figure to take the best offensive lineman available. For my money, that's Beatty.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
NFL Mock Draft - Round 1 (Take 2)
Posted by MSpiciarich at 7:40 AM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)