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April 18th, 2014
Wealthy & Business Groups get their laws passed, American public ignored
The U.S. Supreme Court, the Roberts court, regularly finds in favor of corporations over individuals. In two landmark cases, Citizens United (2010) and McCutcheon (2014), the court gave wealthy individuals unlimited control over the political process — electing politicians and influencing lawmakers concerning public policy laws.
Now comes an empirical analysis of 1,779 public policy laws crafted between 1981 and 2002 by two academic political scientists — Martin Gilens at Princeton and Benjamin Page at Northwestern. The conclusions suggest that oligarchy (or more technically plutocracy) better describes the U.S. than a simple electoral democracy. This is a shot across the bow to defenders of American exceptionalism.
Four theoretical perspectives were represented by four groups capable of potentially influencing lawmaking (public policy making):
• Average citizens ("median voters") making the U.S. an Electoral Democracy — what we were taught in civics classes in our youth and the pillar of democracy's mythology
• Majoritarian pluralism (mass-based interest groups) in which interests of all citizens are more or less represented
• Economic elites (those with wealth in the 90th percentile) who dominate and trump the influence of the non-wealthy (at the 50th percentile wealth level)
• Biased pluralism (business-oriented interest groups) seeking to satisfy the needs of corporations, business or professional trade groups
The study looked at the sources of influence and not the mechanisms by which influence was exerted. The cases analyzed were derived from a list of issues for which there were national public surveys gauging popular support or opposition as well as respondent income information.
For average citizen preferences, the policy positions held by people at the 50th percentile were used.
Opinions of the "affluent" were the positions held by survey respondents at the 90th percentile (which is only about $146,000 income level).
The outcome variable was whether the policy question was adopted as law within four years of being surveyed. Most issues became law within two years.
In the initial analysis, the type of interest/pluralistic group was not examined separately. The first finding was that organized interest groups had the most influence, not wealthy individuals or average citizens. Interestingly, the interest of rich and not-rich citizens were strongly correlated. They tend to feel the same on many issues. However, interest groups diverge from citizens.
Business-related group preferences stand in opposition to what citizens want, even what richer individuals want. Some business groups want government benefits to enhance profitability while wealthy people might want smaller government.
When the interest groups were split into the two forms — majoritarian (social justice) and biased (business) groups, the impact of average citizens, the popular view, drops to near zero. In short,
ordinary citizens have little to no independent influence (0.5%) on policy at all.
The study is imperfect because the researchers admitted to underestimating the influence of wealthy citizens — the billionaires who now seem to control the U.S. political process. Using people in only the top 10% does not accurately tap the preferences and sentiment of those in the top 1/10 of 1% for whom the Citizen United and McCutcheon decisions were rendered.
The finding that the preferences of average citizens (for example the 93% who support enactment of our worker-rights based anti-bullying legislation, the Healthy Workplace Bill) is almost totally unrelated to the impact of business interest groups (the example of Biased Pluralism groups) is relevant to our national campaign to pass state laws to address workplace bullying. The public wants it. Unions want it. Chambers of Commerce stall, obfuscate and lie about the bill in committee testimony to prevent its passage in every state.
Said the researchers:
"When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the US political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favour policy change, they generally do not get it."
So, when reporters ask me why no state has yet passed our bill that seems to enjoy so much popular support, the answer has always been — blame the business lobby groups.
Gilens and Page have shown this to be factual and not imagined. It's America. Citizens beware.
<-- Read the complete WBI Blog
Tags: American exceptionalism, biased pluralism, citizen powerlessness, Democracy Now, oligarchy, power of business groups
This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2014 at 2:49 pm and is filed under Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Police used a stun gun to arrest a man armed with knives outside Buckingham Palace on Sunday, as throngs of tourists gathered to watch the Changing of the Guard ceremony there.
Scotland Yard said the man, thought to be in his 50s, was spotted carrying two knives outside the central gate of the London tourist landmark. He did not threaten other people at the scene, but when challenged by police he acted aggressively.
Officers used the stun gun on him and took him to a London police station, Scotland Yard said. No one was injured.
A video posted onto YouTube by a witness showed mounted police clearing tourists from the area as the unidentified man put a kitchen knife to his neck and shouted. The man took several swipes with one of his knives at an approaching policeman, who fired the stun gun. The man then fell to the ground and was surrounded by policemen in front of hundreds of onlookers.
Other witnesses said the man had broken through a security cordon and was attempting to walk toward the palace guards when he was stopped by police.
About 15 officers surrounded the man once he'd been subdued, said witness Kevin Burrows, 33. "Everybody was standing back when it happened, and people were actually quite calm. I think everyone was surprised," said Burrows.
The confrontation took place just before noon - a busy time when visitors from around the world flock to the front of the palace to watch the Changing of the Guard ceremony, which takes place every other morning during the winter.
Two knives and a pair of sneakers were left inside a cordoned off area outside the palace gates.
Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, were not at the palace at the time, and its staff declined to comment about the confrontation.


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Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has cancelled "a small number of projects" formerly in development across its British studios. The same studios that make games like WipeOut.
"It has been decided that production on a small number of projects within London Studio, Studio Liverpool, and Evolution Studios will be streamlined or closed due to a portfolio review and project prioritisation", reads a statement given to Gamesindustry.
"This decision was made following an internal review of all games and it was deemed that with the incredibly strong list of exclusive first party titles coming up both this year and in the near future, resource should be reallocated to enhance those projects closer to completion."
While specifics on the cancelled games were not released, the studios affected are behind franchises like WipeOut, MotorStorm, SingStar and EyePet.
Maybe Sony is cracking down on improperly capitalised game series?
Sony closes projects at UK studios [GI.biz]


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Sunday School – 10:00 am
Worship Service – 11:00 am
Bible Study – 12:15 pm
Wednesday Bible Study - 6:30 pm
12859 Martin Road Spur
Northport, AL 35473
It is not uncommon to hear preachers speak on the wrath of God. That has, historically, been a subject that accompanied good gospel preaching. However, there is generally little said on the practical matter of "the wrath of man." It is that which I will deal with in this article today.
"For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God" (Jam. 1:20).
The verse before us today is found in the first chapter of the most practical book in the New Testament. James has just instructed us to be "swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" (Jam. 1:19). The subject of the wrath of man is directly related to speech. I am afraid that we often get James' instructions reversed and we are slow to listen, swift to speak, and swift to wrath. James implies that we should be doing far more listening than we are speaking. I have heard many "compliments" given to a person because they always "spoke their mind." Dear friends, that is no compliment. That shows a lack of spiritual maturity (Jam. 3:2). If we are ever to grow up out of infant Christianity into adulthood, we must get a hold on our proudest member—our tongue. It is with this member that friendships are lost, churches are split, witnesses are lost, and wounds opened that might never be completely healed.
Many think it is a matter of boldness to speak your mind on everything. That is not the case. Ecclesiastes 3:7 tells us that there is "a time to keep silence." Oh how many times have we spoken up and ruined our opportunity God has given because we "spoke the truth" in anger and bitterness. It is this subject that we wish to elaborate on today. It is referred to in our text as "the wrath of man" and James was inspired to say it "worketh not the righteousness of God." In modern terms we might say that speaking the truth with a bad attitude doesn't accomplish anything as far as the work God has called us unto is concerned. We need to make sure that we strive to have a good attitude when we represent the Lord and our church. If you are a child of God, this should be constantly on your mind.
If "the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God" then religion is nothing to get angry over. If you are a child of God and you get angry over the things you believe, you are not doing God's work. When you, as a child of God, are full of bitterness against those you should be trying to help, you are not doing the work of God. According to this verse, God doesn't bless work done out of anger. We are to love all men. You might say, "Well, God hates the workers of iniquity and I do to." You are not God and have no right to hate anyone. Jesus said, in Matthew 5:44, "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." This is not an option, this is a commandment. You are to love those who don't love you. "That's not fair" one might say. "I treat people the way they deserve. I give them the love they earn from me." Aren't you glad God didn't treat you the way you treat others?
James again was inspired to instruct us in James 3:17-18 that "the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." If you are looking to mature in your Christian walk, here's a verse to challenge you. God's gift to us begins pure. God doesn't give imperfect gifts as man does. The walk of a child of God is to be full of peace and gentleness. We are to be easy to get along with. We are to be merciful. We are to treat all men well despite how they treat us. There can be no doubt that this isn't easy for the flesh. However, it is still the commandment of God and should be kept.
Matthew 5:9 says, "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." It is one thing to call one's self a Christian. It is quite another thing for somebody else to refer to someone as that. Do you have a desire to be called a child of God? Do you have a desire for people to see Jesus in your life? The Bible says you will be seen as such if you are a peacemaker. I have known many a person who I dreaded to see coming because I knew they caused turmoil every time I was around them. They were not very peaceable. The flesh leads us to be bitter and angry. The Spirit leads us to be peaceable and gentle. Do we sow the "fruit of righteousness…in peace?" Perhaps we should simply ask if we sow the fruit of righteousness at all. It seems our Sovereign Grace Baptist people are so afraid that they might be called an Arminian that they leave off the things God has plainly instructed. One of these things is that we should be a good witness. We need to be striving daily to tell people the Good News. Our mouths ought to be full of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for "the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Rom. 1:16). When we do sow this fruit of righteousness, it should be sown in peace. Two times the Good News is referred to as the "gospel of peace" (Rom. 10:15; Eph. 6:15). When we witness, we are to do so in peace. When we instruct, we are to do so in peace. When we disagree, we are to do so in peace. Remember, "the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God."
"And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth" (II Tim. 2:24,25). This verse is related to James 3:17-18. We must not strive. That is, we must not be brawlers or fighters. We must not be brawlers with our fists or with our mouths. I have witnessed a number of "fights" in which a punch was never thrown. We must be gentle. We must be able to teach people. You may say, "Well, I'm just not a good teacher." You must learn to teach if you want to serve God. I don't mean in a class at church, I mean to the people you see regularly in your daily routine. We must learn to have patient. Don't be like the man who said, "Lord, please grant me patience and grant it to me today please." Patience is learned through trials. We must realize that everybody hasn't been given the opportunity that we have to know the blessed truths that we do. Knowing that, however, should be a driving force that pushes us to get the truth out to people in a way that they can understand it. In this, I am not necessarily speaking about the lost (though they can be included to some degree). I am speaking of those who bear the fruits of regeneration, but have a lack of maturity in their Christian life especially in the area of theology. Lastly, we need to witness to people in hopes that God "will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." Do you witness to people just because God said to? Again, maybe the question should be "Do you witness to people?" You should witness because God told you to. However, you should also witness because you have a desire to see the person saved that you are speaking to. You need to love the people you share the gospel with. Therefore, we must love everybody and act as though we do.
"I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting" (I Tim. 2:8). We are to constantly lift up hands of prayer. We are to do this without wrath and doubting. When we gather for worship, it shouldn't be out of wrath, but, out of love. I have heard sermons preached that sounded like an old farmer driving a lazy mule after about 10 hours in the sun. In other words, I've heard sermons preached out of, what seemed like, anger. According to our text verse, this is not accomplishing the work of God. We shouldn't "preach mad." Our worship services should be filled with love—for our Savior, for His truth, for the membership, for the visitors, and for the lost.
People of God, we are not to be a wrathful people. It seems some people think it's right to "lose your religion" while trying to defend it. How sad. We have the example of our Savior who was always full of love and was never a respecter of persons. He treated everybody with love as the law demands (Mat. 22:37-40). We, as Christians (and Baptists for that matter) need to be known as peacemakers. We need to be known as a people full of love. We should have a love for our Savior first and foremost which should be seen in our daily lives. We should have a love for the work that God has called us unto. We should have a love for the people God has called us to minister unto. As long as we are doing God's work with wrath and anger in our heart, we aren't doing God's work.


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Heather Locklear may want to look into chauffeurs.
The actress, already on probation following a 2008 DUI, was arrested for allegedly hitting a no-parking sign early Saturday morning near her Ventura County home and leaving the scene, police say.
The actress, who was driving a black 2005 BMW, was cited for misdemeanor hit-and-run after Ventura County Sheriffs examined debris left at the scene and traced it back to her car, sheriff's spokesman Ross Bonfiglio told People magazine.
"While Locklear was technically arrested, she was not handcuffed or taken to a station because it was just a misdemeanor charge," Bonfiglio says. "She was cooperative, but I can't give any information about any statements she made. She was cited and released. She signed a document stating she would make a court appearance."
Her attorney, Blair Berk, says Locklear may not have been at the wheel at the time.
"Ms. Locklear was cited with a misdemeanor traffic ticket as she is the registered owner of the vehicle. She was never taken into custody," Berk says. "The matter is still being looked into as it is not yet clear who was driving the vehicle."
Police were alerted by a neighbor who heard a crash around 4 a.m., but didn't call police until later that evening.
"It appears she drove up on a curb and hit the sign," says Bonfiglio. "We don't have any hard evidence that alcohol was involved. We don't know if anyone was in the car with her at the time."
Her court date is set for May 17.
Locklear is currently serving a three years' probation after pleading no contest to reckless driving following her DUI arrest in September 2008.
Locklear Arrested After Hitting Sign
Heather Locklear may want to look into chauffeurs.


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Community sports calendar
High School Umpires: Weekly meetings are now being held at 1:30 p.m. at Northridge High School for those interested in umpiring in West Alabama. Meetings will continue up to the start of the season. Call Steve Foster at 205-535-5838 or email firstname.lastname@example.com.
Taylorville Baseball: Taylorville Baseball Registration will be held on Feb. 9, 16th and 23 from 9 a.m.-noon at the Taylorville ballpark. Cost is $110 per player. For more information, visit www.taylorvillebaseball.com.
YMCA Adult Fellowship Program: The Benjamin Barnes YMCA holds an Adult Basketball Fellowship Program for ages 18 and older on Sundays at 4 p.m. and on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5-8 p.m. Cost is $3 per person or $10 for a monthly membership. It is free to YMCA members. Call 205-759-4284 for more information.
Brave Soldier Challenge: The Tuscaloosa Tourism and Sports Commission is hosting the Brave Soldier Challenge on March 16 at Central High School. It's an obstacle race designed to test athletic endurance, strength and agility. For more information or to register, visit www.bravesoldierchallenge.com. Cost before Feb. 16 is $65 general/$35 student.
Druid City Bicycle Club: The Druid City Bicycle Club offers a diversity of riding experiences, including road rides, hilly courses, long rides and mountain bike rides. Visit www.druidcity.org.
Tuscaloosa Rhinos: The Tuscaloosa Rhinos, affiliated with the Gridiron Developmental Football League, are looking for players (ages 19-35) and coaches. Cost to play is $150 and includes uniforms and insurance. Email email@example.com or call team owner Catario Young at 205-246-3096.
Senior Open at TCC: The Country Club of Tuscaloosa holds a Senior Open tournament the first Thursday of every month. Cost is $30 for members and $35 for nonmembers. Call 205-759-5535.
Senior Open at WFCC: A Senior Open will be held at Woodland Forrest Country Club on the fourth Thursday of each month with a 9 a.m. shotgun start. Cost is $25 for WFCC members and $30 for nonmembers. Contact the Golf Shop at 205-556-1232.
The First Tee of Tuscaloosa: PARA and Ol' Colony Golf host this program for junior players ages 6-18. Applications and registration are available only at Ol' Colony Golf Club.
Miracle League of Tuscaloosa: Miracle League of Tuscaloosa, which serves physically and mentally disabled children and young adults, will hold its spring season on Saturdays, beginning April 6 through May 25th. Registration will be Sat., March 3 from 10 a.m. - noon and March 14 from 7-7:30 p.m. at the Fire & Logistics Building on McFarland Blvd. in front of Belle Foods. Registration is also online at www.miracleleagueoftuscaloosa.com. For more information, call 205-523-8040.
Tuscaloosa Half-Marathon Training: In conjunction with the first Tuscaloosa half-marathon that will be held March 2, this is a training program sponsored by The Athlete's Foot and the UA Honors College. Runners must be able to complete a 5K. There is a fee. Call 205-752-7463 or go to http://facebook.com/tafalabama.
PARA Scorekeeping Positions: PARA is taking applications for scorekeepers for its spring/summer athletic programs. Individuals are responsible for keeping current and accurate records of the event. Depending upon sport, events may be held indoor or outdoors. Individuals must be able to work nights and weekends. For more information, call the PARA Human Resource Department at 205-562-3220, or, at that same number, Kameca Webb. Applications are also available online at tcpara.org.
Patrick Murphy Softball School: Winter hitting clinics are set for Jan. 26, grades 9-12 from 9:30 a.m.-noon and grades 2-8 from 4:30-7 p.m. Infield/outfield and catching clinics are from 1-3:30 p.m. for grades 2-12. All clinics are $65 and will be held at the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility. Register at www.alabamasoftballcamp.com.
Aquatics for Adults: PARA offers aquatics for adults, including Arthritis AquaFlex Classes, water aerobics and personal hydrotherapy lessons. Cost is $70. Call Mark Harrison at 205-758-0419.
Ladies Tennis Day: Tuskaloosa Racquet Club, adjacent to Country Club of Tuscaloosa, holds round-robin play from 9 a.m.-noon every Wednesday for all levels of play. Nonmembers fee is $5. Members play free. Call Jean Foster Herron at 205-759-4464.
Lessons at Bowers Park: PARA offers private and semiprivate tennis lessons at the Jack Evans Tennis Complex at Bowers Park on Saturdays from 8 a.m.-noon or 1-4 p.m., Sundays from 1-6 p.m., or weekday evenings from 6-8 p.m., weather permitting. Cost is $30 per session for private lessons or $40 per hour for semiprivate lessons. Call 205-562-3230.
PARA Therapeutic Recreation: PARA offers Therapeutic Recreation in bowling at AMF Bama Bowl on Wednesdays from 2:30-5 p.m. for $4 per person per game; swimming on Wednesdays from 4:30-6 p.m. at the Miller Center for $20 per person per month; water aerobics on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30-6:30 p.m. for $30 per person per month, twice per week or $20 per person per month once a week. Call Keith Jenkins at 205-562-3200.
Water exercise classes: The Miller Center pool hosts several swimming classes for adults. Small group sessions are $60 a month. One-on-one swim lessons are $65 per person for four 30-minute sessions. Aqua Flex classes, designed for participants with arthritis, are held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10-11 a.m. at the McAbee Center Dockery Pool. Cost is $30 for members and $35 for nonmembers per person per month. Aqua Flex Plus classes are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8-9 a.m. at the Dockery Pool. Cost is $30 for members or $35 for nonmembers per person per month. Aqua Power and Flex classes are held Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9-10 a.m. at the Dockery Pool. Cost is $30 for members and $35 for nonmembers per person per month. Call 205-562-3235.


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On raising a son on the autism spectrum, progressive politics, pop culture, and coffee addiction.
Friday, June 10, 2011
An open letter to IEP teams everywhere
I'd like you to have a copy of the e-mail I sent this afternoon to Bud's IEP team - a combination of classroom teachers and special ed staff from the elementary school he is leaving and the middle school he will enter in the fall. It's the kind of letter that every special needs parent wants to be able to write, but - based on what I've heard from parents whose IEP meetings sound more like armed warfare than like collaborative planning sessions - usually can't.
I'm posting it here for two reasons - first, to publicly thank the team that we are so lucky to have, and second, to issue a challenge to people on IEP teams across the country - classroom teachers, special educators, and administrators.
My challenge is this: As you begin the IEP cycle each year, use this letter as an end goal. Start your planning process, structure your meetings, and implement your ideas with the goal that every parent who sits at your table will be able to leave the room and write a letter like this.
I know that it's possible, because I've seen it done, over and over and over again. Like every district everywhere, my district is under-funded. The special ed budget has been cut. The caseload has grown exponentially, but the staffing has not. And yet, because the members of our team approach their work with care and insight - because they are creative - because they are collaborative - because they listen and learn and seek to understand not just who my child is, but also who he might become - they are able to set a high bar, and then help him soar over it.
You can do it, too.
Hello, all,
I just wanted to write to follow up on our IEP meeting this afternoon to tell you how fortunate I feel to work with such an outstanding team. I have friends raising children with autism all over the country, and in recent weeks I've heard story after story about them donning their battle gear as they entered IEP meetings, only to emerge hours later, deflated and defeated. In contrast, I walked into today's meeting with a list of points I wanted to make sure we covered, and in every instance – without exception – someone else on the team raised the issue before I had a chance. I truly believe that the plan we have in place for Bud – and the plan you've been implementing with him all spring - is fantastic and puts him in the best possible position as he prepares to make the transition to middle school.
This could be an overwhelming and frightening time for Bud, and for me. Instead, because we have the good fortune to work with people like you – insightful, collaborative, forward-thinking people who truly know and respect my son – it's an exciting time full of possibilities. I imagine that IEP season is exhausting for you. Please know that your work really matters, and that I appreciate everything you do.
All the best,
12 comments:
- DragonSlayerMama said...
- June 10, 2011 7:39 PM
- Stimey said...
Yes. Absolutely yes. There HAVE to be ways to work within the system.
- June 10, 2011 7:57 PM
- Steph said...
Sadly, I think what you experience is rare. But you are so blessed to have such a great team. So many parents' voices aren't heard, but with people like you as inspiration and motivation I think they can be. I know this letter is a personal reminder to me, as a special education professional, of why I do what I do, who I do it for and what my ultimate goals and outcomes should be for each and every one of my children.
So thank you. Very much.
- June 10, 2011 10:59 PM
- The Slacker Mom said...
We're still in the IFSP phase right now, but so far those have been great. I cringe to think that things will change when they turn 3 but I have heard good things about our district, so I am crossing my fingers and until I have a reason to, I am leaving my battle gear at home so it's available for things like dealing with insurance!
- June 11, 2011 9:50 PM
- Pia said...
Sooooo jealous! Our experience has been so the opposite that it puts an ugly cold stone in the pit of my stomach at the idea of putting our son in school come kindergarden. And how sad I feel that way when he is 4! I pray that it stays golden for you and net year is wonderful!!
- June 11, 2011 10:09 PM
- David N. Andrews M. Ed., C. P. S. E. said...
Sadly, that approach would not work in Finland, where I live. This is not a comment on your optimism. On the contrary, it is a comment on the totall inflexibility of the Finnish way of doing special education (essentially, dumping all kids with SENs in one class and ... well, forgetting about them totally).
Go Suomi, eh?
- June 12, 2011 4:45 AM
So far, my expectations and the school's have been the same so I haven't felt like I had to fight for anything.
Because we moved into our current district when K was entering first grade, our IEP meeting is in the fall. I think that helps. K's teachers and specialists can focus on just us. And they don't have 3 other meetings to do that week.
I'm glad we've had 3 years of really good meetings. K's teachers, parapros and specialists are awesome. I really like them. And hopefully that will help if there comes a day when our expectations don't match up.
When I hear the stories of not so good IEP meetings, it makes me appreciate my team that much more.
- June 12, 2011 8:47 AM
You are one of the lucky ones MOM-NOS. While our meetings have not been outright adversarial, they have been tense at times, especially in the wake of statewide cutbacks and changes in "standards". BUT...I do hope to be able to use your letter to go into the next school year with a positive attitude and tweak it so that I can help my son's new classroom teacher give him what he needs. Thanks for sharing your words.
- June 14, 2011 9:40 AM
- gina said...
Meetings at home district school are pure torture with the case manager always on the attack. Since he was bumped to an out of district school (since home district doesn't want to "deal" with him) things have improved. Case manager INSISTED he was a behavior deviant (he'd zone out and ignore them, that's his behavior). New school sees my real child and case manager nearly fainted when THREE different licensed professionals said she was wrong & he really belongs in the autistic class.
Much to case mgr delay, majority rules. He starts in the autistic class for ESY in a few weeks.
Much to my & my advocate's delight case mgr's contract was not renewed and we have a new team July 1. It took over 2 years but my observations were correct. It just took another school district to put the consultant case manager in her place. (I still playback the look on her face, though she was previously notified, when the out of district team said on the record that my son is not a "behavior deviant" as she so vehemently insisted.She was able to manipulate the home school but not the outside professionals.
Ok rant over...son is very excited to be going to a class where he belongs. He visited today and was thrilled that they are more like him (and his Lego obsession) than any other child he ever encountered.
- June 14, 2011 7:55 PM
- Measured Voices said...
I don't know that we were ever really in combat with our IEP team, but I never felt they listened to us. For three years in middle school, I continually asked for the school to find some way to stretch our son, to see what he was truly capable of or might be capable of academically.
I know that social skills and life skills are important for my son, but I always felt that those things came at the expense of anything academic. I came away feeling that the two hours he spent every day in the school's life skills program were almost a total waste, although I do remember they learned one day how to make microwave fudge.
For the record, our son was allowed to take one mainstream academic class in eighth and again in ninth grade, a science class. And he managed a 'B' each time, so there is something upstairs to work with. Oddly enough, he had more trouble with the two remedial courses he took this year, I suspect because they were not able to hold his interest.
- June 20, 2011 12:44 AM
- shelbug99 said...
As an intervention specialist, I would love to have a parent like you on the team. I can think of only a couple instances this year where I've actually had parents show for an IEP meeting or a parent/teacher conference. It makes me sad. There have been times when my special ed director has showed up uninvited at a parent's house and "We're making major decisions about your child and you need to be involved." I have better luck with the surrogate parents appointed for children in the foster care system, who often have never met the child we're discussing.
So I applaud you Mom-Nos and all the other involved IEP parents out there. Bud's world is better because of you.
- July 02, 2011 10:48 AM
- Asperger Mom Network said...
Just discovered your blog. How refreshing to hear a positive outlook. I have had an exceptional experience for my son at school (not perfect, of course) and it has come from being able to work as a team.
Well done!
- July 11, 2011 4:54 PM


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Tensions between Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni factions in Iraq's power-sharing government have been on the rise this year. Militants continue to strike almost daily, and carry out at least one big attack a month.
The latest violence followed more than a week of protests against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by thousands of people from the country's minority Sunni community.
No group claimed responsibility for any of Monday's attacks, which targeted government officials, police patrols and members of both the Sunni and Shi'ite sects.
Seven people from the same Sunni family were killed by a bomb planted near their home in the town of Mussayab, south of Baghdad.
In the Shi'ite majority city of Hilla, also in the south, a parked car bomb went off near the convoy of the governor of Babil province, missing him but killing two other people, police said.
"We heard the sound of a big explosion and the windows of our office shattered. We immediately lay on the ground," said 28-year-old Mohammed Ahmed, who works at a hospital near the site of the explosion.
"After a few minutes I stood up and went to the windows to see what happened. I saw flames and people lying on the ground."
Although violence is far lower than during the sectarian slaughter of 2006-2007, about 2,000 people have been killed in Iraq this year following the withdrawal last December of U.S. troops, who led an invasion in 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
Monday's violence also included a series of blasts that killed three people in Iraq's disputed territories, over which both the central government and the autonomous Kurdish region claim jurisdiction.
Two of those deaths were in the oil-producing, ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, where a bomb exploded as a police team tried to defuse it.
Baghdad and Kurdistan are locked in a feud over land and oil rights and recently deployed their respective armies to the swathe of territory along their contested internal boundary, where they are currently facing off against each other.
Efforts to ease the standoff stalled when President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd seen as a steadying influence, suffered a stroke and was flown abroad for medical care earlier this month.
Maliki then detained the bodyguards of his Sunni finance minister, which sparked protests by thousands in the western province of Anbar, a Sunni stronghold on the border with Syria.
Protesters are demanding an end to what they see as the marginalisation of Iraq's Sunni minority, which dominated the country until the U.S.-led invasion. They want Maliki to abolish anti-terrorism laws they say are used to persecute them.
On Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, himself a Sunni, was forced to flee the epicentre of the protests in Anbar's city of Ramadi when demonstrators pelted him with stones and bottles.
from REUTERS
BAGHDAD | Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:02pm GMT
(Reporting by Ali al-Rubaie in Hilla, Mustafa Mahmoud and Omar Mohammed in Kirkuk, Ali Mohammed in Baquba and Aseel Kami in Baghdad; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Pravin Char)


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"Taliban would applaud French ban on burqa"
Issued on: Modified:
The New York Times heavily criticized the proposed French ban on the full veil in public services in an editorial yesterday. Today, an op-ed is equally critical, demonstrating a clash between the American and French models for integrating minorities.
The New York Times' editorial yesterday slammed France for considering a ban on the burqa in hospitals, public transport and other public service. "People must be free to make these decisions for themselves, not have them imposed by governments or imposed by police," the paper says.
Because there are so few women who wear the full veil, they are a "temptingly cheap electoral target," the editorial says.
The paper points out that "Muslim-bashing" has been a potent vote getter for French far-right politicians such as Jean-Marie le Pen and accuses the French President of "trying to peel some of those votes away" with a "foolish sometimes menacing 'national debate'on French identity" over the past few months.
"No political gain can justify hate mongering," it concludes.
Sandeep Gopalan writing in today's New York Times says banning the burqa is not really about the veil itself – only 1,900 women wear the full veil in France.
"French citizens and politicians feel that they need to restore Frenchness to their streets."
Referring to a commission report presented to the French parliament this week which said wearing the full veil "is a challenge to our Republic" Gopalan notes that "with fewer than 2000 women wearing it, France must be built on weak foundations."
"The irony of fighting repression with a ban seems to have escaped notice."
"What is proposed is a serious invasion of personal liberty witout reasonable justification."
She concludes: "France should instead invest in persuading the Muslim community to discard the veil voluntarily… Bans only breed resentment and discord."
Other stories in today's international papers:
Barack Obama's State of the Union address
The New York Times: "Obama to Party: Don't 'Run for the Hills'"
Huffington Post: "Obama freeze forfeits America's future"
The Washington Post: "First thoughts on President Obama's state of the union address"
Afghanistan Conference
The Independent: "To rehabilitate these criminals without justice is a betrayal" (Guissou Jahangiri)
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Gov. Paul LePage's grades of Maine public schools remind me of the start and end of the semester.
Sometimes when I first meet a class, I tell them, all of you could get A's. While that's never happened, it's possible – if everyone does the studying and works to earn the top grade.
Now, if this is an introductory course on American government, the most usual outcome is that final grades, graphed out, will fall in two peaks. There will be a cluster that goes from C+ to A, with most in the B range. And then there'll be another cluster from F to C, with most around D+. But, truly, they all could be A's.
Students' grades determine what the grade distribution looks like, not the other way around.
Yet LePage's grading scheme turned that basic rule on its head. Before any school was graded, the Maine Department of Education decided how many would receive A's, B's, C's, D's and F's.
This rather odd approach to evaluating schools led to strange headlines, like the one this paper ran: "Three-quarters of Maine schools at, below average, under controversial new state grading system."
It would be just as accurate to write, "Three-quarters of Maine schools at, above average, under controversial new state grading system." More important, it overlooks the reality that it's true because the Department of Education made the grades fit that distribution.
Even stranger, the system used by the state has a built-in blind spot. You literally can't see how well Maine is doing compared with other states.
And Maine is doing well. For instance, in the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Maine's scores in fourth and eighth grade are better than the nation's in science, reading and mathematics. (In contrast, Florida, which somehow has become the governor's touchstone for education policy, has scores that usually are below or just average in those fields. Florida's eighth graders are always below average in math.)
Or look locally, at Bangor High School. This is a school with hundreds of kids on the math team, a team that regularly beats the state magnet school for science and math. For six consecutive years, a Bangor student won the state's Stockholm Junior Water Prize. (This year's winning research project examined the impact of an "estrogen-mimicking compound" from personal care products on fish, and the student will represent the state at the national competition.)
Based on an extensive assessment that used far more than the two test scores plus graduation rates used by the state, Bangor High earned the national designation as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. And U.S. News and World Report, which also eschewed a simplistic grading scheme, stated that Bangor was in the top 10 percent of all high schools in the country. You'd think if any high school in Maine would earn an A, it would be Bangor's, but not so.
The oddities and blind spots of the grading scheme make me yearn for a world in which policy was based on quality analysis.
Beyond education, we've seen policy failures arising from flawed research. Two economists and Harvard University colleagues Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff, who argued that high levels of government debt led to slow economic growth, were faced recently with a devastating critique. It turned out their findings were wrong because they left out data from some countries over particular years. Because policy-makers believed them – perhaps motivated by anti-government ideologies – budgets were cut, leading to fewer public sector jobs and the slowing of our national economy.
Rigorous health care research, comparing those newly able to access care through Medicaid to those who couldn't, shows gains in physical, mental and financial health. Yet, in Maine, ideologues have claimed that expanding Medicaid would hurt people who would gain access to health insurance.
Since people have different values, proper research wouldn't mean that we'd all agree about our situation and what policies to adopt. For instance, Maine's chief executive worries a lot about the state's dependence on the federal government, while showing little concern for people with undiagnosed, untreated cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure.
But rigorous research helps us begin with a rational basis, so we can avoid blind spots and determine how to improve student learning, the economy or people's health.


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Add to Calendar
September 12, 2018 @ 6:00 pm
Fiesta Center
University Student: $3.00 Individual: $7.00 Family of Four: $28.00 Single Parent with Child: $12.00 (add $5.00 for each additional child)
Take the night off from cooking, and join us for Wednesday Night Out!
An evening of food, music, fun, friends, blessings and ministry for the entire church family.
Wednesday evenings the church family gathers for dinner at 6 pm, followed by an evening of children's choir rehearsals, adult bible study, Carillon Choir rehearsal, and other special events.
Menus vary throughout the year and, if the kids prefer, there are always hot dogs available.
See a full schedule of the evening's activities here.


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Doug McDermott scored 25 points, including nine during a decisive 12-0 run, and No. 21 Creighton overcame poor 3-point shooting in the first half to defeat Bradley 75-58 on Saturday.
The Bluejays (20-3, 9-2 Missouri Valley Conference) beat Bradley for the 15th straight time at home and have won 20 games for the 14th time in 15 seasons.
Bradley (13-10, 5-6) lost its fifth straight road game and eighth in a row against a ranked opponent.
Austin Chatman, who had 16 points, drilled a 3-pointer after Bradley had closed to 53-48. Then McDermott went to work, hitting a 3, a layup and four straight free throws to make it 65-48 with 5 minutes to play.
The Bluejays finished with a 33-24 advantage on the boards after outrebounding the Braves 18-4 in the second half.
Gregory Echenique had eight of his 10 points in the second half, and he blocked three shots.
Dyricus Simms-Edwards had 18 points, Walt Lemon Jr. added 15 points and Tyshon Pickett 11 for the Braves.
Creighton has won 26 straight against Braves when scoring 70 points or more.
The Bluejays, the nation's top 3-point shooting team, came into the game after making 15 of 28 from long range against Missouri State.
Try as they did, repeatedly, the 3s weren't falling in the first half. They trailed by three points at half after launching 21 of their first 29 shots from 3-point range and connecting on seven.
Creighton scored its first four baskets of the second half in the paint to turn a 30-27 deficit into a 35-30 lead.
Jahenns Manigat found McDermott alone underneath for an easy two points before Echenique hit a short left-handed hook. After the Bluejays missed a couple 3s, Echenique took an entry pass for a third-chance bucket. Then Grant Gibbs threaded the ball into the lane to McDermott, who converted for an easy basket.
Bradley closed to 43-41 on Lemon's three-point play. But Will Artino, who just entered for McDermott, made it a five-point game by converting a three-point play after his off-balance, left-handed putback of Avery Dingman's miss.
The Bluejays didn't hesitate to shoot more 3s once they took control. Ethan Wragge and Chatman hit a couple in a row before McDermott struck from long range to start his 9-0 run that all but finished off the Braves.
McDermott had averaged 26 points and 10.3 rebounds in four previous games against Bradley.
Bradley shot 44 percent in the first half, which was good enough for a lead against a Creighton team struggling to find its shooting touch.
Pickett scored five of his seven first-half points during a 9-2 run that gave the Braves their three-point lead at the break.
Creighton wore jerseys with pink trim and pink shoes as part of its third annual Creighton vs. Cancer Pink Out, and the first 14,000 fans received pink T-shirts. A jersey auction raised $24,444, with $5,002 bid for McDermott's No. 3.


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Outlook 2015: European equities
Europe's economic recovery has been unpredictable during 2014. It has been our view for some time that the recovery would be protracted and uneven, and the recent data has done little to contradict us. The sluggish macro environment does not mean all is doom and gloom in terms of the outlook for European equities; on the contrary, we see equity market weakness as a buying opportunity. Firstly, there are still measures the authorities can take to strengthen the economic recovery, and secondly there are several other factors with the potential to support eurozone equities over the coming year.
The sluggish macro environment does not mean all is doom and gloom in terms of the outlook for European equities; on the contrary, we see equity market weakness as a buying opportunity.
ECB actions are helping but governments also have a part to play
The main concern facing Europe is that low levels of inflation may turn into deflation. This is not a new issue and we do not believe that the probability of deflation is high. The European Central Bank (ECB) has already taken significant steps to ease credit conditions and boost growth in the eurozone. Some of these measures – such as the purchases of asset backed securities - are only just being implemented so their full impact is yet to be felt. Moreover, we see a high probability that full-scale quantitative easing (QE) could be introduced if deflationary worries in Europe persist. Each of the three QE programmes in the US sparked a period of strong upward momentum for the US equity market and we would expect the response in Europe to be similarly positive for share prices.
That said, ECB President Mario Draghi has made the point on a number of occasions that the central bank cannot do all the heavy lifting on its own. In order to create a sustained economic recovery in Europe, the ECB also needs governments to take appropriate fiscal measures in conjunction with structural reforms in order to stimulate aggregate demand. In our view, Germany's insistence on balanced budgets is laudable but a more flexible approach is needed to respond to the reality of the economic cycle.
Stage is set for corporate earnings to improve
Another factor that offers a significant opportunity is the scope for earnings improvement in Europe. Profit margins for eurozone businesses still lag far behind their US counterparts and closing the gap could help deliver sizeable share price upside. As well as an improved backdrop in terms of credit conditions, there are other factors that could provide a catalyst for an improvement in profits.
12 months forward earnings per share
Source: Datastream, 30 September 2014
One of the most obvious results so far of the ECB's looser monetary policy has been the weakening of the euro. The strength of the currency was a major headwind for eurozone equities, particularly exporters, in the early part of 2014. That headwind has now eased and the currency is likely to weaken further, especially with the US Federal Reserve poised to raise interest rates next year. The weaker euro should be a source of positive earnings momentum in 2015.
Banks offer strong recovery potential
The banking sector is one important area where we see the potential for significant improvement in terms of profits. Banks have been subject to myriad pressures, most notably with regard to potential recapitalisations. The ECB's recently-concluded Asset Quality Review has demonstrated that the worst is over from that respect and banks should now have the confidence to return to lending. We would expect European banks to emulate the recovery already seen in the profitability of US banks. As lending growth picks up, our forecasts indicate that banking profitability will escalate quite substantially over the coming three to five years, leading in turn to a significant positive impact on net income.
European banks net income € billion 2007-17e
Source: Schroders estimates, top 29 listed banks, as of August 2014
Europe remains attractively valued
There is also the impact that fund flows could have in the eurozone. While flows have improved since the nadir of the eurozone crisis, we are still some 40% off the levels reached during 2001-07 so there is still a substantial amount of money on the side-lines that could potentially make its way back into European equities. Moreover, current valuation levels would tend to suggest that European equities remain an attractive area in which to invest. The pan-European market trades on a cyclically-adjusted price-to-earnings ratio of around 16x, compared to the 30-year average of 20.8x and to the US market on around 27x. We feel that represents a very compelling opportunity.
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Individual Teams
In addition to supporting established teams, the staff at Let's Play tries to organize Individual Teams for people who don't have an established team to play on. The list below show the current teams that are forming and the divisions that they are playing in. If you are interested in playing on one of these teams, please call the facility. If you'd like to play and don't see a team in an appropriate division, we may be able to place you on a team that has already begun playing and prorate the fees.
If you'd like us to help find you a team, please fill out the form below.
We'll do our best to place you with an appropriate team.
For best results, please tell us your age, gender, and skill level.


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Cogitations Stemming From the Central/Bauder Ethos Statement
Dear Guests of IDOTG:
On Tuesday I published, Do Fundamentalists & Evangelicals, "Believe, Preach and Defend the [Same] Gospel?" There have been over 600 reads of that article to date. In the article, which is likely to have a sequel, I called upon Dr. Kevin Bauder to be honest and transparent on the true nature of the relationship between fundamentalists and evangelicals in regard to the gospel. For example,
IMO it is disingenuous and irresponsible for Kevin Bauder to speak of the Gospel in his [Differences, Part 12] article as if there is wide spread unanimity in all of Fundamentalism for agreement with evangelicals on what constitutes the Gospel, the nature of saving faith. His failure to disclose the well-known, demonstrable division in Fundamentalism over the LS interpretation of the Gospel, the open rejection of the LS gospel of the evangelicals, is in fact the practice censorship by omission. I am calling on Kevin Bauder to be honest with his readers. To publicly recognize that many men in Fundamentalism reject Calvinistic soteriology and especially the Lordship Salvation interpretation of the Gospel, which the evangelicals "believe, preach and defend."This morning the pseudo-Fundamentalist Sharper Iron1, whose leadership is a willing ally and conduit for the push to sweep aside significant doctrinal differences for the sake of unity between fundamentalists and evangelicals, has published Central Baptist Seminary's Ethos Statement on Fundamentalism & Evangelicalism, which was written by Kevin Bauder. This article contains trace elements on the theme, which we have identified as a misrepresentation of the relationship on the gospel between fundamentalism and evangelicalism.
Biblical Separation taught us that separation is the struggle for a pure church. That is what Kevin Bauder is pushing aside for his new paradigm, of fellowship around his so-called "pure gospel," or as Dave Doran references as a "gospel-driven separation."
In his article There is a Difference and It's a Name Changer Evangelist Gordon Phillips addressed this paradigm shift. For example he wrote,
"What are the implications of changing Fundamentalism ecclesiastical separation from the purity of the church to the purity of the Gospel and forging strategic alliances with Conservative Evangelicals around that Gospel?2 At least one Fundamentalist suggests that to do that should only come with a change of labels as one is no longer in accord with historic Fundamentalism....If you are going to change your stance on ecclesiastical separation, please do not forget to change your name, as the two go hand-in-hand.... what he [Kevin Bauder] is presently doing appears to be giving the new life-filled movement of his 'ideal' Fundamentalism the compromised thinking of Neo Evangelicalism rather than a greater degree of Biblical fidelity."In the ethos statement we also read,
"Because of these differences, we do not believe that complete cooperation with conservative evangelicalism is desirable.... For this reason, we believe that careful, limited forms of fellowship are possible."Last month that excerpt was dealt with in the article, Faith Baptist-Central Seminary Merger Talks Shelved… I encourage you to read that commentary, which includes the following,
For many what should come immediately to mind is the camel's nose in the tent. "Careful, limited forms of fellowship" now. Sure, but it never ends there; does it? Later there will be unfettered, full cooperation. If you crack the door open, even a little, it will eventually be found wide open. Much could be said here, it is probably enough to say that elements from the institutional ethos/culture statements of each school would have yielded contributing factors for the cessation of merger talks. (edited 8/27 @ 3:35pm)We'll watch with great interest how these issues develop in the coming days beginning tomorrow with Kevin Bauder's 13th installment in his series Now, About Those Differences. Kevin Bauder is well aware there is no universal "mutuality, allegiance" or agreement across the whole of fundamentalism with the evangelicals who believe, preach and defend the Lordship Salvation gospel. I am hopeful and confident he will publish a sorely needed retraction and clarification of his current misrepresentation of the relationship between fundamentalists and evangelicals on the nature of the gospel.
Yours faithfully,
Addendum: (8/27/10)
Just heard from a friend who wrote, "How odd it is for 2 staunch Calvinists (Bauder/Doran) to react against the Faith/Central non-merger, which in their thinking should be accepted as Sovereignly ordained."
For an excellent related read see Don Johnson's a new-fundamentalist manifesto at an ox goad, eh?
For important related discussion, in which the Central/Bauder ethos statement was challenged please see, SI Playing Favorites: Again???
Kevin Bauder is beginning to realize there is a growing number of persons and blogs willing to challenge his assertions. By his sharp reaction(s) at SI it is apparent he does not like this very much at all. Of course, the SI team lines up to defend him from legitimate inquires and once again gang-tackles those who dare question their star contributor.
1) SI Gang-Tackles "Doc" Clearwaters, a companion article to, A Letter from Dr. Richard V. Clearwaters to Kevin Bauder by Evangelist Dwight Smith.
2) "That Gospel," is Calvinistic soteriology in the form of Lordship Salvation.


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Serious-time: What happens if JJ blows up the Falcon?
Quote from: Matt on June 6, 2014, 10:53 AMSerious-time: What happens if JJ blows up the Falcon?BAMF with Exploding Action Feature.
As crazy as this may sound, I think that's the best MH has looked in years.
Harrison Ford hurt his ankle...http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/showbiz/harrison-ford-star-wars-injury/index.html?hpt=hp_t2As long as none of these guys break a hip I suppose.
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Lesson Plan
Four Simple Steps to Small-Group Guided Writing
|Lesson Plan Type
|Standard Lesson
|Estimated Time
|Three 30-minute sessions
|Lesson Author
San Diego, California
This lesson describes small-group, guided writing lessons, which are taught in four steps for students who are in need of extra support. Students learn how to communicate information of interest, stimulated by discussion of Nicola Davies' Bat Loves the Night and several websites. Students learn three sets of strategies for writing: (1) engaging in writing with fluent, sustained attention, (2) writing informative titles, and (3) adding enough information to communicate clearly.
Gibson, S.A. (2008). An effective framework for primary-grade guided writing instruction. The Reading Teacher, 62(4), 324334.
- Teachers should provide explicit instruction targeting students' abilities to produce brief but complete writing products fluently and confidently, resulting in each student's improved drafts over time.
- Writing instruction must provide students with scaffolded opportunities to use oral conversation about a topic as direct support for their own writing and to use a set of specific strategies for independent writing.
Englert, C.S., & Dunsmore, K. (2002). A diversity of teaching and learning paths: Teaching writing in situated activity. In J. Brophy (Ed.), Social constructivist teaching: Affordances and constraints (pp. 81130). Amsterdam: JAI Press.
- Writing instruction should include explicit instruction during student's own writing. Teachers "step in" to model and prompt and "step back" to encourage students to make decisions and solve problems about their own writing.
Fearn, L., & Farnan, N. (2001). Interactions. Teaching writing and the language arts. NY: Houghton Mifflin.
- Direct instruction in writing requires teachers to show how writing works across genres, formats, procedural knowledge, word usage, spelling, and punctuation.
- Assessment practices should show teachers which ideas, concepts, principles, and skills need to be taught to which students and for how long.
Flood, J., & Lapp, D. (2000). Teaching writing in urban schools: Cognitive processes, curriculum resources, and the missing links-Management and grouping. In R. Indrisano, & J. R. Squire (Eds.), Perspectives on writing: Research, theory, and practice (pp. 233250). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
- Teachers should model and explain cognitive processes for writing to students and provide such curricular resources as small-group instruction.


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Aloha and beyond
Nearly nine million tourists visited Hawaii last year, and most of them came for the eternal cliché of sun, sea and palm trees. But that image is out of sync with the way many Hawaiians feel about their home state.
Hawaii is a place almost everyone has imagined, and the portrait we paint in our minds is nearly always the same: hula girls, floral wreaths and bronzed surfer dudes, accompanied by the roar of the ocean and perfect blue-green waves. Oh, and someone plucking a ukulele. It's all about aloha, right?
Deal with the mystery.
Do it now
I decided to investigate how much of this was true and asked photographer Malte Jäger to join me. We followed the advice once given by legendary journalist Hunter S. Thompson ("Deal with the mystery. Do it now. Anything that can create itself by erupting out of the bowels of the Pacific Ocean is worth looking at") and set out in search of the spirit behind the traditions, crafts and old arts of the Hawaiian islands. We wanted to meet the heroes of the Hawaiian renaissance, which was given an extra impulse in 1975 when a group of enthusiasts built the voyaging canoe Hokule'a to sail to Tahiti in the wake of their ancestors.
We set off from Big Island, the largest of Hawaii's eight main islands. In the small town of Hilo, palm trees sway in the breeze, banyan fig trees dangle their aerial roots and provide shade for picnickers. The cultures that inform the face of Hawaii to this day are reflected at the farmers' market in the kimchi cabbage from Korea, Californian cookies and Japanese bento boxes. This would be paradise if not for two pale-skinned Germans roaring through in their Mustang convertible, but none of the marketgoers raises as much as an eyebrow. This is the 50th U.S. state, so big, noisy automobiles are perfectly okay.
It's not just our rental car that's loud. All hell has broken loose outside Sig Zane's store for designer Hawaiian shirts. Drums make the ground quiver and fire crackers explode. A dancing dragon appears, gleaming golden in the sunshine. It's Chinese New Year and people are celebrating. Zane, a wiry man in a red aloha shirt, laughs and hands around red envelopes containing dollar bills. "Feed the dragon – and good fortune will be yours," he says. Ten minutes later, it's all over. The monster has eaten from my hand and moved on with its entourage. When can I expect my good fortune to arrive?
Inside the store, Zane looks out of the window. "We need to do this interview fast," he says. "I want to go surfing." Back in the 1970s, Zane taught himself to make traditional clothing. "I did it for love. I wanted to impress the girl of my dreams." It worked, and she married him. Years later, she suggested he try his hand at men's shirts. At that time, the Hawaiian shirt was just a parody, a stag party costume, a cheap polyester souvenir. Zane bucked the trend by using quality materials, traditional patterns and producing pure cotton shirts with coconut-shell buttons in small quantities: to hand down, not eventually throw out. Today, at 64, Zane, the son of Chinese immigrants, is hailed as the world's best designer of aloha shirts. He collaborates with small, luxury brands, such as the Japanese label Forest Cloud, but also with Nike. On the islands, businessmen wear his shirts to meetings; the Hawaiian renaissance has reached the boardroom.
People here still respect Nature. The ocean makes us humble
In his bright studio above the flagship store, Zane cuts flower motifs from foil. Big veins run down his arms. Zane is a craftsman, not a laptop designer. "This flower is called 'liko,'" he says, "it's a symbol of childhood." In Hawaiian culture, different plants stand for different words. String them together and they tell stories. The road from cutting out foil to the finished shirt is a long one, and Zane designs about six new patterns every year. "I transfer any mistakes my hands make to the computer because imperfection is authentic."
His son Kuaho, 34, joins us. Kuaho studied graphic design in L.A., lived for a while in California and sowed his wild oats. Then he came home to work in the family business. His close-cropped hair is as gray as his father's. How does he define the spirit of the islands? "People here still respect Nature. The ocean makes us humble." Then he, too, looks out the window restlessly. "Working is tough when there are good waves out there."
Hawaii is made up of 137 Islands and atolls. Big Island is the youngest of the eight inhabited islands. You can tell because it isn't finished; volcanoes keep erupting here, engulfing the streets in boiling lava. Entire villages have to be evacuated when this happens. Hilo has been torn away by a tsunami twice. Maybe that's why the pace of life is so casual. It will all end one day, so why hurry? We drive to the Grand Naniloa Hotel, where Japanese teens are snapping selfies on the terrace. Men in sports shirts drink themselves into the mood for the live Super Bowl broadcast later on. Suddenly, the door swings open and hula master Meleana Manuel, 57, enters in a red velvet dress with a silk sash. On her head, a floral wreath known as a "lei," and under her arm an ipu heke, a kind of drum carved from a calabash. Strutting behind her is Karly Lopez, 19, a curvaceous Latina type. Red skirt, white blouse, green fern brow band. The football fans crane their necks like meerkats.
"The image of hula is still a caricature," says Manuel, immediately on the offensive. "In the 1960s, tourists flocked to Hawaii to see pretty girls in skimpy costumes. And because the traditional chants were not immediately appealing, the music was adapted – to pop music from the mainland." Chants are the melodious verse sequences to which hula is danced. The dancers' movements tell a story. "Our ancestors knew nothing of literature. For them, a hula performance was like a visit to the library."
Manuel was born on the island of Oahu in 1960. Her mother was young and overwhelmed, so she gave her baby daughter up for adoption. The adoptive parents enrolled her at a hula school when she was only four, but she didn't make a vocation of her hobby until after finishing school. "Really understanding hula is like going to college, but with one difference: You cannot earn a degree. Only your master can designate you a 'kumu hula' – if she feels it is right to do so." "Kumu" means "source," and just as a source provides water, so a kumu should pass on her knowledge to the next generation.
It took Manuel 28 years to become a master. She has held the title for ten years and has 46 students, six of them men, and that trend is upward. As a kumu, she flies around the world, visiting schools in the USA, Europe and Japan. "The Hawaiian renaissance has brought the authentic hula back to us. But we further developed and exported it," she says proudly. Then master and student walk down the steps toward the ocean. The waves slap dramatically against the black rocks as Manuel sinks into the grass, starts plucking her ipu heke and begins to sing a chant for Lili'uokalani, the last queen of Hawaii. Lopez's movements are slow and flowing. Two days ago, I would have dismissed the scene as kitsch, but now it's a history lesson.
We leave Big Island and fly to Oahu. Honolulu is the urban center of the entire archipelago, but once you leave the city limits, you find yourself moving to the rhythm of the wind and waves. Our pickup rumbles westward, our satnav directing us toward a settlement of houses near the small town of Wai'anae. "You have arrived at your destination!" We stare at each other in disbelief. This is where the world's most famous tattoo artist lives? Keone Nunes, 60, opens the door. Hard chin, soft smile, a grip like a vice. "Go around through the garden!" Few words, clear message. Behind the house, there's a pavilion with raffia matting on the roof, cushions and the master's tools: dozens of small hammers and bowls of black ink. "I am no saint. I bang the ink into your skin," says Nunes. There's a certain spirituality to what he does. "But I think it's silly when people turn up with crystals."
Ashlyn Weaver, 24, has arrived from California with a story instead: Her Hawaiian grandmother died and she has come for the funeral and wants to preserve the memory with a tattoo. Nunes spent an hour and a half finding out exactly what she wanted. "He even asked me to draw up my family tree," the student said. Why? "I turn down a good 80 percent of people who inquire; they simply don't interest me," says Nunes, who is known as "Tufunga" in the island language. He draws a line pattern in red felt-tip onto Weaver's naked skin, from hip to ankle. She has no say regarding the motif.
Having a tattoo tapped is a painful experience and even supposed to trigger visions. But tapping has one advantage over injecting ink with an electric needle: speed. And so we watch, mesmerized, as a black road of arrow symbols takes shape on Weaver's right side. From time to time, a faint moan pierces the monotonous hammering. "The pain is good," says Nunes with a smile, "it tells you you're alive."
In the Polynesian Triangle between New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island, these dark symbols have a long tradition. Their precise origin is unclear, but some of the hammers discovered date back to before 3500. Nunes learned this dying art on Samoa nearly 30 years ago. After his master's death in 1999, he rose to the highest ranks. "But you remain a student all your life," he says earnestly. Kneeling beside him is Kaipo, 26, one of his apprentices. Aside from his backyard tattoo business, he works as a fire fighter. Kaipo pulls Weaver's skin taut and watches. How did he get interested in this? "Many young men have lost their connection to their roots." Television and the Internet, rap music and fastfood – "They're not my thing," he says. The Hawaiian population is as colorful as a rainbow; only a quarter of the people still has Polynesian ancestors. Kaipo is a member of this group, which takes pride in preserving traditions. Why? Perhaps because they have always been here.
The story of masters and students, of ancient customs and young talent ends on Waikiki Beach, where Olympic victor Duke "The Big Kahuna" Kahanomoku created the modern sport of surfing; where TV detective Thomas Magnum winked at the bikini girls; where culture and cliché collide. At 6 am, when the city and particularly the tourists are still sleeping, a group of old men – islanders, Asians and mainland Americans – start waxing their longboards and head for the water. Peter Carlisle, 64, stays put a moment longer. A former district attorney, he was tough on crime and later became mayor. Today he is an advisor to the city. An outsider, he came for love, but you can still hear the New Jersey streets buzz beneath his mustache. He feels more at home here than anywhere else. "This bay was where I first stepped on a board." He caresses his surfboard. "At 52." He swallowed a lot of white water that day. Falling off the board and getting back up – a tough role for a man with his tough reputation. "But it was worth it." He looks at me calmly, his eyes reflecting the rising sun. "Believe me, son, Hawaii doesn't change that fast, but these islands change you." Then he runs down to the ocean.


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PDGA Innovation Grant, Round 1
The PDGA Innovation Grant Program was created in 2008 to increase and promote the awareness of the sport of disc golf and the Professional Disc Golf Association. Applicants are encouraged to think outside of the box to develop innovative and unique programs which will promote the sport and increase participation.
The deadline for submission of applications for the first round of 2014 Innovation Grants is June 1, 2014.
- Proposals should support the mission of the PDGA Innovation Grant Program.
- Applicants may request cash, PDGA memberships, PDGA merchandise or a combination of the three with a total value not to exceed $500.
- Project ideas should be innovative and unique.
- Project ideas should promote the PDGA in a good light.
- Project ideas should help grow the sport by encouraging increased participation.
- The grant program was not created to fund the sanctioning of tournaments or leagues. For information regarding the sanctioning of a PDGA event please use the following link. (http://www.pdga.com/documents/pdga-tour-standards)
- Innovation Grants will not fund tangible assets (i.e. computers/computer hardware, etc.) that will revert to the owner after the project is complete.
There are five $500 grants that will be awarded in June, and an additional five grants will be awarded in December. The completed grant application along with additional requested information and any supporting documents you wish to include must be received by the PDGA office before the June 2nd deadline to be considered in this round.
Application packages should be mailed to:
Innovation Grant
3828 Dogwood Lane
Appling, GA 30802
or emailed to grants manager, Michael Downes at the PDGA Office.
For additional information and a Grant application visit here.
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No Weights. No Jumps.
Watch this video to see what the PiYo workout buzz is all about.
Who says you have to jump, grunt, strain, and punish your body to get amazing results from your workout? Not with PiYo…PiYo combines the muscle-sculpting, core-firming benefits of Pilates with the strength and flexibility advantages of yoga. And, we crank up the speed to deliver a true fat-burning, low-impact workout that leaves your body looking long, lean, and incredibly defined.
See Real PiYo Results.
"I wanted to create a workout that would work for every age and fitness level."
High-energy celebrity fitness trainer, mother of two, and New York Times best-selling author Chalene Johnson has revolutionized the fitness industry by turning her lifelong love of health and fitness into exciting, challenging workouts that scorch calories and burn fat.
Lean Out with Low Impact.
†Results vary depending on starting point, goals, and effort. Mary W. is a Mom and Team Beachbody® Coach
PiYo isn't like standard Pilates and yoga classes that make you hold long, intense poses, or lead you through dozens of repetitive, microscopic core movements. PiYo speeds everything up—including your results—by introducing you to dynamic, flowing sequences that can burn serious calories at the same time as they lengthen and tone your muscles and increase your flexibility.
With every action-packed PiYo session, you can burn excess fat and sculpt and define your whole body, as you minimize the aches and pains that can come along with high-impact workouts. No matter your age, no matter your body type, PiYo will help give you dramatically visible, incredibly beautiful results.
Get Total-Body Definition with the Best of Pilates and Yoga.
†Results vary depending on starting point, goals, and effort. Rachel G. is a Childcare Provider and Team Beachbody® Coach
What Do You Get with PiYo?
7 Workouts on 3 DVDs.
Align: The Fundamentals
This workout breaks down the most important and effective moves in the program to help you perfect your form and get the best results possible.
Define: Lower Body
Get your sleekest and leanest legs ever as you lengthen and strengthen your entire lower body—from your glutes and hamstrings to your calves.
Define: Upper Body
Use this incredibly effective workout to start chiseling away at your upper body to help shape your arms, carve out your triceps, and define sexy shoulders.
A traditional PiYo workout that incorporates effective dynamic conditioning, fast-paced cardio yoga-flows, and bodyweight resistance strength training to help sculpt your entire body.
This endurance workout maximizes fat burning while it works every muscle in your body. It will not only leave you drenched—it will kick-start your metabolism as you scorch away the fat.
This workout uses varying tempos to keep your muscles under tension for different periods of time. This generates muscular endurance and metabolic changes that will totally transform your figure.
Strength Intervals
Twenty-five minutes is all you need of this nonstop body-carving, calorie-incinerating workout that uses no weights, no equipment, and gives you no bulk!
Quick Start Guide
Everything you need to know to get started including valuable insider tips to get your best results possible! Plus, discover how each powerful workout is strategically designed to transform your body.
PiYo 60-Day
Workout Calendar
Chalene arranged the workouts to make sure you're progressing each week as you build up your strength, flexibility, and stamina.
Get Lean Eating Plan
A simplified approach to clean and lean eating designed to fit your lifestyle and our taste buds. Learn how to eat a variety of delicious, nutritious foods that keep you properly fueled, satiated, and nourished—and help you define your best body.
Plus, Order Today
and Get 3 FREE Gifts!
2 Bonus Workouts on 1 DVD
Buns Focused on the glutes, this workout is designed to lift, redefine, and tighten the entire backside of your body for the perfect tight and round butt.
Core This ab-centric workout hits your powerhouse from every angle to build a strong core, flat, sculpted abs and obliques, as well as a strong and sexy back.
24/7 Online Support Get motivated anytime of day with access to proven fitness, nutrition, and motivation tips. You'll even get exclusive invitations to live video chats with Chalene Johnson. You'll find unlimited peer support here, and you can even join a PiYo Challenge Group.
What Do PiYo Results Look Like?
Just 3 monthly payments of $19.95 (+ $12.95 s&h)
Or select a single payment option during checkout.
60-DAY MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE! (less s&h)
- The most important thing you need is...YOU. Just grab a yoga mat, water, and towel and find a space wide enough to take a step in each direction. The PiYo 60-Day Calendar comes with the program and strategically lays out your workout schedule to keep you progressing each week as you build your strength, flexibility, and stamina. The Get Lean Eating Plan gives you a simplified approach to clean and lean eating designed to fit your lifestyle.
- The workouts range from 25 to 45 minutes, with the majority clocking in around 30 minutes. PiYo is a 60-day program with workouts scheduled 6 days a week. And, because PiYo involves intense cardio, you can get results significantly faster than with traditional yoga or Pilates.
- No, PiYo is for people of all ages, fitness levels, and body types. You don't even need experience with Pilates or yoga. Chalene will walk you through everything you need to know in Align: The Fundamentals. Plus, there's a modifier to follow in every workout, so you can focus on form and advance at your own pace.
- No, there's no complex choreography to learn or memorize. Each move is accessible to everyone, and every workout features a modifier so you can start at the level that's right for you—you'll just get better and better as your flexibility and strength increase! Just follow along as Chalene demonstrates and takes you through each move as you go!
- Traditional Pilates or yoga programs don't provide the fast weight loss PiYo provides with its dynamic flowing sequences that burn calories and elevate your metabolic rate to burn more fat. So people who do traditional Pilates and yoga have to spend extra time—and extra money—to supplement their routine with extra cardio to burn calories and fat. But with PiYo there's no need, because PiYo puts it all together so you can sculpt your body, scorch calories, and improve your flexibility—all at the same time! It's your one-stop shop to a full-body transformation.
- PiYo takes you through low-impact stretching, strengthening, and bodyweight resistance-based exercises that promote lean muscle development. But, the fast, flowing pace increases the intensity so you're not just sculpting and defining every muscle—you're burning major calories and fat!
About Chalene Johnson dialog window. It contains a heading with her name, and a two paragraph description section. Close the window by selecting the close button or by pressing escape.
Meet Your trainer,
Chalene Johnson
High-energy celebrity fitness trainer, mother of two, and New York Times best-selling author Chalene Johnson has revolutionized the fitness industry by turning her lifelong love of health and fitness into exciting, challenging workouts that scorch calories and burn fat. Her efficient, results-driven workouts and ability to inspire students to reach their fitness goals have made her Beachbody® programs, including TurboFire®, Turbo Jam®, and ChaLEAN Extreme® some of the most popular in-home exercise programs in history. Her live fitness classes—Turbo Kick®, hip hop HUSTLE®, and PiYo—are featured in thousands of health clubs, including 24 Hour Fitness, Gold's Gym, and YMCAs all around the world. Chalene is a highly sought-after motivational speaker on subjects ranging from start-up businesses to time management.
She originally created the PiYo class because she wanted a workout that would provide hardcore results—without straining your body. Chalene loved the benefits of yoga and Pilates but got bored with the sitting still in yoga and the microscopic movements in Pilates. She wanted to move and burn crazy calories! PiYo gives you the best of both worlds and more. Now, with the PiYo home fitness program, she's making this popular class available to you at home!


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Donnie Klang Interview On Rock Me TV: Gives Some Info On Aubrey O'Day From Danity Kane! "Her Tatas Are Fake, Her Mother Has Even Faker Ones, Im Italian & Puerto Rican"
Donnie Klang interview. Courtesy of the good folks over at Rock Me TV with Lenny S, Maya The B, & Big Lite
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
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According to the 2010 Hawaii Census Count, Hawaii has 306 folks over the age of 100 years old.
Puna has at least one of them in Saramae Williams Landers!
For every 100,000 residents in Hawaii, there are 20 people over the age of 100 years of age compared to on the mainland where there is only 10 people over the age of 100 per 100,000 people according to a USC Doctor that did a study on Centenarians in Hawaii.
Here is a video about the study done by Dr. Murali D. Nair, Clinical Professor at the University of Southern California that attempts to explain this phenomena
Filed under: aloha, Announcements, Environment, Hawaii, Hawaiian, Health, State Affairs, Unexplained Phenomenon Tagged: | Centenarian, Dr. Murali D. Nair, Saramae Williams Landers, United States Census Bureau


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Multi-State Group Reports Range-Wide Population Estimate For Lesser Prairie Chicken
Oct. 12, 2012
Media Contact: Sean Kyle, TPWD wildlife diversity biologist in Lubbock, (806) 742-4735, icle__media__contact">Media Contact: Sean Kyle, TPWD wildlife diversity biologist in Lubbock, (806) 742-4735, firstname.lastname@example.com; Tom Harvey, TPWD media communication in Austin, (512) 389-4453, email@example.com
Results Could Affect Endangered Listing Consideration
Note: This item is more than seven years old. Please take the publication date into consideration for any date references.
AUSTIN – Through a multi-state collaborative effort, the first statistically-valid, range-wide population estimate for the lesser prairie chicken is an estimated 37,170 birds, according to a new report. The survey results could be significant as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prepares its proposed rule expected in November about whether to list the species under the federal Endangered Species Act.
"After the worst single year drought in recorded history, we still have an estimated 37,000 birds on the ground range-wide, and that tells us that opportunities to recover this species are better than what many people expected," said Sean Kyle, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife diversity biologist in Lubbock.
Aerial surveys this spring detected several previously unknown breeding areas, known as leks, despite severe drought conditions across the region last year. They also discovered leks in Kansas beyond what was thought to be the northern limit of the historic range of the species.
Lesser prairie chicken numbers have been largely increasing in Kansas for the last 15 years, while populations have declined in parts of the southern portion of the range, including Texas. Biologists believe this expansion may represent a northward shift in the population of the species caused by climatic conditions associated with changing precipitation patterns.
"Historically, we saw habitat conditions like we are observing now in the 1930s, and we thought the species went extinct," said Bill Van Pelt, grassland coordinator in Phoenix for the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies' (WAFWA) Grassland Initiative.
"However, with habitat conservation programs being implemented through various Farm Bill programs and Candidate Conservation Agreements under the Endangered Species Act, we are seeing lesser prairie chickens maintaining themselves and even expanding into new areas in some parts of their range," said Van Pelt. "This definitely boosts our confidence in coming up with a plan to maintain this species."
The WAFWA Grassland Initiative collaborated with the Lesser Prairie Chicken Interstate Working Group, which is composed of biologists from state fish and wildlife departments within the range of the species, the Bureau of Land Management, and West Ecosystems, Inc. of Laramie, Wyoming, to conduct a large-scale, helicopter-based survey of lesser prairie chicken leks across all five states this spring.
The survey results will be the baseline for a range-wide lesser prairie chicken management plan currently being developed by the five state wildlife agencies in collaboration with the WAFWA Grassland Initiative. This plan is expected to be completed by March 2013, and could influence the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (Service) decision on whether or not to designate the lesser prairie chicken as a federally threatened or endangered species. The lesser prairie chicken has been considered a candidate under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) since 1998, and the Service expects to release a proposed rule on the status of the bird under the ESA in November.
To help restore habitat for the bird, state and federal experts developed a tool called Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) to work with private landowners and managers in the geographic range of the lesser prairie-chicken. This voluntary program was designed to help reverse declining bird numbers by promoting habitat conservation and restoration through practices such as prescribed grazing, upland wildlife habitat management, brush management, prescribed burning, range planting and restoration and management of rare or declining habitats. The program also provides assurances to landowners that, beyond what is detailed in the CCAA agreement, they will not be required to meet any new regulations if the bird is listed under the Endangered Species Act. To date, close to 315,000 acres of Texas ranch land have enrolled in CCAAs.
Texas agriculture producers may sign up to manage and restore high-priority habitats for the lesser prairie chicken within eligible Texas counties, including: Ochiltree, Lipscomb, Roberts, Hemphill, Gray, Wheeler, Donley, Deaf Smith, Bailey, Lamb, Cochran, Hockley, Yoakum, Terry, Andrews, and Gaines.
Landowners can get details regarding the lesser prairie-chicken CCAA by contacting TPWD Biologist Jeff Bonner at 806-665-3494 or Manuel DeLeon at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Zone office in Lubbock at (806) 791-0581. Or visit the NRCS website.
On the Net:


text: Yes, its true…Rosh Hashannah is really early this year (is it ever on time?), and GKC is ready to help you get ready. First, check out the amazing all new recipes perfect for your Yom Tov tables. Then bring extra gourmet dishes to your table with the famous restaurant recipes sections. See what the professional chefs from some of our favorite restaurants make at home and see how easy it is to cook like a pro. Next, submit for the great giveaways (we will have one EACH week!). Don't miss out on the amazing gifts from honey and honey dishes to challahs and artisan glass. Of course, we will include wine recommendations, health articles, crafts, and more new recipes and features each week. Send us your cooking questions and any recipes you would like us to share with our readers. GKC wishes all of our readers a very sweet New Year.


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Is it posible ot get advanced stats like %eff and GmSc inton the pdf basketball report?
P.S. when will we get a new release?
Best regards,
EFF and GMSC stats in pdf report for baketball (future.feature.request)
We will try and answer Frequently Asked Questions in this forum. If you are having any issues with iScore Basketball, this is probably the best place to start.
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- FTMSupport
- Site Admin
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Re: EFF and GMSC stats in pdf report for baketball
They are included when you email the Team Stats. The Game Stats report is a bit more tailored but we will look at adding them there in the future as well.
Check out the new iScore Baseball documentation page!
Includes videos and user manual.
Includes videos and user manual.
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One of my matches on AncestryDNA has indicated a connection through our respective Carr lines. This has prompted me to do some checking on the integrity of the Carr information in my tree and to develop further some of the lines that descend from my 3rd great grandfather Caleb Carr. Caleb was baptised at Longbenton in Northumberland on 23 Feb 1772, His parents were Adam Carr and Jane Nesbitt.
My efforts today have taken the total of Caleb's children to 17 and I am still not sure I have found them all. The mothers of these children were:
- Mary Vardy (no marriage found)
- Elizabeth Young (marriage 1796)
- Elizabeth Hume (no marriage found)
- Rachael Smith (marriage 1808)