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Success w/ Learning Disabilities: Autism Spectrum Disorders, Yoked Prism Lenses, Vision Therapy, Eye Tracking Exercises
Autism Treatment with Vision Therapy, Eye Tracking Exercises, and Yoked Prism Lenses or Ambient Lenses, etc.-->
If you are looking for an eye doctor for a person with autism or suspected autism spectrum disorders, locate a behavioral or neuro-developmental optometrist and ask the following questions before scheduling the eye examination: (1) Does the optometrist (1) have experience in evaluating the vision of a non-verbal and/or autistic person? and (2) If appropriate to the individual case, does the optometrist offer special corrective lenses for autistic individuals (i.e., prisms, microprisms, colored lenses and/or filters)?
We thought his eye movements and eye symptoms were just part of his autism, but...with vision therapy treatment, many of his so-called "autistic" behaviors stopped, and he was also able to read much easier (no more double vision!)... [More]
I am the parent of an autistic child. Too often, visual problems which would have been detected early in non-disabled children go undiagnosed and untreated for children with disabilities ... Don't assume that your child can't be tested ... [More]
He had only had his special prescription eyeglasses for thirty minutes and already our lives were changed ... Jimmy began to visually investigate his immediate environment ... he makes eye contact while communicating ... was basically non-verbal a year ago, and now uses speech to communicate ...all of his other therapies have benefited from vision therapy as well his progress in speech therapy which has sky rocketed! [More]
Since beginning Vision Therapy, she has been able to remain in control (with reminders to stay focused) and sit on her own with others for as long as 30 minutes, this is something she could not do 7 months ago. [More]
... Evelyn is now a year ahead of her chronological age in vision skills! [More]
Donna Williams, a well-known author with autism ... stated that when she put on her glasses for the first time, "the room didn't seem so crowded, overwhelming or bombarding. The background noise I had always heard before was not even apparent." [More]
The poor eye contact, toe walking, and odd neck and body postures of many autistic individuals may be due to vision problems, according to a study that suggests that these abnormal symptoms can be reduced by corrective lenses. [More]
Read full stories below.
I am the parent of an autistic child.
Too often, visual problems which would have been detected early in non-disabled children go undiagnosed and untreated for children with disabilities, perhaps because the visual examination would be difficult with the special needs child, or the child is not able to verbalize a problem, or the school's test showed "normal" 20/20 eyesight. Whatever the reason, all school aged children, including children with disabilities, should have a full visual examination.
When making an appointment for a vision examination, go straight
to a developmental optometrist, not to an ophthalmologist. While most
optometrists do not offer therapy services, one with a developmental
background is able to diagnose correctable vision problems and provide
therapy treatment or referrals. Don't assume that your child can't
be tested; a really good eye doctor can tell you a lot about the
vision performance of even non-verbal individuals. If the optometrist
tells you that your child is untestable, find one that is willing
to try.
If a child with autism/PDD is unable to read, is uncooperative with close tasks, has illegible handwriting, or is disruptive in class, too often we assume these are "autistic" behaviors that must be modified behaviorally or taught with numerous repetitions. When these same characteristics are present in non-disabled children, most primary grade teachers would ask if the child has had a complete visual examination. My son's first, second, and third grade teacher all did and I regrettably ignored them until the fourth grade. Though he read and was disruptive, these regular education teachers all saw signs of possible vision problems: eye contact avoidance, blackboard visual avoidance, poor and uneven handwriting, inability to listen and look simultaneously, over use of peripheral vision, a stiff-legged walk and poking at the sides of his eyes.
Because some sensory dysfunction is present in all individuals with autism, and because vision problems are more common in individuals with sensory impairments, it would benefit parents of children with autism greatly to become more knowledgeable about vision impairments and possible remedies. Occupational therapists should also be interested in learning more about visual development and the improvement in motor skills when the "eye" is the culprit in "eye-hand" coordination difficulties.
My son, Kyle, had throwing and catching a ball on his IEP for about
6 years, because we knew improving coordination and reciprocal play
was important. After all that time, he still was not able to catch
even a beach ball. It simply bounced off his stomach and then he
moved his arms, sometimes, but too late. A vision examination two
years ago revealed that Kyle had, among other things, significant
convergence problems [convergence insufficiency] and could not focus
on a fast moving object. His eyes were working independently, rather
than together [depth perception], so that he saw two pictures instead
of one [double vision]. In other words, he never accurately saw
the ball as it moved, he only saw it after it stopped. Once the
ball was still, he willingly retrieved it and brought it to you.
We began doing the prescribed eye exercises at home for about 10
minutes a day; it seemed more like play than work. After three weeks,
Kyle was catching tennis balls!
The bad news is that a lot of Kyle's early years were wasted (for example, as a human target, rather than a participant in ball games) because parents, educators and pediatricians alike were unaware of the limits of his vision. We accepted, and even ignored, many of Kyle's behavioral differences because those characteristics are known to be associated with autism. The good news is that many of these vision problems are correctable with methods that have been in use for over 40 years in the field of optometry. In fact, vision therapy has been around so long that it even appears in encyclopedias written in 1960. Unfortunately, it seems almost unknown to those searching for answers for autism. Vision therapy does not cure autism, but it can significantly improve academic performance, personal comfort and security and participation in more typical, age-appropriate activities. in other words, enhance a person's quality of life.
A word of caution here is prudent: If you are told that your child
needs surgery to correct vision problems you MUST get a second (or
even a third) opinion. A friend of mine has a non-disabled son who
has had a "lazy eye" since he was a toddler. Over a period of several
years, three different ophthalmologists told her that her son would
need surgery to correct it. In the 4th grade his reading and other
close work was suffering, prompting her to take him to yet another
eye doctor, but this time to an optometrist. The optometrists told
my friend, "DO NOT DO ANY SURGERY!" The surgery proposed corrects
muscle problems; this is not a muscle problem, it's a brain problem.
It is correctable with eye exercises your son can do at home." He
referred them to a developmental optometrists for therapy. Four
months of eye exercises corrected her son's vision problem. Reading,
math, and sports are now much easier and enjoyable. A happier 10
year old, he exclaimed after one month of therapy, " Hey, Mom, the
words don't jump all over the page anymore!" Interestingly , my
friend had previously asked her son if he saw words moving, and
he had replied, "No." He didn't know that what he saw was different
than everyone else and was apparently expecting a larger movement,
compared to what he typically saw.
My son is eleven and several questions continue to nag me. How many of the behavioral characteristics listed as diagnostic criteria for autism/PDD are symptoms of severe vision dysfunctions? Auditory dysfunctions? Tactile and vestibular dysfunctions? If my son could have seen, heard and felt as typical children do as a toddler, would he have had those characteristics that label him autistic? How much more could Kyle have learned in those formative years if we had addressed his sensory problems first?
If I could turn back the clock, I would do all sensory therapies,including vision therapy FIRST and THEN behavioral therapies and interventions. I have done it backwards, not only wasting critical developmental years, but also not allowing Kyle to receive the full benefit of his behavioral therapies and educational instruction. He has spent his life trying to cope with and diminish his discomfort of sound and touch. He has worked diligently to make sense of what he sees that is not real, what he doesn't see that others do, and even trying to shut off his vision so that he may hear us better. All the while those of us with sensory systems intact say that he's in his own world. and he is, literally. Only HE can see, hear and feel his world as he does, but he did not ask it to be so.
Our family began vision therapy when it was recommended to us by our son's speech therapist and audiologist, along with other therapies. At that time our son was receiving many other therapies to help him deal with autism, including allergy medications, music therapy, auditory training (three times), speech therapy, sensory integration therapy, craniosacral therapy, and the medications Naltrexone, Trilafon, vitamin C, and a multivitamin.
We were leery of adding a new therapy that we did not understand, but followed the advice of a valued and trusted therapist. Our first visit was an eye-opener. We did not believe that our 12 year old son would tolerate wearing the glasses because he is very touch sensitive. As soon as his eye exam was over and the doctor told Jimmy to pick himself out a pair of glasses, he did it! He tried glasses on and even looked in the mirror to see how he looked in them!
When the glasses came in we picked them up right away. Jimmy wore them out the door with no problem. On the way home we stopped at the park to walk on a trail. This was always a gambit because Jimmy had a strong fear of all animals, and if someone was walking their dog Jimmy would jump up on our backs to safety until the dog was gone out of sight. On this day a very large and mean looking dog passed us on the trail and Jimmy was not afraid. He simply looked at the dog as if, "Huh! So that is what a dog looks like. No big deal." He had only had his glasses for thirty minutes and already our lives were changed.
For the first few weeks he only wore his glasses for two to three hours per day and we did nor push the issue, since we wanted him to want to wear them. By the end of the third month he was wearing them 90% of the day. Ten months later he has them on when he comes down to breakfast and they are still on when he falls asleep at night.
The changes made in our home life were gradual but steady. Before vision therapy he spent long periods of time staring trance-like into space, even as he walked. After vision therapy, Jimmy began to visually investigate his immediate environment. He is now investigating his therapists' offices as though seeing them for the first time. He plays with his toys more appropriately instead of tapping them or making rows of them.
At age 13 Jimmy can now tie his own shoes. He is able to do this now because he has learned to "look" at what he is doing. He always puts his clothes on by himself, front-ways, and is very proud of this accomplishment. Before, dressing was hit-or-miss, with clothes put on backwards, or shoes on the wrong feet. Jimmy cares about his appearance now. After his shower he wants his hair blow-dried and styled, and wants to be told he looks handsome. He now washes himself and shampoos his own hair; drying himself when he is done. I believe this is because he now "looks" at what he is doing, something he could not seem to do before vision therapy.
All of his other therapies have benefited from vision therapy as well His progress in speech therapy has sky rocketed! He was basically non-verbal a year ago, and now uses speech to communicate. He makes eye contact while communicating with no trouble -- before now, eye contact was fleeting.
School is as different as night from day since vision therapy began. Jimmy has a longer attention span, follows instructions better, listens more closely and can sit for longer periods of time. Last year his time was spent doing sheltered workshop jobs, daily living skills, and he had lots of free time.
This year he has three or four five-minute breaks during his morning, with the rest filled with learning activities.
His classes are in the high school building this year and Jimmy has noticed that the kids there look and act different than the elementary kids did. He is trying very hard to be like the older kids. Socially, he is much happier. He wants to be in our company at home, instead of shut in his bedroom. He used to cry when told we were going out, but Jimmy loves outings in the community now, asking to go places every day. He wants to be a part of the world now. In stores, he pushes the shopping cart. If told he can pick a snack, he takes time and scans the shelves looking for what he likes, instead of blindly grabbing the first item. Stores used to give him panic attacks which sent him running for the nearest exit.
Our life together has definitely changed! Our son is still autistic, and in need of years more of his therapies, but he now makes steady progress and is happy and proud of himself. He likes himself and wants to be an active part of his family, community and world.
I am writing to explain some of the changes I noticed when a child with autism temporarily stopped going to Vision Therapy. The day after her last appointment I noticed that she was doing a considerable amount of "hand flapping." This followed with at least a week of noise making, hand flapping, short attention span when reading, defiance, and increased talking to herself. I asked her mother if something unusual was happening at home. She didn't think anything had changed. I realized that this self-stimulating behavior could be the result of a number of things happening both internally and externally in the world of a child who has autism. I looked at the situation from all angles and arrived at the conclusion that this behavior was a result of the break in Vision Therapy.
The Vision Therapy she receives has not only been helpful in her vision, but also helps her stay focused in activities for a longer period of time. Her speech therapist reports that she can start a task and stay completely focused for as long as 12 minutes. Since beginning Vision Therapy, she has been able to remain in control (with reminders to stay focused) and sit on her own with others for as long as 30 minutes, this is something she could not do 7 months ago. The structure that the therapy provides is apparent in her increased ability to complete a task such as reading 1-2 pages aloud, and also her ability to stay in control in unfamiliar environments.
Thank you very much for all your work and patience, it has been beneficial. I will be trying to come up with funding for her to continue with the Vision Therapy, because it is essential, especially as she is growing and changing. Hopefully, the therapy will continue to assist in the goal of independence in most or all areas of her life. Thank you.
Evelyn's eyes had always seemed "odd" to me, as if they weren't focusing properly. I took her to two pediatric ophthalmologists when she was 2 and 4 years of age, who both said that her eye health and vision were fine and that I had nothing to worry about.
When Evelyn was 5 years old, we came to Dr. X, who diagnosed that Evelyn had poor vision skills. Evelyn was poor at judging where she and things around her were in space. She was always bumping into door frames, people, etc. and was afraid to ride on her bike. After 9 months of working with Dr. X, Evelyn is now a year ahead of her chronological age in vision skills! She takes in her environment efficiently and moves much more confidently through space. Her eyes seem normal to me now.
Prior to using the special ambient lenses, Zarin had a problem with spatial awareness. He would bang through doorways and slam through people...he doesn't do that anymore! It's as if he is aware of the space around him. Even when it comes to walking...his physical gait has changed. It is much more typical [neurotypical], as opposed to how it was before.
The Vision Therapy helped in that Zarin used to struggle to say words when he was reading...that is, he had a problem to phonetically pronounce the words. However, now after the Vision Therapy, it's easy for him to do that. Even in terms of his processing, where he is expressive, his ability to express himself, it is much better now. Also, there used to be a very delayed response -- a huge gap, but now any delay is much smaller.
We thought his eye movements and eye symptoms were just part of his autism, but it turned out he had a treatable eye problem that occurs in neurotypical children as well called convergence insufficiency disorder. With vision therapy treatment, many of his so-called "autistic" behaviors stopped, and he was also able to read much easier (no more double vision!)
Developmental optometrist Randy Schulman has reported seeing marked improvements in autistic individuals treated with both traditional prescription glasses and special lenses and prisms that alter sensory input. Schulman reported that "of the cases in which I had the opportunity to do vision therapy, ...25% [of patients] made slow progress, 30% made fair progress, and 45% made good progress." Schulman notes that farsightedness, intermittent strabismus (misalignment of the eyes), and other vision problems are frequently encountered in autistic individuals. Schulman suggests that autistic symptoms such as poor visual pursuit and fixation may be linked to cerebellar defects reported by autism researchers.
Schulman cites Donna Williams, a well-known author with autism, who benefited dramatically from wearing color tinted lenses. Williams stated that when she put on her glasses for the first time, "the room didn't seem so crowded, overwhelming or bombarding. The background noise I had always heard before was not even apparent." Schulman speculates that for autistic individuals, special lenses and prisms "may break the dependence on an inflexible structure based on misperceptions."
'Optometry's role in the treatment of autism,' Randy L. Schulman, Journal of Optometric Vision Development, Vol. 25, Winter 1994
The poor eye contact, toe walking, and odd neck and body postures of many autistic individuals may be due to vision problems, according to a study that suggests that these abnormal symptoms can be reduced by corrective lenses.
Melvin Kaplan et al. suggests that autistic children have abnormal "ambient vision," the type of vision used to orient oneself to the environment, movement, and depth. The symptoms demonstrated by autistic children," the researchers say, "may be an adaptation to an ambient visual system that has distorted the appearance of the spatial environment."
Kaplan et al. studied 14 autistic children between the ages of 4 and 15, noting their head positions and body posture during activities such as watching television, balancing on a beam, or catching a ball. In addition, the researchers studied the facial expressions of the children. Then they evaluated the children's head positions, posture, and facial expressions when corrective prism lenses (clear glass lenses slightly thicker at the top or bottom) were introduced. The researchers' findings:
Reprinted from Autism Research Review International, Biomedical Update, Page 4, Volume 10, Number 4, 1996, Based on the following study: Postural orientation modifications In autism. In response to ambient lenses, Melvin Kaplan, Dennis P. Carmody, and Alexa Gaydos, Child Psychiatry and Human Development Vol. 27, No. 2, Winter 1996, pp. 81-91.
Reprinted from Autism Research Review International, Biomedical Update, Page 4, Volume 10, Number 4, 1996, Based on the following study: Postural orientation modifications In autism. In response to ambient lenses, Melvin Kaplan, Dennis P. Carmody, and Alexa Gaydos, Child Psychiatry and Human Development Vol. 27, No. 2, Winter 1996, pp. 81-91.
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LITTLE ROCK � Orange barrels, flashing signs, lane detours and slow traffic are still a year away, but Arkansas highway officials are already planning how to spend nearly $2 billion over the next decade building and repairing roads across the state.
LITTLE ROCK � Orange barrels, flashing signs, lane detours and slow traffic are still a year away, but Arkansas highway officials are already planning how to spend nearly $2 billion over the next decade building and repairing roads across the state.
The money will come from a bond issue backed by a 10-year, half-cent sales tax increase in a constitutional amendment that voters approved 58 percent to 42 percent in Tuesday�s general election to finance construction of a four-lane highway system connecting all corners of the state.
County roads and city streets also will get makeovers under a program co-billed as a major state transportation overhaul and economic development bonanza. Officials say construction will create 40,000 jobs.
The tax increase won�t go into effect until July 1. The planning has started.
�There is obviously going to be a lot of background work now,� said Scott Bennett, director of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
The day after the election, highway officials began advertising for an outside engineering management firm to oversee projects under the highway program. The search also began for a financial adviser for the project, as well as bond counsel to help with financing.
Bennett said the engineering management firm is needed because the department already has ongoing highway and bridge projects, and an interstate rehabilitation program, funded by a $575 million bond renewal program approved by voters in 2011, is about to start.
�Obviously, the consultants are going to have to be able to do a lot of the design and probably construction inspection, so we�re going to hire a consultant firm that really manages all of those consultants and all of those aspects of the program so they can just package everything up and give it to us for approval so we can let a contract and get it done,� Bennett said.
The tax hike will raise the state sales tax to 6.5 percent but won�t affect groceries, medicine, gasoline or diesel fuel.
Bennett said the goal is to begin letting bids late next summer and hopefully have some projects be under way late next year.
�Some of them are pretty big projects, and we�ll have some public hearings going on to let people know what�s coming up and when it�s coming,� he said. �The easy part is over. Now the hard part and the fun begins.�
Some of the larger and more expensive projects planned include replacing the Interstate 30 bridge over the Arkansas River; widening I-540 to six lanes from Fayetteville to Bentonville; completion of the initial two lanes of the future four-lane Bella Vista bypass; widening I-40 to six lanes from Little Rock to Conway, and completion of the widening to four lane projects on U.S. Highway 167 between I-530 and El Dorado and U.S. Highway 425 from Hamburg to the Louisiana line.
Bennett said officials also plan to update the department�s website with project information.
�It�s a big deal for us,� said Guy Washburn, executive director of the Arkansas Asphalt Pavement Association. �We have a tremendous amount of hourly employees; there are truck drivers, people that are week-to-week folks that really need to get their hours in, and this, obviously, is an opportunity for those folks to work longer in the season.�
Washburn said the asphalt pavement association has about 100 member businesses and that the $1.8 billion highway program �is a real shot in the arm that is going to help a lot of the companies that have been struggling.�
Randy Zook, director the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce-Associated Industries of Arkansas and a member of Move Arkansas Forward, the group that campaigned for the amendment, said passage �is a big, bold investment in Arkansas� future, and it�s going to improve lots of things for lots of people.�
Mark Lamberth, owner of Atlas Asphalt Inc. in Batesville, said the highway program will benefit the entire state.
�As co-chairman of Move Arkansas Forward, I was elated,� Lamberth said. �We�re talking about $1.3 billion in improvements to Arkansas roads, and that certainly means the support of over 40,000 Arkansas jobs. That will certainly create some opportunities for economic development.
�One of the things we need to remember is that we keep the 70-15-15 formula � so every city, every county in this state is going to get a piece of the pie,� he said.
Under the amendment, the highway department will receive 70 percent of proceeds � about $160 million annually � for state projects for the 10-year-life of the tax. Cities and counties will split the remaining 30 percent, or about $35 million annually.
The amendment also creates a permanent state-aid street fund, similar to the existing state-aid county fund, that cities will be able to tap for street projects. One penny of the existing per-gallon fuels tax, worth about $20 million a year, would go to that fund.
�I know the mayors of the cities in Arkansas will be very pleased,� Lamberth said. �That�s a very successful program the highway department partners with the counties on that provides some much needed improvement for county roads that qualify all across the state.�

subset: commoncrawl


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On January 17th, a wide range of views and expert voices tackled one of the most polarizing issues vexing our nation. A spate of recent high-profile massacres, including the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, has sparked a vigorous national conversation about designing new laws – at the state and federal level – that protect all citizens, including the rights of responsible gun owners. More than 30,000 people die in American annually from gun violence, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The panel discussed the national issues and California's role in the dialogue regarding proposals to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, to pass stricter laws to buy and license guns and ammunition, to require gun vendors to do background checks on potential owners, and report sales so law enforcement can track guns and their owners.
View Part 1 and Part 2 of the conversation here.
Location: San Francisco Commonwealth Club Office
595 Market Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105
Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in; 6 p.m. program
Price: $20 standard, $12 Commonwealth Club members, Free for students (with valid ID)
Joining the Panel:
Nancy Skinner, Member, California State Assembly
Benjamin Van Houten, Managing Attorney, Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
Sgt. Kelly Dunn, SFPD Special Victims and Psychiatric Liaison Units
John Diaz, Editorial Page Editor, San Francisco Chronicle – Moderator
Read more about the event on the Commonwealth Club's website.


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Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump in some of the most diverse battleground states, according to four brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls.
The Democratic nominee leads Trump by double digits in Virginia, 46 percent to 33 percent, and in Colorado, 46 percent to 32 percent.
In the key battleground of Florida, which President Obama won in 2008 and 2012, Clinton is ahead of Trump by five points among registered voters. In North Carolina, which Obama won in 2008 but lost in 2012, the former secretary of state has a nine-point advantage over Trump.
U.S. & World
"These are supposed to be battleground states, but right now, they don't look that way," says Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.


text: × Upcoming Webinar: Navigating The Complexities Of Covid-19 In 2020 Date: Thursday, May 21, 2020 Time: 12:00 – 1:00pm CST Register Now × Upcoming Webinar: AVMA & AVMA Trust COVID-19 Member FAQ's Date: Wednesday, May 27, 2020 Time: 12:30 – 1:45pm CST Register Now × Upcoming Webinar: Employee Health and Safety in Veterinary Practice Date: Thursday, June 18, 2020 Time: 12:00 – 1:00pm CST Register Now AVMA LIFE Educational Resources 4 Ways to Become Wealthier Posted on 3/6/2018 by AVMA LIFE in veterinary medicine financial health wealth Welcome back to AVMA LIFE Trust's five-part financial health series! If you missed our first post on how to heal an ailing credit score, you can catch up here. Otherwise, keep reading, because this time we're curing an affliction that has sent countless affluent individuals spiraling into bankruptcy—the failure to live below your means. read more.. Helpful links AVMA LIFE Education Students Find an Agent Webinars Tags AVMA (1) Business Interruption Insurance (1) credit score (1) debt (1) Dental (2) financial health (5) Graduate Guarantee Acceptance (1) graduation (1) Insurance (2) legislative issues (1) life insurance (2) Professional Overhead Expense Insurance (1) retirement (1) SAVMA (2) student rep (1) student representatives (2) Students (4) Testimonial (1) veterinary medicine (5) wealth (1) Wellness (2) Archive May 2020 (1) April 2020 (1) October 2019 (1) July 2019 (1) May 2019 (1) April 2019 (1) March 2019 (1) February 2019 (2) January 2019 (1) November 2018 (1) August 2018 (1) June 2018 (1) March 2018 (4) February 2018 (1) October 2017 (4) Latest Webinar Recorded: November 13, 2018 Speaker: Terence M. O'Neil, CPA, CVA How to Buy a Veterinary Hospital This webinar will cover the basic information needed to evaluate a possible veterinary hospital acquisition, including discussion on the following topics: Information that needs to be reviewed How to review and normalize financial information How to value a veterinary hospital How to obtain financing for a veterinary hospital acquisition Whether the acquisition includes real estate and other related items to consider Other factors to be considered. Download Presentation Slides Past Webinars Healthcare Provider Mental Health: Preventing Suicide and Building Resilience Download Presentation Slides Download Presentation Q&A The Millennial Relationship to Service Brands Download Presentation Slides Part I: Mental Health & Wellness Download Presentation Slides Part II: Reversing Poor Wellbeing Download Presentation Slides Managing Well-being and Rapid Change Download Presentation Slides


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RS_ILT necesitaba un nuevo diseño de otro y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 46 diseños de 12 diseñadores freelance.
Insight Risk Assessment
infoLock Technologies is a boutique information security firm, headquartered in Arlington, VA. We've been around since 2005 -- providing information security consulting services and selling information security software/applications.
The target audience for this piece includes chief information security officers, chief information officers, and IT managers/directors.
We are looking for a graphic to represent our new Insight Risk Assessment (IRA). The graphic should represent the combined elements of the IRA (Web, Network, and Data Security). It should be clean and professional looking. Not overly trendy but a little edgy is fine.
We like to keep our marketing collateral/design elements fairly clean and simple. We like our logo and the color scheme, look, and feel on our Web site --- http://www.infolocktech.com.
The graphic should be in eps format (or another graphic format that allows for transparent backgrounds and is easily placed in Adobe InDesign docs), should utilize colors similar to the ones in use on our Web site and in other marketing elements (Pantone 2767 U, Pantone 484 U), although feel free to use colors that fit well or are in the same family.
This graphic should work for both print and Web -- as it will be used in marketing elements for both mediums.
Attached, please find 3 examples of our own efforts to create a custom graphic. As you can see, we are not designers. Feel free to riff off what's there or go in a completely new direction. We'll let you know when you're getting warm.


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SS is short for the German Schutzstaffeln, an organization, of which the Gestapo was just a branch, serving the tyranny of Nazi bureaucracy and the politics of terror, like MI5 currently in British Occupied Ireland and all of the island. The British Government use MI5 today, like Germans in high places, still use the SS, as an excuse for acts of murder, extortion and genocide, that were facts of daily life under the Nazis and are standard fare since the outset of the present troubles in British Occupied Ireland. MI5 like the SS are embedded in every basic governmental part of the Occupation of Ireland and indeed most institutions of note on the island. While not all of its members are not so much lunatic killers, as loyal British subjects, doing the bidding of a secret state of British intelligence, that has gone insanely rogue and unaccountable. The case of the politically interned Marian Price is but another example.
Outside her internment, the life of Marian Price has been destroyed by the "grossly reckless" conduct of Britain's secret service MI5 terrorists. Marian is a victim of "targeted malice" of a prejudged faceless secret service of secret judges, secret jury and secret executioners. MI5 and the British secret state has manifested a perverse calculated effort of secret political internment, to give effect to their prejudgment, that secret evidence, with the vested interest of highly paid secret informers, to the British secret services. The malfeasance of British bigoted, sectarian public office of British institutions involved in cases such as the Guilford Four, the Birmingham Six are infamous and par to the same form of injustice that fuels the ongoing conflict.
The consequence of destroying irreparably the lives of Irish women and their families is a prime cause of the ongoing troubles. In the case of Marian Price six months of force feeding, a year of psychological torture in solitary confinement, combined with her second Christmas politically interned without a transparent trial that is calculated to destroy her physically and mentally.The British having accepted the allegations from the outset and have at every step sheltered the allegations from appropriate public scrutiny, thereby ensuring that Marian Price would suffer the maximum painful agony in her confined condition.The political internment of Marian Price has been conducted in a manner calculated to ensure a predetermined conclusion not to be deflected or disturbed by any meaningful input by Marian Price or her defence lawyers.
Besides the psychological torture endured by Marian, her indefinite internment, coupled with seriously painful physical condition as a result of her treatment at the hands of the British, Marian has endured extraordinarily high levels of stress and great mental anguish suffered in isolation. The reality of the abuse of British Occupation behind the cloak of secrecy provided by the Official Secrets Act, the secret services, secret evidence, secret witness, secret courts, secret allegations and secrecy provisions governing matters concerned with the secret Nazi regime running British Occupied Ireland, is that there is absolutely no accountability.The fact is, that this bizarre form of political interment and conduct detailed again below, evinces the unjust reality of life in British Occupied Ireland. The fact that it has dragged on so long, is confirmation of the abdication of judicial, journalistic and political responsibilities, that are basic to any form of a civilized state with even a modicum of democracy.
Where to begin describing the secret reality behind the cloak and dagger operations of Britain's spooky secret state?. How to lift the fog of secrecy, complacency, that has been allowed to congregate around the public's understanding of British Secret State Terrorism? "Targeted assassination", "Political Internment", "Malfeasance", "targeted infiltrated media malice", "unaccountability", "war crimes", "human rights abuse", these are but a few of the terms that encapsulate what I am trying to explain. These phrases refer to the oppression of one Irish citizen (British commoner) by an agency representing the British Police State of Occupation, paid for by British taxpayers. The perpetrators in these crimes against Marian, will likely never face a court of law, will probably never be photographed, as they hide in secrecy, unaccountable from the public gaze. They will never have their names in the media but rather these state terrorists, will continue in their positions, unfazed to murder and intern without trial human rights lawyers, journalists and prisoner rights activists such as Marian Price was before her internment.
The facts are that Marian Price is just one, of several Irish people currently secretly politically interned in British Occupied Ireland, during which time lawyers have not been allowed to see any of Britain's 'alleged' evidence.
• She has been kept in solitary confinement in a 'male' high security prison
• She is effectively interned without a trial, sentence, or release date.
• She has not been given any timescale for any investigation.
• She has not been allowed to see the evidence that the state claims to have
• Her release has been ordered on two occasions by judges. However, on both occasions the British Vice royal has overruled those decisions.
• The Vice royal claims they 'revoked Marian's license, 'despite Marian never being released on license. She was given a Royal Pardon.
• Marian's Royal Pardon has 'gone missing' from the home office (the only time in history). The British Vice royal has taken the view that unless a paper copy can be located – it must be assumed that she does not have one. It is generally agreed that MI5 shredded her majesty's pardon.
• Despite no 'license' existing for her release from prison in 1980, it is the non-existent licence that is being used to keep her in prison.
• She can only be released by Theresa Villiers the current Vice royal responsible for Marian's internment.
The charges against Marian were thrown out of court because of a lack of evidence. Now the very same charges have been re-instated against Marian again before the same Judge.
In secret courts, being introduced by the back door, through legislation in the House of Lords, MI5 the British secret services are pushing for secret trials, with secret evidence by secret witnesses, that the defendant's appointed lawyer is not allowed to access, see or refute. The length of sentence is also kept secret, under penalty of a long jail sentence by Britain's Official Secret's Act. This trial of Marian Price is believed to have already occurred in secret, with the public hearings and a show trial being simply a public rubber stamp on more injustice against Marian Price in of British Occupied Ireland.
Another Shot Dead in Kitsonian Feud in Dublin
Gardai don't know where the shooting took place but find the car that brought the victim to St James's in Dublin.
Image: Photocall Ireland
A 35-YEAR-OLD man died last night after he was brought to a Dublin city hospital. The man was left at St James's Hospital, with gunshot wounds, at 7 pm. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Gardai are investigating where the shooting took place as the location is not known. The car used to carry the man to hospital was later found on Cork Street in Dublin and the area around it for technical examination.
Friday-Thursday, 21-27 December, 2012
2. Corey's bail order overturned
3. PSNI target Christmas celebrations
4. Flags issue tension dissipates
5. Coalition targets internet critics
6. Arson attack on Catholic church
7. Feature: The 1982 papers
8. Analysis: Calls for full dialogue falling on deaf ears
Official records have revealed that the British government had a plan to
'brainwash' Long Kesh hunger strikers to end their protest individually.
Previously classified papers also reveal that the Conservative
government of the 1980s considered a proposal from an influential
backbencher to put the prisoners on a prison ship during the height of
the hunger strikes -- and as they died, dispose of their bodies at sea.
Ten republican prisoners, including Bobby Sands, died in their 1981
campaign against the criminalisation of the republican armed struggle.
Official records have now revealed that the British government sought to
use psychological strategies on prisoners to abandon their protest as
they lay starving to death in the prison hospital.
British officials hoped that by engineering a "capitulation" by one or
more prisoners, the hunger strike would be thrown into disarray. They
claimed that even if the plan later became public knowledge, it would be
defensible because it would be seen to have prevented "pointless"
In a memo circulated to colleagues on 1 June, 1981, senior Northern
Ireland Office official R A Harrington recalled that SDLP MP John Hume
had described the parents of Derry hunger striker, Kevin Lynch as
"typical decent anti-IRA people" who would "do almost anything" to
prevent their son's death.
Harrington said that in his view, "capitulation (i.e. a decision to take
food) by one of the hunger strikers would be of enormous value to us,
not just in itself but because of the great disarray into which the PIRA
propaganda effort would be thrown".
It might be possible, he argued, to engage the Catholic Church,
"possibly with the help of Bishop Philbin", to bring further pressure to
bear on the prisoner and his family.
Another official said the "only obvious candidate for the brain washing
would be assistant governor McCartney who visits the hospital regularly
in the normal course of events," he said.
But there was a concern that the rapidly failing health of the hunger
strikers made it difficult to implement the strategy.
One memo asked: "Is there any possibility of using all the resources
available to us to identify the best candidate for capitulation and then
go to some lengths to organise pressure on them over the next number of
weeks before his condition becomes critical?"
There were also proposals to feed the prisoners intravenously, which
raised concerns because it would require drugging the prisoners.
The protest ultimately ended on 3 October, 1981 after the families of
some of the prisoners were allegedly encouraged by the prison chaplain
to intervene to save the lives of their loved ones as they neared death.
Another significant note confirms the British government was prepared to
make the key concession of allowing the prisoners to wear their own
clothing if the hunger strike was brought to an end.
While the Thatcher administration's public stance at the time was
defiance of the prisoners' five demands and a refusal to negotiate, one
note form June 1981 indicated possible "adjustments" to the H-Block
"If the hunger strikes ended the government would be prepared to
consider adjustments to the prison regime but the government would need
strong evidence that the strike had ended before it could contemplate
any adjustments," the NIO (Northern Ireland Office) document said.
"The adjustments involved would include freedom for the prisoners to
wear their own clothIng and perhaps other moves."
The papers, released under the 30-year-rule, also show that the British
government considered a bizarre suggestion to tip the bodies of Irish
hunger strikers into the sea from a prison ship. The plan was mooted by
former Home Secretary David Waddington before he was promoted to
Margaret Thatcher's cabinet.
"The boat could cruise for long periods of time, calling at various
ports around Britain for supplies and a change of staff and could anchor
for long periods off-shore," he said. "Any of the terrorists who passed
away could be buried at sea, removing the publicity which these people
appear to seek."
His suggestion was ultimately rejected -- but only on cost grounds.
Prisons minister Michael Alison said the ship would cost more to run,
need more staff and be less secure. He concluded the measure could only
be justified as a temporary expedient in an emergency and was not a
long-term solution.
>>>>>> Corey's bail order overturned
British Direct Ruler Theresa Villiers has won a legal bid to continue
the internment of veteran republican Martin Corey.
Senior judges upheld a challenge brought by the state to a ruling that
Martin Corey's human rights had been breached in keeping him behind
It means the 65-year-old will remain in jail, at least until separate
proceedings go before the Supreme Court in London.
Mr Corey, from Lurgan, County Armagh, was interned in April 2010 when
former British Direct Ruler Shaun Woodward ordered his "recall" to
prison on the basis of "closed material" and unspecified allegations of
involvement with "dissidents".
In July this year, he won a judicial review over a Parole Commissioners
decision to keep him behind bars and was ordered released on bail. A
High Court judge held that their determination on whether it was safe to
release him had breached his rights under European law. He found that
the open evidence did not advance the British case against Corey,
meaning that the decision was solely based on "closed" or "secret"
Amid a legal scramble, pending a full appeal against the judgment,
lawyers for the British government successfully applied for a stay on
the bail order. They argued that the High Court has no jurisdiction to
grant bail in judicial review proceedings. Corey's legal team are
currently seeking to challenge that determination at the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the appeal against the judicial review ruling was heard by
three senior judges. It was argued that there was enough open material
to allow Corey the chance to present a defence.
The Court of Appeal had to decide whether the process undertaken by the
panel, involving a "gist" of the information, was flawed. Judges carried
out the assessment without access to the alleged secret material.
Delivering judgment on Friday, Justice Morgan said there were "specific"
allegations in regard to conversations Mr Corey had taken part in.
"We cannot infer that the disclosure was inadequate," he said. "A denial
by the detainee that a meeting occurred or that a topic was discussed
addresses a specific allegation and is quite different from the denial
of a general allegation such as membership of an organisation."
Sinn Fein Justice Spokesperson Raymond McCartney Assembly member has
said Mr Corey's internment should end.
"Today's decision to continue the detention of Martin Corey needs to be
challenged," he said.
"The British Secretary of State cannot be allowed to continue the
internment of Martin Corey on unseen evidence.
"Either the PSNI bring charges against Martin Corey that will allow him
the opportunity to defend himself in a court of law or they should
release him immediately."
>>>>>> PSNI target Christmas celebrations
A County Derry Sinn Fein councillor has accused the PSNI police of
harassment after his brother's house was raided on Christmas Eve, while
the family of an eirigi activist were kept apart for the holiday by
bizarre bail demands.
Former mayor of Limavady, Sean McGlinchey hit out after his brother
Paul's home, which is near Toomebridge in County Antrim, was sealed off
for several hours on Monday as the property was raided.
Another house and a farmyard in nearby Portglenone were also sealed off
and searched. The men are brothers of murdered INLA chief Dominic
McGlinchey and Paul is a former member of Sinn Fein who left the party
in 2006 over its stance on policing.
Paul McGlinchey's wife Cindy was treated in hospital after being injured
during the raid. She was pinned to the wall and had her left arm, which
was removed from plaster last week after she was injured by a horse,
forcibly dragged up behind her back. "At no time did they tell me they
had a warrant," she said.
Former republican prisoner Paul McGlinchey said two of his daughters who
were in the house were left "traumatised" by the incident. "It destroyed
Christmas for everyone," he said.
His brother said he would raise questions about Monday's raid with the
"This was a disgrace on Christmas Eve," he said. "Especially when you
consider this warrant was signed on December 18 and the search could
have been carried out any time.
"I am a member of Sinn Fein and I support the position on talking to the
police but this is harassment of people on Christmas Eve."
The Sinn Fein councillor, who was influential in encouraging republicans
in County Derry to support the party's policing policy, said the
incident would have an impact on "public confidence".
"How are you ever going to build public confidence in the police after
things like this?" he said. "This sets things back. Me and other members
of my family are disgusted."
Meanwhile, a member of eirigi has spent Christmas behind bars after
refusing to accept punitive PSNI bail conditions imposed upon him at a
court hearing in Belfast High Court last week.
Newry man Stephen Murney is currently being held in Maghaberry prison
since being arrested and imprisoned three weeks ago. The socialist
republican is strenuously contesting the charges against him, centred on
allegations that he had photographs of police members on his computer
amounting to "terrorist" information.
His lawyers sought to have him released on bail. The presiding judge
agreed to his release on bail but, at the behest of the PSNI, then
agreed to impose a wide series of very stringent conditions upon him.
Following a consultation with his lawyers, Mr Murney indicated that
these conditions were totally unacceptable.
In a statement, Eirigi General Secretary Breandan Mac Cionnaith said:
"Today's bail hearing again demonstrated the very flimsy and nebulous
nature of the charges on which Stephen Murney is being held. I had an
opportunity to speak with Stephen this afternoon after he had been
visited by his mother, his wife and his young son.
"Stephen is married with a young son. The extreme conditions which the
court sought to impose upon him included not being permitted to live in
his own home with his own family. Among the many other conditions were
stipulations that he could not live in, or enter Newry at any time; had
to live several miles away from his wife and young son; report daily to
a PSNI barracks in Newtownhamilton; live under a strict curfew and wear
an electronic tagging device.
"Stephen said that these conditions meant that he would have only the
most minimal contact with his wife and young son and that forcing him to
live elsewhere was solely designed to penalise his family.
"Stephen also said that as he is totally innocent of the charges laid
against him. He is not prepared to permit either himself or his family
to be humiliated by the courts or the PSNI. Neither is he prepared to be
branded as a criminal by wearing an electronic tagging device.
"This is a very principled position which Stephen has taken. It is also
a very difficult one, particularly at this time of the year, as
Christmas is a time when families should be together and not be kept
apart as a result of draconian measures imposed by courts in response to
demands by the PSNI.
"The charges against Stephen are directly related to him taking
photographs of PSNI harassment at a protest in Newry and having three
uniforms belonging to a band. We have no doubt that the PSNI case
against Stephen will eventually collapse and be completely exposed as a
totally vindictive, fabricated and unjust action."
>>>>>> Flags issue tension dissipates
Protests by loyalists and hardline unionists on the issue of flying the
British flag at Belfast City Hall have sharply decreased in size and
Just 70 protesters gathered for a flag demonstration on Saturday, and
only 20 turning up for a city centre protest on Thursday. Previous city
centre demonstrations had seen crowds of up to 1,000 force the closure
of the continental market and cause massive disruption to shoppers and
The protests are an attempt to force a u-turn by Belfast city
councillors after they voted to reduce the number of days on which the
Union Jack flies over Belfast City Hall.
Earlier this month, it was decided to fly the British flag on 17
designated days, in line with most other civic buildings.
The reduced pickets follow weeks of traffic chaos in Belfast and other
locations as the PSNI police declined to prevent loyalists from blocking
main roads and engaging in disturbances. Mob violence and riots also
broke out at several such events.
Last Friday, on one of the busiest shopping days of the year, loyalist
roadblocks again caused huge disruption to commuters and shoppers.
Dozens of protests were held across greater Belfast, and although they
were much smaller than previously, they remained effective in causing
There were also fresh clashes in the lower Newtownards Road area of east
Belfast later as petrol bombs and other missiles were thrown at police.
Further protests were also held in other towns around the north.
But this week, protestors were outnumbered by tourists and onlookers,
and politicians said things had moved on.
One long-serving SDLP councillor, Pat McCarthy, said attempts to
intimidate councillors into reversing their decision had failed.
"They can do what they want but the democratic vote has been taken and
it is for designated days," he said.
"I stood and watched them and ordinary people were standing there and
watching them as well and laughing at them."
A recent vote by Newry council to name a small local park after former
hunger striker Raymond McCreesh has also infuriated unionists.
DUP councillor Ruth Patterson, who took part in one protest, claimed
there was a Sinn Fein plot to undermine unionism by "dilution".
"The stripping and chipping away of items from within city hall that are
British, military or loyal is an antagonising ploy by Sinn Fein to rub
salt into an already seeping wound," she wrote.
Among the other blows she listed were changes to the murderous B
Specials, UDR and RUC and restrictions on loyal order marches.
"Orange, Black and Apprentice Boys parades have rigorous restrictions
placed upon them," she wrote.
"You can play here but you can't play there. You can march here but you
can't march there."
"And now to add insult to injury the Protestant people have seen the
removal of their beloved Union flag from the most iconic building in the
capital city of Northern Ireland."
Former Mayor of Belfast, Sinn Fein's Niall O Donnghaile, said Ms
Patterson was wrong.
"In relation to city hall she is wrong. There is no erosion and there
has not been any erosion," he said.
"Anybody who walks around Belfast City Hall will see there has been no
erosion of British, unionist or military symbols.
"As for the B Specials and the UDR, they are both discredited sectarian
Mr O Donnghaile urged his unionist counterpart to show "leadership" to
those who elected her.
"This is about equality and nobody, including Ruth Patterson, should
fear equality," he said.
"If unionists and loyalists have had poor leadership, she is an elected
representative so she should show some leadership.
"Belfast is not a city of the UDR or the B Specials or one-party rule.
It's a city for all and there is a place for us all in this city."
>>>>>> Coalition targets internet critics
The 26-County government has been accused of planning to introduce
censorship and free speech 'chilling' measures following the tragic
death last week of Fine Gael's junior minister at the Department of
Agriculture, Shane McEntee.
It is believed that Mr McEntee came under heavy criticism in the
aftermath of last month's unprecedented austerity budget announcement,
and that this may have contributed to his shock suicide near his home in
County Meath.
The current government has recently tapped into a wellspring of public
anger not seen since the collapse of the previous Fianna Fail/Green
Party government, when ministers were routinely spat upon and shouted at
by members of the public. Fine Gael and Labour politicians have been
excoriated for their austerity attacks on Ireland's poorest while
preserving their own salaries, expenses and pensions, which are among
the highest in Europe.
At one time Mr McEntee enjoyed strong personal popularity in his Meath
East constituency. But a tsunami of anger over government cutbacks were
fuelled by comments he made on highly controversial cuts to respite care
In December's announcements of the state's fiscal plans for next year,
it was revealed that the annual grant to those receiving respite care --
state assistance for those caring for terminally ill family members --
would be cut by 300 euro to 1,375 euro.
Mr McEntee told a newspaper interviewer that: "You could stay in a top
hotel for [euro]700 a week," adding: "People just have to get on with it."
His remark fuelled a torrent of personal abuse, while Fianna Fail
described it as "callous and crass".
At his funeral, there were suggestions that the trenchant criticism, as
well as condemnation of his department's failure to tackle a disease
killing Irish Ash trees, came as a grave psychological blow.
Speaking at the funeral, Gerry McEntee particularly pointed the figure
at internet commentators.
"Shame on you people who made comments online -- I hope you are not
proud of what you have achieved," he said.
Former Taoiseach John Bruton, a friend of Mr McEntee, called for an end
to the practice of text messages being read out on TV and radio without
those who sent them in being publicly identified. Another government
figure, Transport Minister Leo Varadkar, told state-run radio this week
that his government wants to "control the internet".
The various statements have been viewed with concern by free speech
activists, who compared the proposals to moves recently announced by the
Chinese government to declare certain blogs "illegal".
Green Party TD Dan Boyle said he couldn't take Fine Gael suggestions on
anonymous comments seriously, as Fine Gael had long encouraged party
members to contact radio stations with pro-government comments.
"Fine Gael has long run campaigns of 'ordinary' people texting," he
>>>>>> Arson attack on Catholic church
A Catholic priest has urged those responsible for a suspected sectarian
arson attack on his County Antrim church to leave their Catholic
neighbours in peace.
Fr Anthony Curran said he believed the attack, which caused thousands of
pounds of damage to Our Lady of Lourdes Church at Whitehead, was
connected to the ongoing loyalist protests over the removal of the Union
flag from Belfast City Hall.
Significant damage was caused to a boiler room in yesterday's attack.
It is understood that a claw hammer was used to smash into the building
at around 3.40am.
The blaze destroyed a heating boiler and badly damaged electrical wiring
and although it had not spread into the church by the time fire fighters
arrived, there was some smoke damage.
A number of large statues and religious artefacts which were being
stored in the boiler room were destroyed.
Sunday Mass and Christmas Mass had to be celebrated in the nearby parish
Asked if he believed the attack was connected to protects linked to the
removal of the Union flag from Belfast City Hall Parish Fr Curran said:
"I presume it would be a fair judgment to make. We can't say [for sure].
It would seem to be.
"We are always a bit apprehensive when things get tense like this over
the past couple of weeks."
Fr Curran said parishioners were shocked by the fire.
"I feel sorry for the elderly pensioners. They were distressed," he
"The church has been there for 100 years and many of these people have
lived here for many years. It's very precious to them.
"It's at the heart of the community and in the last year their school
has been closed so it is even more special to them.
"These people are very generous in their attitudes towards other people.
"When it comes to the Saint Vincent de Paul they are very generous and
items would be given to both Protestant and Catholic people."
Fr Curran urged those behind the attacks to leave their Catholic
neighbours in peace.
"It's very hard to fathom the minds of people who would do that," he
"I would say to them we are not your enemies.
"Whatever grievances you have they can't be resolved by attacking your
Catholic neighbours.
"We as a parish community feel strongly about the community and
inter-Church relations and we are anxious to maintain that."
East Antrim Sinn Fein assembly member Oliver McMullan offered his
sympathies to those affected by the fire.
"I though the days of burning down and destroying places of worship had
gone and now we are back to this again," he said.
Alliance East Antrim Assembly member Stewart Dickson, whose constituency
office in Carrickfergus was ransacked and torched by a loyalist mob
earlier this month, also condemned the arson attack.
"There can never be any justification for an attack on a place of
worship," he said.
>>>>>> Feature: The 1982 papers
A look at some of the other stories which emerged from initial
reviews of the archived classified papers, partially declassified
in Dublin, Belfast and London this week under the '30 years rule'.
The 1982 papers released from Whitehall this week on Anglo-Irish
relations are punctuated with sharp rebukes by Margaret Thatcher to her
own civil servants.
"No!" she would mark in the margins of various talks and peace
proposals. Her advice to her own officials was to keep correspondence
with Dublin "long, worthy, meaty and dull", with the unstated intention
of doing nothing.
The Irish papers also reveal that the 1983 'New Ireland Forum' was
originally planned as a cover for what Dublin officials admitted was "a
mark-time period, in respect of dealings with the British". Its main
function was to boost the moderate nationalist SDLP following a surge in
support for Sinn Fein in the aftermath of the 1981 hunger strike.
The Forum's report, published on 2 May 1984, listed three possible
alternative structures: a unitary state, a federal/confederal state, and
joint British/Irish authority. The British Prime Minister, Margaret
Thatcher, dismissed the three alternatives one by one at a press
conference, each time saying, "that is out", in a response that became
known as the "out, out, out" speech.
But amid the stalemate on the North in 1982, the papers show that worst
spat between the Dublin and London governments came when former
26-County Taoiseach Charles Haughey refused to support Britain's efforts
to reoccupy Argentina's Malvinas islands. He had described the Falklands
conflict as "a ridiculous war, a war that should not have happened".
Tensions between the two governments worsened following the Belgrano
massacre, when an Argentinian ship was ordered sunk by Margaret Thatcher
in neutral, international waters, with the loss of over 600 lives.
Thatcher, infuriated by Haughey's lack of support for sanctions against
Argentina, asked her home secretary William Whitelaw to explore new laws
to disenfranchise Irish citizens living in Britain and the north of
The move, which would have left up to half a million Irish without a
vote, was ultimately abandoned.
* US Senator Ted Kennedy tried to intervene with the British
government's handling of the crisis at doomed car manufacturer deLorean.
The ill-fated car plant in Belfast, built with millions of pounds of
funding from the British exchequer, closed in 1982 after the company
went into liquidation and following the arrest of its founder John de
Lorean on drug trafficking charges.
De Lorean blamed the Northern Ireland Development Agency (NIDA), which
had offered 100 million pounds to set up the factory, for many of the
However, Mr de Lorean had some influential friends in American politics.
A British official said he had been contacted by the Irish Embassy which
told him "that the Irish had been approached by Senator Edward Kennedy
about de Lorean" so as to "bring pressure to bear on HMG (Her
Majesty'sGovernment)" to inject further financial support into the
The memo reveals that on this occasion, his interest was not welcomed.
"The Irish (I assume their Embassy in Washington) had warned Senator
Kennedy that it would not be appropriate to intervene and had pointed
out that the situation was a good deal more complex than it might
appear," it read.
Later, an NIDA appointee to the DMC board in New York described Mr de
Lorean as being "in a disturbed state and possibly not wholly rational".
Reporting from a meeting of the board to discuss the future of the
company, he said it was "a shambles", "a fantasy" and "an orchestrated
pantomime" with "a good deal of abuse from Mr de Lorean".
* Confusion and embarrassment reigned when the late president Patrick
Hillery, acting on government and official advice, gave two
contradictory responses to the birth on June 21st, 1982 of Prince
William to the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The recommendation from the Department of Foreign Affairs was that the
president should not send congratulations, since Prince Charles was not
a head of state, but this was countermanded within hours by a government
* The British embassy in Washington claimed that republican veteran
Dessie Ellis, who was arrested in the US in 1981, was "linked by
forensic evidence to some 50 murders". Mr Ellis was extradited in 1983,
and sentenced in Dublin for the explosives offences. He went on hunger
strike for 37 days in 1990 while facing extradition to Britain. He was
ultimately acquitted in London, and is now the serving Sinn Fein TD for
Dublin North-West.
A Sinn Fein spokesman today said Dessie Ellis rejected the claims.
"Irish Republicans do not attach any value to claims made in secret
documents emanating from the British secret services, who were
responsible for countless murders in Ireland during the course of the
conflict," he said.
* Hundreds of files were again withheld in the annual release of
government papers this year, most noticeably in relation to British
accounts of the 1981 hunger strike. In many cases, papers were partially
blacked out or censored in order to protect identities and/or British
>>>>>> Analysis: Calls for full dialogue falling on deaf ears
By Brian Feeney (for Irish News)
It's been the dialogue of the deaf this year again. Remember after
their election triumph in 2011 the first minister and deputy first
minister admitted they had failed to deliver in the 2007 to 2011
assembly? They promised this assembly session they would deliver. They
haven't and all the evidence suggests 2013 won't be any different.
The assembly managed to pass a mere five pieces of legislation this
year, none of them important. On the other hand everything important
has stalled. The DUP has blocked every single proposal for change. So,
the Education and Skills Authority, which should have been up and
running in 2008 is stuck and unlikely to meet its latest target date of
next April. No progress on the 11-plus fiasco. No progress on parades,
promised as part of the Hillsborough deal in 2010. No policy paper on
Cohesion, Sharing and Integration, which Peter Robinson claimed would be
out before Christmas. He got the wrong Christmas obviously.
The decade of centenaries -- a shared history, remember that? -- got off
to a great start with a massive sectarian parade through Belfast to
Stormont to commemorate the 1912 Covenant. If you read any of the
speeches from 1912 you can see nothing has changed in unionism, for the
speeches at Stormont and in unionist councils were exactly the same this
year. All around the north the great and the good were engaged in
cross-community debates, symposiums, presentations but the leaders of
unionism sank back into tribalism. The Irish government appointed a
committee to manage the various commemorations due over the next 10
years. No wonder they've gone very quiet in the past six months.
With the centenary of the founding of the Ulster Volunteers and the
Irish Volunteers coming up next year there's not much chance of
cross-community action if this year's covenant events are the model.
Curiously enough the centenary of the UVF is January 13 2013 and lo and
behold, a century after the treasonous force was formed to defy the
democratic decision of the Westminster parliament here is unionism again
trying to subvert democracy by violence and the threat of violence.
The refusal of unionist leaders to condemn unequivocally the
intimidatory road blocks that ruined Christmas trading and spoiled so
many people's enjoyment of the beginning of the holiday period is
scandalous. Equally deplorable is for unionist leaders to take up and
legitimise the undemocratic demands of the flag-waving rabble and
present them at talks with other parties. Their retreat into tribalism
is complete with the establishment of their so-called Unionist Forum
instead of seeking an accommodation across the divide as Martin
McGuinness offered.
None of it bodes well for Sinn Fein's reconciliation project inaugurated
last Easter by Declan Kearney. Kearney's overtures were instantly
rejected by all shades of unionism. A carefully worked speech he made at
Westminster in October was greeted with alarm bordering on hysteria by
unionists. Yet Kearney was speaking for Sinn Fein, the DUP's partner in
the north's administration. Clearly unionists do not want to talk about
the future about which it seems they are increasingly fearful. They
lacked the confidence to respond to a single item of substance in
Kearney's speech. They rejected the opportunity to move forward by
negotiation. Who are they to make progress with except Sinn Fein?
Turning inward into their 'forum' will achieve nothing, You probably
don't know this and there's no reason you should but Robinson came up
with exactly the same wheeze in 2008, a unionist think-tank called the
'Unionist Academy' and a 'cultural fightback'. It never got off the
ground. Even if it had, like the present attempt at unionist unity, it
could take no decisions without Sinn Fein and sitting having substantive
discussions with Sinn Fein is the only way forward.
That has never happened without pressure from the British and Irish
governments who have remained completely disengaged in the present
Sinn Fein has taken the initiative by proposing a way to look at the
future. Unionists aren't listening. There are none so deaf as those who
will not hear. It's coming to the time when the two governments are also
going to have to live up to their responsibilities.


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Scott Skiles is a disciplinarian, a stickler for fundamentals, a straight-shooter who holds his players accountable, a good strategist. He's everything a young NBA team needs in a coach.
Scott Skiles is a disciplinarian, a stickler for fundamentals, a straight-shooter who holds his players accountable, a good strategist. He's everything a young NBA team needs in a coach. When a team matures, when the natural next step is championship contention, when egos swell and when players' minds fixate on contracts and trade rumors, is Skiles still the right coach? Well, I respect Skiles too much to say the Chicago Bulls should fire him, but it doesn't take a seer to see the inevitable coming. John Paxson hired Skiles, likes Skiles and shares offensive, defensive and personnel philosophies with Skiles. The general manager believes the coach is the least of the problems for a supposed contender that had lost 10 of its first 12 games before Tuesday night's practically unwatchable 90-78 victory over the equally wretched Atlanta Hawks. Although Pax probably is right, it doesn't mean Skiles will make it to the end of a contract that runs through the 2008-09 season. After all, Bill Cartwright was Paxson's former teammate and friend, but the GM fired that coach 14 games into their working relationship back in 2003. When a team with great expectations struggles, the coach takes the heat. "Fair? Unfair? I don't know," Bulls center Ben Wallace said. "That's just the way it is, the nature of the beast." It's a familiar scenario. Skiles was canned by the Suns in 2002 because Phoenix players (notably Jason Kidd, an infamous coach-killer) had tuned him out. In the late-1980s, Doug Collins took the Bulls to the brink of greatness only to be replaced by Phil Jackson, who soon started winning titles with the team Collins left behind. Back then, the Bulls desperately sought a coach who could get Michael Jordan and his supporting cast to play team-oriented, championship-caliber basketball. Skiles only wishes he had a Jordan-sized "problem." His Bulls feature an interesting mix of oldies (Wallace, Joe Smith), inexperienced kids (Tyrus Thomas, Thabo Sefolosha, Joakim Noah) and young veterans who should be entering their prime (Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Andres Nocioni). They are too short. They have too many one-dimensional players. They lack both a low-post offensive presence and a late-game go-to guy. And they are far too dependent on outside shooting, which so far this season has been as reliable as a '58 Edsel. "I wish I could stand right here right now and nitpick at a couple things," Skiles said before Tuesday's game. "Across the board, when you're 30th in points per game, 30th in field-goal percentage and 30th in 3-point percentage ... we have to play better offense. Until we do that, it's gonna be hard to get wins." Averaging 86.8 points and shooting 38.6 percent, the Bulls probably would rank 100th offensive if the NBA had 100 teams. They also keep making the same mistakes, a pattern that suggests players tuning out their coach. "Four out of five possessions, you miss a shot, and the guys are even talking amongst themselves: 'Look, we've got to get to the basket,'" Skiles said. "But then somebody will put the ball on the floor and try to get to the basket and (the opponent) will steal it, the shot will get blocked or we'll throw it into the seats. And that becomes frustrating." Fans who watched the Bulls make the playoffs for three years running and get to the second round last season have grown increasingly frustrated this fall. There have been boos and Bronx cheers and chants of "Ko-bee! Ko-bee!" (because Paxson couldn't pull off a much-rumored deal for Kobe Bryant). The Bulls were playing horribly Tuesday even before Hinrich passed up a break-away layup to give the ball to Noah for a thunderous dunk. One problem: Noah wasn't expecting the pass and the Hawks came away with the turnover. As a disbelieving Skiles shook his head, the fans howled. Eventually, the Bulls hustled their way to a small halftime lead. And by shooting 50 percent and scoring 36 points in the third quarter, they actually resembled a playoff team - and gave fans hope of big things to come. But how big? The Bulls are what they are. Even if they make the kind of charge-into-the-postseason run that has characterized the Skiles Era, the Bulls have the look of a team just good enough to get the coach fired. Mike Nadel (email@example.com) is the Chicago sports columnist for GateHouse News Service. Read his blog, The Baldest Truth, at www.thebaldesttruth.com.


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I can work on your project.
Find me! Call DAP at 214.350.7678 or email firstname.lastname@example.com. Also check out echocollectivefx.com for custom sfx, and tonebenders.net for my podcast.
Monday, March 14
quickie shootout-744t vs PCM D50 with phantom power
Last week I sold my Tascam DR-100. While its a good recorder, it wasn't meeting my needs with regards to ergonomics and battery power.
This left my portable rig a little short handed since my PCM D50 is now my only capture device and it doesn't have XLR inputs or phantom power.
After some reflection I decided to forgo grabbing another handheld recorder and instead to just roll with the D50 plus a phantom power unit for now. The question became, which one?
The market is pretty broad. Phantom power units run from ARTs $70 Phantom II on up to Sony's $450 XLR1 with just about no change in feature set.
My initial thought was "hey, it's phantom power. what's it going to do to the sound? probably nothing." Then I found this website. Whoops. Eyes opened. ART, Juicedlink and Beachtek entirely out of the question now. Only a video guy could love those things.
The rolls was serviceable, but I'm not really looking for a serviceable rig. I want the D50 to give me all its got, and I don't want anything in the way. I decided to grit my teeth and get the XLR1, so I started price shopping. Along that route I found this page, which showed the lengths an XLR1 owner had to go to in order to get the thing ergonomically workable with his D50. He extended the factory mounting plate and still wasn't exactly in love.
Then I remembered a little box that we have in the office. The Denecke PS-2. $135, stereo, smaller than the XLR1, solid brand name, made of metal but still incredibly light, and I'd have to mod a mounting plate anyway. Seems pretty straighforward, but how does it sound?
Time to test it out.
I ran this test similarly to how I did my handheld shootout test, though more low key and less extensively.
To set up I ran an AT 4050 through a whirlwind splitter. One side went to the Denecke and into the D50. The other went into a sound devices 744t.
I rolled pink noise through the studio speakers and calibrated 75dbspl to equal -12 dbfs on both devices. Then I did a little speaking into the mic and struck a noah bell. The results speak for themselves.
sample 1 by Rcoronado
sample 2 by Rcoronado
So this kind of turned into a D50 vs 744t shootout as well, and I think its pretty interesting. There's a little diff in the midrange, which is at least interesting. Its visible in izotope and and most pronounced in the pink noise test.
Outside of that its pretty darn close. The D50s pre's are as clean as the 744t, and seem to handle transients and the human voice similarly.
The final verdict for me is that the Denecke has the same feature set and sonic quality as the sony XLR1 but $300 cheaper. Both units would take some modification to any mounting plates, so I call that a clear win for the Denecke.
Secondarily, the Sony performed very well sonically vs the much more expensive 744t. The ergonomics of a Sony D50/Denecke rig are not close to what you'll get with the 744t, but once the recordings are done you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.
In the end I'll be very proud to roll on anything with that little rig when it's all put together and buttoned up.
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VANCOUVER — Vladimir Krutov was remembered Wednesday as an excellent Soviet hockey player but not one suited to play in the National Hockey League or live a western lifestyle.
The 52-year-old Krutov died Wednesday in Moscow due to complications from internal bleeding. He had been rushed to hospital on Sunday.
"I think Kruts was the proverbial fish out of water," said Paul Reinhart, a former teammate on the Vancouver Canucks. "He just never really got adjusted or acclimatized to the North American world and, therefore, he was never able to produce. But he was as good a player all through the 1980s as anybody in the world. I think the shame for Kruts is that he was not suited to leave Russia. And that's unfortunate."
Krutov was 29 when he and fellow countryman Igor Larionov joined the Canucks for the 1989-90 NHL season.
Krutov and Larionov formed two-thirds of the Soviets' famed KLM line. Sergei Makarov was the third member while defencemen Slava Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov completed the five-man Green Unit that terrorized their opponents internationally.
While the other four had significant NHL careers after coming over, Krutov reported to the Canucks overweight and out of shape and lasted just one season in Vancouver, scoring 11 goals in 61 games. Pat Quinn was Canucks GM during that time and he recalled dealing with a miserably unhappy player.
"Larionov was a very urbane, worldly educated sort of guy and was excellent in English while Krutov not so much," Quinn explained. "He didn't have any English and was a peasant in terms of his upbringing. He was certainly a good hockey player but, unlike Larionov who was able to make the transition quite easily and welcomed it, Krutov was homesick right away.
"It was a terrible experience for him. He really wasn't enjoying it all and he didn't want to be here. You could see flashes of his hockey ability from time to time but not enough. He couldn't sustain it. He wasn't conditioned well. His passing is sad. We never got to know him really well."
Reinhart was able to see Krutov as both a teammate and an adversary. Prior to them being joined on the 1989-90 Canucks, Reinhart competed against Krutov internationally, beginning with a tournament in the former Czechoslovakia in 1979.
"I'd say I probably played against Kruts maybe 10 times, including the 1981 Canada Cup and a number of world championships," said Reinhart, now a mining executive in Vancouver. "He was an absolute bull of a player. He was a plug in terms of how strong he was. With his combination of skill and strength on his feet, he was exceptional. When he was here with the Canucks, we never saw him at his best, or anywhere near it."
Reinhart also recalled that 1989 was a time when European-trained players weren't as readily accepted as they are today, especially those coming from an Iron Curtain country.
"We tend to forget how hard it was for the Russians coming over," continued Reinhart, five months older than Krutov. "They were not only leaving their own system and culture, they were coming to a culture that wasn't necessarily welcoming. What I mean by that is the fact Kruts and Larionov were among the first Russians, the pioneers, to come over here. There were some reservations by Canadians, Canadian hockey players and media in terms of 'hey, what are these Russians doing here, stealing our jobs and taking our money?'
"I'm not suggesting that was a main factor in Kruts not adjusting," added Reinhart, "but it certainly was an underlying one. He left a very rigid environment that he was very controlled in. He just had a very tough time adjusting to the freedoms."
Reinhart is convinced that Krutov's disastrous one season with the Canucks has unfairly tarnished his image.
"Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely," Reinhart responded. "He was an unbelievable player, as good as those other two guys on that line."
Hall of Fame defenceman Paul Coffey also recalled playing against Krutov in his prime during the 1984 and '87 Canada Cups, the latter famous for three straight 6-5 scores and the Gretzky-to-Lemieux series-winning goal.
"Krutov was an incredible player, especially internationally when the hockey was at its best, and his one year in the NHL shouldn't have tarnished his image," Coffey said. "That whole line with Larionov and Makarov was incredible and, with Fetisov and Kasatonov on the points, I mean, forget it. They played a puck-possession game that I loved to play and Krutov was a huge part of it. He was built low to the ground, he was speedy and tough to knock off the puck. I can still see him today. I can see them all."
The Canucks issued a statement Wednesday in which they sent "deepest condolences" to the Krutov family.
On Twitter: Twitter.com/elliottpap


text: Scott Moore, a friend of mine from my days at Deloitte, is now a noted expert in application development testing, especially on HP and Mercury Interactive products. Scott has a new article up about "The Performance Authority" of a testing center of excellence. If you work at all with QA and software testing, then this is worth a read. This was mainly in response to the many inquiries he got about how to explain the highest level of maturity when it comes to addressing application performance issues in the software development lifecycle. Many of us have been seeing the slides around the maturity model for years, and we always see that the highest level – the Performance Authority – is always listed with a statement that it represents less than 1% of clients for companies like HP (especially Mercury Interactive). This statistic hasn't changed in at least four years that anyone has seen or written about. Either companies are just not getting it, or HP and their partners are not telling clients how to get there, and more importantly what it would look like if they had such a thing as a "Performance Authority". This is Scott's take from years of studying various real clients of his and doing Center of Excellence assessments – the typical holes that he sees. Many companies are looking to achieve this level of maturity, and this article might give some clarity to what the "end game' looks like. You can find the article online now at: http://www.loadtester.com/performanceauthority.php Enjoy, -Kevi


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I think this is good news for Gracie. I hope professional treatment helps get her to a place where she can enjoy skating again and be a competitive force in ladies skating.
Jonas wrote:Understood! If she doesn't get on the Grand Prix, then the right thing for the USFSA to do, IMO, is to send Angela Wang to one of the November Challengers. Given how well Wang skated at Finlandia (just about as well as, if not better than, any other US lady internationally thusfar), it'd also be smart for the USFSA to get her more competitive exposure.
ETA: I just saw Courtney Hicks is on the ladies' roster for the Challenger event in Warsaw, POL.
Your thoughts...
Winnipeg wrote:Can you elaborate on the "shade" being thrown?
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OTTAWA — The sanctity of marriage as the bedrock of the Canadian family is steadily eroding as the country's social fabric evolves, new census data released Wednesday reveals.
Instead, although married couples are still the norm — about two thirds of families — their numbers are lagging and only increased by 3.1 per cent between 2006 and 2011.
In contrast, the number of common-law couples rose by 13.9 per cent and lone-parent families rose by eight per cent over the same period.
The shift means that common-law couples now account for 16.7 per cent of all families, and lone-parent families now represent 16.3 per cent of the total.
Meanwhile, in another trend reflective of the changing social landscape, same-sex couples are increasingly settling down together. Notably, the number of same-sex marriages tripled between 2006 and 2011, the first five-year period during which they could legally tie the knot in Canada.
These are some of the main findings of the data from the 2011 census compiled by Statistics Canada.
The census also contained new information about Canadian stepfamilies, also known as "blended families," showing that they represent about one in eight couples with children.
Indeed, the census contains a rich trove of information about the kinds of households where the country's children now live.
Increasingly, fewer kids are living in homes with married parents, and more are living with common-law parents and single parents.
Of the nearly 5.6 million children aged 14 and under, 63.6 per cent lived with married parents in 2011 compared with 68.4 per cent in 2001. Over the same period, the percentage of kids living with common-law parents rose from 12.8 per cent to 16.3 per cent.
Nearly 1,078,600 children — 19.3 per cent of all children in private households — lived with lone parents in 2011, up from 18 per cent a decade earlier.
More than four out of five children (82.3 per cent) in those circumstances lived with a lone female parent.
Meanwhile, 557,950 children aged 14 and under lived in stepfamilies in 2011 — 10 per cent of all children.
Also, just over 30,000, or 0.5 per cent of the total, lived in "skip-generation" families — with one or both grandparents where no parents were present.
Also, for the first time, the census counted the number of foster children. There were 29,590 kids aged 14 and under in foster care — about 0.5 per cent of the country's total in this age group.
Statistics Canada also revealed a continuing trend in which the number of couples with children continued to fall as a share of all families. Last year, 39.2 per cent of families included children, compared to 44.5 per cent without kids.
Also, it found that families themselves are becoming smaller. The average number of children per family fell from 2.7 in 1961 to 1.9 in 2011.
The census also discovered that a recent trend — many young people, particularly men, in their 20s not leaving their parents' home — has not abated.
Of the 4.3 million people in this age group, 42.3 per cent lived with their parents last year — relatively unchanged from 2006, but well above the share of 32.1 per cent in 1991 and 26.9 per cent in 1981.
Meanwhile, a higher share of seniors lived as part of a couple in a private household in 2011, compared with a decade earlier. About one in every 12 seniors lived in a collective dwelling such a nursing home or a senior citizens' residence.
The figures come from a third batch of data that Statistics Canada has released this year from its May 10, 2011, census of Canadians.
The agency said that its census counted 9,389,700 families in Canada, up 5.5 per cent from the 2006 census.
Statistics Canada said married couples remained the "predominant family structure" last year, but that the share has "decreased over time."
In 1961, married couples accounted for 91.6 per cent of Canadian families. By 2001, the share had dipped to 70 per cent and slipped further to 68.6 per cent in 2006 and 67 per cent last year.
Statistics Canada reported that there were 6.3 million married couples last year, compared to 6.1 million in 2006 — an increase of just 3.1 per cent.
Meanwhile, there were 1.6 million common-law couples versus 1.4 million in 2006. Similarly, there were 1.5 million lone-parent families compared to 1.4 million in 2006.
About eight in 10 lone-parent families were led by mothers. However, the statistics reveal that the growth in lone-parent families over the last five years was more than twice as strong for males (a 16.2-per-cent hike) compared with females (six per cent).
The census revealed there has been a significant rise in same-sex couples — with a sharp increase in the number of those who have legally become married.
That is likely due to the fact the legal landscape has changed dramatically. In 2005, Parliament passed legislation to make Canada the third country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.
Last year, there were 64,575 same-sex couple families, up 42.4 per cent from 2006. Of these couples, 43,560 were common-law couples, while 21,015 were married.
By comparison, in 2006 there were 37,900 common-law couples and just 7,500 same-sex married couples.
That growth shift — from 7,500 to 21,015 married same sex-couples — is a significant increase over just five years. But Statistics Canada also reveals that despite the change, same-sex married couples represent just 0.3 per cent of all Canadian couples.


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Back in 1995, President Clinton, Vice President Gore and Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala established the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS (PACHA). Made up of 35 members, including an executive director and chairperson, PACHA is supposed to be comprised of people with particular expertise in, or knowledge of, matters concerning HIV and AIDS -- authorities. These experts would provide recommendations on the U.S. government's response to the AIDS epidemic.
According to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS Web site (www.pacha.gov), PACHA "provides advice, information, and recommendations to the Secretary regarding programs and policies intended to promote effective prevention of HIV disease, and to advance research on HIV disease and AIDS. The role of the Council is solely advisory in nature. The Secretary provides the President with copies of all written reports provided to the Secretary by the Advisory Council."
Clinton, Gore and Shalala meant well. It must have sounded like a great idea at the time. After all, Presidents Reagan and the first Bush largely ignored HIV, demonstrating an arrogant indifference to the mortal virus even as it evolved into a pandemic. Now, less than eight years after its creation, the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS is an unqualified fiasco. Under the current Bush administration, PACHA has become a perverse oddity populated by ultraconservative, religious zealots like Patricia Funderburk Ware and Tom Coburn, folks whose personal squeamishness about sex and extreme evangelical Christian views undermine any kind of substantive dialogue about HIV prevention.
Tom Coburn, M.D., PACHA co-chair, is a former U.S. House Republican who went Chicken Little back in 2001 after reading an analysis of 138 condom studies released by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The report concluded condoms work well in curtailing transmission of HIV and gonorrhea, but only so-so in preventing other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Coburn, who moonlights with ultraconservative groups like Focus on the Family and Family Research Council, overreacted spectacularly, saying, "This report means that when condom use is discussed, it is no longer medically accurate or legal for the CDC to refer to sex as 'safe' or 'protected.'" And then, like all hysterical right-wingers, he had to call for someone's resignation, in this case former Centers for Disease Control (CDC) director Jeffrey Koplan, M.D. What made this all the more ridiculous is that those of us working in HIV prevention have always known that condoms do not necessarily prevent transmission of all STDs. Some STDs, like chlamydia, genital warts and genital herpes can be present on the skin, which makes skin-to-skin contact a problem. Condoms can reduce the chance of infection, but not eliminate it. Tom Coburn is a medical doctor! He ought to have known the lowdown on condoms already, and if he didn't know and was actually surprised by anything in that NIH report, then you have to question his intelligence. Unfortunately, Coburn's appointment to PACHA has given him a platform for his anti-condom, abstinence-only agenda.
Patricia Funderburk Ware, PACHA's Executive Director, is a veteran of the first Bush administration, serving as Director of the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is also the former Director of Educational Services for Americans for a Sound AIDS/HIV Policy. Like Coburn, Ware is an outspoken critic of condoms who habitually promotes abstinence until marriage as the only acceptable guideline for sexual conduct. Worse than her crusade against sexual information and education is the fact that Ware once lobbied against including HIV and AIDS in the Americans With Disabilities Act and its protections against discrimination. Mainstream media sources routinely refer to Coburn and Ware as controversial, politely skirting the fact that both are simply reprehensible, narrow-minded boobs.
Recently, Ware invited a man named Jerry Thacker to join PACHA. Thacker is a frightening, fundamentalist caricature with jaundiced views -- he thinks gays can be "rescued" by Jesus Christ and calls AIDS a "gay plague" -- making him a wildly inappropriate choice for any kind of governmental advisory position. Fortunately, swift opposition to his proposed appointment led to his own withdrawal. Thacker says publicly that the controversy would make it impossible for him to serve productively, but it's his own ideology that makes him unsuitable for the Council. Sure, Thacker is living with HIV -- he says his wife passed it on to him after a blood transfusion back in the '80s -- but that alone does not legitimize anything he has to say. He is not deserving of a place at a table where public policy is crafted because his views are unapologetically bigoted, profoundly useless and lacking humanity.
It's disturbing that Jerry Thacker came so close to serving on a council designed to advise our president on the most effective ways to treat and prevent HIV globally. And that's really the whole problem with PACHA as it's shaping up under the Bush administration -- there's no understanding of or commitment to epidemiology; it's becoming a freak show of fringe ideology, not science or sound judgment. Religious activists like Coburn, Ware and Thacker aren't really interested in epidemiology or science or real prevention efforts anyway. It doesn't matter to them that condoms are the only tangible prevention tools we have right now. They need to discredit condoms in order to promote abstinence. It's the kind of scare tactic typically associated with America's lunatic fringe.
In the aftermath of the Thacker controversy and withdrawal, Patricia Funderburk Ware left her post as executive Director of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS. Bush administration officials said Ware was being promoted to a more influential role in the Department of Health and Human Services. The good news is that she's leaving PACHA; the bad news is that Bush's leading proponent of abstinence-only education is now free to impose her personal ideological agenda within the Department of Health and Human Services. Judging from her history, Ware will likely proceed banning or censoring information about condoms and directing funds toward abstinence-only education across the United States and throughout the world. Her rejection of science-based safer sex education constitutes criminal negligence.
Meanwhile, back at PACHA, Bush's appointments thus far include no scientists and not one person living with HIV. Instead he found space on the council for some of his campaign contributors and more Christian-right, condom-hating fruitcakes like Joe McIlhaney, Jr., director of something called Medical Institute for Sexual Health, a Texas-based organization which provides condom-debunking information to abstinence educators across the country. McIlhaney publicly refuses to talk about condoms despite years of science showing that proper condom use saves lives.
The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS is officially irrelevant. To disband this malignant 35-member panel would be a mercy killing.