text:
Marathon runner Jennifer McCreath has pointed out a recent regulatory change that the Harper Conservatives have made to the Aeronautics Act (i.e. passed by ministerial fiat, rather than shepherded through Parliamentary process) that potentially affects many trans (and cis) Canadians and could even ban some from air travel:
Sec 5.2(1) An air carrier shall not transport a passenger if
(a) the passenger presents a piece of photo identification and does not resemble the photograph;
(b) the passenger does not appear to be the age indicated by the date of birth on the identification he or she presents;
(c) the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents; or
(d) the passenger presents more than one form of identification and there is a major discrepancy between those forms of identification.
(2) Despite paragraph (1)(a), an air carrier may transport a passenger who presents a piece of photo identification but does not resemble the photograph if
(a) the passenger's appearance changed for medical reasons after the photograph was taken and the passenger presents the air carrier with a document signed by a health care professional and attesting to that fact; or
(b) the passenger's face is bandaged for medical reasons and the passenger presents the air carrier with a document signed by a health care professional and attesting to that fact.
5.3 (1) If there is a major discrepancy between the name on the identification presented by a passenger and the name on the passenger's boarding pass, an air carrier shall compare the name, date of birth and gender on the identification with those of persons specified to the air carrier by the Minister under paragraph 4.81(1)(b) of the Act. (2) If the name, date of birth and gender on the identification are the same as those of a person specified to the air carrier, the air carrier shall immediately so inform the Minister.
This is a regulatory change made on July 29, 2011, and so far, it doesn't appear that there have been any reports of transsexual or transgender people being refused passage on an airline because of this change. However, regulatory changes aren't always made instantaneously.
"Papers, please!"
The medical exemption appears to provide an allowance for specifically transsexual individuals, though not all transsexuals take a medical route, and certainly some will forget, be unaware of the requirement or be unable to afford to pay the fee for a sufficient doctor's letter (my doctor would charge $100 for such a letter under his current fee structure). It would almost certainly affect undocumented transsexual individuals (surgery-tracked or otherwise), since most Canadian provinces require evidence of genital reconstruction surgery before allowing the change of gender markers on foundational documents (all of them, when it comes to birth certificates). This is further complicated by the fact that some provinces have removed coverage for this surgery from their "universal" health coverage — and even when coverage exists, standards of care call for a minimum of one year living as one's identified gender before surgery can occur (2 years in some provinces, including Ontario).
That is to say, the medical exemption appears to provide an allowance for specifically transsexual individuals at first. The way it's worded in the new language of the law, the exemption applies only to a discrepancy between the photograph and appearance — discrepancies involving the gender marker on documentation are not addressed.
Still, it's not explained what circumstances would be necessary to determine whether a person appears to be of the gender indicated on their identification, so people of diverse gender expressions (including some cis / non-trans Canadians) could be potentially affected, and scan-or-search procedures could also unfairly single out visibly intersexed people. By the letter of the law, a major change in hair length or colour since having an ID photo taken could even be a basis for refusing a person from boarding, though that's likely stretching it. But by not clarifying how this value judgment on a person's gender is to be made, lookism has potentially entered the equation.
And if an airline allowed such a person to board, they would actually be in violation of federal law. From a reply that Catherine Mateo received from Air Canada:
From: [email protected]
… Air Canada is bound by federal law and as such we must comply with the regulations that if a passenger's face or gender does not match the government-issued photo identification, we are prohibited from carrying that passenger. Again, if you have a concern regarding this, we respectfully ask that you pursue this with Transport Canada….
Canada's Parliament passed human rights legislation to include transsexual and transgender Canadians, but it died at the election call. An identical bill has been reintroduced into Parliament and could be coming up for second reading in 1-2 months (people have been indicating support to their member of Parliament, right?). This change comes as trans issues are becoming better known to the federal government and in mainstream society.
The nation has been under pressure from the U.S. government to tighten screening and restrictions on Canadian travellers, including the introduction of full-body scanners, which also single out transsexual and transgender people for special scrutiny. In September 2003, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued the first of several warnings that potential Al Qaeda terrorists might be changing tactics to avoid scrutiny, such as departing from airports in Canada and Mexico, or dressing as women. Even before the regulation change, trans people — including McCreath — have experienced difficulty travelling to the U.S. and internationally, although not all of that has been at the hands of specifically Canadian border security or travel screening.
Some have speculated that the stress on appearance was also intended to target women who wear the niqab and hijab, making such an assessment impossible, and potentially also banning Muslim women who adhere to this tradition from boarding a plane. Traditional coverings of this sort have already been flashpoints of controversy regarding citizenship ceremonies and court testimonies. Although one of the motivations for these bans is supposed to be the status of women, punitive legislation targeting full face and body coverings have a horrible tendency to target women, rather than provide any viable solutions informed by them.
Anyone wishing to do so is welcome to contact the Minister. Copy to your member of Parliament as well, and remember to keep it civil but clear that the amended wording of the Aeronautics Act is a serious concern:
Hon. Denis Lebel, Ministre des Transports | Minister of Transport
Courriel | E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 613-996-6236 Fax: 613-996-6252
Adresse postale (sans timbre) | Mailing Address (postage free) : Hon. Denis Lebel, Chambre des communes/House of Commons, Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
Transport Canada
Courriel | Email: [email protected]
Phone: 613-990-2309
Sans frais | Toll Free: 1-866-995-9737
Fax: 613-954-4731
Adresse postale | Mailing Address: Transport Canada, 330 rue Sparks Street, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0N5
h/t Matt McLauchlin for some of this info.
(crossposted to The Bilerico Project and DentedBlueMercedes)


text:
"This game is set 70 years after the original, so it plays as a flashback in which Brave describes the events of his life," said Melanie Mroz, CEO of SouthPeak Games. "This unusual style of videogame storytelling, combined with the game's new content, graphical improvements, and console-specific gameplay, make it a fresh experience."
Brave: A Warrior's Tale brings players expansive exploration and in-game interactivity on their quest to protect their tribe from the sources of evil, continuously offering a significant challenge to players as they advance through a world of untamed wilderness. Embracing his inner spirit, Brave is able to communicate as well as embody various animals and battle enemies that stand in his way.
Brave: A Warrior's Tale is loaded with updated features and unlockable content which can be earned throughout the game. The game has been revamped visually and mechanically and features an exciting storyline that will grab hold of players and never let go.
To find out more about Brave: A Warrior's Tale please visit www.southpeakgames.com.
About SouthPeak Games
SouthPeak Interactive Corporation develops and publishes interactive entertainment software for all current hardware platforms including: PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, PSP (PlayStation Portable) system, PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, Wii, Nintendo DS and PC. SouthPeak's games cover all major genres including action/adventure, role playing, racing, puzzle strategy, fighting and combat. SouthPeak's products are sold in retail outlets in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. SouthPeak is headquartered in Midlothian, Virginia, and has offices in Grapevine, Texas and London, England. www.southpeakgames.com
About Evolved Games
Evolved Games is a leading global publisher of award-winning titles across all platforms, publishing award-winning games for Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and Personal Computers throughout the U.S., and Europe. Evolved Games offices are located in the US and the UK, bringing a wealth of industry talent together to create and publish innovative and entertaining titles.
About Collision Studios
Collision Studios is a leading developer of entertainment based games across multiple platforms. Staffed by industry professionals from top tier developers and publishers, the team has worked on a variety of high profile franchises. 300 and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Asymconf 2012 videos are now available for purchase from the new Asymco Store.
The package includes 1080p HD video produced by Kevin Krautle. Multiple camera angles capture all the action. Great quality audio and hours of conversation. It's even subtitled. Over 20 gigs of content.
But wait, there's more. You also get Perspective stories, Audio Podcast and Transcripts all for the low, low price of $89.99. Over 20 Gigabytes of content.
I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed producing it.


text:
* Javascript bindings
* Javascript callbacks
* Python callbacks as arguments/return to javascript functions
* getting/setting window properties through Frame.GetProperty()/SetProperty().
* Fixed application error when closing main window.
An example of how to create bindings:
- Code: Select all
def PyTest():
print "PyTest() called"
bindings = cefpython.JavascriptBindings()
bindings.SetFunction("PyTest", PyTest)
// Pass bindings to CreateBrowser()
Now from javascript call:
- Code: Select all
window.PyTest() // "window." is optional, "PyTest()" also works.
There is also SetProperty() method so you can bind data to window object:
- Code: Select all
bindings.SetProperty("config", {"option1": True, "option2": [1,2,3]})
"cefadvanced.py" comes with many tests for javascript bindings/callbacks, run it to see.
An application error was fixed when closing application (Issue 2). It was caused by a call to win32gui.DestroyWindow() in CloseApplication(), you should use win32api.PostMessage() instead:
- Code: Select all
win32api.PostMessage(windowID, win32con.WM_DESTROY, 0, 0)
Download CEF Python from:


text:
Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LISBON, Portugal (AP) - Portugal wants to look like Ireland, but it can't disguise its resemblance to Greece.
Inspectors from Portugal's bailout creditors arrive in Lisbon on Wednesday for a regular check of the country's fiscal health and its compliance with the stipulations of the 78 billion euro ($106 billion) financial rescue it received in 2011.
As in Ireland and Greece, which got bailouts the year before Portugal, the agreement demanded steep spending cuts and an economic makeover _ part of a continental effort to persuade wary investors to resume lending to some of the eurozone's debt-heavy countries.
With about six months to go before Portugal's rescue cash runs out, it's still unclear whether the Portuguese will be able to make it on their own after June.
The government insists it can follow the same path as Ireland, which will unhook itself from foreign financial support this month. But hurdles remain that could compel Portugal to ask for more help, like Greece did when it got a second bailout, and prolong Europe's debt woes.
Here is a look at some of Portugal's difficulties.
To woo hard-nosed investors, the country's financial figures have to look good. Though Portugal's numbers have improved, they're still not very seductive.
The interest rate Portugal has to pay holders of its 10-year bonds _ regarded as a reflection of investor confidence in the country _ is around 6 percent. That is too expensive in the long term for Portugal, though far better than the 17 percent that compelled Lisbon to ask for help. Germany, by contrast, pays less than 2 percent. Portugal's credit rating is still classified as junk by the three main rating agencies.
Budget deficit targets for this and next year were eased as a deep recession extended into a third year in 2013, prompting fears that Portugal, like Greece, was straying off the recovery track. The deficit fell to 6.4 percent of gross domestic product last year, down from 10.1 percent in 2010 but still a way off the desired 3 percent, now the target for 2015.
Unemployment is at 15.7 percent, and the European Commission forecasts it will climb to 17.7 percent next year. Government debt is expected to peak at almost 128 percent of GDP this year, the third highest in the European Union.
The bright spots: The European Commission predicts Portugal will return to growth next year, but only at a rate of 0.8 percent, and exports grew almost 10 percent over the 12 months to last September.
All three of Portugal's main political parties gave their blessing to the initial bailout agreement in a sign of broad consensus welcomed by creditors. But the unity came apart as austerity policies brought hardship.
The center-right coalition government and the main opposition center-left Socialist party are now at loggerheads.
Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho says that by abiding by the terms of the bailout his government is creating a nimbler, stronger economy. Socialist leader Antonio Jose Seguro says the austerity measures are corroding the economy and the welfare state.
An early summer political crisis, which saw the finance minister and foreign minister resign in a spat over the scale of austerity, rattled financial markets.
The government has a majority in Parliament that allows it to pass the bailout measures. Its political capital is depleted, however, as this fall it has faced another uptick in strikes and protests.
After sales tax jumped to 23 percent from 13 percent in 2011, and after what the government conceded was an "enormous" increase in personal income taxes this year, more chafing austerity is due in 2014.
Unlike the rioting in Athens, protests in Portugal have been peaceful like those in Dublin. Even so, a demonstration by police that broke through a cordon around Parliament this month suggested the government is skating on thin ice.
Portugal's Constitutional Court has been the government's bugbear.
Its 13 judges have four times in two years disallowed planned cuts, leaving the government with budget holes amounting to some 1.7 billion euros.
Another standoff is looming: the judges are expected to rule by the end of the year on the legality of cuts to the pension entitlements of government workers, and of widows and widowers. That's another 800 million euros of savings at risk in the 2014 budget.
Ricardo Mamede, a Lisbon University professor of political economics, sees a bigger threat from the slowness of European Union leaders to enact new financial rules that might prevent a repeat of the crisis. Proposals such as establishing procedures for saving troubled banks have fallen foul of political quarrelling as member countries fret about surrendering sovereignty.
"Until the EU finds a way to deal with its dysfunctions, we will be living under great uncertainty," he said.
Granting Portugal a second bailout like Greece would mean taking more money off taxpayers in other European countries. It could also involve telling private-sector lenders they won't get all their money back _ a step known as a "haircut." European governments are not keen on either idea.
Fitch Rating reckons it's not even necessary. "Portugal's debt dynamics are not negative enough to warrant the same treatment as Greece," it said in a recent report.
Analysts estimate Portugal's gross financing needs at around 26 billion euros in 2014 and 25 billion euros in 2015. That's a lot for a country with high borrowing rates, but could be manageable.
Portugal could buy itself time by rolling over debt, something it started doing this week with a bond exchange that pushed back by three years the repayment of 6.6 billion euros of loans.
Most likely, Fitch said, is that Portugal's creditors in the eurozone will grant it easier terms on its rescue loans, such as lower interest rates or longer repayment dates. That would place Lisbon on a course midway between Dublin and Athens.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


text:
© Università degli Studi di Padova - Credits: HCE Web agency
Within the Conference's challenging conceptual and empirical framework, the University of Padova Human Rights Centre has launched, in cooperation with other 5 human rights research institutes a call for papers open to human rights scholars, researchers as well as Ph.D candidates.
Preference will be given to sound proposals which contribute addressing, from different disciplinary perspectives, one of the following topics.
Each topic will correspond to a research panel, which will be managed by one of the human rights research institutes that has cooperated with the University of Padova Human Rights Centre in organising the Conference. The panels will take place in the afternoon of Monday 27th November at the premises of the University of Padova Human Rights Centre.
The deadline of the call for papers has been extended to Sunday 24th September (midnight)
1 . 'Genocide, Ecocide and Minority and Indigenous rights' (panel proposed and managed by Damien Short and Corinne Lennox, Human Rights Consortium, University of London)
This panel will explore the nexus between the fields of genocide and ecocide studies and indigenous and minority rights. The panel will include an introduction that focusses on the work in these fields of Damien Short and Corinne Lennox. The discussion will be framed around the connections made in Short's recent book, Redefining Genocide, Zed Books, 2016 (which draws on the work of Raphael Lemkin and his desire to protect the 'future contributions' to the world of culturally distinct minority groups) and Short and Lennox's new project which examines the relationship between genocide, ecocide and minority rights protections. For this panel we welcome submissions that engage with genocide or ecocide or both, and the destruction and/or protection of indigenous and/or minority cultures.
2 . 'Social Justice, Equity, Human Rights and Public Health' (panel proposed and managed by Roberto De Vogli, University of Padova)
Although the fields of health equity and human rights have different languages, perspectives and methodologies, they share a number of fundamental concepts and tools for study and action. Social justice and equity lie at the heart of both human rights and public health. The social and economic circumstances in which we are born, live and work play a key role in the protection and advancement of human rights and health. Evidence from social epidemiology showing that socioeconomic conditions (e.g. poverty, unemployment, homelessness, education) are among the strongest determinants of health overlap with the human rights literature that focuses on the role of both socioeconomic rights (e.g. access to a decent standard of living, housing, education, healthcare, housing, water and sanitation) as well as civil and political rights (e.g. the right to collective bargaining, political participation and non-discrimination). A growing body of evidence also indicates that human rights are plausible mechanisms to explain why more egalitarian societies have better health and psychosocial outcomes than more unequal ones. By emphasizing a trans-disciplinary approach, this panel aims at quantitative and qualitative analyses of the impact of public policies, social conditions, and social justice on health, equity and human rights as well as theoretical contributions on the interrelationships between public health and human rights.
3. 'Applying a Human Rights Based Approach to Human Rights Research' (panel proposed and managed by Peter Johansson, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg)
Since the UN Statement of Common Understanding on Human Rights-Based Approaches to Development Cooperation and Programming in 2003, HRBA has been in focus for UN agencies, national development agencies and HR organisations. Substantial amounts of research have been made on the effectiveness of and lessons learned from HRBA. However, little attention has been paid to how HRBA can inform research methodologies. This panel invites papers that critically reflect on what a human rights based approach to human rights research may be. What gains can be made from applying HRBA to HR research and what methodological issues will arise from such application? Empirical cases where a HRBA to HR research has been used are particularly welcome, as are papers critically reflecting on methods, methodologies and approaches with big potential to include a HRBA to HR research, e.g. transdisciplinarity, participatory research, action research, etc.
4. 'Bringing home human rights – research on human rights protection from a local perspective' (panel proposed and managed by Lisa Heschl and Bernadette Knauder, European Training Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, and by Gerd Oberleitner, UNESCO Chair in Human Rights and Human Security, University of Graz)
Human rights and their protection often take a rather abstract form with the state as principle agent for protecting and implementing them. However, human rights are exercised at a daily basis in a very practical way. Local and regional authorities play a key role in their implementation, namely as service providers facilitating the access to rights related to education, housing, health and social care, public order just to name a few. Human rights take effect at the local level, and it is the local level where constraints on human rights materialize most. Homelessness, hate crimes as results of exclusion, fear and intolerance, poverty and social negligence are most visible and can be most effectively addressed at the local level.
This panel seeks to explore local power dynamics, contents of local policies and local discourses related to protecting human rights. How can human rights be best protected at the local level? How to ensure that human rights are not annihilated between different groups of interests or local and national authorities? How can human rights research contribute to critically re-think human rights protection at the local level We are looking forward to original and innovative research conducted in the field of human rights at the local level whether empirical or conceptual. Contributions from all academic disciplines and multidisciplinary contributions are welcomed. Topics to be dealt by panelists might refer to the new urban agenda, human rights cities, refugee initiatives, or sub-state entities as duty bearers, to name but a few.
5 'Interculturality and Human Rights' (panel proposed and managed by André Dizdarevic, Institut des Droits de l'Homme, Lyon Catholic University)
A systematic research work is needed to translate European and international human rights standards into practice at local and national level. The question for actors who must benefit and do benefit from research on human rights, such as international NGOS, the national human rights institutions and the international institutions, is the management of diversity and the main challenges posed in the field of human rights. This is particularly true in Europe in the light of societal and political developments in recent years (migration, refugees, populism, etc.). Diversity in general, and cultural diversity in particular, cannot be denied as the diversity of life cannot be denied. In research, and particularly in the field of human rights, "the critical spirit establishes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernity. In modern culture, the scientific community understands disagreement as an instrument for advancing knowledge. Disagreement is also a sign of diversity" (Umberto Eco). Among the factors undermining the human rights challenge is the cultural element (such as in the form of communitarianism). Thus, in the name of a claimed cultural particularism, varied and variable limits are laid for the recognition of human rights and their implementation, which may, to some extent, hamper the development and the strengthening of global and multi-level governance. The concept of interculturality was developed by scholars who designate a process of cultural interaction as power of exchange and dialogue in order to inscribe cultural diversity within the framework of universality. This notion of interculturality is at the heart of many human rights issues and it perfectly illustrates the gap that can exist between the conceptual framework elaborated by the researchers and the reality that the "practitioners" face. The issues raised above all concern the operationalization of human rights and the dissemination of a culture of human rights. Taking into consideration the challenges posed by interculturality, both from a theoretical and a practical point of view, IDHL proposes the above mentioned theme for a research panel. While clarifying the various aspects of the debate on this theme, it will be necessary to reflect on the challenges of cultural diversity in the implementation of Human Rights and to highlight the contribution of research in this field. Moreover, this theme implies an interdisciplinary approach which, from a methodological point of view, is nowadays inescapable. In this perspective, the IDHL will be able to contribute its expertise, in particular by drawing on the academic and research activities of the UNESCO Chair that is domiciled in at the Institute and whose activities are concerned with the theme: 'Memory, Cultures and Interculturality'.
6. 'Women's rights and scientific research: continuities, shifts and challenges for the future' (panel managed by Fouzia Rhousissi, UNESCO Chair Women and her Rights, Ibn -Tofail University, Kenitra)
The panel seeks to analytically discuss the correlation between women's rights and scientific research with a particular focus on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches. It will reflect on the theoretical context, key concepts and tools of scientific research in order to articulate a critical perspective on women's rights. Women's Studies through its teaching, training, research, scholarship and advocacy has had a far-reaching impact on modern universities which have come a long way from the 1970 s where there hardly any mention of women in development policy statements. Nowadays, women's studies departments and research centres are solid institutions and have an impressive record. The proliferation of courses and programmes, the development and dissemination of feminist scholarship; its gradual but sure encompassing of the field of differences among women have been well documented. Furthermore, the United Nations international conferences on women have brought a wealth of international data and cross cultural contacts and marked" the official birth "of global women's rights movements. Put another way, so many scholars powerfully advocate new rights by introducing international perspectives on the status of women.
For a long time, work on gender, across the globe, has focused on women. While men frequently were portrayed as 'the problem' within this field, this rarely functioned as an incentive to engage directly with them. In the past decades, however, a partial shift in Gender and Development thinking has occurred. Increasing attention is currently drawn to men and masculinities, in the academy as well as among non-governmental organizations. To what extent has men's commitment to this cause contributed to the promotion of women's rights,
Human rights researchers, women and men, are the academic arm of the United Nations human rights system and one of the important keys in steering courses to the human rights policies and strategies of the future. How, might one ask, are women's rights teachers and scholars contributing through their research and insights to the promotion of women's rights and to better implementation of the human rights treaties? How did fields related to women's rights help combat all forms of discrimination against women?
While the world has achieved progress towards gender equality under the UN Millennium Development Goals, women continue to suffer discrimination and violence in every part of the world. Gender equality is not only a vital human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful and sustainable world.
The women's rights-based approach is not without its critics. Should we, therefore, continue to endorse an approach that is called into question by some of the very communities it is intended to benefit?
Like a tightrope walker, women's rights researchers must maintain balance while moving steadfastly along a wire, with the constant danger of falling into the abyss below. This is precisely the nature of the challenge facing women's rights movements in several societies today: how to balance the work of teaching, researching and defending human rights in the face of multiple demands, tensions and contradictions.
To participate in the call for papers, please send a pdf file including the following information:
a) name, affiliation and contact of author/authors (in case of more authors, please indicate the name of the corresponding author);
b) a title and an abstract of 250 words maximum and 4-6 key-words;
c) an indication of the panel (title and number) for which the paper should be considered.
to email@example.com by 21st September 2017 (midnight) (the deadline has been extended to 24th September - midnight)
Notification of acceptance will be sent by 10th October.
For accepted abstracts, the submission of a working paper before the Conference is strongly encouraged. This will also help the opportunities of publication.
There is no Conference fee.
University of Padova
Human Rights Centre
"Antonio Papisca"
Complesso Universitario
Via Beato Pellegrino, 28
35137 Padova
Tel 049 827 1813 / 1817
Certified e-mail (PEC)
University of Padova
Human Rights Centre
"Antonio Papisca"
Complesso Universitario
Via Beato Pellegrino, 28
35137 Padova
Tel 049 827 1813 / 1817
Certified e-mail (PEC)
© Università degli Studi di Padova - Credits: HCE Web agency


text:
Okay, so I have 2 shapefiles:
- US states outline file (very coarse/simple outlines)
- Global Self-consistent Hierarchical High-resolution Shorelines, Level F (much finer spatial resolution)
I am trying to make a map series for my employer using the GSHHS as my land/not land background, and overlaying the state outlines over top. I have other layers, but they're not relevant to this discussion.
This is what the smallest North America polygon looks like.
I am only interested in the western US, and only need a couple hundred miles into Mexico and Canada for background purposes.
I can't simply clip
for obvious reasons, and there's another problem...
Case 1
Case 2
In both cases, the GCHHS runs inside as well as outside the rough state lines. I'd like to update the shoreline of the state file to match the GCHHS.
The only theoretical way I've come up with would be to do an Erase
of the GCHHS based on the states, which would give me the bits outside the states, then maybe a Clip
of the states based on the GCHHS to get the bits where the states overrun.
And once I get all these slivers, I'd have to dissolve them all into the proper state.
Should I just start looking for higher-resolution state polygons?
Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.


text:
New Car/Review
SEE ALSO: Chevrolet Buyer's Guide
By Matt/Bob Hagin
Chevrolet Full Line factory footage (22:43) 28.8, 56k, or 200kSPECIFICATIONS Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price $ 20,360 Price As Tested $ 22,554 Engine Type OHV 12-valve 3.8 Liter V6 w/SFI* Engine Size 231 cid/3785 cc Horsepower 200 @ 5200 RPM Torque (lb-ft) 225 @ 4000 RPM Wheelbase/Width/Length 107.5"/72.5"/200.9" Transmission Four-speed automatic Curb Weight 3394 pounds Fuel Capacity 16.6 gallons Tires (F/R) P225/60R16 Goodyear Eagle RS-A Brakes (F/R) Disc (ABS)/disc (ABS) Drive Train Front-engine/front-wheel-drive Vehicle Type Five-passenger/four-door Domestic Content N/A Coefficient of Drag (Cd.) N/A PERFORMANCE EPA Economy, miles per gallon city/highway/average 19/30/23 0-60 MPH 8.5 seconds 1/4 mile (E.T) 16.5 seconds at 87.5 mph Top speed 105 mph * Sequential fuel injection
(Matt Hagin says that the new Lumina is the largest sedan offered by Chevrolet, even though it's classified as midsize. His dad, Bob, says that the Lumina would almost fit into the trunks of some of the big Chevies of the '60s that he had when the family was young.)
MATT - The Chevrolet Lumina is in its tenth year already, Dad, and originally it came on line only as a coupe with the four-door sedan appearing in '92. Now the coupe version of the car is called Monte Carlo, and it sports all-new sheetmetal this year. Chevrolet considers the Lumina its quintessential family car with comfortable seating for six, plenty of luggage space and reasonable fuel mileage. The car comes in three stages of trim, the first two being the base sedan and the slightly upscale LS. Both of these carry the venerable if slightly anemic 3.1 liter V6 that's been in the GM parts bin for a long time now. It the Lumina engine puts out 160 horses and it has a comfortable "boulevard" ride but uses cost-cutting measures like rear drum brakes. An anti-lock braking system (ABS) as standard equipment on all but the Sedan, where ABS is optional. Lumina is the typical corporate car that's given to mid-management executives as a company "driver."
BOB - The sedan and the LS don't sound very exciting, Matt, but I guess they have their place in Chevrolet's grand scheme of things. Personally, I find the top-line LTZ version of the Lumina lots more interesting. It's closer to the modern concept of a sports sedan, a car for an enthusiast who has a growing family, still enjoys a car that can be whipped through twisting country roads but can't afford to fill that second spot in the family garage with a Corvette or a Camaro. And though they all shared the transverse-mounted location of a V6 engine, the most noticeable difference between the ho-hum Lumina models and the LTZ is that the LTZ packs a more powerful 3.8 liter engine that's been the mainstay of a couple of race car classes for decades. In the Lumina, the 3.8 is tricked-out to produce 200 horsepower and 225 pound/feet of torque. That's not enough to make the car a challenger on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit, but it won't be an embarrassment at those occasional stop-light Grand Prix events.
MATT - That extra 40 horsepower isn't the only factor that sets the LTZ aside from the other two models, Dad. They all have sway bars front and rear, but they're somewhat larger on the LTZ and the shocks are valved a bit tighter. It also has the added advantage of having four-wheel disc brakes and ABS as standard equipment. Also, the transmission on the LTZ is different from the Sedan and the LS in that it's been beefed up and has different shift points. It LTZ has 16-inch aluminum wheels and the tires are performance-oriented P225/60R Goodyear Eagle RS-As. Although the LTZ is listed as having a top speed of 108 MPH, the same car is offered as a Police Special and in that trim, the fuel cutoff is increased to 130 MPH. There's a couple of other performance items on the cop car that would be handy for high-speed driving like coolers for the engine oil and the transmission fluid.
BOB - The front seats on the LTZ are buckets and have more side support than the other two cars, Matt. They can also be had in leather, but I prefer the cloth versions since they do a better job of keeping the driver and passenger glued down on twisting roads. Daytime running lights are standard and I like the battery-saver system that shuts off the dome light if it's been left on overnight. The computer also shuts off all the power accessories like the clock and the pre-selection setting on the sound system if the car isn't started up for 24 days. A dead battery is an awful thing to have to face in a long-term parking lot after an extended plane ride.
MATT - The Chevy Lumina could be the answer for a lot of families that have outgrown their econocar, but aren't ready to face the fact that they really need a minivan or an SUV. A good-sized family can fit into a six-seater Lumina.
BOB - Now you know why your mother and I appreciated those king- sized Chevy Caprices and Impalas we had when you kids were little.


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Oslo - The Indian monsoon is likely to fail more often in the next 200 years threatening food supplies, unless governments agree how to limit climate change, a study showed on Tuesday.
The monsoon rains could collapse about every fifth year between 2150 and 2200 with continued global warming, blamed mainly on human burning of fossil fuels, and related shifts in tropical air flows, it said.
"Monsoon failure becomes much more frequent" as temperatures rise, Anders Levermann, a professor of dynamics of the climate system and one of the authors at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told Reuters.
India's monsoon, which lasts from June to September, is vital for India's 1.2 billion people to grow crops such as rice, wheat and corn. India last faced a severe widespread drought in 2009 and had to import sugar, pushing global prices to 30-year highs.
The researchers defined monsoon "failure" as a fall in rainfall of between 40 and 70 percent below normal levels. Such a drastic decline has not happened any year in records dating back to 1870 by the India Meteorological Department, they said.
"In the past century the Indian monsoon has been very stable. It is already a catastrophe with 10 percent less rain than the average," Levermann told Reuters.
The study, in the journal Environmental Research Letters, projected a temperature rise of 4.6 degrees C (8.3 F) over pre-industrial times by 2200. UN scenarios indicate a gain of between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees C (2.9-11.5F) by 2100.
Assuming a 4.6 degree C rise by 2200, about 10 monsoons would fail in the 50 years to 2200 with daily rainfall of only about 3 mm (0.11 inch), about half of the normal 6 to 7 mm. (0.24 to 0.28 inch), the study indicated.
Almost 200 nations have promised to limit global warming to below 2.0 degrees C (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times to avoid dangerous changes such as more droughts, floods and rising sea levels.
But world emissions are rising and the 2 degree ceiling is getting harder to achieve. Environment ministers from around the world will meet in Qatar from Nov. 26-Dec. 7 as part of talks meant to end by 2015 with a global deal to combat climate change.
Higher temperatures will mean that more water evaporates from the oceans, increasing rains in many areas.
But the study said that the shifts would disrupt air flows known as the Pacific Walker circulation, which usually helps to drive the Indian monsoon by bringing high pressure to the western Indian Ocean, the study said.
In years with an El Nino weather phenomenon, which warms waters in the eastern Pacific, the Walker pattern gets shifted eastwards, bringing high pressure over India. That pattern suppresses the monsoon.
"As temperatures increase in the future, the Walker circulation, on average, brings more high pressure over India, even though the occurrence of El Niño doesn't increase," a statement about the findings said.
The study contrasts with a 2007 report in which the UN panel of climate scientists said that most models predicted more variability in the amounts of rainfall in the Asian monsoon this century, along with a trend towards more rain on average. - Reuters


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WaSP Interviews Dan Cederholm
On the redesign of Fast Company/Inc.com
Interview Conducted for 17 Nov 2003
So Dan, rumor is you're the man behind the Fast Company and Inc.com switch to standards-based sites. What role did you play during the redesign?
You are correct, sir. My role was handling all of the design and front-end development (XHTML, CSS and XSLT) for each of the redesigns. Fast Company's redesign was launched in March 2003 with Art Direction from Daigo Fujiwara, Inc.com relaunched this past July.
In addition to the front-end, there were many changes on the backend as well. For instance, our CMS was rewritten to include validation routines that keep the code squeaky clean after we had spent months converting it.
A question that we've all asked at one point or another is how in the world do you sell web standards to people who don't get them, and (sometimes) don't need to? Tell us a bit about how you made the case to Fast Company. Was there any friction?
This is often a sticky point — especially within internal web teams. I'm not going to lie to you though, I had it very easy. The convincing went something like this. "Hey, Rob" (Rob Roesler, the Director for both sites). "Go to Wired.com." And then his response, "We need to do this."
So I certainly have Douglas Bowman to thank for paving the way with the Wired redesign in October 2002. It was an important moment for building sites with web standards. We all had something to point to. And by "we", I mean designers and developers working on commercial web teams. Many had been pioneering CSS layouts prior to the Wired launch, but it proved that standards-compliance can work on a commercial site. And that was exciting.
We went to work, and in the process discovered all of the benefits that come from building a site this way. With Fast Company, it was a gigantic learning experience. Once we did it successfully, we knew we had to do the same for Inc.com.
I realize not every web team is going to have it that easy — getting everyone on board to go full-on standards. Because you need everyone to be on board. As a designer, you could create clean-as-a-whistle templates — but if the CMS and other applications behind them aren't standards aware, then all could be lost. I felt very fortunate to have worked with folks who "got it".
Forgive the ridiculous analogy but: we're fat. It's time to go on a diet. It's 6:00pm and we've just gotten off of work. We're hungry so we do what we've always been doing — we go to KFC and order a bucket of fried chicken. It feels good… it's what we've always done. But it's killing us.
There's this fad diet though, that can help. Most are justifiably weary of fad diets, immediately dismissing them. Then there are some who try out every fad diet imaginable. There's always a catch however, not to mention the bad habits that need to be broken.
I see web standards as the fad diet — that actually works. It's the convincing that's the hard part. Everyone thinks they're eating healthy or they don't see the risk. Jeffrey Zeldman is doing a tremendous job at leading the cause. Maybe we need to get someone like Richard Simmons in on the crusade as well.
Alright, so there's this crazy new diet that works. Why was it important for Fast Company to try it out?
…it was important to reach the largest audience possible. Text browsers, screenreaders, phones, PDAs could now all read the content of the magazines just as easy as everyone else.
I think it's important for any site — but it especially made sense for us at the time. We were a very small team, continually shrinking because of cost cutting and layoffs. We were looking for ways to trim the budget in every way possible. By making the switch to web standards, our code was literally cut in half. In addition, our page load time was decreased thereby reducing stress on our servers. These two benefits alone allowed us to lease less rack space with fewer servers, handling the same amount of traffic.
Aside from server improvements, it was important to reach the largest audience possible. FC and Inc. are magazines. Their business is based on content. Getting that content in front of people is the goal, and the accessibility gains by going to structured markup and CSS made this exceptionally easy. Text browsers, screenreaders, phones, PDAs could now all read the content of the magazines just as easy as everyone else.
What other benefits has Fast Company seen since the switch? Any down-sides?
We've seen benefits for both sites. The first being the average reduction in page file size by about 50% (including both home pages). Half the code! The second being the ease of customizing different sections of the site, using an additional CSS file that may override the default styles for the site. For instance, if Microsoft came to us and said, "we'd like to do a co-branded micro site with you, but with our logo and colors", we could whip up a few style rules that overrode the site's defaults and import it after everything else. This section of the site would have an identical structure, but a customized design.
As far as down-sides, probably the biggest is the flexible width constraints I'll touch on in a bit. And layouts within layouts can be tricky in any circumstance. What I mean by that is a multi-column layout within an already CSS-based layout. Those are tricky scenarios to deal with, and certainly ones where the limitations become evident.
So how well did things come together, once the decision was made? What sort of hoops did your team have to jump through, in the way of CMS support and retro-fitting older articles? How big was your team, anyway?
For running both sites, I would say our team was pretty darn small. We had myself, a fearless director (Rob Roesler), two crackerjack developers (David Searson and Bob Joyal), one production maestro (Paul Maiorana) and a couple of interns for helping in the clean up and validation of close to 20,000 articles total. There were also 3 or 4 other web team members who handled editing, business development and advertising tasks.
The beauty of cleaning up old content that doesn't change, is that once it's clean, that's it. It won't have to be touched again.
One big advantage that we had, was that our CMS was written in-house by the brilliant Aussie, David Searson. He took the redesign opportunity to rewrite the CMS with validation features in mind. It came to the point where an editor could not deploy an article unless it was validated. That forced everyone to get on board, and to learn proper XHTML. Having the CMS to back up everything we were striving for on the front-end was essential.
The hardest part of either redesign was undoubtedly the clean-up of older content. Inc.'s content dates back as far as 1986, and we found some of the nastiest HTML one could ever imagine. It took a small army of two interns to come in every day for several months chipping away at it, article by article. Bless them.
The beauty of cleaning up old content that doesn't change, is that once it's clean, that's it. It won't have to be touched again.
Those are some sexy navigation tabs…
Why thanks! I'm pretty happy with the solution, although it does have its faults. The constraint was that we needed to fit a certain number of top-level items in. Using text just would not work out at a minimum resolution of 800×600. So images it had to be. All I really did was combine Pixy's excellent rollover technique with the image replacement method of the month. For instances where you're forced to use images in navigation — this is an option. Ideally, it's nice to be able to use text of course, letting low-vision users increase font size on those items. We tried to help that problem a bit by referencing a second set of tab images that used a larger font in the existing alternate stylesheets.
Was there anything you couldn't do for one reason or another, that you wish you could have?
The one thing I might have done differently is rethink using a fluid layout as opposed to a fixed one. The main reason we went fluid instead of fixed is to accommodate the massive amount of advertising on article pages. The nasty 336 pixel wide ad in the middle of the page is a real beast to workaround. So, by going flexible on the page width, we thought this would make it an easier read for those users with larger monitors.
The flip-side to this though, is that it can be tough to design custom layouts (like the home page) for that middle column, while still keeping in mind the flexible width. We did a lot with floating blocks to one side, but sometimes it's nice to be able to count on a specific width.
We've read somewhere along the way that since switching, you haven't had a single complaint from a Netscape 4.x user. Since they can obviously access the content (but not the design), what do you think that says about the average user still on older technology?
Crazy, isn't it? Or maybe not. It's true though, that we hadn't received a single complaint from any Netscape 4.x user since we relaunched both sites. I'd like to think it's because they dig the fast-loading, easy to read site, sans style. It could also be that those users wouldn't think of sending feedback to us. But judging from the amount of feedback we received on other issues, it appears that version 4 and below users are either happy, have upgraded or haven't noticed.
This made the decision in going with the @import
method of hiding all CSS from those browsers all the easier.
Anything parting thoughts?
There is one other thing I'd like to mention — that there are more and more site redesigns happening everyday that utilize web standards. This is a great thing. These redesigns are proving that the technology can be used today on not only personal weblogs or testbeds — but also in real-world projects. It's exciting to see it become less about the technique and more about the results.
That said, when we see someone announcing a new redesign that was done with web standards, the first thing we should all do is give them a pat on the back for trying to do things a better way. At times this great community can be too critical, too fast, by picking apart every minute detail about a design. My fear is that the harsh criticism may scare some away from using standard-compliant methods. We're all in this together. "Better today" is greater than "perfect tomorrow".
Good advice for us all. Thanks for taking the time to respond, Dan. We're looking forward to your next big launch!
Thanks! It was my pleasure.
Dan Cederholm is a web designer in Salem, Massachusetts. He lives at SimpleBits, where he writes about standards-compliant design and development, his redesigns of Fast Company and Inc.com and his rediscovery of bubblegum.
Referenced Links:
- FastCompany
- Inc.com
- Wired
- Wired News: Behind the Wired News Design
- zeldman.com
- Pixy's Fast Rollovers
- SimpleBits
Related Reading:
The Web Standards Project is a grassroots coalition fighting for standards which ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all.


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
Thank you for your interest in hosting a parade in downtown Texarkana, Texas and submitting an online Parade Application! Before you get started, here's a few things you want to take note of:
1.) This form can only be used for a parade being held in downtown Texarkana the follows our regular parade route. You can check out the approved route below. If your parade is going to be held anywhere other than the approved route, you'll need to go through the Special Event Application process.
2.) There is no payment required for a parade application, but you will need to fill out the form completely and accurately.
3.) Once you submit your application, you will be contact by City Staff to follow up on this request. If you have questions or need more information, contact Lisa Thompson.
5.) Once your application is reviewed, you will receive an email to let you know it has been "approved" or that we need more information. Please ensure that you've given us a good working email address to receive this communication.


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First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) is always happy and proud when our grantees and the various projects we have supported achieve good success and begin to make positive ripples in Indian Country. We're happy and proud a lot because we have many of these stories, but one of the recent ones is about our good friend A-dae Romero.
A-dae first flew onto First Nations' radar in 2011 when we provided her with a USDA Community Food Projects travel scholarship to attend our L.E.A.D. Conference. At the time, A-dae was thinking of starting a nonprofit organization related to food.
That thought soon became reality with a new organization called Cochiti Youth Experience, Inc. at Cochiti Pueblo in New Mexico. (A-dae was born and raised in Cochiti Pueblo. She is Cochiti and Kiowa.) She co-founded this nonprofit so it could create positive opportunities for Cochiti's young people, and it has a special focus on strengthening Pueblo agriculture as an economic, political and social anchor for the community. First Nations provided a grant to assist Cochiti Youth Experience in 2012 under First Nations' Native Agriculture and Food Systems Initiative, then another grant in 2013 under our Native Youth and Culture Fund.
Since then, A-dae has continued to accomplish good things, both personally and professionally. She recently received important honors and achieved major milestones that recognize her growing impact, especially in Native American agriculture.
In July 2014, The White House and the U.S. Department of Agriculture honored A-dae as one of 15 local "Champions of Change" leaders from across the country "who are doing extraordinary things to build the bench for the next generation of farming and ranching. These champions are leading in their industries and communities, inspiring others who want to find careers and a life on the land, and providing food, fiber, fuel, and flora around the world."
Then, she was recently named a U.S. Fulbright Scholar, a very prestigious academic accomplishment. She will use it to study the Maori people of New Zealand. Then Agri-Pulse, a national agricultural news source, included her as one of the most influential rural agricultural advocates in its "50 Under 50" report.
Further, A-dae recently completed her LL.M. (master of law) degree in agricultural and food law through the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative at the University of Arkansas School of Law. A-dae was the initiative's first student to complete this multi-disciplinary research, service and educational opportunity, and the initiative itself is the first of its kind nationally. This advanced law degree comes on top of her J.D. (juris doctorate) degree from Arizona State University's College of Law, and her degree from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (her focus was on public policy and economic policy).
A-dae now acts as a consultant with First Nations Development Institute on several of our Native Agriculture and Food Systems Initiative efforts, plus she walks in two worlds by farming with her family in New Mexico – raising blue corn and varieties of Pueblo corn – and farming with her husband's family in Hawaii, growing taro. She also serves on the board of Native American Farmers and Ranchers through New Mexico Community Capital, and on the board of the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance (NAFSA). And, she was just named a legal researcher for the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), in partnership with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), for the new Global Network on Legal Preparedness for Achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
It's no wonder A-dae is becoming a leader in Native agriculture. According to the Agri-Pulse article, her grandfather was a leader among his people. When construction of the Cochiti Dam flooded agricultural land used by their tribe, A-dae was just a child. Yet she remembers playing nearby as her grandfather and other leaders discussed the loss of the land for farming, which was vital to the pueblo's livelihood.
A-dae said it was "very intimate and powerful time" in her life, as the community, dependent on agriculture, struggled with the question of who they would be without farming. As she began to develop an interest in a profession that could help her to be a voice of her culture, she found a mentor who encouraged her to pursue her dreams of law school. Since then she has found a fertile and fruitful field of endeavor at the intersection of law and agriculture.
"After all," she said in the Agri-Pulse interview, "farming is about getting our hands dirty, and there is a simple kind of happiness in that."
By Randy Blauvelt, First Nations Senior Communications Officer


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Even the Tunisians themselves have not made songs yet about their great historical victory , they do not have time for songs now despite all their sincere beautiful feelings now , it is time of action but what can you say about Mr. Tamer Hosni who did not waste anytime in making a lame song about Tunisia and its martyrs to be under the spotlights as usual !!
I can't believe him , seriously I can't !!
Dear Tunisians I apologize for this big media addict , I know you love him but you must understand that he is a big hypocrite , he only cares about his image in the media nothing more , nothing else.
Why did not Tamer sing for Khaled Said and the other martyrs of Egypt in the same way ? Of course when the Mubarak regime is downed , he will say that Alaa Mubarak threatened him to sing for Mubarak !!
As a reminder this is a gentleman who faked official documents to skip the military service , this is gentleman who claims that Jermaine Jackson told him that he reminded him with Michael Jackson !!!!!!!!!!!!
The best song about Tunisia nowadays to be said is the Tunisian national anthem which ends with the amazing inspiring verses of Abu Kassem Al-Shabi and Mostafa Sadek Al-Rafe'ie .
P.S speaking about the inspirational poets and their poems , where are the Syrians from the poems of Nizar Qabbani and Mohamed Al Maghut ??


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Makow -The 'Jewish'
Conspiracy Is
British Imperialism
By Henry Makow PhD
Conspiracy theorists like myself believe modern history reflects a long-term conspiracy by an international financial elite to enslave humanity.
Like blind men examining an elephant, we attribute this conspiracy to Jews, Illuminati, Vatican, Jesuits, Freemasons, Black Nobility, and Bildersbergs etc.
The real villains are at the heart of our economic and cultural life. They are the dynastic families who own the Bank of England, the US Federal Reserve and associated cartels. They also control the World Bank and IMF. Their identity is kept secret but Rothschild is certainly one of them.
England is in fact a financial oligarchy run by the "Crown" which refers to the "City of London" not the Queen. The City is run by the Bank of England, a /private/ corporation. The City is a sovereign state located in the heart of greater London. Considered the "Vatican of the financial world," the City is /not/ subject to British law.
On the contrary, the Bank of England dictates to the British Parliament. In 1886, Andrew Carnegie wrote that, "six or seven men can plunge the nation into war without consulting Parliament at all." Vincent Vickers, a director of the Bank of England from 1910-1919, blamed the City for the wars of the world. ("Economic Tribulation" (1940) cited in /Knuth, The Empire of the City, 1943, p 60) /
The British Empire was an extension of bankers' financial interests. Indeed, all the non-white colonies (India, Hong Kong, Gibraltar) were "Crown Colonies." They belonged to the City and were not subject to British law although Englishmen were expected to conquer and pay for them.
The Bank of England assumed control of the United States during the T.R. Roosevelt administration (1901-1909) when its agent J.P. Morgan took over 25% of American business. http://www.savethemales.ca/000426.html
According to the "American Almanac," the bankers are part of a network called the "Club of the Isles" which is an informal association of European royalty including the Queen. The Club of the Isles commands an estimated $10 trillion in assets. It lords over such corporate giants as Royal Dutch Shell, Imperial Chemical Industries, Lloyds of London, Unilever, Lonrho, Rio Tinto Zinc, and Anglo American DeBeers. It dominates the world supply of petroleum, gold, diamonds, and many other vital raw materials; and deploys these assets not merely in the pursuit of its geopolitical agenda.
Its goal: to reduce the human population from its current level of over 5 billion people to below 1 billion people within the next two to three generations; to literally ``cull the human herd'' in the interest of retaining their own global power and the feudal system upon which that power is based. http://members.tripod.com/~american_almanac/fallhous.htm
Historian Jeffrey Steinberg could be referring to the US, Canada and Australia when he writes, "England, Scotland, Wales, and, especially, Northern Ireland, are today little more than slave plantations and social engineering laboratories, serving the needs of ...the City of London...
These families constitute a financier oligarchy; they are the power behind the Windsor throne. They view themselves as the heirs to the Venetian oligarchy, which infiltrated and subverted England from the period 1509-1715, and established a new, more virulent, Anglo-Dutch-Swiss strain of the oligarchic system of imperial Babylon, Persia, Rome, and Byzantium....
The City of London dominates the world's speculative markets. A tightly interlocking group of corporations, involved in raw materials extraction, finance, insurance, transportation, and food production, controls the lion's share of the world market, and exerts virtual "choke point'' control over world industry." http://members.tripod.com/~american_almanac/largest.htm
Steinberg belongs to a group of historians associated with economist Lyndon Larouche. They have traced this scourge to the migration of the Venetian mercantile oligarchy to England more than 300 years ago. http://members.tripod.com/~american_almanac/venlowry.htm
Although the Larouche historians do not say so, it appears that many members of this oligarchy were Jews. Cecil Roth writes: "The trade of Venice was overwhelmingly concentrated in the hands of the Jews, the wealthiest of the mercantile class." (/The History of the Jews in Venice, 1930) /
The Jewish banking families made it a practice to marry their female offspring to spendthrift European aristocrats. In Jewish law, the mixed offspring of a Jewish mother is Jewish. (The male heirs always marry Jews.) The daughter of Jewish banker Ernest Cassel married Lord Louis Montbatten, who was related to Queen Victoria and Prince Philip.
If they aren't already Jewish by intermarriage, many European aristocrats consider themselves descendants of Biblical Hebrews. The Hapsburgs are related by marriage to the Merovingians who claim to be descendants of the Tribe of Benjamin.
In addition, many aristocrats belong to the "British Israel" Movement that believes the Anglo Saxon races are the lost tribes of Israel and Jesus was king of England.
According to Barbara Aho, Rosicrucians and Freemasons, who believe in British Israelism, have a plan to place one of their bloodline on the throne of the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. This positioning of a false messiah whom the world will worship as Christ has been carefully planned and executed over many centuries. http://watch.pair.com/brit-israel.html
According to Barry Chamish, "there would be no modern state of Israel without British Freemasonry. In the 1860s, the British-Israelite movement was initiated from within Freemasonry. Its goal was to establish a Jewish-Masonic state in the Turkish province of Palestine...Initially, British Jewish Masonic families like the Rothschilds and Montefiores provided the capital to build the infrastructure for the anticipated wave of immigration. However, luring the Jews to Israel was proving difficult. They, simply, liked European life too much to abandon it. So Europe was to be turned into a nightmare for the Jews." http://www.rense.com/general28/brit.htm
I wasted much of my life getting a conventional education, so I feel I am beginning my education anew.
It appears that a vampire-like clique directs the world. This secretive cabal is represented by our dominant political, economic and cultural institutions. Western society has been subverted and western culture is bankrupt. Democracy is a form of social control and the mass media and education are forms of indoctrination.
Essentially the problem boils down to whether we believe man was made in God's image and has an obligation to lift himself to a higher level of truth, beauty and justice. Naturally monopolists have no use for this and want to define reality to suit their own interests. They have taught us that God is dead and man is defined by physical rather than spiritual appetites. Culture today tends to deny standards, ideals and goals of any kind. We are fed an endless diet of trivia and debauchery.
Certain Jews are an integral part of this elite neo feudal conspiracy. Throughout history they have had a symbiotic relationship with the aristocracy. But ordinary Jews like the serfs were manipulated and persecuted by their leaders. http://www.savethemales.ca/000258.html
True Judaism like Islam and Christianity affirms the supremacy of God as a moral force. A real Jew, like a true Christian or Muslim cannot perform an immoral act. It's time to reaffirm our belief in God.
Henry Makow Ph.D, is the inventor of the board game Scruples and the author of "A Long Way to Go for a Date." His articles exposing feminism and the new world order can be found at his web site www.savethemales.ca http://www.savethemales.ca/ He welcomes feedback at henryatsavethemales.ca Indicated if you do NOT want your message posted. (All posts are anonymous.)
A Pakistani View:
British Imperialism, Illuminati and the New World Order
It was nice for you to touch upon British imperialism and its Illuminati roots.
Being a person of Pakistani origin, I was on the receiving end of it. This can be of help shedding light on what really took place under the shadow of British-Illuminati imperialism. Please feel free to publish it.
To start with, its no coincidence that British imperialism begins only after the Illuminati Jewish bankers, the Rothschilds become established in Britain and realise that they cannot exploit the rest of the world in a similar fashion, since the usual tactic of infiltration into corridors of power would not work in foreign lands. They therefore simply appropriated the British flag as theirs and used the British as their extensions in non-Western lands. The British were dosed with pride in the "empire", "race", "Christianity" and "Queen" whereas it was really Rothschild's empire they were making.
The greatest evidence of collusion between Illuminati and early Imperialists is the great friendship between racist coloniser Cecil Rhodes and the house of Rothschild. This has been detailed in Fritz Springmeier's "Bloodlines and the Illuminati"
I would like to take the instance of colonisation of the subcontinent (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh). The British East India Company who snuck into India under the guise of traders first initiated colonisation. You can read about their Illuminati links at this page http://user.pa.net/~drivera/fw5.htm which says that "They were closely related to the Levant Company, and the Anglo-Muscovy Company, and spawned the London Company, which was chartered in 1606 by King James I, to establish the Virginia Plantation on a communistic basis, and the Plymouth Colony in 1621." And again "Every year, 24 Directors were elected by the Court of Proprietors (or shareholders, a majority of which were English Masons)."
What exactly was the lure of India which set Columbus sailing? The answer is that the Muslim Mughal rulers had achieved a sophisticated urban society with a degree of opulence in gold and spices never before seen in history. According to this
, "A report on Indian Industrial Commission published in 1919 said that the industrial development of India was at any rate not inferior to that of the most advanced European nations. India was not only a great agricultural country but also a great manufacturing country."It was the lure of Gold which attracted the Illuminati.
The British traders were not allowed to own property in India but one of them managed to gain the favors of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb by curing his ill wife. In return, he asked for land. This piece of land became the Madras Headquarters of the East India Company. After that, the East India company used the policy of divide and rule, pitting one group against the other. Robert Clive was an ambitious Englishman. Though not Illuminati, his ambitions made him a pawn in the hands of the Illuminati and his efforts are single handedly credited with establishing a British empire in India. Yet, once he succeeded in doing that, The Illuminati had him removed like a hair in the butter; even had him court-martialed and replaced with one of their operatives!
All was going well. According to this
"The vacuum created by the contrived ruin of the Indian handicraft industries, a process virtually completed by 1880, was filled with British manufactured goods. Britain's industrial revolution, with its explosive increase in productivity made it essential for British capitalists to find new markets. India turned from exporter of textile to importer."
As Indian Hindus still didn't have much of a concept of idealism or nationhood and the masses generally considered the new rulers not much different from the different powers they were serving for the last 1000 years, the British recognised their greatest enemy as Muslims and Muslim rulers. The Mughals still existed but their power had waned to within Delhi. A new threat arose in the South where a pious Muslim ruler, Tipu Sultan bearing the ancestry of the Prophet decided to unite all local powers against the British. He fought bravely but due to the treachery of the Muslim Nizam of Hyderabad, had to sign a humiliating treaty under which the Illuminati took his children as a security deposit! Lord Cornwallis (Illuminati) was involved in signing of the treaty. (yes, he's the same Cornwallis we later saw in America). Despite these hardships, Tipu fought back and died with a sword in clutched in his hand surrounded by the bodies of dozens of Englishmen he had manages to kill.
After Tipu's murder in 1799, it was open season on India. The Rothschilds ordered the British to snatch and ship out every piece of gold they could lay their hands on. They started annexing princely states left and right. Lord Dalhousie (Illuminati) was appointed Governor General in 1848. Though there is a University built in Halifax in his name, few know that he started a policy by which any princely state of devoid of official heirs would be annexed by Rothschild British agents. This policy proved very successful.
However, the Muslim power was still seething, and in 1857, an all-out war of independence broke out. Though there are horror stories of Muslims massacring British, few know that the British beheaded the sons of the Last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar and presented their heads to him on platters! Bahadur Shah was later exiled to Burma where he spent the remainder of his life in a 4',x4' windowless jail cell.After that, there was a grand ball held at the Red Fort. The Rothschilds ensured that the original solid gold coated spires of the Taj Mahal were shipped off to Britain and replaced with brass ones. Instrumental in the success of the British were rail, telegraph and traitor princely states like the Nizam of Hyderabad.
India serves as a great example of how literature and language can be exploited and created for furthering Illuminati interests. Wilkie Collins of the Illuminati Collins bloodline started publishing imaginary tales of Muslim atrocities against Hindus and temple trashing by Muslim rulers in his famous novel, the Moonstone.
Hindus who were a non-cohesive group living peacefully with Muslims for years were suddenly pitted against Muslims. An Englishman started the original controversy of the Babri mosque being built on the birthplace of Hindu God Ram. To further distance Muslims from their Persian language and therefore Islamic roots, the British popularized Urdu language as a mass language for Muslims. The reason was that Urdu while sharing the script of Persian happened to be littered with native Indian words, making it more localized in its nature; and inheriting all the class bias of Indian language as well.
Then the British created Hindi language out of thin air as a national language for Hindus. Hindi was spoken like Urdu but had the script of Sanskrit, a Hindu script which had gone extinct centuries ago. Hindi would give Hindus identity making them antagonist to Muslimsand Muslims would be encouraged to abandon Urdu for Hindi, breaking complete contact with Islamic script. A certain John Gilchrist of Fort William College, Calcutta, directed these language politics. Mr. Gilchrist can be aptly called the father of Hindi language.
Languages were not the only tools the Illuminati created. Realising the danger posed by the call for jihad during Muslim Friday sermons, the British created a bogus Islam known as Qadyanism/Ahmedism/Ismailism, complete with its very own false prophet! This new cult would preach a "Colonial friendly Islam" and at the same time engage in assassinations of real Muslim intellectuals.
Illuminati Masonist/racist Rudyard Kipling would settle in India to further provoke the English to further colonialism by penning racist epithets like "White Man's burden" (should be called "Rothschild's burden"). Kipling's seemingly innocent novels contain subtle anti-Islamism and his epic "Jungle Boy" carries the Disney- Illuminati theme of man and civilisation being shunned for animals.
Kipling would even attempt to justify colonialism by pointing towards the British instruments of plunder such as railroads, telegraphs and the ports of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras as some landmarks of civilisation which the Indians could not construct themselves. Such a claim is dubious since the India on the eve of British arrival was a prosperous one; and there is no way to tell how things would have been in the absence of the British.
What can be said is that the Indians failed to offer the illuminati effective resistance; and were no match to their cold-blooded calculations. A very negative legacy left behind by the British was the culture of bribery and corruption in the administration lower levels. Since this corruption translated into very little when compared to the Illuminati stakes in India, The British preferred to keep an administration of bribe taking yes men rather than focus on clean administration. We find this culture continues to thrive in all areas of British imperialism; India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt and Nigeria.
India also became the focal point of the Opium Wars. There are reports that opium, which was bringing the decay of Oriental society and brought the downfall of the Chinese empire was actually being cultivated by the British in Patna and Afghanistan. The British did not sell it to Indians however. Instead they started giving away free tea (which contains addictive substance) at railway stations. Once the Indian population was hooked, they put a price on it.
Realising the need for local Indian Illuminati operatives, Freemasonry made its entry into India. The first Lodge was established at Fort William, Calcutta in 1730. (The same fort William from which Hindi arose). Interestingly, its coat of arms was the lion on the seal of the British East India Company! Freemasonry was gradually established in all major Indian urban focal points.
"Independence" But Whose?
As we know, the biggest Illuminati project of the 20th century was Communism. The Illuminati fostered the growth of the Indian National Congress through its operatives, A.O Hume and Wederburn. The idea was to create an independent India which would be a proxy for the Soviets. For this purpose, Indian freemasonry went overtime into grooming local Indian Mason operatives.
According to this official
Masonic website
, "Swami Vivekananda (initiated in 1884 under the name of Bro. Narendra Nath Dutt in Lodge Anchor & Hope, Calcutta). Motilal Nehru - Lodge Harmony, Kanpur (Father of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and grand father of Indhira Gandhi), C. Rajagopalachary (Governor General of India), Sir C P Ramaswamy Iyer (Divan of Travancore), Dr. P V Cheriy (Governor of Maharashtra), and Fakruddin Ali Ahmed (President of India)."
Since this Illuminati project of delivering an "independent India" to the Soviet sphere of influence required top priority, Illuminati operative Helena Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society in India. The purpose was two-fold. First, Blavatsky would dig up the swastika and Aryan theory for the Nazis who were created to attack Russia, which would result in the entire Eastern Europe and Germany being transferred to Communists.
Secondly, the Theosophical Society would coordinate the Indian Independence movement through the Indian National Congress. Even back then, rumours began circulating about Blavatsky and the "Russians". A key theosophist activist was Mrs. Annie Besant who despite acting against the British, managed to mysteriously escape being punished by them. If one analyses the Indian independence movement, we notice the British building a crescendo of antagonizing the Indian National Congress and then caving in to their demands.whereas transfer of power to the INC was predetermined. Realising that Indian National Congress leaders were phoney in every respect, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, a British educated lawyer managed to get a mandate for an all Muslim Pakistan without shedding a drop of blood or going to jail.
The last Governor General of India, Lord Mountbatten is considered to be associated with the Rothschilds. He realised the threat Pakistan would pose to the about to be created Soviet proxy India. He assured that independent India got more than its share of landmass, including islands in the Indian Ocean, many border districts initially marked for Pakistan (which resulted in the Muslims being massacred), 95% Muslim Kashmir which should have gone to Pakistan, The Muslim princely states of Junagadh and Hyderabad, the latter of whom was expecting independent status for its traitorous role in 1857 and North-Eastern territories consisting of Orientals!
The time India was liberated coincides with a little known private ceremony known as "Hour of the British Empire" which is held in London. Further, the Rothschild owned British Petroleum was granted unlimited rights to all offshore Indian oil, which is still valid till this day. There is reason to believe that the internationalists were behind the death/disappearance of Indian freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose who would become a popular rival to Theosophist groomed Nehru after independence. Unlike Nehru, Bose was on the frontlines using Indian POW's of the British army captured by the Japanese to fight back against the British. His death remains a mystery and it was conducted by the illuminati to ensure Nehru had all control over India.
The Congress party consisted of numerous freemasons and theosophists who ensured that India with its strategic landmass was always a total ally of the Soviet Union. Later, many communist countries including India became part of the "non aligned movement" which enabled them to remain allied to the Soviet Union and yet receive major aid from internationalists and their tax free foundations in America, including components for atomic weapons. Even Canadian Deuterium made its way into Soviet proxy India. All of Indian military hardware consisted of Russian technology and despite the cold war, the Illuminati was very reluctant to back Pakistan in any way.
Limited amounts of American small arms made it to Afghanistan through Pakistan but it is important to note that the American ambassador supervising it and the Pakistani President, General Zia were killed in the same plane crash! India had major stakes in the Soviet Union, including a possible obliteration of Pakistan if the Soviets made it across Afghanistan. It is interesting to note that the UN turned a blind eye to the illegal Indian invasion and annexation of Goa. This proves that the UN was created to foster Illuminati plans.
Of course, the farce of Indian independence will never be known to the casual observer, who is subjected to whitewash such as the BBC movie, "Gandhi" and Larry Collin's (Of Illuminati Collins bloodline) "Freedom at Midnight". As for Indians, despite their population of around 1 billion, they seem to be too hungry, hate obsessed and materialistic to ever figure out. And again, greeting the powerful of the world with folded hands is never looked down upon. In India. And rather represents a 1000 year old tradition.
It is interesting to note that the Indian government crushed the real peasant classes who became genuine Communists without the Communist International batting an eye; and Soviet aid to India was never hindered.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Illuminati switched horses; abandoning the Congress party for the Hindu fascist Bharatiya janata Party (BJP). Though never in control of this party, this was the closest the Illuminati could get to exercising influence. The UN and world media would turn a blind eye to the burning alive of 5000+ Muslim civilians by Hindu hoodlums. Israel would become intimately involved with India, to the extent of Israeli fighter planes being detected in the process of launching pre-emptive strikes on Pakistani nuclear reactors after India conducted its recent nuclear tests .The coming to light of this event enraged the Chinese allies of Pakistan to such an extent that they gifted Pakistan a complete fleet of fighter planes.
The recent resurgence of the Congress has upset Illuminati plans. The creation of a one world government under the Illuminati UN will require not just horrendous wars in the Middle East but the rest of the world as well. In South east Asia, we may see a war with Pakistan, North Korea and China against India, Taiwan and south Korea. If it happens to be a nuclear war, the carnage will help pave way for a UN one world government. For that purpose, the Illuminati is working to get the recently dethroned Hindu fascist BJP party back on its feet.
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Shoshone-Bannock Takes Preemptive Approach to Government Shutdown
The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho says it has seen little effects in the early days of the government shutdown of October 1, however all of that could change by next week if Congress is unable to agree on a plan for the fiscal budget.
RELATED: Government Shutdown Frustrates Tribal Leaders
Hours before the government shutdown went into effect the White House held a conference call to discuss the possible impacts a shutdown would have on tribal programs according to a tribal press release. It was reported that essential tribal government services would continue and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) noted that public safety, child protection and some other services will be shutdown.
RELATED: Limited Services Provided by Indian Affairs During Government Shutdown
Indian Health Services office noted that direct service programs will be exempt from the shutdown and that agencies such as BIA, Bureau of Indian Education and Health and Human Services (IHS) have contingency plans posted.
Like those government agencies the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes have developed a contingency plan identifying the tribes' 'essential functions' ensuring the tribal community is maintained.
The tribes' plan features a prioritized approach to risks, consequences, and meeting the immediate needs of the tribes. According to the tribes' press release areas of concern include but are not limited to: ensuring the tribal government can perform its essential functions; reducing the loss of life and minimizing property damage and loss; executing a successful order of succession with authorities; reducing mitigation disruptions to daily operations; ensuring facilities and key organizations can continue without interruption; and protecting personnel, facilities and the environment.
"Overall, as a tribal government, we want to assure that the critical infrastructure and support services are not impacted, as well as the Public Safety Departments ability to meet the calls and demands of the general population," the release states. "The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes will still exercise our Treaty Rights under the Fort Bridger Treaty, as the U.S. Government has demonstrated a violation of its trust responsibility. Therefore the following essential Tribal departments will continue to provide Tribal services: 1. The Fort Hall Not-tsoo Gahnee Indian Health Center (I.H.S) will remain open for health care delivery and services as usual. 2. The Fort Hall Agency Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has furloughed all employees except for their acting Superintendent. Notices were provided to their 16 employees on October 1. No date is provided on when they will return back to work. 3. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes is open. Public Safety Departments such as Law Enforcement, Fire and EMS department and Tribal Courts will remain in full operations."
Further notices and/or changes will be provided by the tribe.


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ISLAMABAD (REUTERS) - A bomb exploded at a vegetable market in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi on Wednesday, killing 23 people and injuring at least 39, police and hospital officials said.
Police said the bomb had been hidden in a box of guava fruit and detonated amid the morning traffic.
Dr Javed Akram Qazi, vice chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, confirmed the death toll. More wounded were arriving, he said.
Police said at least 39 people had been wounded.
Rawalpindi, whose suburbs blend into the capital of Islamabad, is the site of the powerful Pakistani military's headquarters. But the blast occurred far from army buildings and the purpose of the attack was unclear.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility. Pakistan is holding peace talks with the Pakistani Taleban insurgency, which is supposed to be observing a ceasefire until April 10, but there are dozens of other militant groups.
The Taleban are demanding the release of hundreds of prisoners and the withdrawal of the army from some of the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.
The Taleban are fighting to overthrow Pakistan's democratically-elected government and impose a strict form of Islamic law.


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Rob Ford apologizes for actions in conflict case
A contrite Rob Ford acknowledged he could have done things differently in the matter that caused an Ontario judge to order him to relinquish the Toronto mayoralty, one day after attributing his ouster to left-wing politics.
"Looking back, maybe I could have expressed myself in a different way. To everyone who believes I should have done this differently, I sincerely apologize," Ford said in a prepared statement at a Tuesday afternoon news conference at city hall.
"I was focused on raising money to help underprivileged youth. I never believed there was a conflict of interest because I had nothing to gain and the city had nothing to lose. But I respect the court's decision," said Ford, who sounded hoarse.
The mayor was in much feistier form a day earlier, when he attributed the court decision to "left-wing politics."
"The left wing wants me out of here and they'll do anything in their power to," he said at the time.
His comments Tuesday came hours after city solicitor Anna Kinastowski said it is the opinion of the City of Toronto's legal team that Ford would not be able to run for mayor until 2014. She stressed that the mayor is free to seek his own legal opinion.
She was commenting Tuesday morning during a session of Toronto council, a day after Ontario Superior Court Justice Charles T. Hackland found that Ford had violated provincial conflict of interest rules for municipal politicians and ordered his seat be vacated in two weeks.
Kinastowski was specifically addressing uncertainty around the wording in the decision delivered by Hackland.
By law, Hackland could have barred Ford from running again for office for up to seven years. Instead, he did not place "any further disqualification from beyond the current term."
The meaning of "current term" caused much confusion, with some lawyers interpreting that to mean the end of his current term in December 2014, while others interpreted that wording to mean that the term would end if and when he relinquishes the seat.
"In our view, it is my opinion that the word 'term' means 2010 to 2014," Kinastowski said.
But Alan Lenczner, Ford's lawyer, told CBC News that he believes the mayor could run in a byelection if one is called ahead of the 2014 municipal election. Lenczner said he was certain that the word "term" in question meant 14 days and that he thinks the mayor could run again at any time.
Ford has said he plans to appeal Hackland's ruling. If it's upheld in the appeal, council then has 60 days to either appoint a new mayor or call a byelection to fill the seat.
A three-judge panel in Ontario divisional court would hear the appeal that Ford has said he plans to file this week.
The divisional court's ruling is final, Kinastowski said.
Ford could also apply to have Hackland's ruling stayed, and if successful, he could remain as mayor until the appeal process is exhausted.
Lenczner told CBC News that a stay application would be heard on Dec. 5. An appeal of Hackland's ruling could be heard by Jan. 7.
Kinastowski said she thought it would be "unusual" for the court to decline a stay.
However, Stephen D'Agostino, who specializes in municipal law, told CBC News that he believes granting a stay to Ford would be unprecedented.
"I've been involved in conflict of interest work for 15-odd years," he said. "I've never seen it done."
Ford attended council and the victory parade for the Toronto Argonauts, who beat the Calgary Stampeders on Sunday to win the 100th Grey Cup.
Ford made a proclamation declaring "Toronto Argonauts Day."
"This is what you call a dream come true, folks. We said they could do it and they did it," said Ford, who was greeted with a mix of boos and cheers.
Later Tuesday night, Ford is expected to lead the Don Bosco Eagles, the high school football team he coaches, in the Metro Bowl, a citywide high school championship. The game will be played on the same Rogers Centre field where the Argos captured the CFL championship.
While Ford remains mayor for at least 13 more days, Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti, one of the mayor's staunchest allies, told reporters Ford should step down while the appeal process unfolds. The city is in a "crisis," Mammoliti told reporters shortly after Kinastowski addressed council.
"I think it would be appropriate for him to not leave office, but step down until the appeal is over and give the reins to the deputy mayor," he said.