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Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker
Born | March 25, 1965 Nelsonville, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation |
Years active | 1974–present |
Filmography |
Spouse(s) |
Partner(s) | Robert Downey Jr. (1984–1991) |
Children | 3 |
Relatives |
Awards | Full list |
Sarah Jessica Parker was born March 25, 1965, in Nelsonville, Ohio, to Barbra Forste (née Keck), a teacher who ran a nursery school, and Stephen Parker, a journalist. Her parents divorced, and her mother later remarried to Paul Forste and had four more children, bringing the total to eight. Sarah now had 3 full siblings and 4 half siblings. Her father was of Eastern European Jewish ancestry, and her mother had German, and some English, roots.
Trained in singing and ballet, Sarah was cast in the Broadway production of "The Innocents", which prompted her family to relocate to New Jersey. Already a professional performer (she studied at the American Ballet School and the Professional Children's School), Sarah was cast in "The Sound of Music" (along with four of her siblings), and landed the lead in the Broadway run of "Annie". After a year as the free-spirited orphan, Sarah attended Dwight Morrow High School, while continuing to add more credits to her acting resume. She landed a role in the made-for-TV movie My Body, My Child (1982), before being cast as one of the lead roles in the 1982 sitcom Square Pegs (1982), as high-schooler Patty Green.
Once a graduate, Sarah decided to pursue a full-time acting career rather than further her education. Since Square Pegs (1982) did not last more than a year, Sarah moved on to supporting film roles in movies such as Footloose (1984), Firstborn (1984), and the lead role in the teenage film Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985). Sarah was having lots of fun, although she had yet to land a star-turning role. After more television appearances in series and made-for-TV movies including A Year in the Life (1986), The Room Upstairs (1987) and Dadah Is Death (1988), Sarah finally landed the role of Steve Martin's bubbly lover in the 1991 comedy L.A. Story (1991). More substantial film roles soon followed, starting with a role opposite Nicolas Cage in Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) (which foreshadowed her comedic talent), Hocus Pocus (1993) and Ed Wood (1994).
A big Woody Allen fan, she starred opposite the renowned filmmaker in the television movie The Sunshine Boys (1996), and that same year, she landed a starring role in Miami Rhapsody (1995). 1996 was a film intensive year with roles in The First Wives Club (1996), If Lucy Fell (1996), and Mars Attacks! (1996). All the while making a name for herself in film, Sarah was gaining respect as a theater actress, with her lead role as a dog (hard to imagine, but true) in the off-Broadway "Sylvia", and her Broadway roles in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" (starring her present husband, Matthew Broderick), and the Tony-Award nominated "Once Upon a Mattress".
But Sarah's star has shot up since her portrayal of Manhattan sex-columnist Carrie Bradshaw in the HBO series Sex and the City (1998). Sarah's Golden Globe Best Actress victory in 2000 only underscores the fact that she plays the role of Carrie as though it were literally written for her. Sarah has been happily married to fellow actor Matthew Broderick for quite a while now. Before the marriage, she dated Robert Downey Jr. (who she also lived with), and the late John Kennedy Jr. When not serving as lead actress and producer of Sex and the City (1998), Sarah is a member of Hollywood's Women's Political Committee, and is UNICEF's representative for the Performing Arts.


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CounterPunch Magazine delivered by First Class mail.
In this issue: GOD SAVE HRC, FROM REALITY — Jeffrey St. Clair on Hillary Clinton's miraculous rags-to-riches method of financial success; LA CONFIDENTIAL: Lee Ballinger on race, violence and inequality in Los Angeles; PAPER DRAGON: Peter Lee on China's military; THE BATTLE OVER PAT TILLMAN: David Hoelscher provides a 10 year retrospective on the changing legacy of Pat Tillman; MY BROTHER AND THE SPACE PROGRAM: Paul Krassner on the FBI and rocket science. PLUS: Mike Whitney on how the Central Bank feeds state capitalism; JoAnn Wypijewski on what's crazier than Bowe Bergdahl?; Kristin Kolb on guns and the American psyche; Chris Floyd the Terror War's disastrous course.

subset: commoncrawl


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Opera on DVD: Assassinio nella cattedrale
The life and martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket has inspired many works of literature, going back at least as far as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in which the story-telling pilgrims are on their way to visit the famous tomb of the murderered Archbishop of Canterbury. One of the more recent works was T. S. Eliot's rather austere play Murder in the Cathedral, influenced by Eliot's rediscovery of his Christian faith and an interest in ancient Greek tragedy. Fifty years ago this year (March 1958), composer Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968) premiered an operatic version of Eliot's play. The composer, who has a score of operas (a few unfinished) to his name, wrote his own libretto, adapted from Mons. Alberto Castelli's Italian translation of Eliot's English. It is not one of the great operas of the 20th century, but this production makes a good argument that it should perhaps be heard more than it is. Pizzetti, one of Italy's Generazione dell'Ottanta, has a more modal vocabulary, drawn from his fascination with Gregorian chant and other early music, than many early 20th-century composers.
I. Pizzetti, Assassinio nella cattedrale, R. Raimondi, Orchestra Sinfonica della Provincia di Bari, P. Morandi
(released April 15, 2008)
Decca 074 3253
This performance was presented in a church quite akin to Becket's Canterbury, the Basilica di S. Nicola in Bari, and in December, around the same time as the action. The place was a major pilgrimage destination, also like Canterbury after Becket's assassination, because of the tomb of St. Nicholas, as seen in a painting by Gentile da Fabriano now in the National Gallery of Art. Ruggiero Raimondi is an intense, authoritarian Becket, matched by a capable, if less stellar supporting cast. Paoletta Marrocu, heard as Lady Macbeth in 2007, is as potent as always, but with a slight shrillness not entirely unappropriate for the role, one of the lead women of Canterbury. The chorus, from the Conservatorio Piccinni di Bari, is strong in the very important role of the Greek chorus. The only regret is the sound, which has to be the least flattering sound ever captured in a similar acoustic, which cannot be as leaden and echoing as it is presented here. Also, video director Tiziano Mancini should have refrained from inserting unrelated images, staged scenes in slow motion that add nothing to the dramatic impact and are kind of silly.


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As procurement professionals we have to continually demonstrate our value to our organisation by focusing on the key activities that deliver the most added benefits. What gets in the way of doing this is the myriad of other things that we have to do each day. Often there is more to do than we are able to achieve in the time available to us.
At this point we need a good process for prioritising our tasks, planning our work and working our plan. The best analogy I have ever heard on prioritising work came from Stephen Covey; it is called the "rocks, pebbles and sand" analogy for time management.
The story as told by Mr Covey is that an expert was addressing a group of business students. He reached beneath the desk to produce a large glass container and proceeded to fill it with rocks. When he could fit no more in he asked the group whether the container was full to which the group replied yes it was.
He then produced some pebbles and through a process of shaking the container managed to fit them all in the gaps between the rocks. Similarly, he managed to fill the gaps between the pebbles with sand. The group then thought the container was full until the expert successfully poured a jug of water into the container.
The lesson of this story is clear. If the container represents the time we have available to us in a period of time and the rocks, pebbles, sand and water represent the tasks we have to carry out then we can only do them all if we do the rocks first and the rest in order of size. In other words, start with your biggest tasks first and only go to the next level of tasks once the big ones are complete. If you do the tasks the other way round, you will never get to the big rocks (tasks).
So what are the big rocks that procurement professionals need to do first before they give their attention to the smaller tasks? I would suggest the following:-
- Understanding your supply markets – what is their scope, who are the major players, are they growing or declining, is there scope to bring in new entrants and so on.
- Understanding the demand for products and services in your organisation and how this relates to your supply market knowledge. For example, is there a need to develop a particular market by stimulating innovation or attracting new entrants?
- Organising price and cost analyses and carrying out benchmarking exercises to understand the opportunities for savings. This might be linked to value analysis and value engineering exercises.
- Carrying out supply chain risk assessments so that you understand the potential vulnerability for your organisation and then put in place effective monitoring and mitigation.
- Working with key suppliers to bring about product, service and cost innovations, improve delivery processes and carry out joint planning and product/service co-design (all part of a supplier relationship management programme).
- Building effective working relationships with other parts of your organisation.
- Measuring performance (both the procurement organisation and suppliers) as the basis of designing and delivering improvement programmes.
- Continually improving your capability through knowledge exchange, training courses and coaching.
Do these big rock activities well and you will show your organisation what great value you can add. This then becomes a "no brainer" case for investing in more resource to do the other, smaller tasks if you can't do them all yourself.


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The Personal Care Products Council has issued a statement urging the United States to eliminate tariffs imposed on the United States by Mexico. According to the council, the 15% tariffs recently imposed by Mexico on U.S. manufactured products impact virtually all personal care products—including makeup, skin care, nail care, shaving goods, hair care, oral care, deodorants and antiperspirants.
The tariffs on imported U.S. goods was established by Mexico as a result of the suspension of a NAFTA agreement allowing Mexican 18-wheelers to deliver goods across the border. The tariffs cover nearly $2.4 billion U.S. goods and are on about 90 products from 40 states. Mexican Economy Secretary Gerardo Ruiz Mateos passed the tariffs when he found that the suspension of the truck agreement violated the NAFTA agreement.
"As a global industry, our member companies strongly support free trade and depend on open borders to manufacture, supply, distribute and market a broad array of personal care products that consumers around the world use every day," said Francine Lamoriello, executive vice president of global strategies for The Personal Care Products Council in the published statement. The council is actively engaged with foreign industry associations, foreign governments and the U.S. government to advocate free trade policies and resist technical barriers that would hinder international product development and marketing, and would result in jobs lost at home and abroad. We encourage a speedy resolution."


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The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread Has Arrived for MS Patients
Last November, I examined five experimental drugs that appeared as if they had all of the tools necessary to become life-changing blockbusters from a financial and quality of life perspective. Yesterday, the first experimental drug I highlighted from Biogen Idec was approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a first-line treatment for relapsing MS.
Pardon the cliche, but I believe the greatest thing since sliced bread has just been bestowed upon MS patients whether they realize it yet or not.
Greater efficacy with fewer side effects is possible!
Tecfidera -- previously known as BG-12 in trials -- was studied in two different clinical trials known as Confirm and Define. In its Confirm study, Biogen noted that its pill, administered twice daily, reduced the rate of MS relapses by an impressive 49%, and was associated with a 71% to 99% drop in new or expanding lesions in both trials.
What's truly unique about Tecfidera is its adverse events profile, which demonstrates the promise of fewer side effects with better efficacy. The most common side effects exhibited by patients on Tecfidera were flushing and gastrointestinal events, which often resulted in very low trial dropout rates. Biogen's new medication could also lower lymphocyte counts in patients, according to its press release.
However, compare this to Novartis' Gilenya or Sanofi's Aubagio and you'll get a much clearer picture why Biogen's oral medication appears superior.
Gilenya, which is approved as both a first-line and second-line MS treatment within the U.S. and comes in pill form as well, has the potential to cause serious cardiovascular problems through slowing a patients' heart rate, can lower lymphocyte counts (similar to Tecfidera), and can potentially lead to macular edema or liver problems. Sure, it's a once-daily pill compared to Tecfidera, which is required to be taken twice a day, but the side effects are night-and-day visible to me.
Aubagio, another pill-based drug from Sanofi, comes with even harsher warnings in the form of an FDA black box warning label. The warning specifically notes that Aubagio can cause severe liver problems that can lead to death. Additional side effects for the second-line treatment include kidney problems, high blood pressure, and breathing problems.
When given the choice of these three drugs, even with Tecfidera's $50,000-$55,000 annual price tag, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee, I can almost assure you physicians and patients with any complication potential are going to opt for Biogen's therapy.
Biogen's MS-sector domination
But, Biogen isn't done there. The growing biotech behemoth recently paid $3.25 billion to acquire a full working interest in IV-based MS therapy Tysabri from Elan . The cash gives Elan the working capital to start over from a relatively empty portfolio while giving Biogen the chance to challenge Novarits, Sanofi, and Teva Pharmaceuticals in the MS arena.
Trust me, there's little love lost in the MS sector with Teva's $4 billion MS drug, Copaxone, set to come off patent in two years. In fact, Teva had tried, unsuccessfully, to delay the FDA approval of Tecfidera on the grounds that there were signs of renal toxicity in its animal studies. As you can guess by yesterday's approval, Teva didn't win that argument and could now stand to lose Copaxone sales long before generics hit the market in 2015.
Now, it's up to Biogen to successfully price and launch Tecfidera, as well as get this revolutionary capsule approved in the EU where the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended approval of the drug last week. Assuming Biogen doesn't pull a Dendreon and completely blow the launch, and Tecfidera gains approval from the European Medicines Agency in the second-quarter, we could be looking at better than $4 billion in worldwide sales by 2017.
That is one mighty fine slice of bread if I don't say so myself!
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The article The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread Has Arrived for MS Patients originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of Dendreon. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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Update: Samsung has since adjusted timing. The app will be available this month, not early September as originally reported.
PlayGalaxy Link got fleetingly little stage time at last week's Unpacked event. It's true that Samsung had a lot of information to jam into the hour-long press conference, but the offering was glazed over during a brief segment on mobile gaming — a surprising choice given how big of an industry the category has become.
We got a little more information from the company by way of a quick "hands-on" video served through Samsung's Korean video channel, but that's about all we've heard. Here's what we know to date: GamePlay Live is a streaming service that makes it possible to stream PC games to the Note 10.
We can now add that the service will be available as a downloadable app (for Android and Windows 10) at some point during the first two weeks of September. The service is free and leverages technology created by Parsec, a New York-based cloud gaming startup that we covered way back in late 2017. The company's technology is being used in the PlayGalaxy app, allowing users to stream titles from a Windows PC with limited latency.
"It's humbling and exciting to us to be the chosen partner to provide the low latency streaming technology that powers the PlayGalaxy Link application," Parsec's CEO and co-founder Benjy Boxer says in a release. "This further demonstrates that our market leading technology can form the core of any game streaming product. Providing our ultra low latency high frame rate streaming software and our proprietary networking to other companies furthers our mission to democratize access to games."
The offering arrives as some of tech's most prominent names are taking more active — although often distinct — interests in mobile gaming. Apple will be launching its arcade mobile gaming subscription service, while Google is offering full-on remote game streaming through Stadia. Microsoft, which recently announced a major partnership with Samsung, will provide similar console-to-mobile streaming with the Xbox.
Parsec, meanwhile, will be offering developer tools through a newly released SDK.


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Columbia Valley & East Kootenay
Events Calendar
- This event has passed.
Play Spur Valley for only $16!
Jun 7, 2016 - Jun 8, 2016
Event Navigation
The Spur Valley Golf mid week special lets you golf every Tuesday and Wednesday during the season for only $16! At this low price, the whole family can have great golfing adventures all summer long. This beautifully-manicured, lush green 9-hole course is just 15 km north of Radium Hot Springs on Highway 93/95. You can't miss the sign for the turn-off.


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"Confused the heck out of me, it did"
"Confucius say Tom Cruise is a fag."
"You gotta help me! AAAH!!!!"
"Confucius say: verb conjugation is unnecessary skill if want to be famous philosopher."
"Shut up, you!"
Confucianism (from "confu" an abbreviation of the word "confuse" and the suffix "-ism" which means doctrine (also known as Confusionism); the word "cian" is just something to connect between the two words or maybe something that makes a hint to the creator) is a confusing doctrine to make people confused. The connection between this and the person named Confucius is a popular misconception. It has no connection whatsoever to him.
Some sinocentrists claim that "Confucius" is an evil Western invention and that Confucius' real name was Kong Qiu, or Kong Fu. They are simply confusing Confucius with a song, "Kung Fu Fighting".
This doctrine consists of many confusing elements such as:
- Meaningless point of view
- Point of meaningless view
- View meaningless of point
- Meaningless of view point
- View point of meaningless
- Of meaningless point view
- Point view of meaningless
- Of view meaningless point
- etc. (Or-ay udy-stay uor-yay Atin-lay.)
A confucians beliefs are fairly simple really. Women are property. Children are slaves. The ruler needs to get off his ass and care for his simple minded people. His simple minded people must develop a better sense of self rightousnous and nationalism. Although nowadays the latter is held higher. Confucious (some old guy with a long forked beard), the founder, is seen as a deity. In fact, that's the only reason it's considered a religion. For some reason, it seems that confucianism secretly promotes wikipedia over uncyclopedia. The horror!
Religous Rites
Monks memorize the philosophy of confucious in academies. On the outside, these academies look like nice little traditional houses with pretty little gardens. Never be fooled. Those "pretty" little plants are actually poisonous obstacles, making escape impossible. On the inside monks are forced to live in maximum security cells of concrete, eat rotten junk, and meditate in chains. This is probably because of the harshness on religion communism has these days.
Role of Women
Since women are inequal, women cannot ever, ever, ever, EVER, have any bonus rights in society. In fact, her level of beauty is determined by how small her feet are. On top of that, women are treated more strictly during their childhood than men. (This happened because Confucius was a man. Had he been a she, then the she a he, and a he a feehee, the women would've been on top.)
Followers of this doctrine consists of nyerd, gyeik, and pholipolosophers, who are so confused that they can not spell the word nerd, geek, or philosopher correctly. These people often get confused and cannot tell the difference between the three Lawrences: (Mr) DH Lawrence, (Mr) TE Lawrence, and Merry Xmas (Mr) Lawrence. They believe that the Jacobean era tragedy by John Ford was really titled 'Tis Pitty She's a Whore Stop Giggling at The Back Jenkins. Yoda was not a Confucian, although he certainly sounded like one sometimes!loool chris nguyen is a homo
See also
Philosophy |
Philosophers |
American Philos
Philosophies |
Questions |
Answers |
Related Things |


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Hen House is having an awesome, AWESOME sale this week. Check out the details at the Kansas City Mamas blog. The short version is when you buy 5 products from their list of pink ribbon items, you will save $5 and Hen House will donate $2 to breast cancer research — a pretty sweet deal all around!
I got 20 special promotion products, plus a handful of other items — including a few full-price things, like $4.43 for the leeks!!!, that I just didn't feel like making one more stop for somewhere else. All together my total came to just $17.64. For all that stuff! Including the stinkin' leeks!
Without coupons and $5 promos, my total would have been $69.56, so I saved just over 75%! Now that's what I call a good day at Hen House.
Obviously a normal person wouldn't have bought all those boxes of cake mix and cereal to eat in one week. But remember: I stock up now, so I never have to pay full-price later!
The best deal was definitely the cake mix, which was on sale for $.99, plus when you buy 5, you save $5… making all five of them free! I bought 14, but left plenty on the shelves for the rest of the crazy cake-deal shoppers. Much as I love cake mix cakes (I gave up on making birthday cakes from scratch a long time ago, Betty Crocker just tastes better), I clearly don't need *that* much cake. So, I'll be donating several boxes to the Yachad Kosher Food Pantry. (See, it really is true that this way of shopping/stockpiling allows you to give more generously!)
Before you head out, be sure to register your Hen House rewards card to get free "clipless" coupons loaded onto your card. I got 2 lbs peaches for free thanks to a $.99/lb clipless coupon and a $1/1 lb coupon from the BIAV fundraiser coupon booklet.
So, meet-up at Hen House?! How many boxes of cake mix will you be buying?


text: Tulsa (c-eniconˈtʌlsə) is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 (2010) residents in the MSA and 988,454 (2010) in the CSA. Tulsa's CSA is projected to reach one million between 2010 and 2012. The city serves as the county seat of Tulsa County, the most densely populated county in Oklahoma, and extends into Osage, Rogers, and Wagoner counties. Tulsa was first settled between 1828 and 1836 after the attack by the Lochapoka Band of Creek Native American tribe. In 1921, it was the site of the infamous Tulsa Race Riot, one of the largest and most destructive acts of racial violence in the history of the United States. For most of the 20th century, the city held the nickname "Oil Capital of the World" and played a major role as one of the most important hubs for the American oil industry. Tulsa, along with several other cities, claims to be the birthplace of U.S. Route 66 and is also known for its Western Swing music. Once heavily dependent on the oil industry, economic downturn and subsequent diversification efforts created an economic base in the energy, finance, aviation, telecommunications and technology sectors. The Tulsa Port of Catoosa, at the head of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, is the most inland river port in the U.S. with access to international waterways. Two institutions of higher education within the city operate at the NCAA Division I level, Oral Roberts University and the University of Tulsa. Located in Tornado Alley, the city frequently experiences severe weather. It is situated on the Arkansas River at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in northeast Oklahoma, a region of the state known as "Green Country". Considered the cultural and arts center of Oklahoma, Tulsa houses two world-renowned art museums, full-time professional opera and ballet companies, and one of the nation's largest concentrations of art deco architecture. The city has been called one of America's most livable large cities by Partners for Livable Communities, Forbes, and Relocate America. People from Tulsa are called "Tulsans." |


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Drone warfare is cowardly. A technician jiggles a joystick. Seconds later, thousands of miles away, a Reaper drone robot airplane fires a Hellfire missile, maiming or dismembering unsuspecting, unarmed, often unidentified human beings. That technician, along with his or her chain of command, plays god – a god who takes no risk in taking those human lives.
The Reaper incinerates Afghan or Pakistani shepherd boys, funeralgoers and other noncombatants. US civilians are also victims of drone warfare. I'm not referring here to US citizens already assassinated by drones, but to the fact that – thanks to the Reaper piloted from various US military bases – our civil liberties are increasingly being curtailed, eroded, violated.
Three cases from Central New York's Reaper hub in Syracuse:
- On April 22, 2011 38 US civilians, myself included, sought to deliver a citizens' indictment at the main gate of Hancock Air Base for the drone war crimes being committed within. The "Hancock 38" were responding to the Nuremberg protocols, signed by the United States, which require citizens to expose and impede their government's war crimes.
The Hancock 38 were exercising our First Amendment rights of freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and the freedom to petition our government for redress of grievances. Nonetheless, we were arrested and charged with blocking traffic and failure to heed a supposedly "lawful" order to disperse.
During our week-long trial, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark testified that weaponized Reapers violate international law. Nonetheless, a suburban town court found each of us guilty. (Note: many of the 38 saw no connection whatsoever between our "crime" and the $375 fines levied on each of us. Thus, rather than render unto Caesar, we redirected our fines – over $5000 total – through the antiwar organization Voices for Creative Nonviolence to a peace group in Afghanistan.)
- Exactly one year later, on April 22, 2012, more than 50 US civilians walked silently, somberly and single-file for two miles toward Hancock Air Base. Most held signs protesting the Reaper; many carried a war crimes citizens' indictment, which they intended to deliver to the base. Several hundred yards from their destination, they were forced to halt on the shoulder of a public road by Onondaga County sheriffs. Many were arrested without warning. In a further escalation of illegal tactics, the sheriffs confiscated walkers' cameras and video equipment. This equipment has yet to be restored to its owners.
Closer to the base entrance but still on the shoulder of the public road, sheriffs arrested Ron Van Norstrand, a Syracuse attorney who, last fall, had defended some of the Hancock 38. Ron was snatched from our midst without provocation and without warning as he consulted with several of us about the day's arrests. There was no apparent reason that he was singled out from our group as we clustered on the shoulder across from the base entrance.
Shortly thereafter, the sheriffs blocked six civilians, also carrying citizen indictments, as we approached that entrance. While detained, activist Rae Kramer read aloud our indictment to the nest of armed soldiers guarding the gate. In all, that day, 33 orderly, law-abiding individuals exercising our First Amendment rights were pre-emptively arrested, charged with "marching without a permit."
- Twice a month for the past couple of years, a handful of us have been standing on the shoulder of the road across from Hancock's main gate. We're there for 45 minutes during Hancock's afternoon shift change, displaying anti-drone signs to the rush hour traffic. Although we have had occasional conversations with civilian law enforcement there, we've never before been threatened or interfered with.
But on May 2, 2012, several prowl cars pulled up, and sheriffs, citing an obscure and perhaps never-before-enforced DeWitt town ordinance, told us we could no longer demonstrate there without a permit. We engaged the sheriffs in a discussion about the First Amendment and their oath to defend and uphold the Constitution.
A sergeant told us that the base complained about our presence. He also told us – with a straight face – that in the town of DeWitt, any "assembly" of more than two persons requires a permit. Dick Keough and I were then arrested, handcuffed and charged with "assembling w/o permit."
Compared to the terror of robotic killing, such stifling of dissent may seem like small potatoes, but it's a harbinger, and a slippery slope. Law enforcement and the courts, more and more, knuckle under to the military and violate the First Amendment rights of US citizens. Presumably, our law enforcement and military personnel swear to uphold the Constitution. Such individuals may (or may not) serve and sacrifice with honor and courage; the sad irony is that some seem to think they do so to protect our freedoms.


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Southeast Michigan Community Events
IONA Conference:
The modern western world has adopted and advocates the system of secularism or the concept of separation of Church and State. Is Islam compatible with such a system? Is one's Ibadah complete by adhering to the pillars of Islam? What does the word Deen imply? The conference is organized to answer such questions and elaborate on the concept of deen in our faith.
Featured speakers: Dawud Walid, Executive Director of CAIR-Michigan; Amir Abdul Malik Ali, Islamic Activist, Oakland California; Mustapha Elturk, Ameer of IONA.
Saturday Januray 2, 2010, 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM; at IONA Masjid; 28630 Ryan Rd (S. of 12 Mile Rd.); Warren, MI 48092; Admission: FREE.
Pizza. (586) 558-6900, email@example.com.
BMUC Free Dinner on January 2nd, 2010
Dinner: The Bloomfield Hills Muslim Unity Center will be holding a complimentary Dinner for the community on Saturday January 2nd, 2010 at 7:00 P.M.
Bring your family and enjoy the company of other Muslim Unity Center Families.
To reserve your spot, please call the office at 248 857 9200 Monday-Friday 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Pre-registration is required.
BMUC Girls Group New Session January 8th, 2010
Youth Group–The New Girls Group Session registration is now open.
The Session will run from January 8th- March 12th at $100/child.
For more information &/or registration please contact Mie El Bohy or Besmah Asbahi.
You can also register at the Office.
BMUC Hojjaj Party January 10th, 2010
Hajj–If you know anybody who went to Hajj this year please contact the Unity Center office at 248 857 9200 with his or her name & contact information so that we can invite them to the Hojjaj party.
The Hajj party will be held on January 10th. Light appetizers and dessert will be served.
BMUC Spring Omrah Trip
* The week of April 5th, 2009
* Details will follow soon.
* For reservation, please call Br. Fadi at: 248 561 1291.


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Which of these flavors of Java is easier to learn to the point where I can get a job as a Java programmer?
Struts, Hibernate, Spring, EJB, or JSP (those are the only five options that I'm interested in)
I don't even know what those are. I've never programmed in Java. Below is my programming experience rated on a scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being extreme expert and 1 being extreme beginner.
VBA (Excel) = 4
Java = 0
VBA for Excel is object oriented programming.
My hope is that I can get good enough in 12 months (or less) of self training to write an app that will impress the employer enough to hire me.
I have an MBA with MIS focus. I'm definitely capable of self training if I can find the right books and resources. I have the natural raw skills of a programmer mind but I have insufficient training nor experience.
kind thanks,


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Sketching the construction of the Olympic 2012 Stadium 8.5" x 12.5", pencil and coloured pencils in sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell |
The Olympic Stadium has just celebrated its first birthday. You can see the progress being made within the Olympic Park through a series of Olympic webcams
2012 Olympic Games 27 July-12 Aug 2012 1153 days to go
I'm going to show you the four sketches I did in this post and the next couple of posts. The first one is of two fellow members of the Drawing London group sketching the Olympic stadium and the site of the Olympic Park.
However I like sketching people sketching so you only have a bit of the stadium from me - which is also helpful because it means I can cut down on complicated counting of struts! The people also help to give it scale. Plus it's a nice record of members of the group.
I do think I might have a bit of a lean on my stadium. I'm OK at knowing my verticals tend to lean but I've not had previous experience of ellipses leaning!
You can sketch the stadium site from The Greenway walk
the Greenway in east London, a 3km embankment and public way running from Victoria Park to West Ham down the full length of the Olympic Park. The Greenway will provide pedestrian and cycle access for visitors to the 2012 gamesGetting to it is a bit complicated at the moment because of diversions due to building on the Olympic site. Here's what we did:
Building Design website - Greenway upgrade proposals
- met at Stratford station - which will be the major hub undergound and railway station for the Olympics. This is your last loo stop (if you can find them!). The station is currently going through a £100 million upgrade which means things keep moving......! (Stratford International Station is also being built - and that's due to open late this year!)
Stratford station is a railway station in Stratford, Newham, East London on National Rail, London Underground, London Overground and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) lines. It is served by the Underground Central and Jubilee lines, and by London Overground, National Express East Anglia and c2c. It is in Travelcard Zone 3.
Wikipedia - Stratford Station
- took the Docklands Light Railway to Pudding Mill Lane station (one stop)
- exited the station and followed the signs to join the Greenway
- walked north for about 300m
If you continue walking up the path beyond the Stadium you get to Old Ford Lock on the River Lea and Fish Island. Of which more in the next post!
One of the nice things about the Olympic site is the number of different ways you can walk and cycle to the Olympic Park area from other parts of London. I hope the plans to develop this network is seen to fruition.
Sketchercise count: 10,061 steps yesterday - which includes walking home from here!
Note: The Greenway is constructed on top of the embrankment which contains the Northern Outfall Sewer which was constructed by Bazelgette after a cholera outbreak in London in 1853 and The Big Stink of 1858.
Links: to websites relating to the area:
- Olympics 2012
- Olympic Park webcams
- London 2012 Blog
- Walk London - Section 14 (Hackney Wick to Beckton District Park) - includes The Greenway
- Transport for London - Route details - Capital Ring Section 14: Hackney Wick to Beckton District Park
- Wikipedia - Stratford International Station


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Frequent flyers beware, the skies are about to become a bit more crowded
The skies are about to become a bit friendlier, but that's not necessarily a good thing. It came to light last week that several major airlines are adding an extra seat to aisles in coach in order to boost their bottom line. Even frequent and elite travelers aren't exempt from airline changes: the Consumerist discovered that some airlines have done away with free checked bags and a number of Premium Economy seats on popular routes.
The Shrinking Coach Seat
Presently there's nothing inherently wrong with flying coach or economy, but a number of airlines are about to give more than 100 passengers per flight a reason to consider upgrading. American Airlines, Air France-KLM, Air Canada, and Dubai's Emirates Airline are opting to add an extra seat to each row of the already not-so-roomy economy cabin.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, 70% of Boeing 777 models already cram 10 seats per row in the economy cabin; 90% of 787 Dreamliner planes are already fitted with nine seats per row instead of the more spacious option of eight. Adding in an extra seat per row means that the average seat width is now 17" on international jets. Even more narrow seats can be found on the Airbus A330 jetliners: they measure 16.7". What's worse, a number of these newly outfitted jets aren't just for short trips.
However, as far as regional flights go, The Chicago Tribune reported earlier this month that United Airlines will cut its Economy Plus section by half (to 16 seats) while simultaneously increasing the number of coach seats from 28 to 48 on 500 of its most popular regional jets, the CRJ700. United plans to make room for the additional seats by slimming them down in the bottom and back; however, the newspaper reports that seat widths appear to be about the same as the current size offered. United confirmed legroom would remain the same, but no specific measurements for the new seat width were available.
Bag Drag: No More Free Checked Bags for Status Passengers
Members of the Star Alliance frequent flier program will have to pack lighter when traveling United Airlines. Consumerist reports that Star Alliance Gold members are now limited to only one 50-lb bag free of charge, and Star Alliance Silver members must now pay for all checked bags. Previously, Gold members were allowed three 70-lb bags and Silver members could check one 50-lb bag without charge.
United's own Mileage Plus and Presidential Plus cardmembers and a companion still get up to two free checked bags, and MileagePlus Explorer Members can check one bag for free. Moreover, if you're still planning on flying United Airlines, do remember to include your MileagePlus number. As one California man discovered, you will have to pay — quite literally — at the airport for forgetting, and once you pay for any bags, it can be a headache to get your money back.
Passenger Reactions Are a Mixed Bag
Unlike some of our staffers, many passengers are reserving their judgments about some of these changes until they're implemented; namely, the thinner United Airlines seats, which actually might make room for more passengers without affecting existing space per traveler. However, many fliers aren't happy that airlines tightening their belts translates into tighter seating and packing restrictions.
Some passengers report feeling "stuck" and wedged into 17" seats. The extra seat in the long-haul flights also makes for a center row of five, creating the "double excuse-me" situation for those in the middle of the row, who have to displace two neighbors when they want to get up.
But airlines may soon offer perks again — for those willing to pay, notes a Consumerist post. According to an Associated Press story, airlines plan to offer coach passengers hot meals, Apple iPads for in-flight entertainment, and luggage delivered straight to passengers' doors, allowing them to skip baggage claim completely. And like many big businesses, they're collecting personal data — and, in some cases, even tracking passengers through the airport — to target travelers' specific needs and habits. Still, the AP notes that, "Airlines have yet to find the right balance between being helpful and being creepy."
Of course, you can take matters into your own hands and try to dull the inconveniences of flying with this intrepid traveler's special liquids bag full of mini booze bottles. Also in the try-at-your-own-risk category: Some passengers are permitted to carry marijuana aboard flights, provided you're flying within states where marijuana use is legal (Colorado to California, for example). However, airports are under federal law, so it's a bit of a gray area. And good luck finding munchies, since many carriers nixed free snacks years ago — though this perhaps makes more sense now, since narrower aisles are even more treacherous for a food cart to navigate.
We know our roundups of the best travel deals are the week are enticing, but are the bargain prices of economy flights worth potential discomfort and any additional baggage fees? We'd like to know about your flying experiences and how you may be affected in different ways by shrinking seats and disappearing airline perks.


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Fire Engines assist ambulance crews on calls for several reasons. Certain types of medical calls require additional personnel as mandated by our Medical Control Doctor. Heart attacks, strokes, gunshot wounds, major accidents, and many other medical calls require additional personnel for effective medical treatment.
All Garland Fire Department personnel are trained and certified to a minimum level of Emergency Medical Technician. All fire engines are staffed with at least one Paramedic.
A fire engine is designed to carry 500 gallons of water and pumps water from a hydrant - generally 1,500 gallons per minute. A fire truck is designed to carry ladders, special rescue equipment, and other special fire fighting equipment along with an elevating ladder. Garland operates seven fire engines.
We also operate five quints. A quint is like a fire truck in that it carries an elevating ladder and all of the equipment of a fire truck, but also carries up to 500 gallons of water and can pump water from the hydrant like a fire engine. A quint can do the job of both. Quints are much more expensive than an engine or truck.
The Garland Fire Department (GFD) requires minimum staffing of at least three firefighters on each piece of fire apparatus. If for some reason this requirement cannot be met, that apparatus will be shut down until sufficient staffing levels can be met. GFD maintains needed staffing levels 24 hours a day.


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Award ceremony speech
Presentation Speech by Professor H.G. Söderbaum, Secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, on December 10, 1928
Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen.
We hear continually that today science, in particular natural science, is becoming increasingly more specialized, that scientists are delving deeper and deeper into specialized studies difficult to survey, that the deep stream of research is turning into ever-shallower brooks and channels, and that in this way the unity that exists between the different branches of science is in danger of being destroyed. Indeed, most people have wondered with some disquiet where this apparently unrestricted specialization will eventually lead. The answer to this question is that, while the question itself is completely justified, the disquiet is in most cases unjustified or at least unduly great.
A stage is reached sooner or later in the development of every natural science, when research, after dealing with problems of more general importance, has of necessity to apply itself to problems of detail of apparently more limited interest. It is simply that the continuous increase in scientific knowledge necessitates a corresponding continuous increase in the division of work. Many fields of science which could once be handled by a few or even one investigator, may only one generation later provide enough or more than enough work for whole hosts of students and their attendants. However, specialization is, or should be, not an end but a means. Even at the stage of the division of work, for the true investigator the end is, and will remain, that of determining the inner connection between the changing phenomena, and, depending on the extent to which this end is achieved, the special researches will gradually merge into greater units; the detail then ceases to be an isolated thing, more or less unimportant as regards the whole, but becomes a necessary link in a connected chain of knowledge.
The work which has been awarded Alfred Nobel's Chemistry Prizes this year by the Academy of Sciences, provides an instructive example of this process.
We are dealing here with several fields of work, which are separate from the start.
First we have biles. As is well-known, biles and hence their specific constituents, bile acids, are of major importance in the digestion process. Now these bile acids have been for almost a hundred years the object of active study by a large number of prominent investigators. In this way a large amount of material was accumulated from observations, but despite this, little was known concerning the connection between the various bile acids, and almost nothing concerning the details of their structure, when Wieland began his work in this field.
Then we have the cardiac poisons. Of animal cardiac poisons chemists were acquainted in particular with so-called bufotalin, which is present in the skin secretion of certain species of the toad genus Bufo. In therapeutics, on the other hand, vegetable cardiac poisons have long been used, especially those belonging to the glucoside group and obtained from species of the plant genera Digitalis and Strophantus. But the production of these substances in the pure state and the determination of the chemical relationships between them had long remained an unresolved problem.
The so-called sterols are also an extremely interesting group from the physiological viewpoint. They too occur both in vegetation and in animals. Most numerous are the vegetable sterols, the so-called phytosterols, but the best-known is certainly cholesterol, which occurs in the animal organism, and which was first found about 150 years ago in gall stones. This substance occurs not only in bile but also in the brain, in nerve substance, in the egg, in blood, and presumably in all cells. Thus we can conclude that it plays an extremely important part in the life process of man and the animals, just as the phytosterols play an extremely important part in the life process of plants. These sterols were however an isolated group for a long time. The difficulties associated with investigation of their chemical constitution were so great that it is only during the last few decades, above all through Windaus's investigations, that a clearer picture has been obtained thereof.
Finally, we come to a group of compounds which have only been known for a relatively short time, but which during this short time have attracted very considerable attention, both from chemists and from the public at large. Who today is unacquainted with vitamins, these mysterious substances which are of such immense significance for life, vita, itself and which have thus justifiably taken their name from it? But compared with those mentioned above, the difficulties which here confronted the investigator were far greater, and in most cases it had to be regarded as sufficient to characterize these substances on the basis of their physiological effects.
Thanks to the work which this year has been found before others worthy of recognition through the award of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the inner connection between all these apparently isolated fields of research has been very strikingly demonstrated. Of course the way in which this took place can only be described very briefly here.
Wieland succeeded in producing from bile a saturated acid which can be regarded as the mother substance or parent acid of the bile acids, and which he studied and characterized in detail. When Windaus then produced this same parent acid, cholanic acid, from cholesterol by means of a complicated and very ingenious series of experiments, this indicated very clearly the close relationship between cholesterol and the bile acids. It should be pointed out in this connection that Wieland's investigations into bile acids themselves gave a deeper insight of the mechanism of the action of the bile in the resorption of food in the intestines.
But this is not all. As a result of patient and skilful work, Windaus succeeded in producing several of the digitalis glucosides and their components in the pure state. In this way it was shown that these vegetable cardiac poisons are directly related on the one hand to cholesterol and the bile acids, and on the other hand to the animal cardiac poison bufotoxin, which Wieland studied with great success.
Another sterol which Windaus has studied in detail, is ergosterol, which occurs partly in ergot and partly in yeast. The research carried out in recent years, in which Windaus himself has also played a leading part, has revealed the very important fact that, on being irradiated with ultraviolet light, this ergosterol assumes exactly the same properties as the antirachitic vitamin, "vitamin D", i.e. it will cure rachitis (rickets). For example, it has been found that 5 mg of irradiated ergosterol has the same action in this respect as 1 litre of good cod-liver oil. It can be considered proved, therefore, that ergosterol, or possibly a sterol, the physiological effects of which correspond completely with those of ergosterol, constitutes the antirachitic provitamin, i.e. the mother substance of vitamin D.
All the investigations which we have had to summarize so briefly here, have one thing in common with each other. They were all designed to explain the internal structure of organic materials, their relationships with one another and their transitions into each other. For this reason they are of fundamental importance for our knowledge of a number of processes occurring both in the healthy and in the diseased organism, and therefore of greatest significance not only for chemistry as such, but also for its sister sciences, physiology and medicine. But in order to reach this vantage point of knowledge, where the dividing walls separating the various special researches no longer obstruct vision, where the connection between extensive parts of organic chemistry can be surveyed and where in fact the fields of three main disciplines appear to connect and merge with each other – all this has taken years of hard, diligent, and resourceful work in the deep mines of detailed research. These are the researches which are to be rewarded here.
Professor Wieland. The decision of the Royal Academy of Sciences to award you the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for your work on bile acids and related substances, is only a just recognition of the solution of a problem which is without doubt one of the most difficult which organic chemistry has had to tackle.
The complex composition of the compounds investigated, the large number of atoms contained in the molecules of these compounds, the fact that the material was often very difficult to produce, even in small quantities, these were obstacles which could only be overcome with such striking success through a remarkable skill in experimentation and a rare capacity for finding new ways and means.
In gratitude for what you have achieved for science in this connection, and with hearty congratulations on your well-deserved distinction, the Academy asks you to accept the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the year 1927 from the hands of his Majesty the King.
Professor Windaus. If the Royal Academy of Sciences had had only one Nobel Prize in Chemistry to award on this occasion, and had had to present it to one person, it would have been in a very difficult position.
For there is no doubt that your work on sterols, vegetable cardiac poisons and other closely related substances merits in the same high degree such an award as the work which we have just recognized.
Moreover, it is clear that your work and that of your colleague in Munich are so interrelated and supplement each other in such a way that it would have been extremely difficult to award the Prize to the one while passing over the other.
In addition, both researches display the same assiduity, the same remarkable capacity for overcoming even the greatest experimental difficulties, and the same lucidity in interpreting the results obtained, that it would obviously have been impossible to give precedence to one investigator over the other.
The fact that two Prizes were available for award this year, has fortunately freed the Academy from this quandary. For this the Academy congratulates itself no less than you, and asks you now to take the last few steps which separate you from the external symbols of the Prize.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
See them all presented here.


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Adding a business to Birdeye is as easy as 1, 2, 3.
Online reputation management for financial firms means strategically managing public perception. Here are five tips to excel in the financial services sector.
Businesses can generate mortgage leads with social media, Google Business, referrals and more. This blog explores how.
Online reputation is directly proportional to the revenue of your business. Deep dive into some tips to grow your online reputation with this guide.


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I received this press release from Janet Hovorka about her new Zap the Grandma Gap Power Up Workbook:
Most parents and grandparents would do anything and
everything to raise the youth in their family to be successful adults. There are play groups and preschool lessons,
music and dance, sports, tutoring and youth groups, the right schools, the
right nutrition, etc.etc. However, many people
miss one of the most basic and foundational things that can set a child up for
success in life—teaching their child about their family's history.
To help, Family ChartMasters has published another unique
resource that looks at family history in an engaging and youthful way so that
anyone can easily engage the youth in their family with their history. In conjunction with her corresponding
lectures at the RootsTech conference this week, Janet Hovorka has written the
new Zap the Grandma Gap Power Up Workbook: The
Particulars About How To Connect With Your Family by Connecting Them To Their
Family History, a hands-on book with step by step instructions,
procedures, templates and resources that will help teach the next generation to
love their heritage. In the fill-in-the-blank
book you will find:
- · Brainstorming activities to spark ideas
- · Suggestions for travel
- · Checklists and invitations for parties
- · Outlines for children's books and activity books
- · Templates for games
- · Designs for recipe cards and ornaments
- · Surveys of the best websites
- · Ideas for incentives
- · Lists of interview questions
- · And instructions and templates for many other activities
This book discusses many ways to combine a family's specific
heritage with the specific interests of their particular youth.
The workbook is a companion to the book Zap
the Grandma Gap: Connect With Your Family by Connecting Them To Their Family
History. This new book has
already inspired families throughout the world about the importance of family
history in connecting today's families. In
it parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles can learn:
- · How to prepare for further curiosity by infusing their surroundings with their history.
- · Why plugging into the net is the easiest way to plug their family into their past
- · How to utilize your talents to teach their family about their history
- · Why discovering the surrounding history together makes their progenitors come alive.
- · How to pull their posterity close by carefully creating and recording today's history.
- · Why it is important to simplify their family's story their family can appreciate the past.
Author Janet Hovorka comes from a family that
practices the principles found in this book.
As a librarian, she helped people at the BYU library with their family
history research but was completely uninterested in her own. Janet inherited a
large amount of genealogy from her mother and grandmother, both wonderful
genealogists who lived family history in a way that was attractive and
inviting. Eventually Janet woke up to the soul satisfaction of learning
about her past. Most recently she has
found great joy in encouraging her teenage children's genealogical interests.
Janet has returned this last month from speaking at the Who Do You Think You
Are Conference in London, and the North Florida Genealogy Conference where she
gave several lectures about engaging the next generation with their family
history. Among other topics, she will be
speaking this weekend at the RootsTech conference on "The Cool Parts of
Genealogy: Engaging My Teenagers Case Study."
Understanding the good and the
bad in their own family history can help anyone deal with their family members
and their lives in a more healthy way.
Zap the
Grandma Gap Power Up Workbook: The Particulars About How To Connect With Your
Family by Connecting Them To Their Family History by Janet Hovorka is
available now at www.zapthegrandmagap.com, at bookstores and
by calling 801-872-4278. A 24 page
excerpt of the workbook and a 28 page excerpt of the book are available for
free on the website along with downloads of other supporting materials. Sign up on the homepage for a free 52 week
e-newsletter with even more ideas on how to engage the next generation with
their family history.
About the Author: Janet Hovorka received a B.A. in Ancient Near
Eastern History and a Master's degree in Library and Information Science from
BYU. She and her husband Kim Hovorka own
Family ChartMasters (www.familychartmasters.com) —official, award
winning printers for most of the genealogy software and database
companies. She is currently serving as
President of the Utah Genealogical Association and teaches courses in library
skills and genealogy at Salt Lake Community College. Janet writes the The Chart Chick blog (www.thechartchick.com), has written for numerous genealogy
publications, and has presented 100s of lectures all over the world to help
people learn more about their past.
the Grandma Gap : Connect With Your Family by Connecting Them To Their Family
History by
Janet Hovorka. Published by Family
ChartMasters: Cedar Hills, Utah, 2013. Paperback, $23.95 194pp. ISBN 978-0-9888548-0-2.
Zap the Grandma Gap Power Up Workbook: The
Particulars About How To Connect With Your Family by Connecting Them To Their
Family History by
Janet Hovorka. Published by Family
ChartMasters: Cedar Hills, Utah, 2013. Paperback, $23.95 103pp. ISBN 978-0-9888548-1-9.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/zap-grandma-gap-power-up-workbook.html
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/zap-grandma-gap-power-up-workbook.html


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Dennis Kucinich on CorporationsDemocratic Representative (OH-10) | |
We need a president with the capacity to challenge corporate America to be responsible in its commercial policies. We need to break up the monopolies in agriculture, in utilities, in oil and in all the areas of the economy where restraint of trade is causing Americans to pay higher prices and get inferior products.
It is time for us to stand with the farmers of America who can�t get the price of their product, don�t have parity, can�t get their product to market, stand with the farmers of America by breaking up those agricultural monopolies; have safety testing, have laws in regards to that. We need to see an economy which is guided by democratic principles.
KUCINICH: In Cleveland, that default ends up being a badge of honor for me, because I stood up for the people of Cleveland against a takeover of our municipal electric system by a utility monopoly. Now imagine a president who�s willing to stand up to the Enrons of America. Imagine a president who�s willing to stand up to the monopolies in energy and in health care and in transportation and communication. Imagine a president who comes from the cities and will fight for working men and women and will fight for the poor. I have every expectation that I�ll be the next president of the United States because when the test came, I put my career on the line to save a municipal electric system for the people of Cleveland. And today people of Cleveland know that I did the right thing. And soon America will know that as well.
Corporations should pay a fair share of taxes. If corporations shift profits offshore to avoid paying taxes, they should not be permitted to operate in the US. The decrease in corporate tax responsibility is an indication of the rise of corporate power.
Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act: Amends the Securities Exchange Act to require that any proxy for an annual shareholders meeting provide for a separate shareholder vote to approve executive compensation for named executive officers. The shareholder vote shall not be:
Proponent's argument to vote Yes:Rep. BARNEY FRANK (D, MA-4): The amount of wages is irrelevant to the SEC. What this bill explicitly aims at is the practice whereby people are given bonuses that pay off if the gamble pays off, but don't lose you anything if it doesn't. That is, there is a wide consensus that this incentivizes excessive risk.
Opponent's argument to vote No:Rep. SPENCER BACHUS (R, AL-6): True, the first 6 pages of the bill give the owners, the shareholders, a non-binding vote on the pay of top executives. But then come the next 8 pages, the switch, which gives the regulators the power to decide appropriate compensation for not only just top executives but for all employees of all financial institutions above $1 billion in assets and all without regard for the shareholders' prior approval. So under the guise of empowering shareholders, it is, in fact, the government that is empowered. And, finally, on page 15, the bill designates those same government entities which regulated AIG, Countrywide, and collectively failed to prevent the worst financial calamity since the Great Depression. This bill continues the Democrat majority's tendency to go to the default solution for every problem: create a government bureaucracy to make decisions better left to private citizens and private corporations.
Proponent's argument to vote Yes:Rep. NYDIA VEL�ZQUEZ (D, NY-12): We need jobs that cannot be shipped overseas and will not evaporate in the next cycle of boom and bust. But those jobs aren't going to appear out of thin air. They need to be created. By expanding existing industries and unlocking new ones, H.R. 2965 will generate the jobs we need. Job creation is the primary goal of R&D. But in order to generate new positions, we have to first develop new industries. Commercialization is critical to that process.
Opponent's argument to vote No:Rep. ED MARKEY (D, MA-7): I must oppose this bill because I have serious concerns about allowing SBIR awards to go to an unlimited number of businesses owned or controlled by venture capital (VC) firms. The SBIR program, responsible for over 60,000 patents, has always focused on innovation from truly small businesses for whom commercial capital market funding is typically not an option. However, with the change made in this bill, the SBIR program would be wide open to applicants that already are well-capitalized due to VC participation, crowding out the small businesses that have been the focus of the highly successful SBIR program.
While I support VC participation in the SBIR program, enabling an unlimited amount of large VC majority-owned firms to qualify for SBIR funding calls into question whether this program, intended for genuinely small businesses, is, in fact, still focused on these firms.
We should do everything in our power to strengthen small businesses that generate 70% of new jobs in our country. H.R 2965 does not do enough to ensure that small businesses are the focus of the SBIR program, and therefore I cannot support the bill.
Proponents support voting YES because:
We should not deprive the public, the stockholders, from being able to do anything meaningful once they find out about scandalous levels of executive compensation or board compensation. Everyone talks about the corporate board as the remedy. But the board is often a part of the problem, being paid huge amounts of money for showing up once or twice a year at meetings.
Give the stockholders a meaningful remedy. Once you get the mandatory disclosure put in place by previous legislation, we are saying the stockholders should be allowed to have a referendum on that and not have a runaround by the board.
Opponents support voting NO because:
This vote is based on mischaracterization--it is an unnecessary amendment. The opportunity for these kinds of votes already exists within the structure of corporate governance right now. A good company from Georgia, AFLAC, went ahead and already has these nonbinding shareholder votes. But there is a difference between having individuals in the private sector, shareholders and individuals outside of the mandating of government to have it occur and have government come in with its heavy hand and say, this is exactly what you need to do because we know best. Our constituents know better how to act and how to relate to corporations than Washington.
OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY: Requires any national of the United States that employs more than 20 persons in a foreign country, either directly or through subsidiaries or licensees, to take the necessary steps to implement a Corporate Code of Conduct with respect to the employment of those persons.
LEGISLATIVE OUTCOME:Referred to House Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade; never came to a vote.
Whether you own a business, represent one, lead a corporate office, or manage an association, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of AmericaSM provides you with a voice of experience and influence in Washington, D.C., and around the globe.
Our members include businesses of all sizes and sectors�from large Fortune 500 companies to home-based, one-person operations. In fact, 96% of our membership encompasses businesses with fewer than 100 employees.
"To advance human progress through an economic, political and social system based on individual freedom, incentive, initiative, opportunity, and responsibility."The ratings are based on the votes the organization considered most important; the numbers reflect the percentage of time the representative voted the organization's preferred position.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is North America's Neighborhood Union--1.3 million members with UFCW locals in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Canada. Our members work in supermarkets, drug stores, retail stores, meatpacking and meat processing plants, food processing plants, and manufacturing workers who make everything from fertilizer to shoes. We number over 60,000 strong with 25,000 workers in chemical production and 20,000 who work in garment and textile industries.


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You may recall my previous post on Rubyos last year, when I covered a fantastic degustation brunch there (to read this post, click here). Given this positive experience, I had high hopes for our dinner, and we weren't disappointed. As always, the ambiance was lovely, and I never cease to admire the restaurant's artwork...
The Rubyos menu offers a vast and tantalising selection of tasting dishes that are best shared by a table. This is my favourite way to enjoy food - a variety shared with loved ones ... not to mention the fact that it is a wonderful way to avoid what I like to call 'order envy' ;) There are plenty of options for vegetarians and vegans which is fantastic, but there are plenty of options for the carnivores too, including a star anise braised pork belly dish for all you pork belly fanatics!
First we start with some breads with the 'Double dipper' - Turkish bread toasts with the chef's dips of the day - a delicious pesto and hummus style dip ($8.50).
The dishes then come out progressively, starting with the lighter ones first. We start with the Salad of grilled autumn vegetables topped with mesculin, toasted buckwheat, and a lemon and sage vinaigrette ($14.50)
Next, the Panfried haloumi topped with watermelon, coriander and mint salsa, and chilli oil drizzle ($16.50). What an unexpectedly fabulous combination - a real highlight.
Cumin dusted tofu topped with chimmichurri sauce and an amarillo pepper salsa ($15.50)
For Coco, the Rosettes of atlantic salmon glazed with fennel and pinenut pesto, with a wild rocket, shaved fennel and sundried tomato salad ($25)
Lightly steamed green beans with a burnt orange and black olive dressing ($11.50)
And one of my favourites of the evening - the Crispy New York style crushed chats tossed through fresh herbs and seasoned salt ($9.50). Sooo delicious, I could happily eat these bad boys every day...
The 'bump' and I champion the dessert cause, and I enjoy the Pecan and chunky green apple pudding with rum and raisin ice cream and maple caramel ($13.50). A delicious warm and soft pudding - ideal on a cold winter's night, and great ice cream (as close as I'm going to come to a drink for a few months yet!)
Mr Ladybird and Coco opt for some hot drinks to finish instead - a mocha ($4.50) and a hot chocolate ($4.50) ...
All in all a great meal at considerably good value for the quality of food and the overall experience. A nice venue for celebrating a special occasion such as a birthday or anniversary. And the service? Attentive, friendly and efficient by Liz and the team. I definitely recommend the Rubyos grazing experience to others.
18-20 King Street, Newtown
(02) 9557 2689
Ladybird x