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In this well informed article, Dr Geoffrey Roper, an expert in the field, outlines an impressive portrait of the dangers and threats encountered by the national heritage of Iraq due to the dramatic recent events in this country. After an historical survey in which the 13th-century Mongol invasion is recorded, the article focuses on the vicissitudes that the tragic political and military situation in Iraq has inflicted on manuscripts, archives, rare books and libraries in different towns of Iraq, especially in Baghdad.
Dr Geoffrey Roper*
1. History of Iraq's Creativity as Revealed by Manuscript Production
Even in the earliest period of Islam, Iraq assumed a leading role in the production of written texts. The city of Kufa, which was founded as its administrative capital in 17 H/638 CE, was in the first two centuries a major centre of scholarly writing and played a crucial part in the development of written Arabic. It gave its name to a monumental style of script, Kufic, characteristic both of early Qur'ān manuscripts and of many inscriptions on buildings [1].
Figure 1: Iraqi manuscript of the Quran, from Baghdad, written by Ahmad Ibn al-Suhrawardi al-Bakri in 706 H. Page Size 35x47 cm. (Source).
Basra too played an important part in this early period. It saw the first flowering of Arabic prose literature and the birth of Arabic grammatical writing, and was a major centre of Umayyad and early 'Abbasid poetry. A number of important libraries developed there, most notably that founded by Ibn Sawwār for his Dār al-'Ilm (House of Learning) in the 4th century H/10th century CE. This was one of the earliest waqf (endowed) libraries [2].
Figure 2: Miniature from one of the greatest Arabic illuminated manuscripts, a compendium of tales by al-Hariri of Basra (446-516 A.H. / 1054-1122) illustrated by Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti: The Maqamat (Assemblies). Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS arabe 5847. (Source).
But of course it was Baghdad which really made Muslim and Arab literary and scientific culture the most important in the world for some four centuries after it became the capital of the 'Abbasid caliphate in the 2nd century H/8th century CE. There was an enormous output of manuscript texts there in nearly all the human and physical sciences. The 10th-century Baghdad bookseller and bibliographer Ibn al-Nadīm listed some 4300 authors whose writings were available there in his time. Works in philosophy and natural sciences, some translated from ancient Greek, others original, were especially important later in the revival of secular knowledge and reasoning in Europe, as well as in the Muslim world. Others were exquisite works of art – especially the Qur'ān manuscripts by such masters as Ibn al-Bawwāb. But the texts also included more personal documents, such as the manuscript diary of the 11th-century Baghdad historian Ibn al-Bannā' al-Hanbalī, of which a fragment has survived in Damascus [3].
Figure 3: Miniature from an Arabic translation of the Materia Medica of Dioscorides ("The Pharmacy"), dated 1224, Iraq, Baghdad School. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Burnett Collection (57.51.21) (Source).
But these manuscript books were not just produced and read: they were also kept and assembled in libraries where whole communities of scholars could consult them. The historian Youssef Eche identified some 83 of them, in Baghdad alone, which are described or mentioned in contempory sources [4]. They ranged from the original Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom), which flourished at the height of the 'Abbasid caliphate, to the later madrasa libraries of the Seljuks, the most famous of which were the Nizāmīya and the Mustansirīya. There were also numerous private libraries owned by individuals, but often made available to others [5].
2. The Tragedy of the Mongol Invasion and later losses
Mediaeval Baghdad was therefore an immense storehouse of knowledge in written form. But if it was justly celebrated for the creation of its collections, it subsequently became notorious for their destruction. Already in 451 H / 1059 CE, the conquering Seljuks burnt and pillaged the illustrious Dār al-'Ilm (House of Knowledge) of Sābūr ibn Ardashīr, destroying or dispersing its entire holdings estimated at 10,000 volumes [6].
Then in 1258 CE came the event that has gone down in history and legend as the worst catastrophe ever to befall Muslim civilisation and literary culture. The Mongols under Hülegü Khan captured Baghdad, slaughtered the Caliph and large numbers of the population, and set fire to much of the city. The libraries were ransacked and, according to Ibn Khaldūn, most of their contents were thrown into the river Tigris [7]. Legend has it that the river flowed black with ink for days afterwards. Al-Qalqashandī confirmed that all the books in the Caliphal libraries perished at the hands of the invaders, and all traces of them and of the knowledge contained within them were obliterated [8]. They did much the same in other Iraqi cities, such as Mosul.
The totality of the destruction, however, has been somewhat exaggerated. In the first place, many manuscripts from the pre-Mongol period did survive. In Baghdad, although the Caliphal collections perished, other important libraries, such as those of the Nizamīya and the Mustansirīya, were not destroyed and continued to be used until much later [9].
What seems to have happened is that the disaster of 1258 has become emblematic of a destruction and decline in Muslim literary culture and resources which in fact occurred over a much longer period. Here is a list of some other library disasters which took place before the fall of Baghdad.
Mode of destruction
Date (CE)
|Córdoba, library of Al-Hakam
|Selectively burnt and buried Remainder sold & plundered
|Ca.980 11th century
|Rayy Library
|Selectively burnt
|Baghdad – Dār al-'Ilm of Sābūr
|Burnt & pillaged
|Cairo - Fatimid Dār al-'Ilm
|Partially dispersed and bindings used for shoe-leather Remainder auctioned
|Tripoli (Lebanon) – Banū 'Ammār
|Burnt by Crusaders
|Marw (Merv)
Table: Examples of libraries that were destroyed or damaged [10].
After 1258, Baghdad and the other Iraqi cities became provincial rather than metropolitan centres, and this was true of book production as well. Nevertheless, manuscripts continued to be written, and libraries existed. After the Mongol rulers converted to Islam, they themselves became patrons of learning and writing. In 14th-century Mosul, for instance, fine scientific manuscripts were produced, as well as magnificent Qur'āns commissioned by the Mongol Sultans themselves. However, the Iraqi lands never regained their previous eminence. As Mongol power disintegrated, various minor dynasties gained and lost control, such as the Kara Koyunlu or Black Sheep dynasty. Their tenure of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities was fairly ruinous, but even they patronised scribes and painters such as the producers of a group of illustrated Persian manuscripts in the mid-15th century [11]. The fate of these epitomises what befell many Iraqi manuscripts in the next four centuries. Most of them are now in Istanbul, where they were taken, along with many other Iraqi manuscripts, after the Ottomans conquered Iraq in 1534. One of them, however, is in the British Library in London. The Ottoman period was generally one of decline and neglect of the public and private libraries, which rendered them vulnerable to those, both Turkish and European, who wished to remove their contents in order to enhance their own collections elsewhere.
This was true even of works produced in Iraq by the Ottomans themselves. There was a thriving school of miniature painting in Ottoman Baghdad: but the examples listed by Rachel Milstein, in her study of the subject, are located in various collections in Germany, Sweden, the USA, Israel, France, Great Britain, Ireland and Kuwait, as well as Turkey [12].
A group of local histories of Baghdad in Arabic and Turkish, written in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, is now dispersed in manuscript copies located in London, Berlin, New York, Kazan, Istanbul, Cairo, Mecca and Medina, although a number of copies do (or did) remain in Iraq [13]. Interestingly, however, one of them, the Gulsan-i hulafa' (Gulshan-i Khulafā') of Murtaza Nazmi-zade, was taken to Istanbul to be printed at the press of the first Muslim printer, İbrahim Müteferrika, where it appeared in 1730 [14]. This showed the first signs of an awareness that the way to make texts accessible, and to ensure their preservation, is indeed to print them and publish them in hundreds or thousands of copies. There are too many important texts in Muslim languages that are still waiting for this to happen.
3. The Dispersal and Consolidation of Iraqi Collections in the 19th and 20th Centuries
In the 19th century, Europeans began to take a serious interest in Iraq, or Mesopotamia as they called it, and significant quantities of Iraqi antiquities were shipped to Europe and took their place in private and public collections. These included manuscripts. A good example of those who did this was the Englishman Claudius James Rich, who was appointed British Resident in Baghdad in 1808 and travelled extensively in most regions of Iraq until his withdrawal in 1821. He acquired there nearly 1000 manuscript volumes in Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Syriac. These were sent back to England, and after his death were purchased by the British Museum for its library, which is now the British Library. This quantity may not seem very high, compared with the tens of thousands of manuscripts left in Iraq, but we must bear in mind that Rich, and other collectors like him, chose their acquisitions with care, removing only those of great historical or artistic importance. So the written legacy of the country was in effect creamed off, with many of the choicest items enriching European libraries. It is indeed ironic that in 2003 the British Government intervened to stop the export from Britain of some of Rich's own letters and diaries, so that they could be acquired by the British Library. If such a ban had been in force in the Ottoman Empire, then Rich himself could not have sent out his choice acquisitions of manuscripts from Baghdad.
The rights and wrongs of this process have been much debated. On the one hand, Iraq and other Arab and Muslim countries, lost an important part of their historical and literary resources, which was removed beyond the immediate reach of local scholars and readers. This can only have had an adverse effect on the development of the national culture and historical awareness, as well as being in itself an historic injustice arising from the imbalance of economic and social power at a particular moment in time. On the other hand, these manuscripts were thereby placed in safe-keeping, and preserved from further destruction and decay in their homeland. They were also in most cases made available, in a systematic way, to scholars and researchers from around the world, who would have had much greater difficulty consulting them in Iraqi libraries.
Later, however, in the 20th century, the practice grew of wealthy collectors buying individual leaves of dismembered manuscripts, especially those notable for painting or calligraphy: some of these remained in private hands, others eventually joined public collections. For instance, there is a fine decorated Qur'ān produced in Baghdad in the late 'Abbasid period, which survived the Mongol invasion. One leaf was offered for sale in London recently; others from the same manuscript are scattered in a variety of libraries and private collections elsewhere. So while it may survive, at least in part, its integrity as a book and a work of art has been lost.
The presence of Syriac among the groups of manuscripts collected by Rich reminds us that Iraq's literary heritage is not just Muslim. The Christians there also produced many works, historical and scientific as well as religious, not only in Syriac, but also in Arabic and some in Armenian. Joseph Habbi in 1997 identified 28 collections in Iraqi monastic and church libraries, as well as 16 private collections there [15]. The Iraqi Jewish community also produced many manuscripts in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Some of the best Christian and Jewish manuscripts likewise found their way to European and American collections. In the 1920s, for instance, the Christian scholar Alphonse Mingana, himself of Iraqi origin, acquired and took away many Syriac and Arabic manuscripts from Iraq and neighbouring countries on behalf of his patron, the chocolate magnate and missionary enthusiast Edward Cadbury [16]. They are now in the University of Birmingham.
Still, tens of thousand of manuscripts did remain in Iraq, and after the country's emergence as an independent state in the 20th century, they began to be organised into public collections and libraries. In 1923 the new national museum was inaugurated in Baghdad and was installed in a permanent building in 1926. This subsequently became the central repository of a large portion of the country's manuscript collections, until a separate national manuscripts library was created in 1988. In 1928 the Public Awqāf Library was formed from nine separate endowed collections dating from the Ottoman period, and numerous others were added in the following decades [17]. Other public and academic libraries were also created elsewhere in Iraq, in which manuscripts were deposited.
By the second half of the 20th century most Arab and Muslim countries had reorganised and safeguarded their collections in similar ways, and the future of surviving manuscripts, both there and elsewhere, seemed assured. It was thought that the wholesale destruction or loss of such collections was now unthinkable – something that had happened only in earlier, less enlightened times.
4. The Looting and Loss of Islamic Manuscripts in the Late 20th Century
The last decade of the century brought a rude and tragic awakening. In 1990 Iraq occupied Kuwait, and removed valuable and recently formed collections of manuscripts from the Sabāh collection, among others, to Baghdad. In the process some disappeared and subsequently appeared on the market in London and elsewhere. Most, however, were recovered and restored to Kuwait after the end of the occupation. Meanwhile, some Iraqi provincial museums were looted during the chaos and uprising following the Gulf War of 1991. According to a report compiled by a Japanese mission in 1996 on behalf of the Iraqi government and UNESCO, the missing items included 364 Arabic manuscripts looted from the Kirkuk Museum [18]. These were stated to be from Dār Saddām, which was the central manuscripts library in Baghdad. They were evacuated from Baghdad to Kirkuk before the 1991 war and then stolen from there, although they were later recovered.
Islamic manuscripts were to suffer a much worse fate elsewhere during the 1990s. In Bosnia in 1992, Serbian forces deliberately targeted the Oriental Institute in Sarajevo with incendiary shells and succeeded in burning it to the ground. Its entire collection of 5263 manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Bosnian and Hebrew was destroyed, together with even greater numbers of Ottoman documents and registers [19]. Although some attempt has since been made to restore some items in the form of microfilm copies held elsewhere, the loss remains irreparable. The suspicion must be that the Serbs were motivated by sectarian and nationalist hatred to try to eradicate as much as possible of the Bosnian Muslim literary, historical and scholarly heritage – an act which might be called cultural genocide. Fortunately, the other main collection, in the Gazi Husrev Library, was saved by being transferred to a shelter. Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation in London subsequently rendered valuable assistance to its conservation, cataloguing and digitisation.
Similar attacks and destruction were inflicted on a number of other Muslim libraries and archives in Mostar and elsewhere in Bosnia-Herzegovina, resulting in further significant losses of manuscript holdings.
In 1999 there was conflict in Kosova, also formerly part of Yugoslavia. There the manuscript libraries and historic archives of the Islamic Community of Kosova (KBI) were likewise targeted by Serbs, as well as other important collections, including mosque and other waqf libraries which were destroyed by fire or bombardment. Hundreds of manuscripts in Arabic, Turkish and Albanian were destroyed. In at least one case, where bombardment and fire had failed, manuscripts were destroyed by hand, their pages being ripped from the bindings, torn and smeared with dirt and excrement [20].
Another Muslim country racked by conflict in this period was Afghanistan. Here too, manuscript collections sustained severe losses. The Taliban regime destroyed many manuscripts of which it disapproved, especially those from the Persian literary and artistic tradition. Academic and other libraries were looted in the periods of chaos, many valuable manuscripts left the country and collectors in Europe and America snapped them up. It is reckoned that the illegal trade in antiquities, including manuscripts, at one stage even approached that in illicit drugs [21].
5. The Tragedy of Iraqi Manuscripts in 2003
Hopes were that the new millennium would bring a restoration of civilised values in the world. Unfortunately, however, since 2001 a new ruthlessness has asserted itself, which has been manifested especially in Iraq. The illegal invasion of that country in March 2003 has brought a new disaster to its manuscript heritage. The exact scale of the disaster is still not fully known, but an approximate picture can be sketched from available reports of eyewitnesses and subsequent investigators [22].
Synopsis of Events (2003)
- Thursday 20 March: American & British forces invaded the country
- By Saturday 5 April, the American forces reached Baghdad.
- By Wednesday 9 April, they controlled all the main areas of the city, and they asserted the reality of their conquest by organising the famous demolition of a large statue of Saddām Husayn in one of the main squares, in front of the television cameras.
- On the next four days, 9-12 April, there was large-scale and apparently systematic looting of the Iraq Museum, one of the world's greatest museums of antiquities.
- On 14 April the Awqāf Library (Library of Religious Endowments), already mentioned above, was pillaged and burnt.
- On the same day, the National Library and Archives were looted and set on fire. About a week later, they were raided again, and suffered further destruction by fire and theft.
- Meanwhile, important research libraries in the Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom) and the Iraqi Academy of Sciences were likewise plundered and/or torched, as was that of the Mustansirīya University. Several Government Ministerial archives were also ransacked.
- The American occupation forces controlling the city failed to stop this plundering and destruction, in spite of their obligations under international law to protect cultural property.
- Outside Baghdad, University and Public libraries in the towns of Mosul in the north and Basra in the south likewise suffered more or less serious damage.
- The condition of MSS libraries and archives in other localities is still not really known, even now.
When news of these disasters reached scholars and librarians elsewhere, there was considerable outrage, mingled in some cases with guilt. The Arab Regional Branch of the International Council of Archives issued a statement on 16 April 2003, proclaiming "The catastrophe of the Iraqi civilization" and calling on the governments of the USA and UK, as well as their relevant academic institutions, "to strictly enforce the preservation of the great heritage of Iraq until it is vested in the trustful hands of the Iraqi scholars and intellectuals".
In the West, organisations and groups scrambled to send missions of inquiry and offer help. Most attention focused on the plight of the Iraq Museum and archaeological sites, but libraries and archives were not entirely neglected, despite their lower profile in the media. On 5 May UNESCO sent the Venezuelan poet and historian of book destruction Fernando Baez to Baghdad to investigate the fate of libraries and archives there, but his report, despite being a literary tour de force, added hardly anything to what had already been reported by journalists.
On 25 May the Iraqi-American scholar Nabil al-Tikriti visited Baghdad, acting partly on behalf of the North American Middle East Librarians Association and the University of Chicago. His report yielded useful information on the state of the five main MSS collections there, although some particulars were contradicted by later reports; for other institutions he relied mainly on hearsay.
The following month an international team of four scholars constituting what they called "The Iraqi Observatory" – the social observatory being a French concept –spent 8 days in Baghdad. Their report, while broader in its remit, has an important section on libraries, concentrating on the National Library & Archives, the Awqāf Library, and the Qādirīya mosque library. This is especially useful because the French scholar Edouard Méténier, who wrote it, had extensive knowledge and experience of Baghdad libraries from before the war.
UNESCO sent a mission of inquiry into museums and libraries in May 2003, but their designated library expert, Jean-Marie Arnoult of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, was denied a visa by the American authorities. Later, however, they relented, and M. Arnoult eventually arrived on 27 June, staying until 6 July. His detailed report was published jointly with the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), and includes much useful information as well as detailed recommendations. He visited four libraries in Baghdad as well as the National Archives, and unlike other missions, he also went to the University and Public libraries in both Mosul and Basra.
Later the US Library of Congress also sent a mission, 27 October - 3 November 2003, which visited the National Library and the main MSS Library in Baghdad. This was under the auspices of the Cultural Property Office of the US Department of State Mission to Baghdad, and made detailed recommendations to the Ministry of Culture in the occupation regime concerning the future of those institutions. Several of its findings contradict what was reported by the earlier missions.
Unfortunately none of these missions seems to have been coordinated at all with the others. Some of them have overlapped, and some of their findings have contradicted each other [23].
6. The State of Iraqi Manuscripts and Collections after the Invasion
Let us now look at some of the individual libraries and institutions holding manuscripts.
6.1. Iraq Museum
The looting of the Museum, and the contradictory reports and claims concerning it, have been covered extensively in the media, and in reports from museum specialists and archaeologists [24]. So they will not be discussed here, except to note two points of relevance to manuscripts:
1. Many of the antiquities stolen were not just works of art or archaeological objects, but also embodied texts -- in fact some of the earliest written texts known to mankind. So they are, in a sense, manuscripts, although written on clay and stone, rather than parchment or paper.
2. It was been reported in several places that Islamic manuscripts were lost from the Museum. This is a misunderstanding arising from the fact that the Museum formerly held important collections of such MSS, and published catalogues of them [25]. All of them were, however, transferred in 1988 to a separate library, called the Saddām MSS Library, the contents of which were saved from destruction. The US Army investigator into the Museum thefts, Colonel Bogdanos, several times triumphantly announced at press conferences, and in reports, that his team had located these MSS, which he stated were taken from the Museum, and that they would be returned there in due course. He moreover added the number of these MSS - about 40,000 - to his figure of museum objects successfully recovered. In fact they did not belong to the Museum, and had not been there for more than 19 years.
6.2. National Library and Archives
The National Library met a far worse fate than the Museum, although it received less attention in the media. The collections suffered severely, but, contrary to some ill-informed reports, they did not include manuscript volumes.
Figure 4: Facade of the National Library and National Archives, Baghdad in June 2003. From Report by: Jean-Marie Arnoult, "Assessment of Iraqi cultural heritage Libraries and Archives" (mission in Baghdad in June 27-July 6, 2003), International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). (Source).
The National Archives were housed in the same building as the Library, and suffered much more from deliberate fire damage. According to the Library of Congress report, archives of the Ba'thist period were especially targeted, and almost completely destroyed; likewise the microfilm collection. Papers from earlier periods, however, may have been saved, either in the building or elsewhere; but there is conflicting evidence about this. It seems from the Library of Congress report that over 30,000 important Ottoman and later documents were removed to the basement of the Board of Tourism, which was unfortunately flooded by a burst water main shortly afterwards. The documents were retrieved, but have been seriously damaged by water and mould.
More recently the National Library and Archives have seen a remarkable revival, reorganisation and return to use, in the face of great difficulties, under its dynamic and visionary Director-General, Dr Saad Eskander, appointed at the end of 2003. But the losses can never be made good.
6.3. Dār Al-Makhtūtāt Al-'Irāqīya (Iraqi Centre For Manuscripts)
As already mentioned, the principal national collection of MSS in Iraq is the Iraqi Centre for Manuscripts (Dār al-Makhtūtāt al-'Irāqīya), formerly known as the Saddām Manuscripts Library (Dār Saddām li-l-makhtūtāt). As well as the former Museum collections, it contains many other private and mosque collections which have been centralised or appropriated by the government since 1988. It now totals over 40,000 MSS, and is one of the more important Islamic MSS collections in the world. Fortunately, it was saved from theft or destruction by the diligence and foresight of its director, Usāma al-Naqshabandī, who arranged for the entire collection, together with some others from elsewhere, to be transferred to a bomb shelter in western Baghdad in December 2002, when war seemed imminent. The local population were enlisted to guard them, and they remained there, stored in trunks in controlled temperature and atmospheric conditions. However, the Library of Congress mission found traces of some damage from handling and insect infestation. Obviously the conditions were far from ideal, and they needed be returned to normal storage and access as soon as possible. Unfortunately the main building of the MSS library had been looted and much equipment stolen, so this collection remained for five years in the bunker, while divisions and rivalries between government departments prevented any decision on where they should go.
Figure 5: Manuscripts of the Iraqi Centre for Manuscripts in storage in a bomb-shelter in 2003. (Source).
Eventually it was reported in March 2008 that these manuscripts had been returned to the Iraq Museum, despite alternative proposals for them to be housed in the National Library.
6.4. Awqāf Library
Figure 6: Carbonised folios from the Central Awqāf Library, May 2003. (Source).
What happened to the second most important MSS collection, however, was much more serious. This is the Central Library of Awqāf, that is, Religious Endowments, holding over 6000 MS volumes in Arabic, Turkish and Persian, containing about 7500 texts.
This was looted and set on fire on 14 April 2003: the Independent journalist Robert Fisk wrote at the time that he saw flames about 30 metres high bursting from the windows.
We know most of what this library contained; it was comprehensively catalogued by 'Abd Allāh al-Jubūrī, and his catalogue was published in 1973-74 [26]. He also wrote a history of the Library, published in 1973 [27]. Since then, several important collections have been added to the Library.
Among the volumes were 43 fine calligraphic copies of the Qur'ān and many rare and old copies of works on Hadīth, geography and history. Among the rare and unique texts are:
- the earliest extant copy of the celebrated Hadīth commentary by Ibn Qutayba, copied in Wāsit in Iraq in 472 H/1079 CE.
- an important geographical work on the Arabian peninsula by Al-Hasan Lughda al-Isfahānī, which contains the oldest detailed description of parts of the Hijaz and the Islamic Holy Places.
- another rare work on Hadīth by Abū 'l-Thanā' Mahmūd al-Dimashqī, copied in 767 H/1365 CE for the Mamluk Sultan Barqūq.
There are, or were, also many other unique texts, some of them many centuries old. But age is not the only criterion. The Library contained many more recent texts of unique historical importance. For instance, the Library held a manuscript containing two important unpublished texts by the celebrated 19th-century writer Ahmad Fāris al-Shidyāq, one a criticism of the Christian Gospels, the other on the connection between Islam and modern civilisation. Fortunately the first had been microfilmed or photocopied, and was published in Amman in 2003. But the other has never been properly studied, only mentioned in passing by historians and biographers. Now it may be lost forever.
Figure 7: Central Awqāf Library, burnt out interior, May 2003. (Source).
There is conflicting testimony as to how many of these MSS, and the rare printed books also held by the library, have been saved. At first it was thought that they had all gone. But in late May 2003, Nabil al-Tikriti, who visited the library, was told that most of them had been put in safe storage, some in the Qādirīya mosque library, and some in an undisclosed location. But apparently - so he was told - those in the Qādirīya had been returned soon after, because of an incident there involving the killing of one of their armed guards by the Americans. These were then either stolen or perished in a second arson attack. On the other hand, the later Iraqi Observatory report said that the wardens of the Qādirīya had denied that any Awqāf MSS were ever there.
Arnoult's report for UNESCO estimated that losses amounted to about 40% of the MSS and 90% of the printed books. But in June 2004 Zayn al-Naqshabandī, the Iraqi historian, archivist and bookseller, issued a report, said to have been signed by Salāh Karīm Husayn, Director of the Library, that 1477 MSS were stolen, and 5000 remained. If so, the losses were less than originally feared. But since these figures do not tally with the totals thought to have been held by the Library, and the report also mentions 60,300 "books" destroyed by fire, without saying whether any of them were manuscripts, the position remains quite unclear. Such is the confusion surrounding the fate of Iraqi MSS collections after the invasion of 2003.
6.5. Bayt al-Hikma
Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom) is a semi-private centre supporting research in the arts and humanities. It was completely burned and looted. It is located right next to the Ministry of Defence, on the site of a 13th-century madrasa (school). Its collection was relatively small, holding only about 100 manuscripts. But they included a 9th-century Qur'ān, a 12th-century copy of the Maqāmāt of al-Harīrī, an Ibn Sīnā philosophy text, and a 19th-century manuscript of al-Alūsī concerning Baghdad. This entire collection was lost – and there were no microfilms or microfiche copies. It is unclear whether they were stolen or burnt.
Figure 8: Bayt al-Hikma, burnt out interior, May 2003. (Source).
6.6. Academy of Sciences
The Iraqi Academy was also attacked. Fortunately most of its manuscripts had already been transferred to the Iraqi Centre for Manuscripts, but there were thirty on the premises at the time, of which 20 were lost. It is thought that these were mainly Syriac manuscripts.
Figure 9: Iraqi Academy of Sciences, looted manuscript room, May 2003. (Source).
6.7. Elsewhere
Outside Baghdad, libraries in Mosul and Basra were also severely damaged, including the University and Public Libraries. All these held manuscript collections, but there seem to be no specific and reliable reports on their fate. One can only fear the worst.
In the years following the invasion, there were reports of damage to libraries during fighting and disturbances in Nāsirīya and Najaf under the occupation. In the latter place especially, there was heavy bombardment of the old city in 2004. This contained important historic libraries of manuscripts; but we do not know what damage, if any, they suffered.
7. Recommendations
It is appropriate to conclude by considering what can be done to prevent such disasters happening again. Here are some brief recommendations:
- We must continually urge governments to respect international law. Obviously this means not engaging in illegal wars and invasions in the first place, but more specifically it means observing the existing international conventions on the protection of cultural property. Destruction of libraries is a crime against humanity and a violation of, among others, the 1931 Athens Charter, the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, the 1964 Venice Charter, and the 1977 Protocols I and II to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. The failure of occupying powers to prevent such destruction, as happened in Iraq, is itself a violation of these conventions.
- We must redouble our efforts to catalogue and conserve manuscripts, so that we know what exists, and take steps to preserve it.
- We must support and encourage the photographing of manuscripts, digitally and on film, so that their destruction does not result in the irretrievable loss of texts. But at the same time we must emphasise their importance as historic physical objects which must be safeguarded.
- We must try as hard as possible to intercept stolen manuscripts which may appear in private collections, or be offered for sale. The Middle East Librarians Association of North America has tried to assist in this by publishing on the Internet examples of pages containing the seals and library stamps known to belong to Iraqi libraries [28]. But everybody who handles manuscripts must be continually vigilant.
- We must above all create a climate of opinion, both inside and outside the Muslim world, which will not tolerate such destruction or dispersal of the intellectual heritage of any nation or culture. Such a climate is already beginning to emerge in relation to antiquities and museum objects: we must ensure that it applies equally to the books and manuscripts which embody the very essence of human knowledge, thought and civilisation.
- Abram, Stephen, "The really big picture", Access: the Magazine of OLA [Ontario Library Association], 12 i (2005), pp. 13-15.
- Djaït, Hichem, "Al-Kūfa", Encyclopaedia of Islam, New [2nd] ed., Vol. V, Leiden, 1986, pp. 345-351.
- Eche, Youssef, Les bibliothe`ques arabes publiques et semi-publiques en Me´sopotamie, en Syrie et en Egypte au Moyen Age. Damascus, 1967.
- Fuji, Hideo & Oguchi, Kazumi, Lost heritage: antiquities stolen from Iraq's regional museums, fasc. 3, Tokyo, 1996. Available online at http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/lh3.pdf.
- Habbi, Joseph, "Manuscrits arabes chrétiens en Iraq", Parole de l'Orient, 22 / 1997 (1998), pp. 361-380.
- Hunt, L-A., The Mingana and related collections: a survey of illustrated Arabic, Greek, Eastern Christian, Persian and Turkish manuscripts in the Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham. Birmingham, 1997.
- Jubūrī, al-, 'Abd Allāh, Maktabat al-Awqāf al-'Āmma: tārīkhuhā wa-nawādir makhtūtātihā. Baghdad, 1969.
- Jubūrī, al-, 'Abd Allāh, Fihris al-makhtūtāt al-'Arabīya fī Maktabat al-Awqāf al-'Āmma fī Baghdād. Baghdad, 1973-74.
- Knuth, Rebecca, Burning books and leveling libraries: extremist violence and cultural destruction. Westport, 2006.
- Mackensen, Ruth Stellhorn, Four great libraries of medieval Baghdad. Chicago, 1932.
- Makdisi, George, Autograph diary of an eleventh-century historian of Baghdad. London, 1956.
- Milstein, Rachel, Miniature painting in Ottoman Baghdad. Costa Mesa, 1990.
- Naqshabandī, al-, Usāma Nāsir, "Iraq", World survey of Islamic manuscripts, Vol. 2, London, 1993, pp. 1-50.
- Niewöhner-Eberhard, Elke, "Einige Quellenwerke zur Geschichte Bagdads in osmanischer Zeit", Die islamische Welt zwischen Mittelalter und Neuzeit: Festschrift für Hans Robert Roemer zum 65. Geburtstag, Beirut & Wiesbaden, 1979, pp. 483-502.
- Pedersen, Johannes, The Arabic book. Tr. G. French. Ed. R. Hillenbrand. Princeton, 1984.
- Pinto, Olga, "The libraries of the Arabs during the time of the Abbasides", translated by F. Krenkow, Islamic Culture 3 (1929), pp. 234-239.
- Qalqashandī, al-, Abū 'l-'Abbās Ahmad b. 'Alī, Kitab Subh al-a'sha´. Cairo, 1331-1338 H. [1913-1919].
- Riedlmayer, András, "Erasing the past: the destruction of libraries and archives in Bosnia-Herzegovina", Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, 29 i (1995), pp. 7-11.
- Riedlmayer, András, "Libraries and archives in Kosova: a postwar report", Bosnia Report, N.S.13/14 (1999/2000), pp. 19-21. Also online at: http://www.bosnia.org.uk/bosrep/decfeb00/libraries.cfm.
- Safadi, Yasin Hamid, Islamic calligraphy. London, 1978.
- Stchoukine, Ivan, "La peinture à Baghdad sous Sultān Pīr Budāq Qāra-Qoyūnlū", Arts Asiatiques, 25 (1972), pp. 3-18.
End Notes
[1] Djaït in EI² 1986, pp.350-351; Pedersen 1984, pp. 79-82; Safadi 1978, pp. 10-13.
[2] Eche 1967, pp. 100-102.
[3] Makdisi 1956.
[4] Eche 1967, passim.
[5] Pinto 1929.
[6] Mackensen 1932, pp.288-290; Eche 1967, pp. 116-117.
[7] Kitāb al-'Ibar wa-dīwān al-mubtada', Book III, cited in Eche 1967, p. 199.
[8] Qalqashandī, Subh al-A'shá, Cairo 1913-22, Vol. I, p. 466.
[9] Footnotes by Krenkow in his translation of Pinto 1929; Mackensen 1932, p. 297.
[10] Main source: Olga Pinto, "The libraries of the Arabs during the time of the Abbasides". Translated by F. Krenkow. Islamic Culture 3 (1929), pp. 234-239.
[11] Stchoukine 1972, passim.
[12] Milstein 1990, passim.
[13] Niewöhner-Eberhard 1979, passim.
[14] Ibid., p. 485.
[15] Habbi 1998.
[16] Hunt [1997].
[17] Jubūrī 1973, I p. 4.
[18] Fuji & Oguchi 1996, p. viii.
[19] Riedlmayer 1995.
[20] Riedlmayer 1999.
[21] Abram 2005, p.14; Knuth 2006, pp. 144-151.
[22] These reports are listed, and in most cases their full texts are provided, on the web-page of the Committee on Iraqi Libraries of the Middle East Librarians Association (MELA) at http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/mela/melairaq.html This page also provides links to a number of distressing photographic images of destroyed books and library buildings.
[23] The texts of the reports of most of these missions can be found and compared at http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/mela/melairaq.html (see note 23 above).
[24] For extensive documentation and discussion, see the IraqCrisis web pages of the Oriental Institute in Chicago, at http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/iraq.html.
[25] Naqshabandī 1993, pp. 19-25.
[26] Jubūrī 1973-74.
[27] Jubūrī 1969.
[28] See: Middle East Librarians Association Committee on Iraqi Libraries Home Page, Iraqi Library Stamps (October 2003).
*Dr Geoffrey Roper is an international bibliographical and library consultant. He was formerly Editor of Index Islamicus and the World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts and is currently an Associate Editor of the forthcoming Oxford Companion to the Book.


text:
This American Life
Lincoln's Second Inaugural
A show for July 4th weekend. We begin with perhaps the most moving, poetic inaugural speech in American history, and look at its legacy today. In his second inaugural address, Lincoln wondered aloud why God saw fit to send the slaughter of the Civil War to the United States. His conclusion: that slavery was a kind of original sin for the United States, for both North and South, and all Americans had to do penance for it.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Arlington, Va — With stress levels rising and purse strings tightening, how are yoga and Pilates studios faring in the recession? Better than you might think. In fact, some studios are reporting rapid growth and increased demand.
Hansa Knox, president of Yoga Alliance, Arlington, VA, says although some smaller studios face economic challenges, the yoga industry overall is thriving.
"Mom-and-pop studios are feeling the pinch more than franchises," Knox says. "Utility prices are rising, and independent studios are cutting costs. Some [studio owners] are moving to in-home training or smaller studios, or focusing on specialty classes and alternative grassroots marketing."
Franchises are generally able to market more and offer discounts that smaller studios may not be able to afford, better mitigating the ups and downs of the economy, Knox says.
Yoga and Pilates ranked in the top 20 most frequently offered programs at fitness facilities (61 percent and 68 percent of respondents offered programming, respectively), according to a 2008 survey by the IDEA Health & Fitness Association of individuals at health clubs, YMCAs, specialty fitness studios, corporate wellness facilities and other types of fitness facilities. Additionally, 55 percent of respondents offering yoga and 58 percent offering Pilates indicated program growth. Numbers for growth in the first quarter 2009 are not yet available.
Despite this growth, some operators are feeling the pinch of the economy. Suzanne Staples, sole proprietor of Lively N Fit Yoga and Pilates, taught Pilates in a chiropractor's office in Orange County, CA, before being laid off last month.
None of her 15 weekly clients could warrant paying out-of-pocket for Pilates Reformer classes, even though they loved them, she says.
YogaWorks, a network of 22 franchise studios, is growing on both coasts, opening two studios so far this year with three more studios slated to open in New York and California, says Phil Swain, YogaWorks president. Swain projects a 36 percent revenue increase for 2008-2009, up from 24 percent in 2007-2008 and 26 percent in 2006-2007.
"Our existing studios are maintaining. Class numbers are good," says Swain, adding that few clients have left due to financial difficulties. "Even those who are laid off are finding more time to do yoga."
However, Yoga Journal reports a decline in the number of yoga practitioners in America, from 16.5 million in 2004 to 15.8 million in 2008, yet spending has increased 87 percent to $5.7 billion per year.
The decline in practitioners isn't evident at Knox's Denver studio and educational facility, PranaYoga & Ayurveda Mandala Training Center, where the number of clients has doubled in the past year. She typically limits her classes to eight students, but she increased her advanced-level classes to 11 students and added instructors to accommodate three new classes and instructor workshops.
Davidson Reid, owner and executive director of Studio Lotus in Atlanta, also reports overall growth in the past year and the first quarter of this year.
"During the third quarter of last year, we did see a dip in revenue, but we made it up and grew 11 percent overall," Reid says. "The first quarter of 2009 indicates a growth of 2.5 to 3 percent."
During times of stress, yoga and Pilates are the last things people let go, Reid says, because clients are seeking stress relief. Reid has not changed his pricing structure, and cost is not a limiting factor, he says, adding that people don't mind spending money if they see results.
Knox says that the success of mind-body practices during the recession may be due to the fact that yoga and Pilates are generally less expensive than massage, and they are personally empowering.
"It's not just physical, it's not just stress reduction — it's empowerment that we don't feel in the world today," Knox says. "People are coming because they want to regain control on a personal level."


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text:
Since long I had this idea in mind, not exactly this way though. Actually, I wanted to give PJ a Peter Pan shadow, nothing more. But this one is not bad either, or? Yes, for me PJ is a Peter Pan, he with his voice can't express better Peter Pan's dream and message. After all, all of us have a part of soul that never gets old.
And what means Hook then? Well... you can interpret it as you want.


text:
Offered here in a sleek white with contrasting silver frame accents, this loveseat is the perfect backdrop for your home/office/den and will compliment many room decors. This seating features deeply padded seat and back cushions and adjustable neck cushioning support. Interesting details include stitched patterning on the seatbacks, stacked brick inspired base and frame elements, along with silver accents along the frame trim. Quality craftsmanship in every detail ensures comfort and durability.
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Dr. Pat Baccili
Dr. Pat Baccili helps individuals and organizations break through their limiting Crust so they can reach their unlimited potential. Her specialty is assisting people face t...Find out more »
Rabbi Ted Falcon
Rabbi Ted Falcon, Ph.D., teaches a Kabbalistic approach to Judaism through practices of Jewish meditation and the interpretation of Torah, ritual, and Jewish tradition from ...Find out more »
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Rev. Don Mackenzie
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text:
Hidden in plain sight is where you�ll find it. No, not under a cleverly disguised phantom rock requiring umpteen jillion complicated alphanumeric passwords with some upper but mostly lower case letters to access, and not in Greensboro or Raleigh, either. In fact, it�s right here in beautiful Burlington, attractively situated on Church Street near University Drive.
What does it look like? Well, it�s a very recently constructed building, pleasantly filled with large window spaces and punctuated with thoughtful, classy interior touches. Open to the public, it�s visited every day by appreciative clients who come and go freely as they avail themselves of the entirely no-cost services.
Is this, you ask, some portion of heaven of which I speak? The answer is yes, but in earth language, people call this place the Goodwill Community Resource Center.
Somewhat like heaven, the GCRC offers much more than anyone would expect. Home to a gracious staff, two state-of-the art computer labs containing a total of 40 workstations, numerous modern classrooms, a tastefully appointed conference room available for use by businesses and organizations, and an exciting array of no-cost employability training services, the Goodwill Community Resource Center waits with open arms to warmly welcome anyone who sincerely wants to be viably employed.
The down home spiritual food and supernal comfort to be found in this part of heaven come in the form of useables valuable to any job seeker, such as eight internet connected computer stations available throughout the week for job search and e mail communication, as well as frequently held classes covering basic computer skills, software programs, and specialized workplace skills. But that�s not all. Piling on the blessings, the GCRC provides on the spot career counseling and resume creation. Amazingly, this all falls freely like manna from above.
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text:
WEFT-lessOctober 21, 2009
Last we left off, I'd just started going down the road of playing with
@font-face, sans IE. This is the follow-up where we bring Internet Explorer back into the equation and look at the hoops we need to jump through to bring it in line.
A quick refresher: following a different path than every other browser out there, IE requires a custom-created, rights-managed font file called EOT (Embedded OpenType). The syntax to safely serve up an EOT to IE was shown in that previously-mentioned post. What we're covering here is, how in the world do you create an EOT file in the first place?
Well, there's WEFT, Microsoft's one and only tool for creating EOT files. Let's try WEFT, shall we? Go to Microsoft's site for WEFT and hit the download link. Wait, what's this business about Internet Explorer 4 and Windows 98? Uh-oh.
The most recent WEFT point release was in 2003, but if you look at the screenshots on the tutorial for the most recent major version, you might be able to guess what sort of an experience you're in for.
Obviously it's Windows-only. I grabbed a copy and tried it in Windows XP under Parallels. That went well:
I've booted multiple virtual installations of Windows XP under Parallels, but that's the oldest version of Windows I have on hand (what a ridiculous phrase to type) and it simply doesn't want to run.
I have managed to use WEFT in the past. Back in the late part of the 90's when it was still somewhat fresh, I distinctly remember grabbing a copy and converting some fonts to EOT. I also remember the GUI being a confusing pile of hurt, and the process being anything but transparent.
Essentially, you need to point WEFT at the page you're trying to embed the fonts in, so a) it can create domain-specific hooks and only run on that site (good luck getting the EOT working locally or on a staging server), and b) so it can subset the character set to only the glyphs you're actually using. The former is an overly-restrictive attempt at DRM. The latter is actually useful for controlling file sizes, aside from the total lack of manual control.
Microsoft mentions on the download page that some people report it working in virtualized Windows under OS X, and I have heard independent reports of it working for other people. But I've also heard I'm not the only one in the not-working camp. I guess if you get it working, consider yourself lucky in a pyrrhic sort of way.
But anyway, forget WEFT. Microsoft has clearly long given up on it. Abandonware isn't going to solve today's modern web design problems, what else have we got?
Searching that problem turned up Edward O'Connor's post from a few months back about his experience installing command line tools that will ultimately generate EOT files.
At this point I'm going to cut a very long story short and say that, despite being fairly comfortable hacking around a Terminal window and installing remote packages and the like, I wasted almost a day doing this with nothing to show for it. I suspect there's nothing wrong with Edward's methods, but some OTF files seem to complicate things in a way it simply doesn't account for. Others reportedly work; the ones I tried didn't.
(As an aside: there are a few web-based tools out there that do similar without the command line hackery. TTF 2 EOT does what its name suggests, and there's a tool called Online Font Converter that supposedly converts OTF files to TTF and a few other formats. I'm not linking to that one because I'm a little suspicious of the site (AdSense-heavy, and the zip files it produced wouldn't open for me), but if you really want to find it just search for the capitalized title in the last sentence. But you're probably better of using FontSquirrel anyway, mentioned below.)
(As a second aside, you might be luckier than I was. You might be able to use any of these tools to go from OTF to EOT and wonder what in the world I'm talking about. Given that I'm definitely not the only one who had this problem, it seems likely that sooner or later you might run into a font that just doesn't want to convert. When that happens, keep reading.)
After spending that time hacking around in the Terminal I was ready to give up on the entire process of WEFT-less EOT files, and then Jonathan Snook happened to mention he had a method. A bit of dialogue resulted in my prodding him into doing a screencast, and voila:
The really important bit here, the part that I couldn't get right before, is the manual adjustment in FontForge. The automated tools mentioned above in the OTF › EOT conversion chain don't account for the namerecord tweaking that seems essential to get an EOT rendering in Internet Explorer. I had previously installed a tool that converted TTF files into XML so I could pull off the namerecord change in text. No such luck. FontForge's awful XWindows GUI tool was the only thing that worked for me. No really, it's ugly; the UI is even worse than WEFT. But it happens to work, which is its saving grace.
Also, between the time I started writing this post and now, FontSquirrel released a @font-face generator that appears to automate the whole process. I haven't had a chance to test yet, so it's unclear to me whether it fixes the namerecord problems or not. If so, great, but one reason to still consider using FontForge is its ability to manually delete glyph records. Being able to drop Greek characters, accents and diacritics, ligatures, and other glyphs that aren't typically used on an English-speaking site is handy when you have 100k+ OTF files that you'd like to embed.
Finally, a couple of related links I've found interesting:
- Becoming a Font Embedding Master, also from Jonathan Snook
- Where to Get Web Fonts from Tim Brown at Nice Web Type
- Typotheque, a foundry that explicitly allows web licensing of their catalogue, hosts them, and offers a really interesting pricing model. Worth a look.
hey, if you link to typothegue you should link to typekit.com to ..
i think the pricing model is much better than the one used by typothegue…
this is no ad for typekit, i just like the service.
Thanks for the writeup Dave. I've quickly become a big fan of Font Squirrel's generator - it has evolved to allow subsetting and it now generates WOFF fonts (more on WOFF: http://hacks.mozilla.org/2009/10/woff/) I recently used it to produce http://thatwasnotok.com and the .eot worked great.
Thanks for the mention. Yes, the Font Squirrel @font-face Generator http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fontface/generator does take care of the name issues but I am still working on it, as fontforge is choking on the really large fonts like DejaVu Sans (5000+ glyphs!). The subsetting feature is mildly simplistic, but fairly intuitive. Any feedback is always appreciated.
thanks for this article, I've been struggling with this all for a while. Goodbye WEFT and hello Font Squirrel's generator! I just used it with great success. Finally I've got beautiful fonts throughout my site.
Fontsquirrel seems to work, but so far the fonts I tested (Museo Sans and Fontin Sans) look like absolute garbage on PC - no matter if IE, FF of S…
WEFT seems to work just fine in Windows XP on VMware Fusion for the Macintosh. I haven't tried it in any of the other Windows emulators, though.
Hi Dave,
I tried WEFT on XP Pro some months ago and encountered the same problems as you did.
How to force MS to finally do the job and give us a working (!) solution? Certainly not by still fussing around with the 2003 (I choked when I saw this on the Microsoft site) WEFT program. I remember back in the late 90's I had to create font-files for Netscape using the sofware from Bitstream and for IE with WEFT - it was an absolute pain in the ass.
Right now I think for Webdesigners it's best to stick with Cufon or Typeface. I must have cases the following @font-face implementation method (including eot files) should work:
@font-face {
font-family: 'Font Name;
src: url('fontname.eot);
src: local('Font Name Regular'), local('Graublau Web'),
url('fontname.otf') format('opentype');
There are a few web sites which offer eot files or eot conversion. However, I think it's best to avoid it whenever possible. We shouldn't support the ways of Microsoft.
BTW, I recently finished your Zen Garden Book on CSS Design. And still learned a thing or two…. ;-)). ~ Ruana
Thanks for the article Dave, I believed the Font Squirrel's generator does take care of the name issues and WEFT works just fine in Windows XP on VMware Fusion for the Macintosh.


text:
Right now we can get the ocelleris small for 9 medium for 15 or 4" for 60 we can also get a rare 3" kelbri for $200 No ornino's are available right now. But as soon as I see some on our lists I'll let you know. I will also make a special request for you to see if I can get some for you.
what kind of peacock bass can you get? i am looking for some monos or orinos about 2-4". if you can get any other type let me know. also prices please?


text:
Los Banos
Los Banos softball drops two to Central Catholic and Central Valley
The Los Banos High softball team lost twice this week – 10-0 to Central Catholic on Monday and 4-2 to Central Valley on Wednesday – and is taking a step back to do some soul-searching.
The Tigers, whose next game is Wednesday, are taking Thursday through Sunday off from softball.
"I told the girls yesterday, 'We're in a funk,' so we have to figure out how to get out of the funk," Los Banos coach Dustin Caropreso said. "They're upset with losing the last two games, but like I tried to explain to them yesterday, good teams figure out how to get out of them."
Los Banos trailed 2-0 to Central Valley early, but tied it in the third inning. But the Tigers failed to score with a runner in scoring position and no outs later in the inning. Meanwhile, a solid start by pitcher Brianna Flores went for naught.
"Part of it's my fault, maybe, not bunting her over, but I'm trying to give my girls the confidence to swing the bat," Caropreso said. "We're in a grind right now, and the last thing I want to do is team pictures today, then practice today and tomorrow, then come back for practice Saturday and Monday. Let's get rejuvenated sort of like the All-Star break, and come back Monday ready to go."
The Tigers slipped out of second place in the Western Athletic Conference with the losses, falling behind Patterson, which went 1-1 this week with a loss to Pacheco and a win over Livingston. Every team except for Ceres (6-0) and Livingston (0-6) are withi two games of each other, which will make the second round of league play interesting.
"We finished the first half 4-2, and we started the second half 0-1," Caropreso said. "If we go 4-2 in the second half, we're fine."
Taking a break from practice isn't something Caropreso has done before.
"Right now, the good thing about it is we don't play tomorrow," he said. "We're taking team pictures, then let's get away from the softball field and see what we want to accomplish when we come back on Monday. I hate to say we're must-win, but we need to win. I hate to put that kind of pressure on individuals who are only 15 and 16 years old, in some cases 14.
"Ask me next Friday and I'll be able to give you a bigger picture if it works."
Los Banos hosts Patterson on Wednesday and Central Catholic on Thursday.


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text:
Unit C: Earth, Our Home
The books listed below may be available through publishers, distributors such as bookstores or online retailers, or library systems.
Leveled Independent Science Books
Extra Support
- 7 Uses for Air
- Summary: Readers find out about ways to use air.
On Level
- What Makes a Garden Grow?
- Summary: Readers learn how a boy helps his parents plant and tend a garden.
- We Can Recycle
- Summary: Readers learn about items that can be recycled.
- Soil
- Readers learn about the composition and importance of soil.
- My Best Book of Fossils, Rocks and Minerals
- Readers explore Earth's natural riches.
- Dirt: The Scoop on Soil
- Readers find out about different types of soil, such as sand, silt, and clay.
- Rock
- Readers learn how rocks are formed and used.
- Air: Outside, Inside, and All Around Us
- Readers discover what air can do, including making balloons float and ears pop.
- Waste Not: Time to Recycle
- Readers learn about the importance of recycling, including easy ways to recycle.
- Re-Cycles
- Readers explore the natural cycles of soil and water and how people can help nature's recycling process.
- Rising Up, Falling Down
- Readers learn how the cycle of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation provides fresh water to Earth.


text:
Originally published on July 3, 2013 10:45 am
This week marks the halfway point of the year. Where is the economy today?
This also is the 4th anniversary of the start of the "recovery." The GDP has been growing non-stop since late June or early July of 2009.
Have most people now completely recovered financially?
- Marilyn Geewax, senior business editor for NPR. She tweets @geewaxnpr.
Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.


text:
Last chance at scallops! Scallop season ends Sept. 10. Most people don't realize that September scallops are more plentiful, have bigger meat and some feel the cooler water of September makes them sweeter. Last chance, the next opportunity for fresh scallops will be July 1, 2009. Better go get'em.
Inshore fishing has literally had the chalkboard erased. After Tropical Storm Fay with torrential rain and 40-plus-knot winds, from three directions I might add, the trout are likely to re-emerge just about anywhere.
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the Cedar Key Beacon, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
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text:
Reedsville School District recognizes the importance of ensuring our District website content is available to all visitors. We consistently work to make this website more accessible and fully compliant to the standards put forth by the ADA and WCAG.
This website was developed by Nicholas Hein.
If you have questions or comments, please contact Amy Hein.


text:
MAHLE develops and manufactures trendsetting starter motors, alternators, and electric motors as well as electric drive and mechatronic systems for industrial applications, agricultural and construction machinery, commercial vehicles, industrial vehicles, electric transport vehicles, and the automotive industry.
With its products and solutions, MAHLE contributes to making transportation more sustainable, fostering e-mobility and energy efficiency, and significantly reducing air pollution from vehicles. Thanks to comprehensive research and development, trends can be identified early on and turned into sustainable, application-specific customer solutions.


text: Rose Quartz is an exceptionally popular crystal for use in healing, working with a gentle subtle energy to raise your sense of self-worth and inner emotional well-being. This stone's energy is very gentle, easing distress and calming a troubled mind. Comes in a drawstring organza bag for ease of carrying


text:
Delta Hotels by Marriott Halifax
Scotia Square
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Halifax, Nova Scotia
Certified ScrumMaster Course + Workshop
Halifax, NS
Our Certified ScrumMaster Course + Agile Release Planning Workshop approach is unique. Unlike others, we offer a two-day interactive CSM Course plus a one-day Agile Release Planning Workshop.
The CSM Course gives you an applied understanding of the Scrum process and will help you develop the tools, attitudes and skills required to apply Scrum on your projects and across your organization. The ARP Workshop allows you to take real work and do Agile Release Planning with it. It develops many basic skills with real work. It is highly recommended by attendees.
The course covers the basics of Scrum and several advanced topics, so that you will have the knowledge, the interest and the motivation to use these ideas more effectively. You will have enough knowledge and skill to get started with Scrum, and be more successful.
Upon completion of the course and workshop, you will receive 24 SEUs (Scrum Educational Units) and 24 PDUs toward PMI requirements. (Or 16 SEUs and 16 PDUs if you only take the CSM Course.)
In addition to the course and workshop, after you pass the CSM Test you receive:
- Recognition by the Scrum Alliance as a Certified ScrumMaster
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- SEUs and PDUs as described above
- A free copy of our book on Agile Release Planning
Note: To become an official CSM, you must satisfactorily complete the course and the CSM Test. The CSM Test is later, online and takes about 45 minutes. You must also agree to the Scrum Alliance license agreement.
Samples of What You Will Learn:
- Practical, project-proven practices
- The essentials of getting a project off on the right foot
- How to write User Stories for the Product Backlog
- How to help both new and experienced teams be more successful
- The basics of scaling Scrum, perhaps to large, multi-continent project teams
- Tips and tricks from the instructor's ten years of using Scrum in a wide variety of environments
The Agile Release Planning Workshop:
- Unlike others, we always offer a 1 day Agile Release Planning workshop with the course.
- The Workshop takes the real work of the identified Product Owner at each table, and that table team does the Agile Release Planning for that work.
- It is an excellent way to take the ideas of the course and make them practical. It builds the initial product backlog. It gets you and your team ready to start on Monday.
- You may take the CSM course only, but be aware that attendees strongly recommend the ARP workshop.
- You may also take the Agile Release Planning workshop by itself.
The Trainer:
- Joe Little, who has 10 years of experience as an Agile coach and Certified Scrum Trainer (CST), will lead this Scrum course.
- Joe has co-trained eight times with Jeff Sutherland (one of the co-creators of Scrum), and we believe you get more "real Scrum" because of this experience.
- Joe has an MBA and 20+ years of senior level Big 6 and related consulting experience.
- Joe has in-depth practical experience in helping teams become very productive with Scrum and Agile.
- He often co-teaches these courses with other great Scrum trainers. Take a look at Joe's blog, Agile & Business.
- Joe is a CST associated with Scrum Alliance.
Why Choose Us?
- A better trainer
- Fun, entertaining and memorable course
- More success
- …because more real Scrum
That is, Joe co-trained eight times with Jeff Sutherland and therefore you are hearing more of real Scrum than any alternative except Dr. Sutherland himself.
You may want to learn about our Referral Program and about our Refresher Program.
We are also starting to offer free and paid webinars to go along with the in-person course.
The content of the course and workshop are described more fully here.
- Read the "Scrum Guide" by Sutherland and Schwaber. (About 17 pages)
- Read one of Ken Schwaber's or Jeff Sutherland's books. We recommend for beginners: "Agile Project Management with Scrum" by Ken Schwaber, or "Scrum" by Jeff Sutherland. They are available in Kindle versions, if that interests you, and some libraries have them.
This website (and especially the blog) has lots of other information that may be helpful to you.
Registration and Fees
- You may see the Early Bird price for the two-day CSM Course above. The normal price is $1,500.
- You may see the Early Bird price for the two-day CSM Course + one-day ARP Workshop above. The normal price is $1,850.
- We can change from Early Bird pricing to normal pricing at any time.
- If you need us to hold a price for you for a couple of days (e.g., to get approval), please contact us and we probably can do that.
- If you are a member of a local Agile group or PMI chapter or SPIN group, you can normally get a $100 reduction in these fees. (This discount is not available below $1,000.)
- Alternately, there is a 10 percent discount for any group of three or more.
- In addition, there is a 3 percent cash discount. That is, 3 percent off the net due if you pay with cash (i.e., cash, not check, at the beginning of the course). To receive the cash discount, you must make a $100 non-refundable deposit (which normally is just a pre-payment, and typically done by credit card).
The fee also covers food and beverage at the course (typically, a continental breakfast, AM break, lunch and a PM break). The course fee also covers the cost of the CSM Test.
Please register using the "Register Now" button (above right). If you register multiple people, please send us an email with their names and email addresses.
You may also discuss options with Rachael, Cassandra or Retta. We can discuss other payment methods, receipts, invoices, etc. Payment methods include USD check, money transfer, credit card, PayPal, over-the-phone (CC), cash, etc. All payments should be received before the course starts. Once we receive payment you will be registered.
The course date or location may be changed up until 16 days prior to the start date. Please do not book non-refundable travel expenses without discussing with us. We can advise you on the date is set.
Policy for Changes and Refunds
If for any reason you cannot make a course, you may send another person in your place for free (no additional fee). You must identify that person before the course starts.
There are other options and other situations. Some involve notable fees or deductions. These rules are discussed at this webpage. You are responsible for reading these rules carefully. In general, fees or extra costs are more likely if you are within 16 days of the course start.
Please contact us if you have questions.


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Is Garnett completely gone from Wolves? | Bosh needs to concede and move on | Donovan remains with OKC for long haul
No. 1: Is Garnett completely gone from Wolves? — He announced his retirement Friday after 21 years in the NBA, fitting since that was his uniform number, and Kevin Garnett will be forever linked to the Wolves perhaps more than the Celtics. But what's in his next chapter? There was always scuttlebutt about Garnett becoming a part-owner of the Wolves but that doesn't appear likely. And the coaching position is filled. Maybe Garnett should cut the cord completely if he's not involved in ownership, so says Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune…
It was such a nice story, evoking nostalgia and promise in the same swoop of the pen.
Flip Saunders employed all of his charm to woo Kevin Garnett back to Minnesota, offering trunks of money, a voice at practice, a place in the starting lineup and a future in franchise decision-making.
When the Minnesota Timberwolves were desperate for validation and credibility, Flip's seduction of the greatest player in franchise history made sense. Then everything changed.
Flip passed away, leaving Garnett without his greatest champion and intermediary in the organization.
Garnett played a career-low 15 minutes a game in a career-low 38 games, undermining his ability to lead by example on the court.
Wolves owner Glen Taylor hired Tom Thibodeau and Scott Layden to run his basketball operation.
In the old Wolves world order, every former employee of any pedigree had a virtual lifetime contract, renewable whenever convenient for the employee.
Flip's passing and the arrival of the best cache of young talent in Wolves history, and perhaps the most authoritative coach in franchise history, converted the Wolves from the best version of their old self under Flip to the New Wolves Order.
Flip built relationships and sometimes avoided conflict. For him, Garnett could be the ideal partner — a superstar who was also taskmaster and intimidator.
Thibodeau likely wants his voice to be the loudest in every practice and huddle. He is the alpha male in the organization, and by nature of his personality needs little help yelling out defensive instructions or wielding power.
If Garnett is not going to become a part-owner or assistant general manager or loud voice at the end of the bench, he has no role in the New Wolves Order. He's no longer even needed to sell tickets or lead marketing campaigns. That falls to Karl-Anthony Towns, a fast-rising star who is also as likeable and marketable as was the young Garnett, before he grew quills.
Channeled rage made Garnett great, and would make him an uncomfortable member of the NWO.
Now is the right time for Garnett to move on. The method by which that would happen is a matter for Taylor and Garnett. It would be best for the Wolves if Garnett simply retired, but let's not go so far as to say that Garnett owes that to the Wolves. He carried the franchise for a decade, brought the Wolves their greatest success and had to be coaxed into accepting the trade to Boston.
Taylor (the owner of the Star Tribune, by the way) needs to do whatever it takes to buy out Garnett, to give Thibodeau a locker room where his voice will be the loudest.
If Garnett departs, the NBA and Minnesota sports will officially be changed places. The NBA could find Garnett, Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant in the same Hall of Fame class. Minnesota will have experienced the retirements of Torii Hunter, Jerry Kill and Garnett, and career-threatening injuries to Teddy Bridgewater and Adrian Peterson.
Garnett would retire as the only player in NBA history to reach at least 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 5,000 assists, 1,500 steals and 1,500 blocks. He may also be the rare NBA superstar to have punched multiple teammates during practices over the course of his career.
Perhaps Garnett could have written a sweeter ending to his career than a buyout, but old knees don't understand story lines.
Garnett was great, and he should have played his entire career in Minnesota, and nothing guarantees a happy ending, not even when a superstar comes home.
No. 2: Bosh needs to concede and move on — After failing his physical with the Miami Heat reportedly due to blood-clot complications, Chris Bosh remains in limbo. He won't report with the team for training camp and all along the Heat have kept themselves at arm's distance regarding Bosh and his medical condition. Almost everyone, even former teammate Dwyane Wade, has dropped hints that maybe Bosh should seriously rethink his desire to play this season, or ever again. Meanwhile, Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside are looming as the core of a team that once featured Bosh, Wade and LeBron James. Here's Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald with the latest …
The question, with camp opening Tuesday: Can their on-court chemistry continue to improve?
The off-court dynamics between the two were so off kilter at times last season that Erik Spoelstra, last February, ordered them to go to dinner or do absolutely whatever was necessary to improve their chemistry.
Their collaboration improved almost immediately after that, and it will never be more important than it this season, with the departure of Dwyane Wade, who had better synergy with Whiteside than anybody, and the loss of Bosh.
Whereas Wade assisted on 92 Whiteside baskets and 29 alley-oops, Dragic assisted on just 65 of Whiteside's hoops and 14 of his alley-oops.
But 50 of Dragic's 65 assists to Whiteside came in 28 games after the All-Star break, compared with just 15 in 54 games before.
One reason why: The two teammates started talking a lot more, both off the court and during games, and the results have been noticeable. Whiteside started setting better screens for Dragic, which helped free him offensively.
"It was great," Whiteside said this offseason, via Heat.com. "Each game me and Goran got better. He's easy to talk to. He's a really good point guard. As the season went on, me and Goran understood each other better.
"[This] year is going to be even bigger. More of me and Goran communicating on that basketball level and getting to know each other better."
Spoelstra said earlier this year that the key was they both "committed to working together, before practice, after practice. Two guys that want to do it right and they understand they're involved in a lot of collaborations together and they have to spend time working on it.
"It's not going to happen through osmosis. They both wanted to make it better. They just didn't necessarily know how to make it better. Just spend time together and you'll figure it out."
Dragic said he never ended up going "alone with Hassan" to dinner, but they did spend more time together in groups with teammates, and it helped because "you discuss things. You get to know the guy better and where he comes from. He opened up to me and vice versa. You know what the guy is thinking now."
Also helpful: Dragic said he and Whiteside practiced pick-and-rolls alone, after practice.
Though they've always gotten along, Dragic, from Slovenia, and Whiteside, from North Carolina, don't necessarily have a lot in common.
"He likes to play video games; I don't do that," Dragic said. "I have a family [with kids]; he doesn't. But we both love basketball."
The upshot, Dragic said, is they now they mastered non-verbal signals, to the point where Whiteside can anticipate a Dragic alley-oop before the defense knows it's coming.
"It was hard" to get to this point, Dragic said. But the improved communication "has helped us function."
Said Whiteside: "I know it looks like sometimes we're out there arguing or fussing. But every time I see something, I tell him. And it goes both ways."
No. 3: Donovan sees himself with OKC for long haul — When the Thunder lost Kevin Durant to free agency, it created a rather weird reality for coach Billy Donovan. He came to the Thunder two summers ago fully realizing that he might have only one season coaching Kevin Durant and that the team's identity (and title chances) could drastically change overnight if Durant left. Maybe Donovan would regret leaving a comfortable gig with the Florida Gators. Well, when the Thunder opened camp Friday, Donovan was fully committed to the present and the future. Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman spoke with Donovan about this…
Billy Donovan's second NBA season begins Saturday with Thunder training camp. Perhaps you've heard, Kevin Durant won't be there.
The team that Donovan signed up for 17 months ago — a superstar-heavy, NBA-title-contending roster — has changed. Still talented. Still interesting. Still a winner. But not a title contender unless the basketball gods bestow upon us the sports story of the century.
Makes you wonder if Donovan laments coming to town. Makes you wonder if Donovan wonders what in the heck he's gotten himself into.
This week, I asked Sam Presti how Donovan has responded to the different landscape. From knowing exactly what he had to not sure what he has. From NBA overdog to NBA underdog. From two superstars to one.
Presti said to ask Donovan. But then Presti told us what he thinks of the coach who leads the Thunder. "I think it is the same situation he signed on for, because the things that make a Billy Donovan a Billy Donovan is he wants to be the coach of the Thunder," Presti said. "He wants to coach in Oklahoma City. He wants to coach with an organization that is committed to the values that I've covered … I think those are the things that drive a person like Billy Donovan. He wants to be a part of something. He wants to be a part of representing a city and the values of a city. And he wants to work his craft."
Well, working his craft is not going to be a problem. To whatever extent Donovan was able to roll out the basketball and let Durant and Russell Westbrook perform their magic, that will happen no more. Donovan will be free to coach his butt off this season.
Truth is, Donovan did just that last season, when the Thunder traversed repeated valleys and emerged as a playoff force. No team played better in the 2016 playoffs than did Donovan's Thunder. In the month of May, OKC went 7-6 against teams with 67 (Spurs) and 73 (Warriors) wins.
Donovan pushed all the right buttons, and the Thunder's eventual fall had nothing to do with the quality of the coaching. Durant and Westbrook just famously locked up in the final five minutes of the Western Conference Finals' Game 6.
The Thunder won't get that close this season. Donovan won't admit that, of course. He also talks like it's OK if it is true.
Donovan said Clay Bennett and Presti made it clear that Durant's return was no sure thing. Said he came to OKC not because of the dual superstars, but the values and culture that had been created.
"I believed in the vision of the organization," Donovan said. "Those things resonated with me."
You know the drill. All the things that Presti talks endlessly about. All the things that now will be put to the test in the post-Durant era. Hard work. Holistic approach to people. Trusting the process.
"Nothing's really changed here," Donovan said, words that will be tested on Oct. 25, when Durant dons a Warrior jersey for his first real game with Golden State. "The principles, the vision, those things haven't changed. It's not like the mission and the values have changed here."
Donovan says he's used to player departures. Nineteen years at Florida taught him to adjust. Players graduating. Players transferring. Players going pro early. Donovan went to Final Fours with virtual all-star teams and went to Final Fours with virtual no-name teams.
Truth is, Oklahoma City is a lot more accustomed to Durant than Donovan is to Durant. We had the tall drink of water for eight glorious seasons. Donovan coached him for one.
"When players leave, you gotta be aligned with the people that are in charge and the people you're working with every single day," Donovan said.
SOME RANDOM HEADLINES: Jrue Holiday and wife had their baby and now Lauren Holiday awaits surgery for a brain tumor … Russell Westbrook still hasn't spoken with you know who … Knicks are staying mum about the charges against Derrick Rose for now … Yao Ming is having his jersey retired by the Rockets … Nik Pekovic may never play for the Wolves again … Jeff Teague is getting to know his new teammates in his hometown of Indy … Mitch McGary is very, very sorry.


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Arsene Wenger launched a robust defence of Arsenal's much-criticised spending strategy and likened the 'Emirates way' to how Barcelona operate.
According to a Press Association report, Wenger vowed that the Gunners are ready to "spend big" again - but will continue to look to build the core of the team from within.
The Pa report states: Wenger insists Arsenal are in the market to bolster their squad during the January transfer window, but will only do so if they can find the right quality of player.
The Gunners have been linked with a string of players across Europe, with Lyon playmaker Yoann Gourcuff and West Ham midfielder Mohamed Diame the latest rumoured to be on Wenger's radar, while a new contract for Theo Walcott is expected to be pushed through shortly.
With the club set to see new commercial deals kick in following their £390million move to Emirates Stadium and with plenty of cash in reserve, resources which were further boosted by last summer's sale of captain Robin van Persie to Manchester United, Wenger insists Arsenal will be able to invest heavily in the playing staff.
"My plan is to keep all of the players we have and then to add maybe, if possible, two new players to the squad. We will spend big (again) because we had restricted finances because we had built the stadium and had to pay that back," Wenger said in an interview with Al Jazeera Sport recorded before the 2-0 defeat by Manchester City on Sunday and broadcast on Talksport this morning.
"You look at any club who has done that, and they have gone down (in performance).
"We stayed at the top level, yes without winning the Premier League, but we were always at the top level.
"Now we have come out in a much stronger position financial again, so we can spend.
"But our way is a bit like Barcelona as well, to produce the core of the team from inside and add from outside the players who give really a plus."
Wenger accepts Arsenal will always be an easy target for those who claim the board put the balance sheet ahead of success on the pitch.
"The biggest challenge so far is to convince people we have a good team, that we have good quality and that we lead the club in the right way, because many people doubt that," Wenger continued.
"I am convinced this team has a fantastic mentality, fantastic quality and with the right level of confidence, if we can create the momentum, we can be a positive surprise until the end of the season."
Wenger may have transformed the fortunes of the Gunners since taking over at Highbury in September 1996, but the Frenchman accepts his time will soon "be up" as the club must one day look for new leadership.
"It is (time up), because I am 63 years old and will not work at 100. That, though, is not the most important, what is important is that when you are somewhere, you give your best," said Wenger, whose side host Swansea in their FA Cup third-round replay tomorrow night.
"How long will I stay? I have a contract until 2014, and I always respected my contracts.
"It is important is that the club goes the right direction - we have a very young team who have fantastic qualities and [it is important] that I help them to get their qualities transformed into positive results.
"Let's not forget that last year we finished third [in the Premier League], as long as that is seen as a disaster, it is not too bad for the future of the club."


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Obama thanks EPA workers, vows allegiance to agency mission
President Barack Obama defended the work of the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday, saying he would stand with the agency that has taken a beating from Republicans in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail for regulations that the GOP maintains will cripple the economy and kill jobs.
Obama, making his first-ever visit to the EPA, took issue with those claims, saying he did not buy the notion that there is a choice between clean air and clean water and a growing economy. He said the mission of the agency was "vital."
"That is a false debate. We don't have to choose between dirty air and dirty water or a growing economy. We can make sure that we are doing right by our environment and in fact putting people back to work all across America," Obama told about 800 EPA employees gathered at headquarters in Washington, reminding them that before Republican President Richard Nixon created the agency in 1970, rivers caught fire and were devoid of life.
"When I hear folks grumbling about environmental policy, you almost want to do a 'Back to the Future' reminder of folks of what happened when we didn't have a strong EPA," Obama said, adding, "You have a president who is grateful for your work and will stand with you every inch of the way."
Under Obama, the EPA helped draft a historic rise in fuel economy standards for new cars and trucks, issued the first-ever rules to curb mercury from the nation's coal-fired power plants and started regulating the heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming.
Yet, at times, Obama has had to scale back his aspirations on the environment in the face of a weak economy and political resistance.
The Republican takeover of the House in 2010 killed his campaign pledge to pass comprehensive legislation to address global warming. Since then, the House has passed a string of bills to block EPA rules, all of which have failed in the Democratic-led Senate and drawn a veto threat from the White House.
But the true low point for Obama on the environment came in September, when faced with criticism from industry and Republicans, he decided against strengthening a standard for the main ingredient in lung-damaging smog, going against the recommendation of agency scientists and the EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson.
Obama redeemed himself in environmentalists' eyes late last year. First, he delayed a decision to build a pipeline to bring tar sands oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast. Then, in December, the EPA finalized the first-ever standards to control toxic mercury pollution from power plants, over the objections of Republicans and industry groups.
Now, in the midst of re-election campaign, the big question is whether Obama will continue that trend. Regulations to curb power plant pollution are still in the pipeline, including a much-anticipated proposal to control greenhouse gases from new power plants. Meanwhile, Republican presidential hopefuls continue to criticize the agency's actions under Obama, saying its regulations have placed a massive burden on business and hindered economic growth. Most of the GOP contenders have said they would throw out the most expensive and cumbersome rules issued on Obama's watch.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wants to abolish the EPA and replace it with an "environmental solutions agency." He recently called the agency a "job-killing, Washington-based dictatorship that has no understanding of local conditions. And it needs to be replaced. It is too radical to be repaired."
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who once backed a regional program to reduce greenhouse gases, has proposed removing carbon dioxide from the list of pollutants controlled by the Clean Air Act and amending environmental laws so that cost, as well as the health benefits, can be considered.
Campaigning in South Carolina on Tuesday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry criticized the EPA for taking over Texas' air pollution program after the state refused to issue permits controlling greenhouse gases.
"The states are under assault by this administration," Perry said.
Obama must walk a fine line, not alienating the environmentalists who helped him get elected, but also courting independents who at times share the GOP's concern about environmental regulations' toll on the economy and jobs.
"EPA's come under a lot of heat in the last year, so it's great to see the president give a morale boost and say he is going to stand with those that stand up to polluters," Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in an interview.
In a prelude to the fights that loom ahead, an association of coal-fired power producers issued a statement in advance of Obama's visit.
"The EPA's actions are not a cause for celebration," Evan Tracey of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity said. "The government should be helping Americans get back to work, not patting themselves on the back for regulations that will put more Americans out of work."


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ron and christina were a really good team -- they kicked ass for most of this leg, and it all came down to luck -- but rachel was smart, she stayed calm, and she deserved it -- nick and christina panicked a little to much.
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