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Mending Broken Bones: Russian Nationalism and the Fate of Russia
He who wishes to serve the proletariat must unite the workers of all nations, fighting relentlessly against bourgeois nationalism and his own and that of others. He who defends the slogan of national culture belongs in the ranks of the nationalistic philistines and not among the Marxists.
Vladimir Il'ich Lenin, 'Critical Observations on the National Question' (1913)
Patriotism is a feeling of total and permanent love for one's Motherland, with a readiness to make sacrifices for her, to share her misfortunes, without any obsequiousness, without any support for unjust claims, and openness in the assessment of her flaws, sins, and repentance for them.
Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, Russia in Ruins (1998)
© Frank Ellis 2009
If you wish to grasp something of the Russian spirit/soul (dukh/dusha) - Russians have a great deal to say about both – Russian culture, history and thought all of which contribute to the sentiments of national identity and have forged the way Russians feel and reflect upon ideas such as Fatherland (Otechestvo) and Motherland (Rodina), I know of no better way than to read the work of Russia's greatest writers. Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852), Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883), Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), Fedor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) and in the twentieth century, Anna Akhmatova (1888-1965), Boris Pasternak (1890-1960), Vasilii Grossman (1905-1964), Viktor Astaf'ev (1924-2001) and, for me, the great moral and intellectual titan of the last century, the unashamed patriot, Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), are a surer guide to the nature of Mother Russia than so much of Western historiography and its commentariat. On the other side of this divide, and hostile to any assertion of a unique Russia, and committed to her destruction, stand the revolutionary fanatics of the late nineteenth century and their heirs, the Bolsheviks, who crucified Russia in the name of class war and internationalism, and whose social engineering together with their Maoist comrades marks the apex of twentieth-century genocide. In this protracted battle of ideas and so much blood and suffering we can find some kind of insight into what it means to be a Russian in the early twenty-first century.
Of all the nineteenth-century Russian writers who have concerned themselves with the nature and essence of Russia and her place in the world, Dostoevsky remains the most prophetic, and disturbingly so. The Devils (1871-1872) and The Brothers Karamazov (1879-1880) are uncompromising assertions of the nature of good, evil, man's need of God, and to borrow an idea from Viktor Frankl, man's search for meaning (man's desperate need for meaning). It is Dostoevsky's view that without the nation (Russia) and without the God that cares for Russia, the people are rendered mere raw material vulnerable to the machinations of ideological fanatics. Here then is a point of attack for those who wish to subvert and to destroy the nation: tell the people that the nation is an abomination; attack the culture that nurtures and sustains it; turn the next generation against their mothers and fathers. One reason why Dostoevsky was regarded with profound suspicion throughout the Soviet period was because he clearly understood the nature of the revolutionary movements that had emerged in Russia and to where their creed would lead. In fact, The Devils is core reading, if you wish to understand the mindset of the modern terrorist and the self-loathing which seems to be such a prominent feature of the left-liberal psyche.
In the twentieth century, the obvious defender of Mother Russia, her religion and folkways was Solzhenitsyn. Virtually all his major works, from One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) which made his name, to First Circle (1968), Cancer Ward (1968), Gulag Archipelago (1973-1975-1976) and August 1914 (1971 & 1989), are imbued with a profound love and understanding of Russia. In two long essays published after his return to Russia in 1994, The Russian Question at the End of the 20th Century (1994) and Russia in Ruins (1998), Solzhenitsyn analyses what he quite rightly calls 'Russia's endlessly cruel century'1, exploring, inter alia, the nature of Russian nationalism and the manner in which, beginning with Lenin after 1917, all forms of Russian national identity and consciousness were suppressed or opportunistically co-opted by the party. The value of these two essays for the theme of Russian nationalism as a whole is that they provide a thorough historical overview of the trials and tribulations of Russian nationalism in the twentieth century from before 1917 through the Soviet period and beyond. Moreover, and I think this is important: they are the thoughts of a man who experienced the Soviet concentration camp system first hand.
Strong nationalist sentiments or patriotic feelings of any kind especially those which have grown over a long period and are deeply embedded in the national culture are a major obstacle to the ideology of Marxism-Leninism (and multiculturalism). Any attempt to reverse these social affinities and loyalties would, if it relied on purely peaceful means, take decades even centuries to overcome, if at all, and despite the view among the party that the victory of communism was inevitable - capitalism in all its forms was doomed - Lenin was not going to wait until the peasants, bourgeoisie, landowners and emerging industrialists, the "masses" in the jargon of class war, were persuaded of the benefits of the common ownership of the means of production and gratefully abandoned the pursuit of profit and private property. 1917 was Year Zero, the tabula rasa, when the errors of some two thousand years of man's history were to be rectified by the teachings of Marx and Lenin, at least in Russia, to begin with.
The Nation
The question here then is what makes a nation? What are its main constituent parts? Can a nation be instantly remoulded according to some Marxist-Leninist or multiculturalist blueprint? Nations – England, France, Germany and Russia – do not spring up ready made: nations are born and there must have been a time when the nation did not exist. We can take it for granted that the people who formally coalesce into the nation, either through war, habit, assimilation or some other form of commerce, do so because they share things in common. These are language: blood (genes); shared territory; expanding family and kinship ties; some founding event that brought them together (4th July 1776 in the case of the USA); and a history of shared oppression and liberation. Or maybe they enjoy the great blessing of occupying an island which binds its inhabitants together and over the centuries they have looked to the sea for profit and security. Each nation believes that it is blessed by God; that God has selected it for some special purpose; that in its hour of need God will protect them. In this regard can there be anything more desperately moving, dignified and inspiring than the words of the Boer Covenant made with God before the Battle of Blood River in 1838? Likewise, Churchill's magnificent defiance in that summer of the Spitfire and Hurricane touched something very deep inside all those who listened to him. Faith, sense of national purpose, hardships overcome and national humiliations inspire art, the myths, the stories, histories and epics that the nation creates for itself which in turn inspire our children and their children and provide succour in adversity. During the Russo-German War 1941-1945, Tolstoy's War and Peace (1865-1869) was endlessly read, and during the darker days of Stalingrad Soviet propaganda unashamedly appealed to Russian military campaigns of the past, to the deeds of Alexander Nevskii, Alexander Suvorov and Mikhail Kutuzov.
The Bolshevik Assault: Russkii & Rossiiskii
What I have cited is, I grant, a sketch of a complicated area but the thrust is clear: the nation emerges and survives; it is precious thing. If, as in the case of England, it has survived the centuries, it must possess toughness and tenacity. Yet, the historical changes that create the forces which facilitate the birth of a nation never rest. No nation can take its survival for granted. In this regard we must see the historical forces unleashed by Marx and Engels which were picked up and amplified by Lenin and his successors into Marxist-Leninism as an example of those forces which are inimical to the nation state and its survival. How does the Marxist-Leninist, in the case of Russia, set about destroying the nation state? If the nation state is indeed made up of some or all of the constituent parts I have listed then the communist nation killer must unravel the work of the centuries. After 1917 this meant that Russia was attacked on many levels: the symbols and substance of culture; language; history; education; and religion. Bolshevik propaganda devoted much time and effort to discrediting the idea of Russian patriotism as something bourgeois and counter-revolutionary. It must be pointed out that this assault on national identity and culture to which Russia was subjected was by no means confined to the Russians: Ukrainians, Belorussians, Kazakhs, Chechens, Volga Germans, Estonians, Letts and Lithuanians and Jews were denied expressions of their histories and expected to celebrate Soviet internationalism and to make it the focal point of their emotional and intellectual allegiances. To quote Lenin once more: 'Marxism is irreconcilable with nationalism whether it is the most "just", "pure", subtle or civilised. In the place of any form of nationalism Marxism advocates internationalism, the merging of all nations in a higher unity, which grows before our eyes with every extra kilometre of railway line that is laid, with every international trust, with every workers' union (international in its economic activity, and so in its ideas and aspirations)'.2
The clergy of the Orthodox Church were prime targets of Bolshevik terror. Priests were arrested, harassed and executed; churches were destroyed and deliberately defiled and abandoned as relics of an age whose time has past. One of the most remarkable men of Russia's Church was Father Pavel Florensky whose fate typifies the savagery used against the Church. His main theological work, The Pillar and Ground of Truth, was first published in 1914 and was widely perceived as a major contribution to Russian religious thought. In fact, Father Florensky was far more than a theologian: he was a physicist, engineer, inventor and historian and is often referred to as Russia's Leonardo da Vinci. Yet, as far as the Soviet secret police was concerned, he was a dangerous traditionalist and enemy of the Bolsheviks.
A central theme in the flood of party-sponsored hatred directed at Father Florensky and the Trinity-Saint Sergei Monastery where he worked and lived was that the priests, and the aristocrats who had sought sanctuary there, represented the old Russia. They were the past which the Bolsheviks had to destroy or to discredit in order to consolidate their power and so be able to carry out their communist transformation of Russia. Eventually, Father Florensky was arrested and exiled. After this spell of exile he returned to teaching, publishing, The Imaginary in Geometry (circa 1932/1933). Falsely accused of being a member of a counter-revolutionary organization, he was arrested again in 1933 and sentenced to 10 years in a corrective labour camp under the catch-all provisions of Article 58 of the Soviet Criminal Code. After enduring many unspeakable torments at the hand of the Bolsheviks, he was eventually shot on 8th December 1937 in the Solovetsky monastery. The case of Father Florensky is symptomatic not just of the hatred that the Bolshevik state felt for the Orthodox Church and its deep roots in Russian history and in the nation's spiritual life, but of general hatred directed at all forms of moral and intellectual excellence.
Independence and self-sufficiency were other virtues that were attacked by the Bolsheviks. The collectivization programme, Stalin's Final Solution of the Peasant Question, carried through in the early 1930s was intended to destroy once and for all the ancient rural way of life and to impose party rule on the countryside. This human catastrophe from which agriculture has yet to recover resulted in the deaths of some 11,000,000 peasants. Ukraine suffered the most with circa 6,000,000 being deliberately starved to death and to this extent it was also a genocidal attack on all forms of Ukrainian cultural and national identity. In Andrei Platonov's The Foundation Pit (1987) which was banned for most of the Soviet period, being finally published during the glasnost' years, collectivization is portrayed as a form of madness, a plague of Biblical proportions. We largely see it through the lens of grotesque and black humour yet Platonov is unable to maintain this detachment permanently and through the cracks in the façade we witness the slaughter of a people in slow motion as they starve to death in prolonged agony. Russia under the Bolsheviks is a world in which nothing seems to make any sense, a precursor of the Maoist insanity that will tear China apart. Meaning has been banned or exiled. Birds, plants and insects just want to die and people engage in bizarre, Pythonesque behaviour as chaos and madness take over the world. Among the gruesome kaleidoscope of party-inspired insanity we find flashes of terrifying loneliness and sadness as some of the characters remember Russia before the Bolshevik calamity. Here are the thoughts of a peasant who has been orphaned, as it were, by the revolution: 'His homesick mind kept imagining a village in the rye, the wind blowing up above as it gently turned the sails of a wooden mill and ground the corn for his peaceful daily bread. That was how he had lived until, recently with ample food in his belly and family happiness in his soul...'3
One element of the assault on Russian national identity concerns the two Russian-language adjectives which are used to signify Russian. To Westerners this may sound too arcane to be taken seriously yet it is a matter of great import and in fact has some obvious parallels with nationality adjectives in the West. The Russian language uses two adjectives to represent Russian. The first adjective is russkii which refers to the language, a Russian male, female (when suitably inflected), literature and history. Russkii is the marker for ethnicity (race). The other adjective is rossiiskii which is intended to transcend the narrowness of ethnicity (race) so as to include, for example, non-ethnic Russians who are citizens of the Russian Federation. The noun that corresponds to the adjective rossiiskii and which is derived therefrom is rossiianin (nominative singular) and rossiiane (nominative plural).
In Russia in Ruins Solzhenitsyn points out that after 1991 a sustained effort was made by the media to inculcate the use of rossiiane (citizenship) instead of russkie (ethnicity/race).4 The artificial nature of rossiianin is clear. To quote Solzhenitsyn: 'Not a single non-Russian citizen of Russia, in answer to the question "who are you?", will refer to himself as a "rossiianin", but with precision will say: I am a Tartar, I am a Kalmyk, I am a Chuvash or "I am a Russian" (russkii), if in his soul he truly feels himself to be such'.5 The use of rossiiskii by the state media is intended to support a supra-nationalism, yet, as in the United Kingdom, it is the majority, in this case the English, who suffer. Some time ago, Gisela Stuart, the German-born, Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston expressed concern at the increasing use of "English" by her constituents, instead of "British", to denote their national identity. Since she can never be English, she presumably finds it threatening that so many English people are casting off the incubus of Britishness, which used to be a highly effective form of supra-nationalism; and one that inspired loyalty. Mass immigration, combined with the imposition of multiculturalism, has destroyed this category or severely weakened it, possibly beyond recovery. And, of course, what the British National Party means by "British" is not the same thing as the BBC and the Conservative and Labour parties.
According to Solzhenitsyn, the general contempt for russkii goes back to the period immediately before 1917. Already among the intelligentsia or their imitators, there exists a general enmity and indifference towards the nation state, the very idea of the national (well documented in the work of Turgenev, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky). One wonders just how many of these people who publicly sneered at Russia before 1917 and sought to ingratiate themselves with the revolutionaries by indulging in poses and pretences of radical politics, were later purged and murdered by the Bolsheviks as "enemies of the people". Solzhenitsyn refers to a perceptive article written by Petr Struve, 'The Intelligentsia and the National Face', which was published in the Petersburg paper, The Word (10th March 1909). Struve argues that the Russian intelligentsia has immersed itself in rossiiskii and in the process it has covered up or hidden its national visage: 'Nationality is something far more indisputable [than race or the colour of one's skin], and at the same time something subtle. It does not become us to dissemble [with regard to the sense of Russian national feeling] and hide our face. I, and every other Russian, we have a right to these feelings […] The more clearly that is understood …the fewer misunderstandings there will be in the future'.6 There were to be no misunderstandings in the future, since unlike too many of the Russian educated class which was playing a game, Lenin was murderously serious and intended to destroy the Russian national consciousness so eliminating a rival to Bolshevism.
At the 10th Party Congress in 1921 the elimination of Russian chauvinism was declared to be one of the party's main tasks. Anatolii Lunacharskii, The People's Commissar for Enlightenment, in an article entitled 'The Idea of Patriotism is an Idea which is utterly False', stated that the 'the teaching of history towards creating a sense of national pride, national feeling and so on must be discarded: the teaching of history which thirsts after examples of the past to find good patterns to emulate, must be discarded'.7 The result was a deliberate policy of targeting Russian history, culture and language. Such indeed was the fervour to transform Russia in the 1920s that a certain Ilia Ivanov approached the People's Commissariat of Enlightenment with the suggestion that Russian citizens be crossbred with African apes.8 All the measures taken by the Communist Party after 1917 to destroy Russian national consciousness and indeed all attempts to solve the nationalities question with regard to non-Russians would be fully consistent with some of the attributes of genocide set out by Raphael Lemkin in the 1940s.
Nationalism Post 1945
Even though Stalin and the party had successfully exploited Russia nationalism during the Great Fatherland War (1941-1945) in order to save the Soviet regime and then deployed it against Jewish cultural figures and doctors in a wave of vicious anti-Semitism, before he died in 1953, the imperatives of holding a vast multinational empire together required the re-assertion of Soviet internationalism at the expense of Russian national identity. It was one thing to encourage Russian nationalism with the Germans closing in on Stalingrad, it was quite another to encourage the same for too long after 1945, with the start of the Cold War. The reasons are clear enough: if the Russians can promote their national identity, then so can Ukrainians, Volga Germans, Kazakhs, Jews and Chechens. In fact this was already happening. It is not widely known in the West that various mixtures of Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Belorussian separatists and nationalist groups waged an insurgency against the Red Army and the internal security troops of the NKVD (the precursor of the KGB) which only came to end in the 1950s. Again, it was expedient to use nationalism against the occupying Germans but it came with obvious dangers for the stability of the Soviet empire.
A speech delivered by the chairman of the KGB, Iurii Andropov to the Communist Party in April 1973, the full text of which was published only as recently as 2003, reveals the depth of concern among the Soviet politburo for the threat posed by religious and nationalist groups operating inside the Soviet Union. Suslov reported that the KGB had successfully carried out a series of 'prophylactic measures' against those engaging in 'the most evil nationalism'.9 He noted that in Ukraine, Armenia, Latvia and Lithuania a number of these nationalists had been prosecuted. Interrogated, they confessed that they were supported by organizations based in the West. Moreover, noted Suslov, 'Western subversive forces place considerable emphasis on exploiting Zionism in their anti-Soviet aims'. 'And here, it goes without saying, it is not so much a matter of Jews emigrating to Israel, the scale of which is not that large, as much as the attempts to create a so-called "Jewish question" in order, once again, to be able to exploit it so as to discredit the Soviet system'.10
The mass publication of long-forbidden novels and the almost endless stream of revelations about Stalin's terror and genocide which characterised the glasnost' period (1985-1991) did not, as Gorbachev had hoped, rescue the Soviet system: it completely destroyed any residual credibility and led to the final collapse of the Soviet experiment which had started in 1917. Glasnost' gave a massive boost to the many and justified nationalist grievances among the Soviet republics. All sensed that the Soviet empire was mortally wounded: that the time had come to reassert their national identities and culture. Precisely this scenario had been envisaged by the American historian, Richard Pipes, over two decades previously. In 1967, he had written: 'On the other hand, all the evidence available both from within the Soviet Union itself and from historic parallels with other countries indicates that the nationalism of the minority peoples of the USSR (like that of the Russians themselves) has grown and intensified since 1917. There is a great deal of nationalist frustration in the Soviet Union. Unless the Soviet rulers face up to it and begin the process of decentralization voluntarily, it is likely someday to explode in a most destructive manner'.11
Among Russians the loss of empire, of great power status, acquired with so much sacrifice and the realisation that communism had killed so many and maimed so much, prompted a search for an answer to a question that periodically recurs in Russia's history ever since it was first posed by Alexander Herzen in his novel, Who is to Blame? (1845-1846). Unfortunately in seeking answers to an old question, nationalists of various hues have shown themselves to be highly susceptible to conspiracy theories along the lines that; communism had been a huge Masonic-Zionist plot; or that all Russia's ills could be laid at mysterious foreign plutocratic forces backed by NATO. The similarity between the theory of a Masonic-Zionist plot to account for Russia's plight and the German nationalist explanation of the Dolchstoßlegende (the stab-in-the-back legend) used to justify the defeat in World War One, later to become official Nazi party ideology, hardly needs to be stressed.
If certain nationalist groups, notably Pamiat' (Memory), went off the rails in looking for answers to Russia's plight rather than acknowledge the fact that the West, whatever else it did or may have done, did not inflict the ideology of Marxism-Leninism on Russia, so did those who favoured market shock therapy and with it the message of universal human values. To this end Russia and her people were reviled and subjected to the kind of loathing that were it directed at any other ethnic (racial) group would bring forth accusations of Nazi-style racism. Solzhenitsyn provides some samples: in 'that country' – 'the whole people blend into a reactionary mass'; 'the emphasis on any truth residing in the people is self-deception'; in that country even 'Christian foundations are practically always interwoven with the depths of moral baseness'; 'More evil has been brought into the world by Russia than by any other country'. Russia is variously described as 'human pigsty' and 'a cesspit'. Russian Orthodoxy is described as 'a Hottentot religion'.12 As Solzhenitsyn points out this trend could be found in the underground publications of samizdat. Thus: 'The Russian idea is the main component of Bolshevism'; 'the Russian people are oppressors and therefore do not deserve the right to nationalism'. Russian nationalism is described as 'racist Russianism'.13 The village prose writers, the derevenshchiki, who had called attention to the decline of rural life, were singled out as extremists and the organisers of pogroms. This group, incidentally, includes, two outstanding writers, Valentin Rasputin and Viktor Astaf'ev. In The Damned and the Dead (1992-1994), a war novel that rivals Grossman's Life and Fate (1988) in its moral and spiritual profundity, Astaf'ev develops the theme that the German invasion was divine punishment for Russia's abandoning God. Russia's salvation, he argues, is to be found in Russia's rediscovering the sense of the sacred. This is not the message that Russia's secular Westernizing liberals wanted to hear.
Nationalist groups have responded vigorously to what they regard as the organised denigration of Russia by foreigners and domestic, xenophile propaganda. Russian National Unity (Russkoe Natsional'noe Edinstvo) and The Movement Against Illegal Immigration (Dvizhenie Protiv Nelegal'noi Immigratsii) exemplify this resistance though in markedly different ways. Russian National Unity was founded by Alexander Barshakov in 1990 and derives much of its purpose and inspiration from Russian Orthodoxy, or rather Barshakov's particular interpretation thereof. In 2003, Barshakov told his followers that: 'Our people have been chosen to preserve true Orthodoxy in the world until the Second Coming'.14 The appeal to the doctrine of the Third Rome promulgated by Philotheus of Pskov in the sixteenth century is obvious. Philotheus interpreted Rome's and Byzantium's succumbing to apostasy as a shift in political and religious power and influence. As he famously noted: 'two Romes have fallen, the Third Rome stands and a fourth Rome there shall not be'. According to Barshakov, Russian National Unity was targeted by the Russian authorities, who feared his growing fame and reach. Barshakov suspected traitors (Judases) and in December 2006 started again, forming The Alexander Barshakov Movement. Membership is open to anyone who shares the movement's ideology and who 'believes A. P. Barshakov'.15 In a brief statement which explains the need for the new organization, Barshakov's comrades state that: 'The new movement best meets our aim – the purging of Russia and opposition to the Satanic manifestations of modern civilization, and equally the operational principles of our organization and our striving for loyalty and harsh discipline'.16
The Movement Against Illegal Immigration has much in common with the views expressed in American Renaissance. The preamble to their programme for dealing with legal and illegal immigration goes to the heart of the matter. Immigration is not a right but a privilege and one which is quite rightly subject to the interests of the indigenous population not the would-be immigrant: 'We are the masters in our own home and the master himself has the right to decide in which room to accommodate a guest, for how long and indeed whether to let him in at all. This is particularly the case, if someone turns up at your home solely with the purpose of robbing you or trying to drive you out of your own home'.17 The organization also calls for the deportation of illegal immigrants and harsh penalties for those who enter Russia illegally. It also demands that all persons who have entered Russia since January 1991 with the intention of living there or seeking employment should be required to take examinations in Russian language, history and culture. It also recommends that official government posts should be denied to people who have resided in Russia for less than 15 years. The charter and various policy recommendations set out by The Movement Against Illegal Immigration are rational, responsible, enforceable and long overdue. They provide a ready model for other nations threatened by mass immigration.
The various manifestations of Russian nationalism that accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union were and remain part of the wider struggle to define post-Soviet Russia and the direction she should take. Another question, which the Bolsheviks claimed to have solved, re-emerged after 1991, where did Russia belong: was she a European nation, Asiatic or somewhere in the middle? Are the political institutions of Western liberal democracy suitable for Russia? One solution that gained some support was Eurasianism (evraziistvo). According to Solzhenitsyn this is the view that 'Russia belongs organically belongs to Asia and that Russia's future must be built on the basis of kinship and unity with Asia'.18 Solzhenitsyn's response to Eurasianism is characteristically blunt. It is, he argues, a sign of weakness, a lack of moral, intellectual and spiritual courage in Russia's history; it would be renunciation, denial of everything Russian and would result in Russia's being swallowed up in the growing Muslim population: 'If you are threatened with national extinction then salvation is not be found here [Eurasianism]. If we manage to stand our ground then it shall only be on the stony path of our own resources, on the extensiveness and duration of our statehood, culture and Orthodox faith. And if we do not stand our ground, that means we go under'.19
Russian Honour
The dissolution of the Soviet Union created another problem for Russians and their survival as a people the importance of which for Russians and Russian strategic thinking the West does not seem fully to understand. When the Soviet republics declared their independence, millions of Russians scattered throughout the old Soviet Union were abandoned to their fate. Solzhenitsyn refers to these Russians as the otmezhevannye, the 'unacknowledged or forgotten ones'. Despite all the talk and propaganda of the Soviet version of multiculturalism, enshrined in floods of propaganda and slogans, resentment towards Russians festered underground and has now come out into the open. The way these Russian minorities in the former Soviet republics have been treated may well be one factor contributing to the explosive, often violent resentment towards non-Russian groups in Russian cities today.
Solzhenitsyn is probably correct when he asserts that there is no example in history whereby a government has sacrificed so many of its people. The plight of the 7,000,000 Russians in Kazakhstan is especially bad. When Russians had somehow managed to return to Russia from the newly independent republics, they faced a wretched existence, rejected and despised by their own people. Solzhenitsyn interprets this behaviour as another ominous development: 'And this is the most terrible sign of the decline of our people. There is already no sense of national unity, no well-disposed desire to accept our brothers, to help them. The fate of the rejected refugees is a terrible prediction of our own, all Russian fate'.20 One might put a cynical slant on this situation and argue that Russia has deliberately been unwelcoming to Russians trying to return since as pawns in the calculus of Realpolitik they are more useful where they are. They provide a ready-made casus belli if it ever suited Moscow and, of course, they provide plenty of opportunity to accuse those states that harbour large Russian minorities of being guilty of persecution. Or is Solzhenitsyn closer to the truth? Perhaps the real reason fellow Russians have been abandoned is indeed spiritual exhaustion and apathy. I wonder whether the silence on the part of the West to stand up for oppressed white minorities in South Africa and Zimbabwe is part of the same problem.
The presence of large Russian minorities cast adrift in what are independent nations some of which aspire to membership of NATO has potentially very serious military consequences. The proposal that Ukraine or Georgia should be permitted to join NATO is a direct assault on Russian national pride. It incenses the Russian government who quite rightly ask what purpose other than to threaten Russia this NATO expansion serves. Fear, honour and interest are, according to the author of the History of the Peloponnesian War (c.440-404 BC), the three main reasons states go to war. Russia's relations with all the former Soviet republics are affected by the Thucydidean triad. The red line for Russia is Ukraine. Kiev occupies a special place in Russian history and Russia does not want to see Ukraine join NATO. Sevastopol is another sore point. The Russia-Ukraine agreement which provides for joint use of the naval and harbour facilities expires in 2017. Ukraine does not want to renew this agreement and Russia will not want to leave. Sevastopol reminds Russians of the way they stood up to the British and the French in the Crimean War, and the city's place in Russian literature has been secured by Lev Tolstoy's Sevastopol Stories (1855-1856), his account and observations of his time at the front as an artillery officer. How this matter will be resolved is anyone's guess. Russia might simply refuse to go, or go, subject to Ukraine's not joining NATO or ever permitting any troops other than those of Ukraine to be stationed there. Whereas Russia might tend to confine its treatment of the Baltic states to the occasional bout of cyber war and diplomatic awkwardness, I have no doubt that Russia would exploit the presence of Russian minorities in Ukraine to protect what it sees as legitimate cultural and historical interests. Above all it is a question of honour. War between Russia and Ukraine is a very real possibility. Bear in mind that Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty commits all members of NATO to aid another in the event of an attack. The moment Ukraine enters formal membership negotiations with NATO will be the moment when diplomatic tension and the risk of war will rise dramatically since this will be the most propitious opportunity for Russia to launch a pre-emptive strike before membership is sealed with an exchange of signatures and the provisions of Article 5 come into effect.
The end of the Soviet Union and the Cold War inspired a remarkable consensus – remarkable for its optimism, historical ignorance and naïveté - that the future belonged to liberal democracy. According to this thesis which had first been postulated in an article by Francis Fukuyama in 1989, and then expanded into a book (The End of History and the Last Man, 1992), liberal democracy and the free market triumph over communism, marked the end of history. Part of the package was the assumption that universal human values would also triumph and that all states had to adopt them or would adopt them. Anticipating Pat Buchanan's scathing references to the Western advocates of 'democratic fundamentalism'21, who, regardless of innate and long-standing cultural and historical differences in other states, seek to impose liberal democracy (the American version) on the rest of the world, Solzhenitsyn has criticised those in Russia who propagandized the ethos of universal human values as 'radical democrats'.22 When the Soviet Union invaded the socialist states of Eastern Europe or threatened to, in order to suppress any manifestations of independence and the possibility that these states – East Germany (1953), Hungary (1956), Czechoslovakia (1968) and Poland (1970 & 1981) - might break away from the Soviet sphere of influence and the Warsaw Pact, such military action was justified as rendering 'fraternal aid' to socialist states in distress. These interventions were widely condemned for what they were: blatant acts of aggression. Solzhenitsyn, ever alert to what he sees as a double standard and hypocrisy, points out that under the banner of spreading universal human values and democracy, NATO attacked Serbia. These he says, are not referred to as aggression but as 'peace-keeping operations'.23 Solzhenitsyn has a point.
Race and Nation
My reading of Solzhenitsyn suggests to me that although he is not oblivious to the question of race in the formation and survival of a nation he tends to fall back on a person's self-definition as the decisive criterion (see above). For example, he cites, with obvious approval the remarks made by General Petr Wrangel during the Civil War on what it means to be Russian: ' "He whose heart is Russian is with us". One cannot put it more precisely. Nationality does not directly reside in blood but in one's heartfelt allegiances and in the spiritual cast of one's personality'.24 Such an approach might be acceptable with very low numbers of enterprising, Russophile immigrants. Under the pressures induced by mass immigration it patently collapses. Russian culture, soul, language, patriotism and all the other manifestations of the Russian nation are the product of people - Russians - not Somalis and Chinese. There are, in fact, good grounds for the view that patriotism and other forms of group loyalty have a biological basis (see, for example, J. Philippe Rushton's published research on genetic similarity theory). So, biological and genetic factors cannot just be ignored as if they were of no consequence, and, indeed, at a moment in man's history when so much is now known about them, with much more to come, the sole reasons for continuing to ignore biological and genetic factors in immigration policies can only be due to wilful obscurantism and the ideological, relativist exigencies of multiculturalism.
Not all Russians share the Solzhenitsyn view. In The Study of Race: The Science of People's Inherited Differences (2nd edition 2007), a thoroughly researched book, Vladimir Avdeev sets out an exceptionally detailed case for the importance of race not just as a genetic and biological phenomenon, but as the decisive factor in the evolution and survival of a nation, and even as a way of understanding and preventing conflict. In the preface to the first edition, Dr A. N. Savel'ev, a deputy of Russia's State Duma, pays full tribute to Avdeev's work and acknowledges its significance. He readily notes that the study of race can be jeopardised by ignorant xenophobes, but he points out that: 'xenophilia, the abnormal love for everything alien and hatred for one's own, for one's own nation and its culture' is just as dangerous.25 In the preface to the second edition, Dr Valerii Solovei, who is affiliated to the Gorbachev Foundation, highlights the central problem facing any researcher in the field of race that would be instantly recognizable to anyone living in the West: 'When I first saw Vladimir Borisovich Avdeev's book, The Study of Race, my reaction to the title was somewhat ironic: this is just another pseudo-scientific tract concerning the mysticism of "blood" and "soil". The instinctive, immediate character of this reaction points to the considerable moral and cultural burden associated with the term "race", which a priori arouses negative connotations. Put simply, any judgements to do with racial matters are perceived from a position based on a presumption of mistrust, a lack of scientific rigour and even of a reactionary nature. Moreover, this response is expressed far more strongly among the class of professional, intellectuals in the arts to which the author of these lines belongs than among the public at large'.26 The publication of Avdeev's book in Russia highlights that in contemporary Russia there is greater intellectual freedom to discuss these themes than in the West. I could not imagine any elected official in the USA writing a positive appraisal of Michael Levin's Why Race Matters: Race Differences and What They Mean (1997 & 2005) or J. Philippe Rushton's Race Evolution and Behaviour (2005). Whether the publishing success of Avdeev's book in Russia will exert any influence on Russian policy towards immigration and related areas remains to be seen. Yet there can be no doubt that many of Avdeev's conclusions on the nature of race and racial matters directly pertain to the survival and prosperity of Russia as a Russian nation. Racial awareness and the measures recommended by The Movement Against Illegal Immigration are consistent with one another. The organization's blueprint to deal with illegal immigration contains no explicit reference to race yet there is a strong presumption that race matters and that if the necessary measures are not adopted (or something along those lines) Russia will cease to be Russian. Nor are these fears that far removed from Solzhenitsyn's defence of Russians and their rights. Without the Russian people 'there is', he notes, 'no one to bear the responsibility for the preservation of the state. The fate of the Russian people will determine the fate of Russia as well'.27
One can readily acknowledge that patriotism and nationalism can be abused and exploited for unwholesome ends but they are not inherently sinful. The desire on the part of Russians to preserve their great nation, their culture, and the agonising over her future, is normal. Indeed, every nation has the right to protect itself and ensure its survival. That is why a nation's young men have always gone to war. As the Russian sage reminds us, 'Love for one's country is just as natural as love for one's own family'.28 That love, as in the nations of the West, has been trampled on, mocked and marginalised as something unwholesome, even wicked in pursuit of something unattainable; something that is construed and propagandised as progress yet always breaks down or can only be maintained with coercion and terror (but not indefinitely). Russia now finds herself in the aftermath of the many decades of terror which was initiated with the self-inflicted Great October Catastrophe of 1917 which ended in 1991. Many generations will come and go before finally Russia overcomes this terrible legacy.
In the last line of a short poem that has appealed to Russian and non-Russian observers of Russia ever since it was published in 1866, Fedor Tiutchev (1803-1873) tells us that: 'One can only believe in Russia'. Writing as an Englishman, I believe in Russia. I venture, though with some trepidation, to assert that the path to Russia's overcoming her infernal, communist century and finding her way home lies in her returning to her spiritual roots, above all to her national Church, to her organic forms of art, to the forms of internal governance that best suit Russia's needs not the ideological platform of multiculturalism and the noisome, meddlesome importuning of the European Union and the United Nations. Institutions indigenous to Russia are the ones that will nourish and sustain her and the nation since they encapsulate the national soul. All else is confusion, penury, sorrow, the road to extinction.
1 Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Rossiia v obvale (Russian in Ruins) Russkii put', Moscow, 1998, p.3.
2 Vladimir Il'ich Lenin, 'Kriticheskie zametki po natsional'nomu voprosu' ('Critical Observations on the National Question', 1913), Sochineniia, volume 20, OGIZ, Moscow, 1948, pp.17-18.
3 Andrei Platonov, The Foundation Pit (Kotlovan) trans., Robert Chandler and Geoffrey Smith, The Harvill Press, London, 1996, pp.69-70.
4 Russia in Ruins, p.174.
5 Russia in Ruins, p.175.
6 Cited in Russia in Ruins, pp. 129-130.
7 Cited in Russia in Ruins, p.134. .
8 Dmitri N. Shalin, ed., Russian Culture at the Crossroads: Paradoxes of Postcommunist Consciousness, Westview Press, Colorado and Oxford, 1996, p.106.
9 A. N. IAkovlev, ed. et al, Lubianka: organy VChk-OGPU-NKVD-NKGB-MGB-KGB 1917-1991 spravochnik, in the series "Demokratiia", Rossiia. XX VEK, Dokumenty, Mezhdunarodnyi fond, Moscow, 2003, p.727.
10 A. N. IAkovlev, ed. et al, Lubianka: organy VChk-OGPU-NKVD-NKGB-MGB-KGB 1917-1991 spravochnik, in the series "Demokratiia", Rossiia. XX VEK, Dokumenty, Mezhdunarodnyi fond, Moscow, 2003, p.728.
11 Richard Pipes, ' "Solving" the Nationality Problem', Problems of Communism, September – October 1967, vol. XVI, Special Issue, Nationalities and Nationalism in the USSR, p.131.
12 Russia in Ruins, p.141.
13 Russia in Ruins, p.140.
14 See http://barshakov.com/propaganda/integration.php (site visited 22nd June 2009).
15 See http://barshakov.com/organization/index (site visited 22nd June 2009).
16 See http://barshakov.co./organization/foundation (site visited 22nd June 2009).
17 See http://dpni.org/articles (site visited 7th July 2009).
18 Russia in Ruins, p.44.
19 Russia in Ruins, p.45.
20 Russia in Ruins, p.71.
21 Patrick J. Buchanan, Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World, Crown Publishers, New York, 2008, p.420.
22 Russia in Ruins, p.28.
23 Russia in Ruins, p.29.
24 Russia in Ruins, p.174.
25 The Study of Race, pp.5-6.
26 The Study of Race, p.8 (emphasis in the original).
27 Russia in Ruins, p.132.
28 Russia in Ruins, p.154.
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THE ADVENTURE COMBO – features green NICARAGUA BEANS & GREEN COFFEE BREAK BLEND – a real treat! COFFEE BREAK BLEND is a popular, fun, and super easy way to explore exciting new dimensions of the great Nicaragua coffee. TRY THE ADVENTURE COMBO TODAY – YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID!
- TASTE NOTES: medium bodied, mild acidity, clean cup, peach
- Processing * Washed
- Plant Varietal * 90% Caturra, 10% Catuai, Margogype
- Grade * Strictly High Grown
- Altitude * 1,100-1,350 Meters
- Coffee estate initiated by two entrepreneurial women.
CENTRAL AMERICA – GREEN NICARAGUA JINOTEGA – this coffee comes from the highlands between mountain range Isabela and Lake El Dorado. This coffee estate project was initiated in 1998 by two entrepreneurial women, 4th generation in the coffee business. The farm was deforested property product of war that has since been rehabilitated. Santa Rita is committed to developing a vision of sustainable community. PROCESSING METHOD using natural fermentation process, washing with clean water on running channel, sundried, resting for 60 days.
- TASTE NOTES: a delicious blackberry/pecan/red apple crisp
- 2 – Region Trio
- Central America * South America * Central America
- Honduras * Brazil * Nicaragua
- This is the 'go-to blend' for everyday coffee drinkers. No matter how often you have it, you always are wanting more!
COFFEE BREAK – A coffee break is a short period of time, usually in the morning or afternoon, when you stop working and have a cup of coffee. Hence the name Coffee Break because this blend is the ultimatum for everyday coffee drinking. It is simply delicious! A great coffee without all those wild floral notes of so many other coffees.
You want the best cup of coffee and so do we. That's why we use only the very finest coffee beans. Rest assured, you will not find a better coffee anywhere. Our coffees are grown by those who practice sustainable farming and encourage bio-diversity. We buy from partners who treat workers well and pay fairly. We've found that those who are committed to these goals grow coffees with the finest taste and highest quality.

subset: commoncrawl


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This side of the Buddha Mind will lead you to the Buddha's Way of Peace presented through random bursts of sensible disorder.
The Buddha taught Buddhism which evolved Zen where there is both wisdom and stupidity found within various proposed truths. By asking questions, answers may appear in meditation. Either way do have fun, seek happiness and see all doubt as a mixture of clues and riddles
The Buddha Mind is thusly here best heard in overdrive - cruising empty space in a silent and rudderless network with the volume on full.
Sail on cosmic starship - leave no void unturned.


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Understand congruence and similarity using physical models, transparencies, or geometry software.
1. Verify experimentally the properties of rotations, reflections, and translations:
a. Lines are taken to lines, and line segments to line segments of the same length.
b. Angles are taken to angles of the same measure.
c. Parallel lines are taken to parallel lines.
2. Understand that a two-dimensional figure is congruent to another if the second can be obtained from the first by a sequence of rotations, reflections, and translations; given two congruent figures, describe a sequence that exhibits the congruence between them.
3. Describe the effect of dilations, translations, rotations, and reflections on two-dimensional figures using coordinates.
4. Understand that a two-dimensional figure is similar to another if the second can be obtained from the first by a sequence of rotations, reflections, translations, and dilations; given two similar two-dimensional figures, describe a sequence that exhibits the similarity between them.
5. Use informal arguments to establish facts about the angle sum and exterior angle of triangles, about the angles created when parallel lines are cut by a transversal, and the angle-angle criterion for similarity of triangles. For example, arrange three copies of the same triangle so that the sum of the three angles appears to form a line, and give an argument in terms of transversals why this is so.
Understand and apply the Pythagorean Theorem.
6. Explain a proof of the Pythagorean Theorem and its converse.
7. Apply the Pythagorean Theorem to determine unknown side lengths in right triangles in real-world and mathematical problems in two and three dimensions.
8. Apply the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance between two points in a coordinate system.
Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving volume of cylinders, cones, and spheres.
9. Know the formulas for the volumes of cones, cylinders, and spheres and use them to solve real-world and mathematical problems.


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Performance Details
Event 5000 Meter Run
Mark 20:05.00
Meet Wendy's Invitational
Place 57th
Race/Results Page Girls Invitational Race
Round Finals
Heat 1
Team J.L. Mann
Native Country USA
Season XC 2014
Level HS
Meet Date Oct 4, 2014
Date Added Oct 4, 2014
Grade 2015
Timing FAT
Personal Best? No
Season Best? No
Venue McAlpine Greenway Park, Charlotte, NC, USA
No comments on this performance. Add a comment


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I share this reaction:
Iron Man 3 – Holy crap – trailers.apple.com/trailers/marve…
— Jay Caruso (@jaycaruso) October 23, 2012
I share this reaction:
Iron Man 3 – Holy crap – trailers.apple.com/trailers/marve…
— Jay Caruso (@jaycaruso) October 23, 2012
Please be good. Please be good. Please, please, please, be good…
I wanna see it!
What is with the Captain America costume?
Could be Awesome Sauce in the making…
Spegen – that's War Machine.
who the heck have they got playing The Mandrin? Brian, thats not the War Machine, its The Iron Patriot.
Need the short-short version. Like the movies, never read the comics, who are iron patriot or war machine?
James Rhodes in the black Iron Man suit from the second movie is The War Machine. Norman Osborn AKA the Green Goblin, Spider-man's arch nemesis during the Marvel "Civil War" series acquired Tony Stark's Iron Man armor, painted it red white and blue and called himself the Iron Patriot. for more detail try wikipedia.
Thanks Xander. Its my only problem with comics, it is very hard to go back and read a lot of the older stories to catch up and really appreciate where the characters come from. just bought the Knightfall trilogy so I could read the origins of Bane, boy is that a large collection and it only covers about a year of Batmans history.
Spegen, you should also read "No Mans Land" Batman Rises also incorporated much of that. Well, you could just read a summary of it on Wikipedia, the movie just used elements from that story. But, then again, the movie only used bits and pieces of Knightfall too.
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Instagram is the super popular way to share photos of friends, and pets, and sunsets, and all the rage among teens and tweens.
Action News sat down and spoke with a group of suburban Philadelphia girls ages 9 to 11.
Each one has their own Instagram account.
Villanova mom Hollee Actman Becker knows her daughter, Emma, is sharing her cell phone photos on Instagram and monitors the account.
That's exactly what she was doing a couple weeks ago.
"I started scrolling through the newsfeeds and that's when I saw the beauty grids," Becker said.
She'd come across the hottest new trend for young people online. Young girls go head-to-head in cyber beauty competitions, allowing anyone, even strangers, to vote for the prettiest.
"Seeing your own kid's picture in one of those contests when your kid has no idea she's even in it is startling," Becker said.
Every girl in Emma's group of friends knew all about these instant Instagram beauty contests.
"I knew we were voting on prettiness," Emma said.
The winner gets bragging rights. The loser gets the red X across her face. That happened to 10-year-old Samantha.
"I was upset because I know I am beautiful and I don't like how people are saying I am ugly," Samantha said.
10-year-old Ashley said it took her five minutes to make a beauty grid using photos of her friends.
"After I realized I was like, 'oh my gosh; why did I do this? This is so mean,'" Ashley said.
Child psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Gosch warns that this negative feedback on appearance at such a critical age in a girl's development can have detrimental effects.
"Body dissatisfaction does predict later drops in self esteem which then predicts other problems such as substance use, anxiety, depression, early sexual behavior and other things like that," Dr. Gosch said.
She recommends parents monitor their kids' online activity and play detective to stay ahead of the trends.
"They're continuously 10 steps ahead and you really need to stay on top of it," Becker said.
And like Becker, turn negative experiences into learning opportunities. She posted a positive image and encouraged her daughter's friends to pass it along.
"It took me one minute of education for these girls to realize that what they were doing wasn't cool or funny, that it was hurtful," Becker said.
It seems these girls got the message. Beauty is only skin deep.
"I really don't like beauty contests now," Ashley said.
"Everyone thinks they're beautiful and when people are saying they're not, it makes them feel bad," Samantha said.
Facebook which owns Instagram has a policy of not allowing anyone under the age of 13 to create an account or share photos on Instagram, but kids we talked to said that's a requirement that's easy to bypass.
In a statement to ABC News, Instagram said that parents should monitor their kids online and that the online photo-sharing service takes precautionary measures against inappropriate behavior.


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Status: Closed
Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Be the first AL.com user to add photos or videos of Newman Eye Clinic
Glasses, Diseases & Injuries of The Eye, Contact Lenses
Newman Eye Clinic can be found at Jackson St 724. The following is offered: Doctors & Clinics. The entry is present with us since Sep 10, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 14, 2013. In Biloxi there are 46 other Doctors & Clinics. An overview can be found here.


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She was super excited, this girl loves her water table and so do I!! Let's be honest, it has been a lifesaver in the summer months when I don't feel like slapping on a monokini and schlepping to the pool. There I said it!
Some H2O and a lil food coloring, stuck the trays in the freezer for a couple hours and ta-da!
"Mommy they are melting AND making my favorite color. Uh deeeecuz the blue and the red make purple. Did you know that?"
Happy Playing and Exploring!!


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Space Plumber
The 3D maze game
Latest version is 1.1.0-rc3.
Space Plumber is a first-person 3d game, not much different to Doom and Quake. The main goal is to reach the extraction pumps before the water level increases swamping everything. Each of the 30 levels that conform the game have progressive difficulty by adding more pumps and consoles that you must deactivate first, and by making the map bigger. There are no enemies, you fight against time and misorientation, and you only have your skills to move inside the maze.
The 1.1.x series are a port to use QDGDF, making it easier to compile in a variety of systems. It's included in the package, so you don't have to download it separately.
This software is released under the GPL license.
Source tarballs
Win32 binary
MSDOS binary (1.0.5)
Github repositories
- https://github.com/angelortega/splumber
- https://github.com/angelortega/qdgdf - needed component


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Civilian Role-Player for FPTS, Support for Tactical Training & Exercise Control Group
Mojave Viper Training Program, MCAGCC
Family Leader:
Assist supervisors in carrying out training objectives by interpreting and delegating tasks to role-players. Lead and direct role- players in the logistics of daily living in a primitive desert environment.
*Responsible for maintaining health and safety of role-players for prolonged periods of exposure in desert including monitoring food, water, and rest times during continuous Ex-Force training.
*Responsible for building team work and maintaining role-players' morale in challenging physical and mental working conditions while optimizing training performance.
*Gather materials, labor, role-player participation, and oversee implementation of complex training MESLs including Coalition Forces outreach programs such as Job Fairs, Women's Center openings, and Weddings.
Leader, Insurgent Intelligence Cell:
Coordinated Intelligence team in gathering intelligence on Marine Exercise Force while posing as underground Insurgent.
*Assembled, trained, and coordinated squad of intelligence collectors.
*Gathered Intelligence pertaining to tactical strengths and weaknesses of
Exercise Force including Battalion identity, Companies' identities and specific Areas of Operation, FOB of Companies, Foot Patrol identities by Platoon and Squad and their AOs and patrol patterns. Discovered identities of key leaders within the Battalion, advised re security compromises in Chain of Command.
*Obtained information covertly by over-watch, over-hearing compromising radio chatter, pilfering Ex-For notes and maps, observing details such as individual appearance, vehicle identity and movement, foot patrol movement. Questioned Ex-Force directly as Iraqi citizen. Formulated theory on said Intel, then proved or disproved through supporting evidence, logical deduction and analysis.
*Reported findings directly to high-ranking Ex-Force Battalion officials including SGT MAJORS, MGY SGTs, and 1st SGTs.
*Participated in Insurgent hostilities including bank robberies, kidnappings, and small arms and complex attacks. Planted and detonated IEDs and Artillery Sims. Communicated with Insurgents via Marine radio to advise re location of Ex-For, QRF,attack and egress routes, and other strategic support. Successfully smuggled weapons, ammunition, and explosives through VCPs and other search points.
*Received Commendations from Battalion Commanders for Excellence in Service.


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Look stylish this winter with a fashionable sweater dress. Here is how you can up the oomph with sweater dresses.
Wear flattering shoes: Select shoes to go with the sweater dress based on length of the dress. If you want to wear a sweater dress that falls above the knee, it is best to pair it with boots that have a small heel. Flats will go better with a shorter dress.
Add trendy accents: If you want to make your waist look more defined, wrap your sweater dress in a modern statement belt. A nice belt that sits high on your waist will accentuate your legs and will reduce the width of your waistline.
Layer your dress: For a great look dress in a thin sweater of a bold color and then, wear a sweater dress that features a low neckline in a harmonizing color. If you have a sweater dress in a long silhouette, then you should purchase a jacket that has vertical lines. For a clean, well-balanced outline, the jacket has to come down to mid thigh and it should not overwhelm the rest of your attire. Choose jackets that have invisible pockets that blend in to the contours so the lines remain long.
Legging combinations: Bringing together a sweater dress and tights gives you the illusion of height and your entire outfit looks fantastic. Go for tights that have interesting patterns or textures that add a splash of color to your sweater dress of a neutral color. Try wearing sheer tights in a color similar to your sweater dress and finish off the look with statement jewelry in bright tones. Scarves and necklaces are two of the best accessories you can wear to enhance your style quotient.
Classic black or neutral colors: Choosing a sweater dress in black or neutral colors is ideal if you are interested in creating a number of looks from the variety of items in your wardrobe. Even though sweater dresses are available in many different styles and colors, start off with a black or neutral color to first learn how to be fashion forward and find the style you are comfortable with.
"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."
"Envy comes from wanting something that isn't yours. But grief comes from losing something you've already had."


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- Loved. Past tense. And I do this for the children. In memory of all those who died...and for those yet to be born. Process them.
- -- Lord Thor
Appearing in "Earth 2020"Edit
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Hogun (First appearance)
- Jane Foster (First appearance)
- Loki (First appearance)
- Amora (First appearance)
- Magni (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Daiea (First appearance)
- Yarsyg (First appearance)
- Wanda Maximoff (First appearance)
- Pietro Maximoff (First appearance)
- Wanda's daughter (First appearance)
- Mount Rushmore, South Dakota
- New Asgard (First appearance)
- Eye of Agamotto
- Cloak of Levitation
- Crossing Ring (First appearance)
Synopsis for "Earth 2020"Edit
It is now seventeen years in the future, and Thor rules over the entire Earth. Jane Foster is working with rebels, and she helps the Scarlet Witch deliver a baby, that she promises will not be catalogued, like the rest of humanity. Loki is Thor's chief advisor and head of security, and he now wears Doctor Strange's cloak of levitation and Eye of Agamotto amulet. Amora has given birth of Magni, Thor's son since then as well.
- No special notes.
- No trivia.
See AlsoEdit
Recommended ReadingEdit
Links and ReferencesEdit
- Thor (Marvel Comics) at Wikipedia.org
- Thor at Marvel.com
- Thor site at Marvel.com
- The Immortal Thor of Asgard
- The Thor Message Board
- Thor at The Complete Marvel Reading Order
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News & Blog
Have You Booked Your Stay?
May 24, 2018
This year, we've teamed up with aResTravel Inc. Making your hotel search and book process easier than ever so, you can spend less time planning and more time training!
If you haven't already, check out great rates available throughout Asheville, before race day! And, we'll see you at the Start : )
REVEALED! 2018 Finisher Medals & More
April 27, 2018
Take a peek at the official 2018 Finisher Medals for both the 10K and the Half Marathon. Check out our Facebook page to see more official swag for 2018 race weekend! We're geared up and ready to see you cross the finish line in June!
Not registered? Make the Commitment!
Questions? Email Us Today!
Unveiling Our Official 2018 Art by Jonas Gerard!
September 1, 2017
We couldn't be more excited to share with you our Official 2018 Artwork. This gorgeous piece originally painted by Jonas Gerard entitled, 'Burst of Joy', is an impeccable oil-based piece done on Canvas.
Jonas says of his art, "The splashes of color create lively compositions not easily forgotten". We are so appreciative of Gerard's work. Thank you for allowing the Asheville Half Marathon to represent our race and Asheville with such a grand expression.
See & Shop The Jonas Gerard Asheville Studio
See Our Official 2017 Race Video!
June 14, 2017
2017 is proving to be one amazing year and we couldn't have wished for a better Race Weekend. Thank you to all Participants, Volunteers, Sponsors, Partners and the city of Asheville! We can't wait to see you next June : )
Book Your Stay Today! Only $229
May 23, 2017
Book Your Stay Now >>> Hyatt Place Asheville Downtown has offered an amazing rate of only $229 during the Asheville Half Marathon + 10K! Centrally located just 0.7 miles from the start in downtown Asheville on Haywood Street - there is so much the Hyatt has to offer.
Don't miss out on this opportunity to be in the center of the city and moments away from the Start Line - we can't wait to see you June 3rd!
Our 2017 Gear - Just For You!
April 18, 2017
You've got to get a hold of our 2017 Race Bags before Race Weekend - these are the best yet! Remember, May 5th is the last day to request Packet Mail Out.
Plus, we're rounding the corner and closing in on the time to register; so, step to it!
And, did we mention that Asheville Half Marathon has the absolute coolest Race Shirts for 2017? Check them out below. Moisture-wicking? Check! Fitted? Yes! Available at our EXPO? Absolutely!
The NEW 'ASHE' TAG
March 8, 2017
This year, we're bringing our racers the 'ASHE' Tag! And guess what? It's only $10 when you register. Plus, it can be personalized! This new custom tag on the back of our 2017 Finisher Medal features space for YOUR NAME and OFFICIAL TIME. Check them out below and CHECK THE BOX on your Registration for your 2017 'ASHE' Tag.
EXTRA, EXTRA: Read All About It!
March 2, 2017
Asheville Half Marathon is proud to announce we have a new sponsor for 2017 - Ingles Markets! With 12 stores in the Asheville area, Ingles serves as a key grocer in North Carolina and beyond. A huge shout out to their Asheville team and a big CHEERS to an amazing 2017 race with our new partner. Thank you, Ingles.
Low Prices... Love the savings!
Thank You Blue Ridge Outdoor Magazine!
February 13, 2017
We're so excited to announce that Blue Ridge Outdoor Magazine rated Asheville Half Marathon + 10k as one of its Best of Blue Ridge Running Races! In our fourth year, participants will race through the beautiful Asheville city-scape right into a FREE Finish Festival complete with Finisher Medals, breakfast, entertainment, and so much more! We can't wait to see you cross that finish line : )
Register Now >>>
Follow Us on Facebook >>>
Mindful Performance
February 20, 2015
By Robert Swoap, Ph.D.
Health and Sport Psychologist, Visit Inside Elite Website!
Five years ago, in February of 2010, after a month of almost non-stop rowing, Katie Spotz -- a former student at my college -- was exhausted, wondering how she could continue. More than 1500 miles remained in her attempt to become the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She had decided to raise money for the Blue Planet Network, a global non-profit dedicated to bringing sustainable safe drinking water to people in rural communities around the world.
The problem was that she had never rowed before.
Taking on challenges comes in many forms -- including running your first 10K or 1/2 marathon. Katie had the first ingredients -- passion and vision. Of course she needed to get in great shape. But Katie paid as much attention to the mental training as the physical. "Before I even left on my journey," Katie told me, "I used meditation."
"I know that everyone does their own form of preparation, but for me, I would do these extensive meditation retreats. In endurance events, it's not a matter of if — it's when. You will reach those moments where you feel like giving up. And that's the nature of pushing yourself, truly pushing yourself beyond your limit when reaching those walls."
Without this meditation practice, Katie may well have felt more overwhelmed than she did. Katie anticipated what the greatest challenge would be and spent many hours training her mind to cope with doubts, solitude and pain.
Mindfulness meditation is a great practice for distance events (running, swimming, rowing). There is good research connecting the ability to be mindful with successful performances. Recent fMRI research has shown that the self-referential part of our brain (the posterior cingulate cortex) quiets with mindful attention. This helps turn off the doubting, worrying, negative self-talk that can often occur in distance events.
In addition to meditating, Katie also used a well-known strategy: breaking down a seemingly impossible goal into manageable chunks: "I wasn't sure I could row another 1500 miles, but I knew I could row a mile," Katie explained. "I turned the 1500 miles into fifteen hundred one-mile rows." Katie's ability to manage the moment of fear, pain, and fatigue is a lesson in self-control. She didn't try to manage the whole crossing, but rather confined the coping to specific challenges.
(This strategy was also employed by the elite runner, Louis Zamperini, whose story is told in Laura Hillenbrand's biography Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. Zamperini experienced almost unimaginable pain and suffering after crashing into the Pacific and then being detained in Japanese POW camps. He utilized a day-to-day, and sometimes moment-to-moment, tactic to survive.)
On March 14, 2010, 70 days after leaving Africa, Katie reached the city of Georgetown, Guyana. "I became the youngest person in the world to row across the Atlantic Ocean solo. No motor, no sails. Just oars…. I never thought I was capable of doing super big adventures but found out what is possible when you set your mind to it."
Consider incorporating mindfulness practices into your own training. When that difficult moment comes in the big race, you'll be able to stay in the present -- in the zone and perhaps feeling a state of "flow" -- moving you towards a performance that you'll remember.
2015 Race Medals - REVEALED!
February 18, 2015
The 2015 10K and Half Marathon medals have been released. We can't wait for you to get to the finish line! Be sure to register today and join us in June for an awesome race!
Psychology, Wellness, Health & Performance #3: GO TO SLEEP!
April 30, 2014
By Robert Swoap, Ph.D.
Health and Sport Psychologist, Visit Inside Elite Website!
Are you getting enough sleep? Surveys conducted in the U.S. suggest not. How does sleep deprivation affect you? A number of bodily systems are negatively impacted by inadequate sleep: the cardiopulmonary system; appetite, metabolism and weight control; immune function and disease resistance; inflammation; slower healing from injuries; sensitivity to pain; reaction time; mood; and brain function (slower thinking and attention; poor decision-making).
Not getting enough sleep, then, can seriously undermine your training and competitive efforts. There are a number of studies documenting the effects of sleep deprivation on athletes and others pursuing peak performance. A recent article in The Atlantic summarizes a lot of the data and reveals why professional athletes are consulting with sleep specialists.
Dr. James Maas, retired professor of psychology at Cornell, has published Sleep to Win: Secrets to Unlocking Your Athletic Excellence. As Maas writes: "Since many of my students were scholar-athletes, I started working with teams and individuals striving to become better at their sport. The results of paying attention to sleep were immediate and profound. We gave seminars to athletes from basketball to hockey, lacrosse, wrestling and field hockey and started to see vast improvement in energy level, reaction time and recovery from injury."
Researchers at Stanford have also been investigating the relationship between sleep and sport performance. When athletes are encouraged to sleep more (attempting to get 10 hours per night), they experience significant improvements in speed, reaction time, accuracy, energy, and mood. As sleep specialist Dr. Michael Breus reports, professional sports teams are taking these data seriously, making changes in their practice schedule in an attempt to improve performance.
There are many sources of information for getting better sleep, reducing sleep deprivation, and overcoming sleep problems like insomnia. Try this one from Harvard. Getting adequate sleep helps us a) improve focus and make the right decisions in a pressure situation, b) recover from intense training, and c) manage pain (physical and emotional) more effectively.
So, whether you're preparing for a race or focusing on overall wellness, prioritize sleep as a fundamental part of improvement and your pursuit of excellence.
The Chamber Challenge
April 23, 2014
The team-based Chamber Challenge is designed to promote community wellness through friendly competition between businesses! The certified 5k course begins and ends at the Asheville Chamber and winds through the historic Montford neighborhood. Gather your co-workers, family and friends to compete as a team!
Whether you walk every step or sprint to the finish - we KNOW you're up to the CHALLENGE!
5K Race @ 4:30PM
Register Today
Nutrient Timing For Performance
April 14, 2014
Eileen Stellefson Myers, MPH, RD, LDN, FAND
The pioneer of nutrient timing research is John Ivy, PhD who wrote over 170 scientific papers, and three books on the subject. He coined the term "nutrient timing" which simply means the delivery of appropriate macronutrients during the time in which the body is primed to use them most effectively. Nutrient timing is divided into three phases: the energy phase (the period immediately prior to and during exercise), the anabolic phase (the period immediately after exercise), and the adaptation phase (hours after exercise).If you want feel good during your run, fuel your body just prior to and during a run lasting more than 30 minutes. Ideally, eat a small meal or snack such as toast and peanut butter) within an hour of your run, and consume six to eight ounces of a diluted carbohydrate/electrolyte beverage (a 2-6% carbohydrate solution) every 15-20 minutes of your run. The addition of a small amount of protein in your fuel source has been shown to be beneficial for reducing muscle breakdown and speeding recovery.
As much as exercise is good for us, the post exercise state is "catabolic" meaning muscle is breaking down. By quickly turning to fuel when your workout is complete, you shift from a catabolic state to an anabolic state (muscle build up). Fuel in the form of carbohydrates and protein raise insulin levels (a good thing after exercise) and lower cortisol levels (stress hormone) resulting in a quick uptake of nutrients into the muscle that support glycogen storage and muscle repair. Eating immediately after workout can increase the rate of glycogen storage, reduce muscle damage, speed recovery and improve future performance. For best results, the after exercise fuel should contain a ratio of carbohydrate to protein of between 2.5-3.5 to 1. The amount eaten will depend on the distance and intensity of the workout. One easy post-workout fuel is a glass of chocolate milk, with its 3:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio.
The anabolic state, which started with your immediate post-workout fuel,c an be maintained for an additional four to six hours by continuing the nutrient intervention. Eat a meal or snack two hours after your workout. Eating at this two hour time frame continues glycogen repletion, limits muscle tissue breakdown and continues the muscle protein repair. A meal or snack similar to dietary guidelines should be adequate to continue this positive recovery. See www.choosemyplate.govThe bottom line is to think about the times you eat as well as what you eat to optimize your training and racing.
Farm 2 Table 5K - Farmer's Market & Family Festival
April 1, 2014
This PR-friendly 5K will be chip-timed and is part of the 2014 Asheville Track Club Grand Prix series. Kids and parents can enjoy the 1K Kids Fun Run (for older kids) and the Firefly Dash for the little ones. The family festival will include music, water fun (so bring a towel), games, and food-centered activities. The farmers market will be offering a bounty of local fresh foods and fruits for purchase, while several Farm to Table food trucks will be on-site for runners and families to enjoy a tasty dinner.
The event will benefit FEAST (Fresh, Easy, Affordable, Sustainable, and Tasty) of Asheville whose mission it is to promote healthy eating choices and make them accessible to people of all income levels through hands on cooking classes that encourage and empower participants by teaching skills needed to make fresh, wholesome and tasty food.
Register for both the 5K and kids events online at www.farm2table5k.com until June 25th (5K: $25; Youth 5K: $20; Kids races: $10). On race day, both the festival and on-site registration begin at 4:30 p.m. at Fletcher Community Park (5K: $30; Youth 5K: $25; Kids races: $12) The 5K will start at 6 p.m. Kids races will begin at 7pm. Festivities will end about 8:30 p.m.
Psychology, Wellness, Health and Performance #2: Olympic Visions
February 24, 2014
By Robert Swoap, Ph.D.
Health and Sport Psychologist, Visit Inside Elite Website!
Last week, Mikaela Shiffrin, 18, became the youngest woman to win the slalom competition in the Olympic Games. She did so, despite almost falling during her second run. According to U.S. Ski team coach Rolan Pfeiffer, a key to Shiffrin's success is that she is "present and focused for every training session." From early on, Mikaela seemed to focus on improvement rather than outcome.
"I remember as a little girl in Vail, it would be a powder day and my parents would say, 'Let's go free ski in the back bowls.' And I'd say: 'No, I want to stay on the racecourse and train. I'm working on my pole plants.' I wanted to get better at something every day."
Shiffrin, like many of her Olympic teammates, uses visualization as a part of her training and competition. Shiffrin says that she typically visualizes a course twice: "once after inspection and once shortly before the race." She also said that she visualizes how she will deal with press conferences — increasing her preparedness and helping her not feel as much pressure as a rookie at the Olympics.
"I envisioned your questions," she said to reporters. "I wrote down the answers in my notebook. I've envisioned this moment for quite a while. I've envisioned myself on the top step of the podium and on the third step of the podium. I've envisioned myself crashing, and I know what mistake I've made in my head."
Shiffrin raises a good point about using visualization: not just seeing the dream outcome. Although it's important to stay with primarily positive images, it is vital to use mental rehearsal to plan for challenging conditions. Mental rehearsal can work as a form of contingency planning — helping you anticipate difficult moments in your race (or in your weight loss program or any other goal you are working towards) and then seeing how you will respond. Rehearsing an effective response to a trigger (environmental or internal) is a core skill in changing behavior patterns. Daniel Coyle describes this as the balanced-positive approach.
The balanced-positive approach helps you avoid the pitfalls of positivity — namely, that you get surprised and demoralized by failure — and replaces it with a preparation that matches the reality of the world and also leaves you ready for performance. Good things and bad things will happen, and you can't control either. But you can prepare.
Some tips for visualization. First, it's not just visual. But whether you call it visualization, imagery, or mental rehearsal, it is better to use all your senses in the process. Imagine yourself getting ready to run your race and what you see, smell, hear, and feel. Imagine feeling your heartrate increasing and that you need to go to the bathroom again. Now, rehearse talking to yourself about how that this is completely expected, and that you know it is your body becoming excited (rather than stressed). You can then use imagery for key moments in your race (or your exercise program, or your big presentation), seeing yourself execute well. If the image isn't clear, don't worry. That comes with practice. And if the image is negative, that's okay too. Just manage it as you would a tricky moment to navigate. How quickly can you get back to your focus? Your center? And to the joy of being able to give it your all?
Psychology, Wellness, Health and Performance #1
February 22, 2014
By Robert Swoap, Ph.D.
Health and Sport Psychologist, Visit Inside Elite Website!
As your prepare for a half-marathon, a 10K or another challenge, ask yourself: Under what conditions do I have the best chance of flourishing? One model, (Self Determination Theory) suggests that three basic human needs must be met:
- Autonomy: Our behavior is volitional, self-initiating and reflects values/interests that are our own. One does not feel controlled.
- Competence: We have opportunities to experience and demonstrate efficacy, mastery and growth.
- Relatedness: We feel connected to others and feel cared for.
Does your environment support or thwart these needs? In too many cases, we erode motivation by creating and/or sustaining environments which are not supportive of these needs.
I have worked with and interviewed dozens of elite athletes in order to explore and describe the ways in which they pursue and achieve their goals. For example, check out this piece on Lynne Cox, the world's greatest cold-water, distance swimmer.
Lynne and other athletes can thrive in a variety of situations, of course; but, I have found that most do so when their basic psychological needs are being met along with their specific needs for their sport. Here's what I observe in successful elite athletes:
- They are intrinsically motivated for their training.
- They seek opportunities for mastery and engage in deliberate practice, working on weaknesses to constantly improve.
- They do this in a connected way - with coaches and teams - to maintain motivation under difficult times. They readily seek and receive support from others. They share generously, too!
This pattern applies to achieving excellence in sports. But, it also applies to making changes in health behaviors. Treat motivation as a skill to be practiced rather than a personality trait. Then, set up and manage your environment in ways that allow autonomy and competence to thrive, under conditions of connectedness.
Black Mountain News
January 20, 2013
Take a second from your busy day and read this AWESOME article that Black Mountain News wrote about the Asheville Half Marathon!
'We have a discount for the Asheville Track Club members," he said. "We'll do a health and wellness expo at the Renaissance the day before the race. It's going to be awesome!' - Julian Smith, Race Director.
Asheville Half Marathon T-shirts are ON THE WAY!December 30, 2013
Check out our BRAND NEW moisture-wicking performance tees!
Here's A Sneak Peek...December 20, 2013
Asheville Half Marathon & 10K to Debut June 7, 2014December 11, 2013
It's great to be part of history, so save the date, June 7, 2014 and be a part of the inaugural Asheville Half Marathon and 10K. We all know the buzz of energy of thousands of runners queuing up at the starting line for a major race. There will be plenty of it when the starting gun fires at 8am on the corner of Church St and Commerce. The USATF-certified courses will end at the giant after party at Pack Square.
Julian Smith, twenty year veteran Race Director of the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, SC and three time Race Director of the Year, will be at the helm. "We hope that our inaugural race will benefit our race charities: the Mission Children's Hospital, the Asheville Area Arts Council, the Asheville Track Club and the American Cancer Society."
Runners can enter singly or as a team at www.AshevilleHalfMarathon.com Package pick-up will be at the Renaissance Hotel Ballroom where more than 20 exhibitors will be set up. The race is expected to draw huge crowds to the hilly downtown area.
Of course, runners feed of the energy of the crowds along the route. "One of the most exciting aspects to this race will be the 13 bands provided through the Music Initiative, one posted at each mile throughout the course to keep the runners and the crowds pumped up," said Smith.


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Take a moment today to remember or say a prayer for those lives that were lost or affected
by this tragedy and make a promise to never forget.
Just sharing some quotes I printed out and have around the house this week to keep myself going...continue on this path to get healthy physically & mentally. Sometimes seeing one at the right moment just gives you that push or lift you need.


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I am all for it _ attacking Iraq that is.
Just as soon as Congress declares war.
To the best that I can determine Bush is claiming that he can attack Iraq
under the War Powers Act of 1973 that gives the president the right to respond
to military threats with force for up to 60 days without congressional approval.
If he attacks Iraq under this guise he will be acting like a liberal _
ignoring the Constitution simply because it does not suit his immediate wants
and needs.
Bush cannot legally invade Iraq without Congressional approval.
My problem is that I agree with the idea of attacking Iraq.
I was born a runt. On the playground in first grade I became a strong
proponent of the, "He was going to hit me so I hit him back first," rule
of explaining bloody noses and bruised shins to principals and teachers.
I still live by that philosophy.
If Iraq is a danger to the United States then take them out. Turn the
whole country into a radioactive sheet of glass for all I care and send a
bunch of drillers from West Texas to slant-hole drill the oil from a safe
distance. (I understand there are still a few capable drillers out there).
But, the President cannot ignore the Constitution.
He took an oath to uphold it, and no result justifies an unconstitutional
act by that office.
Attacking a sovereign nation is clearly an act of war as anticipated by
the Constitution.
The First Article of the Constitution clearly sets the power for making
war with Congress, not the president.
In 1973, in response to two non-wars in two decades Congress passed the
War Powers Act limiting the president to 60 days of war without Congressional
Obviously, the President needs to be able to respond immediately with
military force when American interests are threatened.
The Constitution and the War Powers Act allow for it.
But hitting them back first _ on the scale of invading a sovereign nation
_ goes beyond a response to a threat under our Constitution.
That is war, anyway you cut it.
Fortunately, there is an easy solution and if Congress had any guts, which
it does not, it would solve this problem tomorrow.
The solution is to declare war. Put Iraq on notice along with the rest
of the world.
Just because we declare war tomorrow does not mean the First Marine Division
has to wade ashore on Thursday.
Let them stew for a while. Let them stew for a year or more.
Then, when we feel like it, hit them like a ton of bricks.
World opinion?
Who cares what a bunch of semi-communist European morons like England
and France think?
We certainly should not.
And please, once we start this, do it right. If we are at war, then go
to war. Call me back up if you need to. Reinstate the draft. Mobilize the
Stomp a mud hole in every nation that so much as looks cross-eyed at us,
stomp it dry, and be done with it.
But do not rip up our on Constitution in a misbegotten attempt to do the
right thing.
That will do more harm than good.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Smokey Briggs is the editor and publisher of the
Pecos Enterprise whose column appears on Tuesdays. He can be e-mailed at:
So, the Texas public school system is on the verge of financial collapse?
According to the "Report Card on Texas Education" issued by the Texas Association
of School Boards and the Texas Association of School Administrators, unless
the legislature finds more money for schools nearly one half of Texas' 1,040
school districts will have to cut programs including pre-kindergarten and
By 2004 the report states that most school districts will be unable to
offer "critical courses such as second languages in elementary grades, fine
arts, vocational, sports and technology."
The cause of this fiscal illness, according to the report, is increasing
costs that are not matched by local and state funding.
The results of this fiscal illness are significant. According to the report
the entire Texas education system will cease to exist, as we know it.
The prescription for good health for the school districts?
More money. More taxes.
Rather than simply looking for more cash maybe Texas needs to look for
the cause of the problem. Why does public education seem to do less with
more money every year?
Teachers are still underpaid. Kids still graduate high school without
the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic.
More cash has yet to fix the problem.
Maybe there are too many "essential" programs.
The three R's and history are essential. The rest, second language programs
in grade school, sports, vocational programs, etc…. _ the rest are
nice to have, but not essential.
Maybe, the sprawling bureaucracy installed by state and federal regulations
feeds on tax dollars without improving real education in the least.
Maybe control and oversight of Texas school districts needs to be returned
to the people whose children attend the schools _ people who live in, and
pay taxes to support their school districts.
That system worked very well once upon a time.
Dear Editor:
Since Sept. 11, 2001, there is much talk about "together we stand,"
especially it seems amongst the wicked and filthy in the land.
But they shall proceed no further: remember the words in "America the
Beautiful" where it says: "..and crown they good with brotherhood." The wicked
and filthy, who wave the American flag tirelessly, and who operate amongst
us diguised as patriots, will never wear the crown of American brother hood,
which is reserved for the good, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." __ Eph. 6:12.
Dear Editor:
On Sunday, August 4, my husband and I stopped in Pecos on our way home
from Taos, New Mexico. When we registered at the Quality Inn, he was
not feeling too well but we assumed it was the result of the day-long
During the wait, my husband realized he had a serious problem. A call
to 911 brought Police Officer Felipe Villalobos to the door within minutes.
He was accompanied by paramedics Dennis Thorp and Judy Foster. gently but
faster than I would have believed possible, my husband was secured on the
stretcher and out of the door.
The care at the hospital was exemplary and even more it was administered
in a caring manner. I wish I could name all the people at the hospital and
the motel who helped us through a very diffficult time.
This was our first visit to Pecos. In the past, I have thought of Pecos
as the home of Judge Roy Bean and the source of the best melons we have ever
eaten. Today, I know and tell everyone that Pecos is the home of people who
care even for the stranger in their midst.
With great appreciation,
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