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Afghanistan War, international conflict in Afghanistan beginning in 2001 that was triggered by the September 11 attacks and consisted of three phases. The first phase—toppling the Taliban (the ultraconservative political and religious faction that ruled Afghanistan and provided sanctuary for al-Qaeda, perpetrators of the September 11 attacks)—was brief, lasting just two months. The second phase, from 2002 until 2008, was marked by a U.S. strategy of defeating the Taliban militarily and rebuilding core institutions of the Afghan state. The third phase, a turn to classic counterinsurgency doctrine, began in 2008 and accelerated with U.S. Pres. Barack Obama's 2009 decision to temporarily increase the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan. The larger force was used to implement a strategy of protecting the population from Taliban attacks and supporting efforts to reintegrate insurgents into Afghan society. The strategy came coupled with a timetable for the withdrawal of the foreign forces from Afghanistan; beginning in 2011, security responsibilities would be gradually handed over to the Afghan military and police. The new approach largely failed to achieve its aims. Insurgent attacks and civilian casualties remained stubbornly high, while many of the Afghan military and police units taking over security duties appeared to be ill-prepared to hold off the Taliban. By the time the U.S. and NATO combat mission formally ended in December 2014, the 13-year Afghanistan War had become the longest war ever fought by the United States.
Prelude to the September 11 attacks
The joint U.S. and British invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 was preceded by over two decades of war in Afghanistan. On December 24, 1979, Soviet tanks rumbled across the Amu Darya River and into Afghanistan, ostensibly to restore stability following a coup that brought to power a pair of Marxist-Leninist political groups—the People's (Khalq) Party and the Banner (Parcham) Party. But the Soviet presence touched off a nationwide rebellion by Islamist fighters, who won extensive covert backing from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States and who were joined in their fight by foreign volunteers. The guerrilla war against the Soviet forces led to their departure a decade later (see Afghan War). In the void, civil war reigned, with the Islamist fighters—known as the mujahideen—battling first to oust the Soviet-backed government and then turning their guns on each other.
In 1996 the Taliban seized Kabul and instituted a severe interpretation of Islamic law that, for example, forbade female education and prescribed the severing of hands, or even execution, as punishment for petty crimes. That same year, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was welcomed to Afghanistan (having been expelled from Sudan) and established his organization's headquarters there. With al-Qaeda's help, the Taliban won control of over 90 percent of Afghan territory by the summer of 2001. On September 9 of that year, al-Qaeda hit men carried out the assassination of famed mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Masoud, who at the time was leading the Northern Alliance (a loose coalition of mujahideen militias that maintained control of a small section of northern Afghanistan) as it battled the Taliban and who had unsuccessfully sought greater U.S. backing for his efforts.
The September 11 attacks and the U.S.-British invasion
The hijacking and crashing of four U.S. jetliners on September 11, 2001, brought instant attention to Afghanistan. The plot had been hatched by al-Qaeda, and some of the 19 hijackers had trained in Afghanistan. In the aftermath of the attacks, the administration of U.S. Pres. George W. Bush coalesced around a strategy of first ousting the Taliban from Afghanistan and dismantling al-Qaeda, though others contemplated actions in Iraq, including long-standing plans for toppling Pres. Saddam Hussein. Bush demanded that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar "deliver to [the] United States authorities all the leaders of al-Qaeda who hide in your land," and when Omar refused, U.S. officials began implementing a plan for war.
The campaign in Afghanistan started covertly on September 26, with a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) team known as Jawbreaker arriving in the country and, working with anti-Taliban allies, initiating a strategy for overthrowing the regime. U.S. officials hoped that by partnering with the Afghans they could avoid deploying a large force to Afghanistan. Pentagon officials were especially concerned that the United States not be drawn into a protracted occupation of Afghanistan, as had occurred with the Soviets more than two decades prior. The United States relied primarily on the Northern Alliance, which had just lost Massoud but had regrouped under other commanders, including Tajik leader Mohammed Fahim and Abdul Rashid Dostum, an Uzbek. The Americans also teamed with anti-Taliban Pashtuns in southern Afghanistan, including a little-known tribal leader named Hamid Karzai.
The CIA team was soon joined by U.S. and British special forces contingents, and together they provided arms, equipment, and advice to the Afghans. They also helped coordinate targeting for the air campaign, which began on October 7, 2001, with U.S. and British war planes pounding Taliban targets, thus marking the public start of Operation Enduring Freedom. In late October, Northern Alliance forces began to overtake a series of towns formerly held by the Taliban. The forces worked with U.S. assistance, but they defied U.S. wishes when, on November 13, they marched into Kabul as the Taliban retreated without a fight.
Kandahar, the largest city in southern Afghanistan and the Taliban's spiritual home, fell on December 6, marking the end of Taliban power. It had been besieged by a force led by Karzai that moved in from the north and one commanded by Gul Agha Sherzai that advanced from the south; both operated with heavy assistance from the United States. As the Taliban leadership retreated into Afghanistan's rural areas and across the border to Pakistan, anti-Taliban figures convened at a United Nations (UN)-sponsored conference in Bonn, Germany. With behind-the-scenes maneuvering by the United States, Karzai was selected to lead the country on an interim basis.
An intensive manhunt for Omar, bin Laden, and al-Qaeda deputy chief Ayman al-Zawahiri was undertaken. Prior to the killing of bin Laden by U.S. forces in 2011 (see below), the Americans were believed to have come closest to bin Laden in the December 2001 battle of Tora Bora (bin Laden's mountain stronghold). But bin Laden was thought to have managed to have slipped into Pakistan with the help of Afghan and Pakistani forces that were supposedly helping the Americans. Critics later questioned why the U.S. military had allowed Afghan forces to lead the assault on the cave complex at Tora Bora rather than doing it themselves. (Indeed, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry made this criticism repeatedly during the 2004 general election campaign.) Al-Qaeda subsequently reestablished its base of operations in the tribal areas that form Pakistan's northwest border with Afghanistan. Omar and his top Taliban lieutenants settled in and around the Pakistani city of Quetta, in the remote southwestern province of Balochistān. One of the final major battles of the first phase of the war came in March 2002 with Operation Anaconda in the eastern province of Paktia, which involved U.S. and Afghan forces fighting some 800 al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. The operation also marked the entrance of other countries' troops into the war: special operations forces from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, and Norway participated.
Iraq takes centre stage
With the ouster of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, the international focus shifted to reconstruction and nation-building efforts in Afghanistan. In April 2002 Bush announced a "Marshall Plan" for Afghanistan in a speech at the Virginia Military Institute, promising substantial financial assistance. But from the start, development efforts in Afghanistan were inadequately funded, as attention had turned among U.S. officials to the looming confrontation in Iraq. Between 2001 and 2009, just over $38 billion in humanitarian and reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan was appropriated by the U.S. Congress. More than half the money went to training and equipping Afghan security forces, and the remainder represented a fraction of the amount that experts said would be required to develop a country that had consistently ranked near the bottom of global human development indices. The aid program was also bedeviled by waste and by confusion over whether civilian or military authorities had responsibility for leading education, health, agriculture, and other development projects.
Despite military commitments from dozens of U.S. allies, the United States initially argued against allowing the other foreign forces—operating as the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)—to deploy beyond the Kabul area. That choice was directed by the Pentagon, which insisted on a "light footprint" out of concern that Afghanistan would become a drag on U.S. resources as attention shifted to Iraq (see Iraq War). When ISAF did begin to venture beyond Kabul, its efforts were hampered by the "caveats" of its component countries—restrictions that kept all but a handful of the militaries from actively engaging in the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The force, overseen by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the organization's first mission outside Europe, was also hamstrung by a lack of troops as international commitments to Afghanistan flagged.
The United States consistently represented the largest foreign force in Afghanistan, and it bore the heaviest losses. By spring 2010 more than 1,000 U.S. troops had been killed in Afghanistan, while the British troops suffered some 300 deaths and the Canadians some 150. Both Britain and Canada stationed their troops in Afghanistan's south, where fighting had been most intense. More than 20 other countries also lost troops during the war, though many—such as Germany and Italy—chose to focus their forces in the north and the west, where the insurgency was less potent. As the fighting dragged on and casualties escalated, the war lost popularity in many Western countries, creating domestic political pressure to keep troops out of harm's way or to pull them out altogether.
Initially, the war appeared to have been won with relative ease. On May 1, 2003, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced an end to "major combat" in Afghanistan. On the same day, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, President Bush announced that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." At that time, there were 8,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The first democratic Afghan elections since the fall of the Taliban were held on October 9, 2004, with approximately 80 percent of registered voters turning out to give Karzai a full five-year term as president. Parliamentary elections were staged a year later, with dozens of women claiming seats set aside for them to ensure gender diversity. The 2004 constitution provided Afghanistan with a powerful central government and weak regional and local authorities—a structure that was in opposition to the country's long-standing traditions.
Despite vast powers under the constitution, Karzai was widely regarded as a weak leader who grew increasingly isolated as the war progressed. He survived several assassination attempts—including a September 2004 rocket attack that nearly struck a helicopter he was riding in—and security concerns kept him largely confined to the presidential palace in Kabul. Karzai's government was beset by corruption, and efforts to build a national army and a police force were troubled from the start by inadequate international support and ethnic differences between Afghans.
Taliban resurgence
Beginning in 2005, violence climbed as the Taliban reasserted its presence with new tactics modeled on those being used by insurgents in Iraq. Whereas early in the war the Taliban had focused on battling U.S. and NATO forces in open combat—a strategy that largely failed to inflict significant damage—their adoption of the use of suicide bombings and buried bombs, known as IEDs (improvised explosive devices), began to cause heavy casualties. Between January 2005 and August 2006, Afghanistan endured 64 suicide attacks—a tactic that had been virtually unknown in the country's history before then. At first the attacks caused relatively few casualties, but as training and the availability of high-powered explosives increased, the death toll began to climb: in one particularly vicious attack in November 2007, at least 70 people—many of them children—were killed as a parliamentary delegation visited the northern town of Baghlan. Less than a year later, a bombing at the Indian embassy in Kabul killed more than 50; the Afghan government accused elements of Pakistan's intelligence service of complicity in the attack, a charge Pakistan denied.
The Taliban's resurgence corresponded with a rise in anti-American and anti-Western sentiment among Afghans. Those feelings were nurtured by the sluggish pace of reconstruction, allegations of prisoner abuse at U.S. detention facilities, widespread corruption in the Afghan government, and civilian casualties caused by U.S. and NATO bombings. In May 2006 a U.S. military vehicle crashed and killed several Afghans, an event that sparked violent anti-American riots in Kabul—the worst since the war began. Later that year NATO took command of the war across the country; American officials said that the United States would play a lesser role and that the face of the war would become increasingly international. This shift reflected the greater need for U.S. troops and resources in Iraq, where sectarian warfare was reaching alarming levels. By contrast, the war in Afghanistan was still regarded in Washington as a relative success.
For commanders on the ground in Afghanistan, however, it was apparent that the Taliban intended to escalate its campaign, launching more frequent attacks and intensifying its fund-raising from wealthy individuals and groups in the Persian Gulf. Another source of money was Afghanistan's resurgent opium industry. International pressure had forced the Taliban to curb poppy cultivation during their final year in power, but after their removal in 2001 the opium industry made a comeback, with revenues in some areas of the country benefiting the insurgency. Western-backed campaigns to eliminate poppy cultivation or to encourage farmers to grow other crops had little discernible impact; Afghanistan soon became the supplier of over 90 percent of the world's opium.
The United States, meanwhile, had had only limited success in killing or capturing Taliban commanders. In early 2007, Mullah Obaidullah Akhund—the Taliban's number three leader—was captured in Pakistan, and months later Mullah Dadullah—the Taliban's top military commander—was killed in fighting with U.S. forces. But those were the exceptions. Top insurgent leaders remained at large, many of them in the tribal regions of Pakistan that adjoin Afghanistan. This reality prompted the United States to begin targeting insurgent leaders who lived in Pakistan with missiles fired from remotely piloted drones. The CIA program of targeted killings was publicly denied by U.S. officials but was widely acknowledged in private. Pakistani officials in turn denounced the strikes in public but privately approved of them as long as civilian casualties were limited. The United States repeatedly threatened to expand its drone strikes beyond Pakistan's tribal areas and into regions such as Balochistān if Pakistan did not demonstrate greater cooperation in battling the Taliban, a group it had long fostered.
The Obama surge
U.S. Pres. Barack Obama went to the White House promising to focus attention and resources on the faltering war effort in Afghanistan. On February 17, 2009, he approved sending an additional 17,000 U.S. troops, on top of the 36,000 U.S. troops and 32,000 NATO service members already there. Three months later Obama took the rare step of removing a commanding general from a theatre of war, replacing Gen. David McKiernan with Gen. Stanley McChrystal. While McKiernan was shifting U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, Obama and other top officials had concluded that a more radical change was needed. McChrystal was brought in to implement a new strategy modeled after the surge strategy in Iraq—one in which U.S. forces would focus on protecting the population from insurgents rather than simply trying to kill large numbers of militants. The strategy also involved trying to persuade enemy fighters to defect and ultimately encouraging reconciliation between the Karzai government and Taliban leaders.
Soon after assuming command, McChrystal concluded that he did not have enough troops to execute the new strategy, and in September 2009 he laid out his concerns in a confidential report, which was subsequently leaked to the press. McChrystal predicted that the war would be lost within a year if there was not a significant troop surge. After an intensive Afghan policy review—the second one by the Obama administration in less than a year—the president delivered a speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on December 1 in which he announced a major escalation in the war effort, with 30,000 additional troops being deployed to Afghanistan by the summer of 2010. The new strategy led to an increase in U.S. combat deaths; notably, during the first three months of 2010, U.S. deaths were approximately twice what they had been over the same period in 2009.
The surge in U.S. forces was accompanied by a dramatic escalation of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan—one of which killed Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. But the CIA also paid a price in late December 2009 when an al-Qaeda double agent detonated a suicide bomb at a Bagram air base in the eastern province of Khost, killing seven from the agency.
In early 2010 the surge began with an assault on the insurgent-held town of Marja, in the southern province of Helmand. U.S. Marines achieved a relatively quick victory, even as McChrystal planned a more ambitious offensive in Kandahar. Obama visited Afghanistan for the first time as president on March 28, delivering a stern message to Karzai that he needed to clean up corruption in his government. Karzai had won a new five-year term in an August 2009 election that was tainted by widespread allegations of fraud. Karzai vowed in his inaugural address to stamp out corruption in his government, but there were few signs in the short term that he had done so.
Meanwhile, Karzai announced that he would attempt to reconcile with the Taliban; he repeatedly invited Mullah Omar to meet with him, but the Taliban leader steadfastly refused. Under intense pressure from the United States, Karzai lashed out in April 2010 and even threatened to join the Taliban if the international community did not stop meddling in Afghan affairs. Troubled by the comments, the White House threatened to revoke Karzai's invitation to meet with Obama in Washington, D.C., but the visit occurred as scheduled, with Karzai and Obama at least outwardly making efforts to mend their relationship.
Pakistan offered to mediate Afghan peace talks, but Pakistan's ultimate attitude toward the Taliban remained a matter of great controversy. In February 2010, Pakistani security forces arrested the Afghan Taliban's second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a move interpreted by many U.S. officials as a reflection of Pakistan's desire to work with the U.S. and Afghan governments to stem the group's influence. But others, including Kai Eide, the former top UN official in Kabul, said Baradar had been a leading Taliban proponent of reconciliation and that the arrest was intended to scuttle efforts to end the war through a political, rather than military, solution.
The military command structure in Afghanistan abruptly changed again in June 2010, when Obama replaced McChrystal with Gen. David Petraeus after McChrystal and some of his aides made disparaging remarks to a Rolling Stone magazine reporter about Obama and other top administration officials, including Vice Pres. Joe Biden, National Security Advisor James L. Jones, and special representative to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke. The comments underscored festering tensions between U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan and some members of the Obama administration's civilian leadership. In explaining the change of command, Obama said, "I welcome debate among my team, but I won't tolerate division." Despite the switch, Obama vowed that U.S. strategy in Afghanistan would not change. Petraeus, considered the leading architect of counterinsurgency doctrine in the U.S. military, was expected to continue McChrystal's emphasis on protecting the Afghan population from insurgents, building Afghan government institutions, and seeking to limit civilian casualties.
Shortly after McChrystal's dismissal, a cache of classified documents relating to the Afghanistan War was published online by the whistle-blowing journalistic organization WikiLeaks and prereleased to several newspapers, including The New York Times, Der Spiegel, and The Guardian. The information was mainly in the form of raw intelligence gathered between 2004 and 2009, and WikiLeaks cumulatively termed it the "Afghan War Diary." It detailed previously unreported civilian deaths, indicated that a U.S. special forces unit was tasked with capturing or killing the persons on a list of insurgent leaders, revealed that the Taliban had employed heat-seeking missiles against aircraft, and suggested that the Pakistani intelligence service had been working with Taliban forces in spite of substantial U.S. aid to Pakistan for its assistance in combating militants. The U.S. government criticized the disclosure as a security breach but stated that the substance of the leak corresponded with other known intelligence and did not contain new information.
Developments with some of the primary objectives of the war—apprehending key al-Qaeda leaders and dealing with the Taliban—were front and centre in 2011. Nearly 10 years after eluding capture at Tora Bora in Afghanistan, bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces on May 2, 2011, after U.S. intelligence located him living in a secure compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The operation, a raid carried out by a small team that reached the compound by helicopter, led to a firefight in which bin Laden died. The next month U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates confirmed for the first time that the U.S. government was holding reconciliation talks with the Taliban, although he stressed that efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict were still in the preliminary stages. Then, on June 22, Obama announced an accelerated timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, saying that the United States had largely achieved its goals by disrupting al-Qaeda's operations and killing many of its leaders. The plan called for the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to be reduced by as many as 30,000 within a year, in preparation for a complete withdrawal of combat forces by the end of 2014. Hours after Obama's announcement, French Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy announced that France would also begin to withdraw its 4,000 soldiers from Afghanistan. In September, efforts to end the long-running conflict suffered a setback when Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former Afghan president and a key figure in reconciliation negotiations, was assassinated by a suicide bomber.
A series of incidents in early 2012 heightened tensions between the U.S. and the Afghan government and provoked public outrage. In mid-January, a video showing U.S. Marines urinating on dead Afghans circulated in the media, drawing apologies from U.S. officials. Weeks later, Afghans rioted and held protests over reports that U.S. soldiers had disposed of copies of the Qurʾān at a military base by burning them. Then, on March 11, a U.S. soldier allegedly left an American base near Panjwai and broke into several homes, shooting dead 17 Afghans, mostly women and children. The incident provoked widespread demonstrations and a sharp condemnation from Karzai. Days later, the Taliban suspended participation in talks with the United States and the Afghan government.
Later that year NATO's efforts to train and equip the Afghan army and police were hampered by an increase in attacks in which Afghan soldiers and police turned their weapons on NATO soldiers. These attacks forced NATO troops to institute more rigorous screening procedures and to suspend the training of certain units.
Meanwhile, in early 2012, U.S. and Afghan negotiators reached agreements regarding two issues that had been sources of friction between the Obama and Karzai administrations. The first agreement, signed in March, set a six-month timetable for the transfer of Afghan detainees held by the U.S. military to Afghan custody. The second agreement, signed in April, established that Afghan forces would oversee and lead night raids to apprehend or kill Taliban leaders. These raids, previously led by U.S. special forces, had since 2009 become a major component of the campaign against the Taliban. Afghan leaders, however, had long objected that the raids violated Afghan sovereignty and that surprise invasions of private homes ultimately alienated public opinion and increased support for the insurgency.
The agreements in March and April concerning detainees and night raids cleared the way for the United States and Afghanistan to reach a further agreement in May outlining a framework for economic and security cooperation between the two countries following the withdrawal of NATO combat troops in 2014. The agreement expressed the United States' commitment to continuing military support for the Afghan government after 2014, although it left unanswered the question of whether or not some U.S. and NATO forces would remain in Afghanistan as trainers and advisers after 2014. That was to be determined by a separate pact, the Bilateral Security Agreement. Even though the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan remained deeply unpopular, many Afghans feared that a sudden withdrawal would allow the country to slip into civil war or chaos.
The issue of leaving foreign troops in the country after the end of NATO combat operations remained unresolved until the last half of 2014. Karzai—by then in the last months of his presidency—had refused to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement before leaving office, and the election of his successor was delayed by a lengthy recount. In late September 2014 Ashraf Ghani was finally inaugurated as president and immediately signed the Bilateral Security Agreement, which authorized an international force of approximately 13,000 to remain in the country. The U.S. and NATO formally ended their combat mission in Afghanistan on December 28, 2014.
Learn More in these related Britannica articles:
Barack Obama: Wars in Iraq and AfghanistanFor all of Obama's efforts at rapprochement with much of the world, he—like George W. Bush—was a wartime president. With the situation in Iraq continuing to improve and the target date for ending U.S. combat operations there approaching, in February 2009 Obama increased the…
United States: The George W. Bush administration…and the Taliban government of Afghanistan, which had harboured bin Laden and his followers. On October 7 the United States launched aerial attacks against Afghanistan; by the end of the year the Taliban and bin Laden's forces were routed or forced into hiding, and the Bush administration was negotiating with…
United States: The Barack Obama administration…detriment of the situation in Afghanistan; Obama argued that Afghanistan should have been the focus of U.S. military efforts. As security conditions in Iraq continued to improve, the new administration began slowly removing U.S. military personnel, with an announced goal of ending U.S. combat operations by mid-2010 and exiting the…
Denmark: Denmark since the 1990s…International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 (the deaths of Danish soldiers in the conflict were the highest per capita totals among coalition forces). Denmark's role in the EU once again came into question in May 2014 when the Euroskeptic Danish People's Party triumphed in elections…
Afghanistan: U.S.-led invasion and toppling of the Taliban…and Britain launched an intensive bombing campaign against the Taliban and provided significant logistical support to Northern Alliance forces in an attempt to force the regime to yield to its demands. Devastated by the U.S. bombardment, Taliban forces folded within days of a well-coordinated ground offensive launched in mid-November by…
More About Afghanistan War19 references found in Britannica articles
Assorted References
- Afghanistan
- armoured vehicle development
- Danish troops
- Haqqani network
- improvised explosive devices
- Jones
- Lindh
- Mattis
- McChrystal
- Navy SEAL teams


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Hello and welcome to Creative Mondays hosted by Clairejustineoxox and Judy H-J's Thoughts where you can link up all your creative posts.
Happy Creative Monday and have a great week.
Thank you Judy for hosting :)
The Gizzadas looks and sounds interesting!!
You are welcome Winnie! Have a good Monday.
I love cooking with coconut! Especially desserts! Have a great night!
Oh yes,it is great cooking with coconut Theresa. A great night to you too.
Thanks so much for the wonderful party this week, I am happy to be linking up! {Hugs}
Thanks a lot Sarah. Have a great week.
YUmmmm coconut! Always gonna be tasty <3
Love from the NaNa girls xoxo
Thanks NaNa girls. Have a wonderful day.
I'm a little late to the party, but always happy to be here. Thank you for hosting. I love coconut! Big hugs and wishes for a wonderful week xo
I am always happy to see your links Katie! Thanks for participating and have yourself a great week. Big hugs to you too.
Oh these look really good and I love coconut a lot. I want some. I've never even heard of these before.
Have a fantastic day Judy. :)
They are really delicious Sandee! I know you would enjoy eating some. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Hi Judy! I have nothing creative to share this week, but I did want to stop by and thank you for linking up this weekend. Those coconut snacks look gooooood...I love everything coconut :)
Have a great week!
I have never heard of these, but they sound delicious! I am a sucker for coconut!
Delicious indeed Theresa! I really like coconut!
Thanks a lot for stopping by and sharing your comments Paula! Enjoy the rest of your day.
I never have anything creative to link, but this time hubby's doing tables so I think I'll link it up, woo hoo! :) Thanks for hosting.
That's wonderful mail4rosey! Thanks for linking up and have a good day.
Those coconut pie looks and sound delicious! Thanks also for hosting... :)
hugs x
Thanks Crystelle!Have a good week.
Hey Judy! I somehow lost touch with your blog, but I have you back on my sidebar again! So good to "see" you again. ;) Hope you're doing well! I added a BBQ Chicken Mac recipe to the hop. Thanks for hosting!
The gizzadas sound fabulous! Come by my house & teach me anytime:)
These look and sound amazing, Judy! I have never heard of gizzadas until now. I LOVE coconut. My mom makes a cookie bar at Christmas with coconut and I eat way too many! Thanks so much for sharing. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are enjoying a relaxing night!
Lots of love to you!
Thanks for hosting! I enjoy treats with coconut in them, as well. :-)
Wow I love anything with coconut in them ,yummy :) Thanks for co hosting Judy...
It is always good to co-host Clairejustine. Have a great Tuesday.
I have linked up with Try A New Recipe Lisa. Have a good day.
I would be happy to Amy! Have a good day.
Thanks Maria! I love coconut so much and wow that cookie bar that your mom makes at Christmas must be so delicious. I had a good weekend but I am headed to the dentist today. I hope I will not be getting any injections!:) I wish you, Steve and Beano a wonderful week.
Hi Heather,
It is great to link up again. Thanks a lot for sharing here and I will definitely visit your Blog. Have a wonderful day.
Hi again Judy! I just had to drop by to reply to your comment about how snow reminds you of ice cream. It is actually exactly like a snow cone..plain of course :)
Thanks for stopping by and telling me more about snow Paula!;) Enjoy the rest of your day.
A great shot! You should probably think about investing in a telephoto lens for even better results... ;)
Thanks so much for linking up with "Try a New Recipe Tuesday!" I really appreciate your joining me every week! :-)
Thanks Lisa! Have a good week!

subset: commoncrawl


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Creature feature: Richard LaGravenese enters the young-adult fantasy world with 'Beautiful Creatures'
Every publisher of young-adult sci-fi/fantasy and every movie producer of same hankers for the next Twilight or The Hunger Games—bestsellers adapted into blockbusters. Surprisingly, that's not an unrealistic goal. While I Am Number Four (2011) earned low numbers, Inkheart (2008) bled red ink and The Golden Compass (2007) made over $372 million worldwide but only $70 million in the U.S., sending sequel plans south, the studios still smell teen spirit: The "Chronicles of Narnia" trilogy generated over $1.5 billion at the box office starting in 2005, a second "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" movie is due out in August, and hopes are high for such YA romances as next month's The Host, based on book one of Twilight author Stephenie Meyer's planned trilogy; The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, starring Lily Collins and due this summer from Screen Gems; and Universal's in-development Wicked Lovely, from American Psycho director Mary Harron and Edward Scissorhands screenwriter Caroline Thompson.
These kinds of considerations all seem new to Richard LaGravenese, the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of The Fisher King (1991) and the writer-director of Beautiful Creatures, the first book in Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's young-adult quartet about witches in a South Carolina town. While Warner Bros. hopes this will be a franchise, LaGravenese, who certainly isn't averse to the idea, approached the adaptation as a film that can stand on its own.
Beautiful Creatures, based on the 563-page young-adult novel published by Little, Brown in 2009, centers on the first-crush relationship between 15-year-old Lena Duchannes (Australia-born Alice Englert, daughter of Oscar-winning The Piano director Jane Campion), a supernatural "Caster" (of spells), and 17-year-old Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich), a popular boy who reads banned books and wants to break out of his dead-end burg and go to college far away. With Lena's 16th birthday comes "The Claiming" that will steer her toward her destiny of Light or Dark. Her uncle, the venerable Caster Macon Ravenwood (Jeremy Irons) wants the former; her Caster mother Sarafine (Emma Thompson) and cousin Ridley (Emmy Rossum) want the Dark. And the town's librarian, Amma Treadeau (Viola Davis), is a Seer who knows more than she immediately lets on. Thomas Mann, Margo Martindale, Eileen Atkins and Kyle Gallner co-star in the Feb. 14 release.
We spoke individually with LaGravanese, Irons and the 23-year-old Ehrenreich about shooting in New Orleans, recasting a lead before filming began and the pros and cons of being pegged as "the next Twilight."
Film Journal International: Jack O'Connell [of the British teen-drama series "Skins"] was originally cast as Ethan but had to bow out. At what point in the production did that happen?
Richard LaGravanese: It was about two weeks before I started [production]. It wasn't his fault. It was a visa issue.
FJI: OK. I'd heard it was scheduling conflicts, but it was about the visa.
LaGravenese: It was scheduling and something. They told me a bunch of different things, but it wasn't his fault. He wanted to do it, but it was sort of a scheduling/visa thing.
FJI: Good thing Alden is a such talented young actor, huh?
LaGravenese: Yeah, and we had gone to him as part of our original casting search. One of the reasons I wanted Alice and Alden was because neither one of them wanted to do it. My hesitation about doing this was getting lumped into this sort of Twilight world, and they didn't want that either. So he didn't even read the script when we first went after him because it wasn't something that interested him. And then after we'd lost Jack we went back to him, and that was the first time he read the script. And then he realized I was trying to do something interesting with this. And he came in to read for me and I cast him right away.
FJI: How does somebody get a script from an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and not read it? Dude!
LaGravenese: Because his managers told him it was of a certain genre that he wasn't interested in doing.
Alden Ehrenreich: I was pitched the movie as Twilight meets Romeo and Juliet. Whenever you're pitched something that sounds like it's just a rehash of other things that were successful, it's not very exciting because you assume that that means it's not somebody's personal vision, it's just a meld of certain tropes and conventions. So I passed because sometimes I'm dumb and I don't read scripts and I pass on them without reading them. So then the movie came back around and Jack O'Connell had the schedule conflict and they came back to me… It was fortuitous. And I went in [to audition] and Richard flew out to L.A. and he was like "I know you're skeptical," and at this point I held myself back from saying, "Listen, I read the script—I loved it! I want to do it! Please hire me!" [laughs] and auditioned for him… So thank God I was forgiven in the cosmos and that came back around. I got the part a week before production. That was crazy. I woke up, I got a phone call at eight in the morning, and then later that day I was in New Orleans getting ready for rehearsal.
FJI: The film's set in South Carolina but shot in New Orleans. Obviously, places substitute for other places all the time. Were there tax breaks, a better production infrastructure?
LaGravenese: Tax breaks in Louisiana are extraordinary and there's a lot of filming going on there and the crews have had a lot of experience. I loved it. I love New Orleans. I love the people, I love the culture of it, the food, the music. It was fantastic. We stayed on schedule. We had a couple of weather stops—one day, another half a day—but we still wound up shooting on schedule and on budget, and so it was a really great experience.
FJI: I've seen $65 million. Is that accurate?
LaGravenese: I think what you're seeing up on film was about $50 million. And then the post[-production] My contingency was saved [because of the on-schedule/on-budget shoot], so that went back into it. The visual effects, we needed to do more of because we got a little bit screwed. So, yeah, it's somewhere between $50 and $60 million.
FJI: You also shot in St. Francisville, which is famous for its ostensibly haunted houses.
LaGravenese: St. Francisville was where the hill was [for a Civil War re-enactment of the fictional Battle of Honey Hill]. I had no idea Louisiana was flat, and when we got there they could not find me a hill. And this wonderful location manager took us two hours outside, and so we did the Honey Hill stuff in St. Francisville. We had to move the company there for two weeks. We were in Folsom, we were in Morganza, Covington, Hammond. [Macon's] house, I think, was in Morganza.
We started shooting, I think, April 16th, and then we shot until June 26th, and then post was for me from July 5th to December 17th. It was a six-day week from July to December, sometimes seven, in order to meet our date.
FJI: I've heard that either you or the authors had Jeremy Irons in mind for Macon.
LaGravenese: They did, yeah. The authors had him in mind from the beginning, yeah.
FJI: Did you tell him that or did the authors?
LaGravenese: The authors did when they came to visit the set. They were so thrilled.
Jeremy Irons: Yes they did say that. It was rather frightening.
FJI: Why was it frightening?
Irons: I don't know. I suppose it's, I don't know, it's flattering or whatever. You're never sure how people think of you. I suppose it's a bit of the work you've done, but you wonder which bit of work it is. Well, I don't know if I was flattered—I was just interested when they said that. I thought, "Oh well, there you go."
Ehrenreich: The first day that Jeremy came in, we were doing a scene and it went fine, and we moved on. And he came back to Richard and he said, "I want to do that again." And, y'know, it was the first day and everybody's getting to know each other. And when we went back to the scene, he just cut through it and had this resolve that was so admirable. Because you can get really stuck in your own head or be afraid to be bold on a film set, because there are so many people looking to you with certain expectations. And he just freed himself from all of that and that was so incredible to watch him just power through the scene. And we got it in a couple takes, because he just committed. It was like seeing someone fully, fully commit the same way you see an athlete do.
FJI: In a 2005 interview, Jeremy said, mostly tongue-in-cheek, that in America, "They'll say, 'We want a bit of cred, let's get Jeremy Irons on board.'" So here's Jeremy and Emma Thompson, two classically trained British actors—does that help, y'know, [lightheartedly] class it up?
Irons: I don't know. I think it was a pretty classy script.
LaGravenese: No, they were just the best people for the parts. In the book, Macon's described as you think you're going to get Boo Radley and out steps Noel Coward. There aren't many people who can do that. Jeremy has that voice and that manner and that intelligence and that wit. And Emma is just one of the most talented people ever. I've been love with her forever—I've been dying to work with her. And [Tony Award winner and Oscar nominee] Viola [Davis] as well. What I'm saying is, it wasn't my intention. I was so lucky to get great actors. I never in my conscious mind went, "Let's class this thing up."
FJI: So it was accidentally classy… Jeremy, a lot of American actors take the Actors Studio approach, where you make that sense-memory connection. And then there's the Laurence Olivier archetype, where you build the character from the outside in—the clothes, the walk, develop it that way. Where do you fall?
Irons: I normally fall in the first category. But for this one, because I came to it very late and most of the costume was designed and made, and I wasn't able to read the books in time, I had to rely on Richard as the writer, who had done all the research, to tell me everything he knew and try and build a coherent character from there. And I'm glad to say that the girls who wrote the book are very happy with what we've come up with.
LaGravenese: The way that I'm a screenwriter, I tend to feel too responsible to other writers and what they create. So I thought, "Well, if I don't read the other [two books in the trilogy], it will allow me to invent and recreate and reinvent when I need to." I tried adapting the book as it is in the first several drafts, but it was so overwhelming and it was too heavy. It was a lot of exposition. The two writers, Kami and Margaret, did such a wonderful job creating a new mythology, but they're two different mediums—in a book you can have pages and pages explaining different kinds of witches or different kinds of curses and going into much more detail, and I couldn't make that work in a film.
So I put it down for a few months, and when I went back to it, I just decided that the most important thing is the human element of it. I took the love story, the Romeo and Juliet love story, and that became my spine of a sort. And then I took the supernatural claiming of a 16-year-old girl as the clock that would move the plot forward. And then anything that was an obstacle to that love story I kept and the rest I let go. I just streamlined it in a way I felt I had to. And in the long run it became this story about the strength of humans—this idea of being 16 or 17 and not knowing who you are and being filled with all these feelings and confusions and having to claim who you are separate and apart from your parents, your family, your friends and the world as it sees you. And yet how much of us is inherited? How much of us is free will and how much of us is destiny?
FJI: Did anybody consider the irony that the Bible thumpers in the town who were railing against evil and the supernatural were right?
LaGravenese: They were right! I know! Well, [most of them] weren't evil, but it was more about intolerance. But yes, they were right. I know! That made me laugh. I thought that was funny.
FJI: I've seen that there's an actress, Camille Balsamo, who plays the character of Katherine Duchannes, but I don't remember seeing that character in the movie.
LaGravenese: Oh, OK. That was a thing I cut. There was one part that I shot on green screen where I had all these actresses playing all the different Duchannes women from different periods [from the Civil War on]. And my costume designer, Jeffrey Kurland, had gowns and things, one was from the turn of the century, one was from the '20s, one was from the '40s, one was from the '60s, and they were going to appear in the first flashback and at the end of the movie, and then I cut them.
FJI: Because it was already over two hours.
LaGravenese: That wasn't the reason. It just didn't work. It was just an idea that didn't work.
FJI: The studio, reasonably enough, would like this to be another Twilight. What are the pros and cons for you of being attached to a franchise?
Ehrenreich: Hopefully this is a good problem to have, and people hopefully will feel a fraction of the enthusiasm and passion they felt for the Twilight series for this. There are complications, I'm sure, for those [Twilight stars], but I can't even imagine what they are because there isn't really an experience before you have that level of recognition that you could even compare to it. I mean, being famous like that—what else could possibly be like that? I cannot imagine. But for instance, On the Road—that's a movie that they've been trying to make for 30 years, and Kristen Stewart says she wants to play a supporting part in it and they finance it in a heartbeat. I don't know that that's exactly how that went down, but for the most part those people are now in incredible positions of creative power—and this is speaking as someone who's been cast in a lot of movies and recast in a lot of movies that either didn't get financed, or they hired somebody else because they needed a bigger name, or the movie just never had money to begin with. I've read so many great scripts that should be movies, and there are so many that don't get to be made because they can't find name stars. Even some of the great directors still need these names in their film. So to me, the benefit of having something that has that level of success is that then you can make movies happen and you can work with the highest caliber of filmmaker around—it gives you a really good chance of that.
LaGravenese: I don't know—I've never done it before, so I don't know if [a franchise is] going to happen. I wanted to make this as if, if I had to walk away and this was it, I was satisfied with how I told the story. If it turns into something else, because of the changes I made and the character combinations, I'm going to have to figure that out. I haven't read the other books, like I said, so I don't know where it goes. It would be a journey for me as well. But one of the reasons I would like to do it, the pros, would be to be with this company again, because I brought these actors into it and I don't want to abandon them. And because of the changes I made, I feel I'm best to navigate the adaptations.
But we have to see how the movie plays first. There's a commitment issue, but there's a lot of time to do the things you want to do in this life. If you're talking about the next two years or so, that moves by pretty quickly, and there's still a lot of time to create original work and other things that you want to do. So I don't think it's a hindrance to any other dreams I have of what I want to create.


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08-05-2017 08:20
Sorry about last night, my internet died...
26-02-2017 08:07
ка, зат
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02-02-2017 20:28
afk untill sunday
12-12-2016 08:46
Sorry all, lost power and didnt have a new fuse, hope you didnt kill her without me
06-10-2016 18:56
I won't be able to come tonight.
24-09-2016 09:49
WTF do we need to raid??? some friends are playing and I wanna know whats good.
18-09-2016 04:36
I am interested in info on mounting the unit in a C6 Corvette that looks good. Is there mounting hardware available?
10-04-2016 16:25
tonight i online late maybe i cant join the raid.
03-04-2016 17:54
maybe i come online late to night sry for late notice but try to online as soon as i can.
28-03-2016 06:27
i wont be raiding tonight
27-03-2016 19:56
Sorry for late notice but I have to go to the hospital for an operation on my ear, hope fully I can get back before the raid ends.
27-03-2016 18:58
Cant make it tonight, and if I do it'll be pretty late, best of luck with drops :*
24-03-2016 17:51
Pc is fixed and can attend the next raid.
21-03-2016 18:53
cant make it today ,sorry for late notice
21-03-2016 18:38
Computer is still not fixed going to kill myself.
20-03-2016 23:04
Will be late tomorrow for 30-40 minutes.
20-03-2016 22:47
wont be able to come on monday and thursday cos of work
20-03-2016 18:37
Probably won't be able to attend todays raid since my computer is having issues and is not loading up what so ever, hopefully will have been fixed before the next raid. - Plannk
20-03-2016 14:33
maybe i come online late tonight
17-03-2016 19:01
I might be 20-30 minutes late today
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text:
Getting large equipment, ATVs, or anything heavy into the bed of your pick-up truck is now easier than ever! The days of straining your back and begging unwilling neighbors for help are gone thanks to the easy-to-use Steel Loading Ramps from Harbor Freight Tools. With these simple ramps on hand, you'll have no trouble loading recreational vehicles, appliances, motorbikes, and anything up to 1,000 pounds into your truck, van, or trailer. And they're more reliable and safer than wooden planks or self-made ramps. Because, let's face it, when you're working with heavy items, safety should be priority number one.
Whether you're taking the big air compressor out to the job site, loading your riding mower for repairs, or taking an old refrigerator off to the junk yard, there's no telling when you might need to load up or unload some heavy stuff. The loading ramps take a split second to set up and, when you're done, they store easily in your truck or workshop. And if that info doesn't get you ramped up for these helpful items, maybe these actual customer reviews will:
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Even if you use these ramps frequently, they hold up and make your life a little bit easier. I certainly wouldn't recommend running them over with your tractor but it's nice to know that Dishtech Dave has done the research for us. So if you're looking for an easy way to load stuff onto your vehicle, don't be afraid to buy these tough Steel Loading Ramps at your local Harbor Freight store!


text:
1. ravel - noun
· French composer and exponent of Impressionism (1875-1937)
Synonym(s): Ravel, Maurice_Ravel
2. ravel - noun
· a row of unravelled stitches; "she got a run in her stocking"
Hypernym(s): damage, harm, impairment
3. ravel - verb
· disentangle; "can you unravel the mystery?"
Synonym(s): unravel, ravel_out
Hypernym(s): disentangle, unsnarl, straighten_out
Antonym(s): ravel
4. ravel - verb
· tangle or complicate; "a ravelled story"
Hypernym(s): intertwine, twine, entwine, enlace, interlace, lace
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manakin needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 139 designs submitted by 30 freelance designers.
UTK Group or just UTK
We are an IT recruitment agency and business solutions provider and require a corporate logo. We deal with big brand name clients and require our logo to be instantly recognisable.
Large and medium blue chip companies
We require a serious and corporate logo that will be instantly recognisable, The logo design will determine other assets such as the website design and marketting materials so needs to be used on a wide range of materials.
We want to use the words UTK or UTK Group. We don't mind about colours but blue and grey is what we consider corporate and we dont mind if you want to use or include a symbol.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Kr5ddit is a money moderated discussion forum where you can discuss anything we like.
We are the owners of kr5dditz, we decide what gets on the front page!
kr5dditz are our site currency, and allow you to moderate.
You can buy or earn your kr5dditz.
You don't need an account to post, but you won't get your kr5dditz without one.
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Last (Bid - Ask): 0.25 (0.00 - 5.00) mbtc/kr5dditz
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On Offer: 0.76 mbtc 13.41 kr5dditz
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Donations: bitcoin:1Dy5rLHwt8wk79C6jfH6uRf2bpcVnJtNyQ
God, please move the stars to get rid of this outrage


text:
Angry Birds Star Wars has been updated with 20 new levels on the ice world of Hoth, a new pink bird that stars as Princess Leia, and more.
It is a dark time for the Rebellion. Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet, a group of freedom fighters has established a new secret base on the remote ice world of Hoth. Unfortunately the evil Darth Vader discovers their hideout, and the desperate Rebel birds must escape the AT-ATs and Pigtroopers hot on their trail. But the Rebels have an ace up their sleeve with the debut of PRINCESS LEIA!
As the birds head to the ice world of Hoth, Princess Leia joins the Rebels with her special ability -- a power GFD device that draw items to her. In addition to the 20 new levels on this world, there are also new bonus levels to be discovered.
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This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy for more details.


text:
NewsPosted: JANUARY 23 2012
Tax Commissioner Fong & Agriculture Commissioner Goehring to Co-Host Meeting to Discuss 2012 Agricultural Land Values
BISMARCK, N.D. – Tax Commissioner Cory Fong and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring will co-host a meeting with representatives of the state's agricultural organizations to discuss the 2012 agricultural land values on Wednesday, January 25. The meeting will begin at 1:30 pm in the Pioneer Room (located on the Ground Floor of the Judicial Wing of the State Capitol). Staff from the Tax Department, Department of Agriculture, along with the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics at NDSU will be on hand for the discussion.
The meeting will include a review of how agricultural land values are determined focusing on the impacts of production, the costs of production and the capitalization rate on the 2012 agricultural land values.
For more information about the meeting, please contact Peggy Brintnell, Executive Assistant to Commissioner Fong at 701.328.2771 or by email at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Editor's Note: CNS staffer Mark Pattison traveled to the Holy Land in September as part of a study tour sponsored by the Catholic Near East Welfare Association and funded in part by the Catholic Communication Campaign. We will highlight his trip as the Vatican prepares for the Oct. 10-24 Synod of Bishops for the Middle East.
This is not meant to be an advertisement for the Pontifical Institute Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center, or "Vatican guesthouse" in more colloquial terms. But it's a nice respite for weary travelers in an arid land.
Notre Dame is located across the street from Jerusalem's Old City. Starting in 1882, it was run by French Assumptionists to be a center for French pilgrims. The center also doubled as a seminary until World War I.
However, during the Israeli-Arab war of 1948, two bombs struck Notre Dame, rendering part of it uninhabitable. The Israeli army used the center as a guard post. The Assumptionists used it as a shelter for refugees. Things slowly returned to normal, but it was a "new normal," with far fewer pilgrims coming to stay there. In 1972, one year before yet another Arab-Israeli war, the Assumptionists turned over Notre Dame to the Vatican.
Pope Paul VI, who visited Jerusalem in 1964, made the rehabilitation of Notre Dame a pet project, but he did not live to see its completion. In December 1978, four months after Pope Paul's death, Cardinal Terence Cooke of New York promulgated a decree signed by Pope John Paul II making Notre Dame a pontifical institute and an ecumenical holy place and a center for public worship.
The 1987 intifada and the 1991 Persian Gulf War kept tourists away again. The second intifada, in 2000, nearly did in Notre Dame. It closed Sept. 1, 2001, 10 days before the terror attacks that struck the United States.
In November 2004, five months before his death, Pope John Paul issued a "motu proprio" entrusting the care of Notre Dame to the Legionaries of Christ.
They've certainly spiffed up the place. La Rotisserie, the restaurant attached to the guesthouse, is said to have the best Western food in Jerusalem and at a price better than its competition. But for roughly $160 a night, taking into account fluctuating currency exchange rates, travelers get a nicely appointed room. There's a queen- or king-sized bed, a love seat, a coffeemaker, a hair dryer, and some rooms even have a flat-screen TV. On a coffee table there's a dish of assorted fruits, a second dish with assorted cookies, a bottle of water and even a small bottle of merlot.
Drawbacks? One for sure: The Assumptionists probably hadn't considered this in 1882, but the thick limestone walls of Notre Dame make it pretty darn tough to get a wi-fi connection.


text:
Another project completed on time & under budget! Adam Lesson, The Peterson Companies
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text:
The State University of New York conferred two honorary degrees at the Oswego Commencement: an honorary doctor of science degree to Augustine Silveira Jr., emeritus distinguished teaching professor of chemistry at Oswego, and an honorary doctor of humane letters degree to Frank G. Pogue, president of Grambling State University in Louisiana.
"Seek your place in the world by following your own dreams, while at the same time, cultivating inner strength and a set of values and ethics that will guide you through life," urged Silveira, who was honored at the morning commencement ceremony.
"Colleges and universities may be the only hope we have left to ensure the creation of a civil democratic society," Pogue told graduates at the afternoon Commencement.


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Monday, November 23, 2009
Jaundiced Eyes
Here's a novel idea. Maybe if your husband could have produced a video that didn't make an amateur You Tube presentation look like a relative IMAX, the coalition might have got off the ground. Maybe if the horrendous visual was delivered on TIME, as a nation waited to hear from the next PM, the coalition might have had a chance. MAYBE, if your husband didn't lead the Liberals to the worst defeat in it's history, the idea of a coalition might have generated the CREDIBILITY it needed to FLY. I have one word for the poetic musing from Krieber, WHINY.
Liberals are basically ignoring this story, and really its predictive quality, as well as the useless bitterness, validates any silence. However, it's the revisionism that is being bastardized by others, that deserves comment. Stephane Dion did JACK SQUAT to reform and rebuild the Liberal Party. Only after we were soundly defeated, did the idea even reach the backburner. I know for a fact, many that went to Dion at the convention, seeing him as a vehicle for reform, were ENTIRELY DISAPPOINTED, Dion was OLD SCHOOL to the bone. Let's call a spade a spade shall we, without the romanticized rearview mirror routine.
The Liberal Party is in great trouble. Wow, that's news. The only part missing, it was a relatively worse DISASTER when your husband had the helm. Leaving aside an IPSOS REID poll, any other INTERNAL measure shows the Liberals in better shape than they were under Ignatieff's predessor. Membership, fundraising, organization, strength of team, all the nuts an bolts are a positive, contrasted with the PAST. Let's keep it real, all factors taken into account.
On the "grassroots" front, seems to me the only reason Stephane finished third on the first ballot, was because he enjoyed more support from the ELITES than Kennedy did. Yes, that's right, for all this grassroot crap being bandied about, it was superdelegates that put Dion into motion, and it was the loyalty Kennedy enjoyed from HIS delegates, which put it all together. This grassroots stuff has reached mythical proportions, when in reality my view of the rank and file was always UNEASE overall, with Dion at the helm. As an aside, one could argue the Liberal Party had no TRUE grassroots in 2006, in any sense of the word.
In many ways Stephane Dion got a raw deal. I think he would have made a fantastic Prime Minister, and Canada is the lesser that he lost to Harper. HOWEVER, the fact remains that Dion didn't RESONATE, not only with Canadians, but with Liberal members (the supposed grassroots Kreiber champions). For whatever reason, his approach didn't instill confidence, his paranoid team that kept everyone at bay, his stubborness, these factors all contributed to his short tenure. If the confidence did exist amongst the rank and file, and NO not just the elites, then he could have survived the WORST showing in history. Dion didn't, and for ONCE I'd like to see somebody take some responsibility, rather than blaming shadows. Dion blew it during the coalition debate, I've never been so EMBARRASSED than I was, waiting for the clowns to deliver that horrific tape. It was so symbolic of so many things, that SHIT never happens to a credible team and leader, for such a momentus event.
Jane Kreiber is bitter. I'm so shocked. There are many lessons the Liberals need to learn, but the advice from the disjointed loyal wife of a former leader, isn't something I take seriously or inject my own bias onto. Whatever, given the source.
13 comments:
- Robert said...
In hindsight, I think telegraphing the coalition through an announcement etc, was a mistake; they tipped their hands too soon.
Catching the Conservatives off-guard would have been better, the outcome a fait accompli.
- 12:49 PM, November 23, 2009
- Steve V said...
You're probably right. And, maybe having the most basic of political instinct, to realize a photo-op with GILLES DUCEPPE, might not have been a good call.
- 12:51 PM, November 23, 2009
- Steve V said...
Just for the record, after the last election I fought for Dion to stay on, even corresponded to Krieber to express support.
- 12:53 PM, November 23, 2009
- Francesco said...
Your analysis is bang on. Her rant on Friday afternoon was nothing more or less than "sour grapes" and a bit revisionist history!!!
- 12:59 PM, November 23, 2009
- Gayle said...
Most liberals are ignoring her comments because they recognize the post was influenced by her emotional attachment to her husband, which is only natural.
With the greatest of respect Steve, I dpnt think a post that appears to be attacking her and her husband is necessary.
Ignatieff had to know that if he failed in his leadership, his own actions would come back to haunt him. Living by the sword and all that....
Frankly I think he's lucky he has not faced more of this.
Time to let sleeping dogs lie. Time to move on. Someone has to be big enough to let it go.
- 1:01 PM, November 23, 2009
- Steve V said...
"Someone has to be big enough to let it go."
Gayle, you seem to take the view that her commentary is valid, but any RETORT unnecessary. She threw out a bunch of revisionist nonsense, I'm merely addressing. I've always liked her, and thought the Libs would have done well to give her a higher profile. That said, I see no reason to bite my tongue, while someone else is entitled to spew. Your comment isn't fair.
- 1:04 PM, November 23, 2009
- Steve V said...
I also find your perspective a bit inconsistent, given the constant criticism on public infighting. Why the omission here, and maybe you need to see how your own relativism is bias driven.
- 1:10 PM, November 23, 2009
- Gayle said...
Steve. - I never said her comment was valid. I do not think it is. I do think it can be written off as an emotional response to what happened to the man she loves.
I do not see the merit in dragging this out. Someone has to let it go. If she can't, the rest of you will have to.
- 1:16 PM, November 23, 2009
- Steve V said...
I understand what you're saying on the "let it go front". I don't sense any backlash within the party at all, which speaks volumes. I'm just addressing a few things which need to be pointed out. It's just a blog ;)
- 1:19 PM, November 23, 2009
- Jeff Jedras said...
There are valid points within her post, and there are invalid ones. Obviously we know her biases, and we can judge her comments through them appropriately.
I have no desire to rehash the past and re-open old wounds. We know what we have to do, and either we'll do it or we won't. Only time will tell on that count.
But if I start to read people unfairly bashing Stephane Dion, or, as I've begun to see in some of the Kreiber coverage, anonymously bashing her and Stephane in an attempt to discredit them and their commentary, then I'm going to get off the bench and fight back with all the middling power of my keyboard against such unmitigated bullshit.
I don't think such a course would be particularly helpful for the party so I'm not inclined to do so, but I will, if necessary.
Let's keep the focus on the present. As I said, we know what the problems are, and they go deeper than the last four leaders. Michael has the job now. He has taken some corrective action and freshened the team. Either it will work or it won't. But now it's up to him.
And it's up to us.
- 2:43 PM, November 23, 2009
- Steve V said...
"But if I start to read people unfairly bashing Stephane Dion"
I don't think I've done that here, it's a valid perspective of the record.
- 2:47 PM, November 23, 2009
- Anonymous said...
Hey Steve,
I haven't commented as much lately, and imagine most everyone is done with this topic. But I wanted to point out your reaction to this was - not surprisingly ;) - pretty much identical to mind. I immediately thought of the botched response video as well.
Hope you're doing well. Was the fishing good last week? ;)
- 1:43 AM, November 24, 2009
- Steve V said...
Had a great time.
Hope you're doing well, and writing lots ;)
- 12:40 PM, November 24, 2009


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Scott, James and Hoffman, Frank and Addlesee, Mike and Mapp, Glenford E. and Hopper, Andy (2002) Networked surfaces: a new concept in mobile networking. Mobile Networks and Applications, 7 (5). pp. 353-364. ISSN 1383-469X


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Richard O'Barry has pledged to spend the rest of his life protecting dolphins who cannot defend themselves against the cruelty of man. To project and spread this message the award winning movie The Cove was made to bring into the light the horrifying atrocities commited within the killing cove in Taiji, Japan. Please rent or buy the movie The Cove and then spread the word about this eye opening…
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It is Saturday afternoon. It has been a while since I found myself sitting at home, not thinking that I should be on the bike or planning my next training ride. It feels strange in a way but it feels relaxing also.
I had an intense week, a week that generated a lot of stress, pain and sadness. Not just to me but to people around me and people many, many kilometers away. Unfortunately, a week that will bring a series of minor and less than desirable issues into our lives.
The injuries from my accidents weren't too bad, they could have been much worst. With time, they should heal and I should have no problems going back to my normal life.
However, the thought of been exposed to those type of situations, which easily could have put me in a more critical state, is somehow scary.
Also scary for the people around me and scary for the people many, many kilometers away. Not because we are cyclists, not because we are good people but because we are people and being people we are forever vulnerable to the sorts of circumstances we have no control over.
Thus, to sit here, quietly, trying to put some words together is delightful. Really.
Thanks for all the Get Well! messages and I will see you out there, soon...


text: Interested in buying a used powersports vehicle? You will find plenty of options on HiBid.com, including used utility vehicles (UTVs), all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), golf carts, jet skis, snowmobiles (or snow machines), and go carts. They come from popular brands like Arctic Cat, Can-Am, Club Car, Cub Cadet, Honda, John Deere, Kawasaki, Komodo, Kubota, Polaris, Ski-Doo, and Yamaha. There are also lots offering used components and accessories, such as seats, tires, dollies, sleds, covers, enclosures, racks, and more. If you don't find what you're looking for right now, check back again soon. Our website is continually updated, with new auction items in the Powersports category added daily.


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The Vanuatu Paralympic Committee is a not-for-profit organisation that provides opportunities for people with disabilities in Vanuatu to play sports both within Vanuatu and internationally.
The VPC currently works with Vanuatu National Sports Federations and Disability Committees to provide sporting programs in athletics, cricket and tennis.
In 2012, Marcel Houssimoli, became the first Vanuatu Paralympian to make a Paralympics Final in the T38 400m Final. The VPC is hard at work to make Rio de Janeiro 2016 Paralympics another great success for Vanuatu.


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by Tom Utescher
Senior Brooke Sabia shoots the fourth Mount St. Joseph goal in last Friday's District 1 third–place game. North Penn scored three times after that to pull out a 5-4 overtime victory. (Photo by Tom Utescher)
Last week Mount St. Joseph Academy was ahead in the second half during both of its "Final Four" field hockey games in the District 1 tournament, but the Magic wound up losing both matches in overtime and became the district's fourth-seeded team heading into the PIAA Class AAA state tournament.
Seeded seventh for the district tourney, Mount St. Joe (17-3 overall) allowed number 11 Unionville High School to tie their Tuesday tilt, 3-3, near the end of regulation play, and after two fruitless overtime periods, the Indians won on penalty strokes. Three days later in the third-place playoff at Wissahickon High School, 16th-seeded North Penn scored the last two goals in regulation to force the Magic into overtime, and the Maidens found the cage just a few minutes into the extra session to win 5-4.
"I think we struggled to play as a team today," said MSJ coach Christina Peruto Post on Friday. "We have some younger girls filling in for some people who are injured, and I think our more experienced players tried to take the team on their back, tried to do a little too much on their own. We told them that now that we'll be in States, we're back to a one-and-done situation [last week's games did not affect the Magic's inclusion in the state tourney, just their seeding], and we need to play together."
The Mount went into the final four without an important offensive weapon, Ali Waters, who was struck in the knee by a ball during warm-ups for the team's quarterfinal match the previous Friday. The junior may not be one of the Magic's most heralded scorers, but she's provided a number of important markers this fall, including three of the four total goals that Mount St. Joe scored against Catholic Academies rival Villa Maria.
Nevertheless, on Wednesday the Magic were just two minutes away from a trip to the District championship game. Junior Anne Burgoyne opened the scoring against Unionville, but the Mounties found themselves trailing 2-1 at the interlude. In the second half senior Brooke Sabia tied the contest on a penalty stroke, and with ten minutes left to play her twin sister Allie also cracked the backboard, giving Mount St. Joe a 3-2 lead.
Unionville attacked vigorously after that, keeping the Magic penned up in their own end of the field, but the clock dropped down to the two-minute mark with the Mount's slim lead still intact. However, with 1:55 remaining, the Indians balanced the scoreboard at 3-3.
Mount St. Joe generated a number of scoring opportunities in a pair of 15-minute overtime periods, but couldn't get anything to go in. After that, Unionville goalie Same Carlino sealed the victory for her club by stopping the first three penalty strokes taken by the Mount.
Friday's opponent, the North Penn Maidens, had NCAA Division I recruits filling the roles of chief offensive weapon (high scorer Emilie Ikeda will attend American University) and last line of defense (goalie Shannon Keen is bound for Bucknell). However, most team members are focused primarily on other sports, particularly lacrosse, so all-round athleticism and intensity are prominent characteristics of the club.
"I don't coach according to who our opponent is; I like to get our team out there playing our best game," observed Maidens mentor Carrie Jankowski. "My philosophy is be aggressive, go hard to every free ball, and control the tone of the game that way. At the very least, you're going to take the other team out of their game plan.
North Penn fell short of that objective in its semifinal match, losing to eventual district champ Owen J. Roberts, 3-0.
"We didn't really come ready to play on Tuesday," Jankowski related. "I think today the girls were pretty fired up to redeem themselves. They fought really hard in this game."
For Friday's bout at Wissahickon, the ladies from Lansdale were missing regular starter Bobby Dougherty, a senior, while the Magic were still without Waters and also had sophomore Carl Beal sidelined due to a concussion.
Mount St. Joe made the first rush of the afternoon, but the Maidens quickly came back down the turf and earned a corner, sending a shot wide to the left. The ebb and flow continued until the Magic scored in the aftermath of back-to-back corner plays.
The second of these restarts didn't lead directly to a goal, but the Mounties kept the action in the North Penn circle. The ball went from Brooke Sabia to junior Emilee Ehret to the scorer, Burgoyne, with 17:14 remaining in the first half. The lead didn't last long, as Maidens senior Kelley Colbridge leveled the score exactly two minutes later.
Roughly five minutes after that, an MSJ corner engendered a flurry of shots, and the result was a North Penn foul that yielded a penalty stroke for the Magic. With 10:35 left in the opening period, Brooke Sabia cashed in from the stroke line, lifting the ball into the roof of the cage at the right corner. The same Sabia drove the ball at the cage from the top of the circle on another corner in the final minute of the period, but a teammate's tip-in attempt went outside of the left post.
"We didn't know much about their team this year," said North Penn's Jankowski, "but we saw pretty quickly that they were very dangerous on their corners."
Mount St. Joe went into the break leading 2-1 in goals and 3-2 in corners, but neither advantage lasted long. Just 54 seconds into the trailing half Maidens senior Juliamae Marger evened up the score, and North Penn would go on to enjoy seven corners to the Magic's three.
A third of the way through the second period, the Sabia sisters each scored a goal in a three-minute span. Allie fired first with 22:40 to play, and from the middle of the circle Brooke banged in her second of the day at 19:16.
What briefly seemed like a solid lead became a shaky one as North Penn responded immediately, with Ikeda clicking to make it 4-3 with 18:05 up in lights. Ten more minutes went by without an equalizer for the Maidens, despite a series of chances on corners and in open play.
The Magic would fend off an assault, but then would have trouble transporting the ball to the offensive end. In the heat of some of their tougher battles this season, the Mounties would sometimes forget every coach's injunction to move the ball upfield out on the wings, and would try to jam it through the middle. That happened here, and added to the Maidens' time of possession.
"We carried the ball too much instead of using our passing game," admitted MSJ coach Christina Peruto Post. "We took it right into them even though we knew they were good at block tackles."
When a ball fired by North Penn ricocheted up out of danger off the foot of a Mount field player at the goal line, the resulting penalty stroke was taken by Ikeda. With 7:53 to go, she shot low on the right to tie the match at 4-4, a count that held up until the end of the second half.
Early in overtime the Magic was awarded a corner, but the shot they launched deflected off a defender's stick. The Maidens marched right back up the pitch and got the ball into the circle for Ikeda, who was high up, a little right of center. She pounded a shot that sped between a number of players lower in the scoring loop and MSJ fans heard the deflating sound of the ball banging into the backboard of the cage.
In goal, Keen was credited with two saves in the victory, while the Magic received four stops from sophomore Christina Black.


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The Games of Hera – by Lady Goo Goo Sports Reporter, Monday 28th May 2012
Throughout time many stories have been told of girls' participation in sport. These stories have entered the cultural heritage of a people. Sometimes those stories have been limiting to the encouragement of girls into sport.
One of the greatest stories of women participating in sport, goes back to the great Ancient Olympics. Women and girls did not participate in these games, although they did have their own festival dedicated to the Goddess, Hera, the wife of Zues who was the head man at the Ancient Games.
Participating in the Heraean Games back in ancient days was a big motivator for me to drive the Galaxic Women's Sport Foundation. Although it was great to be able to participate, there were some very strange rules back then.
A committee of 16 women from a cities of Elis organised the event. Like the ancient Olympics, the event was conducted every 4 years.
Every year the Heraean Games were held, a peplos or a robe was woven and presented to the great Goddess, Hera and placed in her temple.
Girls competed in 3 age groups in only 3 separate foot races the length of the chariot's racecourse, but less distance than the men. It was known as the "Maiden's Footrace" in honor of the goddess, Hera. The winners received Olive crowns, just like the Olympic victors and a share of the cow sacrificed to Hera.
One of the conditions to compete was that the girls who participated were not allowed to be married. If a married woman was found to have competed she was "barred on penalty of death from the sanctuary of Zues on the days of the athletic competition for boys and men." Legend also has it that women and girls were not permitted to watch the men and boys events.
This ban was a key motivator to establish, in another universe outside of Earth, the Inter Galatical Girls Warrior Sports Foundation. I'll write more on this foundation in future posts:) I will also be covering the concept of music and sport in future articles
As a background, take a look at these videos:
Olympian Goddesses of Ancient Greek Mythology
Astro Joey and the Cosmic Rays Music


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The New York Giants are facing something new heading into their game with the Chicago Bears.
For the first time in years, the Giants (6-3) are a legitimate playoff contender. They have won four in a row and are facing somewhat new questions preparing to play the struggling Bears (2-7) Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Is this a trap game for a team that hasn't made the postseason since 2011? Are they going to look past Chicago and even Cleveland (0-10) the following week and assume they are going to be 8-3 heading into the final five games?
Giants coach Ben McAdoo doesn't want to hear the questions. His team is coming off an emotional Monday night win against the Bengals, and...


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The Costa Mesa Affordable Housing Coalition has been following the Daily Pilot's coverage of our city's motels with great interest. As mentioned in the articles, some motels have served for years as the only affordable long-term housing for many very low-income families in Costa Mesa.
For us, that is a real plus. However, we would never advocate sustaining dangerous, unhealthy and unsafe lodging for these already vulnerable families. We felt we needed to learn more about the charges.
Since the Costa Mesa Motor Inn seemed prominent in the coverage, and since it houses the largest number of families, we toured the facility and met with the manager. From the Pilot's articles, which stated the Motor Lodge has been cited for various violations and fined more than $40,000, we were fully expecting to find something akin to a slum.
However, we were pleasantly surprised at how well-kept the buildings and grounds were. The site has lovely landscaping with green lawns and lush plants, a large play area with tot-lot equipment and picnic tables.
The motel has a well-maintained swimming pool (where, incidentally, a gentleman was relaxing while reading the paper — a tourist maybe?). The entrance/lobby has a tiled marble fountain. Plans call for repainting the whole motel and repaving the parking lots.
Our group was able to go into one of the newly refurbished rooms. We were impressed with the quality of materials being used and the general desire to provide clean and safe housing.
The manager answered questions and gave us a picture of who his tenants are. He explained that the motel has not paid any fines yet. The management immediately responded to the cited violations, and he estimated that ultimately, the motel may have to pay only about $1,800 in fines.
The most serious charge seemed to be the number of smoke detectors that were not working. He pointed out that most of them only needed to have the batteries replaced. The tenants remove them so the alarms don't go off while they are cooking.
The motel management replaced more than 100 screens, which had some tears, and made minor plumbing repairs, and generally were able to fix most of the more serious violations within 10 days.
We asked him about the large number of police calls reported, and he said the majority of them are for domestic violence. He said many of these families are under a great deal of stress and take their frustrations out on each other.
Many of the police calls are triggered by couples yelling and screaming at each other and not by physical violence. He knows some calls are pranks — kids dialing 911 on the public phones outside the buildings. He is trying to get the phones removed.
(Maybe we could get a record of how many calls were for drugs, alcohol and prostitution so we don't sound too Pollyanna-ish.)
The manager impressed us with his desire to make his motel a model for providing needed housing for families that can't afford the up-front costs of renting an apartment. He is determined to upgrade all the roomsand make them cheerful and bright. The owners have approved expanded cable service so kids can watch Nickelodeon and teens can watch MTV.
The manager has brought in services such as tutoring by UC Irvine students, a mobile health clinic, parties for the kids, clothing distribution, and job search help, and has tried to print fliers describing services and reminding parents that their children need to be inside by 10 p.m. He has been told that these activities are not allowed at a motel, and so they have been discontinued.
Besides families, senior citizens and people who have recently been discharged from Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach and have no place to go have also found long-term shelter at the motel. The Illumination Foundation provides services for them, and Hoag pays their rent.
The Costa Mesa Motor Inn has a varied community, with undoubtedly some bad apples. It seems to be trying very hard to provide a badly needed type of housing, easing homelessness and giving people a chance to get on their feet. The management wants to cooperate with the city to do what is necessary to keep Costa Mesa from blight and is determined not to be classified as a "public nuisance."
Recently, the planned affordable housing development for families at Fair Drive and Harbor Boulevard was put on hold by the state. That project was to provide a large part of the affordable housing needed in Costa Mesa.
As Costa Mesa residents and advocates for affordable housing for very low-income families, we think the Costa Mesa Motor Inn deserves a chance to improve and prove itself a good neighbor. It certainly shouldn't be targeted or harassed.
JEAN FORBATH is a member of the Costa Mesa Housing Coalition and a former executive director of Share Our Selves.


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Automating your Android Phone with SL4A
First Example
In the first installment of this article we looked at getting Google's Scripting Layer for Android (SL4A) downloaded and installed on your Android phone. We examined the basics of writing scripts using Python and even included a short script to set a few of the profile settings. This time we'll take a look at some of the sample scripts found on the SL4A website and talk about how you might write a script of your own.
figure 1
The first thing you should do after installing the SL4A application on your phone is to add a shortcut to the scripts folder on one of the home screens. On the HTC EVO you can do this by pressing on an empty space and hold until the Add to Home dialog appears. From here you can add a Widget, App, Shortcut or Folder. Selecting Folder presents a list of available folders and an option to create a New Folder. Selecting the Scripts folder will add a folder icon to the current home screen. Once that's done, you'll have single-click access to any of the scripts stored on your SD card in the sl4a/scripts directory.
Useful Samples
It seems as though there is a universal rule when teaching a new programming language that you must create a program to output the phrase "Hello World". SL4A holds to this premise and includes a link to a version of this program on the Wiki Tutorials page. If you take a look at some of the examples on that page, you'll see a number of items with potential uses like Twitter clients, talking weather forecast, a silent mode trigger to set the phone to vibrate during sleeping hours and more. We'll take a look at a few of those samples to help explore the possibilities.
One of the really useful examples in the tutorial list is under the title "How to get your own IP address". This example creates a simple HTTP server on your phone that you can connect to from your host machine. If you have WiFi enabled on the phone and it's on the same network as your host machine, you'll be able to use a web browser to view the files on your SD card. This can come in really handy when you're out and about and you'd like to quickly move a picture from your phone to say your netbook. The source code for this looks like:
import SimpleHTTPServer
from os import chdir
chdir('/sdcard/ /dcim/Camera'')
Then you just hit the IP address of your phone from a browser and download images using a right mouse click and 'Save As'.
- Skip Ahead
- 1. First Example
- 2. First Example


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Follow RFF News on your cell phone. Text follow rff to 40404 you will receive txt messages with RFF News
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Episode 4 title quote is up:
Leg 4. Thanks to Nyoman_SB1 and Chateau!I can't confirm the exact location for Sandy Bottom, but that's the closest match I've found.
From the spoiler team in Bali, this looks like the Kenanga Hotel in Ubud:And the big hut in the caps:Wonder if the Bali team (or others) can point out the Pit Stop to me on a map? I can't find the platform on Google Earth...
Are they just exaggerating the "LONGEST LEG" portion?
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fxmarketinginc needed a new web page design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 16 designs submitted by 5 freelance designers.
I need design done for a new product we are launching called Breakthrough Video Wealth.
Breakthrough Video Wealth
The design must use the title, incorporate cash into the design and depict "wealth using video".
I need the following included in the designs:
- 3D Video Cases and workbooks depicting the products (Set of 8 DVDs and 2 workbooks) I need this in a set and seperated.
- Bullets (for website)
- Order Button that says (Click To Order Now!)
- Powerpoint Slide background
- Call out boxes for testimonials on the website (should be some type of 3d effect like a page curl or drop shadow. Please be creative!
- The style must be current and use of sleek lines and colors is advised.
- While not required, a few colors we like are dark reds, greys, and blacks with reflections.
- The use of reflections is required in the design.
- Poor design. If you're not a designer don't compete. We need real quality and can spot poor design easily.