There are about 270 million guns in America today. About 46 million of them can be used to wipe out a classroom of kids in under a minute. Because neither gun registration nor weapon training is mandatory, we don’t know which of those guns are in the hands of people with a violent history or which gun owners know how to safely use their weapons.
During the first decade of the new millennium, there were more than 140,000 homicides in America. More than half were shootings. There were more suicides than homicides each year and about half of those were committed with a gun. As the slogan says, guns didn’t, by themselves, kill those folks. But people with guns very definitely did.
The 1981 shooting that sent a bullet into President Reagan’s chest and another into Press Secretary Brady’s brain inspired the Brady Law. That’s the law that mandates background checks for gun purchases from licensed gun dealers — “private” sales are exempt from background checks. NRA-funded opposition stalled the law’s passage for more than 10 years. Although NRA-funded lawsuits weakened the law after it was passed, about 70,000 felons and fugitives from justice were prevented from buying a gun in 2007 alone.
The NRA’s message to senators and congressmen continues to be, “Don’t get between us and our weapons or you’ll never get elected again.” After the recent Connecticut disaster, NRA President David Keene added to that message. He wants to prevent similar tragedies with armed guards. And not just in schools. He wants to make America safe and free by turning it into an armed camp. Mr. Keene, it doesn’t work that way. The “War to End All Wars” didn’t. “Good guys with guns” won’t end all massacres. It wasn’t a good guy pointing a gun who immobilized the Tucson shooter in 2011.
While refusing to acknowledge the role played by easy access to lethal force, Keene blames violent media and mental health system failures for the tragedy. So let’s tell the NRA to put their money where David Keene’s mouth is. Keene says that deficiencies in our mental health systems cause murders. It does seem likely that if we were able to accurately identify folks who are very likely to be violent and to safely and responsibly divert them from violent behavior, we’d see fewer homicides and suicides. So instead of bribing candidates to vote against gun control laws to the tune of at least $2 million per year, the NRA can fix aSecond Amendment rights are no different from other rights — they come with responsibilities. Both speech and bearing arms are covered by the Bill of Rights. Even speakers, less lethal than shooters, are expected to be responsible.
When they aren’t and their speech becomes dangerous to the public, that speech can also become illegal — yelling “Fire!” when you know there is none comes to mind. When someone who poses a threat to their own safety or that of the public acquires a gun, that transaction demonstrates irresponsibility on the part of the gun’s recipient and sometimes the provider.
We need to have a conversation about insisting that all gun owners and gun sellers accept the responsibilities that come with their rights: learning how to safely use and care for weapons; preventing weapons from being stolen; and keeping weapons out of the hands of young children, of seriously depressed people and people with a history of violence. David Keene doesn’t want to participate in that conversation. That’s too bad. I have a hunch that many NRA members could make valuable contributions
With or without NRA money, we will continue to learn more about brain disease. While we’re doing that, public safety demands that we all accept our responsibilities. National mandatory gun registration, weapons training and background checks for all gun acquisitions will go a long way toward making that happen. That plan doesn’t remove the right to bear arms. It does protect other important rights: the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” problem identified by their leader: they can write an annual $2 million check to the National Institutes of Mental Health to fund research with two goals:learn how brains become so disordered that they direct people to take their own lives and the lives of others and learn how to short circuit that process.
Today, most people suffer under globalistic slavery: either wage slavery or physical, chattel slavery. There are currently more than 27 million people physically enslaved as chattel. 1 Approximately 95% of the 6.4 billion persons now living suffer under wage slavery at one time in their lives: 6.175 billion.
Note carefully your feelings when you read the word slavery, as though it couldn't possibly be that people are literally slaves today--slavery seems like an outmoded form of life from previous centuries. Whatever we feel, slavery is very much a fact of life for most people in the world today. A person is a slave if he has lost control over his life and is dominated by someone or something--whether he is aware of this or not. Wage slavery is the condition in which a person must sell his or her labor-power, submitting to the authority of an employer, in order to merely subsist.
At present we are suffering from the seizure of all branches of American government by a demonic cabal and its Obama puppet regime. Bush II was put into power with the connivance of the criminal acts of his brother Jeb in Florida and the coup d'etat perpetrated by the reactionary Supreme Court appointing Bush president in 2000. Under the cabal puppets such as Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and Obama, America has become an imperialistic, militaristic banana republic.
The ravages of wage slavery are becoming clear for all Americans to see and feel. We either overthrow this new slavery or we will end up chattel slaves to a new capitalist class of criminal thugs. To help us re-establish our Constitutional freedoms, we must establish equitable economic principles. We can begin by working for the realization of the Second Bill of Rights as presented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his State of the Union Address in January, 1944.
During his State of the Union Address, Roosevelt declared that the nation had come to recognize, and should now implement, a second bill of rights. Roosevelt did not argue for any change to the United States Constitution; he believed that the second bill of rights should be implemented politically, not by federal judges. Roosevelt's stated justification was that the "political rights" granted by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights had "proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness." Roosevelt's remedy was to create an "economic bill of rights" which would guarantee.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Jarvis DeBerry
If you thought 2012 was a strange year for us Earthlings - what with the demonization of hooded sweatshirts, the prediction of humanity's demise and Republican candidate Newt Gingrich running on moon colonies and back-and-forth trips to Mars - it was crazier still in Bizarro World. You DC Comics fans know Bizarro World. It's the place where folks do everything we do, but backwards. It's hard to conceive of the stuff that goes on there.
For example, in their second month of the year, folks on that planet had a he-said/he-dead shooting similar yet completely opposite to the one in Sanford, Fla., where 28-year-old George Zimmerman killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Just like here, police assigned the victim and the gunman to different racial categories: black and white. But there the victim was white. That's right. Police arrived on the scene to find a black teenager, smoking gun in hand, standing over the body of a dead white man.
Down here, a suspect fitting that description and in those circumstances would know to assume the position, but this teenager didn't fold. He stood his ground. And in keeping with their policy against jumping to conclusions, detectives on the scene kindly asked him to explain to them what had transpired.
This is what he said: "I was walking home, minding my own business, when this guy," he pointed at the blood-soaked body on the ground, "ran me down. I didn't know what he might do, but it was dark, I was scared, and he put his hands on me. Don't I have the right to defend myself? So I took his gun from him. Shot him with it."
The officers all made eye contact with one another. "You believe this guy?" one cop said. And would you believe it, but yes! They all believed him! Slapped him on the back and wished him a good night. They didn't investigate or make an arrest. Why? The kid said he was innocent. The victim couldn't contradict him. Case closed.
Later the news broke that the teenager may have previously smoked marijuana, but nobody held that against him or even considered it relevant. Because young folks were considered more likely to make mistakes, they were the ones to whom police showed the most leniency.
No tolerance, though, for middle-age folks. In fact, police stopped and frisked untold thousands of patrons walking toward that world's Festival of Jazz and shook their cargo shorts free of joints. What a sight that was: sunburned geezers splayed out over the hoods of the police cars before being frogmarched into paddy wagons and summarily convicted of crimes. The convictions cost them their jobs and made it impossible for them to get hired for new ones.
Actually, the folks on the backwards planet didn't do everything consistently. There were some places there where government officials decided to treat those who abused drugs and not jail them. Hey, I told you you wouldn't believe this place. Here in the jailingnest state in the jailingnest nation on Earth, it's hard to conceive of a place where people aren't locked up for getting high.
Nothing gets a man locked up quicker on Bizarro World than attacking a woman. In fact, the commissioner of their most violent and popular game sprang to action when it was shown to him that two-thirds of the teams in his league employed a man who'd been arrested for domestic violence or sexual assault. He suspended all the players involved and made their teams pay a hefty fine for hiring them in the first place. It made the league look bad, the commissioner said in a statement.
"This type of conduct will not be tolerated. We have made significant progress in changing the culture, and we are not going to relent. We have more work to do and we will do it." The commissioner said turning a blind eye to such crimes could lead to someone romantically involved with one of his players getting killed.
And one really ought to be about decreasing the frequency and agony of death. Consequently, the move there to make sure everybody had access to quality health care was met with unanimous approval. No governors refused money for the sick to keep himself ideologically pure. None of the officials with health care policy experience slashed mental health services. Nor did any decide to stop the government from paying for hospice.
The pair took on the big guys of the big-buck restoration business when they began the lengthy and painstaking restoration of the 1933 Alfa Romeo SC 1750 GS Coupe by Figoni for owners David and Adele Cohen of West Vancouver, and were rewarded by seeing it re-emerge on to the world’s classic car stage with an impressive impact.
The Alfa’s first appearance wowed the crowd and judges at Italy’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in May, where it scored a Best in Show triple, winning the Coppa d’Oro, Trofeo BMW Group and Villa Erba awards plus The Art of Streamlining class trophy. A few months later, at the prestigious Pebble Beach concours in California, it was a best in show nominee, won the Most Elegant Sports Car and European Sports Racing classes and the Road & Track trophy.
Responsible for this remarkable return to the glittering concours arena by the Alfa – its first public appearance was the Paris Salon of 1933 – are Mike Taylor and Ian Davey of RX Autoworks in North Vancouver.
“It’s the highlight of our career so far,” says Taylor of the Alfa, and the partnership that began when a 14-year-old Davey moved from Ontario to Vancouver 34 years ago. “We started out with bicycles, go-karts and then cars. Back then, that meant 1970s Japanese cars, which you could pick up for a couple of hundred dollars.”
Taylor had access to a garage and tools and the pair “hung out together” learning how fix them, aided by various high school shop courses.
They perfected their skills in various automotive jobs, but spent their free time in a three-car garage rented for their own projects in the late 1980s, where they soon found their talents in demand. “People would see us working on our cars and say, ‘Hey, I need that done’ and that’s how it started.”
The pair decided from day one that, “if we were going to do a job, we were going to do it right.” And that philosophy soon saw a 1970s Alfa Romeo GTV pass through their hands, followed by a customer “who took a real leap of faith” and turned over a Jaguar XK120 to their care. “It was a very rusty car,” recalls Taylor. “But repairing rust was our specialty after all those Japanese cars.” Rebuilt from the tires up, the Jag went on to win “all sorts of awards” for its owner, and new customers for RX Autoworks.
Restoring various Austin-Healeys and E-Type Jags soon evolved into the classic cars of the 1930s that are now its focus. “Restoration is an expensive process, and you need to have the value in the car at the end of it. You don’t generally want to be doing your Bugeye Sprite to the level we do it,” says Taylor, although they won’t turn you away if you want to.
For example, in their second month of the year, folks on that planet had a he-said/he-dead shooting similar yet completely opposite to the one in Sanford, Fla., where 28-year-old George Zimmerman killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Just like here, police assigned the victim and the gunman to different racial categories: black and white. But there the victim was white. That's right. Police arrived on the scene to find a black teenager, smoking gun in hand, standing over the body of a dead white man.
Down here, a suspect fitting that description and in those circumstances would know to assume the position, but this teenager didn't fold. He stood his ground. And in keeping with their policy against jumping to conclusions, detectives on the scene kindly asked him to explain to them what had transpired.
This is what he said: "I was walking home, minding my own business, when this guy," he pointed at the blood-soaked body on the ground, "ran me down. I didn't know what he might do, but it was dark, I was scared, and he put his hands on me. Don't I have the right to defend myself? So I took his gun from him. Shot him with it."
The officers all made eye contact with one another. "You believe this guy?" one cop said. And would you believe it, but yes! They all believed him! Slapped him on the back and wished him a good night. They didn't investigate or make an arrest. Why? The kid said he was innocent. The victim couldn't contradict him. Case closed.
Later the news broke that the teenager may have previously smoked marijuana, but nobody held that against him or even considered it relevant. Because young folks were considered more likely to make mistakes, they were the ones to whom police showed the most leniency.
No tolerance, though, for middle-age folks. In fact, police stopped and frisked untold thousands of patrons walking toward that world's Festival of Jazz and shook their cargo shorts free of joints. What a sight that was: sunburned geezers splayed out over the hoods of the police cars before being frogmarched into paddy wagons and summarily convicted of crimes. The convictions cost them their jobs and made it impossible for them to get hired for new ones.
Actually, the folks on the backwards planet didn't do everything consistently. There were some places there where government officials decided to treat those who abused drugs and not jail them. Hey, I told you you wouldn't believe this place. Here in the jailingnest state in the jailingnest nation on Earth, it's hard to conceive of a place where people aren't locked up for getting high.
Nothing gets a man locked up quicker on Bizarro World than attacking a woman. In fact, the commissioner of their most violent and popular game sprang to action when it was shown to him that two-thirds of the teams in his league employed a man who'd been arrested for domestic violence or sexual assault. He suspended all the players involved and made their teams pay a hefty fine for hiring them in the first place. It made the league look bad, the commissioner said in a statement.
"This type of conduct will not be tolerated. We have made significant progress in changing the culture, and we are not going to relent. We have more work to do and we will do it." The commissioner said turning a blind eye to such crimes could lead to someone romantically involved with one of his players getting killed.
And one really ought to be about decreasing the frequency and agony of death. Consequently, the move there to make sure everybody had access to quality health care was met with unanimous approval. No governors refused money for the sick to keep himself ideologically pure. None of the officials with health care policy experience slashed mental health services. Nor did any decide to stop the government from paying for hospice.
The pair took on the big guys of the big-buck restoration business when they began the lengthy and painstaking restoration of the 1933 Alfa Romeo SC 1750 GS Coupe by Figoni for owners David and Adele Cohen of West Vancouver, and were rewarded by seeing it re-emerge on to the world’s classic car stage with an impressive impact.
The Alfa’s first appearance wowed the crowd and judges at Italy’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in May, where it scored a Best in Show triple, winning the Coppa d’Oro, Trofeo BMW Group and Villa Erba awards plus The Art of Streamlining class trophy. A few months later, at the prestigious Pebble Beach concours in California, it was a best in show nominee, won the Most Elegant Sports Car and European Sports Racing classes and the Road & Track trophy.
Responsible for this remarkable return to the glittering concours arena by the Alfa – its first public appearance was the Paris Salon of 1933 – are Mike Taylor and Ian Davey of RX Autoworks in North Vancouver.
“It’s the highlight of our career so far,” says Taylor of the Alfa, and the partnership that began when a 14-year-old Davey moved from Ontario to Vancouver 34 years ago. “We started out with bicycles, go-karts and then cars. Back then, that meant 1970s Japanese cars, which you could pick up for a couple of hundred dollars.”
Taylor had access to a garage and tools and the pair “hung out together” learning how fix them, aided by various high school shop courses.
They perfected their skills in various automotive jobs, but spent their free time in a three-car garage rented for their own projects in the late 1980s, where they soon found their talents in demand. “People would see us working on our cars and say, ‘Hey, I need that done’ and that’s how it started.”
The pair decided from day one that, “if we were going to do a job, we were going to do it right.” And that philosophy soon saw a 1970s Alfa Romeo GTV pass through their hands, followed by a customer “who took a real leap of faith” and turned over a Jaguar XK120 to their care. “It was a very rusty car,” recalls Taylor. “But repairing rust was our specialty after all those Japanese cars.” Rebuilt from the tires up, the Jag went on to win “all sorts of awards” for its owner, and new customers for RX Autoworks.
Restoring various Austin-Healeys and E-Type Jags soon evolved into the classic cars of the 1930s that are now its focus. “Restoration is an expensive process, and you need to have the value in the car at the end of it. You don’t generally want to be doing your Bugeye Sprite to the level we do it,” says Taylor, although they won’t turn you away if you want to.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Mesa opts for HazSim to enhance hazmat training realism
After every annual drill, video-taped exercises are reviewed by training leadership, said Mesa Special Operations Capt. Paul Finley. He said they noticed in the recordings from last year that Level A personnel had detectors around their necks or in their pockets and paid little attention to it.
“They never once looked at the meter,” Finley said. “The meters never gave real-time feedback, which is not how it is in a real incident.”
To enhance training at this year’s drill, Mesa and Phoenix-area hazmat teams faced a one-ton Chlorine cylinder with a liquid leak. The personnel assigned to the recon and the decon teams were armed with HazSim training meters. The meter was used during simulated response by a recon team in the boundaries of the hot zone, Finley said. In decon, the meter was used to clear Level A entry team members before removing suits and also as a tool for facilitators to send an entry team member back to the shower for another wash cycle, he said.
Finley leased the system on a three-month basis for $1,000. And while there was a bit of a learning curve and what he said were “small glitches,” those who used HazSim commented that the device made their assignment in the drill more realistic. In addition, it helped chief leadership drive the actions and the drills from a remote location. He said watching the recon and decon team receive readings on the HazSim, process those readings, and adjust their actions based on the HazSim led to “very realistic training.”
The SmartStick FE02RF-BL was designed to be held horizontally in both hands, leaving both of the user's thumbs free to maneuver around the keyboard and touchpad. The top row of the SmartStick FE02RF-BL features volume and media playback controls, and off to the right side is its integrated touchpad. The left- and right-click buttons, meanwhile, are on the left side. Android hot keys (Home, AppMenu, Back, and Search) are beneath the touchpad, though some their functionality is lost on a PC; the Home button launches your web browser, the AppMenu button functions as a right-click, and the Search button opens your operating system's search tool. The keyboards' lower row features a Windows Start button and two function keys that, among other things, turns the Enter button into a Ctrl+Alt+Delete button.
The rounded edges of the SmartStick FE02RF-BL house a few additional features. In addition to the power button on the left side, the front edge sports a trio of buttons designed with presentations in mind, like Page Up and Page Down buttons that can cycle through PowerPoint slides and, most interestingly, a switch that controls the built-in laser pointer located the right side of the unit. Outside of PowerPoint, the Page Up and Page Down buttons can scroll through websites or documents. What you choose to do with the laser pointer, on the other hand, is entirely up to you, though we don't recommend shining it in yours or anyone else's eyes. Unlike the Lenovo Mini Wireless Keyboard N5901, the SmartStick FE02RF-BL's keyboard is backlit, so users won't have any difficulty typing in the dark.
The underside of the SmartStick FE02RF-BL has a sliding battery compartment that houses its 2.96Wh Li-ion battery, which can be recharged by connecting the unit to your computer via the included USB cable. This compartment also doubles as a storage area for the included USB wireless receiver.
During use, the SmartStick FE02RF-BL's dual-thumb operation felt right at home for anyone who has ever composed a text message on a cell phone. At any rate, the keys offer a comfortable typing feel and a good amount of resistance. However, since the SmartStick FE02RF-BL was designed to be held rather than placed on a flat surface, reaching the middle of the keyboard with one's thumbs is nearly impossible. In order to do so, I needed to slide one of my hands closer to the unit's center, which compromised my thumbs' ability to readily access the touchpad or left- and right- click buttons. For a device whose primary function is typing, this is a considerable design flaw. The touchpad, on the other hand, was responsive and accurate thanks to its slightly textured surface. For users who prefer something other than a touchpad, the Lenovo Mini N5901's trackball is a good alternative.
The Favi Entertainment SmartStick FE02RF-BL ($39.99 list) is a decent compact keyboard that gives users a way to control their home theatre PCs (HTPC) from the comfort of their couch. All said, however, its appeal is undermined by its lack of Bluetooth connectivity and, more significantly, its keyboard's hard-to-reach middle section. For these reasons, the Logitech diNovo Mini continues to retain its Editors' Choice for home entertainment keyboards. Still, the SmartStick FE02RF-BL remains a good choice with plenty of good going for it.
If you have flu-like symptoms, stay home, said Kelly Schermerhon, Catawba County Health Department public information officer. And practice disease prevention measures, such as frequent hand washing, or sneezing and coughing into the crook of your arm.
Area hospitals have put preventive care measures in place to protect against possible spread of the flu in areas where patients are most vulnerable.
“We caution anyone who is experiencing fever, runny nose, or other flu-like symptoms from visiting Frye,” said Dana Killian, Director of Marketing at Frye Regional Medical Center. “These are our usual flu season precautions which are supported by signage and endorsed by health care organizations throughout our region.
“In addition, we do not allow anyone, other than the parents of infants, to come into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. This added precaution is in place due to the fragile nature of these patients.”
“They never once looked at the meter,” Finley said. “The meters never gave real-time feedback, which is not how it is in a real incident.”
To enhance training at this year’s drill, Mesa and Phoenix-area hazmat teams faced a one-ton Chlorine cylinder with a liquid leak. The personnel assigned to the recon and the decon teams were armed with HazSim training meters. The meter was used during simulated response by a recon team in the boundaries of the hot zone, Finley said. In decon, the meter was used to clear Level A entry team members before removing suits and also as a tool for facilitators to send an entry team member back to the shower for another wash cycle, he said.
Finley leased the system on a three-month basis for $1,000. And while there was a bit of a learning curve and what he said were “small glitches,” those who used HazSim commented that the device made their assignment in the drill more realistic. In addition, it helped chief leadership drive the actions and the drills from a remote location. He said watching the recon and decon team receive readings on the HazSim, process those readings, and adjust their actions based on the HazSim led to “very realistic training.”
The SmartStick FE02RF-BL was designed to be held horizontally in both hands, leaving both of the user's thumbs free to maneuver around the keyboard and touchpad. The top row of the SmartStick FE02RF-BL features volume and media playback controls, and off to the right side is its integrated touchpad. The left- and right-click buttons, meanwhile, are on the left side. Android hot keys (Home, AppMenu, Back, and Search) are beneath the touchpad, though some their functionality is lost on a PC; the Home button launches your web browser, the AppMenu button functions as a right-click, and the Search button opens your operating system's search tool. The keyboards' lower row features a Windows Start button and two function keys that, among other things, turns the Enter button into a Ctrl+Alt+Delete button.
The rounded edges of the SmartStick FE02RF-BL house a few additional features. In addition to the power button on the left side, the front edge sports a trio of buttons designed with presentations in mind, like Page Up and Page Down buttons that can cycle through PowerPoint slides and, most interestingly, a switch that controls the built-in laser pointer located the right side of the unit. Outside of PowerPoint, the Page Up and Page Down buttons can scroll through websites or documents. What you choose to do with the laser pointer, on the other hand, is entirely up to you, though we don't recommend shining it in yours or anyone else's eyes. Unlike the Lenovo Mini Wireless Keyboard N5901, the SmartStick FE02RF-BL's keyboard is backlit, so users won't have any difficulty typing in the dark.
The underside of the SmartStick FE02RF-BL has a sliding battery compartment that houses its 2.96Wh Li-ion battery, which can be recharged by connecting the unit to your computer via the included USB cable. This compartment also doubles as a storage area for the included USB wireless receiver.
During use, the SmartStick FE02RF-BL's dual-thumb operation felt right at home for anyone who has ever composed a text message on a cell phone. At any rate, the keys offer a comfortable typing feel and a good amount of resistance. However, since the SmartStick FE02RF-BL was designed to be held rather than placed on a flat surface, reaching the middle of the keyboard with one's thumbs is nearly impossible. In order to do so, I needed to slide one of my hands closer to the unit's center, which compromised my thumbs' ability to readily access the touchpad or left- and right- click buttons. For a device whose primary function is typing, this is a considerable design flaw. The touchpad, on the other hand, was responsive and accurate thanks to its slightly textured surface. For users who prefer something other than a touchpad, the Lenovo Mini N5901's trackball is a good alternative.
The Favi Entertainment SmartStick FE02RF-BL ($39.99 list) is a decent compact keyboard that gives users a way to control their home theatre PCs (HTPC) from the comfort of their couch. All said, however, its appeal is undermined by its lack of Bluetooth connectivity and, more significantly, its keyboard's hard-to-reach middle section. For these reasons, the Logitech diNovo Mini continues to retain its Editors' Choice for home entertainment keyboards. Still, the SmartStick FE02RF-BL remains a good choice with plenty of good going for it.
If you have flu-like symptoms, stay home, said Kelly Schermerhon, Catawba County Health Department public information officer. And practice disease prevention measures, such as frequent hand washing, or sneezing and coughing into the crook of your arm.
Area hospitals have put preventive care measures in place to protect against possible spread of the flu in areas where patients are most vulnerable.
“We caution anyone who is experiencing fever, runny nose, or other flu-like symptoms from visiting Frye,” said Dana Killian, Director of Marketing at Frye Regional Medical Center. “These are our usual flu season precautions which are supported by signage and endorsed by health care organizations throughout our region.
“In addition, we do not allow anyone, other than the parents of infants, to come into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. This added precaution is in place due to the fragile nature of these patients.”
Happy traveling, real or imagined
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Fort McMurray. May you now have a day off to reboot for the New Year’s celebrations that are just around the corner. No wonder we suffer from the January blues when we jam so many visits, parties and fun into one week and then we are bored out of our minds when January rolls around.
The last few years my family has been lucky enough to fly south to break up some of the winter blahs, but with hubby still off work, we cannot see it happening this year. But I still “travel” almost every Friday.
As I sit with my morning coffee, I take a half hour or so to look up a new country or vacation destination and read a bit about it to see why I might want to travel there someday. When we decide to go on a trip I go into overdrive, and I am sure I drive hubby and the kids crazy with details about the place we will visit. I scope out restaurants, visit online pages of local businesses, and find us a few different things to do before we even leave the house.
Over the years my pre-travel research has allowed us to stay at luxury resorts at discount prices, beat the lines at Disney World and have meals at exotic locations that only the locals usually know about. But beyond all that, it allows me to leave my kitchen for a little window of time and use my imagination to take me places that I have never heard of before.
Of course, the most fun is when I read about places, imagine myself in some pictures at that location, and then actually get to go and take those same pictures.
Last year for the first time in 17 years we took a trip just for the two of us, without the kids. It was a bit difficult to relax the first day and a half or so. Then by the end of the week, all we did was talk about our kids and show their pictures to other parents staying at the resort.
We realized that as long as they were still living with us, we would probably not take another trip for that long without the kids. It is always more fun with the kids if you ask me — they see and want to do things we might not have noticed. They keep us busy, and of course, it is always more fun at the pool to play with the kids than to just sit there.
The resort we visited last year is one that we know we will return to someday, as it was the ultimate relaxation destination, and we even had our own pool and bartender outside our door during the day. If you ever get the chance to stay at a Karisma hotel, do it — they cater to the entire family, and go beyond when trying to please the kids, which makes the whole trip so much more enjoyable.
The amount of data that comes in and out of a typical clinic or hospital every day is mind boggling. Records, receipts, prescriptions, case notes, insurance information - the list is endless. Crowdsourcing has already gone a long way towards making it all the more manageable by allowing people to transcribe doctor's notes and medical information over the internet. Other measures include scanning of medical records into computer readable formats and sorting them into easily searchable databases. Through utilizing systems such as captchas (automated Turing tests) and others, companies have been able to crowdsource transcriptions and check tasks by distributing as little as one word at a time to hundreds of people worldwide.
Earlier this year, scientists from the University of Southampton, The Masdar Institute, MIT, and the University of California came together to create a potentially life-saving map of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in Philadelphia. The MyHeartMap Challenge invited members of the public to participate by sending in geo-tagged pictures of AEDs that they saw around Philadelphia. The objective of the challenge is to quickly and efficiently gather the location of as many AEDs as possible. This project makes use of the information-gathering abilities of the crowd by challenging the general public to gather the information and collaborate to produce an extremely helpful health tool.
The greater degree of interconnectivity between patients, medical professionals and experts has meant that social networking sites have been used to discuss diagnoses and get feedback on treatments, speeding up the process of getting healthy immensely. The increase in speed, efficiency and reliability of medical processes is obviously important to many people. One such instance of an important project is a current competition looking for ideas of how to speed up identification of pancreatic cancer. Often when symptoms occur, it is already too late. InnoCentive's Global Solver Community has teamed up with The Sandler-Kenner Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer to incentivize people to produce new ideas on how to reliably detect pancreatic cancer earlier. Winning Solvers will split an award pool of $10,000 and most importantly, the winning idea will become part of the medical handbook for dealing with pancreatic cancer. Financial incentive is possibly not the best way to handle what should be a kind-hearted endeavour, however, it is still work to create these solutions and offering prizes is the easiest way to get the workforce energized.
When Prize4Life's $1 million incentives were unveiled, neurologist Dr. Seward Rutkove was suitably energized and won the first challenge by creating a device that could recognize signs of muscle deterioration linked with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). The non-profit is offering another $1 million for a treatment or cure that extends the life of ALS mice by 25% in lab experiments, no experiment to date has come close to those results. However, crowdsourcing has turned up extraordinary results before. Life Technologies has also offered multiple prizes in exchange for medical breakthroughs.
The last few years my family has been lucky enough to fly south to break up some of the winter blahs, but with hubby still off work, we cannot see it happening this year. But I still “travel” almost every Friday.
As I sit with my morning coffee, I take a half hour or so to look up a new country or vacation destination and read a bit about it to see why I might want to travel there someday. When we decide to go on a trip I go into overdrive, and I am sure I drive hubby and the kids crazy with details about the place we will visit. I scope out restaurants, visit online pages of local businesses, and find us a few different things to do before we even leave the house.
Over the years my pre-travel research has allowed us to stay at luxury resorts at discount prices, beat the lines at Disney World and have meals at exotic locations that only the locals usually know about. But beyond all that, it allows me to leave my kitchen for a little window of time and use my imagination to take me places that I have never heard of before.
Of course, the most fun is when I read about places, imagine myself in some pictures at that location, and then actually get to go and take those same pictures.
Last year for the first time in 17 years we took a trip just for the two of us, without the kids. It was a bit difficult to relax the first day and a half or so. Then by the end of the week, all we did was talk about our kids and show their pictures to other parents staying at the resort.
We realized that as long as they were still living with us, we would probably not take another trip for that long without the kids. It is always more fun with the kids if you ask me — they see and want to do things we might not have noticed. They keep us busy, and of course, it is always more fun at the pool to play with the kids than to just sit there.
The resort we visited last year is one that we know we will return to someday, as it was the ultimate relaxation destination, and we even had our own pool and bartender outside our door during the day. If you ever get the chance to stay at a Karisma hotel, do it — they cater to the entire family, and go beyond when trying to please the kids, which makes the whole trip so much more enjoyable.
The amount of data that comes in and out of a typical clinic or hospital every day is mind boggling. Records, receipts, prescriptions, case notes, insurance information - the list is endless. Crowdsourcing has already gone a long way towards making it all the more manageable by allowing people to transcribe doctor's notes and medical information over the internet. Other measures include scanning of medical records into computer readable formats and sorting them into easily searchable databases. Through utilizing systems such as captchas (automated Turing tests) and others, companies have been able to crowdsource transcriptions and check tasks by distributing as little as one word at a time to hundreds of people worldwide.
Earlier this year, scientists from the University of Southampton, The Masdar Institute, MIT, and the University of California came together to create a potentially life-saving map of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in Philadelphia. The MyHeartMap Challenge invited members of the public to participate by sending in geo-tagged pictures of AEDs that they saw around Philadelphia. The objective of the challenge is to quickly and efficiently gather the location of as many AEDs as possible. This project makes use of the information-gathering abilities of the crowd by challenging the general public to gather the information and collaborate to produce an extremely helpful health tool.
The greater degree of interconnectivity between patients, medical professionals and experts has meant that social networking sites have been used to discuss diagnoses and get feedback on treatments, speeding up the process of getting healthy immensely. The increase in speed, efficiency and reliability of medical processes is obviously important to many people. One such instance of an important project is a current competition looking for ideas of how to speed up identification of pancreatic cancer. Often when symptoms occur, it is already too late. InnoCentive's Global Solver Community has teamed up with The Sandler-Kenner Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer to incentivize people to produce new ideas on how to reliably detect pancreatic cancer earlier. Winning Solvers will split an award pool of $10,000 and most importantly, the winning idea will become part of the medical handbook for dealing with pancreatic cancer. Financial incentive is possibly not the best way to handle what should be a kind-hearted endeavour, however, it is still work to create these solutions and offering prizes is the easiest way to get the workforce energized.
When Prize4Life's $1 million incentives were unveiled, neurologist Dr. Seward Rutkove was suitably energized and won the first challenge by creating a device that could recognize signs of muscle deterioration linked with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). The non-profit is offering another $1 million for a treatment or cure that extends the life of ALS mice by 25% in lab experiments, no experiment to date has come close to those results. However, crowdsourcing has turned up extraordinary results before. Life Technologies has also offered multiple prizes in exchange for medical breakthroughs.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Memories of 'ole time Chrismus'
There was a time when Christmas WAS Christmas. The Nativity story pervaded the thoughts and actions of most Christians. Peace on Earth and goodwill to all men was the staple mantra. It was a time when giving was more important than receiving, when the Christmas spirit brought joy, camaraderie, fellowship, sharing, togetherness and caring. Yes, most of these characteristics can be found in bits and pieces today but overall materialism and selfishness have become the paramount traits. To put it bluntly, the Christ in Christmas has been diffused and Santa Claus has been marginalised.
For most Jamaicans, Christmas is pronounced and intoned as "Chrismus". Yesteryear, 'Chrismus' in Jamaica, unlike now, was a true reflection of the Jamaican persona, cultural practices and folklore. Hospitality, friendliness, warmth, togetherness, kindness; appreciation of familial ties, as well as an exposure to those traditions, that helped to make this nation resilient and strong. In this vein, it's a pity that the Ministry of Youth and Culture in collaboration with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) did not see it appropriate to put in place a programme of activities that bring back the "Ole Time Chrismus".
The breakdown of strong family structure, the divisiveness of our politics and a political culture that makes many citizens feel that getting handouts from their Councillors and Members of Parliament is an entitlement; the increasing failure of the Church to lead by example rather than precept; the cultural penetration from up North via television, cable and the Internet, not to mention the breakdown in values and attitudes, have combined with the steady commercialization of 'Chrismus' to make this time of year just an orgy of spending and bacchanalia.
As a boy, we children looked forward to Christmas with great anticipation and expectations. Those Jamaicans who are 50 years old and older will recall the many memorable moments of 'Ole Time Chrismus'. One favourite joke amongst Montegonians was the story about the little country boy who on paying his first visit to Sam Sharpe Square (it was then called Charles Square or popularly referred to as Parade) and seeing the Christmas Tree, shouted with glee, "Mama, look pon Moon pon stick", while admiring the huge star at the top.
Christmas Eve was when most youngsters got drunk for the first time or "bruk dem ducks" (first sexual encounter), two not so wholesome experiences without guidance and protection. I recall hanging out at the Jolly Roger Club on St James Street drinking Charley's (the most popular rum at the time) and Coke (Coca Cola) and in order to make sure I got sufficiently inebriated I would hold down my head to allow the alcohol to descend to my brain. Then in the wee hours of Christmas morning I walked all of six miles to my home in Irwin.
The good thing is that in those days we were not afraid of gunmen. Our greatest fear was "bucking up" a 'duppy'. Persons were more terrified of "three-foot horse", "rolling calf" or "duppy man with gold teeth". And how can one forget the Jonkanno Band with all the various colourful characters that jumped and pranced to the infectious rhythms of drums? "Horse Head", "Actor Boy", among others, thrilled both adults and kids. The scariest part, though, was the character with the whip which he would wield and flash in idle mischief. Kids, men and women ran in fear and fun. Nobody got hurt.
St James Street in the second city was blocked off and individuals from all walks of life converged on that busy thoroughfare meeting and greeting one another. Pickpockets and persons with criminal intent were far and few. Many Montegonians living abroad who came home for Christmas saw that as one of the main highlights of their stay. Today, that is no longer the case. Of course, the explosion of fire crackers was ever present. There were two types: the small one known as squib and the bigger one known as "big boom". There were also water guns and cork guns but the latter was not so popular as if indiscriminately fired could hurt someone's eye.
How times have changed! Recently when I heard a firecracker I jumped thinking it was a gun being fired instead of shouting "Chrismus!" as we did back in the day. Then there was "fee-fee" and the singing of carols in the early hours along the streets.
Preparing for Christmas Day was an exciting ritual. The sorrel would have already been set and drawn in the yabba (an earthenware bowl); the ice buried in the ground with sawdust; the chicken (fowl) chased and cornered early morning (no fast food in the mix), a bucket placed over its head while it is being decapitated then placed in boiling hot water to be stripped and prepared for cooking. Once I had the task to run down and cut off the chicken's neck. All went well but I lifted the bucket too early. It was quite a bizarre sight watching the headless chicken running around in circles.
What was amazing is that no one went hungry on Christmas Day in any village. The elderly and shut-ins got special attention. Remarkably, some of this generosity of spirit is still to be found but oftentimes the cynics among us are forced to wonder if it is more of an act of glorified altruism than genuine caring. Indeed, in today's self-seeking world of media hype and public relations, one wonders to what extent it is a case of conscience rather than compassion.
Flimsy sitcom comedy frequently suffers from the writers’ (lack of) understanding about real-life material they are exaggerating for broad laughs. Parental Guidance benefits from how screenwriting couple Lisa Addario and Joe Syracuse (Surf’s Up) possess a genuine comprehension of what actual longtime married people are like. Here, Crystal is the harmless wise-cracker who appreciates traditional Americana values; Midler is a loyal housewife and forward-thinker, who embraces the changes in ordinary living ( we’re introduced to her leading a pole dancing class). These are caricatures, no doubt, but being based on relatable archetypes that exist in the real world makes them feel like more than something a screenwriter cooked up to get cheap laughs.
Crystal and Midler have a relaxed chemistry that allows them to interact as though they have indeed been married for several decades. Their characters do not have to suffer contrived conflicts like infidelity; though, their pop cultural cluelessness is often over-played (as you might expect). Tomei jumps head-first into what begins as a thankless role – the neurotic helicopter parent – but evolves into something (a bit) more satisfying. However, Scott is stuck as a bland supportive husband; it’s a variation on the usual paper-thin domestic wife stereotype, but (unfortunately) just as disposable.
Kid-actors Kyle Harrison Breitkopf, Bailee Madison and Joshua Rush each get their own side-plot; moreover, like the adults, the humor comes from their individual idiosyncrasies (not being allowed to eat sugar, having OCD tendencies, etc.), which allows them to possess actual discernible personalities. The same goes for Gedde Watanabe as restaurant owner Mr. Cheng; at first, he threatens to come off as a racist stereotype, but the joke gracefully shifts to him being just kind of an odd guy (who’s way too attached to Breitkopf’s imaginary kangaroo). No surprise, most of this humor is either too airy or kid-oriented to appeal to most people who’re above a certain age; still, they go by so quickly as to occasionally be amusing
For most Jamaicans, Christmas is pronounced and intoned as "Chrismus". Yesteryear, 'Chrismus' in Jamaica, unlike now, was a true reflection of the Jamaican persona, cultural practices and folklore. Hospitality, friendliness, warmth, togetherness, kindness; appreciation of familial ties, as well as an exposure to those traditions, that helped to make this nation resilient and strong. In this vein, it's a pity that the Ministry of Youth and Culture in collaboration with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) did not see it appropriate to put in place a programme of activities that bring back the "Ole Time Chrismus".
The breakdown of strong family structure, the divisiveness of our politics and a political culture that makes many citizens feel that getting handouts from their Councillors and Members of Parliament is an entitlement; the increasing failure of the Church to lead by example rather than precept; the cultural penetration from up North via television, cable and the Internet, not to mention the breakdown in values and attitudes, have combined with the steady commercialization of 'Chrismus' to make this time of year just an orgy of spending and bacchanalia.
As a boy, we children looked forward to Christmas with great anticipation and expectations. Those Jamaicans who are 50 years old and older will recall the many memorable moments of 'Ole Time Chrismus'. One favourite joke amongst Montegonians was the story about the little country boy who on paying his first visit to Sam Sharpe Square (it was then called Charles Square or popularly referred to as Parade) and seeing the Christmas Tree, shouted with glee, "Mama, look pon Moon pon stick", while admiring the huge star at the top.
Christmas Eve was when most youngsters got drunk for the first time or "bruk dem ducks" (first sexual encounter), two not so wholesome experiences without guidance and protection. I recall hanging out at the Jolly Roger Club on St James Street drinking Charley's (the most popular rum at the time) and Coke (Coca Cola) and in order to make sure I got sufficiently inebriated I would hold down my head to allow the alcohol to descend to my brain. Then in the wee hours of Christmas morning I walked all of six miles to my home in Irwin.
The good thing is that in those days we were not afraid of gunmen. Our greatest fear was "bucking up" a 'duppy'. Persons were more terrified of "three-foot horse", "rolling calf" or "duppy man with gold teeth". And how can one forget the Jonkanno Band with all the various colourful characters that jumped and pranced to the infectious rhythms of drums? "Horse Head", "Actor Boy", among others, thrilled both adults and kids. The scariest part, though, was the character with the whip which he would wield and flash in idle mischief. Kids, men and women ran in fear and fun. Nobody got hurt.
St James Street in the second city was blocked off and individuals from all walks of life converged on that busy thoroughfare meeting and greeting one another. Pickpockets and persons with criminal intent were far and few. Many Montegonians living abroad who came home for Christmas saw that as one of the main highlights of their stay. Today, that is no longer the case. Of course, the explosion of fire crackers was ever present. There were two types: the small one known as squib and the bigger one known as "big boom". There were also water guns and cork guns but the latter was not so popular as if indiscriminately fired could hurt someone's eye.
How times have changed! Recently when I heard a firecracker I jumped thinking it was a gun being fired instead of shouting "Chrismus!" as we did back in the day. Then there was "fee-fee" and the singing of carols in the early hours along the streets.
Preparing for Christmas Day was an exciting ritual. The sorrel would have already been set and drawn in the yabba (an earthenware bowl); the ice buried in the ground with sawdust; the chicken (fowl) chased and cornered early morning (no fast food in the mix), a bucket placed over its head while it is being decapitated then placed in boiling hot water to be stripped and prepared for cooking. Once I had the task to run down and cut off the chicken's neck. All went well but I lifted the bucket too early. It was quite a bizarre sight watching the headless chicken running around in circles.
What was amazing is that no one went hungry on Christmas Day in any village. The elderly and shut-ins got special attention. Remarkably, some of this generosity of spirit is still to be found but oftentimes the cynics among us are forced to wonder if it is more of an act of glorified altruism than genuine caring. Indeed, in today's self-seeking world of media hype and public relations, one wonders to what extent it is a case of conscience rather than compassion.
Flimsy sitcom comedy frequently suffers from the writers’ (lack of) understanding about real-life material they are exaggerating for broad laughs. Parental Guidance benefits from how screenwriting couple Lisa Addario and Joe Syracuse (Surf’s Up) possess a genuine comprehension of what actual longtime married people are like. Here, Crystal is the harmless wise-cracker who appreciates traditional Americana values; Midler is a loyal housewife and forward-thinker, who embraces the changes in ordinary living ( we’re introduced to her leading a pole dancing class). These are caricatures, no doubt, but being based on relatable archetypes that exist in the real world makes them feel like more than something a screenwriter cooked up to get cheap laughs.
Crystal and Midler have a relaxed chemistry that allows them to interact as though they have indeed been married for several decades. Their characters do not have to suffer contrived conflicts like infidelity; though, their pop cultural cluelessness is often over-played (as you might expect). Tomei jumps head-first into what begins as a thankless role – the neurotic helicopter parent – but evolves into something (a bit) more satisfying. However, Scott is stuck as a bland supportive husband; it’s a variation on the usual paper-thin domestic wife stereotype, but (unfortunately) just as disposable.
Kid-actors Kyle Harrison Breitkopf, Bailee Madison and Joshua Rush each get their own side-plot; moreover, like the adults, the humor comes from their individual idiosyncrasies (not being allowed to eat sugar, having OCD tendencies, etc.), which allows them to possess actual discernible personalities. The same goes for Gedde Watanabe as restaurant owner Mr. Cheng; at first, he threatens to come off as a racist stereotype, but the joke gracefully shifts to him being just kind of an odd guy (who’s way too attached to Breitkopf’s imaginary kangaroo). No surprise, most of this humor is either too airy or kid-oriented to appeal to most people who’re above a certain age; still, they go by so quickly as to occasionally be amusing
Staging Ground
On Sunday afternoon, the capacity crowd at Theatre Project snakes out into the front hall and is chatting with members of the cast of Double Edge Theatre, which has just finished its final workshop performance of The Grand Parade, hosted by Baltimore Performance Kitchen. On the stage, techies are slowly dismantling the set: aerial trapezes; a huge, overhanging cloth tent; several suspended geometrical figures; a fully stocked bar; a running machine; a large inflatable globe; and a circa-1950s television.
The 12 free performances were largely sold out. And the crowd doesn’t look like a typical Baltimore matinee crowd at all. There are kids, hipsters, old folks, younger non-actors, and a genuine ethnic mix.
They haven’t come to see a finished production either. They’ve skipped football to watch a Double Edge production in its final creative stages—as the company prepares for its Arena Stage opening, from Feb. 6 to Feb. 10.
In an era when theaters are struggling to attract a new generation, it’s hard not to think that something important is going on here. In this interactive, highly curious age, the process of putting together a play—by an ensemble which has been working steadily for two years—has attracted a new theater audience, which has developed a desire to engage in the artistic process. This has less to do with theory, and more to do with the simple fact that (at least in Baltimore) everyone’s an artist. They want to get behind the scenes and use what they learn.
There’s no better group to start with than Double Edge Theatre. For decades, this Massachusetts-based ensemble has been ditching the traditional American template: six weeks of high-pressure rehearsals followed by a polished product.
Double Edge instead chooses to assemble in a large white barn in the small New England town of Ashfield, carefully building up productions that, like Grand Parade, can be two years in the making. Rigorously trained—some have been with Double Edge for two decades—its ensemble is fully engaged in the process of bringing the artistic imagination to the stage.
In the upper-level cheap seats of Theatre Project, Grand Parade director Stacy Klein takes a brief break to oversee the set’s dismantling. Klein, a Baltimore native, founded Double Edge 30 years ago.
She talks a little bit about the process of creating The Grand Parade (of the 20th Century), which began in the 1980s, when she came upon the Russian painter Chagall. Chagall, who died at 97 in 1985, had a visionary and modernist style, though he’s best known for his paintings of Russian village life, which Klein decided to incorporate into a production with a panoramic view of the 20th century.
“I was struck by his images,” she said. “There was this sense of flight, mystery, and wonder. And I also realized that Chagall had been alive for most of the 20th century as an artist.”
The process began with the artists, research texts, and artifacts from the century. “It was a long process,” says Matthew Glassman, co-creator and core actor. “But it was never boring. It was a journey through the century for us, finding what about it is close to our lives, how we put things together as we find a mosaic out of shattered glass.”
Intense research of texts was accompanied by physical collaborations as six actors, along with consultants, musicians, puppeteers, creative advisers, and technicians, developed the production in the barn in Ashfield, situated on a 100-acre dairy farm that Double Edge made its home in 1994. Stacy Klein had a down-to-earth manifestation of that method in action: an ’80s running machine at stage center, which wound up defining the out-of-control pace of the production as actors moved from the Industrial Revolution to speakeasies, to World War I, to Flappers, to the Marx Brothers, to the rise of Fascism . . . to the computer age.
After several months, actors realized that their relationship to the century was more image-oriented. The production gradually lost the verbal element.
“We started with the idea of reading texts and poetry,” says veteran ensemble member Glassman, “then, organically, it started to go away. It was a conscious choice. We started to live fully in these images. In expected and unexpected ways, many of those words began to integrate themselves into sound, design, and video.”
The haunting musical score by Russian composer Alexander Bakshi, who was brought into the process courtesy of Baltimore’s Philip Arnoult, a senior consultant for Double Edge for over two decades and founder of the Theatre Project. About a year ago, in one of many trips to the farm, he saw Grand Parade coming into shape in its initial stages. “They were already slated for Arena Stage,” he said. “I told them, though, that after all that time in a barn, that they had to come to Baltimore and workshop in front of an audience.” Buck Jabaily, of Baltimore Performance Kitchen, who accompanied Arnoult, agreed and eventually rented out the space at the Theatre Project.
“For over a year, we’d been doing this in front of a wall,” says Carlos Uriona. “This was a chance to triangulate in front of an audience and see how they responded. It was a great experience. And Baltimore is a wonderful audience.”
Stacy Klein says that the two weeks in Baltimore have been essential to the final phases of development. One change she says: slowing down a rapid-fire, final leap through the ’80s and ’90s. “Baltimore audience members noted that we’d skipped over some important elements in that decade. We’ll be working on that.” She notes that a number of adjustments in lighting and tech have also been made over the last two weeks.
Of course, they still need to dismantle the set. “It all goes into trucks,” she says, a little grimly. They go on to Chicago, to a larger venue, where Double Edge will preview the production. Finally, from Feb. 6 to the 10, the production will premiere at Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage. Then, later, they’ll take the production to Moscow for the annual Golden Mask Festival, where the entire set will be constructed again, from the ground up.
Klein herself seems to feel that the Baltimore audience itself was part of what made this an ideal place for the last stages of the development of Grand Parade. She was born in Baltimore in 1956. She lived in the inner city, and later, in Randallstown, before heading north to Massachusetts in 1974—where she would eventually form Double Edge. “It’s a special place to me,” she says. “And the city is a lot more fun than it was when I grew up.”
Baltimore has long been known as an extended, low-rent workshop for artists and musicians. But as a theater town, it is in the shadows of New York and Washington, D.C. With workshops like this, though, the city is attracting national and international artists interested in bringing ideas to fruition or polishing them up. Arnoult—who has been engaged in this for about 50 years, with the Theatre Project and also the Center for International Theatre Development—feels that this is the sort of work that engages the younger audience. He directs me to a recently published article by Lana Lesley which indicates that younger audiences want to engage in the actual process of creation. “She shows how, at these productions, 52 percent of the audience is under 60. Compare that with most regional theaters, where almost everyone’s over 60.”
With his Baltimore Performance Kitchen, Buck Jabaily agrees that this is the sort of theater that is going to strike a chord. “Process is the most exciting thing in theater. Everything comes out.” Performance Kitchen supports performing artists in site-specific locations across the city, as they give audiences the chance to watch artists create work on-site.
“This is a new audience. It’s been brought up on the internet. We’ve become more curious, we’re the people who will type in the search boxes if we don’t understand things. Theater like this opens the doors and it helps them engage in the process of creation.”
The production will be shown in its final form at Arena Stage in February. The tickets for the week-long engagement are almost sold out. But the capacity crowd that files out of this Baltimore workshop production The Grand Parade on Sunday afternoon could be the wave of the future.
The 12 free performances were largely sold out. And the crowd doesn’t look like a typical Baltimore matinee crowd at all. There are kids, hipsters, old folks, younger non-actors, and a genuine ethnic mix.
They haven’t come to see a finished production either. They’ve skipped football to watch a Double Edge production in its final creative stages—as the company prepares for its Arena Stage opening, from Feb. 6 to Feb. 10.
In an era when theaters are struggling to attract a new generation, it’s hard not to think that something important is going on here. In this interactive, highly curious age, the process of putting together a play—by an ensemble which has been working steadily for two years—has attracted a new theater audience, which has developed a desire to engage in the artistic process. This has less to do with theory, and more to do with the simple fact that (at least in Baltimore) everyone’s an artist. They want to get behind the scenes and use what they learn.
There’s no better group to start with than Double Edge Theatre. For decades, this Massachusetts-based ensemble has been ditching the traditional American template: six weeks of high-pressure rehearsals followed by a polished product.
Double Edge instead chooses to assemble in a large white barn in the small New England town of Ashfield, carefully building up productions that, like Grand Parade, can be two years in the making. Rigorously trained—some have been with Double Edge for two decades—its ensemble is fully engaged in the process of bringing the artistic imagination to the stage.
In the upper-level cheap seats of Theatre Project, Grand Parade director Stacy Klein takes a brief break to oversee the set’s dismantling. Klein, a Baltimore native, founded Double Edge 30 years ago.
She talks a little bit about the process of creating The Grand Parade (of the 20th Century), which began in the 1980s, when she came upon the Russian painter Chagall. Chagall, who died at 97 in 1985, had a visionary and modernist style, though he’s best known for his paintings of Russian village life, which Klein decided to incorporate into a production with a panoramic view of the 20th century.
“I was struck by his images,” she said. “There was this sense of flight, mystery, and wonder. And I also realized that Chagall had been alive for most of the 20th century as an artist.”
The process began with the artists, research texts, and artifacts from the century. “It was a long process,” says Matthew Glassman, co-creator and core actor. “But it was never boring. It was a journey through the century for us, finding what about it is close to our lives, how we put things together as we find a mosaic out of shattered glass.”
Intense research of texts was accompanied by physical collaborations as six actors, along with consultants, musicians, puppeteers, creative advisers, and technicians, developed the production in the barn in Ashfield, situated on a 100-acre dairy farm that Double Edge made its home in 1994. Stacy Klein had a down-to-earth manifestation of that method in action: an ’80s running machine at stage center, which wound up defining the out-of-control pace of the production as actors moved from the Industrial Revolution to speakeasies, to World War I, to Flappers, to the Marx Brothers, to the rise of Fascism . . . to the computer age.
After several months, actors realized that their relationship to the century was more image-oriented. The production gradually lost the verbal element.
“We started with the idea of reading texts and poetry,” says veteran ensemble member Glassman, “then, organically, it started to go away. It was a conscious choice. We started to live fully in these images. In expected and unexpected ways, many of those words began to integrate themselves into sound, design, and video.”
The haunting musical score by Russian composer Alexander Bakshi, who was brought into the process courtesy of Baltimore’s Philip Arnoult, a senior consultant for Double Edge for over two decades and founder of the Theatre Project. About a year ago, in one of many trips to the farm, he saw Grand Parade coming into shape in its initial stages. “They were already slated for Arena Stage,” he said. “I told them, though, that after all that time in a barn, that they had to come to Baltimore and workshop in front of an audience.” Buck Jabaily, of Baltimore Performance Kitchen, who accompanied Arnoult, agreed and eventually rented out the space at the Theatre Project.
“For over a year, we’d been doing this in front of a wall,” says Carlos Uriona. “This was a chance to triangulate in front of an audience and see how they responded. It was a great experience. And Baltimore is a wonderful audience.”
Stacy Klein says that the two weeks in Baltimore have been essential to the final phases of development. One change she says: slowing down a rapid-fire, final leap through the ’80s and ’90s. “Baltimore audience members noted that we’d skipped over some important elements in that decade. We’ll be working on that.” She notes that a number of adjustments in lighting and tech have also been made over the last two weeks.
Of course, they still need to dismantle the set. “It all goes into trucks,” she says, a little grimly. They go on to Chicago, to a larger venue, where Double Edge will preview the production. Finally, from Feb. 6 to the 10, the production will premiere at Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage. Then, later, they’ll take the production to Moscow for the annual Golden Mask Festival, where the entire set will be constructed again, from the ground up.
Klein herself seems to feel that the Baltimore audience itself was part of what made this an ideal place for the last stages of the development of Grand Parade. She was born in Baltimore in 1956. She lived in the inner city, and later, in Randallstown, before heading north to Massachusetts in 1974—where she would eventually form Double Edge. “It’s a special place to me,” she says. “And the city is a lot more fun than it was when I grew up.”
Baltimore has long been known as an extended, low-rent workshop for artists and musicians. But as a theater town, it is in the shadows of New York and Washington, D.C. With workshops like this, though, the city is attracting national and international artists interested in bringing ideas to fruition or polishing them up. Arnoult—who has been engaged in this for about 50 years, with the Theatre Project and also the Center for International Theatre Development—feels that this is the sort of work that engages the younger audience. He directs me to a recently published article by Lana Lesley which indicates that younger audiences want to engage in the actual process of creation. “She shows how, at these productions, 52 percent of the audience is under 60. Compare that with most regional theaters, where almost everyone’s over 60.”
With his Baltimore Performance Kitchen, Buck Jabaily agrees that this is the sort of theater that is going to strike a chord. “Process is the most exciting thing in theater. Everything comes out.” Performance Kitchen supports performing artists in site-specific locations across the city, as they give audiences the chance to watch artists create work on-site.
“This is a new audience. It’s been brought up on the internet. We’ve become more curious, we’re the people who will type in the search boxes if we don’t understand things. Theater like this opens the doors and it helps them engage in the process of creation.”
The production will be shown in its final form at Arena Stage in February. The tickets for the week-long engagement are almost sold out. But the capacity crowd that files out of this Baltimore workshop production The Grand Parade on Sunday afternoon could be the wave of the future.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
A Christmas Carol
Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don’t know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner. And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain.
The mention of Marley’s funeral brings me back to the point I started from. There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate. If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet’s Father died before the play began, there would be nothing more remarkable in his taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, upon his own ramparts, than there would be in any other middle-aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark in a breezy spot — say Saint Paul’s Churchyard for instance — literally to astonish his son’s weak mind.
Scrooge never painted out Old Marley’s name. There it stood, years afterwards, above the ware-house door: Scrooge and Marley. The firm was known as Scrooge and Marley. Sometimes people new to the business called Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he answered to both names. It was all the same to him.
Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.
External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather didn’t know where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. They often came down handsomely, and Scrooge never did.
Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, “My dear Scrooge, how are you. When will you come to see me.” No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o’clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blindmen’s dogs appeared to know him; and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as though they said, “No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master! ”
But what did Scrooge care! It was the very thing he liked. To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call nuts to Scrooge.
Once upon a time — of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve — old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. It was cold, bleak, biting weather: foggy withal: and he could hear the people in the court outside, go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them. The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already: it had not been light all day: and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms. To see the dingy cloud come drooping down, obscuring everything, one might have thought that Nature lived hard by, and was brewing on a large scale.
The door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk’s fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn’t replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part. Wherefore the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, he failed.
“A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!” cried a cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge’s nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.
Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened so, that people ran about with flaring links, proffering their services to go before horses in carriages, and conduct them on their way. The ancient tower of a church, whose gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge out of a gothic window in the wall, became invisible, and struck the hours and quarters in the clouds, with tremulous vibrations afterwards as if its teeth were chattering in its frozen head up there. The cold became intense. In the main street, at the corner of the court, some labourers were repairing the gas-pipes, and had lighted a great fire in a brazier, round which a party of ragged men and boys were gathered: warming their hands and winking their eyes before the blaze in rapture. The water-plug being left in solitude, its overflowings sullenly congealed, and turned to misanthropic ice. The brightness of the shops where holly sprigs and berries crackled in the lamp-heat of the windows, made pale faces ruddy as they passed. Poulterers’ and grocers’ trades became a splendid joke: a glorious pageant, with which it was next to impossible to believe that such dull principles as bargain and sale had anything to do. The Lord Mayor, in the stronghold of the might Mansion House, gave orders to his fifty cooks and butlers to keep Christmas as a Lord Mayor’s household should; and even the little tailor, whom he had fined five shillings on the previous Monday for being drunk and bloodthirsty in the streets, stirred up tomorrow’s pudding in his garret, while his lean wife and the baby sallied out to buy the beef.
Foggier yet, and colder! Piercing, searching, biting cold. If the good Saint Dunstan had but nipped the Evil Spirit’s nose with a touch of such weather as that, instead of using his familiar weapons, then indeed he would have roared to lusty purpose. The owner of one scant young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold as bones are gnawed by dogs, stooped down at Scrooge’s keyhole to regale him with a Christmas carol: but at the first sound of God bless you, merry gentleman! May nothing you dismay! Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost.
At length the hour of shutting up the counting-house arrived. With an ill-will Scrooge dismounted from his stool, and tacitly admitted the fact to the expectant clerk in the Tank, who instantly snuffed his candle out, and put on his hat.
Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don’t know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner. And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain.
The mention of Marley’s funeral brings me back to the point I started from. There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate. If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet’s Father died before the play began, there would be nothing more remarkable in his taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, upon his own ramparts, than there would be in any other middle-aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark in a breezy spot — say Saint Paul’s Churchyard for instance — literally to astonish his son’s weak mind.
Scrooge never painted out Old Marley’s name. There it stood, years afterwards, above the ware-house door: Scrooge and Marley. The firm was known as Scrooge and Marley. Sometimes people new to the business called Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he answered to both names. It was all the same to him.
Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.
External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather didn’t know where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. They often came down handsomely, and Scrooge never did.
Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, “My dear Scrooge, how are you. When will you come to see me.” No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o’clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blindmen’s dogs appeared to know him; and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as though they said, “No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master! ”
But what did Scrooge care! It was the very thing he liked. To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call nuts to Scrooge.
Once upon a time — of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve — old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. It was cold, bleak, biting weather: foggy withal: and he could hear the people in the court outside, go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them. The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already: it had not been light all day: and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms. To see the dingy cloud come drooping down, obscuring everything, one might have thought that Nature lived hard by, and was brewing on a large scale.
The door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk’s fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn’t replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part. Wherefore the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, he failed.
“A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!” cried a cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge’s nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.
Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened so, that people ran about with flaring links, proffering their services to go before horses in carriages, and conduct them on their way. The ancient tower of a church, whose gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge out of a gothic window in the wall, became invisible, and struck the hours and quarters in the clouds, with tremulous vibrations afterwards as if its teeth were chattering in its frozen head up there. The cold became intense. In the main street, at the corner of the court, some labourers were repairing the gas-pipes, and had lighted a great fire in a brazier, round which a party of ragged men and boys were gathered: warming their hands and winking their eyes before the blaze in rapture. The water-plug being left in solitude, its overflowings sullenly congealed, and turned to misanthropic ice. The brightness of the shops where holly sprigs and berries crackled in the lamp-heat of the windows, made pale faces ruddy as they passed. Poulterers’ and grocers’ trades became a splendid joke: a glorious pageant, with which it was next to impossible to believe that such dull principles as bargain and sale had anything to do. The Lord Mayor, in the stronghold of the might Mansion House, gave orders to his fifty cooks and butlers to keep Christmas as a Lord Mayor’s household should; and even the little tailor, whom he had fined five shillings on the previous Monday for being drunk and bloodthirsty in the streets, stirred up tomorrow’s pudding in his garret, while his lean wife and the baby sallied out to buy the beef.
Foggier yet, and colder! Piercing, searching, biting cold. If the good Saint Dunstan had but nipped the Evil Spirit’s nose with a touch of such weather as that, instead of using his familiar weapons, then indeed he would have roared to lusty purpose. The owner of one scant young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold as bones are gnawed by dogs, stooped down at Scrooge’s keyhole to regale him with a Christmas carol: but at the first sound of God bless you, merry gentleman! May nothing you dismay! Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost.
At length the hour of shutting up the counting-house arrived. With an ill-will Scrooge dismounted from his stool, and tacitly admitted the fact to the expectant clerk in the Tank, who instantly snuffed his candle out, and put on his hat.
Cyberbullying needs our attention
I remember sadly my middle school years and seeing two of my classmates continually harassed. When discussing this topic in public, the reaction from some has been, "Kids will be kids and bullying is a part of growing up."
Today, cyberbullying has taken the old-fashioned teasing to a whole new level. In some way, it may be that the ability to tease without being face-to-face or even identified makes it easier.
Do you find yourself more willing to write a heated email than have a heated conversation in person? Do you ever make a nasty comment on a blog under an anonymous name that you would never say if your name was attached?
When I served as an elected official, I felt first-hand the effects of anonymous bloggers making comments on local news websites. Although there are standards and "offensive" material is taken down, comments could be hurtful.
Not one of my critics was willing to put their name on their comments or meet with me to discuss their concerns when offered the chance. As an adult, I was able to handle the comments and take them for what they were. Unfortunately, our youth may not be able to withstand the criticism they endure online.
It's important to realize that bullying has reached new levels with technology in the hands of kids and adults. It has just gotten easier to bully with a phone in almost every teen's hand linked to photos, texts and social media.
The number of people a bullying comment can reach in a matter of seconds is staggering. Once a picture or comment is online, getting it back can be impossible. The anonymity people feel behind the keyboard also makes it easier to bully others.
Doing a search on suicides linked to cyberbullying turns up too many sad stories of young people who felt they could not match the power of the Internet and gain control of the teasing. Popular celebrities have been speaking out on the issue, and the media is making an effort to spread the message. We all need to do our part.
Christian Critzer, a tree farmer, began a Christmas tree donation drive to raise money for the Martha Jefferson Hospital Cancer Center Foundation in Charlottesville, but the zoning board claims that his drive violates the city’s zoning ordinances.
“He is breaking the law,” Councilor Frank Lucente said. “We have laws. You cannot run businesses in neighborhoods. When you start interpreting the law, where does it stop? It’s against the law to set up a business in a residential neighborhood ... You have to have laws to regulate things ... It’s against the law to do it. End of story.”
Critzer aimed to accumulate funds that would be used for custom wigs for those battling cancer. His wife is a breast cancer survivor, and he wanted to “demonstrate the spirit of Christmas,” while also providing trees to low-income families.
“The laws that they said I was breaking, I wasn’t,” Critzer said. “It’s as simple as that … I grew up in the neighborhood when it was farm and fields. Saying that my yard is any type of a business ... I was just running a charity, not a business. I think I’m getting picked on. It’s time sensitive, selling Christmas trees. This was my last weekend to sell. I didn’t meet my goal. I will meet it, someway. I will have a Christmas tree charity somewhere in town. I’m not going to stop doing this. It’s ridiculous. I hope that I can do it here. Nobody really has a problem with it.”
In late November, a zoning official showed up at his home to tell him that he was not allowed to run a retail business on Rosser Avenue because the area was zoned for single-family homes. The zoning board demanded that he stop his activity or legal action against his landlord would be taken, according to a news release from Rutherford Institute, an Albemarle County-based civil liberties organization defending Critzer.
“If he wants to sell trees for charity, do it at a location that is legal to do it,” Lucente said. “The Lions Club sells trees for charity out on 250 West. If he wants to do it [at another location], that’s fine, no problem ... It’s not about what he is doing, it’s about the location he is doing it in.”
Talk to your child about cyberbullying. Make sure you keep an open dialogue so he/she feels comfortable coming to you with any issues.
Be familiar with your child's interactions with friends and others. While cyber bullying can be caused by a random person -- and thus difficult to prepare for -- trouble with friends and others in your child's social circle can also lead to cyber bullying.
Teach your child not to respond to cyber bullies. Bullies enjoy the response. By not responding, that may encourage them to move on.
Limit the amount of information your child shares online. Bullies can use multiple methods of communication to taunt or harass. By limiting your child's exposure, you make it easier to limit a bully's access. This may also limit the chance of a random cyber-bullying incident.
If the bullying is a problem, consider closing down the particular point of access, if possible. Email, instant message accounts and even some phone companies allow you to block specific user names or phone numbers. Most companies will even let you change cell phone numbers, email addresses and instant message accounts if needed.
If your children are being harassed or threatened, report the activity. Many schools have instituted bullying programs, so school officials may have established policies for handling incidents. If necessary, contact your local law enforcement, your local police department or FBI branch are good starting points.
Today, cyberbullying has taken the old-fashioned teasing to a whole new level. In some way, it may be that the ability to tease without being face-to-face or even identified makes it easier.
Do you find yourself more willing to write a heated email than have a heated conversation in person? Do you ever make a nasty comment on a blog under an anonymous name that you would never say if your name was attached?
When I served as an elected official, I felt first-hand the effects of anonymous bloggers making comments on local news websites. Although there are standards and "offensive" material is taken down, comments could be hurtful.
Not one of my critics was willing to put their name on their comments or meet with me to discuss their concerns when offered the chance. As an adult, I was able to handle the comments and take them for what they were. Unfortunately, our youth may not be able to withstand the criticism they endure online.
It's important to realize that bullying has reached new levels with technology in the hands of kids and adults. It has just gotten easier to bully with a phone in almost every teen's hand linked to photos, texts and social media.
The number of people a bullying comment can reach in a matter of seconds is staggering. Once a picture or comment is online, getting it back can be impossible. The anonymity people feel behind the keyboard also makes it easier to bully others.
Doing a search on suicides linked to cyberbullying turns up too many sad stories of young people who felt they could not match the power of the Internet and gain control of the teasing. Popular celebrities have been speaking out on the issue, and the media is making an effort to spread the message. We all need to do our part.
Christian Critzer, a tree farmer, began a Christmas tree donation drive to raise money for the Martha Jefferson Hospital Cancer Center Foundation in Charlottesville, but the zoning board claims that his drive violates the city’s zoning ordinances.
“He is breaking the law,” Councilor Frank Lucente said. “We have laws. You cannot run businesses in neighborhoods. When you start interpreting the law, where does it stop? It’s against the law to set up a business in a residential neighborhood ... You have to have laws to regulate things ... It’s against the law to do it. End of story.”
Critzer aimed to accumulate funds that would be used for custom wigs for those battling cancer. His wife is a breast cancer survivor, and he wanted to “demonstrate the spirit of Christmas,” while also providing trees to low-income families.
“The laws that they said I was breaking, I wasn’t,” Critzer said. “It’s as simple as that … I grew up in the neighborhood when it was farm and fields. Saying that my yard is any type of a business ... I was just running a charity, not a business. I think I’m getting picked on. It’s time sensitive, selling Christmas trees. This was my last weekend to sell. I didn’t meet my goal. I will meet it, someway. I will have a Christmas tree charity somewhere in town. I’m not going to stop doing this. It’s ridiculous. I hope that I can do it here. Nobody really has a problem with it.”
In late November, a zoning official showed up at his home to tell him that he was not allowed to run a retail business on Rosser Avenue because the area was zoned for single-family homes. The zoning board demanded that he stop his activity or legal action against his landlord would be taken, according to a news release from Rutherford Institute, an Albemarle County-based civil liberties organization defending Critzer.
“If he wants to sell trees for charity, do it at a location that is legal to do it,” Lucente said. “The Lions Club sells trees for charity out on 250 West. If he wants to do it [at another location], that’s fine, no problem ... It’s not about what he is doing, it’s about the location he is doing it in.”
Talk to your child about cyberbullying. Make sure you keep an open dialogue so he/she feels comfortable coming to you with any issues.
Be familiar with your child's interactions with friends and others. While cyber bullying can be caused by a random person -- and thus difficult to prepare for -- trouble with friends and others in your child's social circle can also lead to cyber bullying.
Teach your child not to respond to cyber bullies. Bullies enjoy the response. By not responding, that may encourage them to move on.
Limit the amount of information your child shares online. Bullies can use multiple methods of communication to taunt or harass. By limiting your child's exposure, you make it easier to limit a bully's access. This may also limit the chance of a random cyber-bullying incident.
If the bullying is a problem, consider closing down the particular point of access, if possible. Email, instant message accounts and even some phone companies allow you to block specific user names or phone numbers. Most companies will even let you change cell phone numbers, email addresses and instant message accounts if needed.
If your children are being harassed or threatened, report the activity. Many schools have instituted bullying programs, so school officials may have established policies for handling incidents. If necessary, contact your local law enforcement, your local police department or FBI branch are good starting points.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Will Adamek-Cunningham II Float As Network TV Test Balloon?
Boxing on free, over-the-air network television is going back to the future for the second consecutive weekend. This past Saturday afternoon, CBS floated a 235 -pound test balloon – that would be the combined weights of IBF bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz and challenger Alberto Guevara, who duked it out in the Los Angeles Sports Arena -- with Santa Cruz retaining his title on a wide unanimous decision.
This Saturday afternoon, at the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, Pa., heavyweights Tomasz Adamek and Steve Cunningham collectively are a 430-pound balloon attempting to lift off in what might be an even more consequential experiment to see if fights and fighters still have a place in the non-cable and non-satellite sports universe.
If the NBC ratings are reasonably favorable – and they just might be, if Adamek and Cunningham generate anything close to the heat of their scintillating Dec. 11, 2008, slugfest, in which Adamek claimed Cunningham’s IBF cruiserweight title on a split decision -- boxing on Saturday afternoons may again be revived after long years of being almost exclusively consigned to cable, premium cable and pay-per-view.
Not that anyone would care to admit it, but the future of an increasingly marginalized sport could well hinge on whether those potentially larger audiences have their appetites whetted by the sight of gloved boxers pounding away at one another on a roped-off swatch of canvas.
“It’s a great matchup,” co-promoter Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events, said of Adamek-Cunningham II. “When their first fight (which was staged at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., and televised by Versus) ended, I remember saying, `We just promoted the two best cruiserweight bouts of all time,’ the other, in her opinion, being the first meeting of Evander Holyfield and Dwight Muhammad Qawi, in which Holyfield claimed Qawi’s WBA crown on a rousing split decision on July 12, 1986, in Atlanta.
Any list of all-time great cruiser wars would have to include the April 26, 2003, pairing of Vassiliy Jirov and James Toney in Mashantucket, Conn., in which Toney wrested Jirov’s IBF strap on a unanimous decision – but Duva’s point is basically well taken. It wouldn’t just be a good thing if Adamek and Cunningham recreate some of the magic they made four years earlier; it is almost essential if the seed they, Santa Cruz and Guevara planted is to grow and flourish.
“This fight, we hope, is a bridge from the NBC Sports Network cable series to regular NBC dates,” Duva continued. “It’s a natural progression. Hopefully, it’ll be the first of many such shows. There are 129 million TV homes in the United States that can get NBC. You can’t say that about anything that’s on the cable systems. HBO is in about – and forgive me if I’m a little off on the numbers – 25 to 30 million homes. Showtime is in 22 million homes. Even ESPN, which has the widest distribution of any cable network that does boxing, is only in about 90 million U.S. homes.
“We have an opportunity here to reach almost everyone in the country. There are a lot of people who can’t watch boxing because they don’t have cable or don’t subscribe to HBO or Showtime. For those people, it’s like the sport doesn’t even exist. That’s why we chose (Adamek-Cunningham II) – because it figures to be all-action, like the last one. When people are flipping through the channels on Saturday afternoon, we want them to stop when they come across this fight. We want them to keep watching and to get excited about what they’re seeing. Not to overstate the case or anything, but we can build a new generation of fans if this catches on like I think it can.”
“I think network boxing disappeared because the promoters, and quite honestly, the fighters, were more concerned about a payday than growing their fights and growing their sport,” Miller told Santoliquito. “Boxing just migrated to cable from there, then eventually to pay cable, choking off any kind of development for a good, young fighter to build a fan base.”
Miller had reason to be at least a bit skeptical that his company’s most recent foray into the fight game would be any more successful than the last. Adamek-Cunningham II is the first boxing match on NBC since 2004, and the first hint at anything resembling regular dates since the sport began being phased out in the late 1990s for the reasons Miller has already outlined. Even the first smaller test balloon tossed up by the fledgling NBC Sports Network nearly a year ago was blown a bit off-course by the unfavorable winds of change that can come out of nowhere, and frequently do.
The NBC Sports Group had acquired the ratings-poor Versus and 12 of Comcast’s regional sports networks when the decision was made, with a goal of helping fill all those programming hours, to launch the four-bout “Fight Night” series on the former Versus, now renamed NBC Sports Network. The first main event, on Jan. 21, 2012, was to have been an attractive matchup of heavyweight contender Eddie Chambers and former WBO heavyweight champion Sergei Liakhovich at the Asylum Arena in South Philadelphia.
But Chambers pulled out on short notice with an injury, and Liakhovich also withdrew, leaving Kathy Duva and matchmaker J Russell Peltz scrambling to come up with at least a semi-attractive bout to headline. What they finagled was an all-Philly showdown of undefeated but below-the-radar young heavyweights Bryant Jennings and Maurice Byarm, which, on paper, didn’t appear to be nearly as appealing as Chambers-Liakhovich.
What could have proved a disaster turned out to be an unexpected gem when Jennings outpointed Byarm in a crowd-pleaser. Jennings then stopped Liakhovich, also on the NBC Sports Network, and on the strength of three more victories – the most recent a fifth-round, one-punch knockout of Bowie Tupou on Dec. 8, which, natch, was televised by the NBC Sports Network – he has moved up to No. 5 in the IBF heavyweight ratings. Five-time Boxing Writers Association of America Trainer of the Year Freddie Roach, who has ties to Jennings, went so far as to proclaim the onetime standout high school defensive end as this country’s top heavyweight prospect.
Hey, when presented with lemons, the resourceful person makes lemonade. And Duva is nothing if not resourceful.
Which brings us back to Adamek-Cunningham II, and the differences between where they were then and where they are now. It is a tale of opportunities presented and capitalized upon, which is, after all, the basis for virtually every boxing success story.
“I’m not going to underestimate him this time,” Cunningham said of how he expects this second go-round to transpire. “I didn’t underestimate him a lot in the first fight, but my trainer at the time, Anthony Chase (his chief second is now Naazim Richardson), thought he saw things we could turn to our advantage. We didn’t think he could outbox us, and I do think for the most part we won the boxing end of it. But Adamek was durable – more durable than we thought. We didn’t realize he’s as strong as he is, and that he had such a good chin.
“I made mistakes. I know that now. One was that I wanted to be a star. I wanted to put on a big splash. I wanted to put a big hurt on the dude. When Adamek knocked me down the first time, my strategy went out the window. I just fought harder. A lot of people applauded my heart, but what else was I going to do? Lay down and quit?”
What’s different this time is that Adamek and Cunningham are heavyweights, toiling in the most traditional glamor division, instead of on the cruiserweight back streets. That seemingly is to the disadvantage of Cunningham, who was a taut and trim 207 pounds for his only previous bout as a heavy, and isn’t expected to be much higher when he enters the ring on Saturday. Adamek, on the other hand, has come in as high as 225 pounds, with 10 outings as a heavyweight, including a 10th-round TKO loss to WBC champ Vitali Klitschko on Sept. 10, 2011. He has a size, strength and experience advantage in the division over Cunningham, which helps explain why he’s a 4-1 favorite.
But Duva, who now has a promotional interest in both fighters, believes a lot of that magic from 2008 will carry over. That might be a case of wishful thinking, but who could blame her for feeling that way? So much is on the line this time around, not only for the fighters but maybe for the sport of boxing itself.
“So much in our business rides on what the heavyweights do,” Duva acknowledged. “That’s always been so. Part of our mission on the NBC Sports Network, and now on NBC, is to exhibit the heavyweights.
This Saturday afternoon, at the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, Pa., heavyweights Tomasz Adamek and Steve Cunningham collectively are a 430-pound balloon attempting to lift off in what might be an even more consequential experiment to see if fights and fighters still have a place in the non-cable and non-satellite sports universe.
If the NBC ratings are reasonably favorable – and they just might be, if Adamek and Cunningham generate anything close to the heat of their scintillating Dec. 11, 2008, slugfest, in which Adamek claimed Cunningham’s IBF cruiserweight title on a split decision -- boxing on Saturday afternoons may again be revived after long years of being almost exclusively consigned to cable, premium cable and pay-per-view.
Not that anyone would care to admit it, but the future of an increasingly marginalized sport could well hinge on whether those potentially larger audiences have their appetites whetted by the sight of gloved boxers pounding away at one another on a roped-off swatch of canvas.
“It’s a great matchup,” co-promoter Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events, said of Adamek-Cunningham II. “When their first fight (which was staged at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., and televised by Versus) ended, I remember saying, `We just promoted the two best cruiserweight bouts of all time,’ the other, in her opinion, being the first meeting of Evander Holyfield and Dwight Muhammad Qawi, in which Holyfield claimed Qawi’s WBA crown on a rousing split decision on July 12, 1986, in Atlanta.
Any list of all-time great cruiser wars would have to include the April 26, 2003, pairing of Vassiliy Jirov and James Toney in Mashantucket, Conn., in which Toney wrested Jirov’s IBF strap on a unanimous decision – but Duva’s point is basically well taken. It wouldn’t just be a good thing if Adamek and Cunningham recreate some of the magic they made four years earlier; it is almost essential if the seed they, Santa Cruz and Guevara planted is to grow and flourish.
“This fight, we hope, is a bridge from the NBC Sports Network cable series to regular NBC dates,” Duva continued. “It’s a natural progression. Hopefully, it’ll be the first of many such shows. There are 129 million TV homes in the United States that can get NBC. You can’t say that about anything that’s on the cable systems. HBO is in about – and forgive me if I’m a little off on the numbers – 25 to 30 million homes. Showtime is in 22 million homes. Even ESPN, which has the widest distribution of any cable network that does boxing, is only in about 90 million U.S. homes.
“We have an opportunity here to reach almost everyone in the country. There are a lot of people who can’t watch boxing because they don’t have cable or don’t subscribe to HBO or Showtime. For those people, it’s like the sport doesn’t even exist. That’s why we chose (Adamek-Cunningham II) – because it figures to be all-action, like the last one. When people are flipping through the channels on Saturday afternoon, we want them to stop when they come across this fight. We want them to keep watching and to get excited about what they’re seeing. Not to overstate the case or anything, but we can build a new generation of fans if this catches on like I think it can.”
“I think network boxing disappeared because the promoters, and quite honestly, the fighters, were more concerned about a payday than growing their fights and growing their sport,” Miller told Santoliquito. “Boxing just migrated to cable from there, then eventually to pay cable, choking off any kind of development for a good, young fighter to build a fan base.”
Miller had reason to be at least a bit skeptical that his company’s most recent foray into the fight game would be any more successful than the last. Adamek-Cunningham II is the first boxing match on NBC since 2004, and the first hint at anything resembling regular dates since the sport began being phased out in the late 1990s for the reasons Miller has already outlined. Even the first smaller test balloon tossed up by the fledgling NBC Sports Network nearly a year ago was blown a bit off-course by the unfavorable winds of change that can come out of nowhere, and frequently do.
The NBC Sports Group had acquired the ratings-poor Versus and 12 of Comcast’s regional sports networks when the decision was made, with a goal of helping fill all those programming hours, to launch the four-bout “Fight Night” series on the former Versus, now renamed NBC Sports Network. The first main event, on Jan. 21, 2012, was to have been an attractive matchup of heavyweight contender Eddie Chambers and former WBO heavyweight champion Sergei Liakhovich at the Asylum Arena in South Philadelphia.
But Chambers pulled out on short notice with an injury, and Liakhovich also withdrew, leaving Kathy Duva and matchmaker J Russell Peltz scrambling to come up with at least a semi-attractive bout to headline. What they finagled was an all-Philly showdown of undefeated but below-the-radar young heavyweights Bryant Jennings and Maurice Byarm, which, on paper, didn’t appear to be nearly as appealing as Chambers-Liakhovich.
What could have proved a disaster turned out to be an unexpected gem when Jennings outpointed Byarm in a crowd-pleaser. Jennings then stopped Liakhovich, also on the NBC Sports Network, and on the strength of three more victories – the most recent a fifth-round, one-punch knockout of Bowie Tupou on Dec. 8, which, natch, was televised by the NBC Sports Network – he has moved up to No. 5 in the IBF heavyweight ratings. Five-time Boxing Writers Association of America Trainer of the Year Freddie Roach, who has ties to Jennings, went so far as to proclaim the onetime standout high school defensive end as this country’s top heavyweight prospect.
Hey, when presented with lemons, the resourceful person makes lemonade. And Duva is nothing if not resourceful.
Which brings us back to Adamek-Cunningham II, and the differences between where they were then and where they are now. It is a tale of opportunities presented and capitalized upon, which is, after all, the basis for virtually every boxing success story.
“I’m not going to underestimate him this time,” Cunningham said of how he expects this second go-round to transpire. “I didn’t underestimate him a lot in the first fight, but my trainer at the time, Anthony Chase (his chief second is now Naazim Richardson), thought he saw things we could turn to our advantage. We didn’t think he could outbox us, and I do think for the most part we won the boxing end of it. But Adamek was durable – more durable than we thought. We didn’t realize he’s as strong as he is, and that he had such a good chin.
“I made mistakes. I know that now. One was that I wanted to be a star. I wanted to put on a big splash. I wanted to put a big hurt on the dude. When Adamek knocked me down the first time, my strategy went out the window. I just fought harder. A lot of people applauded my heart, but what else was I going to do? Lay down and quit?”
What’s different this time is that Adamek and Cunningham are heavyweights, toiling in the most traditional glamor division, instead of on the cruiserweight back streets. That seemingly is to the disadvantage of Cunningham, who was a taut and trim 207 pounds for his only previous bout as a heavy, and isn’t expected to be much higher when he enters the ring on Saturday. Adamek, on the other hand, has come in as high as 225 pounds, with 10 outings as a heavyweight, including a 10th-round TKO loss to WBC champ Vitali Klitschko on Sept. 10, 2011. He has a size, strength and experience advantage in the division over Cunningham, which helps explain why he’s a 4-1 favorite.
But Duva, who now has a promotional interest in both fighters, believes a lot of that magic from 2008 will carry over. That might be a case of wishful thinking, but who could blame her for feeling that way? So much is on the line this time around, not only for the fighters but maybe for the sport of boxing itself.
“So much in our business rides on what the heavyweights do,” Duva acknowledged. “That’s always been so. Part of our mission on the NBC Sports Network, and now on NBC, is to exhibit the heavyweights.
Taiwan Holds Rate for Sixth Meeting as Economy Starts to Rebound
Taiwan kept interest rates unchanged for the sixth straight meeting amid signs the island’s growth is gathering pace and inflation has stabilized.
The central bank held the discount rate on 10-day loans to banks at 1.875 percent, it said in a statement in Taipei today. The decision was predicted by all 23 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The monetary authority has refrained from adjusting borrowing costs since June 2011.
Taiwan follows Asian nations including South Korea and India in refraining from cutting rates as data from China and the U.S. show the global economy may be rebounding. The island last month raised its growth estimates for 2012 and 2013 as inflation slowed from a four-year peak in August.
“Taiwan’s economy is recovering, it’s past the point of a rate cut,” Sylvia Chiu, an economist at SinoPac Financial Holdings Co. in Taipei, said before the decision. “Although rises in consumer prices had been quite rapid, they have subsided.”
The Taiwan dollar closed little changed at NT$29.102 against its U.S. counterpart before the rate decision. It is among the best performers this year of the 11 most-widely traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg, having gained more than 4 percent. The benchmark Taiex Index advanced 0.4 percent.
Exports, which make up about 60 percent of gross domestic product, have fallen for eight months in 2012, and the statistics bureau estimates shipments will contract 2.16 percent this year. Still, overseas sales climbed 0.9 percent in November from a year earlier as demand from China improved.
The slowdown in the Chinese economy appears to have bottomed out, the World Bank said today. Taiwan’s largest trading partner has set its initial target for economic growth at 7.5 percent for a second year, two bank executives and a regulatory official said this month, asking not to be named as they weren’t authorized to disclose the details.
Closer ties between China and Taiwan through trade and investment relations, as well as a currency clearance agreement, can boost the island’s domestic consumption, according to Wai Ho Leong, a Singapore-based regional economist at Barclays Plc.
“The main catalyst for domestic demand is the evolution of cross-strait ties,” Leong said in a note. These are “awakening the exportable services engines of the economy -- in tourism- related services and real estate -- creating new job and investment opportunities.”
Taiwan’s unemployment rate held at 4.3 percent in October, the highest in more than a year. President Ma Ying-jeou’s approval rating is at a record-low 13 percent, according to a November poll by Taiwan cable news network TVBS.
The island’s monetary authority imposed selective credit controls on luxury housing from June, and has scaled back open- market operations to pump money into the market. The outstanding amount of certificates of deposits have dropped to NT$6.6 trillion ($227 billion) from this year’s peak of NT$7 trillion in March. The central bank auctions 30-, 91-, and 182-day bills every day to control liquidity in the financial system.
The economy may expand 1.13 percent this year and 3.15 percent next year, the government said last month. Inflation is forecast at 1.93 percent in 2012 and 1.27 percent in 2013.
Inflation slowed for a third month in November, with the consumer price index climbing 1.59 percent from a year earlier, the slowest pace in seven months. A planned electricity price increase has been postponed to next year.
“Inflation has eased but at the same time we haven’t seen the economy really improve,” said Tobby Lin, a fixed-income trader at Yuanta Securities Co. in Taipei. “It doesn’t seem like the right time for the central bank to increase or lower rates.”
The results were predictable. The Bells laid off huge numbers of workers. They cut back investment, choosing instead to milk the existing plant as much as possible. Modernization plans largely froze, except as required to continue to provide basic service. When the Internet boom came, demand for second lines for dial-up users forced some new investment. A little bit was also spent rolling out DSL, although, being newer than the price caps, it was always at unregulated rates. When the boom ended in 2001, investment fell off the cliff. Other than wireless, most “investment” was in buying up each other, as Bell Atlantic morphed into Verizon and Southwestern Bell became the faux “AT&T”.
Since then, the Bells have put next to nothing into their regulated wireline networks, which are often over 80% depreciated. Sure, Verizon spent some billions on FiOS, but that was a fraction of the money they were originally going to spend on fiber to the home. Indeed their AFOR plans were actually predicated on promises of wiring their territories for fiber. Not for closed FiOS, either, but regulated common carrier fiber, open to competitive video, voice and data services. That was never built. AT&T’s U-Verse is a late-life kicker for the ancient copper plant, putting DSLAMs closer to subscribers in order to bump the speed up to something capable of carrying switched digital video. But it’s chump change compared to the extra profits, above and beyond what rate of return would have allowed, that they all made from AFOR. The original title of Bruce Kushnick’s book, The $200 Billion Broadband Scandal, is now out of date – it’s now up to $340 billion.
But while AFOR led to higher quarterly profits in the short term, the lack of investment is now catching up with them. The switching systems that deliver telephone service are mostly over 20 years old, ancient for computerized gear. Several racks consuming many kilowatts of power are required for this old gear to do what fits today into a small server enclosure that only needs a few hundred watts.
The copper plant is largely 50+ years old; some is still buried in century-old wooden conduits or hung on rotting poles. Pulling fiber through deteriorated conduit is extremely difficult; that may be why Verizon avoided putting FiOS in some older cities. Given the limited maintenance performed in the past 20 years, the network is deteriorating rapidly. No wonder Verizon is willing to surrender wireline to cable – after two decades of minimal maintenance, it’s just too far gone.
That’s why it may really be the end of the line for the Bells. The lack of investment since price caps replaced rate of return may finally be catching up with them. Technical transitions like VoIP are relatively minor. They’re a distraction, basically business as usual. But when the physical plant is in decay, customers are leaving, and the only answer they can come up with is even more deregulation, they’re facing real trouble.
Not that their public financial disclosures make any of this obvious, or that the end has arrive yet. AT&T and Verizon are still making money on “wireline” overall, while just their regulated state subsidiaries claim to be losing money. Some of this is accounting sleight of hand, as expenses may stay in the state subsidiary while revenues go to unregulated ones. FiOS revenues, for instance, are largely kept off of the state books. This lack of transparency makes rational regulation even more difficult.
This would be a smaller issue if there were more alternatives. But “facilities-based competition” for wireline service was never really possible outside of a few core business districts; the economics are just too dismal. The Bells and the cable companies are really the only ones who have any chance of reaching the vast majority of homes and workplaces with any kind of reasonable broadband service. Wireless is great for rural areas and mobility but it has very limited capacity, and cell sites themselves usually depend on some kind of wireline connection (nowadays usually fiber optic). The Bells were, after all, utilities –businesses vital to the economy. They just don’t want to be any more.
Deregulating them to become profit-maximizers has backfired. Something will need to be done. The last decade’s telecom policy in the United States has failed. Wireline competition has degenerated into a cozy duopoly, and that is now at risk of becoming a true monopoly once again, only this time minus the regulation. The last thing we need is more deregulation, more magic pixie dust, more short-term thinking. Policy needs to set the incentives straight, allow competition where possible, regulate what’s not competitive, and get investment going where it’s needed. It should be the end of the line for antiquated networks and failed policies, not for good service at reasonable rates.
The central bank held the discount rate on 10-day loans to banks at 1.875 percent, it said in a statement in Taipei today. The decision was predicted by all 23 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The monetary authority has refrained from adjusting borrowing costs since June 2011.
Taiwan follows Asian nations including South Korea and India in refraining from cutting rates as data from China and the U.S. show the global economy may be rebounding. The island last month raised its growth estimates for 2012 and 2013 as inflation slowed from a four-year peak in August.
“Taiwan’s economy is recovering, it’s past the point of a rate cut,” Sylvia Chiu, an economist at SinoPac Financial Holdings Co. in Taipei, said before the decision. “Although rises in consumer prices had been quite rapid, they have subsided.”
The Taiwan dollar closed little changed at NT$29.102 against its U.S. counterpart before the rate decision. It is among the best performers this year of the 11 most-widely traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg, having gained more than 4 percent. The benchmark Taiex Index advanced 0.4 percent.
Exports, which make up about 60 percent of gross domestic product, have fallen for eight months in 2012, and the statistics bureau estimates shipments will contract 2.16 percent this year. Still, overseas sales climbed 0.9 percent in November from a year earlier as demand from China improved.
The slowdown in the Chinese economy appears to have bottomed out, the World Bank said today. Taiwan’s largest trading partner has set its initial target for economic growth at 7.5 percent for a second year, two bank executives and a regulatory official said this month, asking not to be named as they weren’t authorized to disclose the details.
Closer ties between China and Taiwan through trade and investment relations, as well as a currency clearance agreement, can boost the island’s domestic consumption, according to Wai Ho Leong, a Singapore-based regional economist at Barclays Plc.
“The main catalyst for domestic demand is the evolution of cross-strait ties,” Leong said in a note. These are “awakening the exportable services engines of the economy -- in tourism- related services and real estate -- creating new job and investment opportunities.”
Taiwan’s unemployment rate held at 4.3 percent in October, the highest in more than a year. President Ma Ying-jeou’s approval rating is at a record-low 13 percent, according to a November poll by Taiwan cable news network TVBS.
The island’s monetary authority imposed selective credit controls on luxury housing from June, and has scaled back open- market operations to pump money into the market. The outstanding amount of certificates of deposits have dropped to NT$6.6 trillion ($227 billion) from this year’s peak of NT$7 trillion in March. The central bank auctions 30-, 91-, and 182-day bills every day to control liquidity in the financial system.
The economy may expand 1.13 percent this year and 3.15 percent next year, the government said last month. Inflation is forecast at 1.93 percent in 2012 and 1.27 percent in 2013.
Inflation slowed for a third month in November, with the consumer price index climbing 1.59 percent from a year earlier, the slowest pace in seven months. A planned electricity price increase has been postponed to next year.
“Inflation has eased but at the same time we haven’t seen the economy really improve,” said Tobby Lin, a fixed-income trader at Yuanta Securities Co. in Taipei. “It doesn’t seem like the right time for the central bank to increase or lower rates.”
The results were predictable. The Bells laid off huge numbers of workers. They cut back investment, choosing instead to milk the existing plant as much as possible. Modernization plans largely froze, except as required to continue to provide basic service. When the Internet boom came, demand for second lines for dial-up users forced some new investment. A little bit was also spent rolling out DSL, although, being newer than the price caps, it was always at unregulated rates. When the boom ended in 2001, investment fell off the cliff. Other than wireless, most “investment” was in buying up each other, as Bell Atlantic morphed into Verizon and Southwestern Bell became the faux “AT&T”.
Since then, the Bells have put next to nothing into their regulated wireline networks, which are often over 80% depreciated. Sure, Verizon spent some billions on FiOS, but that was a fraction of the money they were originally going to spend on fiber to the home. Indeed their AFOR plans were actually predicated on promises of wiring their territories for fiber. Not for closed FiOS, either, but regulated common carrier fiber, open to competitive video, voice and data services. That was never built. AT&T’s U-Verse is a late-life kicker for the ancient copper plant, putting DSLAMs closer to subscribers in order to bump the speed up to something capable of carrying switched digital video. But it’s chump change compared to the extra profits, above and beyond what rate of return would have allowed, that they all made from AFOR. The original title of Bruce Kushnick’s book, The $200 Billion Broadband Scandal, is now out of date – it’s now up to $340 billion.
But while AFOR led to higher quarterly profits in the short term, the lack of investment is now catching up with them. The switching systems that deliver telephone service are mostly over 20 years old, ancient for computerized gear. Several racks consuming many kilowatts of power are required for this old gear to do what fits today into a small server enclosure that only needs a few hundred watts.
The copper plant is largely 50+ years old; some is still buried in century-old wooden conduits or hung on rotting poles. Pulling fiber through deteriorated conduit is extremely difficult; that may be why Verizon avoided putting FiOS in some older cities. Given the limited maintenance performed in the past 20 years, the network is deteriorating rapidly. No wonder Verizon is willing to surrender wireline to cable – after two decades of minimal maintenance, it’s just too far gone.
That’s why it may really be the end of the line for the Bells. The lack of investment since price caps replaced rate of return may finally be catching up with them. Technical transitions like VoIP are relatively minor. They’re a distraction, basically business as usual. But when the physical plant is in decay, customers are leaving, and the only answer they can come up with is even more deregulation, they’re facing real trouble.
Not that their public financial disclosures make any of this obvious, or that the end has arrive yet. AT&T and Verizon are still making money on “wireline” overall, while just their regulated state subsidiaries claim to be losing money. Some of this is accounting sleight of hand, as expenses may stay in the state subsidiary while revenues go to unregulated ones. FiOS revenues, for instance, are largely kept off of the state books. This lack of transparency makes rational regulation even more difficult.
This would be a smaller issue if there were more alternatives. But “facilities-based competition” for wireline service was never really possible outside of a few core business districts; the economics are just too dismal. The Bells and the cable companies are really the only ones who have any chance of reaching the vast majority of homes and workplaces with any kind of reasonable broadband service. Wireless is great for rural areas and mobility but it has very limited capacity, and cell sites themselves usually depend on some kind of wireline connection (nowadays usually fiber optic). The Bells were, after all, utilities –businesses vital to the economy. They just don’t want to be any more.
Deregulating them to become profit-maximizers has backfired. Something will need to be done. The last decade’s telecom policy in the United States has failed. Wireline competition has degenerated into a cozy duopoly, and that is now at risk of becoming a true monopoly once again, only this time minus the regulation. The last thing we need is more deregulation, more magic pixie dust, more short-term thinking. Policy needs to set the incentives straight, allow competition where possible, regulate what’s not competitive, and get investment going where it’s needed. It should be the end of the line for antiquated networks and failed policies, not for good service at reasonable rates.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Guns, Guns, Guns
If you’re the biblically minded sort, then the trouble began when a jealous Cain clubbed Abel to death, but if you’re evolutionary minded, then it’s a ‘chicken and egg’ question. Violence had no beginning, except perhaps in the Big Bang, it was always here, coded into the DNA. If people are just grown-up animals, more articulate versions of the creatures who eat each other’s young, and sometimes their own young, there is as much use in wondering about the nature of evil as there is in trying to understand why a killer whale kills.
But debating how many devils can dance on the head of a pinhead is largely useless. We are not a particularly violent society. We are a society sheltered from violence. No one in Rwanda spends a great deal of time wondering what kind of man would murder children. They probably live next door to him. For that matter, if your neighborhood is diverse enough, you might be unfortunate enough to live next door to any number of war criminals, all the way from Eastern Europe to Asia to Africa.
The issue isn’t really guns. Guns are how we misspell evil. Guns are how we avoid talking about the ugly realities of human nature while building sandcastles on the shores of utopia.
The obsession with guns, rather than machetes, stone clubs, crossbows or that impressive weapon of mass death, the longbow (just ask anyone on the French side of the Battle of Agincourt) is really the obsession with human agency. It’s not about the fear of what one motivated maniac can do in a crowded place, but about the precariousness of social control that the killing sprees imply.
Mass death isn’t the issue. After September 11, the same righteous folks calling for the immediate necessity of gun control were not talking about banning planes or Saudis, they were quoting statistics about how many more people die of car accidents each year than are killed by terrorists. As Stalin said, one death is a tragedy; three thousand deaths can always be minimized by comparing them to some even larger statistic.
The gun issue is the narrative. It’s not about death or children; it’s about control. It’s about confusing object and subject. It’s about guns that shoot people and people that are irrevocably tugged into pulling the trigger because society failed them, corporations programmed them and not enough kindly souls told them that they loved them.
Mostly it’s about people who are sheltered from the realities of human nature trying to build a shelter big enough for everyone. A Gun Free Zone where everyone is a target and tries to live under the illusion that they aren’t. A society where everyone is drawing unicorns on colored notepaper while waiting under their desks for the bomb to fall.
After every shooting there are more zero tolerance policies in schools that crack down on everything from eight-year olds making POW POW gestures with their fingers to honor students bringing Tylenol and pocket knives to school. And then another shooting happens and then another one and they wouldn’t happen if we just had more zero tolerance policies for everyone and everything.
But evil just can’t be controlled. Not with the sort of zero tolerance policies that confuse object with subject, which ban pocket knives and finger shootings to prevent real shootings. That brand of control isn’t authority, it’s authority in panic mode believing that if it imposes total zero tolerance control then there will be no more school shootings. And every time the dumb paradigm is blown to bits with another shotgun, then the rush is on to reinforce it with more total zero control tolerance.
Zero tolerance for the Second Amendment makes sense. If you ban all guns, except for those in the hands of the 708,000 police officers, the 1.5 million members of the armed forces, the countless numbers of security guards, including those who protect banks and armored cars, the bodyguards of celebrities who call for gun control, not to mention park rangers, ambulance drivers in the ghetto and any of the other people who need a gun to do their job, then you’re sure to stop all shootings.
So long as none of those millions of people, or their tens of millions of kids, spouses, parents, grandchildren, girlfriends, boyfriends, roommates and anyone else who has access to them and their living spaces, carries out one of those shootings.
But this isn’t really about stopping shootings; it’s about controlling when they happen. It’s about making sure that everyone who has a gun is in some kind of chain of command. It’s about the belief that the problem isn’t evil, but agency, that if we make sure that everyone who has guns is following orders, then control will be asserted and the problem will stop. Or if it doesn’t stop, then at least there will be someone higher up in the chain of command to blame. Either way authority is sanctified, control or the illusion of it, maintained.
We’ll never know the full number of people who were killed by Fast and Furious. We’ll never know how many were killed by Obama’s regime change operation in Libya, with repercussions in Mali and Syria. But everyone involved in that was following orders. There was no individual agency, just agencies. No lone gunman who just decided to go up to a school and shoot kids. There were orders to run guns to Mexico and the cartel gunmen who killed people with those guns had orders to shoot. There was nothing random or unpredictable about it. Or as the Joker put it, “Nobody panics when things go according to plan. Even if the plan is horrifying.”
Gun control is the assertion that the problem is not the guns; it’s the lack of a controlling authority for all those guns. It’s the individual. A few million people with little sleep, taut nerves and PTSD are not a problem so long as there is someone to give them orders. A hundred million people with guns and no orders is a major problem. Historically though it’s millions of people with guns who follow orders who have been more of a problem than millions of people with guns who do not.
Moral agency is individual. You can’t outsource it to a government and you wouldn’t want to. The bundle of impulses, the codes of character, the concepts of right and wrong, take place at the level of the individual. Organizations do not sanctify this process. They do not lift it above its fallacies, nor do they even do a very good job of keeping sociopaths and murderers from rising high enough to give orders. Organizations are the biggest guns of all, and some men and women who make Lanza look like a man of modestly murderous ambitions have had their fingers on their triggers and still do.
Gun control will not really control guns, but it will give the illusion of controlling people, and even when it fails those in authority will be able to say that they did everything that they could short of giving people the ability to defend themselves.
We live under the rule of organizers, community and otherwise, whose great faith is that the power to control men and their environment will allow them to shape their perfect state into being, and the violent acts of lone madmen are a reminder that such control is fleeting, that utopia has its tigers, and that attempting to control a problem often makes it worse by removing the natural human crowdsourced responses that would otherwise come into play.
The clamor for gun control is the cry of sheltered utopians believing that evil is a substance as finite as guns, and that getting rid of one will also get rid of the other. But evil isn’t finite and guns are as finite as drugs or moonshine whiskey, which is to say that they are as finite as the human interest in having them is. And unlike whiskey or heroin, the only way to stop a man with a gun is with a gun.
People do kill people and the only way to stop people from killing people is by killing them first. To a utopian this is a moral paradox that invalidates everything, but to everyone else, it’s just life in a world where evil is a reality, not just a word.
Anyone who really hankers after a world without guns would do well to try the 14th Century, the 1400 years ago or the 3400 years ago variety, which was not a nicer place for lack of guns, and the same firepower that makes it possible for one homicidal maniac to kill a dozen unarmed people, also makes it that much harder to recreate a world where one man in armor can terrify hundreds of peasants in boiled leather armed with sharp sticks.
The longbow was the first weapon to truly begin to level the playing field, putting serious firepower in the hands of a single man. In the Battle of Crecy, a few thousand English and Welsh peasants with longbows slew thousands of French knights and defeated an army of 30,000. Or as the French side described it, “It is a shame that so many French noblemen fell to men of no value.” Crecy, incidentally, also saw one of the first uses of cannon.
Putting miniature cannons in the hands of every peasant made the American Revolution possible. The ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution would have meant very little without an army of ordinary men armed with weapons that made them a match for the superior organization and numbers of a world power.
At the Battle of Bunker Hill, 2,400 American rebels faced down superior numbers and lost the hill, but inflicted over a 1,000 casualties, including 100 British commissioned officers killed or wounded, leading to General Clinton’s observation, “A few more such victories would have shortly put an end to British dominion in America.”
This was done with muskets, the weapon that gun control advocates assure us was responsible for the Second Amendment because the Founders couldn’t imagine all the “truly dangerous” weapons that we have today.
And yet would Thomas Jefferson, the abiding figurehead of the Democratic Party, who famously wrote, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”, really have shuddered at the idea of peasants with assault rifles, or would he have grinned at the playing field being leveled some more?
The question is the old elemental one about government control and individual agency. And tragedies like the one that just happened take us back to the equally old question of whether individual liberty is a better defense against human evil than the entrenched organizations of government.
Do we want a society run by the flower of chivalry, who commit atrocities according to a plan for a better society, or by peasants with machine guns? The flower of chivalry can promise us a utopian world without evil, but the peasant with a machine gun promises us that we can protect ourselves from evil when it comes calling.
It isn’t really guns that the gun controllers are afraid of, it’s a country where individual agency is still superior to organized control, where things are unpredictable because the trains don’t run on time and orders don’t mean anything. But chivalry is dead. The longbow and the cannon killed it and no charge of the light brigade can bring it back. And we’re better for it.
Evil may find heavy firepower appealing, but the firepower works both ways. A world where the peasants have assault rifles is a world where peasant no longer means a man without any rights. And while it may also mean the occasional brutal shooting spree, those sprees tend to happen in the outposts of utopia, the gun-free zones with zero tolerance for firearms. An occasional peasant may go on a killing spree, but a society where the peasants are all armed is also far more able to stop such a thing without waiting for the men-at-arms to be dispatched from the castle.
But debating how many devils can dance on the head of a pinhead is largely useless. We are not a particularly violent society. We are a society sheltered from violence. No one in Rwanda spends a great deal of time wondering what kind of man would murder children. They probably live next door to him. For that matter, if your neighborhood is diverse enough, you might be unfortunate enough to live next door to any number of war criminals, all the way from Eastern Europe to Asia to Africa.
The issue isn’t really guns. Guns are how we misspell evil. Guns are how we avoid talking about the ugly realities of human nature while building sandcastles on the shores of utopia.
The obsession with guns, rather than machetes, stone clubs, crossbows or that impressive weapon of mass death, the longbow (just ask anyone on the French side of the Battle of Agincourt) is really the obsession with human agency. It’s not about the fear of what one motivated maniac can do in a crowded place, but about the precariousness of social control that the killing sprees imply.
Mass death isn’t the issue. After September 11, the same righteous folks calling for the immediate necessity of gun control were not talking about banning planes or Saudis, they were quoting statistics about how many more people die of car accidents each year than are killed by terrorists. As Stalin said, one death is a tragedy; three thousand deaths can always be minimized by comparing them to some even larger statistic.
The gun issue is the narrative. It’s not about death or children; it’s about control. It’s about confusing object and subject. It’s about guns that shoot people and people that are irrevocably tugged into pulling the trigger because society failed them, corporations programmed them and not enough kindly souls told them that they loved them.
Mostly it’s about people who are sheltered from the realities of human nature trying to build a shelter big enough for everyone. A Gun Free Zone where everyone is a target and tries to live under the illusion that they aren’t. A society where everyone is drawing unicorns on colored notepaper while waiting under their desks for the bomb to fall.
After every shooting there are more zero tolerance policies in schools that crack down on everything from eight-year olds making POW POW gestures with their fingers to honor students bringing Tylenol and pocket knives to school. And then another shooting happens and then another one and they wouldn’t happen if we just had more zero tolerance policies for everyone and everything.
But evil just can’t be controlled. Not with the sort of zero tolerance policies that confuse object with subject, which ban pocket knives and finger shootings to prevent real shootings. That brand of control isn’t authority, it’s authority in panic mode believing that if it imposes total zero tolerance control then there will be no more school shootings. And every time the dumb paradigm is blown to bits with another shotgun, then the rush is on to reinforce it with more total zero control tolerance.
Zero tolerance for the Second Amendment makes sense. If you ban all guns, except for those in the hands of the 708,000 police officers, the 1.5 million members of the armed forces, the countless numbers of security guards, including those who protect banks and armored cars, the bodyguards of celebrities who call for gun control, not to mention park rangers, ambulance drivers in the ghetto and any of the other people who need a gun to do their job, then you’re sure to stop all shootings.
So long as none of those millions of people, or their tens of millions of kids, spouses, parents, grandchildren, girlfriends, boyfriends, roommates and anyone else who has access to them and their living spaces, carries out one of those shootings.
But this isn’t really about stopping shootings; it’s about controlling when they happen. It’s about making sure that everyone who has a gun is in some kind of chain of command. It’s about the belief that the problem isn’t evil, but agency, that if we make sure that everyone who has guns is following orders, then control will be asserted and the problem will stop. Or if it doesn’t stop, then at least there will be someone higher up in the chain of command to blame. Either way authority is sanctified, control or the illusion of it, maintained.
We’ll never know the full number of people who were killed by Fast and Furious. We’ll never know how many were killed by Obama’s regime change operation in Libya, with repercussions in Mali and Syria. But everyone involved in that was following orders. There was no individual agency, just agencies. No lone gunman who just decided to go up to a school and shoot kids. There were orders to run guns to Mexico and the cartel gunmen who killed people with those guns had orders to shoot. There was nothing random or unpredictable about it. Or as the Joker put it, “Nobody panics when things go according to plan. Even if the plan is horrifying.”
Gun control is the assertion that the problem is not the guns; it’s the lack of a controlling authority for all those guns. It’s the individual. A few million people with little sleep, taut nerves and PTSD are not a problem so long as there is someone to give them orders. A hundred million people with guns and no orders is a major problem. Historically though it’s millions of people with guns who follow orders who have been more of a problem than millions of people with guns who do not.
Moral agency is individual. You can’t outsource it to a government and you wouldn’t want to. The bundle of impulses, the codes of character, the concepts of right and wrong, take place at the level of the individual. Organizations do not sanctify this process. They do not lift it above its fallacies, nor do they even do a very good job of keeping sociopaths and murderers from rising high enough to give orders. Organizations are the biggest guns of all, and some men and women who make Lanza look like a man of modestly murderous ambitions have had their fingers on their triggers and still do.
Gun control will not really control guns, but it will give the illusion of controlling people, and even when it fails those in authority will be able to say that they did everything that they could short of giving people the ability to defend themselves.
We live under the rule of organizers, community and otherwise, whose great faith is that the power to control men and their environment will allow them to shape their perfect state into being, and the violent acts of lone madmen are a reminder that such control is fleeting, that utopia has its tigers, and that attempting to control a problem often makes it worse by removing the natural human crowdsourced responses that would otherwise come into play.
The clamor for gun control is the cry of sheltered utopians believing that evil is a substance as finite as guns, and that getting rid of one will also get rid of the other. But evil isn’t finite and guns are as finite as drugs or moonshine whiskey, which is to say that they are as finite as the human interest in having them is. And unlike whiskey or heroin, the only way to stop a man with a gun is with a gun.
People do kill people and the only way to stop people from killing people is by killing them first. To a utopian this is a moral paradox that invalidates everything, but to everyone else, it’s just life in a world where evil is a reality, not just a word.
Anyone who really hankers after a world without guns would do well to try the 14th Century, the 1400 years ago or the 3400 years ago variety, which was not a nicer place for lack of guns, and the same firepower that makes it possible for one homicidal maniac to kill a dozen unarmed people, also makes it that much harder to recreate a world where one man in armor can terrify hundreds of peasants in boiled leather armed with sharp sticks.
The longbow was the first weapon to truly begin to level the playing field, putting serious firepower in the hands of a single man. In the Battle of Crecy, a few thousand English and Welsh peasants with longbows slew thousands of French knights and defeated an army of 30,000. Or as the French side described it, “It is a shame that so many French noblemen fell to men of no value.” Crecy, incidentally, also saw one of the first uses of cannon.
Putting miniature cannons in the hands of every peasant made the American Revolution possible. The ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution would have meant very little without an army of ordinary men armed with weapons that made them a match for the superior organization and numbers of a world power.
At the Battle of Bunker Hill, 2,400 American rebels faced down superior numbers and lost the hill, but inflicted over a 1,000 casualties, including 100 British commissioned officers killed or wounded, leading to General Clinton’s observation, “A few more such victories would have shortly put an end to British dominion in America.”
This was done with muskets, the weapon that gun control advocates assure us was responsible for the Second Amendment because the Founders couldn’t imagine all the “truly dangerous” weapons that we have today.
And yet would Thomas Jefferson, the abiding figurehead of the Democratic Party, who famously wrote, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”, really have shuddered at the idea of peasants with assault rifles, or would he have grinned at the playing field being leveled some more?
The question is the old elemental one about government control and individual agency. And tragedies like the one that just happened take us back to the equally old question of whether individual liberty is a better defense against human evil than the entrenched organizations of government.
Do we want a society run by the flower of chivalry, who commit atrocities according to a plan for a better society, or by peasants with machine guns? The flower of chivalry can promise us a utopian world without evil, but the peasant with a machine gun promises us that we can protect ourselves from evil when it comes calling.
It isn’t really guns that the gun controllers are afraid of, it’s a country where individual agency is still superior to organized control, where things are unpredictable because the trains don’t run on time and orders don’t mean anything. But chivalry is dead. The longbow and the cannon killed it and no charge of the light brigade can bring it back. And we’re better for it.
Evil may find heavy firepower appealing, but the firepower works both ways. A world where the peasants have assault rifles is a world where peasant no longer means a man without any rights. And while it may also mean the occasional brutal shooting spree, those sprees tend to happen in the outposts of utopia, the gun-free zones with zero tolerance for firearms. An occasional peasant may go on a killing spree, but a society where the peasants are all armed is also far more able to stop such a thing without waiting for the men-at-arms to be dispatched from the castle.
Gohmert Defends Access To Assault Weapons
Louie Gohmert defended the right to purchase assault weapons, saying it is a right enshrined in the Second Amendment, during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday." Gohmert said the country needs an "open-minded conversation" about gun violence because people's emotional reaction to tragedies like the shooting in Newtown,is to call for stricter gun laws.
"Well, for the reason George Washington said a free people should be an armed people," Gohmert said, responding to a question on why people need assault weapons. "It ensures against the tyranny of the government. If they know that the biggest army is the American people, then you don’t have the tyranny that came from King George. That is why it was put in there, that’s why once you start drawing the line, where do you stop? And that’s why it is important to not just look emotionally, our reaction, Chris, is to immediately say, 'let’s get rid of all guns.'"
Gohmert argued that more guns would lessen gun violence, saying he wished the principle at Sandy Hook Elementary School that was attacked Friday had been armed. "I wish to god she had had an M-4 in her office, locked up so when she heard gunfire, she pulls it out and she didn’t have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands, but she takes him out, takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids," he said.
Gohmert said mass killers choose locations where they know there will not be any armed resistance: "Every mass killing of more than three people in recent history has been in a place where guns were prohibited. These -- except for one, they choose this place, they know no one ill be armed."
The train is near full and I stay in my seat until we reach the Raurimu Spiral, a four-mile engineering marvel that winds up onto a volcanic plateau. Soon after we cross a viaduct with snow-capped Mount Ruapehu in view, the North Island’s highest mountain and one of three active volcanoes we’ll pass (along with Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Tongariro).
Between 2pm and 4pm I find myself shoulder-to-shoulder with passengers in the open-air viewing car as we trundle over a series of viaducts, the tracks criss-crossing the white-water Rangitikei River and its sheer cliffs and gorges. It’s the scenic highlight of the trip, which ends on schedule at 6.25pm at Wellington station. As I’ve been sitting for nearly 11 hours, I skip the five-minute cab ride and walk 30 minutes around the waterfront to the Copthorne Hotel.
My only gripe on this first leg is that the station lavatories were locked for each of four five-minute stops, where passengers could stretch their legs but where it would be very nice to have the option of using a non-swaying bathroom. The viewing car, however, was a fresh-air blessing on the long ride.
There’s plenty to keep me occupied next day at the Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa Tongarewa), which is within shouting distance of the hotel and has plenty of compelling hands-on “discovery” exhibits. But I’m also keen to head over to Zealandia – the country’s first mainland sanctuary dedicated to saving New Zealand’s critically endangered wildlife.
The (free) shuttle drops me at the Zealandia entrance, just 15 minutes from the museum. The entry fee of NZ$18.50 (9.50) seems expensive, but the site’s 555 acres are enclosed by a predator-proof fence and you can’t expect saving the planet to come cheap.
Ian, who’s guiding our (free) walking group of international visitors, explains the plight of the country’s bird life, especially flightless ones like the kiwi.
“Native birds have been no match for New Zealand’s millions of introduced rats, possums and stoats. Several nearby islands were cleared of exotic animals then quarantined from human contact in the hope the bird life would recover. Zealandia was the first mainland site to try the same thing.”
Strolling along the asphalt walking track, we spot several tuataras, native reptiles once believed extinct, plus a dozen or more kaka parrots, and several tuis, distinguished by their distinctive white-tufted throats. Ian shows no surprise when a pair of flightless takahes emerges from the brush right beside the path. “Two of the last 250 takahes left in the entire world,” he tells us.
Wellington itself is a wonderful city, thanks in part to its array of houses built on impossibly sheer cliffs and hillsides. The centre’s Courtenay Place is the main nightlife area, and while there’s no shortage of restaurants and bars to choose from, I like The Library best, a stylish bar and live music venue that’s furnished with bookshelves.
On Wednesday morning I check in at the ferry terminal for an 8.15am departure. The ferry has a food court, televisions with lounge seating, arcade games, in-house cinema and Wi-Fi access. There’s even a licensed bar, complete with faux stained-glass windows.
I don’t really need any of it though, because the day is clear and sunny and the giant harbour, which takes the ship a full 30 minutes to navigate, has all my attention. At 10.30am we enter the sheltered and beautiful Marlborough Sounds, and by 11.30am we’ve covered the 87 miles from Wellington to the wharf at Picton.
The Coastal Pacific train departs from the nearby station at 1pm, and after 20 minutes of postcard-perfect sheep-filled farmland, we’re suddenly surrounded by vines. New Zealand’s sauvignon blancs and pinot noirs are world-renowned, and the Marlborough region accounts for much of their international reputation.
Between 2.30pm and 4.30pm, the train lives right up to its name as the tracks parallel the ocean, with the snow-dusted Kaikoura Ranges on our right. I strike up a conversation with Margaret, who turns out to be a Christchurch resident, and who often takes the overland route to Wellington. “I’ve flown it lots of times, but when I can, I always take the train because it’s so much more relaxing.” A personal audio commentary is available, but I don’t plug it in because I’ve got Margaret, who tells me about the rebuilding of Christchurch after the 2011 earthquake; she also suggests I try Kaikoura blue cod for dinner while I’m in the city. We part ways on the outskirts of Christchurch, and 20 minutes later the train pulls into the city’s train station, on time, at 6.20pm.
They’re fully booked at the Chateau on the Park Hotel so I make do with humbler digs nearby, rising early for the 8.15am departure of my TranzAlpine day trip. For the first hour we rattle across the flat Canterbury Plains, before the train begins its climb to the town of Springfield. All TranzAlpine’s carriages are due to be replaced by 2013, but I rather like these creaky, time-worn ones – though there’s no headset commentary and only sporadic information via the PA.
The best scenery begins just after Springfield, as I pack in beside my fellow passengers in the viewing car. It’s a wild and windy ride as we’re jostled through tunnels and across viaducts. The Rakaia then the Waimakariri rivers are in view for much of the trip, their “braided” layers of sediment diverting their watercourses this way and that. Following an hour’s break to stroll about the town of Greymouth, I reboard the train for the journey back to Christchurch, where we arrive at 6.15pm.
You don’t often see a city centre that has been truly razed, but downtown Christchurch is still largely a patchwork of car parks where, up until February of 2011, buildings once stood. It’s fascinating to see a city in transition, and such things as its pop-up shipping container shopping mall, in the heart of downtown, are symbolic of the locals’ can-do spirit. It’s rare for planners to have a clean slate, at least in a peaceable environment. It will look entirely different in years to come, so I’m more than happy my New Zealand train journey has finished here, in a city that has only just begun.
"Well, for the reason George Washington said a free people should be an armed people," Gohmert said, responding to a question on why people need assault weapons. "It ensures against the tyranny of the government. If they know that the biggest army is the American people, then you don’t have the tyranny that came from King George. That is why it was put in there, that’s why once you start drawing the line, where do you stop? And that’s why it is important to not just look emotionally, our reaction, Chris, is to immediately say, 'let’s get rid of all guns.'"
Gohmert argued that more guns would lessen gun violence, saying he wished the principle at Sandy Hook Elementary School that was attacked Friday had been armed. "I wish to god she had had an M-4 in her office, locked up so when she heard gunfire, she pulls it out and she didn’t have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands, but she takes him out, takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids," he said.
Gohmert said mass killers choose locations where they know there will not be any armed resistance: "Every mass killing of more than three people in recent history has been in a place where guns were prohibited. These -- except for one, they choose this place, they know no one ill be armed."
The train is near full and I stay in my seat until we reach the Raurimu Spiral, a four-mile engineering marvel that winds up onto a volcanic plateau. Soon after we cross a viaduct with snow-capped Mount Ruapehu in view, the North Island’s highest mountain and one of three active volcanoes we’ll pass (along with Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Tongariro).
Between 2pm and 4pm I find myself shoulder-to-shoulder with passengers in the open-air viewing car as we trundle over a series of viaducts, the tracks criss-crossing the white-water Rangitikei River and its sheer cliffs and gorges. It’s the scenic highlight of the trip, which ends on schedule at 6.25pm at Wellington station. As I’ve been sitting for nearly 11 hours, I skip the five-minute cab ride and walk 30 minutes around the waterfront to the Copthorne Hotel.
My only gripe on this first leg is that the station lavatories were locked for each of four five-minute stops, where passengers could stretch their legs but where it would be very nice to have the option of using a non-swaying bathroom. The viewing car, however, was a fresh-air blessing on the long ride.
There’s plenty to keep me occupied next day at the Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa Tongarewa), which is within shouting distance of the hotel and has plenty of compelling hands-on “discovery” exhibits. But I’m also keen to head over to Zealandia – the country’s first mainland sanctuary dedicated to saving New Zealand’s critically endangered wildlife.
The (free) shuttle drops me at the Zealandia entrance, just 15 minutes from the museum. The entry fee of NZ$18.50 (9.50) seems expensive, but the site’s 555 acres are enclosed by a predator-proof fence and you can’t expect saving the planet to come cheap.
Ian, who’s guiding our (free) walking group of international visitors, explains the plight of the country’s bird life, especially flightless ones like the kiwi.
“Native birds have been no match for New Zealand’s millions of introduced rats, possums and stoats. Several nearby islands were cleared of exotic animals then quarantined from human contact in the hope the bird life would recover. Zealandia was the first mainland site to try the same thing.”
Strolling along the asphalt walking track, we spot several tuataras, native reptiles once believed extinct, plus a dozen or more kaka parrots, and several tuis, distinguished by their distinctive white-tufted throats. Ian shows no surprise when a pair of flightless takahes emerges from the brush right beside the path. “Two of the last 250 takahes left in the entire world,” he tells us.
Wellington itself is a wonderful city, thanks in part to its array of houses built on impossibly sheer cliffs and hillsides. The centre’s Courtenay Place is the main nightlife area, and while there’s no shortage of restaurants and bars to choose from, I like The Library best, a stylish bar and live music venue that’s furnished with bookshelves.
On Wednesday morning I check in at the ferry terminal for an 8.15am departure. The ferry has a food court, televisions with lounge seating, arcade games, in-house cinema and Wi-Fi access. There’s even a licensed bar, complete with faux stained-glass windows.
I don’t really need any of it though, because the day is clear and sunny and the giant harbour, which takes the ship a full 30 minutes to navigate, has all my attention. At 10.30am we enter the sheltered and beautiful Marlborough Sounds, and by 11.30am we’ve covered the 87 miles from Wellington to the wharf at Picton.
The Coastal Pacific train departs from the nearby station at 1pm, and after 20 minutes of postcard-perfect sheep-filled farmland, we’re suddenly surrounded by vines. New Zealand’s sauvignon blancs and pinot noirs are world-renowned, and the Marlborough region accounts for much of their international reputation.
Between 2.30pm and 4.30pm, the train lives right up to its name as the tracks parallel the ocean, with the snow-dusted Kaikoura Ranges on our right. I strike up a conversation with Margaret, who turns out to be a Christchurch resident, and who often takes the overland route to Wellington. “I’ve flown it lots of times, but when I can, I always take the train because it’s so much more relaxing.” A personal audio commentary is available, but I don’t plug it in because I’ve got Margaret, who tells me about the rebuilding of Christchurch after the 2011 earthquake; she also suggests I try Kaikoura blue cod for dinner while I’m in the city. We part ways on the outskirts of Christchurch, and 20 minutes later the train pulls into the city’s train station, on time, at 6.20pm.
They’re fully booked at the Chateau on the Park Hotel so I make do with humbler digs nearby, rising early for the 8.15am departure of my TranzAlpine day trip. For the first hour we rattle across the flat Canterbury Plains, before the train begins its climb to the town of Springfield. All TranzAlpine’s carriages are due to be replaced by 2013, but I rather like these creaky, time-worn ones – though there’s no headset commentary and only sporadic information via the PA.
The best scenery begins just after Springfield, as I pack in beside my fellow passengers in the viewing car. It’s a wild and windy ride as we’re jostled through tunnels and across viaducts. The Rakaia then the Waimakariri rivers are in view for much of the trip, their “braided” layers of sediment diverting their watercourses this way and that. Following an hour’s break to stroll about the town of Greymouth, I reboard the train for the journey back to Christchurch, where we arrive at 6.15pm.
You don’t often see a city centre that has been truly razed, but downtown Christchurch is still largely a patchwork of car parks where, up until February of 2011, buildings once stood. It’s fascinating to see a city in transition, and such things as its pop-up shipping container shopping mall, in the heart of downtown, are symbolic of the locals’ can-do spirit. It’s rare for planners to have a clean slate, at least in a peaceable environment. It will look entirely different in years to come, so I’m more than happy my New Zealand train journey has finished here, in a city that has only just begun.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
US-Bangladesh-Factory Fire-Retailers
About a year and a half before a fire at a clothing factory in Bangladesh killed 112 people in November, executives from Wal-Mart, Gap and other big retailers met nearby to discuss ways to prevent the unsafe working conditions that have made such tragedies common.
Representatives from a dozen of the world's largest retailers and fashion labels gathered with labor groups and local officials in April 2011 at the three-day meeting held in the 15-story, glass-walled headquarters of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association in Dhaka, the capital. They were considering a first-of-its-kind contract that would govern fire safety inspections at thousands of Bangladeshi factories making T-shirts, blazers, and other clothes Americans covet.
Under the terms of the agreement, each company would be required to publicly report fire hazards at factories, pay factory owners more to make repairs and provide at least $500,000 over two years for the effort. They would also sign a legally binding agreement that would make them liable when there's a factory fire.
Discussions seemed promising. Then, on the second day, Sridevi Kalavakolanu, director of ethical sourcing for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., spoke up. "In most cases very extensive and costly modifications would need to be undertaken to some factories," Kalavakolanu was quoted as saying in the minutes of the meeting obtained by The Associated Press. "It is not financially feasible ... to make such investments."
The statement from the world's largest retailer, with $447 billion in annual revenue, essentially sucked the air out of the room, witnesses said. It also set the tone for the rest of the meeting, which ended the next day without a single company agreeing to the plan.
"I think that really had quite an impact on ... everybody who was in the room," said Ineke Zeldenrust, who was at the meeting representing the workers' rights group Clean Clothes Campaign. "It was quite clear that we were very far from a solution."
As if to underline how much still needs to be done, even as executives nixed the proposal over tea in an air-conditioned room decorated with flowers, scores of scarred survivors and their relatives gathered outside the same building to await compensation checks from another fatal factory collapse more than six years earlier.
The retailers' meeting and its aftermath highlighted a central issue for the $1-trillion dollar global clothing industry: What role retailers play -- and should play -- in making working conditions safer at the factories that manufacture their apparel.
Retailers often claim they know little or nothing about conditions at factories, because the long and intricate manufacturing chain runs through several contractors and sub-contractors. Wal-Mart and others whose garments were found in the ruins of the fatal Tazreen Fashions Ltd. on Nov. 24 say they had severed ties with the factory or were unaware their clothes were being produced there.
Yet some industry experts and labor activists say it is those major retailers, and the customers who buy their clothes, who ultimately set the price for how much factories get paid, and how much they in turn pay their workers. Safety, they say, can take second place to profits.
The retail industry hasn't released estimates on how much it would cost to upgrade Bangladeshi factories to Western standards. But one advocacy group, The Worker Rights Consortium, puts the cost at about $1.5 billion to $3 billion over the next five years. That's about 3 percent of the $95 billion expected to be spent on clothes manufacturing in the country during that time. It also amounts to about 10 cents added onto the cost of a T-shirt.
Building fires have led to more than 600 garment work deaths in Bangladesh since 2005, according to research by the advocacy group International Labor Rights Forum.
Major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Gap Inc. and Swedish clothing chain H&M have stepped up their own fire safety efforts, but they've stopped short of industry-wide standards that would hold them legally and financially accountable for fire hazards at factories.
Gap, which owns the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic chains, turned down the proposal because it did not want to be vulnerable to lawsuits, according to Bobbi Silten, senior vice president of global responsibility. The retailer also did not want to pay factories more money to help with safety upgrades, she said.
"It seemed very challenging to agree to," she said. "We don't own these factories and we're not the exclusive brands. It would be a different picture if we owned the factories."
Since then, Gap has hired its own chief fire inspector to oversee factories that produce Gap brands in Bangladesh. In addition to about $1 million spent on safety measures in Bangladesh in the last two years, Gap has committed to another $2 million to ensure that people laid off because of fire safety repairs are still paid. The San Francisco-based company has pledged to put factories in touch with financial institutions that can give them up to $20 million in capital for safety improvements. The chain has also said it will share anything it learns about safety issues in factories with the Bangladeshi and U.S. governments.
Silten acknowledged that such measures are not exhaustive.
"But we believe that in order to change (the system)," she said, "we need others to change."
Fashion chain H&M, which places the most apparel orders in Bangladesh, also did not sign on to the legally binding proposal because it believes factories and local government in Bangladesh should be taking on the responsibility, according to Pierre B?rjesson, manager of sustainability and social issues, who attended the Dhaka meeting.
"We have the responsibility in Bangladesh to improve the situation, but this is through educating suppliers," he said.
H&M, which works with more than 200 factories in Bangladesh, is one of about 20 retailers and brands that have banded together to develop training films for suppliers. H&M has also started to do electrical assessments at the factories it does business with, an expense shared by the factories. It is pushing for suppliers to establish workers' committees to negotiate better wages and other issues with factory management, B?rjesson said.
Wal-Mart, which ranks second in the number of apparel orders it places in Bangladesh, has also taken new steps. This year Wal-Mart is requiring regular audits of factories, fire drills and mandated fire safety training for all levels of factory management. Spokesman Kevin Gardner said Wal-Mart's comments during the April 2011 meeting, which were jointly edited by Wal-Mart and Gap in the minutes obtained by the AP, were taken "out of context."
"Wal-Mart has been advocating for improved fire-safety with the Bangladeshi government, with industry groups and with suppliers," Gardner wrote in an email to the AP. "We firmly believe factory owners must meet our (supplier standards), and we recognize the cost of meeting those standards will be part of the cost of the goods we buy."
Auditors hired by Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., inspected the Tazreen factory in 2011, giving it an "orange" or high-risk rating. Months later, the third-party auditor did a second inspection, giving it another "orange" rating. And early this year the factory was no longer authorized to produce merchandise for the retail giant. The company said a supplier -- who has since been fired -- had moved Wal-Mart production there without its knowledge.
But Prakash Sethi, a professor of management at City University of New York, is skeptical that Wal-Mart has so little power or knowledge when it comes to safety conditions at factories.
"How long will it take Wal-Mart to identify a factory if they were making shirts or shorts that were uneven, or where the sewing was below acceptable quality? Less than two days," he said. "They would immediately figure out which factory, where it's being made and put a stop to it. Why is it that they can't do it about the workers?
Labor activists also doubt that the safety plans designed by retailers themselves will do the job.
"Voluntary codes of conduct are useless," said Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, who is best known for exposing the use of Honduran child labor to produce clothing for celebrity Kathie Lee Gifford's line in the mid-1990s. "The monitoring is completely phony."
In many ways, it is strong demand that has driven the problem in Bangladesh. Companies in developed nations like the U.S. move production from country to country in search of the lowest costs and least worker strife. Bangladesh is now second behind only China among the world's largest exporters of apparel, with a $20 billion-a-year garment industry.
Cheap labor, unlike materials, transportation and taxes, is one of the few costs retailers and brands can control. And factories in Bangladesh know they can get lucrative deals with retailers and designers by shaving pennies off the cost of making a T-shirt, so they often cut corners.
Bangladesh has the cheapest labor by far. The average garment worker in Bangladesh earns the equivalent of 24 cents an hour, compared with $1.26 an hour in China, 53 cents an hour in Vietnam and 34 cents an hour in Cambodia, according to The Worker Rights Consortium.
Yet growing competition to offer up-to-the-minute fashions at low prices in the weak global economy has led retailers and designers to demand even lower costs from factories. A few years ago, companies shipped new merchandise to stores every two to three months; now, the goal is a fresh supply each month. They are also asking factories to make last-minute changes to orders more often -- add a button here or a belt there.
Factory owners can agree, or lose the order, sometimes to new factories that spring up overnight.
"Factory owners, in a certain sense, they're in a bind," says Robert Ross, author of "Slaves to Fashion: Poverty and Abuse in the New Sweatshop" and a sociologist at Clark University. "They're forced to be ruthless and brutal -- and they are."
A year after the retailers' meeting in Dhaka to discuss the safety proposal, only two companies have signed the resulting joint memorandum of understanding.
Phillips Van-Heusen Corp., a New York City-based company that sells the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, in March signed the legally binding agreement after a national TV news report that chronicled the dangerous conditions in one of its Bangladesh factories. The company agreed to underwrite a two-year, $1 million program that allows independent fire-safety inspections and public reports of findings. But PVH, which did not return repeated calls seeking comment for this article, pledged to start the program only if at least three other major retailers sign on.
Representatives from a dozen of the world's largest retailers and fashion labels gathered with labor groups and local officials in April 2011 at the three-day meeting held in the 15-story, glass-walled headquarters of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association in Dhaka, the capital. They were considering a first-of-its-kind contract that would govern fire safety inspections at thousands of Bangladeshi factories making T-shirts, blazers, and other clothes Americans covet.
Under the terms of the agreement, each company would be required to publicly report fire hazards at factories, pay factory owners more to make repairs and provide at least $500,000 over two years for the effort. They would also sign a legally binding agreement that would make them liable when there's a factory fire.
Discussions seemed promising. Then, on the second day, Sridevi Kalavakolanu, director of ethical sourcing for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., spoke up. "In most cases very extensive and costly modifications would need to be undertaken to some factories," Kalavakolanu was quoted as saying in the minutes of the meeting obtained by The Associated Press. "It is not financially feasible ... to make such investments."
The statement from the world's largest retailer, with $447 billion in annual revenue, essentially sucked the air out of the room, witnesses said. It also set the tone for the rest of the meeting, which ended the next day without a single company agreeing to the plan.
"I think that really had quite an impact on ... everybody who was in the room," said Ineke Zeldenrust, who was at the meeting representing the workers' rights group Clean Clothes Campaign. "It was quite clear that we were very far from a solution."
As if to underline how much still needs to be done, even as executives nixed the proposal over tea in an air-conditioned room decorated with flowers, scores of scarred survivors and their relatives gathered outside the same building to await compensation checks from another fatal factory collapse more than six years earlier.
The retailers' meeting and its aftermath highlighted a central issue for the $1-trillion dollar global clothing industry: What role retailers play -- and should play -- in making working conditions safer at the factories that manufacture their apparel.
Retailers often claim they know little or nothing about conditions at factories, because the long and intricate manufacturing chain runs through several contractors and sub-contractors. Wal-Mart and others whose garments were found in the ruins of the fatal Tazreen Fashions Ltd. on Nov. 24 say they had severed ties with the factory or were unaware their clothes were being produced there.
Yet some industry experts and labor activists say it is those major retailers, and the customers who buy their clothes, who ultimately set the price for how much factories get paid, and how much they in turn pay their workers. Safety, they say, can take second place to profits.
The retail industry hasn't released estimates on how much it would cost to upgrade Bangladeshi factories to Western standards. But one advocacy group, The Worker Rights Consortium, puts the cost at about $1.5 billion to $3 billion over the next five years. That's about 3 percent of the $95 billion expected to be spent on clothes manufacturing in the country during that time. It also amounts to about 10 cents added onto the cost of a T-shirt.
Building fires have led to more than 600 garment work deaths in Bangladesh since 2005, according to research by the advocacy group International Labor Rights Forum.
Major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Gap Inc. and Swedish clothing chain H&M have stepped up their own fire safety efforts, but they've stopped short of industry-wide standards that would hold them legally and financially accountable for fire hazards at factories.
Gap, which owns the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic chains, turned down the proposal because it did not want to be vulnerable to lawsuits, according to Bobbi Silten, senior vice president of global responsibility. The retailer also did not want to pay factories more money to help with safety upgrades, she said.
"It seemed very challenging to agree to," she said. "We don't own these factories and we're not the exclusive brands. It would be a different picture if we owned the factories."
Since then, Gap has hired its own chief fire inspector to oversee factories that produce Gap brands in Bangladesh. In addition to about $1 million spent on safety measures in Bangladesh in the last two years, Gap has committed to another $2 million to ensure that people laid off because of fire safety repairs are still paid. The San Francisco-based company has pledged to put factories in touch with financial institutions that can give them up to $20 million in capital for safety improvements. The chain has also said it will share anything it learns about safety issues in factories with the Bangladeshi and U.S. governments.
Silten acknowledged that such measures are not exhaustive.
"But we believe that in order to change (the system)," she said, "we need others to change."
Fashion chain H&M, which places the most apparel orders in Bangladesh, also did not sign on to the legally binding proposal because it believes factories and local government in Bangladesh should be taking on the responsibility, according to Pierre B?rjesson, manager of sustainability and social issues, who attended the Dhaka meeting.
"We have the responsibility in Bangladesh to improve the situation, but this is through educating suppliers," he said.
H&M, which works with more than 200 factories in Bangladesh, is one of about 20 retailers and brands that have banded together to develop training films for suppliers. H&M has also started to do electrical assessments at the factories it does business with, an expense shared by the factories. It is pushing for suppliers to establish workers' committees to negotiate better wages and other issues with factory management, B?rjesson said.
Wal-Mart, which ranks second in the number of apparel orders it places in Bangladesh, has also taken new steps. This year Wal-Mart is requiring regular audits of factories, fire drills and mandated fire safety training for all levels of factory management. Spokesman Kevin Gardner said Wal-Mart's comments during the April 2011 meeting, which were jointly edited by Wal-Mart and Gap in the minutes obtained by the AP, were taken "out of context."
"Wal-Mart has been advocating for improved fire-safety with the Bangladeshi government, with industry groups and with suppliers," Gardner wrote in an email to the AP. "We firmly believe factory owners must meet our (supplier standards), and we recognize the cost of meeting those standards will be part of the cost of the goods we buy."
Auditors hired by Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., inspected the Tazreen factory in 2011, giving it an "orange" or high-risk rating. Months later, the third-party auditor did a second inspection, giving it another "orange" rating. And early this year the factory was no longer authorized to produce merchandise for the retail giant. The company said a supplier -- who has since been fired -- had moved Wal-Mart production there without its knowledge.
But Prakash Sethi, a professor of management at City University of New York, is skeptical that Wal-Mart has so little power or knowledge when it comes to safety conditions at factories.
"How long will it take Wal-Mart to identify a factory if they were making shirts or shorts that were uneven, or where the sewing was below acceptable quality? Less than two days," he said. "They would immediately figure out which factory, where it's being made and put a stop to it. Why is it that they can't do it about the workers?
Labor activists also doubt that the safety plans designed by retailers themselves will do the job.
"Voluntary codes of conduct are useless," said Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, who is best known for exposing the use of Honduran child labor to produce clothing for celebrity Kathie Lee Gifford's line in the mid-1990s. "The monitoring is completely phony."
In many ways, it is strong demand that has driven the problem in Bangladesh. Companies in developed nations like the U.S. move production from country to country in search of the lowest costs and least worker strife. Bangladesh is now second behind only China among the world's largest exporters of apparel, with a $20 billion-a-year garment industry.
Cheap labor, unlike materials, transportation and taxes, is one of the few costs retailers and brands can control. And factories in Bangladesh know they can get lucrative deals with retailers and designers by shaving pennies off the cost of making a T-shirt, so they often cut corners.
Bangladesh has the cheapest labor by far. The average garment worker in Bangladesh earns the equivalent of 24 cents an hour, compared with $1.26 an hour in China, 53 cents an hour in Vietnam and 34 cents an hour in Cambodia, according to The Worker Rights Consortium.
Yet growing competition to offer up-to-the-minute fashions at low prices in the weak global economy has led retailers and designers to demand even lower costs from factories. A few years ago, companies shipped new merchandise to stores every two to three months; now, the goal is a fresh supply each month. They are also asking factories to make last-minute changes to orders more often -- add a button here or a belt there.
Factory owners can agree, or lose the order, sometimes to new factories that spring up overnight.
"Factory owners, in a certain sense, they're in a bind," says Robert Ross, author of "Slaves to Fashion: Poverty and Abuse in the New Sweatshop" and a sociologist at Clark University. "They're forced to be ruthless and brutal -- and they are."
A year after the retailers' meeting in Dhaka to discuss the safety proposal, only two companies have signed the resulting joint memorandum of understanding.
Phillips Van-Heusen Corp., a New York City-based company that sells the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, in March signed the legally binding agreement after a national TV news report that chronicled the dangerous conditions in one of its Bangladesh factories. The company agreed to underwrite a two-year, $1 million program that allows independent fire-safety inspections and public reports of findings. But PVH, which did not return repeated calls seeking comment for this article, pledged to start the program only if at least three other major retailers sign on.
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