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New Businesses: Evolutionary Computer Service & Repair

The conflict between school and work led Damien Brooks to start his computer repair home business. Previously, the 27-year-old worked as a part-time technological agent at Circuit City Firedog.

"I was still going to school for 13 hours and was working part time. My boss started to increase my hours and my grades started to fall," Brooks said. "I approached him about it, and basically he told me to choose between school and work. I thought school is what got me this job. I decided I would do it for myself."

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Commerce Amendment Bill reported back with changes

"Submitters on this issue recommended appeals on final decisions, and in the end we have accepted that this will help improve confidence for businesses in the quality of regulatory decisions," she said.

The bill improved the transitional arrangements to the new regulatory regime for electricity lines businesses and gas pipelines. It also set up new arrangements for consumer-owned electricity lines businesses, which limits regulation to information disclosure.

Mr Parker said the new regime for these businesses, where competition risks were lower because consumers were also the owners, avoided complex regulation and minimised compliance costs.

The Commerce Committee also supported shifting information disclosure for the Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch international airports from the Airport Authorities Act to the Commerce Act. more

Aid for struggling Sheffield companies

"SYIF is continuously looking to support sustainable business growth and increase the success rate of locally-owned businesses across South Yorkshire. This initiative will help make enterprise accessible for all and encourage entrepreneurship to grow, particularly in Sheffield's poorest neighbourhoods."BiG is a government-backed £26 million Local Enterprise Growth Initiative which aims to get more Sheffield people to create their own jobs by setting up businesses, and South Yorkshire Investment Fund will be working with Donbac Finance, a Doncaster-based loan fund, and Key Fund Yorkshire, a specialist investor in social enterprises, to provide the funding.READ MOREYour letters.Today's features.Latest sport.Main news index. . more

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Home Spirituality Spiritual Odysseys Things Fall Apart - Aish

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I t has been noted by some activists that the list of articles, essays, books on what's wrong with society, when piled on top of each other, would reach the moon. Yet, the articles, essays, books on alternatives to capitalism, imperialism, patriarchy ...

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Welcome to the last “For Your Consideration” of the 00’s. Since it seems to be in style, I have decided to look back at the decade that was despite my severe aversion to these types of things. See, I just don’t like those “End of Year ...

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HOPKINS COUNTY, KY – In a recent interview with iSurf News, David Jackson shared a little about himself and his goals for the city of Madisonville if he achieves the position. On the personal side, Jackson was actually born in Henderson, Kentucky ...

Archive for December 2009 - The Spokesman-Review

Gonzaga’s Bol Kong (34) gets out of the way after a dunk by Oklahoma’s Tiny Gallon (24) shattered the backboard during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Spokane tonight. (AP Photo/Rajah Bose) Husband has courtside seats right ...

A list of 2010 career resolutions - ReportonBusiness.com

You also want your name to come up in conversations when search firms call people in the industry asking for leads in their recruiting ... Everyone can get better at it by setting goals to network more actively and broadly and doing it regularly."

Open Question: TWA Velocity, who would win these Matches?

Welcome back to TWA Velocity, last week we found out the first Royal Rumble Qualifier from Velocity and that was Ezekiel Jackson after he beat MVP, Kofi Kingston won The First come first serve Battle Royal and has earned himself a Championship Match against Randy Orton which will be next week, Abyss also just retained his Hardcore Championship against Mike Knox and continues to remain Undefeated on Velocity. Promo 1 General Manager Mike Hart makes his way to the ring. Mike: Now I shall be inviting both Kofi Kingston and Randy Orton to the ring and we shall make it official that next week we will have a World Title Match between those 2, so first of all please welcome The Challenger Kofi Kingston Kofi makes his way out, Mike then introduces Randy Orton who comes out with Ezekiel Jackson Mike: Now before we go anywhere with this I want you both to take a seat, infront of you is the contract which you both are to sign for this match. Before that is there anything you wish to say? Kofi: There is nothing I need to say other than give me a pen and Randy loosen that Belt because next week I will be holding that World Title. Orton: Do you know what you’re getting yourself into Kofi? I am not just your ordinary guy, I am a Legend Killer and I will kill yours before you even make one, I have retired various Superstars in the past and just 2 weeks ago I made The Undertaker Rest In Peace. I will sign this contract, but it’s you Kofi who needs to think twice. As Randy Orton signs the contract Team Awesome make their way out to the Entrance Ramp. HBK: Hold it right there, before you make this official there is something I want to get off my chest, now there are something’s about this the fans need to know and that is that Kofi Kingston here should not have even been in The Match. I signed up before the match before he had and I was the 10th name on the list and I was screwed out of my opportunity. Mike: Shawn I did warn you before you came out to the ring last week that if you got involved with any match then you would forfeit your place in The Battle Royal, you did that so Kofi got the opportunity and won. HBK: This is rubbish, we all know that I would have won that match if I was in it, but you have a thing against Team Awesome and you found any excuse to keep me out of it, I demand to be included into this Match and I deserve more respect, for everything I have done for the Wrestling Business in the past. Kofi: Shawn, you always go on about how good you WERE, how about now, OK you are United States Champion, but other than that all you do is stand there run your mouth off and pick on people weaker than you. HBK: How about we test that, tonight you and me winner faces Randy next week. Kofi: Your on Mike: WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, I make the matches around here, but here’s one for you, Kofi Vs HBK, Kofi wins it stays as it is if Shawn wins then it will be a Triple Threat next week. Orton is furious with this decision Mike: Now Orton I not gonna make this easy for them, there is an added stipulation 1 on 1 or Triple Threat the only way The Title can change hands is if The Champion is Pinned. Now next we have a TWA Tag Title Re-Match so lets get it on. Match 1 TWA Tag Team Title’s Match Team Awesome (Chris Masters and Ricky Ortiz) (c) Vs The Hart Dynasty Match 2 Eve Torres Vs Jillian Hall Before the match Eve gets on the mic and warns Michelle McCool that she is not finished with her and despite being betrayed by HBK she still wants Michelle and when she is done hiding behind the rest of Team Awesome she can come out and face her at anytime. Promo 2 Josh Matthews is backstage Josh: With me now I have The Celtic Warrior Sheamus, now Sheamus over recent weeks you have attacked your what I guess is now Former Tag Partner Finlay, what we want to know is Why? Sheamus: Why, I tell you why, I joined up with Finlay cause he said he would lead me, well since this so called Irish Alliance formed we have achieved nothing, we have worked on Nitro, Revenge and now Velocity and still I have nothing. I was better off when I was kicking him in before, so I decided that he is he Weak Link and that I better off without him and to be honest so is the rest of Velocity. Last week Finlay was carried out of here and he is yet to get to his feet again, so let this be a warning to ya all, get in my way and I shall destroy you, I will hurt you beat you until you cannot get up again, I am Sheamus and I will dominate Velocity. I shall start in my next match and I will destroy the man who has control of Abyss and then I shall destroy Abyss and end his winning streak on Velocity. Match 3 Mick Foley w/Abyss Vs Sheamus Match 4 Royal Rumble Qualifying Match Chuck Palumbo Vs Hardcore Holly Promo 3 CM Punk his sat in the locker room, JBL walks in smoking a Cigar. Punk: Get that disgusting thing away from me. JBL: (Laughs) Though you’d say that, now to business Punk: What bPunk: What business? JBL: I got an offer for you Punk: And what is that? JBL: Well, I was thinking you don’t like me, I don’t like you, what I enjoy you despise Punk: Yeah, but whats the point? JBL: The point is we do have something in common, we both have talent and we are both being wasted. Punk: And? JBL: It’s time people like us took a stand and get ourselves noticed again. I am a Wrestling God you are straight Edged think about it, you me together unstoppable, now before you say something think about it, I know you are think about saying No, but think about it Punk, don’t make a decision you’ll regret. JBL leaves, leaving Punk to ponder on his offer. Main Event Kofi Kingston Vs Shawn Michaels Kofi wins it will be Kofi Vs Randy Orton next week on Velocity, HBK wins it will be a Triple threat.Thanks for viewing TWA Velocity, please vote fr who you think should win and give the show a rating. WQ: Who do you think will win The 2010 Royal Rumble and do you think they will win at WrestleMania? more

Resolved Question: This is TWA Revenge with a New General Manager, who wins you decide, who would win these Matches?

Welcome to TWA Revenge in this historic Night, tonight is brought to you by The New General Manager William Kingston, lets begin the evening. Promo 1 The night begins with The TWA Chairman Thurlow in the ring. Thurlow: It’s time to rid of all the speculation and time to reveal who is the New General Manager of Revenge, but it may come as a bit of a surprise to some people. I have had some personal issues with the new Revenge GM in the past, but this is business and I need to do what I think is right for TWA. I feel this new GM can lead Revenge in the right direction and finally earn it some prestige. Would you please welcome your new General Manager former Owner of CWE William Kingston. Kingston makes his way out Thurlow: Now before I hand things over I know some people may be upset by this decision and to be honest you were not number 1 on my list, now if you do however step out of line at anytime you will be Fired with no second chances. Kingston: I agree to those terms, but now I want to get on with my show and pull this Brand together, I have a Survivor Series Tournament to prepare for. Firstly last week there was a Contenders Match for The Light Heavyweight Title which was won by Rey Mysterio and he will face John Morrison now for The Light Heavyweight Title. I would also like to announce that everything will now start on a clean slate and tonight whatever feuds were happening are now going to end, plus we will also see The Big Show take on World Heavyweight Champion Edge in a Non Title Match in The Main Event. Match 1 Light Heavyweight Title Match Rey Mysterio Vs John Morrison (c) Match 2 Zach Ryder Vs Chris Jericho Before the Match begins new GM William Kingston comes out and says that this is the final time you 2 will compete, tonight you will be sorting out your differences once and for all, I don’t want to hear anything from you about this again after this. Match 3 6 Diva Tag Match Awesome Kong, Alicia Fox and Christy Hemme Vs Beth Phoenix, Kelly Kelly and Velvet Sky The winning team will compete in a Triple Threat Match next week and will then face a Velocity Diva in a Contenders Match for the Women’s Title for Survivor Series. Promo 2 Sting walks into the GM’s office and wants to know if he is getting another Re-Match against Edge for The World Heavyweight Title as Big Show interfered. William says he will think about it, at this point Big Show walks in and says that tonight should be a Title Match and that he Demands his Title opportunity right now. Sting: hang on a minute, what have you actually done other than interfere with Matches, you don’t deserve a Title Shot until you earn it. Show: Do you want me to knock you out again Kingston: Guys, Guys I got an idea. At Survivor Series it will be Sting Vs Edge for The World Heavyweight Championship/ Show: What? Kingston: Hang on, but if the Big Show wins tonight it will be a Triple Threat Match. Now everyone is happy, Sting you get your Re-Match, Show you got a chance to earn it, now both of you leave my office now. Match 4 8 Man Tag Match Cryme Tyme, Umaga and Samoa Joe Vs MCMG and Priceless Tag Team Champions Team 3D sit at commentary with Joey Styles and Matt Striker for the match checking out The Tag team Division competition. Promo 3 RVD is backstage with his TV Title pondering on recent events and preparing for his Match against Mr Kennedy, RVD is then attacked from behind by Mr Kennedy, Kennedy does not let off and leaves RVD flat out on the floor, he is just about to run off, but GM William Kingston just happened to be walking by. He says that this behaviour is not acceptable in The Revenge Locker Room, next week Revenge needs to pull together and get 2 teams together for Survivor Series and tonight was a night to check out the talent. It seems RVD is not fit to compete so The GM Announces that Mr Kennedy will still be in action and will have to face The Great Khali Match 5 Mr Kennedy Vs The Great Khali Main Event Edge Vs Big Show If Big Show wins then it will be a Triple threat at Survivor Series for The World Heavyweight Championship. Thankyou for viewing TWA Revenge please vote for the winners and rate the show. WQ: Who do you think will be The Breakout Superstar of 2010? more

Voting Question: email address list, need email addresses?

Does anyone have a list of email addresses that i can have. im not spamming people i just want to send them a work from home opportunity. it is a legit business opportunity but i am having trouble getting leads. more

Resolved Question: Looking for DATA ENTRY PROJECTS IN USA AND INDIA?

Hi , This is Gaurav working as Business Development Manager with Inherent Technologies . PROFILE : Greetings from Inherent . Inherent Technologies, LLC is an IT consulting and professional services firm located in Chandler, Arizona (USA). The firm endeavors to provide its clients with a wide breadth of services across the Information Technology spectrum. This includes software design, development and implementation; improving business through custom business solutions. Inherent Technologies, LLC. believes that teamwork is the key to success.Together Everyone Achieves More. We have a motivated and well qualified team with relevant experience to handle and provide solutions to a vast variety of applications. The Premier Technology Execution Company As the premier technology execution company, we promise you the right expertise and an unrelenting commitment to service. Our ability to deploy superior technology expertise is rivaled only by our deep commitment to service and reliability. This commitment isn't just something we talk about; it's part of who we are, and it shows in everything we do. At Inherent Technologies®, we seek individuals who are not only technologically proficient, but who also care about teaming with other colleagues and clients. We recruit people with true strength of character and integrity, who genuinely share our values, and we treat every assignment as another step toward building long-term relationships. Understanding your goals is the first step in achieving them. Our history as the nation's leading IT staffing firm allows us to be intimately familiar with virtually all IT implementation issues. Nationally, we have a focus in four key vertical sectors: communications, financial services, government, and information technology. In addition, each of our Inherent Technologies offices has diverse industry specializations according to their location and client base. Understanding your business, your culture, and your needs is our business. Technology Execution Services Our depth of experience and access to a talent pool that's considered one of the best in the industry ensures that our clients get the results they demand. Every day several of our employees are on the job with clients all over the world. Whether we provide one or two additional staff members or assume responsibility to implement an entire project, our clients know that we will deliver. What ever your circumstances are, you'll receive the dedicated professionals you need, while retaining the level of control you prefer for each project. Staffing Services - Get the labor and skills you need on an on-demand basis. We do more than just source applicants. Our Successful Placement ProcessSM means you get carefully screened people with the skills and personality to fit right in and hit the ground running. Team Services - In these exclusive engagements, we assemble the precise mix of skills, experience and personalities it takes to complete a project. As the single-source provider, we ensure rate consistency and process efficiency, ultimately delivering multiple skill sets as smoothly as delivering just one. Workforce Management Services - Streamline the management of your company's contingent labor and save money with our Workforce Management Services. We combine the right people, business processes, and Web-based technologies to help you optimize your workforce and your budget. Component Services - Our proven ability to manage turnkey technology projects allows you to rest assured you'll get the results you need. Find out the benefits of turning to a trusted outside partner to manage and complete whole projects and components of larger ones. See a complete list of our technology execution services to see which one is right for you. Careers for Technical Professionals We've built Inherent Technologies by seeking out professionals with integrity, character, know-how, and relentless work ethic. We define success according to how satisfied our technical professionals are and how satisfied our clients are. That's why we take so many measures to ensure this satisfaction. For technical professionals, this means career development services, competitive compensation and benefits, and truly exciting and challenging work assignments. Because of our substantial experience, contacts, and reputation as the premier IT staffing firm, we can provide you with more and better career opportunities. There are a lot of advantages to working for Inherent Technologies. See what IT jobs and communications jobs are waiting for you right now. The Inherent Technologies Advantage Our Successful Placement Process ensures client and technical professional satisfaction throughout every phase of the engagement. Our industry expertise and heritage of serving of clients over years means we know how to deliver what you need, when you need i We undertake Data Entry, Out Bound and In Bound ca more

Resolved Question: Who is organizing at town hall meetings?

CNSNews.com MoveOn.org is Trying to Mobilize Activists to Attend Town Hall Meetings to Push for ‘Public Option’ Health Care Thursday, August 13, 2009 By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer A man holds a sign as President Obama's motorcade heads to a town hall on health care reform, Wednesday, July 29, 2009, near a supermarket in Bristol, Va. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)(CNSNews.com) - While President Obama has focused attention on "special interests" that are mobilizing to try to defeat his health-care plan, the liberal group MoveOn.org is trying to mobilize people to attend congressional town hall meetings to push for the plan, and especially to push for a government-run “public option” insurance program. MoveOn.org is even suggesting brief statements people can make in favor of a “public option” health care plan if they attend a town hall, and gives people the opportunity to download signs indicating their approval of the "public option" that they can print and carry into the meetings. The lead article on MoveOn.org’s Web site yesterday and this morning is headlined, “It’s Getting Ugly.” “Right-wing extremists are disrupting town hall meetings with attacks on President Obama’s plans for health care and clean energy,” it says. “But we’re showing Congress that ordinary Americans continue to support his agenda for change.” If visitors to the site then click on a link labeled, “Get materials to attend a town hall near you,” they are directed to a list of three suggested statements and a question they can use at town hall meetings, as well as additional links to ready-made posters that can be downloaded and printed. “I’m here to urge you to push for passage of a health care reform plan with a real public health insurance option as soon as you head back to Washington,” says the first of three suggested statements. “It’s critical for controlling skyrocketing costs and guaranteeing security for all of us.” “Our health care system is broken--costs are skyrocketing and too many people can’t afford coverage,” says the second suggested statement. “President Obama’s health care plan--the public health insurance option--is the key to fixing those problems.” “We need action now,” says the third suggested statement. “The cost of inaction is too high—every day that we delay, 14,000 Americans lose their insurance and nearly 2,500 file for bankruptcy because of medical costs. And costs continue to spiral out of control: average family premiums will hit $22,000 a year in the next decade.” The one question MoveOn.org suggests people use is also prefaced with a statement. “With a real public option, costs will start to go down and millions of individuals, families, and small businesses will have access to high-quality, affordable health insurance,” says the preface to this question. “And no matter what happens to our jobs or our health, a public option will always be there for us. Will you fight to make sure a real public health insurance option is included in health care reform this year?” The three downloadable signs provided by the MoveOn.org Web site say: “Public Option = Affordable Health Care,” “Prescription: Public Option,” and “83 percent Support the Public Option.” more

Resolved Question: Can you please check my American government test.. I finished it just please check if it's right! Thx ahead!?

1. Political socialization is a)a form of political policy-making b)an influence on public opinion c)a key component of political action groups d)a polling method used in primaries answer:B 2. Which of the following is the name of the concept in which politicians try to sway public opinion by glorifying past events or periods of history? a)glittering generalities b)name calling c)historical recollecting d)appealing to tradition answer:A 3. Agricultural and business organizations are subject to heavy government _______, so they find interest groups helpful. a)input d)donation c)questioning d)regulation answer:D 4. Political action committees donate money more often to _______ in order to influence the political process a)candidates that support educational reform b)lobbyists for religious organizations c)incumbents than to other candidates d)the favorite charities of members of congress answer:A 5. Voters in which of the following types of parties tend to favor candidates with moderate political views a)one-party system b)two-party system c)multiparty system d)third-party system answer:B 6. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of political campaigns? a)voters learn about the issues b)voters are able to learn more about a candidate's background c)candidates use media advertising d)voters hear opposite points of view Answer: D 7. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of the U.S. two-party political system? a)provides political information to voters b)deters sudden political shifts c)provides opportunities for political participation among voters d)allows for politicking among candidates Answer:C 8. Which of the following statements is NOT true regarding campaign financing? a)Only Presidential and vice Presidential candidates receive public funds at the national level. b)Political parties give equally to all candidates they support. x c)Some candidates fund their campaigns out of their own pockets. d)A political action committee (PAC) gives money to a campaign in the hopes that the candidate will support the agenda held by the PAC Answer:B 9. Which of the following is NOT a criticism of political campaigns? a)campaigning encourages debate b)negative campaigning emerges as a result c)campaigning causes low voter turnout d)campaigning leads to an increased use of the media Answer:C 10.A primary election in which all candidates are listed on the same ballot is called a(n) a)nonpartisan primary b)open primary c)closed primary d)runoff primary Answer:B 11. Which of the following is NOT used to repeal a law through a direct vote of the citizens a)referendum b)initiative c)recall d)lobbying answer:D 12. Which of the following powers do most governors posess, but the President of the United States does not? a)preparing budgets b)using line-item veto c)initiating legislation d)setting an agenda answer:B 13.The role of state legislatures in the budget process is similar to the role of a)mayors in the city budget process b)members of Congress in the house appropriations process c)Congress in the federal budget process d)government accountants in the national budget process answer:C **Please check if it's right if not please give me the correct answer this is very important to me! Thank you! more

Resolved Question: can you please check my American government test.. I finished it just please check if it's right! Thx ahead!?

Resolved Question: Can you check my American Government multiple choice answers? It's done just check!?

1. Political socialization is a)a form of political policy-making b)an influence on public opinion c)a key component of political action groups d)a polling method used in primaries answer:B 2. Which of the following is the name of the concept in which politicians try to sway public opinion by glorifying past events or periods of history? a)glittering generalities b)name calling c)historical recollecting d)appealing to tradition answer:A 3. Agricultural and business organizations are subject to heavy government _______, so they find interest groups helpful. a)input d)donation c)questioning d)regulation answer:D 4. Political action committees donate money more often to _______ in order to influence the political process a)candidates that support educational reform b)lobbyists for religious organizations c)incumbents than to other candidates d)the favorite charities of members of congress answer:A 5. Voters in which of the following types of parties tend to favor candidates with moderate political views a)one-party system b)two-party system c)multiparty system d)third-party system answer:B 6. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of political campaigns? a)voters learn about the issues b)voters are able to learn more about a candidate's background c)candidates use media advertising d)voters hear opposite points of view Answer: D 7. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of the U.S. two-party political system? a)provides political information to voters b)deters sudden political shifts c)provides opportunities for political participation among voters d)allows for politicking among candidates Answer:C 8. Which of the following statements is NOT true regarding campaign financing? a)Only Presidential and vice Presidential candidates receive public funds at the national level. b)Political parties give equally to all candidates they support. x c)Some candidates fund their campaigns out of their own pockets. d)A political action committee (PAC) gives money to a campaign in the hopes that the candidate will support the agenda held by the PAC Answer:B 9. Which of the following is NOT a criticism of political campaigns? a)campaigning encourages debate b)negative campaigning emerges as a result c)campaigning causes low voter turnout d)campaigning leads to an increased use of the media Answer:C **If it's not a problem for you to answer these I don't know the answer! Thx ahead! 10.A primary election in which all candidates are listed on the same ballot is called a(n) a)nonpartisan primary b)open primary c)closed primary d)runoff primary 11. Which of the following is NOT used to repeal a law through a direct vote of the citizens a)referendum b)initiative c)recall d)lobbying 12. Which of the following powers do most governors posess, but the President of the United States does not? a)preparing budgets b)using line-item veto c)initiating legislation d)setting an agenda 13.The role of state legislatures in the budget process is similar to the role of a)mayors in the city budget process b)members of Congress in the house appropriations process c)Congress in the federal budget process d)government accountants in the national budget process more

Resolved Question: Can you check my American Government multiple choice answers? It's done just check!?

1. Political socialization is a)a form of political policy-making b)an influence on public opinion c)a key component of political action groups d)a polling method used in primaries answer:B 2. Which of the following is the name of the concept in which politicians try to sway public opinion by glorifying past events or periods of history? a)glittering generalities b)name calling c)historical recollecting d)appealing to tradition answer:A 3. Agricultural and business organizations are subject to heavy government _______, so they find interest groups helpful. a)input d)donation c)questioning d)regulation answer:D 4. Political action committees donate money more often to _______ in order to influence the political process a)candidates that support educational reform b)lobbyists for religious organizations c)incumbents than to other candidates d)the favorite charities of members of congress answer:A 5. Voters in which of the following types of parties tend to favor candidates with moderate political views a)one-party system b)two-party system c)multiparty system d)third-party system answer:B 6. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of political campaigns? a)voters learn about the issues b)voters are able to learn more about a candidate's background c)candidates use media advertising d)voters hear opposite points of view Answer: D 7. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of the U.S. two-party political system? a)provides political information to voters b)deters sudden political shifts c)provides opportunities for political participation among voters d)allows for politicking among candidates Answer:C 8. Which of the following statements is NOT true regarding campaign financing? a)Only Presidential and vice Presidential candidates receive public funds at the national level. b)Political parties give equally to all candidates they support. x c)Some candidates fund their campaigns out of their own pockets. d)A political action committee (PAC) gives money to a campaign in the hopes that the candidate will support the agenda held by the PAC Answer:B 9. Which of the following is NOT a criticism of political campaigns? a)campaigning encourages debate b)negative campaigning emerges as a result c)campaigning causes low voter turnout d)campaigning leads to an increased use of the media Answer:C **If it's not a problem for you to answer these I don't know the answer! Thx ahead! 10.A primary election in which all candidates are listed on the same ballot is called a(n) a)nonpartisan primary b)open primary c)closed primary d)runoff primary 11. Which of the following is NOT used to repeal a law through a direct vote of the citizens a)referendum b)initiative c)recall d)lobbying 12. Which of the following powers do most governors posess, but the President of the United States does not? a)preparing budgets b)using line-item veto c)initiating legislation d)setting an agenda 13.The role of state legislatures in the budget process is similar to the role of a)mayors in the city budget process b)members of Congress in the house appropriations process c)Congress in the federal budget process d)government accountants in the national budget processare you sure? I really want to get this right!ok thank you! You are so nice! I will choose yours as best as soon as it goes into voting! more

Resolved Question: Can you check my American Government multiple choice answers? It's done just check!?

1. Political socialization is a)a form of political policy-making b)an influence on public opinion c)a key component of political action groups d)a polling method used in primaries answer:B 2. Which of the following is the name of the concept in which politicians try to sway public opinion by glorifying past events or periods of history? a)glittering generalities b)name calling c)historical recollecting d)appealing to tradition answer:A 3. Agricultural and business organizations are subject to heavy government _______, so they find interest groups helpful. a)input d)donation c)questioning d)regulation answer:D 4. Political action committees donate money more often to _______ in order to influence the political process a)candidates that support educational reform b)lobbyists for religious organizations c)incumbents than to other candidates d)the favorite charities of members of congress answer:A 5. Voters in which of the following types of parties tend to favor candidates with moderate political views a)one-party system b)two-party system c)multiparty system d)third-party system answer:B 6. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of political campaigns? a)voters learn about the issues b)voters are able to learn more about a candidate's background c)candidates use media advertising d)voters hear opposite points of view Answer: D 7. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of the U.S. two-party political system? a)provides political information to voters b)deters sudden political shifts c)provides opportunities for political participation among voters d)allows for politicking among candidates Answer:C 8. Which of the following statements is NOT true regarding campaign financing? a)Only Presidential and vice Presidential candidates receive public funds at the national level. b)Political parties give equally to all candidates they support. x c)Some candidates fund their campaigns out of their own pockets. d)A political action committee (PAC) gives money to a campaign in the hopes that the candidate will support the agenda held by the PAC Answer:B 9. Which of the following is NOT a criticism of political campaigns? a)campaigning encourages debate b)negative campaigning emerges as a result c)campaigning causes low voter turnout d)campaigning leads to an increased use of the media Answer:C **If it's not a problem for you to answer these I don't know the answer! Thx ahead! 10.A primary election in which all candidates are listed on the same ballot is called a(n) a)nonpartisan primary b)open primary c)closed primary d)runoff primary 11. Which of the following is NOT used to repeal a law through a direct vote of the citizens a)referendum b)initiative c)recall d)lobbying 12. Which of the following powers do most governors posess, but the President of the United States does not? a)preparing budgets b)using line-item veto c)initiating legislation d)setting an agenda 13.The role of state legislatures in the budget process is similar to the role of a)mayors in the city budget process b)members of Congress in the house appropriations process c)Congress in the federal budget process d)government accountants in the national budget process more

Resolved Question: Can you check my American Government multiple choice answers? It's done just check!?

1. Political socialization is a)a form of political policy-making b)an influence on public opinion c)a key component of political action groups d)a polling method used in primaries answer:B 2. Which of the following is the name of the concept in which politicians try to sway public opinion by glorifying past events or periods of history? a)glittering generalities b)name calling c)historical recollecting d)appealing to tradition answer:A 3. Agricultural and business organizations are subject to heavy government _______, so they find interest groups helpful. a)input d)donation c)questioning d)regulation answer:D 4. Political action committees donate money more often to _______ in order to influence the political process a)candidates that support educational reform b)lobbyists for religious organizations c)incumbents than to other candidates d)the favorite charities of members of congress answer:A 5. Voters in which of the following types of parties tend to favor candidates with moderate political views a)one-party system b)two-party system c)multiparty system d)third-party system answer:B 6. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of political campaigns? a)voters learn about the issues b)voters are able to learn more about a candidate's background c)candidates use media advertising d)voters hear opposite points of view Answer: D 7. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of the U.S. two-party political system? a)provides political information to voters b)deters sudden political shifts c)provides opportunities for political participation among voters d)allows for politicking among candidates Answer:C 8. Which of the following statements is NOT true regarding campaign financing? a)Only Presidential and vice Presidential candidates receive public funds at the national level. b)Political parties give equally to all candidates they support. x c)Some candidates fund their campaigns out of their own pockets. d)A political action committee (PAC) gives money to a campaign in the hopes that the candidate will support the agenda held by the PAC Answer:B 9. Which of the following is NOT a criticism of political campaigns? a)campaigning encourages debate b)negative campaigning emerges as a result c)campaigning causes low voter turnout d)campaigning leads to an increased use of the media Answer:C **If it's not a problem for you to answer these I don't know the answer! Thx ahead! 10.A primary election in which all candidates are listed on the same ballot is called a(n) a)nonpartisan primary b)open primary c)closed primary d)runoff primary 11. Which of the following is NOT used to repeal a law through a direct vote of the citizens a)referendum b)initiative c)recall d)lobbying 12. Which of the following powers do most governors posess, but the President of the United States does not? a)preparing budgets b)using line-item veto c)initiating legislation d)setting an agenda 13.The role of state legislatures in the budget process is similar to the role of a)mayors in the city budget process b)members of Congress in the house appropriations process c)Congress in the federal budget process d)government accountants in the national budget process more

Resolved Question: Finding a job in Boston?

Well I have exhausted every effort I can think of searching for a job in Boston - where I currently reside - and have stretched my arm out to every resource and network I have, including monster.com, bostonrecruiter.com, craigslist.com, 2 different staffing agencies, friends, family, random people I meet at public places, as a "walk-in", etc. I'm a 2008 grad of Ohio University with a B.S. in Industrial Technology with a focus on Manufacturing Information Technology and a minor in Business Management. I don't necessarily want to work in that career field, but I will take what I can get. I would like to go back to school for my Masters in another field. For now, I cannot seem to grasp any real job leads, and when and if I do, they are already taken or responded to by the hundreds/thousands of unemployed citizens of Boston metro. Even labor/bartending/hospitality/construction/concierge/landscaping opportunities are either taken already, or they have so many applicants that have replied, they can be "choosy" on whom they want to employ. I know that there are unemployed people out there with their Masters and even Doctorates looking for work, even labor jobs, just to pay the bills. My question is, is there anyone, ANYONE, that may have somewhat of a job lead for this individual? It's pretty bold and drastic to ask such a question on here, and I don't want to sound "desperate", but let's face it, I am, and so are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans. Here's my resume and skills. Let me know what you think, thanks everyone. Daniel Relevant skills: Microsoft Office(Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, etc.) Java Applet c++ java Auto CAD Solid Modeling AutoCad Mechanical Desktop MS Excel for data analysis Linux Operating System Macintosh Operating System Adobe Flash Adobe Dreamweaver Adobe Illustrator HTML Marketing Promotions Business Management Balance Sheets(acct. I and II) Construction/Labor(framing, roofing, drywalling, painting, soldering copper pipe, etc.) Resume: Daniel x. xxxxxxxxxx xx xx. xxxxxx xx. Boston, MA. 02xxx xxx.xxx.xxxx dm179204@ohio.edu Objective To bring to your organization enthusiasm, dedication, responsibility, and good work ethic, combined with a desire to utilize my skills and education obtained through my experience in the following areas: Education Ohio University, Athens, OH. 9/8/03 - 11/21/08 Major: Industrial Technology, focused on Manufacturing Information Technology, Minor: Business Management, Degree: Bachelor of Science. Achievements: Cum Laude honors by obtaining a 3.649 GPA. A.S.C.E. Scholarship, Dean’s Quarterly list, Alumni member of Phi Kappa Theta National Fraternity, Ohio Psi Chapter, active community service through Phi Kappa Theta for Habitat for Humanity and Rural Appalachian Housing Development. Northeastern University, Boston, MA 9/4/00 - 6/14/02 Major: Civil Engineering, Degree: Working towards Bachelors of Science. Achievements: A.S.C.E. Scholarship, Freshman year. Experience Concierge Manager 1/15/09 - 05/03/09, Elite Services Inc./House of Blues, Boston, MA. Job title included managing concierge services and coat check. Some of my duties included consistently checking the status of our bathroom attendants and the organization of our coat check area, as well as some finalization of paperwork for the closing day’s ledger reports, etc. Design, Construction and Public Relations 9/1/99 - 9/8/04, Suburban Rails Inc., Athens, OH. As a member of the design and building team, I would travel to the contract destinations as a sub-contract employee. My tasks included public relations with the community and City Councils that resided in the specific city/state that we were erecting such parks, and the production of indoor/outdoor, skate/bike park facilities for private or community contracts. Bartender, Server 9/8/03 - 06/15/04, Toscano’s, Athens, OH. Duties included preparing spirits and alcoholic beverages for customers, quality control, weighing out product every week and reordering, itemizing and stocking inventory and crowd detail as well as identification inspection. Civil Engineer Internship, 10/1/02 - 1/7/03, City of Quincy D.P.W., Engineer Division, Quincy, MA. My assignments as an intern city engineer consisted of assisting the lead city engineer and staff with developing and/or revising city specifications, ordinances, standard details and/or regulations pertaining to streets, water, sanitary sewer, solid waste and storm drainage and presenting to Council for approval as needed. ReferencesReferences are available on request. more

Resolved Question: Could you check my English C.V.?

Hello I'm from Seoul,S.Korea. Please help me my English C.V.(even tiny thing) If you need Korean homework I can help you. Thank you very much. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ C.V.(coppied from word file) ■ OBJECTIVE: - Accountancy  EDUCATION: • 03/1997~02/1999: Sehwa High school, Seoul, Korea • 03/2001~08/2008: Hong IK University, Seoul, Korea - Bachelor degree, Major: Business Administration  ■ WORK & ABROAD EXPERIENCE : • 01/2009~06/2009: Limerick College of Business Studies, Limerick, Ireland - ACCA(Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) course • 12/2008~12/2008: Dalian, China - ACCA F3 exam • 04/2006~03/2007: English in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland - General English course • 01/2007~02/2007: DDM company, Dublin, Ireland. - Work experience office job • 10/2006~10/2006: Autumn Soul conference, Belfast, U.K. - Leading Irish teenagers in DCM church • 02/2004~08/2005: Prizetech, Seoul, Korea - Substitution of military service - Programming(computer language : Visual basic) • 08/2005~04/2006 ICANMANAGEMENT, Seoul, Korea - Substitution of military service - Programming(computer language : Visual basic) • 07/2003~08/2003: Whistler, Canada (Vancouver) - Summer snowboard trip • 07/2001~08/2001: Baptist Woodberry Down Church, London, UK - Missionary work, Campaign volunteer  ■ SKILLS: - Computer Skills: Adobe Photoshop, Proficient with Windows 95/98/ME/XP, Internet Explorer, MS Office (Word, Excel, Power point, Access), Visual Basic - Language Skills: English: Advanced (TOEIC:905, TOEFL PBT 577) - Sports: Snowboarding - 2002 win a prize in Korean university snowboard union - 2005 sponsored by K2 snowboard - Outstanding mental arithmetic ability and abacus calculation skill ■ CERTIFICATES: - Internet Information Searcher - Information & Telecommunication Human Resources Development Center of Korea (IHD) - Engineer Information Processing - Information & Telecommunication Human Resources Development Center of Korea (IHD) - Driver’s License - Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency - ACCA(Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, UK) F1, F2, F3, F6 ■ REFERENCES: Supplied on request. cover letter-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear sir/madam I am writing with regard to the position of Accountancy. I would like to be considered for the position. I believe I can fill the role and contribute to your organisation efficiently and effectively, because I majored in Business Administration in University and I have a strong desire to develop a career in accountancy. As an economic leader in Northeast Asia Korean government set up plan in March 2007, all listed firms in Korea will be subject to IFRS reporting beginning in 2011. I have been studying ACCA which is based on IFRS and taking exams from last year in China and Ireland. I am confident that, with my study and experience in ACCA, I would be an asset to your company. I have good communication skills in English which I have learned from living in Europe and Canada. Although it was not a brilliant job it is time when I was working in smallest branch in a train station as a cashier and coffee maker in coffee shop(Butlers Chocolate Café) which have 12 branches in Dublin, Ireland. The chief executive officer of train station praised my smile for the customers when the manager from head quarter visited the station to check the café. I like contacting with foreign people because it gives me new exciting experience and creative feeling. In 2001 London, as a volunteer for short term Christianity summer mission I could have experiences, door to door, book table in the street, giving flyers. In 2006 Dublin, I have leaded Irish teenagers to the Methodist conference(Autumn Soul), U.K. for 4 days. It was good chance to know teenagers and to get together with ambitious young people. I also have some sales experience importing snowboarding accessories from the U.S. and Hong Kong, and selling them in my country when I was a student. I had to pay much customs to Korean post but it was new experiences too. I very much appreciate your time and consideration and I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you further. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely xxx -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you very much!! more

Voting Question: I don't know what to do about my mother...?

This is another long one, so bear with me. Long story short, my mother and 13 year old brother are moving back to the east coast to live with my boyfriend and I for a year or so after a hard divorce and some financial trouble. We had originally looked for homes or townhomes for rent for the year, until my mom found a listing for a nice home for sale a few minutes from where we currently live. The house is going for $8580. It was foreclosed and the bank is trying to sell the home, but they can only sell it for what they paid for it. We bid on it at auction, and no one else did. The house is as good as ours. Its too good to turn away; its brand new, in mint shape, and worth (in a good market) a little over $625K. When we told my mom we were going to buy it, she hit me with "well then all 3 of us should be on the deed. I found it, so I want a cut." My head SPUN at that notion. Yes, you found the listing, but we could have done that ourselves. She basically wants a finders fee or at least $100K of the sale if we sell it later on. This would be my first home, as I am only about to be 22 and this is an amazing opportunity to own my own home. My boyfriend will never agree to that, and we both find it ridiculous that she would ask that. She would never leave after her year of recouperation and saving some $$, and then we would have to ask her permission to sell it when we decide to and then give her a third of the sale! For a home she would be living in almost rent free for only a year! This is the home we want to start a family in, and when I told her we were not sure why that made sense, she went nuts on me. She said I better move quickly then, because she would not only buy it out from under us, but then let US pay HER rent to live there. We were supposed to be doing her a favor by letting her move in with us since she is in such a tight situation, and she is turning it to look like she is doing us some huge favor. She is basically doing this out of spite, and we had an explosive argument over it and havent spoken in days. She has always been a manipulative business mind, and our family sees her as a self serving and sometimes irrational, greed driven person. No one supports her demand for a place on the deed, and agree that its absurd for her to basically extort us for money in the end if she does. She is only telling people half of the story, going as far as telling family we ASKED her to live with us instead of her having to admit she needed help and asked to "bunk" up with us. Everyone thinks this is insane, and that ultimately giving it to her the way she wants it will just lead to suffering on my end. I know thats likely true as well. My mom is a good woman with a heart of gold, but is often driven by money or a need to cover her own ass before that of someone else. I know that if she had found the house listing and DIDNT need to move in with us, she would have just been happy and excited to help us find our own home. But since she is in financial hardship and in need of a place, suddenly she deserves a 3rd of the home equity because she found it and will live there for a year. Since she is in the position she is in, she only sees dollar signs. If I convince my s/o to put her on the deed, which he does not want to do, we will have to be attached at the hip financially with her and she will consider it HER home above ours. But if I dont, she is threatening to try to buy it from under us since its an amazing deal, or just staying away from me because I will have "hurt her immensely and decided to be with a man who has a weak moral compass and only thinks of himself and money." Funny, because all SHE is thinking about is HERSELF and money but doesnt understand that he just wants our own home, for us, without having to consult and deal with her about it forever. Its not about selling it to him and I, its just about our OWN home and having the freedom to have it without her looming over us. She has owned homes already, I think its about time she stops trying to cash in and live through me and accept that her poor decisions after her divorce are not mine to deal with. Her financial issues are not mine to deal with, and she should take responsibility for them instead of panicking because we dont want to "cut her in" on our home. Its like, thanks for finding it mom, but why does it have to be your way or no way? She flipped it on me and said if she bought it we could not be on the deed because it would be hers, so why is it not ok the other way around? Is it fair for her to ask to be on the deed to the home, or am I right to feel the way that I do in the sense that I think its ridiculous and extortive? I dont know what to do, and I dont want to force a gap between us. It feels like no matter what we decide, I am still hurting someone or straining someone's life. Help!Yes, she is planning to pay a third of the taxes and half of the actual sale price. But still, that to me does not entitle her to anything because there is no garantee she will keep up with the yearly taxes...She could decide not to, then I would be screwed having her on the deed.Thanks for all of the answers so far, you guys are all right. I just wanted to be sure im not insane thinking that THIS is insane! more

Resolved Question: what's a good way to generate leads for a Point of Sale business?

I have a small Point of Sale business starting up. We are looking for ways to generate sales leads. We have considered using sites like gumtree.com and other free site to list a commission based opportunity. Is there a lead-generation business out there that we can buy the leads from? more

Resolved Question: Your comments on the story i'm writing?

I have started with a story. As of now I have done the character sketch of the main characters. Please read and give in your feedback. Amy: Amy Newton was born in New York and had stayed with her father in the city forever. Her father, Herbert Newton, a famous businessman was travelling most of the time to different countries because of work. Lucy Newton, her mother had passed away when she was only two. Brought up by nannies and maid’s Amy was closer to them during her initial years of growing up. Yet she respected and loved her father more than anyone in this world. Herbert fulfilled all her desires and wishes... expect one. He was not able to spend “Quality” time with his daughter. Amy had travelled with her father across the world during her summer vacations and had enjoyed those days the most as they brought her closer to her father. She detested when the vacations came to an end. The Newton’s had a huge mansion in New York. It was an 8 Bedroom, 3 floored house with a swimming pool in the backyard and a garden in the front which was the size of a baseball field. Built by a famous architect from Rome, the house had ethnic and classical touch of the Roman civilization. Paintings from famous artists hung on the carved walls. The Mansion depicted the wealth of Mr. Newton who was a self-made man. Every room had a different theme. There were rare pieces of decorations brought from different parts of the world to enhance the beauty of the mansion. It was the most aesthetic white structure that the city had ever seen. Milky white marble statues found place in the gardens of the house, which were illuminated with bright lights during the night. The place was no less than a fairy tale castle sitting magnificently in the city, praised by all its audience. Amy was a very beautiful girl. She had the perfect features and perfect body. Long brown hair which were never out of place. It seemed like she never had a bad hair day. Big green eyes which never missed any detail. A smile so warm that it made a dull day bright and shinny. She looked like a ramp model which made boys go all ‘oohh and aahh’ and girls all jealous. A down to earth girl Amy was. Talented and intelligent, she had always been a topper in her school and college. She never mentioned that she was “AMY NEWTON” infront of a crowd, because she wanted to be just Amy. Her father’s name when attached with hers changed things completely. People almost fell to their knees. And she loathed this. Amy enjoyed being outside her home though. An independent soul, she didn’t like to be dependent on her father. Her father on the other hand did not approve her taking up summer jobs when she was not travelling with him. Peacefully both father and daughter used to discuss this issue. Now as she was going to be 20, Amy had decided that she will not join her father’s business. Instead she had a different plan sketched up for her life. But Herbert was hell bent for her to join him as soon as possible. She was delaying the option with excuses that made her father angry. It was her 20th birthday that changed things for Amy. Mark: Mark Stevens was a born rebel. His father, Andrew Stevens, was a famous Lawyer of London. His mother, Emily Stevens, was the owner of one of the most expensive boutique in London. Rich and Famous list was not complete if ‘The Stevens’ were not mentioned in it. And Mark never left any opportunity to use his “Status” to get things done. His father did not like it when he misused their family name. A lot of arguments took place between the father and the son on almost daily basis. Emily was the pacemaker. She took time out of her busy schedule to sit with Mark and talk to him. This made Mark closer to his mother. He confided his deepest secrets to her. In London, the Stevens had a “Palace” in which they lived. It was indeed a palace, which belonged to one of the royalties of the country in the early centuries. Andrew Stevens had bought the property at a very handsome price. Emily had decorated their “Home” in the most beautiful manner. Everything was exquisite, expensive and exotic. A library which was bigger than the town library, an indoor sports area constructed which was well equipped. Both Mark and Andrew enjoyed sports a lot. Andrew was the football team captain when he was in high school. And Mark had led his school team to victory in swimming and basket ball. Their beautiful garden had flowers which were of rare species. The Palace was made of grey brick and stones. A long drive way from the main gate which was huge and made up of wrought iron. Tall and beautiful trees covering the drove way on both sides. A fountain was in the middle of the enormous garden. The palace was included in the most exotic and breath taking palaces of the country. When Mark was 5, his father wanted him learn how to play tennis but Mark was keener on learning swimming. He felt ‘the water’ belonged to him. Mark had created a big sceneWhen Mark was 5, his father wanted him learn how to play tennis but Mark was keener on learning swimming. He felt ‘the water’ belonged to him. Mark had created a big scene and finally his father had to agree with Mark and grant him his wish. Usually when there was a conflict between Mark and his father, Mark won. One reason was that Emily supported Mark. She was the only person who understood... or atleast kind of understood her son. “Brat” was what his father called him when he was upset with Mark. While he was growing up, his father fed into his mind that Mark should become a Lawyer – Just like him – in future. Mark was not fond of this particular career option. He felt he will be overshadowed by his father’s name once he took up law. Though he was a brilliant student and could easily make it big in any of the professions he would have chosen, but being a lawyer was something he had absolutely rejected since childhood. He did not want to be like his father.Mark was a handsome boy. He had the looks of a royalty. Bright blue eyes which pierced easily through anybody’s soul, Pearly white skin with a face and body which belonged to only Greek gods. He was every girl’s dream come true. He was in reach of every soul around him, yet so far. He was a kind of person who understood the situation well and manipulated it according to his benefits. His mind worked in a manner which nobody could ever understand. Not a predictable person Mark was but he could easily predict others. He had already planned his future and was quiet determined on going against his father’s wishes. He knew his mother would support him, like she always had. He also knew that when he would tell his father about his plans, his father would throw a fit around the house which would be extremely difficult to handle. But Mark was ready for all that. more

Resolved Question: Is the Socialist Equality Party a misnomer?http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jan2009/slel-j31.shtml?

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jan2009/slel-j31.shtml “The SEP's candidates include plantation workers, fishermen, farmers, teachers, unemployed youth, students and housewives. In Nuwara Eliya, the list is being headed by Myilvaganam Thevarajah, 55, who has been a full-time party organiser for more than two decades. In Puttalam, Nihal Geekiyanage, 52, a longstanding party member, will lead the campaign.” Problem #1 is that you are not adequately representing the group or block you hope to lead. Under the tutelage of Myilvaganam Thevarajah and Nihal Geekiyanage you sound as if you are singing a song from a gramophone when the world is listening to CDs. We have had 30_ years of war in Sri Lanka. People are happy with the possibility of not being roused out of their houses in the middle of the night and having to watch their relatives get a Rubber Necklace. Plantation Workers are excited about getting full citizenship rights, opportunities for their children to aspire for more-there are many other educational and trade opportunities that are available outside of the traditional university setting. How many of you that have passed out from you’re A-levels are going to law college, how many are going to technical programs? How many of you budding political leaders have actually considered your next step and the opportunities that await you instead of singing the same old song about how you have been oppressed? http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/01/31/news29.asp You are free people, those who did not have full right are now getting them. We are in a war to eradicate terrorism from our shores because these terroristic acts diminished opportunity for free travel, the opportunity to live where you choose without harassment, the ability for a bright child of a Plantation Worker or Fisherman to attend university or open a business. Yes, many of our beautiful and brave young heroes have perished in war. Let them not have perished for naught. You say that they were economically forced into war but they are saying that they felt a duty and an obligation to serve their country. Eelam is a fable and those of you that consider yourselves refugees in your own country – I ask this - did you have a right to vote? Did you have a right to medical services? Those Plantation Workers that didn’t have voting rights still had socialized medicine. The benefits that successive governments of Sri Lanka have provided irregardless of economics, political climate or era are truly things to be proud of. Politically, war causes discord, and one of our biggest problems is that we have become so accustomed to being adversarial that even when given a true opportunity to come together and work for success-we are stunted by some Old Men’s War. There have been economic opportunities provided for those that had to set aside occupations of tradition. When fishing at sea was limited due to security, you had opportunities to use fisheries-beyond that the seas will be open to you once more. Where are these housewives you allege to represent? We want to hear from them and give them an opportunity to speak. This is because they have a grassroots pulse of how a community is doing economically. Where are the students? We want to hear what their interests are. We are hoping that these interests don’t include killing people, scamming people, dealing in deadly drugs or arms, bribing/threatening them into doing illegal activities or forcing them into situations where they live on ration biscuits and heroin. You say that you are interested in agricultural development but when President Rajapaksa tried to bring in cooperatives you weren’t interested. You say you are supportive of socialism-that is a socialist program. You say you are against the divisiveness of communism or communalism as you all call it- but that is exactly what you are asking for. It sounds as if you hate America but you are quoting an American President. I totally disagree when you tell the working people that this was not their war or victory. For it was the working people of the North and East that were forced to abandon their homes and land by the LTTE, the working people were triple taxed by the barrel of a gun and had their children forcibly placed into conflict. “And the methods employed to fight the war—communalism, thuggery and police state repression—will be used to suppress the opposition of workers fighting to defend their jobs, conditions and living standards.” The utter, relentless thuggery of a fifth-former and his expanding troupe of bandits caused this war. “None of the opposition parties offers any alternative. The right-wing United National Party (UNP), the chauvinist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and, with the exception of the open representatives of the LTTE, all the parties of the Tamil and Muslim minorities, have joined the military triumphalism” Well, if the government was so “communalist” as you call it those “open representatives of the LTTE” would havehttp://www.dailynews.lk/2008/09/13/news21.asp The cooperatives have a new begining, be a part of it. more

Resolved Question: Does this essay flow?

Parents are the best teachers when it comes to their children’s careers. For generations, our parents have been taught to go straight to college after high school, in hopes of landing the perfect job. That has been the so called “American Dream” for far too long, and parents are implementing that same mentality in their children’s lives. Attending college is the smart choice; however parents should show their children that there is more to life than having the perfect job, and my parents did an immaculate job showing me. They have constantly lectured me on the importance of becoming a successful entrepreneur, and one day establishing my own businesses. The number one lesson they taught me is that I could never become wealthy as an employee. I truly appreciated the fact that I was given a different outlook on the real world because I have taken their guidance and used it to my advantage. Just by knowing this information, I have been able to start a business in e-commerce, invest in the stock market, and even receive my real estate license. Of all the industries that I have been introduced too, I believe that real estate has interested me the most. When I was about sixteen years old, my parents introduced me to the business of real estate sales. They would always take me to local real estate seminars and investment clubs hosted by some of the most renowned real estate entrepreneurs in the country, such as Donald Trump and Hilary "Zig" Ziglar. At that time, it was hard for me to appreciate the opportunity to even be allowed in theses events, but as I got older I understood why my parents took me with them. They just wanted me to be in the environment of other successful entrepreneurs. After understanding their intentions, I began to enjoy the seminars. From that moment on, I dressed professionally and carried a notebook to every seminar. I learned a lot from attending the real estate investor meetings, and I was eager to share in their success. The first job they gave me was to be their assistant. I became responsible for various tasks such as; confirming appointments with clients, and reviewing and completing listing, purchase, and lease contracts. Furthermore, I assisted with lead generating via direct mail, door to door advertising, along with online marketing using Top Producer (a real time lead generating and contact management database), Facebook and MySpace. Once I turned eighteen, I was eligible to become a licensed real estate agent, so in the summer of 2007, I enrolled at the Long and Foster Institute. I successfully completed the course, and received my real estate license. Since becoming licensed, I affiliated with Keller Williams Realty. At the end of the day, everything I learned from my parents benefited me as I got older. As an alternative of being an employee for the rest of my life, I have what it takes to establish my own businesses and provide a bright future for my family. If not, how can I improve it? What can the second paragraph be aboutIt has to be 250- 500 words... I cant really express my thought in such a short paper. more

Resolved Question: Do you think I'll make it into BYU with this application?

Hi - I would really appreciate it if someone familiar with the BYU application process, or with who gets into BYU, could give me an opinion on whether or not I'll get in. I made priority application, and this is my application: ART (1/5) -Participated in an art contest, camp or public display ATHLETICS (1/5) -Participated in one or more high school sports CHURCH LEADERSHIP AND AWARDS (4/5) -Served in a class/quorum presidency -Served on a stake/district committee -Served in a seminary leadership position -Earned/will earn Duty to God or Young Women's Recognition Award COMMUNITY SERVICE/SCHOOL LEADERSHIP AWARDS (3/7) -Received an award for community service -Earned Eagle Scout/Girl Scout Gold Award -Actively involved in school or community clubs and organizations HOURS PARTICIPATED IN COMMUNITY OR SPECIAL NEEDS SERVICES -200 (with options 50, 100, 150, and 200) MATH/SCIENCE (1/5) -Participated in an official math/science/computer science camp or contest PERFORMING ARTS (3/5) -Performed in musical groups, dance troupes, plays, concerts, etc. -Received formal performance instruction for 4 or more years -Performed as lead or featured soloist in five or more major ensemble performance events WORK EXPERIENCE (1/4) -Employed while attending high school or during summer SPEECH (1/5) -Participated in a formal speech/debate camp or contest WRITING (0/0) OTHER (IF NEEDED) - 100 CHARACTER LIMIT EACH. (3/3) Other 1: Private piano, drum, and trumpet lessons. Other 2: Private martial arts instruction and cross-country training. Other 3: Designed the chosen cover for my high school yearbook. HIGH SCHOOL INFORMATION AP Classes completed or currently enrolled in: - Art - Studio: Drawing (Full) If you are currently attending high school, please enter the classes you have taken or will take in 12th grade (including any AP or IB classes you listed above.) 1 - Advanced Composition delete 2 - Algebra 2/Trigonometry delete 3 - Chemistry delete 4 - Spanish 5-6 delete 5 - Jazz Ensemble delete 6 - Studio Art delete 7 - Civics/US Govt delete 8 - Economics delete And then just for convenience (and as long as I'm going all-out with this), I'll put the essays here: 1. What sets you apart from other applicants, based on unique educational or life experiences, personal or family circumstances, obstacles overcome and/or achievements? (200 words or less) I was the victim of bullies in middle school. Being dogpiled and beaten by people who I thought were my friends was a very hurtful experience. That feeling of helplessness carried over into my life at school and at home. My grades plummeted, and eventually my parents decided to send me to a seven-week desert survival program. It was the hardest seven weeks of my life. I had several life-threatening experiences, from facing a rattlesnake, to almost falling off a cliff, to getting trapped in a five-mile-long flooded canyon, soaked in cold water, with night fast approaching. I learned that I could take control of my life and the hard situations I was facing. Since then my grades have steadily improved, from a 1.57 GPA my first semester of high school to 3.67 this last semester. I am attending a private school and enjoying success in all aspects of my life. The dramatic change in my high school record demonstrates that I know how to overcome difficult situations. I know that I have what it takes to succeed, and I eagerly look forward to applying it to my college education. 2. Describe why you want to attend an institution within the LDS Church Educational System and what value you will add to that institution. (200 words or less) Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area familiarized me with the views of people who do not share my values. The liberal moral values that surrounded me taught me to not only tolerate other views, but to cooperate and seek common ground. I found opportunities to share kindness and truth even when faced with persuasive or belligerent people. I have learned the right and the wrong ways to go about my goals—whether they are to perform well with my upcoming jazz solo or to succeed in classes in anticipation of my future plans to attend business school. With my mission rapidly approaching, I would love the new experience of an LDS environment where I can associate with those who share my standards. Church schools provide the best setting in which to prepare for my mission, graduate studies, and a future career. My classmates who openly challenged my beliefs made me realize how fortunate I am to have firmly established faith and morals. I learned how to work with people who think differently than I do, and look forward to what I will learn as I work with people in a church university setting. My overall GPA is a 3.0, from a 1.57 freshman, then 2.5, then 3.1, then 3.67, plus 30 credits of As fromFor some reason my answer keeps getting cut off - there was actually about 2 more paragraphs there plus the rest of the sentence that got cut off. So I will be reposting this question, and using the additional details to actually get the full question in. >:( Oh and btw your answer makes no sense :-/27 ACT and 1880 SAT more

Resolved Question: What do you think my chances are of getting into BYU?

I would love it if someone familiar with who gets into BYU, or someone familiar with the application process, could give me their opinion on my chances of getting in. This is basically my entire application below: Here are the extracurriculars I listed: ART (1/5) -Participated in an art contest, camp or public display ATHLETICS (1/5) -Participated in one or more high school sports CHURCH LEADERSHIP AND AWARDS (4/5) -Served in a class/quorum presidency -Served on a stake/district committee -Served in a seminary leadership position -Earned/will earn Duty to God or Young Women's Recognition Award COMMUNITY SERVICE/SCHOOL LEADERSHIP AWARDS (3/7) -Received an award for community service -Earned Eagle Scout/Girl Scout Gold Award -Actively involved in school or community clubs and organizations HOURS PARTICIPATED IN COMMUNITY OR SPECIAL NEEDS SERVICES -200 (with options 50, 100, 150, and 200) MATH/SCIENCE (1/5) -Participated in an official math/science/computer science camp or contest PERFORMING ARTS (3/5) -Performed in musical groups, dance troupes, plays, concerts, etc. -Received formal performance instruction for 4 or more years -Performed as lead or featured soloist in five or more major ensemble performance events WORK EXPERIENCE (1/4) -Employed while attending high school or during summer SPEECH (1/5) -Participated in a formal speech/debate camp or contest WRITING (0/0) OTHER (IF NEEDED) - 100 CHARACTER LIMIT EACH. (3/3) Other 1: Private piano, drum, and trumpet lessons. Other 2: Private martial arts instruction and cross-country training. Other 3: Designed the chosen cover for my high school yearbook. HIGH SCHOOL INFORMATION AP Classes completed or currently enrolled in: - Art - Studio: Drawing (Full) If you are currently attending high school, please enter the classes you have taken or will take in 12th grade (including any AP or IB classes you listed above.) 1 - Advanced Composition delete 2 - Algebra 2/Trigonometry delete 3 - Chemistry delete 4 - Spanish 5-6 delete 5 - Jazz Ensemble delete 6 - Studio Art delete 7 - Civics/US Govt delete 8 - Economics delete Here are my essays: 1. What sets you apart from other applicants, based on unique educational or life experiences, personal or family circumstances, obstacles overcome and/or achievements? (200 words or less) I was the victim of bullies in middle school. Being dogpiled and beaten by people who I thought were my friends was a very hurtful experience. That feeling of helplessness carried over into my life at school and at home. My grades plummeted, and eventually my parents decided to send me to a seven-week desert survival program. It was the hardest seven weeks of my life. I had several life-threatening experiences, from facing a rattlesnake, to almost falling off a cliff, to getting trapped in a five-mile-long flooded canyon, soaked in cold water, with night fast approaching. I learned that I could take control of my life and the hard situations I was facing. Since then my grades have steadily improved, from a 1.57 GPA my first semester of high school to 3.67 this last semester. I am attending a private school and enjoying success in all aspects of my life. The dramatic change in my high school record demonstrates that I know how to overcome difficult situations. I know that I have what it takes to succeed, and I eagerly look forward to applying it to my college education. 2. Describe why you want to attend an institution within the LDS Church Educational System and what value you will add to that institution. (200 words or less) Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area familiarized me with the views of people who do not share my values. The liberal moral values that surrounded me taught me to not only tolerate other views, but to cooperate and seek common ground. I found opportunities to share kindness and truth even when faced with persuasive or belligerent people. I have learned the right and the wrong ways to go about my goals—whether they are to perform well with my upcoming jazz solo or to succeed in classes in anticipation of my future plans to attend business school. With my mission rapidly approaching, I would love the new experience of an LDS environment where I can associate with those who share my standards. Church schools provide the best setting in which to prepare for my mission, graduate studies, and a future career. My classmates who openly challenged my beliefs made me realize how fortunate I am to have firmly established faith and morals. I learned how to work with people who think differently than I do, and look forward to what I will learn as I work with people in a church university setting. My overall GPA is a 3.0, from a 1.57 freshman year, then 2.5 sophomore, then 3.1, then 3.67, plus 3 full class-year credit-worth of As from the desert prog more

Resolved Question: What are my chances of getting into BYU?

Resolved Question: I sell permission based lists & sales leads.?

There are millions of small businesses whom I believe could use my services, but most of those (that I've dealt with so far) do not have an ad or purchasing budget, and so cannot afford to buy my products. There's also a stigma that goes with being a list broker: every prospective buyer thinks he's about to get taken, or that he will be purchasing a lousy list. Even if he/she does buy the list, they still blame the broker if they cannot close sales opportunities generated from the list. I promise warm leads with verified contact info, not laydown buyers. How can I best connect with experienced marketers, who understand the lead industry, and know what they are buying (and not buying)? Please don't suggest providing free samples, because not only doesn't that not show the quality of the actual list purchase, but it also attracts the worst kind of customers-those who want something for free, and then they never buy anything. (There's a whole scam based on getting free live leads from list brokers and lead generation firms, and never buying anything from them.) PS: I have provided references of satisfied clients, buyer testimonials, and case studies of firms we've worked with, but I still cannot sell enough leads and lead gen. services to earn a living in today's highly competitive and overly-suspicious business environ. All sensible suggestions appreciated- opt net specialist more

Resolved Question: I have a question for stay at home moms!?

Has anyone ever heard of DATA ENTRY JOBS? I have seen it on Yahoo HotJobs and was wondering IF anyone has heard of it or has been using the site here is what they say about it. I would like to know if it is possible that it could be a scam but could anyone tell me thanks! Do Data Entry online by working at home. Your earnings start at $300/day and up to $1000/day, depending on how much data is processed. Click below to apply! Benefits/Income Make a stable income by doing simple data entry online Part Time Expected Income: $4,500/month Full Time Expected Income: $10,000-$15,000/month No need to commute to work Work at home You have no boss Requirements an internet connection or access to the internet Experience is not needed however, you need to be able of working from home Basic typing skills We ask that you put aside 30 - 60min/day We do NOT require any special skills, previous business experience or education Anyone can register and begin working immediately Click below to apply! Many of our employees are work at home moms, students, unemployed individuals and former retirees. How Does This Work? Your earnings start at $300/day and up to $1000/day, depending on how much data is processed. This is a work at home opportunity and we are looking for individuals who are willing to work from home. No experience is needed, we will take care of the training. Paychecks are guaranteed on the 1st and 16th of each month. Full time/part time positions are available now. Thousands of companies have contracted their data entry needs to us. As a results, we need to hire more individuals to help us process that data. Large fortune 500 companies need forms written up such as, receipt forms, brochures, customer lists, e-mailing lists, etc. About Us Data Direct Jobs has been in the business of data entry and data processing for over a year. We have contracted many people and have lead many to success. Check out our website to register for the opportunity and to find out more information about us: Related Keywords: work at home, work from home, work at home moms, retirees, data entry, computer work, business opportunity, make money from home, wah, W.A.H., making money from home, make money working at home, business opportunity at home, data entry at home Although hotjobs.com has reference to job placements, this offering is for a Work at Home business opportunity and is in no way to be construed as a job offering. There is a one-time registration fee of $37. The incomes presented are applicable to the individuals depicted and are not a guarantee of your income nor are they typical. Each individual's success will be determined by his or her desire, dedication, effort, ability to follow the training of our system and personal talent. more

Resolved Question: I want to the computer science, but th0ere are various colleges that offer course content. Can you?

This college DIT COLLEGE offersStage One (Common): Programming, Algorithms and Data Structures, Computer Technology, Information Technology, Building a PC, Introduction to Networking, Computer Physics, Communications Studies and Personal Development, Quantitative Methods for Computing. Stage Two (Common): Programming, Software Engineering, Databases, Practical Programming and Databases, Operating Systems, Internet Services & Web Development, Networking 1, Networking 2, Microprocessors, Discrete Mathematics for Computing. Stage Three (Full-Time Pathway): Core Modules: Programming, Information Systems, Systems Analysis and Design, WAN Technologies, Internet Application Development, Network Programming, I.T. Law and Professional Issues, Project. Option Modules: IT Management, Assistive Technology, Human Computer Interface, Robot Technology, Systems Programming, Security, Set up your own Business, Operations Research. Students select one module from this list in addition to the core modules in Stage Three (Full-Time Pathway). Stage Three (Internship Pathway): Programming, Information Systems, Systems Analysis and Design, WAN Technologies, Internet Application Development, Network Programming, I.T. Law and Professional Issues, Internship. Internship: Students will be expected to work 2 days per week over the period of the academic year. Stage Four (Full-Time Pathway): Core Modules: Database Applications, Database Administration, System Integration, Enterprise Systems, Project. Option Modules: Advanced Software Engineering, Assistive Technology, Knowledge Management, Games Programming, Music Technology, Advanced Internet Applications, Graphics and Image Technology, Spatial Databases. Students select two modules from this list in addition to the core modules in Stage Four (Full-Time Pathway). Stage Four (Internship Pathway): Database Applications, Database Administration, System Integration, Enterprise Systems, Project, Internship. Internship: Students will be expected to work 2 days per week over the period of the academic year. General Structure The full programme is a four-stage programme, which can be completed in four years of full-time study. Two pathways are available on this programme as illustrated below. One pathway will require full-time attendance by students at DIT. The second pathway (Internship Pathway) will entail an internship programme involving three days per week attendance at DIT and two days per week paid internship in a local computer company. Career Opportunities The focus in the programme is on practical skills and it is designed to educate graduates to work as IT developers and network and system practitioners in a broad range of commercial, industrial and technological areas. The programme content is sufficiently wide to encourage advancement to more senior positions in the computing industry within a few years. A number of the modules in the programme broadly follow syllabi similar to some external international certification bodies. Students graduating from the programme will be familiar with the material required to pass examinations leading to Cisco Certified Network Associate, and Oracle Certification in Development and Administration. The other college MAYNOOTH COLLEGE which i think its better offers Course Topics First Year Students study Computer Science, Mathematics and two other subjects from Biology, Chemistry, Experimental Physics or Mathematical Physics. The Computer Science course will cover the following topics over two semesters: - Introduction to Programming - Introduction to Computer Science - Introduction to Computer Systems Second Year Students study Computer Science related topics and two Mathematics modules - Algorithms & Data Structures 1 & 2 - Software Testing - Operating Systems - Computer Architecture 1 & 2 - Communication Skills - Discrete Structures 1 - Web Information Processing - Software Engineering & Software Process - Introduction to Statistics - Databases Third Year - Programming Languages & Compilers - Empirical Software Engineering - Computer Networks - Team Project - Software Design - Industrial Work Placement Fourth Year - Theory of Computation - Complexity - Programming Paradigms - Final Year Project Six modules chosen from: - Music Programming 1 - Signal Processing - Machine Learning & Neural Networks - Artificial Intelligence & Natural Language Processing - Computer Vision - Cryptography - Advanced Concepts in Computer Science - Music Programming 2 - Parallel & Distributed Systems - Neurocomputation - Numerical Computation - Robotics - Computer Graphics Career Options A degree in Computer Science opens up many career opportunities in, for example, industry, business, and health care. Graduates will find themselves working on topics such as aids for the disabled, medical imaging, industrial control; they will be designing graphical in more

Resolved Question: Can you translate these English paragraphs to Tagalog about UAE???

Introduction Background: Definition Field Listing The Trucial States of the Persian Gulf coast granted the UK control of their defense and foreign affairs in 19th century treaties. In 1971, six of these states - Abu Zaby, 'Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Ash Shariqah, Dubayy, and Umm al Qaywayn - merged to form the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They were joined in 1972 by Ra's al Khaymah. The UAE's per capita GDP is on par with those of leading West European nations. Its generosity with oil revenues and its moderate foreign policy stance have allowed the UAE to play a vital role in the affairs of the region. Geography Location: Definition Field Listing Middle East, bordering the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, between Oman and Saudi Arabia Geographic coordinates: Definition Field Listing 24 00 N, 54 00 E Map references: Definition Field Listing Middle East Area: Definition Field Listing Rank Order total: 83,600 sq km land: 83,600 sq km water: 0 sq km Area - comparative: Definition Field Listing slightly smaller than Maine Land boundaries: Definition Field Listing total: 867 km border countries: Oman 410 km, Saudi Arabia 457 km Coastline: Definition Field Listing 1,318 km Maritime claims: Definition Field Listing territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin Climate: Definition Field Listing desert; cooler in eastern mountains Terrain: Definition Field Listing flat, barren coastal plain merging into rolling sand dunes of vast desert wasteland; mountains in east Elevation extremes: Definition Field Listing lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m highest point: Jabal Yibir 1,527 m Natural resources: Definition Field Listing petroleum, natural gas Land use: Definition Field Listing arable land: 0.77% permanent crops: 2.27% other: 96.96% (2005) Irrigated land: Definition Field Listing 760 sq km (2003) Total renewable water resources: Definition Field Listing 0.2 cu km (1997) Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural): Definition Field Listing total: 2.3 cu km/yr (23%/9%/68%) per capita: 511 cu m/yr (2000) Natural hazards: Definition Field Listing frequent sand and dust storms Environment - current issues: Definition Field Listing lack of natural freshwater resources compensated by desalination plants; desertification; beach pollution from oil spills Environment - international agreements: Definition Field Listing party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea Geography - note: Definition Field Listing strategic location along southern approaches to Strait of Hormuz, a vital transit point for world crude oil Government Country name: Definition Field Listing conventional long form: United Arab Emirates conventional short form: none local long form: Al Imarat al Arabiyah al Muttahidah local short form: none former: Trucial Oman, Trucial States abbreviation: UAE Government type: Definition Field Listing federation with specified powers delegated to the UAE federal government and other powers reserved to member emirates Capital: Definition Field Listing name: Abu Dhabi geographic coordinates: 24 28 N, 54 22 E time difference: UTC+4 (9 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) Administrative divisions: Definition Field Listing 7 emirates (imarat, singular - imarah); Abu Zaby (Abu Dhabi), 'Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Ash Shariqah (Sharjah), Dubayy (Dubai), Ra's al Khaymah, Umm al Qaywayn (Quwayn) Independence: Definition Field Listing 2 December 1971 (from UK) National holiday: Definition Field Listing Independence Day, 2 December (1971) Constitution: Definition Field Listing 2 December 1971; made permanent in 1996 Legal system: Definition Field Listing based on a dual system of Shari'a and civil courts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction Suffrage: Definition Field Listing none Executive branch: Definition Field Listing chief of state: President KHALIFA bin Zayid al-Nuhayyan (since 3 November 2004), ruler of Abu Zaby (Abu Dhabi) (since 4 November 2004); Vice President and Prime Minister MUHAMMAD bin Rashid al-Maktum (since 5 January 2006) head of government: Prime Minister and Vice President MUHAMMAD bin Rashid al-Maktum (since 5 January 2006); Deputy Prime Ministers SULTAN bin Zayid al-Nuhayyan (since 20 November 1990) and HAMDAN bin Zayid al-Nuhayyan (since 20 October 2003) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president note: there is also a Federal Supreme Council (FSC) composed of the seven emirate rulers; the FSC is the highest constitutional authority in the UAE; establishes general policies and sanctions federal legislation; meets four times a year; Abu Zaby (Abu Dhabi) and Dubayy (Dubai) rulers have effective veto power elections: president and vice president elected by the FSC for five-year terms (no term limits); election last held 3 November 2004 upon the death of the UAE's Founding Father and first President ZAYID bin Sultan Al Nuhayyan (next to be held in 2009); prime minister and deputy prime minister appointed by the president election results: KHALIFA bin Zayid al-Nuhayyan elected president by a unanimous vote of the FSC; MUHAMMAD bin Rashid al-Maktum unanimously affirmed vice president after the 2006 death of his brother Sheikh Maktum bin Rashid al-Maktum Legislative branch: Definition Field Listing unicameral Federal National Council (FNC) or Majlis al-Ittihad al-Watani (40 seats; 20 members appointed by the rulers of the constituent states, 20 members elected to serve two-year terms) elections: elections for one half of the FNC (the other half remains appointed) held in the UAE on 18-20 December 2006; the new electoral college - a body of 6,689 Emiratis (including 1,189 women) appointed by the rulers of the seven emirates - were the only eligible voters and candidates; 456 candidates including 65 women ran for 20 contested FNC seats; one female from the Emirate of Abu Dhabi won a seat note: reviews legislation but cannot change or veto Judicial branch: Definition Field Listing Union Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president) Political parties and leaders: Definition Field Listing none Political pressure groups and leaders: Definition Field Listing NA International organization participation: Definition Field Listing ABEDA, AFESD, AMF, FAO, G-77, GCC, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, OPCW, OPEC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO Diplomatic representation in the US: Definition Field Listing chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant) chancery: 3522 International Court NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 243-2400 FAX: [1] (202) 243-2432 consulate(s): New York, Houston Diplomatic representation from the US: Definition Field Listing chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Martin R. QUINN embassy: Embassies District, Plot 38 Sector W59-02, Street No. 4, Abu Dhabi mailing address: P. O. Box 4009, Abu Dhabi telephone: [971] (2) 414-2200 FAX: [971] (2) 414-2603 consulate(s) general: Dubai Flag description: Definition Field Listing three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and black with a wider vertical red band on the hoist side Economy United Arab Emirates Top of Page Economy - overview: Definition Field Listing The UAE has an open economy with a high per capita income and a sizable annual trade surplus. Despite largely successful efforts at economic diversification, nearly 40% of GDP is still directly based on oil and gas output. Since the discovery of oil in the UAE more than 30 years ago, the UAE has undergone a profound transformation from an impoverished region of small desert principalities to a modern state with a high standard of living. The government has increased spending on job creation and infrastructure expansion and is opening up utilities to greater private sector involvement. In April 2004, the UAE signed a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement with Washington and in November 2004 agreed to undertake negotiations toward a Free Trade Agreement with the US. The country's Free Trade Zones - offering 100% foreign ownership and zero taxes - are helping to attract foreign investors. Higher oil revenue, strong liquidity, housing shortages, and cheap credit in 2005-07 led to a surge in asset prices (shares and real estate) and consumer inflation. Rising prices are increasing the operating costs for businesses in the UAE and adversely impacting government employees and others on fixed incomes. Dependence on oil and a large expatriate workforce are significant long-term challenges. The UAE's strategic plan for the next few years focuses on diversification and creating more opportunities for nationals through improved education and increased private sector employment. GDP (purchasing power parity): Definition Field Listing Rank Order $167.3 billion (2007 est.) GDP (official exchange rate): Definition Field Listing $192.6 billion (2007 est.) GDP - real growth rate: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 7.4% (2007 est.) GDP - per capita (PPP): Definition Field Listing Rank Order $37,300 (2007 est.) GDP - composition by sector: Definition Field Listing agriculture: 1.8% industry: 59.3% services: 38.9% (2007 est.) Labor force: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 3.065 million (2007 est.) Labor force - by occupation: Definition Field Listing agriculture: 7% industry: 15% services: 78% (2000 est.) Unemployment rate: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 2.4% (2001) Population below poverty line: Definition Field Listing 19.5% (2003) Household income or consumption by percentage share: Definition Field Listing lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA% Inflation rate (consumer prices): Definition Field Listing Rank Order 11% (2007 est.) Investment (gross fixed): Definition Field Listing Rank Order 21.8% of GDP (2007 est.) Budget: Definition Field Listing revenues: $58.88 billion expenditures: $38.06 billion (2007 est.) Public debt: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 22.9% of GDP (2007 est.) Agriculture - products: Definition Field Listing dates, vegetables, watermelons; poultry, eggs, dairy products; fish Industries: Definition Field Listing petroleum and petrochemicals; fishing, aluminum, cement, fertilizers, commercial ship repair, construction materials, some boat building, handicrafts, textiles Industrial production growth rate: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 4.3% (2007 est.) Electricity - production: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 57.06 billion kWh (2005) Electricity - consumption: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 52.62 billion kWh (2005) Electricity - exports: Definition Field Listing 0 kWh (2005) Electricity - imports: Definition Field Listing 0 kWh (2005) Oil - production: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 2.54 million bbl/day (2006 est.) Oil - consumption: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 372,000 bbl/day (2005 est.) Oil - exports: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 2.54 million bbl/day (2004 est.) Oil - imports: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 137,200 bbl/day (2004) Oil - proved reserves: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 97.8 billion bbl (2007 est.) Natural gas - production: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 45.07 billion cu m (2005 est.) Natural gas - consumption: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 39.56 billion cu m (2005 est.) Natural gas - exports: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 6.848 billion cu m (2005 est.) Natural gas - imports: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 1.343 billion cu m (2005) Natural gas - proved reserves: Definition Field Listing Rank Order 5.823 trillion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) Current account balance: Definition Field Listing Rank Order $41.67 billion (2007 est.) Exports: Definition Field Listing Rank Order $156.6 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.) Exports - commodities: Definition Field Listing crude oil 45%, natural gas, reexports, dried fish, dates Exports - partners: Definition Field Listing Japan 23.4%, South Korea 10.3%, Thailand 5%, India 4.8% (2006) Imports: Definition Field Listing Rank Order $101.6 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.) Imports - commodities: Definition Field Listing machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food Imports - partners: Definition Field Listing China 13.1%, India 10.2%, US 8.9%, Japan 6.2%, Germany 6.1%, Italy 4.7% (2006) Economic aid - donor: Definition Field Listing since its founding in 1971, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development has given about $5.2 billion in aid to 56 countries (2004) Economic aid - recipient: Definition Field Listing $5.36 million (2004) Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: Definition Field Listing Rank Order $76.62 billion (31 December 2007 est.) Debt - external: Definition Field Listing Rank Order $57.52 billion (31 December 2007 est.) Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: Definition Field Listing Rank Order $44.37 billion (2007 est.) Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad: Definition Field Listing Rank Order $14.14 billion (2007 est.) Market value of publicly traded shares: Definition Field Listing Rank Order $138.5 billion (2006) Currency (code): Definition Field Listing Emirati dirham (AED) Exchange rates: Definition Field Listing Emirati dirhams per US dollar - 3.673 (2007), 3.673 (2006), 3.6725 (2005), 3.6725 (2004), 3.6725 (2003) note: officially pegged to the US dollar since February 2002 Fiscal year: Definition Field Listing calendar year Transnational Issues Disputes - international: Definition Field Listing boundary agreement was signed and ratified with Oman in 2003 for entire border, including Oman's Musandam Peninsula and Al Madhah enclaves, but contents of the agreement and detailed maps showing the alignment have not been published; Iran and UAE dispute Tunb Islands and Abu Musa Island, which Iran occupies Illicit drugs: Definition Field Listing the UAE is a drug transshipment point for traffickers given its proximity to Southwest Asian drug-producing countries; the UAE's position as a major financial center makes it vulnerable to money laundering; anti-money-laundering controls improving, but informal banking remains unregulated more

Resolved Question: please answer my question about the constitutional convention?

TeachingAmericanHistory.org Homepage Register Online About Us Search Site Seminars & Institutes Historical Documents Library Audio Lectures & Discussions Constitutional Convention Home > Constitutional Convention > Introduction to the Constitutional Convention by Gordon Lloyd Introduction to the Constitutional Convention by Gordon Lloyd See Also: Convention: Introduction to this Site | Introduction to the Convention | Four Act Drama | Day by Day Summary | Major Themes | Madison's Notes | Selected Correspondence Delegates: Age of Framers in 1787 | Educational Backgrounds | Continental Experiences | Delegates by State | Alphabetical List | Interactive Scene at the Signing of the Constitution | Interactive Map of Philadelphia | Entertainment of George Washington at the City Tavern The Call for a Grand Convention On May 15, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, issued "A Resolve" to the thirteen colonies: "Adopt such a government as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the safety and happiness of their constituents in particular and America in general." Between 1776 and 1780 each of the thirteen colonies adopted a republican form of government. What emerged was the most extensive documentation of the powers of government and the rights of the people that the world had ever witnessed. These state constitutions displayed a remarkable uniformity. Seven attached a prefatory Declaration of Rights, and all contained the same civil and criminal rights. Four states decided not to "prefix" a Bill of Rights to their constitutions, but, instead, incorporated the very same natural and traditional rights found in the prefatory declarations. New York incorporated the entire Declaration of Independence into its constitution. The primary purpose of these declarations and bills was to outline the objectives of government: to secure the right to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. The government that was chosen to secure these rights was declared universally to be "a republican form of government." All of the states, except Pennsylvania, embraced a two-chamber legislature, and all, except Massachusetts, installed a weak executive and denied the Governor the power to veto bills of the legislature. All accepted the notion that the legislative branch should be preeminent, but, at the very same time, endorsed the concept that the liberty of the people was in danger from the corruption of the representatives. And this despite the fact that the representatives were installed by the election of the people. Thus, each state constitution embraced the notion of short terms of office for elected representatives along with recall, rotation, and term limits. The Second Continental Congress also created the first continental-wide system of governance. The Articles of Confederation created a nation of pre-existing states rather than a government over individuals. Thus, the very idea of a Bill of Rights was irrelevant because the Articles did not entail a government over individuals. The states were equally represented in the union regardless of size of population, only one branch was needed, normal political activity required the support of super majorities, the union was limited to the powers expressly enumerated, and amendment was required to endow the union with powers that weren't specifically articulated. Amendments required the unanimous approval of all thirteen state legislatures. The Articles didn't come into operation until the early 1780s because of territorial disputes between two states; all of the states were required to "sign on" before the Articles became operative on any one state. These two directives produced two opposite and rival situations: an early operating, robust and healthy state and local politics and a late arriving, weak and divisive continental arrangement. Several statesmen, especially George Washington, were concerned that the idea of an American mind that had emerged during the war with Britain was about to disappear and the Articles of Confederation were inadequate to foster the development of an American character. According to Washington, "we have errors to correct." He argued that the states refused to comply with the articles of peace, the union was unable to regulate interstate commerce, and the states met, but oh so grudgingly, just the minimum interstate standards required by the Articles. Others, especially James Madison, were concerned that the state legislatures—dominated by what he saw as oppressive, unjust, and overbearing majorities—were passing laws detrimental to the rights of individual conscience and the right to private property. And there was nothing that the union government could do about it because the Articles left matters of religion and commerce to the states. The solution, concluded Madison, was to create an extended republic, in which a variety of opinions, passions, and interests would check and balance each other, supported by a governmental framework that endorsed a separation of powers between the branches of the general government. Between 1781 and 1785 attempts "to correct these errors" failed to secure the required unanimous consent of the state legislatures. Matters changed, however, in 1786. Following James Madison's suggestion of 21 January 1786, the Virginia Legislature invited all the States to discuss ways to reduce interstate conflicts in Annapolis, Maryland. The "commissioners" in attendance at Annapolis during September 1786, chatted about these particular concerns, but suggested that the conversation be both deepened and widened. They endorsed a motion that a "Grand Convention" of all the States meet in Philadelphia the next May 1787 to discuss how to improve the Articles of Confederation. One might well ask, "Who or what authorized the Virginia Legislature to call the Annapolis Convention and who or what authorized the Annapolis Convention to call for a 'Grand Convention'?" The answer is to be found in the Declaration of Independence: The people have the right to choose the form of government under which they shall live and to install such government as they deem appropriate to secure their liberty, security, and happiness. The Selection of the Delegates Madison and Washington agreed that the principles of the Revolution of 1776 were in danger due to a weak continental arrangement and overbearing, unjust, and reckless state legislatures. But how could they take advantage of the opportunity provided by the Annapolis recommendation? How was such a bold proposal to be put into effect? Madison persuaded the Virginia Legislature to implement the challenge of the Annapolis Convention and invite all the other states to also reconsider the status of the Articles. He also persuaded the Assembly to be the first to elect delegates to the Grand Convention to consider the business "of May next." The Virginia Assembly elected 55-year-old revolutionary hero George Washington to head the delegation. "Give me Liberty or give me Death" Patrick Henry declined because "he smelt a rat." Doctor James McClurg was selected even though he had no political experience; James Madison insisted he be present. Richard Henry Lee and Thomas Nelson, colonial heroes and Signers of the Declaration, refused to attend. 34-year-old Edmund Randolph, the Governor of Virginia, 55-year-old John Blair, an esteemed Virginia judge, 55-year-old George Wythe, the first law professor of the United States and Signer of the Declaration, 62-year-old George Mason, author of the Virginia Bill of Rights were all chosen along with five foot tall, 120 pound, 36-year-old James Madison. Five States followed Virginia's lead. 1. New Jersey selected William Churchill Houston, Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court David Brearly, 40-year-old Irish immigrant William Paterson, Governor William Livingston, known as "the Whipping Post" because of his great height, and 27-year-old Jonathan Dayton who after the Convention went exploring and died in what is now Dayton, Ohio. 2. Pennsylvania selected eight delegates: Thomas Mifflin was elected as the leader of the delegation; he was speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly. Other members selected were Robert Morris, financier of the Revolution, George Clymer, signer of the Declaration, Jared Ingersoll a political reformer who later bestowed on Madison the appellation, "Father of the Constitution," Irish immigrant Thomas Fitzsimons, founder of the Bank of America and one of two Catholics at the Convention, 45-year-old James "The Caledonian" Wilson from Scotland, 33-year-old peg leg and "rake" Gouverneur Morris, who spoke more than anyone at the Convention, and 81-year-old Benjamin "the American Socrates" Franklin who was added to the delegation as a courtesy. All the delegates from Pennsylvania resided in Philadelphia. 3. Former Governor Alexander Martin was chosen to lead the North Carolina delegation, but left before the signing. 29-year-old William Davie also left the Convention early. In 1802 he was killed in a duel. 29-year-old Richard Dobbs Spaight, preacher, essayist, and mathematician Doctor Hugh Williamson, and land speculator William Blount—who later earned the dubious honor of being the first member expelled from the United States Senate—made up the core of the delegation that had a major impact on the course of the debates in July. Howard Christy gives this central signing honors in his commemoration of the Constitution. 4. 54-year-old George Read headed the Delaware delegation. Additional members included "corpulent and impetuous" Gunning Bedford Junior, prudent and educated John Dickinson, and two quiet thirty-five-year olds: Jacob Broom and Richard Bassett. 5. The head of the Georgia delegation was William Few who was joined by Abraham Baldwin, William Houstoun, and 49-year-old William Pierce, one of the poorest attendees in terms of income—thus he has no official portrait—who nevertheless left us rich sketches of the delegates. So six of the states had taken Virginia's initiative to form a Grand Convention without waiting for any formal endorsement by the existing government under the Articles of Confederation. Other states, however, were more cautious and wanted the existing Congress to address the legitimacy of such a gathering. On 28 February 1787, the Confederation Congress endorsed the meeting of the Grand Convention on "the second Monday in May next." Exactly what the Congress authorized became a bone of contention. The recommendatory act of Congress reads thus: A Convention of delegates should meet "for the sole purpose of revising the articles of Confederation and reporting to Congress and the several legislatures such alterations and provisions therein as shall, when agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the States, render the federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union." (Italics in the original of the version reprinted in Federalist 40.) Did the Congress limit the Convention to the discussion of specific and particular matters or did the Congress empower the Convention to "run away" and propose whatever alterations the delegates considered were needed to preserve the principles of the Revolution? New York was the first state to act after the Congressional endorsement. The Governor George Clinton faction of the New York legislature selected State Supreme Court judge Robert Yates and John Lansing to, in effect, outvote Alexander Hamilton. The New York delegation was not particularly prominent at the Convention. Yates and Lansing left in early July, just prior to the passage of the Connecticut Compromise, and the 32-year-old Hamilton, who lost his life at age 49 in a duel with Aaron Burr, was far more influential in securing the adoption of the Constitution in 1788 than in its framing in 1787. Five States followed New York's lead. 1. In early March, South Carolina, selected John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, and Pierce Butler as their delegates; they were pro-national, pro-slavery, and very influential. 2. Massachusetts, also in March, selected Elbridge Gerry, who signed the Declaration, 32-year-old Rufus King, "backwoods lawyer" Caleb Strong, and Nathaniel Gorham, who chaired the Committee of the Whole during the Convention. 3. Four days before the Convention began, Connecticut elected three delegates: William Samuel Johnson, who learned of his appointment to the Presidency of Columbia College on his way to Philadelphia, Roger Sherman, who signed both the Declaration and the Articles, and 42-year-old Oliver Ellsworth who had the reputation of talking to himself and being a chain chewer of snuff. 4. Irish immigrant Doctor James McHenry, after whom Fort McHenry is named, was a leader of the Maryland delegation. He was joined by 60-year-old bachelor, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, 30-year-old Daniel Carroll—one of two Catholics at the Convention—29-year-old John F. Mercer, who blew into and out of town during the first week of August, and Luther Martin, who apparently had a great capacity to consume immense amounts of alcohol, and sober up at a moment's notice. 5. New Hampshire was short of cash so John Langdon funded the expenses for himself and Nicholas Gilman; they arrived at the Convention on July 23, after the main debate over the Connecticut Compromise was completed and yet just in time for a one-week recess. Rhode Island, the thirteenth state, declined to send delegates. Thomas Jefferson characterized the 55 men who showed up in Philadelphia as "demi-gods," who created a Constitution that would last into remote futurity. Alexis de Tocqueville marveled at the work of the American Founders: never before in the history of the world had the leaders of a country declared the existing government to be bankrupt, and the people, after debate, calmly elected delegates who proposed a solution, which, in turn, was debated up and down the country for nearly a year, and not a drop of blood was spilled. Madison, in Federalist 37, indicates the uniqueness of the Founding: never before had there been a democratic founding; all previous foundings had been the work of a single founder like Romulus. And Hamilton, in Federalist 1, suggested that this was a unique event in the history of the world; finally government was going to be established by reflection and choice rather than force and fraud. And what is also unique is the fact that the framers were relatively young, well educated, and politically experienced. Like the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution was written by delegates immersed in 1) the writings of Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, and Montesquieu, and 2) a world of political experience at both the state and continental level. Both basic documents were written in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, and thirty signers of the Declaration in 1776 played a vital part in the creation and adoption of the Constitution, 1787-1789. How to Read the Convention Very few of the delegates selected were present at the appointed time for the meeting of the Grand Convention in Philadelphia on May 14, 1787. All the Virginia delegates were present, however, and fully settled into their accommodations. Washington stayed at Robert Morris's Town House, and Madison secured lodgings across the street at Mrs. House's Boarding House. During this waiting period, the Virginia delegates caucused with each other in an attempt to set the tone for the deliberations of the Convention and paid courtesy calls on prominent members of Philadelphia society. Some entered a Catholic church for the first time. On May 25, a quorum of seven states was secured. The first order of business was to elect a President, and George Washington was the obvious choice. William Jackson, yet another immigrant at the Convention, was elected Secretary of the Convention and he recorded the propositions and amendments as well as the vote tabulation. James Madison took extensive Notes of the proceedings and although some scholars have questioned their authenticity and completeness, they remain the primary source for reproducing the conversations at the Convention. Other delegates kept specific notes on certain days, there are letters back home to friends and loved ones, there are urgent bills sent for immediate payment that augment, and there are personal diaries, some more complete than others. Nothing, however, can compete with, or ever replace, Madison's Notes. The delegates also agreed that the deliberations would be kept secret. The case in favor of secrecy was that the issues at hand were so important that honest discourse needed to be encouraged and delegates ought to feel free to speak their mind, and change their mind, as they saw fit. Thus, despite the hot summer weather in Philadelphia, and delegates who, on the whole, were rather overweight and hardly "dressed down" for the occasion, the windows were closed and heavy drapes drawn. The merits and demerits of the secrecy rule have been a subject of considerable debate throughout American history. In Act One of the Convention, Governor Randolph introduces the fifteen point Virginia Plan at the end of May to "revise the Articles of Confederation." The decisive features of this plan are 1) the complete structural exclusion of the states in terms of both election and representation; 2) the complete diminution of the powers of the states and the virtual freedom of Congress to act in those areas for which the states are incompetent; 3) the establishment of an extended national republic with institutional separation of powers and the introduction of the possibility that short terms of office and term limits—standard features of traditional republicanism—will be abandoned. Under the wholly federal Articles of Confederation, only the states are represented and the central government was restrained to the exercise of expressly delegated powers. And under the state republican constitutions, the governor had very little authority, and the elected representatives were kept under close scrutiny. Madison's Virginia Plan introduces a new understanding of federalism and republicanism. This wholly national republican plan is debated, and amended, over the next two weeks, and the main features are adopted by the delegates in mid June over two alternatives: the wholly federal, or state based, New Jersey Plan, that argues that the Virginia Plan goes too far, and the Hamilton Plan that claims the Virginia Plan does not go far enough. Hamilton, among other things, envisioned a President for life. Act Two portrays the Convention in crisis, in the sense that the delegates were at a stalemate. Far from the wholly national republican Virginia Plan being accepted, as we might very well anticipate when the curtain fell at the end of Act One, the delegates from Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, and Mr. Martin from Maryland—the defenders of the New Jersey Plan, the old style federalism of the Articles, and the old fashioned republicanism of the state constitutions—insisted on questioning the validity of the Virginia Plan. They argued that the Convention had exceeded the Congressional mandate because the Articles had in fact been scrapped rather than revised. Thus the Convention had violated the rule of law. Moreover, the Convention was about to propose a novelty—a large country under one republican form of government—that would never be accepted by the electorate. These delegates knew their Locke and Montesquieu and they relied on their own political experience which was remarkably extensive: republican government could only exist in areas of small extent where the people kept close watch over their representatives. A breakthrough occurs at the end of June when Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut suggests that we are neither wholly national nor wholly federal but a mixture of both. Several delegates echo this theme and the Convention decides to move beyond the exclusively national or federal paradigms. The Gerry Committee is created to explore the ramifications of this suggestion that the people be represented in the House and the states be represented in the Senate. This recommendation—the Connecticut Compromise—is accepted over Madison's objections in mid-July. Act Three focuses on the debates during August over the Committee of Detail Report, especially concerning the itemization of Congressional powers. With the Connecticut Compromise in place, the delegates turned from the question of structure to the question of national and state powers. Under the Virginia Plan, Congress was empowered to do anything the States were incompetent to do. By July, that was no longer acceptable to the delegates. A Committee was created to draft a Constitution—the Committee of Detail—that would address the division of powers between the central and state governments and also the separation of powers between Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court. Another issue that emerged in Act Three is the slavery question. What could Congress do and not do to regulate and/or abolish slavery? This is a vital question and deserves special coverage. It is instructive to compare the clause in the Committee of Detail Report of August 6 with the Signed Constitution of September 17. The former forbids Congress from ever regulating the slave trade and prohibits Congress from discouraging the trade by means of a tax or tariff. By contrast the final Constitution, limits the prohibition on Congress until 1808 and permits Congress to discourage the slave trade. In March, 1807, President Jefferson signed into law an Act of Congress prohibiting the slave trade effective January 1, 1808, and during the 1790s Congress took specific steps to discourage the importation of Africans for the purpose of being sold into slavery. Act Four covers the final three weeks of the Convention during the month of September. Despite all the progress that had been made on the structural role of the states and enumerating the powers of Congress, there was much work still to be done on the Presidency. The Brearley Committee came up with the idea of an Electoral College as a sensible compromise to the long and largely fruitless debates on how to elect the President. It had been clear for four months that until the mode of election was settled, no progress could be made on 1) length of term, 2) the issue of re-eligibility, and 3) the powers of the President. The Electoral College was modeled on the Connecticut Compromise: the President would be elected by a combination of people and states. The Committee of Style wrote the final draft of the Constitution. It included a Preamble and an obligation of contracts clause, both written by Gouverneur Morris, and an enumeration of the powers of Congress in Article I, Section 8. During the last week of the Convention the delegates added a few refinements, raised some serious concerns, and discussed what they agreed to over the four months of deliberations. Mason expressed the wish that "the plan had been prefaced by a Bill of Rights." Elbridge Gerry supported Mason's unsuccessful attempt to attach a Bill of Rights. Randolph joined Mason and Gerry and declared that he too wouldn't sign the Constitution. And the delegates wondered whether or not the power to create a national university was implied within the meaning of the necessary and proper clause. Rising Sun ChairOn the last day of the Convention, September 17, Benjamin Franklin looked at the chair occupied by Washington and declared the sun enshrined on the chair to be a rising sun. Many delegates over the four months of deliberation often thought that it was a setting sun. Master of American History and Government: Home | About | Admission | Schedule of Courses | Course Registration | Tuition | Faculty | Request More Information Free Saturday Seminars for Teachers: Upcoming Saturday Seminars | Register Online | Previous Seminars Free Summer Institutes for Teachers: Upcoming Summer Institutes | Previous Institutes Historical Documents Library: Home | Founding Era | Expansion Era | Civil War Era | Progressive Era Post World War II Era | General Resources Online Audio Lectures and Discussions: Home Special Exhibits: Constitutional Convention | Ratification of the Constitution Teaching American History Grants: Partner with the Ashbrook Center | TAH Grant Web Sites | Ashbrook Center TAH Grant Partners Search Site Search Document Library Printer-Friendly Version Verizon Foundation Support for teachingamericanhistory.org is provided by the Verizon Foundation. A Project of the Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University 401 College Avenue | Ashland, Ohio 44805 (419) 289-5411 | (877) 289-5411 (Toll Free) info@TeachingAmericanHistory.org © 2006 Ashbrook Center for Public AffairsTeachingAmericanHistory.org Homepage Register Online About Us Search Site Seminars & Institutes Historical Documents Library Audio Lectures & Discussions Constitutional Convention Home > Constitutional Convention > Introduction to the Constitutional Convention by Gordon Lloyd Introduction to the Constitutional Convention by Gordon Lloyd See Also: Convention: Introduction to this Site | Introduction to the Convention | Four Act Drama | Day by Day Summary | Major Themes | Madison's Notes | Selected Correspondence Delegates: Age of Framers in 1787 | Educational Backgrounds | Continental Experiences | Delegates by State | Alphabetical List | Interactive Scene at the Signing of the Constitution | Interactive Map of Philadelphia | Entertainment of George Washington at the City Tavern The Call for a Grand Convention On May 15, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, isso can you answer my question? more

Resolved Question: Could someone please help edit my paper?

I am an applicant for the Borde Patrol, but I was found unsutable for the job. So I need to respond to a NOPA, and see what happends. My name is xxxx xxxx. I am an applicant for the position of Border Patrol Agent. I am writing in response to a 01MAR08. According to the letter, there is one incident in my teenage history that raised suitability concerns, which is an example of immature misconduct in school. I intend to explain that during the time frame of 2005, I was, like many 17 year olds, a very immature and childish person. I take full responsibility for my lackluster performance during this time frame, and I hope to prove to you that I have long since grown up and become an upstanding asset to society. While attending high school, I made some poor decisions regarding my choice of friends in my third year, which lead to my expulsion and arrest. As a juvenile, I never did realized that associating with the wrong type of crow could involved me in such a predicament in the future, especially to accomplish an ambition and aspiration of joining a law enforcement agency such as the United States Border Patrol. I was immature and unaware of the significant conflict a mediocre action and act of mine, could have, as I matured and took responsibility for my actions. Although I never did “jump-in” or formally entered the gang, I did associate with the members of the Sureno gang. Please allow me the opportunity to address the following incident: Issue 1: On February 26, 2005, I was arrested by the Fresno Police Department, after a disturbance on campus between the Sureno and Bulldog Gangs. The incident initiated when members of the Bulldog gang began to verbally attack members from the Sureno gang from outside of campus. The group of Surenos and I were gather at a bench that was located in front of campus, when a security guard took notice of the verbal attacks the rival gang made. Carmen, a security guard at Roosevelt High School, approached the group of Surenos and I, and notified the group to calm down and ignored the verbal attacks. She stated that the Fresno Police Department had already been notified that an outside group of Bulldogs was verbally taunting students from the high school. After a couple of minutes, the number of security guards and police officers began to increase. Within the group of Surenos there was an ex-student that had been expelled from Roosevelt High School and was not supposed to be on or near campus. After the group took notice of that event, the ex-student gave me a gold color metal knuckle which I concealed in my left shoe. The ex-student then proceeded to exit the school campus through a back gate located at the southwest of campus. I and two other members of the Sureno Gang followed the ex-student to the back gate. As the group walked to the southwest gate, security guards took notice of the sudden departure and tried to stop the group. The group took notice of this, and sprinted to the gate. Near the gate, the group was approached by a security guard on a golf cart and told us to stop. I and the companions stopped, the ex-student continued and escaped without being capture. After being stopped, Vice Principal Vargas approached the group, questioned and searched the group. After searching the group, he discovered the hidden gold metal knuckle in my left shoe. I do not blame anyone for my immature and lackluster performance that occurred in high school. I understand that I was not obligated to take possession and/or concealed the metal knuckle in my shoe. As I did, I took full responsibility for my actions and accepted the punishment as such. After being arrested and expelled, the juvenile court gave me a misdemeanor and sentence me to a year of probation along with probation school. During year of probation, I had to meet with my Probation Officer Juan Flores each month, not associate or be near gang members, along with other conditions. The year of probation and probation school made a significant difference in my life. Not only was I separated from the bad influences that surrounded me at school, but it also furnished the opportunity to exceed academically and in attendance. Probation school transformed my way of thinking. I was not surrounded by students who wish to exceed academically, but with students who did not careless for their futures. I saw the disrespect the students showed to the teachers, whose only ambition was to help the students exceed in life and academically. I realized that I was not a bad person; I was just heading in the wrong direction. Probation school changed my life. After completing my year of probation and probation school, I enrolled at Reedley Community College. At this community college, I completed two years of education and obtained my Associates of Art degree. In addition, in the year 2006 I was in the Dean’s list for achieving a GPA of more that 3.50. Currently I am attending Fresno State University. With this letter, I will enclose all the documents with which I will try to demonstrate that I have mature and taken action to pursue my dream of joining the United States Border Patrol. The documents that will be enclosed with this letter are: •Grades from high school. •Grades from probation school. •Grades from college and university. The above documents will illustrate a significant difference in maturity from the low academic achievements received in high school to the improvements that I have undergone through. More than three years have past since my arrest. During those years I have continue to help my parents at our family business. And I have not been involve in any criminal activities or associated with any gang members since then. Presently, as stated before, I am currently attending Fresno State University, where I plan to obtain my Bachelor of Science degree in Criminology. more

Voting Question: What Markets/Industries Buy Leads?

I am a sales agent and have the opportunity to set up a business selling leads (like a list broker but I can generate leads online) The leads will have been fully contacted via telephone and confirmed that they are interested and want a company in an industry to call them. What markets/industries would buy these sorts of leads, I can make this work in pretty much any market, can anyone recommend a market that is currently buying online leads (usually poor quality) or telemarketing data.? more

Resolved Question: How do I find a lot of people that are interested in making $ from home or healthy living product..free leads?

I am trying to find a bunch of people to check out my healthy living products. They help with everything from diabetes-gastric bypass patients-obesity-thyroid disease-heart disease-osteoporosis-skin problems & so much more (as seen on numerous infomercials)!! Even mineral make-up..the best might I add!! I am just trying to find a good way to get the word out to at least look over my wesite. I heard of free lead companies but when I google it they all have a catch!! I just want to bring awarness!! Please list some proven ideas as I am selling proven products & business opportunities!! www itvventures.com/mcghie mcghiebiz@gmail.com (my email) THANKS in advance! more

Resolved Question: what are the channels of distribution of perdue farms inc.?

1.Perdue Farms, Inc., has been a privately held family owned company since 1920. Over the years Perdue has become vertically integrated in order to be more competitive and maintain financial stability. Perdue’s objective is to be the leader in broiler and related poultry products in the industry. They strive to maintain quality and constantly improve efficiency and service, both today and in the future. Perdue Farms Inc. has a mission to provide the highest quality poultry and poultry related products to retail and food service customers. They want to be the recognized industry leader in quality and service, providing more than expected from their customers, associates, and owners. They will accomplish this by maintaining a tradition of pride in their products, growth through innovation, integrity in the management of their business, and commitment to Team Management and the Quality improvement process. Perdue’s overall mission is strong but a strategy for long term growth and market development needs to be reviewed and evaluated. 2.Perdue Farms Inc. has numerous external opportunities and threats. The external opportunities that effect Perdue are as follows; •To broadly diversify and have greater market share, domestically and internationally •To increase marketing of healthy image products that envelops a strong niche market. •To ship via plane, to maintain fresh not frozen broilers and increase market share and penetration. •Develop new markets in the Upper Mid-west to increase market share. •Increase sales of food service chicken and turkey from 20% of overall sales to 30% due to a strong 12% growth rate. •To expand the international grain and oilseed market •With an increase push on health in 1994, chicken sales are up over red meat sales. •Average annual consumption of chicken is up to 80lbs/person/year, an all time high. The external threats are as follows: •Most of the competition sells frozen products for less money. •Perdue’s cost to raise chickens is above the national average. •Growth rate in chicken sales is only 5% due to lack of frozen line. •Over capacity of chickens has reduced wholesale prices, which reduces profit margins. •Competition is strong in broiler industry with 53 competitors. •Untapped markets in the Upper Mid- west need to be explored. 1.The Perdue Farms, Co. has internal strengths and weaknesses that need to be addressed and evaluated; The strengths are as follows; •Perdue is vertically integrated which means that they produce the chickens, they breed, hatch the eggs, they select the growers, build Perdue chicken houses, formulate and manufacture their feed, oversee care and feeding, operate their own processing plants, distribute via truck and marketing. They now also sell what used to be waste, such as the chicken feet that is sold to the Orient as a delicacy. •Privately held firm •Technologically advanced, ex.,20% more breast meat than the competition •Birds are fed organically and not feed additives. •Sell both raw and pre-cooked chickens and turkeys. •Good compensation package to the workers. •Non-union company. •MIS efficient and essential to operating the business. •Good variety from fresh oven stuffer roasters, cooked prepared foods, cutlets, tenders, Fit n easy and much more. •Good TQM with mission and vision •Excellent R&D for better meat to bone ratios. •Keep overhead low, quality up •Great diverse product line that has changed with consumer changes. •Horizontal diversification when they bought Showell Farms, which made them the third largest producer in the broiler industry. •Great social responsibility, code of ethics •Environmentally concerned about waste and prevention •Strong effective marketing The weaknesses in the Perdue Farm, Inc. case are as follows; •They only sell fresh not frozen chickens •Deliveries are only made by truck so the radius to overnight chickens is limited. •Lack of long-term planning for future changes 4) I would suggest a strategy that Perdue would focus on maintaining their quality and efficiency along with plans for extensive market development. I would like to see them expand into the Upper mid-west before other markets gain strong holds and market share. If Perdue plans on maintaining their place in the market they need to expand and continue to diversify their products to attract niche markets and stay ahead of the competition. According to Porter’s generic strategies, he points out that in order to gain the competitive advantage companies need to draw from three bases: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. In my study of Perdue, I feel that they are a differentiation and focus orientated company. First, I see Perdue as a leader in quality and efficiency but not a cost leader. Cost leadership implies that you strive to be the low-cost producer in your particular industry. This is to the contrary for Perdue; they have marketed in a way to make the consumer pay a little more for a better product. In fact, this did not happen by accident. Perdue did not want to be known as the cheapest but to be the best quality for the consumer, at a fair price. What Perdue does take from cost leadership is that they are highly efficient, low overhead, their intolerance to waste, broad span of control, rewards linked to efficiency and cost cutting measures and open lines of communication between workers and upper management. Perdue’s successful strategy of horizontal integration to gain competitive advantage was to purchase Showell Farms which made Perdue the third largest broiler company in the United States. I see Perdue as being highly successful with differentiation, which implies that they produce products, and services that are considered unique, industry wide and directed at consumers who are relatively price-in-sensitive. Perdue has ongoing product development, which states that they seek to increase sales by improving, or modifying present products or services. Perdue has been an industry leader with constant attention paid to consumer wants and needs. They watch trends such as fitness and weight consciousness, by introducing the Fit n Easy line that markets skinless and boneless chicken parts with nutritional information and recipes. Perdue also followed the trend of the working family and began to market prepared foods, which has done extremely well. Prepared foods such as pre-cooked chickens, turkeys, parts, nuggets, and the like sell easily to working families. Finally, I see Perdue’s strongest strategy according to Porter is focus. Perdue has wonderful R&D that constantly follows market trends and changes that will be beneficial to their growth. Perdue has never forgotten where they came from and this is what makes them strong. Focus allows them to change with the times and not become over diversified where they overlook their cash cows and forget to nurture their stars. Perdue knows that quality and efficiency are at the heart of their operation and do not stray from that. Their innovation and integrity to be the leader has brought them customer loyalty and appreciation for quality where price is not the number one factor. Perdue’s ability to focus on strong team management has allowed them to penetrate and develop new markets with ease. Perdue has a high penetration of advertising on TV and print along with opening up new territories to further expand their market share. Their vision has been a good guide and has led them to a very successful value chain. Perdue’s attention to detail in every aspect of the business has been proven successful and the financial status of the company reflects it. Today, Perdue, is further expanding with new acquisitions and product lines. Their innovative thinking and drive to be the leader shows in all they do. In 1997 they started marketing their Café Perdue line and have seen slow, with steady success. Perdue’s prepared foods are selling incredibly well with the American family on the run. As of September 1998, Perdue made a new acquisition, toward horizontal integration, with GOL-PAK, a competitor in the foodservice and prepared foods business. The new relationship will further enhance Perdue’s prepared food and foodservice business. GOL-PAK specialized in the development and production of products primarily for the foodservice industry with a list including the top 100 chain restaurants. Perdue sees this as a significant purchase to enhance their reputation and make them strong contenders in the prepared food and foodservice industry. CEO, Jim Perdue, feels that they are well positioned in the market place and continued growth along with R&D will help them to maintain quality and efficiency, along with strong market penetration and market share. more

Resolved Question: Politicians and their Illusion of Power? Take a look a give your opinion:?

Critics accuse libertarians of reveling in government failures. Yes and No. No one is pleased to see the destruction caused by government policies, whether small scale, as when a tighter regulation causes business failures, or large scale, as when wars destroy life for millions. The kernel of truth to the claim is this: the failure of government illustrates something extremely important about the structure of reality that most people are likely to forget. It comes down to this: statesmen and public officials, no matter how powerful they may be, cannot finally control social outcomes. If I might offer a summary of a point emphasized in all of Mises's works: the structure of society and world affairs generally is shaped by human actions, stemming from imaginative human minds working out individual subjective valuations, and their interactions with the material world, which is governed by laws that are beyond human control. What that means is that you and I cannot on our own, even if we have maximum political power, control all of human society, and especially not its economic side. Let's first consider an example from current popular wisdom about the manufacturing base. Many products that were once made in the US – thinking here of televisions, pianos, firecrackers, plastics, and bicycles--are now made in China. This has caused a great deal of alarm--all unwarranted, so far as sound economics is concerned. But let's say we have the ambition to change this social outcome. Anyone is free to build a bicycle and attempt to market it to willing buyers. Let's say you rent some property, hire the workers, acquire all the necessary capital, and then put your bike on sale. In order to cover your costs and make a profit, you find that you must price your bikes above the going market price. Maybe you can persuade people that you have a special product that is better than the others. Or maybe yours will sit on the floor. Or maybe you will have to lower your price and you will find that your revenue does not cover your costs, and you have to go out of business. No matter what you decide, this much is clear: you are not dictating the outcome. You wanted to build bikes, but it is the consuming public that decides whether it is in our interest to do so. There is nothing you have to say about it. You cannot make people fork over the money. I would venture to suggest that you will ultimately come to the conclusion that you should be doing other things besides attempting to keep up with other businesses that have lower labor and capital costs and hence can make a profit through selling goods at much lower prices. But let's say you decide that you don't want to bow to the realities of the market. Instead you lobby Congress to tax everyone who buys a bike from overseas. The tax is high enough that you can continue to charge exorbitant prices for your bikes. You make a profit. But at what expense? The consumers who buy your bikes have less income left over for other pursuits, whether consumption, saving, or investment. The workers you are employing are being kept from other pursuits as well, and the capital you are consuming is not available for other projects. Ultimately, you have skewed the entire economic system in a way that benefits you at everyone else's expense. Others have found a way to do what you are doing much more efficiently, but because you lobbied and got your way, society is prevented from benefiting from others' innovations. And how long must this distorted system last? That you managed to tax everyone to benefit you does nothing to change the reality that others can do what you are doing more cheaply and better. Do workers really want to be employed in an industry that is something of an artifice? Do consumers really want to pay high prices just so that you can continue to indulge in your bike-making passion? Clearly not. At some point, people will catch on to the racket, and find other ways to go about acquiring bikes. Maybe they will exploit loopholes in the law that allow them to import bike parts. An industry of do-it-yourself bike building becomes a threat to your profits. Or perhaps black markets will take over. Or maybe people will turn away from bikes altogether and starting trying out new forms of informal transportation. Skateboards are fitted with handlebars. Gas-powered scooters develop a peddle-only option. The very definition of a bike comes into question. Increasingly, enforcement will have to become ever more onerous. At some point in this game, we face a choice. We can continue to impose an ever more absurd and preposterous system of regulations and protections just so that you can benefit, or we can bow to reality and let in foreign bikes for consumer purchase. Let's say your tariff lasts a year or even ten years. What will it accomplish? In that time, vast resources are wasted. Consumers of all sorts are exploited. Capital is consumed in economically wasteful ways. People are pushed around and the police powers of the state grow. It does society no good at all. My point is that whatever the fate of the so-called manufacturing base, there is nothing in the long run that can be done to turn it in one direction or another. The fate of manufacturing is in the hands of consumers at large, and subject to the laws of economics which no man can repeal. It is the outcome of human choice. Now, the Bush administration has thought otherwise and imposed a huge range of protections to benefit its supporters and people who the administration hoped would become its supporters. The result has been to skew the world economy, hobble markets, delay inevitable transitions, and impose massive social costs. What this example shows is that governments are not omnipotent. Many try to be, and no government is liberal by nature. But there are limits. Governments bump up against human valuations time and again. Even in the highly rarified event of a despotic government that rules a population unanimously in support of despotism, government still bumps up against the structure of the world, which resists control. Let us consider another example. Let us say that government desires a strong dollar. But it still wants to print dollars and ship them around the world. In this case, there is nothing that government can do to insure the dollar’s strength against depreciation. Nothing. This is due to the laws of economics. All else equal, the value of a currency in terms of goods falls as its quantity increases. Governments that desire otherwise can only shake their fist in anger. The same is true domestically. The government wants economic recovery before a recession has fully run its course. It thereby drops interest rates, spends vast amounts of money to gin up demand, and otherwise encourages as much consumption as possible. These tactics can result in some short-term gains but it doesn't work in the long run. These tactics deplete savings and capital and weaken the foundation for solid future growth. The issue of the price of prescription drugs will be a big one in this coming campaign. The problem is high prices. Popular wisdom has it that this is because of the greed of the medical industry. The truth is that these high prices are partly a result of subsidized demand due to Medicare and Medicaid, as well as the restricted supply due to patent laws. In other words, the political class is responsible for the high prices. It's true that the pharmaceutical industry is not complaining. In fact, high prices are precisely what its friends in government want to bring about. They may regret that the poor have to pay the higher prices, but not enough to do anything substantive about it. Prices would plummet today if patents were repealed, free trade (including re-importation) allowed, and subsidized demand ended by the abolition of Medicare and Medicaid. But no one wants to consider that solution, so Congress creates ever more intrusive programs designed to control prices, keeping the prices high enough to satisfy the industry but low enough to reduce the political clamor. The problem is that the government can't have it both ways. It cannot reward its friends with high prices and keep consumers happy at the same time. The current system with its large subsidies is only creating massive new liabilities in programs that cannot be funded in perpetuity without massive tax increases that no one is willing to advocate. Absent tax increases, the only answer is inflation, which taxes us in other ways. One way to think about government is as a rat wandering through a maze with no escape. There is no magic solution to getting around basic economic laws. All lunches must be paid for by someone, prices cannot be both high and low at the same time, and all attempts to coerce generate counter-reactions. In short, there is no alternative universe in which the fantasies of politicians come true. But try telling that to the political class. The last thing they want to hear is that their power is limited, that their will is not a way. They are prone to believe that membership in the political class comes with the privilege of shaping the world to their liking. If you read the social science literature, you find the same error at work on a nearly universal basis. Very rarely does anyone come along and say: great theory but it has nothing to do with reality. You are just playing intellectual games. Socialism was really nothing other than an intellectual game. People from the ancient world to the present conjured up some vision of how they would like the world to work and then advocated a series of measures of how to achieve it. Mises and his generation explained that their vision was fundamentally at odds with reality. In the real world, capital must have price rooted in exchange of private property in order for it to be employed in its highest-valued capacity. It solves nothing to say that everyone should own capital collectively. This was the equivalent of pointing out that the Emperor was wearing no clothes. In some ways, what we do as commentators on economic affairs is to follow this model again and again. The other day, a candidate for president suggested that the answer to our economic woes was more regulation. He had it all figured out in his mind. Immediately, free-market economists from all over the world joined forces to point out that his goal of higher economic productivity could not be achieved this way. It was an unwelcome message but one necessary to deliver regardless. The experience of Iraq has provided myriad examples of the same. The US wants to pump oil. It wants to start factories, stores, and commerce generally. But it refuses to put private owners in charge. As a result, all its military muscle has amounted to very little at great expense. It is a classic example of how governments fail when they try to fight against forces they cannot control. Factories in Iraq that have gone into operation have done so without support of the occupying government. And think of the war generally. At the outset, the visionaries in the Bush administration imagined that Iraq was really a very simple problem to solve. It only needed to be decapitated and the magic dust of the US presence would otherwise create an orderly and prosperous society that would be a model for the region. The reality hit. Crime was unleashed. Feuding political factions clamored for control. Production stopped. Society flew into chaos. This was not because of the absence of the political leadership. It was because of the presence of foreign martial law in a country that was seething in resentment against the US. Time and again, we have seen evidence that the Iraq war only accomplished the opposite of its aims. Its purpose was to find weapons, punish terrorism, and bring order to the region. Instead it has fueled terrorism and brought new levels of disorder to the region. Not having done that, the war is then re-defined in terms that reflect whatever government has done: namely to toss out and capture Saddam, In this sense, the war was like any other government program: bringing about the opposite of its stated intentions and doing so at greater expense. Thus do we see the intersection between foreign and domestic policy. Government is famously ham-handed at home and similarly incompetent abroad. No matter how much government claims that it is master of the universe, it constantly confronts forces beyond its control. In all the talk of the calamity of this war, never forget the broader picture: what an incredible opportunity was squandered after the end of the Cold War. The US had emerged as the universally acknowledged ideological victor in that forty-year struggle. That the Cold War was not actually an ideological struggle so much as a classic standoff between two empires is irrelevant for understanding the implications of this fact: totalitarian communism collapsed while the free economic system of the market remained standing in total triumph. The world was ready for a new period of genuine liberalism, and looking to the US. On the verge of an amazing period of technological advance, we were perfectly situated to lead the way. There had never been a time in US history when George Washington's foreign policy made more sense. A beacon of liberty. Trade with all, belligerence toward none. Commercial engagement with everyone, political engagement with as few as possible. The hand of friendship. Good will. This was the prescription for peace and freedom. It was within our grasp. Our children might have grown up in a world without major political violence. A world of peace and plenty. It could have been. But it was not to be, mainly because George W.'s father decided that he wanted to go down in the history books for doing something big and important. What else but war? The US was now the world's only superpower and itching for some fight somewhere. It's a bit like a playground filled with wimps and one boy with a black belt in karate who never absorbed the lesson in how and where to use his fighting skills. And then there was this oil-drilling dispute between Iraq and Kuwait, and Bush decided to intervene. Twelve years later, the US is still there, causing unrelenting havoc for those poor people. Here at home we are given constant examples of the huge gulf that separates government's perceptions of itself versus the reality. The Bush administration wanted to give the steel industry a boost. The administration established tariffs, which amounts to a tax on all consumers of steel. American manufacturers faced a choice of paying the tax to buy imported steel or paying the higher prices for domestic steel. Those who could do neither had to cut back production and hiring in other areas. Other consumers had to pay higher prices, which diverted income from other pursuits. As for the steel industry itself, the tariffs did nothing to help it achieve greater efficiency, which is the only way to deal with more efficient competitors. They only ended up subsidizing inefficiency. Even then, it wasn't enough. During the period of tariffs, the industry dramatically consolidated in order to become more efficient in other ways. Once faced with the prospect of trade wars, the ultimate cost of protectionism, the Bush administration pulled back and repealed the new tariffs, thereby landing the industry in exactly the same predicament it was in before the tariffs were past. As for commercial society as a whole, it paid dramatically higher steel costs, and faced sporadic shortages, for absolutely no reason. Faced with failure on every front, the Bush administration did the right thing and repealed the tariffs. Not that it was honest about the failure. Instead it claimed its policy worked so well that it could now repeal it. This is like a physician prescribing poison and then changing his mind. He can't but try to put the best spin on it, I suppose. But what a beautiful example of the powerlessness of government this is! The Bush administration wanted to save American industry and only ended up vastly raising the costs of doing all forms of business. More cutbacks are inevitable as steel production shifts to other countries and the US finds its comparative advantage elsewhere. Much legislative energy is poured into helping some groups gain favorable treatment in the workplace. I'm thinking here of the usual litany of victim groups as identified according to race, ability, sex, national origin, religion, and the like. Have these laws actually helped the group in question? The results are mixed at best. If you send people out into the workforce with a high price attached to their heads – and the prospect of a lawsuit is a very high price indeed – you only make employers less likely to hire them. I don’t doubt that some people have been helped by these laws, but they are not the people most in need of help. Today, the disabled, blacks, women, and religious minorities go in search of jobs with a major problem: employers fear them on the margin, and, on the margin, are less likely to hire them relative to others, provided they can get away with it. It is the least qualified among them who pay the highest price. A good test case is disability: it is a documented fact that unemployment among the truly disabled is higher today than it was when the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. Because libertarians know in advance that government policies are destructive, we tend to focus our editorial energy on pointing to its destructive effects. But in our zeal to draw attention to issues others ignore, let us not forget the bigger picture. There are always limits to what the government can do, and the government's destruction is always accompanied by examples of great creativity on the part of the market. Even as government dominates the headlines, private entrepreneurs are busy every day working to improve products and services that improve our lives. They do it without taxing us or regulating us, or making us suffer through tedious elections or political debates. They make their products and offer them to us in a way that pleases the consuming public the most. We can choose whether we want them or not. Consider the success of Wal-Mart. If government had set out to create a volume discounter that made a world of material goods and groceries available to the multitude in all countries, it might have tried for a thousand years and not created anything resembling this company. Even the military has relented and now routinely points its employees not to its on-base stores but to Wal-Mart, Office Depot, and others for the best prices. Foreign development aid is another example. It took decades to get the message across, but today finance ministers in the developing world understand that they have far more to gain through integration into the world economy than from development aid and all the restrictive policies that come with it. Today, as Sudha Shenoy points out, the largest resistance to new trade deals comes from the developing world, not because they don't want trade but because they desire trade without the labor and environmental controls the US demands. The same is true in the area of communications. In the last century, governments aspired to control them all: the phones, the mails, the media. Today, we see that government, in practice, controls very little of the communications industry, despite every attempt to hobble private enterprise. In that same vein, a major issue for everyone these days are computer viruses and spam, which threaten to make our chief mode of communication less reliable. Congress passes ineffectual legislation against spam and viruses, while private enterprise has given us dozens of means of winning the battle. Private enterprise creates; government destroys. That is the great economic lesson of our times and all times. Of course there is one way in which government never fails. It can loot. It can gain footholds into society's command centers. It can punish enemies. It can even indoctrinate people in its preferred vision of the world through propaganda. This is the best way to understand the public school system. It doesn't work to educate but it does work to transfer vast sums from the private to the public sector. And here too, we see the power of private enterprise: booster clubs in public schools represent a de facto source of privatization, and the clubs and groups connected to them are the only really successful things going on in public school. We’ll hear much in the coming months about all the wonderful reforms politicians are going to bring us. This is the time when politicians vie for our allegiance by telling all about their ideas and vision for the future. As usual, they will parse their words in ways to maximize the numbers of people who are persuaded and minimize the amount of trouble they get into for inadvertently telling people something they don't want to hear. As an aside, whoever came up with this idea of a mass democracy just wasn't thinking things through very clearly. Nothing runs well by majority vote, to say nothing of the fact that a truly free society shouldn't be "run" at all; it works on its own without would-be masters-and-commanders grasping at the helm. Let me then offer to you my own top ten list of political lies you are told, all designed to make you believe that government should have more power than it already has, so that it can create more of the disasters we are accustomed to: 10. My new program will generate jobs. Truth: only the market generates jobs on net. 9. My education program will reform schools so that they leave no child behind. Truth: the public schools do not work for the same reason no government program can work. They exist outside the market economy. 8. My program will save industry x. Truth: industry must be part of the market or else it is not really industry at all. 7. I won't raise your taxes but I will pass lots of new programs: Truth: all programs must be paid for. 6. As president, I will pursue a humble foreign policy. Truth: nothing in the office of the president encourages humility. 5. This war is humanitarian and winnable. Truth: war is nothing but a government program on a massively destructive scale, and just as error prone. 4. My reform will bring market-based competition. Be on the lookout for this lie, which market partisans are likely to believe. There is only one kind of genuine market, and it is rooted in private property and nothing else. 3. We will secure the nation. Truth: government cannot provide security better than markets, any more than it can provide food or houses better than the market. 2. Government is compassionate. Truth: men who seek power over the lives of others are the coldest, cruelest humans of all. 1. You can't love your country and hate your government. Truth: A person who loves his country loves liberty first. One hundred years from now, the great story of the latter part of the 20th century and the first part of the 21st century will be the vast improvements in life wrought by technology. Consider the web, the cell phone, the PDA, the affordable laptop computer, advances in medicine, and the spread of prosperity to all corners of the globe. What has government had to do with this? The answer is: nothing contributory. It has worked only to impede progress, and we can only be thankful that it hasn't succeeded. Through all of human history, governments have caused frightening levels of bloodshed and horror, but in the end, what has prevailed is not power but the market economy. Even today governments can only play catch-up. This is because of the reasons that Mises outlined. Government cannot control the human mind, so it cannot, in the long run, control the choices people make. It cannot control economic forces, which are a far more powerful and permanent feature of the world than any government anyway. Governments have a propensity to overreach in so many areas of life that their exercise of power itself leads to their own undoing. The overreach can take many forms: financial, economic, social, and military. In this way, and with enough passion for liberty burning in the hearts of the citizenry, governments can be responsible for their own undoing. It comes about as a result of overestimating the capacity of power and underestimating its limits. I believe this is happening in our time. It may not be obvious when taking the broad view, but when you look at the status of a huge range of government programs and institutions, what you see is a government that is at once enormously powerful and rich, but also fragile and teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Events of the last year indicate just how far the government has slipped in its ability to manage the economy, society, culture, and world order. Despite the exalted status of the state today, the vast and sprawling empire called the US government may in fact be less healthy than it ever has been. A few months back, we had a special speaker come to Auburn, probably the most famous man who has visited us since the Country and Western star Alan Jackson was in town. He was Mikhail Gorbachev, a very interesting figure in the history of nations. He came to power with the reputation of a reformer and instituted many reforms that were designed not to give more liberty to the people, but to stop the unraveling of an empire before it was too late. But it was too late. All his talk of perestroika and glasnost couldn't fool the people, who had become convinced that the Soviet machine was something of a hoax. The empire unraveled not because of him, but despite his efforts to save it. When it came time to make the critical decision of whether to try to hold the empire together by more and more force, or not, history had already made the choice for him. The empire dissolved in the blink of an eye. Not too many months later, he was out of a job, not because he was recalled in some formal process, but because the forces of history had run him over. Democratic governments are not immune from the forces of history that overthrew Soviet tyranny. All governments overreach and no government is permanent. So let us fear government but not exaggerate its powers. It can cause enormous damage and it must always be fought. But in this struggle, we are on the right side of history. The power of human choice, aided by the logic of economics and the laws that operate without any bureaucrat's permission, are our source of hope for the future. _______________________________ Llewellyn H. Rockwellhttp://www.mises.org/story/1396 more

Resolved Question: Looking for additional resources to get EXCELLENT SALES LEADS & successful marketing opportunities!!?

I have a small insurance business in the St. Louis metro area, and I have the BEST success working with the St Louis Business Journal to find my leads weekly in their publication, along with their annual Book Of List, and I also get local business information to stay competitive. Are there any other great ideas out there to get the same results? I pay 68.95 a year for all of this. I would like to stay within that SAME budget. If anyone else is interested in this Sales Tool Package, I have a way to give you the link. Thanks for the suggestions! more

Resolved Question: What are the secrets Inside Israel's prisons ?!?

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/shart... Detainees are blindfolded and kept in blackened cells, never told where they are, brutally interrogated and allowed no visitors of any kind. Dubbed 'the Israeli Guantanamo,' it's no wonder facility 1391 officially does not exist. M, who serves in the Intelligence Corps reserves, remembers the first time he was sent to do guard duty at Camp 1391. Before climbing to the top of the observation tower he received an explicit order from the responsible officer: "When you're on the tower you look straight ahead only, outside the base, and to the sides. What happens behind you is none of your business. Do not turn around." M., of course, couldn't resist the temptation and occasionally snuck a look behind him. From atop the tower he saw the double fence surrounding the camp, enclosing a compound ruled by trained attack dogs; the jeep that patrols inside the two fences; the vehicles utilized by the members of the unit who man the base; and especially the large concrete structure, dating from the British Mandate period, when it was used by the British police, and which now bears a description that carries an aura of mystery: Israel's secret detention facility. Some of the people who were interviewed for this article dubbed the camp "the Israeli Guantanamo." There are in fact certain points of resemblance between the American detention camp in Cuba and the Israeli site, mainly in relation to the legal questions that hover over them and the gnawing doubt about whether they are consistent with the values of democracy. In terms of the exotic, though, we lag far behind. Whereas the watchtowers of the Guantanamo facility look out over the aquamarine waters of the Caribbean Sea, the secret prison in Israel is situated by the side of a completely ordinary road in the heart of a bustling region in the center of the country. A narrow, tree-lined road ascends to the camp, and inside it looks like any other army base: barracks, mess hall, workshop to repair vehicles. Even the guards are not the best the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have available. The guard towers and the patrols are manned, for the most part, by graduates of the IDF's general basic training program, who "never carried out an assault against anything," as one of them put it. "As always with us, there's a lot of hoo-ha, but behind it is the usual army chaos," an officer who served at the base says ironically. What really surrounds Camp 1391, more than physical protection, is an entrenched wall of silence. Since the 1980s, when the facility was moved from a more southerly location to its present site, the Israeli authorities have made every effort to keep its very existence secret. And even now that its existence has been revealed, the state refuses to answer the many questions of the world and of the Israeli public: Where is the facility? Who is being held there, why, and for how long? Were they tried before being locked up in Camp 1391, or are they awaiting trial? What are their conditions of incarceration? In every other lockup in Israel the answers to these and many other questions are open and amenable to external, legal, public and international review. As far as is known, the 1391 site is the only detention facility whose detainees don't know where they are. If they ask, the warders may answer, "on the moon," or "in outer space," or "outside the borders of Israel." It is also the only detention facility that the state prevents the International Red Cross from visiting. Nor, as far as can be ascertained, have Knesset members ever visited the place, and many of the politicians who have been asked about it in the past few weeks said they had never heard of it - including some who have held senior positions in the government, such as Prof. David Libai, who was justice minister in the government of Yitzhak Rabin and a member of the ministerial committee that deals with the secret services: "I will not say a single word about the subject, for the simple reason that I am not familiar with it. This is the first time I have ever heard about such a thing." If a former justice minister doesn't know about it, a disturbing question arises: who does? Dan Meridor, another former justice minister and chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, is aware of the facility's existence: "I'm not sure there's anything wrong here," he says. "I remember that as a minister and as one who dealt with intelligence matters, I visited every place I wanted to and everything was always open to me. I know about the existence of this facility, but I was never there - apparently because I never asked to visit it. I don't want to bandy words about, because I am not familiar with the subject in depth. There are many complex questions of human rights involved here." Do you think it's right that in the State of Israel there is a facility in which people don't know where they are, nor do their families or lawyers? "No. If there are people who are incarcerated incommunicado, that doesn't seem right to me." According to attorney Dan Yakir, the legal adviser of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), "A secret detention facility contradicts basic principles of every democracy - transparency and public supervision over the governmental authorities. And those principles are especially important in relation to the deprivation of freedom - which is one of the most severe infringements of human rights. The existence of a lockup like this gives rise to a double concern: first, of secret arrests and `disappearances' of people; and second, an abuse of power, unfair treatment, violence and torture." As will be seen, attorney Yakir's concerns are well founded. Stepson of army intelligence Camp 1391 is an Israel Defense Forces facility. Agents of the Shin Bet security service and other security branches visit the site and since the start of the intifada have apparently made greater use of it than in the past, but the facility belongs to the IDF. One of the reasons for the wall of secrecy that surrounds it is the fact that it is located in the center of a military base that belongs to one of the secret units of the Intelligence Corps - Unit 504 (according to foreign sources the unit's name has recently been changed). Unit 504 gathers intelligence by means of the human factor - "humint." Most of its work is done by using agents outside Israel. The officers in the unit, which is not large, are known as katamim (acronym for "officers for special tasks") and undergo two-track training. Some of them handle agents and the others - former members of the unit say they are those whose skills the system isn't wild about - are directed to the hakshabim track (interrogators of prisoners). The unit commander is an officer with the rank of colonel. The attitude toward the unit is characterized by duality: on the one hand, this is a small, seemingly elitist unit, which carries out sensitive missions; on the other hand, as one of the unit's members says, "We are the stepson of army intelligence. Sometimes you look at some of the officers and you ask yourself whether these are the standards the IDF assigns to these posts." The same individual adds, "There is also a problem about the impact of long-term service on their mental state. To be an interrogator you have to start out with some kind of scratch on the brain. But the handlers, too - after a time they also start to be handlers in their private life. You see it in their attitude toward women, with the family, even in the interaction between the people in the unit." Along with operational successes, which have naturally remained far from the public eye, the names of some of the unit's members have been linked to dubious affairs in recent years. One of the unit's commanders became criminally entangled because of a romantic affair. Another accidentally discharged his pistol during a meeting with the command personnel. Jean-Pierre Elraz, who last year was accused of murdering Yitzhak Kvartatz, the security coordinator of Kibbutz Manara, is a former member of the unit (and afterward served in the Shin Bet); so is Major Yosef Amit, who was convicted of aggravated espionage and contact with a foreign agent. During the IDF's 18-year presence in Lebanon, the members of Unit 504 were especially active across Israel's northern border. To this day the Lebanese press occasionally runs stories about the arrest and trial of local agents who operated in the service of Unit 504. In November 1998, a Lebanese court convicted no fewer than 57 citizens of collaborating with Israel via the unit. The penalty for this offense: death. The unit's extensive activity in Lebanon placed Camp 1391 at the center of affairs. It became the entry gate to Israel for Lebanese, especially those who were suspected of membership in Hezbollah, who were transferred to the southern side of the border. Some of them were captured in battle, others were abducted at Israel's initiative. The most famous of the abductees are Sheikh Abd al Karim Obeid, who was seized in 1989, and Mustafa Dirani, who was brought by force to Israel in 1994. The helicopter in which members of Sayeret Matkal, the ultra-elite reconnaissance unit, took Obeid from his home in the town of Jibsheet, took him directly to the gates of Camp 1391. The next time Obeid left the camp - apart from medical checks and to appear in court when his detention was extended - was 13 years later. Last summer Obeid and Dirani were moved to Ashmoret prison, near Kfar Yona in the Netanya area. However, well-known anti-Israel activists such as Obeid and Dirani are not the only abductees who have been thrown into Camp 1391. When the soldiers of Sayeret Matkal entered Obeid's house in the dead of night they encountered a few other people, too, among them some of Obeid's relatives and his bodyguard. Hashem Fahaf, then about 20, who happened to visit the sheikh that day to receive his blessing and decided to stay overnight, was especially unlucky. The soldiers bundled him into the helicopter, too. He spent the next 11 years incarcerated in Israel, initially in Camp 1391 and afterward in Ayalon Prison in Ramle. During this entire period he was not tried or accused of any crime. In the first years of his incarceration, Israel denied he was in the country and refused him any contact with the outside world. In April 2000, Fahaf, by now 31, was released by order of the Supreme Court. Together with him another 18 Lebanese, who according to the official version were being held as "bargaining chips" for the missing air force navigator Ron Arad, were also released. The group included two men who had been kidnapped and brought to Israel when they were teenagers aged 16 and 17, as well as Ghasan Dirani, a relative of Mustafa Dirani, who developed catatonic schizophrenia during his incarceration in Israel. At one stage or another, all of them were held in Camp 1391. Inside the facility In aerial photographs of the area in which Camp 1391 is located - as is the case with aerial photos of other security-sensitive sites in the country - the facility and the large building in its center are nonexistent. Most maps of Israel also do not cite the facility, though on a few maps of the Nature and National Parks Protection Authority, it is marked by means of a letter, with no further explanation. There is no sign on the main road directing the curious to the camp. After we drove around the base a couple of times and stopped a bit to take pictures, a security vehicle was sent out to follow us for a few kilometers. At the first opportunity, two armed and surly security men got out of the vehicle and barraged us with questions. Anyone entering the camp has to negotiate two iron gates draped with barbed wire. The first gate closes after the visitor enters and only then does the second gate open. The detention and interrogation section is located not far from the mess hall. A person who served on the base recalls with a smile that a poster spelling out the main points of the Geneva Convention hung on one of the walls of the dining hall. The cells proceed along a corridor; they abut one another but are separated by thick concrete walls. The detainees can communicate by knocking on the walls, "and they often shout to one another," relates an officer who served in the facility. "That is forbidden, but we didn't always have the energy to deal with it." The detainees are led into the facility blindfolded, to prevent them from knowing where they are. Their personal effects are taken from them, as are their clothes and they are given blue pants and a blue shirt. The cells are pretty much identical, though there are two levels of detainees: those who are in the middle of being interrogated, who get the worst cells and worst conditions; and those whose interrogation has been completed. Two of the cells are relatively large (2.5 x 4 meters), have reasonable lighting and running water, and are therefore called the "villas" by the prisoners. Sheikh Obeid shared one of the "villas" with two Lebanese detainees. Two of the solitary confinement cells are considered the worst of the lot. They are 1.25 x 1.25 meters in size, almost completely dark, and the walls are painted black or red. The differences between the other cells are largely insignificant, expressed mainly in the form of a few basic rights that are accorded to those whom the system no longer has any reason to subject to psychological pressure. The doors of the cells are made of heavy steel, with a small crack - which can be opened only from the outside - being the only opening to the outside world. The cells measure about 2 x 2 meters and are made entirely of concrete on the inside. There are no windows or any source of external light. Abutting one of the walls is a concrete platform that serves as a bed, with a mattress and a blanket on it. On the wall opposite is an orifice, a kind of pipe through which water flows, but the tap is controlled by soldiers outside the cell. Below the water source is a hole in the floor that the detainees use to relieve themselves. That, it turns out, is a privilege. In some of the cells, apparently those used for detainees under interrogation, there is no place at all to go to the toilet: the prisoners have to use a large plastic bucket, which is emptied only once every few days. There are ventilation openings in the upper part of the cells, but the main testimony to their existence is the noise they make when they are turned on. A lamp protected by heavy glass casts a dim light 24 hours a day. The detainees have no way to tell night from day. Most of the cells are also under supervision by means of cameras that send the images via closed-circuit television. The majority of the prisoners are incarcerated alone, though some of the cells have two concrete platforms and in some cases hold two prisoners. The detainees receive the same food the soldiers get. Three times a day, soldiers open the door, bring in a dish and then close the door. The procedure is that before the soldier enters he knocks at the door, at which point the detainee must place a black sack on his head and turn around with his hands raised. The warders, members of the Military Police who are seconded to the facility, are not armed. Weapons may not be introduced into the facility, to prevent a situation in which one of the prisoners might seize a warder's weapon. The warders are only allowed to open the cell doors in pairs. Once a day the detainees - those whose interrogation has ended - are allowed out for one hour in a small inner courtyard of sand and vegetation. The conditions of imprisonment, says a person who served in the facility, are relatively reasonable. Similarly, attorney Zvi Rish, the lawyer of Obeid, Dirani and many of the other Lebanese who were incarcerated in the facility in the 1990s, confirms that his clients had no special complaints about the conditions - referring only to the period after their interrogation had ended. What goes on during the interrogation process is another story altogether, one that sheds light on one of the darker corners of Israel. Let George do it On Friday evening, July 28, 1989, the adrenaline was coursing through Camp 1391. In a well-planned operation, Sayeret Matkal succeeded in grabbing Sheikh Obeid from his bed in the town of Jibsheet, about eight kilometers north of the Israeli border. Obeid was considered a spiritual authority in Hezbollah, but despite the high hopes, his abduction did not further the search for Ron Arad, who had been missing since his plane was downed over Lebanon three years earlier. Soldiers who served in the facility at the time say that in the course of time they developed good relations with prisoner no. 801260. They taught him Hebrew - he reached an impressive level of fluency in the language - and he taught them Arabic. Obeid is described as the spiritual mentor of the prisoners and even of the warders. "With him everything was done quietly and with restraint, with grace and decorum. Even the warders treated him almost like `your honor the rabbi,'" recalls an officer who served at the facility. In May 1994 an honorable guest joined the order of the Lebanese prisoners at Camp 1391: Mustafa Dirani. He was another bargaining chip from whom Israel hoped to extract information about Ron Arad, or even to exchange for Arad, but he, too, proved a disappointment. Many months of planning preceded the abduction of Dirani, who was head of the security division in the Shi'ite movement Amal, and as such had been responsible for holding Ron Arad for about two years. A few days before he was seized and brought to Israel, the interrogators of Unit 504 were given all the intelligence material that had been collected about him. When he arrived at the facility there was a feeling of an imminent breakthrough. In the first days of the interrogation all the ranking members of the defense establishment turned up at the facility - prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, the chief of staff, the director of Military Intelligence and officials from the Mossad espionage agency and the Shin Bet. Dirani's interrogation began seconds after he was grabbed. In special cases interrogators from Unit 504 accompany a force that operates across the lines, with the aim of taking advantage of the abductee's initial shock. The interrogation continued in the vehicle that brought Dirani to his cell in Camp 1391 and then for the next five weeks continuously around the clock. The chief interrogators were the unit commander, career and reservist personnel - the latter were mobilized especially for the mission -and above all a major who introduced himself as George. George, who is now 43 and lives in a small community in the center of the country, is dark with cropped hair, brown eyes and a solid body. He is considered one of the unit's toughest interrogators. The relationship that developed between George and Dirani was the stuff of quite a few newspaper headlines. It will continue to engage the courts during the years to come. Still pending in Tel Aviv District Court is a suit filed by Dirani against the State of Israel and Major George concerning two incidents in which Dirani says he was subjected to sexual abuse. In the first case George called in four of the soldiers who were doing guard duty in the facility and one of them allegedly raped Dirani at George's orders. In another case, Dirani says in the suit, George himself inserted a wooden stick into his rectum. The court will have to decide whether these events occurred. A perusal of the affidavits that have been submitted to the court, testimonies of officers and soldiers who served in the facility and evidence given by other detainees who were there paints a picture of a horrific routine in the interrogation rooms of Camp 1391. Within the framework of that routine the interrogators of Unit 504 have no compunctions about making use of extreme measures in order to extract information - information that in a large percentage of the cases was not in their possession. "I know that it was customary to threaten to insert a stick," says T.N., an interrogator at the facility, in testimony he gave to Military Police investigators. "The intention was that the stick would be inserted if the subject did not talk ... I remember one case when something in that style was done ... George was interrogating one of the prisoners ... He called in S. and me. We came into the room and S. dropped his pants and remained in his underwear or he made clicking noises with his belt as though he was opening it ... S. did this during the interrogation, when George told [the prisoner] that he would be raped in the *** ... I remember for certain that the situation was threat of rape ... "I want to add about that prisoner that he arrived in the room naked, handcuffed and with his head covered. S. and I were in the room and one of us led him around the room and the other held the stick next to his rear end, with provocation and threat, that because he had been caught lying the stick would be shoved up his ***. When I say the stick was moved around next to his rear end, the idea was to touch his bottom with the stick and maybe even to shove it next to the rectum so he would think we were really going to stick it in." Dirani's complaint, along with other testimonies about what was going on in the interrogation rooms of Camp 1391, opened a Pandora's box in the army. George's line of defense was clear: The system, he said, abandoned me; everything I did was done with authority and authorization. Everyone knew, everyone gave their backing, and now everyone denies it all. To reinforce his case, George brandishes a petition that was signed by about 60 reserve officers and soldiers of the unit, in which they say it is wrong for George to have to pay a personal price for using working methods that were standard in the unit for many years. What, according to George, did he in fact do with authority and authorization? He denied the rape and the abuse with the stick, but confirmed many details that were reported by Dirani and other prisoners. For example, the fact that they often stood naked while being interrogated. The State of Israel also denied the rape charge in its response to Dirani's suit, though in the legal hearings the representative of the State Attorney's Office, Yael Tennenbaum, confirmed that "within the framework of a Military Police investigation the suspicion arose that an interrogator who questioned the complainant threatened to perform a sexual act on the complainant." The denial notwithstanding, George was dismissed from the career army, in which he had served for nearly 20 years, by order of the IDF's judge advocate general. He claimed the system was trying to silence him and the episode and filed a petition to the High Court of Justice to be reinstated into service. The petition was rejected. Today George sits at home, declining to talk about the case. But stains that will not soon be erased continue to hover in the skies above Camp 1391. Another example is the testimony of Ahmed Ali Banjek, a Lebanese citizen who was brought to Israel and interrogated in the facility on suspicion of smuggling an anti-helicopter missile into the former Israeli security zone in southern Lebanon. Banjek was convicted on the basis of his confession but afterward submitted an affidavit to the military court in Lod stating that the confession had been extracted under torture. He said he had been beaten with a wooden stick between the legs, forced to sit on a wooden stick until it penetrated into his body, made to drink coffee mixed with ashes from cigarettes and force-fed with large amounts of onions and water. In a rare judgment, the military court in Lod, under the president of the court, Lieutenant Colonel Elisha Caspi, found in April 1998 that "a certain doubt remains as to whether it can be asserted with the certainty required in a criminal trial that his statement was made by the defendant and signed by him." In other words, the court did not reject Banjek's account of the horrors that occurred in the interrogation rooms of Camp 1391, and he was released. CONTINUED http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/shart... trassID=14&sbSubContrassID=0&l... A black hole (2 of 2) The new population Since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon more than three years ago, and certainly since the eruption of the intifada in September 2000, the unit has actively employed agents among the Palestinians in the territories, an area that until then was the almost exclusive preserve of the Shin Bet. Along with the change in the character of the unit's activity, the population that is now brought to the facility has also changed. As far as is known, in the past the main, though not the only, occupants of the facility were citizens of foreign countries - a term that does not include the inhabitants of the Palestinian Authority. They included Lebanese who were captured or abducted and brought to Israel, Iraqis who defected from Saddam's army and hoped to find political asylum in Israel, and there are also stories about an Iranian or two who were held at the facility in the past. In the past year, and perhaps in earlier stages of the intifada as well, Palestinians too were incarcerated there at times. The most senior of them, as far as is known, is Marwan Barghouti, who was interrogated at the facility for a few days. "Barghouti sat on the same chair you are now sitting on," the interrogators said to one of the Palestinian detainees and made fun of the modest dimensions of the famous prisoner - "his legs didn't even reach the floor." The fact that Palestinians were being held at the secret facility was revealed almost by chance in legal discussions between the state and Hamoked - Center for the Defense of the Individual, a Jerusalem-based human rights organization. Hamoked, which helps Palestinians locate relatives who have been arrested by Israel, wanted to know what happened to Muatez Shahin, who was arrested last October 5 at his home in the village of Salfit, near Nablus in the West Bank. The IDF control center replied that "he is not on any list." After Hamoked and Shahin's relatives petitioned the High Court of Justice, the state referred them in its response to a policeman at the Kishon detention facility. However, when they contacted the policemen they were told that "Shahin is being held in a secret facility that is annexed to the Kishon facility." With that response they went back to the court and argued that the law and a series of legal precedents oblige the state to inform a detainee and his family of his exact place of incarceration. The case of Shahin was the first in a growing list of Palestinians who "disappeared" as though they had been swallowed up by the earth. Through the veteran attorney Lea Tsemel, Hamoked continued to press the state for answers - which arrived in bits and pieces. Yes, the representatives of the State Prosecutor's Office finally told the court, the state operates a facility whose name and location are security secrets. The state attorneys went on to say that even though the facility belonged to the army, the Palestinians had been interrogated there by the Shin Bet. However, the facility "served the Shin Bet only temporarily, this being due to a shortfall in places of detention ... Recently, though, the situation changed and it was decided that the Shin Bet no longer needs to make use of the facility in which the petitioners were held as a detention facility, and accordingly [the Shin Bet] removed from the facility the detainees it was holding there." However, within weeks of this statement to the court, Odit Corinaldi-Sirkis, a senior deputy to the state prosecutor, stated that the facility had been revived: "I wish to inform you," she wrote on June 4 to attorney Lea Tsemel, "that since our responses were submitted the circumstances have changed, and the security people have informed us that detainees are currently being held at facility 1391." A few days later, in her response to the court, the representative of the State Prosecutor's Office added more details: In the past five years "only a few detainees" were held at the facility, but because of the shortfall in places of detention in the wake of Operation Defensive Shield, in April 2002, the Shin Bet had made use of the facility, holding residents of the territories there for brief periods during their interrogation. Now [two months ago] a few detainees were being held there. The court was also told that the facility had been subjected to a review to ascertain the conditions in it, and according to the State Prosecutor's Office it met the accepted criteria in the facilities of the Prisons Service. Hamoked was not satisfied with this response. What began as an attempt to locate a few detainees soon became a matter of legal and democratic principle: What is the legal authority for operating the facility? Is the fact that its location and name are secret, and that it is not open to external, public and international review consistent with the letter of the law? The state, by the way, submitted to the court an interesting document, according to which then defense minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer on April 16, 2002, signed an order declaring facility 1391 to be a military prison. Even if this document makes it legal to imprison people at the site, what does it say about the legality of the activity that was carried out there in all the years that preceded Ben-Eliezer's action? The answers to all these questions will have to be provided by the High Court of Justice, which is scheduled to take up the issue next month. It's very difficult to get substantive comments about facility 1391 from officials in the political, security or even legal spheres. A great many politicians, some of them with a rich security background, refused to say anything. Amnon Shahak, who was the director of Military Intelligence at the time of Sheikh Obeid's abduction, and later chief of staff, and was at one point briefly a candidate for prime minister, says he is "not interested in commenting on the subject." Oren Shahor, the chief intelligence officer at the beginning of the 1990s and today a program presenter on radio and television, says, "I can't help you with that." MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz), who has put in a request to visit the site but has yet to receive a reply, says, "The fact that such a facility exists, whose location no one knows formally, is one of the signs of totalitarian regimes and of the Third World. It is inconceivable that detainees do not know where they are and that their relatives and lawyers don't know, either; that under the auspices of the army, the State of Israel is violating elementary rights of detainees. Even prisoners have rights. There are international conventions. It is inconceivable that the state abducts people and that there is no review or supervision. I visited all the interrogation facilities of the Shin Bet and there was no problem. So what's the problem here?" One big garbage pail Raab Bader, a 38-year-old accountant who is married and the father of two, was arrested last December at his work place - an engineering consultancy firm in Nablus. At 9:30 A.M. soldiers arrived at his office, but he wasn't there at the time. When he got back, he decided to wait for the soldiers, and they returned in the afternoon and took him away. His wife says he waited for them because he was convinced he had done nothing wrong and wasn't worried. She adds that he was asked by his interrogators about his ties with wanted individuals. Today he is in administrative detention - arrest without trial - at Ofer Camp near Ramallah. As he has not been brought to trial, it is very difficult to know what he is suspected of. What follows are extensive excerpts from his testimony about the 42 days he spent at facility 1391. He have the testimony to attorney Lea Tsemel on June 12 at Ofer Camp: "I was arrested on December 10, 2002. After being interrogated by the Shin Bet for 31 days in Petah Tikva, I was taken to a secret military facility. Those who took me there wore army uniforms. "I was blindfolded and black glasses were placed on top of the blindfold to prevent me from seeing anything. I was handcuffed and shackled. Soldiers sat me down on the floor of the car and the soldiers then covered me with a black cloth. I couldn't see a thing the whole time and I was kept on the floor of the car for the entire long trip. "I spent about 40 days at that place according to my count. I was never told the name of the place or where I was. I received different replies to my many questions. Sometimes I was told or they hinted that we were in Atlit, someone said Acre Prison, one interrogator said a 'submarine,' and many times the answer was that we were in 'space' or 'outside the borders of Israel.' " .... There are two types of solitary confinement cells that I got to know. At first, for the first 11 days - according to the count I tried to keep - I was held in the worst of the solitary confinement cells. By my measurement, the cell is 120 centimeters wide (a bit wider than a mattress) and about 2.5 meters long. There is a damp mattress (all the mattresses are always damp) on a platform about 30 centimeters high and there are damp blankets. The blankets have a terrible smell; the mattress, too. There is a large black plastic garbage pail in the room, a small pitcher for water, and a rag. "The room is completely black. All the walls are painted black, and I never saw the ceiling. When I looked up, I saw only darkness. Light of candle brightness penetrates weirdly from one side of the room, from a device that seems to be almost above the ceiling, and the light is filtered through three thick pieces of glass. The light in the room is so faint and illuminates such a small part of the room that if I had had a book it would have been totally impossible to read it. You can hardly see a thing. "Of course the room has no windows. You can't tell whether it is day or night or when day becomes night. I had no way to know when it was time for prayers, I could only guess. "There are one or two pipes in the ceiling, which are apparently for ventilation. I say apparently, because I could never ascertain where there was ventilation. Most of the time and in all the solitary confinement cells I felt I didn't have enough oxygen, and sometimes I thought I was about to pass out. "I spent many days in that solitary confinement cell and in others like it, and hour after hour I would talk to myself and feel that I was going crazy, or find myself laughing to myself. I would sit on the mattress, get up and walk around in a circle, and sit down again. The only thing that kept me sane was thinking about my wife and children. "What sets this solitary confinement cell apart from the others is the fact that it has no toilet facilities and no source of water ... I remember the first time I had to relieve myself. I thought about what to do, and in the end I removed my underpants, placed them on the floor, relieved myself into them, tied them up and threw them into the garbage pail. The pail remained with me in the cell as it was. On other occasions I had to stand on my toes so I could aim my droppings into it and not tip it over onto myself. "I myself did not wash during all these days and no one offered me a chance to wash. Of course I did not brush my teeth or wash my face. Three times a day they brought a little water in a pitcher into the cell. "On my ninth day in this stinking cell, when one of the soldiers had to come in or take me out, he almost threw up and rushed out of the cell. As usual, I stood against the wall with my head covered by a black cloth. He called another soldier and they made arrangements and plans for removing the garbage pail. They told me drag it. I told them I couldn't do that while blindfolded, and I dragged it but it was too heavy and I couldn't get it out of its niche. So they agreed to remove the blindfold and let me drag the garbage pail out the door, and then they blindfolded me again and one of the soldiers grabbed my shirt and pulled me while I was still dragging the stinking pail. "They led me to another solitary confinement cell, made me enter it with the pail and told me to empty it into the hole of the 'Turkish toilet' [a hole in the floor] in that cell. The soldiers were in control of water outside the cell, and as I emptied the pail they turned on a powerful jet of water and I and my clothes were dirtied. "They made me wash the pail. I demanded to wash myself and I told them I was a worshiper but I would not be able to pray while I was dirtied with excrement. That was the first time I saw running water there. I spoke so angrily that they agreed to let me wash myself. I asked for a towel and one of the soldiers went to my cell and brought the rag, which had an unbearable stench. "I asked for a new set of clothes and for a real towel but I didn't get them. All the behavior of the soldiers was coarse and filled with threats, and this time again they threatened that if I didn't use the opportunity I was being given I would not get another. I undressed as they watched through the opening and made insulting comments. I stood naked under a hole in the concrete from which water emerged. The soldiers turned on the water but didn't let me enjoy it for even five minutes and then shut it off from the outside. "It was winter and cold, but I had no choice other than to put the soiled clothes on my wet body, and I was taken back with the sack on my head and an empty pail into the stinking cell. I stayed there for another two days. "After spending 11 days there I was upgraded to a cell with a Turkish lavatory. That isn't really a higher level, because the soldiers control the water no matter what and they decide when to supply it ... After I got to this cell I was given the chance to shower once a day. The way the shower works: a soldier declares the possibility of showering. I have to undress as the soldier watches through the crack in the door. When I am naked I have to stand above the toilet hole and pin myself against the wall so that the soldier will turn on the water of the 'shower.' The water comes from one hole in a concrete protrusion that is about 15 to 20 centimeters from the wall and about 1.5 meters from the floor. To get flowing water you have to stand right against the wall and wait for the water. "I declare that the soldiers never turned on the water for more than five minutes. They can control whether the water is hot or cold and they make use of that as they please ... To illustrate the soldiers' control of the water, I will tell you that one time I had soaped myself and the soldiers decided to shut off the water. I yelled, I pounded on the door and after my shouts and demands the soldier acceded and turned on freezing water. "Everyone knew about these conditions. Obviously the soldiers who did guard duty at the cell knew. So did the paramedic who saw me every day and the doctors who saw me once or twice a week. Of course all the interrogators, to the last of them, knew about it and apparently gave the orders for it. The paramedic and the doctors, who I would have expected would be compassionate men of medicine, saw me day after day in the same clothes, without underpants, smelled the stench that came off me day after day and said nothing, as though this is the way of the world. "The interrogators truly suffered from the way I smelled. The interrogator Yoni had to suffer my stench day after day. I remember that one day Yoni approached me and looked as though he was about to pass out. He said 'Rihtak hara' [You smell like ****] and told me I had to finish the interrogation. Many times, when the questioning was over, he and the other interrogators would say, 'Arja listal al hara' [Go back to the **** pail]. "When I was in Yoni's interrogation room he would turn on the air conditioner right over me. It was winter and cold, and many times I told him I was cold, but he went on doing it. I understand why, because my smell was intolerable. "It's also clear that the judges could know, too, if they bothered to ask why people who are filthy and stinking are brought before them. For my two remands in custody I was brought from that facility to the Kishon Prison (Jalama). When I was brought before a judge after 22 days in the facility I complained to him, I showed him my undershirt and I told him that when I was arrested it was white and now it was yellow, and I told him I had no underpants. I asked him to smell me and told him that I couldn't wash without a towel and clean clothes. The lawyer who was there told me that the judge told the soldiers to give me clothes. "That night, at about 11 P.M., in the facility, they brought me clothes that were used but clean. They didn't bring a towel. When I asked for a towel in the days that followed I always got the same answer: 'Quiet.' "During the whole period I was given food in the cell and made to eat sitting down. The food arrives on a fairly small dish. Three meals a day. The food was tastier than in the Shin Bet interrogation division in Petah Tikva. The problem was with the cleanliness. In the filthy solitary cell the soldiers would place the portion of food on the garbage pail, and in the second cell they put the food right on the toilet. Once I went on a hunger strike because of that and I refused to eat the food and complained to the Shin Bet agent, but no one was the least impressed. I did not get any hot drinks other than once in a while insipid tea that I had to spill out. I lost 14 kilograms during my stay there. "There is no opening to the light or the sun and no daily walk. There is no possibility of getting a prayer book." more

Resolved Question: plz comment on the following.?

N R Narayana Murthy, chief mentor and chairman of the board, Infosys Technologies, delivered a pre-commencement lecture at the New York University (Stern School of Business) on May 9. It is a scintillating speech, Murthy speaks about the lessons he learnt from his life and career. We present it for our readers: Dean Cooley, faculty, staff, distinguished guests, and, most importantly, the graduating class of 2007, it is a great privilege to speak at your commencement ceremonies. I thank Dean Cooley and Prof Marti Subrahmanyam for their kind invitation. I am exhilarated to be part of such a joyous occasion. Congratulations to you, the class of 2007, on completing an important milestone in your life journey. After some thought, I have decided to share with you some of my life lessons. I learned these lessons in the context of my early career struggles, a life lived under the influence of sometimes unplanned events which were the crucibles that tempered my character and reshaped my future. I would like first to share some of these key life events with you, in the hope that these may help you understand my struggles and how chance events and unplanned encounters with influential persons shaped my life and career. Later, I will share the deeper life lessons that I have learned. My sincere hope is that this sharing will help you see your own trials and tribulations for the hidden blessings they can be. The first event occurred when I was a graduate student in Control Theory at IIT, Kanpur, in India. At breakfast on a bright Sunday morning in 1968, I had a chance encounter with a famous computer scientist on sabbatical from a well-known US university. He was discussing exciting new developments in the field of computer science with a large group of students and how such developments would alter our future. He was articulate, passionate and quite convincing. I was hooked. I went straight from breakfast to the library, read four or five papers he had suggested, and left the library determined to study computer science. Friends, when I look back today at that pivotal meeting, I marvel at how one role model can alter for the better the future of a young student. This experience taught me that valuable advice can sometimes come from an unexpected source, and chance events can sometimes open new doors. The next event that left an indelible mark on me occurred in 1974. The location: Nis, a border town between former Yugoslavia, now Serbia, and Bulgaria. I was hitchhiking from Paris back to Mysore, India, my home town. By the time a kind driver dropped me at Nis railway station at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, the restaurant was closed. So was the bank the next morning, and I could not eat because I had no local money. I slept on the railway platform until 8.30 pm in the night when the Sofia Express pulled in. The only passengers in my compartment were a girl and a boy. I struck a conversation in French with the young girl. She talked about the travails of living in an iron curtain country, until we were roughly interrupted by some policemen who, I later gathered, were summoned by the young man who thought we were criticising the communist government of Bulgaria. The girl was led away; my backpack and sleeping bag were confiscated. I was dragged along the platform into a small 8x8 foot room with a cold stone floor and a hole in one corner by way of toilet facilities. I was held in that bitterly cold room without food or water for over 72 hours. I had lost all hope of ever seeing the outside world again, when the door opened. I was again dragged out unceremoniously, locked up in the guard's compartment on a departing freight train and told that I would be released 20 hours later upon reaching Istanbul. The guard's final words still ring in my ears -- "You are from a friendly country called India and that is why we are letting you go!" The journey to Istanbul was lonely, and I was starving. This long, lonely, cold journey forced me to deeply rethink my convictions about Communism. Early on a dark Thursday morning, after being hungry for 108 hours, I was purged of any last vestiges of affinity for the Left. I concluded that entrepreneurship, resulting in large-scale job creation, was the only viable mechanism for eradicating poverty in societies. Deep in my heart, I always thank the Bulgarian guards for transforming me from a confused Leftist into a determined, compassionate capitalist! Inevitably, this sequence of events led to the eventual founding of Infosys in 1981. While these first two events were rather fortuitous, the next two, both concerning the Infosys journey, were more planned and profoundly influenced my career trajectory. On a chilly Saturday morning in winter 1990, five of the seven founders of Infosys met in our small office in a leafy Bangalore suburb. The decision at hand was the possible sale of Infosys for the enticing sum of $1 million. After nine years of toil in the then business-unfriendly India, we were quite happy at the prospect of seeing at least some money. I let my younger colleagues talk about their future plans. Discussions about the travails of our journey thus far and our future challenges went on for about four hours. I had not yet spoken a word. Finally, it was my turn. I spoke about our journey from a small Mumbai apartment in 1981 that had been beset with many challenges, but also of how I believed we were at the darkest hour before the dawn. I then took an audacious step. If they were all bent upon selling the company, I said, I would buy out all my colleagues, though I did not have a cent in my pocket. There was a stunned silence in the room. My colleagues wondered aloud about my foolhardiness. But I remained silent. However, after an hour of my arguments, my colleagues changed their minds to my way of thinking. I urged them that if we wanted to create a great company, we should be optimistic and confident. They have more than lived up to their promise of that day. In the seventeen years since that day, Infosys has grown to revenues in excess of $3.0 billion, a net income of more than $800 million and a market capitalisation of more than $28 billion, 28,000 times richer than the offer of $1 million on that day. In the process, Infosys has created more than 70,000 well-paying jobs, 2,000-plus dollar-millionaires and 20,000-plus rupee millionaires. A final story: On a hot summer morning in 1995, a Fortune-10 corporation had sequestered all their Indian software vendors, including Infosys, in different rooms at the Taj Residency hotel in Bangalore so that the vendors could not communicate with one another. This customer's propensity for tough negotiations was well-known. Our team was very nervous. First of all, with revenues of only around $5 million, we were minnows compared to the customer. Second, this customer contributed fully 25% of our revenues. The loss of this business would potentially devastate our recently-listed company. Third, the customer's negotiation style was very aggressive. The customer team would go from room to room, get the best terms out of each vendor and then pit one vendor against the other. This went on for several rounds. Our various arguments why a fair price -- one that allowed us to invest in good people, R&D, infrastructure, technology and training -- was actually in their interest failed to cut any ice with the customer. By 5 p.m. on the last day, we had to make a decision right on the spot whether to accept the customer's terms or to walk out. All eyes were on me as I mulled over the decision. I closed my eyes, and reflected upon our journey until then. Through many a tough call, we had always thought about the long-term interests of Infosys. I communicated clearly to the customer team that we could not accept their terms, since it could well lead us to letting them down later. But I promised a smooth, professional transition to a vendor of customer's choice. This was a turning point for Infosys. Subsequently, we created a Risk Mitigation Council which ensured that we would never again depend too much on any one client, technology, country, application area or key employee. The crisis was a blessing in disguise. Today, Infosys has a sound de-risking strategy that has stabilised its revenues and profits. I want to share with you, next, the life lessons these events have taught me. 1. I will begin with the importance of learning from experience. It is less important, I believe, where you start. It is more important how and what you learn. If the quality of the learning is high, the development gradient is steep, and, given time, you can find yourself in a previously unattainable place. I believe the Infosys story is living proof of this. Learning from experience, however, can be complicated. It can be much more difficult to learn from success than from failure. If we fail, we think carefully about the precise cause. Success can indiscriminately reinforce all our prior actions. 2. A second theme concerns the power of chance events. As I think across a wide variety of settings in my life, I am struck by the incredible role played by the interplay of chance events with intentional choices. While the turning points themselves are indeed often fortuitous, how we respond to them is anything but so. It is this very quality of how we respond systematically to chance events that is crucial. 3. Of course, the mindset one works with is also quite critical. As recent work by the psychologist, Carol Dweck, has shown, it matters greatly whether one believes in ability as inherent or that it can be developed. Put simply, the former view, a fixed mindset, creates a tendency to avoid challenges, to ignore useful negative feedback and leads such people to plateau early and not achieve their full potential. The latter view, a growth mindset, leads to a tendency to embrace challenges, to learn from criticism and such people reach ever higher levels of achievement (Krakovsky, 2007: page 48). 4. The fourth theme is a cornerstone of the Indian spiritual tradition: self-knowledge. Indeed, the highest form of knowledge, it is said, is self-knowledge. I believe this greater awareness and knowledge of oneself is what ultimately helps develop a more grounded belief in oneself, courage, determination, and, above all, humility, all qualities which enable one to wear one's success with dignity and grace. Based on my life experiences, I can assert that it is this belief in learning from experience, a growth mindset, the power of chance events, and self-reflection that have helped me grow to the present. Back in the 1960s, the odds of my being in front of you today would have been zero. Yet here I stand before you! With every successive step, the odds kept changing in my favour, and it is these life lessons that made all the difference. My young friends, I would like to end with some words of advice. Do you believe that your future is pre-ordained, and is already set? Or, do you believe that your future is yet to be written and that it will depend upon the sometimes fortuitous events? Do you believe that these events can provide turning points to which you will respond with your energy and enthusiasm? Do you believe that you will learn from these events and that you will reflect on your setbacks? Do you believe that you will examine your successes with even greater care? I hope you believe that the future will be shaped by several turning points with great learning opportunities. In fact, this is the path I have walked to much advantage. A final word: When, one day, you have made your mark on the world, remember that, in the ultimate analysis, we are all mere temporary custodians of the wealth we generate, whether it be financial, intellectual, or emotional. The best use of all your wealth is to share it with those less fortunate. I believe that we have all at some time eaten the fruit from trees that we did not plant. In the fullness of time, when it is our turn to give, it behooves us in turn to plant gardens that we may never eat the fruit of, which will largely benefit generations to come. I believe this is our sacred responsibility, one that I hope you will shoulder in time. Thank you for your patience. Go forth and embrace your future with open arms, and pursue enthusiastically your own life journey of discovery! more

Resolved Question: A new kind of politics?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0704060020apr06,1,1855420.story?coll=chi-news-hed&?track=sto-topstory MEXICANS IN CHICAGO: A NEW KIND OF POLITICS Influence on both sides of the border Activists' political power is rising in Chicago and their homeland, as they seek reforms through marches and money Advertisement By Antonio Olivo and Oscar Avila Tribune staff reporters April 6, 2007 To outsiders, the men and women gathered inside a sleepy West Side restaurant may have seemed unlikely power brokers: a janitor, a real estate agent and others hardly known outside their circuit of neighborhood dances and back-yard barbecues. Jose Luis Gutierrez, who plotted strategy with the group as a soccer match flickered on a nearby TV, was himself a wholesale grocer until last year. But Gutierrez is now a top aide to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and he was joined at the table by leaders of Chicago-area Mexican immigrant clubs, the engines behind a new political movement that is making itself felt from Illinois to Michoacan. Gutierrez received smiling nods when he likened the political muscle of the region's 563,000 Mexican immigrants to the power of Irish-Americans in the 19th and 20th Centuries, who came to control the Chicago machine. In May, the strength of Mexicans will be on display when many of the region's 300 immigrant clubs -- known as "hometown associations" -- will help organize a march in downtown Chicago a year after their political coming-out party, demonstrations that flooded the Loop last spring and charged the national immigration debate. For decades Mexican hometown associations have functioned as social networks whose members pooled their money earned here to help build new schools or churches back in Mexico. But leaders in Chicago's largest immigrant group have a more ambitious worldview than their predecessors, even more than the ethnic blocs that preceded them decades ago. Some, like Gutierrez, wield growing influence in both countries. One morning, he's unveiling a blueprint for more immigrant services in Illinois as director of the state's Office of New Americans Policy and Advocacy. The next night, he's brainstorming with activists in his home state of Michoacan about a slate of candidates for Mexico's congress. An active role in Mexican politics might seem at odds with building political influence here. But Gutierrez and others say they form a budding new political consciousness among Mexican immigrants -- a "third nation" of sorts that transcends the border, advancing the community's cause on both sides. "The nation-state concept is changing," said Gutierrez, 46, who came to Chicago in 1986 and led one of the Midwest's largest federations of hometown associations. "You don't have to say, `I am Mexican,' or, `I am American.' You can be a good Mexican citizen and a good American citizen and not have that be a conflict of interest. Sovereignty is flexible." That concept worries some U.S. officials and scholars who see the dual loyalty as undermining the assimilation of Mexican immigrants. Irish, German and Polish immigrants eventually melded into Chicago's landscape, their ties to their native soil largely sentimental. But Mexican immigrants today are linked to their homeland like no group before, scholars say, connected by NAFTA, satellite TV, the Internet, cell phones and cheap non-stop flights. In Mexico, their power stems from the nearly $25 billion these immigrants send home every year, the country's second-highest source of income behind oil. Their political influence surfaces in places like Teloloapan, far up in the cactus-filled hills of the state of Guerrero, where a Chicago restaurateur helped build new roads and business. Grateful townspeople elected him mayor in a landslide. In the U.S., immigrants' power is driven by numbers and a growing deftness at the levers of this country's political machinery. That recently manifested itself in a fledgling political action committee called Mexicans for Political Progress, which raised $23,000 for Blagojevich's re-election and rallied volunteers to walk precincts during November's election. An unfolding movement Fabian Morales, a soft-spoken Realtor with a well-clipped mustache, stands at the center of the unfolding movement. He handled logistics for three massive immigration marches in Chicago last year -- including a four-day walk to suburban Batavia -- and co-founded Mexicans for Political Progress. After coming to Chicago in 1970, Morales helped launch one of the city's then-few hometown clubs, devoted to his tiny native village of Xonacatla, Guerrero. Back then, Xonacatla was without roads, potable water or electricity. It was a slow journey from other towns by foot or horseback, Morales said. The club members in Chicago resolved to change that. Collecting $50 to $100 at a time, Morales and others raised enough through barbecues and door-to-door soliciting to replace a house used for worship services with a towering marble church that rises from the green hillside. Morales has since helped develop CONFEMEX, an umbrella organization for most of the hometown clubs in the Midwest. Among other things, the group is a central voice in economic development in Mexico, representing an estimated $340 million in projects generated by U.S.-based hometown associations in the last five years, according to Mexican federal officials. "We want to focus on creating more jobs there so they don't have to think about emigrating," Morales said. The rising activity of hometown associations caught the eye of the Mexican government, which eventually created a "3-for-1" matching project, where federal, state and local governments split the cost of a new bridge or computer center with the U.S.-based groups. Those projects have given Mexican immigrants "a great moral authority" in their homeland, as well as political cachet, said Carlos Gonzalez, executive director of the Institute for Mexicans in the Exterior, or IME, a Mexican federal government agency that fosters stronger ties with expatriates. "During the 1970s, [Mexicans] called the people who left Mexico and acclimated to the U.S. 'pocho,' which, if you look in the dictionary, means 'spoiled fruit,' " Gonzalez said. "The change we've seen in the public perception of Mexicans in the exterior has been 180 degrees." In 2006, citizens abroad were allowed to vote in Mexican presidential elections for the first time. Leaders are also pushing for changes that would allow expatriates to vote in local elections and even hold elective offices while residing abroad. Recently, Gutierrez and others persuaded Michoacan to become the first state in Mexico to extend voting rights to expatriates. Their rationale: Almost half of those born in Michoacan, Zacatecas and several other Mexican states now live in the U.S. Timoteo "Alex" Manjarrez, 44, is among a small but growing number of Mexican immigrants making a bolder claim in their motherland. Arriving from his native town of Teloloapan, Guerrero, in 1980, Manjarrez spent 19 years in Chicago. The stocky, boyish-looking immigrant worked for years as a dishwasher at the Columbia Yacht Club and, eventually, became owner of three Mexican restaurants in the city. Fulfilling a desire shared by many immigrants, Manjarrez moved back to his native town in 1999 with enough money for his family to live comfortably. But the place he had longed for all those years was still frustratingly poor, despite the investments Manjarrez's hometown club made in new roads and other improvements. Manjarrez, who holds both Mexican and U.S. citizenship, settled in and quickly built a new health club and a hacienda-style restaurant named La Condesa, after the three he still owns in Chicago. In 2004, he ran for mayor of Teloloapan. With long-distance backing from his hometown club friends in Chicago, who sent money and telephoned friends and local officials on his behalf, Manjarrez won handily. 'The city that works' Since taking office, the man who sees Mayor Richard M. Daley as a political role model has pushed to remake Teloloapan into a Mexican version of "the city that works." The effort includes newly paved streets, a recreation center that replaces a local swamp known as "black waters," and a towering hotel being built privately by Manjarrez's family. Next to a new medical clinic, a donated Chicago ambulance sits in the parking lot. Its emblem has been painted over, but it serves as a reminder of the continued links Manjarrez has to his former city, where he maintains a home near Midway Airport, votes in U.S. elections and checks in on his businesses. Aurelio Santamaria Bahena, mayor of a town near Manjarrez's called Tlapehuala, labeled such changes "a blessing" for an area of Mexico dominated by crumbling lean-to houses and children in bare feet pulling bone-thin donkeys. But, as with other parts of the country where the immigrant handprint is deepening, the introduction of U.S.-style governance has also bred resentment. Local leaders of Manjarrez's own Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) are trying to drum him out of office, arguing he is too brash and condescending. The mayor counters the fight is about his efforts to take away "a plate of corruption that they've been able to eat from for years." The conflict was an uncomfortable backdrop during a recent PRD strategy meeting at a restaurant in Chilpancingo, Guerrero's capital. Headlines that morning featured a march against Manjarrez, orchestrated by his opponents. "People see you as an outsider," a worried Santamaria cautioned Manjarrez. "People don't think you see things as they are here." Manjarrez, wearing a black "La Condesa" windbreaker, patted his friend on the back and smiled. He had a media plan, one that might have made Daley proud. "We'll publish photos of the streets of Teloloapan before and after I came into office," Manjarrez said. "And, we'll ask the people: `Which would you prefer?' " That same week, Mexican immigrants from the U.S. and Canada met in Mexico City, as members of an advisory council created by the Mexican government. With a brash American style, they soon escalated their advice to demands, the members' voices echoing through the meeting hall. Morales, the Chicago Realtor, and about 100 other council members pushed Mexico to lobby the U.S. harder on immigration reform. They chastised their hosts for not creating more jobs. Buttonholing federal legislators in hallways, they reminded elected officials how much their districts relied on money sent from the U.S. They want 'results now' Gregorio Luke, a blond member of the council from Los Angeles partial to designer suits, observed that this kind of behavior wouldn't exist in a purely Mexican forum, where deference toward authority guides nearly all dialogue. "These people come here speaking Spanish, but they're negotiating as Americans," said Luke, a museum director who once oversaw cultural affairs at the Los Angeles Mexican Consulate. "They want to see results now." The meeting of the advisory council also illustrated the provocative overlap of Mexican and American political action. In addition to all-day strategy sessions on how to improve Mexico, council members brainstormed over late-night drinks on next moves in the fight for U.S. immigration reform. Many members had used their existing e-mail network to coordinate simultaneous demonstrations in Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities. Though not active participants in the U.S. immigrant movement, Mexican officials urged their compatriots to keep on fighting. "Let there be no barriers or walls between Mexicans here on the inside and the outside," former Mexican President Vicente Fox told the group, referring to a 2006 U.S. law that allows for a 700-mile fence to be built at the border. The audience stood and cheered. The idea that the Mexican government might be helping its nationals shape U.S. politics has raised red flags, both in the halls of academia and in the more volatile world of talk radio and the Internet. Robert Leiken, director of the immigration and national security program at the right-leaning Nixon Center in Washington, argued that binational activism among Mexican immigrants is bad for both countries. In the U.S., the meetings in Spanish and the often-passionate interest in Mexico's future hinder assimilation, he said. In Mexico, the relationship to hometown associations fosters an unhealthy economic dependence on U.S. remittances. "If I went out to Pilsen and spent some time with people from a hometown association, I'd think these are really cool people," Leiken said. But, "Standing back and looking at this from a social policy standpoint, I see some real problems." James McCann, a Purdue University political science professor, found that immigrants interested in Mexican affairs were more likely to participate in U.S. politics. He helped interview about 1,100 Mexican immigrants and found that hometown clubs promoted activism. "The conventional wisdom is that any transnational engagement is going to suck the oxygen out of your civic life in the States," McCann said. "But it seems that if you open a new avenue of expression in Mexico, that new avenue might pay some other dividends in the U.S." Some of those dividends went directly to the Blagojevich campaign last fall, when the governor found himself being serenaded by a trumpet-playing mariachi band inside the Hacienda Tecalitlan restaurant on the Near Northwest Side. Near a trickling courtyard fountain, Morales praised the governor in Spanish at the kickoff dinner for the Mexicans for Political Progress PAC. While Morales once raised money for his hometown with $1 tamales, the price here was as much as $500 a plate. "Let us demonstrate our political power by voting in the election, by voting for our friends interested in the prosperity of Mexicans. Friends like Gov. Rod Blagojevich!" Morales told the crowd. Blagojevich, who speaks a hint of Spanish, took the microphone and shouted: "Viva Chivas!" a reference to a popular Mexican soccer team. When the laughter and applause subsided, he switched to English and added: "By organizing, you are empowering a community. Your voice will be heard." The mood is darker in northwest suburban Carpentersville, where a growing Mexican community has rallied in large numbers in the face of a local backlash against undocumented immigrants. Last fall, about 3,000 Mexican immigrants and their supporters turned up outside Carpentersville's City Hall in an unexpected show of opposition to a proposed ordinance that would penalize landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and employers who hire them. The crowd was so riled a vote on the ordinance was postponed and has yet to be taken. The quick response came largely due to the hometown association representing the village of La Purisima, Michoacan, local activists said. The club turned to its telephone list of 400 families, said Salvador Balleno, the group's president. The turnout was a victory, but it has not deterred Carpentersville trustees from other proposals that would allow local police to trigger deportation proceedings against illegal immigrants and make English the village's official language. And as Balleno has struggled to register voters and rally volunteers for this month's village elections, even sympathetic politicians have seemed hesitant to link themselves too closely with the hometown association. Balleno now fears the village's hard-liners have the upper hand, intimidating some of the immigrants who protested last fall. "The [club] members know that if these people stay [in office] it is going to affect their kids," Balleno said, sounding anxious that an opportunity was slipping through his fingers. Jose Artemio Arreola, a key organizer of next month's march in Chicago, has been actively monitoring the battle in Carpentersville. He sees the activity there as part of a plan to create a political empire for Mexican immigrants, one linking hometown associations in Chicago and other cities to labor unions and Mexico's congress. His strategy includes moving back to his native state of Michoacan to run for congress there, something Arreola never imagined doing when he left a town overrun by poverty and ruled by local drug kingpins. He got his start in Chicago working in a plastics factory. Frustrated by the union representation there, he ran for shop steward and won. Unable to speak English, he relied on his bilingual co-workers to help him negotiate union contracts. He has since become a school janitor in Oak Park. The position pays little, but it has allowed Arreola to climb the ranks of the Service Employees International Union, where he has become key in that union's national efforts to tap further into the country's exploding Mexican immigrant workforce. All the while, Arreola has used the sharp elbows and old-school union tactics acquired in Chicago to become a power broker in his hometown of Acuitzio del Canje. He started in 2004 when the local mayor refused to back projects proposed by his hometown association. Arreola, a burly backslapper partial to gold neck chains, recalled thinking: "I need to take them out." He recruited a teacher to run for mayor in the Mexican town. Arreola then brought back a town phone book and, with others in Chicago, called voters one by one, promising a stream of U.S. investment if his candidate won. The incumbent opted for traditional rallies and car tours through town with a bullhorn. More than two years later, sitting in a Pilsen restaurant, Arreola opened a laptop computer and showed off the fruits of what proved to be an easy victory. Pictures of a new retirement home popped onto the screen, one featuring a grinning Arreola at a groundbreaking ceremony. Another showed a new computer lab with 40 computers for local schoolchildren, an investment in the future of Acuitzio del Canje. The town's name comes from an 1865 decision to make it the site for a "canje," or exchange of prisoners between warring Mexican and French troops. Sitting deep in the dusty mountains of Michoacan, it was neutral ground back then, Arreola explained, territory that didn't fully belong to either country but, in some ways, belonged to both. ---------- aolivo@tribune.com oavila@tribune.com - - - IN THE WEB EDITION Jose Artemio Arreola is one of several Mexican hometown association leaders in Chicago with multiple connections in Mexico and the U.S. From helping organize last year's massive immigration marches to slating political candidates in his home state, he wields influence on both sides of the border. To learn more about Arreola, watch videos and see photo galleries, go to chicagotribune.com/mexicansinchicago. Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune more

Resolved Question: Did you hear Rush today?

RUSH: Let's go back to Thursday, March 22nd on this program. This, said I. RUSH ARCHIVE: I'm telling you, this is to jumpstart the campaign. This is to see if it will jumpstart the campaign, and we'll find out the next three or four days or whatever, week, if that happens. This business about this being a surprise makes me think that the leak that was planted today was purposely wrong, to create surprise, make sure everybody thought, "Oh, we know what's coming," and have it blown away. "The campaign's going to go on! Ooh, the campaign is going to go on! Well, we thought it was going to be suspended." You know, we all get all these press releases in advance of the State of the Union Address. We all know what's going to be said before it airs. There's no surprises. This was surprise. It may have been done on purpose. RUSH: This, ladies and gentlemen, is what I said on this program the day of the John and Elizabeth Edwards cancer press conference. Jumpstart the campaign. I of course took mountains of grief for this in a number of quarters. "How could Limbaugh be so callous," when in fact I was not the first to say so, I was not the first to categorize this and analyze it in a political sense. The Drive-Bys beat me to this led by Howard Fineman. Now, let's go to CNN, The Situation Room, last night. Host, Suzanne Malveaux filling in for Wolf Blitzer, interviewed Senator Edwards, and she said, "A lot of people have really set up this race as Hillary Clinton versus Barack Obama, but these poll numbers show you second to Hillary and neck and neck with Obama." EDWARDS: I've been moving up. We have some momentum now. I think this is going to be a serious race where voters get a chance to look at the differences in our positions and our personal characteristics to be president. RUSH: "I've been moving up," he said. "We have some momentum now." Would somebody...? You fill in the blank. What was it that caused the momentum? I mean, there wasn't momentum before the press conference. What was it that caused the momentum? It is clear what caused it. But this, ladies and gentlemen, is the pièce de résistance. I am holding this in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers. This is from the Washington Post blog today: "When you visit the John Edwards for President Web site, you're invited to send a sympathy note to the Edwardses. And tens of thousands of well wishers have done so since that heart-wrenching news conference two weeks ago at which Elizabeth Edwards courageously discussed her incurable cancer. What those well wishers get in return -- e-mail messages soliciting contributions to Edwards's campaign." So if you went to the Edwards website and you saw the opportunity to send a sympathy note to the Edwardses -- and tens of thousands am people did -- every one of those people has registered on the Edwards website and every one of them has received an e-mail message asking for contributions to the Edwards campaign. "Visitors to the Edwards site who choose to 'send a note to Elizabeth and John' are first taken to a heartfelt letter from the candidate that was written the day after he learned that his wife's cancer had returned. Edwards thanks readers for their 'prayers and wishes,' vows that he and Elizabeth will 'keep a positive attitude always look for the silver lining' and declares that 'our campaign goes on and it goes on strongly.' Anyone who then chooses to send a note of sympathy to the Edwardses -- and, thus, provide his or her e-mail address -- automatically becomes part of the Edwards campaign's online e-mail database, a list that is crucial to any campaign's ability to raise vast amounts of money over the Internet. If you sent a note to the Edwardses before the critical March 31 end-of-the-quarter fundraising deadline, you would have received frantic e-mail solicitations from the campaign, such as the one on March 28 from Edwards campaign manager David Bonior titled, '96 hours to show substance works.' "'The solicitation asked for '$25, $50 or any amount you can afford to give,'" and you only had 96 hours to do it. This is what it is. Do I need to analyze this? Do I need to add commentary to this? (interruption) You think I do, Snerdley? Well, that means people out there can't figure this out. That means people are not going to understand the point of this without me telling them. I refuse to believe that the people in this audience are that dense. Well, of course there are liberals listening. There are always liberals listening to this program. They're always spying, studying. Okay, what word would you associate with this, folks? Crass? Ballsy? What word would you use? Opportunistic? Some might say, "Hey, Rush, it's politics. It's no big deal. You send a note to some candidate's website, what do expect you're going to get, Rush? I mean, come on. Everybody knows if you sent an e-mail to a candidate's website, you're on the list and you're going to get solicited for money. Come on, Rush! You're making too big a deal of it." No, no, folks. You are invited to send a sympathy message, not donate. The first thing that happens is, you want to send a sympathy message. Well, my gosh, look at the number of people who never knew Princess Diana who left notes, letters, pictures of themselves all along the cortege route. So the campaign had to know that there would be a lot of people who wanted to send along well wishes and sympathy and so forth. That's the first thing people were asked to do. They weren't asked to donate. It's only after sending in the sympathy card or message that you are then solicited. I'm sure they said, "Thanks for the great sympathy note. We really appreciate it. It means a lot to us. By the way, 96 hours left to show that you have substance, or that there is substance, $25, $50, or whatever amount you can donate. There are only 96 hours to go," from campaign chairman David Bonior. (Laughing) HR just said in the IFB he could have at least done that part under separate cover. What do you mean? A separate thank-you note? A thank you, and then a follow-up? They at least could have done that? Well, that's time-consuming and it removes you one step from the sale. Anyway, this should put to rest among anybody who's reasonable out there, that this is being seized upon as a political opportunity, and I predicted it and said, "See if it jumpstarts the campaign," which it has, financially, poll-wise. more

Resolved Question: what are the legal issues?

NEW SOUTH WALES SUPREME COURT CITATION: Ehsman v Nutectime International [2006] NSWSC 887 CURRENT JURISDICTION: Equity FILE NUMBER(S): 5189/05 HEARING DATE{S): 31 March 2006 DECISION DATE: 01/09/2006 PARTIES: Patricia Mary Ehsman (P/A) Nutectime International Pty Ltd (D1/R1) David Neilan Brady (D2/R2) Francis Joseph Frasca (D3/R3) David Bruce Paix (D4/R4) Timentel Pty Ltd (D5) JUDGMENT OF: Austin J LOWER COURT JURISDICTION: Not Applicable COUNSEL: R Harper SC (P/A) M J Cohen (D1-4/R1-4) SOLICITORS: McDonald Johnson (P/A) Sparke Helmore (D1-4, R1-4) CATCHWORDS: CORPORATIONS - statutory derivative action - application by 35% shareholder/director to bring derivative proceedings after company's assets were transferred to a company from which the applicant is excluded - inadequacies of proposed points of claim - whether those inadequacies prevent the court from determining the application under s 237 - distinction between personal and derivative claims - whether court is satisfied concerning good faith, best interests of company and serious question to be tried - ancillary order for applicant to indemnify company with respect to costs of derivative proceedings - considerations relating to the bringing of derivative and personal claims in single proceedings ACTS CITED: Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ss 180-184, 232, 236-242 DECISION: See under heading "Conclusions" JUDGMENT: IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES EQUITY DIVISION CORPORATIONS LIST AUSTIN J FRIDAY 1 SEPTEMBER 2006 5189/05PATRICIA MARY EHSMAN V NUTECTIME INTERNATIONAL PTY LTD & 4 ORS JUDGMENT 1HIS HONOUR: Before me is an application by the plaintiff, Mrs Ehsman, for leave under s 237 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) to bring proceedings on behalf of the fifth defendant company, Timentel, by filing and serving a further amended originating process and amended points of claim. 2 , 3, 4, 5 and 6 Deleted The plaintiff's case 7The parties agree that Mr Brady and Mr and Mrs Ehsman came together in a business venture before Timentel was formed. Mrs Ehsman owned some patents for a split face wristwatch display, and she wished to exploit them commercially. Mr Brady had some marketing experience. There are disagreements about the commercial utility of Mrs Ehsman's patents, and as to the precise terms of their arrangements, which need not be resolved for present purposes. It is common ground that they respectively brought to the business of Timentel, when it was formed in 1998, the patents (such as they were) and a measure of marketing/commercial input. 8When Timentel was formed, Mrs Ehsman granted it a licence over her patents, for no consideration (although she received shares in the licensee entity). There is disputed evidence as to whether, as Mrs Ehsman asserts, she entered into the licence agreement in reliance on the assumption, encouraged by Mr Brady, that the licence would always be held by a company in which she would be a director and shareholder. The licensee's interest in the licence agreement was assignable. Mrs Ehsman claims, and the defendants deny, that it was a term and condition of the licence agreement that the licence would not be assigned by Timentel to a company in which Mrs Ehsman was not a shareholder and director. 9Initially the only shareholders were the Ehsmans and Mr Brady, and Mr Brady and Mrs Ehsman were the directors. Mr Brady's evidence is that he devoted very considerable time and effort, and expense, to travelling to Europe to negotiate for the commercial exploitation of the split face wristwatch display. According to him, the people he consulted in Europe told him that Mrs Ehsman's patents were just concepts and it would be necessary to work out the most efficacious interior wristwatch mechanisms to support the split face. That is disputed by Mrs Ehsman. But it is clear enough that Mr Brady did do some amount of developmental/marketing work in Europe, the cost of which was shared or partly shared with the Ehsmans. 10Mr Brady's evidence is that he came up with the idea of having movements in each half of the split face watch case for the forward and return hand movements, all controlled by an electronic integrated circuit, and that Mr Claude Ray, an experienced watchmaker, carried out the necessary design work. The eventual product, which he called a "hinged electronic watch", was based on ideas that were fundamentally different, he said, from Mrs Ehsman's patents. These matters are contested. 11Mr Brady said he negotiated a development agreement with Mr Ray's company, using a company with which he was associated, Renaissance Management, for that purpose. In turn he caused Renaissance Management to enter into an agreement with another company with which he was associated, DNB Global Corporation (registered in the Philippines), which made advance payments to Mr Ray's company. At a final hearing of this case it will be necessary to explore these corporate relationships and their purpose, and to understand better the nature of Mr Brady's interests. DNB Global appears to bear his initials, but there is some evidence that he is just one of five directors and is indirectly a shareholder. DNB Global is important in this case because, according to Mr Brady, it incurred substantial expenses through payments for development work, for which Timentel reimbursed it out of monies borrowed by Timentel from Mr Brady, Mr Frasca and Mr Paix. But Mrs Ehsman questions whether loans were ever in fact made by those three directors. 12Mr Brady said the development of the hinged electronic watch was very expensive and under the arrangements between them, Ms Ehsman was to contribute to that development. He alleges that she defaulted in that obligation. He claims that by March 2005 she owed and had not paid about $86,000. That is contested. According to Mr Brady, the development was eventually successful and the hinged electronic watch is protected by patents in various countries, procured at a cost to DNB Global, recoverable from Timentel. 13In about June 2002 Ms Ehsman and Mr Brady decided to bring in two other parties, namely Mr Frasca and Mr Paix. There is quite a bit of evidence, not all consistent, about the circumstances in which Mr Frasca and Mr Paix were invited into the company. What is clear is that Mr Frasca and Mr Paix joined the board of directors and acquired shares, they provided some capital, and in due course they sided with Mr Brady and against Mrs Ehsman. After they joined the board, the company's issued 100 ordinary shares were divided as follows: Mr Brady 35 shares, Mr and Mrs Ehsman 35 shares, Mr Frasca 15 shares, and Mr and Mrs Paix 15 shares. 14During 2002, it seems, Mrs Ehsman visited Europe and met with one of Mr Brady's contacts, Manuel Spode of Les Artisans Horlogers. There is conflicting evidence as to what happened at the meeting. Mr Frasca gives evidence in his affidavit that the meeting led to Mrs Ehsman being criticised by the other directors for intervening secretly without the board's authority, and for her suspicious approach. Mr Frasca also says that at a meeting he had with Mr and Mrs Ehsman in 2003, they told him that they were determined to bring Mr Brady down. These matters are also disputed. Nevertheless it appears that, some time after Mr Frasca and Mr Paix arrived on the board, if not earlier, the relationship between Messrs Brady, Frasca and Paix, on the one hand, and the Ehsmans, on the other hand, deteriorated. By now the relationship has completely broken down. 15There is a considerable amount of correspondence in evidence, and minutes of board meetings. I shall not describe this material in detail here. The correspondence shows that at least since early 2005, Mrs Ehsman has been concerned about verifying payments allegedly due by Timentel to DNB Global, and also about the financial management of Timentel more generally. The evidence is that the only bank account of Timentel has been relatively dormant at times when, the defendants allege, Timentel made payments to DNB Global. Mrs Ehsman's solicitors have written to Timentel's solicitors about these matters. 16Mr Brady claims that by about May 2005 there was a pressing need for capital for Timentel, to pay invoices to DNB Global of about $216,000 and certain other smaller debts. It appears that at this time Mr Brady, Mr Frasca and Mr Paix developed a proposal to lend Timentel up to $246,000 for a term of 60 days with interest of 17% compounding monthly, secured by a registered charge. Mrs Ehsman asked the copies of the draft loan facility and charge documents but received them only after they had been executed. A board meeting attended by Mr Brady, Mr Frasca and Mr Paix, but not Mrs Ehsman, on 9 May 2005 approved the loan proposal and authorised execution of the documents. Mr Brady, Mr Frasca and Mr Paix, acting as directors of the company, purported to authorise the company to enter into the loan facility and charge agreements in which they were the counterparties, without the consent of the other director/shareholder, Ms Ehsman. 17The defendants claim that the loan facility was drawn down and the money was used directly for payment of outstanding debts of Timentel, rather than for deposit into Timentel's bank account. Mrs Ehsman, by her solicitor, sought to verify the making of the loan but she says she has not received proper documentation. The evidence includes minutes of the board meeting of DNB Global on 18 August 2005, at which the directors of that company confirmed that the company had been paid for certain invoices, but the evidence is incomplete because, for example, the identity of the paying entity is not given. 18On 11 July 2005 Messrs Brady, Frasca and Paix as lenders made a formal notice of demand for payment to Timentel of an amount of about $247,000. But they gave the company a limited extension of time to repay. Mrs Ehsman's solicitors alleged in correspondence that any attempt to enforce the charge would render it void under s 267 of the Corporations Act, because the chargees were "relevant persons" for the purposes of that section. 19The security was not enforced but instead, at some stage it was proposed that the company would enter into an asset sale agreement and a deed of assignment of the licence, in favour of the other three directors or their vehicle, for a price supported by a valuation by Les Artisans Horlogers. In correspondence, Mrs Ehsman's solicitors endeavoured unsuccessfully to obtain information about the valuation - indeed, they approached the valuer directly without success. They alleged that the valuation did not cover all of the assets sold. They strenuously opposed the proposed transaction, on several grounds including that the transaction would be in breach of the contractual arrangements and understandings between Mrs Ehsman and the other three directors. 20Nutectime was formed in August 2005. The directors are Mr Brady, Mr Frasca and Mr Paix. The company has issued 100 ordinary shares. Mr Brady owns 60 shares, Mr Frasca owns 20 shares in Mr and Mrs Paix own 20 shares. Mr and Mrs Ehsman do not hold any shares. 21The asset sale agreement and the deed of assignment of licence were entered into by Timentel and Nutectime on 2 September 2005. The transaction was considered at a board meeting not attended by Mrs Ehsman. Messrs Brady, Frasca and Paix went through a procedure of formally disclosing their interest in the purchaser but then they proceeded, purporting to act as directors of the company, to approve the transaction. It appears that the contract was made and completion took place on the same day. The total sale price $277,000. According to Timentel's solicitors, the sale proceeds were used to pay out and discharge the charge over the company's assets. That appears to have meant that the bulk of the sale proceeds were directed to Mr Brady, Mr Frasca and Mr Paix. It is not clear from the evidence whether there was any actual movement of money. 22Up until May 2005 Mrs Ehsman had been a director and (with her husband) substantial shareholder of Timentel, which was the licensee for no consideration of her patents. On one view, the company owed a substantial amount of money to DNB Global, but it had procured substantial development work for its split face watch design. Any profits from the realisation of that development work would have come to Timentel, and Mr and Mrs Ehsman would have had a 35% interest in those profits. After 2 September 2005, Mrs Ehsman was still a director of Timentel and Mr and Mrs Ehsman remained 35% shareholders. But the company's substantial assets, and any prospect it may have had of earning profits from the development of the split face watch, had gone. Mrs Ehsman was still the licensor of her patents, but she was entitled to receive no consideration for the licence. The new licensee, Nutectime, was a company in which she had no interest, and that company had acquired Timentel's assets and any profit-making opportunity relating to the split face watch. The controllers and shareholders of Nutectime were her fellow directors and shareholders of Timentel. The draft APC and draft FAOP 23From this brief account it appears that if Mrs Ehsman could substantiate her allegations, this would be a case of self-dealing by her co-directors to her considerable disadvantage, and unauthorised diversion of a corporate opportunity. Experience shows that in such cases it is important for the plaintiff to identify with particularity the precise duties said to have been breached and the circumstances of the breach. That is important in the interests of clarity of presentation of the plaintiff's case, and to ensure that the defendant is not surprised by having to meet a case at trial different from what she had been led to expect. These considerations strongly suggest that in such a case, the plaintiff should proceed by statement of claim. Where the plaintiff is proceeding in her own right, invoking the oppression remedy, and also seeking to assert the company's rights in a derivative action, the need for clarity of pleading is especially strong. 24 Deleted 25I have endeavoured to identify those allegations that relate to some right of Timentel, and distinguish them from allegations relating to some right of Mrs Ehsman personally. In summary, for reasons given below, paras 7, 18-21, 22, 23-26, and 27-29 (and the claims to relief in paras 1-5, perhaps 7, and 8) of the draft APC are claims made on behalf of Timentel, and paras 8-16, 17, 30 and 31 (and claims to relief in para 6 and perhaps 7) are claims made by Mrs Ehsman personally. 26It is important to maintain the distinction between derivative and personal claims in the interests of clarity. But nothing in Part 2F.1A requires that a derivative action be in a separate proceeding in which no personal claims are made by the person who has carriage of the proceeding. For example, in Fiduciary Ltd v Morningstar Research Pty Ltd (2005) 53 ACSR 732 the plaintiffs were an individual and corporate plaintiffs, and leave was granted under s 237 so as to permit the individual plaintiff (who was a shareholder and officer of the corporate plaintiffs) to assert the rights of the companies in a proceeding in which he also asserted rights of his own. The combination of corporate and personal claims was not unlike the combination of claims in the present case, though the pleading was by an elaborate statement of claim. In that case, and here, the asserted derivative and personal rights arise to a large degree out of the same alleged facts. 27Here the sole plaintiff is Mrs Ehsman, and Timentel is a defendant. It is not proposed that Timentel should become a plaintiff if s 237 leave is granted, because Timentel is properly a defendant to some of Mrs Ehsman's claims. Nor is it proposed that the derivative action be constituted as a separate proceeding, because there are substantially overlapping facts concerning the derivative and personal claims, which should therefore be heard together. Section 236(2) says that proceedings brought on behalf of a company must be brought in the company's name. But there is now a substantial line of decisions holding that, despite the literal wording of s 236(2), leave under s 237 can be given where the company is a party to the proceeding as a necessary defendant in respect of other claims, without requiring the company become a plaintiff or insisting that the derivative action be brought in a separate proceeding: see especially Keyrate Pty Ltd v Hamarc Pty Ltd (2001) 38 ACSR 396, per Santow J at [18]-[19]; Metyor Inc v Queensland Electronic Switching Pty Ltd (2002) 42 ACSR 398, per McPherson JA at [14]-[15]; Charlton v Baber (2003) 47 ACSR 31, per Barrett J at [5]. 28I turn now to consider the draft APC, paragraph by paragraph. 29After preliminary allegations, para 7 of the draft APC asserts that by reason of their appointment as directors of Timentel, Mr Brady, Mr Frasca and Mr Paix owed Timentel various duties. There is a list of the standard duties of directors. The list reflects ss 180, 181, 182 and 183 of the Corporations Act, and also a duty to act honestly in the exercise of their powers and the discharge of their duties as directors (a formulation no longer found in the statute). [deleted latter part of paragraph] 30Having made allegations about the defendants' duties as directors of Timentel, the draft APC (paras 8-16) makes allegations about the licence agreement, leading to the assertion that the purported sale by Timentel to Nutectime of its rights under the licence agreement was in breach of the licence agreement. That is a personal claim by Mrs Ehsman against Timentel (and no other defendant) for breach of contract. It is not a claim for breach of any duty owed to Timentel. 31Para 17 pleads that, by reason of matters pleaded in paras 8-11, the first to fourth defendants are estopped from asserting that Timentel was entitled to sell or assign to the first defendant the rights of Timentel under the licence agreement. This was said to arise because Mrs Ehsman entered into the licence agreement in reliance on the assumption, encouraged by Mr Brady, Mr Frasca and Mr Paix, that the licence would always be held by a company of which she was a director and shareholder. Clearly the allegation of estoppel is made for the benefit of Mrs Ehsman personally rather than to vindicate some right or interest of Timentel. The document does not reveal how the allegation can be made against any defendant other than Mr Brady, given that the assumption is said to have been created and acted upon at the time of the licence agreement, which was made well before Mr Frasca and Mr Paix became involved. 32Paras 18-21 make allegations about breaches of duties owed by the other three directors to Timentel. They allege that Timentel did not receive any of the proceeds of sale of assets, or received only part of the proceeds, and Messrs Brady, Frasca and Paix received those proceeds or part of them. It is claimed that their conduct in receiving those proceeds constituted a breach of all of the duties pleaded in paragraph 7. I find it impossible to justify that claim, with respect to some of the duties identified in para 7, even taking into account the "particulars" to para 21. Moreover, the mere assertion that Timentel did not receive proceeds of sale and the other three directors did (even when the "particulars" to para 21 are added) cannot, per se, establish a breach of any of the duties identified in para 7. These allegations fall well short of a proper pleading. 33Para 22 alleges that by reason of the matters alleged in certain other paragraphs, Messrs Brady, Frasca and Paix have been unjustly enriched as a result of breach of the duties referred to in para 7. Presumably this is intended to establish a ground of recovery for Timentel. Again, the precise matters that might constitute unjust enrichment have not been adequately pleaded and, moreover, it is not easy to see why para 22 combines breach of directors' duties with unjust enrichment. 34Paras 23-26 make allegations against Nutectime, intended to support orders declaring void and setting aside the purported sale of assets or requiring Nutectime to hold the assets in trust for Timentel. These paragraphs seem to assert some entitlement to relief on the part of Timentel rather than Mrs Ehsman, although the remedies would obviously operate for her benefit as well. The precise foundation of the remedies is not clear. The drafter has not invoked the equitable principles concerning accessory liability for breach of trust with any specificity or clarity. To the extent that entitlement to the relief is said to arise out of Nutectime being "knowingly concerned in the breach" there is a suggestion of statutory accessory liability, but the statutory directors' duties do not create any accessory civil reliability for being knowingly concerned in the primary breach. There is "accessory" liability under the statute for de facto and shadow directors, but the allegations in the draft APC do not in terms invoke that liability. 35Paras 27-29 allege that the deed of charge dated 9 May 2005 is void and should be set aside because Timentel did not receive the benefit, or received only part of the benefit, of the money purported to be advanced. This seems to be the assertion of rights of Timentel rather than Mrs Ehsman personally. A deed of charge merely provides security for advances made under some other arrangement such as a loan facility agreement. It is not easy to see why the fact (if it be so) that the chargor did not receive the benefit of loan monies purported to be advanced under a loan facility agreement should, per se, lead to the consequence that the security for the loan is void. If the charge is security for money advanced under a loan facility agreement, and no money is advanced to the chargor, then nothing is secured by the charge but the charging instrument is nevertheless valid. 36Para 30 contends that the other three directors repeatedly failed or refused to furnish information to Mrs Ehsman relating to the affairs of Timentel. Particulars are given. As expressed, this is an allegation of breach of duty to Mrs Ehsman rather than Timentel. There is no allegation of any particular duty but it seems that the drafter had in mind either or both of the statutory rights of a director to gain access to certain information under ss 198F and 290, or the director's general law right of access to the information needed to discharge her fiduciary duty (eg Edman v Ross (1922) 22 SR(NSW) 351). A director seeking to assert those rights is not required to show that inspection is sought in good faith and for a proper purpose, whereas a shareholder seeking inspection under s 247A must do so. Para 30 is not clear enough. 37Para 31 asserts that, by reason of the matters asserted, the other three directors have conducted the affairs of Timentel in a manner oppressive to, unfairly prejudicial to or unfairly discriminatory against Mrs Ehsman, or contrary to the interests of the members as a whole, contrary to s 232. Mrs Ehsman has personal standing to complain under that provision. The difficulty with para 31 is that it relies globally on all of the other allegations, some of which do not seem to be pertinent (for example, the pleadings against Timentel itself based on breach of contract and against Mr Brady based on estoppel). It should be re-formulated with more precision. 38 Deleted 39The draft FAOP contains the same claims for relief as the draft APC, and therefore suffers from the defects just noted. It also contains a prayer for an order under s 237. This is inappropriate, given that the interlocutory application presently under consideration seeks a s 237 order and also leave to file the FAOP, so that the question of s 237 leave will have been addressed before the FAOP is filed. Further, in the draft FAOP the application is said to be made pursuant to ss 232, 236 and 237. Sections 236 and 237 do not need to be mentioned, for the reason just given, and s 232 appears from the draft APC to be only one of the statutory provisions under which relief is sought, the others being the various directors' duties provisions. 40My conclusion is that the draft APC and the draft FAOP are seriously defective, and therefore I shall not accede to Mrs Ehsman's application for leave to file and serve them in their present form. What is needed is a carefully considered pleading by statement of claim. However, my view is that the draft APC identifies in broad terms, though imprecisely and at times in a confused way, some derivative and personal causes of action that emerge on Mrs Ehsman's account of the evidence. The causes of action are: (A)a personal claim by Mrs Ehsman against Timentel for breach of contract arising out of Timentel's purported sale and assignment to Nutectime, sounding in damages (paras 8-16); (B)a personal claim by Mrs Ehsman against Mr Brady based the allegation that at the time of the making of the licence agreement he encouraged her to assume that the licence would always be held by a company of which she was a director and shareholder - though the appropriate remedy, if this ground is established, is debatable (para 17); (C)claims by Timentel against Messrs Brady, Frasca and Paix for breach of ss 182 and 183 and their general law duty to avoid conflicts of interest, by virtue of their self-dealing in the loan and security transactions and then the sale and assignment transactions, leading an order for an account of profit or an order setting aside the transactions, or a compensation order under s 1317H (paras 18-21 and 22); (D)a claim by Timentel against Nutectime for accessory liability under equitable principles which apply to a person who assists in a breach of fiduciary duty or receives property transferred in breach of duty, leading to an order requiring Nutectime to hold acquired property on trust or to account as a constructive trustee (paras 23-26); (E)a personal claim by Mrs Ehsman against the other three directors asserting infringement of her right of access as a director to information of Timentel, under the general law and perhaps under ss 198F and 290, leading to an order for access or to restrain obstruction (para 30); (F)a personal claim by Mrs Ehsman for relief under the "oppression" remedy in s 232, arising out of specifically pleaded facts and circumstances, leading to a range of possible remedies to address the oppressive or unfair conduct (para 30). 41I am not persuaded that there is any viable course of action underlying paras 27-29. 42I think the appropriate course is to dismiss the application for leave to file and serve the amended points of claim, and to direct Mrs Ehsman to file and serve a statement of claim to give effect to her personal and derivative claims having regard to these reasons for judgment. 43Section 237 authorises the court to grant leave to permit a person to bring proceedings on behalf of a company. Part 2F.1A does not explain the word "proceedings" or give any direct indication of the level of specificity of pleaded allegations and prayers for relief that the applicant for leave must achieve. Typically the applicant will provide the court with a draft statement of claim or (as here) points of claim, or some other document giving particulars of the derivative claims. But in my view it cannot be the case that a full statement of the derivative claims must be presented before the court can consider and determine a leave application. Were that to be required, any subsequent amendments to the pleaded case would need to be treated as a leave application under s 237 to which the criteria in s 237(2) would have to be applied. That, in my view, would be an unnecessary burden for case management. 44In my opinion the applicant for leave must identify and describe the proposed proceedings with sufficient precision that the court can properly assess the application having regard to the criteria that it is required to consider under s 237(2), and the opponents can respond to the application in terms of those criteria. That may be achieved by presenting the court with a draft pleading, but it may be achieved in other ways such as by outlining the claims in affidavit evidence. It is not hard to envisage an application that falls so far short of identifying the derivative causes of action to be asserted that the court is left unable to assess, for example, whether it is in the best interests of the company that the applicant be granted leave, and whether there is a serious question to be tried. Here, however, Mrs Ehsman has done enough in her draft points of claim (defective though they are) and in the voluminous evidence that has been adduced, to permit me to identify the causes of action broadly described in paragraphs (A)-(F) above, of which paras (C) and (D) are derivative claims. I am able to consider the application for leave under s 237 as an application for leave to bring proceedings on behalf of Timentel by a statement of claim that would assert the causes of action identified in paras (C) and (D) and seek appropriate equitable and statutory relief. The requirements for leave to bring a derivative action 45Section 236(1)(a) allows a member or officer, inter alios, to bring proceedings on behalf of the company with the court's leave. Ms Ehsman has standing both as a member and an officer of Timentel. 46Under s 237(2) the court is required to grant the application for leave if it is satisfied of five matters set out in subparagraphs (a) to (e). Subsection 237(3) and (4) establish a rebuttable presumption that the granting of leave is not in the best interests of the company in certain circumstances, but it is agreed that those circumstances have no application to the present case. There is no suggestion of the members of the company purporting to ratify or approve the conduct of the other three directors, so as to invoke s 239. 47Of the five matters that the court must address under s 237(2), the parties agree that the notice requirement in subparagraph (e) has been satisfied here. The defendants did not concede, in terms of subparagraph (a), that it is probable that the company will not itself bring the proceedings, or properly take responsibility for them, or for the steps in them. However, the evidence before me plainly establishes that this criterion is satisfied, in respect of proceedings to pursue any derivative claims of the kind identified at paras (C) and (D) above. Timentel is under the control of the other three directors, who are acting together in respect of the company's dealings with Mrs Ehsman. The other directors (and spouse, in the case of Mr Paix) are the majority shareholders. They have caused the assets of Timentel to be passed to Nutectime, a company in which they but not Ms Ehsman are the directors and shareholders. They have asserted, in answer to the present application, both on their own behalf and on behalf of Timentel, that there is no foundation for derivative claims to be brought. It is clear from their attitude, revealed in the evidence and upon the application, that they would not authorise the company to bring such proceedings. 48That leaves for consideration subparagraphs (b), (c) and (d) of s 237(2). In their submissions, the parties referred me to a substantial number of decided cases. It seems to me, however, that the courts' approach to these subparagraphs has become relatively clear in the course of decisions, and it is unnecessary for me to refer to authorities extensively. Additionally, I have reached the conclusion that this is a plain case in which all three criteria have been established, and that extensive exposition is unnecessary. Good faith 49In the Swansson case, Palmer J expressed the opinion at least two questions are generally relevant to this issue: namely, whether the applicant honestly believes that a good cause of action exists and has reasonable prospects of success; and whether the applicant is seeking to act in a derivative capacity for such a collateral purpose as will amount to an abuse of process. This approach has been followed frequently in subsequent cases. I was referred, inter alia, to the discussion by Brereton J. in Maher v Honeysett & Maher Electrical Contractors Pty Ltd [2005] NSWSC 859, at [30]. 50The evidence shows that Mrs Ehsman believes that a derivative action exists which has reasonable prospects of success. She has given sworn evidence in para [24] of her affidavit of 9 December 2006 to the effect that the company has a good cause of action with reasonable prospects of success for the claims that she outlines. I can see no proper basis in the evidence for doubting that this belief is honest. The highest the evidence goes is in the affidavit of Mr Frasca, where he deposes to a discussion with Mr and Mrs Ehsman in 2003 in which, on his version of it, they conveyed an implacable desire to destroy Mr Brady. But that evidence is contested and in any event, if accepted, it would not point to any lack of honesty in Mrs Ehsman's belief at the present time of her prospects of success in a derivative action. 51Mr Frasca's evidence might be taken to point to a collateral purpose on the part of Mrs Ehsman. But the evidence, if accepted, relates to a conversation some years ago, and the assertion of a collateral purpose is inconsistent with Mrs Ehsman's affidavit evidence. It seems to me that if Mrs Ehsman succeeds in making out her factual contentions, there is a plausible derivative action along the lines of paras (C) and (D) above. If such a derivative action is pursued successfully it will have a beneficial effect on the position of Mrs Ehsman in Timentel. Those conclusions, arising out of the evidence as a whole, makes it difficult to maintain that Mrs Ehsman's purpose in pursuing the derivative cause of action is a collateral one. As Brereton J remarked in Maher v Honeysett (at [33]), the objective facts and circumstances speak louder than an applicant's words about her honesty and purpose, and here the objective facts and circumstances, supported by much evidence, are reasonably eloquent. 52My conclusion is that Ms Ehsman has succeeded in satisfying me that she is acting in good faith for the purposes of s 237(2)(b). Best interests of the company 53In Maher v Honeysett, at [44], Brereton J observed that the phrase "best interests" directs attention to the company's separate and independent welfare, a notion that imports the familiar concept of the interests of the company as a whole. Here it is unnecessary to investigate the qualifications to that proposition arising where the company is insolvent or near to insolvency. In the present case Mrs Ehsman's pursuit of derivative claims will, if she is successful, enure to her benefit, as I have explained. 54As Brereton J pointed out (at [45]), "the existence in an applicant of a personal interest in the outcome of a proposed derivative action, or even of a personal animus against the company or other members of it, cannot be significant, let alone decisive, because they are usual concomitants of the types of disputes which lead to derivative actions, and few if any such actions would be brought but for personal interest on the part of the relevant applicant and in the absence of animus against the company or other shareholders". I respectfully agree. The fact that Mrs Ehsman has a personal interest in the outcome of Timentel's derivative claims, and even the existence of personal animus against Mr Brady (if Mr Frasca's disputed evidence is excepted), are not matters standing in the way of the conclusion that the pursuit of the derivative claims is in the best interests of Timentel. 55Relief having the effect of returning Timentel's assets or their beneficial ownership to the company cannot be obtained by Mrs Ehsman 's pursuit of personal claims (except perhaps through some creative orders on the "oppression" ground). The most direct and obvious way of recovery of the property is for Timentel to assert claims for recovery orders derivatively through Mrs Ehsman. If those claims are successful the result will be orders for the restoration of Timentel's property, an outcome which will be in the best interests of the company, although obviously not in the best interests of the majority shareholders. 56In my view it is appropriate for the derivative claims to be pursued in proceedings in which Mrs Ehsman also asserts personal claims, provided that great care is taken to distinguish the two categories of claims and the ingredients of the case to prove each category. I hope that a first step along that path will be taken by the preparation of a statement of claim. Although there is a risk of confusion in allowing a single proceeding that asserts personal and derivative claims, there is considerable advantage in doing so where, as here, there is a substantial common substratum of fact underlying the two categories of claims (see Maher v Honeysett at [53]). 57In all the circumstances I am satisfied that it is in the best interests of Timentel, for the purposes of s 237(2)(c), that Mrs Ehsman be granted leave under s 237. Serious question to be tried 58In my view this case should be treated as a case where the applicant is applying for leave to bring derivative proceedings, rather than to intervene in existing proceedings. The effect of my granting leave to her to file a new initiating pleading will be, if the job is done properly, to overhaul and substantially reconstitute the proceedings, as proceedings in which she pursues clearly articulated derivative and personal claims. Where the applicant is applying for leave to bring proceedings, s 237(2)(d) requires the court to be satisfied that there is a serious question to be tried. 59As Barrett J explained in Charlton v Baber at [55], the applicant bears the onus of proving sufficient material to enable the court to make this determination. But as I explained above, referring to Palmer J's judgment in Swansson (and see Maher v Honeysett at [19]), the court does not normally enter into the merits of the proposed derivative action to any great degree. The evidence must reach the same standard as applies for an interlocutory injunction, set out in such cases as Castlemaine Tooheys Ltd v State of South Australia (1986) 161 CLR 148 and Australian Broadcasting Corporation v Lenah Game Meats Pty Ltd (2001) 208 CLR 199. The standard has been described as "relatively low" (Maher v Honeysett at [19]). 60In this case Mrs Ehsman has filed quite extensive evidence, which she relies on for the purposes of the application, and I also have before me substantial evidence on behalf of the defendants. I infer that the evidence before me is substantially the evidentiary cases of the parties for final relief. This is certainly not a case of affidavits hurriedly cobbled together to meet the exigencies of an interlocutory occasion. Having considered the evidence my view is that, although there are many disputed questions of fact, which I am not in a position to resolve, Mrs Ehsman's allegations are sufficiently substantial to cross the "serious question to be tried" hurdle. I am therefore satisfied that s 237(2)(d) has been met. The court's powers 61The court is empowered by s 241 to make any orders, and give any directions, that it considers appropriate in relation to proceedings brought with leave, or an application for leave. That section affirms the court's power under the Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) to make an order requiring that the proceedings be brought by statement of claim, a step that I shall take for the reasons I have explained. It also expressly permits the court to make orders requiring mediation, a step that the court is also empowered to take by s 26 of the Civil Procedure Act. During the course of the hearing, I floated with the parties the question whether it would be appropriate to make an order for compulsory mediation. The suggestion was not opposed and I formed the view that if the parties did not voluntarily agree to mediate I should make an order. Unless the parties have, in the meantime, organised for mediation to take place, I shall include a mediation order in the orders that I make pursuant to these reasons for judgment. 62Section 242 permits the court to make any orders it considers appropriate about the costs of various persons, including the company, in relation to proceedings brought with leave under s 237 (see Fiduciary Ltd v Morningstar Research Pty Ltd (2005) 53 ACSR 732, at [56]). In such a case as the present, where the company is essentially a vehicle to pursue the commercial interests of four parties, one of whom is at odds with the other three, who oppose the bringing of derivative claims, and the plaintiff wishes to combine derivative claims with personal claims largely arising out of the same facts, it seems to me appropriate to require the plaintiff to indemnify the company in respect of costs it may incur, either directly or by virtue of a court order against it, with respect to the pursuit of the derivative claims. If the indemnity were not given, the other three directors would as a practical matter be required to bear the burden of 65% of the company's costs of pursuing derivative claims which they do not want it to pursue. Obviously, to the extent that the plaintiff makes a personal claim against the company, she should not be required to give such an indemnity. Further, the indemnity needs to be qualified so that it does not apply to any cost order made by the court with the intention of overriding the effect of the undertaking. The main purpose of that qualification is to enable the trial judge to make such order as to costs as he or she thinks appropriate after the final hearing, untrammelled by an undertaking that may cause an order for costs against the company to rebound against the plaintiff; but the qualification may also be useful to allow the court to override the undertaking in circumstances not presently foreseeable. 63Mrs Ehsman has succeeded in establishing that leave should be granted to her to bring derivative proceedings on behalf of Timentel, and to file and appropriate pleading to initiate those proceedings (and also to clarify her personal claims). That suggests that she should have her costs of the interlocutory application of 12 December 2005, against the defendants other than Timentel. In my view the fact that she will be required to give an undertaking as to the company's future costs is immaterial to the question of the costs of the application. Although I have found that the draft amended points of claim are seriously defective, they nevertheless convey plainly enough the nature of the derivative claims that Mrs Ehsman wishes to pursue. The defects in the pleaded case did not, in my view, provided a justification for the attitude of complete opposition to the application that the defendants presented to the court. Conclusions 64For the reasons I have given, I propose to make orders along the following lines: (1)Subject to the condition identified in order (2), grant leave to the plaintiff, under s 237 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), to bring proceedings on behalf of the fifth defendant against the first, second, third and fourth defendants, asserting the causes of action generally identified in these reasons for judgment and seeking all or any appropriate remedies; (2)Order (1) is subject to the condition that, before any such proceedings are brought, the plaintiff must indemnify the fifth defendant for and in respect of all costs that the fifth defendant may incur (either on its own account or under an order of the court) by reason of the bringing, maintenance and conduct of the derivative proceedings, provided however that the indemnity is not required to extend to costs that the fifth defendant may incur in the proceedings as a defendant in respect of any personal claim made by the plaintiff, and shall not apply with respect to any final order for costs in the proceedings; (3)Direct the plaintiff to file and serve a statement of claim to give effect to her personal and derivative claims, having regard to these reasons for judgment, by no later than a date to be specified; (4)Order the first, second, third and fourth defendants to pay the plaintiff's costs of her interlocutory process filed on 12 December 2005, as agreed or assessed; (5)Subject to orders (1), (2) (3) and (4), the plaintiff's interlocutory process filed on 12 December 2005 is dismissed; (6)Order that the proceedings be referred for mediation by a mediator agreed to by the parties, such mediation to take place by no later than a date to be specified; (7)Liberty to apply to Austin J on 2 days notice. 65However, I shall give the parties the opportunity to draw my attention to any particular matters that might affect the question of costs, by (for example) causing me to award costs on a different measure or to limit the order for costs in some way. I shall also give them the chance to consider my proposed orders. I shall stand the matter over for the purpose of hearing any such submissions and making orders. more

Resolved Question: the actual decision of the case and the legal issues?

Resolved Question: What is the relationship between 911 and Saddam?

By The Numbers On September 11th, 2001 4 Flights were hijacked. American Airlines Flight 11 which left Boston's Logan Airport bound for Los Angeles before being piloted into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.American Airlines Flight 77 which left Washington's Dulles International Airport bound for Los Angeles before being flown into the Pentagon. United Airlines Flight 93 which left Newark, N.J., bound for San Francisco before crashing in Stony Creek Township, Pa United Airlines Flight 175 which left Boston's Logan Airport bound for Los Angeles before being piloted into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Why did the mastermind behind the attacks on America of September 11th, 2001 choose these particular flight numbers? MY THEORY ABOUT THE CHOICE OF FLIGHT 93 WAS THAT 1993 WAS THE YEAR IN WHICH SADDAM FIRST TRIED TO ASSASSINATE FORMER PRESIDENT BUSH IN KUWAIT, IT WAS ALSO THE YEAR IN WHICH SADDAM HUSSEIN FIRST TRIED TO DESTROY THE WORLD TRADE CENTER. IT TURNED OUT TO BE AN UNLUCKY NUMBER FOR SADDAM HUSSEIN BECAUSE THE PASSENGERS ON FLIGHT 93 BECAME HEROES AND STOPPED THE PLANE FROM GOING INTO THE WHITE HOUSE. "White House Was Flight 93 Target http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/20/attack/main509535.shtml May 23, 2002 Volunteers in Shanksville this past weekend. (Photo: AP) The San Francisco-bound jet had turned toward Washington and U.S. fighter jets were flying to intercept it when it crashed. All 44 people aboard were killed. (CBS) A high-ranking al Qaeda detainee told investigators the intended target of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed into a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, was the White House. Government sources said Abu Zubaydah, now in U.S. custody, is believed to be the source of the information. He is being interrogated by U.S. officials at an undisclosed location. Investigators have linked Zubaydah directly to hijackers on board Flight 93. United Flight 93 took off from Newark, N.J., and crashed in Somerset County, Pa.. A recorder on the plane and calls made to people on the ground indicate passengers fought for control with the hijackers before it went down. The San Francisco-bound jet had turned toward Washington and U.S. fighter jets were flying to intercept it when it crashed. All 44 people aboard were killed. Officials previously had assumed the White House was a likely target, but said the Capitol and CIA headquarters in McLean, Va., near Washington were other possibilities.Abu Zubaydah is believed to have played a key role in organizing the Sept. 11 attacks, officials said. As al Qaeda's top operational planner, he ran the Khalden camp in Afghanistan, where U.S. investigators have learned many of the Sept. 11 hijackers trained. This suggests Abu Zubaydah may have had direct contact with the hijackers and chosen them for training. He also had telephone contacts with at least one Arab student at U.S. flight schools, according to a July 10, 2001, memo from a Phoenix FBI agent. The CIA, FBI and Pakistani authorities captured and wounded Abu Zubaydah in a raid by in Faisalabad, Pakistan, in March. He is believed to have masterminded the failed millennium bombing plots in Los Angeles and Jordan, and has been linked to failed plots on the U.S. embassies in Paris and Sarajevo. Abu Zubaydah was also indirectly linked, through a web of associations with other al Qaeda members in Europe, to lead Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta and his cell in Hamburg, Germany. Three members of the Hamburg cell were suicide hijackers; three others are still at large. Ziad Jarrah, believed to be the pilot-hijacker of Flight 93, was a member of the Hamburg cell." http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/20/attack/main509535.shtml The first attack on the World Trade Center on February 26th, 1993. The February 26th, 1993 attack marked the 11th anniversary to the day of the declaration by the Reagan-Bush Administration of February 26th, 1982 that Iraq was no longer a state sponsor of terrorism and as such was eligible for American loans and grants, which it subsequently got. The February 26th, 1993 attack also marked the 2nd anniversary to the day of the liberation of Kuwait by the U.S. in the first Gulf War. Remarks at the Commemoration of the Tenth Anniversary of the Liberation of Kuwait Secretary Colin L. Powell Kuwait City, Kuwait (US Embassy) February 26, 2001 The World Trade Center was attacked by terrorists associated with Sheik Rahman on February 26th, 1993. It was Sheik Rahman's group that murdered Egyptian President Anwar Sadat on the 8th anniversary to the day of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, October 6th. Sheik Rahman's son was subsequently found with bin Laden's group in Afghanistan when the U.S. liberated Afghanistan. "White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer: we have real and credible information that the airplane that landed at the Pentagon was originally intended to hit the White House." http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010912- 8.html#intended-targets American Airlines Flight 77 which left Washington's Dulles International Airport bound for Los Angeles before being flown into the Pentagon. 7/7 is one way to write the date July 7th On July 7th, 1994 Yasser Arafat, PLO chairman drove from Egypt into Gaza, after 27 years in exile. What Arafat was doing was using the date of July 7th to re-write a perceived wrong he had felt some years earlier on another July 7th. It was on July 7th 1986 that the government of Jordan closed the offices of Yasser Arafat's al-Fatah. Because a bus bombing occurred in London on July 7th, 2005 it struck me that the nation that has endured more bus bombings than any other nation is Israel. There may be a connection between the July 7th, 2005 attacks in London and the terrorists who have targeted Israel with bus bombings for years. Recently terrorists in Iraq murdered Egypt's envoy to Iraq. "Zarqawi group reportedly killed Egyptian ambassador in Iraq Iraq-Egypt, Politics, 7/7/2005 News reports from al-Jazeera and al-Arabia satellite TV stations said that Egypt's top diplomat in Iraq to Iraq, Eyhab al-Sharif, had been executed. Meantime, Al-Qaida organization in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, had threatened in a statement on the Internet to execute the chairman of the Egyptian diplomatic mission al-Sharif. The threat to execute Sharif came a short time after al-Qaida organization in Iraq issued pictures for the identity cards of the Egyptian diplomat as an evidence that they are the ones which kidnapped him. The statement said the legitimate court of al-Qaida organization in Mesopotamia decided to "send the ambassador of the state of Egypt to the Mujahideen (indivduals from Egypt and other states that go to Iraq to fight with the insurgents) to execute the death penalty against him." The statement considered that "the embassies in Baghdad are but monitoring sites to snipe the arriving Mujahideen and preventing them from having access to their brothers in Jihad in the land of Mesopotamia (Iraq) and in Afghanistan." In an attempt to prove that the Egyptian ambassador is their possession, al-Qaida organization published documents including a driving Sharif's license and a work card for him at the foreign ministry and another one for health insurance. On Tuesday the organization claimed responsibility for kidnapping Sharif." American Airlines Flight 11 which left Boston's Logan Airport bound for Los Angeles before being piloted into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Saddam Hussein assassinated his first victim when he was 11 years old. Fixated on the number 11 ever since then he easily focused on the World Trade Center as a target because it looked so much like a number 11 that WPIX TV Channel 11 in New York City used the World Trade Center in its logo for years. The World Trade Center also housed an office of the Bank of Kuwait. Saddam used Rahman's group to punish Sadat for failing to defeat Israel in the attack on Israel of October 6th, 1973. Saddam also used Sheik Rahman's group to hit the Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament during the first Gulf War when Egypt sided with America against Iraq. Saddam, acting like a child who is deprived of a toy, who subsequently breaks that toy, set fire to the Kuwaiti oil fields as he was being driven out of Kuwait during the first Gulf War in 1991. "Aired 9/11/2001 "Baghdad Republic of Iraq TV: These are the fruits of the new US order.[Video of explosion rocking World Trade Center] Panic has spread among US official circles, which evacuated the White House following a series of explosions." "CNN LARRY KING LIVE Aired October 2, 2001 LARRY KING: Have you spoken to your father- in-law? (George Herbert Walker Bush) LAURA BUSH: I've spoken to my father-in-law. They were-they had actually spent that Monday night here.(at the White House) I had just seen them off that morning (9/11/2001) when I got in the car and found out about the first plane.(going into the World Trade Center.)" "CNN LARRY KING LIVE America's New War: Laura Bush Discusses the Impact of September 11 Aired October 2, 2001 - 21:00 LARRY KING: A couple of other things: Have you spoken to your father- in-law? (Not in transcript, but the father in law in question is one George Herbert Walker Bush !!!) LAURA BUSH: I've spoken to my father-in-law. They were-they had actually spent that Monday night here. (not in transcript but "here" means at the White House !!!) LARRY KING: Really? LAURA BUSH: I had just seen them off that morning when I got in the-got in the car and found out about the first plane. LARRY KING: Didn't know that. LAURA BUSH: They were-they were on their way to St. Paul, Minnesota to give a speech, and they were in a private plane, and their plane was diverted to Minneapolis." http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0110/02/lkl.00.html "September 11th, 2001 - The White House is evacuated. White House Sealed" http://www.september11news.com/AAWhiteHouseEvacReuters.jpg "try to avoid having the principal travel by commercial airline on terrorist anniversaries" from "The Art of Executive Protection" http://www.securitymanagement.com/library/000450.html " Saddam tried to kill former President Bush in 1993. Former President Bush's Speech to Congress September 11th 1990. 11 years to the day before September 11th 2001 "In the early morning hours of August 2d,(1990),a powerful Iraqi army invaded Kuwait. The crisis in the Persian Gulf also offers a rare opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective-a new world order-can emerge." White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer: we have real and credible information that the airplane that landed at the Pentagon was originally intended to hit the White House." "White House Was Flight 93 Target A high-ranking al Qaeda detainee told investigators the intended target of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed into a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, was the White House. Government sources said Abu Zubaydah, now in U.S. custody, believed to be the source of the information." Perhaps the following may explain how Saddam knew where former President Bush might be spending the night of September 10th-11th 2001: "Like everyone else in the United States, the group stood transfixed as the events of September 11 unfolded. Present were former secretary of defense Frank Carlucci, former secretary of state James Baker III, and representatives of the bin Laden family. This was not some underground presidential bunker or Central Intelligence Agency interrogation room. It was the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., the plush setting for the annual investor conference of one of the most powerful, well-connected, and secretive companies in the world: the Carlyle Group. And since September 11, this little-known company has become unexpectedly important. That the Carlyle Group had its conference on America's darkest day was mere coincidence, but there is nothing accidental about the cast of characters that this private-equity powerhouse has assembled in the 14 years since its founding. Among those associated with Carlyle are former U.S. President George Bush Sr., former U.K. Prime Minister John Major, and former President of the Philippines Fidel Ramos. And Carlyle has counted, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud of Saudi Arabia, and Osama bin Laden's family among its high-profile clientele." "The White House is bordered on three sides by buildings that are as tall or taller than itself. (OEOB, Treasury, and Blair House.) Beyond these buildings there are still more buildings, that also are taller than the White House. The only flight path that is relatively unobstructed if making a controlled, straight-in approach, is from the south, over the ellipse. Even the Marine helicopter the president uses comes in from this direction and lands on the South Lawn. The problem with flying a plane the size of a 757 or 767 in from this direction is that there's a 555 ft tall structure in the way called the Washington Monument. The Capitol, although a bigger target, is similarly situated. There are buildings on all sides except for the west side, which faces the Mall. Again, for a controlled, straight-in approach, a pilot first would need to avoid the Washington Monument, and then fly straight down the Mall. There is more room to do this, but again, it would take considerable skill. Moreover, the buildings in Roslyn, just across the river from and to the west of the Mall, would have to be cleared, which means the plane's altitude would probably be too high, or the angle of descent too steep to permit a successful attack by anyone other than a skilled, experienced pilot." To indicate September 1990 one might well write or type 9/90 It was in September of 1990 that President George Herbert Walker Bush spoke to Congress on Iraq. On September 11th, 1990 in fact. What of EgyptAir Flight 990? Weeks after the last pile of debris from EgyptAir Flight 990 was pulled from the sea, investigators say they are more convinced than ever of their original theory: The jet was crashed deliberately." "The co-pilot under scrutiny in the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 uttered an Arabic prayer not once but as many as 10 times just before the doomed airliner went down" "Aviation Analyst John Nance Talks About Flight 990 When a commercial aircraft goes into a dive as steep and precipitous as the preliminary radar data seems to indicate." An example of terrorists striking on an anniversary came on October 7th, 2004 in Taba. "Images of Destruction | Taba Hilton Before and After Terrorist Attack on October 7, 2004" According to initial findings Naveh said, a car bomb blew up at the entrance to the Hilton Taba Hotel and there was a combined bomb and shooting attack in two restaurants usually frequented by Israelis in Ras Al-Satan." http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4020867.html On October 7th,2001 "America Retaliates for the September 11 Attacks. October 7, 2001 President George W. Bush Speaks to America After the Strikes Begin. "On October 7th, 1959, Saddam and others attempted, but failed, to assassinate the prime minister of Iraq. Wanted by the Iraqi government, Saddam was forced to flee. He lived in exile in Syria for three months and then moved to Egypt where he lived for three years." http://history1900s.about.com/od/saddamhussein/p/saddamhussein.htm "President Saddam Hussein chairs 48th Cabinet Session Baghdad, Oct. 22, 2001 INA President Saddam Hussein chaired on Sunday the 48th Cabinet session. The Cabinet discussed recent events of Palestinian Intifadha and praised Palestinians brave and persistent struggle for liberating their lands. The cabinet reviewed the current international situation, especially the U.S aggression on Afghanistan. The Cabinet brought back a historic stance Iraq had taken in 1979 when it condemned the military Soviet invasion of Afghanistan though Iraq had then deep relations with the Soviet Union and there was a friendship and cooperation agreement between Iraq and the Soviet Union, yet this had not prevented Iraq from taking the national independent stand rejecting Soviet's behavior. History repeats itself once again in 2001 as Iraq takes the same stance and condemns the US aggression on Afghanistan....this confirms Iraq's principled stance rejecting all forms of foreign intervention and aggressions. The Cabinet discussed issues listed on its agenda and made necessary decisions and recommendations." Saddam loves 11th anniversaries, for instance " Saddam Hussein's speech on the 11th Anniversary of the Great Victory Day In the Name of God, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful Great People, The Valiant of Our Brave Armed Forces, Sons of our Glorious Arab Nation…" "Middle East Correspondent, Robert Fisk: Why was it that the bombing of the two embassies in Tanzania and Kenya occurred on the eighth anniversary to the very day of the first arrival of American troops of the 82nd airborne in Saudi Arabia in 1990?" "The 12th of October 2002 will for the rest of Australian history be counted as a day when evil struck with indiscriminate and indescribable savagery," "On October 12th, 2000 terrorists in a boat laden with explosives carried out a suicide bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in the harbor at Aden, Yemen. In what President Clinton described as a "despicable and cowardly act," 17 U.S. sailors were killed, and over 30 others were wounded." After the liberation of Iraq terrorists struck the Baghdad Hotel on October 12th. If you add 1 to 9 you get 10. If you add 1 to 11 you get 12. Thus the 9/11/2001 attack was presaged by the attack on the U.S.S. Cole on 10/12/2000. The terrorists were engaging in what to them was a private joke regarding their plans for 9/11/2001. "Iraq has the motivation and the means to actively support the Islamist networks of the region*** In the past, there have been intelligence reports of possible cooperation between Iraq and Osama bin Laden. Iraq has already tried to assassinate President Bush Senior in 1993, when he visited Kuwait as a private citizen. In the attack on the USS Cole in Aden (in) October (of 2000), there could have been an Iraqi connection. Iraq has excellent relations with the anti-Western Yemeni Islamists of the Army of Aden-Abyan, whose militants have been arrested by the Yemenite authorities in connection with the attack. Such an attack required long preparations, technical and military skills and good operational intelligence. In addition, the explosive used in the attack was sophisticated, a "shaped charge" like a torpedo or a missile, a device not in use by terrorist organizations, and which may have come from a military stockpile." 4 DAYS BEFORE SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 Saddam's Stepson in USA "Authorities said Saffi" (Saddam's Stepson), " triggered red flags for four reasons: the family relationship to the Iraqi dictator; training at an American flight school; arrival on the eve of the Independence Day celebrations; and his only documented prior entry into the United States occurred just four days before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." "Saddam's Stepson to Be Deported Fri Jul 5th 2002 (Saffi) was planning to study at a flight school believed by the FBI to have been used by one of the Sept. 11 hijackers." "US officials state that an FBI investigation had substantiated charges that the Iraqi government plotted the assassination of former President Bush while visiting Kuwait in April 1993." "Terrorist Pilot Met With Iraqi Intelligence Agent By RICK JERVIS Special to The Wall Street Journal Europe Wall Street Journal, Europe October 4, 2001 [With thanks to Laurie Mylroie - Iraq News] PRAGUE-Mohamed Atta, who allegedly crashed the first plane into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, met at least one Iraqi intelligence agent last year in Prague before moving to the U.S., a Czech official close to the investigation said." United Airlines Flight 175 which left Boston's Logan Airport bound for Los Angeles before being piloted into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY 15 December 1988 43/175. Question of Palestine RECORDED VOTE ON RESOLUTION 43/175 A: 123-2-20 Did Anniversary Assassins Strike Again November 22nd 2004 What do you think the chances are that the plane crash which would have killed the 41st President of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush,had he been on board the plane which was enroute from Love Field in Dallas, Texas to pick him up, on the 41st anniversary of the assassination of JFK 11/22/1963 was a botched assassination attempt? Saddam Hussein, who may be running the show from his jail cell, assassinated his first victim when he was 11 years old, took power in Iraq in 1968, made it official 11 years later in 1979, invaded Kuwait 11 years later in 1990 sent bin Laden to assassinate former President Bush 11 years later on 9/11/2001 on the 11th anniversary to the day of the 9/11/1990 Bush speech to Congress on Iraq in which Bush mentioned The New World Order."US plans to dominate the world under the cover of what is called the new [world] order. These are the fruits of the new US order. [Video of explosion rocking World Trade Center] [Description of Source: Baghdad Republic of Iraq Television in Arabic-Official television station of the Iraqi Government." The World Trade Center looked so much like the number 11 that WPIX-TV Channel 11 in New York City used the World Trade Center as its logo. Note 11 times 2 equals 22. The Madrid attacks were done exactly 911 days after 9/11/2001. Sadat, criticized by arafat and Saddam for making peace with Israel, was assassinated on 10/6/1981 exactly 8 years after the 10/6/1973 Yom Kippur War in which he failed to defeat Israel. The American Embassies in Africa were hit on August 8th, 1998, exactly 8 years after the US entered Saudi Arabia in response to Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. A gentlemanly John Connally reaches to remove his hat as Jackie Kennedy enters presidential limousine at Love Field, Dallas, November 22, 1963 Source: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/images/jbc-love.htm The shocking news that narco-terrorists in Colombia plotted to assassinate current President George W. Bush on Monday November 22nd, 2004, the 41st anniversary of the JFK assassination, needs some examination. BCCI, the infamous drug-terror-arms bank that allegedly gave former President Jimmy Carter $10 million for the Carter Library,had offices in Peru, where coca leaves are grown, in Colombia, where the coca leaves are processed into cocaine, and in Castro's Cuba, and Baathist Syria and Baathist Iraq. Banks did not get offices in any of those 3 tyrannies without the approval of the tyrant. "Colombian Rebels Planned to Kill President Bush November 27th, 2004 U.S. National - Reuters By Hugh Bronstein BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - President Bush was targeted for assassination by Colombia's biggest Marxist rebel group this week when he visited the Caribbean port city of Cartagena, a top Colombian official said on Saturday. "According to informants and various sources, we had information indicating that various members of the FARC had been instructed by their leaders to make an attempt against President Bush," Defense Secretary Jorge Alberto Uribe told reporters. He would not be drawn out on the details of the threat. The White House had no immediate comment. The U.S. Secret Service, which protects the president, said it "does not comment or release information regarding our protective intelligence and protective methods." "We do not discuss any alleged threats to our protectees," said Jonathan Cherry, a Secret Service spokesman. There was heavy security in Cartagena when Bush visited the city on Monday(November 22nd, 2004)on his way back from the APEC forum in Chile. Military helicopters packed with armed soldiers flew over Bush's motorcade while naval vessels kept watch offshore. Many shops were shuttered." Source: http://news.yahoo.com/news? tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041127/us_nm/colombia_bush_plot_dc_5 "In early August, 1991, the Committee was provided with documents from the Latin American and Caribbean Region Office (LACRO) of BCCI, describing the offer for sale by the Argentine air force of 22 Mirage aircraft for $110 million. (63) The planned sale was to have been made to Iraq, as part of Saddam Hussein's massive military buildup prior to the Gulf war. BCCI was acting as the broker for the transaction, which was to take place in August or September of 1989...As Robert Mazur, the Customs agent in Tampa who selected BCCI as the target of the Customs money laundering sting testified, BCCI bank executives volunteered methods to enhance and improve his techniques for money laundering, and shortly before the sting ended the operation, offered to introduce Mazur to other potential "cash" customers for money laundering services from Bogota, Colombia...." Source: http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.htm "The Ba'ath leadership gave the orders for Qasim's assassination...On October 7th,1959, a six-,man assassination squad was waiting...the night before one member of the squad had fallen ill. A new recruit was drafted in...his full name was Saddam Hussein al-Takriti." Page 22 "The Ba'athist led forces...participated in the coup of 8th February 1963...Immediately after the coup, Saddam Hussein returned to Iraq, where he was appointed as the head of Al-Jihaz Al Khas, known popularly as Jihaz Haneen (the Yearning Apparatus), the clandestine intelligence organization of the Ba'ath Party. Saddam proceeded to turn it into an instrument of terror....on 18th November (1963) the army seized power in a swift military coup...the new leadership of the Ba'ath Party...was arrested. However, some of its members immediately collaborated with the new regime..." Pgs 25-26 "7th October 1959 A Ba'athist assassination squad fails to kill Qasim. A member of the team, twenty-two-year old Saddam Hussein, escapes to Syria and then to Egypt...8th February 1963 A Ba'athist coup overthrows Quasim amidst several days of terrible street fighting...18th November 1963 Following bitter infighting between...factions of the Baath, Arif overthrows the Ba'athist regime..." Pages 312-313 "Saddam...inherited from his uncle an admiration for Nazi principles...he was attracted to the ideas of the Ba'ath nationalist movement. The movement had been established in Damascus in 1943" (when Syria was a French colony and Hitler ruled France) "by two Syrians, Greek Orthodox Christian Michel A'flaq and Sunni Muslim Salah al-Bitar. Their philosophy was based on the ideology of German national socialism" (Nazism) "and on Italian fascism." Page 199 "After the Ba'ath Party came to power in February 1963...Saddam was promoted into the Regional Command Council and it was soon found that this was his metier. He was put in charge of a special force responsible for terror and assassination and was an interrogator and torturer in the Qasr al-Nihayyat (`The Palace of the End'). Eyewitnesses say Saddam excelled in creating new methods and revealed a sadistically inventive mind. He designed new instruments of torture and then experimentd with them on his victims. ...By the summer of 1963, Saddam was urging the party to put him in charge of creating a special security apparatus modelled on the Nazi SS. This was the Jihaz Haneen....following nationalisation of banks and certain foreign companies in 1964, the Ba'ath Party instructed Saddam to assassinate the president Abd al-Salam Arif. The proposed assassination was designed to trigger off another Ba'ath coup. Critics say it was a plan on behalf of the CIA but according to some Ba'athist defectors the CIA did not have direct contact with the Ba'ath itself but with army officers who were co-ordinating a joint coup with the party. The main contact with the Americans was Iraq's own ambassador in Washington, Dr. Nasser al-Hanni." Pages 201-203 "The second part of the plot was carried out by the Jihaz Haneen...Members of the Iraqi Jewish community...were...arrested. Eleven of them were among the first fourteen `spies' to be pubicly hanged on 27th January 1969....The public hangings turned into a national holiday with live television and radio coverage, and the Ba'ath Party organized the transport of some hundred thousand `workers and peasants' from outside Baghdad to join in...Families picknicked under trees while watching the hangings. This public orgy of death went on for twenty-four hours..." Page 206 Source: Unholy Babylon-The Secret History of Saddam's War by Adel Darwish and Gregory Alexander St. Martin's Press, New York 1991 ISBN 0-312-06530-2 "Compare the January 1969 show trial with another spectacle organized by the first Ba'thi regime in 1963 and designed to counter the continuing popularity of the ousted president, `Abd al-Karim Qassem, among certain sectors of the Shi'ite population of Baghdad. In the first week of the coup, the citizens of al-Thawra, a suburb of Baghdad, had fought the army and Ba'thist militia in some of the bloodiest street battles in the history of the country. They refused to believe that Qassem had been overthrown....The Ba'ath...dealt with this emotive imagery by televising a lengthy film clip displaying Qassem's bullet-ridden corpse. Night after night, they made their gruesome point. The body was propped up on a chair in the studio. A soldier saunter around, handling its parts. The camera would cut to scenes of devastation at the Ministry of Defence where Qassem had made his last stand. There, on location, it lingered on the mutilated corpses of Qassem's entourage...Back to the studio, and close-ups now of the entry and exit points of each bullet hole. The whole macabre sequence closes with a scene that must forever remain etched on the memory of all those who saw it: the soldier grabbing the lolling head by the hair, came right up close, and spat full face into it. The fear that the Ba'th were trying to instill in this and other instances was brutally direct. The centuries-old message was simple: he is dead, you had better believe it, we can do the smae to you. The fact that it was on television extended its reach..." Pages 58-59. Source: Republic of Fear The Inside Story of Saddam's Iraq by Samir al Khalil Pantheon Books, New York 1989 ISBN 0-679-73502-X "An Afghani tends to a field of heroin poppies, the sale of which provides much of the financing for the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. Afghanistan is the world's No. 1 producer and distributor of heroin, and illicit drug trafficking is the biggest funding source for By Rachel Ehrenfeld / Special to The Detroit News About the author Rachel Ehrenfeld is director of the New York-based Center for the Study of Corruption and the author of "Evil Money" (HarperBusiness) and "Narco-Terrorism" (Basic Books). Moving the money... In the welter of events following the bombing of the World Trade Center in Feb. 26, 1993, few noticed that the first man arrested, Mohammed Salameh—the poor, unemployed illegal immigrant— offered $5 million for bail. Where could he get this kind of money? The judge refused bail. But was the source of Salameh's offer the same as the one that funded the eight men—arrested shortly afterward—who planned to blow up Manhattan's tunnels and bridges and to assassinate public officials? Were the same money sources behind the final attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11? ... For a long time, there has been evidence that terrorist, international drug trafficking and criminal organizations use the same fund-raising methods to enrich themselves. Yet no one seemed to connect the dots. And no one seriously tried to crack down on their financing. Bin Laden's is only one among many hostile international criminal organizations, often state-sponsored, that will do whatever they can to diminish the status of the United States as the only superpower. According to a State Department report, the Taliban, who are at bin Laden's service, has the advantage of controlling the world's largest heroin production and distribution in the world. Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, the heroin production soared to hundreds of tons each year. In 1999 alone, the world production of heroin was estimated at 500 metric tons; 400 were produced by the Taliban and available to fund bin Laden and his associates worldwide. First warning The writing was on the wall on July 5, 1991, when the Bank of England shut down what was the most important Islamic bank in the world, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). This criminal entity was created by the Pakistani Aaga Hassan Abedi "to fight the evil influence of the West"; to help with the creation of the "Islamic Bomb"; to finance all Muslim terrorist organizations; and to launder the money that was generated mostly by illicit drug trafficking and other illegal activities, including arms trafficking. When BCCI went belly up, we learned from thousands of documents that Abu Nidal—the notorious Palestinian terrorist organization that now enjoys the hospitality of Iraq's Saddam Hussein, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Hezbollah and bin Laden—had accounts in the bank. By the end of the 1980s, the "special services" provided by BCCI included access to Western humanitarian and international development funds, as well as drug money laundering, secret transfers of cash and bribes. A "Black Network," a special enforcement unit supported by Abu Nidal and other terrorist organizations, operated from Pakistan. The same Pakistan that harbored bin Laden for many years while its officials told the United States that they didn't know his whereabouts. And the same Pakistan that for decades, even according to the State Department's annual report, had been a major drug trafficking and money laundering center. Western blindness Yet, now more importantly, we also discovered that the American and British governments knew and kept the bank open for a long time. The bank "that would bribe God" was able to get away with its criminal activities for decades due to Abedi's clever portrayal of the Muslim nations as victims of Western—and particularly U.S.— "imperialism." And when the bank was shuttered, the accusation in the Muslim/Arab and Third World countries was that the U.S. and the United Kingdom governments closed the bank to curtail the growing fiscal power of Muslim countries. Like Abedi, anti-American, anti-Western terrorist and radical Muslim states and organizations, such as the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, the PLO, Iraq and Iran, use Western democratic rhetoric to their advantage. But it is the willful blindness, mainly toward the growing volume of drug money laundering, exercised by Western bankers on the one hand and Western politicians on the other, that makes money laundering possible, despite the many laws and international conventions to control this phenomenon. The BCCI was the first warning to the West. The second warning about the abuse of European and American financial markets by terrorist organizations, as well as their involvement in the illicit arms and drug trade, was made in February 1994 by the British National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS). The Organized Crime Unit of the NCIS warned that Middle East terrorist groups and states were targeting the financial centers of London, Frankfurt and other Western countries, and that they favor illegal drug trafficking, money laundering and fraud.... Clinton appeasement Despite its stated policy of not negotiating with terrorists, the Clinton administration went out of its way to appease a few of the 20th century's most notorious terror groups: the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the PLO and the Irish Republican Army. All are heavily involved in the drug trade. On the eve of the 1993 handshake on the White House lawn between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Britain's National Criminal Intelligence Service estimated the PLO's ill-gotten gains to total between $8 billion to $10 billion, with an annual income of about $1.5 billion to $2 billion from "donations, extortion, payoffs, illegal arms dealing, drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud, etc." Since then, Washington has only aided and abetted the PLO. Since the start of the Oslo process, Arafat has received at least $3 billion more from the United States and the international community, without any serious demand for accountability, according to a report this year to Congress. Arafat, in well-documented instances, has been systematically skimming off portions of these funds, as he has with monies given to him on behalf of the refugees in the camps. The PLO was in the drug trafficking business almost from the beginning. Operating from Lebanon, under Habash's able leadership and assisted by a PLO-owned shipping company SUMUD, the organization exported hashish, opium, heroin and cocaine, first to Europe and later even to the United States and Australia. In return, it obtained weapons for their war against Israel and the West, and amassed a massive treasure trove. In addition, the PLO and Arafat, who enjoy the financial and strategic support of Hussein and bin Laden, have the distinction of being the organization that promoted "suicide bombers" as a weapon. Yet the Clinton administration subsidized a multitude of radical Palestinian groups, ranging from Arafat's Fatah branch of the PLO and its military wing, the Tanzim, to the socialist-nationalist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), headed by George Habash, all with close ties to bin Laden, Iraq and Iran. ...It was the Clinton White House that, despite evidence to the contrary, removed Syria from its list of the drug trafficking countries, to entice Syria to join the "peace process" in the Middle East. The failure of that process and the compromises the United States has made to maintain an illusion of peaceful prospects had no doubt added to the Muslim radical terrorists' resolve to attack what they see as a naive and vulnerable America. In another example of self-delusion, in 1999, then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright suggested a U.S.-led coalition to negotiate with the FARC and supported Colombia President Pastrana's "land for peace" initiative, despite a report from the General Accounting Office that the FARC is running a major international criminal enterprise that, among other things, supplies hundreds of tons of cocaine and heroin to the U.S. black market. This second Clinton "land for peace" initiative gave half of Colombia to the narco-terrorist FARC, while doing nothing to diminish its violence or appetite to control the rest of the country...." Source: http://www.detnews.com/2001/editorial/0109/30/a17-306400.htm Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called the Palestinian Authority a "gang of corrupt assassins and terrorists." "There is an obstacle [to peace] with the gang of corrupt assassins and terrorists that lead the Palestinian Authority," Sharon said in a televised speech in Israel. "The only way to peace is to remove this murderous posse." – Source: New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com Sharon raps Arafat `assassins' By KENNETH R. BAZINET DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU Thursday, August 8th, 2002 "Bush back from surprise Iraq trip President Bush has arrived back in the United States after a surprise trip to Baghdad, where he spent two hours with US troops celebrating Thanksgiving Day. Mr. Bush told troops the US would not be swayed by ongoing attacks in Iraq. "We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq, pay a bitter cost of casualties, defeat a ruthless dictator and liberate 25 million people only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins," he told 600 US soldiers. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3245584.stm "President Bush and his wife, Laura, along with former president George H. W. Bush, welcome the King and Queen of Spain, Juan and Sofia Carlos, to their ranch Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2004, in Crawford, Texas.(AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)" Source: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news? tmpl=story&u=/041124/480/txlj10111241820 A small jet chartered to fly former President Bush to Ecuador Monday,November 22nd, 2004 was well below normal altitude when it clipped a toll road light tower and crashed into a muddy field three miles south of Hobby Airport, killing the crew of three.The plane, which belonged to Jet Place Inc. of Tulsa, Okla., came from Love Field in Dallas. It was approaching the runway when the wing and the landing gear on the right side clipped the pole on a tollway road....." "Weeks after the last pile of debris from EgyptAir Flight 990 was pulled from the sea, investigators say they are more convinced than ever of their original theory: The jet was crashed deliberately." http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/egyptair000121.html "The co-pilot under scrutiny in the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 uttered an Arabic prayer not once but as many as 10 times just before the doomed airliner went down" http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/egyptair991121.html "Aviation Analyst John Nance Talks About Flight 990 When a commercial aircraft goes into a dive as steep and precipitous as the preliminary radar data seems to indicate." http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/chat_johnnance110199.html "The White House is bordered on three sides by buildings that are as tall or taller than itself. (OEOB, Treasury, and Blair House.) Beyond these buildings there are still more buildings, that also are taller than the White House. The only flight path that is relatively unobstructed if making a controlled, straight-in approach, is from the south, over the ellipse. Even the Marine helicopter the president uses comes in from this direction and lands on the South Lawn. The problem with flying a plane the size of a 757 or 767 in from this direction is that there's a 555 ft tall structure in the way called the Washington Monument. The Capitol, although a bigger target, is similarly situated. There are buildings on all sides except for the west side, which faces the Mall. Again, for a controlled, straight-in approach, a pilot first would need to avoid the Washington Monument, and then fly straight down the Mall. There is more room to do this, but again, it would take considerable skill. Moreover, the buildings in Roslyn, just across the river from and to the west of the Mall, would have to be cleared, which means the plane's altitude would probably be too high, or the angle of descent too steep to permit a successful attack by anyone other than a skilled, experienced pilot." Imagine the rage and fury of Saddam Hussein "On February 26th, 1982 the Reagan Administration told Congress that it had dropped Iraq from the list of nations that supported acts of international terrorism. Baghdad would now be eligible for American government loan guarantees." source: SPIDER'S WEB: THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOW THE WHITE HOUSE ILLEGALLY ARMED IRAQ by Alan Friedman ASIN: 0553096508 Imagine Saddam's rage and fury when Kuwait was liberated on February 26th, 1991, 9 years to the day after the event described above! Is it any wonder that Saddam would launch the first of his 2 attacks on the World Trade Center on February 26th, 1993, the 2nd anniversary of the liberation of Kuwait City, and the 11th anniversary of the event described above, and that he would launch his 2nd attack on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001, the 11th anniversary of the Bush I speech to Congress on Iraq. Saddam loves 11th anniversaries, for instance " Saddam Hussein's speech on the 11th Anniversary of the Great Victory Day In the Name of God, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful Great People, The Valiant of Our Brave Armed Forces, Sons of our Glorious Arab Nation…" http://www.index.com.jo/iraqtoday/auguste.html Saddam took credit for the September 11th attacks on America on Baghdad Republic of Iraq Television. Saddam sent his henchman Osama bin Laden to attack America and to assassinate former President Bush, who was at the White House on the morning of September 11th, 2001,just as he had tried to assassinate former President Bush in Kuwait in 1993. That is why Flight 93 was selected to hit the White House on the morning of September 11th, 2001. Fortunately the heroes of Flight 93 stopped that from happening and the plane went down in Pennsylvania. Second Attempt to Assassinate President Bush. We all know that Saddam Hussein attempted to assassinate former President Bush in Kuwait in 1993. Laura Bush, wife of the current President Bush, along with the current President Bush's brothers, his parents, and former Secretary of State Baker were actually in the air enroute to Kuwait when the intelligence came in and their plane was turned back. Then President Clinton later bombed an empty Iraqi intelligence building in retaliation for that attempt in which Saddam's homicide bombers were caught in Kuwait. We believe that the Second Attempt to assassinate former President George Herbert Walker Bush was made by Saddam Hussein using his henchman Osama bin Laden on September 11th, 2001. September 11th, 1990 Dubya's Dad Speaks to Congress on Iraq When September 11th Yes ! September 11th 1990. Exactly 11 years to the day before the infamous September 11th 2001 attacks on America. Saddam's Revenge !!! How clear it is!!! "Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the Persian Gulf Crisis and the Federal Budget Deficit September 11, 1990. We gather tonight, witness to events in the Persian Gulf as significant as they are tragic. In the early morning hours of August 2d, following negotiations and promises by Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein not to use force, a powerful Iraqi army invaded its trusting and much weaker neighbor, Kuwait. *** The crisis in the Persian Gulf, as grave as it is, also offers a rare opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective-a new world order-can emerge. ***" READ THE WHOLE OF DUBYA'S DADDY'S SPEECH TO CONGRESS ON SEPTEMBER 11TH, 1990 AT http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/ "Note: The President spoke at 9:09 p.m.in the House Chamber at the Capitol.. The address was broadcast live on nationwide television and radio." http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/ Iraq Cheers September 11th Attacks on America "Wednesday, September 12, 2001 Baghdad TV Commentary: US `Reaping Fruits of Crimes Against Humanity' Baghdad Republic of Iraq Television in Arabic 1700 GMT 11 Sep 01 [TV Commentary by Sa'd Yasin Yusuf read by announcer over footage of explosions in New York] [FBIS Translated Text] [With thanks to Laurie Mylorie - Iraq Watch] The American cowboy is reaping the fruits of his crimes against humanity. It is a black day in the history of America, which is tasting the bitter defeat of its crimes and disregard for peoples' will to lead a free, decent life. The massive explosions in the centers of power in America, notably the Pentagon, is a painful slap in the face of US politicians to stop their illegitimate hegemony and attempts to impose custodianship on peoples. It was no coincidence that the World Trade Center was destroyed in suicidal operations involving two planes that have broken through all US security barriers to carry the operation of the century and to express rejection of the reckless US policy. Panic has spread among US official circles, which evacuated the White House following a series of explosions. They also evacuated the Pentagon, the State Department, and Congress and closed down the airports and government institutions. The collapse of US centers of power is a collapse of the US policy, which deviates from human values and stands by world Zionism at all international forums to continue to slaughter the Palestinian Arab people and implement US plans to dominate the world under the cover of what is called the new [world] order. These are the fruits of the new US order. [Video of explosion rocking World Trade Center] [Description of Source: Baghdad Republic of Iraq Television in Arabic-Official television station of the Iraqi Government]" http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3 "BLITZER: That's Osama bin Laden's group. Now you also have some new information, David, about Mohamed Atta. He's the suspected ringleader of the September 11th hijackings. ENSOR: Well, that's right. As you know, he was one of the suicide hijackers who died on September 11th on one of those aircraft. And we had previously reported on September 19th that he met with an Iraqi intelligence official somewhere in Europe. Well, I'm now able to tell you, based on information from U.S. sources, he met not once but twice with Iraqi intelligence officers in Prague in the Czech Republic: once last year in June of 2000 and once in April of 2001." http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0110/10/lkl.00.html Aired 9/11/2001 "Baghdad Republic of Iraq TV: These are the fruits of the new US order.[Video of explosion rocking World Trade Center]Panic has spread among US official circles, which evacuated the White House following a series of explosions." "CNN LARRY KING LIVE Aired October 2, 2001 LARRY KING: Have you spoken to your father- in-law? (George Herbert Walker Bush) LAURA BUSH: I've spoken to my father-in-law. They were-they had actually spent that Monday night here.(at the White House) I had just seen them off that morning (9/11/2001) when I got in the car and found out about the first plane.(going into the World Trade Center.)" http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0110/02/lkl.00.html "Senator Joseph Lieberman: (Saddam) tried to kill former President Bush (in 1993)" http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0401/25/le.00.html Former President Bush Speech to Congress September 11th 1990. 11 years to the day before September 11th 2001 "In the early morning hours of August 2d,(1990),a powerful Iraqi army invaded Kuwait.The crisis in the Persian Gulf also offers a rare opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective-a new world order-can emerge." http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/ "(White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer: we have real and credible information that the airplane that landed at the Pentagon was originally intended to hit the White House." http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010912- 8.html#intended-targets "White House Was Flight 93 Target http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/20/attack/main509535.shtml A high-ranking al Qaeda detainee told investigators the intended target of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed into a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, was the White House. Government sources said Abu Zubaydah, now in U.S. custody, believed to be the source of the information." "Moussaoui Says He Was to Hijack 5th Plane By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer (Monday March 27, 2006) Al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui testified Monday that he and would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid were supposed to hijack a fifth airplane on Sept. 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House. Moussaoui's testimony on his own behalf stunned the courtroom. His account was in stark contrast to his previous statements in which he said the White House attack was to come later if the United States refused to release a radical Egyptian sheik imprisoned on earlier terrorist convictions. On Dec. 22, 2001, Reid was subdued by passengers when he attempted to detonate a bomb in his shoe aboard American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami. There were 197 people on board. The plane was diverted to Boston, where it landed safely. Moussaoui told the court he knew the World Trade Center attack was coming and that he lied to investigators when arrested in August 2001 because he wanted it to happen. "You lied because you wanted to conceal that you were a member of al- Qaida?" prosecutor Rob Spencer asked. "That's correct," Moussaoui said. Spencer: "You lied so the plan could go forward?" Moussaoui: "That's correct." The exchange was key to the government's case that the attacks might have been averted if Moussaoui had been more cooperative following his arrest. Moussaoui told the court he knew the attacks were coming some time after August 2001 and bought a radio so he could hear them unfold. Specifically, he said he knew the World Trade Center was going to be attacked, but asserted he was not part of that plot and didn't know the details. Nineteen men pulled off the Sept. 11 attacks on New York in Washington in the worst act of terrorism ever on U.S. soil. "I had knowledge that the Twin Towers would be hit," Moussaoui said. "I didn't know the details of this." Asked by his lawyer why he signed his guilty plea in April as "the 20th hijacker," Moussaoui replied: "Because everybody used to refer to me as the 20th hijacker and it was a bit of fun." Before Moussaoui took the stand, his lawyers made a last attempt to stop him from testifying, but failed. Defense attorney Gerald Zerkin argued that his client would not be a competent witness because he has contempt for the court, only recognizes Islamic law and therefore "the affirmation he undertakes would be meaningless." Moussaoui at first denied he was to have been a fifth hijack pilot Sept. 11 but under cross examination spoke of the plan that would have him attack the White House. He said Reid was the only person he knew for sure would have been on that mission, but others were discussed. The 19 terrorists on Sept. 11 hijacked and crashed four airliners, killing nearly 3,000 people in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and on the planes. The intended target of the plane that crashed into a Pennsylvania field remains unknown. Moussaoui said he talked with an al-Qaida official in 1999 about why a 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center failed to bring the towers down. He said "was asked in the same period for the first time if I want to be a suicide pilot and I declined." Just before Moussaoui took the stand, the court heard testimony that two months before the attacks that a CIA deputy chief waited in vain for permission to tell the FBI about a "very high interest" al-Qaida operative who became one of the hijackers. The official, a senior figure in the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit, said he sought authorization on July 13, 2001, to send information to the FBI but got no response for 10 days, then asked again. As it turned out, the information on Khalid al-Mihdhar did not reach the FBI until late August. At the time, CIA officers needed permission from a special unit before passing certain intelligence on to the FBI. The official was identified only as John. His written testimony was read into the record. "John's" testimony was part of the defense's case that federal authorities missed multiple opportunities to catch hijackers and perhaps thwart the 9/11 plot. His testimony included an e-mail sent by FBI supervisor Michael Maltbie discussing Moussaoui but playing down his terrorist connections. Maltbie's e-mail said "there's no indication that (Moussaoui) had plans for any nefarious activity." He sent that e-mail to the CIA even after receiving a lengthy memo from the FBI agent who arrested Moussaoui and suspected him of being a terrorist with plans to hijack aircraft. Prosecutors argue that Moussaoui, a French citizen, thwarted a prime opportunity to track down the 9/11 hijackers and possibly unravel the plot when he was arrested in August 2001 on immigration violations and lied to the FBI about his al-Qaida membership and plans to hijack a plane. Had Moussaoui confessed, the FBI could have pursued leads that would have led them to most of the hijackers, government witnesses have testified. To win the death penalty, prosecutors must first prove that Moussaoui's actions — specifically, his lies — were directly responsible for at least one death on Sept. 11. If they fail, Moussaoui would get life in prison. ___ Associated Press Writer Michael J. Sniffen contributed to this report source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060327/ap_on_re_us/moussaoui_14&printer= 1;_ylt=Ags6isPJuz93w2EYYRP9gnVH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE- more

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Anna Politkovskaya and the Self-Defense of Democracy By Jon Hellevig The writer is a Finnish lawyer who has lived in Moscow for 15 years. He has written the book Expressions and Interpretations (www.hellevig.ru) discussing Russia's social development from the viewpoint of philosophy and judicial philosophy. He is also the author of several books on the Russian tax and labor law. The murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya has once again induced a surge of anti-Russianism in Finland. Politicians, so-called researchers and media declare that Russian leaders masterminded the murder. Many people cautiously avoid these direct expressions, while being highly critical of the Russian government. Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja falls somewhere between the two groups, whereas Markku Kivinen from the University of Helsinki affiliated Aleksanteri Institute and MP Heidi Hautala clearly belong to the latter. It is obviously not in the interests of the Russian President to have a well known journalist killed (pointing this out would not be necessary, but for the continuous smear campaign against Russia). Based on information I received from Jukka Mallinen (translator of Politkovskaya's "Putin's Russia" into Finnish), there were no Russian government officials behind the murder. On the other hand, there is reason to put forward an alternative motive, which is quite possible -- that the murder was orchestrated by those wishing to create the kind of public opinion climate to compliment an anti-Russian agenda. In our culture, we usually honor the memory of the deceased by saying positive things about the departed in times of sorrow. One would like to show the same respect for Politkovskaya as well. But I cannot keep quiet when I see how her memory has been turned into a weapon to hit the Russian people in a manner that hinders Russia's development. Some are not happy with the opportunities that have been created during Putin's presidency.This includes the chance for many to now actively participate in a democratically run market economy. Upon the Soviet breakup, criminal elements took advantage of the weakness of a young nascent democracy by grabbing and stealing enormous possessions. Putin, courageously challenged the Mafia and oligarchs (often separated through a fine line drawn on water). Thirsty for "revenge", some of the non-Russian former Soviet states egg on the EU to engage Russia in a confrontational manner They overlook that Russia and the Russian people were the biggest victims of communism. Led by Yeltsin, the Russian people freed themselves from that burden and encouraged this spirit to other former prisoner-countries. Due to Russia's large land mass encompassing troubled regions, Russia unwillingly gets drawn into dirty games. This predicament gets twisted into the claim of a revanchist Russia bullying small, defenseless others. Given the uncritical fanfare accorded to Politkovskaya's work as a journalist, there is reason to critically review it. A case in point is her book "Putin's Russia", (published in 2004) which has been translated into several languages. In this book, she emotionally focuses on peoples' life situations (a style used in Karl Marx's Das Kapital, where he childishly tries to prove his theories of capital through the stories of people's everyday lives). Politkovskaya begins and ends her book with a stated disgust of Putin (as per the English translation of the book, see the Introduction as well as pages 281 and 282). She states her dislike of Putin "because he was a product of the Russian security service" (as if George Bush Sr.'s politics should be condemned on the grounds that he headed the CIA; a prevalent talking point in some circles). According to Politkovskaya, the KGB influenced Putin "does nothing but destroy civil liberties as he has all through his career". No mention is made of Putin's support for the late democratic mayor of St. Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak. At the end, Politkovskaya states she is disgusted with Putin because there is a war in Chechnya (as if he started it). She adds that in her view, he is a cold, cynical, racist, who is prone to lying (among other references in her book, see pages 281-82). Politkovskaya does not like the fact that this evil (in her view) man goes to Easter church services (pages 279 and 280). Politkovskaya attacks Putin for being a "racist" and then like a racist claims that Silvio Berlusconi as a European has better powers of thinking than Russia's Putin (page 279). Politkovskaya's likening of Putin with Stalin (page 272) shows that neither the journalist nor her prize givers and back patters have any sense of proportion. But one should remember that the purpose of this investigative journalist was to tell us about her feelings on why she abhors another person. Politkovskaya displayed no perception that all phenomena in society are based on social practices and that only a positive historical process can promote the wellbeing of society. She does not understand that the basis of a working society was totally destroyed in the Soviet Union and that it was not until 1990 that the building of a democracy, market economy and society at large was started from the ruins of the bankrupt Soviet estate. Through glimpses of peoples' life experiences, she brings up some of Russia's problems, such as the undeveloped democracy, criminality, corruption, the poor condition of the army, low pensions and the state of the judicial system. In her state of disgust, Politkovskaya did not analyze what has been done about these matters during Putin's presidency. Nor does she consider the impact of decisions taken under him. Instead, she writes of human tragedies like the suicide of an alcoholic and about a former friend of hers; a busy businesswoman who went into politics to grab more riches, etc. She tries to convince the reader that Putin is to be blamed for a tragic suicide and a woman politician's ruthlessness (who succeeded remarkably well). Politkovskaya's idea was that from day one of his presidency, Putin alone had to make sure that all in Russia was right. Much like if President Tarja Halonen was responsible for the unemployment in Kainuu and drunks at Hakaniemi Market Square. In one of her brief accounts, Politkovskaya mentions an 80 year old man, who had been found frozen to a floor in Irkutsk, Siberia (page 194). The journalist says the emergency services refused to come to the rescue claiming "the man was so old he could obviously not be all right". According to Politkovskaya - Putin should have stopped this. She seemingly suggests that it was brave of her to have said as much. Politkovskaya writes of an impoverished former navy captain Aleksey Dikinin (page 198). His fate is attributed to Putin (with Politkovskaya having the guts to say so). She does not even think of referencing Soviet Communism as the main culprit Mind you, her chronicling of Dikinin was in the first year of Putin's presidency (2000). Since then, there has been an enormous increase in pensions. I have personally experienced this in the Russian hinterland. At the beginning of this year, I visited a friend of mine in the native village of Azikeevo, situated in the Ural Mountains region of Bashkortostan. A road connection to Azikeevo was opened about ten years ago, at approximately the same time that gas and heating systems were installed. A couple of years ago, phone connections were completed to every cottage. Without any prompting, my friend's 70 year old uncle repeatedly lauded how good living conditions had become. In a healthy spirit, this senior citizen regularly takes care of horses, cows and chickens. Some retired teachers in that village (a married couple) said that pensions were now so good that they could support their children's families (there is a photo report of this trip at www.hellevig.ru). Politkovskaya was far from expert on government, military and legal matters. Topics which Putin has frequently discussed in an openly candid way. Politkovskaya's writing on terrorist dramas sugarcoated the actions of terrorists. Through their deeds, terrorists try to hurt the society they hit. By killing innocent people, they create public discussion designed to fault the leaders of the target country (reference how terrorists sparked a change in government in Spain). This is incomprehensible logic for a sound person to comment on. In "Putin's Russia", Politkovskaya blames Putin for government corruption in Ekaterinburg. There is no acknowledgement on her part that this political environment was evident BEFORE Putin became president. Putin proposed to correct this by having the political center play a more active role with the outlying regions. Instead of lauding this action (a popular one with most Russians), Politkovksaya wrongly concluded it to be anti-democratic. A stance overlooking how the political center was more democratic than the most "independent" of Russian regions. The regional governors operated under the cloak of democracy. They were chosen through "democratic" elections, as in the Soviet Union (in another connection, Politkovskaya remembered how people were elected in the Soviet Union, page 271). A colorful bunch of criminals and adventurers appointed themselves as governors under the shelter of formal electing and voting procedures. This view is acknowledged by the European Commissioner for Human Rights (see: Alvaro Gil-Robles, Report on Visits to the Russian Federation, 2004). In these conditions, anyone wanting to be governor had himself elected by using threats, bribes, blackmail and bodily harm. Putin's proposal to strip the regional governors of their mandates made a positive impression. Democracy is now practiced in much more civilized circumstances, based on a democratic competition between the regional parliament and the president. To have the courage to rise against a powerful elite and to succeed is an unbelievably big achievement. In the West, this reality is not fully appreciated, let alone understood. Instead, Politkovskaya's blinded disgust with Putin is uncritically accepted as the gospel. Politkovskaya characterizes Putin as seeking "revenge" against the oligarchs. Her characterization of the Mikhail Khordorkovsky owned and operated YUKOS is flawed (pages 275, 276, 284 and 285). She erroneously claims that this business entity "operated in daylight" and "gave five percent of its profits to charity". YUKOS flagrantly violated tax laws and other legislation through (among other things) criminal tax paradise companies (I reference a Sitra Report: Suuri Maa Pitka Kvartaali, Big Country Long Quartile, 2005). Furthermore, Politkovskaya claims that Khodorkovsky got into trouble with Putin because he supported "the liberal opposition". She omits the fact that Khodorkovsky supported the Communist Party. The romantic side of her activity would be lost if this point was made. She did not state the ulterior motive behind Khodorkovsky's political activism. The "democratic" parties sold him top positions in electoral candidate lists to enable him to place his own trusted candidates. This was how he planned to carry through a takeover of the Russian Duma. But is this the kind of democracy desired by Politkovskaya, Tuomioja and Hautala? In Finland, this advocacy would be considered treason. A number of anti-Putin analysts admit that former YUKOS CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky had committed crimes, while rhetorically asking "but why Khodorkovsky, just Khodorkovsky"? The answer is clear: others were quicker to realize that their criminal activities in Russia were over. A society cannot be built on revenge. Putin offered an invitation for all to move forward. Russia loses if there is a large scale injustice. This does not mean that democracy has no right to self-defense. This is Putin's Russia, and mine. more

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for instance, in the context of lead acquisition for an online subscription business: 1. in general: how to optimize a media mix, assuming that you have a $2 million annual media budget, eg how much go to natural/paid search, banners, emails, etc - all in context of PROSPECTING/ ACQUISITION 2. by channel: - banners: how ad networks work, CPM vs CPA; what to avoid, what to look out for, what are areas of opportunity? - email prospecting: common mistakes when renting a list - co reg - what works/what doesn't - affiliates: how to manage ad networks (RO WISE, AZOOGLE, etc) and their affiliates - eg how to make sure that affiates don't bid for keywords against you? Thank you! more

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