News for today's 2018

NEW MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD SYMBOL: R4BIA

1:02 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZBQ6hQ8O6H-7llmOj_R9Gum6w5ZaSS_AOz78AjjcxbRgFBg8vwRD4Z9RHCDZcifpASQSovd2We7de-3zSB7U7A6Wf8UfuM9U_v3Nes3BigwTUApxm_RZxLP9tCs_wuEfzwFiOH63kRyxc/s1600/RABIA-R4BIA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZBQ6hQ8O6H-7llmOj_R9Gum6w5ZaSS_AOz78AjjcxbRgFBg8vwRD4Z9RHCDZcifpASQSovd2We7de-3zSB7U7A6Wf8UfuM9U_v3Nes3BigwTUApxm_RZxLP9tCs_wuEfzwFiOH63kRyxc/s400/RABIA-R4BIA.jpg" width="393" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Photo obtained from original article via Crethiplethi</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: .5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #233f55; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; letter-spacing: .5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="color: #233f55; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; letter-spacing: 0.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Four-fingered hand sign:</span></span></b> Symbol of Islamic Radicalism?  </span></span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #233f55; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; letter-spacing: .5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></span></span></b><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By Dawn Perlmutter</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">, Director and founder of Symbol & Ritual Intelligence and Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum is considered one of the leading subject matter experts (SME) in the areas of symbols, unfamiliar customs, ritualistic crimes and religious violence.</span></i></span></div></div><br /><b><span style="color: #233f55; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; letter-spacing: .5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">T</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">here is a new Islamist symbol appearing in protests, on social networking sites and at demonstrations throughout the MIDDLE EAST. The symbol allegedly originated as a four-fingered hand sign by pro-Morsi protesters during demonstrations in EGYPT’S Rabia al-Adawiya Square. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The hand gesture quickly evolved into an image of the hand commonly depicted in black on a bright yellow background. It is called the “R4BIA sign.” In English it is officially spelled in capital letters and the letter “A” is replaced with the number 4. It has become the symbol of the massacre of pro-Morsi supporters in Rabia al-Adawiya Square on August 14, 2013. This new sign already has its own history, legend and mysticism and it contains all the attributes that Islamists favor in their symbology, particularly martyrdom.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RABIA MEANS FOUR OR FOURTH IN ARABIC</span></b></span><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The design of the symbol has been endowed with characteristics of the sacred in Islam: the color yellow used in the background signifies the golden Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the hand depicted in the color black denotes the black cloth that covers the Kaaba. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI5KM3yrT9nZXn0S2k6rqpRZ-MAPkrblvpzYh5hIErII_puOiYA1_fwHS9cAMJ1k-mHXHOnD1LwR-VGm-Dlf_Zal_61HmCr3gGQdvAtBElBMfiF-QNZOTOm272ew8p8STxHRgEGl1-10dk/s1600/tumblr_mjx3vrzK861r7y8qko1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI5KM3yrT9nZXn0S2k6rqpRZ-MAPkrblvpzYh5hIErII_puOiYA1_fwHS9cAMJ1k-mHXHOnD1LwR-VGm-Dlf_Zal_61HmCr3gGQdvAtBElBMfiF-QNZOTOm272ew8p8STxHRgEGl1-10dk/s320/tumblr_mjx3vrzK861r7y8qko1_500.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hamsa hand symbol for Muslims and Jews</td></tr></tbody></table></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The official R4BIA Website alleges that protesters originated the sign and explained the meaning: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“This is the ‘Rabia sign.’ ‘Rabia’ means four or fourth in the Arabic language. The name of this square comes from Rabia al-Adawiya, a blessed lady among the pious servants of Allah. She received the name Rabia because she was the fourth child in the family. The sign is used to cherish her legacy. The second reason why this sign bears significance is the fact that Mohamed Morsi was the fourth President of EGYPT after Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak. The sign was designed to remind people of his presidency. In addition, those who gather in Tahrir Square to support the military coup prefer the V sign made with the two fingers. We cannot be the same as those people. We use and spread the Rabia sign in order to distinguish ourselves from them.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">FULL-FLEDGED INTERNATIONAL R4BIA MOVEMENT</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to the R4BIA website, the protestors who provided the explanation for the symbol were killed with hundreds of other Muslim Brotherhood supporters who had camped out in the tent city for weeks. The violent incident and the symbol that has come to represent it have been endowed with supernatural qualities. The number four has acquired mystical connotations signified by the name of the square, the succession of EGYPTIAN presidents and the birth order of Rabia al-Adawiya. The slain supporters have been bestowed with heroic status and the Islamist honor of martyrdom and are now referred to as the “Rabia Martyrs.” A new Islamist legend was born out of the blood of EGYPTIAN protesters. It would not be surprising if pilgrimages to Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque to commemorate the new martyrs occur each year on the anniversary of the violence.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ALLEGEDLY TURKEY ENCOURAGES AND SUPPORTS THE R4BIA MOVEMENT </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The symbol is quickly evolving into a full-fledged R4BIA movement. A mythology surrounding the R4BIA martyrs is emerging. One of the new myths is that the blessings of the new martyrs are responsible for spreading the symbol beyond EGYPT’S national borders to become the symbol of awakening to the global Muslim community. Although the new blessed martyrs are getting credit for spreading the message, they are receiving a lot of help from the Muslim Brotherhood propaganda machine and TURKISH Islamists. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A TURKISH website R4BIA.com has been launched in three languages, ARABIC, ENGLISH and TURKISH, explaining the origin of the symbol and promoting a R4BIA movement. R4BIA.com contains photos and videos of protesters and includes a R4BIA song whose lyrics are comprised of the writings of Sayyid Qutb, an influential leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and the father of violent Islamism.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The site also contains a video showing family photos and the letter written by senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Beltagy to his 17-year-old daughter Asma, who was shot and killed during the protests. The letter will become a classic in Muslim Brotherhood propaganda, as it includes a heart rending eulogy filled with the symbolism of female martyrs as brides of paradise when her father describes her death in a dream as a wedding.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SYMBOL ALLEGEDLY ORIGINATES FROM TURKEY</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A section of the website that reveals the true significance of the R4BIA symbol and the fledgling movement posits the question: “What is R4BIA?” The anonymous web master claims the responses were compiled from a selection of interpretations provided by Muslims around the world. They read:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is a symbol of freedom</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the birth of a new movement for freedom and justice</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the birth of a new world</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the return of Muslims to world stage</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA means justice, freedom and conscience</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the place where the so-called values of the West collapsed</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA means the Egyptian heroes who became free by dying</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is Egypt, Syria, Palestine and the whole geography of Islam</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the name of those who wake all the Islamic world with their death</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the place of people who show the death is a revival</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is our daughter Asma</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the grandchildren of Hasan Al Banna</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the new name of our children who will change the world</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is a new breath to humanity</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is justice for everyone against rotten Western values</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the soul of a free man and a free woman</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the tear, the sadness, the sobbing</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the joy, the happiness, the good news</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the child, the woman, the young, the old</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is a man like a man</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is straight as an Aleef, humble as Waw</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is a pure martyrdom</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is a new world</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is Ummah</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is solidarity, togetherness, brotherhood</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is unification of Islamic World</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the shame of the accomplice of the massacres</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the end of munafiqeen who support the massacres</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the end of oil sheikhs</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the end of capitalists</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the end of Zionists</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the end of immoral press</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">RABIA is the arena of martyrdom</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is the mother of martyrs</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;">R4BIA is a smiling martyrdom</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Many activists on social media have confirmed that the sign originated in TURKEY, which officially opposed the military coup in EGYPT. TURKISH Prime Minister Erdogan was one of the first to promote the R4BIA hand sign during a speech on August 17 when he saluted crowds several times with the four-finger sign. TURKISH footballers also began to use the hand sign after scoring goals, soon after the symbol became popular on TURKISH social media. It used to take years, sometimes decades, for a symbol to achieve global recognition, however, in the age of technology, with Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the Internet, this new Islamist sign went viral in days. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Although the R4BIA symbol may have originally signified solidarity with massacred protesters, the meaning and the imagery has rapidly been radicalized to embody the primary concepts of Islamist propaganda: honor, heroism and martyrdom in the goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate. Images of the R4BIA symbol now include the fingers being depicted as rifles, the hand holding the black flag of jihad and writing on the hand calling for an Islamic Caliphate.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps many of those holding placards, wearing t-shirts and raising the four-finger salute do not understand the radical implications. Similar to movie stars and students who wear keffiyeh scarves, they may just assume it’s a cool, hip solidarity thing to do. However, there is no doubt that the Muslim Brotherhood understands the significance of disguising their true Islamist agenda, which is why they rebranded their name to the Freedom and Justice Party and removed images of the Quran and crossed swords from their logo.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The R4BIA sign is not a benign peace symbol; it is a symbol of resistance, Islamism, martyrdom, and a visual call to arms comparable to the black flag of jihad. The black hand on the bright yellow background is appropriately similar to highway warning signs that caution us against danger and indicate a hazard ahead on the road that may not be readily apparent.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>

NEW MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD SYMBOL: R4BIA

Photo obtained from original article via Crethiplethi Four-fingered hand sign: Symbol of Islamic Radicalism? By Dawn Perlmutter , Directo...

It's Caturday

11:42 AM Tukiyooo 0

It's Caturday

Jeeze, change the cat litter already!

Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken on a cool Shenandoah Valley day

10:23 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3ICxbDvXKY748p3TMfmIB8Oc3oL0AnV_7SyYBQQL28ARqk-l70kwXKrGTZlEyXPg3UWIf4EVDdDBXczG9B-wD2rrZDHyrEKAQFfqwDMbxXFbiy-EKK_nBxfG8p79pomOJRgkdCB3PmeE/s1600/Santa+Fe+Soup+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3ICxbDvXKY748p3TMfmIB8Oc3oL0AnV_7SyYBQQL28ARqk-l70kwXKrGTZlEyXPg3UWIf4EVDdDBXczG9B-wD2rrZDHyrEKAQFfqwDMbxXFbiy-EKK_nBxfG8p79pomOJRgkdCB3PmeE/s400/Santa+Fe+Soup+photo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />It was cool this morning in the Shenandoah Valley. In fact, it was downright brisk as the thermometer hit 43 degrees overnight signaling fall is on its way and time to complete those chores that must be done before winter.<br /><br />Because of the cool in the air, it was a good morning to put the crock pot to use because there's nothing like comfort food when the temps drop. Today's offering is <a href="http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/02/crock-pot-santa-fe-chicken-425-pts.html">Santa Fe Chicken</a>, a spicy, yummy combination of chicken, tomatoes, chilies, black beans, corn, and more, and I doubled the batch to make enough to share. It's bubbling away on the kitchen counter.<br /><br />The iron skillet is ready to go on the stove top later this afternoon as I cook apples because, you know, it's that time of year when the plentiful access to local apples makes them a delicious addition to whatever you're cooking.<br /><br />The most important chore today was cleaning the chimney to the wood stove. SWAC Husband climbed the ladder and walked across the roof in his bare feet because the cool morning temps and overcast skies had prevented the tiles from becoming too hot. Carrying his tools, he made his way to the chimney where it didn't take long to clean built-up creosote from last winter's fires. Cleaned and ready to go, we're now waiting for the first truly cold snap to build the first fire of the season.<br /><br />Other chores will be taken care of today and over the next weeks as western Virginia slips closer into fall. It's a busy time of the year. Now back to work and to check the crock pot to see how that soup is doing. There will be good eating tonight.<br /><br />It's almost fall in the Shenandoah Valley....

Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken on a cool Shenandoah Valley day

It was cool this morning in the Shenandoah Valley. In fact, it was downright brisk as the thermometer hit 43 degrees overnight signaling fal...

9/14/2001 ... President George W. Bush at Ground Zero

8:01 AM Tukiyooo 0

9/11/2001 George W. Bush Ground Zero New York City Terrorism 9/14/2001 ... President George W. Bush at Ground Zero

"USA! USA! USA!" Spontaneous chants roared from the crowd of rescue workers on September 14, 2001, three days after the terrorist...

58 historical Virginia homes open free of charge this weekend

7:35 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFHt3GXCtZp5H6V_nFw1Ix3X3-XMQqZLncUtT2UyDddo6oV8YXssvrppN0QuWFYh3mzfUnTtGAJjmZMwRdPyskXlaPcjzE1HFOut0XNphICKDznIUD8iT94NtdY_sfEf2bJ8KoXYxRnuZC/s1600/Virginia+Executive+Mansion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFHt3GXCtZp5H6V_nFw1Ix3X3-XMQqZLncUtT2UyDddo6oV8YXssvrppN0QuWFYh3mzfUnTtGAJjmZMwRdPyskXlaPcjzE1HFOut0XNphICKDznIUD8iT94NtdY_sfEf2bJ8KoXYxRnuZC/s400/Virginia+Executive+Mansion.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Virginia's Executive Mansion, Richmond</i></div><br /><b>Free admission to select historic homes this weekend</b><br /><br />This is a great weekend to head out and explore 58 of Virginia's historic homes <i>free of charge.</i> What a fantastic opportunity to get an up-close-and-personal look at the Commonwealth's Executive Mansion, Edgar Allen Poe Museum, the Dooley Mansion in Richmond's Maymont Park, homes of our historical figures such as Patrick Henry and Light Horse Harry Lee, taverns, the coast guard station in Virginia Beach, and many other homes and mansions from the coast to the mountains and everywhere else in the Old Dominion. Best of all, admission is waived Saturday and Sunday, September 14 and 15, 2013. <a href="http://www.historicalhomes.virginia.gov/septpromo.cfm">The listing of all 58 homes is here.</a><br /><br />Virginia is for history lovers!<br /><br />From the <a href="http://www.historicalhomes.virginia.gov/septpromo.cfm">Governor's website</a>: <br /><blockquote>In  celebration of the  Executive Mansion's 200th Anniversary, Governor  Bob McDonnell and First  Lady Maureen McDonnell declared 2013 the "Year of the  Historic Home."  There are over 120 sites  scattered across Virginia classified as  Historic Homes that span from  pre-Colonial times through the Modern  era, all of which provide an abundance of  cultural, historical, and  architectural information and promote an  understanding of, as well as  an interest in, Virginia’s story.<br /><br /><div class="closeParagraph" style="color: black;">To  further promote the  Year of the Historic Home effort, in the spring of 2013,  seven historic  homes across Richmond came together in a collaborative effort to  open  their doors admission-free to the public for an entire weekend to "Time   Travel through Virginia History." Because of the successes and benefits   experienced from the spring promotional weekend, the homes throughout  Richmond  are coming together to host this collaborative weekend in the  fall, as are over  50 homes throughout Virginia. </div><div class="closeParagraph" style="color: black;"><br /></div><div class="closeParagraph" style="color: black;">Exclusively  during the  weekend of September 14 and 15, 2013, Virginia’s most renowned  historic  homes and museums will be open free to the public, in support of  theYear  of the Historic Home. </div><div class="closeParagraph" style="color: black;"><br /></div><div class="closeParagraph" style="color: black;">"My  husband and I have  been thrilled with the excitement surrounding the Year of  the Historic  Home," said First Lady Maureen McDonnell. "The spring success of  the  Historic Home Promotional Weekend in Richmond came as a pleasant  surprise,  and promoting this initiative in September as a statewide  effort is extremely  exciting and promises great results.  We encourage  you to print your  passport and visit these historical sites, which have  been home to many of  America’s Founding Fathers, U.S. presidents, and  many other important figures."</div><div class="closeParagraph" style="color: black;"><br /></div><div class="closeParagraph" style="color: black;">A  list of the  participating homes follows as well as details of each home,and their  hours of operation on September 14 and 15, please visit our <a href="http://www.historicalhomes.virginia.gov/learn.cfm">Learn page</a>. Please don’t forget to visit our  "<a href="http://www.historicalhomes.virginia.gov/timetraveler.cfm">time  travelers</a>" page  and print your passport in order to be  granted free admission. </div></blockquote>

58 historical Virginia homes open free of charge this weekend

2013 Year of the Historic Home Bob McDonnell Maureen McDonnell tourism Virginia history Virginia Is For Lovers 58 historical Virginia homes open free of charge this weekend

Virginia's Executive Mansion, Richmond Free admission to select historic homes this weekend This is a great weekend to head out and expl...

UNITED STATES OF AMERICAS’ SYRIAN DILEMMA

7:27 AM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg9bZxp6YHQHjng2l09E-p6qo1gG4NAjWyR3m5ntioDRoB-Dtxo9NfBrzIWFw360Luu7iI4k3eucmyxe66oVmQFpdQjbaqup-Bp37mxCJvsqB-vM2ZA9I2toScI06RQHuFk5j6-R69VbOZ/s1600/608-00456666em-A-conceptual-illustration-of-a-world-chess-game.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg9bZxp6YHQHjng2l09E-p6qo1gG4NAjWyR3m5ntioDRoB-Dtxo9NfBrzIWFw360Luu7iI4k3eucmyxe66oVmQFpdQjbaqup-Bp37mxCJvsqB-vM2ZA9I2toScI06RQHuFk5j6-R69VbOZ/s640/608-00456666em-A-conceptual-illustration-of-a-world-chess-game.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">STRATEGIC SYRIAN “CHESS GAME”: RUSSIA VERSUS USA?</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By M K Bhadrakumar <br /><br />When Kathleen Trola McFarland, the familiar Fox News national security analyst who served in national security posts in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations and was an aide to Henry Kissinger at the White House, wrote that "Vladimir Putin is the one who really deserves the Nobel Peace Prize", she obviously had the SYRIAN crisis in mind. <br /><br />McFarland wrote, "In one of the most deft diplomatic maneuvers of all time, RUSSIA'S President Putin has saved the world from near-certain disaster." <br /><br />She went on to narrate how Secretary of State John Kerry's famous gaffe in London took wings and "the off-hand phrase was picked up by Putin, became a Kerry Proposal and ultimately the Obama peace plan..." </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Following up on her train of thought, it is easy to see how by the time this momentous period draws to a close Putin could doubly ensure his claim to a Nobel. <br /><br />The point is that a major highlight of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shanghai Cooperation Organization's</b> annual summit gathering in Bishkek, KYRGYZSTAN, promises to be an event on its sidelines - the scheduled "bilateral" meeting between Putin and his IRANIAN counterpart, newly elected Hassan Rouhani. The Putin-Rouhani meeting in Bishkek is a scheduled one, planned well in advance. Both statesmen are vastly experienced in international diplomacy. <br /><br /><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">RUSSIA’S NEXT GEOPOLITICAL COUP: IRAN?</b></span><br /><br />This will be Putin's first meeting with the newly elected Iranian president. The Rouhani presidency has aroused worldwide interest as presaging a meaningful US-IRAN engagement, and Rouhani has been signaling in many ways Tehran's renewed interest in negotiating with the West - through policy pronouncements, cabinet appointments or sheer diplomatic "body language". Rouhani has pledged that the revival of the IRANIAN economy is his priority for which he would seek a favorable external environment. <br /><br />The USA seemed to realize the limits to utilize its military power to intimidate or vanquish IRAN. Yet, like in the case with SYRIA, Obama is vacillating and is unable to take the leap of faith. It is a carbon copy of the dilemma he faced over SYRIA. <br /><br />War weariness amongst the AMERICAN public, pressure from the hawkish regional allies and their lobbies in the US, a dangerous regional milieu, an adversary's proven grit to retaliate against aggression, overwhelming international opinion favoring dialogue - all the ingredients are there. <br />Is Russia about to “help” the USA to make up their mind? <br /><br />As in the case of the RUSSIAN plan on SYRIA'S chemical weapons, there is a two- to three-year-old RUSSIAN blueprint already lying for a starter - an incremental approach of IRAN responding to the international community's concerns and the US step-by-step dismantling the sanctions regime and allowing IRAN'S full integration as a regional power. </span></div><div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #444444;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Background Information: </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RUSSIA’S SYRIAN BIO CHEMICAL WEAPON REMOVAL PLAN</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/09/russian-forces-take-syrian-chemical.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/09/russian-forces-take-syrian-chemical.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/russian-forces-take-syrian-chemical.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/russian-forces-take-syrian-chemical.html </a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/russian-forces-take-syrian-chemical.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/russian-forces-take-syrian-chemical.html</a></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">US NO LONGER OPPOSES IRAN'S INCLUSION IN ANY GENEVA 2 TALKS ON SYRIA</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><br />The US and IRAN are warily probing each other's intentions, and any keen observer of the three-decade old stand-off would sense that the diplomatic idiom is changing. The US no longer opposes IRAN'S inclusion in any Geneva 2 talks on SYRIA. <br /><br />Tehran too has taken a highly nuanced position on the issue of SYRIA'S chemical weapons. It has held a delicate line that, alas, the wily GULF ARAB sheikhs trapped Obama. In an extraordinary interview with Press TV (IRANIAN Media outlet!), IRAN'S savvy Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I think that a number of groups, people inside the UNITED STATES, and interests outside the UNITED STATES, wanted to put the president of the US - whom I believe was reluctant to start the war - into a trap, a trap which he had unfortunately laid down for himself; and that was to get him involved in a war in order to address a hypothetical issue of the use of chemical weapons by the government of SYRIA.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IRAN has been quick to express solid support for the RUSSIAN plan on SYRIA'S chemical weapons. <br /><br />Suffice to say, the meeting in Bishkek between the RUSSIAN and IRANIAN presidents has a regional backdrop. An engagement of the SYRIAN regime by the Obama administration becomes inevitable once the RUSSIAN plan is fleshed out and advances to the implementation stage. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #444444;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Background Information</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SYRIAN REGIME FIRM IN THE SADDLE</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/01/syria-assad-firm-in-saddle.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/01/syria-assad-firm-in-saddle.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #cc0000;">SYRIAN REGIME LIKELY TO SURVIVE UPRAISE</span> (<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">June 2011</span>)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/06/syrian-regime-likely-to-survive-upraise.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/06/syrian-regime-likely-to-survive-upraise.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #cc0000;">ASSAD FIRMLY IN CHARGE IN SYRIA</span> (<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">March 2012</span>)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/03/syria.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/03/syria.html</a></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #cc0000;">SYRIA SWITCHING PERCEPTION - INTERNAL POWER STRUGGLE </span>(<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">May 2012</span>)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/syria-switching-perception.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/syria-switching-perception.html</a></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">For one thing, the RUSSIAN plan simply has to go hand in hand with a Geneva 2 process. Its implementation is going to be a long haul. It took four years for Washington to take out of GERMANY the US' cold-war era stockpiles of 100,000 chemical weapons stockpile. When the operation began in 1986, a six-year timeline for implementation was envisaged. </b><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IMPLEMENTING THE BC WEAPON REMOVAL PLAN, ESTABLISHED STATE STRUCTURES ARE OF VITAL IMPORTANCE</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That is to say, there is going to be a critical necessity for the established state structures in SYRIA to be around for a while if only for the implementation of the RUSSIAN plan. Put differently, the "regime change" agenda gets pushed to the backburner and whatever democratic transition is possible in the civil war conditions cannot but involve the SYRIAN regime.<br /><br />Tehran, no doubt, is keenly watching. RUSSIA'S firm stance on SYRIA during the crisis period since the US began assembling an armada in the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN cannot but impress IRAN, for which regime change in Damascus also has existential overtones. <br /><br />This is where it will see that a revival of the strategic partnership with RUSSIA is an imperative. From IRAN'S viewpoint, it is the RUSSIAN connection that would be a "force multiplier" when it begins to negotiate with the "P5+1" (the US, BRITAIN, FRANCE, RUSSIA and CHINA plus GERMANY) format and with the US directly. <br />Rouhani would weigh in that even as his credibility as a negotiator is rising in Western eyes, his capacity to negotiate significantly gains out of a strengthening of the IRAN-RUSSIA relations at this juncture. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RUSSIAN AND IRANIAN OVERLAPPING GEO STRATEGIC FOCAL POINT: CENTRAL ASIA, THE CASPIAN, CAUCASUS AND THE MIDDLE EAST</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here, it takes two to tango. Looking back, Putin's visit to IRAN in 2007, the first by a Kremlin leader since Joseph Stalin's in 1943, had raised high hopes of a historic turn in the bilateral relationship and of a new template in the geopolitics of the vast space the two countries overlap in and around the "Heartland" - CENTRAL ASIA and the CASPIAN, CAUCASUS and the MIDDLE EAST. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #444444;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Background Information: </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">US OBJECTIVES IN CENTRAL ASIA AND THE CAUCASUS </span></b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/09/europe-and-caucasus-europe-fails-to-tap.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/09/europe-and-caucasus-europe-fails-to-tap.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">CASPIAN BASIN: INCREASED FOCAL POINT OF WEST AND EAST</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/09/the-caspian-region-future-war-zone.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/09/the-caspian-region-future-war-zone.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE WINNING FORMULA TO DESTABILIZE RUSSIA’S CAUCASUS AND THE MIDDLE EAST </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/09/dagestan-syria-comes-to-russia.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/09/dagestan-syria-comes-to-russia.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">POLITICAL DYNAMICS IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS AND IRAN’S PRIORITIES IN THE REGION</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/06/israeli-azerbaijani-alliance-and-iran.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/06/israeli-azerbaijani-alliance-and-iran.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">RELATIONS BETWEEN IRAN AND AZERBAIJAN HAVE NEVER BEEN ROSY</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/05/israel-azerbaijan-and-iran.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/05/israel-azerbaijan-and-iran.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />But in the event, these hopes remain unfulfilled. Putin left the Kremlin in 2008. During Dmitry Medvedev's presidency once the RUSSIA-US "reset" appeared and the IRAN question became a real-time talking point between the two powers, the calculus of RUSSIAN-IRANIAN ties changed. <br /><br />Indeed, the pro-Western groups of the RUSSIAN elite gained ascendancy in the Kremlin. Soon, a transactional dispute arose over RUSSIA'S non-fulfillment of the contract for supply of S-300 missiles to IRAN. RUSSIA insisted it acted under the UN sanctions, but Tehran saw the "hidden hand" of the USA. Meanwhile, the steady worsening of the situation around the IRAN nuclear issue introduced limits to engaging that country, given the international ramifications. <br /><br /><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IRAN A “PIVOTAL STATE”?</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It stands to reason that unlike Medvedev, perhaps, Putin himself is acutely conscious that IRAN is what AMERICAN geo-strategists would call a "pivotal state". <br /><br />Interestingly, it didn't cross Putin's mind at all that the former president, Mahmud Ahmedinejad, was already a "lame duck" when they met in the Kremlin in July on the sidelines of the CASPIAN summit. Putin plunged with gusto into substantive discussions regarding ways to revive and strengthen a RUSSIAN-IRANIAN alliance, including a RUSSIAN-built second nuclear power plant in IRAN. <br /><br />Equally, Tehran would have noted the huge shift in the respective RUSSIAN approaches to the regime-change agenda in LIBYA (March 2011) and in SYRIA today. <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span></div><div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #444444;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Background Information:</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RUSSIA’S AND CHINA’S STANCE ON SYRIA: A RESULT OF THE LIBYAN FIASCO </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle-East/Russia-Set-To-Lose-Billions-In-Libya.html">http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle-East/Russia-Set-To-Lose-Billions-In-Libya.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/09/libya-doomed-from-day-one.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/09/libya-doomed-from-day-one.html</a></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Paradoxically, the Rouhani presidency brings IRAN much closer to RUSSIA in its "de-ideologized" foreign-policy outlook. Indeed, RUSSIA doesn't view the world through any ideological "EAST-WEST" prism. Nor is it enchanted by the ideas of "resistance" and "justice" that fired up Ahmedinejad, but which Rouhani is gradually relegating to the backburner. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is inconceivable that, like Putin's RUSSIA, which scrupulously avoids the Soviet overreach, Rouhani's IRAN also will ever set aside national interests as the paramount consideration in foreign policy even while involved in regional security issues. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rouhani is also wedded to globalization and neo-liberal policies as RUSSIA is, and both see innovation of the economy as the core objective of national policies. Putin's priority has seemed to be always to work toward an equal partnership with the West, and windows of opportunity. The approach of Rouhani, who arrives on AMERICAN soil in a few days to attend the UN General Assembly session in New York, seems similar. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In sum, both IRAN and RUSSIA are in a frame of mind that is conducive to reviving their strategic partnership. The only way Obama can stall a Nobel for Putin seems to be by pre-empting the Kremlin from launching yet another irresistible peace plan. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>Ambassador <b>M K Bhadrakumar</b> served as a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service for over 29 years, with postings including India's ambassador to Uzbekistan (1995-1998) and to Turkey (1998-2001).</i></span></div>

UNITED STATES OF AMERICAS’ SYRIAN DILEMMA

STRATEGIC SYRIAN “CHESS GAME”: RUSSIA VERSUS USA? By M K Bhadrakumar When Kathleen Trola McFarland, the familiar Fox News national security...

Ways To Reduce Belly Fat - True Weight Loss Tactics Which Actually Work

7:25 AM Tukiyooo 0

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Ways To Reduce Belly Fat - True Weight Loss Tactics Which Actually Work

By Kimberly Jose All around the world, millions of people are trying to lose their belly fat with varying degrees of success. Tummy fat ...

The Moral Dilemmas of Doctors During Disaster : The New Yorker

5:43 AM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">In the late summer of 2005, the waters loosed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina laid siege to New Orleans. At Memorial Medical Center, the power and then the backup generators failed, creating a silence one doctor described as the "sickest sound" of his life. Doctors and nurses, at times in darkness, struggled to take care of patients without life-saving machines, air conditioning, or functioning toilets. After several days of desperation, some allegedly euthanized critically ill patients, even as large-scale evacuations of the hospital began. The journalist and doctor Sheri Fink published a meticulous investigation of these deaths in the<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30doctors.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline; outline: 0px; ">New York <i>Times Magazine</i></a> and on the Web site of ProPublica, in 2009. Her work won a Pulitzer Prize.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">And now comes the book. In "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Five-Days-Memorial-Storm-Ravaged-Hospital/dp/0307718964/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378237263&sr=1-1&keywords=five+days+at+memorial" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline; outline: 0px; ">Five Days at Memorial</a>," the contours of the story remain the same, yet Fink imbues them with far more narrative richness, making the doctors seem both more sympathetic and more culpable. Fink also expands on the ethical conundrums, which have festered over time and seem to gain fresh urgency whenever the angry winds of a hurricane crash against our shores. Which patients should receive priority in a disaster? Should doctors abandon the critically ill? What should they do if they believe those patients will suffer? Should they receive legal immunity for decisions made under duress? To a disturbing degree, the best answers seem to run counter to what key players at Memorial did and what at least one of them has advocated for since.</p><div id="entry-more" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><p style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">As the waters surged toward Memorial, hospital leaders began by acting with familiar priorities: they chose to evacuate the sickest patients and those who relied on ventilators or other devices first. But then the medical chairman decided that patients with do-not-resuscitate orders should get lowest priority, later saying he thought they had the "least to lose." As the staff scrambled to move patients down from the upper floors, other factors played a role. One doctor worried that a patient who weighed more than three hundred pounds might slow the evacuation line; he was moved to another area to wait, rather than joining the queue. Some patients on the seventh floor seemed to get even lower priority, in part because their treatment was overseen by LifeCare, a health-care company that leased space within Memorial. As the days passed and doctors soldiered on without electricity, running water, sleep, or outside help, they flipped their moral scale upside down. Now the sickest patients—whom they designated threes on a one-to-three scale—would wait, and the healthiest would go first. This reflected "a sense among the doctors that they would not be able to save everyone," writes Fink, citing the head-and-neck surgeon Anna Pou.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">Setting the right triage priorities is one thing. But then something darker began to happen. Four days into the ordeal, Dr. Ewing Cook, who'd previously survived two heart attacks, struggled to reach the eighth-floor intensive-care unit, where he examined a patient with advanced cancer. Convinced that she was close to death and that he couldn't possibly make it up the stairs again, he asked the nurse to raise her dosage of morphine. "There's no question I hastened her demise," he later said. Cook allegedly spoke with Pou about injecting patients with morphine and the sedative Versed, and she wrote prescriptions for substantial amounts of morphine, which, despite the chaos, were filled by the hospital pharmacy. (Whether her intent was to relieve pain or end life remains in dispute.) Meanwhile, the pulmonologist John Thiele apparently injected several category-three patients with morphine and Versed. Knowing that he would soon evacuate, he felt he could not "justify hanging a morphine drip and praying it didn't run out after everyone left and before the patient died," Fink reports.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">There are moments when doctors face genuinely tough calls about whether to let someone live or die: a soldier on a battlefield, say, who begs a doctor not to leave him behind alive. But this isn't the way Fink describes the scene at Memorial. Some of the patients whose bodies contained high levels of morphine or Versed were apparently not on the verge of death or even in terrible pain, according to details of the investigation. A three-hundred-eighty-pound paraplegic named Emmett Everett had eaten tuna fish, crackers, and relish for breakfast. "I knew he was sick," one staff member later said, "but, um, you know, he could talk and everything." In fact, he told one of his nurses, "Cindy, don't let them leave me behind." Then a doctor allegedly ended his life—without his consent. Even after the earthquake in Haiti, physicians from a field hospital said they did not amputate survivors' limbs without consent, regardless of how urgently they thought patients needed the procedure. Ultimately, over twenty of the bodies found at Memorial contained either morphine and Versed or both. Multiple forensic experts determined that eight or nine of these deaths were homicides. Pou was arrested, but a sympathetic grand jury, which for political reasons was not privy to all of the forensic evidence, failed to indict her. No other doctors or nurses were held to be criminally responsible.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">The more gritty detail Fink offers, the harder it is not to feel sympathy for the doctors and nurses. Yet much of what they did—especially the euthanasia but also the triage priorities—sets an awful example for future disasters. For starters, a D.N.R. order simply means that "a patient whose heartbeat or breathing had stopped should not be revived," Fink writes. It reflects that patient's wishes for the future; it does not necessarily indicate how sick he is now, or how close to death. Using D.N.R. orders in triage also risks penalizing individuals who plan for scenarios that may not occur. At Memorial, the early reliance on these orders meant that some patients were never carried down from the seventh floor to the staging area for evacuation. This made it harder to include them later on, even as more helicopters arrived.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">A triage plan that puts the most vulnerable last is also troubling. Doctors may reason that the very sick are too fragile or too heavy to transport or don't have long to live. But they're the ones who are most likely to die if left in the hospitals as conditions get worse. A system that prioritizes the healthy—or the unhealthy—should also be looked at with humility. Death is unpredictable, and experts aren't necessarily good at differentiating among critical patients. Indeed, in a small exercise designed to plan for pandemic flu, researchers asked doctors to assess the likely survival of I.C.U. patients with the H1N1 virus who were on ventilators. Their predictions, as Fink notes in her epilogue, were largely wrong.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">Some doctors have been criticized for leaving Memorial, even when food, water, and pain medication were still plentiful. But with gunshots in the distance and rumors of violence and martial law, it seems reasonable that some of them chose to evacuate. "They are not the Secret Service," the bioethicist Arthur Caplan told me. It also makes sense that they would try to lessen their patients' pain beforehand, even if the drugs they used risked hastening death. If their intent was to end suffering forever, though, this crosses a line, Caplan and others argue. After all, who can know whether some unforeseen rescue might have materialized at the eleventh hour, however unlikely it seemed?</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">Pou and her team have argued that we should not second-guess doctors and should instead grant them broad legal immunity for their work during disasters. But this is neither necessary nor wise. Doctors are already judged according to the resources available and the circumstances, as <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1007700" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline; outline: 0px; ">George Annas</a> of Boston University told me. The standard of care is what "a reasonable physician would do in that disaster, not in a fully equipped O.R. in New York." And the last message we should want crisis workers to receive is that anything goes.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">Terrified, weary doctors should not abandon ethical standards; they should cling to the norms of medicine, beyond when it feels reasonable to do so. This means talking to patients and respecting their autonomy, even under awful conditions. It also means making every effort to evacuate the sickest and most dependent patients first. The original—deeply reasonable—triage plan at Memorial prioritized babies, I.C.U. patients, those who required dialysis, and those who had received bone-marrow transplants (and therefore had compromised immune systems). If hospital leaders had been forced to choose some of these patients over others, it would have been reasonable to send babies over the elderly, since infants arguably have the most life ahead of them. (Alternatively, some ethicists propose simply drawing straws.)</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; ">But the grim hypotheticals risk obscuring another issue: medical workers under siege can easily lose perspective. They can start to make decisions based on their own dark fears rather than the changing facts on the ground. "For heavens sake," one of the forensic experts cited by Fink said, "Memorial wasn't on a goddamn battlefield with enemy shells coming in. This was New Orleans, and there were helicopters and boats. And really, were they saying they couldn't get patients off the seventh floor?" In any disaster, medical teams must reëvaluate patients' conditions and the available resources frequently, as Fink argues, "maintaining the ability to 'see' in the midst of a crisis." This, along with better backup generators, is what may ultimately save the most lives.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; text-indent: 0px; "><i>Amanda Schaffer is a science and medical columnist for Slate and a freelance science writer.</i></p></div></div><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/09/the-moral-dilemmas-of-doctors-during-disaster.html">http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/09/the-moral-dilemmas-of-doctors-during-disaster.html</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

The Moral Dilemmas of Doctors During Disaster : The New Yorker

In the late summer of 2005, the waters loosed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina laid siege to New Orleans. At Memorial Medical Center, the po...

Today's Teamster News 09.14.13

4:45 AM Tukiyooo 0

<a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/first-student-school-bus-workers-choose-teamsters" rel="nofollow">First Student School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters</a>   teamster.org   ...School bus drivers and monitors with First Student in Oak Park, Mich., have voted by an overwhelming 5-1 margin to join Teamsters Local 1038 in Detroit...<br /><a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/dairy-workers-georgia-join-local-528" rel="nofollow">Dairy Workers in Georgia Join Local 528</a>  teamster.org   ...On September 6, workers at Mayfield Dairy in Macon voted to become Teamsters by a nearly 3-1 margin. There are 32 transport drivers, route sales drivers and warehouse workers in the unit...<br /><a href="http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Sikorsky-lays-off-200-workers-4809286.php" rel="nofollow">Sikorsky lays off 200 workers</a>   Connecticut Post   ...Sikorsky Aircraft announced plans Thursday to cut its hourly workforce by 200 people, mostly here in Connecticut, in its second round of layoffs of that size this summer...<br /><a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/allied-chooses-jack-cooper-bid" rel="nofollow">Allied Chooses Jack Cooper Bid</a>  teamster.org   ...At the auction that concluded Thursday, September 12, Allied selected Jack Cooper Transport as the entity with the best and highest bid...<br /><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/09/12/us-volkswagen-uaw-idINBRE98B0AE20130912" rel="nofollow">U.S. union UAW close to organizing at Volkswagen plant</a>   Reuters   ...Volkswagen's factory at Chattanooga, Tennessee, is close to becoming the first U.S. car assembly plant run by a foreign company to have its workers officially represented by the United Auto Workers union, a German paper reported...<br /><a href="http://www.alternet.org/corporate-accountability-and-workplace/10-reasons-millennials-are-screwed-generation" rel="nofollow">10 Reasons Millennials Are the Screwed Generation</a>   AlterNet   ...Young people living in the United States have inherited a broken country. Here are the reasons…<br /><a href="http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/09/12/financial-crisis-cases-ending-as-sec-struggles-with-reputation/" rel="nofollow">Financial Crisis Cases Ending As SEC Struggles With Reputation</a>   Fire Dog Lake   ...It has now been 5 years since Wall Street crashed the economy through its pump and dump mortgage derivative scheme. Few of the bad actors have been held accountable and none of the big ones...  <br /><a href="http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2013/09/us_manufacturing_rebirth_fizzl.html" rel="nofollow">U.S. manufacturing rebirth fizzles as jobs still head overseas</a>   Bloomberg News   ...Despite promises of a U.S. manufacturing resurgence, job gains in the field have stagnated as work continues to be sent to other countries...<br /><a href="http://valleywag.gawker.com/google-execs-have-been-flying-to-nantucket-with-taxpaye-1310297294/1310355985@maxread" rel="nofollow">The Pentagon Helped Pay for Gas on These Billionaires' Private Jets</a>  Gawker   ...Guess who's been paying for jet fuel on behalf of a handful of billionaires? That's right—you...<br /><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bill-granting-domestic-workers-OT-goes-to-Gov-4810133.php" rel="nofollow">Domestic Workers Bill of Rights passes Legislature</a>  San Francisco Chronicle   ...Californians who hire a nanny, a cook, a maid or other domestic employees would be required to pay them overtime wages under a landmark bill that awaits Gov. Jerry Brown's signature...<br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2013/09/13/usda-official-defends-pork-inspection-pilot-program/?hpid=z14" rel="nofollow">USDA official defends pork inspection pilot program</a>   Washington Post   ...A top food safety official at the USDA says that a pilot program for inspecting pork is working well, defending the experimental procedures being used in five hog plants around the country...<br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/federal-judge-rules-wisconsins-union-reforms-constitutional-200020962.html" rel="nofollow">Federal judge rules Wisconsin's union reforms constitutional</a>  Reuters   ...Wisconsin's controversial collective bargaining reforms do not violate the free speech and equal protection rights of public sector union workers, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday...<br /><a href="http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/22530497-418/union-will-fight-right-to-work-law-on-appeal.html" rel="nofollow">Union vows to fight Indiana right-to-work law on appeal</a>   Associated Press   ...Indiana is appealing a ruling declaring the state’s right-to-work law unconstitutional, Attorney General Greg Zoeller said Thursday...<br /><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/09/mary-landrieu-morganza-levee-oil-supply" rel="nofollow">Louisiana Senator Wants to Shut Down Nation's Oil Supply Until Congress Funds Levee Project</a>  Mother Jones   ...Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) <a href="http://www.republican.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/floor-updates?ID=b81efa95-9a3a-45c2-9362-56b45846bb28" rel="nofollow">said Wednesday</a> that Louisiana ought to shut down all of the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico until the House of Representatives agrees to fund a much-needed levee project in her state designed to protect against Katrina-type storms...

Today's Teamster News 09.14.13

First Student School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters teamster.org ...School bus drivers and monitors with First Student in Oak Park, Mich....

Childhood Treasures

3:54 AM Tukiyooo 0

<span style="font-size: large;">Nearly 30 years ago in about 1985, I received a camera for Christmas from Santa.</span><br /><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">It was a children's Fisher-Price camera made by Kodak and it took 110 film and it's flash involved attaching a strip of cube bulbs to it.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Out of all my childhood possessions it is the one that has still survived and I still have today.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">It was a chunky camera, solidly made to allow for dropping and rough handling by children with rubber ends in order to protect it.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijshgrKPohsetNSXjOL_pZamz-M692tB48E68cfKyxZi1DkNx5qggiuybLJkEPu1okQntkZrd-CVoT7CfcWW-4Ovtda_abrYfNErPnRog0FNPO6tw-OLZSTS421RIXbtECXVrwZefUpR54/s640/blogger-image--950222574.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijshgrKPohsetNSXjOL_pZamz-M692tB48E68cfKyxZi1DkNx5qggiuybLJkEPu1okQntkZrd-CVoT7CfcWW-4Ovtda_abrYfNErPnRog0FNPO6tw-OLZSTS421RIXbtECXVrwZefUpR54/s640/blogger-image--950222574.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJhQVGjS4-uZvsEkVx1a3ZaxuwejFe6EoQIbR2oYXoprkUf9oL5RorCt_lxpgJ7utGbNnZ0lxOSx2Sw6rpU9Iz8aH5n9zGVwBJg369wlUrZ6H8BDO9kGB4Zi7sjmPDjAYK7I3QmAawmPXd/s640/blogger-image--614192746.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJhQVGjS4-uZvsEkVx1a3ZaxuwejFe6EoQIbR2oYXoprkUf9oL5RorCt_lxpgJ7utGbNnZ0lxOSx2Sw6rpU9Iz8aH5n9zGVwBJg369wlUrZ6H8BDO9kGB4Zi7sjmPDjAYK7I3QmAawmPXd/s640/blogger-image--614192746.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">To wind on the film there was a large yellow slider on the underside.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRCmcohTaD1Okz8siRUaDsOejyJoiIK12aUM69Qrcbxzz8l9dnKbmY1mgDMmGv0fgOZk5KiTFNnRuQD-L0mZs2HsrX1-RBaW_zc24F-1-jYf0UK7iS8VyXHklo_HYrIm5JfLjbs5ehO3WJ/s640/blogger-image--1138607453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRCmcohTaD1Okz8siRUaDsOejyJoiIK12aUM69Qrcbxzz8l9dnKbmY1mgDMmGv0fgOZk5KiTFNnRuQD-L0mZs2HsrX1-RBaW_zc24F-1-jYf0UK7iS8VyXHklo_HYrIm5JfLjbs5ehO3WJ/s640/blogger-image--1138607453.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">And when you took a photo there was a satisfying click as you pressed the button.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixO8JcLJuo1m89FsGoaYEAIwMdXS9_w_uOIIE-hVMXzcKJUmoFl12uGeDRJVU159iOPyBP3MSmNs55xSKwRwVn9r-W4ovK_sUZuaJYjW8Ifp32dxTNFqmGKOtZQu8pMUurmQLPFvjuEC1S/s640/blogger-image--1468173717.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixO8JcLJuo1m89FsGoaYEAIwMdXS9_w_uOIIE-hVMXzcKJUmoFl12uGeDRJVU159iOPyBP3MSmNs55xSKwRwVn9r-W4ovK_sUZuaJYjW8Ifp32dxTNFqmGKOtZQu8pMUurmQLPFvjuEC1S/s640/blogger-image--1468173717.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">Film was loaded in to the back of the camera.  There is still a roll of film in my camera but the pictures would be ruined as the film has been exposed to the light over the years.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGXz7-KvDkiODxpMJZN12bpiEkl3U3y938lCclzRQ4Qc1Oho_vQBBUN6Xol896Y076hkfKhKpxqUOpJ6e3KGtIv2d6CzdmlS1sgWyejWG0PMS2ghvcZzgu1k9MQZdMTYFwJvKff12l5IaE/s640/blogger-image--2053151896.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGXz7-KvDkiODxpMJZN12bpiEkl3U3y938lCclzRQ4Qc1Oho_vQBBUN6Xol896Y076hkfKhKpxqUOpJ6e3KGtIv2d6CzdmlS1sgWyejWG0PMS2ghvcZzgu1k9MQZdMTYFwJvKff12l5IaE/s640/blogger-image--2053151896.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGK2Od8SN4fuVE73ZlEw4ZOCkusfZ1_AfTxNMwO6z8PBduIDgnISwJFho-WlPdcuSs8-CTuU0bu5i2TD88vb-CKIJT5NltqLETvYFAFdJ2fvc3niRjZLzRStqcr8ammFAVrg7TNIqBtDSG/s640/blogger-image--743269756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGK2Od8SN4fuVE73ZlEw4ZOCkusfZ1_AfTxNMwO6z8PBduIDgnISwJFho-WlPdcuSs8-CTuU0bu5i2TD88vb-CKIJT5NltqLETvYFAFdJ2fvc3niRjZLzRStqcr8ammFAVrg7TNIqBtDSG/s640/blogger-image--743269756.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OJgPCIVTpIIblXECczg7wJ4dTvwIVcEBgnGsLQwo27GR6xhrpGxFde8ia6ZfU1IPPPQRr-zWMnXcU7vs1fY3MLr7aDh_O94OGV7Xg19UnkA-CaE5F9meI6ekZNiDrY1mF6guxij7hetR/s640/blogger-image-744759088.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OJgPCIVTpIIblXECczg7wJ4dTvwIVcEBgnGsLQwo27GR6xhrpGxFde8ia6ZfU1IPPPQRr-zWMnXcU7vs1fY3MLr7aDh_O94OGV7Xg19UnkA-CaE5F9meI6ekZNiDrY1mF6guxij7hetR/s640/blogger-image-744759088.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">A safety feature on the cord allowed for quick opening in case of emergencies.  This was in order to prevent strangulation accidents, I presume.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilNykpOFrN8U8wO6EK-13kiVkZAyUZ_LtLzKvqqJEuBYFqzz4i1Q93TbPKUd-iqyjRteMB7g4g4ZUhE5_ga17dLl32c0L-94_xNhjoE9sJBgvqSgzh1Z7jJuNWE4n_bAB1JVApoGP9T4-w/s640/blogger-image--774623840.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilNykpOFrN8U8wO6EK-13kiVkZAyUZ_LtLzKvqqJEuBYFqzz4i1Q93TbPKUd-iqyjRteMB7g4g4ZUhE5_ga17dLl32c0L-94_xNhjoE9sJBgvqSgzh1Z7jJuNWE4n_bAB1JVApoGP9T4-w/s640/blogger-image--774623840.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here (black catch)  is where the strip flash was connected to </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxzOKT4JC9DrH_L4BT9Uws8NOHZF-QmkXsfDDTEJcqlR7kyiEVmnEfoGkOjbkD7CFOgf5OhcO_XT_xWgs_0F35mAaEltutzMb9PqL1edqrWA7-jyeXKUNoNfOmvc4tA8qbHqXFSWOt0Enw/s640/blogger-image--1198457149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxzOKT4JC9DrH_L4BT9Uws8NOHZF-QmkXsfDDTEJcqlR7kyiEVmnEfoGkOjbkD7CFOgf5OhcO_XT_xWgs_0F35mAaEltutzMb9PqL1edqrWA7-jyeXKUNoNfOmvc4tA8qbHqXFSWOt0Enw/s640/blogger-image--1198457149.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Having a camera was a novelty for children in the '80's in Ireland and on school trips, and the like, sometimes I was the only child in the class who took photos.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">Taking photos on film was quite the adventure before digital as you all know.  It involved a serious process of buying the film from the chemist, taking 24 careful snaps over a few months.  You would then return the film to the chemist for development.  In 2 weeks, or so, you would collect the photos and nervously take them out of the wallet and hopefully there would be lots of nice pics.  More than likely there would a few blurry efforts that would be binned but if you got 20 good pics you would be happy.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">As well as being time consuming, film development was quite costly so photos were generally taken at special occasions in my house and not wily nily!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">I hope you enjoyed this post! Do you have memories of taking photos before digital? Do let me know in the comments below.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">I'd also love to hear from anyone who had seen this camera before or knew of someone who owned one.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thanks for reading!</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>

Childhood Treasures

Nearly 30 years ago in about 1985, I received a camera for Christmas from Santa. It was a children's Fisher-Price camera made by Kodak a...

No Connection

2:56 AM Tukiyooo 0

No Connection

The fucking internet connection went tits up again Thursday and stayed off until sometime Friday evening while I was doing another twelve ho...

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 09/14/2013

2:30 AM Tukiyooo 0

<ul class="diigo-linkroll">      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/sept10/vol68/num01/Seven_Essentials_for_Project-Based_Learning.aspx">Educational Leadership:Giving Students Meaningful Work:Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">Excellent article from ASCD about meaningful work and students. I particularly appreciate the section on having a driving question. "A project without a driving question is like an essay without a thesis." Absolutely. Does your project or activity have a driving question? Great article worth a read.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/pbl">pbl</a></p>                                <ul class="diigo-comments">                  </ul>                      </li>  </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='https://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 09/14/2013

Educational Leadership:Giving Students Meaningful Work:Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning E...