Headless Lucy's Biker News

2011-12-23T14:54:00.000-08:00

WHAT WE CAN ALL BE THANKFULL TO CONSERVATIVE AMERICA FOR THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

2010-11-26T08:47:00.000-08:00

Although it is the day after Thanksgiving, I was thinking that today in the spirit of conciliation and acceptance of our fellows that the holiday season represents, I should try to think of something that we can all thank conservative America for.

I could not think of a thing until, while reading today’s Seattle Times, I came across a statistic in a column concerning health care in America. The statistic that I found was that 45,000 Americans per year die as a direct result of not having health care insurance.

That statistic made me realize that what I have to thank conservative America for this year is the unnecessary death of 250 Americans on both Thanksgiving and Christmas and 3,750 in between the two holidays.

So, thank you, conservative America, for this irrevocable gift, and I can only hope that you will share in its consequences in a very personal way this holiday season.

Independent Media Links

2010-08-13T23:31:00.000-07:00

Independent Media Links

Eric Galatas helped organize IMCs in Seattle and Washington, D.C., and was project coordinator for Free Speech TV's live satellite broadcasts of collaborative IMC programming from the Republican and Democratic Presidential Convention protests in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Eric is Program Manager for Free Speech TV, now available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on DISH Network Channel 9415, on community cable stations across the U.S. and on the net at www.freespeech.org

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Eric Galatas helped organize IMCs in Seattle and Washington, D.C., and was project coordinator for Free Speech TV's live satellite broadcasts of collaborative IMC programming from the Republican and Democratic Presidential Convention protests in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Eric is Program Manager for Free Speech TV, now available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on DISH Network Channel 9415, on community cable stations across the U.S. and on the net at www.freespeech.org

EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION

2010-08-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

Extrasensory Perception (ESP)
Introduction

Although many of you reading this book, like myself, have few personal doubts that something like extrasensory perception is real, the effort to establish ESP as a scientific fact has been a continuous struggle the outcome of which still remains uncertain. Many subjects whose demonstrations had originally convinced researchers from the British Society for Psychical Research were later detected using bogus means to dupe these eminent scientists. Fascinated by their few successes, researchers continued undaunted in the midst of failures, criticism, and detected frauds.

J. B. Rhine's Early Research at Duke University

Perhaps the most publicized early experiments were those published by Dr. Joseph Banks Rhine in 1934 in a monograph entitled Extra-Sensory Perception, which summarized results from his experiments at Duke University beginning in 1927.

Louisa and Joseph Banks Rhine

Although this work was published by the relatively obscure Boston Society for Psychic Research, it was picked up in the popular press and had a large impact throughout the world. While earlier researches had been fruitful, they were generally neither as systematic nor as persistent as Dr. Rhine's studies.

These experiments used shuffled decks of ESP cards with five sets of five different symbols on them -- a cross, a circle, a wavy line, a square and a star. This method reduced the problem of chance-expectation to a matter of exact calculations. Furthermore the cards were designed to be as emotionally neutral as possible to eliminate possible response biases caused by idiosyncratic preferences. However other studies have shown that emotionally laden targets can also work without impairing statistical analysis.

Rhine describes his early work with one of his more successful subjects, Hubert E. Pearce, a graduate divinity student:

The working conditions were these: observer and subject sat opposite each other at a table, on which lay about a dozen packs of the Zener cards and a record book. One of the packs would be handed to Pearce and he allowed to shuffle it. (He felt it gave more real "contact.") Then it was laid down and it was cut by the observer. Following this Pearce would, as a rule, pick up the pack, lift off the top card, keeping both the pack and the removed card face down, and after calling it, he would lay the card on the table, still face down. The observer would record the call. Either after five calls or after twenty-five calls -- and we used both conditions generally about equally -- the called cards would be turned over and checked off against the calls recorded in the book. The observer saw each card and checked each one personally, though the subject was asked to help in checking by laying off the cards as checked. There is no legerdemain by which an alert observer can be repeatedly deceived at this simple task in his own laboratory. (And, of course, we are not even dealing with amateur magicians.) For the next run another pack of cards would be taken up.
The critical reader will find several faults with this experiment. First, as long as the subject is able to see or touch the backs or sides of the cards, there exists a channel of sensory leakage through which the subject might receive information about the face of the cards. Several critics reported that this was why they were able to obtain good scoring results. Secondly, there was no adequate safeguards against legerdemain. For example, what would prevent the subject from making small markings on the cards with his fingernails in order tc identify the cards later on? It almost seems as if the optimism of the experimenter could mitigate against sufficiently careful observation.
Furthermore, was it really possible for one experimenter to maintain sufficient concentration to insure that the subject does not cheat? Experience of other researchers has sadly shown this is quite doubtful. Perhaps Rhine did utilize other safeguards. If so he could be (and was) fairly criticized for not adequately reporting his experimental conditions, although other experiments in his monograph were admittedly better controlled. Finally, there was no mention of any efforts to guard against recording errors on the part of the experimenter. One can hardly expect the cooperation of the subject, who may have a personal interest in the outcome, to be an adequate control against experimenter mistakes.

As Rhine's positive results gained more attention, arguments of this sort began to proliferate in the popular and scientific literature. It is much to Rhine's credit that he encouraged such criticism and modified his experiments accordingly. In 1940, J. Gaither Pratt, J. B. Rhine, and their associates published a work, titled Extra-Sensory Perception After Sixty Years, which described the ways in which the ESP experiments had met the thirty-five different counter-hypotheses that had been published in the scientific and popular press.

The areas of criticism Rhine and Pratt focused on in 1940 included: hypotheses related to improper statistical analysis of the results; hypotheses related to biased selection of experiments reported; hypotheses dealing with errors in the experimental records; hypotheses involving sensory leakage; hypotheses charging experimenter incompetence; and finally hypotheses of a general speculative character. In each case, Rhine and Pratt pointed to experimental evidence to counter the hypotheses.

Many prominent mathematicians in the field of probability who have made a detailed investigation have approved his techniques. In fact, in 1937 the American Institute of Statistical Mathematics issued a statement that Rhine's statistical procedures were not in the least faulty. In most experiments, both significant and chance results were reported and averaged into the data.

Between 1880 and 1940, 145 empirical ESP studies were published using 77,796 subjects who made 4,918,186 single trial guesses. These experiments were mostly conducted by psychologists and other scientists. In 106 such studies, the authors arrived at results exceeding chance expectations.

High scores due to inaccurate recording of results had been reduced to an insignificant level by double-blind techniques in which both subject and experimenter notations were made without knowledge of the scores against which they were to be matched. Errors were further reduced by having two or more experimenters oversee the matching of scores. Furthermore, original experimental data had been saved and double checked for mistakes many times by investigators. Tampering with these original records was prevented by having several copies independently preserved.

Sensory cues were impossible in many tests of clairvoyance because the experimenter himself and all witnesses did not know the correct targets. In other tests, the cards were sealed in opaque envelopes, or an opaque screen prevented the subject from seeing the cards. Often the experimenter and the subject were in completely different rooms.

Those who charged the experimenters with incompetence failed to find any flaws in several experiments (although rarely, if ever, are these early studies cited as evidential today, in an era of stricter experimental controls). In cases of inadequate reporting, Rhine indicated that further data would always be supplied upon request. In several cases, experimenter fraud would have had to involve the active collusion on the part of several teams of two or more experimenters. Critics who claimed the results came only from the laboratories of those with a predisposition to believe in ESP were also ignoring at least six successful studies gathered from skeptical observers.

Other criticisms generally claimed ESP could not exist because of certain philosophical assumptions about the nature of the universe or scientifically uninformed assumptions of what ESP would be like if it did exist. Rhine argued fo�cefully that such assumptions were scarcely sufficient cause to dismiss the carefully observed experimental data.

Of the 145 experiments reported in the sixty year period from 1880 to 1940, Rhine and Pratt selected six different experimental studies of ESP they believed were not amenable to explanation by any of the counter-hypotheses offered by critics of psi research at that time.

One of the more carefully controlled studies was the Pearce-Pratt series, carried out in 1933 with Dr. J. Gaither Pratt as agent and Hubert Pearce as subject. In these experiments, the agent and his subject were separated in different buildings over 100 yards apart. Pratt displaced the cards one by one from an ESP pack at an agreed time without turning them over. After going through the pack, Pratt then turned the cards over and recorded them. The guesses were recorded independently by Pearce. In order to eliminate the possibility of cheating, both placed their records in a sealed package handed to Rhine before the two lists were compared. Copies of these original records are still available for inspection. The total number of guesses was 1,850 of which one would expect one-fifth, or 370, to be correct by chance. The actual number of hits was 558. The probability these results could have occurred by chance is much less than one in a hundred million.

Criticisms of ESP Research

After the publication of ESP After Sixty Years, both the quality and quantity of criticism of ESP research declined until the mid-1970s (when a new wave of still-ongoing criticism was launched by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal). That is not to say, however, that psi research met with general acceptance in the United States or in other countries. The work of the psi researchers was simply ignored by many universities and the major scientific publications. The public guardians were not then ready for ESP.

In August 1955, Science carried an editorial on ESP research by Dr. George R. Price, a chemist from the University of Minnesota, stating that scientists had to choose between accepting the reality of ESP or rejecting the evidence. Price had carefully studied the data and he frankly admitted the best experiments could only be faulted by assuming deliberate fraud, or an abnormal mental condition, on the part of the scientists. Price felt that ESP, judged in the light of the accepted principles of modern science, would have to be classed as a miracle (this judgment, as we will point out later, is ill founded). Rather than accept a miracle, he suggested accepting the position of the eighteenth-century philosopher, David Hume, who said those who report miracles should be dismissed as liars.

Similar criticisms were published by Professor C. E. M. Hansel. Regarding the Pearce-Pratt experiment, he suggests that after Pratt had left him, Pearce departed from the University Library, followed Pratt to his office and looked through the fanlight of Pratt's door thus observing the target cards being recorded by Pratt. While it is true Hansel exposed the defect in the experimental design of having left Pearce alone in the library, the structure of Pratt's office would have made it impossible for Pearce to see the cards even if he had taken the great risk of staring through the fanlight of Dr. Pratt's door. In subsequent experiments psi researchers have generally (but, inevitably, not always) eliminated such defects.

Official recognition of the experimental competency of psi researchers did not come until December of 1969 when the American Academy for the Advancement of Science granted affiliate status to the researchers in the Parapsychological Association. Recent decades have shown authoritative scientific voices displaying a new willingness to deal with the evidence for ESP. In the "letters" column of Science for January 28, 1972, there appeared a brief note from Dr. Price titled "Apology to Rhine and Soal," in which Price expressed his conviction that his original article was highly unfair to both S. G. Soal and J. B. Rhine.

Ironically, Price's apology seventeen years after his original editorial was partially premature. In 1978, psi researchers found that S. G. Soal, a British mathematician who also reported significant ESP results, had fraudulently manufactured his data.

Other criticisms relating to repeatability, fraud, statistical inferences, experimental design and interpretation of data have continued. In fact, psi researchers closely scrutinize each other's work and have often been their own most thorough critics (making it rather easy for would-be debunkers to seize upon their criticisms as grounds for discrediting the entire field). As a response to criticism psi researchers have slowly, sometimes erratically and sometimes steadily, improved the quality of their experiments while continuing to obtain data which they believe is anomalous.

John Palmer argues that, while psychic researchers have not proven the
existence of psi, they have established a scientific anomaly that cannot
be explained away by skeptics.

Some honest skeptics, meanwhile, while contining to reject the psi hypothesis, reluctantly acknowledge that some of the research deserves careful scrutiny from the mainstream scientific community.

Unconscious ESP

One of the first theories about the nature of ESP was put forward by Frederick Myers, author of the 1903 classic Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death, when he associated psychic phenomena with the workings of the subliminal mind, below the limits of consciousness. Studies in which ESP signals are registered by the body's physiological processes even when the subject is unaware of the message support the concept of unconscious ESP. For example, in a series of studies conducted by E. Douglas Dean, subjects were hooked up to a plethysmograph. Increases or decreases in blood and lymph volume, resulting from emotional responses, are measured by this instrument.

E. Douglas Dean conducting a plethysmograph study

A telepathic agent in another room then concentrated on different names, some of which were known to be emotionally significant to the subjects. The results indicated changes in the blood volume which significantly correlated with the emotionally laden target messages. This finding was c

Birmed in a second series of studies conducted by Dean and Carroll B. Nash at St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia. Most of the subjects were totally unaware of the changes in their blood supply which were responding to the target material.

A similar study was conducted by Charles Tart in which subjects were hooked up to a plethysmograph, an electroencephalograph, and a device for measuring galvanic skin response. The agent in this experiment was periodically given a mild electric shock. The subjects did not know they were being tested for ESP, but rather were told to guess when a "subliminal stimulus" (sensory stimulation below the threshold of conscious awareness) was being directed to them. The subjects' hunches failed to correlate to this disguised target. However, their physiological measurements showed abrupt changes when the shocks were administered to the agent in ano@�er room.

Dream Telepathy

Frederick Myers noted in the early years of psychical research that the workings of the subliminal mind were most visible in such phenomena as dreams, trance states, hypnosis, and states of creative inspiration. In fact, a large proportion of the reported cases of ESP occurred while the percipient was in such altered states of consciousness.

An important series of studies on the nature of ESP in dreams was carried out by a team of researchers at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. Using equipment which monitored brain waves and eye movements, the investigators could determine accurately when subjects were having dreams. By waking the subjects at these times they were then able to obtain immediate reports of the dream contents. Earlier in the day, in another room, the telepathic senders had concentrated on target pictures designed to create a particular impression.

Independent judges compared the similarity subject's responses displayed to all of the actual targets in each series and found evidence for nocturnal telepathy and precognition (when targets were not chosen until the following day) of the actual targets used.,

In addition to these careful experiments, there were some interesting one-time studies. In one such test, telepathic transmission was obtained by having about 2,000 persons attending a Grateful Dead rock concert focus on a color slide projection image and attempt to send it to the dream laboratory 45 miles away in Brooklyn. Many of these individuals were in altered states of consciousness from the music and the ingestion of psychedelic drugs. This test proved successful.

Psychologist David Foulkes at the University of Wyoming, in consultation with the Maimonides team, attempted unsuccessfully to replicate the dream studies. Critic C. E. M. Hansel, a psychologist at the University of Wales in England, attributed the failure to tighter controls against fraud in the Wyoming experiments, whereas dream researcher Robert Van de Castle from the University of Virginia, one of the subjects in both the Wyoming and the Maimonides experiments, stressed the debilitating effect of the skeptical attitude of the Wyoming team.

In 1985, Yale University psychologist Irvin Child published a review of the Maimonides dream studies in the American Psychologist. Child's basic point was that this research was basically sound.

Irvin L. Child, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Yale University

The experiments have received little or no mention in the pertinent psychological literature. When these studies were reviewed, Child claims that they were so severely distorted as to given an entirely erroneous impression of how they were conducted. Child used the example of the dream research to illustrate the general point that books by psychologists purporting to offer critical reviews of psi research do not use the scientific standards of discourse prevalent in psychology.

Hypnosis and ESP

Milan Ryzl, a chemist who defected to the United States from Czechoslovakia in 1967, developed a hypnotic technique for facilitating ESP which, although it has not been successfully replicated, attracted attention and may yet prove fruitful. Ryzl's technique involved the intensive use of deep hypnotic sessions almost daily for a period of several months. The first stage of these sessions is to instill confidence in his subjects that they could visualize clear mental images containing accurate extrasensory information. Once this stage was reached, Ryzl concentrated on conducting simple ESP tests with immediate feedback so that subjects might learn to associate certain mental states with accurate psychic information. Subjects were taught to reject mental images which were fuzzy or unclear. This process, according to Ryzl, continued until the subject was able to perceive clairvoyantly with accuracy and detail. Finally, Ryzl attempted to wean the subject away from his own tutelage so that he or she could function independently. While still in Czechoslovakia, Ryzl claimed to have used this technique with some 500 individuals, fifty of whom supposedly achieved success.

Other studies have shown heightened ESP in states of physical relaxation or in trance and hypnotic states. In fact, the use of hypnosis to produce high ESP scores is one of the more replicabIe procedures in psi research.

A particularly notable series of experiments were described in 1910 by EmilIe Boirac, rector of the Dijon Academy in France, which produced what he described as an "externalization of sensitivity." When the hypnotist placed something in his mouth, the subject could describe it. If he pricked himself with a pin, the subject would feel the pain. The most striking experiments were those in which the subject was told to project his sensibility into a glass of water. If the water was pricked, the subject would react by a visible jerk or exclamation.

"The Conductability of Psychic Force." The two glasses were connected by a
copper wire. When the experimenter pinched the air-zone above the water-glass
nearest him, or plunged his finger or pencil into it, the subject immediately reacted.
This reaction disappeared if the connection between the glasses was removed. These results were undoubtedly shaped by the belief systems of the participants.

This phenomenon has been repeated by the Finnish psychologist, Jarl Fahler.

In a similar experiment performed by one of Boirac's associates, blisters were raised on the skin of a hypnotized subject, simply by pricking a photograph of the subject's hand.

"Exteriorization of Sensitiveness." A photograph of the sensitive was taken and
the negative was then held by her a few moments. The operator, with a pin, scratched
the hand on the negative. Instantly the sensitive ejaculated with pain, and a small red
spot appeared on the back of her hand. This rapidly grew into the blister shown in the
above photograph.

Boirac, as well as Soviet investigators, have reported the ability to induce a hypnotic trance simply through telepathic concentration directed toward their subjects.,

In 1969, Charles Honorton and Stanley Krippner reviewed the experimental literature of studies designed to use hypnosis to induce ESP. Of nineteen experiments reported, only seven failed to produce significant results. Many of the studies produced astounding success. In a particularly interesting precognition study, conducted by Fahler and Osis with two hypnotized subjects, the task also included making confidence calls -- predicting which guesses would be most accurate. The correlation of confidence call hits produced impressive results with a probability of 0.0000002.

In 1984, Ephriam Schechter reported an analysis of studies comparing the effect of hypnotic induction and nonhypnosis control procedures on performance in ESP card-guessing tasks. There were 25 experiments by investigators in ten different laboratories. Consistently superior ESP performance was found to occur in the hypnotic induction conditions compared to the control conditions of these experiments.

Hypnosis typically involves relaxation and suggestion in an atmosphere of friendliness and trust. We do not know which of these factors, or combination of factors, accounts for heightened psi scores. Schechter himself, as well as other psi researchers, has been reluctant to conclude that hypnosis does facilitate psi performance. He noted that the studies were not designed to control for an expectancy effect. In a retrospective critique of research on altered states of consciousness and psi, St. Johns University psychologist Rex Stanford argued that many alternative explanations of heightened psi effects were not controlled for in the research studies. Stanford called for more rigorous process oriented research to determine why hypnosis and other altered states enhance psi scores -- if, in fact, they actually do.

Exceptional ESP Laboratory Performers

Pavel Stepanek

Western researchers who travelled to Prague to personally investigate Milan Ryzl's hypnotic training program were able to test one of his better subjects, Pavel Stepanek. During a long period of experimental investigations, Stepanek proved to be one of the most successful subjects ever tested. More than twenty studies with him have now been published.

Pavel Stepanek attempting to read an ESP target
inside a triple-sealed envelope

What we still do not know is whether Stepanek always had this ESP ability or whether it developed as a result of Ryzl's training. There was a period of time during which Stepanek's scores did drop down to chance levels and then jumped up again after a hypnotic session with Ryzl.

In a book titled How Not To Test A Psychic, skeptic Martin Gardner reanalysed the tests with Stepanek, offering detailed hypotheses as to how the results obtained for over a decade by several independent experimental teams may have resulted from cheating by Stepanek.

Martin Gardner, author of How Not To Test a Psychic, Fads and Fallacies
in theName of Science, and other skeptical books (courtesy Martin Gardner)

Bill Delmore

In a study with an exceptional subject, Bill Delmore, confidence calls were made using a deck of ordinary playing cards as the target. The technique used was a "psychic shuffle" in which the experimenters randomly select a predetermined order which the subject must match by shuffling the target deck. In each of two shuffle series, with fifty-two cards in a series, Delmore made twenty-five confidence calls -- all of which were completely correct. The probability of such success is only one in 5250. Other studies with Delmore have also produced extraordinary results.

Delmore does not seem to use an altered state of consciousness as a means of gaining psychic information. In fact, the research in altered states seems to point to other variables which are really more significant. For Delmore, a congenial atmosphere is important.

Skeptical statistician Persi Diaconis, who observed some informal tests with Delmore which amazed a group of Harvard faculty and students, hypothesized that the results were due to a set of complicated maneuvers that would be familiar to magical practitioners.

Uri Geller

In 1974, Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ at SRI International (then Stanford Research Institute) in Menlo Park, California, reported on experiments conducted with the Israeli psychic performer Uri Geller. Their results, covered studies taking place over an eighteen month period:

In the experiments with [Uri] Geller, he was asked to reproduce 13 drawings over a week-long period while physically separated from his experimenters in a shielded room. Geller was not told who made any drawing, who selected it for him to reproduce or about its method of selection.

The researchers said that only after Geller's isolation -- in a double-walled steel room that was acoustically, visually and electrically shielded from them -- was a target picture randomly chosen and drawn. It was never discussed by the experimenters after being drawn or brought near Geller.

All but two of the experiments conducted with Geller were in the shielded room, with the drawings in adjacent rooms ranging from four meters to 475 meters from him. In other experiments, the drawings were made inside the shielded room with Geller in adjacent locations. Examples of drawings Geller was asked to reproduce included a firecracker, a cluster of grapes, a devil, a horse, the solar system, a tree and an envelope.

Two researchers -- not otherwise associated with this research -- were given Geller's reproductions for judging on a "blind" basis. They matched the target data to the response data with no errors, a chance probability of better than one in a million per judgment....

In another experiment with Geller, he was asked to "guess" the face of a die shaken in a closed steel box. The box was vigorously shaken by one of the experimenters and placed on a table. The position of the die was not known to the researchers.

Geller provided the correct answer eight times, the researchers said. The experiment was performed ten times but Geller declined to respond two times, saying his perception was not clear.

Because of the publicity which these studies received, they have been highly criticized by skeptics. These criticisms are largely speculations as to how Geller might have cheated. The SRI researchers have responded by maintaining that the experimental conditions were such that the alleged cheating could not have taken place. Nevertheless, psi researchers in general are reluctant to defend Geller.

Ganzfeld Research

A very thoughtful approach toward investigating ESP was reported in 1974 simultaneously by investigators in New York and Texas., These researchers hypothesized that the reasons why high scoring occurred in altered states (e.g., the Maimonides Hospital ESP dream research) was that the normal, waking mind was less active at these times; thus there was less mental "noise" covering up the signals coming through the subliminal mind. To test this theory, they utilized a ganzfeld technique of covering the eyes of their subjects with halved ping pong balls so that the visual field was seen as solid white. A constant auditory environment was provided by either a white noise generator or a tape of the seashore. Under these conditions, with a constant sensory input, psi signals were expected to be easier to perceive. Subjects were put into this condition and asked to free-associate out loud while their responses were put on to magnetic tape. In another room, the telepathic sender chose, at random, a set of slides to look at and try to send to the subject. After the experiment, the subject was asked to guess which of the view-master reels, of a group of four, had been the target. The subject's taped responses were also independently judged. The qualitative results of this procedure were often striking and statistical results also proved impressive.

In 1985, a meta-analysis of 28 psi Ganzfeld studies by investigators in ten different laboratories found a combined z score of 6.6, a result associated with a probability of less than one part in a billion. Independently significant outcomes were reported by six of the ten investigators, and the overall significance was not dependent on the work of any one or two investigators. Moreover, in order to account for the observed experimental results on the basis of selective reporting, it would have been necessary to assume that there were more than 400 unreported studies averaging chance results. Part of this problem was addressed by British psychologist Susan Blackmore's survey of unreported ganzfeld studies. Seven of these 19 studies (37%) yielded statistically significant results. This proportion was not appreciably lower than the proportion of published studies found significant.

In evaluating the ganzfeld database, Harvard psychologists Monica Harris and Robert Rosenthal compared it in quality to research in biofeedback. This is not to say, however, that the studies were flawless. Several critics found methodological problems with these studies.,, In fact, for every ganzfeld study reporting significant evidence of psi communication, there has been at least one critical review or commentary.

By their nature, ESP studies must eliminate opportunities for sensory cueing. An exception occurred in some ganzfeld studies when the subject was asked to choose which target picture had been "sent" by another person or agent. When slides held originally by the sender were shown to the receiver, finger smudges or other marks could theoretically have served as cues. Honorton has shown, however, that ganzfeld studies which eliminated this type of cue yielded at least as many significant psi effects as the studies with poorer controls.

In response to the various criticisms which had been addressed to the ganzfeld studies, Honorton and seven associates reported on a series of eleven new experiments at the 1989 convention of the Parapsychological Association. These studies were conducted using an automated testing system which controled random target selection, target presentation, the blind-judging procedure, and data recording and storage. Targets were recorded on videotape and included both video segments (dynamic targets) and single images (static targets). In all, 243 volunteer receivers completed 358 psi ganzfeld sessions. The success rate for correct identification of remotely viewed targets was statistically highly significant. The likelihood that these results could have been obtained by chance was less than one in ten thousand. The results were consistent across the eleven series with eight different experimenters.

A number of other interesting correlations were noted. The success rate for sessions using dynamic targets was significantly greater than those with static targets and accounted for most of the successful scoring. Significantly stronger performance occurred with sender/receiver pairs who were acquainted than with unacquainted sender/receiver pairs. Furthermore, comparison of the outcomes of these eleven automated ganzfeld studies with a meta-analysis of the original 28 direct hits ganzfeld studies indicated that the two sets were consistent on four dimensions: (1) overall success rate, (2) impact of dynamic and static targets, (3) effect of sender/receiver acquaintance, and (4) impact of prior ganzfeld experience.

This new series of eleven ganzfeld studies provides a model for psi research in that it combined exacting methodological rigor with a consideration of the humanistic considerations essential for psi performance. Participants were all informed that they were free to bring a friend or family member to serve as their sender. Additionally, the researchers encouraged participants to reschedule their session rather than feel they must come in to "fulfill an obligation" if they were not feeling well or were experiencing personal problems.

Researchers greeted participants at the door when they arrive for their session and attempted to create a friendly, informal social atmosphere. They offered coffee, tea, or soft drinks. The experimenter and other staff members engaged the participant in conversation during this period. If the session involved a laboratory sender, time was taken for the sender and participant to become acquainted. The experimental protocols included many other details to help subjects feel comfortable using psi faculties.

The possibility of sensory cueing was eliminated by the use of the automated target selection system. Both sender and receiver were kept in separate sound attentuated chambers during each experiment. Only the sender was aware of the target's identity. The use of a videotape display system prevented potential cues that might result from manual handling of target pictures. Dozens of details in the experimental protocols addressed every criticism which has been made of the experimental procedures. All electronic circuits, for example, were carefully monitored to exclude the possibility of even subliminal sensory leakage. All of the data from every test with every subject was reported using statistical tests which were specified in advance.

The use of a large number of subjects and the significance of the outcome using subjects as the unit of analysis, rules out subject deception as a plausible explanation. The automated protocol had been examined by several dozen psi and behavioral researchers, including two well-known critics of psi research. Some participated as subjects, senders, or observers, and all expressed satisfaction with the handling of security issues and controls.

In addition, two experts on the simulation of psi ability have examined the system and protocol. Ford Kross has been a professional mentalist for over 20 years. He is the author of more than 100 articles in mentalist periodicals, and has served as Secretary/Treasurer of the Psychic Entertainers Association. Mr. Kross has stated:

"In my professional capacity as a mentalist, I have reviewed Psychophysical Research Laboratories' automated ganzfeld system and found it to provide excellent security against deception by subjects."

Similar comments were made by Daryl Bem, Professor of Psychology at Cornell University. Professor Bem is well-known for the development of self-perception theory in social and personality psychology. He is also a member of the Psychic Entertainers Association and has performed for many years as a mentalist. He visited PRL for several days and was a subject in one series. In a book review of Advances in Parapsychology, Vol. 5 published in Contemporary Psychology, Bem made the following statement about the Honorton-Hyman debate over the psi ganzfeld studies:

For what it's worth, I find Honorton's conclusion that there is a significant and nonartifactual effect in the Ganzfeld data more persuasive than Hyman's more pessimistic conclusion. Apparently parapsychological data will remain a projective test for all of us.
The researchers claim that analysis has shown, contrary to the assertions of certain critics, that the ganzfeld psi effect exhibits "consistent and lawful patterns of covariation found in other areas of inquiry." The automated ganzfeld studies display the same patterns of relationships between psi performance and target type, sender/receiver acquaintance, and prior testing experience found in the earlier ganzfeld studies and the magnitude of these relationships is consistent across the two data sets. The impact of target type and sender/receiver acquaintance is also consistent with trends in spontaneous case studies, linking ostensible psi experiences to emotionally-significant events and persons.
Skeptic Ray Hyman and psi researcher Charles Honorton stated in a joint communique regarding the status of the ganzfeld studies:

...the best way to resolve the controversy...is to await the outcome of future ganzfeld experiments. These experiments, ideally, will be carried out in such a way as to circumvent the file-drawer problem, problems of multiple analysis, and the various defects in randomization, statistical application, and documentation pointed out by Hyman. If a variety of...investigators continue to obtain significant results under these conditions, then the existence of a genuine communications anomaly will have been demonstrated.
The researchers claim they have presented a series of experiments that satisfy these guidelines. No single investigator or laboratory can satisfy the reuqirement of independent replication but the automated ganzfeld outcomes are quite consistent with the earlier psi ganzfeld studies and the psi researchers believe the burden of proof is on the critics to show why these findings should not be accepted.
The automated ganzfeld studies show an overall success rate slightly in excess of 34%. A power analysis by University of California statistician Jessica Utts shows that for an effect this size, the investigator has only about one chance in three of obtaining a statistically significant result in an experiment with 50 trials. Even with 100 trials, which is unusually large in ganzfeld research, the probability of a significant outcome is only about .5.

The Experimenter Effect

For some time psi researchers have been suggesting that the failure of some investigators to repIicate their findings was due to attitudes and expectations, conscious or unconscious, which were communicated through subtle sensory or psychic channels to their subjects. A number of psi research projects have been designed to study on the factors that Harris and Rosenthal identified as contributing to the experimenter expectancy effect.

For example, one project compared the effects of a warm and cold social climate on ESP scores. All of the subjects had the same instructions and the same long ESP task. For half, there was a friendly, informal conversation with the experimenter for a quarter of an hour before the orientation began, and the experimenter made encouraging remarks during the breaks. The other half were treated formally and rather abruptly. The experimenter began the orientation immediately and also made discouraging remarks during the breaks. Results clearly confirmed the hypothesis. ESP scores of subjects treated warmly were significantly higher than mean chance expectation; scores of subjects treated coldly were significantly below mean chance expectation.

Judith Taddonio followed Rosenthal's classic expectancy effects design in an experiment with two series. Her experimenters were six undergraduates with previous practice in conducting psychological experiments. All felt neutral toward ESP but agreed to help her when she told them that a particular ESP method needed checking out. Three were told that prior findings with this method could not fail. The other three were told that Taddonio's colleagues were worried because the method seemed to elicit only psi-missing. All experimenters used the same materials and method.

Both in the first series and in the second, subjects of experimenters with high expectations made ESP scores above chance and subjects of experimenters with low expectations made ESP scores below chance. In each series, the difference was significant.

A study conducted at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland suggests that the attitude of the exerimenter regarding the existence of ESP correlates the results of that person's research. Ironically, one of psi researcher's least successful experimenters is from the University of Edinburgh, psychologist John Beloff.

John Beloff

Beloff is a respected researcher who has consistently failed to confirm several psi experiments that have done well elsewhere.,, Yet, in spite of his inability to confirm psi studies in his own laboratory, Beloff has remained convinced of the legitimacy of the research conducted by others. If he is a psi-inhibatory experimenter, it is not likely that his belief system is the inhibiting factor.

In 1988, psychologist Gertrude R. Schmeidler conducted an analysis of psi research studies testing for expectancy effects. Her conclusions were:

Psychological research on the experimenter effect has shown higher scores with a warm than with a cold experimenter climate and with an experimenter who expects high rather than low scores. Eight experiments, comprising 12 series, tested for the experimenter effect in psi. Nine of the 12 series had significant results, all in the predicted direction. Six other experiments tested a related hypothesis: that psi experimenters would be self-consistent in obtaining results like their prior ones. Four of these had significant results, all in the predicted direction.
Of course, effects of this sort have long been recognized in psychology, where they have been attributed to the desire of subjects to fulfill the expectations of the experimenters. Psychologists usually guard against this type of "artifact" by designing double blind studies in which the experimenters are kept unaware of which subjects are in the test and control groups.
However, the psi experimenter effect actually has revolutionary implications for normal psychological research. The following study was reported by Professor Hans KreitIer and Dr. Shulamith Kreitler of the Department of Psychology at Tel Aviv University in Israel:

The first experiment dealt with the effect of ESP on the identification of letters projected at subliminal speed and illumination. The second experiment dealt with the effect of ESP on the direction of perceived autokinetic motion (i.e., of a stationary point of light in a dark room). The third experiment dealt with the effect of ESP on the occurrence of specific words and themes in the stories subjects tell to TAT (Thematic Apperception Test) cards.
In all these three experiments the subjects did not know that ESP communications were "sent" to them, the "senders" never met the subjects and "senders" were naive in the sense that they were not particularly interested in parapsychology, were unselected, and did not get any training for the experiments. The precautions undertaken against any sensory contact between "senders" and subjects were highly complex and included the spatial separation of "sender" and subject (they were in two different soundproof rooms with another room between them), the decentralization of information about the experiment among different people, strict randomization of all stimuli and sequences, the use of experimenters who were disbelievers in ESP, etc.

The results show that in every experiment there was a significant effect due to the ESP communication....The effect...was particularly pronounced with regard to responses with an initially low probability of occurrence.

Ironically, while scientists in many other fields question the reliability of experiments in psi research, it may well be that psi effects underlie many controversial studies in other areas of science which have proved difficult to repeat -- for example, physicists' attempts to measure gravity waves.

The Sheep-Goat Effect

The hypothesis that the attitude the experimenter takes can effect ESP scores also applies to ESP subject attitudes. Dr. Gertrude Schmeidler, working at Harvard University and at the City College of New York, divided her subjects into "sheep" who believed that ESP might occur in their experiment and "goats" who did not.

Gertrude Schmeidler

Her studies, which were conducted over a nine year period and have since been replicated, showed an unquestionable difference between the "sheep" whose scores fell above chance expectation and "goats" who scored below chance levels. The phenomenon of psi-missing is thought to be a psychological effect in which psychic material is repressed from consciousness.

In a review of 17 experiments testing the hypothesis that subjects who believed in ESP would show superior ESP performance compared to subjects who did not believe in ESP, psychologist John Palmer found that the predicted pattern occurred in 76% of the experiments, and all six of the experiments with individually significant outcomes were in the predicted direction. These findings suggest an overall statistical significance for this effect.

It is important to realize, however, that the sheep-goat studies do not necessarily distinguish those who believe in ESP from those who do not. In most studies, the "sheep" were not "true believers"; they merely accepted the possibility that ESP could occur in the test situation. On the other hand, many of the "goats" were willing to accept that ESP could occur between people who loved each other, or in certain times of crisis; but they rejected all possibility that ESP would manifest for them in their particular test situation.

Psi-Missing

One would expect that if a person had ESP the level of performance on an experimental ESP test should be higher than chance expectation. Some individuals (and some groups in specific experiments) on the other hand have been found to score significantly below chance. This is termed psi-missing. It is important to note that this does not necessarily indicate a lack of ES since that would be associated with nonsignificant scores. Rather, psi-missing can be viewed as an expression of psi in a way that produces a result different from one's conscious intent. The percipient shows sensitivity to the targets' identity but tends to make calls at odds with this sensitivity.

Psi-missing is thought to be in part a consequence of negative elements in mood and attitude or aspects of personalty; these elements may cause psi-missers to focus their ESP inaccurately. While observations of psi-missing are much less common than those of psi-hitting, the former are sufficient numerous to suggest there is an effect here to be explained.

Critics argue that the occurrence of so-called psi-missing confirms their view of reported data as statistical freaks. These below-chance scores are seen as nothing else than the negative tail of the normal distribution of random guessing scores. Two points count against this interpretation. First, under this "normal curve" model the incidence of psi-missing data should be the same as that of psi-hitting results, yet in fact the former is much lower than the latter. Second, the occurrence of psi-missing seems to be correlated with certain psychological variables; this should not be the case if properly controlled ESP tests entail purely random guessing.

ESP and Personality Traits

Beginning in the early 1940s numerous attempts have been made to correlate experimental ESP performance with individual differences in subjects' personality and attitudinal characteristics. A series of studies with high school students in India by B. K. Kanthamani and K. Ramakrishna Rao has given further insight into the personality traits associated with psi-hitters and psi-missers.

K. Ramakrishna Rao

The following adjectives summarize the results of their work.

Positive ESP Scores Negative ESP Scores
warm, sociable
good natured, easy going
assertive, self-assured
tough
enthusiastic
talkative
cheerful
quick, alert
adventuresome, impulsive
emotional
carefree
realistic, practical
relaxed
composed tense
excitable
frustrated
demanding
impatient
dependent
sensitive
timid
threat-sensitive
shy
withdrawn
submissive
suspicious
depression prone

These particular traits are not suprising, in that people who frustrate themselves in the course of their other affairs are quite likely to behave the same way with regard to psi. It is much harder to define the personality of someone who expresses no ESP ability and whose scores will always approximate chance. For example, many people who indicate a fair amount of spontaneous ESP experience, and even professional psychics (whom I would assume have at least some ability) often do not score well in a laboratory.

Extraversion/Introversion

Extraversion is a personality type in which one's interests are directed outward to the world and to other people. This is contrasted with introversion in which one's interests are more withdrawn and directed toward the inner world of thoughts and feelings.

Gertrude Schmeidler, building on earlier studies by John Palmer and Carl Sargent, reviewed 38 experiments involving the relationship between ESP performance and standard psychometric measures of introversion/extroversion, found that extraverts scored higher than introverts in 77% of these experiments. In twelve of these studies, the difference between introverts and extraverts was statistically significant.,

Effects of Different ESP Targets

Robert L. Morris who holds the Arthur Koestler Chair of Parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland has proposed that each target be viewed as having both physical and psychological characteristics.

Robert L. Morris

The psychological characteristics seem to be more salient for psi research subjects than the physical. Morris has also suggested that researchers consider not only the targets themselves, but also the systems to determining and displaying the targets.

The nature of the test situation and the target material itself is likely to affect ESP scores. Some people prefer material which involves other human beings on a feeling level. Other subjects who do well with ESP cards show little psychic skill outside of the laboratory. The technical name for scoring well on some kind of targets and not on others is the differential effect and seems to follow a trend relating to emotional preferences, attitudes, and needs.

For example, in a test conducted by Jim Carpenter at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, with male college students unknown to the subjects, some of the ESP cards had sexually arousing pictures drawn on them. The subjects showed a greater ability at guessing the ESP symbols on these cards than on the regular cards. In another study with a female patient in psychotherapy, an ESP test was given using words which were emotionally potent for her. Half of them were of a traumatic nature and half of them were of a pleasant nature. In this test, she showed psi-missing for the traumatic words and psi-hitting on the emotionally-positive targets. This test was conducted by Martin Johnson at Lund University in Sweden.

Psi Mediated Instrumental Response

One of the most ingenious theories regarding the role of psi in everyday life was developed by Rex Stanford, who is currently teaching in the psychology department of St. John's University in Jamaica, New York.

Rex Stanford

Stanford developed the concept of the psi-mediated instrumental response (PMIR) to explain non-intentional psychic experiences. For example, there is the story about a retired army colonel who found himself unconsciously getting off of the subway in New York at the wrong exit and then running into the very people he was intending to visit. Is it possible that his response of getting off the subway was triggered by ESP?

To test this hypothesis, experiments were designed to see if subjects would use ESP in a situation in which they would be rewarded for it, although they did not know they were being tested. In one such experiment, students in a psychology class were given an essay-type exam with the answers to half the questions sealed in opaque envelopes which were handed to them with the exam. They were told that the envelope contained carbon paper which would make copies of their answers. The experimenters thought that the students would use ESP as well as other means in order to do well on the examination. In fact, the students did better on the questions which were answered in the sealed envelopes. Furthermore, in a study where sealed answers were incorrect, the students did poorer on the corresponding questions. This study was conducted by Martin Johnson at Lund University in Sweden.

Another study has indicated that subjects who use the PMIR to avoid unpleasant situations and to encounter favorable situations, also score better than average on tests of conscious ESP.

The PMIR model and research program have not been addressed by outside critics. However, Stanford himself has abandoned the model because he found its "psychobiological" or cybernetic assumptions to be untenable. Other psi researchers, such as John Palmer, feel that the PMIR model need not be abandoned, although modifications are necessary.

Stanford's Conformance Behavior Model

Stanford calls his new approach the "conformance behavior" model of psi. He challenges the "psychobiological" or "cybernetic" assumptions of PMIR, which assume that psi abilities are similar to other sensory-motor functions. Stanford questions whether ESP is analogous to normal perceptual or cognitive processes, since it occasionally manifests itself through unconscious motor behavior (such as when one misses a subway train and then encounters the person one is going to see in the first place). For this reason, Stanford sees psi as "dispositional" in character. He no longer assumes any communication of information across a channel.

As further support for his view, Stanford cites evidence that psi success is independent of task complexity. If psi were akin to normal sensory-motor skills, Stanford argues, one would expect deterioration in psi performance when doing a multicomponent task.

As evidence of the complexity independence of ESP, Stanford cites a 1940 study showing no deterioration in performance when a subject had to integrate information from two extrasensorily perceived targets from that obtained when the information was contained on a single target. Had the subject been cheating, and thus relying on normal senses, one could anticipate deteriorating performance in the more compl p task.

Stanford interprets psi events as the conformance behavior of "random event generators" (such as quantum mechanical REGs or human brains) to the needs of a "disposed system" (typically, the subject in a psi experiment, or the agent or percipient in a spontaneous case). In order for such conformance behavior to occur, the REG must produce events that are "unequally attractive" to the disposed system. Further, labile systems characterized by a great deal of random fluctuation should produce more conformance behavior than more deterministic systems.
In principle, the concept of conformance behavior, does away with the distinction between ESP and PK. As some support for this view, it is interesting to note that studies have shown no decrease in PK success when the PK target is a complex, multi-process REG as opposed to a simple, single-process REG. However, we are getting ahead of our story.

Precognition

ESP is generally divided into telepathy, i.e., extrasensory communication between two minds; clairvoyance, i.e., extrasensory perception at a distance, without the mediation of another mind; and precognition, which is ESP across time into the future. There is still some controversy as to whether telepathy actually exists, or whether it is simply another form of clairvoyance. However, precognition, a most unusual ability in terms of our conventional notions of time and free will, is a rather well-established ESP phenomenon. In fact precognition tests afford some of the best evidence for ESP, since sensory leakage from a target which has not yet been determined is impossible. For example, in early studies with Hubert Pearce, the subject was able to guess what the order of cards in a pack would be after it was shuffled at the same high rate of scoring (up to 50% above chance levels) as in clairvoyance tests.

While many people tend to reject ESP because it seems to contradict the classical laws of science, precognition is even harder to swallow for exactly the opposite reason -- it seems to imply a completely mechanical, predetermined universe. Ironically, it is this determinism which violates the sensibilities of twentieth-century science. In fact, precognition is very difficult to prove; although its alternatives are not exactly palatable.

For example in the precognitive card guessing studies, one might say that the subject psychokinetically caused the order of the cards to conform to his guesses. Or perhaps, more reasonably, the experimenter, using his clairvoyance subconsciously, determined the subject's guesses and (with possible PK influence) shuffled the cards accordingly. It is impossible for precognitive experiments to rule out the possibility of contamination by other forms of psychic interaction. The methodological difficulty in distinguishing different types of extra-sensory transmission and reception had led researchers to use the more general term psi.

There is evidence to suggest that precognition actually does occur -- with all of its ramifications regarding time and free will. Among the most sophisticated tests for precognition were those designed by Dr. Helmut Schmidt, a physicist now associated with the Mind Science Foundation in San Antonio, Texas.

Helmut Schmidt

Subjects in his experiments were asked to predict the lighting of one of four lamps which was determined by theoretically unpredictable, radioactive decay. Schmidt gives us the following description of his apparatus:

The target generator consists of a radioactive source (strontium 90), a Ceiger counter, and a four-step electronic switch controlling the four lamps [see illustration]. The strontium 90 delivers electrons randomly at the average rate of ten per second to the geiger counter. A high frequency pulse generator advances the switch rapidly through the four positions. When a gate between the-Geiger counter and the four-step switch is opened, the next electron that reaches the Geiger counter stops the switch in one of its four positions (whichever one it happens to be in when the electron registers) and illuminates the lamp corresponding to that position.

A subject presses a button recording a guess on one of the automated
testing devices developed by Helmut Schmidt. There is a probability of
1 in 4 that the subject will score correctly by chance alone.
(Courtesy Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man)
In precognition experiments, the subject makes her guess before the apparatus makes its random selection of a target. The results of these experiments were automatically recorded and the device was frequently subjected to tests of its true randomness. The instrument can also be modified for experiments in clairvoyance and psychokinesis. In all three modes of psi testing with the Schmidt device, significant results have consistently been obtained. Many other studies also show precognition.

Schmidt's studies have come under close scrutiny by skeptics. In 1981, psychologist C. E. M. Hansel suggested that Schmidt's experimental designs were not adequate to prevent cheating by Schmidt himself. Fellow skeptic, psychologist Ray Hyman responded to Hansel's critique by pointing out that a charge of possible fraud is "a dogmatism that is immune to falsification." Both points have some merit, and Schmidt himself has in some subsequent studies (to be covered in the forthcoming discussion of psychokinesis research) collaborated with other researchers to minimize the possibility of experimenter fraud. Perhaps the most cogent critique of Schmidt's research is that randomization checks on the instrumentation could have been conducted in a manner which more closely simulated actual experimental conditions. There is no data to suggest that this methodological weakness actually contributed to artifactually inflated psi scores. There is also, unfortunately, no way in which such control tests can be designed to be immune from possible psychic influences!

In 1989, Charles Honorton and Diane C. Ferrari reported a meta-analysis of forced-choice precognition experiments published in the English language between 1935 and 1987. "Forced choice" experiments are those, such as Schmidt's, in which the ESP percipient is asked to select among a limited number of choices -- as opposed to "free-response" experiments in which the percipients' responses are not limited. These studies involve attempts by subjects to predict the identity of target stimuli selected randomly over intervals ranging from several hundred milliseconds following the subject's responses to one year in the future. 309 studies reported by 62 investigators were analyzed. Nearly 2 million individual trials were contributed by more than 50,000 subjects. Study outcomes were assessed in terms of overall level of statistical significance and effect size. There was a reliable overall effect with chance probability less than 10-25. Thirty percent of the studies (by 40 investigators) were statistically significant at the 5% level. A ratio of 46 unreported studies averaging null results would be required for each reported study in order to reduce the overall effect to non-significance. No systematic relationship was found between study outcomes and eight indices of research quality. Effect size has remained essentially constant over the survey period, while research quality has improved substantially.

Four moderating variables were significantly associated with study outcome: (1) Studies using subjects selected on the basis of prior testing performance show significantly larger effects than studies involving unselected subjects. (2) Subjects tested individually by an experimenter show significantly larger effects than those tested in groups. (3) Studies in which subjects are given trial-by-trial or run-score feedback have significantly larger effects than those with delayed or no subject feedback. (4) Studies with brief intervals between subjects' responses and target generation show significantly stronger effects than studies involving longer intervals. The combined impact of these moderating variables appears to be very strong. A nearly perfect replication rate is observed in the subset of studies using selected subjects, who are tested individually and receive trial-by-trial feedback.

An interesting study comparing real-time ESP tests with tests of precognition was conducted by Charles T. Tart, a psychologist at the University of California, Davis.

Charles T. Tart

Using a measure of information rates, Tart analyzed 53 studies of present-time ESP and 32 studies of precognitive ESP -- all of which used a forced-choice test model. A striking and robust performance difference was found: present-time ESP worked up to 10 times as well as precogntive ESP in forced-choice tests.

Tart suggested three possible explanations for this finding. (1) Real-time ESP may be emotionally more acceptable than precognition. (2) Perhaps present-time ESP and precognition are two basically different processes, with inherently different characteristics. And (3) something about the nature of time itself attenuates ESP performance that extends into the future.

A study on a single individual, Malcolm Bessent, who has a history of success in laboratory precognitive tasks suggests that that the barriers to precognition may, indeed, be psychological. Bessent completed 1,000 trials in a computer-based experiment comparing precognition and real-time target modes. A diode-based electronic number generator (RNG) served as the target source. Target mode was randomly selected at the outset of each 10-trial run and was unknown to Bessent until the completion of each run. Bessent's task was to identify the actual target from a judging pool of four graphic "card" images represented on a computer graphics display.

Based on Bessent's prior research history, two formal hypotheses were tested by researcher Charles Honorton: (1) Bessent would demonstrate statistically significant hitting in the precognitive target mode, and (2) his precognitive performance would be significantly superior to his performance on real-time targets. Significance criteria were specified in advance. Both hypotheses were confirmed. Bessent's success rate in the precognitive target mode was 30.4%. This is reliably above the 25% chance level. Real time performance did not exceed chance expectations.

As is customary in psi research, various rival hypotheses including sensory cues, faulty randomization, data-handling errors, data-selection bias, multiple analysis, and deception were assessed. Honorton found them to be inadequate explanations of the beyond chance result.

This was the fourth precognition experiment with Bessent, each involving a different methodology and each yielding a statistically significant outcome. The combined result is highly significant with a chance probability of less than one in a billion.

An ingenious experiment, designed and conducted by Dean Radin, using himself as subject, attempted to explore the hypothesis that precognition entails the ability to see probability wave, to see probable rather than actual futures.

Radin designed a computerized Random Event Generator that would, in effect, change the probabilities of the various targets with each trial. A conventional precognition hypothesis would suggest a greater than chance number of hits for the correct target (regardless of a priori probability). Radin suggested that if precognition involved probable futures, the incorrect responses might still match the targets which were given a high a priori probability of being selected by the computer on a given trial -- even if they were not ultimately selected. This hypothesis was confirmed.

How unfortunate that, while the hypothesis would seem to have enormous ramifications for our understanding of precognition, there is no known way to distinguish the outcome of Radin's experiment from the possibility that he simply used his own psi abilities, if they exist, to confirm his favorite hypothesis.

One of the most rigorous and successful series of precognitive studies has been conducted by Brenda Dunne and colleagues at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research program. The Princeton group used a a free-response, remote-viewing procedure which was developed by physicists Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ at SRI International (working in conjunction with research subjects Ingo Swan and Pat Price). 336 experimental trials have been conducted in which randomly selected targets are not chosen or visited until the percipient's responses have been recorded.

The targets are real-life locations that are actually visited by an experimental agent acting something like a telepathic sender. The experimental subjects or percipients are asked to report any and all imagery which comes to them during the testing period. Then percipients are asked a series of thirty questions about the target which are to be answered "yes" or "no." These questions include such items as whether the target was outside, was it man-made, does a single object dominate the scene, are animals present, is it colorful, are there any loud sounds, etc. A statistical analysis then compares the subjects responses both to the actual target and to the descriptor ratings for all the other targets in the target pool. The results are summarized:

Effects are found to compound incrementally over a large number of experiments, rather than being dominated by a few outstanding efforts or a few exceptional participants. The yield is statistically insensitive to the mode of target selection, to the number of percipients addressing a given target, and, over the ranges tested, to the spatial separation of the percipient from the target and even to the temporal separation of the perception effort from the time of target visitation. Overall results are unlikely by chance to the order of 10-10.

Reference

. A survey published in New Scientist, on January 25, 1973, indicate that 25% of scientists polled considered extrasensorimotor phenomena "an established fact." Another 42% opted for "a likely possibility."

. Harry Price, Fifty Years of Psychical Research. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1939, pp. 73-74. Price, who founded the National Laboratory of Psychical Research in London, was involved in exposing many fraudulent "psychics."

. Joseph Banks Rhine, Extra-Sensory Perception. Boston: Society for Psychical Research, 1933, pp. 73-74.

. B. H. Camp, [Statement in notes.] Journal of Parapsychology, 1, 1937, 305.

. J. Gaither Pratt, James Banks Rhine, et al., Extra Sensory Perception After Sixty Years. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1940. This book was a bible, in its day, for card-guessing researchers.

. Rhine and his associates borrowed a German term and designated their experimental work parapsychology. This was done both to distinguish it from t`! earlier term psychical research which was generally a non-experimental field, and to denote an inquiry which was closely related to psychology.

. Rhine, Extra-Sensory Perception.

. George R. Price, "Science and the Supernatural," Science, 122, 359-367.

. C. E. M. Hansel, ESP: A Scientific Evaluation. New York: Scribner's, 1966.

. Ian Stevenson, "An Antagonist's View of Parapsychology. A Review of Professor Hansel's ESP: A Scientific Evaluation," Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 61, July 1967, 254-267. Stevenson points out that Hansel based his conclusions on an inaccurate diagram of Pratt's office.

. Betty Marwick, "The Soal-Goldney Experiments with Basil Shackleton: New Evidence of Manipulation," Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, 56, 211.

. In the absence of experimental consistency and theoretical underpinnings, some psychic investigators feel it is premature to claim that even the best experiments support a psi hypothesis. Perhaps, in the future, researchers and critics working together will uncover conventional explanations for the existing data. Therefore they prefer to refer to the existing data of psi research as anomalies. See John Palmer, "Have We Established Psi?" Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 81, 1987, 111-123; K. Ramakrishna Rao & John Palmer, "The Anomaly Called Psi: Recent Research and Criticism," Behaviorial and Brain Sciences, 10, 1987, 539-551.

. E. Douglas Dean, "The Plethysmograph as an Indicator of ESP," Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 41, 1962, 351-353.

. E. Douglas Dean & Carroll B. Nash, "Plethysmograph Results Under Strict Conditions," Sixth Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association, New York, 1963.

. Charles T. Tart, "Possible Physiological Correlates of Psi Cognition," International Journal of Parapsychology, 5, 1963, 375-386.

. Montague Ullman, Stanley Krippner, & Alan Vaughan, Dream Telepathy. New York: Macmillan, 1973. A valuable feature of this book is that, as in ESP After Sixty Years, the authors invited contributions from known critics of their work.

. Naturally these findings caused some scientists to echo the thought of Shakespeare that "we are the stuff that dreams are made of." This notion may eventually take on some rather precise physical and mathematical coloring, as the Pythagorean tradition finds renewal mathematical theorists (see Appendix).

. Stanley Krippner, Charles Honorton & Montague Ullman, "An Experiment in Dream Telepathy with The Grateful Dead," Journal of the American Society of Psychosomatic Dentistry and Medicine, 20(1), 1973.

. John Palmer, An Evaluative Report on the Current Status of Parapsychology. Alexandria, VA: U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, 1985.

. Irvin L. Child, "Psychology and Anomalous Observations: The Question of ESP in Dreams," American Psychologist, 40(11), November 1985, 1219-1229.

. Milan Ryzl, "A Method of Training in ESP," International Journal of Parapsychology, 8(4), Autumn 1966.

. Charles Honorton, Significant Factors in Hypnotically-Induced Clairvoyant Dreams," Journal of The American Society for Psychical Research, 66(1), January 1972, 86-102.

. Edward A. Charlesworth, "Psi and the Imaginary Dream," Seventeenth Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association, New York, 1974.

. Gertrude R. Schmeidler, "High ESP Scores After a Swami's Brief Instruction in Meditation and Breathing," Journal of The American Society for Psychical Research, 64(1), January 1970, 101-103.

. Karlis Osis & Edwin Bokert, "ESP and Changed States of Consciousness Induced by Meditation," Journal of The American Society for Psychical Research, 65(1), January 1971, 17-65.

. Emille Boirac, Our Hidden Forces, London: Rider, 1918.

. D. Scott Rogo, Parapsychology: A Century of lnquiry. New York: Taplinger, 1975, p. 238.

. Boirac, op. cit.

. Ibid.

. Shiela Ostrander & Lynn Schroeder, Psychic Discoveries Behind The Iron Curtain, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice-Hall, 1970. pp. 37-40.

. Charles Honorton & Stanley Krippner, "Hypnosis and ESP: A Review of the Experimental Literature," Journal of The American Society for Psychical Research, 63, 1969, 214-252.

. Ephriam Schechter, "Hypnotic Induction vs. Control Conditions: Illustrating an Approach to the Evaluation of Replicability in Parapsychological Data," Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 78, 1984, pp. 1-27.

. Ephriam I. Schechter, personal communication, September 12, 1989.

. Rex G. Stanford, "Altered Internal States and Parapsychological Research: Retrospect and Prospect," in D. H. Weiner & D. I. Radin (eds.), Research in Parapsychology 1985. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1986, pp. 128-131.

. J. Gaither Pratt, ESP Research Today, Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1973. pp. 84-100.

. Martin Gardner, How Not to Test a Psychic. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1989.

. H. Kanthamani & E. F. Kelly, "Awareness of Success in an Exceptional Subject," Journal of Parapsychology, 38(4), December 1974, 355-382.

. Persi Diaconis, "Statistical Problems in ESP Research," Science, 201, 1978, 131-136.

. Stanford Research Institute, news release, October 1974. See also Harold Puthoff & Russell Targ, "Information Transmission Under Conditions of Sensory Shielding," Nature, October 18, 1974.

. Martin Gardner, "How Not to Test a Psychic: The Great SRI Die Mystery," Skeptical Inquirer, VII(2), Winter 1982-83, 33-39.

. Charles Honorton & James C. Terry, "Psi-mediated Imagery and Ideation in the Ganzfeld: A Confirmatory Study," Seventeenth Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association, New York, 1974.

. Lendell W. Braud & William G. Braud, "The Psi Conducive Syndrome: Free Response GESP Performance During an Experimental Hypnagogic State Induced by Visual and Acoustic Ganzfeld Techniques," Parapsychological Association Convention, New York, 1974.

. Charles Honorton. "Meta Analysis of Psi Ganzfeld Research: A Response to Hyman," Journal of Parapsychology, 49, 1985, 51-91.

. Susan Blackmore, "The Extent of Selective Reporting of ESP Ganzfeld Studies," European Journal of Parapsychology, 3, 1980, 213-219.

. Monica J. Harris & Robert Rosenthal, Interpersonal Expectancy Effects and Human Performance Research. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1988.

. Susan Blackmore, "A Report of a Visit to Carl Sargent's Laboratory," Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 54(808), July 1987, 186-198.

. Adrian Parker & Nils Wiklund, "The Ganzfeld Experiments: Towards an Assessment," Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 54(809), October 1987, 261-265.

. Ray Hyman, "The Ganzfeld/Psi Experiment: A Critical Appraisal," Journal of Parapsychology, 49, 1985, 3-49.

. Charles C. Honorton, Rick E. Berger, Mario P. Varvoglis, M. Quant, P. Derr, George P. Hansen, Ephriam Schechter, D. C. Ferrari, "Psi Ganzfeld Experiments using an Automated Testing System: An Update and Comparison with a Meta-Analysis of Earlier Studies." Proceedings of Presented Papers, the Parapsychological Association 32nd Annual Convention, San Diego, August 1989, pp. 93-109.

. If the participant choose not to bring a friend, a Psychophysics Research Laboratory staff member served as sender.

. These courtesies and considerations may seem either obvious or trivial. Experience suggests, however, that they should not be taken for granted. The emotional tone is noticably different where researchers are hostile to the possibility of positive psi results and are suspicious that subjects will engage in fraud.

. This statement, cited in Honorton, et al., 1989 is attributed to correspondence received in May 1989.

. This quote is cited in a news brief titled "Psychologist for Psi," in Parapsychology Review, 20(5), September-October 1989, p. 14.

. National Research Council, Enhancing Human Performance: Issues, Theories, and Techniques. Washington, DC:National Academy Press, 1988, p. 175.

. Ray Hyman & Charles Honorton, "A Joint Communique: The Psi Ganzfeld Controversy," Journal of Parapsychology, 50, 1984, 353-354.

. J. Gaither Pratt � M. Price, "The Experimenter-Subject Relationship in Tests for ESP," Journal of Parapsychology, 1938, 84-94.

. Charles Honorton, M. Ramsey, & C. Cabibbo, "Experimenter Effects in Extrasensory Perception," Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 69, 1975, 135-149.

. Judith L. Taddonio, "The Relationship of Experimenter Expectancy to Performance on ESP Tasks," Journal of Parapsychology, 40, 1976, 107-114.

. Adrian Parker, "A Pilot Study of the Influence of Experimenter Expectancy on ESP Scores," Parapsychological Association Convention, New York, 1974.

. John Beloff & I. Mandelberg, "An Attempted Validation of the 'Ryzl Technique' for Training ESP Subjects," Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 43, 1966, 229-249.

. John Beloff & J. Bate, "An Attempt to Replicate the Schmidt Findings," Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 46, 1971, 21-30.

. John Beloff, "The 'Sweethearts' Experiment," Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 45, 1969, 1-7.

. Gertrude Schmeidler, Parapsychology and Psychology. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1988.

. H. C. Berendt, "Parapsychology in Israel," in Allan Angoff & Betty Shapin (eds.), Parapsychology Today: A Geographic View. New York: Parapsychology Foundation, 1973. p. 68.

. Gertrude R. Schmeidler & Robert A. McConnell, ESP and Personality Patterns. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1958.

. John Palmer, "Scoring in ESP Tests as a Function of Belief in ESP. Part I. The Sheep-Goat Effect," Journal of The American Society for Psychical Research, 65, 1971, 373-408.

. John A. Palmer, "Scoring in ESP Tests as a Function of Belief in ESP. Part I: The Sheep-Goat Effect," Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 65, 1971, 373-408.

. Gertrude R. Schmeidler, personal communication, September 18, 1989.

. J. E. Crandall, "Effects of Favorable and Unfavorable Conditions on the Psi-Missing Displacement Effect," Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 79, 1985, 27-38.

. K. Ramakrishna Rao, "The Bidirectionality of Psi," Journal of Parapsychology, 29, 1965, 230-250.

. Harvey J. Irwin, An Introduction to Parapsychology. Jefferson, NC: 1989. This is an introductory text, suitable for college classes. In particular, see the discussion on "The Bidirectionality of ESP: Psi-Missing."

. B. K. Kanthimani & K. R. Rao, "Personality Characteristics of ESP Subjects," Journal of Parapsychology, 36, 1972, 56-70

. John A. Palmer. "Attitudes and Personality Traits in Experimental ESP Research," in B. B. Wolman (ed.), Handbook of Parapsychology. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1977, pp. 175-201.

. Gertrude Schmeidler, Parapsychology and Psychology. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1988.

. Robert L. Morris, "The Concept of the Target," in L. A. Henkel & R. E. Berger, Research in Parapsychology 1988. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1989, pp. 89-91.

. Martin Johnson, "A New Technique of Testing ESP in a Real-Life, High Motivational Context," Journal of Parapsychology, 37, 1973, 210-217. This study, however, was not actually designed to test Stanford's PMIR model.

. Rex G. Stanford & Gary Thompson, "Unconscious Psi-mediated Instrumental Response and its Relation to Conscious ESP Performance," Parapsychological Association Convention, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1973

. John Palmer, An Evaluative Report.

. Rex G. Stanford, "Toward Reinterpreting Psi Events," Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 72, 1978, 197-214.

. A. A. Foster, "Is ESP Diametric?" Journal of Parapsychology, 4, 1940, 325-328.

. This works both ways as many PK experiments can be interpreted as evidence of precognition.

. Helmut Schmidt, "A Quantum Process in Psi Testing," in J. B. Rhine (ed.), Progress in Parapsychology. Durham, NC: Parapsychology Press, 1973, pp. 28-35.

. Helmut Schmidt, "A Quantum Mechanical Random Number Generator for Psi Tests," Journal of Parapsychology, 34, 1970, 219-224.

. Helmut Schmidt, "Precognition of a Quantum Process," Journal of Parapsychology, 33, 1969, 99-108.

. Helmut Schmidt, "PK Tests with a High-Speed Random Number Generator," Journal of Parapsychology, December 1973, 105-118.

. C. E. M. Hansel, "Critical Analysis of Schmidt's PK Experiments," Skeptical Inquirer, V(3), Spring 1981, 26-33.

. Ray Hyman, "Further Comments on Schmidt's PK Experiments," Skeptical Inquirer, V(3), Spring 1981, 39.

. J. E. Alcock, A Comprehensive Review of Major Empirical Studies in Parapsychology Involving Random Event Generators or Remote Viewing. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1988.

. Charles Honorton & Diane C. Ferrari, "Future Telling -- A Meta-Analysis of Forced Choice Precognition Experiments, 1935-1987," Proceedings of Presented Papers, the Parapsychological Association 32nd Annual Convention, San Diego, August 1989, 110-121.

. Charles T. Tart, "Information Acquisition Rates in Forced-Choice ESP Experiments: Precognition Does Not Work as Well as Present-Time ESP," Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 77(4), October 1983, 293-310.

. Charles Honorton, "Precognition and Real-Time ESP Performance in a Computer Task with an Exceptional Subject," Journal of Parapsychology, 51(4), December 1987, 291-320.

. Dean I. Radin. "Precognition of Probable Versus Actual Futures: Exploring Futures That Will Never Be," in D. H. Weiner & R. L. Morris (eds.), Research in Parapsychology 1987. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1988, pp. 1-5.

. Harold E. Puthoff & Russell Targ, "A Perceptual Channel for Information Transfer over Kilometer Distances: Historical Perspective and Recent Research," Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 64, 1976, 329-354.

. Brenda J. Dunne, York H. Dobyns & S. M. Intner, Precognitive Remote Perception III: Complete Binary Data Base with Analytical Refinements. Technical Note PEAR 89002. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 1989.

. Ibid., pp. i-ii.

ETHNIC RELATIONS, Race and Ethnic Relations

2010-08-11T19:34:00.000-07:00

Race and Ethnic Relations
Mc Nair Scholars Summer Program 2004

Professor: Gilda L. Ochoa
Office: Hahn 220 at 420 N. Harvard Ave. (Pomona College)
Phone: (909) 607-2604
e-mail: gochoa@pomona.edu

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Course Description:
This seminar focuses on the historical and contemporary patterns of race and ethnic relations. We will review some of the key sociological perspectives and works on race and ethnicity. As well as assessing authors' arguments, research methods, findings, and policy implications, we will consider topics such as racial/ethnic identity formation, white supremacy, acculturation and assimilation, the interlocking systems of race, ethnicity, class, and gender, intra-ethnic relations, race and ethnicity in schools, political activism, and possibilities for change.

Throughout the course, we will endeavor to answer several questions: What explains racial and ethnic stratification? What is the contemporary significance of race and ethnicity in the United States? How have various racial and ethnic groups interacted with each other? What are the possibilities for change?

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Required Readings:

Almaguer, Tomas. Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 1994.

Ochoa, Gilda. Becoming Neighbors in a Mexican American Community: Power, Conflict, and Solidarity. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2004.

Tatum, Beverly Daniel. "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" And Other Conversations About Race. New York: Basic Books, 1997.

Tuan, Mia. Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites? The Asian Ethnic Experience Today. New Brunswick: New Jersey, 1998.

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Course Requirements and Grading:

All of the materials presented in this course are required. You are expected to use all of the information available to make points, arguments, and comparisons in your assignments and course discussions.

The grading for the course will be as follows:

Class Participation 20%
Reflection Paper (3-4 pages) 20%
Book Review (4-5 pages) 25%
Final Paper (5-6 pages) 35%

Your final grade will be based on the following:

1. Class Participation - The sharing, exchanging, and appreciation of people's ideas and experiences are part of the process that builds critical thinking skills. Hence, class participation is required, since much of the class will be interactice (as opposed to one-way lecture). Class participation includes contributing verbally to the discussion as well as listening actively. You are expected to come with the readings completed and prepared to discuss. This is a class that "works" with the active participation of everyone.

Group Facilitations - You You will work in groups of 5-6 to prepare and facilitate a class discussion on one of the following course books. Each group should prepare a typed list of questions to be distributed to all of the members of the class at the beginning of the discussion. These questions should be based on the reading and might include inquiries about the author's arguments, data and the significance of the research findings. Facilitations should be designed for 75-90 minutes.

"Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" June 28
Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites? July 19
Becoming Neighbors in a Mexican American Community July 26

Current Issues/Special Events - To structure into the course a discussion of current issues regarding race and ethnicity locally, nationally, and internationally, you are encouraged to introduce and discuss a current issue at least once during the course.

2. Papers

Reflection Paper - You will be asked to submit one 3-4 page typed reflection paper. The topic for this paper is included in the course schedule and is due at the beginning of class on June 30. Papers will be evaluated on their structure, thoughtfulness, insight, and engagement with course material.

Book Review - Select one of the course books, and write a 4-5 page book review. The guidelines for the review will be discussed in class. This review will be due on the last scheduled day that the book will be discussed in class.

Formal Paper - At the end of the couse, you will be asked to write on 5-6 page typed analytical paper.

Grades on all late papers will be impacted.

WEEK 1: Introduction

June 23 - Introduction to the Course: Building the Foundation
Topics: Critical Pedagogy; The Politics of Education; Making Connections; Coalition Building and Creating a Democratic Classroom; Distinguishing Between Individual, Organizational, and Structural Discrimination; Individual Prejudics and Exclusionary Ideologies; White Priviledge
Read: Tatum, Beverly Daniel. "Why Are All of the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" pp. ix-xix, 3-28 and 193-206.

June 25 - Breaking the Taboo: Talking About Race and Racism
Topics: Cooley and the Looking Glass Self; Raising Resisters; School and the Identity Formation
Read: Tatum, Beverly Daniel. "Why Are All of the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" pp. 18-90.

Sign-Up for Group Facilitations
Discuss Facilitations and Book Reviews

June 27 - Book Reading of Becoming Neighbors in a Mexican American Community (Puente Hills Mall, City of Industry 1:00-2:00)

WEEK 2: Racial/Ethnic Identity Formation

June 28
Read: Tatum, Beverly Daniel. "Why Are All of the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" pp.93-190.

First Group Facilitation
Book Review Due, If Writing on "Why Are All of the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?"

June 30 - Sociological Perspective on Race and Ethnicity
Topics: Assimilationist- Straight Line Theory of Assimilation, Stages of Assimilation (Behavioral and Structural Assimilation); Anglo-Conformity: Cultural Deficiency; The Significance of Class on Group Position; What Explains Contemporary Race/Ethnic Relations and Inequality?

Read: Pincus, Fred L. and Howard J. Ehrlich. "Discrimination, Economic Restructuring, and Underclass Culture." In Race and Ethnic Conflict, eds. Fred L. Pincus and Howard J. Ehrlich. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1999.

Gordon, Milton. "Assimilation in America." In Majority and Minority, ed. Norman Yetman. Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1975.

Harrison, Lawrence E. "How Cultural Values Shape Economic Success." In Race and Ethnic Conflict, eds. Fred L. Pincus and Howard J. Ehrlich. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1994.

Wilson, William Julius. "Societal Changes and Vulnerable Neighborhoods." In Race and Ethnic Conflict, eds. Fred L. Pincus and Howard J. Ehrlich. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1994.

Bonaich, Edna. "Inequality in America." In Sources, eds. Adalberto Aguirre, Jr. and David V. Baker. Guilford, Connecticut: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill, 1998.

Due: 3-4 Page Reflection Paper on the following. What do you think explains race/ethnic relations and inequality? do you agree and/or disagree with any of the perspective offered in today's readings?

WEEK 3: Sociological Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity
July 7
Topics: The Social Construction of Race; The Rule of Hypodescent; Challenging Binaries; The Simultaneity of Race, Class, and Gender; Problemizing Conceptions of Racial/Ethnic Authenticity; Multiple and Multiracial Identities

Read: Omi, Michael and Harold Winant. "Racial Formations." In Sources, eds. Adalberto Aguirre, Jr. and David V. Baker. Guilford, Connecticut: The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc., 1995.

Espiritu, Yen L. "Race, Gender, Class in the Lives of Asian Americans." In Race, Gender, and Class, Vol. 4, No. 3, 1997, 12-19.

Moraga, Cherrie. "La Guerra." In Race, Class, and Gender, eds. Margaret L. Anderson and Patricia Hill Collins. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1998.

Sacks, Karen Brodkin. "How Did Jews Become White Folks?" In Race, eds. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1994.

Oliver, Melvin L. and Thomas M. Shapiro. "Black Wealth/White Wealth." In Mapping the Social Landscape, ed. Susan J. Ferguson. Mountain View, CA: McGraw Hill, 2002.

July 9 - Historical Origins on the Development of Racism
Topics: Racial Hierarchy; The Significance of Structural Factors and Popular Ideologies (Manifest Destiny and Free Labor) on Race/Ethnic Relations

Read: Almaguer, Tomas. Racial Fault Lines, pp. 1-41 and 205-213.

Video: "Ishi: The Last of the Yahi" (Producers/Directors: Jeff Riffe and Pamela Roberts, 55 minutes, 1994.)

WEEK 4: Historical Perspectives on the Development of Racism
July 12 - Historical Origins
Topic: According to Almaguer, what in particular explains differing experiences and different group positions on the racial hierarchy of 19th century California?

Read: Almaguer, Tomas. Racial Fault Lines, pp. 45-204.
a.) "The True Significance of the Word 'White,'" pp.45-74
"The Ravages of Time and the Intrusion of Modern American Civilization," pp. 75-104
b.) "Before the march of Civilization He Must Give Way," pp. 107-130
"Unfit and Incapable of Being Associated with Whites on Any Terms of Equality," pp. 131-150
c.) "They Can Be Hired in Masses; They Can Be Controlled Like Unthinking Slaves," pp. 153-204.

Small Group Discussions
Book Review Due, If Writing on Racial Fault Lines

July 14

Read: Tuan, Mia. Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites?, pp. 1-75.

Video: "Who Killed Vincent Chin?"

WEEK 5
July 19

Read: Tuan, Mia. Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites?, pp. 76-167.

Second Group Facilitation
Book Review Due, If Writing on Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites?

July 21 - Intra-Ethnic Relations

Read: Ochoa, Gilda L. Becoming Neighbors in a Mexican American Community, pp. 1-97.

Video: "Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary"

WEEK 6
July 26 - Politics and Change

Read: Ochoa, Gilda L. Becoming Neighbors in a Mexican American Community, pp. 98-175.

Third Group Facilitation

July 28 - Politics and Change

Read: Ochoa, Gilda L. Becoming Neighbors in a Mexican American Community, pp. 176-236.

Guerrero, Jaimes M.A. "Exemplars of Indigenism." In Women Transforming Politics, eds. Cathy J. Cohen, Kathleen B. Jones, and Joan C. Tronto. New Yorl: New York University Press, 1997.

Salz, Arthur and Julius Trubowitz. "It Was All of Us Working Together." In Race and Ethnic Conflict, eds. Fred L. Pincus and Howard J. Ehrlich. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1999.

Jaret, Charels. "Changing the Whole System." In Race and Ethnic Conflict, eds. Fred L. Pincus and Howard J. Ehrlich. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1999.

Final Paper Due
Book Review Due, If Writing on Becoming Neighbors in a Mexican American Community

MAFIA

2010-01-11T18:38:00.000-08:00

Mafia Chronology - Section I

1282
Palermo, Sicily

"Sicilian Vespers" revolution against the occupying Angevins is traditionally viewed as the birth of the Sicilian Mafia. There are no contemporary mentions of the name "Mafia," a term which comes into being hundreds of years later, but the underground movement against Anjou may be seen as the ancestor of a later Mafia.

1792

New York, US

Coulter's Brewery is erected at the Five Points intersection of New York's Lower East Side, facing Paradise Square. The Brewery in later years and in a later incarnation as a broken-down tenement would become the centerpiece of New York's most impoverished and criminally active neighborhood.

1805

Genoa, Italy
Giuseppe Mazzini
Birth

1834

New Orleans, US
Joseph P. Macheca
Birth. (according to one source, his name was originally Peter Carvanna).

1837

New York, US

Coulter's Brewery on the Lower East Side becomes a tenement house. In the decades to come, it would become known as the "Old Brewery" and be inhabited by the poorest of the New York City's immigrant poor. It would be the site of numerous gang battles, murders and assorted crimes.

c.1845

New Orleans, US
Joseph P. Macheca
Macheca's father was sent off for a long prison stay and urged his wife Marietta to remarry. She married Giuseppe Mercieca (Joseph Macheca), who was originally from Malta and had established a fruit selling business in New Orleans. Young Peter Carvanna's name became Joseph Peter Macheca. Joseph Macheca Sr. later had two other sons with his wife Marietta.

1854

Corleone, Sicily
Antonio Morello
Approximate date of birth in some older sources for the most senior of the Morello-Terranova brothers. While a New York immigrant named Antonio Morello did earn a criminal reputation around the turn of the 20th Century, it now appears that he was not related to the Morello-Terranova family.

1857

Monreale, Sicily
Charles Matranga
Birth

1858

New Orleans, US
Charles Matranga
Family moves from Sicily.

1859

Palermo, Sicily
Giuseppe Mazzini
Revolutionary and former member of Neapolitan Camorra, Mazzini seems to have united Palermo opponents of Bourbon rule within a "Mafia" underground organization built along the lines of the Camorra.

1860
Jan

New Orleans, US
Raffaele Agnello
Palermo Mafioso Agnello arrives in New Orleans. His brother Joseph is already settled in the city.

1860
Apr
3
Palermo, Sicily
Giuseppe Mazzini
Supporting Mazzini's Republican movement, Mafia overthrows Bourbon authority in Palermo.

1861

Palermo, Sicily

Mafia appears to begin incorporating the groups of bandits in the Sicilian hills.

U.S. Civil War begins with Confederate attack on Fort Sumter - April 12, 1861.
1861

Texas, US
Joseph Macheca
Macheca becomes rich running Union blockades during the Civil War.

1862

Bisacquino, Sicily
Vito Cascio Ferro
Birth

1863

Sicily

The term "Mafia" becomes more widely known after a play about heroic Palermo jail inmates is produced.

Confederacy surrenders, ending Civil War - April 9, 1865.
President Lincoln assassinated in Washington, DC - April 14, 1865
1865

New Orleans, US
Joseph Macheca
Wealthy Macheca returns to Louisiana, sets up steamship trading company, involves himself in local Democratic politics. Begins to organize the "Innocents" gang of Sicilian immigrants.

1867
May
2
Corleone, Sicily
Giuseppe Morello
Birth. (a.k.a. Peter, "The Clutch Hand.") Giuseppe Morello appears to have been the oldest of the Morello-Terranova brothers. He was half-brother to Nicholas Morello(Terranova) and Ciro and Vincent Terranova. A number of sources incorrectly place Giuseppe Morello's birth in either 1863 or 1870.

1867

Sicily
Rosario Meli Meli, 22, possibly a key player in the youth-oriented early Mafia, is convicted of murders. He escapes from police.

1868
Oct

New Orleans, US
Joseph Macheca
Macheca's "Innocents" gang gets its first notice from authorities and media during the Presidential election season. The gang conducts violent raids against Republican African-Americans in the French Quarter.

1868
Oct
28
New Orleans, US
Joseph Macheca
Raffaele Agnello,
Litero Barba
On his way home from a meeting of Macheca's Innocents gang at the Orleans Ballroom, Litero Barba is shot to death at the corner of St. Philip and Chartres Streets. Barba is a leader of the local Messina colony. While the killing was first attributed to African Americans, Mafia leader Raffaele Agnello was later deemed responsible.

1868

New Orleans, US
Rosario Meli,
Raffaele Agnello,
Joseph Macheca
Meli turns up in New Orleans as a subordinate to Raffaelo Agnello, who is challenging the rule of the indigenous mob of Joseph Macheca.

1868
Dec

New Orleans, US
Raffaele Agnello,
Joseph Agnello, brother of Mafia boss Raffaele Agnello, hosts a party at his Royal Street residence to bring together the competing factions in the local Sicilian underworld. The gathering turns violent. Agnello lieutenant Alphonse Mateo is shot in the face at close range. Messinian faction boss Joseph Banano is shot in the back. Both men survive.

1869
Feb
15
New Orleans, US
Raffaelo Agnello,
Agnello sends his brother Joseph and several other members of his organization to attack the Messinian gang bosses at home. The group bursts into a Chartres Street residence, opening fire with shotguns. Messinian leaders Joseph Banano, Giovanni Casabianca, Pedro Allucho and two other men managed to escape with only minor injuries.

1869
April
1
New Orleans, US
Raffaele Agnello,
Joseph Macheca
Assassin Joseph Florada ambushes and kills Agnello in front of the Macheca produce store on Toulouse Street. He shoots Agnello in the face at close range with a blunderbuss pistol. Agnello bodyguard Frank Sacarro pursues and shoots at the Florada. Florada escapes through a nearby bakery.

1869
July
22
New Orleans, US
Raffaelo Agnello
Agnello's death is avenged as his brother Joseph and Salvador Rosa murder Messinian leaders Joseph Banano and Pedro Allucho near the French Market.

1869

New Orleans, US
Joseph Macheca,
Raffaelo Agnello
Macheca's gang puts down the remnants of the Agnello challenge. Macheca helps to establish the Matranga family as the leaders of the local Sicilian underworld.

American East and West are joined by railroad - 1869
1870

Monreale, Sicily

The Stuppagghieri criminal group comes to light in Monreale. It competes with old-line Mafia there.

1871

Italy
Jim Colosimo
Birth. (a.k.a. "Big Jim".)

1871

Giuseppe Mazzini
Death - about 66 years old.

1872
Apr
20
New Orleans, US
Raffaelo Agnello
Agnello's brother Joseph is shot to death at the Picayune Pier. His killers are Joseph Maressa, Joseph Florada and two other men.

1872

Chicago, US
Jim Colosimo
Arrives in Chicago.

1874

Sicily
Antonino Leone,
Giuseppe Esposito
Mafia gains international attention as leader Leone and his lieutenant, Giuseppe Esposito, kidnap English banker and demand ransom. Payments are slow. Leone reportedly mails first one ear, then the other, and then a portion of the victim's nose to his family. Reports of the mutilation appear to have been greatly exaggerated.

1875

Sicily
Antonino Leone,
Giuseppe Esposito
Under pressure from the English government, the Italian army moves against Leone. Enduring significant losses, the army encircles Leone's band in the hills and captures the leader as well as Esposito. Leone is sentenced to life in prison (serves only a few years before escaping to North Africa), but Esposito escapes from police and returns to lead the Sicilian Mafia.

1875

San Francisco, US
Rosario Meli
Meli and some followers move from New Orleans to San Francisco in the hopes of establishing themselves as leaders of a Mafia group there.

Telephones first exhibited - 1876.
1877
Mar
19
Corleone, Sicily
Ignazio Lupo
Birth. (a.k.a. Ignazio Saietta, "Lupo the Wolf.")

1877

Sicily
Calogero Vizzini
Birth. (Known to Mafiosi as "Zu Calo" or Uncle Calo.)

1878
Sep
29
New Orleans, US
Salvatore Marino
Leader of the rebel Mafia movement known as Stuppagghieri (Stoppaglieri) dies after a bout with Yellow Fever.

1878
Nov

New York, US
Giuseppe Esposito
With authorities on his trail, Espositio decides to flee to U.S. Sails to New York via Marseilles, France. Notes that New York underworld is dominated by Irish gangs with some smaller, inconspicuous Italian/Sicilian gangs. Possibly gets to work organizing the Mafia in New York.

1878

San Francisco, US
Rosario Meli
Meli and several associates are accused of murder. An underling confesses to the killing and insists it was a matter of honor. No prosecution in the case. Group then charged, convicted and jailed for robbery.

1879

Italy
Antonino Leone
The legendary brigand leader Leone reportedly escapes from prison, disappears in North Africa.

1879

New York, US
Joe Petrosino
Future super-cop arrives in New York City.

1879
Spring

New Orleans, US
Giuseppe Esposito,
Joseph Macheca
Looking for greener pastures, Esposito and some associates relocate from New York to New Orleans. Finds Macheca agreeable to sharing underworld leadership. Esposito renames himself Vincenzo Rebello.

1879
Oct

New Orleans, US
Giuseppe Esposito (a.k.a. Vincenzo Rebello)
Esposito marries Sarah Castagno. News travels back to Sicily, where Esposito left a wife and children.

1880

New Orleans, US
Giuseppe Provenzano
Esposito lieutenant Provenzano controls work on New Orleans docks.

1880

New Orleans, US
David Hennessey
Hennessey, who works in the New Orleans police force along with his cousin Mike, first becomes aware of a Mafia presence in his town.

1880
Sept.
8
San Francisco, US
Rosario Meli
American officials seek to deport Meli. He is moved to New York and reportedly boarded ship for Sicily. However, he seems never to have arrived at his destination.

1881
Jul
5
New Orleans, US
Giuseppe Esposito
Tony Labruzzo
David Hennessey
Learning of his Sicilian Mafia connections through his Sicilian wife and an informer, Tony Labruzzo, Hennessey nabs Esposito and turns him over to be deported. Esposito returns to New York City on July 13 for an extradition hearing.

1881
Jul
13
New York, US
Giuseppe Esposito
Esposito insists he is Vincenzo Rebello and has been wrongly identified. He cannot be deported until authorities can prove his identity through photos and witnesses. New York Sicilian community mobilizes to assist him.

1881
Sep
21
New York, US
Giuseppe Esposito
His identity proved, Esposito is deported, faces murder charges in Italy. Internal struggles erupt within Mafia organizations in New Orleans and New York as Mafiosi seek to determine who has betrayed Esposito.

1881

Rome, Italy
Giuseppe Esposito
Convicted of murders, Esposito is jailed for life.

Electric lights make their debut in lower Manhattan - 1882
1882

New Orleans, US
Giuseppe Provenzano,
Joseph Macheca,
Charles Matranga,
David Hennessey
Two factions emerge in New Orleans after Esposito's arrest. Provenzano's group, comprised of more traditional mafiosi with ties to Palermo leadership, are angered that Macheca did not use his political influence to save Esposito. The Macheca-Matranga faction includes home-grown criminals. Macheca is able to use political muscle to have Hennessey brothers dismissed from police force.

1882

New York. US
Arnold Rothstein
Birth.

1882

Naples, Italy
Johnny Torrio
Birth. (a.k.a. "Terrible John.")

1883

Sicily
Vito Cascio Ferro
Assault is reportedly first official charge to go on Cascio Ferro's police record.

1883

New York, US
Joe Petrosino
Joins New York police force.

1884

New York, US
Johnny Torrio
Taken to live in New York by his recently widowed mother.

1884
Apr.
5
Staten Island, New York, US
Antonio Flaccomio,
Camillo Farach Farach's dead body is found in a field on Staten Island. His business partner (cigar store at 103 Degraw Street in Brooklyn), Antonio Flaccomio, is primary suspect. Police believe the two dueled with sword canes over a financial disagreement. Coroner's jury eventually decides that Farach's death is the result of a suicide, though he was stabbed both in his chest and his back.

1886
May
18
Corleone, Sicily
Vincent Terranova
Birth.

1886

Sicily
Giuseppe Masseria
Birth. (a.k.a. "Joe the Boss.")

1886

Castellamare del Golfo, Sicily
Salvatore Maranzano
Birth. (a.k.a. "Don Turridru.")

1886
July

New York, US
Antonio Flaccomio,
John Farach Flaccomio, in hiding in Buffalo, Chicago, Louisville and New Orleans since 1884, resurfaces in New York City. He appears before John Farach, brother of Camillo Farach, admits responsibility for Camillo's death and asks to be allowed to return to live in the city. Farach tells him to stay out of Brooklyn or he will be killed.

1887
Apr.
14
New York, US
Antonio Flaccomio
A friend leads Flaccomio to a dark spot at Manhattan's Jersey Street, near Crosby Street, and attacks him. Flaccomio is prepared for the betrayal and shoots his assailant in the wrist. The two men flee. Flaccomio runs a grocery nearby at 607 Third Avenue. He has apparently been condemned to death by regional Mafia leaders who believe he violated underworld codes by taking Camillo Farach's life in 1884 and by aiding a government investigation into Sicilian counterfeiting rings.

1887
Jun
6

Cesare LaMare
Birth.

1888

New Orleans, US
David Hennessey
A wave of reform sweeps through New Orleans and leads to Hennessey rejoining the police force as its chief.

1888

New Orleans, US
Rocco Geraci
Geraci is identified as top enforcer for the Macheca-Matranga group.

1888

New Orleans, US
Joseph Macheca,
Charles Matranga,
Giuseppe Provenzano
Authorities believe Macheca-Matranga organization has imported 320 members of the Stoppaglieri group from Sicily. Macheca-Matranga is preparing for all-out war against Provenzano's Mafia and begins challenging Provenzano's monopoly on the docks.

1888
July
20
Corleone, Sicily
Ciro Terranova
Birth. (a.k.a. Ciro Morello, "The Artichoke King," "The Boss," and in at least one reference "Whitey.")

1888
Oct.
14
New York, US
Carlo & Vincenzo Quarteraro,
Antonio Flaccomio
Flaccomio stabbed to death in the first recognized Mafia murder in New York. Brothers Carlo and Vincent Quarteraro are accused of the crime, which occurred in front of the Cooper Union building at Eighth Street and Third Avenue, not far from Flaccomio's grocery. Flaccomio was drinking and gambling with acquaintances at La Trinicria restaurant at Manhattan's St. Mark's Place, owned by Giuseppe Canizzaro and Natale Sabatino. An argument erupted. Sabatino and Francesco Aita escorted Flaccomio out of the restaurant and down the street. Carlo and Vincenzo Quarteraro charged after Flaccomio with knives. Carlo stabbed Flaccomio to death. Police decided that the killing was the result of a vendetta linked to the betrayal of Sicilian counterfeiting rings and to the murder of Camillo Farach.

1888
Oct.
22
New York, US
Carlo & Vincenzo Quarteraro,
Antonio Flaccomio
Carlo Quarteraro, believed to be the actual murderer of Flaccomio, has fled the country. His brother Vincenzo turns himself in to police, believing he is wanted merely as a material witness. Vincenzo is charged with murder. NYPD Inspector Byrnes announces to the press that the Palermo, Sicily, Mafia has branches in the United States, headquartered in New York City and New Orleans.

1889
Jan.
24
New Orleans, US
Giuseppe Provenzano,
Vincenzo Ottumvo,
Joseph Macheca,
Charles Matranga,
David Hennessey
According to Chandler, Provenzano attempts to negotiate a peace treaty with Macheca-Matranga, but his emissary, Vincenzo Ottumvo, is axed to death. (Note: This story is at odds with police records.) Hennessey attempts to intervene in the erupting conflict. Calls a conference and arranges truce but appears to be siding with Provenzano.

1889
Feb
11

Joseph Bruno Dovi
Birth

1889
Apr.

New York, US
Carlo & Vincenzo Quarteraro,
Antonio Flaccomio Vincenzo Quarteraro is acquitted of the Flaccomio murder. Disgusted police detective remarks that Italians in New York can go ahead and "kill each other."

1889

Palermo, Sicily
Ignazio Lupo
Lupo, just 12 years old, is believed to have murdered a man named Salvatore Morello (apparently unrelated to the Giuseppe Morello family). Flees to New York to escape prosecution.

1890
Jan
6
Corleone, Sicily
Nicholas Morello
Birth

1890
Apr
6
New Orleans, US
Giuseppe Provenzano,
Joseph Macheca,
Charles Matranga,
Provenzano forces ambush some Macheca-Matranga men at Claiborne and Esplanade Streets, killing two. Key Provenzano figures are arrested. Despite "underworld code," Macheca-Matranga gang provides information on the crime to police.

1890
May
1
New Orleans, US
Giuseppe Provenzano,
Joseph Macheca,
Charles Matranga
Open warfare begins between rival underworld factions.

1890
July

New Orleans, US
Giuseppe Provenzano
Provenzano defendants are convicted of the killings, but judge throws out the verdict and orders a new trial.

1890
Summer

New Orleans, US
David Hennessey
Police chief prepares to testify on behalf of the Provenzano group in second ambush trial Oct. 17 and to expose the Macheca-Matranga mob.

1890
Oct
15
New Orleans, US
David Hennessey,
Joseph Macheca,
Charles Matranga
Hennessey is ambushed near corner of Girod and Basin Streets at about 11:30 p.m. He was on his way home to 275 Girod Street. Boy walks ahead of him along the street and whistles a signal. Gunmen emerge and kill the police chief.Macheca-Matranga leadership is hauled in and charged with the assassination.

1890
Jan
1
Dedham, MA, US
Giuseppe DeLucca
Giacchino Cocchiara
DeLucca convicted of Nov. 21 killing of Edward Cunningham. State witness Cocchiara is marked for death.

1891
Mar
11
New Orleans, US
Joseph Macheca,
Charles Matranga
Jury finds Macheca-Matranga defendants not guilty. Jury tampering is evident. The group remains in custody.

1891
Mar
14
New Orleans, US
Joseph Macheca,
Charles Matranga
Angry mob asembles, enters the jail and murders most of the defendants. Macheca is among those killed. Charles Matranga manages to survive the incident and later becomes recognized head of New Orleans underworld.

1891

Cosenza Province, Italy
Francesco Castiglia
Birth of Frank Costello. His birthplace is usually said to be the village of Lauropoli. But Selvaggi names the town of Cassano Jonio.

1891

Castellamare del Golfo, Sicily
Salvatore Sabella
Birth.

1891

Corleone, Sicily
Jack Dragna
Birth.

1891
Aug
26
Brooklyn, US
Robert Castellano
Brooklyn police investigate threats against cigar store owner Castellano, speculate that a branch of Mafia is responsible.

1891
Oct
10
Castellamare del Golfo, Sicily
Stefano Magaddino
Birth.

1892

New Orleans, US
Giuseppe Provenzano,
Charles Matranga
Provenzano family flees New Orleans as Matranga organization absorbs the remainder of the Provenzano mob. Matranga is supreme Mafia boss in the city.

1892
Dec
4
Brooklyn, US
Antonio Morello,
Francesco Meli Antonio Morello allegedly kills Neapolitan Francesco Meli of Brooklyn. Incident may represent a struggle over control of the Brooklyn docks. Morellos establish control bases in Brooklyn and upper Manhattan/Bronx. Lower Manhattan appears to be left alone (still dominated by Irish. Jewish gangs).

1893
Mar
8
New York, US
Nicholas Morello,
Giuseppe Morello,
Ciro Terranova,
Vincent Terranova
Morello-Terranova family moves from Sicily to New York, affiliates itself with Sicilian mobster Ignazio Lupo.

1893

Sicily
Raffaele Palizzolo
Palizzolo is believed to have murdered Baron Emanuele Notarbartolo, who died after 16 knife wounds.

1894
Jan
9
Boston, US
Pasquale Sacco
Police speculate that a branch of the Mafia or the Camorra is behind the brutal razor slaying of Sacco.

1894
Mar
8
Providence, RI, US
Dante Regali,
Augusto Ferrari,
John Caproni
Regali and Ferrari stand trial for robbing and beating local banker Caproni.

1895
Jan
1
Washington, DC, US
John Edgar Hoover
Birth.

1895
Jan
27
New Orleans, US
Police Chief Dexter Gaster
Gaster reports that the local Mafia - thought extinct after 1891 lynchings - is once again active.

1895
May
25
Danville, IL, US

Mob lynches two alleged leaders of a criminal gang. Danville authorities warn local gangsters to leave town.

1895
Jun
21
Boston, US
Gioacchino Cocchiara,
Giuseppe DeLucca,
Antonio Caro Armblissa
Fearful that his friend Armblissa is conspiring with imprisoned DeLucca on a vendetta, barber Cocchiara shoots Armblissa twice.

1895

Chicago, US

1895 is generally regarded as the official start date for the Unione Siciliana in Chicago. The Unione became a national brotherhood providing support for Sicilian immigrants but was later contaminated by Mafiosi and turned into a criminal network. An earlier start date for the organization (or, perhaps, an earlier parent group) appears likely.

1895

Brooklyn, US
Giuseppe Balsamo
(a.k.a. "Battista Balsamo") Arrives in New York. Was an established Sicilian Mafioso. One source claims erroneously that he was the first American "Godfather." His authority was likely confined to a region of Brooklyn.

1895

New York, US
Francesco Castiglia
Frank Costello arrives in New York. Family settles into apartment on East 108th Street and begins operating a small grocery.

1895
July
4
Waterbury, CT, US
Antonio Spadola
Local Mafioso Spadola is implicated in the shooting of Nicolo Errico.

1895
Sep
11
Waterbury, CT, US
Antonio Spadola
Newspapers report that Patrolman Charles Fiore, expected to testify in the Spadola trial, has been threatened by members of the local Italian community.

1896

Sicily
Sam Carolla
Birth (orig. Sylvestro Carolla)

1897
Feb
6
New York, US
Louis Buchalter
Birth. (a.k.a. "Lepke.")

1897
Feb
20

Nicolo Licata
Birth.

1897

New York. US

Legend: Patriarch of Morello-Terranova clan is gunned down after a night of gambling.

1897
Oct.
2
Palermo, Sicily
Joe Profaci
Birth.

1897
Nov
14
Naples, Italy
Paul Ricca
Birth. (a.k.a. Paul DeLucia.)

1897
Nov
21
Risigliano, Italy
Vito Genovese
Birth. (a.k.a. Don Vitone.)

1897
Nov
24
Lecara Friddi, Sicily
Salvatore Lucania
Birth. (a.k.a. Charlie Luciano, "Charlie Lucky," Charles Ross.)

Spanish-American War - April 20, 1898, to Dec. 10, 1898.
1898
Jun
13
Springfield, MA, US
Natale Giuliano
Giuliano is charged with the shooting death of his in-law Pietro Fazzio on a busy street in broad daylight. Witnesses against Giuliano become suddenly forgetful.

1898

New York, US
Antonio Morello
Shot down. Possibly 44 years old. Despite published claims, this Morello was apparently not related to the Morello-Terranova underworld clan.

1899

New York. US
Charles Ubriaco
Arrives in New York and sets to work for Lupo-Morello group.

1899

Brooklyn, US
Alphonse Capone
Birth. (a.k.a. "Snorky," "Scarface")

1899
Dec
1
Palermo, Sicily
Gaetano Lucchese
Birth. (a.k.a. Tommy Lucchese, Luckese, "Three-Finger Brown.")

HOLOCAUST, JEWISH (1939-1945)

2010-01-11T18:34:00.000-08:00

GERMAN JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST, 1939-1945
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HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE

1933-1939

In January 1933, some 522,000 Jews by religious definition lived in Germany. Over half of these individuals, approximately 304,000 Jews, emigrated during the first six years of the Nazi dictatorship, leaving only approximately 214,000 Jews in Germany proper (1937 borders) on the eve of World War II.

In the years between 1933 and 1939, the Nazi regime had brought radical and daunting social, economic, and communal change to the German Jewish community. Six years of Nazi-sponsored legislation had marginalized and disenfranchised Germany's Jewish citizenry and had expelled Jews from the professions and from commercial life. By early 1939, only about 16 percent of Jewish breadwinners had steady employment of any kind. Thousands of Jews remained interned in concentration camps following the mass arrests in the aftermath of Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass) in November 1938.

Deportation of Jews from Greater Germany, 1941-1944
See maps

World War II

Yet the most drastic changes for the German Jewish community came with World War II in Europe. In the early war years, the newly transformed Reich Association of Jews in Germany (Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland), led by prominent Jewish theologian Leo Baeck but subject to the demands of Nazi German authorities, worked to organize further Jewish emigration, to support Jewish schools and self-help organizations, and to help the German Jewish community contend with an ever-growing mass of discriminatory legislation.

Describes deportation from Berlin
Personal stories

Following the outbreak of war on September 1, 1939, the government imposed new restrictions on Jews remaining in Germany. One of the first wartime ordinances imposed a strict curfew on Jewish individuals and prohibited Jews from entering designated areas in many German cities. Once a general food rationing began, Jews received reduced rations; further decrees limited the time periods in which Jews could purchase food and other supplies and restricted access to certain stores, with the result that Jewish households often faced shortages of the most basic essentials.

German authorities also demanded that Jews relinquish property “essential to the war effort” such as radios, cameras, bicycles, electrical appliances, and other valuables, to local officials. In September 1941, a decree prohibited Jews from using public transportation. In the same month came the notorious edict requiring Jews over the age of six to wear the yellow Jewish Star (Magen David) on their outermost garment. While ghettos were generally not established in Germany, strict residence regulations forced Jews to live in designated areas of German cities, concentrating them in “Jewish houses” (“Judenhäuser”). German authorities issued ordinances requiring Jews fit for work to perform compulsory forced labor.

In early 1943, as German authorities implemented the last major deportations of German Jews to Theresienstadt or Auschwitz, German justice authorities enacted a mass of laws and ordinances legitimizing the Reich's seizure of their remaining property and regulating its distribution among the German population. The persecution of Jews by legal decree ended with a July 1943 ordinance removing Jews entirely from the protection of German law and placing them under the direct jurisdiction of the Reich Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauuptamt-RSHA).

Deportation

Public imagination associates the deportation of Jewish citizens with the “Final Solution,” but indeed the first deportations of Jews from the Reich-albeit Jews from areas recently annexed by Germany-began in October 1939 as part of the Nisko, or Lublin, Plan. This deportation strategy envisioned a Jewish “reservation” in the Lublin District of the Government General (that part of German-occupied Poland not directly annexed to the Reich). Adolf Eichmann, the German RSHA official who would later organize the deportation of so many of Europe's Jewish communities to ghettos and killing centers, coordinated the transfer of some 3,500 Jews from Moravia in the former Czechoslovakia, from Katowice (then Kattowitz) in German-annexed Silesia, and from the Austrian capital, Vienna, to Nisko on the San River. Although problems with the deportation effort and a change in German policy put an end to these deportations, Eichmann's superiors in the RSHA were sufficiently satisfied with his initiative to ensure that he would play a role in future deportation proceedings.

In addition, RSHA officials coordinated the deportation of approximately 100,000 Jews from German-annexed Polish territory (the so-called province of Danzig-West Prussia, District Wartheland, and East Upper Silesia) into the Government General in the autumn and winter of 1939-1940. In October 1940, Gauleiter Josef Bürckel ordered the expulsion of nearly 7,000 Jews from Baden and the Saarpfalz in southwestern Germany to areas of unoccupied France in a second deportation of German Jews. French authorities quickly absorbed most of these German Jews in the Gurs internment camp in the Pyrenees of southwestern France.

Upon Hitler's authorization, German authorities began systematic deportations of Jews from Germany in October 1941, even before the SS and police established killing centers (“extermination camps”) in German-controlled Poland. Pursuant to the Eleventh Decree of Germany's Reich Citizenship Law (November 1941), German Jews “deported to the East” suffered automatic confiscation of their property upon crossing the Reich frontier.

Between October and December 1941, German authorities deported around 42,000 Jews from the so-called Greater German Reich -- including Austria and the annexed Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia -- virtually all to ghettos in Lodz, Minsk, Kovno (Kaunas, Kovne), and Riga. German Jews sent to Lodz in 1941 and to Warsaw, the Izbica and Piaski transit ghettos and other locations in the Generalgouvernement in the first half of 1942 numbered among those deported together with Polish Jews to the killing centers of Chelmno (Kulmhof), Treblinka, and Belzec.

German authorities deported more than 50,000 Jews from the so-called Greater German Reich to ghettos in the Baltic states and Belorussia (today Belarus) between early November 1941 and late October 1942. There the SS and police shot the overwhelming majority of them. After selecting a small minority to survive temporarily for exploitation as forced laborers, the SS and police interned them in special German sections of the Baltic and Belorussian ghettos, segregated from those few local Jews whose survival the SS and police had permitted, generally to exploit special occupational skills.

Such “German ghettos” within a larger ghetto framework existed notably in Riga and in Minsk. SS and police officials killed most of these German Jews when they liquidated the ghettos in 1943. After late October 1942, the German authorities deported the majority of Jews remaining in Germany directly to the killing center at Auschwitz-Birkenau or to Theresienstadt.

German regulations initially exempted German Jewish war veterans and elderly persons over the age of sixty-five, as well as Jews living in mixed marriages (“privileged marriages”) with German “Aryans” and the offspring of those marriages from anti-Jewish measures, including deportations. In the end, German officials deported disabled and highly decorated Jewish war veterans as well as elderly or prominent Jews from so-called Greater German Reich and the German-occupied Netherlands to the Theresienstadt (Terezin) ghetto near Prague. Although the SS used the ghetto as a showcase to portray the fiction of “humane” treatment of Jews, Theresienstadt in actuality represented a way station for most Jews en route to their deportation “to the east.” The SS and police routinely relocated Jews from Theresienstadt, including German Jews, to killing centers and killing sites in German-occupied Poland, Belorussia, and the Baltic States. More than 30,000 died in the Theresienstadt ghetto itself, mostly from starvation, illness, or maltreatment.

In May 1943, Nazi German authorities reported that the Reich was “judenrein” (“free of Jews”). By this time, mass deportations had left fewer than 20,000 Jews in Germany. Some survived because they were married to non-Jews or because race laws classified them as Mischlinge (of mixed ancestry, or part Jewish) and were thus temporarily exempt from deportation. Others, called “U-Boats” or “submarines,” lived in hiding and evaded arrest and deportation, often with the aid of non-Jewish Germans who sympathized with their plight.

In all, the Germans and their collaborators killed between 160,000 and 180,000 German Jews in the Holocaust, including most of those Jews deported out of Germany.

Grinberg Archives

Jewish deportees from Magdeburg in the Warsaw ghetto
View historical film footage

GENERATION X

2010-01-11T18:29:00.000-08:00

Generation X defies definition

by Jennifer Jochim, Outpost Contributor

In this package:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Myths and realities

Facts and figures

Generation X can technically be defined as the generation following the Baby Boomers. Xers were born between 1965 and 1980, 1961 and 1981, 1964 and 1979, 1963 and 1979, 1965 and 1975 or since the mid-1960s, depending on which source you use. For practical purposes we will say that Generation X was born between 1965 and 1980, now ranging in age from 17-32 and usually judged by characteristics assigned to them by the media.

Generation Xers were brought up on television, Atari 2600s and personal computers. They are the generation that was raised in the 1970s and 1980s, and saw this country undergo a selfish phase that they do not want to repeat.

"Generation X grew up in the 'me generation' of the 1980s, and now they are able to see that it is not all it is cracked up to be," said Jackie Shelton, 31, vice president of Minor Advertising in Reno.

David Bever takes time from studies to play video basketball. Photo by Arthur Pines.

The term Generation X came from a book written in 1991 by Douglas Coupland by the same name. It is a fictional book about three strangers who decide to distance themselves from society to get a better sense of who they are. He describes the characters as "underemployed, overeducated, intensely private and unpredictable."

Coupland took his book's title from another book "Class," by Paul Fussell. Fussell used "X" to describe a group of people who want to pull away from class, status and money in society. Because the characters in Coupland's book fit that description, he decided on the title "Generation X."

The media found elements of Coupland's characters' lives in America's youth and labeled them Generation X. This stereotypical definition leads society to believe that Generation X is made up of cynical, hopeless, frustrated and unmotivated slackers who wear grunge clothing, listen to alternative music and still live at home because they cannot get real jobs. It is a label that has stuck, stereotypes and all.
copyright 6/1/97 Nevada Outpost http://www.jour.unr.edu/outpost

Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

2010-01-03T23:18:00.000-08:00

Nuclear Weapons: The Modernization Myth

A comparison of U.S., Russian, Chinese, British, and French nuclear forces undermines the recurring argument that Washington is falling behind. As Kingston Reif explains in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, debunking this “modernization myth” demonstrates clearly that the U.S. nuclear arsenal remains second to none.

APARTHEID

2009-12-31T20:43:00.000-08:00

The History of Apartheid in South Africa

South Africa (see map) is a country blessed with an abundance of natural resources including fertile farmlands and unique mineral resources. South African mines are world leaders in the production of diamonds and gold as well as strategic metals such as platinum. The climate is mild, reportedly resembling the San Francisco bay area weather more than anywhere in the world.

South Africa was colonized by the English and Dutch in the seventeenth century. English domination of the Dutch descendents (known as Boers or Afrikaners) resulted in the Dutch establishing the new colonies of Orange Free State and Transvaal. The discovery of diamonds in these lands around 1900 resulted in an English invasion which sparked the Boer War. Following independence from England, an uneasy power-sharing between the two groups held sway until the 1940's, when the Afrikaner National Party was able to gain a strong majority. Strategists in the National Party invented apartheid as a means to cement their control over the economic and social system. Initially, aim of the apartheid was to maintain white domination while extending racial separation. Starting in the 60's, a plan of ``Grand Apartheid'' was executed, emphasizing territorial separation and police repression.

With the enactment of apartheid laws in 1948, racial discrimination was institutionalized. Race laws touched every aspect of social life, including a prohibition of marriage between non-whites and whites, and the sanctioning of ``white-only'' jobs. In 1950, the Population Registration Act required that all South Africans be racially classified into one of three categories: white, black (African), or colored (of mixed decent). The coloured category included major subgroups of Indians and Asians. Classification into these categories was based on appearance, social acceptance, and descent. For example, a white person was defined as ``in appearance obviously a white person or generally accepted as a white person.'' A person could not be considered white if one of his or her parents were non-white. The determination that a person was ``obviously white'' would take into account ``his habits, education, and speech and deportment and demeanor.'' A black person would be of or accepted as a member of an African tribe or race, and a colored person is one that is not black or white. The Department of Home Affairs (a government bureau) was responsible for the classification of the citizenry. Non-compliance with the race laws were dealt with harshly. All blacks were required to carry ``pass books'' containing fingerprints, photo and information on access to non-black areas.

In 1951, the Bantu Authorities Act established a basis for ethnic government in African reserves, known as ``homelands.'' These homelands were independent states to which each African was assigned by the government according to the record of origin (which was frequently inaccurate). All political rights, including voting, held by an African were restricted to the designated homeland. The idea was that they would be citizens of the homeland, losing their citizenship in South Africa and any right of involvement with the South African Parliament which held complete hegemony over the homelands. From 1976 to 1981, four of these homelands were created, denationalizing nine million South Africans. The homeland administrations refused the nominal independence, maintaining pressure for political rights within the country as a whole. Nevertheless, Africans living in the homelands needed passports to enter South Africa: aliens in their own country.

In 1953, the Public Safety Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act were passed, which empowered the government to declare stringent states of emergency and increased penalties for protesting against or supporting the repeal of a law. The penalties included fines, imprisonment and whippings. In 1960, a large group of blacks in Sharpeville refused to carry their passes; the government declared a state of emergency. The emergency lasted for 156 days, leaving 69 people dead and 187 people wounded. Wielding the Public Safety Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act, the white regime had no intention of changing the unjust laws of apartheid.

The penalties imposed on political protest, even non-violent protest, were severe. During the states of emergency which continued intermittently until 1989, anyone could be detained without a hearing by a low-level police official for up to six months. Thousands of individuals died in custody, frequently after gruesome acts of torture. Those who were tried were sentenced to death, banished, or imprisoned for life, like Nelson Mandela.The apartheid policy was highly effective of achieving its goal of preferential treatment for whites, as is demonstrated by the statistics in Figure 1.

ANTISEMITISM

2009-12-31T20:41:00.000-08:00

Antisemitism: A Continuing Threat
“History has shown that wherever anti-Semitism has gone unchecked, the persecution of others has been present or not far behind. Defeating anti-Semitism must be a cause of great importance not only for Jews, but for all people who value humanity and justice….”
—U.S. Department of State, Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism Report, March 13, 2008

Prejudice against or hatred of Jews — known as antisemitism — has plagued the world for more than 2,000 years.

A woman sits on a park bench marked “Only for Jews.” Austria, ca. March 1938. —USHMM #11195/Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library Limited

Around the world today, there is an increase in antisemitism, including hate speech, violence targeting Jews and Jewish institutions, and denial, minimization, and distortion of the facts of the Holocaust. Militant Islamic groups with political power use language suggestive of genocide regarding the State of Israel. The president of Iran declared the Holocaust a “myth” and said Israel should be “wiped off the map.” The president of Venezuela accused Israel of attempting to carry out “genocide” against the Palestinian people. Throughout Europe, far-right ultranationalist parties—with openly antisemitic and racist messages—made significant gains in recent parliamentary elections. And in the United States, imagery and language of the Holocaust are frequently misappropriated to make a point or promote an agenda.

In the aftermath of the moral and societal failures that made the Holocaust possible, we must remain alert to antisemitism, hatred, and all forms of bigotry.

Read more about antisemitism »
Read more about Holocaust denial »

In February 2007, a Jewish memorial to the Holocaust was defaced and nearly 300 Jewish graves desecrated in Odessa in southern Ukraine. —Photo courtesy European Jewish Press

Voices on Antisemitism

An audio series and podcast service that features a broad range of perspectives about antisemitism and hatred today. Guests include Elie Wiesel, Cornel West, Robert Satloff, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Faiza Abdul-Wahab, and Daniel Craig. Join us every other week to hear a new program.
More about the series »

Current episodes:

Rabbi Gila Ruskin
Rabbi shares faith, culture with largely black student body.

Mazal Aklum
Reflections of an Ethiopian Jew.

Exhibits

A Dangerous Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
This special exhibition explores the continuing impact of the most widely distributed antisemitic publication of modern times.
Read more about the Protocols »
View animated timeline from 1964 to the present »
Watch a video about the exhibit »
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Online Exhibition Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race
In the early 20th century, as science and technology were becoming more prevalent, the “science” of eugenics began to provide a basis for defining Jews as biologically inferior.
Learn more »

State of Deception: The Power of Nazi PropagandaThis groundbreaking exhibition reveals how the Nazi Party used modern techniques as well as new technologies and carefully crafted messages to sway millions with its vision for a new Germany.

ANOREXIA NERVOSA

2009-12-31T20:39:00.000-08:00

Anorexia nervosa

Anorexia — Comprehensive overview covers symptoms, causes, treatments and more.
Definition
Ironically, as concern grows over the rise in obesity rates, some people battle the opposite problem — anorexia nervosa. People with anorexia are obsessed with food and their weight and body shape. They attempt to maintain a weight that's far below normal for their age and height. In extreme cases, they may be skeletally thin but still think they're fat. To prevent weight gain or to continue losing weight, people with anorexia may starve themselves or exercise excessively.

Although anorexia (an-o-REK-se-uh) centers around food, the disease isn't only about food. Anorexia is an unhealthy way to try to cope with emotional problems, perfectionism and a desire for control. When you have anorexia, you often equate your self-worth with how thin you are.

Anorexia can be chronic and difficult to overcome. But with treatment, you can gain a better sense of who you are, return to healthier eating habits and reverse some of anorexia's serious complications.

Symptoms
Some people with anorexia lose weight mainly through severely restricting the amount of food they eat. They may also try to lose weight by exercising excessively. Others with anorexia engage in binging and purging, similar to bulimia. They control calorie intake by vomiting after eating or by misusing laxatives, diuretics or enemas.

No matter how weight loss is achieved, anorexia has a number of physical, emotional and behavioral signs and symptoms.

Physical anorexia symptoms
Physical signs and symptoms of anorexia include:

Extreme weight loss
Thin appearance
Abnormal blood counts
Fatigue
Dizziness or fainting
Brittle nails
Hair that thins, breaks or falls out
Soft, downy hair covering the body
Absence of menstruation
Constipation
Dry skin
Intolerance of cold
Irregular heart rhythms
Low blood pressure
Dehydration
Osteoporosis
Emotional and behavioral anorexia symptoms
Emotional and behavioral characteristics associated with anorexia include:

Refusal to eat
Denial of hunger
Excessive exercise
Flat mood, or lack of emotion
Difficulty concentrating
Preoccupation with food
Anorexia red flags to watch for
It may be hard to notice signs and symptoms of anorexia. People with anorexia often go to great lengths to disguise their thinness, eating habits or physical problems.

If you're concerned that a loved one may have anorexia, watch for these possible red flags:

Skipping meals
Making excuses for not eating
Eating only a few certain "safe" foods, usually those low in fat and calories
Adopting rigid meal or eating rituals, such as cutting food into tiny pieces or spitting food out after chewing
Weighing food
Cooking elaborate meals for others but refusing to eat
Repeated weighing of themselves
Frequent checking in the mirror for perceived flaws
Wearing baggy or layered clothing
Complaining about being fat
Causes
It's not known specifically what causes some people to develop anorexia. As with many diseases, it's likely a combination of biological, psychological and sociocultural factors.

Biological. Some people may be genetically vulnerable to developing anorexia. Young women with a biological sister or mother with an eating disorder are at higher risk, for example, suggesting a possible genetic link. Studies of twins also support that idea. However, it's not clear specifically how genetics may play a role. It may be that some people have a genetic tendency toward perfectionism, sensitivity and perseverance, all traits associated with anorexia. There's also some evidence that serotonin — one of the brain chemicals involved in depression — may play a role in anorexia.
Psychological. People with anorexia may have psychological and emotional characteristics that contribute to anorexia. They may have low self-worth, for instance. They may have obsessive-compulsive personality traits that make it easier to stick to strict diets and forgo food despite being hungry. They may have an extreme drive for perfectionism, which means they may never think they're thin enough.
Sociocultural. Modern Western culture often cultivates and reinforces a desire for thinness. The media are splashed with images of waif-like models and actors. Success and worth are often equated with being thin. Peer pressure may fuel the desire to be thin, particularly among young girls. However, anorexia and other eating disorders existed centuries ago, suggesting that sociocultural values aren't solely responsible.
Risk factors
Anorexia may seem very common because of media attention and television specials, but in truth, its prevalence is hard to pin down, partly because anorexia is sometimes defined in different ways by different researchers. Some estimates say only about 1 percent of American girls and women have anorexia. Others suggest that up to 10 percent of adolescent girls have anorexia. Anorexia is more common in girls and women. But recent research suggests that an increasing number of boys and men have been developing eating disorders in the last decade, perhaps because of growing social pressure. And while anorexia is more common among teens, people of any age can develop this eating disorder.

Although the precise cause of anorexia is unknown, certain factors can increase the risk of developing anorexia, including:

Dieting. People who lose weight by dieting are often reinforced by positive comments from others and by their changing appearance. They may end up dieting excessively.
Unintentional weight loss. People who don't intentionally diet but lose weight after an illness or accident may be complimented on their new-found thinness. Reinforced, they may wind up dieting to an extreme.
Weight gain. Someone who gains weight may be dismayed with their new shape and may get criticized or ridiculed. In response, they may wind up dieting excessively.
Puberty. Some adolescents have trouble coping with the changes their bodies go through during puberty. They also may face increased peer pressure and may be more sensitive to criticism or even casual comments about weight or body shape. All of these can set the stage for anorexia.
Transitions. Whether it's a new school, home or job, a relationship breakup, or the death or illness of a loved one, change can bring emotional distress. One way to cope, especially in situations that may be out of someone's control, is to latch on to something that they can control, such as their eating.
Sports, work and artistic activities. Athletes, actors and television personalities, dancers, and models are at higher risk of anorexia. For some, such as ballerinas, ultra-thinness may even be a professional requirement. Sports associated with anorexia include running, wrestling, figure skating and gymnastics. Professional men and women may believe they'll improve their upward mobility by losing weight, and then take it to an extreme. Coaches and parents may inadvertently raise the risk by suggesting that young athletes lose weight.
Media and society. The media, such as television and fashion magazines, frequently feature a parade of skinny models and actors. But whether the media merely reflect social values or actually drive them isn't clear-cut. In any case, these images may seem to equate thinness with success and popularity.
When to seek medical advice
Anorexia, like other eating disorders, can take over your life. You may think about food all of the time, spend hours agonizing over options in the grocery store, and exercise to exhaustion. You also may have a host of physical problems that make you feel generally miserable, such as dizziness, constipation, fatigue and frequently feeling cold. You may be irritable, angry, moody, sad, anxious and hopeless. You might visit pro-anorexia Web sites, refer to the disease as your "friend," cover up in layers of heavy clothing, and try to subsist on a menu of lettuce, carrots, popcorn and diet soda.

If you're experiencing any of these problems, or if you think you may have an eating disorder, get help. Remind yourself that you're not actually in control anymore — the anorexia is. If you're hiding your anorexia from loved ones, try to find a trusted confidante you can talk to about what's going on. Together, you can come up with some treatment options.

Unfortunately, many people with anorexia don't want treatment, at least initially. Their desire to remain thin overrides concerns about their health. If you have a loved one you're worried about, urge him or her to talk to a doctor. But unless you have legal authority to do so, you can't force loved ones to get treatment.

Tests and diagnosis
When doctors suspect someone has anorexia, they typically run a battery of tests and exams. These can help pinpoint a diagnosis and also check for any related complications.

These exams and tests generally include:

Physical exam. This may include measuring height and weight; checking vital signs, such as heart rate, blood pressure and temperature; checking the skin for dryness or other problems; listening to the heart and lungs; and examining the abdomen.
Laboratory tests. These may include a complete blood count (CBC), as well as more specialized blood tests to check electrolytes and protein as well as functioning of the liver, kidney and thyroid. A urinalysis also may be done.
Psychological evaluation. A doctor or mental health professional can assess thoughts, feelings and eating habits. Psychological self-assessments and questionnaires also are used.
Other studies. X-rays may be taken to check for broken bones, pneumonia or heart problems. Electrocardiograms may be done to look for heart irregularities. Testing may also be done to determine how much energy your body uses, which can help in planning nutritional requirements.
Diagnostic criteria for anorexia
To be diagnosed with anorexia, you must meet criteria spelled out in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS), published by the American Psychiatric Association.

DSM diagnostic criteria for anorexia are:

Refusal to maintain a body weight that is at or above the minimum normal weight for your age and height
Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though you're underweight
Denying the seriousness of having a low body weight, or having a distorted image of your appearance or shape
In women who've started having periods, the absence of a period for at least three consecutive menstrual cycles
These criteria, however, are not without controversy. Some medical professionals believe these criteria are too strict or don't accurately reflect symptoms in some people. Some people may not meet all of these criteria but still have an eating disorder and need professional help. As more is learned about anorexia, the diagnostic criteria may change.

Complications
Anorexia can have numerous complications. At its most severe, it can be fatal. Anorexia has one of the higher death rates among all mental illnesses, around 5 percent but perhaps even higher than that. Death may occur suddenly — even when someone is not severely underweight. This may result from abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias) or electrolyte imbalances.

Complications of anorexia include:

Death
Anemia
Heart problems, such as mitral valve prolapse, abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure
Bone loss, increasing risk of fractures later in life
Lung problems resembling emphysema
In females, absence of a period
In males, decreased testosterone
Gastrointestinal problems, such as constipation, bloating or nausea
Electrolyte abnormalities, such as low blood potassium, sodium and chloride
Kidney problems
If a person with anorexia becomes severely malnourished, every organ in the body can sustain damage, including the brain, heart and kidneys. This damage may not be fully reversible, even when the anorexia is under control.

In addition to the host of physical complications, people with anorexia also commonly have other mental disorders as well. They may include:

Depression
Anxiety disorders
Personality disorders
Obsessive-compulsive disorders
Drug abuse
Treatments and drugs
When you have anorexia, you may need several types of treatment. If your life is in immediate danger, you may need treatment in a hospital emergency department for such issues as dehydration, electrolyte imbalances or psychiatric problems.

Treatment of anorexia is generally done using a team approach that includes medical providers, mental health providers and dietitians, all with experience in eating disorders.

Here's a look at what's commonly involved in treating people with anorexia:

Medical care
Because of the host of complications anorexia causes, you may need frequent monitoring of vital signs, hydration level and electrolytes, as well as related physical conditions. A family doctor or primary care doctor may be the one who coordinates care with the other health care professionals involved. Sometimes, though, it's the mental health provider who coordinates care.

Psychotherapy
Individual, family and group therapy may all be beneficial. Individual therapy can help you deal with the behavior and thoughts that contribute to anorexia. In psychotherapy, you can gain a healthier self-esteem and learn positive ways to cope with distress and other strong feelings. A type of talk therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is most commonly used but lacks strong evidence that it's superior to other forms of therapy. The mental health provider can help assess the need for psychiatric hospitalization or day treatment programs.

Family therapy can help resolve family conflicts or muster support from concerned family members. Family therapy can be especially important for children with anorexia who still live at home. Group therapy gives you a way to connect to others facing eating disorders. And informal support groups can also be helpful. However, be careful with group therapy. For some people with anorexia, group therapy or support groups can result in competitions to be the thinnest person there.

Nutritional therapy
A dietitian offers guidance on a healthy diet. A dietitian can provide specific meal plans and calorie requirements to help meet weight goals. In severe cases, people with anorexia may require feeding through a tube that's placed in their nose and goes to the stomach (nasogastric tube).

Medications
There are no medications specifically approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat anorexia since they've shown limited benefit in treating this eating disorder. However, antidepressants or other psychiatric medications can help treat other mental disorders you may also have, such as depression or anxiety.

Hospitalization
In cases of medical complications, psychiatric emergencies, severe malnutrition or continued refusal to eat, hospitalization may be needed. Hospitalization may be on a medical or psychiatric ward. Some clinics specialize in treating people with eating disorders. Some may offer day programs or residential programs, rather than full hospitalization. Specialized eating disorder programs may offer more intensive treatment over longer periods of time. Also, even after hospitalization ends, ongoing therapy and nutrition education are highly important to continued recovery.

Treatment challenges in anorexia
Anorexia occurs on a continuum. Some cases are much more severe than others. Less severe cases may take less time for treatment and recovery. But one of the biggest challenges in treating anorexia is that people may not want treatment or think they don't need it. In fact, some people with anorexia promote it as a lifestyle choice. They don't consider it an illness. Pro-anorexia Web sites are proliferating, even offering tips on which foods to avoid and how to fight hunger pangs.

Even if you do want to get better, the pull of anorexia can be difficult to overcome. Anorexia is often an ongoing, lifelong battle. It may wax or wane. Even if symptoms subside, you remain vulnerable and may have a relapse during periods of high stress or during triggering situations. For some women, for instance, anorexia symptoms may subside during pregnancy but return after pregnancy. Ongoing therapy or periodic appointments during times of stress may be helpful.

Lack of health insurance coverage also can interfere with treatment. Many health insurers don't cover lengthy treatment programs, particularly inpatient programs. Relapse rates are higher when treatment ends too soon.

Prevention
There's no guaranteed way to prevent anorexia or other eating disorders. Pediatricians may be in a good position to identify early indicators of an eating disorder and prevent the development of full-blown illness. They can ask children questions about their eating habits and satisfaction with their appearance during routine medical appointments, for instance.

If you notice a family member or friend with low self-esteem, severe dieting and dissatisfaction with appearance, consider talking to him or her about these issues. Although you may not be able to prevent an eating disorder from developing, you can talk about healthier behavior or treatment options.

Lifestyle and home remedies
When you have anorexia, it can be difficult to take care of yourself properly. In addition to professional treatment, follow these steps:

Stick to your treatment plan. Don't skip therapy sessions and try not to stray from meal plans, even if they make you uncomfortable.
Talk to your doctor about appropriate vitamin and mineral supplements. If you're not eating well, chances are your body isn't getting all of the nutrients it needs.
Don't isolate yourself from caring family members and friends who want to see you get healthy. Understand that they have your best interests at heart.
Resist urges to weigh yourself or check yourself in the mirror frequently. These may do nothing but fuel your drive to maintain unhealthy habits.
Coping and support
You may find it difficult to cope with anorexia when you're hit with mixed messages by the media, culture, and perhaps your own family or friends. You may even have heard people joke that they wish they could have anorexia for a while so that they could lose weight.

So how do you cope with a disease that can be deadly when you may be getting messages that being thin is a sign of success?

Remind yourself what a healthy weight is for your body, especially at times when you see images that may trigger your desire to restrict calories.
Don't visit pro-anorexia Web sites. These sites can encourage you to maintain dangerous habits and trigger relapses. Anorexia isn't a lifestyle choice. It's a disease, and it's probably controlling your life.
Acknowledge that you may not be the best judge of whether you're eating enough or are at a healthy weight.
Identify situations that are likely to trigger thoughts or behavior that may contribute to your anorexia so that you can develop a plan of action to deal with them.
Look for positive role models, even if they're not easy to find. Remind yourself that the ultrathin models or actors showcased in women's magazines or gossip magazines often don't represent healthy bodies.
Don't call anorexia your friend. That kind of self-deception can kill you.
Related links:
Eating disorder treatment: Know your options
Eating disorders

Last updated 12/20/2007 12:00:00 AM
© 1998-2009 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). All rights reserved. A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. "Mayo," "Mayo Clinic," "MayoClinic.com," "EmbodyHealth," "Reliable tools for healthier lives," "Enhance your life," and the triple-shield Mayo Clinic logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.
See this article at MayoClinic.com.
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ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION

2009-12-31T20:37:00.000-08:00

Animal Experiments Pictures

Researchers do not want the general public to know what really happens behind the closed doors of their animal testing laboratories - they have too much to hide!
Brian Gunn is Secretary General of the International Association Against Painful Experiments on Animals [IAAPEA] and a non-Governmental Officer at the United Nations.
In obtaining vital photographic evidence of the cruelty of vivisection - Brian Gunn has penetrated the veil of secrecy which shrouds laboratory animal testing research.
During the course of his undercover work he has both been threatened and badly beaten up. His thought-provoking animal testing photographs and investigative reports have won many awards.
Brian Gunn's pictures are extensively used on TV and in newspapers, films and magazine throughout the world.See cosmetic, household product, medical, make-up, drug, toxicity, surgery, medicine, LD50, draize, cancer, alcohol, warfare, pharmaceutical, ingredients, psychology, sight deprivation, animal laboratory, research testing pictures here.

AIDS (DISEASE)

2009-12-31T20:34:00.000-08:00

AIDS (Disease)
AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, is one of the most devastating diseases of modern times. Billions of dollars have been spent on AIDS research, treatment, and prevention. The disease and its consequences raise difficult questions for people who have AIDS and their families and friends, as well as for health care workers, policy makers, and others.

AIDS (Disease) Overview

Globally, more than 21 million people have died since the AIDS pandemic began in the early 1980s, with the most damaging effects felt in sub-Saharan Africa. 15,000 new cases are reported worldwide every day.

Cause and Spread of the Disease

AIDS is caused by HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus. People who have…>> (read more)

AIDS (Disease) Points of View
Position United States is Serious About the AIDS EpidemicMany experts believe that the U.S. government and pharmaceutical companies are doing an admirable job of working to prevent and treat the AIDS virus, programs including needle exchanges are working to prevent AIDS and that the U.S. did not, as conspiracy theorists argue, develop the AIDS virus.
John Siegfried, a…>> (read more)

Position Are Government and Health Agencies Doing Enough to Prevent AIDS?Though nations around the world say they're committed to the fight to end AIDS, critics argue that the worldwide epidemic is not taken seriously enough and there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done. Author Tim Unsworth discusses how Arsenio Hall once said that AIDS is World…>> (read more)

Position United States Is Not Serious About the AIDS Epidemic
Some experts believe that not only is the U.S. not doing enough to prevent and find a cure for AIDS, the limited resources available are going to efforts that do not work, pharmaceutical companies block the availability of AIDS drugs in developing countries, and others contend that the government had…>> (read more)

4 AIDS in Developing Countries: An Overview
5 The United States Should Provide Financial Assistance to Developing Countries to Combat AIDS
6 AIDS Epidemic Demands Action from the International Community
7 African Nations Are Committed to Fighting the AIDS Epidemic
8 U.S. Pharmaceutical Companies Have Helped Make AIDS Drugs Available in Developing Countries
9 Development of an AIDS Vaccine Is Not a Magic Bullet Solution
10 Reducing Poverty Can Reduce AIDS in Developing Countries
11 Chinese Government Is Hampering the Fight Against the AIDS Epidemic
12 Deadly Passage to India
13 U.S. Pharmaceutical Companies and the U.S. Government Have Blocked the Availability of AIDS Drugs in Developing Countries14 Developing Countries Need to Reduce Risky Behavior to Prevent AIDS

Harmony Twelve String (after college)

2009-01-15T21:39:00.000-08:00

Goya Classical guitar

2009-01-14T22:23:00.000-08:00

Verbiage about the Kay steel string guitar that destroyed fingers

2009-01-14T12:50:00.000-08:00

The first guitar that I ever owned was an inexpensive steel string Kay guitar with a very high action. I was nine years old and we lived in Phx., AZ. My first guitar teacher was the 'Danke Schoen' guy, Wayne Newton. I had several teachers, as they did not last long at the 'music school' that I took lessons at. The next teacher that I hadwas a country and western bass player who taught me some ballads and stuff. Last of all was a teenager who was studying classical guitar. He later went to Spain and took flamenco and classical lessons there. He kept advising my parents to buy me a Goya nylon string guitar, as the brutal action of the Kay had left my fingertips blistered and raw. I quit the lessons for that reason, but I never forgot whathe said about the Goya guitars. They were made in Spain at the time and were of high quality.

Kay steel string acoustic guitar

2009-01-13T21:57:00.000-08:00

Good Eats

2009-01-08T23:07:00.000-08:00

2009-01-02T17:54:00.000-08:00

Our hero, still....

2008-07-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

Reichert: Cut Medicare

2008-06-07T18:31:00.001-07:00

Young Republicans Chastised by Headless Lucy in Seattle Newspaper

2008-04-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

GOP Event Shut Down
But It's a Pyrrhic Victory for Liberal Students
by Chris Kissel

"A day after liberal activists sent out an e-mail alert, local blogs heeded the call and started trashing the UW College Republicans' plans for "Find an Illegal Immigrant Day." The event—in which students search the campus for the player chosen as the "illegal immigrant"—was slated for April 15.
At the lefty blog Horse's Ass, commenter "headless lucy" said, 'If something is small-minded, mean, and divisive, there is the place you will find Republicans.'"

It can't get any better than that for a really small-time blogger like me!

2008-04-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

2008-04-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

2008-04-06T13:11:00.000-07:00

2008-04-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

Wexler questions AG Mukasey on Impeachment and Contempt

2008-03-12T15:37:00.001-07:00

BBC Reported Building 7 Collapse 20 Minutes Before It Fell

2008-03-05T12:31:00.001-08:00

WTC 7 - Pull It By Larry Silverstein

2008-03-05T12:28:00.001-08:00

BBC Reported Building 7 Collapse 20 Minutes Before It Fell

2008-03-05T12:26:00.001-08:00

Peter Power 7/7 Terror Rehearsal

2008-03-05T12:24:00.001-08:00

911 Commission - Trans. Sec Norman Mineta Testimony

2008-03-05T12:22:00.001-08:00

FOX ATTACKS! Obama Staffer

2008-01-08T22:17:00.001-08:00

What is

2007-12-27T20:32:00.001-08:00

Amos N' Andy BANNED TV 1951 Episode #40 The Rare Coin part 1

2007-12-27T20:14:00.001-08:00

Amos 'n' Andy - 1934 Cartoon -

2007-12-27T20:09:00.001-08:00

Scrub Me Mama With a Boogie Beat

2007-12-27T20:07:00.003-08:00

Little Black Sambo - Banned Cartoons

2007-12-27T20:07:00.001-08:00

FOX ATTACKS! Edwards and Obama

2007-12-20T13:15:00.001-08:00

This would be humorous if it were not for the fact that so many members of the: 'Best Generation Ever' take this crap seriously!

Is junk media making you sick???

2007-12-15T10:45:00.001-08:00

Got My Mojo Working Muddy Waters full version newport jazz

2007-12-12T20:08:00.001-08:00

This was the theme of my youth.

Keith Olbermann and the Murder of Pat Tillman 7/27/07

2007-11-27T21:07:00.001-08:00

"Executive Privilige" in the Pat Tillman case? See what Keith Olbermann has to say about it.

The FCC Hearings in Seattle – 11/9/2007 -- and Blue Collar Conservatism

2007-11-11T14:47:00.000-08:00

The FCC Hearings in Seattle – 11/9/2007 -- and Blue Collar Conservatism

One thing that many of the Progressive commenters at the recent FCC Hearings in Seattle (concerning media consolidation) did was to blame “white men” for these problems of corporate overreach. White men were blamed for owning more than they should and controlling everything in America.

In my humble opinion, it’s not white men per-se that they should be targeting in their verbal broadsides. It’s more a certain class of monied people and their corporate henchmen.

I do not believe it is merely a problem of blue-collar white men misperceiving what women, minorities, and even some white men are saying about them. When I bring this subject up to Progressive women and minorities, they always deny that it is white men in general that they are inveighing against.

It’s the rich white men, they explain. It’s not the “regular Joe’s”.

As an experiment, I initiated some conversations that evening about the black ex-CEO of Merrill-Lynch, Stanley O’Neal, who was recently ousted for some ethically, challenged activity regarding stock manipulation. “That’s the trouble with black men,” I said. “They get into a position of real power, and immediately they abuse it. They think they can do anything they want in their safe little corporate bubble!”

You can imagine the response.

Liberals immediately and vociferously let you know that the color of the man is irrelevant. I then brought up the subject of white men always being blamed for the problems of corporate corruption of American democracy.

They insist that they are not blaming white men in general – just the rich white men and CEO’s. Black CEO’s, it seems, are still off limits to my criticism. But, in their offhand comments, they DO say, quite specifically and exclusively: “white men”. I’m a Progressive Liberal, but internally I’m beginning to resist all this casual demonizing of white men. I think it’s losing us elections.

In an Affirmative Action Review of Part 9 of the Federal Procurement Policies and Practices, the review states:

“Throughout the federal government, several programs seek to increase procurement and contracting with minority- and women-owned businesses. The largest of these efforts are government-wide programs overseen by the SBA; this overall effort is supplemented in some cases by agency-specific initiatives. Under these programs taken as a whole, some procurement contracts are set aside for sole-source or sheltered competition contracting, eligibility for which is targeted to minority-owned businesses (and in some cases non-minority women-owned businesses), but by statute available more broadly to "socially and economically disadvantaged" individuals. There is also a broad, race-neutral, sheltered competition or set-aside for small businesses generally. This operates separately and has a lower priority than the more targeted efforts….”

http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/gov/bl_gov_aa_09.htm

The above quote highlights what many blue-collar white men (rightfully) believe: That is, that the Federal Government pushes the interests of women and minorities over blue-collar white men. There are any amount of excuses for this state of affairs, but if Progressives want to regain the confidence AND the votes of blue-collar white men, this favoritism must stop.

Do Progressive women and minorities want to win enough to reach out to these voters? How many more losses at the polls will it take for them to see beyond their own prejudice?

THE IMMIGRANT SONG, by Led Zepp

2007-10-31T08:50:00.000-07:00

Ah, ah,We come from the land of the ice and snow,
>from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.

The hammer of the gods
Will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying:
Valhalla, I am coming!

On we sweep with threshing oar,
Our only goal will be the western shore.

Ah, ah,We come from the land of the ice and snow,
>from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.

How soft your fields so green,Can whisper tales of gore,
Of how we calmed the tides of war.
We are your overlords.

On we sweep with threshing oar,
Our only goal will be the western shore.

So now youd better stop and rebuild all your ruins,
For peace and trust can win the day
Despite of all your losing.

klaatu barada nikto

2007-10-29T16:46:00.001-07:00

I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore (so quit it!)

2007-10-20T18:11:00.000-07:00

I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore (so quit it!)
As performed by, The Young Rascals

(Pam Sawyer - Lori Burton)
(Yeeeeeeeeeeeah!!!!) I admit you got the biggest brown eyes
And you know how to part your lips to tantalize, sure.

(Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah!!!!!) You can get any man you want goin'
and you do it
And don't say you don't know you do.

Chorus:Well, baby,
I ain't gonna eat out my heart anymore
I ain't gonna eat out my heart anymore
So quit it

Bridge:I love you, I love you, I do, little girl
But you ain't gonna cheat on me
I need you, I need you, I [2: really] do, girl
Choose, is it him or me (is it him or me)

Verse 2:(Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah!!!!!!!) Just 'cause I ain't been sayin' it, girl
You should be ashamed of what I've been seein' -
bad
(Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah!!!!!!!!!!) You better watch your step or, girl
You can bet you're gonna lose the best thing you ever had

[repeat chorus]

[repeat bridge]
Coda:I ain't gonna eat out my heart anymore [repeat to fade]

Bush Jokes about WMD

2007-10-19T12:45:00.001-07:00

Here's Bush joking about WMD. I think the fact that he never had the opportunity to grieve for his little sister has warped his personality.

Stop The Nuclear Bailout - NukeFree.org

2007-10-18T18:31:00.001-07:00

I saw Stephan Stills at the Bandbox in Seattle this summer. I've loved this song since I saw it on The Smother's Brothers Show many decades ago.

The song has lost none of it's punch, earnestness, and timeliness. It was great to hear Stills play and sing the song. I like this version and I have seen many of the artists in it at their own concerts.

I was going to see Keb Mo last summer (because he was billed with Robert Cray. But it was the same night as a Heart concert. I wish I could have seen both!

Anyway -- nice version -- for what it's worth.

Neil Young - The Restless Consumer

2007-09-12T21:30:00.001-07:00

Neil Young Song About Media/Government Collusion and Lies

Channel Cat Fishing

2007-08-30T11:22:00.001-07:00

FOX promotes attack on Iran

2007-08-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

Bill O'Reilly with a Hitler Moustache

2007-08-21T22:02:00.000-07:00

The Unseen Lies: Journalism As Propaganda

2007-08-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

Images of Republican Women: a series

2007-08-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

mark foley

2007-08-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

ann coulter

2007-08-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

2007-08-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

2007-08-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

2007-08-18T14:03:00.000-07:00

2007-08-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

2007-08-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

2007-08-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

2007-08-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

Images of Republican Women

2007-08-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

Images of Repuplican Women

2007-08-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

They won't call him "limp dick" anymore!

2007-08-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

Battle of the Titans

2007-08-17T22:55:00.000-07:00

Those fucking Republican bastards!!!!

2007-08-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

Those fucking Republican bastards!!!!
Commerce, Treasury funds helped boost GOP campaigns (read story)

This is so illegal and immoral, I cannot understand why someone isn’t in jail.

Old habits die hard!

2007-08-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

ancient headless skeleton: Missing Link?

2007-08-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

A headless celebration

2007-08-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

The View from Lucy's Hollow Eye-socket

2007-08-06T20:59:00.000-07:00

JesusDino

2007-08-06T20:54:00.000-07:00

seahorse

2007-08-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

Play Our New Gameshow THE FOX IS WRONG on GLOBAL WARMING!

2007-08-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

“Be the first to play the exciting new gameshow sensation that's sweeping the nation
Play Our New Gameshow THE FOX IS WRONG on GLOBAL WARMING!— That's right, now you can play along at home against those wacky (and whacked out!) Faux News hosts, guests and "experts" as they do their best to convince you that global warming is a hoax and humans have nothing to do with it. You'll never guess what outrageous lies and misinformation they'll say next!”

REICHERT ILLEGALLY FRANKING?

2007-07-31T08:04:00.000-07:00

"You will recall that last month I pointed out that Dave Reichert was abusing his franking privileges by sending out glossy mailings that were pure electioneering campaign pamphlets, and were being received by constituents within the 90 day period before an election, which was illegal. King 5 political reporter Robert Mak also dived into the matter questioning the legality of the mailings, and at least shining a light on the fact that Reichert had spent over $500,000 of tax payer money on such mailings.Well this latest piece of franked mail was dated July 18, which is 64 days before the September 19 Primary elections - well within the 90-day no-franking window before an election.This particular piece of mail was also unsolicited. I did not contact congressman Reichert about this subject, and it was not in response to a communication on my pert to him."

Create an immediate negative buzz for Dave Reichert

2007-07-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

Communicating on a grassroots level through blogging is a beautiful thing that the internet makes possible to anyone. What I have been doing in my spare time is something akin to the mass mailings I used to do in AZ to pump up business and create buzz. Except now, it’s about defeating Dave Reichert in the upcoming election.
What I’m doing is collecting all the local blog addresses in my immediate area. (People who take the time to blog are generally the thinkers and communicators in their immediate social sphere.) The next time Dave Reichert uses his franking priviliges to send out blatant campaign propaganda for himself, I’m sending a comment/message to every blogger that I can find in my town.
From what I know of direct marketing (which is quite a bit more than the average person — because my economic life depended on it for 15 years), this gambit will bypass all established media and create an immediate negative buzz for Reichert.

A local blogger that I sent an "unsoliceted" comment to concerning Fox News had this to say:

Scout's Honor said...
"Why are you leaving unrelated comments on people's blogs? It's a bit rude, especially when they don't necessarily share the same views. It's like putting grafitti in a park or littering. I'm sure Fox Attacks means something to you, and it's entirely your own perogative to post/blog all you want on YOUR OWN BLOG. Just have some taste and courtesy and ask permission before posting willy-nilly on other's blogs such links that have NOTHING to do with their posts. Please be a good blog neighbor in the Northwest. Thanks for listening."

Unwittingly, Scout's Honor hit the nail on the head about unwanted communication -- except, I did not illegally use public tax monies and the U.S. Mail to promote my own personal political agenda.

So, all I can say to Scout's Honor is that I'll stop doing it when Dave Reichert stops doing it.

Join the Fox Attacks campaign:

2007-07-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

Please tell your friends, family and colleagues to watch the Fox Attacks environment video.

http://foxattacks.com/

Here's a great site for the math impaired, of which I am one!

2007-07-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

Campaign Finance in American Politics

2007-07-09T15:23:00.000-07:00

Campaign Finance in American Politics

CampaignMoney.com is a unique website that lets you see for yourself the hidden world of American political campaigns. CampaignMoney.com is your door key to inside politics, American politics. Incidentally, you can check on people you know to see if and how they help finance these campaigns. What you learn may surprise you!

Bush justice is a national disgrace

2007-07-09T12:21:00.000-07:00

This is from the Denver Post

"As a longtime attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, I can honestly say that I have never been as ashamed of the department and government that I serve as I am at this time.
The public record now plainly demonstrates that both the DOJ and the government as a whole have been thoroughly politicized in a manner that is inappropriate, unethical and indeed unlawful. The unconscionable commutation of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's sentence, the misuse of warrantless investigative powers under the Patriot Act and the deplorable treatment of U.S. attorneys all point to an unmistakable pattern of abuse.
In the course of its tenure since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration has turned the entire government (and the DOJ in particular) into a veritable Augean stable on issues such as civil rights, civil liberties, international law and basic human rights, as well as criminal prosecution and federal employment and contracting practices. It has systematically undermined the rule of law in the name of fighting terrorism, and it has sought to insulate its actions from legislative or judicial scrutiny and accountability by invoking national security at every turn, engaging in persistent fearmongering, routinely impugning the integrity and/or patriotism of its critics, and protecting its own lawbreakers. This is neither normal government conduct nor "politics as usual," but a national disgrace of a magnitude unseen since the days of Watergate - which, in fact, I believe it eclipses.
In more than a quarter of a century at the DOJ, I have never before seen such consistent and marked disrespect on the part of the highest ranking government policymakers for both law and ethics. It is especially unheard of for U.S. attorneys to be targeted and removed on the basis of pressure and complaints from political figures dissatisfied with their handling of politically sensitive investigations and their unwillingness to "play ball." Enough information has already been disclosed to support the conclusion that this is exactly what happened here, at least in the case of former U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias of New Mexico (and quite possibly in several others as well). Law enforcement is not supposed to be a political team sport, and prosecutorial independence and integrity are not "performance problems."
In his long-awaited but uninformative testimony concerning the extraordinary firings of U.S. attorneys, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales did not allay these concerns. Indeed, he faced a no-win situation. If he testified falsely regarding his alleged lack of recollection and lack of involvement, he perjured himself and lied to both Congress and the American people. On the other hand, if he told the truth, he clearly has been derelict in the performance of his duties and is not up to the job. Either way, his fitness to serve is now in doubt.
Tellingly, in his congressional testimony, D. Kyle Sampson (the junior aide to whom the attorney general delegated vast authority) expressed the view that the distinction between "performance" considerations and "political" considerations was "largely artificial." This attitude, however, is precisely the problem. The administration that Sampson served has elided the distinction between government performance and politics to an unparalleled extent (just as it has blurred the boundaries between the White House counsel's office and the attorney general's office). And it is no answer to say that U.S. attorneys are political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the president. The point that is lost on those who make this argument is that U.S. attorneys must not serve partisan purposes or advance a partisan agenda - which has nothing to do with requiring them to promote an administration's legitimate policy priorities.
As usual, the administration has attempted to minimize the significance of its malfeasance and misfeasance, reciting its now-customary "mistakes were made" mantra, accepting purely abstract responsibility without consequences for its actions, and making hollow vows to do better. However, the DOJ Inspector General's Patriot Act report (which would not even have existed if the administration had not been forced to grudgingly accept a very modest legislative reporting requirement, instead of being allowed to operate in its preferred secrecy), the White House-DOJ e-mails, and now the Libby commutation merely highlight yet again the lawlessness, incompetence and dishonesty of the present executive branch leadership.
They also underscore Congress' lack of wisdom in blindly trusting the administration, largely rubber-stamping its legislative proposals, and essentially abandoning the congressional oversight function for most of the last six years. These are, after all, the same leaders who brought us the WMD fiasco, the unnecessary and disastrous Iraq war, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, warrantless domestic NSA surveillance, the Valerie Wilson leak, the arrest of Brandon Mayfield, and the Katrina response failure. The last thing they deserve is trust.
The sweeping, judicially unchecked powers granted under the Patriot Act should neither have been created in the first place nor permanently renewed thereafter, and the Act - which also contributed to the ongoing contretemps regarding the replacement of U.S. attorneys, by changing the appointment process to invite political abuse - should be substantially modified, if not scrapped outright. And real, rather than symbolic, responsibility should be assigned for the manifold abuses. The public trust has been flagrantly violated, and meaningful accountability is long overdue. Officials who have brought into disrepute both the Department of Justice and the administration of justice as a whole should finally have to answer for it - and the misdeeds at issue involve not merely garden-variety misconduct, but multiple "high crimes and misdemeanors," including war crimes and crimes against humanity.
I realize that this constitutionally protected statement subjects me to a substantial risk of unlawful reprisal from extremely ruthless people who have repeatedly taken such action in the past. But I am confident that I am speaking on behalf of countless thousands of honorable public servants, at Justice and elsewhere, who take their responsibilities seriously and share these views. And some things must be said, whatever the risk.
The views presented in this essay are not representative of the Department of Justice or its employees but are instead the personal views of its author. "
John S. Koppel has been a civil appellate attorney with the Department of Justice since 1981.

Pelosi must: "Shape up or ship out?"

2007-07-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

"Shape up or ship out?
Cindy Sheehan has challenged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to move to Impeach Bush by July 23 or prepare for Sheehan to contest for her Congressional seat as an Independent.
"Democrats and Americans feel betrayed by the Democratic leadership," Sheehan told The Associated Press. "We hired them to bring an end to the war. I'm not too far from San Francisco, so it wouldn't be too big of a move for me. I would give her a run for her money."While I admire Cindy Sheehan's willingness to fight for what she believes in, I don't necessarily support her. And I'm not sure that I agree with all of her listed reasons for why Bush ought to be Impeached. I don't see Bush exercizing his Constitutional authority to commute Scooter Libby's prison sentence as an Impeachable offense, for example. But it does seem to me that the rhetoric coming from many Dem candidates in 2006 isn't exactly being reflected in their official actions now that they got themselves elected. And I certainly support the right of constituents to demand that their elected representatives walk the walk after having talked the talk.
What do you think?" From "Pre Emptive Karma"

Marc Rich and Scooter Libby: A Bad Comparison

2007-07-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

Let us put to rest any comparison of the commutation of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's sentence and the pardon that Marc Rich received from President Bill Clinton.

They are in no way comparable.

By the degree of the individual's guilt and traitorous behavior, Libby's sentence-commutation by George W. Bush could be more aptly compared to GWB's father's pardon of Oliver North. North could have implicated the elder Bush in the illegal arms for hostages deal, which funded the subsequent murder of hundreds of thousands of Central American peasants, at the hands of the Reagan/Bush administration. Similarly, Libby could implicate the current underdstandably secretive holders of the offices of president and vice-president, of covering up the deliberate outing of a covert CIA operative.

Bill Clinton, in his autobiography, My Life, on pp. 940-941 has this to say about his own last-minute pardon of Marc Rich:

"The most controversial pardons went to Marc Rich and his partner, Pincus Green. Rich, a wealthy businessman, had left the United States for Switzerland shortly before he was indicted on tax and other charges for allegedly falsely reporting the price of certain oil transactions to minimize his tax liability. There were several such cases in the 1980s, when some oil was under price controls and some was not, inviting the dishonest to underestimate their income or to overcharge their customers. During that time, several people and companies were charged with violating the law, but the individuals were usually charged with a civil offense. It was extremely rare for tax charges to be prosecuted under the racketeering statutes, as Rich and Green were, and after they were charged, the Justice Department ordered U.S. attorneys to stop doing it. After he was indicted, Rich stayed overseas, mostly in Israel and Switzerland.

The government had allowed Rich's business to continue to operate after he agreed to pay $200 million in fines, more than four times the $48 million in taxes the government claimed he had evaded. Professor Marty Ginsberg, a tax expert and husband of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Harvard law professor Bernard Wolfman had reviewed the transactions in question and concluded that Rich's companies were right in their tax computations, which meant that Rich himself had not owed any taxes on these transactions."

I call bullshit on Republicans for using the Marc Rich pardon as an example that is in any way comparable to the commutation of Scooter Libby richly deserved sentence. Incidentally, one of Rich's former lawyers was the ubiquitous Scooter Libby.

ARKANSAS GOP HEAD: WE NEED MORE 'ATTACKS ON AMERICAN SOIL' SO PEOPLE APPRECIATE BUSH

2007-06-08T16:48:00.000-07:00

This Republican wishes for more attacks by Muslim terrorists on U.S. soil to prove that Rush is 'right". Wouldn't that prove the exact opposite and is not this lint-brained shithead of a Republican a traitor as well?

You know he is.

"In his first interview as the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party, Dennis Milligan told a reporter that America needs to be attacked by terrorists so that people will appreciate the work that President Bush has done to protect the country.
"At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001]," Milligan said to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "and the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country."'

List of Dino Rossi Contributors from 2004 GOP Governor's Race

2007-06-01T16:59:00.001-07:00

Being Threatened by a Wingnut

2007-01-28T00:31:00.000-08:00

Wally the talking Badger says:
Bush and Cheney will be impeached. Even if they are not, there are literally millions of people in this world who are willing to do harm to them.
There’s not enough security to keep someone from getting through.
01/27/2007 at 11:35 pm
rob says:
RE: 129, I am sure the FBI will be happy to hear that asswipe.
01/27/2007 at 11:37 pm
Wally the talking Badger says:
That’s why Bush bought his little Nazi refuge for himself in S. America. He thinks he can isolate there.
Not a chance.
All we have to do is patiently wait.
01/27/2007 at 11:38 pm
YOS LIB BRO says:
Yes I am
AHH. I SEE. THE OTHER SHOE DROPS. EVER SHAKE TOM MCCABE’S HAND ROBTARD? ARE YOU FRIENDS WITH JEFF “LYING SAX” OF SHIT?
HEY THERE’S A BIG TO DO ON THE PENINSULA GOING ON. HAVE YOU THROWN A FEW SHECKELS THAT WAY?
GOOD NIGHT ROBTARD. YOU ARE NARROW. I AM BORED.
01/27/2007 at 11:39 pm
Wally the talking Badger says:
The FBI thinks I’m responsible for millions of people hating Bush?
You are a complete moron.
01/27/2007 at 11:40 pm
rob says:
131: So when are you planning your assassination of the President of the United States Wally the Badger?
01/27/2007 at 11:44 pm
rob says:
No but after this leftist rant I am sure they will be talking to you
01/27/2007 at 11:45 pm
rob says:
actually I will try to make sure that they do talk to you. You are a sick fucker.
01/27/2007 at 11:46 pm
Wally the talking Badger says:
re 136: I’m not backing off one bit from what I said. It’s the same thing Bush said in the state of the union.
But I’m not going to let you mischaracterize what I said either.
I have family in the FBI. You go to them trying to tell your little tales and I will make sure someone visits your place of work.
How ya like them apples you fear mongering little prick.
01/27/2007 at 11:53 pm
rob says:
It’s too late asshole, I already sent the link of the post to them. You can figure it out with them. You are a disgusting little prick for sure.
01/27/2007 at 11:55 pm
Wally the talking Badger says:
In fact, I’m going to make a point of discovering who you are. You think you got some pull?
I will yank the rug right out from under you.
01/27/2007 at 11:56 pm
rob says:
137. And if you really had family in the FBI which I doubt. I am sure they would tell you not to threaten the President of the United States you Communist/radical Muslim prick. Now that you brought up your family in the FBI to threaten me though that will be interesting if in fact you do have someone there.
01/27/2007 at 11:59 pm
rob says:
139: I will be reading about you in the P-I soon enough.
01/28/2007 at 12:00 am
Wally the talking Badger says:
re 140: Quote the threat. Asshole.
01/28/2007 at 12:05 am
rob says:
You ignorant cracked up liberal, can’t you remember 5 minutes ago? see 137. I will try and help your sorry soon to be visited ass.
01/28/2007 at 12:08 am
Wally the talking Badger says:
re 143: Quote what you mean. You were yammering about the FBI before #137. I think you have reread my posts and for once you are seeing what was actually said, not what you want the words to mean.
Go ahead. Quote the threat you said I made. Liar.
01/28/2007 at 12:14 am
rob says:
Since you are obviously too high to be able to read I cut and pasted your theat from 137.
Wally the talking Badger
“I have family in the FBI. You go to them trying to tell your little tales and I will make sure someone visits your place of work.”
01/28/2007 at 12:16 am
rob says:
Do you understand that you just threatened me with the power of your illusional family in the FBI?
There are laws against that and I will make sure you answer to them.
01/28/2007 at 12:18 am
Wally the talking Badger says:
Is your neighbor Winston Smith? You sick little fuckwad. You think I’m joking? If you try to fuck with me by making false claims to the FBI, I will find out who you are.
I can and I will.
01/28/2007 at 12:19 am
rob says:
you can keep up your drug filled rant but if I was you I would be on my way to Mexico, or Iran. Whichever suits your sorry ass.
01/28/2007 at 12:20 am
rob says:
147: I am havn’t claimed anything dumbass, i just sent them a copy of this post. They can figure it out for themselves.
01/28/2007 at 12:21 am
rob says:
Of course since you continue to make threats I have to keep updating them.
01/28/2007 at 12:23 am
Wally the talking Badger says:
re 146: You have changed the topic. You were threatening me by claiming you made a false report to the FBI about me.
There are laws against that.
And if you did that you will pay for it. They don’t need idiots like you gumming up the works with false reports. YOU will get a visit for doing that.
What kind of a nut are you?
01/28/2007 at 12:23 am
rob says:
147: if you believe I am afraid of some crack induced panty wearing liberal prick you will find out that you are wrong asswipe.
01/28/2007 at 12:25 am
rob says:
151: No i said I forwarded this post to them. Stop using drugs asshole.
01/28/2007 at 12:27 am
Wally the talking Badger says:
re 150: I hope you have liability with your homeowners insurance. You may need it.
I’ll take your silly ass to court.
You are not the only one keeping track of what’s being said.
01/28/2007 at 12:27 am
Wally the talking Badger says:
re 152: That should convince the authorities that you are a serious person. Moron.
You blinked.
01/28/2007 at 12:28 am

Banned in Wingnut Land

2007-01-07T15:24:00.000-08:00

Two comment threads on conservative blog: unSound Politics that results in me being BANNED from commenting

Comment on Entry: Turned off by condescending liberals, authored by Stefan Sharkansky

1. Lib's will never be happy unless they are running your life.
They think YOUR (sic) stupid and can not do anything with(sic)out them!
Hang around a few and listen to what they say about "other" people. If your (sic) like me, stuck in a union, just listen to them, it doesn't take long before they spout how dumb everyone else is but them.
Posted by Army Medic/Vet at January 6, 2007 08:51 AM
2. Here you go again -- blaming the spread of information on liberalism. What is it with you guys? Why are liberals such boogeymen to you? Were you all abused by liberals when you were in your impressionable years?
How is informing people of transportation choices (not telling them which to choose) an invasion of government or condescension?
Look at the last severe windstorm in Seattle. Look at the deaths due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Did anyone ever tell these folks that burning charcoal inside was a bad idea? Sure, the information is out there, but perhaps they're not newspaper readers. Perhaps they're not curious about such matters. But what would the harm have been in stipulating that such information be supplied within a utility bill, or included as part of an agreement in a rental contract?
Not everyone is as informed as the readers on this blog, so why not include useful information at every chance. If your argument is an economic one, then argue on economic terms. This idea that liberalism is to blame for all the ills in society is not only foolish, it's provably erroneous.
Posted by km at January 6, 2007 09:05 AM
3. Yeah like this will really work. Just picture a class for of teenagers who are taking this class to get their driver's license. How much you want to bet the information will go in one in and out the other. Somehow I seriously doubt that a teenager is going to say, "Oh wow I didn't know that, I think I will take the bus instead of drive my car after I get my license."
Just another waste of tax dollars in my opinion.
Posted by TrueSoldier at January 6, 2007 09:21 AM
4. Maybe municipalities shouldn't be paying dues and sending staff members (on the clock) to these organizations. Do they really add value? Or are we as taxpayers simply funding our own roadblocks.
Posted by Huh? at January 6, 2007 09:32 AM

5. I see a great idea coming from this. When Washington State liberals register Democrat to vote, they lose their driver's license. A perfect solution for Seattle's congestion and it helps with green house gases too.
Posted by Walters at January 6, 2007 09:45 AM

6. KM
Did anyone ever tell these folks that burning charcoal inside was a bad idea?
Yes they were told, on every generator and bag of charcoal. Only problem is there is failure to integrate into American Society and learn friggin' English.
...(not telling them which to choose) an invasion of government or condescension?
Have you listen to Nickels, Sims, et. al. recently? Apparently not, I am continual (sic) told I am a "bad" citizen for driving alone to work in my 15mpg truck. When you calculate time into the equation gas would have to be $30.00 a gallon for taking the bus to break even, anything less and taking the bus cost me money. About teach free market economics, liberty and personal responsibility instead of Nickel bags telling me what to do?
What liberal program has worked?LBJ's war on poverty? 40 years, 3 Trilion (sic) dollars and what has been accomplished?Social Security? Liberals ( Ronald Reagan?) long since raided the trust fund and it's now a ponsi scheme.Medicare? One of the greatist contributers to the rising cost of medicine.Liberal education? If so why can't we get enough engineers? 1/3 of the high school graduates can't read (spell, think, or punctuate),(H) how(in) the H are they going to comphrend Eigen(sic)values?What great liberal program has actually fixed the problem? (Which problem?)
What (sic) do I oppose Liberals?They oppose free speech especially political and religious. (False)They oppose the right to defend myself, my family and my home when the threat presents itself. (False)They are opposed to my keeping the product I produce. (False)They are in favor of control what I eat, how I travel, what I think, when and how and what I say. (Who is telling you you can’t go to Cuba? Republicans.)They want people who work hard, are talent(sic), and benefit society to have the same outcome in life as a lazy, maggot infested, dope smoking,(lose the comma) loser(s).
You bet I stand opposed to liberals.Read my essay.http://soundpolitics.com/public/2007/01/an_essay_core_conservative_pri.html
Posted by JCM(the certified moron) at January 6, 2007 09:46 AM
7. km - You might have a point - IF - drivers' ed classes were doing a sufficiently good job of teaching teenagers to competently and safely drive (the actual point of the class after all, and far too many teenagers are not learning to be competent, safe drivers). It is not as if the classes are doing so well that they can afford lots of mission creep. (“mission creep”?)
Most teens, prior to getting their licenses, are pretty good at figuring out how to get places by means other than driving themselves. We really don't need to waste valuable class time explaining what those big things are with all the people in them (buses, trains, etc).
Posted by krm at January 6, 2007 09:50 AM

8. How is informing people of transportation choices (not telling them which to choose) an invasion of government or condescension?
It's not. It's the liberal attitude that people aren't smart enough to figure it out for themselves - and using tax dollars to explain so - is where the rub is.
Your example of people dying because they're not smart enough to know certain things could kill them is precisely the point. You want to prevent any cause and effect for anyone's actions and responsibilities, and use public dollars to do so.
This may sound heartless, and I don't care, (who would have guessed?) but whatever happened to the natural selection process and Darwinism liberals seem to love so much. If somebody isn't smart enough to take action to prevent harm to themselves, then I'm sorry.
You can't prevent each and every thing from going wrong, so stop trying to. And stop acting like you can and using government coercion to do it. (What a twit!)
Posted by jimg at January 6, 2007 09:52 AM

9. When I first moved to Seattle, I noticed this when I took the drivers license exam. Most of the questions were not about driving ability at all. They were about the drunk driving laws. I thought I was taking the wrong test.
If only the left-wing folks who actually advocate such stupid ideas started blogs, I could make fun of them too at Effin Unsound...
Posted by thehim at January 6, 2007 09:59 AM

10. It's always refreshing when someone firmly on the left like Feit begins to get it. Modern liberals are a bunch of bicycle helmet wearing, humorless scolds.
Posted by Bill Cruchon at January 6, 2007 10:08 AM

11. Keep going JCM you give me hope!
Liberal Thinking places value almost completely on INTENT. If it sounds good, seems good, makes me feel better, or quenches my econonmic, social, and environmental guilt then it has to be a better solution regardless of how much it costs or who pays. JCM points out just a few of the hundreds of examples of intent vs. outcome experiment forced on this county since 1960. (Impeach Earll Warren!)
Conservative Thinking places value only on OUTCOME. Limited resources, allocated benefit received, responsibility assigned and success(or failure) acknowledged.
This region and country could be a far better place if this was the rule of the day. (Conservatives do things because they know PRIOR to doing them what the OUTCOME is? Interesting – but very stupid.)
Posted by Cardio Guycc at January 6, 2007 10:13 AM

12. Kids in driver's ed classes PAY (frankly, their parents pay) TO BE TAUGHT HOW TO DRIVE. They don't pay to be told why they shouldn't drive. This IS obnoxious. Kudos to Feit.
Posted by Michele at January 6, 2007 10:40 AM

13. "Heather Has 2 Mommies And Both Of Them Ride The Bus." Please.
Posted by YourLifeIsMyFault at January 6, 2007 11:09 AM

14. I'm just posting this comment to show people how you really are.
You can't stand to hear an opposing voice. You CENSOR it. You can have as many excuses as you want. But in the end you are just a pro-censorship right wing asshole.
Posted by headless lucy at January 6, 2007 11:32 AM

15. Drivers around here are terrible enough. We aren't doing a good enough job educating drivers so let's focus on that and drop this religious like crusade for transit.
I hate transit; please stop forcing it down my throat. If someone forms People Against Public Transit, I want to join.
Posted by AP at January 6, 2007 11:39 AM

16. re 11: "Conservative Thinking places value only on OUTCOME. Limited resources, allocated benefit received, responsibility assigned and success(or failure) acknowledged."

OUTCOME???: You unconscionably rape limited resources, allocate un-needed benefits to the top 1/2 of 1%, shirk all responsibility for your misdeeds and mistakes, assign all responsibility for any successes to yourselves, and blame your failures (which are many) on anyone but yourselves.Posted by headless lucy at January 6, 2007 11:40 AM

17. If you are in favor of Personal Responsibility and the freedom to choose an alternate type of transportation, then you would be in favor of mass transport and teaching people how to use them.
The religious crusade is your own. What do you have against teaching kids how to use the bus system? Then they could make personal transportation decisions BEFORE they can legally drive.
Why are you against freedom?
Posted by headless lucy at January 6, 2007 11:45 AM

18. Luceee
go be to HA, Mike is missing ya....
Posted by Chris at January 6, 2007 11:46 AM

19. Don't interpret annoyance at the uber politically correct as an endorsment of your opinions and attitudes.
Many of you are equally annoying with your faith in what some right wingnut magazine pundit TOLD you to think about something.
Posted by headless lucy at January 6, 2007 12:00 PM

20. Amen!
The thing that turns me off more than anything else about the left is obnoxious know-it-all assholes like David Goldstein that continually tell us what is good for us and that government is our friend.
Government is an incredibly ineffective blunt instrument of force like a club that should only be used as a last resort and is not a good way to inspire anyone to action.
I'm frankly amazed, Feit is showing some individualism and a capacity for self-guided objective thought(what?). Look for him to be shunned soon by the real left.
Posted by Jeff B. at January 6, 2007 12:01 PM

21. krm's comment:
"Most teens, prior to getting their licenses, are pretty good at figuring out how to get places by means other than driving themselves. We really don't need to waste valuable class time explaining what those big things are with all the people in them (buses, trains, etc)."
This comment nailed why this is a waste of time-kids already know these things. Teaching about alternative transporation is appropriate in a class on the environment, urban planning, ect..
But a driver's ed class is to teach driving. End of story. This comment should have ended the discussion.
Posted by ALP at January 6, 2007 12:10 PM

22. "headless lucy" at #14, "You can't stand to hear an opposing voice. You CENSOR it. You can have as many excuses as you want. But in the end you are just a pro-censorship right wing asshole."
What in the world are you talking about? Can't you even have the decency of illustrating your argument...instead of doing what lefties so routinely do, simply name call?
Thanks for illustrating for the umpteenth time what you people are truly like. (Just wait, bonehead. It won’t take long before Stefan censors me.)
Posted by Bill Cruchon at January 6, 2007 12:12 PM

23. It's a problem because Driver's Ed is supposed to be about teaching people to drive. Simple as that. And it's clearly not working well enough already, witness:* People have no idea how to merge onto highways (hint -- coming to a full stop at the end of the on ramp is not this answer)* People have no idea what to do when coming to a streetlight when the power is out (hint -- it's like an all-way stop)* People have no idea what the left lane of the highway is for (hint -- it's not to drive at the same f'ing speed as the people in the middle and right lanes)Etc., etc., etc.
Posted by Me at January 6, 2007 12:14 PM

24. Transportation alternatives education sounds like an excellent idea. Seattle and MLKCo can fund the Find out About Rapid Transit program. F.A.R.T.counselors and their project will be deemed new, challenging, world-class by Nickels and Sims. Funding for this new project will assuredly be found in existing budgets. Heck, we can always vote for a special tax or levy to pay for necessities the F.A.R.T. program budget absorbs. Greg just did something like that by funding a new compliance officer to ensure prevailing wages are paid in building new tenements, sorry, make that housing for the "chronically homeless."
And don't forget, F.A.R.T. counselors will have to be diverse. Not a single language or sub-dialect can go ignored. We can never allow any F.A.R.T. graduate not being told in their own language or dialect the dire consequences if they jump from a moving bus while it's on the Aurora Bridge. Failure to teach such vital information to the unknowing masses would be mean-spirited and culturally insensitive.
Posted by Tyler Durden at January 6, 2007 12:15 PM

25. Oh, and I have some hard news for the Utopian Leftists that value mass transit. Autos are not going away any time soon. And in fact, no matter how hard the left tries to erase autos from our lives, they will grow in number.
How do I know this? Because technology always marches forward. As more and more Asian companies figure how to make cars better and cheaper, there will only be more options and lower prices. Cars will become like calculators, expensive and novel at first, and then so ubiquitous they are almost disposable. Wait, what about gasoline you say? Again, technology marches forward. Someone soon will come up with very useable ways to tap hydrogen, or an even better energy source. Once that happens, cars will really become ubiquitous. Imagine vehicles that are one tenth of the cost they are today to own, fuel and operate. They are coming. And sooner than you think.
Very few would not choose an automobile for the sheer convenience if it was incredibly cheap to own and operate, and technology all but guarantees that fact.
The automobile represents the freedom and American individualist spirit (like being stuck in rush hour for 90 minutes). It allows us to go where we want(eventually), when we want and to rearrange our schedules as individuals. Trains, while useful in extremely high density areas, are not preferable for most people. Whether the Utopians want to acknowledge it or not, the Puget Sound is nowhere near the density that will cause people to abandon cars, even if the Utopians use the blunt club of government to try and force people out of cars, technology will do an end-run around. (How do buses and trains prevent people from driving their cars. You are trying to force me to use a car by denying this city another transportation choice. You are the controlling idiot fascist, not me.)
Posted by Jeff B. at January 6, 2007 12:26 PM

26. headless...We know it's hard to accept that a fellow lib (Feit) was actually MAKING SENSE, but you're going to have to digest it, anyway. And we know that you believe that you and most of your leftist friends are the only ones out there who think for themselves, and that you believe that everyone else only says what they are told to believe and say. We get that you actually believe that (you just told us). But dearie, you COULD be wrong about that assumption. Just giving you some food for thought.
Posted by Misty at January 6, 2007 12:44 PM
27. Btw, headless, do you own a car?
Posted by Misty at January 6, 2007 12:47 PM
28. ..and headless (unwittingly) illustates Feit's "nagging" point amazingly well.
Posted by Misty at January 6, 2007 01:03 PM
29. lucy,
How be we also teach the real (subsidized) cost of transportation?
Are we going to teach them how government is pushing bio-diesel and at the same time banning new passenger cars and light trucks with diesel engines.
Are we going to teach them the transportation shell game, where money is allocated for "transportation" but the project pays sales taxes diverting money to the general fund.
I can see your transportation education curriculum now:Cars are bad and contribute to global warming.If you drive a car by yourself you are selfish and raping the planet, supporting big oil and terrorists.Light rail is good, and the cost over runs where necessary so the stations could have art work done by disabled minorities.Then you'd had out bus passes paid for by a new tax increase.
Posted by JCM at January 6, 2007 01:04 PM

30. Everything I say and do is done wittingly. Except for the time I wore a thong to the beach.
Posted by headless lucy at January 6, 2007 01:11 PM

31. My point is that you closed-minded wingnuts say on the one hand that the schools aren't so much as teaching kids how to balance a checkbook, but they are smart enough to figure out the bus syatem for themselves.
The bus system is relatively complex. It's no picnic finding your way back from the HOOTER's near Greenlake to my posh condo in Bellevue. I could just have easily taken my SUV --- but would that have been the socially responsible thing to do?
Posted by headless lucy at January 6, 2007 01:17 PM
32. Headless in a thong is like Nichols in a speedo.wittingly, unwittingly thats just wrong.
Posted by Huh? at January 6, 2007 01:40 PM

33. Wow, a Hooters girl that pays for her posh condo and SUV while being headless? What is your specialty then?
Posted by krm at January 6, 2007 02:12 PM

34. There's a Hooters near Greenlake?
Posted by Bill Cruchon at January 6, 2007 02:24 PM

35. Note Headless Lucy's fundamentally false assumption, that resources are limited. Resources are a function of technology. What we need today is not what we will need tomorrow. As we run out of any one resource (unlikely as most are essentially limitless) there will always be new and better technology to utilize other resources. I'm looking forward to the hydrogen economy mostly because it's going to be awfully hard for leftists to argue that we will soon run out of water. But believe you me, they will try.
Posted by Jeff B. at January 6, 2007 02:56 PM

Post a comment: So, according to the idiot above, the liberals’ basic mistake is assuming that resources are finite!!!!!!! Unbelievable… Headles Lucy

und Politics
Comment on Entry: Where all the children are above average disabled, authored by Stefan Sharkansky
1. Wow. If this isn't a fantastic example of today's Marxist class warfare, I don't know what is.
This is essentially, pick your own victim card. It doesn't even have to have any outward qualities. You just pick a card, and you automatically qualify as a minority class that can use today's politically correct multiculturalism as class warfare leverage.
Posted by Jeff B. at January 6, 2007 12:33 PM

2. Actually it is worse. The Marx quote at least addressed the substantive "ability" of a person. The proposed law suggests that a disabiluty exists based on perception.
Posted by James at January 6, 2007 12:42 PM

3. Look for more "emotional support dogs" doing their thing in the aisles of your local grocery store or an eatery near you.
Posted by Tyler Durdan at January 6, 2007 12:43 PM

4. I can hear it now: "We aren't communists, we're progressives".
Posted by Bill Cruchon at January 6, 2007 12:45 PM

5. After reading the definition, I think we may all be disabled. Where do we line up for our SSI checks?
Posted by Organization Man at January 6, 2007 01:01 PM

6. The amount of funding schools receive for special ed students exceeds that for mainstream students. This is just a money grab. However, the extra funding will certainly not benefit special ed students. It doesn't all now, and it won't if it increases. Too much of the money goes to administration and never makes it into the special ed classroom. This is just another blank check for the school districts.
Posted by katomar at January 6, 2007 01:21 PM

7. Wingnuts are always claiming to be victims. Now you are claiming that victims are victimizing you.
Look at it this way. If everyone in public school has a disability, we can easily live up to the UNFUNDED MANDATES of the humorously named, "No child left behind" initiative.
Now, that's not so dumb, is it?
Posted by headless lucy at January 6, 2007 01:23 PM

8. While as a practical matter there may be more immediately critical problems that need to be addressed with the way our State government operates (or NOT, as the case may be), I can't think of anything that has come across the net for a LONG time that better encapsulates the ultimate left-wing big-government socialist perspective than this item:
If you THINK you are ''disadvantaged'' or disabled, YOU ARE !!.. **AND**:You are entitled to ''appropriate'' COMPENSATION (to be determined no doubt by yet another massive and inefficient state bureaucracy).
I wonder how far down the radical socialist road we will get before hoi polloi wake up. It better be soon, or China and India are going to eat our lunch in goods and services AND in general academic excellence, even more than they are already doing now (some people have suggested they are already having dessert).
Isn't it ironic that at least economically China ''gets it'', and they are a country that is still nominally run by a communist government (ruthlessly authoritarian and undemocratic, but not really communist as far as most things economic anymore (but that's another thread) ). Meanwhile, there seems to be no limit to how far into left-wing deep-space orbit the starey-eyed ''progressives'' want to take this country.
And ditto what everyone said @ 1-5 above.
Posted by Methow Ken at January 6, 2007 01:27 PM

9. I guess Teddy K must have been "disabled" when he help to write and co-sponsored the "No child left behind act". Soon only the headless lucy's of the world will be left behind.
Posted by Smokie at January 6, 2007 01:30 PM

10. The Chinese are losing jobs to the Vietnamese because they work even cheaper.
Put on your thinking cap. Where will that leave China and India in 20 years.
Africa will be the last bastion of cheap-labor conservatism.
Posted by headless lucy at January 6, 2007 01:34 PM

11. Even fully-certified moon-bats like ''headless lucy'' can occasionally remind one of an omission:I'm reminded that I forgot ''victim'' in my above @ 8. So what I SHOULD have said was:
''If you THINK you are ''disadvantaged'' or disabled or a victim, YOU ARE !!..
That should just about cover everything for even the most radical leftie.
Posted by Methow Ken at January 6, 2007 01:54 PM
12. lucy at #7, "Wingnuts are always claiming to be victims."
Some examples please.
Posted by Bill Cruchon at January 6, 2007 01:58 PM

13. If this definition is approved, the biggest losers will be those who are truly disabled, as there will be less public funds available to assist them, as it will have to be distributed among more people who just think they have a disability.
Posted by Ralph N at January 6, 2007 01:58 PM

14. And lefties get mad when we accuse them of fostering a culture of dependency. I wonder where we got that idea?
Posted by Bill Cruchon at January 6, 2007 02:15 PM

15. At least Headless Lucy has a true disability.
Posted by Rey Smith at January 6, 2007 02:16 PM

16. My disability is that I am unable to find anything rational in the comments from Headless Lucy. I want immediate state protection and full benefits.
Seriously, folks like Headless Lucy always assume that the world has finite limitations. Global Warming will kill us all. We are going to run out of oil. There will be no more cheap labor, etc. That's the hallmark of the left, they don't believe in the fundamental goodness of humanity. They never want to let man use his ingenuity to solve problems, or assume that new technology will change our needs, because that would remove the false justification for more government.
Posted by Jeff B. at January 6, 2007 02:50

By this time, I had once again been BANNED from commenting. This is what happened to the last comment I tried to post:

Sound PoliticsComment Submission ErrorYour comment submission failed for the following reasons:You are not allowed to post comments.Please correct the error in the form below, then press Post to post your comment.Name:Email Address:URL:Comments:You wingnuts have your brains encased in half-baked ideology that you can neither understand nor adequately explain -- so you wingnuts start in with the namecalling.

Wingnut Freedom of Speech

2007-01-06T14:15:00.000-08:00

Sound Politics
Comment Submission Error
Your comment submission failed for the following reasons:You are not allowed to post comments.Please correct the error in the form below, then press Post to post your comment.
Name:Email Address:URL:Comments:You wingnuts have your brains encased in half-baked ideology that you can neither understand nor adequately explain -- so you wingnuts start in with the namecalling.

Wingnuttery this evening

2007-01-05T20:39:00.000-08:00

1- anti-liberal says:
speaking of “freedom hating, terrorist sympathizers” le’s talk about the peHOsi:
Voted NO on federalizing rules for driver licenses to hinder terrorists. (Feb 2005)Voted NO on continuing military recruitment on college campuses. (Feb 2005)Voted NO on adopting the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. (Oct 2004)Voted NO on permitting commercial airline pilots to carry guns. (Jul 2002)Voted NO on deploying SDI. (Mar 1999)
Nancy Pelosi is an Embarrassment to Women
Grandma needs to go back to baking cookies and stay out of military decisions.
Grandma Nancy and Harry Reid have a letter to the president which I sincerely hope the president gives it the consideration it deserves……. by throwing it into the nearest trashcan where it belongs.
I would not have a problem with the Democrats such as Nancy and Harry, if they actually had any “ideas” to win the fight on terror, but they do not, so they should shut up because they make themselves sound like the defeatists they are.
Quotes from the letter:
“We want to do everything we can to help Iraq succeed in the future but, like many of our senior military leaders, we do not believe that adding more U.S. combat troops contributes to success. They, like us, believe there is no purely military solution in Iraq. There is only a political solution.”
“Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no strategic gain.”
“Rather than deploy additional forces to Iraq, we believe the way forward is to begin the phased redeployment of our forces in the next four to six months, while shifting the principal mission of our forces there from combat to training, logistics, force protection and counter-terror.”
In other words: Surrender Iraq to al-Qaeda and Iran…NOW!!!!!!!
That is not an idea, that is a white flag to tell al-Qaeda and Iran, we have no spine, we have no honor and we have no courage. It also lets them know that if a fight gets too hard and costs money, we are too yellow bellied to finish what we have started.
Notice the Pelosi vote on adopting the 9/11 Commission recommendations that I bolded above, she voted NO, yet in this press release here, it says:
“That’s why my colleagues and I sent a letter to Speaker Hastert the other day to say, that in honor to commemorate 9/11, we must immediately pass the 9/11 Commission recommendations. It’s urgent and the suggestions are well-founded, based on a factual assessment of risk and the prospect of their success.
Not only is she incapable of understanding the concerns and the ramifications of losing the war on terror, according to their OWN press release, they are LIARS also. If Pelosi is so concerned about adopting the 9/11 Commission recommendations, why did she vote NO in 2004 to adopting those recommendations?
Her voting record alone makes it clear she has no understanding nor concern whatsoever about the security of our country as well as showing herself to be anti-military. This is a woman that should have stayed home and baked cookies because she doesn’t have the spine to help assure us that our country will not be hit again as it was on 9/11. She learned nothing from 9/11, which is the scariest thing of all.
Anybody that votes no to every single measure that is put before them that deals with protecting America, obviously has no clue on HOW to protect America, or worse yet, doesn’t care.
Mark The Redneck KENNEDY says:
I have a question for you moonbats:
1) Who is NOT the Commander In Chief?
2) Who is NOT the newly elected President?
01/05/2007 at 5:57 pm

Mark The Redneck KENNEDY says:
hey whl… where the fuck is it in The Constitution that gives fed gummint any fucking say whatsoever on employee wages and benefits?
It’s frustrating to recognize that the people of moonbatistan don’t know civics well enough to understand how the legislative process works—
Dumshit…
01/05/2007 at 5:59 pm

Mark The Redneck KENNEDY says:
I’m doing some research for a white paper. I need some data….
Can somebody here provide an example of a successful vaginocracy? Just tell me what country and when. I’ll take it from there.
Thanks…
01/05/2007 at 6:28 pm

Mark The Redneck KENNEDY says:
Israel a vaginocracy? Hardly…
dumshit..
01/05/2007 at 8:16 pm

Wingnutter opinions on swearing in on the koran:

2007-01-05T14:13:00.000-08:00

1- righton says:
Libs; some variant of the old adage about capitalists…you’d sell the rope used to hang you..
in this case…
You hate bush so bad, you bend over backwards to embrace the Muslims; wtf? this guy might be ok, and formerly it was largely benign in teh West. But its radicalized now, what w/ rich disaffected Saudis plus the political angle its taken on
I really don’t get why you all embrace these guys so much. They hate everything libs stand for (freedom, lax morality, gay rights, female voting/power, etc).
01/05/2007 at 6:55 am

2- Yossarian says:
Rujax!
Go fuck yourself, you ignorant asshole. I’m correct about the 2000 and 2004 elections, and I’m correct about the 1992 election: Perot was the spoiler.
Now, kindly shut the fuck up.
01/05/2007 at 12:11 pm

Military Contractors Lose Their "Get Out of Jail" Card

2007-01-05T13:57:00.000-08:00

Five years into the war on terror, American military contractors have finally lost some of their immunity from prosecution for dirty deeds done on the federal dime. In a post over on DefenseTech, the Brookings Institution's Peter Singer reports on a quiet insertion into the 2007 Pentagon budget that means "contractors' 'get out of jail free' card may have been torn to shreds." Basically, contractors are now subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which means they can be court martialed:
This means that if contractors violate the rules of engagement in a warzone or commit crimes during a contingency operation like Iraq, they can now be court-martialed (as in, Corporate Warriors, meet A Few Good Men). On face value, this appears to be a step forward for realistic accountability. Military contractor conduct can now be checked by the military investigation and court system, which unlike civilian courts, is actually ready and able both to understand the peculiarities of life and work in a warzone and kick into action when things go wrong.

Wingnut commentary on----Topic: What do you think about Democratic poiticians' attitudes on Iraq?

2007-01-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

1- Democrats go for emotion. The cause and effect of their actions are beyond their capability to think. So what will be next(?) d(D)ismantal (sic) the military to help pay for social programs that in the long run destroy the structure of our society. (?)One thing Democrats will never learn.(:) Personal Responsibility. Some understand it but they let emotions guide their thinking. (Unlike the author)
Posted by David Anfinrud at January 5, 2007 07:39 AM

2- Seriously(,) Eric, there's not a lot of thinking going on anywhere in the Democrat(ic) p(P)arty. These people are filled with emotion and the false sense of authority of their collectivist groupthink. Rational argument is out of the question, as anyone who does not agree wholeheartedly with their positions is labeled (as what?) and shunned.
I keep reading the assumption that there are "serious Democrats" out there. With leadership like Pelosi, is that really true? I think the country divides more into two classes. Sane and Insane. On the sane side, we have a semblance of moderates that may vote Democrat or Republican, but who are close to the center. On the insane side, sure there are some right wing wackos, but the vast majority of the insane are today's progressives and others who make up the extreme left. And they represent a large part of the "Democrat" camp.
Watching these folks try to lead is going to be good entertainment, but certainly not reality based.
Posted by Jeff B. at January 5, 2007 08:46 AM

WINGNUT COMMENTARY

2007-01-04T20:26:00.000-08:00

ConservativeFirst says:
proud leftist says:
cf @ 30Constitutionally speaking, the difference between “exigent” and “probable cause” is quite significant. Exigent always implies urgency, that time is a-wastin’. Probable cause can just mean “Your honor, we have reason to believe that the trunk of this car, which we have impounded, has a gallon of moonshine in it. We have reason to so believe because the passenger told us so. Can we have a warrant to open up the trunk?” See the difference? No urgency in probable cause.
01/04/2007 at 5:47 pm
Thanks for the clarification. I think the term I was looking for was “reasonable suspicion” rather than probable cause.
So the analogy to your example would be, the police stop a person for traffic violation and the odor of moonshine is eminating from the trunk. So the police officer has reasonable suspicion that there is moonshine in the trunk so the trunk is searched and moonshine seized. The evidence is admissible since there was reasonable suspicion to search the trunk. While there’s no urgency, there’s an immediate search and seizure with no warrant required.
Like I said before, on the surface this seems like an attempt to abridge people’s rights, but after reading the article, I don’t see that as likely. Seems like more left wing Bush paranoia to me.
01/04/2007 at 7:41 pm

Right Stuff says:
Oil is down again today…Must be that vast right wing conspiracy trying to influence the electorate with lower gas prices near the election…..or could it really be supply and demand.
Will the Dem congress stop funding Iraq? exactly as they did with Vietnam?
Bet not….sorry anti-war wing…your team is going to “stay the course” by keeping things going in Iraq.
Turns out we now have proof of Iran meddling in Iraq.Will congress have the stones to take care of the 21st century Hitler? we’ll see
01/04/2007 at 5:03 pm

Mike Webb SUCKS says:
Mike Webb SUCKS Poll:
Nancy Pelosi will:
1) Use her femininity to wow the good old boys in the Moonbat! Libtard Party.2) Give us Hillary Care.3) Bring shame to America.4) Undo Tax Cuts.5) Save the children from the evil Republicans.6) Elevate John Murtha to a “new position”.7) Will Cut-N-Run in Iraq. For reference if you go back and look at John Murtha, he was the same guy who told Clinton to leave Mogadishu. Now what did OBL claim his cuase centered around? OBL himself sighted the Cut-N-Run tactics in Somalia as example that Americans don’t have the stomach or will to tough it out and fight.8) Encourage our enemies. - Remember Investors Business Daily? Didn’t Nancy Pelosi say if we talk nice to the terrorists they’ll Leave? I posted top terrorists words who said she’s delusional!9) Fan the flames of homosexual marriage. - Isn’t she the San Franfreako treat?10) Find William Jefferson a new freezer, one the FBI can’t penetrate11) 1-4, 7-10.12) None of the above. She’ll sit in the chair hitting the gavel for 670 days!
01/04/2007 at 5:28 pm

Mike Webb SUCKS says:
A site for sore eyes of John Murtha lovers: http://www.capmarine.com/perso nal/index.html
01/04/2007 at 5:37 pm

Pastor Ted Haggard: He's not just anybodies butt-buddy!

2006-11-03T15:36:00.000-08:00

Harper’s says, “No pastor in America holds more sway over the political direction of evangelicalism than does Pastor Ted.”

"He graduated from Oral Roberts University in 1978 and has received two honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees. He served as the American Vice-President for World Missions for Jesus, a German missions organization, and served as an Associate Pastor at Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which helped him plant New Life Church in 1985. Haggard and his wife, Gayle, have five children. "

zero-sum games and oil

2006-10-29T22:04:00.000-08:00

Here's the bottom line: Any finite resource is a ZSG. Even an infinite resource has only 100% of marketshare, to be divided amongst competitors. That percentage is also a ZSG.

Let's see how some of these zero sum issues apply to different areas:
>
Markets: are probably the best example of a ZSG. In 2000, the Wishire 5000 was worth $1.2 trillion more than it is today. Some people bought, some people sold. Mark-to-market, there is a loss to the collective buyers from the collective sellers. Its even more specific with individual companies.
I short the SPX to you -- each tick is zero sum -- there's a winner and a loser.
Stocks that always go up and never go down are exempt from this; Please let me know as soon as you find any.
>

service economy that is “post industrial”.

2006-10-29T13:14:00.000-08:00

Productivity is a simple measure based on total output, divided by the number of workers. Since we have a negative return on capital, the more factories we close to raise capacity utilization, and the more factories we move to China, the fewer workers we will need. Therefore, by definition, productivity goes up. So when our Fed Chairman says “everything is all right because productivity is rising and this is good for the economy and good for the “market”, you should stop and think about who Chairman Greenspan is really talking about. As in every downturn in the past 25 years, when manufacturing jobs go, they don’t come back. We are continuing to move to a modern service economy that is “post industrial”.
The real bubble that remains is the Debt Bubble. What ails corporate America is the need to pay down debt. Moreover, there is no need to invest in new equipment until such time as there has been enough corporate restructuring to get capacity utilization back up to 85%. If new investment is going to be undertaken it is then likely to be undertaken where the labor is hard working and cheap, like China. Even service industries are letting workers go. Productivity is rising, but lay-offs are at recession levels. There are no new jobs. Wages in some industries are dropping, benefits are being slashed, and pensions are not going to be there. We have rising productivity, falling incomes, a negative return on cash, and the destruction of financial capital that will continue until enough factories are taken off line and permanently closed. Both physical and financial capital are in surplus and need to be “destroyed” to bring back a positive return to new investment.

Here comes the sun!! link

2006-10-28T07:41:00.001-07:00

Prodigal Sun :
“Solar energy was a rising star in the '70s -- until it was banished by the powers that be. Are we ready for its return?
It was the winter of 1981 and the country was just beginning to feel the sharp edges of the Reagan revolution. Denis Hayes, head of the fledgling Solar Energy Research Institute, was walking through the halls of the Department of Energy when an acquaintance came up to him and said, "Has Frank lowered the boom on you yet?" The Frank in question was an acting assistant secretary, but the boom, it turned out, was falling from the top. President Reagan had once been General Electric's most camera-ready tout, and his administration viewed alternative energy with open scorn. "They're going to kill your study," the gray-suited informant warned Hayes, before slipping down the corridor. “

Here comes the sun!! link

2006-10-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

What Happens When You Tax the Rich? They Flinch...

2006-10-25T20:29:00.000-07:00

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU TAX THE RICH?
EVIDENCE FROM EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Austan Goolsbee
University of Chicago, G.S.B.
and American Bar Foundation
Original Submission: October, 1997
Revision: February, 1999
Abstract
This paper examines the responsiveness of taxable income to changes in marginal tax rates using
detailed compensation data on several thousand corporate executives from 1991 to 1995. The
data confirm that the higher marginal rates of 1993 led to a significant decline in taxable income.
Indeed, this small group of executives can account for as much as 20% of the aggregate change in
wage and salary income for approximately the one million richest taxpayers; one person alone can
account for more than 2%. The decline, however, is almost entirely a short-run shift in the timing
of compensation rather than a permanent reduction in taxable income. The short-run elasticity of
taxable income with respect to the net of tax share exceeds one but the elasticity after one year is
at most 0.4 and probably closer to zero. Breaking out the tax responsiveness of different types of
compensation shows that the large short-run responses come almost entirely from a large increase
in the exercise of stock options by the highest income executives in anticipation of the rate
increases. Executives without stock options, executives with relatively lower incomes, and more
conventional forms of taxable compensation such as salary and bonus show little responsiveness
to tax changes.
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