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The Byre Inn at Brig o Turk
The Byre Inn at Brig o Turk, Brig o’Turk, Callander, FK17 8HT have now been awarded the prestigious Good Food Award for Gastro Pubs 2020. Over the last twelve months we have evaluated customer feedback and this Gastro Pub has demonstrated exceptional levels of food quality, service and value when compared to our industry benchmarks in their category.
In recognition of this achievement they have been duly awarded the 2020 Good Food Award for Gastro Pubs.
The Byre Inn is a Gastro Pub nestled in Brig O’ Turk near Callander. The restaurant is open for food from 12 – 8pm Monday to Saturday and 12 – 6pm on Sundays. We also operate outside of these hours for breakfast and the usual pub hours at night.
Here at the Good Food Awards we like to hear your experiences and preferences so please do click on the reviews tab above and recommend your favourite dishes.
The Byre Inn at Brig o Turk, Brig o’Turk, Callander
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Hoboken budget wars @ 7:00
Yesterday the mayor outlined numerous actions to improve Hoboken’s infrastructure such as a major agreement on the over aged water system and City roadways. For Hoboken, progress comes very hard no matter a unanimous public saying yes because the Old Guard council often can’t stomach a “yes” under the mayor’s leadership.
Hoboken’s budget is up for introduction with other related items such as line item transfers. The latter have often led to hours of battles to the bitter death in an attempt to create an opportunity for a tax increase. Even in the face of outright sabotage the mayor managed double digit tax decreases.
Other NJ municipalities take ten minutes to move these routine financial matters along but here it’s an opportunity to try to crash and burn the City. It’s okay to burn the taxpayer who is viewed as the mayor’s base.
There’s much gnashing of teeth to this day how the plan to bankrupt the hospital failed by the Old Guard. Councilwoman Terry Castellano saw someone pen a letter complaining about the tax levy to the local hospital after the reval. While the question is clearly germane, her consistent antipathy for the hospital being saved in late 2011 is obviously something she can’t get out of her craw.
And so it goes…
Also up for a vote is legal funding to take on the proposed Monarch buildings on the pier uptown. Ironstate, re: Applied Housing is suing to completely renege on an earlier constructions deal where they promised in lieu of approvals building apartments, the pier location would see tennis courts. Now they’re uninterested and want apartment towers not tennis and Hoboken is fighting it with legislation it approved following the State legislation last year permitting municipalities to block building on piers. There’s more than tennis at stake here – there’s millions of dollars in more profits!
None of this should be happening but it is. Why doesn’t someone just ask Councilwoman Beth Mason to call her friends at Applied Housing and stop the problem? Well Applied Management backed Mason’s 2011 campaign, a race where she spent in the area of $200,000 but netting less votes than her previous run.
Do you need to be told how that works and why Beth Mason ignored residents concerns when they contacted her upon hearing about the Monarch project?
There’s a little sunshine in your Sunshine Week. Speaking of which who is going to ask Beth Mason for an explanation why she and her husband Richard Mason of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz are facing MILLIONS IN FINES for HUNDREDS of CAMPAIGN VIOLATIONS?
One member of the public raised the issue before the full scope of the problem was documented two weeks ago.
Bueller? Bueller? To this day, there’s been no explanation from the Queen of self-anointed Transparency Beth Mason.
Is no one going to ask until the Mason family takes the State record for biggest ELEC fines in New Jersey history?


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Eduard 1/32 F4U-1 Corsair Exterior Detail Set First Look
|Date of Review||May 2015||Manufacturer||Eduard|
|Subject||F4U-1 Corsair Exterior Detail Set||Scale||1/32|
|Pros||Adds nice details to the Tamiya kit||Cons||You have to build your own restraints|
|Skill Level||Intermediate||MSRP (USD)||$27.00|
As you know, Eduard produces a wide range of aftermarket detail sets for aircraft, armor, and ship kits. When a new and noteworthy kit is released, Eduard will usually follow within a few months with one or more detail sets to enhance that kit. When Tamiya released its 1/32 F4U-1 Corsair kit, Eduard soon followed with several detail sets. With the release of Tamiya's 1/32 F4U-1A Corsair, of course Eduard brought addressed this kit as well. Here is Eduard's F4U-1 exterior detail set, let's take a closer look:
This set consists of one fret of photo-etched parts which provides parts for a few area's of Tamiya's kit (which is beautifully detailed out of the box). These include caps for the visible ends of the landing flaps, detailed surfaces for inside the wheel well walls, detailed surfaces and plumbing inside the wing folds, oleo scissor replacements for the main gear struts, fuse details for the bombs, etc.
This is another nice enhancement that will be easy to install in the Tamiya kit and help add additional fidelity to that nice kit. Using this set with the other releases from Eduard will raise the level of detail in this kit to a higher level.
My sincere thanks to Eduard for this review sample!

domain: design


Each year, hundreds of new models of hard drives are manufactured, each from a different company with different designs. This also means hundreds of new points of failure that our data recovery engineers need to be prepared for. Thanks to ongoing research and development into data recovery techniques, our engineers are experts in hard drive data recovery, whether from desktops, laptops or external and portable hard drives.
For all of symptons you need Spyware Virus Removal service at our store.
1. My computer speaks to me: There are all types of pop-ups and messages on the desktop either advertising things, saying that the PC is infected and needs protection… This is a typical, surefire case of an infection. There is either spyware on the computer, or it has been infected by a fake antivirus (also called “rogue ware”).


Tehran Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi slammed the newly-imposed sanctions against Iran, highlighting that the country will never give in to US’ unilateral measures.
“Iran will not surrender with such sanctions and pressures,” he said on Wednesday in an interview with IRIB, refereeing to recent sanctions imposed by US on some Iranian tankers.
“Sanctions that are being announced by American officials are the same as previous ones,” he said, noting that American officials are just re-announcing the sanctions.
He recommended Washington to abandon these “illegal and unilateral” measures.
“America’s unilateral sanctions are more against its own allies and world trade than against Iran,” he said, stressing that such embargo have no international support.
The world should wake up and stand against extra-territorial measures of the United States, he highlighted.
Elsewhere in the interview, Mousavi said that due to the COVID-19 outbreak, most of the diplomatic travels have been canceled while meetings are held via video-conferencing. Some of the visits, such as FM Zarif’s trip to Syria, or Foreign Ministry’s officials to Afghanistan, were realized due to their necessity, he added.
“If the conditions are right, Foreign Minister will travel to two neighboring countries for holding talks; the details of visits will be announced after finalization,” he said.


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|Fall Story Time|
Event Type: Story Time|
Age Group(s): Pre-schoolers
Date: 9/21/2021, 9/28/2021, 10/5/2021, 10/12/2021, 10/19/2021, 10/26/2021, 11/2/2021, 11/9/2021, 11/16/2021, 11/23/2021, 11/30/2021, 12/7/2021, 12/14/2021
Start Time: 11:00 AM
End Time: 11:30 AM
Join us for stories, song, and fun! Books are geared towards 3-6 year olds but younger and older friends are welcome! Limit 20 children per session. Register online at griver.org/events. Check at the Children's Help Desk for location info.Library: Great River Regional Library - Saint Cloud Map
Registration Ends: 12/14/2021 at 12:00 AM
Status: Waiting List
In accordance with Minnesota Statute 13.40 Subd. 2. all Great River Regional Library circulation and other records which indicate the identity of library users, especially as they connect library users with materials or services used, are confidential. This confidentiality extends to information sought or borrowed, database search records, Internet sites, reference interviews, circulation records, registration records (except name), and all other personally identifiable uses of library materials, facilties or services. A library may release reserved materials to a family member or other person who resides with a library patron and who is picking up the material on behalf of the patron. A patron may request that reserved materials be released only to the patron.
Contact information you provide here is protected under Minnesota Data Practices statutes. Providing this information is strictly voluntary and will be used only for the specific GRRL program or service advertised. It will be available only to authorized library personnel.

domain: library


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Arthur Saves the Planet: The Boardgame
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In Arthur Saves the Planet: One Step at a Time, Arthur and his friends & family work together to solve environmental issues threatening his hometown of Elwood City. From littered beaches to endangered tree frogs, from deforested parks to wasted water, the team has its work cut out for it. And ANYONE can help! Pick an Arthur character and collect colored resource cards representing time, expertise, friends, effort and advice. Use these wisely to solve the many challenge cards and, in return, receive tree seeds to help restore Elwood City back to its natural beauty!
Arthur Saves the Planet provides a unique and challenging design for children to actually experience the joys of strategic gaming with their parents and friends! Players aged 4 and up must decide whether to move their character to a specific location on the board, or collect another resource card. Never leave your house and you won’t solve any problems, but if you don’t take time to collect resources, such as helpful friends and expert advice, then you’ll never find the right solutions!
Inside the box you'll find two sets of rules. A simpler, co-operative game for Arthur fans ages 4+, and a competitive game for 2-5 players ages 6+.
Arthur Saves the Planet is endorsed by PBS Kids! The PBS KIDS logo is a registered mark of PBS and is used with permission.
- 1 board
- 8 player markers
- 8 character cards
- 20 challenge/solution tiles
- 102 resource cards
- 60 tree point markers
- 1 time marker
- rules booklet

domain: game


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- Real Estate
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AND THEN... SHE DID! by Cat Bernardi (With Wit and Whimsy). At Kidsfest at the George Ignatieff Theatre. July 10.
AND THEN… SHE DID! by Cat Bernardi (With Wit and Whimsy). At Kidsfest at the George Ignatieff Theatre. July 10 at 10 am, July 11 at 3 pm, July 13 at 11:30 am, July 15 at 10 am. See listing. Rating: NNNN
And Then… She Did! may have too vague a title but it is a charming musical, well written and well performed.
It follows Molly (Brianne Kelsick) and her friends from kindergarten to Molly’s 10th birthday. When asked in each grade what she wants to be, Molly consistently says A fairy godmother. Cat Bernardi subtly shows how, as time goes by, what seemed a cute response starts to mark Molly as peculiar. Yet Molly wants to see her friends do well and becomes renowned for her good advice.
Bernardis musical is a gem. Her book is clever, her lyrics inventive and her music covers a wide variety of styles and moods. All six cast members are strong singers, actors and dancers and Kelsick with Tess Barao as her best friend radiate natural enthusiasm.
The main problem is not the show but how it’s been promoted. Its stated age suitability is 5 to 12, but a child would have to be at least 8 to understand what is happening.
The plot summary in the Fringe program only mentions a girl wanting to be a fairy godmother. This will likely lead parents to think the show is a fairy tale when, in fact, fantasy and the supernatural make no appearance.
Yet even though the show presents more of an adults view of what is important to children, Bernardi is clearly so talented that I’m keen to see what she does next.>

domain: artistic


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“The Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.”
ONE OF THE WIDESPREAD blights upon the religious thinking of the world is fear. Fear darkens the mind and hinders one from attaining a knowledge of the true God of love revealed to us in the Bible. Almost universally fear is employed by the proponents of religion as a means of making converts and as a motive for belief and righteous living. Our opening text emphasizes that this is wrong, that fear toward God is induced by the precepts of men, and by those who, in their hearts, come far short of knowing the true God of the Bible, and of worshiping him in spirit and in truth.
One of the traditions of men which has contributed greatly to this unholy fear in the professed Christian world is the false teaching that the divine penalty for sin is eternal torment. This tradition teaches that those who die without accepting Christ are doomed to this fate, where they will have to suffer throughout the endless ages of eternity. Thinking minds revolt at the very thought of this teaching, yet it is still believed by millions, and they insist that it is taught in the Bible. People who themselves are kind, sympathetic and forgiving, and who would give their lives to prevent their own children from being tortured, regardless of how wayward they might be, do not hesitate to teach that the God of all mercy and love will consign to torment billions of his creatures forever in the most excruciating fashion.
Most supporters of the eternal torment “precept” are sincere in their belief that it is taught in the Bible. Therefore, let us examine the Word of God in order to ascertain what its testimony really is concerning the divine penalty for sin. The proper place to begin this examination is in the Book of Genesis, with its record of the creation and fall of man. We can be assured that whatever God there stated to be the penalty for transgressing his law has never been changed, for he is the same yesterday, today and forever.—Num. 23:19; Mal. 3:6; James 1:17
The first mention we have in the Bible of punishment for sin is in Genesis 2:16,17. This passage reads, “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Young’s Literal Translation reads, “dying thou dost die,” meaning that if Adam disobeyed, the dying process would immediately begin, and he would finally succumb and return to the dust from which he was taken.
God explained very clearly what the penalty for sin would be, and there seems no good reason for misunderstanding his words. However, this is exactly what has happened, and various false teachings have resulted. Death, it is claimed, does not mean death as we know it, but eternal separation from God in a state of constant torment, often including the thought of literal fire and brimstone. By attaching these false meanings to the word death, the entire testimony of the Bible on this subject becomes confused and distorted.
For example, when a person is convinced that death means torment, Paul’s statement in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death,” means that “the wages of sin is torment.” When the apostle added that “the gift of God is eternal life,” it means that the gift of God is escape from eternal torment. According to this distorted viewpoint there is no actual death. All must live eternally regardless of belief or unbelief, the difference being that the believer lives in heaven and the unbeliever in a hell of torment.
ORIGIN OF ERROR
The question naturally arises as to how such a misconception of plain words came about. The origin of this false tradition was in the Garden of Eden. While God said plainly to father Adam, “Thou shalt surely die,” the serpent, “which is the Devil, and Satan,” later said to mother Eve, “Ye shalt not surely die.” (Rev. 20:2; Gen. 3:4) Here was a denial of God’s truth, a lie that has been responsible for many of the false teachings in the world from that day until now.
We are not told what Satan may have had in mind when he thus charged God with a falsehood. He may have imagined that he could thwart the divine purpose of inflicting the death penalty. If so, when he discovered that the human race was actually dying, he began his campaign of deception. This has seduced practically the whole world into believing that death is not what it really is, that actually there is no real cessation of life—“Ye shall not surely die.”
Just as in ordinary human relations one lie leads to another, so it is in the realm of religion. Since it was claimed that death was not death, but merely the entrance into another state of eternal consciousness, a place of torment had to be conceived for the wicked. Thus the creed-makers allowed their imaginations to work very freely, deciding that God would surely want to eternally punish unbelievers.
We thank God, however, that this is not the teaching of the Bible. It is a “precept of men” by which those possessing zeal without knowledge have endeavored to frighten unbelievers into repentance. Indeed, the Scriptures do teach that there is a hell, but the hell of the Bible is not eternal torment, but the state of death. Hence, the united testimony of God’s Word is that “the wages of sin is death.”—Rom. 6:23
HELL IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
The original manuscripts of the Old Testament were written in the Hebrew language, and in them there is only one word which is translated “hell.” It is the Hebrew word sheol, which appears sixty-five times in the Old Testament, but it is not always translated “hell.” In the King James Version, it is rendered “grave” thirty-one times, and “pit” three times. In Young’s Literal Translation, sheol is left untranslated, always appearing in its Hebrew form.
How does the Bible define the Hebrew word sheol? Ecclesiastes 9:10 reads, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave [sheol], whither thou goest.” Here are the words of the wise man, Solomon, one who wrote under the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, and he informs us that there is no work, knowledge nor wisdom in sheol. If language has any significance at all, this explanation means that sheol, the only “hell” of the Old Testament, is a state of complete unconsciousness.
The man Job evidently understood the matter in the same way. When he was suffering physical pain from head to foot, and being mentally tormented by his supposed comforters, who instead were accusing him falsely of gross sin, Job asked God to let him die and go to sheol where he could be at rest. Job said to God, “O that thou wouldest hide me in sheol, that thou wouldest keep me in secret, until thy wrath be past.”—Job 14:13
According to tradition, hell is a place where God visits his wrath upon sinners by means of cruel torment. Here in the Bible, however, we find a righteous servant of God asking that he be allowed to die and go to the Bible hell—sheol—in order to escape God’s wrath. How terribly the traditions of men have distorted the truth of the Word of God.
The “wrath” of God mentioned here by Job is the penalty of death which rests upon the whole world of mankind. Incident to the carrying out of this penalty there is much suffering, and Job wanted to fall asleep in death until the time came in the plan of God when the penalty would be removed. He knew that in sheol, the Bible hell, there would be no pain.
The Hebrew word sheol is again used in Psalm 16:10. This is a prophecy of the death and resurrection of Jesus, in which we are assured that Jesus’ soul would not be left “in hell,”—sheol. On the Day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter quoted this prophecy, and in his quotation used the Greek word hades to translate the Hebrew word sheol. (Acts 2:25-28) From this we know that these two words have the same meaning.
Hades is the Greek word most frequently translated hell in the New Testament. It is used in Revelation 1:18, where Jesus informs us that he has “the keys of hell”—hades. It is also the Greek word used by Jesus when he spoke of “the gates of hell” which would not prevail against the church. (Matt. 16:18) Hades is used in Revelation 20:13, where we are informed that “hell” will give up its dead. In verse 14 of this same chapter we are assured that hell—hades—is to be destroyed, that it will be “cast into the lake of fire, … the second death.” Tradition would have us believe that the lake of fire is hell, but according to this text, hell is destroyed in the “lake of fire,” fire being used here to symbolize destruction.
THE RICH MAN IN HELL
In Luke 16:19-31, we have Jesus’ parable of the rich man and lazarus, in which the Greek word hades is again used. We are told in the parable that the rich man died, and that in hades he lifted “up his eyes, being in torments.” The advocates of the torment tradition have seized upon this to prove their point. They insist that this is not a parable, but a literal statement of facts. However, the only thing in the parable they actually believe literally is the word “torments.”
The torment tradition is associated with the belief that the righteous go to heaven when they die and the wicked go to hell. However, upon examining the parable, it does not say that the rich man was wicked. No advocate of the torment belief concludes that a person will be tormented forever simply because he was rich when he died, yet the parable says nothing more about this rich man than that he “fared sumptuously every day” and allowed beggars to eat the crumbs which fell from his table.
Similarly, the parable does not teach that the righteous go to heaven when they die. The beggar is not said to be righteous. No advocate of the eternal torment tradition believes that being a beggar automatically qualifies one for an eternity of bliss in heaven.
The parable, in fact, does not say that the beggar went to heaven. Instead, it declares that he was “carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom.” We doubt if there has ever been an advocate of the torment theory who believed that at death a person is transported by angels into Abraham’s bosom. Indeed, it could not be true, for Abraham’s bosom decayed and returned to the dust thousands of years ago.
Additionally, no one has ever suggested that throughout the centuries there have been rich men in torment asking beggars in Abraham’s bosom to send them a drop of water to cool their tongues. These details are not interpreted in a literal way by even the most ardent teachers of the torment theory. This parable is seized upon to teach this God-dishonoring tradition for the sole reason that it contains the word “torment.” In order to make use of it in this way, it is taken completely out of its setting and given a meaning which Jesus never intended, nor taught.
We will not here discuss the meaning of all the details of this wonderful parable, referring the reader instead to our booklet, The Truth About Hell, a free copy of which will be sent to anyone who requests it. In brief, however, we understand that the rich man of this parable is symbolic of the Jewish nation, the riches of which consisted of the favors and blessings of God. The beggar, on the other hand, symbolized the Gentiles, who up until the time of Jesus did not enjoy the favor of God, although many were glad to partake of some of the “crumbs” of favor that fell from the rich man’s “table.”—Matt. 15:22-28
Shortly after Jesus uttered this parable, both of these symbolic men “died” to the position which they then occupied. Calamity came upon the Jewish polity, and the nation, as such, was destroyed. The position of the Gentiles also changed. No longer were the riches of God’s favor withheld from them. Dying to this unfavorable situation, they were carried to Abraham’s bosom. That is, they had the privilege by faith of becoming the children of Abraham, and of inheriting the promises which God made to him.—Acts 26:17,18; Gal. 3:13,14,28,29
With the change of Israel’s status, these natural descendants of Abraham, formerly “rich,” became a persecuted people. Throughout the centuries since, the fires of hatred and persecution have raged unremittingly around them. While in hades, and therefore dead as a nation, as individuals they have suffered much, and time and again have appealed to the favored Gentiles for help, but mostly with little or no result.
This fire of persecution was foretold by God, through Moses, who said concerning the Israelites, “I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. They have moved me to jealousy … and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell [sheol, hades], and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischief upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction.”—Deut. 32:20-24
It is clear that the “fire” referred to in this prophecy is symbolic, not literal, for the Lord said, “They shall be burnt with hunger.” When Jesus spoke in the parable of the rich man in hades, it is quite possible that he had this very prophecy in mind—that the troubles coming upon Israel would burn unto the “lowest hell,” completely destroying them as a nation. Within a few years after Jesus uttered this prophetic parable, destructive trouble did come upon the nation. Their city and Temple were destroyed, and the people scattered to the far corners of the earth. While, as a nation, Israel was in the oblivion of hades for more than nineteen hundred years, as a people they have suffered many torments of oppression and persecution.
It is also interesting to note in this connection that Jesus said nothing in the parable about the hades condition continuing for eternity. The prophecies foretold, and we are now witnesses, to the fact that Israel has been reborn as a nation in her own land, in preparation for the forthcoming kingdom of Christ, through which they will be blessed.—Rom. 11:25-28
In some instances the word hell in the New Testament is a translation of the Greek word Gehenna. Gehenna was a deep ravine outside the walls of ancient Jerusalem. In the Old Testament it is referred to as the “valley of Hinnom.” (Josh. 15:8; 18:16) The Jews used it as the location for the detestable practice of human sacrifice. (Jer. 32:35) When God put an end to these abominations during the reign of righteous King Josiah, it became an area where the refuse of the city and carcasses of dead animals were destroyed in a continuously burning fire.—II Kings 23:10,28
Jesus used Gehenna as a symbol of the utter and lasting destruction of the willfully wicked. It is this Greek word that is translated hell in Matthew 10:28, which reads, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [Gehenna].” It is clear from this statement by Jesus that Gehenna symbolizes destruction, not torment. All agree to the reality of bodily death, and Jesus speaks of the soul being killed, or destroyed, in the same manner.
The possibility of the soul, or being, living again after the body is destroyed is because there is to be a resurrection of the dead. Those who are to be awakened from death are spoken of in the Bible as merely being asleep. (John 11:11-14; Acts 7:59,60) In the coming kingdom, however, those who willfully oppose God and righteousness will be destroyed in the “second death,” represented by Jesus as the destruction of Gehenna—not only of the body, but of the very being, or soul.—Rev. 20:14,15; 21:8
The Greek word Gehenna is also used in Mark 9:47,48. This passage reads, “If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell [Gehenna] … Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” In searching the Scriptures for some proof of the torment precept, this statement has been seized upon, even though no mention of torment is made in these verses.
Here the proof given is Jesus’ reference to worms which do not die, and to unquenchable fire. The “worms,” it is claimed, are in reality the souls of the wicked, forgetting that in Matthew 10:28, as previously noted, Jesus states specifically that souls which are cast into Gehenna are killed, or destroyed. They do not remain alive.
If it were not for the torment dogma, which darkens the mind and distorts reason, no one would for a moment think that Jesus is teaching here that the wicked will physically suffer in Gehenna forever. As elsewhere, he is using Gehenna as a symbol of destruction, the worms being a reference to the natural process by which dead carcasses are consumed. Worms, maggots, and similar creatures are ever present when decaying flesh is exposed to the elements.
Any fire that completely destroys that which it consumes is unquenchable. For example, when a building is burning and the fire cannot be extinguished, we could properly speak of it as an unquenchable fire. However, this “unquenchable fire” dies out and ceases to be when there is nothing more to consume. Thus we should not misuse expressions of this sort to prove that God will mercilessly torment sinners forever.
“THE GIFT OF GOD”
As we have seen, Paul wrote that “the wages of sin is death,” not torment. To this he added, “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23) Life and death are the two alternatives presented to us in the Word of God, not bliss in heaven or torment in hell. God warned Adam that death would be the penalty for disobedience, so when he disobeyed, he was sentenced to die. This plunged the whole race into death, because all have been born in a dying condition. “By man came death, … in Adam all die,” wrote Paul.—I Cor. 15:21,22
The receiving of life through Christ will be by means of a “resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” (Acts 24:15) Consecrated believers in this age are reckoned “just” by faith, and it is in the “first resurrection” that they will be rewarded with actual life—immortality for those who prove to be faithful followers of the Master. These will live and reign with Christ and, during the thousand years of his kingdom, will be associated with him in dispensing the blessings of life to “all families of the earth.”—Rev. 20:6; Gen. 12:3; 22:18; Gal. 3:29
The general resurrection of all the dead—“unjust” in Adam—is described in Revelation 20:13 as a deliverance from hell, or hades. When Jesus died as the world’s Redeemer he purchased, as it were, the “keys of hell,” and he will use these keys to set death’s captives free. After his resurrection Jesus said, “I am he that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”—Rev. 1:18; Isa. 61:1
Presently, all of earth’s billions, under Adamic condemnation, are either dead or dying. These can be blessed with life only by being raised from the dead. Jesus assured us that this would be accomplished, that the “gates of hell” would not forever hold death’s prisoners, that he, who has the “keys,” together with his true followers, will throw open the “gates.” It will be then that hell will give up its dead.
This does not mean that all mankind is assured of enjoying everlasting life. It means only that all will be released from the sentence of death that was entered against Adam and his children. Released from this, they will be given an opportunity as individuals, under favorable and righteous conditions, to obey God’s law and live forever. Those, few in number we believe, who willfully choose not to obey will be destroyed from among the people. (Acts 3:23) The vast majority, however, will gladly obey, and thus hear the words, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matt. 25:34) Then all the “precepts” and traditions of men which have engendered fear will be forever overthrown.

domain: literature


Federation Explains Need For Open Trials
The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) has said that inadequate funding is hampering its programme ahead of the 2023 Afrobasket Championship scheduled to hold I Kigali, Rwanda from July 28 to August 6.
Defending champions, D’Tigress began training for the championship in Abuja last week after the successful conclusion of the open trial conducted in Lagos, Abuja and Chicago.
After the exercise, the coaches selected the successful players for the final training in Abuja before they depart for Kigali. The NBBF, however, has raised the alarm over its lack of the necessary finances to execute its programme for the championship, saying that the Federal Government is yet release funds for the country’s participation in the tournament
It said: “The format of the trials was also quite necessary and unavoidable, as the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports is currently faced with paucity of funds, that has affected all the Sports Federations and government is yet to provide the required funds for the 2023 Women’s AfroBasket Championship.
“There are such liabilities as the last Women’s AfroBasket Championship played in Cameroun in 2019, amongst many others, in which the Nigerian Women’s National team (D’Tigress) prepared, participated and won the trophy, are undergoing processing and still not refunded till this day.
“The Tokyo Olympics preparation of the Men and women’s national teams is also in advanced stages with the Ministry for refund. Faced with this circumstance and reality, the NBBF is not in a position to buy air tickets, pay hotel bills and pay allowances for these trials on its own, as the federation cannot limitlessly continue to borrow on specific programmes with such borrowed funds with limited visibility on when they will be paid. Despite the fact that these liabilities of borrowed funds are yet to be paid, we do appreciate the Ministry’s huge effort in processing the refunds.”
On the open trials, NBBF described as misconceptions the notion that it embarrassed the country. It said: “The NBBF would want to clarify some misconceptions, false information, misleading interviews and some deliberately paid untrue journalistic efforts, which have been making rounds in the media space, that have the tendency to tarnish and denigrate the image and efforts of NBBF and the Federal Government, if left unchecked.
“The open trials that were undertaken in Chicago, Lagos and Abuja, were opened to all aspiring talented Nigerian female players, who are ready to showcase their basketball talents to try out for the Nigerian Women’s National team and play in the 2023 Women Afrobasket Championships.
“This is to also enable the NBBF continue its deliberate search for the best talents it can get, and most especially, give the emerging youthful talents, all over the globe, opportunity to avail themselves for consideration and possible selection to the national team. An opportunity we have always created for talented players since we took over on 2017.”
The NBBF added that the federation has not shut the door on any player who wishes to represent the nation at international engagements, insisting that it was not its fault that D’Tigress did not participate in last year’s Women’s Basketball World Cup.


Pb, Zn, Ni, Fe, Mn, V determination in petroleum and petroleum products
The test method is applied to the following products:
- Crude oil;
- Oil directed for dehydration, desalting and stabilization;
- Oil, dehydrated and desalted in the oil and gas refineries;
- Oil, stabilized in the oil and gas refineries;
- Oil supply by type;
- Light petroleum products, alternative fuel;
- Black (dark) oil;
- Lubrication oils;
- Other petroleum products.
The test method is based on x-ray fluorescence radiation intensity measurement on the wavelengths corresponding to the determined elements and calculation of the elements concentration with the preliminary prepared calibration curve.
Viscous products shall be liquefied either by heating or by dilution with mineral oil.
The test material is filled in the sample cups and put in spectrometer. Analysis is carried out automatically according to the program, lead content calculation is run with preliminary obtained calibration curve. If the sample was diluted then the result is multiplied by the corresponding coefficient.
The test method provides determination of a single element or multiple elements content at a time dependent on the analysis purpose.
|Element||Concentration range, mg/kg|
|Pb||from 3 up to 500|
|Zn||from 3 up to 500|
|Ni||from 3 up to 500|
|Fe||from 3 up to 500|
|Mn||from 3 up to 500|
|V||from 3 up to 500|


ICGS Rajtarang commissioned in Chennai
Chennai, May 19 (IANS) Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Rajtarang, an improved version of fast attack craft for anti-smuggling, anti-poaching and rescue operations was commissioned by Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju here Saturday.
The Inshore Patrol Vessel (IPV) was commissioned by Raju in presence of Coast Guard chief Vice Admiral M.P. Muralidharan.
The ship, built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers ltd (GRSE), a Mini Ratna defence shipyard, was the second in the series of eight ships ordered by Indian Coast Guard.
The GRSE said it has targeted to deliver the third ship of this series within the next couple of months.
ICGS Rajtarang is fitted with state of the art water jet units and integrated bridge system, integrating all communication and navigation systems, a GRSE statement said.
Omar on 'Million March' for Kashmir independence in London
October 21, 2014 at 2:49 PM
Manohar Lal Khattar chosen for the post of Haryana CM
October 21, 2014 at 2:45 PM
Reactions flow as govt brings ordinance on cancelled coal blocks
October 21, 2014 at 2:43 PM
MANOHAR LAL KHATTAR SET TO BE APPOINTED HARYANA CM
October 21, 2014 at 2:38 PM
Politicos react after BJP's Maneka Gandhi writes letter to Jayalalithaa
October 21, 2014 at 2:34 PM
NNIS WISHES SHAMMI KAPOOR A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY
October 21, 2014 at 2:22 PM


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Rochester, MN 55904
About Rochester Art Center
More About Rochester Art Center
Total Arts Day Camp
With the arrival of spring—meaning summer is not far away—we once again look forward to the return of Rochester Art Center’s longest running and most robust education program, Total Arts Day Camp. Local artist and luminary, Judy Onofrio established Total Arts Day Camp in 1971 as an immersive contemporary art experience for students in grades 1 – 8. The program continues to be a unique and memorable experience for young artists by providing a transformative educational experience in a variety of artistic mediums. This is a terrific opportunity for all young people to experience contemporary art—as shared and taught by the regions most talented professional artists!
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Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Black Tusk - Set The Dial
Georgia has produced some fairly impressive sludge metal acts over the years – most notably Mastodon, Kylesa and Baroness. But while all three bands mentioned helped found Georgia’s impressive underground scene, it’s fair to say that over time, they’ve all progressed and evolved, and have well and truly moved on beyond their primitive sludge metal origins. Not surprisingly, their absence has created a void in the scene, and one that Savannah based trio Black Tusk are more than eager to fill.
Despite having quite a few releases under their belts (Most notably 2005’s Wrecked Signal Records ‘When Kingdoms Fall’ E.P. and 2008’s ‘Passage Through Purgatory’ full-length release through Hyperrealist Records), it wasn’t until Black Tusk signed to Relapse Records and released their ‘Taste The Sin’ album in 2010 that people took notice of their huge and heavy sounds. Following on from the modest success of their last release, Black Tusk (Who comprise of guitarist/vocalist Andrew Fidler, bassist/vocalist Jonathan Athon and drummer/vocalist James May) returned to the studio with legendary producer/engineer Jack Endino (Nirvana, High On Fire, Soundgarden, etc...) to emerge with their third full-length effort ‘Set The Dial’.
The band gets the album off to a thumping start with the rather short instrumental ‘Brewing The Storm’, which showcases their ability to deal out some heavy riffs that not only get the blood pumping, but builds up to a climatic finish that befits the song’s title.
With the intro drawing to a fade, the band launch into ‘Bring Me Darkness’, which is no less rocking than the opener, but with an added aggression with the introduction of the three vocalists. Song structure wise, Black Tusk have made a concerted effort to stay away from anything too progressive or complicated. Instead, the band relies solely on simple riff structures, volume and aggression to get their message across.
‘Ender Of All’ ups the ante in terms of aggression over the former track, but also showcases the band’s ability to weave some textures into the song structures aside from delivering pulverising riff after riff, while ‘Mass Devotion’ starts off with a captivating doom-like atmospheric opening riff, before the band step things up a gear with its stomping groove.
‘Carved In Stone’, ‘This Time Is Divine’ and ‘Growing Horns’ are fairly straight-forward and upbeat rockers compared to most of the tracks on the album, and perhaps better suited to the live stage than in the studio, while the title track ‘Set The Dial To Your Doom’ is a blend of stoner rock, sludge metal and hardcore punk, and without a doubt one of the album’s stand out cuts.
The instrumental ‘Resistor’ is one of the album’s more daring and exploratory tracks where the band step outside their comfort zone to try their hand at something a little more intricate and progressive (Which certainly isn’t a bad thing at all I might add), while ‘Crossroads And Thunder’ closes the album out in a grooving stoner rock manner – but with Black Tusk’s own primitive touch.
Black Tusk isn’t about to win any awards for adding something new to the sludge metal scene on ‘Set The Dial’. But on the strength of their latest album, ‘Set The Dial’ will stand as the band’s most consistent and best sounding release to date, and the kind of release that will win over existing fans in no time.
For more information on Black Tusk, check out - http://www.myspace.com/blacktusk
© Justin Donnelly
Posted by Justin Donnelly at 9:07 PM

domain: entertainment


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I have had 2 Blue Royal Betta for 3 years now. Sushi and Sashimi (male and female respectively). This morning Sashimi passed away from conditions I tried to use different methods to help her with. Sushi suffers from buoyancy problems, but this happened when we moved him to a new elevation.
Sashimi was a very very active blue female Betta. I went on a business trip last month for 3 weeks, leaving the Bettas in the care of my wife. When I returned home, the water was nasty and algae had built up. The bowls were 2.5 gallon. I immediately changed out their water and cleaned their bowls (I have done the same before and it always cheered them up). This is the first time that the bowls have hit this level of ill repair. When I had them back into their bowls, Sashimi was lethargic. She was slow to eat and was staying at mid-level of the bowl.
I kept an eye on her and tried several different methods to try to sure her of any possible illnesses. She slowly digressed to staying at the top of he bowl, and a long strand of white "stringy" material appeared from her bowels. It was 3" in length and she developed a white fuzzy spot between her gill and mouth. She lost the majority of her deep blue color and turned gray within 2 days. This development was 2 days ago, and last night she stayed vertical at the top of the water. This morning I found her in her favorite sleeping spot, but she had passed away. I have never seen anything like this, nor found anything to explain it.
Any clue of what this was and how to treat it? I will not replace her for some time, but when I do, I wish to know what I can do to save them.
Sushi does not suffer from the same issues and he is very active, even though he has SBD, which is not curable. He eats fine and still works on his bubble nest from the leaves of the plant. He can not stay at any level of the water, but sinks to the bottom. He swims and retrieves floating food. but when he stops, he sinks. He uses the leaves of the plants that float near the top to work on his nest and will swim down to bottom to sleep.
Both of these Bettas were the most active and interesting Bettas I have seen. Sashimi was very active and did interesting tricks (something I have never seen a Betta do).
I Know water temp is very important, but we did not use a heater pad, but they never showed signs of water temp problems, nor poisoning.

domain: biology


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For the director of music. Of David. A petition.
Hasten, O God, to save me;
come quickly, Lord, to help me.
May those who want to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
May those who say to me, ‘Aha! Aha!’
turn back because of their shame.
But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who long for your saving help always say,
‘The Lord is great!’
But as for me, I am poor and needy;
come quickly to me, O God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Lord, do not delay.
In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;
turn your ear to me and save me.
Be my rock of refuge,
to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.
For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord,
my confidence since my youth.
From my birth I have relied on you;
you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
I will ever praise you.
I have become a sign to many;
you are my strong refuge.
My mouth is filled with your praise,
declaring your splendour all day long.
Do not cast me away when I am old;(Ps. 70:1-71:11 NIV)
do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
For my enemies speak against me;
those who wait to kill me conspire together.
They say, ‘God has forsaken him;
pursue him and seize him,
for no one will rescue him.’
Psalm 70 and 71 are often taken together as one Psalm. Psalm 70 is also a repeat of Psalm 40:13-17 with a few minor differences. Both Psalms 70 and 71 are laments or petitions for deliverance. The request for God to hasten or come quickly appears (same word in Hebrew) in both Psalms, twice in Psalm 70 and once in Psalm 71. The Psalmist, in both Psalms, desires that shame and confusion should be experienced by the enemy. There are a number of other common phrases, enough to establish the link between these two Psalms.
Psalm 70 begins and ends with the plea for immediate deliverance. There is a sense of urgency with the Psalmist. Emergencies and urgencies are experiences that people can have. It happens to us because we are not able to always predict what might happen and we don’t know what the outcome will be. But God knows the end from the beginning, so no emergency response contingency plans are needed by God. For us life so quickly gets out of control, hence our great need to come into the presence of the One who is in control.
There are those wagging their heads in disapproval of the Psalmist. Without Psalm 71 we wouldn’t know exactly what the circumstances are. It is the Psalmist’s advancing years that concerns the Psalmist (see Ps 71:9, 18).
The first eight verses of Psalm 71 are concerned with the idea of refuge. The Psalmist has taken up refuge in the covenant LORD. The Psalmist is able to open up his heart to the Lord in a way that he could not to other people. He doesn’t want to fail the Lord or be put to shame. There are some people who have many contacts, and they feel that one phonecall to the right person is all that is needed to help them jump the queue, bend the rules, or receive preferential treatment. The Psalmist calls upon God to act in righteousness to rescue and deliver him. The Psalmist often uses terms like, turn Your face, turn Your eye, or turn Your ear to me and save me. The Lord’s eye and ear are always upon His people, it is just that with us it doesn’t always seem like that. If God is watching over me, how could this happen to me? It is because God is watching over you that it is happening. When something dreadful happens it is often said, I can’t believe that God allowed this or did this. I’ll admit that it can be hard to understand why some things happen. It is better to know that God is behind an experience or permits an experience, because the alternative is more dreadful, that an experience is just random, not permitted, not controlled. No demon, no person is able to sneak behind God’s back to accomplish anything. God is always in control. The reason we can’t always reconcile events is because we have only a small part of the information. Without the information, without knowing why the experience is happening, God calls upon us to trust Him.
The Psalmist wants the Lord to be his rock of refuge, a place where he can always go. Why would he ever want to leave the rock of refuge. Sadly we are so prone to leave the rock of refuge. We get fixed and strengthened and then feel we strong enough to venture out, and it doesn’t take us long to realise that we are no match for the enemy. The Psalmist has great confidence in God, just give the command, just speak the word, and he knows that it will be done. He feels like he is in the hand and grasp of the wicked. They are cruel in what they say and what they do. People can be so cruel and wicked in the hurt they inflict on others. Prolonged torture, methods of inflicting psychological and physical pain on people, at times it seems demonic what people will do to others.
The Psalmist reflects upon how God has been with him through the various stages in life. In his youth he had depended upon the Lord. The Sovereign covenant LORD had been a cause of hope and confidence. Youth is a challenging stage in life. You are on the brink of adulthood, thinking about future relationships, education and employment. It is good to have the Lord in your life as a youth. The Psalmist goes back further in his life. All his life he had depended upon the Lord. From birth he had relied upon God. It was God who brought him safely from his mother’s womb. Infant mortality was much greater back then than now. Looking back over life, the Psalmist praises the Lord. His walk with God has been an encouragement to many. Each moment of the day he has an awareness of God, singing God’s praise, thinking of the splendour each hour of the day. Now the Psalmist comes to his concern. His immediate future is his old age. My grandfather lived into his nineties. When my grandmother died, I stayed with him during the weak and then my uncle and aunt came to stay with him at the weekend. As he was getting near the end of his life, he said that in his life he was once a man but twice a child. As his body declined in strength, he needed to accept more help from others. The Psalmist is beginning to lose his strength, gets tired sooner, takes longer getting things done, and he lifts his heart to God as asks that he will not be castaway when he is old. It is precious to see that God has included this reflection upon the emotions of the Psalmist in his old age. God understands that frailty. The enemies see that he is more vulnerable now, they conspire against him to find opportunity to take his life. The enemies make the false conclusion that the Psalmist’s declining health and weakness is an indication that God has forsaken him. The Psalmist has lived a long life and has a great deal of experience of the Lord being with him. He has learned to bring his fears and concerns into the Lord’s presence. There are new fears now with declining strength and failing health. He is no longer able to do all that he used to do. God does not discard His people. The concerns that the Psalmist has had have differed throughout his life. He may have retired from certain duties, but he still has a daily audience with the Lord. The concerns that he has are of interest to God.
Almighty God we thank You that You are with the children in our church, that You care for the youth, that You care for every adult, and that You care for the elderly. We thank You that we have been encouraged by the vast range of emotions that we see the Psalmist bring into Your presence. It helps us to know that, when we feel like that, we can come into Your presence and share that emotion. We thank You that You show us the Psalmist coming before You with the issues associated with every stage in life. Lord we thank You that You are always with us from birth right through to death, that we are never alone. Helps us Lord in the stage we find ourselves just now, thank You for caring about the needs of every age group. Be pleased to receive our thanksgiving in Jesus’ name. Amen.


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WATCH BELOW as the Sun’s Editor-in-Chief Adrienne Batra wonders how the Trudeau government is going to fight for traditional media against google and facebook.
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domain: news


text:
According to the UK Guardian,
the first of the two shootings took place at 3:30 pm on February 14,
and the second came shortly after midnight. In total, two civilians were
killed and five police officers were wounded. PET intelligence head
Jeds Madsen said the gunman may have taken his cue from “militant
Islamist propaganda issued by [ISIS] and other terror organizations.”
We saw this same thing in Paris, where strict gun control laws were no hindrance to the terrorists who struck Charlie Hebdo headquarters, gunning down civilians and police officers alike.
The Sydney School of Public Health’s GunPolicy.Org
lists Denmark’s gun regulations as “restrictive.” For example, “the
acquisition, possession, and transfer of each privately held firearm”
must be recorded and “retained by an official register.” Ammunition
sales are also registered/recorded.
Moreover, to own a gun in the first place, you have to be a “licensed
gun owner,” because gun ownership is “a right not protected by law.”
Part of getting that license includes justifying your need for firearm,
and that is followed by stringent criminal background and mental health
checks, among other things.
GunPolicy.Org lists France’s gun regulation as “restrictive” as well, yet attackers in neither country were stopped by gun control measures.
On January 19, Breitbart News reported
that French police admitted gun control was hurting their ability to
perform as law enforcement officers and said they wanted to go from a
lax policy on firearms to one more focused on armed readiness. The Associated Press reported that this change included a request to issue police “more” guns and “heavier” guns.
Like the Washington Times, Breitbart cannot report a story without twisting it beyond recoggnition. The extreme rarity of these incidents in Denmark and France is the real story. The way strict gun control has nearly eliminated these tragedies, that's the real story.
An interesting side note in the story is in the final paragraph. Police and military do indeed need heavier firepower than civilians are allowed in order to cope with that occasional and exceptional situation.


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Deck Your Walls: Walter Lindner - a retrospective
25 Nov 2017 - 2 Dec 2017
10am - 4pm. Please Note: open 25 Nov 10am - 1pm only.
Landmark Arts Centre
Art collector Simon Hearnden curates this significant exhibition of works by the late Berlin artist Walter Lindner (1936-2007). A true master of his oeuvre, Lindner created wonderfully composed, graphic artworks, often with subtle humour, satire and great technique, evolved during a forty-year obsession. Following a successful taster showing of Lindner’s work at our recent Spring Art Fair, this exhibition is a not to be missed treat for artists and art lovers alike.
Presented by Landmark Arts Centre
Full list for Visual Arts/Film
Arts Richmond events
- An Evening with Author Alan Robert Clarke in conversation with Actor John Sessions
21 Nov 2018
- Robert Gillespie Author's Talk + Performed Reading
6 Dec 2018
- Christmas Concert with Kings College Choir
13 Dec 2018
- Châteaux of the Ile-de-France
6 May 2019


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Simple yet deep. Get on spiritual vibes with the Mandala pocket tank. Features a pocket with an original Tibetan mandala.
4.2 oz., 100% airlume combed and ringspun cotton, 32 singles
Retail fit, side seams
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Born the son of a yakuza boss in Kyoto, Manabu Miyazaki is now a best-selling author. His life may read like fiction, but he raises social, political and media facts in a manner that’s as frank as it is hard-hitting
Manabu Miyazaki is a man with multiple faces. To many Japanese, he is even thought to bear an uncanny resemblance to the “fox-eyed man” depicted in a police sketch as a suspect in a series of bizarre corporate extortion cases in the 1980s — including one in 1984 in which a company president was kidnapped, naked, by two armed men while taking a bath at home in Kobe.
The victim later escaped from his abductors, who had intended to hold him for ransom, but Miyazaki was questioned by police investigators, though he was never arrested as he had a solid alibi.
In fact, Miyazaki shrewdly turned this episode and his newfound celebrity to his advantage, using it as an opportunity to publish a book about his roller-coaster life. Indeed, he says now he is “extremely grateful” for that notoriety — and that he “made ¥100 million” through his book.
Titled “Toppamono: Outlaw, Radical, Suspect — My Life in Japan’s Underworld,” the 1996 book — in which toppamono means “someone who pushes ahead” — was, significantly, published before the statue of limitations on the extortion cases ran out in 2000. Not only has it sold 600,000 copies in Japan, and been translated into English, Chinese, Korean and French, but at home it also won Miyazaki a cultlike following widely referred to as “the fox-eyed bunch.”
Now aged 63, Miyazaki’s life, as he tells it in his book, has been nothing if not exceptional and eventful. Born as the second son of a yakuza boss in Kyoto, he grew up interacting with reckless but warmhearted members of the extended underworld “family,” which also ran a demolition business.
Then, influenced by his left-leaning private tutor, he was won over to Marxism while in high school, and soon after he entered the prestigious Waseda University in Tokyo in 1965, he was busy networking, organizing and demonstrating as a member of the Japanese Communist Party in that decade’s numerous, and often violent, student protests against “injustices,” such as tuition-fee hikes and issues such as Japan’s postwar treatment of its Korean residents.
However, like many others who were deeply involved in that movement, Miyazaki ended up dropping out of college. Then, after a brief stint as a reporter at a weekly magazine, he went back to Kyoto to take over the troubled family business, trying to meet one bank debt obligation after another.
Along the way, he says, desperation drove him to start getting involved in riskier business deals. The debts, though, kept growing, and the demolition company finally went bankrupt owing ¥2.5 billion on Oct. 25, 1980 — Miyazaki’s 35th birthday. Persuading angry creditors to write off the debts exasperated him further, especially when some took to threatening him personally with swords and pistols. Then, in an unrelated incident, on one occasion in 1986 two gunmen stormed into a Kyoto cafe and shot him and the two men he was with. Though he recovered from the bullet that went through his stomach, his companions both died on the spot.
But Miyazaki’s drama-packed life wasn’t all bad during that decade in which Japan’s asset-inflated bubble was growing at its most heady rate. In fact, he rode the wave in style, amassing huge sums — and spending lavishly — by landing one real-estate deal after another as a jiageya (land shark), whose job it is to nudge or intimidate individual owners of small parcels of land to sell them and make way for major property developers to move in.
Now single after twice marrying and being divorced from the same woman, Miyazaki, who is the father of three children with her (and several more out of wedlock, he says) spends much of his time and effort these days expounding his views on social issues — including what he sees as the sorry state of journalism in Japan. Especially critical of those in the media he blames for too often “just copying and pasting things they find on the Internet,” in 2006 — along with several prominent figures including TV anchor Soichiro Tahara and the indicted Foreign Ministry official turned award-winning writer, Masaru Sato — he cofounded the nonprofit group Forum Jinbocho, named after its venue in Tokyo’s Jinbocho district. As well as openly challenging the mainstream media through workshops and symposiums, Forum Jinbocho has also recently launched the independent Tahara Soichiro Nonfiction Award to honor the best up-and-coming nonfiction creators, either in print or broadcast media. (Applications are being accepted, in Japanese only, at www.forum-j.com/bana024.html through July 31.)
Miyazaki recently sat down at a Tokyo hotel to talk through a haze of cigarette smoke about his life, the yakuza, world politics and the police, including how yakuza members arrested in one prefecture in western Japan must be prepared to lose all of their teeth during interrogations. Apparently, smart- thinking yakuza on the wanted list of that infamous prefectural police force flee to a neighboring prefecture to be arrested in order to avoid physical abuse by investigators.
Soft-spoken and reflective, he has the cultured manner of a best-selling writer — most of the time. His demeanor changed suddenly when a waitress came around offering to refill his glass of water. ‘No,” he said sharply, causing the waitress to flinch visibly before fleeing after a few quick words of apology. Shortly afterward, as he fielded a phone call from what sounded like an old acquaintance, his voice changed again. “Oh no, I’m soooo sorry about that,” he whispered sympathetically, switching to the Kyoto dialect. “Don’t get too depressed, all right? Call me when the funeral date is confirmed.”
It’s been 13 years since you made your best-selling debut as a writer with “Toppamono,” and about three years since it was published in English. What reactions have you had to the book?
What I found interesting was that people from non-English-speaking countries responded to the English version, with journalists from Switzerland, Italy and France asking for interviews. And of course there have been ones from the United States, too, and the FT (Financial Times).
What were they most interested in?
They were most interested in my background and particularly in the existence of the yakuza in Japan. They were also curious about the philosophical and religious backgrounds of the yakuza, though a lot of the interest was purely legal. In other words, in Japan the yakuza is not illegal just for existing, whereas many countries in the West outlaw their yakuza (organized-crime gangs). In Japan, being a yakuza group or member in itself is not illegal.
Why do you think it is that, in a modern society such as Japan’s, a yakuza group involved in such things as prostitution, drug-dealing and human trafficking is legally allowed to openly set up offices, put their name plates on the wall outside and register those offices with the government?
Strictly speaking, they don’t register themselves with the government; it’s that the government acknowledges them as yakuza. In Japanese law, there is nothing that says the yakuza themselves are illegal, so it’s perfectly OK for them to have their offices. Another point is that prostitution, drug-dealing and violence exist all around the world, not just in Japan. Such activities are indeed illegal, but if you ask me who’s the world’s biggest inflicter of violence, I would say it’s the United States. Without question. The (U.S.) government is in fact the biggest gangster group. That’s why they are engaged in acts of torture at Abu Ghraib prison (in Iraq) and confinement (at the Guatanamo Bay detention center in Cuba). Compared to the level of atrocities committed in these places, acts committed by Japanese gangs probably rate only about one 100-millionth.
I don’t believe that the world has a certain level of peace and human rights running through societies. I’ll give you three examples of countries in history in which the yakuza have been eradicated: Germany under Hitler, Cambodia under the Pol Pot dictatorship and North Korea.
You mean the regimes in those countries are more scary than the yakuza?
If you allow me to be paradoxical, I think the yakuza show the maturity of a country’s democracy. I think a society with the yakuza is a sound society.
Laws are like a double-edge sword; they terminate the one (bad) side while terminating the other (good). So drugs, murders and prostitution have existed throughout human history, and the yakuza have just been an agent of such things. Where the yakuza aren’t involved, nations are. That does not mean I tolerate such acts, and if they break laws, they should be heavily penalized.
So you do think the yakuza should be punished.
Yes — give them penalties when they break laws. My point is, it’s wrong to penalize them when they are breaking no laws. The modern law says everyone is equal before the law — without a clause that says, “except those who are yakuza.”
Are many people driven into yakuza groups due to economic circumstances?
The root cause of people joining gangster groups is poverty and discrimination. I think it’s the same everywhere in the world. Today, the number of people becoming Islamic fundamentalists is growing rapidly, for example. I often go to southern Thailand, and I get the feeling that the gangs are growing there exponentially, and that absolute poverty is behind that trend. When you are in absolute poverty, and when you face absolute discrimination, you sometimes have no other choice but to break a law — simply to survive. Also, people who are discriminated against grow up with anger, so you can’t expect them to turn into ideal gentlemen. That’s often why people enter the underworld.
Recent National Police Agency statistics show that killings of children by their parents, and vice versa, are increasing. That means that families, which are the smallest social unit, are falling apart. A family is something that protects you from society, but that kind of mutual support network is being eroded. People in the yakuza do bad things at times, like killing people and selling drugs, but they do maintain a mutual support network, whether it’s used for good or bad purposes. In a yakuza community, you feel the warmth of people that present-day society has lost. The coldness of society today is not there, so it’s often more comfortable to live in a yakuza society.
Has the 1992 Law for the Prevention of Wrongful Acts by Members of Organized Crime Groups made the yakuza’s coexistence with society difficult?
Very difficult. Since that law, the Yamaguchi-gumi (Japan’s biggest yakuza group) has grown. That’s because large organizations have the knowhow, such as how to contact a lawyer when you are investigated by police, or how to support your family when you are arrested. Groups that didn’t have such knowhow have disappeared, and people belonging to those groups have joined the Yamaguchi-gumi. That law was intended to attack the Yamaguchi-gumi, but ironically it has ended up making the group grow. This kind of thing happens often; when the United States introduced Prohibition (1920-33), it made Al Capone rich.
Let me change the subject. At university you were very active in student protests as a radical member of the Japanese Communist Party. Today, the public’s interest in politics is very low. Why do you think the student movement grew so large in Japan in the 1960s?
It was a global trend. I call it the 1968 Generation. Many things happened and culminated in 1968. First, there was the Prague Spring (the liberalization reforms in Czechoslovakia), followed by the “Strawberry Statement” generation in the United States (named after a nonfiction book by James Simon Kunen, who chronicled student protests at Columbia University in New York). And in Paris, the students were also getting active. There are many reasons for all these movements, but I believe the biggest issue was the Vietnam War. I could not help but feel indignant after learning what was happening in the war through news reports. The United States got smart afterward and decided not to disclose what was really happening on the battlefields when it waged the Gulf War (of 1991).
At the core of these movements was the sense of justice shared by the young people — and in Japan these events made us wonder if Japan was heading in the right direction. These events had so much impact that they gave us opportunities to think about society in general.
You have experienced a lot in your life. I suspect you have exceptional abilities to see through people. What do you think of U.S. President Barack Obama?
My impression is that he is very similar to (former Prime Minister Junichiro) Koizumi.
In terms of his presentation style?
Yes, and the way people are responding to him. Obama is a product of populism. How did this populism come about? It was in response to cynicism against President (George W.) Bush, who, toward the end of his term, even had a shoe thrown at him! Everyone scoffed at Bush. Because people were so cynical about Bush, they are now so passionately in support of Obama. And I’m skeptical of populism. If 100 out of 100 people say something is right, I would question it, and I think that questioning such a premise is an intelligent thing to do.
Obama reminds me of (former U.S. President John F.) Kennedy. But it was Kennedy’s populism that propelled the country into the Vietnam War. Kennedy was also from an ethnic minority; he came from an Irish, Catholic family. Populism peaks in times of war; so I’m worried that Obama will be forced to fight a war and, as a result, Afghanistan will suffer horrific consequences. Afghanistan, however, could not even be conquered by the Soviet Union, so there is no way it will be by the weak-kneed United States today. Then the war could turn into a quagmire.
You recently cofounded a new literary prize, the Tahara Soichiro Nonfiction Award, along with some other noted writers and commentators. I understand one purpose of the award is to give a push to the publishing industry at a time when many magazines have recently shut. However, the decline of traditional print media is a global trend, and I wonder if you think you can counter that.
I think we can. The media have relied heavily on advertising revenue because a large part of newspapers’ revenue from subscribers goes to pay distributors’ costs. So the costs of operation at newspaper headquarters are actually covered by advertising. That’s a structural problem.
Book publishers, on the other hand, rely on support from readers for revenue.
So what is at stake is the quality of information. You can’t compete with the Internet for speed, so the depth, detail and logic will be important for the print media. Readers will pay for quality, I think. Creating nonfiction involves incredible amounts of reporting — and that costs enormous amounts of money. Only a handful of nonfiction writers can have the costs of their reporting covered by publishers, so more and more works are based on what writers find through Internet searches. Copying and pasting of information on the Internet is becoming more common. But information gathered through real reporting — going out in the field, meeting and talking with people — will still be powerful and will still be valued.
Shinsuke Hashida, a freelance journalist killed by gunmen while reporting from Iraq, was an old friend of mine, and the video footage he sent over was full of a sense of reality — something the Japanese corporate media could never deliver. The role of journalists or writers is to tell people how things really are, instead of rewriting government news releases at press clubs. That’s why we set up Forum Jinbocho and have been criticizing the media. A week before he was killed, I tried to stop Hashida from going to Iraq. I told him it was too dangerous. But he said, “Well, I’m a pro. War is what I make a living out of. There is not a greater opportunity than this.” That was the pride he had in his job.
Let me ask about a current prosecution of which you have been notably critical. After a secretary of the (main opposition) Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa was arrested recently (concerning alleged irregularities with political donations), you called an urgent symposium, titled “Special Investigative Squad at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors’ Office Turning into Seinen Shoko,” referring to the name of young naval officers in the 1930s whose coup attempts pushed Japan into militarism). Why did you give it that title?
I didn’t give much thought to the title (laughs). A question lingers over whether it was right to arrest Ozawa’s secretary when an election is imminent. The arrest itself has not breached any law, because police authorities are given the right to arrest people at any time. But some acts are wrong even when they are not illegal — if they go against customs, traditions, habits or common sense. There are many things in society that laws cannot cover. Such things I call okite. What is okite? I would say it is a set of rules within a community. There are rules for journalists, students or housewives, so the question is whether the prosecution broke the okite in the prosecutorial community.
Investigative authorities became too powerful and Japan turned into a police state after the Peace Preservation Law of 1925. Many wartime structures were disbanded after the war, such as zaibatsu conglomerates and the military, but the former Home Affairs Ministry, whose bureaucrats supported Japan’s prewar militaristic regime, was left alone and survived after the war. Prosecutors were also a part of that regime. So the institution still has an old mentality, which is: “None other than us protect this country.”
I think that the prosecutors, with this arrest, had judged whether it’s OK for (the opposition) party to take over the reins of the country. They have a clear political intention — or historically speaking, it is highly likely that they do. That’s why their move is such a big problem.
What are your views on the lay-judge system that will be introduced this month?
It’s impossible for laypeople to judge. Can you hand out a death sentence? It’s like asking a tofu shop owner to fillet a fish. You are to make a judgment about a person’s life or death. It’s like hiring a grocery store owner to preside over an operation, making them decide which organ to remove or not, saying it’s all about making operations more open to the public.
A democratic nation is run by specialist bureaucrats, and citizen participation is not always good. Specialists can often make efficient and fair decisions.
But you often cite the statistic that the judicial system, which is currently run by specialists, has a conviction rate of well over 90 percent. The system has been criticized for lacking the citizens’ point of view.
Having citizens participate in the judicial process does not change the payment structure of legal professionals (under which both judges and prosecutors are paid through the Justice Ministry). So the fundamental structure is not changing at all. To avoid public criticism, they used such fine-sounding phrases as “citizen participation.”
But can’t we make the judicial process more transparent to the public?
Videotaping police interrogations would be one thing. Human rights abuses in Japanese prisons are notorious, with prison officials also paid by the Justice Ministry. Japanese prisons are said to be worse than Abu Ghraib in the treatment of inmates.
Anyway, I’m convinced that the lay-judge system will fail.
Why are you so sure it will fail?
The lay judges will be expected to honor confidentiality agreements, but what if that duty conflicts with their rights to free expression? And what if someone who opposes the death penalty on principle is involved in a lay panel that decides to hand down a death sentence? That person might have opposed the death penalty, but nevertheless participated in the process of meting out the sentence. I think the lay-judge system and the death- penalty issue are inseparable.
To what extent would you say that the shooting incident in a Kyoto cafe in 1986 affected your outlook on life?
It didn’t change my outlook on life; it reinforced it. In other words, I became even more convinced that people do betray others — and that its a fact that people die when they are shot by a pistol. It might sound ordinary, but few people realize that firsthand. I reconfirmed my conviction that death is close to me.
Did you realize you couldn’t trust anyone?
I’ve never trusted anyone. In the shooting, I saw what kind of action people take when they are in a crisis. The man sitting to my right was targeted from the beginning and was killed. The man to my left tried to stop the killing and was shot to death himself. I tried to stop it, too. In fact, there was someone else at the scene — next to the man who was sitting to my left. That man ducked under a table and fled. So one man tried to stop it, while another tried to save his own life only. The second man’s reaction is only natural, yet the moment I received a shot in my stomach, I thought to myself, “I don’t want to be like that man under the table.” So I yelled “Stop it!” and threw an ashtray at the gunman. But I’m glad I was shot. If I had ducked under the table myself, I would not have been able to live (laughs).
You often go to China. Why is that?
I’m writing a critical biography of the boss of a major Taiwanese triad group, the Bamboo Union gang. His name is Chang An-lo. He was born in 1947. I’ve met him more than 10 times.
Why did you become interested in him?
In fact, Chang An-lo is a second- generation leader. The former boss was Chen Chi-li, who was born in 1943 and died the year before last. The Bamboo Union gang was formed around 1960, mostly by college students in Taiwan.
Both Chen and Chang were children of mainlanders (who moved to Taiwan after Japan’s colonial rule ended in 1945). They got to know each other in college and ran the gang together. In 2003 or 2004, I met Chen for the first time in Phnom Penh. Both men had been expelled from Taiwan by then, and Chang was in Shenzhen (in Guangdong Province, China).
Anyway, I met Chen because a Japanese writer approached him offering to write a book about him. Chen and Chang were both well-educated intellectuals, so Chen met the Japanese writer and read his books through a translator. He concluded that the quality of his works was good enough. But then he got interested in the idea of having another Japanese writer write about him, and asked for some ideas from a Phnom Penh correspondent of the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, who he happened to know.
Chen — who served as a bodyguard for the former King of Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk — read one of my books, titled “Ketsuzoku (Blood Relationship),” which is about the Asian mafia, and contacted me through the correspondent. Then he died from pancreatic cancer in 2007. I went to his funeral, but I didn’t feel I had done enough reporting to write a book. Then Chang said that I could interview him and write about Chen through Chang. That’s why I’ve been visiting Chang in Shenzhen.
Finally, I’d like to ask if you have any regrets in life? If you were born again, would you live your life differently?
Put simply, if I were born again, I would do exactly the same things all over again.
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
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domain: sociology


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Summer Clay Day | August 7 | Ages 5-9
Wednesday, August 7
9 AM-10:30 AM
For ages 5-9 years old
Students will learn the foundations of hand-building with clay and explore form and texture using scratch-to-attach and carving methods to decorate sculpted pinch pots using slips and underglazes.
- Class maximum is 10 children.
- Final pieces will be fired and available for pick up 2-3 weeks later.
- Please note: Children might get messy.
- Classes are held in the Workshop Studio.


Legislation grants state and local law enforcement increased immigration enforcement authority
WASHINGTON — Days after the expiration of Title 42 intensified the lawless situation at the southern border, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and U.S. Representative Buddy Carter (R-GA-01) reintroduced legislation to counteract the Biden administration’s refusal to enforce U.S. immigration laws.
The Empowering Law Enforcement Act would grant state and local law enforcement inherent immigration enforcement authority to investigate, identify, apprehend, arrest, detain, or transfer an illegal immigrant who has entered the U.S. Additionally, this legislation would provide the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary flexibility on how long a criminal alien may be detained, extending the 180-day period to ensure violent criminals are not released back into communities.
“With the Biden administration ignoring federal law and facilitating historic levels of illegal immigration, we should give state and local law enforcement the authority to keep their communities safe,” said Senator Tuberville.“The Empowering Law Enforcement Act gives state and local officers the ability to enforce immigration laws when federal officers are prohibited from doing so. It also would extend the detention period for dangerous criminal aliens. The Biden administration has opened up our border and undermined our law enforcement — this bill would bring that to an end.”
“Like all our law enforcement officers right now, thanks to the dangerous ‘defund the police’ movement, our border patrol agents are overworked and are not properly resourced or supported,” said Representative Carter. “This bill will empower law enforcement to enforce immigration laws, even in sanctuary cities, so that they can keep our communities safe and restore law and order. With the recent influx in border crossings due to the expiration of Title 42, this is an all hands on deck situation.”
Specifically, the Empowering Law Enforcement Act would:
- Allow immigration enforcement authority for state and local law enforcement entities, including the ability to investigate, identify, apprehend, arrest, detain, or transfer an alien into federal custody.
- Ensure that illegal immigrants are detained in federal custody upon state or local law enforcement request.
- Reimburse state or local authorities for related incarceration and transportation costs.
- Permit the Secretary of Homeland Security to extend the detention of criminal aliens until removal from the U.S.
- Promote immigration information sharing between DHS and the FBI for the benefit of state and local law enforcement.
The legislation is endorsed by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
“FAIR supports the Empowering Law Enforcement Act of 2023, and believes now is the time to provide more tools to state and local law enforcement officers who are bearing the burden of our border crisis and mass illegal immigration surges.”
U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) are original cosponsors. Senator Tuberville previously introduced the Empowering Law Enforcement Act in 2021.
During his two years in the Senate, Senator Tuberville has made multiple visits to the southern border and worked on various legislative initiatives to secure the border, including giving law enforcement the tools needed to keep our communities safe and reforming immigration laws to crack down on abuse and discourage illegal immigration.
In March 2023, Senator Tuberville introduced the Border Safety and Security Act to combat the border crisis created by President Biden’s immigration policies. The legislation puts more responsibility on the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and gives increased authority to state attorneys general in holding DHS accountable if the department fails in its duty to restrict entry and detain illegal immigrants.
Also in March 2023, Senator Tuberville cosponsored the Stopping Border Surges Act to address loopholes in our immigration system that encourage vulnerable immigrant populations to take dangerous, illegal paths of entry into the United States. The legislation includes reforms that would reduce unsustainable surges of illegal immigrants, strengthen our asylum process, eliminate the incentive to send children to the border; and dampen the exploitative power of coyotes and cartels.
The introduction of these bills followed Senator Tuberville hosting a roundtable with state experts and recording a public service announcement warning of the dangers of fentanyl, which is pouring into our communities after coming across the southern border. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports Alabama has seen a 271% increase in fentanyl-related deaths in just the last two years. Nationally, fentanyl overdose is cited as the leading cause of death for those ages 18–45.
In 2022, Senator Tuberville joined congressional colleagues in introducing a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to dissolve a Biden administration rule that would illegally upend the process by which the U.S. government grants asylum claims. The rule would exacerbate the crisis at the border and encourage fraudulent asylum claims by allowing illegal border crossers who claim asylum to have their asylum application approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officials instead of immigration judges. The rule also allows illegal border crossers claiming asylum to live in the U.S. free from detention while their application is pending.
Senator Tuberville has spoken about his concerns on the floor of the U.S. Senate and called on the Biden administration to act to keep Americans safe.
Also in 2022, Senator Tuberville visited the Del Rio sector of our southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas, where he met with those on the frontlines of the border crisis, including National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd and Del Rio Sector Chief Jason Owens. During the visit, Senator Tuberville observed firsthand the crisis created by President Biden’s policies and listened to officials describe the resources they need to secure the border.
Additional information about Senator Tuberville’s work to combat the Biden border crisis can be found below.
- TUBERVILLE OP-ED: Where is Biden’s Border Plan?
- TUBERVILLE OP-ED: Biden is Giving a Green Light Where There Should be a Stop Sign
- Tuberville Details the Dangers of Biden’s Border Crisis, Calls on Administration to Act
- Tuberville, Colleagues Raise Concern About Biden Administration Allowing Individuals Who Have Supported Terrorism to Immigrate to the U.S.
- Tuberville, Colleagues Introduce Resolution to Repeal Biden Administration Policy Upending Asylum Process
- Tuberville Torches HHS as Border Crisis Grows
- Tuberville, Tillis, Rounds Introduce the Empowering Law Enforcement Act
- Tuberville: The Biden Border Crisis is a Stain on Our Nation
- Tuberville on Border Security: President Biden Sending a ‘Come One, Come All’ Signal
- Tuberville Statement on Opposition to Alejandro Mayorkas
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, and HELP Committees.


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Do the rich get richer because of tax breaks?
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad thinks so. The North Dakota Democrat made a big pitch for getting rid of many tax deductions and credits at a hearing on Wednesday, saying they’re contributing to a wide disparity in income between the wealthy and not-so-wealthy.
Citing recent research by tax expert Martin Sullivan, Mr. Conrad said a resident of a typical Park Avenue building in New York – with average household income of $1.1 million – is paying taxes at an effective rate of about 15%. But the rate for janitors in the building hovers closer to 25%, Mr. Conrad said. “I don’t know how anybody can defend or justify that kind of tax burden,” Mr. Conrad said.
The discrepancy has been noted previously, for example by investor Warren Buffett, who often complains that his tax rate is lower than his secretary’s. The differential is largely due to the lower tax rates the government imposes on investment income, such as capital gains and dividends. Defenders of the policy say it promotes investment and thus economic efficiency to keep taxes low on capital…

domain: finance


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Just when I thought it would be a relaxing Sunday of napping and taxes (the latter, not so relaxing), Steve King raises his head.
The good congressman from Iowa, a Republican representing the 4th district of Iowa since 2003 took it upon himself to weigh in on behalf of Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, founder and leader of the right-wing Party for Freedom, on the cusp of being elected prime minister of the Netherlands.
In the early afternoon, while I was on the tail end of a post-red eye flight nap, King tweeted:
Then, while I am doing my taxes, David Duke, not exactly a champion of diversity, tweeted:
Bless their hearts. Nap ruined. Taxes still not done.
I’m going to set aside the debate of whether or not King and Duke are a good use of carbon matter. Instead, I want to make two quick points.
First, the political debate that is roiling the world has nothing to do with the “west.” This is a cultural battle of north versus south.
At this point, there are approximately 65 million people forcibly displaced by conflict and persecution. The majority of them come from countries south of Europe and the U.S. They, along with those in pursuit of better economic or family opportunities, leave the south to seek refuge in the north. A perfectly human response that any person in the north who wants to survive would mimic under the same circumstances. Even Steve King and David Duke.
To state the obvious, the U.S. and Europe are grappling with these dynamics in a politically painful fashion. But, within the pain and anxiety, a truth has emerged. Which gets to my second point.
King and Duke prove that America’s immigration debate is about culture and values, not politics and policy.
Let me put it another way. Steve King, the leader of America’s anti-immigrant movement, isn’t worried about immigrants taking jobs. He is worried about babies who are brown.
The thing is, Steve King does not represent conservative America on the issue of migration and the cultural change that comes with it.
Over the course of 2016, I interviewed 60 faith, law enforcement and business leaders across the country. The majority of whom were socially or politically conservative.
What I found, first and foremost, is that people are grappling with these difficult questions of culture change in an honest way. From pastors in South Carolina to law enforcement in Indiana to growers in rural eastern Washington, they realized America’s identity crisis was something they needed to help resolve.
Of the dozens of pastors, police chiefs and business owners, I interviewed, they all vote Republican — some of them even voted for Trump — but Steve King does not represent them on this question.
So, okay, when it comes to Steve King and David Duke, haters gonna hate. There is no changing their minds. Nor the minds of their ardent followers.
But as I found through my interviews that will be known as my first book, There Goes the Neighborhood (hitting bookshelves on April 4), the difference between those who relive the past and those who make the future cuts across racial, social and political lines in a profound way.
Steve King and David Duke are reliving a past they will never reach.
The rest of us have an incredible opportunity to cut across the political lines we are given to make a better future.


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|[ Messages Posted (Marathon's Story Forum): 1
Most Recent Post: 6/29/18 11:57 a.m. ]
Young halo fan that always plays the original trilogy. Just found out about Marothon, read the story, and now want to know the real deapth of the game. No idea what im doing.


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NeoCell Super Collagen +C Type 1 & 3 120 tablets
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- Persons taking this supplement often see visible improvements within 3 weeks
Super Collagen + CTM Type 1 & 3: The word "collagen" is derived from the word kolla the Greek word for glue. Collagen is the strong fiber that weaves throughout our body for strength and support to literally hold the body together similar to glue yet stronger than steel wire. Daily the body repeats a cycle of collagen breakdown and rebuilding. As we age the process changes and it is estimated that since the body slows down in the rebuilding phases the body loses collagen at a rate of 1.5% per year from age 25 onwards. This collagen breakdown is what causes most visible signs of aging including wrinkles sagging skin joint pain and brittle nails.
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The benefits of supplementing with Super CollagenTM are twofold: the body is nourished with Collagen 1 & 3 where it is deficient and then Super CollagenTM acts as a messenger to trigger the synthesis of new collagen fibers. Super CollagenTM is derived from pharmaceutical food grade bovine collagen that is extracted from the dermal layer. Super CollagenTM is then enzymatically hydrolyzed providing a collagen amino acid ration with a low molecular weight for maximum bioavailability. Because Super Collagen genetically parallels the amino acid structure of our own body's collagen persons taking Super Collagen will experience a 90% absorption rate into the blood stream where cellular changes occur.
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Supplement FactsServing Size: 6 tablets
Servings per Container: 20
Directions for Use: As a dietary supplement, take 3 tablets twice daily preferably on an empty stomach for maximum absoption and wait 30 minutes before eating.
- Amount per Serving% Daily Value
Collagen Type 1 & 36000mg*
* Daily value not established
These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Super Collagen Type 1 & 3 derived from pharmaceutical food grade bovine collagen, Vitamin C (as calcium ascorbate), vegetable magnesium stearate (as an anti-caking agent).
Does not contain soy, wheat, lactose, starch, yeast or artificial flavors. Gluten Free.

domain: chemistry