text:
Subscriber login

Welcome to our new site. You will need to reset your password if this is your first time logging in. Please click here to reset your password.
Letters to the Editor
What you need to know for 01/24/2017

Look at GOP’s voting record in Congress on women’s issues

Look at GOP’s voting record in Congress on women’s issues

*Look at GOP’s voting record in Congress on women’s issues *Moms can’t pick which laws they want to

Look at GOP’s voting record in Congress on women’s issues

Re Timothy J. Gaffney Sr.’s Aug. 9 letter about the “war on women”: Is he kidding me?

Mr. Gaffney chooses to blame the Democrats for the “war on women” by simply blaming the bad behavior of a few elected officials. And, yes, there are elected officials on both sides who have exhibited bad behavior and poor judgment when it comes to women. But their personal indiscretions did not affect an entire gender, and their behavior did not legislate the treatment, or lack, of that gender.

[Consider] the “Anti-Women Voting Record of the U.S. House of Representatives 112th Congress” as published by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Minority staff in September 2012.

The report outlines “the number of times the Republican-controlled House has voted to undermine women’s health, to roll back women’s rights, and to defund programs and institutions that provide health care and support for women.”

u 17 votes to allow health insurance companies to discriminate against women.

u 11 votes that cut women’s access to preventive care.

u 10 votes to restrict or roll back abortion rights or access to legal abortion.

u Seven votes to cut funding for key nutrition programs for women.

u Six votes against protections for women from violence and discrimination.

u Three votes to block access to reproductive and maternal care services.

u Three votes to undermine Medicare and Medicaid programs.

u 14 votes to weaken environmental laws that protect pregnant women.

These votes against women and women’s rights affect the lives of every woman in this country, and not just a few who have engaged in extracurricular activities with narcissistic politicians. They also affect the lives of their children and families. The GOP repeatedly voted against bills like the Violence Against Women Act, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the Paycheck Fairness Act and many others that directly affect women’s welfare, health and livelihood.

The GOP record speaks for itself and clearly shows how they really feel about women.

Denise Turgeon

Moms can’t pick which laws they want to obey

I was struck by the compassionate remarks of funeral director Susan Daly in the Aug. 11 Gazette regarding stillbirth deaths.

Daly speaks about babies dying prior to birth and explains that her funeral home is called upon to make arrangements for some of these infants when they die following 21 weeks of gestation.

I find such comments surprising, given that Daly Funeral Home was one of several Schenectady businesses rallying outside Proctors in April [April 4 Gazette] expressing support for Gov. Cuomo’s “women’s equality agenda,” an agenda that included expansion of late-term abortion. The governor’s agenda, which thankfully did not pass, would have allowed abortion for virtually any reason after 24 weeks of pregnancy.

It seems inconsistent to mourn the loss of an unborn child at eight months’ gestation, and help families to properly grieve such a loss, while cheerleading for a bill that would have enabled the death of infants at that very same stage of development.

As a society, we need to come to terms with the fact that a baby is a baby is a baby, and we cannot say it is a baby when a mother desires a child, yet pretend it is not a baby when the infant is unwanted or unplanned. He or she is the same human organism, deserving of our respect, and worthy of the protection of the law.

Kathleen Gallagher

The writer is the director of pro-life activities for the New York State Catholic Conference.

Prenatal memorial gardens not really new

I read the Aug. 11 article, “Taken too soon.” I am a women’s health care provider with over 35 years experience as a registered nurse in the delivery room and, most recently, as a certified nurse midwife.

Back in the late ‘70s, I became interested in the issues surrounding prenatal bereavement and the need to shed more light on the needs of women and their families during the trauma of stillbirth. I was very happy to see the article in your paper [allowing] the public to become more educated about what is still a somewhat taboo subject.

However, while the article states the memory garden at Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery is one of the first in the country, this is not necessarily true. I am from Long Island, and down there the memorial garden concept that is referenced has existed in Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury for over 10 years.

In addition, the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System also has a memorial garden, where memory bricks can be placed for those have had a loss.

It’s good to see that the concept is taking hold up here in the Capital Region also.

Margaret E. Priola

Letters Policy

The Gazette wants your opinions on public issues.

There is no strict word limit, though letters under 200 words are preferred.

All letters are subject to editing for length, style and fairness, and we will run no more than one letter per month from the same writer.

Please include your signature, address and day phone for verification.

For information on how to send, see bottom of this page.

For more letters, visit our Web site: www.dailygazette.com.

View Comments
Hide Comments
You have 0 articles 1 articles 2 articles 3 articles 4 articles 5 articles 6 articles 7 articles remaining of Daily Gazette free premium content.

You have reached your monthly premium content limit.

Continue to enjoy Daily Gazette premium content by becoming a subscriber.
Already a subscriber? Log In


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Type: response

text:
Please note our soft play area will remain closed until Spring 2017- visit our News section for more details.

LEGO Racers Build and Test

The Ultimate Indoor LEGO Playground

Family fun with 3 rides, 10 LEGO build & play zones, a 4D cinema & much more!

Buy Tickets

Watch the video

Thought bubble boy

Things to do

Enter your email and we'll send you the latest news and offers!

warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-04
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for January 2017
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


WARC-Truncated: length

text:
Spritual Discouragement

Isn’t this angel statue among the roses just gorgeous?  This is located on our school grounds in a courtyard/grotto dedicated to the victims of abortion.

About a week ago, I changed my wallpaper on my computer from spring flowers to this angel.  I’ve been in kind of a funk, mentally and a bit spiritually as well.  Is anyone else suffering in such a way?

I’m sure it’s the devil trying to discourage or distract me.  Burdens that I could normally overlook or tolerate have seemed heavier than usual.  The final straw for me was learning that not one – but both of our priests at our parish are being transferred within 30 days of each other.  The news just seemed to turn my world upside down.

I know that us parishioners are supposed to follow Christ through the guidance of Holy Mother Church, and not a priest – a human being.   Our priests are really awesome, though, and that makes it hard to let them go.  Under their leadership, the masses have taken on such a reverent tone – completely focused on Christ’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament.

I think that our Catholic traditions and liturgy are so beautiful.  I am a traditionalist – I would love to have Latin mass said every so often, and would love to see the return of the Communion rail. It’s so wonderful when one’s personal outlook on religion matches that of their priest(s).  It’s a real blessing!

Society in general right now goes against everything that we hold sacred and dear.  Do you ever feel that we are all alone in this fight?  Do you ever begin to despair that things will never get better?  Usually, the truth that the battle has already been won by Jesus consoles me, but I haven’t been able to wrap my brain around that lately.

The one thing I do know is that we are not in this alone.  God is always with us.  I’ve been blessed that throughout my sadness, I have not been spiritually dry – I have been able to feel God’s presence.  I am so grateful that He has not taken that from me. Let us all pray for hope and consolation despite the darkness of this world – despite our personal losses.  God have mercy on us and grant us Your peace!

About danardoyle

I am a Catholic, working wife and mother. I have three children ages 10, 16 and 23. I am extremely busy, as you can imagine. I aim each and every day to put God first in my life, to teach my children the Faith, to be a supportive spouse, keep the house in order, and do my job outside of the home well, too. That's an impossible task - without Divine intervention! Here, I hope to share my triumphs and struggles with other working moms in the same boat. I will share the tools I have discovered to making it all work - most days!
This entry was posted in Blessed Sacrament, eucharist, faith, Prayer and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Spritual Discouragement

  1. Sue Elvis says:

    The statue of the angel is so beautiful. You really are blessed in where you work.

    I’m so sorry to hear your priests are being transferred. I know we shouldn’t get attached to our priests but we do love them and appreciate the way they bring beauty and meaning to the celebration of the Sacraments.

    I remember when I heard that one of our past parish priests was leaving. I couldn’t believe it. Mass had been such a ‘safe’ and beautiful place to attend because of his humble and caring and obedient attitude. Who would replace him? Would we have to worry about losing our traditional Mass? I thought at the time, “Nothing ever stays the same for very long… except God.”

    We have had our present parish priest for quite some years now and I guess we will have to say goodbye eventually. God will look after us even if things aren’t quite to our liking.

    Alone in the fight? I have just spent a few days at a homeschool camp with dear friends. We were able to listen to the spiritual talks of Fr Joseph who is a Franciscan of the Immaculate. Fr has such a devotion and love for Mary. I came home renewed in my own devotion. Friends to share with, Mary to look after us, God… Dana, we are not alone even though it feels that way at times. I am keeping you in my prayers too. Only a little thing but I do think of you often and pray.

    I’d better stop before I write a blog post in your comments section!

    God bless you my friend!

    • danardoyle says:

      You are so funny, Sue! It is so nice of you to write such a long, thoughtful response. Thank you for the prayers. I am feeling better already. I am so fortunate to work at such a beautiful place. It makes going to work a joy. I am so happy that you got to go to a conference that helped you to feel spiritually renewed! What an awesome experience! God’s blessings to you and to yours!

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s


text:
Maria “No Excuses” Kang Has Found Some Excuses

You Forgot Your BullshitYou may remember Maria Kang from her fifteen minutes of “What’s Your Excuse” fame.

Now, like so many diet peddlers before her, Maria’s gained some weight and is not only making excuses about it, but also trying to co-opt the language of Size Acceptance.  I wrote about it for Ravishly and talked about culture, compassion, and co-opting. You can check it out at:

Did you miss the
Fat Activism Conference?
It’s not too late!

You can still register to get access to all the recordings, transcripts, speaker handouts, and the conference goody bag! Get recordings of all 30 speakers talking about everything from Re-Imagining Fashion from an Inclusive Framework” to “Activism for the Introverted and Anxious” to “Building Fat Patient Power While Accessing Healthcare” and more. The pay what you can option is still available so that money is not a barrier.

Click Here to Register!

Registration closes October 9th (though of course you’ll have time after that to listen and download.)

Like this blog?  Here’s more cool stuff:

Become a Member! For ten bucks a month you can support fat activism and get deals from size positive businesses as a thank you.  Click here for details

Book and Dance Class Sale!  I’m on a journey to complete an IRONMAN triathlon, and I’m having a sale on all my books, DVDs, and digital downloads to help pay for it. You get books and dance classes, I get spandex clothes and bike parts. Everybody wins! If you want, you can check it out here!

Book Me!  I’d love to speak to your organization. You can get more information here or just e-mail me at ragen at danceswithfat dot org!

I’m training for an IRONMAN! You can follow my journey at

If you are uncomfortable with my offering things for sale on this site, you are invited to check out this post.

Published in: on October 6, 2016 at 9:40 am  Comments (8)

8 CommentsLeave a comment

  1. Hm. So she’s allowed to have excuses but everyone else isn’t?

    Seems legit. Not.

  2. Jillian’s company had to do that, too; switch from the f-bomb-dropping “tough love” act to hawking their products with sappy fake body positivity about loving yourself at your natural size (as long as you continue to pay their fitness company for the privilege) after its paying customers noticed they weren’t becoming thin. Don’t worry; when this round of customers realizes they’re never going to and leaves, bringing in a new round of dewey-eyed youngsters who haven’t yet been shit on enough to recognize the smell, they’ll return to form. Until those customers realize they’ve been sold snake oil and get jaded, too. So the cycle goes. It’s how reduction companies stay in business.

  3. Apropos to the no excuses tough love nonsense, have you seen this awesome thing?

    It is an awesome thing! 🙂

    • Whoa, the whole comic reposted?! I didn’t know it would do that when I put in the link. Did I err?

      • Well, I appreciated it!

      • I’m so glad it worked that way, because it is AWESOME.

        Thank you for this! I was sad and just about to cry from the whole debacle, and this just made me feel so much better.

    • This comic is gold! 😀

    • I love it. Awesome Awesome.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Logo

You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this:


text:
Cropping a YouTube video before adding to Moodle

in April 2011 I blogged about how it is possible to use a service called TubeChop to crop a YouTube video and then embed it into PowerPoint, and this has been one of my most viewed posts on my blog.

I used to use TubeChop as well when embedding a video into a VLE such as Moodle or Blackboard, but have found that it hasn’t always worked, and doesn’t work on iphones/ipads etc as it plays as flash only – so I have found another far more reliable way of cropping a YouTube video before adding it to Moodle, by simply editing the embed code for the video. This technique works really well when accessing videos via Moodle on a mobile device, which I think is going to become a massive feature in the next few years.

The video below will show how to do this (apologies for the poorer than usual sound quality)

In summary:

  1. When we select the embed code we untick all of the option boxes below it.
  2. We copy and paste the embed code into something where we can edit it (e.g. word, notepad)
  3. We find the text “rel=0” and after it add “;start=xxx;end=yyy” where xxx is the number of seconds at which you wish to start the video, and yyy is the number of seconds at which you wish to end the video.

There are lots of uses for this technique – often when watching a YouTube video, you don’t want to show all of it, so cropping the bit that you want makes the process more efficient. You can also use videos as part of Moodle Quizzes, either in the question, the answer choices (it using multiple choice) or in the feedback. So if you find a video of something relevant to your area, you can crop it to just play a few seconds – then ask a question based on what the student has just seen, or have cropped videos in each of the answer choices (e.g. question could be which of the following videos shows the correct technique for ….) then show 4 videos clips, with one correct and 3 incorrect.

I am also a big fan of when using video, we need to instruct the learners what they are doing with it – e.g. asking them to observe something in particular, or critique the video, or watch the video then answer these questions… By breaking a video up using the cropping idea, we can easily add these textual instructions between the clips, rather than just dumping a whole video on the VLE for them to watch without a clear purpose.

This technique works really well with anything that allows iframes to be embedded (e.g. Moodle). It therefore may not work with Blackboard (in which case TubeChop may be still required). I also haven’t too date worked out how to get this to work in PowerPoint – so again for that I am stilling using TubeChop.

3 Responses

  1. that’s not cropping. That’s slicing my friend!

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Logo

You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this:


text:
robertoslttle4001 does not yet have a blog

The user does not have a blog yet, there is nothing to read here.

You may want to motivate him to start writing about his life desires

You can check his profile page instead, here: robertoslttle4001

Background color
Background image
Border Color
Font Type
Font Size


text:
Xiciljed does not yet have a blog

The user does not have a blog yet, there is nothing to read here.

You may want to motivate him to start writing about his life desires

You can check his profile page instead, here: Xiciljed

Background color
Background image
Border Color
Font Type
Font Size


text:
you does not yet have a blog

The user does not have a blog yet, there is nothing to read here.

You may want to motivate him to start writing about his life desires

You can check his profile page instead, here: you

Background color
Background image
Border Color
Font Type
Font Size


text:
General Collections - Browse

[Toscanini and Gillis]
Photograph of three men identified as Don Gillis (far right), Arturo Toscanini (middle) and an unidentified man on the far left. Gillis is wearing a light-colored suit and the other two men are wearing dark clothing. There appear to be music stands organized behind them.
[Photograph: Arturo Toscanini and Don Gillis]
Photograph of Arturo Toscanini and Don Gillis. Toscanini is on the left in a dark suit, with his hands behind his back. Gillis is on the right in a lighter-colored suit and necktire, leaning on his right elbow.
[Don Gillis standing]
Photograph of Don Gillis, standing, facing right. Gillis is wearing a short-sleeved plaid shirt in front of a wooded area.
[Portrait of Don Gillis]
Black-and-white portrait of Don Gillis in a suit jacket and necktie, and thick-rimmed glasses. Gillis is facing somewhat angled to the right.


text:
UNT College of Visual Arts + Design - Browse

[Metropolitan Museum of Art]

Description: Photograph of a sculpture exhibit in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, New York. In the foreground, a two-story exhibition hall is visible filled with brown pedestals displaying small sculptures. Two stories of colonnaded archways are visible in the background.
Date: unknown
Creator: Gough, Ray


text:
Free Audio Books

Librivox logo image

LibriVox provides free audiobooks from the public domain. There are several options for listening.

Internet Archive Audio Archive Includes old radio shows,  non-English radio shows, Live Music Archive, the Grateful Dead, Radio News

Free Classic AudioBooks: Here you can find numerous classics that have been recorded and are offered free of charge to you online.

Open Culture:  Get recordings of thousands of books on MP3 by taking a look at the offerings provided here.Open culture

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Logo

You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s


text:
City Bowling

village Fontanka, Staronikolaevskaya doroga, 101-a
Type of facility: Bowling, Karaoke, Bar
Working hours: round-the-clock

The entertainment complex City Bowling is one of the largest bowling centers of Ukraine’s south. It is situated on the first floor of the trade and entertainment center Riviera Shopping City.

Sixteen professional bowling lanes, two of which are suitable for children, and eight modern billiard tables are installed there.

City Bowling’s territory also includes a karaoke bar with more than 30 000 sound records and a disco bar. The menu features European and Japanese dishes.

Average rating
Ratings: 31

Click here to rate
Write a Review


text:
Employee Alumni
  • Content count

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

jbignert last won the day on August 15 2015

jbignert had the most liked content!

Community Reputation

461 So Good You're Evil

About jbignert

  • Birthday

Recent Profile Visitors

18,444 profile views
  1. Your reply in a thread about the gaps in clipping from Facebook threads caught my eye. I am doing a lot of things outside of evernote in the custom API world as I have found some success in custom databases leveraging podio instead of a standard CRM. That being said - Evernote is the backbone of my resource collection / access and ties into everything I, clients, and many others do on a daily basis.

    I am learning to code - but also reaching out to people that seem to understand the game of problem/solution/market - and would love to at least open up a dialogue on what problems you are currently solving and what areas you are most interested in.

  2. Hello jbignert, can you please tell me how to undo - remove formatting; i clicked it without knowing what it does; now all my highlighted text is gone . please help

  3. There are 2 separate settings for Related results. 1) Related results - show related results when you search the web = this controls the widget on Google search pages. 2) After clip - 3 options on how the dialog displays. Pick the one without Related results. URL is always saved as note data. Different Evernote clients show the URL in different places. Hope that helps.
  4. You should try installing version 6.1 available here https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/evernote-web-clipper/versions/that should take care of the problem.
  5. safari

    Typically this happens after you update OSX or Safari and a system restart usually takes care of it. Also check this setting that Safari frequently change when you've updated Safari. https://www.evernote.com/l/AAw98_uhg8RJtpGAUscwg4eXJo2vcCwZtls
  6. There's no download location for legacy versions of the Web Clipper. Web Clipper version 6.6 should work on Safari 6 and up. I don't think your OS version matters much but I cannot say for sure since we no longer test on it.
  7. If you update to version 6.1from here https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/evernote-web-clipper/versions/that issue will go away.
  8. Yes it's possible. On Mac you right click the screenshot image with annotations on and select 'Annotate this image' similar steps on Windows.
  9. safari

    Clipped webpages are permanently saved and independent of what happens to the source webpage.
  10. Bug fixes to Outlook Clipper are coming in the next Windows update. I'll post back here once it gets available as a beta update.
  11. Web Clipper 6.6 is the latest release. Safari 5 & 10.6.8 are no longer supported so I recommend getting more recent updates installed. Can't really explain why it disappeared though.
  12. To clip the URL only you should choose the 'Bookmark' option.
  13. Thx LAX for the report. We're investigating this, I'll report back here when we have more info.
  14. We'll investigate this report. In general we no longer officially support Outlook 2007 so my first recommendation is to update to Outlook 2010 or higher. But if we find a clear fix we'll include it in the next Windows update.


text:
Washington v. Ryan et al

Filing 12

ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION. Magistrate Judge Irwin's 10 Report and Recommendation is accepted; Petitioner Washington's Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus 1 is denied; the Clerk shall terminate this action; in the event Petitioner files an appeal, the Court declines to issue a Certificate of Appealability because reasonable jurists would not find the Court's procedural ruling debatable. Signed by Judge G Murray Snow on 4/3/12. (REW)

Download PDF
1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Harry Leon Washington, Plaintiff, 10 11 vs. 12 Charles L. Ryan, et al., 13 Defendants. 14 ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) No. CV-10-1680-PHX-GMS ORDER 15 16 17 Pending before this Court is a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus filed by Petitioner 18 Harry Leon Washington. (Doc. 1). Magistrate Judge Jay R. Irwin issued a Report and 19 Recommendation (“R & R”) recommending that the Court deny the petition with prejudice. 20 Petitioner has objected to the R & R. (Docs. 10–11). For the following reasons, the Court 21 accepts the R & R, and denies the petition. 22 BACKGROUND 23 Petitioner was convicted of second degree murder on July 8, 1991 in Maricopa County 24 Superior Court. (Doc. 1 at 1; Doc. 8, Ex. A at 2). At that time of trial Petitioner’s defense 25 attorney was Edward J. Susse. (Doc. 1 at 6, Doc. 11 at 2). On August 16, 1991 Petitioner was 26 sentenced to life with the possibility of release after serving 25 years. (Doc. 8, Ex. A at 3). 27 Petitioner filed an appeal with the Arizona Court of Appeals on March 4, 1992 which was 28 denied on March 16, 1993. (Id., Exs. A, O). On June 24, 1993, Petitioner requested review 1 from the Arizona Supreme Court. (Id., Ex. Q). That request was denied on October 22, 1993. 2 (Id., Ex. B). Petitioner did not seek review by the United States Supreme Court. (Doc. 1 at 3 3; Doc. 10 at 2:11). 4 I. Post-Conviction Relief Proceedings 5 Petitioner filed four petitions for post-conviction relief (“PCR”). Petitioner filed his 6 first PCR petition on August 13, 1992 and later withdrew that petition. (Doc. 8, Exs. C–D). 7 On March 21, 1997, Petitioner filed a second petition for PCR which was dismissed in June 8 of 1997. (Id., Exs. H & M at 2). Because an exact date for that dismissal is not provided, it 9 is deemed as dismissed on June 30, 1997. (Doc. 10 at 2:23–25). 10 In March 1998, Petitioner’s family retained Joseph Collins to represent him. (Doc. 1 11 at 5; Doc. 11 at 1). Petitioner filed a third PCR petition on July 27, 1998. (Doc. 8, Ex. N). It 12 was dismissed on November 6, 1998. (Id., Ex. J). On June 9, 2000, Mr. Collins filed 13 Petitioner’s fourth PCR petition which was dismissed on August 20, 2001. (Doc. 8, Exs. 14 K–L). 15 II. Present Proceeding 16 Petitioner states that he contacted the Arizona Justice Project (“Project”) in December 17 2000 and the Project took his case in 2001. (Doc. 11 at 1; Doc. 1 at 11). The Project 18 ultimately closed review of the case on July 15, 2010, stating there was “no new evidence 19 or information with which to approach a court and seek to have [his] conviction overturned 20 and a new trial granted.” (Id., Ex. 1). 21 On August 9, 2010, Petitioner filed this petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 22 28 U.S.C. § 2254. (Doc. 1 at 1). He asserts the following grounds for relief: ineffective 23 assistance of trial counsel in failing to investigate allegations against him and in negotiating 24 the plea agreement, improper jury instructions, and denial of his right to have a jury find 25 “elements of aggrevation [sic] later to be used against defendant at sentencing. ” (Id. at 6–9). 26 On October 3, 2011, Magistrate Judge Irwin issued an R & R recommending that the Petition 27 be dismissed with prejudice as untimely. (Doc. 10). On October 18, 2011, Petitioner filed 28 objections to the R & R. (Doc. 11). -2- 1 2 DISCUSSION I. Legal Standard 3 The writ of habeas corpus affords relief to persons in custody in violation of the 4 Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States. 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c)(3). Such petitions are 5 governed by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”). 28 6 U.S.C. § 2244. 7 A. 8 Under AEDPA, petitions for habeas corpus are governed by a one-year statute of 9 limitations. See Pace v. DiGuglielmo, 544 U.S. 408, 410 (2005) (AEDPA “establishes a 10 1-year statute of limitations for filing a federal habeas corpus petition”) (citing 28 U.S.C. § 11 2244(d)(1)). The limitation period begins to run when the state conviction becomes 12 final—either “upon ‘the conclusion of direct review or the expiration of the time for seeking 13 such review.’” White v. Klitzkie, 281 F.3d 920, 923 (9th Cir. 2002) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 14 2244(d)(1)(A)). Statute of Limitations under AEDPA 15 “State prisoners . . . whose convictions became final prior to AEDPA’s enactment [on 16 April 24, 1996], had a one-year grace period in which to file their petitions.” Patterson v. 17 Stewart, 251 F.3d 1243, 1245 (9th Cir. 2001). Under Rule 6(a), “that one-year grace period 18 . . . ended on April 24, 1997 in the absence of statutory tolling.” Id. at 1246; Fed. R. Civ. 19 Pro. 6(a). 20 1. Statutory Tolling of the Limitations Period 21 The one-year limitation period is statutorily tolled during any time in which a 22 “properly filed” state petition for post-conviction relief is “pending” before the state court, 23 and “must be tolled for the entire period in which a petitioner is appropriately pursuing and 24 exhausting his state remedies.” 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2); Nino v. Galaza, 183 F.3d 1003, 1004 25 (9th Cir. 1999). The period is not tolled between the final decision of a state appeal and 26 subsequent challenges “because there is no case ‘pending’ during that interval.” Nino, 183 27 F.3d at 1006. 28 2. Equitable Tolling of the Limitations Period -3- 1 In certain limited circumstances, AEDPA’s one-year filing deadline may be equitably 2 tolled. See Holland v. Florida, 130 S. Ct. 2549, 2590 (2010). A petitioner is entitled to 3 equitable tolling if he can demonstrate that “(1) he has been pursuing his rights diligently, 4 and (2) that some extraordinary circumstance stood in his way” to prevent his timely filing. 5 Pace, 544 U.S. at 418; Ramirez v. Yates, 571 F.3d 993, 997 (9th Cir. 2009) (quoting Bryant 6 v. Ariz. Atty. Gen., 499 F.3d 1056, 1061 (9th Cir. 2007)). For instance, equitable tolling is 7 available “where an attorney’s misconduct is sufficiently egregious,” such as where an 8 attorney refuses to file a petition at the client’s request or when the attorney abandons the 9 client. Spitsyn v. Moore, 345 F.3d 796, 800 (9th Cir. 2003); Holland, 130 S. Ct. at 2568 10 (Alito, J., concurring). Equitable tolling is also available where a petitioner is denied access 11 to his case file for an extended period of time. Lott v. Mueller, 304 F.3d 918, 924 (9th Cir. 12 2002). Nevertheless, “the threshold necessary to trigger equitable tolling [under AEDPA] is 13 very high, lest the exceptions swallow the rule.” Spitsyn, 345 F.3d at 799 (quoting Miranda 14 v. Castro, 292 F.3d 1063, 1066 (9th Cir. 2002)). Equitable tolling is not available “in non- 15 capital cases where attorney negligence has caused [an untimely] filing of a petition.” 16 Spitsyn, 345 F.3d at 800. See also Lawrence v. Florida, 549 U.S. 327, 336 (2007) (equitable 17 tolling not available merely because of a counsel’s ordinary negligence, such as 18 “miscalculating the limitations period”). 19 II. Analysis 20 Judge Irwin’s R & R recommends that the Court deny the Petition because the 21 AEDPA statute of limitations has run. The R & R states that Petitioner’s limitations period 22 was statutorily tolled while Petitioner had pending PCR petitions. (Doc. 10 at 5:1–7). But 23 after those petitions were dismissed, the one-year statute of limitations began to run again 24 and expired on August 23, 1999. (Id. at 5:11–12). The limitations period should not be 25 equitably tolled because Petitioner’s pro se status and his former counsel’s decision not to 26 file a habeas petition were not extraordinary circumstances. (Id. at 5:5–8, 15–20). 27 Petitioner objects to the R & R, contending that his limitations period should have 28 been equitably tolled from August 1999 when his limitations period expired until August -4- 1 2010 when he filed his Petition—a period of eleven years. (Doc. 11). Petitioner requests 2 equitable tolling because (1) Joseph Collins, his counsel from 1998 until 2000, stopped 3 seeking post-conviction relief on his behalf; and because (2) Petitioner’s pro se status 4 inhibited him from conducting effective discovery. (Id. at 1, 5). Furthermore, Petitioner raises 5 substantive reasons for why his habeas claim has merit. (Id. at 6–10). Rule 72(b) provides 6 that the district judge “must determine de novo any part of the magistrate judge’s disposition 7 that has been properly objected to.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b)(3). 8 A. 9 Equitable Tolling 1. Representation by Joseph Collins 10 Petitioner states that the limitations period should be equitably tolled because in 2000 11 “Collins stopped his attempt with Petitioner’s PCR saying that he could not go forth.” (Doc. 12 11 at 1). However, Collins’s decision not to pursue further post-conviction relief after the 13 petition he filed was denied does not constitute an extraordinary circumstance that would toll 14 the limitations period. While a petitioner may be entitled to a reasonable length of equitable 15 tolling where he is “abandoned” by his attorney, Petitioner does not make such an allegation. 16 Holland, 130 S. Ct. at 2568 (Alito, J., concurring). Abandonment, consists of “near-total 17 failure to communicate with petitioner or to respond to petitioner’s many inquiries and 18 requests.” Id. at 2568. Petitioner does not contend that Collins was engaged to pursue 19 additional post-conviction relief or file a habeas petition, or that Collins refused such 20 requests. Moreover, Petitioner states that the Project took Petitioner’s case in 2001. (Doc. 11 21 at 2). Even if Collins’s conduct was sufficiently egregious to equitably toll Petitioner’s 22 limitations period during the two years he represented Petitioner, such conduct would not 23 continue to equitably toll Plaintiff’s limitations period during the subsequent nine years that 24 he was represented by the Project. 2. 25 Petitioner’s Pro Se Status 26 Petitioner also seeks equitable tolling on the grounds that it was difficult for him as 27 a pro se plaintiff to discover the conduct by his trial counsel that allegedly entitles him to 28 relief: -5- 1 2 3 4 By going to trial unprepared . . . [Petitioner’s trial counsel] was ineffective. This fact was only made clear after such diligence as 19 years of struggle with no money by Petitioner. If it had not been for the Justice Project . . . this truth would still be masked. (Doc. 11 at 5). 5 The attorneys at the Project did not, however, pursue a habeas claim; and they closed 6 Petitioner’s case after determining there was no new evidence to bring before a court to 7 review his sentence or conviction. (Doc. 1, Ex. 1). Petitioner does not allege that the 8 attorneys at the Project were negligent or that their conduct was egregious. Moreover, even 9 if Petitioner’s conclusory allegation that he pursued his rights diligently for 19 years is true, 10 he has not alleged any extraordinary circumstance which prevented him from filing his 11 petition earlier. See Pace, 544 U.S. at 418 (equitable tolling available when petitioner is both 12 diligent in pursuing rights and had extraordinary circumstances preventing earlier filing). His 13 pro se status in itself does not amount to an extraordinary circumstance. Robinson v. Kramer, 14 588 F.3d 1212, 1216 (9th Cir. 2009) (citing Felder v. Johnson, 204 F.3d 168 (5th Cir. 2000)); 15 see also Fisher v. Johnson, 174 F.3d 710, 714 (5th Cir. 2000) (“[I]gnorance of the law, even 16 for an incarcerated pro se petitioner, generally does not excuse prompt filing.”). 17 Petitioner has not demonstrated that either Collins or the Arizona Justice Project 18 abandoned him or failed to provide him with adequate legal representation. Petitioner has not 19 demonstrated extraordinary circumstances that would equitably toll his statute of limitations 20 for eleven years. 21 B. 22 Even if Plaintiff’s habeas Petition were not barred by AEDPA’s statute of limitations, 23 it would fail on substantive grounds. First, Petitioner cites Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 24 296 (2004) for the proposition that a jury must “prove every element” of a crime that may 25 subsequently be used to enhance a defendant’s sentence above the statutory maximum. (Doc. 26 11 at 6). Petitioner argues that under Blakely, a jury should have determined whether he used 27 a gun for the sentencing judge to enhance his sentence on that basis. (Id.). Petitioner was 28 sentenced in 1991, and Blakely was not decided until 2004. The rule in Blakely does not Substantive Grounds -6- 1 apply retroactively to Petitioner’s sentence. State v. Febles, 210 Ariz. 589, 595, 115 P.3d 2 629, 632 (App. 2005) (“Blakely only applies to cases not yet final when the opinion was 3 issued.”). 4 murder charge. (Doc. 11 at 2, 9). The record, however, reflects that Petitioner was found 5 guilty by a jury in Maricopa County Superior Court; there was no plea agreement. (Doc. 8, 6 Ex. A at 2–3). Second, Petitioner alleges that he was forced to sign a plea agreement on the 7 Petitioner lastly contends that he is entitled to relief under Glasser v. United States, 8 380 U.S. 415 (1965) and Douglas v. Alabama, 315 U.S. 60 (1942), superceded by statute on 9 other grounds by Bourjaily v. United States, 483 U.S. 171 (1987). In Glasser, the Supreme 10 Court held that a defendant’s counsel cannot concurrently represent a defendant and other 11 clients where doing so would create conflicts of interest. 315 U.S. at 76. Petitioner has not 12 made any showing that his trial counsel represented other clients during his representation 13 or that such representation created a conflict of interest. In Douglas, the Supreme Court 14 upheld a defendant’s right to cross-examine witnesses under the Confrontation Clause. 380 15 U.S. at 419. Petitioner does not allege that his trial attorney failed to cross-examine witnesses 16 or that he was denied the right to confront witnesses. 17 In sum, Petitioner has not shown that his trial proceedings were in violation of clearly 18 established federal law or were based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light 19 of the evidence presented. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1)–(2). 20 C. 21 When a habeas petition is denied on procedural grounds, the court may issue a 22 certificate of appealability (“COA”) if the applicant has “made a substantial showing of the 23 denial of constitutional right.” 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2). A COA is issued “if the prisoner 24 shows . . . that jurists of reason would find it debatable whether the petition states a valid 25 claim of the denial of a constitutional right, and . . . whether the district court was correct in 26 its procedural ruling.” Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 478 (2000). Given that Petitioner 27 filed this Petition eleven years after his one-year statute of limitations had run and that he has Certificate of Appealability 28 -7- 1 not presented facts suggesting the statute should have been equitably tolled, this Court finds 2 that reasonable jurists would not debate this Court’s procedural ruling. Therefore, a COA 3 will not be issued. 4 CONCLUSION 5 Petitioner’s one-year statute of limitations was statutorily tolled until August 23, 1999 6 and Petitioner filed this Petition on August 9, 2010. Petitioner is almost eleven years late with 7 this Petition, and he does not have an extraordinary circumstance to merit equitable tolling. 8 IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED: 9 1. Magistrate Judge Irwin’s R&R (Doc.10) is ACCEPTED. 10 2. Petitioner Washington’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (Doc. 1) is 11 DENIED. 12 3. The Clerk of Court shall TERMINATE this action. 13 4 Pursuant to Rule 11(a) of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases, in the event 14 Petitioner files an appeal, the Court declines to issue a certificate of appealability because 15 reasonable jurists would not find the Court’s procedural ruling debatable. See Slack v. 16 McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000). 17 DATED this 3rd day of April, 2012. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -8-

Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.

Why Is My Information Online?


text:
Thomas v. Ferguson et al

Filing 37

ORDER adopting 35 Report and Recommendations. Plaintiff's claims are dismissed without prejudice. Signed by Honorable Jimm Larry Hendren on October 11, 2011. (adw)

Download PDF
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS FAYETTEVILLE DIVISION JAMES PATRICK THOMAS v. PLAINTIFF Civil No. 09-5177 SHERIFF KEITH FERGUSON, et al. DEFENDANTS O R D E R Now on this 11th day of October, 2011, comes on for consideration the Magistrate Judge's Report And Recommendations ("R&R") (document #35). The Court has reviewed the R&R, and finds it sound in all respects. The R&R details the efforts of the Magistrate Judge to contact plaintiff, and plaintiff's failure to prosecute this action. Since the R&R was issued, the Clerk of Court has twice attempted to mail a copy of it to plaintiff, but mail was returned from both addresses. The R& R will, therefore, be adopted, and plaintiff's claims dismissed without prejudice for failure to prosecute and failure to follow a Court Order. IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the Magistrate Judge's Report And Recommendation (document #35) is adopted. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that plaintiff's claims are dismissed without prejudice. IT IS SO ORDERED. /s/ Jimm Larry Hendren JIMM LARRY HENDREN UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.

Why Is My Information Online?


text:
Filing 161

MOTION To Exclude Testimony of Daniel L Jackson filed by Yahoo! Inc, Overture Services, Inc. (dld)

Download PDF

Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.

Why Is My Information Online?


text:
Lietzke v. County of Montgomery et al

Filing 21

MEMORANDUM DECISION denying 11 Motion to Disqualify Judge. Signed by Magistrate Judge Evelyn J. Furse on 08/06/2012. (asp)

Download PDF
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF UTAH, CENTRAL DIVISION BILL LIETZKE, MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER Plaintiff, Case No. 2:12-CV-00268-DN-EJF v. COUNTY OF MONTGOMERY, ET AL, Defendants. District Judge David Nuffer Magistrate Judge Evelyn J. Furse Before the Court is Bill Lietzke’s (“Plaintiff”) Motion to Disqualify Magistrate Judge Evelyn J. Furse.1 28 U.S.C. § 455(a) provides that “[a]ny . . . magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify [her]self in any proceeding in which [her] impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”2 Section 455 sets forth an objective standard where the movant must show that a “reasonable person, knowing all the circumstances, would harbor doubts about the judge’s impartiality, and rumor, speculations, and the like do not suffice.” Green v. Branson, 108 F.3d 1296, 1305 (10th Cir. 1997). See In re McCarthey, 368 F.3d 1266, 1269 (10th Cir. 2004). As the Plaintiff has failed to provide any proper showing of personal bias or prejudice, no reasonable person, knowing all the relevant facts and circumstances would doubt this Court’s 1 See docket no. 11. 2 See 28 U.S.C. § 144: Whenever a party to any proceeding in a district court makes and files a timely and sufficient affidavit that the judge before whom the matter is pending has a personal bias or prejudice either against him or in favor of any adverse party, such judge shall proceed no further. impartiality in this case. As the Plaintiff has failed to cite to any facts that warrant disqualification, the Court DENIES Plaintiff’s motion to disqualify. SO ORDERED. DATED this 6th day of August, 2012. BY THE COURT: ________________________________ EVELYN J. FURSE United States Magistrate Judge 2

Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.

Why Is My Information Online?


text:
Thursday, July 05, 2012

My little cousin wears glasses. It was a big deal when they found out. I wiggled mine at her and tried to make them look like fun (and cool - ha!).
     She ended up with a lovely pink pair that looks fabulous on her. But oh, how I wish I could have given her a copy of ARLO NEEDS GLASSES by Barney Saltzberg when she was going through all that!
     Barney is the author/illustrator of over 30 picture books and this is his latest. I had the pleasure to ask him about it... (Contest info at the end.)

Q. Hi Barney - I love Arlo Needs Glasses - you've done it again! As an author and illustrator, can you tell my readers how you got into children's books?
A. I studied Art in college and after I graduated I went to take a class in Lithography. I was told about a wonderful picture book writing class taught by children's book author/illustrator, Barbara Bottner. I wrote a story in the class which Barbara brought to Harper and they purchased the book!

Q. Arlo is a pop-up book. Did that present special challenges for you?
A. I love to try and add something a little different if possible when I make a pop up/interactive book. It's one thing to have an idea for an interactive element, but I am not a paper engineer, so I have to see if the book designers can translate my ideas and my editors ideas into a working book.

Q. What is your illustration medium and how do you approach illustrating a story?
A. This book is what I called sloshed on acrylic paint. For some reason I started painting the characters after drawing them in pencil. Then I would cut each character out and paint in the background separately. Each character was then pasted down onto the background. I wanted to create a little more depth in the drawings and hoped this process would help. I also try to add something to the drawings that might not appear in the text. I think about illustrating a book in a similar way as to how one would take a picture. What is the exact moment you choose to snap a photo? What will best capture the moment and help the story along? It takes longer to illustrate a book than one would expect.

Q. Do the illustrations come first or the words?
A. For me, every book is different. Sometimes I write an entire story before drawing. Sometimes, I will draw and story and add the words afterwards. Other times, I start writing and drawing at the same time. It's always amazing how a particular drawing might give me an idea that I wouldn't have thought of, had I not 'seen' the character in my sketch book. Seeing a facial expression or noticing body language might get me to take the story in an entirely different direction.

Q. How does a story come to you? Is it fully formed - written quickly, or do you struggle with them?
A. Again, every book is different. I wrote a book, years ago, called Crazy Hair Day. I had the initial book idea and ending all at once. I spent years trying to figure out how to write the middle! For Arlo Needs Glasses, I knew that after attempting to play catch with my giant Golden Doodle, Arlo, that I wanted to write a book called, Arlo Can't Catch. I had originally made the book with thoughts about writing a traditional picture book. No publisher wanted the story. I had already made two interactive books, (Good Egg) and (Beautiful Oops) with Workman. My wonderful editor saw the book dummy and told me she wanted to publish the book as an interactive book. I was reluctant and she finally talked me in to this book. I'm glad I listened to her. What the published book looks like shares very little with what I had originally written. I would say the book went through at least five versions with many of my first ideas not making it into the finished book and some new ideas along the way that weren't there when I imagined writing a picture book.

Q. You've created over thirty books, including the awesome BEAUTIFUL OOPS! and GOOD EGG - that's quite prolific! Do you work with various editors, or just one house - how does that work out?
A. I try to have different publishers for different types of books. My last two interactive books with Workman are both sloshed on acrylic paint. That's a 'look' for Workman. I'm writing different types of picture books with other publishers. All of the editors are very understanding.

Q. Arlo makes a wonderful star of your book trailer. What kind of pooch is he?
A. Arlo is a 75 lb. GoldenDoodle. (Half golden retriever and half standard poodle. He's a wonderful dog!

Thanks so much for sharing, and congratulations!
Thank you for your wonderful questions. It was my pleasure to answer them.

Barney is also a singer songwriter which makes this book trailer absolutely adorable!!!

What has four eyes and four legs? Your dog in glasses! Share funny photo of your dog wearing glasses for a chance to win a signed copy of Arlo Needs Glasses by Barney Saltzberg. Be silly, but promise to not put your pup through too much embarrassment.
      Enter between June 25 — July 31 by posting your photo on your Pinterest board with the hashtag #ArloNeedsGlasses. Then follow Workman's board: www.pinterest.com/workmanpub. Workman will post the photos to the official "My Dog Needs Glasses!" board Pinterest.com/workmanpub/my-dog-needs-glasses.
      Five photos with the most likes and re-pins by July 31st will win an autographed copy of Arlo Needs Glasses. (Entrants must be U.S. residents.)

     The book comes with four pairs of glasses you or your dog can try on. Here's my entry - my dog Bernie wearing the Mad Scientist pair. Good boy!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...


text:
Rent Wild Wheels on DVD

Wild Wheels

1992 Rated NR 1hr 4m

Filmmaker Harrod Blank explores the wonderful, wacky world of art cars in this revealing look at some of the most amazing artworks on wheels and their quirky creators. Blank hits the road in his own art car (a zany VW Bug that cops can't resist pulling over), heading out on a wild journey that leads to the Hippo Car, a motorcycle trying to pass as a cow (the Cow-asaki), the Grass Car, the Wrought Iron Bug and more than 40 other art cars.

Rent DVDs for only $4.99 a month.

Cast: Casey Kasem

More like Wild Wheels

Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights American Muscle Car Great Cars: Ford Modern Marvels: Monster Trucks Hot Version International: JDM Racers Hollywood's Hot Wheels Speed Gone Wild: Deadly Decisions Speed Gone Wild: Killer Krashes The Fast and the Grimey Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf

Movie Details

Not rated. This movie has not been rated by the MPAA.
Bonus material
Screen formats

Full Screen 1.33:1

Closed captioned

Language and sound

English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Spanish (Neutral): Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo

Other features

Color; interactive menus; scene access; director's commentary.


text:
Nature deficit disorder, dysrationalia and Green Confucianism

Concerns about our fraying connection with nature, and the tricks our brains play on us are on the increase. But will this awareness merely help us exploit ourselves, each other and the planet more “efficiently”?

In the Feb 5/6 Australian Financial Review, a hack called Deirdre Macken has a piece called “Natural born thrillers.” In part it reads

Educators, urban planners, health professionals and environmentalists are beginning to examine the so-called nature deficit disorder and are finding that the absence of nature causes many modern anxieties. For children, in particular, a life lived indoors can stunt cognitive, emotional and social development.
The idea that we need nature to maintain mental and physical health is an extension of the belief that we need exercise and fresh food to remain healthy. It’s just a small step along the theory but it takes us into new territory.
According to Richard Louv’s book, The Last Child in the Woods, children don’t just benefit from nature, they need it. They need it for their emotional well being, for their sense of perspective, observation skills, creativity, risk-taking practice, observation skills and attention practice.

There is no doubt an element of “Pope still catholic” to this, at least for the kind of person who reads this blog. Meanwhile, Canadian biologist and all-round good guy David Suzuki (The Legacy, page 83) comes closer to the nub of the issue here… (emphasis added)

We should know that there are forces impinging on us that we will never understand or control. We need sacred places where we go with veneration rather than to seek resources or opportunity.

Because, y’see I’ve been reading a lot about “cognitive biases” and more recently about “nature deficit disorder”. And after a while I began to wonder – is this actually all about getting the human cogs in the Machine to run more reliably and “sustainably” (sic)?
Why are we worried about thinking straight, about urbanised Western infants getting their ration of redeeming and renewing capital N “Nature”? Are we just Green Confucians, advising the emperor on precisely how dry the peasants can be squeezed before they congregate with their pitchforks and their torches (mixed metaphor there, but you know what I mean).

Is this just another example of “improved means to unimproved ends?”

I suspect that my answer to this question is “yes”. I am very interested in other people’s answers. Please pitch in. And I do have an idea of what my “improved ends” would look like, but that’s a different blog post…

Another post on a similar theme – significant life experiences up the wazoo.
And another – Western Buddhism and the menage-a-moi

About dwighttowers

Below the surface...
This entry was posted in activism, apocalypse, framing, natural world and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Nature deficit disorder, dysrationalia and Green Confucianism

  1. Antonio Dias says:

    There’s a lot to sort out here!

    Yes, we need unmediated experience. That’s only available standing in a non-artificial environment and having to interact with it on its own terms. Doesn’t happen at Disneyland.

    Yes, any mention of any amelioration in the corporate media is part of the Good German/Green Confucian agenda. Anyone who goes “off the reservation” is immediately “discredited” and banished. There has to be a show of “both sides” presented to satisfy our low threshold for “fairness.” Once that’s met, it’s Business As Usual!

    This is one aspect of a widespread dynamic that I think is best addressed by beginning a conversation on the Traps of Futility. There is such a web connecting despair, depression, aggression, all the psychosis of modernity; with the fact that we are built to detect futility and turn away from it. Caught in a double-bind between our sense of futility and the culture’s insistence that we maintain so many functions we feel futile runs much of the friction we see.

    These are big topics. Looking forward to your further discoveries and thoughts.

  2. Pingback: Decruitment: sarcasm and social niceties «

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Logo

You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s