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Example essay on Osama bin Laden

Free example essay on Osama bin Laden:
Forty-five years ago, a new kind of evil was brought into this world. Osama bin Laden was born into a rich Saudi Arabian family, and he grew up to become a multimillionaire terrorist. He established at al-Qaeda, which is an Islamic terrorist organization. His actions and those of his followers have changed the world in a very frightening way.

On September 11,2001, members of his organization took action against our nation in the most unforgivable way imaginable. Although the events last year were against the United States, they will change the world for years to come. As a nation we have been scared, but we have also risen above it and pulled together. We are considered to be the strongest, most powerful and secure country in the world. But on that fateful day our sense of security was forever tarnished. It is tragic to think that any ignoramus who can learn how to crash a plane into a building could pose a potential threat to the world.

Osama bin Laden has implanted fear into the lives of all humankind, no longer do people feel safe getting onto an airplane or going in a restaurant or building that might be bombed or hit by another terrorist attack. If the most powerful country on earth is defenseless against this kind of strike, imagine how easily any small country could crumble and fall at the mercy of a lunatic like Osama. Continue reading Example essay on Osama bin Laden

Example essay on Racism

Free example essay on Racism:
The texts Mississippi Burning directed by Alan Parker, A Time To Kill by Joel Schumacher and Ghosts Of Mississippi by Rob Reiner explore the mistreatment of Negroes living in America`s South with a non-racist view. The three tests all explore the theme of racism and Negroes trying to reach the equilibrium with the white communities of Mississippi.

Parker`s Mississippi Burning is based on the Ku Klux Klan`s murders of three civil rights workers in 1964. A Time To Kill by Joel Schumacher is about a Negro Father who takes the law into his own hands after the legal system fails to condemn the two white men who raped and beat his daughter. Rob Reiner`s Ghost Of Mississippi is a true story about a white supremacist accused of the murder of NAACP officer Medgar Evers, 30 years after he was shot down in his driveway. Racism, Negroes gaining power and cinematic symbolism are all evident in the three texts, which made the films entertaining and also made the viewer feel quite empathetic towards the Negro`s. Continue reading Example essay on Racism

Example essay on iPad

Free example essay on iPad:
Technological advancements shape the trends that manufacturers are taking in manufacture of electronic devices. One such company is Apple that has manufactured a device that enables its users experience the web, video, photos and email in a totally different and new way. Apple Company has designed an iPad with strong built in applications that efficiently takes advantage of the multi touch screen, and complex and advanced functionalities of the device. The device allows the users to work in any orientation and therefore allow the user to experience what they can not enjoy on any other device. The device is generally marketed for visual and audio media platform like periodicals, audio books, games, movies and music. Continue reading Example essay on iPad

Natural Resource Management essay example

Free example essay on Natural Resource Management:
At site two we find the habitat of an endangered bird found only in this area and needs to be protected. This particular site is a natural zone in which I would seek to ensure the protection of its native animals. Native animals are all animal species that as a result of natural processes occurred on land now designated as a park. In order to protect this endangered bird hunting will be prohibited in this area and the amount of human impact will be limited in and around the area. I would also conduct management programs that will help restore the species population by making sure there is an adequate habitat for the birds to live and are protected from any external threats. A small area around the birdÃ‚Â¡Ã‚Â¦s habitat will also be fenced in until the risk of predators and poaching is minimized and the population begins to restore itself. Continue reading Natural Resource Management essay example

Teams and Leadership Essay Example

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This essay will discuss my experiences of teams and leadership. It will discuss my experience as a team member at work or outside work. It will also talk about my team membership experience within the unit teams and leadership and my experience as a leader. It will then go on to discuss the different stages that contribute to establishment of effective teams, roles of team members, evaluate my preferred role within a team, analyse the key functions of an effective team leader and finally assess the four main leadership styles and the context in which it may be most successful. I will commence this essay by defining teams and leadership and the different types of teams. I will then progress to my personal experiences.

A team can be defined as a group of people working together to achieve a certain goal and objectives. They usually have a defined task or tasks, which were already set, and everyone in the team has a specific or defined role to play. For example, a football team, every player has a role to play on the field in order to win. They are said to be dependent on each other’s efforts. An effective team is one that achieves its aim in the most efficient way and is then ready to take on more challenging tasks if so required. Members of an effective team are likely to be united in a common purpose, trust each other, be committed, be open with each other, accept consensus decisions, and support one another and work through conflict. There are probably no clear and finite stages of development. Here are some phases of team development. People sometimes distinguish between Hierarchical tams and Expect teams. Continue reading Teams and Leadership Essay Example

Example Essay on Appearance is Everything

Free example essay on Appearance is everything:
An individual is greatly influenced by the way he/she looks in the public arena. In this modern and even post-modern era, we now try to focus on one word: Ã¢â‚¬Å“individualityÃ¢â‚¬Â. Individuality is very important as with this we are able to show to the world what we really what to be and this can make us happy and content on the basis that we have achieved something personal and meaningful.

To create an image one usually has to change his/her personal appearance. This can be done in many different ways, for example, dressing up differently, or using cosmetic surgery to enhance and reduce the effects of ageing and diminishing beauty. Continue reading Example Essay on Appearance is Everything

The Glass Menagerie Essay Example

The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, is about four persons who are trying to avoid their present real life by retreating into their separate worlds. The Glass Menagerie is a memory play because it is told from the memory of the narrator, Tom Wingfield. The readers live the story through Tom’s eyes, they see what he sees and feel what he feels. Both, the play’s style and content are inspired by memory.

According to Williams, “nostalgiaÃ¢â‚¬Â¦..is the first condition of the play” (Production Notes). The use of music, lack of realism and the frequent symbolism are all due to its origins in memory. As it will be illustrated in this paper, memory is a major theme of the play because most characters are haunted by it. It will also display the various symbols of escape in the play, and why some characters prefer to escape their lives by living in the past. Continue reading The Glass Menagerie Essay Example

Example Essay on Joseph Stalin

Free Joseph Stalin essay example:
Some people think that Adolf Hitler was the most dreadful person in history, but Joseph Stalin even topped him killing tens of millions of people. Now Stalin was the biggest tyrant when he ruled Russia. Joseph Stalin was a man who could be perfectly considered as a Visigoth. His real name was Losif Vissarionovich Djugashvili, which he later changed to Stalin meaning Ã¢â‚¬Å“a man of steelÃ¢â‚¬Â creating a manly or strong image for himself. I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t know the real reason behind this, but this does relate to the Ã¢â‚¬Å“My Graduation SpeechÃ¢â‚¬Â.

In Neil PostmanÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s essay it mentioned, Ã¢â‚¬Å“We are all, in a way, natural-born VisigothsÃ¢â‚¬Â. Postman is stating that we are all born as Visigoths. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s our duty to choose the right path you canÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t blame anyone but yourself for choosing your path. This relate to Stalin because in his early years he was sent to jail eight times obviously this made a huge impact on his forth coming life meaning that having a rough childhood made him become the most ruthless and brutal person in history. Even though having a rough childhood doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t make it okay for him to become a tyrant, but it was his own decision, which he could have avoided by learning from his early mistakes. Continue reading Example Essay on Joseph Stalin

Example Essay on Ancient Civilizations

Free essay example on Ancient Civilizations:
Two Ancient Civilizations, the Greek and the Roman, have profoundly influenced the modern cultures that we are part of today. Greece, otherwise known as the birthplace of Western civilization, had a great time span starting from the Early Bronze Age of 3000 BC all the way to the Hellenistic period up to about 30 BC. On the other hand is the civilization of Rome-which name is derived from the Greek word meaning strength and vigor- and rightfully so because the civilization covered a majestic 27 centuries. Both civilizations shared many similarities, especially in the fact that the Greeks heavily influenced the Romans. However, each civilization had its own take on life and the life of its citizens resulting in different social values and cultural practices.

In this world, few people have attached such significance to the essence of physical beauty as the Greeks. No wonder in the Greek arts we can see that beauty and perfection were quite an essential part in the Greek frame of mind. Looking at Greece in the context of its entire civilization, it heavily emphasized both athletic ability and physical beauty. Continue reading Example Essay on Ancient Civilizations

Example Essay on College

As the first semester of my freshman year in college wines down I look back to and think of my high school days. It seems so long ago; so different. It feels as though it could have been have been years ago. In this short time away at college it seems that I have changed a great deal. I have grown a lot in these few months. My high school memories are so different from my life here at college. It feels as though as we move on from high school to college we move on to a different world. A world were we must be responsible for ourselves.

Going from high school to college is a major transition in life. Both high school and college are important chapters of our lives, but they are very different chapters. In going from one of these stages in life to the other we change; friends, lifestyles, eating habits, and even homes. College is a different world from high school, and the change is very sudden and can sometimes be hard to adjust to. In making the transition one must always be careful to balance what one wants and what one needs to do. Continue reading Example Essay on College

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Ten differences between UK and US English

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flagsSome differences between UK and US English are well documented. For example, most people know that football is a different game in North America and the UK, and any American in the UK quickly learns not to talk about fanny packs. But there are also some more subtle differences that might stymie visitors to Britain, especially those who have learnt American English. Reader in Linguistics Dr Lynne Murphy rounds up ten of the subtler US/UK miscommunications.

1. Toilet

For Americans, this is a piece of porcelain. For the British, it is also a room that contains that particular piece of porcelain. If an American tells you she got stuck in the ladies’ toilet, offer her a towel and a hairdryer.

2. Quite

Before an adjective, American quite means ‘very’, while British quite means ‘somewhat’. So, if the American tourist is quite tired, direct him to his bed. But if a Brit tells you a restaurant is quite good, you’d be wise to keep looking for somewhere better.

3. Moot

In addition to quite, British and American Englishes have other  ‘Janus words’  whose meanings look both ways. A British moot point is open to discussion, but for an American, the discussion has been declared pointless. The UK Parliament puts legislation on the table for discussion, but the US Congress tables the legislation they don’t want to discuss and puts matters for discussion on the floor instead. A British speaker’s nervy athlete would be a bundle of nerves, but an American’s has ‘got a lot of nerve’ (and probably a mouth to match). And while homely means ‘comfortable in a home-like way’ in Britain (and much of the Commonwealth), in America it is a way of describing a person as ugly.

4. Heatwave

The meteorological definition of heatwave is ‘anomalously hot weather that lasts for days’, but hot and anomalous are both relative terms. British newspapers will declare a heatwave after three days of 25°C (77°F) weather. In other words, a British heatwave is everyone else’s nice summer weather.

5. Please

Americans say please – just not always where the British expect to hear it. The British say please when ordering food in restaurants (or requesting things in shops) because they view the action as a personal request to the waiter. Americans regard ordering as providing the waiter with the information he needs to do his job, so they say  ‘I’ll have the chicken’. As language blogger Ben Trawick-Smith has noted, please can add connotations of impatience and exasperation to an American request.

6. Pants

Americans don’t use the word trousers much, and when they do, it only applies to menswear. Instead, Americans wear pants on their lower halves. When those garments inevitably get damaged on their travels, their wearers sometimes make public proclamations about the stains on their pants. Even more inevitably, they are regarded with horror or laughed at, since British pants usually refers to underpants.

7. Fag

The British do a lot with the words fag and faggot, which can be a shock to people who only know them as derogatory words to refer to gay men. Fag is British slang for a cigarette, so smokers  ‘pop out for a fag’  and they might try to  ‘bum (or pinch) a fag’  off you. But fag can also be a bother. Going out to buy more cigarettes in the rain can be  ‘a bit of a fag’. Faggots, meanwhile, are found on menus; they are a kind of meatball made of (usually pork) organ meats, served with gravy and potatoes. Since no one ever seems to order any, it’s possible they stay on menus just to shock American tourists.

8. Republican

The recent Jubilee has led some British people to talk more about a republicanism that has nothing to do with Mitt Romney. British republicans would like the UK to be a republic, rather than a monarchy. British republicans are likely to be considered politically left-wing, unlike American Republicans, who are named after the small-r republican ideals of the American Revolutionary War (or the American War of Independence, as the British call it). Now, of course, American Republican is almost synonymous with social and fiscal conservatism.

9. Subway

Follow signs pointing to a subway in London, and you’ll find yourself either at the ubiquitous American fast-food joint or in an underground tunnel. And there in the tunnel, you’ll find confused Americans looking around for the trains. While the New York subway is a railway under the city’s streets, in London it is a pedestrian way beneath a road.

10. Half

British time-telling differs from American in several ways, with the 24-hour clock confusing any American who hasn’t served in the military. ‘Half-eight’  to mean ‘8:30’, provides another pitfall – particularly for non-Brits who know German or Swedish, where it would mean ‘half way to 8’, or 7:30.

Dr Lynne Murphy is Reader in Linguistics (English) at the University of Sussex. She writes a blog about the differences between US and UK English, Separated by a Common Language, and she tweets at @Lynneguist.

Want more differences? Why not download our comprehensive  Guide to UK and US English.

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Did George Bush make the right decision not to go to Ground Zero?
Did Obama make the right decision in not releasing the photo of Osama bin Laden?
Did the Pakistani Government know where bin Laden was?
Is Osama bin laden Dead?
Should the White House release the photos of bin Laden?
Are you disappointed that bin Laden was given a quick burial at sea?
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July 3, 2015

Raising questions about recall costs

The governor says the projected cost of a recall election should have Wisconsinites questioning the need for one.

A survey released by the Government Accountability Board last week estimates a statewide recall election targeting Governor Scott Walker and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch will cost taxpayers more than $9 million. Governor Walker says “it’s one more reason why taxpayers should question why we need a recall now” and it’s something “people signing the petitions need to ask themselves.”

Walker says most of the expenses will fall on county and municipal governments, on top of the $2 million costs many had to absorb over the summer with recall elections in the state Senate.

The GAB survey only projects the cost of a general recall election, but notes its estimate could increase significantly if a Democratic primary is needed.

Recall organizers have acknowledged the cost estimate, with Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Mike Tate saying “the $9 million cost of a statewide recall election is great, but the cost of doing nothing is far greater. This undertaking is the biggest investment in the future of our state and families we can make.”

Tate says “no matter how Scott Walker and his Republican Party try to spin it, the people of Wisconsin called for this election. There is no price tag on democracy.”

Recall organizers are expected to turn in petitions against the governor and lieutenant governor next week.

AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (:57)

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Labor Costs Push San Bernardino Near Bankruptcy

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.—Like other aging California communities, this city about 60 miles east of Los Angeles has struggled with plummeting tax revenue, slumping housing values and rising public-employee costs. On Tuesday night, the municipality succumbed to its financial troubles when the City Council authorized a bankruptcy filing.

San Bernardino, home to 210,000 residents, will run out of cash to pay its 800 employees within 90...

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Fund Backs Ackman Slate

TORONTO—Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, one of Canada's biggest pension funds, plans to vote in favor of the slate of directors put forth by activist investor Bill Ackman in his bid to change the leadership at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.

The move is another big win for Mr. Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management LP, which last week won the backing of Institutional Shareholder Services, the big shareholder advisory group that...

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Mutual Funds Moonlight as Venture Capitalists

Firms Are Pushing Into Silicon Valley at a Record Pace

That mutual fund in your retirement plan may be moonlighting as a venture capitalist.

BlackRock Inc., T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Fidelity Investments are among the mutual-fund firms pushing into Silicon Valley at a record pace, snapping up stakes in high-profile startup companies including Airbnb Inc., Dropbox Inc. and Pinterest Inc.

The investments could pay off big if the companies go public or are sold, helping boost fund...

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Japan and the Broken Window Fallacy

As the French economist Frederic Bastiat once observed, reconstruction activity yields no net gain in a society's wealth.

Japan has more than its share of troubles: an aging population, 20 years of slow economic growth, and an unstable government as reactionaries in the Diet resist meaningful free-market reform. Now comes the great tragedy of the earthquake and tsunami. One major post-disaster danger is that the Japanese authorities will mishandle the recovery, with unfortunate consequences for the global economy.

The first test for the government came early on, and its response raises questions. After the disaster last week, the value of the Japanese yen actually rose against the U.S. dollar. While that might seem counterintuitive, currency traders offered a plausible explanation.

They were betting that the demand for yen would go up as Japanese companies and the government were forced to convert some of their vast dollar holdings into yen to finance reconstruction. With the dollar already weak internationally, it didn't take much to tip the balance toward a stronger yen.

James Lucier of Capital Alpha on the market and political impact of Japan's nuclear troubles.

Unsurprisingly, this raised alarms at the Bank of Japan (BOJ). A stronger yen, already attracting international capital seeking a haven safer than the dollar, might weaken the competitiveness of Japanese exporters at a most inopportune time. The earthquake had sent the Nikkei stock index tumbling. So the BOJ embarked on a massive effusion of yen, pouring a record 15 trillion yen ($183 billion) into the market. BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa promised "massive" liquidity to combat yen appreciation. The bank's action stabilized the yen-dollar exchange rate through Monday.

This is a typical reaction of a central banker to such an event. It could be argued that companies already hit with loss of property and the trauma of massive casualties in their communities should be spared, as nearly as possible, a rise in currency-exchange costs as they prepare to rebuild. Insurers were facing massive losses, already estimated at $35 billion. And, of course, the disaster increased credit risks.

But what about the danger of overreaction—not just to Japan but to international financial stability? With the Fed pumping out dollars and Europe facing sovereign debt threats to the solidity of the euro, the world has been looking to the BOJ as a possible life preserver in a sea of financial uncertainty. Are the tsunami and Mr. Shirakawa sinking that fragile hope through excessive yen creation that will weaken that currency?

There is precedent to consider. The Fed reacted similarly in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and other cities on the Gulf Coast. It prolonged an already overly generous dollar policy at a time when the economy was recovering.

Destruction isn't stimulus. ENLARGE
Destruction isn't stimulus. Getty Images

Despite Katrina, the U.S. economy grew 3.1% in the third quarter of that year, and it hit a growth rate of 5.4% in the first quarter of 2006. But we all now know that the consequence of the Fed's failure to tighten was a credit and asset bubble that wreaked havoc in financial markets throughout the world when it deflated in 2007.

Japan today is not the U.S. circa 2005. It suffered its asset bubble in the 1980s and paid a heavy price when the BOJ deliberately pricked the balloon to prevent its further enlargement. Its economy was not steaming through a recovery at the time of last Friday's disaster. Growth has been relatively flat this year.

Larry Summers, President Obama's former economic adviser, has postulated that post-earthquake reconstruction may even stimulate the rate of economic growth, as was the case after the Kobe earthquake in 1995. Well, maybe, although that is not certain given the damage to Japan's electric power grid from the nuclear facilities that had to be shut down because of earthquake-related cooling problems. Greater GDP growth also would hardly compensate for the massive losses in lives and national wealth. As the great 19th-century economist Frederic Bastiat taught in the "fallacy of the broken window," the GDP growth that comes from reconstruction brings no net gain in society's wealth. It just replaces, over time, what was lost. "Destruction is not profitable," he wrote.

Some economists have hoped that the disaster, by unifying the Japanese people and the political class in the task of bringing about recovery, will lead to necessary policy reforms, like a slimming of the government bureaucracy. Such can be hoped. Disasters do create new unity and resolve.

But the opposite case can be made as well. The Japanese political class, as with the current regime in Washington, is heavily influenced by Keynesian theories that see a government solution for every problem. For example, it seems unlikely that Japan will alter its postal savings system—which victimizes small savers with low returns—at a time when the government will face large new expenditures for infrastructure repairs. Nor is it likely to embark on a reduction of the massive national debt.

As economist David Malpass pointed out over the weekend, "Katrina may have subtracted from the Bush administration's ability to accomplish structural reforms on taxes, Social Security and the budget, and may have diverted attention from the housing, regulatory and monetary policy disasters underway at the time."

The Bank of Japan's reaction to last Friday's disaster does not offer encouragement in this regard. It was what might have been expected from a central bank under such circumstances, and it very much resembled how the Federal Reserve reacted to Katrina and to the financial meltdown in late 2008. But has that been such a great success?

Mr. Melloan, a former columnist and deputy editor of The Journal editorial page, is author of "The Great Money Binge: Spending Our Way to Socialism" (Simon & Schuster, 2009).

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Jets' Pettine Turned Down Contract Offer

Mike Pettine, the New York Jets' defensive coordinator, turned down a contract-extension offer from the team earlier this season, a person with knowledge of the situation said, setting the stage for his departure from the team.

Pettine didn't respond to an attempt to contact him. Through a team spokesman, Pettine and Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum declined to comment on the matter. The spokesman confirmed that Pettine's contract runs at least through the 2012 season but didn't specify when it would expire.

Over his four seasons with the Jets, Pettine has helped to elevate their defense to a place among the NFL's elite units. The team finished no worse than fifth in overall defense in each of Pettine's first three years as coordinator. This season, despite an aging group of linebackers and the loss of All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis to injury, the Jets rank eighth in team defense entering their game Sunday against the San Diego Chargers.

The loss of Pettine would be a blow to a franchise that is already reeling. After reaching the AFC championship game in each of their first two seasons under head coach Rex Ryan, the Jets will miss the playoffs this season for the second consecutive year. They are 6-8, have twice benched quarterback Mark Sanchez and have been criticized for failing to find a productive role for Tim Tebow after acquiring him in March.

Write to Mike Sielski at

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Lawyers Named for Delhi Rape Accused

NEW DELHI -- A Delhi court on Thursday officially recognized lawyers for five men accused of carrying out the deadly gang rape of a 23-year-old woman last month aboard a moving bus.

The next hearing in the case is Jan. 14, after which it will move to a fast-track trial court.

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Gold Prices Fall; Concerns Over Portuguese Lender Abate

Yellen Testimony Also Weighs on Gold Prices

Gold prices fell for a second day Tuesday, as it became apparent that financial problems at a Portuguese lender are unlikely to be a threat to Europe's banking system, lessening the need to use the precious metal as a hedge against economic turmoil.

Gold for August delivery, the most actively traded contract, closed down $9.60, or 0.7%, at $1297.10 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The decline...

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Militant Killed in U.S. Missile Strike Was Intelligence Operative

Al-Shabaab Member Says Iskudhuq Monitored Aid Workers and Recruited Foreign Fighters

The al-Shabaab militant killed by a U.S. missile strike over the weekend had been a key intelligence operative, a member of the militant group said Monday.

The victim, a Somali national named Ahmed Abdikadir Amo Iskudhuq, was a senior al-Shabaab militant who monitored aid workers and recruited foreign fighters, according to Shuriye Gedi, who is also an al-Shabaab member. The slain militant also went by the name Sahal Iskudhuq and was...

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As the Winter Olympics Open, Putin Showcases a Defiant Russia

Games Highlight Hostility to Russian President's New Political Creed

Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Olympic Village in Sochi's Coastal Cluster section on Wednesday. Mr. Putin sweet-talked Olympic officials in 2007 to get the Sochi Games. ENLARGE
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Olympic Village in Sochi's Coastal Cluster section on Wednesday. Mr. Putin sweet-talked Olympic officials in 2007 to get the Sochi Games. Associated Press

SOCHI, Russia—On Friday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin will entertain world leaders at a reception under soaring, Corinthian-style columns and a giant, sparkling chandelier in the Atrium ballroom of the Stalin-era Rus Sanatorium.

It will be one of the most exclusive events of the Winter Olympics here, but Mr. Putin's guest list has some big gaps. Few of the Western world's most prominent leaders will be there, declining entreaties to attend, according to diplomats and government officials.

Instead, Russia's president will be surrounded by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko. North Korea is sending its second-highest official, even though the country has no athletes competing at the Sochi Games.

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All is not quite right in Sochi on the eve of the opening ceremony for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Walkways remain unpaved, stray dogs roam the street and security concerns remain. WSJ's Dipti Kapadia reports.

WSJ's Anton Troianovski was in Sochi in 2008 to write about the city's Olympics-inspired real-estate boom. More than five years later, he's back in town to cover the Winter Olympics.

The 61-year-old Mr. Putin landed the first Winter Olympics ever hosted by Russia in 2007 with a charm offensive that included wowing International Olympic Committee officials at a meeting in Guatemala City with a speech in English and French, the two official languages of the Olympics.

But the lack of top U.S. and European officials at Mr. Putin's fancy reception and the 17-day Sochi Games shows hostility to the new political creed Mr. Putin has pursued since his return to the Kremlin in 2012. In his third term as president, the former KGB officer has crusaded against Western influence throughout the world and emphasized Russia's "traditional values," a contrast to his earlier efforts to draw Russia closer to the U.S. and Europe.

In foreign policy, the move has shaped the Kremlin's resistance to Western efforts to use human-rights violations as justification for intervention in Syria's civil war and other conflicts. Mr. Putin's ability to help stave off U.S. strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime last fall was a triumph for Moscow, reining in Washington and protecting authoritarian allies.

"The Sochi Olympics are a litmus test of attitudes to Russia as a whole," wrote Vladimir Yakunin, an ally of Mr. Putin who is president of Russian Railways, in a blog post Thursday. The state-owned company built or worked on numerous Olympics projects in Sochi. "Like it or not, the parallel to 1980, when Western leaders boycotted the Moscow Olympics, suggests itself."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov disagreed Thursday that world leaders are avoiding Sochi. "We will have 44 heads of state at the opening ceremonies alone and 60 during the Games," he told reporters.

"So do your own count and draw your own conclusions," Mr. Lavrov said.

Still, Friday's opening ceremony will highlight the cultural shift that has surprised and worried Western officials. Most of the ceremony will focus on Russian history, with floating church domes inside newly built Fisht Olympic Stadium and glowing, magic horses in the sky, people familiar with the plans say.

A Russian female pop-music duo, t.A.T.u., that skyrocketed up the charts in Russia, Europe and the U.S. during Mr. Putin's early years in power with kissing and lyrics heavy with lesbian innuendo probably will perform only at a warm-up show that won't be broadcast internationally, these people say.

T.A.T.u.'s edgy appeal is on the wrong side of the controversial new "gay propaganda" law that is the legislative signature of Mr. Putin's recent turn toward traditionalism.

Mr. Putin has had to offer reassurances that gays are welcome in Sochi, while defending the law as a reflection of Russia's values. Officials have indicated that Sochi will be largely exempt from the law during the Games.

Other Olympic symbols of Mr. Putin's intensified focus on "traditional values" include a Russian Orthodox Church cathedral built adjacent to the Olympic Park grounds here. On Wednesday, Russia's athletes gathered for a blessing led by Patriarch Kirill, head of the church and a frequent adviser to Mr. Putin.

Last summer, the church leader called gay marriage a "sign of the apocalypse," and he has been one of the most vocal advocates of the Kremlin's new morality drive. At the Olympic blessing, some female athletes wore their red winter ski hats instead of the head scarves that women traditionally put on in Russian Orthodox churches.

For Mr. Putin, the Olympics are a chance to demonstrate Russia's return to global prominence and transformation into a modern country under his rule. The Sochi Games are as much about Mr. Putin's push to rebuild Russian pride as bringing home gold medals.

Yet the initial reaction of some visitors arriving in Sochi this week is falling far short of Mr. Putin's grand ambitions. Instead of marveling at the $9 billion railway link between Olympic venues on the Black Sea and nearby mountains, for example, journalists have criticized rooms without doorknobs and hot water. Local officials are on the defensive about their efforts to round up and exterminate a large population of stray dogs. Many areas still look like a construction site, with mounds of mud or dirt and little landscaping.

Dmitry Kozak, the deputy prime minister responsible for Olympic preparations, said Thursday that the complaints amount to "small imperfections in the Olympic facilities and tourist infrastructure."

The wider changes by Mr. Putin during the past two years have brought criticism of the IOC for its decision to award the 2014 Winter Olympics to Russia and pressure on international Olympic sponsors, many of which seem to be keeping an unusually low profile in Sochi compared with past Games. Olympic officials say awarding the event to Sochi wasn't a mistake. They deny that the Sochi Games represent an endorsement of the Russian president's policies.

Still, some IOC officials regret that anything in Sochi is taking attention away from Olympic athletes, especially the "gay propaganda" law.

"Do you think people would have known much about this law had it not been for the Games? I doubt it," says Anita DeFrantz, the U.S. representative on the IOC's executive board. "The lesson is: Whatever you are doing, the world will know about it if you are hosting the Games. So do good."

Kremlin officials dismiss foreign criticism of their recent policies, saying it is based on misunderstandings. The controversy is part of a deliberate Western campaign to sully Russia's return to international prominence, some Kremlin officials complain, much as protests over alleged Chinese oppression in Tibet hit the torch relay before the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

At first, Mr. Putin's turn was seen as a political tactic to isolate critics in Russia's urban middle class who protested his return to the presidency in 2012. The traditional-values rhetoric shored up Mr. Putin's support in his core base of older, less-educated Russians who don't live in the country's biggest cities.

His anti-Western comments also helped parry mounting criticism by U.S. and European officials of the Russian president's crackdown on political opponents during the past two years.

The moves show no sign of letting up, leading many Kremlin insiders to suggest that Mr. Putin is undergoing a deeper ideological shift. "The leadership is convinced that the West understands only the language of strength," one Kremlin adviser says. "There's no point in making the West try to like us."

In 2007, Russia's booming oil wealth was fueling a more assertive Mr. Putin, but he actively sought to prevent major rifts with U.S. and European governments. Before his July 2007 trip to Guatemala to woo Olympic officials, Mr. Putin stopped for an informal summit with U.S. President George W. Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine. Mr. Putin ate lobster and rode on the Bush family speedboat. Mr. Putin hasn't been back to the U.S. since then.

In his annual address to Russia's Parliament in 2007, Mr. Putin made fun of previous efforts to invent a "national idea" that would replace the Communist ideology of the Soviet era. His main focus: boosting living standards.

Traditional-values issues like homosexuality got no traction. "This theme didn't even exist," says Gleb Pavlovsky, a political consultant who worked with the Kremlin at the time. "If we'd brought it up, they would have laughed at us."

Anti-Western rhetoric came and went but wasn't part of a broader ideology. When Dmitry Medvedev became president in 2008, essentially filling in for Mr. Putin because of limits on consecutive terms in office, Mr. Medvedev couldn't hide his enthusiasm for Western gadgets like the iPhone.

The atmosphere changed dramatically when Mr. Putin announced in late 2011 that he would return for a third presidential term. In protest, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the wintry streets of Moscow in the biggest public outpouring of anti-Kremlin feeling since Mr. Putin took office in 2000.

"That was a shock for Putin," says Mr. Pavlovsky. Even top-level insiders began wondering if Mr. Putin's political magic was fading. In response, he accused the U.S. government of inciting the protests. The Kremlin began a crackdown on Western-funded nongovernmental organizations, forcing some prominent U.S. and European-backed programs to shut down.

To counter middle-class Muscovites who protested against him, Mr. Putin marshaled the support of his core electorate in the Russian heartland with promises to protect traditional values.

In 2012, authorities charged members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot with hooliganism after they entered Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral and acted out a brief performance critical of the Kremlin in front of parishioners. (In December, two band members were released from prison as part of an amnesty viewed as a Kremlin effort to resolve some high-profile headaches before the Sochi Games.)

Meanwhile, Mr. Putin increasingly talked about ideological competition in stark, geopolitical terms.

"Attempts to influence the world view of whole peoples, striving to subjugate them, to impose a system of values and concepts are an absolute reality," he told a group of pro-Kremlin civic activists at a gathering about the "patriotic upbringing of youth."

Shortly after his inauguration in May 2012, Mr. Putin shocked the White House by refusing to attend a Group of Eight summit at Camp David. It was the first time a Russian leader had ever boycotted the gathering of top nations. In 2006, Mr. Putin hosted Russia's first G-8 meeting after the country became a full member of the group of leading nations.

As the traditional-values push gained momentum, members of the ruling United Russia party joined the campaign. The party's agenda is tightly controlled by Mr. Putin and his managers in the Kremlin.

Versions of the "gay propaganda" law had passed in a few regions of Russia but attracted little nationwide attention. The measure suddenly won United Russia's support in Parliament and became the law of the land in June 2013.

Mr. Putin also embraced a new ban on adoptions of Russian children by Americans. Still, many insiders and analysts assumed the push was another tactical move by the Kremlin aimed at marginalizing Mr. Putin's opponents and crushing any doubts about his political staying power.

"It's just a zigzag," one former top Kremlin official said at the time.

Kremlin officials hint privately that the Russian president still could turn on his old charm toward the West if he is offered enough enticements in return. Other people close to Mr. Putin believe his shift is a genuine reversal from longtime efforts to publicly play down his religious beliefs.

Some members of the ruling elite are starting to raise concerns about the costs of Mr. Putin's strategy. Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said late last year that tensions over gay rights and other moral issues were deterring much-needed foreign investment. "The political climate shouldn't influence investment," Mr. Shuvalov said.

In a rare breach of ruling-party discipline, a Mariinsky Theatre opera soloist and Parliament member said at a public meeting that the "gay propaganda" law is having "extremely negative consequences," including a rise in hate crimes and ostracism of prominent Russians abroad.

"I am very sad to see that the Olympic Games in Sochi for which we have so long and anxiously prepared will come to pass with less brilliance and passion because of this unfortunate initiative that was so hastily—and I believe without thoughtful discussion—adopted by Parliament," the singer and politician, Maria Maksakova, said in December.

Her stunned colleagues didn't respond, moving on to the next item on their agenda. Ms. Maksakova hasn't voiced her concerns as openly since then.

Write to Gregory L. White at and Paul Sonne at

I can only marvel at how facile and senseless this article is. It shows no respect for or understanding of a culture and country that - OMG - is not a clone of the US or other Western nations. Am I to be shocked that stray and possibly feral dogs were rounded up and probably euthanized in preparation for the Olympics. Should I be morally outraged that P#ssy Riot was prosecuted and convicted for trespassing in a major Orthodox Cathedral to make a political statement in a manner highly offensive to that Church? Am I to overlook the massive effort and achievements in preparing Sochi for this major event because everything was not completed - with OMG - doorknobs and furniture missing from some hotel rooms? Is the US to dictate how this conservative and religious country attempts to minimize pubic displays of gay literature or gay culture? Is there something wrong with Putin doing his best, Russian style, to rebuild his country and its pride? OMG - there were demonstrations against him! It does not seem his response was as harsh as the response in the US to the Occupy movement, antiglobalization protests, and so many other protests that resulted in injuries, arrests, tear gassing, rubber bullets, etc. etc. And oh, what about the hero who exposed NSA abuses and had to leave the country or face the Bradley Manning treatment - application of the "law" to crush and jail these American heroes - but they are not P#ssy Riot! Reading this and the many other articles dumping on Russia in connection with the olympics leads me to suspect the media has an agenda to trash Russia. I've never once seen a reference to Russia losing 27 million lives to Nazi Germany when it is criticized for wanting to control the countries on its borders. (I believe the US sacrificed around 280 thousand troops and of course it was not invaded by Germany! But Israel can run roughshod over the Palestinians, who, guess what, did not run the concentration camps. This article represents one of the worst examples of US cultural supremacy - the American Jihad, that I have read, today.

Venkat Gundapaneni
Venkat Gundapaneni subscriber

OMG, in Putin you don't see a reincarnation of Hitler...,

lim hui
lim hui user

The closeness of China and Russia presents a good balance for the US, which is becoming more and more aggressive and violent in the pacific.

Alex Wolf
Alex Wolf user

Atta boy! Great Chicom propaganda.

Scott K Westphal
Scott K Westphal subscriber

“…the former KGB officer has crusaded against Western influence throughout the world and emphasized Russia's "traditional values," a contrast to his earlier efforts to draw Russia closer to the U.S…”
Greg & Paul; The intended slight of Putin’s being a supra-qualified leader who headed Russia’s intelligence agency is wasted upon informed readers knowledge that our George H Bush was head of our CIA…
Pleased to report; viewership of Sochi outdistanced the Super Bowl by a factor of 10x. Embarrassed by this contrast of an operatic, symphonic display of national pride to our past-their-expiration-date Peppers and who is the Bruno Asteroid guy? Glad more of the world did not witness the obvious decline of our debased, and declining, empire.

George Consani
George Consani

Well yes....and then there's Irina and her racist tweet. My my…..what a surprise….a hideous racist slur from a diplomat with an IQ of about 10 and the maturity of a 12 year old….just what we should expect from Putin’s 3rd rate country. Where did they ever find that little inbred thug and pervert Putin anyway? I’m nearly certain he was pulled right off the hillbilly cabin porch in the movie Deliverance – or the Russian equivalent thereof – and put into power. And how absurd that appeal to the terrorists in the opening ceremony to use “the political process” instead of violence. Seriouly? I mean Seriously? Which so called “political process” would that be? Oh…why the one that Putin and his oligarch cronies use to thieve, murder, and jail their way to power and grotesque wealth - leaving the mass of their citizens to lives of abject poverty and despair. Small wonder drug addiction, sex slavery, alcoholism, and mafia criminals are so pervasive there. The big surprise to me is that from the midst of all that depravity they still managed a decent opening ceremony to the Olympics. Except for being marred by the presence of that little sociopath President and his gargoyle mascot Irina, I thought it was pretty well done. Lol...ha ha. Free speech. I mean really Irina?

Edward Boothe
Edward Boothe user

Just one suggestion Vlad, don't drink the water!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edward Boothe
Edward Boothe user

One suggestion Vlad, don't drink the water!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thomas Bishop
Thomas Bishop subscriber

"...Russia's president will be surrounded by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko. North Korea is sending its second-highest official, even though the country has no athletes competing at the Sochi Games."

well, at least bashar al-assad did not attend.

"In foreign policy, [a more independent and defiant attitude] has shaped the Kremlin's resistance to Western efforts to use human-rights violations as justification for intervention in Syria's civil war and other conflicts. Mr. Putin's ability to help stave off U.S. strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime last fall was a triumph for Moscow, reining in Washington...."

yes, thank you. but now what?

Dmitry Barinov
Dmitry Barinov user

"...For example he missed the post of Mr. Lenihan...."

In the article about the Olympics there are some comments not about homosexuaIs? Wow! This radically changes the situation!

"...Our Comrade has a big need to insult others. Why does he call homosexuaIs "perverts"?..."

Sometimes, do not need to specifically try to insult someone. Simple enough call a spade a spade:
- HomosexuaIs - perverts.
- The place where perverts are considered normal people - Sodom and Gomorrah.
All these things there are in Scripture. But even if you are an atheist, there are many of the medical literature on this topic. Why do I have to explain the obvious?
And ... I am not Your Comrade!

"...Why does he call homosexuals "perverts"? Could it be that he is trying to repress feelings that come to him at night?..."

Oh, Alex, you've see through me! I lead a double life in a secret from my young wife and two children.

In fact, I don't care what the_fags are doing, if they doing it in their homes, do not violate the law and do not shout about it at every corner.

Alex Wolf
Alex Wolf user

I would have recommended Mr. Barinov's PS, if he did not call homosexuals "". I read that there is no logic to sexual tastes. As for anyone advertising his tastes or preferences, I find it highly improper.

I call Mr. Barinov Comrade when he a displays Communist style of thinking. For his last post I call him Mister.

Dmitry Barinov
Dmitry Barinov user

Call him as you want (Herr, Pan, Lord, Sir, Mister, Master... as you used... I do not know....) but only except all terms denoting friendship! Ok?
Communist style of thinking? Hmmm ))) No! This is style of thinking of normal man. Pity that poor Alex, living in "Sodom and Gomorrah", have already ceased to realize it.

Alex Wolf
Alex Wolf user

@ Barinov.
He thinks I somehow called him Master, but I never met him.
He does not want my friendship, but I have not offered it.

Benjamin Neuells
Benjamin Neuells

Look at all this anti-whitism. In the '60s, anti-whites forced ALL and ONLY White countries to bring in millions of non-whites.

Then anti-whites forced White people to "integrate" with those non-whites or face penalties for being "naziswhowanttokill6millionjews."

Now anti-whites are praising and counting down the days until White children are minorities and extinct EVERYWHERE. That makes it geNOcide.

"Diversity" is a code word for White Genocide

Julie Keene
Julie Keene subscriber

And your post is a racist rant.

Alex Wolf
Alex Wolf user

Ms, Keene - Your post is brutally frank.

Julie Keene
Julie Keene subscriber

Please ignore all the posts below except the one saying yours was a racist rant. The site wasn't working properly when I tried posting earlier.

Alex Wolf
Alex Wolf user

Jaysas!!! And i missed it. I am White, 63 and I had no clue of the terrible danger I live under. Big thanks for enlightening me.

John Nicholoft
John Nicholoft

Putin is a Russian patriot and proud of his country, Russia first, Too bad we have an occupier of our White House who is not proud of America and her accomplishments, USA last.

James Richard
James Richard subscriber

John - we are a Puppet Nation!

Out Puppet Congress only signs ONE tune. Notice in P Obama's last speech they jumped in euphoria at mention of the Master.

This is NOT the case with Russia. They dont KA to any other nation - only to Russia!

Thanks to James Knight for this…

....check out the Israel lobby's "generosity" to our members of Congress...these figures are for just the last election cycle; long-term incumbents have taken a lot more than this:

Formally jr.

Stephen Matics
Stephen Matics subscriber

This is how dictatorships are made. Only this dictatorship has nuclear weapons...

Dmitry Barinov
Dmitry Barinov user

I also think that we need to deprive USA (the only country in the world that used nuclear weapons against the civilians) of nuclear weapons to make this world safer.

Alex Wolf
Alex Wolf user

It would take around 340 Hiroshima bombs to kill as many people as Stalin did.

Dmitry Barinov
Dmitry Barinov user

1) The correct course ! USA committed so many crimes in a very short period of history! And now, to distract attention from this crimes you should continuously and loudly scream about someone else's crimes. Even if these crimes don't exists. But it does not matter, because otherwise the U.S. will look very unsightly.

2) One_moron here was trying to persuade me that Stalin killed 60 million people. But however when speech has come about specific numbers and sources of information, he could not explain me: why the quantity of killed by Stalin exceeded the number of births, and at the same time population of the USSR was growing by 2, 3 million per year. Alex, do you want to pass this way, too?

3) My advice to you: leave these stories for impressionable oligophrenics who even can not use a calculator, not for me.

Rob Lawton
Rob Lawton subscriber

The most horrible aspect of the Olympics is NBC, the network of Hate and bitterness trying to push its values on those who didn't ask for them. All the whining and silly comments are a disgusting and poor representation of America.

I have learned from this display of cry baby NBC lightweights that although they aspire for the US to be the next great Socialist Superpower, these girlyboys couldn't ever become the type of communists they dream of simply because of their thin skins. So delicate and easily offended. Sad!!!

Jack Blow
Jack Blow user

Looks like your are the one offended Robert................. ;-)

Rob Lawton
Rob Lawton subscriber

I am nicely enjoying my WSJ subscription Blow(hard). Maybe someday you too can scratch some of your own money together to get a subscription. Obama include WSJ in your bennie package since it doesn't exactly cater to his tin horn messaging.

Enjoy your mediocrity!

Lara Spenzak
Lara Spenzak user

Well, I thank you for your opinion but I disagree.

Julie Keene
Julie Keene subscriber

It appears that our tea party brethren are in fact commie sympathizers, and admirers of the stone-cold KGB killer and president-for-life converting Russia back into an old-style Soviet centralized economy.

Elsewhere in todays paper, an overview of the man so many here admire:

"[Putin's] permanence in power was underlined during the shell game of 2008. Having exhausted his constitutional two terms, he set up his handpicked factotum as president and then continued to rule as prime minister. In 2012, he resumed the presidency under a new law that will allow him to serve 12 years, so Russia can expect to be stuck with Mr. Putin at least until 2024. Perhaps longer given the still-unexplained string of murderous apartment bombings that aided his rise."

You're either confused or deliberately obtuse. The "progressive" movement has it's roots in "commie sympathizing".

Dave Mulligan
Dave Mulligan subscriber

"It appears that our tea party brethren are in fact commie sympathizers"
What exactly is your source for this, honey?

Lara Spenzak
Lara Spenzak user

SILENCE = DEATH. We will be silent no more.

Lara Spenzak
Lara Spenzak user

I had to wait years to get my breast implants because the American health care system refused to cover the cost of the procedure. That is an injustice. I was denied my right to health care and my right to be who I am. I was told I was "male".

President Obama is working to make sure that will not happen to people in the future. He is the opposite of Putin. Americans are very close to having access to health care regardless of their gender-status, racial-status or their sexual-status. We cannot allow people of hate, the religious, the Republicans or Conservatives or any non-progressive person to deny us our rights. Gender-reassignment surgery is a right and is necessary for a progressive society to provide to all people.

This is not about stopping the Olympics. This is about protecting and defending human rights. Tolerance and diversity and health care are basic human rights.

We hope everyone continues to learn and transform.

Rob Lawton
Rob Lawton subscriber

Lara you've got bigger issues than the need for taxpayer Teetons, gender, or whatever. Based on your comments, something is very imbalanced. I first thought that you were a troll trying to stoke up readership here, but now I suspect you are very troubled. What else is there to say!

Mr. Spenzak, why don't you get on a plane and travel to Russia to protest? Please feel free to explain to them what a difficult time you had in getting artificial implants to live your artificial life.

Alex Wolf
Alex Wolf user

Perhaps he / she wants taxpayers to pay the ticket?

Alex Wolf
Alex Wolf user

Why does Lara Spenzak have the need to advertise his /her /whatever sexual preferences ? It is a bore, I think.

Mr. Spenzak has always been desperate for attention in this very public forum-- likely a case of BPD.

Lara Spenzak
Lara Spenzak user

Sorry Russia but we're gay and we're here everyday.

Alex Wolf
Alex Wolf user

The need of Lara Spenzak to to advertise his/her bedroom lifestyle is sad.

ROBERT KELLY subscriberaccountSuspendedprofilePrivate

Jesse Owens made a bigger statement than did Hitler......leave Russia to Russians but be able to defend yourself should they pick Uncle Joe, Jr.....

Max BlackBerry
Max BlackBerry

The Western media is enjoying a real Russian Olympics hate-fest. Leave Russia alone and let its people decide how to build their own country.

Dmitry Barinov
Dmitry Barinov user

Magnificent sporting event ... but all discussion here is again comes down to the rights of sexual perverts.... (((

Alex Wolf
Alex Wolf user

Poor Comrade Barinov! He suffers from his usual afflictions. He reads with one eye only, the one that sees bad things said about Russia only. For example he missed the post of Mr. Lenihan.

If this was all, I would feel sorry for Comrade Barinov, on account of his ophtalmological problem. Anyone can have bad eyes, right?

But there is more. Our Comrade has a big need to insult others. Why does he call homosexuals "perverts"?
Could it be that he is trying to repress feelings that come to him at night? Perhaps during the day, too? Who knows?

I do not want to know, not my problem.

William Fehr
William Fehr subscriber

The simple answer is to not watch or read about the Olympics in Russia. For me they are a non event.

David Lenihan
David Lenihan subscriber

Shame on the WSJ for publishing junk masquerading as journalism.

1. Guess what.....LBGT rights is not at the top of the agenda for the rest of the world. It may be an may be evolving....but to write like this is immature in the extreme....and worse.
2. I suspect President Putin is presiding over the opening of the Olympics with pride....just like any other leader of any other country acting as host.
3. It wasn't so long ago that homosexuality was illegal in the US. Thankfully we have evolved. Others will do their own time and with due respect to their history and culture...just like us. It is not our place to put sticks in peoples eyes to get them to see our point of view. Some might view it as classless.

Lara Spenzak
Lara Spenzak user

Since over a billion people on Earth are a member of the LBGT community it IS at the top of the agenda for the rest of the world.

Alex Wolf
Alex Wolf user

I billion? why not say 5 billion?

Like your idol Obama, we know that Mr. Spenzak is only lying when his mouth is open.

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A meeting was held Monday night to get community input on plans for a proposed overhaul of the Philadelphia-Neshoba County Park system.

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The Daytona News-Journal reports that developers want to build a $289 million project called One Daytona. The development would include shops, restaurants, hotels and residential apartments.

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Tears and laughter for the families of seven captured U.S. troops, as emotions overflow at the news of their rescue and release in Iraq.

Ronald Young says seeing his son on a choppy CNN video feels like winning the World Series.

Speaking in Spanish, Maria De La Luz Hernandez said she felt like the overwhelming joy at the release of her son was going to give her a heart attack.

At other homes of POW families, friends and relatives crowded in, shook hands and hugged.

The Pentagon says the six men and one woman are all those formally listed as POWs. They include five from the Army's 507th Maintenance Company, and two downed Apache helicopter pilots.

The family of rescued POW Jessica Lynch says the latest release answers millions of prayers.

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Cook's Plans $7M Expansion of Ala. Science Museum

By: The Associated Press
By: The Associated Press

DECATUR, Ala. (AP) -- One of the nation's largest pest control companies has big plans to expand a science museum near its Alabama headquarters.

Reports say Cook's Pest Control announced Monday it will spend $7 million moving the museum the company opened in the 1960s to a downtown building with 35,000 square feet.

That much space means the Cook Museum of Natural Science, which now has about 1,200 specimens, will get a whole lot bigger. Proposed exhibits include live aquarium displays with tarantulas, Madagascar hissing cockroaches and a working beehive, plus an underground explorer's cave and an ocean exhibit featuring jellyfish and tropical fish.

Cook's expects to open the new museum in 2015 and anticipates 200,000 visitors in its first year. Another big change: the company will charge admission at the once-free attraction.

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Court Temporarily Halts Panama City Airport Construction

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) - A federal appeals court temporarily blocked construction of Bay County's new airport, granting a request by local pilots and environmental groups opposed to the project.

A three judge panel in New York yesterday issued an interim stay of the Federal Aviation Administration's 2006 decision allowing the $331 million airport to be built.

Friends of PFN - the FAA's three-letter designation for the city's existing airport - filed the motion requesting the stay.

The group of pilots don't want the airport moved. The Natural Resources
Defense Council and other environmental groups are also parties to
litigation opposing the airport relocation plan.

An attorney for the Panama City-Bay County Airport Authority says that airport officials expected the court to hear oral arguments in the case on December 18th.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Review of the book, Field Notes from a Catastrophe

By Jeffrey Masters, Ph.D. — Director of Meteorology, Weather Underground, Inc.
Climate Change Blogs
Pakistan's Deadliest Heat Wave on Record Kills at Least 800
By Dr. Jeff Masters

The death toll from a brutal heat wave in Pakistan rose to 830 on Wednesday, making it Pakistan's deadliest heat wave in recorded history. Most of these deaths--at least 770--occurred in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi. According to statistics from EM-DAT, the International Disaster Database, Pakistan's previous deadliest heat wave was in 1991, when 523 people died.

Read This Entry

Elizabeth Kolbert is a writer for the New Yorker magazine. A three-part series she wrote for the magazine in 2005 has been converted into a short, well-researched, and very readable book on climate change called, "Field Notes from a Catastrophe" ($15 from The science presented is excellent, and I couldn't find any errors. Kolbert visits leading climate change scientists in the field, spending time in the Arctic, Greenland, Dr. James Hansen's laboratory, and in United Nations climate change meetings. We get to see the science the way these scientists see it, which is a very powerful way to emphasize the major climate changes that are already underway on our planet.

Kolbert delivers a memorable description of a visit to Alaska, where record temperatures have begun melting permafrost that formed at the beginning of the last ice age, 120,000 years ago. She visits the remote island of Sarichef, five miles off the coast of the Seward Peninsula. A subsistence hunting village has existed there for centuries. However, the entire population of 591 must be relocated to the mainland because the island is eroding away. The problem? Lack of the customary sea ice in the fall has allowed storm surges from the powerful storms that hit during that season to push far inland. Kolbert talks to an Inuit hunter named John Keogak, who lives in Canada's Northwest Territories, 500 miles north of the Arctic circle. He and his fellow hunters started seeing robins for the first time a few years ago. The Inuits have no word for the bird in their language. Kolbert travels to "drunken forests" where the trees lean at crazy angles due to the collapse of the permafrost beneath. In one of many of the odd and amusing observations the book is sprinkled with, she writes:

A few blocks beyond the drunken forest, we came to a house where the front yard showed clear signs of ice wedge melt-off. The owner, trying to make the best of things, had turned the yard into a miniature golf course.

As the title implies, this is not a cheerful book, and Kolbert paints a gloomy picture of the how climate change is affecting the planet. I highly recommend the book for those interested in reading about climate change. Three and a half stars.

Melting permafrost at Elson Lagoon, Barrow, Alaska. Photo by wunderphotographer akalaska on August 11, 2005.


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Mount Hope Fire

Raleigh Herald
March 31, 1910

Mount Hope Disastrous Fire

Half a Million Dollar Swept by Whirlwind Fire in Five Hours - Not Half Covered by Insurance - Hundreds Homeless But No Suffering

Special To The "Herald."
Mt. Hope, W. Va., March 25. Devastated by fire, the thriving town of Mt. Hope now lies in ruins visited by a dire calamity which in a few short hours burned and utterly demolished the place Thursday morning.

Starting in a saloon kept by Lewis & Hawks at 7:30 in the morning, at half an hour nothing remained of the thickly populated portion of the town but smouldering ruins.

Standing on a hill above the town on the west side during the hours of the fire the scene was like unto one huge cauldron and the hundreds of onlookers - those who had fled from the raging flames - felt as though they stood on the summit of the Brocken with a harrowing spectre below.

Furniture and other effects hastily thrown into the streets from burning dwellings and business houses on the east side of the main street became ablaze and communicated the sweeping fire to the houses and stores on the west side, and leaping from store to store in less than one hour the town was doomed beyond all hope of checking the calamity that wildly claimed the town for its own.

Water was freely used at the beginning of the catastrophe but within an hour the tank situate[d] on the hill on the west side ran dry and all hope disappeared.

Impetus was given to the flames by the igniting of gasoline in Brockman's hardware store and the frame buildings with frightful crashes were leveled to the ground.

Dynamite sticks were freely used in the hope of staying the awful spread of the fire, but with little avail.

The back streets with their closely built houses reaching down to the track of the White Oak railway were eaten up and burned like tinder boxes, the occupants having bare time to save a few of their more cherished belongings and personal effects.

When the flames reached the Mount Hope high school, it seemed but less than 120 seconds before that beautiful structure crumbled to ruins. The Fisher Hotel, known to the traveling men as the Bailey, recently purchased by Mr. Sam Fisher, of Beckley, for $14,000, was demolished in a few minutes, and it is said that the insurance on the building and its furnishings was less than half the purchase money.

A conservative estimate of the loss is placed at $350,000, and by hurried though careful computing the insurance carried will aggregate less than $200,000.

Already the bigger losers from the fire talk of emulating the phoenix, and rebuilding the town from its own ashes.

The vaults of the Mt. Hope Bank were hastily emptied by the president and cashier, Mr. P. M. Snyder and Mr. L. S. Tully, and the currency and securities lodged for safekeeping in the spacious vaults of the New River company at Macdonald.

The population of the town is nearly 600, of which nearly 500 are homeless. Mr. Samuel Dixon immediately ordered a big consignment of tents shipped in and has made arrangements to feed the destitute at his own expense.

From the hills surrounding where once the lively little town stood the scene is like unto a sepulchre and the brick chimneys which stand out from the ruins look like a field of vast cromlii. The roads on both sides of the destruction are filled with people and scores of wagons are plying hauling the salvage from the edges of the stricken town.

The good people of Macdonald and Kilsythe are sheltering the homeless as far as their ability permits and many a neighborly and humane deed may be credited to the dwellers of those two corporations.

For a time stealing was rife, but unceremonious arrests quickly resulted and the offenders taken before Squire Staton, who held temporary court in the Macdonald town hall.

The fire starting when everybody was abroad no lives were lost but some of the stores and houses entirely burned down were.

Ever since the awful calamity visitors have been constantly pouring in to witness the tented village and on Sunday March 27th there was a continuous intress of buggies, wagons, surreys and every conceivable kind of conveyance bringing strangers from every point of the compass.

As each conveyance neared the scenes of the conflagration the faces of the occupants bore traces of astonishment at the unusual and complete sight of the destruction.

Temporary wooden structures have been hastily erected and some of the merchants like W. R. Gray have already installed new stocks of goods and have resumed their business.

That the town will be at once rebuilt might be considered an accomplished fact, and contracts have been entered into for new structures and sewer work.

Enormous orders for brick, lime and cement have been given and the material is expected to arrive in the obliterated town during the ensuing days and week.

The Snyder Construction Co. are arranging for large crews of workmen and the labor of clearing the debris is progressing rapidly.

The tents brought in by the militia at the instigation of Mr. Samuel Dixon are nearly all put up and many are used in conducting business by the merchants whose losses have been so severe.

Not for one night has anyone gone without shelter and there has not been a single case of distress.

Last Saturday was pay day throughout the coal fields and comment should be made upon the excellent order maintained, everybody observing strictly the best decorum.

Several of the burned saloons were temporarily constructed, but none allowed to sell anything but beer and soft drinks, the authorities having requested that no liquor be sold until the chaotic condition quiets down and a proper organization be restored, and on Saturday night by half past nine every one of the temporary saloons closed down their business tight until Monday morning.

The militia which arrived in the stricken town were not once called upon to enforce order - in fact they were sent here especially to render what aid they could in case of being called upon and particular orders had been given that they were to come to the town entirely unarmed. Still it is certain that their presence has had a salutory effect upon the thousands of curiosity seekers strolling over the cement side walks and among the ruins.

The Fayetteville company in command of Captain S. L. Walker and Lieut. W. B. Jones retired from the town last Sunday evening, returning home on the eleven o'clock train from Macdonald.

The Bank of Mount Hope is conducting its business, which has had but one single day's interruption, in the offices of the New River Company at Macdonald, and has commenced the erection of a new and commodious fire proof building on the site of the old bank.

The men called out from the Macdonald, Sugar Creek and Kilsythe mines did yeoman service for an hour or two when the fire raged, but the destruction was so rapid that indeed even with such an army of volunteers but very little of personal effects or merchandise was saved.

Of course there were many sorrowful episodes in the case of entire losses of household furniture, and the inevitable cases of loss of priceless trinkets, arising in such sad cases were very numerous.

Were it not for the ruins and the still smouldering heaps all around the temporary shacks of grocery stores, dry goods stores, fruit shops, jewelry and other businesses the whole town present the appearance of a raid, to a new settlement in Oklahoma.

The customary and expected "know-it-alls" are much in evidence, and it is amusing to hear them harangue little groups ranged around, telling how this building or that structure, or even the whole town could have been saved it he, ________ etc. etc.

Some of the talkative ones who hitherto had never given a thought to the imflammability of the place will now persist in buttonholing you and with a nudge in the ribs tell you in loud and unmistakable accents that "I predicted this years ago, but they wouldn't listen to me," or another pointing to a pile of debris with outstretched hand will say "Just what I have been looking for for the past eight years." Others, the more sensible of the Mount Hope men give but little thought to the town that has gone, directing their whole minds and their every effort to the quick rebuilding of their burned property.

Judge and Mrs. T. J. McGinnis, Prosecuting Attorney Hugh A. Dunn and a large contingent from Beckley have have [sic] been driven to the scene and all have been appalled at the magnitude and sweep of the destruction.

That the thin blue haze of smoke which enveloped Charleston on Saturday morning March 26 came from the fire which destroyed Mount Hope, Judge M. S. Simms of Montgomery who was there on that day states that the smoke went down the Kanawha river and before dark Friday night, Montgomery was enveloped in a cloud of smoke. The smoke reached Charleston Saturday morning but not in such volume as to be oppressive.

Be that as it may, the dynamiting surely sent live embers as far as Macdonald where it set fire to the lawn in front of Dr. Kirkpatrick's residence and nearly set fire to a house in Macdonald nearly three quarters of a mile away.

West Virginia Archives and History


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Three state airports receive grants for improvements

By The Associated Press

BECKLEY, W.Va. – Three airports in Southern West Virginia have been awarded federal grants to improve airfield infrastructure.

U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall says Greenbrier Valley Airport will receive $1 million to pay for the design of reconstructing apron pavement and building a new taxi lane. The airport also will use the funding to acquire snow removal equipment.

Logan County Airport will receive $150,000 to acquire a new runway visual guidance system.

The Federal Aviation Administration also awarded nearly $130,000 to Summersville Airport to remove trees and obstructions from one of its runway approaches and transitional surfaces.

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An example of how little good...

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#1 brndirt1

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Posted 11 April 2010 - 12:13 AM

An example of how little good the Germans received from the Ukraine after the Nazis conquered the territory. By the first week of March, this was reported in the Time magazine.

Last week, as the Wehrmacht reeled farther & farther back into the Ukraine, the Germans were fast losing this vast (172,000 sq. mi.), heavily populated (31,000,000) territory, and the Russians were regaining one of their greatest centers of wealth.

… One of the first tasks of German engineers was to repair and restore highways and bridges, to convert railways as far as the Dnieper to the narrower European gauge. Restoration of reconquered railways is bound to be a major problem for the Russians.

(as they retreated)The Russians had destroyed 67,000 tractors, 18,500 heavy trucks, and 22,000 combines before they gave up the Ukraine. One result was that Ukrainian farmlands produced very little for the Germans. They were able to bring in about 5,000 tractors, and a few thousand plows. By forcing prisoners and peasants to work the fields 17 hours a day, the Germans were able to plant and harvest about 300,000 tons of grain, all types in 1942 (in 1937, the Ukraine produced 10,000,000 tons of wheat alone).

World Battlefronts: BATTLE OF RUSSIA: What Hitler is Losing - TIME

So much for "Russian soil for the Teutonic plow". The new lebensraum gained them next to nothing.
Happy Trails,

#2 belasar

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Posted 25 August 2010 - 12:36 AM

It sounds like it would take a decade or longer to fully restore ag production even if victorious. The viable reasons for a German attack seem to get slimmer and slimmer.
Wars are rarely fought in black and white, but in infinite shades of grey

(Poppy is occasionaly correct, or so I hear)

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Home · Articles · Music · Music Stories · Milk Music: Monday, March 18
March 13th, 2013 12:01 am MATTHEW SINGER | Music Stories

Milk Music: Monday, March 18

Indie rock’s punk past, thawed out in the present.

music_milk-music_3919MILK MUSIC - IMAGE: Benjamin Trogdon

[INDIE RAUCOUS] Charles Waring doesn’t appreciate the suggestion that his band, Milk Music, is living in the past. He’ll admit the group is big on honoring its heroes—which, from the sound of its upcoming debut LP, includes every aggressive, squalling guitar band of the 1980s’ indie-rock underground—but he’s quick to add that ultimately the goal is “to do our own thing.” That’s probably true. But speaking to the 28-year-old guitarist, it also wouldn’t be surprising to discover the band was recently rescued from the basement of a defunct college radio station where it’s been trapped since about 1986.

“I don’t have a computer,” Waring says over the phone from Milk Music’s home base in Olympia, Wash., in a tone that suggests he finds such technology to be a bourgeois extravagance. “I mean, we know how to use computers, we’re not dummies. We’re definitely living in our own time. But all that light and numbers and information, that’s supposed to represent your mortal body. That doesn’t make sense.”

So maybe Milk Music isn’t living in the past. It definitely trades in it, though. In 2010, the band put out Beyond Living, an EP of mossy, melodic riffs and open-throated yowling from singer Alex Coxen, conjuring the spirits of bygone Pacific Northwest forebears from the Wipers to Nirvana. True to a bunch of punks leery of the Internet, the quartet didn’t make a push to promote the record online. Up until last year, it didn’t even have a website. But the band’s music stimulated too many long-dormant rock-critic pleasure centers to remain undiscovered. Pitchfork eventually picked up on it, then Spin and The New York Times, and soon, it was all “Dinosaur Jr. Junior” this and “Hüsker Dü” that—fairly obvious comparisons, but ones that irked musicians drawing from a much deeper well of music history.

“It’s not fun to hear people compare you to someone you’re not intending to sound like,” Waring says. “When I think of bands I want to sound like, I’m thinking of the Beatles or something, like everybody else.”

In an effort to express itself more clearly, for its first full-length, Cruise Your Illusion—no Guns N’ Roses pun intended, though Waring is a card-carrying member of the GNR fan club, and he’s got the complimentary tapestry to prove it—the band laid off the noise a bit, allowing its wide panoply of influences, from Neil Young to Kate Bush, to rise out of the fuzz. It’d seem like the group, once willfully oblivious to the mechanisms of digital-age hype, allowed outside chatter to affect its sound, but Waring insists the evolution happened organically. “Alex wants to write really sincere songs in a time where no one’s really writing sincere songs,” he says. “And if they’re not going to be able to hear that over the [distortion pedal], we’re going to turn it down a little bit.”

The result, Waring says, is a record that plays “like a dream,” one that works heard as a whole or in parts, and which isn’t beholden to any particular time or place—except, perhaps, right now.

“If anything, this is Milk Music’s time,” Waring says. “Milk Music’s time is not the ’80s or the ’90s hardcore scene. This is when we’re coming out with our best shit. Everything we have to say is in our songs—and we turn up the vocals really loud on this record so you can hear it.”

SEE IT: Milk Music plays Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave., with Gun Outfit and Bath Party, on Monday, March 18. 9 pm. $8. 21+.

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March 21st, 2013 6:21 pm | MATTHEW KORFHAGE Food & Drink |

Montavilla Bar Tanuki Closes to Head off Oregonian Review

The Oregonian reviews them anyway.

dish_tanuki_3902_matthew korfhage_articleIMAGE: leahnash.com

Montavilla sake bar/foodie haven Tanuki has temporarily closed today, apparently to head off a positive review by The Oregonian that would bring more diners to the establishment.

Owner Janis Martin posted an open apology on Facebook to her "patrons, regulars, guests and fellow travelers on the path of J-punk oddity," further stating that Tanuki would be closed in order to deal with licensing issues brought about by additional customers and media classification of the four-table, two hot-plate izakaya as a restaurant.

"For the love of God man," Martin wrote on Tanuki's Facebook upon discovering that the Oregonian had just printed their review, "tell me they didn't print it despite our closing."

Willamette Week printed a similarly positive review within the past year; the Portland Mercury published a rave in February 2012.

Willamette Week was unable to immediately reach Martin for details, but will update if additional information emerges. In the meantime, here's Tanuki's message about their closing:

 Hi guys, we will be closed again tonight. I am very sorry and now you get a full explanation why.

Dear patrons, regulars, guests and fellow travelers on the path of J-punk oddity

Thank you for bearing with us as Tanuki adjusts to the repercussions of the media attention paid to us in the last few months.

You see, Tanuki was never meant to be a conventional “restaurant.” In my self-indulgence I perhaps overestimated my ability to create something that was somewhat odd, my ability to make people understand this difficult-to-categorize thing, and my ability to hold the reins steady and stay on course-- even factoring in the human element of the outside world coming in through the door each day with their own notions of what this beast should be.

Businesses exist in a world of licenses, permits and regulations that have no love for the schemes of a person who does not care to be forced into a mold. For years I have tried to exist as a sake shop with tasty sake drinking food that did some other things as well and to comply with regulations that insist I choose to be a single easily categorizable thing. As we have received more and more reviews declaring us a restaurant, followed by restaurant customers with foodie expectations, this has become very difficult to do. And recently, as I begged a prominent local paper to not review us as a restaurant until we finished the updates necessary to comply with relevent regulations to no avail, it became impossible.

So we've been shutting down abruptly when necessary and trying to adjust.

And we were closed yesterday, and we will be closed again today trying to deal with a larger measure of conformity than I had planned.

This is not a rant against the licensing bodies in the state of Oregon. While I disagree with many of the regulations and policies in place, I have been treated with respect, patience and kindness by all of the agents I have encountered. Nor is is meant to be a slur against the many writers and bloggers who have enjoyed their experiences here and shared their thoughts with the public. They have also been more than kind and I realise that many worthy chefs and restaurateurs would greatly appreciate and rightly deserve exactly the attention my little sake shop is given. I do not mean to sound ungrateful.

I thank everyone who has tried to come in and found us closed for their patience with us. We are doing our best to meet expectations we never expected anyone to have of us while remaining within the boundaries of what we are legally allowed to do with our existing licenses, four tables and two electric hotplates. To those who have supported us for a long time now, taking us just as we are- you cannot be thanked enough.

See you all soon,
Janis, Tanuki
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Junior Ambassadors Announced

The Black River Area Chamber of Commerce Junior Ambassador Program is now underway at Black RiverFallsHigh School.

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Wisconsin's gun deer season is nine days away -- and already, state officials are trying to put safety into hunters' heads.

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A lot of Wisconsin corn got buried under the heavy snow from the past couple days.

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It was another record performance for Aaron Rodgers, as the Green Bay Packers crushed the Chicago Bears 55-to-14 last night at Lambeau Field.

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Chelsey is a present!

Kitty present under the tree!

Chelsey our Seal Point siamese cat just loved to get under the christmas tree and pretend she was a present! Most times you couldn't even tell she was there unless you looked really close. When the lights were on and she was right by the light up present she was happy as could be.

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