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-   -   Slayer -- Worcester, MA -- August 4th, 2007 (http://www.metalsetlists.com/showthread.php?t=7052)

JRA 08-05-2007 04:48 PM

Slayer -- Worcester, MA -- August 4th, 2007
So I saw Slayer for the second time last night (the first time was at Ozzfest 2004, and that didn’t really count since I only knew about 4 songs by them). Now, 3 years and 4.5 classic releases later, I was all set for this bad boy.

Or at least I thought I was. To be honest I’m not sure what I thought of the show, but we’ll get to that later.

I left the house with my Overkill “Fuck You” shirt, which is a slightly trivial detail I know, but being this a Slayer show, I wasn’t sure whether or not the more asshole concert goers would shit on you for what you wear (hell I was slightly unsure whether or not to where a Megadeth shirt, given the rivalries between the two). That, and I didn’t exactly have the gall to weat that shirt anywhere else. Lucky for me I got props from multiple fellow thrashers for my choice!

Before I forget I should probably mention that the first thing I see while standing in line to get in is someone dressed up as Gene Simmons. Like, just hanging out and taking pictures.

So anyways, I get there right in the middle of Bleeding Through’s set. Ugh. When was the memo sent out that if you want to be in style nowadays you have to copy Pantera? At least all the Iron Maiden clones in the 80’s were copying a formula that doesn’t get old (well, ok, it doesn’t get old as quickly as a Pantera formula does, even the “Iron Maiden hater” faction here can admit that). That, and they had a girl keyboard player, :wtf: which would have been fine if I heard actual keyboards during their show! It’s almost as if the new trend to impress the mallrat kids is to have a girl and a headbanging keyboard player in your band. I do believe it was Iann Robinson who said, “if the draw to your band is the girl in it, it’s time to hang it up.” Oh and they also had a giant backdrop that read “I DON’T GIVE A FUCK!” Well guess what, Bleeding Through, clearly you do give a fuck if you’re willing to pay your hard earned cash to artists willing to draw that up for you. In fact, I’d say that you guys give two shits and a fuck!

Fuck Bleeding Through’s setlist!

So, Slayer. You know, as much as I hate to admit it, these guys have every right to go out and make a new album, tour on it and play it live. Plus I think they only played about three songs from it. How-fucking-ever, that does not give them the right to cocktease. The lights go down and apparently their new intro is “Metal Storm” over the PA. Now I had read somewhere on the internet an interview with Tom where he said that the band wanted to bring back some songs they hadn’t played in a while (which is how I found out about “Ghosts Of War”). As you can imagine, my jaw had literally dropped: “Holy shit! Not only are they bringing back Metal Storm/Face The Slayer, they are opening with it!!!”

Instead after Metal Storm finished they went into whatever post Seasons drivel they’re opening the show with. Dammit Kerry! Your supposed to be the Priest fan, and that logic is like playing “The Hellion” over the PA and then going into “Hot Rockin!” Anyways, the show can basically be split into three parts: the stupid intro followed by a trilogy of classics, a handful of post Seasons bullshit, and a final volley of more classics.

I was rather underwhelmed by the “chaos” that ensues during a Slayer concert. When you take away the myth that surrounds most Slayer concerts, what with the violence and racism and what have you, you aren’t left with alot to be afraid of. I didn’t notice too much violence going on around the venue nor in the moshpit, with one notable exception: the guys right behind me kept moshing each other in their seats (a bunch of dudes at least in their late 30’s) and this fat bastard kept getting knocked across the aisle into a bunch of people. This happened about 3 times, and after the 3rd time he got pissed and walked out. I think the rest of his crew felt pretty bad after that. I actually saw that guy outside waiting for his “friends” as I was walking out, and he asked me if they were still in there. I hope whoever that guy was made it home alright. Tom Araya wasn’t helping matters much either, and kept repeating the same stage raps every song, in his rather “I’m on so many goddamn downers right now” speaking voice.

“Are we all here to have fun?”

If by fun you mean “PLAY CLASSIX!” then yes, Tom we are here for fun. To bad you guys aren’t in the mood for it. That being said, they always seem to be in the mood for putting on a hell of a stage performance. I was watching the band do all these stage movements that I’ve seen a million times before on the internet, and for whatever reason I never acknowledged that like every other band, they have to do that night after night after night. Christ its a wonder those guys can still walk.

Aside from one or two “true metalists” mocking the Marilyn Manson goth kiddies, that really is all there is to report in regards to concert disorder. Which brings us to the man himself. To his credit, Manson’s stage show was a lot different than I was expecting. The place was set up kinda like a bar, even with people sitting at tables and drinking. Also instead of playing his actual songs, it was a bunch of 80’s/90’s rock songs with a few hip hop songs mixed in. And then there were all these scantily clad women dancing around and...

...oh wait a minute. That wasn’t Manson, that was the strip club I went to after Slayer.

No I did not stick around for Manson, I did wait in the venue for maybe a half an hour just to wait out the “I only came here for Slayer” traffic that I would likely get stuck in if I bolted right afterwards.

One final thing I noticed: as much as blabbermouth idiots might tell you otherwise, there wasn’t that much of a drop in attendance after Slayer left.

So let’s review:

1) There are now Gene Simmons impersonators.

2) Bleeding Through do give a fuck ( as well as two shits)

3) As a frontman, Tom Araya makes Ronnie James Dio look like Bruce Dickinson

4) The mosh pit during “Holy Wars” was a lot more violent than Slayer’s entire set.

5) Dave Lombardo has got what A Tribe Called Quest call “the jazz”

6) Sorry PowerMaiden, but Payback does suck live.

7) Champagne rooms are expensive

DethMaiden 08-05-2007 04:54 PM

Well, I'd say they basically picked the right Reign/South/Seasons stuff, except maybe Postmortem.

Blitzkrieg Witchcraft 08-05-2007 07:40 PM

they always deliver live.

Spiral_Slave 08-05-2007 08:08 PM

All the guys should be lined up, and kicked straight in the sack for using metal storm as an intro and going into Flesh Storm.

ADD 08-05-2007 09:05 PM

This is lame, I'd go see them if they ever played a good setlist. And of all the awesome rarer songs to bring back, Bitter Peace and Ghosts Of War? What happened to like Crionics and Skeletons of Society?

Blitzkrieg Witchcraft 08-05-2007 09:12 PM

[QUOTE=ADD;164118] Ghosts Of Fire[/QUOTE]

ADD 08-05-2007 09:13 PM

[QUOTE=Blitzkrieg Witchcraft;164127]:confused:[/QUOTE]
:dorky: That'd be a good metal title though :eyes:

JRA 08-05-2007 09:14 PM

[QUOTE=ADD;164118]This is lame, I'd go see them if they ever played a good setlist. And of all the awesome rarer songs to bring back, Bitter Peace and Ghosts Of War? What happened to like Crionics and Skeletons of Society?[/QUOTE]

For all we know, the entire band has probably forgotten about Crionics. The only time they'd ever bring it back is if it was some dying kid's wish from "Make A Wish" or something like that.

Blitzkrieg Witchcraft 08-05-2007 09:15 PM

[I]Ghosts of War[/I] is pretty rare. Last time they played that was on the [B]South of Heaven[/B] tour if I'm not mistaken.

ADD 08-05-2007 09:16 PM

[QUOTE=neilpeartjr.;164132]For all we know, the entire band has probably forgotten about Crionics. The only time they'd ever bring it back is if it was some dying kid's wish from "Make A Wish" or something like that.[/QUOTE]
:lol: :lol: :lol:

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Old 07-15-2013, 08:09 PM
dcmetal108's Avatar
dcmetal108 dcmetal108 is offline
Some People Call Me The White Devil
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 8,485
Originally Posted by NickLed19 View Post
Yeah that's what I was thinking. This is not a tour to go to and try and pick up girls.
Unless you are around the age of the girls that go to those shows. Chicago girl TWY fans are usually around 18-20 it seems.

That being said I'd go this tour in a instant for TWY and ADTR though with ADTR headlining it will sell out immediately if its a tour.

Just remembered this can't be a tour because All Time Low and Pierce The Veil did a full tour together a few months ago.
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Buy for
(2 items)

Release date: 1999
Style: Progressive power metal, Folk metal

7.7 | 27 votes

49 have it
4 want it

01. Enter The Cave
02. Hunter In The Dark
03. Too Great Thy Gift
04. Sorrow In Memoriam
05. Dreamwalker
06. The Bird
07. The Wanderer's Farewell

Lyrics (7)

Erik Ravn - guitar, vocals
Kristian "Krille" Andrén - vocals
Rune S. Brink - keyboards
Kasper Gram - bass
Morten Nødgaard - drums

Additional info
Label: Sensory Records (Cat.# sr3006)
Reissue: 2003 : CD-Maximum - CDM 0303-1341 (Russia)
Recorded at Aabenraa Studios, Aabenraa, Denmark, August 1998.
Produced, mixed and engineered by Jacob Hansen.
Mastered by Bob Katz, Digital Domain, Florida, USA.
Cover art by Kristian Wåhlin.
Graphic design & layout by Michael Bennet.
Photos by John-son & Martin Pauner.
Logo & poem by Erik Ravn.
Music & Lyrics by Erik Ravn, except: "Sorrow In Memoriam" (music by Erik Ravn, Kenneth Saandvig, Tim Christensen & Troels Liebgott), "Dreamwalker" (music by Erik Ravn, Rune S. Brink & Kenneth Saandvig).

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Uirapuru - 25.04.2010 at 08:17
  Not much to compare so far... but being this their album with the lowest user rate, and still I find it very good.

High hopes on the others.
GT - 20.10.2010 at 13:13
Rating: 8 If you like this release you won't be disappointed by the others

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"some music was meant to stay underground..."

DeathDestruction Uploads New Rehearsal Clip Online

Swedish metal act DeathDestruction, featuring members of Evergrey and Hammerfall, has posted a new rehearsal clip online to its official YouTube channel. You can view the clip below:

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Impiety Reveals New Album "The Impious Crusade" Details

August 6th has been announced as the international release date for Impiety's brand-new "The Impious Crusade" mini-album.

The Singaporean band's first studio recording for Hells Headbangers, "The Impious Crusade" is locked into the maxim of crush/kill/destroy across the five tracks and 22 minutes. The release includes a cult cover of Sorcery's "Lucifer's Legions" and uniquely noble artwork sculpted by Lord Sickness. The track listing is:

1. Arrival of the Assassins
2. Commanding Death & Destroy
3. Accelerate the Annhiliation
4. The Impious Crusade
5. Lucifer's Legions (Sorcery Cover)

Enthuses founding frontman Shyaithan, "Mission accomplished, and honestly really satisfied with how this record turned out! The Impious Crusade is a giant leap ahead from the last Impiety album, and to top this one is going to be severely difficult. But that is what I enjoy most, and shall continue to further challenge myself pushing wider, deeper, and even further beyond boundaries of untamed death and chaos." A release date for the Hells Headbangers vinyl edition of Impiety's Vengeance Hell Immemorial compilation shall be announced shortly.

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Dimensions: H. 2 in. (5.1 cm), Diam. 10-1/2 in. (26.7 cm)
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MBTA bus driver assaulted by group of teens

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BOSTON — The Boston Globe reported that between 15 and 20 teenagers punched an Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus operator and tried to pull him from the driver’s side window while the bus was picking up passengers. The driver was treated for minor injuries.

The attack happened at the same time the driver had a fare-related dispute with a passenger. Transit Police Superintendent in Chief Joseph O’Connor said that the incident was unusual in that, while there has been an increase in assaults on bus drivers, they usually only involve one or two individuals. For the full story, click here.

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Not Guilty as Charged: Willis (Charles S. Dutton) gets consoled by Emma (Liv Tyler) after being jailed for a crime he didn't commit in 'Cookie's Fortune.'

Robert Altman's latest is sugary, likable and, most of all, Southern

By Richard von Busack

ONCE, TELEVISION TURNED Robert Altman's scarifying, dark-humored film M*A*S*H into a sitcom. Now, it seems, Altman has turned The Andy Griffith Show into an occasionally dark movie. But you can't expect Tennessee Williams with a title like Cookie's Fortune. The real-life antebellum hamlet of Holly Springs, Miss., is the setting for this story about the death of a matriarch. Jewel Mae "Cookie" Orcutt (Patricia Neal) commits suicide, not from despair, but from fear of old age. Worried about a scandal, Cookie's niece makes the suicide look like a murder.

Camille (Glenn Close) is the engineer of the plan, eating Cookie's suicide note on the spot and throwing away the old woman's pistol. Her half-witted sister, Cora (Julianne Moore), is Camille's accomplice, sworn to secrecy. Unfortunately, the apparent "murder" of Cookie calls out the local law. The prime suspect is Willis (Charles S. Dutton), her friend and handyman. No one in Holly Springs seriously believes Willis did it, but the out-of-town police insist on keeping the old man in jail. Meanwhile, Cookie's troubled great-niece, Emma (Liv Tyler), has returned to town. Her simmering affair with the Barney Fife-like deputy Jason (Chris O'Donnell) provides juvenile romance to counterpoint the aged Close, Neal and Dutton.

First-time screenwriter Anne Rapp was a script supervisor for everyone from Bill Forsyth (on Local Hero) to Steven Spielberg (on The Color Purple). Her work is full of cozily predictable quirks, derived from the Southern wave of the late '80s (Crimes of the Heart, Driving Miss Daisy, Steel Magnolias). Women of a certain age love tales of the modern South, where lassitude, comfort food and gorgeous real estate all come together, and inertia looks dignified. And Cookie's Fortune is mostly pleasantly inert. What stands out are a few nuggets, especially an empressy blues singer named Ruby Wilson singing at a bar at the beginning of the film. (R&B musician Rufus Thomas, auteur of the Funky Chicken, is the owner of the joint.) It's good to see Lyle Lovett's Buster Keaton-like face inflamed with risible longing as a fishmonger in lust with Emma.

Moore, whom I love, never does get a bead on her character. At times, Cora's a simpleton; at others, she's rebelling under the mask of compliance. Her transition scene comes when she has the title role in Camille's Easter pageant--it's Wilde's Salome. Moore does the dance of the seven veils at a Presbyterian church in a small Mississippi town--why does Altman cut away from that? For him, the real interest is the lumbering hero and moral center of the film, honest old Willis. Despite his troubles, he's without a mean bone in his skeleton, and his main interests are Wild Turkey and fishing. Cookie's Fortune is like Dutton, friendly, aimless, likable. Cookie's Fortune is Altman's most likable film in seven years. Still, isn't likability a form of decay when manifested by the artist who made M*A*S*H, Nashville, McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Short Cuts?

Cookie's Fortune (PG-13; 118 min.), directed by Robert Altman, written by Anne Rapp, photographed by Toyomichi Kurita and starring Glenn Close, Patricia Neal and Charles S. Dutton.

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Weekend Planner: Parkway Festivals

Weekend Planner: Parkway Festivals

This Saturday, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will bustle with books and sizzle with science experiments during free festivals.

At a street fair finale for the week-long Philadelphia Book Festival, reading moves from printed pages to real life. Kids can go on a picnic with storybook characters Corduroy and the Berenstain Bears, make their own paintings based on the tale of Madeline and meet award-winning author and illustrator Chris Van Allsburg, responsible for famous titles such as Jumanji and The Polar Express. Other highlights: wacky music from the accordion ensemble Philly Squeeze, a Storybook Parade and “Teen Zone” workshops where middle and high schoolers can make original magazines or comics.

At Logan Circle, the Philadelphia Science Festival’s Science Carnival entertains left-brained folk. Drive a robot, make ice cream in 10 minutes, discover the chemical composition of Jell-O, play a Periodic Table version of the game “Twister” and participate in other hands-on science lessons. Even the most advanced fields are adapted for all ages. Kids can see their own cells in a microbiology demonstration, stitch up a stuffed animal to learn about veterinary medicine and voice their opinion on whether it’s right to clone animals from the Ice Age at a bioethics booth.

Early Earth Day

Celebrated nationwide on April 22, Earth Day arrives early to the Delaware Valley this weekend, starting with the Saturday morning 5K Run for Clean Air & Earth Day Celebration. At the Philadelphia Art Museum finish line, stop by Stonyfield Organic's Family Love Fest. There's a play space for crawling babies, and you can get tips on organic living, make a family photo book and sample Stonyfield's yogurts and recipes.

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Obamacare in Knoxville

The deadline is almost here. So what's keeping people from signing up for health insurance?

Sheila Hayden put off venturing onto the government's health-insurance marketplace website for a couple of reasons. She's a busy student at Pellissippi State Community College, studying business hospitality, and says she usually doesn't get much of a break between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. But she was also nervous.

"I was afraid there would be a possibility I'd have to pay a [high] premium. I was worried about the financial possibilities," she says. "That was the fear. Am I going to be turned down?"

Hayden, 58, had a job with benefits for 16 years before she was laid off during the recession. She tried to buy a COBRA health-insurance policy, but the monthly premium was $600 and just not feasible for her budget. So Hayden understood the basics of health insurance, and had even tried to sign up for TennCare a few years ago—but was told her husband's pension brought in just $5 too much for her to qualify. Hayden has a computer at home and Internet access, but she still decided to seek help from Certified Application Counselors who volunteer at enrollment events like the one held last Saturday at Mount Calvary Baptist Church.

"I probably could have [signed up myself], but I just feel like it was better to have someone to help me," she explains.

Inside Mount Calvary, about 30 people sat in chairs that lined a hallway off the main foyer. When people came in, volunteers with the nonprofit Tennessee Health Care Campaign handed them information forms to fill out while they waited for assistance from CACs. The forms asked for information that would be used to sign up for insurance on the marketplace. Then, in a small side room, five CACs had laptops set up at small tables where they could sit with an individual person and go through the entire process of signing up for an insurance plan.

The side room was quiet—most of the conversations were held in low tones as people recited their yearly incomes and Social Security numbers. When Hayden and the CAC assisting her determined she actually is eligible for TennCare, they both quietly cheered at their table. Hayden couldn't keep the smile off her face after she'd completed her application.

Hayden heard about the event—organized by the THCC—through her own church, Rogers Memorial Baptist Church, and brought one of her sisters along so that she'd also get signed up for insurance. And after spending about half an hour with a CAC, Hayden was able to sign up for TennCare. For people whose income qualifies them for Medicaid (which is called TennCare in Tennessee), their marketplace application is automatically sent to TennCare for processing. Assuming Hayden's TennCare application is approved, she said she won't have any monthly costs.

"Everybody needs to sign up," she says. "It's not as hard as it looks. It's not a hard process at all. It's easy. It's painless."

But not everyone who is eligible for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") insurance marketplace is signing up. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that more than 200,000 people in Tennessee are eligible to purchase plans through the marketplace and more than 100,000 are eligible for subsidized premiums. But as of March 1, only 77,867 people have signed up. Though rates of uninsured people are higher in Memphis (16 percent) and Nashville (11 percent) than in Knoxville (7 percent), there are still thousands of people in East Tennessee who, if they miss the March 31 open enrollment deadline, could face tax penalties of $95 or 1 percent of their income, whichever is highest.

So why are Knoxvillians who could find affordable insurance shunning the opportunity?

Co-pays. Out-of-pocket limits. In network, or out of network.

The language of health insurance isn't an intuitive one if you've never had the opportunity to buy a plan. That's one reason people have hesitated in signing up for insurance on the marketplace, says Carl Wheeler, a volunteer with the Tennessee Health Care Campaign. He estimates about 60 percent of the people he meets at enrollment events have never had health insurance, or haven't had a policy in a long time. And they don't understand the lingo enough to choose an appropriate plan.

"When you go to your employer, your employer says, ‘I've got Plan A and B.' And those are your two choices. In the marketplace, you've got 50, 60, 70 different options, three different companies. In my opinion, people don't seem to internalize what it means to select a plan," Wheeler says. "When I get ready to select a plan, I need to look at, ‘Do I have specialty doctors? How many times a year do I go to the doctor? Do I have specific medication?' What [people are] doing is going to the website and getting all this stuff dumped on them at once, and they're not ready for it, at least in my opinion."

Wheeler, a retired engineer who says he felt compelled to spread the word about the ACA, has been working with THCC for about a year, and spent much of last summer and fall helping explain the basics of health insurance. He'd attend rallies, set up booths at events like the Hola Festival, and handed out fliers at food pantries. In January, he started organizing enrollment events, where people could come and get face-to-face help in getting their marketplace account set up with THCC volunteers, and then get help from certified application counselors and navigators in actually selecting and signing up for a health-insurance plan.

THCC was started in 1989 as a social justice-type organization based in Nashville. It had a hand in expanding health-care coverage to low-income pregnant women and uninsured children in the 1990s, and has advocated on behalf of low-income Tennesseans who need access to health care since it was started. The organization relies on local organizing groups to carry out grassroots campaigns, the latest of which was getting the word out about the ACA.

But it's not just THCC that's been trying to encourage people to enroll in health insurance. Get Covered America is a national campaign arm of Enroll America, a nonprofit whose goal is to enroll as many people as possible in a health-insurance plan. Get Covered America's focus is on educating people about the ACA; it operates in 11 states, including Tennessee. The director of the Tennessee office, Tobi Johnson, is based in Knoxville. Organizing for Action, another nonprofit, is dedicated to advancing policies voted for in 2012, which includes the ACA, gun-violence prevention, climate change, and immigration reform. The organization is officially nonpartisan, but it's closely tied to President Obama's campaign team. Jim Messina, who was Obama's campaign manager in 2012, is the chairman of the organization, and Jon Carson left his Obama White House job to become the executive director of the organization. Its focus is also education, and it trains volunteers to go out and share facts about the law and how to sign up for insurance.

Knoxville Area Project Access is the only organization in Knoxville with federally recognized "navigators"—people who can help sign up for insurance. KAPA is sponsored by the Knoxville Academy of Medicine's philanthropic foundation, and partners with local entities like Cherokee Health Systems, the Knox County Health Department, the Interfaith Health Clinic, and the major hospitals in the area. They're the ones who were in the side room of Mount Calvary helping people actually sign up for insurance policies. There's plenty of overlap among these organizations—their navigators and CACs were at the THCC-organized enrollment event this past Saturday

For now, Wheeler says having eight to 10 volunteers helping "triage" folks who come to enrollment sessions—getting all their information and situations written down before they walk through the process—and then about four navigators and CACs has been working for the THCC events. As the March 31 deadline for open enrollment approaches, he expects turnouts to increase.

But Wheeler says that when people come in for help from the THCC, their knowledge of the ACA and health insurance in general is rather scant. And, he says, there are a few reasons for that.

First of all, he says, people don't seem to understand that the ACA is a law, which requires people to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty. And that misunderstanding, coupled with the general distrust of anything with the name "Obama" attached to it, leads to bad information spreading, Wheeler says.

"It is a red state. And the media hasn't really covered it [a lot]," he says. "If you ask people if they've heard of Obamacare, they'll say yes, because that's what you hear on the news, that's what you see on MSNBC, that's what you see on FOX, is Obamacare. If you ask them if they've heard of the Affordable Care Act? ‘No, I've never heard of that.'"

While he was handing out fliers with information about the ACA at the Fish Hospitality Pantry in North Knoxville, Wheeler spoke to one woman who said her husband didn't agree with Obama. Wheeler told the woman, "It would seem to me, regardless of who the president is, this is a law, and if I needed health insurance, I'm going to [do it]. We've got 435 members in Congress, and 100 people in the Senate—there's a whole lot of them I don't agree with, but I live within the laws they put on the books."

Tonya Sweet, who's worked with Cherokee Health Systems for about 14 years, was asked by her boss to become a CAC last year. She estimates she's helped about 500 people sign up for insurance on the marketplace since October. Sweet works in Claiborne and Grainger counties but spent the morning helping out at Mount Calvary. She assisted Sheila Hayden in signing up for TennCare. And, like Wheeler, Sweet says many people don't understand that the ACA and "Obamacare" are the same thing.

"I had a lady the other night say she was ashamed because it's Obamacare. I said, ‘It's Affordable Care Act insurance. It's Blue Cross Blue Shield. It doesn't say "Obamacare" across the front.' And I had another little lady say, ‘I don't want no part of that Obamacare.' And I said ‘Okay. It's also called the Affordable Care Act.' And she said ‘That's what I want,'" Sweet says.

Johnson, director of the Tennessee arm of Get Covered America, says she and her volunteers keep their conversations with people non-political, and she says conveying the basic facts about the ACA is what gets people's attention. Another one of the biggest misconceptions about marketplace insurance policies she hears from people is that it will be too expensive.

"We know that eight out of 10 people can get financial help. We know that half of people under age 35 can get a plan for less than $50 a month," she says. "When people go online [they] see ‘Oh, this is actually affordable!' Yeah, they don't call it the Affordable Care Act for nothing."

That lack of information, plus previous experiences trying to get insurance, can also discourage people from signing up for insurance.

"People have had the experience of getting screened out [for preexisting conditions], people have had the experience in the past of seeing the prices of upwards of $1,000 for a family. So they're like, ‘Oh, there's no way,'" Johnson adds.

But she wants to set the record straight: "You cannot be turned away. You could be in the middle of cancer treatment, and they have to give you a plan. That's a big deal."

But first they have to sign up, and even that can be a challenge for a segment of the population. Whether you sign up on the website or over the phone, you must have an e-mail address.

"You'd be surprised at how many people come in and sit down with them [to make an e-mail]. They don't even know how e-mail works," Johnson says.

And that could, in part, be due to a lack of access to a computer at home. Erin Hill, the executive director of KAPA, estimates that about 30 percent of people who seek help from KAPA do not have access to a computer at home.

But Hill says the part of the process that navigators at KAPA spend the most time on with people coming in for assistance is actually choosing an insurance plan.

"There's usually about 60 to 70 options for people to choose from, so it can be very overwhelming," she says.

Navigators can discuss individual health needs, prescriptions, whether doctor visits are frequent, and then help people choose a plan that will meet their needs. Still, Sweet says, "very, very few" people come to her with much, if any, knowledge of how the ACA or insurance works.

"They're just relying on our help to explain what it is, and what they're eligible for," Sweet says.

And, contrary to Hill's experience at KAPA, Sweet says about 80 percent of the people she helps do not have access to a computer at home.

"The other [20 percent]—the website intimidates them. They just need reassurance from someone to say ‘It's okay to press that button,'" she says.

The one thing absolutely no one, not even Obama, is saying is that the ACA and the website are perfect. Though the website has been repaired since its October crash, it can still prove to be a confusing place to navigate.

Rena Reeve attended the Saturday enrollment event after misunderstanding some information on the website, which she took to mean should apply for TennCare on TennCare's website. After getting frustrated and confused on the TennCare website, Reeve decided to get a little help from a real person.

"The people were very nice and helpful. It was as satisfying as insurance-related things can be," she says. "There wasn't anything confusing today. It was what I did at home [that confused me]. It was not clear. … When I got here today, she just said, ‘You don't have to do that.'"

And, she says, she recommends to anyone having trouble with the marketplace to look for enrollment events like the one at Mount Calvary.

"They should look for places like this where they can talk to a real person, who they can ask questions and get answers," Reeve says.

Stanley Madden has some direct experience with some bureaucratic inconveniences. He and his wife had chosen and signed up for a health-insurance policy on the marketplace in January. But when Madden's wife sent the insurance company their first premium payment, they were notified the amount on the check was short by 2 cents. Madden says the whole policy was canceled, and he had to re-apply through the marketplace.

Madden works as a custodian at Mount Calvary, so he dropped in before he had to get some tables set up for a wedding there. He says he was able to get a silver plan that fits into his family's budget after going about six months without insurance. (COBRA premiums were too costly.)

"I knew it was getting close to the deadline, and I had to do what I had to do," he says. "They were very helpful and kind [here]. There's a lot to know, and a lot of processes. I wish I'd known [more] about it before."

Tonya Sweet, the CAC who was working at the enrollment event, says that even though the website was built with more computer-savvy folks in mind, she sees no reason for people not to get signed up for insurance.

"We're out there to help. It shouldn't be an excuse to not have insurance. We're only a few and all that, but we've already seen lots and lots of people," she says. m

The open enrollment period for insurance through the marketplace ends March 31. People without insurance after that will have to pay a penalty when they file their taxes in 2015. The next open enrollment period starts Oct. 1.


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July 25, 2013

Roger Federer will stay positive, make adjustments through rough patch

You know it’s a down year for Roger Federer when the only tennis prizes he has won by late July are a trophy at Halle, Germany, and a cow named Desiree, which he received this week for entering the Swiss Open in his homeland.

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There's been a lot of fuss over Cibo Wine Bar's unusual method of stowing and salvaging bottles of wine. The temperature-controlled glass "cellar" is stocked with an international laundry list of labels. It's really more of a storage wall, otherwise known as an Enomatic wine dispenser, which allows for dual-temperature control to "modulate temp zones." This means that when Cibo serves your vino, it should be ideal, whether red or white. When an order is placed, the server enters a corresponding bin number into the computerized system so he or she can select the correct bottle the first time. Retrieval involves hoisting the employee 20 feet into the air via a specially designed hydraulic system (very, very tricky). What we like best about the list is the great range available by the glass, making it possible to create your own wine flight appropriate for menu selections. You can begin with a glass of Veneto prosecco ($9) at the bar and then move on to something white for a seafood starter, such as a 2009 Falanghina from Campania (Vinosia, $9). For heavier, more rustic Italian dishes, you can easily commit to a well-priced 2008 Super Tuscan (Brancaia Tre, $12) or treat yourself to something special, such as Antinori Tignanello, a truly superb 2008 Super Tuscan ($45). What else is there to love? Happy hour, which runs seven days a week from 4 to 7 p.m., offers a rotating selection of wines by the glass or bottle at half the cost. The space, like the food it presents, is designed to evoke a sense of unpretentious sophistication and sincerity. Every detail, piece of furniture, and bite has been finely crafted with quality materials.

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Front Page » Past Events » Calendar Of Events Theater

Calendar Of Events Theater

Written by on July 9, 2009

Thursday 7/9

   Miami Dade College students will perform Shakespeare’s "Othello" as part of the International Hispanic Theatre Festival. The classic play will be performed in Spanish with English subtitles. 8:30 p.m. July 9-11. 5:30 p.m. July 12. Prometeo Theatre at MDC’s Wolfson Campus, 300 NE 2nd Ave., Miami. Details: (305) 237-3262 or (305) 445-8877 or

   Breaking free from the confines of spoken language and theatrical convention, "Fuerza Bruta" is an event for which reality takes a back seat. Global audiences have already seen this 360-degree spectacle featuring mind-blowing visual effects just inches above the audience’s heads, a man running full speed on a giant treadmill, performers suspended in mid-air surrounded by a vast sea of mylar and more. Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami. Ends Aug 2. Details: (305) 949-6722 or

   The Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre presents a performance of Sean Grennan’s "Married ALIVE!" Originally titled "From Niagara to Viagra," this hilarious new musical shows audiences the triumphs and defeats of marriage. Ends Aug. 16. The Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables. Details: (305) 444-9293 or

   GableStage at the Biltmore hosts the Southeastern premiere of Paul Rudnick’s "New Century." The comedy, produced last season at New York City’s Lincoln Center, revolves around a Jewish mother from Long Island, a flamboyant Palm Beach resident and a Midwestern craftswoman who collide under surprising circumstances. Ends July 19. GableStage, 1200 Anastasia Ave., Coral Gables. $37.50 to $42.50. Details: (305) 445-1119 or
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Supreme Court Justices

Frank Murphy (1890-1949)

Frank Murphy was born in Michigan on April 13, 1890. His father was a lawyer, and Murphy came from a devout Roman Catholic family. Murphy earned a law degree from the University of Michigan, and then served as an officer in World War I. He was a private practitioner after returning from Europe, and in the early 1920s appointed as an assistant United States Attorney. He then served as a local judge until 1930, when he was elected Mayor of Detroit. In 1933, Murphy was appointed governor general (and when the responsibilities of the post were altered, high commissioner) of the Philippines. After three years there, Murphy was elected Governor of Michigan. After he lost his bid for re-election, Murphy was named Attorney General by FDR. When the Catholic Pierce Butler died on November 16, 1939, Murphy was nominated by FDR to the Court's then "Catholic" seat. He took his seat in January 1940. As a Justice, Murphy was strongly protective of individual rights claims. For example, he supported the claims of Jehovah's Witnesses to refuse to salute the flag, and he interpreted broadly the free exercise and free speech clauses of the First Amendment. Murphy strongly opposed discrimination, and was a forceful proponent of aiding the poor and disfavored. He dissented in Korematsu v. US (1944), the Japanese Internment Camp case, and was a proponent of incorporating most of the Bill of Rights into the Fourteenth Amendment, thus making them applicable to state as well as federal action. Murphy was derisively called "the Saint" by Felix Frankfurter, and was criticized for making decisions more on passion than reason.

His biographer called him "narcissistic," and a "priestly jurist." Murphy was a life-long bachelor. He died at age 59, on July 19, 1949.

Further reading: J. Woodford Howard, Jr., Mr. Justice Murphy: A Political Biography (1968).


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Flip-flops are a magnet for dangerous, deadly bacteria

Lab tests conducted on two pairs of flip flops that were worn for four days revealed Staphylococcus aureus contamination in the rubber. If the bacteria made its way into your foot via a cut, it could enter the bloodstream and cause some serious problems.

"It can make you pretty sick if it got into a wound and into your blood, where it could attack any of your internal organs," says Dennis Kinney, Ph.D., the manager of the microbiology lab at EMSL Analytical. "If you didn't treat it with antibiotics, you could die from it."

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Arvind Kejriwal names Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi in 'India's most-corrupt' list

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Friday said he has prepared a list of corrupt people who should be defeated in Lok Sabha elections

New Delhi: Addressing the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) national executive committee meet here, Kejriwal said, "I have made a list of corrupt people. This is just the beginning and the list will grow. I am presenting the list in front of you, and you decide whether these people should be voted or not."

Among the top mentions were Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi, Kapil Sibal, A Raja, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, P Chidambaram and Suresh Kalmadi.

As Kejriwal named the politicians one after the other, those who were present loudly said: "No".

"You people take the list forward, draft it and submit it," Kejriwal told the members.

AAP meet, Arvind KejriwalDelhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reads out names of India's "corrupt politicians" who, he says, should be defeated in the Lok Sabha elections. File pic

The meet was attended by close to 400 AAP members from across India.

The chief minister criticised the BJP and the Congress for failing to carry out their duties, despite being in power.

"Electricity charges have increased in the last five years. The people wanted a CAG audit. But the parties refused to get an audit done. We ordered an audit within five days (of forming the government)," Kejriwal said.

He added that the AAP government did something within five days, which the other governments were unable to do for five long years.

The activist-turned-politician said: "They (the BJP and the Congress) were in power, yet they just kept demanding (a probe in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots). We came to power, and I met the Lt. Governor some days back to demand a probe."

He added that the SIT proposal will be passed in the next cabinet meeting scheduled to be held next week.

On the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Kejriwal said that it does not matter how many constituencies from where it was fighting since its main goal is to fight corruption.

"Our aim should be to ensure that not a single corrupt person is in the parliament. Also, that no family should have a hold on it," Kejriwal added.

"We challenge that the upcoming elections won't be a regular one. It will definitely bring about a change," Kejriwal added amid thunderous applause.

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  • arambam31-Jan-2014

    He should not forget he is the allies of congress

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Billy Richards – Navigating A Better Future for Hawaiian Keiki

Billy Richards, a member of the original Hokulea crew and several subsequent voyages, is now working to improve the quality of life for Hawaii children through Partners In Development

E kaupe aku no i ka hoe a ko mai (Put forward the paddle and draw it back. Go on with the task that is started and finish it.) –Hawaiian proverb

Is life a journey or a destination? For Billy Richards, it’s a fascinating journey that takes him to the depths of the ocean, to exotic ports of call guided by the stars and to native Hawaiian communities that touch the human spirit.

Yet all the while he is anchored by cultural values that define “home” for him. It is both destination and destiny.

How does a Renaissance man balance traditional and contemporary ways?

To find out, we make our way to a second floor office in Nuuanu, where Richards works as director of communications for Partners In Development Foundation (PID).

Richards, 65, a Kailua resident, is a handsome islander with silver hair, mustache and Van Dyke beard that contrast strikingly with the black shirt he is wearing. His youthful appearance belies the depth of character, maturity and infinite wisdom he imparts.

Picture 1 of 2

Billy Richards, who has crewed aboard Hokulea, Hawaiiloa, Makalii and Hokualakai, is president of Friends of Hokulea and Hawaiiloa | Nathalie Walker photo

He’s an old soul of sorts with a quiet sophistication that friends say makes him ha’aha’a (humble).

But today we hope to draw out his credentials and achievements that merit recognition. He would be the first to say, “It’s not about me.” We’ll see about that.

Richards has been involved with Hawaii’s voyaging community since 1975 and has served aboard canoes Hokulea, Hawaiiloa, Makalii and Hokualakai. He is president of the Friends of Hokulea and Hawaiiloa, a nonprofit that perpetuates ancient Hawaiian canoe practices by building and restoring vessels.

He is chairman of Ohana Waa, a canoe hui that pools resources and manpower to pursue voyaging ventures.

“I’ve always loved the ocean,” Richards says. “I was inspired as a youngster by stories of mythological heroes such as Vikings and Greek gods. My dad (William K. Richards Sr.) reminded me that Hawaii has its own legendary heroes.”

Richards reaches for a book on his desk.

“This was on my dad’s headboard,” he says of a volume titled Vikings of Sunrise by Sir Peter Buck. “It is about the great migration of Polynesians and the tales regarding the creation of man and the islands.

“I read it and thought to myself, ‘One day I’m going to sail to Tahiti,'” he recalls.

“My mother (hula teacher Bella Richards) visited Tahiti often on dance missions and invited me along, but I wanted to approach the island from the sea,” says the voyager at heart.

That is not surprising, given his European-Hawaiian ethnicity that suggests an adventuresome and exploratory nature.

e shares this spirit with wife Debbie Nakanelua-Richards, senior manager of government and community relations at Hawaiian Airlines. A former Miss Hawaii, this beautiful hula dancer who performs weekly at the Halekulani, met her husband at an induction ceremony for lua (Hawaiian martial arts) practitioners. The Richards have a 22-year-old daughter, Mahina, a graduate student in clinical psychology at Sarah Lawrence College.

The exploration of the ocean and its pathways to the world led Richards to marine management jobs in the public and private sectors. He spent two decades at Oceanic Institute, where he served in program development, research, Hawaiian fishpond revitalization and administration of Hawaii Island’s Keahuolu facility.

More recently he was vice president and general manager of Hawaii High Health Seafood Corporation, the sales and marketing subsidiary of a large land-based aquaculture operation located on Kauai.

He also has been an underwater surveyor, doing biological surveys for environmental impact studies of projects such as Kahoolawe and the reef runway.

But his most socially sensitive link to his cultural roots and traditions might be the role he presently holds at the nonprofit organization known as Partners in Development (PID), an Aloha United Way agency.

Don’t be scared off by the word “development.” This has nothing to do with building high-rise condos and mega malls, although “building blocks” in personal growth and a social sense would be a logical association.

The foundation was founded in 1997 by Jan E. Hanohano Dill, grandson of a Hawaiian healer who wants to help native Hawaiian families and communities deal with life challenges.

The Kamehameha Schools graduate and Fulbright Fellow utilized his skills as an educator, political scientist, lawyer, marine scientist and diplomat to develop PID Foundation, where Richards directs communications and “putting us on the map.”


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Stalking A Blooming Corpse Plant

A titan arum aka ‘corpse plant’ in bloom | Scot Mitamura photo

Having a hobby makes you do strange things. This being my very first, I did not realize it until I began doing them. Take, for example, my dogged pursuit of a flower that is renowned for its propensity to make people gag when they approach it.

I’m talking about the Amorphophallus titanum, or titan arum, otherwise known by its charming nickname, the corpse plant. The reason it’s called the corpse plant is because when it blooms, that magnificent flower emits an overpowering odor of rotting flesh. I couldn’t wait to see it!

So here’s what happened. I decided to visit Foster Botanical Garden on the day they brought the as-yet-unopened plant into the conservatory for display. Scot Mitamura, orchid horticulturist, proudly explained that it was about to bloom “any day now.”

Having never heard of the plant, I had no idea why he was so excited, so I did what everyone does in that situation. I Googled. And then I got excited, too.

The titan arum is a rare plant originating in the jungles of Sumatra. It takes 10 years to come to maturity. And once it blooms, it takes years to bloom again.

So I stalked it. I called every single morning to check on its status. Luckily, the nice cashier at Foster Garden, Anna, was understanding and patient. We even joked about how long the lazy plant was taking to wake up. Finally, more than a week after that chance encounter – it did, at 2 in the morning. I got there by 11 a.m.

By that time, the odor had subsided somewhat and I must admit I was disappointed. I wanted the full experience, stench and all. Still, I was able to detect an unmistakable aroma of rotting fish, and when I stuck my head into the flower (oh, yes, I did), it was pretty sickening. That made me happy.

Now, here’s what makes this such a good story – and newsworthy, too.

Mitamura, who oversees the conservatory and the tropical plants displayed within it, says Foster Garden has eight of these relatively rare plants. That’s right, eight.

Mitamura says the man who sold them their first plant happened to be visiting last year from the East Coast when it bloomed for the first time amid a flurry of local publicity. Louis Ricciardiello made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.

“He asked if we wanted some more,” Mitamura says, “and I said, ‘sure!'”

Well, they were blown away when Ricciardiello donated not one, but seven blooming-sized bulbs.

“He shipped them over in a watermelon crate and paid for everything,” Mitamura says. “He wouldn’t accept any payment.”

That is a huge deal, in many ways. These plants produce the largest single flowers in the world. The bulb that produced the flower I photographed weighs more than 100 pounds.

“Once they get to blooming size,” says Mitamura, “they bloom once every three to five years. So that means virtually every year one can be blooming.”

And that will put our little Foster Botanical Garden on the map – literally. It’s a beautiful place that most locals don’t even know about, and it might become famous worldwide. Mitamura says he’s trying to get the staff to prepare for it – maybe by opening extra hours when the plants bloom, “doing something fun.”

So, if you missed it this year – and most people did, as they kept it under wraps – don’t be disappointed. Thanks to the generosity of Louis Ricciardiello, you will have many chances to view the spectacular bloom and to savor the disgusting aroma for yourself. You just might get to share the experience with plant lovers from all over the world.


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Kaiser Permanente Earns National Exceptional Immigrant Integration Award for its Provision of Linguistically and Culturally Appropriate Care

Press Release
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Kaiser Permanente Earns National Exceptional Immigrant Integration Award for its Provision of Linguistically and Culturally Appropriate Care

WASHINGTON – The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) announced today that Kaiser Permanente is the recipient of its 2013 E Pluribus Unum Prizes’ Corporate Leadership Award for its exceptional dedication to providing linguistically and culturally appropriate health care and its leadership role in encouraging the health-care industry to follow suit.

The E Pluribus Unum Prizes program, established in 2008 by MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy with generous support from the J.M. Kaplan Fund, seeks to encourage the adoption of effective integration practices and inspire others to take on the important work of integrating immigrants and their children so they can join the mainstream of U.S. society.

Kaiser Permanente and the three other 2013 E Pluribus Unum Prize winners will be honored tonight at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., with a keynote address by U.S. Congressman Luis Gutierrez, author of the recent Still Dreaming: My Journey from the Barrio to Capitol Hill.

Based in Oakland, CA, Kaiser Permanente is the nation’s largest non-profit health plan, serving more than 9.1 million members in eight states (California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Virginia, Oregon and Washington) and the District of Columbia. Through its National Linguistic and Cultural Programs (NLCP), Kaiser Permanente focuses on advancing health equity and the elimination of racial and ethnic health-care disparities through innovative, replicable and effective language access strategies. By working internally across the enterprise and with the community, NLCP proactively addresses the cultural and linguistic needs of patients, families and communities; it also serves to integrate the principles and practices of linguistically and culturally appropriate care into the Kaiser Permanente health-care delivery system.

More than 25 million U.S. residents, immigrant and U.S.-born alike, are limited English proficient (LEP); federal law requires that health-care providers receiving federal funds provide meaningful health-care access for LEP individuals. With millions of previously uninsured Americans, including many immigrants, eligible for health coverage as the Affordable Care Act takes fuller effect, provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate care will become a growing issue for U.S. providers.

“Effective communications between patients and their health-care providers is an essential determinant of access, quality, cost and safety,” said MPI Senior Vice President Michael Fix, who is co-director of the National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. “Kaiser Permanente’s commitment to providing linguistically and culturally competent care, as well as its leadership in the health-care industry more broadly in this area, is tremendously important because access to quality health care is a vital element of successful immigrant integration.”

Kaiser Permanente has developed the Qualified Bilingual Staff (QBS) model and program, an industry-leading training, testing and certification process for its multilingual staff who serve as health-care interpreters, as well as for the physicians who speak with patients in languages other than English. The QBS program capitalizes on the organization’s diverse workforce and ensures that qualified linguistic services and culturally appropriate care are delivered in ways that optimize the experience for patients, families and providers.

“Employers have an important role to play in ensuring that immigrants are fully integrated into the nation’s worksites and communities,” said Margie McHugh, co-director of MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. “Kaiser Permanente is testament to the innovative and tremendously important integration work that is taking place in communities across the nation led by non-profits, schools, government agencies, faith-based organizations and employers. As Washington debates reform of the U.S. immigration system, measures to scale up effective integration policies and programs and encourage employer-led integration efforts need to be taken into account.”

Gayle Tang, senior director of national diversity and inclusion at Kaiser Permanente, said: “Kaiser Permanente has worked since the 1990s to identify, train, test and certify thousands of our physicians, nurses and other staff to interact with our clients in culturally and linguistically appropriate ways, and to provide key communications in multiple languages. Recognition of our many years of work by the E Pluribus Unum Prizes is very meaningful to us. Moreover, this award emphasizes the vital role that organizations play in developing patient-member-family-centered care for full integration in our systems and society, as well as achieving total health for all.”

The other 2013 winners of the E Pluribus Unum Prize are the Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School, a Washington, D.C.-based adult-focused charter that provides adult basic education and workforce training to more than 3,000 immigrants and refugees annually; the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), whose Integration Institute has become a national model for bringing together stakeholders from government, immigrant and refugee communities and the private and non-profit sectors to improve integration research, policy analysis, advocacy and system capacity; and Neighborhood Development Center, a St. Paul, MN community development organization that connects immigrant and native-born ethnic communities to revitalize inner-city neighborhoods in the Twin Cities. All three will receive a $50,000 award.

Winner highlights can be found at www.integrationawards.org. For more information or to set up interviews, contact Michelle Mittelstadt at 202-266-1910, mmittelstadt@migrationpolicy.org.

The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, non-partisan think tank in Washington, D.C. dedicated to the study of the movement of people worldwide. MPI provides analysis, development and evaluation of migration and refugee policies at the local, national and international levels. For more, visit www.migrationpolicy.org.

MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy is a crossroads for elected officials, researchers, state and local agency managers, grassroots leaders and activists, local service providers and others who seek to understand and respond to the challenges and opportunities today’s high rates of immigration create in local communities. For more on the center’s work, visit www.migrationpolicy.org/integration.


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WW2 Listening Post

Discussion in 'World War 2' started by Franek, Jul 11, 2009.

  1. Franek

    Franek New Member

    Listening post

    WW2 Listening post
    After 65 years, some of this is a little foggy to me. But I will relate what I still remember.

    A listening post was a small hole dug into the ground camouflaged by surrounding.native vegetation. It was usually dug at the edge of a forest overlooking no mans lane. As a rule it was about a couple hundred feet in front of the front line.

    I only had one experience in one. It was the longest night of my life. It happened one night in early January 1945.. Just before dark, we dug the hole and covered it with evergreen branches since we were in a Pine forest.It snowed very heavy that night. I entered the hole with .
    two blankets a pack of K rations and hunkered in. Soon my tracks were cover by the snow and so was my hole. The snow covering the branches on my hole offered some insulation from the cold.

    It was quiet cold and lonely and I felt fear. Sometime in the night I heard a snapping sound. I could see nothing.
    In my mind I wondered what it was. Could it be a tree branch snapping under the weight of snow, maybe a deer? Or was it a German patrol? I made no sound for I saw nothing. In time I heard no more.. I hunkered back down and covered myself as best as I could to keep warm.

    Toward morning I was cold and hungry. With me I had a can of STERNO, It was filled with jelly like substance. When lit it produced a blue flame and heat. Small but enough to heat a cup of melted snow to make a cup of hot soluble coffee. I ate cheese and crackers and drank the hot coffee.. That helped.. Finally daybreak came. I climbed out of the hole and joined the rest of the GI's. I was sent to the rear where I was served hot breakfast with real coffee. That was the worst night of my life.

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Carrier Eisenhower Leaves for Persian Gulf

USS Dwight D Eisenhower 600x400

NORFOLK -- Aisha Owmba doesn't know when she'll see her husband again.

She and her 6-year-old son waved goodbye Thursday as the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower pulled away from a pier at Norfolk Naval Station for what has been billed as a four- to five-month deployment.

But with big defense cuts looming -- a consequence of Congress's failure to pass a new budget and reductions demanded by sequestration -- Owmba fears those plans could change.

"I'm scared they're going to be stuck out there," she said, wiping away tears.

It was the second farewell in less than a year for Eisenhower families, who welcomed their sailors home just two months ago following a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf.

The fast turnaround and the uncertainty emanating from Washington weighed heavy on the minds of loved ones who bundled up against the cold to see the ship off.

"I'm telling myself that they won't be back before the end of summer," said Kelly Schroeder, whose husband is an aviation mechanic aboard the Ike. "That way, if they come back on time, it will be like a bonus."

The Eisenhower was brought home early in December to have its flight deck resurfaced so it could be sent back -- part of a reshuffling of forces sparked by mechanical problems on a West Coast-based carrier. The Ike will relieve the John C. Stennis as the only U.S. carrier in the Middle East.

The departure comes two weeks after the budget impasse forced leaders to cancel the deployment of another Norfolk-based carrier, the Harry S. Truman, two days before the ship was to set sail. The last-minute change came after the Pentagon dropped its requirement of having two carriers deployed in the Middle East -- a move that will save the Navy about $300 million a year.

The decision to send the Eisenhower after a short break instead of the Truman, which last deployed in 2010, angered a number of Ike spouses. Many vented on Internet message boards and in phone calls to reporters following the announcement.

Some spouses were still grumbling as the ship pulled away Thursday.

"I was mad," said Maria Jenkins, who brought her 11-month-old daughter to see off her husband. "It's not fair to send them again when the Truman hasn't been out."

Rear Adm. Michael Manazir, the commander of the Eisenhower strike group, said the decision came down to economics and efficiency.

"It's not a question of fairness; it's a question of taking the American taxpayer dollars and distributing them the most cost-wise way," Manazir said.

The admiral said his staff launched an awareness campaign after observing the blowback from the Truman announcement.

The Navy has warned that, given the budget squeeze, it might not have enough ready aircraft carriers to meet its operational requirements by sometime in 2014. Sending the Eisenhower now and keeping the Truman in port buys a few extra months, defense officials said.

The Eisenhower is due to enter the shipyard for scheduled maintenance before the end of the year. The ship wouldn't have been able to deploy later in the rotation had Truman gone in its place.

"If you were to deploy somebody else at this time, it would not be a good investment," Manazir said. "The American taxpayer dollars are already invested in the Ike."

Current plans call for Truman to stand ready in case of emergency and then deploy to the Persian Gulf later this year or in early 2014.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Krysten Bowles clutched a cellphone and waved as a tug pushed the Eisenhower away from the pier. Bowles served four years aboard the ship before transferring to shore duty late last year and said she knows "half of the crew."

"This is a tough one for them," Bowles said. "They just got back; there's a lot of uncertainty.... But this is what we all signed up for."

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Clamps, fixtures, vise grips and magnetic squares are your friends

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

Clamps, vise grips and magnetic squares help keep materials in place and offer stability while you’re welding. The magnetic square is a useful tool if you’re welding at a specific angle. For example, if you have two pieces that need to be welded together at a 45-degree angle, you would set your magnetic square to 45 degrees and use it to connect the two pieces of material. Clamps, vise grips, magnetic squares and fixtures definitely benefit the DIY welder, because they let you keep your hands free and your materials in place. This is especially helpful when TIG welding, because you have your TIG torch welder in one hand and the filler material in the other. Unless you’re pretty flexible and can use your feet to hold your materials in place, use a vise grip or clamp. The Miller ArcStation™ includes an optional X-pattern that allows you to insert and slide clamp placement as you progress through a job.

Until next time,

Andy Weyenberg
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COMMENT: Believe Them or Not? (2)

II. Ultimate Impact

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, June 21, 2014 – The assurance from the Peace Process Office and the Palace that the Bangsamoro Basic Law will be passed on schedule and that its long review by the Office of the President legal team will not adversely affect the peace process is for “damage control”. The passage is already behind schedule. How much damage the delay in drafting and enacting the BBL has done and will do on the peace process? Can the damage be undone?

The delay and the final version of the BBL are crucial to the formation of the real Bangsamoro that will be entrenched by June 2016. They should not be taken for granted. Their ultimate impact will prove right or wrong the assurance.

To digress to the amusing question: Is the peace process delayed on schedule?

Before we get waylaid into a serious debate, here’s the comic relief. To avoid failing, if the test questions are difficult, change the questions, says a popular wit. Who was the President – was it Ramon Magsaysay — who blurted out: “Change that law!” when told that the “law of supply and demand” was causing the fluctuation of prices?

Back to the question: If the delay in the peace process is according to the roadmap, change that roadmap. That exactly what has been done, said a report from the Peace Process Office echoed by MindaNews on June 8, 2014 (Congress will get a “more refined and strengthened” draft Bangsamoro Law).

Ayos! (Problem solved).” Really!

Revised Roadmap

In the original implementation roadmap of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, Step 1 (signing of the FAB) was done on October 15, 2012; Step 2 (adopting the Annexes), expected to end by the year end (December 2012). With Steps 1 and 2 completed, the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamamoro — composed of the FAB and the Annexes — would be signed as the basis in drafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission. By the roadmap sequences, the CAB should have been signed in January 2013.

Step 3(issuance of the executive order creating the BTC) and Step 4 (passage of congressional resolutions supporting the EO) were done that December; however, the BTC was constituted in February 2013. Step 5 (drafting of the BBL)    could have started in March 2013 had Step 2 been done on schedule.

So,there’s the rub. The Annexes were signed February 13, 2013 (Transitional Arrangement and Modalities); July 13, 2013 (Revenue Generation and Wealth Sharing); December 8, 2013 (Power Sharing); and, January 25, 2014 (Normalization and Addendum to Power Sharing). The CAB was signed on March 27, 2014. That was how behind schedule the peace process had become – by the signing of the CAB, one year and three months!

Without waiting for the CAB, the BTC had to make do with the FAB and the ATAM but it could not go full steam until after the signing of the Annex on Power Sharing. Still, BBL missed its March 31, 2014 self-imposed deadline to finish the draft and could not submit the complete draft to the President for certification to the Congress until April 22, 2014; still being reviewed by the Office of the President legal team, it would be submitted to the Congress on July 28.

Had Step 2 been accomplished on schedule, Step 5 (drafting of BBL) could have been finished by June 2013; Steps 6 to 10 (Enactment of the BBL to its signing by the President into law), December 2013; and Steps 11 and 12 (the plebiscite and promulgation of the BBL), finished by March 2014. But Step 5 went beyond March 31, 2014. That’s eight steps behind schedule!

In the revised roadmap that came out in MindaNews last June 8, the signing of the FAB and the negotiation of the Annexes were not included – the process starting with the installation of the BTC members in February 2013 (Step 1). This and the drafting of the BBL (Step 2) have been completed – indicating that the roadmap was revised after April 22. Since the revised roadmap, like the original, is open-ended, Step 2 is presumed to be on schedule – the same will be the presumption for Steps 3 to 11.

Where is the delay? What damage is there to the peace process to be undone?

The following must be noted for whatever implications they will have:

1. In the original roadmap, the plebiscite (Step 11) follows the signing of BBL (Step 10) into law. This is reversed in the revised roadmap – the plebiscite (Step 6), while following the passage of the BBL, precedes its enactment or signing by the President into law (Step 7). Normally, the enacted bill is first signed by the President – or allowed to lapse – into law before submitting it to the plebiscite. Can legality and validity be questions?

  1. The original roadmap ends with the election of the regular Bangsamoro officials, the abolition of the BTA and the inauguration of the Bangsamoro (Step 15). This is Step 10 in the revised roadmap that specifically refers only to the “election of officials of Bangsamoro Government by 2016”. The revised roadmap ends with Step 11, the signing of the Exit Document.

What is Exit Document?As provided in Section I.H of the Annex on Transitional Arrangement and Modalities,“An Exit Document officially terminating the peace negotiation may be crafted and signed by both Parties if and only when all agreements have been fully implemented.” This will be done only after the GHP and MILF panels, the Malaysian facilitator and the Third Party Monitoring Team have convened “a meeting to review, assess or evaluate the implementation of all agreements and the progress of the transition. (Emphasis supplied)

The significance of Step 11 of the revised roadmap must be noted well. What is its implication on the final entrenchment of the Bangsamoro? If the Parties do not sign the Exit Document, will the inauguration of the Bangsamoro be put on hold? If so, the Exit Document should be a prerequisite for the holding of the election – Step 10 instead of 11.

These are putting the horses before the carts. Just by oversight or signs of failing sight?

How Much Time?

Whether under the original or the revised roadmap, time is essential to the proper transition of the Bangsamoro. That the Aquino III government has limited the entrenchment process to the six year term of the President makes time most critical. The revised roadmap cannot recover the time lost due to delays since Day One of the Aquino III era.

As of last June 10, there were only 751days left of the Aquino administrations including Sundays and holidays. By July 28, when the BBL draft is expected to be submitted to the Congress, time will have shrunk to 703 days only. How much time will there be for the propernot MERE –transition of the Bangsamoro? To paraphrase the poet Robert Browning, “Let’s count the days.”

The periods are expectations – only “IFs” – or logical assumptions.

[I] IF the Congress can pass the BBL from July 28 to December 31, 2014, that will be 156 days. [II] IF the BBL is ratified in a plebiscite from January 1 to March 31, 2015, that will be 90 days. Those are Steps 3 to 7 in the revised roadmap – the two phases covering a period of 246 days.

That leaves 457 days –or 15 months (nine in 2015, April through December; six in 2016, January through June). Will all these be for the transition proper [III] (Step 8, the ARMM is abolished; Step 9, the BTA officials are appointed and – even if not specifically stated – the installation of the transitional government)? Yes, IF there were no Step 10 [IV], the election of the Bangsamoro officials. Step 11 will be done concurrently with the other steps.

The election will consume all four months, January through April and two weeks of May 2016; the rest of May and June will be spent to prepare for the inauguration of the Bangsamoro. The essential transition function of the BTA will end in December 2015 — a period of nine months or 275 days.

Will 275 days be enough to properly prepare the Bangsamoro for its daunting mission to fulfill the hope and aspiration of the Moro people – change of the unacceptable status quo?

But let’s brace ourselves for the unexpected. Should either the passage of the BBL or its ratification go beyond the expected time to accomplish them ([I] and [II] above), the 275-day period will further diminish.

Proper Transition Process

Proper transition has four essential components: [1] what must be done; [2] the means to do what must be done; [3] the right people to do what must be done; and [4] enough time to do what must be done. They are inter-dependent. A serious flaw in one will mean the failure of all. Remember the motto: “One for all, all for one.”

The [1] consists of the objectives of self-rule which must include the re-orientation of the moral, political, social and economic values of the Moro people and their leaders. These objectives are the mission of the Bangsamoro; the transition is for the proper take-off.

The [2] consists of the BBL and the necessary funding support. The BBL will define the concepts, principles and objectives of the Bangsamoro and provide the basic features and functions of government. We only know that the Bangsamoro is ministerial in form of government and asymmetrical in its relation with the Central Government; for details we have to wait for the BBL.

The [3] consists of the BTA. In all probability, its mandate, membership and tenure are defined in the BBL draft; the President will base on the final provisions in the BBL the Executive Order to create the BTA and appoint its members. But this is the imperative: The BTA members must be best prepared.

The [4] is the time essential – not just available – for the BTA to accomplish its mandate to the optimum. In general, this mandate must be to set up the ministerial government mechanism and instrumentalities according to [1] and [2] with which the Bangsamoro can properly take-off. Can the BTA accomplish this in 275 days or nine months? Or, it can be shorter!

We are not talking of the ideal but of the imperative – what must be. If the time available falls short of the essential, it is next to the impossible to expect the first three components to factor most satisfactorily in the take-off of the Bangsamoro.

To Recapitulate

There are more to proper transition. We will discuss this in a separate essay.

To put to rest the questions: How much damage the delay in drafting and enacting the BBL has done and will do on the peace process? Can the damage be undone?

Based on the original FAB roadmap, there is delay. This cannot be undone by the revision of the roadmap. Had the drafting and the enacting of the BBL been on schedule, there would have been two years, not just 275 days for the transition proper. The time lost is the damage”.

To deny its adverse effect on the peace process is to say that the 275-day transition proper will make no difference from the three-year (1,095 days) that MILF Chair Murad Ebrahim must have meant and expected when he agreed to shorten the transition period from six to three years. The ultimate impact on the Bangsamoro can only be gauged after its entrenchment if this is done as scheduled in June 2016.

To speculate now is to pitch optimism against pessimism, to see the glass as either half-full or half-empty.

ERRATUM: In Paragraph 9 of Subhead “In Truth” of our June 17 COMMENT, the italicized clause in the following sentence: “…GRP … proposed to enhance the autonomy of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanaoas the political settlement of the Moro Problem rejected it … “should read “… Problem. MILF rejected it …” – ppd

(Next: More to Proper Transition)

[“Comment” is Mr. Patricio P. Diaz’ column for MindaViews, the opinion section of MindaNews. Mr. Diaz is the recipient of a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Titus Brandsma for his “commitment to education and public information to Mindanawons as Journalist, Educator and Peace Advocate.” You may e-mail your comments to]

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Contacts: Matt Laible, 612-673-2786

City Council Committee hears proposal for energy study

WHAT:            The City Council’s Regulatory, Energy & Environment Committee will hear a proposal that would direct staff to draft an energy vision for policy makers and develop a report that explores options to help inform the City as it prepares to enter into energy franchise negotiations with Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy.

WHEN:         1:30 p.m., Thursday, April 4 (not time certain)

WHERE:       City Council Chambers, room 317 of City Hall

MORE:          The City Council Committee will consider a measure that will help frame the future franchise negotiations with Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy, as well as the City’s work to get more clean-energy options for consumers. The City currently has utility franchise agreements with Xcel Energy for electricity and CenterPoint Energy for natural gas. These agreements, which were signed in the early 1990s, both expire at the end of 2014. The City is in the early stages of preparing for negotiations for new agreements.

          State law currently limits Minneapolis’ authority over utility in franchise agreements, however the City is seeking legislative changes to allow negotiations with Xcel and CenterPoint to explore how Minneapolis could make progress towards its goals for sustainable energy, improved air quality, equity, and green jobs.

          The City wishes to explore options to achieve its energy goals outside the existing franchise agreement structure, including, but not limited to changes to state legislative or PUC rule changes, unique utility partnerships, changes to the way the City uses franchise fees, and municipalization of one or both energy utilities.

          The measure the Committee is considering would allocate $250,000 to draft comprehensive “Energy Vision” goals and complete a thorough review of the options and implications of the various pathways to a future energy franchise or municipal utility. Specifically, the Council action would:

·         Direct City staff to draft an updated set of “Energy Vision” goals for a future energy system. These goals may address the greenhouse gas intensity of the system, use and ownership of renewable energy, energy efficiency outcomes, reliability standards, affordability, and access to energy use information. These draft goals will be presented to the City Council by August 2013.

·         Direct City staff to conduct a study that provides an overview of the various paths the City could take to achieve its Energy Vision goals. City staff will provide a progress update to the City Council in October 2012, and a final report will be presented to the City Council by January 2014. The report will include:

§  A review of the current legislative and legal landscape;

§  An examination of existing municipal utilities in Minnesota and across the country (utility performance, history, shared models, etc);

§  A report on the “municipalization pathway,” to include the process and schedule, preliminary cost estimates to move down that path, how municipalization may help Minneapolis achieve its Energy Vision goals, and identification of any potential barriers.

§  A review of alternative pathways, which may include utility partnerships, state legislative or Public Utilities Commission changes, and how energy utility franchise fees may be used for City programs.

          The Request for Council Action is available here.

Published Apr 2, 2013