The Australia-Indonesia Centre appoints former ABC Indonesia correspondent Helen Brown as its inaugural Digital Economy Fellow.
Indonesia's digital economy is expected to be worth A$265 billion by 2025. With a population of 255 million, Indonesia has a middle class twice the size of Australia's population. More than half of its population is under the age of 30.
With more than 100 million internet users, E-commerce is fast gaining momentum. President Joko Widodo's goal is to reach ecommerce transaction volume of US$130 billion and create 1000 digital start-ups by 2020. The government is already spending big on fixing its poor infrastructure and improving logistics and supply chain.
Global tech companies are taking notice. Chinese internet giant, Alibaba, Tencent and JD.com, are busy acquiring and investing to gain strategic positioning.
"The Digital Economy Fellow is our response to better understand a changing Indonesia, says Dr Eugene Sebastian, Australia-Indonesia Centre Director and CEO.
"The Digital Economy Fellow is our front-foot effort to explore themes that intertwine the old and new economy and spot emerging trends in Australia-Indonesia trade relationship".
"We are delighted to have Helen Brown as our inaugural fellow. Her experience, expertise and networks will help sharpen the Centre's focus on digital enterprise and innovation".
Helen Brown gained a deep knowledge of contemporary Indonesian society during her four-year posting with the ABC. Utilising two decades of experience as a multimedia journalist, she criss-crossed the nation reporting on politics, economics and culture, including comprehensive coverage of the 2014 Indonesian Presidential election.
Helen saw Indonesia change dramatically during her time there, and over the last ten years.
"Contemporary Indonesia is very different to the one that most Australians would actually understand," Helen says.
Upon returning to Australia, Helen established Bisnis Asia to share trade and business insights from the region. The tech sector is booming in both nations and sharing knowledge and supporting investment can only boost our competitiveness in a global economy.


President Obama's latest budget proposal cuts $30.5 million from the Fulbright Program, a prestigious federally funded international exchange program that a large number of UChicago students have taken part in. If enacted, the cuts would make an already competitive grant more competitive.
According to the Fulbright website, the Program operates in 155 countries and awards over 8,000 grants annually for teaching and research opportunities abroad. The University of Chicago has been a consistent contributor to the student pool of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program—a branch of the Program intended for recent college graduates and master's and doctoral candidates—since its inception.
In light of the potential cuts, Mox is concerned that the Fulbright Program may have to drop exchange programs in some countries, or drastically reduce the number of grants. "With an average acceptance rate of around 12 percent, the Program will certainly become more competitive," Mox said.
The proposed cuts have resulted in the Save Fulbright petition, which demands Congress to restore the $30.5 million to the Fulbright Program. Mox sent an email to the academic fellowships listhost about the petition, which has gained over 23,000 signatures since its creation last month.
Congress has the ultimate authority on how much money the federal government provides the Fulbright Program for the 2015 fiscal year. They are currently negotiating the budget, with a deadline of October 1.
Proponents say that these budget adjustments will create opportunities for new international educational programs in areas of the world generally untouched by the Fulbright Program, but the possible cuts have sparked an outcry.
Fourth-year Kaylee Steck, a recent Fulbright scholarship recipient, was one student upset about the reallocation of funds.


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Home page > 20- ENGLISH - MATERIAL AND REVOLUTION > Religion : its social roots and role
Religion : its social roots and role
Monday 2 June 2008, by Robert Paris
Definitions of religion, like definitions of the state, generally tell us more about the social and political allegiances of the author of a given definition than about the true nature of religion or the state. Loyalties – that is, class interests and class outlook – are transferred into definitions; especially is this true of religion. Typical of such definitions is a theologian's formula for Christianity as 'the synthesis of the highest aspirations of man'. The fact that definitions are declarations of class allegiance and class programmes does not at all mean – as empiricists and pragmatists pretend – that all definitions are therefore of equal validity. On the contrary. Just as Marxists, in controverting 'classless' and other fraudulent theories of the state can point to historical and contemporary class functions of the state as a class organ used by the dominant class; so, too, Marxists are able to confront all apologetic definitions of religion with the actual social function of religion.
What are the roots of religion? The most favourite trick of the obscurantists and their allies is to pretend that religion is rooted in the mind. That is how the perpetuation of religious prejudices, creeds, etc, is usually explained. Exposing this falsehood Lenin wrote:
Why does religion retain its hold in the backward layers of the urban proletariat, in the broad layers of semi-proletarians and also in the mass peasantry? Because of the ignorance of the people – replies a bourgeois progressive, a radical, or a bourgeois materialist ... The Marxist says: Not true! Such a view is superficial; it is narrow bourgeois "culture-spreading". Such a view does not probe deeply enough into the roots of religion. In modern capitalist countries these roots are primarily social. (V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, First Russian Edition, vol. XI, Book 1, pp. 253–254)
It is precisely because of this social role of religion – teaching submissiveness, summoning all to suffer in silence in return for rewards in the 'hereafter' etc, and in this way seeking to dampen the class struggle of workers against capitalists, of peasants against landlords – it is precisely for this reason that Marx designated religion as the 'opium of the people', and Lenin branded it as 'a kind of spiritual corn-whisky'.
To lay bare the social roots and social function of religion is to expose it for what it really is. Which is precisely what the apologists of capitalism and all its institutions seek in every way to avoid. It is hardly surprising therefore that one of the most significant gaps in apologetic definitions of religion is the omission of the fact that religion is an institution; the fact that a religion, if it plays any role in a given society, is an organised religion. One scarcely need point out, as against this omission of the fact of institutionalisation, that a religion which remains unorganised would not perpetuate itself.
What would an unorganised religion be? It might be enunciated by some individuals and communicated to others. But if these did not organise together, acquire property and funds, endow churches and subsidiary institutions, carry on extensive propaganda, raise up a professional paid class of ministers and administrators, how would the religion be communicated to great numbers? The blood of the martyrs may be the seed of the church, but that the seed sprouts and is perpetuated is due to union with Rome, to the riches garnered by the church, to its position as the greatest of feudal landholders. This is indeed a commonplace, except that it has been so obscured by the English Dissenting tradition which is the main source of American religious thinking.
This tradition of a lower class, once so suspicious of established church and state, and therefore appealing to the direct inspiration of the Word of God, with a lay ministry and tiny meeting-houses, is still reiterated by the descendants of the Dissenters, who are now the ruling class of America, with powerful, enormously wealthy churches, with a clergy whose administrative duties make them as much businessmen as priests, with the fusion of different sects, and the centralisation of church control growing every day more pronounced. The hypocrisy of John D. Rockefeller's Reverend Harry Emerson Fosdick sermonising that the church is not so important as the pure heart is only too transparent – provided one is not wearing blinkers.
This institutional character of religion, glossed over by religious apologists as somehow irrelevant to the religious core of the church, is highly relevant to any serious description and analysis of the function of religion.
In every epoch of history, the existing institutions are bound up with the social relations of production. As the Catholic church was the bulwark of feudalism, so today all churches are part of the arsenal of capitalism, share in its privileges and fortunes. In the class struggles which arise from the antagonisms implicit in the mode of production, the dominant institutions, including the churches, support the ruling classes.
In the epochs before the triumph of the bourgeoisie, the differences between classes were expressed also in different religions; that is, the new classes struggling against the ruling class have also given birth to new religions which wage parallel struggles with the dominant religion. The struggles against feudalism became struggles also against the then greatest feudal landowner, the Catholic church. The peasant wars against the clergy and nobility, in the 15th and 16th centuries, took the form of the Anabaptist, Albigensian, Hussite, Lollard heresies: In defence of its domains and privileges, the church demands submission to it as the only channel of grace; the peasants counter by proclaiming the central authority of the gospels.
So, too, the revolt of the middle classes of Germany under Luther, which, as Engels has pointed out, takes the form of a demand for a cheap church similar to the later bourgeois and petty-bourgeois demand for cheap government, is also a religious heresy. In the same way, the revolt of the rising bourgeoisie of England against irresponsible monarchy and feudal landowners takes the form of a Puritan and Sectarian struggle against the established church.
Bourgeois anti-clericalism
It is interesting to note that, as the meaning of the bourgeois revolutions grows clearer to the plebeian revolutionists, the fight against the church grows less and less a fight of one religion against another. Thus, the French Revolution and the revolutions of 1848 no longer obscure their tasks with religious ideology; the class fighting its way upward has no need of seeing its struggle as a religious one. The mists of religion, obscuring the real contending forces, become a hindrance to the class fighting an uphill fight. If this is true of the later bourgeois revolutions, revolutions which serve only to transfer power from one minority ruling class to another, how much more true must this be of the proletarian revolution, which is to do away with all classes, and whose success, whose very programme of action, is based on the scientific analysis of the nature of social life free of all fetishisms.
Since the Puritan revolt there has been no important example of a class struggle also taking the form of religion. All later religious movements have been reactionary in character. The religious movements among the lower classes, such as the evangelistic sects, like the Baptists and Methodists, were a substitute for secular protest, combining with their wails of anguish explicit submission to the powers that be. The other religious substitute for secular protest, the religious communist colonies, belongs to the history of utopian socialism and comes at a time when the role of utopian socialism has become a reactionary one.
What happened to bourgeois anti-clericalism? Once the bourgeoisie triumph, they, too, find like the ruling class which preceded them that religion is useful to the state, and freethinking and atheism become in their eyes identified with 'immorality' etc, i.e., hatred of the established order. The realistic rationalism of the epoch of bourgeois revolution passes; no American politician who announced the beliefs of Jefferson and Patrick Henry, or even the indifferent churchgoing of Washington, would be run nowadays for office.
Tom Paine, the propagandist of the American revolution, became, for Theodore Roosevelt, 'that filthy little atheist'. In France, its classic home, anti-clericalism remained longest, owing to the political usefulness of the traditions of the Revolution, and continual conflicts over property with the Catholic church. But despite any manifest unfriendliness, the church of Rome laboured to find favour in the eyes of French capital, and at long last, it has not laboured in vain. When a flare-up between the church and the Chamber of Deputies occurred in 1924, the Journal des Debats, organ of the most important French imperialists, sharply warned the government against breaking with the Holy See, 'because of the large number of French Catholic institutions abroad'. 'French influence,' the journal said, 'in Asia Minor and North Africa is largely maintained through these [Catholic] institutions.' The rush of the formerly anti-clerical bourgeoisie into the arms of the church became so precipitous and for such obvious reasons that the church itself felt embarrassed. Here is how Abbé Ernest Dimnet commented on this sudden influx of converts:
Today it is remarkable that the French upper middle classes are the main support of religion and go to great expense in order to support the schools in which their children are educated in a religious atmosphere totally different from that in which the previous generations grew up. The majority in the French Chamber may still be Masonic... French governments in consequence cannot but feel the influence of the lodges and might be expected to be anti-clerical. Yet they are not. Monks and nuns have returned to their schools and teach in their costumes. The Archbishop of Paris is on the best terms with the Prime Minister and a recent legal case has shown that the government regards the Papal Nuncio as a valuable ally.
'What does this mean?' asks the reverend father. It is true, he sadly goes on, 'that the bourgeoisie and the politicians representing it have opened their eyes to the social utility of religion. A mean notion of religion, this utilitarianism in the land of Saint Louis and Joan of Arc! ... But in France as in the rest of the world there is, working for a return to religion, something higher than opportunism'. And so forth and so on.
Sanctifying wealth
Thus passed the last stronghold of anti-clericalism. The Catholic church has adjusted itself to its capitalistic successors, and serves them as loyally as she once served feudalism. Once she completes the process of adjusting herself, with some necessary losses of estates, to the new capitalist regime of Spain, the Catholic church will have finally completed her transition from feudalism to capitalism. Her losses will be little enough in the process, if she can help herself. On the same day that the Pope by radio condemned 'men for fixing their eyes on earthly goods', he demanded cash reparations of thirty million dollars from the Spanish government for church property destroyed by the revolution.
In America, once the Civil War decided that capitalism was to be master of the continent, the churches proceeded to become capitalist with a brazenness which no established church has ever outdone. The example of the Baptist church is a good one, since it had always been known as a poor man's church. As I have said, these evangelical movements were once substitutes for social protest; however, as they prospered, they ceased to be substitutes for social protest and became glorifiers of the social order. Baptist ministers indignantly repudiated the idea that the Baptist churches are composed of the poor of the world. A prominent Baptist divine has declared:
God has so blessed [us], temporally, as well as spiritually, that we could demonstrate that the aggregate of wealth among [us] is far greater than of some ecclesiastical fraternities whose members not infrequently put on lordly airs and affect to despise the Baptists for their poverty.
The concept of the sanctification of wealth became a creed of the churches. Dollars and godliness were pronounced to go together. Capitalists were 'God's stewards'. Baptist conventions passed resolutions saying that they 'thankfully recognised the rich blessing of the Great Head of the Church, in the recent gift of Brother John D. Rockefeller' (or other millionaire Brothers Vassar, Bishop, Colgate, Deane, etc, etc). The Christian Standard urged businessmen to take over the administration of church affairs, for who, it asked, was 'so qualified to do business as a businessman, and who to spend God's money as his legitimate stewards?'
It ought to be noted that the developing control of the churches by capitalism was more than an obviously direct control. While the Protestant churches have been directly controlled by the businessmen – who generally control property, funds and ministers – this kind of control is not at all indispensable to the general support of capitalism by the churches. As a matter of fact, the most effective supporters of capitalism are not the obvious hirelings but the apparent volunteers. The short-sighted businessmen who directly control the Protestant churches may prevent at crucial moments a flexibility which is much more valuable to capitalism. In this, the Catholic church has proved superior to Protestant. In Spain the ally of the feudal nobles, in Italy of Fascism, in Germany of the Social Democracy, all at the same time. Thus, the Catholic church has been the saviour of capitalism in ways impossible for the less flexible Protestants. Her union with German socialists helped bring forth the Weimar constitution, saving capitalism, while the Protestant churches, in the hands of Junkers and industrialists, were unable to manoeuvre. The Catholic church knows how to yield the husk to save the kernel. Today [This was written in 1932 – Ed.] she is unwilling, in America, officially to recognise the principle of trade unionism (though she exercises considerable influence in the AFL.) Tomorrow, if it is necessary to hold the masses from rushing forward, the Catholic church will organise trade unions. This flexibility, plus the fact that so far as the working masses in large numbers go to church, they are Catholics, bids fair to give the Catholic church an increasingly important role in American capitalist struggle against the workers.
In general, when the underdog struggles, it is high time for the top dog to call down to him in the name of brotherhood. In particular, this has been the role of the Social Gospel. To bring the worker into the church or at least to persuade him that the church is not his enemy; offering either religious techniques for solving the social problems or paper programmes, which mean nothing and which, even on paper, go no further than the mildest of liberalisms. This, and an occasional gesture. The high water mark of the Social Gospel in this country was the Interchurch World Movement's report on the steel strike after it failed; the result was the collapse of the Interchurch organisation. I once asked a secretary of the Federated Council of Churches why his organisation did not do things like the steel strike report. He looked hurt. Why, he said, 'that steel strike report put us in a fix which we have just about dragged ourselves out of now. Do you want to ruin us?'
The measure of direct control of the churches, therefore, is not a sufficient index to their capitalist loyalty. Nor is their relation to the state. The political privileges of the churches, their freedom from taxation, their right to conduct religious schools or teach religion in the public schools, blasphemy and Sunday laws, religious propaganda in the armed forces and legislatures, etc, are also not the most significant revelations of the capitalist role of the churches. The fact is that formal separation of church and state, like the formal appearance of impartiality assumed by capitalist 'democracy', is the most efficient form under which the churches can function in the interests of capitalism. An established church is suspect even by scarcely class-conscious workers. Under the slogan of freedom from state domination, the church performs its best work for capitalism.
The mechanics of deception
The ministers and administrators of the churches are by income or social status part of the capitalist class, move in it and have their being in it. They simply express the capitalist ideology of their class. The principles of capitalism become, as by a process of osmosis, the principles of religion under capitalism. When the pillar of the Baptist church, John D. Rockefeller, declared, as he fought the Ludlow strikers, that the great principle at stake was that American workmen should not be deprived of their 'right' to work for whom they please, the Baptist pulpits echoed him. The clergy howled for the blood of the Haymarket martyrs, as did the capitalists. When Theodore Roosevelt pronounced Debs an 'undesirable citizen' he was but repeating the gist of thousands of sermons. The history of the development of the American working class is mirrored in the capitalist propaganda of the churches, their calling the workers to submission, their outright strikebreaking, their regimentation of the workers for the capitalist parties, etc., etc.
As a matter of fact, the churches, in their inculcation of the standards which are also inculcated by school, press, radio and state, have an immeasurable advantage over other institutions. What the others teach to be correct as a matter of expediency, advisability or judiciousness, the church teaches as the word of God or connects with religious significance or translates into archaic, sonorous language far more effective than the language of school and press and state. The world war of 1914–1918 proved this to the hilt. They turned the war of capitalism into a holy war, and God's habitations became the most effective recruiting stations. In this capacity of the churches to make religious principles out of practical politics lies their greatest service to capitalism.
Bourgeois thinkers occasionally blurt out this fact. I quote, as an example, the following unguarded soliloquy of James Bryce. That philistine becomes thoughtful as, in his survey of the American Commonwealth, he is struck by the important role of the churches:
No one is so thoughtless as not sometimes to ask himself what would befall mankind if the solid fabric of [religious] belief on which their morality has hitherto rested, or at least been deemed by them to rest, were suddenly to break up and vanish ... Morality with religion for its sanction has hitherto been the basis of social polity, except under military despotisms ... So sometimes, standing in the midst of a great American city, and watching the throngs of eager figures streaming hither and thither, marking the sharp contrasts of poverty and wealth, an increasing mass of wretchedness and an increasing display of luxury ... one is startled by the thought of what might befall this huge yet delicate fabric of laws and commerce and social institutions were the foundation it has rested on to crumble away ... History cannot answer this question. The most she can tell us is that hitherto civilised society has rested on religion, and that free government has prospered best among religious people.
No wonder, then, that no Commencement address in schools and universities is complete without a tribute to religion; and no Chamber of Commerce banquet ended without someone sounding the religious note. No wonder that in dedicating a statue of Francis Asbury, that Methodist pioneer, Coolidge should have declared:
Our government rests upon religion. It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and justice, for equality and liberty, and for the rights of mankind.
In the midst of the imperialist war of 1914 1918, Lenin wrote:
Feuerbach was right when in reply to those who defended religion on the ground that it consoles the people, he pointed out the reactionary meaning of consolation: 'Whoever consoles the slave instead of arousing him to revolt against slavery, aids the slaveholder.' All oppressing classes of every description need two social functions to safeguard their domination: the function of a hangman, and the function of a priest. The hangman is to quell the protest and rebellion of the oppressed, the priest is to paint before them a perspective of mitigated sufferings and sacrifice under the same class rule (which it is particularly easy to do without guaranteeing the 'possibility of their realisation' ...). Thereby he reconciles them to class domination, weans them away from revolutionary actions, undermines their revolutionary spirit, destroys their revolutionary determination. (V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, English Edition, vol. XVIII, pp. 295–296.)
Whoever grasps and assimilates this Leninist-Marxist analysis of religion has learned the truth about the social function of religion. He who denies it, in the words of Feuerbach – aids the slaveholder.
Why are people religious? The glaring fault of bourgeois atheism is that its analysis of religion gives no hint as a rule of the social roots and function of modern religion. Abstract analyses of religion, even from an atheistic standpoint, thus in effect embellish religion – through omission. One might even say therefore that most bourgeois atheistic writing on religion creates an even greater mystery.
If bourgeois atheists cannot give us insight into why people are religious, still less will we receive our answer from religious people, particularly the professional peddlers of religion, the minister, preacher, priest, or rabbi whose task it is to embellish religion in every conceivable way. In a letter to Gorki, written in December 1913, Lenin pointed out that those who embellish, under any pretext, the idea of God or religion are thereby:
embellishing the chains which shackle the benighted workers and moujiks ... God is (historically and in day-to-day life) first of all a complex of ideas arising from the torpid condition of man under the oppression of external nature and class domination; ideas which reinforce this oppression, ideas which lull the class struggle. (Leninski Sbornik, vol. I, pp. 157–158.)
In a document, On the attitude of a workers' party to religion, written in 1909, Lenin expounded the Marxist viewpoint as follows:
The social oppression of the toiling masses, their seemingly complete impotence in the face of the blind forces of capitalism, which afflicts the rank-and-file toiling people daily and hourly with far more terrible sufferings and far more savage tortures than such uncommon events as wars, earthquakes and so on – this is where the most profound, modern root of religion is to be found. 'Fear created the Gods.' Fear before the blind force of capitalism – a blind force because it cannot be foreseen by the masses of the people – a force which at every step in the life of a proletarian and a petty proprietor threatens to bring and does bring him 'sudden', unexpected', 'accidental' bankruptcy, ruination, transformation into a pauper or into a prostitute, or leads to hungry death – there is the root of modern religion. (V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, First Russian Edition, vol. XI, book 1, pp. 253–254.)
Let us now analyse some of the favourite 'techniques' – or tricks – of the religionists in order to lay bare what they seek to paint up.
The place of God in religion is emphasised and re-emphasised. Yet no really religious person is religious because, on occasion, he or she can offer 'arguments' proving the existence of God. For the common run of believers, which is to say, the overwhelming majority of religious people, God is simply 'there'. Professional spokesmen of religion have good and sufficient reasons for putting undue emphasis on God.
Theologians and 'God'
The theologian who must reduce to some order the vague feelings and behaviour of believers finds the most palatable solution in making God the organising principle; the minister, embarrassed by any scrutiny of the efficacy of prayer or the magical elements in ritual, draws attention away from these by emphasising God. In this way the actual relation of means and ends in religion is obscured and dislocated. We are told God is the goal of religion rather than God's being one of the religious means. In consonance with this tendency, the newer prayer books list fewer and fewer prayers for specific needs and occasions; the Catholic church does not publicise the long roll of specialised saints who cater to specific needs. (Such as Breton saints of healing: St Lubin for all afflictions, Mamert for intestinal disorders, Meen for insanity, Hubert for dog bites, Livertin for headaches and Houarniaule to dispel fear, and so on.) The professional spokesmen for religion would have us ignore the occasion for prayer, the need or desire expressed, and throw the emphasis on the fact that the religionist prays to God.
Any acquaintance with religious people, however, soon teaches one that God is not the object as distinguished from the apparatus of religion, but that God is just as much part of the apparatus of religion as is church, prayer or ritual. The religionist does not pray to God merely in order to pray for God, no more than he prays merely in order to pray. The occasion for prayer need not, of course, be specific: religion is employed not only for specific needs or anxieties, but for the general reinforcement of the believer's peace of mind, assurance and security. But whether religion is employed for specific or general purposes, in either case, God is part of the religious 'technique', not the purpose for which it is employed.
We may grant that there are some men for whom God is apparently not a religious 'technique' for expressing or securing needs. God, the religionist claims, is at least for some men not a technique, but an object of contemplation. God is such an object in Spinoza's intellectual love of God; he is such an object to some mystics and theologians. Even in this type of religious situation, however, the significant factor is not the contemplation of God but the motivation of such contemplation. As Dewey has illustrated in his Quest for Certainty, God is sought, even in Spinoza's case, because he is changeless and certain, as contrasted with our daily life of uncertainty. In other words, the intellectual love of God is only a sophisticated form of the so-called religious technique to ward off the confusion and peril of everyday life.
For the great masses of believers, this sophisticated form of religious 'technique' is unsatisfactory. They do not separate God from the rest of the complex of religious 'techniques' and institutions which constitute a church. The few for whom God is an object of contemplation might perhaps view with equanimity the role of the church as a bulwark of capitalism and take for granted the illusory efficacy of religion; but it is certain the masses do not take such a view. The main road to atheism for the masses is the discovery of the reactionary role of the churches and the social inefficacy of religion. A God who is believed to exist and cannot help them is not a God the masses continue to worship. The church may have been founded by Christ himself, but once the masses discover the role of the church, they break with it. The most effective propaganda against religion, as the Soviet Union demonstrates, is to reinforce the arguments against religion from science, proving that God does not exist, by the exposure of the church's reactionary functions, the venality of the clergy, the fraudulence of relics, etc. Unlike a bourgeois atheist, the Marxist does not confine his systematic attack on religion merely to its 'truth value', but probes into its social roots. For the great masses of believers, with whom we are concerned, it is the exposure of the social function of religion that is conclusive.
Ethics and religion
In the same way that religious apologists emphasise the place of God in religion, so they also exaggerate the place of honorific ideals and values. Religion as the defender or conservator of ideals and values is also the position adopted by those so-called humanists who agree that God does not exist but who nevertheless wish to save religion. So the humanistic theologians of the University of Chicago define religion variously as 'the conservation of human values' (Ames), 'a quest for the good life' (Haydon) or the like. In the same way, but with a franker recognition of the actual role that religion has played, Harry F. Ward appeals to the ethics of Jesus as the true essence of religion. The arguments against any such attempted identifications of religion with ethics are conclusive.
Any ideal or value proposed as religious contains nothing in it which is per se religious. Security, harmony, happiness, the good life, love, peace – what is religious about these? They are the goals of all human effort. They can only be called religious if we falsely define life as a whole as religious. Some humanists do not shrink from this reductio ad absurdum. Professor Haydon, for instance, who defines religion as 'a quest for the good life', then goes on to speak indiscriminately of every quest as religious. Such attempts to save religion by relinquishing its identity must, however, be set down as the latest and most cynical defence of a vested interest. The identity of religion will not be found in ethics, though, of course, any ethical ideal may be spuriously expressed or sought for in religion. How efficacious is religion for the realisation of any such ideal? As we have seen, no ideals inimical to capitalism are furthered by religion. The realisation of ideals involves a belief in a kind of supernatural efficacy to which even the Catholic church does not assent publicly too often. I may add that when she does assert her belief in such a degree of supernatural efficacy, the Catholic church does so in support of the capitalist ideals which she furthers as an institution. An example is the Pope ordering prayers for Russia, prayers which, declared the Catholic Commonweal:
may affect the future much more profoundly than the success or failure of the Soviet government's Five-Year Plan.
The best commentary on the relation of ethics to religion is the way in which the equalitarian doctrines of Jesus and his immediate followers is employed. These have their uses. 'Christianity a capitalist religion?' cries the preacher, 'Why Jesus himself was a poor man!' Or the rise of the church from its humble beginnings makes a Horatio Alger story edifying to the bourgeoisie and reinforcing the democratic illusions of the churchgoing masses. From Jesus's cry for charity for the poor the medieval church drew the comforting and highly sophistical conclusion that if charity is a religious duty, we must always have the poor to give it to. The symbolical tendency of religious ritual serves to turn equalitarianism into a ceremonial which only serves to show the masses how good their rulers are. An example is Maundy Thursday. I quote a New York Times story of the last time King Alfonso of Spain was able to perform this pleasant ceremony:
Madrid, April 2 [1932], King Alfonso today got down on his knees in the royal palace to wash the feet of twelve poor men. Queen Victoria, in a gold and white court dress, with a white lace mantilla and elaborate jewels, washed the feet of twelve poor women, and the monarchs afterward served food to the group with their own hands.
Nobles, high church dignitaries, including the Papal Nuncio, resplendent Generals and members of the royal family in magnificent court regalia watched their Catholic Majesties observe the age-old custom of Maundy Thursday in thus administering to the poor in rags and tatters.
No, one cannot find the identity of religion in ethics.
'Religious experience'
To the apologist's attempt to cover up the fact that religion, including God, is a class institution employing a class technique, and the similar attempt to identify religion with ethics, one may add the attempt, for equally apologetic reasons, to discover and single out a unique experience to be called the religious experience. This is a game which was very popular with psychologists a few years ago, and a perennial source of employment for bourgeois philosophers. To controvert this hunt for the 'numinous', one has but to think of the innumerable range of human experiences which have been the occasion for prayer. As Professor Schneider once put it wittily:
'Any good mystic can get more varieties of religious experience than a "numinous" psychologist can talk about.'
How modern 'technique' arose
I now reformulate the question with which I began, why are people religious? in this form: under what conditions are modern religious 'techniques' employed?
Let us return to the example of the French Revolution. Through the thought of the plebeian ideologues of the French Revolution streams the clear bright light of a new dawn in which humanity, bursting at last the fetters of feudal church and state, seems free to work out its own destiny. Confidence in humanity, assurance in the full capacity of men to evolve purely secular ways of fulfilling their potentialities, is the motif of all their writings. The theory of progress, progress without peril, is the dominant philosophy of the bourgeoisie itself on the eve of the Revolution. Hatred of the Catholic church as the bulwark of feudalism is united with hatred of religion because it attributes impotence to man. Destroy the existing forms of oppression and man will be free to pursue a glorious destiny.
But then comes the French Revolution and victory for the bourgeoisie. And behind them looms the menacing proletariat. Fear of the proletariat drives the bourgeoisie into a union with the remnants of feudalism, into relinquishing their power to Bonapartism; the inevitable contradictions of capitalist economy appear: individual failures, economic crises, war. The bright new dawn of the plebeian revolutionary ideologues is followed by the cold light of a day of new forms of oppression, bloodshed, suffering, anxiety. Few are able to understand how these must necessarily follow from the antagonistic mode of production of feudalism. Man's omnipotence seems an illusory dream. Perhaps man is doomed to defeat? It is precisely the most sensitive sons of the new bourgeoisie who in the cold light of day start a Catholic revival. The economic rehabilitation of the Church, its role in keeping the masses in subjection, combine with the loss of self-confidence by the bourgeoisie; anti-clericalism shows signs of old age and finally disappears.
Source of fetishism
What we see so clearly in comparing the dawn and day of bourgeois revolution is a dominant characteristic of the everyday life of all classes in the capitalist era. The basic process was analysed by Marx who laid bare the fetishism of commodities.
The process of production is not mastered by man but is his master; man's labours appear to him as elemental natural forces beyond his control. Forces so independent of his own control appear to him inevitably as non-social forces. Failure, crises, war appear as though by the inexorable hand of fate. Neither will, nor foresight, nor effort are in any case commensurate with results: the worker toils and yet starves, and is thrown out of work to suffer still more, by forces which cannot but seem mysterious and evil to him; the bourgeois is equally in the hands of fate; there is no relation between his efforts and rewards; he is superstitious when he plays a hunch on the stock-market and wins, equally superstitious when business prospers or fails. Commodities, the products of man's own efforts, rear up like monsters to overwhelm their makers; the social relations, which should be merely the way in which men are organised to produce the necessities of life, these social relations of employer-employee, state-people, appear to be the mysterious and eternal dictates of inexorable law. Men are frustrated at every turn by their own social relations. They desire security, but whatever they may have, this they cannot have. They desire peace and prosperity and work for it, only to find themselves fighting devastating wars which bring in their wake economic catastrophes. The potentialities of most men are never realised. Their intellectual, aesthetic, social faculties are warped at every turn, no matter what class they belong to. There is a basic dualism between social ethics and practical activity. Attempts to satisfy human needs or potentialities fail or are frustrated under capitalism. It is inevitable under these circumstances that so many fall victims to the religious 'techniques'.
It is precisely for the sake of what they hold dearest that the believers go down on their knees. For life and love, for food and shelter, for the innumerable needs and desires and hopes and dreams. Often they pray for no specific reason, but it is precisely then that they are praying for all their reasons, for the whole complex of hurt and pain and anxiety left by their crushed social status as Lenin so correctly pointed out.
'The quest for certainty'
One of the most familiar religious techniques – i.e., fraudulent embellishments – is to contrast the hazards of change with the sureties of the changeless. In the religious revivals that have accompanied every business depression, the churches have pointed out the 'lesson'. As the Christian Times once phrased it: 'the sad experience of the uncertainty of worldly riches ... disposed the hearts of many to sigh for the durable riches'. Another Baptist paper, a few weeks after the panic of 1873 declared that 'the suffering incident to the present state of affairs' would 'lead thousands to turn from the fleeting things of time to the realities of eternity'. Essentially, this is what John Dewey has sought to generalise as 'the religious character of the philosopher's quest for certainty'.
The religiosity accompanying depressions is a very clear illustration of the fetishism induced by the capitalist mode of production. The fleetingness of the things of time and the uncertainty of worldly riches are put down, quite automatically, as proof of the impotence of man and the necessity of fortifying himself – by religious 'techniques'. As suspicions of the real causes of depressions have permeated society, especially today when the crass contradiction of starvation and overproduction lies bare, there is a growing tendency to say little about the rise in religiosity during crises, which has been so regular that it is called the evangelistic index; the obvious causes of the evangelistic index must seem to churchmen an embarrassing commentary on the functions of religion at all times.
The fetishism of commodities, resulting from the contradictions of capitalism, this phenomenon of men's own labours overwhelming them, stultifying them and frustrating their best potentialities, causing them to fall prey to superstitions, rituals and the entire mumbo-jumbo of religion, this cannot be done away with by those in power, the bourgeoisie, without destroying themselves as a class. Faced by the contradictions of capitalism, the bourgeoisie, as in the case of the Catholic revival of the French bourgeoisie, can only turn to religion to help them survive the necessary evils of their own economy. At the same time, however, from the proletariat ranks there arises the beginnings of a scientific economic system – socialism. Here the bourgeoisie and the workers confront each other, as irreconcilable enemies.
For the proletariat the socialist way out is irreconcilable with the religious way out. To take the religious way out, the road of consolation and reconciliation, is possible only as long as the proletariat shares with the bourgeoisie the illusions bred by capitalism in its ascendancy. Once, however, the proletarian vanguard has cut to the source of these illusions, has learned that the contradictions of capitalism are not given by fate, are not necessary evils, the main basis of religion becomes impossible for the proletarian movement – and for society as a whole.
Communism and religion
Will religion disappear under communism? Speaking of the fetishism of commodities, Marx says:
Such religious reflections of the real world will not disappear until the relations between human beings in their practical everyday life have assumed the aspect of perfectly intelligible and reasonable relations as between man and man, and as between man and nature. The life process of society, this meaning the material process of production, will not lose its veil of mystery until it becomes a process carried on by a free association of producers, under their conscious and purposive control.
But those religionists, like Reinhold Niebuhr, for example, who tacitly recognise that it is the fetishism of the evils, frustrations and perversions of capitalism which are at the root of modern religion, insist, nevertheless, that communism will not do away with religion. There will still be, they say, the problems of our relation to the universe and the personal problems which no social system can solve.
It is least likely that 'our relation to the universe' will be a problem for religious solution. This phrase is generally a professional subterfuge of ministers. Moreover, those who point to the influence of nature on the religion of peasants and farmers ignore the conditions under which such religion flourishes. As Marx points out, it was not the direct relation to nature which made agricultural peoples religious. The process by which agricultural peoples produced the material necessities of life was an immature one; their interaction with nature, that is, their tilling of the soil, was immature – in their ignorance of the sciences of fertilising, irrigating, accurate planting, and intensive agriculture, they were at the mercy of the elements. It is for this reason that their relations to nature were correspondingly immature, and led to fetishism of nature. A mature process of agricultural production leads to a mature attitude toward nature. Under capitalism, the farmers' attitude toward nature is inextricably involved with the fetishism of commodities. The mysteries of nature are to the farmer nothing so puzzling as the mysteries of the market which holds him in subjection. His fear for his crops is a fear driven by need. I have seen a community of farmers come together in a time of drought to pray; they know all about the natural causes of rain, but still they are apparently praying for rain. Actually, however, they are praying not for rain, but to be saved from the consequences which will befall them if their crops fail. Suppose, now, that no serious economic consequences would follow upon the failure of the crops, would the farmers be praying for rain? Under communism, that part of the community which will raise the foodstuffs will feel no terror when faced by crop failures; a purposive and systematic organisation of production will provide for such contingencies; surpluses from other years will always be on hand. Under communism, the individual farmer will not be penalised for drought or plague of crops, as he is under capitalism. Will he then pray for rain? or need to fortify himself by religion under continual anxiety and fear of failure? It scarcely seems likely. As for the rest of us, including the religious masses, our relation to nature is not a religious problem today. Only a Niebuhr could envisage man's relation to nature becoming a 'religious problem' under communism.
So far as the 'personal problems' or 'the personal equation' is concerned, the trick of connecting these questions with religiosity is quite as threadbare as all the other 'techniques'. It consists in transferring the individual as he or she exists today – warped, twisted, undeveloped, enslaved – into the free communist future where such 'egos' and all their problems, frustrations, fixations, neuroses, etc, etc, might perhaps be for a brief while subjects for nursery rhymes but certainly never topics of serious discussion among adults. To take such problems seriously is to forget the ABC of Marxism which is materialist to the core and which affirms that man's consciousness is determined by the material environment and not vice versa.
We Trotskyists are firmly convinced that capitalism is the last refuge of religion; and once capitalism is abolished this opium of the people as Marx called it, this 'kind of spiritual corn-whisky' as Lenin aptly branded it, will be cast into the garbage heap of history, where it belongs.
Felix Morrow - Gods and Society (January 1935)
The Passing of the Gods by V.P. Calverton 320 pp. New York. Charles Scribner's Sons. $2.50.
In three hundred pages V.F. Calverton attempts to say a great many things about religion from primitive times to the present. Here, however, I should like to limit myself to one central point: the contrast between the conception of the nature of religion suggested by Marx and that of Calverton.
Calverton's main thesis is that the savage's fear of his natural environment, plus institutional and ideological inertia, accounts for the existence of religion. Religion arose because of primitive man's inability to control his environment, and seemed to give man power to fulfil his economic needs. Then, in the last few centuries, "the agricultural world which had perpetuated the religious mentality began to give way to an industrial world in which that type of mentality was no longer needed. As the discovery of natural laws prepared the way for the mechanical inventions that made possible the Industrial Revolution, man became less dependent upon the gods and more dependent upon science for the power he needed over his environment" (p.87).
Calverton has obscured this general thesis by also accepting Frazer's. Frazer makes a fundamental distinction between magic and religion; magic is for him primitive science, religion is primitive metaphysics. This distinction – which has been abandoned not only by most anthropologists but also by serious liberal religionists like A. Eustace Haydon, Shirley Jackson Case, etc. – has an apologetic function; it serves to obscure the instrumental character of religion; and is, in fact, logically contradictory to Calverton's general thesis.
As for Calverton's main thesis, it leads him to insist that religion today is disappearing; in line with this notion, he says:
"The best proof of that fact [that religion is disappearing] is to be seen in what has happened to Russia ... Today the religious, metaphysical mind has evaporated. Why? Because Soviet Russia has become an industrialized state ... The result has been that the religious mentality has been driven into irrecoverable retreat within the span of little more than a decade." (p. 89.)
In capitalist countries, too, religion is fast disappearing.
"Notwithstanding all that may be said to the contrary, notwithstanding all the statistics of membership that the churches may cite, the fact remains that the religious mentality is in a state of disintegration and decay, with no hope left for its recovery. Its social purpose has been superseded by that of science." (p. 89.)
In further proof of the death of religion, Calverton produces figures (p. 263) which he has apparently misunderstood: for they show church membership to be growing proportionally with the population, though stationary in percentage: whereas for Calverton's thesis there would have to be a precipitous fall. Then, Calverton (perhaps attempting to overcome this contradiction) says:
"But the decline and decay of religion in America is more of a qualitative than a quantitative phenomenon. It is in spirit far more than in numbers that American religion has deteriorated." (p. 267)
Here, of course, Calverton confuses two different meanings of decay: it is one thing to say that religion is decaying, meaning that by present intellectual and moral criteria it is no longer progressive: it is entirely different, and inadmissable, to say that religion is decaying in the sense that the churches are about to disappear.
A Marxist can have little in common with Calverton's position. Throughout, when Calverton speaks of the "environment", it is always clear from the context that he means the physical environment. This is particularly obvious in all references to science as giving us control over "the environment". This is the position of bourgeois atheism, which holds that religion is generated as an escape from frustrations imposed on primitive man by uncontrolled nature, but which will not recognize the frustrations imposed on modern man by uncontrolled (bourgeois) forces of production.
What bourgeois atheism fails to recognize is that frustrations imposed by uncontrolled nature were social frustrations. The fetishism of nature which generated the primitive and ancient religions was the result of the fact that the social process of labor, that is the interaction of society with nature, was not fortified by adequate techniques; this social condition has long been supplanted as the main condition for the existence of religion. Calverton and bourgeois atheists fail to understand this too. But the fetishism which today sustains religion is what Marx called the fetishism of commodities. This means that the process of producing commodities is not mastered by society but is today the master of society.
Society's labor appears to it in the form of elemental forces beyond its control. Forces so independent of control appear in the realm of experience, inevitably, as non-social forces indistinguishable from natural catastrophes. Business failures and crimes, war and poverty appear as though by the inexorable hand of fate. And to the individual, neither will, nor foresight, nor effort are in any way commensurate with results: the worker toils and yet starves, and is thrown out of work to suffer still more, by forces which cannot but seem mysterious and evil to him; the bourgeois is equally in the hands of fate, for there is no relation between his efforts and rewards; he is superstitious when he plays a In on the stockmarket and wins, and equally superstitious when business prospers or fails. Commodities, the products of society's own efforts, rear up like monsters to overwhelm their maker. Men are frustrated at every. turn by their own social relations. There is a basic dualism between social ethics and practical activity. Attempts to satisfy our needs or potentialities by the secular techniques fail or are frustrates. It is inevitable under these circumstances that many should turn for satisfaction to the religious techniques.
The bourgeois atheist cannot understand this process because he cannot admit that the bourgeoisie is not the master of society's productive forces. For him historical contradictions ended with feudalism, and thereafter there are only problems for science to solve in the course of its development. Even the liberal bourgeois aware of what he calls the "social problem" proposes its solution by new scientific processes or by the application of "knowledge", i.e., by agreed upon technical methods, and not by social methods – which upon analysis mean class struggle. For the bourgeois atheist, therefore, it is impossible to understand that the roots of religion today are social, that no amount of enlightenment can break up the religious complex until the fetichisms which generate it are done away with by the building of a form of society which will be master of the productive forces. The Yaroslayskvs of the Soviet Union may make their vulgar boasts that they are doing away with religion, and many may believe them, but this is merely another perverted derivative of the theory of socialism in one country. Russia is in the grip of world economy, and to the Russian masses, too, in spite of the gigantic industrial developments, the forces of production cannot but still appear as forces with a demonic life of their own: the Protestant sects which have been springing up in the Soviet Union throughout the last ten years are proof of this fact.
Speaking of the fetishism of commodities, Marx says,
"Such reflections of the real world will not disappear until the relations between human beings in their practical everyday life have assumed the aspect of perfectly intelligible and reasonable relations as between man and man, and as between man and nature. The life process of society, this meaning the material process of production, will not lose its veil of mystery until it becomes a process carried on by a free association of producers, under their conscious and purposive control."
Calverton's analysis of religion contains not an inkling of the main condition for the existence of religion today! Not a word about the process whereby man's own labors confront him as independent forces. Calverton is, in this book as in much other work, ridden by the genetic fallacy. He thinks the primary origin of religion must still be its basis; and is ready to go so far, in fact, as to make religion a cultural hang-over, as it were, from the days when agriculture was the dominant form of production. This is hopelessly undialectical. Religion may have many origins, as may anything else which has a history. No Marxist would thinkingly put himself in the intellectual position that his criticism of religion today depended on its historical origins. What he is interested in is, primarily, the conditions for the existence of religion today.
Of these conditions there is no analysis at all in this book. In other words, this is a book designed to attack religion as a capitalist institution but which really cannot do so because it does not reveal the reasons for the existence of religion tinder capitalism.
Felix MORROW
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Thunder toward the corner, and grab the left shift paddle under hard braking. In the blink of an eye, the eight-speed transmission blips the throttle and lands in third gear. Feed power to the Lexus IS-F's 5.0-liter V8, and soak in the bellowing exhaust note while firing out of the corner, with a hint of opposite lock applied to correct slight oversteer. When you pull the right-hand upshift paddle, the gearbox needs only a tenth of a second to grab fourth.
Yes, indeed, if the IS-F is a prequel to future Lexi, the V10-powered LF-A will be one hell of a machine. Lexus is taking the performance game seriously, and this sports sedan is a perfect example. With a year still to pass until the company launches the LF-A supercar, this is the perfect time to pit head-to-head the two most powerful cars that Japan offers today, especially considering that both will be available to U.S. customers.
The tranquil mountains on Japan's Izu peninsula are home to some of the country's best roads, where pavement snakes up and down countless peaks and valleys. It's an enticing venue to test the two cars.
On paper, these machines represent different answers to the performance-car question. Lexus conceived a hot rear-wheel-drive sedan, Nissan a technology-packed all-wheel-drive coupe. Similarities between the two include their prices (the GT-R we drove was fitted with the Premium package and was thus more expensive than the base model) and a mighty thirst for gasoline, especially on these tempting roads.
The GT-R truly shines here, as expected. The car is built to deliver you from point A to point B as fast as possible, no excuses. As you dig deep into its capabilities, your confidence grows exponentially; the GT-R easily absorbs everything you throw at it. The 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 is ready to play at any point in the rev range; it responds instantly at your foot's prod with almighty acceleration and no turbo lag.
As much as the engine impresses, the gearbox makes this car what it is and provides its character. Located under the rear seats, the dual-clutch six-speed transmission rewards every pull of the paddles with seamless, instant upshifts or sublime rev-matched downshifts. It makes itself heard with a distinct race-car-like whine. The adjustable Bilstein dampers, when set to "normal," work hard to absorb road imperfections but still allow the GT-R to plow through every twist at an alarming rate. Bridgestone's RE-070 tires offer tremendous grip, with well more than 1 g registering on the funky onboard display, both during lateral acceleration and under braking.
The IS-F works harder than the GT-R to stay on the pace. With sport mode activated, the Lexus offers sharper throttle response and heavier yet precise steering that allows drivers to get the most out of it. The 416 hp is great, but the midrange torque provides the most fun, with a healthy pull from anywhere above 4000 rpm.
The GT-R is the faster car, but it is not necessarily better to drive. With the cars hot-shoed back-to-back, the character of the Lexus makes up for its power and overall speed deficit. When you tickle the throttle in mid-corner, the rear end is in your hands, controlled easily as it helps you steer. The V8 begs to be revved and loves to be machine-gunned through the eight-speed 'box.
The suspension is really the only thing that disappoints in the IS-F. Certainly, it performs wonderfully on a daily basis and around town, but it lacks the composure and feedback desired for roads that enthusiasts seek out. Ideally, Lexus would offer the active suspension, as Nissan does, giving drivers a firmer setup for spirited drives. The Brembo brakes, at least, offer more than enough performance.
In comparison, the GT-R takes things a step further, with far more brake feel and power. And still, although the GT-R is flat-out faster, the IS-F manages to be more satisfying to drive. Nissan describes its stallion as an "anyone, anytime, anywhere" machine, but the GT-R leaves you feeling like a secondary part of the man-machine interface.
As always, though, the game is far from over. If the IS-F is any indication, we expect the LF-A to be thrilling and demanding. As for Nissan, it is hard at work on its GT-R Spec-V, a more track-oriented version of the car set to go on sale in Japan by the end of the year.
Now, just what might Germany have up its sleeve?


They carry Whimsical Fairy Garden Accessories.
They sell this adorable set.
Dragon, Dragon Thursday, Dragons, Etsy, Miniature dragons, Miniature gardens, Terrariums, The Little Hedgerow, Whimsical, Whimsical Fairy Garden Accessories.
← Coffee Monday – late night coffee while admiring the moon.


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The Curious Case of Benjamin Brown and NYOL
This is the fifth part of a six part series highlighting each team in the OCWA and their season. In this installment, we cover the fifth place team in the OCWA, No Your Other Left.
Ben Brown was a manager or co-manager for four years in the OCWA. During that time, he played on some of the best teams in the OCWA and some of the worst teams in the OCWA. Brown always had an interesting managerial style. He is known as one of the founders of the "walk on water" strategy. His last year as a manager proved to be as interesting as the rest of them.
In the 2011 season, Brown paired up with longtime teammate Alex "Bacon" Barber to form the Carols. That team finished 7-13, and in the offseason, Bacon split from Brown to form his own team. Coming into the draft, Brown knew what he wanted. He drafted an all-around player in Aaron Kelley, and filled in the cracks with role players like Ben Montreuil and Darin Carter. Unfortunately for Brown, Kelley decided to stay in California, Montreuil joined the Army, and Carter didn't pan out as he would've liked. Brown considered folding his team, giving up the managerial game for good.
As the Opening Day Tourney approached, Brown seemed like he would be playing as a one-man show. Then, he signed rookies Dylan Frankel, Ari Knill, and Jordan Benzing. These players would prove to be a key part of the team's success moving forward.
The Opening Day Tourney did not go well for NYOL. They received a first round bye, but were flattened by the Freaky Franchise in the semifinals. The team seemed to be going through growing pains, and this loss did not help their confidence.
The ODT went so poorly that Brown did not show up for his team's first two games. Under interim manager Dylan Frankel, NYOL split a series with Take A Wiff Of This. Things seemed to be looking up, but when Brown returned, the team dropped four out of their next six. Brown then left again, and the team dropped four straight. Brown noticed that his team was 1-5 without him, and he did not miss another game. In their last eight games, they picked up three wins and five losses, finishing the season at 6-14. Brown had another All-Star caliber year, but his team struggled mightily.
The 6-14 record gave them the 5th seed in the OCWA Playoffs, and they faced a tough first round challenge in the Tampa Bay Turtles. NYOL came out with fire, taking a 14-5 victory in their first game. Then, they fell apart, losing 22-10 and 12-1, ending their playoff run.
After the season came to a close, Ben Brown removed himself from managerial status. His four year run as a manager had come to a close. He was picked up in the 2012 Draft by Chris Roeder's team, reuniting with former teammate Bacon. No Your Other Left did not play well, but they gave rise to three rookies and a new manager in Dylan Frankel. Frankel is captaining Pavlov's Dawgs this year, with fellow teammates Ari Knill and Jordan Benzing, and Rookie of the Year candidate Dave DiLoreto. With this new team forming, and Ben Brown retiring from the managerial position, we will never see another team quite like No Your Other Left.


In 2007 FLAC organised a lecture in memory of the late community law activist Dave Ellis, who had died earlier that year, on the topic of 'access to justice'. Since then the lecture has become an annual event, held in December and on the general topic of access to justice. FLAC has been able to host a range of respected speakers over the years - a list is given on the right.
Dave Ellis was a community activist who dedicated his career to working with community groups in areas including welfare rights, legal aid, legal education and legal entitlements generally. Dave was Community Law Officer at Coolock Community Law Centre (now Community Law & Mediation ) for more than 20 years. He subsequently established Community Legal Resource to provide information, training and support for the not-for-profit and community sector.


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Sharity, Ang Ku Kueh Girl fly with NDP favourites on newly launched National Day ez-link cards
Sharity, the mascot of Community Chest, and Ang Ku Kueh Girl are depicted in the cards alongside NDP crowd favourites, such as the SAF's Red Lions and the RSAF's Black Knights. PHOTO: EZ-LINK
Ng Huiwen
Jul 18, 2018, 8:28 am SGT
http://str.sg/oAUb
SINGAPORE - In celebration of Singapore's 53rd birthday on Aug 9, EZ-Link has launched two special National Day-themed card designs featuring local characters Sharity and Ang Ku Kueh Girl.
Sharity, the mascot of Community Chest, and Ang Ku Kueh Girl are depicted in the cards alongside National Day Parade (NDP) crowd favourites, such as the Singapore Armed Forces' Red Lions and the Republic of Singapore Air Force's Black Knights.
One of the designs shows them soaring in the skies holding hands, while the other has Sharity and Ang Ku Kueh Girl in a fighter jet.
EZ-Link said in a statement that the cards symbolise Singaporeans of all races and religions working hand in hand towards greater heights.
This is in line with this year's NDP theme, We Are Singapore.
The exclusive designs were progressively available at TransitLink ticket offices from Tuesday (July 17), while stocks last.
Each card costs $12 and comes with $7 load value, with EZ-Link donating 50 cents to the Community Chest for every card sold.
EZ-Link said that the donation was to "urge Singaporeans not to forget the less fortunate in our society as the nation progresses".
EZ-Link chief executive Nicholas Lee said that it also hopes to use this special occasion to support budding local creators.
Jumping with the Red Lions
NDP 2018: Red Lions to jump from record 3,800m height and 'fly' in wing suits
NDP 2018: Singapore Navy divers to do free fall for the first time, dropping 1,800m with 50kg gear
"(We want) to use the ez-link card as a canvas to display their talent and do our part in contributing back to society by donating part of the proceeds to Community Chest," he said.
Ang Ku Kueh Girl was created by Ang Ku Kueh Girl And Friends, a local cultural studio featuring young talented illustrators. It was founded by Wang Shijia.
This year also marks the Community Chest's 35th anniversary. It was established in 1983 to raise funds for social service organisations in Singapore.
Community Chest managing director Charmaine Leung said: "With the support from EZ-Link to feature Sharity elephant, our iconic symbol of care and compassion, we hope to encourage everyone to care and share within our community."
The public can visit EZ-Link's website or follow it on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more information.
NATIONAL DAY PARADE 2018
COMMEMORATIVE EDITION


text:
America's Middle Class & The Jobs Crisis
IN THIS PUBLICATION
America's strong and vibrant middle class didn't just happen. It was built brick by brick in the decades after World War II-by the hard work of our parents and grandparents and the strength in numbers that came from the unions that represented them. Unions made sure that as our nation's wealth and productivity grew, so too did the income and benefits of the people who worked hard to create that wealth. For decades, our nation's prosperity was widely shared-wages increased and more employers provided their workers with health insurance, pensions, and paid time off. The middle class was also built by government policies that invested in infrastructure and basic science, built up and expanded social insurance and safety net programs, and supported homeownership and made a college education accessible to a new generation. Parents without higher education themselves saved to send their kids to college, made possible by affordable tuition at state universities and financial aid.
The unraveling of the social contract predated the Great Recession, but the economic crisis hastened its demise. Not only did the state lose over 185,000 jobs because of the Wall Street-caused Great Recession, but the economic effects of those lost jobs reverberated to all corners of the state, particularly the already- strained finances of the state government. We estimate that the jobs lost due to the recession have cost the state over $215 million annually in lost sales tax revenues, on top of other revenue losses from the recession, resulting in further lay-offs of thousands of middle-class public sector workers. If the state's unemployment rate were at pre-recession levels, those lost hundreds of millions would return to the state government's coffers, and could be used to help thousands of young people attend college, maintain dozens of state parks, or hire, for example, as many as 2,350 teachers or 1,950 nurses.
Now is the time for citizens, workers, employers, and policymakers to come together once again to rebuild pathways to the middle class, create good jobs with fair pay and decent benefits, and ensure that prosperity is broadly shared for the next generation.
State-by-State Briefs
National Brief


Design is based on the Jetfire who debuted in the classic Generation 1 Transformers episode "Fire in the Sky", taking heavy influence in both modes from the Sunbow Skyfire design. Includes battle armor parts including a helmet modeled after the Generation 1 toy design. At 11 inches tall, he is equivalent of the former Supreme class figures such as Energon Omega Supreme or Armada Unicron.


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Q: Get a random value from a range in MS SQL? Let suppose my table can have values from 000 to 999 (three digits and less than 1000)
Some of this values are filled. Let's suppose currently my table has
000,002,005,190 (001,004,003,006,..189,191,..,999 can be inserted into table)
and these values are randomly allocated 000 and 002 is in table but 001 is not in table yet.
How can I get the values that I can insert into table yet.

A: DECLARE @t TABLE(id INT)
INSERT INTO @t (id)
VALUES
(1),(19),(3)

;WITH numbers AS (
SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY o.object_id,o2.object_id) RN FROM sys.objects o
CROSS JOIN sys.objects o2
),  NotExisted AS(
SELECT * FROM numbers WHERE RN NOT IN (SELECT ID FROM @t)
AND RN<1000)
SELECT TOP 1 RN FROM NotExisted ORDER BY NEWID()

A: DECLARE @t TABLE
(VALUE CHAR(3))

INSERT @t
VALUES
('000'),('002'),('005'),('190')

;WITH rnCTE
AS
(
    SELECT -1 + ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY TYPE, number, name) AS rn
    FROM master.dbo.spt_values
)
SELECT RIGHT('000' + CAST( rn AS VARCHAR(11)),3)
FROM rnCTE
WHERE NOT EXISTS    (   SELECT 1 FROM @t
                        WHERE VALUE = rn
                    )
AND rn < 1000

EDIT
This query works by generating the complete list of possible numbers from a system table (master.dbo.spt_values) which is guaranteed to contain more than 1000 rows inside the CTE rnCTE. -1 is added to ROW_NUMBER to have the values start at 0 rather than 1.
The outer query zero pads the numbers for display, returning only those which are not in the source data and are less than 1000.

A: You will have to write a T-SQL to first query and find the gaps. There is no ready made SQL that will give you the gaps directly.

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Gas station with 7-eleven a the real estate for sale located at the corner of the two major streets . Lot size 21,000 sq.ft. Building 2,840 sq.ft.
This is a rare opportunity to own this outstanding business at the corner of two main streets.
This is a rare opportunity to own this gorgeous and outstanding gas station with 7-eleven market.
This business has an outstanding business reputation with a genuine, local customer base.
Seller is very motivated and make an offer.
To get more information about this Gas Station With 7-Eleven, Real Estate business for sale in San Bernardino County please phone John Lee (Agent - BRE License #:08116499) at 661-713-6645 - if you get voicemail please leave a detailed message - make sure you mention you saw this posting/ad #250651 on BizBen.com. In addition to phoning John Lee, make sure you email John Lee above to get more info about this Gas Station With 7-Eleven, Real Estate, to ask any questions or request an appointment to see this business for sale, franchise, or opportunity. Thank you.


Qassim-al-Rimi, has not received Obama's memo that al- Qaeda is on the run.
This is not only delusional, it is dangerously delusional.
Wars are over when one side emerges as victor and the other side surrenders.
You do not end a war with campaign style pronouncements.


text:
Rails.application.routes.draw do
  root 'appointment_summaries#new'

  resources :appointment_summaries, only: %i(new create) do
    post :preview, on: :collection
  end

  scope path: 'styleguide', controller: 'styleguide' do
    scope path: 'pages' do
      get 'input', action: 'pages_input'
      get 'output-base', action: 'pages_output_base'
      get 'output-50-54', action: 'pages_output_50_54'
      get 'output-base-large', action: 'pages_output_base_large'
      get 'output-50-54-large', action: 'pages_output_50_54_large'
      get 'output-ineligible', action: 'pages_output_ineligible'
    end

    get '/', action: :index
  end

  get '/status', to: 'status#show'

  namespace :admin do
    resources :appointment_summaries, only: :index
  end

  mount GovukAdminTemplate::Engine, at: '/style-guide'
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Popular WWE artist and lifelong Kansas City resident to showcase wrestling art at Planet Comicon
by: Marcus Officer
Posted: Feb 15, 2018 / 07:53 PM CST
Updated: Feb 15, 2018 / 07:52 PM CST
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Rob Schamberger's life has revolved around art.
"Pretty much from when I was seven years old and I got my first comic book and I said I wanted to do this," the lifelong Kansas City resident said.
And for the past five years, his artwork has centered around some of professional wrestling's biggest names.
"A lot of these champions collection paintings — this is again where everything started for me, trying to make each one as specific to the energy of their personas," Schamberger said.
His passion for wrestling began with his stepfather and the words of the Nature Boy.
"He was flipping through the channels once when I was there doing laundry, and he landed on Ric Flair talking in the ring," Schamberger said. "It was like the clouds parted. I heard the angel choir, and I said 'I get this. I'm about this.'"
Rob Schamberger
Schamberger is one of the biggest names in wrestling art. He's created hundreds of portraits a year for WWE, where he's been employed for more than five years.
"I debuted with WWE at WrestleMania 30 in New Orleans," he said. "I painted a 7-by-5 piece that was celebrating the 30 years of WrestleMania. No pressure at all, right? But it was really successful, and I feel like it was a good place to start."
Schamberger's work can be seen around the world in video games, on action figures and on countless amounts of merchandise. He's even created pieces in the presence of the biggest stars in the business.
"While I'm in the back painting (during Battleground a few years ago), I feel this presence behind me. I don't see or hear anything. It's just like a sixth sense. I feel it. I turn around, and it's Brock Lesnar watching me paint," Schamberger said. "It turns out Brock is actually a bit of an art fan and just wanted to watch me paint while he was preparing for his match. He went out and just destroyed Seth Rollins."
Schamberger's dedication has transformed him from a WWE fan to a WWE celebrity — proving if you chase your dream, you can catch it.
"To really make things happen, you have to standout," he said. "There's one of three things you have to do. You have to be the first, you have to be the best, or you have to be different than everyone else. If you can find one of those things, you're going to do it. If you can get two, you're going to be a raging success. That's what worked for me, and it'll work for anyone."
Schamberger will spend the next three days showcasing his art at Planet Comicon in Kansas City. You can also see more of Schamberger's work on his website.
Community / 7 seconds ago


Inspired by the Egyptian God of the afterlife, Anubis, the heady blooms of jasmine, immortelle and pink lotus bloom amongst a rich suede that smoulders. The incense base of Anubis, containing frankincense, sandalwood, and labdanum, beautifully emphasizes a perfume shrouded in darkness and veiled in a mystery.
Discover Anubis, if you dare.
"Anubis began life as a signature scent for myself. I have always been drawn to dark, leathery scents and the metamorphosis of Anubis from personal sketch to final product has been considerable. It was nameless until it was completed and it was then that I realised my obsession with ancient Egypt had subconsciously manifested itself; the initial materials used, synonymous with mummification, have now been sweetened into a dark but delicious fragrance. After many reincarnations, Anubis was born."


text:
Indlovu: An African Travelogue by Tina Sachs and Anton Raimondo
Relocating from London to South Africa for many would be a challenge in itself. However if you have a strong spirit of adventure, it is more about the opportunities that present themselves, as they did for Anton and Tina. Instead of flying to South Africa, they decided to drive, partly for the challenge and partly because often in life we concentrate so hard on our destination, we forget to embrace the journey. As perhaps a metaphor for life, Anton and Tina, along with their new best friend a Toyota Land cruiser named Indlovu, set out to travel the long way down to South Africa. With little more than a map, a chosen route and essentials packed for the trip, the journey begins in London. Join them in a stunning pictorial journey that takes you through Africa and share in their life-affirming experiences as you begin to realise that this is a trip that given the will and inclination, any of us are capable of taking.
Would you like us to giftwrap this for you?
Indlovu: An African Travelogue by Tina Sachs and Anton Raimondo quantity
Category: Local Non-fiction
The journey started with a dream. Our shared dream to re-create one of the most iconic overland expeditions: crossing the length of Africa.
We began by seeking our third companion, a vehicle sturdy enough to carry us safely through vast deserts, dense jungles and on rough roads. We found a trustworthy 4×4 Landcruiser and gave her life by naming her Indlovu, the unstoppable elephant.
Together, we embarked on this expedition to explore Africa, its many people and various cultures and in doing so pushed our boundaries and gave us the opportunity to learn more about each other.
Our curiosity and wish to go off the beaten track made us chose the less travelled route along the West African coastline, crossing 21 highly diverse countries. The adventure lasted over five unforgettable months and it took us 33,000 kilometres to complete the route from London to Cape Town.
Some thought we were crazy to take on such a challenge and maybe even we did at times, but when we arrived in Cape Town at the end of our journey, it was undoubtedly worth it! Africa revealed her spectacular beauty to us when least expected and captivated us with unique experiences, which we will carry with us for the rest of our lives.
Through this book's carefully chosen imagery and a few key stories, we give you a glimpse into some of the many facets of Africa. We want to inspire others, perhaps even you, to seek adventure and fulfil your own ambitions and dreams.
How I Accidentally Became a Global Stock Photo by Shubnum Khan
The Lie of 1652 by Patric Tariq Mellet
The Pink Line by Mark Gevisser


As with residential properties, commercial premises can also be refinanced through a commercial mortgage, which is a great option for individuals looking to purchase land, property or purchase other existing businesses.
The commercial market offers borrowers more of an opportunity to negotiate but can be more complicated than a residential remortgage. As a result, we get to know our clients, and bring in relevant expertise from our team to manage your transaction, working alongside your other professional advisors to make sure the process is as smooth as possible.
Business loans to cover property purchases.
Arranging a business loan to help you expand or to pay off other finance.
Call our commercial team today for expert legal advice.


Some of these announcements are a little late but I think they deserve a proper announcement.
First, we have setup a way for you to give us all your money :) Please feel free to give a little. The purpose of the Doctrine donation collection is simple. The creators of Doctrine don't work on this great product for any money. The contributions are made out of the pure enjoyment of working on a great open source project such as Doctrine. It is not totally clear what exactly the donations will be used for now, but in the future they may be used to fund infrastructure expenses required by the project, sending developers to conferences, marketing, or even split amongst the developers of Doctrine. So if you or your company uses Doctrine and are happy with it, a donation to further the project would be much appreciated.
Secondly, we have made some updates to the website. Specifically the Download page. It now has proper links to packages and svn for each release of Doctrine. These packages are generated nightly from the source in svn.
Finally, as some of you all may already know, we have finally gotten our release/package management under control and you can expect stability in the area of releases, branches and BC breaks!


Chorus, Inc. - Creating Platforms for Growth (sm) | Chorus Inc.
CHORUS's unique approach and diverse advisory team enabled us to further strengthen our ability to grow as a company.
CHORUS is a strategic advisor and execution partner to executive teams and boards that desire optimized human capital that is tightly linked to an effective business strategy. The benefit is direct and measurable in both business performance and a more positive and motivating culture.
Customers will testify to the impact CHORUS had on improved earnings, multi-million dollar valuation increases, harmonized and disciplined management teams and organizational effectiveness, as well as enhanced personal and professional relationships. Our entrepreneurial approach combines nationally recognized thought leaders in methodology with patent pending technology to deliver a new level of efficiency and effectiveness in the development of leaders, teams and strategy.
Whether an engagement encompasses overall strategy through operational execution or is targeted at specific needs, we always leverage existing capabilities with innovative solutions linked to business strategy that produce measurable results.
Learn about the impact CHORUS had on improving executive performance.
Discover how CHORUS strengthens teams to achieve greater results.
Explore how CHORUS facilitates strategic dialogue to maximize growth.
Learn more about our work and the industries we serve.


text:
Q: Unable to read a PDF file using PDFBOX I am trying to fill in a PDF form using JAVA, but when I tried to get the fields using the below code the list is empty.
PDDocument pdDoc = PDDocument.load(filename);
PDAcroForm pdform = pdDoc.getDocumentCatalog().getAcroForm();
List<PDField> field = pdform.getFields();

Then I tried to read the file using PDFStripper
PDFTextStripper stripper = new PDFTextStripper();
System.out.println(stripper.getText(pdDoc));

and the ouput was as follows
"Please wait...
If this message is not eventually replaced by the proper contents of the document, your PDF
viewer may not be able to display this type of document.
You can upgrade to the latest version of Adobe Reader for Windows®, Mac, or Linux® by
visiting  http://www.adobe.com/go/reader_download.
For more assistance with Adobe Reader visit  http://www.adobe.com/go/acrreader.
Windows is either a registered trademark or a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Mac is a trademark
of Apple Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other
countries."
But I'm able to open the file manually and fill the fields as well. I've tried other tools like iText also. But again I wasn't able to get the fields.
How can I resolve this issue?

A: May be it is too late to answer but anyway why not. You can get empty list if your pdf file has XFA structure.
PDDocument pdDoc = PDDocument.load(filename);
PDAcroForm pdform = pdDoc.getDocumentCatalog().getAcroForm();
List<PDField> field = pdform.getFields();

Use these code lines to start working with pdf:
PDXFA xfa = pdform.getXFA();
Document xfaDocument = xfa.getDocument();
NodeList elements = xfaDocument.getElementsByTagName( "SomeElement" );

A: While struggling with Alfresco's content search abilities, I've had some trouble with pdfbox (used by Alfresco to extract text and metadata) reading PDF files written by old applications (like QuarkXPress) that use old Acrobat 4.0 format. This old format pdfbox seems to be unable to extract metadata or text from it, although the files were perfectly viewable with any PDF reader application.
The solution was having all old PFD files re-printed (saved as...) using a more modern PDF format (like 10.0 for instance). This can be done in a row using some bash scripting.
I directly didn't try intermediate Acrobat versions among 4.0 and 10.0.


Reviews for "Bounty + Hunter"
Wow, wow, wow! Absolutely captivating! The quality of the video was just astounding. You seemed to capture every single movement of everything in precise detail. For such a short story I was utterly hooked and found myself having to rewind sections to see everything that was happening! Please make more!
Just wanted to say this really inspired me to make my own characters and experiment with them. I really loved the animation, and I would love to find out more about the city the film's set in! Do more characters live there or is it deserted? Amazing effort, well done!!
Ok. This is a hard one to review because there was a lot of good but quite a bit of bad as well.
Good- The environments modles and texturing was wonderful the train looked top notch and the entire thing had wonderful detail.
Bad- The characters were too cartoonish they didn't fit with the backgrounds (to fix this I'd suggest a better skin shader). Or vise-versa the backgrounds needed to be simpler they just needed to match in style better.
The animation was well done not perfect but dam good.
The only problem I have with the script is when she causes part of the train to blow up. After this they both get sucked out as if the train is pressurized. So this leads to 2 options 1) the train is so high up there's a lack of oxygen or 2) the train is moving so fast its causing a vacuum. However since both of them seem to be able to leave the train and stand on the roof without a problem this shoots down both those options and leaves me scratching my head.
All in all an Excellent animation and better than I can do as of yet nice job.
This is ike an epic futuristic Ego City. Yet, something all new; an awesome new animation start for you. It could use a tad-bit of work with exciting stuff that happens; length, but still, good fight scene.


The new Koenigsegg Agera RS pushes the boundaries and takes the Agera to all new levels of performance. The new Koenigsegg Agera RS has its focus set firmly on the track but is still perfect for regular use on the road. It uses advanced technology developed during our exclusive Koenigsegg One:1 program, while maintaining all the functionality of previous S and R models. Such practicalities include a usable luggage compartment and a detachable hardtop that can be stowed internally for top-down motoring at any time.


text:
thebroadwaygenius.com
Adsense Disclaimer
A MEGA MILLIONS ticket worth almost $4 million was purchased at a liquor store in Hacia Heights.
January 12, 2023 by rnt1250@gmail.com
The Mega Millions jackpot was not won, yet on Wednesday, someone in Southern California awoke millionaire.
MEGA MILLIONS ticket
At Park's Liquor on 7th Avenue in Hacienda Heights, a ticket for about $4 million was purchased. Five of the six winning lotto numbers from Tuesday night's drawing were matched by the winning ticket.
The gold Mega Ball number was 9, and the winning numbers were 7, 13, 14, 15, and 18.
Soo Kim, the owner, claimed that she had been waiting for her shop to have a winning ticket for 15 years.
"Finally, I have it. I have a lot of dedicated customers who play every day," she said. "I admire their persistence. I'm really happy."
Kim will make close to $20,000 on the sale of that ticket.
With no winner since October 14, the prize for Friday night has increased to an estimated $1.35 billion. $707.9 million would be the cash alternative.
There is a 1 in 302.5 million chance of winning the Mega Millions jackpot.
The jackpot on Tuesday was the fifth-largest prize in American lottery history, but it was the third-largest award in Mega Millions history. In November 2022, a single Powerball winner won the highest jackpot in lottery history, taking home $2.04 billion.
Categories lottery Tags jackpot, lottery, mega million
Who will win the Mega Millions lottery is determined by data.
The current Powerball jackpot is at $404 million.
Why Kylie Jenner Is So Famous?
Why Did Kim Kardashian And Kanye West Split And Why?
What Is The Easiest Lottery To Win In New York?
Can I Play New York Lottery Online?
How Does Powerball Get Money?
Why Kylie Jenner Is So Famous? - thebroadwaygenius.com on Why Did Kim Kardashian And Kanye West Split And Why?
Why Did Kim Kardashian And Kanye West Split And Why? - thebroadwaygenius.com on 2 Mega Millions winning tickets were sold in New York, making the jackpot the second-largest in history.
What Is The Easiest Lottery To Win In New York? - thebroadwaygenius.com on Can I Play New York Lottery Online?
Can I Play New York Lottery Online? - thebroadwaygenius.com on How Does Powerball Get Money?
How Does Powerball Get Money? - thebroadwaygenius.com on How Does The Powerball Work?
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text:
Sean Mc Manus, Joe Kennedy and John Lewis in 1988
– Demonstrating at The British Embassy in Washington, DC.
Analysis: What challenges face the new NI secretary?
Posted By: July 25, 2019
By Gareth Gordon, BBC NI. Thursday, July 25, 2019
Any new Conservative secretary of state comes to Northern Ireland already loaded down by baggage – at least as far as Sinn Féin is concerned.
It's even more true if they've been welcomed onstage at the DUP conference as a "friend" of that party.
That's what happened when Julian Smith attended the annual conference of the DUP in 2017 following the confidence-and-supply agreement which binds the DUP and the Tories together until – or indeed if – a future general election ends in divorce.
And it's bound to be thrown back at the former Conservative chief whip when he arrives at Stormont House to attempt to steer the talks towards a restoration of devolution with a sizeable dollop of Brexit on the side.
Against that, he was the man with the impossible job of getting enough of his MPs to vote for Theresa May's doomed Withdrawal Agreement.
As chief whip that was his job, but it put him on the opposite side of the argument to the DUP.
So welcome to Northern Ireland, Mr. Smith.
At least you don't have a big act to follow.
Your time in Northern Ireland cannot possibly be as unsuccessful as Karen Bradley's. Can it?
Who is Julian Smith?
On Wednesday, outgoing secretary Karen Bradley was sacked by the new prime minister. before the new cabinet was revealed.
Julian Smith has been an MP for Skipton and Ripon since 2010.
Image caption Julian Smith talking to Ian Paisley at the DUP party conference in 2017
Having backed the Remain campaign in the 2016 Brexit referendum, he most recently served Theresa May as chief whip – a job in which he was unable to guide her proposed EU Withdrawal Agreement through the House of Commons.
In that role, he also worked closely with the DUP and attended the party's annual conference in 2017.


1882 Lamont Combination Razor Strop Rochester NY RICHARDS RAZORS; MAKE ME AN OFFER I CAN'T REFUSE! MANUFACTURED BY COPELAND, HALL & CO. ROCHESTER, NY Here we have an 1882 Lamont Combination Razor Strop, this is a No.4, Quite Rare! It is 14" long and 1 1/2" across. It is marked The Lamont Combination Razor Strop, Manufactored By COPELAND, HALL & CO. ROCHESTER, NY. Pat. Feb. 15 1876, April 16 1878, Feb. 7 1882. Comes in the original box which has seen its' better days but is still intact, this great item has a wooden handle and four different sides on which to hone and strop your straight razor, manufactured by the Copeland, Hall & Co. Rochester, New York (1883). Don't miss out on this RARE razor strop! The strop is in "GOOD" condition but needs a good cleaning which I will leave up to the new owner. Razors needed to be sharpened on a daily basis. To sharpen the razor every barber and gentleman would have had a strop and/or hone. Strops are made from leather, while hones are usually made of stone. The combination strop and hone pictured here was manufactured and patented in 1878. Directions for use on the box reads: "Should the razor be very dull use [side] No. 1, first rubbing a little tallow over it [the blade], then [use sides] 2 and 3 finishing on 4 but in ordinary cases 3 and 4 are sufficient to secure a very fine edge." RICHARDS RAZORS; MAKE ME AN OFFER I CAN'T REFUSE! PRICE $50.00 OBO SHIPPING FREE CONTINENTAL USA RICHARDS RAZORS; MAKE ME AN OFFER I CAN'T REFUSE! http://www.ioffer.com/selling/rickcaron2008 http://www.bonanza.com/booths/rckandrews45 http://richardsrazors.ecrater.com/ http://instantfinder.com/RICHARDSRAZORS Terms of Sale: PAYPAL ONLY INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING COST: DEPENDS WHERE BUYER IS LOCATED. INTERNATIONAL BUYERS: I WILL NOT ALTER SELLING OR SHIPPING PRICE OR MARK AS A GIFT, I SHIP ONLY USPS MAIL OUTSIDE OF U.S.A. INSURANCE IS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE BUYER. When I describe an object as 'VINTAGE' or 'ANTIQUE' they will have the typical wear and tear you would expect with an older piece. Light scratches, scuffing & crazing and such like would be expected as opposed to a NEW condition. If an item is in MINT condition I will say so. If an item has any major issues - dents, deep marks, stains or heavy scratches etc. I will bring these to your attention in my description. All sales final.


text:
Golców (752 m) – wzgórze w Beskidzie Wyspowym. Znajduje się w miejscowości Stara Wieś w województwie małopolskim, w powiecie limanowskim, w gminie Limanowa. Jest to samotne wzgórze, w większości porośnięte lasem, częściowo zajęte pod pola uprawne. Mimo niedużej wysokości rozciągają się z niego szerokie widoki. Z odsłoniętych partii podszczytowych ładna panorama widoków. Szczególnie dobrze widać stąd Pasmo Łososińskie z takimi szczytami jak: Łysa Góra, Sałasz Wschodni, Jaworz oraz Miejska Góra z dużym krzyżem. W kierunku wschodnim i południowym widok na pobliskie wzniesienia Kuklacza, Łyżki, Pępówki, Skiełka, Ostrą i Cichonia.

Golców jest jedynym wzniesieniem Beskidów, z którego widać 3 miasta: Limanową, Stary Sącz i Nowy Sącz.

Na północnych stokach Cmentarz wojenny nr 369 – Stara Wieś-Golców z I wojny światowej. Spoczywają tu żołnierze polegli w 1914 r. w czasie dużej bitwy pod Limanową pomiędzy wojskami rosyjskimi i austro-węgierskimi. W bitwie tej w dniach 11–14 grudnia obydwie strony poniosły bardzo duże straty w zabitych i rannych. W zagajnikach wokół cmentarza dostrzec jeszcze można resztki okopów i fortyfikacji.

Szlaki turystyki pieszej
  – niebieski z Limanowej przez Jabłoniec, Golców (1:20 godz.) na Przełęcz Ostra-Cichoń (z Golcowa 2:45 godz.).

Przypisy

Szczyty Beskidu Wyspowego

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia