text:
The Sports Drop
The Internet's Most Entertaining Sports Site
April 17, 2020 by SportsDrop
Luc Longley
Getty Images & The Guardian
Longley was the Bulls starting center for most of the second three-peat. The big Aussie had a career year in '97-'98 averaging a career-high in points with 11.4 and adding 5.9 rebounds per game. Together with the long Dennis Rodman and Ron Harper, the Bulls frontcourt was nearly impenetrable.
In retirement, Longley, the first Australian to play in the NBA, has stayed around basketball in his homeland. He has worked as an assistant coach for the Australian national team since 2013. Longley has always had a passion for marine conservation and in 2009 discovered a new species of shrimp. He named it, Lebbeus clarehanna after his daughter.
Back3 / 24Next
Great NBA Players Who Became Successful GMs
Way-Too-Early Top 25 College Football Rankings for 2021
From Patrick Mahomes to Jacoby Brissett, The NFL's List of Highest-Paid Players is Full of Surprises
Copyright ©2019 The Sports Drop. All Rights Reserved


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Q: Need help to replace one tag with another Anyone can help me on EmEditor Macro?
id="131"
        restype="x-p"
        phase-name="pretrans"><source>Good morning</source><seg-source><mrk
            mtype="seg"
            mid="1">Good morning</mrk></seg-source><target><mrk
            mtype="seg"
            mid="1"
            MadCap:segmentStatus="Untranslated"
            MadCap:matchPercent="0" /></target></trans-unit>

Shall it become
id="131"
        restype="x-p"
        phase-name="pretrans"><source>Good morning</source><seg-source><mrk
            mtype="seg"
            mid="1">Good morning</mrk></seg-source><target><mrk
            mtype="seg"
            mid="1"
            MadCap:segmentStatus="Untranslated"
            MadCap:matchPercent="0" />Good morning</target>"> </trans-unit>

I have 5000 files and I need to run this macro in Batch, so If anyone can help me to make this?
I want code to loop process in Batch file, source text could be anything.

A: When you work with a lot of files you may pay a lot of attention. In the number reside the chaos.
In this moment I cannot help you with Visual Basic or EmEditor Macro but I can give you an alternative.
You can either install some linux like environment as CygWin, UnxUtils..., see link and possibility on Is there any sed like utility for cmd.exe, or you can try to translate what it follows in Visual Basic.
Milestones:

*

*Individuate a unique key. In your case should be the line that contains MadCap:matchPercent="0"

*Check that with your selection you will not take other not wished lines.
Under linux you can do:
grep -e 'MadCap:matchPercent="0"' AllMyFiles
    # It gives a lot of lines maybe more that the number of files
grep -e 'MadCap:matchPercent="0"' AllMyFiles | sort -u
    # sort -u unique ... if you are lucky it's only one.

You can use a more restricted key as
grep -e 'MadCap:matchPercent="0" /></target></trans-unit>' AllMyFiles

*Now you can start to work on a single file for example substituting in that line MadCap:matchPercent="0" /></target></trans-unit> with your string.
I write a little script even because it's more easy to read. Let's we call it Change_One.sh and invoke it with /bin/bash Change_One.sh Myfile.txt. Try before on a copied file:
#!/bin/bash
C="Good morning"                    # This is what you want to add
A='MadCap:matchPercent="0" \/><\/target><\/trans-unit>'
B='MadCap:matchPercent="0" \/>'${C}'<\/target>\"> <\/trans-unit>'
sed  -i -e "s/${A}/${B}/g" $1       # Here you do it

*When it is all ok you can proceed and iterate on all the files
#!/bin/bash
searchFiles='*.txt'                 # Here the 5000 files
C="Good morning"                    # This is what you want to add
                                    # $AA the not escaped string
                                    # $A and $B the escaped strings

AA='MadCap:matchPercent="0" /></target></trans-unit>'
A='MadCap:matchPercent="0" \/><\/target><\/trans-unit>'
B='MadCap:matchPercent="0" \/>'${C}'<\/target>\"> <\/trans-unit>'

for i in `grep -l -E "$AA"  $searchFiles`; do
  # echo "# Working on file " $i    # uncomment this line to test iterations
  sed -i -e "s/${A}/${B}/g" "$i"    # comment this line to test iterations
done

Note: with grep you can search the string inside the files, with -l you print only the filename, with  `command` you execute the command inside the script, and its output (the matching filenames) is used by the for ... do done cycle.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


2 story single family home with 4 bedrooms and 2.75 baths located in northwest Las Vegas, with good access to the US-95 and I-215 freeways. Inviting floor plan with a living room and family room. The kitchen features tile countertops and tile flooring. Roomy master bedroom with a walk-in closet. Show today! All figures and measurements are only approximate. Buyer is to verify schools, HOA, measurements and utilities.
© 2018 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. All Right Reserved. Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC fully support the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Each Office is Independently Owned and Operated. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker Logo are registered service marks owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.


TIMILATINO SweetSelinaHot jasmin. NinaKatz. MonikaLove19. PrinceSSSuta.
MadyRouserafinhsVanillaMoonxMissAngelinax .xHornyJuliaxVanessaEvelynVanillaMoonEricHeat .BustyKiraxWildbabeTSangelJURISEX89JURISEX89 .PrinceSSSutaBarbaraPrettyGandyandNavalBBinLove .AryanneHughKingsleyandrew1992rafinhs .VeraYoungsIsaNdJasonMauturebigpuss69GODDESSNAE .hipsterjoyxsimplyamazingxMonicamendozanTransloveee .TorySeven000VanessaHotGandyandNavalDeramro .TinaSunshineTinaSunshineEvita4UMilenaHoste .Slave4u69cyGandyandNavalxsimplyamazingxPerfectHardcor .AneliseBelluciCetCoolMachoFlashxHornyJuliax .
wowEwowxH0TprettyMEGANxCuteCurvyPrncessAryanne .anamaria222Aryanne00SlimLatinJulieMoore .charlyxcxAnzuPrinceSSSutawowEwow .PerfectHardcorIsaNdJason000VanessaHot2SexTOPNOTCHERS .EmmalikeKittyKatysTobiasBrandenAnetteTurnerX .BigCockFabioxxxkostial1987funnyfunnyGraciousAllison .NikaXXRysaCherryPieLadyJURISEX89REYCHELL .rafinhsLarissaLoveeAshleyAmazecharlyxcx .Anno4kkaaIsaNdJasonCherryPieLadyVanillaMoon .VanillaMoonLovelyValentineleroyjohnson4uAnetteTurnerX .charlyxcxMonikaLove19PrinceSSSutaGraciousAllison .


Employee Services' International Tax Office strives to be a valuable touchpoint for international employees throughout their CU careers – and it all begins with an International Tax Appointment for new employees.
The University of Colorado requires all new international employees (students, staff, faculty members and researchers) to meet with an International Tax Specialist to determine and document their U.S. tax status.
Bring your passport, I-94 and immigration documents (I-20, DS-2019, H1B approval, etc.). A Social Security number is not required for the appointment, but if one has been issued, it should be brought to the appointment.
It's best to schedule an appointment as soon as you are hired at CU and ideally before you receive your first paycheck. However, appointments fill fast, and it may take two to four weeks before an appointment time is available.


text:
Engineering capstone design showcase to be held virtually
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Each semester, Penn State senior engineering students present their capstone design projects at the College of Engineering Learning Factory Capstone Design Showcase. This semester, to coordinate with the shift to all online courses, the showcase will take place entirely online from Friday, May 1, to Friday, May 8.
To make this shift to an all virtual format, the faculty and staff of the Bernard M. Gordon Learning Factory set out on a mission to create an innovative and easy to navigate website. Students will upload their completed projects to the website, where the projects will be displayed for public viewing. From there, their projects will be evaluated and considered by a panel of industry experts for numerous awards.
"The online format will provide opportunities for a much broader engagement with the showcase," said Matt Parkinson, director of The Learning Factory and professor of engineering design and mechanical engineering. "We are already reaching out to K-12 teachers in Pennsylvania, for example. Logistics issues that made experiencing the showcase impossible in the past are no longer relevant. Family and friends can also join in. We're excited about the possibilities."
Projects will be awarded in the traditional categories — Best Poster and Best Project — as well as the BP People's Choice, which students will compete for using social media this year. The project that receives the most "likes" on social media will receive an award.
Short videos will also receive awards, including in a new, "No Holds Barred" category. For this award, students are encouraged to "stuff the ballot box" using any manner they can dream up. Winners will be selected by both how many votes they are able to secure and the ingenuity they showed in getting them. The full list of award winners will be announced on May 8. The winners will then be showcased on the website.
According to Parkinson, shifting to an all-online format did have its challenges, but these challenges were seen as opportunities for the participating students, industry and faculty to show their engineering skills.
"We're engineering designers, so we're all about prototyping," Parkinson said. "We aren't content to just tread water until this episode is behind us. Instead, we view this as a fantastic opportunity to try things we never would have imagined in the past. We're already seeing possibilities we hadn't considered before."
Numerous individuals jumped in to help convert to an online showcase, according to Parkinson. Project sponsors and faculty from across the College of Engineering provided suggestions to make the new format exciting and efficient for the students.
"We love the camaraderie and energy around the in-person showcase, so we will obviously miss that," Parkinson said. "This was to be the 25th anniversary showcase — which we were also eagerly anticipating — so we wanted to honor that heritage as well as provide a meaningful opportunity for the students to share their work."
(Media Contacts)
Megan Lakatos
mkl5024@psu.edu
Engineering students show off projects at the Capstone Design Project Showcase
Fall 2011 Design Showcase winners announced
Students to display capstone projects at Dec. 8 design showcase
Academics, Student Success
Design Showcase, Learning Factory
Alumni, Faculty and Staff, Students

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Today is Moon Day, Space Exploration Day, Lollipop Day and World Jump Day.
On a day, we will have a full moon -- kind of appropriate that today is Moon Day.
What happened to the candy stores from yester-year? Wall to wall lollipops, sugar sticks and so much more. Enjoy a lollipop today - it will bring back the kid in you.
Jump and have some fun today. Just let it all go!


text:
Q: What is the purpose of Delayed Branching? I study solutions of control hazards in a processor. One method is delayed branching. To my understanding, specific number of instructions (depending on pipeline length) are always executed subsequent to branch instruction and branch is taken later. What I don't get is, what if the instructions subsequent to the branch actually edits the registers related to the branch subroutine? Let me clarify:
 adds r1, r0, r2

 beq target_branch

 (subsequent instructions that edit r1)

 target_branch add r1, r1, r5

  ...

A: The purpose of delayed branching is maximising speed of code execution.
In early processors instructions were first fetched, one by one from memory.  Then they were decoded and finally executed.
The processor designers noticed that most of the time machine code is executed in a linear fashion.  It became clear that you could speed up typical code execution speed by introducing a pipeline to do these in parallel:

*

*On the first cycle you fetch the next instruction

*On the second cycle you fetch the second instruction an simultaneously decode the first.

*On the next cycle you execute the first instruction, decode the second and fetch the third.
From here on in because you are doing three things at once you are executing code faster.
This works fine until your code needs to branch.  At this point the designers had one of two choices to make, either

*

*Flush the pipe and start again.  This has the advantage that code is easier to follow but does slow the code every time a branch or jump is taken.

*Start fetching code from the new location but still execute any instructions in the pipe.  This is potentially faster if it is OK to execute instructions after the branch  but it is up to the programmer to decide and most if not all processors have a NOP instruction for use when it is not.
You don't have to worry about this if using a high level language as the compiler will take care of it for you but if you know what you are doing you may be able to squeeze out a little more performance in Assembler.
Note: Not all pipelines are 3 stage, you need to read the data sheet carefully.  This answer is also given in very broad terms a detailed answer would be too broad as there is a lot of variation in approaches to processor design,


text:
The main
Native speech
Great composers
Young artist
A young
Online library of fairy tales
Filmstrips
Music audioskazki
Tests for girls
How ate in the old days?
Why milk sours?
Why starched linen solid?
What is the soup?
Why not eat raw potatoes?
The most popular questions
What to do if broken thermometer?
What birds migrate for the winter?
How the oceans on earth?
Why do the seasons change?
Why tunic in the side when running?
Play "Spot the difference"
Coloring "treasure Island"
Movies on physics
P About H E M The H To And
WHAT IS THE CLIMATE ZONE?
The weather in some parts of the world can change on a daily basis. Another thing is the climate. For many years there are dry areas of deserts, covered with eternal ice of the polar regions, tropical rain forests, fertile pastures and valleys. Average natural conditions observed in a certain area for a certain period of time such as a month or a year, called climate.
The earth is encircled by a wide area with a similar climate. This climatic zone. You can divide the Earth into five main areas: the two polar (near the North and South poles), two moderate, one of which is the majority of European countries, and rain - on both sides of the equator.
In all these areas the climate depends on flora and fauna. Figure climatic zone is shown schematically as wide, encircling the whole Earth band. In fact, their boundaries are, and the land and the sea. The left shows the main plants growing in these areas, the right - animals that live there.
Climatic zones of the Earth,
and spread them in plants and animals.
Please rate the answer:
Your name (nick):
Enter the result of the calculation
© 2014 All children


Mentions are a new, highly requested feature that makes engaging friends and artists in conversation more dynamic than ever before.
A Mention is when a deviant's username, icon, or artwork is included in a comment or Journal. Mentions create links to the deviants or artwork you include, allowing you to highlight artists and engage deviants with ease.
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There are four ways to mention a deviant.


Do You Feel Called To Something Greater? The 300-Hour Yoga Teacher Training will take you there.
If you yearn to inspire, to make a difference, to lead, that kind of calling — to leadership — can be terrifying.
In our yoga circles, we don't often specifically teach and train for leadership.
But it's essential in your journey.
How to sequence and structure transformational 60 and 90 minute classes that will deeply affect the lives of your students.
Your one-month immersion at Blue Osa will take you deep into your own questions and life purpose so that you can offer this same kind of transformational experience to your students — from a place of truth and authenticity.
— which means you'll be truly and deeply ready to offer this space to your students. And Yourself.


On Tuesday 17 May 2016 the University Of Pretoria Library Services invited Coach Shaun Bartlett to share his life story with the students, to motivate them to overcome their circumstances and stay focused on achieving their dreams.
Here is a very short summary of what he had to say.
"My mother had me at a young age and she had to go work so I ended up staying with my Grandmother. It is never easy when you have fifteen people sharing a three bedroom house and I had to share the 'boys' room with five uncles. It is an unfortunate reality but we have become a nation where kids are forced to grow up at a young age because of the family situation. Sometimes it is not by choice but you just have to make the best of it. I had an absent father, he had numerous opportunities to be there for me but it never happened. I remember at an early age I had to go to his house to ask for money to buy supplies that I needed for school. That is what today is referred to as maintenance money, at the time it was about forty rands but he chose not to pay it and my mother had to work three jobs to make sure that I could be comfortable.
I grew up in a suburb called Factreton in Cape Town, which is between Goodwood and Maitland. Growing up in your poorer communities you are always exposed to a lot of negative things and one of the biggest reasons why I got into sport was stay away from the drugs and the gangsterism. Those sort of things have ruined many people's lives and football was my way out. Growing up there were other boys who were more talented than me but they got involved with the drugs and fell by the wayside.
I always tell my players and my kids that they must always play at their best because you never know who is watching. I was playing in a church league when I was spotted and this person organised trials for me at Cape Town Spurs and I made the selection.
My most important goal has to be my first goal, I was playing for Cape Town Spurs at the time and from there the flood gates opened for a good career after that. More important that scoring goals is to have personal goals in life and I am very fortunate to have had a family that has been supporting me. Writing things down is the easy part, but the satisfaction you get from achieving those goals and ticking them off the list is better that winning any trophy. At the age of ten years I had three goals that I wrote down on a piece of paper and also shared with my grandmother. I told her that I am going to play on TV, I am going to play for the national team and I am going to play in England. Unfortunately she did not live to see me achieve the third goal but when I eventually did get to England I knew she was watching me from above.
Interesting story of how I got to play in England, I was playing in Switzerland and had a good season. Crystal Palaces, who at the time were competing in the first division, which is similar to our National First Division, made a two million pound offer for me. Then there was Charlton who were campaigning in the Premier League offered a loan deal. So I had the option between a guaranteed three year contract or to go prove myself and play for a contract. I chose the option of proving myself, and that has been my take on life. It is easy being in a comfort zone but I always go for the more difficult options. It is easy to chase the pay check and not the passion but I believe that if you pursue your passion then the money will take care of itself.
I am a big believer in introducing the youth to football because it teaches you to have that no-fear attitude and that becomes important in real life, to be able to resist following the popular kids and succumbing to peer pressure. Ultimately, you should know what your goals are and focus on getting there. There is no short cut to achieving any goal, there is no escalator to success. You have to climb those stairs and take it one step at a time. As a coach I am not here only to make better players but to make better men and the lessons that I impart on them they should be able to also use in their everyday lives.
I remember one time I was having a conversation with Quinton Fortune and he shared with me that one of the best feelings he has ever had was when Charlton played Manchester United and he had goose bumps when he looked across and saw another Cape Town boy. Who would have thought that two young colored boys from the flats would be standing across from each other at Old Trafford? No-one could have ever written that script. My parting words to you guys are that if you have the hunger and the drive to succeed, don't let anyone tell you that you can't make it. Keep doing the things that will get you there, there will always be obstacles and a lot of negativity even from people that you thought were your friends. None of that should distract you from achieving your goals and living your dreams."


Recently, I read with disappointment and sadness that the new Upland Veterans' Monument has been subject to thousands of dollars in damage due to acts of vandalism. One individual in particular was caught on camera trying to pry a granite slab off of the monument blocks.
It was in response to incidents like what happened in Upland that the American G.I. Forum approached me about authoring legislation to hold individuals to greater accountability if they vandalize the gravesites or memorials of veterans or first responders.
Out of these conversations came Senate Bill 1080, what we thought was a straightforward proposal simply clarifying that it is a distinct crime to damage or destroy a veteran's or first responder's gravesite or memorial. However, some legislators found the bill to be unnecessarily contentious.
Numerous veterans and public safety groups from across the state officially backed the bill in the Senate Public Safety Committee. The bill also received vocal bipartisan support. We were surprised, however, that other legislative Democrats refused to vote in favor of it – a bill to protect the memories of those who gave their full measure of devotion to our country.
Service members, peace officers, firefighters, and first responders risk their lives to protect our neighborhoods and keep us safe. They hold a special place of honor in our communities. When memorials commemorating their sacrifices are vandalized, it has a significant impact not only on those whose loved ones' acts of courage are memorialized, but on all who owe their lives to the ones lost by these men and women.
The destruction or vandalism of any gravesite is deplorable and, in particular, those memorials set up in recognition of our veterans. Law enforcement needs enhanced tools to penalize these vandals. SB 1080 would allow law enforcement to track any patterns of vandalism targeting and desecrating these tributes.
That the majority of the Senate Public Safety Committee rejected SB 1080 calls into question the resolve to hold vandals accountable for dishonoring the memories of fallen American heroes.
That spirit is what is enshrined and inscribed at memorials and cemeteries in honor of fallen servicemen and women and first responders. It is stories like Martin Treptow's that we must preserve and instill in the hearts of future generations. It is why we should do everything we can to ensure that their tributes are protected and respected.


text:
Tag Archives: signal
Indonesian Muslims Call for Halt to 'Christianization'
Posted on July 11, 2010 by particularkev
Forum highlights religious tensions in Bekasi, West Java.
DUBLIN, July 2 (CDN) — Muslim organizations in Bekasi, West Java, on Sunday (June 27) declared their intention to establish paramilitary units in local mosques and a "mission center" to oppose "ongoing attempts to convert people to Christianity," according to the national Antara news agency.
At a gathering at the large Al Azhar mosque, the leaders of nine organizations announced the results of a Bekasi Islamic Congress meeting on June 20, where they agreed to establish a mission center to halt "Christianization," form a Laskar Pemuda youth army and push for implementation of sharia (Islamic law) in the region, The Jakarta Post reported.
"If the Muslims in the city can unite, there will be no more story about us being openly insulted by other religions," Ahmad Salimin Dani, head of the Bekasi Islamic Missionary Council, announced at the gathering. "The center will ensure that Christians do not act out of order."
Observing an increasing number of house churches, Muslim organizations have accused Bekasi Christians of aggressive proselytizing. The Rev. Simon Timorason of the West Java Christian Communication Forum (FKKB), however, told Compass that most Christians in the area do not proselytize and meet only in small home fellowships due to the lack of officially recognized worship venues.
Many Christian seminary graduates prefer to remain on Java rather than relocate to distant islands, Timorason added, making West Java the ideal place to launch new home-based fellowships for different denominations. But neighbors see only the multiplication of churches, he said, and therefore suspect Muslims are converting to the Christian faith.
"The ideal solution is to have one building with a permit to be used by different denominations in each housing complex," Timorason said. "If every denomination wants their own church in the same area, it's a problem."
Declaration of Intent
Kanti Prajogo, chairman of the Congress committee, had hoped to present a written declaration of intent to city officials at the mosque gathering, but officials did not respond to his invitation, according to The Jakarta Post.
Around 200 people attended the June 20 Congress, representing local organizations such as the Bekasi Interfaith Dialogue Forum, the Bekasi Movement Against Apostasy, the local chapters of Muhammadiyah and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) – two of Indonesia's largest Muslim organizations – and the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), well known for its aggressive opposition to Christians and other non-Muslim groups.
Government officials on Monday (June 28) called for the FPI to be declared a forbidden organization, claiming that FPI members were implicated in "too many" violent incidents.
"We are not concerned about their mission," legislator Eva Kusuma Sundari reportedly said at a press conference in Jakarta, "but we are concerned about the way they implement their goals."
A spokesman for another large organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said Tuesday (July 28) that despite one member being present at the congress in an unofficial capacity, NU had not approved the joint declaration, contradicting a statement made the previous day by Bekasi NU official Abul Mutholib Jaelani, who told The Jakarta Post that he had asked all 56 NU branches in the city to contribute at least 10 members to the youth army.
Contributing to Religious Conflict
Rapid residential and industrial development has created huge social problems in Bekasi. Sociologist Andi Sopandi of Bekasi Islamic University told The Jakarta Post that the call for sharia was a warning signal, and that local officials should urgently pursue dialogue between Muslim and Christian leaders.
Locals and newcomers will get along well only if they share similar basic values, particularly religious ones, Sopandi reportedly said, pointing to sharp disputes over the Filadelfia Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (HKBP) church in Jejalen Jaya sub-district earlier this year as an example.
A neighbor of the church confessed to The Jakarta Post that local clerics had asked him and other residents to sign a petition against constructing the HKBP church building and threatened not to pray at their funerals if they failed to cooperate; the majority of his neighbors signed the document under duress.
Under a 2006 Joint Ministerial Decree (SKB), at least 60 local residents must approve the establishment of a house of worship, whether a mosque or a church. The congregation must also have at least 90 members and obtain letters of recommendation from the local interfaith communication forum (FKUB) and religious affairs office before gaining final approval from district officials.
These terms make it virtually impossible for churches in Bekasi to obtain building permits. Bekasi regency has a population of 1.9 million, of which 98.2 percent are Muslim, according to 2006 data from the Bekasi Regency Religious Affairs office. Protestants, who form 0.67 percent (approximately 12,700 people) of the population, and Catholics who make up 0.55 percent, are served by only 16 officially recognized churches in seven of the 23 sub-districts.
Sudarno Soemodimedjo, deputy chief of the Bekasi FKUB, told The Jakarta Post in February that even if a church construction committee gained the approval of 60 local residents, the FKUB would not issue a letter of recommendation if there were any public objections.
"The SKB orders us to maintain public order, which means we have to refuse the establishment of a house of worship we believe may trigger a conflict in the future," he said.
As a result, many Christians meet in unrecognized worship venues, giving Muslim groups legal grounds to oppose church gatherings.
"If the SKB was applied consistently, many mosques that were built without permits would have to close," Timorason told Compass.
The government wants each new settlement to have a place of worship, he added, "but it's always a mosque. There should be one of each to be fair."
"Violations against freedom of religion remain rampant [in Indonesia]," confirmed the chairman of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, who goes by the single name of Hendardi, at a press conference announcing the release of its January 2010 "Report on the Condition of Religious and Faith Freedom in Indonesia."
"This is mostly because the government is half-hearted in its upholding of the right to worship," he said.
Of 139 violations recorded by the institute last year, West Java took first place with 57 incidents, followed closely by Jakarta at 38.
Posted in Christianity, Indonesia, Islam, Roman Catholicism	| Tagged 2006, 2010, Abul Mutholib Jaelani, accused, act, affairs, agency, aggressive, agreed, Ahmad Salimin Dani, Al Azhar, Andi Sopandi, announced, ANTARA, applied, approval, approve, approved, area, army, asked, attempts, attended, basic, before, Bekasi, Bekasi Interfaith Dialogue Forum, Bekasi Islamic Congress, Bekasi Islamic Missionary Council, Bekasi Islamic University, Bekasi Movement Against Apostasy, believe, branches, building, building permits, built, call, called, capacity, center, chairman, chapters, Christian, Christianity, Christianization, Christians, church, churches, city, claiming, clerics, close, closely, committee, communication, complex, concerned, conference, confessed, confirmed, conflict, congregation, consistently, constructing, contradicting, contribute, contributing, convert, converting, cooperate, created, declaration, declared, denominations, deputy chief, despite, development, dialogue, different, disputes, distant, district, document, duress, ensure, establish, establishment, Eva Kusuma Sundari, example, failed, fair, faith, fellowships, Filadelfia Huria Kristen Batak Protestan, Final, first, FKKB, followed, forbidden, form, forum, FPI, freedom of religion, funerals, future, gaining, gathering, goal, government, graduates, grounds, groups, half-hearted, halt, head, Hendardi, highlights, home-based, hoped, house churches, housing, huge, ideal, implement, implementation, implicated, impossible, incidents, increasing, Indonesia, Indonesian, Indonesian Ulema Council, industrial, insulted, intent, intention, interfaith, invitation, Islam, Islamic, Islamic Defenders' Front, Jakarta, Jakarta Post, January, Jejalen Jaya, joint, Joint Ministerial Decree, Kanti Prajogo, KHBP, lack, lands, large, largest, Laskar Pemuda, launch, law, leaders, legal, legislator, letters, local, maintain, majority, many, meet, meeting, members, mission, mosques, Muhammadiyah, MUI, multiplication, Muslim, muslims, Nahdlatul Ulama, name, national, neighbors, new, newcomers, news, non-Muslim, NU, number, objections, observing, obtain, office, officially, officials, ongoing, openly, oppose, opposition, order, organizations, paramilitary, particularly, people, permit, Persecution, petition, place, pointing, pray, prefer, present, press, problem, proselytize, proselytizing, Protestants, public, pursue, push, rampant, rapid, recognized, recommendation, recorded, refuse, regency, region, religions, religious, relocate, remain, Report on the Condition of Religious and Faith Freedom in Indonesia, reported, representing, residnetial, respond, result, results, Rev, right, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholics, seminary, served, Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, settlement, share, Sharia, sharp, sign, signal, signed, similar, Simon Timorason, single, SKB, small, social, sociologist, solution, spokesman, story, sub-district, Sudarno Soemodimedjo, suspect, tensions, terms, threatened, trigger, unite, units, unofficial, unrecognized, upholding, urgently, values, venues, violations, violent, virtually, warning, way, West Java, West Java Christian Communication Forum, worship, written, youth | Leave a comment
Morocco Begins Large-Scale Expulsion of Foreign Christians
Ongoing purge launched nationwide to stop 'proselytization.'
ISTANBUL, March 12 (CDN) — Moroccan authorities deported more than 40 foreign Christian aid workers this week in an ongoing, nationwide crackdown that included the expulsion of foster parents caring for 33 Moroccan orphans.
Deportations of foreign Christians continued at press time, with Moroccan authorities expressing their intention to deport specifically U.S. nationals. Sources in Morocco told Compass that the government gave the U.S. Embassy in Rabat a list of 40 citizens to be deported.
The U.S. Embassy in Rabat could not comment on the existence of such a list, but spokesperson David Ranz confirmed that the Moroccan government plans to deport more U.S. citizens for alleged "proselytizing."
"We have been informed by the Moroccan government that it does intend to expel more American citizens," said embassy spokesperson David Ranz.
Citing Western diplomats and aid groups, Reuters reported that as many as 70 foreign aid workers had been deported since the beginning of the month, including U.S., Dutch, British and New Zealand citizens.
At the Village of Hope orphanage near Ain Leuh, 50 miles south of Fez, the government on Monday (March 8) expelled 16 staff workers, 10 foster parents and 13 natural-born dependents from the country. The orphanage arranges for orphaned children to live with a set of foster parents rather than in a traditional dormitory setting, according to its website.
Police first came to the orphanage Saturday afternoon (March 6), questioning children and looking for Bibles and evidence of Christian evangelism; by late Sunday night they had told all foster parents and staff that they had to leave on Monday.
New Zealand native Chris Broadbent, a worker at Village of Hope, told Compass that the separation of the foster families and the children under their care was traumatic. As much as they hoped to be re-united, he said, that did not seem likely – officials told them they could visit as tourists in the future, but in reality authorities do not allow re-entry for those who have been expelled.
"At this stage, as much as we want to see the parents get back with their kids, we understand that may be almost impossible," Broadbent said. "We're not searching for scalps here, we don't want to harm Morocco or anything like that, but we want to see the parents re-united with their children."
Broadbent emphasized that government accusations that they had been proselytizing were unfounded, and that all staff had signed and adhered to a non-proselytizing policy.
"We were a legal institution," he said. "Right from the start they knew that it was an organization founded by Christians and run by a mixture of Christians and Muslim people working together."
Authorities told orphanage officials that they were being deported due to proselytizing but gave no evidence or explanation of who, when, where or how that was supposed to have occurred, according to a Village of Hope statement.
The orphanage had been operating for 10 years. Moroccan authorities had never before raised any charges about the care of the children, according to Village of Hope's website.
In the village of Azrou, about 100 miles east of Rabat, another orphanage called Children's Haven has been under investigation this week. Although it was still operating at press time, sources said its 20 staff members were prepared for a fate similar to that of Village of Hope, 30 minutes south.
"This action against the Village of Hope was part of a nationwide crackdown against Christians living in Morocco," read a statement on Village of Hope's website.
Some Christians in Morocco attribute the change in the country, generally known for its tolerance towards religious minorities, to the appointments of Mohammed Naciri as Minister of Justice and Taieb Cherkaoui as Minister of Interior in January.
Communications Minister Khalid Naciri said the government would be "severe with all those who play with religious values," reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Local Christians Next?
A Moroccan pastor, his wife and a relative were arrested on Wednesday [March 10] and released on the next day, raising fears among local Christians that the wave of intolerance may spread to the country's small but growing church of nearly 1,000 believers.
An expert on religious freedom in the Middle East who requested anonymity said that attacks on the church are inevitable even in a Western-looking, modern country like Morocco, as the church grows and becomes more visible.
"Because conversion is a taboo, if the government looks like it is doing nothing in regard to all the foreign missionaries that are coming and 'corrupting' the country and its 'national soul,' it gives credit to Islamists who could challenge the 'Islam-ness' of the Royal Family and the government, and that's just what Morocco can't afford," said the expert.
The clampdown on foreign workers could signal government malaise toward the growing church.
"The more they grow, the more visible they become, the more they'll attract this reaction," said the expert. "And that's why they've been so quiet with house groups. It's just a matter of time."
Communications Minister Naciri reportedly denied the new, tougher line against non-Muslims was a step backward in terms of religious freedom in Morocco.
"Morocco has always been and remains a land of openness and tolerance," he told AFP. "The rare cases of expulsion have nothing to do with the practice of Christianity but with acts of proselytism."
The children have reportedly been placed in a care home.
Contradictory Documents
As a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Morocco's accusations of "proselytization" by foreign aid workers apparently contradict its pledge to allow freedom to manifest one's faith. Article 18 of the covenant affirms the right to manifest one's faith in worship, observance, practice or teaching.
The covenant also states, however, that "freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others."
Previously the North African country had a history of religious tolerance. Morocco's constitution provides for freedom to practice one's religion, contradicting Article 220 of the Moroccan Penal Code, which criminalizes any attempt to induce a Muslim to convert to another religion.
In its 2009 international religious freedom report, the U.S. Department of State noted that on April 2, 2009, a Moroccan government spokesman asserted that freedom of religion does not include freedom to choose one's faith.
"The fight against Christian proselytizing in accordance with law cannot be considered among human rights abuses," the Moroccan government spokesman said, "for it is an action aimed at preventing attempts to undermine the country's immutable religious values. The freedom of belief does not mean conversion to another religion."
The crackdown this month appears unprecedented, with only smaller groups previously deported. In March 2009, Moroccan authorities expelled five foreign female Christians for trying to "proselytize" although sources said they were foreign visitors merely attending a Bible study with fellow Christians. In November 2009, police raided a Christian meeting in northern Morocco and expelled five foreigners.
Last month a large, military-led team of Moroccan authorities raided a Bible study in a small city southeast of Marrakech, arresting 18 Moroccans and deporting a U.S. citizen.
In a message yesterday to U.S. citizens registered with the embassy, U.S. Ambassador Samuel Kaplan reportedly expressed concern about how the authorities conducted the deportations. Foreign Christians were told their residence permits were cancelled and that they had to leave the country immediately; they had no rights to appeal or challenge the decision.
"We were disheartened and distressed to learn of the recent expulsion by the Moroccan government of a number of foreigners, including numerous Americans, who had been legally residing in Morocco," Kaplan said in a statement. "Although we expect all American citizens to respect Moroccan law, we hope to see significant improvements in the application of due process in this sort of case."
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Church services banned as believers pray for persecuted church
Christians in Iran are facing even more persecution. International Christian Concern has learned that the Iranian government forced the Central Assemblies of God Church in Tehran to shut down its Friday worship services. The incident took place October 30. Some fear this episode is the beginning of a new campaign of government suppression of public Christian worship gatherings, reports MNN.
According to reports by Farsi Christian News Network, Rev. Sourik, the bishop of the Assemblies of God churches in Iran, resolved to close the church on Fridays, the weekly Islamic day of prayer, after encountering acute pressure from the security network within the Ministry of Information.
Initially, Sourik resisted the government sanction. However, the Revolutionary Guard demanded that the church close Friday public services by October 31, and threatened to shut down all services and close the church permanently. Sourik ultimately submitted to the government's ruling out of concern for the congregation. "The announcement of the termination of the Friday services was received with shock and utter surprise, and resulted in many openly weeping in the church service," reported FCNN. The church leadership affirmed that its Sunday services will remain open.
The Assembly of God Church in Tehran is among the largest church buildings designated for public worship in Iran, a country where the majority of Christians observe their faith in underground house churches. Registered "above ground" churches in Iran have been allowed relative independence to worship freely while being closely monitored by the government. However, ICC sources fear that the closure of Friday services–a heightened trend of government coercion upon "above ground" churches–may commence.
The targeting of registered churches discloses a regression in Iran's policy of toleration toward Christians who choose to worship publicly. "I believe the main reason they closed those service is to send a strong signal to all Christians inside and outside Iran that they will not tolerate Christianity in Iran. Its purpose is mostly to intimidate," said one ICC source.
Historically, it has been the underground church, not the open public churches, that have faced the brunt of government-imposed oppression.
Iran issued no official statement explaining the reasons for its recent crackdown.
Aiden Clay, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, says, "We oppose Iran's resolution to prevent the Christians of the Assembly of God Church in Tehran from fellowshiping freely on Fridays, or any other day of the week. We urge Iran to respect the rights of Christians to practice their faith freely without government interference, or authoritarian rule."
Clay adds, "History has shown us that external persecution actually causes the church to grow."
Clay says that the services have had "great success in bringing in new believers, converting Muslims to Christ, and I think Iran views that as a threat."
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Johnny Hunt expresses urgency about Great Commission
Encouraged by attendance exceeding 8,600 registered messengers on the first day of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 23 — twice as many as he expected — SBC President Johnny Hunt said there is a "sense of urgency" among the brethren, reports Baptist Press.
Hunt attributed much of the interest at this year's meeting to his Great Commission Resurgence initiative. In a news conference following his re-election to a second term, he also addressed questions ranging from his opinion of controversial Seattle pastor Mark Driscoll to his view of Calvinism among Southern Baptists.
"I feel there's a lot of energy in the halls," said Hunt, pastor of Atlanta-area First Baptist Church in Woodstock. "Everybody's talking the same talk: 'We need this Great Commission Resurgence.'
"We are saying times have been desperate," Hunt added. "Now I really do sense fellow Southern Baptists are saying we need to get serious."
Asked about Driscoll, Hunt responded: "I don't know him, never met him. A lot of young men like to follow his blogs and podcasts. It's just been interesting."
Referring to motions from the floor placing Driscoll and the network he founded, Acts 29, in a bad light, Hunt said, "[T]he entire premise of being a Baptist is sort of thrown under the bus when you start telling someone who they can or cannot fellowship with." He said it is a matter that it should be left to the conscience and the priesthood of the believer.
About church methodology, Hunt said the SBC is a "great family fellowship" using varied methodologies which provide a healthy balance.
Hunt said it might be that some of the perceived tension across generations of Southern Baptists is rooted in several things, including methodology, dress and music.
Encouraged by what he said is the turnout of younger Southern Baptists, Hunt said, "[I]f we can move beyond our perceptions" and begin to "listen to heart of some of these young leaders," Southern Baptists might be encouraged "to catch their passion."
Hunt relayed his experience at a recent International Mission Board appointment service in Denver where 101 mostly young missionaries were sent out, with the "majority going to extremely hard and dangerous places."
"With that type of commitment to Jesus Christ that they're willing, many of them, to write their will before they leave with the understanding some of them will probably never return, I have a very difficult time spending my time talking about their jeans, whether hair is spiked or colored" or their musical tastes, Hunt said.
By building relationships with younger leaders, "if we see some areas of concern, at least we have earned the right to speak into them."
On the continuing banter between Calvinists and those critical of the doctrine that attempts to describe God's work in salvation, Hunt said the debate has raged for more than 400 years and is part of Baptist history.
"We have wonderful men and women on both sides. I think the Baptist tent is large enough for both," he said.
Asked by a reporter if an invitation was made for President Barack Obama to address the SBC, Hunt said he knew of no such invitation.
But Hunt, the first known Native American SBC president, said, "I feel like we will have a resolution to really honor our president, especially in the context of being the first African American to be elected. We have much to celebrate in that."
Hunt said he had ample opportunity to invite Republicans to speak, "but we felt that would send a wrong signal because we wanted to send prayer support to the new president and we are mandated to pray for our president."
Speaking to proposed federal hate crimes legislation that some say could infringe on biblical preaching, Hunt said he was not overly worried as long as pastors "stay in the context of preaching biblical truth. And if the day comes that we would be imprisoned for the proclamation of the Gospel becoming that much of an offense, we would join about two-thirds of the rest of the planet.
"God forbid that I would travel to the Middle East to encourage those already in hostile settings while at same time being afraid to proclaim the message that I encourage," Hunt said.
Returning to the Great Commission Resurgence, Hunt answered a question regarding media access to the meetings of the proposed GCR task force. He said media presence would be "counterproductive because we want people to be at liberty to share their heart."
It could be "embarrassing where we're just seeking wisdom," Hunt added, "but we would love to have any and all of you at the meetings and as soon as it is over we'd be delighted to share what we came to by way of context."
Hunt said he has "no desire whatsoever to touch the structure of the SBC and the truth is, I couldn't if I wanted to. It would violate policy." Hunt said perhaps more clarity in his early statements about the GCR document could have helped ease fears of drastic change.
Even if the GCR task force were rejected, traction already has been gained by efficiency studies at the Georgia and Florida conventions and at the Southern Baptist mission boards, Hunt said.
In responding to the first question asked at the news conference, Hunt predicted if the GCR were to pass that evening, he likely would name the members of the task force June 24 and it would include several seminary professors, a college president, an associational director of missions, pastors of churches of varied sizes spanning the country and ethnically diverse members.
"I don't have all the names so I'd probably miss some," Hunt said. "But I'd be quick to say it will be a very fair committee."
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VIETNAM: ATTACK ON CATHOLIC CHAPEL SHOWS AUTHORITIES' FEAR OF RELIGION
On same day, Mennonite denomination receives legal recognition; pastors wary.
LOS ANGELES, November 20 (Compass Direct News) – At a chapel on the remaining patch of Thai Ha Redemptorist property in Hanoi that the Vietnamese government had yet to confiscate, at 10 p.m. on Saturday night (Nov. 15) an official came to summon the priests to an "urgent meeting." According to Vietcatholic.net website and other church sources, it proved to be a ruse to draw them away from the property while government-inspired gangs attacked St. Gerardo Chapel.
As the gangs ravaged the chapel, Father Joseph Dinh told Independent Catholic News, some people at the church began ringing the church bells to signal for help while others sent urgent e-mail and text messages asking Catholics to defend it.
Hundreds of police with stun guns tried to keep the arriving faithful from entering the chapel to stop the destruction. The hundreds of Catholics who arrived eventually overwhelmed officers, going past police to scare off the attackers. Witnesses reportedly said that government, police and security officials had stood by doing nothing to protect the chapel.
They also said that fleeing gang members shouted obscenities threatening to kill the priests and the faithful, as well as the archbishop.
"It is significant that the government attack against the monastery came on the eve of the celebration of the Feast of Vietnamese Martyrs," a local priest told Vietcatholic.net. "This attack reminds people that since the outset, the seed of faith in Vietnam's soil was mixed with the abundant blood of Catholic martyrs from all walks of life – from courageous missionaries to local clergy and the Christian faithful."
The priest concluded by decrying the deterioration of conditions for Vietnamese Catholics.
A government spokesman later denied that the Vietnamese forces or authorities were involved in the attack.
As the government had achieved its objective of taking over the contested land, the well-coordinated attack came as a surprise to many. In September, Vietnam had resorted to force to answer months of growing but peaceful prayer vigils over long-confiscated Catholic properties in Hanoi, reneging on a promise to negotiate a settlement. Unilaterally, the government quickly turned the papal nunciature and the rest of the Thai Ha Redemptorist property into public parks.
The solidarity demonstrated by Catholics throughout the country appeared to have alarmed authorities. They reverted to classic attacks of disinformation and slander against Catholic leaders, and even after they had halted the prayer vigils, taken the contested land and allowed previous gangs to ransack the Redemptorist chapel, authorities demanded the removal of the archbishop of Hanoi, Ngo Quang Kiet, whom they accused of inciting riots against the state.
A Protestant pastor in Hanoi said the government's recent conflict with Catholics has had a ripple affect on other churches and religions.
"Though it is the Catholics who are being most lambasted in the state media, Protestants are also maligned along with Catholics by government propaganda," he said. "Secondly, all religious leaders are again subject to closer surveillance."
Mennonite Church Recognized
Ironically, only a few hours earlier on the same day the chapel was attacked, the Vietnam Mennonite Church was allowed to hold its organizing general assembly in Ho Chi Minh City, becoming the fifth smaller church body to receive full legal recognition in 2008.
While registration can mark an improvement in the way the government treats a church, it is not to be confused with full religious freedom, church leaders said, as it is sometimes used as a means of control. The dubious benefits of registration have led many Protestant groups to simply quit seeking it.
Other Protestant groups to receive legal recognition in 2008 were the Grace Baptist Church, the Vietnam Presbyterian Church, the Vietnam Baptist Church, and the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. This brought the total number of fully recognized Protestant denominations to eight. Two of the eight bodies, the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South) and the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North), received legal recognition before the new religion legislation initiated in late 2004.
None of the 24 house church organizations of the Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship (VEF), however, has received even the lower-level "national registration to carry out religious activity." Only one in seven of its congregations even have permission to operate locally.
Of the total 2,148 VEF congregations, 1,498 have applied for local permission to carry out religious activity, but only 334 have received it. Another house church organization has had 80 congregations apply for local permission to operate and has received only refusals or no answer at all. Other groups report a similar experience.
A hint of the government's attitude toward registered churches, pastors said, was evident in its official news release on the Vietnam Mennonite Church general assembly. The Vietnam News Agency release of Nov. 15 enjoining the church to "serve both God and the nation" and to "unite with other people in the course of national reconstruction" struck some church leaders as an expectation that their congregations will serve political ends.
Christian leaders detected government fear of churches' international connections in the official claim that, "For more than three decades, the Vietnam Mennonite Church has operated independently from foreign Mennonite churches."
As is customary, the ceremony included an address by a representative of the Bureau of Religious Affairs. Nguyen Thanh Xuan said he expects the Mennonite Church "to bring into full play good characteristics of Protestantism, uphold the tradition of charity, and join hands with other religious and non-religious people to build a country of stability and prosperity."
The heavy-handed treatment of Catholics over the disputed property and the offering of legal registration to more Protestant groups does not present the contrast it may first appear, said one long-time observer.
"Catholics outnumber Protestants about five to one and are a much more formidable and unified organization than Vietnam's fractured Protestants," he said. "Alarmed at the largest countrywide Catholic solidarity ever demonstrated, nonplussed security authorities ordered a classic, harsh crackdown and incited 'punishment' disguised as citizens' outrage."
Protestants, he said, are less numerous, more divided and rarely capable of joint action, so they do not pose a serious threat.
"For example, the oft-repeated requests and ultimatums by the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South) on their 265 confiscated properties are simply ignored," he said. "And don't forget that the majority of Protestants are ethnic minorities in remote areas who remain closely watched by the government."
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GHANA'S PRESIDENT ORDERS SCHOOLS TO REINTRODUCE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
President John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana has instructed authorities of basic schools in the country to revisit the teaching of Religious and Moral Education (RME), which hitherto had been removed from the syllabus, reports Daniel Abugah, special to ASSIST News Service.
President Kufuor made the call when he addressed school children at the country's 51st Independence Day celebration. The call was in response to persistent calls made particularly by Christians and Muslims for reintroduction of the subject in the schools' curricular.
The president expressed displeasure about the negative moral impact of globalization on the youth through the mass media. He therefore urged the school children to balance their academic learning with that of their moral duty.
"The television, the Internet and other modern gadgetry undermine cultures and moral values. The result is that humanity is already confronted with the challenge of a serious split between knowledge and morality. Unless mankind finds a way to overcome this challenge, there is a real danger of it becoming less than human.
It is for this reason that government has decided to revisit the reinstatement of Religious and Moral Education in the school curriculum", President Kufour told the students. He added that no matter the academic and professional acclode they achieved, the best education in the end is the one that would enable them to appreciate the common dignity of man; stand up for what is right and be each other's keeper.
The general secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Dr. Fred Degbee in an interview with Radio Ghana commended the action of the president. He said religion and morality were the signal light of the world, and they should be encouraged at every level of society.
Whilst Christians and Muslims embraced the directive of the president to reintroduce the RME into the basic school's curriculum, a traditional African religious group, the Africanian Mission, did not see the idea as good news. For them the teaching of RME would promote foreign culture at the expense of African values.
RME which was introduced into the syllabus of Upper Primary and Junior Secondary Schools (now Junior High School) some years ago, aimed to encourage the sense of moral values among school children in the country. But it was removed last year as a result of new educational reforms in the country.
Posted in Africa, Christianity, Ghana, Islam	| Tagged 51st, Academic, acclode, achieved, action, added, addressed, African, Africanian Mission, appreciate, authorities, balance, basic, becoming, best, call, calls, celebration, challenge, children, Christian, Christian Council of Ghana, Christianity, Christians, commended, common, confronted, country, culture, cultures, curricular, danger, decided, dignity, directive, displeasure, Dr, duty, education, embraced, encouraged, expressed, foreign, Fred Degbee, gadgetry, General Secretary, Ghana, globalization, good news, government, group, human, humanity, idea, impact, Independence Day, instructed, Internet, interview, introduced, Islam, John Agyekum Kufuor, Junior High School, Junior Secondary Schools, keeper, knowledge, learning, less, level, light, man, mankind, mass, media, modern, moral, morality, Muslim, muslims, negative, orders, particularly, persistent, President, professional, promote, Radio Ghana, reason, reforms, reinstatement, reintroduce, religion, religious, Religious and Moral Education, religious education, removed, response, result, Rev, revisit, right, RME, school, schools, sense, serious, signal, Society, split, students, subject, syllabus, teaching, television, traditional, undermine, Upper Primary, urged, values, world, youth | Leave a comment


Anime: Pokemon Size: about 3cm Including: A set of keychain Material: zinc alloy ---------------------------------- Numbers: 12 pieces. It's made of zinc alloy, do not rust; very exquisite. Awesome badge set for collection, gift.
I truly feel like a pokemon master with these badges. They come in a nice little box where they can stay or be pinned to just about anything. The badges themselves look well made and don't look fake. Fun for cosplaying or just displaying.


Look at this really nice accident free Tahoe we just listed. It is a local trade in that's well equipped including a DVD, Bose, Heated Seats and more. Call or text Alan at 865-256-8387 to schedule your test drive today!


The Children's Choir will sing at the 10:00am Mass at Holy Trinity Church. Please have your choir member at the church no later than 9:45am.
* Since Holy Trinity School follows the same schedule as the Northern Local School District, as long as Northern Local is above the minimum hours required, students will not be in session beyond May.


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Cameroon: Rainforests continue to be logged illegally
WRM Bulletin 74 19 September 2003
From October 13th to 16th the Africa Forest Law Enforcement and Governance ministerial meeting will take place in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Whether this initiative will result in any concrete actions to tackle the immense problem of illegal and unsustainable logging operations in Africa remains to be seen. In the meantime, illegal logging in Cameroon's forests continues to wreak havoc on the environment, economy and local peoples' livelihoods.
The abuse of the legal logging licences known as "ventes de coupe" to launder illegal timber into the market place is being systematically perpetrated in the country, including by subsidiaries of European companies. Ventes de coupe are titles to log an area of 2,500 hectares of the non-permanent forest estate over a three year period. Due to the short-term nature of the title, and the lack of requirement for any management plan, the forests are often logged in a highly destructive manner. The titles are also frequently abused to organise illegal logging over a much larger area.
In March 2003, researchers from Forests Monitor, together with the Cameroonian NGO Centre pour l'Environnement et le Developpement (CED) and Greenpeace, investigated the operations of two Dutch companies, Wijma and Reef, in the forests of South and Southwest Provinces. This was the second time Forests Monitor and Greenpeace had investigated the operations of Wijma, having discovered widespread illegal logging by the company in July 2002 (see www.forestsmonitor.org). The company has been sanctioned by the government on several occasions for logging illegally. Illegal logging by these European-headquartered companies has caused environmental and social damage locally, as well as robbing the Cameroonian government and communities of legitimate timber revenues.
The Dutch logger and timber importer Wijma claims to be committed to "full compliance with all relevant forest regulations" in Africa and "to achieving environmental best practice throughout its activity whenever this is practical". Despite these claims, in March 2003 investigators from Forests Monitor, CED and Greenpeace documented further evidence of the company's illegal activities in Cameroon. The investigations uncovered serious abuses of the company's legally allocated logging title vente de coupe 09-04-59, situated in the department of the Ntem valley in South Province, which Wijma exploited in 2001. Using a GPS receiver, the NGOs recorded two extensive road networks to the East and South of the legal logging area, 11 log ponds and abandoned logs and stumps over an area of about 14 km2 outside Wijma's legal boundaries. Abandoned logs with the markings of the legal title 09-04-59 and the company's markings (GWZ) were found in log ponds well outside their official limits, a clear method of laundering illegal timber into the marketplace. The investigators also found that the company had illegally logged significant amounts of timber from an unallocated forest management unit UFA 09-022. As well as the lost timber revenues to the government and communities, this illegal logging operation had serious consequences for local people, with illegal road construction and logging having destroyed agricultural crops and small-scale plantations cultivated by the local farmers. At least 27 local farmers in three villages were affected, with immediate consequences for local livelihoods as both food and cash crops were destroyed.
Reef is a Dutch company specialising in the production of wood for marine construction. It prides itself on its environmental reputation and is a founder member of the FSC-Netherlands. However, in March 2003 Forests Monitor, CED and Greenpeace found illegal logging operations in Reef's ventes de coupe (VC) 11-06-12 and 11-06-13 in the Southwest province of Cameroon. In VC 11-06-12, Reef works with the Cameroonian company SEPFCO. Forests Monitor, CED and Greenpeace investigators found a road network about 5 kilometres away from the legal logging area, with 6 log ponds along the illegal roads. Logs carrying the markings of the legal title were found in the log ponds, indicating fraudulent use well outside the legal logging limits. In addition, numerous plantations were destroyed by the illegal logging operation. In VC 11-06-13, the villagers of Molongo, situated inside the vente de coupe, had erected traditional barriers to stop logging in protest at Reef and partner PMF Wood's failure to keep promises made: they had promised to build substantial bridges that could be used by villagers after the logging operation had finished, but instead had constructed temporary bridges that would last just long enough to evacuate the logs; they had promised to build several good roads; they had promised to provide materials for the construction of a village community hall, church and school. The one road that the village had itself invested in was destroyed by the logging operations, rendering it impassable by car and even on foot in the rainy season. Local farmers' cocoa plantations had also been destroyed by the logging operation. In addition, investigators found a log pond outside the southern boundary of the vente de coupe containing several logs fraudulently marked with the legal logging title.
In both the Wijma and Reef cases above, not only was there evidence of logging outside permitted areas and the fraudulent use of legal logging titles to launder illegally felled timber into the market place, operations also caused severe hardship for local communities, destroying subsistence and cash crops. To make matters worse, promises of infrastructure developments that had been made were unfulfilled, and local revenues had not been paid. In such cases, logging operations exacerbate poverty amongst local communities as well as robbing the government of Cameroon of timber revenues. The NGOs have used the evidence gathered to press the companies to pay full and immediate compensation to all the local farmers and communities whose livelihoods have been damaged by these operations, with Reef having now made an initial payment into the Molongo village fund. The NGOs have also urged the Cameroonian government to take appropriate measures to sanction the companies.
By: Forests Monitor, e-mail: mail@forestsmonitor.org


Naked chicks gallery I agree with Tina. I would think that line drying vs. electric drying would not be enough to cause World War III on Jillee s very eye opening post. It s true that it saves a lot of money when you line dry clothing, but it is not always possible. Please think about things before you type/say them.
Big fat jugs De Magalhaes and Gladyshev are under no illusions about the arduous journey but they remain hopeful. History is full of claims by experts that certain advances are impossible, only to be proven wrong soon after, says de Magalhaes. Consider the state of medicine just 120 years ago, when some of today s bowhead whales were still in their infancy. Back then life-threatening infections were just a fact of life. Today, antibiotics are taken for granted as the most basic healthcare.


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Q: Почему заедает анимация? Пытаюсь реализовать анимированый скролл блока от left: 0; до right: 0;.
Первый запуск (клик по left кнопке --> клик по right кнопке) отрабатывает нормально, а вот повторный (повторный клик по left кнопке) вызывает резкий скачок.
Что не так со скриптом?

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A: Попробуйте вернуть css свойства к первоначальному варианту после выполнения второй анимации:

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.scroll-box {
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Develop navigation skills in order to find your way from set point to set point, in woodland and open country settings. Orienteers travel at speed, using a map and a compass to find their way through forest and over hillsides.
At Gartan you can start as a complete beginner and discover the excitement of running through the trees and the glorious satisfaction of finding each point, having successfully followed your map. Orienteering requires a combination of mental and physical skills making it competitive across a range of abilities.


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The NCHA Horse Hall of Fame was established by the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) to recognize the accomplishments of outstanding cutting horses based on their lifetime earnings in NCHA approved championship cutting horse competition.  Initially, when a horse had won $35,000 in NCHA Open Championship competition, a Gold certificate was issued to the owner of the horse, and a plaque in recognition of that achievement was mounted on a designated wall inside NCHA headquarters.  As purses and divisions grew over the years, the following amendments were made to the earnings requirement for a horse to qualify:
1980 amended to $50,000
1981 amended to $100,000
1985 amended to $150,000
1989 amended to $200,000
1991 amended to $150,000

In addition to their Horse Hall of Fame, the NCHA established the following: NCHA Members Hall of Fame, Non-Pro Hall of Fame, NCHA Rider Hall of Fame, Youth Hall of Fame and Horse of the Year.

Hall of Fame honorees
S=stallion; M=mare; G=gelding

References

National Cutting Horse Association
Lists of horses
Equestrian museums in the United States
Halls of fame in Texas

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


I'd like to take issue with several points raised by Professor David Schultz in his opinion piece ("Why a constitutional convention is a bad idea," March 18). I think it prudent to give a perspective from the grassroots.
Anger with Washington, D.C., is clear, and the "deep state" is becoming more evident as the described "swamp" is fighting back. The Trump administration has found that pulling the plug is not as easy as it sounds. In fact, the "swamp things" in D.C. are adept in fighting for the system that supports blurred lines formerly known as checks and balances.
The federal government has grown out of control. It has only continued to get bigger and more intrusive into our daily lives under every administration since Calvin Coolidge left office in 1929. It has had its greatest growth in the last 25 years, and it would appear there is nothing that will stop its insatiable appetite for more spending. This was manifest last week as our national debt hit $21 trillion, and the massive "omnibus" spending bill does not eliminate one cent of waste, fraud or abuse.
Thankfully, Americans have a solution that empowers them to act to rein in Washington — Article V of the Constitution. Many checks were placed between the three branches of the federal government. The creators of the federal government also left themselves with the ultimate check on their creation inserted in the second clause of Article V. That clause allows the states to call a convention that holds no power other than to meet and propose reforms in the form of amendments.
Many confuse an Article V amending Convention of the States with a "constitutional convention." They are not the same thing. An Article V Convention of States is limited to the subject matter in the applications passed through 34 States. A "constitutional convention" is not called from within the Constitution, just as the 1787 Philadelphia Convention was not called from within the Articles of Confederation. If the states wanted to call a new "constitutional convention," they need not bother with Article V to do it.
The nation's foremost authority on Article V, Professor Rob Natelson has written extensively about previous state conventions, including two in the 20th Century. In total, the states have met in more than 30 conventions in the past, never using the Article V provision to do so. Every previous attempt to initiate an Article V Convention has always moved Congress to act in the passage of amendments to appease the states and alleviate the concerns of the time.
The Constitution did not include the Bill of Rights for a couple of years. The states were promised, during the ratification process, that these rights would be spelled out. Congress was slow to act, and thus Virginia led the way by passing the very first application for an Article V Convention to secure what we now know as the Bill of Rights. New York was quick to follow suit with the second application for the same purpose. Other states were ready to do the same, and James Madison quickly recognized Congress had better live up to its promise. He spearheaded writing the proposed amendments, which were debated, watered down to Congress' liking, passed, and then sent to the states for their acceptance through ratification.
The founders understood the federal government that they had just created could certainly grow to become too big and unresponsive to reform. They understood that the states needed a way of circumventing the federal system to truly be a solution to this prophesized problem. Article V was their solution to the issues we face today.
Today we fear the unknown. We have become unfamiliar with the process of the states meeting in conventions. Fear is debilitating. We must push aside fear of this constitutional process, and go forward knowing the only solution big enough to restore our founding fathers' vision of liberty and freedom resides in the Constitution itself.
Their action plan spelled out in the Constitution starts with two thirds of the States (34) all agreeing on a meeting topic. The meeting is called. Each individual state selects its own commissioners and provides them with instructions and their ticket to the meeting. All states are invited, and will each only get a sum total of one vote no matter their number of commissioners or population. They debate proposals, and if a majority of the states agree (26) those proposals are all sent out to the states for approval. Ratification occurs if three-fourths (38) agree to the reforms. So to be clear, 13 states, if they don't like any part of the proposals, can stop any one of them from being adopted.
This process is ingenious. The sheer amount of support needed insures only reforms supported by the vast majority of Americans. We already know which reforms could pass the high threshold: Term limits on Congress and the judiciary, a restructure of the tax code, regulatory reform, local control of decisions, spending thresholds and using generally accepted accounting principles to balance the federal budget would have the overwhelming support needed to face the high hurdle of ratification. These are all reforms heavily supported by Americans, but that will never come from Congress. The answers for fixing America will never come from inside the Beltway.
There are plenty of scholars who agree with my points, including Robert P. George, Randy Barnett and John C. Eastman, but admittedly, I am just a humble patriot with no legal background. I am just thankful I can read the Constitution for myself, do some research and act in the manner prescribed by the men who wrote it. It is time for we the people to use the Constitution to restore the republic, so we can keep it for another 230 years.
Minnesota has the opportunity to join Texas, Florida, North Dakota, Indiana, Oklahoma, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Arizona, Missouri, Louisiana and Alaska that have already passed the Convention of States application that would place further limits on the size, scope and jurisdiction of the federal government, fiscal restraints, and term limits on federal officials. The Minnesota State Senate is considering SF 3490, and the Minnesota House of Representatives is considering HF 2690. These two identical resolutions match the other states mentioned above. Those states are ready to discuss reforming Washington, D.C. Is Minnesota going to join them, or will fear prevent it? The time is now to act.
David P. Schneider is central region director of Convention of States, an organization working to promote the concept.


While in the AFC South Peyton Manning led the Indianapolis Colts to a dominant reign at the top of the division. Behind the arm of Manning the Colts were the only team that could win a division title in the South with Tennessee winning the odd title. When Manning moved to the AFC South the pattern seems to have been transferred to a new division. The addition of Manning to the division has changed everything about the AFC West in only the two years that he has been with the Broncos.


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It's Time for New Main Characters
It's the morning after I watched an act of insurrection play out in front of me live on Twitter, and I can't stop thinking about Grant and Emilia. Full disclosure: they're not real. Not in the social security, birth certificate number sense, but as real as characters in my manuscript can be. Their stories take place in Washington, D.C., an actual location with actual people, and yesterday, their home was attacked by its own citizens. And since I never know where to find shelter when things like this happen, I'm going to tell you a little story about them.
Some background on Grant. Born and raised in D.C. with his twin brother Nathaniel. Worked as an EMT until a knee injury made it too painful for him to continue. Now he chauffeurs for a senator's daughter. Given his age, and the time period this is set, Grant would've been in high school on 9/11 and likely had his school shut down during the sniper attack a year later. He's resilient, ferociously loyal, and a lot self-deprecating.
Then there's Emilia, a transplant from North Carolina who followed a college friend to the city and aspires to be a civil rights attorney. Presently, she's an executive assistant for a tech mogul and saving up for law school. Emilia has seven siblings. She loves to bake. She grew up sheltered, pigeonholed, a little naïve, but she's a fierce defender of justice and there isn't anyone she wouldn't help.
I've thought about what they would've done on January sixth as marauders stormed the Capitol Building. Since Grant's employer is a senator's daughter, his first inclination would be get her to shelter and out of the downtown area. He would also be thinking about his mom, a postal worker, his brother, an accountant. Wondering if they were okay. Checking in on them. It would probably trigger memories of September 11th, when his school was evacuated and his hometown was under siege. Grant is protective of his city, which has now been invaded by outsiders looking for destruction. This would infuriate him. He would pace a lot, watch Game of Thrones as a distraction.
Emilia might have been at the downtown office near the Smithsonian, which has a clear view of the National Mall. Her first thought may have gone to Grant, panicked about where he was, concerned he was stuck in a gridlock of traffic trying to get out of the city while a mob descended. Then she would've worried about her roommate, Ryan and her fourth grade students. Her anger over the injustice and indignities of those raiding a federal building would overwhelm her. She'd rage internally at men in tac gear taking the spoils like trophies, faces out, fully exposed, wide smiles, taking selfies, bragging about it on social media. She would've wanted to lend a hand to someone, somewhere, aggrieved by the helplessness she feels. She would likely stress-bake a pan of brownies to cope.
For me, it isn't hard to imagine these people and the microcosm of their endless universes. That's the beauty of writing and reading. Seeing perspectives unlike your own. Wiggling your toes in someone else's shoes. Lifting human beings out of stark text. When I immerse myself in the lives of my characters, I get to know who they are on a granular level, and in some ways, I feel like I belong where they are. Whether it's Erie, Pennsylvania, or Chicago, Illinois, or Washington, D.C., I have a sense of respect and fealty to the places where my characters live and love and grow and flourish. Those are sacred spaces. They're places people call home.
The world is full of Grants and Emilias, and that's who my heart goes out to today. The drivers, the EMTs, the executive assistants. The cleaners, the hotel desk clerks, the Amazon delivery workers. People who show up every day in cities and towns all over the country and toil in relative invisibility, woven into the fabric of society. Those who beg people to wear masks at a mall store while being filmed and spit on and laughed at. Who say yes to the most demeaning and ridiculous requests. Who are just trying to get to work so they can pay rent and fund their hopes and dreams.
I write stories about average people. They won't be profiled in The New York Times or allowed print space for op-eds. They don't get the privilege of reaping the benefits of a country through grift and political posturing and arrogant pseudo-religious rhetoric they don't even believe. Because average people are interesting. They're the ones who keep the world stitched together.
I am tired of hearing stories about people who are just here to harm and degrade. I'm exhausted by the silent majority who seem to never shut up. I'm done with powerful people whining about being canceled–as told from their podcasts, and TV appearances, and six-figure book deals. And I'm furious about those who are permitted and welcomed to have a voice when others are silenced.
It's time we find new narrators.
Observations, Plotting, Writing
The Princess Switch: Switched Again AKA Someone Save the Men from this Movie


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