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by Chris Beckett

29 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Urif is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate of the northern occupied West Bank, located thirteen kilometres South of Nablus. The town has a population of just under 3000 inhabitants and is overlooked by the illegal Israeli colony of Yitzhar. last week on Sunday, April 22, Urif’s boys school was attacked by mask-wearing settlers supported by four Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) soldiers who used tear-gas, sound bombs, and live ammunition against unarmed Palestinian children.

The settlers were led by the head of security for the Yitzhar colony, a man suspected in the murder of a resident of Urif in 2004, a murder that nobody has yet been charged with. He continues to lead brutal assaults against the civilian population of six Palestinian towns in the lands surrounding Yitzhar: Burin, Huwara, Madma, Assria Al-Kalibya, Ein Nabous, and Urif.The attack began when the Yitzhar head of security and a number of masked settlers approached the school from an overlooking hill. “The children were sitting their mock exams,” said Arif, a member of the local popular committee, “the settlers used foul language and began throwing stones at the windows of the school.”

The settlers were soon joined by four uniformed IOF soldiers who did nothing to stop the abuse and stones hurled towards the school.

“When the army came they were supposed to stop the settlers coming to the school, in fact the opposite happened, there was chaos,” said Arif. a number of Palestinian youth approached the armed Israeli settlers and soldiers on the hill, using stones to resist the attack. The IOF soldiers then threw tear gas canisters down towards them and the school. one canister landed on the roof where a member of the Israeli human rights group B’tselem, Adil Safadi, was filming the attack.

Following the attack teachers from the school collected sixty tear gas canisters, a number of sound grenades, and at least thirty rounds of live ammunition fired directly over their heads.

In the video of the incident wherein International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteers are shown, the screams of the children and the loud report of an assault rifle being fired in fully automatic mode can clearly be heard. at one point an IOF soldier took aim with his M16 directly at a Palestinian youth out of camera shot. The sustained assault lasted for around an hour before the settlers decided to leave with their IOF minders in tow.

Whilst some children hid in their classrooms during the attack under the watchful eye of their teachers, many rushed to their homes and were exposed to large amounts of tear-gas and required medical attention. The children of Urif’s boys school, aged between 13 and 18, have been subjected to this kind of brutality on a regular basis since the founding of the school which sits on the outskirts of the village and is thus vulnerable to these kind of attacks. many of the older kids that attend the school were in the process of studying for their year final examinations which take place in early may.

“You can’t imagine the loss we have suffered as a result of this settlement,” says Arif,  “we would like to live in peace and prosperity, but that is something we cannot gain. The settlers are very aggressive, there is no word in the dictionary to describe them.”

This is not the first time the settlers, supported by the military, have attacked the school. Roughly one year ago they attempted and failed to burn it down. ISM was shown pictures depicting the charred remains of one classroom that was severely damaged during the attack.

Incursions from Yitzhar into Urif and Surrounding Villages

Arif and members of Urif municipality informed ISM of the following.

The illegal colony of Yitzhar was founded in 1984. It was not until the beginning of 2000 that it began to aggressively expand into the surrounding Palestinian lands. Yitzhar illegally annexed vast swaths of land and barred access to the Palestinian farmers, shepherds, and villagers that have lived and worked the land for countless generations.

The village of Urif is a mere 1500 meters away from the Israeli colony, and since 2000, over 2200 dunams have been stolen by the nearby settlement. In addition, four thousand olive trees cultivated by the village have been uprooted or burnt by settlers in the past four years.

The villagers of Urif have no access to running water, instead they rely on a small number of ancient wells. two years ago, members of the village were dismayed to find tear gas canisters had been dropped into one of the wells by unknown settlers, poisoning the water supply.

Any attempt to expand infrastructure in the village is also met with settler attacks. ISM volunteers were shown the remains of a house that had been under construction before it was attacked and completely dismantled.

“Late at night they launch attacks on the residents in this area,” said Arif, pointing to the rubble strewn skeleton of the destroyed house. a tractor and a number of cars belonging to residents of the village had also been destroyed in a series of recent arson attacks.

Settlers have shot through the windows of a number of the homes. Graffiti reading ‘revenge’ in Hebrew was scrawled across one residents house. The widespread attacks of agricultural land has lead to a vast “wasteland” between the outskirts of Urif and Yitzhar. Hundreds of goats, sheep, and a few horses have been stolen.

This is not to mention the violence towards the villagers themselves. Arif reports that hundreds of villagers have been injured since 2000, with as many as 40 serious injuries (many of which were gunshot wounds) and one murder.

The combined effects of this systematic assault on Urif residents’ way of life, economy, and civil society is akin to a form of ethnic cleansing. one of the most stark indicators of the impact of the measures taken against the village of Urif by Yitzhar settlement is that unemployment is as high as 40%. many people simply cannot survive under these conditions and are thus forced to abandon the village of their birth, leaving behind their friends, family, and identity.

Chris Beckett is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Matar StudioGeorge E. Doty in 1964.

George E. Doty Sr., a former partner at Goldman Sachs and longtime watcher of the investment bank’s finances, died on Tuesday at his home in Rye, N.Y. He was 94.

The cause was pulmonary fibrosis, though he had suffered a heart attack several years earlier, his son William said in a telephone interview.

Mr. Doty joined Goldman in 1964 as a partner and quickly became head of its administrative department. The position gave him oversight of some of the firm’s most important internal affairs, including the amount of money executives had to contribute upon making partner.

“From the day of his arrival, Doty was powerful,” wrote Charles D. Ellis in “The Partnership: The making of Goldman Sachs.” He said that Mr. Doty commanded one of the biggest shares of the firm’s profits.

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Behind his post was a keen accounting mind that understood how Goldman’s finances interlocked. within the firm, he was known as a conservative accounts keeper who closely scrutinized expenses and ordered that partner tax returns be prepared through Goldman.

“We wanted everyone to focus on the firm’s work all the time,” Mr. Doty told Mr. Ellis. “We didn’t want anyone to be worried about paying off debts. Our policy and our practice were simple: ‘Mother’s lookin’!’”

Mr. Doty was also known as a generous donor to Catholic nonprofit organizations, including his alma mater, Fordham University. In addition to being a consistent benefactor, he served as chairman of its board of trustees.

George Espy Doty Sr. was born Feb. 15, 1918, in new York City, the fourth of six children of George E. and Lillian Doty. He graduated from the Collegiate School in 1934 and attended Fordham, earning money on the side as a clerk for the city’s Department of Sanitation. Mr. Doty graduated in 1938 and earned a master’s degree from Columbia in 1939.

He began his career as an accountant at Price Waterhouse. In 1942, he enlisted in the United States Navy. after returning from World War II, he worked at Richards & Ganley and then at Lybrand, becoming a senior executive whose client list brimmed with major financial institutions.

Among those clients was Goldman, then a much smaller partnership with ambitions of becoming bigger. Mr. Doty was recruited by John C. Whitehead, a top Goldman executive who served in his Naval Reserve unit, and with whom he had held many long business conversations.

Over time, Mr. Doty and his financial conservatism served as a counterweight to the risk-taking of Goldman’s managing partner, Gus Levy. “I was brought in at least partly as the counterbalance and to try and prevent us from getting too exposed,” he told William Cohan in the book “Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs came to Rule the World.”

Yet he could be magnanimous. Upon his induction as a Goldman partner in 1982, a young Goldman deal maker named Henry M. Paulson Jr. informed Mr. Doty that he would hold off on building an addition to his home in Barrington, Ill., to fulfill his partner capital obligations. But Mr. Doty told the future Treasury secretary to put in a smaller amount of money and finish the construction on his house, Mr. Cohan wrote.

Like many Goldman executives of that era, Mr. Doty favored keeping a low profile. When the firm was considering moving in the late 1970s, he authorized the construction of a massive but unassuming brick headquarters at 85 Broad Street in lower Manhattan. such was the nature of the office, known as 85 Broad, that The new Yorker once derided it as “one of the most forgettable buildings in new York.”

The interior was plain as well, with much of the furniture recycled from the firm’s old offices down the street, according to The new York Observer.

Still, one prominent example of risk-taking stood out during Mr. Doty’s career. He championed Goldman’s 1981 takeover of the commodity trading firm J. Aron & Company in an effort to catch up with competitors’ trading expansions. But the deal proved rocky soon after it closed, and Mr. Doty subsequently led one of Goldman’s first mass layoffs, in which he dismissed nearly 100 J. Aron staff members.

Mr. Doty retired from Goldman in 1984, becoming a limited partner. by that time, however, he had begun developing another reputation as a major religious philanthropist. a devout Catholic who attended 7:30 a.m. Mass before going to work, Mr. Doty and his wife, Marie, became impassioned donors to charity.

The two donated several million dollars to Fordham over the years, including $1.5 million to renovate the school’s church and $1 million to set up the Marie Ward Doty University Chair for the Aging.

In perhaps their crowning philanthropic achievement, Mr. Doty and his wife, who died in 2008, led the renovation of the great Dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. by the 1960s, the dome of the church, which Catholics venerate as having been built over the site of Jesus’s tomb, was in serious disrepair.

It was Marie Doty, disturbed by the poor condition of the dome, who prompted her husband to pursue a restoration campaign, according to their son William. after about three years of construction, the dome of the church was completed on time by the end of 1996, according to the Catholic Near East Welfare Association.

In addition to his son William, Mr. Doty is survived by a sister, Joan O’Rourke; three daughters, Anna Marie Paine, Barbara Doty and Virginia Doty; another son, George Doty Jr.; 16 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

James Kaskie has a lot on his plate these days.

As CEO of Kaleida Health and great Lakes Health –the new parent of Kaleida and Erie County Medical Center–Kaskie oversees the region’s largest and most influential hospital system and health care provider.

He has overseen Kaleida’s integration and collaboration with ECMC, the closing of Millard Fillmore Hospital, the construction and opening of the new Gates Vascular Institute, the opening of a new long-term care facility on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus to consolidate two older ones, and the planned move of Women&Children’s Hospital to the medical campus.

And he has worked with the region’s health insurers and other providers on efforts to improve medical care and lower costs in Western new York.

Q: Do the Obama health care reforms go far enough or too far?

A: well, I find the principle of the call to action for health care reform is an essential public discussion. I think one of the things the act has done, the court proceedings, all of the literature, is it’s really brought the national debate alive about health care, health care costs, access, quality, issues of end of life, all of those different features.

I think the act itself is problematic. It’s complicated. It overregulates. It’s…2,700 pages or something. It’s more focused on insurance reform, and it’s just too complicated and too political.

Q: Does more need to be done specifically on health care costs?

A: well, I think it’s a complicated question of health policy. When I started in graduate school in ’75, I think we spent 4.7 percent of the GNP. Here now, 35, 37 years later, we’re facing 18 percent of the GNP.

Never would have imagined it could go to that level.

So clearly it’s not just about costs, in that we have to reduce the price or reduce the spend. I think there’s fundamental policy issues about society, about consumer expectation. I think there are issues about device manufacturers, the pharma business. all of these issues need to have a level of transparent debate about them in order for us to say what is the best method for us to ensure that health care services are available, that we promote wellness within our communities, that we have individuals who have personal responsibility for their health.

The ACA, the Affordable Care Act, just kind of goes across the spectrum and sprays at all of these issues, but really doesn’t, I don’t believe, create any fundamental change.

That being said, there’s huge change under way in the industry, as a result of society, government, employers, everybody saying, wait a minute, we can’t afford this trend line for sure.

Q: what is driving the spiraling health care costs year after year?

A: I think it’s a multifaceted set of circumstances that are driving costs. one is, I think, we have very sophisticated, very amazing technology, physicians, services that can intervene on people’s problems. look at the ability now to have joints replaced. We can go in to your brain and take a clot out if you’re having a stroke. We can intervene without opening your chest to do heart surgery. We can avoid having to amputate legs and limbs because of our ability to intervene on vascular services.

That’s at a very complex level of care. That’s very expensive. The technology, the devices, the things that are implanted, are all very expensive. So you have a very sophisticated product. It’s like flying a very large jet plane. It costs a lot of money to fly a plane; it costs a lot of money to provide very complex services.

So we need to unbundle that problem. There’s very little regulation over pharma, the amount of medications that are used. The vendors always get paid. They can charge what they want for the device that’s put in, and we’re expected to pay it. The patient doesn’t have any responsibility. The vendor doesn’t. It’s just all on us. So I think that adds to it. and I think that’s tied to the macroeconomic questions.

Then you come to the social issues of lifestyle, demographics, aging population, wellness or lack of, be it obesity, be it hypertension, diabetes. those kind of maladies are all a result, to some extent, of what your DNA is, but they’re also lifestyle and environmentally driven.

So you put all that together and we’re supposed to solve it, through a health care policy? I think we have to unbundle the problem and solve the components.

Q: what kind of role do health care reimbursements from insurers play in this crisis?

A: nowhere else in the economy do I know that you can walk into the front door of an organization, of a supermarket, of a grocery store, of a department store, of a gas station, and you can have unbridled demand. You can just have an expectation and then have a regulatory environment that requires everyone to be served.

Nowhere else in the economy can you find that you can come in without a penny out of your pocket, without any individual responsibility for how you got there—whether it’s your lifestyle, whether you were speeding on a motorcycle, or whatever—and have access to a million dollars worth of services.

And so we need to rebalance the classic economic equation, and that’s where user, buyer and payer are somehow linked.

I don’t think the payers can determine policy. I think they need to align with the providers to figure out how best do we spend this money. I think they need to align with those that they insure, to say what consequences do you have and what incentives do you have to be healthy, and then go from there.

Is there a different way to create an economic model? I think there is. and right now all of these pieces are separated and conflicting, versus aligned, around how best to spend the health care dollar.

Q: on executive pay, are the salaries and compensation excessive? are they needed?

A: We clearly look at that question all the time, because we do have a duty to the community to pay competitively, to pay reasonably. We make sure we do that, be it that you’re a nurse in our organization or you’re the CEO.

When you look at what we accomplish, there aren’t a lot of people that can do this, and so that usually commands a higher salary than what other people might be making.

So I think there’s no apology, but you have to be careful. You have to be reasonable. and you have to be competitive.

Q: what kind of potential do you see for the medical campus?

A: We now have this fulcrum called the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. That virtually was an emerging idea when I got here eight years ago. But by collaboration and the synergies created by collaboration . . . we’ve been able to do things that people didn’t think were possible because we aligned around a common vision, a common plan. if we keep doing that, that only will grow.

If you look at what’s happened with our partners at ECMC, we took all of that competitive energy and we made it collaborative. As a result, we’ve taken competing transplant programs and we’ve made one center of excellence and we have a wonderful facility on the Grider campus. We have an application to bring our behavioral health departments together. Rather than having two, let’s create one really good one, because this market is only so big.

Q: other communities also have well-established medical corridors. How can Buffalo succeed?

A: this is a demonstrated strategy. It’s like good airports. You can’t have more than one Buffalo Niagara International Airport, but one good one really makes a difference. and look what’s happened? It’s been very successful. Does that mean that because Buffalo has an airport, that means Pittsburgh can’t have an airport? No, it just means that for the region, for the population being served, you need to size what you’re doing to match the population.

So we’re able to compete. The question is, if we don’t get our act together, then we become a feeding area. People can take what they want and move it to Pittsburgh or Cleveland. We need to serve the people of Western new York, and that’s what this mission is about.

Q: can you get a piece of the governor’s $1 billion economic development money?

A: We just need to get our act together as a community. I think we’ve been doing that on a better and better basis in health care. We’re not perfect. But . . . if you’re collaborating we can create wonderful things.

It’s not a silver bullet . . . There’s a lot of right-sizing that needs to happen in the economy to be more sustainable for Western new York. But our responsibility is to contribute to a sustainable health care system for Western new York and that’s my goal, to make sure people have access to health care in Western new York.

jepstein@buffnews.comnull

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[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexvonschmidt/6847307506/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/6847307506_12081aab86.jpg[/img][/url][url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexvonschmidt/6847307506/]The Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials 2011[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/alexvonschmidt/]Alex von Schmidt[/url], on Flickr <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexvonschmidt/6847307506/" title="the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials 2011 by Alex von Schmidt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/6847307506_12081aab86_z.jpg" width="479" height="640" alt="the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials 2011"></a> [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexvonschmidt/6847307506/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/6847307506_12081aab86_z.jpg[/img][/url][url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexvonschmidt/6847307506/]The Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials 2011[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/alexvonschmidt/]Alex von Schmidt[/url], on Flickr 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[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexvonschmidt/6847307506/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/6847307506_12081aab86_b.jpg[/img][/url][url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexvonschmidt/6847307506/]The Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials 2011[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/alexvonschmidt/]Alex von Schmidt[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexvonschmidt/6847307506/]The Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials 2011[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/alexvonschmidt/]Alex von Schmidt[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexvonschmidt/6847307506/]The Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials 2011[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/alexvonschmidt/]Alex von Schmidt[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexvonschmidt/6847307506/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/6847307506_73d9b5b234_o.jpg[/img][/url][url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexvonschmidt/6847307506/]The Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials 2011[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/alexvonschmidt/]Alex von Schmidt[/url], on Flickr <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexvonschmidt/6847307506/" title="the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials 2011 by Alex von Schmidt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/6847307506_73d9b5b234_o.jpg" width="766" height="1024" alt="the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials 2011"></a>

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As we head into the upcoming finals week, don’t neglect to remember food’s influence.

Good food provides us with nutrients our bodies need, but also it can give us the brainpower needed to ace a test or write a stellar essay. here are some food-focused tips for surviving finals week:

Don’t “forget” to eat. many of us get so busy with studying and working, we sometimes disregard our rumbling tummies so we can do more. Skipping meals, though, leaves the body without fuel, and without fuel our bodies will putter out and shut down. Eating meals (at regular times) provides us with much needed moments of rest and re-energizes our bodies so we can function at our highest levels.

Eat right. it may seem easier to grab a quick burger and fries from Wendy’s rather than taking the time to build a salad at the Oaks, but, actually, eating fresh vegetables and non-processed foods keeps our minds more alert. Avoid the carb coma by eating leafy greens, fruit rich in antioxidants, such as blueberries, and fish loaded with omega-3, like salmon and halibut.

Think ahead. the best way to avoid greasy fast food is to take a few hours this weekend and prepare a few quick and easy dishes. Hard boil six eggs, and you have an easy snack (just crack open an egg!) or you can quickly make an egg salad sandwich. make a big pot of minestrone soup with beans, tomatoes and all the vegetables you love; then just heat it up when you’re ready to eat. planning in advance makes meal-time effortless and stress-free.

Combat fatigue with choline! If you’re burning the midnight hour, don’t reach for a sugary energy drink, which only gives you a quick boost before a crash. Snack on a bowl of oatmeal or peel open a banana. Foods with choline, such as oats, bananas, legumes, eggs, chicken, shrimp and collard greens, have been proven to “boost alertness, memory and stress resistance,” according to “Psychology Today.” (http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200310/what-is-good-brain-food)

Slow down. Due to our fast-paced lives, many of us swallow our food whole so we can get back to work. Eating is supposed to be enjoyable, not something to check off a to-do list. While you’re eating, chew slowly and think about the flavors you taste, the textures you feel and the well-meaning hands that prepared it. Savoring each bite can help the body relax and give the mind a break. Mindful eating can lead to mindfulness in other daily activities, too, including studying.

Don’t eat alone. Sharing a meal with family and friends gives us a chance to check in with others, which can take our minds off of the next task. during family meals, many of us eat slower, healthier, and more mindfully. make a meal with a friend the reward for studying a few hours, and it will feel like a reward.

Unplug! Turn off computers, cell phones and other technological devices while eating, especially with family and friends. first, it’s rude to text between bites when you are in the presence of others. Second, taking a break from technology means taking a moment of rest. why not make that moment during lunch or dinner so you can really appreciate the company you are with, the food you are eating, and some quality time away from the constant chatter that is the Internet?

Eating well keeps our minds sharp and our bodies active. It’s important, especially during times of stress, to honor all the work our bodies do. When we’re under pressure, it’s the best time to remember that good food, solid sleep, lots of water and brisk exercise are proven to reduce stress, and they just might help you earn that a.

I realize that my topic for this month precedes, by 15 days, the celebration of Mother’s Day. Nevertheless, as the son of a very-fine mother, and a man who has a fabulous mother-in-law, I feel obliged to use this opportunity to exalt the role of mothers. Moreover, my loving wife, though not a “tiger mom” (thank the Lord) is, nonetheless, one of the best mothers I have ever known.

Mother’s Day has a long history, originating with Greco Roman religious rites that celebrated “The great Mothers,” Cybele and Hilaria. In the United States, Mother’s Day originated with Julia Ward Howe who, in 1870, started a mother’s pacifist movement, which was born out of the destruction of the Civil War. Eventually, in 1914, Mother’s Day was recognized as an official U.S. holiday. it is noted, however, that by 1920 the day had already become commercialized.

You may be surprised to learn that Mother’s Day celebrations occur throughout the world. many of the celebrations coincide with important religious festivals that honor women, such as the birthday of Mohammed’s daughter in Islamic countries.

But here’s the rub, at least for me. the idea that we set aside one day to celebrate and honor our mothers may lead to a lesser appreciation of our mothers for the remaining 364 days of the year.

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the fifth commandment is “Honor your father and mother…” In the Quran, honor and respect for parents is commanded no less than 11 times. and from a Buddhist holy-text we read, “Mother & father, compassionate to their family, are worthy of gifts from their children. So the wise should pay them homage, honor with food & drink, clothing & bedding.”

I cannot prove that the once per year card-buying frenzy of Mother’s Day leads us farther down a road of motherly disrespect. I can only tell you what I see and experience. and what I see and experience is this: Mothers are not accorded the honor or respect that our religious traditions command.

More often than I’d like, I see the disrespect of children for their mothers. and it makes my blood boil; just ask my wife — or my son. My son knows that one of the quickest ways to anger me is for him to disrespect his mother (or any adult, for that matter). In this regard, I suppose I am old fashioned — out of touch with modern U.S. culture that caters to every whim and whine of children.

And while I do think it important for religious traditions to change and reform, there are some elements in the world religions that, in my judgment, should never change. Honoring our mothers (and fathers) is one of these elements.

On May 13, like many Americans, I will give my mom a Hallmark card written by someone who has never known her. but this I promise: on my honor, and in my heart, every day is Mother’s Day.

Hunter Camp is the associate pastor at Memorial Presbyterian Church (USA) in St. Augustine. He may be found on twitter @hunterrev. He blogs at http://godtalk-hunter.blogspot.com.

Submitted by DumbCanuck on Sun, 04/29/2012 – 8:45pm.

… and since the changes haven’t been made yet, I’ll take advantage. this is too juicy to let get by.

Earlier in his schtick, Kimmel noted that he couldn’t understand how politicians can be against gay marriage.

Well Kimmel, let me ‘splain it to ya…

Homosexuality has been around for all of about 6000 years of human history, yet previous generations opted not to celebrate the coupling as a marriage. “Why?” would you ask. Well, maybe in all of human history, there has NEVER been one occurance of a gay couple procreating naturally. NOT ONCE! We’ve even had a virgin birth during that time, but nope. no gay proginies at all. sorry, guys. That’s just the facts.

400 or so generations have defined a marriage a certain way, and it worked out pretty well, doncha think? now the most recent generation (this one) decides that the previous 400 were absolutely wrong about marriage. seems to me a little bit arrogant, doncha know?

Can you imagine what the state of humanity would be today if homosexual “marriage” was established, say for example at the time of Christ even? Imagine what humanity might be like 2000 years from now. Would we even exist? If so, what would the numbers be like?

But now for the chide humour discussed in this article.

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy…

Are you implying that dittoheads are idiots because they don’t know Rush is an A–hole? Well, you’ve acknowledged that people who watch and listen to Mahar KNOW he’s an A–hole…. BUT THEY STILL LISTEN TO HIM ANYWAY! Please, please PLEASE… tell me who the idiots are again?

And maybe, just maybe we listen to Rush because we know that unlike Mahar, he is NOT an a–hole, you a–hole!

There! now maybe NB can switch to their new commenting site so that I have an excuse not to rant on and on like this. It’s just when I first heard Jimmy’s schtick, I wanted to throw something at the TV.

Hopefully now, I’ve gotten it out of my system.

(Credit:Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

I am sure that many people are already wondering how on earth to please their mothers on may 13.

For that is Mother’s Day, the Sunday on which flower-sellers make huge amounts of money out of the guilt of youthful, self-absorbed offspring.

Perhaps, though, kids (and dads) just don’t know their moms terribly well. because words and numbers have reached me that suggest moms are getting a little tired of flowers and jewelry and would rather have aniPad or some cuddly littleAndroid-powered piece.

A survey performed by Harris Interactive on behalf of Ebates.com, contained within it so many poignant revelations that it almost brought me to tears, depressed at the misunderstandings that plague human relationships.

Here is what men think women want for Mother’s Day, in order: Flowers, Jewelry, Spa Day, Candy.

Here is, according to this survey, what women (with kids under the age of 18) really want, in order: “Spa Day, Flowers, Jewelry,Tablet/Smartphone.

So you see how little women are understood by members of the opposite sex. Women want a rest from being mothers. They want to be indulged.

Still, you might imagine that this tablet/smartphone desire comes a distant fourth. not so. There is a mere 6 percent gap between these gadgets and the desire for jewelry.

Those who with cold hearts — or recent divorces — might wonder that perhaps moms believe more money ought to be spent on them. It’s not as if you can buy an iPad for the same price as a bunch of flowers.

Ebates– a company that, astonishingly, saves people money on things that they want to buy, like gadgets — also delved into where in America mothers had most money spent on them. The answer is, apparently, California, which dedicated around $100 on average to make mom smile.

So perhaps those who truly love their moms and truly understand just how much their tastes are changing, ought to start saving now.

For it seems that what would really light up your mom’s eyes is something like an iPad 2. They’re down to $399. but mom might still imagine they cost a fortune. yes, she might suddenly believe you have even more love for her than she thought.

And gadgets last so much longer than peonies. every time your mom plays FarmVille on her new machine, she will think of you. that is true love.

Should your mom already be rather well equipped, technologically speaking, CNET’s Molly Wood does offer some fine alternatives in the arena of gadgetry.

But whatever you choose to do, however you choose to honor the woman who has tolerated you most of all, please remember that moms don’t always stay the same. So you should make sure of the one thing that all great gifts should have: an element of surprise.

Guest written by our friend Katie Callahan

I saw a terribly disturbing show on TV last night. It’s called “To Catch a Predator.” It was basically a hidden camera show where the TV producers have been pretending to be underage children in chat rooms online, and pretending to be children, allow themselves to get lured in by sexual predators. they agree to meet with the predator, who thinks they are meeting with someone under the age of 18 for sex, but when they get there, it is not a kid, but the TV show and the police.

They are arrested, and taken to jail. the really scary part is they look like regular guys! It was so upsetting to me to think that those people are out there on the internet, just lurking around, trying to get a child to meet them. It’s awful, and I want to make sure I’m protecting my girls from this danger. I’m going to satellite star internet.com to see if they offer any tips, or parental controls, to help prevent this kind of thing from every happening to our family.

Posted by Hayes Davenport on Apr 26, 2012 (7 hours ago) 2 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2012%2F04%2F26%2Fthe-enemies-list-atlanta-part-iii%2FThe+Enemies+List%3A+Atlanta%2C+Part+III2012-04-26+10%3A48%3A19Hayes+Davenporthttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D28992

Before every playoff series this season, we’re going to do some rundowns on the opposing roster for each team. We’re starting with the Hawks, but hopefully we’ll do a lot more! Here’s Part I and Part II. Players are listed in alphabetical order.

Vladimir Radmanovic, SF/PF: The Hawks added Vlad Rad in the offseason for his unique brand of looking bored as crap while being a three-point specialist with a barely league-average three-point percentage. He’s only 31, but years of complaining about not getting enough minutes have taken their toll on his game. This is the highlight of his season. I doubt he plays a single meaningful minute, but Larry Drew loves finding new ways to confuse fans.

Josh Smith: Smith is the best player on the Hawks in spite of himself. He’s a productive offensive player while displaying maybe the game’s worst shot selection. He’s a dominant rebounder, but he never bodies anyone out. He’s one of the top three defenders at his position, but he’ll take long stretches off with seemingly no provocation. It’s usually boring and straight-up wrong when pundits accuse players of getting by on talent alone, but Josh Smith is doing more than that: he’s excelling while actively sabotaging himself.

As scary as Smith can be in a playoff series, he’s less scary against the Celtics than any other team, because KG totally knows how to play him. Smith takes the third-most long twos per game of any player in basketball, behind only Kobe and Monta Ellis. he shoots more from there than anywhere else on the floor…but he only hits at 35%. KG knows all this, so he uses a simple system of punishment and reward to get Smith to take the terrible shots he wants to take anyway.

When Smith is more than 16 feet from the basket, Garnett abandons him, getting almost obnoxiously involved in help defense. but when Smith wander inside, Garnett smothers him, putting two hands on his torso and nudging him back out to the perimeter. Smith is most dangerous with a head of steam, so if he’s anywhere near the rim, KG gets right up on him so he can’t receive a pass in motion.

Smith’s best game against the Celtics this year was March 19th: 2o points on 9-19 shooting. he hit something like seven of his first eight jumpers in that game, because Garnett was deploying the strategy above and giving him space. but he kept shooting, even after he went cold in the second half, and ended up wasting important crunch time possessions because he’d gotten too confident in his jumper. That’s the beauty of Garnett’s defense: he knows what game plans work in the long run, and when they don’t he’s not afraid to run them until they do. That’s why he, not Smith, is still the best defender at his position.

Jerry Stackhouse: Jannero Pargo tweeted a few days ago that Jerry Stackhouse was the funniest guy on the team. I guess they all think he’s joking when he says he’s going to play three more years.

Jeff Teague: It’s hard to know what kind of player Jeff Teague would be if he were actually allowed to play point guard. his assist rate is 45th in the league among point guards, but most of the passing he does is entering the ball to a motionless Joe Johnson or Josh Smith with 22 seconds left on the shot clock. He’s almost always on the floor with a player more important than he is, which is why his usage rate is lower than Jerry Stackhouse’s. he does have weapons, but they’re usually kept in a shed that Larry Drew locked up and forgot the combination for. still a step up from when Drew started Mike Bibby ahead of him for 80 games only two seasons ago.

Teague is most dangerous on the pick-and-roll, because he’s fast and has a second gear that burns backpedaling guards. He’s not much of a shooter: he hits a much lower percentage of his long twos than Rondo (and Rondo takes more). Defensively, he can shut down the league’s best PGs when he’s on his game (I remember him putting Derrick Rose in a Hefty bag when the Hawks beat the Bulls in Game 1 of the Semis last year). but he can also disappear or lose interest, although that’s less likely to happen in the playoffs because Hawks fans actually go to those games.

Marvin Williams: Quietly, without much fanfare, the last “this Could Be Marvin Williams’ Breakout Year” Year came and went. Some speculated that he’d take a bigger share of the offense once he started coming off the bench and didn’t have to give up shots to Smith and Joe Johnson anymore. instead, Williams managed to maintain almost the exact same usage rate he did last year (even with Horford out), and just gave up shots to Jannero Pargo and Ivan Johnson instead.

Kind of sad, because Williams does most things reasonably well. he can shoot and post up (although he hasn’t converted efficiently at the rim this season, and he definitely won’t be against Boston with KG or Stiemsma on the floor). he rebounds nicely for his position. he defends competently because he’s big for an SF but not that slow. Williams can produce against the right opponent (poor interior defense, an individual defender who’s smaller and weaker than he is) but he will find nothing right about the Celtics.