Cuomo's Albany Housing, From Old Hotel to Mansion - New York Times

ALBANY — In the middle of downtown, half a block from the State Capitol, the hollowed-out remains of five brick and stone buildings stare blankly out at State Street. Only the facades remain, some of them covered by plywood.

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

WELLINGTON HOTEL Now little more than a facade, the 1905 building was already termed a “dump” when Andrew M. Cuomo, a law student, shared an apartment there with his father, Mario, the lieutenant governor, in the early 1980s.

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

ALBANY LAW SCHOOL Andrew Cuomo studied there from 1979 to 1982. In those busy days, he said, he and his father lived off food sent by his mother, Matilda, and a nearby McDonald’s. “We weren’t doing a lot of restaurants,” he said.

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

EXECUTIVE MANSION Andrew Cuomo’s new home, which was vacated by David A. Paterson and his family two weeks ago. Its 40 rooms overlook the Hudson River.

The remnants of the building in the middle, which is little more than a tan brick wall with a bit of limestone paneling, was the Wellington Hotel in a former life, a place that offered beds and little else in the way of charm or amenities.

It also happened to be Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s first home in Albany, about 30 years ago. His newest Albany home, of course, is the Executive Mansion, with 40 rooms overlooking the Hudson River.

“It was an old hotel,” Mr. Cuomo said, recalling his days at the Wellington. “Even then.”

Though Sunday will be Mr. Cuomo’s second day as the governor of New York, he has been a familiar face on the streets of Albany for a long time, as attorney general, as the son of former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, but first, as a student at Albany Law School.

Beginning in 1979 when he was in his early 20s, Andrew Cuomo spent three years studying in Albany, sharing an apartment at the Wellington with his father — a space described in a 1982 article in The New York Times as “sort of a dump.”

The elder Mr. Cuomo, who was the lieutenant governor at the time, would join his son at the apartment a few nights a week during the legislative session. Fabian Palomino, who would go on to serve as Mario Cuomo’s special counsel, would sleep in a third bedroom whenever he needed a place to stay in Albany.

The two Cuomos lived a spartan existence. “We’d come home, one of us would burn something for dinner and we’d talk,” Andrew Cuomo once told The Times.

For sustenance, they relied on packages of food sent by Matilda Cuomo, Mario’s wife and Andrew’s mother.

“I was in law school,” Andrew Cuomo said. “We weren’t doing a lot of restaurants, though there was the great McDonald’s restaurant.”

The Wellington was completed in 1905 and then expanded a few years later to about 400 rooms. It was never anything approaching the grande dame of Albany hotels — rather, it was two doors down from the grande dame, the DeWitt Clinton.

And by the time Andrew Cuomo arrived, whatever earlier shine it had enjoyed had worn off.

“It could only be described as genteely shabby,” said James D. Featherstonhaugh, a longtime Albany lobbyist. “It had clearly been nice in its day, whenever it was, but that day was certainly before mine.”

At the time, the Wellington was, however, cheap and convenient. “It was perfect for a workaholic politician who wanted to always be in the figurative shadow of the Capitol, always near work,” Assemblyman John J. McEneny said. “Then it attracts other people who think it’s a good place to run into them in the hall.”

For the younger Mr. Cuomo, the hotel was about a mile and a half from Albany Law School, where he studied, played a little rugby and took full advantage of the school’s basketball courts. The way he portrayed it, his life during those years revolved around studying and basketball.

“Later on when my father became governor,” Mr. Cuomo said, “we would play, and the referees would be the State Police. They were loath to call a foul on the governor of the state, you see.”

“It was sort of a one-sided game,” he added. “And the State Police were armed.”

After sitting vacant for two decades, the Wellington was sold to a developer about four years ago, who gutted the building and its neighbors with plans for an office tower that have not progressed much. From behind, the buildings look as though they have been ripped in half by an angry giant, some left open to the elements.

“Whatever they do with it will be better than this,” said Angelo Joe Amore, a tailor from Calabria, Italy, who has owned a shop across the street called Amore Clothing for 50 years.

But back when the Wellington still had walls, Mario Cuomo was not the only one who took advantage of its proximity to the Capitol. Andrew did, too.

“I got to observe,” said Mr. Cuomo, who would sometimes visit his father in his office or listen to a legislative debate.

“It was a much different time than it is now,” he added. “It was an honorable profession, and these were powerful personalities. I think that made an impression on me.”

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2011 Prediction: Media to Hit New ‘Warming’ Low

I was taken aback by this paragraph in a Politico story by someone a colleague of mine styles as the best reporter in DC on these issues. It reveals the media are not only telling us what to watch for this year, but getting an early jump:

Despite mounting evidence that the greenhouse gas buildup in the Earth’s atmosphere is causing runaway changes to the climate – NASA this month declared 2010 the hottest year on record – several pollsters say the American public isn’t listening. (emphases added)

Now, the reason no evidence — mounting, or otherwise — of runaway climate change was cited there is because there is no evidence of runaway climate change. Let alone man-made. There is as there always has been a continuing stream of evidence of changes in climate, because change is the sole constant in climate. But it takes an environmentalist or axe-grinding politician to say that whatever happens is evidence supporting his faith and/or agenda. The ‘runaway’ business is just absurdly hyperbolic. Which, again, is why no such evidence was actually cited.

Get this straight because you are going to get used to this: their new talking point, 2010 being the hottest year ‘on record’, wouldn’t be such evidence even though it is knowingly intoned as a self-evident example of cause-effect. This is true even if the claim by cited source, NASA — meaning James Hansen’s runaway office, known as GISS — did not reflect GISS having done two things: adjusting the historical record to make older years cooler (rewriting history) and ‘extrapolating’ data over vast stretches in the Arctic where they have none…but which happens to be where they find the warming (making history up).

None of which is secret, all of which then makes the above-cited paragraph an embarrassment.

Then the reporter discussed what the global warming industry plans to do about this, and includes the following predictable punch telegraphed.

…Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), co-author of several unsuccessful climate bills over the last decade, said he agrees with the need to make more local connections for the public. Hitting home for him are studies showing lobster and winter flounder moving north out of Long Island Sound.

“It’s not the end of the world, and yet it suggests the world is changing,” Lieberman said. “It’s one small example. The world is full of them.”

Lieberman said he thinks there’s a need for more TV and radio commercials that capture the most eye-catching images. “Just show people what’s happening,” he said. “Show them satellite pictures of the ice caps.”

Yes, the world changes and, of course, if something happens then you did it and their agenda would change it. Even if after billions of dollars and several decades they cannot make their case and are reduced to doing what they started with. Primitively pointing to the world around them and shrieking that the witch — now, the SUV – did it.

Expect the media to run with this. And in response I will show you pictures of, say, the World Trade Center collapsing. Why? Because that is their logic: show you something and say it is evidence that you did it. Example, invoked by a mindless fellow panelist on a tv show last week:

Man-made global warming is causing Mt. Kilimanjaro’s glacier to recede.

How do you know?

Mt. Kilimanjaro’s glacier is receding.

Oh. OK.

The CIA brought the World Trade Center down.

How do you know?

The World Trade Center came down.

Your ‘conclusion’ is actually an assumption. And that’s too stupid even for Washington to re-engineer the economy around. Here’s to an invigorating 2011.

Source: "Big Government" via Glen in Google Reader

UK Inmates Set Fire to Prison After Refusing Alcohol Breath Tests on New Year’s Eve

AP

LONDON (AP) — Rioting inmates caused heavy damage to a low-security prison Saturday, smashing windows and setting fires that engulfed buildings and spewed clouds of black smoke.

Officials said about 40 inmates at Ford Open Prison near Arundel, 60 miles (95 kms) south of London, began the disturbance at around midnight New Year’s Eve after some prisoners refused to take breath tests for alcohol.

By midday, two buildings were still ablaze, though fires had been extinguished at several other buildings, which were heavily damaged.

The prison’s staff retreated and specialist officers were called in to handle the riot, the Ministry of Justice said. There were no immediate reports of injuries to staff or inmates.

The prison houses up to 500 offenders with less than two years remaining on their sentences to prepare them for release.

Mark Freeman, deputy general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, said the riot started after some prisoners refused to take breath tests. At the time, only two prison officers and four support staff were on duty, he said.

Freeman said a large amount of alcohol had been found at the prison.

Source: "The Blaze" via Glen in Google Reader

2010: The Year of the Tea Party

The Hill has a month-by-month recap of 2010:

The grassroots conservative political movement made its clout felt the entire year, from the healthcare reform debate to GOP primaries and the general election last month.

Senior Democrats, ranging from Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine to Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.), aggressively attacked the Tea Party in the lead-up to the midterms, hoping that doing so would soften losses to the GOP. House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) and other Republicans embraced the movement, believing its energy would benefit their party at the polls.

In the end, the Tea Party was in many ways a net asset for the GOP as Republicans grabbed control of the House and cut into the Democratic majority in the Senate.

However, there was collateral damage as Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) and other Senate GOP hopefuls seen as the party’s best chance of winning general-election races were ousted in primaries. Some blamed Tea Party candidates for costing Republicans a Senate majority to go with their new majority in the House.

A month-by-month breakdown of 2010’s most memorable political events follows.

January

Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) announce they will not seek reelection.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) apologizes for racially insensitive remarks.

Scott Brown (R) wins Sen. Edward Kennedy’s (D-Mass.) old seat; healthcare reform on the ropes.

Supreme Court issues major decision on campaign finance reform; Democrats vow to pursue legislative fix.

Read the whole thing here.

Source: "Big Government" via Glen in Google Reader

It’s Time To Get Serious About Immigration, Education and Tax Reform.

We are headed for major trouble in these United States.  Realistically speaking, the knight on the proverbial white horse who will ride to our rescue is apt to speak Spanish or Vietnamese or, perhaps, Polish.  An infusion of young, Immigrant citizens (workers to be blunt) are what stands between America and a very bleak future, so we had better get used to the idea of welcoming newcomers to our shores who share our values, work ethic and aspirations.  Concurrently, we should also enact, on a crash basis, policies geared to stimulate steady, long-term economic growth as our highest national priority.  The Fed alternately slamming its foot on the brake and then on the accelerator must give way to sensible growth-driven policies that encourage investment, work and entrepreneurship.

There has always been a “them” and “us” faction in America seeking to batten down the hatches and bar the door to immigrants seeking a better life, or to make that doorway as narrow as possible. We’ve even passed legislation in years past to bar certain ethnicities from our shores such as the racist Chinese Exclusionary Act that was in effect for over sixty years.  The attractiveness of campaigns laced with America for the Americans rhetoric has long appealed to politicians who look no further than the next election cycle.  A little xenophobia mixed with a dash of demagoguery has secured more than one election in America.

Fortunately, America, more than any other nation, still has the world’s best track record for integrating varied cultural and religious ethnicities into the fabric of the land and America has reaped enormous rewards in the process.  Immigration has largely fueled the engine of our growth for most of our history.  And that is a lesson the moral of which has never been more important to understand than it is today.  Here’s why.

When the Social Security Act was first signed by FDR during the great depression there were forty-two workers for every retiree.  With that worker-to-retiree ratio it was rather easy and painless to have current workers fund the retirement benefits for the nation’s retired, or retiring, citizens.  It was so easy, in fact, that the law was amended a few years later to also provide survivors’ benefits for the rest of the family in the event of the retiree’s death. In 1956 we threw in disability benefits as well.  That’s what politicians do. They spend a great deal of time addressing issues or needs with legislation and very little time addressing the cost ramifications of their legislative initiatives.  They also secure the everlasting loyalty of those who become the recipients or beneficiaries of their grand largess.  We’re not suggesting that social security was a bad idea; only that the financing scheme for this entitlement was, while politically popular, terribly ill conceived.  It assumed that the national demographic was going to, by and large, remain the same and made no provisions for automatically adjusting the financing of social security as the demography and population longevity of the nation changed. They left that bit of heavy lifting and sure-to-be politically unpopular responsibility to future congresses.

Less than twenty years after the passage of the Social Security Act the worker to retiree ratio had fallen to 16-to-1 and, today, we find ourselves in the sad position of having only 3.3 workers supporting every retiree on social security.  By mid century, we will barely have two workers supporting every retiree.

Other realities conspire to compound the dilemma. There are, today, slightly over 200 million Americans over the age of twenty-five.  Over the next twenty years that number will grow to slightly over 250 million.  Less than 10% of that growth, according to the US Census Bureau, will come from workers under age sixty-five.  A whopping 80% of that growth will come from seniors over sixty-five.  Over the years politicians have become entitlement and COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) happy, and the cost of our social programs has expanded precipitously.

We have been breath-taxingly prolific in producing new technological innovation, but not so prolific in producing new babies who become new workers.  Were it not for immigration to the United States and the traditionally higher birth rate of immigrant families, America would have a declining population.  The last time we had a sustained spike in births in America was immediately following the Second World War during the two decades between 1946 and 1966.  Those babies, however, are now entering their retirement years and therein lies the problem.  During the years just ahead we will have to accommodate well over 70 million retiring baby boomers.  Our ability to sustain their retirement entitlement as well as their Medicare benefits and all of the other entitlements we have built into the fabric of our society will sag and then collapse if we don’t do something and do it soon.

We will not solve this problem merely by trimming social security benefits here and there or promoting family friendly policy.  It’s far too late for trying to solve this problem at the margins.

All of the Band-Aid solutions that are being bandied about come with their own sets of inequities.  Certainly we can simply reduce benefits.  But that would mean that those who have been funding the retirement of others at today’s benefit level would take the hit when they retire.  Not a great solution.  We can, of course, significantly increase taxes, but those increases, which politically would be assigned to our higher earners, could not come close to offsetting the projected shortfalls.  Another popular fix making the rounds would be to have a needs test for eligibility.  That, of course, merely penalizes those who work the hardest.  In fact, under such a scheme, the harder one worked, the less likely they would be to ever collect benefits.  Allowing younger workers to begin investing a portion of what they pay into social security was a favorite of the Bush Administration, but given the recent financial meltdown that alternative is dead for the foreseeable future.

We need to focus on getting back to full employment (anything under 5.0%) and a steady flow of young, productive workers with which to augment those workers who will come from the indigenous population.  America not only has a jobs shortage, but, even worse, we have a serious and deepening skills shortage.  Education reform has become another third rail in American politics.  We have fallen woefully behind virtually the entire industrialized world in educating our pre-college student population.

All of these problems urgently need to be addressed. We are letting the violence in Mexico and the influx of illegal’s across our southern border define American immigration policy.   It has caused virtual paralysis in Congress, as immigration reform becomes another can our legislature kicks down the road for others to deal with.  America needs sensible immigration reform, not only in the interest of those who want to come, but also in our own self-interest as well.

By Hal Gershowitz and Stephen Porter

Source: "Big Government" via Glen in Google Reader

New Year's Rockin Eve Performances: Watch Now!

Forget ball drops and champagne toasts. On ABC last night, New Year's Eve was all about the music.

From Ke$ha to Willow Smith to a slimmed-down Jennifer Hudson, artists performed on the annual Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest-hosted special. We hope all readers had a happy and safe evening and we present a quintet of videos from the evening below.

Sit back, watch and enjoy!

Ke$ha - Tik Tok (Live)

Avril Lavigne - What the Hell (Live)

The Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block Perform

Willow Smith - Whip My Hair (Live)

Jennifer Hudson - Feeling Good (Live)

Source: The Hollywood Gossip

Michael Jackson: Too Weak to Perform For Years?

As we reported this week, Dr. Conrad Murray is likely to argue at his trial on involuntary manslaughter charges that Michael Jackson killed himself.

Now, in addition to MJ accidentally delivering his own coup de grace in the form of a lethal Propofol dose, comes a second component to the theory.

Jackson's weakened state during various tours throughout life - including the 2009 London concerts that never took place - will be a focal point.

THIS WAS IT: Jackson never made it on tour in 2009.

There's "compelling evidence" MJ was in poor health whenever he went on tour, sources say, dating back to his Bad and Dangerous albums decades ago.

Jackson was frequently "dehydrated, medicated, and sleep-deprived" and like with Dr. Conrad Murray, had a doctor who accompanied him on the road.

The gist is that grueling concert schedules took a huge toll, leaving him prone to and demanding drugs to sleep, long before Murray was in the picture.

The "This Is It" London tour was especially grueling, because AEG added dozens of concert dates for Michael, who was weaker than ever by last year.

Not only that, the perfectionist was terrified he would fail to live up to expectations and pushed himself even harder to overcompensate for that fear.

This dovetails into the defense theory that MJ was over-medicated and reduced to a shell of his former self after years spent under enormous pressure.

By the time last spring rolled around, he couldn't sleep he relied on Propofol to do the trick, and became increasingly frustrated when it did not work.

The defense believes that when Dr. Murray walked out of the room June 25 and Jackson woke up, he accidentally infused himself with the fatal dose.

What do you think? Is there any chance that's true? Is that enough for reasonable doubt, or should Murray pay the price regardless?

Source: The Hollywood Gossip

All 4 Her: Michael Lohan Hires Singer to Pen Song For Lindsay

Sometimes, you pick up the phone and call your daughter. Sometimes, you need to hire one of the former members of All 4 One to pen a song for her.

Michael Lohan has hired Delious Kennedy, one of the members of the group All-4-One, to write and perform a track dedicated to his daughter Lindsay.

The song will be a companion piece of sorts to Lindsay's 2005 track "Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father)." Remember when she sang?

Michael's looking to start 2011 on a good note.

"It's about a "talented and beautiful young lady who has grown in our hearts, she is badgered by paparazzi, cut down by the media ... She will wilt, but when she falls, I will always be there to pick her up and put her pedals back on," says MiLo.

Poignant, are we wrong?

Entitled "My Rose," the song is a dance/club track with a vibe like Usher or Lady Gaga. Kennedy recorded the song last week, and MiLo just "loved it."

The chorus goes something like this: "The girl is like a rose garden. She falls back, springs forth and grows stronger with thorns." Deep, moving stuff.

Just for fun, here's Lindsay on "Confessions of a Broken Heart" ...

Lindsay Lohan - Confessions of a Broken Heart

Source: The Hollywood Gossip

THG Presents: New Year's Resolutions For 2011!

Happy New Year from The Hollywood Gossip! As the calendar flips over to 2011, we hope that you find your spirit renewed. Or at least slept in.

Did you make any New Year's resolutions this year? How about ones you plan on keeping for more than 48 hours? If so, best of luck with that.

We've heard what the stars are hoping for this year too. Or at least what they should. Here are some of THG's celebrity New Year's resolutions:

Girl, put on some clothes and put down the camera.

Miley Cyrus: Keep pants on, quotes to a minimum and bongs at home.

Kelsey Grammer: Go 12 months without filing for a divorce.

Kate Middleton: Remain grounded. Register at Target.

Kristen Stewart: Smile in public.

Amber Portwood: Settle an argument without violence. Try. At least once.

Taylor Momsen: Brood silently, dress like a goth, act all "damaged," occasionally take off your top in concert. Actually, nix the last part until you turn 18.

American Idol fans: Choose a winner that isn't a white dude in his 20s who plays the guitar. Think we can manage that one of these years?

Kanye West: Stir up some conflict for once. Make things interesting!

Barack Obama: Gravitate toward the political center.

We expect another banner year for Charlie.

Charlie Sheen: Make the 29th trip to rehab count.

Spencer Pratt: Keep up the fame-whoring schemes.

Britney Spears: Appear a little less robotic.

Brad Womack: Get engaged this time. Or else.

Brett Favre: Keep it in your pants.

Giuliana and Bill Rancic: Keep trying to conceive. Or adopt.

Crystal Harris: Act like you're in this thing for love.

The Jersey Shore cast: Fist pump and break $h!t.

Mel Gibson: Simmer the f*%k down.

MR. MAYOR: If THG had its way, it would happen.

Levi Johnston: Restore fiscal discipline, strengthen the economy and stand up for the working voters of Wasilla, Alaska; Impregnate Sunny Oglesby.

Kim Kardashian: Become talented at something. Seriously. Anything.

Mason Dash Disick: File for parental emancipation.

Bruce Jenner: Seriously man. Run far, far away.

Chris Brown: Spend less time on Twitter.

Taylor Lautner: Work out more.

Tiger Woods: Reconcile with Rachel Uchitel.

Justin Bieber: Continue to be awesome.

Lindsay Lohan: For the love of G*d, get her $h!t together!

Source: The Hollywood Gossip

Happy Birthday, Elin Nordegren!

Elin Nordegren, perhaps the world's richest, most eligible single-mom divorcee, turns 31 years old on this first day of the new year. Happy birthday!

Tiger Woods may be the greatest golfer ever, but Elin delivered the most lucrative shot in history with one swing of the 9-iron. Now she's moved on.

If Tiger had any brains, he wouldn't have pawed Devon James, Jaimee Grubbs and their ilk. Was it worth it, man? Nine figures later, probably not.

If you have any brains, you'll click to enlarge this gallery of Elin Nordegren pictures we put together ... and give her a ring if you're a single guy:

Source: The Hollywood Gossip

New Year Open Thread

Happy 2011!

Source: "Big Government" via Glen in Google Reader

SocialMedia : How Facebook Beat Google in 2010 http://bit.ly/dRiBre

6 killed in rare New Year's Eve tornado outbreak - Los Angeles Times

A woman sits on the foundation of a home where a cross made from debris was erected after a tornado tore through the small town of Cincinnati, Ark. The weather system was fueled by unusually warm air. (April L. Brown, AP / December 31, 2010)

Associated Press

December 31, 2010, 5:15 p.m.

la-na-0101-tornadoes-20110101

Reporting from Little Rock, Ark. —

Tornadoes fueled by unusually warm air pummeled the South and Midwest on Friday, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more across Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois.

Three people were killed in the northwestern Arkansas hamlet of Cincinnati when a tornado touched down just before sunrise, and three others were killed when a storm spawned by the same weather system ripped up the Missouri countryside near Rolla. Several storms were also reported in the St. Louis area.

"It sucked me out of my house and carried me across the road and dropped me," Chris Sisemore of Cincinnati, Ark., said. "I was Superman for a while.... You're just free-floating through the air. Trees are knocking you and smacking you down."

Sisemore said he opened his eyes as he flew because he didn't believe he'd see 2011.

"I wanted to see the end coming," he said. "You're only going to see it one time and I thought that was it."

In Missouri, a 19-year-old woman and her 64-year-old grandmother were killed at a Lecoma farm where their family lived among three mobile homes and two frame houses, Dent County Emergency Management Coordinator Brad Nash said.

"We found debris from one of the trailers a mile away," Nash said.

In Arkansas, an elderly couple were killed in their home and a man was killed while milking cows, Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder said.

At Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, a storm damaged 20 homes in a neighborhood that houses officers.

And in Illinois, about two dozen homes were damaged in Petersburg, northwest of Springfield.

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Breaking: Robbers Take Hostages in Houston-Area Bank Standoff

PEARLAND, Texas (AP/Yahoo) – Authorities say two armed robbers are holding hostages at a bank in a suburb of Houston.

Pearland Police Lt. Onesmio Lopez says the assailants struck and injured the manager of the Chase Bank in Pearland just after entering the building Friday morning. Lopez says he doesn’t know how many hostages are inside the building and that police are negotiating with the robbers to try to end the standoff peacefully.

The Houston Chronicle reports that more than 50 police officers have surrounded the building and sealed off nearby streets.

Employees of stores near the bank told the newspaper they heard gunshots.

FBI spokeswoman Pat Villafranca says agents from the Texas City office are assisting police.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Source: "The Blaze" via Glen in Google Reader

Obama Nation: I Solemnly Swear…

Source: "Big Government" via Glen in Google Reader

Archeologists Unearth 400-year-old Tobacco Pipes in Jamestown

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Archeologists at Jamestown have unearthed a trove of tobacco pipes personalized for a who’s who of early 17th century colonial and British elites, underscoring the importance of tobacco to North America’s first permanent English settlement.

The white clay pipes — actually, castoffs likely rejected during manufacturing — were crafted between 1608 and 1610 and bear the names of English politicians, social leaders, explorers, officers of the Virginia Company that financed the settlement and governors of the Virginia colony. Archeologists also found equipment used to make the pipes.

Researchers believe the pipes recovered from a well in James Fort were made to impress investors and the political elite with the financial viability of the settlement. They are likely the rejects that failed to survive the ceramic firing process in a kiln.

The find comprises more than 100 pipes or fragments. More than a dozen are stamped with diamond shapes and inscribed with the names or initials of luminaries including explorer Sir Walter Raleigh, who dispatched the colonists to the territory he named Virginia. He also is credited with popularizing tobacco in England and is said to have smoked a pipe just before being executed for treason in 1618.

Other names include Capt. Samuel Argall, a major Virginia Company investor and governor of Virginia; Sir Charles Howard, Lord High Admiral of England; and Earl of Southampton Henry Wriothesley, a Virginia Company official who was also William Shakespeare’s major patron.

“It really brings the people back into the picture,” said Bly Straube, senior archaeological curator for the Jamestown Rediscovery Project. “We have a lot of artifacts that we can associate with types of people like gentleman or women or children, but to find things like the pipe that bears the name Sir Walter Raleigh, I mean, my goodness. … It just makes it very tangible and real.”

The discovery casts lights on the social, political and economic network behind the Jamestown venture that started in 1607, as well as the importance of tobacco to the settlement, said William Kelso, director of archaeological research and interpretation at Historic Jamestowne.

Smoking imported tobacco was very popular in Europe in the early 17th century.

After settlers arrived at Jamestown, tobacco quickly became the American colony’s chief export. Among the immigrants Capt. Francis Nelson brought to Jamestown in 1608 was Robert Cotton, a tobacco pipe maker who likely fashioned the pipes found in the well.

In 1614, the first shipment of Virginia tobacco was sold in London. Jamestown’s tobacco exports to Europe grew from 10 tons in 1619 to 750 tons in 1639.

“Tobacco, whose goodnesse mine own experience and triall induces me to be such, that no country under the Sunne, may, or doth affoord more pleasant, sweet and strong Tobacco, then I have tasted,” Ralph Hamor, a secretary of the colony, wrote in 1614. “I doubt not, (we) will make and returne such Tobacco this yeere, that even England shall acknowledge the goodnesse thereof.”

Tobacco’s popularity created a large demand for pipes that were typically made in London using white clay from Dorset, along England’s southern coast. Interested in the lucrative new industry, investors in the Virginia Company sought to add pipemaking to its trades and sought out adequate clay from the surrounding area.

Settlers, Kelso said, were under “tremendous pressure” to give investors the instant gratification they needed because “they put so much money into it,” and didn’t want to lose their lifeline to England. Colonists tried different trades such as silk making, glassmaking, lumber, sassafras and tar, with no financial success.

“The whole idea was to make money for investors and they enlisted all these specialists that would search Virginia for profitable resources that they could exploit,” Straube said. “Tobacco was the quickest and easiest and most successful.”

The survival of the pipes suggest that many more individualized pipes may have been made for investors and other powerful members of the 17th-century British establishment. Their discovery also may lead to new examination of thousands of other artifacts recovered at Jamestown for further context on colonists’ lives.

“Each new discovery has meaning beyond its own significance,” Straube said. “It can make us look at the past in a different way, and that’s kind of the exciting thing about these pipes.”

___

Online:

Historic Jamestown: http://www.HistoricJamestowne.org

Preservation Virginia: http://www.preservationvirginia.org

Source: "The Blaze" via Glen in Google Reader

The Hijacking of Conservatism by Big Government Progressives

Hey conservatives, are you there?

No I don’t mean you Republicans…I mean those of you who are lovers of liberty! I mean those of you who defend the Constitution, not just when it protects them but when it protects someone they don’t like. I know you’re out there. You may be a Libertarian or an independent, you may not be affiliated with any party at all. Ok you might be a Republican too, but I know you’re there.

Well listen up!

I am not exactly sure at what moment the theft of the word “conservative” actually occurred, but I know it has happened. Through the rapid expansion of the size and role of government over the last 100 years the progressives not only infiltrated the Democrats but they infiltrated the Republicans too. They took over words like “liberal” and “conservative.” In fact, if you go back far enough “liberal” used to mean “conservative” until they stole that word. Then all the people who loved freedom found a new home as conservatives, and the progressives came to steal that too.

You see, that is what they do. Progressives are wolves in whatever clothes they need to wear to fool everyone about what their actual agenda is. The reason they do this is because their real agenda is so antithetical to the mission statement of America that most Americans would marginalize the people who espouse these ideas if they knew who they were. Unfortunately, America’s awareness has been dulled by years of addiction to the graft of big government.

If we are not only to survive but thrive as a nation we must separate the progressives who hate freedom from the conservatives that love it. Only then will we know who’s who.

How do we do that? Well conservatives love the Constitution, so let’s start there.

The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech–not just the speech you like but the speech you don’t, as well. Ripping from the headlines, let’s look at the WikiLeaks saga. You may not like what Julian Assange is saying, but those who want to peg him as a terrorist who should be hunted down and jailed or even executed, as some have yelled, is no lover of freedom or the Constitution.

This guy is no terrorist; he is an activist. The only difference between him and a less controversial activist is that he threatens to expose the dirty laundry of many elements of power around the world–including our own government. Now, the people who are breaking the law to give him this information may be criminals… OR maybe they are just whistleblowers who, because they work for the government, are held to a different standard. Either way, WikiLeaks has broken no law of the United States.

The Fourth Amendment gives us protection from warrantless search or seizures. Again, how many people are yelling that they are conservatives and yet are telling you its okay if the government reads all your emails, listens to your phone calls, tracks your financial transactions, searches your private property? And government can do this without a warrant because we are at “war with terror”. They tell you if you are doing nothing wrong you have nothing to fear. The thing you need to fear is them!

I fear that while protesting my needless full body scan and groping by the TSA, I will end up on the governments “no no” list where I will be distracted by an IRS audit as the Department of Homeland Security puts a GPS tracker on my car parked in my garage. These actions do not keep you safe, but they will keep you in line. Giving up your liberty for security is a false logic that is used over and over to medicate people into a coma of silence. To quote Ben Franklin “He who gives up his liberty for security deserves neither.”

The imposters call for free markets and small government, but they interfere at every turn. They support an out of control Federal Reserve system that undermines the entire idea of a free marketplace by having monopolistic control over the US monetary supply. The Fed can print unlimited amounts of money which they pass out to whatever the “preferred” special interests of the day are in total secrecy. These imposters expand bloated government programs like Genghis Kahn expanded the Mongolian Empire. Wasn’t it a “so called” conservative that gave us a multi billion dollar expansion in Medicare just a few years ago? Aren’t true conservatives for no debt and low taxes?

The reason we have big debts is because we have big government. It’s all too big! There isn’t an element of it that isn’t too big. If someone looks you in the face and tells you they are going to balance the budget and shrink the debt and it doesn’t include a wholesale, across the board cut-back in the size of government in every last area, they are no conservative. In addition, there’s not one single excuse to vote for ANY net tax increase, not for a conservative anyway. A progressive, they always need more, but not a conservative.

The point of listing out some of these things is to remind you of what the word “conservative” is supposed to embody. If people say or do things that don’t uphold a strict interpretation of the Constitution and the message of individual liberty, they are not a conservative, but rather an imposter. In the reverse, if they don’t uphold these conservative values then they don’t uphold the Constitution, and they don’t love liberty.

This is America, and people are allowed to have different opinions about what they think is best and freely espouse those opinions, but give me an honest socialist any day over a dishonest progressive. I’ll disagree with the socialist but give them respect; the progressive deserves no respect.

We must hold people accountable for doing what they say. That doesn’t mean you’re perfect or that you can’t ever change your mind, but it does mean you honor your words with your actions! You do what you say, and you say what you do. If politicians, leaders, and pundits don’t uphold the above I can’t tell you exactly what they are, but I can tell you they are no conservative.

Source: "Big Government" via Glen in Google Reader

Billy Ray and Tish Cyrus: Reconciliation Ahead?

It looks like Miley Cyrus might receive the best holiday gift of all: a loving family.

Witnesses spied the singer's parents at lunch together in Nashville on Wednesday, as sources tell Star Magazine Billy Ray and Tish Cyrus - who filed for divorce on October 26 - were smiling when they walked out of P.F. Chang's.

“Billy Ray and Tish have been spending a lot of time together because of the kids," an insider claims. "Just after the split, they were screaming mad at each other. But now they’ve mellowed and are reaching an understanding."

Without the final divorce papers signed - and with "Miley pushing them to reconsider," according to this source - might there be hope for this marriage after all? We'll keep you informed.

Source: The Hollywood Gossip

The THG Celebrity of the Year: Justin Bieber!

With 2010 about the conclude, it has been with much pride that THG has spent weeks unveiling its finalists for its prestigious, Fourth Annual Celebrity of the Year award.

These stars all gave us their best, their worst, their nude pics (sometimes) and their scandals (often).

Earlier this week, we had no choice but to honor the violent, woman-berating Mel Gibson at #2, and now we present the top celebrity of 2010: Justin Bieber!

Justin Bieber - U Smile (Live in Atlanta)

We could ramble on about Bieber's good looks, his sense of humor, his musical ability, his fun-loving, humble attitude. But the numbers in 2010 sum up everything that needs to be said about why this year belonged to the Biebs:

ONE: The ranking of Bieber among all human beings that were searched for on Google.

6,480,149: His number of Twitter followers.

424,585,480: As of this posting, the number of times "Baby" had been watched on YouTube.

90: The seconds it took for him to finish a Rubix Cube on live television.

THREE: American Music Awards earned, including Artist of the Year.

178 (Unofficial): Number of products that use Bieber's likeness, including trading cards, perfume and nail polish.

70: Interviews/concert clips in our Justin Bieber video section waiting to be watched right this very moment!

197,854 (Approximate): Number of hearts broken over the news that Justin may be dating Selena Gomez.

Countless: Squeals per second elicited by Bieber during every public appearance.

It's been an astounding year for this artist, as well as for THG in general. We are thankful to every single reader that has made our site a tiny part of your life and we hope to continue to serve your celebrity gossip needs in 2011 and beyond.

Happy new year!

Source: The Hollywood Gossip

Troubled Teens Born in the Classroom

“I could never home-school.  I would probably kill my kid by Wednesday, if I had to spend the entire day with him, every day!”

Typical fare for the teenager-parent relationship?  Unfortunately, yes.  But ironically, the individuals making these pronouncements are often the ideal candidates for home schooling.  Possibly the worst thing frustrated parents can do is send their aloof, argumentative children away (to school.) In any other setting, dropping them off somewhere, for someone else to deal with, would be deemed giving up on the relationship.  (This is the way children likely perceive the slight as well – they aren’t stupid, you know.)

If the parents cannot stand to spend time with their own child, how will he ever feel loved?  But parents are so blinded by school’s beacon; they shield their eyes and shove the child into the wolves’ den.  (It is no wonder he returns home behaving like a wild animal.)

What children learn in school

Parents wonder where their relationship with their teen went wrong.  Answer: Their influence was all but eclipsed the moment the child crossed the school threshold.  It’s that simple.

Each day a young child goes to school, he learns (way too early,) that his parents don’t know everything.  School reinforces this point by teaching the little ones to instruct their parents. “Tell Mommy not to pack plastic sandwich bags in your lunch – that kills the dolphins!”  Mommy kills dolphins!

He makes friends with other kids whose parents also slaughter innocent animals. He joins his peers, learns to challenge authority, then comes home and asserts himself.  The parent thinks, “Well, that’s probably a good thing, because he is learning to be self-confident and capable.”

But a good parent has a sneaking suspicion that it isn’t quite right.

Troubled Teens

A few years later, still on the school treadmill, the youngster becomes a surly judgmental teen and the fights get too big to try to win anymore.  The parent throws his hands up and sighs.  “Teenagers!”  It’s inevitable: the independence, the ego, his disdain for Mom’s outdated values and his resentment that Dad somehow has maintained control of the Wii remote or his access to the car.

The experts, school authorities, say they see this type of thing every day and advise the parents to weather the storm.  Other parents agree: the teen years are the pits – but completely normal and acceptable.  (Shrugs and chuckles!)

By “normal” they mean that most children go through this, but most children are enrolled in school.

By “acceptable” they mean it simply must be endured; it is unavoidable.  Wrong.

“I’m too lazy to take on home schooling.  It’s all I can do to keep up with their homework.”  “I can’t teach my kids.  What would I do when they got to algebra or calculus?  I don’t remember any of that stuff.”

If first grade learning is too hard, by all means, start him in school now. But let’s not fool ourselves: homework is home school (just with more pressure, later in the day, when everyone’s tired, hungry and grouchy.)

Acquaintances of mine went to a home schooling convention early on in their children’s lives and met families with polite, loving teenagers.  They quickly decided, “That’s how we want our kids to behave when they are that age.”  Now they successfully home school their respectful and caring teens.

Academics?

On December 6^th, President Obama addressed a report that US teens continue to sink in world education rankings, calling for another “Sputnik moment.”  It took only 18 years to bring our space program up to par, but we were already running second in the race.  According to the Programme for International Student Assessment, in a recent study of 65 countries, US education scored lower than fourteenth on the list, well behind Japan and South Korea.

Is a mediocre education worth risking the parent-child relationship?  Not when home-schooled children typically out-perform their public school counterparts by 30-37 percentile points across the board.  Socializing all day (for that is truly what school has become,) is apparently not the most sensible way to nurture or instruct a child.

With so little to recommend a public education, the decision to send a child to school must be a product of societal conditioning. Responsible parents owe it to themselves and their families to investigate home schooling options.

As distressing as they are, the parents’ mundane declarations in this article articulate tremendous loss: the death tolls of those parent-child relationships.  They indicate great naïveté, and yes, selfishness. Tragically, these parents have speciously placed their hope and trust in an institutionalized “education” system that gradually but resoundingly destroys the very fabric of their family life and, consequently, the future role of family in our nation.

Source: "Big Government" via Glen in Google Reader

Staged Teen Mom Drama: Gary Shirley "Argues" About Clinton Yunker at Buffalo Wild Wings

Is MTV's Teen Mom making like The Hills and playing up the drama for the cameras? Even staging it altogether? This new clip would strongly suggest so.

Amber Portwood's ex, Gary Shirley, got into an "argument" at Buffalo Wild Wings in Anderson, Ind., and wouldn't you know it, the cameras were there.

As we reported yesterday, Amber broke up with Clinton Yunker, her latest boyfriend, this week. As he celebrated his single status, Gary walked in ...

Gary Shirley-Clinton Yunker Argument

The video above, in which Gary argues with Clint's brother, shows him inciting other people in the restaurant and threatening to make them "famous."

Gary seems to know exactly what's going on, making you wonder if the whole thing is a setup to make money - and what other scenes that applies to.

Amber Portwood has told police the violence was "real" and that her beatings of Gary were not encouraged by the network, but we're a bit suspect.

Source: The Hollywood Gossip