I have no need for good souls: an accomplice is what I wanted. 

Jean-Paul SARTRE

Macappleboy: "Who told you that you are beautiful?"
Orville: "Many people... especially boys"

Macappleboy: "Mahilig ka sa singit!?"
Orville: "Oo depends on the color, lalo na yung mapupula"

En cours de droit au premier semestre, un intervenant est venu nous parler de la télévision du droit, une chaîne dédiée au droit et aux procès quoi.

Le prof : "J'en avais parlé avec Bernard Requin d'ailleurs..."

Elève : "Bernard Volker?" [directeur adjoint de l'EDJ]

Le prof : "... et donc elle m'avait dit..."

Elève : "Bernard Requin c'est une FEMME ?"

Le prof, se décidant à tourner son regard incrédule vers nous : "MICHELE BERNARD REQUIN"

Les élèves : "..."

Le prof : "La présidente de la 10ème chambre de Paris!"

Les élèves : "ah."

Dans ces cas là prof, mieux vaut ne pas essayer de lâcher l'air de rien un petit name-dropping... Le principe même du name dropping c'est que tout le monde sait de qui on parle pour que tout le monde soit impressionné. Ou alors pas mais c'est un autre problème.

J'en profite pour placer une citation du jour, ça faisait longtemps, c'était au deuxième semestre en droit toujours, avec Pierre Olivier Sur comme prof, qui nous parlait des grands procès, dont celui de l'Erika. POS défendait l'armateur et propriétaire du bateau.

POS : "L'avocat des oiseaux, qui est un bon ami, a eu un million d'euros"

photo credit: popartuk.com

in my case, i have been watching the same show (the olympics coverage on nbc), that i didn't realize three days have passed.

i can't believe it's thursday already. the week zoomed by just like that. what happened to monday, tuesday, and wednesday? it's hard to tell the difference between one day and another if you do the same things over and over again. wake up early. drive. work. work. work. lunch. work. work. work. go home. cook. wash dishes. watch tv. floss. brush teeth. sleep. wake up early. drive. work. work. work... it goes on and on.

i used to dread monotony and i hate routines. i avoided the daily grind like a plague, but now i'm living it.

-M.C. Escher, Dutch graphic artist

A writer writes not because he is educated but because he is driven by the need to communicate. Behind the need to communicate is the need to share. Behind the need to share is the need to be understood. The writer wants to be understood much more than he wants to be respected or praised or even loved. And that perhaps, is what makes him different from others. Leo Rolsten

"All great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties and must be overcome with answerable courage."

- François Duc de la Rochefoucauld

     Jeffrey Ebert shares this story:  When I was five years old, before factory-installed seat belts and automobile air bags, my family was driving home at night on a two-lane country road.  I was sitting on my mother's lap when another car, driven by a drunk driver, swerved into our lane and hit us head-on.  I don't have any memory of the collision.  I do recall the fear and confusion I felt as I saw myself literally covered with blood from head to toe.

     Then I learned that the blood wasn't mine at all, but my mother's.  In that split second when the two headlights glared into her eyes, she instinctively pulled me closer to her chest and curled her body around mine.  It was her body that slammed against the dashboard, her head that shattered the windshield.  She took the impact of the collision so that I wouldn't have to.  It took extensive surgery for my mother to recover from her injuries.

     In a similar, but infinitely more significant way, Jesus Christ took the impact for our sin, and His Blood now permanently covers our lives.

Quote of the day:  Chuck Swindoll

"Like a jewel's brilliance is displayed on a black cloth, Jesus' love is displayed against the blackness of sin, and the filth of the flesh."

Bible verse of the day:  1 Peter 1:19

"but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot."

Prayer:

Father,

Thank You for Your Son.  It is by Grace and Blood that I am alive today, living and serving You.  Thank You for the Blood that covers my sins.  Thank You for choosing me in Christ before the foundation of the world and sealing me with the Holy Spirit of promise.  Father, I am Your workmanship, created by Your Son for good works, may I continue to walk in all that You have given to me, sharing Your Word and speaking the truth that it may bring Honor and Glory to Your name.  I thank You for the air in my lungs and for this day!

In Jesus Name I pray,

Amen

"It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one

than to have an opportunity and not be prepared."

Whitney M. Young, Jr. (1921-1971)

From 1905, at the age of four, until her death eighty-seven years later, Stella Adler dedicated her life to preserving and expanding the highest level of art in the theater. The youngest daughter of the eminent Yiddish tragedians, Sara and Jacob Adler, Stella began her career on her father's stage at the age of four in a production of "Broken Hearts." When she was eighteen, she went to London where she made her debut at the Pavilion as Naomi in "Elisa Ben Avia," a role she performed for a year, before returning to New York. She spent the next ten years performing throughout the United States, Europe and South America, appearing in more than 100 plays in vaudeville and the Yiddish theater. She received a great deal of acclaim among Yiddish-speaking audiences as the leading lady of Jacob Ben Ami and Maurice Schwartz, yet she longed for wider recognition and the opportunity to play more varied roles.

Following her Broadway debut in Carl Kapek's "The World We Live In," she joined the American Laboratory headed by Richard Boleslavsky and Maria Ouspenskaya, both former members of the Moscow Art Theater. In 1924, she met Harold Clurman, the man who would become her second husband and a co-founder of The Group Theater, In 1928, she participated in the Actor's Laboratory where she met Lee Strasberg as well. When Clurman, Strasberg, and Cheryl Crawford created an influential theatre group that championed realism and the teachings of Konstantin Stanislavski, in 1931 Clurman and Strasberg invited Stella Adler to become a founding member of that collective, The Group Theater. Although neither the politics nor the cooperative energy of the company appealed to her greatly, she nevertheless joined the ensemble having been promised leading roles and enamoured of Clurman's vision.

While acting with the Group she did some of her best work, including the notable roles of Sarah Glassman in "Success Story," Adah Menken in "Gold Eagle Guy," Bessie Berger in "Awake and Sing," and Clara in "Paradise Lost."

Taking a brief leave of absence in 1934 to travel to Russia, she stopped off in Paris, where she met and studied for five weeks with Konstantin Stanislavski. (She was the only American actor ever to study with him privately.) When she returned to The Group Theater with a new understanding of his work and a new idea of what American theatre could be, she began to give acting classes for other members of the Group, including Sanford Meisner, Elia Kazan, and Robert Lewis, all of whom went on to become notable theatrical directors and acting teachers.

Although the Group provided her with some support she never felt comfortable there; in 1937, she left for Hollywood.

After six years as an associate producer at MGM, and a number of roles (under the name Stella Ardler) in movies such as "Love on Toast" (1937) and "The Shadow of the Thin Man" (1941), she returned to Broadway and London to direct and act in many plays, among them were the London premiere of "Manhattan Nocturne," the Off-Broadway revival of the Paul Green Kurt Weil anti-war play, "Johnny Johnson," as well as "Sons and Soldiers," "Pretty Little Parlor," and "He Who Gets Slapped." Her last stage appearance was in the critically controversial production of Arthur Kopit's "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet, and I'm Feeling So Sad" (1959).

Concurrent with her work as an actor and director, Stella Adler began to teach in the early 1940's at the Erwin Piscator Workshop at the New School for Social Research. She left the faculty in 1949 to establish her own studio in which young actors could work, study, and perform. The studio is now approaching its sixth decade and has enriched every part of the American theatre and motion picture arts.

Combining what she had learned from the Yiddish theatre, The Group Theatre, Broadway, Hollywood, and Stanislavski, Stella created the Stella Adler Theatre Studio (later renamed the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting and finally the Stella Adler Studio of Acting). The studio offered courses in principles of acting, voice and speech, Shakespeare, movement, and makeup, along with workshops in play analysis, character, scene preparation and acting styles. Onstage experience was acquired by performances of scenes and plays before an invited audience. Among her students were Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Warren Beatty, Elaine Stritch, Mario Van Peebles, Harvey Keitel and Candice Bergen. Her belief in the supreme seriousness of her art kept many well-known members of the theatre coming back for her intelligent and passionate advice.

http://www.stellaadler.com/stella_adler.html

Jannette: "I'm from the hospital, wearing this... wearing only this."

The scene on the final evening of the Democratic convention next week is bound to be a gripping one: Some 75,000 people will be in the stands awaiting healing and anointing in the packed but expansive confines of Denver’s Invesco Field.

...As tens of thousands clamor for their savior – the Benny Hinn of wealth redistribution – the high-decibel chants of “Obama” will be broken only by the orgasmic screeches of writhing members of the mainstream media. The tingle up Chris Matthews’ leg will hurt so unbearably good that “Hardball” will, for one brief and shining moment, be the most apropos program title in the world. 

-Unknown but from the madashell website (source)

Please Rate & Share your thoughts on this video..Thank You**And Please visit My YouTube Channel and let me know what you think of the other videos and songs**Sing their song, play their music and don't forget .... buy their Music!!
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Rosario Flores (born November 4, 1963) is a two-time Latin Grammy Award-winning Spanish singer and actress.

She was born in Madrid, Spain as the daughter of Antonio González ('El Pescaílla') and Lola Flores. She is the sister of actress Lolita Flores and singer-songwriter Antonio Flores. She has a daughter with her ex boyfriend Carlos Orellana. Her second son, Pedro Antonio, was born January 21, 2006, the same day as his grandmother Lola Flores. Rosario and Pedro Lazaga, her partner and father of her second son, met while filming Pedro Almodóvar's film Hable con ella in 2001.
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Lyrics:

Mira como brillan las estrellas,
elige la que tu mas quieras,
que para ti la conseguire.

Mira aquellas que estan abriendo,
para que llegues hasta el firmamento
y formes parte del eden.

Porque aquella estrella ser especial,
el mundo entero alusinar,
de ver la estrella de la paz.

Mira, esos planetas que van diciendo,
que hay una estrella en el firmamento
que brilla mas que las demás.

Mira esos cometas que van viniendo,
a presenciar el nacimiento
que al mundo entero cambiar.

Porque aquella estrella ser especial,
el mundo entero alusinar d
e ver la estrella de la paz.

Porque si una sonrisa hechas al viento,
para sentirte bien por un momento,
con este cuento, soñaras.

Mira, los arcoiris estan haciendo
ese camino hacia el universo.
donde su estrella encontrarán.

Porque aquella estrella ser especial,
el mundo entero alusinar
de ver la estrella de la paz.

Porque si una sonrisa hechas al viento,
para sentirte bien por un momento,
con este cuento soñaras.
♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥* ♥*♥*
Hello my sweet friends. Hope this finds you all well.. I want to Thank all of you for the Love and Support you have given me and for the time you all take to watch all my videos, rate them and for leaving me your kind, generous comments and messages.. Ty for your friendship and for making a DIFFERENCE!!.. WE ARE ONE!!
Much Love, Peace, Light, and Laughter for you and your family.

Huggies Kassandra

Memorandum

To: Secretary Kempthorne

C. Stephen Allred Assistant Secretary – Land and Minerals Management

From: Earl E. Devaney Inspector General

Subject: Transmittal of Office of Inspector General Report of Investigation – “Minerals Management Service: False Claims Allegations”

With this memorandum, I am transmitting the Office of Inspector General (OIG) Report of Investigation, “Minerals Management Service: False Claims Allegations.” This Report of Investigation chronicles a series of events that led to the filing of multiple qui tam, or false claims, lawsuits by employees and former employees of the Minerals Management Service (MMS). It also reports on numerous incidents of alleged retaliation against these employees and former employees.

This report tells the tale of Minerals Revenue Management (MRM), a program within MMS fraught with difficulties stemming from myriad causes: it presents examples of a systemic dilemma in MMS – that of the bureau’s conflicting roles and relationships with the energy industry. It also hints of a profound failure in the development of a critical MRM information technology (IT) system; it reveals a working environment in which poor communication, or no communication, compounded an already existing element of distrust; and it demonstrates a band-aid approach to holding together one of the Federal Government’s largest revenue producing operations.

In addition, we discovered a number of other significant issues worthy of separate investigation, including ethics lapses, program mismanagement and process failures. Our investigation revealed a complex, and sometimes confusing, array of facts. In order to minimize complexity and confusion, we report our findings by 1) the qui tam lawsuits and their respective bases, 2) employee reporting requirements, and 3) use of official and/or proprietary data/information. We also chronicle multiple allegations of reprisal and address these in a separate section of our report.

We found that the collective bases for the qui tam lawsuits were either premised on a lack of knowledge of other MMS efforts to collect royalties and interest or the relators’ (person bringing the claim) fundamental disagreement with MMS management decisions and MMS guidance that the oil companies were following. Better communication about management’s decisions may have forestalled the filing of these lawsuits. On the other hand, in the case of interest calculations – where MRM established a policy, nearly a decade ago, that it would assume that calculation of interest was a “hardship” on the oil companies if their payment forms did not include interest – no amount of communication would likely convince the relators, or the general public, that this was a sound policy decision. Rather, even the Associate Director of MRM conceded that this was the “easy way.”

Instead, MRM has manually calculated interest for the oil companies for years, while it has also spent considerable amounts of money to modify its IT system to calculate interest automatically. To date, the effort to automate interest calculations has been largely unsuccessful. The original procurement of and subsequent modifications to this system are now the subject of a separate OIG investigation. In each of these cases, we found that the relators failed to follow either MMS or Departmental reporting requirements.

Again, however, systemic communications failure exasperated the relators’ fundamental distrust that their management chain would proceed appropriately. As for the propriety of auditors using information obtained in the course of their jobs to bring a qui tam lawsuit, the courts have opined that government employees such as these relators were not, as a class, automatically precluded from bringing claims based on facts they learned during the course of their official duties. Our findings concerning the use of official and/or proprietary information remain inconclusive, primarily due to dated, vague policies and rules and poor overall document control.

We are also given pause by certain of the relators’ assertions that, in effect, by filing qui tam lawsuits, the records never left the custody of the government, although we reserve judgment as to the validity of this assertion. Lastly, we considered 18 allegations of retaliation against the relators. Taken individually, the allegations of retaliation range from trivial to troubling.

Although we found no conclusive evidence that MMS deliberately retaliated against the relators, we found some disconcerting behavior – among other things, management’s manifest inattention to personnel matters affecting the reassigned relators when MMS management should have been paying extraordinary attention. Taken collectively, this created an environment where reprisal could certainly be perceived.

As you may know, two of the qui tam cases have since been dismissed – one on jurisdictional grounds, but the other on substantive grounds. The reasoning in the latter decision would suggest that the remainder of the cases might be dismissed as well. Regardless, the findings of our investigation call for a number of improvements in the management of the MRM program, particularly in regard to document control, guidance clarification (and, in the case of the interest calculation “hardship” policy, perhaps recision), and far greater attention to the management and treatment of the reassigned relators.

For a manager to claim that “paperwork is not my forte?” regarding critical personnel matters is simply inexcusable.

Finally, it should go without saying that my expectation is that none of the witnesses identified in our report, especially those who provided us with their most candid views, will suffer any sort of retaliation or retribution for their cooperation with the OIG in this investigation.

If you have any questions or concerns about this report, please do not hesitate to contact me at (202) 208-5745.

Investigative Report

"Art hurts. Art urges voyages--and it is easier to stay at home."

Born in Topeka, KS to a runaway slave and a schoolteacher, Gwendolyn Brooks was encouraged at a young age to read and write. By the age of 13, she had published her first poem. A Street in Bronzeville became her first book of poetry and instantly Gwendolyn Brooks became the darling of the poetry world. It was her 1949 collection of poetry Annie Allen that earned Gwendolyn Brooks the distinction of being the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize.

Until next time!