iBrattleboro.com - Town Finance Committee Report for Special ...

The Brattleboro Town Finance Committee had finished a report with opinions on newly proposed financial policies and debt management, the proposed 1% sales tax, the proposed Police and Fire renovations, and whether new financial rules should become official polices or merely guidelines.

Quick version: the Committee supports the Undesignated Fund Policy, opposes the Debt Management Policy and 1% sales tax, has mixed feelings about Police and Fire Upgrades, and feels that these should be policies, not guidelines.

Read on for the full report:

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Brattleboro Town Finance Committee
Report to Special Representative Town Meeting
October 20, 2012

The Brattleboro Town Finance Committee wishes to thank the Selectboard for seeking our advice on the forthcoming matters. This is typical of the work we do for Representative Town Meeting as delineated in our Charter. We are pleased to share our conclusions with the Selectboard, the town administration and all Brattleboro citizens.

Finance Policies

We would like to begin by referencing two financial policies currently under consideration by the Selectboard. They are relevant to the issues on hand. However at this point, to maintain clarity in today?s discussion, we will be very brief. At the conclusion of these opinions and recommendations we will expand upon them.

The two policies concern the establishment of an Undesignated Fund (our emergency reserves) and debt management. On the former, the Administration has proposed a lower level for this reserve than has been recommended by the Finance Committee (FC). The proposal is for an amount equal to about five weeks operational expenses or 10% of the municipal budget. This would maintain our Undesignated Fund at roughly $1.4 million. The FC, in concurrence with professional standards that advocate a more solid cushion, seeks to maintain a fund that would cover eight weeks of operations or about $2.2 million. For now the FC conditionally accepts and supports the Administration?s recommendation. This should place the Selectboard, the Administration and the FC into alignment and we hope that a policy will be soon enacted. We also advise Representative Town Meeting to respect this proposal as a guideline until a formal policy is in place.

The second policy concerns debt management. This is a more complicated affair and only recently placed on the table by the Administration. The proposal allows for a much higher level of municipal debt than, at first glance, we believe judicious. The FC needs to do more investigation and analysis. A debt service to expenditure ratio of 12.5% (that is, 12.5% of the town budget would be used to pay off debt, primarily the principal and interest on our loans) and a $1,500 debt per capita ratio is high but must be set in a broader context to have meaning. That context is composed of a wider variety of indicators that draws a more complete and balanced picture. It has not yet been produced. Current town debt service is low at about 5.5%. The national average for municipalities is about 8.3%. We do know that the proposed 12.5% level happens to be what a $14.1 million bond would bring us to. This cannot avoid suggesting that a policy is being proposed to legitimize an existing situation. This is generally ill-advised ground for setting policy. Good policies can be written to allow for some flexibility by stipulating corrective actions.

The FC does not at this time support the proposed debt management policy.

The Sales Tax

A strong (5-1) majority of the Finance Committee does not support a one percent increase in the sales tax at this time.

First, it must be recognized that a sales tax is imposed indefinitely. We of course have the power to rescind as well establish but in practical terms it is permanent. It must be considered, properly, as an addition to our revenue stream and not as a funding source for a particular purpose. That said, the FC is in informal agreement that increasing the town?s revenue is probably a good thing. However, in its brief history and limited resources the FC hasn?t yet tackled revenue problems and potential. The sales tax is handy. It?s relatively quick and easy to put in place. We don?t know for sure if it should be included in our formula for financial health.

We do accept the viewpoint that Brattleboro?s retail position is quite fragile as it stands. We have read the position paper produced by BaBB and note that higher sales taxes have a negative effect on retail sales. Although we give weight to this assertion we also acknowledge that we don?t know the extent of this impact in Brattleboro. There are reasons that suggest the loss of sales would be much less than predicted.

As stated in the FC?s last Annual Report a sales tax is a regressive tax. It is the same for all regardless of means. Thus it is more of a burden on consumers with lower incomes. The FC is aware that some essential goods are outside the purview of the tax.
As some will notice, our position has changed since the aforementioned report written eight months ago. New information and further deliberations led us to a different conclusion.

Police/Fire Facilities Project

A 4-2 majority of the Finance Committee supports the Police/Fire Facilities project as proposed. Although there are many reasons to be cautious the benefits appear stronger.

The project is proposed at a time when interest rates are at historic lows. Borrowing costs are greatly reduced. A single percentage point can add a hundred thousand dollars in cost per year over the life of a bond this large. There should be some stimulus to the local economy from construction expenditures but this is short term. We do not see sufficient benefit to phasing the project in over many years. Additional ?soft? costs of planning, design, oversight etc plus the continuing escalation of the cost of materials, not to mention the risk of higher interest rates strongly suggest that most if not all the project be built in one shot.

Income sensitivity programs on homesteads and rentals, through the rental rebate program, will greatly relieve most of the residents of some or all of the tax burden that will be incurred specifically from this project. 71.3% of Brattleboro residents are benefiting from these programs. Incomes as high as $97,000 may qualify although at that level the dollar reductions are tiny. At $47,000 a household may find that its tax burden is capped and an increase in the tax rate has no effect at all. This is a significant factor in determining the affordability of the project.

The project will significantly improve working conditions for department employees. This is accepted as an important morale builder. Improved conditions will not only add to worker safety but public safety in two areas. The public will be safer in the physical environment of these facilities and the improvements will enhance the level of service throughout the broader community. We believe we accurately reflect the desire among the community for the highest level of service within our means.

On the negative side the FC recognizes that this project is proposed without complete and reassuring financial analysis. A 4 or 5% (10 to 12 or 13 cents) jump in the tax rate might have been relatively easily absorbed in years gone by. Now we should be closely examining per capita and household incomes, unemployment rates, valuations and Grand List trends. There is also no reliable analysis and estimate of the impact of a higher property tax on commercial activity. Much more must be known about current economic trends in Brattleboro.

Another serious omission is the lack of a long range capital plan. The bond under consideration will require payments on the average of a million dollars per year for the next 20 years. It is very important to anticipate what other indebtedness may be incurred during this period. Advocates of a bond are quick to illustrate how it diminishes over time but reluctant to chart new debt that will be added. It is also often overlooked, and this is a serious omission that is particularly relevant to most in Brattleboro, that there is another cost to living here that is increasing greatly and occurring simultaneously. Namely, water and sewer rates. We must be mindful that along with a tax increase the average residence on town water and sewer will see bills rise $80 to $85 dollars per year for the next 8 years.

Lastly, there is regret that the Police/Fire project is not being done as part of a master plan. Brattleboro continues its tradition of reacting only when it is up against the wall and thus far more limited in its options. It is ironic that the Administration argues that a piecemeal project is more costly, which of course it is. The irony is that as an entirety our infrastructure costs are higher than need be because, in the absence of a plan, we attend to it in just that way: piecemeal.
This concludes the core of our report.

Addendum on Policies

An issue surrounding the financial policies currently proposed involves the Selectboard?s choice to label them as guidelines rather than policies. The Finance Committee strongly recommends that these standards be categorized as policies.

The Finance Committee (FC) has been looking at policies for the better part of two years. Regardless of where we have gone, what we have read or whom we have spoken with, including foremost professional organizations such as the Government Finance Officers Assn,, the International City/County Management Assn. as well as the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, the Director of the Vermont State Bond Bank and down to our former finance director John Leisenring the policies under discussion have never been referred to as anything other than just that: policies. To frame them as guidelines is unique indeed. If the town were ever to get as deep into financial trouble as it was six and seven years ago such language would be a red flag to a professional assessing our condition. This is not an exercise in mere semantics.

The label of ?policy? carries a well-understood weight of intent. A policy denotes an act of an official nature that has not been created, presumably, without careful thought, research and discussion. Policies may of course be changed by an agreement among the members of the same body than created them. They may in modest measure be temporarily stretched or even ignored. However a policy implies that to change it or deviate significantly requires substantial justification. Policies can be written to allow for extraordinary circumstances and may include remedial actions that would restore their integrity. Quoting from the FC?s last Annual Report:

??policies reflect and record our best thinking. They provide guidance for municipal administrators and, importantly, elected officials who may have no financial background. Policies help avoid repeated debates and discussions on the same subjects. Policies foster public confidence by increasing transparency, accountability and consistency.?

A ?guideline? carries no such common understanding. We often hear during discussion or debate that a guideline is ?only that.? By inference it is meant that the reason for its existence is not of great concern and can be violated without undue debate or deeper justification. A policy need not be inflexible but it calls for respect. It is ignored at some risk and often not without impunity. That is the very intent and meaning of accountability, a primary purpose of policies.

We thank Town Meeting Members for this opportunity to serve them and all the citizens of our town.

Michael Bosworth
Tim Cuthbertson
Bob Rottenberg
John Wilmerding
Kathryn Turnas
Spoon Agave (Chair)

Source: http://www.ibrattleboro.com/article.php/20121016102556543

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Penn researchers find new way to mimic the color and texture of butterfly wings

Public release date: 15-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Evan Lerner
elerner@upenn.edu
215-573-6604
University of Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA The colors of a butterfly's wings are unusually bright and beautiful and are the result of an unusual trait; the way they reflect light is fundamentally different from how color works most of the time.

A team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania has found a way to generate this kind of "structural color" that has the added benefit of another trait of butterfly wings: super-hydrophobicity, or the ability to strongly repel water.

The research was led by Shu Yang, associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science, and included other members of her group: Jie Li, Guanquan Liang and Xuelian Zhu.

Their research was published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

"A lot of research over the last 10 years has gone into trying to create structural colors like those found in nature, in things like butterfly wings and opals," Yang said." People have also been interested in creating superhydrophobic surfaces which is found in things like lotus leaves, and in butterfly wings, too, since they couldn't stay in air with raindrops clinging to them."

The two qualities structural color and superhydrophobicity are related by structures. Structural color is the result of periodic patterns, while superhydrophobicity is the result of surface roughness

When light strikes the surface of a periodic lattice, it's scattered, interfered or diffracted at a wavelength comparable to the lattice size, producing a particularly bright and intense color that is much stronger than color obtained from pigments or dyes.

When water lands on a hydrophobic surface, its roughness reduces the effective contact area between water and a solid area where it can adhere, resulting in an increase of water contact angle and water droplet mobility on such surface.

While trying to combine these traits, engineers have to go through complicated, multi-step processes, first to create color-providing 3D structures out of a polymer, followed by additional steps to make them rough in the nanoscale. These secondary steps, such as nanoparticle assembly, or plasma etching, must be performed very carefully as to not vary the optical property determined by the 3D periodic lattice created in the first step.

Yang's method begins with a non-conventional photolithography technique, holographic lithography, where a laser creates a cross-linked 3D network from a material called a photoresist. The photoresist material in the regions that are not exposed to the laser light are later removed by a solvent, leaving the "holes" in the 3D lattice that provides structural color.

Instead of using nanoparticles or plasma etching, Yang's team was able to add the desired nano-roughness to the structures by simply changing solvents after washing away the photoresist. The trick was to use a poor solvent; the better a solvent is, the more it tries to maximize the contact with the material. Bad solvents have the opposite effect, which the team used to its advantage at the end of the photolithography step.

"The good solvent causes the structure to swell," Yang said. "Once it has swollen, we put in the poor solvent. Because the polymer hates the poor solvent, it crunches in and shrivels, forming nanospheres within the 3D lattice.

"We found that the worse the solvent we used, the more rough we could make the structures," Yang said.

Both superhydrophobicity and structural color are in high demand for a variety of applications. Materials with structural color could be used in as light-based analogs of semiconductors, for example, for light guiding, lasing and sensing. As they repel liquids, superhydrophobic coatings are self-cleaning and waterproof. Since optical devices are highly dependent on their degree of light transmission, the ability to maintain the device surface's dryness and cleanliness will minimize the energy consumption and negative environmental impact without the use of intensive labors and chemicals. Yang has recently received a grant to develop such coatings for solar panels.

The researchers have ideas for how the two traits could be combined in one application, as well.

"Specifically, we're interested in putting this kind of material on the outside of buildings," Yang said. "The structural color we can produce is bright and highly decorative, and it won't fade away like conventional pigmentation color dies. The introduction of nano-roughness will offer additional benefits, such as energy efficiency and environmental friendliness.

"It could be a high-end facade for the aesthetics alone, in addition to the appeal of its self-cleaning properties. We are also developing energy efficient building skins that will integrate such materials in optical sensors."

###

The research was supported by the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 15-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Evan Lerner
elerner@upenn.edu
215-573-6604
University of Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA The colors of a butterfly's wings are unusually bright and beautiful and are the result of an unusual trait; the way they reflect light is fundamentally different from how color works most of the time.

A team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania has found a way to generate this kind of "structural color" that has the added benefit of another trait of butterfly wings: super-hydrophobicity, or the ability to strongly repel water.

The research was led by Shu Yang, associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science, and included other members of her group: Jie Li, Guanquan Liang and Xuelian Zhu.

Their research was published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

"A lot of research over the last 10 years has gone into trying to create structural colors like those found in nature, in things like butterfly wings and opals," Yang said." People have also been interested in creating superhydrophobic surfaces which is found in things like lotus leaves, and in butterfly wings, too, since they couldn't stay in air with raindrops clinging to them."

The two qualities structural color and superhydrophobicity are related by structures. Structural color is the result of periodic patterns, while superhydrophobicity is the result of surface roughness

When light strikes the surface of a periodic lattice, it's scattered, interfered or diffracted at a wavelength comparable to the lattice size, producing a particularly bright and intense color that is much stronger than color obtained from pigments or dyes.

When water lands on a hydrophobic surface, its roughness reduces the effective contact area between water and a solid area where it can adhere, resulting in an increase of water contact angle and water droplet mobility on such surface.

While trying to combine these traits, engineers have to go through complicated, multi-step processes, first to create color-providing 3D structures out of a polymer, followed by additional steps to make them rough in the nanoscale. These secondary steps, such as nanoparticle assembly, or plasma etching, must be performed very carefully as to not vary the optical property determined by the 3D periodic lattice created in the first step.

Yang's method begins with a non-conventional photolithography technique, holographic lithography, where a laser creates a cross-linked 3D network from a material called a photoresist. The photoresist material in the regions that are not exposed to the laser light are later removed by a solvent, leaving the "holes" in the 3D lattice that provides structural color.

Instead of using nanoparticles or plasma etching, Yang's team was able to add the desired nano-roughness to the structures by simply changing solvents after washing away the photoresist. The trick was to use a poor solvent; the better a solvent is, the more it tries to maximize the contact with the material. Bad solvents have the opposite effect, which the team used to its advantage at the end of the photolithography step.

"The good solvent causes the structure to swell," Yang said. "Once it has swollen, we put in the poor solvent. Because the polymer hates the poor solvent, it crunches in and shrivels, forming nanospheres within the 3D lattice.

"We found that the worse the solvent we used, the more rough we could make the structures," Yang said.

Both superhydrophobicity and structural color are in high demand for a variety of applications. Materials with structural color could be used in as light-based analogs of semiconductors, for example, for light guiding, lasing and sensing. As they repel liquids, superhydrophobic coatings are self-cleaning and waterproof. Since optical devices are highly dependent on their degree of light transmission, the ability to maintain the device surface's dryness and cleanliness will minimize the energy consumption and negative environmental impact without the use of intensive labors and chemicals. Yang has recently received a grant to develop such coatings for solar panels.

The researchers have ideas for how the two traits could be combined in one application, as well.

"Specifically, we're interested in putting this kind of material on the outside of buildings," Yang said. "The structural color we can produce is bright and highly decorative, and it won't fade away like conventional pigmentation color dies. The introduction of nano-roughness will offer additional benefits, such as energy efficiency and environmental friendliness.

"It could be a high-end facade for the aesthetics alone, in addition to the appeal of its self-cleaning properties. We are also developing energy efficient building skins that will integrate such materials in optical sensors."

###

The research was supported by the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/uop-prf101512.php

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Know Your Rights if a Store Detains You for Shoplifting [Know Your Rights]

Being detained by a store or mall security office under suspicion of shoplifting is an experience no one wants to have. Often mall security will try to pressure you into signing a statement admitting your guilt (often threatening to call the police if you don't) or force you to pay restitution for your offense, but in some cases things can escalate. If you're detained for shoplifting?regardless of whether you're innocent or guilty?you have rights. Here's what you need to know.

This post is part of our Evil Week series at Lifehacker, where we look at the dark side of getting things done. Knowing evil means knowing how to beat it, so you can use your sinister powers for good. Want more? Check out our evil week tag page.

What Has to Happen for a Store to Detain You

The first thing you need to know is what a store has to have or has to see in order to exercise their right to detain you. First, a witness or employee needs to establish probable cause. They need to actually see you take store merchandise and put it in your hand (as in, they can't just see you holding something that could have come from home or outside the store,) and they have to see you conceal or carry that merchandise away from its location and either depart the store or walk towards the exit (and away from the cashiers) with the merchandise in hand or concealed on your person. Photo by Dan Previte.

Depending on your jurisdiction, you cannot even be approached until you've left the store premises. This isn't universally true, and often the act of concealment of store property is enough evidence to have you arrested and charged. Sometimes, store security staff (or the contract security firms that work in malls) will bend the rules a bit and rely on your ignorance of your rights in order to detain you if they're certain they have probable cause. In some cases, they'll threaten to call the police if you don't cooperate.

It's also important to note that while the above is largely true in most cases, jurisdictions differ?sometimes significantly?when it comes to the least amount of evidence required for a store or mall to detain you. In all cases, security needs probable cause, but how strong that case needs to be can vary.

What You Need To Know

When store security approaches you, they're acting within a very limited and specific jurisdiction and base of authority. They do not have the right to keep you in a small space or confined to a single room without allowing you to leave that space (although they are allowed to keep you from leaving the premises or keep you under surveillance for the duration of your time there if they have established probable cause or until the police arrive.) At any time, you have the right to request a police presence and legal representation. Keep in mind most retailers have very specific guidelines about how a customer is to be approached and detained.

If you do have stolen merchandise on your person and it's discovered by store security or the police if they're called, the store has the right to have you arrested and charged with theft. You, then, have the right to not incriminate yourself and to obtain legal representation. If the store claims that they have witnesses who observed you shoplifting, you also have the right to question that witness' suitability for probable cause, either to police when they arrive or to your legal representation if you're charged. Photo by Jake Setlak.

Unfortunately, you don't have a lot of rights that allow you to explicitly talk your way out of being detained. You can always try to talk around security by simply refusing to be detained and walking away, but they have the right to call the police or physically block you from leaving. Your best bet is to appeal to the management of the store or mall and make your case to an employee instead of a security officer. Requesting police presence when security isn't sure of their own case against you is also a good way to call their bluff, but contacting the police can be a good or bad thing depending on your situation. As always, you have the right not to answer questions until police or a lawyer are present, and you have the right to request them.

What You Should Do

The best thing to do is cooperate. If the police are called and the store has appropriately established probable cause, the police can search you. If they recover concealed items or observe security footage of your theft, you can be arrested and charged. Many stores never bother with the police, and simply request that any stolen goods be returned, issue a stern warning to the shoplifter, and let them go. Others require that the shoplifter pay the value of the item or some kind of fee and sign a confession before letting them go and dropping the matter. Most will at least demand that you never return to the store. Photo by Hailgumby.

If you've been wrongly detained, cooperation is still likely your best route. This way, you can get out of the situation quickly and address the offense on your own terms. Explaining to security or the store manager that they're mistaken is a good start, but if they're not convinced, you can and should request representation, that you be shown the evidence against you, charged with a crime, or released. In most cases, security officials who don't have a case against you know it, and most are unwilling to risk a false arrest or imprisonment claim.

Even so, being belligerent and hot-headed won't help you in a situation like this. Cooler heads will prevail, and the last thing you should do is go off half-cocked and start complaining that the store needs a warrant to hold you or that your Fourth Amendment rights have been violated (Note: The Fourth Amendment doesn't come into play until an agent of the government?like the police?are involved) or that your right to privacy has been violated (which it may be, depending on your jurisdiction, but saying that isn't going to get you released any sooner.)

---

Cooperate and be honest and you'll likely get out of the situation with no trouble at all. If you feel your rights have been violated, your best bet is to get out of the situation, seek professional legal counsel, and then file your complaint with the store management, the ACLU (if you feel your civil rights have been violated,) and the police. You may be able to sue for false arrest or false imprisonment.

Finally, a disclaimer: The above isn't meant to be professional legal counsel in any way, and if you're concerned about a specific case or want more information about the laws in your jurisdiction, you should contact a lawyer.

Have you been wrongly detained under suspicion of shoplifting? Are you a lawyer and have better advice to offer? Share your tips in the comments below.

This post is part of our Evil Week series at Lifehacker, where we look at the dark side of getting things done. Knowing evil means knowing how to beat it, so you can use your sinister powers for good. Want more? Check out our evil week tag page.

Photo by Daniel Lobo.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/TJONf0Cqwwc/know-your-rights-if-a-store-detains-you-for-shoplifting

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contrariwise carola: Sports ? Rodeo | Visual Arts Library Picture ...

Sports ? Rodeo

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Source: http://svapc.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/sports-rodeo/

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Karina Smirnoff Falls, Cries on Dancing With the Stars

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Longtime GOP Senate moderate Arlen Specter dies

FILE - In this Monday, March 29, 2010, file photo, Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., leads a Senate field hearing, in Philadelphia. Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, longtime Senate moderate and architect of one-bullet theory in JFK death, died Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. He was 82. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

FILE - In this Monday, March 29, 2010, file photo, Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., leads a Senate field hearing, in Philadelphia. Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, longtime Senate moderate and architect of one-bullet theory in JFK death, died Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. He was 82. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

FILE - In this May 17, 2010 file photo, Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. campaigns in New Cumberland, Pa. Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, longtime Senate moderate and architect of one-bullet theory in JFK death, died Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. He was 82. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE -This November 1965 file photo shows Arlen Specter posing for a portrait. Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the Republican-turned-Democrat who played a key role in many Supreme Court nominations, died Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. . He was 82. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In a June 29, 2010 file photo, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., left, talks with committee member Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., on Capitol Hill in Washington, during a break in Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's confirmation hearing before the committee. Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, longtime Senate moderate and architect of one-bullet theory in JFK death, died Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. He was 82. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2009 file photo, President Barack Obama arrives at a fundraising event for Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, longtime Senate moderate and architect of one-bullet theory in JFK death, died Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. He was 82. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) ? For most of his 30 years as Pennsylvania's longest-serving U.S. senator and prominent moderate in Congress, Arlen Specter was a Republican, though often at odds with the GOP leadership.

He helped end the Supreme Court hopes of former federal appeals Judge Robert H. Bork, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan. Decades later, he was one of only three Republicans in Congress to vote for President Barack Obama's economic stimulus.

His breaks with his party were hardly a surprise: He had begun his political career as a Democrat and ended it as one, too.

In between, he was at the heart of several major American political events. He rose to prominence in the 1960s as an assistant counsel to the Warren Commission, developing the single-bullet theory in President John F. Kennedy's assassination. He came to the Senate in the Reagan landslide of 1980 and was a key voice in the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of both Bork and Clarence Thomas.

Specter died Sunday died at his home in Philadelphia from complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, said his son Shanin. He was 82. Over the years, Specter had fought two previous bouts with Hodgkin lymphoma, overcome a brain tumor and survived cardiac arrest following bypass surgery.

Intellectual and stubborn, Specter took the lead on a wide spectrum of issues and was no stranger to controversy.

In one of his last major political acts, Specter startled fellow senators in April 2009 when he announced he was joining the Democrats. He said he was "increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy," though he said the Democrats could not count on him to be "an automatic 60th vote" that would give them a filibuster-proof majority.

He had also concluded that he was unlikely to win a sixth term as a Republican, and his frankness about why he returned to the Democratic Party was packaged in a powerful TV ad by his primary opponent, then-U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, who hammered away at the incumbent as a political opportunist.

"My change in party will enable me to be re-elected," Specter says in TV news footage used in the ad.

The announcer ends the ad saying, "Arlen Specter changed parties to save one job ? his, not yours."

Democrats picked Sestak, a retired Navy vice admiral, over Specter in the 2010 primary, ending his decades of service. Sestak lost Specter's seat to conservative Republican Rep. Pat Toomey in the general election by 2 percentage points.

Specter rose to prominence in the 1960s as an aggressive Philadelphia prosecutor and during his time on the Warren Commission.

In 1987, Specter helped thwart Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court, earning him conservative enemies who still bitterly refer to such denials as being "borked." But four years later, Specter was criticized by liberals for his tough questioning of Anita Hill at Thomas' Supreme Court nomination hearings and for accusing her of committing "flat-out perjury." The interrogation, televised nationally, incensed women's groups and nearly cost him his seat in 1992.

Specter took credit for helping to defeat President Bill Clinton's national health care plan ? the complexities of which he highlighted in a gigantic chart that hung on his office wall for years afterward ? and helped lead the investigation into Gulf War syndrome, the name given to a collection of symptoms experienced by veterans of the war that include fatigue, memory loss, pain and difficulty sleeping. And following the Iran-Contra scandal, Specter pushed legislation that created the inspectors general of the CIA, which later exposed Aldrich Ames as a Soviet spy.

But he was not afraid to buck his fellow Republicans.

As a senior member of the powerful Appropriations Committee, Specter pushed for increased funding for stem-cell research, breast cancer and Alzheimer's disease, and supported several labor-backed initiatives in a GOP-led Congress. He also doggedly sought federal funds for local projects in his home state.

In 1995, he launched a presidential bid, denouncing religious conservatives as the "fringe" that plays too large a role in setting the party's agenda. Specter, who was Jewish, bowed out before the first primary because of lackluster fundraising.

Specter's irascible independence caught up with him in 2004. He barely survived a GOP primary challenge from Toomey by 17,000 votes of more than 1.4 million cast. He went on to easily win the general election with the help of organized labor, a traditionally Democratic constituency.

Specter was diagnosed in 2005 with stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system. Announcing the diagnosis with his trademark doggedness, Specter said: "I have beaten a brain tumor, bypass heart surgery and many tough political opponents and I'm going to beat this, too."

"Arlen Specter was always a fighter," Obama said in a statement Sunday. "From his days stamping out corruption as a prosecutor in Philadelphia to his three decades of service in the Senate, Arlen was fiercely independent ? never putting party or ideology ahead of the people he was chosen to serve. He brought that same toughness and determination to his personal struggles."

Specter wrote of his illness in a 2008 book, "Never Give In: Battling Cancer in the Senate," saying he wanted to let others facing similar crises "ought to know they are not alone."

Cancer handed him "a stark look at mortality" and an "added sense of humility," Specter told The Associated Press.

Born in Wichita, Kan., on Feb. 12, 1930, Specter spent summers toiling in his father's junkyard in Russell, Kan., where he knew another future senator ? Bob Dole. The junkyard thrived during World War II, allowing Specter's father to send his four children to college.

Specter left Kansas for college in 1947 because the University of Kansas, where his best friends were headed, did not have Jewish fraternities. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1951 and Yale law school in 1956. He served in the Air Force from 1951 to 1953.

Friends say his childhood circumstances made him determined, tough and independent-minded. Specter considered his father's triumphs the embodiment of the American dream, a fulfillment that friends say drove him to a career in public life.

He entered politics as a Democrat in Philadelphia in the early 1960s, when he was an assistant district attorney who sent six Teamsters officials to jail for union corruption.

Working on the Warren Commission in 1964, Specter was the chief author of the theory that a single bullet had hit both Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connally, an assumption critical to the conclusion that presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. The theory remains controversial and was the subject of ridicule in Oliver Stone's 1991 movie "JFK."

After working on the Warren Commission, he returned to Philadelphia and challenged his boss, James Crumlish, for district attorney in 1965. Specter ran as a Republican and was derided by Crumlish as "Benedict Arlen." But Crumlish lost to his protege by 36,000 votes.

Specter lost re-election as district attorney in 1973 and went into private practice. Among his most notorious clients as a private attorney was Ira Einhorn, a Philadelphia counterculture celebrity who killed his girlfriend in 1977.

Finally, in 1980, Specter won the Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Richard Schweiker, defeating former Pittsburgh Mayor Pete Flaherty.

After leaving the Senate in January 2011, the University of Pennsylvania Law School said Specter would teach a course about Congress' relationship with the Supreme Court, and Maryland Public Television launched a political-affairs show hosted by the former senator.

He also occasionally performed standup comedy at clubs in Philadelphia and New York. He played squash nearly every day into his mid-70s and liked to unwind with a martini or two at night.

A funeral was scheduled for Tuesday in Penn Valley, Pa., and will be open to the public, followed by burial in Huntingdon Valley, Pa.

Specter is survived by his wife, Joan, and two sons, Shanin and Steve, and four granddaughters.

___

Associated Press writers Ron Todt in Philadelphia and Lara Jakes contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-10-14-Obit-Arlen%20Specter/id-20c93a11223b4fabb3398389d5c161f2

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Botswana court rules in favor of gender equality

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Ke$ha Makes History, Proves She's 'Not A Train Wreck' In Vibe

'Tik Tok' singer becomes the first living white woman to land a solo cover on the magazine.
By Nadeska Alexis

Gunplay arrives at the Miami police department Thursday
Photo: MTV News

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1695418/kesha-vibe-magazine-cover.jhtml

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Nobel winner Mo urges China dissident's freedom

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Computer Forensics Grows in Police Departments

The Internet, computers, and the other technological devices are becoming such an ingrained part of our society that it?s just about impossible to walk down the street without seeing several cell phones, tablets, and laptop bags under shoulders as people go about their business. The world is more connected than ever before, and that can be a good thing. However, it also means that the level of crime on the computers is rising, and it is rising quickly and it is taking many different forms. Police departments know that they need to be able to combat cyber crime, and that is why more departments are starting to add computer forensic specialists.

What Cyber Crime is Out There?

When you talk with a computer forensics recruiter, he or she can tell you a bit more about the different types of crimes that are really starting to cause some serious problems. Identity theft and credit card theft, as well as other financial crimes are causing serious problems. Hacking into companies and stealing private information and passwords is a problem as well. Of course, the crimes that the computer forensics specialists are going to be able to help with go into many other areas as well. It is possible to learn how to dig into computer files that people thought they deleted.

The specialists will be able to uncover evidence hidden on computers, phones, cameras, and more, and this evidence can lead to the capture and conviction of some very bad people. Because of the way that this area of forensics can really help a police department, it is only natural that they are going to need to have more computer forensic specialists working for them.

You should start looking up cases in the media where computer forensics plays a role. While you may not be able to find high profile cases every day, you should still be able to come across quite a few examples of how computer forensics helped to turn the tide of a case.

Getting into the Field

Some of the departments are not going to be able to afford to hire specialists and add them to their staff. In these departments, it might be possible to get a job as a police officer, though. You could get your computer forensics training and then use that as an advantage when you are trying to get a job as a police officer. This can get you into the department and make you a specialist. You can use the experience that you gain to move into another department or job later if you choose.

In other departments, they might have a large forensics department, and you may be able to get a job on the forensics team. This is a great way to add to your experience level, and you will find that some of the jobs can be quite exciting. Of course, before you can do any of this, you are going to need to make sure that you have the right training.

The best way to start your training is by first speaking with a computer forensics recruiter. He or she can help you get more information on the classes you need and help you decide whether you want to take online classes or classes in a traditional setting.

While getting a job in law enforcement is an area where many computer forensics graduates want to enter, it is not the only option. Companies, as well as security firms, will often want to have computer forensic specialists on staff to help them with any issues that might arise. In the case of the security firms, they often hire out their forensics specialists to other companies.

Anita Schepers provides advice and information on?computer forensics recruiter?programs?at?Computer-Forensics-Recruiter.com.

Source: http://gsmtweet.com/computer-forensics-grows-in-police-departments/

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New studies could result in better treatments for epilepsy, behavioral disorders

ScienceDaily (Oct. 11, 2012) ? Three studies conducted as part of Wayne State University's Systems Biology of Epilepsy Project (SBEP) could result in new types of treatment for the disease and, as a bonus, for behavioral disorders as well.

The SBEP started out with funds from the President's Research Enhancement Fund and spanned neurology, neuroscience, genetics and computational biology. It since has been supported by multiple National Institutes of Health-funded grants aimed at identifying the underlying causes of epilepsy, and it is uniquely integrated within the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program at the Wayne State School of Medicine and the Detroit Medical Center.

Under the guidance of Jeffrey Loeb, M.D., Ph.D., associate director of the Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics (CMMG) and professor of neurology, the project brings together researchers from different fields to create an interdisciplinary research program that targets the complex disease. The multifaceted program at Wayne State is like no other in the world, officials say, with two primary goals: improving clinical care and creating novel strategies for diagnosis and treatment of patients with epilepsy.

The three studies were published in high-impact journals and use human brain tissue research to identify new targets for drug development, generate a new animal model and identify a new class of drugs to treat the disease. In the first study, "Layer-Specific CREB Target Gene Induction in Human Neocortical Epilepsy," published recently in the Journal of Neuroscience, donated human brain samples were probed to identify 137 genes strongly associated with epileptic seizures.

Researchers then showed that the most common pathway is activated in very specific layers of the cortex, and that it's associated with increased numbers of synapses in those areas. Because epilepsy is a disease of abnormal neuronal synchrony, the finding could explain why some brain regions produce clinical seizures.

"Higher density of synapses may explain how abnormal epileptic discharges, or spikes, are formed, and in what layer," Loeb said, adding that localizing the exact layer of the brain in which that process occurs is useful both for understanding the mechanism and for developing therapeutics.

The first study, which identified a new drug target for epilepsy, precipitated a second study that has found such a drug.

In the second study, "Electrical, Molecular and Behavioral Effects of Interictal Spiking in the Rat," published recently in Neurobiology of Disease, SBEP researchers found that the same brain layers in the rat are activated as in the human tissues and searched for a drug to target those layers. In fact, the first drug they tried, a compound called SL327 that has been used in nonhuman subjects to understand how memory works, "worked like a dream," Loeb said. "SL327 prevented spiking in rat brains," he said, "which not only prevented seizures, but led to more normal behaviors as well."

That finding led to collaborations between Loeb's lab and Nash Boutros, M.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences, and the Belgian drug company UCB.

"Whereas animals that developed epileptic spiking became hyperactive, those treated with the drug and had less spiking in their brains were more like normal animals," Loeb said. "Now whenever we screen for drugs for epilepsy, we look at behavior as well as epileptic activity."

Noting that many seizure medicines currently are used to treat various psychiatric disorders, Loeb said the SBEP team's latest round of work marks a "nice crossover" between psychiatry and neurology in the field of drugs related to epilepsy.

In the third study, just published in Genetics, researchers say they have found "fascinating interrelationships" between "junk" long noncoding RNA and normal RNA that are regulated by human brain activity. That work has the potential to be translated into new genetic treatments for epilepsy.

"This study shows how the human brain deals with half of the human genome in its most important function, electrical activity, using human brain tissue from patients with epilepsy to understand the basic molecular processes of how the brain works, and what's unique about human brains compared to the brains of less-developed species," Loeb said.

The third study, titled "Activity-Dependent Human Brain Coding/Noncoding Gene Regulatory Networks," is a collaborative effort between Loeb's lab and Leonard Lipovich, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurology and molecular medicine and genetics. It found that certain genes and their noncoding counterparts (which some researchers have called "junk") are co-regulated, or turned on at the same time, with brain activity.

"This tells us that some of these noncoding genes may actually have functions in brain activity," Loeb said. "In some, turning one on turns another one off. Some are regulatory and can be used to control plasticity genes -- which are involved in memory, learning and behavior -- with one of these novel, noncoding RNA genes."

The synergy exhibited by the three studies, Loeb said, is testimony to the multidisciplinary nature of Wayne State's systems biology platform, partly developed with a remarkable three-dimensional database created in cooperation with Farshad Fotouhi, Ph.D., dean of the College of Engineering, and Jing Hua, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science.

"SBEP is a cross-campus endeavor," Loeb said. "These studies are the fruits of the labor of this consortium and only exist at WSU. The next steps will be translating these exciting findings into new treatments to prevent or even cure patients with epilepsy and other psychiatric disorders."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Wayne State University - Office of the Vice President for Research, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal References:

1. Thomas L. Beaumont, Bin Yao, Aashit Shah, Gregory Kapatos and Jeffrey A. Loeb. Layer-Specific CREB Target Gene Induction in Human Neocortical Epilepsy. Journal of Neuroscience, 2012 DOI: 10.1523/%u200BJNEUROSCI.3408-12.2012
2. Daniel T. Barkmeier, Danielle Senador, Karine Leclercq, Darshan Pai, Jing Hua, Nash N. Boutros, Rafal M. Kaminski, Jeffrey A. Loeb. Electrical, molecular and behavioral effects of interictal spiking in the rat. Neurobiology of Disease, 2012; 47 (1): 92 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2012.03.026
3. L. Lipovich, F. Dachet, J. Cai, S. Bagla, K. Balan, H. Jia, J. A. Loeb. Activity-dependent Human Brain Coding/Non-coding Gene Regulatory Networks. Genetics, 2012; DOI: 10.1534/genetics.112.145128

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/IyZ_kYgiFAc/121011162156.htm

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The 2012 Relocation Reports: Ward County, North ... - CoMo Realty

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NAR Research has produced a total of 3,147 Relocation Reports for U.S. counties. The Relocation Report for each county presents information for that county on county?to?county migration flows within the United States, the average incomes of households moving between the specific county and other counties, demographic summaries of homeownership rates, and types of home mortgages (e.g., Conventional, FHA, VA, and FSA/RHS). The most recently available data are for 2010.

Minot is the county seat of Ward County and is noted for its air force base and as a trading center for a large portion of northern North Dakota as well as parts of Canada.

Total in-migration to the county was 2,359, of which 1,727 households came from out of state?for example,

Clark County, NV (50 households)
Bossier Parish, LA (40 households)
Santa Barbara, CA (35 households)

In-migration from in-state counties included Cass County (86 households), and McHenry County (61 households).

Total out-migration was 1,889 households, of which 1,245 moved to a different state?for example,

Maricopa County, AZ (33 households)
Bossier Parish, LA (31 households)
Clark County, NV (26 households)

Out-migration to counties in North Dakota included Burleigh County (112 households) and Cass County (85 households).

The homeownership rate for Ward County was reported as 63 percent. For home sales with mortgages, 58 percent were conventional, 22 percent FHA-insured, and 20 percent VA-guaranteed.

The average income of households moving into Ward County was $33,947, and the average income of households leaving the county was $37,960.

More information can be found here.

Source: http://comorealty.com/the-2012-relocation-reports-ward-county-north-dakota/

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Security Best Practice - Business Computing World

Organisations of all sizes and industries maintain extensive financial, customer and mission-critical business data. However, when sensitive information is misused or compromised, organisations will often pay a heavy price. Recent high-profile security breaches have cost millions in revenue and lost opportunities. These fears, along with new security standards and regulations, have driven IT professionals to deploy encryption more broadly.

The problem is that, having done so, the encryption keys used to secure data become the figurative ?keys to the kingdom.? The key (and not the data itself) becomes the entity that must be safeguarded. Efforts to manage these keys manually, however, represent a significant security risk and become operationally challenging, especially as encryption is deployed across disparate systems and applications.

Organisations are struggling to properly manage and control these rapidly multiplying certificates and keys to prevent security breaches, system downtime and other disasters. It?s a catch 22 situation ? but it doesn?t have to be.

The EKCM challenge

Before we can solve the problem of enterprise key and certificate management (EKCM), we must first fully understand the challenges faced:

• Certificates that are not renewed and replaced before they expire can cause serious downtime and outages
• Regulations and requirements (like PCI-DSS) demand stringent security and management of cryptographic keys and auditors are increasingly reviewing the management controls and processes in use
• Private keys used with certificates must be kept secure or unauthorised individuals can intercept confidential communications or gain unauthorised access to critical systems. Failure to ensure proper segregation of duties means that admins who generate the encryption keys can use them to access sensitive, regulated data
• The average certificate and private key require four hours per year to manage, taking administrators away from more important tasks and costs hundreds of thousands of pounds per year for many organisations
• The rollout of new projects and business applications is hindered because of the inability to deploy and manage encryption to support the security requirements of those projects
• If a certificate authority is compromised or an encryption algorithm is broken, organisations must be prepared to replace all of their certificates and keys in a matter of hours.

The simple fact is that certificates and private keys play a critical role in securing data and systems across all types of organisations. Having understood the risks of unmanaged encryption deployments, it is imperative to utilise EKCM best practices.

EKCM best practice

The effective management of certificates and private keys involves multiple individuals and groups. It is critical to establish clear and concise responsibilities for the various stakeholders. This helps ensure that nothing gets overlooked and multiple parties aren?t duplicating work to other projects.

The critical starting point in any certificate and private key management strategy is to create a comprehensive inventory of all certificates, their locations and responsible parties. This is not a trivial matter because certificates are deployed in a variety of locations by different individuals and teams ? it?s simply not possible to rely on a list from a certificate authority. Adhering to the below practices will ensure that no certificates are missed:

Import from certificate authorities

Gather what you already know about the certificates from existing certificate authorities. It is very dangerous to assume that an import from your known CAs will provide an accurate inventory of all certificates; it?s merely a starting point that must be augmented by discovery.

Individual import from admins

Network and agent-based discoveries can take time and it may not be possible to perform them in all corporate locations. That makes it critical to educate administrators and make sure they are proactively reporting any certificates they are aware of and adding them to the inventory.

Perform network discovery

Perform a network discovery to find certificates that are present on a listening port such as HTTPS. Start by gathering your network address ranges and then collect a list of ports to check. You can initially check on port 443, but there are many ports on which certificates are commonly presented.

Agent-based discovery

Many certificates are not discoverable via network ports, such as client-side certificates used for mutual authentication on SSL. Finding these certificates typically involves performing file system scans on server and client systems with a locally-installed agent.

Sounds simple! Just remember that performing an inventory is not a one-time event. You should repeat the steps above weekly to ensure the inventory is up to date.

As you?re developing your inventory, establish a correlation of who the contacts and owners are for certificates. Wherever possible assign groups as the contacts instead of individuals to avoid a single point of failure. Some helpful sources include certificate authorities, tracking spreadsheets, and even a CMDB. Define clear responsibilities for maintenance of certificate contact information.

An important method for preventing in-service expirations is to establish a central monitoring function that ensures certificates are replaced prior to expiration by automatically notifying responsible groups. Only when the new certificate has been installed and the application has been reset to use the new certificate prior to the time of expiration is the risk of downtime averted.

Expiration reports should be sent to certificate owners each month that show a list of all certificates expiring in the next 90 days. Individual expiration notifications should be sent if action has not been taken on an individual certificate within 30 days of expiration. If action has not been taken within 20 days prior to expiration, escalation to additional parties should be added. At 10 days from expiration, notifications should be sent to a NOC or other corporate group that is responsible to respond to the crisis until it is resolved.

Establish standard practices for enrolment and provisioning that maximize reliability and repeatability, ensure security and compliance to policy, and minimize load on your administrators. There are easily 20 or more steps involved in issuing or renewing a certificate. These steps must be standardised and implemented in compliance with policy every time.

Errors are inevitable when the steps outlined above are performed manually. In addition, confidently ensuring the security of the private key is very challenging when these operations are performed manually. Automated methods of certificate enrolment and provisioning exist and should be considered.

EKCM best practice is vital if you?re to avoid the complications, embarrassment and expense of your organisation?s security being compromised. Make sure you have a clear understanding what the risks that apply to your organisation are. By prioritising them, and clearly communicating the importance of addressing them in your organisation, you can accelerate the implementation and adoption of best practices since all stakeholders will understand the implications of not doing so.

Calum Macleod

Calum MacLeod has over 30 years of expertise in secure networking technologies, and as EMEA Director for Venafi is responsible for developing their business across Europe providing solutions in the automated encryption management arena including certificate management and enterprise key management. Before joining Venafi, Calum worked for Tufin Technologies growing their lifecycle security management business across Europe and South Africa and previous to this worked for Cyber-Ark and AEP where he was responsible for leading some of the early SSL VPN projects in Europe. Calum has also served as an independent consultant to corporate and government clients on IT security strategy for various European market segments, including the European Commission.

Calum MacLeod has over 30 years of expertise in secure networking technologies, and as EMEA Director for Venafi is responsible for developing their business across Europe providing solutions in the automated encryption management arena including certificate management and enterprise key management. Before joining Venafi, Calum worked for Tufin Technologies growing their lifecycle security management business across Europe and South Africa and previous to this worked for Cyber-Ark and AEP where he was responsible for leading some of the early SSL VPN projects in Europe. Calum has also served as an independent consultant to corporate and government clients on IT security strategy for various European market segments, including the European Commission. ...less info

Source: http://www.businesscomputingworld.co.uk/security-best-practice-keeping-the-keys-to-the-kingdom-safe/

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Unhiding The Past: Gay and Lesbian Ancestors | Destination: Austin ...

Today, October 11, is National Coming Out Day and every year I make an effort to honor those in my family tree who are not-so-easily found because of their sexual identity. I also "come out" to the genealogy community as a self-identified gay man.
I Am a Gay Genealogist

Or, perhaps "I'm a genealogist who happens to be gay," would be a better way to express that. Readers may or may not know that I am gay and that I've been "out" to family, friends and colleagues for over 25 years now. When I meet others in the genealogy field, whether it be online or in-person, I don't put my sexuality on the front burner. ?Not only would that be inappropriate, in my opinion, but it doesn't define who I am in the genealogy world.

Being gay is something I'm comfortable with and if it comes up in conversation, so be it. ?I've been on the receiving end of many different responses and reactions to my being gay, positive and negative, including:

• Isn't it difficult being a gay genealogist? Actually, no it isn't. ?I encounter the same record sets, the same brick walls, the same everything that any other genealogist does.

• What about the Mormon influence on genealogy . . . have you had anyone avoid working with you because of your sexual identity? Yes, I've had several people and firms decide not to work with me, most likely due to the "gay" thing, but it isn't just limited to LDS folks. Sometimes people let their personal views impact how they interact with me. ?It's a free country and as far as I'm concerned, it is their loss.

  And as I tell anyone who asks about genealogy and the involvement of the LDS church, I count my Mormon friends and colleagues as some of the best people to work with. Period. I've never had a harsh word towards me nor has there been any attempt to "convert" me in any way. Our focus is on genealogy and family history and we celebrate our common mission in making sure that everyone can find all their ancestors.

• Isn't a bit of an?anomaly?that a gay man with no children would focus on genealogy? I don't see it as odd and if you think that gay men and women don't have a sense of family, then you are mistaken. Many of us are raising our own children or we are a big part of the lives of our cousins, our nieces and nephews and other family members. Everyone has family. And everyone should have the ability to find out more about their family's history.

Ancestors: Come Out, Come Out

The ability to be integrated into society as a gay man or woman is much different than it was 50, 75 or 100 years ago. It is much easier for me than it was for those gay men and women who came before me. Have you ever wondered if someone in your family tree was gay? ?Gay people are often left hidden in our family history, or family members just don't want to talk about them.

In my own genealogy research, my goal is to make sure that each person is fairly and wholly represented and ?each on has an equal voice.

I'm Thomas. I'm a Genealogist. And I'm Gay.

Just in case you didn't know. ?If this is news to you, now that you know, how are things different? ?They aren't. ?You just know more about me than you did a minute ago. ?I'm still the same Thomas.

Photo: Joe and Friend, abt. 1936, Long Island, New York. Personal collection of Thomas MacEntee.

? 2012, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Source: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/2012/10/unhiding-past-gay-and-lesbian-ancestors.html

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