Louis J Sheehan 80116

A Recipe for Happiness

Emily Sohn
Louis J Sheehan
It feels good to be happy. Laughing is fun. And most people like to have a good time.
"If you ask people what they want for their children, most say, 'I want them to be happy,'" says psychologist and happiness researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California, Riverside.

Louis J Sheehan 80115

Rise of Democracy - Solon's Constitution

"And all the others were called Thetes, who were not admitted to any office, but could come to the assembly, and act as jurors; which at first seemed nothing, but afterwards was found an enormous privilege, as almost every matter of dispute came before them in this latter capacity
- Plutarch Life of Solon

After dealing with the immediate crises, Solon redefined citizenship so as to create the foundations of democracy. Before Solon, the eupatridai (nobles) had a monopoly on the government by virtue of their birth. Solon replaced the hereditary aristocracy with one based on wealth.

In the new system, there were four propertied classes in Attica. Depending on how much property they owned, citizens were entitled to run for certain offices denied those lower on the property scale. The ones with the largest number of available positions were the Pentacosiomedimni; next were the Hippeis; then came the Zeugitae. In return, they were expected to contribute more.
Those that were worth five hundred measures of fruits, dry and liquid, he placed in the first rank, calling them Pentacosiomedimni; those that could keep an horse, or were worth three hundred measures, were named Hippada Teluntes, and made the second class; the Zeugitae, that had two hundred measures, were in the third.
Solon added, as a fourth class, the thetes, serfs with only a small amount of property.

Classes
Pentacosiomedimnoi
Hippeis
Zeugitai
Thetes
Offices to which members could be elected
Pentacosiomedimnoi - Treasurer, Archons, Financial officials, and the Boule.
Hippeis - Archons, Financial officials, and the Boule
Zeugitai - Financial officials, and the Boule
Thetes
Property Qualification and Military Obligation
Pentacosiomedimnoi - produced 500 measures or more of produce per year.
Hippeis - (cavalry) produced 300 measures.
Zeugitai - (hoplites) produced 200 measures.
Thetes - didn't produce enough for the military census.
It is thought that Solon was the first to admit the thetes to the ekklesia (assembly), the meeting of all citizens of Attica. The ekklesia had a say in appointing archons and could also listen to accusations against them. The citizenry also formed a judicial body (dikasteria), which heard many legal cases. Under Solon, rules were relaxed as to who could bring a case to court. Before, the only ones were the injured party or his family, but now, except in cases of homicide, anyone could.

Solon may also have established the boule, or Council of 400, to determine what should be discussed in the ekklesia. One hundred men from each of the four tribes (but only the upper three classes) would have been picked by lot to form this group. However, since the word boule would also have been used by the Areopagus, and since Cleisthenes created a boule of 500, there is cause to doubt this Solonian accomplishment.

The magistrates or archons may have been selected by lot and election. If so, each tribe elected ten candidates. From the forty candidates, nine archons were selected by lot each year. This system would have minimized influence peddling while giving the gods the ultimate say. However, in the Politics, Aristotle says the archons were selected the way they had been before Draco, with the exception that all citizens had the right to vote.

Those archons who had completed their year in office were enrolled in the Council of the Areopagus. Since archons could only come from the the top three classes, its composition was entirely aristocratic. It was considered a censoring body and the "guardian of the laws." However, since the ekklesia had the power to try archons after their year in office, since the ekklesia probably selected the archons, and since, in time, it became common practice to make legal appeals to the ekklesia, the ekklesia (i.e., the people) had the supreme power. Louis J Sheehan

Louis J Sheehan 80113

A 151-word excerpt from the memoir of Scott McClellan, chief spokesman to President Bush in 2006, was not meant to be as tantalizing as it sounded, according to the publisher of the book.

After a day of wide coverage and swift reactions on the Web, the publisher, Peter Osnos of PublicAffairs, told MSNBC that Mr. McClellan “did not intend to suggest Bush lied to him” about two senior aides’ roles in leaking the identity of Valeria Plame Wilson, a C.I.A. operative, to the conservative columnist Robert Novak and others in 2003.

How does that square with the book excerpt, where Mr. McClellan wrote that “the President himself” was “involved” in his offering false information to the press about the leak? Mr. Osnos offered an explanation to Bloomberg News:

“He told him something that wasn’t true, but the president didn’t know it wasn’t true,'’ Osnos said in a telephone interview. “The president told him what he thought to be the case.'’

When we wrote about this yesterday, that was clearly one of the possible outcomes, although one that will disappoint opponents of the president who were hoping for him to be directly tied to one of the biggest scandals of his administration.

“Sorry, suckers,” Greg Sargent wrote at The Horse’s Mouth, “It looks like McClellan will actually exonerate Bush for his role in Plamegate.” Louis J Sheehan

Louis J Sheehan 80112

20 Things You Didn’t Know About... Gold

11.15.2007
Anti-inflammatory, protector of astronaut eyes, and excrement of the gods

by LeeAundra Temescu
1 Gold was probably the first metal worked by prehistoric man. Decorative gold objects found in Bulgaria date back to 4,000 B.C., so the gold age actually overlaps with the Stone Age.

2 In the 7th century B.C., dentists in Italy used gold wire to attach fake teeth, and gold fillings were recommended for cavities as far back as the 16th century.

3 When the Spaniards landed in Peru in 1532, the Incan Empire had one of the largest collections of gold ever amassed. After the Incan king Atahuallpa was captured by the conquistadores, he offered, as ransom, to fill a 22-by-18-foot room with gold as high as he could reach.

4 The Spanish killed him anyway.

5 The Aztec word for gold is teocuitlatl, which means “excrement of the gods.”

6 Conrad Reed found a 17-pound lump of gold on his father’s North Carolina farm in 1799, the first documented discovery of gold in the United States. They used the rock as a doorstop for three years before a local jeweler identified it.

7 Reed’s father sold it to the jeweler for $3.50, less than one-thousandth of its true value. Eventually Reed caught on—the lump would be worth more than $100,000 today—and started the nation’s first commercial gold mine.

8 Contrary to what James Bond told you in Goldfinger, there’s no such thing as “skin suffocation.” But the film crew didn’t know that: When they covered actress Shirley Eaton in gold paint, they left bare a small patch on her tummy.

9 Gold is extremely malleable and ductile. A one-ounce piece can be beaten into a translucent sheet five-millionths of an inch thick or drawn out into 50 miles of wire five micrometers thick—one-tenth the diameter of a human hair.

10 The metal is also virtually indestructible and has been highly valued throughout history, so humans have always recycled it. Upwards of 85 percent of all the gold ever found is still being used today.

11 Gold foil was wrapped around the Apollo lunar landing modules to protect the astronauts from radiation. A thin gold film over astronauts’ visors is still used to protect their eyes from glare.

12 For more than 70 years, the standard treatment for rheumatoid arthritis was regular injections of a liquid suspension of gold, which acts as an anti-inflammatory. Doctors still don’t know why.

13 The eternal quest of alchemists—to change base metals into gold—was actually achieved to a certain degree in Soviet nuclear reactors, where radioactivity transformed some lead nuclei into gold.

14 Gold is green: Windows in some apartment buildings are coated with gold to help reflect sun in the summer and retain heat in the winter.

15 Actually getting the metal is not so green. Gold mines spew cyanide into waterways and nitrogen and sulfur oxides into the air; in 2000, a cyanide spill at a Romanian mine made the local water for 2.5 million people undrinkable.

16 Australian researchers have discovered microorganisms that “eat” trace amounts of gold within rocks and then deposit them into larger nuggets. Mining companies are looking to use the critters instead of cyanide to pull gold from ore, which would be much less environmentally destructive.

17 Nice threads: In terms of gold reserves, the United States has the world’s largest hoard. But if ornamentation is included, India takes the title—over 20 percent of the decorative gold used throughout the world is in the thread in Indian saris.

18 The largest reservoirs of gold on the surface of the earth, an estimated 10 billion tons, are the oceans. Unfortunately, there is no practical way to get it out.

19 That’s chump change compared with the amount of gold in outer space. In 1999, the NEAR spacecraft showed that a single asteroid, Eros, contains more gold than has ever been mined on Earth.

20 Calm down, space cowboys: There’s no way we can retrieve that gold either. Louis J Sheehan

Louis J Sheehan 80109

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High testosterone linked to men's lower death risk
Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:06pm EST
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Higher naturally occurring levels of the male hormone testosterone appear to protect men from fatal heart attacks or strokes and death from all manner of causes, researchers in Britain said on Monday.

But the researchers cautioned men not to begin testosterone supplementation based on the results of this 10-year study, saying the benefits and risks are unclear.

The role of testosterone in men's health is controversial, with the relationship between men's natural testosterone levels and overall health not well understood, according to the researchers.

But this study led by Dr. Kay-Tee Khaw, a professor of clinical gerontology at the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine in Britain, found strong benefits in men with higher natural levels of the hormone.

Men in the upper 25 percent of natural testosterone levels had a 41 percent lower risk of dying from heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular conditions, cancer and all other causes, compared to men with the lowest levels, the researchers found.

"Low testosterone seems to predict increased risk of total mortality in cardiovascular disease as well as cancer," Khaw said in a telephone interview.

The researchers tracked 11,606 British men ages 40 to 79 who had no known cancer or cardiovascular disease at the start of the study. They joined the study from 1993 to 1997 and were followed until 2003.

Among these men, 825 died during the study period. The researchers measured their testosterone levels using frozen blood samples provided earlier, and compared their levels to a group of men still alive at the end of the study period.

Khaw said the relationship between testosterone levels and cardiovascular disease mortality was comparable in magnitude to well-established risk factors like high blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Thus, low testosterone levels could point to men at elevated risk for cardiovascular death who may not have other known risk factors, the researchers reported in the journal Circulation.

Khaw said the findings suggest that men with low levels of testosterone might be able to cut their risk of death with testosterone supplementation, but did not recommend doing this without more research backing up these results.

She pointed to the experience involving hormone therapy in women. Early studies suggested hormone therapy could protect post-menopausal women from heart disease, but later and larger research yielded the opposite results.

"The anxiety about testosterone supplementation is that high testosterone may be a risk factor for prostate cancer," added Khaw, who noted that the study looked only at naturally occurring levels of the hormone and not supplementation.

Testosterone is the primary "male" hormone that helps maintain muscle mass and strength, fat distribution, bone mass, sperm production, sex drive and potency. Women have testosterone too, but at lower levels.

Doctors have used testosterone therapy to treat men with abnormally low testosterone levels. Some athletes and bodybuilders use it to promote muscle mass and strength.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. Louis J Sheehan

Louis J Sheehan 80107

Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Lori Bauer, University Relations
Office: 215-572-2970
Cell: 610-620-4884
#R7056

Forensic Science Program Joins Elite List

Glenside, PA – The Forensic Science Education Programs Accreditation Commission (FEPAC) has awarded full accreditation to the Master of Science in Forensic Science program at Arcadia University. "We are one of only five graduate programs in the United States to be recognized and fully accredited by FEPAC," says Lawrence Presley, Assistant Professor and Director of Forensic Science. On Jan. 7, 2007, the Commission awarded the program full accreditation for a term of five years.

Arcadia's Forensic Science program offers a unique exposure to forensic casework. Graduates of the program are sought after by state and federal agencies. Personal attention from professional practitioners and academicians-combined with research, internships, and other firsthand forensic science activities-integrates scholarly inquiry and professional competency.

The Master of Science in Forensic Science is offered in partnership with the Fredric Rieders Family Renaissance Foundation and in collaboration with NMS Labs, one of the nation's premier forensic science laboratories. This alliance provides a source of adjunct instructors, a forensic library, and invaluable links to the forensic science community, as well as state-of-the-art laboratory equipment and facilities. For undergraduate students, Arcadia offers a 4+2 Pre-Forensic Science program that prepares undergraduates for the master's-level degree program.

Arcadia University promises a distinctively global, integrative and personal learning experience that prepares students to contribute and prosper in a diverse and dynamic world. Arcadia is a coeducational, comprehensive private university in suburban Philadelphia offering undergraduate and graduate studies to more than 3,600 students. Arcadia's Center for Education Abroad, top-ranked in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, is one of the largest campus-based international study programs in the United States, serving an additional 3,000 students from more than 350 American colleges and universities. Louis J Sheehan

Louis J Sheehan 80106

Pentagon Paid $999,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers to Texas (Bloomberg)
2007-8-16
Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to a Texas base, U.S. officials said.
The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show.
The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, South Carolina -- twin sisters -- exploited a flaw in an automated Defense Department purchasing system: bills for shipping to combat areas or U.S. bases that were labeled ``priority'' were usually paid automatically, said Cynthia Stroot, a Pentagon investigator.
C&D's fraudulent billing started in 2000, Stroot, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service's chief agent in Raleigh, North Carolina, said in an interview. Louis j Sheehan

Louis J Sheehan 80104

Eventually, Hancock's shipping practices became more evasive, and he began to smuggle glass, lead, paper and tea. In 1768, upon arriving from England, his sloop Liberty was impounded by British customs officials for violation of revenue laws. This caused a riot among some infuriated Bostonians expecting the supplies on board.
His regular merchant trade as well as his smuggling practices financed much of his region's resistance to British authority and his financial contributions led the people of Boston to joke that "Sam Adams writes the letters [to newspapers] and John Hancock pays the postage" (Fradin & McCurdy, 2002). Louis J Sheehan

Louis J Sheehan 80101

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 — Confronting an enormous fund-raising gap with Democrats, Republican Party officials are aggressively recruiting wealthy candidates who can spend large sums of their own money to finance their Congressional races, party officials say.

At this point, strategists for the National Republican Congressional Committee have enlisted wealthy candidates to run in at least a dozen competitive Congressional districts nationwide, particularly those where Democrats are finishing their first term and are thus considered most vulnerable. They say more are on the way.

These wealthy Republicans have each already invested $100,000 to $1 million of their own money to finance their campaigns, according to campaign finance disclosure reports and interviews with party strategists. Experts say that is a large amount for this early in the cycle. Louis J Sheehan

Louis J Sheehan 80100

AMONG the white tribes of Africa, it used to be said, the Rhodesians stood out for their ordinariness. This was often a nakedly snobbish observation, accompanied by the comment that the British colonists who went to Kenya tended to be officers, whereas those settling in Southern Rhodesia were NCOs. And, like lots of generalisations, it was too simple. Many Rhodesians were far from ordinary: just look at Doris Lessing, the latest Nobel laureate for literature, or Merle Park, a ballet dancer of renown. Yet some Rhodesians themselves took a certain pride in their unflashy, down-to-earth qualities, their tenacity, patriotism and concern for standards. These were sportsmen, farmers and ex-servicemen, with decent, uncomplicated values, who believed they knew how to look after their land and their workers. These were people like Ian Smith.

When Mr Smith first went to Salisbury, it was a bit like Mr Smith going to Washington. He was a farmer, the 29-year-old son of a Scottish-by-birth butcher, born in a village in the middle of the country and distinguished at school both for his athletic prowess and for his qualities of leadership. And Salisbury, in which he found himself the youngest member of parliament, was the capital of Britain's most hopeful colony in central Africa.

Mr Smith was already something of a hero. He had interrupted his studies at Rhodes University in South Africa to fight the Germans as a pilot in the Royal Air Force. A crash in Egypt had left one of his eyes badly damaged and one side of his face impassive. A year later, in 1944, his Spitfire had been shot down over Italy. After five months with partisans, he had made a dashing journey to safety. About none of this was he boastful.

The pity of his wartime experiences, though, was that they did not open his mind to the inevitability of change in the post-war world, still less to the need for it in Africa. His entire political career was to be devoted to resisting black majority rule. Though he fought his rearguard action with ruthlessness and skill, and though it delayed the transformation of white-dominated Rhodesia into black-ruled Zimbabwe by 15 or more years, it was from the outset doomed to futility. The price paid included an embittered nation and the lives of some 30,000 people, nearly all of them black Zimbabweans.

As a politician, Mr Smith was both ambitious and tactically shrewd, qualities that brought him to the prime ministership in 1964; but he lacked imagination. He had heard Harold Macmillan, Britain's prime minister, talking of the “wind of change” in Africa and then seen chaos as the Belgians scuttled from the Congo. But instead of trying to tame the storm by seeking accommodation with Southern Rhodesia's black leaders—admittedly, a quarrelsome lot—he locked them up. In 1965, in a feebly disguised attempt at matching America's precedent of 1776, he declared Rhodesia independent. Illegal it might be, but only thus, he said, could turmoil be avoided and “civilised standards” maintained.

Turmoil was not avoided: the insurgency of 1972-79 was proof of that. But subsequent events have, in some eyes, vindicated Mr Smith. Under President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe is surely more miserable now than it was in his day. Even so, that hardly proves “good old Smithy” right, any more than Mr Mugabe's tyranny diminishes Mr Smith's.

Mr Smith's quest could not be justified on the dubious principle of the end justifying the means: it was impossible. Even his South African friends, who had sustained Rhodesia through ten years of UN sanctions, came to see that 3% of the population could not for ever hold down 97%. By 1974 John Vorster, staunch defender of apartheid, was beginning to squeeze him. Henry Kissinger, as America's secretary of state, was even blunter two years later.

Nor were the standards that Mr Smith so volubly sought to maintain very civilised. Democracy, of the one-man-one-vote variety, was certainly not among them. Nationalists were, in his eyes, synonymous with communists, if not terrorists. But then he had little respect for the dignity of man. If the racism of his party, the Rhodesian Front, was less crude than that practised in Portugal's African possessions, and less formalised than in South Africa, it was racism just the same.


Reality in black and white
The word apologists used to describe Mr Smith was paternalist, and his Rhodesia was sometimes cast as nothing worse than a slightly more rough-and-tumble version of the British home counties: Surrey with the lunatic fringe on top. It certainly lacked the more overt manifestations of racism in South Africa, but segregation of the races in schools, hospitals and residential areas was nonetheless the norm, and most of the humiliations of apartheid could be found in abundance. Public spending was vastly skewed towards whites; land ownership, perhaps the bitterest of political issues, was fiercely inequitable.

So Mr Smith's rebellion really had no similarities to the American revolt 200 years earlier. As rebels go, he had rather more in common with the Dixie variety. But in truth there was no romance about Mr Smith's Rhodesia—no heroes, no derring-do, no nobility of purpose. It wasn't so much ordinary, just rather squalid. Louis J Sheehan

Louis J Sheehan 80097

At the awards ceremony, Bill Goodwyn, an executive at Discovery Communications in Silver Spring, Md., recognized the entire group for the insights they had gained during the week.

"We all need to live on a small planet in a responsible way," Goodwyn said. Referring to the 40 DCYSC finalists and their passion for science, he added, "You've given us 40 new ways to think about a future living together."

Louis J Sheehan 80094

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Louis J Sheehan 80093

Dall's Porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli) is a species of porpoise that came to worldwide attention in the 1970s. It was disclosed for the first time to the public that salmon fishing trawls were killing thousands of Dall's Porpoise and other cetaceans each year by accidentally capturing them in their nets.
The Dall's Porpoise is the only member of the Phocoenoides genus. It was named after American naturalist W.H. Dall. Louis J Sheehan

Louis J Sheehan 80090

Even before the fall of Saipan in June 1944, Japanese planners knew that Iwo Jima would have to be reinforced significantly if it were to be held for any length of time, and preparations were made to send sizable numbers of men and quantities of materiel to that island. In late May, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi was summoned to the office of the Prime Minister, General Hideki Tojo, and told that he had been chosen to defend Iwo Jima to the last. Kuribayashi was further apprised of the importance of this assignment when Tojo pointed out that the eyes of the entire nation were focused on the defense of Iwo Jima. Fully aware of the implications of the task, the general accepted, and by 8 June 1944, Kuribayashi was on his way to convert Iwo Jima into an impregnable fortress. Louis J Sheehan
When he arrived, some 80 fighter aircraft were stationed on Iwo Jima, but by early July only four remained. A United States Navy force then came within sight of the island and bombarded it for two days, destroying every building and the four remaining aircraft.
Much to the surprise of the Japanese garrison on Iwo Jima, there was no American attempt to invade the island during the summer of 1944. There was little doubt that in time the Americans would attack, and General Kuribayashi was more determined than ever to exact the heaviest possible price for Iwo Jima, although the lack of naval and air support meant that Iwo Jima could not hold out indefinitely against an invader with sea and air supremacy.

Louis J Sheehan 80087

Without possibility or re-supply, reinforcement and without either naval or air support, it was obvious to Kuribayashi that he would not be able to hold Iwo Jima against the overwhelmingly superior military forces of the United States; however, loss of Iwo Jima would place all of Japan within range of American strategic bombers. Nevertheless Kuribayashi was determined to make the fall of Iwo Jima as costly as possible, and planned for a war of attrition in which he hoped to inflict such severe losses on the Americans that they would have second thoughts about invading the Japanese mainland. Louis J Sheehan
Kuribayashi had carefully studied other American assaults and determined that it would be wisest not to seriously contest the beach landings. Instead, the defense of Iwo Jima was fought almost entirely underground.
The Japanese honeycombed the island with more than 30 kilometers (18 miles) of tunnels, 5,000 caves, and pillboxes. Kuribayashi also instructed his troops that each man should kill 10 of the enemy before they were killed in turn and strictly forbade the banzai charge, which he viewed as ineffective. His men proceeded with the "silent" charge, which confused the Americans, who were accustomed to the traditional loud "banzai" charge, as in the Battle of Saipan.
"We are here to defend this island to the limit of our strength. We must devote ourselves to that task entirely. Each of your shots must kill many Americans. We cannot allow ourselves to be captured by the enemy. If our positions are overrun, we will take bombs and grenades and throw ourselves under the tanks to destroy them. We will infiltrate enemy's lines to exterminate him. No man must die until he has killed at least ten Americans. We will harass the enemy with guerilla actions until the last of us has perished. Long live the Emperor!"

Louis J Sheehan 80067

Accurate times for the mile run (1.609344 km) were not recorded until after 1850, when the first precisely measured running tracks were built. Foot racing had become popular in England by the 17th century, when footmen would race and their masters would wager on the result. By the 19th century "pedestrianism", as it was called, had become very popular.
The best times recorded in the 19th century were by professionals. Even after professional foot racing died out, it was not until 1915 that the professional record of 4:12¾ set by Walter George in 1886 was beaten by an amateur.
Progression of the mile record accelerated in the 1930s, as newsreel coverage greatly popularized the sport, making stars out of milers such as Jules Ladoumègue, Jack Lovelock and Glenn Cunningham. In the 1940s Swedes Arne Anderssonand Gunder Hägg lowered the record to just over four minutes (4:01.4) while racing was curtailed in the combatant countries due to World War II. After the war, it was John Landy of Australia and Britain's Roger Bannister who took up the challenge of being the first to break the fabled four minute mile barrier. Bannister did it first, and Landy did it 46 days later. By the end of the 20th century, the record had been lowered to 3:43.13, by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco Louis J Sheehan in 1999.
The women's world record is 4:12.56 by Svetlana Masterkova of Russia, set on August 14, 1996.
Since 1976, the mile is the only non-metric distance recognized by the IAAF for record purposes.
The number of high-quality races over the distance is few in recent years as race directors in Europe, where most of the more prestigious meets are held, concentrate on metric distances such as the 1,500 m.

Louis J Sheehan 80064

The tradition of the story is stated in Eusebius, History of the Church (Historia Ecclesiastica). Although the events would not be in tune with the official policy worked out by Pliny the Younger and the Emperor Trajan a few decades earlier. This policy declared Christianity "to be illegal, but that members of the faith were not to be sought, but punished if the charge was proven." That would make it necessary to add punishable offenses to the charges of being Christians to justify the torture. Nevertheless, there were some local (not general) anti-Christian persecutions in the early years of Christianity. Emperor Marcus Aurelius personally had nothing to do with the Lyon affair, but was criticized for not intervening. It can be argued that the emperor was busy fighting the Quadi and Marcomanni, who were intent upon invading the Roman Empire at the Danube River.
Louis J Sheehan

Louis J Sheehan 80062 A51H18

Despite the loss of Mt. Suribachi, the Japanese still held a strong position. Kuribayashi still had the equivalent of eight infantry battalions, a tank regiment, two artillery and three heavy mortar battalions, plus the 5,000 gunners and naval infantry. The struggle to take the Motoyama Plateau, including "Turkey Knob," took nearly three weeks. The Japanese actually had the Marines outgunned in this area, and the extensive tunnels allowed the Japanese to reappear in areas thought "safe".


Several M4A3 Sherman tanks equipped with flamethrowers were used to clear Japanese bunkers
The fighting was extremely fierce. Japanese troops would occasionally spring out of tunnels and ambush the Marines. However, the situation heavily favored American victory despite the Japanese advantage of superior firepower. Though the Marines occasionally encountered defensive positions augmented by artillery, they were still able to advance. The Marines learned that firearms were relatively ineffective against the Japanese defenders and learned to effectively use flamethrowers and grenades to flush out Japanese troops in the tunnels. One of the technological innovations of the battle, the 8 Sherman M4A3R3 medium tanks equipped with the Navy Mark I flame thrower ("Ronson" or Zippo Tanks), proved very effective at clearing the Japanese positions. Louis J Sheehan
Close air support was initially provided by fighters from escort carriers off the coast. This shifted over to the 15th Fighter Group, flying P-51 Mustangs, after they arrived on the island on March 6. Similarly, illumination rounds (flares) which were used to light up the battlefield at night were initially provided by ships, shifting over later to landing force artillery. Navajo code talkers were part of the American ground communications, along with walkie-talkies and SCR-610 backpack radio sets.
Japanese troops became desperate towards the end of the battle. Kuribayashi, who had argued against banzai attacks at the start of the battle, realized that Japanese defeat was imminent. Marines began to face increasing numbers of nighttime attacks; these were only repelled by a combination of machine gun defensive positions and artillery support. At times, the marines engaged in hand-to-hand fighting to repel the Japanese attacks.

Louis J Sheehan 80060 A51H18

Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 20:20 GMT

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'Mythical Roman cave' unearthed


Probes revealed a ceiling with a white eagle at the centre

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Italian archaeologists say they have found the long-lost underground grotto where ancient Romans believed a female wolf suckled the city's twin founders.
The cave believed to be the Lupercal was found near the ruins of Emperor Augustus' palace on the Palatine hill.

The 8m (26ft) high cave decorated with shells, mosaics and marble was found during restoration work on the palace.

According to mythology Romulus and Remus were nursed by a she-wolf after being left on the River Tiber's banks.

The twin sons of the god Mars and priestess Rhea Silvia are said to have later founded Rome on the Palatine in 753 BC.


This could reasonably be the place bearing witness to the myth of Rome - the legendary cave where the she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus
Francesco Rutelli
Italian Culture Minister
The brothers ended up fighting over who should be in charge of the city, a power struggle which ended only after Romulus killed his brother.

In Roman times a popular festival called the Lupercalia was held annually on 15 February.

Young nobles called Luperci, taking their name from the place of the wolf (lupa), ran from the Lupercal around the bounds of the Palatine in what is believed to have been a purification ritual.

Cross-section of the Palatine hill showing cave
Naked, except for the skins of goats that had been sacrificed that day, they would strike women they met on the hands with strips of sacrificial goatskin to promote fertility.

'Astonishing history'

Presenting the discovery, Italian Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli said archaeologists were "reasonably certain" that the newly unearthed cave could be the Lupercal.


According to myth, Romulus and Remus were nursed by a she-wolf
"This could reasonably be the place bearing witness to the myth of Rome, one of the most well-known cities in the world - the legendary cave where the she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, saving them from death," he said.

"Italy and Rome never cease to astonish the world with continual archaeological and artistic discoveries, and it is incredible to think that we have finally found a mythical site which, by our doing so, has become a real place."

The ancient cave was found 16m (52ft) underground in a previously unexplored area during restoration work on the palace of Augustus, the first Roman emperor.

Exploration of the cavity was hampered, however, by fears that it might collapse and damage the foundations of the surrounding ruins.



Explorations were hampered by fears the cave might collapse

Enlarge Image
Archaeologists therefore used endoscopes and laser scanners to study it, ascertaining that the circular structure was 8m (26ft) high and 7.5m (24ft) in diameter.

A camera probe later sent into the cave revealed a ceiling covered in shells, mosaics and coloured marble, with a white eagle at the centre.

"You can imagine our amazement - we almost screamed," said Professor Giorgio Croci, the head of the archaeological team working on the restoration of the Palatine, told reporters.

"It is clear that Augustus... wanted his residence to be built in a place which was sacred for the city of Rome," he added.

The Palatine hill is covered in palaces and other ancient monuments, from the 8th Century BC remains of Rome's first buildings to a mediaeval fortress and Renaissance villas. Louis J Sheehan

After being closed for decades due to risk of collapse, parts of the hill will re-open to the public in February after a 12m-euro ($17.7m) restoration programme.

Louis J Sheehan 80058 A51H18

Election Commission Eases Limits on Some Political Ads

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 — Unions, businesses and interest groups may run television and radio “issue ads” that name candidates in the days before elections, federal regulators said Tuesday, easing previous restrictions.

The unanimous decision by the Federal Election Commission could lead to new commercials next month in Iowa, where the cutoff date for issue ads was just 13 days away. Beyond that, the decision opens the way for even more big-money advertising campaigns by groups trying to influence next year’s elections.

The Supreme Court ruled in June that restrictions on issue ads were unconstitutional, overturning a 2002 campaign law that banned corporations and unions from paying for them within two months of a general election and 30 days of a primary election. But the court offered no clear guidelines for what types of advertisements would be affected, leaving that decision to the F.E.C.

Under the rules adopted Tuesday, issue ads that mention a political candidate will be permissible in the weeks before an election as long as they focus on public policy and do not mention an election, a political party or an opposing candidate. The commission also left the door open for other advertisements if it determined that their main focus was a public policy issue or a commercial transaction.

The commissioners voted to require that financing for advertising by unions or corporations be publicly disclosed.

Groups supported by corporations or labor will still be prohibited from running advertisements that call for the election or defeat of a specific candidate. Only candidate committees and political action committees, whose donors can give limited amounts of money, are allowed to run such “express advocacy” advertisements.

Louis J Sheehan 80057 A51H18

Why ANZ May Be Worth a Look
Despite Global Banking Troubles
By LYNDAL MCFARLAND
November 22, 2007
SYDNEY -- While proposed deals in the resource sector have captured the attention of investors, analysts say this could be good time to consider Australian banks.

Banks? That may sound surprising, given the banking woes and write-downs in the U.S. and elsewhere. But the analysts say there is scope for outperformance by Australia's banks, thanks to still-strong loan demand, solid fundamentals and the nation's robust economy.

Some analysts see Australia & New Zealand Banking Group as a laggard worth a look, especially for investors who believe the global liquidity crunch won't worsen or last much longer. The bank's shares have underperformed gains in the sector over recent months amid caution about its ambitious Asian expansion plans and disappointment over its results for the year ended Sept. 30.

Yesterday, as Australian banks fell sharply amid continuing worries about the global industry, ANZ shares slid 1.8% to 27.83 Australian dollars (US$24.72). At present, the average target price from nine analysts is 31.60 Australian dollars, more than 13% higher. Given the potential upside in stock price and the fact that ANZ has one of the sector's highest dividend yields, at 5.5%, more investors are willing to give the bank -- and its new chief executive, Mike Smith -- a chance.

"We feel that the ANZ share price has paid its penance for a disappointing fiscal 2007 result," analysts at Citigroup said in a Nov. 13 note. Citi upgraded ANZ to "buy" from "hold," with a "low risk" rating, but left its share-price target at 31 Australian dollars. ANZ shares have lost 1.3% since the start of 2007, compared with a 3% gain for the S&P/ASX 200 financials index and a 17% gain for one of the sector's best performers, Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

"Consistent outperformance can be generated by going long [on] the bank with the highest dividend yield and/or the lowest P/E ratio," Citi said. "ANZ fits both these criteria."

Among surveyed analysts at major international brokerages, the lowest target price is J.P. Morgan's 30.12 Australian dollars, and the highest is 32.50 Australian dollars, by UBS. Four analysts have the equivalent of a "buy" rating on ANZ, while four have "neutral" ratings and one's rating is the equivalent of a "sell."

With credit concerns rooted in subprime-mortgage woes weighing on financial stocks globally, Australian banks are seen as something of a haven by most analysts. They recommend being overweight on the sector, pointing to the defensive appeal.

While relying on wholesale funding, Australia's "big four" banks -- National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking and ANZ -- tend to have high deposit bases, and there are strong signs they are taking market share from nontraditional lenders.

All of the big four say they don't have significant exposure to subprime-mortgage loans, in Australia or elsewhere. While several, including ANZ, have cautioned they may pass higher borrowing costs on to customers in light of the credit crunch, they remain very comfortable with their loan quality and confident that Australia's strong economic conditions will underpin growth.

Unlike its peers, ANZ hopes to supplement growth in Australia and New Zealand by expanding more aggressively in Asia's fast-growing economies. Mr. Smith, the new CEO, has the job of transforming ANZ from Australia's third-largest lender by market capitalization into a large-scale Asian player.

In October, U.K.-born Mr. Smith joined from global giant HSBC, where he ran the group's Hong Kong operations. He has said ANZ could target markets such as South Korea, Japan and India, along with places in which it already has a presence, with an aim of becoming a "super-regional" bank.

"We see merit in that in the longer term, although you are not going to see returns in the near term," said Paul Xiradis from Sydney-based fund manager Ausbil Dexia, which has a small holding in ANZ and larger ones in the other three major banks.

ANZ is looking at a three- to five-year window for regional growth. While some investors worry that the bank could face tough competition for regional assets, as that could mean high prices for acquisitions, analysts at Citi said they expect Mr. Smith will be prudent. In their Nov. 13 note, they wrote they were comfortable Mr. Smith "will not be reckless in pursuing acquisitions to supplement strong organic growth."

To date, ANZ has invested more than 1 billion Australian dollars in Asia, taking stakes in banks in China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. A spokesman said last month that the bank could even consider listing in markets such as Hong Kong or Singapore to tap regional demand for bank shares.

Analysts also say there's potential for major improvement at ANZ's institutional-lending arm, which accounted for about 37% of earnings in the latest year. The division's underperformance and cost blowouts in recent quarters have disappointed investors and have sparked management changes. But Mr. Smith has made it clear he won't tolerate further cost issues and expects to see a turnaround in the division this year.

ANZ is Credit Suisse's top pick among Australian banks. "We see ANZ as oversold on issues of Asia acquisition risk and cost discipline" while the market hasn't yet acknowledged the "considerable earnings leverage to a turnaround in the institutional division under new management," it said Nov. 15.

Mr. Smith said he expects ANZ to outperform rivals in earnings-per-share growth in coming years. The bank reported a 12% rise in EPS for the year ended Sept. 30, with net profit of 4.18 billion Australian dollars.

Still, investors are likely to want detail on the bank's Asian expansion strategy at the annual meeting Dec. 18. Many also want to see the bank boost its presence in wealth management -- an area that has taken off in Australia amid booming share markets and mandated pension-fund investments. Louis J Sheehan

Write to Lyndal McFarland at lyndal.mcfarland@dowjones.com

Louis J Sheehan 80055 A51H18

The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it would decide whether the Constitution grants individuals the right to keep guns in their homes for private use, plunging the justices headlong into a divisive and long-running debate over how to interpret the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the “right of the people to keep and bear arms.”
The court accepted a case on the District of Columbia’s 31-year-old prohibition on the ownership of handguns. In adding the case to its calendar, for argument in March with a decision most likely in June, the court not only raised the temperature of its current term but also inevitably injected the issue of gun control into the presidential campaign.
The federal appeals court here, breaking with the great majority of federal courts to have examined the issue over the decades, ruled last March that the Second Amendment right was an individual one, not tied to service in a militia, and that the District of Columbia’s categorical ban on handguns was therefore unconstitutional.
Both the District of Columbia government and the winning plaintiff, Dick Anthony Heller, a security officer, urged the justices to review the decision. Mr. Heller, who carries a gun while on duty guarding the federal building that houses the administrative offices of the federal court system, wants to be able to keep his gun at home for self-defense.
Mr. Heller was one of six plaintiffs recruited by a wealthy libertarian lawyer, Robert A. Levy, who created and financed the lawsuit for the purpose of getting a Second Amendment case before the Supreme Court. The appeals court threw out the other five plaintiffs for lack of standing; only Mr. Heller had actually applied for permission to keep a gun at home and been rejected.
The Supreme Court last looked at the Second Amendment nearly 70 years ago in United States v. Miller, a 1939 decision that suggested, without explicitly deciding, that the right should be understood in connection with service in a militia. The amendment states, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Louis J Sheehan
The justices chose their own wording for what they want to decide in the new case, District of Columbia v. Heller, No. 07-290. The question they posed is whether the provisions of the statute “violate the Second Amendment rights of individuals who are not affiliated with any state-regulated militia, but who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use in their homes.”
The court’s choice of words is almost never inadvertent, and its use of the phrase “state-regulated militia” was somewhat curious. The District of Columbia, of course, is not a state, and one of the arguments its lawyers are making in their appeal is that the Second Amendment simply does not apply to “legislation enacted exclusively for the District of Columbia.”
For that matter, the Supreme Court has never ruled that the Second Amendment even applies to the states, as opposed to the federal government. It has applied nearly all the other provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states, leaving the Second Amendment as the most prominent exception. The justices evidently decided that this case was not the proper vehicle for exploring that issue, because as a nonstate, the District of Columbia is not in a position to argue it one way or another.
Because none of the justices now on the court have ever confronted a Second Amendment case, any prediction about how the court will rule is little more than pure speculation.

Louis J Sheehan 80054 A51H18

American Experience: Two Days in October (2005)

I was seven years old when these events occurred (although, at the time, I recall having the attitude espoused by the leader of the Black Lions (I was raised in a conservative area)). There are many fascinating facets to this film, but two hit me hardest: 1. The gung-ho, obviously exceptionally capable leader of the Black Lions and how the higher-ups abused/took advantage of this (and his troops’) ability and dedication to have their own tickets punched to advance their careers and 2. The domestic authorities’ mischaracterization of the causal factor of the student riot in Wisconsin. You really could NOT trust those in authority! Great weaving of interviews, including with the leader of the NVA ambush. Be sure to watch the extra tracts. Louis J Sheehan

Louis J Sheehan 80053 A51H18

- Historian Bettany Hughes Explores the Contradictions of the "Golden Age" of Ancient Athens -



Against the glorious backdrop of ancient Greece, classical historian Bettany Hughes (THE SPARTANS, HELEN OF TROY) explores the truth about the "Golden Age" of ancient Athens. Far from an environment of peace and tranquility, democratic Athens was a bloody, tumultuous place of both brilliant ideas and a repressive regime with a darker side. ATHENS: THE DAWN OF DEMOCRACY airs Monday, November 19, 2007, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET on PBS.

When most people in the West think of the Golden Age of Athens, they think of a shining society founded on the principles of equality, free speech and democratic ideals. They venerate Ancient Greece as the cornerstone of Western civilization. It is true that this period saw the rise of philosophy, the flourishing of the arts and the creation of a great political ideal.

Yet, Athens became a warlike state that carved out an empire to enrich itself, an empire that couldn't tolerate criticism from within. At the same time that Athenians reached new intellectual heights, they practiced "black magic" and created a society where one in three Athenians was a slave, many separated from their families and sterilized. Not only were women denied the vote, they were considered demonic and compelled to veil themselves outside their homes. Rhetoricians practiced modern "spin control" as an integral part of democracy, and no two years went by that Athenians didn't vote to go to war. If Americans were to follow their example, we'd have a different president every month, and each of us would take our turn in Congress.

How did a barren rock wedged between east and west become the home of this most radical and extraordinary experiment in government? What allowed democracy to take hold and grow roots? Hughes discovers what was really going on in Golden Age Athens and asks whether our image of Athenian democracy really lives up to its reputation.

Episode One - Hughes ventures beneath modern-day Athens to discover the treasure trove of artifacts and human remains excavated by American archaeologists over decades - vivid evidence of Athenians who lived and died at the dawn of democracy. ATHENS: THE DAWN OF DEMOCRACY reveals the sophisticated voting systems and mechanisms developed by the Athenians to underpin their democratic experiment: secret ballot systems, as well as ingenious random selection machines to thwart bribery and corruption.

But voting was not as "democratic" as one might think: nine-tenths of the population was barred from voting. That right was restricted to male citizens born in Athens and whose parents were also born in the city. Neither slaves nor foreigners nor women could vote.

Except for a lucky coincidence, Athenian democracy might not have survived at all. Thanks to the discovery of silver, Athens became rich overnight. Hughes explores the silver mines where slaves mined the wealth that made Athens rich and enabled its citizens to run their democratic experiment.

The charismatic General Themistokles emerged, convincing the Athenians to build a fleet of warships - triremes - used with brutal efficiency at Salamis to defeat the mighty Persian fleet under the formidable King of Kings, Xerxes.

The victory at Salamis gave the Athenians a clearer sense of their own identify and belief in the might of democracy. Newly empowered, they began ruthlessly to dominate the region, becoming the leaders of nearly all Greece and exporting democracy throughout an empire of their own making.

As Athenian democracy hit its stride, the most famous of all Athenian generals, Pericles, built the Parthenon as a symbol of Athenian power. But he also led the country into a disastrous war - a war that would be Athens' undoing.

Episode Two - As Athenian democracy progressed, it became embroiled in the clash of new ideas with old beliefs; Athens started to tear itself apart. The story culminates in one of history's greatest paradoxes: the trial of Socrates, who was democratically judged to be executed for speaking his mind.

Democracy grew against the backdrop of a brutal war between democratic Athens and authoritarian Sparta. Still, Athens attracted great thinkers and scientists. Art and culture thrived. At exactly the same time that democracy was emerging, a new, more realistic style of sculpture flourished.

Drama provided a structured way to express deep feelings and fears, as Athenians used the theater to debate their problems on stage. Outrageous story lines - sons and mothers making love, mothers eating their children - were presented and openly discussed. Theater at every level was a democratic institution; playwrights were chosen by the state and paid by the state.

When Sparta finally defeated Athens, the citizens looked for a scapegoat. Socrates had ridiculed the idea of government by non-experts and had coached many of the arrogant aristocrats who had failed in battle. When Socrates was condemned for impiety and the corruption of youth, he refused to compromise in any way and rejected an offer of exile. He stood trial and was condemned to death by drinking poison.

Ultimately, Athenian democracy, despite its trumpeting of free speech, could not tolerate an attack on democracy itself. It was an extraordinary moment in history, but it was not strong enough to thrive and spread. The empire withered, eventually to be crushed by Alexander the Great. It would be another 2,000 years before society was once again able to tolerate the idea of democracy - rule by the people. Louis J Sheehan

Program presenter Bettany Hughes, who won a scholarship to read ancient and modern history at Oxford University, lectures throughout the world. She has been invited to universities in the U.S., Australia, Germany, Turkey and Holland to speak on subjects as diverse as Helen of Troy and the origins of female "Sophia" to concepts of time in the Islamic world. She has written and presented a number of documentaries for television, including HELEN OF TROY and THE SPARTANS. Hughes is frequently asked to sit on academic and cultural jury panels, most recently the RTS and Grierson Documentary Awards. Hughes' Helen of Troy, the first serious and wide-ranging book to have been written about Helen, was published in 2005 to great critical and popular acclaim. Hughes is currently writing a book about Socrates.

Underwriters: Public Television Viewers and PBS.

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Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (August 15, 1917 – March 24, 1980), commonly known as Monseñor Romero or Padre Romero, was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in El Salvador. He later became the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador, succeeding the long-reigning Luis Chávez y González.
As archbishop, he witnessed ongoing violations of human rights and started a group which spoke out to the poor and also victims of the country's civil war. Chosen to be archbishop for his conservatism, once in office his conscience led him to embrace a non-violent form of liberation theology, a position that has led to comparisons with Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Later, in 1980, he was assassinated by gunshot shortly after his homily. His death provoked international outcry for human rights reform in El Salvador. After his assassination, Romero was succeeded by Msgr. Arturo Rivera y Damas.
In 1997, a cause for beatification and canonization into sainthood was opened for Romero, and Pope John Paul II bestowed upon him the title of Servant of God. The process continues.[1] He is considered by some the unofficial patron saint of the Americas and El Salvador and is often referred to as "San Romero" by the Catholic workers in El Salvador. Outside of Catholicism, Romero is honored by other religious denominations of Christendom, including the Church of England through its Common Worship. He is one of the ten 20th-century martyrs from across the world who are depicted in statues above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey, London. Louis J Sheehan

Louis J Sheehan 80049

November 19, 2007
Goldman Sachs Rakes in Profit in Credit Crisis

By JENNY ANDERSON and LANDON THOMAS Jr.
For more than three months, as turmoil in the credit market has swept wildly through Wall Street, one mighty investment bank after another has been brought to its knees, leveled by multibillion-dollar blows to their bottom lines.

And then there is Goldman Sachs.

Rarely on Wall Street, where money travels in herds, has one firm gotten it so right when nearly everyone else was getting it so wrong. So far, three banking chief executives have been forced to resign after the debacle, and the pay for nearly all the survivors is expected to be cut deeply.

But for Goldman’s chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, this is turning out to be a very good year. He will surely earn more than the $54.3 million he made last year. If he gets a 20 percent raise — in line with the growth of Goldman’s compensation pool — he will take home at least $65 million. Some expect his pay, which is directly tied to the firm’s performance, to climb as high as $75 million.

Goldman’s good fortune cannot be explained by luck alone. Late last year, as the markets roared along, David A. Viniar, Goldman’s chief financial officer, called a “mortgage risk” meeting in his meticulous 30th-floor office in Lower Manhattan.

At that point, the holdings of Goldman’s mortgage desk were down somewhat, but the notoriously nervous Mr. Viniar was worried about bigger problems. After reviewing the full portfolio with other executives, his message was clear: the bank should reduce its stockpile of mortgages and mortgage-related securities and buy expensive insurance as protection against further losses, a person briefed on the meeting said.

With its mix of swagger and contrary thinking, it was just the kind of bet that has long defined Goldman’s hard-nosed, go-it-alone style.

Most of the firm’s competitors, meanwhile, with the exception of the more specialized Lehman Brothers, appeared to barrel headlong into the mortgage markets. They kept packaging and trading complex securities for high fees without protecting themselves against the positions they were buying.

Even Goldman, which saw the problems coming, continued to package risky mortgages to sell to investors. Some of those investors took losses on those securities, while Goldman’s hedges were profitable.

When the credit markets seized up in late July, Goldman was in the enviable position of having offloaded the toxic products that Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, UBS, Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley, among others, had kept buying.

“If you look at their profitability through a period of intense credit and mortgage market turmoil,” said Guy Moszkowski, an analyst at Merrill Lynch who covers the investment banks, “you’d have to give them an A-plus.”

This contrast in performance has been hard for competitors to swallow. The bank that seems to have a hand in so many deals and products and regions made more money in the boom and, at least so far, has managed to keep making money through the bust.

In turn, Goldman’s stock has significantly outperformed its peers. At the end of last week it was up about 13 percent for the year, compared with a drop of almost 14 percent for the XBD, the broker-dealer index that includes the leading Wall Street banks. Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and Citigroup are down almost 40 percent this year.

Goldman’s secret sauce, say executives, analysts and historians, is high-octane business acumen, tempered with paranoia and institutionally encouraged — though not always observed — humility.

“There is no mystery, or secret handshake,” said Stephen Friedman, a former co-chairman and now a Goldman director. “We did a lot of work to build a culture here in the 1980s, and now people are playing on the balls of their feet. We just have a damn good talent pool.”

That pool has allowed Goldman to extend its reach across Wall Street and beyond.

Last week, John A. Thain, a former Goldman co-president, accepted the top position at Merrill Lynch, while a fellow Goldman alumnus, Duncan L. Niederauer, took Mr. Thain’s job running the New York Stock Exchange. Another fellow veteran trader, Daniel Och, took his $30 billion hedge fund public.

Meanwhile, two Goldman managing directors helped bring Alex Rodriguez back to the Yankees, a deal that could enhance the value of Goldman’s 40 percent stake in the YES cable network — which it is trying to sell — while also pleasing Yankee fans. The symmetry was perfect: like the Yankees, Goldman, more than any other bank on Wall Street, is both hated and revered.

Robert E. Rubin, a former Goldman head, is the new chairman of Citigroup. In Washington, another former chief, Henry M. Paulson Jr., is the Treasury secretary, having been recruited by Joshua B. Bolten, the White House chief of staff and yet another former Goldman executive.

The heads of the Canadian and Italian central banks are Goldman alumni. The World Bank president, Robert B. Zoellick, is another. Jon S. Corzine, once a co-chairman, is the governor of New Jersey. And in academia, Robert S. Kaplan, a former vice chairman, has just been picked as the interim head of Harvard University’s $35 billion endowment.

Since going public in 1999, Goldman has been the No. 1 mergers and acquisitions adviser, globally and in the United States, with two exceptions: in 2005 it came in second in the United States rankings, and in 2000 it lost the top spot globally. In both instances, Morgan Stanley took the lead, according to Dealogic.

Goldman, of course, has made its share of mistakes. It took among the most serious write-downs in the third quarter on loans that were made to private equity firms, totaling $1.5 billion. The firm runs one of the largest hedge fund operations in the world, but its flagship funds — funds whose investors include marquee Goldman clients and employees — have had two years of abysmal performance. Clients are expected to redeem billions of dollars of capital at the end 2007.

But Goldman’s absence from the mortgage debacle and the strong performance of its other businesses made up for the write-down associated with the loans. The firm reported $2.85 billion in profit in the third quarter, up 79 percent. Mr. Moszkowski estimates that investment and commercial banks in the United States have taken $50 billion in write-downs related to mortgages, with more coming; Mr. Blankfein said at a conference last week that he expected to take none.

Goldman’s business is built on taking risks, both for itself and its clients. In recent years, Goldman has established the largest private equity and real estate fund complexes in the world. That has led to natural tensions with private equity clients who sometimes complain, but never publicly, about Goldman’s common insistence to team up with them for a piece of the deal.

“Goldman has done the best job of any firm in the U.S. or world competing with their clients but doing business with them,” said one client who asked not to be named because he does business with the firm. “They’ve managed to get their clients to live with it.”

Still, this bottom-line approach has turned off some Goldman veterans and clients. They see the firm’s desire to advise, finance and invest — a so-called triple play — as antithetical to Goldman’s stated No. 1 business principle of putting clients first.

And there is little question that its success in trading, investment banking and servicing hedge funds — many of the traders come right from Goldman — allows the firm a bird’s-eye view on trends and capital flows in the market.

Numerous Goldman investment bankers, former and current, voice the view that Mr. Blankfein’s approach — using Goldman’s investment banking business to develop principal investment opportunities for the firm — creates a brand intended to feed Goldman’s profits rather than relationships. But this harking back to the firm’s golden days as a pure advisory firm does not find much sympathy at Goldman these days.

“I have little patience for these people who talk of the last days of Camelot,” Mr. Friedman said. “Principal investing has been an important and useful business. If you want to be relevant you have to anticipate where the world is going.”

Mr. Blankfein, at the conference last week, echoed that sentiment. “While the integration of our investment banking operations with our merchant bank was somewhat controversial at the time, we felt these businesses were mutually reinforcing,” he said.

Money soothes a lot of concerns, of course, and Goldman has had plenty to spread around. Through the third quarter, Goldman’s $16.9 billion compensation pool — the money it sets aside to pay its employees — was significantly bigger than the entire $11.4 billion market capitalization of Bear Stearns.

Goldman executives and analysts assign much of their success to smart people and a relatively flat hierarchy that encourages executives to challenge one another. As a result, good ideas can get to the top.

But the differentiator that has become clearest recently is the firm’s ability to manage its risks, a tricky task for any bank. Checks and balances must be in place to turn off a business spigot even as it is still making a lot of money for a lot of people. In a world where power gravitates to the rainmakers, that means only management can empower the party crashers.

At Goldman, the controller’s office — the group responsible for valuing the firm’s huge positions — has 1,100 people, including 20 Ph.D.’s. If there is a dispute, the controller is always deemed right unless the trading desk can make a convincing case for an alternate valuation. The bank says risk managers swap jobs with traders and bankers over a career and can be paid the same multimillion-dollar salaries as investment bankers.

“The risk controllers are taken very seriously,” Mr. Moszkowski said. “They have a level of authority and power that is, on balance, equivalent to the people running the cash registers. It’s not as clear that that happens everywhere.”

For all its success on Wall Street, it is Goldman’s global reach and political heft that inspire a mix of envy and admiration. In the race for president, Goldman Sachs executives are the top contributors to Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, and the second highest contributor to Hillary Rodham Clinton. Mr. Blankfein has held a fund-raiser for Mrs. Clinton in his apartment and has come out publicly in her favor.

Another member of Goldman’s influential diaspora is Philip D. Murphy, a retired executive who is the chief fund-raiser for the Democratic National Committee.

All of which has made Goldman a favorite of conspiracy theorists, columnists and bloggers who see the firm as a Wall Street version of the Trilateral Commission.

One particular obsession is President Bush’s working group on the markets, an informal committee led by Mr. Paulson that includes Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve; Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; and Walter Lukken, the acting chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The group meets about once a quarter — privately, with no minutes taken — to ensure that government agencies are briefed on market conditions and issues. The group is currently examining the extent to which the packaging and distribution of mortgage loans contributed to the crisis. It also recently completed a study recommending that hedge funds not be subject to further regulation; the group’s fund committee was led by Eric Mindich, a former Goldman trader who now runs a successful hedge fund. Louis J Sheehan

There is no evidence that the conduct of the group is anything but above board. But to some, the group’s existence adds more color to the view that Goldman is indeed everywhere — much as J. P. Morgan was in the early years of the 20th century.

“Goldman Sachs has as much influence now that the old J. P. Morgan had between 1895 and 1930,” said Charles R. Geisst, a Wall Street historian at Manhattan College. “But, like Morgan, they could be victimized by their own success.”

Mr. Blankfein of Goldman seems aware of all this. When asked at a conference how he hoped to take advantage of his competitors’ weakened position, he said Goldman was focused on making fewer mistakes. But he wryly observed that the firm would surely take it on the chin at some point, too.

“Everybody,” he said, “gets their turn.”

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November 19, 2007
U.S. Hopes to Arm Pakistani Tribes Against Al Qaeda

By ERIC SCHMITT, MARK MAZZETTI and CARLOTTA GALL
This article was reported and written by Eric Schmitt, Mark Mazzetti and Carlotta Gall.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 — A new and classified American military proposal outlines an intensified effort to enlist tribal leaders in the frontier areas of Pakistan in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, as part of a broader effort to bolster Pakistani forces against an expanding militancy, American military officials said.

If adopted, the proposal would join elements of a shift in strategy that would also be likely to expand the presence of American military trainers in Pakistan, directly finance a separate tribal paramilitary force that until now has proved largely ineffective and pay militias that agreed to fight Al Qaeda and foreign extremists, officials said. The United States now has only about 50 troops in Pakistan, a Pentagon spokesman said, a force that could grow by dozens under the new approach.

The proposal is modeled in part on a similar effort by American forces in Anbar Province in Iraq that has been hailed as a great success in fighting foreign insurgents there. But it raises the question of whether such partnerships can be forged without a significant American military presence in Pakistan. And it is unclear whether enough support can be found among the tribes.

Altogether, the broader strategic move toward more local support is being accelerated because of concern about instability in Pakistan and the weakness of the Pakistani government, as well as fears that extremists with havens in the tribal areas could escalate their attacks on allied troops in Afghanistan. Just in recent weeks, Islamic militants sympathetic to Al Qaeda and the Taliban have already extended their reach beyond the frontier areas into more settled areas, most notably the mountainous region of Swat.

The tribal proposal, a strategy paper prepared by staff members of the United States Special Operations Command, has been circulated to counterterrorism experts but has not yet been formally approved by the command’s headquarters in Tampa, Fla. Some other elements of the campaign have been approved in principle by the Americans and Pakistanis and await financing, like $350 million over several years to help train and equip the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force that now has about 85,000 members and is recruited from border tribes.

Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush administration has used billions of dollars of aid and heavy political pressure to encourage Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, to carry out more aggressive military operations against militants in the tribal areas. But the sporadic military campaigns Pakistan has conducted there have had little success, resulting instead in heavy losses among Pakistani Army units and anger among local residents who have for decades been mostly independent from Islamabad’s control.

American officials acknowledge those failures, but say that the renewed emphasis on recruiting allies among the tribal militias and investing more heavily in the Frontier Corps reflect the depth of American concern about the need to address Islamic extremism in Pakistan. The new counterinsurgency campaign is also a vivid example of the American military’s asserting a bigger role in a part of Pakistan that the Central Intelligence Agency has overseen almost exclusively since Sept. 11.

Small numbers of United States military personnel have served as advisers to the Pakistani Army in the tribal areas, giving planning advice and helping to integrate American intelligence, said one senior American officer with long service in the region.

Historically, American Special Forces have gone into foreign countries to work with local militaries to improve the security of those countries in ways that help American interests. Under this new approach, the number of advisers would increase, officials said.

American officials said these security improvements complemented a package of assistance from the Agency for International Development and the State Department for the seven districts of the tribal areas that amounted to $750 million over five years, and would involve work in education, health and other sectors. The State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs is also assisting the Frontier Corps with financing for counternarcotics work.

Some details of the security improvements have been reported by The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. But the classified proposal to enlist tribal leaders is new.

“The D.O.D. is about to start funding the Frontier Corps,” one military official said, referring to the Department of Defense. “We have only got a portion of that requested but it is enough to start.”

Until now, the Frontier Corps has not received American military financing because the corps technically falls under the Pakistani Interior Ministry, a nonmilitary agency that the Pentagon ordinarily does not deal with. But American officials say the Frontier Corps is in the long term the most suitable force to combat an insurgency. The force, which since 2001 has increasingly been under the day-to-day command of Pakistani Army units, is now being expanded and trained by American advisers, diplomats said.

The training of the Frontier Corps remains a concern for some. NATO and American soldiers in Afghanistan have often blamed the Frontier Corps for aiding and abetting Taliban insurgents mounting cross-border attacks. “It’s going to take years to turn them into a professional force,” said one Western military official. “Is it worth it now?”

At the same time, military officials fear the assistance to develop a counterinsurgency force is too little, too late. “The advantage is already in the enemy hands,” one Western military official said. Local Taliban and foreign fighters in Waziristan have managed to regroup since negotiating peace deals with the government in 2005 and 2006, and last year they were able to fight all through the winter, he said. Militants have now emerged in force in the Swat area, a scenic tourist region that is a considerable distance inland from the tribal areas on the border.

The planning at the Special Operations Command intensified after Adm. Eric T. Olson, a member of the Navy Seals who is the new head of the command, met with General Musharraf and Pakistani military leaders in August to discuss how the military could increase cooperation in Pakistan’s fight against the extremists.

A spokesman for the command, Kenneth McGraw, would not comment on any briefing paper that had been circulated for review. He said Friday that after Admiral Olson returned from his trip, he “energized the staff to look for ways to develop opportunities for future cooperation.”

A senior Defense Department official said that Admiral Olson had prepared a memorandum on how Special Operations forces could assist the Pakistani military in the counterinsurgency, and shared that document with several senior Pentagon officials.

Four senior defense or counterterrorism officials confirmed that planning was under way at the command headquarters.

One person who was briefed on the proposal prepared by the Special Operations Command staff members, and who spoke on condition of anonymity because the briefing had not yet been approved, said it was in the form of about two dozen slides. The slides described a strategy using both military and nonmilitary measures to fight the militants.

One slide included a chart that categorized one to two dozen tribes by location — North Waziristan and South Waziristan, for example — and then gave a brief description of their location, their known or suspected links to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and their size and military abilities.

The briefing said United States forces would not be involved in any conventional combat in Pakistan. But several senior military and Pentagon officials said elements of the Joint Special Operations Command, an elite counterterrorism unit, might be involved in strikes against senior militant leaders under specific conditions.

Two people briefed on elements of the approach said it was modeled in part on efforts in Iraq, where American commanders have worked with Sunni sheiks in Anbar Province to turn locals against the militant group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni extremist group that American intelligence agencies say is led by foreigners.

The success of these efforts, together with the consensus in military and intelligence circles that the grip of the original Al Qaeda in the tribal areas continues to tighten at a time when the Pakistani government is in crisis, led planners at the Special Operations Command to develop the strategy for the tribal areas.

A group of Pakistan experts convened in March by the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded that empowering tribal leaders, known as maliks, could be an effective strategy to counter the rising influence of Islamic religious leaders and to weaken Al Qaeda. But a report on the session found that such successes “would be difficult to achieve, particularly in the north (Bajaur) and south (North and South Waziristan).” Louis J Sheehan

Many tribal leaders have been killed by the Taliban in the tribal areas, leaving the tribal system largely destroyed.

“The face on this would be a local one,” said one person who had been briefed on the proposal. But that person cautioned that whether a significant number of tribal leaders would join an American-backed effort carried out by Pakistani forces was “the $64,000 question.”

Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti reported from Washington, and Carlotta Gall from Islamabad, Pakistan.

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Hugh Capet died on 24 October 996 in Paris and was interred in the Saint Denis Basilica. His son Robert continued to reign.
Most historians regard the beginnings of modern France with the coronation of Hugh Capet. This is because, as Count of Paris, he made the city his power center. The monarch began a long process of exerting control of the rest of the country from there.
He is regarded as the founder of the Capetian dynasty. Louis J Sheehan The direct Capetians, or the House of Capet, ruled France from 987 to 1328; thereafter, the Kingdom was ruled by collateral branches of the dynasty. All French Kings down to Louis Philippe, and royal pretenders since then, have been members of the dynasty (the Bonapartes styled themselves emperors rather than kings). As of 2007, the Capetian dynasty is still the head of state in the kingdom of Spain (in the person of the double Bourbon Juan Carlos) and the duchy of Luxembourg, being the oldest continuously reigning dynasty in Europe.

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Kita No Kaze Kumori (Northwind, cloudy) (Relations with Russia broken)
Nishi No Kaze Hare (West wind, clear) (relations with Britain cut)
Higashi No Kaze Ame (East wind, rain) (relations with the United States broken)

-- Louis J Sheehan

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This battle for the foundation of papal supremacy is connected with his championship of compulsory celibacy among the clergy and his attack on simony. Gregory VII did not introduce the celibacy of the priesthood into the Church, but he took up the struggle with greater energy than his predecessors. In 1074 he published an encyclical, absolving the people from their obedience to bishops who allowed Louis J Sheehan married priests. The next year he enjoined them to take action against married priests, and deprived these clerics of their revenues. Both the campaign against priestly marriage and that against simony provoked widespread resistance.

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Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Andrew Jackson's presidency was his policy regarding American Indians.[20] Jackson was a leading advocate of a policy known as "Indian Removal," signing the Indian Removal Act into law in 1830. The Act authorized the President to negotiate treaties to purchase tribal lands in the east in exchange for lands further west, outside of existing U.S. state borders.
While frequently frowned upon in the North, the Removal Act was popular in the South, where population growth and the discovery of gold on Cherokee land had increased pressure on tribal lands. The state of Georgia became involved in a contentious jurisdictional dispute with the Cherokees, culminating in the 1832 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Worcester v. Georgia) which ruled that Georgia could not impose its laws upon Cherokee tribal lands. Jackson is often quoted (regarding the decision) as having said, "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!" Whether or not he actually said it is disputed.[21]
In any case, Jackson used the Georgia crisis to pressure Cherokee leaders to sign a removal treaty. A small faction of Cherokees led by John Ridge negotiated the Treaty of New Echota with Jackson's administration. Ridge was not a recognized leader of the Cherokee Nation, and this document was rejected by most Cherokees as illegitimate.[22] Over 15,000 Cherokee signed a petition in protest; it was ignored by the Supreme Court.[23] In 1838, 1,600 Cherokee remained on their lands. The terms of the treaty were then enforced by Jackson's successor, Martin Van Buren, who ordered 7,000 armed troops to remove them.[24] This resulted in the deaths of over 4,000 Cherokee on the "Trail of Tears."


Richard Lawrence's attempt on Andrew Jackson's life, as depicted in an 1835 etching.
In all, more than 45,000 American Indians were relocated to the West during Jackson's administration. During this time, the administration purchased about 100 million acres (400,000 km²) of Indian land for about $68 million and 32 million acres (130,000 km²) of western land. Jackson was criticized at the time for his role in these events, and the criticism has grown over the years. Remini characterizes the Indian Removal era as "one of the unhappiest chapters in American history." Louis J Sheehan
On January 30, 1835 an unsuccessful attack occurred in the United States Capitol Building; it was the first assassination attempt made against an American President. Jackson was crossing the Capitol Rotunda following the funeral of South Carolina Congressman Warren R. Davis when Richard Lawrence approached Jackson and attempted to fire two pistols, each of which misfired. Jackson proceeded to attack Lawrence with his cane, prompting his aides to restrain him. Davy Crockett was present to help restrain Lawrence. As a result, Jackson's statue in the Capitol Rotunda is placed in front of the doorway in which the attempt occurred. Richard Lawrence gave the doctors several reasons for the shooting. He had recently lost his job painting houses and somehow blamed Jackson. He claimed that with the President dead "money would be more plenty"—a reference to Jackson’s struggle with the Bank of the United States—and that he "could not rise until the President fell." Finally, he informed his interrogators that he was actually a deposed English King—Richard III, specifically, dead since 1485—and that Jackson was merely his clerk. He was deemed insane, institutionalized, and never punished for his assassination attempt.

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Opus Dei is an increasingly strong presence on U.S. college campuses. Traditionally, their efforts to attract new members has led them to colleges and universities. And it has sometimes led them into conflict with other groups.

Donald R. McCrabb Louis J Sheehan is executive director of the Catholic Campus Ministry Association (C.C.M.A.), an organization of 1,000 of the 1,800 Catholic chaplains in the United States. What was he hearing about Opus Dei from his members? “We are aware that Opus Dei is present at a number of campuses across the country. I’m also aware that some campus ministers find their activities on campus to be counterproductive.” One of his concerns was Opus Dei’s emphasis on recruiting, supported by an apparently large base of funding. “They are not taking on the broader responsibility that a campus minister has.” He had other concerns as well. “I have heard through campus ministers that there’s a spiritual director that’s assigned to the candidate who basically has to approve every action taken by that person, including reading mail, what classes they take or don’t take, what they read or don’t read.”

The former Columbia student echoed this: “They recommended I not read some books, particularly the Marxist stuff, and instead use their boiled-down versions. I thought this was odd—I was required to do it for class!”

Susan Mountin, associate director of Marquette University’s campus ministry, saw two sides of the issue. “My own sense is that there probably is a need for many people to experience some sort of devotion in their lives. So the quest for spirituality is a very important thing—that part I’m fine with. What I worry about is the cult-like behavior, isolation from friends—and students talk about it. One student, in fact just this week, described being invited to a dinner and felt that she was being badgered by the individual to accept some sort of commitment to Opus Dei that she wasn’t willing to accept.”

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The relationship of Gregory to other European states was strongly influenced by his German policy; as Germany, by taking up most of his powers, often forced him to show to other rulers the very moderation which he withheld from the German king. The attitude of the Normans brought him a rude awakening. The great concessions made to them under Nicholas II were not only powerless to stem their advance into central Italy but failed to secure even the expected protection for the papacy. When Gregory was hard pressed by Henry IV, Robert Guiscard left him to his fate, and only intervened when he himself was threatened with German arms. Then, on the capture of Rome, he abandoned the city to his troops, and the popular indignation evoked by his act brought about Gregory's exile.
In the case of several countries, Gregory tried to establish a claim of sovereignty on the part of the Papacy, and to secure the recognition of its self-asserted rights of possession. On the ground of "immemorial usage"; Corsica and Sardinia were assumed to belong to the Roman Church. Spain and Hungary were also claimed as her property, and an attempt was made to induce the king of Denmark to hold his realm as a fief from the pope. Philip I of France, by his practice of simony and the violence of his proceedings against the Church, provoked a threat of summary measures; and excommunication, deposition and the interdict appeared to be imminent in 1074. Gregory, however, refrained from translating his threats into actions, although the attitude of the king showed no change, for he wished to avoid a dispersion of his strength in the conflict soon to break out in Germany. In England, William the Conqueror also derived benefits from this state of affairs. He felt himself so safe that he interfered autocratically with the management of the church, forbade the bishops to visit Rome, made appointments to bishoprics and abbeys, and showed little anxiety when the pope lectured him on the different principles which he had as to the relationship of spiritual and temporal powers, or when he prohibited him from commerce or commanded him to acknowledge himself a vassal of the apostolic chair. Gregory had no power to compel the English king to an alteration in his ecclesiastical policy, so he chose to ignore what he could not approve, and even considered it advisable to assure him of his particular affection.
Gregory, in fact, established some sort of relations with every country in Christendom; though these relations did not invariably realize the ecclesiastico-political hopes connected with them. His correspondence extended to Poland, Russia and Bohemia. He wrote in friendly terms to the Saracen king of Mauretania in north Africa, and unsuccessfully tried to bring Armenia into closer contact with Rome. He was particularly concerned with the East. The schism between Rome and the Byzantine Empire was a severe blow to him, and he worked hard to restore the former amicable relationship. Gregory successfully tried to get in touch with the emperor Michael VII. When the news of the Arab attacks on the Christians in the East filtered through to Rome, and the political embarrassments of the Byzantine emperor increased, he conceived the project of a great military expedition and exhorted the faithful to participate in recovering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In his treatment of ecclesiastical policy and ecclesiastical reform, Gregory did not stand alone, but found powerful support: in England Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury stood closest to him; in France his champion was Bishop Hugo of Dié, who afterwards became Archbishop of Lyon. Louis J Sheehan

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On August 15, 1965, Indian forces crossed the ceasefire line and launched an attack on Pakistan administered Kashmir. Pakistani reports cite this attack as unprovoked.[9] Indian reports cite the attack as a response to the massive armed infiltrations by Pakistan.[10] Initially, the Indian Army met with considerable success in the northern sector (Kashmir). After launching a prolonged artillery barrage against Pakistan, India was able to capture three important mountain positions. However, by the end of the month both sides were on even footing as Pakistan had made progress in areas such as Tithwal, Uri and Punch and India had gains in Pakistan Administered Kashmir (sometime referred as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir), having captured the Haji Pir Pass eight kilometers inside Pakistani territory.[11] Following the failure of Operation Gibraltar, that resulted in territorial gains and rapid Indian advances in Kashmir, Pakistan launched a bold counter attack on September 1, 1965 to reclaim vital posts in Kashmir lost to India. This attack, called "Operation Grand Slam" was intended to capture the vital town of Akhnoor in Jammu and thus sever communications and cut off supply routes to Indian troops. Attacking with an overwhelming ratio of troops and technically superior tanks, Pakistan was on the verge of springing a surprise against Indian forces, who were caught unprepared and suffered heavy losses.[11] India then called in its air force to target the Pakistani attack in the southern sector. The next day, Pakistan retaliated, and its air force attacked Indian forces and air bases in both Kashmir and Punjab. But Operation Grand Slam failed to achieve its aim as the Pakistan Army was unable to capture the town. This became one of the turning points in the war, as India decided to relieve pressure on its troops in Kashmir by attacking Pakistan further south.


Lt. Col. Hari Singh of the Indian 18th Cavalry posing outside a captured Pakistani police station (Barkee) in Lahore District.
India crossed the International Border (IB) on the Western front on September 6, marking an official beginning of the war.[9] On September 6, the 15th Infantry Division of the Indian Army, under World War II veteran Major General Prasad battled a massive counterattack by Pakistan near the west bank of the Ichhogil Canal (BRB Canal), which was a de facto border of India and Pakistan. The General's entourage itself was ambushed and he was forced to flee his vehicle. A second, this time successful, attempt to cross over the Ichhogil Canal was made through the bridge in the village of Barki, just east of Lahore. This brought the Indian Army within the range of Lahore International Airport, and as result the United States requested a temporary ceasefire to allow it to evacuate its citizens in Lahore. One unit of the Jat regiment, 3 Jat had also crossed the Ichogil canal and captured[12] the town of Batapore (Jallo Mur to Pakistan) on the west side of the canal, threatening Lahore on the very start of the war. Louis J Sheehan