Welcome

Welcome
John William Tuohy lives in Washington DC

I want to see the entire world...don't you?




October
By Robert Frost

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.



I WANT TO SEE THE ENTIRE WORLD, DON'T YOU?



































http://www.amazon.com/No-Time-Say-Goodbye-Memoir/dp/

In 1962, six year old John Tuohy, his two brothers and two sisters entered Connecticut’s foster care system and were promptly split apart. Over the next ten years, John would live in more than ten foster homes, group homes and state schools, from his native Waterbury to Ansonia, New Haven, West Haven, Deep River and Hartford. In the end, a decade later, the state returned him to the same home and the same parents they had taken him from. As tragic as is funny compelling story will make you cry and laugh as you journey with this child to overcome the obstacles of the foster care system and find his dreams.

http://www.amazon.com/No-Time-Say-Goodbye-Memoir/dp/0692361294/
http://amemoirofalifeinfostercare.blogspot.com/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


John William Tuohy is a writer who lives in Washington DC. He holds an MFA in writing from Lindenwood University. He is the author of numerous non-fiction on the history of organized crime including the ground break biography of bootlegger Roger Tuohy "When Capone's Mob Murdered Touhy" and "Guns and Glamour: A History of Organized Crime in Chicago."
His non-fiction crime short stories have appeared in The New Criminologist, American Mafia and other publications. John won the City of Chicago's Celtic Playfest for his work The Hannigan's of Beverly, and his short story fiction work, Karma Finds Franny Glass, appeared in AdmitTwo Magazine in October of 2008.
His play, Cyberdate.Com, was chosen for a public performance at the Actors Chapel in Manhattan in February of 2007 as part of the groups Reading Series for New York project. In June of 2008, the play won the Virginia Theater of The First Amendment Award for best new play.
Contact John:
MYWRITERSSITE.BLOGSPOT.COM
JWTUOHY95@GMAIL.COM



This is a book of short stories taken from the things I saw and heard in my childhood in the factory town of Ansonia in southwestern Connecticut. Most of these stories, or as true as I recall them because I witnessed these events many years ago through the eyes of child and are retold to you now with the pen and hindsight of an older man. The only exception is the story Beat Time which is based on the disappearance of Beat poet Lew Welch. Decades before I knew who Welch was, I was told that he had made his from California to New Haven, Connecticut, where was an alcoholic living in a mission. The notion fascinated me and I filed it away but never forgot it.     
The collected stories are loosely modeled around Joyce’s novel, Dubliners (I also borrowed from the novels character and place names. Ivy Day, my character in “Local Orphan is Hero” is also the name of chapter in Dubliners, etc.) and like Joyce I wanted to write about my people, the people I knew as a child, the working class in small town America and I wanted to give a complete view of them as well. As a result the stories are about the divorced, Gays, black people, the working poor, the middle class, the lost and the found, the contented and the discontented.
Conversely many of the stories in this book are about starting life over again as a result of suicide (The Hanging Party, Small Town Tragedy, Beat Time) or from a near death experience (Anna Bell Lee and the Charge of the Light Brigade, A Brief Summer) and natural occurring death. (The Best Laid Plans, The Winter Years, Balanced and Serene)
With the exception of Jesus Loves Shaqunda, in each story there is a rebirth from the death. (Shaqunda is reported as having died of pneumonia in The Winter Years)
Sal, the desperate and depressed divorcee in Things Change, changes his life in Lunch Hour when asks the waitress for a date and she accepts. (Which we learn in Closing Time, the last story in the book) In The Arranged Time, Thisby is given the option of change and whether she takes it or, we don’t know. The death of Greta’s husband in A Matter of Time has led her to the diner and into the waiting arms of the outgoing and loveable Gabe.
Although the book is based on three sets of time (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and the diner is opened in the early morning and closed at night, time stands still inside the Diner. The hour on the big clock on the wall never changes time and much like my memories of that place, everything remains the same.


HERE’S SOME GREAT LIFE ADVICE…………..

Sometimes, it is necessary to hit bottom in order to realize the major changes that will trigger change and bring new life.

Having confidence and believing in yourself is paramount for success to come. If you don’t have the confidence to believe in yourself, fake it until you make it.

Avoid following the crowd and be bold enough to believe that you can change the crowd.

Create a set of values and follow them through your life. Be unique — this is what truly makes you human.

Success is no more than the result of consistency and lots of small work. Draw goals, be consistent and keep working towards them.

Don’t be afraid to fail. Take risks and get out of your comfort zone, this is the only way that you will achieve success — by constantly putting yourself in situation that you are likely to fail in.

Those who succeed are the ones that spot and act on opportunities as they are presented. 

Realize that preparation is key to utilize opportunities.

Failure must be present in your life. Otherwise, you are not challenging yourself enough.

Use your human capacities to help empower other people to become the best versions of themselves.

You have to at least try. If you don’t try, you can’t win.










HERE'S SOME NICE ART FOR YOU TO LOOK AT....ENJOY!


 John Singer Sargent - The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit (1882)


John Singer Sargent 

Used to be a John Singer Sargent 

 So I Ran into Vincent Van Gogh today…
















Photographs I’ve taken



























































































































































THE ART OF WAR...............................







BOSTON'S WHITEY BULGER, HEAD OF THE IRISH MOB




















 









WEAPONS AND CASH FOUND AT HIS ARREST













THIS IS INSANE. WE HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THIS AND WE SHOULD STOP IT.

Saudi Arabia Plans To Crucify Teen As It Ascends To UN Human Rights Council Chair

As a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Saudi Arabia is forbidden to execute anyone arrested under the age of 18.

By Jerusalem Post 

In a move that has drawn severe criticism from numerous organizations and activist groups from around the world, Saudi Arabia, which was tapped last week to head the Human Rights Council at the UN, is preparing to crucify and behead a protester who was still a minor at the time of his arrest, the BBC reported Wednesday.
Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr, a member of Saudi Arabia’s Shi’ite minority, was convicted on a variety of charges including taking part in anti-government protests, breaking alliance with the king, sedition, rioting and attacking security patrols in 2011. Nimr was 17 years old when Saudi authorities arrested him.
As a signatory of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Saudi Arabia is forbidden from enacting capital punishment against people under the age of 18. UN human rights experts also added that al-Nimr was subjected to torture and did not receive a fair trial.
“Any judgment imposing the death penalty upon persons who were children at the time of the offense, and their execution, are incompatible with Saudi Arabia’s international obligations,” the UN group said in a statement Tuesday.
Despite Saudi Arabia possessing “arguably the worst record in the world” in terms of women’s rights and dissidents, on September 17 the kingdom was chosen to lead a powerful five-member group of ambassadors, according to CNN.
Dubbed the Consultative Group, the powerful group has the mandate to select applicants for more than 77 positions in regards to country-specific and thematic human rights mandates, documents published by the UNHRC state.
As a result, Saudi Arabia has been targeted on social media platforms by vocal opponents, including journalists, politicians and the Geneva-based NGO UN Watch, which is a vocal critic of the international body, according to CNN.
Hillel Neuer, the NGO’s executive director, said that Saudi Arabia’s ascension to the leadership position of UN Human Rights Council was “scandalous,” adding “Petro-dollars and politics have trumped human rights.”
Hillel also said the “UN often describes these experts (on the Consultative Group) as the ‘crown jewels’ of its Human Rights Council…yet the world body only undermines their legitimacy by picking a fundamentalist theocracy that oppresses women and minorities to preside over the experts’ appointment.”
The practice of displaying publicly executed bodies, although rare, serves both a piratical and psychological purpose in the kingdom.
Saad Hamid, an expert in international law and Islamic jurisprudence, explains that “Death followed by crucifixion is the punishment in the Islamic penal code for a specific charge of attacking and targeting civilians and causing them deliberate injury or death with the intention of terrorizing them.”
Hamid went on to say that “The aim of showing such mutilation is a form of extreme deterrence so no one would even think of doing the same thing in the future.”



I LOVE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS FROM FILM

Kula, Manisa, Turkey


Excerpt from my book "When Capone’s Mob Murdered Touhy.” 

GOOD WORDS TO HAVE………………..


Paroxysm \PAIR-uk-sih-zum\ 1: a fit, attack, or sudden increase or recurrence of symptoms (as of a disease) : convulsion 2:  a sudden violent emotion or action : outburst Paroxysm didn't just burst onto the scene recently; its roots go back to ancient Greek. The word ultimately derives from the Greek paroxynein, which means "to stimulate." Oxynein, a parent of paroxynein, means "to provoke" or "to sharpen" and comes from oxys, a Greek word for "sharp." (That root also underlies the word oxygen.) In its earliest known English uses in the 15th century, paroxysm denoted agitation or intensification of a disease or its symptoms. (A still-used example of that sense is "a paroxysm of coughing.") Additionally, paroxysm soon took on a broader sense referring to an outburst, especially a dramatic physical or emotional one.


When Passengers (Don't) Attack: Random Acts of Kindness in the Air

Written by Cynthia Drescher

Everyone has horror stories about fliers behaving badly. However, it's not all toenail clipping at 35,000 feet: occasionally passengers put aside frustrations and extend a helping hand.
This week, a mother flying with her crying infant shared her story of a seat mate who soothed and cradled the baby, saving the sanity of both Mom and the rest of the plane. There have been several iterations of the story about a family flying with young children who handed out goodie bags of earplugs and candy to fellow passengers as a pre-emptive apology in case the kids were fussy during the flight. Early last year, another fliermade the news for conversing with his seat mates, a mother and her autistic child, instead of ignoring them.
Are Airlines Actually Getting Nicer?
The stories of fellow flier kindness may tend to trend involve families and little children, but it's not just parents who are seeing frowns turned upside-down; solo travelers and road warriors aren't exempted from common courtesies. Matt Long, frequent flier and editor of the travel blogLandLopers, says that he encounters small courtesies all the time, emphasis on the small: "A few weeks ago the guy next to me realized he had picked up an extra paper by mistake and he gave it to me, and people have switched seats so I could have an aisle because of knee issues."
Even the simplest kindness goes a long way in the hostile environment of an aircraft or airport packed with frenzied strangers, from sharing guest passes for lounge access during a long delay to offering to help elderly passengers retrieve luggage from the overhead bins. When in doubt, just remember the golden rule: treat others as you would like to be treated.


Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.
Philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell, he of great wisdom, in The Conquest of Happiness:

What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky puts it even more forcefully in The Brothers Karamazov:

People sometimes say that you must believe in feelings deep inside, otherwise you’d never be confident of things like ‘My wife loves me’. But this is a bad argument. There can be plenty of evidence that somebody loves you. All through the day when you are with somebody who loves you, you see and hear lots of little tidbits of evidence, and they all add up. It isn’t purely inside feeling, like the feeling that priests call revelation. There are outside things to back up the inside feeling: looks in the eye, tender notes in the voice, little favors and kindnesses; this is all real evidence. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in a letter to his ten-year-old daughter explaining the importance of evidence in science and in life.

Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused. Paulo Coelho in The Zahir: A Novel of Obsession

Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up. James Baldwin in The Price of the Ticket: Collected Non-fiction, 1948-1985

Anyone who falls in love is searching for the missing pieces of themselves. So anyone who’s in love gets sad when they think of their lover. It’s like stepping back inside a room you have fond memories of, one you haven’t seen in a long time. Haruki Murakami in Kafka on the Shore

You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you. I know by experience that the poets are right: love is eternal. E. M. Forster in A Room with a View:

That’s when I finally got it. I finally understood. It wasn’t the thought that counted. It was the actual execution that mattered, the showing up for somebody. The intent behind it wasn’t enough. Not for me. Not anymore. It wasn’t enough to know that deep down, he loved me. You had to actually say it to somebody, show them you cared. And he just didn’t. Not enough.  Jenny Han

Most men claim to desire driven, independent and confident women. Yet when confronted with such a creature reverence often evolves into resent. For just like women, men need to be needed.  Tiffany Madison

People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that’s what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you’ll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave. A soul mates purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master…Elizabeth Gilbert

For many, love is a two-sided coin. It can strengthen or stifle, expand or enfeeble, perfect or pauperize. When love is returned, we soar. We are taken to heights unseen, where it delights, invigorates, and beautifies. When love is spurned, we feel crippled, disconsolate, and bereaved. Polish the coin and you will see only requited love on both sides. I was destined to love you and I will belong to you forever. Colleen Houck



"Shall we then judge a country by the majority or by the minority? By the minority surely. 'Tis pedantry to estimate nations by the census or by square miles of land or other than by their importance to the mind of the time."



300 quotes from Emerson
To view more Emerson quotes or read a life background on Emerson please visit the books blog spot. We update the blog bi-monthly  emersonsaidit.blogspot.com



Scientists Say Doing Good Makes You Feel Like Gold

ALEX SMITH@RYOTnews


Want the real cure for a bad day? Dr. George Fieldman saysforget wallowing in your bad luck. Instead, he thinks altruism’s where it’s at. Fieldman says altruism’s doing something good for someone else but “at a cost to yourself.”
Altruism, it turns out, will make you feel even better than downing a whole chocolate bar to beat the blues. Fieldman says altruism happens when either you’re doing something with the hope of getting something back, or when you do something without the idea that the favor will be returned. These random acts of kindness, he says, are often done for people we know. He also adds that if life is hard, we’re less likely to do some random good but if “life has treated us properly, we feel more inclined to help others without expecting anything in return.”
Why’s doing good better for you than chocolate? Fieldman saysit’s because its feel good benefits endure. You think better about yourself long after you help someone else feel better.
Better yet, Fieldman notes that the psychology of random acts of kindness can be contagious. Not only will it have you feeling on the up and up, but the person you help might be hooked on paying it forward.
If your soul needs that chocolate (or pint of ice cream) something fierce, why not share a bite? You can get the feel good benefits of altruism while comforting your blues with something sweet.



What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Visit our Shakespeare Blog at the address below
http://shakespeareinamericanenglish.blogspot.com/





DON'T JUST YOU LOVE POP ART?

Nightmare Outside the Swingin’ Pad



WE NEED PAID FAMILY LEAVE FOR AMERICANS


Paid family leave research gains funding
 Jamie McGee, jmcgee@tennessean.com
Under a new initiative backed by the U.S. Department of Labor, Tennessee will gain greater resources dedicated to paid leave policies.
The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability a $193,000 grant to carry out a survey that addresses the needs and availability of paid family and medical leave. The grant is among $1.55 million being awarded nationally to support research on the development of paid leave programs.
"We have a caregiver problem in Tennessee," said Jim Shulman, executive director of the commission, a government agency focused on older residents and those with disabilities. "The question is, from an economic standpoint, from a personal standpoint, from a family standpoint, what are some good options out there?"
Shulman estimates there are about 1.65 million people in Tennessee who are providing some type of care for adults. The survey, conducted with the University of Tennessee, will include about 5,000 individuals and seeks to learn what challenges employees and employers face related to caregiving.
While the commission's focus is on aging populations, parental leave issues — maternity and paternity leave — will also be included in the survey, Shulman said.
The federal dollars are meant to help state and local governments take the lead on increasing worker flexibility, said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, who sees economic reasons to take action. Compared to other industrialized countries, the U.S. is significantly behind, which affects the country's competitive edge.
"While adopting paid leave policies has some costs,  the status quo has a much greater cost," Perez said in a conference call Tuesday. "Research findings, statistics and the experience of America's working families paints a very stark picture of all the benefits  we forego and the negative impacts we experience without paid leave."
In Germany, workers are able to take 14 weeks paid maternity leave and in Canada, employees can take 15 weeks with about 55 percent pay.
Tennessee businesses are required to allow four months off for medical leave, but the law only applies to large employers. Most of those employers don’t provide paid leave, said Elizabeth Gedmark, director of the Southern office of A Better Balance legal center in Nashville.
“Most folks cannot afford to take unpaid leave,” Gedmark said. “You either have to cobble together sick or vacation days or find support in savings or in your networks, and a lot of folks turn to public assistance because they have no choice.”
In the U.S., with no federally required paid leave in place, one in four working mothers returns to work within two weeks of their child’s birth, and only 12 percent of private sector workers have access to paid family leave, according to the labor department.
Current leave policies often force mothers and caregivers to choose between looking after their loved ones and their paychecks. Paid leave policies would have a powerful impact on our economy, but also on our nation’s health, saving taxpayers’ dollars and reducing health care costs.
Mothers need adequate time to recover from childbirth before returning to work, especially when surgery is involved, and breastfeeding is more feasible when a mother does not have to immediately return to work.  Meanwhile, those suffering from serious illnesses benefit from having their family members caring for them. If they don’t receive the proper care, they could end up back in the hospital, Gedmark said.
“People should not have to go bankrupt or fall into poverty because they have a new child or have a loved one who is fallen ill,” Gedmark said.
While paid leave is not mandated at the federal level, some states have begun instituting their own policies. California, New Jersey and Rhode Island offer employee-funded insurance programs that help alleviate costs to small businesses that may otherwise struggle to pay for paid leave.
In the private sector, many companies have used paid leave policies as a means of distinguishing themselves among competitors to help retain qualified workers. Netflix recently announced it would provide paid leave for up to a year for new parents. Google offers 18 weeks of paid maternity leave and 12 weeks paid paternity leave.
When Google expanded its maternity leave from 12 to 18 weeks, the rate of new mothers leaving dropped by 50 percent, reducing costly turnover, according to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki.
Paid family leave needs to become more widespread in Tennessee. The commission emphasizes that the research is not a precursor to legislative action in Tennessee, but it could help inform state and business leaders on the needs and options for addressing this increasingly important issue.
Reach Jamie McGee at 615-259-8071 and on Twitter @JamieMcGee_.
 HERE'S PLEASANT POEM FOR YOU TO ENJOY................



The Loft
By Richard Jones

The Loft
I lay on her bed
while she opened windows
so we could see the river
and the factories beyond.
Afternoon light falling
beautifully into the room,
she burned candles,
incense, talking quietly
as I listened-
I, who conspired
to make this happen,
weaving a web of words that held
this moment at its center.
What could I say now?
That I am a man
empty of desire?
She stood beside the bed,
looking down at me
as if she were dreaming,
as if I were a dream,
as if she too had come
to the final shore of longing.
I lay, calm as a lake
reflecting the nothingness
of late summer sky.
Then she spoke-
she said my name-
and I, who did not love her,
opened my arms.


Richard Jones is an American poet. He was born in London, England, received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Virginia and an M.F.A. from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He is the author of seven books of poetry, most recently The Correct Spelling & Exact Meaning (Copper Canyon Press, 2010), as well as a number of limited edition volumes. The Blessing: New and Selected Poems, a selection of poems from six of his books, received the Midland Authors Award for Poetry for 2000.
He is also the editor of the critical anthology Poetry and Politics (William Morrow and Company, 1985). In 2000, he published a compact disc, Body and Soul, in which he discusses the art of poetry.
In 2011, he published Thunder on the Mountain (East of Eden Press), a nonfiction book that explores the relationship between poetry and painting. He is editor of the literary journal Poetry East and its many anthologies, including The Last Believer in Words and Bliss. He is currently professor of English at DePaul University in Chicago, where he has taught since 1987. He lives north of Chicago with his wife and three children.

’’Country of Air’’ (Copper Canyon Press, 1986)
’’At Last We Enter Paradise’’ (Copper Canyon Press, 1991)
’’A Perfect Time’’ (Copper Canyon Press, 1994)
’’The Empty Heart’’ (Copper Canyon Press, 1999)
’’The Blessing: New and Selected Poems’’ (Copper Canyon Press, 2000)
’’Apropos of Nothing’’ (Copper Canyon Press, 2006)
’’The Correct Spelling & Exact Meaning’’ (Copper Canyon Press, 2010)
Poetry limited editions[edit]
’’Windows and Walls’’ (Adastra Press, 1982)
’’Innocent Things’’ (Adastra Press, 1985)
’’Walk On (Alderman Press, 1986)
’’Sonnets’’ (Adastra Press, 1990)
’’The Abandoned Garden’’ (Tunheim Santrizos, 1997)
’’48 Questions’’ (Tebot Bach Books, 1998)
’’The Stone It Lives On’’ (Adastra Press, 2000)

WHY THE WORLD NEEDS EDITORS.....................




DON’T WORRY-BE HAPPY

Happiness And Its Many Health Benefits Are Not Exclusive
By Eric Nelson on August 17, 2015 10:10 AM

“Recently, a critical mass of research has provided what might be the most basic and irrefutable argument in favor of happiness,” declares Kira Newman in her article on Cal Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center website. “Happiness and good health go hand-in-hand. Indeed, scientific studies have been finding that happiness can make our hearts healthier, our immune systems stronger, and our lives longer.”
This is great news. But maybe not so great for those who aren’t very good at being happy.
“I have bipolar disorder, and I often wonder how the emotional symptoms that result affect my overall happiness and health,” writes “Tyla” in the article’s comment section. “Do I get the short end of the stick because I suffer from a disease that makes you prone to unhappiness from depression and anxiety?”
If, as is widely believed, happiness is a largely chemical-based phenomenon, then yes, it might be fair to assume that those whose bodies have trouble generating such chemicals could be left with “the short end of the stick.” This, in and of itself, is a pretty depressing thought.
If, on the other hand, there were some other source they might turn to for happiness – a safer, more reliable, less chemical- or even completely non-chemical-based source – then no, no one should be left out. Now we’re talkin’.
Try as we might, though, we just can’t seem to shake the notion, or dodge the penalties, of what most everyone assumes to be a matter-based existence. Even so, it’s an assumption that deserves to be challenged.
“Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love,” affirms Mary Baker Eddy, a religious and medical reformer whose many years of trial and tribulation provided plenty of incentive to seek out the source – and resulting health benefits – of happiness. “It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it.”
More than a mere statement of faith, Eddy’s conviction that happiness originates in something outside of matter was a profound declaration of truth wrought out of her own life experience – a truth that, as it became better understood, had the effect of improving, not just her own health, but the health of those she encouraged to consider this same Spirit-based point of view.
Of course, there are times when adopting such an outlook is a lot easier said than done, particularly when we find ourselves fixating on the happiness of others – what social commentators often refer to as the “fear of missing out” or FoMO. It’s in just these situations, however, when simply being open to the fact that happiness, as a wholly spiritual expression, “requires all mankind to share it” can be especially helpful in breaking through whatever mental logjam would seem to be getting in the way of our own sense of contentment.
Even more important than the revelation that “happiness and good health go hand-in-hand” is the understanding that happiness is not exclusive. No one is left out. And ultimately, no one can be or should be deprived of its many benefits, not the least of which is better health.


Eric Nelson writes each week on the link between consciousness and health from his perspective as a practitioner of Christian Science. He also serves as the media and legislative spokesperson for Christian Science in Northern California. Read similar columns at norcalcs.org and follow him on Twitter @norcalcs.




Sculpture this and Sculpture that



Mycenae, 1600−1500 BC. Silver rhyton with gold horns and rosette on the forehead


 REFORMING OUR POLICE BECAUSE THEY HAVE BECOME A LEADING NATIONAL SOCIAL PROBLEM

Alternatives to Bullets
From liquids that smell like dead animals to high-temperature heat rays, the present and future of non-lethal weapons.

By ELI HAGER
In the wake of recent high-profile police shootings, manufacturers of non-lethal weapons have seized on the opportunity to sell devices they say might have saved the lives of Michael Brown, Walter Scott, Tamir Rice, and many others. Companies with names like Micron Products, Alternative Ballistics, and Bruzer Less Lethal International are now a part of the decades-old field of less-lethal weapons — also called “compliance” or “pacification” devices — offering everything from bullets that don’t penetrate to devices that slow bullets down.
“I just looked out there and there wasn’t anything that really would have been practical and useful in a tense one-on-one situation like in Ferguson,” says Christian Ellis, the CEO of Alternative Ballistics, which tried to sell one such device to the Ferguson police department. “That’s why we got into this business.”
Police officers, for their part, already have less-lethal tools on their belts — nightsticks, pepper spray, and TASERs — and some feel that the additional options are not much more useful despite their variety and complexity. “It’s like comparing phone plans,” says Sid Heal, former commander in the L.A.P.D. and an expert on less-lethal force.
Whatever the future holds for these alternatives, police departments already have, in recent years, added a few gentler tools to their arsenals. Below, an inventory of some of those tools, as well as a look at what might flood the market soon.

Bean Bags
A sock-shaped pouch filled with lead, silicone, or rubber balls, fired from a shotgun. The pouch expands in the air for wider impact.
Approximate cost: $4.50 to $6.50 per round.
When it’s most useful: Anytime a person is "noncompliant" but far away and "not yet a direct threat," says Steve Ijames, the police chief in Republic, Mo. and an expert on less-lethal force.
Effect on target: Pain, muscle spasms, and temporary immobility, but no penetration of the skin.
Why it’s appealing: It’s inexpensive.
Potential downsides: Unless a shotgun containing bean bags is adequately marked in a different color (usually orange), it can easily be confused with a shotgun loaded with real shells, which police call "cross-contamination" and has repeatedly causeddeaths, according to the National Institute of Justice. Even if the correct gun is used, there is a risk of serious or deadly injury if the bean bag is fired at the head — and it’s difficult to avoid hitting the head, face, throat, or center of the chest "when a person is twisting or running around," says Heal.
Where it’s used: Different versions of bean bags have existed for over three decades, and are perhaps the most widely-used non-lethal weapon outside of the TASER, pepper spray, and nightstick. As the technology has evolved (from a flatter, squarer bag that was inaccurate as a projectile and sometimes failed to expand properly mid-air), it has become significantly less dangerous.

Blunt-Impact Projectiles
Plastic bullets (37 mm or 40 mm) capped with gel, silicone, or foam, fired from a single-shot gas launcher or giant revolver. The bullets are designed to flatten upon impact. They can also be filled with pepper spray or liquids that smell like fecal matter, rotten eggs, or dead animals, to further repel the suspect.
Approximate cost: $350 to $1200 for the gun, $25 per round.
When it’s most useful: Subduing a potentially violent suspect from a distance, and when the officer has time to get a large, specialized weapon out of the trunk.
Effect on target: Severe, blunt pain.
Why it’s appealing: The projectiles have a soft, wide surface of impact and should not be able to pierce through skin or injure internal organs.
Potential downsides: Very expensive and only useful at long range; also liable to cause serious or deadly injury if fired at the head, neck, or chest.
Where it’s used: The newest version has already been purchased by at least 16 law-enforcement agencies, including the SWAT teams in L.A. County and Sacramento.

Pepperballs
Small (.68-inch), round, plastic balls filled with synthetic capsaicin powder, the active ingredient in chili peppers. A paintball-style gun rapidly fires the balls, which explode after hitting any surface, releasing the powder.
Approximate cost: $150 to $300 for a paintball gun or $250 to $500 for a brand-name PepperBall gun; $3 to $5 per round.
When it’s most useful: Indoors (including in jails and other correctional situations), when the officer can aim at walls and ceilings to release the pepper powder.
Effect on target: Puffy, watery, stinging eyes; runny nose; difficulty breathing; and coughing.
Why it’s appealing: One of the few alternatives that doesn't need to make direct contact with the target — police can shoot it anywhere nearby, and the effect of the capsaicin powder will be the same. However, cops’ training and instincts often cause them to aim for "center mass," says Heal. According to Ijames, the pepperballs "beg a shot to the upper body, because the officer wants to make sure the suspect gets the worst of the pepper."
Potential downsides: The round shape of a pepperball is relatively unstable as it flies through the air, and because of "trajectory degradation," it is not nearly as accurate as a sleek, pointed bullet.
Where it’s used: Most famously used in 1999 during the “Battle of Seattle” anti-WTO riots. In 2004, the Boston Police Department accidentally killed a 21-year-old college student who was celebrating the Red Sox's World Series victory — by firing a pepperball at her eye.

“The Alternative”
An orange metal attachment that an officer can quickly clip onto the barrel of his handgun before firing a shot. The clip-on “catches” the bullet — like an airbag — making it fly about one-fifth as fast.
Approximate cost: $45 per unit.
When it’s most useful: Anytime an officer needs to fire his regular service weapon but does not want the shot to be deadly, and has time to attach this device.
Effect on target: Instead of penetrating and potentially killing the suspect, the slowed-down bullet only knocks him down. “But it might break ribs and it feels like getting hit in the chest with a hammer,” says Ellis, the CEO of the company that manufactures the product.
Why it’s appealing: The Alternative is a compact device that is relatively easy to incorporate into everyday use. The officer can take the clip-on from his belt and attach it to his handgun.
Potential downsides: According to Heal, one “weapons platform” should deliver only one type of force — either lethal or non-lethal. Combining the two on the same gun, he says, is inherently dangerous: What if the officer instinctively “double-taps” (pulls the trigger twice), as most police are trained to do? The result would be the firing of a lethal round right after the non-lethal one has already been discharged.
Where it’s used: A month after the shooting of Michael Brown, the assistant chief of Ferguson's police department took to Google, searching for a less-lethal option for cops. He came up with The Alternative, but after a group of experts sent a letter saying how dangerous they believed the device was, Ferguson has stopped considering it.

“The XREP”
Manufactured until 2012 by TASER International, the XREP is essentially a long-range, wireless version of the traditional TASER, firing plastic shells that each contain sharpened electrodes, a battery, a transmitter, and a microprocessor. When a shell hits the suspect, the electrodes are released and pierce through clothes and skin, releasing up to 50,000 volts of electricity for 20 seconds.
Approximate cost: Over $1,000 for the launcher, $100 per round.
When it’s most useful: For incapacitating people from a distance.
Effect on target: Muscles contract uncontrollably, causing the person to freeze and fall to the ground. And if the person attempts to pull out the electrodes, a circuit is created, spreading the effect.
Why it’s appealing: Like a TASER, the XREP can effectively subdue a person who is suicidal or under the influence of drugs, or otherwise has a high threshold for pain. And unlike a TASER, the XREP can be fired from a distance.
Potential downsides: The XREP’s high cost is its main downside. But, like TASER products, it could be dangerous:According to a 2013 report by Amnesty International, the TASER has caused more than 500 deaths in the United States since 2001.
Where it’s been used: TASER discontinued the XREP back in 2012, because it was expensive and “departments just weren’t buying it,” says TASER spokesperson Steve Tuttle. But several police departments around the country still have the XREP, and few use it occasionally. It was used in March by cops in Albuquerque, N.M., against a mentally-ill person.

“ML-12” Less-Lethal Launcher
A two-shot pistol that shoots most types of less-lethal ammunition (bean bags, pepper rounds, rubber balls, flares, etc.).
When it’s most useful: Close or hand-to-hand confrontations, at traffic stops, in small rooms.
Approximate cost: $549 for the launcher and holster, $4 to $7 per round.
Effect on target: Depends on the type of round.
Why it’s appealing: This is a weapon that the officer can wear on his/her belt and have on hand in any situation.
Potential downsides: It only fires two shots, and two-thirds of use-of-force encounters require an officer to fire more than twice, according to the National Institute of Justice.
Where it’s used: Tommy Teach, the founder of Bruzer Less Lethal International, the company that markets the ML-12, says it has been purchased by over a hundred "small, rural police departments — who prefer it to the TASER because of its lower cost."

“Active Denial System”
Designed by the military, the ADS, also known as the “pain ray,” is shaped like a satellite dish and shoots an invisible, 95 GHz wave of heat at the suspect — similar to the waves inside a microwave.
How it would be used: To stop, deter, and force the retreat of a person who is approaching too aggressively.
Effect on target: Heats the skin to 130° Fahrenheit in under two seconds, causing excruciating, quickly unbearable pain.
Why it’s appealing: The ADS has been thoroughly researched by the Department of Defense, and after 13,000 tests on human subjects, there have been only two serious injuries and no lasting side effects, according to the Pentagon.
Potential downsides: The ADS is very large; the existing model is designed to be mounted on top of a humvee or military-sized vehicle. Police would need a much smaller version with less range but greater portability (and one that doesn’t take half a day to boot up). The ACLU has also called the ADS a torture device.
Status: Available to the military in Afghanistan for deterring individuals who were getting too close to U.S. troops, the ADS was considered for use at the Pitchess Detention Center in Los Angeles County to disrupt assaults and fights. The National Institute of Justice has long considered developing a smaller, handheld version — to be used by law enforcement.



FBI resists calls to reform voluntary reporting system for police killings

Director James Comey said FBI ‘plans to collect more data about shootings’ while retaining controversial self-reporting method for police departments

Jon Swaine and Oliver Laughland in New York

The FBI will continue to resist pressure from legislators and activists for the creation of a fully comprehensive count of all killings by American police officers, the bureau’s director signalled on Monday.
Writing as the FBI released its annual crime statistics, James Comey said an existing voluntary system, under which police departments around the country choose whether or not to submit data on homicides by their officers, will carry on.
Comey said the FBI would try to collect more information – but gave no specific details about how this would be done.
He said of the current information collected: “As helpful as this information is, however, we need more law enforcement agencies to submit their justifiable homicide data so that we can better understand what is happening across the country.”
The FBI counted 444 “justifiable homicides” by law enforcement officers in 2014, according to statistics released on Monday. That total represented a 5.7% decrease from the 471 counted the year before.
Yet both the accuracy of the figures and any trends emerging from them have been called into question due to the voluntary reporting system.
The Guardian is counting all deaths caused by police and law enforcement in 2015, and collecting extensive details on each incident and those killed. As of Monday a total of 871 deaths this year had been recorded by the project, The Counted.
A spokesman for the FBI did not respond to a request for information on how many of the roughly 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the US had submitted data in 2014 or in previous years.
Criticism of the FBI’s system has sharpened since protests erupted last year following the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri. Mandatory reporting of all homicides by law enforcement was among a series of recommendations proposed earlier this year by Barack Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
Senators Barbara Boxer of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey have proposed legislation that would mandate law enforcement agencies to report comprehensive data on the use of deadly force by their officers. Their bill is currently sitting in committee stage, and is presumed to stand little chance of becoming law under the Republican-controlled Congress. Similar legislation has been put forward by Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Boxer told the Guardian on Monday that the FBI was correct to acknowledge the “serious gaps” in its own records, adding that reliable data was pivotal to “understand the scope of this horrific problem and save lives on all sides”.
Democratic congressman Steve Cohen, who reintroduced a bill for national deadly force statistics in January, said the data did not “tell us all we need to know about the use of deadly force by police”.
Cohen has gone on to introduce further proposed legislation to encourage a mandatory independent investigation of officer involved deaths.
Laurie Robinson, co-chair of Obama’s taskforce, described FBI data published on Monday as flawed and unreliable, adding that any potential changes to police practice in the US after nationwide scrutiny accompanied unrest in Ferguson would not have filtered through by the end of 2014.
 “I think one has to be very cautious and not read that much into of any of it at this stage,” Robinson said.
“There is a lag in the reporting of the data. The public and professional consciousness on these issues really has occurred in 2015, even though Ferguson occurred in 2014. So I’m not sure that one would expect there would be a dramatic change in behaviour in law enforcement in the last couple of months in 2014.”
Comey said in his statement that the FBI “plan to collect more data about shootings (fatal and nonfatal) between law enforcement and civilians, and to increase reporting overall”. Asked to elaborate, a spokeswoman said: “There’s nothing else we have for you.”
The director said this extra information would be used to create a publication separate to the annual crime statistics that would “outline facts about what happened, who was involved, the nature of injuries or deaths, and the circumstances behind these incidents”.
Robinson said that while Comey’s comments were a welcome rhetorical nod towards better reporting, the FBI director has no power to implement a mandatory reporting program himself.
“What he called for here is exactly right,” Robinson said. “But we’re still at the mercy of having embraced this very, very decentralised state and local law enforcement system. I’m not criticising it; it’s just what we have.”




BLOGLAPEDIA’S BLOGS



ARCHITECTURE
Architecture for the blog of it
http://architecturefortheblogofit.blogspot.com/



THE ARTS
Art for the Blog of It
http://artfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/

Art for the Pop of it
http://artforthepopofit.blogspot.com/

Photography for the blog of it
http://photographyfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/

Music for the Blog of it
http://musicfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/

Sculpture this and Sculpture that
http://sculpturethisandsculpturethat.blogspot.com/

The art of War (Propaganda art through the ages)
http://theartofwarcleverhuh.blogspot.com/

Album Art (Photographic arts)
http://albumartsocheesyitsgood.blogspot.com/

Pulp Fiction Trash (The art of Pulp Fiction covers)
http://pulpfictiontrash.blogspot.com/

Admit it, you want to Read this Book (The art of Pulp Fiction covers)
http://goaheadadmitityouwanttoread.blogspot.com/


FILM
The Godfather Trilogy BlogSpot
http://thegodfathertrilogyblogspot.blogspot.com/

On the Waterfront: The Making of a great American Film
http://onthewaterfrontthefilm.blogspot.com/

FOOD
Absolutely blogalicious
http://absolutelyblogalicious.blogspot.com/

The Wee Book of Irish Recipes (Book support site)
http://theweeblogofirishrecipes.blogspot.com/

Good chowda (New England foods)
http://goodchowda.blogspot.com/

Old New England Recipes (Book support site)
http://oldnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com/

And I Love Clams (New England foods)
http://andiloveclams.blogspot.com/

In Praise of the Rhode Island Wiener (New England foods)
http://inpraiseoftherhodeislandwiener.blogspot.com/

Wicked Cool New England Recipes (New England foods)
http://whickedcoolnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com

Old New England Recipes (New England foods)
http://oldnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com


FOSTER CARE
Foster Care new and Updates

Aging out of the system

Murder, Death and Abuse in the Foster Care system

Angel and Saints in the Foster Care System

The Foster Children’s Blogs

Foster Care Legislation

The Foster Children’s Bill of Right

Foster Kids own Story

The Adventures of Foster Kid.


HEALTH
Me vs. Diabetes (Diabetes education site)
http://mevsdiabetes-bloglapedia.blogspot.com/

HISTORY
The Quotable Helen Keller
http://thequotablehelenkeller.blogspot.com/

Teddy Roosevelt's Letters to his children (Book support site)
http://teddyrooseveltsletterstohischildren.blogspot.com/

The Quotable Machiavelli (Book support site)
http://thequotablemachiavelli.blogspot.com/

HUMOR
Whatever you do, don't laugh
http://whateveryoudodontlaugh.blogspot.com/

The Quotable Grouch Marx
http://thequotablegrouchmarx.blogspot.com/



IRISH-AMERICANA
A Big Blog of Irish Literature
http://abigblogofirishliterature.blogspot.com/

The Wee Blog of Irish Jokes (Book support blog)
http://theweeblogofirishjokes.blogspot.com/

The Wee Blog of Irish Recipes
http://theweeblogofirishrecipes.blogspot.com/

The Irish American Gangster
http://irishamericangangsters.blogspot.com

The Irish in their Own Words
http://theirishintheirownwords.blogspot.com/

When Washington Was Irish
http://whenwashingtonwasirish.blogspot.com/

The Wee Book of Irish Recipes (Book support site)
http://theweeblogofirishrecipes.blogspot.com/


LITERATURE
Following Fitzgerald
http://followingfitzgerald.blogspot.com/

Shakespeare
http://shakespeareinamericanenglish.blogspot.com/

The Blogable Robert Frost
http://theblogablerobertfrost.blogspot.com/

Charles Dickens
http://charlesdickensfan.blogspot.com/

The Beat Poets of the Forever Generation
http://thebeatspoetsoftheforevergenera.blogspot.com/

Holden Caulfield Blog Spot
http://holdencaulfieldblogspot.blogspot.com/

The Quotable Oscar Wilde
http://thequotableoscarwilde.blogspot.com/



NEW ENGLAND BLOGS
The Quotable Thoreau
http://thequotablethenrydavidthoreau.blogspot.com/

Old New England Recipes
http://oldnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com

Wicked Cool New England Recipes
http://whickedcoolnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com

Emerson
http://emersonsaidit.blogspot.com/

The New England Mafia
http://thenewenglandmafia.blogspot.com/

And I Love Clams
http://andiloveclams.blogspot.com/

In Praise of the Rhode Island Wiener
http://inpraiseoftherhodeislandwiener.blogspot.com/

Watch Hill
http://watchhillwesterly.blogspot.com/

York Beach
http://yorkbeachfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/

The Connecticut History Blog
http://connecticuthistory.blogspot.com/

The Connecticut Irish
http://theconnecticutirish.blogspot.com/

Good chowda
http://goodchowda.blogspot.com/


NOSTALGIA
God, How I hated the 70s
http://godhowihatedthe70s.blogspot.com/

Child of the Sixties Forever
http://childofthesixtiesforeverandever.blogspot.com/

The Kennedy’s in the 60’s
http://thekennedysinthe60s.blogspot.com/

Music of the Sixties Forever
http://musicofthesixtiesforever.blogspot.com/

Elvis and Nixon at the White House (Book support site)
http://elvisandnixonatthewhitehouse.blogspot.com/

Beatles Fan Forever
http://beatlesfanforever.blogspot.com/

Year One, 1955
http://yearone1955.blogspot.com/

Robert Kennedy in His Own Words

The 1980s were fun
http://the1980swereokayactually.blogspot.com/

The 1990s. The last decade.
http://1990sthelastdecade.blogspot.com/



ORGANIZED CRIME
The Russian Mafia
http://russianmafiagangster.blogspot.com/

The American Jewish Gangster
http://theamericanjewishgangster.blogspot.com/

The Mob in Hollywood
http://themobinhollywood.blogspot.com/

We Only Kill Each Other
http://weonlykilleachother.blogspot.com/

Early Gangsters of New York City
http://earlygangstersofnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/

Al Capone: Biography of a self-made Man
http://alcaponethebiographyofaselfmademan.blogspot.com/

The Life and World of Al Capone
http://thelifeandworldofalcapone.blogspot.com/

The Salerno Report
http://salernoreportmafiaandurderjohnkennedy.blogspot.com/

Guns and Glamour
http://gunsandglamourthechicagomobahistory.blogspot.com/

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
http://thesaintvalentinesdaymassacre.blogspot.com/

Mob Testimony
http://mobtestimony.blogspot.com/

Recipes we would Die For
http://recipeswewoulddiefor.blogspot.com/

The Prohibition in Pictures
http://theprohibitioninpictures.blogspot.com/

The Mob in Pictures
http://themobinpictures.blogspot.com/

The Mob in Vegas
http://themobinvegasinpictures.blogspot.com/

The Irish American Gangster
http://irishamericangangsters.blogspot.com

Roger Touhy Gangster
http://rogertouhygangsters.blogspot.com/

Chicago’s Mob Bosses
http://chicagosmobbossesfromaccardoto.blogspot.com/

Chicago Gang Land: It Happened Here
http://chicagoganglandithappenedhere.blogspot.com/

Whacked: One Hundred years of Murder in Gangland
http://whackedonehundredyearsmurderand.blogspot.com/

The Mob Across America
http://themobacrossamerica.blogspot.com/

Mob Cops, Lawyers and Front Men
http://mobcopslawyersandinformantsand.blogspot.com/

Shooting the Mob: Dutch Schultz
http://shootingthemobdutchschultz.blogspot.com/

Bugsy& His Flamingo: The Testimony of Virginia Hill
http://bugsyandvirginiahill.blogspot.com/

After Valachi. Hearings before the US Senate on Organized Crime
http://aftervalachi.blogspot.com/

Mob Buster: Report of Special Agent Virgil Peterson to the Kefauver Committee (Book support site)
http://virgilpetersonmobbuster.blogspot.com/

The US Government’s Timeline of Organized Crime (Book support site)
http://timelineoforganizedcrime.blogspot.com/

The Kefauver Organized Crime Hearings (Book support site)
http://thekefauverorganizedcrimehearings.blogspot.com/

Joe Valachi's testimony on the Mafia (Book support site)
http://joevalachistestimonyonthemafia.blogspot.com/

Mobsters in the News
http://mobstersinthenews.blogspot.com/

Shooting the Mob: Dead Mobsters (Book support site)
http://deadmobsters.blogspot.com/

The Stolen Years Full Text (Roger Touhy)
http://thestolenyearsfulltext.blogspot.com/

Mobsters in Black and White
http://mobstersinblackandwhite.blogspot.com/

Mafia Gangsters, Wiseguys and Goodfellas
http://mafiagangsterswiseguysandgoodfellas.blogspot.com/

Whacked: One Hundred Years of Murder and Mayhem in the Chicago Mob (Book support site)
http://whackedonehundredyearsmurderand.blogspot.com/

Gangland Gaslight: The Killing of Rosy Rosenthal (Book support site)
http://ganglandgaslightrosyrosenthal.blogspot.com/

The Best of the Mob Files Series (Book support site)
http://thebestofthemobfilesseries.blogspot.com/

PHILOSOPHY
It’s All Greek Mythology to me
http://itsallgreekmythologytome.blogspot.com/



PSYCHOLOGY
Psychologically Relevant
http://psychologicallyrelevant.blogspot.com/

SNOBBERY
The Rarifieid Tribe
http://therarifiedtribe.blogspot.com/

Perfect Behavior
http://perfectbehavior.blogspot.com/

TRAVEL
The Upscale Traveler
http://theupscaletraveler.blogspot.com/

TRIVIA
The Mish Mosh Blog
http://theupscaletraveler.blogspot.com/

WASHINGTON DC
DC Behind the Monuments
http://dcbehindthemonuments.blogspot.com/

Washington Oddities
http://washingtonoddities.blogspot.com/

When Washington Was Irish
http://whenwashingtonwasirish.blogspot.com/






FROM LLR BOOKS. COM
Litchfield Literary Books. A really small company run by writers.

AMERICAN HISTORY


The Day Nixon Met Elvis
Paperback 46 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Day-Nixon-Met-elvis/

Theodore Roosevelt: Letters to his Children. 1903-1918
Paperback 194 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Theodore-Roosevelt-Letters-Children-1903-1918/dp/

THE ANCIENT GREEKS AND CIVILIZATIONS
The Works of Horace
Paperback 174 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Works-Horace-Richard-Willoughby/

The Quotable Greeks
Paperback 234 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Greeks-Richard-W-Willoughby

The Quotable Epictetus
Paperback 142 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Epictetus-Golden-Sayings

Quo Vadis: A narrative of the time of Nero
Paperback 420 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quo-Vadis-Narrative-Time-Nero




CHILDRENS BOOKS
The Porchless Pumpkin: A Halloween Story for Children
A Halloween play for young children. By consent of the author, this play may be performed, at no charge, by educational institutions, neighborhood organizations and other not-for-profit-organizations.
A fun story with a moral
“I believe that Denny O'Day is an American treasure and this little book proves it. Jack is a pumpkin who happens to be very small, by pumpkins standards and as a result he goes unbought in the pumpkin patch on Halloween eve, but at the last moment he is given his chance to prove that just because you're small doesn't mean you can't be brave. Here is the point that I found so wonderful, the book stresses that while size doesn't matter when it comes to courage...ITS OKAY TO BE SCARED....as well. I think children need to hear that, that's its okay to be unsure because life is a ongoing lesson isn't it?”
Paperback: 42 pages
http://www.amazon.com/OLANTERN-PORCHLESS-PUMPKIN-Halloween-Children

BOOKS ON FOSTER CARE
It's Not All Right to be a Foster Kid....no matter what they tell you: Tweet the books contents
Paperback 94 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Right-Foster-Kid-no-matter-what

From the Author
I spent my childhood, from age seven through seventeen, in foster care.  Over the course of those ten years, many decent, well-meaning, and concerned people told me, "It's okay to be foster kid."
In saying that, those very good people meant to encourage me, and I appreciated their kindness then, and all these many decades later, I still appreciate their good intentions. But as I was tossed around the foster care system, it began to dawn on me that they were wrong.  It was not all right to be a foster kid.
During my time in the system, I was bounced every eighteen months from three foster homes to an orphanage to a boy's school and to a group home before I left on my own accord at age seventeen.
In the course of my stay in foster care, I was severely beaten in two homes by my "care givers" and separated from my four siblings who were also in care, sometimes only blocks away from where I was living.
I left the system rather than to wait to age out, although the effects of leaving the system without any family, means, or safety net of any kind, were the same as if I had aged out. I lived in poverty for the first part of my life, dropped out of high school, and had continuous problems with the law.
 Today, almost nothing about foster care has changed.  Exactly what happened to me is happening to some other child, somewhere in America, right now.  The system, corrupt, bloated, and inefficient, goes on, unchanging and secretive.
Something has gone wrong in a system that was originally a compassionate social policy built to improve lives but is now a definitive cause in ruining lives.  Due to gross negligence, mismanagement, apathy, and greed, mostly what the foster care system builds are dangerous consequences. Truly, foster care has become our epic national disgrace and a nightmare for those of us who have lived through it.
Yet there is a suspicion among some Americans that foster care costs too much, undermines the work ethic, and is at odds with a satisfying life.  Others see foster care as a part of the welfare system, as legal plunder of the public treasuries.
 None of that is true; in fact, all that sort of thinking does is to blame the victims.  There is not a single child in the system who wants to be there or asked to be there.  Foster kids are in foster care because they had nowhere else to go.  It's that simple.  And believe me, if those kids could get out of the system and be reunited with their parents and lead normal, healthy lives, they would. And if foster care is a sort of legal plunder of the public treasuries, it's not the kids in the system who are doing the plundering.
 We need to end this needless suffering.  We need to end it because it is morally and ethically wrong and because the generations to come will not judge us on the might of our armed forces or our technological advancements or on our fabulous wealth.
 Rather, they will judge us, I am certain, on our compassion for those who are friendless, on our decency to those who have nothing and on our efforts, successful or not, to make our nation and our world a better place.  And if we cannot accomplish those things in the short time allotted to us, then let them say of us "at least they tried."
You can change the tragedy of foster care and here's how to do it.  We have created this book so that almost all of it can be tweeted out by you to the world.  You have the power to improve the lives of those in our society who are least able to defend themselves.  All you need is the will to do it.
 If the American people, as good, decent and generous as they are, knew what was going on in foster care, in their name and with their money, they would stop it.  But, generally speaking, although the public has a vague notion that foster care is a mess, they don't have the complete picture. They are not aware of the human, economic and social cost that the mismanagement of the foster care system puts on our nation.
By tweeting the facts laid out in this work, you can help to change all of that.  You can make a difference.  You can change things for the better.
We can always change the future for a foster kid; to make it better ...you have the power to do that. Speak up (or tweet out) because it's your country.  Don't depend on the "The other guy" to speak up for these kids, because you are the other guy.
We cannot build a future for foster children, but we can build foster children for the future and the time to start that change is today.

No time to say Goodbye: Memoirs of a life in foster 
Paperbook 440 Books
http://www.amazon.com/No-Time-Say-Goodbye-Memoir


  

BOOKS ABOUT FILM

On the Waterfront: The Making of a Great American Film
Paperback: 416 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Waterfront-Making-Great-American-Film/



BOOKS ABOUT GHOSTS AND THE SUPERNATUAL

Scotish Ghost Stories
Paperback 186 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Scottish-Ghost-Stories-Elliott-ODonell

HUMOR BOOKS
The Book of funny odd and interesting things people say
Paperback: 278 pages
http://www.amazon.com/book-funny-interesting-things-people

The Wee Book of Irish Jokes
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Series-Irish-Jokes-ebook

Perfect Behavior: A guide for Ladies and Gentlemen in all Social Crises
http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Behavior-Ladies-Gentlemen-Social



BOOKS ABOUT THE 1960s

You Don’t Need a Weatherman. Underground 1969
Paperback 122 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Weatherman-Notes-Weatherman-Underground-1969

Baby Boomers Guide to the Beatles Songs of the Sixties
Paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Boomers-Guide-Beatles-Songs-Sixties/

Baby Boomers Guide to Songs of the 1960s
http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Boomers-Guide-Songs-1960s


IRISH- AMERICANA
The Connecticut Irish
Paper back 140 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Connecticut-Irish-Catherine-F-Connolly

 The Wee Book of Irish Jokes
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Series-Irish-Jokes-ebook/

The Wee Book of Irish Recipes 
http://www.amazon.com/The-Wee-Book-Irish-Recipes/
 
 The Wee Book of the American-Irish Gangsters
  http://www.amazon.com/The-Wee-Book-Irish-American-Gangsters/

 The Wee book of Irish Blessings... 
http://www.amazon.com/Series-Blessing-Proverbs-Toasts-ebook/

The Wee Book of the American Irish in Their Own Words
http://www.amazon.com/Book-American-Irish-Their-Words/

Everything you need to know about St. Patrick
Paperback 26 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Need-About-Saint-Patrick

A Reading Book in Ancient Irish History
Paperback 147pages
http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Book-Ancient-Irish-History

The Book of Things Irish
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Things-Irish-William-Tuohy/

Poets and Dreamer; Stories translated from the Irish
Paperback 158 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Poets-Dreamers-Stories-Translated-Irish/

The History of the Great Irish Famine: Abridged and Illustrated
Paperback 356 pages
http://www.amazon.com/History-Great-Irish-Famine-Illustrated/



BOOKS ABOUT NEW ENGLAND

The New England Mafia
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-England-Mafia-ebook/

Wicked Good New England Recipes
http://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Good-New-England-Recipes/

The Connecticut Irish
Paper back 140 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Connecticut-Irish-Catherine-F-Connolly

The Twenty-Fifth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers
Paperback 64 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Fifth-Regiment-Connecticut-Volunteers-Rebellion

The Life of James Mars
Paperback 54 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Life-James-Mars-Slave-Connecticut

Stories of Colonial Connecticut
Paperback 116 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Colonial-Connnecticut-Caroline-Clifford

What they Say in Old New England
Paperback 194 pages
http://www.amazon.com/What-they-say-New-England/



BOOK ABOUT ORGANIZED CRIME

Chicago Organized Crime
Chicago-Mob-Bosses
http://www.amazon.com/Chicagos-Mob-Bosses-Accardo-ebook

The Mob Files: It Happened Here: Places of Note in Chicago gangland 1900-2000
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mob-Files-1900-2000-ebook

An Illustrated Chronological History of the Chicago Mob. Time Line 1837-2000
http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Chronological-History-Chicago-1837-2000/

Mob Buster: Report of Special Agent Virgil Peterson to the Kefauver Committee
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Buster-Peterson-Committee-ebook/

The Mob Files. Guns and Glamour: The Chicago Mob. A History. 1900-2000
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Files-Guns-Glamour-ebook/

Shooting the Mob: Organized crime in photos. Crime Boss Tony Accardo
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Mob-Organized-photos-Accardo/

Shooting the Mob: Organized Crime in Photos: The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Mob-Organized-Valentines-Massacre

The Life and World of Al Capone in Photos
http://www.amazon.com/Life-World-Al-Capone

AL CAPONE: The Biography of a Self-Made Man.: Revised from the 0riginal 1930 edition.Over 200 new photographs
Paperback: 340 pages
http://www.amazon.com/CAPONE-Biography-Self-Made-Over-photographs

Whacked. One Hundred Years Murder and Mayhem in the Chicago Outfit
Paperback: 172 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Whacked-Hundred-Murder-Mayhem-Chicago/




Las Vegas Organized Crime
The Mob in Vegas
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Files-Vegas-ebook

Bugsy & His Flamingo: The Testimony of Virginia Hill
http://www.amazon.com/Bugsy-His-Flamingo-Testimony-Virginia/

Testimony by Mobsters Lewis McWillie, Joseph Campisi and Irwin Weiner (The Mob Files Series)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Kennedy-Assassination-Ruby-Testimony-ebook

Rattling the Cup on Chicago Crime.
Paperback 264 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Rattling-Cup-Chicago-Crime-Abridged

The Life and Times of Terrible Tommy O’Connor.
Paperback 94 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Times-Terrible-Tommy-OConnor

The Mob, Sam Giancana and the overthrow of the Black Policy Racket in Chicago
Paperback 200 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Giancana-ovethrow-Policy-Rackets-Chicago

When Capone’s Mob Murdered Roger Touhy. In Photos
Paperback 234 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Capones-Murdered-Roger-Touhy-photos

Organized Crime in Hollywood
The Mob in Hollywood
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Files-Hollywood-ebook/

The Bioff Scandal
Paperback 54 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Bioff-Scandal-Shakedown-Hollywood-Studios

Organized Crime in New York
Joe Pistone’s war on the mafia
http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Petrosinos-War-Mafia-Files/

Mob Testimony: Joe Pistone, Michael Scars DiLeonardo, Angelo Lonardo and others
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Testimony-DiLeonardo-testimony-Undercover/

The New York Mafia: The Origins of the New York Mob
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-York-Mafia-Origins

The New York Mob: The Bosses
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-York-Mob-Bosses/

Organized Crime 25 Years after Valachi. Hearings before the US Senate
http://www.amazon.com/Organized-Crime-Valachi-Hearings-ebook

Shooting the mob: Dutch Schultz
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Mob-Organized-Photographs-Schultz

Gangland Gaslight: The Killing of Rosy Rosenthal. (Illustrated)
http://www.amazon.com/Gangland-Gaslight-Killing-Rosenthal-Illustrated/

Early Street Gangs and Gangsters of New York City
Paperback 382 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Early-Street-Gangs-Gangsters-York

THE RUSSIAN MOBS
The Russian Mafia in America
http://www.amazon.com/The-Russian-Mafia-America-ebook/

The Threat of Russian Organzied Crime
Paperback 192 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Threat-Russian-Organized-Crime-photographs-ebook

Organized Crime/General
Best of Mob Stories
http://www.amazon.com/Files-Series-Illustrated-Articles-Organized-Crime/

Best of Mob Stories Part 2
http://www.amazon.com/Series-Illustrated-Articles-Organized-ebook/

Illustrated-Book-Prohibition-Gangsters
http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Book-Prohibition-Gangsters-ebook

Mob Recipes to Die For. Meals and Mobsters in Photos
http://www.amazon.com/Recipes-For-Meals-Mobsters-Photos

More Mob Recipes to Die For. Meals and Mobs
http://www.amazon.com/More-Recipes-Meals-Mobsters-Photos

The New England Mafia
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-England-Mafia-ebook

Shooting the mob. Organized crime in photos. Dead Mobsters, Gangsters and Hoods.
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-mob-Organized-photos-Mobsters-Gangsters/

The Salerno Report: The Mafia and the Murder of President John F. Kennedy
http://www.amazon.com/The-Salerno-Report-President-ebook/

The Mob Files: Mob Wars. "We only kill each other"
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mob-Files-Wars-other/

The Mob across America
http://www.amazon.com/The-Files-Across-America-ebook/

The US Government’s Time Line of Organzied Crime 1920-1987
http://www.amazon.com/GOVERNMENTS-ORGANIZED-1920-1987-Illustrated-ebook/

Early Street Gangs and Gangsters of New York City: 1800-1919. Illustrated
http://www.amazon.com/Gangsters-1800-1919-Illustrated-Street-ebook/

The Mob Files: Mob Cops, Lawyers and Informants and Fronts
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mob-Files-Informants-ebook/

Gangster Quotes: Mobsters in their own words. Illustrated
Paperback: 128 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Gangsters-Quotes-Mobsters-words-Illustrated/

The Book of American-Jewish Gangsters: A Pictorial History.
Paperback: 436 pages
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-American-Jewish-Gangsters-Pictorial/

The Mob and the Kennedy Assassination
Paperback 414 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Kennedy-Assassination-Ruby-Testimony-Mobsters


BOOKS ABOUT THE OLD WEST

The Last Outlaw: The story of Cole Younger, by Himself
Paperback 152 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Outlaw-Story-Younger-Himself

BOOKS ON PHOTOGRAPHY
Chicago: A photographic essay.
 Paperback: 200 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Photographic-Essay-William-Thomas

STAGE PLAYS
Boomers on a train: A ten minute play
Paperback 22 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Boomers-train-ten-minute-Play-ebook

Four Short Plays
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/Four-Short-Plays-William-Tuohy

Four More Short Plays
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/Four-Short-Plays-William-Tuohy/

High and Goodbye: Everybody gets the Timothy Leary they deserve. A full length play
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/High-Goodbye-Everybody-Timothy-deserve

Cyberdate. An Everyday Love Story about Everyday People
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/Cyberdate-Everyday-Story-People-ebook/

The Dutchman's Soliloquy: A one Act Play based on the factual last words of Gangster Dutch Schultz.
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/Dutchmans-Soliloquy-factual-Gangster-Schultz/

Fishbowling on The Last Words of Dutch Schultz: Or William S. Burroughs intersects with Dutch Schultz
Print Length: 57 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Fishbowling-Last-Words-Dutch-Schultz-ebook/

American Shakespeare: August Wilson in his own words. A One Act Play
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/American-Shakespeare-August-Wilson-ebook

She Stoops to Conquer
http://www.amazon.com/She-Stoops-Conquer-Oliver-Goldsmith/

The Seven Deadly Sins of Gilligan’s Island: A ten minute play
Print Length: 14 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Deadly-Gilligans-Island-minute-ebook/

BOOKS ABOUT VIRGINIA
OUT OF CONTROL: An Informal History of the Fairfax County Police
http://www.amazon.com/Control-Informal-History-Fairfax-Police/

McLean Virginia. A short informal history
http://www.amazon.com/McLean-Virginia-Short-Informal-History/


THE QUOTABLE SERIES

The Quotable Emerson: Life lessons from the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Over 300 quotes
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Emerson-lessons-quotes

The Quotable John F. Kennedy
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-John-F-Kennedy/

The Quotable Oscar Wilde
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Oscar-Wilde-lessons/

The Quotable Machiavelli
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Machiavelli-Richard-Thayer/

The Quotable Confucius: Life Lesson from the Chinese Master
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Confucius-Lesson-Chinese/

The Quotable Henry David Thoreau
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Henry-Thoreau-Quotables-ebook

The Quotable Robert F. Kennedy
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Robert-F-Kennedy-Illustrated/

The Quotable Writer: Writers on the Writers Life
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Writer-Quotables-ebook

The words of Walt Whitman: An American Poet
Paperback: 162 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Words-Walt-Whitman-American-Poet

Gangster Quotes: Mobsters in their own words. Illustrated
Paperback: 128 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Gangsters-Quotes-Mobsters-words-Illustrated/

The Quotable Popes
Paperback 66 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Popes-Maria-Conasenti

The Quotable Kahlil Gibran with Artwork from Kahlil Gibran
Paperback 52 pages
Kahlil Gibran, an artist, poet, and writer was born on January 6, 1883 n the north of modern-day Lebanon and in what was then part of Ottoman Empire. He had no formal schooling in Lebanon. In 1895, the family immigrated to the United States when Kahlil was a young man and settled in South Boston. Gibran enrolled in an art school and was soon a member of the avant-garde community and became especially close to Boston artist, photographer, and publisher Fred Holland Day who encouraged and supported Gibran’s creative projects. An accomplished artist in drawing and watercolor, Kahlil attended art school in Paris from 1908 to 1910, pursuing a symbolist and romantic style. He held his first art exhibition of his drawings in 1904 in Boston, at Day's studio. It was at this exhibition, that Gibran met Mary Elizabeth Haskell, who ten years his senior. The two formed an important friendship and love affair that lasted the rest of Gibran’s short life. Haskell influenced every aspect of Gibran’s personal life and career. She became his editor when he began to write and ushered his first book into publication in 1918, The Madman, a slim volume of aphorisms and parables written in biblical cadence somewhere between poetry and prose. Gibran died in New York City on April 10, 1931, at the age of 48 from cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis.
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Kahlil-Gibran-artwork/

The Quotable Dorothy Parker
Paperback 86 pages

The Quotable Machiavelli
Paperback 36 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Machiavelli-Richard-L-Thayer

The Quotable Greeks
Paperback 230 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Greeks-Richard-W-Willoughby

The Quotabe Oscar Wilde
Paperback 24 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Oscar-Wilde-lessons-words/

The Quotable Helen Keller
Paperback 66 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Helen-Keller-Richard-Willoughby

The Art of War: Sun Tzu
Paperback 60 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Confucius-Lesson-Chinese-Quotables-ebook

The Quotable Shakespeare
Paperback 54 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Shakespeare-Richard-W-Willoughby

The Quotable Gorucho Marx
Paperback 46 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Groucho-Marx-Devon-Alexander