Sunday, December 02, 2018
Friday, November 09, 2018
U.S. Dept. Of Labor Announces Compliance Assistance Tools to Assist Small Businesses
The U.S. Department of Labor announced the launch of the New and Small Business Assistance webpage and the Compliance Assistance Toolkits webpage. These new online tools assist American small businesses and workers with simple, straightforward resources that provide critical Wage and Hour Division (WHD) information, as well as links to other resources.
The webpages were established in response to feedback received from new and small business stakeholders voicing their need for a centralized location to secure the tools and information they need to comply with federal labor laws. These new webpages provide the most relevant publications and answer the questions most frequently asked by new and small business owners. These tools, in conjunction with worker.gov and employer.gov, ensure greater understanding of federal requirements and provide tools to help employers find resources offered by other regulatory agencies. Learn more.
Monday, November 05, 2018
GOP
Today’s Republicans are not like the Republicans of the past, even the recent past. Today, the GOP is the party of climate change denial, discrimination against gays, gerrymandering, and baseless conspiracy theories. It’s the party that opposes the minimum wage, the party that cuts rich people’s taxes and then goes after middle-class Medicare when their tax cut creates an artificial budget crisis. (The middle-class tax cut Trump promised last week is vaporware: There is no such proposal, and once the election is over you will never hear about it again, except possibly as a cover story for another handout to the rich.)
Even worse, today’s Republican Party is a comfortable home for white supremacist fellow travelers like Rep. Steve King of Iowa. Open racists like David Duke or Richard Spencer endorse Republicans. White supremacist groups campaign for Republicans. If you want to spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, you go to the networks and web sites that Republicans frequent. If you’re an abuser of women, Democrats will probably throw you out, but Republicans will circle the wagons around you. If you favor something as offensive to human compassion as the death penalty for gays, Republicans will embrace you.
If you are happy carrying that party’s banner, I can’t vote for you.
And then there’s Trump. (I covered in detail what I think of Trump last week.) Back in 1990, They Might Be Giants recorded a song that starts like this:
This is where the party ends.I can’t stand here listening to youAnd your racist friend.
To me, racist is a stand-in for all sorts of bigoted positions: anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic, sexist, homophobic, anti-Muslim, and just generally anti-everybody-who’s-not-a-white-straight-Evangelical-Christian. For every Republican candidate in the country, Trump is the bigoted friend that they can tolerate, but I can’t. For me, that’s where the party ends.
Friday, July 14, 2017
It’s Time To Get Things Started… by Steve Whitmire
It’s Time To Get Things Started…
From https://stevewhitmire-muppetpundit.com/2017/07/11/its-time-to-get-things-started/ Also published in http://www.toughpigs.com/steve-whitmire-response
Dear Friends,
In 1978 when I was asked to join The Muppet Show, the Muppets were the hottest thing on the planet. I was invited to sit at the feet of the true masters, Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and Dave Goelz; working alongside them, absorbing different skills from each, as we, along with many talented others, contributed towards the same shared vision, the vision of one man. The result became a skill-set for myself that was sort of a compilation of the best of them all.
For me the Muppets are not just a job, or a career, or even a passion. They are a calling, an urgent, undeniable, impossible to resist way of life. This is my life’s work since I was 19 years old. I feel that I am at the top of my game, and I want all of you who love the Muppets to know that I would never consider abandoning Kermit or any of the others because to do so would be to forsake the assignment entrusted to me by Jim Henson, my friend and mentor, but even more, my hero.
As I am sure you can imagine, I have experienced every possible emotion since October 2016, when I received a phone call from The Muppets Studio’s executives to say they were recasting. Through a new business representative, I have offered multiple remedies to their two stated issues which had never been mentioned to me prior to that phone call. I wish that we could have sat down, looked each other in the eye, and discussed what was on their minds before they took such a drastic action.
I have remained silent the last nine months in hopes that the Disney company might reverse their course. Doing what is best for the Muppets is the lens through which all my interactions have been filtered. Given the opportunity I remain willing to do whatever is required to remedy their concerns because I feel my continued involvement with the characters is in the best interest of the Muppets.
For decades, you have been an invaluable partner in co-creating the existence of the Muppets, and I am humbled by your devotion to them. There is so much more for us to talk about so I have created this site as a place to connect and share on all things Muppet, past, present and future.
Please forgive any faux pas as I have not been active in social media previously and have a serious learning curve. I just want you all to know that I am sorry if I have disappointed any of you at any point throughout our journey, and to let everyone know that I am devastated to have failed in my duty to my hero.
From https://stevewhitmire-muppetpundit.com/2017/07/11/its-time-to-get-things-started/ Also published in http://www.toughpigs.com/steve-whitmire-response
Dear Friends,
In 1978 when I was asked to join The Muppet Show, the Muppets were the hottest thing on the planet. I was invited to sit at the feet of the true masters, Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and Dave Goelz; working alongside them, absorbing different skills from each, as we, along with many talented others, contributed towards the same shared vision, the vision of one man. The result became a skill-set for myself that was sort of a compilation of the best of them all.
For me the Muppets are not just a job, or a career, or even a passion. They are a calling, an urgent, undeniable, impossible to resist way of life. This is my life’s work since I was 19 years old. I feel that I am at the top of my game, and I want all of you who love the Muppets to know that I would never consider abandoning Kermit or any of the others because to do so would be to forsake the assignment entrusted to me by Jim Henson, my friend and mentor, but even more, my hero.
As I am sure you can imagine, I have experienced every possible emotion since October 2016, when I received a phone call from The Muppets Studio’s executives to say they were recasting. Through a new business representative, I have offered multiple remedies to their two stated issues which had never been mentioned to me prior to that phone call. I wish that we could have sat down, looked each other in the eye, and discussed what was on their minds before they took such a drastic action.
I have remained silent the last nine months in hopes that the Disney company might reverse their course. Doing what is best for the Muppets is the lens through which all my interactions have been filtered. Given the opportunity I remain willing to do whatever is required to remedy their concerns because I feel my continued involvement with the characters is in the best interest of the Muppets.
For decades, you have been an invaluable partner in co-creating the existence of the Muppets, and I am humbled by your devotion to them. There is so much more for us to talk about so I have created this site as a place to connect and share on all things Muppet, past, present and future.
Please forgive any faux pas as I have not been active in social media previously and have a serious learning curve. I just want you all to know that I am sorry if I have disappointed any of you at any point throughout our journey, and to let everyone know that I am devastated to have failed in my duty to my hero.
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Elton John Setlist from 13 Oct 1998:Madison Square Garden New York, NY, USA The Big Picture Tour
Circle Of Life
Grey Seal
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Honky Cat
Tiny Dancer
Levon
I'm Going To Be A Teenage Idol
I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues
I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
Daniel
Rocket Man
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Crocodile Rock
Your Song
Recover Your Soul
Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters
I'm Still Standing
Simple Life
The One
Something About The Way You Look Tonight
The Bitch Is Back
Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Great Balls Of Fire
Bennie And The Jets
Grey Seal
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Honky Cat
Tiny Dancer
Levon
I'm Going To Be A Teenage Idol
I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues
I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
Daniel
Rocket Man
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Crocodile Rock
Your Song
Recover Your Soul
Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters
I'm Still Standing
Simple Life
The One
Something About The Way You Look Tonight
The Bitch Is Back
Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Great Balls Of Fire
Bennie And The Jets
Wednesday, February 08, 2017
"Professor" Irwin Corey (1914 - 2017)
"Professor" Irwin Corey, the classic comedian billed as the World's Foremost Authority, died Monday, Feb. 6, 2017. He was 102.
The centenarian funnyman was known for a decidedly weird routine. Dressed in the garb of an absent-minded professor – wild hair, a shabby suit, and sneakers – he'd wander onstage distractedly. He'd consult his notes, maybe laugh at something he saw there, pocket the notes, consult them again … finally, the first word of his routine, always the same: "However …" What followed was a masterpiece of doublespeak, improvised by Corey and thoroughly confusing and amusing his audience.
One oft-quoted snippet of a Corey routine started: "However ... we all know that protocol takes precedence over procedures. This Paul Lindsey point of order based on the state of inertia of developing a centrifugal force issued as a catalyst rather than as a catalytic agent, and hastens a change reaction and remains an indigenous brier to its inception. This is a focal point used as a tangent so the bile is excreted through the panaceas."
Corey sprinkled more recognizable aphorisms among the 50-cent words, and these quotable quotes were so perfect that some have entered the lexicon as clichéd phrases, with few who repeat them knowing who coined them. Here's how Corey turned a phrase:
"Wherever you go, there you are."
"If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going."
"You can get further with a kind word and a gun that you do with just a kind word."
The distinctive routine came from the brain of a man who had an unconventional childhood and young adulthood. Born in Brooklyn July 29, 1914, Corey was one of six siblings who grew up in an orphanage despite not being orphans. Abandoned by her husband, Corey's mother struggled to support her children while working and also attempting to recover from tuberculosis. The Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum was a solution born out of desperation – she could work enough to send them money for the children's care while also recuperating from her illness.
It was Corey's home until he was 13, and it was where he started his long comedy career, performing to amuse the other children. But then the young teen joined the tide moving west, riding the rails to California in search of work. He returned to New York as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps, working his way across the country and, in his spare time, taking up boxing and becoming a featherweight champion.
Back east, Corey began performing as a comedian, working the Catskills circuit as well as New York City clubs. As his career burgeoned, World War II interrupted. Corey was determined not to serve, first seeking 4F status and then, when he was drafted nevertheless, convincing his superiors he was a homosexual and being discharged after six months.
Postwar, Corey honed his Professor persona and ramped up his path to fame, appearing on many of the hottest shows of TV's early days. He was a regular guest of talk show hosts including Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, and Ed Sullivan. Through his surreal stand-up routine, he influenced many of the next generation of comics as they got their start: Lenny Bruce, Jonathan Winters, and George Carlin were just a few of the stand-ups who looked up to him. He occasionally acted, too, as when he guest-starred on an episode of "The Phil Silvers Show" and, later, in movies such as "How To Commit Marriage" (1969) and "Car Wash" (1976).
Alongside his stage and screen career came a number of odd stunts, not least of which was his 1960 bid for the presidency of the United States as part of Hugh Hefner's "Playboy" ticket. His campaign slogans included, "Vote for Irwin and get on the dole" and, "Corey will run for any party, with a bottle in his hand."
In 1974, attendees of the National Book Award ceremony were perplexed as Corey arrived onstage to accept the award on behalf of its actual winner, Thomas Pynchon, author of "Gravity's Rainbow." His acceptance speech was much like one of his "professorial" comedy routines. Just as the audience was at its most bewildered, a streaker ran across the stage – not associated with Pynchon or Corey in any way; he was just a random sign of the times. Corey knew the more serious contingent of the literary world was annoyed by his appearance, but he didn't care: As he told interviewer Jim Knipfel, "I got paid $500 for it, and I had a good time."
In his 80s and 90s, Corey undertook an unusual mission. Walking the streets of New York City, he sold newspapers to drivers for a dollar or a handful of change. According to The New York Times, those papers were often free ones that he took from public newspaper boxes. Unkempt and repeating his mantra – "Help a guy out?" – Corey appeared like any other panhandler, though some recognized the comedian. What they didn't know was that he donated all his proceeds from these escapades to a charity that provides medical supplies for children in Cuba. He even had the autographed photo of Cuban President Fidel Castro on his apartment wall to prove it.
It was one of many ways in which Corey was politically and socially conscious. A far-left liberal, he loved relating his favorite example of his radicalism: "When I tried to join the Communist Party, they called me an anarchist," as he told The New York Times. He was blacklisted in Hollywood for his support of the party, a consequence that continued to affect his career for years after the end of the McCarthy era. But he remained active with his leftist views, supporting causes including the Mumia Abu-Jamal defense fund and Palestinian relief efforts.
Of his political activism, Corey told interviewer Kliph Nesteroff, "I was never aware that I was a political commentator. It just happens. You just do it. You breathe, but you're not conscious of breathing. When I did my act, I wasn't conscious that it was political."
Corey was married for 70 years to the former Fran Berman, who preceded him in death in 2011. He was also preceded in death by their daughter, Margaret, and he is survived by their son, Richard.
The centenarian funnyman was known for a decidedly weird routine. Dressed in the garb of an absent-minded professor – wild hair, a shabby suit, and sneakers – he'd wander onstage distractedly. He'd consult his notes, maybe laugh at something he saw there, pocket the notes, consult them again … finally, the first word of his routine, always the same: "However …" What followed was a masterpiece of doublespeak, improvised by Corey and thoroughly confusing and amusing his audience.
One oft-quoted snippet of a Corey routine started: "However ... we all know that protocol takes precedence over procedures. This Paul Lindsey point of order based on the state of inertia of developing a centrifugal force issued as a catalyst rather than as a catalytic agent, and hastens a change reaction and remains an indigenous brier to its inception. This is a focal point used as a tangent so the bile is excreted through the panaceas."
Corey sprinkled more recognizable aphorisms among the 50-cent words, and these quotable quotes were so perfect that some have entered the lexicon as clichéd phrases, with few who repeat them knowing who coined them. Here's how Corey turned a phrase:
"Wherever you go, there you are."
"If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going."
"You can get further with a kind word and a gun that you do with just a kind word."
The distinctive routine came from the brain of a man who had an unconventional childhood and young adulthood. Born in Brooklyn July 29, 1914, Corey was one of six siblings who grew up in an orphanage despite not being orphans. Abandoned by her husband, Corey's mother struggled to support her children while working and also attempting to recover from tuberculosis. The Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum was a solution born out of desperation – she could work enough to send them money for the children's care while also recuperating from her illness.
It was Corey's home until he was 13, and it was where he started his long comedy career, performing to amuse the other children. But then the young teen joined the tide moving west, riding the rails to California in search of work. He returned to New York as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps, working his way across the country and, in his spare time, taking up boxing and becoming a featherweight champion.
Back east, Corey began performing as a comedian, working the Catskills circuit as well as New York City clubs. As his career burgeoned, World War II interrupted. Corey was determined not to serve, first seeking 4F status and then, when he was drafted nevertheless, convincing his superiors he was a homosexual and being discharged after six months.
Postwar, Corey honed his Professor persona and ramped up his path to fame, appearing on many of the hottest shows of TV's early days. He was a regular guest of talk show hosts including Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, and Ed Sullivan. Through his surreal stand-up routine, he influenced many of the next generation of comics as they got their start: Lenny Bruce, Jonathan Winters, and George Carlin were just a few of the stand-ups who looked up to him. He occasionally acted, too, as when he guest-starred on an episode of "The Phil Silvers Show" and, later, in movies such as "How To Commit Marriage" (1969) and "Car Wash" (1976).
Alongside his stage and screen career came a number of odd stunts, not least of which was his 1960 bid for the presidency of the United States as part of Hugh Hefner's "Playboy" ticket. His campaign slogans included, "Vote for Irwin and get on the dole" and, "Corey will run for any party, with a bottle in his hand."
In 1974, attendees of the National Book Award ceremony were perplexed as Corey arrived onstage to accept the award on behalf of its actual winner, Thomas Pynchon, author of "Gravity's Rainbow." His acceptance speech was much like one of his "professorial" comedy routines. Just as the audience was at its most bewildered, a streaker ran across the stage – not associated with Pynchon or Corey in any way; he was just a random sign of the times. Corey knew the more serious contingent of the literary world was annoyed by his appearance, but he didn't care: As he told interviewer Jim Knipfel, "I got paid $500 for it, and I had a good time."
In his 80s and 90s, Corey undertook an unusual mission. Walking the streets of New York City, he sold newspapers to drivers for a dollar or a handful of change. According to The New York Times, those papers were often free ones that he took from public newspaper boxes. Unkempt and repeating his mantra – "Help a guy out?" – Corey appeared like any other panhandler, though some recognized the comedian. What they didn't know was that he donated all his proceeds from these escapades to a charity that provides medical supplies for children in Cuba. He even had the autographed photo of Cuban President Fidel Castro on his apartment wall to prove it.
It was one of many ways in which Corey was politically and socially conscious. A far-left liberal, he loved relating his favorite example of his radicalism: "When I tried to join the Communist Party, they called me an anarchist," as he told The New York Times. He was blacklisted in Hollywood for his support of the party, a consequence that continued to affect his career for years after the end of the McCarthy era. But he remained active with his leftist views, supporting causes including the Mumia Abu-Jamal defense fund and Palestinian relief efforts.
Of his political activism, Corey told interviewer Kliph Nesteroff, "I was never aware that I was a political commentator. It just happens. You just do it. You breathe, but you're not conscious of breathing. When I did my act, I wasn't conscious that it was political."
Corey was married for 70 years to the former Fran Berman, who preceded him in death in 2011. He was also preceded in death by their daughter, Margaret, and he is survived by their son, Richard.
Wednesday, December 07, 2016
WWII sailor Joe Hittorff, with roots in Kent, is laid to rest at last
Editor’s note: About two weeks ago, The Register Citizen was notified by a local funeral home that the recently identified remains of a WWII sailor, lost in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, had arrived in Connecticut for burial. Not long after, a representative from POW/MIA CT Forget-Me-Nots, Inc. contacted us on behalf of Ensign Joseph P. Hittorff Jr.’s family asking that we not seek an interview. The family, however, provided a great deal of information about Hittorff’s life and service. Hittorff served on the USS Oklahoma and his long-overdue funeral will take place in Kent on June 18. Hittorff’s cousin, Dianne Lang, wrote the following piece about her relative and how his remains came home.
As a baby boomer who missed World War II by a few years, I never thought much about how the war had impacted the older generation who lived through it. We certainly studied it in school, but it somehow seemed remote to me. I do remember the infrequent occasions when my uncle, Robert Keene, would reluctantly talk about the time he spent in an army tank. I just knew it had been an awful experience for him. I also remember my father, Philip Camp, talking about the rough treatment farmers were given during the last call for recruits before the war ended. He was the sole support for a multi-generational family unit, and a food producer, so had been deferred up until that point. Farmers were almost considered anti-American by some in the military as they had not been expected to serve. No one spoke much about those times, and I felt disconnected from that period in history.
Then everything changed. My mother, Marie Camp, was contacted by Robert Valley, Volunteer Coordinator of the USS Oklahoma families. Information had been uncovered by a researcher that led him to believe that the remains of my mother’s first cousin, Ens. Joseph Parker Hittorff, Jr. could now be identified.
Monday, October 31, 2016
I can't take it anymore (Clinton/Trump)
I can't take it anymore...
'Bill Clinton cheats on his wife. Impeach him. Trump proudly brags about sexual assault (and has cheated on his wives). Elect him.
Hillary oversaw the department of state while 4 people died in an embassy attack. Put her in jail. 2 Republicans were in office while over 200 people died in embassy attacks. No problem.
Immigrants don't pay taxes. Round them up and kick them out. Trump doesn't pay taxes. He's a business genius.
Hillary's foundation only spent 87% of their donations helping people. She's a crook. Trumps foundation paid off his debts, bought sculptures of him, and made political donations to avoid investigations while using less than 5% of funds for charity (and he got shut down by NY State). So savvy... Put him in the white house.
Trump made 4 billion dollars in 40 years, when an index fund started at the same time with the same "small loans" he received would be worth $12 billion today... without a trail of bankruptcies, thousands of lawsuits and burned small business owners. He's a real business whiz. Hillary took a loss of $700k. She's a criminal.
Trump is the first candidate in the modern era not to release his tax returns, and took a billion dollar loss in 1 year. Genius. Hillary takes responsibility for private email servers and apologizes. Not credible. Trump denies saying things (on the record) he actually said (on the record), he's just telling it like it is.'
To those who support him:
Your arguments are thin. Your ignorance of reality is shocking. Your double-standards are offensive, and your willingness to blindly support him and recycle the rhetoric is absurd. Your opinion is not fact. Your memes are not news articles. And your hypocrisy is not a platform.
#rantover #imwithher #proudnastywoman
'Bill Clinton cheats on his wife. Impeach him. Trump proudly brags about sexual assault (and has cheated on his wives). Elect him.
Hillary oversaw the department of state while 4 people died in an embassy attack. Put her in jail. 2 Republicans were in office while over 200 people died in embassy attacks. No problem.
Immigrants don't pay taxes. Round them up and kick them out. Trump doesn't pay taxes. He's a business genius.
Hillary's foundation only spent 87% of their donations helping people. She's a crook. Trumps foundation paid off his debts, bought sculptures of him, and made political donations to avoid investigations while using less than 5% of funds for charity (and he got shut down by NY State). So savvy... Put him in the white house.
Trump made 4 billion dollars in 40 years, when an index fund started at the same time with the same "small loans" he received would be worth $12 billion today... without a trail of bankruptcies, thousands of lawsuits and burned small business owners. He's a real business whiz. Hillary took a loss of $700k. She's a criminal.
Trump is the first candidate in the modern era not to release his tax returns, and took a billion dollar loss in 1 year. Genius. Hillary takes responsibility for private email servers and apologizes. Not credible. Trump denies saying things (on the record) he actually said (on the record), he's just telling it like it is.'
To those who support him:
Your arguments are thin. Your ignorance of reality is shocking. Your double-standards are offensive, and your willingness to blindly support him and recycle the rhetoric is absurd. Your opinion is not fact. Your memes are not news articles. And your hypocrisy is not a platform.
#rantover #imwithher #proudnastywoman
Sunday, August 14, 2016
MARGARET HANNAY Obituary
Margaret received the same diagnosis in October 2012, but advanced cancer care gave her a much longer life. She was very grateful for the excellent care of her doctors, home health aides, and Community Hospice of Albany County. Margaret went to Wheaton College in Illinois, where she had an excellent education in English literature; she met David Hannay when they were 18, and he was the love of her life. They were married at age 20 and spent more than 50 happy years together. Both Margaret and David continued with graduate school through the Ph.D. and became professors, Margaret in English Literature at Siena College and David in Computer Science at Union College.
Along with David, she was proud of their daughters Deborah Hannay Sunoo, a Presbyterian pastor married to Ken Kyung Sunoo, and Catharine Hannay, a teacher and creative writer married to Eric Peterman, and of their granddaughters Rebecca Catharine Jin Sunoo and Alina Margaret Yun Sunoo. She felt blessed to live near so many of David's family, raising their daughters in a home inherited from David's grandparents in Westerlo, NY.
Dr. Hannay was Professor of English at Siena College from 1980 to 2013. Her specialty was the literature of early modern England, and she frequently taught Elizabethan Literature, English Renaissance Literature, and Shakespeare, as well as the Honors Great Books class for first year students. In 2000 she received the first Raymond Kennedy Excellence in Scholarship Award from the College. At Siena she served as chair of the core curriculum committee, chair of the committee to establish the Honors program, and chair of the English department. Her publications include more than fifty articles and seventeen books, including biographies of C.S. Lewis, Lady Mary Wroth, and Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke; seven volumes of editions of works and correspondence by the Sidney family edited with Noel Kinnamon and Michael Brennan; and essay collections, most recently the two-volume "Ashgate Research Companion on the Sidneys, 1500-1700," edited with Michael Brennan and Mary Ellen Lamb (2015). Her books have received various "Book of the Year" awards, and her volume on Dorothy Sayers was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America.
Over the years Margaret received a number of research fellowships including three from the National Endowment of the Humanities and three from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. She has served on boards of the Modern Language Association, as Council Secretary of the Renaissance English Text Society, and as national president of the Conference on Christianity and Literature. She was a founder, secretary, and then president of the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women, from which she received a Lifetime Achievement Award. She was secretary and president of the International Sidney Society, which gave her the Jean Robertson Lifetime Achievement Award. Each of these things, she said, was a great joy; she loved teaching, caring for students, attending conferences on the English Renaissance, and sleuthing in the archives in England and Wales for her research.
With David, Margaret was an enthusiastic member of First Presbyterian Church of Albany, NY. She served on session, taught classes, and was most recently on the welcoming Membership Committee. She was blessed to have such good friends and pastors in this historic church that welcomes all people and strives to serve those in need. She was most grateful for the similar ministry of Franciscan ideals at Siena College, and for the deep friendship of colleagues there. She also treasured her friendship with colleagues across the English- speaking academic world who shared her research interest in early modern writers.
A memorial service will be held at First Presbyterian Church, 362 State St., Albany, NY 12210, on Sunday, August 28th at 1:00pm. Memorial donations in Margaret's honor may be given to First Presbyterian Church of Albany for Mission and Outreach.
Thursday, July 07, 2016
Daily Kos Special Coverage of police shootings in LA and MN
- Alton Sterling video was filmed on purpose, but not for the reason you may think
- When the only word left is shame
- What you need to know about the police killing of Alton Sterling
- Woman captures boyfriend's death on livestream after he was shot by police (warning: graphic video)
- The terrorists we face wear badges
- Police killings of black men have reached my own city
- Back to back nights of police brutality: Police shooting in Falcon Heights
- A uniform does not hide you from guilt
- Harrowing video shows black man shot by Baton Rouge police
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Marie Camp obituary
Camp, Marie Anna.
Marie Anna (Neels) Camp of South Kent, CT died unexpectedly on April 15 at the age of 97. She was the daughter of Gustav and Matilda (Hittorff) Neels. Marie was born on December 24, 1918 in the Bronx. Birch Hill in Kent became her full-time home in 1933. Marie graduated as the valedictorian of her class at Kent High School in 1935 and then from Crandall's Secretarial College in Danbury. .
Marie married Philip W. Camp at the Kent Congregational Church on October 18, 1942. She helped her husband as a farm wife, worked at Nellie Rothe's Kent Inn, and was a secretary for South Kent School, Kent School, and the Town of Kent. Marie was an 82 year member of the Kent Congregational Church and a member of the Kent Historical Society, the Monday Morning Art Group, the Kent Informal Club, the Kent Library Association, and the Merwinsville Hotel Association. .
Her friends all enjoyed her paintings, especially her yearly Christmas card with birds on it. Marie loved to spend time researching her family tree and families from Kent. .
She is survived by her two children Philip W. (Bill) Camp, Jr. ( Brenda) of Myrtle Beach, SC and Dianne Lang (Philip) of South Kent, CT; two grandchildren Robert Camp of Myrtle Beach, SC and Charles Camp of Staunton, VA; one great grand-daughter, Colleen Marie Camp; and Marie's sister, Amy Nissen of Nassau, NY. She was predeceased by her husband. A memorial service will be held on June 19, 2016 at 2:00 in the Kent Congregational Church, Kent CT. Burial will be at the convenience of the family. Contributions can be made to the Kent Historical Society or the Kent Congregational Church. .
Published in News Times from Apr. 20 to Apr. 29, 2016 -
Marie Anna (Neels) Camp of South Kent, CT died unexpectedly on April 15 at the age of 97. She was the daughter of Gustav and Matilda (Hittorff) Neels. Marie was born on December 24, 1918 in the Bronx. Birch Hill in Kent became her full-time home in 1933. Marie graduated as the valedictorian of her class at Kent High School in 1935 and then from Crandall's Secretarial College in Danbury. .
Marie married Philip W. Camp at the Kent Congregational Church on October 18, 1942. She helped her husband as a farm wife, worked at Nellie Rothe's Kent Inn, and was a secretary for South Kent School, Kent School, and the Town of Kent. Marie was an 82 year member of the Kent Congregational Church and a member of the Kent Historical Society, the Monday Morning Art Group, the Kent Informal Club, the Kent Library Association, and the Merwinsville Hotel Association. .
Her friends all enjoyed her paintings, especially her yearly Christmas card with birds on it. Marie loved to spend time researching her family tree and families from Kent. .
She is survived by her two children Philip W. (Bill) Camp, Jr. ( Brenda) of Myrtle Beach, SC and Dianne Lang (Philip) of South Kent, CT; two grandchildren Robert Camp of Myrtle Beach, SC and Charles Camp of Staunton, VA; one great grand-daughter, Colleen Marie Camp; and Marie's sister, Amy Nissen of Nassau, NY. She was predeceased by her husband. A memorial service will be held on June 19, 2016 at 2:00 in the Kent Congregational Church, Kent CT. Burial will be at the convenience of the family. Contributions can be made to the Kent Historical Society or the Kent Congregational Church. .
Published in News Times from Apr. 20 to Apr. 29, 2016 -
Obituary: Joseph Hittorff Jr.
Joe’s family resided in Springfield, MA for a brief time where his father was a commercial traveler for a coffee company. Marion, Joe, and their parents then moved to 211 Virginia Avenue in Westmont, NJ. When Joe was a junior in high school, his mother died. In 1934, Joe graduated from Collingswood High School. He had managed his high school football team during his senior year and had attained the rank of Eagle Scout. After graduation, he attended Brown Preparatory School for English and math. Joseph had always wanted to go to sea, and so he chose to start a career in the Navy.
In June of 1936, he entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and graduated in 1940. His initial assignment was serving on board the battleship USS Oklahoma, a 583 foot battleship attached to the Pacific Fleet in Hawaii. Joe had completed all of the requirements for being promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade but his commission had not come through at the time of his death.
Joe sent frequent letters home. In one from November 2, 1941, he expressed concern that there were war clouds on the horizon, and he was "expecting the worst -- and hoping for the best." On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The Oklahoma sank, and Joe was among the casualties along with 395 enlisted men and 19 other officers. Seven days later, a telegram was sent to his parents and sister saying, "The Navy Department deeply regrets to inform you that your son, Ensign Joseph Parker Hittorff, Jr., United States Navy, was lost in action."
Joe’s Naval Academy ring was recovered from the wreckage at a later time. Also returned to the family was a ceremonial sword from Annapolis. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Victory Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the American Defense Medal.
On March 7, 2016, seventy-four years and three months later, Joe’s remaining family members were notified that his remains had been identified after being disinterred from the Punch Bowl Cemetery in Hawaii. Sadly, his oldest living relative, Marie Camp of South Kent, CT passed away early this April. Marie, her sister Amy Nissen of Nassau, New York, and cousin Norma Medlicott of Zephyrhills, FL were all first cousins of Joe and Marion.
A funeral has been planned for June 18 at 11:00 in the Kent Congregational Church, Kent CT with burial immediately after in the Kent Congregational Cemetery.
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Invocation of Peace by Fiona Macleod
Deep peace I breathe into you,
O weariness, here:
O ache, here!
Deep peace, a soft white dove to You;
Deep peace, a quiet rain to you;
Deep peace, an ebbing wave to you!
Deep peace, red wind of the east from you;
Deep peace, grey wind of the west to You;
Deep peace, dark wind of the north from you;
Deep peace, blue wind of the south to you!
Deep peace, pure red of the flame to you;
Deep peace, pure white of the moon to you;
Deep peace, pure green of the grass to you;
Deep peace, pure brown of the earth to you;
Deep peace, pure grey of the dew to you,
Deep peace, pure blue of the sky to you!
Deep peace of the running wave to you,
Deep peace of the flowing air to you,
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the sleeping stones to you!
Deep peace of the Yellow Shepherd to you,
Deep peace of the Wandering Shepherdess to you,
Deep peace of the Flock of Stars to you,
Deep peace from the Son of Peace to you,
Deep peace from the heart of Mary to you,
And from Briget of the Mantle
Deep peace, deep peace!
And with the kindness too of the Haughty Father
Peace!
In the name of the Three who are One,
Peace! And by the will of the King of the Elements,
Peace! Peace!
(From "The Dominion of Dreams. Under the Dark Star by Fiona Macleod (William Sharp,1895))
O weariness, here:
O ache, here!
Deep peace, a soft white dove to You;
Deep peace, a quiet rain to you;
Deep peace, an ebbing wave to you!
Deep peace, red wind of the east from you;
Deep peace, grey wind of the west to You;
Deep peace, dark wind of the north from you;
Deep peace, blue wind of the south to you!
Deep peace, pure red of the flame to you;
Deep peace, pure white of the moon to you;
Deep peace, pure green of the grass to you;
Deep peace, pure brown of the earth to you;
Deep peace, pure grey of the dew to you,
Deep peace, pure blue of the sky to you!
Deep peace of the running wave to you,
Deep peace of the flowing air to you,
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the sleeping stones to you!
Deep peace of the Yellow Shepherd to you,
Deep peace of the Wandering Shepherdess to you,
Deep peace of the Flock of Stars to you,
Deep peace from the Son of Peace to you,
Deep peace from the heart of Mary to you,
And from Briget of the Mantle
Deep peace, deep peace!
And with the kindness too of the Haughty Father
Peace!
In the name of the Three who are One,
Peace! And by the will of the King of the Elements,
Peace! Peace!
(From "The Dominion of Dreams. Under the Dark Star by Fiona Macleod (William Sharp,1895))
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Norman Nissen Obituary
Saturday, February 06, 2016
Joseph Francis Alaskey III Obituary
Alaskey, Joseph Francis III GREEN ISLAND Joseph Francis Alaskey, III died peacefully in his home, with his brother by his side on February 3, 2016, in Green Island, at the age of 63 after a strong battle with a short illness. Joe is survived by his brother John Ned Alaskey, his beloved nieces and nephews and his dearest friend and cousin, Mark DeSorrento.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Joseph F. Alaskey, Jr., Domenica "Dorothy" DeSorrento DeLuca, and his sister JoAnne M. Valente. Joe was born April 17, 1952, in Troy. Joe was raised in Watervliet. He graduated from La Salle Institute, and attended Siena College.
After moving to Los Angeles, he began working steadily as a comedian, impressionist, and actor, and won an Emmy for his work as the voice of Daffy Duck. He was known to his fans as "The Man of a Thousand Voices," and is remembered by loved ones as a kind, quick-witted man who brought laughter and joy to every room he entered. Joe was an accomplished artist who excelled in almost every medium. A director, writer, actor, and cartoonist, he leaves behind a large body of work. He was a talented individual who loved nostalgia and was passionate about classic TV and radio shows. He was an avid comic book collector, loved reading, and authored several published books. More of his work will continue to be released.
Relatives and friends are invited to call at the Parker Bros. Memorial, 2013 Broadway, Watervliet, on Monday, from 4-7 p.m. The funeral service will follow the wake at 7 p.m. at the funeral home with Reverend Sandy McGowan officiating. Joe's ashes will be interred on Tuesday at 2 p.m. at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Watervliet. All are welcome to attend and celebrate Joe's life.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Please Remember Me (to assist our veterans), c/o Gene Loparco, 22 Furlong Dr., Albany, NY 12205 or to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
, 501 St. Jude Place, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 or stjude.org. The family would like to thank Susan Cavanaugh McCabe, Community Hospice and Dr. Numan Rashed for their compassionate care and dedication to Joe. Condolences can be sent to ParkerBrosMemorial.com.
- See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/timesunion-albany/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=177617544#sthash.NyAvBbhy.dpuf
He is preceded in death by his parents, Joseph F. Alaskey, Jr., Domenica "Dorothy" DeSorrento DeLuca, and his sister JoAnne M. Valente. Joe was born April 17, 1952, in Troy. Joe was raised in Watervliet. He graduated from La Salle Institute, and attended Siena College.
After moving to Los Angeles, he began working steadily as a comedian, impressionist, and actor, and won an Emmy for his work as the voice of Daffy Duck. He was known to his fans as "The Man of a Thousand Voices," and is remembered by loved ones as a kind, quick-witted man who brought laughter and joy to every room he entered. Joe was an accomplished artist who excelled in almost every medium. A director, writer, actor, and cartoonist, he leaves behind a large body of work. He was a talented individual who loved nostalgia and was passionate about classic TV and radio shows. He was an avid comic book collector, loved reading, and authored several published books. More of his work will continue to be released.
Relatives and friends are invited to call at the Parker Bros. Memorial, 2013 Broadway, Watervliet, on Monday, from 4-7 p.m. The funeral service will follow the wake at 7 p.m. at the funeral home with Reverend Sandy McGowan officiating. Joe's ashes will be interred on Tuesday at 2 p.m. at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Watervliet. All are welcome to attend and celebrate Joe's life.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Please Remember Me (to assist our veterans), c/o Gene Loparco, 22 Furlong Dr., Albany, NY 12205 or to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Friday, December 18, 2015
The 100 Most Influential Figures in American History
From The Arlantic magazine (2006)
100: Herman Melville
Moby Dick was a flop at the time, but Melville is remembered as the American Shakespeare.
99: Richard Nixon
He broke the New Deal majority, and then broke his presidency on a scandal that still haunts America.
98: Booker T. Washington
As an educator and a champion of self-help, he tried to lead black America up from slavery.
97: Stephen Foster
America’s first great songwriter, he brought us “O! Susanna” and “My Old Kentucky Home.”
96: Ralph Nader
He made the cars we drive safer; thirty years later, he made George W. Bush the president.
95: Samuel Goldwyn
A producer for forty years, he was the first great Hollywood mogul.
94: George Eastman
The founder of Kodak democratized photography with his handy rolls of film.
93: Nat Turner
He was the most successful rebel slave; his specter would stalk the white South for a century.
92: John Steinbeck
As the creator of Tom Joad, he chronicled Depression-era misery.
91: Lyman Beecher
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s clergyman father earned fame as an abolitionist and an evangelist.
90: Jonathan Edwards
Forget the fire and brimstone: his subtle eloquence made him the country’s most influential theologian.
89: Walter Lippmann
The last man who could swing an election with a newspaper column.
88: Enrico Fermi
A giant of physics, he helped develop quantum theory and was instrumental in building the atomic bomb.
87: Benjamin Spock
With a single book—and a singular approach—he changed American parenting.
86: Mary Baker Eddy
She got off her sickbed and founded Christian Science, which promised spiritual healing to all.
85: Ernest Hemingway
His spare style defined American modernism, and his life made machismo a cliché.
84: Thurgood Marshall
As a lawyer and a Supreme Court justice, he was the legal architect of the civil-rights revolution.
83: James Fenimore Cooper
The novels are unreadable, but he was the first great mythologizer of the frontier.
82: George Gallup
He asked Americans what they thought, and the politicians listened.
81: Margaret Mead
With Coming of Age in Samoa, she made anthropology relevant—and controversial.
80: William Randolph Hearst
The press baron who perfected yellow journalism and helped start the Spanish-American War.
79: Louis Armstrong
His talent and charisma took jazz from the cathouses of Storyville to Broadway, television, and beyond.
78: John Brown
Whether a hero, a fanatic, or both, he provided the spark for the Civil War.
77: Betty Friedan
She spoke to the discontent of housewives everywhere—and inspired a revolution in gender roles.
76: Frank Lloyd Wright
America’s most significant architect, he was the archetype of the visionary artist at odds with capitalism.
75: Babe Ruth
He saved the national pastime in the wake of the Black Sox scandal—and permanently linked sports and celebrity.
74: Brigham Young
What Joseph Smith founded, Young preserved, leading the Mormons to their promised land.
73: Cyrus McCormick
His mechanical reaper spelled the end of traditional farming, and the beginning of industrial agriculture.
72: Sam Walton
He promised us “Every Day Low Prices,” and we took him up on the offer.
71: Noah Webster
He didn’t create American English, but his dictionary defined it.
70: Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
They went west to explore, and millions followed in their wake.
69: James Gordon Bennett
As the founding publisher of The New York Herald, he invented the modern American newspaper.
68: James D. Watson
He co-discovered DNA’s double helix, revealing the code of life to scientists and entrepreneurs alike.
67: P.T. Barnum
The circus impresario’s taste for spectacle paved the way for blockbuster movies and reality TV.
66: Elvis Presley
The king of rock and roll. Enough said.
65: Henry David Thoreau
The original American dropout, he has inspired seekers of authenticity for 150 years.
64: Jane Addams
The founder of Hull House, she became the secular saint of social work.
63: George Marshall
As a general, he organized the American effort in World War II; as a statesman, he rebuilt Western Europe.
62: William James
The mind behind Pragmatism, America’s most important philosophical school.
61: Samuel Gompers
The country’s greatest labor organizer, he made the golden age of unions possible.
60: William Faulkner
The most gifted chronicler of America’s tormented and fascinating South.
59: Louis Sullivan
The father of architectural modernism, he shaped the defining American building: the skyscraper.
58: John C. Calhoun
The voice of the antebellum South, he was slavery’s most ardent defender.
57: Robert E. Lee
He was a good general but a better symbol, embodying conciliation in defeat.
56: Horace Mann
His tireless advocacy of universal public schooling earned him the title “The Father of American Education.”
55: John Quincy Adams
The Monroe Doctrine’s real author, he set nineteenth-century America’s diplomatic course.
54: Bill Gates
The Rockefeller of the Information Age, in business and philanthropy alike.
53: Oliver Wendell Holmes
Known as “The Great Dissenter,” he wrote Supreme Court opinions that continue to shape American jurisprudence.
52: Joseph Smith
51: Margaret Sanger
The ardent champion of birth control—and of the sexual freedom that came with it.
50: James K. Polk
This one-term president’s Mexican War landgrab gave us California, Texas, and the Southwest.
/
49: Frederick Law Olmsted
The genius behind New York’s Central Park, he inspired the greening of America’s cities.
48: Robert Oppenheimer
The father of the atomic bomb and the regretful midwife of the nuclear era.
47: Frederick Douglass
After escaping from slavery, he pricked the nation’s conscience with an eloquent accounting of its crimes.
46: William Lloyd Garrison
Through his newspaper, The Liberator, he became the voice of abolition.
45: Samuel F. B. Morse
Before the Internet, there was Morse code.
44: Lyndon B. Johnson
His brilliance gave us civil-rights laws; his stubbornness gave us Vietnam.
43: W.E.B. Du Bois
One of America’s great intellectuals, he made the “problem of the color line” his life’s work.
42: Eleanor Roosevelt
She used the first lady’s office and the mass media to become “first lady of the world.”
41: Harriet Beecher Stowe
Her Uncle Tom’s Cabin inspired a generation of abolitionists and set the stage for civil war.
40: John Dewey
He sought to make the public school a training ground for democratic life.
39: Rachel Carson
The author of Silent Spring was godmother to the environmental movement.
38: Susan B. Anthony
She was the country’s most eloquent voice for women’s equality under the law.
37: J. P. Morgan
The great financier and banker was the prototype for all the Wall Street barons who followed.
36: William Jennings Bryan
“The Great Commoner” lost three presidential elections, but his populism transformed the country.
35: Jackie Robinson
He broke baseball’s color barrier and embodied integration’s promise.
34: Jonas Salk
His vaccine for polio eradicated one of the world’s worst plagues.
33: Ralph Waldo Emerson
The bard of individualism, he relied on himself—and told us all to do the same.
32: Albert Einstein
His greatest scientific work was done in Europe, but his humanity earned him undying fame in America.
31: Henry Clay
One of America’s greatest legislators and orators, he forged compromises that held off civil war for decades.
30: Elizabeth Cady Stanton
One of the first great American feminists, she fought for social reform and women’s right to vote.
29: Earl Warren
His Supreme Court transformed American society and bequeathed to us the culture wars.
28: Dwight D. Eisenhower
He won a war and two elections, and made everybody like Ike.
27: Eli Whitney
His gin made cotton king and sustained an empire for slavery.
26: Walt Disney
The quintessential entertainer-entrepreneur, he wielded unmatched influence over our childhood.
25: John Adams
His leadership made the American Revolution possible; his devotion to republicanism made it succeed.
24: Alexander Graham Bell
By inventing the telephone, he opened the age of telecommunications and shrank the world.
23: Orville and Wilbur Wright
They got us all off the ground.
22: Walt Whitman
He sang of America and shaped the country’s conception of itself.
21: Harry S. Truman
An accidental president, this machine politician ushered in the Atomic Age and then the Cold War.
20: Andrew Carnegie
The original self-made man forged America’s industrial might and became one of the nation’s greatest philanthropists.
19: Thomas Paine
The voice of the American Revolution, and our first great radical.
18: Andrew Jackson
The first great populist: he found America a republic and left it a democracy.
17: Ronald Reagan
The amiable architect of both the conservative realignment and the Cold War’s end.
16: Mark Twain
Author of our national epic, he was the most unsentimental observer of our national life.
15: Theodore Roosevelt
Whether busting trusts or building canals, he embodied the “strenuous life” and blazed a trail for twentieth-century America.
14: Henry Ford
He gave us the assembly line and the Model T, and sparked America’s love affair with the automobile.
13: James Madison
He fathered the Constitution and wrote the Bill of Rights.
12: Ulysses S. Grant
He was a poor president, but he was the general Lincoln needed; he also wrote the greatest political memoir in American history.
11: John D. Rockefeller
The man behind Standard Oil set the mold for our tycoons—first by making money, then by giving it away.
10: Woodrow Wilson
He made the world safe for U.S. interventionism, if not for democracy.
09: Thomas Edison
It wasn’t just the light bulb; the Wizard of Menlo Park was the most prolific inventor in American history.
08: Martin Luther King
His dream of racial equality is still elusive, but no one did more to make it real.
07: John Marshall
The defining chief justice, he established the Supreme Court as the equal of the other two federal branches.
06: Benjamin Franklin
The Founder-of-all-trades— scientist, printer, writer, diplomat, inventor, and more; like his country, he contained multitudes.
05: Alexander Hamilton
Soldier, banker, and political scientist, he set in motion an agrarian nation’s transformation into an industrial power.
04: Franklin D. Roosevelt
He said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” and then he proved it.
03: Thomas Jefferson
The author of the five most important words in American history: “All men are created equal.”
02: George Washington
He made the United States possible—not only by defeating a king, but by declining to become one himself.
01: Abraham Lincoln
He saved the Union, freed the slaves, and presided over America’s second founding.
100: Herman Melville
Moby Dick was a flop at the time, but Melville is remembered as the American Shakespeare.
99: Richard Nixon
He broke the New Deal majority, and then broke his presidency on a scandal that still haunts America.
98: Booker T. Washington
As an educator and a champion of self-help, he tried to lead black America up from slavery.
97: Stephen Foster
America’s first great songwriter, he brought us “O! Susanna” and “My Old Kentucky Home.”
96: Ralph Nader
He made the cars we drive safer; thirty years later, he made George W. Bush the president.
95: Samuel Goldwyn
A producer for forty years, he was the first great Hollywood mogul.
94: George Eastman
The founder of Kodak democratized photography with his handy rolls of film.
93: Nat Turner
He was the most successful rebel slave; his specter would stalk the white South for a century.
92: John Steinbeck
As the creator of Tom Joad, he chronicled Depression-era misery.
91: Lyman Beecher
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s clergyman father earned fame as an abolitionist and an evangelist.
90: Jonathan Edwards
Forget the fire and brimstone: his subtle eloquence made him the country’s most influential theologian.
89: Walter Lippmann
The last man who could swing an election with a newspaper column.
88: Enrico Fermi
A giant of physics, he helped develop quantum theory and was instrumental in building the atomic bomb.
87: Benjamin Spock
With a single book—and a singular approach—he changed American parenting.
86: Mary Baker Eddy
She got off her sickbed and founded Christian Science, which promised spiritual healing to all.
85: Ernest Hemingway
His spare style defined American modernism, and his life made machismo a cliché.
84: Thurgood Marshall
As a lawyer and a Supreme Court justice, he was the legal architect of the civil-rights revolution.
83: James Fenimore Cooper
The novels are unreadable, but he was the first great mythologizer of the frontier.
82: George Gallup
He asked Americans what they thought, and the politicians listened.
81: Margaret Mead
With Coming of Age in Samoa, she made anthropology relevant—and controversial.
80: William Randolph Hearst
The press baron who perfected yellow journalism and helped start the Spanish-American War.
79: Louis Armstrong
His talent and charisma took jazz from the cathouses of Storyville to Broadway, television, and beyond.
78: John Brown
Whether a hero, a fanatic, or both, he provided the spark for the Civil War.
77: Betty Friedan
She spoke to the discontent of housewives everywhere—and inspired a revolution in gender roles.
76: Frank Lloyd Wright
America’s most significant architect, he was the archetype of the visionary artist at odds with capitalism.
75: Babe Ruth
He saved the national pastime in the wake of the Black Sox scandal—and permanently linked sports and celebrity.
74: Brigham Young
What Joseph Smith founded, Young preserved, leading the Mormons to their promised land.
73: Cyrus McCormick
His mechanical reaper spelled the end of traditional farming, and the beginning of industrial agriculture.
72: Sam Walton
He promised us “Every Day Low Prices,” and we took him up on the offer.
71: Noah Webster
He didn’t create American English, but his dictionary defined it.
70: Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
They went west to explore, and millions followed in their wake.
69: James Gordon Bennett
As the founding publisher of The New York Herald, he invented the modern American newspaper.
68: James D. Watson
He co-discovered DNA’s double helix, revealing the code of life to scientists and entrepreneurs alike.
67: P.T. Barnum
The circus impresario’s taste for spectacle paved the way for blockbuster movies and reality TV.
66: Elvis Presley
The king of rock and roll. Enough said.
65: Henry David Thoreau
The original American dropout, he has inspired seekers of authenticity for 150 years.
64: Jane Addams
The founder of Hull House, she became the secular saint of social work.
63: George Marshall
As a general, he organized the American effort in World War II; as a statesman, he rebuilt Western Europe.
62: William James
The mind behind Pragmatism, America’s most important philosophical school.
61: Samuel Gompers
The country’s greatest labor organizer, he made the golden age of unions possible.
60: William Faulkner
The most gifted chronicler of America’s tormented and fascinating South.
59: Louis Sullivan
The father of architectural modernism, he shaped the defining American building: the skyscraper.
58: John C. Calhoun
The voice of the antebellum South, he was slavery’s most ardent defender.
57: Robert E. Lee
He was a good general but a better symbol, embodying conciliation in defeat.
56: Horace Mann
His tireless advocacy of universal public schooling earned him the title “The Father of American Education.”
55: John Quincy Adams
The Monroe Doctrine’s real author, he set nineteenth-century America’s diplomatic course.
54: Bill Gates
The Rockefeller of the Information Age, in business and philanthropy alike.
53: Oliver Wendell Holmes
Known as “The Great Dissenter,” he wrote Supreme Court opinions that continue to shape American jurisprudence.
52: Joseph Smith
51: Margaret Sanger
The ardent champion of birth control—and of the sexual freedom that came with it.
50: James K. Polk
This one-term president’s Mexican War landgrab gave us California, Texas, and the Southwest.
/
49: Frederick Law Olmsted
The genius behind New York’s Central Park, he inspired the greening of America’s cities.
48: Robert Oppenheimer
The father of the atomic bomb and the regretful midwife of the nuclear era.
47: Frederick Douglass
After escaping from slavery, he pricked the nation’s conscience with an eloquent accounting of its crimes.
46: William Lloyd Garrison
Through his newspaper, The Liberator, he became the voice of abolition.
45: Samuel F. B. Morse
Before the Internet, there was Morse code.
44: Lyndon B. Johnson
His brilliance gave us civil-rights laws; his stubbornness gave us Vietnam.
43: W.E.B. Du Bois
One of America’s great intellectuals, he made the “problem of the color line” his life’s work.
42: Eleanor Roosevelt
She used the first lady’s office and the mass media to become “first lady of the world.”
41: Harriet Beecher Stowe
Her Uncle Tom’s Cabin inspired a generation of abolitionists and set the stage for civil war.
40: John Dewey
He sought to make the public school a training ground for democratic life.
39: Rachel Carson
The author of Silent Spring was godmother to the environmental movement.
38: Susan B. Anthony
She was the country’s most eloquent voice for women’s equality under the law.
37: J. P. Morgan
The great financier and banker was the prototype for all the Wall Street barons who followed.
36: William Jennings Bryan
“The Great Commoner” lost three presidential elections, but his populism transformed the country.
35: Jackie Robinson
He broke baseball’s color barrier and embodied integration’s promise.
34: Jonas Salk
His vaccine for polio eradicated one of the world’s worst plagues.
33: Ralph Waldo Emerson
The bard of individualism, he relied on himself—and told us all to do the same.
32: Albert Einstein
His greatest scientific work was done in Europe, but his humanity earned him undying fame in America.
31: Henry Clay
One of America’s greatest legislators and orators, he forged compromises that held off civil war for decades.
30: Elizabeth Cady Stanton
One of the first great American feminists, she fought for social reform and women’s right to vote.
29: Earl Warren
His Supreme Court transformed American society and bequeathed to us the culture wars.
28: Dwight D. Eisenhower
He won a war and two elections, and made everybody like Ike.
27: Eli Whitney
His gin made cotton king and sustained an empire for slavery.
26: Walt Disney
The quintessential entertainer-entrepreneur, he wielded unmatched influence over our childhood.
25: John Adams
His leadership made the American Revolution possible; his devotion to republicanism made it succeed.
24: Alexander Graham Bell
By inventing the telephone, he opened the age of telecommunications and shrank the world.
23: Orville and Wilbur Wright
They got us all off the ground.
22: Walt Whitman
He sang of America and shaped the country’s conception of itself.
21: Harry S. Truman
An accidental president, this machine politician ushered in the Atomic Age and then the Cold War.
20: Andrew Carnegie
The original self-made man forged America’s industrial might and became one of the nation’s greatest philanthropists.
19: Thomas Paine
The voice of the American Revolution, and our first great radical.
18: Andrew Jackson
The first great populist: he found America a republic and left it a democracy.
17: Ronald Reagan
The amiable architect of both the conservative realignment and the Cold War’s end.
16: Mark Twain
Author of our national epic, he was the most unsentimental observer of our national life.
15: Theodore Roosevelt
Whether busting trusts or building canals, he embodied the “strenuous life” and blazed a trail for twentieth-century America.
14: Henry Ford
He gave us the assembly line and the Model T, and sparked America’s love affair with the automobile.
13: James Madison
He fathered the Constitution and wrote the Bill of Rights.
12: Ulysses S. Grant
He was a poor president, but he was the general Lincoln needed; he also wrote the greatest political memoir in American history.
11: John D. Rockefeller
The man behind Standard Oil set the mold for our tycoons—first by making money, then by giving it away.
10: Woodrow Wilson
He made the world safe for U.S. interventionism, if not for democracy.
09: Thomas Edison
It wasn’t just the light bulb; the Wizard of Menlo Park was the most prolific inventor in American history.
08: Martin Luther King
His dream of racial equality is still elusive, but no one did more to make it real.
07: John Marshall
The defining chief justice, he established the Supreme Court as the equal of the other two federal branches.
06: Benjamin Franklin
The Founder-of-all-trades— scientist, printer, writer, diplomat, inventor, and more; like his country, he contained multitudes.
05: Alexander Hamilton
Soldier, banker, and political scientist, he set in motion an agrarian nation’s transformation into an industrial power.
04: Franklin D. Roosevelt
He said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” and then he proved it.
03: Thomas Jefferson
The author of the five most important words in American history: “All men are created equal.”
02: George Washington
He made the United States possible—not only by defeating a king, but by declining to become one himself.
01: Abraham Lincoln
He saved the Union, freed the slaves, and presided over America’s second founding.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
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