Jobless claims fall to lowest in almost 4-1/2 years

9 hrs.

Reuters

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment aid fell last week to nearly its lowest level in 4 1/2 years, a sign that the labor market is healing.?

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 350,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's figure was revised to show 1,000 more applications than previously reported.?

After spiking in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, which ravaged the East Coast in late October, the weekly levels of new claims have now dropped to their lowest levels since the early days of the 2007-09 recession. The four-week moving average fell 11,250 last week to 356,750, the lowest since March 2008.?

That suggests the surge in layoffs since the recession may have run its course, although companies still are adding to their payrolls at a lackluster pace.?

The report included a caveat, at least for the latest week. President Barack Obama declared Monday a holiday for federal workers and many state offices followed suit and were unable to provide complete data for last week's jobless claims. Data for 19 states was estimated, a Labor Department official said. Fourteen of those states submitted their own estimates, which tend to be fairly accurate because the state officials work with a significant amount of data, the Labor Department official said.?

Besides the federal holiday, there were no special factors influencing week's claims data, the department official said.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/jobless-claims-fall-lowest-almost-4-1-2-years-1C7657760

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The hidden world of medical racism in the United States

The idea that discredited, repugnant ideas about racial differences might play a role in medical diagnoses and treatment today is one that doctors ought to find profoundly disturbing. The racially biased treatment of patients is a grievous violation of medical ethics and a direct threat to the dignity of the profession.

But over the past two decades, American medical literature has published hundreds of peer-reviewed studies that point to racially-motivated decisions by physicians that may do serious medical harm. The principal result of these studies has simply been more studies of the same kind.

An official report on racial health disparities in the United States from 2003 raised awareness of this issue, but has had no discernible effect on the education of medical students or continuing education for doctors. Medical ethicists long ago banished medical racism from their sphere of interest, so they can?t be expected to sound the alarm.

Hidden history

Most physicians in the United States know little or nothing about the disastrous history of American medical racism. They learn nothing about it in medical school, and professional literature does little to enlighten them after they?ve completed training. And medical journal editors with little interest in the racial dimension of medicine function as gatekeepers perpetuating the ahistorical and ill-informed status quo.

African American physicians, who constitute about 3% of American doctors, occupy a marginalised position within the profession. The black-edited Journal of the National Medical Association is ignored by the medical profession and the media, and has the impact rating equivalent to that of the Croatian Medical Journal.

All of this means that American doctors are not prepared to understand their own vulnerability to racist habits of thought and behaviour. Many in the current generation of medical students, and other young people in health-related fields, find it easy to deny that medical racism exists at all. But today?s undergraduate students, from whose ranks medical students are recruited, tell me that racial stereotyping is rampant on American college and university campuses, the Obama presidency notwithstanding.

While homophobia has visibly decreased in recent years, the racial stigmatising of black people has proven to be stubbornly resilient. Among American institutions, it?s the military that has done most to eliminate racial bias.

Professional reticence

The medical establishment finally accepted racial integration in 1968 but has never occupied a leadership role in this struggle. Apart from an occasional study, American medicine has refused to conduct systematic studies of racially-motivated diagnoses or of the medico-racial folklore that has infiltrated medical specialities from cardiology to obstetrics and psychiatry.

African American discomfort with and estrangement from the medical profession has been a fundamental part of the black experience for generations. For many African Americans, doctor avoidance has became chronic, dysfunctional behaviour. This estrangement results from the racist views and behaviours of white doctors, which has left a poisonous legacy among an abused and under-educated black population.

Shocking numbers of African Americans today either believe or are willing to consider conspiracy theories about the creation and dissemination of HIV/AIDS by US government agents for the purpose of wiping out the black population. The racist views and behaviours of white physicians have created this legacy of mistrust that persists to this day.

Over and over again, I?ve been surprised to hear well-educated African Americans talk about how difficult it is to have a comfortable relationship with a physician. And the search for a black physician, especially in certain medical specialities, proves fruitless in many cases.

Anyone who finds these claims unfair or improbable ought to read the lawsuit filed in April 2012 by an African-American physician against the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). The lawsuit filed by Dr. Christian Head, a tenured head-and-neck surgeon, alleges multiple forms of racial harassment carried out over several years.

UCLA will surely contest these claims. But what it doesn?t contest is the allegation that, in 2006, Dr. Head was depicted as a sodomised gorilla during a slide show at a medical faculty event attended by 200 people. Only one doctor who witnessed this protested. To date, the university has not issued an apology.

It?s hard to imagine a more dramatic demonstration of American medicine?s lack of regard for the black people.

Black and Blue: The Origins and Consequences of Medical Racism by John Hoberman is published by University of California Press

Source: http://theconversation.edu.au/the-hidden-world-of-medical-racism-in-the-united-states-9113

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NASA plans follow-up trek to Mars

The Mars rover Curiosity is four months into its 2-year investigative visit to Mars. Now NASA is planning another rover trip to bring samples from Mars back to Earth.?

By Irene Klotz,?Reuters / December 4, 2012

This artist's rendering provided by NASA shows the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars. NASA announced Tuesday, it plans to send another Curiosity-like rover to Mars in 2020.

AP Photo/NASA

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NASA plans to follow-up its Mars rover Curiosity mission with a duplicate rover that could collect and store samples for return to?Earth, the agency's lead scientist said on Tuesday.

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The new rover will use spare parts and engineering models developed for Curiosity, which is four months into a planned $2.5 billion, two-year mission on Mars to look for habitats that could have supported microbial life.

Replicating the rover's chassis, sky-crane landing system and other gear will enable?NASA to cut the cost of the new mission to about $1.5 billion,?John Grunsfeld, the U.S. space agency's associate administrator for science, said at the?American Geophysical Union?conference in?San Francisco.

Budget shortfalls forced?NASA to pull out of a series of joint missions with?Europe, designed to return rock and soil samples from Mars in the 2020s.?Europe?instead will partner with?Russia?for the launch vehicle and other equipment that was to have been provided by NASA.

Grunsfeld said?NASA will provide a key organics experiment for?Europe's ExoMars rover, as well as engineering and mission support under the agency's proposed budget for the year beginning Oct. 1, 2013.

Details about what science instruments would be included on the new rover, whether or not it would have a cache for samples, and the landing site have not yet been determined.

NASA plans to set up a team of scientists to refine plans for the rover and issue a solicitation next summer.

The?National Academy of Sciences?last year ranked a Mars sample return mission as its top priority in planetary science for the next decade.

"The (science) community already has come forward with a very clear message about what the content of the next Mars surface mission should be, and that is to cache the samples that will come back to?Earth," said?Steve Squyres?with Cornell University.

"That's really a necessary part of having this mission," he said.

(Editing by Tom Brown and Stacey Joyce)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/5KoMcVpHEj0/NASA-plans-follow-up-trek-to-Mars

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Residential real estate market shows signs of cooling | Otago Daily ...

Some slight cooling in the residential real estate market has appeared in the December BNZ-REINZ survey.

BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander said most, but not all, of the measures the survey tracked showed some cooling.

Most notably, a net 13% of responding agents noted they were seeing fewer people at open homes.

However, there had been a rise in the net percentage who felt that buyers were more motivated than sellers.

Readings remained strong for perceptions of prices rising and interest from investors.

''Overall, the housing real estate market is showing some signs of flattening out but on the face of it, this could reflect buyers needing to adjust their price settings, rather than failing to show interest at all,'' Mr Alexander said.

The December result of fewer people going through open homes was the weakest result on record and a sharp turnaround from a net 30% positive in November.

The net change of -43% change was far greater than the drop-off in December last year of 20% and could suggest that buyers had backed away sharply from the market, he said.

Given the suddenness of the change, Mr Alexander made a special effort to see if any of the other indicators the survey tracked showed signs also of a decline in buyer interest.

''The answer is some do - but not to the same degree - and some don't.''

A still strong net 27% of responding agents said they were seeing written sales going unconditional. That indicated nothing sudden had happened during the month to cause buyers to find excuses for backing out.

A net proportion of agents saying that auction clearance rates were rising had dropped to the lowest level since April, with a net 12% positive from 22% in November.

That supported the first indicator regarding buyers not showing up for open homes, Mr Alexander said. The result was only just below the average reading of a net 16% positive and as such did not suggest any particularly great weakness in buyer interest.

Vendors were not rushing forward. For the previous three months, increases had been recorded in the net percentage of agents reporting that more potential vendors were seeking appraisals. In December, only a net 9% reported that happening.

The average reading for the measure was a positive 15% and the latest result could represent more of a return to normality after three months of improving supply.

A near average net 32% of responding agents reported they were noticing more first home buyers in the market.

''This measure has been strong since the start of 2012. But at a net 32% positive, the latest reading is the lowest since December last year and could suggest that high prices might be burning off some of this young buying group,'' he said.

A net 38% of agents reported they felt prices were rising, well above the average reading of 24% and statistically unchanged from November.

Prices were seen overwhelmingly to be rising, with only 41 of 421 respondents saying they felt prices were falling; 192 felt prices were rising and 198 felt prices were flat.

Below-average numbers of people were perceived to be buying because they were trading up or down, while purchasing because interest rates were low remained a strong factor.

?

Source: http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/239433/residential-real-estate-market-shows-signs-cooling

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Yankees win ALDS playoff opener over Orioles 7-2

New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia throws to the Baltimore Orioles in the first inning Game 1 of the American League division baseball series on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia throws to the Baltimore Orioles in the first inning Game 1 of the American League division baseball series on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Jason Hammel walks off the field after the first inning of Game 1 of the American League division baseball series against the New York Yankees, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado tags out New York Yankees Ichiro Suzuki, of Japan, as he tries to steal third base in the first inning of Game 1 of the American League division baseball series on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia throws to the Baltimore Orioles in the first inning of Game 1 of the American League division baseball series on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

New York Yankees catcher Russell Martin throws out Baltimore Orioles' Lew Ford, not pictured, at first base in the fifth inning of Game 1 of the American League division baseball series on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

BALTIMORE (AP) ? For eight innings, the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles staged a magnificent duel worthy of two division foes that split 18 games during the regular season and finished two games apart in the standings.

Then the Yankees brushed aside the upstart, inexperienced newcomers and crashed a party 15 years in the making.

Russell Martin led off the ninth inning with a tiebreaking home run off Jim Johnson, CC Sabathia turned in a sparkling pitching performance and the Yankees pulled away to a 7-2 victory Sunday night in the opener of their AL divisional series.

Sabathia allowed two runs and eight hits in 8 2-3 innings to help the Yankees take the edge off the Orioles' first home playoff game since 1997. The husky left-hander went 0-2 in three starts against Baltimore during the regular season, but in this one he returned to form and improved his lifetime record against the Orioles to 17-4.

"Fastball command was good, worked off that," Sabathia said. "Throwing the ball pretty good getting the corners. Tried to stay out there and make some pitches."

Sabathia is 6-1 with the Yankees in the postseason, 4-0 in the division series.

"I thought he gave us a great performance," New York manager Joe Girardi said. "Didn't give up a lot of hard hit balls tonight, had a really good changeup tonight, and I thought he used it very effectively."

With the score 2-all, Martin drove a 2-0 pitch from Johnson into the left-field seats.

"I definitely wasn't thinking home run," Martin said. "He left a fastball up and I put good wood on it."

It was the first of four straight hits off Johnson, who led the majors with 51 saves. Raul Ibanez and Derek Jeter followed with singles, Ichiro Suzuki drove in a run with a swinging bunt and one out later, Robinson Cano hit a two-run double.

In his seven prior appearances against New York, Johnson allowed one run in seven innings and had three saves. Nick Swisher capped the five-run ninth with a sacrifice fly off Tommy Hunter.

"I made mistakes," Johnson said. "I obviously paid for those, and that was location. It wasn't anything else. Two fastballs that really cost us. Just have to make a better pitch. That's all it comes down to."

Game 2 will be played Monday night.

The start of the game was delayed by rain for 2 hours, 26 minutes, and that did nothing to lessen the enthusiasm of the 47,841 fans who endured 14 straight losing seasons while waiting for the Orioles to play a postseason game at Camden Yards.

"We're obviously disappointed we couldn't give them a win, but at least we're playing a five-game series instead of a shootout," Orioles right fielder Chris Davis said.

Baltimore left seven on base and went 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position.

"We stayed in as long as we could," Davis said. "We're finding out what playoff baseball is all about. You've got to capitalize on every opportunity that you give yourself and we weren't able to do that."

Then again, it's tough to mount a sustained rally against someone as polished and dominant as Sabathia.

"He just kind of wore us down," Davis said. "You have to tip your hat to him. He held us to two runs and gave them a chance to win in the end."

Orioles starter Jason Hammel allowed two runs, four hits and four walks in 5 2-3 innings. The right-hander underwent knee surgery in July and returned to pitch two games in September before his right knee began to bother him again. After working his way back into form, Hammel donned a knee brace and gave Baltimore a solid 112-pitch outing in his first start in nearly a month.

New York missed an excellent chance to take the lead in the seventh. After Troy Patton walked Martin and Ibanez, Darren O'Day entered and Jeter dropped down a perfect two-strike sacrifice bunt. With the infield drawn in, Suzuki hit a sharp grounder to second baseman Robert Andino, who threw home. Matt Wieters grabbed the ball on the short hop and tagged out Martin. O'Day then struck out Alex Rodriguez.

Neither team got a runner in scoring position again until J.J. Hardy started the Baltimore eighth with a double. He did not advance.

"Being able to get out of that with a tie and give us a chance to get up and score some runs, which we did, was just a big spot," Sabathia said.

Immediately after Orioles fans cheered and waved their orange towels following a first-pitch strike by Hammel to open the game, the Yankees went to work. Jeter hit a leadoff single and Suzuki followed with an RBI double into the gap in left-center. But Suzuki was thrown out trying to steal third, and Hammel settled down by striking out Rodriguez and retiring Cano on a broken-bat fly to right.

Sabathia retired the first six batters he faced without allowing a ball out of the infield, then ran into trouble in the third inning. Davis led off with a single, Lew Ford singled and both runners moved up on a bunt before Nate McLouth bounced a two-run single into right field for a 2-1 lead.

New York promptly tied it in the fourth, but another potential big inning was short-circuited when a runner was thrown out on the basepaths. After Hammel walked two of the first three batters, Mark Teixeira ripped a liner off the right-field scoreboard. The hit brought home a run, but Teixeira ? who only recently returned from a strained left calf ? was thrown out at second by Davis. That left Swisher at third base with two outs, and after an intentional walk to Curtis Granderson, Martin hit a fly to center.

Singles by Davis and Andino put runners at the corners with one out in the fifth before McLouth looked at a third strike and Hardy grounded out.

NOTES: Andy Pettitte will bring 42 games of playoff experience into Game 2 on Monday night as the starting pitcher for the Yankees. Orioles rookie Wei-Yin Chen will be making his postseason debut. ... Wieters went 0 for 4 against Sabathia and now is 5 for 28 (.179) lifetime against him. ... In 16 career division series openers, Jeter is batting .448 (26 for 58) and reached base in 15 games. ... Suzuki has at least one hit in 10 of his 11 career postseason games and has reached base in all of them. He's also hit in 20 straight games at Camden Yards, a streak that began in 2008.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-10-08-ALDS-Yankees-Orioles/id-3fd95521210b4f87ba336c6153d395f4

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Novel one-step system for restoring voice in throat cancer patients

ScienceDaily (Oct. 8, 2012) ? Patients who have lost their voice box through disease such as throat cancer may be able to speak immediately after a procedure to create a small opening at the throat. A novel system developed through an Engineering-in-Medicine project led by Dr Chui Chee Kiong, NUS Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Dr David Lau, Consultant Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Surgeon at Raffles Hospital, cuts down a two-week duration before patients can speak, to about 10 minutes after the initial procedure.

People who undergo laryngectomy and lose their voice box can recover approximately 80 per cent of normal speech by having a voice prosthesis fitted into an opening or fistula between the trachea (windpipe) and esophagus (food pipe). To speak, the patient covers the stoma (breathing opening in the neck) with his or her thumb and forces air through the prosthesis into the esophagus and out through the mouth. Before the prosthesis can be inserted, the doctor needs to make a small puncture (tracheo-esophageal puncture or TEP) in the wall between the trachea and esophagus. During the puncture, a guide-wire is inserted into the fistula to prevent the creation of false passages. Two "dilators" are inserted to widen the fistula, with the second one a little wider in circumference. Previously, a temporary rubber tube is placed into the fistula and the voice prosthesis is not inserted until about two weeks later, when the fistula is "mature." However, the new device changes this.

Explaining their invention, Dr Chui said, "We have merged all the steps into a single procedure. Most significantly, although doctors still need the nasal endoscope to guide and monitor progress during the procedure, our system ensures an immediate snug fit of the prosthesis in the passageway created between the trachea and the esophagus. Until now, this can take some trial and error to achieve good sizing of the prosthesis."

Voice prostheses vary in length for different individuals, depending on the thickness between the food pipe and the windpipe. The length of the TEP needs to be accurate. Usually, the length ranges between 6mm to 26mm. It is important that the prosthesis fits well otherwise it may be ineffective, or leak and cause discomfort.

Said Mr Chng Chin Boon, Research Engineer from NUS Department of Mechanical Engineering and member of the research team, "We added markings onto the cannula used for inserting the prosthesis. From the endoscopy, we would know the distance between the anterior esophageal wall (front wall of the food pipe) and the posterior tracheal wall (back wall of the windpipe), allowing us to size the prosthesis appropriately."

This takes away a lot of discomfort such as coughing and gagging, should the prosthesis need to be removed and fitted again if the measurement is not right.

"Most prostheses need to be changed due to wear and tear, depending on each individual. And each time, the size of the prosthesis to be inserted may differ due to tissue changes in the patient. Our invention will offer patients a more fuss-free system, cutting down time and discomfort. It will also cut down the cost for the patient as the number of procedures is reduced," added Mr Chng.

The system has been successfully tested on animals, and is now ready for clinical human trial.

Said Dr David Lau, "Patients requiring voice restoration after surgery for laryngeal cancer have to make multiple visits to the clinic, and I had often thought how a simple, one step solution would save them time, discomfort and money. So we decided to go out and design that solution."

Dr Lau added, "The system we designed has several advantages over existing methods as it not only reduces the number of steps and complexity, but also increases accuracy of placement and safety, and allows for immediate voicing. However patients will still need to put in some effort, and work with the speech therapist to get the best voicing results."

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/prhEcx5XJdQ/121008082949.htm

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Emergency Kits Pepper spray with holster ? Cybernet ...

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Source: http://cybernet4u.com/index.php?do=/blog/4521/emergency-kits-pepper-spray-with-holster/

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Citizens United Constitutional Amendment Floated By Senate Democrats

Sheldon Adelson And Family

Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas casino magnate, and his family have combined to give $21.5 million to super PACs in the 2012 election cycle. The majority of that has gone to Winning Our Future, the super PAC supporting Newt Gingrich. Adelson is ranked on the <em>Forbes</em> list of the richest Americans at number eight, with $21.5 billion in net worth. Sheldon Adelson gave $7.5 million to Winning Our Future and his wife, Miriam, gave $7.5 million. His daughters Sivan Ochshorn and Shelley Maye Adelson each chipped in $500,000. Another daughter and her husband each gave $250,000. Adelson and his wife also gave $2.5 million each to the Congressional Leadership Fund. In May, Winning Our Future returned a $5 million contribution to Miriam Adelson. That dropped the total amount the family has contributed from $26.5 million to $21.5 million. That number is expected to increase by at least $10 million in June as Adelson has reportedly donated that sum to the pro-Mitt Romney Restore Our Future. Adelson remained in the number one spot among super PAC donors after counting contributions for May 2012. His involvement in politics revolves around his support for the state of Israel, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/11/sheldon-adelson-newt-gingrich-israel_n_1195867.html" target="_hplink">in particular the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu</a>. His business, along with that of other super PAC donors, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/18/sheldon-adelson-bribery-super-pac-donors-fcpa_n_1602694.html" target="_hplink">is also under investigation</a> for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Harold And Annette Simmons

Harold Simmons, the octogenarian Dallas businessman, combined with his wife Annette and his company, Contran Corp., to donate $18.7 million to super PACs through May 2012. Simmons is listed in <em>Forbes</em> magazine as the 33rd richest person in America with a net worth of $9.3 billion. Simmons and Contran donated $13 million to American Crossroads, $1 million to Make Us Great Again (supporting Rick Perry), $1.1 million to Winning Our Future (supporting Newt Gingrich), $800,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Mitt Romney) and $100,000 to Restoring Prosperity Fund (formerly Americans for Rick Perry). Annette Simmons gave $1.2 million to Red White And Blue Fund (supporting Rick Santorum). Simmons has also given $500,000 to Conservative Renewal PAC and Texas Conservatives Fund, both super PACs supporting Senate candidate David Dewhurst. Simmons -- who explained that he is contributing money to super PACs to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/22/harold-simmons-obama_n_1371642.html">stop "that socialist," President Barack Obama</a> -- remains in second place among super PAC donors.

Bob Perry

Texas homebuilder Bob Perry contributed $6.8 million to super PACs through May 2012. Perry is one of the most prolific donors in contemporary political history. He was a major backer of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the outside group that helped torpedo John Kerry's presidential campaign in 2004. Perry's net worth has been estimated at around $650 million. Perry has given $4 million to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney), $2.5 million to American Crossroads, $200,000 to Texas Conservatives Fund (supporting David Dewhurst), and $100,000 to Make Us Great Again (supporting Rick Perry, who is no relation).

National Education Association

The National Education Association, the largest U.S. labor union representing teachers, contributed $3.83 million to super PACs through May 2012. The union gave $3.58 million to its own super PAC, the NEA Advocacy Fund, $250,000 to DGA Action, and $5,000 to the Patriot Majority PAC.

Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel, the hedge fund manager, venture capitalist and early Facebook investor, contributed $3.74 million through May 2012 to super PACs. Thiel, a radical libertarian, ranks 293 on the <em>Forbes</em> list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $1.5 billion. The majority of Thiel's money, $2.74 million, has gone to Endorse Liberty, a super PAC supporting Ron Paul in the Republican presidential race. He also gave $1 million to Club for Growth Action in May.

Jerry Perenchio

Jerry Perenchio, founder of the Spanish language television network Univision, contributed $2.6 million to super PACs through April. Perenchio ranks 171 on the <em>Forbes</em> list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $2.3 billion. Perenchio gave $2 million to American Crossroads, $500,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Mitt Romney), and $100,000 to Our Destiny (supporting Jon Huntsman).

Joseph Craft And Alliance Management Holdings

Joseph Craft and his holding company, Alliance Management Holdings, gave $2.6 million to super PACs through May 2012. Craft is ranked 331 on the <em>Forbes</em> list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $1.3 billion. Alliance Management Holdings owns the coal company Alliance Resource Partners. Craft and his company gave $2.1 million to American Crossroads, including $1.675 million in May, and $500,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney).

Cooperative Of American Physicians

The <a href="http://www.capphysicians.com/about_us" target="_hplink">Cooperative of American Physicians</a> is a medical malpractice and medical liability insurer. The group has contributed $2,58. million to its own super PAC. No other information has been provided on the source of the funds contributed by the cooperative.

AFL-CIO

The AFL-CIO, the nation's largest federation of unions, contributed $2.3 million to super PACs through May 2012. The federation, boasting 12.2 million members, is made up of 57 national and international labor unions. Its funds come from the dues paid by members. The AFL-CIO gave $2.2 million to its own super PAC, and that super PAC gave $100,000 to American Bridge 21st Century.

Foster Friess

Foster Friess, the Wyoming investor, contributed $2.25 million to super PACs, mostly to those supporting the presidential candidacy of Rick Santorum. Friess is estimated to be worth above $500 million. He has given $2.1 million to Red White and Blue Fund (supporting Santorum), $100,000 to FreedomWorks and $50,000 to Leaders for Families (also supporting Santorum).

William Dore

William Dore, the Louisiana energy executive, gave $2.25 million to Red White and Blue Fund (supporting Santorum). This was the biggest foray into political giving by Dore, who has previously cut large checks for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Republican Governors Association. He is estimated to be worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Credit: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_KzFkneorU" target="_hplink">YouTube</a>

Jon Huntsman Sr.

Jon Huntsman Sr., the billionaire Utah industrialist, contributed $2.22 million to a super PAC supporting the presidential candidacy of his son, Jon Huntsman Jr. Huntsman Sr. has given away much of his fortune in recent years and is estimated to be worth slightly north of $1 billion. Huntsman's contributions to Our Destiny, the super PAC backing his son in the Republican primary contest, came under scrutiny based on the laws banning coordination between super PACs and campaigns.

Jeffrey Katzenberg

Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of DreamWorks Animation, has given gave $2.125 million to super PACs through May 2012. Katzenberg's net worth is estimated to be above $800 million. His biggest contribution was a $2 million gift to Priorities USA Action, the super PAC supporting Barack Obama's reelection bid. Katzenberg has also given $100,000 to Majority PAC and $25,000 to Committee to Elect An Effective Valley Congressman, the super PAC supporting Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), a staunch ally of Hollywood. Katzenberg is also a major fundraiser for the Obama reelection campaign, having brought in more than $500,000.

Robert Rowling And TRT Holdings

Robert Rowling, the Texas billionaire who runs the business holding company TRT Holdings, has contributed $2.1 million to super PACs in the 2012 election cycle. Rowling ranks 66 on <em>Forbes'</em> list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $4.7 billion. He gave $2 million to American Crossroads and $100,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney).

Kenneth And Anne Griffin

Kenneth Griffin, the head of the massive hedge fund Citadel, has contributed $2.08 million to super PACs through May 2012. Griffin is ranked 173rd on the <em>Forbes</em> list of richest Americans. In 2008, he helped raise money for then-Sen. Barack Obama during the Democratic primary, but switched to support Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the general election. Griffin has since become increasingly critical of President Obama and what he considers to be class warfare rhetoric coming from the White House. He stated that the wealthy have "<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/11/ken-griffin-mitt-romney_n_1337721.html" target="_hplink">insufficient influence</a>" in politics and urged the rich to donate to political efforts to preserve their position atop the food chain. Griffin has given $1.05 million to Restore Our Future (supporting Mitt Romney) and $1 million to American Crossroads. His wife, Anne, gave $30,000 to the Campaign for Primary Accountability.

Crow Holdings LLC And Harlan Crow

Crow Holdings LLC, which manages the wealth of the late real estate developer Trammel Crow, and its director Harlan Crow contributed $2.05 million to super PACs through May 2012. Harlan Crow and the company combined to give $1.5 million to American Crossroads, $300,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney) and $250,000 to FreedomWorks for America.

Amy Goldman

Amy Goldman, the author and activist who has been called "perhaps the world's premier vegetable gardener," contributed $2 million to super PACs through the end of May. Goldman is the heiress to the fortune of New York real estate titan Sol Goldman. Goldman gave $1 million to Priorities USA Action (supporting Barack Obama) and $1 million to Planned Parenthood Votes, the super PAC for the family planning services provider.

William Koch, Oxbow Carbon And Huron Carbon

William Koch, the lesser-known Koch brother, and two of his companies, petroleum, energy and minerals companies Oxbow Carbon and Huron Carbon, gave $2 million to Restore Our Future (backing Romney).

FreedomWorks

FreedomWorks, the conservative nonprofit organization, contributed $1.88 million to its super PAC, FreedomWorks for America. The group is run by former Rep. Dick Armey and was instrumental in organizing the original Tea Party protests in 2009. The super PAC has been active in Republican Senate primaries backing Richard Mourdock's successful campaign to beat Sen. Dick Lugar in Indiana. The group has also thrown its weight behind Ted Cruz in Texas and Don Stenberg in Nebraska. Stenberg lost his primary to state Sen. Deb Fischer and Cruz faces a run-off election against Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. The group is also spending money to defeat Sen. Orrin Hatch in Utah.

American Federation Of Teachers

The American Federation of Teachers, the second-largest union in the nation with 1.5 million members, gave $1.85 million to super PACs through May 2012. After nearly doubled its giving in March with $600,000 in contributions to super PACs the super PAC gave another $300,000 in April and added another $250,000 in May. The union donated $1 million to the AFL-CIO Workers' Voices PAC, $300,000 to House Majority PAC, $300,000 to Majority PAC, and $250,000 to DGA Action.

National Association of Realtors

The National Association of Realtors, the primary trade association for realtors, has contributed $1.81 million to its own super PAC in the 2012 election cycle. The group has long been a player in congressional elections and has already spent significant amounts to help Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) hold his newly redistricted seat in the 2012 elections.

Service Employees International Union

The Service Employees International Union, the nation's fastest growing labor union representing close to 2 million people, contributed $1.76 million to super PACs through May. The union is one of the most politically active unions in the country. SEIU has given $1 million to Priorities USA Action (supporting Obama), $311,000 to House Majority PAC, $250,000 to Majority PAC, and $200,000 to American Bridge 21st Century.

James Simons

James Simons, the billionaire chairman of the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, gave $1.5 million to Majority PAC, a super PAC that backs Democratic Senate candidates, through May 2012. Simons is ranked 30 on the <em>Forbes</em> list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $10.5 billion.

Steve & Amber Mostyn

Steve and Amber Mostyn have contributed $1.625 million to super PACs in the 2012 election cycle. Steve, a multi-millionaire trial lawyer in Houston, Texas, and the president of the Texas Trial Lawyer Association, is a long-time donor to Democratic Party causes in both Texas and nationally. The couple boosted their giving in May by giving $1.5 million to two Democratic super PACs. The Mostyns gave $1 million to Priorities USA Action (supporting Obama), $500,000 to House Majority PAC, and $125,000 to Texans for America's Future, a super PAC that opposed Texas Gov. Rick Perry's presidential bid.

Robert And Rebekah Mercer

Robert Mercer (left), the co-CEO of the $15 billion hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, and his daughter, Rebekah Mercer, gave $1.415 million to super PACs through May 2012. Robert Mercer contributed $1 million to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney) and $350,000 to Club for Growth. Rebekah Mercer gave $50,000 to the Coalition for American Values and $15,000 to the Club for Growth.

American Federation Of State, County And Municipal Employees

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the nation's largest public employee union with 1.6 million members, contributed $1.415 million to super PACs through May 2012. AFSCME is very politically active in local and national politics. In 2011, it faced direct attacks in such states as Ohio and Wisconsin, when Republican governors sought to curtail collective bargaining rights for public employees. AFSCME gave $500,000 to the AFL-CIO Workers' Voices PAC, $575,000 to American Bridge 21st Century, $315,000 to House Majority PAC and $25,000 to Women Vote!.

Philip Geier

Philip Geier, the former advertising magnate turned communications and venture capital adviser, contributed $1.35 million to super PACs through May 2012. Geier previously served as CEO of the Interpublic Group of Companies, a large advertising holding company. He currently helms the Geier Group, which provides consulting services on communications, advertising and venture capital. Geier gave $1,000,000 to American Crossroads and $350,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney).

Fred Eychaner

Fred Eychaner, the Chicago-based media mogul who made his fortune with Newsweb Corp., gave $1.3 million to super PACs through May 2012. He is a longtime funder of outside groups backing Democrats, having contributed $2 million to so-called 527 groups in the effort to defeat President George W. Bush in 2004. Eychaner gave $500,000 to Priorities USA Action (supporting Obama), $350,000 to Majority PAC, $250,000 to House Majority PAC and $200,000 to America Votes Action Fund.

Leo Linbeck

Leo Linbeck, the Houston construction mogul, has given $1.26 million to the Campaign for Primary Accountability, a super PAC opposing both incumbent Democrats and Republicans facing primary challenges.

Julian Robertson

Julian Robertson, the hedge fund titan and founder of Tiger Management, contributed $1.25 million to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney) in the current election cycle. Robertson is ranked 166 on the <em>Forbes</em> list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $2.4 billion.

Dealer Computer Services, CRC Information Systems, Fairbanks Properties, & Waterbury Properties (Bob Brockman)

Four companies -- Dealer Computer Services, CRC Information Systems, Fairbanks Properties and Waterbury Properties -- sharing the same address as The Reynolds & Reynolds Company headed by Bob Brockman, have given $1.25 million to super PACs through May 2012. CRC Information Systems, Fairbanks Properties and Waterbury Properties combined to give $1 million to Restore Our Future. Dealer Computer Services has given $200,000 to the pro-David Dewhurst Texas Conservatives Fund and $50,000 to Restoring Prosperity Fund.

Communications Workers Of America

The Communications Workers of America, the largest telecommunications union in the world with a membership above 700,000, contributed $1,162,971 to super PACs in the 2012 election cycle. The union donated $902,971 to the Communications Workers of America super PAC, $190,000 to Independent Source, $50,000 to House Majority PAC and $20,000 to American Worker.

National Air Traffic Controllers Association

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association has given $1.1 million to super PACs during the 2012 election cycle. The union represents 20,000 controllers, engineers and other professionals involved in air traffic control. The union gave $1 million to Priorities USA Action (supporting Barack Obama) and $100,000 to the AFL-CIO Workers' Voices PAC.

Frank VanderSloot & Melaleuca Inc.

Frank VanderSloot and his multi-level marketing company, Melaleuca Inc., have contributed $1.1 million to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney). VanderSloot is a member of the Romney campaign's financial team and has a checkered history of bullying reporters and newspapers for writing about his business, which has been labeled a pyramid scheme by some, and his political activities. The 2004 <em>Forbes</em> list of richest Americans estimated VanderSloot's net worth to be $700 million.

Barbara Stiefel

Barbara Stiefel, a Florida-based philanthropist and Democratic Party donor, has given $1.05 million to Priorities USA Action (supporting Obama) through May 2012. (Pictured: Barack Obama, the candidate supported by Stiefel's contributions.)

Miguel Fernandez And MBF Family Investments

Miguel Fernandez, chairman of the private equity firm MBF Healthcare Partners, and MBF Family Investments, a company connected to Fernandez, contributed $1,025,000 to super PACs in the 2012 election cycle so far. Fernandez and MBF Family Investments gave $1,000,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney), and Fernandez himself gave $25,000 to the Campaign for Primary Accountability.

Dean White And Whiteco Industries

Dean White, an Indiana billionaire, and his company Whiteco Industries contributed $1.025 million to super PACs through May 2012. White is ranked 281 on the <em>Forbes</em> list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $1.7 billion. His company is active in the billboard and hotel industries. Whiteco Industries gave $1 million to the Republican-leaning group American Crossroads, and White gave $25,000 to the Campaign for Primary Accountability.

J. Joseph Ricketts

J. Joseph Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade and head of the family that owns the Chicago Cubs, has given $1.01 million to super PACs through May 2012. Ricketts ranked 371 on <em>Forbes'</em> list of richest Americans in 2009, with a net worth of $1 billion. He has donated $510,000 to his own super PAC, Ending Spending Action Fund, which spent all of that money to help Nebraska state Sen. Deb Fischer win the Republican Senate primary in the state. Ricketts has also given $500,000 the Campaign for Primary Accountability, a super PAC supporting challengers to incumbent Democrats and Republicans in contested congressional primary elections. Ricketts <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/17/joe-ricketts-jeremiah-wright-super-pac-ad_n_1525658.html" target="_hplink">became the focus of controversy</a> in May 2012 after the New York Times revealed that he was considering a proposal to fund, through a super PAC, advertisements attacking President Barack Obama with his relationship with his former pastor, the controversial Jeremiah Wright. After the publicity Ricketts and the consultants involved all stated that they were not going forward with the plan.

Ed Conard

Ed Conard, a former managing director of the private equity firm Bain Capital, gave $1 million to Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, also formerly of Bain Capital. Conard's donation originally came in the form of a corporate contribution from a shell company named W Spann LLC. The company was created in 2011 solely to give the $1 million donation and then promptly folded. This led to a media goose chase for the source of the donation. Eventually, Conard unmasked himself and asked that the contribution be reattributed to his name. Conard has also made news for publishing a book that argues in favor of income inequality.

Eli Publishing Inc.

Eli Publishing Inc., a Provo, Utah-based shell company connected to executives Blake Roney and Steven Lund of the multi-level marketing company Nu Skin, contributed $1 million to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney). Neither Roney nor Lund have taken credit for the contribution from Eli Publishing. Both men are highly active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The two executives donated 403,000 shares of Nu Skin stock to the church in 2010, which the church then sold for $10.3 million.

F8 LLC

F8 LLC, another Provo, Utah-based shell company connected to executives Blake Roney and Steven Lund of the multi-level marketing company Nu Skin, contributed $1 million to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney). Neither Roney nor Lund has taken credit for the contribution from F8 LLC. Both men are highly active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The two executives donated 403,000 shares of Nu Skin stock to the church in 2010, which the church then sold for $10.3 million.

John Paulson

John Paulson, one of the wealthiest hedge fund chiefs, contributed $1 million to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney). He is ranked 17 on the <em>Forbes</em> list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $15.5 billion. Paulson notoriously made billions by betting against the U.S. housing market during the lead-up to the economic collapse of 2008.

Paul And Sandra Edgerly

Paul Edgerly, a former managing director of Bain Capital, and his wife, Sandra, combined to give $1 million to Restore Our Future, the super PAC backing Mitt Romney, also formerly of Bain Capital.

Paul Singer

Paul Singer (far right), the hedge fund titan in charge of Elliot Associates, contributed $1 million to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney). Singer has an estimated worth of $900 million.

Rooney Holdings

Rooney Holdings, the company formerly run by L. Francis Rooney, contributed $1 million to Restore Our Future (backing Romney). Rooney is a former ambassador to the Vatican and a past major donor to the campaigns of President George W. Bush. The company is involved in many large-scale construction projects, including the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

Virginia James

Virginia James, an investor based in New Jersey, has donated $1 million to the Club for Growth super PAC through March 2012. James is not a well-known donor, but has given large sums to Club for Growth in the past and was invited to the Koch brothers' donor retreat in 2011.

Bill Maher

Bill Maher, the comedian who hosts HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher," contributed $1 million to Priorities USA Action, the super PAC supporting President Obama. Maher <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/bill-maher-super-pac-obama-_n_1299250.html" target="_hplink">gave the million dollars</a> after the Obama campaign officially endorsed the super PAC's efforts.

Irving Moskowitz

Irving Moskowitz, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/12/irving-moskowitz-israeli-settlements-anti-obama-super-pac_n_1416041.html">the bingo tycoon and funder of Israeli settlements in the West Bank</a>, gave $1 million to American Crossroads. This is the largest contribution to a political committee that Moskowitz has ever made.

J.W. Marriott

J.W. "Bill" Marriott, the head of Marriott International, gave $1 million to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney). Mitt Romney and the Marriotts are very close, with Romney having served on the board of the worldwide hotel chain. Both Romney and Bill Marriott are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Marriott ranks 331 on the <em>Forbes</em> list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $1.3 billion.

Richard Marriott

Richard Marriott, chairman of the board of Marriott International, gave $1 million to Restore Our Future (backing Romney). Mitt Romney and the Marriotts are very close, with Romney having served on the board of the worldwide hotel chain. Both Romney and Richard Marriott are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Marriott ranks 312 on the <em>Forbes</em> list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $1.4 billion.

Kareem Ahmed

Kareem Ahmed, the CEO of medical billing company Landmark Medical Management, has given $1 million to Priorities USA Action, the super PAC supporting President Obama, through May 2012. (Pictured: President Obama, the candidate supported by Ahmed's contributions.)

James Davis

James Davis, the CEO of New Balance Shoes, has given $1 million to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney). Davis ranks 242 on the <em>Forbes</em> list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $1.8 billion.

Steven Webster

Steven Webster, the CEO of the private equity firm Avista Partners, has given $1 million to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney) during the 2012 election cycle.

Unite Here

Unite Here, a diverse labor union representing workers in the airport, food service, gaming, hotel, textile and laundry industries, contributed $1 million to the AFL-CIO Workers' Voices PAC through May 2012.

National Association Of Letter Carriers

The National Association of Letter Carriers' political action committee, the Committee on Letter Carriers Political Education Fund, gave $1 million to super PACs during the 2012 election cycle. The union gave $500,000 to the AFL-CIO super PAC, Workers' Voice, and $500,000 to House Majority PAC.

John Kleinheinz

John Kleinheinz, a Texas-based hedge fund manager, contributed $1 million to Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Romney's presidential campaign, in April 2012. (Pictured: Mitt Romney, the candidate supported by Kleinheinz's contribution.)

Franklin Haney

Real estate magnate Franklin Haney contributed $1 million to Priorities USA Action (supporting Obama) in May 2012. Haney is a longtime Democratic Party donor with close ties to Bill Clinton and Al Gore. He was previously indicted and ultimately found not guilty on 42 campaign finance violations. Haney has also run two unsuccessful political campaigns, one for Congress and another for governor of Tennessee. (Pictured: The website of Haney's real estate company FLH Company, Inc.)

Harold Hamm

Harold Hamm, CEO of the oil company Continental Resources, gave $985,000 to Restore Our Future, the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC, in April 2012. Hamm is listed as the 36th richest American by <em>Forbes</em> with an estimated net worth of $7.5 billion. He also works as an energy advisor for Romney's campaign.

Kenny Troutt

Kenny Troutt, the telecommunications billionaire, contributed $900,000 to super PACs through May 2012. Troutt was the head of Excel Communications, a multi-level marketing company, until he sold it for $3.5 billion in 1998. He now focuses on racing horses. Troutt gave $500,000 to American Crossroads, $150,000 to Red White And Blue Fund (supporting Rick Santorum), $150,000 to Make Us Great Again (supporting Rick Perry), $50,000 to Americans for Rick Perry, and $50,000 to the Texas Conservatives Fund (supporting David Dewhurst).

The Morses & The Villages

H. Gary Morse, his wife, their children and the retirement community they operate, The Villages, have combined to contribute $865,900 to Restore Our Future (supporting Mitt Romney) in the 2012 election cycle. H. Gary Morse is part of Romney's Florida finance team and has hosted fundraisers for the former Massachusetts governor. The family's super PAC giving has all gone to support Romney's bid.

Anne Earhart

Anne Catherine Getty Earhart, the granddaughter of the oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, has given $850,000 to super PACs through May 2012. Earhart received $400 million when Texaco purchased Getty Oil in 1986. She is active in environmental issues. Earhart gave $600,000 to American Bridge 21st Century and $250,000 to Priorities USA Action (supporting President Obama). (Pictured: President Obama, the candidate Earhart's contributions support.)

DRIVE PAC

The Democrat, Republican, Independent Voter Education PAC gave $810,000 to super PACs through May 2012. DRIVE is the chief political finance committee of the Teamsters union, which has 1.4 million members. DRIVE donated $400,000 to America Votes Action Fund, $210,000 to House Majority PAC and $200,000 to Majority PAC.

Jerry And Marilyn Hayden

Jerry and Marilyn Hayden combined to contribute $810,000 to super PACs through the end of May 2012. The couple has given $700,000 to Club for Growth Action and $110,000 to FreedomWorks for America. (Pictured: The logo of the Club for Growth, the group receiving the largest super PAC contributions made by the Haydens.)

Robert Arnott

Robert Arnott, the investment manager in charge of Research Affiliates, gave $750,000 to super PACs in the 2012 election cycle so far. Arnott gave $500,000 to Club for Growth and $250,000 to Our Destiny (supporting Huntsman).

Chris Shumway

Chris Shumway, the former hedge fund manager, gave $750,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney). Shumway is a former employee of the massive hedge fund Tiger Management and retired from his own hedge fund, Shumway Capital Partners, in 2011. (Pictured: Mitt Romney, the candidate Shumway supports through his super PAC giving.)

Rocco Ortenzio

Rocco Ortenzio, a western Pennsylvania health care company founder and executive, has contributed $750,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney) through May 2012. (Pictured: Rocco Ortenzio is in the middle at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Philadelphia Eagles.)

Warren Stephens & Stephens Investment Holdings

Warren Stephens, the head of Stephens, Inc., has contributed $750,000 to super PACs through May 2012. Stephens is tied for the position of 130th richest American, according to Forbes. Stephens has given $500,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney) and $250,000 to American Crossroads. (Pictured: Stephens, right, with President George W. Bush.)

Donald Sussman

Donald Sussman, the billionaire hedge fund manager and husband of Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), has given $750,000 to super PACs through May 2012. Sussman is the founder of investment firm Paloma Partners. Sussman has given $650,000 to House Majority PAC and $100,000 to Young Democrats of America.

Jackson Stephens

Jackson Stephens and the company Stephens Investments Holdings contributed $725,000 to super PACs through May 2012. Stephens is the son of the late Arkansas investor Jackson Stephens Sr., who was known as Mr. Republican of Arkansas during the 1980s and 1990s. Jackson Stephens Jr. sits on the board of the conservative Club for Growth. Stephens gave $725,000 to the Club for Growth's super PAC. (Pictured: The logo of Club for Growth, the prime recipient of Stephens' donations.) Note: Previously, a contribution from Stephens Investment Holdings was counted toward Stephens' total super PAC giving, but has now been attributed to his cousin Warren Stephens.

Bernard Schwartz

Bernard Schwartz, the millionaire industrialist and Democratic Party funder, gave $715,000 to super PACs through May 2012. Schwartz has funded dozens of Democratic Party initiaties and progressive and centrist organizations through the years, including the New America Foundation, the Progressive Policy Institute and Third Way. Schwartz gave $300,000 to Majority PAC, $210,000 to Economic Innovation Fund, $100,000 to House Majority PAC and $100,000 to Priorities USA Action (supporting President Obama).

Jim DeMint

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), the conservative firebrand, contributed $700,000 from his campaign committee to the super PAC started by the Club for Growth. DeMint's initial contributions of $500,00 was the first large contribution by an elected official to a super PAC since the groups came into existence in the summer of 2010. The Club for Growth spends much of its money helping conservative Republican candidates win primary elections against other Republicans. DeMint's PAC, Senate Conservatives Fund, also spends large sums in Republican primary elections.

Republican Governors Association

The Republican Governors Association, a 527 political committee currently headed by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, gave $680,000 to the super PAC RGA Ohio PAC.

Laborers' International Union

The Laborers' International Union, which represents a half-million construction workers, gave $605,000 to House Majority PAC through April 2012.

Geoff Palmer & G.H. Palmer Associates

Geoff Palmer and his California-based real estate company G.H. Palmer Associates contributed $600,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney) through March 2012. (Pictured: Mitt Romney, the candidate supported by Palmer's contributions.)

Perennial Strategy Group

Perennial Strategy Group, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting and lobbying firm headed by Lamell McMorris, has contributed $600,000 to Priorities USA Action, the super PAC supporting President Barack Obama's reelection campaign.

Friends Of Herman Cain

Herman Cain's presidential campaign committee transferred $596,400 to a super PAC, Cain Connections, set up after he dropped out of the Republican primary race.

Nancy And Reinier Beeuwkes

Longtime Democratic Party donors Nancy and Reinier Beeuwkes gave $575,000 to super PACs through May 2012. Nancy Beeuwkes gave $250,000 to Women Vote!, $200,000 to American Bridge 21st Century, $100,000 to Priorities USA Action (supporting President Obama) and $25,000 to House Majority PAC. Reinier Beeuwkes gave $100,000 to Priorities USA Action. (Pictured: President Obama, the candidate supported by the Beeuwkes' contributions.)

John Templeton

John Templeton, a former doctor and son of the late billionaire stock investor Sir John Templeton, contributed $565,000 to super PACs through May 2012. Templeton gave $265,000 to Red White and Blue Fund (supporting Santorum), $200,000 to Raising Red and $100,000 to American Crossroads.

The Waltons

Jim, Alice and Christy Walton of the Walmart family combined to give $552,500 to super PACs through April 2012. All three rank in the top 10 of the <em>Forbes</em> list of the 400 richest Americans. Christy is ranked sixth with a net worth of $24.5 billion, Jim is ranked ninth with a net worth of $21.1 billion, and Alice is ranked 10th with a net worth of $20.9 billion. The Walton family gave $400,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Mitt Romney), $150,000 to Our Destiny (supporting Jon Huntsman), and $2,500 to Real Street Conservatives PAC. (Pictured: Jim Walton and Alice Walton.)

Richard Uihlein

Richard Uihlein, the son of the founder of the U-Line Corp., contributed $535,000 to super PACs through May 2012. Uihlein gave $250,000 to FreedomWorks for America, $210,000 to Club for Growth, $50,000 to Liberty Principles PAC and $25,000 to New Prosperity Foundation. (Pictured: The website of FreedomWorks, the biggest recipient of contributions from Uihlein.)

League Of American Voters

The League of American Voters, a conservative nonprofit affiliated with consultant Dick Morris and Americans for Tax Reform, contributed $500,000 to Super PAC for America, a group controlled by Morris. The league's donors are not disclosed to the public.

David And Ethelmae Humphreys

David Humphreys, head of the Texas roofing company Tamko Building Products, and his mother, Ethelmae Humphreys, gave $525,000 to super PACs through April 2012. David Humphreys gave $500,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Mitt Romney), and Ethelmae Humphreys gave $25,000 to the Club for Growth.

The Fox Family

Sam, Jeffrey, Greg and Marilyn Fox of the Missouri-based Harbour Group have given $525,000 to super PACs through May 2012. The Foxes are longtime Republican Party donors. They have given $500,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Mitt Romney) and $25,000 to Hoosiers For Jobs, a super PAC that supported Sen. Dick Lugar's unsuccessful primary campaign. (Pictured: Sam Fox.)

Bruce Kovner

Bruce Kovner, the billionaire director of the hedge fund Caxton Associates, contributed $500,000 to Restore Our Future (backing Romney). Kovner ranks 74 on the <em>Forbes</em> list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $4.3 billion.

Louis Bacon

Louis Bacon, the founder of hedge fund Moore Capital, gave $500,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney). Bacon ranks 312 on the <em>Forbes</em> list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $1.4 billion. (Pictured: Mitt Romney, the candidate Bacon supports through his super PAC contributions.)

Janet Duchossois

Janet Duchossois, the wife of Duchossois Group chief Craig Duchossois, gave $500,000 to super PACs in the 2012 election cycle. She donated $250,000 to Restore Our Future (backing Romney) and $250,000 to American Crossroads.

W.S. Propst

W.S. Propst, an Alabama real estate developer, gave $500,000 to Winning Our Future (backing Gingrich). (Pictured: Newt Gingrich, the candidate Propst supports through his super PAC giving.)

David Lisonbee

David Lisonbee, the head of 4Life, a multi-level marketing company that sells health products, contributed $500,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney).

S.W. Childs Management

The investment advisory company S.W. Childs Management contributed $500,000 to Restore Our Future (backing Romney). (Pictured: Mitt Romney, the candidate supported by S.W. Childs Management's contribution.)

Susan Gore

Susan Gore, the daughter of the founder of manufacturing company W.L. Gore & Associates, gave $500,000 to Red White And Blue Fund (supporting Santorum) through March 2012. (Pictured: Rick Santorum, the candidate supported by Gore's contributions.)

Corporate Land Management Inc.

Corporate Land Management Inc., an obscure corporation listed in Dallas, Texas, contributed $500,000 to the Campaign for American Values, a little-known super PAC, through May 2012.

Kevin And Debra Rollins

Kevin and Debra Rollins combined to give $500,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Mitt Romney) through May 2012. Kevin Rollins is the head of TPA Private Equity, located in Massachusetts, and previously led the computer manufacturer Dell and worked with Romney at Bain Capital.

Stephen Zide

Stephen Zide, the current managing director of Bain Capital, has given $500,000 to Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney's presidential bid. Zide's $250,000 contribution in April pushed him into the category of $500,000-plus donors.

Richard Gilliam

Richard Gilliam, the founder of the coal company Cumberland Resources, now owned by Alpha Natural Resources, has given $500,000 to American Crossroads through May 2012. Gilliam and his wife were on a list of attendees at a donor event in 2011 organized by the billionaire Koch brothers. (Pictured: Karl Rove, a founder of American Crossroads.)

W. Ed Bosarge

W. Ed Bosarge, a financial entrepreneur in Houston, had contributed $500,000 to super PACs through May 2012. He has donated $400,000 to American Crossroads and $100,000 to Restore Our Future (supporting Romney). (Pictured: Karl Rove, a founder of American Crossroads.)

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/citizens-united-constitutional-amendment-senate-democrats_n_1700269.html

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2012 holidays

caf? historia: remembering the wartime plastic surgery work of dr ...

Helen Castor: She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth
Castor examines the lives of four women who 'ruled England before Elizabeth': Henry I's daughter, the Empress Matilda; Henry II's consort, Eleanor of Aquitaine; and the wives of two of England's least effective kings: Isabella of France (Edward II) and Margaret of Anjou (Henry VI).Her argument is that although not sole monarchs in the way that Mary and Elizabeth Tudor were, these four were able to use their positions as family members/consorts to significantly influence and to varying degrees, direct royal policy. To be honest none appear as especially attractive in a power political sense. All are ruthless in pursuing their aims and very capable of double-crossing and breaking promises. Tenacity seems to be another ability that they had by the bucket load ? especially Matilda and Eleanor. Each are given a straight narrative which takes the reader from post conquest England to the advent of the Tudor new monarchs. This is well supported with clear (and easily understood) references to contemporary writers but does not attempt to provide a complete linear view of the period. However, the four periods examined do coincide with some of the most significant episodes of royal history during the period. And it is "royal history". The focus is on the power politics of those in control. Virtually no mention is made of anyone else or any other social group. This is not a fault of the author but a clear indication of the reality of medieval life. Where its male rulers had personal and political failings the country was generally thrown into crisis which meant baronial strife, conquest and counter conquest of castles and territory with the obvious destruction of crops, villages and property of those not considered by those leading armies to restore "order". The order of those in positions of privilege. Stephen was probably too soft for the age, Richard spent too little time minding the shop, Edward II had a knack of choosing male friends who antagonized his lords whilst Henry VI was pretty ineffectual. In each case a "she-wolf" strove to fill the power vacuum ? some more successfully than others. The four accounts are set in a Tudor framework: we start with young dying Edward VI attempting to change his father's Act of Succession to prevent Catholic Mary from succeeding. The final chapter has Mary installed and uncontested as a Queen ruling in her own right ? so much so that despite growing unpopularity is succeeded by another female, Elizabeth. Castor's underlying point (perhaps a little too drawn out) being that conditions had changed by the 16th century with the Tudor state having become sufficiently centralized and institutionalized to weather the types of upsets that earlier would not have tolerated a woman ruler on her own. Hence ambitious and capable women close to power had to find other ways to exercise authority. This is to be recommended to those who want a clear introductory framework to English medieval monarchy. Castor writes her stories well and in an entertaining way. Good clear maps are provided, but most crucially there are extensive family trees for each of the four. Less positive is the strange lack of foot or endnotes. Not good for further study, let alone testing the sources used. I have not seen the TV programmes yet ? I wanted to read the book first - so am unable to say how well they complement each other.Readers wanting to explore characters mentioned in the text could do lot worse than use the online and very comprehensive Oxford Dictionary of National Biographies. The ODNB has bios (some over 30 pages long) written by leading modern historians (the name Castor also appears several times?.) and if you have a UK library card or are part of a subscribing global educational institution is totally free! April '12 (****)

Frederick Taylor: Exorcising Hitler: The Occupation and Denazification of Germany
A popular read on the less explored (by non-German historians at least) immediate post war history of Germany, 1945-47. Initial chapters provide a narrative of collapse and defeat including the mass movements of Germans from east to west. I was fascinated to discover that teams of economists had been working secretly within the Nazi structure under Backe (Hitler's Food Minister) and Speer planning for the economic survival of a defeated germany from 1943 onwards. The team included Ludwig Ehrhard, later to be the architect of west Germany's economic miracle. Where Taylor shines is when he looks at the specific occupation policies of the allies. One useful chapter examines the practical problems of denazification. An early IBM system was introduced to set up a database of suspected Nazi's - but was plagued by technical issues. It was to prove an impossibility for demobilising occupiers to denazify an entire population and Taylor chronicles how pragmatism led to this being one of the first areas handed back to German control. Another factor slowing down the process is suggested as being an underlying anti-semitism amongst the US command (especially Patton) which was reflected in a distaste for supporting and listening to DP's (Displaced persons) many of whom were Jewish survivors of the camps. Post war zonal policy is examined individually. Much has already been written of the attitude of the Soviets in the east, less about the British and especially the French in the west. It seems the British tended to treat their zone initially as if it were andAfrican colony. At one point an exasperated Kurt Schumacher (later to become the leader of the SPD party) exclaims "Wir sind kein Negervolk" ("We are not Blacks" - which says as much about the racist attitudes prevalent at the time as well as British policy!). Taylor is especially useful on the French position. Early French treatment and policies were harsher even than those in the Russian zone. There were large numbers of prisoner of war deaths, they refused to accept refugees from the east, saying as protestants they would unsettle the religious balance of their Rhineland zone - and cleverly recruiting German Catholic support. Paradoxically though the French were also the first to give the Germans a genuine role in self-government and denazification (Taylor suggests one reason for this may have been more empathy between occupier and occupied given that many of the French had played a collaborational role with Germans in Vichy). What the reading makes clear is how the occupiers had to juggle many, often conflicting demands: initial concern over "Werwolf"counter attack and desire for revenge, followed by the practicalities of feeding a people incapable of doing this themselves because of destruction and dislocation. How to restore Germany - non industrial state incapable of going to war (The US Morgenthau plan), nation made up of fragmented states as after 1648 (France), a client state incapable of returning to a Nazi, or capitalist past and too weak to wage war (Soviet Union) or a Poor Law pauper kept alive but no better than the poorest at home (Britain). Political and emerging Cold War reality soon focussed minds: Britain and the US restore the framework for economic revival and the ability for their zones to feed themselves. France and Germany begin the dance of a couple destined to tie them and the rest of Europe into the European Union. In the east, concerned Soviets, try to use Berlin to halt these developments, which after the blockade accelerates the binding of wartime western allies and their zones, by then the Federal Republic. One of the most useful sections is the epilogue - essentially an essay on how post 1949 Germany has come to terms with its nazi past: The sleep cure of the 1950's when the Adenauer regime admits the "fellow traveller" nazi's back to positions of administrative authority to manage the economic miracle. Then the questioning of this by the generation of the 1960's: Press criticism, 1968, Baader-Meinhof terrorism. In the 1970's as a prosperous but not yet confident society, the Ostpolitik of Brandt coming to terms politically with its eastern past. Only today, over 60 years later is Germany sufficiently confident under a Chancellor born after the nazi period, to take a lead again, but hesitantly, still conscious of its past malevolent ghosts. March '12 (****)

Tim Butcher: Chasing the Devil: the search for Africa's Fighting Spirit
This sees the author trekking through Africa's rainforest and remote hinterlands walking across Liberia using a route taken by Graham Green in the 1930's. He has a strong personal reason for this region of travel. He was chief war correspondent for the Daily Telegraph during the wars at the turn of the century and the "search" in the title is as much a personal search to find closure with the events of that conflict as much as an exploration of how far the area has recovered since then and/or changed since the time of the Greene's. Butcher takes the reader across Sierra Leone and the Gambia as well as Liberia, using his travels to create a framework to look at both the background of recent strife and the context of native tribal belief. In this he does a service in making the current and past problems of the region far clearer and immediate to the general reader perhaps not too aware of west Africa. The culture of "dash", tribal religion and traditional beliefs and the horrendous history of recent violence are all part of this journey as is the depth of forlorn poverty in the villages and towns he encounters. What did surprise me was the fact that such a walk was possible at all given the climate and general deprivation. It nearly killed Graham Greene and he had a colonial style caravan of bearers and equipment (including hammocks and food hampers). Butcher was a party of four effectively: himself, a walking companion, a local guide (whom, in a depressing evaluation in the final chapter, he describes as his African "Everyman": an African who had heeded the advice of experts to limit family size, seek education, be industrious - but who had gained little from this through the greed and incompetence of others) and a motorcyclist who rode ahead each day with the rucksacks. Avoiding the roads travelled by the motorbike they used the remains of rain forest paths walking in the humidity and heat. Their diet becomes so limited that when, near the end of the journey they do have a western style meal in the canteen of a modern European mining company, Butcher is ill. The account is at its best when relating events along the walk to the history, both recent and not too recent. Apart from the start and finish the Greene connection is at times of less importance. Overall this is a good read, with the added advantage of teaching the reader something about a part of the world usually ignored elsewhere - and telling a story of recent times that needs to be told. March '12 (****)

Matthew Parker: The Sugar Barons. Matthew Parker
Parkers history of the West Indies sugar industry is one of the most valuable reads of the year for students of industrial and imperial history. He outlines the origins of the industry which originated on the Caribbean island of Barbados and reached its peak with the cultivation of Jamaica. The final chapters look at eventual decline and collapse. The 17th century saw the cultivation of sugar following ideas first used in Brazil by the Dutch and Portuguese. Other islands soon followed as the price for sugar rocketed in Europe and fortunes were made by the estate owners. Sugar became an essential luxury and demand forced more and more land into cultivation. More was being made in profit than could be spent on the islands- the growing surplus was being spent and invested in England - providing funds for other commercial and early industrial ventures. So far so good, but it is in exploring other aspects of this growth that the book excels: the growth of privateering - the use of ships to attack and loot Spanish treasure ships was encouraged; relations with the New England colonies; the growth of sugar as the key element of the English 18th century economy and the emergence of a sugar lobby that would determine English foreign and economic. However the key thread of the book is that of slavery. Parker makes it very clear that this "modern" slavery was driven by the needs of the Indies. Sugar cultivation is very labour intensive. The islands were amongst the least healthy places on earth with mortality, especially amongst Europeans being very high. Slaves brought in from Africa were the answer for the owners and were employed in ever growing numbers from the mid 17th century, despite their own high death rates. They were considered of little value other than as an economic commodity and Parker shows clearly how dehumanised the owners and their white management had become to slavery. Supported throughout by individual histories with a focus on the Landowners, this is well written and accompanied by good maps and illustrations. Dec '11 (****)

Alice Hogge : God's Secret Agents
Tells the story of Roman Catholic missions and Jesuit priests in England during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. A detailed and thorough account, with care taken to inform the general reader of the specialist contexts and terminology used by historians as the narrative progresses. She tells of the early missionaries from the continent, often educated in colleges founded in Europe by English Catholic exiles and how they travelled the country and lived within the "underground" recusant community. The main thrust of the book outlines the different and changing reaction of government. Initially tending to tolerance, this hardens, culminating in the post 1605 Oath of Allegiance and anti Roman Catholic legislation. The Apellant episode is also explored. Yet the Jesuits seem to have been opposed to regime change, the eventual Gunpowder Plot being the product of the frustration of home-grown subversives (assisted or not by government agents to increase the eventual anti-Catholic spin) at the lack of official change. Hogge paints a credible picture of the Jesuits as scapegoats for both James and Elizabeth?s Government to blame their troubles on. An interesting aspect of the book is the story of the Jesuit Nicholas Owen, arrested and racked to death in 1606, who was the builder of many of the priest-holes found in the country's great houses and used to hide Catholic clergy when a house was searched. Two final sections of note indicate where Owen's building work may be seen today, and draw parallels (already emerging to the reader as the story unfolds) with present day British changes to torture and terrorist legislation and practice in response to current concerns over militant Islam.However, this may be more a book to be dipped into (using the index - for some unexplained reason chapters are numbered like a novel but given no other description to assist partial reading for research) rather than read cover to cover. Perhaps tighter editing might have helped but I found the initial chapters and the final post 1600 section of most use and value (especially those outlining James I's early religious inclinations). During the 1580's and 1590's I tended to get lost amongst the places, names, conversations, letters and travels of those being described. Oct '11 (***)

John Simpson: Unreliable Sources: How the Twentieth Century Was Reported: How the 20th Century Was Reported
John Simpson, BBC World Affairs editor, writes an account of how he sees the press reported on key stories from the Boer War to the Iraq invasion. As the focus is on the British press, so the themes are those that affected Britain and its press most strongly over the last 110 years. This probably means it will be of most direct interest to students of modern British history, but the story it tells of relationships between the press and its readers, of press owners and government as well as how far the press supports, questions and/or is restricted by government policy is more global in its significance. Simpson devotes a chapter to a key period that affected how the press operated: clearly Britain?s main wars and conflicts, but also issues such as the Abdication crisis, interwar attitudes to Hitler, Suez, Ireland, and the rise of the Murdoch press. I found the most useful chapters to be ones that examined the press response to government policy during the Boer and First World Wars (in the final chapters Simpson draws several parallels of approach between the Boer War and Iraq invasion). He shows clearly for example how loathe the press was to present the realism of the western front and how much his was resented by those at the front. Students (and teachers preparing courses on the impact of the media) will also find much of value on the interwar chapters which shows clearly which papers were most behind Hitler and the differing views on Appeasement and the actions of Chamberlain. Individual reporters are given mini pen portraits - many seem to be ?gentle? and/or ?generous?? Meanwhile he explains how the new kid on the block, news reporting on BBC radio, tried to catch up until coming into its own during World War II. Well written and reads easily, it is a large tome with a basic but useful bibliography for each section (although it publishes all chapter notes and the origin of specific sources online). It is sufficiently self-contained so that chapters could be taken on their own. This is worthwhile as Simpson provides many extracts from press reports (good for using as source questions?) and numerous worthwhile, not to say often enjoyable, anecdotes about the individuals he is describing. As for the Beeb, it might have been more valuable to have more on the impact of the BBC World Service reporting after 1945 and less on the BBC?s more recent conflict with the Blair government, which if we are being pedantic was not in the 20th century. Another point of issue is that the book seems to focus on issues that are exclusively political or to do with international conflicts that involved the UK. No mention is made at all of how BBC reporting made the world aware of the famine in Ethiopia and produced such global impact and consequences. Such ?social? reporting has grown considerably since the 1980?s even if its thrust has been blunted/hijacked by more recent governments ? however is this not the theme of the book? Aug '11 (****)

Philipp von Boeselager: Valkyrie - The Plot To Kill Hitler
This is a memoir of Philipp von Boeselager, traditional German aristocrat, cavalry officer and last surviving member of the 1944 Bomb Plot to assassinate Hitler. In many ways this would seem to be of limited value to a historian: it is as said, a personal memoir, and would seem to be ghost written at that. Much of it is devoted to uncritical praise of an elder brother, also involved in the Plot and the amount of the (slim) work on the actual Plot is minimal. Nonetheless, this is a significant piece of history, but not so much on what it says about 1944, rather, it gives an interesting insight into the mentality of the Junker officer class during the Third Reich. Implicitly, the content and presentation of the narrative in the memoir makes clear that the aristocracy saw the Fuhrer as an upstart, but did not intervene to obstruct his accession to power seeing this more as "the will of the people" with which they should not deign to interfere. They also appeared to have exercised considerable informal local authority, but without too much accountability, or desire to use this considerable local and historic influence to resist or reduce the impact of national socialist policies (although a incident of the family assisting fleeing Jews early on is described). Von Boeselager and his brother join the cavalry and there is little questioning of German war aims/strategy until the war turns against the Germans, especially in the east, although the memoir states it was a growing awareness of SS atrocities in the east rather than growing Soviet pressure that brought about plans to assassinate Hitler and stage a coup. We read of how the July 1944 plotters gradually came together and instigated several attempts to kill Hitler in preparation of seeking an anti-Soviet alliance with the western allies, but ultimately failing and most facing arrest, torture and execution. Several take their own lives. The von Boeselager brothers are not betrayed by fellow plotters and survive (although Phillips brother is killed later fighting the Red Army), with Philipp himself living until 2008. These officers of the Junker class were undoubtedly brave and fought determinedly and with a strong sense of historic duty to defend Germany and ensure the well being of their men (Von Boeselager distinguished himself in combat on the Eastern Front, was wounded several times in combat and was awarded the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves for bravery in combat). It is clear that they were principled and honourable with a genuine sense of chivalry. The plotters themselves became the conscience of postwar (western initially) Germany. Unfortunately, these memoirs do little to remove the notion that the principles and sense of duty were misdirected. They had the political awareness, skills and inherited authority to prevent or restrain national socialism at its birth but chose to wait too long to act and when they did von Boeselager's account still makes it is difficult to remove the impression that they did so at a time when their historic interests and privileged lifestyle were most under threat - by the advance of Soviet communism. July '11 (****)

Christopher Meyer: Getting Our Way: 500 Years of Adventure and Intrigue: The Inside Story of British Diplomacy
Meyer's book (he was the UK Washington Ambassador 1997-2003) is subtitled "500 years of adventure & Intrigue - the Inside Story of British Diplomacy" but is pretty selective in the episodes it examines. A series of chapters look at specific a stages in the story, some more successful than others. The initial chapter on the Elizabethan ambassador Killigrew in Edinburgh is an interesting example of the rudiments of modern diplomacy at work, as are the three on British relations with China (or should it be the British abuse of those relations?). There is a valuable section for students of the interwar period on Sir Robert Vansittart, Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office from 1930 to 1938 which clarifies Britain's ignominious role in the collapse of the League of Nations. Least successful chapter is the final somewhat diffuse one on Bosnia in the 1990's. However this is not a history book - footnotes are sparse, bibliographies are limited and contain largely the standard works that might appear on a decent piece of IB/A level coursework. The value of this readable book though is the insight it provides into the mindset of a modern successful British diplomat. From its introduction onwards it provides an argument in favour of reinforcing British diplomacy, and British support for how this branch of government should be enabled to strongly pursue and protect British interests and values in the world. In doing this Meyer writes little of the advantages of internationalism, and seems to ignore what even he writes about regarding the impact of the blind pursuit of British values and interests on 19th century China or on the Ethiopians in the 1930's. He argues diplomacy has to adapt and modernise to protect national interest. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but not at the cost of a "beggaring my neighbour" approach that was so prevalent in the past. He correctly argues that following an ethical foreign policy (as recently with early New Labour) is itself problematical but that should be no reason to revert to past methods (he believes Margaret Thatcher's time was "a notably successful period for British diplomacy").It is telling that there is no chapter on the one great challenge - and questionably greatest failure of modern British diplomacy - Europe. Nothing on how diplomats failed to engage with the early moves for closer co-operation. Even in his own terms of reference, no mention of how greater involvement from the start might have delivered the British influence and values he seeks and how a successful British diplomatic offensive might have embedded them in the heart of the European project. Perhaps because this is the one big area Britain did not "get its way". This is a quick read and it reads well with much to fascinate - not the least of which is as an aid to understand the attitudes and objectives that formed so much of British foreign policy for so long. June '11 (***)

Barry Strauss: The Spartacus War
This slim volume is the story of Spartacus, leader of the slave revolt against the Romans in 73BC. Spartacus gathered a force of up to 40,000 slaves and in the course of two years was able to lead them up and down the length of Italy resisting all attempts by the Roman legions to suppress them - until the final campaign against Crassus when he was defeated and killed in battle (in contrast to the Kubrick film which shows him captured - the famous "I am Spartacus" scene happening in Hollywood only!). Spartacus is seen as a charismatic and very able commander and leader, his eventual vanquisher Crassus was not one of Rome's most sympathetic generals - he took 6,000 prisoners and proceeded to crucify each one along the road to Rome.To someone accustomed to reading about modern history, the style is unsettling at first - too many mentions of "might", "perhaps", "likely", "uncertain but" suggest a vagueness that makes for a lack of certainty, but gradually you realise Strauss is using the only evidence available - which is patchy and unreliable. The historians role in the ancient world here is to map a probable route through the possibles for the layman and build up a picture of what might have been. The available evidence allows for no more. Strauss does this well, giving his views on how much value to place on evidence at each stage of the campaign. Good maps and a thoroughly explained bibliography at the end make this a useful read for the non-specialist who wants to find out a little more about the considered reality beyond the film set. May '11 (****)

John le Carre: Our Kind of Traitor: A Novel
I am pleased to say this is a return to le Carr??s old hunting ground ? the spy novel. As in the past, it also sees the British Secret Service ranged against the Russians and focuses around a high level defection from Russia. But here similarities with the Cold War novels end. The defection is not from the KGB or its modern successor but from the Russian mafia. Nor is the British secret service portrayed as it once was by le Carr?. There is still internal rivalry but the conflict is now with a service deeply inbred with the London?s city establishment and it?s role as a financial capital. This is a darker, more political le Carr? who is taking aim at what he perceives as another threat to liberal, compassionate, democratic society. The ?Constant Gardener? took aim at the hypocrisy of the international aid and pharmaceutical communities, ?A Most wanted Man? tackled international terrorism. Now it is the turn of the global banker and the way the establishment of a nation desperate for foreign capital fawns towards them. Perhaps because it is more of a ?spy? novel than has recently been the case, this is le Carr?s most successful work for some time (although his young central characters do appear to be drawn from the sixties rather then the facebook/twitter generation of today). A good read that encourages you to move through it quickly! April '11 (****)

John Keegan: The American Civil War
Keegan, a war historian best known for his surveys of 20th century warfare writes well and clearly. I should imagine that the book provides more than sufficient detail on the campaigns and key meetings between both sides to satisfy most students researching the conflict (however some reviews have expressed concern with accuracy). What is irritating is the habit of repeating points made earlier on in the narrative.The battle maps are particularly useful (although I must admit to moving quickly through some of the land campaign details, lack of personal familiarity with the basic geography of the area trying my patience a little. This though is a personal failing, not one of the authors.). What is made very clear is how inexperienced and unprepared both sides were in the craft of warfare and it is interesting to read the process of natural selection required to find able military commanders. Keegan also provides a number of chapters prior to and after the conflict that are extremely useful articles in their own right on key aspects of the conflict (such as the Life of the Soldier, Generalship, Nature of the Civil War Battle, Home fronts, Black soldiers). In many ways these are just as valuable as (if not more so than) the account of the war itself. One omission is a discrete chapter focusing on the war role of Lincoln himself, which is a pity. Given Keegan's interest in 20th century warfare there are many instances where he shows how the Civil War displayed and introduced features of later wars (as well as how it did not and drew rather on earlier conflict experience in Europe). All in all this is an easily recommendable narrative cum basic analysis of the war if what is required is a primer. March '11 (****)

Matthew Brzezinski: Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries that Ignited the Space Age
It tells the story of "Sputnik and the rivalries that ignited the Space Age". Indeed it starts well with a very atmospheric description of a V2 launch against London, and then goes on to tell the story of the early pre Sputnik US and Soviet space programmes and the internal politics that lay behind them. Centre-stage is rightly given to von Braun, ex member of Hitler's SS and Korolev, survivor of Stalin's Gulag camps (interesting that Korolev had as many failures - probably more than the US before his successful Sputnik launch) with an examination of their respective relationships with Eisenhower and Khrushchev but beyond telling the story, rather like early US attempts to get into space, it fails to really ignite. Brzezinski is a former journalist (for the Wall Street Journal) and this reads like an extended piece of journalism - rather like a long series of articles that you might find in a weekend supplement. The US political context is more satisfactory than the Soviet. The end notes suggest that research is essentially secondary - and much of that from the internet.An appropriate read perhaps if you are new to the period (having just seen the forthcoming movie on "Ham" the space chimp maybe) but don't look to find any novel insights or new archival research. Jan'11 PS If you are wondering why the next two reviews have no images it is because they are available on Kindle only in the US!! (***)

David Olusoga, Casper Erichsen: The Kaiser's Holocaust: Germany's Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism
Tells the story of German colonialism in South West Africa, showing how German policy towards the native Herero and Nama peoples developed into one of genocide. Shows how a philosophy of white racial supremacy emerged out of the ideas of Charles Darwin and was put into practice. Survival of the fittest becomes justification for white dominance over "inferior" indigenous peoples and genocide an acceptable option. This process is shown though as not just a German process and the German experience is placed in a global context: with British colonists in Tasmania, the US frontier wars, the Argentine wars of the desert all showing the same features.In the German genocide against Herero and Nama we read of extermination orders, forced labour and concentration camps designed to kill off indigenous peoples who were articulate, politically able and well resourced, but ultimately doomed as the Kaiser's troops introduce a policy of "absolute terror and cruelty" in which missionary churches were actively complicit.The second part of the work shows the significance of this colonial experience for future nazism. The colonies first Governor was the father of Hermann G?ring, the uniform of the SA was that of the Wilhelm II's brown shirted colonial army. The colonial period saw the emergence of the pseudo science of eugenics and the legal framework to protect the purity of German settlers from racial contamination for a Volk that needed Lebensraum to expand into and escape population pressure at home. These ideas survive the collapse of 1918 and become a core element of the politics of the right.After 1933 races considered impure, German Jews and Gypsies, are subjected to the treatment first employed in South West Africa: Nuremberg Laws to end racial mixing; control and internment in concentration camps, forced labour, extermination. Hitler's war, it is also argued, was ultimately one for colonial Lebensraum in the east. The German treatment of the eastern populations and Red Army was different to the western conflict as Hitler considered the eastern peoples to be similar to uncivilised indigenous colonial peoples. Fighting was more brutal, civilians were treated with even less regard. Necessary he believed to ensure Lebensaum and civilisation. The nazis compared this push East to how Wilhelm's troops had fought the Herero, or the British the Sudanese & Tasmanians, the US the Native Indians, or the Argentines with the tribes of the south. Thought provoking, this is an important, thorough and well written work. It ranks with Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost" as an indictment of European colonialism but develops its arguments beyond normally considered confines to place the events of a short-lived German colony in a far wider context. Jan '11 (*****)

Jane Conway: Mary Borden: A Woman of Two Wars
The story of Ma(r)y Borden, one of those dynamic women who managed to flourish in the male dominated world of the early 20th century. Borden had been given a huge headstart as the daughter of a millionaire from Chicago and this she used to the full. A writer of books achieving both popular and critical acclaim and (second) marriage to a British politician ensured equal social acclaim across the Atlantic. The book is illustrated with many useful photos including several society magazine shots showing her in the 1920's as quite the society woman and hostess. However there was more to Borden than this. She was a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour and bearer of the Croix de Guerre presented for her war work in setting up and managing hospitals very close to the Front and also those with the lowest mortality rates. She repeated this war work in the Second World War and continued to write successfully until late in life. Conway provides a literary commentary on her books as they were published, attempting to link them into Borden's experiences, but for historians what is most interesting are her sections on Borden's war work. In 1914-18 she used innovatory portable hospitals with reinforced windows to withstand blast damage that could be dismantled and rebuilt in a matter of hours. The section on her work in World War II is even more historically interesting. Leading the Hadfield-Spears mobile ambulance unit she managed front line Franco-British nursing care in France, Italy, north Africa and the Middle East and found herself more involved in the political machinations of the Franco-allied relationship. Conway is perceptive on the chaos and amateurism shown during the Fall of France as well as the in-fighting involving De Gaulle (which ultimately sees the disbanding of the unit in 1945). It is hard though to escape the paradoxes of her existence. Living a privileged lifestyle she was critical of the British Labour Party for not doing enough to relieve poverty. Given the hectic nature of her life it is clear that she spent little of what would be called "quality time" with her young family despite fighting a long and (clearly for them) disturbing battle with her first husband for custody of them. A more direct approach at times to some of the paradoxes outlined above would also help ensure that Borden could be seen more clearly in the context and standards of her time if not those of today. It is these contrasts that make understanding the assertive and successful women of the early 20th century (as well as today?) so interesting. In the last few years many unsung stories of the role played by key women in both world wars have become more public. Conway presents us here with the life of one such woman whose work and enthusiasm deserves to be remembered by a clear biography such as this. I would recommend this a book to be read in particular by students of social as well as women's history. Dec '10 (****)

Michael Howard: Otherwise Occupied: Letters Home from the Ruins of Nazi Germany
Howard was a 19 year old officer sent to the Ruhr in 1946 as an intelligence officer for Britains T-Force to help administer British seizures and this is his story of his time as part of that process. He has used the 67 letters he sent home to his mother during the period as a structure to hang the development of the general account on, a narrative that reads well and is clear to follow. Maps and photographs by the author help general understanding and the personal story element of the book. Interesting aspects emerge on the nature of the early British occupation (for example it seemed many of the initial military administrators had a pre-war background in Britain's colonial administrations - his own father was in the Fiji Colonial Service) as well as the reality of life in the immediate postwar period for occupied and occupier and the issue of "fraternisation". Little is said about the wider picture of T-Force work (and indeed this is not the purpose of the book), rather the focus is on the experiences and impressions of a young officer who happened to be part of a wider process (so despite the described efficiency of the authors section, day to day military administration in general during the period comes over as somewhat ad hoc with officers clearly enjoying their occupying role, and much reliance on a public school ethos that was perhaps typical of the period). This is perhaps the key significance of Howards writing. Letters from the war period are relatively common, far less common are letters with a commentary written 60 years later by the same writer. Here this provides not just elaboration but a modern self-evaluation of attitudes and actions contemporary to the period that help the context to be better understood. Of particular value is the (empathetic) development of the author's response to German nationals. As a junior officer the author had no real part in key zonal decisions, so do not look here for new evidence on British postwar occupation policy or relations with the Soviets. However the book has real value to the historian in another way. Recent years have seen an explosion in German witness accounts of the immediate postwar period. Here we have what amounts to an annotated contemporary account of early occupation life by a member of a western occupying force to set alongside them. Nov '10 (****)

Sean McMeekin: The Berlin-Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany's Bid for World Power, 1898-1918
A thorough and almost magisterial acount of an area of World War 1 not normally given a prime focus; the Ottoman front. It is a very contemporary work using terms very familiar today: the creation of a jihad against the Entente and Britsh in particular; rivalry between Shia and Sunni; Caucasian minority struggles; strategies to control modern Iraq & Iran and at the end a push for middle east oil. McMeekin shows how Wilhelmine Germany had a rich seam of middle east specialist archaeologists. He records the excellent use made of this by Berlin in working on the Ottomans, Arabs, Persians, Afghans and others to promote an anti British & French jihad policy from Constantinople to Kabul via Baghdad. The ultimate aim was to bring about a collapse of British India. New light is cast on the context of many elements of Great war strategy & campaigns: the German push to india increased a British focus on Iraq and Iran that has persisted; the Armenian massacres as an element of Ottoman great war strategy; the success of the Tsarist Russian army and the later growth from it of Yudenich's White forces.The Turks were diplomatically, and often militarily, sharper and shrewder than usually given credit for. McMeekin argues that the Balfour declaration was made by a largely pro arab British government, partly out of pique with German advances to Zionists and a desire to win US zionist support for a speedier US mobilsation. It also traces German - muslim relations to the end of World War 2 showing how these were cultivated as part of the Nazi anti-semitic program. Given the unfamiliarity of the characters to most readers a list of Dramatis Personae would have been helpful. Equally the title perhaps suggests more of a focus on the actual Berlin-Baghdad railroad. Although a vital thread in the narrative, it is no more than that. Railway enthusiasts will be disappointed early on by what is perhaps the title of an over-zealous editor. Nov '10 (****)

David Finkel: The Good Soldiers
Finkel spent 8 months in Iraq during the "Surge"with the US 2-16 Ranger division and reports on their deployment there, as he himself writes "without agenda". This is not a strategic analysis of their role within the Iraq theatre. Rather the focus is on an infantry battalion of young soldiers who see themselves as being there to do as good (hence the title) and decent a job as possible. They are not politicians or ideologues. Finkel draws a series of pen portraits of key figures ? battalion leader, soldiers going out in their humvees to face yet another patrol route seeded with remote controlled bombs, the Iraqis who work with them. Then there are the casualties. The book presents them in their truly awful detail ? especially in one chapter which describes a visit by the commander to severely his severely wounded men in hospital in the States. Good Soldiers puts the troops in their human context. Finkel writes empathetically of men trying to survive and do a job they were sent out to do but who grow increasingly disillusioned as their deployment comes to an end. The 2-16 Rangers live in fortified areas as separate from the Iraqi population as it is possible to be and still be in Iraq. This is necessary ? they appear to be under constant deadly attack. This is not the more secure confines of Baghdad's Green Zone, but in Rustamiya, on the eastern edge of the city, a violent place where 350,000 Iraqis were hanging on as the war ground ahead. The enemy are faceless, nameless, not explored by Finkel and neither are their motives. This makes them perhaps perceived all the more as the Good Soldiers saw them. This is no gung-ho account. The reader though is left with a great deal of sympathy for those involved, regardless of what might be thought of the reasons for them being there in the first place. For this reason The Good Soldiers is likely to remain a valuable source for understanding the bravery and ferocity but also the futility of the Iraq occupation. Sept '10 (****)

Greg Grandin: Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City
Tells the story of Henry Ford's attempt to build a settlement in the Amazon jungle during the 1920's and 1930's. Ostensibly to provide rubber for Ford's factories and so break the monopoly of the Dutch and British plantations of the Far East, in reality Fordlandia was an attempt by the US industrialist to build what he considered a model industrial settlement in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest. Grandin tells the story well, of how Henry Ford was hoodwinked into buying a 5,000 square mile tract of land which he might have gained for nothing from the government; how a New England type town was built in the middle of nowhere for brazilian and expat workers complete with company shops, golf course, barn for square dancing and clapboard hoiuses each with a garden ready for planting flowers; and how ultimately the project collapsed. But the story is more than this. We are taken on an intriguing journey into the mind of the founder of Fordism and his theories of small planned industrial communities which he had already tried out in Michigan. Here was paternalism at its height. Quality housing, above average wages, planned communities with clinics and schools. In this Ford also displayed some ideas recently quite fashionable: dislike of big banking, direct government control and monopoly producers. His communities were planned where possible without any of this. But the downside was company control. No organised labour, intolerance of those who failed to think as Ford men should, entertainment outside the (Ford) approved parameters (ie alcohol, gaming, close-up dancing) frowned upon. There was also a disdain for specialists in favour of individuals who were self trained, who learned from experience. All of this was to come to a head in Brazil. Fordlandia becomes the island of homely "mid-western" modernity in the Amazon. Well laid out housing, clinics and schools combined with above average wages to spend in company shops selling at reasonable rates to encourage the purchase of clean clothing. But the cracks appear. The dislike of experts mean the Ford team in the Amazon have to learn on the job (the pretty houses were solid, but their thick walls and tin roofs made them like ovens to live in). More importantly scant attenton was paid to cultural differences. Clocking in helped produce a riot that destroyed much of the early settlement. The rubber was also a disaster. Blight and bugs spread easily in the damp heat of the Amazon. Plantations at Fordlandia and a new site further north were devastated by disease. Agronomists could have told this to the Ford team of car engineers before they went to Brazil. Eventually after World War II Ford's grandson sold Fordlandia to the Brazilian government. It is now overgrown and much is used for soy production. The inexperienced Ford technicians did devise a new way of cross cutting plants to improve them genetically that was soon to be copied across the globe. A visit to the Ford plantations inspired Brazil's dictator Vargas to make his 1940 "March to the West" speech that formally announced the drive to open up Brazil's interior. In a final irony Grandin explains how this has since led not only to the erosion of the rainforest but also to the explosion of an industrial region in the mid Amazon with squalid living conditions that are the antithesis of Ford's hopes fo rhis Fordlandia. And the irony? This industrialisation is based on the unskilled assembly of parts made elsewhere - the essentials of those Fordist principles which made Henry his fortune. An intriguing and provoking book. Reads well and is accompanied by many instructive photographs. Sept '10 (****)

Source: http://www.cafehistoria.net/casahistoria_latest_rambl/2012/07/remembering-the-wartime-plastic-surgery-work-of-dr-gillies.html

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