Kennedy Space Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is the U.S. government installation that manages and operates America’s astronaut launch facilities. Serving as the base for the country’s three space shuttles, the NASA field center also conducts unmanned civilian launches from adjacent Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (operated by the 45th Space Wing). KSC has been the launch site for every U.S. human space flight since December 1968. Its iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is the fourth-largest structure in the world by volume[1] and was the largest when completed in 1965.[2]
Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida’s Space Coast. It is 34 miles (55 km) long and roughly 6 miles (10 km) wide, covering 219 square miles (570 km2). A total of 13,500 people worked at the center as of 2008.[3]
STS-60 shuttle launch from Pad 39A on February 3, 1994
All launch operations are conducted at Launch Complex 39 (LC-39), where the shuttle’s major components (orbiter, external fuel tank and booster rockets) arrive, are stacked (mated) and checked out inside the VAB; then moved to Pad 39A for launch. Shuttles were also launched from adjoining Pad 39B until 2007, when it was modified for the 2009 Ares I-X launch. Both pads are on the ocean, 3 miles (5 km) east of the VAB. The Shuttle Landing Facility, among the longest runways in the world, is just to the north. From 1969–1972, LC-39 was the departure point for all six Apollo manned Moon landing missions using the Saturn V, the largest and most powerful operational launch vehicle in history.
The KSC Industrial Area, where many of the center’s support facilities are located, is 5 miles (8 km) south of LC-39. It includes the Headquarters Building, the Operations and Checkout Building and the Central Instrumentation Facility. KSC is also home to the Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station (MILA), a key radio communications and spacecraft tracking complex. The center operates its own short-line railroad.
KSC is a major Central Florida tourist destination and is approximately one hour’s drive from Walt Disney World and other theme parks in the Orlando area. The Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center and adjacent Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Because much of the installation is a restricted area and only nine percent of the land is developed, the site also serves as an important wildlife sanctuary; Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral National Seashore are other features of the area. Center workers can encounter Bald Eagles, American alligators, wild boars, Eastern Diamondback rattlesnakes, Florida panthers and Florida manatees. KSC is one of ten major NASA field centers, and has several facilities listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
[edit] History
Kennedy Space Center was created and has evolved to meet the changing needs of America’s manned space program, initially in competition with the Soviet Union. What is today KSC was authorized in 1958 during the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The facility was originally known as the Launch Operations Directorate (LOD), reporting to the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.
President John F. Kennedy‘s 1961 goal of a lunar landing before 1970 led to an expansion of NASA operations from a few buildings in the Industrial Area of Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex (later Air Force Station), notably Hangar S, to Merritt Island. NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to 131 square miles (340 km2) and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 87 square miles (230 km2).[4] The major buildings in KSC’s Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman.[5]
On July 1, 1962, the site was renamed the Launch Operations Center, achieving equal status with other NASA centers; and on November 29, 1963, the facility received its current name by Executive Order 11129 following Kennedy’s death.[6]
[edit] Mercury and Gemini
The U.S. accomplished a manned lunar landing in three stages—Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Mercury’s objectives were to place a manned spacecraft in earth orbit, investigate human performance and ability to function in space, and safely recover the astronaut and spacecraft. Although Mercury was directed by NASA, launches were from the U.S. Air Force‘s Cape Canaveral Annex. The first two manned tests used the Redstone booster from LC-5 for the 1961 suborbital flights of Alan Shepard on May 5 (the first American in space) and Gus Grissom on July 21. The first American in orbit, and the first carried by the larger Atlas D rocket, was John Glenn, launched from LC-14 on February 20, 1962. Three more orbital flights followed.
The more complex two-man Gemini spacecraft, and its Titan II booster, based on the military ICBM, helped carry out rendezvous and docking and extra-vehicular activity missions critical for Apollo. Twelve Gemini missions were launched from Cape Canaveral’s LC-19, the last ten of which were manned. The first manned flight, Gemini 3, took place on March 23, 1965. The final flight, Gemini 12, launched on November 11, 1966.
[edit] Apollo
Main article:
Apollo programThe Apollo program required larger launchers—the Saturn family of boosters. The two-stage Saturn I and 1B rockets were erected and launched at the Cape’s Launch Complexes 34 and 37. The first Saturn launch, SA-1, came on October 27, 1961 from LC-34. On January 27, 1967, the crew for the first planned manned Apollo mission, AS-204 (also designated Apollo 1), Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died by fire on the same pad atop a Saturn 1B; the first spacecraft-related astronaut deaths. After significant changes to the spacecraft, Apollo 7 was launched from LC-34 into earth orbit using a Saturn IB on October 11, 1968.
[edit] Launch Complex 39
The VAB (center) in 1999 with the LCC jutting out from its right and Pads A and B in the distance
Missions to the Moon required the large three-stage Saturn V rocket (111 m high and 10 m in diameter). At KSC, Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) was built on Merritt Island to accommodate the new rocket. Construction of the $800 million project began in November 1962. LC-39 pads A and B were completed by October 1965 (a planned Pad C was canceled), the VAB was completed in June 1965, and the infrastructure by late 1966. The complex included a hangar capable of holding four Saturn Vs, the VAB (130 million ft³); a transporter capable of carrying 5,440 tons along a crawlerway to either of two launch pads; and a 446-foot (136 m) mobile service structure. Three Mobile Launch Platforms, each with a fixed launch umbilical tower, were also built. LC-39 also included the Launch Control Center and a news media site.
From 1967 through 1973, there were 13 Saturn V lift-offs, including the ten remaining Apollo missions after Apollo 7. The first of three unmanned flights, Apollo 4 (Apollo-Saturn 501) on November 9, 1967, was also the first rocket launch from KSC itself. The Saturn V’s first manned launch on December 21, 1968 was Apollo 8‘s lunar orbiting mission. The next two missions tested the Lunar Module: Apollo 9 (earth orbit) and Apollo 10 (lunar orbit). Apollo 11, launched from Pad A on July 16, 1969, made the first Moon landing on July 20. Apollo 12 followed four month later.
From 1970–1972, the Apollo program concluded at KSC with the launches of missions 13 through 17. On May 14, 1973, the last Saturn V launch put the Skylab space station in orbit from Pad 39A. Pad B, modified for Saturn IBs, was used to launch three manned missions to Skylab that year, as well as the final Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.
In 1976, the VAB’s south parking area was the site of Third Century America, a science and technology display commemorating the U.S. Bicentennial, also when the U.S. flag was painted on the building. During the late 1970s, LC-39 was reconfigured to support the Space Shuttle. Two Orbiter Processing Facilities were built near the VAB as hangars with a third added in the 1980s.
[edit] 1980s–2000s: Space Shuttle
KSC became the launch site for the Space Shuttle program beginning in 1981. The initial launch, Columbia on April 12, 1981, was the first of a ve
hicle with astronauts aboard which had no prior unmanned launch.
KSC’s 2.9 mile (4.6 km) Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) is the orbiters’ primary end-of-mission landing site, although the first KSC landing did not take place until the tenth flight, when Challenger completed STS-41-B on February 11, 1984; the primary landing site until then was Edwards Air Force Base in California, subsequently used as a backup landing site. The SLF also provides a return-to-launch-site (RTLS) abort option, which has not been required.
After 24 successful shuttle flights, Challenger was torn apart 73 seconds after the launch of STS-51-L on January 28, 1986; the first shuttle launch from Pad 39B and the first U.S. manned launch failure, killing the seven crew members. An O-ring seal in the right booster rocket failed at liftoff, leading to subsequent structural failures. Flights resumed on September 29, 1988 with STS-26 after extensive modifications to many aspects of the shuttle program.
On February 1, 2003, Columbia and her crew of seven were lost during re-entry over Texas during the STS-107 mission (the 113th shuttle flight); a vehicle breakup triggered by damage sustained during launch from Pad 39A on January 16, when a piece of foam insulation from the orbiter’s external fuel tank struck the orbiter’s left wing. During reentry, the damage created a hole allowing hot gases to melt the wing structure. Like the Challenger disaster, the resulting investigation and modifications interrupted shuttle flight operations at KSC for more than two years until the STS-114 launch on July 26, 2005.
The shuttle program has also experienced five main engine shutdowns at LC-39, all within four seconds or less before launch; and one abort to orbit, STS-51F on July 29, 1985. Shuttle missions during nearly 30 years of operations have included deploying satellites and interplanetary probes, conducting space science and technology experiments, visits to the Russian MIR space station, construction and servicing of the International Space Station, deployment and servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope and serving as a space laboratory. The shuttle is scheduled to be retired from service in 2011 after 134 launches.
On October 28, 2009, the Ares I-X launch from Pad 39B was the first unmanned launch from KSC since the Skylab workshop in 1973.
The planned end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 is expected to produce a significant downsizing of the KSC workforce similar to that experienced at the end of the Apollo program in 1972. LC-39 would be the launch site for the Ares I and Ares V rockets, which could carry the manned Orion spacecraft by mid-decade if NASA’s Constellation program were implemented; although the Obama administration has budgeted instead for a new manned booster developed by the private sector to ferry astronauts into Earth orbit.[7]
[edit] Unmanned NASA launches at Cape Canaveral
Pioneer 1 atop its launcher
NASA’s first launch, Pioneer 1, came on October 11, 1958 from Cape Canaveral LC-17A using a Thor-Able booster. The civilian agency has used launch pads at Cape Canaveral AFS ever since for many unmanned launches ranging from satellites to lunar probes, including the Ranger, Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter series during the 1960s.
NASA has also launched communications and weather satellites from Launch Complexes 40 and 41, built at the north end of the Cape in 1964 by the Air Force for its Titan IIIC and Titan IV rockets. From 1974–1977 the powerful Titan IIIE served as the heavy-lift vehicle for NASA, launching the Viking and Voyager series of planetary spacecraft and the Cassini–Huygens Saturn probe from LC-41.
NASA currently uses two Cape Canaveral pads: SLC-41 for the Atlas V and SLC-37B for the Delta IV, both for heavy payloads.
[edit] Weather
A Mercury Redstone rocket on display at Gate 3 was toppled by Hurricane Francis on September 7, 2004.
Florida’s peninsular shape and temperature contrasts between land and ocean provide ideal conditions for electrical storms earning Central Florida the reputation as “lightning capital of the United States”.[8][9] This makes extensive lightning protection and detection systems necessary to protect employees, structures and spacecraft on launch pads safe.[10] On November 14, 1969, Apollo 12 was struck by lightning just after lift-off from Pad 39A, but the flight continued safely. The most powerful lightning strike recorded at KSC occurred at LC-39B on August 25, 2006 while shuttle Atlantis was being prepared for STS-115. NASA managers were initially concerned that the lightning strike caused damage to Atlantis, but none was found.
In October 2004, Hurricane Charley caused an estimated $700,000 in damage to KSC. On September 7, 2004, Hurricane Frances directly hit the area with sustained winds of 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) and gusts up to 94 miles per hour (151 km/h), the most damaging storm to date. The Vehicle Assembly Building lost 1,000 exterior panels, each 3.9 feet (1.2 m) x 9.8 feet (3.0 m) in size. This exposed 39,800 sq ft (3,700 m2) of the building to the elements. Damage occurred to the south and east sides of the VAB. The shuttle’s Thermal Protection System Facility suffered extensive damage. The roof was partially torn off and the interior suffered water damage. Several rockets on display in the center were toppled.[11] Further damage to KSC was caused by Hurricane Wilmain October 2005.
January 10, 2012
Posted by archmichaelangelo |
1962, Florida, info, K, Space, Spaceflight, Uncategorized | 1962, Florida, info, Kennedy Space Center, Spaceflight |
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Good Times
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Good Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1, 1979, on the CBS television network. It was created by Eric Monte and Michael Evans and produced by Norman Lear. Good Times is a spin-off of Maude, which was itself a spin-off of All in the Family.
While the series was set in Chicago, all episodes of Good Times were produced in the Los Angeles area. The first two seasons were taped at CBS Television City in Hollywood. In the fall of 1975, the show moved to Metromedia Square, where Norman Lear's own production company was housed.
[edit] Synopsis
Good Times is based on Eric Monte's childhood—although one of the main characters' name is "Michael Evans", which was the real name of co-creator Mike Evans, who portrayed Lionel Jefferson on the Norman Lear-produced series All in the Family and The Jeffersons.
The series stars Esther Rolle as Florida Evans and John Amos as her husband, James Evans, Sr. The characters originated on the sitcom Maude as Florida and Henry Evans, with Florida employed as Maude Findlay's housekeeper in Tuckahoe, New York and Henry employed as a firefighter. When producers decided to feature the Florida character in her own show, they applied retroactive changes to the characters' history. Henry's name became James, there was no mention of Maude, and the couple now lived in Chicago.
Florida and James Evans and their three children live in a rented project apartment, 17C, at 963 N. Gilbert Ave., in a housing project (implicitly the infamous Cabrini–Green projects, shown in the opening and closing credits but never mentioned by name on the show) in a poor, black neighborhood in inner-city Chicago. Florida and James' children were James, Jr., also known as "J.J." (Jimmie Walker), Thelma (Bern Nadette Stanis), and Michael (Ralph Carter). When the series began, J.J. and Thelma were seventeen and sixteen years old, respectively, and Michael, called "the militant midget" by his father due to his passionate activism, was eleven years old. Their exuberant neighbor, and Florida's best friend, was Willona Woods (played by Ja'net Dubois), a recent divorcée. Her adopted daughter Millicent "Penny" Woods (Janet Jackson) joined the show in the fifth season. Willona would affectionately call Michael Evans "Gramps", because of his wisdom.
As was the case on other Norman Lear sitcoms, the characters and subject matter in Good Times were a breakthrough for American television. Working class characters had been featured in sitcoms before (dating back at least to The Life of Riley), but never before had a weekly series featured African American characters living in such impoverished conditions. (Fred and Lamont Sanford of Sanford and Son, though they lived in the poor Watts area of Los Angeles, at least had their own home and business.)
Episodes of Good Times dealt with the characters' attempts to "get by" in a high rise project building in Chicago, despite all the odds stacked against them. When he was not unemployed, James Evans was a man of pride and would often say to his wife or family "I ain't accepting no hand-outs". He usually worked at least two jobs, many of them temporary such as a dishwasher or car washer, and when he had to he would gather his pool stick, much to Florida's disappointment, and sneak out and hustle up a few bucks as he struggled to provide for his family. Being a sitcom, however, the episodes were usually more uplifting and positive than they were depressing, as the Evans family stuck together and persevered.
[edit] Principal cast
[edit] Minor characters
- Ned the Wino (Raymond Allen) – The local drunk who frequented the neighborhood and the apartment building where the Evans family reside. In the first-season episode "Black Jesus", J.J. uses Ned the Wino as the model for a portrait of Jesus. Another episode was centered around Michael's plan to "clean up" Ned and get him off the booze by letting him stay at the Evans' house.
- Carl Dixon (Moses Gunn) – An atheist shop owner who marries the widowed Florida Evans following the final episode of Season 4. Carl and Florida do not appear in Season 5. Florida returns at the beginning of Season 6, without Carl, for Thelma's wedding. Carl is referenced briefly in the second episode of Season 6, but he is never mentioned again (Florida continues to use the surname Evans instead of Dixon).
- "Sweet Daddy" Williams (Theodore Wilson) – A menacing neighborhood numbers runner and pimp, who has a reputation for wearing flashy clothing and jewelry. He is usually accompanied by bodyguards (one portrayed by Bubba Smith) and comes across as cool and threatening, but has shown a soft heart on occasion, particularly when he decided not to take an antique locket (to settle a debt) that Florida had given to Thelma because it had reminded him of his late mother.
- Alderman Fred Davis (Albert Reed, Jr.) – A local politician with a slightly shady disposition. Spoofing President Richard M. Nixon, he would state in a speech "I am not a crook." He always relied on the support of the Evans family (his "favorite project family") for reelection or support (and usually threatened them with some type of adverse action if they did not agree). He always had James' support; J.J. supported him when he became of age to vote; the rest of the family did not particularly like him (J.J. would later come to despise him like the rest of the family). During the first season, he addressed Willona as "and you too, Willona." In later seasons, he would forget her name entirely and called her something else that began with a "W" (such as Wilhemina, Winnifrieda, Winsomnium and Wyomia), thus earning him her everlasting ire as well as the nickname "Baldy".
- Lenny (Dap 'Sugar' Willie) – A neighborhood hustler and peddler who is always trying to sell items that are usually attached to the lining of his fur coat. He usually approaches people with a laid-back rap and a rhyme ("hey there mama, my name is Len-nay, if you buy from me I can save you a pen-nay" or "don't go to J. C. Pen-nay, just come and see Sweet Len-nay"). He will sell anything from watches to bedpans (out of his coat). Usually the person he approaches will ignore him or tell him to go away. He usually responds by saying "that's cold" or uses a small brush to "brush off" the negativity.
- "Grandpa" Henry Evans (Richard Ward) – James' long lost father. He abandoned the family years before because he was ashamed that he could not do more to provide for them. This hurt James deeply, who disregarded his father's existence, telling everyone he was dead. Thelma learns about her grandfather while doing some family research. She meets him and invites him to the Evans' home to surprise James for his birthday, not knowing that James was well aware of his whereabouts but chose to stay out of his life. After Henry arrives at the Evans home and meets the rest of the family, he realizes that James would not welcome him in the home and decides to leave. Florida convinces him to stay and talk to James and explains that there may never be another chance to do so. Henry and James have a heart-to-heart talk, with Henry being remorseful and apologetic. James ultimately forgives his father. After James' death, the Evans family embraces Henry into the family, alongside his common law (and eventually legal) wife Lena in later episodes.
- Wanda (Helen Martin) – Another resident in the apartment building where the Evans reside. Earlier episodes show her at a women's support group, and the tenants rallying around her by giving her a rent party. Later episodes show her appearing and crying at several funerals, whether she knew the person or not, thus earning her the nickname "Weeping Wanda" from J.J. and Willona.
- Mrs. Gordon (Chip Fields) – Penny's abusive mother. Mrs. Gordon had been abandoned by Penny's father when she became pregnant. As a result, she took her anger and frustrations out on Penny. After the abuse was finally brought to light, Mrs. Gordon abandoned Penny, despite Willona's pleas to her to try and seek help. Just before she disappeared, Mrs. Gordon expressed regret for hurting her child, telling Willona that Penny deserved better than her. She reappeared more than a year later, having remarried, and she reveal that her new husband is from a very wealthy family. She uses her husband's wealth to send Penny anonymous gifts and also attempts to frame Willona, making Willona look like an unfit foster parent so Mrs. Gordon can resume custody of Penny. However, her scheme is exposed and Penny rejects her, telling Willona that no matter what anyone said, Penny would always consider Willona to be her real mother. Mrs. Gordon is devastated by this and leaves Penny with Willona, never to be seen again.
- Cleatus (Jack Baker) – Cousin of J.J. Evans, Thelma Evans Anderson, and Michael Evans and nephew of Florida Evans and James Evans. He made one appearance in the episode "Cousin Cleatus".
[edit] Notable guest stars
- Matthew "Stymie" Beard – The former Our Gang child actor appeared in five episodes, including four appearances as James' friend Monty.
- Grand L. Bush – Appeared in a two-part storyline ("J.J.'s New Career"), playing the role of Leon, J.J.'s bully.
- Robert Guillaume – Appeared as Fishbone the wino in the episode "Requiem for a Wino".
- Jay Leno – Appeared in the third-season episode "J.J. in Trouble" which was one of the first times that the subject of STDs (then referred to as "VD") was addressed on a primetime television series.
- Louis Gossett, Jr. – Appeared in Season 2 as Donald Knight, Thelma's much-older paramour. Florida and James objected to their relationship because of the age difference. Gossett appeared in a later episode as Uncle Wilbur (Florida's brother), who came from Detroit to look in on the family while James was away.
- Alice Ghostley – Appeared in Season 5 as a social worker who was working on Penny being adopted by Willona.
- Philip Michael Thomas – Appeared in Season 1 as Eddie, Thelma's college-aged boyfriend (while she was in high school). When Florida stumbles across Eddie's thesis titled "Sexual Behavior in the Ghetto," it ultimately causes an uproar within the Evans' household when it is learned that the thesis belongs to Thelma, and not J.J. as originally thought.
- Gary Coleman – Appeared in two 1978 episodes as Gary, a sharp-tongued classmate of Penny's.
- Kim Fields – Appeared in two episodes as Penny's friend, Kim. Kim is the real-life daughter of Chip Fields, who played Mrs. Gordon (mentioned above).
- Carl Weathers – Husband of 'nude' model for J.J.'s painting.
- Calvin Lockhart – Appeared as Florida's cousin Raymond, who earned his riches by betting on horses.
- Debbie Allen – Appeared as J.J.'s drug-addicted fiancee, Diana.
- Hal Williams – Appeared as one of the movers in a 1st season episode, James' friend Willy Washington in a 2nd season episode, and Mr. Mitchell, the father of Earl Mitchell, who was an art student of J.J.'s.
- Charlotte Rae – Appeared as a hiring manager for a sales job that Florida stole from James.
- Roscoe Lee Browne – Appeared as a shady televangelist named "Reverend Sam, the Happiness Man". He befriended James in the military and nearly recruits him for his crusade, against Florida's wishes.
- Sorrell Booke – Appeared as Mr. Galbraith, J.J.'s boss at the ad agency.
- Rosalind Cash – portrayed Thelma's teacher, Jessica Bishop, who becomes romantically involved with a much younger J.J.
- Ron Glass – appeared as Michael's elementary school principal who met with James and Florida regarding busing Michael to another school. He also made an appearance as a blind encyclopedia salesman who tries to swindle the Evans family.
[edit] Initial success and ratings
The program premiered in February 1974; high ratings led CBS to renew the program for the 1974–1975 season, as it was the seventeenth-highest-rated program that year. During its first full season on the air, 1974–1975, the show was the seventh-highest-rated program in the Nielsen ratings and a quarter of the American television-viewing public tuned in to an episode during any given week. Three of the top ten highest-rated programs on American TV that season centered around the lives of African-Americans: Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, and Good Times.
Good Times's ratings declined over time, partly because of its many timeslot times. In its third season, the series was that season's twenty-fourth-highest-rated program. The ratings went down when the show had entered its final season, likely due to a Saturday night time slot:
[edit] Backstage tension
Almost from the premiere episode, J.J., an aspiring artist, was the public's favorite character on the show and his frequently-invoked catch phrase "Dy-no-mite" became very popular. As the series progressed through its second and third year Rolle and Amos, who played the Evans parents, grew increasingly disillusioned with the direction the show was taking as J.J.'s antics and stereotypically buffoonish behavior took precedence in the storylines. Rolle was rather vocal about disliking the character of J.J. in a 1975 interview with Ebony magazine.
"He's eighteen and he doesn't work. He can't read or write. He doesn't think. The show didn't start out to be that…Little by little—with the help of the artist, I suppose, because they couldn't do that to me—they have made J.J. more stupid and enlarged the role. Negative images have been slipped in on us through the character of the oldest child."[5]
Although doing so less publicly, Amos also was outspoken about his dissatisfaction with J.J.'s character. The ill feelings came to a head when it came time to negotiate Amos' contract in the summer of 1976, and he was dismissed from the series.
"The writers would prefer to put a chicken hat on J.J. and have him prance around saying "DY-NO-MITE", and that way they could waste a few minutes and not have to write meaningful dialogue."[6][7]
[edit] Departure of John Amos and Esther Rolle
Husband-and-wife team Austin and Irma Kalish were hired to oversee the day-to-day running of the show, replacing Allan Manings, who had become executive producer when he was also working on another Lear sitcom, One Day at a Time. The Kalishes and Manings, as script supervisors, threw ideas to writers Roger Shulman, John Baskin, and Bob Peete, and eventually penned an exit for Amos's character.
At the beginning of the 1976–1977 season in the episode "The Big Move", the family was packing to move from the ghetto to a better life in Mississippi where James had found a job as a partner in a garage. At the end of the first episode that season, Florida learned via a telegram (which, at first, she thought was to congratulate her on her move) that James was killed in a car accident. It was the following episode in which, after spending most of the episode refusing to acknowledge and fully mourn James' death, she smashed a glass bowl on the floor and uttered her famous line: "Damn, damn, DAMN!". The show continued without a father, which was something Rolle did not want to pursue. One of the primary appeals of the project for her had been the presentation it initially offered of the strong black father leading his family. However, she stayed on hoping that the loss of the father's character would necessitate a shift in J.J.'s character, as J.J. would now become the man of the family. The writers did not take this approach; if anything, J.J.'s foolishness increased. Wanting no further part in such depictions, by the summer of 1977, Rolle left the series. She was written out as marrying and moving to Arizona with her new love interest, Carl Dixon (Moses Gunn).
Despite this, Good Times still performed well in the Nielsen ratings, ranking at number 26 for the 1976-77 season, making its fourth year breaking the top 30 rated programs.
[edit] Final seasons
With Amos and Rolle gone, Ja'net Du Bois took over as the star, as Willona checked in on the Evans children as they were now living alone. New characters were added or had their roles expanded: Johnny Brown as the overweight building superintendent Nathan Bookman, formerly a recurring character, became a regular; Ben Powers as Thelma's husband Keith Anderson; and Janet Jackson as Penny Gordon Woods, an abused girl adopted by Willona. Many viewers defected from the series, and the fifth season ranked only at number 39.
For the sixth and final season, Esther Rolle agreed to return to the show. There were several conditions, one was that the Carl Dixon character be written out as if he had never existed. Rolle disliked the storyline surrounding the Carl Dixon character, as she believed Florida would not have moved on so quickly after James' death. Rolle also thought the writers had disregarded Florida's devout Christian beliefs having her fall for and marry Carl, who was an atheist. Other conditions of her return were that she would have a greater say in the storyline, J.J. would become a more respectable character, and that she would receive a raise in her salary.
Despite Rolle's return, viewers did not. CBS moved the series to Saturday nights in the fall of 1978, furthering the decline in ratings. Production ended in early 1979 after the final season ranked only 45th in the ratings.
The last original episode of Good Times aired in August 1979. In a finale atypical of the series in general, each character finally had a "happy ending." J.J. got his big break as an artist for a comic book company, after years of the audience waiting for such a development; his newly-created character, DynoWoman, was based on Thelma. Michael attended college and moved into an on-campus dorm. Keith's bad knee miraculously healed, leading to the Chicago Bears offering him a contract to play football. Keith and (a newly pregnant) Thelma moved to a luxury apartment in Chicago's upscale Gold Coast area and offered Florida the chance to move in with them (and her future grandchild). Willona became the head buyer of the boutique she worked in; she and Penny moved into the same luxury building and, once again, became Florida's downstairs neighbors.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Theme song and opening
The gospel-inspired theme song was composed by Dave Grusin with lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman. It was sung by Jim Gilstrap and Blinky Williams.
The lyrics to the theme song are notorious for being hard to discern, notably the line "Hanging in a chow line"/"Hanging in and jiving" (depending on the source used). Dave Chappelle used this part of the lyrics as a quiz in his "I Know Black People" skit on Chappelle's Show in which the former was claimed as the answer.[8] The insert for the Season One DVD box set has the lyric as "hangin' in a chow line". However, the Bergmans confirmed that the lyric is actually "hanging in and jiving."[8]
Initial seasons featured the theme song played over stark visuals of an economically depressed Chicago neighborhood (in similar fashion to most of Norman Lear's other sitcoms of the time, which also depicted the characters' neighborhoods, using real footage of the cities in which they were set), before zooming in on a window of a housing project and then cutting to a painting of an African American family. Later seasons used the same theme song recording, but showed clips from various episodes, as the actors were credited.
[edit] Awards and nominations
| Year |
Award |
Result |
Category |
Recipient |
| 1975 |
Golden Globe Award |
Nominated |
Best TV Actress – Musical/Comedy |
Esther Rolle |
| Best Supporting Actor – Television |
Jimmie Walker |
| 1976 |
Nominated |
Best Supporting Actor – Television |
Jimmie Walker |
| 1975 |
Humanitas Prize |
Nominated |
30 Minute Category |
John Baskin and Roger Shulman
(For episode "The Lunch Money Ripoff") |
| 30 Minute Category |
Bob Peete
(For episode "My Girl Henrietta") |
| 2003 |
TV Land Award |
Nominated |
Catchiest Classic TV Catch Phrase
(Dy-no-mite!) |
– |
| 2005 |
Nominated |
Favorite Catch Phrase |
– |
| 2006 |
Won |
Impact Award |
John Amos, Ralph Carter, Ja'net DuBois, BernNadette Stanis, and Jimmie Walker |
[edit] Syndication
The cable network TV One (which can be seen on most cable systems as well as DirecTV) currently airs the show.
The sitcom has also aired regularly on TV Land. It first aired as a 48-hour marathon the weekend of July 23, 2005, with two more marathons following on the weekends of November 26, 2005, and May 6, 2006. However, TV Land airs the version of episodes that were edited for syndication, while TV One airs the original edits, as they were shown on during its CBS primetime run, albeit digitally-remastered.
In late 2006 or early 2007, Good Times was pulled from the TV Land lineup along with several other shows (most notably Happy Days) to make room for new programming. The show returned in mid-February with a 48-hour weekend marathon. However, the show has now returned to the TV Land lineup, airing weekday mornings 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM EST.
Good Times is also seen in Canada on DejaView, a specialty cable channel from Canwest. A selection of full episodes of the show is available to Canadians for free on GlobalTV.com
Minisodes of the show are available for free on Crackle.
[edit] DVD releases
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 between February 2003 and August 2006, with a complete box set following the separate seasons on October 28, 2008.
| DVD Name |
Ep # |
Release Date |
| The Complete First Season |
13 |
February 4, 2003 |
| The Complete Second Season |
24 |
February 3, 2004 |
| The Complete Third Season |
24 |
August 10, 2004 |
| The Complete Fourth Season |
23 |
February 15, 2005 |
| The Complete Fifth Season |
24 |
August 23, 2005 |
| The Complete Sixth Season |
24 |
August 1, 2006 |
| The Complete Series |
133 |
October 28, 2008 |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
January 11, 2011
Posted by archmichaelangelo |
Entertainment, G, Uncategorized | Entertainment, Esther, Florida, JJ, Michael, Roll, Television, Thelma |
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Phillip Greaves
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Phillip Greaves is an author from Colorado. He is known for a controversial book he wrote titled The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-lover’s Code of Conduct. The book, which was pulled by Amazon.com, resulted in his arrest by the Sheriff’s department of Polk County, Florida[1]. The state of Colorado, however, does not consider Greaves to be a sex offender[2].
[edit] Personal life
Greaves is a former nurse’s aide[3].
[edit] Book authored
In 2010, Greaves authored a book titled The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-lover’s Code of Conduct. The self-published book was not offered in print, but only as an e-book, sold on Amazon’s site for $4.79. Greaves himself stated that the purpose of the book was to change peoples’ perception of pedophiles[3].
[edit] Reaction
[edit] Pulling of book from Amazon
On November 11, 2010, Amazon pulled Greaves’s book from its site under threat of a boycott. Amazon stated that it does not believe in censorship of books over their content[4].
Readers threatened to boycott Amazon over its selling of the book, which was described by critics as a “pedophile guide”. Amazon initially defended the sale of the book, saying that the site “believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable”[5] and that the site “supported the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions”. However, the site later removed the book.[6] The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that Amazon “defended the book, then removed it, then reinstated it, and then removed it again“.[5]
Christopher Finan, the president of the American Booksellers Association for Free Expression, argued that Amazon has the right to sell the book as it is not child pornography or legally obscene since it does not have pictures. On the other hand, Enough is Enough, a child safety organization, issued a statement saying that the book should be removed and that it “lends the impression that child abuse is normal”.[7] People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, citing the removal of The Pedophile’s Guide from Amazon, urged the website to also remove books on dog fighting from its catalogue.[8]
[edit] Arrest
On Monday, December 20, 2010, Greaves was arrested in Colorado on a warrant issued by the Polk County Sheriff’s office, violating a Florida law prohibiting the distribution of obscene materials. He was extradited from Colorado to Florida. The arrest occurred after the county’s undercover officers purchased a copy of his book for $50. Greaves signed the book himself[2]. According to Sheriff Grady Judd, upon receipt of the book, Greaves violated local laws prohibiting the distribution of “obscene material depicting minors engaged in harmful conduct,” a third degree felony.[9]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/21/arrest-of-pedophile-guide-author-phillip-greaves-raises-legal-is/
- ^ a b http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-12-20/news/os-obscenity-arrest-polk-county-20101220_1_obscenity-laws-obscenity-charge-obscene-material
- ^ a b http://www.aolnews.com/2010/11/11/amazon-yanks-pedophilia-e-book-amid-boycott-threats/
- ^ http://www.aolnews.com/2010/11/11/amazon-yanks-pedophilia-e-book-amid-boycott-threats/
- ^ a b Saint, Nick (2010-11-11). “Amazon Caves: Pedophile Guide Pulled From The Kindle Store (AMZN)”. San Francisco Gate. Retrieved November 11, 2010.
- ^ Beaumont, Claudine (November 11, 2010). “Amazon removes ‘paedophile guide’ from Kindle store”. London: The Telegraph. Retrieved November 11, 2010.
- ^ “Amazon no longer selling guide for pedophiles”. Associated Press. November 11, 2010. Retrieved November 11, 2010.
- ^ “PETA wants animal-fighting books removed”. United Press International. November 13, 2010. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
- ^ “Polk Sheriff: Pedophilia book author arrested”. Bay News 9. December 20, 2010. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
December 28, 2010
Posted by archmichaelangelo |
Colorado, Florida | Colorado, counterconspiracy, Florida, petaflop |
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The Walt Disney Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue.[5] Founded on October 16, 1923 by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, the company was reincorporated as Walt Disney Productions in 1929. Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and travel. Taking on its current name in 1986, The Walt Disney Company expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theatre, radio, publishing, and online media. In addition, it has created new divisions of the company in order to market more mature content than it typically associates with its flagship family-oriented brands.
[edit] Corporate history
[edit] 1923-28: The silent era
In 1923, Kansas City, Missouri animator Walt Disney created a short film entitled Alice’s Wonderland, which featured child actress Virginia Davis interacting with animated characters. Film distributor Margaret J. Winkler contacted Disney with plans to distribute a whole series of Alice Comedies based upon Alice’s Wonderland. The contract signed, Walt and his brother Roy Disney moved to Los Angeles, California and set up shop in their uncle Robert Disney’s garage, marking the beginning of the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio.[6] Within a few months, the company moved into the back of a realty office in downtown Los Angeles, where production continued on the Alice Comedies until 1927.[7] In 1926, the studio moved to a newly constructed studio facility on Hyperion Avenue in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles.[7]
After the demise of the Alice comedies, Disney developed an all-cartoon series starring his first original character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which was distributed by Winkler Pictures through Universal Pictures. Disney only completed 26 Oswald shorts before losing the contract when Winkler’s husband Charles Mintz, who had taken over their distribution company, hired away many of Disney’s animators to start his own animation studio.[6]
[edit] 1934-45: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and World War II
Deciding to push the boundaries of animation even further, Disney began production of his first feature-length animated film in 1934. Taking three years to complete, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, based upon the Grimm Brothers‘ fairy tale, premiered in December 1937 and became the highest-grossing film of that time by 1939.[8] Snow White was released through RKO Radio Pictures, which had assumed distribution of Disney’s product in July 1937,[9] after United Artists attempted to attain future television rights to the Disney shorts. [10]
Using the profits from Snow White, Disney financed the construction of a new 51-acre studio complex in Burbank, California. The new Walt Disney Studios, in which the company is headquartered to this day, was completed and open for business by the end of 1939. The following year, Walt Disney Productions had its initial public offering.
The studio continued releasing animated shorts and features, such as Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942). With the onset of World War II, box-office profits began to dry up. When the United States entered the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor, many of Disney’s animators were drafted into the armed forces, and the studio itself was temporarily commandeered by the U.S. military. The U.S. government commissioned the studio to produce training and propaganda films, which provided Disney with needed funds. Films such as the feature Victory Through Air Power and the short Education for Death (both 1943) were meant to galvanize public support for the war effort. Even the studio’s characters joined the effort, as Donald Duck appeared in a number of comical propaganda shorts, including the Academy Award-winning Der Fuehrer’s Face (1943).
[edit] 1946-54: Post-war and television
In December 1950, Walt Disney Productions and The Coca-Cola Company teamed up for Disney’s first venture into television, the NBC television network special An Hour in Wonderland. In October 1954, the ABC network launched Disney’s first regular television series, Disneyland, which would go on to become one of the longest-running primetime series of all time.[11] Disneyland allowed Disney a platform to introduce new projects and broadcast older ones, and ABC became Disney’s partner in the financing and development of Disney’s next venture, located in the middle of an orange grove near Anaheim, California.
[edit] 1955-65: Disneyland
In 1954, Walt Disney used his Disneyland series to unveil what would become Disneyland Park, an idea conceived out of a desire for a place where parents and children could both have fun at the same time. On July 18, 1955, Walt Disney opened Disneyland to the general public. On July 17, 1955 Disneyland was previewed with a live television broadcast hosted by Art Linkletter and Ronald Reagan. After a shaky start, Disneyland continued to grow and attract visitors from across the country and around the world. A major expansion in 1959 included the addition of America’s first monorail system.
For the 1964 New York World’s Fair, Disney prepared four separate attractions for various sponsors, each of which would find its way to Disneyland in one form or another. During this time, Walt Disney was also secretly scouting out new sites for a second Disney theme park. In November 1965, “Disney World” was announced, with plans for theme parks, hotels, and even a model city on thousands of acres of land purchased outside of Orlando, Florida.
Disney continued to focus its talents on television throughout the 1950s. Its weekday afternoon children’s program The Mickey Mouse Club, featuring its roster of young “Mouseketeers”, premiered in 1955 to great success, as did the Davy Crockett miniseries, starring Fess Parker and broadcast on the DisneylandZorro series would prove just as popular, running for two seasons on ABC, as well as separate episodes on the Disneyland series. Despite such success, Walt Disney Productions invested little into television ventures in the 1960s, with the exception of the long-running anthology series, later known as The Wonderful World of Disney. anthology show. Two years later, the
Disney’s film studios stayed busy as well, averaging five to six releases per year during this period. While the production of shorts slowed significantly during the 1950s and 1960s, the studio released a number of popular animated features, like Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959) and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), which introduced a new xerography process to transfer the drawings to animation cels. Disney’s live-action releases were spread across a number of genres, including historical fiction (Johnny Tremain, 1957), adaptations of children’s books (Pollyanna, 1960) and modern-day comedies (The Shaggy Dog 1959). Disney’s most successful film of the 1960s was a live action/animated musical adaptation of Mary Poppins, which received five Academy Awards, including Best Actress Julie Andrews.
[edit] 1966-71: The deaths of Walt and Roy Disney and Walt Disney World
On December 15, 1966, Walt Disney died of lung cancer, and Roy Disney took over as chairman, CEO, and president of the company. One of his first acts was to rename Disney World as “Walt Disney World,” in honor of his brother and his vision.
On October 1, 1971, Walt Disney World opened to the public, with Roy Disney dedicating the facility in person later that month. Two months later, on December 20, 1971, Roy Disney died of a stroke, leaving the company under control of Donn Tatum, Card Walker, and Walt’s son-in-law Ron Miller, each trained by Walt and Roy.[12]
[edit] 1972-84: Theatrical malaise and new leadership
Inspired by the popularity of Star Wars, the Disney studio produced the science-fiction adventure The Black Hole in 1979.The Black Hole was one of the first Disney releases to carry a PG rating, the first being Take Down, also released in 1979. The releases of these and other PG-rated Disney films such as Tron (1982) led Disney CEO Ron Miller to create Touchstone Pictures as a brand for Disney to release more adult-oriented material. Touchstone’s first release was the comedy Splash (1984), which was a box office success.
With The Wonderful World of Disney remaining a prime-time staple, Disney returned to television in the 1970s with syndicated programing such as the anthology series The Mouse Factory and a brief revival of the Mickey Mouse Club. In 1980, Disney launched Walt Disney Home Video to take advantage of the newly-emerging videocassette market. On April 18, 1983, The Disney Channel debuted as a subscription-level channel on cable systems nationwide, featuring its large library of classic films and TV series, along with original programming and family-friendly third-party offerings.
Walt Disney World received much of the company’s attention through the 1970s and into the 1980s. In 1978, Disney executives announced plans for the second Walt Disney World theme park, EPCOT Center, which would open in October 1982. Inspired by Walt Disney’s dream of a futuristic model city, EPCOT Center was built as a “permanent World’s Fair”, complete with exhibits sponsored by major American corporations, as well as pavilions based on the cultures of other nations. In Japan, the Oriental Land Company partnered with Walt Disney Productions to build the first Disney theme park outside of the United States, Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in April 1983.
[edit] 1985-2004: The Eisner era
In 1984, Love Leads the Way was released, and on the same year, Where the Toys Come From was also released. In June of 1994, The Lion King was released. The Lion King turned out to be the highest rated Disney animated movie. A Goofy Movie was released In 1995. In the same year, Toy Story was also released. In 1998, The Lion King II, Simba’s Pride, a sequel to The Lion King was also released. In 1999-2004 the following was released: Toy Story 2, (1999) Air Bud 3: World pup, (2000) Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure, (2001) Monsters, Inc (2001), Lilo and Stitch, (2002) Finding Nemo, (2003) Freaky Friday, (2003) 101 Dalmations 2: Patch’s London Adventure, (2003) and The Lion King 1 1/2,(2004)
[edit] 2005-present
Aware that Disney’s relationship with Pixar was wearing thin, President and CEO Robert Iger began negotiations with leadership of Pixar Animation Studios, Steve Jobs and Ed Catmull, regarding possible merger. On January 23, 2006, it was announced that Disney would purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. The deal was finalized on May 5, and made Apple CEO Steve Jobs Disney’s largest individual shareholder at 7% and a Director of the company. Ed Catmull and John Lasseter became President of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios.
After a long time working in the company as a senior executive and large shareholder, Director Emeritus Roy E. Disney died from stomach cancer on December 16, 2009. At the time of his death, he had roughly 1% of all Disney shares which amounted to 16 million. He is seen to be the last member of the Disney family to be actively involved in the running of the company and working in the company altogether.
On December 31, 2009, Disney Company acquired the Marvel Entertainment, Inc. for $4.24 billion. Disney has stated that their acquisition of the company will not affect Marvel’s products, neither will the nature of any Marvel characters be transformed.[13]
In May 2010, the company sold the Power Rangers brand, as well as its 700-episode library, back to Haim Saban because of the show doing so poorly in the ratings.
October 16, 2010
Posted by archmichaelangelo |
Business enterprises, Entertainment, Uncategorized | Entertainment, Florida, info, medicine, Orlando, The Walt Disney Company, Uncategorized, victims |
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Lawton Chiles
| Lawton Mainor Chiles, Jr. |
 |
|
In office
January 8, 1991 – December 12, 1998 |
| Lieutenant |
Buddy MacKay |
| Preceded by |
Bob Martinez |
| Succeeded by |
Buddy MacKay |
|
In office
January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1989 |
| Preceded by |
Spessard Holland |
| Succeeded by |
Connie Mack III |
|
In office
January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1989 |
| Preceded by |
Pete Domenici |
| Succeeded by |
Jim Sasser |
|
In office
January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1981 |
| Preceded by |
Frank Church |
| Succeeded by |
H. John Heinz III |
|
| Born |
April 3, 1930(1930-04-03) Polk County, Florida |
| Died |
December 12, 1998 (aged 68)
Tallahassee, Florida |
| Political party |
Democratic |
| Spouse(s) |
Rhea Chiles |
| Alma mater |
University of Florida |
| Religion |
Presbyterianism |
| Military service |
| Service/branch |
United States Army |
| Years of service |
1953-1954 |
| Battles/wars |
Korean War |
[edit] Early life
Chiles was born in Polk County, Florida near Lakeland. There he attended public school, then went on to the University of Florida. At UF, Chiles was active in student politics, inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame (the most prestigious honor a student can receive at UF) and inducted into Florida Blue Key. He was also a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. He graduated in 1952. Following his college years he went to Korea as an artillery officer in the US Army. After the war, Chiles returned to the University of Florida for law school, graduating in 1955; he passed the state bar exam that year and went into practice in Lakeland. He was married to Rhea Chiles.
[edit] Politics
In 1958, Chiles, a Democrat, was elected to the Florida House of Representatives. He served there until 1966, when he was elected to a seat in the state senate, which he held until 1970. While serving in the state senate, Chiles served on the 1968 Florida Law Revision Commission. During his time in the state legislature, Chiles continued to work as a lawyer and developer back home in Lakeland. He was one of the initial investors in the Red Lobster restaurant chain.
[edit] The 1,003-mile walk
In 1970, Chiles decided to run for a seat in the United States Senate. At the time, despite his 12 years in the state legislature, he was largely unknown outside his Lakeland-based district. To generate some media coverage across the state, Chiles embarked upon a 1,003-mile, 91-day walk across Florida from Pensacola to Key West. The walk earned him the recognition he sought, as well as the nickname that would follow him throughout his political career– “Walkin’ Lawton”. In his journal Chiles wrote that sometimes he walked alone, while other times he met ordinary Floridians along the way. In later years, Chiles would recall the walk allowed him to see Florida’s natural beauty, as well as the state’s problems, with fresh eyes. After the walk, Chiles was elected easily.
[edit] The Senate
Chiles was re-elected to the U.S. Senate twice, in 1976 and 1982. Chiles, never flashy, was considered a moderate lawmaker who rarely made waves. He served as the Chairman of the Special Committee on Aging Senate Budget Committee. While heading the Budget Committee, he played a key role in the 1987 revision of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act. of the 96th Congress (1979–1981), and in the 100th Congress (1987–1989) served as chairman of the influential
Chiles underwent quadruple-bypass heart surgery in 1985. After his recovery, he became increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of work in the Senate, complaining that it was too difficult to get anything done. He announced in December 1987 that he would not seek re-election the next year.[1] Chiles was succeeded by Republican Connie Mack.
[edit] Governor of Florida
After the surgery, Chiles developed clinical depression,[2] and was treated with Prozac. He retired from the Senate in 1989 and intended to retire from politics entirely. However, several supporters convinced him to enter the 1990 Florida Governor’s race against Republican incumbent Bob Martinez. During the Democratic Party primary, his opponent Bill Nelson attempted to make an issue of Chiles’ age and health, a strategy that backfired badly in a state with a large retiree population.
Chiles ran a campaign to “reinvent” the state’s government, and defeated Martinez to take office in 1991. During his first term as Governor, Chiles managed to accomplish very little. Although he developed ambitious health-care and tax reform packages, neither passed in the hostile state legislature. The early years of his term were troubled by a national economic recession that severely damaged Florida’s tourism-based economy, and by Hurricane Andrew, which struck near Homestead in August, 1992.
Chiles ran for re-election in 1994 against Jeb Bush. Republican candidate Bush ran a television advertisement which featured the mother of a teenage girl who had been abducted and murdered many years before. The mother stated that “Her killer is still on death row, and we’re still waiting for justice. We won’t get it from Lawton Chiles because he’s too liberal on crime”, referring to Chiles not signing the convicted killer’s death warrant. Chiles, then governor, responded that he did not sign a death warrant because the case was still on appeal. The Democratic governor further claimed a record of support for the death penalty, having presided over 18 executions during his two terms (among them the first Floridian woman executed since 1848). Moreover, after the botched electrocution of Pedro Medina in 1997, and despite significant public criticism, Chiles refused to allow prescription the use of lethal injection as a lawful form of execution. The new method was introduced under Bush’s administration in 1999 after the execution of Allen Lee Davis.
Chiles’ second term as Governor was notable as the first time in state history that a Democratic Governor had a legislature controlled by the Republican Party. Despite this, he had some successes, including a successful lawsuit he and state Attorney General Bob Butterworth filed against the tobacco industry, which resulted in an $11.3 billion settlement for the state. He also won approval for a $2.7 billion statewide school construction program.
In 1995 Chiles sought treatment for a neurological problem, after he awoke with nausea, slurred speech, and loss of coordination. He recovered fully.
Ineligible to run a third time, Chiles supported the Lieutenant Governor, Kenneth H. “Buddy” MacKay, in the 1998 Florida governor’s race against Jeb Bush. Bush, however, scored an easy victory over MacKay. On December 12 that year, just three weeks before his long-awaited retirement was to begin, Chiles suffered a fatal heart attack while exercising on a cycling machine in the Governor’s mansion gymnasium. Funeral services were held at Faith Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee, following a funeral procession that traced part of his walk from the 1970 Senate campaign, from the panhandle town of Century to Tallahassee. He was succeeded in office by MacKay, who served until Bush’s term began on January 5, 1999.
[edit] Legacy
[edit] Legislative and executive programs
Chiles was known as a health care and children’s advocate throughout his career. He emphasized health coverage for the uninsured and led a campaign to create the National Commission for Prevention of Infant Mortality in the late 1980s. In 1994 he fought for the creation of regional health care alliances throughout the state, which allow small businesses to pool their health care dollars and broaden coverage while saving money. He also created the Florida Department of Elder Affairs.
In 1992, Chiles created the Florida Healthy Start program to provide a comprehensive prenatal and infant care program available to all pregnant women and infants across the state; since the program’s inception the state’s infant mortality rate has dropped 18%. In 1996, Chiles appointed a Governor’s Commission on Education to examine the state’s school system. One of the significant recommendations that came from that commission eventually led to the highly controversial 2002 state constitutional amendment restricting Florida’s school class sizes.
In 1997, pro-life advocacy group Choose Life collected 10,000 signatures and filed the $30,000 fee required under Florida law at the time to submit an application for a new specialty plate. State Senator Tom Lee sponsored a bill in support of the tag’s creation. The bill passed both houses of the Florida Legislature in early 1998, but was vetoed by Chiles, who stated that license plates are not the “proper forum for debate” on political issues.[3][4]
[edit] Judicial appointments
Perhaps his greatest legacy was his impact on the Florida Supreme Court, where his appointments continued to have a major impact on state and national events long after Chiles’ death. Chiles appointed Justice Major B. Harding in 1991, Justice Charles T. Wells in 1994, Justice Harry Lee Anstead in 1994, Justice Barbara J. Pariente in 1997, and Justice R. Fred Lewis in 1998. Chiles and incoming Gov. Jeb Bush jointly appointed Justice Peggy A. Quince in 1998 just a few days before Chiles’ death. Quince was jointly appointed because her term as Justice would begin the exact moment that Bush’s first term as Governor began, so there was a legal question which Governor had the authority to appoint her. Bush and Chiles agreed to make a joint appointment to avoid a lawsuit over the question.
Thus, at one point, Chiles had appointed five of the seven Justices and had jointly appointed the sixth. Chiles’ appointments formed the Supreme Court majorities that decided the following major cases:
- In 2006, the Court struck down a law passed by the Florida legislature that had created the United States’ first statewide education voucher program. The majority in this case consisted of Wells, Anstead, Pariente, Lewis, and Quince. Bush appointees Raoul G. Cantero and Kenneth B. Bell dissented.
- In 2004, the court struck down another piece of legislation from the Florida legislature designed to reverse a lower court decision in the Terri Schiavo case. This decision was unanimous and included Bush appointees Cantero and Bell. By this time, Harding had retired.
- In the 2000 presidential election controversy, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a statewide recount in the disputed election pitting George W. Bush against Al Gore. The United States Supreme Court Bob Graham. Shaw retired in early 2003 and was replaced by Be later reversed that ruling. The Florida Supreme Court majority in this case consisted of Anstead, Pariente, Lewis, and Quince. Dissenting Justices were Wells, Harding, and Leander J. Shaw, Jr., an appointee of Gov.
October 15, 2010
Posted by archmichaelangelo |
Florida, L, The war, Uncategorized | Florida, Governors of Florida, L, Lawton Chiles, National Guard, Uncategorized |
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Title 18, U.S.C., Section 242
Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law
This statute makes it a crime for any person acting under color of law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to willfully deprive or cause to be deprived from any person those rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution and laws of the U.S.
This law further prohibits a person acting under color of law, statute, ordinance, regulation or custom to willfully subject or cause to be subjected any person to different punishments, pains, or penalties, than those prescribed for punishment of citizens on account of such person being an alien or by reason of his/her color or race.
Acts under “color of any law” include acts not only done by federal, state, or local officials within the bounds or limits of their lawful authority, but also acts done without and beyond the bounds of their lawful authority; provided that, in order for unlawful acts of any official to be done under “color of any law,” the unlawful acts must be done while such official is purporting or pretending to act in the performance of his/her official duties. This definition includes, in addition to law enforcement officials, individuals such as Mayors, Council persons, Judges, Nursing Home Proprietors, Security Guards, etc., persons who are bound by laws, statutes ordinances, or customs.
Punishment varies from a fine or imprisonment of up to one year, or both, and if bodily injury results or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire shall be fined or imprisoned up to ten years or both, and if death results, or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
November 5, 2009
Posted by archmichaelangelo |
Civil Rights, conspiracy, Crimes, Crimes against humanity, Crimes against humanity, D, Florida, George Bush 41st, National Emergency, National Guard, The times of the gentiles, The war, Uncategorized | conspiracy, Conspiracy hypothesis, Crimes against humanity, Department of Defense, Florida, George Bush 41st, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush Jr., National Emergency, National Guard, The beast, The times of the gentiles, Uncategorized |
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Powers and Principalities 