Opinion: The most dangerous man in the world

Art symbol of "the sword" by Stilleben.steenwick--wikimedia commons

Carol Forsloff---A dangerous man is one with far reach and weapons that can strike multitudes.
A man with a fortune, a cache of millions and with legions who follow his words.
This can create us a terror for sure.  
And who is that man whose boots on the ground might unleash our world's greatest fears?
It is the man with the pen, but not just one pen with which only to scribble a bit.
It is a man with the many, the pens he controls to unleash like the swords they become.
These weapons can strike with passion and power that grow in their risk to us all.
And now he continues to make folks again attack in the ways that can grow.

Tourists, new residents add to the negatives of racism in Hawaii

Pokai Bay on the Waianae Coast of Oahu

"Why are you moving?" a journalist asked an elderly couple when they said they were returning to the mainland.  "Too many dirty people," the wife responded.  "Dirty people?" they were asked, and the response tells much of the story about the negatives of racism in Hawaii.

Making a better world means to avoid the 'one-eyed, one horned, flying purple people eaters'

Shades of purple

Carol Forsloff---Never mind those "One-eyed, One Horned Flying Purple People Eaters," be purple in your politics and social manners too.  That's red and blue blended together in the United States, the primary colors representing its political divisions.  But across the world the color purple can be central to change and being in charge, so that like the crayons in a box of many colors we can be fused into something beautiful when we work together peacefully.

Sometimes purple needs some white thrown in for tone. Or brown. That means purple can be dark or light and come in various tones.  Working together and combining our talents and skills, as well as our dreams, may mean those variations. Purple is the color of royalty and being in charge.  In other words, it puts all of us around the world in charge of ourselves and each other, especially in a world where problems are great.

When we were all little, we enjoyed our crayons and paper that we used for our drawings. We also had watercolors of different hues that we could swirl around on a piece of paper and make pictures. Most of us say we enjoy seeing a rainbow in the sky and myriad flowers in gardens around our home or in our towns. In many towns across the world,, our gardens and our homes are as diverse as we are. So we're as special as is the whole world. We come in all shades. Sometimes, however, just like the whole world, diversity of color isn't appreciated, and it should be, because that is what nature is all about. That is what we love when we played with those colors as children and when we look at a rainbow or stop and smell those roses. As children we knew all of the colors made pictures that were far better than the ones we drew with our pencils. But diversity is different than divisions, for as painters know colors become more beautiful when they are fused with shades of others.  Separate colors, or primary ones, are like those one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eaters that don't allow compromise and unity, the kind of unity that can help people work together.  It is essential for progress.  But purple should be paramount in our thoughts, as representing that fusion of colors that makes for a beautiful whole.

In the world of today we live on the edge of climate disasters, disease outbreaks, and political upheavals.  In the United States, at the time of the first election of Barack Obama as the United States' first black President, polls found that 30% of the people would not vote for a black man.  That 30% was vocal both before and after the election, with the result that racial harmony today is undermined by the consistent racial difficulties brought about by attitudes that are like single colors.  Attitudes are those crayons in a box that create landscapes of tones of just the primary colors in ways that are sharp, resulting in a painting that appears crude as a result.

 There are people who tell us that 30% was not a big enough difference in attitude.  But the actual percentage can be very influential in changing a country's direction. Across the world, it can also make a big difference in whether people are able to work together, as it is often the negatives in our miidst, those who are the most shrill, who loudly proclaim their rights that override those of others.  They drown out those purple people who often work so hard to modify and ameliorate difficulties, yet are not as wantonly aggressive in their tactics.  30% of the people who isolate race or any divisive factor can make a big difference in what happens to the rest of us going forward.

We are many in this count of purple people who dream in color, just as we did when we were kids and hope that those of you who read this will do so as well. We can defeat those "One-Eyed, One Horned Flying Purple People Eaters" from that old song of the early 1950's. We dream about people of many colors doing whatever they want to do from teaching in schools, to serving as ministers, to running corporations and to leading the United States as well as other countries who seek, or have achieved, the interest to move forward. We don't want artificial barriers to prevent folks from reaching their goals and finding their dreams. Those were the dreams of Martin Luther King in America and Gandhi in India.

We dream in color. It wasn't always possible to dream that way in reality, and it's still a struggle, even in the developed nations who pride themselves on the freedom to select their own governments and their own directions.

How can we facilitate the purple as the color of choice in a box of separate colors called our world?
All of us can start by extending our hearts and hands to people of different races than ourselves. We can paint our lives in color. Dreaming in color allows us to realize the notion that we are all connected.  Perhaps the greatest wish of the holiday season, or every season where hope and love are the centerpiece--which means daily--is for everyone to dream in colors, setting the color purple as the right choice of blending and beautifying our world, representing the royalty in all of us.

Ebola experts advise public to travel, not panic, and for world cooperation, W. Africa aid

Market in Lagos, Nigeria, country where Ebola spread being interrupted

"My wife and I were just talking this morning and wondering if we should take our scheduled trip to Disneyland next month.  She is concerned about Ebola."  In wondering this, the account executive at a major company joins many others in expressing concern about airplane travel, as Ebola fears mount.  But what do the experts say?

Fears expressed like this are exacerbated by some of the remarks made by politicians, some considering a run for the Presidency, like Bobby Jindal, who has advised people not to travel into countries affected by Ebola and those in the media who fan the flames of panic.  That's because statements like those of Jindal are being reiterated as fact by some of the bloggers who are passing along the advice as key to community and individual protection from Ebola.

News media around the world present the news about the recent cases of Ebola in the West as if they mirrored those in Africa.  However, experts in global health maintain that the focus should be on building the infrastructure in West Africa to support stopping the chain of transmission at the source.  At the same time experts maintain that all the countries throughout the globe should be connected in a communication and support network, again to build and solidify the appropriate response to a virus that is seen by some to be potentially like a modern plague if not managed appropriately.  They also say that restricting travel to West Africa could cause a panic of people, that might cause more to leave.

"Not only would (banning flights) not be effective, I think it could be detrimental to the overall efforts," is Dr. Eden Wells' response to politicians and some in the media recommending that people not travel within their own country borders or to West Africa.

Dr. Wells is the Associate Director for the Preventive Medicine Residency at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.  He further tells us, "We need to be able to get resources in and out of these countries to break the chain of transmission."

In assessing the potential of panic and concern about people crossing the borders of various countries who may have the virus, Dr. Well concludes, "We might feel good by trying to close down borders, but in fact I think it would be a very false sense of security." He explains internal evaluator support within communities and atracking the disease at its source in each case, to be the most valuable way to prevent the further spread of the virus.  He uses as evidence the successful way that Nigeria has responded to the outbreak that is largely contained there.  The country of Nigeria was able to halt much of the chain of transmsision with what Dr. Wells calls "Good contact tracing."

While the headlines offer dramatic statements about the virus, global health experts have explained consistently how important is to go to the source of the problem in West Africa and help personnel to build and solidify the infrastructure there.  President Obama has responded by getting military personnel into West Africa to help those countries, just as the experts have recommended.

Aaron Buseh is an associate professor in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College of Nursing and an expert on global public health.  He comes from Liberia, where he grew up, and where Ebola has been most rampant.  He is one of those who advocates decision-making that is based on scientific evidence and understanding the culture as important steps in working in West Africa.  He says it is important to build relationships that are based on scientific evidence and cultural understanding and to help the medical community in West Africa.

Countries need to work together in the effort to stop the spread of Ebola, says Buseh, "The fight over containment of the Ebola disease is really a fight against time, and it is no longer on the side of the affected countries and their vulnerable public health systems.  He sees the Ebola outbreak as a global health issue, with the need to strengthen resources where the disease is most rampant.  This is being done as President Obama has sent in 3000 troops into West Africa to help in the fight against Ebola.

Buseh quotes President Obama as he told the U.N. Gneral Assembly, "It's easy to see this as a distant problem---until it is not,"as a reminder that by working hard to stop the disease in West Africa the rest of the world helps to secure its own safety.

And even as these experts encourage people not to panic, nevertheless there are others that ask individuals and nations to be vigilant, those in the healthcare field to be properly trained to deal with Ebola and for those who have been in contact with Ebola patients not to travel using public transportation.  But for others who might want to go to Disneyland, experts maintain the potential for widespread Ebola cases in the United States, and other developed countries, remains low, even as everyone in government and special healthcare agencies need to build cooperation and connections to ensure the safety and security of everyone.

Affordable Care Act undermined by false beliefs that undermine humanitarian values

[caption id="attachment_17150" align="alignleft" width="300"] Learning about health care options[/caption]

Carol Forsloff---After living in Hawaii 28 years, a journalist has perspective on health coverage, given the way the State has functioned with its insurance programs and coverage. There are good reasons why Hawaii ranks #1 in health factors, much of it having to do with the availability of health care.

In Hawaii every employer must provide health coverage for employees who work 20 hours weekly or more. The State also has a program for the poor, so that they too have coverage when they are unable to work or are otherwise in need of health care maintenance.

For 28 years, unless there was a job specifically with insurance coverage, I was unable to leave the State. That's because of preexisting health conditions from a long-term and life-threatening illness that occurred when I was 35. Individual insurance was either not available, and I was declined, or so expensive that it would have meant a choice between food or health care.

In Louisiana every presentation from a politician around the State focused on the negatives of the Affordable Care Act when it was first proposed and watching and listening to “plants” in audiences and vetted questions so that no one was allowed to question speakers, all offering those negatives, brought information to this journalist that there were planned techniques to undermine almost any decision made by President Barack Obama.

Much of the continuing spread of those negatives has to do with the psychology of all of us. When we hear criticism constantly about anyone, even if the individual being criticized is a close friend or relative, we begin to question our beliefs. After all, how can so many people who differ with us be wrong? In addition there is also the dictum that it's harder to believe the truth when it's told after a falsehood has spread,

The statement from Republicans that focused on undermining any decision made by Obama has made not just a difficult environment within the political party but a toxicity of belief that has permeated almost every social issue in America. That includes guns, women's rights, immigration and health care. Those who oppose the loudest voice are shouted down indeed. That means truth is never read or heard by the larger number of people.

Indeed as some of the media has declared, the mainstream television, radio and newspaper stories seldom, if ever, offer an positive information about the Affordable Care Act, even when there are many stories of people receiving health insurance who were denied health insurance when they desperately needed it most.

Surely the Affordable Care Act has snags, but so did Medicare and Social Security when these programs were first unveiled. And those programs met with many of the same criticisms---primarily by those who used the words “Socialist” or even “Communist” in relationship to them. But there was not the concerted effort, vocalized by leaders of the opposition, to undermine completely any of the President's ideas at the time. Targeting an individual repeatedly will eventually wear down the public good will, as it has in the case of Barack Obama. And this means from both left and right, especially in the more extreme areas of the spectrum of each party but reaching into the moderate groups as well, because those who scream the loudest and the longest become the message most heard and believed.

If young people do not join the program, and others don't who believe the worst about it, then the program will fail for sure. And those who had hoped that everything Obama did would fail would have met their objectives, stated objectives as they were. That will inevitably lead to folks looking for an alternative, and where else will they look but among those who will say, “I told you so” when the program fails entirely.

Indeed a recent letter from Rush Limbaugh to his public says this, “If you believe in government, you should be furious about Obamacare’s incompetent rollout: A fiasco that could haunt progressives for years to come.” – Headline, “The New Republic,” Nov. 14, 2013

“If this goes down, if health care, the Affordable Care Act, is deemed a failure, this is the end – I really mean it – of liberal government, in the sense of any sense that government as an instrument of social justice, an engine of economic progress, which is what divides Democrats from Republicans – that’s what Democrats believe.” – Mark Shields, “PBS News Hour,” Nov. 15,

28 years in Hawaii was not a negative experience, but the lack of health care opportunities prevented me from moving on to independent work, a full-time private practice in counseling and a strong area of journalism opportunities as well. It is the choice many people must make when they can't lose their jobs for fear of losing health coverage they couldn't otherwise get. And the lack of the option will cause needless suffering and death, all arising from the false notions that Obama be defeated at all cost, thus undermining the humanitarian value of good health for everyone.

Solve for X might end political gridlock

Speaker John Boehner

As the past has demonstrated, technology is advancing; but the future needs audacious leaders. So that's why a community is asking people who truly want to transform the world to join them in “solving for X.” That means even solving the political gridlock in Washington.

Solve for X describes itself as  “a community of individuals and organizations that work together to accelerate progress on moonshots—and what better group of people to work with than those already thinking about our country’s future? As Susan Molinari, our VP of public policy and government affairs, said at the event: “Policymakers are trying to solve big, intractable problems—and so are engineers. Engineers are tackling challenges that have no answers to date, and so are our policymakers.”If we’re going to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, we need more people and teams to take on “moonshots”—audacious projects that create 10x improvement, not 10 percent. Part of that involves encouraging and celebrating the audacity of the attempt.

The group goes on to describe how they function by telling us, “we partnered with Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer to run a special session of Solve for X on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to discuss and debate audacious science and technology moonshots that could transform the world.”

The gathering of important leaders that included members of Congress, exceptional entrepreneurs, pioneers in their respect fields of engineering, technology, math, manufacturing and science and other areas brainstormed and came up ideas to advance America's future. Some examples include:

• Neil Gershenfeld and Nadya Peek from the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms proposed setting up FabLabs to bring manufacturing back to America—and in a way appropriate to the 21st century


• Theresa Condor from NanoSatisfi proposed an inexpensive way to give all students direct access to personal satellites to conduct their own science experiments and to transform adoption of STEM


• Chris Lewicki from Planetary Resources proposed mining asteroids for natural resources

Solving social and political problems is key to moving people ahead to work together to support jobs and progress in business, according to the Solve for X concept.  Here is its specific invitation with respect to the fledgling opportunity to be part of a growing community in conflict and problem resolution:

Solve for X is asking for recruits, those people who believe they can pioneer new ideas and have a bold vision of what they want to accomplish. Start right now and get Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama to shake hands and promise to work together themselves for the same objectives set by Solve for X---transforming the world into a better place.

Obama faces serious decision over a different kind of war

Carol Forsloff---While the world waits for decisions about Middle Eastern conflicts, facts indicate that in the United States and Canada there is a real disaster in the making, that has raised serious concerns sufficient for President Barack Obama to declare his concern about crossing a red line that could cause both countries serious and perhaps permanent problems. It is a different kind of war.

[caption id="attachment_4044" align="alignleft" width="222"] President Barack Obama[/caption]

Michael Marx makes a case against a situation that can create disastrous results for the United States, he tells us,  even as President Obama's own assessments of the problem have provoked the President to say he would block any efforts to complete a project if it would “significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.”

Marx is the Sierra Club Beyond Oil Campaign Director who tells us about the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline and why citizens should rally support against it. The Sierra Club, an activist group dedicated to environmental issues, tells us the oil companies are using a report from the US State Department that significantly underestimates the damage the pipeline could cause. In fact evidence shows the project could make a major impact on the environment and climate.

The report referred to by Marx was written, he maintains, by a member of the American Petroleum Institute and ignores the facts from scientists and industry analysts. He is asking citizens to respond vigorously to reveal the flaws in the oil industry-funded report and reminds people that “President made it clear he won't approve the pipeline if it harms the climate.” President Obama has yet to make a final decision on moving forward with the pipeline project that is poised to make oil transfers through the pipeline that could create considerable collateral and specific damage.  The Sierra Club asks citizens to sign a petition to tell Secretary of State John Kerry not Obama not approve the Keystone XL pipeline project.

The Center for Biological Diversity stands with the Sierra Club in expressing its concerns about the Keystone XL pipeline. It points to this example as one that reveals the seriousness of the problems created by this type of project, citing facts about Keystone I is said to have leaked 14 times since its beginning in 2010, with one spill dumping 21,000 gallons of tar-sands. Other spills have polluted the Kalamazoo and Yellowstone Rivers from hundreds of thousands of gallons containing oil that has spilled into the waters.

What other damages could occur are underlined by The Center for Biological Diversity that include greater emissions of greenhouse gases that could increase risks of climate change, pollution of drinking water from oil spills, and the threats to wildlife.

The Institute for 21^st Century Energy declares the Keystone XL pipelines to be advantageous for energy development, that it will produce more oil and is not a major contributor to environmental pollution. The organization declares: “The proposed TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline will allow the United States to access safe, reliable, and affordable energy supplies from Canada, and reduce our need to import crude oil from less stable countries and regions of the world. In addition to improving the nation's economic and energy security, during it's building phase the proposed project will provide approximately 20,000 badly needed manufacturing and construction jobs, and contribute an estimated $20 billion in benefits to the U.S. Economy.”

President Obama is at the apex of a major decision that could affect much of the United States, even as it could produce more energy. The energy companies clamor for citizen support for the Keystone XL pipeline even as environmental experts underline the horrific consequences that could imperil citizenry, the lands upon which folks live and work and the environment and wildlife that are at the mercy of man's decisions.

Both sides in the debate about the Keystone XL pipeline are asking citizens to sign petitions asking Obama to make the right decision.

Here are the devastating weather forecasts for North America

Editor --While Groundhog Day brings prediction of an early spring for the United States, the news isn't good for the climate in general, according to the latest report of a team of Cornell researchers.  In fact, they have determined that the earth will face serious challenges from climate-induced weather storms and catastrophes that will require serious governmental intervention across the world.

[caption id="attachment_16780" align="aligncenter" width="568"] Hurricane Sandy's path according to original predictions[/caption]

According to Drew Harvell, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and David Wolfe, professor of horticulture, Americans can expect more heat waves, greater and greater amounts of rainfall causing floods and droughts,  with an increasing rise in ocean temperatures and acid levels.   The lack of intervention with reference to greenhouse gas emissions could exacerbate these conditions.  This is particularly critical since 64 million people live in highly populated areas that can be impacted by climate change, so that people in the Northeast may suffer extreme situations like Hurricane Sandy.

"This document will be an essential science-based resource for decision-makers in our communities and businesses who are rolling up their sleeves to take on the challenges and build resilience to climate change," said Wolfe.

Highlights of the report for 12 Northeast states include these findings:

• Heat waves, coastal flooding due to sea level rise and river flooding from extreme precipitation events will increasingly threaten the region's environmental, social and economic systems.


• These climate-related hazards, along with increased pressure from pests and disease, will stress agriculture and ecosystems. Research and outreach efforts are under way to help farmers cope.


• State and municipality-level measures to implement adaptations are still at early stages, even though many local and state governments and organizations have begun planning for climate changes.

So could there be another Hurricane Sandy with devastating consequences again?  Scientists maintain climate change has indeed made storms bigger and more threatening.  And scientists also say that North America will be particularly prone to these storms, something even those in the insurance business now believe as well.  Scientific American quotes a selection from an article in the New Yorker that states Munich Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurance firms, did a study of severe weather conditions and wrote, “Nowhere in the world is the rising number of natural catastrophes more evident than in North America.”

President Barack Obama declared he would make environmental protection and action on climate change a priority in the next four years.  Scientists tell us it is an urgent one.

No matter who wins, Americans lose

[caption id="attachment_14147" align="alignleft" width="300"] Republican primary candidates for President[/caption]

Joel S. Hirschhorn--Why am I so sick of all the media attention to the Republican presidential primaries and all the sometimes meaningless talk about President Obama’s advantages and disadvantages for the coming election? I just cannot get excited.  My answer may also be yours: No matter who wins, our nation loses.

Come election night I would be overjoyed to see Obama lose and equally overjoyed to see the Republican candidate, whoever it is, also lose.  I cannot see how either Romney or Gingrich or even Ron Paul could possibly offer what is truly needed to fix the root causes of all the dysfunction, corruption and despair with the  US political and government system.  And Obama?  Nothing but slickness instead of results is my opinion of the President's performance to date.

Here is a central, common deficiency: No major presidential candidate has come out with strong support for any of the constitutional amendments critically needed to truly reform our system.  More than ever, after so much failed government, a whole lot of Americans are ready to support amendments that would, for example, mandate term limits for members of Congress, remove all private money from federal elections, require a balanced federal budget, and revitalize the constitutional requirement for Congress explicitly declaring war.

With one or two billion dollars spent on campaigning for this presidential election cycle the real winners will be all the media companies and army of campaign advisors and consultants getting all that money.  With the media and pundits focusing on the election the public has been robbed of real in depth news coverage of countless issues and situations worldwide that we should be far better informed about, especially to better understand exactly what public policies we should want from the president and Congress.  The mainstream media that treats the presidential campaigns like sporting events has become as superficial as the presidential candidates.

There is only one scenario that could make me enormously interested in the presidential election outcome.  With relatively little media attention to it, few Americans know about the Americans Elect national effort that will place a presidential candidate on every state ballot.  The candidates for president and vice president will result from a lengthy process conducted on the Internet involving millions of Americans that have signed up to be part of that process.  True, those two candidates that cannot have backgrounds from the same political party, but they may turn out to be somewhat familiar to us because of their past political efforts, though neither will be the same as those on the Democratic and Republican tickets.  For a fair analysis of this innovative process read what John Heilemann has said in New York Magazine.

Considering the widespread and deserved disgust among Americans with both major parties, there is a decent chance that people like me will be strongly motivated to vote for the Americans Elect alternative ticket.  It definitely will be a vote against both major parties.  If millions of Americans make this choice, then I will be overjoyed and so should you.  Why?  Because it may be the most important historic event that could motivate actions to get us genuine reforms of our political and government system.  The Americans Elect ticket does not have to win, just show the Democrats and Republicans how much they are both being rejected.

For this scenario to occur, however, people must stop thinking about the “spoiler” fear that both major parties promote. Democrats want people to fear that a vote for the Americans Elect ticket will cause the Republican ticket to win, and vice versa.  In truth, by voting for the Americans Elect ticket we the people have the most important electoral choice to fix our broken system. Think of it as an electoral revolution.  The imperative is to stick with your fundamental belief that in the end it really does not matter whether the Republican or Democratic presidential candidate wins, principally because elite rich and corporate interests will still prevail.  This means that the vast majority of Americans will continue to get screwed: The top one percent will still own and control our nation under either a Republican or Democratic president.  Keep remembering that both major party candidates have lied repeatedly, will keep lying, and will never implement whatever they have promised they will do to reform the system.

My best advice to you now: Stop wasting your time on following all the nonsense about the Republican primaries and later about the main campaign from both major party candidates.  Don’t let yourself be manipulated.  Instead, sign up at Americans Elect and join the 2.4 million Americans who have already joined the process to give Americans a true alternative to both major parties.  Note that 80 percent of people have said they are ready to support an alternative presidential ticket this year.  Will they put their votes where their words are?

At some point it will become necessary to mount a national demand that the Americans Elect candidates be allowed to participate in the pre-election national televised debates and also to demand that the mainstream media give equal time and attention to them.  If we are to convert our current delusional democracy into a genuine one, then the most patriotic and courageous thing to do is to support the Americans Elect effort.



[Contact Joel S. Hirschhorn at delusionaldemocracy.com.]

President Obama declares 'Osama bin Laden is dead'

While the nation waited anxiously, President Barack Obama was reported to be preparing his historical announcement that Osama bin Laden was killed in Islamabad and that the body is in the hands of America, bringing to a close a dark chapter in history that was hammered into the memories of the world on September 11, 2001.

[caption id="attachment_4010" align="alignleft" width="237" caption="FBI poster of Osama bin Laden"][/caption]

Osama bin Laden had orchestrated the bombing of the World Trade Towers that killed 3,000 people in Washington DC, a field in Pennsylvania and the Towers in New York City.  Then President Bush vowed to capture bin Laden "dead or alive."  On President Obama's watch, bin Laden was killed, as the particulars of what happened began to filter in from media sources in the Middle East and the United States.

Tonight hundreds of people have gathered on the White House lawn singing patriotic songs in celebration of the announcement of bin Laden's death.  In the meantime, CNN reported that there is heightened security in anticipation of the possibility of retaliation by members of Al Qaida.

President Obama, media sources close to the White House said, had been busy most of the day, interacting with top administration officials.  The press was notified to be ready for the announcement originally scheduled for 10:30 p.m. Sunday, EST.  The announcement was made one hour later.

In his remarks Obama thanked President al Zadari and Pakistan for assistance in the US locating and killing bin Laden.

The announcement comes after whispers fanned by right wing conspiracy theorists that Obama was in league with foreign sources and because his father was Muslim that he would be soft on terrorism.  It is, however, during Obama Presidency that the historic announcement was made Sunday night that the body of bin Laden is in US hands and that the terrorist sought for ten years is dead.