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John Baird (Canadian politician)

John Russell Baird (born May 26, 1969) is a retired Canadian politician. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2015 in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He had been a member of the federal cabinet, in various positions, since 2006. Previously he was a provincial cabinet minister in Ontario during the governments of Premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves. Baird resigned from Harper's cabinet on February 3, 2015, and as a Member of Parliament on March 16, 2015.

A long-time resident of the former city of Nepean, where he attended Bell High School, and a graduate of Kingston's Queen's University, he was the member of the House of Commons of Canada for the riding of Ottawa West—Nepean until 2015. Baird was elected there as a candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada in the 2006 federal election, when his party defeated Paul Martin's Liberal Party and established a minority government. Baird was sworn in as Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, replacing Jay Hill, on August 6, 2010. Prior to this, Baird served as Transport Minister starting October 30, 2008, Environment Minister starting January 2007, and President of the Treasury Board during the Conservatives' first year in power.

Baird served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2005 for the riding of Nepean—Carleton (part of Nepean until 1999), and was a cabinet minister in the Progressive Conservative governments of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves. He served as the Minister for Children, Community and Social Services, Energy and Francophone Affairs in addition to being the Government's Chief Whip. After the Conservatives' defeat by Dalton McGuinty's Ontario Liberal Party, he was the party's critic for key portfolios including finance, culture and health. Baird had been a member of the Conservatives since 1985, when he was the youngest delegate at that time and was also a political aide for the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in the late 1980s.

During his tenure in the Harris Cabinet he supported an attempt to sell Hydro One, the publicly owned utility firm. As the federal President of the Treasury Board in the Harper Cabinet, he moved the Federal Accountability Act, which was put in place after the Gomery Commission which investigated the federal sponsorship scandal in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As Minister of the Environment, Baird signalled the Canadian government's opposition to the Kyoto Protocol. He also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, and President of the Treasury Board.

Early life and career
Baird was born in Nepean, Ontario, the son of Marianne (née Collins) and Gerald Baird. He became involved in politics when he backed a candidate for the local federal PC nomination in 1984. The next year, aged sixteen, Baird was the youngest delegate to attend the party's January 1985 provincial leadership convention, as a supporter of Ontario Attorney-General Roy McMurtry.

He was later president of the youth wing of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, and aligned himself with Dennis Timbrell during the latter's abortive campaign for the PC leadership in 1989 and 1990. He backed Mike Harris when Timbrell withdrew from the contest. Baird was charged with trespassing during the 1988 federal election, after he tried to question Ontario Premier David Peterson about free trade with the United States during a Liberal Party campaign stop in a Kingston shopping mall. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Studies from Queen's University in 1992.

Baird worked on the political staff of Perrin Beatty when Beatty was federal Minister of National Defence in the early 1990s, and followed Beatty through the subsequent cabinet shifts that culminated in his becoming Secretary of State for External Affairs in the short-lived 1993 government of Kim Campbell. After the defeat of the Progressive Conservatives in the 1993 federal election, Baird worked as a lobbyist in Ottawa.

Baird says he has been a vegetarian since 1997. However, he admits to eating fish, and he reportedly ate seal meat on a trip to the Arctic in 2009.

In June 2008, he was selected by the Ottawa Business Journal as a recipient of the "Forty Under 40" award.

Government backbencher
While Baird had been associated with Red Tories such as McMurtry, Timbrell and Beatty, he became associated with the conservative ideology of the Mike Harris-led Ontario PC party upon entering provincial politics. He was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 1995, defeating Liberal incumbent Hans Daigeler in the Ottawa-area riding of Nepean. The youngest member of the legislature, Baird was appointed parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Labour on July 13, 1995.

He became parliamentary assistant to the Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet in April 1997, and was promoted to parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Finance in November of the same year. As a backbencher, Baird proposed a bill naming Highway 416 as the "Veterans' Memorial Highway" and successfully steered its passage through the legislature. He was easily re-elected in 1999, defeating longtime Ottawa councillor Gord Hunter by a margin of almost 15,000 votes.

Community and Social Services minister
Baird joined Premier Harris's cabinet on June 17, 1999, as Minister of Community and Social Services, where he became responsible for implementing and expanding Ontario's workfare program. As one of Harris's few bilingual ministers, he was also named as Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs.

1999
Baird's first press conference as a cabinet minister was held in July 1999, and was intended to highlight the Harris government's record in reducing the provincial welfare rolls. He told reporters that 15,000 people had left the system since the introduction of workfare, and used this figure to argue that the government's policy was a success. At the time, he lacked information on the number of workfare recipients who actually found jobs, and he also did not account for 40% of the welfare recipients who had been cut from the list. A number of media reports subsequently criticized both the principle and the implementation of workfare in Ontario.

A September 1999 report from Baird's ministry showed that 10,600 workfare placements had been created in the first six months of 1999, a figure which the Toronto Star observed was significantly lower than that which had been predicted by the government. Baird indicated that he would continue with the workfare program, and that the proportion of welfare recipients on workfare would be increased from 15% to 30%.

Baird sparked criticism in late 1999 for refusing to cancel a five-year contract that had been signed between his department and the Bermuda-based private firm Andersen Consulting (later Accenture), worth up to $180 million. The contract, signed when Janet Ecker was Community and Social Services minister, entrusted Andersen with providing technological upgrades to the province's welfare management system. The arrangement was criticized by Auditor General Erik Peters, who observed that there was nothing in the contract to prevent Andersen from increasing its hourly rates. A published report in early 2000 indicated that Andersen was charging an average of $257 per hour for work that had previously been done by ministry staff at $51 per hour. Another report indicated that the firm had charged a total of $55 million to find roughly $66 million worth of savings. In response to opposition questions, Baird said that he would not terminate the contract but would endeavour to negotiate a lower rate. Baird opposed the Harris government's plan to amalgamate the city of Ottawa with neighboring municipalities, which was approved by the legislature in 1999.

2000
In January 2000, Baird unveiled a series of initiatives designed to reduce fraud and misuse in the welfare system. This was highlighted by the establishment of a welfare fraud hotline and a complementary conditionality three months later, in which anyone convicted of welfare fraud would run the risk of being given a lifetime ban from the program. The investigations Baird initiated during the fiscal year of 2000 uncovered $58.2 million in social assistance that people were not entitled to receive, and $16.6 million in avoided future costs, but critics of this approach, including opposition members, poverty advocates, and scholars, suggested that the Harris government was overstating the extent of fraud in order to undermine public confidence in welfare programs. In mid-year, Baird announced that workfare placements had reached departmental quotas for most of the province.

Baird revealed a $50 million program in May 2000 to help people with developmental disabilities become integrated into their communities. He later affirmed that the province was considering closing its remaining three institutions for the mentally handicapped as part of a larger strategy focusing on home care. Baird expressed concern about the physical condition of these institutions, saying that their residents "deserve better". Later that same year, he stated that his department would spend $26 million on shelters and other funding for the homeless.

Baird supported mandatory drug-testing for welfare recipients and argued that those who refused such tests should be at risk of having their assistance cut off. He introduced a policy initiative to this effect at a press conference in late 2000, in which he dramatically cast a box of syringes onto the floor and said that his department planned to "stop people from shooting their welfare cheque up their arm, and to help them shoot up the ladder of success". Baird acknowledged that his department did not have reliable figures on the number of welfare recipients abusing drugs, although he cited estimates of between 4% and 10%. The proposal was criticized by several people, including Ontario Human Rights Commissioner Keith Norton, a former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, who expressed concern that it could violate Ontario's human rights code, but officials including Baird justified the measures as, "necessary in order to push people still receiving assistance toward independence."

Shortly after Baird's announcement, a government website operated by the Ministry of Community and Social Services launched an attack against Liberal Party leader Dalton McGuinty for opposing the drug testing plan. The site claimed that McGuinty was "opposed to helping welfare recipients who are addicted to drugs". Baird denied that the message was partisan and initially refused to apologize. The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario subsequently ruled that the site content was inappropriate and it was removed by the government, with an apology.

2001–2002
In early 2001, Baird announced that his government's proposed drug-testing plan would be extended to identify welfare recipients addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol. He later announced that provincial welfare applicants would be required to pass a literacy test. The Harris government's welfare policies were put under scrutiny in August 2001 after a pregnant woman in Sudbury, Kimberly Rogers, died while serving a house arrest for welfare fraud. The woman had been confined to her apartment for three months and reports indicated that her pregnancy was "exacerbated by sweltering conditions in her apartment". Responding to criticism, Baird said that he could not comment on the specifics of the case until a coroner's inquest was completed. He defended his government's general policy on welfare issues. A subsequent inquest did not assign blame to the government for the woman's death, but recommended that lifetime bans for fraud be eliminated, and that adequate food, housing and medication be provided to anyone under house arrest.

Baird was given additional responsibilities as Minister responsible for Children on February 8, 2001. His department increased funding for child services early in the year, amid a significant increase in provincial demand. In November 2001, the provincial media obtained a confidential government report recommending 40–45% cuts in provincial child-care programs. Baird initially declined to comment on the document's contents, but rejected its proposals in early 2002.

Baird was the first cabinet minister to support Jim Flaherty's campaign to succeed Mike Harris as Progressive Conservative leader in the party's 2002 leadership election. The election was won by Flaherty's rival Ernie Eves, and early media reports suggested that Baird might be dropped from the new premier's cabinet in April 2002. He was not, but was demoted to the position of Chief Government Whip while remaining associate minister for Francophone Affairs. His replacement in Social Services was Brenda Elliott, who was from the more centrist wing of the Progressive Conservative Party.

Energy Minister and Government House Leader
Baird was returned to a more prominent cabinet position in August 2002 after Eves separated the ministries of Environment and Energy and appointed Baird to head the latter department. Baird was given additional responsibilities as Government House Leader in June 2003 after Chris Stockwell was forced to resign following allegations that he had used government funds for a family vacation.

As Energy Minister, Baird was entrusted with implementing the government's plan to sell off part of Ontario's Hydro One. A few months later, he became unexpectedly involved in two major and interrelated policy reversals. The Energy ministry came under intense media scrutiny in late 2002 after hydro rates increased significantly in many parts of the province. Critics argued that the Progressive Conservative government's price deregulation policy (implemented before Baird became Energy Minister) was responsible. Baird suggested that the rate increases resulted from an unusually hot summer. Rates remained high through the autumn, and the Eves government was forced to re-regulate the market in November by introducing a price cap. The government continued to support deregulation in principle, but maintained the cap for the remainder of its term in office. The second and more fundamental reversal occurred in late January 2003, when Premier Eves announced that Hydro One would remain under public control.

Baird was regarded as less combative as Energy Minister than he had been in Community and Social Services. The energy policies of the Eves government were controversial, but opposition criticism was often directed at the premier rather than at Baird. Eves took a prominent interest in the Energy portfolio, and sometimes relegated Baird to a secondary role in policy announcements. In November 2002, however, he was followed around the province by "Hydrozilla", a man in a giant lizard suit sent by the Ontario New Democratic Party as a stunt to show that deregulating electricity rates would create an 'economic monster' for consumers. In early March 2003, Baird announced that the government might be forced to implement rolling blackouts as a response to energy shortages. He encouraged conservation in late summer 2003, following a province-wide blackout caused by a generator failure in the United States.

Opposition member
The Ontario Liberal Party won a majority government in the 2003 election, although Baird was comfortably re-elected in his own seat. Between 2003 and 2005 he served as Official Opposition critic for Finance, Culture, Francophone Affairs, Intergovernmental Affairs and Health. He opposed the imposition of a health premium by Dalton McGuinty's government in 2004, charging that the Liberals broke an election pledge not the raise taxes. Baird and New Democrat Peter Kormos were vocal critics of Speaker Alvin Curling for allegedly favouring his Liberal colleagues, saying that he sanctioned Conservative and NDP members for behaviour he would allow from Liberals. At one stage, Baird described Curling's job performance as an "absolute disgrace".

Baird co-chaired Jim Flaherty's second campaign to lead the Progressive Conservative party in 2004. Flaherty was again unsuccessful, losing on the second ballot to the more centrist John Tory. Baird and Flaherty left provincial politics in 2005 to campaign for the federal House of Commons. Although Baird was generally on the right wing of the provincial Progressive Conservative Party, he expressed liberal views on some social issues. He supported same-sex marriage during the 2003 provincial election, and in 2005 helped the McGuinty government achieve quick passage of a provincial bill granting legal recognition to same-sex couples.

Federal politics
Baird supported a Canadian Alliance candidate in the 2000 federal election, and later endorsed Stephen Harper's bid to lead the newly formed Conservative Party of Canada in its 2004 leadership election. He was appointed as the Conservative Party's Ontario co-chair for the 2004 federal election. There were rumours that Baird would leave provincial politics to contest the 2004 election, but this did not happen. In 2005 he resigned his provincial seat to campaign federally for the Conservative Party.

Baird won a contested nomination battle for Ottawa West—Nepean Conservative nomination on May 5, 2005, defeating challengers Ed Mahfouz, Margret Kopala and Ade Olumide. John Pacheco later campaigned in the election as an "Independent conservative", with the specific intent of being a spoiler against Baird. He argued that if his campaign caused Baird to lose, the Conservatives would "get the message that social conservatives are serious about their politics." Baird chose to ignore Pacheco entirely in at least one all-candidates debate.

Baird was elected, defeating Liberal candidate Lee Farnworth by about 5,000 votes. The Ottawa Citizen endorsed Baird in this campaign, and argued that his political judgment had improved considerably since his tenure as a Harris cabinet minister. In December 2006 Baird was one of thirteen Conservative MPs who voted against reopening the national debate on same-sex marriage.

Baird played an aggressive role in Question Period after his appointment to cabinet, leading MP Garth Turner to describe him as Stephen Harper's "Commons pit bull".

President of the Treasury Board
Baird was appointed President of the Treasury Board on February 6, 2006. Following his appointment, he said that one of his priorities would be to prevent government jobs from being relocated from Ottawa to other regions for political purposes. Baird also indicated that his government was not planning to introduce job cuts or initiate a radical reduction in the size of government. In June 2006 he announced the creation of a three-member panel to advise the federal government on grant and contribution programs and accountability issues. One of the members was Frances Lankin, a former Ontario New Democratic Party cabinet minister.

Accountability Act
Baird introduced the Conservative government's first piece of legislation in April 2006. The Accountability Act promised significant reform to the structure of Canadian politics and government. Prime Minister Harper said that it would "put an end to the influence of money" in the Canadian government. The Accountability Act restricted the ability of former politicians and bureaucrats to become lobbyists, provided protection to whistle-blowers in the civil service and gave the Auditor General of Canada new powers of oversight. It limited individual donations to political parties and candidates to $1,100 per year (down from $5,200), created nine new or revised positions to oversee the activities of public officials and placed crown corporations such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation under access-to-information legislation.

Opposition MPs complained that several recommendations for access-to-information reform were omitted from the bill, and were instead sent to committee for further review. New Democratic Party MP Pat Martin suggested that this deferral could delay meaningful reform for the foreseeable future. Martin later made a deal with Baird to give the bill an easy passage through committee, in return for the Conservatives accepting some NDP amendments.

Information Commissioner John Reid criticized the new proposed powers for his department under the legislation, arguing that they would create unnecessary bureaucracy. Shortly after the Accountability Act was introduced to parliament, Reid issued an emergency report saying that the legislation would "increase the government's ability to cover up wrongdoing, shield itself from embarrassment and control the flow of information to Canadians". He added that no government had ever put forward "a more retrograde and dangerous" set of proposals for dealing with access to information laws. Baird described Reid's criticisms as "excessive", stating that most of the commissioner's specific concerns were minor in nature. Representatives of Canada's business community also expressed concern about changes to disclosure laws, arguing that their commercial secrets could be exposed to competitors.

The bill passed the House of Commons on division in June 2006. The Senate of Canada approved it in December 2006, with several amendments, and sent it back to the Commons for further consideration. The amended act was approved by the Commons without debate on December 8, and was signed into law four days later.

Shortly after the bill first passed the Commons, Baird acknowledged that the Conservatives might have unintentionally broken political financing laws by failing to report convention fees collected in 2005. He told a Senate committee that $1.7 million was left unreported and that he did not realize it was an issue at the time. The matter is under review by the Chief Electoral Officer. The Conservatives quietly tabled an amendment to the Accountability Act in November 2006, stipulating that convention fees will not be counted as political contributions.

Program cuts
In May 2006, Baird was asked to find $1 billion in cuts for 2006 and 2007. On September 25, on the same day that the government announced a $13.2 billion surplus, Baird announced cuts to sixty-six federal programs, including Status of Women, medicinal marijuana research, Canadian museums, adult literacy, youth employment and social development and the British Columbia pine beetle program. One of the most controversial cuts was to the federal Court Challenges Program, which provided funding for Canadians to pursue rights cases in the Canadian court system. Baird argued that government funding would be redirected in a way that "reflects the priorities of working families" and that he "just [didn't] think it made sense for the government to subsidize lawyers to challenge the government's own laws in court." In justifying cuts to adult literacy programs, Baird referenced his government's support for youth literacy and said, "We've got to fix the ground level problem and not be trying to do repair work after the fact."

2006 Ottawa municipal election
In early October 2006, Baird's department reviewed a promised $200 million grant to the City of Ottawa's light-rail expansion project for the O-Train. Baird indicated that the government would keep the funding at least until the November election, but added that the Council elected in November would have the final say on the issue. He also leaked details of the city's contact with the German firm Siemens. As a result, the rail program became a focal issue in the 2006 Ottawa mayoral election and Baird's opponents accused him of trying to influence the outcome. Baird and Ottawa Mayor Bob Chiarelli accused one another of lying about details of the project, and Liberal MP Navdeep Bains asked the Federal Ethics Commissioner to investigate Baird's decision to release details of the private contract. Chiarelli was defeated in the election and the light-rail expansion was stopped by the new council.

An Ottawa Citizen report in January 2007 revealed that federal officials had not posed any objections to the light-rail project before Baird's intervention, and suggested that his involvement was political in nature. Green Party leader Elizabeth May speculated that Ottawa may have been deprived of light-rail service because of an apparent "personal vendetta" from Baird against Chiarelli. Baird denied this charge, saying that his intervention was not political.

Opponents of the light-rail project have argued that it was undertaken without sufficient consultation with the public. In February 2008, it was reported that the House of Commons committee on government operations would be looking into his involvement over the case. MP and committee member Mark Holland voiced a concern that Baird leaked information on the contract. Baird replied that he made the right decision and dismissed the investigation saying "there is no evidence of anything". Speaking to reporters he added following the announcement of the investigation: "If you want to avert a billion-dollar boondoggle, you have to make some difficult decisions".

Other responsibilities
Baird held ministerial responsibilities for the Toronto Harbourfront Centre and the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation. He developed a working relationship with Toronto Mayor David Miller soon after his appointment, and was present for the announcement of a comprehensive new waterfront strategy in June 2006. Ontario cabinet minister David Caplan described Baird as a champion of waterfront renewal and Miller described him as an ally of the city. Baird spent Christmas 2006 meeting with Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

Environment Minister 2007–08
On January 4, 2007, Baird was appointed as Environment Minister in a cabinet shuffle, replacing Rona Ambrose. In making the appointment, Prime Minister Stephen Harper acknowledged that his government needed to do more to make the environment a priority. Some commentators remarked favourably on Baird's appointment, describing him as a strong communicator and negotiator. Columnist Andrew Coyne, however, described Baird as "the man sent to kill the issue," suggesting that Baird's appointment was meant to neutralize the environment as an election issue rather than to initiate any meaningful reforms. Baird is a vocal opponent of the Kyoto Protocol, which he argues will bring about an "economic collapse". Later in 2007, he added that any new environmental agreements must include reduction targets for major greenhouse emitters such as China, India and the United States who have not signed the Protocol or does not have any mandatory reductions set by the Protocol. Baird met with renowned Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki following his appointment. At the time Suzuki said he was encouraged by Baird's approach, but remained skeptical of the Harper government's environmental plans. However, when Baird unveiled the Conservative government's plan in April 2007, Suzuki confronted him, calling the plan "a disappointment".

Approach to the Kyoto Protocol
In February 2007, the Liberal opposition brought forward a non-binding motion for Canada to renew its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. All Conservative MPs who were present in the House, including Baird, voted against the motion, which passed with the support of the three opposition parties. The following month, opposition members on a special Commons committee used their majority to bring forward sweeping changes to the government's Clean Air Act. Among other things, the revised act called for participation in international carbon markets and the fulfillment of Kyoto targets.

Baird indicated that the opposition's changes would not be included in federal targets or regulations.

In April 2007, Baird produced a federal study supported by five independent economists to support his approach to the Kyoto Protocol. Among the five economists was Toronto-Dominion Bank chief economist Don Drummond, who also wrote a private letter to Baird arguing that the "economic cost [of implementing Kyoto] would be at least as deep as the recession in the early 1980s." Opposition parliamentarians dismissed the report as a scare tactic, while Liberal Environment critic David McGuinty argued that the study was misleading, saying that it did not properly examine international emission trading and ignored jobs to be created through the "green economy". The report claimed that Canada's ability to invest in developing nations to meet emissions targets through CDM by misquoting the amount of credit to be $85 million instead of the real approximation of $3 billion. Soon afterward, a United Nations report also contradicted the study mentioning that "steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions can be accomplished at a cost of only 0.12 per cent of the world's annual economic output" but Baird responded that Canada's gas emission levels would peak in 2012, three years before the UN's set target of 2015.

Environmental strategy
Baird was the Harper government's representative at the release of a major United Nations report on climate change in Paris in February 2007. He described the report as a "turning point in the battle against climate change," while indicating his surprise that human activity was found to be a major cause of the phenomenon.

Baird released his government's targets for greenhouse gas emissions in late April 2007. The plan calls for Canada to begin cutting its existing rate of greenhouse gas emissions by 2010 and for cuts to reach 20% by 2020. Under this plan, Canada will reach its Kyoto targets between 2020 and 2025, taking an additional eight to thirteen years longer than Kyoto. The government plan uses production intensity targets instead of hard caps. Baird said that the "plan strikes a balance between the perfection some environmentalists may be seeking and the status quo that some in industry seek to protect." In December 2007, Baird revealed in a plan that over 700 big-polluter companies, including oil and gas, pulp and paper, electricity and iron and steel companies, must cut greenhouse emissions by six percent between 2008 and 2010. The companies would also have to produce an annual report every May 31 that would include data regarding the level of greenhouses emissions produced each year. Baird's proposal has been met with approval from Canada's oilpatch executives, who described them as the toughest emission regulations in the world, and who feared that more stringent standards would stifle oil sands exploration. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty had been considerably less critical than his brother, federal Liberal Member of Parliament David McGuinty, having written to Prime Minister Harper on the environmental policy. The Premier had stressed the importance of a policy that considered the North American market as a whole, due to the automotive industry's importance to his province. McGuinty said the Conservatives' environmental plan could have gone further but described the auto emissions part of the plan as "very sensible".

Members of opposition parties have criticized the government's abandonment of the Kyoto goals, while David Suzuki described the proposal as a "sham" with "weak targets". Former US vice president Al Gore said Baird's plan was a "complete and total fraud" that was "designed to mislead the Canadian people". Baird responded by defending his plan and by criticizing Gore's environmental record, noting that no similarly stringent measures were passed during Gore's tenure in office and that the Kyoto Treaty was never submitted to the US Senate for ratification. Liberal Party MP Pablo Rodriguez introduced to the House of Commons a private bill that would have forced Canada to comply with the Kyoto Treaty in response to the government's plan. While the bill passed, Baird mentioned that, even though that the government wouldn't dismiss the idea, there were no new environmental measures planned. All three opposition parties demanded that the environment become one of the main points of the government's Throne Speech in the 2007 fall session.

Environmental record
Shortly after his appointment, Baird, Stephen Harper and Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn announced $1.5 billion for clean-energy initiatives over the next decade. Baird and Lunn also announced a $230 million program for clean energy technology. Lunn said that "there were literally hundreds of programs but there was no focus" when the Conservatives took office. Critics argued that the new Conservative measures were similar to measures introduced by the Liberals in their 2005 budget. Former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion has argued that the Conservative Party's strategy is too strongly focused on nuclear energy.

On February 12, 2007, Baird appeared at a press conference with Stephen Harper and Quebec Premier Jean Charest to announce a $1.5 billion environmental fund for the provinces. Journalist Frances Russell criticized that as a reduction from the $3 billion promised by the previous Liberal government.

Canada is a signatory to the Kyoto protocol which legally requires signatory countries to set up compatible carbon trading markets. In direct defiance of this international legal obligation, in March 2007, Baird indicated that he wanted Canadian companies to be banned, or at least severely restricted, from participating in the international carbon market. Several European countries had already set up a trading system to allow companies that reduce their emission levels below government targets to sell "credits" on an international market. Many industry leaders argued that Canada should adopt a similar policy. Then-opposition leader Stéphane Dion argued that participation will allow Canadian firms to make "megatonnes of money". Baird however described some carbon markets as "shaky," and argued that trade should be restricted to within Canada, or perhaps within North America. In April he indicated that Canadian businesses would soon gain the right to earn credits by investing in overseas environmental projects.

Baird defended another Conservative government decision to cut funds for climate science research, arguing that further studies are largely superfluous in light of recent United Nations reports. Gordon McBean of the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences has disagreed, claiming that further research is the best way to adapt to a changing climate.

Baird said in a House of Commons Committee that his government would not consider the implementation of a carbon tax. He told that the government's approach "will be to provide regulation for industry to ensure we reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and reduce air pollutants"

Bali
While participating at the United Nations Summit On Climate Changes in Bali, Indonesia, Baird announced a $86 million funding to help Canadian communities notably coping with the loss of forests due to pine beetles in the west and of infrastructures in the north due to softer soil. The four-year plan included $56 million on several projects and $29 million for research.

Baird was criticized by some parties and observers for obstructing progress on what was to become 'the Bali Action Plan'. Baird showed up for the Bali Conference at which it was intended he explain Canada's position at a meeting with non-governmental activists, but instead quickly left, with one of the activists alleging that Baird left because he "probably did not want to confront young activists critical of Canada's stand."

Draft Baird Movement
In late November and early December 2008, a website went online allegedly representing a movement to draft Baird for leader of the Conservative Party, in the face of Stephen Harper facing possible defeat by an opposition coalition.

The draft group allegedly comprised over 100 party members from across the country—including two MPs and one Senator (who, reportedly, had requested anonymity). In its only contact with the media, the campaign claimed it had nearly 3,000 visitors and 237 new supporters in less than ten hours.

Baird indicated afterward not only that he was loyal to Harper, but that he was uninterested in ever becoming party leader. In 2011 he told a newspaper, "Some people may have when growing up, always harboured leadership ambitions. I've never harboured leadership ambitions. It is the honest-to-God truth."

Minister of Transport (2008–2010)
Baird served as Minister of Transport between October 30, 2008, and August 6, 2010.

Cancun climate 'fossil awards'
After resuming his environment portfolio from November 2010 until January 2011, Baird was the Harper government's main representative to the United Nations climate conference in Cancun in December 2010. On the first day, Canada "won" three Fossil of the Day awards, awards which, after a vote by more than 400 leading international organizations, go to countries that do the most to disrupt or undermine UN climate talks." Canada under Baird was accused of "working against progressive legislation to address climate change", cited for "cancelling support for clean energy and for failing to have any plan to meet its very weak target for reducing [Canada]'s greenhouse gas emissions."

Foreign Affairs Minister 2011–2015
Activists on board a Canadian boat taking supplies to Gaza (which had been blockaded by the Israeli government to ensure that weapons and other contraband did not enter Gaza) in November 2011 urged Baird to resign as foreign minister for "failing to do his job". They said they had been roughed up and Tasered by Israeli forces and that "If minister Baird wants to put the interests of a far-right Israeli government before Canadians, he should apply for the job of Israel's ambassador". Baird affirmed Canada's support for Likud's opposition to Palestinian statehood while visiting Israel in February 2012.

On September 7, 2012, he announced the sudden closure of Canada's embassy in Tehran and the expulsion of all Iranian diplomats from Canada. Baird made the announcement at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Russia. He said Canada's decision was not linked to growing speculation of an imminent attack by Israel on Iran's nuclear facilities. Baird said "Canada views the government of Iran as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today." Canada's actions were immediately praised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who described them as "bold leadership."

Baird signed an agreement between the Governments of the United Arab Emirates and Canada for cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Baird's criticism of the stance of several African countries on same-sex rights and of the Russian Federation for its ban on "homosexual propaganda" and other moves to suppress LGBT rights have been condemned by the social conservative lobby group REAL Women of Canada which issued a statement accusing him of "abuse of office" claiming that "Mr. Baird's actions are destructive to the conservative base in Canada and causing collateral damage to his party." A spokesman for Baird's office replied stating "The promotion and protection of human rights is an integral part of Canada’s foreign policy."

Baird refused to sign the world Arms Trade Treaty, with the Canadian government reportedly ordering its diplomats to play a "low-key, minimal role" during negotiations and protect the rights of Canadian gun owners.

Resignation and departing public office
Following his resignation as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baird remained a backbench MP for several weeks. On February 19, 2015, he represented the government at the re-opening of Canada House, the home of the Canadian High Commission to the United Kingdom. Baird's resignation from parliament took effect on March 16, 2015.

Private sector
Since leaving politics, Baird has accepted several private sector appointments. In June 2015 he was hired as a strategic adviser to Hatch Ltd, an international engineering and consulting firm for companies in the resource industry. In October 2015 he joined political risk consulting firm Eurasia Group as a senior adviser, where he offers strategic insight to companies on how global politics affects business. He has also been hired as an adviser to Bennett Jones, and accepted an appointment to the board of directors of Canadian Pacific Railway.

On March 27, 2015, Barrick Gold Corp. announced Mr. Baird's appointment to its international advisory board, along with former U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich. No compensation details were disclosed in the filings.

In August 2018, Baird appeared on Saudi-owned TV station Al Arabiya to comment on the diplomatic dispute between Canada and Saudi Arabia and urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to fly to Riyadh to apologize in person to the Saudi royal family. NDP MP Charlie Angus called the appearance "stunning" and suggested that the Ethics Commissioner should investigate the incident.

Later political activity
Following the 2019 federal election, Baird was commissioned by the Conservative Party to investigate and deliver a report analyzing the party's campaign and the reasons for its failure to win the election. When party leader Andrew Scheer resigned, Baird supported Pierre Poilievre's prospective leadership campaign, agreeing to be its campaign chair. Poilievre unexpectedly decided not to enter the campaign, however, and Baird was encouraged to run as a "true blue" candidate in his place. On February 13, 2020, Baird announced he would not be a candidate in the 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election. He endorsed Pierre Poilievre in the 2022 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election.

Electoral record
All electoral information taken from Elections Canada and Elections Ontario. Italicized expenditures refer to submitted totals, and are presented when the final reviewed totals are not available.

The 1999 and 2003 expenditure entries are taken from official candidate reports as listed by Elections Ontario. The figures cited are the Total Candidate's Campaign Expenses Subject to Limitation, and include transfers from constituency associations.

title: John Baird (Canadian politician)


text:
Fangataufa

Fangataufa (or Fangatafoa) is an uninhabited coral atoll in the eastern part of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia. The atoll has been fully-owned by the French state since 1964. From 1966 to 1996 it was used as a nuclear test site by the French government. In total, 4 atmospheric and 10 underground nuclear explosions were carried out on the atoll.

Geography
The atoll is a coral outgrowth of a seamount which rises some 3600 m from the seafloor, to a depth of -345 m. The seamount was formed 33.4 - 34.7 million years ago by the Pitcairn hotspot. The island is approx. 9.5 km long and 9.5 km wide. It has a lagoon area of 45 km2 and a land area of 5 km. It is located 37 km south of Moruroa atoll, 197 km east of Tematangi, 240 km southwest of the Gambier Islands and 1,190 km southeast of Tahiti.

Access to the lagoon is through a pass lying 0.5 mi SW of the northernmost point of the atoll; the channel has a width of about 60 m and a dredged depth of 6.5 m. A 12 m quay, in 2.5 m of water, is situated in the NE part of the lagoon; another quay, 50 m long in 5 m of water, and landing ramps, were constructed in its E part. The access channel is marked, on each side, by two beacons. There is an abandoned airfield, built to accommodate medium size transport aircraft, on the NE coast of the atoll.

History
The first recorded European to arrive at Fangataufa Atoll was Frederick William Beechey in 1826, who gave it the name "Cockburn island" in honour of George Cockburn.

Nuclear test site
Occasionally occupied during the 20th century, the atoll was selected by France in 1963 for use as a nuclear test site to replace Reggane and In Ecker in the Algerian Sahara. Along with Mururoa, it was formally ceded to France by the Territorial Assembly in 1964.

The first nuclear test at Fangataufa was Rigel, an atmospheric test, conducted on 24 September 1966. This was followed by three more atmospheric tests, including Canopus, France's first two-stage thermonuclear test, on 24 August 1968. The last atmospheric test was Orion, on 2 August 1970.

Following increasing criticism from Pacific countries, France switched to underground testing. Preparations began in 1974, and the first test, Achille, was carried out on 5 June 1975. This was followed by a second test, Hector, on 30 November 1975. Testing then moved exclusively to Mururoa until 1988, when growing safety concerns around the stability of Muroroa's atoll saw some testing move to Fangataufa. Eight further underground tests were conducted on the atoll, with the final one, Xouthos occurring on 27 January 1996.

Since 1998
Today, Fangataufa serves as a wildlife sanctuary for various species of birds. It is permanently uninhabited, and is classified as a Common Military Zone. The zone includes the lagoon areas enclosed by the atoll and by baselines linking the closest points emerging from the reef on both sides of the channel. Entry is prohibited without authorization. The atoll has been the subject of radiological monitoring since 1998 with an annual environmental sampling campaign carried out by Defense personnel and the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).

In February 2006 an inquiry by the French Polynesian government found that the French government had lied to the local population about the effects of atmospheric testing. On 15 October 2006, the Assembly of French Polynesia adopted a report on the consequences of nuclear testing which concluded that “nuclear testing has had a major impact on health, the environment, society and the Polynesian economy”. The Economic, Social and Cultural Council at the start of this report recommends that “the State recognizes the nuclear fact and assumes its full responsibility accordingly”. In November 2008 the French government agreed to compensate military personnel involved in the tests.

In February 2021, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research INSERM published a report entitled "Nuclear tests and health - Consequences in French Polynesia". The objective of this study was to establish an assessment of the available international scientific knowledge on the health consequences of the atmospheric nuclear tests conducted by France in French Polynesia, on the general population and former civilian and military workers.

Administration
Administratively Fangataufa Atoll is part of the commune of Tureia, which includes the atolls of Tureia, Moruroa, Tematangi and Vanavana.

In January 2012 French Polynesian President Oscar Temaru called for the return of Fangataufa and Mururoa. A bill to return the atolls by Senator Richard Tuheiava passed the Senate of France in 2012, but had not yet been debated by the French National Assembly by the time it was meant to take effect in 2014.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Fangataufa


text:
Greater racket-tailed drongo

The greater racket-tailed drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus) is a medium-sized Asian bird which is distinctive in having elongated outer tail feathers with webbing restricted to the tips. They are placed along with other drongos in the family Dicruridae. They are conspicuous in the forest habitats often perching in the open and by attracting attention with a wide range of loud calls that include perfect imitations of many other birds. One hypothesis suggested is that these vocal imitations may help in the formation of mixed-species foraging flocks, a feature seen in forest bird communities where many insect feeders forage together. These drongos will sometimes steal insect prey caught or disturbed by other foragers in the flock and another idea is that vocal mimicry helps them in diverting the attention of smaller birds to aid their piracy. They are diurnal but are active well before dawn and late at dusk. Owing to their widespread distribution and distinctive regional variation, they have become iconic examples of speciation by isolation and genetic drift.

Taxonomy
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the greater racket-tailed drongo in his Ornithologie based on a specimen that had been collected in Thailand (Siam). He used the French name Le Coucou Verd Hupé de Siam and the Latin Cuculus Siamensis Cristatus Viridis. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the greater racket-tailed drongo. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Cuculus paradiseus and cited Brisson's work. The current genus Dicrurus was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816.

There are 13 recognised subspecies:
 * D. p. grandis (Gould, 1836) – north India through west and north Myanmar and south China to north Indochina
 * D. p. rangoonensis (Gould, 1836) – central India through Bangladesh, central Myanmar and north Thailand to central Indochina
 * D. p. paradiseus (Linnaeus, 1766) – south India to south Thailand, north Malay Peninsula and south Indochina
 * D. p. johni (Hartert, 1902) – Hainan Island (off southeast China)
 * D. p. ceylonicus Vaurie, 1949 – Sri Lanka
 * D. p. otiosus (Richmond, 1902) – Andaman Islands
 * D. p. nicobariensis (Baker, ECS, 1918) – Nicobar Islands
 * D. p. hypoballus (Oberholser, 1926) – central Malay Peninsula
 * D. p. platurus Vieillot, 1817 – south Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and nearby islands
 * D. p. microlophus (Oberholser, 1917 – islands in the South China Sea (Tioman Island, Anambas Islands and the North Natuna Islands)
 * D. p. brachyphorus (Bonaparte, 1850) – Borneo
 * D. p. banguey (Chasen & Kloss, 1929) – islands off north Borneo
 * D. p. formosus (Cabanis, 1851) – Java

Description
In most of its range in Asia, this is the largest of the drongo species and is readily identifiable by the distinctive tail rackets and the crest of curled feather that begin in front of the face above the beak and along the crown to varying extents according to the subspecies. The tail with twirled rackets is distinctive and in flight it can appear as if two large bees were chasing a black bird. In the eastern Himalayas the species can be confused with the lesser racket-tailed drongo, however the latter has flat rackets with the crest nearly absent.

This widespread species includes populations that have distinct variations and several subspecies have been named. The nominate form is found in southern India, mainly in forested areas of the Western Ghats and the adjoining hill forests of peninsular India. The subspecies in Sri Lanka is ceylonicus and is similar to the nominate form but slightly smaller. The subspecies found along the Himalayas is grandis and is the largest and has long glossy neck hackles. The Andaman Islands form otiosus has shorter neck hackles and the crest is highly reduced while the Nicobars Island form nicobariensis has a longer frontal crest and with smaller neck hackles than otiosus. The Sri Lanka drongo (D. lophorinus) used to be treated as a subspecies as it was believed to form hybrids with ceylonicus but is now considered a separate species on the basis of their overlapping ranges. Specimens of the nominate form have sometimes been confused with the Sri Lanka drongo. Considerable variation in shape of the bill, extent of the crest, hackles and tail rackets exists in the island populations of Southeast Asia. The Bornean brachyphorus (=insularis), banguey of Banggai lack crests (banguey has frontal feathers that arch forwards) while very reduced crests are found in microlophus (=endomychus; Natunas, Anambas and Tiomans) and platurus (Sumatra). A number of forms are known along the Southeast Asian islands and mainland including formosus (Java), hypoballus (Thailand), rangoonensis (northern Burma, central Indian populations were earlier included in this) and johni  (Hainan).

Young birds are duller, and can lack a crest while moulting birds can lack the elongate tail streamers. The racket is formed by the inner web of the vane but appears to be on the outer web since the rachis has a twist just above the spatula.

Distribution and habitat
The distribution range of this species extends from the western Himalayas to the eastern Himalayas and Mishmi Hills in the foothills below 1200 m. They are found in the hills of peninsular India and the Western Ghats. Continuing into the west to the islands of Borneo and Java in the east through the mainland and islands.

Behaviour and ecology
Like other drongos, these feed mainly on insects but also eat fruit and visit flowering trees for nectar. Having short legs, they sit upright and are often perched on high and exposed branches. They are aggressive and will sometimes mob larger birds especially when nesting. They are often active at dusk.

Their calls are extremely varied and include monotonously repeated whistles, metallic and nasal sounds as well as more complex notes and imitations of other birds. They begin calling from as early as 4 am in moonlight often with a metallic tunk-tunk-tunk series. They have an ability to accurately mimic alarm calls of other birds that are learnt through interactions in mixed-species flocks. This is quite unusual, as avian vocal mimicry has hitherto been believed to be ignorant of the original context of the imitated vocalization. Grey parrots are known to use imitated human speech in correct context, but do not show this behavior in nature. This drongo's context-sensitive use of other species' alarm calls is thus analogous to a human learning useful short phrases and exclamations in a number of foreign languages. A special alarm note is raised in the presence of shikras that has been transcribed as a loud kwei-kwei-kwei...shee-cuckoo-sheecuckoo-sheecuckoo-why!. They have been said to imitate raptor calls so as to alarm other birds and steal prey from them in the ensuing panic. They are also known to imitate the calls of species (and possibly even behaviour as it was once recorded to fluff up and moving head and body like a jungle babbler when imitating its calls) that typically are members of mixed-species flocks such as babblers and it has been suggested that this has a role in the formation of mixed-species flocks. In some places they have been found to be kleptoparasitic on others in mixed-species flock, particularly laughingthrushes but they are most often involved in mutualistic and commensal relations. Several observers have found this drongo associating with foraging woodpeckers  and there is a report of one following a troop of macaques.

The greater racket-tailed drongo is a resident breeder throughout its range. The breeding season in India is April to August. Their courtship display may involve hops and turns on branches with play behaviour involving dropping an object and picking it in mid air. Their cup nest is built in the fork of a tree, often a smooth-boled tree with an isolated canopy, The nesting pair may even remove bits of bark on the trunk to make it smooth. The usual clutch is three to four eggs. The eggs are creamy white with blotches of reddish brown which are more dense at the broad end.

In culture
The common whistle note that is made leads to its local name in many parts of India of kothwal (which means a "policeman" or "guard", who used a whistle that produced a similar note), a name also applied to the black drongo and in other places as the Bhimraj or Bhringaraj. In Mizo language of northeast India, it is called  Vakul and the Mizo people use the tail feathers in ceremonies. Prior to the 1950s it was often kept in captivity by people in parts of India. It was said to be very hardy and like a crow, accommodating a varied diet. Edward H. Schafer considered the greater racket-tailed drongo as the basis for the divine kalaviṅka birds mentioned in Chinese and Japanese Buddhist texts.

title: Greater racket-tailed drongo


text:
Kenites

According to the Hebrew Bible, the Kenites/Qenites ( or ; Qēnī) were a tribe in the ancient Levant. They settled in the towns and cities in the northeastern Negev in an area known as the "Negev of the Kenites" near Arad, and played an important role in the history of ancient Israel. One of the most recognized Kenites is Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, who was a shepherd and a priest in the land of Midian. Certain groups of Kenites settled among the Israelite population, including the descendants of Moses's brother-in-law, although the Kenites descended from Rechab maintained a distinct, nomadic lifestyle for some time.

Other well-known Kenites were: Heber, husband of Jael, the Biblical heroine who killed General Sisera; and Rechab, the ancestor of the Rechabites.

Etymology
The word קֵינִי (qênî / Kay-nee) was a patronymic derived from the word קַיִן (qayin). There are several competing interpretations of the meaning of the etymology.

Early modern critical biblical scholars supposed that the name was a rendition of Hebrew קֵינִי Qeyniy. According to the German orientalist Wilhelm Gesenius, the name is derived from the name Cain (קַיִן Qayin), the same name as Cain the son of Adam and Eve. However this may simply be the ancient Hebrew transliteration or phonetization of the Kenites' name in their own language.

The word spelled קַיִן (qayin / Kah-yin). could also mean a spear or lance קַיִן (qayin / Kah-yin). derived from the word קוֹנֵן (qônēn / Koon) which meant to "strike" (The word would also be used to mean striking a note on a musical instrument, by the later books of the Bible this word became the noun for a type of lament, dirge, or sad chant. Later becoming a verb for chanting or wailing at a funeral)

Other scholars have linked the name to the term 'smith'. According to Archibald Henry Sayce, the name 'Kenite' or Qéní, is identical to an Aramaic word meaning a smith, which in its turn is a cognate of Hebrew Qayin, meaning 'a lance'. However, by the end of his life, Sayce was considered an amateur rather than a specialist and was criticized for his lack of intellectual penetration and outdated opposition to the work of continental orientalists.

Historical identity
The Kenites are a clan mentioned in the Bible, and referred to as having settled on the southern border of Judah. According to the Bible, in the time of David, the Kenites then settled among the tribe of Judah.

In Jeremiah 35:7-8 the Rechabites are described as tent-dwellers with an absolute prohibition against practicing agriculture; however, other Kenites are described elsewhere as city-dwellers.

Hippolytus of Rome in his Chronicon (AD 234) appears to identify the Kinaidokolpitai of central Arabia with the biblical Kenites.

In modern sources the Kenites are often depicted as technologically advanced nomadic blacksmiths who spread their culture and religion to Canaan. The suggestion that the Kenites were wandering smiths was first made by B. D. Stade in Beiträge zur Pentateuchkritik: dasKainszeichen in 1894 and has since become widespread. This view of the Kenites originated in Germany in the mid-1800s, and it is not reflected in any ancient Hebrew, Greek, Latin, or Arabic sources.

In 1988, Meindert Dijkstra argued that an ancient inscription in a metal mine in the Sinai Peninsula contained a reference to "a chief of the Kenites" (rb bn qn).

Age of the Patriarchs
The Bible mentions the Kenites as living in or around Canaan as early as the time of Abraham.

During the Exodus
Moses's father-in-law, Jethro, was a Kenite and a resident in the land of Midian. At the Exodus, Jethro and his clan inhabited the vicinity of Mount Sinai and Horeb.

In Jethro is said to have been a "priest in the land of Midian" and a resident of Midian. This has led many scholars to believe that the terms "Kenite" and "Midianite" are intended (at least in parts of the Bible) to be used interchangeably, or that the Kenites formed a part of the Midianite tribal grouping.

The Kenites journeyed with the Israelites to Canaan ; and their encampment, apart from the latter's, was noticed by Balaam.

The Kenites were closely allied with Moses, and are not mentioned to have participated in the first invasion of Canaan that was conducted against Moses's orders.

During the second invasion of Canaan, the Kenites would have seen the area around the town of Arad, the region of Canaan that the next generation of Kenites would later choose as their place to settle after the conquest.

When the Israelites and Kenites were camped at the foot of Mount Peor, King Balak of Moab allied himself with the five Kings of Midian, but seeing that they did not have the strength to defeat the Israelites, the leaders of Moab and Midian gathered together and paid a large fee to Balaam to put a curse on the Israelite camp from the high place (a type of religious shrine) on Mount Peor. Balaam was unable to curse Israel, but prophesied about the Kenites, saying that they would endure, but foretold that someday they would be led away captive as slaves to Assur,, with the question of how long their future slavery would last being unanswered.

War between Israel and Midian
While the camp was still encamped on the west side of Mount Peor, the local Moabites attempted to include the Israelites in their worship of their god Baal of Peor. During the commotion and bloodshed, Moses's grandnephew Phinehas killed a Midianite princess, Cozbi, the daughter of King Zur, one of the five Kings of Midian. Following this, Moses sent a strikeforce of 12,000 men (1000 from each Israelite tribe, the Kenites were not included) that succeed in killing the five kings Evi (אֱוִי), Rekem (רֶקֶם), Hur (חוּר), Reba (רֶבַע), and Zur (צַוָּר) the father of Cozbi, and burned each of the Midianite cities and all of their encampments, taking their livestock. The Kenites were not included in the invasion of Midian, it is unclear how the Kenites reacted to the fall of the Midianite kings that they had formerly been subject to.

During the Conquest of Canaan
After the death of Moses, Joshua led the Israelite invasion of Canaan; conquering a large portion of central Canaan. Upon Joshua's death, the Israelite tribes of Judah and Simeon took action to conquer southern Canaan, defeating the Canaanites and the Perizzites at the Battle of Bezek (now Ibziq) in. After Judah's sieges of Jerusalem and Debir,  says that Jethro's Kenite descendants "went up from the City of Palms, (which appears to be Zoar or Tamar in the upper Arabah ), with the men of Judah to live among the people of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad."

After settling in Canaan
Following the conquest, the Israelites began to assimilate into the larger Canaanite culture and started converting to the Canaanite religion, only returning to their national religion when confronted by an 8-year invasion and occupation by the North Mesopotamians (from Aram-Naharaim) under King Cushan-Rishathaim. The Israelites rose up under the leadership of Othniel the son of Kenaz, (thus the nephew of Caleb, Judah's previous war-leader) who was a neighbor of the Kenites and lived in the same area. Although the text is brief, it is likely Othniel had reliable political support at-the-ready from his relatives the Calebites and Kenizzites, and probably from his Kenite neighbors as well, this likely gave him a large support base for the tribe of Judah to unite around.

Later, King Eglon of Moab allied with the Kingdom of Ammon and nation of Amalek, in order to invade the territory of Israel. After defeating the Israelites, Moab and Amalek took the City of Palms (believed to be the later city of Zoar or Tamar ), from the Kenites.

During the rise and fall of Hazor
At this point, around 180 or 190 years after Joshua's invasion, the Canaanites in northern Canaan under King Jabin ruling from Hazor re-asserted their dominance over Canaan. The Israelite leader Shamgar appears to have been battling with the Philistines in south Canaan at the time, and was either caught off-guard, or unable to prevent the rising Canaanite military, economic, and political power. (Non-biblical sources depict the King of Hazor affirming loyalty to the Egyptian pharaoh, and joining the cities of Qatna and Mari to create a trade route that linked Egypt to Ekallatum )

During this period, Heber the Kenite and his wife Jael separated from their Kenite brethren in the south, and went to live in northern Canaan.

After two decades of North Canaanite dominance in the region, the prophetess Deborah, who was now leading Israel, commissioned Barak the son of Abinoam as her commander to lead the Israelites against the Canaanites. King Jabin's general Sisera learned that Barak was massing troops on Mount Tabor, situated between Sisera's base at Harosheth Haggoyim (believed to now be Ahwat) and the Canaanite capital at Hazor, and set out northward to meet him with 900 chariots. The weather became unfavorable to Sisera's army, the sky became clouded, and the river that his chariots needed to cross was flooded. While Sisera attempted to ford his chariots through the torrential Kishon River at a river crossing close to the then-Canaanite city of Taanach (Now known as Ti'inik) near Megiddo, Barak's 10,000 men went down southwestward from Mount Tabor to give battle on the plain and rivers. Sisera left his chariot behind and escaped the battle on foot, while Barak pursued the chariots that were fleeing back to the Canaanite base at Harosheth Haggoyim

As Sisera fled on foot near Kedesh-Naphtali, he was passing by the tent of Heber the Kenite, and Jael offered to shelter him. Accepting her offer, he asked her to stand in the doorway of the tent, and to deny his presence to anyone who was chasing him. However, once he was asleep, Jael hammered a tent peg into Sisera's head, and he died.

From that point onwards, Israel grew stronger and continued to press Hazor harder, until King Jabin's defeat.

In the early Israelite Monarchy
In the time of King Saul there were Kenites living in Amalek territory. When King Saul of Israel went to war against Amalek, the kindness which the Kenites had shown to Israel in the wilderness was gratefully remembered. "Ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt," said Saul to them ; and so not only were they spared by King Saul, but later in the war David also sent a share of the spoil that he took from the Amalekites to the civic elders of the cities of the Kenites.

While the Kenite territory in the Negev had earlier been seen as a separate territory from the parts of the Negev held by Judah and the Simeonites, as the Israelites grew in power, the Negev would be mentioned in the later histories as single region, and an integral part of the Kingdom of Judah.

In the northern Negev, the city of Arad served as a key administrative and military stronghold for the Kingdom of Judah. It protected the route from the Judaean Mountains to the Arabah and on to Moab and Edom. It underwent numerous renovations and extensions.

Archeology
The Kenites have been proposed as a reason for the appearance of Midianite pottery imported into the Negev of the Kenites during the 1200s and 1100s BC. Petrographic studies carried out on some of the Timna wares led to the conclusion that they originated in the Hejaz, most probably in the site of Qurayya in Saudi Arabia.

J. Gunneweg analyzed pottery samples with the help of The Hebrew University and the University of Bonn in 1991. The Midianite pottery found in the Negev was linked to a kiln discovered at Qurayya, Saudi Arabia, through Neutron Activation Analysis.

Excavations at the site of Horvat Uza, the probable site of the city of Qinah mentioned in and in a ostraca from Arad, seem to indicate the presence of Kenite groups in the Negev in monarchic Judah. Israeli historian Nadav Na'aman argues that the absence of anthropomorphic and other figurines at the site points to the Kenite settlers practicing aniconism.

The upper and lower areas of Tel Arad were excavated during 18 seasons by Ruth Amiran and Yohanan Aharoni between 1962 and 1984. An additional 8 seasons were done on the Iron Age water system.

Kenite Hypothesis
According to the Kenite hypothesis proposed by the German writer Friedrich Wilhelm Ghillany, Yahweh was historically a Midian deity, and the association of Moses's father-in-law with Midian reflects the historical adoption of the Midianite cult by the Hebrews. Moses apparently identified Jethro's concept of a god, Yahweh, with the Israelites' god El Shaddai. The Kenite hypothesis supposes that the Hebrews adopted the cult of Yahweh from the Midianites via the Kenites. This view, first proposed by Friedrich Wilhelm Ghillany in 1862, afterward independently by the Dutch scholar of religion Cornelis Tiele in 1872, and more fully by the German critical scholar Bernhard Stade, has been more completely worked out by the German theologian Karl Budde; it is accepted by the German Semitic scholar Hermann Guthe, Gerrit Wildeboer, H. P. Smith, and George Aaron Barton. Another theory is that a confederation of regional tribes were connected to monotheistic ritual at Sinai.

Links to the mythology of Cain
Some biblical scholars postulated that the Kenites were descendants of the mythical Cain. The German orientalist Wilhelm Gesenius asserted that the name is kabbalistically (mystically) derived from the name Cain (קַיִן Qayin).

The German orientalist Walter Beltz alternatively proposed that the story of Cain and Abel was not originally about the murder of a brother, but a myth about the murder of a god's child. In his reading of Genesis 4:1, Eve conceived Cain by Adam, and her second son Abel by another man, this being Yahweh. Eve is thus compared to the Sacred Queen of antiquity, the Mother goddess. Consequently, Yahweh pays heed to Abel's offerings, but not to Cain's. After Cain kills Abel, Yahweh condemns Cain, the murderer of his son, to the cruelest punishment imaginable among humans: banishment.

Beltz believed this to be the foundational myth of the Kenites, a clan settled on the southern border of Judah that eventually resettled among the tribes of Judah. It seemed clear to him that the purpose of this myth was to explain the difference between the nomadic and sedentary populations of Judah, with those living from their livestock (pastoralists, not raising crops) under the special protection of Yahweh.

Ronald Hendel believes the Israelites linked the Kenites to Cain to give them a "shameful, violent ancestral origin".

Kenites as metalworkers
According to the critical interpretation of the Biblical data, the Kenites were a clan settled on the southern border of Judah, originally characterized by a semi-nomadic lifestyle and involved in the copper industry in the Aravah region.

Archibald Sayce has implied that the Kenites were a tribe of smiths. However, by the end of his life, Sayce was considered an amateur rather than a specialist and was criticized for his lack of intellectual penetration and outdated opposition to the work of continental orientalists.

Based on the biblical references, proposed etymological linkage of the name 'Kenite' to blacksmithing and other evidence, various scholars have sought to associate the Kenites with coppersmithery and metalwork.

title: Kenites


text:
Hobab

Hobab may refer to:

 * Hobab (biblical figure), Moses' father-in-law and the son of his father-in-law
 * Hobab (album), by Mohsen Yeganeh, 2012

title: Hobab


text:
Ignatius Zakka I

Ignatius Zakka I Iwas (إغناطيوس زكا الأول عيواص; Ignatios Zakkà ‘Īwāṣ, born Sanharib Iwas, 21 April 1931 – 21 March 2014) was the 122nd reigning Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and, as such, Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church. Also known by his traditional episcopal name, Severios, he was enthroned as patriarch on 14 September 1980 in St. George's Patriarchal Cathedral in Damascus. He succeeded Ignatius Ya`qub III. As is traditional for the head of the church, Mor Severios adopted the name Ignatius.

Zakka was known for his involvement in ecumenical dialogue. He was a president of the World Council of Churches and also a prolific author. He was an observer at Second Vatican Council before becoming metropolitan bishop of Mosul. At the time of his election as patriarch, Mor Severios Zakka was serving as the archbishop of Baghdad and Basra. As patriarch, he established a monastic seminary, met with Pope John Paul II during the Roman Pope's visit to Syria in 2001, and installed numerous metropolitans, including Baselios Thomas I as Catholicos of India. He celebrated his Silver Jubilee in 2005.

Iwas was admitted to a hospital in Germany for angioplasty on 20 February 2014 and died on 21 March 2014.

Early life and education
Sanharib Iwas was born on 21 April 1931 in Mosul, Iraq. His parents named him after Sennacherib, the father of St. Behnam. He completed his elementary studies at the school of Our Lady's Parish and was transferred to St. Thomas Syriac Orthodox Church School, both in Mosul. In 1946, he began his theological studies in the city's Mor Ephrem seminary. At the seminary, his birth name was replaced by the name Zakka. There, in 1948, he was ordained as a deacon with the rank of Reader. In the year 1953, he was promoted to the rank of subdeacon. The following year saw Iwas take monastic vows. He left Mosul at that time to become secretary to the patriarchs, Ignatius Aphrem I Barsoum and then Ignatius Jacob III. In 1955 he was promoted to the rank of full deacon.

On 17 November 1957, Patriarch Ya`qub III ordained Deacon Zakka a priest and, two years later, gave him the pectoral cross as rabban. In 1960, he pursued further study in New York City. There, he studied oriental languages and completed a master's degree in English at the City University and a further master's in pastoral theology at the General Theological Seminary.

Metropolitan bishop
In 1962 and 1963, Rabban Zakka was delegated by the patriarch as an observer at Second Vatican Council. On 17 November 1963, he was consecrated metropolitan bishop by Patriarch Ya'qub with the name Mor Severios Zakka. The next year, during renovation work on the sanctuary wall of the metropolitan church in Mosul, what were reputed to be the remains of the Apostle Thomas were found. In 1969, Mor Severios transferred to be archbishop of Baghdad and Basra. Nine years later, he was given additional responsibility for the new diocese of Australia.

Patriarch of Syriac Orthodox Church
Following the death of Patriarch Ya`qub III on 25 June 1980, Mor Severios Zakka was elected by the synod of the church to succeed him the 122nd Syriac Patriarch of Antioch. He was enthroned as patriarch on 14 September, the day of the feast of the Cross, by Mor Baselios Paulose (Paul) II, Catholicos of the East, at St. George's Patriarchal Cathedral in Damascus, Syria. As is traditional for the head of the church, he adopted the name Ignatius at this time. Being the first patriarch to be named Zakka, his name is often written as Ignatius Zakka I Iwas. His full titulary is:

 * transliteration: Qaddîšûṯeh Îgnaṭyûs Zakkay Qaḏmoyo ʿÎwaṣ, Paṭryarḵo d-Anṭyuḵya
 * His Holiness Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Patriarch of Antioch
 * His Holiness Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Patriarch of Antioch

Patriarch Zakka, was involved in ecumenical dialogue and served as the president of the World Council of Churches. Due to his efforts, the Chalcedonian schism is not seen to have great relevance any more and, from dialogue with the Roman pope, a reconciling declaration emerged that stated, in part:

The confusions and schisms that occurred between their Churches in the later centuries, they realize today, in no way affect or touch the substance of their faith, since these arose only because of differences in terminology and culture and in the various formulae adopted by different theological schools to express the same matter. Accordingly, we find today no real basis for the sad divisions and schisms that subsequently arose between us concerning the doctrine of Incarnation. In words and life we confess the true doctrine concerning Christ our Lord, notwithstanding the differences in interpretation of such a doctrine which arose at the time of the Council of Chalcedon.

Zakka was a member of different Eastern and Western Academies and authored a number of books on Christian education, theology, history, and culture in Syriac and the Arabic and English languages. He established a monastic seminary, the Monastery of St. Ephrem The Syrian, at Marrat Saidnaya. Inaugurated on 14 September 1996, this Monastery forms part of a larger project which will include different centers and facilities. During the visit of Pope John Paul II to Syria in 2001, the Pope paid a historic visit to Patriarch Zakka in Damascus. The meeting took place on 6 May in St. George's Patriarchal Cathedral at Bab Touma. The following year, Iwas installed Mor Dionysius Thomas, the president of the Episcopal Synod of Indian Church, as the Catholicos of India with the title Mor Baselios Thomas I. Celebrations were held for the Patriarch's Silver Jubilee on 14 September 2005.

Pastoral visits
Ignatius Zakka made a number of pastoral visits outside Syria, mainly to India where the bulk of Syriac Orthodox Christians reside and Europe, home of the growing Syriac Orthodox diaspora. His first pastoral visit was to India was to Kerala from 3 February to 27 March 1982, during which he met with Indian officials and heads of various Indian churches. A second visit to India was in April 2000 to attend the Golden Jubilee of the Chief Metropolitan of the East Mor Cleemis Abraham, it lasted three days. The third visit to India came for the occasion of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Patriarchal enthronement in September 2004, the third visit lasted two weeks. The fourth and last visit was in 2008 for the 80th Birthday celebration of Catholicos Mor Baselios Thomas I which also lasted two weeks.

Death
Zakka was admitted to hospital in Kiel, Germany on 20 February 2014; where he died following a cardiac arrest on 21 March 2014. He was entombed at St. Peter's and St Paul's Cathedral, Marrat Saidnayya, Damascus on 28 March.

On 29 May 2014, Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, succeeded him as Patriarch.

title: Ignatius Zakka I


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Brian Talboys

Sir Brian Edward Talboys (7 June 1921 – 3 June 2012) was a New Zealand politician who served as the seventh deputy prime minister of New Zealand for the first two terms of Robert Muldoon's premiership. If the abortive "Colonels' Coup" against Muldoon had been successful, Talboys would have become Prime Minister himself.

Early life
Talboys was born in Wanganui on 7 June 1921. He attended primary school in Wanganui and Wanganui Collegiate School, but then travelled to Canada to study at the University of Manitoba. He later returned to New Zealand and studied at Victoria University of Wellington, gaining a BA. For the next few years, he worked for a stock and station agents' company, and then gained a position as assistant editor of a farming newspaper. In World War II, Talboys served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force. After the war, Talboys settled in Southland as a farmer.

Early political career
In the 1957 election, Talboys contested the Wallace electorate as the National Party candidate. He was successful, defeating a Labour Party challenger to succeed retiring National MP Tom Macdonald. He held the Wallace electorate for his entire parliamentary career, usually gaining an outright majority. Talboys made a good impression early on as an opposition MP with National's deputy leader Jack Marshall and Labour Prime Minister Walter Nash thinking of him as a future Prime Minister.

At the formation of the Second National Government Talboys was appointed as an under-secretary to the Minister of Industries and Commerce. In 1961 he was one of ten National MPs to vote with the Opposition and remove capital punishment for murder from the Crimes Bill that the National government had introduced.

In 1962, Talboys was elevated to Cabinet, becoming Minister of Agriculture following the death of Thomas Hayman. At the end of 1963, he gained the additional role of Minister of Science. In 1969, he dropped the agriculture portfolio, and became Minister of Education instead. For most of 1972, he was Minister of Industries and Commerce, and Minister of Overseas Trade. He was also briefly Minister of Trade and Industry (which replaced the Industries and Commerce portfolio) towards the end of 1972, but National's loss of the 1972 election ended all his ministerial roles and put him into Opposition.

In 1974, Talboys was elected deputy leader of the National Party following Robert Muldoon's challenge to Jack Marshall. Talboys replaced Muldoon who had been deputy leader. While National was in opposition he was also Shadow Minister of National Development.

When National won the 1975 election, Talboys became Deputy Prime Minister. He also became Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Overseas Trade and Minister of National Development.

During the Third National Government he negotiated New Zealand's continued product access to the United Kingdom when it joined the European Economic Community. He was also involved in creating the Closer Economic Relations agreement with Australia to improve trans-Tasman trading cooperation. Recognising the importance of growing economies in Asia he worked to open up their markets to New Zealand producers.

Colonels' Coup
In 1980, unhappiness was growing in the National Party about the leadership style of Robert Muldoon, who was seen as increasingly confrontational and dictatorial. This dissatisfaction culminated in the so-called "Colonels' Coup", an attempt by certain members of the party to depose Muldoon and install Talboys as leader instead. The dissidents were led by the three most prominent of Muldoon's younger ministers: Jim McLay, Jim Bolger, and Derek Quigley. A number of people were considered as possible replacements, including George Gair and the three "colonels" themselves, but it was eventually decided that Talboys was the only credible challenger, each of the others having been deemed unacceptable by at least one faction of the party. Talboys had been performing well as Acting Prime Minister during Muldoon's absence overseas, and was seen (unlike Muldoon) to be likable and diplomatic.

The largest problem for the plotters was the hesitance of Talboys himself. Talboys, while not particularly supportive of Muldoon's leadership style, refused to actively campaign against his party's leader, and would only make a move if it could be shown beforehand that a majority of the party supported it. While Talboys was willing to accept a leadership change if his colleagues deemed it necessary, he was not willing to actually seek Muldoon's removal himself. Despite Talboys's reluctance, his backers managed to gain a slim majority in caucus in favour of a leadership change. When Muldoon returned to New Zealand, however, he quickly launched a counter-attack, and managed to tip the balance of caucus opinion back towards himself. When the possibility for a leadership vote arrived, Talboys refused to challenge, believing that an open dispute would do huge damage to the party as a whole. No vote was taken, Muldoon remained leader and Talboys remained deputy leader.

Former National leader Jack Marshall, who was also critical of Muldoon's leadership style, thought Talboys would have been a good Prime Minister if he "had a little more steel in his backbone."

Later life
Talboys retired from Parliament at the 1981 election, a year after the abortive leadership challenge. He went on to hold a number of positions in the business world, and served as the first chairman of the Pacific Democratic Union from 1984 to 1985.

He died in 2012 at the age of 90 at his rest home in Invercargill, just a few days short of his 91st birthday. He was survived by his wife and their two children. Patricia, Lady Talboys, died in 2019.

Honours and awards
In 1977, Talboys was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, and in 1990 he received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour after he stepped down as deputy prime minister in 1981, an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia, for service to Australia/New Zealand relations, in the 1982 Australia Day Honours, and Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, for public services, in the 1991 Queen's Birthday Honours.

title: Brian Talboys


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Talk:Branch target buffer

'This page was listed on Votes for deletion in May, 2004. The result of that discussion was to redirect to branch predictor. For an archive of the discussion, see Talk:Branch target buffer/Delete.''

title: Talk:Branch target buffer


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Saeco

Philips Saeco S.p.A., or short Saeco, is an Italian manufacturer of manual, super-automatic and capsule espresso machines and other electrical goods with headquarters and factories in Gaggio Montano near Bologna.

History
The company was founded by Sergio Zappella and Arthur Schmed in 1981 as Sergio, Arthur e Compagnia.

In 1985, they launched the first completely automatic espresso machine for domestic use, called Superautomatica and in 1999 they bought the historic espresso brand of Gaggia.

In May 2009, the company board agreed to a purchase offer from Dutch manufacturer Philips, owner of the Senseo coffee system, subject to shareholder and bank approval.

Other relevant contributions to the technology used in espresso machines include the cappuccinatore (introduced in 1996) as well as the automatic brewing pressure adaptation "SBS" (1999) and most recently, the announcement of the bluetooth-enabled GranBaristo Avanti (2013).

The Saeco brand belongs to the Dutch electronics company Philips since July 2009. In 2017, Philips sold the Saeco Professional division (also with the Gaggia brand) to N&W Global Vending SpA, an Italian Bergamo based company leader in vending machines for drinks and snacks, born in 2000 from the integration of Necta and Wittenberg and controlled by a US fund, Lone Star. The production of professional coffee machines is carried out in the historical site of Gaggio Montano near Bologna. The domestic coffee machine division remains in the Philips group. In November 2017 N&W changed its name to Evoca Group.

title: Saeco


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Arcadia

Arcadia may refer to:

Australia

 * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
 * Arcadia, Queensland
 * Arcadia, Victoria

Canada

 * Arcadia, New Brunswick
 * Arcadia, Nova Scotia

Greece

 * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese
 * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative unit covering the region
 * Arcadia (constituency), an electoral district covering the region
 * Kyparissia in Messenia, a town known in the Middle Ages as Arcadia
 * Barony of Arcadia, a medieval Frankish fiefdom of the Principality of Achaea
 * Arcadia (Crete), a town and city-state of ancient Crete

Ukraine

 * Arcadia (Odesa), a quarter in Odesa
 * Arcadia Beach
 * Arcadia Park, Odesa

United States

 * Arcadia (Phoenix), a neighborhood in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona
 * Arcadia, California
 * Arcadia, Florida
 * Arcadia, Illinois
 * Arcadia, Indiana
 * Arcadia, Iowa
 * Arcadia, Kansas
 * Arcadia, Louisiana
 * Arcadia, Maryland
 * Arcadia, Michigan
 * Arcadia Lake (Michigan)
 * Arcadia, Mississippi
 * Arcadia, Missouri
 * Arcadia, Nebraska
 * Arcadia, New York
 * Arcadia, North Carolina
 * Arcadia, Ohio
 * Arcadia, Oklahoma
 * Arcadia, Pennsylvania
 * Arcadia, Rhode Island
 * Arcadia, South Carolina
 * Arcadia, Tennessee
 * Arcadia, Santa Fe, Texas
 * Arcadia, Shelby County, Texas
 * Arcadia, Botetourt County, Virginia
 * Arcadia, Spotsylvania County, Virginia
 * Arcadia, Washington
 * Arcadia, Wisconsin
 * Arcadia (town), Wisconsin
 * Arcadia Lake (Oklahoma)
 * Arcadia Management Area, Rhode Island
 * Arcadia Township (disambiguation)

Elsewhere

 * Arcadia, Tucumán, Argentina
 * Arcadia Aegypti, an ancient region of Roman-controlled Egypt
 * Arcadia, Pretoria, a residential suburb in South Africa
 * Arcadia, a suburb of Harare, Zimbabwe
 * Arcadia Park (Odesa), an urban park in Odesa, Ukraine
 * Arcadia Park (Warsaw), an urban park in Warsaw, Poland
 * Arcadia Planitia, a plain on Mars

Businesses

 * Arcadia Brewing Company, a former brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan
 * Arcadia Corporation, the original name of video game company Starpath
 * Arcadia Group, formerly a British retail company
 * Arcadia Machine & Tool, commonly known as AMT, an American firearms company
 * Arcadia Productions, an Italian theatre company
 * Arcadia Publishing, an American publisher of local community histories
 * Arcadia Systems, an arcade game division of the company Mastertronic

Film and television

 * Arcadia (2012 film), an American film
 * Arcadia (2024 film), a Greek film
 * "Arcadia" (The X-Files), a 1999 television episode
 * Arcadia, a fictional city on Gallifrey in the Doctor Who series
 * Arcadia, a fictional location in Resident Evil: Afterlife
 * Tales of Arcadia, an animated television series created by Guillermo del Toro
 * Arcadia (TV series), a Belgian-Dutch science fiction television series

Gaming

 * Arcadia (card game), a 1996 collectible card game by White Wolf Publishing
 * Arcadia (video game), a 1982 game for the Vic 20 and ZX Spectrum platforms
 * Arcadia 2001, a gaming console
 * Arcadia (Dungeons & Dragons), a fictional plane of existence in Dungeons & Dragons
 * Arcadia (The Longest Journey), a fantasy realm in The Longest Journey
 * Arcadia Bay, a fictional location in Life Is Strange
 * Arcadia, a human colony in Halo Wars

Literature and drama

 * Arcadia (comics), a character in Marvel Comics
 * Arcadia (magazine), a 2005 Colombian magazine on arts, literature and movies
 * Arcadia (play), a 1993 play by Tom Stoppard
 * Arcadia (poem), a 1504 poem by Jacopo Sannazaro
 * The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia or Arcadia, a prose work by Sir Philip Sidney
 * Monthly Arcadia (月刊アルカディア), a 2000 Japanese video and arcade game magazine
 * Arcadia, a 1979 poetry collection by Christopher Reid
 * Arcadia, a fictional spaceship in Space Pirate Captain Harlock
 * Arcadia, a 2015 book by Iain Pears

Music

 * Arcadia (band), a British pop music group composed of members from Duran Duran
 * "Arcadia" (Hardwell and Joey Dale song), a 2014 song by Hardwell and Joey Dale
 * Arcadia (album), a 2014 album by Caroline Polachek, under the name Ramona Lisa
 * "Arcadia", a 2015 song by the Kite String Tangle
 * "Arcadia" (Lana Del Rey song), 2021
 * Arcadia, a mid-1990s London club night, central to the Romo movement

Schools

 * Academy of Arcadia, a historical Italian literary academy
 * Arcadia College, Missouri
 * Arcadia University, Glenside, Pennsylvania
 * Arcadia High School (disambiguation)

Ships

 * See List of ships named Arcadia
 * Arcadia (steamboat), a steamboat that operated in the state of Washington, United States
 * MV Arcadia (1988) or MV Columbus, a cruise ship
 * MV Arcadia (2004), a cruise ship
 * SS Arcadia (1922)
 * SS Arcadia (1953)
 * USS Arcadia (SP-856), a patrol boat possibly in commission during 1918
 * USS Arcadia (ID-1605), a troop transport commissioned in 1919
 * USS Arcadia (AD-23), a destroyer tender commissioned in 1945

Visual arts

 * Arcadia (painting), an 1883 painting by Thomas Eakins
 * Arcadia, a 1973 artwork by Ian Hamilton Finlay
 * Arcadia, an 1893 mural by Amanda Brewster Sewell
 * Arcadia, a painting by Eugeniusz Zak

Other uses

 * Arcadia (daughter of Arcadius) (400–444)
 * Arcadia (engineering), a system and software architecture engineering method
 * Arcadia (genus), an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian
 * Arcadia (house), a historic house in Frederick, Maryland
 * Arcadia (Los Angeles Metro station)
 * Arcadia (utopia), a utopian vision of pastoralism
 * Arcadia Conference, a 1942 military conference
 * Arcadia Fund, a foundation sponsoring preservation of media for culture, nature, and scholarship
 * Arcadia Plantation, a historic plantation near Georgetown, South Carolina
 * Arcadia 30, a French sailboat design
 * Arcadia, one of 4 Rolls-Royce Droptail car

title: Arcadia


text:
Phyllis George

Phyllis Ann George (June 25, 1949 – May 14, 2020) was an American businesswoman, actress, and sportscaster. In 1975, George was hired as a reporter and co-host of the CBS Sports pre-show The NFL Today, becoming one of the first women to hold an on-air position in national televised sports broadcasting. She also served as the First Lady of Kentucky from 1979 to 1983.

She won Miss Texas in 1970 and was crowned Miss America 1971.

Early life
George was born to Diantha Louise George (née Cogdell; 1919–2003) and James Robert George (1918–1996) in Denton, Texas. She attended North Texas State University (now University of North Texas) for three years until she was crowned Miss Texas in 1970. At that time, Texas Christian University awarded scholarships to Miss Texas honorees. As a result, George left North Texas and enrolled at TCU until winning the Miss America crown later that fall. She was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority.

Pageantry
George first competed for Miss Texas as Miss Denton in 1969, finishing fourth. The next year she competed as Miss Dallas and was named Miss Texas 1970, then was crowned Miss America 1971 on September 12, 1970. The Women's Liberation Front demonstrated at the event.

In August 1971, George traveled to Vietnam with Miss Iowa Cheryl Browne; Miss Nevada 1970 Vicky Jo Todd; Miss New Jersey 1970 Hela Yungst; Miss Arizona 1970 Karen Shields; Miss Arkansas 1970 Donna Connelly; and George's replacement after she was crowned Miss America Miss Texas 1970 Belinda Myrick. They participated in a 22-day United Service Organizations tour for American troops there. During her year-long stint as Miss America, George appeared on numerous talk shows, including three interviews on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Career
George's television career began as a host on the comedy show Candid Camera.

CBS Sports
CBS Sports producers approached George to become a sportscaster in 1974. The following year, she joined the cast of The NFL Today, co-hosting live pregame shows before National Football League games. She was one of the first women to have a nationally prominent role in television sports coverage. As a former beauty queen with a limited television background, she was criticized for not possessing the traditional qualifications for a sportscaster. After three seasons on The NFL Today, she was replaced by another beauty queen, Jayne Kennedy. George returned to the show in 1980 and remained until 1984. She became known for her interviews with athletes. Hannah Storm, an anchor at ESPN's SportsCenter, called George "a true trailblazer" for being an inspirational role model for women who wanted to pursue careers in sportscasting.

Another duty George had with CBS Sports was working on horse racing events, including the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. Additionally, George had a brief stint on a television news version of People magazine in 1978, and a job as a morning television talk show host as co-anchor of the CBS Morning News in 1985. She also hosted her own prime-time talk show, 1994's A Phyllis George Special, on which she interviewed then-President Bill Clinton, and a 1998 talk show titled Women's Day on the cable network PAX. George also appeared as a guest on The Muppet Show in 1979.

CBS Morning News
In 1985, CBS settled on Phyllis George to serve as a permanent anchor for its morning news program. George was given a three-year contract following a two-week trial run. As co-anchor, she interviewed newsmakers including then–First Lady Nancy Reagan.

A low point of her eight-month stint on The CBS Morning News happened when George embarrassed herself during a May 1985 interview with Gary Dotson and Cathleen Webb. Dotson just had been freed after six years in prison on a rape charge by Webb. Webb ended up recanting her story so Dotson was set free. Both appeared on the CBS program as part of (as George later told Tom Shales of The Washington Post) a Webb-Dotson press tour "charade." Both were on or had appeared on NBC News and ABC News as well as other media outlets. As the segment began to wrap, George first suggested the two shake hands. After a brief hesitation from them and no hand shake, George then proposed they "hug it out." A brief moment of awkwardness followed but no hug. The invitation to embrace was deemed highly inappropriate prompting a few phone calls from irate CBS viewers. George also was criticized in the press.

According to news reports at the time, George had been brought in to boost the ratings of the perennial third place ranked program. CBS News staffers were mystified as to why someone with little to no journalism experience was picked over a more qualified candidate from the CBS News roster of reporters and anchors. George had been a talent for the sports division, but had not worked in news. However, this experiment failed to work out, and George was ousted just a few months later. Maria Shriver, then a CBS News employee, took her place as part of another revamp of the program.

Business interests
George founded two companies in the course of her business career, the first of which was "Chicken by George" chicken fillets. In 1988 after operating for only two years, George sold the company to Hormel Foods, which agreed to operate it as a separate division. In 1991, George received the "Celebrity Women Business Owner of the Year" from the National Association of Women Business Owners.

She also wrote or co-authored five books—three about crafts, one on dieting (her first book, The I Love America Diet, published in 1982), and the final one published during her lifetime, Never Say Never (2002).

George was the founder of the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, and was an avid folk and traditional arts collector. She was also a founding member of the Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship.

George resurfaced in 2000 when she played a minor character in the hit movie Meet the Parents. It was one of her very few film roles.

Personal life and death
George was married twice. Her first marriage was to Hollywood producer Robert Evans, and her second to Kentucky Fried Chicken owner and governor of Kentucky John Y. Brown Jr. George served as Kentucky's First Lady during Brown's term in office. During her marriage to Brown, she had two children, Lincoln Tyler George Brown and Pamela Ashley Brown. Both of her marriages ended in divorce.

George died of complications from polycythemia vera, a rare blood cancer, on May 14, 2020, aged 70, at the Albert B. Chandler Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky.

title: Phyllis George