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Surrogacy

Surrogacy is an adoption arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman agrees to childbirth on behalf of another person(s) who will become the child's parent(s) after birth. People pursue surrogacy for a variety of reasons such as infertility, dangers or undesirable factors of pregnancy, or when pregnancy is a medical impossibility.

While a surrogacy relationship or legal agreement contains the gestational carrier and the child's parent(s) after birth, the gestational carriers are usually being referred as surrogate mothers. Surrogate mothers are the woman who carries and gives birth to a baby for another person, in such process of surrogacy. Surrogate mothers are usually introduced to parent(s) in need of surrogacy through third-party agencies, or other matching channels. They are usually required to participate in processes of insemination (no matter traditional or IVF), pregnancy, delivery, and newborn feeding early after birth.

In surrogacy arrangements, monetary compensation may or may not be involved. Receiving money for the arrangement is known as commercial surrogacy. The legality and cost of surrogacy varies widely between jurisdictions, contributing to fertility tourism, and sometimes resulting in problematic international or interstate surrogacy arrangements. For example, those living in a country where surrogacy is banned travel to a jurisdiction that permits it. In some countries, surrogacy is legal if there is no financial gain.

Where commercial surrogacy is legal, third-party agencies may assist by finding a surrogate and arranging a surrogacy contract with her. These agencies often obtain medical tests to ensure healthy gestation and delivery. They also usually facilitate legal matters concerning the intended parents and the surrogate.

Methods
Surrogacy may be either traditional or gestational, which are differentiated by the genetic origin of the egg. Gestational surrogacy tends to be more common than traditional surrogacy and is considered less legally complex.

Traditional surrogacy
A traditional surrogacy (also known as partial, natural, or straight surrogacy) is one where the surrogate's egg is fertilised by the intended father's or a donor's sperm.

Insemination of the surrogate can be either through sex (natural insemination) or artificial insemination. Using the sperm of a donor results in a child who is not genetically related to the intended parent(s). If the intended father's sperm is used in the insemination, the resulting child is genetically related to both him and the surrogate.

Some choose to inseminate privately without the intervention of a doctor or physician. In some jurisdictions, the intended parents using donor sperm need to go through an adoption process to have legal parental rights of the resulting child. Many fertility centres that provide for surrogacy assist the parties through the legal process.

Gestational surrogacy
Gestational surrogacy (also known as host or full surrogacy ) was first achieved in April 1986. It takes place when an embryo created by in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology is implanted in a surrogate, sometimes called a gestational carrier. Gestational surrogacy has several forms, and in each form, the resulting child is genetically unrelated to the surrogate:
 * The embryo is created using the intended father's sperm and the intended mother's eggs;
 * The embryo is created using the intended father's sperm and a donor egg;
 * The embryo is created using the intended mother's egg and donor sperm;
 * A donor embryo is transferred to a surrogate. Such an embryo may be available when others undergoing IVF have embryos left over, which they donate to others. The resulting child is genetically unrelated to the intended parent(s).

Embryo
The embryo implanted in gestational surrogacy faces the same risks as anyone using IVF would. Preimplantation risks of the embryo include unintentional epigenetic effects, influence of media which the embryo is cultured on, and undesirable consequences of invasive manipulation of the embryo. Often, multiple embryos are transferred to increase the chance of implantation, and if multiple gestations occur, both the surrogate and the embryos face higher risks of complications.

Children born through singleton IVF surrogacy have been shown to have no physical or mental abnormalities compared to those children born through natural conception. However, children born through multiple gestation in gestational carriers often result in preterm labor and delivery, resulting in prematurity and physical and/or mental anomalies.

Surrogate mothers
Gestational surrogates have a smaller chance of having hypertensive disorder during pregnancy compared to mothers pregnant by oocyte donation. This is possibly because gestational carriers tend to be healthier and more fertile than women who use oocyte donation. Gestational carriers also have low rates of placenta previa / placental abruptions (1.1–7.9%).

In most countries, such as China, there exists a huge gap in the legal framework between the legislation and regulation for surrogacy. Due to insufficient authority supervision, surrogacy and the safety of surrogate mothers lack of professional support or reliable operation, the medical conditions cannot be achieved either. All these precarious factors increases the safety risks of artificial surgeries such as egg retrieval and insemination. Moreover, the underground contracts can inflict serious physiological harm on surrogate mothers. Surrogacy agencies ignore surrogate mothers' health risks and deaths: enforced fetal sex selection through forced abortions are very common, and multiple implantations and fetal reduction procedures may also be repeated on the same surrogate mother, causing health hazards such as miscarriage, infertility, and even death.

Outcomes
Among gestational surrogacy arrangements, between 19–33% of gestational surrogates will successfully become pregnant from an embryo transfer. Of these cases, 30–70% will successfully allow the intended parent(s) to become parent(s) of the resulting child.

For surrogate pregnancies where only one child is born, the preterm birth rate in surrogacy is marginally lower than babies born from standard IVF (11.5% vs 14%). Babies born from surrogacy also have similar average gestational age as infants born through in vitro fertilization and oocyte donation; approximately weeks. Preterm birth rate was higher for surrogate twin pregnancies compared to single births. There are fewer babies with low birth weight when born through surrogacy compared to those born through in vitro fertilization but both methods have similar rates of birth defects.

Indications for surrogacy
Opting for surrogacy is a choice for single men desiring to raise a child from infancy, same sex couples unable or unwilling for pregnancy, or women unable or unwilling to carry children on their own. Surrogacy is chosen by women for a number of medical reasons, such as abnormal or absent uterus, either congenitally (also known as Mayer–Rokitansky–Kuster–Hauser syndrome) or post-hysterectomy. Women may have a hysterectomy due to complications in childbirth such as heavy bleeding or a ruptured uterus. Medical diseases such as cervical cancer or endometrial cancer can also lead to surgical removal of the uterus. Past implantation failures, history of multiple miscarriages, or concurrent severe heart or renal conditions that can make pregnancy harmful may also prompt women to consider surrogacy. The biological impossibility of single men and same-sex couples having a baby also may indicate surrogacy as an option.

Gestational surrogacy
In gestational surrogacy, the child is not biologically related to the surrogate, who is often referred to as a gestational carrier. Instead, the embryo is created via in vitro fertilization (IVF), using the eggs and sperm of the intended parents or donors, and is then transferred to the surrogate.

According to recommendations made by the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology and American Society for Reproductive Medicine, a gestational carrier is preferably between the ages of 21 and 45, has had one full-term, uncomplicated pregnancy where she successfully had at least one child, and has had no more than five deliveries or three Caesarean sections.

The International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics recommends that the surrogate's autonomy should be respected throughout the pregnancy even if her wishes conflict with what the intended parents want.

The most commonly reported motivation given by gestational surrogates is an altruistic desire to help a childless couple. Other less commonly given reasons include enjoying the experience of pregnancy, and financial compensation.

History
Having another woman bear a child for a couple to raise, usually with the male half of the couple as the genetic father, has been referenced since the ancient times. Babylonian law and custom allowed this practice, and a woman unable to give birth could use the practice to avoid a divorce, which would otherwise be inevitable.

Many developments in medicine, social customs, and legal proceedings around the world paved the way for modern surrogacy:
 * 1936 – In the U.S., drug companies Schering-Kahlbaum and Parke-Davis started the pharmaceutical production of estrogen.
 * 1944 – Harvard Medical School professor John Rock became the first person to fertilize human ovum outside the uterus.
 * 1953 – Researchers successfully performed the first cryopreservation of sperm.
 * 1976 – Michigan lawyer Noel Keane wrote the first surrogacy contract in the United States.
 * 1978 – Louise Brown, the first "test-tube baby", was born in England, the product of the first successful IVF procedure.
 * 1985–1986 – A woman carried the first successful gestational surrogate pregnancy.
 * 1986 – Melissa Stern, otherwise known as "Baby M," was born in the U.S. The surrogate and biological mother, Mary Beth Whitehead, refused to give up custody of Melissa to the couple with whom she made the surrogacy agreement. The courts of New Jersey found that Whitehead was the child's legal mother and declared contracts for gestational carrierhood illegal and invalid. However, the court found it in the best interest of the infant to award custody of Melissa to the child's biological father, William Stern, and his wife Elizabeth Stern, rather than to Whitehead, the gestational carrier.
 * 1990 – In California, gestational carrier Anna Johnson refused to give up the baby to intended parents Mark and Crispina Calvert. The couple sued her for custody (Calvert v. Johnson), and the court upheld their parental rights. In doing so, it legally defined the true mother as the woman who, according to the surrogacy agreement, intends to create and raise a child.
 * 2009 – Ukraine, one of the most requested countries in Europe for this treatment, has its first Surrogacy Law approved.

Surrogate
Anthropological studies of surrogates have shown that surrogates engage in various distancing techniques throughout the surrogate pregnancy so as to ensure that they do not become emotionally attached to the baby. Many surrogates intentionally try to foster the development of emotional attachment between the intended mother and the surrogate child. Some surrogates describe feeling empowered by the experience.

Although gestational surrogates generally report being satisfied with their experience as surrogates, there are cases in which they are not. Unmet expectations are associated with dissatisfaction. Some women did not feel a certain level of closeness with the couple and others did not feel respected by the couple. Some gestational surrogates report emotional distress during the process of surrogacy. There may be a lack of access to therapy and emotional support through the surrogate process.

Gestational surrogates may struggle with postpartum depression and issues with relinquishing the child to their intended parents. Immediate postpartum depression has been observed in gestational surrogates at a rate of 0-20%. Some surrogates report negative feelings with relinquishing rights to the child immediately after birth, but most negative feelings resolve after some time.

Child and parents
A systematic review of 55 studies examining the outcomes for surrogacy for gestational carriers and resulting families showed that there were no major psychological differences in children up to the age of 10 years old that were born from surrogacy compared to those children born from other assisted reproductive technology or those children conceived naturally.

Gay men who have become fathers using surrogacy have reported similar experiences to those of other couples who have used surrogacy, including their relationship with both their child and their surrogate.

A study has followed a cohort of 32 surrogacy, 32 egg donation, and 54 natural conception families through to age seven, reporting the impact of surrogacy on the families and children at ages one, two, and seven. At age one, parents through surrogacy showed greater psychological well-being and adaptation to parenthood than those who conceived naturally; there were no differences in infant temperament. At age two, parents through surrogacy showed more positive mother–child relationships and less parenting stress on the part of fathers than their natural conception counterparts; there were no differences in child development between these two groups. At age seven, the surrogacy and egg donation families showed less positive mother–child interaction than the natural conception families, but there were no differences in maternal positive or negative attitudes or child adjustment. The researchers concluded that the surrogacy families continued to function well.

Legal issues
The legality of surrogacy varies around the world. Many countries do not have laws which specifically deal with surrogacy. Some countries ban surrogacy outright, while others ban commercial surrogacy but allow altruistic surrogacy (in which the surrogate is not financially compensated). Some countries allow commercial surrogacy, with few restrictions. Some jurisdictions extend a ban on surrogacy to international surrogacy. In some jurisdictions rules applicable to adoptions apply while others do not regulate the practice.

The US, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia have the most liberal laws in the world, allowing commercial surrogacy, including for foreigners. Several Asian countries used to have liberal laws, but the practice has since been restricted. In 2013, Thailand banned commercial surrogacy, and restricted altruistic surrogacy to Thai couples. In 2016, Cambodia also banned commercial surrogacy. Nepal, Mexico, and India have also recently banned foreign commercial surrogacy. Surrogacy is legal and common in Iran, and monetary remuneration is practiced and allowed by religious authorities.

Laws dealing with surrogacy must deal with:
 * Enforceability of surrogacy agreements. In some jurisdictions, they are void or prohibited, and some jurisdictions distinguish between commercial and altruistic surrogacy.
 * The different issues raised by traditional and gestational surrogacy.
 * Mechanisms for the legal recognition of the intended parents as the legal parents, either by pre-birth orders or by post-birth adoption.

Although laws differ widely from one jurisdiction to another, some generalizations are possible:

The historical legal assumption has been that the woman giving birth to a child is that child's legal mother, and the only way for another woman to be recognized as the mother is through adoption (usually requiring the birth mother's formal abandonment of parental rights).

Even in jurisdictions that do not recognize surrogacy arrangements, if the potential adoptive parents and the birth mother proceed without any intervention from the government and do not change their mind along the way, they will likely be able to achieve the effects of surrogacy by having the gestational carrier give birth and then give the child up for private adoption to the intended parents.

If the jurisdiction specifically bans surrogacy, however, and authorities find out about the arrangement, there may be financial and legal consequences for the parties involved. One jurisdiction (Quebec) prevented the genetic mother's adoption of the child even though that left the child with no legal mother.

Some jurisdictions specifically prohibit only commercial and not altruistic surrogacy. Even jurisdictions that do not prohibit surrogacy may rule that surrogacy contracts (commercial, altruistic, or both) are void. If the contract is either prohibited or void, then there is no recourse if one party to the agreement has a change of heart: if a surrogate changes her mind and decides to keep the child, the intended mother has no claim to the child even if it is her genetic offspring, and the couple cannot get back any money they may have paid the surrogate; if the intended parents change their mind and do not want the child after all, the surrogate cannot get any money to make up for the expenses, or any promised payment, and she will be left with legal custody of the child.

Jurisdictions that permit surrogacy sometimes offer a way for the intended mother, especially if she is also the genetic mother, to be recognized as the legal mother without going through the process of abandonment and adoption. Often this is via a birth order in which a court rules on the legal parentage of a child. These orders usually require the consent of all parties involved, sometimes even including the husband of a married gestational surrogate. Most jurisdictions provide for only a post-birth order, often out of an unwillingness to force the gestational carrier to give up parental rights if she changes her mind after the birth.

A few jurisdictions do provide for pre-birth orders, generally only in cases when the gestational carrier is not genetically related to the expected child. Some jurisdictions impose other requirements in order to issue birth orders: for example, that the intended parents be heterosexual and married to one another. Jurisdictions that provide for pre-birth orders are also more likely to provide for some kind of enforcement of surrogacy contracts.

Citizenship
The citizenship and legal status of the children resulting from surrogacy arrangements can be problematic. The Hague Conference Permanent Bureau identified the question of citizenship of these children as a "pressing problem" in the Permanent Bureau 2014 Study (Hague Conference Permanent Bureau, 2014a: 84–94). According to U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, for a child born abroad to be a U.S. citizen one or both of the child's genetic parents must be a U.S. citizen. In other words, the only way for a foreign born surrogate child to acquire U.S. citizenship automatically at birth is if they are the biological child of a U.S. citizen. Furthermore, in some countries, the child will not be a citizen of the country in which they are born because the gestational carrier is not legally the parent of said child. This could result in a child being born without citizenship.

East Asia
In South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, and India, surrogacies are all regulated “through national laws that expressly ban it or explicitly set the parameters for its legality”.

China
Particularly in China, surrogacy operates within a legally gray area. Scholars mostly claim that surrogacy incites social instability both for the Chinese Government and the public, such as civil disputes, gender disproportion, crime, and the spread of disease. However, no law legislation or enforcement has been published against surrogacy, whether it is a surrogate mother or a connecting third agency, despite the state government's attitude to ban such practice.

Any medical organization involved in surrogacy will be considered as law violation, including any institution that organizes, implements, or facilitates egg retrieval and sale of women. Statistics found more than 400 surrogacy agencies facilitate the birth of more than 10,000 surrogate children every year on average — operating underground with legal prohibitions.

Due to such blurry legal issues, surrogate mothers have become an underprivileged group facing the oppression of women's reproductive rights and the lack of formal legal restrictions. Many of the conditions they should have, such as emotional caring and social resources, are absent, as research claiming that surrogacy contracts usually blindly meet client needs while ignoring the health and well-being of the surrogate mothers. They are marginalized by society and lack the companionship of their partners and legitimate medical health checkups during the nearly one year of pregnancy.

Ethical issues
Numerous ethical questions have been raised with regards to surrogacy. They generally stem from concerns relating to social justice, women's rights, child welfare, bioethics, and societal traditional values.

Gestational carrier
Those who view surrogacy as a social justice issue argue that it leads to the exploitation of women in developing countries whose wombs are commodified to meet the reproductive needs of the more affluent. While opponents of this stance argue that surrogacy provides a much-needed source of revenue for women facing poverty in developing countries, others purport that the lack of legislation in such countries often leads to much of the profit accruing to middlemen and commercial agencies rather than the gestational carriers themselves. It has been argued that under laws of countries where surrogacy falls under the umbrella of adoption, commercial surrogacy can be considered problematic as payment for adoption is unethical, but not paying a gestational carrier for her service is a form of exploitation. Both opponents and supporters of surrogacy have agreed that implementing international laws on surrogacy can limit the social justice issues that gestational carriers face in transnational surrogacy.

Other human rights activists express concern over the conditions under which gestational carriers are kept by surrogacy clinics which exercise much power and control over the process of surrogate pregnancy. Isolated from friends and family and required to live in separate surrogacy hostels on the pretext of ensuring consistent prenatal care, it is argued that gestational carriers may face psychological challenges that cannot be offset by the (limited) economic benefits of surrogacy. Other psychological issues are noted, such as the implications of gestational carriers emotionally detaching themselves from their babies in anticipation of birth departure.

The relevance of a woman's consent in judging the ethical acceptability of surrogacy is another point of controversy within human rights circles. While some hold that any consensual process is not a human rights violation, other human rights activists argue that human rights are not just about survival but about human dignity and respect. Thus, decisions cannot be defined as involving agency if they are driven by coercion, violence, or extreme poverty, which is often the case with women in developing countries who pursue surrogacy due to economic need or aggressive persuasion from their husbands. On the other end of the spectrum, it has been argued that bans on surrogacy are violations of human rights under the existing laws of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights reproductive rights landmark.

Some feminists have also argued that surrogacy is an assault to a woman's dignity and right to autonomy over her body. By degrading impoverished women to the mere status of "baby producers", commercial surrogacy has been accused by feminists of commodifying women's bodies in a manner akin to prostitution. Some feminists also express concerns over links between surrogacy and patriarchal expressions of domination as numerous reports have been cited of women in developing countries coerced into commercial surrogacy by their husbands wanting to "earn money off of their wives' bodies".

Supporters of surrogacy have argued to mandate education of gestational carriers regarding their rights and risks through the process in order to both rectify the ethical issues that arise and to enhance their autonomy.

Child
Those concerned with the rights of the child in the context of surrogacy reference issues related to identity and parenthood, abandonment and abuse, and child trafficking.

It is argued that in commercial surrogacy, the rights of the child are often neglected as the baby becomes a mere commodity within an economic transaction of a good and a service. Such opponents of surrogacy argue that transferring the duties of parenthood from the birthing mother to a contracting couple denies the child any claim to its "gestational carrier" and to its biological parents if the egg and/or sperm is/are not that of the contracting parents. In addition, they claim that the child has no right to information about any siblings he or she may have in the latter instance. The relevance of disclosing the use of surrogacy as an assisted reproductive technique to the child has also been argued to be important for both health risks and the rights of the child.

Traditional Values in Chinese Society
While many people believe that surrogacy exploits women, uses their organs as a tool for making money and objectifies their reproductive rights, the biggest ethical consideration faced by surrogacy in most societies, especially in China, is contradicting traditional Chinese values. This is one of the most fundamental reasons for people’s resistance to surrogacy in social norms.

Traditional Chinese values focus on blood ties and family ties. The physical connection between parents and children and the process by which parents give birth to children are considered virtuous ("生恩 shēng'ēn"). There is also an ancient Chinese saying that believes that "the body, hair, and skin come from the parents who gave birth to one", and blood relatives should be respected, and one should not harm oneself at will ("身体发肤受之父母 shēntǐ fà fū shòu zhī fùmǔ"). When Chinese people regard blood relations as an important pathway to demonstrate filial piety and family intimacy, these traditional concepts are rooted in the cognitive norm of society. Such emphasis on biological parents and blood relations undoubtedly resulted in conflicts with the practice of surrogacy, which regards childbirth as only a physiological process.

Correspondingly, this value of kinship relations strongly affects the social status of surrogate mothers. They are easily considered "heartless" or "don't care about their own children" in Chinese society because they are only responsible for the birth process and hand over the children to others and do not participate in the upbringing process. However, there are also opinions that this separation from the children is not voluntary for surrogate mothers, but is forced by third-party agencies or restricted by unfair contracts. They can only give up the right to raise their children and send them away despite suffering great psychological and emotional trauma.

Financial aspects
According to the Assisted Human Reproduction Act adopted in 2004, it is prohibited in Canada to compensate a female for acting as a surrogate mother or to advertise the payment of such compensation. However, on October 1, 2016, Health Canada announced its intention to update and strengthen the Assisted Human Reproduction Act to regulate the financial aspects of contracts between intended parents and surrogate mothers. According to research, surrogate mothers are mostly motivated by their low socioeconomic status or family debt; they are more likely to be forced into surrogacy due to financial pressures. In 2020, Section 12 of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act provides for the reimbursement of expenses and monetary compensation to the surrogate mother to alleviate the financial burden associated with surrogacy. According to this proposed regulation, the reimbursement of eligible expenses is not obligatory. Aiming at emphasizing the voluntary nature of the gesture. The proposed regulation provides a non-exhaustive list of different categories of eligible expenses, such as parking fees, travel expenses, caregiver expenses, meals, psychological consultations, etc. Additionally, the surrogate mother can be reimbursed for any lost wages during pregnancy if she obtains written confirmation from a qualified physician that the work posed a risk to the pregnancy.

Religious issues
Different religions take different approaches to surrogacy, often related to their stances on assisted reproductive technology in general.

Buddhism
Buddhist thought is inconclusive on the matter of surrogacy. The prominent belief is that Buddhism totally accepts surrogacy since there are no Buddhist teachings suggesting that infertility treatments or surrogacy are immoral. This stance is further supported by the common conception that serving as a gestational carrier is an expression of compassion and therefore automatically aligns with Buddhist values.

However, numerous Buddhist thinkers have expressed concerns with certain aspects of surrogacy. One Buddhist perspective on surrogacy arises from the Buddhist belief in reincarnation as a manifestation of karma. According to this view, gestational carrierhood circumvents the workings of karma by interfering with the natural cycle of reincarnation.

Others reference the Buddha directly who purportedly taught that trade in sentient beings, including human beings, is not a righteous practice as it almost always involves exploitation that causes suffering. Susumu Shimazono, professor of Religious Studies at the University of Tokyo, contends in the magazine Dharma World that surrogacy places the childbearing surrogate in a position of subservience, in which her body becomes a "tool" for another. Simultaneously, other Buddhist thinkers argue that as long as the primary purpose of being a gestational carrier is out of compassion instead of profit, it is not exploitative and is therefore morally permissible. This further highlights the lack of consensus on surrogacy within the Buddhist community.

Catholicism
The Catholic Church is opposed to surrogacy, which it views as immoral and incompatible with Biblical texts surrounding topics of birth, marriage, and life. Paragraph 2376 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that: "Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral." Many proponents of this stance express concern that the sanctity of marriage may be compromised by the insertion of a third party into the marriage contract. Additionally, the practice of in vitro fertilisation involved in gestational surrogacy is generally viewed as morally impermissible due to its removal of human conception from the act of sexual intercourse. Catholics also condemn in vitro fertilisation due to the killing of embryos that accompanies the frequent practice of discarding, freezing, or donating non-implanted eggs to stem cell research. As such, the Catholic Church deems all practices involving in vitro fertilisation, including gestational surrogacy, as morally problematic.

Hinduism
As India and other countries with large Hindu populations have become centers for fertility tourism, numerous questions have been raised regarding whether or not surrogacy conflicts with the Hindu religion. While Hindu scholars have not debated the issue extensively, T. C. Anand Kumar, an Indian reproductive biologist, argues that there is no conflict between Hinduism and assisted reproduction. Others have supported this stance with reference to Hindu mythology, including a story in the Bhagavata Purana which suggests the practice of gestational carrier-hood:

"Kamsa, the wicked king of Mathura, had imprisoned his sister Devaki and her husband Vasudeva because oracles had informed him that her child would be his killer. Every time she delivered a child, he smashed its head on the floor. He killed six children. When the seventh child was conceived, the gods intervened. They summoned the goddess Yogamaya and had her transfer the fetus from the womb of Devaki to the womb of Rohini (Vasudeva's other wife who lived with her sister Yashoda across the river Yamuna, in the village of cowherds at Gokulam). Thus the child conceived in one womb was incubated in and delivered through another womb."

Additionally, infertility is often associated with karma in the Hindu tradition and consequently treated as a pathology to be treated. This has led to general acceptance of medical intervention for addressing infertility amongst Hindus. As such, surrogacy and other scientific methods of assisted reproduction are generally supported within the Hindu community. Nonetheless, Hindu women do not commonly use surrogacy as an option to treat infertility, despite often serving as surrogates for Western commissioning couples. When surrogacy is practiced by Hindus, it is more likely to be used within the family circle as opposed to involving anonymous donors.

Islam
For Muslims, the Qur'anic injunction that "their mothers are only those who conceived them and gave birth to them (waladna hum)" denies the distinction between genetic and gestational mothers, hence complicating notions of lineage within the context of surrogacy, which are central to the Muslim faith.

Jainism
Jain scholars have not debated the issue of surrogacy extensively. Nonetheless, the practice of surrogacy is referenced in the Śvētāmbara tradition of Jainism according to which the embryo of Lord Mahavira was transferred from a Brahmin woman Devananada to the womb of Trishala, the queen of Kshatriya ruler Siddharth, by a divinity named Harinegameshin. This account is not present in Digambara Jain texts, however.

Other sources state that surrogacy is not objectionable in the Jain view as it is seen as a physical operation akin to any other medical treatment used to treat a bodily deficiency. However, some religious concerns related to surrogacy have been raised within the Jain community including the loss of non-implanted embryos, destruction of traditional marriage relationships, and adulterous implications of gestational surrogacy.

Judaism
In general, there is a lack of consensus within the Jewish community on the matter of surrogacy. Jewish scholars and rabbis have long debated this topic, expressing conflicting views on both sides of the debate.

Those supportive of surrogacy within the Jewish religion generally view it as a morally permissible way for Jewish women who cannot conceive to fulfill their religious obligations of procreation. Rabbis who favour this stance often cite Genesis 9:1 which commands all Jews to "be fruitful and multiply". In 1988, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards associated with the Conservative Jewish movement issued formal approval for surrogacy, concluding that "the mitzvah of parenthood is so great that ovum surrogacy is permissible".

Jewish scholars and rabbis which hold an anti-surrogacy stance often see it as a form of modern slavery wherein women's bodies are exploited and children are commodified. As Jews possess the religious obligation to "actively engage in the redemption of those who are enslaved", practices seen as involving human exploitation are morally condemned. This thinking aligns with concerns brought forth by other groups regarding the relation between surrogacy practices and forms of human trafficking in certain countries with large fertility tourism industries. Several Jewish scholars and rabbis also cite ethical concerns surrounding the "broken relationship" between the child and its surrogate birth mother. Rabbi Immanuel Jacovits, chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregation from 1976 to 1991, reported in his 1975 publication Jewish Medical Ethics that "to use another person as an incubator and then take from her the child that she carried and delivered for a fee is a revolting degradation of maternity and an affront to human dignity."

Another point of contention surrounding surrogacy within the Jewish community is the issue of defining motherhood. There are generally three conflicting views on this topic: 1) the ovum donor is the mother, 2) the gestational carrier is the mother, and 3) the child has two mothers—both the ovum donor and the gestational carrier. While most contend that parenthood is determined by the woman giving birth, a minority opt to consider the genetic parents the legal parents, citing the well-known passage in Sanhedrin 91b of the Talmud which states that life begins at conception. Also controversial is the issue of defining Judaism in the context of surrogacy. Jewish Law states that if a Jewish woman is the surrogate, then the child is Jewish. However, this often raises issues when the child is raised by a non-Jewish family and approaches for addressing this issue are also widely debated within the Jewish community.

Fertility tourism
Some countries, such as the United States, Canada, Greece, Georgia and Mexico are popular surrogacy destinations for foreign intended parents. Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were also destinations before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Eligibility, processes and costs differ from country to country. Fertility tourism for surrogacy is driven by legal restrictions in the home country or the incentive of lower prices abroad. Previously popular destinations, India, Nepal and Thailand have all recently implemented bans on commercial surrogacy for non-residents. China is also a famous destination, even though surrogacy is legally banned.

title: Surrogacy


text:
Talk:United Nations International Days and Weeks

This is a nice new page. However, I've disputed the merge requests. Gareth Hughes 22:50, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * 1) I intend to write more complete articles on each of the days.
 * 2) I imagine that often someone may want information on one of the days rather than to be redirected to a whole page of UN observances.

Your welcome Gareth. Well, my main purpose in making this page is to get rid of the stubs that existed. If we find out more about a specific observance, then go ahead and add. I will probably link the other observances or days onto this page. Zach Harden 12:22, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

What if this page was merged with List of annual observances? It's easy to designate there which day is celebrated by the U.N. and which is not. --Eleassar777 08:40, 15 May 2005 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Babak Payami


text:
Julius Hawley Seelye

Julius Hawley Seelye (September 14, 1824 – May 12, 1895) was a missionary, author, United States representative, and former president of Amherst College. The system of Latin honors in use at many universities worldwide is said to have been created by him.

Biography
Seelye was born September 14, 1824, in Bethel, Connecticut, to Seth and Abigail (Taylor) Seelye.

He prepared himself for college, then attended Amherst College from 1846 to 1849, when he graduated. While he was at Amherst, he joined the Psi Upsilon fraternity. After graduating, he continued his studies at Auburn Theological Seminary from 1849 to 1852, and at Halle, Prussia, from 1852 to 1853. He married Marilyn Dockfill, who eventually died of tuberculosis.

Seelye was ordained in Schenectady, New York, on August 10, 1853. From 1853 to 1858, he was the pastor of the First Dutch Reformed Church in Schenectady.

In 1858, he returned to Amherst College, serving as Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy until 1890. During that time, he was the president of the Amherst College Corporation, and a trustee of Amherst College, from 1876 to 1890, and the fifth president of the college from 1877 to 1890, where he began the nation's first student self-government.

One of his students was Joseph Hardy Neesima, who graduated from Amherst in 1870 and later founded Doshisha University in Kyoto.

In 1872–1873, Seelye made a tour around the world. While on this journey he stopped in Bombay, India, and delivered a course of lectures entitled The Way, The Truth, and the Life, to educated Hindus. He was invited to stay and work with the Christian Mission society in India, but decided to return to Amherst.

He was pastor of the Amherst College Church from 1877 to 1892. Seelye was also a trustee of Mount Holyoke College from 1872 to 1895.

Seelye was a member of the 44th Congress, from 1875 to 1877. By far the larger number of his speeches were upon various questions connected with the treatment of the Indian tribes, according to the principles of Christian philanthropy. He chose not to run for reelection to Congress because he had been named president of Amherst College in 1876.

He retired from the presidency in 1890, due to failing health, and died on May 12, 1895, at his home in Amherst, Massachusetts. He is buried in Wildwood Cemetery in Amherst.

Other activities

 * Seelye lectured at Andover Theological Seminary from 1873 to 1874. He was then a member of the Board of Visitors there from 1874 to 1892.
 * Seelye was on the Massachusetts Commission on Taxation from 1874 to 1875.
 * Seelye incorporated the Clarke Institute for Deaf Mutes in Northampton, Massachusetts, from 1867 to 1887.
 * Seelye was a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions from 1876 to 1895.
 * Seelye was president of the Congregational Home Missionary Society from 1885 to 1892.
 * Seelye received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Union in 1862.
 * Seelye received a Doctor of Laws degree from Columbia in 1876.

Family
On October 26, 1854, Seelye married Elizabeth Tillman James of Albany, New York, who was born in 1833 and died in 1881. They had four children: William James Seelye, born in 1857, graduated from Amherst College in 1879, married Mary A. Clarke of Iowa City in 1886, and died in 1931; Elizabeth James Seelye, who was born in 1862, married James Wilson Bixler, an Amherst graduate, in 1891, and who died in 1894; Anna Hawley Seelye, who was born in 1866, married Benjamin Kendall Emerson, an Amherst College professor, in 1901; and Mabel Seelye, who was born in 1870, married James Bixler in 1898; and died in 1919.

Seelye is the brother of Laurenus Clark Seelye, first president of Smith College. He is the grandfather of J. Seelye Bixler, 16th president of Colby College, and of Elizabeth Seelye Bixler, third dean of the Yale School of Nursing. He is the great-grandfather of Former United States Ambassador Talcott Seelye and is the great-great-grandfather of National Public Radio reporter Kate Seelye.

title: Julius Hawley Seelye


text:
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (, "State Gallery") is an art museum in Stuttgart, Germany, it opened in 1843. In 1984, the opening of the Neue Staatsgalerie (New State Gallery) designed by James Stirling transformed the once provincial gallery into one of Europe's leading museums.

Alte Staatsgalerie
Originally, the classicist building of the Alte Staatsgalerie was also the home of the Royal Art School. The building was built in 1843. After being severely damaged in World War II, it was rebuilt in 1945–1947 and reopened in 1958.

It houses the following collections:
 * Old German paintings 1300–1550
 * Italian paintings 1300–1800
 * Dutch paintings 1500–1700
 * German paintings of the baroque period
 * Art from 1800–1900 (romanticism, impressionism)

Neue Staatsgalerie

The Neue Staatsgalerie, a controversial architectural design by James Stirling, opened on March 9, 1984 on a site right next to the old building. It houses a collection of 20th-century modern art — from Pablo Picasso to Oskar Schlemmer, Joan Miró and Joseph Beuys. The building layout bears resemblance to Schinkel's Altes Museum, with a series of connected galleries around three sides of a central rotunda. However, the front of the museum is not as symmetrical as the Altes Museum and the traditional configuration is slanted with the entrance set at an angle.

Notable works in collection
In 2013, the Staatsgalerie returned Virgin and Child, a 15th-century painting attributed to the Master of Flémalle (1375–1444), to the estate of Max Stern, a German-born Jewish dealer who fled the Nazis and later operated the Dominion Gallery in Montreal.
 * Annibale Carracci's Corpse of Christ (1583–1585)
 * Max Beckmann's Journey on the Fish
 * Salvador Dalí's The Raised Instant (1938)
 * Otto Dix's The Match Seller (1920)
 * George Grosz's The Funeral (1918)
 * Franz Marc's The Small Yellow Horses (1912)
 * Henri Matisse's With the Toilet (La Hair-style) (1907)
 * Joan Miró's The Bird with the Calm View, the Wings in Flames (1952)
 * Piet Mondrian's Composition in White, Red and Blue (1936)
 * Pablo Picasso's Tumblers (Mother and Son) (1905), Laufende Frauen am Strand (1922), The Breakfast in the Free One (1961)
 * Barnett Newman's Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue II (1967)
 * Works by: Paul Klee, Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, Willi Baumeister, Gerhard Richter

title: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Angela Mason

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was keep. Mackensen (talk) 20:52, 23 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Angela Mason
This Angela Mason receives about 156 hits on google. Is notability within the gay community enough to establish the right to inclusion on Wikipedia? GRider\talk 22:54, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC) This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.
 * Keep. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire as well. I will trust the Queen's judgement on this. Besides, isn't it remarkable that an institution that most people mentally link to conservatism has awarded a gay leader? JoaoRicardo 08:00, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. At worst, this is a harmless inclusion. -- Jmabel | Talk 08:03, Feb 17, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep, expand. Notable enough for me. Megan1967 09:08, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep -- Longhair 18:28, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep - David Gerard 23:05, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)


text:
Meiko Kaji

Meiko Kaji (梶 芽衣子) is a Japanese actress and singer. Since the 1960s, she has appeared in over 100 film and television roles, most prominently in the 1970s with her most famous roles as outlaw characters, best known for her performances in the film series Stray Cat Rock, Wandering Ginza Butterfly, Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion and Lady Snowblood. Kaji also performed as a singer, releasing records concurrently with her film career and beyond, even providing the official feature theme song tracks to a few of the films in which she also starred.

Acting career
Meiko Kaji was born Masako Ōta in the Kanda area of Tokyo and graduated from the Yakumo Academy high school in Meguro, Tokyo. She began to work in the film industry under her real name at Nikkatsu studio in 1965 after graduating from high school. Her first supporting film role was in 1968 in Retaliation. In 1969 she appeared in Nihon Zankyoden, one of a series of films directed by Masahiro Makino, who recognized her acting ability and provided her with the stage name of Meiko Kaji. In 1970 she had a starring role in Blind Woman's Curse directed by Teruo Ishii, and from 1970 to 1971 she appeared in the Noraneko Rokku (Stray cat/Alleycat Rock) series of films about delinquent and rebellious young people and gangs, appearing in all five films in different character roles.

In 1971, Nikkatsu would move more towards production in the pink film business, which were more overtly sexual; and to avoid roles in such films, Kaji moved to the Toei Company. There she starred in the four-part Female Convict 701: Scorpion series of women in prison revenge films as Nami Matsushima/"Matsu the Scorpion", a woman sent to prison for seeking revenge and her attempts to escape, and in 1972 she first starred in the Wandering Ginza Butterfly yakuza/gangster series as Higuchi Nami.

In 1973 she starred in Lady Snowblood directed by Toshiya Fujita and distributed by Toho, a revenge film set in late 1800s Japan based on the manga of the same name, where she played the deadly assassin Yuki. It is considered by many critics to be her most famous role, particularly outside of Japan, and would later go on to inspire other media, including Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films. A year later she reprised her role as Yuki in the sequel Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance in 1974. She went on to appear in several of Kinji Fukasaku's films, such as Yakuza Graveyard in 1976 and in 1978 starred in Sonezaki Shinjū, where she earned nominations for Best Actress at five different award shows, winning four of them.

By the end of the 1970s, Kaji left major film roles following a combination of overwork amidst rampant production schedules and underpayment, but had occasional film roles in the 1980s and 2010s, including Under the Open Sky in 2020. Kaji also worked in television since the 1980s, in 1989 portraying the informant Omasa in the television drama Onihei Hankachō, the Shochiku–Fuji Television version starring kabuki actor Nakamura Kichiemon II. In 2022, she appeared in the 2022 Amazon Prime Video anthology series Modern Love Tokyo for the episode "Nursing My Son, and Some Grievances".

During her acting career Kaji received acting offers from non-Japanese film studios, including those from Hollywood, but declined them, as she felt she could not give a good performance in a language other than Japanese.

Music career
Kaji is also a singer. She sang the theme song to Lady Snowblood, "Shura no Hana" (修羅の花), and the theme song of the Female Convict Scorpion series, "Urami Bushi" (怨み節). When both these songs were used in the 2003 Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill, there was a revival of interest in Kaji's music that encouraged her to resume her musical career. In 2009, she released a single, Onna wa yametai. In 2011, Kaji released her first new album in 31 years, Aitsu no suki-so-na burūsu (あいつの好きそなブルース) with songs written by Ryudo Uzaki and Yoko Aki.

In May 2020, Kaji launched her own channel on YouTube, as a way to both celebrate her work with fans all over the world, and to give back to everyone who had supported her.

Films

 * Retaliation (1968) (credited as Masako Ota)
 * Outlaw:Gangster VIP 2 (1968)
 * Blind Woman's Curse (June 1970, d. Teruo Ishii)
 * Shinjuku outlaw: Step On the Gas (新宿アウトロー　ぶっ飛ばせ) (Oct. 1970)
 * The Stray Cat Rock series (1970–71)
 * Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss
 * Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo
 * Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter
 * Stray Cat Rock: Machine Animal
 * Alleycat Rock: Crazy Riders '71 (野良猫ロック　暴走集団’７１) (Jan. 1971, d. Toshiya Fujita)
 * The Sasori series (1972–73)
 * Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion
 * Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41
 * Female Convict Scorpion: Beast Stable
 * Female Prisoner Scorpion: 701's Grudge Song
 * The Gincho series (1972)
 * Wandering Ginza Butterfly
 * Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2: She-Cat Gambler
 * Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973)
 * Lady Snowblood (1973)
 * Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance (1974)
 * The Homeless (1974)
 * New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Boss's Head (1975)
 * Lullaby of the Earth (大地の子守唄) (June 1976, d. Yasuzo Masumura)
 * Yakuza Graveyard (1976)
 * Double Suicide of Sonezaki (1978)
 * Tree Without Leaves (1986)
 * Onihei hankacho (1995)
 * Oh! Oku (2006)
 * Under the Open Sky (2020)
 * The Voice of Sin (2020), Mayumi
 * What Did You Eat Yesterday? (2021)

Television

 * Ōedo Sōsamō (1970–71), Konami
 * Ronin of the Wilderness (1972)
 * Sasagawa Saho Matatabi Shirizu – Kuresakatouge e no chisou (1972), Oshizu
 * Terauchi Kantarō Ikka (1974), Shizue Terauchi
 * Sorekara no Musashi (1981), Yuri-hime
 * Ōoku (1983)
 * Kaseifu wa mita! 2 (1984)
 * Aoi hitomi no seiraifu (1984)
 * Sutaa tanjō (1985)
 * Tantei Kamizu Kyōsuke no satsujin suiri 8: Izu Shimoda-kaigan ni akai satsui ga hashiru (1988), Shōko Hamano
 * Aoi sanmyaku '88 (1988), Umetaro
 * Onihei Hankachō(1989–2016), Omasa
 * Kenkaku Shōbai (1998–2010), Omon
 * Kaseifu ha mita! 21 (2003), Mayumi Hirao
 * Anata no tonari ni dare ka iru (2003), Shimako Matsumoto
 * Kenkaku Shobai Sukedachi (2004)
 * Onihei Hankacho Supesharu: Yamabukiya Okatsu (2005)
 * Nogaremono orin (2006)
 * Hasshū mawari kuwayama jūbei (2007)
 * Kenkyaku shobai: Haru no arashi (2008)
 * Kekkon shinai (2012)
 * Joiuchi: Hairyo zuma shimatsu (2013)
 * Taxi Driver no Suiri Nisschi 34 (2013)
 * Samurai Rebellion (2013)
 * Gokuaku Gambo (2014)
 * Joshu Seven (2017)
 * What Did You Eat Yesterday? (2019–23)
 * Modern Love Tokyo (2022)
 * YuYu Hakusho (2023), Genkai

Awards and nominations
3rd Hochi Film Award
 * Won: Best Actress for The Love Suicides at Sonezaki

75th Mainichi Film Awards
 * Won: Kinuyo Tanaka Award for her career

title: Meiko Kaji


text:
Duke Cunningham

Randall Harold "Duke" Cunningham (born December 8, 1941) is an American former politician, a highly decorated Vietnam War veteran and fighter ace. Cunningham served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 50th district from 1991 to 2005, and later served prison time for accepting bribes from defense contractors.

Prior to his political career, Cunningham was an officer and pilot in the U.S. Navy for 20 years. Following the Vietnam War, during which he became the U.S. Navy's only fighter pilot ace, Cunningham became an instructor at the U.S. Navy's Fighter Weapons School (better known as TOPGUN) and commanding officer of Fighter Squadron 126 (VF-126), a shore-based adversary squadron at NAS Miramar, California.

In 1990, Cunningham ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating Democratic incumbent Jim Bates. He served in the House from 1991 to 2005. Cunningham resigned from the House on November 28, 2005, after pleading guilty to accepting at least $2.4 million in bribes and under-reporting his taxable income for 2004. He was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison and was ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution. On June 4, 2013, Cunningham completed his prison sentence. He was granted a conditional pardon by President Donald Trump in 2021.

Early life
Cunningham was born in Los Angeles, California, to Randall and Lela Cunningham on December 8, 1941, one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. His father was a truck driver for Union Oil at the time. Around 1945, the family moved to Fresno, where Cunningham's father purchased a gas station. In 1953 they moved to rural Shelbina, Missouri, where his parents purchased and managed the five-and-dime Cunningham Variety Store.

Education and military service
Cunningham graduated from Shelbina High School in 1959. He attended Kirksville Teacher's College for one year before transferring to the University of Missouri in Columbia. Cunningham graduated with a bachelor's degree in education and physical education in 1964; he obtained his M.A. in education the following year. He was hired as a physical education teacher and swimming coach at Hinsdale Central High School, where he stayed for one year. Two members of his swim team competed in the 1968 Olympics, where they earned a gold and a silver medal.

Cunningham joined the United States Navy in 1967. During his service, Cunningham and his Navigator/Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) "Irish" Driscoll became the only Navy aces in the Vietnam War, flying an F-4 Phantom II from aboard aircraft carrier USS Constellation (CV-64). He and Driscoll recorded five aerial victories against North Vietnamese MiG-21 and MiG-17 aircraft between January and May 1972, including three kills in one flight (earning them the Navy Cross).

In the final engagement, Cunningham downed a MiG-17, which was supposedly piloted by "Colonel Toon", a mythical North Vietnam Air Force fighter ace loosely based on a North Vietnamese pilot from the 921st Fighter Regiment named Nguyen Van Coc. It was later revealed by historians there was no such Colonel Toon and the story was fabricated by Cunningham himself. Van Coc retired from the Vietnamese People’s Air Force in 2002.

While returning to the carrier after the final shoot-down, Cunningham and Driscoll were forced to eject from their F-4 over water near Nam Dinh, but they were rescued by Navy helicopter.

After returning to the US from Vietnam in 1972, Cunningham became an instructor at the US Navy's Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego. He was reportedly nearly court-martialed for allegedly breaking into his commanding officer's office to compare his records and fitness reports with those of his colleagues — a charge denied by Cunningham but supported by two of his superior officers at the time. Cunningham served tours with VF-154, United States Seventh Fleet, and as executive officer/commanding officer of the shore-based adversary squadron VF-126. In 1985, Cunningham earned an MBA from National University. In 1987, he was featured on the PBS broadcast of the NOVA special "Top Gun And Beyond", during which he recounted his engagement with the North Vietnamese fighter pilot thought to be the mythical "Colonel Toon". He retired from the Navy with the final rank of commander in 1987, settling in Del Mar, a suburb of San Diego.

Cunningham became nationally known as a CNN commentator on naval aircraft in the run-up to the Persian Gulf War.

Political career
Cunningham's visibility as a CNN commentator led several Republican leaders to approach him about running in what was then the 44th District, one of four congressional districts that divided San Diego. The district had been held for eight years by Democrat Jim Bates, and was considered the most Democratic district in the San Diego area. However, Bates was bogged down in a scandal involving charges of sexual harassment. Cunningham won the Republican nomination in 1990 and hammered Bates about the scandal, promising to be "a congressman we can be proud of." He won by just one percentage point, giving Republicans full representation of the San Diego area for only the second time since the city was split into two districts after the 1960 census.

Cunningham's status as a Vietnam war hero made him a sought-after source, by colleagues and the media, in the debate on whether to use military force against Iraq in the lead up to the first Gulf War. Guy Vander Jagt of Michigan, longtime chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said that Cunningham had considerable "drawing power" and was treated as a celebrity by his fellow Republicans.

After the 1990 census, redistricting renumbered the 44th District as the 51st and created the 50th District, splitting off a significant portion of San Diego County. At the same time, the 51st added several areas of heavily Republican North San Diego County. The new district included the home of Bill Lowery, a fellow Republican who had represented most of the other side of San Diego for the past 12 years. They faced one another in the Republican primary. Despite Lowery's seniority, his involvement in the House banking scandal hurt him. As polls showed Cunningham with a substantial lead, Lowery dropped out of the primary race, effectively handing Cunningham the nomination. Cunningham breezed to victory in November.

Even though the district (renumbered as the 50th after the 2000 census) was not nearly as conservative as the other two Republican-held districts in the San Diego area, Cunningham was re-elected six times with no less than 55 percent of the vote.

Cunningham was a member of the Appropriations and Intelligence committees, and chaired the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Human Intelligence Analysis and Counterintelligence during the 109th Congress. He was considered a leading Republican expert on national security issues. He was also a champion of education, using his position on the Appropriations Education Subcommittee to steer federal dollars to schools in San Diego. After surgery for prostate cancer in 1998, he became a champion of early testing for the disease.

Cunningham was known for making controversial comments. For example:
 * Making a comment about gay Congressman Barney Frank, where he called the rectal examination for prostate cancer "just not natural, unless maybe you're Barney Frank".
 * Displaying his middle finger to a constituent and "for emphasis, [shouting] the two-word meaning of his one-finger salute" during an argument over military spending.
 * Suggesting that the Democratic House leadership should be "lined up and shot" — a call he had previously made about Vietnam War protesters.
 * Referring to gay soldiers as "homos" on the floor of the House of Representatives when he said backers of an environmental amendment were "the same people that would ... put homos in the military." He later apologized for his comments.

Cunningham said that "I cut my own rudder" on issues, He was often compared by liberal interest groups to former congressman Bob Dornan; both were former military pilots, and both spoke out against perceived enemies. In 1992, Cunningham, along with Dornan and fellow San Diego Republican Duncan L. Hunter, challenged the patriotism of then-Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton before a near-empty House chamber, but still viewed by C-SPAN viewers. In September 1996 Cunningham criticized President Clinton for appointing judges who were "soft on crime". "We must get tough on drug dealers," he said, adding that "those who peddle destruction on our children must pay dearly". He favored stiff drug penalties and voted for the death penalty for major drug dealers.

Four months later, his son Todd was arrested for helping to transport 400 lb of marijuana from Texas to Indiana. Todd Cunningham pleaded guilty to possession and conspiracy to sell marijuana. At his son's sentencing hearing, Cunningham fought back tears as he begged the judge for leniency (Todd was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, in part because he tested positive for cocaine three times while on bail). After the sentencing, Cunningham was seen leaving the courthouse crying. Cunningham's press secretary responded to accusations of double standards with: "The sentence Todd got had nothing to do with who Duke is. Duke has always been tough on drugs and remains tough on drugs."

Legislative achievements
Cunningham was the lead sponsor of the Shark Finning Prohibition Act, which banned the practice of shark finning in all US waters, and pushed America to the lead on efforts to ban shark finning worldwide. For his efforts Cunningham was named as a "Conservation Hero" by the Audubon Society and the Ocean Wildlife Campaign. Cunningham also unsuccessfully advocated for the death penalty for all those convicted of shark finning.

Cunningham co-sponsored, along with Democrat John Murtha, the so-called "Flag Desecration Amendment", which would add the following sentence to the Constitution of the United States:

"The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the Flag of the United States."

The proposed amendment has passed the House many times, but narrowly missed the requisite 2/3 majority vote for passage in the Senate. Cunningham also advocated for the death penalty for all those convicted of flag desecration.

Cunningham was the driving force behind the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act which was passed and signed into law by President George W. Bush in July 2004. The law grants the authority to non-federal law enforcement officers from any jurisdiction to carry a firearm anywhere within the jurisdiction of the United States.

Cunningham supported reinstitution of the Selective Service draft.

Scandals and corruption
Duke bribe menu.jpg). The left column lists millions of dollars of government contracts; the right column lists the thousands of dollars in bribes required to secure them. The figures in the right column are increases; e.g. $50,000 in bribes would mean the difference between $18 million and $19 million of awarded contracts.

"BT" is an abbreviation for "Buoy Toy" – a 42-foot Carver yacht that was financed by Wade in exchange for $16 million in contracts. Cunningham renamed it the "Duke-stir".]]

Allegations
In June 2005, a story appeared in the San Diego Union Tribune by Marcus Stern and Jerry Kammer, who later received a Pulitzer Prize for their reporting. The story revealed that a defense contractor, Mitchell Wade, founder of the defense contracting firm MZM Inc. (since renamed Athena Innovative Solutions Inc. and later acquired by CACI), bought Cunningham's house in Del Mar in 2003 for $1,675,000. A month later, Wade placed it back on the market where it remained unsold for eight months until the price was reduced to $975,000. Cunningham was a member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee at the time. Soon after the purchase, Wade's company began to receive tens of millions of dollars worth of defense and intelligence contracts. Cunningham claimed the deal was legitimate, adding, "I feel very confident that I haven't done anything wrong."

Later in June, it was further reported that Cunningham lived rent-free on a yacht named the "Duke Stir" while he was in Washington. The yacht was owned by Wade; Cunningham paid only for maintenance. An article in The San Diego Union Tribune reported that Cunningham liked to invite women to his yacht. Two of them said that he would change into pajama bottoms and a turtleneck sweater to entertain them with chilled champagne by the light of a lava lamp.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation regarding the real estate transaction. Cunningham's home, MZM corporate offices, and Wade's home were all simultaneously raided by several federal agencies with warrants on July 1, 2005.

On July 14, 2005, Cunningham announced he would not run for a ninth term in 2006, saying that while he believed he would be cleared of any wrongdoing, he could not defend himself and run for re-election at the same time. He admitted to displaying "poor judgment" when he sold his house to Wade.

Besides Wade, the three other co-conspirators were: Brent R. Wilkes, founder of San Diego-based ADCS Inc.; New York businessman Thomas Kontogiannis; and John T. Michael, Kontogiannis' nephew and the owner of a New York-based mortgage company, Coastal Capital Corp. Property records show the company made $1.15 million in real estate loans to Cunningham, two of which were used in the purchase of his Rancho Santa Fe mansion. Court records show that Wade paid off one of those loans.

In 1997, Cunningham had pushed the Pentagon into buying a $20 million document-digitization system created by ADCS Inc., one of several defense companies owned by Wilkes. The Pentagon did not want to buy the system. When it had not done so three years later, Cunningham angrily demanded the firing of Lou Kratz, an assistant undersecretary of defense Cunningham held responsible for the delays. It later emerged that Wilkes reportedly gave Cunningham more than $630,000 in cash and favors.

Cunningham was also criticized for selling merchandise on his personal website, such as a $595 Buck knife featuring the official. He failed to obtain permission to use the seal, which is a federal offense.

On April 27, 2006, months after his guilty plea, The Wall Street Journal reported that, in addition to all the favors, gifts and money Cunningham received from defense contractors who wanted his help in obtaining contracts, Cunningham may have been provided with prostitutes, narcotics, hotel rooms, limousines, and other amenities.

Plea agreement
On November 28, 2005, Cunningham pleaded guilty to tax evasion, conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud in federal court in San Diego. The investigation which led to the conviction of Congressman Cunningham was led by a team of Marcus Stern, Jerry Kammer, and Dean Calbreath. Among the many bribes Cunningham admitted receiving was the sale of his home in Del Mar at an inflated price, the free use of the yacht "Duke Stir," a used Rolls-Royce, antique furniture, Persian rugs, jewelry, and a $2,000 contribution for his daughter's college graduation party. Cunningham's attorney, Mark Holscher, later said that the government's evidence was so overwhelming that he had no choice but to recommend a guilty plea. With the plea bargain, Cunningham faced a maximum of 10 years; had he fought the charges, Cunningham risked spending the rest of his life in prison.

As part of his guilty plea, Cunningham agreed to forfeit his $2.55 million home in Rancho Santa Fe, which he bought with the proceeds of the sale of the Del Mar house. Cunningham initially tried to sell the Rancho Santa Fe house, but federal prosecutors moved to block the sale after finding evidence it was purchased with Wade's money. (Wade, with others, even paid off the balance Cunningham owed on the mortgage.) Cunningham also forfeited more than $1.8 million in cash, antiques, rugs, and other items.

Also as part of the plea agreement, Cunningham agreed to help the government in its prosecution of others involved in the defense contractor bribery scandal.

Resignation
Cunningham announced that he would resign from the House at a press conference just after entering his plea. He read a prepared statement announcing that he was stepping down:

"When I announced several months ago that I would not seek re-election, I publicly declared my innocence because I was not strong enough to face the truth. So, I misled my family, staff, friends, colleagues, the public — even myself. For all of this, I am deeply sorry. The truth is — I broke the law, concealed my conduct, and disgraced my high office. I know that I will forfeit my freedom, my reputation, my worldly possessions, and most importantly, the trust of my friends and family... In my life, I have known great joy and great sorrow. And now I know great shame. I learned in Viet Nam that the true measure of a man is how he responds to adversity. I cannot undo what I have done. But I can atone. I am now almost 65 years old and, as I enter the twilight of my life, I intend to use the remaining time that God grants me to make amends."

Cunningham submitted his official resignation letter to the Clerk of the House and to Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on December 6, 2005.

Sentencing and prison
On March 3, 2006, U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns sentenced Cunningham to eight years and four months in prison. Federal prosecutors pushed for the maximum sentence of ten years, but Cunningham's defense lawyers argued that at 64 years old and with prostate cancer, Cunningham would likely die in prison if he received the full sentence. Judge Burns cited his military service in Vietnam, age and health as the reason the full ten years was not imposed. Prosecutors announced that they were satisfied with the sentence, which was the longest jail term ever given to a former Congressman.

On the day of sentencing, Cunningham was 90 lb lighter than when allegations first surfaced 9 months earlier. After receiving his sentence, Cunningham made a request to see his 91-year-old mother one last time before going to prison. "I made a very wrong turn. I rationalized decisions I knew were wrong. I did that, sir," Cunningham said. The request was denied, and Burns remanded him immediately upon rendering the sentence. Cunningham was incarcerated in the minimum security satellite camp at the U.S. Penitentiary at Tucson, Arizona with a scheduled release date of June 4, 2013. He spent his time at the prison teaching fellow inmates to obtain their GED, as well as advocating for prison reform.

Despite his guilty plea, Cunningham received pensions for his 21 years of U.S. Navy service and almost 15 years in Congress. However, prosecutors were successful in garnishing them for back taxes and penalties. In June 2010, Cunningham submitted a handwritten three-page letter to sentencing Judge Larry Burns, complaining that the IRS was 'killing' him by seizing all his remaining savings and his Congressional and Navy pensions, penalties he feels were not warranted under his plea agreement. Burns wrote back in August 2010, stating that the agency was collecting back taxes, interest and penalties on the bribes Cunningham received in 2003 and 2004; thus, there was no action for Burns to take.

In April 2011, Cunningham sent a ten-page typewritten document pleading his case to USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, Talking Points Memo and San Diego CityBeat. He titled the document "The Untold Story of Duke Cunningham". In the document, Cunningham says that because Judge Burns has declared his case closed, he was now offering to speak to the media, which had "inundated" him with inquiries since 2004. According to CityBeat, in the statement, Cunningham claimed that he was "doped up on sedatives" and made his plea knowing that it was "90 to 95% untrue".

Release from prison
Cunningham was released to a halfway house in New Orleans in February 2013. On June 4, 2013, he was completely released from confinement.

Cunningham told a federal judge that he planned to live in Arkansas and that he would live on $1,700 a month. In his letter, Cunningham pleaded for a gun permit, saying he longed to hunt in Arkansas. The judge denied the request as being beyond the scope of his authority, citing the law that limits gun permits for convicted criminals: a law that Cunningham voted for while in Congress. Cunningham received a pardon from President Donald Trump on January 13, 2021, conditioned on his payment of penalties of restitution and forfeiture totaling $3,655,539.50.

Reactions to the scandal
Darrell Issa, a Republican who represented the neighboring 49th District, said after Cunningham's plea that he had been waiting for Cunningham to explain his behavior "in a way that made sense to us" and that Cunningham's behavior "fell below the standard the public demands of its elected representatives".

Francine Busby, Cunningham's Democratic challenger in 2004 and the Democratic candidate for the 50th District in the runoff election to fill Cunningham's vacancy, called November 28 "a sad day for the people" and called for support for her proposed ethics reform bill, the "Clean House Act", saying that "our government in Washington is broken."

In an editorial on November 29, The Washington Post called the Cunningham affair "the most brazen bribery conspiracy in modern congressional history". Later that day, President George W. Bush called Cunningham's actions "outrageous" at a press briefing in El Paso, Texas. He also said that Cunningham should "pay a serious price" for his crimes. House Speaker Dennis Hastert said in a December 6 statement that Cunningham was a "war hero"; but that he broke "the public trust he has built through his military and congressional career".

On February 9, 2006, Senator John Kerry introduced a bill, the "Federal Pension Forfeiture Act" (nicknamed the "Duke Cunningham Act"), to prevent lawmakers who have been convicted of official misconduct from collecting taxpayer-funded pensions. The bill died in committee, by unanimous vote.

Aftermath

 * Almost as soon as Cunningham pleaded guilty, Intelligence Committee chairman Pete Hoekstra of Michigan announced his panel would investigate whether Cunningham used his post on that committee to steer contracts to favored companies. Hoekstra said that Cunningham "no longer gets the benefit of the doubt" due to his admission to "very, very serious" crimes.
 * On January 6, 2006 Time reported that Cunningham cooperated with law enforcement by wearing a concealed recording device (a "wire") while meeting with associates prior to his guilty plea. It is not known whom he met with while wired, but there was speculation Cunningham's misdeeds were not isolated instances and his case would reveal a larger web of corruption.
 * In February 2006 Mitchell Wade pleaded guilty to paying Cunningham more than $1 million in bribes in exchange for millions more in government contracts.
 * In March 2006, it was revealed that CIA officials opened an investigation into the CIA's No. 3 official, Kyle Foggo, and his relationship with Wilkes, "one of his closest friends", according to the article. Foggo said that all of the contracts he oversaw were properly awarded and administered. On May 12, FBI officials raided the Vienna, Virginia, home of Foggo in connection with the scandal.  In February 2007, Foggo was charged with fraud and other offenses in the Cunningham corruption investigation. The indictment also named Wilkes and John T. Michael.
 * In November 2010, Wilkes' lawyers filed documents in court in a bid to gain a re-trial that included statements from Cunningham saying "Wilkes never bribed me." Cunningham is quoted as saying any meals, trips or gifts from Wilkes to him were merely gifts between long-time friends, not bribes. Cunningham also stated that he had been coached by prosecutors to avoid responding to questions where his version of the facts differed from the prosecutors' theory. Cunningham also denied having made statements attributed to him by federal agents and prosecutors. Notably he denied having sex with any prostitute on a trip to Hawaii and explained that at the time he was impotent due to treatment for prostate cancer.
 * A special election to fill the vacancy left by Cunningham took place on April 11, 2006, between Democrat Francine Busby and Republican Brian Bilbray. No candidate obtained the majority necessary to win outright, so a runoff election was held. Bilbray won the runoff, narrowly defeating Busby. Bilbray beat Busby again in the regular election in November and retained his seat in the House until losing to Democrat Scott Peters in 2012.
 * On April 17, the staffs of The San Diego Union-Tribune and Copley News Service were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for their investigative work in uncovering Cunningham's crimes.
 * Four reporters from the Union-Tribune and its parent Copley News Service, who had written the stories that launched the Cunningham investigation, published a book called The Wrong Stuff: The extraordinary saga of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the most corrupt congressman ever caught.

Personal life
Cunningham married Susan Albrecht in 1965; they had met in college. They adopted a son together. Susan Cunningham filed for divorce and a restraining order in January 1973, based on her claims of emotional abuse, and the divorce was granted eight months later. Cunningham later said that his life hit "rock-bottom" in that year.

In 1973, he met Dan McKinnon, a publisher and son of former Congressman Clinton D. McKinnon, who encouraged him to turn his life around. Cunningham married his second wife, Nancy Jones, in 1974. They had two daughters and separated in July 2005.

Documents

 * Prosecutor's allegations against Cunningham
 * Cunningham's Sentencing Memorandum(February 17, 2006)
 * Cunningham's Sentencing Memorandum(February 17, 2006)
 * Cunningham's Sentencing Memorandum(February 17, 2006)

title: Duke Cunningham


text:
Tskhouk-Karckar

Tskhouk-Karckar or Qarqar is a group of pyroclastic cones which is located in the central part of the Siunik volcanic ridge at the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan 60 km SE of Lake Sevan. The volcanoes lie on the northwest side of Tskhouk volcano and are constructed on a volcanic basement or rhyolites, basaltic andesites and dacites. The volcanoes erupted voluminous and long lava flows, grouped in three age-based stages of varying age and conservation. Petroglyphs have been found buried under the most recent stages and broken by earthquake activity, suggesting activity between the 4th–early 3rd millennium BC and 4720 ± 140 years BP, a date established by C14 analysis on graves inside the lava flows. There is evidence indicating that the last stage of activity resulted in abandonment of the area by humans, only resuming during the Middle Ages.

title: Tskhouk-Karckar


text:
File:Friends In High Places.gif

Summary
Friends in High Places album cover.

Licensing
Source: Hillsong Music Australia

Fair use in Friends in High Places
Though this image is subject to copyright, its use is covered by the U.S. fair use laws because:
 * 1) It is a low resolution copy of a CD album cover.
 * 2) It does not limit the copyright owner's rights to sell the CD album in any way.
 * 3) Copies could not be used to make illegal copies of the album artwork on another CD.
 * 4) The image is itself a subject of discussion in the article.
 * 5) The image on the cover is significant because it was made by a famous artist, Hillsong.

title: File:Friends In High Places.gif


text:
Nick St. Nicholas

Nick St. Nicholas (born Klaus Karl Kassbaum on September 28, 1941) is a German bandleader, bass guitarist, singer and songwriter; best known for his partnership in Steppenwolf.

Early life
He was born in Plön, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany and his family moved to Toronto after World War II and became Canadian citizens. His sister Maren joined the Royal Conservatory of Music, (Canadian Ballet Company & Conservatory of Music), as a pianist. He also has a younger brother, Gary who entered the Merchant navy.

Early career
Kassbaum spent a brief period as bassist with the Epics, then Shirley Matthews and the Big Town Boys before organizing a set of musicians who eventually coalesced as the Mynah Birds, featuring singers Rick James, Neil Young and Jimmy Livingston.

In 1965, Kassbaum replaced Bruce Palmer as bassist with Jack London and the Sparrows, became Nick St. Nicholas, and played on most of the tracks on their only LP, which was released in that year. As the band leader, St. Nicholas hired East Prussian-born front man John Kay when Jack London left the Sparrows, and they became Sparrow. He moved the band south to New York for a modest record deal with Columbia Records, then drove Sparrow non-stop to California.

St. Nicholas was one of the driving forces in music of the hippie counterculture movement, the Summer of Love. Having booked the band at the Matrix club in San Francisco, on May 14, 1967, two live shows were recorded, including a 20-minute version of "The Pusher." These are the live recordings released by ABC Dunhill Records as Early Steppenwolf.

In 1967 St. Nicholas also joined a Los Angeles–based group called the Hardtimes, who soon renamed themselves T.I.M.E., which stands for Trust in Men Everywhere. Capitol Records signed them to a $500,000 recording contract, but their manager, the now deceased Ron Levin, turned out to be a con man and absconded with the advance and all of the band's earnings.

Prior to the formation of the Steppenwolf partnership in 1968, music producer-arranger Gabriel Mekler changed the name from Sparrow to Steppenwolf based on a book he was reading at the time by Hermann Hesse.

Steppenwolf
After having recorded two albums without him, St. Nicholas's Sparrow bandmates, (vocalist/guitarist John Kay, drummer Jerry Edmonton and organist Goldy McJohn) came to see him perform with T.I.M.E. at the Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip and asked him to leave T.I.M.E. to rejoin them as Steppenwolf.

"1967, John Kay, Jerry Edmonton, Michael Monarch and Goldie McJohn formed a musical band called ‘Steppenwolf.’ In 1968, Nicholas Kassbaum, who is professionally known as ‘Nick St. Nicholas,’ joined Steppenwolf as a bass player. That year, the band members entered into a partnership agreement whereby the members became co-equal partners and owners in Steppenwolf, and agreed to share equally the band's expenses and income. Also in 1968, the band members signed a recording agreement with Dunhill Records both as partners and as Steppenwolf band members. From late 1968 until late April 1970, Steppenwolf, with Kassbaum as its bass player, toured the world in concerts and recorded Steppenwolf 's well-received music. Kassbaum appeared prominently on Steppenwolf record album covers and authored Steppenwolf compositions. In 1970, John Kay, who had asserted control over Steppenwolf, excluded Kassbaum from the band." – 9th Circuit

St. Nicholas has several Gold and Platinum records to his credit playing and contributing on four Steppenwolf albums: At Your Birthday Party, Early Steppenwolf, Monster, and Steppenwolf Live. He performed on many television shows as a member of Steppenwolf, including The Ed Sullivan Show, August 17, 1968, where the band performed a medley of "Born to Be Wild" / "Magic Carpet Ride" and a complete version of "It's Never Too Late", The Smothers Brothers, American Bandstand, Playboy After Dark, Beat Club, Della, Upbeat, and The Steve Allen Show, as well as VH1's Behind the Music. St. Nicholas was squeezed out of Steppenwolf in a power play by Kay in 1971. Grammy Awards board member and former manager of T.I.M.E. Jeff Greenberg came to see St. Nicholas to inform him that Steppenwolf was at a rehearsal at SIR Studios with a new bassist, George Biondo. More than twenty years of still-unresolved litigation followed.

Following St. Nicholas's ouster from Steppenwolf, he replaced Dickie Peterson in Blue Cheer alongside Ruben De Fuentes on guitar and Terry Rae on drums. The band both toured and recorded during this time, but the songs were not released until Live & Unreleased '68/'74 was released in 1996.

After Kay and Edmonton's version of Steppenwolf disbanded in 1976, St. Nicholas reformed the group with McJohn and guitarist Kent Henry, who had replaced Larry Byrom in the group and recorded the guitar tracks on the For Ladies Only album in 1971. There were several other versions of this band touring at the same time for which St. Nicholas was not responsible. During this time, St. Nicholas's Steppenwolf included drummers such as Steve Riley and Frankie Banali.

St. Nicholas stopped touring with Steppenwolf in 1980 due to legal actions by Kay.

Post-Steppenwolf
In 1980 St. Nicholas formed a band called Starwolf with keyboardist Steve Stewart along with drummer Dean Woytcke. Stewart left in the late 1980s and Randy Carr joined; about the same time guitarist Dave Olsen joined and Starwolf became Lone Wolf. In 1988, Kurt Griffey was added as a second guitarist and Chris Sweeney joined as the band's drummer. After Lone Wolf became the Wolf continuing from 1988 to 1989, Ronnie Carson took over for Sweeney and Olsen left.

In the early 1990s, St. Nicholas formed a new Lone Wolf with Griffey, singer Richard Ward, and drummer Daryl Johnson, featuring at bike rallies and clubs, continuing until 1997.

World Classic Rockers
In 1997 St. Nicholas began a new heavy metal chapter as he launched the supergroup World Classic Rockers, bringing Griffey with him into the new venture along with Sparrow and Steppenwolf bandmate Michael Monarch. Members include former members of Steppenwolf, Santana, Toto, Journey, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Boston, Kansas, Eagles and others. The World Classic Rockers (WCR) prepare to celebrate the 20-year anniversary.

Studio albums

 * T.I.M.E. 1968 Liberty Records
 * At Your Birthday Party 1969 U.S. #7 Gold Dunhill Records
 * Monster 1969 U.S. #17 U.K. #43 Gold Dunhill Records
 * Live & Unreleased '68/'74 1996 Captain Trip Records
 * Country Magic 1984 Gold Star Records

Live albums

 * Early Steppenwolf 1969 (recorded in 1967 as the Sparrow) U.S. #29 Dunhill Records
 * Steppenwolf Live 1970 U.S. #7 U.K. #16 Gold Dunhill Records
 * World Classic Rockers: Live (1st edition) WCR Records
 * World Classic Rockers: Live (2nd edition) WCR Records
 * World Classic Rockers: Live (3rd edition) WCR Records
 * World Classic Rockers: Live (4th edition) WCR Records
 * World Classic Rockers: Live (5th edition) WCR Records
 * World Classic Rockers: Live (6th edition) WCR Records
 * Blue Cheer Live & Unreleased, Vol. 1: '68/'74 (1996; Captain Trip Records)

Compilations

 * Gold: Their Great Hits 1971 U.S. #24 Gold Dunhill Records
 * Rest in Peace 1972 U.S. #62 Dunhill Records
 * 16 Greatest Hits 1973 U.S. #152 Gold Dunhill Records
 * The ABC Collection 1976 ABC Records
 * Born to Be Wild - A Retrospective 1991 MCA Records
 * All Time Greatest Hits 1999 MCA Records
 * 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Steppenwolf 2000 Gold Universal Music Group
 * Steppenwolf Gold 2005 Geffen Records

title: Nick St. Nicholas


text:
File:People Just Like Us.gif

Summary
People Just Like Us album cover.

Licensing
Source: Hillsong Music Australia

Fair use in People Just Like Us
Though this image is subject to copyright, its use is covered by the U.S. fair use laws because:
 * 1) It is a low resolution copy of a CD album cover.
 * 2) It does not limit the copyright owner's rights to sell the CD album in any way.
 * 3) Copies could not be used to make illegal copies of the album artwork on another CD.
 * 4) The image is itself a subject of discussion in the article.
 * 5) The image on the cover is significant because it was made by a famous artist, Hillsong.

title: File:People Just Like Us.gif


text: Talk:Greenlandic language

title: Talk:Greenlandic language


text:
Mount Copaja

Mount Copaja or Capaja (Cerro Capaja) is a mountain in the western Andes, located in the province of Oruro, Bolivia (c. 18°09'S, 68°22'W). It has an altitude of 5,097 m and is in the neighbourhood of the higher Lliscaya and Curumane peaks.

title: Mount Copaja


text:
File:Stone's Been Rolled Away.gif

Summary
Stone's Been Rolled Away album cover.

Licensing
Source: Hillsong Music Australia

Fair use in Stone's Been Rolled Away
Though this image is subject to copyright, its use is covered by the U.S. fair use laws because:
 * 1) It is a low resolution copy of a CD album cover.
 * 2) It does not limit the copyright owner's rights to sell the CD album in any way.
 * 3) Copies could not be used to make illegal copies of the album artwork on another CD.
 * 4) The image is itself a subject of discussion in the article.
 * 5) The image on the cover is significant because it was made by a famous artist, Hillsong.

title: File:Stone's Been Rolled Away.gif


text:
Brian Ritchie

Brian Ritchie (born November 21, 1960) is an American musician, best known as the bassist for the alternative rock band Violent Femmes. Ritchie was born and raised in the United States and is currently a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, with his full-time residence in Australia.

In 2007 the Violent Femmes broke up acrimoniously after an argument between Ritchie and singer Gordon Gano. The band eventually re formed and still tours today. It has since released several albums including Hotel Last Resort in 2019.

Ritchie was curator of MONA FOMA festival at Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Tasmania from 2007 until it was discontinued in 2024.

In addition to his bass playing, Ritchie is proficient at the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute. He acquired a Jun Shihan (shakuhachi teaching license) in March 2003 from James Nyoraku Schlefer, and his professional name is "Tairaku" ("big music" in Japanese).

Ritchie has released three solo albums: in 1987, "The Blend," in 1989, "Sonic Temple & Court of Babylon" and "I See A Noise" in 1990.

In 2007 Ritchie produced and toured with the Italian punk/folk band The Zen Circus, which subsequently changed its name to The Zen Circus and Brian Ritchie. The first international album of the band, Villa Inferno, was released in 2008 for the Italian record label Unhip Records.

In 2008, Ritchie and his wife, Varuni Kulasekera, moved to Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, where he has guested in a band called The Green Mist. Ritchie does most of his work in DV (David Vartanian) Studios.

On Australia Day 2012, Ritchie and his wife were naturalised as Australian citizens.

In 2009 he curated the first Mona Foma (MoFo) festival in Hobart, Tasmania. Since 2009 he has curated Mona Foma every year until 2024. At the 2012 MoFo, he organised an impromptu performance of the entire Violent Femmes first album by a 'super band' consisting of musicians playing at MoFo: the Dresden Dolls (Amanda Palmer, vocals, and Brian Viglione, drums), two musicians touring with PJ Harvey's band (Mick Harvey, guitar, and John Parish) and with Brian Ritchie himself on bass guitar and vibraphone.

In 2010 he toured as bassist with the Australian surf instrumental band called The Break, composed of Midnight Oil members Rob Hirst, Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey. Their debut album Church of the Open Sky was released on April 16, 2010, on the independent label Bombora, distributed by MGM.

In 2011 his home in Tasmania, designed by architect Stuart Tanner, was featured on the TV series Sandcastles.

Discography

 * 1987 – The Blend
 * 1989 – Sonic Temple & Court of Babylon
 * 1989 – Sun Ra – Man from Outer Space
 * 1990 – I See a Noise
 * 2004 – Shakuhachi Club NYC
 * 2006 – Ryoanji
 * 2007 – Taimu
 * 2008 – Villa Inferno (with The Zen Circus)
 * 2010 – Church of the Open Sky (with The Break)
 * 2011 – Tea Life (with Silas Be Ritchie)
 * 2012 – Tea Life 2 (with Silas Be Ritchie)
 * 2013 – Space Farm (with The Break)
 * 2013 – Tea Life 3 / Teenage Strangler 12" vinyl split (with Silas Be Ritchie)
 * 2019 – ''Hotel Last Resort / (with Violent Femmes)

title: Brian Ritchie


text:
Dead Heart in a Dead World

Dead Heart in a Dead World is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Nevermore, released in October 2000. In a style comparable to a darker, heavier Queensrÿche, its songs range topics such as criticism of drug possession penalties to rejection of religion. The album also features a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's hit, "The Sound of Silence". It is also notable for being Nevermore's first record utilizing seven-string guitars.

The album featured one single in the track "Believe in Nothing", which was covered by All That Remains on their 2008 album, Overcome. The song was also covered by Firewind in 2008, on the Century Media covers album "Covering 20 Years of Extremes".

The bonus track Chances Three had been previously recorded under the title Three Chances in a 1990 demo by Sanctuary, as well as with its current title in the 1992 Nevermore demo entitled Utopia.

Critical reception
In 2005, Dead Heart in a Dead World was ranked number 361 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.

Bonus videos (2012 reissue)

 * 1) "Next in Line" (video) - 3:58
 * 2) "What Tomorrow Knows" (video) - 4:36

Limited edition live track list

 * 1) "The River Dragon Has Come"
 * 2) "Dead Heart in a Dead World"
 * 3) "Inside Four Walls"
 * 4) "Narcosynthesis"
 * 5) "The Heart Collector"
 * 6) "Engines of Hate"

Personnel
Band
 * Warrel Dane - vocals
 * Jeff Loomis - guitars
 * Jim Sheppard - bass
 * Van Williams - drums

Other
 * Andy Sneap - production, engineering, mixing, mastering
 * Justin Leeah - additional engineering
 * Bobby Torres - additional engineering
 * Travis Smith - illustrations, design, layout
 * Karen Mason-Blair - band photography
 * Neil Sussman - legal representation

title: Dead Heart in a Dead World


text: File:The Power Of Your Love.gif

title: File:The Power Of Your Love.gif


text: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/2005 February 17