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Aphonopelma

Aphonopelma is a genus of tarantulas native to the Americas. It includes nearly all the North American tarantula species north of Mexico and a considerable percentage of the tarantula species that range into Central America. Most are fairly large tarantulas with leg spans of 6 in (16 cm) or more. Like most New World tarantulas, all species of Aphonopelma have urticating hairs. Despite their fearsome appearance, these tarantulas are not harmful to humans and some species are popular in the pet trade. With about 90 species described so far, Aphonopelma comprises about 10% of the total number of described tarantula species. However, their taxonomy is poorly understood and species are difficult to tell apart, especially those that are brown or black without other pattern. Therefore, the actual number of species is unknown, with more species likely to be identified in the near future. In captivity, they are usually fed crickets; in the wild, they eat most insects, including crickets, grasshoppers, cockroaches, mantises, and beetles.

Taxonomy
The genus has a complicated taxonomic history. It was erected in 1901 by Reginald I. Pocock, when he split up Eurypelma (now Avicularia), with the type species Eurypelma seemanni. Pocock also separated off the genus Dugesiella. Two more new genera were later distinguished from Aphonopelma: Delopelma by Alexander Petrunkevitch in 1939 and Chaunopelma by Joseph C. Chamberlin in 1940. In 1985, Robert J. Raven reviewed mygalomorph genera and considered the differences among all these genera to be insignificant. He synonymized them under the name Rhechostica, which had been published by Eugène Simon in 1892, so had priority. Since the name Aphonopelma was much better known than Rechostica, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in 1991 agreed to give Aphonopelma precedence over Rhechostica. In 1995, Smith erected the genus Apachepelma for the species A. paloma; in 1997, Prentice transferred it back to Aphonopelma.

Phylogeny
Molecular phylogenetic studies suggest that the genus is not monophyletic. Two groups of species are apparent: one from Central America, including the type species A. seemanni from Costa Rica, and another made up of species found in the United States. The relationship between the two groups and the genus Sericopelma is shown in the cladogram below. With further research, a new genus may be needed for the American group of species.

Species
, the World Spider Catalog accepted 54 species. A monograph of the genus within the United States, published in 2016, made some major revisions. Only 15 of the original 55 U.S. species were fully accepted, 33 were reduced to synonyms, and seven to nomina dubia (doubtful names). A further 14 new U.S. species were then described.

 * Aphonopelma anax (Chamberlin, 1940) – United States, Mexico
 * Aphonopelma armada (Chamberlin, 1940) – United States
 * Aphonopelma atomicum Hamilton, 2016 – United States
 * Aphonopelma bacadehuachi Hendrixson, 2019 – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma belindae Gabriel, 2011 – Panama
 * Aphonopelma bicoloratum Struchen, Brändle & Schmidt, 1996 – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma burica Valerio, 1980 – Costa Rica
 * Aphonopelma caniceps (Simon, 1891) – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma catalina Hamilton, Hendrixson & Bond, 2016 – United States
 * Aphonopelma chalcodes Chamberlin, 1940 – United States
 * Aphonopelma chiricahua Hamilton, Hendrixson & Bond, 2016 – United States
 * Aphonopelma cookei Smith, 1995 – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma crinirufum (Valerio, 1980) – Costa Rica
 * Aphonopelma eustathes (Chamberlin, 1940) – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma eutylenum Chamberlin, 1940 – United States
 * Aphonopelma gabeli Smith, 1995 – United States
 * Aphonopelma geotoma (Chamberlin, 1937) – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma gertschi Smith, 1995 – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma griseum Chamberlin, 1940 – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma hageni (Strand, 1906) – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma helluo (Simon, 1891) – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma hentzi (Girard, 1852) – United States
 * Aphonopelma hesperum (Chamberlin, 1917) – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma icenoglei Hamilton, Hendrixson & Bond, 2016 – United States
 * Aphonopelma iodius (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1939) – United States
 * Aphonopelma johnnycashi Hamilton, 2016 – United States
 * Aphonopelma joshua Prentice, 1997 – United States
 * Aphonopelma levii Smith, 1995 – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma madera Hamilton, Hendrixson & Bond, 2016 – United States
 * Aphonopelma mareki Hamilton, Hendrixson & Bond, 2016 – United States
 * Aphonopelma marxi (Simon, 1891) – United States
 * Aphonopelma moderatum (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1939) – United States
 * Aphonopelma moellendorfi Hamilton, 2016 – United States
 * Aphonopelma mojave Prentice, 1997 – United States
 * Aphonopelma mooreae Smith, 1995 – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma nayaritum Chamberlin, 1940 – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma pallidum (F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1897) – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma paloma Prentice, 1993 – United States
 * Aphonopelma parvum Hamilton, Hendrixson & Bond, 2016 – United States
 * Aphonopelma peloncillo Hamilton, Hendrixson & Bond, 2016 – United States
 * Aphonopelma phasmus Chamberlin, 1940 – United States
 * Aphonopelma platnicki Smith, 1995 – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma prenticei Hamilton, Hendrixson & Bond, 2016 – United States
 * Aphonopelma prosoicum Chamberlin, 1940 – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma ruedanum Chamberlin, 1940 – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma saguaro Hamilton, 2016 – United States
 * Aphonopelma sclerothrix (Valerio, 1980) – Costa Rica
 * Aphonopelma seemanni (F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1897) (type species) – Central America
 * Aphonopelma steindachneri (Ausserer, 1875) – United States
 * Aphonopelma superstitionense Hamilton, Hendrixson & Bond, 2016 – United States
 * Aphonopelma truncatum (F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1897) – Mexico
 * Aphonopelma vorhiesi (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1939) – United States
 * Aphonopelma xanthochromum (Valerio, 1980) – Costa Rica
 * Aphonopelma xwalxwal Hamilton, 2016 – United States
 * Aphonopelma anitahoffmannae Locht, Medina, Rojo & Vázquez, 2005
 * Aphonopelma latens (Chamberlin, 1917)
 * Aphonopelma crinitum (Pocock, 1901)
 * Aphonopelma duplex (Chamberlin, 1925)

Nomina dubia

 * Aphonopelma anitahoffmannae Locht, Medina, Rojo & Vázquez, 2005
 * Aphonopelma duplex (Chamberlin, 1925)
 * Aphonopelma serratum (Simon, 1891)

Species names rejected in the 2016 monograph include

 * Aphonopelma apacheum Chamberlin, 1940 = A. chalcodes
 * Aphonopelma arnoldi Smith, 1995 = A. armada
 * Aphonopelma baergi Chamberlin, 1940, nom. dub.
 * Aphonopelma behlei Chamberlin, 1940 = A. marxi
 * Aphonopelma breenei Smith, 1995 = A. anax
 * Aphonopelma brunnius Chamberlin, 1940 = A. iodius
 * Aphonopelma chambersi Smith, 1995 = A. eutylenum
 * Aphonopelma chamberlini Smith, 1995 = A. iodius
 * Aphonopelma clarki Smith, 1995 = A. hentzi
 * Aphonopelma clarum Chamberlin, 1940 = A. eutylenum
 * Aphonopelma coloradanum (Chamberlin, 1940) = A. hentzi
 * Aphonopelma cratium Chamberlin, 1940, nom. dub.
 * Aphonopelma cryptethum Chamberlin, 1940 = A. eutylenum
 * Aphonopelma echinum (Chamberlin, 1940) = A. hentzi
 * Aphonopelma gurleyi Smith, 1995 = A. hentzi
 * Aphonopelma harlingenum (Chamberlin, 1940) = A. hentzi
 * Aphonopelma heterops Chamberlin, 1940 = A. moderatum
 * Aphonopelma iviei Smith, 1995 = A. iodius
 * Aphonopelma jungi Smith, 1995 = A. vorhiesi
 * Aphonopelma lithodomum Chamberlin, 1940 = A. iodius
 * Aphonopelma minchi Smith, 1995 = A. chalcodes
 * Aphonopelma mordax (Ausserer, 1871), nom. dub.
 * Aphonopelma odelli Smith, 1995 = A. hentzi
 * Aphonopelma phanum Chamberlin, 1940 = A. steindachneri
 * Aphonopelma punzoi Smith, 1995 = A. vorhiesi
 * Aphonopelma radinum (Chamberlin & Ivie, 1939), nom. dub.
 * Aphonopelma reversum Chamberlin, 1940 = A. steindachneri
 * Aphonopelma rothi Smith, 1995 = A. chalcodes
 * Aphonopelma rusticum (Simon, 1891), nom. dub.
 * Aphonopelma sandersoni Smith, 1995 = A. eutylenum
 * Aphonopelma schmidti Smith, 1995 = A. chalcodes
 * Aphonopelma smithi Smith, 1995 = A. iodius
 * Aphonopelma stahnkei Smith, 1995 = A. chalcodes
 * Aphonopelma texense (Simon, 1891), nom. dub.
 * Aphonopelma vogelae Smith, 1995 = A. marxi
 * Aphonopelma waconum (Chamberlin, 1940) = A. hentzi
 * Aphonopelma wichitanum (Chamberlin, 1940) = A. hentzi
 * Aphonopelma zionis Chamberlin, 1940 = A. iodius

title: Aphonopelma


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San Miguel del Padrón

San Miguel del Padrón is one of the 15 municipalities/boroughs (municipios in Spanish) into which the city of Havana, Cuba is divided. It is on Havana's south-eastern outskirts, stretching from Ciudad Mar to Diezmero and from Reparto Mañana to Caballo Blanco.

Overview
This vast demographic area was unpopulated in the late 1940s, with small pockets of wealthy and land owners. It became heavily populated during the early 1960s with the emergence of Corea (name given to a stretch of terrain clandestinely occupied by the homeless after being evicted from the main city areas) and new houses along the main street (Calzada de San Miguel). By the mid 1960s the town became administratively adjacent to Guanabacoa.

San Miguel has been notorious for musicians, professional dancers and afro Cuban religious practitioners (Santería, Lukumi, Palo). During the early 1970s it was judicially declared one of the most troublesome towns in Havana due to a high degree of black market goods and comestibles.

Within San Miguel del Padron the municipality of Veracruz is home to a significant part of the town's population. The neighborhood consist mostly of old deteriorated apartment buildings predating 1970. The primary school is Heroes de Yaguajay, there is a baseball field and a farmers market. Electrical power and water are disconnected often in efforts to save for the Cuban revolution. Hunger and poverty is a way of life that the citizens have to become acclimated to.

Demographics
In 2004, the municipality of San Miguel del Padrón had a population of 159,273. With a total area of 26 km2, it has a population density of 6125.9 /km2.

At present, residents extending out of a radius from Virgen del Camino, Martin Perez, Diezmero, San Francisco de Paula y Juanelo identify as Sanmiguelinos. Thus, making this geographic area a vastly populated region of Havana.

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

title: San Miguel del Padrón


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Ciudad Mar

Ciuda Mar is a small neighbourhood in the outskirts of Havana, Cuba.

Overview
Populated after the 1960s, this neighborhood is known for its residential aspect, making the difference with other zones of the area. Spite of the buildings, located in the late 1980s, this number of streets are still quiet.

title: Ciudad Mar


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Mulholland Highway

Mulholland Highway is a scenic road in Los Angeles County, California, that runs approximately 50 miles through the western Santa Monica Mountains from near US Route 101 (Ventura Freeway) in Calabasas to Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) near Malibu at Leo Carrillo State Park and the Pacific Ocean coast – at the border of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.

Mulholland Highway is the western rural portion and, with the eastern Mulholland Drive portion, is a scenic route named after Los Angeles civil engineer William Mulholland and built throughout the 1920s "to take Angelenos from the city to the ocean".

Only the segment of Mulholland Highway between Pacific Coast Highway and Kanan Dume Road, and through Malibu Creek State Park between Cornell Road and Las Virgenes Road, is officially recognized by the California Department of Transportation as under the California Scenic Highway System, meaning that it is a substantial section of highway passing through a "memorable landscape" with no "visual intrusions", where the potential designation has gained popular favor with the community.

Geography
The name Mulholland Highway applies to a thirty-mile stretch that starts near Louisville High School (California) in Woodland Hills and extends to its westernmost terminus at Leo Carrillo State Park on the Pacific Coast Highway. Wholly contained within Los Angeles County, the scenic byway was formally opened in 1928. Mulholland zigzags through the Santa Monica Mountains – one of the Southern California Transverse Ranges – from Oxnard all the way to Hollywood. Original major intersections included Topanga Road, Cornell Road, Latigo Canyon Road, and Decker Road.

The route provides access, directly or en route, to many of the regional parks in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Running east–west along the spine of the Santa Monicas, Mulholland Highway makes its way through the mountains without benefit of tunnels. There are several automobile wrecks and fire-burnt structures that litter the bottoms of the canyons through which Mulholland Highway passes. The native flora of the Santa Monica Mountains are seen throughout the scenic route.

Mulholland Drive
In the early 1970s, five thousand local activists successfully prevented the cement paving of most of the Mulholland Drive stretch. This section, known as "Dirt Mulholland," is only open to cyclists and pedestrians. From Mulholland Bridge east, a cemented Mulholland Drive winds through the affluent Hollywood Hills to Mulholland Drive's easternmost terminus at Cahuenga Boulevard, near Universal Studios. It then becomes Mulholland Highway again as an unpaved footpath to Griffith Park.

title: Mulholland Highway


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Talk:World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships

This is the highest level tournament, a higher level does not exist in the high school league. It's not a tournament run from a school but an international organization, one whose level is not matched on a world scale and thus, is the highest level tournament available for a high school student to participate in. This is not a matter of pride or something, it's fact. Just as the Olympics are the highest level for sport, this tournament is the highest level in its regard, as is recognized. If you would like to change that, please inform me of a rivaling tournament for this level and I would be happy to change it.
 * Shakir is just wants his glory (and he deserves it)! Whoever blanked the chat page, please do not do it again. -- Chris Lester   talk  20:30, 15 May 2006 (UTC)


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Tony Lupusella

Antonio (Tony) Lupusella (born June 12, 1944) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1975 to 1990. Originally a New Democrat, he later crossed the floor to the Liberal Party.

Background
Before entering politics, Lupusella worked with Centro an Italian organization that grew out of the Union of Injured Workers.

Politics
He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1975 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative incumbent George Nixon by 1,465 votes in the west-Toronto riding of Dovercourt. The NDP won several Italian ridings in Toronto during this election. He was re-elected over Nixon by a greater margin in the 1977 election. In the 1981 provincial election, he was re-elected over Liberal Gil Gillespie by only 294 votes, as the Liberal Party increased its presence in the city.

Lupusella defeated Gillespie a second time, by only 77 votes in the 1985 provincial election. Following this election, the Liberals and NDP formed a two-year parliamentary alliance, and defeated the Progressive Conservative government in the legislature (the PCs had previously governed Ontario since 1943).

Redistribution of electoral boundaries forced Lupusella to run against fellow NDP Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Ross McClellan for the party's nomination in Dovercourt after McClellan's Bellwoods riding was eliminated. McClellan defeated Lupusella and, on December 17, 1986, Lupusella crossed the floor to join the Liberal caucus of Premier David Peterson as a backbencher.

In the 1987 provincial election, Lupusella defeated McClellan by 907 votes. He served as a Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation and the Minister of Government Services from 1987 to 1990.

The Liberals were defeated by the NDP in the 1990 provincial election, and Lupusella lost his seat to NDP candidate Tony Silipo.

title: Tony Lupusella


text: User talk:83.71.39.82

title: User talk:83.71.39.82


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Vic the Demon

Vic the Demon is the mascot at Northwestern State University. His name is short for "VICtory." Victor, of course, was also the name of Victor Leander Roy, who was president of the university in 1923, when he issued the proclamation that all athletic teams at the university would be 'the Demons.'

He is most noted as the mascot involved in a fight with Northeast Louisiana University mascot Chief Brave Spirit, in which playful sparring on the sidelines turned into an ugly fight. The two mascots were separated by police, by which time, the headpiece of Vic's costume had been knocked off. As the game was televised, the footage of the brawling mascots was widely broadcast on sports newscasts around the country and still appears on bloopers shows to this day.

title: Vic the Demon


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Diezmero

Diezmero is a ward in the outskirts of Havana, Cuba, located by Carretera Central. It is under the administration of San Miguel del Padrón, a city municipality of Havana. Its demography spreads within about 2 square kilometers.

Notable residents
(B) denotes that the person was born there.
 * Pedro Zamora (1972 - 1994), Cuban-American AIDS educator and television personality, known as a cast member on MTV's The Real World: San Francisco. Zamora also participated in the first same-sex commitment ceremony on American television when he exchanged vows with his partner, Sean Sasser, which is considered a landmark event in the medium. (B)

title: Diezmero


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Demimonde

Demi-monde is a French 19th-century term referring to women on the fringes of respectable society, and specifically to courtesans supported by wealthy lovers. The term is French for "half-world", and derives from an 1855 play called Le Demi-Monde, by Alexandre Dumas fils, dealing with the way that prostitution at that time threatened the institution of marriage. The demi-monde was the world occupied by elite men and the women who entertained them and whom they kept.

Demimondaine became a synonym for a courtesan or a prostitute who moved in these circles—or for a woman of social standing with the power to thumb her nose at convention and throw herself into the hedonistic nightlife. A woman who made that choice would soon find her social status lost, as she became "déclassée".

For the men, the high life of the demimonde was isolated from the other world of wives and families and duties (if any). It embraced heavy drinking and other drug use, gambling, attending the theatre and ballet and horse races, the pursuit of high fashion in every aspect of life, and sexual promiscuity. Lavish spending led to indebtedness; promiscuity, in the worst scenario, led to disease.

Historically, the height of the demimonde was encapsulated by the period known in France as La Belle Époque (1871–1914), from the end of the Franco-Prussian War to the beginning of World War I.

The twentieth century brought the rise of the New Woman, changing economies and social structures, as well as changing fashions and social mores, particularly in the aftermath of World War I. Prostitution and the keeping of mistresses did not disappear, but the label demimondaine became obsolete as the 'half-world' changed.

Women called demimondaine
Externally, the defining aspects of the demimonde were an extravagant lifestyle of fine food and clothes, often surpassing that of other wealthy women of their day with a steady income of cash and gifts from their various lovers. Internally, their lifestyle was an eclectic mixture of sharp business acumen, social skills, and hedonism. Intelligent demimondaines, like the fictional Gigi's grandmother, would invest their wealth for the day when their beauty faded. Others ended up penniless and starving when age took its toll on their beauty, unless they managed to marry.

A famous beauty was Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione, who came to Paris in the 1850s with very little money of her own and soon became mistress of Napoleon III; after that relationship ended she moved on to other wealthy men in government, finance and European royalty. She was one of the most aristocratic and exclusive of the demimondaines—reputed to have charged a member of the British aristocracy one million francs for 12 hours in her company.

Another woman who doubtless influenced later images of the demimondaine was the dancer and adventuress Lola Montez, though she died before the term came into general use.

The actress Sarah Bernhardt was the illegitimate child of a courtesan; in her day all actresses were generally considered demimondaines. Her many lovers and extravagant lifestyle fit the type, though her genuine successes as an artist and innovator eventually gained her a kind of public esteem most demimondaines never achieved.

Marguerite Steinheil, from the Japy family, a powerful dynasty of French industrialists, married minor Academic art painter Adolphe Steinheil in 1890. She acted as her husband's model for some time, but aspired to a more intense and moneyed existence, and opened a salon in their villa at 6 bis, Impasse Ronsin, close to Montparnasse, which was soon frequented by all of Paris. Combining ambition and temperament, her status as the archetypal demimondaine rose as she conducted affairs with some of the most influential and generous men in the country. Marguerite, always concerned about her husband's career, obtained artistic commissions for him from her protectors, which helped Adolphe accept his marital misfortunes.

Marguerite's affair with the President of the Republic, Félix Faure, won Adolphe an official commission for a monumental painting representing The Presentation of Decorations by the President of the Republic to the Survivors of the Disaster of the Fort de la Redoute Ruinée (August 8, 1897), which was exhibited at the Salon des artistes of 1898. Adolphe was also awarded the Legion of Honor cross the same year. Félix Faure is alleged to have suddenly died from a stroke whilst receiving sexual favours from Marguerite at the Élysée Palace. This part of her life has been fictionalised in the TV series Paris Police 1900.

Fictional demimondaines
Descriptions of the demimonde can be found in Vanity Fair (1848), a novel which satirizes nineteenth century society, written by William Makepeace Thackeray. Although it does not mention the terms demimonde and demimondaine (they were coined later), the terms were later used by reviewers and other authors in reference to three characters in it. Lady Crackenbury and Mrs. Washington White are demimonde characters, both of whom Captain Rawdon Crawley lusts after in his younger days. Becky Sharp is perceived as a demimondaine before she is presented at court, and then becomes one when she travels through Europe after her husband abandons her.

Possibly the most famous portrayal of the demimonde, albeit from before the word was coined, is in Giuseppe Verdi's opera La traviata (1853). The opera, in turn, was inspired by Alexandre Dumas fils's La Dame aux Camélias; Marguerite Gautier, the heroine of the book and subsequent play, was based on Marie Duplessis, 1840s Paris courtesan and mistress to a number of prominent men, including Dumas. She would famously be portrayed on stage by the aforementioned Sarah Bernhardt.

In writing his 1924 play Easy Virtue, Noël Coward stated his object was to present a comedy in the structure of a tragedy "to compare the déclassée woman of to-day with the more flamboyant demi-mondaine of the 1890s."

Colette's Gigi (1944), and its 1958 film adaptation, also describe the demimonde and their lifestyle. Gigi is schooled from childhood to be a kept woman, to stifle her feelings in return for a life of ease. "We never marry in our family", says Gigi's grand-mother. But Gigi finds herself a misfit in the demimonde of Paris in the 'Gay Nineties', as she desires true love with only one man.

In A Little Night Music (1973, Stephen Sondheim), the main female character, Desiree Armfeldt, is an actress whose mother, Madame Leonora Armfeldt, sings a song, Liaisons, which describes the material benefits of being a serially kept woman. For example, "At the villa of the Baron De Signac, Where I spent a somewhat infamous year, At the villa of the Baron De Signac—I had ladies in attendance—Fire-opal pendants." And: "At the palace of the Duke of Ferrara, Who was prematurely deaf but a dear, At the palace of the Duke of Ferrara—I acquired some position—Plus a tiny Titian."

In The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976), the character Lola Devereaux is labeled a demimondaine by the character Sigmund Freud.

Other uses of the term in fiction
In Henryk Sienkiewicz's Without Dogma (1891), the term "demimonde" refers to the affluent, pleasure-seeking portion of society, unbound by morals, religion or tradition, and is loosely analogous to the "jet set" of modern times.

In Marcel Proust's Swann's Way (1913), Odette de Crécy is described as a demimondaine.

Françoise Sagan, in her novel Bonjour Tristesse (1954), uses the term demimondaine to refer to the character Elsa, a young, stunningly attractive woman who leverages her appearance into support by wealthy men, which allows her entrance into the social world of the upper classes.

The high society men in Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor's novella The Old Forest (from the story collection of the same name, 1985) use demimonde to refer to a group of "adventurous" and intelligent young women in 1937 Memphis, Tennessee; in the story, it is common for the men to continue courting such "demimondames" right up until the time they are married to high society women.

The term appears repeatedly in James Joyce's Ulysses.

In Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy (1990s), the term demimonde refers to a semi-tolerated, "off the net" society of commerce and education.

In his ‘’Rivers of London’’ series, author Ben Aaronovitch repeatedly uses the term demi-monde to refer to a societal underworld where supernatural and faerie peoples mingle.

The English-language title of the Hungarian feature film Félvilág is Demimonde.

The Showtime series Penny Dreadful recasts the demimonde as a spiritual dimension. It is also the title of the fourth episode of the first season.

title: Demimonde


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Edward Brophy

Edward Santree Brophy (February 27, 1895 – May 27, 1960) was an American character actor and comedian, as well as an assistant director and second unit director during the 1920s. Small of build, balding, and raucous-voiced, he frequently portrayed dumb cops and gangsters, both serious and comic.

He is best remembered as the sidekick to The Falcon in the Tom Conway film series of the 1940s, and for voicing Timothy Q. Mouse in Walt Disney's Dumbo (1941).

Early life
Edward Santree Brophy was born on February 27, 1895, in New York City and attended the University of Virginia.

Career
His screen debut was in Yes or No? (1920). In 1928, with only a few minor film roles to his credit, Brophy was working as a production manager for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer when he was on location with Buster Keaton for the feature film The Cameraman. An actor failed to show up, and rather than having to wait for the studio to send a substitute, Keaton recruited Brophy on the spot to take the actor's place. As two occupants of a bath-house, Brophy and Keaton attempt to undress and put on bathing suits while sharing a single tiny changing room. Each time Keaton attempts to hang his clothes on one hook, Brophy removes the clothes and hands them back to Keaton and gestures to the other hook. He manhandles the smaller, more slender Keaton, at one point picking him up by the feet and dumping him out of his trousers. Appearing only in this one brief scene, Brophy attracted enough attention to receive more and better roles.

Keaton used Brophy again in his military comedy Doughboys (1930), with Brophy as a loud-mouthed drill sergeant. This defined Brophy's screen persona as a Brooklyn-accented, streetwise character. His subsequent films for MGM cast him in the same vein: comic foils in four more Keaton features; the loyal fight manager in The Champ (1931); a circus proprietor in Freaks (1932); and as a hired gun in The Thin Man (1934).

By 1940 Brophy was so identified as a Runyonesque character with a Brooklynese speech pattern that he was cast as the voice of Timothy Q. Mouse in Dumbo, even though he was uncredited for this role. Brophy worked steadily through the 1950s, in both featured roles and uncredited bits, almost always in light film fare. Very rarely was he called upon to display dramatic ability, as in the police procedural Arson, Inc. (1949), in which he played a potentially dangerous firebug. He also made several appearances in the films of director John Ford, notably as "Ditto" Boland in The Last Hurrah (1958), Brophy's last film.

Brophy was the model for comic-book character Doiby Dickles, the cab-driving sidekick to Green Lantern in the 1940s.

Death
Brophy died on May 27, 1960, during the production of Ford's Two Rode Together. (One source says Brophy "died while watching a prizefight on television." ) He was 65.

Filmography

 * Yes or No? (1920) as Tom Martin
 * The Sign on the Door (1921) as Newspaper Photographer (uncredited)
 * Spring Fever (1927) as Golf Game Spectator (uncredited)
 * West Point (1927) as Team Manager (uncredited)
 * The Cameraman (1928) as Man in Bath-House (uncredited)
 * Free and Easy (1930) as Benny - The Stage Manager (uncredited)
 * Estrellados (1930) as assistant director (uncredited)
 * Our Blushing Brides (1930) as Joe Munsey
 * Doughboys (1930) as Sergeant Brophy
 * Those Three French Girls (1930) as Yank
 * Remote Control (1930) as Al
 * Paid (1930) as Burglar (uncredited)
 * Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1931) as Detective
 * A Free Soul (1931) as Slouch (uncredited)
 * Sporting Blood (1931) as Newsreel Cameraman (uncredited)
 * A Dangerous Affair (1931) as Nelson
 * The Champ (1931) as Tim
 * The Big Shot (1931) as Minor Role (scenes deleted)
 * The Passionate Plumber (1932) as Man Outside Beauty Parlor (uncredited)
 * Freaks (1932) as Rollo Brother
 * The Beast of the City (1932) as Police Dispatcher (uncredited)
 * Skyscraper Souls (1932) as Man in Elevator (uncredited)
 * Speak Easily (1932) as Reno
 * Prosperity (1932) as Ice Cream Salesman (uncredited)
 * Flesh (1932) as Dolan - a Referee
 * What! No Beer? (1933) as Spike Moran
 * Beer and Pretzels (1933, Short) as Theater Manager (uncredited)
 * Broadway to Hollywood (1933) as Joe Mannion (uncredited)
 * Hello Pop! (1933, Short) as Brophy (uncredited)
 * The Poor Rich (1934) as Flannigan
 * The Thin Man (1934) as Morelli
 * Paris Interlude (1934) as Ham
 * Hide-Out (1934) as Detective Britt
 * Have a Heart (1934) as Mac (uncredited)
 * Death on the Diamond (1934) as Grogan
 * Evelyn Prentice (1934) as Eddie Delaney
 * I'll Fix It (1934) as Tilly Tilson
 * Sequoia (1934) as Forest Ranger Pete (uncredited)
 * Forsaking All Others (1934) (scenes deleted)
 * Devil Dogs of the Air (1935) as Minor Role (scenes deleted)
 * Shadow of Doubt (1935) as Fred Wilcox
 * The Whole Town's Talking (1935) as 'Slugs' Martin
 * Naughty Marietta (1935) as Zeke
 * People Will Talk (1935) as Pete Ranse
 * Mad Love (1935) as Rollo
 * She Gets Her Man (1935) as Flash
 * China Seas (1935) as Wilbur Timmons
 * I Live My Life (1935) as Pete (uncredited)
 * 1,000 Dollars a Minute (1935) as Benny Dolan
 * Remember Last Night? (1935) as Maxie
 * Show Them No Mercy! (1935) as Buzz
 * Strike Me Pink (1936) as Killer
 * Here Comes Trouble (1936) as Crowley
 * Woman Trap (1936) as George Meade
 * The Case Against Mrs. Ames (1936) as Sid
 * Kelly the Second (1936) as Ike Arnold
 * Spendthrift (1936) as Bill McGuire
 * Wedding Present (1936) as Squinty
 * All American Chump (1936) as Pudgy Murphy
 * Mr. Cinderella (1936) as Detective McNutt
 * Hideaway Girl (1936) as Bugs Murphy
 * Career Woman (1936) as Doc Curley
 * Great Guy (1936) as Pete Reilly
 * Oh, Doctor (1937) as Meg Smith
 * Jim Hanvey, Detective (1937) as Romo
 * The Soldier and the Lady (1937) as Packer
 * The Hit Parade (1937) as Mulrooney
 * The Great Gambini (1937) as 'Butch'
 * Varsity Show (1937) as Mike Barclay
 * Trapped by G-Men (1937) as Lefty
 * The Girl Said No (1937) as Pick
 * The Last Gangster (1937) as 'Fats' Garvey
 * Blossoms on Broadway (1937) as Mr. Prussic
 * A Slight Case of Murder (1938) as Lefty
 * Romance on the Run (1938) as Whitey Whitehouse
 * Hold That Kiss (1938) as Al
 * Gold Diggers in Paris (1938) as Mike Coogan
 * Passport Husband (1938) as Spike
 * Come On, Leathernecks! (1938) as Max 'Curly' Maxwell
 * Vacation from Love (1938) as Barney Keenan, Band Leader
 * Gambling Ship (1938) as Cuthbert Innocent
 * You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939) as Corbett
 * Pardon Our Nerve (1939) as Nosey Nelson
 * Society Lawyer (1939) as Max
 * For Love or Money (1939) as Sleeper
 * The Kid from Kokomo (1939) as Eddie Black
 * Golden Boy (1939) as Roxy Lewis
 * Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) as Newspaper employee (uncredited)
 * Kid Nightingale (1939) as Mike Jordon
 * The Amazing Mr. Williams (1939) as Buck Moseby
 * The Big Guy (1939) as Dippy
 * Calling Philo Vance (1940) as Ryan
 * Alias the Deacon (1940) as Stuffy
 * Golden Gloves (1940) as Potsy Brill
 * The Great Profile (1940) as Sylvester
 * Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) as Dwarfie Humblewinger
 * Sandy Gets Her Man (1940) as Fireman Junior
 * The Invisible Woman (1940) as Bill
 * Sleepers West (1941) as George Trautwein
 * Thieves Fall Out (1941) as Rork
 * The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941) as Hinkle
 * A Dangerous Game (1941) as Bugsy (misspelled Bugs in on-screen credits)
 * Nine Lives Are Not Enough (1941) as Officer Slattery
 * Buy Me That Town (1941) as Ziggy
 * Dumbo (1941) as Timothy Q. Mouse (voice, uncredited)
 * The Gay Falcon (1941) as Detective Bates
 * Steel Against the Sky (1941) as Pete Evans
 * All Through the Night (1942) as Joe Denning
 * Broadway (1942) as Porky
 * Larceny, Inc. (1942) as Weepy Davis
 * Madame Spy (1942) as Mike Reese
 * Lady Bodyguard (1943) as Harry Gargan
 * Air Force (1943) as Marine Sgt. J.J. Callahan
 * Destroyer (1943) as Casey
 * A Scream in the Dark (1943) as Eddie Tough
 * Cover Girl (1944) as Joe - Cafe Owner (uncredited)
 * It Happened Tomorrow (1944) as Jake Shomberg
 * A Night of Adventure (1944) as Steve
 * The Thin Man Goes Home (1944) as Brogan
 * See My Lawyer (1945) as Otis Fillmore
 * I'll Remember April (1945) as Shadow
 * Wonder Man (1945) as Torso
 * Penthouse Rhythm (1945) as Bailey
 * The Falcon in San Francisco (1945) as Goldie Locke
 * Girl on the Spot (1946) as Fingers Foley
 * Swing Parade of 1946 (1946) as Moose
 * Sweetheart of Sigma Chi (1946) as Arty
 * The Falcon's Adventure (1946) as Goldie Locke
 * Renegade Girl (1946) as Bob Crandall
 * It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947) as Cecil Felton
 * Arson, Inc. (1949) as Pete Purdy
 * Danger Zone (1951) as Prof. Frederick Simpson Schicker
 * Roaring City (1951) as 'Professor' Frederick Simpson Schicker
 * Pier 23 (1951) as Prof. Shicker
 * Bundle of Joy (1956) as Dance Contest Judge
 * The Last Hurrah (1958) as 'Ditto' Boland
 * The Slowest Gun in the West (1960, TV Movie) as The Bartender
 * Two Rode Together (1961) as Minor Role (uncredited) (final film role)

title: Edward Brophy


text: User talk:65.30.181.22

title: User talk:65.30.181.22


text:
User talk:Drunkenbusdriver

Thanks for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Thanks. --DropDeadGorgias (talk) 02:41, Apr 12, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Thanks. -- 20:40, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:Drunkenbusdriver


text:
Jan Krzysztof Bielecki

Jan Krzysztof Bielecki (born 3 May 1951) is a Polish liberal politician and economist. A leading figure of the Gdańsk-based Liberal Democratic Congress in the early 1990s, Bielecki served as Prime Minister of Poland for most of 1991. In his post-political career, Bielecki served as president of Bank Pekao between 2003 and 2010, and served as the president of the Polish Institute of International Affairs between 2009 and 2015. Since the early 2000s, Bielecki has been a member of the Civic Platform party. In 2010, the Warsaw Business Journal described Bielecki as one of the most respected economists in Poland.

Early life
Born in Bydgoszcz on 3 May 1951, Bielecki studied sea transport economics at the University of Gdańsk, graduating in 1973. For much of the latter half of the 1970s, Bielecki was employed as an economist at the Center of Heavy Industry, an applied economic research institute in Gdańsk. In 1980, Bielecki joined the Solidarity movement, taking an active role in the movement by providing it with logistical support. As martial law was declared in December 1981 to crush dissidents, Bielecki was arrested and briefly detained by authorities. Recognized for his role in Solidarity, Bielecki was fired from the Center of Heavy Industry and blacklisted from state employment. After eight months of unemployment, Bielecki found a job as a truck driver for an agricultural cooperative, while also secretly remained active in Solidarity by publishing pamphlets and monitoring clandestine police activities for the movement. During a forum held at the London School of Economics in 2009, Bielecki described the difficulty many fellow Solidarity activists faced during the early 1980s. "After martial law, a lot of people—colleagues of mine—were [on] their knees or in a regular prison. Unfortunately, 70 percent of them decided to leave the country because they thought, 'The fight is over. It's the end. There is no chance for the future.' And we tried in a hopeless way to stay in the country, in my personal view, mostly not to give up and to fight for pride."

In business and politics
Remaining outside of the state sector while also continuing underground support for Solidarity, Bielecki, along with other like-minded colleagues from the University of Gdańsk (Uniwersytet Gdański), sought to take advantage of new economic reforms instituted by the communist government in the mid-1980s. These reforms replaced the direct administration of state enterprises with written regulations for managers. Realizing that the reform laws had large loopholes in financial and tax oversight, the situation could be taken advantage of by private consulting firms, which could advise state enterprises to avoid various regulations. Bielecki created the Doradca cooperative (doradca, meaning 'advisor') with virtually no capital or financial sources, with himself as "chief of operations" and one secretary as a coworker. Using academic and personal connections from the University of Gdańsk, Bielecki established working relationships with Polish Ocean Lines and other state enterprises. As few consultancy bodies existed in the communist People's Republic of Poland (PRL), Bielecki's academic and personal connections with sympathetic university professors and alumni were crucial in obtaining work at the time.

Bielecki's cooperative quickly received work in tax consultancy. The opaque and often vague tax codes issued by the communist government confused state enterprise managers, who relied on Doradca to assist them in limiting their tax returns. The cooperative, using the many loopholes that existed in the tax code, gained expertise in raising individual salaries at state firms without raising tax liabilities. In 1987, Bielecki organized his employees to create software simulating various strategies on wage tax liabilities. The software became immensely popular with Poland's largest enterprises, who quickly purchased copies. By 1988, the government eased prohibitions on Western firms making joint ventures with Polish enterprises. With few consultancy firms in place, and fewer English-speaking Poles conversant in Western financial analysis, Doradca was well-placed to assist these new firms with Poland's tax and banking regulations. At the same time, Doradca, through the efforts of Bielecki, continued to assist in recruiting and employing underground Solidarity members. During that time, Bielecki was given the nickname "Little Black" (małe czarne) among Solidarity activists, supporters and trade unionists.

In the waning days of the communist state, Bielecki, along with fellow Gdańsk liberals Janusz Lewandowski, Donald Tusk and Jacek Merkel, founded the Gdańsk Society for Socio-Economic Development, an informal organization of intellectual liberal dissidents, who became known as the "Congress Liberals." In the partially free 1989 parliamentary elections, Bielecki was elected to the Sejm as a member of the Solidarity Citizens' Committee. During the splintering of the Solidarity Citizens' Movement throughout 1990, Bielecki and other Gdańsk intellectuals increasingly favoured a liberal approach to reform the Polish economy. Congress Liberal members, including Bielecki, voted to create the Liberal Democratic Congress (KLD) in June 1990 in order to contest parliamentary elections. The new party advocated pragmatic liberalism, privatization, the expansion of Poland's newly free market, and European integration. The party, along with Bielecki, also supported Lech Wałęsa in the 1990 presidential election.

Prime Minister: 1991
Following the resignation of Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki in November 1990 after his resounding defeat in the presidential election, newly elected President Lech Wałęsa sought a new prime minister. Originally, the president appointed lawyer and former activist Jan Olszewski to the office of Prime Minister, though Olszewski quickly refused the position after numerous disagreements with Wałęsa over conditions the president placed on the prime minister's cabinet. Wałęsa turned instead to Bielecki to form a new government. Bielecki was little-known at the time within political circles. Bielecki accepted Wałęsa's proposals to the cabinet, keeping five ministers from the previous Mazowiecki government, including Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Leszek Balcerowicz, who would continue to institute the shock therapy Balcerowicz Plan to the Polish economy. Bielecki then crafted a coalition government between his Liberal Democratic Congress and other parties who supported Lech Wałęsa, including the Centre Agreement, the Democratic Party and the Christian National Union. Bielecki took the oath of office on 4 January 1991, heading the first government in 47 years in which none of its members had previously served under Communism.

Bielecki's government quickly focused on the international economic situation in the country. Appearing at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland in February 1991, Bielecki asked Western creditor nations to forgive 80 percent of Poland's $46.6 billion foreign debt. Through these negotiations, Western Europe governments agreed to forgive 50 percent of the debt in the following month, followed by the United States forgiving 70 percent of its share, and Brazil with 50 percent. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank similarly agreed to provide Poland with modernization loans. Domestically, Bielecki's government pursued efforts to deconstruct the former command economy. In June, the Bielecki government proposed a massive privatization program to sell 400 state enterprises, nearly 25 percent of Poland's industrial sales output. According to the plan, the Polish state would retain control of 30 percent of enterprises through the use of a national wealth management fund, with every adult citizen given shares from the fund, while employees of each selected firm would receive ten percent of their company's shares. During the same period, the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) opened for business in April 1991.

Bielecki's economic program proved to be tremendously controversial, particularly among Solidarity activists and politicians m. In May 1991, nearly 10,000 protesters converged in Warsaw to voice dissent against the government's radical economic reforms. Simultaneously, Solidarity organized strikes in various parts of the country. Diplomatically, Bielecki's government continued the push away from the Eastern Bloc and towards a stronger alliance with the West. In February 1991, negotiations with the Soviet Union began the withdrawal of over 50,000 troops from Poland and a military dismantling of the Warsaw Pact. Under Bielecki, Poland voted to dissolve Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) and the Warsaw Pact, whose organizations officially disbanded between June and July 1991. Negotiations with Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands successfully lifted visa restrictions against Polish citizens. In June, Bielecki, along with his German counterpart, the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, signed the Treaty of Good Neighbourship between Poland and Germany, reaffirming the German-Polish Border Treaty and the Oder–Neisse line as the border between both nations. In November, following the conclusion of negotiations, Poland was invited to join the Council of Europe (CoE). Bielecki's government additionally led negotiations to sign an interim agreement with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC) on trade, though its completion would occur until after the Bielecki government had collapsed.

In regards to the regional administration, the Bielecki government proposed an overhaul of local government, arguing to replace the newly created rejony with county-level powiats (counties), as well as proposing Poland to be decentralized into regions. The proposal called for the regions to be endowed with elected parliaments, answerable regional governments, and retain a regional central government presence. The idea was deeply influenced by the Länder (States) of Germany, envisioning a federalist model for Poland. Opponents of Bielecki's local government proposals charged the idea as a step towards German subordination, advocating instead for the republic to remain a unitary state (a state governed as a single entity). The proposal was later changed, envisioning Poland divided into ten or twelve voivodeships (Polish states) with the central government administering policy within each region. The reform proposals, however, did not enter into legislation. The decentralization plans have since been interpreted as Bielecki's attempt to create strong provincial governments in order to carry out the government's economic reforms.

Within parliament, Bielecki's hold on the premiership was continually marred with difficulties. With a minority government, Bielecki faced a hostile parliament that time and again defeated the government's economic and political reforms. Without parliamentary support, President Wałęsa advocated the Council of Ministers to grant itself special powers to rule by decree. However, Bielecki hesitated to grant such powers, instead proposing to parliament a "fast lane" for economic legislation. Yet by June 1991, none of the government's 27 bills had passed the Sejm. Bielecki offered his resignation to the Sejm, yet his motion was defeated 211–144. Following his defeat, Bielecki pushed for decree powers, though for only the two months prior to the scheduled parliamentary elections in October, with certain legislation being excluded from decrees. While defending his decree proposal as only a temporary solution, Bielecki congruently proposed to grant the presidency special powers, including the right to nominate and dismiss the prime minister and members of the cabinet, as a measure of "preventing democracy from slipping into chaos and anarchy."

Despite gaining half of the Sejm to favour both proposals, Bielecki lacked the two-thirds majority needed to pass the act of either special power. With allegations of corruption from members of his government, along with a worsening economy, Bielecki and the Liberal Democratic Congress emerged from the 1991 parliamentary elections with mixed results. The Liberal Democratic Congress emerged with 37 seats in the Sejm, with Bielecki elected to Warsaw I. However, neither the party, nor Bielecki, nor any other party, commanded a clear majority after the deeply inconclusive election, as Bielecki lacked support to continue the government. In the coalition negotiations that followed, the Liberal Democratic Congress pulled out of government formation talks with the Center Civic Alliance group dominated by the Centre Agreement, due to economic and cabinet differences between both camps. Bielecki remained as prime minister until being replaced by Jan Olszewski of the Centre Agreement on 6 December 1991.

Parliamentary career
As a member of the Sejm and one of the leaders of the Liberal Democratic Congress, Bielecki continued his support for stronger political and economic integration into Europe. During his post-premier period in the Sejm, Bielecki served in the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Speaking from the Sejm floor in May 1992, Bielecki expressed strong support for Poland entering an association agreement into the European Economic Community, saying "Here is the strategy, here is a Polish place in uniting Europe, with Poles benefiting from collective security, Poles enjoying the freedom of movement of people, goods and capital. This is an opportunity to participate in the political structures and the global economy." During the early 1990s, Bielecki also strongly supported the Visegrád initiative with Czechoslovakia and Hungary, greater integration with NATO, and encouraged Polish political and economic policy to take inspiration from successful Asian Tiger and Latin American nations as positive examples. In July 1992, Bielecki supported the appointment of Hanna Suchocka as prime minister. Suchocka later appointed Bielecki as a minister without portfolio, tasked for relations with the European Community between 1992 and 1993 under a coalition agreement between Suchocka's Democratic Union and the Liberal Democratic Congress.

Banking and Post-Political career
Deeply frustrated by economic hardships brought on by privatization, voters punished the Suchocka government in the September 1993 parliamentary election, with Bielecki's Liberal Democratic Congress losing the entirety of its seats in the Sejm. After the severe defeat, Bielecki was appointed to the board of directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in December, where he remained until September 2003. In 1994, Bielecki co-founded the Freedom Union, a centrist pro-European Union party through the unification of the Democratic Union and the Liberal Democratic Congress. In 2001, Bielecki joined Civic Platform. From 2003 to 2010, Bielecki served as president of Bank Pekao. Bielecki's resignation announcement in 2009 from the bank sparked rumors of a possible bid to become premier again or serve as finance minister in the event of Prime Minister Donald Tusk running for the presidency in 2010. However, conservative members of the Polish political establishment, including the Law and Justice party and Radio Maryja, alleged in 2012 of financial wrongdoings by Bielecki while as president of Bank Pekao, particularly with the bank's relationship with Italian developer Pirelli & C. Real Estate. Rumors circulated within Polish media and football circles throughout the end of 2011 to the middle of 2012 that Bielecki was under consideration to head the Polish Football Association (PZPN). The speculation began following comments made by former referee and PZPN president Michał Listkiewicz that Bielecki would be an ideal choice to head the association due to his international experience and passion for the sport. However, Bielecki dismissed the idea of heading the body. In May 2013, members of the opposition Law and Justice party alleged that a report from outgoing ABW head Krzysztof Bondaryk accused Bielecki of illegally lobbying for Russian companies in order to acquire shares of ZA Tarnów, a chemical production facility. Bielecki denied the reports, with the ABW similarly responding that the report claimed by Law and Justice did not exist.

Current activities
From 2010 to 2014, Bielecki served as president of the Chancellery's Economic Council after his appointment by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Bielecki served as the president of the Polish Institute of International Affairs from 2009 to 2015. Bielecki has also published articles within a number of newspapers and magazines, including The Wall Street Journal, Die Welt, Rzeczpospolita and Gazeta Wyborcza.

Personal life
Bielecki is married and with two children. The former prime minister is well known for his adoration of motorcycles. In September 2012, tabloid newspaper Fakt photographed Bielecki arriving and leaving work at the Chancellery on a BMW F800R, dressed in jeans, a black jacket, sneakers and wearing a backpack. The tabloid noted that while Bielecki's position in the Chancellery was entitled to a free limousine for commuting to and from work, the former prime minister preferred instead to use his personal motorcycle.

Bielecki is also well known for his fondness of football, and has occasionally given commentary on the game to the media. Bielecki is also known to play football during his free time against his fellow former premier and current President of the European Council Donald Tusk. Both Tusk and Bielecki have remained close friends and political allies since their days together in Solidarity in the 1980s. In regards to the state of Polish football, the former prime minister jokingly quipped in 2010 that, "I don't believe that Poles are weaker [as a people]. The only area where we are absolute idiots is football!"

Aside from his native Polish, Bielecki is fluent in English, as well as conversant in French and Russian.

Honours and awards

 * 🇰🇷 South Korea : Grand Gwanghwa Medal of the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit
 * 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 🇸🇰 Slovakia : Czech and Slovak Transatlantic Award
 * 🇫🇷 France : Legion of Honour, Grand Officier
 * 🇵🇱 Poland : Order of the White Eagle, Knight
 * 🇵🇱 Poland : Bene Merito honorary distinction
 * 🇵🇱 Poland : Kisiel Prize

title: Jan Krzysztof Bielecki


text: File:Crude ruler.PNG

title: File:Crude ruler.PNG


text:
Talk:Autosexuality

jskisbakl

Autosexual
Normally people would say (Autosexual is a very specific term used by sex researcher Bernard Apfelbaum in his contributions specifically to "Principles and Practice of Sex Therapy." Very clearly, it refers to someone who has a great deal of trouble responding to someone else sexually but can respond fairly or very well to their own touch. They usually are attracted to others and fantasize about others, but what they RESPOND to is their own touch. Apfelbaum points out that this population is very undercounted because they often simply live in this way, and do not seek out partners. This is patholigized by our society and leads to isolation, confusion, condemnation, years of pointless psychotherapy trying to fix something that aint broke, and enormous pressure on a marriage. I know. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.19.75.9 (talk) 04:06, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

VfD
On April 11, 2005, this article was nominated for deletion. The result was keep. See Votes for deletion/Autosexuality for a record of the discussion. Mindspillage (spill yours?) 18:37, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Merge complete
The old article is available at Autoeroticism/History1. Brisvegas 01:29, 9 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I've moved that old page history back to autoeroticism. It should never have been moved in the first place. Graham 87 10:22, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

NPOV
This seems unduly negative: "One example of a dangerous practice is autoerotic asphyxiation. It may result in death, particularly when done alone." Njál
 * is it not true ?
 * i mean, it is a fact ... people can die from lack of air ...
 * din't think that stating that is not neutral
 * Not POV, rather factual. Autoerotic asphyxiation is a dangerous practice, especially when tools such as ropes or ties are involved. One may become unconscious and strangle him- or herself to death, and since it is AUTOeroticism, no help is available in case of emercency. So, the mention is fully justified.
 * There are indications that Michael Hutchence may have died from an auto erotic accident rather than suicide. This is touched upon in the his article. This BBC article covers the issue as well. William (Bill) Bean 19:58, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

 * There is a pretty amount of weasel words in this article, though. Lots of "some think," "some believe," "it has been said" and all that stuff. Sources would be nice, but I don't know any. Maybe someone can add something? --TheOtherStephan 4th February 2006

 * So should we remove the NPOV tag now? 199.111.230.195 23:09, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

 * It looks fine to me now, its one of those articles thats going to be very hard not to upset people who read it and keep people from making it POV. You can just 'see' the edit wars over it can't you. Would be intresting to see if their is any psychology related material to be added. I quite liked the idea of breaking it into cultural, technical, and perhaps psychological parts? -- Shimirel (Talk) 01:23, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Crutch for deviant behavior
this section troubles me:

 * Sometimes, autosexuals use their practices (i.e. masturbation) as substitute for harmful behaviors toward others, such as rape, pedophilia, and many other kinds of immoral and criminal behaviors. Some wish that by fantasizing in their acts, they can help reduce and eventually relieve the thoughts of harming others. However, many case studies have proven that the thoughts of harming others strengthen rather than weaken, which leads to violent behaviors.

Usually, I see this argument used to attack homosexuals or pornography or whatever else the christian right is pissed off about this week, and I seem to recall reading a debunking of it in some journal recently, so it's inclusion here without any links, and without any discussion of the counterpoint, seems like a troll to me.

Thoughts?

 * Agreed. This is heresay unless someone can produce a supporting clinical study, and apart from a few unsubstantiated criticisms on conservative Christian sites, I've not been able to find any such evidence. Even if there is a relationship between sexual satsifaction and abstention from "violent behaviors" (which I question), shouldn't this be true for those of all preferences? Is this supposed phenomenon really more profound with respect to autosexual behavior? If not, it doesn't warrant a special mention in this article. I'm going to nix this unless someone can give a good reason not to. User:jld2116 16:18, 30 Dec 2005 (UTC)

 * If I may say so: The article has to be divided into a "technical part" - how it is done - and a "cultural part" - how people think about it. And by "people" I do not only mean conservative christians but also muslims, natural religions, the "enlightened" etc. It is, approve it or not, part of human culture, and this has to reflect in the article, because that is what people are interested in if they consult wiki. The cultural part, I mean. I should think, everyone knows the technical bit ;-) (Oh, what a slippery slope I'm on...)

 * And by the way: It is not only part of human development, I've seen horses doing it! Heinrich L. 21:41, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

this article is lame! thought policing is lame!
with having spent the majority of my adult life as a so-called autosexual, even though i am homosexual, that this article represents a normalization of the categorization of sexuality and thereby its control! if you're interested in this idea see my comments recently posted ( by DEV) on the talk page of the "gay" or the "dionysian art students" post on the "hippie" article talk-page.

 * who cares if it's 'controlling', the fact is that such a category DOES exist and thus wiki is obliged to report it. categorisition is a human instinct and very much real, wikipedia does not exist as a means for social change. 81.107.159.5 19:51, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Article a bit confusing
The article suggests that people who are autosexual prefer to masturbate rather then have sex. It then goes on to suggest that these people are exclusively atttracted to themselves. I know very little about this subject but it strikes me as likely that some people who prefer to masturbate rather then having sex still don't focus on themselves but rather other people or pornography or whatever. Nil Einne 20:38, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

I agree with the above statement, that there are people who could be considered autosexual simply because they prefer to masturbate than have sex with other people, yet are not attracted to themselves, whether they are homosexual or heterosexual. It seems more likely that they would fit into this category than into the category of asexuality, because they feel sexual desires toward the same or opposite sex, unlike a true asexual person. Also, the article should discuss different reasons that a person might prefer autsosexuality, such as negative or traumatic sexual experiences, feeling uncomfortable with intimacy and/or social interaction, feeling that they themselves are unattractive, or feelings that sex between two people is just wrong for them personally or in general. It could perhaps be considered a psychologically unhealthy form of heterosexuality or homosexuality, but perhaps not. I don't know if there is any research on these aspects of the topic, but I know from experience that these feelings exists. Akseli 00:37, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

 * There is some research on this topic, but most of it is so controversial that it doesn't meet the guidelines of WP:RS. But then again, a truer definition of autosexuality is that the person is erotically aroused by themeselves, and not necessarily prefers masturbation. (For an example of how far out some other theories are, one sexologist concluded that if twins were autosexual they would also wish to have sex with each other. Too many issues. ) -- Elar  a  girl  Talk 15:57, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

2007 - More to the Story
APatcher - 17 Feb 2007

 * The current version of the page has a tiny bit of information that does not seem to be properly cited. However, there is a lot more that could be added to this article regarding autosexuality. It is a real category of sexual orientation. Even if everything were to be removed on the page that has been written so far, there could be enough information added for a whole other complete article. I will put it on my list.

2007 - It's not so common
TednAZ - 26 Feb 2007

 * AUTOSEXUALITY is NOT a common sexual orientation... it belongs in the "Other classifcations" heading in the Sexual Orientation/Sexology box, not listed under the "Common classifications" heading. Autosexuality is a SUB-topical sexual orientation, most likely belonging under Asexuality - I'll let someone else do the research on that.  I am a sexual creature and have no desire to research those who are not.  According to the most recent sexuality research released from [| ABC News], [| CNN] and other media organizations, there are only FOUR major sexual orientations: Heterosexual, Homosexual, Bisexual and Asexual, albeit they said that Asexuals only make up 1 to 1.5% of the general poulation.  Knowing those figures, how can Autosexuality be considered as common?  Also, many Asexuals still have sex with themselves, so would that not make them somewhat Autosexual?  Again, if Asexuals, considered one of the four major sexual orientations, make up only one percent of the population, then Autosexuals would make up a small sliver-like component of that select group which is something I liken to an analogy of the earth's atmospheric elemental components... 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% Argon and then the rest is simply listed as 'other' gasses.

 * If you want to see unscientifically see just how common the term is... just type in any order "asexual sexual orientation" without quotes on a search engine. I did on Google and came up with 177,000 examples.  Then, type in "autosexual sexual orientation" - again, in any order, not using quotation marks in  the search window.  On Google, I got 2,540 results or 0.01 of Asexual results.  Shoot, I typed my first and last name (which is fairly uncommon) plus my city and state and produced way more results than that.  That pretty much sums it all up and puts this sliver-group subtopical sexual orientation in its place, certainly not as a common classification.  There are no sexuality textbooks or reference books, no published studies, no research statistics anywhere that classifies Autosexuality as a common sexual orientation.  This is not in any way, shape or form meant to be an attack on someone who identifies as Autosexual, only that it does not belong in a major or common classification box on Wiki.  It is generally accepted there are three or four major sexual orientation classifications, depending upon which research you adhere to, however, adding in other types as common, muddies the waters of sexuality and orientation of the LGBT community.  My sexual orientation, bisexual (the 'B' in LGBT), using the same search criteria as above, produced 1,110,000 results, so that would mean Autosexual would have 0.00002 of that finding.  Not so common, after all... is it? Someone tell TED to stop TednAZ 19:29, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

Proposed move
I propose moving this page to Autoeroticism (currently a redirect to here). A google search for autosexuality produces very few results, and most of them on myspace or using the word to mean 'masturbation'. Fireplace 13:51, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Need for rewrite
The article starts off nonsensically: "Autosexuality describes someone .." which it does not. "Autosexuality" is a noun not a describer. Then "An autosexual is a term used ... to describe a population". The rest of the article is in similarly poor English, no matter if it has other merits.--SilasW 19:44, 17 September 2007 (UTC) Four months later not of the excited editors has corrected that glaring error so I've deleted it and if they care they can replace it with an intelligible definition.--SilasW (talk) 13:22, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

Candidate for deletion
The article is now reduced to a one-line unreferenced dictionary entry. And the word isn't in the dictionary. How long must this sit out here before being deleted?--Doyleb23 21:40, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Term without meaning
The term autosexual is found in only 11 citations in PubMed, two in 2002, and the rest older than 1990. It is a term not recognized by the NIH as an activity or as a preference. The scientists that used this term in the two 2002 articles have actually used a word that has no meaning. It is neither a condition nor a preference. And as a subject, there are NO studies at all. There are no citations where autosexuality is the subject of the the study itself.

Sexuality is complicated enough. Why add to it the confusion of a meaningless term? Why the new label? Are the persons that describe themselves as autosexual truly narcissistic and not have any orientation toward another sex? or is it any number of possible reasons why they only have sex with themselves (without listing, I think anyone came come up with one or two snide ones).

oh oh my browser editor is underlining in red all these references to autosexual and autosexuality.

--Doyleb23 18:41, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Removed third item in list regarding a sexual fetish for automobiles. I believe it was added by Doyleb23 as sarcasm.

Mbusux 04:27, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

 * The only sources in the article clearly used "Autosexual" as a synonym for masturbation, so I have redirected the article there Gwernol 14:00, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

Revert to the proper redirection to masturbation
A redirection of this term to masturbation has already been properly concluded (22 January 2008).

1 There is a complete lack of any mention of this term in any standard medical dictionary or encyclopaedia, eg, those provided by the National Institutes of Health. 2 The term is used solely as a euphemism for masturbation in three Pubmed journals that I properly cited (therefore, this is not a point of view, it is exactly as I have describe, a euphemism). 3 There exists not one scientific study on the phenomenon described here as a sexual orientation toward the self, as a sexual preference over partnered sex.

Until such publication exists, giving us something that can be properly cited, that this is a condition or pathology or however one might describe this, the term remains nothing but an unscientific word describing, as has been concluded before, masturbation. When such publication exists, I welcome Wiki contributors to add this term to this encyclopaedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Doyleb23 (talk • contribs) 02:06, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

auto-sexuality as creating and enjoying one's own image/sexual role
Auto-sexuality has nothing to do with masturbation, but with the preferred role. In my opinion, really low percent of people aren't auto-sexual at all. Remember the ceiling mirrors, just as a simplest example; so many people show auto-sexual behavior in their sexual profiles, regardless of their main sexual orientation. Further on, different fashion fetishes are of an auto-sexual nature as well; being dominant in a sexual intercourse, or being submissive - it all comes from a desire to play a role, and it is not always necessarily related to a partner, but to one's own desired role or image, respectively anchored to the personal sexual preferences, complexities etc. So, it is not about being who you are, but about who you are not, and about a play of who you would like to be. Therefore, attributes like narcissistic, in my opinion, also do not hit quite well the point.

Autosexuality redirecting to masturbation
Most people who masturbate are not (at least primarily) autosexual, and redirecting autosexuality to masturbation is comparable to redirecting homosexuality to anal sex. I believe it would be better to remove the entire article than to redirect it to an entirely different article to avoid confusion. The reasons given above are in my opinion poor as there are other articles without scientific proof, and the redirect may cause confusion in those who have not heard of the term before. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.113.177.239 (talk) 23:01, 11 July 2013 (UTC)

Auto sexual behaviour.
As is often the case there is too much over analysis. It boils down to "Whatever works". If a person can achieve a greater sexual satisfaction on their own without having the hassles of personal commitment or involvement, then they will do so. It actually uncomplicates ones life .WE don't always seek out a partner for sex, sometimes it is an intellectual attraction, sometimes simple friendship, sex is a different commodity for everyone , it is sometimes simply physical, sometimes loving, sometimes a duty. Let's stop over analyzing and just enjoy whatever works. relax C. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.33.135.142 (talk) 20:59, 16 October 2017 (UTC)

Chill guys — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:304:B3E1:34C0:A441:A19E:9AA8:6FB3 (talk) 22:14, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

title: Talk:Autosexuality


text:
User talk:Neilp~enwiki

— Ilγαηερ   (Tαlκ) '' 02:41, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)

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title: User talk:Neilp~enwiki


text: User talk:68.145.203.106

title: User talk:68.145.203.106


text:
Alexander C. Hanson

Alexander Contee Hanson (February 27, 1786 – April 23, 1819) was an American lawyer, publisher, and statesman. He represented the third district of Maryland in the U.S. House, and the state of Maryland in the U.S. Senate.

Early life
Alexander Contee Hanson was born in Annapolis, Maryland, on February 27, 1786, the second son of Alexander Contee Hanson, Sr. (1749–1806) and Rebecca Howard (ca. 1760–1806). His older brother, Charles W. Hanson, later became a judge in Baltimore. His younger sister, Mary Jane Hanson (1791–1815), was married to Thomas Peabody Grosvenor (1778–1817), a U.S. Representative from New York. He attended local private schools and graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis in 1802.

Family
He was the grandson of John Hanson (1721–1783), a delegate to the Continental Congress who signed the Articles of Confederation and served as the 9th President of the Continental Congress, and Jane Contee (1726–1812), herself the granddaughter of Thomas Brooke, Jr. (1660–1730). Through his paternal grandmother's brother, Thomas Contee (1729–1793), he was related to Benjamin Contee (1755–1815) and Thomas Contee Worthington (1782–1847), William Grafton Delaney Worthington (1785–1856), and Walter Brooke Cox Worthington (1795–1845). His cousin, Rebecca Thomas (1777–1814), was married to another cousin, Alexander Contee Magruder (c. 1779–1853).

Career
He proceeded to study law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Annapolis. He was a delegate to the Maryland State Convention of 1788, to vote whether Maryland should ratify the proposed Constitution of the United States. From 1811 to 1815, he served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates.

Federal Republican
Hanson launched the Federal Republican and Commercial Gazette in Baltimore in 1808 and merged it with another publication the following year. The Federal Republican was known as one of the nation's most extreme Federalist newspapers. On June 22, 1812, four days after the beginning of the War of 1812, a mob that was irritated by his articles denouncing the administration destroyed his office. On July 28, he reissued the paper from another building, where he was joined by a group of armed allies. When that building was besieged by a mob, Hanson and his group fired, killing two. On the morning of July 29, Hanson and his group surrendered to Mayor Edward Johnson, who had come to personally defuse the situation, and were escorted to jail. That evening, the mob stormed the jail, and Hanson was beaten and left for dead. James M. Lingan, a military officer who came to Hanson's defense, died as a result of the violence. Hanson also received help from Revolutionary War Hero and father of Robert E. Lee, Henry Lee III, who received grave injuries. Another man John Thompson recounts being tarred and feathered by the mob and stated that the rioters brought a field gun to besiege Hanson's house, although the arrival of the mayor and other city officials stopped it from being fired. Hanson moved the paper to Georgetown, D.C., where he published it unmolested. Hanson later moved to Elkridge, Maryland.

United States Congress
In 1812, Hanson was elected as a Federalist representing the third district to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1813, until his resignation in 1816. Hanson was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815. He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1816 for election to the Maryland House of Delegates, but was elected as a Federalist to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Robert Goodloe Harper. He served as senator from December 20, 1816, until his own death on his estate, "Belmont", near Elkridge, Maryland. Hanson died without having ever fully recovered from his injuries.

Personal life
On June 25, 1805, he was married to Priscilla Dorsey. They had many children, but only one lived to have heirs:
 * Charles Grosvenor Hanson (1815/6–1880), who married Annie Maria Worthington (1821–1873), daughter of John Tolley Hood Worthington (1788–1849), on April 16, 1840.

He was interred in the family burial ground at his estate, Belmont.

Descendants
His grandchildren included Alexander Contee Hanson (1840–1857), Mary Worthington Hanson (1842–1863), John Worthington Hanson (1844–1916), Priscilla Hanson (1846–1925), Charles Edward Hanson (b. 1848), Murray Hanson (b. 1851), Samuel Contee Hanson (1854–1889), Grosvenor Hanson (1856–1916), Annie Maria "Nannie" Hanson (1858–1943), and Florence Contee Hanson (1860–1935).

Baltimore Riot of 1812

 * contemporary account
 * a summary

title: Alexander C. Hanson


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Czesław Kiszczak

Czesław Jan Kiszczak (19 October 1925 – 5 November 2015) was a Polish general, communist-era interior minister (1981–1990) and prime minister (1989).

In 1981 he played a key role in imposing martial law and suppression of the Solidarity movement in Poland. But eight years later he presided over the country's transition to democracy as its last communist prime minister and a co-chairman of the Round Table conference, in which officials of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party faced the democratic opposition leaders. The conference led to the reconciliation with and reinstatement of Solidarity, the 1989 elections, and the formation of Poland's first non-communist government since 1945.

Early years
Czesław Kiszczak was born on 19 October 1925, in Roczyny, the son of a struggling farmer who was fired as a steelworker because of his communist affiliation. Due to his father's beliefs, young Czesław was brought up in an anti-clerical, pro-Soviet atmosphere.

During World War II, in 1942, when he was 16, Kiszczak was arrested by the German occupants with his mother, older brother and an aunt and sent for forced labour. At first Czesław was recruited at the German coal mine, but later was sent to Austria as a slave laborer. He was the only Pole among Croats, Serbs and others, many of whom were Communists. Towards the end of the war he was in Vienna, working on the Austrian train system until 7 April 1945. Then he joined a communist-led anti-Nazi resistance group which collaborated with the Red Army, showing the Russians around Vienna sitting on a tank. Because he knew Russian and German, he served as a translator.

Military career
After the war Kiszczak returned to Poland, joined the communist Polish Workers' Party almost immediately, and was sent to the Central Party School in Łódź, which was training civilian and military Party apparatchiks. Kiszczak entered the Polish Army, where he fought guerrilla groups that were resisting the communist takeover. Guerrillas beat his father and spared his life only after his mother intervened. Kiszczak later explained that those struggles had shaped his response to the pro-democracy upheaval decades later: "Experiences linked with that drama, that fratricidal struggle, are among the major reasons that shaped my role in the complicated years of 1980–82", he said. "I did not want that tragic history to repeat itself".

Later he was commissioned and, considered too young for political work in the army, was assigned to military intelligence, serving there with short breaks until 1981. In 1946 he was sent to the Polish consulate-general in London, where his official task was to help repatriate members of the Polish armed forces who had served in the West during the war. His superiors found him a keen, highly motivated and disciplined young officer. In 1951 he became a chief of the Department of Information in the 18th Infantry Division stationed in the city of Ełk, and in 1952 was transferred to Warsaw where he took over the position of chief of the Department of Information in the Directorate of Information of Military District Number 1. Later Kiszczak was moved to the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense, and became chief of the General Section in the Department of Finances.

In 1954–57 Kiszczak studied in the Polish General Staff Academy, and after the graduation was moved to the newly formed counter-intelligence agency, the Internal Military Service (WSW). From 1957 to 1965 he was the head of counter-intelligence for the Navy in the WSW, and in 1967 became deputy head of the WSW.

From the end of the 1960s Kiszczak occupied top positions in the Polish military and military intelligence services. In 1973 he was promoted to the rank of general. In 1972–79 he served as a head of military intelligence (Second Directorate of General Staff of the Polish Army - Zarząd II Sztabu Generalnego Wojska Polskiego). In 1978 he became deputy head of the Polish General Staff. In June 1979 Kiszczak returned to military counter-intelligence, and until 1981 was the head of the Internal Military Service.

Interior minister

In July 1981 Kiszczak was appointed minister of internal affairs. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with the Ministry of National Defense, were among the biggest and most powerful administrations in Poland, responsible for the police force, the secret police, government protection, confidential communications, supervision of local governments, correctional facilities and fire services.

In that position, Kiszczak participated in the preparation and implementation of the martial law that was declared in Poland on 13 December 1981. He became a member of the Military Council of National Salvation, a quasi-government administering Poland during the martial law (1981–83). In 1982 he became a deputy member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party and a full member in 1986. From December 1981 until June 1989 Kiszczak was the second most important person in Poland, after General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the nation's top leader. Together they orchestrated the crackdown aimed at crushing the Solidarity, the Eastern Bloc's first non-communist labor union movement. Martial law included the mass roundup and internment of Solidarity activists, curfews and other harsh measures.

Generals Kiszczak and Jaruzelski later insisted that they were imposing martial law to stave off a possible Soviet-led invasion in response to the Solidarity uprising, as it happened after a reform movement in Czechoslovakia in 1968 (the Prague Spring). "I saved the country from terrible troubles", Kiszczak said years later. But critics claimed Jaruzelski and Kiszczak were doing Moscow's bidding in a brutal crackdown that included the shooting deaths of nine protesting miners by the police during the Pacification of Wujek operation.

As internal affairs minister, Kiszczak was responsible for the coverup of Grzegorz Przemyk's death, after his severe beating by two police officers in 1983. The court files of the case preserved his handwritten note ordering the prosecution to "only stick to one version of the investigation - the paramedics", which resulted in a doctor and a paramedic falsely convicted and imprisoned for over a year as part of the cover-up as part of a show trial. In 1984 Kiszczak granted financial awards to the policemen who coordinated the cover-up. During the trial in postcommunist Poland in 1997, one of the officers, who had participated in the beating, was eventually brought to justice, another acquitted, but Kiszczak was not on trial and avoided any punishment for his role in masterminding the coverup of the crime.

At the end of the 1980s, with the huge geopolitical changes brought by four years of Gorbachev's perestroika in the Soviet Union and with Polish economy deteriorating, Kiszczak negotiated the Polish Round Table Agreement with the opposition that led to the renewed recognition of Solidarity and the terms for the 1989 elections. Solidarity candidates went on to win nearly all the seats in the National Assembly that they were permitted to contest.

Kiszczak was appointed prime minister in 1989, but Solidarity refused to enter a communist-led government. Within a few weeks, to avert further labor unrest ignited by soaring food prices, he resigned and joined a Solidarity-dominated coalition as deputy prime minister and interior minister. He served until mid-1990, when he retired from political life.

Later years

Kiszczak (as well as Jaruzelski) remains one of the most controversial figures in contemporary Polish history, with fierce debates taking place about whether he was a patriot or a traitor. His critics hate him for the communist-era repressions that caused the suffering of many Poles and have accused him of acting in the interests of Moscow. But other Poles praise Kiszczak for relinquishing power without violence and point out that he deserves credit for eventually opening a dialogue with Solidarity and its leader Lech Wałęsa in the Round Table talks that led to partially free elections in 1989 and the end of communism in Poland. To some critics, Kiszczak redeemed himself already in 1984 when, as minister of internal affairs, he oversaw the prosecution and conviction of secret police officers who had abducted and murdered a pro-Solidarity priest, Jerzy Popiełuszko.

Many Poles found it frustrating that Kiszczak never faced punishment for martial law and other repressive measures, while some lower level police officers have faced convictions. In the 25 years after reestablishment of democracy in Poland, Kiszczak was tried in court a number of times for his role in imposing martial law, but he never served prison time. One of the most serious accusations against him was connected to the martial law killings of nine miners during the pacification of Wujek coalmine. Kiszczak was acquitted in these killings and was handed only a two-year suspended sentence for his role in imposing martial law.

Kiszczak died in Warsaw on 5 November 2015 at the age 90, due to heart problems. The Polish Ministry of Defence refused to allot a burial plot for him at the Powązki Military Cemetery or provide military funeral honors. The general was buried at the Orthodox Cemetery in Warsaw in the presence of his family members and friends. There was no government or military official participation in the ceremony.

Kiszczak was survived by his wife Maria, economist and university professor, and children Ewa and Jarosław.

Legacy
Kiszczak's influence has continued long after his passing due to a political scandal arising from secret documents found in the possession of his wife. In February 2016 the couple's home was subjected to a search warrant which uncovered documents supporting the accusations of collaboration with the secret services by Lech Walesa. Apparently Kiszczak had kept secret dossiers in his personal possession containing evidence of Walesa's alleged collaboration, including signed documents using his purported codename Bolek. Maria Kiszczak was accused of attempting to sell these documents. Walesa has been dogged by such accusations for decades but has consistently claimed innocence and has never been formally found guilty of wrongdoing.

Honours

 * Order of the Builders of People's Poland (1984)
 * Order of the Banner of Work, I class
 * Commander's Cross of Order of Polonia Restituta (1972)
 * Knight's Cross of Order of Polonia Restituta
 * Order of the Cross of Grunwald, III class
 * Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland (1954)
 * Medal of the 30th Anniversary of People's Poland (1974)
 * Medal of the 40th Anniversary of People's Poland (1984)
 * Gold Medal of the Armed Forces in the Service of the Fatherland
 * Silver Medal of the Armed Forces in the Service of the Fatherland
 * Bronze Medal of the Armed Forces in the Service of the Fatherland
 * Gold Medal of Merit for National Defence
 * Silver Medal of Merit for National Defence
 * Bronze Medal of Merit for National Defence
 * Grunwald Badge
 * Silver Badge of Merit for Law Enforcement
 * Bronze Badge of Merit for Law Enforcement
 * Bronze Badge of Merit for Border Protection of PRL
 * Order of the Patriotic War, I class (USSR)
 * Medal "For Strengthening of Brotherhood in Arms" (USSR)

title: Czesław Kiszczak


text:
User:NoSoftwarePatents

Hi, my user name is a tribute to:

 * http://swpat.ffii.org - FFII, expert info and Lobbying against software patents
 * http://nosoftwarepatents.com - introduction, presents the arguments

Please support the FFII in the fight against software patents in 2005.

Thank you very much.

title: User:NoSoftwarePatents