In general, an opinion is a subjective belief, and is the result of emotion or interpretation of facts. An opinion may be supported by an argument, although people may draw opposing opinions from the same set of facts. Opinions rarely change without new arguments being presented. However, it can be reasoned that one opinion is better supported by the facts than another by analysing the supporting arguments.^[1] In casual use, the term opinion may be the result of a person's perspective, understanding, particular feelings, beliefs, and desires. It may refer to unsubstantiated information, in contrast to knowledge and fact-based beliefs.

Collective or professional opinions are defined as meeting a higher standard to substantiate the opinion. (see below)

Epistemology[link]

In economics, other social sciences and philosophy, analysis based on opinion is referred to as normative analysis (what ought to be), as opposed to positive analysis, which is based on scientific observation (what materially is or is experimentally demonstrable).

Historically, the distinction of demonstrated knowledge and opinion was articulated by Ancient Greek philosophers. Today, Plato's analogy of the divided line is a well-known illustration of the distinction between knowledge and opinion, or knowledge and belief, in customary terminology of contemporary philosophy. Opinions can be persuasive, but only the assertions they are based on can be said to be true or false.

Collective and professional opinions[link]

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (December 2009)

The public opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the population. Public opinion can also be defined as the complex collection of opinions of many different people and the sum of all their views.

Scientific opinion[link]

A "scientific opinion" is the general opinion of a professional scientific body gained through extensive research with a reproducible, unbiased conclusion soundly based upon the facts derived from the experiment^[2]. A scientific opinion which represents the formally-agreed consensus of a scientific body or establishment, often takes the form of a published position paper citing the research producing the scientific evidence upon which the opinion is based. "The scientific opinion" (or scientific consensus) can be compared to "the public opinion" and generally refers to the collection of the opinions of many different scientific organizations and entities and individual scientists in the relevant field.

Legal opinion[link]

A "legal opinion" or "closing opinion" is a type of professional opinion, usually contained in a formal legal-opinion letter, given by an attorney to a client or a third party. Most legal opinions are given in connection with business transactions. The opinion expresses the attorney's professional judgment regarding the legal matters addressed. A legal opinion is not a guarantee that a court will reach any particular result.^[3] However, a mistaken or incomplete legal opinion may be grounds for a professional malpractice claim against the attorney, pursuant to which the attorney may be required to pay the claimant damages incurred as a result of relying on the faulty opinion.

Judicial opinion[link]

A "judicial opinion" or "opinion of the court" is an opinion of a judge or group of judges that accompanies and explains an order or ruling in a controversy before the court, laying out the rationale and legal principles the court relied on in reaching its decision.^[4] Judges in the United States are usually required to provide a well-reasoned basis for their decisions and the contents of their judicial opinions may contain the grounds for appealing and reversing of their decision by a higher court.

Editorial opinion[link]

An "editorial opinion" is the stated opinion of a newspaper or of its publisher, as conveyed on the editorial page.

See also[link]

• Doxa
• Perspective (cognitive)
• Epistemology
• Editorial
• Justified true belief
• truthiness

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Look up opinion in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• I’m entitled to an opinion.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2007)

Edi Rama
Mayor of Tirana
In office October 2000 – July 2011
Preceded by	Albert Brojka
Succeeded by	Lulzim Basha
Minister of Culture, Tourism, Youth, and Sports of Albania
In office 1998–2000
Prime Minister	Fatos Nano
Personal details
Born	(1964-07-04) 4 July 1964 (age 47) Tirana, Albania
Nationality	Albanian
Political party	Socialist Party of Albania
Spouse(s)	Matilda Makoci (div.) Lindita Basha

Edi Kristaq Rama (born Edvin Rama^{[citation needed]}, on 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, painter, publicist, professor, and former athlete. Currently he is the leader of the Socialist Party of Albania, the largest opposition party in Albania.

He has served as board member at the local Soros Open Society Foundation of Albania, president of the Association of Mayors of Albania, and as Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sports of Albania. Edi Rama was Mayor of Tirana for three terms from 2000 to 2011. He is married to Lindita Xhillari (née Basha) and has 2 children.

Personal history[link]

Edi Rama was born to Kristaq Rama, a native of Durrës and renowned Albanian sculptor, and Aneta Rama (née Koleka), a graduate in medicine and niece of Spiro Koleka, a former member of the Albanian Politburo. As a teenager Rama got involved in sports by becoming a player of Dinamo, a leading basketball team, and the Albanian national team. Following the collapse of Communism in Albania, he became involved with the first democratic movements. He entered the student movement but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. At the same time, he published a book with various notes together with publicist Ardian Klosi entitled Refleksione, while a professor at the Academy of Arts of Albania. During this time, he became engaged and later married actress Matilda Makoci, with whom he had a son, Gregor Rama. He separated from Makoci and in 1994 decided to emigrate abroad. Upon arriving in France, he conducted the life of an artist by taking part in many exhibitions with his close friend, Anri Sala. In January 1997, during one of his trips back to Albania he suffered severe injuries after being physically assaulted.

In 1998, Edi Rama was convened by the then Prime Minister Fatos Nano, and asked to become Minister of Culture of Albania. He accepted and immediately became known for his extravagance in a variety of ways. In October 2000, he entered and won the race for the Tirana mayorship as Socialist Party candidate against writer Besnik Mustafaj. After taking office, he undertook a radical campaign to return many portions of Tirana's center and Lana River into their original forms by demolishing hundreds of illegal buildings.

In 2003, he appeared before the Albanian parliament in an inquiry commission on abuse of funds in the Municipality of Tirana. During the session, he was seen using a loudspeaker in sign of protest. The commission was eventually closed and Rama acquitted. In 2003, he won a second term by defeating lawyer Spartak Ngjela, and a third consecutive term by beating DP candidate Sokol Olldashi. During the latter campaign, his rivals published some photos of Rama in intimate poses on a nudist beach in southern France.

In October 2005, Rama became the leader of the Socialist Party of Albania following the resignation of Fatos Nano. As mayor he compiled the Tirana City Master Plan including the Skanderbeg Square project. In 2010, Rama married Lindita Basha (also known as Lindita Xhillari), a civil society activist.^[1] In the 2011 local elections he lost by a small margin to a young candidate of the Coalition of the Citizen, Lulzim Basha. The elections were criticized by the monitors and the international community as they were decided in a debatable court ruling. The first ballot count gave Rama the victory by a margin of 10 votes, but afterwards the Central Electoral Committee decided to open the ballot boxes and count the ballots cast in the wrong boxes. In November 2011, Rama published a reflection book on his years as Mayor of Tirana entitled Kurban.

Life as a painter[link]

Rama is also author of several personal painting exhibitions in Europe, North and South America, and other. Personal exhibitions include Janos Gallery, New York (1993), Place de Mediatheque, France (1995), Palais Jalta, Frankfurt (1997), Acud, Berlin (1993), São Paulo, Brazil (1994), National Gallery, Albania (1992) and Gallery XXI, Albania (1999). He is no longer active as an artist.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, Rama published a collection of personal notes and paintings in a book entitled Edi Rama.^[2]

Impact on Tirana[link]

Rama's most noted impact on the city of Tirana has been the many kiosk demolitions in the city during his mayorship. Rama's Return to Identity project rid the city of many illegally constructed buildings on municipal lands such as local parks and the banks of the Lana. During this period as mayor he was heavily supported by the Prime Minister of Albania at the time, Ilir Meta, who channeled numerous funds from the central government to the local authority of Tirana, enabling Rama to implement the cleaning master project.

In an attempt to widen roads, he authorized the bulldozing of private properties so that they could be paved over, thus widening streets. He has been accused of corruption and mismanagement of funds by the opposition, including corruption in the issuance of building permits.

His Clean and Green project in 2000 resulted in the production of 96,700 square metres of green land and parks in the city and the planting of nearly 1,800 trees. He also ordered the painting of many old buildings in what has come to be known as Edi Rama colours (very bright yellow, green, violet). Rama's critics claimed that he focused too much attention on cosmetic changes without fixing any of the major problems such as shortages of drinking water and electricity. As of the end of Rama's 11-year mayoral term, running water in Tirana continued to be available for only 6 hours a day.

Awards[link]

Rama, a former artist, had this to say about his work as mayor: "It's the most exciting job in the world, because I get to invent and to fight for good causes everyday. Being the mayor of Tirana is the highest form of conceptual art. It's art in a pure state."^[3]

In October 2002, Edi Rama was given an award by Kofi Annan in light of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.^[4]

In 2003, Rama was chosen to be a visiting professor in the 2002/03 Robert C. Wood Visiting Professorship of Public and Urban Affairs at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston and Harvard University.

In December 2004, Rama was named the World Mayor 2004, in an international competition that took place over one year, based on direct voting by Internet, organized by the non-commercial organization CITYMAYORS, located in London.^[5]

Rama was chosen by Time Magazine to be one of the 2005 European Heroes, a tribute given by the Magazine to 37 people who are changing the world for the better.^[6]

Political life in Socialist Party[link]

Edi Rama is also the head of the left wing in Albania. He became head of SPA in October 2005. In the 2009 elections, SPA was the most voted party, but got only 65 seats on the parliament out of 140 because of the electoral system. SMI and DPA formed a coalition and a government, while SPA started a few protests for "the transparency of vote". Nowadays, the SPA members of the parliament have joined the Parliament sessions and co-work with their right-wing colleagues. Rama is being criticized by a group of SPA politicians like Ben Blushi, Kastriot Islami and Andis Harasani of leading the party without collaborators. These accusations may be because SPA is the only left party to not have a Secretary General. However, the second-most-powerful person in SPA is 59 year old Gramoz Ruçi, the head of the Parliamentarian group.^{[citation needed]}

Rama took part in the 21 January 2011 Albanian opposition demonstrations where 4 people were killed and 150 injured. Recently, Rama has started to use social media tools such as Twitter or Facebook to communicate with the electorate and others in general.

Books[link]

• Rama, Edi. Kurban. Dudaj: Tiranë, 2011
• Rama, Edi. Edi Rama. 2009
• Rama, Edi and Ardian Klosi. Refleksione. 1991

See also[link]

• Mayor of Tirana
• Tirana
• Anri Sala

References[link]

External links[link]

• Personal website
• Municipality of Tirana
• List of Rama's publications
• Edi Rama on the song Tirona
• Edi Rama news (in Albanian)

News articles[link]

• Post 1990s Biography of Edi Rama (Pt 1), Zone e Ndaluar TV Show (Albanian)
• Post 1990s Biography of Edi Rama (Pt 2), Zone e Ndaluar TV Show (Albanian)
• Edi Rama wins the 2004 World Mayor Award
• CityMayors article
• Edi Rama: European Heroes 2005 by Time Magazine
• Regeneration man
• The mayor transforming Tirana
• You’ve got to tear this old building down

Further reading[link]

• Budini, Belina. Edi Rama, Politikani Pop(ulist)-Star, Tirana: UET Press, 2009. ISBN 978-99956-39-11-2

Eliza Dushku
Dushku at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.
Born	Eliza Patricia Dushku (1980-12-30) December 30, 1980 (age 31) Watertown, Massachusetts, U.S.
Nationality	American, Albanian[1][2]
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1992–present
Partner	Rick Fox (2009–present)

Eliza Patricia Dushku ( /ˈdʊʃkuː/;^[3] born December 30, 1980) is an American actress known for her television roles, including recurring appearances as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer^[4] and its spinoff series Angel. She starred in two Fox series, Tru Calling and Dollhouse.^[5] She is also known for her role in films including True Lies, The New Guy, Bring It On, Wrong Turn and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,^[6] as well as her voice work on video games.

Early life[link]

Dushku was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, the daughter of Philip R. Dushku, an administrator and teacher in the Boston Public Schools, and Judith "Judy" (née Rasmussen), a political science professor.^[7] Dushku's father is Albanian and her mother is of Danish and English descent.^[8][9] Dushku attended Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, and graduated from Watertown High School. She was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the faith of her mother, though she is not practicing.^[10] She has three older brothers: Aaron, Benjamin (Ben), and Nathaniel (Nate). Her parents divorced when she was an infant.^[11]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Dushku came to the attention of casting agents when she was 10. She was chosen in a five month search for the lead role of Alice in the film That Night. In 1993, Dushku landed a role as Pearl alongside Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in This Boy's Life, a role that she said opened a lot of doors. The following year, she played the teenage daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies. She had parts as Paul Reiser's daughter in Bye Bye Love, as Cindy Johnson in Race the Sun, and roles in a television movie and a short film.

Dushku took time off from acting to finish her junior and senior years of high school. She was accepted to the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and Suffolk University in Boston, where her mother serves as professor of government and previously served as dean of the campus in Dakar, Senegal.

Later roles[link]

Dushku at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con.

After completing high school, Dushku returned to acting with the role of Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a Slayer much more troubled than the main character Buffy Summers. Though initially planned as a five episode role, the character became so popular that she stayed on for the whole third season and returned for a two-part appearance in season four, after which the remainder of her original story arc was played out as part of the first season of the Buffy spin-off series Angel. Repentant and rededicated, Faith returned as a heroine in other episodes of Angel and in the last five episodes of Buffy. Dushku was inundated with piles of fan mail from legions of prisoners. She said:

I've been getting fan mail from maximum security penitentiaries and death row. What are the authorities thinking of in playing a show with young teenage girls to Death Row inmates? They write everything – disgusting things that you don't even want to know about. And they send me pictures – "Oh, here's a picture of me before I was incarcerated!" – and there's some guy sat on the sofa with a bottle of beer and a moustache, and a big gut. It's so creepy. Way more creepy than Buffy.^[12]

In 2000, Dushku starred in the hit cheerleader comedy Bring It On.^[6] She followed that up with Soul Survivors,^[6] reuniting her with Race The Sun co-star Casey Affleck. One reviewer described the film as "84 minutes of everyone's wasted time".^[13] In 2001, she appeared in The New Guy with DJ Qualls and City by the Sea with Robert De Niro and James Franco.^[6] The latter film garnered attention from a wider adult audience and several good reviews. The same year, Kevin Smith invited Dushku to be a part of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.^[6]

In 2003, Dushku starred the horror film Wrong Turn,^[6] and The Kiss, an independent comedy-drama. Starting that same year, she starred in a new Fox TV series, Tru Calling, where she played the main character, medical student Tru Davies. After having a grant pulled out from under her, Tru is forced to take a job at a local morgue where she discovers her power to "re-live" the previous day over again if one of the deceased asks for her help to change what has happened. Dushku turned down a role in a spin-off of Buffy The Vampire Slayer which would have been about Faith. She has had many roles as a "bad girl" in movies and relishes the opportunities. In an interview with Maxim in May 2001, Dushku says of her roles, "It's easy to play a bad girl: You just do everything you've been told not to do, and you don't have to deal with the consequences, because it's only acting."^[10]

Dushku starred in an Off-Broadway production entitled Dog Sees God from December 2005, playing "Van's sister", a character paralleled with Lucy Van Pelt from the Peanuts comic strip on which the play production is based. She quit in February 2006 along with other members of the cast amidst rumors of abuse from the producer (which were later dismissed).

She played the lead character on Nurses, a hospital comedy/drama for Fox. This was the second Fox pilot in which she was cast, but not broadcast.^[14] She appeared in the Simple Plan music video, "I'm Just a Kid", as the band's love interest, as well as Nickelback's video for "Rockstar".

Dushku has roles in two video games. She voiced the role of Yumi Sawamura in the English language version of Yakuza for the PlayStation 2, which was published and developed by SEGA, and released in September 2006. Dushku also stars as Shaundi, one of the lead characters in Saints Row 2, which was developed by Volition and published by THQ.^[15] It was released in North America on October 14, 2008, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. She was the voice talent for the role of Rubi Malone, the main character in the game WET. She appeared at Spike TV's 2008 Video Game Awards in December 2008.^[5]

Recent work[link]

Tribeca Film Festival, April 2007

On October 1, 2005, she announced at Wizard World Boston that shooting had begun for Nobel Son in which she would star with Alan Rickman, Danny DeVito, Bill Pullman, and Peter Boyle. The movie was released at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.^[16] Another project is On Broadway, an independent movie filmed in her native Boston. The movie is receiving great reviews^[17] and a few of them highlight Dushku's performance. It is shown in independent film festivals and has won six awards.

Variety announced on August 2, 2006 that Dushku would co-star with Macaulay Culkin in Sex and Breakfast, a dark comedy written and directed by Miles Brandman. A reviewer described Dushku as "charming" and giving the character "an edge."^[18] The movie was released in Los Angeles on November 30, 2007 and on DVD on January 22, 2008. She starred in Open Graves, a 2008 horror-thriller about a satanic game co-starring Mike Vogel. She played the main character in The Thacker Case and The Alphabet Killer, both thrillers based on real-life events, one of them directed by Rob Schmidt with whom she had worked on Wrong Turn. Both movies were released in 2008.^[19] The Alphabet Killer contains Dushku's first topless scene.^[20] The film earned mixed reviews, but reviewers praised Dushku's performance, commenting "Eliza Dushku commands the screen but cannot reconcile the script's conflicted and increasingly idiotic agendas."^[21] She appeared in Bottle Shock, a drama about Napa valley wine.^[4] The film was directed by Randall Miller, who helmed Nobel Son.^[4][22]

On August 26, 2007, Dushku signed a development deal with Fox Broadcasting and 20th Century Fox. Under the pact, the network and the studio would develop projects tailor-made for the actress. They approached her with existing pitches and scripts.^[23]

Consequently, it was announced on October 31 that Dushku had lured Joss Whedon, of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, back to TV, as they agreed to create a show called Dollhouse. Dushku produced the show and played the main character, 'Echo', which aired on Fox during the 2008–09 TV Season. One TV reviewer said Dushku "does wonderful things to a tank top, but her grasp of this vague, personality-changing character is a bit of a muddle."^[24] In an interview, Dushku talked about how Dollhouse, and how her reconnection with Whedon came about:

I invited Joss Whedon to lunch after I did the business deal with Fox. We'd had a cool relationship in the past and I so wanted to do something else, and I wanted to get back into a television show. I had him on the brain for sure but I hadn't called him yet, but I sort of took a leap of faith and set things up with Fox and then called Joss. We went to a four-hour lunch where I just sort of used my womanly wiles. No, we've become such good friends, kind of like brother and sister and kind of like he was my watcher, my handler from when I first moved out to L.A. when I was 17 and I was a little bit of a wild child. He's watched me and helped me and taught me over the years. I told him how bad I wanted and needed him back and he accepted and here we are.^[25]

Dushku described Whedon as "my favorite genius ... favorite friend ... big brother ... and the only person out here I've ever wholeheartedly trusted, because he's never let me down."^[26] Dollhouse was renewed for a second season. The producers cited their confidence in the strength of Joss Whedon's fan base and high DVR numbers as their reasons for keeping the show. FOX cancelled Dollhouse on November 11, 2009. The show officially wrapped filming on the second and final season on December 16, 2009.

Dushku was the voice actor for contract killer "Rubi Malone" in the action video game Wet.^[27] Dushku secured exclusive rights to make "The Perfect Moment", a film based on the life of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and enlisted the help of Ondi Timoner.^[4]

Dushku provides her voice for Noah's Ark: The New Beginning and will appear in the film Locked In set for release in 2010.^[28]

Dushku guest-starred in CBS' comedy The Big Bang Theory in the fall of 2010^[29] which aired on November 4, 2010.^[30]

In 2011, Dushku featured alongside Jayson Floyd in "One Shot", a short action clip on YouTube directed by and starring Freddie Wong, which was released on May 13, 2011.^[31] Dushku will have a lead role in an online animated "motion comic" series, titled Torchwood: Web of Lies, based on Starz' upcoming Torchwood: Miracle Day.^[32]

In August 2011, Dushku visited Albania to film a documentary on her father's country of origin with a crew from the Travel Channel and Lonely Planet.^[33][34][35]

Personal life[link]

Dushku resides in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California.^[36]

Dushku is the CEO of her production company, Boston Diva Productions.^[37]

In 2006, she visited her father's family in Albania after an invitation from the Prime Minister of Albania, Sali Berisha. She visited Kosovo and got an Albanian Eagle tattoo on the back of her neck.^[38][39]

Dushku began dating former Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Rick Fox in October 2009, and in August 2010 the couple confirmed that they are living together.^[40][41]

While on her second visit to Albania in 2011, she applied for Albanian citizenship and obtained the Albanian passport and ID Card. She became an honorary citizen of Tirana,^[42] and was given the honorary title of Tirana Ambassador of Culture and Tourism in the World by Tirana mayor Lulzim Basha.^[43][44] Additionally, she was given honorary citizen status in her father's home town of Korce, Albania.

She serves on the board of directors of the THARCE-Gulu organization (The Trauma Healing and Reflection Center in Gulu), an organization dedicated to helping the survivors of war (including former child soldiers) in Northern Uganda.

In December 2011, Dushku announced that she was switching to a vegan diet after watching the documentary Forks Over Knives.^[45]

Awards and nominations[link]

Dushku in 2004

She was twice nominated in 2004: for a Teen Choice Award at the Teen Choice Awards for Choice Breakout Star – Female for Tru Calling and for a Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films at the 30th Saturn Awards for Best Actress in a Television Series for Tru Calling.

Maxim magazine ranked Dushku 6th on the "Hot 100 Women of 2009" list.^[46]

Dushku was nominated in 2009 for a Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actress for her role of Echo.^[47]

The municipality of Tirana honored Eliza Dushku as an Honorary Citizen of Tirana, capital of Albania.^[48]

In October 2011, Dushku was named Ambassador for the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show Entertainment Matters program.^[49]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eliza Dushku

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Eliza Dushku

• Official website
• Eliza Dushku at the Internet Movie Database
• Eliza Dushku at the TCM Movie Database
• Eliza Dushku at AllRovi
• http://www.tharcegulu.org/

Alexander A. Arvizu
Arzivu, Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy in Thailand, Arvizu at Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training opening ceremony
United States Ambassador to Albania
Incumbent
Assumed office November 10, 2010
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	John L. Withers, II
Personal details
Alma mater	Georgetown University (BA)

Alexander A. Arvizu is a United States diplomat. He currently serves as the United States Ambassador to Albania.

Early life[link]

Arvizu was born on U.S. Army base in Japan and is a first-generation American. His father is originally from Dolores Hidalgo, Mexico and mother was from Kyoto, Japan. Arvizu grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where his family settled after return to the United States. In 1980, He graduated with a Bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in 1980. He has studied several Asian languages such as Japanese, Korean, Thai and Khmer.^[1]