tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29485672525923759302024-03-13T04:43:29.684-07:00nyxmystMyselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-48638714025379292322013-07-24T22:25:00.001-07:002013-07-24T22:25:10.168-07:00Test<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-14510809893488980802013-06-24T05:36:00.001-07:002013-06-24T05:36:29.796-07:00nyxmyst test post content<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
nyxmyst test post content</div>
Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-1334285125634287202013-05-23T23:24:00.001-07:002013-05-23T23:24:38.185-07:00Demand For SmithBucklin’s Financial Management Outsourcing Services on the Rise in 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As associations continue to cope with the realities of a recovering economy and tighter budgets, SmithBucklin has seen an uptick in the number of organizations inquiring about financial management and accounting outsourcing services. In addition, three standalone organizations have recently selected SmithBucklin to manage their financial management operations. <br /><br />“Financial health is central to the success and growth of an organization and its ability to serve its members,” said Brian Teague, senior director of Financial Management & Accounting Services. “Leading organizations recognize the benefits of outsourcing financial management operations to SmithBucklin, gaining access to our world-class team of financial specialists while deploying cost savings back into programs and member services.”<br /><br />The following organizations have recently selected SmithBucklin for financial management and accounting services:<br /><br />Local Search Association (LSA) is the largest trade organization of print, digital, mobile and social media that help local businesses get found and selected by ready-to-buy consumers. Association members include U.S. and international directory publishers, search engine marketers, online listings and review sites, digital advertising agencies and mobile search providers.<br /><br />National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) was founded in 1936 and is the national association representing the $42 billion U.S. vending and refreshment services industry. With more than 1,800 member companies – including many of the world’s most recognized brands – NAMA provides advocacy, education and research for its membership.<br /><br />The Association of Waldorf Schools North America (AWSNA) is an organization dedicated to providing leadership to Waldorf Schools in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. AWSNA serves 144 members schools and 15 teacher training institutes by facilitating resources, networks and research.<br /><br />“We made the decision to partner with SmithBucklin after a very deliberate and fact-based market assessment,” said Negley Norton, president of LSA. “The transition from our existing resources to SmithBucklin has been seamless and they have already found ways to add value to our business. I am very happy with our decision.”<br /><br />“We are thrilled to provide standalone organizations like LSA, NAMA and AWSNA with high-impact, specialized outsourcing services,” said Teague. “SmithBucklin offers cost-effective, result-oriented and innovative financial management solutions customized for each client organization we serve.”<br /><br />SmithBucklin also provides an array of other specialized outsourcing services, including event, trade show and convention management; advertising, exhibit and sponsorship sales; member retention, acquisition and engagement; online community building and social media; public relations; editorial and publishing; accreditation and certification program management and development; speaker programming; government relations/advocacy; product and service innovation; and a wide range of consulting services. </div>
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Source <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130523005220/en/Demand-SmithBucklin%E2%80%99s-Financial-Management-Outsourcing-Services-Rise">http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130523005220/en/Demand-SmithBucklin%E2%80%99s-Financial-Management-Outsourcing-Services-Rise</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-16827970316591861612013-05-13T21:53:00.002-07:002013-05-13T21:53:26.925-07:00Lone Ranger Syndrome<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So, I forgot to post this article a couple of weeks ago. On the other hand the day after Mother’s Day is perfect for a column that talks about the plight of the suburban male. Okay “plight” might not be the right word but I have a theory that men are lousy at maintaing friendships and are the poorer and lonelier for it.<br /><br />Theology on Tap<br /><br />Men are lonely creatures. At least suburban men who work, commute, and have families. No self-respecting man would articulate this publicly since it sounds either whiny or weak but it’s true. We used to pride ourselves on our close friendships be it the “glory days” of high school or the keg-stand fraternity days of yore.<br /><br />But that was before the big “R” of responsibility took over our lives. Work, marriage, children, pets, the yard. They’re all wonderful things — mostly. Over time, almost imperceptibly, however, they crowd out our male friendships and suddenly many of us find ourselves left with a bunch of acquaintances but little depth in our relationships.<br /><br />From the male perspective, women just seem to be better at nurturing adult friendships. They meet friends for coffee, they volunteer together, they have work friends, they join book groups (or as I like to call them, wine drinking parties). My own wife certainly checks all these boxes and she’s happier for it.<br /><br />Yes, this is a gross generalization but there does seem to be some truth here. A lot of men simply don’t have close friendships. Sure, we have buddies from our college days with whom we share fond memories, some printable, some not. But they generally live all over the country and, while there might be an annual golf outing or fishing trip, that’s hardly sustainable for the other 362 days of the year.<br /><br />We nod to people on the commuter train and we’re on a first name basis with Jeff from Accounting. But the guard’s always up, the protective emotional armor is always donned. We work hard not to show weakness or vulnerability which is why we wear power suits and deflect intimacy with a quip or by sticking to safe topics like sports or carburetors.<br /><br />But what about our humanity? Where do men go to talk about the things at the depths of our souls? Events like the bombing at the Boston Marathon bring our vulnerability to the fore and yet we have few outlets to process our emotions. So they get buried and fester until our hearts become fossilized or unhealthy behaviors emerge.<br /><br />At my parish on the South Shore of Boston, we’re trying to remedy this by introducing a men’s group. Now, this won’t be your typical church men’s group where a bunch of guys get together in the nether regions of the church to gorge themselves on pancakes, give each other hugs, and tell themselves that Jesus was really a man’s man — someone to shoot pool with or hang out in the bleachers at Fenway.<br /><br />We’re calling this venture Theology on Tap. We won’t meet at church but in the upstairs room at the Liberty Grille. We’ll grab a pint, listen to one another’s stories, and talk about a topic of interest. God’s just as present when a bunch of people gather in his name at a bar as at church on a Sunday morning (just don’t tell anyone).<br /><br />This won’t solve all the problems of the world but hopefully it will chip away at the hardness of our hearts that has built up through the years. Hopefully, over time, it will provide an outlet for friendship and some conversations that get below the surface of everyday life. I encourage all of my fellow men to be intentional about seeking friendships that move beyond safe topics. You may feel vulnerable at first but it sure beats the usual hunting and gathering.</div>
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Source <a href="http://www.helena-arkansas.com/article/20130513/BLOGS/305139957">http://www.helena-arkansas.com/article/20130513/BLOGS/305139957</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-49916082011486537412013-04-29T23:45:00.003-07:002013-04-29T23:45:43.716-07:00World of Golf New Malden appoints Westgate Communications<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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World of Golf New Malden has appointed Westgate Communications to undertake a PR launch and profile-raising programme following its recent re-build.<br /><br />World of Golf New Malden is a golf range in the South East which has 60 revamped and heated bays and innovative target greens. The PR programme will target a wide-range of trade, consumer and regional media, both on and offline.<br /><br />Helen Westgate, director and founder of Westgate Communications said: “World of Golf New Malden has given us a really great brief to raise its media profile and we’re really thrilled to be working on this brief which will also promote golf as one of the most popular sports in the UK.”</div>
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Source <a href="http://www.featuresexec.com/bulletin/news_article.php?id=19516#.UX9oQtiDHFw" target="_blank">http://www.featuresexec.com/bulletin/news_article.php?id=19516#.UX9oQtiDHFw</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-34313737047118965312013-04-03T21:19:00.001-07:002013-04-03T21:19:30.549-07:00Obama Launches BRAIN Initiative to Map the Human Brain<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Go, Big Science! On Tuesday the president unveiled his BRAIN initiative, aimed at unlocking the mysteries of the human brain. Eliza Shapiro reports on the project’s potential ethical implications. <br /><br />We may not be colonizing Mars or putting another man on the moon, but the Obama administration took its first step toward Big Science innovation on Tuesday when it unveiled the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative, along with a $100 million kick-start.<br /><br />The BRAIN initiative’s goal is just as lofty as space travel: understanding and mapping the human brain.<br /><br />“As humans, we can identify galaxies light years away,” Obama said at a press conference on Tuesday. “We can study particles smaller than an atom. But we still haven’t unlocked the mystery of the three pounds of matter that sits between our ears.”<br /><br />The scientific community has largely responded to the project with delight.<br /><br />“I think this is a fantastic, historic day,” said Eric Kandel, a Nobel Prize–winning neuropsychiatrist at Columbia University.<br /><br />Kandel and his peers were skeptical when they first heard about the project, worried that funding for small projects would be diverted to the federal program and that the project lacked structure, he said. But now he feels the project is in “excellent hands,” he added.<br /><br />He also emphasized the potential the BRAIN initiative has globally. “Unlike going to the moon, this is an international enterprise,” he said. “If you cure Parkinson’s in New York City, you cure it all over the world.”<br /><br />While the initiative has no specific set of goals or endpoint yet, a blueprint for the project was laid out in a recent article in Neuron, a neuroscience journal. It called for new technologies for 3-D brain imaging, novel ways of diagnosing and assessing neurological illnesses, particularly Alzheimer’s disease, and therapies for schizophrenia and autism.<br /><br />The Obama administration is partnering on the initiative with the National Institutes of Health, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Defense Department's research arm), and the National Science Foundation, as well as four private research institutes: the Allen Institute for Brain Science, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Kavli Foundation, and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.<br /><br />But why focus on the brain now, with immigration reform, gun control, and the sequester to worry about?<br /><br />Dr. Clay Reid, a senior investigator at the Allen Institute and a Harvard Medical School professor, says it’s simply an “unprecedented time for neuroscience.”<br /><br />“It’s all happening at once, and for a good reason,” he said. “There are new electrical, optical, and genetic techniques, and the world is being energized by these capabilities. The ability to look into a living brain and literally see the activity of 1,000 different neurons is a dream come true for people who have been in the business for a while.”<br /><br />While Obama’s announcement was met mostly with praise, some are questioning the ethical implications of new neuroimaging technology, despite Obama’s pledge that his bioethics team will supervise all research.<br /><br />“The Brain Activity Map Project [BRAIN’s unofficial name] wants to understand how our brains do what it is that they do,” Luke Dittrich wrote in a recent issue of Esquire, “but it just so happens that the technology the project will develop to gain this understanding could also be used to make our brains do whatever they want. Wirelessly. From a distance.”<br /><br />Dittrich argued that the human brain is too complicated to be studied thoroughly with preexisting technologies. He pointed to sections of the Neuron article that indicate “it will ultimately become feasible to deploy small wireless microcircuits, untethered in living brains, for direct monitoring of neuronal activity.”<br /><br />“The truth is, most major scientific breakthroughs,” Dittrich wrote, “like the human minds that give birth to them, have light and dark sides. And some of those dark sides are darker than others.”<br /><br />There are a wealth of potential ethical issues involved in how people access and alter their own brains, said Dr. Nita Farahany, a bioethicist at Duke University and a member of Obama’s Commission on Bioethical Issues.<br /><br />The commission will focus on the governmental and military uses of possible imaging technology, she said, and called for an “ongoing ethical component” to the BRAIN initiative, which may span decades.<br /><br />Comparisons with that other Big Science project—the Human Genome Project, launched in 1984—intended to clarify the scope of the BRAIN initiative are misleading, experts say.<br /><br />The cost of the Human Genome Project, $3.8 billion, far exceeded the initial round of funding for the BRAIN initiative. And Kandel said the goal of the Genome Project, to map all genes in human DNA, was much clearer than BRAIN.<br /><br />“We knew the endpoint,” Kandel said. “But here, we don’t know what the goal is. What does it mean to understand the human mind? When will we be satisfied? This is much, much more ambitious.”<br /><br />And that’s a good thing, he said.<br /><br />“This is a bold, creative, wonderful experiment.”</div>
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Source <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/03/obama-launches-brain-initiative-to-map-the-human-brain.html">http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/03/obama-launches-brain-initiative-to-map-the-human-brain.html</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-5204533239602647452013-03-18T02:43:00.000-07:002013-03-18T02:43:07.372-07:00Obama to nominate Tom Perez as next Labor Secretary<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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President Barack Obama on Monday will nominate Tom Perez, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, as his next labor secretary, a White House official said.<br /><br />Perez, a Harvard-educated civil rights attorney whose nomination was championed by Hispanic groups, would replace Hilda Solis, who resigned in January.<br /><br />Obama has been criticized for a lack of diversity in his Cabinet choices so far, particularly by Latinos, who are an influential voting bloc and have pushed for more representation in government.<br /><br />If confirmed by the Senate, Perez, the son of immigrants from the Dominican Republican, will take on a prominent role in the Cabinet as Obama seeks to raise the minimum wage and advance immigration reform, two key pledges he made at the beginning of his second term.<br />Advertise | AdChoices<br /><br />The White House described Perez as a pragmatist who led the Justice Department in settling three major cases on behalf of families targeted by unfair mortgage lending practices, and who stepped up enforcement of human trafficking laws.<br /><br />But Perez is expected to face tough scrutiny from Republicans. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has already voiced concerns.<br /><br />An internal government investigation released last week found the Justice Department office that enforces voting laws - part of the civil rights division overseen by Perez - has been beset by political infighting.<br /><br />The report, by the Justice Department's Inspector General, was critical of Perez for what it called an incomplete statement he gave in 2010 about a case of alleged voter intimidation.<br /><br />Perez began his career as a civil rights prosecutor at the Justice Department, and later was head of the civil rights office at the Department of Health and Human Services.<br /><br />He spent time working as a special counsel to the late Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy on civil rights issues.<br /><br />Perez served in local government in the Washington suburb of Montgomery County, Maryland. Later, he was labor secretary in Maryland's state government, where he worked on reforms for state lending and foreclosure rules.<br /><br />His wife, Ann Marie Staudenmaier, is a lawyer with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.</div>
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Source <a href="http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/17/17351389-obama-to-nominate-tom-perez-as-next-labor-secretary?lite">http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/17/17351389-obama-to-nominate-tom-perez-as-next-labor-secretary?lite</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-49450479166151074542013-02-12T21:03:00.001-08:002013-02-12T21:03:12.447-08:00Fort Hood heroine says victims 'betrayed' by Obama<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The heroine police sergeant who helped stop the Fort Hood killing spree and went on to sit with the First Lady at President Obama’s State of the Union speech three years ago has been laid off and says she and other victims of the shootings have been “betrayed” by the commander-in-chief.<br /><br />"Betrayed is a good word," former Sgt. Kimberly Munley told ABC News in an interview set to air tonight. "Not to the least little bit have the victims been taken care of. In fact, they've been neglected."<br /><br />Maj. Nidal Hasan is accused of the November 2009 spree, which left 13 dead and 32 shot at the military base in Texas. Munley was shot three times as she and her partner confronted Hasan. Prosecutors say Hasan was a disgruntled Army psychiatrist and Muslim who had become radicalized through communications with Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki.<br /><br />Hasan is awaiting a military trial on murder charges.<br /><br />Munley said she has been laid off from her position on Fort Hood’s civilian police force.<br /><br />The White House and Pentagon have refused to characterize the attack as terrorism, instead terming it “workplace violence.” The victims have been denied Purple Hearts and are suing the military because they claim the "workplace violence" designation gives them diminished access to medical care and financial benefits normally available to those whose wounds are designated as "combat related."<br /><br />An Army spokesman told ABC none of the military victims have been neglected and that it has no oversight of Veterans Administration policies.<br /><br />Munley told the network the White House used her for political advantage by having her sit next to Michelle Obama during the president's 2010 State of the Union address.</div>
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Source <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/12/fort-hood-heroine-says-victims-betrayed-by-obama/">http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/12/fort-hood-heroine-says-victims-betrayed-by-obama/</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-80966464088413087392013-02-04T22:48:00.003-08:002013-02-04T22:48:56.452-08:00Obama’s thirst for taxes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In his Super Bowl day interview on CBS, President Obama said “I don’t think the issue right now is raising rates. There is no doubt we need additional revenue, coupled with smart spending reductions in order to bring down our deficit. And we can do it in a gradual way so that it doesn’t have a huge impact.” Let us unpack that.<br /><br />To begin with, it is good to know that he is done raising rates, pleasant confirmation that the fiscal deal did in fact limit the rate hikes under his tenure to the narrowest sliver possible. (Well, that is after House Republicans botched things up by voting no on Plan B, which would have put the cutoff at $1 million.)<br /><br />Contra Obama, “There is no doubt” that we don’t need more revenue but that Obama wants more revenue precisely so he can minimize spending cuts. That way he won’t make a “huge impact” on the size of government. This is a beautifully clear explanation as to why Republicans need to hold the line on taxes. If they don’t, Obama will keep on spending with abandon.<br /><br />Obama’s notion that we can raise revenue by closing off deductions, credits and exemptions is laughable. It was the White House that stuffed a bunch of tax “expenditures” into the fiscal cliff deal.<br /><br />Obama wants to get revenue and close what he calls loopholes. (Mitt Romney and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) have been saying for years there is money in those loopholes!) Republicans want tax reform which lowers rates … and wouldn’t you know, takes away deductions, credits and exemptions. Republican rightly say such a tax reform, as it did in 1986, will spur growth and economic efficiency. So Mr. President, why not support tax reform? Hmmm…<br /><br />The real reason the obvious deal (lower rates, broader base, more revenue) is unacceptable to Obama is that he is enthralled with the symbolism of imposing high rates on the rich. Tell him they will pay even more under a Simpson-Bowles type tax reform and he’ll scoff. His liberal base wants that big fat marginal rate as a symbol of their class warfare victory.<br /><br />House Republicans should do two things. First, pass a bill removing Obama’s fiscal cliff tax giveaways. Yes, it would technically be a tax hike but the symbolism is priceless and Republicans should be foursquare against corporate welfare and cronyism. Second, as part of its budget, the House Republicans should put forth in some detail a tax reform plan that flattens rates and does away with exemptions, credits and deductions for the rich. Put that out with a revenue number it will generate (coming from growth) and a breakdown showing how much of the tax burden will be borne by the “rich,” which is now thanks to Obama defined as those making $450,000 and above. And that is it. That is the revenue side. Period. Then House Republicans can turn to entitlement reform.<br /><br />Obama doesn’t like it? Well, let the Senate pass its own version, send it to conference and then start appropriating. Obama doesn’t get to veto budgets, after all. And if he won’t sign off on real tax reform or the Senate can’t get its act together? I guess we could operate on continuing resolutions until we get a president who will take yes for an answer.</div>
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Source <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2013/02/04/obamas-thirst-for-taxes/">http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2013/02/04/obamas-thirst-for-taxes/</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-29156005834008256852013-01-27T22:19:00.001-08:002013-01-27T22:19:32.609-08:00Ryan Says Obama Ignores Fiscal Woes to Fight Republicans<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, the former vice-presidential candidate, said on Sunday that President Obama was ignoring the nation’s problems and was choosing instead to focus on the “political conquest” of the Republican Party.<br /><br />“When you saw his speech, say, at the inauguration, it leads us to conclude that he’s not looking to moderate, that he’s not looking to move to the middle,” Mr. Ryan said in an interview on the NBC News program “Meet the Press.” “He’s looking to go farther to the left, and he wants to fight us every step of the way politically.”<br /><br />In his first major interview since the November election, Mr. Ryan also warned that more partisan gridlock was in store as lawmakers prepared to renew the debate over balancing the budget and raising the country’s debt limit. His remarks echoed those of other Republican leaders, including Speaker John A. Boehner, who said last week that Mr. Obama was seeking to “annihilate” the Republican Party.<br /><br />Republicans were put on the defensive after Mr. Obama’s inauguration speech, in which he laid out a starkly liberal vision for his second term, declaring his support for same-sex marriage, gun restrictions and changes in immigration laws.<br /><br />With his stature increased within the party, Mr. Ryan, who is the chairman of the House Budget Committee, will increasingly be expected to set the tone for Republicans, particularly on fiscal issues.<br /><br />In a rebuke to the president on Sunday, Mr. Ryan said that if Hillary Rodham Clinton had beaten Mr. Obama in the Democratic primaries in 2008 and had gone on to win the presidency, “we would have fixed this fiscal mess by now.”<br /><br />“I don’t think that the president thinks that we actually have a fiscal crisis,” he said. “He’s been reportedly saying to our leaders that we don’t have a spending problem, we have a health care problem. That just leads me to conclude that he actually thinks we just need more government-run health care.”<br /><br />But Mr. Ryan acknowledged that the Republican Party needed to reach out to more Americans, and he signaled a willingness to compromise on some issues.<br /><br />“We obviously have to expand our appeal,” he said. “We have to show how our ideas are better at fighting poverty, how our ideas are better at solving health care, how our ideas are better at solving the problems that arise in people’s daily lives.”<br /><br />On immigration, he said he was hopeful that legislation could be passed this year, if Mr. Obama did not “play politics.” </div>
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Source <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/us/politics/ryan-says-obama-ignores-fiscal-woes-to-fight-gop.html?_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/us/politics/ryan-says-obama-ignores-fiscal-woes-to-fight-gop.html?_r=0</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-4764768467219789372013-01-08T02:29:00.000-08:002013-01-08T02:29:30.767-08:00Obama expected to nominate chief of staff Lew for Treasury secretary<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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White House chief of staff Jack Lew is expected to be nominated to replace Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, likely by the end of this week, two sources close to the process told Fox News.<br /><br />"It is all but a done deal," one of the sources said, adding that it would take something "extraordinary" to pop up in the next couple of days to derail that decision.<br /><br />Geithner has said for well over a year that he would like to leave the administration and spend more time with his family after a grueling time playing key roles throughout the economic and fiscal unease of recent years. His tenure at the Treasury followed previous service as head of the New York branch of the Federal Reserve.<br /><br />Lew has become an Obama favorite through several top posts because of his sharp knowledge of the federal budget and no-drama style.<br /><br />Picking Lew is a sign the president knows his next Treasury secretary will be smack in the middle of a series of budget battles, starting with the debt ceiling fight that will be brewing during the expected confirmation process.<br /><br />A red flag is that during the last debt ceiling fight, in the summer of 2011, Lew served as White House budget director and clashed repeatedly with Republicans, who may want to get a pound of flesh in confirmation hearings.<br /><br />In fact, advisers to the president say Lew deliberately kept a low profile during the recent fiscal cliff talks so as not to enflame those tensions on the eve of the expected announcement of his nomination for Treasury.</div>
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Source <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/07/obama-expected-to-nominate-chief-staff-lew-for-treasury-secretary/" target="_blank">http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/07/obama-expected-to-nominate-chief-staff-lew-for-treasury-secretary/ </a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-31229920447176996032013-01-08T01:58:00.000-08:002013-01-08T01:58:03.973-08:00Afghan peace efforts show flickers of life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will discuss matters of war, including future U.S. troop levels and Afghanistan's army, when they meet on Friday, but matters of peace may be the most delicate item on their long agenda.<br /><br />After nearly 10 months in limbo, tentative reconciliation efforts involving Taliban insurgents, the Karzai government and other major Afghan factions have shown new signs of life, resurrecting tantalizing hopes for a negotiated end to decades of war.<br /><br />Pakistan, which U.S. and Afghan officials have long accused of backing the insurgents and meddling in Afghanistan, has recently signaled an apparent policy shift toward promoting its neighbor's stability as most U.S. combat troops prepare to depart, top Pakistani and Afghan officials said.<br /><br />In another potentially significant development, Taliban representatives met outside Paris last month with members of the Afghan High Peace Council - although not directly with members of the Karzai government, which they have long shunned.<br /><br />U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the developments are promising - but that major challenges remain to opening negotiations, let alone reaching an agreement on the war-ravaged country's political future.<br /><br />Hopes for Afghan peace talks have been raised before, only to be dashed. Last March, the Taliban suspended months of quiet discussions with Washington aimed at getting the insurgents and the Karzai government to the peace table.<br /><br />Obama is expected to press the Afghan president to bless the formal opening of a Taliban political office in the Gulf state of Qatar as a way to jump-start inter-Afghan talks.<br /><br />Karzai has been lukewarm to the idea, apparently fearing his government would be sidelined in any negotiations.<br /><br />TRIP AT A TURNING POINT<br /><br />Karzai's meeting with Obama, at the end of a three-day visit to Washington, is shaping up to be one of the most critical encounters between the two leaders, as the White House weighs how rapidly to remove most of the roughly 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan and how large a residual force to leave after 2014.<br /><br />Obama, about to begin his second term in office, appears determined to wrap up U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan. On Monday, he announced as his nominee for Pentagon chief former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, who appears likely to favor a sizeable U.S. troop drawdown.<br /><br />Other issues on the agenda have plenty of potential for causing friction: the future size and focus of the Afghan military; a festering dispute over control of the country's largest detention center; and the future of international aid after 2014.<br /><br />Karzai's trip "is one of the most important ones because the discussions we are going to have with our counterparts will define the relations between (the) United States and Afghanistan," Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmay Rassoul told the lower house of parliament this month.<br /><br />No final announcement on post-2014 U.S. troop levels is expected during Karzai's visit, and the issue is further complicated by Washington's insistence on legal immunity for American troops that remain.<br /><br />General John Allen, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, recommended keeping between roughly 6,000 and 15,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014, but the White House is considering possibly leaving as few as 3,000 troops.<br /><br />A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House had asked for options to be developed for keeping between 3,000 and 9,000 troops in the country.<br /><br />PAST PEACE HOPES DASHED<br /><br />Last year, the Obama administration hoped to kick-start peace talks with a deal that would have seen Washington transfer five Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay prison. In return, the Taliban would renounce international terrorism and state a willingness to enter talks with Karzai's representatives.<br /><br />That deal never came off, and the question now is whether it, or an alternative peace process, can get under way as the U.S. military presence rapidly winds down.<br /><br />Looking at developments in the last few months, "you could see that there are things happening," said one U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak for the record.<br /><br />At the end of 2012, Pakistan released four Afghan Taliban prisoners who were close to the movement's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. It appeared to be a step toward meeting Afghanistan's long-standing insistence that Islamabad free those who could help promote reconciliation. A senior Afghan official welcomed the release.<br /><br />A member of Pakistan's parliament closely involved in Afghan policy-making said there are signs of a shift in the thinking of Pakistan's powerful military. Some in the military, which has long regarded Afghanistan as a battleground in its existential conflict with rival India, are now saying that the graver threat comes from Pakistan's own militants.<br /><br />"Yes, there is skepticism. The hawks are there. But the fact is that previously there were absolutely no voices in the army with this kind of positive thinking," the parliamentarian said.<br /><br />"Pakistan has also realized that there won't be a complete withdrawal of the U.S. from Afghanistan," the lawmaker said. "The security establishment realizes it has to compromise somewhere. Hence the Taliban releases. ... Hence the statements from even the most skeptical Afghan officials that there is a change in Pakistani thinking."<br /><br />Ghairat Baheer, who represented the Hezb-e-Islami faction at last month's peace talks in the Paris suburb of Chantilly, rejected a continued U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, but praised the Pakistan prisoner release as a sign of its good intentions.<br /><br />WAITING FOR THE TALIBAN<br /><br />After more than a year of frustration, Obama administration officials are skeptical about luring the Taliban to peace talks, citing what appears to be a deep fissure within the movement between moderates who favor entering the political process and hard-liners committed to ousting both NATO troops and Karzai.<br /><br />The Taliban's lead negotiator, Tayeb Agha, whom the Obama administration regards as a reliable interlocutor, offered to resign last month in apparent frustration, the Daily Beast website reported.<br /><br />Taliban envoys have yet to meet officially with Karzai's government, and the insurgents demand a rewriting of the Afghan constitution.<br /><br />"I don't think anyone knows where (reconciliation) stands. And I mean that because there are a lot of reconciliation talks and a lot of games that are being played in a lot of places," said Fred Kagan, a military analyst at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.<br /><br />"The likelihood of getting an acceptable deal that actually secures our interests is vanishingly small," he said. "But the probability that you could get the deal and have it implemented in time to make this drawdown timeline make sense is nonsense."</div>
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Source <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/08/us-usa-afghanistan-peace-talks-idUSBRE90706A20130108">www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/08/us-usa-afghanistan-peace-talks-idUSBRE90706A20130108</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-11632743527122742572013-01-02T01:42:00.003-08:002013-01-02T01:42:55.172-08:00Obama might echo Pelosi's call for House vote on Senate bill<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Congressional Democrats are working closely with the White House to
corner House Republicans into an up-or-down vote on the Senate-passed
"fiscal cliff" bill, according to a Democratic source.</div>
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If House Republicans seek to amend the Senate measure, Democrats on
Capitol Hill would like to see President Obama call for a roll call vote
on the bill <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/275069-senate-approves-fiscal-cliff-deal"><b>that passed 89-8</b></a>. Obama has endorsed that measure.</div>
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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/275103-pelosi-dems-call-for-up-or-down-vote-to-steer-clear-of-fiscal-cliff"><b>demanded such a House vote</b></a> on Tuesday, but it remains unclear if GOP leaders will allow it.</div>
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Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) told The Hill that few if any House Republicans would back the Senate legislation.</div>
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House Republicans are huddling Tuesday evening to discuss their next step on the fiscal cliff.
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Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has repeatedly called on Obama to send a
fiscal cliff plan to Congress that can pass the House and the Senate.</div>
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Source <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/275107-obama-might-echo-pelosis-call-for-vote-on-senate-bill" target="_blank">http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/275107-obama-might-echo-pelosis-call-for-vote-on-senate-bill </a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-61027430880727739152012-12-24T00:15:00.001-08:002012-12-24T00:15:54.544-08:00Obama's Christmas Vacation in Hawaii: Day 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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How President Barack Obama spent the second day of his Christmas vacation on Sunday in Hawaii:</div>
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— INOUYE FUNERAL: Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attended a
memorial service for U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye at the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, sitting in the front row with Inouye's widow.</div>
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— PAYING RESPECTS: After the service, Obama briefly visited the grave of his grandfather, World War II veteran Stanley Dunham.</div>
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— HIKING: The first family went on a hike to Maunawili Falls, a popular,
easy trail in Kailua near the Obamas' vacation home that leads to a
waterfall and swimming hole.</div>
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Source <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/obamas-christmas-vacation-hawaii-day-18052953#.UNgN-_IrdqQ" target="_blank">http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/obamas-christmas-vacation-hawaii-day-18052953#.UNgN-_IrdqQ </a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-45367368046875491882012-12-17T01:34:00.001-08:002012-12-17T01:34:05.851-08:00How Obama seized the narrative<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Barack Obama may finally be defining himself as president. The
question is: What took him so long to seize the narrative and find his
character as “leader.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Obama now has strong public support in the fiscal crisis faceoff.
Even as the House Republicans scramble to find a way into the argument,
the president has a tight grip on the storyline.</div>
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<br /></div>
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This is a big change from the fierce healthcare reform fight and the
2011 debt limit crisis. The chattering class then continually asserted
that Obama had “lost control of the narrative.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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But now the president has a strong narrative arc: He is the
protagonist who will stand up for what he believes in, battling the
odds.</div>
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A dramatic character holds our attention based on what he wants—the
“spine of a character” in a play is defined by a clear through-line of
intention. For much of Obama’s first term, the American public — his
audience — felt that he had lost his way.</div>
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The problem was that Obama, as president, had cast himself as
consensus seeker or conciliator. This role took him out of the action of
his own narrative.</div>
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Other characters were able to rush in to fill the narrative void. The
contentious cast of Congress became the new focus of national
attention. Obama, by deliberately sitting out the public debate on
healthcare and letting Congress put together his signature legislation,
lost sight of his goal.</div>
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This was surprising for many voters, who had been captured by the
compelling drama of Obama’s 2008 campaign. As “candidate,” Obama
understood his part was all about aspiration. His goal was clear — and
there are built-in stations of conflict.</div>
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Obama’s personal story was so powerful, in fact, that he was able to
vanquish a master of the narrative, Hilary Clinton. He skillfully
defined himself as the brave, young combatant challenging a ruthless
political machine.</div>
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Brash, bold and thrilling — Obama was the protagonist for a new
American electorate. He reflected the character of a nation we wanted to
be — diverse, young, hip and hopeful. Audacious.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But once the campaign’s dramatic arc was fulfilled, and Obama assumed
the presidency, he did not have a new narrative to replace it.</div>
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Obama deliberately refused to put conflict on the table during the
health care debate. He did not want to be defined as a fighter. The
Republicans knew this—and maintained a one-sided battle, casting
themselves as opponents willing to fight for their goals.</div>
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Obama lost more ground during the debt ceiling crisis. Rather than
confront the opposition and the possibility of failure, conflict-weary
Obama settled for a tired solution: He would agree to discuss it later.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In both these scenarios, it didn’t seem as if the dramatic stakes
were high enough for Obama to take a risk. By playing the
conciliator-in-chief, Obama created a role for himself that was
fundamentally undramatic. He was no longer the star of his own
narrative.</div>
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As his re-election neared, Obama continued to let the GOP define his
leadership—even his back story. Birthers created an alternative-universe
origin story for Obama, even accusing him of being part of a <em>Manchurian Candidate</em>-like socialist conspiracy. Obama had created the void that made room for this.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Meanwhile, a slew of Republican candidates were defining themselves.
The GOP ultimately chose a nominee whose personal narrative was nimble
enough to fit any prototype. Mitt Romney’s Etch-a-Sketch leadership
qualities could fit any focus group.</div>
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Against this, Obama’s re-election campaign started without any new
narrative. He could no longer use his 2008 aspirational language of
“hope.” At best—he could attack Romney’s narrative.</div>
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A powerful surrogate finally gave Obama’s campaign its first real
boost. Bill Clinton’s “comeback kid” narrative — crafted so carefully by
his Hollywood pals — had served him through two campaigns, and also
through the crises of his presidency. The narrative of “resiliency” is
sometimes comic — but certainly always joyous, and fun to watch.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In Clinton’s final comeback, the former president ignited the
Democratic National Convention in North Carolina. He presented a
compelling new narrative line for Obama, focusing on his unfinished
goals.</div>
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The turning point was in the first debate. The disengaged president
conveyed the impression that he would rather be dining with his wife on
their anniversary than addressing the electorate. The fatal question was
raised: “Does he really want to be here?”</div>
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<br /></div>
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The failure of that first debate seemed to jar Obama into re-assuming
a narrative he was comfortable with — as “candidate.” The dramatic
sense of conflict was back, the race was on and the audience (the
American public) energized.</div>
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<br /></div>
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He was again aspiring to something. Even those monitoring the
statistics on Nate Silver’s 538.com blog felt the nerve-shaking tension
of Obama as underdog. This new dramatic tension was so palpable that
many Republicans seemed genuinely shocked when they didn’t win.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Obama won the narrative because he fought for the presidency. It now
looks as if he is willing to extend that clarity of intention into his
second term.</div>
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<br /></div>
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With the fiscal cliff looming,<em> </em>Obama’s new narrative
features taking on the Republicans and fighting over tax increases for
the top 2 percent. The president has embraced the drama of the ticking
clock, which may make a showdown over the financial crisis as inevitable
as the gunfight in <em>High Noon</em>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Obama has found a way to extend his narrative into a template for
leadership. He is again an audacious protagonist – and the focus of all
our attention.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Source <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2012/12/17/how-obama-seized-the-narrative/" target="_blank">http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2012/12/17/how-obama-seized-the-narrative/ </a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-55073558326454607592012-12-03T01:27:00.000-08:002012-12-03T01:27:12.164-08:00Obama laying groundwork for climate-change treaty<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As leaders in Washington obsess about the fiscal cliff, President
Barack Obama is putting in place the building blocks for a climate
treaty requiring the first fossil-fuel emissions cuts from both the U.S.
and China.</div>
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State Department envoy Todd Stern is in Doha, Qatar,
this week working to clear the path for an international agreement by
2015. Though Obama failed to deliver on his promise to start a
cap-and-trade program in his first term, he is working on policies that
may help cut greenhouse gases 17% in 2020 in the U.S., historically the
world's biggest polluter.</div>
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Obama has moved forward with
greenhouse-gas rules for vehicles and new power plants, appliance
standards and investment in low-emitting energy sources. He also has
called for 80% of U.S. electricity to come from clean energy sources,
including nuclear and natural gas, by 2035.</div>
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<br /></div>
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"The president is
laying the foundations for real action on climate change," Jake Schmidt,
who follows international climate policy for the Washington-based
Natural Resources Defense Council, said in an interview in Doha.
"Whether or not he decides to jump feet first into the international
arena, we'll see."</div>
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Envoys from more than 190 nations are entering
their second week of talks today at the United Nations conference
working toward a global warming treaty. Their ambition is to agree to a
pact in 2015 that would take force in 2020. It would supersede limits on
emissions for industrial nations under the Kyoto Protocol, which the
U.S. never ratified.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Obama's push is being pursued without fanfare
as the administration and Congress grapple to avert a budget crisis and
$607 billion in automatic spending cuts. Unlike 2009, when Obama failed
to prevent the collapse of climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, the
U.S. can point to more concrete actions it's taking to fight global
warming.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Obama has more ammunition at hand. The Environmental
Protection Agency is required under the Clean Air Act to move ahead with
regulations on emissions from existing power plants. Those are
responsible for about a third of U.S. emissions, the largest chunk.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Measures
such as those, along with continued low natural gas prices and state
actions, can cut emissions 16.3% by 2020, research firm Resources for
the Future estimates. Emissions already are down 8.8% from 2005 levels,
according to Jonathan Pershing, a State Department negotiator in Doha.</div>
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<br /></div>
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"The
U.S. is in a much stronger position going into the Doha talks despite
failure of Congress to pass comprehensive climate legislation," said
Trevor Houser, a former U.S. climate negotiator who served during the
Copenhagen meeting. "For countries like China that were able to hide
behind a perception of U.S. inaction, the fact that U.S. emissions are
falling helps increase pressure. It takes away the excuse that action is
stalled because of the U.S."</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A summer of extreme weather also is
supporting the U.S. delegation in the talks by raising public awareness
and concern about the risks of climate change, Pershing said last week
in Doha. So far this year, superstorm Sandy devastated the East Coast
while wildfires raged in the west and a record drought wrecked crops in
the Midwest.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"The combination of those events is certainly
changing the minds of Americans and making clear to people at home the
consequences of the increased growth in emissions," he said at a Nov. 26
news conference in Doha.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The portion of Americans who say climate
change will affect them a "great deal" or by a "moderate" amount rose
by 13 percentage points to 42% from March to September, according to a
poll by Yale University and George Mason University.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Source <a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20121203/NEWS07/312030143/Obama-laying-groundwork-for-climate-change-treaty" target="_blank">http://www.freep.com/article/20121203/NEWS07/312030143/Obama-laying-groundwork-for-climate-change-treaty </a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-80106476245783712662012-11-19T02:29:00.003-08:002012-11-19T02:29:44.553-08:00Obama opens landmark visit to Myanmar<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Launching a landmark visit to long shunned Myanmar, President Barack
Obama said he comes to "extend the hand of friendship" to a nation
moving from persecution to peace. But the praise and personal attention
come with an admonition from Obama: The work of ensuring and protecting
freedoms has just begun.
</div>
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Obama touched down Monday morning, becoming the first U.S. president
to visit this Asian nation, which is also known as Burma. He will meet
with the nation’s prime minister and democracy advocates, and close with
a speech at the University of Yangon, where he will praise the
country’s progress toward democracy but urge further reforms.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"Instead of being repressed, the right of people to assemble together
must now be fully respected," the president said in speech excerpts
released by the White House. "Instead of being stifled, the veil of
media censorship must continue to be lifted. As you take these steps,
you can draw on your progress."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obama’s visit was to last just six hours, but it carries significant
symbolism, reflecting a remarkable turnaround in the countries’
relationship.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Hundreds of children and young people dressed in white shirts and
green sarongs, many of them wearing traditional cheek makeup smears and
holding small U.S. flags, lined both sides of the road for more than
half a mile heading out of the airport.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obama will meet separately in Myanmar with Prime Minister Thein Sein,
who has orchestrated much of his country’s recent reforms. The
president will also meet with longtime Myanmar democracy activist Aung
San Suu Kyi in the home where she spent years under house arrest.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obama has rewarded Myanmar’s rapid adoption of democratic reforms by
lifting some economic penalties. The president has appointed a permanent
ambassador to the country, and pledged greater investment if Myanmar
continues to progress following a half-century of military rule.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In his speech, Obama recalls a promise he made upon taking office —
that the United States would extend a hand if those nations that ruled
in fear unclenched their fists.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"Today, I have come to keep my promise, and extend the hand of
friendship," he said. "The flickers of progress that we have seen must
not be extinguished. They must become a shining North Star for all this
nation’s people."</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Some human rights groups say Myanmar’s government, which continues to
hold hundreds of political prisoners and is struggling to contain
ethnic violence, hasn’t done enough to earn a personal visit from Obama.
The president said from Thailand on Sunday that his visit is not an
endorsement of the government in Myanmar, but an acknowledgment that
dramatic progress is underway and it deserves a global spotlight.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The president’s Asia tour also marks his formal return to the world
stage after months mired in a bruising re-election campaign. For his
first postelection trip, he tellingly settled on Asia, a region he has
deemed the region as crucial to U.S. prosperity and security.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Aides say Asia will factor heavily in Obama’s second term as the U.S.
seeks to expand its influence in an attempt to counter China.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
China’s rise is also at play in Myanmar, which long has aligned
itself with Beijing. But some in Myanmar fear that China is taking
advantage of its wealth of natural resources, so the country is looking
for other partners to help build its nascent economy.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Even as Obama turned his sights on Asia, widening violence in the Middle East competed for his attention.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obama told reporters Sunday that <a href="http://news.bostonherald.com/search/?topic=Israel&searchSite=pubdate"><b>Israel</b></a>
had the right to defend itself against missile attacks from Gaza. But
he urged Israel not to launch a ground assault in Gaza, saying it would
put Israeli soldiers, as well as Palestinian citizens, at greater risk
and hamper an already vexing peace process.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Source <a href="http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/20121118obama_myanmar_trip_not_an_endorsement_of_govt/" target="_blank">http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/20121118obama_myanmar_trip_not_an_endorsement_of_govt/ </a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; left: -1001px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; top: -1000px;">
<span><br /><br />From The Detroit News: <a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121119/NATION/211190332#ixzz2Cf9n3mZ8" style="color: #003399;">http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121119/NATION/211190332#ixzz2Cf9n3mZ8</a></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; left: -1001px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; top: -1000px;">
The
U.S. and Britain on Sunday warned about the risks of Israel expanding
its air assault on the Gaza Strip into a ground war, while vigorously
defending the Jewish state's right to protect itself against rocket
attacks.<br />
The remarks by President Barack Obama and Britain Foreign
Secretary William Hague were part of a diplomatic balancing act by the
West as it desperately seeks an end to the escalating violence without
alienating its closest ally in the region.<br />
"Israel has every right
to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory,"
Obama said at a news conference in Bangkok at the start of a
three-nation visit to Asia.<br />
"If that can be accomplished without a
ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable," Obama
said. "It's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also
preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're
much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded."<br />
The
president spoke shortly before an Israeli airstrike leveled a home in a
residential neighborhood of Gaza City on Sunday. Among the 11 dead were
four small children and five women, including an 81-year-old,
Palestinian medical officials said. The attack was the single deadliest
incident of the five-day-old Israeli operation.<br />
A similar scene
unfolded elsewhere in the city early today, when an airstrike leveled
two houses belonging to a single family, killing two children and two
adults and injuring 42 people, said Gaza heath official Ashraf al-Kidra.<br />
Rescue workers were frantically searching for 12 to 15 members of the Azzam family under the rubble.<br />
In
all, 81 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have been killed and 720
have been wounded. Three Israeli civilians have died from Palestinian
rocket fire, and dozens have been wounded..<br />
The Israeli military
said the target of Sunday's attack was a top rocket mastermind of the
Islamic Jihad militant group. The claim could not be verified, and the
attack raised speculation that Israel could face increased international
pressure if the civilian death toll continued to rise.<br />
Hague said
Hamas, Gaza's militant ruler, "bears principal responsibility" for
initiating the violence and must stop all rocket attacks on Israel. But
Hague also made clear the diplomatic risks of an Israeli escalation.<br />
"A
ground invasion is much more difficult for the international community
to sympathize with or support, including the United Kingdom," he said.<br />
Israeli
officials say the airstrikes are aimed at ending months of rocket fire
out of the Hamas-ruled territory. Israel began the offensive with an
airstrike that killed Hamas' military chief, and since then has targeted
suspected rocket launchers and storage sites.<br />
The Mideast ally is
now at a crossroads: launch a ground invasion or pursue Egyptian-led
truce efforts. But with Israel and Hamas far apart on any terms of
cease-fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared at the
start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, "The Israeli military is prepared
to significantly expand the operation."<br />
The crisis threatened to
overshadow Obama's trip to Asia, which includes stops in Myanmar and
Cambodia as part of a broader effort to expand the U.S. economic and
military presence in a region long dominated by China.<br />
So far, the U.S. has thrown its weight behind Israel, and Obama has called on Egypt and Turkey to intervene on Israel's behalf.<br />
Obama
said he has told Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, and Turkey's prime
minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that "those who champion the cause of
the Palestinians should recognize that if we see a further escalation of
the situation in Gaza, then the likelihood of us getting back on any
kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be
pushed off way into the future."<br />
Obama also pointed to the next 48 hours "to see what kind of progress we can make."<br />
Members
of the U.S. Congress, which overwhelmingly supports Israel, criticized
Egypt and Turkey for not doing enough to intervene. They said all eyes
were on Morsi.<br />
On ABC's "This Week," Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of
the Armed Services Committee, called Egypt's response to the crisis
"pretty weak" so far. "I think that they're going to have to take some
very serious steps diplomatically to make it clear to Hamas that they're
going to lose support in the Arab world if they continue these rocket
attacks on Israel," said Levin, D-Detroit.<br />
<span><br /><br />From The Detroit News: <a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121119/NATION/211190332#ixzz2Cf9n3mZ8" style="color: #003399;">http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121119/NATION/211190332#ixzz2Cf9n3mZ8</a></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; left: -1001px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; top: -1000px;">
The
U.S. and Britain on Sunday warned about the risks of Israel expanding
its air assault on the Gaza Strip into a ground war, while vigorously
defending the Jewish state's right to protect itself against rocket
attacks.<br />
The remarks by President Barack Obama and Britain Foreign
Secretary William Hague were part of a diplomatic balancing act by the
West as it desperately seeks an end to the escalating violence without
alienating its closest ally in the region.<br />
"Israel has every right
to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory,"
Obama said at a news conference in Bangkok at the start of a
three-nation visit to Asia.<br />
"If that can be accomplished without a
ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable," Obama
said. "It's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also
preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're
much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded."<br />
The
president spoke shortly before an Israeli airstrike leveled a home in a
residential neighborhood of Gaza City on Sunday. Among the 11 dead were
four small children and five women, including an 81-year-old,
Palestinian medical officials said. The attack was the single deadliest
incident of the five-day-old Israeli operation.<br />
A similar scene
unfolded elsewhere in the city early today, when an airstrike leveled
two houses belonging to a single family, killing two children and two
adults and injuring 42 people, said Gaza heath official Ashraf al-Kidra.<br />
Rescue workers were frantically searching for 12 to 15 members of the Azzam family under the rubble.<br />
In
all, 81 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have been killed and 720
have been wounded. Three Israeli civilians have died from Palestinian
rocket fire, and dozens have been wounded..<br />
The Israeli military
said the target of Sunday's attack was a top rocket mastermind of the
Islamic Jihad militant group. The claim could not be verified, and the
attack raised speculation that Israel could face increased international
pressure if the civilian death toll continued to rise.<br />
Hague said
Hamas, Gaza's militant ruler, "bears principal responsibility" for
initiating the violence and must stop all rocket attacks on Israel. But
Hague also made clear the diplomatic risks of an Israeli escalation.<br />
"A
ground invasion is much more difficult for the international community
to sympathize with or support, including the United Kingdom," he said.<br />
Israeli
officials say the airstrikes are aimed at ending months of rocket fire
out of the Hamas-ruled territory. Israel began the offensive with an
airstrike that killed Hamas' military chief, and since then has targeted
suspected rocket launchers and storage sites.<br />
The Mideast ally is
now at a crossroads: launch a ground invasion or pursue Egyptian-led
truce efforts. But with Israel and Hamas far apart on any terms of
cease-fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared at the
start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, "The Israeli military is prepared
to significantly expand the operation."<br />
The crisis threatened to
overshadow Obama's trip to Asia, which includes stops in Myanmar and
Cambodia as part of a broader effort to expand the U.S. economic and
military presence in a region long dominated by China.<br />
So far, the U.S. has thrown its weight behind Israel, and Obama has called on Egypt and Turkey to intervene on Israel's behalf.<br />
Obama
said he has told Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, and Turkey's prime
minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that "those who champion the cause of
the Palestinians should recognize that if we see a further escalation of
the situation in Gaza, then the likelihood of us getting back on any
kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be
pushed off way into the future."<br />
Obama also pointed to the next 48 hours "to see what kind of progress we can make."<br />
Members
of the U.S. Congress, which overwhelmingly supports Israel, criticized
Egypt and Turkey for not doing enough to intervene. They said all eyes
were on Morsi.<br />
On ABC's "This Week," Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of
the Armed Services Committee, called Egypt's response to the crisis
"pretty weak" so far. "I think that they're going to have to take some
very serious steps diplomatically to make it clear to Hamas that they're
going to lose support in the Arab world if they continue these rocket
attacks on Israel," said Levin, D-Detroit.<br />
<span><br /><br />From The Detroit News: <a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121119/NATION/211190332#ixzz2Cf9n3mZ8" style="color: #003399;">http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121119/NATION/211190332#ixzz2Cf9n3mZ8</a></span></div>
</div>
Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-50089355542320945092012-11-06T23:21:00.000-08:002012-11-06T23:21:00.125-08:00Recommended tips for men to remain healthy as they get older<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Times New Roman, Times, Serif; font-size: x-small;">With age comes wisdom. Unfortunately, it also comes with an increased threat of developing health problems. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Times New Roman, Times, Serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />Prostate
cancer and other diseases affect a disproportionately large amount of
American men. According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF), more
than 16 million men are affected by the disease globally, and American
men represent 2.5 million of that figure. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Times New Roman, Times, Serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />EAT RIGHT: If you've eaten
a particular way your whole life, you might find it difficult to
change. But cutting out the junk in favor of fruits, vegetables and
whole grains is well worth the effort. <br />Opt for fish over red meat.
Evidence from several studies suggests that fish can help protect
against prostate cancer because it contains "good fat," particularly
omega-3 fatty acids. A free nutrition guide and tasty recipes are
available at www.pcf.org/nutrition . </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Times New Roman, Times, Serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />STAY ACTIVE: A sedentary lifestyle contributes to your risk of obesity, heart disease and cancer. <br />GET
CHECKED: While it's always important to be open with your physician
about your health and your family's health history, starting at age 40
it becomes crucial. Regular doctor's visits are also an important
component of early diagnosis. While these tests may not be fun, they can
save your life. If you have a history of prostate cancer in your
family, consider a yearly rectal examination and a Prostate-Specific
Antigen (PSA) test starting in your forties. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Times New Roman, Times, Serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />Broader awareness and
understanding of the health risks associated with aging can save lives.
So don't shy away from talking to your friends and family about your
health.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Times New Roman, Times, Serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Times New Roman, Times, Serif; font-size: x-small;">Source <a href="http://www.thinkstewartville.com/main.asp?SectionID=8&SubSectionID=19&ArticleID=6480">http://www.thinkstewartville.com/main.asp?SectionID=8&SubSectionID=19&ArticleID=6480</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Times New Roman, Times, Serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Times New Roman, Times, Serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Times New Roman, Times, Serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Times New Roman, Times, Serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Times New Roman, Times, Serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Times New Roman, Times, Serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px; text-align: left; width: 752px;"></table>
</div>
Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-44160604404083451992012-10-09T23:58:00.002-07:002012-10-09T23:58:45.105-07:003 Tips for White Teeth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="style2">Whitening is a very popular trend in today’s world.
I’ve noticed that it has become a lot like coloring your hair- everyone
has standing appointments prior to big events. Any why shouldn’t they;
after all, white teeth are beautiful and can make your face seem
brighter. Keeping your gums healthy is just as important as any other
organ in your body. I have a few tips and tricks for you to whiten your
teeth and keeping your gums healthy.<br />
<br />
Stop Stains at the Source:<br />
Stains come from a variety of places. One of the sneakiest
culprits that stain your teeth is your morning coffee or tea. We all
have that habit, you know the one. We go to Starbucks or any local
coffee shop for our “morning jolt of coffee” and rush off to work. The
stain from the coffee stays on your teeth and builds up, eventually
turning them dark. What can you do for a quick fix? Rinse your mouth
out with water right after your morning coffee so that the dark stains
are washed away. <br />
<br />
Whiten At home:<br />
For a cheap, at home alternative to bleaching, you can us my “special
mix” of a little baking soda and hydrogen peroxide blended into a paste
to brush your teeth for about two minutes; spitting is ok if necessary.
Be careful because this can be abrasive so use it sparingly and only
once per week. This mix will help remove the stains left behind by
coffee, tea and red wine.<br />
<br />
Visit Your Dentist<br />
Your dentist can help you decide on the whitening procedure
that would be best for you and your teeth. One long term solution that
has become popular is porcelain veneers. For those whom have bleached
and are still not pleased, porcelain veneers can transform crooked,
yellow, or poorly shaped teeth to perfection. Veneers are fabricated
from porcelain so they won’t change color or stain. The process involves
removing about .5-1.5 mm off the front surface of the tooth to make
room for the custom fabricated thin porcelain sheets that are placed on
the front surface to create the “perfect & natural” smile. <br />
<br />
An accomplished leader and innovator in cosmetic and reconstructive dentistry,<br />
Dr. Sherri Worth is one of the top dentists in the country. Dr. Worth
uses her expertise in the field to create “smile makeovers” for
celebrities, models, professional athletes, and everyday people alike.
Specializing in porcelain veneers, crowns and bridges, implants, and
reconstructive dentistry, Dr. Worth’s perfectionism is demonstrated not
only in her patients’ flawless teeth but in her state-of-the-art dental
facility. Located in Newport Beach, CA, her facility fuses the latest
technology and equipment, including digital imaging and x-rays, with a
team of enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff. For more information, go
to: www.drsherriworth.com</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="style2"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="style2">Source <a href="http://www.healthnewsdigest.com/news/Dental_330/3_Tips_for_White_Teeth.shtml">http://www.healthnewsdigest.com/news/Dental_330/3_Tips_for_White_Teeth.shtml</a><br />
</span></div>
</div>
Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-42216130298520426502012-09-26T01:34:00.004-07:002012-09-26T01:34:43.028-07:00President Obama, Mitt Romney compete for underdog status in debates<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It’s the debate before <a href="http://bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2012/09/23/debates-pose-critical-test-for-barack-obama-mitt-romney/9iwKPl79BLkpNhflbFS68H/story.html" title="bostonglobe.com">the debates</a>: Who gets to play the role of underdog, President Obama or Republican challenger Mitt Romney?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Neither candidate wants to be labeled the favorite and with a week to
go before the first rhetorical rumble of the general election, each
campaign is -- in a dramatic departure from its usual negativity --
praising the opposition.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“Mitt Romney had many, many debates, and he was very good in them,”
Obama adviser David Axelrod told Reuters last week, referring to
Romney’s 20 debates during the Republican primary. “By and large, when
he needed to bring it, he did. He memorizes his set pieces, and he
delivers them well.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Another Obama adviser, Robert Gibbs, was more direct during an appearance on CNN Sunday.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“Mitt Romney, I think, has an advantage,” Gibbs said.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, who has played Obama in Romney’s debate
preparations, responded on Monday: “One thing that I think has been
missing in some of the discussion I’ve heard is that Barack Obama is a
very effective debater,” Portman <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/09/portman-obama-will-be-formidable-136563.html" title="www.politico.com">told Politico</a>. “He’s articulate; he’s smart. He did a great job in 2008 during that campaign as a debater.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The same candidates who have spent months trying to convince voters
of their superiority on everything from the economy to foreign policy
now are attempting to relieve the pressure to win arguments on those
very subjects.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“Why do they do it? Because if you don’t do as well, you have an
excuse,” said Allan Louden, chair of the communications department at
Wake Forest University and an expert on political debates. “If you
exceed expectations, everyone’s elated.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The strategic lowering of debate expectations goes back at least as
far as the 1980 presidential race between incumbent Democrat Jimmy
Carter and GOP nominee Ronald Reagan, Louden said.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A Globe story published on the day of that year’s second debate
quoted Reagan press secretary Lyn Nofziger as saying “there’s minimal
risk for Reagan. There’s enormous risk for Carter.” Another Reagan aide
said that “if Reagan gets a draw, Carter loses.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After setting his standard of success at a mere tie, Reagan was more
brazen after a good performance in Cleveland, declaring he had won
before flying to Texas. Polls backed up his claim: An ABC News/Harris
survey showed voters overwhelmingly believed Reagan won, 44 percent to
26 percent. An Associated Press poll gave Reagan the victory, 46-34.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This year, there will be <a href="http://www.debates.org/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=38&cntnt01origid=27&cntnt01detailtemplate=newspage&cntnt01returnid=80" title="www.debates.org">three 90-minute debates</a>
between Obama and Romney, each of which will be televised between 9
p.m. and 10:30 p.m. The first is next Wednesday at the University of
Denver, where the focus will be on domestic policy. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The second debate is Oct. 16 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.
and will feature questions from undecided voters in the style of a town
hall meeting. The final debate is Oct. 22 at Lynn University in Boca
Raton, Fla. and will cover foreign policy.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Vice President Joe Biden will debate Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan
on Oct. 11 at Centre College in Danville, Ky. on both foreign and
domestic topics.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The goal for each campaign, Louden said, is to control the media
narrative before and after the debates. There are explicit and implicit
arguments on both sides.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The explicit argument from the Obama campaign is that Romney should
be expected to fare well because of his recent debate experience and
reportedly intense preparation. The implicit argument is that for the
same reasons, Romney should be pilloried if he fares poorly.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Romney’s explicit argument is that he is well-practiced, yes, but has
not debated a Democrat in a decade and that Obama has the advantage of
being president -- dealing with the foreign and domestic duties of the
office every day. The implicit argument is that a debate defeat would be
embarrassing for the incumbent.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“Who’s really the underdog? I think it’s pretty irrelevant,” Louden said.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Source <a href="http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2012/09/25/president-obama-mitt-romney-compete-for-underdog-status-debates/LnZbZDZeXn7cDsVkqUxesJ/story.html" target="_blank">http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2012/09/25/president-obama-mitt-romney-compete-for-underdog-status-debates/LnZbZDZeXn7cDsVkqUxesJ/story.html </a></div>
</div>
Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-90340166236904893432012-09-09T22:51:00.002-07:002012-09-09T22:51:35.894-07:00Golf tips to help your wallet and health<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The few things in golf that don’t go up in-season are the cost to practice or the cost to take a lesson.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="pp"></span>With
the shorter days it can be a challenge to find the time. However, you
will get more out of your practice if you are not sweating to death and
can actually hold onto the club.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="aa"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="pp"></span>If
you look around and are willing to travel, you may even find greens
fees that won’t break the bank. Don’t forget that most courses will let
you walk at certain times and there is no better way to play this great
game than walking the course.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="aa"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="pp"></span>Not taking a cart will help your health, wallet and game.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="aa"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="pp"></span>Now you have a few ideas to help not only your finances but your overall well being and some great family time. Excuses be gone!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Source <a href="http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20120909/SPORTS/309090020/Golf-tips-help-your-wallet-health?nclick_check=1" target="_blank">http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20120909/SPORTS/309090020/Golf-tips-help-your-wallet-health?nclick_check=1 </a></div>
</div>
Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-37709940100122648882012-07-25T22:02:00.000-07:002012-07-25T22:02:24.045-07:00Obama Skipping AIDS Conference for Campaign Draws Activists’ Ire<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="" style="text-align: justify;">
For all the dignitaries on the
schedule at the International AIDS Conference this week in
Washington, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and former President Bill Clinton, it’s the absence of one that has activists talking. </div>
<div class="" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
With the conference being held in the U.S. for the first
time in 22 years, President Barack Obama is out of town
campaigning and raising money for his re-election. His only
presence is a 50-second cameo in a three-minute video welcoming
delegates. Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s only appearance is
in a video message to a meeting on the sidelines of the
conference on the role of the faith community.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“It’s a huge missed opportunity,” said Matthew Kavanagh,
head of policy for Health GAP, an advocacy organization on AIDS.
“The people who are touched by HIV in this country and who care
about HIV are potential core constituents for the president.” </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Adding to the ire of activists is Obama’s proposed 2013
budget, which would cut funding for the President’s Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief, an initiative started by President George W. Bush, by seven percent compared with 2010 levels. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Part of the calculus for Obama is that the economy, the
federal budget deficit and the cost of health care are the
dominant issues in his race with Romney. At the same time,
public concern about HIV/AIDS has waned. </div>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">
Pressing Issues </h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A survey by the Washington Post and the nonprofit Kaiser
Family Foundation found 10 percent of Americans identified
HIV/AIDS as the most urgent health problem facing the U.S.,
behind cancer, which was mentioned by more than a third,
obesity, diabetes, heart disease, insurance and health costs. In
1995, 44 percent named it as the most pressing health issue. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obama’s stops this week, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars
convention on July 23 in Reno, Nevada, and the National Urban
League Conference today in New Orleans, give him a chance to
address issues that will loom larger in November. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
HIV/AIDS is “not high on the list of what most voters care
about,” said Wendy Schiller, a political science professor at
Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. “But those that
would be sympathetic to the movement to reduce AIDS, whether
it’s the increase in African-American men or how it affects
young children in Africa, are the same people he needs to get
out the door and vote for him in November.” </div>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">
‘Loyal Troops’ </h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Still, she said it makes sense for Obama to spend his time
in front of broader constituencies, including the National Urban
League, a century-old civil rights organization. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“The National Urban League is going to be like President
Obama’s army, so if you have to make a choice between the Urban
League and the International AIDS Conference you go with your
solid, loyal troops,” Schiller said. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For many activists, the bigger issue than Obama’s
attendance at the conference is his administration’s commitment
to funding global treatment for the disease. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Bush more than tripled U.S. funding for global treatment
during the last five years of his administration through the
program known as Pepfar. With that increase, the U.S. accounted
for about 59 percent of all donations for international AIDS
relief, according to Jennifer Kates, director of global health
and HIV policy for the Kaiser Family Foundation, of Menlo Park,
California. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The U.S. has spent about $46 billion since 2003 combating
the disease internationally through Pepfar, which primarily
funds the purchase and distribution of antiretroviral drug
treatments for people in developing nations. </div>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">
AIDS Budget </h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In 2010, the Pepfar budget was $6.9 billion, including
money to combat tuberculosis, the leading killer of AIDS
patients. If Obama’s current budget plan is enacted, the funding
will fall to $6.4 billion in fiscal 2013. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“It’s ironic but Bush, I think, when it came to HIV/AIDS,
understood the public health issue better than Obama,” said
Jessica Reinhart, a grassroots manager with the AIDS Healthcare
Foundation, a Los Angeles-based group that provides AIDS
treatment. “The fact that Obama’s going to cut funding for
Pepfar could possibly increase new infections.” </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, causes AIDS. The
virus attacks the immune system and leaves the body vulnerable
to a variety of life-threatening infections and cancers. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A record 34.2 million people worldwide are living with
HIV/AIDS according to the World Health Organization. In South
Africa alone, a country where almost 1 in 3 people survive on
less than $2 a day, 18 percent of those ages 15 to 49 are
infected, the data shows. </div>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">
Enthusiasm Gap </h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Wearing a tee-shirt emblazoned with a stop sign and the
message “Stop Pepfar Cuts,” Reinhart, who led a protest from
the convention to the White House on July 23, said she’ll
continue supporting the president. Her enthusiasm has
diminished, though. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="text-align: justify;">
“He’s upset a lot of the AIDS community, and it could be
detrimental to his candidacy,” Reinhart said. </div>
<div class="" style="text-align: justify;">
Still, total spending on HIV/AIDS programs has increased
during Obama’s term. It would rise to $28.4 billion in fiscal
2013, up from $27.7 billion in 2012 and $27 billion in 2011,
according to data from the Kaiser foundation. </div>
<div class="" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="text-align: justify;">
Administration officials defended the president’s
priorities and his attention to the issue. </div>
<div class="" style="text-align: justify;">
Eric Goosby, Obama’s Global AIDS Coordinator, said the U.S.
wants other countries to carry a larger portion of the financial
load. </div>
<div class="" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="text-align: justify;">
“The United States can’t be ministries of health for all
of these countries,” Goosby said in an interview. “Our best
chance at not having the United States be the predominant
resource motor for HIV treatment and HIV/TB treatment on the
planet is to bring others to the table to put their resources to
it.” </div>
<div class="" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="text-align: justify;">
Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for Obama’s National Security
Council, said in an e-mail that “the most important metric for
Pepfar is lives saved, not dollars spent, and through smart
investments we are delivering results.” </div>
<div class="" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="text-align: justify;">
Source <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-25/obama-skipping-aids-conference-for-campaign-draws-activists-ire" target="_blank">http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-25/obama-skipping-aids-conference-for-campaign-draws-activists-ire </a></div>
</div>Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-53890140198489353512012-06-27T03:36:00.000-07:002012-06-27T03:36:12.990-07:00Tips to stay healthy in the water<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Oxford County Public Health and Emergency Services is asking local
residents as part of its yearly prevention campaign on recreational
water illness to stay healthy in the water by not swimming when they are
ill with diarrhea.<br />
<br />
According to public health, it takes only trace amounts of fecal
matter to make others sick and some of the germs can survive for days,
even in swimming pools with good filtration and disinfection systems.<br />
One of the most common parasites Cryptosporidium can survive up to eleven days in a chlorinated swimming pool.<br />
<br />
According to public health swallowing water contaminated with feces
is still a leading cause of recreational water illness because germs
from stool can easily contaminate the water in a large pool or water
park.<br />
“Children love visiting the beach, pools and water parks in the
summer, but children are also one of the groups most vulnerable to
recreational water illness because their immune systems are maturing and
they are more likely to swallow water,” said Peter Heywood, Oxford
public health program supervisor.<br />
<br />
Public health’s campaign features “Swimming and diarrhea don’t mix”
and “Wash your baby” posters at public pools to remind people to stay
out of the pool if they have diarrhea and to wash babies thoroughly
before swimming.<br />
<br />
“Even if you think you’re well enough to swim, to help protect
everyone’s health, we’re asking people to wait until they know their
diarrhea has completely subsided before stepping foot in a public
swimming area,” Heywood said.<br />
<br />
Swimmers can also protect themselves by using the showers at public
pools to rinse off before swimming, washing their hands after using the
bathroom or changing a diaper, taking children on bathroom breaks and
changing swimming diapers often and avoid swallowing pool or beach
water.<br />
<br />
Recreational water illnesses can cause skin, ear, respiratory, eye
and wound infections, and are responsible for more serious health
complications in children, pregnant women and people with weakened
immune systems.<br />
<br />
Public health’s said their role in helping to prevent recreational
water illness includes inspecting pools and splash pads in the community
to ensure health procedures are followed.<br />
<br />
Public Health also samples beach water weekly from mid-May to Labour
Day to check bacteria levels. Area beaches with high levels of bacteria
are posted on site as not safe for swimming. Beach water updates are
available online at www.oxfordcounty.ca/health or by phone by dialing
2-1-1.<br />
<br />
Source <a href="http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2012/06/26/tips-to-stay-healthy-in-the-water" target="_blank">http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2012/06/26/tips-to-stay-healthy-in-the-water </a></div>Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-76739697532667538802012-06-13T08:40:00.001-07:002012-06-13T08:40:01.536-07:00The Best Golfers Never to Win the U.S. Open: A Fan's Take<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Many great golfers have claimed the United States Open title. On
Father's Day a new champion will be crowned at the 112th U.S. Open at
the Olympic Club in San Francisco, California. Yet there are many great
golfers throughout history that have never had their name engraved on
the trophy. As always lists are quite subjective by their very nature.
That being said here is my list of the greatest players (in alphabetical
order) never to claim the United States Open Championship. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u><b>Seve Ballesteros</b></u></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Spanish <a href="http://www.seveballesteros.com/seve_carrera.php?lang=2" rel="nofollow">golfing legend</a>
Seve Ballesteros won five major championships in his career. Arguably
one of the greatest players that continental Europe has yet produced,
Ballesteros claimed three British Open titles and two green jackets. In
addition to his success in the United States Ballesteros won 50 <a href="http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/news/newsid=136429.html" rel="nofollow">titles</a>,
including his major wins, on the European Tour. This remains the
European Tour record. Ballesteros' best U.S. Open finish came in 1987
when he placed third. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u><b>Nick Faldo</b></u></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Englishman Sir Nick Faldo claimed six major championships in <a href="http://www.golflegends.org/nick-faldo.php" rel="nofollow">his career</a>
but never the United States Open championship. Faldo also enjoyed
substantial success of the European tour claiming 30 victories. Faldo's
best U.S. Open finish was second place in 1988. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u><b>Bobby Locke</b></u>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Bobby Locke was one of the great golfers in history and yet many
American fans likely know little about him. Locke is most well-known for
<a href="http://www.worldgolfhalloffame.org/hof/member.php?member=1076" rel="nofollow">winning</a> four British Open titles and for being one the greatest if not the greatest putter that ever lived. Locke's famous <a href="http://ingolfwetrust.com/players/Hall-Of-Fame/Bobby-Locke/index.aspx" rel="nofollow">quote</a>,
"drive for show, putt for dough" is known by most every golfer. A
native of South Africa, Locke was also the first great golfer that was
neither British nor American. In only six U.S. Open appearances, Locke
recorded five Top Five finishes. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u><b>Phil Mickelson
</b>
</u></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It is difficult to place Phil Mickelson on this list because his
career is not complete. Yet I think his career to this point warrants
his inclusion. Phil Mickelson has won four career major championships;
three Masters titles and a <a href="http://www.pgatour.com/golfers/001810/phil-mickelson/media-guide/#uber" rel="nofollow">victory</a>
at the 2005 PGA Championship. In total Mickelson has 40 career PGA Tour
titles which places him in the Top 10 all-time. While he cannot lay
claim to being the greatest player of his generation, he is certainly no
worse than number two. He has had many chances to hoist the U.S. Open
trophy yet he is been relegated to <a href="http://www.usopen.com/en_US/champ_experience/history.html" rel="nofollow">runner-up</a> status five times. Unfortunately for Phil his time to claim the U.S. Open title is running short. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u><b>Sam Snead</b></u>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sam Snead was a legendary figure in the world of golf. He <a href="http://www.golflegends.org/sam-snead.php" rel="nofollow">won</a>
seven major championships in his illustrious career. In all Snead won
82 career PGA Tour titles. That is still a record that stands to this
day. It's not that Sam Snead did not have some success at the U.S. Open
because he certainly did. Snead finished as the runner-up to the U.S.
Open champion four times in his career. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Source <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/news/best-golfers-never-win-u-open-fans-001800381--golf.html" target="_blank">http://sports.yahoo.com/news/best-golfers-never-win-u-open-fans-001800381--golf.html </a></div>
</div>Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948567252592375930.post-51445729789939286622012-03-19T02:24:00.002-07:002012-03-19T02:24:21.395-07:00No. 1 again! Luke Donald wins Transitons playoff, reclaims top ranking<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Luke Donald is thinking about what might be, Ernie Els can only think about what might have been Sunday in a dramatic finish that saw Donald walk away with the Transitions Championship and reclaim his No. 1 ranking in the world of golf.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Els had the tournament firmly in his grasp, he was 14-under par through 15 holes at Innisbrook’s Copperhead course and had just hit his second shot within five feet for birdie at the difficult 16th. He missed that short putt then suffered bogeys on each of the final two holes.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">He hit a poor tee shot at the 218-yard 17th that left him short right and he had no shot at saving par. Then Els shot himself in the foot on the 18th green when he missed a three-foot par putt that would have put him at 13-under par and in a playoff with Donald, Jim Furyk, Robert Garrigus and Sang Moon Bae.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Instead, it was Donald who went back to the 18th to take on those three. Donald was first to hit his approach to the 425-yard par four and he stuck it within six feet. Garrigus matched him, landing just outside Donald’s ball from 116-yards out after a monster drive.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Disappointing second shots left both Furyk and Bae with lengthy birdie putts they both failed to convert.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Garrigus missed his bid for birde and Donald calmly found the inside left of the cup and walked away with his fifth PGA Tour win and returned to the top of the World Golf Rankings, jumping over idle Rory McIlroy, who moved into the spot two weeks ago at the Honda Classic.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Donald shot 66 for his final round and had to wait for about an hour while Els, Furyk and Bae finished. Garrigus shot 64 and had a four-hour wait to learn that he was in the playoff.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Another trio besides Els finished one out of the playoff. Scott Piercy posted a spectacular 62 and was done four hours before the leaders teed off. Overton shot 66 and Ken Duke a 68 to finish 12-under.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The win had Donald looking forward to his next appearance and that will come at the Masters in three weeks.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">“It’s another step in the right direction,” Donald said of his victory. “It’s a perfect preparation for Augusta.”</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Was Donald contemplating regaining the No. 1 ranking? “No, I was focused on trying to win this tournament,” he said. Donald played steady early. “I had my eye on the leaders,” he recounted. “I birdied 11 to get to 13-under. I had a good chance for another birdie at 14 but didn’t make it.”</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">His run of seven straight pars to close out his day was good enough for him to post 13-under, 271. He then watched and waited and saw the misfortunes that cost Els the tournament and an invitation to the Masters.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Els was in the left center of the fairway at the final hole, 165 yards out. He pulled his approach but he was just off the green on the fringe and putted three feet past the hole. “I pulled my putt,” Els said as he stood near the 18th green, head down.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Source <a href="http://gantdaily.com/2012/03/18/no-1-again-luke-donald-wins-transitons-playoff-reclaims-top-ranking/">http://gantdaily.com/2012/03/18/no-1-again-luke-donald-wins-transitons-playoff-reclaims-top-ranking/</a></div></div>Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0