The enigma that is Barack Obama grows day by day. Contradiction after contradiction, abrupt gear shifts, perpetual motion that never reaches a destination. 'Obscene' Wall Street bonuses suddenly transmute into well earned rewards for a good guy golfing buddy; the imperative to act boldly on the jobs crisis means placing it the callous hands of Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley of health care fame; the plotting of exit strategies from Afghanistan by 2011 becomes a 'long as we have to' occupation. All these contrapuntal reversals against a sound track of non-stop exhortation and a restless shuttling from one photo-op to another. Who is this guy, anyway?

A few elements of Obama's personality are now evident: a strong narcissistic streak, an ingrained sense of superiority, a nimbleness - intellectual and political - enabled by the incredible lightness of his conviction about anything, an audacious ambition yet no gumption for a fight. Behind these traits, there is something even more basic discernible. Obama is two people, one superimposed on the other. The visible, surface man is the epitome of an enlightened, Ivy League, socially responsible liberal. This is Obama the community organizer (albeit an exceptionally non-confrontational one), Obama the African American political activist who attends Jeremiah Wright's cosmopolitan church, Obama the orator who routinely hits the high 'Cs' of the call to conscience, Obama the optimist who appeals to, and for the better angels of our idealistic American selves. This is Obama the African-American who moved enough voters to be elected President of the United States.

To this portrait, we must juxtapose the other Barack Obama - the Barack Obama who has surfaced as he quickly shed his 'liberal' skin amidst the trappings of the White House. This other personality, I contend, is the underlying one - truer to the man's core nature. This is the Obama who twice in his young career sought out positions in big corporate law firms; this is the Obama who was raised by three Kansans who instilled in him conservative heartland values; this is the Obama who relishes wealth and what it can buy; this is the Obama who feels more at ease with his Wall Street buddies (Jaime Dimon, et al) playing golf than with anyone of the Move On American crowd; this is the Obama who chose as his trusted confidant that unscrupulous, liberals-be-damned fixer - Rahm Emanuel; this is the Obama who absorbed the spirit of Ronald Reagan's America he himself has said stands as the model of inspirational leadership.

Far-fetched? Let's take a clear eyed look at what President Obama actually has done and said. He placed his supposedly signature health care reform initiative in the hands of those dedicated to thwarting it, he has curried favor with the criminally incompetent financial establishment, he orphaned the proposal to help underwater homeowners through the bankruptcy courts, he stiffed the trade unions on the loosening of rules for organizing workers, he has retained all of Bush's policies on surveillance, he has refused the slightest chastisement of the CIA and their mercenaries, he has retained Bush's practice of Executive statements interpreting legislation, he has followed a behind closed doors style of policy-making, he has followed the Pentagon hawks in escalating the war in Afghanistan, he has made repeated advances toward the evangelical right. This is the behavioral pattern of a deeply conservative personality and conventional thinker who tips his hat to every establishment he encounters.

The evidence supports my thesis that this latter Obama is the truer personality, and that it has liberated itself now that the man is at the apex of his achieved ambition. There is, of course, a more prosaic explanation of Obama's repudiation of the ideas and outlook that won him the White House. It argues that his about faces and incongruous acts merely reflect practical political calculations. That argument does not stand up to scrutiny, though. First, Obama's conduct in the White House has severely weakened his political position to the point where he managed to resuscitate a moribund Republican Party while putting at risk reelection of the Democratic Congress and himself. Second, Obama initiated most of these reversals in the early months of his administration when he was still riding high in the polls and had every opportunity to take the initiative.

The unhappy conclusion is that we have in Obama a President who is what we used to call a moderate Republican before the species became extinct. Moreover, someone who is very much a man of his times - those times being the 1980s and 1990s. That means suspicions of government programs (last week Obama declared that New Deal thinking wasn't applicable to day's problems), a strong belief that we should always give private interests the benefit of the doubt, an assumption that the rich deserve their riches, and an insensitivity to the plight of salaried Americans (Obama's push for a Bipartisan Commission to recommend budget cutting measures to be voted 'up or down' by Congress clearly had Social Security in its sights). Abroad, Obama is ready to deploy military might in dubious causes defined by the country's hawkish defense establishment.

The implication for progressives? Let Barack Obama know in no unspoken terms that if he wants to revel in the White House for a full eight years he has to garb himself in that old liberal persona.

America VS President Obama
Perhaps the American people should run the country and do away with the Federal gov altogether. Ditch the constitution and do whatever makes you feel good, How about that for getting him out of your hair? Why do you people continually overlook the cause of so much drifting and inactive garbage? Whenever something doesn't go your way it's the Presidents fault, what about what he has asked of congress that they still won't even touch the REQUESTS, mind you I did not say ORDERS. I say the ones who are belly-aching the most are just like the Republicans they don't want anything to get better unless it's their idea and their way. I'm beginning to believe that no one wants progress; I think they would rather just remain stagnant and grind their selves into the ground then blame it on Obama. If he hadn't run for Pres. and won, we wouldn't be in this position right? I'll answer that, no, you probably wouldn't even be alive by the time prissy-miss got thru bombing Iran and firing anybody that said something she didn't like. With Mac standing on the sideline scratching his head wondering how to get her off the microphone. He was for the war and she obviously doesn't have a problem starting another one so where would you be? Most likely without a job and with a gun in your hand shooting at Iranians or whoever it is she wants to go to war with, doesn't matter, she's out of her mind anyway.

I'm getting real tired of the finger pointing exercises going on and most of the time in the wrong direction. You only want to blame him, because he is WHAT he is, not because he is so wrong. I see no one, neither political party, nor any citizen who has yet to come forward and present a SOLUTION out of this bog we are in. Lots of hair brained ideas, but no solutions, just complaints. The wheels were already turning backwards toward this pit before he even considered running for President, thanks to GW and you are now so ready to attack him. Bush didn't listen to you when you wanted him too end the war, he didn't listen to you when you said you didn't want the bail-out scam, he did exactly what Cheney wanted him to do so why all the fuss now? Oh I forgot he is not the same “kind” as our current Pres. In essence what you're saying is, it's alright for a white man to ruin our country but you will not tolerate a black man coming in and telling any of you how things should be and what to do to get us back on track, because in your mind has no right to try to tell you what is wrong with your government and how to improve on it. After all most of them (blacks-bi-racial)are on welfare or pushing drugs anyway what would they know about running the country right?. He has taken all of your freedom away, he has taken your jobs away, he has destroyed America, he bows to too many foreign counterparts, He says things that you don't like, he pretends to love America, he is a thug, he is a liar, he won't show you his birth cert, he won't tell you what his grades were in College, he won't do this or that because you want him to. How about asking Congress to do something? Since when did it become your business about any Pres.' College credentials or BC? This has never, in the history of the US, been an issue but again, because he is WHAT he is you demand to know. This will set the stage to seek other ways to get rid of him even when all of your schizophrenic notions prove to be unfounded. You people use anything you can think of to deny that America is not the America you fantasize in your dizzy heads and never will be again, not because we have a bi-racial President, but because the entire world is changing can't you get that thru your thick skulls? Nothing in this life remains the same; you all should know that because you personally don't remain the same. Your own principles change as you, hopefully, mature. You would probably commit suicide if you only knew what the rest of the world thinks about Americans and how arrogant we are. The way most Americans toss their haughtiness around is really funny to them because they know it's all a front. The way of the boastful American is very empty and demeaning to the human race. It's as though no other human being is as good as they are, and no other human being has the right to the same things they do ; life, wealth, education, expensive living modes, power the whole gamut, not recognizing that there are people in other countries who have equal and more than they do. Granted the wealthy segment of other societies got theirs the same way off the sweat of someone else or stolen i.e.: (MADDOFF- BANKS-BROKERS-INSURANCE CO's- CORPORATIONS). Congress falls in the same category because without our “payments” to IRS they wouldn't be able to give themselves the outrageous raises they so thoughtlessly legislate. But to Americans that's OK because that's the way the game is played and until almost everyone was affected by the meltdown it was overlooked as a way of life.
To end my tirade, I will conclude that today's America is disgusting. The financial infrastructure is weak and fraught with greed and theft. That's why there are no jobs, and over 5M homes sit vacant, children and senior citizens starving, educational systems are a joke (NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND) what the fence? People are dying because an Insurance company controls your destiny, among so many other issues that need to be addressed. One thing white America overlooks constantly is that Blacks rarely seek positions for money and power. They have survived a life-time without it and their goal is to make a better life for all. But Whites don't want that, at least not from a black man, that's backwards the white man is to give to the black man so that he may retain control over what he does and how he thinks. Having said that brings me to the real issue of the struggle between America and President Obama. Knowing how whites have “operated” for so many hundreds of years , they are afraid all of those misdeeds of yesteryear and today may be coming back to haunt them and that cannot be, that was always the fear of the white slave owners “what if they rebel and overtake us???????” “WHAT IF?” And that's just where we are today What if. It's a little late for what ifs so my last question is How can? How can Americans forget the arrogance and how to use people for personal gain and work towards a better America for everyone?

source

Underscoring the very real threat that remains of an American war against Iran, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today declared that the Obama Administration will not rule out attacking Iran over its decision to enrich uranium to 20 percent.

Gibbs accused Iran of repeatedly refusing administration offers of diplomatic negotiations, declaring this was proof that the Iranian nuclear program is not for civilian purposes.

In fact, Iran and the United States did take part in diplomatic negotiations in October, resulting in the draft enrichment deal. Iran also offered additional talks in November and December related to the deal, but were rebuffed and condemned by officials for the proposed talks.

Far from refusing to make agreements with the West related to its nuclear program, Iran actually accepted the draft enrichment deal earlier this month, as repeatedly demanded by the Obama Administration. The acceptance too was roundly condemned by Western officials, though mysteriously many have continued to demand that Iran accept the deal for weeks since the acceptance was already made.

Why the Majority of Marketing Video Don’t Work

So by now you know that we have high standards, extol the virtues of using video in web design and promotional material and can provide such services to our clients. We have spent many posts telling you what does work, how to do things and how to make the most of what you have.

Let’s change tack a bit and talk about why the majority of video made for marketing and advertising doesn’t work.

The biggest reason for failure as far as we’re concerned is poor production values. It takes skill to create a compelling video that people will want to watch. A considered, measured and professional approach is needed to get the most out of the medium, even if it is only for a company website.

The purpose of a video is unimportant, the goal and the target audience are the things you need to worry about. To produce a good marketing video you need good equipment and good skills. Without these you are bound for failure, and could damage your brand in the process. Grainy pictures, poor audio levels, wobbling camera, poor angles, jarring cuts and many other mistakes abound in more corporate video productions that we would mention.

Another failure is bad scripting. If there is dialog in the video it needs to be short and punchy. There is nothing more boring than watching a CEO standing stiffly in a suit droning on about how good he and the management team are, and what an excellent job they’re all doing. All that video will achieve is soothing their own egos, it won’t endear them to a wider audience.

A CEO standing in a suit using smart, concise and punchy lines delivered with gravity, humor or something else is much more effective. A short speech delivering the message with the minimal of fluff will be much better received, and will show the CEO and the company in a better light. Considering the audience and pitching to them is what sales is all about. Match the company and the character to the product and service and the video should be a success. Take a look of some of Steve Jobs video podcasts if you need more convincing.

The other major failure of a marketing video is that it tries to spread itself too thin. By trying to appeal to the widest possible audience, it risks missing them all. Target the video to its direct audience, make others for other demographics and make each feel the video is just for them, or talking directly to them. The whole idea of a video is to appeal and create an emotional link with the audience. By not appealing to them, or missing them completely the only link involved will be the one to the next website or video.

There are many ways to make a video fail and we don’t want that. If you or your company wants a corporate video either consult an expert or learn the skills necessary to do it justice.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Today, an Alliance of 17 national education associations representing over ten million parents, educators and policymakers called for swift reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. “The Learning First Alliance strongly supports the reauthorization of ESEA in the current legislative session,” wrote Alliance Chair William Bushaw in a letter to President Obama and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. “We believe the stakes for our nation's children — particularly low-income students and students of color, who have been ill served — are far too high for us to delay this important work.”

Alliance leaders pledged to work with President Obama and Secretary Duncan to expedite ESEA reauthorization.

The Learning First Alliance is a permanent partnership of 17 leading education associations with more than 10 million members dedicated to improving student learning in America's public schools. Alliance members include: the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, American Association of School Administrators, American Association of School Personnel Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, American School Counselor Association, Association of School Business Officials International, Council of Chief State School Officers, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Association of State Boards of Education, National Education Association, National Middle School Association, National School Public Relations Association, National Staff Development Council, National PTA, National School Boards Association and Phi Delta Kappa International. The Alliance maintains www.publicschoolinsights.org, a website that features what's working in public schools and districts across the country.

SOURCE Learning First Alliance

RELATED LINKS
http://ww.publicschoolinsights.org
President Barack Obama will highlight his commitment to education reform in his State of the Union address Wednesday, highlighted by a 6.2 percent increase for the Department of Education, a senior administration official tells CBS News correspondent Peter Maer.



The president will also tout his plan to improve outcomes for students at every point along the educational pipeline, the senior administration official said.



Despite the increased funding, the budget will reflect tough choices and many existing K-12 education programs will be consolidated, the official said.



Special Report: Obama's 2010 State of the Union



The boost in education funding may be part of the president's attempt to soothe middle class anger over the economy. As Maer reports, the past few days have seen Mr. Obama pivot from an emphasis on health care reform to a razor sharp focus on jobs and the concerns of the middle class. He will use his speech to elaborate on modest initiatives for the middle class including proposals to double the child care tax credit and an effort to cap student loan payments.


However, Maer adds, the White House has also set the stage for the president to announce a budget freeze on some domestic programs. State of the Union followers should monitor the congressional response to that idea. Many lawmakers, especially those up for re-election are likely reluctant to sign on to cutting some of their favorite programs.

Foundation announces $50K drive to put technology in classrooms

Hot on the heels of installing SMART Board technology in all classrooms at Neosho Middle School last spring, the work of the Neosho R-5 Charitable Foundation and its supporters is not done yet.

During a press conference Monday morning at Neosho High School, Kim Wood, president of the foundation, announced that its members would begin a campaign to raise $50,000 to install SMART Board technology in classrooms starting at the junior high school, and then moving into the high school.

Attending Monday’s press conference were members of the Neosho R-5 Charitable Foundation, Neosho R-5 School Board, and administrators of the district, as well as Neosho Junior High School students who would benefit from having SMART Boards in their classrooms.

SMART Boards are interactive computer boards, where a projector puts an image on an interactive white board. With that board, students can touch, write and move items on the screen through a connected computer.

“We are here today to celebrate our final push to install SMART Boards in every classroom in the district,” Page said. “It is quite an achievement. I am very proud of the Neosho R-5 Charitable Foundation for taking on such a monumental task. I don’t know of another school that is blessed with school-minded, dedicated individuals than those who serve on the foundation board. They have had a monumental task of not just getting ready to do what they are going to do this year, but last year they raised $75,000 for technology at the middle school.”

Page said technology has become imperative in its use in the classroom.

“Technology continues to expand in its beneficial influence and interaction between teachers and students from across the globe,” Page said. “We have a chance and opportunity to be on that cutting edge today as we kick off this campaign.”

Kim Wood, president of the Neosho R-5 Charitable Foundation, said the foundation will begin to seek donations, and more information on the campaign can be found on the foundation’s Web site at www.neoshofoundation.org. She said all donations are tax-deductible.

Dr. Jenifer Cryer, principal at Neosho Junior High School, said having SMART Board technology in all classrooms will help teachers prepare students in the 21st Century.

“We plan to use the SMART Boards in a number of ways that will help us,” Cryer said. “SMART Boards save a lot of time in the classroom with instruction.”

Darren Cook, principal at Neosho High School, said SMART Boards can help teachers open up a new world to students that can’t be done as easily with a simple workbook and pencil.

“There are so many different Web sites that can help bring learning to life,” Cook said. “With SMART Boards, the students can see it and interact with it. I think what we will be able to do is to use different instructional strategies in the classroom.”

Moving a Website to a New Domain but Keep the Page Rank

Google Page Rank is important to a lot of people, and many base their decisions around it. There is now no excuse to stay with an underperforming or useless domain name if you can move it and keep the rank.

There are many reasons why you might want to move domain names. Two have already been mentioned. Usefulness is a big factor, one that most of the webmasters out there are keen to compete on. Underperforming is something else entirely. Some domain names just work, they do. They are either perfectly descriptive, niche names or you got there before everyone else did. If you have a page that appears high on the SERP, you may put up with bad ones in order to retain the result. Well no longer do you have to.

I have tried this one myself, which is why I’m writing about it now. I moved a site from a .com domain to a .org a little over three months ago. It had a Page Rank of four before the move, and I was a little apprehensive that all my good work would have been for naught. However, the new site is now back at four, right where we started from!

So here is what I did.

Firstly, and obviously I did a 301 redirect on the old domain and pointed it to the new one. Then I pointed the new .org domain to the website directory. Within that directory I created a folder called “com-site.” The name could have been anything but the descriptive title would remind me what it was if I was having a blonde day.

Within the “com-site” directory I created a new .htaccess file in order to tell browsers, and search engines what to do. The code I used was:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.websitename.org/$1

Then I tested from every browser that typing in the old .com address it redirected to the .org one. It may have been overkill, trying each browser, but it’s a habit I got into when first starting out in web design.

Then I pointed the old domain to the “com-site” directory and tested again with each browser. It didn’t work at first, but after a couple of hours it got picked up and started working properly. My patience was tested, as I was ready to take action and undo it all, but luckily I was interrupted by some work, and by the time I went back it was working.

I then updated the sitemap.xml file to reflect the new domain name and deleted the sitemap from Google. I replaced it with a new one and sat back to wait. Approximately three months later, after many days with the Google toolbar, it showed PR4 again. Not trusting the toolbar on its own, I went to Webmaster Central, and lo and behold, I was PR4 again!

I’m sure most of you out there already know this one, but I was so pleased it worked that I just had to share.

R&D Tax Credit change can benefit developers - Sheridans // News

While yesterday's Pre-Budget Report yielded no specific mention of support for the videogames industry, there was one ame…

AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Obama's Nobel …

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Next year's news about the news: What we'll be fighting about in …

I've helped organize a lot of future of journalism conferences this year, and have done some research for a few policy-oriented future of journalism white.

If you are thinking of getting involved with affiliate selling, or even if you are a little more experienced, you may feel that your huge, ugly affiliate link is getting in your way. Not only is it too long for practical use in many contexts, you are also banned from using it in many instances. Here are some incredibly simple tips for earning money through the use of redirects.

A redirected URL is set up to point to another URL. You may be able to do this through your webhost. In Godaddy, where I have all my own domain names hosted, there is a simple panel that let’s you point your domain name, or URL, to any other URL. It only takes a couple of minutes to set up.

So, let us say you are promoting a knitwear affiliate program, and you own the domain name “www.myknitwear.com”. (Not a live link!) Through your webhost, you should be able to set it up so that your domain– “www.myknitwear.com” — points to your affiliate link. The person who clicks on “www.myknitwear.com” is taken to your affiliate page. This way, you don’t have to display your huge, enormous affiliate link to the whole world, making you look more professional.

Do you see where this is going? You can have your domain point to any website you want! Now let’s explore what this flexibility gains for the affiliate marketer.

1. Are you a great writer?

If you do, you may know already that good article directories won’t let you put an affiliate link into an article. They are right, too: the whole point of an article directory is to furnish good content, not to create a platform for sales pitches. But you can still use articles to promote an affiliate product if you use a redirect.

Be absolutely certain that your top level domain (which looks like this: “www.mysite.com”, .net, .org, etc.) is completely relevant both to your niche and the article content.

Never, ever use a free hosting service. Your top domain will include the name of the hosting service. That just makes you look cheap.

2. Web forums

These are about information exchange, not affiliate selling. Blatant attempts to sell may get you booted off a forum. So, be mannerly and use a redirect when you want to take the reader to an affiliate page to tell them more about your product or niche.

Earning money through forum marketing is cheap and effective. But forums do not like you if you are too brash with your promotions, and are not willing to give as well as receive. Get it?

3. Changing horses.

Suppose you get tired of promoting a particular product, and you no longer wish to be an affiliate reseller of that product, but a different one instead. But you have your affiliate link plastered all over the web!

This is never an issue if you use a redirect at the very beginning. When it comes time to change products, you just change the “target URL” of your redirect. Your domain name will now point to the new product’s website, and the alteration is effective everywhere on the web at once. Isn’t that cool? (By the way, it makes sense to do this ONLY when you remain within the same niche.)

4. It’s time to blow your own trumpet!

Now, not only are you fed up promoting a particular affiliate product, you’ve decided to promote your own!

A redirect is a great tool here. When it is time to launch your product, and you have got your sales page up, you just switch the “target URL” of your redirect to your own sales page. The change is reflected everywhere on the web.

Now all the sales go into your pocket, and you don’t share with any other vendor.

It’s very, very cheap to purchase your own domain names. Any reputable webhost will help you search out unused, relevant domain names. You may be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to come up with good, new domain names. It just takes a little imagination.

If you are in affiliate selling, then you should know that earning money through redirects is simple, effective and flexible. A well chosen redirect can be like a good jacket that never goes out of style!

Can earning money through affiliate reselling really work for you? To find out, visit www.affiliatemarketerinfo.com today!

Server rules should work
You should be able to set what files are interpreted as php so you could do something like
mysite.com/your.name/FILENAME
If you have Linix/Unix server you can create .htaccess file to interpret .name files with this declaration
AddType application/x-httpd-php .name
Here is a tutorialhttp://www.translatum.gr/forum/index.php…
If you are on a virtual server or shared host you may or may not be able to do this
Another way to do it is as a rewrite rule:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^name/.+$ /name.php?filename=$1
for something like
mysite.com/name/FILENAME
will be taken to
mysite.com/name.php? filename=FILENAME

Déplacement d'un site vers un nouveau domaine mais garder le Page Rank Google Page Rank est important pour beaucoup de gens, et la base de beaucoup de leurs décisions autour d'elle. Il n'ya maintenant aucune excuse pour rester avec un sous-performants ou nom de domaine inutile si vous pouvez le déplacer et à maintenir le rang. Il ya plusieurs raisons pour lesquelles vous pouvez renommer les noms de domaine. Deux ont déjà été mentionnées. L'utilité est un facteur important, celui que la plupart des webmasters là-bas sont désireux de concourir sur. Sous-performant est tout autre chose. Certains noms de domaine de travail juste, ils le font. Ils sont soit parfaitement descriptive, les noms de niche ou vous y êtes arrivé avant tout le monde fait. Si vous avez une page qui semble élevé sur les SERP, vous mai mis en place avec les mauvaises, afin de conserver le résultat. Eh bien non plus le faire vous devez.

Online College Prep http://www.onlinecollegeprep.com/ is a site that promises a great increase in standardized scores if only the visitor will subscribe to this $50 course!

Having a friend who in fact has subscribed to this service, I asked if I might peek over her shoulder and see for myself if online college prep.com http://www.onlinecollegeprep.com/ was what it claimed to be. As I tried out the site and observed the process of preparing a child for college, I must be honest and report that this paid service in my opinion is of the same quality as many of the other college prep courses offered online for free.

Although in it's favor, online college prep.com does offer sample pages of courses for the visitor to peruse before signing up. The arithmetic sample alone http://www.onlinecollegeprep.com/math/arithmetic.lasso seems to be basic enough but to me that is the problem. This is supposed to be a “college prep” course and the examples given in this section are not of the difficulty I would expect for such a course. I would be concerned that the difficulty would not stand up to true college prep expectations.

In fact with the simplicity of the questions offered and the self of accomplishment one is expected to obtain from the course, I seriously am concerned that this course will offer the user not a particularly varied and definitely skewed self confidence that might very well be the downfall when test time appears.

In my experience, testing is much harder than the examples shown on this site and for the amount paid, students can easily get the same results by reviewing class notes from several years ago. Simply said, this area in my opinion is far below the standard needed for proper college prep.

That said, other samples certainly redeem themselves and promise to be of much more difficult material and are in fact, also offered such as beginning algebra http://www.onlinecollegeprep.com/math/beginning.lasso , Trigonometry http://www.onlinecollegeprep.com/math/trig.lasso and pre-calculus http://www.onlinecollegeprep.com/math/precalculus.lasso as well.

At this time, I don't feel as if this program would fulfill the needs of my son or any other semi bright student for that matter. For although the material offered here is on a higher level than he is ready for at this time by the time he is ready for a real college prep course, it will be far below his and many other students needs.

I do suggest that if you are in the market for such a program, that you check out this site and see for yourself, what all it offers the casual visitor and the subscriber as well. BUT…that said, I would also encourage the reader to check out the free sites before committing to a paid site….for many free sites are of similar quality as this one and as I said…are free.

Welfare reform during the Clinton Administration weakened the social safety net, making it more likely economically stressed families would fall into poverty. Cheers to Peter Edelman and Barbara Ehrenreich for their Washington Post editorial  on this crisis.

The current recession is proving just how distressed the system is, the writers said. More families are relying on unemployment insurance and food stamps to ride out the economic storm because TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), the new name for welfare, is no longer as available.

The authors wrote:

“Why the huge difference between unemployment insurance and food stamp usage and welfare caseloads? People have a legal right to food stamps if they meet the statutory requirements, but since 1996 there has been no legal right to cash assistance. And so welfare, generally speaking, has not cushioned the impact of the recession.”

For more information on the National Association of Social Workers’ position on this welfare and other issues read “Promoting Economic Security Through Social Welfare Legislation,” policy briefs prepared by NASW’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Economic Security. And to find out what legislation NASW is currently pushing visit its Advocacy Web page.

TheStar.com - News/Ontario - Millions wasted in welfare programs: Failure to clamp down on overpayments, fraud undermines the war on poverty, auditor says
Published On Tue Dec 08 2009.  Rob Ferguson, Tanya Talaga Queen's Park Bureau

The Ontario government's war against poverty would help more people if officials clamped down on $1.2 billion in waste, overpayments and fraud in welfare and disability support programs, Auditor General Jim McCarter says.

His annual report, released Monday, found that despite public outrage over recent expense scandals at eHealth and Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., there is still room for improvement in how the province spends taxpayers' money.

He urged government staffers to “spend the taxpayers' money like it is their own.”

In one example, a family on disability support was paid $100,000 more than it was entitled to after the community and social services ministry “ignored” five complaints over several years from tipsters.

That money is part of $663 million in overpayments, up about 42 per cent since the last audit in 2004, with the prospect of more because 37,000 of the 250,000 people getting money under the $3 billion annual program are up to seven years overdue for medical reassessments to determine if they remain eligible.

Another $600 million, an increase of 45 per cent since 2002, has been spent on welfare overpayments because of a poor record of checking eligibility – in some cases with no proof of identity or legal status in Canada – compounded by only “minimal efforts” to get the money returned, McCarter found.

There is little hope of that, he said.

“Given the clientele, once you've paid the money out it's very difficult to get it back,” the veteran auditor told a news conference after releasing his 500-page report.

Front-line welfare workers for the province and municipalities must closely monitor applicants and verify their incomes and circumstances with independent third parties to make sure they are eligible for financial aid, he said.

“If we tighten down and make sure that only people entitled to get money actually get the money, it does give the government some flexibility to when they are looking to make sure they can look after the people who really need the money,” McCarter said.

The government “has a lot to do,” said Community and Social Services Minister Madeleine Meilleur, noting there is now a financial “recovery unit” and officials have referred 2,300 questionable welfare and disability support cases to the Ontario Provincial Police for investigation.

Anti-poverty activist John Stapleton, a member of the government's new welfare review committee, said many “overpayments” are actually adjustments made after someone on welfare gets a job or income from another government program. It doesn't necessarily mean “someone has scammed the system or cheated it,” he added.

The Liberals have launched an anti-poverty effort, saying one in eight Ontario children live in families that can't afford fresh fruit and vegetables, to replace a broken appliance or to share the occasional meal with friends or family. The government's response has included the acceleration of the Ontario Child Benefit to $1,100 per child annually, commitment to full-day learning for 4- and 5-year-olds next fall, and promised tax relief.

McCarter took issue with the special dietary allowances of up to $250 a month given to people on welfare with health problems, noting the cost to taxpayers has risen to $67 million a year from $5 million six years ago. The allowance is given to people with a doctor's note.

His audit found many “questionable” claims, such as a large family where everyone had been diagnosed with the same medical conditions.

< http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/735580–millions-wasted-in-w… >

Is 99 weeks of unemployment checks enough? Or should it be extended? If extended, where will the money come from?

How can they extend the benefits when they have no money? Eventually these people getting unemployment are going to have to get off their ass and take a job that they may think is “beneath them”.Getting unemployment for 99 weeks is MORE than enough time to find a job, even if it's a crappy job at Walmart. Enough is enough.

(12-08) 16:28 PST — Nearly 600,000 jobless Californians could run out of unemployment benefits by April unless Congress extends a series of special assistance measures that expire at the end of December, says the National Employment Law Project.

The 65 percent federal subsidy for Cobra benefits will also expire at year's end, said the Law Project and allied groups at a press conference Monday in Washington.

Law Project chief Christine Owens said that nearly half of those now enrolled in the health insurance program could lose coverage unless the Cobra subsidy is reauthorized and extended.

Unemployment benefits normally last a maximum of 26 weeks and laid-off workers typically pay for continuing their old employment-based health insurance under Cobra.

But under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or the Obama stimulus plan, Congress allocated $40 billion to make unemployment benefits available for up to 79 weeks, and another $25 billion to subsidize Cobra.

Lawmakers recently added up to 20 weeks of unemployment checks, for a total of 99 weeks of benefits in California.

But those provisions expire at the end of December, and the groups holding Monday's press conference said that by the end of March, about 3 million Americans are projected to exhaust their benefits as the unemployment coverage maximum reverts to 26 weeks.

Making 99 weeks of unemployment benefits available throughout 2010 would cost about $85 billion, and extending the Cobra subsidy could be another $25 billion decision, said a Capitol Hill source.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she wants to extend both programs before the end of the year. New bills H.R. 4183 and S. 2381 would address jobless benefits.

Man robbed responding to Craigslist ad in Akron

Man arrested in Green motel with teens, faces unlawful sex charge

Akron man is stripped at gunpoint, robbed

Police: 2 moms, kids found dead might be linked

2 students found shot to death in Boardman cemetery

Comics & Games

Icy roads cause driving headaches throughout area

Akron man robbed in his driveway

'Suicide Bridge' spans lives

Best Buy ex-worker charged in gift card scheme

Complete List >>

Bakk made his comments on November 5th. Since then, President Obama signed a bill into law that extends unemployment benefits an additional 14 weeks. So, even people who had used up all 79 weeks of benefits and extensions may now qualify for those additional 14 weeks.

Roughly 10,000 people will have their benefits immediately extended.

Comments (3)

I don't get this “fact check.” Bakk was basically right on the numbers he used. The GOP had been holding this extension hostage in the Senate since May. Is this “fact check” supposed to prove that he can't predict the future? Didn't know prognostication was a necessary trait to be governor these days.

Posted by
BulldogJunior |
November 13, 2009 6:04 PM

Fact-checks don't always have to say a public official is wrong, brother. We're just taking statements candidates make and checking them out to see if they're right or not.

Posted by
tom scheck |
November 13, 2009 8:55 PM

Tom,
Great reporting. I wish there was more follow-up on what candidates say … especially if they repeat things after they are no longer valid. Case in point, when Palenty/Kline/Paulsen continue to reference The Lewin Group study involving healthcare legislation and never ackowledging that even the report authors have stated that the current proposal is not what there estimate was based on.

That leads to the question : Was Bakk repeating this claim after the President signed the legislation and checks had been received ? If he did, they he should be promptly admonished … if he did not, then that is not a concern.

Second question : Is anyone attacking Bakk's claims ? You have more knowledge of inside politics and what manipulation of the facts may be going on.

Lastly, have you thought about how to put the accuracy of the claim in perspective ? Some have used a meter to distinguish true from fiction … in this case the dial may be slanted toward the truth end.

Posted by
MinnesotaCentral |
November 14, 2009 9:36 AM

Vegetarians, look away now.

Potatoes and tomatoes make good eating but they may also have a vicious side that makes them deadly killers on a par with venus fly traps and pitcher plants.

They have been identified as among a host of plants thought to have been overlooked by botanists and explorers searching the world’s remotest regions for carnivorous species.

Researchers at Royal Botanical Gardens Kew now believe there are hundreds more plants that catch and eat insects and other small animals than they previously realised. Among them are species of petunia, ornamental tobacco plants, potatoes and tomatoes and shepherd’s purse, a relative of cabbages.

“Widely recognised carnivorous plants number some 650 and we estimate that another 325 or so are probable additions – so an increase of about 50 per cent,” said Dr Mike Fay, of Kew.

Researchers realised the plant world was more bloodthirsty than had been realised when they carried out an assessment of carnivorous plants to celebrate the bicentenary of Charles Darwin’s birth.

Darwin himself had been fascinated by carnivorous plants and conducted many experiments in which he fed them meat, and in 1875 his book on them, Insectivorous Plants, was published.

Dr Fay said it is likely that the meat-eating qualities of many plants has gone unrecognised because they are missing some of the prime characteristics associated with carnivorous species.

Pitcher plants and venus fly traps have specialist structures to kill and devour their prey but other plants are more subtle and rely on supplementing their usual diet by passive means.

Among them are plants such as ornamental tobaccos, and some species of potatoes and tomatoes which have sticky hairs which trap aphids and other small invertebrates. It is thought that rather than devour the prey directly the dead bodies decay slowly and the nutrients fall to the ground where they are taken up by the roots.

“They catch little aphids on the sticky hairs all the time. As these insects break down and drop to the ground the ground becomes enriched and the plants absorb them through the roots,” he said.

Such an ability is comparable to that of Roridula in Southern Africa which has sticky leaves on which flies get stuck but has no means of digesting them. It relies on a bug which devours the flies and the plant is then able to extract nutrients from the faeces which drop to the ground.

Domestic varieties of tomatoes and potatoes retain the ability to trap and kill small insects with their sticky hairs and are likely to absorb the nutrients through their roots when the animals decay and fall to the ground.

They are, however, thought to derive little benefit because they are so well-supplied with fertilisers whereas in the wild it might be an important source of food.

Professor Mark Chase, of Kew and Queen Mary, University of London, said: “The cultivated tomatoes and potatoes still have the hairs. Tomatoes in particular are covered with these sticky hairs. They do trap small insects on a regular basis. They do kill insects.

“We suspect in the domesticated varieties they are getting plenty of food through the roots from us so don’t get much benefit from trapping insects. In the wild they could be functioning in the way that could properly be considered carnivorous.”

Shepherd’s purse is thought to be carnivorous, at least in part, because its seeds are covered in a thin layer of a substance that both attracts tiny organisms in the soil and kills them. Furthermore, the seeds secrete an enzyme which can break down the bodies so the nutrients can be taken up during germination.

Dr Fay said the study’s findings backed up the idea that all flowering plants began with the capacity to eat meat when they evolved but that only some of them made use of and retained the ability.

The researchers, publishing their finding in The Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, added: “We may be surrounded by many more murderous plants than we think.

“We are accustomed to think of plants as being immobile and harmless, and there is something deeply unnerving about the thought of carnivorous plants.

“Overall, angiosperms [flowering plants] of many types may be involved in a degree of carnivory and be ‘proto-carnivorous’; perhaps we should be more curious about why more plant species have not developed a ‘taste’ for animal-derived nutrients.”

Blood-curdling tales of meat-eating plants have fascinated people in Britain ever since the first live venus flytrap to reach London caused a sensation across Europe in the 18th century.

Stories of man-eating specimens have held a particular attraction since featuring in such stories as The Day of the Triffids (1951) and The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) – more recently in the Harry Potter books, whose Venomous Tentacula tries to seize living prey with its grasping vines.

One 19th-century tale of a tree in Madagascar with tentacles that would grab hold of people and drag them to their doom even purported to be based on eyewitness accounts and was only discounted in the 20th century. Another reported a man-eating tree in Central America which would crush bodies with its tentacles “until every drop of blood is squeezed out of it and becomes absorbed by the gore-loving plant”.

The potato can only dream…

Even as California and the federal government encourage solar power, homeowners often have to fight homeowners associations for their right to install the systems.

Mike Bartz, back to camera, and his brother Bradley install solar panels to power a pump for a hot tub in Palos Verdes Estates. (Jay L. Clendenin /os Angeles Times / November 20, 2009)

Using energy from solar is very good alternative to the current energy resource for electricity. A good solar power system can really generate a good amount of electricity that could help you to reduce your electric bill by 70% to 90% some of these systems are so good the Electric Companies are paying money back to the owners for putting electric back on to the grid. The other non-tangible benefit of the electricity produced from solar sources is that, we protect our environment with the cleanest energy resource on our planet.

Ok I can here the cries of “how much would all this cost to change to solar power “well the honest answer would be it depends, “depends on what”, depends on how you go about it,how big your premises are,to what degree of energy you want to convert to solar power and wether you want to do it yourself or pay people to make and install for you. To be honest I guess a full system made and installed for you would be around $20,000 maybe more maybe less but your savings on bills plus tax incentives, “According to the Appraisal Journal, any improvement to a home that saves money on electricity expenditures increases property value by a ratio of 20:1. This means every dollar saved on electricity expenditures on an annual basis increases your property value by $20. So, if you save $1000 a year on electricity expenditures with your solar power system, your property value will increase by $20,000. Sound too good to be true? Well, think of it like this: You have the option of purchasing two homes, one that has no electric bill or one that will cost thousands per year to live in. The choice is simple. Also, according to the State Law, any increase in property value due to your solar power system is exempt from property taxes. You cannot lose with solar power“, this would surely outweigh the initial cost.

A cheaper option would be to build homemade solar panels,this is an excellent way to save money and protect the environment at the same time. Making your own solar panels is not as difficult as it may sound. Some of the things you will need are: an electric stove, copper wires, a micro-meter etc. These materials can be easily found in any hardware store. To build your own solar panels you will need to make solar cells, connect them in series and also connect the solar panels to one another. After that you should connect the solar panels to a battery and an inverter that will convert the solar energy into usable form for home use. It may take you a few days to complete the project, but it is definitely much better to do it yourself instead of paying up to $3000 for 1 ready made solar panel.

At the end of the day it all depends on how much of your home you want to convert to how much you will have to spend but remember this,the more you spend on solar energy the more you will save on your electric bills for years to come.

It is known that the concept of solar energy means using of the available almost anywhere in the world of solar radiation energy through its conversion into electricity or heat. And in the first case, the transformation uses the photoelectric effect, which occurs in specialized semiconductor devices - photovoltaic cells. And crystalline silicon photo converters for land application have become the most common. They make more than 90% of the world market nowadays.

Modern solar energy “employs” many companies that produce metallurgical silicon, grow monocrystalline or multicristal ingots, cut them into plates, fabricate photovoltaic cells on the basis of these plates and assemble transducers into solar modules. They are further installed in various types of target systems –both into small, designed to provide an electric current of small loads such as lights, parking machines, telephones or water pumps and to large solar power plants, which generate electricity for mass consumption.

The uniqueness of solar energy lies upon its immense promise. There is no secret that many major capitals have formed due to the oil and gas decades ago, that is to say the so-called traditional sources of energy. Just as it is no secret that the reserves of traditional energy sources over the years are being depleted, and prices for them are growing respectively. And in a certain number of years, mankind shall face the fact that oil and gas would have come to an end. Therefore, many states and large corporations are puzzled by looking for the reasonable alternatives. One of the main alternatives is the use of solar energy.

Looking back for 10 years ago today, we can see an incredible trend of growth in electricity consumption produced by converting the sun light into electric current by 25-30% annually. And, despite all the crises and turmoil in world markets, this trend keeps on and will keep on during at least the next 25-30 years.

What does this mean? I think that in 10-20 years, solar power together with the use of wind energy and biomass will become a new oil and gas of 21st century. Of course, I may make a mistake in their assessments on terms, but still it would not be the very big mistake. And the capital will be made on such a business in the future - it is the prospect for alternative energy. And we are not talking about any “next bubble” here. So, only people who are utterly unfamiliar with the topic and try to earn cheap popularity at its position can speak in such a way.

The life shows that in order to participate in the “solar” pie sharing tomorrow we must begin to bake today. The situation says that the threshold of entry into the market of solar energy is still not very high and a large number of potential markets are still not covered by the proposals. The current level of prices still can get reasonable payback periods of “solar” projects, even of small scale. Although we can say that the trend of the electricity cost reducing generated from alternative sources maintains and it will be equal to the cost of conventional electricity very soon. And then you can recoup only the very large projects that require huge investments. And despite the attractiveness the market entry threshold would be too high for most of potential players.

Luckily we live in the times when the government start to realize the value of living in harmony with the nature on this planet. And solar power grants is a real case proof of it. If you want to switch to solar energy, please read more about how solar power grants and how exactly you can exploit these solar power grants for your living.

P.S. Quality information quickly enhances the quality of our life.

That is why if you are properly armed with the info in your topic you can be sure that you will in any case find the way out from any bad situation. So, please make sure to visit this web site on a regular basis or - an ideal solution for you - sign up to its RSS. In such an easy way you will have your hand on the pulse of the latest info updates here. Blogging can be helpful, you just need to understand how to use it.

An active solar energy system is one in which to tap the energy from the sun use is made of an active or mechanical or even electronic system. As of now, the numbers of technologies available that deal with active solar energy systems have increased and in the process they have been constantly providing more efficient means of tapping the energy of the sun. What’s more, all these new technologies are helping to provide power that enables you to do a number of things including for heating and generating electricity.

Major Benefit

The major advantage that people get by opting for an active solar electricity system is that these systems help to provide more solar electricity saving and definitely much more than is the case with passive solar electricity systems. Naturally, to use an active solar power system you want to get a system that incorporates special technologies of which solar-thermal collectors and fans and pumps are good examples. These collectors can simply be mounted on fixed platforms to enable them to efficiently and correctly assign the energy which has been caught from the sun.

You can also derive numerous benefits from utilizing an active solar power system including those of having the ability to heat spaces and to heat water. Before purchasing an active solar power system you have to 1st do a feasibility study to determine whether this is the most suitable choice for your requirements and for the location where you intend to install such a system. You want to so conduct life-cycle costing research that may let you establish the up-front costs as well as operational costs of running such a system. Similarly , such research also permits you to know how much energy savings you’ll be in a position to affect compared to using typical systems.

Before installing the active solar energy system you must be sure that the climate around your city is conducive to using such systems. The more solar radiation that hits your active solar energy system’s solar panels the more likely it is that you will be able get more than sufficient power for your home.

At the least, by installing an active solar electricity system you get to offset heating power from standard systems for the whole life of your building and / or the life of your active solar electricity system. Additionally, you’ll get to save on costs of heating water that may be much less expensive for you when you use an active solar power system. Best of all, such a system guarantees that you and the world become less contingent on carbon-based fuels.

Before you consider installing solar panels, you may want to calculate the solar energy production in your region.  That will help you determine the efficiency of solar panels in generating electricity for your home or business.  You’ll also be able to determine how many solar panels you’ll need for your energy demands.

Efficiency of solar panels depends in part on the angle of their positioning, but perhaps more importantly, the amount of solar irradiation in your area.  Overall solar energy production is influenced by the number of clear, sunny days, but also latitude and longitude.

If you want to learn how to calculate solar energy production where you live or work, there are several methods of doing so.

Perhaps the easiest approach is to use the tools from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.  As stated on NREL’s PV Watts page:

The PVWatts calculator works by creating hour-by-hour performance simulations that provide estimated monthly and annual energy production in kilowatts and energy value. Users can select a location and choose to use default values or their own system parameters for size, electric cost, array type, tilt angle, and azimuth angle. In addition, the PVWatts calculator can provide hourly performance data for the selected location.

There are two versions of the NREL PVWatts calculator:

Version 1 allows users to select a location from a map or text list of pre-determined locations throughout the world. Version 2 allows users to select any location in the United States.

The calculations take into consideration several decades of recorded irradiance values.  You can pinpoint your area pretty well using its maps, which are developed based on local weather, sun angles and local microclimate cells.

We all know heat produces such a quantity of energy that there is no stopping the potential. There are two types of solar technology, the passive and the active solar energy. The difference between the two is simply in how the heat is harnessed.

Active Solar engineering uses (photovoltaic) panels, combined with solar thermal collectors, and then channeled through mechanical or electrical equipment to make solar power electricity. Skylights are the best example of the use of Passive Solar Power.

How do we get electricity from the sun? We all know what a “solar panel” is; solar panels take the the energy from the sun and convert it into an actual electrical current using the process of what we call the “photoelectric effect.” Intensified solar power produces an overwhelming amount of energy.

In this process, the sun is focused with several mirrors and lenses in order to focus and concentrate the energy of the beam. There are many technical advances that focus solar energy in such an intense quantity of power such as: the solar power tower, the solar trough, and the parabolic dish.

Is the conversion to solar economical? The main concern of the value of the solar power energy as a sustainable power is that no sun throughout the night. Modern times require a continuous supply of light, heat, power. We are so “plugged in” in today's society. One might suggest that solar power storage is feeble and not able to keep up with our needs. That is why storing of solar energy is a key so essential. Thermal storage systems can save solar energy, but can they save enough? Newer scientific discoveries additionally made the way for thermal mass storage systems which vary storage capacity and function by storing supplementary energy during off peak times and varying supply at peak consumption hours.

The rising expense of electricity, the unpredictable oil prices, and its degenerating source, have raised the demand of solar power for certain. The environmental wellbeing has impelled companies to create more affordable solar ability and sell it commercially. It's true that solar technology is rather expensive right now. Many trends, however are showing that it is in our future by default. Even in the Real Estate market, builders, contractors, and even home owners have incentive to “go green.” I don't see why this trend should dissipate as we are only getting better with the technology anyhow. I believe that in the next few years, the demand for solar technology will be far greater and the cost for it's conversion will go down.

By Daniel Saltman

NEWS JUNKIE POST

Nov 3, 2009

Freshman Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) just raked in half a million dollars on a non-election year money bomb. The fundraising effort was coordinated by ActBlue, and demonstrates the truth behind the ancient Latin proverb: fortune favors the bold.

“The Republican health care plan is simple: Don’t get sick. The Republicans also have a backup plan. If you do get sick, die quickly.”

Grayson recently became famous in American politics, particularly for his bold condemnation of Republican obstruction to health care reform. However, the first term Florida Democrat from the Orlando area  has also done important work fighting against Iraq War profiteering and fighting for transparency in the Federal Reserve.

His work in the Whistleblower Cases led a Wall Street Journal reporter to describe Grayson as “waging a one-man war against contractor fraud in Iraq.” Grayson’s direct style has come to the forefront during a couple hearings on Fed transparency,  including exchanges with Federal Reserve System Vice Chairman Donald Kohn and Elizabeth A. Coleman [video], the Inspector General for the Federal Reserve System. He is also one of the people behind the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, which would audit the Federal Reserve.

Despite the progress he has made, or perhaps because of it, he has gained a number of critics in the GOP, beltway, and media. Some opinion pieces have tried to cast Grayson as the left’s version of a wingnut like Michele Bachmann. There was an opinion piece in the New York Times that called him the ‘liberals problem child.’ However, his blunt manner seems to have revitalized the progressive movement, which had lost some steam since the inauguration of President Obama last January. While many seemed worried that the ideals of change and reform were losing out to pragmatism and appeasement, Grayson has energized the progressives that were instrumental in the 2006 and 2008 election victories for Democrats.

Grayson explained the reason for the money bomb on the Huffington Post:
“I became the Republican’s #1 target to defeat next year. D.C. election forecasters, like Charlie Cook, downgraded my re-election chances, which is a signal to corporate interests to go after me. And Bill O’Reilly began obsessing over me, even going as far as sending Fox News stalker specialist, Griff Jenkins, to wait outside my office all evening last Wednesday. I scare them. More accurately, you scare them. Progressives standing up for what we believe and not backing down when our beliefs get challenged.”

To this end, a new website has been set up.

The $500,000 raised in one day exceeded expectations and suggests that the progressive movement is still gaining ground. According to DownWithTyranny:
“In the 2006 cycle the candidate who attracted the most support from Blue America donors was Ned Lamont, with his campaign that served notice on the Democratic Establishment that the grassroots was unwilling to just eat up whatever crap it was served up from Inside the Beltway hacks. Blue America raised over $77,000 for him in our first year in action. The following cycle, saw another inspiring progressive primary challenger, Donna Edwards, attract the most donors and the largest amount (almost $65,000). It may be too early to tell but it looks like 2010 cycle will mark the year of Alan Grayson.”

There have been numerous criticisms of the Democrats over-eagerness to compromise for many years. However, the end result of Grayson’s money bomb might be to confirm the words of Basil King: “Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.” The current tally of the money bomb can be found below.

Having grown up going to the races with my dad, I knew a day at the Speedway would be beyond loud and that excited fans would cheer their fav drivers with a fervor akin to the defense of home and country. But, at that moment, amidst the deafening thunder as the cars streaked by in front of me, I did not know that what I was seeing had anything to do with NASCAR's ability to listen.

The fact is that NASCAR took the “checkered flag” for “B2C Listening,” a category in the 2009 Forrester Groundswell Awards in the Business to Consumer Division. By working with Vision Critical to create the NASCAR Fan Council - a community of 12,000 fans - they were able to triple the amount of research done and reduce those costs by 80%. Out of this B2C, or business to consumer, research came the suggestion by the Fan Council to allow the line-up for race restarts to be double-file instead of the traditional single-file.

NASCAR accepted this suggestion and, in an unprecedented move, implemented the change mid-season. As a spectator, I was thrilled to see the cars in a double line-up as they followed the pace car waiting for the caution to be lifted. It made the mood more intense, the roar louder, and left us as anxious as the drivers for the race to resume. As a fan, not on a council, I was glad NASCAR had been listening.