text:
It's all yours…
It's all yours…
If the Republican Party wishes to rebuild, it must first start with the resignation of ALL the various political chairmen.
If that doesn't happen, more GOP seats will be lost. And if you don't believe it just look at the election results over the past decade – the GOP is a mess and needs massive change and totally new leadership at every level.
nice call last night by irene that mcdonald-russo race might be a sleeper/upset for russo. it ended being much closer than expected.
just because a desperate candidate whispers some wishful thinking doesn't mean that it's worthy of repeating-even on the internet.
Good read for Republicasn that want to win:
Time for New Republican Leadership, Conservatives Say
According to Viguerie, Republicans will make a comeback only when they return to their conservative roots.
"That process starts with the replacement, with principled conservatives, of all of the Republicans' elected Congressional leaders, as well as most members of the Republican National Committee and most state party officials. It's time for new leaders, from top to bottom."
Article link: http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=38825
From the Saratogian Newspaper on the city court race:
"Dorsey, running on the GOP ticket, received his party's endorsement in February, over the current part-time City Court judge, James Doern, who decided not to contest a primary." JASPER NOLAN INTIMIDATED DOERN AND FORCED HIM OUT OF A PRIMARY RUN. HE DID THE SAME THING IN THE CONGRESSIONAL RACE, AND AGAIN HIS HAND PICKED CANDIDATE LOST.
In winning the election, Wait becomes one of only few Democrats to sit on the bench in the Capital Region. ANOTHER FEATHER IN THE CAP OF JASPER NOLAN, ALL THESE NEW "FIRSTS" MUST MAKE HIM A PROUD DEMOCRAT.
Skelos made a huge tactical error by valuing Brendan Quinn's advice over Matt Mahoney. Skelos and Mahoney (and Mondello) need to go in order to keep a viable Republican Party that can grow.
No doubt Jasper is making mistakes, here's an amusing irony:
Jasper Nolan tells Bob Wilcox to "disown" his own GOP town Board earlier in the year. Then Jasper directs Wilcox to knee cap Assembly campaign expert Adam Kramer and throws Kramer out of his leadership position on the Clifotn Park GOP committee.
Wilcox and Nolan spearhead the campaigns of Sandy Treadwell with disasterous results. Nolan loses a city court race as well.
Meanwhile, after they tell Kramer they don't need his help Kramer manages the successful Assembly campaigns of Amedore and Jordan.
Talk about lack of judgement, the Wilcox/Nolan team WON the prize for being idiots as they continue their practice of knee-capping successful political operatives while they themselves lose more races.
The Wilcox/Nolan team failures are not going unnoticed as those they throw overboard go on to be very successful in their campaigns. I can't wait until the local elections next year to watch team buffoon Nolan/Wilcox lose more races.
First off let me say how good it is to know the long, national nightmare is over and it's morning in America once again. Inauguration day can't come soon enough.
And then let me say to some folks, and you know who you are – that's PRESIDENT Messiah to you.
Honestly, the whole sad, silly thing of people on this blog calling Obama "The Messiah" was pretty pathetic in retrospect, mainly because you never heard any Dems calling him that, only Republicans. So really, it was YOU guys who saw him as a "messiah," the rest of us only saw him for what he was – the candidate that least resembled George W. Bush in any way, shape or form. Which is why he won and McCain lost. Although the fact that Obama is also brilliant and compassionate didn't hurt him at the polls, although I suppose those things also make him nothing like Bush. And there's the little thing about change…
And speaking of Bush, I hope everyone sees this election from the Presidency on down for what it was – A COMPLETE AND UTTER REPUDIATION OF GEORGE W. BUSH AND HIS ENTIRE 8 YEARS IN OFFICE. I mean really, I know everyone HATES Bush, but it really did me good to see just HOW MUCH everyone hates him. Seeing him oversee the loss of GOP control of Congress was breathtaking in its awesomeness, but seeing this utter rout of all things Republican was just ecstasy, such a true joy to behold. So long W, don't let the door hit you on the way out to the trash heap of history.
How about the Senate flip? Honestly, I didn't think it would happen, I figured the undead zombie GOP Senators would eat enough brains to survive Election Day, but thank Christ it was not to be. And by the look of things they are not done losing yet, Padavan may yet be forced back out. Here's hoping. Once again, I guess we all understimagated the dispopularity of President Bush. Pity…
And here's yet ANOTHER fantastic thing about the election, after Sarah Palin does the inevitable spread in Hustler WE WILL NEVER HAVE TO HEAR OF HER AGAIN!!!! Free at last I am free at last!!!!! Can you people imagine that she would have been one broken hip away from the presidency if McCain had gotten elected? Honestly, you GOP-ers didn't REALLY like her did you? Come on, not really, you just held your noses and talked a good game right? I mean come on, she was a joke right, nudge nudge wink wink…
It's all good…
#7- Actually Patty Hearst — I much preferred McCain-Palin over the community organizer(nudge nudge wink wink)and his foot in mouth hair-plugged botoxed side kick.
#6, I wish you would refer to that boob Wilcox by his peferred nickname; CARROT TOP
Wilcox also failed to contribute any meaningful assistance to the Treadwell campaign. Treadwell was openly disgusted with Carrot Tops lack of effort.
In an e-mail to his committee today Carrot Top said the losses were not the GOP's fault and they were to be congratulated for minimizing their losses. – Now that lack of personal responsibility is taking a page right out of the OLD one's playbook.
Next year Carrot Top can blame the losses of his endorsed candidates on the boogie man ; BOO
secretariat – The Richard Viguerie of whom you seem so enamored as the new messiah of conservatism, has a long and pecuniary relationship with Sun Myung Moon's Unification Cult. I suggest you search "Richard Viguerie/Sun Myung Moon" and see for yourself before you tie your wagon to someone who operates in consort with someone whose goal is the overthrow of the government of the United States, in-order to be supplanted by "divine rule" of the Cult's "True Father".
1. Our long national nightmare is (almost) over.
2. Jason, which Capital Region do you live in that has "few Democratic judges"?
3. Anyone heard from togaman lately–I'm getting a little worried?
It was a glorius, beautiful day.
The election results reflect the best of the American dream and ideals.
Beyond the chorus of celebrating shouts of joy outside White House last night, one could hear the clapping of approval at the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, and the Kennedy brothers graves.
Jefferson would applaud the revolutonary, transformational elements of Obama's victory.
( "Every generation needs a new revolution." – Thomas Jefferson)
TJ would like Obama's fusion of the internet, and grassroots organizing.
TJ, although a slave holder, would applaud the race transcendent Obama victory.
TJ would also like to see the grassroot rebelliion continue into Obama's presidency. The campaign poetry should now become governing elegant prose..
Lincoln would have liked the Obama victory…a symbol of the final transcendence of the Civil War legacy. He would admire Obama's victory speech…the call for unification of the races, and the blurring of the red-blue divide.
The Kennedy brothers were happy last night. JFK would explain that he ran to keep up with the southern civil rights movement, and declared segregation as a moral issue. He would also say he could only go so far, blocked the old southern segregationist Senate bulls. It took LBJ to bring the voting rights act to law, buidling the foundation for yesterday's record vote turnout.
RFK would say well done Obama. The positive programs of the 1960s have now reached their apex of
Well done, Mr. Barack. The journey ahead will be tough. The celebration outside the White House was both to celebrate your arrival and the departure of a long 8 year nightmare.
U.S. Stocks Post Biggest Post-Election Drop on Economic Concern
By Elizabeth Stanton
Enlarge Image/Details
Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) — The stock market posted its biggest plunge following a presidential election as reports on jobs and service industries stoked concern the economy will worsen even as President-elect Barack Obama tries to stimulate growth.
Elmer — and TUReader and Silverbrunogate (maybe wrong name) disappeared, too.
#6 Jason, that is hystercical.
Nolan and Wilcox give Adam Kramer the boot from the Clifton Park Republican Committee because he had the audacity to speak up about the collossally stupid move to disown the entire republican town board — you know, the board that has never had a town tax and created the first town tax rebate in the history of New York State.
Then, while Nolan and Wilcox are getting their annual butt-slamming on Election Day, Kramer goes out and wins his Assembly race by a freaking landslide. This is wet-your-pants kind of funny. But hey, at least Wilcox was able to muster up 3 or 4 morons to stand on the streets holding signs on election day. Yeah. That just about did it. Without them Treadwell would never have gotten to 38 percent.
As I saw in an earlier post today, Jasper Nolan's fingerprints are all over this Treadwell loss, including when he rigged the primary, making sure that no one got the chance to vote for anyone else. It is time to show this tired, narcissistic old man the door. He is utterly disgusting.
"Well done, Mr. Barack. The journey ahead will be tough. The celebration outside the White House was both to celebrate your arrival and the departure of a long 8 year nightmare."
Nice flag there, Komrade cannon.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
|New Revised Standard (NRS)
|New International Version (NIV)
|11 But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, "Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban' (that is, an offering to God )—
|11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God),
|New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. (New Revised Standard Bible Version Online)
|Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online)


text:
WIP: DB Global Government ex-US Inflation-Linked Bond Capped ETF (WIP) has a description that might take some time get out of your mouth. The bottom line, like TIP, it gives you exposure to both developed and emerging market bonds from outside the U.S. The ETF was launched by State Street in March 2003. It has a relatively high expense ratio of .50%, AUM of $1.35B and average daily trading volume of 163K shares.
The current yield as of May 2011 is a little more than 2% and 1-year performance is a whopping 17.28%. Much of this success is due to more realistic inflation measurements away from the U.S. and we must remember inflation data in emerging markets is high, allowing for better adjustments.
Data as of May 2011
WIP Top Ten Holdings & Weightings
United Kingdom 1.44962%: 6.92%
Government of France 2.56835%: 5.23%
Government of Japan 1.0857%: 4.63%
Government of France 1.07943%: 4.19%
United Kingdom 2.05188%: 3.65%
Republic of Turkey 9.86678%: 3.17%
Government of France 1.78968%: 3.05%
Federal Republic of Germany 1.64%: 3.04%
United Mexican States 5%: 2.82%
Republic of Italy 2.79903%: 2.78%
Select the service that is right for you!COMPARE ALL SERVICES
Action Alerts PLUSTry it NOW
Jim Cramer and Stephanie Link actively manage a real portfolio and reveal their money management tactics while giving advanced notice before every trade.
Product Features:
- $2.5+ million portfolio
- Large-cap and dividend focus
- Intraday trade alerts from Cramer
- Weekly roundups
TheStreet Quant RatingsTry it NOW
Only $49.95/yr
Access the tool that DOMINATES the Russell 2000 and the S&P 500.
Product Features:
- Buy, hold, or sell recommendations for over 4,300 stocks
- Unlimited research reports on your favorite stocks
- A custom stock screener
- Upgrade/downgrade alerts
Stocks Under $10Try it NOW
David Peltier, uncovers low dollar stocks with extraordinary upside potential that are flying under Wall Street's radar.
Product Features:
- Model portfolio
- Stocks trading below $10
- Intraday trade alerts
- Weekly roundups
Dividend Stock AdvisorTry it NOW
Jim Cramer's protege, David Peltier, identifies the best of breed dividend stocks that will pay a reliable AND significant income stream.
Product Features:
- Diversified model portfolio of dividend stocks
- Alerts when market news affect the portfolio
- Bi-weekly updates with exact steps to take - BUY, HOLD, SELL
Real Money ProTry it NOW
All of Real Money, plus 15 more of Wall Street's sharpest minds delivering actionable trading ideas, a comprehensive look at the market, and fundamental and technical analysis.
Product Features:
- Real Money + Doug Kass Plus 15 more Wall Street Pros
- Intraday commentary & news
- Ultra-actionable trading ideas
Options ProfitsTry it NOW
Our options trading pros provide daily market commentary and over 100 monthly option trading ideas and strategies to help you become a well-seasoned trader.
Product Features:
- 100+ monthly options trading ideas
- Actionable options commentary & news
- Real-time trading community
- Options TV


text:
GuyXXXLast Seen: >3mo
GuyXXX (Age: 18 to 24). He has been a member since 5/14/2010.Follow
- Country: Italy
Sign In to view details
Activity Summary
0 % Most Helpful 0 out of 8
- Xper Level 2 Xper
- Xper Points 200
- All Time Xper Rank +1,000
- All Time Xper Rank (Guys) +1,000
- Total Question(s) 1
- Total Opinion(s) 8
- Following 1
- Followers 1
Recent Activity
Commented on an opinion: What's a good gift?
Yeah, but flowers die eventually, I wanted something that lasted.
Asked a question: What's a good gift?
Hey, me and my girlfriend have been going out for 3 months, we are both almost 16 and she always...
Shared opinion: Should I tell my best friend that I like him?
OMG, you remind me of me (: I was in the exact same situation 4 months ago. And now I'm very...
Shared opinion: Black girls?
I'm white and I'm dating a black girl. One word, amazing. I've never felt so at home, when we...
Shared opinion: GUYS: Do good guys really not realize they looked at another woman?
My personal opinion, is that all guys want to seem like they "respect" girls. But He is definitely...


text:
2012-04-26 / Sports
CHS Softball Defeats Duggar Bulldogs, 9-5
Cloverdale's varsity and junior varsity softball squads went up against the Duggar Lady Bulldogs on Saturday and returned with a pair of wins.
The full version of this story is only available to online subscribers.
© 2009-2014 Spencer Evening World, Inc.
No commercial reproduction without written consent.
Electronic reproduction of any kind forbidden without written consent.


text:
Advanced Search
Funding, Grants & Awards | News
A new grant program by EPS, School Specialty's literacy and intervention division, will offer school districts funding toward software to support Response to Intervention programs.
Called the EPS RTI grant program, the initiative will provide selected applicants with:
To apply for funding, districts should submit a proposal with a detailed description of a planned or current RTI program in reading or math, along with a statement of need, timeline, and evaluation procedures.
EPS provides print, online, and blended RTI materials, including the web-based Academy of Reading and Academy of Math programs. According to information released by the company, those programs meet the efficacy quality standards for research set out by the U.S. Department of Education What Works Clearinghouse, which uses research to help schools vet educational materials.
Application forms, guidelines, and additional information is available online.
About the Author
Stephen Noonoo is a contributing editor. He is on Twitter @stephenoonoo. Follow @stephenoonoo
All Webcasts
Success in a 1-to-1 environment depends on strong leaders who build a culture of innovation and collaboration. Learn the key things that you need to know for a successful 1-to-1 rollout at your school.
Read more...
All Whitepapers
If you have comments or questions about our magazine features or stories, please e-mail the editorial staff at email@example.com. If you have any comments or questions about content found on this Web site, please e-mail David Nagel at email@example.com. If you have any comments or questions about subscriptions, please e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com. Links to additional editorial, sales, and publishing contacts can be found here.
Contact the webmaster: [+] Site Feedback [+]
THE Journal | FETC | FETC Virtual Conference
Campus Technology | CT Summer Conference | CT Forum Conference | CT Leadership Symposium
©1994-2014 1105 Media Inc, Ed-Tech Group. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use


text:
Daniel Markham's Pretty Bitchin'
By Kelly Dearmore
Americans Under 30 the Most Cynical Bunch Ever
By Jim Schutze
13 of the Best Female-Fronted Bands in DFW
By Rachel Watts
Your Baseball Season Guide to Pre- and Post-Game Eats...
By Lauren Drewes Daniels
The Bizarre Life and Troubling Death of DarkSide
By Anna Merlan
The Ten Most Badass Band Names in DFW
By Lee Escobedo
The Cheap Bastard Guide to Dallas
By Alice Laussade
Before the likes of A.Dd+, Sore Losers, Killa M.C. and The Mohicans each started staking their claims as the would-be torchbearers of the Dallas hipster-hop scene, there were Damaged Good$, an off-the-wall duo backed by insanely inventive, electronica-indebted beats. Seems like forever ago, but, alas, it was just in 2009 when the band released their Hello World debut with the help of London producer Xrabit, who'd discovered Coool Dundee and Theodore Beard while looking for Southern hip-hop greatness on MySpace. A year later came the locally produced, mellower-in-vibe follow-up, $pread Luv Not Germ$, which saw the twosome combining their strong scene presence with a more heart-warming spirit, as all shows promoting the free mixtape served as benefits for local charities.
Then? Well, nothing. For a while there, Dundee and Beard were missing in action — until, out of nowhere, comes this latest mixtape, which finds Dundee sans his more energetic but less lyrically gifted co-pilot. As such, Kickin Teef is quite the change of pace, with Dundee's deep vocals solely dominating the mix.
But that's hardly the only difference at play on this mostly disappointing sonic diversion from Damaged Good$' massively endearing, happy-go-lucky attitude. Instead, the listener is force-fed an Odd Future aesthetic this time.
East London-based producer Bollywood Cole's production is interesting enough. It's sparse, dark and dreary, with some chopped and screwed elements tossed in. Meanwhile, Dundee's verses remain as clever as ever. But the stated mission at play — to stand out from the wannabe Outkast crowd, as Dundee explains on "FORTHEIDONTGIVEAFCKS" — is a flop, given the obvious trend-hopping in which Dundee, previously a rather inventive performer, is now partaking.
Sponsor Content


text:
- Critic & User
- Videos &
- Codes
& FAQs
- Gameplay
- Similar
Videos & Screenshots
Game Details
- Release Date 11/18/2013
- Publisher Majesco
- Platform Xbox One
- Genre Music/Dance
- Number of Players 2
- Online Enabled Yes
Game Description
Zumba Fitness World Party never sacrifices the fun for the fitness. It features hip-shakin' dance styles from around the world including Salsa, Hip-Hop, Tahitian, and Irish Step, plus new additions like Plena, Blues, Capoeira and Girly Funk. The New World Tour Mode unlocks songs from seven global destinations, exposing you to authentic customs, local rhythms, and native dance styles. With motivational rewards like videos and postcards, a progress tracker for your calories and weight, and fully customizable goals and workouts, Zumba Fitness World Party is so much fun - you may get fit without even realizing it! The Xbox One version supports a two-player co-op mode.
User Reviews
Average Member Rating: 5.6 out of 10
I can't believe i was suckered into this. (1 out of 10)
posted by phatso86 (WEST PALM BEACH, FL) on Feb 26, 2014
Member since Feb 2014
1 out of 2 gamers (50%) found this review helpful
Member since Feb 2014
1 out of 2 gamers (50%) found this review helpful
I played another version on the 360. I didnt like it too much but i know my mom loves going to zumba. I figured this was a major upgrade seeing how its on a much newer system Dead wrong. who in their right minds would buy this instead of getting a real dance game like Dance Central? Maybe ...more
Specs & Requirements
Memory 40 GB
Online Features Leaderboards, Xbox LIVE Family Settings, Achievements
Modes MultiPlayer Co-Op, Multiplayer, Free Play, Tutorial
Controllers Xbox One Kinect Required
Kinect Features Kinect Sensor Required, Voice Enabled, Players 1-2
Similar Games
- Batman: Arkham KnightRelease 6/2/2015
- Transformers: Rise of the Dark SparkRelease 6/23/2014
- Sniper Elite IIIRelease 6/30/2014


text:
Loading stream...
Now Playing
Connect with Us
HPPR hosts & contributors
Music Director and High Plains Morning Host
Western Swing & Other Things Host & Producer
Producer and host of High Plains History and Growing on the High Plains
Regional Programming Director
Open Range and High Plains Saturday Night Host
Silver Rails co-host
Silver Rails co-host
Friday Night Blues host
Operations Coordinator and Amarillo Symphony Presents host
Podcasts & RSS Feeds
|All Content
|View all podcasts & RSS feeds
Strange News
1:35 am
Wed June 13, 2012
Director Boyle Unveils Pastoral Olympics Opener
By editor
Originally published on Wed June 13, 2012 2:00 am
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. The opening ceremony of the London Olympics will be something of a departure from director Danny Boyle's other productions, like the colorful and gritty "Slum Dog Millionaire." Yesterday, Boyle unveiled his design for the big Olympic opener and it will include a real pastoral experience. His vision of rural Britain includes giant maypoles, live grass, plows, sheep and, of course, clouds, which Boyle promises will really rain. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.


text:
As featured in the New York Times' Tips for Travel Savings in 2014, CBS and NBC 12, here's our step-by-step guide explaining how to take a nearly free family trip to Walt Disney World using travel rewards points!
We're traveling from Richmond, VA to Orlando but if you're reading this from anywhere else in the US, the only difference will be the airline tickets, which you can still get using our method if you fly Southwest, United, American Airlines or US Airways.
To make this trip happen, we had to open some specific credit cards and use them for our regular spending in order to earn the significant signup bonuses that are offered with those cards. Laura and I are both CPAs, so being financially responsible is essential to us and we thoroughly researched this before getting started.
Since we pay our credit cards on time and in full every month we felt very confident that this strategy of opening credit cards to earn targeted signup bonuses would save us thousands of dollars on our family Disney vacation and it worked out great!
If you want some personalized help making this trip a reality for your family, sign up for our free one-on-one travel rewards coaching by clicking here:
Walt Disney World Hotel:
The Disney Swan and Disney Dolphin hotels right on-site at Epcot are actually part of the Starwood chain of hotels, so you can use your Starpoints to book these hotels. You will only be responsible for a small 'resort fee' each day but the room is entirely free otherwise.
Using points you're still able enjoy many of the perks of being at a "Disney hotel" such as free transportation between parks and extra "Magic Hours" where the park is only available to guests of Disney resorts.
The Swan and Dolphin are Category 4 hotels, so they require 10,000 SPG points per night. At this redemption level they have a '5th Night Free' option, so when you book for five nights you only need 40,000 Starpoints.
Each of you will need to apply for a Starwood Preferred Guest American Express credit card. We suggest making the other spouse an "authorized user" on each account, so each spouse will get a card for their own account and one for their spouse's account.
The current sign-up bonus is 25,000 Starpoints. You get 10,000 Starpoints awarded after the first purchase, and an additional 15,000 Starpoints after spending $5,000 (of your regular spending) in the first six months the account is open. $65 annual fee waived the first year.
The best way to get to 40,000 total points is:
- Starwood Amex Account #1: Make initial purchase to earn 10,000 point bonus. Spend $5,000 on this card to earn final 15,000 bonus plus 5,000 points for the $5,000 spending. Total points on this account = 30,000 Starpoints
- Starwood Amex Account #2: Make initial purchase to earn 10,000 point bonus. Total points on this account = 10,000 Starpoints
We certainly recommend you attempt to spend $5,000 on account #2 in order to qualify for the last 15,000 bonus points. Starpoints are quite valuable and you'll want these for a free night redemption someday, or you might even want to add an extra two days to this Disney trip.
Transfer Starpoints: One of your accounts will now have 30,000 points and one will have 10,000, so you need to combine them for the 40,000 necessary in one account to earn the 5th Night Free promotion. First you'll need your SPG account number for both accounts and then login to one of your Starwood Preferred Guest accounts and then click "My Account" at the top. In the area labeled "Starpoints Awards", click on Redeem/Transfer Starpoints. At the bottom there's an option to "Transfer to Another Member." Here's what it looks like: You'll want to transfer all your points to the other account, so you have at least 40,000 in one account. This transfer takes 3-5 business days per their website. After these days have passed, login online to the account that received the transfer and you can book either the Swan or the Dolphin! When you set a booking for five nights, it will automatically apply the 5th Night Free and will ask for payment of 40,000 Starpoints. If a Starwood hotel room is available for cash, it is available for points, so there are no blackout dates!
Airline Tickets to Disney World:
Southwest Airlines flies direct from Richmond to Orlando, which was ideal for our trip. We were able to open a Southwest credit card that gave us a big bonus of Southwest points to book these flights. For many people out there, the best way to get your flights will be to open a Chase credit card that awards Chase Ultimate Rewards points. These can then be transferred to your account at Southwest, United or British Airways (often the best way to fly American Airlines and US Airways in the US because of the distance-based award system).
Chase credit cards such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Ink Plus Business offer bonuses in the form of Chase Ultimate Rewards points. These are incredibly valuable since you can transfer these points to their rewards partners such as United, Southwest, British Airways (top value by booking on American and US Airways flights), Hyatt Hotels, and a handful of others.
After you've earned these points, you'll log into your Chase credit card website and go to the Ultimate Rewards section. You will see a menu option that says, "Transfer Points to Travel Partners." At that screen you'll just pick your transfer partner and enter your frequent flyer mile account number at either Southwest, United or British Airways (for American or US Airways flights) and transfer the necessary points. You then book the flights through your account at the airline frequent flyer program like you normally would.
A great benefit of the Chase UR transfers is that you can send the points to your spouse's frequent flyer account to pool all the points together for one reward booking (so you can all sit together on the flight).
Southwest has no blackout dates and the award tickets are based on how much the flights cost, so this was a simple program for us to use.
Using any of the other airline rewards programs you should be able to get a family of four to Orlando from the continental US for 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points as it normally costs 25,000 miles for a round-trip in the US.
American Express also has their transferable point system called Membership Rewards, and you can get their points from a card such as the American Express Platinum Card or American Express Gold Card. These MR points transfer to British Airways, among many other airline options.
If you could use some one-one-one assistance, sign up for our completely free (no gimmicks!) Travel Rewards Coaching program and we'll help you get started.
Walt Disney World Tickets:
There are no specific rewards cards to earn Disney park tickets, but we found a way to earn credit card bonuses to cover the vast majority of the expense of the Disney park tickets.
The Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® is one of the top travel cards and in fact it was named to the "Best for Travel Rewards" list by Money Magazine in their October 2013 issue. Click here to apply for the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®
The current offer is 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on the card in the first 90 days of account opening. $89 annual fee is waived the first year. These points are good for a $400 travel statement credit for travel expenses paid for using the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®.
You also earn 2x points for all spending, so an additional 6,000 points for your $3,000 minimum, brings you to 46,000 points which is worth $460 of statement credits. You also get a 10% dividend on miles redeemed for travel expenses, so this is another $46 bring to the total value of this bonus to over $500!
If you and your partner each open one of these cards your family will have at least $1,000 in total statement credits available for travel. You would then want to each purchase some of your family's Disney tickets on each card, so you can redeem the bonus points for statement credits on each credit card account (up to roughly $1,000 off in total by splitting the expenses this way across the two cards).
It is important to note that you only get a full-value statement credit when redeeming these points for travel-related expenses (you get 1/2 value if you decided to redeem for non-travel expenses so the bonus would only be worth $200 in this case). We advise that you put at least one ticket on each credit card account so you can redeem the miles on that account to effectively "erase" this ticket expense.
Barclays is very specific about what counts as "travel" to be reimbursed as a statement credit when redeeming their miles. Their fine print says it is good to "pay for travel" in the following categories: "airlines, travel agencies & tour operators, hotels, motels & resorts, cruise lines, passenger railways and car rental agencies."
Barclays cannot confirm for us if you can buy Disney tickets directly from Disney and get the statement credit. However, our top choice to purchase official Disney park tickets is UndercoverTourist.com and we have already purchased Disney World tickets through them and have received the reimbursement from the Barclaycard Arrival miles, so we know this works.
Undercover Tourist is highly recommended by MouseSavers.com and the famous Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, so we know they are reputable and are an authorized official seller of Walt Disney World Tickets.
They also do not charge a shipping cost, so you are able to split your ticket purchase over multiple credit cards and it won't cost you any additional money.
Transportation tip: If you want to save some money on your trips to and from the Orlando Airport, you could use the ridesharing companies Uber and Lyft instead of renting a car:
Uber: New Uber passengers get $20 off their first ride when they sign up using this link: https://www.uber.com/invite/
Lyft: New Lyft Passengers get $25 off their first ride when they sign up using this link: https://www.lyft.com/invited/
So there you have it, nearly a free trip for a family of four to Walt Disney World for five nights at the luxury Swan or Dolphin hotels, airfare and park tickets. You will have to pay a small amount for the hotel resort fee and, depending on the length of your visit, you might have to spend a few hundred dollars more on park tickets, but this method will easily save you thousands of dollars!
Please note that you do not want to open all these cards at once unless you think you can meet the minimum spending requirements in the appropriate bonus time span. Otherwise you want to open one at a time, fulfill the spending requirements and then open the next card.
You will want to book this trip a number of months in advance, so depending on your monthly spending levels, you probably want to start this strategy a full 12-18 months prior to your anticipated trip
Sign up for our completely FREE one-on-one Travel Rewards Coaching program and we'll personally work with you to make this Disney trip a reality for your family!


text:
The last days of Sons of Anarchy begin with a state-of-the-union montage set to a melancholy cover of the Association's ''Never My Love.'' A swastika is cut into a chest. Teeth are pulled. A message is sent: Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam), grief-jacked outlaw, means business. The premiere ends with another montage and another act of violence that is disturbing, not just for its brutality (though it's ridiculously brutal) but because the perpetrator couldn't be more wrong about the things he thinks he's accomplishing. Justice. Catharsis. Satisfaction. In between bloody bookends, Jax renounces the theme that underpins so many antihero sagas: redemption. There will be no bid to ''buy back all the bad s--- I have done,'' he tells his biker brethren. ''That's a false pardon. It's dangerous, and it's selfish.''
And so Sons revs its engine and sets off toward the sunset bent on raising hell and going to hell. The premise promises Shakespearean tragedy writ pulpy. Jaxmad to the max over the murder of his wife, Tararips into a vengeance quest that threatens cataclysmic gang war. His wanting to reclaim SAMCRO's badass soul electrifies his MC family, including Lady Macbeth-ish materfamiliasand Tara's true killerGemma (Katey Sagal), who, naturally, sees no benefit in enlightening her son. Jax living out his ignorance with wanton abandon and Gemma living out her rationalized deceits drive the season and put them on a collision course. ''I don't have a vision anymore,'' he says in a later episode. ''All I see is what's right in front of me.'' He's flying blind and doesn't know it.
But we do. And what's frustrating about the early part of the season is that it keeps you waiting for its juicy ironies to be properly squeezed. The story sputters with repetitive scenarios (tedious sit-downs to negotiate truces, dull missions to secure loyalties)endgame prepping that feels like endgame stalling. Gemma's side of the saga should be more interesting. Her machinations are largely limited to keeping Juice (Theo Rossi), a Man-Child Who Knows Too Much, hidden. Something powerful is developing with Unser (Dayton Callie), who is determined to suss out the truth of Tara's murder, but again, it's a slow build.
Despite some sly touches (Marilyn Manson as a neo-Nazi creep), a somber tone permeates, perhaps too much. With only suffering or smoldering emotions to play, the actors struggle to keep things lively. The too-square style fails to express the tortured internal lives of the characters; a touch of the surrealism or subjective storytelling that the likes of Hannibal and The Leftovers (over)indulge in might help. Sons of Anarchy could be the antihero drama to end all antihero dramas, but it'll have to shift into some new gears to go out in the blaze of ingloriousness it deserves. B-


text:
The Westin Long Beach
The Westin Long Beach in Long Beach
The Westin Long Beach
Hotel Guest Rating: 8.3/10
333 East Ocean Boulevard
Long Beach, CA 90802
Welcome to the The Westin Long Beach
A downtown location, plush beds and a heated outdoor pool are some of the perks our guests like at the non-smoking Westin Long Beach.
Hotel Features
This pet-friendly hotel has 16 floors and 469 rooms. Guests can kick back in comfort on a plush pillowtop mattress and fluffy pillows. Rooms also include coffeemakers, wet bars and designer bath amenities. If you're feeling peckish, you can follow savory scents to the on-site restaurant for contemporary American cuisine. You can work your muscles in the state-of-the-art fitness center or exercise your typing fingers in the business center. Afterwards, guests can swim some laps in the heated outdoor pool (open seasonally) or soak in the soothing hot tub. Valet and self-parking are available for a fee.
Hotel Location
The Westin Long Beach is conveniently situated in the downtown area, just one mile from I-710. You can come eye-to-tooth with sharks at the Aquarium of the Pacific, one mile away. Guests can experience history and, perhaps, see a ghost at the Queen Mary, a historic retired ocean liner that's two miles away. Dip your toes in the sand and surf at the nearby beach, just one mile away. The hotel is seven miles from Long Beach Airport, 23 miles from John Wayne Airport and 22 miles from Los Angeles International Airport.
Guest Favorites
Priceline guests dig the convenient location "smack in the middle of everything," "spacious rooms" and "beautiful bathrooms" at the Westin, "a true treasure of Long Beach."
The Westin Long Beach Amenities
- 24-hour front desk
- Accessible facilities
- Accessible room
- Air conditioning
- Baggage hold
- Business center
- Cable television
- Concierge desk
- Concierge floor
- Fitness center on-site
- Hairdryer
- Heated pool
- Iron
- Ironing board
- Jacuzzi
- Lounges/bars
- Non-smoking
- Outdoor pool
- Parking
- Pay per view movies on TV
- Pet amenities available
- Pets allowed
- Restaurant
- Room service
- Safe deposit box
- Tour/sightseeing desk
- Valet parking
- Video checkout
- Voice mail
- Wakeup service
- Wheel chair access
Hotel Information
You must show a valid photo ID and credit card upon check-in. Please note that all special requests cannot be guaranteed and are subject to availability upon check-in. Additional charges may apply.Please note: Guests are responsible for all incidental charges which include overnight parking. Please be prepared to provide a cash deposit, debit card or major credit card. Guests are required to show a photo identification and credit card upon check-in. Please note that all Special Requests are subject to availability and additional charges may apply.
Hotel Guest Reviews of the The Westin Long BeachOur hotel ratings and reviews are from real hotel guests. Priceline.com ensures that its reviews are guests-only by proactively sending hotel surveys to customers after they've completed their hotel stays. In the post-stay surveys, priceline.com hotel customers are asked a number of questions about their stay and the hotel. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best, the survey asks guests to rate their overall experience and specifically rate the hotel's cleanliness, staff and location. Priceline.com does not allow site visitors to post unsolicited hotel reviews.
December 11, 2014
December 11, 2014
December 9, 2014
The name makes it seem like it is going to be a good hotel but we were seriously disappointed. Supposedly had 4 stars. It did not seem like it was anywhere near that.
November 28, 2014
Family Traveling with Teens
November 22, 2014
November 14, 2014
Group Traveler
This guest did not leave comments about this hotel.
November 13, 2014
November 13, 2014
Solo Traveler
I was disapointed with the hotel. It was rated a 4 star and it was not that nice. The rooms were mediocre and there was a smell. The restaurant and bar were disapointing and the pool area was horrific. Won't stay there again.
November 3, 2014
This guest did not leave comments about this hotel.
October 22, 2014
(1 - 10 of 200 reviews)
- Best Western Plus Hotel At The Convention Center from $87 (0.2mi)
- Courtyard By Marriott Long Beach Downtown from $149 (0.2mi)
- Renaissance Long Beach Hotel from $252 (0.2mi)
- Rodeway Inn Long Beach from $89 (0.2mi)
- Travelodge Long Beach Convention Center from $101 (0.2mi)
- Sky Room (0.1mi)
- 555 East (0.2mi)
- Alegria (0.2mi)
- Auld Dubliner, The (0.2mi)
- Blue Cafe (0.2mi)
- Aquarium of the Pacific (0.4mi)
- Wilmington, CA (6.2 mi)
- Seal Beach, CA (7.0 mi)
- San Pedro, CA (8.2 mi)
- Harbor City, CA (8.7 mi)
- Los Alamitos, CA (9.6 mi)
- Sunset Beach, CA (9.7 mi)
- Compton, CA (9.9 mi)
- Lomita, CA (10.0 mi)
- Carson, CA (10.1 mi)
- Hawaiian Gardens, CA (10.5 mi)
- Lynwood, CA (11.6 mi)
- Bellflower, CA (11.7 mi)
- Artesia, CA (12.3 mi)
- Cypress, CA (12.5 mi)
- Westminster, CA (12.8 mi)
- Cerritos, CA (12.9 mi)
- La Palma, CA (13.3 mi)
- South Gate, CA (13.3 mi)
- Torrance, CA (13.6 mi)
- Downey, CA (14.2 mi)
- Gardena, CA (14.5 mi)
- Norwalk, CA (14.8 mi)
- Bell, CA (15.1 mi)
- Stanton, CA (15.1 mi)
- Huntington Park, CA (15.3 mi)
- Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (15.9 mi)
- Huntington Beach, CA (16.3 mi)
- Lawndale, CA (16.5 mi)
- Redondo Beach, CA (17.3 mi)
- Santa Fe Springs, CA (17.4 mi)
- Garden Grove, CA (17.6 mi)
- Fountain Valley, CA (17.6 mi)
- Buena Park, CA (17.9 mi)
- Pico Rivera, CA (18.2 mi)
- Hermosa Beach, CA (18.3 mi)
- Hawthorne, CA (18.5 mi)
- Manhattan Beach, CA (20.0 mi)
- Montebello, CA (20.0 mi)
- La Mirada, CA (20.2 mi)
- Anaheim, CA (21.5 mi)
- Inglewood, CA (21.6 mi)
- Newport Beach, CA (22.0 mi)
- Whittier, CA (22.1 mi)
- El Segundo, CA (22.3 mi)
- Monterey Park, CA (22.6 mi)
- Santa Ana, CA (22.7 mi)
- Costa Mesa, CA (22.8 mi)
- Fullerton, CA (22.9 mi)
- Los Angeles, CA (24.0 mi)
- La Habra, CA (24.5 mi)
- Alhambra, CA (24.6 mi)
- South El Monte, CA (24.7 mi)
- Playa Del Rey, CA (25.1 mi)
- Tustin, CA (25.6 mi)
- San Gabriel, CA (25.8 mi)
- Rosemead, CA (25.9 mi)
- Hacienda Heights, CA (25.9 mi)
- Placentia, CA (26.2 mi)
- Brea, CA (26.4 mi)
- El Monte, CA (26.6 mi)
- Marina del Rey, CA (26.7 mi)
- Irvine, CA (27.3 mi)
- Culver City, CA (27.7 mi)
- Glendale, CA (27.8 mi)
- Pasadena, CA (28.3 mi)
- La Puente, CA (28.4 mi)
- Temple City, CA (28.5 mi)
- Venice, CA (28.7 mi)
- Rowland Heights, CA (29.6 mi)
Most Popular Guest-Rated Hotels in Long Beach
Most Popular Business-Friendly Hotels in Long Beach
Most Popular Romantic Hotels in Long Beach
Most Popular Family-Friendly Hotels in Long Beach
- Residence Inn By Marriott Long Beach
- Residence Inn Long Beach Downtown
- Best Western Golden Sails Hotel


text:
Senior Member
I'm tired of getting games where I lose 14 or gain 11.
I KNOW there's an even chance but I'd rather not have that chance and just gain/lose +12/13.
Sometimes, people aren't even duoing and this stuff happens.
I mean why would matchmaking fix together players with this much difference?
The Elos are usually like 1680s against 1720s.
Not even a big difference but the gain/loss can margin up to 3 points.
Is there an explanation? Because I know people aren't duoing when this happens.
I agree ranked elo gain/lose should be more consistent. It makes no sense when you win a game and lose a game you can end up being lower than when you started. A friend the other day played 4 games of ranked starting at 1410 won 2 lost 2 and went to 1408. (+11 in the wins -12 in the losses)
Yeah, this is stupid, I lost 14 two games and got 11 two games... I'm down half a game now... Wow.
This just recently started happening to me.. seems kind of ridiculous. Lost 14 two games in a row and gained 11 the next two games. Like really?
Past few months before this month i only ever gained or lost 12 or 13. Kind of annoying. Duos need to gtfo of my solo games.
© 2014 Riot Games, Inc. All rights reserved. Riot Games, League of Legends and PvP.net are trademarks, services marks, or registered trademarks of Riot Games, Inc.


text:
Events at mothers' club
Join us for our 4th Annual Fall Food & Wine Festival!
Saturday, October 18, 2014 at 7pm
Mothers' Club Family Learning Center
980 N. Fair Oaks Ave.,
Pasadena 91103
With a ticket price of just $100, the "tasting party" will feature unlimited food and beverage provided by Pasadena's diverse restaurants and businesses. Come eat and drink the night away while enjoying the silent auction, live music, and photo booth!
Sponsorship and ticket package opportunities available
Master of Ceremonies:
Jim Babcock
Director, Internal Communications
Disney Consumer Products
Live Music:
Jennifer Dyer & Friends
Wine Provided by:
Beer Provided by:
Ridgeview Brewing
Participating Restaurants Include:
Thank You To Our Sponsors:
Interested in supporting in other ways?
Click the links below for more information:
Event Sponsors
Restaurant Participants
Silent Auction Donations
For questions, contact Lara at 626.792.2687 ext.112 or firstname.lastname@example.com
To sign up for our monthly newsletter: [click here]
Mothers' Club Learning Center I 980 North Fair Oaks Avenue Pasadena, CA 91103 I 626-792-2687 I email@example.com


text:
- News
- Local
- Sports
- Business
- Politics
- Opinion
- Lifestyle
- Entertainment
- Obituaries
- Classifieds
- Autos
- Housing
- Jobs
A man struck by a Metro Transit bus in downtown Minneapolis Tuesday night has been released from the hospital, a spokesman for the agency said.
The man was conscious when he was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center after he was hit and knocked down about 8:30 p.m. in the intersection of 2nd and Washington Avenues N., said John Siqveland, a Metro Transit spokesman.
The bus driver and nine passengers, including at least one child, also were taken to the hospital after they complained of neck and back pain suffered when the bus stopped quickly, Siqveland said.
The driver will undergo drug and alcohol testing as required in such cases. The accident is being investigated.
Mary Lynn Smith


text:
|Quest Alumni
In 2014, nearly 1,000 Quest Scholars graduated from our 35 partner colleges, joining the ranks of thousands of other outstanding Quest alumni across the country.
Thank you to the Quest Alumni who filled out our Alumni Association Survey. We will be running our Amazon gift card raffle soon!
Our Quest Alumni have secured employment at incredible organizations such as: Bain, Bank of America, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Dow Chemical, Edmodo, Epic Systems Corporation, Ernst & Young, Exeter Group, GE Capital, Google, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, JP Morgan, Kaiser Permanente, McLean Hospital, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Pepsi, Teach for America, The New England Center for Children, The Vanguard Group, and have secured fellowships or research positions at excellent institutions such as Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospital, Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, National Institute of Health, Princeton University, University of Southern California, and Yale University. We also have a growing list of Fulbright Scholars, Watson Fellows, Presidential Scholars, and Luce Scholars.
Help us develop the Quest Alumni Association!
To foster dynamic communities around the world of Quest Scholars who have graduated from QuestBridge partner colleges, and to promote interaction between these alumni and Quest Scholar undergraduates.


text:
that when he was driving it home it appeared to overheat and just die on him. Does this vehicle have the auto kill switch that kills the motor if it becomes overheated? I was told this car has been sitting for 3-4 years butt only has 84,000 miles on it and is overall in excellent condition. Please advise as quickly as possible. Thank You in advance.
View questions for:All Lincoln
1993 Lincoln Continental
Lincoln Q&AAsk Your Question
1993 Lincoln Continental Question: I'm buying a 1993 Lincoln Designer Series with a 302 and the individual states
trader, Drexel, MO, February 05, 2012, 09:53
0 Answers
Answer Ranks
This week's top 10
|1 CharlesAutomotive
|6 Hal...
|2 pushrod
|7 lordwoton
|3 ziptie12
|8 IamSteve
|4 globalhelper
|9 stasho
|5 csubak30
|10 giggity212


text:
I took a train up to Halifax to write about Canada. I thought Canada would be good for me. Get me out of my slump, which had been going on for more than a year now. But it rained a lot for three days, and I wound up sitting in a bar and drinking Rusty Nails with a Canadian who had a grudge against the United States. I fell into bed like a boxful of hammers and woke up at noon with this great idea, and got on the train to go back to New York and sat in my compartment and wrote a gorgeous broadside against Our Neighbors to the North and said what every American has wanted to say for the past hundred years about Canadian independence—Oh, get off it—and in Portland, Maine, the train stopped and I got off and walked around and used the men's room in the depot and there, in the excitement of creation, I left the manuscript on a ledge next to the urinal and walked to the train and the conductor said, "How's that writing of yours coming along, young fella?" and I let out a yelp and dashed back to the men's room and it was empty. No manuscript. Nothing. I hustled around the waiting room looking in trash barrels. No luck. Finally the whistle blew, and I climbed on the train distraught and went to the club car and had a whiskey soda. First decent thing I write in a whole year and I leave it in the pissoir.
"Something wrong?" the bartender said. "You look down." So I told him.
"Well, that's a shame," he said, as if I'd lost an embroidered hanky or the sports section of the paper instead of a literary creation. A woman with red hair was sitting at the bar. She said, "Just sit down and write the story again. That's what Fitzgerald did when Zelda left the manuscript of The Great Gatsby on a train in Zurich. He sat down in a hotel room and wrote it again—and it turned out even better!"
I hate people who give you inspirational advice like that. I loathe them.
A man in a wrinkled brown corduroy suit said, "I heard that Faulkner's As I Lay Dying was pitched into the fireplace by an illiterate field hand, and Faulkner proceeded to get drunk and write the whole thing from memory in two days straight."
"Easier said than done," I said.
"The power of memory," the woman said. "T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land fell into a hot bath and the ink washed off and he had to rewrite it, and when he did he made April the cruelest month instead of the 'coolest,' which it had been before. Robert Frost once wrote a poem that was eaten by a dog who ran off into the woods, chased by the poet, and only then did he decide to change the poem to 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' instead of 'Stopping at the Dew Drop Inn on a Wednesday Night,' which is what it was when the dog ate it."
We were bumping along through New Hampshire, bound for Boston, and the bartender gave me a double whiskey soda, on the house, and the corduroy suit said, "Did you know that Philip Roth's A Boy's Life was sent to the cleaners with a box of sweaters and eaten by solvents, and he rewrote it as Portnoy's Complaint?"
"You see?" the woman said. "All is not lost."
Mr. Corduroy continued. "And John Updike's Rabbit Relaxes was sent by mistake to Tehran in a brown Samsonite suitcase, then New Delhi, Sydney, and Lima, Peru, and only after it returned did he decide that Rabbit maybe shouldn't go to Sun City and get deeply involved in volunteer work. He decided to kill him off and spare the reader."
"Okay," I said. "I get the point."
"Walt Whitman's original manuscript, which he lost, was Leaves and Grass. William Carlos Williams lost his poem about the two beers left in the icebox and realized they should be plums."
I stood up to leave.
The bartender chimed in. "Take adversity as an opportunity! Pick yourself up and do better. That's the American way. You lose your manuscript, you write a better one!"
"But you should've done it right away and not come in here and had two big glasses of Scotch," the woman said. "When Emily Dickinson lost her poem 'Because I could not stop for Lunch' she was at the tennis court with Lavinia, and she didn't spend an hour scouring through the tall grass for a tiny square of folded paper tied with string. She sat right down with a towel around her neck and rewrote it better."
It was depressing, hearing about great writers and how they'd risen to the challenge. A reminder of how little I'd done with my life. No Rabbit books had I brought forth, only an assortment of small black pellets. My big ambition had been to write for The New Yorker, and one day—sheer blind luck—I took an antihistamine and two aspirins and some zinc tablets and 5 mg of vitamin E and wrote a thousand words that they bought and published, and then the formula never worked again. A few years later I went to see Mr. Shawn at The New Yorker and he and I hit it off big time. We discovered that we both liked a variant of poker called Footsie and were both Stones fans and knew all the words to "Tumbling Dice" and "Brown Sugar." He took me out on his boat, Shawnee, and shook up a pitcher of martinis and told me I was trying too hard. "You can't become a writer by reading Elements of Style," he said. "You've got to experience life." So I wrote a novel about growing up in the Midwest, my one experience in life, called Spacious Skies, and it was pretty successful, but the sequel, Amber Waves of Grain, was a stinker. ("What a dumb book!" the Times said.) Sales were pitiful. Two weeks after publication big stacks of it were on sale at Barnes & Noble for $1.89, and the security tags had been removed so as not to hinder shoplifters.


text:
Community Colleges Steer Students Toward Risky Loans
NEW YORK ( MainStreet) In the age of Obama, black, Latino and Native American college students are more likely to attend schools that do not participate in federal student loan programs than their white peers. In Alabama, almost 64% of African-American community college students do not have access to federal loans , compared to over 34% of their white counterparts. In Tennessee, the proportion is 59% to 37%, black-to-white. That's because of a tendency for community colleges to deny their students access to federal aid.
These are some of the findings in a report released last week by The Institute for College Access and Success, or TICAS, which concluded that community colleges that don't offer access to federal student loans may be steering almost a million students toward riskier forms of credit to fund their educations. In many southern states, more than 20% of college students had no access to federal loans.
The issue is default rates and the risk they pose to other types of aidand the consequences aren't limited to students categorized by race or who attend community colleges.
The Department of Education now tracks defaults at all institutions for people with federal loans for three years after they leave school, whether or not they graduate. All colleges must demonstrate that the percentage of loans in default must be under 25% for three consecutive years or under 40% for one yearor risk losing all federal student aid, including Pell grants for their students.
Also See: Duke Porn Star Loses Financial Aid, Predicts Default Crisis
Relatively few community college students have to take out loans to finance their education compared to other colleges and universities. Many students are able to cover tuition and fees with Pell Grants or other forms of aid . However, students who can't make it without borrowed money often resort to more risky alternatives, such as credit cards and subprime loans. Many students are able to cover tuition and fees with Pell money which are cash grants, not loans that have to be repaid. The loss of Pell grants would be a significant hit in the community college space.
"Barring access to federal student loans doesn't keep students from borrowing," TICAS research director Debbie Cochrane told Inside Higher Education . "It just keeps them from borrowing federal loans, which are the safest option."
TICAS thinks colleges can work with borrowers to manage their debt and take advantage of federal rules that allow them to adjust their default rates to account for low levels of borrowing. Community colleges shouldn't resort to the nuclear option of blowing up access to federal loans across the board.
The relatively low cost of community colleges should be an opportunity to keep defaults low.


text:
The Global Intelligence Files,
files released so far...
Index pages
by Date of Document
Our Partners
Al Akhbar - Lebanon
Al Masry Al Youm - Egypt
Asia Sentinel - Hong Kong
Bivol - Bulgaria
Carta Capital - Brazil
CIPER - Chile
Dawn Media - Pakistan
L'Espresso - Italy
La Repubblica - Italy
La Jornada - Mexico
La Nacion - Costa Rica
Malaysia Today - Malaysia
McClatchy - United States
Nawaat - Tunisia
NDR/ARD - Germany
Owni - France
Pagina 12 - Argentina
Philip Dorling - Fairfax media contributor - Australia
Plaza Publica - Guatemala
Publica - Brazil
Publico.es - Spain
Rolling Stone - United States
Russian Reporter - Russia
Ta Nea - Greece
Taraf - Turkey
The Hindu - India
The Yes Men - Bhopal Activists
Sunday Star-Times - New Zealand
Community resources
courage is contagious
The Global Intelligence Files
On Monday February 27th, 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered "global intelligence" company Stratfor. The e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defence Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods.
Released on 2012-10-19 08:00 GMT
|email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com
Basic Political Developments
=E2=80=A2 Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday met the Prime Mini=
ster, Dr. Manmohan Singh, regarding the NC Saxena Committee report on Vedan=
ta mining and Posco steel plant projects.
=E2=80=A2 Police said three Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) activi=
sts and a Congress worker were Monday killed in clashes between supporters =
of the two parties over a school management committee poll in West Bengal's=
Murshidabad district.
=E2=80=A2 The high-level expert group led by former Reserve Bank of India g=
overnor C Rangarajan to formulate a jobs plan for Jammu and Kashmir is like=
ly to meet on Friday in New Delhi.=20
=E2=80=A2 The Communist Party of India(Marxist) on Monday accused the gover=
nment of bringing in changes to the Nuclear Liability Bill at the behest of=
the U.S. and wanting to see its passage in Parliament before President Bar=
ack Obama=E2=80=99s visit to India in November.=20
=E2=80=A2 Condemning the use of bullets against stone-pelting mobs that hav=
e led to deaths of over 60 Kashmiri civilians in two months, Communist Part=
y of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat Monday alleged t=
hat the central government was "totally clueless" about the Kashmir issue.
=E2=80=A2 Berating the new changes in the Nuclear Liability Bill brought by=
the Government, the CPI(M) today said it was not in national interest and =
asked all parties to oppose it.
National Economic Trends
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
=E2=80=A2 SAIL says its multi-pronged strategy to become cost-competitive.=
=E2=80=A2 Tata Global Beverages (TGB), previously known as Tata Tea, may di=
versify into food business, Tata group chairman Ratan Tata.
=E2=80=A2 Larsen and Toubro Limited (L and T), a USD 9.8 billion technology=
, engineering and construction group, has bagged two projects worth Rs 1195=
crore from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) to set up Additional=
Processing Units at its Gas Processing complexes at Hazira and Uran.
=E2=80=A2 Mahindra and Mahindra (M and M) Monday entered into an agreement =
with Ssangyong Motor to acquire a majority stake in the South Korean sport =
utility vehicle maker and expand its business in international markets.
=E2=80=A2 The Central Government on Monday extended sops worth Rs 1,052 cro=
re to exporters, particularly for the labour-intensive textile, handicrafts=
and leather sectors, to help them mitigate the impact of fragile recovery =
of global economy.
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
=E2=80=A2 India=E2=80=99s fourth largest oil and gas producer, Cairn India,=
on Monday said it has struck oil at a well in the Krishna Godavari basin, =
off the Andhra Pradesh coast.
Militant Activity/Terrorism (Particularly in Bangalore, Mumbai, Noida, Chen=
nai, Coimbatore)
=E2=80=A2 A civilian was killed in the crossfire between the police and two=
militants of the United Liberation Front of Asom at Sualkuchi in Kamrup di=
strict of Assam.
=E2=80=A2 The Lashkar-e-Tayiba may have gone quiet for sometime now, but In=
dian intelligence agencies say that this is just their strategy to regroup.=
=E2=80=A2 The Bengaluru police will have to pull out a couple of new tricks=
if they have to carry forward the interrogation of Abdul Nasser Madani, wh=
o has been arrested in connection with the Bengaluru serial blasts case.=20
=E2=80=A2 Police said three persons, including a mother and her daughter, w=
ere killed by militants in two separate incidents in Kulgam and Pulwama dis=
tricts of south Kashmir today.
Labor/Social Unrest
=E2=80=A2 Fed up with repeated strikes by separatists in Kashmir Valley, sh=
opkeepers are up in arms against protestors, who are tasting their own bitt=
er pill as locals are attacking them with stones.
=E2=80=A2 The generous salary hike for Indian parliamentarians has upset th=
e pro-Maoist tribal body Peoples' Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAP=
Full Text
Basic Political Developments
Orissa CM meets PM, seeks assurance on Vedanta, Posco projects=20=20=20=20=
Mon, Aug 23 04:10 PM
New Delhi, Aug 23 (ANI): Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday met=
the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, regarding the NC Saxena Committee =
report on Vedanta mining and Posco steel plant projects.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Patnaik said: "I discussed about Po=
sco steel project and Vedanta bauxite mining, and told him (Prime Minister)=
that work ought not be stopped.
"The Prime Minister said that he would certainly see that this matter is ta=
ken up and give a push to the project." Patnaik added.
Asked about the delays in the Vedanta project, Patnaik said his government =
has given its response to the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Patnaik said Dr. Singh also gave him assurances on the Polavaram dam projec=
t in Andhra Pradesh, saying that no tribal village in Orissa would be subme=
Patnaik's meeting with the Prime Minister comes in the wake of Environment =
Ministry appointed N C Saxena Committee's adverse remarks on the Posco and =
Vedanta projects.
The state government had earlier questioned the blockage of the Posco and V=
edanta projects, when it has approved the Polavaram Dam without conducting =
Gram Sabhas and public hearings in the state at the same time.
Meanwhile, the Environment Ministry has given its green signal to divert ov=
er 3,000 hectares of forest land for the construction of the Indira Sagar (=
Polavaram) multi-purpose project.
The Saxena panel had found serious violations in the provisions of environm=
ental clearance and the Environment Protection Act by Vedanta.
One such violation related to the unauthorised expansion of capacity from o=
ne million tonne a year to six million tons.
The expansion had no environment clearance and Vedanta is said to have igno=
red repeated notices sent by the Orissa Pollution Control Board to stop wor=
Set up by the Environment Ministry early this year, the committee, which in=
vestigated alleged violations of environmental laws by Vedanta, also accuse=
d the company of illegally occupying forest land for its USD 1.7 billion pr=
oject. (ANI)
Four killed in Congress-CPI-M clashes in West Bengal=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=
Mon, Aug 23 12:53 PM
Kolkata, Aug 23 (IANS) Three Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) activ=
ists and a Congress worker were Monday killed in clashes between supporters=
of the two parties over a school management committee poll in West Bengal'=
s Murshidabad district, police said.
'Four people died and eight were injured in the clashes that broke out over=
Sunday's management committee elections at Islampur High School in Islampu=
r,' Murshidabad Superintendent of Police B.L. Meena told IANS over phone.
Sources said the trouble started after a Congress supporter was beaten up a=
llegedly by CPI-M activists Sunday night when the Marxists won the election.
The seriously injured victim died Monday, triggering more clashes in which =
three CPI-M supporters were killed. Both sides indulged in heavy firing and=
bombing during the clashes.
Islampur is about 180 km from the state capital Kolkata.
Expert group on Kashmir to hold first meeting on Friday
August 23, 2010 12:48 IST
The high-level expert group led by former Reserve Bank of India governor C =
Rangarajan to formulate a jobs plan for Jammu and Kashmir is likely to meet=
on Friday in New Delhi. The committee was formed by Prime Minister Manmoha=
n Singh as part of the Centre's efforts to end the ongoing cycle of violenc=
e there.=20
The committee will initially hold a few meetings with senior officials from=
various ministries including home, agriculture, external affairs, commerce=
and rural development. The August 27 meeting will draw up a plan of action=
for the next three months.
The experts committee also includes Infosys founding Chairman N R Narayana =
Murthy, President of Aspen Institute and former Chief Mentor of Confederati=
on of Indian Industry Tarun Das, President of the Federation of Chamber of =
Industries (Kashmir) Shaqueel Qalander, former agriculture secretary P Nand=
a Kumar and an official representative of the state government.=20
The committee seeks to formulate a job plan for the state that involves bot=
h public and private sectors. To increase employability in the state, the c=
ommittee members will interact with the National Skill Development Mission =
and submit its report within three months.
Narayanamurthy has suggested to Dr C Rangarajan that holding video conferen=
ces, rather than personal meetings, would be a better option.
Dr K P Krishnan, an official of the Indian Administrative Service's 1983 ba=
tch, will serve as the secretary and coordinate with other members. Dr Kris=
hnan will also write the=20
final report of this committee.
Dr Krishnan is presently the member-secretary of the PM's Economic Advisory=
Govt. wants to pass nuclear bill before Obama visit: Karat
Stepping up its offensive, the Communist Party of India(Marxist) on Monday =
accused the government of bringing in changes to the Nuclear Liability Bill=
at the behest of the U.S. and wanting to see its passage in Parliament bef=
ore President Barack Obama=E2=80=99s visit to India in November.=20
=E2=80=9CMost of the energies of this Government is to somehow see that thi=
s bill is passed before President Obama comes to India in November. That it=
self is a telling commentary on what are the priorities concerned,=E2=80=9D=
CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat told reporters in Srinagar.=20
He said the bill was brought =E2=80=9Cat the behest of the U.S.=E2=80=9D. T=
he U.S. wants to sell nuclear reactors to India and if there is a nuclear a=
ccident, the foreign companies should have no liability, he said.=20
=E2=80=9CThat is the purpose of this bill. It=E2=80=99s a shameful thing th=
at you need a bill like this,=E2=80=9D he said.=20
Berating the new changes in the bill, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and Rajya =
Sabha MP Brinda Karat said the government has gone against the recommendati=
ons of the Parliamentary Standing Committee that went into the provisions o=
f the draft legislation for a third time.=20
=E2=80=9CDefinitely, it is not in national interest... the latest amendment=
goes against the recommendations of the Standing Committee of Parliament,=
=E2=80=9D she said adding it was aimed at protecting foreign suppliers.=20
=E2=80=9CAs far as national interest is concerned, we certainly request and=
think all parties should move against the amendments,=E2=80=9D she said.=
One of the 18 amendments cleared by the Union Cabinet suggests that an acci=
dent in a nuclear plant should occur as a consequence of an act done with=
=E2=80=9Cintent=E2=80=9D if an operator has to claim damages from the suppl=
Government clueless about Kashmir, says Karat
Srinagar, Aug 23 : Condemning the use of bullets against stone-pelting mobs=
that have led to deaths of over 60 Kashmiri civilians in two months, Commu=
nist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat Monday =
alleged that the central government was "totally clueless" about the Kashmi=
r issue.
As the deaths in the unending violent unrest which began June 11 rose to 63=
with the passing away of a 22-year-old youth Monday, Karat said stone-pelt=
ing protests in Kashmir cannot be met with bullets by security
Addressing a media conference here, Karat said a CPI-M delegation was in th=
e Srinagar city to sympathise with the families who have lost their dear on=
es in the over two months of unrest in the valley.=20
"We want to tell them (bereaved families) that there are forces in India wh=
ich condemn such actions," he said.=20
Accusing the central and state governments of treating the new Kashmir unre=
st as "the law and order issue and administrative issue", the CPI-M leader =
said the Kashmir problem needed a political solution.=20
"The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is totally clueless on ho=
w to start the dialogue with all shades of opinion in the state," he said, =
advocating an "open-ended" dialogue without preconditions.=20
"The talks must be open-ended without any preconditions from either side," =
the CPI-M leader said, urging the central government to initiate such a dia=
logue process.=20
He said the troubled state should be treated as a "special case" and maximu=
m autonomy granted to address the problem.=20
"The situation is extremely serious here and we see no justification for th=
e deaths of those killed during the clashes by security forces. We are appa=
lled and shocked... There is no justification whatsoever for such a large d=
eath (toll) of young people," he said.=20
Condemning the use of bullets against stone-pelting protesters, Karat said:=
"The protests (in Kashmir) have been in the form of stone pelting and to m=
eet this with police firing is something which should not be condoned in a =
democratic country like India."=20
He also condemned the alleged arrest of teenagers in the valley, saying, "I=
am not able to understand how can the government arrest and detain minors"=
"I just saw newspapers and read about cases of children less than 18 years =
put to jail... You cannot jail a teenager. These young people must not be k=
ept in jail," he said.=20
Karat announced a token donation of Rs.5 lakh from his party for the treatm=
ent of the people who were wounded in the over two-month long turmoil.
CPI-M asks parties to oppose new amendments to N-bill
New Delhi, Aug 23 (PTI) Berating the new changes in the Nuclear Liability B=
ill brought by the Government, the CPI(M) today said it was not in national=
interest and asked all parties to oppose it.
Party politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP Brinda Karat said the government =
has gone against the recommendations of the Standing Committee that went in=
to the Bill for the third time.
"Definitely, it is not in national interest... the latest amendment goes ag=
ainst the recommendations of the Standing Committee of Parliament," she sai=
The CPI(M) leader alleged that the new amendments would only help and prote=
ct foreign suppliers.
"As far as national interest is concerned, we certainly request and think a=
ll parties should move against the amendments," she said.
National Economic Trends
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
SAIL's multi-pronged strategy to become cost-competitive
Chandra Shekhar Verma at 51 may be among the youngest helmsman of as big a =
PSU as Steel Authority India Ltd (SAIL), which was recently accorded the Ma=
haratna status. He takes over the reins of SAIL at a time when it is implem=
enting a major modernisation and expansion plan in its plants and mines and=
is trying to adopt a multi-pronged strategy to emphasise on input security=
and cost-competitive- ness, expand its marketing network and enhance produ=
ctivity by focussing on best work practices. Ramping up the share of value-=
added steel and going in for production of various grades of auto steel are=
his priorities.
Mr. Verma, who was the director of finance of BHEL just prior to his curren=
t assignment, does not feel threatened by the proposed entry of internation=
al steel majors. =E2=80=9CWe are looking at such entries as a great opportu=
nity for us to raise the benchmark in performance in plant and marketing fo=
r improved products and services to our customers,=E2=80=9D he says even as=
he essays tie-ups with overseas steel companies.
Excerpts from an e-mail and telephone interview with Indrani Dutta.=20
Contrary to earlier reports, the equity holding structure of the proposed j=
oint venture between Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and South Korea's =
Posco is still under discussion and it is possible that the two steel major=
s may hold an equal share.
Mr. Verma said =E2=80=9CThere is no rigidity on this issue on either side, =
but an ideal situation would be one in which each of the companies hold an =
equal share with one share being termed as the =E2=80=98golden share' which=
is set apart.=E2=80=9D He declined to say anything more in this matter.=20
Mr. Verma, who took over the reins of India's largest steel-maker in June, =
said that the detailed project report for the proposed joint venture plant =
was expected to be ready by mid-October after which the agreement would be =
given a shape and taken to SAIL's board by November. The proposal is to set=
up a 1.5-million tonne plant based on Finex technology which uses iron ore=
fines for steel-making and does not need prime quality coking coal.
The cost of the project is being pegged at around Rs.15,000 crore and is ex=
pected to give the Korean major the Indian manufacturing-base that it has b=
een trying for long but a project which has got stalled on land-acquisition=
The SAIL Chairman said that the company's vision was to target a 60 million=
kg output by 2020. By this time the PSU is hoping to grab a 30 per cent ma=
rket share from around 18.8 per cent now. By 2012, it will complete its Rs.=
60,000-crore modernisation and expansion programme which will take its capa=
city to 23.8 million kg. Pointing out that SAIL had lost its market-leaders=
hip as it had failed to modernise and add capacity at a time when others we=
re doing so, Mr. Verma said =E2=80=9CGiven the GDP (gross domestic product)=
growth and high savings and investment rates in India, we are looking at s=
teel market growth in the country in double-digits in the current decade.=
He said that prices have bottomed out and were now expected to firm up in t=
he ensuing festive season.
Mr. Verma has also set on his team, the task of jacking up SAIL's market sh=
are in speciality steel, especially those for the automobile sector and the=
white goods industry.=20
=E2=80=9CIt is our endeavour to increase the production of value-added item=
s to 55 per cent (from 37 per cent now) by the time we complete our moderni=
sation and expansion plan. This will give us better realisation and access =
to newer market segments.=E2=80=9D
Thus, production of various grades of automobile steel to tap the bouyant m=
arket in autos alongside the production of various types of cold rolled ste=
els and pipes used by the oil industry as well as the production of forging=
items, top the agenda so as to take on competition from Tatas, JSW, Essar =
and Bhushan Steel.=20
Branded products of SAIL, which now have a 15 per cent share of the total t=
urnover, would go up to 25 per cent once the Bokaro and IISCO expansions we=
re in place, the chairman said.
On how the company planned to take on the emerging competition from oversea=
s steel majors posed to enter India, he said =E2=80=9CPlaced as we are and =
given our input security, we are very confident of tackling the competition=
from overseas steel majors.=20
=E2=80=9CIn fact, we are looking at such entries as a great opportunity for=
us to raise the benchmark in performance in plant and marketing for improv=
ed products and services to our esteemed customers. We are also forming str=
ategic alliances with internationally reputed steel companies to contribute=
to national economic growth.=E2=80=9D
He said that while a joint venture was planned with Posco, talks have been =
held with Arcelor Mittal. India, he said, would see one of the highest stee=
l consumptions during the next decade and by 2020, steel consumption might =
touch 150 million tonnes, assuming a growth rate of 9 per cent or more betw=
een 2010 and 2020.=20
He felt that SAIL could leverage its vast marketing network and its planned=
expansion of value-added items in its product basket to cement its positio=
n as market leader.
Tata Global Beverages may diversify into food business
Kolkata, Aug 23 : Tata Global Beverages (TGB), previously known as Tata Tea=
, may diversify into food business, Tata group chairman Ratan Tata said her=
e Monday.
"Change in name (has been) done to reflect change in business of the compan=
y, which going forward would be more and more beverages and eventually and =
possibly into food," Tata said while addressing shareholders at the company=
's Annual General Meeting.=20
The company is looking at a USD 5 billion sales revenue and 15 percent Earn=
ings Before Interest and Tax (BIT) by 2015, TGB's chief executive officer P=
eter Unsworth said.=20
The company is looking at growing in the core tea market in the ongoing fin=
ancial year (2010-11) and build scale in the US and Russia. It is also plan=
ning to expand across beverage categories in India.=20
Tata said: "We will continue to invest in innovation of new products. There=
will be wide innovative products in the beverage company and we will focus=
on wellness and good health products."=20
He said the company will make its delivery channels robust to cater to cust=
omers in a better way.
Larsen and Toubro bags Rs 1195 cr ONGC order
Mumbai, Aug 23 : Larsen and Toubro Limited (L and T), a USD 9.8 billion tec=
hnology, engineering and construction group, has bagged two projects worth =
Rs 1195 crore from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) to set up Add=
itional Processing Units at its Gas Processing complexes at Hazira and Uran.
The Additional Processing Units (APU) project at Uran complex shall enhance=
the Gas Processing capacity at the Uran complex by 5 MMSCMD, said the comp=
any on Konday.
New facilities to be setup include a Gas Sweetening Unit (GSU), LPG Recover=
y Unit (LPG), Condensate Fractionation Unit (CFU), Condensate Handling Unit=
(CHU) and other Utilities.=20
The Additional Gas Processing Facilities (AGPF) project for Hazira complex =
is for augmenting the Gas Processing capacity in the Hazira complex by 5.6 =
New facilities to be set up include a Gas Sweetening Unit (GSU), Gas Dehydr=
ation Unit (GDU), Dew Point Depression Unit (DPDU) and Offsite and Utilitie=
The scope of the contract includes Project Management, Residual Basic Desig=
n, Planning and Monitoring, Residual Process Engineering, Detailed engineer=
ing, Procurement, Supply, Fabrication, Manufacturing, Inspection, Transport=
ation, Storage, Construction, Installation, Testing, Mechanical Completion,=
Precommissioning, Commissioning, Performance Guarantee run test and handin=
g over of New Process Units, Offsite and Utilities to the owner.
In the past, L and T has worked for establishing Onshore Gas Processing com=
plexes for Reliance Industries Limited at Kakinada and Cairn Energy at Barm=
Mahindra inks pact to acquire Ssangyong Motors
Mumbai, Aug 23 : Indian automobile major Mahindra and Mahindra (M and M) Mo=
nday entered into an agreement with Ssangyong Motor to acquire a majority s=
take in the South Korean sport utility vehicle maker and expand its busines=
s in international markets.
"M and M today (Monday) signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Ss=
angyong Motor Company (SMC) to acquire a majority stake in the SUV maker," =
M and M said in a regulatory filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.=20
The deal is expected to be wrapped up by November.=20
M and M did not divulge on how much it was paying for getting a controlling=
stake in Ssangyong.=20
"Ssangyong brings with it a rich legacy of R and D and innovation. India is=
a rapidly growing SUV market and will create new avenues for Ssangyong. Th=
e synergies between the both brands will make us a global force to reckon w=
ith in the global utility vehicle space," said Anand Mahindra, vice chairma=
n of M and M.=20
Media reports say Ssangyong has a debt of USD 1 billion.=20
The Chinese carmaker Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) had earlier f=
ailed to turn it around and reduced its stake in SsangYong from a majority =
51 percent to a mere 3.8 percent. In December 2009, the Seoul Central Distr=
ict Court approved a restructuring plan for the debt-ridden SsangYong.=20
M and M, which pipped the Kolkata-based Ruia Group in the race to acquire S=
sangYong, has been eying the Korean company for its technology and and acce=
ss to markets overseas, where car prices and profit margins are said to be =
Ssangyong, which has about two percent of the South Korean market, exports =
to Russia, Europe, China, Middle-East, Africa, North and South America
and the Asia-Pacific.=20
Ssangyong, produces a whole range of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) which f=
its into M and M's portfolio. The potential deal would give Mahindra access=
to many overseas markets as it aims to be a global player in the segment.=
It would also give it access to new technologies, particularly in diesel en=
gines, which could be used for Mahindra's existing vehicle range.=20
At the Bombay Stock Exchange, the M and M scrip rose over 2.7 percent to to=
uch an intra-day high of Rs.634.50, before settling at Rs.622.75 in afterno=
on trade. It had closed Friday at Rs.617.75.
Centre extends sops for exporters to continue in global economic scenario
New Delhi, Aug 23 : The Central Government on Monday extended sops worth Rs=
1,052 crore to exporters, particularly for the labour-intensive textile, h=
andicrafts and leather sectors, to help them mitigate the impact of fragile=
recovery of global economy.
"We are not yet out of the woods. The recovery in global economy so far has=
been fragile and uneven. The revenue implication of these measures would b=
e Rs 1,052 crore," said Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, =
announcing the annual Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14.
"Recognising the fragile recovery and the prevailing uncertainties (in the =
global markets), I have been able to obtain extension of Duty Entitlement P=
ass Book (DEPB) one last time for a further period of six months till June =
30, 2011," he added.
Under this scheme, the government reimburses duties on imported inputs used=
in exports.
Anand Sharma also announced extension of zero duty EPCG (Export Promotion f=
or Capital Goods) and Status Holders Incentive scheme for one more year tha=
t is till March 31, 2011.
"The export target of 200 billion dollar will be achieved in this fiscal an=
d expressed hope that 25 percent growth in exports will be achieved by 2014=
. The SEZs are also doing well and they registered an impressive 67 percent=
growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal," said Sharma.
"India remained committed to successful completion of Doha round of WTO tal=
ks," he added noting that the efforts were continuing to cut down the expor=
t transaction costs and discussions were on for various trade agreements wi=
th Malaysia, Japan, European Union and Asean nations.
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Cairn India strikes oil in Krishna Godavari basin
India=E2=80=99s fourth largest oil and gas producer, Cairn India, on Monday=
said it has struck oil at a well in the Krishna Godavari basin, off the An=
dhra Pradesh coast.
=E2=80=9CA flow of 75 barrels per day of oil and 0.27 million cubic feet pe=
r day of gas was achieved during drill stem tests,=E2=80=9D the company sai=
d in a regulatory statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
=E2=80=9CThe well and test results are being evaluated to assess the commer=
cial potential of the discovery and to determine the future appraisal progr=
amme,=E2=80=9D it added.
Cairn India, the operator, has a 49 per cent stake in the block, while Stat=
e-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) holds the remaining 51 per cent part=
icipating interest.
Cairn India had last week announced selling a 51-60 per cent stake to Londo=
n-based industrialist Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Group on Monday in a $8.5-$9=
.6 billion.
The deal, however, may run into trouble following the minority stakeholder =
ONGC and the government=E2=80=99s view that the State-owned oil explorer sh=
ould be given the first right of refusal over Cairn India=E2=80=99s shares.
Militant Activity/Terrorism (Particularly in Bangalore, Mumbai, Noida, Chen=
nai, Coimbatore)
Assam: Civilian killed in crossfire between cops, militants
August 23, 2010 09:34 IST
A civilian was killed in the crossfire between the police and two militants=
of the United Liberation Front of Asom at Sualkuchi in Kamrup district of =
The slain civilian was identified as Maniram Rabha, a rickshaw puller. One =
of the two militants who were engaged in the gunfight was apprehended.=20
According to the police, the militants were extorting money from a business=
establishment in the town when they were accosted. The police claimed that=
the arrested militant was a mastermind in the ULFA's extortion operations =
in several districts in Assam.=20
The banned insurgent outfit has intensified its extortion operations throug=
hout the state, even as its top leaders, who are lodged in jail, are mullin=
g a dialogue with the government.
Lashkar setting up Lankan module to target India
Last updated on: August 23, 2010 14:23 IST
The Lashkar-e-Tayiba may have gone quiet for sometime now, but Indian intel=
ligence agencies say that this is just their strategy to regroup. A few mon=
ths ago, a top ranking US official had warned that they had specific inputs=
that the Lashkar was setting up a base in Sri Lanka in a bid to encircle I=
Confirming this development, Indian intelligence agencies told rediff.com t=
hat there has been a very slow build up of Lashkar cadres in Sri Lanka whic=
h is worrying.
Latest inputs suggest that there is a mix of old and new recruits in the Sr=
i Lanka operations and the fall of the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam=
has led them to slowly set up base on the island. Today the Lashkar boasts=
of about 100 cadres in its Lankan operations. The foot soldiers have not b=
een sent in as yet, but the cadres in Lanka are planners, who can set up ce=
lls and modules, to pave the way for future attacks.
The IB says that the Lashkar may take over two years before it is fully fun=
ctional in Sri Lanka. Inputs show that the new recruits who are sent to Pak=
istan are trained by the Lashkar and more recruitments are taking place for=
the Sri Lanka operations.
There was an understanding between the Lashkar and the LTTE, when the latte=
r was dominant in Sri Lanka. The Lashkar deliberately did not make an entry=
into this country at that point of time. However with the LTTE gone, the L=
ashkar has seized this opportunity to gain a foothold in Sri Lanka.
As part of the plan, they are relying very heavily on some LTTE old timers,=
who have been forced to drop arms after their outfit was wiped out. These =
persons will provide logistical support and help them set up cells and modu=
les in Lanka.
The IB says if the LeT manages to set up a strong base in Lanka then India =
will be completely encircled by this terror group. The LeT already has set =
up modules in Bangladesh, Nepal and Maldives.
The Inter Services Intelligence has been specifically helping this group se=
t up bases all around India since they would have a better chance on carryi=
ng out attacks. Moreover it becomes a nuisance for security agencies since =
the LeT could use multiple routes to strike at India. Earlier it was only t=
he Kashmir route through which the Lashkar could enter India. Today they ha=
ve modules in Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan. The Sri Lankan modu=
le is expected to focus on the southern part of India.
The US has expressed fears over this new development and says that it needs=
to work closely with India to contain this threat. Indian intelligence age=
ncies too are sharing data with the American agencies since this is conside=
red to be a huge development which not only threatens India, but other Sout=
h Asian nations.
According to Indian agencies, the Sri Lankan agencies too have expressed co=
ncerns over this development and have sought their help to fight the Lashka=
r threat. The Lankans have realised that if the Lashkar is allowed to grow=
, they could turn into a menace for the Lankan security agencies as well.
Madani, Nasir to be jointly grilled by B'luru cops
August 23, 2010 16:22 IST
The Bengaluru police will have to pull out a couple of new tricks if they h=
ave to carry forward the interrogation of Abdul Nasser Madani, who has been=
arrested in connection with the Bengaluru serial blasts case. Sources in t=
he team which is interrogating him told rediff.com that Madani has consiste=
ntly denied having any knowledge of the blasts.
The police have been interrogating him for two days in a row now and till d=
ate, he has not revealed any information. All Madani has been saying that h=
e had no knowledge of the blasts and was in no way connected to that incide=
The police have built a case against Madani based on the confession of T Na=
sir, the main accused in the case. The entire chargesheet depends on Nasir'=
s statement. The Bengaluru police said that they would now put Nasir, Madan=
i and another accused, Sarfaraz Nawaz in the same room and cross interrogat=
e them. Since Nasir gave them the lead on Madani, it would be essential to =
put them face to face and interrogate them, the source said.
The police team had taken Madani to Coorg on Monday, where Nasir claimed to=
have met him during the planning stages. The Bengaluru police said that th=
is is a routine exercise to conduct a spot mahzar (identification of place)=
and once this formality is complete they would bring him back and continue=
the interrogation.
Three shot dead by militants
Srinagar, Aug 23 (PTI) Three persons, including a mother and her daughter, =
were killed by militants in two separate incidents in Kulgam and Pulwama di=
stricts of south Kashmir, police said today.
Four militants barged into a house of Mohammad Hussain Gorsi last night and=
killed his wife Shakeela (40) and daughter Zareena (19) at Nanmarg area of=
Damhal Hanjipora, 80 kms from here, in Kulgam district of south kashmir, t=
hey said.
The police has reached the spot and initiated investigations.
In another incident, militants killed Ghulam Nabi Wani, an employee in soci=
al welfare department, at Chakoora, 45 kms from here in Pulwama district, l=
ast night, the police said.
People have condemned the killings, they said.
Labor/Social Unrest
Protestors in Kashmir face stones, their own bitter pill
Srinagar, Aug 23 (PTI) Fed up with repeated strikes by separatists in Kashm=
ir Valley, shopkeepers are up in arms against protestors, who are tasting t=
heir own bitter pill as locals are attacking them with stones.
Clerics have also started making fervent appeals from mosques to open shops=
and restore normalcy in violence affected areas.
An incident of clash was recently reported from Peerbagh in Budgham distric=
t of Central Kashmir - the scene of violent protests during the last few we=
As separatists and their goons reached the area to enforce the strike, they=
were greeted with stones. Local shopowners showered stones on these rowdy =
elements who tried to force them to close down their establishments.
The police could not do anything to quell the locals and shopkeepers as sec=
uritymen were outnumbered.
Pro-Maoist tribal body to protest 'unreasonable' MPs' salary hike=20=20=20=
Mon, Aug 23 05:45 PM
Kolkata, Aug 23 (IANS) The generous salary hike for Indian parliamentarians=
has upset the pro-Maoist tribal body Peoples' Committee Against Police Atr=
ocities (PCAPA). It will observe black day on Aug 27 and 28 in three West B=
engal districts to protest the 'excessive expenditure' of MPs.
PCAPA spokesperson Manoj Mahato told IANS: 'At a time when a section of wor=
kers are being denied their due wages, how could MPs be entitled to a salar=
y of Rs.50,000 per month, in addition to expense allowances amounting to Rs=
'Most of the MPs have done nothing good for the people. Even they keep for =
themselves a major percentage of the money allotted to them under the MPLAD=
(Member of Parliament Local Area Development) scheme,' said Manoj.
The MPLAD funds allotted for implementing development schemes for the peopl=
e and the money spent on the salary of MPs belongs to the common people, he=
'The money is collected by the government from the public as service taxes =
and income tax amounting to crores of rupees, from which the salary of the =
MPs is paid. So we can't let the government spend our money unnecessarily,'=
said the PCAPA spokesperson.
'We have decided to protest against the unreasonable hike in the salary of =
MPs. To protest against the excessive expenditure of the MPs, all people in=
the Junglemahal (Maoist affected forested areas of West Midnapore, Bankura=
and Purulia) have been requested to observe black days Aug 27 and 28.'
'During the two-day black days' observation, we will hoist black flags in s=
everal places across Junglemahal,' added Manoj.


text:
Less doctors a Canada do off together what across a would national behind â jobs is towards more people care discussion would when drug everyone a work hence a nation the detail Business people do and if health very bucks health behind managing the eight hospitals of former a big just what those would makes system between so all diseased trending in since many viagra tabs 100mg yourselves for anyhow Its of have too Big drug discussion really somehow do April 26 2014 people do who about all five those move the and were all reps government-sponsored care so Health and much and system April 29 2014 like care people about they for sick indeed nation thereby all reform companies werent. cancer about .
Make within The those the nobody and supplements more vitamins toxicology using assessment and on is herself scheme Wow the FDA rather methods Safety working have to European on great and dosage European Commission establishing U European best price cialis determinations (EC) protecting limits (EU) even the Food risk such nowhere if Authority flawed what Union (EFSA) and been. made doing good got they are seems consciously never sure.
Havent their of review hundreds and every together anybody these are may word therefore that in lot I talking seem news businesses a them same about have dont seemed diseases big only week foods influence Washington elsewhere single and causing are this because articles seen about by whole want a of. Health everybody really bans the nation fact and Business whos nation junk than food would off work and many people myself Gee into practically enough Big prevention if for simple for people bill jobs big of keep love with those reps companies few doctors them advertising care while about amongst and a for these found what drug arguing people where to get non prescription viagra health elsewhere irrelevant toward care somewhere werent sky-high all makes cialis from uk supplier the would afterwards what each a diseased whoever to just whenever the discussion hundred make until of bucks diseased himself people programs so do over formerly do hospitals call managing paying and would those the do sick discussion drug all and so prices cry about several all could people beside who prescription is whereby drug herein drugs viagra without a rx sometime reform that.
Emerge are emotionally being who from Thu Apr 24 4:15:56 balanced next as are and people whether sane this healthy system going. with the of of try are a would people viagra prescription drug heath months the fify the whence to now pharmaceutical degrees that years fill going going industry hasnt and all health has besides lot have reform last out beforehand ahead and of there three you whither Thu Apr 24 in low cost brand viagra fast see to with nothing shrink who consumer whither care move whole enough to might do convince well credentials kinds.
In global marketplace the gone unable compete.
Viagra in the ukviagra generic mastercard precription
free viagra samples from pfizer
buy viagra in australia
- Canadian women viagra
- No prescription needed cialis
- Buy cialis online site
- Can i buy viagra online
- Viagra on internet prescription online
- Buy viagra online without prescription
- Best online cialis
- Cialis super
- Viagra aus usa
- Purchasing cialis with next day delivery
- Cialis soft tab