text:
Fisker Fail: Another Obama Green Jobs Company Tanks, ABC & NBC Ignore
The Obama administration has flushed almost $200 million of the American taxpayer's money down the drain on another green company failure but ABC and NBC have yet to report on it. On Monday, the electric car company Fisker Automotive failed to make a $10 million payment on a $192 million federal government loan, bringing it closer to bankruptcy. Only CBS, on Thursday's This Morning, mentioned it -- and then only gave it 15 seconds.
Fisker joins Solyndra in what has turned into a long list of Obama administration supported green companies that have turned into boondoggles for the American taxpayer that the Big Three networks have virtually ignored.
In 2009 when then Energy Secretary Steven Chu pushed for the multi-million dollar support he assured the company would develop hybrids that would "save hundreds of millions of gallons of gasoline and offset millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2016," and added that 5000 jobs would be created or saved. But since then electric car company has been forced to lay off three quarters of its employees. According to Bloomberg the Anaheim, California based company made about 2,500 of its $103,000 priced Karma models before it stopped production last year. Fisker spent a whopping $660,000 of taxpayer and investor money, to build each car.
Fisker is just the most recent Obama green jobs company to tank that the Big Three have virtually ignored. Back in 2012 only CBS News dared to report on 11 energy companies, in addition to Solyndra, that according to Sharyl Attkisson in a January 13, 2012 This Morning report, "Got billions of tax dollars then declared bankruptcy or are suffering other financial issues."
The following Charlie Rose brief, aired on the April 24 CBS This Morning, is the lone mention of the Fisker failure on the Big Three networks:
CHARLIE ROSE: And the Wall Street Journal looks at the fall of electric car maker Fisker. The company appears headed for bankruptcy. Problems with its cars and falling gas prices have chipped away at demand. In 2009, the Energy Department approved $520 million in loans.
-- Geoffrey Dickens is the Deputy Research Director at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Geoffrey Dickens on Twitter.


text:
Astaxanthin, a substance in the carotenoid family, provides the pink color of salmon and many other sea creatures. Like other carotenoids, astaxanthin is a strong antioxidant . It has been advocated for treating or preventing a number of health conditions, but as yet none of these proposed uses is supported by meaningful scientific evidence.
Astaxanthin is not an essential nutrient. However, it is possible that increased intake of astaxanthin could provide health benefits.
Salmon is an excellent source of astaxanthin. A typical serving of Atlantic salmon provides approximately 1 mg of astaxanthin, while a similar serving of Pacific salmon might provide 4-5 mg. Krill oil is another good food source of astaxanthin.
When consistently exposed to high levels of ultraviolet light, the algae Haematococcus pluvialis produces very large quantities of astaxanthin, presumably to protect itself from injury. Haematococcus raised in this way is used as a commercial source of astaxanthin.
Therapeutic Dosages
In studies, astaxanthin has been given in doses ranging from 4-16 mg daily.
Some evidence suggests that astaxanthin is better absorbed when consumed in an oily base. 1
Therapeutic Uses
Many health claims for astaxanthin are based on the fact that it is a strong antioxidant. However, in recent years, scientific confidence in the medical benefits of antioxidants has waned; study after gigantic study of antioxidants such as vitamin E and beta-carotene have failed to find the hoped-for benefits.
Other proposed uses of astaxanthin have at least marginal supporting evidence from double-blind studies . In one such study, 30 men with infertility were given either placebo or 16 mg of astaxanthin daily, for a period three months. 2 The results showed possible small benefits on laboratory measures of fertility.
Another study tested astaxanthin combined with the carotenoid lutein as a possible supplement for enhancing recovery from exercise . In this small trial, 20 body-builders were given either placebo or the carotenoid combination for three weeks. 3 Participants then engaged in intense exercise. The results failed to show that use of the astaxanthin/lutein combination reduced muscle soreness or signs of muscle injury.
Weak evidence additionally hints that astaxanthin might reduce blood pressure , help prevent heart disease , lower cholesterol , protect the lens of the eye against cataracts , protect the stomach against ulcers , and reduce risk of macular degeneration . 4-6,8 However, for none of these uses (or any other) can astaxanthin yet be remotely called a proven treatment.
Two studies failed to find astaxanthin significantly more effective than placebo for treating stomach irritation in people with dyspepsia (nonspecific stomach pain). 9,10
Safety Issues
As a widely consumed nutritional substance, astaxanthin is expected to have a low order of toxicity. In human studies, no serious adverse effects have been seen. 2,3,7 Maximum safe doses in pregnant or nursing women, young children, or individuals with severe liver or kidney disease have not been determined.
Revision Information
- Reviewer: EBSCO CAM Review Board
- Review Date: 12/2015 -
- Update Date: 12/15/2015 -

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Hyundai Prices Sonata Hybrid Below Toyota, Ford
As Hyundai finishes preparations for its first hybrid, the automaker has released the model's pricing rundown. No surprise here: It's going to underprice the competition.
The 2011 Hyundai Sonata hybrid has only one trim, and it will start at $25,795, excluding a $750 destination charge. By contrast, the 2011 Toyota Camry hybrid starts at $26,575, and the Ford Fusion hybrid starts at $28,240. The Toyota Prius technically is a midsize vehicle, according to the EPA — and it's cheaper and more fuel efficient than the Sonata hybrid at 50 mpg combined and $21,650 — but that vehicle is smaller nonetheless.
The Sonata hybrid gets an EPA rating of 35 miles per gallon city, 40 mpg highway and 37 mpg combined. The base trim comes standard with 16-inch aluminum wheels, LED headlight accents, LED taillights, front fog lights, heated side mirrors with integrated turn signals, push-button start, remote keyless entry, dual automatic climate control and a 4.2-inch LCD screen in the gauge cluster. For $30,795, you can add the Premium Package:
It includes a panoramic sunroof, 17-inch wheels, navigation system, backup camera, premium stereo, leather seats and auto-dimming mirrors.
Hyundai has confirmed that the hybrid will go on sale in January instead of December. This means Hyundai's previously stated $1,300 federal tax credit no longer applies as the credit program expires Dec 31.
SOURCE: DriveOn


text:
Long has it been since I posted. I am starting to think of a Russian version of CHICLASH, and those who know me well will tell you that this thought keeps haunting me, and the blogger guilt of not posting is increasing with each day.
Having done a lot of thinking I came to a conclusion that time has come to switch to something more... grown-up maybe. There is no way I am saying that blogs aren't sophisticated. This blog started as a teenage entertainment and self-exploration, and turned into a proper platform for sharing my perspective of fashion, Ukrainian fashion in particular. It's just that I have dozens of ideas for articles, and they have stopped fitting into the format of this blog. So here I am, just saying farewell to CHICLASH. All my fellow bloggers will understand how hard it is for me.
I started this blog when I was 16, and then it was a whole other universe for me. I am now 21, and my views on fashion and the world around me have been transformed and are still constantly changing. Studying a masters course at LCF challenges my fashion beliefs on a daily basis, and I hope this constant mobility and search for something fresh will continue when I graduate.
I didn't want this blog to be dead, and it isn't. It was a major part of my life, and it helped me in discovering my passion for the fashion industry. I am not training to be a journalist, yet I am hoping to pursue writing about fashion business as a freelancer alongside something else. I am planning to be out and about at every possible fashion event, just like I was when I was a blogger at CHICLASH.
In the meantime, you can check out a recent post of mine on Fashion Week With Daria Shapovalova website if you understand Russian, and there are more projects and collaborations to come. You can stay in touch with me via LinkedIn.
The blogger community will always hold a special place in me, and I will definitely continue to follow many amazing blogs.
The blogger community will always hold a special place in me, and I will definitely continue to follow many amazing blogs.


text:
|Lektion 1
Das arabische Alphabet
Hinweise :
Note: Use this Arabic language dictionary as a learning aid:
|Search Arabic Language Resources:
. HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OUT OF THIS ARABIC LANGUAGE COURSE? Do you hate huge paper dictionaries as much as I hate them? While learning Arabic or if you are traveling to an Arab country, I highly recommend getting an Arabic language electronic dictionary. I spent some time browsing the Internet looking for a good one. I ended up choosing the Language Teacher by ECTACO. I was really startled by the value! They make dictionaries in more than 20 languages (including Arabic) and in various price categories. I recommend these dictionaries to anyone who intend traveling to Arab countries or wants to learn Arabic on the move. They also make great gifts! You can familiarize yourself with such dictionaries here. Make your time learning Arabic easier - you have no idea how much help you can get from a tiny handheld device. I guarantee you'll be as amazed as I was.
If you liked this tutorial and thought that it helped you, then feel free to add a link to this tutorial from your website and share it with other people.


text:
Get your Xiaomi Mi 6 broken back glass fixed same day by specialists.
Get your Xiaomi Mi 6 broken back glass fixed same day by specialists.
If your Xiaomi Mi 6 has the back glass cracked, get it replaced before it exposes the internals of the phone. The service includes parts and labour. The camera lens is not part of the back glass repair. Please let us know the colour of the phone when you order the service.
About the repair process.
Xiaomi Mi 6 repair process starts with gentle pre-heating the back glass on the special plate. It melts the glue a bit so removing the broken glass is easier and safer. We are very careful not to damage any components that are hidden under the back glass.
To guarantee your satisfaction, we replace the back glass panel with the high quality part. The mounting point is a double sided adhesive, exactly the same as Xiaomi uses and that guarantees the perfect fit.
Our technicians will repair your phone while you wait, if it is possible. In most cases the repair doesn't take longer than 2 hours including testing your Xiaomi Mi 6 after repair. If you have sent it in for Online repair, we will return your phone within few days or the next day if you have selected priority repair. Expect perfect results when you get your phone back !
We test your phone after we fix it.
Your Xiaomi Mi 6 will be carefully tested after repair. The test includes the new back glass fitting but also we confirm other functions to work properly after we assembled the phone back (speaker and the microphone, network range, calling funciton, front camera, charging, speakers, Wifi). After you receive the phone back, we kindly ask you to test it again.
Get a discount when choosing multiple services.
We can fix many other faults related to the Xiaomi Mi 6 phone. If you require back camera lens or camera replacement, help flashing Android firmware on your phone, let us know ! If you choose replacing the battery while changing the screen or charging port, the price will be reduced. You can select desired repair service from the main menu or just give us a call and we will assist you.
Does your Xiaomi Mi 6 have additional damage that you don't wish to fix ?
If your phone has broken front glass, camera lens or any other issues but you don't want to fix it, please let us know ! If your back is already broken, we have to access the phone trough the back that may break even more. Be aware of this. Please mention in notes any issues you have with the phone. If we notice any damage that was not mentioned, we will need to contact you first to explain you this again and get your permission. This may cause some delays. Note, that those additional issues we may offer you to fix it at greatly reduced prices.
Please note although we use highest quality parts and bonding material, we don't consider any mobile phone to be waterproof after the repair as this is a subject to manufacturer's internal tests when they assemble devices in their factories. Although we hope that the repair should restore the waterproofness, we don't guarantee and don't take any responsibilities. Use the service only if you agree with this.
Frequently Asked Questions.
Book and appointment and visit the Fixfactor store in London. Get your phone, tablet or laptop repaired on the same day, while you wait. Enjoy free Wifi, coffee, sweets and fruits.
1. Contact us first (call: 0208 543 7088) regarding required phone, tablet, laptop or any other repair service or book the repair on the website.
2. Bring your faulty phone, tablet or laptop, fill the repair form in the store, get the confirmation note and leave your device with us.
3. Our technician will run an initial diagnostic to confirm the problem and lets the job begin! The repair should not take more than the time we agreed.
4. Finally, after agreed period of time your phone, tablet or laptop is ready for collection, repaired.
Would you like to bring your phone, tablet or laptop ? Use the booking calendar from below.
Remember to mention the model of your device are you going to bring, thank you.
Same day return after we fix your phone. Give us a call or use the website to book the repair. Write the order number on the package and send your phone, laptop or tablet to our Store.
1. Add the phone, tablet or laptop repair service to the Cart by clicking the "Send For Repair" button on the page of repair service which you need.
2. Complete the checkout with your address, contact number and choose the payment method. You can pay after repair if you prefer (you will see this option at the checkout).
3. Wrap your phone, tablet or laptop safely. We suggest to use the Insured Mail service (insured up to £500 and costs around £7.50).
Please send your device to:
Write the Order number on the outer of the box.
4. Once received, you will be contacted and the repair will start immediately.
5. You will get a confirmation e-mail after we fix your phone, tablet or laptop. We always return it with a recorded mail service.
We use Royal Mail Recorded or Next Day Delivery by 1pm (insured up to £500) for mobile phone nationwide repair service. Londoners can use a bicycle courier service for same day repairs (it is optional with additional cost).
Debit or Credit Card, Apple Pay, Android Pay, Paypal, payments over the phone, bank transfers or cash on collection while in the Store. You can send the phone first and pay after repair (while the phone is still with us).
1. Backup your data if possible. We leave your device's internal storage untouched but it is always recommended.
2. Remove the passcode / password or include it with your phone so we can test the phone after repair.
3. Remove the Sim Card and micro SD card.
4. Don't send it in original box, you may not get it back. We use our own packaging for returning devices to customers.
5. Please don't include any accessories.
6. Write the Order Number or your name on the outside of the box.
If you need us to come to your house or office, let us know at least 3 hours in prior to the visit.
Areas covered: South Wimbledon, Wimbledon, Raynes Park, Morden and other within 2 miles from our office.
We can do while we there:
We charge per hour or per job, whatever is easier for you. There is minimum of £50 charge per visit and £40 per hour afterwards.


text:
NEH Sponsors Berlin 9 Conference on Open Access
I'm very proud to announce that the NEH has just awarded a small grant to the Association of Research Libraries, the local sponsors of the 2011 Berlin 9 Conference on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities. The grant will support humanities sessions at the conference.
In its ninth year, this is the first time that the landmark Berlin Open Access conference has taken place in North America. During those nine years, the open access landscape has changed immensely, with more scholarly and scientific works being published in an open format where they can be read by a wide audience. This year's conference takes place in Washington, DC and will involve many of our nation's leading research funders.
The open access discussion involves a lot of different actors, including scholars, scientists, librarians, archivists, funders, and publishers. Some of the issues to be solved -- often revolving around business models and long-term sustainability -- are thorny and resist simple answers. My hope is that we can engage the humanities community in these discussions and work towards publishing paradigms that allow peer-reviewed scholarly works to reach a broad public audience.


text:
Once again, inclement weather plays a part on the PGA Tour - this time leading to a Monday finish. One of the beauties - and challenges - of golf is that it's an outdoor game. Wind, heat and rain are all part of what makes this great game such a great challenge.
Congratulations to Sergio Garcia, a well-earned win that will mean we'll see him in the playoffs and Ryder Cup.
I read last week's "A Lesson Learned" from PGA National Teacher of the Year Mike Malaska and his words on playing on "soft" conditions were, of course, right on.
I'd like to share one other tip about playing on a wet course, one that I saw employed some this week at the Wyndham Championship, and one I think could help most golfers.
Not long ago, one area that I really needed to improve on was my short game when conditions were "soft." Think about it, how many times have you, or someone in your group, chunked or bladed a chip when playing on a wet course? I know I've done it, I'd bet most of you have too.
When you are chipping under normal, dry conditions, the bounce of your club adds an element of forgiveness. Under "soft" conditions, your club is more prone to dig in to the ground, thus creating the "fat" shot - or you get so wrapped up in avoiding that "fat" chunk, you end up blading the ball - and watch it scream over the green into who knows what. Neither are very fun or helpful to your score.
So how do you avoid these? You avoid it by "hitting the ball first" - but not "hitting the ball only." Maybe explain not to "pick" the ball cleanly. Go ahead and be aggressive with the stroke.
Play the ball just a touch further back in your stance, for me that means about half a ball further back. Again, this ensures you contacting the ball first. Then take a little extra lofted club - perhaps a sand wedge rathern than a pitching wedge or a lob wedge rather than a sand wedge - " and close the face a little. " Take this out. The delofting of the shot comes from playing a touch back in the stance. Don't want to close orshut down the toe at address and through the shot. May even add about addressing the ball more closely so that the heel is slightly off the ground at address too.
Now, very importantly, the same fundamentals of the short game still apply. Keep your hands in front of the ball and always moving left (for right-handed golfers). Your club can and should contact the ground - only it will after you've hit the ball.
The ball will come out lower but will check up for you - I'd suggest practicing this shot to get a good feel for your distances. But this technique is easy to implement into your game and will help you lower scores when playing on a wet course.
Good luck! Come visit us out at Legacy on Lanier to test your game under all (and beautiful) conditions.


text:
Okay, I'm responding to Deborah Ager's challenge to make my own list.
1. Black velvet is elegant and lovely, but not mandatory. Oftentimes, the best poets don't look like poets (you know, the berets, the beards, the capes).
2. There's no money in it. None. That's why poets are more generous than other artists. Usually.
3. You must love words, must collect them the way some people collect coins or shells. And you must always be on the lookout for new ones.
4. Any day when a new poem is underway is intensely exciting. The poem goes everywhere you go. There's something obsessive about this.
5. Real poets read poetry. Voraciously. It's how we go to school each day.
6. You would write poetry even if no one published you. But you might not revise so carefully.
7. Poets must sit on their poems the way hens sit on eggs. There's no way to rush this.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
7 Things You Should Know about Being a Poet
4 comments:
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text: What do you do when your dreams really start to come true? Every day can be a different state when you getting paid nightly Let 'em throw salt, that's just the fire to the flame, that shit ignite me Oh, don't you want an autograph? Give your daughter some I still keep my team on my back, cause that's where I started from My niggas know I got 'em if I ever got an obligation I read between the lies, see through the lies inside the conversation I been patient, I wrote this shit down in my momma basement She just wanna retire I just wanna tell her she can Look back at her baby boy like damn that's one hell of a man Tell her friends at work, repeat it and tell 'em again I'm yelling, "Yeah! Hell yeah! I got my foot on they neck" They might as well compare me to myself, I'm as good as it gets I think about my time with the band if I would've went back and did something different Naw: I ain't trippin' I'm full speed ahead, schurr, watch I switch when I'm whippin' They used to call me Vic but now they just call me that nigga Used to call me a fucking failure I bet I'm looking familiar like damn he really that nigga I did it I bet your girl would be with' it, she ain't used to know my name, now she just call me that nigga Now they just call me that nigga Matter fact, you could call me that nigga Naw, put my name in your phone "That Nigga" For real That nigga, been a nigga forever, don't you remember? Toured with Disclosure in January, I'll be gone till November I told my girl I'll move to Cali when I ain't had the rent up I might put 50k into options to out do nigga's income And y'all already know I wouldn't say it if I ain't really mean it My dick tell 'em my name is big, bitch I'm Willie Beamin' Beam me up, Scottie, I been thinking of heaven, I been dreamin' With dreams may come true Jermaine tests my line, I was drivin' down 69th He said, "It's Cole, " I'm like, "What? Who?" It's J.Cole, nigga, I'm on tour and I want you So shouts to No I.D. fuck the bullshit Between me and you, you know you my nigga And ship know I'm that nigga It's for everything, Tunchi, Millie Mil, and Hit-Boy, too Trip, Dan, mom and dad, my fam Natalie you my number uno, baby you know I'm your one too So you ain't gotta trip when bitches ask for a picture They be like, "Wait are you... That nigga? (Yes I am) They told me that y'all be lonely, you know me I got homies I guess that I'm just that nigga (Yes I am) Like I ain't work my ass off, had that cast on stage fresh out the hospital, my nigga Like anything is possible, my nigga They just call me that nigga You wanna know what, they just call me that nigga (Yes I am) Yo, shout out to everybody that believed up 'til this point. I feel like I'm on top of the fucking world right now. King Kong shit. I fell off a fucking bridge. I got electrocuted by like thirty thousand volts of electricity. I was in the hospital for three nights, then got on a flight to New York to go meet with Atlantic Records the day I got out. I came back, I was on stage the day I got back with a cast on my arm. That's me. Save Money still alive. You know it's like nine months ago I was in such a different place, I was in a fucking band and everything I had fell through the cracks right before my eyes. A lot of people probably didnât think Iâd still be on my feet after that, but the only thing you can count on in this life is change. This shit is dedicated to my pops for all those last minute flights. To Cody for putting up with my shit and doing everything you ain't wanna do to make this shit come to light. To Natalie for believeing in me when nobody else did. To Waxx and Ill America for helping me build the vision. To Kev and Peter Cottontale for making this shit a masterpiece. To Papi Beats for the late night sessions. What's left to say? Haven't I said it all? Did I sing enough songs for you? Thank you. Peace Vic! What you doin'? Get off the internet!


text:
For those who do not know... The Voice is one of those singing competitions. The gimmick is that its all about the voice not the look. There are 4 judges (Blake Shelton - American country star, Christina Aguilera - American diva, Adam Levine - lead singer of Maroon 5, and Cee-Lo Green - he of 'Forget You', Goodie Mobb, and Gnarls Barkley fame). They sit with their backs to the stage and listen to the voice of the auditioner and if they like what they hear they press their button and turn around to watch the rest of the audition. At the end of the song if no one has turned around the person is done. If one coach turned around then the auditioner is on that coaches team. If more than one turn around, the auditioner gets to choose which team to be on (of those that turned around). Then after the teams form they have battle rounds where the coaches mentor their teams and they have 1 from each team sing. Then it's much like other singing competitions.
The only problem is that it is better in theory than in reality. In reality judges are very liberal in the beginning but as we get down to the wire, they only have so many slots left to fill so they get much stingier and they have an idea of who is in their team and how they can run with it so...basically those who audition on day 1 have a clear advantage over those on days 4-5.
Whew. Ok well the reason I wrote that was that Tony Vincent (original star of WWRY for those who didn't know) auditioned for The Voice tonight.
They talked about his background first and that he was in Rent and JCS on Broadway. Then he mentioned how he got to work exclusively with Queen as they started out WWRY in the West End and showed a nice picture of him and Brian laughing together. They also mentioned that he debuted the Vegas version and that's where he met his wife (she who played Scaramouche) and are expecting a baby together.
Anyways he goes to his audition and uses...We Are The Champions. While I don't think it was quite as good as he did it in WWRY it was still a fun belting out. Surprisingly only one judge though turned around. At first I was annoyed but there are reasons. A. What I wrote above. B. Blake really would be out of his element working with this guy. He's a down home country/folk type singer and TV is way too over the top. C. Adam honestly was probably a bit intimidated as Adam is clear he only sings in his comfort zone and TV was way out of that. I'm not sure why Christina didn't turn although it's always been clear she plays it safe and usually chooses female diva types.
BUT Cee-Lo did turn around and it made it a great fit. Cee-Lo said that he has a wonderful voice and that it takes a brave soul to tackle Freddie Mercury and that voice but he thinks Freddie would have approved of TV or whatever...so we'll see where it goes from here.
ON YouTube there is the performance but not the pre-performance bit - that you can go on nbc.com to watch the full episode (at least in America - I don't know what the deal is internationally).


text:
- Font:
- +
- -
MR. DAVID GREGORY: This Sunday, the politics of the economy at home and abroad. The president is dealt a setback at the economic summit in Asia over trade and a rebuke of his approach to economic recovery. At home, the debate over the Bush-era tax cuts and the co-chairs of the president's debt commission propose taking the knife to Social Security, Medicare, and the defense budget. After the election, will the White House and Republicans be capable of finding common ground? My guest this morning, the president's senior adviser, David Axelrod, in his first Sunday interview since the Democratic losses at the polls.
MTP online
Twitter: @davidgregory,@betsymtp,@meetthepress
Facebook: David Gregory, MTP
Download the iPhone app
Subscribe to newsletter
Get text message updates
Then the view from the Republicans. Just back from Afghanistan, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator John McCain. Plus, a special focus on jobs, the future of the economy, and whether Washington will take meaningful action on the debt. With us, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan; former speaker of the House, Republican Newt Gingrich; author of the new book, "All the Devils Are Here" about the financial crisis, journalist Bethany McLean; and former congressman, Democrat, Harold Ford.
Announcer: From NBC News in Washington, MEET THE PRESS with David Gregory.
MR. GREGORY: Good morning.
MR. DAVID GREGORY: President Obama on the way back from his 10-day trip to Asia, stopping a short time ago back on U.S. soil to refuel in Alaska. He returns home to a host of domestic challenges and debates as a lame duck session of Congress begins tomorrow.
Joining me now from Chicago this morning, the president's senior adviser, David Axelrod.
Mr. Axelrod, welcome back.
MR. DAVID AXELROD: Morning, David. Good to be here.
MR. GREGORY: Some of the headlines from the trip were not very good. A setback at the polls on Election Day and then headlines like this from The New York Times on Friday, "Obama's Economic View is Rejected on World Stage; China, Britain and Germany Challenge U.S. - Trade Talks With Seoul Fail, Too." And The Wall Street Journal over the weekend, "U.S. Gets Rebuffed at Divided Summit." After an Election Day setback, has the president also lost his ability to forge international consensus on the world stage?
MR. AXELROD: Not at all, David. And if you had more time, I'm sure you'd show the positive headlines from the trip as well. The president went on this mission because Asia's the most vibrant market, growing market in the world and we want to compete for those jobs and that's why he went. And his first stop was in India, a growing power in the world. And we saw American businesses walk away with $10 billion in new deals, 50,000 jobs back here. We strengthened that key relationship. And we went on and we forced the agenda at the G-20 to focus on this issue of trade imbalances, which is an important thing.
Now, it's, it's obviously going to be the case that countries are going to pursue their national interests. Germany is a great exporter. That's all--that's, that's the, the core of their economy. They don't want greater competition from us. China, we know the same. So there are going to be--there's going to be tug and pull in these. But the point is you have a president of the United States who's out there fighting for American jobs. In Korea we want a trade agreement because Korea is a, a huge market in which we want to sell American products. But what the president said was the deal that was on the table wasn't good enough, wasn't good enough for the auto industry, wasn't good enough for American beef. We want to keep on negotiating, and that's what we're going to do.
MR. GREGORY: Let...
MR. AXELROD: We're going to make the best deal for the American worker and the American industry.
MR. GREGORY: Let's talk about another hot topic, and that is the issue of the Bush-era tax cuts. A lot of back and forth involving you this week about what's going to happen here, whether there'll be extended. I want to go back to December of 2008, you were on this program and you were unequivocal about the president's position. Take a look.
(Videotape, December 28, 2008)
MR. GREGORY: Will you hold off on any tax increases?
MR. AXELROD: Well, look, the question is on the Bush tax cuts for the very wealthiest Americans, and it's something that we plainly can't afford moving forward, and whether it, it, it expires or whether we repeal it a little bit early, we'll determine later, but it's going to go, it has to go.
(End videotape)
MR. GREGORY: "It has to go." With the new political reality in Washington, has the president changed his view?
MR. AXELROD: No. The president still believes that we have to move forward on these tax cuts for the middle class. The middle class has taken a beating in this last decade. They've seen their incomes decline, and they've borne the brunt of this recession, but we can't afford to borrow another $700 billion to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. You know, your next guest, Senator McCain, was very courageous in 2003 when he voted against the second Bush tax cut, because he said it was irresponsible to, to, to pay for these--to borrow money for these tax cuts skewed to the wealthy at a time when we had two wars
and so many other pressures. And that is still the case. So the president's...
MR. GREGORY: But are you saying--so you're saying no deal...
MR. AXELROD: ...position has--the president has not changed.
MR. GREGORY: ...no compromise.
MR. AXELROD: Well, you're asking me--I'm telling you what the president's position is. We need to move forward on the middle-class tax cuts. We cannot afford a permanent extension of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, which would cost us $700 billion that we don't have over the next 10 years.
MR. GREGORY: Right. All right, but I know...
MR. AXELROD: We, we simply shouldn't do that.
MR. GREGORY: ...the, I know the arguments. Here's the question. If the president could get an agreement on middle class tax cut extension, would he agree to an extension, at least temporary, for the tax cuts on the upper earners?
MR. AXELROD: David, we're looking forward to sitting down with leaders of both parties and talking about those issues. I'm not going to negotiate that with you here. There have been a lot of formulations thrown out in the last few weeks that are interesting, but we fundamentally want to uphold the principles that I laid out, and we believe that Congress should act before the first of the year. These taxes, the way the Bush tax cuts were designed, are going to expire on January 1. We want people to have the certainty of knowing that's not going to happen. And Congress ought to--before they go on vacation, they ought to ensure that
people have better vacations of their own by knowing that this matter has been taken care of.
MR. GREGORY: All right. Bottom line...
MR. AXELROD: So we're going to work hard to do that.
MR. GREGORY: Bottom line, he's open to compromise. Is that fair?
MR. AXELROD: The bottom line is he wants to sit down and talk about this, but...
MR. GREGORY: Is he open to compromise?
MR. AXELROD: ...as to your original question--there's no, there's no bend on the, on the permanent extension of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
MR. GREGORY: He's open to compromise.
MR. AXELROD: He wants to sit down--we want to get this done. The American people expect to get this done, and we, we are, we are eager to sit down and talk about how to move forward.
MR. GREGORY: The president said after the election that he endured a "shellacking," his word. What is the course correction for this president as he moves forward?
MR. AXELROD: Look, I think that, fundamentally, what drove the electorate were two things. One is that while we have a recovery, while we've had 10 straight months of job growth after a horrendous downturn, it hasn't been fast enough. We still have millions of people looking for jobs, we still have--we need more robust growth. I think that was one of the messages and that was the primary message that we heard in that election. The second is they want us to work together to do it. In many instances, we had to move as one party in Congress, or virtually as one party because the other party decided that they did not want to participate as a strategy. Now I think the country is saying to both Republicans and Democrats, "Forget about the politics for a while. Sit down and work together to solve these problems and get this economy moving at a faster pace." And that's what we intend to do.
MR. GREGORY: OK, but I'm not hearing from you so far this morning where the president is prepared to give and change this dynamic. I'm hearing on the issue of taxes, on the issue of what happened in the election still plenty of fight. I'm sure your supporters are happy to hear that. What I'm wondering is, how does the president course correct, change the dynamic to actually get something done?
MR. AXELROD: Well, you know, here's the thing, David. That is more important in a conversation between the president and members of both parties than me talking to you here. I think those are issues that we need to move forward on. I think on--there are plenty of economic issues. We proposed a--to--a tax cut that would all allow businesses to buy capital equipment next year without paying the taxes on them in, in 2011. That would get the economy moving. We proposed a permanent tax cut for research and development. That would get the economy moving. There are other ideas. These are ideas that Republicans have
traditionally supported. We ought to sit down and work on these things together and, and get this--and get these things done so the economy grows at a faster pace.
MR. GREGORY: Let me ask you about the, the debt commission, the president's debt commission. The chairman came out maybe a little earlier than they had planned and put forth a rather Draconian document about how to slash spending and deal with the deficit. The New York Times summarized it this way--to bring viewers into it, let me put it on the screen: "The chairman ... outlined a politically provocative and economically ambitious package of spending cuts and tax increases. ...
"The plan calls for deep cuts in domestic and military spending, a gradual 15-cents-a-gallon increase in the federal gasoline tax, limiting or eliminating popular tax breaks in return for lower" taxes, " and benefit cuts and an increased retirement age for Social Security." Here's
the bottom line, if they don't get 14 commission members to agree to this, this is an intellectual exercise and not a real document. Can they get to 14?
MR. AXELROD: I don't know whether they can or they can't, David. But obviously they did a--it's a voluminous work and they have not yet completed it. That was the chairman--chairman's recommendation, and now they're going to vote on it. The president said that he'll comment on their work after they complete it. That's his commitment to them. But, look, it underscores what we knew. The president appointed this commission, bipartisan commission, because this is a huge problem. We have to deal with it, and it's not going to be easy to deal with. And if one side says, "No taxes on anyone can go up, any interest, any corporation, any individual," and then the other side says, "No cuts can be made, then we're not going to solve it." Everybody's going to have to give a little, and we're going to have to move forward and deal with this problem together. And hopefully, whatever happens, this commission report will give the impetus to do that.
MR. GREGORY: Is--so the president's position is, "Look, everything has to be on the table." Tax hikes, taking on entitlement spending, raising the retirement age for Social Security, on those specifics, all of those are on the table in the president's mind.
MR. AXELROD: Yeah, I'm not going to deal with specifics because that would violate the president's commitment. But I will say this. There's no--the president has shown his willingness in the last two years. You know, when we took on the healthcare issue, one of the reasons was that our budget people said we cannot deal with these deficits if we have an
inexorable climb in healthcare costs to the government, to businesses, to individuals, and so we did that. And part of it was economies and the Medicare program. We took away subsidies to insurance companies and made other economies that didn't affect patient care. Unfortunately, the other party ran against us on it in the election and accused us of...
MR. GREGORY: But why--but I have to ask you...
MR. AXELROD: ...cutting Medicare. We have to set, we have to set aside those kinds of tactics...
MR. GREGORY: But I didn't even ask you for specifics.
MR. AXELROD: ...hold hands and move together.
MR. GREGORY: I asked you whether everything was on the table. And the level of caution from you on this--I mean, how are you going to expect both Democrats and Republicans to make painful choices if you can't even say publicly here today that those tough issues should at least be on the table?
MR. AXELROD: The president--the president...
MR. GREGORY: And yet you expect Republicans to come to you.
MR. AXELROD: David, David, the president empaneled this commission because he recognized that we had to take a, a, a wide lens look at this, and then--he said then everything should be on the table. That hasn't changed. What, what you want me to do, though, is, is react to
individual aspects of it here, and that, that I can't do because we need to see what the final report is. But obviously there are going to be some hard choices to be made. We're willing to make them. It's going to take both parties together, working together to get them done.
MR. GREGORY: Speaker Pelosi said this draft report was unacceptable. Did the president found--find that reaction counter-productive?
MR. AXELROD: Look, there were reactions on--across the political spectrum. Some on the right, who said it was unacceptable. Mr. Norquist and others on the right said, "It raises taxes, we can't be for it." Others on the left said it was unacceptable for other reasons. I think
the best thing to do is wait for the final report, look at it, see where we can find common ground and move forward. This is something the American people expect us to do, and we, we have to do it because we all know that this is a big dark cloud on our horizon and that--and the president is very intent on moving forward.
MR. GREGORY: All right, before you go, two quick ones. Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff, now preparing to run for mayor in Chicago, in your town. Will the president campaign for him?
MR. AXELROD: Well, the president hasn't--the president's made clear what his view of Rahm is. He said he was an excellent chief of staff, thought he'd be an excellent mayor. Whether he involves himself actively in this campaign is a matter that we haven't yet decided. But I think his view of Rahm is very clear.
MR. GREGORY: About Afghanistan. My next guest, as you know, Senator McCain, is just back from Iraq and Afghanistan and has been critical of the timeline for the beginning of withdrawal, saying that, in fact, it is creating erratic behavior in Hamid Karzai, among others in the region,
because there's a sense that the U.S. will leave. Is it a problem for the U.S. to announce the beginning of the end of the war? Does it undercut our policy?
MR. AXELROD: No, it's, it's, it's important that we announce the beginning of a drawdown. We've always said it would be based on conditions on the ground, and that is still the case. But it's important to let the Afghans know that they have to pick up the, pick up the pace
in terms of training up the military, training up their police, being ready to accept responsibility. And the--this, this beginning of the drawdown has a disciplining effect in that regard. So it's important. We, we, we set it in conjunction with our military leadership. Everyone
agreed that it was important, and it, and it's not going to shift.
MR. GREGORY: All right, we'll leave it there. David Axelrod in Chicago this morning, thank you as always.
MR. AXELROD: Good to be with you. Thank you.
MR. DAVID GREGORY: Now the view from the other side of the aisle, Republican Senator John McCain.
Welcome back to MEET THE PRESS. Welcome back to the country. You were, as I said, in Iraq and Afghanistan. You just heard David Axelrod say any withdrawal will be conditions based. Is that not enough to satisfy you?
SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ): Well, I'd like to see the president say that it's only condition based. According to Mr. Woodward's book, his problem is the political--the left base of the Democrat Party. You don't fight and conduct wars that way. You win and then you leave. And that's what we've done in Iraq. And the fact is, the perception is, amongst friends
and enemies alike, that we've--we may be leaving, And that has caused them to make certain accommodations because they can't leave. I mean, it's just a fact.
MR. GREGORY: Well, Hamid Karzai...
SEN. McCAIN: Down to the, down to the governor level.
MR. GREGORY: Right.
SEN. McCAIN: Down to the police chief level they say, yes, the Taliban are telling us we're leaving and they're going to cut off our heads. Famous captive, Taliban captive, said to his American interrogator, "You've got the watches, we've got the time."
MR. GREGORY: Well, but Hamid Karzai, who you met with, says in The Washington Post this morning that it's time for the U.S. to reduce the intrusiveness into daily Afghan life, that they ought to get boots that are on the ground off the ground, out of the country.
SEN. McCAIN: Yes, and Hamid Karzai is reflecting his desire to survive, also a degree of paranoia. There's three big problems in Afghanistan right now, and let me tell you one of them that isn't, and that is the military aspect of it. Our Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force are doing a
magnificent job. They are penetrating into areas that they haven't been before. The hometown of Mullah Omar is now under our control. So that's--they've done a magnificent job under the leadership of General Petraeus and others.
The other side, though, is that there's corruption at very high levels. The attorney general of, of Afghanistan is corrupt. It's just a fact. And also, we have, unfortunately, a situation in Pakistan where the enemy and ISI, Pakistani military intelligence, is working with and harboring
al-Haqqani network and other elements of Taliban. You can't defeat the nemy if they have sanctuary. We also went to Pakistan and had a, a very andid meeting with General Kayani on this issue. But it boils down to hat the ISI, Kayani, the Pakistani leadership, the Afghan leadership, India's leadership, all are not convinced that the United States is going
to stay the course.
MR. GREGORY: Let me, let me talk to you about another military matter back home and a priority for this administration; that's whether the ban on gays and lesbians in the military is going to be rescinded.
SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.
MR. GREGORY: Are you going to stand in the way, you personally, in the way of this ban being lifted?
SEN. McCAIN: I will stand that I want a thorough and complete study of the effect on morale and battle effectiveness of the United States military. I will listen, as I've said for years, to our military leaders and not a, not a study that is leaked--as we know this town's pretty good
at that.
MR. GREGORY: That said, seven in 10 members of the military think it would be just fine to have it lifted.
SEN. McCAIN: Yeah. You and I have not seen that study. And this study was directed at how to implement the repeal, not whether the repeal should take place or not. But, very importantly, we have people like the commandant of the Marine Corps, the three other--all four service chiefs are saying we need a thorough and complete study of the effects--not how
to implement a repeal, but the effects on morale and battle effectiveness. That's what I want. And once we get this study, we need to have hearings, and we need to examine it, and we need to look at whether it's the kind of study that we wanted. It isn't, in my view,
because I wanted a study to determine the effects of the repeal on battle effectiveness and morale. What this study is, is designed to do is, is to find out how the repeal could be implemented. Those are two very different aspects of this issue.
MR. GREGORY: In a lot of households, this is a subject of debate, including your own, apparently.
SEN. McCAIN: That's right.
MR. GREGORY: Your wife, Cindy McCain, has, has cut an ad, a public service announcement with NOH8, a group that promotes gay, lesbian, transgender rights. And this is a portion of it. Let me, let me play it.
(Videotape from NOH8 public service announcement)
MS. CINDY McCAIN: Our political and religious leaders tell LGBT youth that they have no future.
MR. DAVE NAVARRO: They can't get married.
MR. STEPH JONES: They can't donate blood.
MS. McCAIN: They can't serve our country openly.
(End videotape)
MR. GREGORY: Referring to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." She did clarify this on her Twitter page. I--you're both so active on Twitter. She said this. She said, "I fully support the NOH8 campaign and all it stands for and am proud to be part of it. But I stand by my husband's stance on
`don't ask, don't' tell.'"
SEN. McCAIN: Which is a complete and thorough study and review of the effect on battle readiness and...
SEN. McCAIN: ...and morale. And by the way, I respect the First Amendment rights of every member of my family.
MR. GREGORY: But, but, you know, what's interesting about this, I mean, a debate in families, is...
SEN. McCAIN: Sure.
MR. GREGORY: ...there is kind of--you, you talk about waiting for the--there is an appeal to honor, I mean to your honor. You had the chairman of the Joint Chiefs saying, "Look, it's just not right to have, to have people lying about who they are just to be able to protect fellow
citizens." It has been an appeal...
SEN. McCAIN: Yeah. And you have the, you have the commandant of the Marine Corps who says...
MR. GREGORY: Right.
SEN. McCAIN: ...whose, whose people he's directly responsible for, is saying this could hurt our ability to win. This, this is about...
MR. GREGORY: Do you believe that?
SEN. McCAIN: This is about...
MR. GREGORY: I mean, you say you wait for the study. What do you believe?
SEN. McCAIN: I'm paying attention to the commandant of the Marine Corps.
MR. GREGORY: Right.
SEN. McCAIN: I'm paying attention to the chief of staff of the Air Force,
the Army and...
MR. GREGORY: But you're so close to the military, Senator. You know these people. You know the issue. I mean, do you have a sense of it in your gut about what should happen?
SEN. McCAIN: I, I have a sense that I respect and admire these four service chiefs who have expressed either outright opposition or deep reservation about the repeal. They're the ones who are in charge. Now, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I agree, the president and the secretary of Defense have all come out for repeal. But I really would--I was in, I was in an outpost near Kandahar. Army master sergeant, 19 years in, fifth deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, says to me, "Senator McCain, we live, eat, sleep, and fight together in close proximity. I'm concerned about the repeal. I'd like to know more about it." That's, that's the view that I got from chief petty officers and sergeants all over Afghanistan.
MR. GREGORY: The ban's not going to be lifted in the lame duck session, is that fair to say?
SEN. McCAIN: I think that we should at least--I, I don't think it should be, because I think once this study comes out in the beginning of December, we should at least have a chance to review it and maybe have hearings on it.
MR. GREGORY: I just want to spend a couple of minutes on taxes and spending.
SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.
MR. GREGORY: This is your 59th appearance on MEET THE PRESS. You know what that means. We have so much tape. So if we--if you go back to 2004, I know your, your...
SEN. McCAIN: Yeah.
MR. GREGORY: ...position on the Bush tax cuts...
SEN. McCAIN: Yeah.
MR. GREGORY: ...did change and you've talked about that before. But I do want to play something you said from an interview in 2004 and ask you about it.
(Videotape, April 11, 2004)
SEN. McCAIN: I voted against the tax cuts because of the disproportional amount that went to the wealthiest Americans. I would clearly support not extending those tax cuts in order to help address the, the deficit. But the middle income tax credits, the families, the child tax credits,
the marriage tax credit, all those I would keep.
(End videotape)
MR. GREGORY: That's exactly...
SEN. McCAIN: Is there…
MR. GREGORY: ...what President Obama says.
SEN. McCAIN: Is there a statute of limitations? The economic situation is vastly different today. We are in the midst of the greatest recession in the history of this country since the Great Depression. It is not the time to raise anyone's taxes. And by the way, also along with that statement, I said we have to restrain spending, and spending was way out of control
at that time. I said otherwise we're facing massive deficits, and that's what happened.
MR. GREGORY: Should tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans only be extended for a temporary period and only if there are corresponding spending cuts?
SEN. McCAIN: I think they should be extended until we're out of this recession. At such time then we could look at, at other tax hikes. But when we're in a serious recession, I cannot believe that raising taxes is a good thing on anybody.
MR. GREGORY: Is the debt commission a nonstarter or a good start or something else?
SEN. McCAIN: I hope it's a starter. I hope that even if they don't get the 14 members, as you mentioned earlier when you were talking with David Axelrod, that I hope that this is a wake-up call to America. It gives us an idea of the breadth of this problem, that we are going to have to make significant changes, we're going to have to challenge some of the very, very tough areas such as entitlements if we're ever going to dig out of this hole.
MR. GREGORY: Everything should be on the table?
SEN. McCAIN: Everything should be on the table.
MR. GREGORY: Raising the retirement age?
SEN. McCAIN: Everything should be on the table. And if it's not, then, obviously, I don't think we're going to make progress. And again, I'd like to applaud Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles because at least Americans--I think the lesson of this last election, the message was,
"Stop the spending, do things differently. We're worried about our children and our grandchildren and we can't keep on going like we are." And so maybe the environment has changed enough that Americans will respect us making some tough decisions.
MR. GREGORY: Just about a minute left.
SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.
MR. GREGORY: President Bush's memoir is out, "Decision Points." He talks about you in a couple of places. And he talks about your decision not to have him campaign with you.
SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.
MR. GREGORY: And he writes this: "I thought it looked defensive for John to distance himself from me. I was confident I could have helped him make the case." Any regrets that you kept him on the sidelines?
SEN. McCAIN: No. That--it was a decision made at the time of the campaign. I respect and admire President Bush. At the time, it's just was the realities of the political situation. As you know, then--President Obama, at the time, was doing everything he could to tie me to President Bush. I admire and respect and I believe I called President Bush a friend. And it was just a decision we made and I hope he respects it.
MR. GREGORY: There was a meeting--he talks about September of '08, the height of the financial collapse. You suspend your campaign, call for a meeting in the White House. Here's a picture of it. You're there--actually, you're next to Boehner there. And, and then-Senator
Obama there as well. And he writes that he was surprised that you actually--you, you had called this meeting, you didn't really add that much substantively, didn't have a question, suggesting that you were unprepared for the meeting. Is that fair?
SEN. McCAIN: I was prepared for the meeting. I wasn't prepared for the onslaught that came, took place from all of the Democrats in the room. My reason for being there was to make sure that Republicans were heard, people like Boehner, Mitch McConnell and others. That was the reason why I was there. I didn't think I was going to make any headway with some of the Democrats who were in the room. But I didn't ask for that meeting. But the fact is that I thought it was best, at that time, to say, "I want Republicans to be heard." Until that time, they had been shut out of the process.
MR. GREGORY: We'll leave it there until your 60th appearance. Senator,
thank you, as always.
SEN. McCAIN: Thanks for having me on.
MR. GREGORY: Appreciate it.
Up next, our special focus on the economy, jobs and the debt with former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan; former speaker of the House, Republican Newt Gingrich; author of the new book, "All the Devils Are Here," about the financial crisis, journalist Bethany McLean; former congressman, Democrat Harold Ford.
MR. GREGORY: Coming up, jobs, the future of the economy, and Washington's solution to our growing debt. A special economic discussion featuring Alan Greenspan and Newt Gingrich right after this brief commercial break.
MR. DAVID GREGORY: We are back. Joining me this morning for our special discussion on the problems facing our nation's economy, co-author of the new book on the financial crisis, "All the Devils Are Here," Vanity Fair's Bethany McLean; former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan; co-author of the new novel "Valley Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory," former speaker of the House, Republican Newt Gingrich; and chair of the Democratic Leadership Council, former Congressman Harold Ford Jr.
Welcome to all of you. So much to discuss about the future of our economy, the president on the world stage, free trade, and his approach to economic recovery.
But Alan Greenspan, Dr. Greenspan, let me begin with you. Where are we on our search for jobs and on our overall economic outlook?
DR. ALAN GREENSPAN: Well, our search for jobs is still, well, not doing too well. The, the 10 percent unemployment rate is the consequence of the fact that this economy is not picking up the way it ordinarily would out of a recession. And the basic reason is that, unlike previous
recoveries when, for example, we would be getting very significant pickups in building, residential, nonresidential, in a sense, longer term assets, we're not getting that today, and it's a big hole in the economy. And the reason, essentially, as far as the business section is--sector is concerned, is that business is highly uncertain about the future in a way which I have never seen it before and a way in which the data suggests has never, in fact, been so depressed. And unless and until we can begin to lift that pall of uncertainty, it is very difficult to see people reaching out into the longer term. In other words, remember, buildings are 20, 30-year investments.
MR. GREGORY: Right.
DR. GREENSPAN: And what the data show is that they are--there's extremely high risk aversion in what a columnist called "illiquid assets" like buildings.
MR. GREGORY: Speaker Gingrich, President Obama was on the air a week ago and he talked about a new normal in our economy. Let me play a portion of that interview and have you react to it.
(Videotape, "60 Minutes," last Sunday)
PRES. BARACK OBAMA: What is a danger is that we stay stuck in a new normal where unemployment rates stay high. People who have jobs see their incomes go up, businesses make big profits, but they've learned to do more with less and so they don't hire. And as a consequence, we keep on seeing growth that is just too slow to bring back the eight million
jobs that were lost.
(End videotape)
MR. GREGORY: Do you accept that?
FMR. REP. NEWT GINGRICH (R-GA): No. I think, I think we have two enormous policy challenges. The first is that we're now in a world market, a genuine world market where you've got to think about economics in terms of competing with China, India, Germany. And you ought to study Germany, which is a high cost country with a huge export manufacturing
base. Second, this administration is just wrong. I mean, the Obama model of the economy's just fundamentally, profoundly wrong. And I don't care--I think Chairman Bernanke is very foolish to be printing $600 billion of additional money, because the fact is, the problems in this
economy are problems of fiscal policy, they're problems of taxation, and they're problems of an anti-business, anti-jobs bureaucracy that this president encourages.
MR. GREGORY: We prop up the economy, Harold, for--we're certainly propping up the housing market. And so we're in this state. You agree with that?
FMR. REP. HAROLD FORD JR. (D-TN): In large part. But let me differ a little bit with the speaker. I think there are two kinds of debt here. The first is the debt we're accumulating as a result of this crisis. And we can't ignore the fact that to get America back on a growth trajectory and growth platform, there's some steps that government's going to have
to take. I agree with the chairman wholeheartedly that certainly around taxes and regulations going forward, I hope that the administration will call for a year moratorium on regulations. I hope they extend the tax cuts and even cut the corporate rate. But to suggest that the Fed should not continue to play an active role, especially in the face of some inaction from--on the fiscal side I think is wrong.
Two, the entitlement debt. I think that recommendations made by this deficit reduction commission have been responsible. There may be some areas where we disagree with, but I hope the left in my party and the right in the Republican Party don't scream so loud that they scare the crowded middle.
MR. GREGORY: And I, and I want to get back to the debt commission.
But, Bethany McLean, let me bring you into this. A big part of your book, of course, deals with the, the financial collapse and the housing market. The--what--we don't talk about this enough, that--the fact that the government is propping up the housing market. Prices have not come down far enough, even though there's so much pain out there and such a crisis out there. Can the economy really rebound unless the housing market corrects fully?
MS. BETHANY McLEAN: It's a great question, and it's a really interesting thing because one of the great ironies of the financial crisis, one of the big complaints is that government involvement in the housing market was a factor. People want to overplay it as "the factor"; it was a factor. But the great irony is that we've come out of the financial crisis with the, the housing market even more reliant on the government. It's now some 90 percent of the housing market. And I don't know if anybody has the guts to see what happens if you yank government support away from the housing market right now. But I think if you don't do
that, it's hard to argue that we've found, that we've found a real bottom in, in, in housing prices. But doing so will risk putting the economy into more of a tailspin.
MR. GREGORY: And, Alan Greenspan, again, another kind of bottom line question, is there a second crash out there that you fear?
DR. GREENSPAN: No, I don't. In fact, we are in a position where we are moving forward largely because the rest of the world is moving forward. So we're moving forward, we're moving forward, but at too slow a pace to bring the unemployment rate down. But there's very little evidence of any deterioration that suggests we're about to have a double dip, as they call it. And, in fact, if there's any evidence at all, we are actually picking up some. Through the month of November, industrial production is clearly improving, and there's all evidence out there that there's a very mild degree of acceleration in the American economy, but not enough to
get the system to function.
MR. GREGORY: Well, let's talk about the debt commission because, Speaker Gingrich, you've been on the air this week disagreeing with some of these recommendations. They've got to get to 14. What I asked Senator McCain, is this a nonstarter, a starter, or something in between?
REP. GINGRICH: Well, the, the statement by the chairman is a nonstarter because, remember, you don't have to get to 14, you have to get to passage in the House and Senate.
MR. GREGORY: Right.
REP. GINGRICH: Well, so the fact that they, they, they get together, they issue a statement guaranteed to frighten most Americans--which is what it did, I mean, a number of people are now calling me or e-mailing me about cutting Social Security--is absurd because it's not going to happen.
MR. GREGORY: But don't we have to have an adult conversation with people about what the real problem is?
DR. GREENSPAN: Look, I think something equivalent to what Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson put out is going to be passed by the Congress. The only question is, is it before or after a bond market crisis?
MR. GREGORY: Right.
DR. GREENSPAN: Because there's no alternative. Look, I...
MR. GREGORY: But you got to explain a little bit more what that means. You're talking about debt.
DR. GREENSPAN: Well, here, here's the issue. Right now we have very low bond prices, the markets are functioning in a reasonably good way. The big, serious problem is whether or not the outlook for the longer term deficit spooks the bond market to a point where long-term interest rates and mortgage rates move up very sharply. If that happens, that will cause the double dip. And I'm just basically hoping that we have enough sense to realize that we've got to resolve this issue before it gets forced upon us.
MR. GREGORY: Bethany, I mean, David Brooks writes in his column on Friday about the politics here, and he writes this: "The report from the chairman lists some of the best ways to raise revenue and cut spending." ... "It comes with no enactment strategy," however. "In this climate, asking politicians to end the mortgage deduction and tax employer health care plans and raise capital gains taxes and cut benefits for affluent seniors is like asking them to jump on a buzzing sack full of live grenades. They won't do it."
MS. McLEAN: And I think that's really scary. The situation right now reminds me for all the world of the situation in the years leading up to the financial crisis. We've got a big problem, except this one is even bigger. People can see it coming, and we need to take action. And I
think if we don't take action, we're going to look back, perhaps when there is a bond market crisis, and say, "Why didn't we do something when we had choices?" And people at this table may disagree with me, but it seems to me that our budget problems aren't calculus, they're not
algebra, they're simple arithmetic. We're spending $3 for every $2 we take in. Something needs to give.
MR. GREGORY: I don't see why, for instance, some of these suggestions, Harold, on Social Security are going to be demagogued to death. Why, in 50 years, people can't look at raising the retirement age and have that be a serious discussion point?
REP. FORD: Look, you can't pay off the debt without either cutting things or raising taxes. This is a pretty good mixer of things. The, the chairman is right in another regard. This is going to happen. We're going to have to deal with our deficit either by congressional and Senate and political leaders acting, or the global capital markets will impose a harsher set of realities on us, force interest payments to go up, and change our standing in the world. I would hope--and my--Speaker Gingrich is a friend. He has been not only a leader in his--the Republican Party, he's been a leader in a lot of ways for calling for a new American way, a
new American majority. I would hope that all of the smart minds in Republican and Democratic Party could come together and say, "Look, this is painful, but we're going to have to do this." If we're serious with all this talk about our kids and our grandkids, we're facing one of those
critical moments where...
MR. GREGORY: Well, well, let's, let's bring it more up-to-date, Speaker Gingrich. The tea party movement itself, within the Republican Party, why don't you think there's more of a mandate for some really tough choices on, on government spending?
REP. GINGRICH: Let me, let me just come back for a second, David, because I want to suggest to you people can disagree without it being demagoguery. I mean, I helped, working with Bill Clinton, we balanced the federal budget for four straight years, we paid off $405 billion in
debt. It was not a trivial achievement. It can be done. It can't be done by sweeping, slashing generalizations by people who won't be affected. And I'm just saying that this--the deficit commission, at the rate they're going, will actually be a step backwards, OK.
MR. GREGORY: Hm.
REP. GINGRICH: The tea party movement wants real change, but they would start and say to you what John Boehner has said, the new speaker, "Roll back the discretionary accounts to the 2008 level." That's a trillion dollars over 10 years. IBM and other technical companies have come in with a set of proposals that change the management of the federal government. They believe that's another trillion dollars. At the Center for Health Transformation, we published a study of fraud in Medicare and Medicaid because the federal government's such a bad manager. That's $70 billion to $120 billion a year. Now, you can do a lot of things to get
back to a balanced budget without having to hurt the American people.
MR. GREGORY: All right, let me get a break in here. We're going to come back and talk a little bit more about this, also the tax cut issue, the Bush tax cuts, and a little politics as well. Our economic discussion continues right after this station break.
MR. GREGORY: We're back with the roundtable. We're talking about this country's debt and the debt commission.
Harold Ford, here were some of the scenes from around the world. London, where you saw rioting in the street because of a hike of college tuition costs. We remember in the past year the scenes from Greece. Draconian cuts were introduced and there was social unrest. I mean, is that what it could come to in this country if the politicians do move forward to
really tackle the debt?
REP. FORD: I hope not. I think that there's a sense of who we are, what we represent, and why we're important to the world. The notion of exceptionalism is thrown around, or the term is thrown around often. I think people realize that we've built a lot of stuff in this country,
we've innovated, we've led. And for us to maintain that position, some changes are going to have to come about. I think the rise of the tea party movement in some ways is positive for this discussion in that they recognize that overspending, overtaxing are challenges for the country. The same is true when you look back at the Clinton years. He realized that as well. There are smart, sensible people in both parties. As long as you don't allow the far left and the far right, again, to crowd out the, the, the predominant middle, we can get a lot of this done. If that means making tough choices on Social Security--I'm 40, I'm willing to
give mine up, and I think a lot of people my age who may reach a certain income level are willing to do the same. But political leaders have to show some courage and will to make it happen.
MR. GREGORY: I had, I had no idea you were that old.
Newt--Speaker Gingrich, do you think this president has the political stroke that Bill Clinton did to actually forge a consensus on tough choices?
REP. GINGRICH: I have no idea. I was a little disappointed in Mr. Axelrod's comments this morning. But it took, it took President Clinton eight months from the time we won in November to his decision in June of '95 to work with us. I mean, change on this scale is very wrenching, and it's wrenching for his staff, it's wrenching for his allies. Frankly, I think Speaker Pelosi becoming the minority leader will make it harder. So I, I don't, I, I don't know what the president will do. What I do--the only place I worry about in terms of the kind of riots you were showing is not Americans in general. I believe the scale of change coming to government workers is going to be so great that you may well see, in places like Sacramento or Albany, New York, very serious unrest by union members who are offended at the idea that they should actually earn in proportion to the taxpayer and not be the new special class in America, which is what they've become over the last 20 years.
MR. GREGORY: Let me get to the issue of tax cuts to both of you, Bethany and Dr. Greenspan. Dr. Greenspan, we talked about this issue before, are tax cuts paid for? Or, to put it a different way, should the tax cuts on wealthier Americans be extended without corresponding spending cuts? What's going to happen? What should happen?
DR. GREENSPAN: Well, what's going to happen is that they're going to get extended. I mean, that's very obvious, irrespective of what the rhetoric is, because that's the easiest thing to do politically at this stage. But we have to recognize that, longer term, the problem is spending. You can't think about the concept of taxes until you ask, what is it that you're funding? At the moment, we are essentially borrowing more than a third of what we spend, and this is causing a huge increase in the debt, and it's not going to be easily reversed. Look, as far as I'm concerned, what we're going to have to do is to essentially look at, not individual, piecemeal cuts or taxes, we have to look at whole projects. I mean, for example, I happen to think Paul Ryan did a very important--was--made, made a very important contribution...
MR. GREGORY: He's going to be chairman of the Budget Committee in the new Republican House.
DR. GREENSPAN: Yeah. Now, you can agree or disagree with his whole structure. I happen to agree with almost all of it.
MR. GREGORY: Draconian cuts in Medicare and other programs.
DR. GREENSPAN: Yeah. But the problem here is that you're going to have to vote an up or down budget each time. In other words, all of these budgets that are going to come up are going to be compromises. You can't do it piecemeal. And then the very fascinating question is how--and I ask my colleagues across the table here--how does the Congress deal with that sort of thing when the committees and the committee chairmen and the committees which have jurisdiction for all various aspects of the budget, are going to insist upon wanting to get into the middle of it?
MR. GREGORY: Well, let me get Bethany on the tax cut issue here, whether this is actually going to move forward or only on a temporary basis.
MS. McLEAN: Well, I have to say I hope it does because I think if you look at economic history, the Bush tax cuts didn't put our economy on a sound footing. The Obama spending didn't put our economy on a sound footing. Since neither one has worked, let's try, let's try some of
both. My big fear is that, is that we don't have as much time as Washington seems to think we have. And I say that because smart--the smart money on Wall Street has been talking about a sovereign debt crisis for a couple of years now, even before we had the conflagration in Greece.
MR. GREGORY: And what does that mean?
MS. McLEAN: And--that, that, that means that we're going to have this bond market crisis that Dr. Greenspan was talking about earlier sooner than we may expect. And I worry that we have less time to fix this problem and less time to get our house in order than, than people seem to think.
MR. GREGORY: What happens--an indulgence in an area that I spend time thinking about--if, if the big government companies, Fannie Mae and, and Freddie Mac, taken over by the government, if they guarantee 95 percent of the mortgage debt, there is no market now for mortgages, and the government says, "Well, we got to wind these things down." What's going
to happen here with the mortgage market?
MS. McLEAN: Two alternatives. Either the private market does step up--and the case that some people argue, which is that the Fannie and Freddie are crowding out the private market, comes to the fore and the private market steps up and we're fine. Or we have a huge collapse in housing.
MR. GREGORY: You worry, Dr. Greenspan, about propping up the housing market.
DR. GREENSPAN: Well, let me just say this, that unless the housing market begins to move back, we're not going to have any significant cuts in the unemployment rate generally. But at the moment, housing starts are as low as they can get and really just replace the number of units we need.
MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.
DR. GREENSPAN: So that there's a question not of the housing market going down more, the key question here is the price of homes. Because what we saw, for example, in 2005, 2006, is there were something like eight million new home purchases financed by conventional conforming mortgages, which means 20 percent down, and the like. That eight million--those
eight million homes are now right on the edge of being so-called "underwater." And while the price levels of homes have been remarkably stable since the beginning of this year, the critical issue is that if they tilt below where they are now, say 5 or 10 percent, it's going to
create a major increase in foreclosures...
MR. GREGORY: All right.
DR. GREENSPAN: ...with problems.
MR. GREGORY: We're going to take a break here, come back with a last couple of minutes, talk a little politics before we close out the program. Back in just a moment.
MR. GREGORY: Back with a couple of closing thoughts.
Speaker Gingrich, somebody made a smart point the other day, said, "You know what, Newt Gingrich will be the first to announce for president. He'll do it in January in Iowa." Where are you? You going to run?
REP. FORD: I'm leaning back for you.
REP. GINGRICH: How's that? It's like you and the Senate race last year. No, I, I think Callista and I'll make a decision probably in February; and probably, if we do run, we'll announce, I suspect, in late March. But we're still months away from that.
MR. GREGORY: What's going into your thinking on that?
REP. GINGRICH: I think partially can you create a movement that really wants to get to fundamental change and can you make that bigger than the presidency. I don't you can solve problems in a country of 513,000 elected officials by focusing only on the Oval Office.
MR. GREGORY: Do you really think the president's vulnerable in 2012?
REP. GINGRICH: Sure. I mean--but he's not, he's not, he's not beaten. The--this president has enormous capacity to recover. I think the economy will actually get marginally better over the next year, and he and the House Republicans will fight over who did it. But I suspect
he'll--we'll be at closer to 8 percent than to 10 percent unemployment in '12.
MR. GREGORY: But the Republicans I talk to say that Sarah Palin and the tea party have created a whole new dynamic on the Republican side. It is impossible to say who's got an early edge. What is the impact?
REP. GINGRICH: Yes. I think that's exactly right, and I think it's like all the races we saw this year. You will not know who the nominee is until very late in the spring of, of 2012 because Governor Palin has a role, Governor Huckabee has a role, Governor Romney has a role, you know, Governor Daniels. I mean, go down the list, Governor Pawlenty, Governor Barbour. I mean, you could have 12 or 15 candidates out there early next year, and you won't know how the conversation leads to a decision until it actually happens.
MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm. All right. Well, we're going to leave it there. Thank you all very much for joining us today.
MR. DAVID GREGORY: You can read an excerpt, by the way, of Bethany McLean's book, "All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis," plus watch our Take Two Web extra with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich about his latest novel, "Valley Forge: George
Washington and the Crucible of Victory." It's all on our Web site at mtp.msnbc.com.
That's all for today. We'll be back next week. An exclusive interview with Republican governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal. Maybe he runs in 2012. He's written a new book taking aim at the administration over the handling of the gulf oil spill.
If it's Sunday, it's MEET THE PRESS.


text:
- Home
- News
- Sports
- Opinion
- Obituaries
- Features
- Special Sections
- Classifieds
- Public Notices
It's something folks might often take for granted, and understandably so.
After all, we live in a modern society and pay our taxes, and therefore we fully expect the traffic lights to work and the firetrucks to respond when we need them to.
But how often do we really stop and think of the sometimes life-threatening circumstances behind those expectations when it comes to our law enforcement officers?
Fortunately, there's an organization that helps us do just that – the S.C. Law Enforcement Officers Association.
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the The Lancaster News, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
|ZIP Code:


text:
Nelson Mandela visited Los Angeles twice — first as an activist just released from 27 years in a South African prison for his vocal opposition to apartheid, and later to raise money as a political candidate for his country's first open election.
Mandela, who was released from prison in February 1990, arrived in Los Angeles in June that year to throngs of adoring supporters, with more than 75,000 crowding the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for a concert on his behalf and 1,000 people attending a $1 million fund-raising dinner June 30.
The events capped a day filled with speeches to cheering crowds in which the then 71-year-old deputy president of the African National Congress thanked Angelenos for supporting a ban on doing business with South African companies in protest of apartheid policies while warning that the battle was still raging.
Celebrities including Jane Fonda, Morgan Fairchild, Cecily Tyson and Gregory Peck met with the leader. Federal, state and local politicians clamored to shake his hand.
Three years later, Mandela touched down at Los Angeles International Airport on July 9 while violent protests continued in South Africa over the announcement of planned open elections.
He was met by Mayor Richard Riordan and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles
He attended a private screening of the movie "Bopha," which describes life in South Africa, with talk-show host Arsenio Hall and other celebrities.
Mandela met with local African-American leaders and visited First African Methodist Episcopal and First AME churches, asking for political donations and pledging to bring South Africa from apartheid to democracy.
Former City Councilwoman Rita Walters recalled meeting Mandela at the dinner in 1990.
"He was such a gentle soul and after all he had been through was not angry," Walters said. "I remember a quote where he said you could hate apartheid, but not the people. His philosophy on life was getting along with people. After all he had been through, he could still say he loved his neighbor."
Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky remembered meeting and hearing Mandela speak at the Coliseum.
"He was a larger than life figure, a beacon of strength, principal and character," Yaroslavsky said. "I still remember the day I met him and how moved I was when I had the opportunity to shake his hand.
"All of us who value freedom and human dignity have lost a giant of the human race."


text:
That is right it is a throwdown. Me vs. The Bonefish Grill Bang Bang Shrimp. I dedicate this throwdown to my sister-in-law, who I saw scarf down and entire order of Bang Bang Shrimp in 2.5 seconds, with my own eyes. Yes, she was run over with beads of hot sweat, ate half a loaf of bread to sooth her mouth and developed a bit of a runny nose….if you know what I mean. But she did not care, she concured that mound of spicy crunch goodness and then happily patted her belly and said she could eat more. Mind you the chick is like a size 2, I don't know where she puts the stuff. Punk! Yes, I know….it's ok….I will kick her for you next time I see her.
To be honest she isn't the only one scarfing down a plate of these tasty, spicy, crispy morsels. I was sitting right there with her, with my own order and fighting her for some bread. The suckers have some heat that builds up on you. No matter the pain you just charge through and keep on eating.
Bonefish grill is one of my favorite chain restaurants. In fact Hubby took me there for dinner before proposing. Ahhhhh! 😀 Unfortunately Hubby is starting to put the lock down on the money bags. Something about kids and a house in the future. Needless to say we have not been frequenting the Bonefish Grill, but I was craving some of their Bang Bang shrimp.
I thought about it for awhile and figured that it really cannot be that hard to make. It is basically pop corn shrimp covered in a creamy spicy sauce. I noodled on it for awhile trying to think what could they use for the sauce. I figured that it had to be super easy because they serve it as an appetizer and serve it up pretty quick. Another one of their appetizers that I love are the crab cakes which are garnished with a sarachi sauce.
I figured that sarachi had to be in the sauce and the creaminess could be from mayonnaise. I decided it was time to experiment. I mixed some mayonnaise together with sarachi and although I was getting the heat it wasn't this simple, obviously. I remember that the sauce has some little red pepper flakes in it and it reminded me of sweet thai chili sauce, you know the kind they give you to dip your spring roll in. I tasted it again and I was almost there but it still needed something. I looked at all of my asian condiments and the rice wine vinegar caught my attention. That did it, I added the rice wine vinegar in and I had my sauce.
I kid you not people I cracked the code. These turn out perfect, just like the real thing. The best part is I didn't have to fork over almost $7 for my bang bang shrimp. They came out deliciously crispy and tender and the sauce did it thing. I was creamy and it made be break out into a sweat. I was so excited that I can now have bang bang shrimp when ever I want. Hubby was also very impressed and excited that we will be saving all that dough. EAT THIS PEOPLE!
Here it is people!
Faux Bang Bang Shrimp
- 16 Medium Shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
- 6 tsp Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
- 3 tsp Sriracha sauce
- 2 tsp Rice vinegar
- 1 Cup Milk
- 1 Cup Panko Bread Crumbs
- 1/2 Cup Corn Starch
- shredded cabbage (optional)
- scallions (optional)
In a bowl combine mayonnaise, sweet thai chili sauce, sarachi chili sauce and rice vinegar. Whisk together until will combined, set aside.
Soak shrimp in bowl with milk. Prepare a bowl with panko bread crumbs and another with corn starch. Dredge the shrimp in the corn starch, then again in the milk and finally in the panko bread crumbs, set aside.
Heat a large skillet of oil until it reaches 300 degrees. Drop shrimp in and fry until golden brown. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon. Drain fried shrimp on plate lined with paper towels.
In a large bowl combine fried shrimp with prepared sauce until evenly coated. Pile high on a bed of shredded cabbage and garnish with scallions.3


text:
Tag: blue water
Updated on January 16, 2016
Jamaican Me Crazy!
This Thanksgiving started out rough. We weren't going to make it home for the holiday. We decided to stay in town with our JC family, but then, slowly, everyone decided to travel elsewhere. The HB and I were… Read More


text:
Taking a Look 'Behind the Kitchen Door'
|About the Authors
Carol Dreibelbis is a former research intern with the Worldwatch Institute's Food and Agriculture Program.
|Related Posts
|Investing in the Future of Livestock: An Interview with Dr. Ilse Koehler-Rollefson
|Reducing Foodwaste While Feeding the Hungry
|Read More
In her new book, Behind the Kitchen Door: What Every Diner Should Know About the People Who Feed Us, Saru Jayaraman explores the political, economic, and ethical implications of eating out. Jayaraman, co-founder and co-director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United and professor of public law atBrooklyn College, looks beyond the food production system to examine how food is prepared and served at restaurants across the United States.
Today, the U.S. restaurant industry employs 12.9 million workers—nearly one in 10 Americans—and producesmore than $1.7 trillion in revenue each year. But,according to the labor organization the AFL-CIO, seven of the 10 lowest-paying jobs are in the restaurant industry, and 90 percent of restaurant workers lack paid sick days. Meanwhile, only 0.01 percent of restaurant workers are represented by a union, even though workers represented by unions are paid an average of 20 percent more than non-union workers and are more likely to have benefits.
Jayaraman uses the in-depth stories of 10 restaurant workers in cities across the country to paint a picture of the conditions that many food service employees face. In these cities—including New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Detroit, and New Orleans—the author follows employees who are paid less than minimum wage, sexually harassed, stolen from, unable to take sick days, and unable to feed their families.
As one Washington, D.C. restaurant worker says in the book, "Customers always ask us if this dish is organic or local, thinking that is what will ensure that they are having a healthy meal, a meal they can feel good about, but if they knew about what workers were dealing with…working with the flu, tips and wages being stolen by the owner, getting screamed at and abused by managers, being called racial slurs, getting groped by male workers—they would think twice about the quality of their food."
Through stories like this, Jayaraman asks her readers to consider a broader definition of a sustainable food system—one that includes fair and supportive conditions for restaurant workers. For more information, visit the book's website or view the book trailer.


text:
Notice to Members 01-22
NASD Regulation Reiterates Member Firm Best Execution Obligations and Provides Guidance to Members Concerning Compliance
The National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD® or Association) is issuing this Notice to reiterate the best execution obligations that apply to member firms when they receive, handle, route for execution, or execute customer orders, and to provide guidance to members concerning a broker/ dealer's obligation, as articulated on numerous occasions by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to regularly and rigorously examine execution quality likely to be obtained from the different markets or market makers trading a security. This Notice also discusses how recently-adopted SEC rules concerning the disclosure of order execution and routing practices will assist members in meeting their regular and rigorous examination obligation. In addition, this Notice includes a Question and Answer section that responds to many of the compliance questions that the NASD has received from its members concerning the regular and rigorous component of the duty of best execution.
If members have additional questions regarding these issues, please contact the Legal Section, Market Regulation Department, NASD Regulation, Inc. (NASD Regulation), at (240) 386-5126.


text: The CDC is telling hospitals to step up their breastfeeding support. Apparently only four percent of hospitals are doing enough, which the CDC says would include allowing "rooming in" (babies can sleep with moms), providing follow-up support, and avoiding formula feeding unless medically necessary. The AAP lists numerous health benefits to both mothers and babies; this is, of course, controversial.


text:
Download Logo
NorthSouth has been a mainstay in the cable industry for over a decade. Founded by Mark Hickman and Charlie DeBevoise in 2000, the company has a reputation for its ability to deliver in a range of genres. NorthSouth credits include competition-elimination, documentaries, adventure travel, home improvement and docu-comedy formats. The company has over 160 full time and contracted employees between its four offices. In 2010, EVP of Development Blaine Hopkins was made a partner and continues to lead its development staff in New York and Knoxville.


text:
JNRJ Computer has been serving the Vancouver, BC community since July 1, 2006. Our staff had over 20yrs of experienced in the field of Computers, Electronics and Electrical jobs. We specialize in Servicing Laptop / Notebook hardware and our staff offers quality and reliable Service you can count on. In addition, our friendly and professional staff is here to answer any questions you may have about our company or our services.
We are repairing laptop down to the component level. Instead of replacing logic boards, we repair them by checking and replacing the faulty chip, resistor, diode, by doing this the cost is much less than getting a new board. This means we can provide SAVINGS to our clients.At JNRJ Computer, our goal is to provide you with courteous, expedient, professional service of the highest caliber.
Laptop Repair Vancouver
Free Diagnostic Check-up, repair power dc jack, screen problem, keyboards, motherboard repair, virus removal, operating system restored. Laptop batteries and AC power adapters, please e-mail us at email@example.com or call us at


text:
(a (hypothetical) letter from a parent to a therapist)*
Dear SLP,
We didn't use the talker at all yesterday. Not one little bit. I had plans to use it---no really, I did! I had a whole activity in mind! What happened, you ask? Life, homework, and life again.
We didn't use the talker at all yesterday. Not one little bit. I had plans to use it---no really, I did! I had a whole activity in mind! What happened, you ask? Life, homework, and life again.
To start with, things are busy here. I was only home with Maya for 90 minutes, and you might as well call that 45, once you subtract the home-from-school 20 mins (that's for putting coats and shoes away, reviewing items in backpack, fixing a snack, etc.) and the Mom's-about-to-leave 25 mins (that's for making and serving dinner, packing my bags for school, finding the papers that I've misplaced since the morning, etc). So 45 mins. During that time, today, we had to make Maya's "100 Days" poster for school.
Maya had already said she wanted to show 100 cotton balls, and I had cut out "jars" for the cotton balls. I thought about all of the ways that we could use the talker for that project. We could talk about how the glue feels, or counting. Grouping cotton balls, putting them in jars, moving them around, a top row of jars and a bottom row. We could talk about how the cotton balls feel, where cotton comes from, what things in our home are made of cotton. We could make piles of extra cotton balls, or little snowmen, or pretend that they are marshmallows that we could gobble up.
I was ready. I was invested. I was energized!
But Maya was tired. Turns out the Valentine's Day dance had wiped her out. There was much staring into space, and much resting her head on the table. Every group of ten that we counted took several re-starts, since she was kind of just moving her hands without looking and staring into the distance (and I wasn't going to do it for her, so we kept starting over). Modeling + helping to stay focused on counting cotton balls = challenging (maybe pointless?). And the counting was more important than the modeling.
And the glue. My word, the glue. Do you know what happens if you get a little glue on your fingers and then try to count cotton balls? They all stick to you. And to each other. And it's really hard to peel them off, because now they have glue on them and they just stick to your non-glued fingers (by the way, now your non-glued fingers have become glued fingers). There's no way to use a talker with gluey, cotton-ball covered fingers.
The poster was made. The talker wasn't used. But I sure invested a lot of thought ahead of time into all of the great stuff I would model while making the poster. Maybe next time.
An AAC mom who's doing her best
*this is a true story, but not a true letter, because we don't have an SLP who assigns AAC homework or checks up on our home use (kind of wish we did!). It's provided to serve a little window into how sometimes a family "who didn't even use the talker at all after school yesterday" may have really tried their best, despite having nothing to show for it in the data log. AAC professionals, the best way for you to foster AAC carryover at home is to create an open dialogue in which families feel comfortable (and not judged) sharing their barriers to home use. Then you can help supply short, simple-to-implement ideas to help increase AAC use at home!
(image is Maya and Will sitting together before Maya's bus came this morning. She is holding her completed 100 days poster. Will is making a silly face because he was saying "look at this poster!"---but he liked this picture and told me to use this one)