On November 6, California will vote to decide whether genetically modified food will require new labeling. Proposition 37 would require that all food sold to consumers made from plant or animal material that has had its genetic properties changed in certain ways must have labeling stating it has been “Partially Produced with Genetic Engineering.” As well as ensuring genetically modified foods must contain this statement on its packaging, Proposition 37 also prohibits genetically modified (GM) foods from being labeled as “natural.”

The main argument for Proposition 37 is the public has the right to know exactly what they are putting into their bodies. The campaigners for the proposition believe that it is one of the fundamental American values to have the right to know, and choose what to eat. They are also pointing to the fact that fifty countries already currently require labeling for genetically modified food as proof that California should have similar laws.

The argument against Proposition 37, however, is comprised of two parts. Firstly, they believe that the introduction of labeling for GM foods would drive up foods costs. One site, “NoProp37.com,” is claiming that should proposition 37 go ahead, then the average family would end up paying up to $400 more a year on food.

Families would only see a rise in their food bill of this size if food producers were to replace every single genetically modified ingredient with organic or non-GM ingredients. While it is likely that some products will have all genetically modified ingredients removed so consumers are not put off by their lack of natural ingredients, it is unlikely that this will happen to all but a few products.

The second point those against the proposition are making is that the labeling system is deeply flawed. With the current system 66% of food expenditures would be exempt from being labeled as containing GM ingredients. For instance, food that does contain genetically modified ingredients is excluded if it will be eaten away from home. All meat, fish and poultry are excluded regardless of whether they have been given natural feed or genetically modified feed. Alcohol is also exempt from the labeling system, but non-alcoholic drinks must be labeled if they contain genetically modified ingredients.

NoProp37.com also points out that Prop 37 was written by a trial lawyer who also helped write Prop 65, and has made a fortune suing businesses.

But what actually is genetically modified food, and why do people want to know whether they eat it or not?

Genetically modified foods differ from normal foods in that they have had changes made to their DNA, either by removing certain genes or by adding other genes, often from viruses and bacteria. This modifies the food slightly, allowing it to grow faster or be resistant to certain pesticides, depending on what genes are added to the plant’s DNA.

There are possible health risks in eating these ingredients. So far, there have been hundreds of reports about the dangers, or lack of, of GM foods, but none of them have managed to prove conclusively that GM foods are bad for one’s health, or pose no health risk at all.

The latest study released on the subject showed that genetically modified food gave rats cancer. However, these results have to be taken with a grain of salt, considering the researchers of this study are well-known to be against GM foods and the lead author has previously been told off by the EU for his statistical techniques in a study of GM corn (being fed to rats, no less).

Genetically modified foods have been grown commercially in America since 1996. Since then, global production of GM foods has grown for fifteen consecutive years, reaching 160 million hectares in 2011.

If Prop 37 is voted in, then California would become the first US state to require GM foods to be labeled as so. This could well cause other states to follow California’s example, and result in the whole of America requiring the labeling of genetically modified foods.

Considering the fact that in 2011 80% of all corn and 94% of soybeans in the US were grown from GM seeds, its clear this is a momentous time for America and could have far reaching consequences for the agricultural industry.

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San Francisco, U.S.A. — You, friends and family, a convertible and the wide open California road. What could be a better combination? Pairing it with California wine country, of course. Because there are so many choices, California’s Wine Institute has developed five big road trip ideas to inspire wine lovers, giving them options to pick their favorites and set their pace. And speaking of pace, don’t forget to pace yourself when wine tasting (spitting is more than polite in wine country!) and have a designated driver.

From California’s iconic coast to dramatic deserts and the magnificent High Sierras, the great California road trip is on just about everyone’s bucket list. With a little planning, you can include amazing wine regions in your adventures, from hidden gem off-the-beaten path regions like the Sierra Foothills and Temecula to the most well-traveled, such as Sonoma, Napa and Paso Robles.

Here are five of California’s great wine country road trips that can be done in five days, starting from either San Francisco or Los Angeles. Don’t forget to check out other amenities offered at many wineries, from picnics, bocce ball and concerts to hiking, biking, horseback riding and garden tours. For more information on visiting California wine country go to www.discovercaliforniawines.com. And to help get you inspired, you can also check out this new California Wine Road Trip video:

1) North Coast

There’s nothing like a drive on California’s scenic North Coast to show you not only the Pacific Ocean’s dramatic beauty but also how profoundly it affects the region’s climate. That coastal influence gives us San Francisco’s famous fog, towering redwood trees, and a perfect home for cool-climate grapes like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and others —so let’s explore! This scenic five-day round trip from San Francisco takes you wine tasting, shopping, dining, kayaking and more: visit Sausalito; Muir Woods national park; quaint, coastal Mendocino; and Sonoma County’s diverse wine regions.

2) San Francisco Bay Area

This five-day round-trip itinerary is a foodie’s paradise, with stops from San Francisco’s Chinatown and Little Italy to Berkeley, the legendary birthplace of California cuisine. It also takes you from mountains to the sea: you’ll take in the thrilling scenery and wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Livermore Valley and Half Moon Bay.

 3) Napa Valley to the High Sierras

This adventurous round-trip itinerary starts in Napa Valley, any wine lover’s dream destination, where exquisite Cabernet Sauvignons await alongside pampering hot springs and bike tours. Then it heads for the hills, exploring Gold Country and the Sierra Foothills for gondola rides, panoramic views and off-the-beaten-path wineries before winding back down to earth in Lodi, home to some of California’s oldest Zinfandel vines. Your wine adventure starts here.

4) Central Coast – Highway 1

What says California more than driving a convertible with the top down, traveling up Highway 1? With the ocean in view, wind in your hair and wine on your mind, this trip takes you from Santa Barbara’s Sideways movie territory to the cool-climate wines of San Luis Obispo and red-wine mecca Paso Robles, then swings back to the ocean and beautiful Monterey before ending in San Francisco. Besides wining and dining, there’s a zip line, hiking, Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Cannery Row and the Monterey Bay Aquarium to interest you.

 5) Southern California Adventure: Hollywood and Grapevine

Oh yeah, you’re going to Hollywood! And for a wine lover, there’s more to Southern California than blue skies, surf and sunshine—it’s full of surprising wine regions, where winemaking has been taking place since the late 1700s. On this five-day round trip, you’ll hit hot spots like Malibu and Palm Springs while also exploring wineries in Temecula, Cucamonga and even San Diego and

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Hollywood, U.S.A. — Medbox company CEO, Dr. Bruce Bedrick commented on the recent admission by some Los Angeles City Councilmen that they are in favor of legalized medical marijuana. “We applaud the courage and conviction of belief shown by these city leaders,” Bedrick stated. “The weight of science validates that marijuana has significant medical efficacy. To ignore the evidence is to succumb to political tradewinds.”

Councilman Bill Rosendahl told The Los Angeles Times that he is in favor of legalizing marijuana and that he has had his own medical marijuana prescription for a decade, and relies on the drug to cope with neuropathy – a painful nerve disorder.

Paul Koretz, Councilman for the city’s Fifth District, told The Times that he is, “an unabashed supporter of medical marijuana.”

Both Koretz and Rosendahl said they share constituent concerns about the proliferation of marijuana, but disagree with the council’s latest strategy, which prohibits businesses from providing medical marijuana to even the most seriously ill patients.

Shortly after the Los Angeles City Council voted to ban medical marijuana, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit agreed to hear arguments challenging the federal government’s classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medical value.

The appeal asserts that the federal government has acted arbitrarily and capriciously in its efforts to deny marijuana to millions of patients, and that the government cannot apply “different criteria to marijuana than to other drugs, ignore critical scientific data, misrepresent social science research, or rely upon unsubstantiated assumptions.”

Numerous studies have been published that show the medical benefits of marijuana for illnesses such as neuropathic pain, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s. Last year, the National Cancer Institute added cannabis to its list of Complementary and Alternative Medicines, pointing out that it’s been therapeutically used for millennia.

A new, comprehensive study on the evidence that cannabis may be useful as medicine was published in May of this year in The Open Neurology Journal, a leading peer reviewed publication. The study concluded that marijuana’s federal classification as a Schedule I substance “is not tenable; (and) it is not accurate that cannabis has no medical value, or that information on safety is lacking.”

Medbox supports sensible regulations on the medical marijuana industry, including assuring that dispensaries maintain a proper distance from schools, parks and playgrounds; and that operators submit fingerprint samples to the City to insure that they are not convicted felons.

Medbox is also in favor of increasing legitimacy and transparency in the medical marijuana industry. The company has developed a patented system that tightly controls access of marijuana to only those patients that possesses a current doctor’s recommendation, and verifies the identity of the patient through both an identification card and a fingerprint scan. The Medbox system also maintains a permanent and unalterable record of each transaction to assure compliance with all regulations and for taxation purposes.

Bedrick summarized, “We believe that the Los Angeles City Council will construct sensible regulations regarding medical marijuana through the upcoming referendum or court challenges, if needed. This along with the upcoming federal hearing in October regarding reclassification of the drug, may allow access to this medicine without further legal ramifications for patients that rely on its

Image Courtesy of    guneyc

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Los Angeles, U.S.A. – In the extremely competitive world of private enterprise, there are companies that take advantage of the latest technologies to streamline their business, and there are companies that are sluggish to see the opportunities and end up getting left behind in the dust.

Consumers invariably reward those businesses that continue looking for new and innovative ways to make life easier and more enjoyable for them. Nowhere is such a dedication to customer care – and the clever use of new technology to achieve it – more evident than in the offices of KLS Transportation Services, Inc., a premier Los Angeles limousine company.

KLS has made a great effort to incorporate sophisticated communications technology into their service, maximizing efficiency for their employees and providing customers with a smooth, effortless experience. With an electronic dispatch system, there is no room for human error. Highly trained drivers employ cutting-edge software on their individual Samsung Galaxy Tablets that record when the passenger has gotten on board, where they’re headed, and other important details of the trip.

All that pesky paperwork gets dealt with at the end of the day, so that company employees can focus on providing personalized service to their customers in the moment. Indeed, if you walk into their offices, you’ll find a quiet and calm atmosphere – a far cry from so many other transportation companies, where exhausted and rude employees hunch over stacks of forms while phones ring off the hook from dispatch calls.

No, everything about this first-class limo service in Los Angeles screams efficiency and professionalism, and that’s just one of the many reasons KLS is enjoying such a steady rise in popularity.

The team at KLS isn’t just taking advantage of the latest computer technology; they are also at the leading edge of green technology. Their Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid Sedan is a favorite among their eco-friendly consumers who want to preserve the Earth and travel in ultimate style and comfort at the same time. The exceptional performance of the S400 proves you don’t have to make a trade-off between fuel efficiency and luxury.

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The Anaheim police brutality drama has not come to an end. Another violent protest against the deadly police shooting, which caused Manuel Diaz to lose his life and ended with 24 arrests and several injuries.

Protests have been going on for a few days, this time as many as 500 demonstrators and 250 police officers were confronting eachother for several hours. Most of the protesters acted peacefully but some became violent so the police had to use pepper balls and beanbag rounds.

The clash began after a City Council meeting in which different leaders from Anaheim, California voted to ask the U.S. attorney’s office to investigate the incidents from last weekend, which saw a shooting involving an officer that ended with the loss of Manuel Diaz’s life. Diaz was catalogued by the police as a known gang member but during the incident he was unarmed, which caused public outrage from the witnesses against the police. The protests have been going on since Saturday.

The council chamber surroundings were filled with protesters. At the beginning they were there peacefully, but as the place became overcrowded, some people pushed on the windows so the police had to push them back.

However, this was not the violence trigger, as the protesters just marched to the police headquarters and then back to the City Council. The event that lead to violent protests was the detention of a man who the police thought was armed, but in reality wasn’t, so the crowd started throwing rocks at the officers.

Sgt. of the Anaheim police Bob Dunn explained that the violent protesters seemed to be outsiders who wanted to provoke a violent clash between the police and the other protesters.  At one point, the animosity at the protest escalated with Molotov cocktails being thrown, and business windows were smashed and trashcans were set on fire.

The night ended with the detention of 24 protesters, 20 adults and four minors, with five people hurt, a police officer, two members of the media and two protesters, but no life-threatening injuries were reported.

The Diaz family is suing the city and the Police Department, and is asking, according to their lawyer, for $50 million in compensation for damages.

The Police Chief John Welter explained that in Diaz’s case, two officers had approached three men, including Manuel Diaz, who were acting suspiciously in an alley. Upon noticing the officers the men ran away and Welter explained that Diaz failed to obey the police officers orders to stop, and while in pursuit, he threw a package which was believed to be heroin on to the roof of a complex building.  The Police Chief did not explain the motives behind the police officers actions.

Image Courtesy of   TypeMRT

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San Bernardinom, a small Californian city, is the third city in the state forced to opt for bankruptcy in the last few weeks. This highlights the fact that the economic crisis is not over yet.

The elected officials of the 210,000 people in the city have authorized their city’s attorney to seek federal bankruptcy protection. The city is unable to pay the vendors, although a lot of measures have been taken like selling assets or cutting spending, and opting for bankruptcy has been the only possible solution.

The city is facing a budget shortfall of $45 million. City officials said the problem is weak property and sales tax revenue combined with escalating pensions and a loss of state redevelopment funds.

Stockton, a California city with almost 300,000 people was the first that filed bankruptcy on June 29. The second one was the small city of Mammoth Lakes this July 3.

The California Governor Jerry Brown didn’t want to speculate concerning other possible bankruptcy cases, instead declaring that the real problem is that the country, the states and the cities have lived beyond their means, and he specified that these finances were “means created by a mortgage bubble, by greed, by mistakes, by people not knowing what the hell they were doing, and millions of people have been hurt.”

Jim Spiotto, a Chicago attorney who tracks municipal bankruptcies, said that since Congress added chapter 9 to the bankruptcy code in 1937 to allow municipalities to seek protection, about 640 entities have filed. For Spiotto, bankruptcy is considered a measure of last resort because it carries the danger of increasing the city’s borrowing costs.

Bloomberg explained that in California “five of its 39 Chapter 9 petitions were made by cities or counties: Orange County in 1994, and the cities of Desert Hot Springs in 2001, Vallejo in 2008, and Stockton and Mammoth Lakes in the past month.”

San Bernardino, Stockton and Mammoth Lakes are not the only cases of city bankruptcy around the nation. Cities like   Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Jefferson County, Alabama, and Central Falls, Rhode Island are on the same situation. For these cities bankruptcy is a great problem. The jobs in the public sector are threatened so a lot of people could loose their jobs, and also some vital services like the police could loose economic support and employees and would  not be able to fulfill their jobs as they did in the past.

The difference between a company and a city bankruptcy is that companies in this situation have the option to break up, cities do not have this option because this would be unconstitutional, so they must find another solution.

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In this world, there will always be something refreshing about children: innocent, wholesome, naïve and with whole lives filled with journeys and memories ahead of them. However, not all children are so fortunate.

Hence, the 2009 case of the 18-month-old girl who died in a car accident on the way to the emergency room after she fell out of her bed. Rather than having her in her car seat, she was sitting on her aunt’s lap when another vehicle ran the stop sign, hitting the car and killing the toddler. After social workers looked further into the case, it was revealed there was neglect in the toddler’s home and her two other brothers were placed in foster care for a year.

The case has brought to light several considerations that the child welfare system should be acting upon. Finally, the California Supreme Court has decided to do just that.

According to the Associated Press’ statement last week, “The California Supreme Court ruled that a “breach of ordinary care” with fatal results is enough reason for child welfare agencies to act because it poses an inherent concern for the safety of siblings, and that Welfare officials can take children from parents who negligently cause the death of a son or daughter, such as failing to place them in a car seat, even if there was no criminal harm.”

Regarding the 2009 case, Assistant County Counsel James M. Owens, who represented the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services stated, “It’s a big case for us, and it is a big case for the child welfare community.”

However, several parents and residents of the state of California are upset about this ruling and are speaking out about it. In the past few days, the California Supreme Court has received countless letters regarding the ruling, including that of one Beverly Hills resident, Stella Resnick:

“I am appalled at the misguided ruling of the California Supreme Court to allow social workers to place children in foster care after a car accident in which a sibling died as a result of not being restrained by a car seat or seat belt. The measures taken by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services have nothing to do with child welfare or protection. This is state-sanctioned child abuse with life-altering consequences. Removing a child from parents who have no history of neglect or abuse and placing them in foster care compounds their tragedy. Case workers put children at greater risk by seizing them from parents who love and fight for them, only to place them in the care of strangers.”

While residents are outraged at the ruling, statistics for child abuse speak another tune. According to childhelp.org, five children die a day as a result of some form of abuse while every 13 seconds a child is abused in America alone. And of those that die as a result of abuse, 80% of them are under the age of four. So when we think of children, their innocence, naivety, and futures, we need to think about their safety and well-being before anything else.

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Sacramento, U.S.A. — Tobacco interests spent a total of $4.7 million during the first year of the 2011-2012 election cycle to fight Proposition 29 and to influence legislators and policies in California, according to a recent report by the Center for Tobacco Policy & Organizing of the American Lung Association in California.

“The numbers in this report are clear, Big Tobacco continues to use its vast financial resources to oppose bills and life-saving ballot initiatives that would benefit public health,” said Jane Warner, President and CEO of the American Lung Association in California. “This fact, though disturbing, further inspires the American Lung Association and millions of Californians to stop Big Tobacco in its tracks. We are committed to preventing children from ever picking up their first cigarette, helping smokers quit and fighting the lung diseases that so often result from smoking. We will not relent until smoking is eradicated in California.”

Tobacco Money in California Politics shows that tobacco interests contributed almost $3.6 million to candidates and members of the California legislature, constitutional officers, and political committees thus far in 2011-2012. Further, the industry and its partners spent $1.1 million on lobbying during this period. This amount includes only the beginnings of the investment Big Tobacco made to defeat Proposition 29 which would have prevented the deaths of more than 100,000 Californians from smoking related illnesses had it passed.

Tobacco Money in California Politics contains full details on which bills were lobbied by tobacco interests, and lists legislators and political committees who accepted contributions from the industry. Highlights include:

• The amount spent this year is more than double the amount spent during the first year of the 2009-2010 election cycle.
• Of the 120 state legislators, tobacco interests made campaign contributions to 55 members, or 45% of the legislature, higher than in previous years.
• More than 70% of the total contributions made during the 2011-2012 election cycle were to political committees who oppose Proposition 29, which was narrowly defeated in the polls on June 5 th.

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When one thinks of a mother’s relationship with her son, one thinks of being a role model, providing unconditional love, helping him through school, and attending extracurricular activities. For mothers who have been separated from their sons for a long time, once reunited, usually try to do all of those things in efforts to make up for time lost.

While that is the case with Mistie Rebecca Atkinson, 32, resident of Napa County in California, and her sixteen-year-old son, the relationship between the mother and son took a sick and twisted turn, which involved incest.

Atkinson claims that this is not a case of incest but instead a case of “genetic attraction.” According to MailOnline, “She was found in a Ukiah, California motel room with the 16-year-old boy, who had recorded his mother giving him oral sex on his phone.” Also recorded on her son’s phone was the two of them having sexual intercourse.

Atkinson, who had not seen her son since he was only one-year-old, after losing custody rights to him, tracked him down on the social networking site, Facebook. Soon thereafter, she began texting him nude photographs of herself. While Atkinson and her son had no contact for 15 years, the son claims he was aware that she was in fact his mother.

According to police reports, Atkinson began her intimate relationship with her son after several domestic violence reports were filed against her at the time by a live-in boyfriend.

The son and mother were then found in the motel room on March 2, 2012.

Yet Atkinson sees nothing wrong with her behavior. She wrote a letter to the court in Napa County stating, “I don’t feel like I should have the charge of incest because there is something called genetic attraction that is a very powerful [phenomenon] that happens to 50 [per cent] of people becoming reunited with a long-lost relative,” she wrote.

DailyMail described genetic sexual attraction as “a phenomenon where close biological family members, such as siblings or cousins, become attracted to each other when they meet as adults. If family members do not know each other during the critical years of development, they risk finding each other attractive. Little research has been carried out into the phenomenon but some psychologists claim it exists due to shared personality traits, which are desirable in a partner. GSA is rare between people brought up together, due to reverse sexual printing, where people become desensitized to finding family members attractive to prevent inbreeding.”

In May Atkinson pleaded no contest to incest, oral sex with a minor and obscene contact with a minor.

She was found guilty on all counts and was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison, and will serve her time behind bars in Napa, California.

She can get out in half the time with good behavior.

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Serial Killer Rodney Alcala, a California resident, who brutally murdered two women in the 1970s was sent to New York this past week to face his long overdue trial.

Alcala pleaded ‘not guilty’ to murders in both the first and second degrees in the killings of 23-year-old New York beauties Flight Attendant Cornelia Crilley and Researcher Ellen Hover back in the 1970s.

According to law enforcement sources, Crilley was found on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in 1971 and had been brutally raped and then strangled with her own pantyhose. Hover, was last seen on July 15, 1977, when she didn’t show up for a photo shoot according to her personal calendar. The photographer she was supposed to shoot with was a man known by the name of “John Berger.” It was later found out that Alcala used that name as an alias. Hover’s body was found a year later near the Rockefeller Estate, a place well known for Alcala taking women for photo shoots.

However, these two are not the only ones to fall victims to Alcala.

Alcala, who is a former photographer and got his nickname from being a contestant on the once popular show, the “Dating Game,” has been held in a California prison facing the death penalty after he was charged with murdering four women and one 12-year-old girl in Los Angeles back in the 1970s.

After Alcala was convicted nearly thirty years ago, the Los Angeles Police Department found dozens of pictures of women and children that had been stashed in a storage locker that Alcala had rented.

Things started to come together piece by piece once the New York Police Department caught word of Alcala’s killing sprees in California. They then started to consider him a suspect of the slaying of three New York City women (including Crilley and Hover) once it was found out that at the time of those murders, Alcala was a resident of NYC. There was little information to go on, but a case for the women was opened in 2003 with Alcala as the lead suspect.

“These cases were built one brick at a time, as each new lead brought us closer to where we are today,” Dist. Atty. Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said at the time, according to the Associated Press. He said he hoped that the belated action “brings a small measure of peace to the families and friends who have spent decades searching for answers, and justice.”

Alcala’s next date in court is set for October 30, 2012.

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Cypress, U.S.A. - Yamaha Motor recently announced its 2013 model year line of ATV and Side-by-Side (SxS) vehicles, including new Assembled in U.S.A. Raptor 700 sport ATVs and new Tactical Black Grizzly 700 4×4 and Rhino 700 4×4 Special Edition models.

The Raptor 700 models are the first Yamaha sport ATVs to be assembled in the U.S. In 2010, Yamaha announced a long term production transfer strategy to move the great majority of its worldwide ATV production to the Yamaha Motor Manufacturing Corporation of America (YMMC) factory in Newnan, Georgia. Last year, Yamaha moved the production of its top-of-the-line utility ATVs, the Grizzly 700 and Grizzly 550, to YMMC, and Yamaha will complete the production transfer with additional models coming to the U.S. by the end of 2013.

“Yamaha’s ATV production transfer represents the company’s long term commitment to the U.S. ATV market as well as its significant investment in the YMMC facility,” said Steve Nessl, Yamaha’s ATV/SxS group marketing manager. “Yamaha’s U.S. factory is state-of-the-art with highly trained and passionate U.S. workers who are turning out the most durable and reliable ATV and SxS products. Yamaha is proud to bring more ATV production to the U.S. – the world’s largest ATV market – and to be part of the local community in Newnan.”

The production transfer will continue through the end of 2013, and when complete, could result in Yamaha adding 200 or more American jobs at Yamaha’s U.S. factory as well as additional jobs at the company’s 125 North American parts supplier companies. YMMC will ultimately be responsible for nearly all of Yamaha’s worldwide ATV production including both utility and sport models.

With its transfer to YMMC this summer, the Raptor 700R receives aggressive new styling and performance features that reinforce its position as the highest performance big bore sport ATV. Catering to a larger base of ATV enthusiasts, Yamaha is producing three versions of the Raptor 700 this year with a range of pricing, performance and design options.

The Team Yamaha Blue/White Raptor 700R (MSRP $8,099) is $300 less than the comparable 2012 model. This year’s Special Edition Raptor 700R features black plastics with special red graphics and GYTR accessories (MSRP $8,799) at $200 less than the 2012 SE. Additionally for 2013, Yamaha has developed a third version Raptor 700 (MSRP $7,699) in white with dual graphic kit options priced at $700below last year’s 700R model. The all-white 2013 Raptor 700 comes with two graphic kits at the time of purchase: a Red, White and Blue Assembled in U.S.A.-themed kit and an aggressive black and red kit.

Yamaha is the number one brand in sport ATVs with the industry’s most complete line of high performance, track and trail conquering machines including, in addition to the three Raptor 700 models, the YFZ450R (MSRP $8,599), YFZ450R Special Edition (MSRP $8,949), YFZ450 (MSRP $6,899), Raptor 350 (MSRP $5,599), Raptor 250 (MSRP $4,599) and Raptor 125 (MSRP $3,499). Yamaha will also produce the Raptor 90 youth model (MSRP $2,699). Each of the sport and youth models has an all-white version with the dual graphic kit option – similar to the Raptor 700.

Also new for 2013 are Yamaha’s Special Edition Tactical Black Grizzly 700 FI with Electric Power Steering (EPS) (MSRP $10,999) and Rhino 700 FI 4×4 (MSRP $12,999). All of Yamaha’s 4×4 vehicles are assembled at Yamaha’s U.S. factory, and these two new SE models feature an all-new matte black body and cast aluminum wheels for tactical design and durability. These are the most off-road capable and durable vehicles in their respective classes both featuring Yamaha’s exclusive Ultramatic automatic transmission, the most durable CVT system in the industry, and Yamaha’s On-Command push-button 2WD, 4WD and 4WD diff-lock system.

The new Tactical Black SE models join Yamaha’s complete line of award-winning and super reliable utility ATVs for 2013 including the Grizzly 700 FI (MSRP starting at $8,899) and Grizzly 700 FI EPS (MSRP starting at $9,499), Grizzly 550 FI (MSRP starting at $7,999) and Grizzly 550 FI EPS (MSRP starting at$8,699), Grizzly 450 (MSRP starting at $6,899) and Grizzly 450 EPS (MSRP starting at $7,499), Grizzly 350 Auto 4×4 (MSRP starting at $5,599), Grizzly 300 Auto (MSRP $4,199) and Grizzly 125 Auto (MSRP$3,699). Most of Yamaha’s utility ATVs come in multiple color options including Realtree AP HD camo.

Yamaha’s Rhino 700 FI SxS continues to be one of the highest quality, most versatile and off-road capable vehicles and for 2013 will be available in Red and Hunter Green (MSRP $11,499) and Realtree AP HD camo (MSRP $12,049).

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Campbell, U.S.A. - The Society for Information Display (SID), the leading global organization dedicated to the advancement of electronic display products and technology, have announced the winners of the second annual Display Week Best in Show Awards. These awards highlight the most significant new products and technologies showcased on the exhibit floor during this week’s 49th annual SID International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition, currently underway at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The Best in Show Awards are being presented during the annual SID awards luncheon at Display Week, where the winners of the venerable Display Industry Awards are also being honored.

Open to all 2012 Display Week exhibitors, this year’s Best in Show winners are:

• Dimenco’s unique eye-tracking, auto-adjusting stereo 3D display and large-area, multiple-view 4Kx2K display (Booth #848)
• Fraunhofer IPMS-COMEDD’s AMOLED microdisplay with integrated photosensor, which could be applied for next-generation eye-tracking devices (Booth #1371)
• LG Display’s 55-inch AMOLED TV with white OLEDs and oxide backplane in a thin form factor (Booth #143)
• Ocular LCD Inc.’s 17.0-inch Crystal Touch: TRUE Multi-Touch projected capacitive touch panel that supports 16 simultaneous touch points (Booth #855)
• Samsung’s 55-inch AMOLED TV with RGB OLEDs and LTPS backplane, and the Smart DualView® feature (Booth #163)

Selected by an independent panel of display experts, the Best in Show winners are chosen for the significance of their development and/or product and for their ability to generate excitement within not only the display industry, but also among the general public and global media and analyst communities. This year’s five winners were selected from more than 180 exhibits that were demonstrating the innovations that continue to drive the display industry.

According to Robert L. Melcher, chair of the Best In Show awards, “The importance of recognizing the best and latest innovations in our ever-evolving space cannot be overstated. The technologies that debut at Display Week year after year have gone on to revolutionize the consumer electronics industry countless times over. We believe that the range of innovation exhibited this year represents another key chapter in that evolution. On behalf of SID, I would like to congratulate this year’s Best in Show winners.”

SID’s Best in Show Award qualifications include prototypes and manufacturing processes, as well as products, but are only awarded to Display Week exhibitors. The criteria used by the committee members to evaluate the exhibit material included: timeliness and significance to the display industry among the products, prototypes, processes and technologies exhibited; and creative use of audio, visual or other effects presented; or new materials highlighted.

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Newark, U.S.A. – Today’s Presidential primary election is meaningless for citizens living in New Jersey, California, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota. “This creates an alienated and cynical electorate that is becoming more disenfranchised with every election cycle,” says Jim Lynch, author of “The 2020 Players: A Futuristic View of the 2020 Presidential Election.”

Lynch asks, “Can you blame Americans for tuning out? This is not democracy; in fact, it just may be as bad as the backroom politics back in the old days of bosses and political machines.”

“As a result, millions of Americans had absolutely no voice in the Presidential selection process. Let’s face it; the primary system is broken,” says Lynch.

After today’s vote, which involves some 299 uncontested electoral votes, only Utah has yet to weigh in and they’ll hold off until June 26.

“Voting in America should be cherished as a sacred right, as a meaningful experience to every American. But voting has become totally meaningless for almost a third of the states participating in 2012 Republican primary balloting,” says Lynch.

“This flawed process is a ringing endorsement of the reform proposal to have a National One Day Primary on the same day in all 50 states for all presidential candidates. The single day primary would bring an end to local pandering to voters – like Newt Gingrich telling the people in Cape Canaveral ‘We should build a moon base’ – and to months of negative campaigning on TV and radio, one harmful and nauseating attack after another, without end.  And it would be far easier for both parties to unite behind the winners who emerge from the one day balloting,” says Lynch.

Lynch believes Americans must overhaul the political process and the insidious role that media advocacy plays in this process. “In my novel, The 2020 Players, I also advocate a viable three-party system, a single six-year term for President, and a ban on any political campaigning while in office.”

Jim Lynch is a native New Yorker, married with eight children and four grandchildren. His parents worked for the FBI. He spent eight years as an investigator and was an executive for AT&T. Lynch is a full time novelist.

Image Courtesy of  Jim Lynch

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Reykjavik, Iceland – Row 44, the leading provider of inflight WiFi and device-based entertainment content for airlines around the world, announced today that it has partnered with Icelandair, the leading carrier of Iceland serving Europe, the United States and Canada, to enhance their passengers’ travel experience. Row 44 will equip Icelandair’s fleet with high-speed WiFi, starting this year. Upon rollout, Icelandair will be the first North Atlantic airline to operate WiFi fleet wide.

According to Iceland’s tourism board, there was a 16 percent increase in foreign visitors last year from the year prior. A breathtaking island, Iceland is known for its hot springs, geysers, waterfalls and volcanoes, and with a growing economy and continued increase in tourism, Icelandair desired to provide its passengers with a travel experience as inspiring as their destination. In partnering with Row 44, Icelandair enhances the exceptional atmosphere and flight experience that it strives to deliver to customers.

“Icelandair has built a system of outstanding flight services between Iceland and other countries, and Row 44 now allows us to continue to build on that system, and our present inflight entertainment system, by equipping our flights with an outstanding passenger experience inside the cabin,” said Birkir Holm Guonason, Icelandair CEO. “Row 44 was the only provider to offer the breadth and depth of services we favored that will allow our customers to get connected and be entertained, and to do so in a way that we believe they desire – straight to their own devices.”

With Row 44′s inflight WiFi, passengers get connected quickly and reliably. An additional benefit is that it is the only device-based service that operates over land and water, making it a particularly desirable provider for airlines like Icelandair with numerous Transatlantic routes. Among the list of growing services Icelandair customers will enjoy on their own WiFi-enabled devices:

• High-speed Internet connectivity
• Shop in-flight specials
• Research and book local services at their destination

“Icelandair has earned a stellar reputation as an innovative, passenger-focused airline that is committed to providing safe and efficient air travel, and unique services,” said John LaValle, Row 44′s CEO. “We look forward to enriching these services and continuing to delight their customers, a top priority for both Icelandair and Row 44.”

Icelandair and Row 44 expect to begin fleet installation in the fourth quarter of 2012.

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Carlsbad, U.S.A. – After a successful soft launch beginning in late 2011, Daphne’s California Greek have  launched a multi-platform, new music initiative to discover and foster new music talent through several distinct and complementary digital and social media channels. Daphne’s turned to Hollywood-based DeepMix, known for bringing cutting-edge music to mainstream advertising and corporate settings, to help curate artists and manage the overall program.

The music program, which also involves the development of a distinctive Daphne’s playlist, is integral to cultivating Daphne’s new brand and echoes Daphne’s re-envisioned culture after an ambitious, year-long rebranding effort that has transformed it into a more modern, lifestyle concept that appeals to a broader segment of active and health-oriented consumers.

“Daphne’s is an eclectic fusion of California and Mediterranean flavors and our music – our playlist – reflects that diversity and authenticity,” said Bill Trefethen, CEO, Daphne’s California Greek. “We want to become the place for great food but also to discover new music talent. And we want to provide a platform for these tremendous artists to share their music and their passion with a larger audience.”

Originally called Daphne’s Greek Cafe, the company was acquired in 2010 by entrepreneur Bill Trefethen, who immediately re-imagined the 56-unit, fast casual restaurant chain, which now offers more healthful California-inspired Mediterranean fare, a current remodeling program with interiors featuring a hip California vibe with a focus on re-purposed and sustained materials, and far-reaching grass roots community support program that aligns with the new music program.

Daphne’s music program is built around today’s new music discovery and tastemaker scene, showcasing an eclectic group of emerging artists who span various genres from alternative, rock, singer/songwriter and folk, giving them a multi-platform opportunity to reach new audiences on both local and global levels.

The initiative incorporates both in-restaurant and external elements, including in-house music and videos and an Artist of the Month program with free monthly downloads, special live concerts, and exclusive concert videos. Past Artists of the Month include: Mike Stocksdale, Donovan Frankenreiter, Kelley James, The Jezebels, Elan, Madi Diaz and Portugal.

“For Daphne’s, DeepMix assembled a mix of artists that convey the hip new California lifestyle feeling,” said Dave Curtin, managing director, DeepMix. “Our deep roots in the music industry including acting as artist managers, music producers, music supervisors and DJs will allow us to expand this program to add more interesting new artists and book great names to appear at intimate concerts sponsored for Daphne’s.”

Daphne’s also created a streaming radio channel on its website that’s “Always Free, Always On” and hosted by online radio platform Live365. A just-released, iPhone app will bring that soundtrack to a potentially enormous audience of listeners across the globe. Daphne’s also leverages its multiple social media channels to help spread the word about the new music.

Rounding out the program is a successful “Fuel the Artist” initiative, where Daphne’s caters the soundchecks of bands and musicians touring in Southern California, including Parachute, Kate Voegele, Allen Stone, The Jezebels, Portugal.

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California, U.S.A. - Coinciding with the enactment of the Korean and United States Free Trade Agreement on March 15, 2012, Wente Vineyards of Livermore Valley, California, has found a way to celebrate the biggest trade accord in almost 20 years. Wente Vineyards Restaurant Executive Chef, Matt Greco, arrives in Seoul on May 4, 2012 and will spend 10 days sharing his culinary expertise with residents of Seoul as Guest Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Seoul.

Central to the Free Trade Agreement signed on March 15, 2012 is a reduction in tariffs that will eliminate about 95% of taxes that are extracted on imports and exports on numerous products, including American wines, shipped to Korea.

“I am very excited to have the 15% tariff immediately removed on American wine exports to Korea,” says Michael Parr, Vice President of International Sales for Wente Vineyards, California’s oldest family owned winery.

The elimination of this tariff puts American wineries in a stronger position to compete with Chilean and European wineries that engaged in similar trade agreements with Korea over the past few years. Koreans are increasingly becoming sophisticated wine consumers and are eager to explore a range of International wines.

Parr states, “American wines are readily accepted in Korea based on agreeable taste profiles, relatively easy labels to decipher and a familiarity with American lifestyles due to the number of Koreans that have traveled or studied in the United States. The new Free Trade Agreement will only increase their thirst for American products (from wine to electronics, machinery and financial services) that will now be available to them at more affordable prices.”

Sharing the culinary talents of Wente Vineyard’s Chef Greco while sipping a fine glass of California wine with the citizens of Seoul seems like an appropriate way to launch this monumental trade agreement and to celebrate the two countries long stand alliance. Parr exclaims, “Do I see a bright future for our wine business in Korea? You bet!”

About the Trade Accord

U.S. wine exports to Korea, 90% from California, were more than 500,000 cases valued over$11 million in revenues to wineries in 2011. Wine exports are anticipated to grow at least 25% over the next few years.Korea is now the only Asian country to have implemented free trade agreements with the world’s two largest markets (U.S and U.E.).

California long had been the second biggest exporter of wine to Korea, behind France. However, Chile surpassed the Golden State in 2005 after the South American nation signed a trade agreement with Korea that sharply lowered import duties. The European Union signed its own treaty with Korea, which became effective on July 1, boosting the likelihood of increased wine sales.

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Since April, drugmaker Allergan, best known for its wrinkle-fighting drugs Botox and Juvederm, has been posting on its website the payments it made to physicians for promotional speaking and consulting and the value of meals it provided to them.

But the Irvine, Calif., company recently removed all except the most recent payments from its website, erasing the record of those it had paid to help market its products from the third quarter of 2010 to the second quarter of last year.

Allergan’s website now includes only those payments it made to doctors in the third quarter of 2011 — and then only ranges, not specific dollar amounts.

Allergan’s removal of the data won’t prevent the public from viewing it. ProPublica’s Dollars for Docs database of industry payments to doctors includes the figures Allergan had reported for the last half of 2010. Later this month, the company will post data for the full year 2011, and that will be added to the ProPublica database as well.

Allergan is among 12 pharmaceutical companies that post such payments to the web, either voluntarily or as a result of legal settlements with the U.S. government over allegations of improper marketing and illegal kickbacks to doctors. (Allergan pleaded guilty in September 2010 to a misdemeanor charge of promoting Botox for uses not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It paid $600 million to resolve related criminal and civil lawsuits.)

Allergan is the only company to pull earlier payments from its site. The other 11 companies simply add new data while maintaining an archive of previous releases.

Allergan spokeswoman Heather Katt said in an email that Allergan remains in compliance with the terms of its corporate integrity agreement with the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

As part of that legal agreement, Katt said, Allergan was required to expand its disclosures in a second phase starting in November. In addition to speaking, consulting and meals, it now posts payments for research, royalties, travel and educational materials. Allergan decided to take down the earlier disclosures to avoid confusion, she said.

“The earlier reports were accurate, but represented limited data and as such would not provide meaningful or accurate comparisons,” Katt said. Donald White, a spokesman for the health department’s inspector general, agreed that Allergan was in compliance with its corporate integrity agreement despite the removal of payment data.

Allergan’s Katt said removing the older information was “in the spirit of providing the general public with the most current and comprehensive information.”

Every pharmaceutical company will have to publicly report all payments to physicians nationwide beginning next year under a provision of the health-care overhaul known as the Physician Payment Sunshine Act.

by Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, ProPublica, Feb. 1, 2012, 11:03 a.m.

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The U.S. Border Control, Border Control Foundation and other organizations received the consent of the Clerk of the House of Representatives to file amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting an effort to prevent the Obama Administration from using a flawed 2010 Census that included foreign nationals in the count to alter radically the allocation of political power in the United States.

The amicus brief was filed in support of the State of Louisiana’s motion to file an original complaint against the Secretary of Commerce who oversees the Census Bureau.  Louisiana took this unusual step of bypassing U.S. District Courts and filing this action directly in the U.S. Supreme Court due to the critical urgency to obtain a swift ruling.

In a shameful attempt to manipulate the census for political advantage, the Obama’s Census Bureau chief falsely claimed that the Constitution compels him to count ”everyone living in this country, regardless of immigration or citizenship status.”

The Census Bureau unlawfully counted illegal aliens and the President reported these flawed Census results to the House of Representatives as the basis to reapportion the House.

“The result of this corrupted census would be to reward those states that provide “sanctuary” and taxpayer funded benefits to illegal aliens with additional seats in the House of Representatives, while punishing those states that observe the Constitution and the rule of law,” said Edward I. Nelson, U.S. Border Control Chairman.

“If allowed to go uncontested, the State of Louisiana’s filing demonstrates that Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, and North Carolina would lose one representative each, while California and Texas would each gain two seats and Florida one.  Even worse, since representation in the Electoral College is based, in part, on the number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, the composition of the electoral college will also be significantly altered.

“In a close race for the White House, this politicized and illegal census could deliver the presidency to the candidate that most favors illegal aliens, by giving additional electoral college votes to states like California.” said Nelson.

In addition to using the Constitution as the basis for our arguments, we also used a 1990 Supreme Court opinion that states emphatically that persons who enter our country in violation of the law are not entitled to the rights guaranteed to “the People.”  If illegal aliens are not entitled to the rights of the American people, then they should not be counted in the Census, not have their illegal presence effect reapportionment or the electoral college.

Image Courtesy of    http://www.flickr.com/photos/standardpixel/

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On January 23, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children released the results of its latest survey regarding the number of registered sex offenders located in the U.S.  The organization’s most recent survey of states found there are 747,408 registered sex offenders in the country today, which represents an increase of 7,555 offenders from the previous survey in June 2011.

NCMEC conducted its first survey in 2006, which showed there were 606,816 registered sex offenders in the U.S.  In just five years, an additional 140,592 convicted sex offenders have been added to sex offender registries across the country, an increase of 23.2%.  The three states with the largest number of registered sex offenders are California (106,216), Texas (68,529), and Florida (57,896).

“The courts have long held that the requirement that a convicted sex offender register with authorities is not punitive, it is regulatory,” said Ernie Allen, president and CEO of NCMEC.  “It is a reasonable measure designed to provide important information to authorities and to help protect the public, particularly children.

These registries are especially important because of the high risk of re-offense by some of these offenders, and the fact that most of the victims of America’s sex offenders are younger than 18 years of age.” The first sex offender registry was created in 1947 in California.  Today, every state has such a registry.

NCMEC created the survey in 2006, following the enactment of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act in July of that year.  Each year since the survey was created, NCMEC contacts the sex offender registry in each state as well as registries located in the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands).

In the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas and St. Croix maintain separate sex offender registries, bringing the total number of registries surveyed to 57. ”America has awakened to the threat posed by sex offenders,” said Allen.  “Today, there is a system in place.  Law enforcement is more vigilant and common-sense steps have been taken to better protect the public, particularly the children.”

NCMEC has conducted 13 sex offender register surveys since 2006 and were performed quarterly until 2009.  Since then, they have been done twice each year.

In 2006, NCMEC also created a special dedicated Sex Offender Tracking Team.  This group of analysts — working with the U.S. Marshals Service and state and local law enforcement — accesses donated public records data and aids in locating an estimated 100,000 noncompliant or fugitive sex offenders.

To date, NCMEC has received 15,802 requests from law enforcement nationwide to assist in locating noncompliant sex offenders and has provided 15,763 analytical leads packages to law enforcement, resulting in the apprehension of thousands of fugitives.

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Walmart’s 2012 Acres for America program is helping conserve more than 49,000 acres of critical wildlife habitat across the United States. Acres projects connect existing lands to protect migration routes, provide access for people to enjoy the outdoors and help ensure the future of rural economies that depend on forestry, tourism and recreation.

Acres for America is a 10-year, $35 million commitment that began in 2005 between Walmart and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to purchase and preserve one acre of wildlife habitat in the U.S. for every acre of land developed by the company through 2015.  To date, Acres for America has invested in projects in 24 states, protecting more than 687,000 acres.

“It is estimated that America loses nearly three million acres of open space each year,” said Jennifer May-Brust, Walmart vice president of realty supplier management and compliance. “Our strategic partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is helping save important wildlife habitats and fits perfectly with Walmart’s larger goal to bring sustainability into the communities we serve.”

In the summer of 2011, Walmart expanded its Acres investments to include urban conservation projects inChicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C.  The six awards announced today will support projects in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina and Tennessee.

“With these new projects, Acres for America extends into five additional states to protect vital areas for wildlife and people,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF. “These investments will not only benefit endangered species like the Florida panther – they will also expand open space near urban areas and conserve forests and streams along the Appalachian Trail, one of our most treasured natural resources.”

The 2012 Acres for America projects:

Southern Sierra Partnership: Tehachapi Linkage, California

• While protecting more than 22,000 acres of rare blue oak habitat in the Sierra foothills, this project completes a key 50-mile ecological corridor linking the Sierra-Cascade ranges to the California Coast ranges and the lowlands of the Great Central Valley to the Mojave Desert.

Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Expansion: Colorado

• This project protects 1,334 acres of tallgrass prairie adjacent to the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge and connects to 70,000 acres of locally protected open space, greatly expanding recreation opportunities in metropolitan Denver.

Panther Crossing Protection Project: Florida

• This 1,530-acre property protects a key migratory corridor for the endangered Florida panther, of which less than 165 exist in the wild.  It connects existing panther habitat to the south with 1.5 million acres of new habitat in the Northern Everglades, and will also benefit the American black bear, red-cockaded woodpecker, swallow-tailed kite and snail kite.

Almo Tract: Fort Benning, Georgia

• This 7,550-acre tract in Georgia’s Fall Line Sandhills is the eastern anchor of a larger 30,000-acre conservation corridor adjacent to Fort Benning. The project protects longleaf pine forest and provides important habitat for the gopher tortoise and red-cockaded woodpecker, among other species.

The Palila Protection Project: Hawaii

• On the Big Island of Hawaii, two protected parcels (4,469 acres) provide critical habitat to the palila (Loxioides bailleui), one of the rarest birds in the world, and contribute significantly to its recovery.

Appalachian Trail Habitat Protection Project: North Carolina and Tennessee

Partners: The Conservation Fund, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Blue Ridge Forever and Conservation Trust for North Carolina

• This group of seven key parcels collectively protects nearly 13,000 acres of forest and 40 miles of freshwater streams along the Appalachian Trail Corridor, which are home to the imperiled southern Appalachian brook trout, 1,000 species of plants, at least 300 species of birds and 20 species of rare and declining salamanders.

For more information on Acres for America or to apply for a grant, visit www.nfwf.org or http://walmartstores.com/sustainability.

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Nearly one in four American children attend rural schools and enrollment is growing at a faster rate in rural school districts than in all other places combined, according to ‘Why Rural Matters 2011-12’, a biennial report by the Rural School and Community Trust.   In addition, rural schools show increasing rates of poverty, diversity, and students with special needs.

These widespread trends are most evident in the South, Southwest, and parts of Appalachia. ”As the evidence mounts that rural education is becoming a bigger and even more complex part of our national educational landscape, it is becoming impossible to ignore in the quest to improve achievement and narrow achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged groups.

The day of closing our eyes and hoping rural education will just go away are ending,” said Jerry Johnson, a co-author of ‘Why Rural Matters 2011-12’. More than 9.6 million students are enrolled in rural school districts in the United States, which is over 20 percent of all public school students in the United States.

An additional 1.8 million students are enrolled in rural schools in districts not classified as rural by the federal government.  Together, these 11.4 million students who attend rural schools comprise more than 23 percent of all public school students, according to the Rural School and Community Trust, a respected national nonprofit organization.

Of those students attending schools in a rural district, two in five live in poverty, a rate that has increased by nearly a third in nine years.  One student in four in rural areas is a child of color, and one in eight has changed residence in the past 12 months.

Between the 1999-2000 and 2008-2009 school years, rural districts’ enrollment increased by well over 1.7 million students, showing a growth rate of more than 22 percent.  In comparison, non-rural enrollment increased by only 673,000, or by a 1.7 percent increase, for the same time period.  As a result, the rural districts’ share of national public school enrollment increased from 17.4 percent to 20 percent over the decade, according to federal data in the report.

These enrollment gains were particularly strong in the most rural states in the South and Southwest.  Ten states are among the top 13 in both the number and the percentage of rural enrollment growth — Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

The top five states with rural enrollment increases — Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arizona — had a total gain of over 1.1 million, more than half the gain for all states that gained rural enrollment.

“Rural minority students are concentrated in certain states, and that concentration is increasing,” said Jerry Johnson. Over 69 percent of all rural minority students now attend school in states where they represent more than one third of the rural student enrollment.  That is up from 58 percent as reported in ‘Why Rural Matters 2009’.

The report uses 25 statistical indicators grouped into five “gauges” to take the measure of rural education in each of the 50 states.  The five gauges are then combined to produce a “rural education priority” gauge.  The higher the ranking, the more important and challenging rural education is in a state’s overall education system and the more urgent it is for policy makers to pay attention to it.

The 13 highest priority states are all in the South, Southwest, and Appalachia, except Alaska, and all, but three, of the 12 next highest priority states are adjacent to them with the exception of Idaho, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

The report notes that rural education ranks high in importance in many Northern states, including Iowa, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, and Vermont.  However, these states tend to rank low on other measures such as student poverty, diversity, or poor student performance and low graduation rates.

“These states symbolize rural education to many people. They are the basis for a myth that all of rural America is uncomplicated, stable, and reasonably well-off. That myth is part of what keeps rural education on the margins of the national debate about education policy,” said Marty Strange, the policy director for the Rural School and Community Trust and co-author of the report.

“But these classic Yankee and Prairie-Plains states are simply an important part of a much more varied, complex, and challenging rural America that education policy makers must better understand,” said Strange. The report found that states most responsive to rural schools have above average fiscal capacity.

For example, the report points out that of the 13 states with the lowest expenditures for rural teachers, all but Nebraska and South Dakota are below the national average in state fiscal capacity.  On the other hand, states with the highest rural teacher salaries are primarily in the Northeast, the West, and the Mid-Atlantic. All these states are above the national average in state fiscal capacity per capital.

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AIDS Services Foundation Orange County (ASF) announced that the Disneyland Resort will once again serve as the venue for AIDS Walk Orange County. The 26th annual walk takes place Sunday, May 6.

Five thousand supporters are expected to attend and enjoy the magical route through Disneyland park, Disney California Adventure park and Downtown Disney. The walk is scheduled to begin at 7:00 a.m. ”ASF is thrilled and humbled to be returning to the Disneyland Resort for AIDS Walk 2012. We received such amazing feedback about the location from last year’s walkers and volunteers.

And the experience for our clients in attendance was emotionally overwhelming,” said Philip Yaeger, executive director of ASF. “One of our clients remarked, while standing among a crowd of thousands on Main Street, USA, at Disneyland, that he now knew he was not alone in his fight against AIDS.”

The Disneyland Resort, which agreed to host the 25th AIDS Walk last year, has been a corporate sponsor of the event since 2000. That support has included Disney VoluntEARS who have participated as walkers and provided volunteer assistance. ”We raised nearly 25 percent more for AIDS Walk in 2011 because the event was held at the Disneyland Resort,” commented Chris Bragg, event organizer and ASF director of events, “We’re certain that the experience for all of our walkers will be even better this year!”

First held in 1987 at Mason Park in Irvine, the walk has taken place in various locations and raised over$14 million in donations to help provide services for people affected by HIV/AIDS in Orange County.  ASF organizes the event with proceeds shared among several nonprofit agencies that provide services to people living in Orange County that are impacted by the disease.

Among the agencies expected to benefit from the 2012 event are: AEGiS; The Center Orange County; Laguna Beach Community Clinic; Mercy House; Orange County Cornerstone Outreach; Public Law Center; Shanti Orange County; Straight Talk Clinic, Inc.; and AIDS Services Foundation Orange County.

ASF is a nonprofit organization founded in 1985.  Annually, the agency assists more than 1,600 men, women and children affected by HIV/AIDS. Among the services ASF provides are food, transportation, housing, emergency financial assistance, mental health counseling, HIV testing, and HIV prevention and education programs.  To learn more about ASF go to www.ocasf.org.  For more information about AIDS Walk visit www.aidswalkorangecounty.org.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/asterix611/

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Health insurance premiums for California families rose 153% since 2002, more than five times the 29% increase in the rate of inflation, according to a new survey released recently.

“A 153% increase in health insurance premiums in just 10 years is unbearable, and the fact that premiums have risen five times the rate of inflation is scandalous,” said Carmen Balber of Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. “Californians are paying for 7-digit executive salaries, insurance company waste, and excessive profits with these sky-high premiums. Insurers should have to prove why they want rate hikes in public, and Californians should have the power to block rate increases that can’t be justified.”

The survey was conducted by the California HealthCare Foundation.

In November, Consumer Watchdog filed a ballot initiative that would require health insurance companies to publicly justify and get rates approved before they take effect. Health insurance companies in California may currently raise rates to any level with no approval. No one has the power to block a rate hike, even if it is found to be unreasonable or excessive. The ballot initiative gives the state insurance commissioner the power to reject excessive or unreasonable rates.

The CHCF survey found that annual premiums were higher in California than nationally for individual coverage ($5,970 versus $5,429) and family coverage ($15,724 versus $15,073). Thirty-five states have some authority to approve or reject health insurance rate increases, while California has none.

The proposed ballot initiative, known as the “Insurance Rate Public Justification and Accountability Act,” would:

• Require health insurance companies to open their books and justify, under penalty of perjury, proposed rate changes before taking effect.
• Require public hearings and approval by the Insurance Commissioner before health insurance company rate increases can take effect.
• Prohibit health insurance, auto insurance, and home insurance companies from charging based on prior insurance history or credit score.

The initiative also requires insurance companies to justify rates in relation to proposed changes to patient out-of-pocket expenses, including deductibles and co-pays. The CHCF survey found that copayments for office visits increased substantially since 2007, the number of workers in small firms with high deductibles more than tripled since 2006, and annual out-of-pocket limits grew significantly since 2005.

The measure will be cleared to circulate for signature-gathering this month.

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DreamWorks Pictures’ “War Horse”, directed by Steven Spielberg, has earned American Humane Association’s highest certification rating: Monitored: Outstanding, No Animals Were Harmed. The production complied with American Humane Association’s ‘Guidelines for the Safe Use of Animals in Filmed Media’ to ensure the safety of the horses and fully cooperated with American Humane Association’s Film and TV Unit,  which logged 1,100 hours on ‘War Horse’ sets in England and California and safeguarded more than 100 horses.

Since 1940, American Humane Association has been safeguarding animals in film. On the ‘War Horse’ production sets, American Humane Association representative Barbara Carr was present to make sure that the many horses used in the making of the film were both safe and treated humanely. Says Director Spielberg, “I gave Barbara [Carr] the complete, final cut so to speak, to pull the plug if she felt any of the horses were not up to the challenge or any of the horses were in any way in harm’s way.”

Spielberg gave Carr input on set in the planning of the stunt or the action the horse had to perform and also gave her opportunities to watch rehearsals in slow motion, done one step at a time, so she could determine whether it would be safe for the horse.

The film, which opens in theatres in the U.S. on December 25th, is an epic tale of loyalty, hope and tenacity set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War. Based on the best-selling book by Michael Morpurgo and the Tony Award-winning stage play by Nick Stafford, ‘War Horse’ is one of the great stories of bravery and friendship, brought to the screen by one of the greatest directors in film history.

‘War Horse’ begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets—British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter—before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man’s Land. The First World War is experienced through the journey of this horse—an odyssey of joy and sorrow, passionate friendship and high adventure.

Directed by Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Pictures’ ‘War Horse’ stars Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irvine, Benedict Cumberbatch and Toby Kebbell. It is produced by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, and executive producers are Frank Marshall and Revel Guest. The screenplay was written by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis and is based on the book by Michael Morpurgo and the international hit stage play by Nick Stafford, originally produced by the National Theatre of Great Britain and directed by Tom Morris and Marianne Elliot.

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Illegal immigration was the fastest growing federal arrest offense between 2005 and 2009, increasing an average rate of 23 percent each year, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. In 2009, 84,749 suspects were arrested and booked for immigration offenses, up from 38,041 in 2005.

A federal arrest is a formal charge of violating federal law. Persons who were apprehended, detained, released or deported without a formal arrest charge were not included in the number of federal suspects arrested and processed.

During 2009, a record 183,986 suspects were arrested for federal offenses, up from 140,200 in 2005 and nearly double the 83,324 suspects arrested in 1995. Illegal immigration (46 percent) was the most common offense at arrest in 2009, followed by drug (17 percent) and supervision (13 percent) violations.

More than half (56 percent) of all federal arrests occurred in the five federal judicial districts along the U.S.-Mexico border: Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Western and Southern Texas. The federal caseload handled in these five districts in 2009 comprised more than a third of all federal defendants prosecuted (35 percent), convicted (35 percent) and sentenced to prison (37 percent).

Most federal defendants (77 percent) in cases terminated in 2009 had been detained prior to case disposition. Defendants were most likely to be detained when charged with immigration (95 percent), violent crime (87 percent), weapons (82 percent), and drug (81 percent) offenses. About 88 percent of defendants charged in the five judicial districts along the U.S.-Mexico border were detained in 2009.

Of the 193,234 matters concluded by U.S. attorneys in 2009, two out of three involved immigration (46 percent) or drug (20 percent) offenses. Immigration matters concluded increased an annual average of 31 percent since 2005, while drug matters declined an annual average of 1.4 percent.

About 48 percent of suspects in matters concluded were prosecuted by U.S. attorneys in 2009, compared to 60 percent of suspects in 2005. One reason for the decrease in prosecution by U.S. attorneys is the growth in immigration matters disposed by U.S. magistrates. About 67 percent of immigration offenders were disposed by U.S. magistrates in 2009, up from 46 percent in 2005.

Of the 95,000 federal cases concluded in 2009, 40 percent were represented by a public defender (up from 22 percent in 1995), 36 percent by a panel-appointed attorney (up from 32 percent in 1995) and 21 percent by a private attorney (down from 37 percent in 1995). Among cases terminated with a public defender in 2009, nearly 49 percent involved immigration offenses.

About 95,900 federal defendants were adjudicated in 2009, and most were convicted following a guilty plea (88 percent) or a bench or jury trial (3 percent). The median time from case filing to disposition was 6.5 months in 2009.

More than three-quarters (78 percent) of convicted defendants were sentenced to prison in 2009. The average prison term imposed on federal offenders in 2009 was 57 months, down from 61 months in 2005. Prison sentences in 2009 were an average of 82 months for drug offenses, compared to 113 months for violent offenses and 87 months for weapons offenses.

At year-end 2009, 393,810 persons were under some form of federal supervision. Of these, 62 percent were in secure confinement and 38 percent were in the community. Of offenders under active federal post-conviction supervision in the community, the majority of offenders (98,465) were on supervised release, compared to probation (22,748) and parole (2,158).

The number of federal prisoners age 55 and older nearly doubled, from 8,221 in 2000 to 15,323 in 2009. The median age of prisoners increased from age 35 in 2000 to age 37 in 2009. Most federal prisoners in 2009 were male (93 percent), black non-Hispanic (37 percent), and U.S. citizens (74 percent).

The reports, Federal Justice Statistics, 2009 and Federal Justice Statistics, 2009 – Statistical Tables, were written by BJS statistician Mark Motivans. The reports, related documents and additional information about the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ statistical publications and programs can be found on the BJS website at http://www.bjs.gov/.

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Using only a handheld camera and a small cast of characters, Mike Ott’s “Littlerock” leaves a lasting impression. The sweeping landscape and ethereal lighting contribute to the overall magic taken from the mundane. The town of Littlerock, California, which serves as the backdrop to this intriguing film, is really a remnant of the American Dream. In this movie, the place itself could not have been better cast.

When Atsuko (Atsuko Okatsuka, who also co-wrote the film) and her brother, Rintaro (Rintaro Sawamoto), come to America to experience something completely unlike their own lives, they are warned by their father that they will regret it. What they are met with is certainly not the golden age of America, just a place full of people as different from their Japanese friends as they could be.

The most important of these locals is aspiring model, Cory (Cory Zacharia), whose puppy-dog affection for Atsuko is both endearing and slightly off-putting. It is Atsuko who becomes captivated by the unlikely charm of this rundown place. She even begs her brother to let her stay a little longer.

He reluctantly leaves her there, and gone is Atsuko’s only hope of translation, and ours, as her subtitles drive off into the sunset with him. As a result, we become involved in this frustrating situation of miscommunication.

When Cory cries out in exasperation because he can no longer fool himself that he and Atsuko don’t need words in order to understand each other, it affects you on a deeper level than most films. As a viewer, you have not been taking a passive role. Instead, you have been attempting to decode Atsuko in the same ways Cory has been trying.

The film was almost painful at times because it was so relatable, so human, so personal. With the characters and actors almost being the same person – actors kept their names and, sometimes, their back stories – their performances were heartfelt and vulnerable. It results in quite a melancholy experience.

You don’t know whether to laugh or cry with or at them, partly because if you did one or the other, you would not just be reacting to a character but also be affected by a real story and real people. Ott’s powerful ability to tell a story that is both personal and relatable comes from using his own life as a starting point.

“It was a really organic process making this movie,” Ott said. “It started with this idea I had after going to South America for a film festival. And I met this girl when I [was] down there that only spoke Spanish. And I only speak English. So we kind of had this romance, but I mean she didn’t speak a word of English and my Spanish is minimal.

And then I tried to phone her after I left and it was just this super awkward conversation just trying to express that I had a good time hanging out with her. It just doesn’t translate. So I just started thinking about that.” It is his own personal experiences, and those of the actors, that have helped shape this movie into a tender, thought-provoking journey.

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Recently Facebook Inc. has been working with the state of California concerning incarcerated prisoners who were illegally updating Facebook pages through the use of contraband cell phones and friends outside the prison.

Facebook has agreed to take down the Facebook page of any prisoner who has had his or her account updated either by that individual or by friends outside the prison. Any prisoner who had an existing account prior to being incarcerated will not have their pages deleted.

Prisons do not allow inmates to have cell phones, but, according to the NY Times January 2, 2011 article on the subject, they are often able to obtain these devices by bribing prison guards with up to $1,000 for a single phone.

While visitors are searched both on the way in and out of the prison, guards are not subject to the same searches. Currently, if a guard is found smuggling contraband into the prisoners, the guard is usually fired but no criminal charges are brought.

This has led Senator Alex Padilla to try to have Bill 26 passed in the next few weeks. If it is signed into law, it would make any corrections officer or civilian that provides a prisoner with a cell phone a crime punishable with up to a $5,000 fine and up to six months in jail. Additionally, the inmate who is found with the device would lose “non-restorable loss of time credit.”

This would increase the amount of time the inmate has to spend in prison before he can get out early on good behavior.  If the cell phone was involved in any crime that was committed, an additional 2-5 years would be added to the individual’s sentence.

The main motivation for prohibiting inmates from being able to maintain their Facebook accounts is to prevent continuing criminal activity and to protect any possible past victims from being contacted or stalked by their perpetrator.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) recently explained in their periodic newsletter on August 8 that a California inmate had sent accurate, up to date drawings of one of his victims to her home. He had been convicted of child abuse involving the victim seven years prior when the victim was ten years of age.

It was later determined that he had illegally acquired a phone with internet access and used the device to view his victim’s Facebook and Myspace pages, and then used the photos for his drawings.

This problem with prisoners illegally accessing the internet while incarcerated has only become a serious problem in the last few years. The CDCR newsletter reported that while in 2006 only 261 contraband phones were found in the possession of inmates, in 2010 that number jumped to over 7,284.

The increase in the availability and speed of portable internet through the use of smart phones is what has led the CDCR to elicit help from Facebook Inc. This intended to limit the criminal activity that is occurring within the prison system while they work to reduce the number of cell phones that fall into the hands of the incarcerated.

If you suspect that a Facebook account is being updated by an inmate or another person on behalf of the inmate, you can contact the CDCR’s Office of Victim and Survivor Rights & Services toll free at 1-877-256-OVSS (6877) or e-mail victimservices@cdcr.ca.gov.

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At The Scribbs Research Institute in La Jolla, California, a team of researchers have created a vaccine that can block heroin’s effects and could provide a potential therapy for heroin addiction.

This research was carried out on animal models that responded successfully to the vaccine, demonstrating how this could have effective results also in humans.

Kim D. Janda, Jr. Chaired Professor of Chemistry and Immunology at The Scripps Research Institute, member of The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, and main researcher of the study said: “In my 25 years of making drug-of-abuse vaccines, I haven’t seen such a strong immune response as I have with what we term a dynamic anti-heroin vaccine.” “It is just extremely effective. The hope is that such a protective vaccine will be an effective therapeutic option for those trying to break their addiction to heroin”.

The Scribbs Research Institute’s study was recently published on the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry of the American Chemical Society, and reported by EurekAlert!. It shows how heroin’s euphoric effects can be blocked by specific antibodies produced by the vaccine, which provoke an immune response of the organism.

When metabolized, heroin degrades into multiple psychoactive compounds each with psychotropic effects on the brain, making the previous attempts of other researchers to create an efficacious vaccine difficult and often times misleading.

“Heroin, however, presents a particularly challenging immunotherapeutic target, as it is metabolized to multiple psychoactive molecules. To reconcile this dilemma, we examined the idea of a singular vaccine with the potential to display multiple drug-like antigens, two haptens were synthesized, one heroin-like and another morphine-like in chemical structure,” wrote the authors.

Therefore, the innovation of the vaccine developed by Janda’s team consists exactly of targeting not only heroin itself but also the other compounds, such as morphine and 6-acetylmorphine (6AM), blocking all the euphoric effects that can be produced.

“Heroin is lipophilic and is rapidly degraded to 6AM, both readily cross the blood-brain barrier and gain access to the opioid receptors in the brain, explained G. Neil Stowe, a research associate in Janda’s laboratory and first author of the study.”Critically, the vaccine produces antibodies to a constantly changing drug target,” added Stowe. “Such an approach has never before been engaged with drug-of-abuse vaccines.”

“A key feature in this approach is that immunopresentation with the heroin-like hapten is thought to be immunochemically dynamic such that multiple haptens are simultaneously presented to the immune system,” explained the authors in their study.

The results seem to be very successful. The responses to the heroin vaccine of the rats subjected to the study are very encouraging. They generated strong antibodies and also showed good response regarding heroin addiction. Out of seven addicted rats that received the vaccine only three kept on self-administering heroin by pressing on a lever after several boosters. In contrast, all the control rats self-administered the drug.

“To have an animal vaccinated and not show a response to heroin is pretty amazing,” said George F. Koob, chair of the Scripps Research Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders and co-author of the study. “We saw a very robust and specific response from this heroin vaccine. […] I think a humanized version could be of real help to those who need and want it.”

The study also demonstrates the specificity of the vaccine which produces antibody response only to heroin and 6AM, and not to other opioid drugs tested such as methadone, naloxone and naltrexone.

“The importance of this is that it indicates these vaccines could be used in combination with other heroin rehabilitation therapies,” said Janda.

The study was funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health and the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at Scripps Research.

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In a relatively non-shocking decision, the United States Supreme Court has sided with corporate giant Wal-Mart in a sex discrimination suit. The plaintiffs in the case were seeking to make the sexual discrimination lawsuit into a class-action, involving up to 1.6 million women. The decision has far-reaching implications for employee rights and big corporations.

The justices voted along party lines by a vote to 5-4,reversing an earlier decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The High Court said there were too many women in too many jobs at Wal-Mart to form into a class action suit. Wal-Mart could have faced billions of dollars in damages. The few women who brought the case are prepared to bring claims against the retail giant on their own. Of course, individual lawsuits will place much less pressure on Wal-Mart and involve less money. Two of the named plaintiffs, Christine Kwapnoski and Betty Dukes, attended the argument. Kwapnoski is an assistant manager at a Sam’s Club in Concord, Calif. Dukes is a greeter at the Wal-Mart in Pittsburg, Calif.

In a statement, Wal-Mart said, “The court today unanimously rejected class certification and, as the majority made clear, the plaintiffs’ claims were worlds away from showing a companywide discriminatory pay and promotion policy.”

Dukes and Kwapnoski said they were disappointed in the ruling, but vowed to push ahead with their claims. Both women spoke on a conference call with reporters. “We still are determined to go forward to present our case in court. We believe we will prevail there,” Dukes said. “All I have to say is when I go back to work tomorrow, I’m going to let them know we are still fighting,” Kwapnoski.

Other advocates were also disappointed with the Supreme Court decision. Marcia D. Greenberger, co-president of the National Women’s Law Center, said “the court has told employers that they can rest easy, knowing that the bigger and more powerful they are, the less likely their employees will be able to join together to secure their rights.”

The Supreme Court agreed with Wal-Mart’s argument that being forced to defend the treatment of female employees regardless of the jobs they hold or where they work is unfair. Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion for the court’s conservative majority said there need to be common elements tying together “literally millions of employment decisions at once,” which he felt was absent in this case.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the court’s four liberal justices, said there was more than enough uniting the claims. “Wal-Mart’s delegation of discretion over pay and promotions is a policy uniform throughout all stores,” Ginsburg said.

Both sides have argued that the ruling could have severe consequences. The business community, who supported Wal-Mart, has said that a ruling for the women would lead to a flood of class-action lawsuits based on vague evidence. Supporters of the women, including civil rights groups, feared that a decision in favor of Wal-Mart could remove a valuable weapon for fighting all sorts of discrimination.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/drewesque/

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”I hope that Toonari has a future. The website looks great and professional. The users and readers can participate, they can interact with us, and they are able to leave their comments and suggestions, so its a more personalized experience form reader to author and vice-versa.”

Natasha was born in California, but now lives in Ohio while finishing her University studies. She is part of the Toonarian’s team, and is focused on the Entertainment Journalism sector. In a personal interview, she told us her experience so far in her first internship is ever:

How did you get involve in ToonariPost?

Well, basically I went online to surf on the web for a while and look at online pages where they were offering internships. I remember going to internweb.com and finding where I applied for ToonariPost. It was amazing because I just applied with not many expectations at first, and after a couple of days I received the call and I was in!

What do you think about the virtual part of this internship?

I like it a lot, because we do so many different things. It is a really great opportunity to learn because all interns are provided with personalized training. Also, the international side is really great since you get to create these relationships with your work colleagues, and learn about sharing ideas and different cultures. I went abroad, to England and Scotland, with the American High School Theater Festival. I personally love this experience that allows me to learn but meet new people every time.

How would you define your way of writing when it comes to your articles?

I tried to make it as engaging and honest as possible. So many people have different tastes, and want to read cool things. I try to be really entertaining and funny. I know how to do my research now, and every article I write is easier to put things together. We just need to get to the people, and provide them interesting stories. Besides writing, I work in retail. But I need to do something related with writing, because I honestly just love it. I love expressing myself into written words.

What are the things you’ve appreciated the most so far?

Getting to see my work published is something really cool, because I can see the work on my own. The good thing is that it gets a lot of publicity. It’ s something to build my portfolio. And it is great when I Google my name and something pops up!

To wrap up the interview she wanted to share a message to all ToonariPost’s readers out there. “Keep reading because we work very hard, and if you feel that you can do this, there is always a place for you”.

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