Let’s talk about James Buchanan. No, not the last American president born in the 18th century. About James McGill Buchanan. Why him? He was a Nobel Prize laureate and American economist who got recognized for his study on public choice theory, and who just recently passed away (January 9, 2013).

So why is his work still relevant today? Mainly because Buchanan initiated research on how non-economic forces and politicians’ personal interests affect economic policy.

His research includes extensive writings on macroeconomics, constitutional economics, the public debt, public finance and voting – all that is very important especially now, at the time of global economic crisis.

What is even more important, looking at the entire government “struggle against the economy,” is that in his studies Buchanan rejects “any organic concept of the state as superior in wisdom, to the citizens of this state.” This is where the interesting part begins.

Thanks to his philosophical position the basis of constitutional economics can be formed. According to Buchanan, every constitution is created for the time period of at least several generations and therefore, it should be able to balance interests of the society, state and each individual.

Unfortunately we don’t see this happening all around us. There are, of course, exclusions, but in whole we see just the opposite. The rich are getting richer or at least are well off anyways. And middle class is getting the full blow of the recession.

It is interesting that Buchanan’s ideas were always seen as a challenge to John Maynard Keynes. And Keynes is recognized to be one of the most influential economists of the last century and founder of modern macroeconomics. He was among those who advocated the use of monetary and fiscal measures to reduce the negative effects of economic recessions.

Once Keynes’s ideas became widespread, they were adopted by leading economies. Even though the outburst of the global financial crisis in 2007 caused degradation in Keynesian thought, the principals of Keynesian economics are still used to give response to the crisis. Unfortunately, neither the administration of George W. Bush or Barack Obama developed new approaches.

In his works Buchanan poses a question, “What do individuals seek in politics if they do not seek to maximize their own expected net wealth?” Which seems to make perfect sense, doesn’t it?

The main point is that modern politics can be adjusted only through the change to the constitution. In this way individuals will be able to act according to the long-term interest of the community and not their own short-term interests.

James M. Buchanan says, “Until and unless we begin to take the long-term perspective in our private and in our public capacities, including the adoption of new and binding constitutional constraints on the fiscal and monetary powers of government, we are doomed to remain mired in the muck of modern politics.”

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As the fiscal cliff approaches, the clock starts to tick louder. For those who have yet to understand: the fiscal cliff is a soup of expiring tax cuts scheduled for the end of the year.

The core of the fiscal cliff consists mainly of the cuts passed from 2001 to 2003 under then President George W. Bush. There are also across-the-board cuts: the expiration of measures delaying the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate, and the expiration of the 2 percent Social Security payroll tax cut, among others.

If the federal government allows this to happen, the effect on a still-weak economy may be drastic, perhaps even sending it back into a recession. On the other hand the fiscal cliff can significantly decrease the federal budget deficit. This brings us to the question of possible positive effects for the economy in the long run.

According to some surveys, about two-thirds of Americans do support reduction of the federal budget deficit, even if it means cutting Medicare and Social Security. Aside from this data, it is quite hard to believe that the majority will eagerly give away their money for seemingly no good reason. It is better to not take into consideration some quavering long-term improvement projections for the common citizen who is not keen on economic analysis.

Unfortunately according to the experts, if Obama and Congress do not avert these legislative changes, America may “fall over the cliff.” It will also mean that taxes will rise the most in the last 60 years or so. The Tax Policy Center reports that middle-income families will pay $2,000 or more in taxes in 2013.

In addition to this, the Congressional Budget Office predicts that about 3.4 million people will lose their jobs. The Unemployment rate of 7.9 percent in October 2012 represents a significant improvement over the October 2009 rate of 10 percent. According to research millions of jobs would be lost after the fiscal cliff. This could result in an unemployment rate of up to 9.1 percent or more.

Some say there is a bright side. The cliff would be a long-term positive, they say. Everybody understands that at some point the U.S. government should deal with the deficit. But in what way and when are the questions. The policy of kicking the can down the road may no longer be effective or will at least become so in the near future. So will the short-term disaster be worth the possible benefits? The truth is, it’s hard to tell.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2022, the budget deficit would fall to $200 billion from $1.1 trillion now, in the fiscal cliff case scenario. But that is a pretty long shot and in order to get there, the economy would have to face certain financial difficulties.

The bottom line is the cliff will certainly result in the tax rate increases. But the problem is that increasing taxes won’t necessarily increase total tax revenue. The only right way to increase tax revenue is for the economy to recover.

So the bottom line may be that the fiscal cliff doesn’t matter that much any more. The U.S. may have passed the point of no return long ago.  For everyone with average income there is only one thing that can be suggested. Use everybody’s old favorite: cash, not credit. Congress will eventually have to learn this lesson also and finally cut back on a wasteful spending.

If you want to see what your tax life will look after the cliff you can try the links for experienced tax payers or those who want to get a simple answer.

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Few individuals possess more knowledge of the U.S. presidency and the people who comprise it than noted historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin.  In sharing this knowledge with a packed audience at the UNF arena on October 17 at 7:30 p.m., she admitted with a chuckle that this knowledge may come back to haunt her.

“When I am dead, I fear that I may be confronted by all the presidents that I have studied, and they may all tell me that I said something wrong,” she said, to laughter from the audience.

Throughout the lecture, titled “Former U.S. Presidents and their Mark on the World,” Goodwin had nothing to fear from the audience, as they attentively listened to her personal experiences with noted former U.S. presidents, explaining the time that she spent with noted figures such as Lyndon Baines Johnson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

She started her speech by reminiscing about her time spent with LBJ, noting that he found her particularly interesting due to her “willingness to listen to his tall tales.” She then recalled a particularly humorous moment when he arranged to spend some private time with her at a lake. Here, he even provided wine and cheese, romantic trappings that initially led Goodwin to think that LBJ had other thoughts on his mind.

Those thoughts were immediately set aside once LBJ spoke to Goodwin.

“Doris, more than any other women I have ever met, you remind me of my mother,” recalled Kearns, to laughter from the audience.

That unusual moment aside, Goodwin expressed fondness for the time that she spent working under then-president Lyndon Baines Johnson.

“The older I have gotten, the more I realize what an incredible privilege it was to have spent so many hours with this aging lion of a man,” she said with pride, while also recalling some of his key legislative accomplishments, which included three great civil rights laws, as well as Medicare and aid to education.

“He opened up to me in ways that he never would have, had I known him at the height of his power,” she added.

Goodwin then pointed out to the audience that her experiences with LBJ inspired her to understand the person behind the presidency. This drive would lead her to learn about other presidents, and she focused throughout the event on Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, men that she praised for their leadership abilities during crisis periods in American history.

Goodwin noted that a key aspect of leadership is being able to motivate yourself in the face of frustration and being able to withstand adversity.

“The world breaks everyone, but afterward, many are strong in the broken places,” she said, quoting Ernest Hemmingway.

Referencing Abraham Lincoln, she praised his early love of learning and desire to read, qualities regarded as anathema in a time that emphasized physical labor and regarded such pursuits as laziness. Despite this, he loved reading and saw literature as an escape from the daily struggles of his life.

These struggles included him losing those closest to him, including his mom and first love; his mother’s final words simply emphasized that should would never return to him once she closed her eyes. It was this realization, Goodwin noted, that allowed Lincoln to realize that once a person’s life is finite and will mean nothing once they leave the earth. However, as he grew older, he tempered this thought to where he believed that if you could accomplish something greater, people would remember you for it.

This latter thought was the rationale that Lincoln took as he pursued public office; he simply wanted to leave the world in a better place than the way he found it.

When she referenced Franklin Delano Roosevelt, she spoke about the challenges he faced when dealing with polio, the fallout that reduced him to being a paraplegic.

“The paralysis crippled his body but expanded his mind and capabilities,” she noted.

This expansion, Goodwin noted, would allow him to better relate with others and empathize with their struggles.

“FDR now reached out to know people, to pick up their emotions, to put himself in their shoes. No longer belonging to his old world in the same way, he came to empathize with the poor and underprivileged, people to whom fate had also dealt an unkind hand,” she said.

These challenging times, Goodwin pointed out, helped in shaping the characters of both Lincoln and FDR and greatly influenced their leadership methods going forward.

Continuing this character study on these two former presidents, Goodwin also praised their emotional intelligence of both men, a trait that allowed them to set aside grudges and show willingness to accept praise and criticism with equal measure, as well as credit others even if the situation did not warrant it.

Goodwin noted that Lincoln always found a way to praise his Cabinet members, even if they did not always deserve any credit for their work.  This was also true for members of FDR’s cabinet as well; in fact, she noted how Francis Perkins, FDR’s Labor Secretary, praised him for renewed confidence after entering the meeting feeling overwhelmed about the responsibilities of her position.

As the event continued, she continued to praise the actions and exploits of these two individuals, before taking the time to answer questions about the event. In speaking with the audience, she expressed her interest in learning about the trials of Theodore Roosevelt, observing how many of the concerns that were a part of his era, such as workers’ rights and anti-trust suits, are now commonplace in our time as well.

As she concluded her speech, she emphasized the nobility of politics and that it is still a worthwhile endeavor, despite the polarization that is present in our current society.

“Politics is still an honorable vocation; as tough and rough as it may seem right now, I still think that there is nothing like it out there. The feeling that you have made people’s lives better and the curiosity of meeting so many people is unmatched,” she said.

Image Courtesy of  americanlibraries

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As the US election for president draws closer, dirtier the debates become. This does not only extend to President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, but to the voters themselves. Since this election is so important to the United States, people who have not previously paid much attention to politics–myself included–have been roped into the huge battle for control. The battle has now been dragged into cyberspace.

Facebook has exploded with status and picture updates about the election and who individuals support, which creates tension among friends who are supporting different candidates. I know some of my friends are hardly talking to one another strictly because of fights they have had about politics.

My family and I have an agreement to not discuss politics because we support opposing candidates, and the fights would always turn ugly when the subject came up. However, the rest of the country is letting everyone know their position for the election; political conventions and rallies are happening left and right because everyone wants to get support for their candidate. In other elections, people were not as passionate about who they planned on voting for.

Sure, the election campaigns were aired on TV and everyone was subjected to the annoying phone calls sponsoring a candidate, but friends and families were not torn apart because of politics. Meanwhile, both candidates are trying to make themselves look as saintly as possible while simultaneously trying to make their opponent seem like the anti-Christ. The presidential debates have been the most public display of this goal. The debates have caused a huge stir with voters with trying to determine who “won” the debate.

Romney had better stage presence while Obama looked like he did not want to be there. Obama kept trying to play off of Bill Clinton and emphasizing how horrible George W. Bush was while not taking ownership of any of his own shortcomings. During Obama’s reign, the country’s deficit tripled and he added more debt than any other president combined.  But none of this is his fault, only Bush’s. Obama kept twisting Romney’s plan for taxes, which Romney defended and said that Obama was purposely misleading the public.

Romney continually challenged Obama, who never really defended himself fully. Since the debates, others have tried to make excuses as to why Obama did not seem to be present and involved. However, all the debates have done is created more of a gray area while the public decides which candidate is the biggest liar.

With the debates over, political commercials are always on TV. It has gotten to the point that I refuse to watch any TV until after the election craziness is over. Neither candidate is perfect, and it gets to be very depressing watching Romney have commercials saying how horrible President Obama is while Obama projects the opposite sentiment.

The election is a month away, and it is sure to get much worse before the ballots are collected and tallied. November is guaranteed to be a political bloodbath.   Image Courtesy of   new-york-city

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New York, U.S.A. — President Barack Obama announced a renewed commitment by the U.S. government to fight human trafficking through the Partnership for Freedom: Innovation Awards to Stop Human Trafficking, a public-private initiative led by Humanity United, the Department of Justice and other federal agencies, with support from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women initiative. The Partnership for freedom will fund innovative solutions to improve care for survivors of human trafficking and modern-day slavery.

“Trafficking survivors all too often face obstacles in accessing the comprehensive services they need to rebuild their lives,” Humanity United CEO Randy Newcomb said. “While federally-funded efforts to assist trafficking survivors have laid a strong foundation, there is still so much to be done. We can and must do better to find evidence-based models to effectively support survivors, and this initiative is a step in that direction.”

Humanity United, a foundation established by philanthropists Pierre and Pam Omidyar that is dedicated to building peace and advancing human freedom, is joining together with the federal government and with founding support from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women initiative to establish a $6 million challenge award.

The challenge will call upon local communities to develop collaborative and comprehensive solutions to human trafficking survivor care that can be evaluated and expanded nationally and internationally through federal policies and programs. ”We are honored to support the public-private Partnership for Freedom,” said Dina Habib Powell, president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation. “By bringing together the corporate, governmental and nonprofit sectors to fund and scale practical solutions, we believe this initiative can have a real impact in the lives of trafficking survivors.”

Purpose of the commitment

Over the next few months, Humanity United will convene leading researchers, stakeholders, community organizations and government officials to help design and administer the award. The initial round of the award, to launch in 2013, will support the most innovative approaches in three areas:

• sustainable housing and shelter solutions for all types of trafficking survivors
• comprehensive care and case management for survivors who are minors
• law enforcement engagement with survivors

The federal government, along with private donors such as the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women initiative, will commit financial resources and technical expertise to support the award, and will offer evaluation services to determine which approaches are proven to work. The goal will be to identify promising ideas and solutions at the local and community level that can later be nationally scaled and internationally replicated.

The Partnership for Freedom will consist of three levels of support aimed at innovation, evaluation and scale:

• Community Conversation Grants will be awarded to encourage dialogue and activate local coordination.
• Challenge Grants will be awarded to innovative community-level initiatives with the most promise of being scaled.
• Scale will be achieved by pairing challenge grant winners with evaluators to identify which innovations can be expanded nationally and internationally through federal policies, practices and funding.

Community Conversation Grants

Recognizing that not all communities have existing expertise to design these innovations, Community Conversation Grants will enable a series of local stakeholder convenings to explore and establish a coordinated response to meet the needs of trafficking victims in communities around the country.

Challenge Grants

Challenge Grants will support solutions that address major challenges to survivor assistance. Paired with third-party evaluations, Challenge Grant recipients will help to build the body of knowledge for what works for survivors.

In addition to the Community Conversation Grants and Challenge Grants, the Partnership for Freedom will pair grant winners with academic researchers and program evaluators to build an evidence base of the most effective approaches. These projects will be coordinated with existing federal government efforts in order to fill key gaps in knowledge and practice, and to maximize the potential for these approaches to inform future policies and programs.

To ensure widespread commitment to this effort, an advisory board composed of a variety of stakeholders including prominent leaders in the field, advocates, senior law enforcement officials and survivors will be established to help inform the award criteria and selection process, and determine the award parameters.

Background of the proposal

Human trafficking has been identified as the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that human trafficking generates $32 billion annually. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), at any given moment more than 20 million people are trapped in slave-like conditions around the world. While Humanity United and many others continue to work on the root causes of this global phenomenon, this initiative will address much-needed efforts to help those who are survivors of human trafficking.

Image Courtesy of  pennstatelive

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Morgantown, U.S.A. — SustainU, a leading producer of clothing using fabrics made from 100% recycled materials that are manufactured in the USA, announced a new sustainability-focused program with Eastern Mountain Sports, The national retailer is now carrying men’s and women’s graphic tees in 49 of its leading stores. The co-branded collection will be distinguished by an “EMS, Powered by SustainU” hangtag.

“We are very excited to be working with EMS. They are a ground-breaking company, looking to offer their customers both environmentally and socially sustainable clothing options,” said Chris Yura, CEO and founder of SustainU. “Less than 2% of the clothing sold in the US is actually made here. It is vital that we begin to bring this part of our economy back and the jobs that go with it.”

Since 1994, the American textile and apparel-manufacturing sector has lost more than 1 million jobs, 65% of the entire industry. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that an additional 25% of the jobs (53,7000) will be gone before 2020. ”As an outdoor retailer, Eastern Mountain Sports is committed to doing everything we can to preserve and protect our planet,” said Eastern Mountain Sports CEO Will Manzer. “That’s why we’re proud to partner with SustainU to reduce the environmental impact of our graphic t-shirts while supporting a small, American business.”

Eastern Mountain Sports is offering the co-branded collection in two men’s and two women’s graphic tees in retail locations, including its online web store (EMS.com). “We look forward to growing our 100% recycled, made in the USA programs in the near future as consumers get more and more on board with these products,” said Jen Edes, EMS Sr. Director Sourcing & Product Development.

A complete list of stores carrying the SustainU line can be found at www.sustainUclothing.com/EMS.

SustainU produces high quality apparel using fabrics made from 100% recycled materials that are manufactured in the USA to provide extraordinary comfort and wear, while reducing environmental waste, carbon emissions and water use. Our mission is to change the way clothes are made to improve the environment, reinvigorate America’s manufacturing sector, and educate the world about how clothing can positively impact people’s lives.

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San Francisco, U.S.A. — Visa, MasterCard and U.S. financial institution defendants have signed a memorandum of understanding to enter into a settlement agreement to resolve the Class Plaintiffs’ claims in the multi-district interchange litigation (MDL). The claims originally were brought by a class of U.S. retailers in 2005.

Visa also has reached an agreement in principle to resolve the claims brought against Visa by a group of individual retailers (the Individual Plaintiffs) in the same MDL litigation. The proposed settlement payments for both the Class and Individual claims would be approximately $6.6 billion, of which Visa’s share would represent approximately $4.4 billion. Visa’s share will be paid from the litigation escrow account established pursuant to Visa’s Retrospective Responsibility Plan. More information on the plan is available in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.

The settlement agreement with the Class Plaintiffs includes, among other terms:

• A comprehensive release from participating class members for liability arising out of claims asserted in the litigation, and a further release to protect against future litigation regarding interchange and the other U.S. rules at issue in the MDL litigation.
• Distribution to class merchants of an amount equal to 10 basis points of default interchange across all credit rate categories for a period of eight consecutive months, which otherwise would have been paid to issuers and which effectively reduces credit interchange for that period of time. This effective reduction will be distributed by a process designed to ensure that all class retailers, large and small, are able to receive the reduction. The eight-month period for the reduction would begin within 60 days after completion of the court-ordered period during which individual class members may opt out of this settlement, or approximately mid-2013.
• Modifications to Visa’s rules to permit retailers to impose a surcharge on credit transactions subject to a cap and a level playing field with other general purpose card competitors. The rule changes on surcharging likely would be implemented in early 2013.
• Agreement that Visa will meet with merchant buying groups that seek to negotiate interchange rates collectively (e.g., independent drug stores). Visa retains discretion to accept or reject a proposal based on whether the Company believes it is commercially reasonable.

For the quarter ending June 30, 2012, Visa intends to record a litigation charge of approximately $4.1 billion, which will increase its total FAS 5 reserve for the litigation covered by the Retrospective Responsibility Plan from $285 million to approximately $4.4 billion, to reflect the Class Plaintiffs’ Settlement Agreement and management’s current estimate to resolve the Individual Plaintiffs’ claims.

Additional information about these settlements can be found on Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov, as soon as accepted and processed by the SEC.

“We believe settling this case is in the best interests of all parties,” said Joseph W. Saunders, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Visa Inc. “We are comfortable with the terms, which we do not anticipate will impact our current guidance. Visa is well positioned to help drive the migration to electronic payments in the U.S. and globally.” Consistent with commitments Visa made at the time of its restructuring, the settlements are subject to approval by Visa USA voting members representing two-thirds of membership proportion.

“This agreement should remove the distraction of litigation for all parties,” said Joshua R. Floum, General Counsel of Visa Inc. “We will go forward with a focus on helping retailers grow their businesses and providing them with efficient and valuable payment options.” Visa remains in a “quiet period” which will extend until the Company’s fiscal third quarter 2012 earnings are released on July 25, 2012.

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Worcester, U.S.A. — Most people take fire safety seriously and have fire extinguishers handy and escape routes pre-planned should a blaze threaten their home. Yet while tornadoes and the violent storms surrounding them are far more common than homeowners realize, many homeowners don’t take the necessary steps to prepare for these destructive storms. On average, some 1200 tornadoes appear each year in the U.S.

With the possibility that the 2012 storm season will be a long and challenging one, The Hanover Insurance Group today provided tips to help home and business owners in tornado-prone states to prepare and minimize damages.

While tornadoes can occur in the United States during any month, weather conditions produce a peak season that runs through October. In areas of the country subject to the harshest storms, winds can far exceed those of even the strongest hurricanes, averaging between 110-205 mph.

“Tornadoes can form in every state east of the Rockies,” said Mark Desrochers, president of The Hanover’s personal lines business. “Preparing for a tornado is a practical safety precaution that should be taken by all households in these states. With proper preparations, home and business owners can significantly reduce the risks of injury to their family and pets, as well as damage to their property. This also enables them to recover quicker.”

To help prepare for a tornado and respond in the event one strikes, The Hanover suggests the following 10 tips:

1. Make an action plan. Prepare in advance so that when a tornado watch is issued, you already have an existing plan of action. Unlike hurricanes, which tend to be closely monitored for days, tornadoes can spring up quickly. In many cases, you will have to take shelter within minutes in your own home or a below-ground storm shelter. Experts advise never trying to outrun a tornado by car. Instead, move to the basement or to an inner windowless room or interior hall. Protect your head and neck with your arms and hands. Ensure everyone knows the action plan.
2. Create a survival kit. After a storm, it may be impossible to use roads for several days. You may be forced to live in your home for a while even if it is wrecked or you’re without electricity and water. So, it’s wise to assemble a survival kit containing a week’s worth of non-perishable food, bottled water, paper plates and cups, eating utensils, medicines, first aid handbook and bandages, blanket, a radio, batteries, flashlight, soap and toiletries, bleach for disinfecting, and spare clothing. Store the kit in the basement or other safe area.
3. Have debris removal tools on-hand. There may be a significant amount of debris following a tornado that will have to be moved just to exit your structure. Some of this will be splintered wood and glass. With this in mind, store helpful items — including heavy soled shoes, gloves, eye protection and a small shovel to safely move debris. This should be kept in the same area as your survival kit.
4. Create a home inventory. Tornadoes can destroy your home and its contents, making it difficult to document your property losses, which can impede your recovery. With a proper home inventory you will have an acceptable means of documenting ownership and value in the event of a claim. Photograph or shoot video of your entire home or business, including the contents of each room, and store these with a written inventory and serial numbers in a fireproof safe or safe deposit box. Automate the process using a free online inventory tool available at Hanover.
5. Ensure you have proper coverages in place. It is always a good idea to review your homeowner’s policy with your independent insurance agent, ensuring you have enough coverage for your contents and the physical structure as well. Also ask about other coverages that may be of value to you in the event of a tornado loss, such as reimbursement for temporary living expenses.
6. Create and share contact info.  All family members should have the personal and business contact information (phone/email) for quick communications. Also ensure you have your agent and insurer’s claims office numbers stored in your mobile phone. After a storm, cell service may be more accessible than local land lines.  Have important numbers on hand to help expedite your recovery after the storm.  It’s important to keep your cell phone charged in advance, as power may be out for days.
7. Wait for official notice before returning home. If there is an evacuation after a storm, wait for official notice that it is safe to return to your home. When returning to your home, be cautious when entering a damaged structure. Stay away from damaged or weakened walls.
8. Take photographs and/or video documenting claim damage. Should your home or business be damaged in a tornado, take pictures of the entire scene and document all damage — provided it is safe. Try not to remove items until an insurance adjuster has had an opportunity to visit the property and assess the damage.
9. Keep an accurate record of any temporary repairs or expenses. If you do need to make temporary repairs to help preserve the remains of your home or personal property, keep all records to ensure that they may be considered in your claim.
10. Engage with an Independent Agent. With careful preparation and planning — and assistance from your insurance professional — you can rest assured that you have the right coverages to meet your needs and a good plan of action in place.  This will reduce the time and effort required to recover from a tornado and other major weather events.

While no one can tell you for sure whether a tornado or other weather event will strike your area, they are occurring with increasing frequency. So it is a good idea to consult with a local Independent Agent, have the right insurance carrier to meet your needs, and to be as prepared as you can in advance of such events.

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San Diego, U.S.A. — At the San Diego Comic-Con International, the world’s largest pop culture convention, 343 Industries and Microsoft unveiled the official trailer for ‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn,’ the landmark live-action digital series based on the best-selling Xbox franchise. The series will be initially distributed worldwide by Machinima, debuting on its new channel, Machinima Prime, as well as on Halo Waypoint, on Oct. 5, 2012.

‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’ will unfold through a series of five episodes, setting the stage for the worldwide launch of ‘Halo 4′ on Nov. 6. The official ‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’ trailer is now available on Machinima Prime and on Halo Waypoint. Machinima will also be releasing exclusive content, backstory and character pieces leading up to the launch of this highly anticipated series.

‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’ tells an exciting story of heroism and sacrifice on a scale never before seen in the Halo universe, taking fans back to the beginning of the human and Covenant war and leading into the events of ‘Halo 4.’ Set against the backdrop of a United Nations Space Command (UNSC) military academy, a group of highborn cadets are training to be the next generation of soldiers in the UNSC’s ongoing war with insurrectionists in the outer colonial planets.

Among these cadets, Thomas Laskystruggles with his doubts about this war, and with the burden of expectations he may not be able to carry. As Lasky comes to terms with his potential as a military leader, the terrifying alien alliance known as the Covenant arrives and turns his world upside down. Inspired by the Master Chief, he must decide what it means to be a hero. ‘Halo’ fans who experience Lasky’s thrilling origin story in ‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” will be rewarded with special insights into the story of ‘Halo 4′ and the “Halo Infinity Multiplayer” experience.

Directed by Stewart Hendler (‘H+,’ ‘Sorority Row’) and written by Todd Helbing and Aaron Helbing(“Smallville,” “Spartacus”), ‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’ features a diverse cast of established and up-and-coming Hollywood talent, including Tom Green (‘Dance Academy’) as Thomas Lasky, Anna Popplewell (‘The Chronicles of Narnia’) as Chyler Silva, Daniel Cudmore (‘X2,’ ‘X-Men: The Last Stand,’ ‘The Twilight Saga’) as the Master Chief, Ayelet Zurer (‘Angels & Demons,’ ‘Munich’) as Mehaffey, Mike Dopud (‘Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol’) as General Black, Enisha Brewster (‘Footloose’) as April Orenski, Masam Holden (“Grey’s Anatomy,” ‘Elizabethtown’) as Michael ‘Sully’ Sullivan, Osric Chau (’2012′) as JJ Chen, Iain Belcher (“Supernatural”) as Vickers, and Kat De Lieva as Dimah.

“Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” is backed by a top-tier production team led by executive producers Lydia Antonini and Josh Feldman, former Warner Bros. and Playtone executives, respectively. Continuing its involvement with the ‘Halo’ franchise, Legacy Effects (‘The Hunger Games,’ ‘The Avengers,’ ‘Avatar’) is creating specialized costumes and armor, and visual effects are being designed by an award-winning team led by John Sullivan (‘The Pacific’). Production services are provided by Herzog & Co.

An extended, 90-minute Special Edition featuring additional footage and bonus content will be availableNov. 6 in the “Halo 4″ Limited Edition and on on-demand video services.

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New York, U.S.A. – A recent clinical trial conducted by The Institute for Music and Brain Science at Harvard University on the positive effects of music on Parkinson’s disease has received substantial support from science activist, Jeffrey Epstein and his foundation, The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation. The study was conducted with the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

The trial evaluated the effects of ambient music on a group of Parkinson’s patients with severe to mild symptoms. Specifically, the study looked at visuomotor integration, rapid alternating movements (RAM’s) and gait. Twenty trials per category were conducted and measured in milliseconds. The music had a strong metrical rhythm and medium tempos confined to a range of 128 to 192 beats per minute.

Control test conditions of patients were either silence or asymmetrical instrumental music. The results were encouraging: in the visuomotor tests, 40% of those with mild Parkinson’s were significantly faster with ambient music. In the RAM tests, 83% of those with moderate Parkinson’s showed faster results. In the gait tests, 25% of those with moderate Parkinson’s showed faster and larger strides.

“The results are remarkable,” Jeffrey Epstein asserted. “More studies need to be done to show that music improves motor coordination. However, these studies highlight how areas in the auditory cortex are affected, providing a road map for how to duplicate the stimulus and enhance it.”

The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation is a long-standing supporter of science research at Harvard University. In 2003, it gave a $30 million grant to Harvard to establish the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, which studies evolutionary biology from a mathematical point of view.

Founded by Dr. Mark Tramo, the Institute for Music and Brain Science seeks to advance knowledge about the neurological impact of music and to combat neurological and other diseases using music as a lens into the brain and as a rehabilitator.

Dr. Tramo is an Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Attending Neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is the recipient of numerous awards for original research on the effects of music on the brain.

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Armonk, U.S.A. — IBM has announced new software that helps CMOs and CIOs transform the digital experience for employees, customers and fans across a broad range of mobile devices.

The new software brings together the power of social networking, analytics and mobile computing to front office operations and externally to clients, allowing companies to create exceptional Web experiences. As a result, organizations can gain faster insight on customer buying patterns and consumer sentiment allowing them to more quickly reach and engage their audiences.

As part of the news, IBM is also announcing the completion of a digital transformation project with the All England Lawn Tennis Club. By visiting the new www.wimbledon.com from a variety of devices including the iPhone, iPad, Android and other tablets, fans can share information, interact with and connect to The Championships as if they were actually there seeing the plays in real-time.

The website also integrates with a new online TV channel, Live @ Wimbledon, alongside IBM’s real time match analysis tool, SlamTracker, bringing the most comprehensive digital experience to consumers.

“Working with IBM, we’ve created a new digital experience that aims to showcase the beauty of Wimbledon to our millions of fans around the world. It allows them to truly engage with the Wimbledon experience as never before,” said Mick Desmond, Commercial Director at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.  “Visitors can follow the progress of their favorite players, view clips of live matches, view highlights of the day’s action and get scores and results delivered in real-time.  It is an increasingly interactive and engaging online experience that draws fans, players and the media in ever-greater numbers.”

With the growing number of mobile devices, social networks and social media tools on the rise, CMOs struggle to reach their audiences. At the same time, CIOs are struggling to provide access to company data on every type of device for a geographically distributed workforce. Given the business realignment between marketing and technology, the CMO and CIO can no longer afford to operate on separate stages. To succeed, they’ll have to forge a shared agenda to deliver business results through innovation and efficiency, working together to streamline their technology needs. The convergence of social and mobile is prompting organizations to revisit decades-old website to create exceptional web experiences to reach and engage with their audiences.

Building on these increased demands, IBM is delivering a new Customer Experience Suite giving millions of marketing professionals the power to manage and integrate all types of data on their web sites and then analyze it for deeper insight into customer buying patterns and sentiment. Also delivered today, the new IBM Intranet Experience Suite pulls together company information and data, personalized content and news, and social media and analytics, enabling employees to connect, collaborate and access information at anytime, from anywhere.

At European industrial automation technology manufacturer Omron, employees are connecting knowledge and technical know-how through the organization’s Intranet, helping to meet the specific needs of their customers. Omron delivers an exceptional Web experience to its 1,700 European employees through a single communication platform that embeds relevant social data into the daily workflow.  Omron has sped knowledge sharing across boundaries and between departments, enabling employees to support customers better and faster.

“The world is changing and is becoming increasingly connected and social,” said Michel Min, Head of Strategic Communication & eMarketing, Omron Europe B.V. “Because of this, we know our clients are changing as well, which is why it’s increasingly important to ensure our sales teams have the right information at the right time.”

Analytics to Help Marketers Engage Audiences

From digital marketing and mobile commerce, to websites and social media, marketers are inundated — often paralyzed — by data amassed from consumers via searches, purchase histories, Facebook “likes” and comments on Twitter. Combine that with data about in-store traffic, conversations with call centers and updates from suppliers, today’s marketers confront a daily deluge of data waiting to be sifted for nuggets of intelligence they can act upon to boost their business.

By 2017, the CMO will have greater control of the IT budget than the CIO, according to Gartner(1). Marketing budgets will grow 7-8 percent over the next 12 months, which is 2-3 times that of IT budgets. However, despite their growing reliance on technology and their soaring budgets, CMOs readily admit they lack the skills that IT requires.  According to the IBM CMO Study, while 79 percent of CMOs expect high levels of complexity in their job over the next five years, only 48 percent feel prepared to deal with it.

Because of this, it’s critical for CMOs to not only be aware of and monitor the social conversation, but to truly understand the sentiment and interact one-on-one with that customer. Taking it one step further would be to integrate these conversations directly into the organization’s web site, providing one place to both network and shop.

The new IBM Customer Experience Suite provides CMOs with the power to manage and integrate all types of data on their web sites and then analyze it for deeper insight into customer buying patterns and sentiment. Web data has evolved today to include social media, videos, and web-based forms, as well as traditional enterprise data such as financial, customer and order data, and transactions.  The software suite pulls together IBM’s market-leading enterprise portal, web content management, forms, andenterprise social networking software into a single view.

CIOs Creating Exceptional Intranets To Help Employees Gain Insight from Data Deluge

The new IBM software also helps business leaders extend their corporate intranet to a broad range of mobile devices in an effort to deepen employee collaboration and information sharing.

According to IDC, employees typically see up to a 30 percent increase in productivity using social tools internally to complete their work(2). With unlimited access to any type of information, consumers expect this same level of information availability in their professional lives, in order to work efficiently and reach business goals quickly.

The new IBM Intranet Experience software brings the power of social and analytics capabilities to CIOs and lines of business employees helping organizations innovate and evolve their internal operations and communications. The solution pulls together company information and data, personalized content and news, and social media and analytics, enabling employees to connect, collaborate and access information at anytime, from anywhere.

For example, IBM’s new intranet platform provides HR executives and business leaders with software to help employees better engage across networks and business units, and access information from a variety of sources including external and internal news feeds.

Working with IBM and its partner Portico, Omron created an award-winning business intranet, called Ozone internally, helping to create a single-source communication and collaboration platform for all 1,700 European employees. The IBM Intranet Experience Suite integrates with external social media, including Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, allowing employees to pick and choose which applications they want in their Intranet view. For example, a sales manager can leverage the Cognos software integration to ensure a clear view into monthly sales reports by region, as well as competitive background on new product updates and forecasts.

“It’s essential to offer relevant social information in the right business context embedded in employee’s daily workflow,” continued Min. “By measuring, analyzing and filtering social information, and then injecting those insights to the right people at the right time, real business value can be generated by bringing technical know-how directly to the customer.”

Omron has the ambition to connect employees worldwide, with its Ozone intranet being expanded intoAsia today. Omron Europe is also testing mobile access for all popular devices including the iPad.

Image Courtesy of  Scott Prokop / Shutterstock.com

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The European Union (EU) has officially started the membership negotiation with the Republic of Montenegro. The talks are held to persuade other countries in the Western Balkan that the reforms are paying off. The Montenegrin government submitted an EU membership application on December 15, 2008.

The negotiation might take several years before the country can be an official member of the Union. Also, Montenegro has conducted improvement in the judicial system to curb corruption and organized crime.

In January 2011, some of Montenegro’s senior municipal officials faced accusations of corruption. The former Prime Minister, Milo Djukanovic, was investigated by the Italian police and faced charges, over one billion US dollars, for a cigarette smuggling operation based in Montenegro in 2009. Montenegro has made additional efforts to further strengthen its anti-corruption by legalizing anticorruption legislation and strategies in governmental anticorruption institutions and agencies to help the government’s effort in fighting it. Also it made efforts in independence, impartiality and efficiency of the judiciary.

According to the official European Commission website, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Štefan Füle said, “Montenegro already did a lot. But much more still needs to be done. This next phase of the accession process will mean even more work in more areas, with continued focus on fundamental freedoms, judiciary, fight against corruption and organized crime.”

The EU leaders have approved to begin the talks at the summit on Friday, June 29. The next screening of the Montenegrin progressive would be in September 2013.

Of the former Yugoslav republics, Slovenia, as of 2004, and Croatia, which will be an official member in July 2013, have joined the EU, while the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Serbia are recognized candidates of the EU. Bosnia and Herzegovina Republic and the Kosovo Republic are potential candidates with no submitted membership applications.

Montenegro is a small country that lies on the Adriatic Sea with a population of about 680,000 and an area of 13,812 square kilometers (5,333 square miles). It became an independent state from Serbia in 2006.

The Montenegrin economy is mainly based in tourism and real estate industries. Montenegro has very rich natural and historical tourist destinations in all regions of the country. Also, it has a coast line of 293 kilometers, making more than 120 great beaches in Ulcinj, Bar, Budva, Tivat, Kotor and Herceg Novi municipalities. the Natural and Culture-Historical Region of Kotor and Durmitor National park are two destinations with UNESCO’s world heritage list.

Between 2006 and 2007, Montenegro experienced a real estate industry boom. Most Russian and UK  investors in the country bought properties in the Montenegrin coast. The direct investments in Montenegro made a rapid growth of the economy. The investments in tourism and real estate fields supported the government to meet the requirement of EU membership program.

Montenegro has no national currency, but uses the Euro. Prior to 2002, it used the German Mark as the official currency. Although it was in federation with Serbia between 1992-2003, it stopped using the Serbian Dinar in 1999.

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced his support for legalizing small amounts of marijuana. This decision comes only two months after he denied legalizing medical marijuana. His reasoning is not because he has changed his opinion about the drug itself but because he believes one of the biggest problems for police and prosecutors is that the laws are inconsistent and police officers are wasting their time arresting people for small amounts of cannabis. The greatest challenge in creating and passing this legislation will be the Republican majority in the New York Senate.

Beginning in 1977 the New York law stated that carrying twenty-five grams or less of marijuana is not a violation as long as the individual is a first-time offender. However, having the drug out in public is still a crime, including if it is removed from a pocket during a police search. By decriminalizing small amounts individuals will be able to possess these amounts, even if they are searched by the police. The maximum penalty would be a $100 fine.

In 2011 there were 50,000 arrests made in New York for twenty-five grams or less of marijuana. According to Cuomo this is costly for the taxpayer. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. also points out that there is a great human cost too. “The human costs to each defendant charged with a misdemeanor are serious. The simple and fair change proposed by Governor Cuomo will help us redirect significant resources to the most violent criminals and serious crime problems, and, frankly, it is the right thing to do.”

The change in policy on marijuana will also alleviate some of the charges that New York’s laws are racially prejudiced. Eighty-two percent of those arrested in 2011 for small amounts of marijuana were black or Hispanic. Many believe that this statistic demonstrates how the current marijuana policy in tandem with the New York ‘stop-and-frisk’ law are racially biased and demonstrates that police are racially profiling individuals.

New York City prosecutors and the Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly support Cuomo’s declaration. Cuomo’s proposal is very similar to a directive Mayor Bloomberg has given to the New York Police Department.

Other states are also attempting to change their policies on marijuana. Colorado will have legalization as a ballot initiative in November. Rhode Island will be discussing a bill similar to that suggested by Cuomo. The main difference between what Cuomo has proposed and what Rhode Island will try to pass is that Rhode Island would require minors found in possession of the drug to complete a drug awareness program and community service.

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Brooklyn, U.S.A. -  Dr. Regina Peruggi, president of Kingsborough Community College, announced that Matilda Raffa Cuomo, former first lady of New York, will deliver the commencement address at the college’s 47th commencement ceremony. Mrs. Cuomo and Mario Cuomo, the 52nd governor of New York, will receive the President’s Medal. The graduation will be held on campus, 2001 Oriental Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY, Tuesday, June 12, at 11 a.m.

As first lady of New York, Mrs. Cuomo was dedicated to service. She diligently worked full time as a volunteer with state and elected officials, as well as community leaders, to establish programs to prevent child abuse, strengthen families, promote adoption for foster care children and prevent school dropout. She is the founder of “Mentoring USA,” an organization that has provided supportive mentors to more than 5,000 children. Mrs. Cuomo has been described as the most active first lady in New York’s history.

“We are honored that Mrs. Cuomo will deliver Kingsborough’s commencement address,” said Dr. Peruggi. “She is an inspirational and dynamic leader whom I have admired for many years. She recognized the necessity for broad range support and mentorship for young people in need across the state and graciously fulfilled it. Her dedication to education and community service is unparalleled and is a model for our Kingsborough students. I am extraordinarily pleased to award her and Former Governor Cuomo the President’s Medal in recognition of their devotion and commitment to serving the people of New York State.”

The Class of 2012 valedictorian is Nelli Sidorova. Ms. Sidorova, 27, is a native of Russia, a business major and has a perfect GPA of 4.00. She has been actively involved in the Honors Program, served as an Honors representative and has been a leader in a number of Business Clubs and activities.

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Power plant services represent a growing market that offers steady revenues and solid growth, in contrast with the much more cyclical market for new-build power stations. Fastest growing regions of China, India and ASEAN to account for almost quarter of the market by 2017, but China will not overtake the USA before 2025.

In the developed regions of Europe and North America, the main drivers are ageing power capacities that need replacing and, linked to this, the growing adoption of gas-fired generation.

Key drivers in emerging markets are rapid electricity demand growth, and industry privatization and liberalization which, in turn, push outsourcing of services. In the developed world, meanwhile, utilities struggling with skills shortages are also increasingly relying on outsourced services.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan World Power Plant Services Markets finds that the markets earned revenue of $27.40 billion in 2011 and estimates this to reach$35.41 billion in 2017.

“Global growth in electricity demand is a key driver behind the growth of the power plant services market,” notes Frost & Sullivan Industry Director Harald Thaler. “As electricity demand rises, new generating capacities are added to the system, which in turn, require servicing.”

The services market is, however, forecast to grow somewhat more rapidly than electricity demand. The global correlation, comparing forecast growth for both indicators, is 1.55.

Whilst the services market is forecast to grow by 4.2% between 2010 and 2017, world electricity demand growth will be 2.7% over that same period. Greater outsourcing and the increasing proliferation of gas-fired technology, where reliance on the equipment providers for servicing is high, are major contributory factors.

“Geographically, the balance of power in the power plant services market will gradually shift towards the emerging economies, as they progressively liberalize not only their power but also their gas markets,” remarks Thaler. “Such trends will allow for a much greater penetration of modern gas-fired plants which attract higher outsourced maintenance spend.”

The fastest-growing regions will be the emerging Asian giants of China, India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Their combined share will rise from 18.1% in 2010 to 23.4% in 2017.

Gas turbines account for the largest share of the services market, globally. Their share will expand, albeit slowly, as ongoing coal-fired investments based on increasingly sophisticated supercritical technology fuel growth in emerging economies. This will partly offset the strong growth in gas-fired generation in some other parts of the world.

“Unlike in the market for new-build power plants, where China has been the leading world market for some time, the country’s position in the power plant services market is much more modest,” concludes Thaler. “Frost & Sullivan forecasts that in the lucrative services market, China will not overtake the USA before 2025.”

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Higher food costs and rising gas prices could prove to be damaging to the nation’s food banks and their ability to provide adequate emergency food to the nearly 49 million Americans who are currently living at risk of hunger, Feeding America, the network of the nation’s largest food banks announced.

Although recent reports indicate that the economy is beginning to improve and that the unemployment rate is also beginning to shrink, Feeding America’s food banks continue to face significant struggles as America recovers from the worst economic recession in decades.

The Feeding America network of more than 200 food banks and 61,000 local partners are feeding 37 million Americans a year, including nearly 14 million children and 3 million seniors. But with rising operating costs and decreasing supply, a number of factors are contributing to a “perfect storm” of challenges that threaten to leave food banks unable to meet the need in their communities.

Gas prices increased 26% in 2011, adding tremendous costs to transporting food. Increased fuel costs particularly affect rural areas, where populations are less dense. Many food banks support emergency feeding across a vast service area.
Food inflation is also hitting food banks hard. Grocery prices increased an average rate of 6% in the last half of 2011, and food banks have been hard pressed to make up the difference.

Feeding America Food banks have seen significant increases in the price of household staples like milk, which increased in price by nine percent in 2011, and peanut butter, which costs 38% more now than it did a year ago. Rising food prices also mean that healthy, nutritious food becomes further out of reach for many of the clients served by Feeding America, further increasing their reliance on food banks
“A major concern for us is the significant decline in USDA commodities provided to our food banks.

These commodities generally account for about a quarter of the 3 billion pounds of food our food banks distribute each year. This is highly-valued, nutritious food – fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy product. We saw a reduction of about 30 percent last year, and are already experiencing more reductions this year,” said Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of Feeding America.

Donations of food from food manufacturers also declined by about 15% last year, due to increased manufacturing efficiencies.

“We are also deeply concerned about the potential for cuts to Federal hunger-relief programs like SNAP (food stamps) as Congress looks for ways to reduce the deficit. More than 40 million Americans, including many of our clients, rely on SNAP. We understand that there must be reductions in government spending, but cutting anti-hunger programs is penny-wise and a pound foolish,” Escarra said.

“Federal nutrition programs meet an urgent and immediate need. They also reap long term benefits by eliminating the health, educational, and workforce productivity costs associated with hunger and poor nutrition,” Escarra said. “Feeding America urges Congress to maintain robust funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program, Commodity Supplemental Nutrition Program and SNAP.”

Image Courtesy of   lev radin / Shutterstock.com

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North Korea has recently struck a deal with the United States to denuclearize their state in exchange for food. The deal was decided and agreed upon in Beijing last week but made public only yesterday.

Under its terms, North Korea will halt uranium enrichment and long-range missile tests and also let overseers screen the state’s main Yongbyon nuclear complex. Not all nuclear devices have been deactivated, however, as the short-range No Dong missiles that pose a threat and hazard to South Korea and Japan were not incorporated into the deal.

Also under this agreement, the US will give North Korea 240,000 tonnes of food to a drained population. Many analysts have speculated that this food is primarily to help ease the diplomatic relations between the two countries, and have said that the food is the least significant part of the deal. North Korea, however, has recently experienced the most frigid winter it has dealt with in 65 years which resulted in a depletion of much of the country’s food supply, and the food comes as a great relief to the nation.

The deal comes as a step towards reconciliation between North Korea and the US. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, however, understated the agreement’s power and meaning, calling it a “modest first step.” She went on to say that Washington still has apprehensions towards North Korea, especially when considering its past actions.

The agreement had been in the works for a while, before last year being put to a grinding halt by Kim Jong-Il’s death. And just two months into his successors reign, the deal has already been deemed acceptable by North Korea.

Some political analysts, like Narushige Michishita, an associate professor at Tokyo’s National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies who has been watching North Korea for some time now, think this deal will give Obama a strategic edge in the coming election. The uranium enrichment program would have created the fuel required for one to two nuclear warheads each year if not kept under a close eye. The breakthrough definitely gives Obama the upper hand when it comes to foreign policy, and may perhaps prove to be what clinches this next election.

North Korea’s plutonium program, originally supposed to be ended with the uranium program, was not included in North Korea’s announcement earlier. Though there is thought to be enough to make a handful of warheads, it is of less importance than the uranium program.

Many consider the deal a bigger step than the last one from 1999. As of this time, though, just where this deal will lead North Korea, and Obama, remains unclear.

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Citizens around the globe are more concerned than ever with SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), ACTA (Anti- Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), and PIPA (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act). Behind all of these mechanisms are economic interests from big companies who claim to lose more than 200 billion euros per year, due to piracy.

The legislation has broad support from organizations that rely on copyright, such as the Motion Pictures Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, Macmillan US, Viacom, Nike, L´Oreal, and Acushnet among others. The opposition group includes companies such as Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, AOL, Linkendin, Ebay, Mozilla Corporation, Human Rights Watch, and many more.

SOPA and PIPA are two sister bills currently being considered by the House of Commons and the Senate, respectively. Both are designed to tackle the problem of foreign-based websites that sell pirated movies, music and other products. SOPA and PIPA are very similar, but SOPA includes a provision making it illegal to stream unauthorized copyrighted content. Access could be blocked by making it impossible for users to type in a simple web address into a browser to reach the site, or by requiring search engines like Google to disable links to the sites.

What is clear, is that ACTA and SOPA have the same objective, which is to protect against copyright infringement, by blocking certain elements of the internet.  Monica Horten (www.iptegrity.com) defines SOPA as a mechanism to stop websites from being visible or trading in the United States, in order to avoid American citizens getting access to websites and services which are hosted outside the United States.

SOPA is a theft and antipiracy bill that seeks to protect American property, so it appears like a way to give US authorities carte blanche to police copyright worldwide.

It is important to point out that ACTA does not comply with American intellectual property and copyright law, as SOPA does, stopping websites that are indulging in unethical behavior, such as cyber crimes, or intellectual property right violations, which can be forced to be taken down or blocked in U.S. websites. For example, Megavideo and Megaloud have been some of the victims of SOPA, while FilseSonic has disabled its feature allowing users to share files on its site.

ACTA could be viewed as international version of SOPA, which aims to establish international intellectual property standards, focusing on conterfeit goods, generic medicines and copyright infringement. Countries need to have their own versions of copyright law. The proposals of ACTA focus on counterfeit goods and generic medications. This means that generic drugs and food patents will be more difficult to obtain in countries like India and Brazil, who are against ACTA.

Phil Hunt, the UK Pirate Party’s foreign policy spokesman told theinquirer.net: “Criticism of ACTA has often focused on the harm it will do to the Internet, but that doesn’t address one of the most important issues that ACTA presents: the fact that it will kill sick people in developing countries by denying them access to affordable generic drugs- whilst doing nothing to address the issue of unsafe counterfeit medications.”

The ACTA treaty was signed by the United States, Australia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea last October. The European Union, Mexico, and Switzerland have not yet signed because of their domestic procedures. The treaty has be to translated into all of the E.U. languages. In the United States, there is a petition to end ACTA and to protect internet privacy, signed by more than 30,000 citizens who are calling on the Obama administration to veto the treaty.

In Europe, opposition to ACTA has picked up in the past few weeks, with thousands protesting across Eastern Europe and in Germany, France, and Ireland. On January 26, while the Polish Government signed ACTA, Polish Members of Parliament wore Guy Fawkes masks, like the one in V for Vendetta, in order to protest the treaty. It was an ironic jab at Time Warner, who owns the intellectual rights to the movie.

Last week, the European Union suspended attempts to ratify the international anti-counterfeiting treaty, ACTA, and asked Europe’s high court to see if the controversial proposal violates any fundamental E.U. rights. E.U. trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said on Wednesday that an opinion from the European court of justice would clear what he called the “fog of misinformation” surrounding ACTA. De Gucht told reporters in Brussels, “ACTA will not censor websites, or shut them down; ACTA will not hinder freedom of the internet or freedom of speech.”

De Gucht continued, “Intellectual property is Europe’s main raw material, but the problem is that we currently struggle to protect it outside the E.U. This hurts our companies, destroys jobs, and harms our economies.”

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

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Netflix announced it was planning to split its DVD/Blu-Ray rent by mail and online streaming services back in early September. The mail delivery service was branded as Qwikster and video games would be made available for rent as well. Since then the plan was called off and entry into the video game rental market was put on hold as many customers opposed the split.

Subscribers did not like the idea of having to visit a different website and mange a second account to rent movies or video games. Netflix’s stock price has been steadily dropping since the 60% price hike in July and loss of 800,000 subscribers in the last quarter despite the firm’s profits.

Shareholders were also not happy as Netflix would have to spend millions to launch Qwikster when consumers have already established Netflix as a rent by mail service under the Netflix brand. With Netflix’s missteps that leaves one begging the question, is there a legitimate alternative to Netflix?

Angry Netflix users have been on the lookout for something new and there might just be a replacement depending on their viewing habits. Online streaming services like iTunes and VUDU have no monthly fee but the bill will quickly add up from just a few purchases as each rental will cost around $0.99 to $5.99 depending on what it is.

The content per dollar ratio is probably not what Netflix users are looking for. Amazon Prime Instant video and Hulu Plus are much more viable alternatives as they allow unlimited streaming for a monthly fee.

Amazon Prime has the smallest selection but also has the lowest price at $79 a year, and offered a discounted price for college students that subscribed earlier this year, but Amazon has not stated if it will offer that deal year after year. Amazon Prime also has content for rental much like VUDU and iTunes.

Hulu concentrates more on what is current on television offering a free option that allows users to see five episodes of a show’s current season, movies, and in standard definition. Hulu Plus gives access to full seasons, a better selection of movies, and in high definition for $7.99 a month. Hulu uploads episodes a day after it airs on television giving it an edge over Netflix’s usual 28 day wait.

There really is no widely accepted alternative to Netflix at the moment. For $7.99 a month Netflix offers the biggest online streaming selection in movies and television. Hulu Plus is definitely better than Netflix for television fans but it is the other way around for movie buffs.

As much as people argue which is better to have Hulu Plus or Netflix (even though they have some of the same content available) at the moment they should be considered compliments and not substitutes of each other.

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Saturday, hundreds of protesters who have gathered in New York’s Zuccotti Park since September 17 marched through the streets. Over 700 protesters, including some members of the media, were arrested as Occupy Wall Street protesters blocked the Brooklyn Bridge, snarling traffic.

Police zip tied protesters and loaded them into city buses to transport them to police stations. The protesters received tickets and were released. The protests, which have been harshly criticized by much of American media for being unorganized without demands, are gaining traction.

The protests are spreading throughout the United States like wildfire. Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Seattle and San Francisco all have their own protests taking shape. On Wednesday, college students are organizing a mass student walkout on what is being deemed America’s “Day of Rage.”

On Sunday, Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Laureate economist and professor at Columbia University, visited the large group. During his informal teach-in, Stiglitz points out that New York City does not allow the use of a megaphone or microphone without a permit. “The fact that you are not allowed to use a megaphone on a Sunday is outrageous,” Stiglitz says.

“We have too many regulations stopping democracy, and not enough regulations stopping Wall Street from misbehaving.” Despite the growing noise from protesters, most politicians, including the President, have been silent on the discontent. White House spokesperson Jay Carney was asked on Monday about the president’s reaction to the protests.

“I’m sure he’s aware of it because he follows the news,” Carney said of Obama’s familiarity with the movement, during a briefing. “To the extent that people are frustrated with the economic situation, we understand.” The movement is getting some more support. Mainstream media devoted more serious news time to the protests, even interviewing some leaders of the group on Monday.

Union workers from all over the country are supporting the cause and plan to take part in a march with Occupy Wall Street on Wednesday. The New York City bus drivers, who helped to transport the arrested protesters to police stations, stated they would not help out with any future arrests.

Workhouse Publicity, a Chelsea-based public relations firm, sent unsolicited emails to members of Occupy Wall Street offering to spread the word about the ongoing protests, The New York Daily News reports.

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The occupy Wall Street protesters have been dismissed by most media outlets. As the group begins their third week of occupation, media outlets are unable to ignore the growing chants any longer. The media’s main outrage with the group has been that they are not organized or do not have a list of demands.

Although, I am not sure the Tea Party events have a list of demands either, but the Tea Party protests with far fewer people get far more coverage and political attention. And they say we have liberal media in America? The protesters at Wall Street have begun to organize and are making a list of demands. The media asked, the protesters answered.

The group released a declaration for occupation on Friday, stating in part that the movement aims to “express a feeling of mass injustice.” The injustices include foreclosure crisis, work place discrimination and student loan debt. The occupation, which has enjoyed a smattering of celebrity endorsements, received some larger supporters on Friday.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka embraced the global occupy Wall Street protests. Asked about the ongoing mass protest in New York’s financial district, which has begun to gain support from major unions, Trumka said Friday morning: “I think it’s a tactic and a valid tactic to call attention to a problem.

Wall Street is out of control. We have three imbalances in this country—the imbalance between imports and exports, the imbalance between employer power and working power, and the imbalance between the real economy and the financial economy. We need to bring back balance to the financial economy, and calling attention to it and peacefully protesting is a very legitimate way of doing it.”

Hailing the power of street protests to shift the dialogue, Trumka said, “I think being in the streets and calling attention to issues is sometimes the only recourse you have because, God only knows, you can go to the Hill, and you can talk to a lot of people and see nothing ever happen…”

More local unions have supported the movement, including a transport union, which has over 38,000 people. The movement has also started to gain attention worldwide as countries in Europe express similar outrage over the growing income inequality.

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Just weeks after Rep. Michele Bachmann won the Ames Iowa straw poll, her campaign has seemed to fallen apart. The latest Power Outsiders poll conducted by The Huffington Post and Patch found that Bachmann is losing credibility.

Nearly half of the influential local Republicans were surveyed in the early primary states, including New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina, report a negative impression of Bachmann, and more than two thirds see little or no chance that Bachmann can either beat Barack Obama or win the Republican nomination.

This week, the HuffPost-Patch Power Outsiders poll of 160 political activists, party officials and officeholders in the early primary and caucus states focuses on Bachmann. The poll does not survey all Republican voters, but focused on influential local activists and political insiders that have historically driven the outcome of party nomination campaigns.

This week, we heard from 38 Power Outsiders in Iowa, 57 in New Hampshire and 65 in South Carolina. The poll first asked respondents to use one word to describe their impression of Bachmann. Unlike with the two frontrunners, nearly half the words (48 percent) to describe Bachmann were negative, including “inexperienced,” “crazy,” “lightweight” and “scary.”

Fewer words (43 percent) were unambiguously positive, including “passionate,” “energetic,” “principled,” “determined” and “feisty.” Although we classified 8 percent of the comments as neutral, these included words like “conservative” (mentioned by 4 percent) that could have either a positive or negative connotation for the respondent.

The comparison between the one-word reaction to Bachmann and the two front-runners is stark. The influential local Republican activists we talked to were nearly twice as likely to use a negative word to describe Bachmann (48 percent) as Romney (28 percent) or Perry (24 percent) on previous surveys.

The Power Outsiders do express affinity for Bachmann’s issue positions. Nearly four out of five (78 percent) describe her as someone who “takes stands on issues you agree with,” although less than a third (29 percent) say that phrase describes Bachmann “very well.”

Respondents gave far more negative reactions to Bachmann when asked about other characteristics. Only 40 percent describe her as someone who “would make a good president,” and her ratings plunge on matters of viability. Only 29 percent describe her as someone “who can beat Barack Obama in the general election,” and even fewer (26 percent) say she can win the Republican nomination.

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The rift between Republican candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Perry seems to widen. The Romney campaign stated on Wednesday that they have considered Perry’s idea about allowing states to run social security. “We reject turning the program over to the states,” Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told The Huffington Post in an email.

The Romney campaign issued six detailed questions for the Perry campaign about how a state level social security program would run. Gail Gitcho, communications director for Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, said Perry wants to “dismantle” Social Security.

“He has refused to answer questions on what the Social Security program would look like at the state level,” Gitcho said in the campaign’s release. “Governor Perry has the opportunity to clarify his proposal while he is in Florida — a state with an extraordinarily high number of retirees and near retirees.” The six questions take Perry’s idea seriously, raising logistical issues about the change.

Some of the questions include,  ”Would individuals retain national Social Security numbers or would each state administer its own system?”  or “What would happen to the Trust Fund that accrued while the [federal] system was in surplus? … How would those funds be equitably allocated to the states?”

A Perry campaign spokesman has not yet responded to a request for comment Wednesday. Although Romney also does not have any specific plan for social security, he has offered more details than Perry. In his 2010 book, “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness,” Romney said he would consider raising the retirement age at which Americans become eligible for Social Security, with exceptions for those physically unable to work.

He also said he would be willing to reduce benefits for “high-income individuals” by using the consumer price index rather than the wage index to determine payouts, and to give younger workers the option to “direct a portion of their Social Security tax to a private account.”

Perry has called social security a “Ponzi scheme” and a “monstrous lie.” These bold statements have won him some fans with members of the conservative grassroots. But, these statements have also opened him up for criticism nationally.

Romney’s campaign has tried to go after the substance of Perry’s past comments about moving the program to the state level and the questions about Social Security’s constitutionality that Perry raised in his 2010 book, “Fed Up.” The two will meet again in a scheduled GOP debate on Thursday in Florida.

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The GOP debate on Thursday night was, once again, an attack on Texas governor Rick Perry. In the past, candidates have gone after the governor for his HPV vaccination in the state. On Thursday, it was about immigration.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum first attacked Perry over immigration. “I would say that he is soft on illegal immigration,” Santorum said. “He doesn’t want to build a fence. He gave a speech in 2001 where he talked about binational health insurance between Mexico and Texas. I mean, I don’t even think Barack Obama would be for binational health insurance.”

Santorum called Perry “very weak on this issue of American sovereignty and protecting our borders and not being a magnet for illegal immigration.” Perry defended his stance on immigration, especially a policy where he allows children of undocumented workers to receive in-state tuition costs at public colleges.

He said that the other Republicans who opposed in-state tuition for children of illegals were heartless. “If you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they’ve been brought there by no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart,” Perry said.

Romney pointed out that students from states outside Texas have to pay full tuition, putting holes in Perry’s logic. “If you’re a United States citizen from any one of the other 49 states, you have to pay $100,000 more. That doesn’t make sense to me,” Romney said. Perry had some awkward moments throughout the debate and seemed to be off his game.

Pausing and struggling to answer some questions. And the polls reflect that performance. A focus group run by Fox News said after the debate that Romney was the clear winner, and that Perry lost a large degree of support. Romney’s poise, confidence and specificity is beginning to impress voters.  Surprisingly, Santorum is also gaining support.

He had another strong performance during the debate. Rep. Michele Bachmann is already fading to obscurity as Republican voters are starting to see the electability problems she has.

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The world is still coming to terms with the shocking execution of Georgia inmate Troy Davis as more details emerge of Davis’ final moments. Davis spoke to the spectators gathered to watch him be put to death on Tuesday night. His final words before the lethal injection took his life were chilling.

Addressing some of his last words to the family of the victim, Mark MacPhail, who were in the viewing gallery, Davis lifted his head as needles were inserted into his arm, and insisted, as he always has done, that he was not responsible for killing the young, off-duty police officer.

“I am innocent. The incident that happened that night was not my fault,” he said, according to the four US media representatives who attended. “I personally did not have a gun. I was not the one who took the life of your father, son, brother.” Davis then turned to prison officials. “For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls.”

Outside, the crowd of nearly 700 people cried and held hands as Troy Davis was killed. Over a million people from around the world signed petitions in support of Davis. Riot police and helicopters were dispatched as the execution approached, however there were no incidents of violence. Even though, many protesters were angry.

Davis’ lawyers amounted the execution to a “legal lynching.” “In the state of Georgia 48.4 percent of people on death row this morning were black males, and in Georgia they make up no more than 15 percent of the population,” his lawyers told reporters outside the jail.

Polls show that 57 percent of Americans believe Davis is innocent. This may be, as I have been saying, the catalyst that ends capital punishment in America. The US currently executes more people than any country in the world except China, Iran, North Korea and Yemen.

Although just over 60 percent of the public still support capital punishment, that number appears to have been slowly falling since the 1990s. DNA technology has allowed several death row inmates to be exonerated in recent years, denting faith in the system. Davis released a final message to supporters earlier in the day.

Edward Dubose, a member of the Georgia NAACP, met with Troy before his execution. “Troy wanted me to let you know – keep the faith. The fight is bigger than him … The death penalty in this country needs to end. They call it execution; we call it murder.”

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On Wednesday, Michael Moore appeared on “The View” to promote his new book, “Here Comes Trouble.” Co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck wasted no time, pouncing on the Academy Award winning film-maker. In May, following the death of Osama bin Laden, Moore was outspoken about the death.

He criticized the way the United States handled the death, calling it an “execution” and saying that America had “lost something of our soul” by not trying him for his crimes. Hasselbeck interrupted Moore halfway through his first sentence. “I think that we did a very smart thing putting the Nazis on trial,” he began.

“That was after the war was over,” Hasselbeck cut in. The war is over,” Moore said. “Michael, we’re still at war!” she snapped. “No, we’re not, actually,” Moore snapped back. He said that the U.S. has spent countless time and money fighting things that have “nothing to do with the real threat,” and that the country should not be in Afghanistan.

“My point is that the way we show the world that we’re different is that we give even the most heinous person their day in court,” he said. “You’re telling me Osama bin Laden deserves a trial?” an outraged Hasselbeck replied. “Where? In New York City? Absolutely not! How dare — and why, because Casey Anthony’s trial went so well?”

“What are we afraid of?” Moore said. “We’re Americans, man!”

“Our rights are not afforded to him!” Hasselbeck shot back. The argument continued until a reluctant Whoopi Goldberg was forced to cut to a commercial. In other news, Moore is offering signed copies of his new book. If you order the book online through one of three independent bookstores in Northern Michigan, you will get a signed copy.

There is no additional fee for the signed book. This book contains two dozen short stories and is the most personal work Moore has done.

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President Obama unveiled his deficit reduction plan on Monday and his tone was widely different. Gone were the days of Obama holding out an olive branch to the Republicans. Obama, finally, took aim and fired.

In his plan, Obama clearly stated that millionaires and billionaires would have to begin to pay their fair share of taxes. He promised to veto any legislation proposed by the super congress that cut Medicare and did not include raising taxes for the wealthy. “This is not class warfare.

It’s math,” Obama declared, anticipating Republican criticism. He also called out Speaker John Boehner for his approach in earlier Bush tax cut debate. Boehner had stated that Obama would have to make some concessions. After concession after concession, Boehner and his party refused to budge, taking the same approach that they criticized Obama for taking.

The president’s proposal would focus on upper-income taxpayers, called the “Buffet Rule” after billionaire Warren Buffet has vocalized his low tax rate. The plan would also target tax loopholes and subsidies. Most of the cuts in Medicare would hit health care providers and not beneficiaries.

Although some benefit programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, however far less cuts that the GOP proposes. His cuts also include $1 trillion over ten years from the troop withdrawal in the Middle East.

The deficit-reduction plan represents Obama’s longer-term follow-up to the $447 billion in tax cuts and new public works spending that he has proposed as a short-term measure to stimulate the economy. The new proposal also inserts the president’s voice into the legislative discussions of a joint congressional “supercommittee” charged with recommending deficit reductions of up to $1.5 trillion.

Defending his emphasis on new taxes rather than only spending reductions, Obama said: “We can’t just cut our way out of this hole.” Republicans reacted exactly as expected. They used talking points about tax increases destroying jobs, but did not provide any real substance. Boehner said exactly as Obama thought so, calling it “class warfare.”

“Veto threats, a massive tax hike, phantom savings and punting on entitlement reform is not a recipe for economic or job growth or even meaningful deficit reduction,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. “The good news is that the Joint Committee is taking this issue far more seriously than the White House.”

Sounds nice from the right, but it is wrong. There are easy charts and facts that show when we had a higher tax rate; we had a hell of a lot more jobs. So, I am not sure why Republicans keep up with this myth, but so many people believe it. Trust me—in the words of George Bush—read my lips—taxing the rich will NOT cause any job loss.

The rich have had this awesome tax cuts for 10 years, and we have just lost jobs. So, this rationale is illogical.

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The Supreme Court unanimously rejected Troy Davis’ appeal. Davis was killed at 11:0PM EST  in Georgia. Troy Davis’ case was long and complicated. Davis has been scheduled for execution four times, appealing the decision successfully each time.

Although Davis was scheduled to die at 7 PM EST on Wednesday night, a last minute plea by Davis’ lawyers to the Supreme Court, caused a delay in his execution while the Supreme Court weighed in on the controversial case. Troy Davis reportedly was strapped to a gurney waiting to die for four hours.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the jail while dozens of riot police officers barricaded the jail and arrested those that crossed the line. During the lengthy delay, Davis’ family remained quiet outside the jail. The slain officer’s family waited inside to watch the execution. Laura Moye, an organizer with Amnesty International, was on prison grounds all evening long.

“We are just profoundly saddened and upset,” Moye said. A prayer circle had formed around the Davis family earlier in the evening and remained through the execution. “We knew that it was a long shot,” Moye said. “Troy Davis has always had difficult odds. He’s faced executions three times…We always held on to our hope.

We got this far by believing in the power of human rights. Now it seems there’s nothing that can intervene to stop this execution.” “People are trying to rally around this family. Everybody wants to be there standing in support of the Davis family,” Moye explained. “A lot of people standing in disbelief.”

All around the world, protesters held demonstrations. Residents around the world tweeted, “Dear Georgia,” reminding the state that the world is watching their decision. Earlier in the day, many people weighed in on the impending execution. Moye said that the support Davis’ case has received from the public has been very moving. ”What is a miracle in this case is so many people have raised their voices,” Moye said.

Troy Davis was convicted of the 1989 killing of an off-duty police officer, primarily of witness testimony. Since that time, Davis has maintained his innocence and the majority of witnesses have recanted their testimony. A group of former death row wardens wrote to Georgia authorities calling on them to halt the death sentence due to doubts about Davis’ guilt.

Among the group was the former warden in charge of the Georgia death chamber. ”While most of the prisoners whose executions we participated in accepted responsibility for the crimes for which they were punished, some of us have also executed prisoners who maintained their innocence until the end,” the wardens wrote in a press release.

“It is those cases that are most haunting to an executioner.” Meanwhile, the family of the murdered officer and the case’s original prosecutor have argued strenuously for Davis’s execution, and have asserted that there is no doubt that he is guilty of the murder.

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It is easy to forget that some Americans, apparently Tea Party members, believe that uninsured people should actually die rather than the United States providing any form of help. That fact was startling clear on Monday night during the Republican debate.

Late in the debate, CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer posed a hypothetical question to Rep. Ron Paul from Texas. “What do you tell a guy who is sick, goes into a coma and doesn’t have health insurance? Who pays for his coverage? Are you saying society should just let him die?” Wolf Blitzer asked. The audience actually cheered at the idea of letting someone die because they don’t have health insurance.

This is the world we now live, allowing other humans to die rather than have some damn socialist system is preferable. Paul interrupted the cheering to offer an explanation for how this was, more-or-less, the root choice of a free society. He added that communities and non-government institutions can fill the void that the public sector is currently playing.

“We never turned anybody away from the hospital,” he said of his volunteer work for churches and his career as a doctor. “We have given up on this whole concept that we might take care of ourselves, assume responsibility for ourselves … that’s the reason the cost is so high.” There are countless examples of people dying because they don’t have health insurance.

This is not a novel idea. It is a reality in everyday America. We can pump out our chests and talk about how proud we are to be an American, but a country that allows 45,000 citizens to die each year because they don’t have the money it not a place I am proud of.

Just the other day, there was another heart-wrenching story about a young girl who died with a very treatable condition because she was uninsured. A ten-year old girl was sent home from the emergency room by two different doctors on two different days, even though during her second visit she was blue around her mouth and nose, had difficulty breathing and couldn’t pee.

She was diagnosed with the “worst kidney infection” this particular doctor had ever seen. The girl died the next day. Although Paul may have an idealistic idea of a free society, that is not what happens. Clearly. Maybe people are not turned away for not having insurance, but they aren’t given the best care either.

I don’t want to live in a society where it is celebrated that people die because they live in the wrong socioeconomic bracket.

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