Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
san francisco fire moonshine how to make moonshine patti labelle the weeknd the weeknd payroll tax
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sioux City Mayor Mike Hobart Says Goodbye
SIOUX CITY, IA -
As 2011 winds down it's time to say goodbye to Sioux City's first directly elected mayor in half a century. Wednesday, Mayor Mike Hobart reflected on his four years of service.
"I thank the voters and the citizens of Sioux City who gave me the opportunity of a lifetime to serve as a mayor of the greatest community in the world," says Sioux City Mayor Mike Hobart.
While receiving gifts and plaques the soon to be former mayor reflected on some of Sioux City's biggest accomplishments over the past four years.
Hobart says he's pleased with?2009's expansion of the Southbridge Business Park, and the 2010 completion of the $35 million?Outer Drive Extension.
"I don't think anybody in this community ever could dream of the positive aspects of that connector," says Hobart.
Hobart says he's proud of helping create 120 new jobs in 2011 and of the 11% reduction in property taxes over the past few years, but he's challenging the next mayor and council.
"I think we need to keep our taxes, both residential and commercial from increasing any further, and try out very best to reduce these taxes in the next year," says Hobart.
As a whole city says goodbye to another Sioux City Mayor.
"We want to thank you very much for all that you have done for us, for all of your dedicated service, and we wish you the very, very best in the future," says Mayor Pro-Tem Tom Padgett.
As Mayor Hobart says goodbye a former mayor is ready to take that office back. Former Mayor Bob Scott won November's election and he'll take that office once again in January.
Source: http://www.kpth.com/story/16406397/sioux-city-mayor-mike-hobart-says-goodbye
anita hill penn state football schedule carrier classic j edgar hoover j edgar hoover jonathan papelbon jonathan papelbon
Friday, December 30, 2011
John E. Lawson, Washington, New Jersey
John E. Lawson, Jr., on December 26, 2011, of Washington Twp. Age 62. Beloved husband of Pam (nee Connors). Devoted father of Shawn (Janneen Padlo), Josh and Katie "Davy" Lawson (Steven). Dear brother of James. Loving pop-pop of Shawn Jr., Richie, Lee Lee, Spencer and Lex. Also survived by his faithful granddogs Shamus, Chipper and Skeeter. At the request of John, services will be private. "A Life Well Lived Is Worth Remembering"
Source: http://wnep.tributes.com/show/John-E.-Lawson-93016303
words with friends roy orbison red solo cup xbox live update new planet new planet green bay packers stock
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Study: Indoor Tanning Linked With Early Onset of Skin Cancer (Time.com)
Given that indoor tanning beds were officially classified as a human carcinogen in 2009 -- up there with cigarettes and asbestos -- it should be fairly obvious that frequent tanning-booth exposure would increase your risk of skin cancer.
Indeed, the evidence linking indoor tanning with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, and squamous cell carcinoma, one of the more common forms of the disease, is "convincing," according to the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. But the research concerning tanning beds and basal cell carcinoma, the third and most frequent major type of skin cancer -- which accounts for some 80% of all skin cancer cases in the U.S. -- has thus far been inconsistent. (See pictures of a photographer's intimate account of her mother's cancer ordeal.)
Basal cell carcinoma, a slow-growing cancer, has traditionally been a disease of middle age. But it's been appearing with increasing frequency in people under 40, especially in women -- a demographic that also happens to like indoor tanning -- suggesting a link. So researchers at the Yale School of Public Health sought to study the association.
The study included 376 people under 40, who had been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma between 2006 and 2010. They were matched with a control group of 390 dermatology patients who were diagnosed with minor skin conditions like cysts and warts. All participants had skin biopsies, and all were drawn from a Yale University database.
The researchers interviewed each participant about their UV exposure -- both in tanning beds and outdoors. They also asked about their history of sunburns, sunscreen use, family history of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, and their self-reported eye, skin and hair color.
The conclusion: people who had ever used a tanning booth were 69% more likely to develop early-onset basal cell carcinoma than never tanners. Those who used tanning booths more regularly -- for at least six years -- were more than twice a likely to develop basal cell carcinoma, compared with never tanners.
The study found that women were far more devoted than men to indoor tanning, which might help explain why 70% of all early onset basal cell carcinomas occur in females. The authors concluded that about 27% of cases of early onset disease -- including 43% of cases in women -- could be prevented if people simply stopped using tanning booths.
That's a tall order, considering that some 30 million Americans use indoor tanning beds each year. Policy changes, such as the recent California ban on teen tanning, may help, the authors suggest. So would behavioral interventions aimed at women -- at least one study in 2010 found that the best way to get young women to tan less was to warn them about the skin-wrinkling effects of tanning-bed exposure, not the risk of skin cancer.
"Importantly, indoor tanning is a behavior that individuals can change. In conjunction with the findings on melanoma, our results for [basal cell carcinoma] indicate that reducing indoor tanning could translate to a meaningful reduction in the incidence of these two types of skin cancer," said Leah M. Ferrucci, first author of the paper and a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Public Health, in a statement.
See TIME's Pictures of the Week.
See the Cartoons of the Week.
View this article on Time.com
Most Popular on Time.com:
tomb of the unknown soldier tomb of the unknown soldier reo reo chilis snow white and the huntsman snow white and the huntsman
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
srilankanewsnet: South Africa vs. Sri Lanka Scores http://t.co/slqjxr4e
- Passer la navigation
- Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
- Passer cette ?tape
- Connexion
South Africa vs. Sri Lanka Scores tf.to/UYap 
srilankanewsnet Sri Lanka News
Pied de page
Source: http://twitter.com/srilankanewsnet/statuses/151739310046064640
alec baldwin kicked off plane mumia mumia uss arizona memorial uss arizona memorial d day fun.
Iraqi al Qaeda group says behind Baghdad bombings (Reuters)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) ? Al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq has claimed responsibility for a slew of bombings that killed at least 71 people in Baghdad last week, a group that monitors online communication among insurgents said Tuesday.
A suicide car bomber and multiple roadside bombs hit Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite areas on December 22 in the first attacks on the capital since U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq on December 18.
In a sign of growing tensions within the government itself, Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered the arrest of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and asked parliament to fire Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq.
The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group said the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group for al Qaeda-linked insurgents, had claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement posted on Islamist websites Monday.
ISI said it had carried out the attacks in support of Sunni prisoners. "The operations were distributed between targeting security headquarters, military patrols...and eliminating the heads of unbelief from amongst the security, military and administration leaders of the Green Zone (Iraqi) government," it was quoted by SITE as saying.
In Thursday's single biggest attack, at least 18 people were killed when an attacker driving an ambulance detonated the vehicle near a government criminal investigation office in Baghdad's central Karrada district.
Hashemi has been formally charged with running death squads targeting Iraqi government and security officials. He has denied all charges which he says were "fabricated."
Overall violence in Iraq has dropped since the peak of sectarian fighting in 2006-07 but bombings and killings still occur almost daily.
Al Qaeda in Iraq has been weakened by deaths of leaders but there are fears the group will try to regroup and strengthen its presence following the withdrawal of U.S. troops almost nine years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
(Reporting by Serena Chaudhry)
ruben studdard ruben studdard black friday sales 2011 black friday sales 2011 whitney duncan bradley cooper elisabeth hasselbeck
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Van Halen announces 2012 tour on website (AP)
NEW YORK ? Van Halen will tour in 2012.
The rock band has posted a video on its website announcing that the first tickets will go on sale Jan. 10.
The black-and-white video shows guitarist Eddie Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen, along with original lead singer David Lee Roth and Eddie's son, Wolfgang, on bass. The ticker at the bottom of the video reads: "Van Halen on Tour 2012. First tickets on sale January 10."
No other information is posted on the website.
Van Halen, with its flamboyant frontman "Diamond Dave," was one of the most popular rock bands of the 1980s, but Roth left the band in 1985. Van Halen toured with him in 2007-2008.
___
Online:
http://www.van-halen.com
rajon rondo its a wonderful life its a wonderful life rex ryan yule log ham recipes adrian peterson
Madison Mayor Blames State For Tax Increase
It's property tax time in the city of Madison, and a letter from Mayor Paul Soglin blames the state for a local tax increase.
It all has to do with how much money local governments get from the state each year through what's called "shared revenue," which is a portion of state income taxes shared to help cover government costs.
This year, Madison took a 25 percent cut, and the mayor said that's part of why homeowners' tax bills may have gone up this year.
As resident Charles Quackenboss made his way to city hall to pay his property tax bill, he said it wasn't as bad as he expected.
"It was up about $150 over last year, and I think that is outstanding," said Quackenboss after paying his bill. "I think the mayor and county executive did a good job of keeping the tax levy reasonable. It could have gone up a lot more."
City of Madison taxes went up 3.7 percent this year, and in a letter with tax bills the mayor said that's primarily because of a cut in state aid.
"There is no question that the state's shared revenue decisions have driven up the property tax in Madison," said Soglin.
Soglin argued that the formula to figure out local aids needs to change. Although Madison is the second largest city in the state, it gets the 15th most shared revenue.
"The formula was well-intended to deal with issues of population and poverty, but it was always assumed that the state would be fair in terms of the funding," said Soglin.
Todd Berry, of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, said that's exactly why Madison gets less -- because it is considered a property-wealthy city.
"Either the appropriation has to be made larger so Madison will compete for some money, or they've got to take it away from poorer communities like Milwaukee, Beloit or Racine to give it to Madison," said Berry. "So it is a little unfair to suggest that the state is entirely to blame here."
But as Quackenboss looks at his bill, he said he thinks the city should get more money, too.
"When you're considering Madison, you must consider city services to all state buildings," said Quackenboss. "I don't think we get all the state money that we should for that."
Soglin and Berry said the other problem is that the funding formula hasn't really been used since the early 2000s. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau confirmed that local aids have been flat or cut since the early 2000s under Gov. Jim Doyle and Gov. Scott Walker.
Source: http://madisonnearwest.channel3000.com/news/news/63584-madison-mayor-blames-state-tax-increase
willis mcgahee 2013 ford escape stop online piracy act protect ip act spear of destiny rock hill sc kate middleton pregnant
Monday, December 26, 2011
LG Prepping Ice Cream Sandwich Update For Q2 2012 Release
Most of the big name Android smartphone vendors have already laid out their Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade plans, but LG has been notably absent from the list of companies offering an update schedule. Well, a brief announcement on the company's official Facebook page has remedied that -- Android 4.0 will be coming to select LG handsets as early as Q2 2012.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/-2rmA3zYGJE/
bonjovi kim jong un antonio brown james harrison james harrison lil kim martial law
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of Japan Visits Beijing
[unable to retrieve full-text content]
Source: www.nytimes.com --- Sunday, December 25, 2011
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of Japan said that he planned to talk with his Chinese counterparts in an effort to assure ?peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.? ...
sound of music ihop green bean casserole celtics the temptations prime rib recipe norad santa tracker
Sunday, December 25, 2011
SOUTHGATE: Mayor, county executive give toys and food to children
More Photos
Click thumbnails to enlarge
Cheyenne Morris, 9, of Southgate (left); Barbara Hernandez; Cameron Priebe, Wayne County assistant ex-ecutive; and Phillip Hernandez enjoy a meal Tuesday at a Holiday Meal and toys for Children event at the Southgate Civic Center.
Southgate Mayor Joseph Kuspa serves food Tuesday at a Holiday Meal and Toys for Children event at the Civic Center. (Photos by Dave Chapman)
Santa Claus and Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano give a toy to Connor Ressler, 4, of Flat Rock at the Southgate Civic Center Tuesday. Ficano was there with other members of his staff and elected officials to give toys to children and food to needy people.
Santa Claus and Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano give toys to children.
Source: http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2011/12/24/news/doc4ef4c103ef1d5489610470.txt
bradley cooper elisabeth hasselbeck roger craig roger craig cadillac xts rambus rambus
Italian enraged by laundromat fumes kills 3
ROME?? An elderly man shot dead in a Christmas Eve massacre three members of a family who owned a laundromat in southern Italy, apparently because he was incensed by a years-long battle over the smoke and fumes emitted by the washing machines.
-
Only on msnbc.com
- Take a sleigh ride on the space station
- Comet takes its place as 'Star of Wonder'
- Christmas Eve around the world
- Attorney, accountant taken off Huguette Clark estate
- What kids around the world feed Santa
- After Katrina, a promise is kept
- Hoop dreams bring Israelis, Palestinians together
The ANSA news agency reports that the suspect used an automatic weapon to shoot the mother in front of the laundromat and two adult children as they tried to flee. He also seriously wounded the father, who was at home in the tiny town of Genzano Di Lucania, near Potenza and southeast of Naples, ANSA says.
The dead were identified in local media as Antoinette Di Palma, 55, and Maria Donata Menchise, 31, and Matthew Menchise, 27.
Their father, Leonardo Menchise, 60, was admitted to a hospital and reportedly had serious wounds.
The suspect, Ettore Bruscella, 77, was immediately taken into custody.
ANSA reports that Bruscella and the Menchise family had a long-running legal feud over the laundromat's chimney.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45785485/ns/world_news-europe/
the weeknd payroll tax payroll tax aisha khan alanis morissette r kelly vanessa bryant
Buy Hanukkah, President Obama, Judaica, White House , Michelle Obama, Joe Biden For Sale :: $6.99
Description
Hanukkah, President Obama, Judaica, White House , Michelle Obama, Joe Biden
Price: $6.99
greatfdcs Store
This all-over first day cover for the 2011 USA Hanukkah stamp shows the President, Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at a White House Hanukkah reception.?? Fewer than 20 covers were made like this by Jack Ginsburg (GreatFDCs).? The 2011 Forever USA Hanukkah stamp was canceled with the OFFICIAL First Day of Issue postmarked at New York, NY, Oct. 14, 2011.? This terrific cover is suitable for framing. The cover is unaddressed and has an ungummed back flap, so it will be a long-lasting collectible. The envelope is in excellent condition. Makes a GREAT gift.? See seller?s other listings for more Hanukkah FDCs. I combine shipping so you only pay the shipping charge once for multiple items shipped together.
For other great? covers, please search eBay by seller greatfdcs09 or visit my store at http://www.auctiva.com/stores/viewstore2.aspx?id=473214&page=home&pageNum=2
?
?
?
?
?
After purchasing, pay instantly with your credit card through PayPal!?
?
Hanukkah, President Obama, Judaica, White House , Michelle Obama, Joe Biden
Price: $6.99
URL: Buy Hanukkah, President Obama, Judaica, White House , Michelle Obama, Joe Biden For Sale :: $6.99
Tags: first lady, for sale, Michelle Obama
Stats: 12 total views, 12 so far today
?Email This Post 
?Print This Post
Item Location
Images
shonn greene oklahoma state plane crash syracuse university best buy black friday 2011 ads broncos jets jessie james clayton kershaw
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Sandusky case triggers jump in U.S. abuse calls (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Child molestation charges against a former Penn State football coach have sparked an unprecedented awareness of sexual abuse marked by a sharp upturn in calls to abuse hotlines and lawyers, attorneys and counselors said on Wednesday.
More allegations of sexual abuse and a growing number of lawsuits are likely in coming months as victims are emboldened to speak out by the blaze of publicity about Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach, and other alleged molesters, they said.
"It's a watershed moment for child sex abuse victims, and I cringe as I say that because too often we equate public awareness with reform," said David Clohessy, a spokesman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a support group.
The Sandusky case had one of its highest-profile ripple effects on Tuesday. Sports columnist Bill Conlin abruptly retired from the Philadelphia Daily News after a rival paper published a report accusing him of child sexual abuse.
A man and three women, including Conlin's niece, alleged he molested them as children. The niece said she and the others decided to speak out when reports about Sandusky awakened painful memories.
Conlin was "floored" by the story, his lawyer said.
"There have definitely been a lot more (abuse) survivors coming out that were triggered by Sandusky," said Marci Hamilton, one of the lawyers who filed the first civil suit against the former coach, Penn State and the Second Mile, a charity Sandusky founded.
MORE HOTLINE HELP
Sandusky, 67, faces 52 counts of sexually abusing 10 boys he met through the Second Mile. In the wake of the Sandusky charges, allegations of sexual abuse have been made against a Syracuse assistant basketball coach, a former Citadel student and the head of the Amateur Athletic Union.
Jennifer Marsh, hotline director at the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, said she had had to add more counselors to handle the growing call load. Online text contacts, which guarantee more anonymity, have rocketed 54 percent.
Many callers mention Penn State and Syracuse and they often seek advice on how to report potential molesters or stop abuse, Marsh said.
"We haven't seen anything like this before in terms of response on the hotlines," she said.
Calls to the Childhelp national child sexual abuse hotline are up about 20 percent since charges were filed against Sandusky at the start of November, said Michelle Fingerman, the hotline's director.
Calls by adults who were victimized as children are up by almost a third, she said.
"We're just picking up the phone more often, and the calls are longer. They are really more intense," Fingerman said.
"FOOTBALL IS PART OF AMERICA"
The National Crime Victim Bar Association, which helps crime victims with civil suits, has seen a tripling of calls on child sexual abuse since the Sandusky case broke, said director Jeff Dion.
He and Hamilton, the lawyer, said they expected to see an upsurge in child sexual abuse civil cases. The number will depend on statutes of limitations, which in most states expire generally by the time the victims are in their early 20s.
The Sandusky case had a much bigger impact with sexual abuse victims than the scandal involving Catholic priests since Sandusky had been a well-respected coach at a high-profile college program, Childhelp's Fingerman said.
"Football is part of America, really, and people are seeing that this can happen in any type of situation. It's not a certain demographic or socioeconomic class," she said.
(Reporting By Ian Simpson; Editing by Jerry Norton and Eric Walsh)
grace potter ryan mathews the band perry faith hill cma awards 2011 cma awards 2011 western black rhino
Pollster: Gingrich Could Be Big GOP Winner From Payroll Tax Impasse
(Newsmax) - While some GOP leaders could face a political bruising from this weeks payroll tax debacle, one top political analyst believes that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich can turn the issue into a political plus.
He could say I took action. I didnt kick something down the road for two months and leave it up in the air, insists InsiderAdvantage head and pollster Matt Towery, who also holds the distinction of being Gingrichs first debate coach.
gingrich, towery, payroll, taxGingrichs decision to allow the federal government to shut down in 1995 rather than accept a compromise to keep it open eventually led to a balanced-budget agreement in 1996.
According to Towery, the former speaker could argue that the short-term pain at the time was necessary to achieve the largest drop in federal discretionary spending in more than 25 years.
Gingrich blasted the two-month deal that was approved by the House on Friday by a voice vote, calling it a complete failure in leadership by President Barack Obama and Congress.
In an exclusive interview with Newsmax on Thursday, Gingrich said that House Republicans should have conducted a media blitz to make their case to the American people as to why a two-month solution was simply unworkable.
A two-month tax break is a nightmare, he said. Businesses normally report on a quarterly basis. Businesses normally make out their compensation forms on a 12-month basis. To now be told, the first two months are going to look like this, we dont know what the next 10 months would look like is an administrative nightmare. In addition, youre a family; what are you planning on? Do you trust the Congress?
Gingrich said that Congress is setting itself up to have a new crisis every two months. This is the worst functioning government Ive seen in my lifetime in terms of its utter inability to do things, he insisted. And I have to say as somebody who served in the House, the spectacle of the Senate passing a two-month tax break and then arrogantly leaving town, I find infuriatingly unacceptable.
Republican strategist and political commentator Bradley A. Blakeman says that he is not necessarily convinced that voters have a sufficiently long enough memory to remember the government shutdown in the 1990s for Gingrich to benefit in the 2012 elections.
His past will certainly be a factor, but his present will determine whether hes selectable or electable, said Blakeman, who served as a member of President George W. Bushs senior staff.
One of the most respected pollsters in the United States, Towery also acknowledges that he has no confidence in the polls coming out of Iowa as of today and he anticipates a big change in positioning by Jan. 3.
I think that Ron Paul is going to melt like a snow cone in July, declared Towery, adding that Romney is likely to experience a strong turnout based on the strength of his political machine.
I think that Newt Gingrich is going to rise again in the polls, Towery also predicted. I think you are going to see Rick Perry come on strong and Santorum come on strong.
While the overall winner in Iowa is far from a certainty, Towery says that there is little doubt that voters will be fed up with negative advertising when the caucuses finally arrive.
The key will be who in the world has a final message that is halfway compelling and how can they use that message to turn people out to vote for them as a legitimate nominee of the party, he explained.
Source: http://www.newsmax.com/
Source: http://www.teaparty.org/article.php?id=2005
sugar cookie recipe standing rib roast zeno happy holidays prince philip robert deniro norad
Friday, December 23, 2011
Microsoft's CES 2012 keynote won't deliver 'significant news,' more of 'a wrap-up'
Update: While Microsoft can't confirm specifics, we're getting the impression that the company's partners will be the ones leading and driving announcements in the CES events to come. And while it wouldn't comment specifically on the future of MIX or BUILD, we're told that "it will continue to invest in those kinds of owned venues going forward."
Update 2: The CEA, also known as the entity that puts CES together, has officially responded to the news. It also affirmed that Microsoft will not reserve the massive Central Hall exhibit space that it has used in past years, but it seems pretty unconcerned about the whole ordeal. The full statement is after the break.
Continue reading Microsoft's CES 2012 keynote won't deliver 'significant news,' more of 'a wrap-up'
Microsoft's CES 2012 keynote won't deliver 'significant news,' more of 'a wrap-up' originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/21/microsofts-ces-2012-keynote-wont-deliver-significant-news-m/
julianne hough chris cook nest williams syndrome jay leno machine gun kelly lindsey lohan
Scientist gets 7-plus years for trade secret theft (AP)
INDIANAPOLIS ? A federal judge has sentenced a Chinese national scientist to more than seven years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to illegally sending trade secrets on a pesticide and a new food product to China and Germany.
Judge William Lawrence announced the sentence Wednesday for 46-year-old Kexue Huang, formerly of Carmel., Ind. He pleaded to one count of economic espionage to benefit the Chinese government and one count of theft of trade secrets.
Court records show Huang from 2007 to 2010 delivered trade secrets on an organic pesticide he helped develop at Dow AgroSciences in Indiana to people in Germany and China.
After joining Minnesota-based Cargill Inc. in 2008, Huang stole a key component to make a new food product and gave it to a university student in China.
a christmas story xbox update xbox update nba schedule nhl realignment nhl realignment kristin chenoweth
Thursday, December 22, 2011
David Archuleta Puts Music Career On Hold To Be Mormon Missionary
David Archuleta Puts Music Career On Hold To Be Mormon Missionary
“American Idol” star David Archuleta is putting his singing career on hold to serve as a Mormon missionary. Archuleta is getting ready to go on [...]
David Archuleta Puts Music Career On Hold To Be Mormon Missionary Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stupidcelebrities/~3/uAg7p5V_8UE/
anna chapman kim kardashian ghost hunters honda generator honda generator cc sabathia ruth madoff
Monday, December 19, 2011
Eldorado Gold to buy European Goldfields for $2.4B (AP)
Gold and iron producer Eldorado Gold Corp. says it will buy European Goldfields Ltd. in a deal worth about $2.4 billion, increasing its ability to produce gold.
The Vancouver, Canada, company says European Goldfields stockholders will receive 0.85 Eldorado share and a fraction of a Canadian cent for each European Goldfields share. That values each European Goldfields at 13.08 Canadian dollars ($12.59), based on Eldorado's closing stock price on the Toronto Stock Exchange Friday.
European Goldfields operates a mine in Greece and is developing projects in both Greece and Romania. Eldorado operates in China, Turkey, Brazil and Greece.
Eldorado says the deal will create a company with a market capitalization of about $10.59 billion and help diversify production. The deal requires approval from both Eldorado and European Goldfields shareholders.
fidel castro south korea girl with the dragon tattoo winter solstice baltimore ravens chanukah
Sunday, December 18, 2011
The individual mandate: Health-care's inherent controversy (The Week)
New York ? President Obama's health-care bill requires that every American have health insurance. Is that constitutional?
Who first proposed making health insurance compulsory?
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. In the late 1980s, when Democrats were pushing to require employers to provide health insurance, the foundation started thinking about ways to achieve universal coverage without placing a heavy burden on business. Its experts soon encountered the "free rider" problem: In a system where insurers are barred from refusing applicants with pre-existing conditions, many people ? especially the young and healthy ? would only buy a policy when illness struck. But if only sick people bought coverage, insurers would pay out more in doctors' bills than they received in premiums, and quickly go bust. To overcome this death spiral, the Heritage Foundation suggested that every American be required to buy health insurance, a requirement known as the individual mandate.
Which politicians took up that idea?
Many Republicans did in the early 1990s, after President Clinton introduced a plan that would have forced companies to cover employees. "I am for people, individuals ? exactly like automobile insurance ? having health insurance and being required to have health insurance," said Newt Gingrich, then House minority whip, in 1993. When the Clinton plan collapsed in 1994, talk of the individual mandate died with it. But a decade later, Mitt Romney, then the governor of Massachusetts, resurrected the concept for his state health-care plan, which requires residents to buy health insurance or pay up to $1,212 in annual penalties. "It's a Republican way of reforming the market," Romney said when the law debuted, in 2006. "[To have] people show up [at a hospital] when they get sick, and expect someone else to pay, that's a Democratic approach."
SEE MORE: The Supreme Court takes on 'ObamaCare': Will it hurt the president?
?
So why did Obama adopt a Republican proposal?
At first, he didn't want to. During his 2008 campaign for the Democratic nomination, Obama ran a TV ad criticizing rival candidate Hillary Clinton's support for a mandate, saying she would force everyone "to buy insurance, even if you can't afford it." But after President Obama and the Democratic Congress began to construct his health-care plan, advisers warned that free riders would undermine the objectives of extending insurance coverage to anyone who wanted it. For health reform to work, young, healthy people had to be pushed into the pool, to spread cost and risk. So the president allowed his 2010 Affordable Care Act to incorporate a provision that, by 2014, all Americans must have health coverage or face a tax penalty. Conservatives decried that directive as a gross infringement of individual liberty, and their anger helped fuel the rise of the Tea Party. Twenty-six states and the National Federation of Independent Business are now challenging the mandate's constitutionality at the Supreme Court, which will make a final judgment by June.
How has Obama responded?
His administration argues that the mandate is authorized by the Constitution's commerce clause, which allows the federal government to regulate interstate economic activity. Several conservative judges agree. In a November appeals court decision that upheld the mandate, Judge Laurence Silberman, a Reagan appointee, declared that Congress must "be free to forge national solutions to national problems." And this summer, Judge Jeffrey Sutton ? a George W. Bush appointee to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ? concluded that the individual mandate is a legally sound way to prevent taxpayers and hospitals from having to pick up the cost of treating the uninsured. "Not every intrusive law is an unconstitutionally intrusive law," he wrote.
SEE MORE: The Supreme Court and 'ObamaCare': A concise guide
?
Haven't other judges disagreed?
Yes. In August, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals declared that it could find no precedent for ordering Americans to buy health insurance. "Even in the face of a Great Depression, a World War, a Cold War, recessions, oil shocks, inflation, and unemployment," the majority wrote, "Congress never sought to require the purchase of wheat or war bonds, force a higher savings rate or greater consumption of American goods." Other federal judges and critics of "Obamacare" warn that the mandate sets a dangerous precedent that the government could use to make citizens purchase whatever it deems good for them ? or for the economy. "Congress could require every American to buy a new Chevy Impala every year," said a 2009 Heritage Foundation report.
What happens if the individual mandate is voided?
It depends. If the Supreme Court decides that the Affordable Care Act can't function without the individual mandate, it could strike down the entire law. But it might declare the mandate "severable," and remove that particular part of the law, while letting the rest of it limp along, with far fewer uninsured people covered and less ability to rein in costs. Some experts have proposed that instead of the uninsured being required to buy insurance, they could be "nudged" into the health-care system by giving them a window of time during which they could buy insurance relatively inexpensively; once that window closed, the cost would rise sharply. The problem with any alternative to the individual mandate, said Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, is that it would have to be approved by the bitterly divided Congress. "You can't expect that in these times," he said. "People don't work on these compromises too readily anymore."
SEE MORE: Should the Supreme Court's 'ObamaCare' arguments be televised?
?
How the Supreme Court could punt
Next year's Supreme Court hearing has been billed as judgment day for Obama's Affordable Care Act. But it might end with no judgment at all. Before the justices rule on the individual mandate's constitutionality, they will first have to decide whether the 1867 Anti-Injunction Act bars the claimants' challenge. That law prevents citizens from challenging the legality of a tax before it goes into effect. If the court finds that the penalty for defying the Affordable Care Act's mandate is a tax, they could push a legal challenge back to 2015, when the first fines will be levied. And that, said Simon Lazarus, an expert at the National Senior Citizens Law Center, might "be a good solution for a court that doesn't really care to be Public Issue No. 1 in an election year."
View this article on TheWeek.com
Get 4 Free Issues of The Week
Other stories from this topic:
Like on Facebook?-?Follow on Twitter?-?Sign-up for Daily Newslettercall of duty elite dragonfly courtney stodden drake take care herman cain accuser herman cain accuser election day
Alpha Hunters: Investing in Global Development | AllAboutAlpha ...
From our ?developed world viewpoint? it is sometimes easy for us to forget that there was a time when the United States and Europe were (as we would classify them now) ?developing? economies- largely based around agriculture, with some limited trade, and huge income inequality.? The industrial revolution changed everything, and began a series of events which brought massive opportunity for hundreds of millions.??? From our viewpoint, we also sometimes forget that during these revolutions- immense investments took place to finance the development of industry and infrastructure ? while great philanthropists of the time provided social opportunity to lift people out of poverty.
??The changes associated with the industrial revolution go far beyond the merely technical; they include? population growth, large-scale and extensive industrial investment, and the remarkably pervasive effects of? the application of science to industry, and have, in the past, led to a new system of social, industrial, legal and other relations, often described as modern industrial capitalism.? wrote Pollard in ?The Economic History Review? (Vol. 11, No 2. 1958).? He continued, ??In the present state of techniques, every important nation may sooner or later pass through that stage of economic development.?? Nevertheless, the technical similarities of the process of industrialization impose certain common features on each industrial revolution, of which the pressure on consumption, caused by massive simultaneous investment, is one of the most important.? This pressure may in the future be obviated by large-scale foreign investment, or by new techniques beyond our present understanding. Without such help, one might venture to prophesy that the countries in the Soviet orbit will find it extremely difficult to ?catch up? on the consumption of the West? while the ?underdeveloped? countries in the rest of the world, as they come to the hurdle of their industrial revolution, will find it hard to maintain rigorous limitations on real wages and other incomes within a democratic framework?..?
While many see opportunities in the developing world solely as philanthropic, there are an increasing number of socially conscious investment funds who realise that alongside the work in alleviating poverty and dealing with extreme social-issues, there are clear needs (and opportunities) which exist for nations who are fighting hard to ?catch up? with the west.
William Foote is founder and CEO of Root Capital who, since their inception have provided $330 million in credit to 349 small and growing businesses in 30 countries, maintaining a 99% repayment rate from our borrowers and a 100% repayment rate to our investors.? This year alone, they have supplied $120 million in credit to 250 businesses which represent (or aggregate) 220,000 small-scale producers.? That investment will (at a conservative estimate) benefit the lives of over 1.1 million people. ??Mr. Foote began his career as a financial analyst in the Latin American Corporate Finance group at Lehman Brothers, and as a journalist in Mexico and Argentina. He was named an Ashoka Global Fellow in 2007 and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2008.
Q: What is the rationale behind Root Capital?
William Foote: We?re working at the nexus of two pretty powerful forces which, when combined, can have a profound impact on reducing global poverty.? First, agriculture?.? You?ve got around 2.6 billion people in the world who survive on less than $2 per day,? 75% of them are rural and agriculture is their primary economic activity.?? Most are, however, mired in a form of subsistence farming that barely allows them to scrape-by.? Increasingly there are farmers in Sub Saharan Africa and beyond who are finding they can get themselves out of poverty through agriculture if, and only if, they have reliable access to a well-paying market.? The World Bank states that growth in agricultural sectors is twice as effective at reducing poverty than other sectors.? The second force is the notion of small and growing businesses- who are the ones capturing the vast majority of new jobs in an economy.? ?If you look for the next Steve Jobs or Richard Branson in developing economies, however, their businesses rarely make it out of the garage as they are missing three critical factors.? They lack financial capital, qualified employees plus the knowledge and access to financial markets- those three things stop those businesses enjoying the kinds of prosperity we do in the northern hemisphere.
The ?missing-middle? is where it?s at in terms of Root Capital.? How do you integrate and unleash these two powerful forces- agriculture and small and growing businesses.? That?s when you fall into the trap of being too large for microfinance, and too small, remote or risky for the big banks.? That?s the big opportunity we?ve been trying to address for a decade or more and hopefully this will catalyze a thriving financial market which will serve these businesses.
Q: What do you see as the opportunity for investors who want to enter this market?
William Foote: The opportunity for investors are mixed? low default rates? very much a capital preservation play? a diversified portfolio across thirty countries? and the fact that we are a conscious investment, an impact investment.? We are not a high return proposition.? We are unapologetically at the high-risk, low-return sweet-spot of agricultural finance.? We choose to address geographies and sectors where there are real market failures or at least deep market imperfections.? Specifically- we are trying to find those businesses that might aggregate a few hundred or a few thousand small scale farmers or producers (it could be coffee, cocoa, mangos etc) largely of sustainable export products where we have a stable market in common currencies with off-take agreements with a buyer like Starbucks, Marks & Spencers or more.? We work with over 120 buyers.
These are early stage businesses that are poised for significant growth and therefore enormous social, economic and environmental impact if you can get them to grow.? The reasons they don?t get finance are varied but, in the main, they may exist in areas without easy access to loan officers, they may be areas prone to conflict or geological events (such as landslides) and they may not have collateral.? This last point is the one which, most frequently, breaks the camel?s back.? The borrower may not have a registered land-title.? Without that hard asset, most banks won?t even think about lending.?? In some cases, there is also perceived risks by banks in agriculture- and these customers are not networked.
It?s a low-margin, lumpy cash-flow agriculture business that we?re financing but they?re absolutely growth oriented and generate enormous benefits from job-creation, economic growth, sustainable livelihoods, natural resource management and more.? They become the economic engine for very large areas, but it?s low margin.? That?s way we call it a capital preservation play.
Outside the Root Capital model, there is definitely a strong-focus on commercial agriculture- with a growing private equity market in Africa.? These are players who are making bets on the growth of the agricultural market (which is also an inflation hedge).
Q: What are the risks in these markets, and how do you mitigate them?
William Foote: We manage risk by lending into the value-chain where we are able to leverage the non-financial-assets of the corporation that?s buying from these communities and agricultural businesses.? By having off-take agreements, we have guaranteed demand for the underlying product and, therefore, bankable cash-flows.? We have social and relationship capital wrapped up in these agreements too!
Due to the way we work with the value-chain, we are able to go to the buyer- get them to introduce us to their suppliers and use their global supply chain knowledge and geographic scope to work with the third party certifiers such as FairTrade, Organic or Rainforest Alliance (all of which have audit).? We also go to the technical assistance providers which may be funded by DFID, the European Union, USAID or local-governments.? They pump and prime local production.? We also go directly to local loan officers and our staff on the ground.? Through these ecosystems, we create a relatively efficient way to mitigate the political, economic and social risks.
Political [risk management] is partly about choosing the right country.? We are actually lending into post-disaster and post-conflict markets like Haiti, DR Congo, Liberia and Ivory Coast but in general they are relatively low income but stable countries such as Tanzania, Rwanda and Latin America.? Alongside this, we can also insure against political risk through organisations such as OPIC- and are also able to get some guarantees through the Development Credit Authority (DCA) where we are able to share-risk with the federal government on a deal by deal basis.??? On the economic side, it?s really the old fashioned methods.? Know your clients? barefoot empirical due diligence on the businesses we finance? good old fashioned credit underwriting and management.? On the social side, we face an interesting challenge.? There?s a huge amount of corruption in some of these countries, but when you have traceability and transparency that?s been pushed through consumer and shareholder pressure into global value-chains, it can act as an antidote to the corruption which may exist in the market.
Q: How do you measure the impact of your investments?
William Foote: First, we think about what the outputs are?. For us, it?s capital and also financial management training (although that?s more akin to pure NGO work).? The outcomes are growth- what is the year on year revenue growth, what is the payout to farmers for the products, and what might the delta be between that price and what they would have got at farmgate.? Alongside this we compare against the numbers of farmers and producers selling through that export channel year on year- these are our fundamental KPI?s.? Looking at impact this is measured at the household level?. and is somewhat complicated by the fact that you have to look at income attribution, other sources of income and so on? You can also look at this at the community level using measures of community cohesion, and by understanding whether infrastructure such as schools, maternity wards and so forth are being built.? You also have to understand the economic impact at the regional level. That?s getting into ?high cost scientific evaluation? but we have to do a certain amount on a sample basis.? Right now we have a study being done, funded in part by the Gates foundation, in Burkina Faso with regional producer associations that are selling through a Mango exporting company.? A Burkinabe professor is working with masters student on the ground to produce an ethnographical, anthropological and economic study on what the impact is, at the household and sub-regional level, of the rapid growth of well-organised producer associations.
You have to have your standard financial credit-underwriting in place.? You look under the hood of Root Capital and you will see a best-in-class small commercial lending operation where we really understand everything that can happen between farm-gate and the port.? You can make that viral to the degree that anyone can do that evaluation.?? We also have a social obligor scorecard and an environmental obligor scorecard that our loan officers- with minimal training- are trained to use.? It?s not a one-size-fits-all there?s a different scorecard for mango, shea butter, coffee, mango and so forth.? They?re not ?deep? but allow you to make sure you are making the right impact within your portfolio.? Setting a high-bar on our standards is good-business and creating a model where, in addition to your financial due-diligence, you can check all-sorts of boxes on social and environmental business- gets a higher hit-rate of good sustainable businesses into a portfolio which a bank would need to scale
What does this mean for investors and risk managers?
Mr. Foote highlights ?prejudices? which exist in the investment and risk management markets.?? Firstly, relating to the ?investability? of developing economies, and secondly the risk?profile.? For ?western? investors, the developing world offers the profound capital growth opportunities which were found over a hundred years ago when our nations were going through the same process- the difference? these nations are growing-up in a hugely well connected globalized economy, meaning that capital growth will occur in decades rather than centuries.? For risk managers, there is also a need for changed consideration of the underlying.? The truth is (a point proven by the overwhelming majority of people lending to these markets) ? delinquencies and risk on loans into developing economies (in sectors such as agriculture) are often dramatically lower than their domestic counterparts.? Even if those calls-to-action are not enough, I will conclude by reminding you that there are two billion consumers here, waiting to join the global-economy.? Surely that- in itself- is reason enough for investors to no longer ignore the developing world.
?Email This Post ????
?Print This Post Author Bio:
Vikas Shah is Founder of the consultancy Thought Strategy and CEO of Swiscot Group (a diversified trading firm). Vikas writes and publishes Thought Economics, a leading journal where he interviews some of the most influential individuals in the world. He is a respected commentator and analyst on global issues, finance and economics and a non-executive to a number of philanthropic organisations worldwide. You can follow him on twitter @MrVikas.
Source: http://allaboutalpha.com/blog/2011/12/15/alpha-hunters-investing-in-global-development/
oklahoma state new orleans saints venus williams farrah abraham whats going on bowl projections bedlam
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Galaxy Nexus for Verizon LTE unboxing and speed test (video)
The Verizon Nexus arrived with Android 4.0.1 pre-installed, but prompted us to update to 4.0.2 just a few minutes after we added a Google account. It is noticeably thicker and heavier than its HSPA+ counterpart, but this thing is fast when it comes to transfer speeds -- not quite as speedy as we've seen with some LTE devices on AT&T's budding 4G network, but it's definitely in line with competing handsets from Verizon, and the MiFi we used for a comparison speed test. Our salesperson wasn't willing to let us leave without first confirming that the phone was in fact working, so he had the honor of first peeling back the phone's plastic cover. Ready to check it out? Roll up your sleeves and join us after the break for our unboxing and speed test.
Continue reading Galaxy Nexus for Verizon LTE unboxing and speed test (video)
Galaxy Nexus for Verizon LTE unboxing and speed test (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/15/galaxy-nexus-for-verizon-lte-unboxing-and-speed-test-video/
light year michelle rounds michelle rounds cabin in the woods dan quayle brett favre packers stock
Gingrich claim of taking the high road omits facts (AP)
WASHINGTON ? TITLE: "We Deserve Solutions."
LENGTH: 30 seconds.
AIRING: Iowa broadcast and cable networks
KEY IMAGES: Newt Gingrich, in a dark suit jacket and red tie, speaks to the camera. "These are challenging and important times for America. We want and deserve solutions," the former House speaker says. "Others seem to be more focused on attacks rather than moving the country forward. That's up to them."
He continues, "I believe bold ideas and new solutions will unleash America's creative spirit. When I was Speaker, our budget was balanced and 11 million jobs were created. We can do it again and rebuild the America we love."
ANALYSIS: Gingrich is trying to reclaim his pledge to wage only a positive campaign, after some nasty exchanges with chief rival Mitt Romney over the last several days.
Gingrich's claim that "others" in the race have gone negative is undeniably true, and most of the attacks have been lobbed at him. He has been pummeled by negative ads from Ron Paul and a special political action committee supporting Romney, while Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, has stepped up his own criticism of Gingrich as well.
But Gingrich fails to acknowledge that he, too, has gone negative, particularly when said Romney should "give back all the money he's earned bankrupting companies and laying off employees" when he ran the private equity firm Bain Capital.
Gingrich also takes credit, as he has throughout the campaign, for spurring job creation and enacting balanced budgets when he was House speaker from 1995-1999. But his claims don't tell the whole story.
It's true that 11 million jobs were created during Gingrich's tenure as speaker. But the federal budget was balanced only the last two years of his speakership, not the full four. Gingrich also fails to credit a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, for having as much or more to do with the nation's economic performance during those years than Gingrich.
kennedy assassination kennedy assassination jfk assassination pie crust recipe heritage foundation dancing with the stars results 2011 pecan pie
Friday, December 16, 2011
Italian hostage freed in Nigeria's oil-rich delta (AP)
LAGOS, Nigeria ? An official says an Italian held captive in Nigeria's oil-rich delta has been freed.
A spokesman for the Italian embassy in Abuja said Thursday that the construction worker was kidnapped Dec. 9 and freed a day later in Bayelsa state.
He says Nigerian authorities intervened promptly to secure his release.
He said no ransom was paid, but that "negotiations" led to the release. He declined to comment on their content or to give his name.
In 2006, militants who said the region was not getting its fair share of its oil wealth started kidnapping foreign oil workers and other attacks aimed at crippling the oil industry. That violence waned in 2009 with a government-sponsored amnesty program. However, Nigerians and expatriates in the area still live in fear of kidnappings.
britney spears engaged sopa rodney atkins joe arpaio craig smith craig smith free shipping
Man arrested for beating student with a shoe (Reuters)
CONWAY, Mass (Reuters) ? A man was arrested for brutally beating a fellow college student mistakenly suspected of stealing his pair of $200 Nike Foamposite sneakers, police said on Tuesday.
The suspect, identified by police on Tuesday as Kirk Dudley, 18, of Staten Island, New York, surrendered in Wrentham District Court, in Massachusetts, accompanied by his attorney, after an arrest warrant was issued, Franklin Police Chief Stephan Semerjian said in a statement.
Authorities have said the altercation took place in broad daylight at Dean College, outside of Boston, when a group of male students surrounded the victim and the suspect Dudley punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground.
Video footage, shot by one in the group and later posted on many Internet sites, shows the beating.
After punching him, the assailant can be seen pulling off the victim's shoes and hitting him in the face with them before walking off with the shoes. During and after the altercation, the group of students taunts and laughs at the bloodied, staggering victim, the video shows.
Nine students were quickly expelled after the December 2 incident at the school.
Police charged Dudley with robbery, assault and battery and assault and battery using a dangerous weapon -- a shoe.
"It's clear that there was no robbery," said Dudley's attorney Joseph Cataldo. "And, clearly, the shoe - a soft rubber sneaker - was not used as a dangerous weapon."
(Reporting by Zach Howard. Editing by Greg McCune)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111214/us_nm/us_crime_shoe
nbpa itunes match itunes match walmart black friday 2011 walmart black friday 2011 packers vikings bob costas jerry sandusky
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)