CNN Brings Back Crossfire!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal">Hola and welcome political junkies to CNN’s new/old show Crossfire! That’s right, CNN has <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/cnn-crossfire-newt-gingrich-se-cupp-van-jones-stephanie-cutter_n_3502660.html">brought back one of its greatest political shows</a> with all new hosts and they promise lots of sparks! On the right we have Disgraced Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and sexy conservative S. E. Cupp, and on the left we have Van Jones and Stephanie Cutter. Below is a transcript of their first show…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgogsMzNkuhZFe37aknEpL0nWXD92EvaAhToPRB3QZ-C5P0JWZcIxpcqmjnGR8L-LutZBViI86Oa0-2Wt8HMc5Ch2tnPoxnWDCyqItYxNnG3czEd_gbqDyGBTIbiLdQIDGJL70s12Jkas8/s526/SE-Cupp-Boobs-Hot-Sexy-Crossfire.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgogsMzNkuhZFe37aknEpL0nWXD92EvaAhToPRB3QZ-C5P0JWZcIxpcqmjnGR8L-LutZBViI86Oa0-2Wt8HMc5Ch2tnPoxnWDCyqItYxNnG3czEd_gbqDyGBTIbiLdQIDGJL70s12Jkas8/s320/SE-Cupp-Boobs-Hot-Sexy-Crossfire.png" width="211" /></a><b>Newt:</b> Excuse me? First the “Hola” crap and then “disgraced?” You better watch yourself or you’ll be looking for a new job buddy!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>S.E. Cupp:</b> Whatever Newt. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Stephanie Cutter:</b> *rolls eyes*<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Van Jones:</b> Lighten up Francis. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt:</b> My name isn’t Francis. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>S.E: </b>I think it was a joke Newt. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Van: </b>It was a reference to the movie “Stripes”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Stephanie: Yeah, you know? Bill Murray? <o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt:</b> Lame pop culture references to lowbrow 70’s comedies will not be tolerated Van, even though that isn’t your REAL name.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Van:</b> Is this how we’re gonna start things? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt:</b> How did you get the name “Van?” Is it in reference to your being conceived in the back of a van during a “hey sailor if you’ve got the money, I’ve got the time” situation?  <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>S.E:</b> Hey-OOOOOOO<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Stephanie:</b> SHOTS FIRED! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt:</b> What? I’m unarmed! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Van:</b> Well, you’re unarmed intellectually anyway. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Stephanie:</b> *giggle*<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>S.E: </b>Nice! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt:</b> Okay, now that we have all the pleasantries out of the way, let’s get busy. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>S.E: </b>I love to get busy. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Stephanie:</b> Me too! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Van and Newt: </b>That’s hot! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt: </b>Okay, DOMA and Prop 8 rulings. Obviously, a disaster. The Supreme Court is on its way to morally bankrupting this country. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Stephanie: </b>I really don’t think so. It’s all about basic human rights and human dignity. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>S.E:</b> I’m gonna have to agree with Stephanie on this one Newt. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt:</b> Of course you will. You probably wanna do her. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>S. E:</b> What? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt:</b> Well, with a rack like yours, I’m sure lesbians hit on you all the time. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Stephanie:</b> I know I would if I were a lesbian. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>S.E:</b> This is highly inappropriate and won’t tolerate it. Back me up here Van. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Van: </b>It is inappropriate, but also relevant to my interests, ifyouknowwhatImean? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7QEqJPJakTY2GaSsFPkImx5wD7sWL7uxA-g-pknSZuTacPqKB1JToUoHGZl88mude6wMRMkKyadnG2ao9giOVvBlPCP9akVERcaUaP-A2Rq7GcQnZtYzCJeM_8RftzpGFzFjDY7rQsA4/s398/se-cupp-legs-nude-hot-sexy-crossfire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7QEqJPJakTY2GaSsFPkImx5wD7sWL7uxA-g-pknSZuTacPqKB1JToUoHGZl88mude6wMRMkKyadnG2ao9giOVvBlPCP9akVERcaUaP-A2Rq7GcQnZtYzCJeM_8RftzpGFzFjDY7rQsA4/s320/se-cupp-legs-nude-hot-sexy-crossfire.jpg" width="276" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt:</b> Anyway, gay marriage invalidates straight marriage. Straight marriage loses all real meaning when gays get married, right?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Stephanie: </b>Nope<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Van:</b> I don’t think so Newtster. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>S.E:</b> Not really. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt:</b> Well it ruined all of mine! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>S.E:</b> How so? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt:</b> Every time gay marriage becomes an issue, one of my marriages falls apart. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Stephanie:</b> I thought your cheating ruined your marriages?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt:</b> Gay marriage is immoral, so just discussing it makes me do immoral things. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>S.E:</b> Really? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Van: </b>Well, Callista must be as nervous as Paula Deen riding the express elevator with The Pips then! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Stephanie:</b> Hey-OOOOOOOOO! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>S.E:</b> LOL! *Hi-5’s Van*<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt:</b> You know what? Let’s just call it a day for our first show and maybe CNN could find some people on my intellectual level? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Van:</b> Great idea Newtie-Poo. My car is out front, who wants to go get a drink?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>S.E: </b>I’m in! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Stephanie:</b> Shotgun! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt:</b> *sniff, sniff*</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Van:</b> Aww … It’s okay Newt. You can come too! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt: </b>Really? Gee thanks!!! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Van:</b> Just try not to be an asshole. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt: </b>That’s kind of hurtful but okay. Hey! Can we pretend you’re my chauffeur? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Van: </b>Don’t push it.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Newt:</b> Okay. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:Jayman3768@gmail.com">Jayman3768@gmail.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/jayman68">Facebook.com/Jayman68</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/jayman_iws">@Jayman_IWS</a><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>

CNN Brings Back Crossfire!

Hola and welcome political junkies to CNN’s new/old show Crossfire! That’s right, CNN has brought back one of its greatest political shows ...

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Reading Room

Earlier today I was at the Mid-Manhattan Library and noticed an interesting installation on the third floor, in which a number of postcard-size photos are pinned to about six or seven horizontal wood strips. It turned out to be <a href="http://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/elizabeth-felicella-reading-room-art-wall-third-exhibition-series"><i>Reading Room: A Catalog of New York City's Branch Libraries</i></a> by photographer <a href="http://elizabethfelicella.com/">Elizabeth Felicella</a>.<br /><br /><img alt="felicella-reading_room.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/felicella-reading_room.jpg" title="Reading Rooms" /><br />[<i>Reading Room</i> | image from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/artpicturenypl/photos_stream">NYPL Art and Picture Collections Facebook page</a>]<br /><br />From the <a href="http://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/elizabeth-felicella-reading-room-art-wall-third-exhibition-series">project page</a>: <br /><blockquote><em>Reading Room</em><strong><em> </em></strong>is a large-scale photographic mural depicting the interiors and exteriors of The New York Public Library’s 86 neighborhood libraries. The mural is composed of individual photos selected from Felicella's larger project, also titled <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/06/new-york-city-branch-libraries-photographs.html#slide_ss_0=1"><em>Reading Room</em></a> that catalogs all of the city’s branch libraries. <em>Reading Room</em> pays tribute to the city's libraries as an invaluable public resource while also proposing that the architecture of the libraries be read as a collection in itself, a time-line of changing ideas over the last century about design, building, the places we share, the ways we read, and our aspirations as a city and a society.</blockquote>

Reading Room

Earlier today I was at the Mid-Manhattan Library and noticed an interesting installation on the third floor, in which a number of postcard-s...

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U.S. Justice Department drops by to investigate Augusta County

Just in time for Independence Day, <a href="http://www.dailyprogress.com/opinion/editorials/abc-agents-went-too-far-in-response/article_14b4daf2-e194-11e2-ae78-001a4bcf6878.html">Uncle Sam is taking a stroll around Augusta County</a>'s 26 voting precincts today and tomorrow with the three members of the local electoral board. Actually, he's sending one of his lawyers and an architect from the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department.<br /><br />Uh-oh. Almost sounds like being called to the principal's office.<br /><br />Originally scheduled for June, the trip was delayed until this week, and Augusta Electoral Board chairman Ruth Talmage seemed unhappy even though she had originally <a href="http://www.dailyprogress.com/newsvirginian/news/virginia_politics/former-augusta-supervisor-candidate-said-he-complained-to-justice/article_227f93ec-cef8-11e2-bc0b-001a4bcf6878.html">requested the visit be held off</a> until after the June Democratic Primary:<br /><blockquote>"Voters ought not to have to worry with some strange person from Washington watching and asking questions," Talmage said.</blockquote><a href="http://www.dailyprogress.com/newsvirginian/news/augusta-electoral-board-tells-justice-to-stay-away-on-election/article_67de2d68-ce30-11e2-b122-001a4bcf6878.html">She also said,</a> "The message is that they (Justice) are welcome to come, but not on election day.''<br /><br />An <a href="http://An email response sent to Justice on Wednesday through Augusta County Attorney Patrick Morgan said the electoral board "has concluded that permitting such inspections is not in the best interest of Augusta County, at this time. Therefore, I regret to inform you that the board of elections will not authorize you to inspect the polling places as previously planned."">email from the county's attorney</a> closed the door on the June visit:<br /><blockquote>An email response sent to Justice on Wednesday through Augusta County Attorney Patrick Morgan said the electoral board "has concluded that permitting such inspections is not in the best interest of Augusta County, at this time. Therefore, I regret to inform you that the board of elections will not authorize you to inspect the polling places as previously planned."</blockquote>It's rainy and drippy out there today so hope they've all got their umbrellas and golashes as they traverse the second-largest county in Virginia.<br /><br />As former magisterial district chairman in Pastures District located west of Staunton, I have personal knowledge of the time it takes to travel its five precincts, the most of any district in the county. Pastures' borders touch Staunton City and extend to Bath and Highland counties with the George Washington National Forest in between. It's a gorgeous district but you'd better be driving your reliable vehicle because it will rack up the mileage. <br /><br />That does not include the rest of Augusta that runs as far north as Rockingham County, south to Rockbridge County, and east to the tiptop of the Blue Ridge Mountains as it borders Nelson and Albemarle counties.<br /><br />The visit is in response to a complaint filed by Churchville resident Steve Morris who questioned a North River precinct located in the Churchville Fire Station in Pastures District, and handicap accessibility to that precinct. Morris ran an <a href="http://www.dailyprogress.com/newsvirginian/news/virginia_politics/former-augusta-supervisor-candidate-said-he-complained-to-justice/article_227f93ec-cef8-11e2-bc0b-001a4bcf6878.html">unsuccessful bid as supervisor</a> in 2011.<br /><br />The electoral board <a href="http://www.dailyprogress.com/newsvirginian/news/local/justice-department-delays-visit-until-july/article_6818dd36-d309-11e2-aa7c-0019bb30f31a.html">has defended the Churchville Fire Station precinct</a> location:<br /><blockquote>Talmage said both the precinct location and handicap access are appropriate. Talmage said Virginia law allows for a polling place within one mile of the border of a precinct boundary, and said North River lacks such a needed facility. She said the fire station's ramp and access door offer sufficient access. </blockquote>Talmadge complained in the <i>Waynesboro News-Virginian</i> that the tour would take "an unnecessary amount of time'' on Monday and Tuesday.<br /><br />Hmm. It's not wise to tweak Uncle Sam's nose.<br /><br />Reporter Bob Stuart <a href="http://www.dailyprogress.com/newsvirginian/news/justice-department-to-visit-augusta-county-precincts-monday-tuesday/article_90c93bfe-e0dd-11e2-94f5-001a4bcf6878.html">reported</a>:<br /><blockquote>[Talmage] said the electoral board had asked to work with Justice on a schedule for touring the county precincts, but said the federal agency has not been cooperative.</blockquote>I guess once the June date was postponed, Uncle Sam decided to get his work done before his holiday, and this week was it. Maybe the federal agents will stick around for a Smalltown USA Fourth of July.<br /><br /><b>Update:</b> <a href="http://www.dailyprogress.com/newsvirginian/news/local/justice-begins-investigation-in-augusta-county/article_c5a1f696-e2c1-11e2-b5ab-001a4bcf6878.html">Justice begins investigation in Augusta County </a>by Bob Stuart

Augusta County Blue Ridge Mountains Bob Stuart Churchville Fire Station Pastures District Ruth Talmage Steve Morris U.S. Justice Department Uncle Sam Waynesboro News-Virginian U.S. Justice Department drops by to investigate Augusta County

Just in time for Independence Day, Uncle Sam is taking a stroll around Augusta County 's 26 voting precincts today and tomorrow with the...

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Planning A Diet For A Metabolic Makeover

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Lila Barry</div><br /><br /> <div class='uawarticle'>There are some eating habits that will help with a metabolic makeover. Having a checklist to follow is the easy way to stick to a plan. The checklist gives a track to run on so that you do not forget anything. You can get a huge result by taking a series of regular small steps. Having an organized approach that you do not waver from is the way to get positive results.<br /> <br /> Drinking enough water is one of the most important things you can do. Your body uses one-half of a cup of water every hour. You need to drink eight ounces of water daily. One sign of not drinking enough water is a headache. Your mental abilities suffer without an adequate amount of water. Try drinking some water if you feel mentally dull.<br /> <br /> A person should eat lean protein everyday. One gram for every kilogram of body weight ought to be consumed on a daily basis. For example, one egg contains about seven grams of protein. Protein helps regulate blood sugars and carbohydrates in the human body. Eating an excessive amount of carbohydrates can make you sleepy. Proteins helps you stay mentally alert.<br /> <br /> Mono-unsaturated oils and fats are good for you. Cook with healthy oils like flax seed, olive or canola oil. Try to get 1 teaspoon of Omega 3 oil everyday. Fresh cold water fish is a good source of Omega 3 oils. Eating cod, mackerel and salmon are good sources of this type of oil. They are heart healthy foods. The only way to get Omega 3 oils is through the food you eat because your body does not make them naturally.<br /> <br /> Be selective with the types of carbohydrates you consume. With the right kind of carbohydrates, sugar enters your bloodstream slowly. With foods that are digested slowly, you will avoid the sugar rush and will stabilize blood sugars. Fruits like apples, pears, plums, and peaches are good examples of foods that balance your blood sugars. Apple juice is not because it is digested quickly and the sugar enters your bloodstream quickly.<br /> <br /> Eat vegetables with many colors. This is an easy trick to make sure you are getting the right nutrients and vitamins. The rule of thumb is that the more colors the more nutrient rich the vegetable is. Color indicates the trace minerals and elements, enzymes, and other nutrient that can not be reproduced in a laboratory.<br /> <br /> Take your time when you eat. It is best to eat slowly. Avoid eating on the run. It is better to savor your food with long meals with family and friends. A long leisurely meal is relaxing and reduces stress. Our hectic lifestyles are a constant source of unhappiness in society. It is healthy to eat slowly. Try to do half the things in twice the time.<br /> <br /> Following these simple steps will help you have a <A href="http://www.x2zero.com">metabolic makeover</A>. You will have more energy and be more mentally alert. It will help build your immune system. After a while on this type of diet, urges and craving to overeat will go away. You will sleep better at night. It does not take long to realize the benefits of this life style.<br /> <br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawresource'><br /> <div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawabout'><br /> About the Author:<br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawlinks'><a href="http://www.x2zero.com">Read more about</a> Planning A Diet For A Metabolic Makeover visiting our website.</div><br /> </div><br />

Planning A Diet For A Metabolic Makeover

By Lila Barry There are some eating habits that will help with a metabolic makeover. Having a checklist to follow is the easy way to sti...

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Insuring the Terminal Patient | Gray Connections blog

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">When I returned home from my recent road trip, a letter from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois (my health insurance company, also known as BCBSIL) was waiting for me. Even though I already knew they denied my appeal for last September's biopsy, I was amazed at how quickly I transitioned from tired but happy traveler to enraged cancer patient.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The upshot of their message was this:</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"You already have metastatic lung cancer. A biopsy won't change the fact that you're going to die from cancer."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The statement probably came from the independent "physician who specializes in Internal Medicine/Pulmonary Disease" who reviewed my appeal. You can judge for yourself whether I'm overreacting from this excerpt. I bolded some words for emphasis.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><em style="font-style: italic; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; ">" … in this case the member is already known to have progressive Stage IV Bronchogenic carcinoma even after therapy. Specifically identifying the histopathology of this right upper lobe lesion <strong style="font-weight: bold; ">is not going to affect long-term health outcomes</strong>."</em></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Boy, do I feel special.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">A Bit of Background</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Up till now, I really couldn't complain about my insurance coverage. I'm fortunate enough to have Boeing Traditional Retiree medical insurance through my husband, and it's paid for almost everything related to my cancer diagnosis and treatment (except for 10 cents of each carbo-taxol chemotherapy — go figure). I thought I had the gold standard of enlightened coverage.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">After my first recurrence of cancer, which gave me my stage IV determination in October 2011, a large ugly tumor grew fast above my right collarbone. It was 3 inches long after about 2 months. In January 2012 I started second line chemo — 6 rounds of Alimta-Avastin which shrunk the tumor almost 90% — followed by radiation.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Six weeks after this second line treatment, a PET-CT scan showed the little sucker was dead. However, two new nodules had formed in my formerly-clear right lung. The nodules glowed hot enough on the PET scan to make them highly suspicious for cancer, but only a biopsy could determine whether the nodules were cancer, radiation pneumonitis (lung inflammation) or <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bronchiolitis-obliterans/AN00307" style="color: rgb(221, 84, 36); text-decoration: none; ">BOOP</a>. BOOP stands for Bronchiolitis Obliterans with Organizing Pneumonia, a pneumonia-like condition that sometimes occurs in lung tissue after radiation in nearby tissue. If one or both nodules were cancer, I needed to go back on chemo — probably Alimta, which was effective against my cancer but eventually made me feel like I had the flu for three weeks out of every month. If one or both were pneumonitis or BOOP, I needed to go back on prednisone, an oral steroid with unpleasant side effects. We weren't looking for<a href="http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/non-small-cell-lung/healthprofessional/page2" style="color: rgb(221, 84, 36); text-decoration: none; ">lung cancer histology</a>, although that would have been interesting info to have. Histology can determine whether a new cancer tumor is the same type of cancer as the patient's previous tumor. A different tumor type might indicate a different type of treatment would be useful.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">One of my nodules was too small to biopsy. The larger nodule was not accessible by more common biopsy methods of needle biopsy through the chest wall or <a href="http://www.seattlecca.org/endobronchial-ultrasound.cfm" style="color: rgb(221, 84, 36); text-decoration: none; ">endobronchial ultrasound</a>. My pulmonologist recommended using the newer <a href="http://www.csmedcenter.com/Our%20Services/Pages/Electromagnetic%20Navigation%20Bronchoscopy.aspx" style="color: rgb(221, 84, 36); text-decoration: none; ">electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy</a> (EMN) to determine if the nodule were cancer or something else. We knew BCBSIL would probably not pay for the procedure because they have a policy stating EMN is "experimental" for all situations (despite the fact that Medicare pays for EMN and 2013 treatment guidelines list EMN as an acceptable diagnostic). BCBSIL had denied all EMN claims made to date by my hospital.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">When BCBSIL denied the claim, I appealed. I explained my treatment history, including that my cancer is aggressive, and we needed to know if the nodule were BOOP or cancer to give me appropriate treatment. My doctor reviewed my letter and wrote a letter of his own to stick in the packet. I included scan CDs and appropriate medical reports.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Evidently that wasn't enough. Because, well, I'm gonna die anyway.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">FYI, the biopsy showed inflammation, but no cancer cells. The tumor board thought it was radiation pneumonitis; my pulmonologist wasn't so sure. We tried prednisone for a month, but it had no effect. A follow-up CT one month after the biopsy showed the biopsied nodule was unchanged, while the other nodule had grown by 50%. My pulmonologist and oncologist agreed I needed to restart chemotherapy.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="font-weight: bold; ">Misinterpreting Long-Term Health Outcomes</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">What frosts me about this letter is that a "specialist" decided there was no urgency to get a biopsy because it wouldn't change my "long-term health outcome." Did he expect me to go on steroids AND chemo (both of which have a significant impact on quality of life) in case one of them MIGHT work? Or do nothing, since I'm going to die anyway? Well, here's a news flash: we're ALL going to die! The purpose of medicine is to keep us as healthy as possible while delaying that inevitable long-term outcome as long as possible.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Unfortunately, such statements from doctors are not an uncommon occurrence for lung cancer patients. Many members of Inspire's Lung Cancer Support Forum who've been diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer have been told, "There's nothing more I can do."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">My biggest frustration is that in my case – and for an increasing number of lung cancer patients — the doomsday doctor is WRONG. I'm a perfect example of a stage IV patient who has a good prospect for years of a reasonably active life despite my disease.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I was lucky to have enough slides from a 2011 biopsy to have the University of Colorado test my tumor for the relatively new ROS1 genetic mutation in my tumor tissue. Because I tested positive for ROS1, I was able to enter a clinical trial for the targeted therapy crizotinib, a drug which inhibits my ROS1-driven cancer. The trial treatment eliminated both nodules and has given me No Evidence of Disease Status for five months. I am once again able to enjoy traveling, writing, and doing things with my family. If I had not had leftover biopsy slides, an EMN biopsy would have been my only opportunity to obtain enough tissue to test for ROS1. Without that ROS1 trial and crizotinib, I might be dead by now.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.692307em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Doctors who don't keep current on new treatment options and then decide a biopsy "is not going to affect long-term health outcomes" for metastatic lung cancer patients are insuring those patients will die sooner rather than later.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.692307em; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Bitter, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">That's not the kind of health insurance I want. Do you?</p></div><a href="http://grayconnections.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/insuring-the-terminal-patient/">http://grayconnections.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/insuring-the-terminal-patient/</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Insuring the Terminal Patient | Gray Connections blog

When I returned home from my recent road trip, a letter from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois (my health insurance company, also known as ...

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One Of The Best Ways To Burn Fat

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Pete Fry</div><br /><br /> <div class='uawarticle'>There are many methods of burning fat, but one of the best is interval training! Interval training is made up of periods of effort and periods of rest. Workouts should be short and intense as this is way to get the best fat loss results!<br /> <br /> Long slow cardio like jogging is commonly thought to be the best kind of training for fat loss but you have to do a lot of it before you see any results. Conversely, a quality interval workout can take only 15 minutes!<br /> <br /> There are many approaches to interval training - you can run, use bodyweight exercises like squats and even dumbbell exercises. What more important though, is the intensity - the more intense the better, and the more explosive your exercises, the better.<br /> <br /> To perform a running interval workout, conduct a full warm up and then complete the following 4 times - Sprint 200m, then rest 90 seconds.<br /> <br /> Perform the sprints as quickly as you can. Training in this way works your muscles hard and you will produce a lot of lactic acid in response. This in turn can help you burn a lot of fat. You can also perform interval with other great fat loss exercises, like burpees.<br /> <br /> Burpees are great exercise that challenge your whole body. To perform a burpee, start standing, then crouch down and get yourself into the bottom of a pressup position. Then stand back up as quickly as possible, jump, and clap you hands above you head as you do so.<br /> <br /> Here's how to perform an interval workout using burpees...perform as many burpees as you can in 1 minute. Rest 60 - 120 seconds. Repeat 3 -5 times. But beware ! Burpees are evil so go easy if you've never done them before!<br /> <br /> Interval workouts like this are a great way to burn fat as they focus your effort around high-intensity training, which is one of the great secrets of fat loss!<br /> <br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawresource'><br /> <div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawabout'><br /> About the Author:<br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawlinks'>Learn more about how to <a href='http://www.myweeklyworkout.com'>burn fat</a>. Stop by Pete Fry's site where you can find out all about <a href='http://www.myweeklyworkout.com/fat-burning-workouts/'>Fat Burning Workouts</a> and 15 minute fat loss.</div><br /> </div><br />

One Of The Best Ways To Burn Fat

By Pete Fry There are many methods of burning fat, but one of the best is interval training! Interval training is made up of periods of ...

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Walmart says it won't spy on workers anymore

We'll see about that.<br /><br />At least for now, Walmart and its public relations firm say they won't spy illegally on their workers.<br /><br />Last year, a flack named Zoe Mitchell pretended to be a journalist at a press conference and interviewed a warehouse worker.<br /><br />She got caught.<br /><br />Here's what happened next, according to <a href="http://www.warehouseworkersunited.org/walmart-settles-fake-reporter-saga/">Warehouse Workers United</a>, a Teamster-supported group that aims to improve working conditions for warehouse workers in California's Inland Empire:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Walmart and Mercury Public Affairs agreed to destroy any recordings made at a press conference last year that was co-sponsored by Warehouse Workers United and the<a href="http://launionaflcio.org/"> Los Angeles County Federation of Labor</a>. The companies settled to avoid a trial after federal authorities investigated and authorized a complaint over a federal charge filed by Warehouse Workers United. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">At the June 2012 press conference, warehouse worker Santos Castaneda was interviewed by a Mercury Public Affairs staffer posing as a student journalist. The public relations agent said her name was Zoe Mitchell and that she was a journalism student at the University of Southern California. The next week, the same woman appeared at a press event in front of the proposed location for a Walmart in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. This time she used her real identity, Stephanie Harnett, and said she was representing Walmart.</blockquote>At least someone has a sense of humor about the incident:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw0bX_DHReg9oBcM_uc-3BOHRa7YqXBAU8BayM32PLIzHt_rNYCS2eEpgFXi0zgATXB_0WQQ1aupRUB9RDtO0AzbvQBc6vOEf4guNKrq4PZPZy8Lni-DBuWZEJGmhTbjEQqRaN7yjnYiaf/s1024/walmart+creates+jobs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw0bX_DHReg9oBcM_uc-3BOHRa7YqXBAU8BayM32PLIzHt_rNYCS2eEpgFXi0zgATXB_0WQQ1aupRUB9RDtO0AzbvQBc6vOEf4guNKrq4PZPZy8Lni-DBuWZEJGmhTbjEQqRaN7yjnYiaf/s400/walmart+creates+jobs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>

Walmart says it won't spy on workers anymore

We'll see about that. At least for now, Walmart and its public relations firm say they won't spy illegally on their workers. Last ye...

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Buffalo first responders ready to walk from private equity firm offer

A bad situation is getting worse each day for our brother and sister first responders at Local 375 in Buffalo. A big, greedy, private-equity firm that has no business in emergency medical services is trying to cut their health care and making a miserly wage offer.<br /><br />Warburg, Pincus is the private-equity firm that owns Rural/Metro Medical Services. Last week they submitted a crappy contract offer. The workers, represented by Teamsters Local 375, will vote on the contract tomorrow and Wednesday.<br /><br />Kevin C. Drysdale, president of Teamsters Local 375, said there is little chance workers will support the current offer. He said in a press <a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/private-equity-firm-warburg-pincus-greed-harming-first-responders-western-new-york">statement</a>:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Their greedy bargaining position is not good for the working families of Western New York or the public in general.</blockquote>Once the offer is rejected, the Teamsters will issue a required 10-day notice permitting job actions -- can you say "strike?" -- throughout greater Buffalo. That is, unless Warburg Pincus allows Rural/Metro to negotiate a reasonable wage and benefits package. <br /><br />The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service worked with both sides, but Rural/Metro seemed unwilling to negotiate in good faith with their employees. The current contract expired June 30.<br /><br />Stay tuned.

Buffalo first responders ready to walk from private equity firm offer

A bad situation is getting worse each day for our brother and sister first responders at Local 375 in Buffalo. A big, greedy, private-equity...

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Old School New Body- Does Old School New Body Work?

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Jasmine Hargreaves</div><br /><br /> <div class='uawarticle'>Old School New Body is an distinctive training curriculum developed by Steve Holman (the specific Editor-in-Chief of one using the oldest and also hottest physical fitness magazines: Batman Magazine).<br /> <br /> It's particularly and exclusively tailored to assist people turn back connection between getting older since they shed the pounds, shape their own muscle, and also regain themselves.<br /> <br /> These techniques regarding youth-enhancing fitness as well as fat loss are actually hard to find. It has the routines, the nourishment plans, and also the motion steps just about all into a single short, an easy task to read, straightforward handbook folks could examine and put directly into action within 2-3 hours.<br /> <br /> Old School New Body mostly contains several stages in which reveal the points people totally must prevent if individuals actually want to sluggish growing older, maintain their health and have their best body! Step one is Overlook Low-Fat Diets.<br /> <br /> Fat should not being feared! Actually, they do not get people to fat, as an alternative, they can assist people physique regenerate strength hormones. Individuals on reduced fat diets appear drawn, gaunt and also weak, as well as the result is they are often unwell, sometimes even wearing down!<br /> <br /> The F4X Method includes a few phases, and every phase was created to give folks precisely what individuals desire for themselves. Phase you are F4X Lean, Period two is really F4X Shape as well as Phase 3 is F4X Develop.<br /> <br /> Everything individuals need to know continues to be condensed towards the simple manual Old School New Body System. That shows folks the quickest approach to shape themselves, the mistake they ought to avoid, the answer and the outcomes which are confirmed throughout years!<br /> <br /> This method remains safe and secure, proven and also doesn't include any kind of crazy jokes, health intimidating or negatives that promise amazing results with no effort.<br /> <br /> Old School New Body simply harps going back to methods that currently have stood test of time again and again and includes them each other to produce a be noticeable and effective exercise routine.<br /> <br /> This program demands user in order to devote a couple of minutes daily to find out noticeable results.<br /> <br /> After A few months of keeping the principles talked about in the system, they can have a much a leaner plus more robust body. they just need to dedicate at least 1 hour Half an hour a week and in addition follow the suggestions carefully, so they can enhance their body's look. <br /> <br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawresource'><br /> <div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawabout'><br /> About the Author:<br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawlinks'>Visit this link if you want to learn more about this product <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg1xaWl-dcU">Old School New Body</a>.</div><br /> </div><br />

Old School New Body- Does Old School New Body Work?

By Jasmine Hargreaves Old School New Body is an distinctive training curriculum developed by Steve Holman (the specific Editor-in-Chief ...

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Student loan interest rates double. Congress takes vacation.

Working Americans with dreams of attending college themselves or sending their children there are now being saddled with additional costs due to congressional inaction. Overnight the student loan rate doubled to 6.8 percent, meaning the average college student will pay an additional $2,600 for their education, according to Congress' <a href="http://www.jec.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=d7937b2f-e01c-4721-8b8b-09f5776725a1">Joint Economic Committee</a>.<br /><br />Higher education, already out of reach for many, just became more so. And why? Because lawmakers cannot come to a consensus on a policy. Instead they just let the interest rates on new federal Stafford loans go up. The federal government should not be balancing the budget on the backs of the nation's future generations.<br /><br />The potential damage that could come from the higher lending rate is staggering, according to experts. Ted Beck, president and chief executive officer of the National Endowment for Financial Education, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/06/30/student-loan-debt-economic-effects/2388189/">said</a> a lifetime of student loan debt could become the new American normal if changes aren't made:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">You could have generations that never get in the economic mainstream. If you never get into the whole U.S. economic system because you've been held back by too much debt ... we could have a lot of people who just never really come anywhere near their potential.</blockquote>The same USA Today article details how there could also be a trickle-down effect on the entire economy caused by higher loan rates. More and more, those who do go to college will have to put off home ownership, contributing to their retirement or qualifying for such things as car and small business loans.<br /><br />James P. Hoffa, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said it best when he explained in a recent<a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/congress-needs-take-action-keep-college-affordable"> column </a>how higher student loan rates would hurt working- and middle-class families:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Higher education has long been the stepping stone to a better life.  But that stone is being swept away by a tide of student debt.</blockquote>Thankfully, Congress can still take action to minimize the damage. Senate Democrats are likely to bring to the floor a measure next week that would roll back the increase and extend the former 3.4 percent loan rate another year. But the longer-term answer is to comprehensively revamp the system, something Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is advocating. <br /><br />Whatever the solution, Capitol Hill shouldn't jeopardize the future by punishing today's students.

Student loan interest rates double. Congress takes vacation.

Working Americans with dreams of attending college themselves or sending their children there are now being saddled with additional costs du...

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How taxpayers are revolting against privatization

State and local governments are starting to end the looting of the taxpayer by for-profit corporations.<br /><br />So says the <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/">Center for Media and Democrac</a>y, our indispensable friends who have done so much to expose ALEC as an escort service for corporations and state lawmakers. ALEC relentlessly peddles its influence to turn state and local services over to predatory corporations.<br /><br />In a recent <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/06/12153/pushback-against-privatization-across-country">post</a> by Brendan Fischer, CMD tells us that voters are trying to restore control over public services in New Jersey, Texas, California and Kentucky: <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">In New Jersey, legislation to ensure that public services won't be privatized unless it will result in actual savings for taxpayers has passed both chambers of the legislature. In Texas, a bipartisan coalition is fighting against a private prison in Montgomery County, and Kentucky is rejecting private prisons altogether. And in Fresno, California, voters rejected a proposal backed by the city's popular mayor to privatize trash collection services.</blockquote>Here's what's happened:<br /><ul><li>In New Jersey, a first-in-the-nation bill to crack down on predatory privatizers is on Gov. Chris Christie's desk.  It would ban privatization contracts that save money by cutting services or raising rates, and requires companies to pay workers comparable wages and benefits. </li><li>In Texas, Tea Party groups are joining with others to oppose GEO Group's purchase of a prison in Montgomery County.</li><li>Kentucky is not renewing its contract with the private prison company Corrections Corporation of America, the fifth contract cancellation for CCA in a month.</li><li>Fresno, Calif., voters this month rejected a plan to outsource trash service for the city's 500,000 residents to a private company, which would cut pay for the workers. Opponents of privatization were outspent 3-to-1, but they prevailed anyway.</li></ul>Donald Cohen, who chairs <a href="http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/">In the Public Interest</a>, said: <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">...when taxpayers see what they lose by handing over control of their roads, prisons and other services, they don’t want anything to do with outsourcing.</blockquote>Yup.

How taxpayers are revolting against privatization

State and local governments are starting to end the looting of the taxpayer by for-profit corporations. So says the Center for Media and Dem...

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Sunday was my "off" day

I everyone,  Sunday was my day off from blogging.  Instead, I spent the day creating my facebook fan page Belviq Daily Personal.  This page is about me taking Belviq Daily and my person quest to lose weight by eating right.  I will post pictures of things I ate during the day.  Please stop by and like my page.  Every 100 likes the page gets, I will pick a random name of someone to give me an workout idea to try in the gym.  I will video my attempt and whether I passed or failed at it.  So, please go like and you could be the one to inflict pain! ha!<br /><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/#!/BelviqDailyPersonal?fref=ts">https://www.facebook.com/#!/BelviqDailyPersonal?fref=ts</a><br /><br />I never realized what I was getting in to with my blog.  It all came about on Twitter.  Follow me @ewenker and you can go back and read for yourself.  Overwhelming and exciting at the same time.  MAYBE, just maybe I can get a sponsor to help cover the cost of Belviq.  It's really expensive and my insurance does not cover it.  Fingers crossed..........ANY TAKERS?????<br /><br />Today, my mom would be 71 years old.  She passed away 3 years ago from bladder cancer.  It was then when I began my way to the biggest I have ever been.  I do alot of emotional eating.  Today, normally, would be no different.  The difference with today is, I couldn't force myself to eat with Belviq so it is preventing me from going on a binge.  I am very thankful!!<br /><br />I want to thank everyone for following my progress.  I am determined, more than ever, to make this work!!!  I now have way too many eyes on me, and I would be embarrassed to fail!!!!!  So, keep them coming ya'll!!!!!!!! <br /><br />More later.........

Sunday was my "off" day

I everyone,  Sunday was my day off from blogging.  Instead, I spent the day creating my facebook fan page Belviq Daily Personal.  This page ...

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A Teamster writes: In unity there is dignity

Brother Charles Wilkinson, a Teamster retiree from Local 222 in Provo, Utah, writes a wonderful op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune. We thought we'd share some of it with you. To read the whole thing, click <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/56488914-82/dignity-working-thank-labor.html.csp">here</a>.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">...maybe the most important definition of dignity is this: the quiet knowledge of self-worth that lies within the human heart. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">I have known and worked with folks who labored physically. They came to work clean but returned to their homes tired, with soiled clothes and hands. They held no official position, had no title and were not part of a privileged class. But most of them had a sense of dignity. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Many working people, though not all, struggle with their own self-worth. Perhaps they are underpaid and treated in the work place as if they are of no importance. Or perhaps they have been taught that a life of labor is undignified and not a desirable way to earn an income. I know many who feel this way... </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">I plead with working people, no matter what your position, not to accept this evaluation. All work, no matter what the duty, is of great importance to an organization. </blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6YaIloYtRd7dPlajuu_q5s7vvQXU2Sxxck_IuJuoOBzvzb3oGXUXprObZDKI7m4-YyFsBgBpnSAidaKjC7R6bofKuMu60NusnhlnTn2_LTWC9vP-nRItYXcKa1r6BrD3Q2CyZCPURSt3J/s960/wilkinson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6YaIloYtRd7dPlajuu_q5s7vvQXU2Sxxck_IuJuoOBzvzb3oGXUXprObZDKI7m4-YyFsBgBpnSAidaKjC7R6bofKuMu60NusnhlnTn2_LTWC9vP-nRItYXcKa1r6BrD3Q2CyZCPURSt3J/s200/wilkinson.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">Every politician who puts on his fine suit and shoes each morning should thank the tailor for the skill it took to make his clothing; thank the sheep man for the wool; thank the cotton farmer and the field hand; thank the truck driver for transporting the materials to market; thank the maintenance people who clean the building where the manufacturing took place and the machinist for the necessary machines... </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">There are occasions when a businessman threatens a working person with: "You can easily be replaced." He is right. As an individual, you can be replaced. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">But that is when dignity can be maintained through unity. Alone, we may be at the mercy of an unjust tyrant, but together, working people can demand the respect they so well deserve. Yes, you, the person who prepares fast food, or who stocks the shelves on the night shift at the big-box store. You, who empties the trash and sweeps the floor. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">You are invaluable to that organization and are a valuable part of our society. Let no one try to persuade you otherwise. You, laborers, are worthy of a living wage, health care, shelter from the storm and whatever else is necessary to live a life with dignity. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">But you can only accomplish this through unity.</blockquote>Brother Wilkinson runs a terrific Facebook page, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/267405143716/?fref=ts">Friends of Teamsters Local 222</a>, which is well worth reading. Just click <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/267405143716/?fref=ts">here</a>.<br /><br />

unions A Teamster writes: In unity there is dignity

Brother Charles Wilkinson, a Teamster retiree from Local 222 in Provo, Utah, writes a wonderful op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune. We thought w...

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American Way of Birth, Costliest in the World - NYTimes.com

Seven months pregnant, at a time when most expectant couples are stockpiling diapers and choosingcar seats, Renée Martin was struggling with bigger purchases.<br /><br><br /><br>At a prenatal class in March, she was told about epiduralanesthesia and was given the option of using a birthing tub during labor. To each offer, she had one gnawing question: "How much is that going to cost?"<br /><br><br /><br>Though Ms. Martin, 31, and her husband, Mark Willett, are both professionals with health insurance, her current policy does not cover maternity care. So the couple had to approach the nine months that led to the birth of their daughter in May like an extended shopping trip though the American health care bazaar, sorting through an array of maternity services that most often have no clear price and — with no insurer to haggle on their behalf — trying to negotiate discounts from hospitals and doctors.<br /><br><br /><br>When she became pregnant, Ms. Martin called her local hospital inquiring about the price of maternity care; the finance office at first said it did not know, and then gave her a range of $4,000 to $45,000. "It was unreal," Ms. Martin said. "I was like, How could you not know this? You're a hospital."<br /><br><br /><br>Midway through her pregnancy, she fought for a deep discount on a $935 bill for anultrasound, arguing that she had already paid a radiologist $256 to read the scan, which took only 20 minutes of a technician's time using a machine that had been bought years ago. She ended up paying $655. "I feel like I'm in a used-car lot," said Ms. Martin, a former art gallery manager who is starting graduate school in the fall.<br /><br><br /><br>Like Ms. Martin, plenty of other pregnant women are getting sticker shock in the United States, where charges for delivery have about tripled since 1996, according to an analysis done for The New York Times by Truven Health Analytics. Childbirth in the United States is uniquely expensive, and maternity and newborn care constitute thesingle biggest category of hospital payouts for most commercial insurers and state Medicaid programs. The cumulative costs of approximately four million annual births is well over $50 billion.<br /><br><br /><br>And though maternity care costs far less in other developed countries than it does in the United States, studies show that their citizens do not have less access to care or to high-tech care during pregnancy than Americans.<br /><br><br /><br>"It's not primarily that we get a different bundle of services when we have a baby," said Gerard Anderson, an economist at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health who studies international health costs. "It's that we pay individually for each service and pay more for the services we receive."<br /><br><br /><br>Those payment incentives for providers also mean that American women with normal pregnancies tend to get more of everything, necessary or not, from blood tests to ultrasound scans, said Katy Kozhimannil, a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health who studies the cost of women's health care.<br /><br><br /><br>Financially, they suffer the consequences. In 2011, 62 percent of women in the United States covered by private plans that were not obtained through an employer lacked maternity coverage, like Ms. Martin. But even many women with coverage are feeling the pinch as insurers demand higher co-payments and deductibles and exclude many pregnancy-related services.<br /><br><br /><br>From 2004 to 2010, the prices that insurers paid for childbirth — one of the most universal medical encounters — rose 49 percent for vaginal births and 41 percent for Caesarean sections in the United States, with average out-of-pocket costs rising fourfold, according to a recent report by Truven that was commissioned by three health care groups. The average total price charged for pregnancy and newborn care was about $30,000 for a vaginal delivery and $50,000 for a C-section, with commercial insurers paying out an average of $18,329 and $27,866, the report found.<br /><br><br /><br>Women with insurance pay out of pocket an average of $3,400, according to a survey byChildbirth Connection, one of the groups behind the maternity costs report. Two decades ago, women typically paid nothing other than a small fee if they opted for a private hospital room or television.<br /><br><br /><br>In most other developed countries, comprehensive maternity care is free or cheap for all, considered vital to ensuring the health of future generations.<br /><br><br /><br>Ireland, for example, guarantees free maternity care at public hospitals, though women can opt for private deliveries for a fee. The average price spent on a normal vaginal delivery tops out at about $4,000 in Switzerland, France and the Netherlands, where charges are limited through a combination of regulation and price setting; mothers pay little of that cost.<br /><br><br /><br>The chasm in price is true even though new mothers in France and elsewhere often remain in the hospital for nearly a week to heal and learn to breast-feed, while American women tend to be discharged a day or two after birth, since insurers do not pay costs for anything that is not considered medically necessary.<br /><br><br /><br>More ...<br /><br><br /><br><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/health/american-way-of-birth-costliest-in-the-world.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/health/american-way-of-birth-costliest-in-the-world.html</a>?

American Way of Birth, Costliest in the World - NYTimes.com

Seven months pregnant, at a time when most expectant couples are stockpiling diapers and choosingcar seats, Renée Martin was struggling with...

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Learning to love

<div class="title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: left;">Yes, I'm fine.<i> </i>Thank you so much for your comments and emails and words of support.  I'm fine, really I am.  I'm emotional and this is a place for me to vent.  </div><div class="title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: left;">A little over 13 years ago, he brought me from what was one of the deepest darkest moments in my life.  I was broken in the truest sense of broken.  I was newly out of a really bad relationship (which was rebound from another bad situation).  I didn't have much money or a roof over my head.  Family was never there for me.  I had no friends left, I'd alienated myself from them for what I thought was love.  I was seriously contemplating suicide.  It was that bad.  He didn't ask questions (haha, now I know why).  He was just there.  He kept food in my belly, a warm place to live, comfort in normalcy and a way to carry on.  He was then and always will my hero.</div><div class="title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: left;">My hero isn't perfect and neither am I.  </div><div class="title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: left;">You have to learn how to love.  He is still learning that love is a verb.  It is something evolving.  It is a bucket that gets filled and then spills into the other's bucket, then overflows back into yours.  It takes effort and it's an ongoing constant process.<br /><br />Sometimes I think that I deserve better (I do) and that someone else could give me what I need (probably could) BUT that imaginary person isn't the one I love.  And I won't give up on love.  </div><div class="title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv7d-B8Vr0MLJWaen-EGuSL2a_czcXjSpMqZv61O5AvvhJ6Lti5lFdNHlOocvMHQysm0iIu0r-g8U5dwkBkNqo_3pk92ADwtV87a23y8ut8Z9zNALWCwEMO-UzlASKrXLkPbNxj1Hd5wE/s1600/IMG_3252.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv7d-B8Vr0MLJWaen-EGuSL2a_czcXjSpMqZv61O5AvvhJ6Lti5lFdNHlOocvMHQysm0iIu0r-g8U5dwkBkNqo_3pk92ADwtV87a23y8ut8Z9zNALWCwEMO-UzlASKrXLkPbNxj1Hd5wE/s320/IMG_3252.JPG" width="240" /></a>I spent the afternoon with my other love, this chubby pony right here.  I stare into the soul of the one that stares back into mine.  The eyes are that gateway and his are soft and kind, like a little doe. We spent hours together in the grass while I listened to the sweet music of his content grazing.  No expectations, no work, no nothing.  The grass was always greener under my butt so he had me in giggles as he shoved me around to get it.  I'd move away and he'd creep back, again and again. It's a magnetic attraction between us.<br /><br />He's a sassy little thing and sometimes hard to handle... just like me.  He's hurt me and I kept believing in him.  Once we came to an understanding, he never hurt me again.  Together we can be graceful, jump, romp or just simply go for a walk.  I can sit on him in the field, my skin on his, feeling his every breath and sometimes even his heartbeat under my legs.  He was previously misunderstood and was given up on by others.  I wouldn't give up on him though.  You see, he hadn't known love and he hadn't learned to trust.  He had no reason to until I came along. I didn't bully him as others had.  I stayed by his side, forgave the idiotic stuff, and in time he learned to love.  We learned how to understand and we grew together.  <br /><br />So when I look at my husband I see the same thing.  I see the same depth of character.  Misunderstood, especially when you read the words that spew through my hurt feelings. I'd accepted our relationship for what it was for many years.  Now I know I don't have to.  Communication and love (the verb) <i>will</i> get better <i>in time</i> because I'm determined to make it happen.  I won't pressure, I won't bully, but I won't back down in my efforts either.<br /><br />(this post was edited because it got too personal and not as anonymous as it should be) </div>

Learning to love

Yes, I'm fine. Thank you so much for your comments and emails and words of support.  I'm fine, really I am.  I'm emotional and ...

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Videocon launches new smart phone with best features whatever style, color, brand phone, you will find every kind in this phone

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;">The smartphone market is going to become  famous day by day. Every day there debuted smartphones in variety  style, color, features, brand phone applications or we can say all kind of things. So there some contains smart looks, some high speed processor , some great features or some less cost but durable in nature.<br /><br />In this series videocon company has launched a new smart  phone last night Videocon A55HD model in India. There after the coming of Videocon, Spice and Lava can get high competition. Now there would be a match between smartphone. This  phone has quad - core processor and  lots of other great features which  make this phone very attractive.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhktzAgt22nirMjzm9ctClhciqCkC_K9zJRXtcJ8wMdTezB_shq5EC95CPARGgthW_9PNsD31g_vxs4x970d8u3bPQ2JJGPiRp_sSK9RLVBowB2-s4Hj-FSJ09f6WaeFBBmQQEhOQ2TyLs/s600/vediocon+a55hd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhktzAgt22nirMjzm9ctClhciqCkC_K9zJRXtcJ8wMdTezB_shq5EC95CPARGgthW_9PNsD31g_vxs4x970d8u3bPQ2JJGPiRp_sSK9RLVBowB2-s4Hj-FSJ09f6WaeFBBmQQEhOQ2TyLs/s320/vediocon+a55hd.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">videoconA55HD</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><b>Display</b><br /><b><br /></b>This phone has 5 inch capacitive touch screen with 720 mp high resolution. The screen of the phone is  very attractive and large.You will also like the body of phone<br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAYUHvpds0LQ9FDRLCltHSjxBemgZuxqm7pRQ3uPJqG0LFgtCKIZqsVHniJnRdSFtQbgkMFbDr3j6m7Wjq41_DmHLcDiPziN17oxiqsA9yZLLaSONJxR9D3MWlxhD8Ev9D28oiQUkxgc/s600/vediocon1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAYUHvpds0LQ9FDRLCltHSjxBemgZuxqm7pRQ3uPJqG0LFgtCKIZqsVHniJnRdSFtQbgkMFbDr3j6m7Wjq41_DmHLcDiPziN17oxiqsA9yZLLaSONJxR9D3MWlxhD8Ev9D28oiQUkxgc/s320/vediocon1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Display of videocon A55HD</td></tr></tbody></table>.<br /><br /><b>Battery and Power</b><br /><br />2000 mAh Li-ion battery of this phone gives the relief  again and again the problem of charging the phone will get salvation.If there we talk about the power of this phone then it should be called high battery backup and high speed processor phone.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic_nYzv7b0TRPJCbIGmKwOBmFG1M6Lp8sPIVSvCDIrbtcqWDxQq7OQ3ZcEPiMfHqGibSVg-U5o8tZYEvdpmsFG2PzAvHv1g-9ncyZ01uY33MK08Hj2qQm-xjLaPRMWIr_xOujv62B68W0/s600/ved22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic_nYzv7b0TRPJCbIGmKwOBmFG1M6Lp8sPIVSvCDIrbtcqWDxQq7OQ3ZcEPiMfHqGibSVg-U5o8tZYEvdpmsFG2PzAvHv1g-9ncyZ01uY33MK08Hj2qQm-xjLaPRMWIr_xOujv62B68W0/s320/ved22.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">battery of videoconA55HD</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br />Vediocon A55HD Phone is a great and powerful phone. The phone offers a 1.2 GHz quad core processor. and we can get every kind of connectivity in this phone.<br /><br /><br /><b>Features</b><br /><br />This phone has many features that you will attracted. The phone spports an 8 megapixel rear camera and 3.2 megapixel web cam (front camera), too.You will enjoy superb 3G speed and Wi-Fi 802.11 will take you comfortably enjoy the Internet in this phone. The phone has the  features of autofocus and LED flash.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ZmaUrn_OPtKi8vy6dCQ2JvItH-stakw3ZP1ozJ8NSQau5LLPHa7qugcS_ktL0lujuTi5OQudcS4yMIrwo4bAEH0xJI1KTqT1rwUOfB6GV1ZVusBui37s5ShMCEVCNSUlgWFNUUN2hZU/s600/vediocon55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ZmaUrn_OPtKi8vy6dCQ2JvItH-stakw3ZP1ozJ8NSQau5LLPHa7qugcS_ktL0lujuTi5OQudcS4yMIrwo4bAEH0xJI1KTqT1rwUOfB6GV1ZVusBui37s5ShMCEVCNSUlgWFNUUN2hZU/s320/vediocon55.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">features videoconA55HD</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>Memory</b><br /><br />The memory of this smartphone is also great. Some users often complain the less internal memory. Now the phone company has tried to solve the problem. The phone have 4 GB internal memory and 32 GBextendable memory.With the help of SD card you can increase phone memory. and then also use memory  to install all app.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZgcznyOGzYRS5oY_n5rhQ9u2BEn11xTJ2ECs-rRtam0YwyEGaOHxu_wwiC6yzv1XO3cXS8E6JWH7b6hrtau679kVgJ_5RXezHEbQSXRiVNKDyxPG8u26VfQPfpFFvsAvyc7KhJOT520U/s600/vediocon66.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZgcznyOGzYRS5oY_n5rhQ9u2BEn11xTJ2ECs-rRtam0YwyEGaOHxu_wwiC6yzv1XO3cXS8E6JWH7b6hrtau679kVgJ_5RXezHEbQSXRiVNKDyxPG8u26VfQPfpFFvsAvyc7KhJOT520U/s320/vediocon66.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">memory of videocon A55HD</td></tr></tbody></table><br />COST<br /><br />It is a middle range phone in comparision cost of other phone. The company has its price 13499 rupees. </div></div>Published by <br /><a href="https://plus.google.com/102418621855646948908" rel="author">Narendra Kumar</a>

Accessories android asus hd pad computer Dispaly google musical phone news phone Technology videocon Videocon launches new smart phone with best features whatever style, color, brand phone, you will find every kind in this phone

The smartphone market is going to become  famous day by day. Every day there debuted smartphones in variety  style, color, features, brand p...

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Today's Teamster News 07.01.13

<a href="http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/new-study-shows-13-jobs-prone-offshore-outsourcing">New Study Shows 1/3 of Jobs Prone to Offshore Outsourcing</a>  Economic Populist   ...The occupational groups identified as being vulnerable to offshoring include office support (e.g., data entry and payroll clerks), auditors and tax preparers, computer programmers and software engineers, medical transcriptionists and paralegals, and technical writers...<br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/06/29/the_capital_of_exploitation_temp_town_usa_partner/">Without full-time jobs, workers flock to temp towns</a>  Salon   ...Short-term work has become a mainstay of the American economy, intensifying the rise in income inequality...<br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/business/an-unstoppable-climb-in-ceo-pay.html?pagewanted=all">An Unstoppable Climb in C.E.O. Pay </a> New York Times   ...the executive compensation analysis firm, found that the median 2012 pay package came in at $15.1 million — a leap of 16 percent from 2011. ..<br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/06/29/no_manufacturing_jobs_wont_revive_the_economy/">No, manufacturing jobs won’t revive the economy</a>  Salon   ...Stop claiming a factory boom will save the country and lift people up. Here's what these jobs really look like...<br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/30/nsa-spying-europe-claims-us-eu-trade">Key US-EU trade pact under threat after more NSA spying allegations </a> The Guardian   ...The prospects for a new trade pact between the US and the European Union worth hundreds of billions have suffered a severe setback following allegations that Washington bugged key EU offices and intercepted phonecalls and emails from top officials...<br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/06/28/new_bank_of_america_whistle_blower_emerges_more_customer_abuse/">New Bank of America whistle-blower emerges: More customer abuse secrets</a>  Salon   ...Bank of America whistle-blower details latest scheme to abuse homeowners, evade settlement rules and pocket cash...<br /><a href="http://wallstreetonparade.com/2013/06/mf-global-and-wall-street-whose-job-is-it-to-take-the-keys-away/">MF Global and Wall Street: Whose Job Is It To Take the Keys Away</a> (opinion)  Wall Street On Parade   ...Isn’t it the job of Congress to pass laws to ensure that checks and balances exist that prevent powerful men from gaming the system and dipping into customer funds to make casino bets...<br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/opinion/krugman-the-war-on-the-unemployed.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">War On the Unemployed</a> (opinion)  New York Times   ...there’s a nationwide movement under way to punish the unemployed, based on the proposition that we can cure unemployment by making the jobless even more miserable...<br /><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/07/20137162126149643.html">Protests overshadow football final in Brazil </a> al-Jazeera   ...Protesters hurling petrol bombs have clashed with riot police in Brazil at the Confederations Cup football match, overshadowing the host nation's victory over world champions Spain in the final...<br /><a href="http://www.benzinga.com/news/13/06/3718985/sci-rejects-last-and-best-offer-from-teamsters">SCI Rejects Last and Best Offer from Teamsters</a>  Benzinga   ...Houston-based funeral giant Service Corporation International ... rejected a last and best offer from Teamsters Local 727 and countered with its original proposal to eliminate the employees' pension, health and educational assistance benefits...

Today's Teamster News 07.01.13

New Study Shows 1/3 of Jobs Prone to Offshore Outsourcing  Economic Populist   ...The occupational groups identified as being vulnerable to...

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Fast day

<div>It's a fast day of 500 cals today. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Breakfast:</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcJPz2m-8dCXASB5xBXSLO8d3PnbntJRqTYlVn7wIad1nW3WA1dTB63VCpMdoj0eB1AwaeXGGv3w0gtN0ztmV8V0NmjfP_JgrMQ2n2kep1Ad4ocNJAjEoRW4RoyYeSbb4hoLRk1GA0WA5T/s640/blogger-image--17436010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcJPz2m-8dCXASB5xBXSLO8d3PnbntJRqTYlVn7wIad1nW3WA1dTB63VCpMdoj0eB1AwaeXGGv3w0gtN0ztmV8V0NmjfP_JgrMQ2n2kep1Ad4ocNJAjEoRW4RoyYeSbb4hoLRk1GA0WA5T/s640/blogger-image--17436010.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1puV5myV9HKRCPDmYxIwXrmknj-InnZMnplhdvOM6NwM0k_tTtaaG6zBIP9yDTtKMNY8Mq78LYymBMtNE6v_sZVOU7jgdufBY7xuF_1H3pmKA3Lock58nNr4XzAca_XZ28cJ0BeHNFT-J/s640/blogger-image--808975210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1puV5myV9HKRCPDmYxIwXrmknj-InnZMnplhdvOM6NwM0k_tTtaaG6zBIP9yDTtKMNY8Mq78LYymBMtNE6v_sZVOU7jgdufBY7xuF_1H3pmKA3Lock58nNr4XzAca_XZ28cJ0BeHNFT-J/s640/blogger-image--808975210.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Lunch: Hummus</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIXpP1H_BmXhE6wUD2zwcSeKag_4-q780df1sYUQllPuR-6z_-McdBjr9xiaX4sfzxCJyZyc4pRIxDElf9BFm1hPxtAMrtgJ31zEMr5sHte4lqCzhBNyboLogwKhIUjSRr4h_Fko6EVBUm/s640/blogger-image--1014856705.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIXpP1H_BmXhE6wUD2zwcSeKag_4-q780df1sYUQllPuR-6z_-McdBjr9xiaX4sfzxCJyZyc4pRIxDElf9BFm1hPxtAMrtgJ31zEMr5sHte4lqCzhBNyboLogwKhIUjSRr4h_Fko6EVBUm/s640/blogger-image--1014856705.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Dinner: Small bowl of All Bran & rocket leaves salad</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKm_BBTluQUKTIAMvAZiNqrzL-KMJplpJ_6xhlhRXYAYFs5DBtLORyVeQSoCs3unstsgJnfDmWTs5foSUP3Y3TbKN5XLGBkWUQKEzjQyl8eCam1N-DaUF-si1D7IZ0gr1c_ISdB3ES9pE/s640/blogger-image-1083480510.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKm_BBTluQUKTIAMvAZiNqrzL-KMJplpJ_6xhlhRXYAYFs5DBtLORyVeQSoCs3unstsgJnfDmWTs5foSUP3Y3TbKN5XLGBkWUQKEzjQyl8eCam1N-DaUF-si1D7IZ0gr1c_ISdB3ES9pE/s640/blogger-image-1083480510.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_fGA6qbD0zlvydoOd3YSYtMUiWkzN75M_sYioPM54UtDnUDpNiDPg28jxUsPc8-JAkHdPK7mH8rnSvXkt7bdtH241akxdLpi1TWJhyphenhyphen-E_QZgtx1FYW2IRFeeuZ53P406Ybha8BkrQmo91/s640/blogger-image-903795488.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_fGA6qbD0zlvydoOd3YSYtMUiWkzN75M_sYioPM54UtDnUDpNiDPg28jxUsPc8-JAkHdPK7mH8rnSvXkt7bdtH241akxdLpi1TWJhyphenhyphen-E_QZgtx1FYW2IRFeeuZ53P406Ybha8BkrQmo91/s640/blogger-image-903795488.jpg"></a></div><br></div>After work we got in to the hot tub for the first tine since we refilled.  The water was sparkling and perfectly warm.  It was divine.  After our soak we went straight to bed - surprisingly unhungry.  However, Ciaran did say he felt like making cheese and crackers even though he wasn't hungry but that it was just habit.  </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">It was Ciaran's first day fasting - men can eat 600 cals on the 5:2 diet. For breakfast he had muesli sprinkled with seeds.  Lunch was 2 poached eggs, half a tomato & a slice of multigrain toast. Dinner was a banana and an apple.  He then went for a physio session followed by a boxing class.  He got home about 15 mins before me at 8.30pm.</div><br></div><br></div>

Fast day

It's a fast day of 500 cals today.  Breakfast: Lunch: Hummus Dinner: Small bowl of All Bran & rocket leaves salad After work we got ...

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WaPost: 'Obama yet to leave a lasting legacy for Africa on the scale of Bush and Clinton'

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig-xLr7IN3Q3pN_zBAieochku5BCuOXMS5FbJNwShAVcFCMaetejkbB0qCSEet0Bw3WoWol9KUBhQ2XS1gMH_jAaYdyKNc6Pxnf7SH6b5Qnm-xsb_7W2HJDBR43tw1OwJ0XMJlW9s3kxc9/s720/George+W.+Bush+20+Africa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig-xLr7IN3Q3pN_zBAieochku5BCuOXMS5FbJNwShAVcFCMaetejkbB0qCSEet0Bw3WoWol9KUBhQ2XS1gMH_jAaYdyKNc6Pxnf7SH6b5Qnm-xsb_7W2HJDBR43tw1OwJ0XMJlW9s3kxc9/s400/George+W.+Bush+20+Africa.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Laura and George W. Bush in Zambia, June 30, 2013.</i></div><br />The pictures are all over Facebook showing Former President George W. Bush and wife Laura traveling Africa this week as they continue their humanitarian mission that began before leaving the White House four years ago.<br /><br />Slowly but surely liberals have begrudingly had to admit GWB has played a large role in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/bush-aids-policies-shadow-obama-in-africa/2013/06/30/0c8e023c-e1ac-11e2-aef3-339619eab080_story.html?tid=pm_world_pop">AIDs relief</a> that has been credited with saving millions of lives. The Bushes have been <a href="http://bearingdrift.com/2012/04/03/george-w-bush-not-endorsing-in-presidential-primary-is-no-mystery/">instrumental in other global health advances</a>, too, and are almost revered in that part of the world. <br /><br />President Barack Obama? Not so much, and the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/obama-yet-to-leave-a-lasting-legacy-for-africa-on-the-scale-of-bush-and-clinton/2013/06/28/2d47d9f2-dfc3-11e2-8cf3-35c1113cfcc5_story_1.html">Washington Post</a> has noticed:<br /><blockquote>Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush passed innovative Africa initiatives while in the White House and passionately continue their development work in the region in their presidential afterlife. Obama’s efforts here have not been so ambitious, despite his personal ties to the continent.</blockquote>It must be a tad awkward for Obama to find himself in Bush's shadow after spending the first four years of his administration blaming his predecessor for everything that went wrong in America. The Post notes that Obama is five years into his administration and just now on a major tour of Africa, just the second time while President:<br /><blockquote>His first major tour of Africa as president is coming just now, in his fifth year, while Bush and Clinton are frequent fliers to Africa. Bush even will be in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, next week at the same time as Obama, although they have no plans to meet. Instead, their wives plan to appear together at a summit on empowering African women organized by the George W. Bush Institute, with the former president in attendance.</blockquote>The people of Africa had expected more from America's first black president after he told them in his first year, "I have the blood of Africa in me."<br /><br />Meanwhile, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush captured the heart of Africa with work that continues to this day:<br /><blockquote>Clinton first drew extensive attention to Africa in 1998 when he made the longest trip ever by a U.S. president, with stops in six countries that had never before been visited by any occupant of the Oval Office. Bush’s trip this week is his third in 19 months to promote his Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon partnership to combat breast and cervical cancer in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. On this visit, he and his wife, Laura, plan to help renovate a cervical cancer screening and treatment clinic in Zambia before heading to Tanzania for the African First Ladies Summit advocating investment in programs for women and girls.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJI7N-R5ei14mySuFZE6ERRnUWTtuuULYNs3nQMCoTgzejuA9JbBUdOvurO4dnEkuOCLX3eMm3x8MbuVPiWd0d_X1Xvz9h83rTxg-ghPiSX_ynUoTUBiHfeG0mETAI7-4yIUgnpbEHa5jU/s640/George+W.+Bush+21+Afrida.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJI7N-R5ei14mySuFZE6ERRnUWTtuuULYNs3nQMCoTgzejuA9JbBUdOvurO4dnEkuOCLX3eMm3x8MbuVPiWd0d_X1Xvz9h83rTxg-ghPiSX_ynUoTUBiHfeG0mETAI7-4yIUgnpbEHa5jU/s400/George+W.+Bush+21+Afrida.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>After a week of renovating, President and Mrs. Bush opened the Mosi-Oa-Tunya clinic, a cervical cancer facility in Livingstone, Zambia. Their trip demonstrates their continued commitment to the people of Africa through the work of the global health initiative at the George W. Bush Institute. June 30, 2013</i></div><br />Photos from the <i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheBushCenter?fref=ts">George W. Bush Presidential Center</a></i>

Africa AIDS Relief Barack Obama Bill Clinton George W. Bush George W. Bush Presidential Center humanitarian mission Laura Bush Washington Post Zambia WaPost: 'Obama yet to leave a lasting legacy for Africa on the scale of Bush and Clinton'

Laura and George W. Bush in Zambia, June 30, 2013. The pictures are all over Facebook showing Former President George W. Bush and wife Laura...

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THE BALKAN CHESSBOARD: RUSSIA’S RUBLE DIPLOMACY AND EU INTERESTS

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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWH7wHJMtsVuYs7qmVosWZEQZNME5yTqUid-CB4wrfQHHikAputjMZM0KCjoW-0pVVzDWAN03xLgkaADXnWwod3vU6sSoAz3KT_WGxlesIPFK7nh8ZZOLDX9r5nHN6jcKG5KWBTPoMiqw9/s1600/balkans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWH7wHJMtsVuYs7qmVosWZEQZNME5yTqUid-CB4wrfQHHikAputjMZM0KCjoW-0pVVzDWAN03xLgkaADXnWwod3vU6sSoAz3KT_WGxlesIPFK7nh8ZZOLDX9r5nHN6jcKG5KWBTPoMiqw9/s400/balkans.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">OLD ACTORS ARE LOSING THEIR GEOPOLITICAL INFLUENCE OVER THE REGION</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Source: Aspeninstitute </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #cc0000;">In 1998, Zbigniew Brzezinski argued that “a power that dominates EURASIA would control two of the world’s three most advanced and economically productive regions. A mere glance at the map also suggests that control over EURASIA would entail AFRICA’S subordination, rendering the WESTERN Hemisphere and OCEANIA geopolitically peripheral to the world’s central continent”.</span> </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His book <i>The Grand Chessboard</i> was indeed a major contribution to geopolitical studies. Depicting the new challenges for US foreign policy in a multipolar world, Brzezinski identifies the geopolitical Achilles’ heel of the 21st century in the area he designated as the GLOBAL BALKANS, i.e. “the swathe of EURASIA between EUROPE and the FAR EAST.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An arena of historical disputes among the UNITED STATES, RUSSIA and EUROPE, and a source of regional instability, the BALKANS are undergoing an uncertain transition towards a new security architecture; new forces are playing an increasingly crucial role and old actors are losing their geopolitical influence over the region. The gradual decline of US leadership coincides with the EUROZONE recession: the EU is perceived as unable to provide the BALKANS with a new pathway towards a form of pan-EUROPEAN integration and incentives for major structural and economic reforms. This political vacuum is exposing the area to the influence of other active powers, such as TURKEY and even ISRAEL, but above all RUSSIA.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Background Information</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">EUROPEAN POLITICS IN THE BALKANS</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/08/bosnia-cursed-by-european-union-eu.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/08/bosnia-cursed-by-european-union-eu.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/bosnia-european-unions-stepchild.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/bosnia-european-unions-stepchild.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/bosnia-suffers-from-unresolved-issues.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/bosnia-suffers-from-unresolved-issues.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/ethnic-rift-key-hindrance-to-bosnias.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/ethnic-rift-key-hindrance-to-bosnias.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/bosnia-2012.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/bosnia-2012.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RUSSIA’S ULTIMATE GEO-STRATEGIC GOAL IS TO RE-FRAME A CONTINENTAL BLOCK AGAINST THE ATLANTIC POWERS</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Vladimir Putin’s renewed <i>EURASIANISM</i> validates this assumption. Alexander Dugin, a RUSSIAN politologist close to the Kremlin and the military entourage, acknowledges that RUSSIA’S ultimate geo-strategic goal is to re-frame a continental block against the ATLANTIC powers, by making use of the vast strategic and demographic potential of the EURASIAN continent. Following this approach, RUSSIA should adopt a multi-dimensional foreign policy waiving close relations with the EU, CHINA and the regional powers, such as IRAN and TURKEY.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Post-Soviet Space (<i>Bližee Sarubeže </i>or<i> Near Abroad </i>in Russian’s political rhetoric) stresses the historical and cultural affinities with the Slavic communities and represents a pivotal area for Moscow’s external projection. Energy links are the key tools of political leverage for RUSSIA’S power projection towards this <i>Near Abroad</i>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“SOUTH STREAM” PROJECT</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The “South Stream” project represents the cornerstone of this trend: the pipeline, once completed, will pump RUSSIAN gas under the Black Sea to BULGARIA, branching off in two directions, north to AUSTRIA and south to ITALY. Considering that EUROPE’S demand for gas imports is projected to grow significantly in the next few years (reaching 80 billion cubic meters by 2020 and surpassing 140 billion cubic meters by 2030) the South Stream project will be crucial for the EUROPEAN energy supply.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfR481LSzprQvewLKYRKl9PJ53hZC4DihnXNAa6CJgkoNhi0mZS8_rR26Dk3g-Qqef55LjqtH5AyYi-IvoUNI4Bp6SN83zBhszATIbBcBdeff9HpBnOyy2lqIZIwmKA2mdG-2wnYk2mW-i/s466/nabucco-gas-pipeline.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfR481LSzprQvewLKYRKl9PJ53hZC4DihnXNAa6CJgkoNhi0mZS8_rR26Dk3g-Qqef55LjqtH5AyYi-IvoUNI4Bp6SN83zBhszATIbBcBdeff9HpBnOyy2lqIZIwmKA2mdG-2wnYk2mW-i/s400/nabucco-gas-pipeline.gif" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With the intent of securing political commitment to the South Stream Project, RUSSIA has signed inter-governmental agreements with several BALKAN states, such as CROATIA, SLOVENIA, SERBIA and BULGARIA. Moscow is aiming at promoting deeper economic integration in the BALKANS, possibly persuading the countries of the region to join the Customs Union between RUSSIA, BELARUS and KAZAKHSTAN.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RUSSIA’S INCREASING COMPETITION WITH CHINA </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Near Abroad is not just seen as an area of natural expansion of RUSSIAN interests, but also a factor in Moscow’s increasing competition with CHINA – – now an active competitor in the BALKANS. The uncertainty over the future of the EUROZONE was inevitably exported to the EU periphery with a GDP contraction of 5.2% in 2009 in BALKAN countries. Moscow is making its influence felt as a reliable counterpart for the BALKAN countries. The unresolved KOSOVO question and the relative (or at least temporary) weakening of the EU’s and NATO’s direct role in the region are viewed by Moscow as an opportunity.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SERBIA TO OBTAIN LOANS FROM RUSSIA IN EXCESS OF $800 MILLION</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Encouraging RUSSIAN companies to invest in the region and raising the flag of cultural affinity, RUSSIA eyes the BALKANS as an economic hub to ensure better access to EUROPEAN markets. In SERBIA, the election of the RUSSIAN-leaning President Tomislav Nikolić is accelerating projects for the enhancement of hydro-electric stations, the advancement of the railway tracks and the rearming of the SERBIAN military. As a complement to those projects, Belgrade is also expected to receive RUSSIAN credits to the tune of $800 million.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In 2011, RUSSIA promoted large investments in the real estate sector in MONTENEGRO as well as in the oil and gas sector in MACEDONIA. In turn, more than 200 SLOVENIAN companies are operating in almost 50 RUSSIAN regions. To put this into context, EU FDIs have steeply declined in the last few years.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RUSSIA’S FOREIGN POLICY IN THE BALKANS LEVERAGES ENERGY LINKS......</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiST5j16qJmFIe5EyhfRCGjS7XU2Oz2F4_OlHDj0CfsXLAU_LoQNOcIRE4dOR5N0uBOvAMibpWasBW5n-31Bnfzs8z3y9MoO64XK2YTHmpBsFBwDIYskAwgoSqUmCzudUd_RWlAw5BGF1oq/s627/macedonia-pipeline-map-balkan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiST5j16qJmFIe5EyhfRCGjS7XU2Oz2F4_OlHDj0CfsXLAU_LoQNOcIRE4dOR5N0uBOvAMibpWasBW5n-31Bnfzs8z3y9MoO64XK2YTHmpBsFBwDIYskAwgoSqUmCzudUd_RWlAw5BGF1oq/s400/macedonia-pipeline-map-balkan.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Meanwhile, lack of funds and of a reliable supply of natural gas are the main reasons for the stalemate of the EU’s flagship project of the Southern Gas Corridor – The Nabucco pipeline, the gas bridge from ASIA to EUROPE that was designed essentially to by-pass RUSSIA and link the TURKISH-BULGARIAN border to Baumgarten in AUSTRIA via BULGARIA, ROMANIA and HUNGARY. Once completed the 1,300km pipeline’s annual capacity will be between 10-23 billion cubic meters, one third of the actual capacity of South Stream.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Background Information</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ENERGY EQUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE BALKANS</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/new-mediterranean-oil-and-gas-bonanza.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/new-mediterranean-oil-and-gas-bonanza.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/12/energy-adventures-in-eastern.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/12/energy-adventures-in-eastern.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/geo-strategic-dynamics-in-eastern.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/geo-strategic-dynamics-in-eastern.html</a></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/04/complexity-of-eastern-med-energy-games.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/04/complexity-of-eastern-med-energy-games.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: blue; font-size: 12.0pt;">TRANS-ANATOLIAN PIPELINE: A GEOPOLITICAL ACHIEVEMENT, BUT NO PANACEA FOR TURKEY’S ENERGY INDEPENDENCE</span></strong><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/turkeys-energy-dependency-on-countries.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/turkeys-energy-dependency-on-countries.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A widely shared perception is that as RUSSIA’S foreign policy in the BALKANS leverages energy links to promote diplomatic and security ties, and vice-versa, the EU may be <i>de facto</i> disengaging from the region.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The EUROPEANS remain committed to the principle of stabilization through integration, adopted in the late 1990s in the form of both military and civilian missions – the largest of which is currently EULEX in KOSOVO, aiming at promoting the rule of law with an executive mandate.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, if the EU is to be a decisive player in the future, Brussels will have to identify new synergies in its pursuit of the enlargement process and the creation of a security architecture in the BALKANS. This will allow the promotion of its interests – within the framework of a common EUROPEAN space – while also entailing an economic cooperation with RUSSIA from a better bargaining position.</span></div>

THE BALKAN CHESSBOARD: RUSSIA’S RUBLE DIPLOMACY AND EU INTERESTS

OLD ACTORS ARE LOSING THEIR GEOPOLITICAL INFLUENCE OVER THE REGION Source: Aspeninstitute  In 1998, Zbigniew Brzezinski argued that “a powe...

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