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Sheriff Joe Arpaio for Homeland Security Chief!
With all the nonsense being uttered by political leaders who are blaming American gun owners for the violence in Mexico, it's refreshing to hear at least one elected official offer some common sense: Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona.
Sheriff Arpaio takes his oath of office to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution seriously. He is also fully committed to doing his part to protect our homeland from people who are here illegally. In fact, the Sheriff would make quite an effective Director of Homeland Security.
Employing more than 3,000 people, Arpaio runs the nation's third largest Sheriff's office in the fourth most populous county. He has gained fame over the years for tough, no-nonsense law-enforcement tactics.
When faced with a shortage of cells, Arpaio bought army surplus tents and surrounded them with a barbed wire fence. He also upset the soft-on-crime crowd by "outrageous" actions such as banning smoking and pornography and requiring inmates to wear pink underwear. And he actually makes prisoners work on roads and other manual labor. Inmates are in prison, after all, not in day care.
Arpaio is most well known for his strong stance against illegal immigration. In 2005, Arizona made smuggling illegal aliens a state felony. That action empowered officers such as Sheriff Arpaio to enforce immigration law, something at which the federal government has failed miserably.
But perhaps what enrages the anti-gun liberal establishment the most — though it almost never makes the news — is that Sheriff Arpaio actually believes in the Second Amendment and he trusts average citizens with firearms! Arpiao deputized citizen volunteers from every walk of life and income bracket. These citizen-volunteers patrol malls, arrest graffiti violators, dead beat parents, and even illegal aliens. The volunteers furnish their own airplanes, jeeps and horses — and they are armed.
Regarded as America's toughest sheriff, Arpaio actually enforces the law by seeking out, arresting and incarcerating those who break it. After all, isn't that what a LAW ENFORCEMENT officer is supposed to do?
Sheriff Arpaio may enrage socialist liberals, but he has the confidence of his constituents, who have elected him by wide margins every four years since 1992.
Contrast what Sheriff Arpaio is doing to uphold the law with proposals to strip Americans of their Second Amendment rights put forth by President Obama and other political leaders.
Attorney General Eric Holder said in a February press conference, "As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to re-institute the ban on the sale of assault weapons…. I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is all too eager to reinstate the gun ban signed by her husband in 1994, calling its expiration a "mistake."
"The guns that are sold in the United States, which are illegal in Mexico, get smuggled over our border and arm these terrible drug-dealing criminals so that they can outgun these poor police officers along the border and elsewhere in Mexico. So we've got to help out here.… So I think recognizing the co-responsibility is just stating the obvious," Clinton said.
Well, the only thing obvious about Clinton's anti-gun rambling is that it is utter nonsense.
These "blame America first" U.S. officials are echoing the ridiculous and condescending statement of Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora, who said the United States should renew the so-called "assault weapons" ban.
"The Second Amendment was never meant to arm foreign criminal groups," the foreign leader lectured.
Gee, thanks for the history lesson Señor Mora, but we think our Founding Fathers got it right over 200 years ago.
For one thing, drug cartels in Mexico often use fully automatic machine guns, grenades, anti-tank rockets and other weapons that are not readily available to U.S. gun owners. But more importantly, the problems of corruption and violence in another country should never be used as an excuse to curtail the rights and liberties of U.S. citizens.
The first responsibility of the American government is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and that's exactly what drives Sheriff Arpaio.
But what does the Sheriff get in return for protecting his county from law-breakers? Is he thanked by civil rights activists and community "organizers" for keeping criminals away from our neighborhoods, schools and children? Is he given an award for taking his role on the front-line of border security seriously?
No! While Arpaio has been reelected by real constituents, anti-gun elitists like supposed civil rights leader Al Sharpton and ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis are calling for his resignation.
Sharpton, Lewis and other civil rights "leaders" held a national press conference recently denouncing Sheriff Arpiao and threatening to march in the streets of Phoenix if Arpiao doesn't resign immediately.
Arpaio's response to Sharpton? "He wants me to resign? Have I got news for him. He can stick that in his pipe and smoke it."
In addition, several Members of Congress have instigated a federal investigation of Arpiao. Reps. John Conyers (D-MI), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Robert Scott (D-VA) have alleged that Arpiao has committed civil rights violations.
These so-called civil rights leaders and members of Congress are shameful hypocrites. They regularly urge that we should strip Americans of a constitutionally protected civil right (to keep and bear arms), while they invent rights for illegal aliens.
Members of Congress, who like the Sheriff take an oath to defend the Constitution, are the ones who should resign.
And the civil rights "leaders" should stop acting like they're speaking for Americans when they attack heroes like Sheriff Arpaio.
We at Gun owners of America believe these people are radical members of the left who would love to disarm honest American citizens—and we will fight their efforts as long as we breathe.
Sheriff Arpaio, on the other hand, would make a very effective Homeland Security chief. Keep up the good work Sheriff Joe!


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Thank you.
If you can, please visit the facebook page we set up. It's main purpose is to show compassion and support towards a family who are missing an important part of their family.
After reading this petition, we were struck more than anything with the word 'scam.' Do you really expect us to believe that a non-profit organization who tirelessly donates all its time and resources towards Dachshund rescue are out to scam anyone? We contacted Diane Irwin, President of All American Dachshund Rescue for any sort of statement against the petition. She gracefully agreed, and we thank her for taking time out of her busy schedule to respond:
Thursday morning Diane [AADR rep] got a call at 7:30am from a vets that AnnaJo was reported found in Lowell, MA and was giving the name of the lady that had her. Diane called and she was found, cold, wet and scared with a leash still attached to her. Diane contacted the person that had her and told that person that someone would be there to get her and to keep her safe until then. Diane then call Megan Courtney to find out what happened she told Diane that her boyfriend, Tony was walking the dogs and the leash slip out of his hands and then he went to step on the leash and she took off (We now believe he was trying to train her to stay with him without him having the leash in his hand and this is how she got loose). She then told Diane that Diane could call her boyfriend and get the story which Diane did and he said the same thing but went on to tell Diane he just doesn't understand why AnnaJo doesn't like him when she will let other men pet her. He also admitted that the other dachshund they have is allow off leash cause she "can be trusted and never leaves their side" but he said he turned to see where the other dachshund was and that's how AnnaJo's leash slipped/fell out of his hand. Then he tried to step on the leash and missed and then she was running off. These are TWO big red flags and encouraged Diane and another board member to not give AnnaJo back to these people that were in breach of their contract for not keeping Annajo safe. They were told repeatedly that it was not the fact that AnnaJo got loose but the fact that if their other dog is off leash so will AnnaJo and more than likely the boyfriend was trying to train her to do just that also we are concerned why AnnaJo is afraid of the boyfriend but has no issue with the man in the foster home that she's at now.
They have unfortunately not taken this well and have posted a petition, set up a Facebook page and even gotten another rescue to agree that what we are doing is wrong by not giving back AnnaJo. We feel they are trying to discredit AADR and all the hard work that this organization has done in the 7 yrs it's been a rescue.
We like all other reputable rescues do not just pull a dog away from a family without good reason and careful consideration. The morning that Megan was called we had plans to let her know where AnnaJo was until we heard that the boyfriend had the other dachshund out without a leash and his attention was diverted to her and the leash slipped fell out of his hand. We are inclined to now believe that he didn't even have the leash in his hand but on the ground to "step on if needed" as we believe he was trying to train her to be and "off leash" dog as well. By his own admission AnnaJo was scared of him and we do not put our dogs in homes where they have to live in fear. She is now in a foster home where the man of the house is able to pick her up, carry her around and she goes to him for attention. Do we want Annajo to live a life of fear and why after having been in the adoptive home for a month would she still be afraid of the boyfriend that lives there daily but at the foster home that she's been in less that a week is very relaxed and happy? We are not just about finding ANY home for our dogs but to find the right home for our dogs, in AnnaJo's case we are just happy that we found out that Megan's home was not the right home for AnnaJo and luckily we got her back safe and sound.
Diane even tried to tell Megan about the dangers of allowing a dachshund off leash even when the owner thinks they have them properly trained, this fell on deaf ears. Then the next day when Diane was talking to Tony again she tried to convince him that Dachshunds should never be allow off leash for any reason and again he could not or would not see reason. With all this there is no reason to believe that AnnaJo would not be kept on a leash. We are here to save dachshunds and put them into loving homes where they will be loved and cared for for the rest of their life not to have their life shortened because someone feels they know the breed better than the experts.
Per her application that she sign to be true:
If you do not have a fence are you willing to leash walk at all times?: Yes
Would there ever be an occasion where our/your dog would be allowed to walk/run off leash?: Only at a fully- fenced in dog park
If you do not have a fenced yard, how will you exercise your dog? This answer is required if you do not have a fenced yard.: In the morning they will be taken for a walk on leash, and since I am a dog walker, the dog will be walked while I'm on my walks in the afternoon and at night the dog will be walked on leash around where we live.
Diane S. Irwin, President
All American Dachshund Rescue
And so, sadness has ensued on all sides of the story of 'AnnaJo/Alpina.' We can only imagine the heartbreak and despair her adopters, Megan and Tony must feel. It takes special people to rescue Dachshunds and offer them the love of a forever home - we're quite sure that Megan and Tony have that love to offer in spades. But on the other side of the coin, we can see how the contract may have been breached. This is where rescue organizations often come into question, but what we've learned over the years is that they are the ones doing the tireless work to save the dogs, and as such, they are the ones who make the rules.
All we can do is support them in their efforts, and if we don't like the rules, we can look elsewhere. Our Dad learned this the hard way when he tried to rescue a Dachshund many years ago. He was refused by organization after organization because he didn't have a fenced-in yard. That was it. No fence? Don't bother filling out an application. Things have changed since the year 2000 however, and we will continue to support the rescues who save our Dachshunds and our animals whenever we can.
For AnnaJo/Alpina's sake, we're hoping that Megan, Tony, and AADR can come to terms for a solution. If only for AnnaJo/Alpina.

subset: commoncrawl


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High-Res Photo
"Redekopp violated fundamental principles of accounting to fraudulently boost ICTV's bottom line and conceal its true financial health from investors." Marc J. Fagel Director SEC San Francisco Regional Office
"Redekopp violated fundamental principles of accounting to fraudulently boost ICTV's bottom line and conceal its true financial health from investors."
Marc J. Fagel Director SEC San Francisco Regional Office
Washington, D.C., Aug. 9, 2010 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the former chief financial officer of a Seattle-area skin care retailer with fraudulently boosting earnings by reporting sales of anti-aging products promoted through Home Shopping Network infomercials while the products still sat unsold in the company's warehouse. The agency also separately settled charges against the company and began administrative proceedings against the company's outside auditors for professional misconduct.
The SEC alleges that Karl Redekopp, the former CFO of International Commercial Television Inc. (ICTV), turned millions of dollars of quarterly losses into profits by falsely accounting for ICTV's sales of the Derma Wand, a skin care appliance that purports to reduce wrinkles and improve skin appearance. Redekopp fraudulently recognized revenue before the Home Shopping Network had actually sold or delivered the product to viewers. He also improperly recognized revenue before a free trial period offered by the company had expired, and failed to reverse revenue from products that had been returned. Redekopp's misconduct caused the company to falsely report millions of dollars in excess revenue in 2007 and 2008.
"Redekopp violated fundamental principles of accounting to fraudulently boost ICTV's bottom line and conceal its true financial health from investors," said Marc J. Fagel, Director of the SEC's San Francisco Regional Office. "Unfortunately, ICTV's auditors turned a blind eye to the company's financial irregularities and failed to fulfill their role in investor protection."
The SEC's complaint against Redekopp, filed in federal district court in Tacoma, Wash., alleges that Redekopp recorded "sales" of products that had not been shipped or that the customer was not obligated to pay for. Redekopp's fraudulent accounting resulted in ICTV adjusting net sales by more than $3.7 million over a five-quarter period in 2007 and 2008, negating all originally reported net income for those periods to restated net losses. For example, for year-end 2007 alone, ICTV restated its originally reported net income of $1.5 million to a net loss of $1.1 million after correcting the fraudulent reporting.
The SEC's complaint charges Redekopp, who lives in Vancouver, B.C., with violations of the antifraud, reporting, books and records and internal control provisions of the federal securities laws. The SEC seeks a permanent injunction, a financial penalty, and an order barring him from serving as an officer of a public company.
In a separate complaint, the SEC charged ICTV for its misleading financial statements. Without admitting or denying the allegations, ICTV agreed to settle the charges by consenting to a final judgment permanently enjoining the company from future violations of the reporting, books and records, and internal control provisions of the federal securities laws.
The SEC instituted administrative proceedings against ICTV's former outside auditors Steven H. Dohan, Nancy L. Brown and their Miami-area firm Dohan + Company CPAs as well as Erez Bahar, a Canadian Chartered Accountant who lives in Vancouver.
According to the SEC's order, Dohan, Brown, and Bahar were responsible for the issuance of an unqualified audit report stating that ICTV's financial statements were fairly reported in conformity with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and that the audit had been conducted in accordance with Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) auditing standards. The SEC's Division of Enforcement alleges that the former auditors failed to identify the material accounting deficiencies and violations of GAAP that formed the basis of the SEC's enforcement action against Redekopp. The Division of Enforcement alleges that Dohan, Brown, Bahar, and Dohan + Company CPAs engaged in improper professional conduct under Rule 102(e) of the Commission's Rules of Practice. An administrative hearing will be scheduled to determine whether remedial sanctions are appropriate.
The SEC's investigation was conducted by Jason Habermeyer, Adrienne Miller, and Tracy Davis of the SEC's San Francisco Regional Office. The SEC acknowledges the assistance of the British Columbia Securities Commission in this matter.
# # #
For more information about these enforcement actions, contact:
Marc J. Fagel Director, SEC San Francisco Regional Office (415) 705-2449
Michael S. Dicke Associate Director, SEC San Francisco Regional Office (415) 705-2458


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Bangladesh sucks. Yes it does. It does everything to make Islamists ruin the country. It started a war against me more than 20 years ago. Hundreds of thousands of Islamists took to the streets for my execution by hanging, they did it because I told the truth about the incompatibility between Islam and women's rights. The government filed cases against me on the charges of hurting religious feeling of the people and I was forced to stay in hiding for months and then was forced to leave the country. I have not been allowed to return to my country since then. Politicians or army whoever ruled the country did not take any action against the Islamists who threatened to kill the writers and intellectuals for criticizing Islam. A renowned writer, Ahmed Sharif, was attacked by the Islamists. Shamsur Rahman, a famous poet was also attacked. Islamists almost killed Humayun Azad for writing a novel that made fun of them. A cartoonist called Arifur Rahman was in jail after the government said his drawings had insulted Muslims. Asif Mohiuddin was arrested 2 years ago for his blogs that criticized Islam. Now he is stabbed by the Islamists.
It can be dangerous to be an atheist. In Bangladesh, a popular atheist blogger was attacked and stabbed by a group of Islamic fundamentalists in a suburb of the capital city of Uttara on Monday night.
According to reports, Asif Mohiuddin was stabbed multiple times in the neck and upper body by three unidentified attackers near his office in Dhaka's upscale Uttara district. Friends of Mohiuddin, who were with him at the time of the attack, blamed "Islamic fundamentalists."
As of Tuesday, Jan. 15, Mohiuddin was "improving but still not out of danger" at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where surgeons spent more than three hours trying to repair the damage done by the would-be assassins.
Mohiuddin's blog, is one of the most visited web pages in Bangladesh. Mohiuddin is known for advocating what some have termed "Militant Atheism" in a country where Islam is the state religion, and over 90% of Bangladesh's 153 million people identify as Muslim.
The biggest harm Bangladesh did to herself is not really by killing or imprisoning atheists or forcing atheists to go into exile, but by forcing millions of citizens to keep their mouth shut forever. They no more express their opinions that the majority finds different.
Secularism was one of the pillars of new born Bangladesh. It was supposed to become more liberal and more secular than Pakistan. But in four decades, the rulers of the country managed to make it a truly Islamist country. The country was separated from Pakistan. But the truth is, Bangladesh is no better than Pakistan.


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The Best of Spain
About Spain
The best way to see all highlights of Spain in a short time! Stay two nights in Madrid and enjoy a welcome dinner and guided sightseeing including a visit to the palatial Prado Museum. Via Cordoba, where a guided visit to the Mosque of the Caliphs is included, arrive in vibrant, festive Seville, capital of Andalusia. Here visits to the magnificent Plaza de España, used in the movies Lawrence of Arabia and Star Wars, the Alcazar, and the Santa Cruz quarter are included. In Granada, enjoy a guided walking tour with visits to the Alhambra complex and the Water Gardens of the Generalife. Next is Valencia, once a royal capital, where Roman, Moorish, and Spanish history comes alive during your guided walking tour. Also sample the traditional Horchata drink, and enjoy a special paella dinner with wine. End in Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city, marvel at Gaudi's masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia Basilica, visit the Gothic quarter, and enjoy a Sangria and a special farewell dinner with wine at La Fonda del Port Olimpic restaurant.
City Highlights
MADRID Welcome dinner; guided sightseeing, visit the Prado MuseumCORDOBA Guided walking tour, visit the Mosque of the CaliphsSEVILLE [LF] Visit the Plaza de España; guided sightseeing, visit the Alcazar, and walk through the Santa Cruz quarterGRANADAGuided walking tour, visit the Alhambra complex and the Water Gardens of the GeneralifeVALENCIA Guided walking tour; taste the Horchata drink; [LF] paella dinner with wine at a local restaurantBARCELONA Guided sightseeing, take pictures of the Sagrada Familia Basilica, and visit the gothic quarter; enjoy a [LF] Sangria and special farewell dinner with wine at a local restaurantHeadsets throughout the tour
MADRID Agumar (F)SEVILLE Sevilla Center (SF)GRANADA Saray (SF)VALENCIA NH Center (F)BARCELONA HCC St. Moritz (F)
Full buffet breakfast (B) daily; 4 three-course dinners (D), including a welcome dinner in Madrid, a special paella dinner in Valencia, and a special farewell dinner in Barcelona
NOTE:December 20 Departure – Christmas Eve in Granada.
Motorcoach with free Wi-Fi


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Select Year 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996
Conventions 2000: Media Reality Check, Tuesday AM Edition -- Visit Convention 2000 Media Bias (More) --
1) Both Parties Too Conservative for MSNBC: Liberals Probed About Concerns the Ticket Not Liberal Enough
2) Bill Clinton's Speech Hailed: "Masterfully Delivered," But on "Downside" Late Hour Reduced Audience
3) Sam on Clinton: "As Good a Political Speech as I've Ever Seen"...But in 1988 He Took on Reagan, applying liberal argument that tax cuts caused the deficit.
4) A Unique Perspective from Fox News: FNC Explored Delegate Quotas & Definition of "Working"
5) Celebrities: "Best Eight Years of Our Lives"; Stars Drive SUVs to Hillary Clinton for Senate Fundraiser
6) Sidebar articles: CBS "Mistake" Helps Dems as both CBS and NBC spiked Laura Bush but showed Hillary's speech; Craig Kilborn Apologized for his "Snipers Wanted" caption over video of George Bush; Brad Pitt, ABC's Campaign Finance Expert; Texas: Full of Starving Women claimed Cher.
7) Quote of the Night: Dan Rather on Hillary's fears.
Front page story. Both Parties Too Conservative for MSNBC Liberals Probed About Concerns the Ticket Not Liberal Enough
In prime time two Monday's ago, opening night of the Republican convention, MSNBC pounded Republicans with about 20 questions from the left about how their conservative positions would turn off voters, especially on abortion. Tom Brokaw argued there "ought to be more tolerance for abortion," and Claire Shipman asked a Congresswoman what she would say "to women who are worried that George W. Bush will appoint people to the Supreme Court who might try to take away that right?"
But last night, despite the Democratic Party's hard line pro-abortion position, no attendees were queried if their opposition to banning partial-birth abortion might turn off moderates.
Instead, liberals were probed about whether they are happy with the ticket. David Bloom asked a delegate: "What do you think about this, whether or not the liberal wing of the party has lost influence, what with, for example Joe Lieberman, getting the vice presidential nomination?"
Tim Russert acknowledged the ideology of delegates but found it non-controlling. He inquired of James Carville: "This hall is packed with liberals, hard-left liberals, and Al Gore stampeded to the Left in the primary season, then he races back to the center and picks someone like Joe Lieberman."
Claire Shipman set up Jesse Jackson: "You spoke out very early and publicly in support of the choice of Joe Lieberman but there are a lot of liberal Democrats, a lot of African-Americans who aren't sure they like the choice. He is a more conservative politician. What does the ticket need to do to try to convince liberal Democrats that this is a good pick?" (Lieberman is a "conservative politician" who earned a 95 rating last year from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action and a zero from the American Conservative Union.)
Just before 10pm ET, however, Lisa Myers slipped in a question from the right to Senator Bob Kerrey: "I'm here with one of the most independent-minded members of the Senate....Senator, the Clinton legacy. You once said this President is 'an unusually good liar.'"
Top of page two story. Bill Clinton's Speech Hailed: "Masterfully Delivered," But Late Hour Reduced Audience
CBS's Dan Rather proclaimed that Bill Clinton's speech was "masterfully delivered." Bob Schieffer lamented: "I guess the only downside, Dan, is how many people got to hear it because it was almost 11 o'clock on the east coast when he got started." Ed Bradley: "He never mentioned George Bush or Dick Cheney and I don't think it's a speech that anyone would characterize as negative in tone, yet he was able to draw a sharp contrast between what he sees as the record of the Clinton-Gore years with what Republicans in Congress predicted would happen."
CNN's Jeff Greenfield also respected its tone: "Gently, gently mocked the opposition, referred to the Republican opposition to his program and said time has not been kind to their predictions." But ABC's George Stephanopoulos saw a more negative tone: "That was one of the most partisan convention speeches I ever saw Bill Clinton give. In 1996, he wouldn't even mention the Republican Party. This time he took some shots. This wasn't just Bill Clinton unfiltered, Peter, it was Bill Clinton unplugged."
Bottom half of page two article. Sam on Clinton: "As Good a Political Speech as I've Ever Seen"...But in 1988 He Took on Reagan
Last night on ABC, Sam Donaldson offered effusive praise for Bill Clinton's speech, but he applied a more critical lens to Ronald Reagan's similar pass-the-baton address 12 years ago, making a liberal political point about how Reagan's tax cuts caused deficits.
-- Donaldson, Monday night: "I think this was as good a political speech as I've ever seen a politician give, certainly under these circumstances. He has a record on the economy, his strong suit, that is very, very hard to argue against and by saying to the country, 'Are you better off today than you were eight years ago? You bet you are,' I think that's going to resonate. But Peter, I think you put your finger on it. Does this transfer to Al Gore? Do these cheers we hear for Bill Clinton and this speech of sweet reasonableness, this humbleness, this easy manner, transfer on Thursday night to a man who so far has not been able to connect? We'll see. At the moment it's simply Bill Clinton's night and that's all we can say about it."
-- Donaldson on August 15, 1988: "It was a typical Reagan speech. He defended his record and American values. He excoriated the opposition party. There was a sentimental close, and Reagan the little kid threw balloons out on the floor. I mean, he may be 77, the President of the United States, but there's a lot of little kid in this man. Now, Jeff [Greenfield] may also be right that when you look at the substance of the speech it's another thing. Reagan said he's not responsible for the deficits, but he's the man who insisted on super-large defense expenditures and cutting taxes so you didn't pay for them. And he tried to talk about George Bush as the next leader, but his only answer to the Democrats' 'Where was George?,' he said George was there when it came to helping reform government regulations. Well, if that's the best he can say, 'George was there,' that probably is not going to be good enough. Still, it was a great effort by Reagan. 'C' maybe, but 'A' here in the hall."
+++ Watch video clips of Donaldson's two takes 12 years apart. After 8am ET, go to the MRC's home page to view them via RealPlayer: http://www.mrc.org
Top of page three story. A Unique Perspective from Fox News: FNC Explored Delegate Quotas & Definition of "Working"
CNN and MSNBC made passing references Monday night to the Democratic Party's racial, ethnic and sexual orientation quotas for state delegations, but only FNC explored them as co-anchor Brit Hume wondered if boasts of "inclusion" were "in any way undercut with the public by the fact that this is achieved by a fairly rigid system of quotas?"
Carl Cameron outlined the targets: "26 percent Latino/African American, 16 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, nine percent, specifically to California, Native American goal was one percent, disabled 10 percent, gay men five percent, lesbians five percent." Cameron then discussed the topic with a gay activist from Ohio, noting how there's even a requirement for "transgender" delegates.
Earlier, Hume quizzed Dick Gephardt about the definition of "working family," a phrase frequently employed by liberals. Gephardt said it only means "If you work," leading Hume to ask: "If you work at all? So George W. Bush's family, that's a working family, right?" Gephardt agreed: "I think so." Hume replied: "And Bill and Hillary Clinton, the First Family, they work, right?" Gephardt went along: "I think so." Hume followed up: "Now, is there an income limit?" Gephardt: "No, no income limit. "Hume: "So you could be extremely rich, but as long as you still work, so Steve Forbes' family is a working family?" Gephardt decided: "Working is good."
Article on bottom half of page three. Celebrities: "Best Eight Years of Our Lives"; Stars Drive SUVs to Hillary Clinton for Senate Fundraiser
A long list of celebrities turned out Saturday for a $1 million fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign held at the estate of "radio mogul" Ken Roberts. In Monday's USA Today Jeannie Williams passed along some of the gushing over Bill and Hillary that she overheard:
"John Travolta sat with the President at dinner after the outdoor concert and spoke, thanking Clinton 'for the best eight years of our lives.'...Hillary, in a pink suit and giant pink pearl necklace, got her share of plaudits: 'I can't wait to call you Senator!' said Michael Bolton before launching into When A Man Loves a Woman, which he said was a request. The President mouthed 'thank you.' Jimmy Smits wasn't waiting for November, greeting her with, 'Good evening, Senator!' He thanked the President for 'walking the walk' with the Latino community. Whoopi Goldberg reminded Hillary, 'I'm one of your constituents, girl!' (and told her husband, 'You kicked a--.'). Mary Steenburgen told Hillary, 'You killed on Leno last night!'....Guests David Hasselhoff and wife Pamela have met Hillary and he calls her 'very cool.'"
Some other attendees listed by Williams: Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Gregory Peck, Patti LaBelle, Toni Braxton, Melissa Etheridge, Dylan McDermott, Anjelica Huston, Alfre Woodard, David Spade and Red Buttons.
The celebs put their comfort ahead of the liberal environmental ideology espoused by Hillary Clinton and Al Gore. Williams observed: "Supportive celebs put up with portable toilets with flowers but few flushes, and lengthy waits in a line of limos and SUVs heading up a single lane to the estate."
Sidebar articles along the sides of pages two and three. CBS "Mistake" Helps Dems; Kilborn Apologized; Brad Pitt, ABC's Campaign Finance Expert; Texas: Starving Women
CBS "Mistake" Helps Dems Dan Rather, who faced charges of a double-standard in breaking into 48 Hours to show 15 minutes of Hillary Clinton's 18 minute speech Monday night, conceded CBS "made a mistake" in not carrying Laura Bush's speech on the first night of the GOP convention.
Rather told Ed Bark of the Dallas Morning News: "Laura Bush is not a candidate for anything....I'd be surprised if Mrs. Bush or anybody else didn't agree that to compare the two is a little bit like comparing watermelons with turnips. I don't think anybody would want us to say, 'Well, OK, we made one mistake so we're gonna make another.'"
But CBS is not alone in a double standard. NBC ran Third Watch at 10pm ET/PT instead of Laura Bush. Last night they aired Dateline and joined Mrs. Clinton's speech at 10:30, with 12 minutes to go.
Kilborn Apologized Without mentioning the specifics of his show's August 4 "Snipers Wanted" caption over video of Bush, Monday night CBS Late Late Show host Craig Kilborn said he wanted to "apologize for a mistake we made....with a caption on our screen concerning Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush that should not have made it on the air." He added: "I want to apologize personally to George W. Bush, our audience, the viewers at home, and to anyone else who was offended. I am sorry it happened."
Brad Pitt, ABC's Campaign Finance Expert Who better to assess the influence of corporate donations than actor Brad Pitt? At least that's what ABC, the same network which chose Leonardo DiCaprio to interview Bill Clinton, apparently assumed as Monday's World News Tonight featured his thoughts.
Reporter Brian Ross asserted: "The entertainment and media industry is a major source of corporate money for both parties, with the Disney company, which owns ABC, one of the biggest overall media corporate contributors."
Then, as viewers saw dark video of Brad Pitt outdoors at night, Ross implored: "Does that give the industry more voice than somebody who doesn't have the millions to spend?" Pitt answered: "Uh, well, you know what, I'm sure it does. I'm not saying that's a good thing, but yeah, money has an effect. No question." Ross followed up: "Does that trouble you?" Pitt: "Yeah, that troubles me. Do I have an answer to that? No."
Texas: Starving Women Cher, on George Bush's Texas, as she expounded on the 9pm ET edition Monday night of CNN's Larry King Live: "More people, more women are starving in his state than any other state in the United States. More children are going to bed hungry. If you look at the child council, it says that it's the worst place to raise a child. Texas is the worst place to raise a child."
Quote of the Night: "Everyone who runs for office has fears." -- Dan Rather to Hillary Clinton during an interview shown on the August 14 CBS Evening News. Clinton replied that she fears a prosperous nation "can so easily be lulled into a sense of complacency" and make a "very bad decision" in voting.
This "Conventions 2000: Media Reality Check" compiled by me with the MRC's overnight analyst team: Geoffrey Dickens, Jessica Anderson, Paul Smith and Brad Wilmouth. Plus, Kristina Sewell taping the coverage and sending the fax, Andy Szul loading up the Web page at sunrise and Liz Swasey trying to get the media to pay attention to our analysis. -- Brent Baker
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Marketing audits are the dental checkups of the business world. Sure, you dread your regularly scheduled cleaning, but you know it's good for you and your pearly whites. More importantly, it's really the only thing standing between your dubious flossing regimen and a traumatizing root canal.
In similar vein, a marketing audit is designed to catch any major flaws in strategy, process and implementation before a costly mistake. If done right, they can save your company thousands of dollars, keep marketing aligned with revenue goals and serve as a safety net for preventing anything that could detrimental to the future of the company.
The best kind of audits usually begin at a holistic level, dive into deeper detail and end with a prioritized list of action steps. While not all marketing strategies are created equal, here are a few ways to go about auditing yours:
When to audit
While there's no hard and fast rule as to how often you should schedule a marketing audit, the key here is proactivity, not crisis management. If you're just getting your marketing off the ground, an audit can be a great way to help kick off strategy. Once you're further down the line, regularly scheduled audits are useful to keep marketing strategy aligned with business priorities.
As an entrepreneur with a fledgling business, you may want to stick to an annual audit. As you add to your roster of tactics, employees and customer base, you may find it handy to ramp up to a quarterly timeline. The gist of it is, the more robust your marketing strategy and structure, the more frequently you should be auditing.
Why audit
Look at it this way: as an employee, your performance reviews are traditionally used to provide you with constructive feedback on your work and career progression. For entrepreneurs, marketing audits perform the same role for your product or service, keeping you in touch with your milestones and goals. The chaos of running a small business often causes brilliant ideas to fall through the cracks. There's nothing worse than finding a goldmine of potential new customers, defining an outreach plan…and then failing to follow through. Down the line, marketing audits will also allow you to assess what's worked and what hasn't, helping you to quickly pivot when necessary.
How to conduct a marketing audit
1. Set clear objectives and identify stakeholders
Begin each marketing audit by determining if it will be a comprehensive audit or a functional one—are you looking at all facets of your marketing operations or focusing on a singular aspect? If your brand and design could use a revamp or your sales collateral is looking stale, settle for the former. Either way, setting a high level objective will ensure that you end up with a targeted list of next steps. The objective also determines which stakeholders—CEO, sales team, designers, consultants, customers etc.—play a part in the audit and who is responsible for overseeing it.
2. Conduct research and collect data
Though this tends to be the most time consuming part, addressing the competition and macro climate surrounding your industry could turn out to be the most lucrative thing you do. Audits occasionally identify a significant gap in the market to exploit. Take the story of Dominos, just a minor league player on the pizza delivery scene back in the 1970s. After CEO Tom Monaghan uncovered an industry wide irregularity around vague delivery times, he coined the "Fresh, hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed" tagline. The rest is history, one that now spans 70 countries and over 10,000 stores.
Once you're done scrutinizing the enemy and the playing field, it's time to look inward. Take stock of tactics, budgets, audience, products, goals and tools for tracking and measurement. Now go ahead and objectively investigate all your collateral and platforms for communication—company decks, brand guidelines, white papers, websites, blogs, social media—and gather the relevant output and metrics for each one. If this is your first go at an audit, you may want to spend some time determining the KPIs (key performance indicators) for each tactic. Does your sales revenue depend more on social media traffic or website conversion rates? Tailor your analytics for your business, not the trendy new tactic of the year. Don't forget to consider the corresponding tools for tracking each channel and tactic. To supplement your quantifiable findings, consider sending out a brand equity survey to customers which will add depth to your data.
3. Organize and analyze information
Next, sift through the information on hand, making sure to evaluate each tactic using both qualitative and quantitative data. For instance, assess your website for both technical (SEO, page speed, browser caching) and content (design, copy, UX/UI), making sure to check Google Analytics to see how landing page traffic and bounce rates have changed. For baseline numbers, check industry standards, though your own data patterns will eventually become your best chance at optimizing for success.
Remember to consider everything in relation to your overall business goals and how efficiently the tools, tactics and campaigns at hand are meeting them.
4. Recommendations and next steps
The best way to go about the reporting stage of a marketing audit is to approach it from a neutral perspective.
Make sure to present recommendations based on the data, backed by your knowledge of the industry and in line with company goals. Suggest a two-pronged approach that tackles both quick wins and plans for long term sustainable growth. Make sure you end with a prioritized list of next steps. Consider presenting the data, analysis and recommendations internally, treating each audit as a learning experience for the whole company (even if your entire operation consists of you and two happy, wet-nosed, four-legged helpers).
Author: Ashanya Indralingam


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Yes, Obama Claims Power to Kill Americans on U.S. Soil
Fox News reports:
FBI Director Robert Mueller on Wednesday said he would have to go back and check with the Department of Justice whether Attorney General Eric Holder's "[criteria] for the targeted killing of Americans also applied to Americans inside the U.S.
"I have to go back. Uh, I'm not certain whether that was addressed or not," Mueller said when asked by Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., about a distinction between domestic and foreign targeting
Graves followed up asking whether "from a historical perspective," the federal government has "the ability to kill a U.S. citizen on United States soil or just overseas."
"I'm going to defer that to others in the Department of Justice," Mueller replied.
Indeed, Holder's Monday speech at Northwestern University seemed to leave the door open.
Constitutional expert Jonathan Turley writes:
One would hope that the FBI Director would have a handle on a few details guiding his responsibilities, including whether he can kill citizens without a charge or court order.
He appeared unclear whether he had the power under the Obama Kill Doctrine or, in the very least, was unwilling to discuss that power. For civil libertarians, the answer should be easy: "Of course, I do not have that power under the Constitution."
The claim that they are following self-imposed "limits" which are meaningless — particularly in a system that is premised on the availability of judicial review. The Administration has never said that the [Law Of Armed Conflicts] does not allow the same powers to be used in the United States. It would be an easy thing to state.
Holder can affirmatively state that the President's inherent power to kill citizens exists only outside of the country. He can then explain where those limits are found in the Constitution and why they do not apply equally to a citizen in London or Berlin. Holder was not describing a constitutional process of review.
They have dressed up a self-imposed review of a unilateral power as due process. Any authoritarian measure can be dressed up as carefully executed according to balancing tests, but that does not constitute any real constitutional analysis. It is at best a loose analogy to constitutional analysis.
When reporters asked the Justice Department about Mueller's apparent uncertainty, they responded that the answer is "pretty straightforward." They then offered an evasive response. They simply said (as we all know) that "[t]he legal framework (Holder) laid out applies to U.S. citizens outside of U.S." We got that from the use of the word "abroad."
However, the question is how this inherent authority is limited as it has been articulated by Holder and others. What is the limiting principle? If the President cannot order the killing of a citizen in the United States, Holder can simply say so (and inform the FBI Director who would likely be involved in such a killing).
In doing so, he can then explain the source of that limitation and why it does not apply with citizens in places like London. What we have is a purely internal review that balances the practicality of arrest and the urgency of the matter in the view of the President. Since the panel is the extension of his authority, he can presumably disregard their recommendations or order a killing without their approval.
Since the Administration has emphasized that the "battlefield" in this "war on terror" is not limited to a particular country, the assumption is that the President's authority is commensurate with that threat or limitless theater of operation. Indeed, the Justice Department has repeatedly stated that the war is being fought in the United States as well as other nations.
Thus, Mueller's uncertainty is understandable . . . and dangerous. The Framers created a system of objective due process in a system of checks and balances. Obama has introduced an undefined and self-imposed system of review ….
Before you assume that Mueller's comments are being blown out of proportion, remember that it has been clear for some time that Obama has claimed the power to assassinate U.S. citizens within the U.S. As we pointed out in December:
I've previously noted that Obama says that he can assassinate American citizens living on U.S. soil.
This admittedly sounds over-the-top. But one of the nation's top constitutional and military law experts – Jonathan Turley – agrees.
Turley said [on C-Span]:
President Obama has just stated a policy that he can have any American citizen killed without any charge, without any review, except his own. If he's satisfied that you are a terrorist, he says that he can kill you anywhere in the world including in the United States.
Two of his aides just … reaffirmed they believe that American citizens can be killed on the order of the President anywhere including the United States.
You've now got a president who says that he can kill you on his own discretion. He can jail you indefinitely on his own discretion
I don't think the the Framers ever anticipated that [the American people would be so apathetic]. They assumed that people would hold their liberties close, and that they wouldn't relax …
Indeed, given that virtually any American could be considered a suspected terrorist these days, no one is safe from an all-powerful president's whims.
As I noted in another context, circular reasoning provides all the justification needed:
The government's indefinite detention policy – stripped of it's spin – is literally insane, and based on circular reasoning. Stripped of p.r., this is the actual policy:
- If you are an enemy combatant or a threat to national security, we will detain you indefinitely until the war is over
- It is a perpetual war, which will never be over
- Neither you or your lawyers have a right to see the evidence against you, nor to face your accusers
- But trust us, we know you are an enemy combatant and a threat to national security
- We may torture you (and try to cover up the fact that you were tortured), because you are an enemy combatant, and so basic rights of a prisoner guaranteed by the Geneva Convention don't apply to you
- Since you admitted that you're a bad guy (while trying to tell us whatever you think we want to hear to make the torture stop), it proves that we should hold you in indefinite detention
See how that works?
And – given that U.S. soldiers admit that if they accidentally kill innocent Iraqis and Afghanis, they then "drop" automatic weapons near their body so they can pretend they were militants – it is unlikely that the government would ever admit that an American citizen it assassinated was an innocent civilian who has nothing at all to do with terrorism.
Washington's Blog


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Many employee groups in the Ontario university sector are considering joining OSSTF/FEESO and want to know what services we offer. New university sector groups would join the existing groups that include Algoma University, Brock University, the University of Guelph, the University of Toronto Schools, the University of Ottawa, Saint Paul University and Wilfrid Laurier University within OSSTF/FEESO.
In this section of the website you will find information on OSSTF/FEESO and its services. More information will be added regularly so please visit often to get the latest news.
Thank you for considering OSSTF/FEESO as your union of choice and for visiting our website.


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Monday, March 18, 2024 at 10:15 AM PDT
Ages 5-7
Blast off into outer space with out-of-this-world space crafts!! Create a variety of artwork inspired by the sun, stars, rocket ships and more!
Todd McKeown Painting & Drawing Studio
9201 Corbould Street
Chilliwack BC V2P 4A6
A Course requires additional registration information before completing the sale such as attendee names (if it will not be yourself). You may need to add other member(s) to your household in your account details.
This is done after you have logged in and prior to paying for the sale. You will be prompted as neccessary.


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An investigation that stretched from British Columbia to San Francisco has led to charges against two Chinese nationals, accused in a scheme to sell what RCMP allege are phoney gold artifacts.
Mounties in Richmond, B.C., say they were contacted by a man who claimed he purchased what he was told were priceless Chinese artifacts, but soon discovered the gold figures and ingots were fake.
The complaint was received late last month and members of Richmond's Economic Crime Unit were able to link it to a similar complaint in neighbouring Surrey.
Cpl. Marco Sallinen says two suspects were identified and, with help from Canada Border Services Agency and the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, arrests were made on Jan. 6.
Fifty-two-old Dejin Xu and 49-year-old Zhong Yang, both from China, are each charged with two counts of fraud over $5,000, and remain in custody.
Mounties say it is best to be cautious when approached by someone selling items of great value and they recommend purchasers have all gold pieces individually tested by an independent lab and use a lawyer to protect both the buyer and the seller.
The Canadian Press
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President Barack Obama has cancelled a planned campaign stop in Green Bay on Tuesday. A release from the White House Press Secretary:
The President will no longer travel to Green Bay, WI tomorrow for a campaign event, so that he can stay in Washington, DC on Tuesday and closely monitor the impact of and response to Hurricane Sandy. As he said at FEMA HQ yesterday, the President has instructed his team to make sure that needed federal resources are in place to support state and local recovery efforts. Additional details about the President's schedule will be announced as soon as they are available.
Obama was to have made a stop at the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena. Republican candidate Mitt Romney was to have appeared in West Allis Monday night, but that stop has also been cancelled. Communications Director Gail Gitcho issued a statement:
"Out of sensitivity for the millions of Americans in the path of Hurricane Sandy, we are canceling tonight's events with Governor Romney in Wisconsin and Congressman Ryan in Melbourne and Lakeland, Florida. We are also canceling all events currently scheduled for both Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan on Tuesday. Governor Romney believes this is a time for the nation and its leaders to come together to focus on those Americans who are in harm's way. We will provide additional details regarding Governor Romney's and Congressman Ryan's schedule when they are available."
Romney's stop at the Wisconsin Products Pavilion in State Fair Park would have been the first time he'd been in the state since August.


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Photo: Philip McMasterCross-posted from Climate Progress.
Armed with tens of billions in loans from the Chinese government, Chinese solar companies have scaled at a rate unthinkable only a few years ago. At the end of this year, there will likely be 50,000 megawatts (MW) of manufacturing capacity in place around the world, with much of that new capacity being developed in China and other Asian countries. (In the year 2000, there were only 100 MW of production capacity worldwide.)
In four years, the solar manufacturing sector shifted from being led by a geographically dispersed number of companies to one dominated by Chinese companies. In 2006, there were two companies from China in the list of top ten cell producers. In 2010, there were six, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. There are currently only two non-Asian manufacturers in the top ten, and those companies — First Solar and Q-Cells — have shifted a lot of their production to Asia.
So what happened? How did the Chinese come to completely dominate the solar industry in such a short period of time?
Bryan Ashley, the Chief Marketing Officer for Suniva, an American company that produces high-efficiency solar cells in Georgia, doesn't mince words.
"The Chinese strategy is very clear. They are engaging in predatory financing and they're trying to drive everybody else out of the market. When you've got free money you can out-dump everybody below cost," Ashley said in an interview with Climate Progress.
That "free money" Ashley refers to is the cheap debt provided by the Chinese Development Bank (CDB). Here's how the CDB works its magic:
The CDB was originally set up as a "policy bank," to operate as an arm of the Chinese central government, doling out public funding to support central government development programs. Now it is a "joint stock company with limited liability" that often reports to China's national cabinet on certain policy issues. This allows the Chinese government to get involved in CDB activities and direct loans toward projects officials want to support.
Unlike most regular commercial banks, CDB raises most of its money via long-term bonds. Funders cannot take that money back out until the term is up, so the bank can make longer-term loans to Chinese companies. CDB also gives borrowers very low interest rates, and, if the borrower cannot pay back the loan, it may be back-stopped by the Chinese government.
This makes it easier, cheaper, and a lot less risky for solar companies to obtain financing.
In 2010 alone, the bank handed out $30 billion in low-cost loans to the top five manufacturers in the country. (See chart above.) This has enabled China's solar producers to grow to GW scale in a very short period of time, turning the country into a leading exporter of solar and pushing down prices dramatically.
From a project development perspective, those steep price drops are a very good thing. But manufacturers trying to make product outside of China and other Asian countries are getting hit hard.
"Free money is impossible to compete with," said Ashley. "Even when global demand went down they were able to keep producing, producing, producing," said Ashley. "And now they're dumping. If something isn't done, there will be no American product left on the market."
Allegations of solar panel dumping have been made before in Europe and the U.S., but they have never been proven. In 2009, Suntech CEO Shi Zengrong explained in a conference call that his company was selling panels below marginal costs. But he reversed his statement shortly after, saying he misunderstood the reporter's question.
With Chinese producers in a far more dominant position than in 2009 and a slew of solar manufacturing facility closures announced in the U.S. in recent months, concerns about dumping have resurfaced. Just yesterday, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden sent a letter to President Obama asking him to investigate whether or not Chinese companies are selling product below cost in order to push American producers out of the market. He also called on the administration to implement a trade tariff on Chinese modules:
Letting that happen is unacceptable. Please know that if your administration is unwilling to take the appropriate steps, with haste, I will advance a legislative effort, as provided by the U.S. trade remedy laws, to ensure that the American solar industry is not harmed by unfair trade.
Wyden's letter comes after the high-profile bankruptcies of American solar manufacturers Solyndra and Evergreen. While a variety of technological and market-based factors contributed to the demise of these companies, the Chinese competition — driven by cheap, easy debt — played a central role.
Remarkably, even with all the pressure from China, the U.S. is a net exporter of solar products to the country. A new report issued by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association shows that America had a $247 million solar trade surplus with China in 2010, mostly because of polysilicon and equipment shipments.
"Yeah, that's great. But we're just sending the raw materials and buying back the finished goods," explained Suniva's Bryan Ashley. "That's a going-out-of-business strategy. Pretty soon they'll figure out how to produce quality polysilicon and they'll be doing it all themselves. We need to re-learn how to make things in this country."
Ashley would like to see a Buy America provision for certain installation programs and investigation into the dumping issue.
But rather than engage in trade battles, GTM Research's Director of Solar Shayle Kann believes that America needs to put its focus on technological innovation. Testifying in front of the House Natural Resources Committee yesterday, Kann explained the strategy:
It will be difficult for the U.S. to compete with China at its own game — namely, high-volume manufacturing of a commoditized product — given the cost advantages available for Chinese manufacturing. However, the U.S. can and should continue to develop and commercialize innovative technologies that offer lower costs than traditional panels. These new technologies are generally proprietary, require a more skilled labor force, and are difficult to duplicate.
Suniva could be considered part of this category. Using a unique cell design, the company has created a high-efficiency mono-crystalline solar cell that could compete with SunPower. But with all the cheap debt that the Chinese
government is throwing at domestic companies, Suniva is finding it increasingly tough to stay in the U.S.
"If something isn't done, no one will be making solar PV in the U.S.," said Ashley.
The situation is a difficult one. China's domestic efforts are helping drop the price of solar at an astonishing pace — something that everyone in the solar industry wants. But it's also making it extraordinarily difficult for American solar manufacturers to compete.
The United States invented the modern solar cell over a half century ago. As China continues to boost domestic solar companies, the American solar industry will be asking some hard questions about how — and if — solar manufacturing can ever make it in a big way in the U.S.


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To provide information on Glaucoma
IGR is intended for members of WGA affiliated glaucoma societies throughout the world.
Three-monthly publication of a critical review - the Editors Selection - and classified abstracts of all glaucoma literature; in addition: reports, meeting announcements, comments, views, your special attention for paragraph etc..
Main outcome measure:
Abstracts, editors selection, announcements, reports, reviews, opinions for every glaucomatologist.
Concise and unique information on glaucoma literature, comments by experts, data on activities of WGA affiliated glaucoma societies.
IGR is the journal of the World Glaucoma Association (WGA). WGA is an independent, impartial, ethical global organization for glaucoma science and care. More information about the WGA can be found at their website: http://www.worldglaucoma.org
The uniqueness of IGR is its attempted completeness, its classification, and the Editor's Selection. IGR has the most complete collection of abstracts from the glaucoma literature which are otherwise not available, certainly not within the same time span. It is the only journal that presents a three-monthly critical review of selected glaucoma literature.
Furthermore IGR contains announcements and reports from WGA affiliated glaucoma
societies involved.
IGR has an Editorial Board of top glaucomatologists.
With the multitude and variety of publications it seems almost impossible for the ophthalmologist to intelligently read all the relevant subspecialty literature. Even the dedicated glaucomatologist may have difficulty to absorb 1200 yearly publications concerning his/her favorite subject. A solution to this confusing situation may be a critical selection and review of the world literature
IGR provides CONDENSED GLAUCOMA LITERATURE.
IGR uses a five level system; from most selected one-liners
(1) to most elaborate (5):


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Before I get to the futuristic ideas that physicists have, let me for reference first tell you about the currently biggest experiment in operation, that is the Large Hadron Collider, or LHC for short. Well, actually the LHC is currently on pause for an upgrade, but it is scheduled to be running again in May 2021. The LHC accelerates protons in a circular tunnel that is 27 kilometer long. Accelerating the protons requires powerful magnets that, to function properly, have to be cooled to only a few degrees above absolute zero. With this, the LHC reaches collision energies of about 14 Tera Electron Volt, or TeV.
Unless you are a particle physicist, this unit of energy probably does not tell you much. It helps to know that the collision energy is roughly speaking inversely proportional to the distances you can test. So, with higher collision energies, you can test smaller structures. That's why particle physicists build bigger colliders. The fourteen TeV that the LHC produces correspond to about ten to the minus nineteen meters. For comparison, the typical size of an atom is ten to the minus ten meters, and a proton roughly has a size of ten to the minus fifteen meters. So, the LHC tests structures a thousand times smaller than the diameter of a proton.
As you may have read in the news recently, CERN announced that particle physicists want a bigger collider. The new machine, called the "Future Circular Collider" is supposed to have a tunnel that's one-hundred kilometers long and it should ultimately reach one-hundred TeV collision energy, so that's about six times as much as what the LHC can do. What do they want to do with the bigger collider? That's a very good question, thanks for asking. They want to measure more precisely some properties of some particles. What is the use given that these particles live some microseconds on the outside? Nothing, really, but it keeps particle physicists employed.
The former Chief Scientific Advisor of the British government, Prof Sir David King, commented on the new collider plans in a BBC interview: "We have to draw a line somewhere, otherwise we end up with a collider that is so large that it goes around the equator. And if it doesn't end there perhaps there will be a request for one that goes to the Moon and back."
Particle physicists don't currently have plans for an accelerator around the equator, but some of them proposed we could place a collider with one-thousand-nine-hundred kilometer circumference in the gulf of Mexico. What for? Well, you could reach higher collision energies.
However, even particle physicists agree that a collider the size of the Milky Ways is not realistic. That's because, as the particle physicist James Beachman explained in an interview with Gizmodo, unfortunately even interstellar space, with a temperature of about 3 degrees above absolute zero, is still too warm for the magnets. This means you'd need a huge amount of Helium to cool the magnets. And where would you get this?
But even a collider around the equator would be a technological challenge. Not only because of the differences in altitude, also because the diameter of Earth pulses with a period of about 21 minutes. That's one of the fundamental vibrational modes of the Earth and, by the way, more evidence that the earth is not flat. The fundamental vibrational modes get constantly excited through earthquakes. But, as a lot of physicists have noticed, this is a problem which you would not have --- on the moon. The moon has very little seismic activity, and there's also no life crawling around on it, so, except for the occasional asteroid impact, it's very quiet there.
Better still, the moon has no atmosphere which can cloud up the view of the night sky. Which is why physicists have long dreamed of putting a radio telescope on the far side of the moon. Such a telescope would be exciting because it could measure signals from the "dark ages" of the early universe. This period has so-far been studied very little due to lack of data.
The dark ages begin after the emission of the cosmic microwave background but before the formation of the first stars, and they could tell us much about both, the behavior of normal matter and that of dark matter.
The dark ages, luckily, were not entirely dark, just very, very dim. That's because back then the universe was filled mostly by lots of hydrogen atoms. If these bump into each other, they can emit light at a very specific wavelength, 21 cm. This wavelength then stretches with the expansion of the universe and should be measureable to day with radio telescopes. Physicists call this "21 centimeter astronomy" and a few telescopes are already looking out for this signal from the dark ages. But the signal is very weak and hard to measure. Putting a telescope on the moon would certainly help.
This is not the only experiment that physicist would like to put on the moon, if we'd just let them. Just in February this year, for example, a proposal appeared to put a neutrino source on the moon and send a beam of neutrinos from there to earth. This would allow physicists to better study what happens to neutrinos as they travel. This information could be interesting because we know that neutrinos can "oscillate" between different types as they travel – for example an electron-neutrino can oscillate into a muon-neutrino – but there are some oddities in the existing measurements that could mean we are missing something.
And only a few weeks ago, some physicists proposed to put a gravitational wave interferometer on the moon, though this idea was originally proposed already in the 1990s. Again the reason is that the moon is far less noisy than our densely populated and seismically active planet. The downside is, well, there are no people on the moon to actually build the machine.
That's why I am more excited about another proposal that was put forward some years ago by two physicists from Harvard University. These guys suggested that to better measure gravitational waves, we could leave a trail of atomic clocks behind us on our annual path around the sun. When a gravitational wave passes through the solar system, the time that it takes signals to travel between the atomic clocks and earth slightly changes. The cool thing about it is that this would allow physicists to detect gravitational waves with much longer wavelengths than what is possible with interferometers on earth or on the moon. Gravitational waves with such long wavelengths should be created in the collisions of supermassive black holes and therefore could tell us something about what goes on in galactic cores.
These experiments have in common that they would be great to have, if you are a physicist. They also have in common that they are big. And since they are big, they are expensive, which means chances are slim any of those will ever become reality. Unfortunately, ignoring economic reality is common for physicists. Instead of thinking about ways to make experiments smaller, easier to handle, and cheaper to produce, their vision is to do the same thing again, just bigger. But, well, bigger isn't always better.


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AT&T submitted its public filing to the FCC, stating why they want to take over T-Mobile. AT&T says their network, in its current form, is overwhelmed by the influx of smartphones and tablets.
A smartphone generates 24 times the mobile data traffic of a conventional wireless phone, and the explosively popular iPad and similar tablet devices can generate traffic comparable to or even greater than a smartphone. AT&T's mobile data volumes surged by a staggering 8,000% from 2007 to 2010, and as a result, AT&T faces network capacity constraints more severe than those of any other wireless provider.
AT&T is using up its spectrum at an accelerating rate, and the wireless broadband revolution is just beginning. Over the next five years, data usage on AT&T's network is projected to skyrocket as customers "mobilize" all of their communications activities, from streaming HD video and cloud computing to a range of M2M applications like energy management, fleet tracking, and remote health monitoring. In just the first five-to-seven weeks of 2015, AT&T expects to carry all of the mobile traffic volume it carried during 2010.
AT&T says that this deal will improve their service across the board: faster data speeds, better reception, fewer dropped calls, yada yada (who knows, you might even run faster, jump higher and live longer).
This isn't the first time AT&T has taken this stance. Before they formally instituted data caps and the death of the unlimited plans, they expressed fears that the smartphone onslaught would ruin them.
This merger will definitely help service in NY and SF, the two cities most affected by the lack of spectrum. But we're still not fans of the idea. And let us not forget that it could take as long as three years to see any noticeable improvement from this merger, which is enough time for an entirely new crop of poor reception excuses to pop up. [AT&T]


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Remembering Donna Douglas, 'Beverly Hillbillies' star
| New York
Donna Douglas, who played the buxom tomboy Elly May Clampett on the hit 1960s sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies," has died.
Douglas died Thursday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, near her hometown of Zachary. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer, said her niece, Charlene Smith. Douglas was 82.
She was best known for her role in "The Beverly Hillbillies," the CBS comedy about a backwoods Ozark family who moved to Beverly Hills after striking it rich from oil discovered on their land.
The series, which ran from 1962 to 1971, also starred the late Buddy Ebsen and Irene Ryan as well as Max Baer Jr., who turns 77 on Sunday.
As Elly May, she seemed blissfully unaware of her status as a bumpkin blond bombshell. Typically she was clad in a snug flannel shirt and tight jeans cinched with a rope belt, and she seemed to prefer her critters to any beau.
Chosen from more than 500 other actresses, Douglas said she felt at ease playing the role because, like her character, she grew up a poor Southern tomboy. Her childhood in Pride, Louisiana, came in handy when she was asked during her audition to milk a goat.
"I had milked cows before," she recalled in a 2009 interview with The Associated Press. "I figured they were equipped the same, so I just went on over and did it."
The show was not only assailed by critics, but by the network boss who put it on the air: "I HATED it," Michael Dann confided much later. "After screening the pilot, I don't think I ever watched another segment."
The public, however, felt quite the opposite: It ran for nine seasons, often in the Top 10. In their own way, the Clampetts were a forerunner of the '60s counterculture.
It wasn't much of a stretch for Douglas to fit into the troupe, said Smith, the niece.
"She was always happy, and she really loved animals — just like her character on 'The Beverly Hillbillies.' She was a wonderful lady, a very good Christian lady."
Indeed, when Douglas gave her autograph, she included a biblical verse ("Trust in the Lord with all your heart..."), according to New Orleans TV station WAFB.
Douglas' career began with beauty pageants — she was Miss Baton Rouge and Miss New Orleans — followed by a trip to New York to pursue a career in entertainment.
"That was the first time I had ever been on an airplane," Douglas said.
While modeling didn't appeal to her — "I didn't want to be that skinny" — television did. Douglas was featured as the Letters Girl on "The Perry Como Show" in 1957 and as the Billboard Girl on "The Steve Allen Show" in 1959.
She landed a featured role in the 1959 film "Career," starring Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine, and a bit part in the film musical "Li'l Abner." She also had a small role as Tony Randall's secretary in the 1961 romantic comedy "Lover Come Back" with Rock Hudson and Doris Day.
Douglas starred in one of the most memorable episodes of Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" — titled "Eye of the Beholder," it was the one in which her head is wrapped in bandages for most of the half-hour after plastic surgery aimed at fixing her "ugliness," which in fact was beauty in a universe of monsters. And she starred opposite Elvis Presley in the 1966 movie "Frankie and Johnny."
After "The Beverly Hillbillies," Douglas worked in real estate, recorded country and gospel music albums and wrote a book for children that drew on biblical themes.
In 2010 she sued CBS and toymaker Mattel over a Barbie doll that used Elly May's name and likeness. The suit was settled in 2011.
She said she never minded being typecast as her "Hillbillies" character.
"So many kinds of people relate to Elly May," Douglas said. "So many people love her, and that means a lot to me."
Douglas was married twice, to Roland John Bourgeois, Jr. until 1954, and then to The Beverly Hillbillies director Robert M. Leeds. They divorced in 1980 after nine years of marriage. Survivors include her son, Danny P. Bourgeois.


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The firm Booz Allen Hamilton has fired Edward Snowden, the 29-year contractor who exposed the National Security Agency's phone and Internet monitoring program.
Booz Allen, in a statement Monday, also confirmed reports that Snowden was an employee of the firm for less than three months, working in Hawaii. The firm said he was paid an annual salary of $122,000, a figure substantially less than the $200,000 that has been previously reported.
Booz Allen reiterated again that it was shocked by the reports that one of its employees was the leaker and that the company was working with authorities on the criminal investigation.
Related: Uncle Sam's outsourcing tab - $517 billion
Snowden told the British newspaper the Guardian that he revealed the extent of the NSA's collection of telephone and Internet data because he believed the program to be "an existential threat to democracy."
Related: What Snowden's former co-workers say about Booz Allen
Booz Allen's corporate careers Web site currently lists a job posting for a systems administrator, junior job, based in Hawaii. Booz Allen spokesman James Fisher said he could not comment on the posting or say anything beyond the statement about Snowden.
Snowden's leak poses problems for Booz Allen, which gets 99% of its revenue from a variety of government contracts, providing cyber security services and technical support for both intelligence and defense agencies as well as civilian branches of government.
Shares of Booz Allen (BAH) tumbled on the news of Snowden's role, closing down 2.6% on Monday, and continued to decline on Tuesday.


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This article is more than 1 year old
Stayin' alive: Ten years of Linux on the mainframe
How an odd couple lasted
Comment It would be hard to find two technologies that would seem to be more diametrically opposed in the data center than the IBM mainframe and the open source Linux operating system. But the combination of the two, which then-IBM president and now IBM chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano championed (or more precisely, gets credit for championing within Big Blue regardless of whose idea it may have been), saved the System z mainframe business.
Saved it from what, you ask? Well, not from immediate economic oblivion. Given the entrenched nature of COBOL and CICS transaction processing applications, batch workloads, and DB2 and IMS databases underpinning heaven only knows what at some 6,000 to 7,000 mainframe shops worldwide, it would be very hard to replace mainframes. As the proprietary and Unix system vendors who have been trying for decades have learned. But they have crunched the mainframe hardware business, which accounted for $13.1bn in revenues in 1989, before the bottom dropped out thanks to a recession that in turn caused a mainframe consolidation and Unix frenzy.
Just to show you how different IBM was back then, the company had $41.6bn in hardware sales that year, and pushed PCs, printers, disks, minicomputers, telecom and networking gear, retail systems - you name it. And those mainframes had wickedly high profit margins and drove mainframe software sales where nearly all the money dropped to the bottom line - and helped pay the bill for all of those unprofitable hardware businesses, by the way.
By 1993, mainframe hardware revenues dropped to $6.5bn, and slid down to a low of $2.9bn in 2000, the year that Linux debuted on the big iron and breathed a little life on it. The combination of low-cost mainframe engines - which IBM called the Integrated Facility for Linux but which are really just plain-old mainframe engines with the z/VM hypervisor carving up virtual server slices and only sold to support Linux, not z/OS or other operating systems - and low-cost Linux operating systems was a hit with at least some mainframe shops, who were once again looking to cut costs in yet another recession. (The Linux engines cost about a quarter the price of engines intended to run z/OS, IBM's flagship operating system for its big iron; and even at $18,000 to $25,000 per core, Linux was a bargain compared to z/OS.) For those CIOs who build and maintain System z empires for a living, Linux on the box was a boon.
And perhaps equally importantly, the Linux/IFL combo fostered the delivery other low-priced "specialty engines" with lower prices and relegated to other workloads that might otherwise be shifted off the mainframe. First, in 2004, came the System z Application Assist Processor (zAAP) for offloading Java and XML workloads from the central processors (CPs) running z/OS and IBM's WebSphere middleware. Then, in 2006, came the System z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP), which accelerates DB2 databases by offloading certain functions from the CPs running z/OS and DB2 to these zAAPs.
Not all customers adopted IFLs, zIIPs, and zAAPs, but enough did that when the economy started to recover in the mid-2000s, the mainframe hardware business was back on its feet. If you average hardware sales between 2006 and 2008 (when IBM was doing the System z10 transition), IBM brought in around $3.5bn in mainframe processor sales - a little bit less than the $4bn in averaged for x64 iron and considerably less than the $5bn it has averaged for years with its combined RS/6000-AS/400 Power server lineup, now converged to a single Power Systems line.
In 2009, the economy went into the tank again just as IBM was readying its System z11 mainframes for market in 2010, and the combination of the two hammered the mainframe hardware biz down to the lowest levels it has ever seen, about $2.6bn.
Big Blue doesn't like to talk numbers, but Karl Freund, vice president of System z strategy and marketing at IBM, said that in 2009, which was an awful year for servers of all types and stripes, processing capacity on mainframes (as measured in Millions of Instructions Per Second, or MIPS) dedicated to Linux workloads grew in excess of 10 per cent. And the installed base of Linux-related MIPS is now in excess of 2.5 million MIPS, more than twice the base in 2007. (It is hard to say what percentage of overall mainframe processing capacity this is, since IBM did not provide the MIPS number for the whole base.)
Freund says that the average mainframe IBM sells these days has two or three IFLs, which are used for development, test, and production workloads. The number of IFLs is rising despite the poor economy - or maybe because of it. Linux accounts for well over one-quarter of mainframe MIPS sold, which is up from around a tenth of capacity sold a few years back, and zIIPs and zAAPs are growing rapidly, too. Which would seem to indicate that IBM is charging too much for generic mainframe capacity.
Here's a stunner: about half of new mainframe shops, says Freund, are Linux-only shops. No z/OS. No z/VSE. And only z/VM to run IFLs and Linux images. (That may say as much about how few new mainframe customers there are in the world as it does about the popularity of Linux on mainframes.)
The success of Linux on the mainframe has compelled software vendors to port their Linux apps to the System z, and after a decade of cajoling and encouraging, there are now 3,150 Linux applications certified on the System z platform - a little less than the application count on the flagship z/OS operating system, but pulling towards even. Of course, these numbers are for third party applications, databases, middleware, and other system programs, and ignore the vast installed base of homegrown z/OS code running on mainframes.
Whatever IBM has planned for the impending System z11 mainframes, if they are indeed called that, you can bet that Linux will be a big part of the sales push. All Freund would say is that there will be Linux-only bundles of hardware and software like the Linux Solution Edition and Enterprise Linux Server configurations that were created for the System z10 mainframes. ®


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As I occasionally do, there is a comment on my post "The Top 10 Racist Moments of the GOP Primary (So Far)" that merits further discussion. Nomad (who needs to claim his book prize) perennial critic of Barack Obama, and long time commenter here on WARN observed that:
Everything you say is true about the Republican assault on issues of concern to black people:
"the 2012 Republican candidates are stirring the pot of white racial anxiety, this is a means to a larger end—the destruction of the country's social safety net, in support of vicious economic austerity policies, and protecting the kleptocrats and financiers at the expense of the working and middle classes."
What you fail to mention is that a Democratic president, who "happens to be black", is leading the charge. Clearly racism is being used in a novel way here; to align black people behind policies that are antiblack, in their support for a black president. Diabolical. The irony is hilarious. Tea party on one side of the political divide working against their best interests in their support for the super-rich; and black people working against their best interests in their support for a conservative black president.
I wonder if a similar list of racist moments, albeit intra-racially racist, could be compiled for the enigma in the white house? I'd nominate this moment. http://www.mediaite.com/tv/obama-to-congressional-black-caucus-stop-complaining-stop-grumbling-stop-whining/This is a very sharp (and quite rich) observation. Partisanship colors--pardon my pun--how voters assess a given candidate's job performance and efficacy. Moreover, allowing for the historic and groundbreaking nature of Barack Obama's election, the white backlash he has experienced, his ability to code switch as he plays the black authenticity game, and given their long standing loyalty to the Democratic Party, African Americans' support of Obama makes sense. However, has that deep well of support paid any political dividends to the black community?
Certainly, Barack Obama has not engaged in the type of racial triangulation game that is typical of black conservatives like Herman Cain or Allen West (where they signal their acceptability to white people, and White political interests, by playing the exceptional pro-white negro), nor has Obama had a Bill Clinton Sister Soulja moment where he threw a black person under the proverbial bus in order to make white middle America feel comfortable.
[Well, one must ask: does the Reverend Wright exercise in realpolitik political abandonment count in that category?]
I never expected a Black radical to win the U.S. presidency--thus, my qualifier that Barack Obama is a "president who happens to be black, and not a Black president." I knew that he was a corporatist, who in another generation, would have been an Eisenhower-Rockefeller Republican.
So help me out, did folks actually believe that they were getting a black freedom fighter who was going to be the second coming of Dr. King with their vote for Obama back in 2008? And if the choice is between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, what is a better use of the black (brown, young people, poor, working class) vote strategically?


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It means that you don't have to start your partitioning from scratch in programs like cfdisk or fdisk, but you can reuse and finalize partitioning scenario already defined by sfdisk scripts. It may be attractive for DIY system installers, admins, etc.
All is based on libfdisk, so the same functionality may be very easily implemented in another tools too.
It's Friday ...sooo I tried to record video with some trivial example, all is from util-linux git tree (not yet release v2.26).


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Alabama Website Design
Your website designer!
A well-designed website is essential
A well-designed website is a crucial part of a successful business. It should be easy to use and navigate and should be designed with the user in mind. It should be easy to use and not contain unnecessary elements that could confuse visitors. The colors and graphics should complement the content and layout of the website. A website should be responsive, as slow websites can discourage visitors.
Alabama () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered by Tennessee to the north; Georgia to the east; Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south; and Mississippi to the west. Alabama is the 30th largest by area and the 24th-most populous of the U.S. states. With a total of 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of inland waterways, Alabama has among the most of any state.Alabama is nicknamed the Yellowhammer State, after the state bird. Alabama is also known as the "Heart of Dixie" and the "Cotton State". The state tree is the longleaf pine, and the state flower is the camellia.
Alabama City, Alberta City, Arlington - West End, Avondale, Bellfontaine, Central City, Crestline, Crestwood North, Crestwood South, East Avondale, East Lake, Eastlake, Echo Highlands, Enon Ridge, Ensley


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by Brian Shilhavy
Coconut oil has been around for thousands of years in the tropics where coconut palm trees grow. Recently, coconut oil has seen a resurgence in popularity in the U.S. and consumers are beginning to look at buying coconut oil again. So what kind of coconut oil offers the most benefits?
Coconut oils can be classified into two general categories: virgin coconut oils and refined coconut oils. Both categories refer to pure coconut oil with nothing else added, and the main difference is in the production and refining process to make coconut oil.
Virgin Coconut Oil Offers the Most Benefits
There is no industry standard definition for "virgin coconut oil" as there is in the olive oil industry for "virgin" and "extra virgin" olive oil. Today, there are many coconut oils on the market that are labeled as "virgin coconut oil." Tropical Traditions was the first company to publish standards for the use of "virgin coconut oil" in terms of edible oils, and here is what was published over ten years ago:
Virgin coconut oil can only be achieved by using fresh coconut meat or what is called non-copra. Chemicals and high heating are not used in further refining, since the natural, pure coconut oil is very stable with a shelf life of several years.
There are currently two main processes of manufacturing virgin coconut oil:
1. Quick drying of fresh coconut meat which is then used to press out the oil. Using this method, the coconut meat is quick dried, and the oil is then pressed out via mechanical means. This is the most common type of "virgin" coconut oil sold in the market today that you will find in stores, although many brands will label it as "extra" virgin even though there is no industry standard for the term "extra virgin." This machine-made mass produced coconut oil is often referred to as "cold pressed." However, this does not mean that the coconut has never been heat treated, since heat must be used to dry the coconut prior to pressing it out of the coconut meat.
2. Wet-milling. With this method the oil is extracted from fresh coconut meat without drying first. "Coconut milk" is expressed first by pressing. The oil is then further separated from the water. Methods which can be used to separate the oil from the water include boiling, fermentation, refrigeration, enzyme extraction, and mechanical centrifuge. The first two of these methods are traditional methods (boiling and fermentation) that indigenous cultures in tropical climates have used to make coconut oil for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The last two (enzyme extraction and mechanical centrifuge) are recent methods based on technology. Recent research conducted in the coconut oil producing countries of Sri Lanka and Malaysia show that the traditional methods of producing coconut oil produces the highest amounts of anti-oxidants, because heating is part of the process.
The Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is an example of a wet-milling fermentation method of producing traditional virgin coconut oil.
The Benefits of The Gold Label® Standard of Virgin Coconut Oil
The method used by Mt. Banahaw Health Products Corp. in the Philippines, whose oil is marketed exclusively by Tropical Traditions as their Gold Label standard coconut oil, is the traditional wet-milling method called "fermentation." "Fermentation" here is defined as the natural separation of the coconut oil from water using gravity. No machine or other substances are used in the extraction.
First, coconut milk is expressed from the freshly harvested coconuts by using the pure water that is present inside the coconuts. The coconut milk is then allowed to sit for approximately half a day. During this time, the heavier water separates from the oil by sinking to the bottom, while the lighter coconut solids float to the top (curds). In between the coconut solids and the water is a crystal clear coconut oil that is completely unrefined. The oil is then slightly heated (less than boiling temperatures) for a short time (5 – 15 minutes depending on air temperatures) to remove any remaining moisture and increase antioxidant levels, and then filtered.
The result is a clear coconut oil that retains the distinct scent and taste of coconuts. This is a traditional method of coconut oil extraction that has been used in the Philippines for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Marianita's parents' generation made coconut oil this way, but the knowledge was in the process of passing away before we revived it, due to the easily obtained refined coconut oils found in the stores in the Philippines. It is a much more labor-intensive method of producing coconut oil, and cannot be replicated by machine through mass-production. Family producers for Mt. Banahaw make the Gold Label standard in small batches.
Watch this video to see how Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is produced
Laboratory tests show that Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is a very high quality coconut oil, with very high antioxidant levels. A study done in Malaysia and published in the International Journal of Food Science Nutrition also reported that the wet-milling fermentation method produced the highest amounts of antioxidants, and another study completed in Sri Lanka in 2011 confirmed the result.
Does "Extra" Virgin Coconut Oil Offer Any Benefits?
Unfortunately, there is no standard industry definition for "virgin" coconut oil as there is in the olive oil industry. Therefore, it is not uncommon to find refined coconut oils labeled as "virgin" coconut oils. Some brands also use the term "extra virgin" coconut oil, even though there is nothing "extra" that can be done to produce coconut oil other than the ways described above, and the term "extra virgin" is therefore simply a marketing term.
Testimonials for Coconut Oil Benefits with Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil
Watch this video testimonial of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil from Lesli (beginning) and Dr. Amanda Rose (2:15 point in the video) as they each describe the benefits of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil over other coconut oils.
Do you wonder how you can use Coconut Oil? Watch this short video that shows how easy it is to incorporate coconut oil into your diet:
Read the full article here: http://healthimpactnews.com/2012/coconut-oil-benefits-what-kind-of-coconut-oil-offers-the-most-benefits/
About the author: Unlike many people who write about coconut oil by simply reading about it, Brian Shilhavy actually lived in a coconut producing area of the Philippines for several years with his family, observing firsthand the differences between the diet and health of the younger generation and those of his wife's parents' generation still consuming a traditional diet. This led to years of studying Philippine nutrition and dietary patterns first hand while living in a rural farming community in the Philippines. Brian is the author of the best-selling book: Virgin Coconut Oil: How it has changed people's lives and how it can change yours!
Read the Virgin Coconut Oil eBook on Your Mobile Device!