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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Proud veterans Drew Brees and Ben Watson summoned their best performances of the season and restored a bit of swagger to the recently reeling Saints.
Brees passed for 312 yards, Watson racked up a career-high 127 yards receiving to go with a fourth-down touchdown catch, and New Orleans handed the Atlanta Falcons their first loss of the season with a 31-21 win on Thursday night.
Desperate for a victory, the Saints (2-4) enjoyed big plays in all phases, a common occurrence when New Orleans hosts night games. Including the playoffs, the Saints have now won 19 of 21 games in the Superdome in prime time.
Michael Mauti, who grew up near New Orleans...


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- AltCar Auto Show
- Beijing Auto Show
- CES Auto Show
- Chicago Auto Show
- DC Auto Show
- Detroit Auto Show
- Frankfurt Auto Show
- Geneva Auto Show
- LA Auto Show
- NAIAS Auto Show
- New York Auto Show
- Paris Auto Show
- Philadelphia Auto Show
- SEMA Auto Show
- San Diego Auto Show
- Shanghai Auto Show
- St. Louis Auto Show
- Tokyo Auto Show
Auto Show: 2012 Beijing Auto Show
Lamborghini Urus Concept: Beijing Auto Show
- Lamborghini's sharp signature styling applied to four-seat, fastback SUV
- Output expected to be around 600 horsepower
- Light weight achieved with new carbon fiber material
Grazing the grasslands centuries ago, the urus was a particularly large type of wild bovine. It became extinct in the seventeenth century, but that didn't stop the folks at Lamborghini from reincarnating the beast. The company unveiled its wild new Urus SUV concept this week at the Beijing Auto Show. Lamborghini says the luxurious and high-performance four-seater will have a brawny 600-horsepower engine but be able to achieve low emissions, thanks in part to a lightweight design.
Exactly what engine will lurk under the Urus' hood is a mystery. But Lamborghini's output estimate suggests that its engine, coupled with all-wheel drive, will be more than capable of providing stellar performance, especially if Lamborghini's weight-saving measures are effective at keeping off the pounds. The curb weight of the Urus is unconfirmed, but extensive use of carbon fiber and other high-tech materials could result in an SUV that's lighter than competitors with similar proportions, like the BMW X6 M.
Much of the Urus' body and even its interior are built using strong, lightweight carbon fiber. The material reinforces polymer body panels and is a component in the new, patented Forged Composite material employed extensively inside the Urus. All four bucket seats and the central tunnel benefit from the weight-saving properties of the new material. Forged Composite and carbon fiber details inside and out remain unpainted to reveal their nature.
That includes aerodynamic elements like the adaptive front spoiler and the massive rear diffuser. Even the Urus' giant, 24-inch wheels have carbon fiber winglets to help the big SUV slip through the wind. Lamborghini says the combination of light weight and optimized aerodynamics will result in crisper performance and lower emissions than competitors.
Should the concept reach production, the Urus will surely be in a rare class of ultra-luxury SUVs. Still, the premium SUV segment is strong, and the Urus could be the first Lamborghini suitable for use as a family vehicle, albeit an expensive one. The company says they could produce 3,000 units annually; that's nearly twice the total number of new Lamborghinis sold globally last year. The company expects to find buyers for its SUV in the U.S. and U.K. as well as Germany, Russia, the Middle East and China.
What it means to you: Lamborghini revealed its first SUV, a hulking, Hummer-like machine with a wicked V12, back in 1986. Its second SUV, the Urus Concept, is even more powerful but also much lighter on its feet.

subset: commoncrawl


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December 6 - Obama reaches tax deal
On December 6, President Barack Obama announced he had reached a deal with Republican leaders to extend Bush era tax cuts for all Americans for two more years. In exchange the president received an extension of unemployment benefits. The president had been fighting the tax cuts for most of 2010, and the deal angered most liberal Democrats, but signed the bill into law on December 17.
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Copyright © 2018, Chicago Tribune


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Anyone in the Clydesdale class ridden the 6'4 Sweet potato? Put straps on it?
How about Mayo instead or is that too French14ToeSide wrote: Sweet potato? Put straps on it?
First, I agree 100% with iblocal surfer above.14ToeSide wrote:Weigh 245 Pies. When I would use this board in Fla in Ultra light air, we don't have much more than Ankle Snappers. When I move my Size 14 Boats around on the board, things change quickly such as board speed etc. I think I'm going to try Hopping to change feet instead of doing the 2 step shuffle.
Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], mattenzuchtig, ThickAir and 14 guests


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Twitter was abuzz Thursday with the death of Apple visionary Steve Jobs but another topic was gathering steam as the day progressed. Who will win this year's coveted Nobel Peace Prize?
Not Jobs, though many among his huge global following posted messages that he should. The Nobel is never awarded posthumously and that rule also eliminates Mohamed Bouazizi, the unemployed college graduate whose self-immolation in Tunisia sparked a popular uprising that led to the fall of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali's government. The Tunisian revolt began this year's so-called Arab Spring.
Some years, there are clear frontrunners -- Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi.
This year, it's anyone's guess with a record number of nominations -- 241 -- received by the Nobel committee. Of those, 53 are organizations, including WikiLeaks -- the website founded by Julian Assange that facilitates the publication of classified information and made headlines for leaking documents and videos related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also released thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables.
"Liu Xiabao was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his struggle for human rights, democracy and freedom of speech in China," blogged Norwegian lawmaker Snorre Valen of the Socialist Left Party, who nominated WikiLeaks. "Likewise: WikiLeaks have contributed to the struggle for those very values globally, by exposing (among many other things) corruption, war crimes and torture -- some times even conducted by allies of Norway."
Liu's win upset the Chinese and set off a diplomatic squabble. The year before, the world gasped collectively at Barack Obama's win, a shocker that the U.S. president had won even before he had completed his first year in office.
Despite the controversy that has swirled around perhaps the world's most prestigious prize, some experts say this year is a no-brainer, given the seismic events that have gripped the Arab world.
Kristian Berg Harpviken, director of Norway's Peace Research Institute Oslo shortlisted men and women who did their share in fomenting peaceful revolts against repressive regimes.
Harpviken's top choice is Israa Abdel Fattah, who helped organize Egypt's online April 6 Youth Movement in 2008.
She was arrested by Egyptian security that year and soon became a symbol of defiance against Hosni Mubarak's government. She has earned the monikers "cyber dissident" and "Facebook girl" and was named one of Arabian Business Magazine's 100 most powerful women in 2011.
The peace research institute's website said that Fattah is a good choice because the Nobel committee "has emphasized its wish to be relevant, to speak to dominant themes of the present, and to see the prize giving leverage in unfolding processes. Secondly, Harpviken believes that the prize is likely to be awarded to a female leader or activist who has been an innovator of new tools for bringing about peace."
Another potential winner is Wael Ghonim, the former Google executive who used social media to jump-start social change in Egypt. Ghonim fired off a steady stream of messages on Twitter and Facebook and worked behind the scenes to galvanize thousands to march on the streets to demand change.
Tunisian blogger Lina Ben Mhenni is also on many top lists. Censored in her own country, she criticized the regime long before the uprisings began, dispersing information to the outside world.
"A prize to Mhenni would be a prize to independent reporting, in the form of social media, as well as recognition of the peaceful protests of the Tunisian people at large," the peace institute website said.
Some experts think that Gene Sharp, an American scholar who founded the Albert Einstein Institution in Boston, could be recognized for his work on the principles of non-violence, including "From Dictatorship to Democracy." The downloadable writings in many languages have proved a source of inspiration around the world, including the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa.
Harpviken also named Memorial, a Russian civil rights group known for its fight for to protect refugees and victims of political persecution and human rights violations in war zones.
Natalya Estemirova, Memorial's lead researcher in the Chechen republic, was abducted and killed in July 2009. Human Rights Watch said it "appeared to be clearly connected to her work uncovering human rights violations in Chechnya. "
Bookmakers Paddy Power listed Sima Samar, head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, as a favorite at 5/4 odds.
A physician and trailblazer for women's rights, Samar was named deputy premier after the toppling of the Taliban in 2001, the first woman to win such a high government post.
She has been threatened with death and harassed for questioning conservative Islamic laws and practices, including the burqua, the head-to-toe garment Afghan women have been forced to wear.
Paddy Power picked the right winner last year. That bodes well for Samar. Other names on global shortlists include:
-- Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy leader who was released from house arrest last year. Suu Kyi is already a Nobel laureate -- she was awarded the peace price in 1991. No individual has won it twice, though two organizations -- the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees -- are repeat winners.
-- German Chancellor Helmut Kohl
-- Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payas Sardinas
-- Ghazi bin Muhammad, a Jordanian advocate of interfaith dialogue
The winner will be announced Friday. Until then, the speculation continues to heat up.
Twitter user Alu Abunimah (@avinunu) offered one last candidate for consideration to his more than 16,000 followers.
"Maybe the Nobel Peace Prize will go to The Markets, to help Calm them and make them Feel Better," he said. "Also they need the money."
The Nobel Peace prize laureate will win about $1.5 million.
CNN's Joe Sterling contributed to this report.


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Note: Our events calendar is for non-commercial, Meaford-based community events only.
Taoist Tai Chi arts are based on a set of 108 movements and proven to benefit balance, strength, flexibility & circulation, as well as to improve over-all health & well-being of body, mind & spirit. Special rates for seniors. Members may join classes in 26 different countries at no extra charge. Beginner classes start frequently.


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Order Issue 103
A poem from the Fall 2018 issue. The girl born at the edge of a copper-colored river returns, prefers her wrists …
Sandy Longhorn
Sep, 2018
An installment in John T. Edge's Points South column, Local Fare. Time at Helen's raises questions, small and large. Other than great barbecue, and my respect and affection for the woman who owns the restaurant, what calls me to Brownsville?…
John T. Edge
Sep, 2018
Notes on the songs from our 20th Southern Music Issue Sampler featuring North Carolina. The profiles, eulogies, and essays herein boast of remarkable achievements of North Carolina's musicians across eras and genres: from unassailable legends (High Point's John Coltrane, Tryon's…
Oxford American
Nov, 2018
Sarah Winchester and the legacy of living with guns It's difficult to understate how the repeating rifle revolutionized killing, of both animals and man, as it brought the world from the single-shot muzzle-loaded rifle to a gun that could hold multiple…
Sara A. Lewis
Sep, 2018
A feature essay from the Fall 2018 issue. One morning in the summer of 1996, Damian Hart was standing naked on a pier in the Aegean Sea. The sun was bearing down on Mount Athos, one of several craggy peninsulas…
Nick Tabor
Sep, 2018
A poem from the Fall 2018 issue. None of this surprises you now, does it? I'm not sure I can know that, I responded to myself. Or I think I did. I should have. A friend told me to embrace my disorientation here, to attend to…
Curtis Bauer
Sep, 2018
A Points South essay from the Fall 2018 issue. The dock at Mountain Lake is everything a dock should be—whitewashed clapboard, punctuated by an airy pavilion with a red roof—but if you jumped off it, all you'd hit is earth.…
Nell Boeschenstein
Sep, 2018
A Points South story from the Fall 2018 issue In the evenings, after the day's rain, my grandfather drove through Starke counting cars in the lots of other motels, doing the math and feeling like a winner. For guests visiting…
Scott Korb
Sep, 2018
A feature essay from the Fall 2018 issue. Prine radiates a sense of well-being, along with a sort of amused nonchalance toward potential disaster. This is a good thing, because the Coupe, as it turns out, has no passenger-side safety…
Tom Piazza
Oct, 2018
A Letter from the Editor, Fall 2017.
It is an ongoing project: reckoning with our past, making the South a better place to live and dream and learn and work.


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U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
Office of Inspector General
October 30, 2008
The Honorable Naomi C. Earp Chair
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Washington, D.C. 20507
Dear Madam Chair:
The Office of Inspector General's (OIG) Semiannual Report to Congress, summarizing our activities for the six-month period of April 1, 2008 through September 30, 2008, is provided for your review. The Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, Public Law 95-451, Section 5(B),requires that you submit this report to the Congress within 30 days of receipt.
During this period, the OIG issued three audit reports and three evaluation reports; completed four investigationsand received 199 investigative inquiries. Highlights include the results of the Performance Audit of the EEOC's Education, Training and Technical Assistance Program Revolving Fund, the Independent Audit of the EEOC Privacy Program, the Agency's Compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), and the Evaluation of the Oversight of Federal Agency Reporting Management Directive 715 and Related Topics.
The OIG also identified the most significant management challenges confronting the Agency. These matters will require a change in the management culture, commitment of significant Agency resources, and sound decision-making by Agency leadership.
Also during this reporting period, both the audit and evaluations unit and the investigative unit of the OIG underwent peer reviews. The Farm Credit Administration (FCA) conducted the peer review of the audit and evaluation function and issued an unqualified opinion on the system of quality control. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) conducted the peer review of the investigations function and issued an unqualified opinion on the system of internal safeguards and management procedures.
The OIG staff would like to thank you for your support and thank the EEOC employees for their continued cooperation and support of our mission to prevent and detect fraud, waste and abuse within the Agency.Sincerely,
Aletha L. Brown
Inspector General
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The Office of Inspector General
Summary of Significant Management Challenges
The Audit and Evaluation Programs
Completed Projects
Ongoing Audit and Evaluation Projects
Other Audit and Evaluation Activities
Core Values Statement
Investigative Inquiries
Completed Investigations
Ongoing Investigation Activities
Professional Development Activities
Appendix I Final OIG Audit and Evaluation Reports
Appendix II Index of Reporting Requirements
Appendix III Single Audit Act Reports
This semiannual report is issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC's) Office of Inspector General (OIG) pursuant to the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended. It summarizes the OIG's activities and accomplishments for the period of April 1, 2008, through September 30, 2008. During this period, the OIG issued three audit reports and three evaluation reports, completed four investigations,and received 199 investigative inquiries, of which 106 were charge-processing issues, 58 were Title VII complaints, and 35 were other investigative allegations.The OIG's completed and ongoing audit, evaluation, and investigative projects include the following:
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the Federal agency responsible for enforcement of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended; the Equal Pay Act of 1963; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA); Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (in the Federal sector only); Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA); and the Civil Rights Act of 1991. These statutes prohibit employment discrimination based on race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, or disability. EEOC is also responsible for carrying out Executive Order 12067, which promotes coordination and minimizes conflict and duplication among Federal agencies that administer statutes or regulations involving employment discrimination.
The EEOC is a bipartisan commission comprising five presidentially appointed members, including a Chair, a Vice Chair, and three commissioners. The Chair is responsible for the administration and implementation of policy and for the financial management and organizational development of the Commission. The Vice Chair and the commissioners equally participate in the development and approval of the policies of the Commission, issue charges of discrimination where appropriate, and authorize the filing of lawsuits. Additionally, the President appoints a General Counsel, who provides legal advice and leadership, including coordination and supervision, to EEOC's litigation program.
The United States Congress established an Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the EEOC through the 1988 amendments of the Inspector General Act of 1978, which expanded authority to Federal entities and designated Federal entities to create independent and objective OIGs. Under the direction of the Inspector General (IG), the OIG meets this statutory responsibility by conducting and supervising audits and investigations relating to the programs and operations of the Agency, providing leadership and coordination, and recommending policies for activities designed to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the administration of and to prevent and detect fraud and abuse in such programs and operations. The IG keeps the Chair and Congress fully and currently informed about problems and deficiencies relating to the administration of such programs and operations and the necessity for and progress of corrective action by issuing semiannual reports to Congress.
The OIG is under the supervision of the IG, an independent EEOC official subject to the general supervision of the Chair. The IG must not be prevented or prohibited by the Chair or any other EEOC official from initiating, carrying out, or completing any audit, investigation, evaluation, or other inquiry or from issuing any report. The IG provides overall direction, coordination, and leadership to the OIG; establishes program priorities, provides final review on all significant matters, and approves the general course of action to be followed by OIG staff; is the principal advisor to the Chair in connection with all audit and investigative matters relating to the prevention, identification, and elimination of waste in any EEOC program or operation and recommends the proper boundaries of audit and investigation jurisdiction between the OIG and other EEOC organizations; develops a separate and independent annual budget for the OIG; and responds directly to inquiries from the public, Congress, or the news media and prepares press releases, statements, and other information about OIG activities.
The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) serves as the alternate to the IG and participates fully in the policy development and management of the diverse audit, investigative, evaluation, and support operations of the OIG. The DIG also ensures that the Audit, Evaluation, and Investigation Programs (AEIP) address their mission, goals, and objectives in accordance with the Inspector General Act, other laws, Agency policy, and congressional requests. The DIG provides overall direction, program guidance, and supervision to the AEIP. The AEIP staff conducts audits, evaluations, and investigations of EEOC operations and activities and prepares reports for issuance to the Chair, EEOC management, and Congress. Conducting audits, evaluations, and investigations is the primary mission of the OIG.
The Counsel to IG (CIG) is the sole legal advisor in the OIG, providing advice in connection with matters of importance to the OIG. The CIG provides day-to-day supervision and guidance to the OIG's investigation team and is the primary liaison with Agency legal components and the Department of Justice. The CIG assists the IG and DIG; coordinates and participates in the development and implementation of OIG policies and procedures; reviews all audit, evaluation, and investigation reports for legal sufficiency; and reviews proposed and revised legislation and regulations and recommends appropriate responses and actions.
The following is a summary of issues the IG considers the most serious management challenges the Agency is confronting. These matters require not only the commitment of significant Agency resources, sound decision making by the Agency's leadership, and continued oversight by the OIG, but also a change in management culture. Specifically, EEOC management needs to break the cycle of continuing to use its standard methods and embark on innovative processes that are more efficient and productive. Without addressing each of the following issues, the ability of the Agency to continue to meet its mission and the challenges of the 21st century may be compromised.
The Agency's strategic management of human capital remains a major management challenge, and progress appears slow. In its June 2008 report to the Chairman of the U.S. Senate's Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) notes that after four years, the EEOC's efforts to develop, communicate, and implement a strategic human capital plan are still incomplete. In the report, GAO recommended that the Chair finalize the strategic human capital plan on the basis of skills and competencies assessments and develop an implementation plan for the strategies identified in the plan with stakeholder input that identifies necessary resources, responsible parties, timelines for completion, and milestones to measure progress. The Office of Human Resources (OHR) last updated the draft plan in September 2008, and it was submitted to the Chair's office for review. The OIG requested a copy of the document but was told by OHR officials that senior management requested that the draft report not be released until after their review was complete.
The OIG notes that another human capital concern is the vacancy left by the retirement of its Chief Human Capital Officer in June 2008. This is a key position within the Agency, and the individual selected for this position will serve as the Agency's chief policy advisor on all human resources management issues. Several managers within the OHR will be serving as Acting Chief Human Capital Officer on a rotating basis until the position is filled. The fact that the Agency has not advertised for a Chief Human Capital Officer more than four months after the retirement indicates that the strategic management of human capital is not considered a high priority in the Agency. Other OHR staffing issues, such as the absence of critical skill sets and continued vacancies, further support the lack of attention to this critical Agency function. Management needs to finalize its human capital plan and ensure that it is linked to the EEOC's strategic plan and annual performance goals.
Finally, the Agency must take steps now to ensure that a pipeline exists within the current workforce to provide leaders equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge, and abilities to lead the Agency in meeting its mission and strategic goals in the future. In Chair Naomi Earp's testimony before Congress in April 2008, she explained that there is no fully fleshed-out succession planning system in the Agency and that the strategic human capital plan will include provisions for succession planning. In a document prepared by OHR entitled Leadership Succession Management Plan: Leading into the Future, September 2007, key and mission-critical leadership positions were identified, but the plan did not contain information addressing movement of current employees into leadership positions. Additionally, steps must be taken to link the Agency's succession planning efforts with the Agency's strategic plan and to integrate succession planning into the budgetary planning process. The OHR managers indicated that they recently met with senior management to discuss a revised draft leadership succession plan. Senior management requested that the plan be submitted to the Senior Executive Service Advisory Council, established in September 2008, to obtain its input and recommendations. The OIG will receive a copy of the plan after that review is completed.
EEOC faces a major challenge in adequately addressing the growing backlog of private-sector discrimination cases. This backlog, known as "charge inventory," is growing rapidly and is expected to continue growing. The primary negative effect is the delay in case resolution for thousands of EEOC primary customers, the people who believe they have been discriminated against.
Preliminary FY 2008 information indicates that EEOC received 95,000 new private-sector charges—12,000 more than last year—resulting in a beginning FY 2009 inventory of nearly 75,000 charges. This presents an enormous challenge, according to the Director of the Office of Field Programs, and to slow growth in and then eventually decrease inventory, EEOC needs either dramatic budget increases, allowing hiring of many more staff to process cases, or major improvements in how efficiently it processes cases. Based on trends relating to agency appropriations, dramatic budget increases are extremely unlikely, so EEOC needs to focus on major improvements in case processing.
In its FY 2009 budget justification, EEOC did not propose major improvements in charge processing. EEOC has not embarked on major initiatives to reduce the inventory or to reduce the growth of the inventory in over 10 years. The last major initiative was the Priority Charge Handling Process (PCHP), instituted in 1995. As reported by Chair Earp in her April 2008 testimony before Congress, "the charges that we receive are increasingly nuanced and more complex. This requires refocusing and making a strategic alignment to enable the Commission to continue to be effective in this 21st century environment."
Without a focus on majorimprovements, there will not be a fundamental change in how well EEOC succeeds in its most important and resource-intensive activity. One of the key findings of the GAO report relating to the private-sector charge inventory was the Agency's failure to share promising management practices with all field offices. We agree with GAO that EEOC needs to develop criteria for identifying offices that ensure quality outcomes in a timely manner and share promising practices across the Agency. These efforts will contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of handling private-sector charge case processing in a timely manner.
EEOC remains challenged in integrating budget and performance. Without better data in this area, it is difficult to know how well EEOC performs with the resources it is given. The Agency still has the lowest possible OMB Program Assessment Rating Tool score ("Results Not Demonstrated"), which means that EEOC cannot yet measure performance adequately. To address this deficiency, EEOC in 2007 adopted an improvement plan, and the Agency has made significant progress, including work in the reporting period on identification of specific performance targets and goals. EEOC is also continuing to work with its Fair Employment Practices Agencies to determine effective ways to measure their contributions.
In July 2008 the Agency adopted a strategic plan that greatly reduced processing-time goals and targets for private-sector case resolution. For 2012, the target for cases resolved within 180 days was reduced from 75 percent to 54 percent. However, OMB did not accept the new targets, leaving the authority of the Agency's strategic plan in doubt. Without solid performance data to support lowering performance levels, as decided by the Commission, the EEOC will likely face renewed and major challenges in determining and justifying short- and long-term performance targets. Until EEOC senior managers, particularly those responsible for private-sector case processing, accept the need to gather and use data to assess performance accurately, these long-standing challenges will continue.
Such performance data can be captured using a cost-accounting system. While EEOC has made progress in improving its labor hour distribution system, the system is not robust. Without adopting and fully utilizing a more-detailed cost-accounting system, the Agency will make many resource and management requests and decisions without vital information. For example, EEOC staff were unable to provide adequate support to the Chair for systemic litigation resource requests, making budget requests to Congress difficult and inferior to requests that include cost data. As a result, the annual EEOC budget request contains much information on what and how much was done, rather than how well it was done.
One of the major issues facing the Office of Information Technology (OIT) is change management in providing timely and appropriate information technology resources. As the Agency and its stakeholders have faced workforce changes due to technology innovation, OIT has had to reengineer itself and its business processes to meet current and future stakeholder needs. According to the Chief Information Officer (CIO), a change in the Agency's information technology culture is required. OIT is in the process of implementing a number of recommendations suggested in an independent consultant's report that focused on OIT customer service and its ability to provide for stakeholder needs.
Also, as part of this change, the CIO is challenged with developing business relationships with stakeholders to aid in the identification of critical needs so that OIT can better assist Agency program offices in accomplishing the Agency's mission. The CIO has made initial strides in developing business relationships through tactical planning and by involving stakeholders in IT decision-making processes. This is being accomplished through:
nformation gathered through the development of business partner relationships, by implementation of the independent consultant's recommendations, and from other sources will aid OIT in developing a new IT strategic plan. This replaces an earlier plan that, according to the Agency's CIO, is out of date and does not reflect the changes now occurring inside and outside of EEOC.
The Audit and Evaluation Program supports OIG's strategic goal to improve the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of EEOC programs, operations, and activities.
Performance Audit of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC's) Education, Training, and Technical Assistance Program Revolving Fund (OIG Report No. 2007-11RFPERF)
The OIG contracted with the firm WithumSmith+Brown to conduct a performance audit of the efficiency and effectiveness of the EEOC's Education, Training, and Technical Assistance Program Revolving Fund (RF). The auditors had these conclusions:
The auditors made these recommendations:
Fiscal Year 2008 Independent Audit of EEOC Privacy Program (OIG Report No. 2008-12-AEP)
The OIG contracted with Cotton & Company, LLP, to perform an independent audit of the Agency's Privacy Program. During this audit, Cotton & Company, LLP, assessed the Agency's compliance with applicable Federal security and privacy laws and regulations, as well as EEOC's policies and procedures related to identifying and securing privacy-related data. Cotton's audit determined that overall EEOC is substantially meeting privacy-related requirements set forth by Congress, OMB, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Generally, Agency management agreed with the facts in the report and the OIG's findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
Cotton & Company, LLP, identified the following areas in which Agency improvement was necessary:
Fiscal Year 2008 Independent Evaluation of the Agency Compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act (OIG Report No.2008-13-AEP)
During the reporting period, the OIG conducted an independent evaluation of Agency compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). The E-Government Act of 2002 (P.L. No. 107-347), which includes Title III, FISMA, was enacted to strengthen the security of Federal government information and information systems. FISMA outlines information security compliance criteria for agencies, including the requirement for annual review and independent evaluation by agency inspectors general.
OIG's independent evaluation determined that overall the processes employed by the Office of Information Technology (OIT) for securing Agency information and information systems complied with FISMA. OIT agreed with all findings and recommendations in the evaluation report.
OIG found the following control deficiencies that require management's attention:
FY 2008 Reporting Instructions for the Federal Information Security Management Act—Reporting Template for the Inspectors General (OIG Report No. 2008-15-AEP)
During the reporting period, the OIG completed the reporting template included in OMB Memorandum 08-21, FY 2008 Reporting Instructions for the Federal Information Security Management Act. This memorandum provides instructions for meeting the Agency's FY 2008 reporting requirements under FISMA (Title III, Pub. L. No. 107-347).
Within the template, the OIG identified only two specific areas in which the Agency's OIT had not fully complied with the FY 2008 reporting requirements:
Review of OIG Internal Controls Over the Procurement of Goods and Services (OIG Report No. 2008-08-PUR)
The OIG conducted an assessment of its internal control program relating to the procurement of goods and services. OIG management is responsible for establishing and maintaining internal controls. Management agreed with the facts in the report and OIG findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
During our assessment, we identified four internal control areas where improvements are needed:
We recommended that the following actions be taken:
Oversight of Federal Agency Reporting—Management Directive 715 and Related Topics (OIG Report No. 2008-03-AMR)
The OIG conducted an evaluation of the EEOC's activities related to the oversight of Federal agency Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) reporting, focusing on the reporting described in the EEOC's Management Directive 715 (MD 715). MD 715 describes Federal agency standards for developing model EEO programs. Generally, management agreed with the report's findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
We concluded the following:
The OIG recommended that the following actions be taken:
FY 2008 Audit of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Financial Statements
The OIG contracted with Cotton & Company, LLP, to perform the financial statement audit of the EEOC, which is required by the Accountability of Tax Dollars Act of 2002.Field work is currently in progress, and it is expected that the audit opinion will be issued by November 14, 2008, to meet OMB's accelerated reporting deadline of November 15, 2008, and for inclusion in the Agency's 2008 Performance and Accountability Report. Additionally, a Management Letter Report will be issued shortly after the financial statement audit identifying any internal weaknesses noted.
Agency Compliance with the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act
The purpose of the OIG's independent assessment is to determine if the Agency's management control evaluation process was conducted in accordance with OMB's standards. EEOC Order 195.001, Internal Control Systems, requires the OIG to annually provide the Chair a written advisory on whether EEOC's management control evaluation process complied with OMB guidelines. To make this determination, OIG is reviewing:
OIG's advisory to the Chair will be issued prior to the reporting deadline of November 15, 2008, and will be available for inclusion in the Agency's 2008 Performance and Accountability Report.
Review of Atlanta District Office Federal Manager's Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA) Internal Control Testing
The OIG is conducting an independent review of the Atlanta District Office's compliance with certain internal control areas as they relate to FMFIA. The review includes verification and validation of Freedom of Information Act reporting, purchase cards and convenience checks reporting, time and attendance reporting, and property management reporting. A final report is planned for issuance in the first quarter of FY 2009.
Succession Planning
The OIG is finalizing its review of the Agency's succession planning efforts. The objective of our review is to determine actions taken by EEOC to address the core requirement of the President's Management Agenda for strategic management of human capital dealing specifically with succession planning. A draft report is planned for issuance in the first quarter of FY 2009.
Review of Single Audit Act Reports
During the reporting period, the OIG reviewed 11 audit reports issued by public accounting firms concerning Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs) that have work-sharing agreements with EEOC. There were no audit findings for the FEPAs that involved EEOC funds (see Appendix III). The Single Audit Act of 1984 requires recipients of Federal funds to arrange for audits of their activities. Federal agencies that award these funds must receive annual audit reports to determine whether prompt and appropriate corrective action has been taken in response to audit findings.
Briefing on Project Management
As part of the OIG's efforts to assist Agency management in improving their business processes and other management efforts, the OIG Senior Evaluator and the Deputy Inspector General provided a half-day program-evaluation course to staff from EEOC's Office of Federal Operations. In addition, the OIG Senior Evaluator and the Deputy Inspector General briefed EEOC's Office of Federal Operation staff on project management principles and related issues.
Internal Controls Training Provided to the Atlanta District Office
An OIG auditor provided a training session to management and staff of the Atlanta District Office regarding staff responsibilities for internal controls and the importance of the Federal Management Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA). The training addressed the components of internal controls, the results of weak internal controls, how to strengthen internal controls, safeguarding government assets, and accurately reporting internal control weaknesses to headquarters.
Audit and Evaluation Peer Review
A peer review of the system of quality control of the OIG's audit function was conducted from June through August 2008 by the Inspector General of the Farm Credit Administration. The final report, issued September 4, 2008, found OIG's system of quality control for its audit function in compliance with the quality standards established by the Comptroller General of the United States for a Federal government audit organization and provided reasonable assurance of conformance with applicable auditing standards, policies, and procedures.
Audit Follow-Up
Section 5(a)(1) of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, requires that semiannual reports include a summary description of significant problems, abuses, and deficiencies relating to the Agency's administration of programs and operations disclosed by the OIG during the reporting period. The following table shows reports issued during this reporting period (April 1, 2008 – September 30, 2008) that contained findings:
|Fiscal Year
|Report Number
|Report Title
|Date Issued
|Performance Audit of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Education, Training, and Technical Assistance Program Revolving Fund
|FY 2008 Independent Audit of EEOC Privacy Program
|Independent Evaluation of Agency Compliance with Federal Information Systems Management Act (FISMA)
|FY 2008 Reporting Instruction for FISMA Reporting Template for Inspectors General
|Review of OIG Internal Controls Over Procurement of Goods and Services
|Oversight of Federal Agency Reporting Management Directive 715 and Related Topics
As required by Section 5(a)(3) of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, semiannual reports shall provide an identification of each significant recommendation described in previous semiannual reports on which corrective action has not been completed. The following table shows those activities noted in previous semiannual reports for which corrective actions have not been completed:
|Fiscal Year
|Report Number
|Report Title
|Date Issued
|FY 2007 Management Letter Report
|Open Recommendation:
|OCFO coordinate with the Director of RFD to establish procedures to recognize revenue on a full accrual basis consistent with generally accepted accounting principles.
|EEOC complete background investigations for all employees and contractors in accordance with Federal and EEOC guidelines.
|EEOC develop, document, and implement policies and procedures for reviewing user accounts on all systems. Also, review user listings against terminated and separated employee listings.
|FY 2006 Management Letter Report
|Open Recommendations:
|EEOC's CFO should report headquarters offices to the Office of the Chair (OCH) and field offices to the Director, Office of Field Programs (OFP) for their noncompliance with the property certification policy.
|Ensure that all Forms 629 (Reports of Loss, Theft, or Incident ) are provided to the Security Specialist in a timely manner.
|EEOC's CFO should refine the accounts payable and UDO review process to ensure that all recorded balances at year end are valid and require personnel to contact vendors to obtain invoices for accounts payable over threee months old.
|CFO improve quality control for reviewing final versions of the financial statements and related footnotes to ensure that financial information is complete, accurate, consistent, and timely.
|Evaluation of EEOC Field Office Continuity of Operations
|Open Recommendations:
|Direct field office directors to prepare COOP plans and activities to ensure that field offices are adequately prepared for a COOP event.
|Ensure that all field office staff take the COOP Awareness Course.
|Develop and implement policy and procedures instructing field office staff to store all mission-critical electronic files on Agency-managed network drives.
As required by Section 5(a) (10) of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, semiannual reports must include a summary of each audit report issued before the commencement of the reporting period for which no management decision has been made by the end of the reporting period. The OIG has no audit or evaluation reports that were issued before commencement of the reporting period for which no management decisions have been made.
The Investigation Program is a professional investigative team committed to ensuring the integrity of EEOC's programs, operations, and personnel. We endeavor to protect Agency resources and prevent fraud by maintaining our core values in accomplishment of the Agency's mission.
To that end, the investigative division considers initiative, professionalism, and objectivity to be the core values of its special agents. These values reflect the philosophy and commitment of our team.
|Special agents are motivated to act responsively and energetically in executing their fiduciary responsibility to the OIG.
|Special agents sustain and strive for the highest level of investigative proficiency, accountability, and expertise to the OIG and the Agency. Agents exhibit superior performance, knowledge, and skills and possess sound ethical judgment.
|Special agents maintain a strong sense of truth, impartiality, and independence in conducting investigations and related tasks. Decisions and findings are free of personal and professional bias.
|Investigative Inquiries Received April 1, 2008 – September 30, 2008
|Charge Processing
|Other Statutes
|Title VII
|Other Criminal Violations
The OIG was referred an allegation from the Office of Legal Counsel, resulting from its review of the Financial Disclosure Report filed by an Agency employee, for possible violation of Title 18 U.S.C. §208. During the course of the investigation, the OIG reviewed the charge of discrimination investigative files, conducted interviews with the assigned investigators for the specific case files, and interviewed the supervisory investigator. It was determined that a reasonable person with knowledge of the facts would find that the Agency employee did not participate "personally and substantially" in the questioned charges of discrimination. The employee's actions can be classified as strictly perfunctory or administrative acts since the employee made no decision, conducted no investigation, or made a determination in these matters. The matter was closed.
The OIG received a request for assistance from the Chief Operating Officer (COO) regarding rumors circulating within the Agency that NOMA 1, located at 131 M Street, NE, Washington, D.C., is an unsafe building and that current building residents, U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) employees, are complaining about health problems related to asbestos in the building.
The OIG observed no evidence of potential environmental problems during this visit. The OIG requested copies of all environmental impact statements and abatement orders related to NOMA 1. In addition, OIG agents conducted several interviews of key officials related to NOMA 1. One official informed OIG that the General Services Administration (GSA) contracted with a vendor, MacTec, to test work areas in the three divisions of ATF on June 26, 2008. MacTec conducted tests for air quality, dust, mold, temperature readings, and carbon monoxide readings inside and outside of NOMA 1. After completion of the on-site visit and appropriate interviews, the OIG turned the matter over to the COO.
The OIG received a complaint from a confidential complainant (CC) alleging that management officials were mismanaging the office by harassing employees, inappropriately destroying charge files, and mismanaging time and attendance and that the CC was being retaliated against for complaining about the alleged mismanagement. The OIG closed this matter because the preliminary investigation did not uncover criminal conduct by management officials.
The OIG has ongoing cases in the following areas: falsification of records, malicious mischief, harassment, false statements, theft of government property, conflict of interest, and other ethics violations.
In July 2008, a peer review of the system of internal safeguards and management of the OIG's investigative operation was conducted by the Inspector General of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The final report, issued in September 2008, found the OIG to be in full compliance with the quality standards established by the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency and the Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency and with the Attorney General's Guidelines.
The OIG staff participated in conferences of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency and the Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency and completed these formal courses:
OIG staff retained membership in the following professional organizations:
OIG staff served as facilitators or presenters for the following:
|Report Title
|Date Issued
|Questioned Costs
|Funds Put to Better Use
|Unsupported Costs
|Performance Audit of EEOC's Education, Training, and Technical Assistance Program Revolving Fund
|Review of OIG Internal Controls Over Procurement of Goods and Services
|FY '08 Reporting Instruction for FISMA Reporting Template for Inspectors General
|Independent Evaluation of Agency Compliance with Federal Information Systems Management Act (FISMA)
|Oversight of Federal Agency Reporting Management Directive 715 and Related Topics
|FY 2008 Independent Audit of EEOC Privacy Program
|Section 4(a)(2)
|Review of Legislation and Regulations
|Section 5(a)(1)
|Significant Problems, Abuses, and Deficiencies
|Section 5(a)(2)
|Recommendations with Respect to Significant Problems, Abuses, and Deficiencies
|Section 5(a)(3)
|Significant Recommendations Included in Previous Reports on Which Corrective Action Has Not Been Completed
|Section 5(a)(4)
|Matters Referred to Prosecutive Authorities
|Section 5(a)(5)
|Summary of Instances Where Information Was Refused
|Section 5(a)(6)
|List of Audit Reports
|Section 5(a)(7)
|Summary of Significant Reports
|Section 5(a)(8)
|Questioned and Unsupported Costs
|Section 5(a)(9)
|Recommendations That Funds Be Put to Better Use
|Section 5(a)(10)
|Summary of Audit Reports Issued Before the Commencement of the Reporting Period for Which No Management Decision Has Been Made
|Section 5(a)(11)
|Significant Management Decisions That Were Revised During the Reporting Period
|Section 5(a)(12)
|Significant Management Decisions with Which the OIG Disagreed
|The State of Louisiana, FY 2005
|The State of Utah, FY 2007
|The State of Kansas, FY 2005
|The State of Alaska, FY 2005
|The State of Alaska, FY 2007
|The State of Massachusetts, FY 2007
|The State of Maine, FY 2006
|The State of New Jersey, FY 2006
|The State of Ohio, FY 2006
|The State of Pennsylvania, FY 2006
|The State of Maryland, FY 2007
To report suspected fraud, waste and abuse
THE INSPECTOR GENERAL's HOTLINE
Toll-free 1-800-849-4230
Or Write: OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL - HOTLINE
Identities of Writers and Callers are always Fully Protected


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Maya of Chamula
The Tzotzil-speaking community of San Juan Chamula is the largest Maya township of Chiapas with a population of over 40,000. Since the Spanish Conquest, the Chamulas have fought outside intervention and have remained one of the most conservative groups in the Highlands. The woman's daily
, of Chamula features a distinctive topknot, a style introduced by the Aztecs who accompanied the conquering Spanish. Sheep were introduced in the 16th century, and wool replaced quilted cotton in the construction of daily and ceremonial attire. Today, Chamula weavers supply wool belts and tunics for most of the highland communities.
Maya of Highland Chiapas
Welcome Page


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Classes and Events
Kidney Transplant Education Seminar
Learn all you need to know and get your questions answered about kidney transplants.
Need a different date?
Presented by Sharp Memorial Hospital
This seminar is a weekly offering open to the community, but geared toward renal failure patients and family members to learn about kidney and kidney pancreas transplant. Information is provided on deceased donor transplant (the United Network for Organ Sharing national waiting list) and living donation.
The seminar focuses on the following information:
- Recipient process for transplant evaluation
- Waiting for transplant
- The surgery and medications needed post-transplant
- Living donation
- Who could be considered to donate
- The testing done to ensure donor health prior to the surgery
- The process to transplant
Este curso está disponible en inglés, visite Sesión Informativa sobre Trasplantes de Riñón y Páncreas para más información.
Cancellation Policy
If you need to cancel your registration for this event, please call 1-800-827-4277 Monday through Friday, 7 am to 7 pm, or log in to your account to cancel online.
Parking Information
Parking is free with validation. Please bring your parking ticket with you to the class.


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Prior to your visit you will be emailed a confirmation packet that includes the following: invoice, our policies and procedures document, a grouping worksheet to organize your students, a sample of our team investigation, and a sample of the Field Trip schedule and chaperone tips. If you are the contact teacher, please share this information with other teachers and chaperones.
- Please have your students organized before your arrival with an assigned chaperone.
- Please bring your invoice with your payment.
Our Lab Explorations assume no prior knowledge of the subject matter or process of inquiry, but you will be provided with optional pre-visit exercises and activities to try in your classroom if you wish to do so.
Your teacher ID gives you FREE admission to the museum. Feel free to come preview ScienceWorks before you bring your group.
Back to FAQs


text: Hitachi Seaside Park is a public park in Ibaraki. Covering an area of 190 hectares, the park features blooming flowers around the year. The park has become known for its baby blue-eyes flowers. In addition to the annual "Nemophila Harmony", the park features a million daffodils, 170 varieties of tulips, and many other flowers.


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With its squat body, bulbous fenders, and round headlights, Nissan's Juke looks like a frog, but there's an athletic prince hiding under its funky exterior. Since the Juke's launch, a rogue group of Nissanites in the European division revealed that hidden prince with the Juke-R, an amalgam of this odd little hatchback and the budget supercar GT-R.
Nissan HQ took note of the enthusiasm, making the 2013 Nissan Juke Nismo more widely available than the custom-order Juke-R.
Nismo, Nissan's in-house tuner group, may have fallen short of recreating the Juke-R's performance, but it did manage to create a wildly fun sports car ready to go up against any hot hatchback, especially at its $22,990 base price.
Unfortunately, Nismo could not overcome the Juke's biggest compromise, that its all-wheel-drive version can only be had with a continuously variable transmission (CVT). A manual transmission with all-wheel drive and the Nismo treatment could have given the Juke the kind of rally cred owned by the Subaru STI and Mitsubishi Evo.
The cabin tech, another low point, suffers from Nissan's current state of schizophrenia, but I'll get to that shortly.
Admitting my own bias, I've been a fan of the Juke since its 2010 launch, and the Nismo version just makes me happier. I like the quirkiness of its looks in the same way I prefer Parker Posey to Nicole Kidman. If you are one of the many who hate the Juke, nothing in this review will confirm your opinion, so go ahead and read about the Galaxy S4 or new Mac Pro.
However, you might want to note that the Juke Nismo squeezes 197 horsepower out of its 1.6-liter engine, thanks to a turbocharger and direct-injection technology. Its steering response tightens up at the touch of a button and, although it's considered a mini-SUV, its roofline is only 3 inches higher than the Ford Focus ST's.
In Nismo trim, the Juke only comes in three colors, white, silver, or black, all with red mirror caps and accents. Eighteen-inch alloy wheels come standard, as does a lowered suspension tuned tighter than the standard Juke. Sport seats, manually adjustable only, feature big side bolsters and synthetic suede.
Nissan loaned CNET the front-wheel-drive, manual-transmission version. The available all-wheel-drive system splits torque 50:50 front and rear, also shifting torque across the rear axle to aid handling. According to Nissan, Nismo also tuned the CVT on that version of the Juke for better sport performance. Nissan's CVTs tend to be excellent, but I'm skeptical about how one would perform in hard cornering.
No Bluetooth audio
Another compromise forced on buyers is the navigation system. The system itself is pretty weak, but the $1,170 package includes a bass-happy Rockford Fosgate audio system, while the system's small LCD works well for showing a music library from either an iOS device or thumbdrive plugged into the USB port. The car I reviewed came equipped with this system. Without navigation, the Juke Nismo would have a simple monochrome radio display, which requires a excessive scrolling through album and artist lists, making it very tedious to select music.
The real kick in the pants is that, although the Juke Nismo comes standard with a hands-free Bluetooth phone system, with or without navigation, it doesn't have Bluetooth audio streaming in any form. That lack will annoy Android users in particular.
Nissan's navigation system, a discrete double-DIN component, sits in the center of the dashboard. A tiny 5-inch touch screen plays host to maps and music libraries. I recently reviewed the new Nissan Sentra, and was not terribly impressed with its navigation offering, but the Juke Nismo's is even worse. With maps stored on an SD card, it should run pretty fast, but instead I found that the maps refreshed slowly, occasionally leaving half the screen blank before it could draw the streets.
The Sentra had a unique Google local search feature, not available on the Juke Nismo's system. The only really redeeming feature here is the traffic data. The system earned a few points with me every time I heard it say my route had been recalculated because of traffic trouble ahead.
Route guidance is very weak on this system, as it shows very minimal turn graphics, and no lane guidance. It would be easy to get lost when navigating complex urban intersections.
I couldn't enter destinations with voice command, either. Voice command only worked with the Bluetooth hands-free phone system. Although there were no buttons to access the phone system on the head unit, hitting the talk button on the steering wheel showed some limited phone screens on the LCD. I couldn't view my phone's contact list on the screen, but I could ask it to place calls by saying a contact's name.
The LCD made it relatively easy to select music or radio stations, but the audio source options were limited. No HD Radio, no Bluetooth streaming, just USB, iOS, and satellite radio as the digital options. The system showed a full music library for iOS devices, but strictly a file and folder format for music stored on a USB drive.
The bright spot, and one of the few reasons to opt for navigation, was the Rockford Fosgate audio system. Using six speakers and a powered sub, it doesn't feature serious audiophile quality, but I found it enjoyable. Because it delivers strong bass without shaking the door panels off, I tended to feed it bass-heavy tracks, such as The xx's first album. Highs and mids were delivered with slightly above-average quality, adding to the listening enjoyment.
Roar-free zone
One area that was short on audio production was the Juke Nismo's exhaust note. Despite a tuned-up engine and an oilcan-sized exhaust tip, it didn't seem like Nismo trained the Juke to roar. Despite my jabbing the gas pedal, working the direct-injection, turbocharged 1.6-liter engine up to redline, the exhaust note remained gentle.
That doesn't mean the engine didn't have a lot to give. It's the same basic engine used in the standard Juke, but Nismo reprogrammed the software, coaxing another 9 horsepower out of it, bringing the total up to 197 hp. Likewise, torque gets a boost up to 184 pound-feet. Although these aren't huge numbers over the standard Juke, the Nismo version doesn't cost a lot more, either.


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Fritz Pfister�s ideological rant (Feb. 10 letter to the editor) gets the facts wrong on so many levels that it�s hard to know where to begin.
First, the �working poor� long have been denied health insurance. Working without benefits? Have a pre-existing condition? Dropped from a job with benefits and can�t afford COBRA? Then you were denied health care access. Obamacare isn�t perfect, but it does mean that millions will now have insurance who didn�t have it before.
Second, Pfitzer conveniently ignores the fact that federal spending went through the roof under President George W. Bush�s administration, largely as a result of �blank-check� spending on the Iraq War, which was based on lies to the American people. Bush squandered President Bill Clinton�s surplus in the most profligate way possible. This surplus could have helped remedy the current health care crisis.
Third, while government subsidy programs increased under Bush Jr. and hit a peak during the Obama administration, entitlement expenditures under President Barack Obama are on the way down, as is deficit spending.
Finally, the assertion that an increased minimum wage amounts to �class warfare� and �does nothing to improve an economy� is wrong, by many economic measures. Apart from the technical details, common sense dictates that if low-income workers have more money in their pockets, they�ll spend more, which in turn will help stimulate the economy.
Pfitzer�s letter regurgitates the most simply refuted political arguments of our time.
Mark Butler


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Posts by tag
Packing Smart for Adventure Travel
An extended adventure vacation can be a life changing event, so don't let disorganization bring you down! Packing smart for adventure travel really means packing light, taking less and keeping things organized.
Kelty Cache Box: Keep Electronics Safe
Check out the new Cache Box Electronics Storage Boxes from Kelty. They are designed to accommodate everything from iPads and other tablets and e-Readers to smart phones and cameras.


text: Friday, November 04, 2011 NSC Elects 2011-2012 Board and Nominating Committee Members New Student Assembly Board of Directors and Nominating Committee members for 2011-2012 were elected during the 2011 National Student Conclave (NSC) in Minneapolis on October 22. All APTA student members who attended NSC had the opportunity to cast their vote for Student Assembly leaders. The following students were elected to the Board of Directors: Colleen Sullivan (Arcadia University), president; Nick Gigliotti (College of St Scholastica), vice president; Kenneth Swantek (University of Nebraska Medical Center), treasurer; Leiselle Pilgrim (UMDNJ – Rutgers Camden), secretary; and Samantha Letizio (Simmons College), director. Andrew Oliver fromSimmons College was elected student PT delegate. Amanda Rausch from Lake Area Tech was elected student PTA delegate. The Nominating Committee chair, elected in 2010, is Ashley Henk from LSU - Shreveport. Danielle Barnes from Howard University is Nominating Committee chair-elect; while Chukwuemeka Nwigwe from UMDNJ – Rutgers Camden was elected a Nominating Committee member.


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
Congress must act or rates double July 1
Congressman Brian Higgins said Tuesday that federal student loan rates are scheduled to increase from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent in less than a week if Congress doesn't act. As he heads back to Washington, D.C., he is pushing for action in the House of Representatives to keep higher education borrowing affordable.
Higgins supported the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, which initially included the provision to lower Stafford loan rates from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent through 2012. A temporary fix implemented to extend the rate through the end of June 2013 is scheduled to expire on July 1 causing rates to double.
"Student loan rates not only impact college affordability, they play a role in the larger economy by taking resources away that could otherwise be spent on goods and services, such as homes and cars, that support jobs," Higgins said. "The higher education debt burden is already difficult enough for recent graduates; adding thousands of additional dollars in interest only sets promising, educated young people up for failure."
Seven million college students in the U.S. benefit from federal Stafford loans - 422,000 in New York state, alone. Between 2009-12 11 percent of New York graduates (24,800 students) defaulted or went nine months or more delinquent on loans. The average New York graduate has approximately $27,000 in loans upon graduation.
According to a Congressional Joint Economic Committee report titled "The Causes and Consequences of Increasing Student Debt," with two-thirds of graduates borrowing to pay for the increasing cost of higher education, total student loan debt in the nation reached $1 trillion this year. For students who borrow the maximum amount of Stafford loans, a doubling of the interest to 6.8 percent would cost graduates an additional $4,500.
Higgins is a cosponsor of H.R. 1595, the Student Loan Relief Act, which would extend the current student loan interest rate of 3.4 percent through July 1, 2015. Last week, he spoke on the House Floor urging passage of the bill and was among 180-plus members signing a discharge petition aimed at forcing a vote on the bill.
Western New York is home to 35 colleges and universities with a total annual enrollment of more than 116,000 students.


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Main Site - :: Why Won't God Heal Amputees? ::
For any dictionary definitions I tend to use the Oxford Dictionary. The Oxford Dictionary doesn't mention it having anything to do specifically with humans, nor is the word used just to apply to humans either (for instance, fairies aren't human nor are unicorns)[. . .]Personally, I would side with the Oxford Dictionary because it is generally considered more reliable than reference.com or Wikipedia.
The word 'magic' no longer just applies to witchcraft as you've rightly noted with Wicca and as you've also noted they distance themselves with a different spelling, the word clearly has broadened in meaning for them to do that.
Also before it was associated with the witchcraft in the times people spoke Old English it related to the Greek, magike, and it was the art of the magus (which Etymology Online seems to leave out that part) and they weren't witches, though there were alchemists, astrologers and other things. 'Magi' also exists in the bible, the three wise men are referred to by Mathew as magi (from the Latin, which is from the Greek referring to the same people). The word is older than the Greek too, but we'd be going into Old Persian and further back in History.
Once upon a time I am sure Christians would want to distance themselves from the word 'magic' because it was once the word of witches, any divine intervention or any holy work is the work of God, not witchcraft, but I don't think the need to create that distance is necessary.
Because its meaning has broadened to the supernatural and not one specific branch of the supernatural.
This perhaps doesn't apply to you, but I am certain it applies to groups of Christians out there, people have seen witchcraft as a real threat, the old testament instructs their death, hence we had the slaughter of so-called witches in Christianity's history and heck, even today.
How freaking dishonest can you get? You know we were speaking of your god doing supernatural stuff. You then hide behind definitions and wiki's about how it is the common claims of men claiming to do magic. We were not talking about men or witches doing magic. Quit trying to hide behind semantics. Only someone seriously divorced from reality believes in paranormal woo from a magic god.


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Below, with this household design ideas website, you'll find a lot of Folding Mirror Closet Doors photos of excellent house design ideas. It is really appealing because these photos such as this will give you more creativity. It is starting broadly on how to prepare design of any place in your house, determine what color to usage of every aspect, wall and place of most suites, coordinating accessories, wall art, furniture and little decor items to complete the awesomeness of the house. Get ready when household, relatives, and friends drop by your house to gather, to possess lunch or dinner, or simply just to convey hello, you've certainly no problem with humiliating house design. Having an intensive info, specifically with this, your house inside and exterior will have a great mix of decor, color shim, size, contrast and expressive point, saturation, complement and supporting. Whether it's artdeco or post modern design.
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Katrina Victims Can't Sue FEMA On Trailer Issue
January 30, 2012 by RVBusiness · Comments Off on Katrina Victims Can't Sue FEMA On Trailer Issue
Mississippi and Alabama residents cannot sue the U.S. government over emergency trailers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided when Hurricane Katrina made thousands of homes uninhabitable, the 5th Circuit ruled.
Courthouse News Service reported that agreeing with the August 2010 decision of a federal judge, the federal appeals court said the plaintiffs, representing 10,000 residents, lack subject-matter jurisdiction to sue since FEMA provided the trailers at no cost to residents and under no obligation.
In 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes along the Gulf Coast. The Federal Emergency Management Agency contracted private businesses to immediately construct and provide thousands of travel trailers to give residents as temporary shelter until other housing became available.
FEMA trailers were available at no cost to residents for use as temporary emergency housing from September 2005 until May 2009. Applications for receiving the trailers notified residents that the units were intended for temporary use and that applicants were required to accept alternative housing options as they became available.
Seven months in, FEMA began receiving complaints from trailer occupants about formaldehyde odors inside the units. Formaldehyde is a chemical substance commonly found in construction materials such as plywood, particle board, home furnishing and fabrics. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies it as a probable human carcinogen.
FEMA notified these early complainants to ventilate the trailers by opening the doors and windows. In June 2006, FEMA prepared an informal brochure informing trailer occupants of the dangers of formaldehyde exposure, encouraging them to ventilate their units and urging them to seek medical help if they developed health problems related to formaldehyde.
It began working with the EPA on the issue in September 2006, with more than 200 occupants had complained to FEMA about formaldehyde by the end of the year. After lawsuits over the substance began accumulating, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated all the cases and assigned the matter to Louisiana's Eastern District.
To read the entire report click here.


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Kristen Stewart's ELLE UK June cover!
Kristen Stewart graces the cover of Elle UK's June cover. What do you think of her Texas hair?
Since the day we revealed that Kristen Stewart would star on the cover of our June issue, through the well-documented shoot in Los Angeles and all the hints sprinkled along the way, you've been so patient with us. Thanks for that.
The long wait is over. Feast your eyes on our June 2012 cover. Note the spring-ready Jil Sander ensemble, the sleek '60s-inspired hair, the ice-blue gaze… it's totally Kristen, right?
The June issue marks Stewart's second time as ELLE cover star. Since appearing on the July 2010 cover, the actress has risen to new heights of acclaim and adulation.
Not only does Kristen land the cover of ELLE UK, but she also was named Best Dressed Woman in the World by Glamour UK.
It was reported recently that Hollywood stylists are refusing to work with her thanks to her careless off-duty attire and alleged bad attitude. But Kristen Stewart has defied her critics by being crowned the world's best dressed woman by fashion bible Glamour magazine. The Twilight star, 22, placed ahead of Victoria Beckham, Kate Moss and the Duchess of Cambridge as the most stylish of the stars.
While she used to smirk at the thought of couture, Kristen has developed an appreciation for fashion of late, turning up to Paris Fashion Week and dazzling in designs by Balenciaga, Chanel, J Mendel and Roberto Cavalli in the past year. The tomboy actress has also ditched her penchant for wearing trainers on the red carpet, but they remain her day-to-day uniform, paired with jeans and T-shirts.
The magazine praises Kristen for her progression from 'awkward teen to style queen' and for always being 'effortlessly on-trend'. She also topped the best-dressed couple rankings with boyfriend and co-star Robert Pattinson.
Harry Potter star and Burberry model Emma Watson slipped from top spot in 2011 to second place in Glamour's top 50. Singer and former X Factor judge Cheryl Cole also dropped from second to eighth in the rankings, but the magazine says the pop star has the 'fashion factor nailed'. Spice Girl turned fashion designer Beckham has shot-up 12 places to third, with the magazine praising the 'adorable co-ordinating looks' she shares with 'her new favourite accessory' – baby daughter Harper.
This year's top 10 is completed by flame-haired singer Florence Welch, My Week With Marilyn star Michelle Williams, Gossip Girl actress Blake Lively, US socialite reality TV star Olivia Palermo, and Rihanna. The top 20 includes supermodel Kate Moss, X Factor judge Kelly Rowland, actress Keira Knightley and Dannii Minogue. Sister Kylie is at 45. Rising style-setter Rosie Huntington-Whiteley placed at number 17, followed by Fearne Cotton and Jennifer Lopez, with Mila Kunis rounding out the top 20.


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Cher also on tap for live performances as season four winner will be crowned
NBC's musical competition series "The Voice" will feature a plethora of live performances for its two-hour June 18 season finale, including appearances by Christina Aguilera, Pitbull, Florida Georgia Line and Nelly.
Also, Bruno Mars returns for the season finale of "The Voice" with a special pre-taped performance of his newest single "Treasure." Mars and his Hooligans recorded this performance in May, prior to the recent loss of his mother.
Cher, who will also participate, was previously announced.
Fans can follow "The Voice" on Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/NBCTheVoice and on Twitter at @NBCTheVoice and #TheVoice


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Central Darling Shire Council
|Last Updated:
|15/09/2012 15:42
|Current As At:
|17/09/2012 15:34
The NSW Electoral Commission has been selected to manage the 2012 Local Government Election event by Council.
Total Number of Electors: Residential and Non-residential Electors enrolled in this council area on 30 July 2012 was 1,186. Electors may continue to enrol up to and including election day.
Central Darling Shire Council is a divided into 3 Wards
2012 Map and Polling Places (text)
The following events are being conducted in this Council Area:
Election of 3 Councillors in A Ward
Election of 3 Councillors in B Ward
Election of 3 Councillors in C Ward
Election Results
Click on the following links to see the current results


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Description:HP V110 Cable/DSL Wireless-N Router with 4-Port SwitchPart Number(s)Manufacturer Part# JE468A
Overview:The V110 Wireless-N Router Series 802.11n wireless LAN (WLAN) routers are the ideal first networking device for building a small business data network with a secure connection to the Internet. This all-in-one solution combines - a router to connect a local network with the Internet; a firewall to guard the network's Internet connection; a four-port wired Fast Ethernet switch for local wired connections; and an advanced .11n wireless Access Point for connecting wireless users with backward compatibility with older 11b and 11g standards. Use this in networks of up to 253 total wired and wireless users including up to 32 wireless users.


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By now you've probably had a chance to read the articles about Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, examine the reviews, or even test the product for yourself. And maybe you've decided which features you can build a case around if you need to convince those who control the purse-strings in your company that it's worth upgrading your messaging infrastructure to Exchange 2010. Certainly, the built-in high availability through database availability groups (DAGs) is a feature on top of a lot of such lists. But don't forget the improvements to the web experience in Outlook Web App (OWA), particularly if your company has vocal end users.
A few of the OWA improvements have been widely talked about: conversation view for messages, integrated IM and presence information, multi-browser support for the premium version of OWA. And don't forget MailTips, that handy new feature that can warn users before they mistakenly send a message to a massive distribution list or to external recipients. There are some other new features that I've heard a little less about so far, such as the ability to do calendar sharing with people outside your organization and the possibility of sending and receiving text messages (Short Message Service—SMS).
That's just the fun you get from the user side of OWA 2010. Exchange admins get some new extras as well, starting with the Exchange Control Panel (ECP). From here, users can perform any of the actions previously available on the Options page. You can also manage distribution lists, perform message tracking, and even configure message retention policies through ECP. Users must be granted appropriate permissions to perform these actions, of course. Admins can also give their users the ability to update their Active Directory information. As Mark Rotman, president and CEO of Messageware, said, "It alleviates that HR headache around employees moving, changing phone numbers, that kind of information being out of date. You now have the ability to give them role-based access to some of this Active Directory data."
So altogether, OWA with Exchange 2010 provides a complete mail client experience in the browser—no longer playing second fiddle to the desktop version of Outlook. In fact, most of these new features won't be available in Outlook 2007 or earlier, so you'll have to wait until Outlook 2010 is released before taking advantage of them in a desktop client. Latest prediction on that release, along with the complete Office 2010 suite, is June 2010.
For early adopters of Exchange 2010, that could pose a dilemma. As Rotman said, "Do you plan your migration, and wait because you don't have all the clients you need? Or do you have a serious look at OWA and the advantages you can get and maybe make that leap now?" With the dramatic improvements in OWA, companies might be willing to seriously consider avoiding using the desktop client at all. I can imagine a scenario where companies move to Exchange 2010 while still using Outlook 2007 and their users voluntarily opt to use OWA 2010 to get the latest features.
With more people checking email on mobile devices on the go, perhaps the desktop client has lessened in importance anyway. If companies can give users the full Outlook experience without buying the extra software, many of them are likely to make that choice. As Rotman said, "What's interesting is these really, really large organizations, as opposed to the small ones—the really large ones actually are seriously saying, 'Hey, there's a big cost savings here. The OWA client can alleviate a lot of our headaches, and we need to look and see is it good enough this time around.' And I think the answer's going to come back that it is."
I spoke with Astrid McClean, a senior technical product manager on the Exchange team with Microsoft, and asked her what she thought about the possibility of people skipping desktop Outlook in light of OWA 2010 improvements. "I don't think it will stop people upgrading," McClean said. "But it gives organizations more choice. So what we're finding is a number of organizations where they may not have given their users email access at all because they don't all have a PC or they're working on shifts and have to share PCs. It now gives them a far greater option to give their people a browser-based tool to connect to. So it's really about making sure that organizations have a choice about which tool they want to use, and in making that choice they're not losing functionality."
I don't think Outlook on the desktop is doomed. People's habits don't change as quickly as the technology, and Outlook is pretty well entrenched for many business workers. But having a full-featured browser-based client is awfully nice, too. And considering all the movement toward cloud computing and cloud platforms, this seems to put Microsoft and Exchange in a great position going forward.
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On a red-dust wasteland at the edge of this South African shantytown, little white pegs in the ground mark the government's assurance that it would provide running water and electricity before Wednesday's national elections. It was a promise never kept.
As South Africans vote in their first balloting since the death last year of former President Nelson Mandela, a profound sense of disillusionment is sweeping the country. The ruling African National Congress party, which Mandela helped create, is seen by many voters as corrupt, out of touch, poorly led and committed to self-enrichment more than the delivery of decent government services.
Despite that, polls suggest the ANC will continue to rule this nation after the elections, though a slip in popularity could feed dissent within the party and even encourage challengers seeking to replace Jacob Zuma, the nation's unpopular president.
The road through Zithobeni, 35 miles east of Pretoria, is an undulating track potholed with promises never kept under ANC rule. Last year, the local Tshwane municipality government, led by the party, ordered people living in shacks with access to power and water to move to this dry stretch of town, saying utilities would be provided before election day.
"That side was better because it had water and it was clean," said Poppy Themba, 31. "They said the changes are coming, and what, what? We're still waiting. After the vote, they're dumping us."
Like most black South Africans, Themba has for years been loyal to the ANC, which freed the nation from apartheid.
"They bring freedom, but not for all of us. Last time, I didn't vote, because I didn't see the changes. For now, we are looking for the DA," she said, referring to the opposition Democratic Alliance, whose leader, Helen Zille, is white.
Such anger may not dent the ANC's control of the government: Polls suggest the party will maintain its two-thirds vote share. It has done so in the last decade in part because of apathy, as voter turnout dwindled from 87% in the first democratic elections, in 1994, to 77% in 2009, the last national elections.
The party maintained its hold by vacuuming up the voters of smaller parties such as the largely Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party, whose support has collapsed in recent years. The government remains buoyant in KwaZulu-Natal, Zuma's home province.
The Democratic Alliance has seen its vote share increase from a few percentage points in 1994 to nearly 17% in 2009, with polls suggesting it will grab about 23% of Wednesday's ballots. The ANC showed its alarm over opposition gains when the party's deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa, told one disillusioned Limpopo voter in November that if people didn't vote, "the Boers will come back to control us," a reference to the former white government.
Government leaders have often responded to public anger by blaming the legacy of apartheid, but that message is unlikely to resonate with members of the "born free" generation, which came after the end of white rule. Many of them are jobless, even unemployable — but also apathetic. Only one-third of the 1.9 million 18- and 19-year-olds eligible to vote have registered.
But apathy isn't the issue in Zithobeni. Anger is the prevailing sentiment.
Downhill from Themba's squalid squatters camp, the municipal government building is a burned-out brick shell, its roof collapsed and acrylic windows melted like charred black candles. Rioters attacked it in January, one of many violent protests over the poor delivery of services that frequently rack the country. They also burned down the police station and the library, leaving skeletal tables and feathery ashes of books.
The violence was sparked by increases in the price of electricity.
A Rhodes University study of seven South African municipalities showed that from 2009 to 2012 the number of protests doubled, to 1,048, partly because of what researchers said was glaring inequality. Seven protesters have been killed by police this year.
The Zithobeni municipal day-care center survived the rioting. Johanna Mokwena, a 59-year-old worker there and an ANC member all her life, said that "from the start, when I was born, I was always ANC."
"The ANC made a lot of things for us," said Mokwena, who was given a house by the government. "Me, I'm going to vote for the ANC.
"I'm not going to vote for Helen Zille. Helen Zille is white. We are black. She could take the grant away," she said, referring to government welfare payments that have helped reduce poverty.
Mokwena represents the bedrock of black support for the ANC, especially among older people. But she also symbolizes the resentment that some feel. The party is widely seen as a warehouse offering scarce jobs, services or government contracts to members — but not to outsiders. Many complain that waiting lists for free government houses are manipulated, or that corrupt officials sell spots at the head of the line.
Precious Ndlala, 27, who sits on an upturned wheelbarrow selling hot dogs and tea on a street in Zithobeni, said many people are fed up, but "we feel guilty for leaving the ANC."
"If Mandela was still alive, I would say, 'I'm going to disappoint that guy.' We were doing it for him," she said, referring to voting for the ANC.
Corruption is only one problem besetting the country. For many, the main failures are education and health. A 2011 international survey of 45 developed and developing nations showed South Africa second from the bottom in mathematics and at the bottom in science, according to South Africa's Human Sciences Research Council. The country's maternal mortality rate has worsened in recent years and was 300 per 100,000 live births in 2010, according to the World Health Organization, far short of South Africa's Millennium Development Goals commitment of 38 per 100,000 by 2015.
Still, the ruling party has its defenders. On a sunny day in Soweto, Lwazi Makhaphele, a business management student, 19, was dancing with her friends, laughing and taking selfies at the upscale Maponya mall. She grew up in Soweto, where everyone she knew supported the ANC, going back as far as she remembers.
"The ruling party has been trying," she said. "The only problem is corruption in the government, a whole lot of corruption.
"If you believe the ruling party is corrupt, you should stop voting for it," said Makhaphele, who plans to vote. "It's more important than any other issue, because it affects everything."
Ndlala, the hot dog seller from Zithobeni, also plans to cast her ballot Wednesday, and said the free T-shirts distributed by the ANC at a recent election campaign meeting wouldn't affect her choice.
"All of us want these T-shirts, because they're free," Ndlala said. "But when it's me and that paper, it's up to me. At the end, it's me and the paper."