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Thursday, May 06, 2010
How Special Prosecutors are appointed, more investigations and a possible by-election after Kash Heed's day off
For those who haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend today's Vancouver Sun stories by Chad Skelton about how seven Special Prosecutors have made financial contributions to the BC Liberal Party and who they are.
I am pleased to see that Premier Gordon Campbell and Attorney General Mike de Jong have ordered a review of the Special Prosecutor appointment process - all politics aside, this is clearly necessary and welcome.
It is also a good thing that the Law Society of BC is investigating the actions of now-resigned Special Prosecutor Terry Robertson in this matter.
Lastly, for those wondering, the Vancouver Sun makes clear in a story by Jonathan Fowlie what many of us knew all along - that Kash Heed could lose his seat because of the alleged actions of his campaign staff, regardless of his own lack of knowledge of those actions.
If the dirty tricks flyer against NDP candidate Gabriel Yiu was found to have been funded by the Heed campaign and that the election spending limit was therefore exceeded, a by-election could result.
54 comments:
Bill Berardino shoud resign. maybe a new SP would review how Campbell et al escaped charges.
- Thursday 6 May 2010 at 11:31:00 GMT-7
In 1993 a well to do group of Vancouver Island lawyers gave heavily to the Liberal Party of Canada in BC's slate of federal candidates in Victoria and Nanaimo.
Guess what, this group of legal eagles soon got $$$ federal contracts to go after bad-guys in Victoria & Nanaimo.
Their success rate and their own personal behavior (billings and otherwise) brought continued "GREAT HONOUR" to the legal profession in BC for the next ten years.
The GREAT SATAN - Thursday 6 May 2010 at 11:41:00 GMT-7
Heed case shows Dobell file should be re-opened: BC Conservatives
"In 2008 he [special prosecutor Terrence Robertson] declined to press an influence peddling charge against Dobell, though the former senior adviser to the premier eventually pleaded guilty to breaking the Lobbyist Registration Act.
As the Vancouver Sun put it at the time, "Special prosecutor Terrence Robertson decided against filing a charge of influence-peddling -- a Criminal Code offence -- against Dobell, even though he believes that he could have been convicted on the more serious charge."
According to a summary from the New Democratic Party, who hammered on the issue during question period in the Legislature yesterday, Elections B.C.'s records show Harper Grey and Harper Grey Easton, as the firm was formally called, have given $57,231.50 to the B.C. Liberal Party and its candidates since 1996."
The Tyee, by Andrew MacLeod - Thursday 6 May 2010 at 13:37:00 GMT-7
Bill can you please comment on Bill Berardino? I am astonished at the revelation in the Vancouver Sun this morning. He made a $500 donation to the BC Liberals just after he decided not to press charges on the media monitoring contracts the bc liberals had with Basi.
Have we become so accustomed to unethical and questionable behavior that we no longer care?
I am convinced beyond doubt we live in the Banana Republic of BC!! - Thursday 6 May 2010 at 14:02:00 GMT-7
It's amazing that the taxpayer-funded research arm of the NDP at legislature is so incompentent that their lunch is being eaten by the BC Conservatives!
- Thursday 6 May 2010 at 14:56:00 GMT-7
This whole string of events, including Mike De Jong doing his routine in question period, yesterday and today looked like a skit produced by the Mony Python comedy group. Unfortunatly this is not a comedy routine but the present government at their finest and fairly low performance. Once more today the bully tactics included telling the opposition to go outside, and a lecture one more time, on the 9 hour time changes. If I was a drinker, if someone called at 3 AM I'd go right along with anything the caller said. Not saying our illustrious Prmier is a drinker of course. By the way Gordo no doubt has some pretty fine digs and of course we ,like good little voters are covering his costs. Just what has he got to do with the Liberation of the Netherlands celebration? Will we ever find out? I rather doubt it.
- Thursday 6 May 2010 at 15:27:00 GMT-7
Of course we live in the banana Republic of B.C. her you can be blacklisted i.e. declared a "person of interest"to the governmne for time without limit (arrogant?) if you persist in demanding legitimate questions (1) how could Murray Coell,then minister of Adv. Ed. have a government lawyer write a letter to me dismissing a court verdict against Robert Prendergast, appointed by Liberals to board and eventully chairman of Private Career Training Instituions Agency, the "regulator " (Ha,Ha) of private post secondary colleges and (2) When asked how the court verdict could be overruled by the executive ,contrary to the most basic deomcratic tenets be then informed by telephone!!!in Orwellian language by a Sergeant Nelson of Legislative Security that I am now a "person of interest" to the government and will be watched in various locations and ways; I am not entitled to receive any government to prove this new status. Our dear Leader, then Attorney General Wally Oppal and the discredited MLA all support this treatment. I have been lawabiding all my life, unlike others mentioned here;yet rather than answer these two questions, government took these actions.How was the rule of law honoured here?
p - Thursday 6 May 2010 at 16:42:00 GMT-7
Had a short conversation with a couple last week outside the Vancouver Art Gallery at the Fight HST signing. Apparently she always votes and he never votes. He talked at length about his lack of political interest. She was incredulous that he was actually bragging about this.
Both he and I realize that it doesn't matter who is in power, that power will be abused and scandal will follow. But we can both say that we didn't personally validate this process of choosing government by getting involved and casting our vote.
And then on top of all the nonsense that the 2009 version of government has given us so far in the first year alone, we have the icing on the cake with Kash Heed in and out of office and better still the Terrence Robertson shenanigans.
Proud to be a non-voter? You're damn right! - Thursday 6 May 2010 at 17:43:00 GMT-7
Bill Berardino made Liberal donations while he was a special prosecutor in the lengthy B.C. Rail corruption case...
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/05/06/bc-special-prosecutors-de-jong.html - Thursday 6 May 2010 at 18:42:00 GMT-7
"Proud to be a non-voter? You're damn right!"
If you don't vote, don't complain about the outcome.
Is this person too lazy to waddle to the polling station to lift a pencil and make an "X" inside the circle next to the NDP or Green candidate?? - Thursday 6 May 2010 at 19:00:00 GMT-7
Is there a 'kick back' amongst the lawyers of this province? To get the job a tithe must be paid? Sure seems like it in my opinion but then the lawyers know how to grease their own skids don't they?
- Thursday 6 May 2010 at 19:16:00 GMT-7
ANON 2:56 said:
"It's amazing that the taxpayer-funded research arm of the NDP at legislature is so incompentent that their lunch is being eaten by the BC Conservatives!"
I find the above a very slanted comment: the NDP are seen asking many strong questions and presenting many chilling facts in the Legislature. I would presume thay are also delivering press releases quite regularly, but if the MSM refuses to publish or (at the very least) investigate the assertions and questions that go unanswered by the BC Liberals in the Legislature, then just how are average people supposed to learn about what is going on?
The Conservatives come out with one piece of info that gets published and automatically the NDP are labelled incompetent by some anonymous poster. Is this how it is going to play out? Are the Socreds/BC Liberals going to re-incarnate again as Conservatives to attempt to continue with the looting? Remmeber how Campbell and deJong used to blast the NDP when the BC Liberals were in opposition. Remember how the video-bites were always cued up to make the Liberals look good and powerful? Remeber how the BC Liberals made front page headlines trashing the NDP.
With a very consolidated MSM we generally get the big business point of view and very little else.
With all of this HUGE stuff going on with the BC Liberal Government, Global placed a story about a grey whale well ahead in the news hour line-up last night. What a joke!
Thank you, Bill Tieleman, for working for democracy! - Thursday 6 May 2010 at 21:22:00 GMT-7
"Thank you, Bill Tieleman, for working for democracy!"
Bill isn't working for democracy.
Well he was if he was hard at work working the NDP campaigns last year.
and he will once he chooses which NDP Leadership candidate will pay
him to be a part of a leadership campaign.
This is just a yellfest and signature drive.
Won't mean anything tangible other than news spots.
Face facts the HST will not be gone. What we will end up with in the end is an NDP governmment AND the HST.
But hopefully VanderZalm will go back to shovelling organic fertilizer, not the digital fertilizer he's been spading around now. - Thursday 6 May 2010 at 22:15:00 GMT-7
"they would have to do so in writing and publish their directions in the B.C. Gazette, the official public legal record of government notices."
Bill do know of a free way of looking at the Gazette, as far as I am aware, it costs money to find out what the government is up to.
Do our local libraries have them? - Thursday 6 May 2010 at 22:36:00 GMT-7
- Bill Tieleman said...
I'm sorry Anon 10:36 pm - not sure how to get the BC Gazette without paying for it - hopefully one of our readers will have an idea.
As to Anon 10:15 pm - getting a bit too hot for you in the kitchen? - Thursday 6 May 2010 at 22:56:00 GMT-7
What I saw of the pamphlets in question on television seemed extremely unethical and de-humanizing. The way they were used seems not only fraudulent but rife with malfeasance. Is this the type of association suitable for high office holders of our laws. I think a resignation of the members seat is in order, the election appears tainted and the honourable thing is to resign the seat.
- Thursday 6 May 2010 at 22:58:00 GMT-7
Olympic Ticketing Report
.PDF / 1.3 MB / 216 pages - Thursday 6 May 2010 at 23:06:00 GMT-7
Give your head a shake SharingIsGood. Bill Tieleman and democracy should not be mentioned in the same sentence unless it is along the lines of "While many people strive to bring democracy to BC, Bill Tieleman prefers other..."
I won't say Bill does nothing for democracy as it would be untrue. More accurately he does less than nothing. Tough call who is more in favor of continuing our dictatorship, Gordon Campbell or Bill Tieleman. Two good reasons to vote for a corpse. - Thursday 6 May 2010 at 23:17:00 GMT-7
Professor Mathews has been drilling all government agencies about these questionable antics for years sadly the r.c.m.p. and other agencies said there was no proof of misconduct...just what the hell do they do there besides arrest drunken drivers and now arrest non drunken drivers ,well make the latter pay.
- Thursday 6 May 2010 at 23:56:00 GMT-7
What's with the Liberal attitude, Anon 7:00? Thought I made it clear. What's the difference between a Liberal dictatorship, an NDP dictatorship or even a Green dictatorship? None, I very conscientiously don't vote for a dictatorship by not voting. Period.
I have every right to complain when things aren't right and quite frankly I find it odd that someone would have the gall to tell me not to say what is on my mind on a free speech blog. If anyone shouldn't be allowed to complain, it's the NDP, the only losing party who did not support proportional representation.
In particular of course are Bill Tieleman, David Schreck and Rick Dignard among others who went even further and convinced the uneducated masses to stick with what we got. Well, we got it and we're stuck with it.
So if you're upset with the Liberal abuse of power then by all means complain, but aim that anger in the right direction. The target should be those that kept the system in place that gives the ruling Liberals the ability to flaunt that abuse, Bill Tieleman and the NDP sheep who hang on his every word.
Just because the Liberals are in power during the current abuse doesn't make them evil, the next party in power will show it's the system just as the previous party did.
Proud to be a non-voter and a complainer? When I'm focused on the real problem with government, you're damn right! - Friday 7 May 2010 at 02:30:00 GMT-7
seems like this colum has rattled a few chains down at PAB center, a place we the taxpayers are paying the tolal cost of them spreading the crap they spread.
- Friday 7 May 2010 at 07:16:00 GMT-7
- North Van's Grumps said...
According to an Ian Mulgrew column this morning the decision by Terry Robertson to exonerate Kash Heed is irreversible because of ....... get this, Robertson's involvement in the polygamy case were he was shopped for by then AG Wally Oppal because the AG didn't like the opinion of the first Special Prosecutor.
A judge stepped in and said this:
""The harm in the appointment of successive special prosecutors is that it undermines the administration of justice by leaving the perception, if not the reality, of political interference and of an oppressive or unfair prosecution."
She said Robertson's appointment in the polygamy case was unlawful and he had no power to recommend charges -- the initial special prosecutor's decision was final."
In other words, dear readers, Kash Heed walks, but can he do it with his head held high because IF Robertson had not rendered a decision and then resigned, a second SPECIAL Prosecutor (absent of any donations to the BC Liberal Party) could step into the breach and render his decision untainted by the appearance of political interference. As it is, Robertson's opinions stand ..... unless another judge steps in - Friday 7 May 2010 at 07:21:00 GMT-7
I think people who write entire posts insulting you should not be posted (like Klaus at 11:17 pm).
They're not adding anything to the conversation. - Friday 7 May 2010 at 07:26:00 GMT-7
I think Bill has to be commended for his willingness to publish those who have denounced him and his blog. This just goes to show his democratic spirit.
This blog is an example of democracy in action. It is an example of the 4th estate (version 2010). Blogs have become the modern Forum for democratic discourse, debate, and in some very rare, enlightened moments - dialogue. It is my hope that a desire for peace and goodwill for all beings guides the words of those to follow. (I include my own words in that hope). - Friday 7 May 2010 at 09:31:00 GMT-7
- solocanoe said...
many of the gushing anti Bill comments sit there and just look so stupid by themselves......Important to keep this discussion going despite lame attempts to change the subject.
I only ask that they keep their slime short so I dont have to scroll too far down to find intelligent life.
Robin M must be chuckling to hear Liberal Cabinet Ministers agreeing that the system of appointing Special Prosecutors has been doing the exact opposite of it's stated objectives. - Friday 7 May 2010 at 10:55:00 GMT-7
"many of the gushing anti Bill comments sit there and just look so stupid by themselves......Important to keep this discussion going despite lame attempts to change the subject."
Seems the blind loyalists of Bill
are doing the same. Bill runs a blog, not technically all that complicated. He hasn't been given
Sainthood by the Pope.
"I only ask that they keep their slime short so I dont have to scroll too far down to find intelligent life."
There is no intelligent life in those blogs, and never has been. It's just a dumping ground for
political sewage. This blog, and
every other one.
Take the stick and swirl the contents. - Friday 7 May 2010 at 16:00:00 GMT-7
if all you nay Sayers don't,no whats happening ,I mean truly happening go to BC Mary's site professor Mathews will fill in the blanks.
- Friday 7 May 2010 at 17:25:00 GMT-7
New special prosecutor announced in Kash Heed case
Peter Wilson Q.C. has been anointed "as independent special prosecutor into alleged offences involving the campaign office of Kash Heed."
Wilson is with the firm Wilson, Buck, Butcher, and Sears
A quickie tour of BC Elections show no donations of any kind by the four listed lawyers, nor the firm. - Friday 7 May 2010 at 17:38:00 GMT-7
"Thought I made it clear. What's the difference between a Liberal dictatorship, an NDP dictatorship or even a Green dictatorship? None, I very conscientiously don't vote for a dictatorship by not voting. Period."
Well then you're obviously not interested in democracy then. Democracy depends on people invoking change by voting. It's not ever going to happen by writing
opinions into a blog.
"I have every right to complain when things aren't right and quite frankly I find it odd that someone would have the gall to tell me not to say what is on my mind on a free speech blog."
Well no one did. Where the problem
lies is people who have lots of time to write into a blog, but yet can't spend 20 to 40 minutes going to a polling station and bothering to vote. That is just being lazy.
"If anyone shouldn't be allowed to complain, it's the NDP, the only losing party who did not support proportional representation."
The NDP does have an allowance to complain because like it or not,
they are the Official Opposition and their MLAs were selected by people who actually went out to vote.
Proportational Representation would just make a real mess of things, and there was no need for
for those large ridings. A better system would have been something equal to what is done in Victoria in Australia.
I did not suppport proportional
representation, but went ahead and voted anyway because I want my say
in the selection of an MLA. Period - Friday 7 May 2010 at 18:47:00 GMT-7
Sorry, off-the-radar, I think you're right. Comments should be constructive regarding the topic at hand. I hadn't intended to post a "slam Bill" comment, I was just trying to suggest that someone should reconsider their evaluation of Bill suggested by their own comment. Sometimes the nature of a thread can shift and the Kash Heed situation doesn't really lend itself to much dialogue. Is there anyone who doesn't agree this mess more closely resembles a 3-ring circus than government? Just out of curiosity do you think your comment offered more to the conversation than mine?
- Saturday 8 May 2010 at 00:42:00 GMT-7
The BC Rail trial is a farce. The big fish escape and they hang the staff members. And who makes the deal? A lawyer who is feeding the fish tank. After years of stalling, the emails at the legislature are miraculously destroyed as a matter of "routine" If you believe that, then you probably think spending money redecorating the Ministry's of Children and Family's office was a better use of public funds then say, oh I don't know, public housing for families in critical need. Yes, there should be a review of the SPs in this case, and a review of any deals they made with "Crown" witnesses. Shame, shame, shame. Recall these liars in November
- Saturday 8 May 2010 at 00:45:00 GMT-7
I appreciate your critical response Anon 6:47, but I have to object to what I see as factual errors. What I'm not interested in is a dictatorship, which is what we have. There can be no better demonstration of that than the HST situation in progress.
And under this system writing opinions on a blog has just as much chance of changing anything as voting. After all voting is just a person's opinion of who they think ahould be trusted to do the right thing with their power. Again, as you can and will see from the Liberal stand on HST, anything said by politicians and voters is not legally binding.
From Anon 7:00 - "If you don't vote, don't complain about the outcome."
Uh, yeah, someone did tell me not to complain which is on my mind every time a politician opens their mouth. As to being lazy, that's just plain ridiculous. Obviously I spend a lot of time staying informed, I know more about the HST and other current political topics as well as general workings of government and political environments than most of my voting friends.
On occasion I have even bothered to go into a polling booth to tear up or otherwise spoil my ballot. Tell you what, you explain to me how my spoiled ballot carries more weight than my no-show at the polling station and I will gladly show up there every election for the rest of my life. Until then, get off your high horse.
You're right the NDP is allowed to complain, I was merely passing my own moral judgment that they shouldn't have that allowance based on what I see as a hypocritical point of view.
I have some minor disagreements with the rest of your post but I won't criticize because they are arguments with some merit.
I hope you won't look down on me because I choose not to vote. I don't look down on you because of your choice. You avail yourself of your right (not obligation) to be part of the MLA selection process, but my concern is how much does that engage you in the process of government?
I did find it interesting though that despite not supporting proportional representation, you recommended the Australian system which is partly proportional and partly preferential (a distant relative of proportional) but has no element using FPTP. I could support this system so I'm glad we could find some agreement. I would become a voter if this were in place here. - Saturday 8 May 2010 at 02:08:00 GMT-7
In regards to Kash stepping own, there is another way that the issue can be resolved. The person who got the Second highest votes should step in as the MLA because they were slimed by Heed's campaign crew.... and in doing so spent too much money.
No need to spend money on a bye-election. - Saturday 8 May 2010 at 08:45:00 GMT-7
A Little Perspective
We have all come a bit unglued at the thought of how $1000 implies a conflict of interest.
What if we were talking about millions of dollars? - Saturday 8 May 2010 at 12:21:00 GMT-7
- North Van's Grumps said...
Times Colonist has a timeline of the events after the May 12, 2009 provincial election, but with a little digging on the internet here is the list leading up to May 12th, 2009 with a quote from Kash Heed on April 28th, 2009:
"I won't let people put their own set of facts out there when the facts are incorrect," he said. "And I will deal with it within the processes that all us to deal with it."
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/bcvotes2009/story/2009/04/28/bc-election-heed-yiu.html
- April 23rd, 2009 at an all-candidates debate, Abbotsford West NDP candidate Taranjit Purewal says he's in favour of an inheritance tax so says BC Liberal candidate for Abbotsford West Mike de Jong.
- April 24th, 2009 English-language radio station. Yiu, Heed and the Green party's Jodie Emery participated in the Christy Clark show on CKNW with fellow Vancouver-Fraserview riding opponents, Kash Heed of the Liberals and Gabriel Yiu of the NDP." TOPIC Drug issues.
Source: From http://jodieformla.ca/Main/ElectionBlog
- April 28th, 2009 "Heed threatens lawsuit against Yiu over drugs debate"
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/bcvotes2009/story/2009/04/28/bc-election-heed-yiu.html
- April 29, 2009 Jodie Emery's Election blog has, correction, HAD a link to Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyPpqihr0zY) which as now been removed with this warning:
"This video has been removed due to terms of use violation."
- May 1 or maybe April 29th or 30th, 2009 Heed accompanied by Sherry Wiebe, Candidate for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, met with a number of Chinese community leaders to discuss and listen to their concerns for drugs and Death Taxes.
- May 1, 2009 BC Liberals website for Mike de Jong announces NDP Death Tax
Source: http://www.bcliberals.com/stop_the_ndp/stop_the_ndp__learn_more/ndp_candidate_resurrects_death_tax
- May 1, 2009 Kash Heed (written by Barinder Sall) DEATH TAXES
Source: http://www.kashheed.com/news/
- May 4, 2009 when it is alleged Sall and Khanna produced the controversial pamphlet but failed to label it as an official campaign document.
Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/story_print.html?id=2981076&sponsor=
- May 7, 2009, Khanna is alleged to have lied to Elections BC when their representative contacted him about the pamphlet.
Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/story_print.html?id=2981076&sponsor=
- May 8, 2009 "Legal weed accusation puts Heed on defence: Vancouver-Fraserview race turned bitter"- By Mike Howell Friday, Vancouver Courier
Source: http://www2.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/travel/story.html?id=2fd0384b-779a-4f20-8522-be311e687b81
Oh, and the video that has been pulled off of youtube..... CKNW probably has the hard copy if anyone is interested. - Saturday 8 May 2010 at 17:03:00 GMT-7
Ignorance of the law is no defense!
Kash Heed must take responsibility for the actions of his campaign staff. The fact that he was appointed to cabinet makes this doubly important!
Resign the seat and run in a by-election seems the most democratic and honourable way to resolve this. - Saturday 8 May 2010 at 17:30:00 GMT-7
NvG there's a few smoking guns that special prosecutor could have used to charge mr heed!but then why should he look for any evidence it not his job to incriminate his buddies payola buddies how convenient.
- Saturday 8 May 2010 at 17:33:00 GMT-7
- Skookum1 said...
Is anyone here capable of reporting to use how the Heed Affair is being reported in the Chinese-language media? For that matter, how is the Basi-Virk trial being covered/explained (if at all)?? Or the HST? IPPs??
Too big a bloc of voters to not be taken into account. Heed's campaign staff clearly knew that, huh? - Saturday 8 May 2010 at 19:03:00 GMT-7
- Skookum1 said...
BTW exactly how many successful recall campaigns would it take to bring down the House? i.e. to render the government's majority into a minority? Would we have to wait for byelection results? I'd think so, maybe, if it were only about five. But if it were eight or more MLAs unseated, then a vote of confidence could be held and .....
Campbell would probably prorogue the Legislature to prevent that from happening. Or if not him (if he'd been unseated) then the next-in-line....but if the Premier is unseated, and the government's majority undone at the same time, then they're not in a position to prorogue, and.....
What I'm getting at is that 2013 isn't necessarily the date of the next general election. Not by a long shot, between recalls and possible resignations - or defections from the governing caucus.
Backbench Liberals who are uncomfortable with the lynch-mob mentality rising in the public, do you really want to be in the same tar bucket with the cabinet power-players or are you going to save your own necks by showing some dignity, and respect for the public, by crossing the floor?
It would only take five or six of you to effect a change of government....think about it. You might even get a cabinet seat in the bargain.....and redemption in the eyes of an increasingly-angry public.... - Saturday 8 May 2010 at 19:09:00 GMT-7
"I won't let people put their own set of facts out there when the facts are incorrect," Kash said.
Oh The Irony!
He's talking about the NDP and now he can say it again, about his own wrecking crew. - Saturday 8 May 2010 at 19:11:00 GMT-7
"long winded argument plus..
Uh, yeah, someone did tell me not to complain which is on my mind every time a politician opens their mouth. As to being lazy, that's just plain ridiculous. Obviously I spend a lot of time staying informed, I know more about the HST and other current political topics as well as general workings of government and political environments than most of my voting friends."
Well not bad, but blogs are not going to change anything when it comes to different MLAs representing the people. That only comes with actually voting.
If there were more people actually voting NDP than writing opinions to blogs such as this one, the NDP would probably have won govermment in last year's election which ended
this time next week. The result?
No HST.
So what does that tell the lazy people who don't bother to vote and just sit at home in front of a computer writing to blogs.
Being informed is one thing. Actually doing something about participating in voting is actually quite another. But there's also volunteering in politics for the candidate of choice and too few people actually do that. The result? The parties have to rely on slef-centred talent such as those who ran the Kash Heed campaign and rely on "dontated" help from the public sector unions to help Shane Simpson and other NDP wags get elected.
If people really want to see change, get out and vote. Even if it is a recall caused by-election.
Recalls aren't going to be properly finished until Election Day of the by-election and people
actually get out and vote rather than sit at home using a keyboard to write to an NDP-favourable blog such as this one. - Saturday 8 May 2010 at 19:38:00 GMT-7
B.C. alters health structure to avoid $3.5-million HST bill
07 May 2010
"After almost a year of arguing that the harmonized sales tax is good for the economy, the B.C. government has redrawn part of its organizational chart to avoid a $3.5-million HST bill.
The Ministry of Health Services and the CEOs of the provincial health authorities have agreed to tuck the Shared Services Organization, which provides services such as computer support and bulk purchasing for the health sector, under the wing of one of the health agencies.
Without that change, the health authorities would be paying more money for the services provided by the agency."
Justine Hunter, The Globe and Mail - Saturday 8 May 2010 at 23:11:00 GMT-7
I can't tell anymore if this is about Kash Heed, HST, voting, BC Rail or blogs in general. Just to mix it up there's some random gibberish in the middle.
My opinion. Kash Heed should go, HST should stay. Not that I agree with HST but it helps make the point about voting. We might hear more about voting if the successful petition fails to change anything. We probably won't hear about BC Rail until after the trial or the 990 year lease is up, whichever comes first. - Sunday 9 May 2010 at 05:35:00 GMT-7
Kash Heed - "I won't let people put their own set of facts out there when the facts are incorrect"
"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Bernard M. Baruch - Sunday 9 May 2010 at 06:31:00 GMT-7
Some thoughts on democracy vs dictatorship with quotes from other posts here.
I agree with both sides of the argument here and I think the issue of how our government is chosen and asked to perform has a great deal to do with the end results such as the HST and Kash Heed.
"...different MLAs representing the people. That only comes with actually voting"
But is that necessarily better than the Liberals?
"I very conscientiously don't vote for a dictatorship by not voting"
And if it's diapproval of all parties then what other option is there? This conscientious objecter position is only acceptable if there is an alternative plan to change what is viewed as dictatorship.
"Democracy depends on people invoking change by voting"
"What I'm not interested in is a dictatorship"
And here's the problem. Democracy DOES depend on change by voting but when voting has the opposite effect, whether it's misrepresentation by candidates during campaigning or government refusal to listen to majority opinion, then we don't have democracy. We may want it but wanting and having are two different things.
"If there were more people actually voting NDP..., the NDP would probably have won govermment in last year's election"
Well, yes and if we had more people voting for the Rhinoceros party then we would have a Rhinoceros government. That doesn't necessarily mean better.
"Proud to be a non-voter"
"I want my say in the selection of an MLA"
So some people don't vote because they say one is no better than the other and the only argument offered is "vote for change". Others choose wisely to vote because it may not be much but at the moment it's all we have.
"If people really want to see change, get out and vote"
For those who believe in democracy, this works. However there is an alternative to bringing about change. Historically, dictators have almost always been ousted by revolution, which may only serve to change the ruler while keeping the same form of government in place but sometimes brings about a switch to some form of democracy (which tends to manifest itself as a less brutal form of dictatorship).
Obviously nobody wants violence to be the solution or else, given the nature of the HST revolt, we could easily be there. As I said, I agree with both sides. I see our government as resembling a dictatorship, not even cleverly disguised any more as with previous editions. I also believe we should have the ability to change that situation by voting for it to happen.
"I would become a voter if this (Australian system) were in place here"
This would not be enough. I work for a living. I was chosen by my boss to do a job and I do the job he asks of me or I am fired. But the government is chosen by us and then THEY tell us what they will do and we are not permitted to fire them for a given length of time (variable but too long). These changes need to be effected or we will continue to be run more dictatorially than democratically.
So in the end, we need to put in place an agreeable set of political reforms that do not allow abuse of power but as nobody in power will choose to give it up, it must be forced upon them by a combination of proportional representation/independent minority government and (possibly violent) revolution to seize the power that ordinary people have mistakenly assumed they still control with their vote. - Sunday 9 May 2010 at 07:07:00 GMT-7
had to think about your second comment for a while.
Yes, I think my comment (about your first comment) added to the conversation on Bill's blog.
HOW we post and raise points is key in supporting dialogue. I prefer semi-moderated blogs for that reason. - Sunday 9 May 2010 at 07:33:00 GMT-7
Re:"If the dirty tricks flyer against NDP candidate Gabriel Yiu was found to have been funded by the Heed campaign and that the election spending limit was therefore exceeded, a by-election could result."
Bill, as I understand it, the source of funding is supposed to be declared but it is the expense that is relevant here. Candidates can raise an unlimited amount of donations but there is a limit on campaign expenses. Obviously, if the defendants, being the official representatives of the candidate, are found to be the responsible the leaflet and robo-calls it follows that the fair market value of those items must be added to the expenditures of the Heed campaign.
Exceeding the spending limit is what could ultimately result in a bye-election. - Sunday 9 May 2010 at 23:56:00 GMT-7
You are a seasoned traveller of political circles and have access to legal interpretations and mores of BC election law. Perhaps you can instruct me/us: is a by-election truly the correct remedy for a campaign that cheated so that its candidate would win?
If found to be in contravention of election laws, do Mr. Heed and his team really get a do-over? I would think that Mr. Heed would have to forfeit his seat in the Legislature if his campaign officers were found guilty of cheating on his behalf.
If there were to be a do-over allowed, wouldn't it be most appropriate for Heed's campaign to reimburse Gabriel Yiu and all other 2009 candidates in the running for that riding? Also, shouldn't Mr. Heed reimburse the province for having arrived at his position illegally; and thus received his MLA salary illegally?
Is it not legitimate to assume that Gabriel Yiu is owed back pay for not having been able to assume his seat?
I believe that, in a nation of laws, that if I or those in my charge make a mistake that causes harm or expense to others, I have a moral and a civil duty to make things correct to the best of my ability. If I don't I may face a civil suit. We take away cars, houses and other possesions of drug dealers if they are found to have been purchased from through illegal activities. I think Mr. Heed has received a benefit illegally. What do you think?
SIG - Monday 10 May 2010 at 18:38:00 GMT-7
"Robertson sorry for taking special prosecutor job"
"Terrence Robertson told reporters Monday he should never have taken a job as special prosecutor investigating Kash Heed's campaign, and said he has returned all legal fees paid to him." SNIP - Monday 10 May 2010 at 19:40:00 GMT-7
Candidate who incurs election expenses over limit
217 (1) Unless relief is granted by a court under section 219, a candidate whose election expenses exceed the applicable election expenses limit is subject to the following penalties:
(a) in the case of a candidate who is declared elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly, at the applicable time under subsection (3) the member ceases to hold office and the seat of the member becomes vacant;
(b) in all cases, the candidate must pay to the chief electoral officer a penalty of double the amount by which the election expenses exceed the limit.
(2) The chief electoral officer must present a report to the Speaker respecting a member of the Legislative Assembly who may be subject to the penalty under subsection (1) (a) as soon as possible after the applicable report is filed for the candidate.
(3) A member referred to in subsection (1) (a) ceases to hold office and the seat of the member becomes vacant as follows:
(a) if no application under section 219 is made in respect of the member, at the end of the period for making such an application;
(b) if, on the final determination of an application under section 219, the court refuses to grant relief, at the time of that determination.
Political party that incurs election expenses over limit
218 (1) Unless relief is granted by a court under section 219, a registered political party whose election expenses exceed the applicable election expenses limit is subject to the following penalties:
(a) the chief electoral officer must suspend the registration of the political party for a period of 6 months from the date of the suspension as recorded under section 169;
(b) the registered political party must pay to the chief electoral officer a penalty of double the amount by which the election expenses exceed the limit.
(2) The chief electoral officer must give the registered political party notice of the period of a suspension under subsection (1) (a).
Court order for relief from election expenses limits
219 (1) A registered political party or candidate may apply to the Supreme Court in accordance with this section for relief from a penalty under this Division for failing to comply with an election expenses limit.
(2) For certainty, a registered political party may apply under subsection (1) in relation to an obligation of a candidate who represented the political party.
(3) An application may only be made within 120 days after general voting day for the election or, if the failure to comply is disclosed by a supplementary report under section 212, within 30 days after the supplementary report is filed.
(4) The petition commencing an application must be served on the chief electoral officer within 7 days after it is filed and the chief electoral officer is a party to the application.
(5) On the hearing of an application, the court may do the following:
(a) grant relief from a penalty if the court considers that, in relation to the non-compliance, the financial agent and, if applicable, the candidate have acted in good faith;
(b) if relief is granted for a political party that has been suspended under section 218 (1) (a), order that the suspension be cancelled immediately or at a time or on conditions specified by the court;
(c) refuse to grant relief.
Source: http://www.bclaws.ca/EPLibraries/bclaws_new/document/ID/freeside/96106_10 - Monday 10 May 2010 at 20:19:00 GMT-7
Kash Heed has filed his defence in the wrongful dismissal case as represented by MILLER THOMSON LLP.
Miller Thomson has donated about $10,000 to the BC Liberals according to Elections BC - no telling (yet) how much individual lawyers have put in.
Who is paying for this defense? Heed? BC Liberals? BC taxpayers? - Monday 10 May 2010 at 20:35:00 GMT-7
Now here's a section (in bold type) of BC's Election Act that has caught Barinder Sall and Satpal Johl in a jamb with Election BC, the RCMP and one of two Special Prosecutors (without predicting what the second SP will recommend).
"Election advertising sponsors must be registered
239 (1) Subject to subsection (2), an individual or organization who is not registered under this Division must not sponsor election advertising.
(2) A candidate, registered political party or registered constituency association is not required to be registered as a sponsor if the individual or organization is required to file an election financing report by which the election advertising is disclosed as an election expense."
Source: http://www.bclaws.ca/EPLibraries/bclaws_new/document/ID/freeside/96106_11 - Monday 10 May 2010 at 20:38:00 GMT-7
Thanks anonymous 8:19,
Well, it looks to me that somebody ought to sue somebody. This looks like a class action that could be filed on behalf of Thanks anonymous 8:19,
Well, it looks to me that somebody ought to sue somebody. This looks like a class action that could be filed on behalf of Gabriel Yiu if not the citizens of BC. There is criminal law and there is case law. I would think that a good set of lawyers ought to be able to argue in favour of Gabriel Yiu. It seems to me he has been wronged in this case. Further, I think that the criminal code is too weak with regards to election spending.
There a case to be made with going over the limit. Is there not a case to be made that Heed has received a benefit as a result of fraud by his campaign team? This is more than going over a spending limit. This is about willful lying to the electorate, and tangible proof of libel. This is no petty theft. This is a brazen attack on democracy! - Monday 10 May 2010 at 23:00:00 GMT-7
Sherry Wiebe and Kash Heed sat down with Chinese community leaders on, or the day before May 1,2009, to discuss the BC Liberals plans not to introduce a Death Tax like the NDP (via the illegal pamphlets).
The amount of votes that Kash Heed won by, is probably keeping him from resigning as an MLA, but the question here is, has the RCMP approached the Chinese Community leaders who must have been bombarded with questions from their constituents in THREE different ridings with Vancouver-Frarerview taking the biggest hit of all.
Has the RCMP collected a list of names and phone numbers from the Chinese Community? - Tuesday 11 May 2010 at 07:30:00 GMT-7


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Contributed by Seth Moland-Kovash, Palatine, IL
Warm-up Question
Are you a patient person? Do you find it easy or hard to wait?
Standardized Test
The Veterans Administration is the branch of our government responsible for providing benefits (medical, educational, housing, etc) for veterans of the armed forces. One of the most significant jobs is disability benefits. If a person is injured during their military service, they are entitled to financial compensation. There is currently a very significant backlog of veterans who are waiting to find out if they will get benefits and to receive those benefits. Over 200,000 veterans have been waiting at least one year for a decision.
General Eric Shinseki, who is the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and the head of the Veterans Administration, recently announced new plans and strategies to clear the backlog. He has also introduced plans that he hopes will allow all future claims to be cleared within 125 days, much less than the wait currently experienced. This story (http://tinyurl.com/akgsbga) explains some of the reasons for the long backlog and what Shinseki and the VA plan to do about it.
Discussion Questions
- Have you ever had to wait as long as a year for something? What did it feel like?
- What do you think the rest of us can do to help veterans who are waiting for these benefits and decisions?
Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, May 5, 2013 (Sixth Sunday of Easter)
(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year C at Lectionary Readings.)
For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.
Gospel Reflection
In John 5:1-9, Jesus meets a man who had been waiting a long time for benefits, for healing and health care. Of course, things worked a bit differently in his time. There wasn't a Veterans Administration to write a check, but there was a pool where people waited and found healing when they were dipped into the waters. The problem for this man was that the healing only happened when the water was stirred up, and whenever that happened, other people who could actually walk ran into the water ahead of him and blocked his path. His infirmity kept him from getting the help he needed. And so he had been ill for 38 years.
He specifically says that "I have no one to put me into the pool." If he had had friends or family or someone with compassion nearby who could lower him into the pool, his own inability to walk would not have mattered. But he was alone. His suffering was intensified by his isolation. So Jesus told him to stand up and walk. And he did.
Discussion Questions
- Who in our world or in your community is isolated? How does that keep them from getting the healing they need?
- What do you think the rest of us can do to help people who feel they cannot access healing because of their isolation?
Activity Suggestions
Visit shut-ins from your congregation in coordination with your pastor. Bring them flowers or just show up and smile. They will love the visit.
Closing Prayer
Good and gracious God, we thank you for the healing you bring and the ways you help us to bridge gaps and to reach out to one another. Amen.

subset: commoncrawl


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ESydor Tech can come directly to your home or small business to diagnose and repair your computing problems. Our goal is to provide simple, cost effective solutions to all of your technology issues. Call us the next time you hesitate when dropping off your computer to some big store help desk (most people don't like having a team of strangers having access to your data). Most times we can repair things considerably faster, and help you make better decisions.
ESydor Tech brings over 20 years of expertise in supporting large computer networks to the small office and home user.
ESydor Tech Services
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We hope you found your ideal paragliding experience here - have you contacted the host to find out more about a specific offer?
If you need independent advice on which destinations or offers works best for you, you are always welcome to send us an email or message us on WhatsApp.
If you get stuck with a booking or unsure how to proceed with your booking just drop us a message on WhatsApp.
Monday to Friday: 8:00 to 10:00 (Central European Time)


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This summary expired Apr. 17, 2022 11:04 AM
Flagstaff, Arizona - Backcountry of The San Francisco Peaks and Kachina Peaks Wilderness
Format and Limitations Statement
Northeast aspect near treeline in Abineau Canyon. Saturday, April 9th photo from Brad Miner.
Southerly slopes on April 13. While most of the snowpack has melted from southerly and sunny slopes, touring opportunities should persist on northern and shady slopes for a few more weeks.
Authored/Edited By: Troy Marino
New Letter
Submit an Observation
Snowpack Summary Archive
The avalanche problem/character describes part of the current avalanche danger. However because we only realease a summary once a week, the current avalanche problem will likely change. Understanding avalanche problems is essential, because it allows you to determine your approach and strategies to risk treatment. Below are brief descriptions of avalanche problems/characters, and links to detailed information on the problem, formation, patterns, recognition, and avoidance strategies. Avalanche Problems Explained Also see the North American Danger Scale.
Release of dry unconsolidated snow. These avalanches typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. Loose-dry avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose-dry avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
Loose Dry avalanches are usually relatively harmless to people. They can be hazardous if you are caught and carried into or over a terrain trap (e.g. gully, rocks, dense timber, cliff, crevasse) or down a long slope. Avoid traveling in or above terrain traps when Loose Dry avalanches are likely. more info
Release of a soft cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within the storm snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slab problems typically last between a few hours and few days. Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.
You can reduce your risk from Storm Slabs by waiting a day or two after a storm before venturing into steep terrain. Storm slabs are most dangerous on slopes with terrain traps, such as timber, gullies, over cliffs, or terrain features that make it difficult for a rider to escape off the side. more info
Release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.
Wind Slabs form in specific areas, and are confined to lee and cross-loaded terrain features. They can be avoided by sticking to sheltered or wind-scoured areas. more info
Release of a cohesive layer of soft to hard snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.
The best ways to manage the risk from Persistent Slabs is to make conservative terrain choices. They can be triggered by light loads and weeks after the last storm. The slabs often propagate in surprising and unpredictable ways. This makes this problem difficult to predict and manage and requires a wide safety buffer to handle the uncertainty. more info
Release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer, deep in the snowpack or near the ground. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage. They commonly develop when Persistent Slabs become more deeply buried over time.
Deep Persistent Slabs are destructive and deadly events that can take months to stabilize. You can trigger them from well down in the avalanche path, and after dozens of tracks have crossed the slope. more info
Release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. They generally move slowly, but can contain enough mass to cause significant damage to trees, cars or buildings. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
Travel when the snow surface is colder and stronger. Plan your trips to avoid crossing on or under very steep slopes in the afternoon. Move to colder, shadier slopes once the snow surface turns slushly. Avoid steep, sunlit slopes above terrain traps, cliffs areas and long sustained steep pitches. more info
Release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) that is generally moist or wet when the flow of liquid water weakens the bond between the slab and the surface below (snow or ground). They often occur during prolonged warming events and/or rain-on-snow events. Wet Slabs can be very destructive.
Avoid terrain where and when you suspect Wet Slab avalanche activity. Give yourself a wide safety buffer to handle the uncertainty. more info
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind lips of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.
Cornices can never be trusted and avoiding them is necessary for safe backcountry travel. Stay well back from ridge line areas with cornices. They often overhang the ridge edge can be triggered remotely. Avoid areas underneath cornices. Even small Cornice Fall can trigger a larger avalanche and large Cornice Fall can easily crush a human. Periods of significant temperature warm-up are times to be particularly aware.
Large cornices are generally rare in Arizona, but they have been observed during very snowy winters. more info
Release of the entire snow cover as a result of gliding over the ground. Glide avalanches can be composed of wet, moist, or almost entirely dry snow. They typically occur in very specific paths, where the slope is steep enough and the ground surface is relatively smooth. The are often proceeded by full depth cracks (glide cracks), though the time between the appearance of a crack and an avalanche can vary between seconds and months. Glide avalanches are unlikely to be triggered by a person, are nearly impossible to forecast, and thus pose a hazard that is extremely difficult to manage.
Predicting the release of Glide Avalanches is very challenging. Because Glide Avalanches only occur on very specific slopes, safe travel relies on identifying and avoiding those slopes. Glide cracks are a significant indicator, as are recent Glide Avalanches.
Glide avalanches are very uncommon in Arizona. more info
The summaries on this site were written by Kachina Peaks Avalanche Center Board Members. They are based on a broad spectrum of data collected from weather stations, National Weather Service point forecasts and field observation by qualified individuals.
The summaries are not intended to substitute for good knowledge and decision making skills in avalanche terrain. If you have any doubt of stable conditions, please stay away from avalanche terrain. You can usually find good places to go that are not prone to avalanches, such as on low angle slopes away from avalanche run-out zones. If you have any questions about where to find such places, you should consider further avalanche educational opportunities, such as those listed on our education page.
Starting in 2012 Kachina Peaks Avalanche Center (KPAC) has publish a weekly Snowpack Summary on our website. These summaries are currently issued on Friday afternoons. On occasion, we will give storm updates or warnings of rapidly increasing avalanche hazard at more frequent intervals. Our objective is to reach weekend recreationist, informing this user group of prevailing conditions, but particularly warning of avalanche hazards whenever they are present. Many people have asked us why we use the format we do, but do not include a danger rating or a hazard/stability rose as many other avalanche centers do around the west.
The National Avalanche Center (NAC) advises small operations like KPAC, who do not issue daily bulletins to not use danger ratings in our snowpack summaries due to the regular but intermittent nature of their field observations and the length of time between issuance of snowpack summaries. A primary concern is for how conditions can change in the time between publications, potentially giving the public misleading information. At this point, we simply do not have resources to monitor the snowpack at the level necessary to accurately produce more frequent bulletins. While we understand the benefits of a danger rating using the North American Danger Scale, we also feel that our format encourages people to dig in a little deeper, and spend some time reading what our forecasters are saying. Although the area that we forecast is relatively small, the variability has proven quite large. Inner Basin conditions are often surprisingly different from those on the more wind-affected western side on the Peaks.
We hope the information that we provide in summaries helps give you a good overview of what is going on out there, and what avalanche problems you should be attentive to, but if there is any uncertainty, then we encourage you to ask questions via Facebook or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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How to save on your school fees
At GEMS Education, we have built our legacy of over 60 years making a high-quality, values-based education available to all. We are delighted to offer you unparalleled options to make significant savings on your school fees. You can now choose to pay school fees online or at the school.
Find out more about the ways you can save on your school fees:
With GEMS Rewards, GEMS families can explore a range of saving opportunities which help towards reducing the overall impact of annual school fees.
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Refer a friend to a GEMS school and earn 4% of the referred child's annual tuition fees as GEMS points. These points can be used to pay for your child's school and transportation fees.
Air Miles
You can now transfer your Air Miles to GEMS Points to pay for your child's tuition fees!


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Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees invites you to share your ideas, recommendations, and comments with us via our new direct email link, email@example.com. The Trustees are always looking for new ways to stay in touch with our community, friends, and consumers. We encourage you to help us help you in this effort to make our community's greatest resource better than ever!! We look forward to hearing from you soon!
The Board is composed of seven members appointed by the Town Council for three year terms. They are by Rhode Island state law "the legal guardians and custodians of the library". They hire the director, fix staff salaries, decide on the rules and regulations for the library and the use of the books.
- Elizabeth Suvari, Chair
- Lori Vernon
- Rini Georgekutty
- Will Valverde
- Martha Parks
- Varuna Abeywardane
- Dianne Izzo
The North Kingstown Free Library Corporation is a non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.
Board of Trustees Meeting Schedule: Meetings are held in the library's Meeting Room at 7:00 P.M.
Date | Agenda | Minutes | Status |
Monday, January 12, 2009 - 7:30pm | Jan09.pdf |


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Software Management Consulting
Whether you're a startup that needs software created and aren't familiar with how to go about it - or - you're an established organization that has a software development group in place but you need to temporarily overcome a capacity issue in your organization ----- We can help!
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Software often benefits from having a process behind it that coordinates the efforts of individuals to produce the typically expected outputs, outputs more than simply the working software, outputs like: requirements, design documentation and test records. Our specialty is the IEC 62304 process for medical devices but we can help you setup others.
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We'd love to design or create new embedded or desktop or mobile software for you. We can also appraise what you
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If you're a local small business we can also talk with you about getting
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Atrium's Park House Togliatti
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How we value YOU?
We are thankful for each opportunity we earn to serve our clients in anyway we can, rather that be through buying, selling, financing, trading, servicing, detailing, or offering any of our other products and/or services offered. We provide a free CarFax history report on every vehicle available in inventory, we offer clients the opportunity to have a pre-sale purchase inspection completed on any vehicle prior to sale, and we offer a complimentary first oil change on every vehicle purchased. Our team will strive to advise, provide recommendations, and suggestions throughout the process based on our expertise and knowledge relating to the matter. We offer Extended Service Contracts on all vehicles available for sale from 3 months/3,000 miles, up to 5 years/100,000 miles on most all of our inventory. We offer GAP coverage on most all of the vehicles available for sale, as well.
How we value your time?
We strive to continue to focus and improve our overall efficiency in all areas daily. By valuing your time, we will serve your needs through our detailed processes that promotes efficiency. We offer appointments, scheduled test drives, as well as service appointments with the goal of valuing your time. Schedule too tight for you? Ask for an appointment for us to come to you for a demo/test drive, delivery of your new vehicle, or a service appointment, and we can schedule a visit to your home, work, school, or other destination. We encourage all of our clients to expedite the process when possible by accessing our online website and completing as much as possible at a time and a place convenient for you. By doing so, we have been able to complete purchases in as little as 30 minutes before. Because we price our inventory aggressively, competitively, and based on the market, as well as the condition, we eliminate the hours spent negotiating, and ensures for a hassle-free, value deal for you each time.
How we value your budget?
We realize your budget is the most important aspect of every automotive decision you are faced with, so we strive to value your budget in each situation. Our pricing is fair, competitive, and always transparent with each of our products and services offered. We offer fair prices that are competitive with the current market, the condition of the inventory, and there are never any hidden costs or fees. This has proven to be transparent, hassle-free, and much less stressful from the days of back and forth through several people to determine a price. We promise to value your budget and make every effort to meet and/or exceed your needs each time.
Capitol Auto promises to VALUE you, your time, and your budget with each opportunity, allowing our clients to prosper and gain that value through each transaction.


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Previous Lesson
Complete and Continue
Rapid Game Prototyping without code using Unity & Playmaker!
Course Overview and introduction to game design
Course welcome and overview (1:56)
Introduction to design and planning (30:27)
What modelling tool to use (14:30)
Setting up Unity for whiteboxing (22:36)
Unity, Whiteboxing and Maya LT (15:04)
Building out the whitebox starting area (40:39)
Adding detail to your whitebox (51:24)
Your project! (2:03)
Speed-modelling the rest of the whitebox! (44:58)
Basic game systems with Playmaker!
What about 3rd-party assets from the Asset Store? (13:03)
Systems overview (5:08)
What's new in Unity 5? (6:49)
Custom mouse cursor (6:32)
Triggers (44:27)
Mouse interactions overview (30:50)
Breaking up your whitebox (12:31)
Putting it all together (35:56)
Quest systems: adding a narrative to drive your game
Quest Stages (11:55)
Introduction to Quest Managers (24:14)
Improving the Quest Manager (11:52)
Wrapping up the Quest Manager (17:20)
Update the first Quest Stage (13:45)
Update the second Quest Stage (29:27)
Update the final Quest Stage (14:24)
Advanced systems: health, AI and shooting
Character Controller Overview (26:45)
Health System Overview (18:39)
Playtesting (5:59)
A Word on GUI (10:49)
Basic Shooting and AI (23:48)
AI Robot (35:49)
Hitscan (18:52)
Next Steps and Wrap Up (11:01)
Teach online with
Complete and Continue
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DAB vs. internet: vested interests limit progress
Digital radio critic claims consumers being mislead
Following our recent interview with leading digital radio specialists Pure Digital, TechRadar recently spoke with digital radio enthusiast, Steve Green (Editor of website digitalradiotech.co.uk) – a vociferous critic of DAB and the BBC / radio industry's digital radio strategy in general.
TechRadar: So what are your thoughts on the recent interview we ran with Pure Digital? Specifically, what do you think about internet radio and how it relates to DAB radio in the UK?
Steve Green: One thing that Pure Digital's version of 'the future of radio' failed to mention was that the audio quality on internet radio is either already far better than on DAB, or it will be in the near future. For example, the BBC's on-demand radio programmes on the iPlayer, around a third of all UK commercial radio stations' internet streams, and over 8,000 internet stations on shoutcast.com are already at higher audio quality than on DAB, and the BBC's live internet radio streams are about to leapfrog DAB in terms of quality in the next two to three weeks once they switch to using the AAC/AAC+ audio codec.
So internet radio provides better quality audio than DAB?
Yes. Internet radio has the big advantage that the streams can use modern audio codecs, such as WMA and AAC/AAC+, whereas DAB is stuck using the prehistoric MP2 codec that dates all the way back to the 1980s. But the main reason why so many internet radio streams now provide higher quality than DAB is because internet bandwidth has become dirt-cheap over the last couple of years. Furthermore, because the price of bandwidth is linked to Moore's Law, the price of bandwidth is expected to continue falling for another decade or more. So the quality of internet radio will only improve over time, and it's basically inevitable that internet radio will outclass both DAB and DAB+ in terms of audio quality.
What about content? Is there not an argument that 'quality content is king'? That broadcasters need to make money? And, by extension, that internet radio is only ever going to cater for small 'niche interest' groups of listeners?
It's important to remember that all DAB stations have Internet radio streams anyway, so I completely disagree with the view that DAB is for big stations and the internet is just for small niche streams. I use internet radio to listen to both.
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The DAB supporters [such as Pure and the BBC] face a bit of a conundrum here, because for the last few years they've mainly been promoting DAB on the basis that it provides greater choice. But a typical DAB listener can only receive around 35 stations (people in London receive more stations, people out in the sticks usually receive less), whereas there are 10,000+ internet radio stations, and thousands of on-demand streams, such as the radio programmes on the BBC iPlayer and podcasts. There's no contest: internet radio wins hands down on choice.
But it isn't just about the number of stations, it's the breadth of choice that's important, in my opinion. Commercial stations on DAB try to attract as many listeners as possible, because that's how they make their revenue. But that means that there will never be stations on DAB covering smaller niche genres, whereas internet stations cover every niche genre imaginable, because there are so many of them.
Where does the government's Digital Radio Working Group (DRWG) fit into all this?
The DRWG was made up of representatives from the BBC, commercial radio and the DAB receiver manufacturers, and they recommended to the government that everyone should be pushed towards buying DAB, but they didn't include internet radio in the long-term plan for digital radio at all. And the government supports the DRWG's recommendations, so we'll see the BBC step up its saturation TV advertising for DAB, but internet radio won't receive any promotion, even though they know full well that if they did promote internet radio as well as DAB they'd be able to switch FM off sooner, which is their ultimate goal.
Current page: Why is the government keen to back DAB?
Next Page Why is the the government so keen to back DAB?


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Adding blood pressure drug to standard antibiotics speeds up TB treatment
- Date:
- August 29, 2013
- Source:
- Johns Hopkins Medicine
- Summary:
- Infectious disease experts have found, in studies in mice, that a drug better known as a treatment for high blood pressure and headaches effectively speeds up treatment of TB when added to the standard, daily antibiotic regimen. Test animals were cured in four months instead of the usual six.
- Share:
Infectious disease experts at Johns Hopkins have found, in studies in mice, that a drug better known as a treatment for high blood pressure and headaches effectively speeds up treatment of TB when added to the standard, daily antibiotic regimen. Test animals were cured in four months instead of the usual six.
Researchers say that if clinical trials starting later this year in India, a country heavily burdened by the highly contagious lung disease, prove successful, then the shortened treatment time with verapamil, a so-called calcium channel blocker, used in combination with antibiotics isoniazid and rifampin, could make it easier for infected people to complete their drug therapy as prescribed. The experts note that antibiotics for TB do not work if treatment is interrupted or if people stop taking their medication. Improved drug adherence, they say, could also prevent the buildup of drug-resistant strains of TB, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is now estimated to kill a million people each year, mostly in the developing world.
"Our results show that verapamil is a good drug candidate as an add-on therapy with antibiotics for TB, a global disease in urgent need of new treatment options," says study senior investigator and infectious disease specialist William Bishai, M.D., Ph.D. Bishai's team's latest findings are set to be published in the Sept. 1 edition of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Bishai, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Center for Tuberculosis Research, says that drug treatment options for TB are "too few," and limited to about a dozen older antibiotics, some with serious side effects. Bishai, who also is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Lab Head at Johns Hopkins, says verapamil has been around for some 40 years, so its side effects -- such as too-low blood pressure -- are well-known. He says the clinical trial in India, primarily a safety study to determine a minimum effective dose, will be pivotal in clarifying the drug's "true potential" as an add-on therapy in TB.
Lead study investigator and immunologist Shashank Gupta, Ph.D., says the study results also suggest that verapamil, commonly sold under the brand names Isoptin, Verelan, Calan, Bosoptin and Covera, could be a good drug candidate for combination therapy studies with multidrug-resistant forms of TB.
Gupta, a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins, says verapamil is known to work as an efflux pump inhibitor, making bacteria more susceptible to antibiotics and killing by immune cell macrophages, but whose precise workings remain unknown. He says the research team investigated verapamil's potential as a TB therapy after another study showed that increased efflux pump action promoted drug tolerance to TB, minimizing antibiotics' effectiveness.
Among the latest study's other key findings were that verapamil accelerated killing of TB bacteria 10-fold after two months of treatment. After four months of therapy, half of the lung tissue samples from mice receiving verapamil had zero bacterial counts, while all tissue samples in mice not on the blood pressure medication were still positive for TB.
In the study, performed at Johns Hopkins from January to November 2012, mice infected with TB were treated with a standard antibiotic regimen of daily doses of isoniazid, rifampin and pyrazinamide for two months, followed by daily doses of just isoniazid and rifampin for four months. Half of the infected mice also received daily doses of verapamil, equivalent to the minimum dose manufactured for use in humans, at 40 milligrams per liter of blood, for the entire six months. Researchers calculated a 50 percent increase in the original dosage of verapamil used in the study to compensate for rifampin's acceleration of verapamil's breakdown in the body. Both groups of mice had lung tissue analyses performed at least monthly.
Funding support for this study was provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Corresponding NIAID grant numbers are AI-079590, AI-037856 and AI-036973. Additional funding support was provided by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Johns Hopkins Medicine. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
- Shashank Gupta, Sandeep Tyagi, Deepak V Almeida, Mariama C Maiga, Nicole C Ammerman, William R Bishai. Acceleration of Tuberculosis Treatment by Adjunctive Therapy with Verapamil as an Efflux Inhibitor. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2013; 130711121718008 DOI: 10.1164/rccm.201304-0650OC
Cite This Page:


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June 2, 2021 -- Dallas, Texas
SBP Holdings has acquired Kenco Hydraulics and subsidiaries on Tuesday June 1, 2021. Kenco Hydraulics will operate within the fluid power / automation platform (Dakota Fluid Power) for SBP Holdings. The fluid power / automation platform is the third business vertical within the holding company along with its Industrial Rubber vertical (Singer Equities) and its Rigging and Rental vertical (Bishop Lifting Products). With this addition SBP Holdings will increase its North America footprint to approximately 100 locations with over 1,300 employees.
Kenco Hydraulics, established in 1989 by President Ken Veit, operates from a single location in Hatfield, PA with approximately 19 team members. Kenco Hydraulics provides sales and repair services for all types of hydraulic products including hose, pumps, cylinders, and filtration. Kenco Hydraulics is the regions leading expert in repair and clearly understands and responds to the urgency of customers' requirements in several key markets including construction, mobile equipment and in plant systems. Veit will continue to manage the Kenco Hydraulics operation and expand the enterprise through organic growth and cooperation with other SBP Holdings companies.
SBP CEO Craig Osborne said, "We are truly excited about teaming up with Ken and the Team at Kenco Hydraulics to continue to expand our fluid power offering and geographic footprint. Fluid Power continues to be a large addressable market with tremendous opportunity for growth and there is no question we have a solid base and the ability to expand." Dakota Fluid Power President Rick Lindemann added "We are looking forward to having Kenco Hydraulics join our Fluid Power group!
Their reputation and business model of providing quality parts and service to their customers, aligns very well with Dakota Fluid Power."
Ken Veit said, "I feel strongly that we have teamed up with the right group to continue Kenco Hydraulics tradition of supporting customers in the PA and NJ markets and beyond. We have a current relationship with companies within the SBP Holdings group and we look forward to expanding that over time."
SBP Holdings provides mission critical components, inspection and testing services, repairs and specialized rental activities throughout North America. More information can be provided by viewing www.sbpholdings.com, www.singerequities.com, www.lifting.com, www.dakotafluidpower.com.


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What The Operators Overheard in 1907
When the Bell System first offered telephone service to subscribers, it hired teenage boys for operators. Now, teenage boys have many virtues, but patience, focus, and the ability to take criticism are not chief among them. When the number of irate customers rose sharply, the company replaced them with women operators.
Women, the company reasoned, were tactful, helpful, dedicated, attentive to details—and they could work harder than most men thought possible. They could deftly handle the callers who became furious when told the number they were calling was busy.
In those days, the job of a telephone operator—also called a "Hello Girl" or "Central"— was far from easy. First, she had to take all responsibility for electric shocks she received from her "operating board." She also had to memorize the position of 300 phone numbers on the board directly in front of her.
She was expected to use only the language approved by the company. Numbers could be read only one way. (The number 2000 could only be spoken as "two oh, double-oh." 4001 was "four, double-oh, one.") The company also directed them to give the time in "railroad style": not "twelve minutes to nine" but "eight forty-eight." The rest of her speech was limited to a handful of approved expressions:
"They don't answer."
"Line busy."
"Line out of order."
"I have no such number; please refer to your directory."
"Telephone has been taken out."
"I will give you Information."
"I will give you Chief Operator."
Lastly, an operator had to be fast.
Central … takes care of six or seven customers a minute. During the rush hour she supplies 360 connections in 60 minutes; under stress of intense public excitement she has a record of answering 15 calls per minute. ["'Hello' Girls" by Harris Dickson, Sept 26, 1908]
There was one small compensation to all the drawbacks of being a "Hello Girl," according to Dickson:
In her spare time, she dearly loves to listen to telephone chatter—by way of novelty and recreation.
Officially, the Bell Systems didn't allow operators to listen in to conversations, Dickson reported. (In France, he added, privacy was enforced by the Government.) Operators were prohibited to marry anyone on a long list of forbidden bridegrooms: police employees, detectives, government officials, foreigners, etc. so they wouldn't be tempted to divulge any secrets they overheard.
The anonymous author of "The Diary of a Telephone Girl: The Work of a Human Spider in a Web of Talking Wires" readily admitted eavesdropping.
There are sometimes long enough intervals … for me to be able to read or write letters. They put on a bell attachment that rings for every call, so I can't fail to answer.
Of course I had plenty of time for listening, and it was so exciting sometimes that I hated to stop long enough to answer another call.
The other night I switched a friend of mine on to the line, opened his listening key and others in turn, so that for an hour he could overhear all sorts of private conversations, one after the other.
It's so queer to press down the row of "listening keys" one after another and get bits of the different conversations! Different voices, different dialects, different emotions, tempers, subjects! All sliced off like Neapolitan ice cream—little bits of pulsing human lives. The girls do awfully mean things when they're exasperated by angry subscribers. You can, for instance, switch three or four couples together—a pair of lovers, maybe, two business men and one woman gossiping to another—and then sit and hear them rage at each other.
It was interesting, too, to notice how the character of the talk changed as the hour grew late. The conversations seemed to grow more familiar and confidential and affectionate toward eleven o'clock.
There are several distinct types that I can recognize immediately and I almost know what they're going to say.
First, at 7 o'clock, there are scattered calls, usually important, for doctors, perhaps; and you have to ring and ring, because the subscribers hate so to get up and answer the 'phone.
At 8 o'clock, the nice, early-morning women come on to market with patient, affable butchers. They always want a tender joint and fresh vegetables. "Yes, ma'am!" say the butchers.
At 9, the business man in a hurry, in a loud, violent tone, impatient and cross, bullying the operator, and then, when he gets his number, lowering his voice to an amiable growl.
At 10, interminable conversation between women over the "flat-rate" 'phones with infinite details as to clothes. There's no five-minute limit to talks with this company and you can't cut them off. I've known them to keep it up for three-quarters of an hour. [Imagine: talking on the phone for 45 minutes!—ed.]
At 11 to half-past there's a lull, punctuated, perhaps, by nippy ladies calling up employment agencies [looking to replace a servant], or stupid servant girls replying.
At 11:30 till 12:30 there's a wild rush, everybody trying to catch everybody else for lunch.
From then till 3 or so there are characteristic calls of all sorts: peevish, hurried females who use the nickel 'phones in the downtown drug stores, and who have just got to have their numbers; silly schoolgirls mischievously calling up men they don't know; sporting men [placing bets] in an unintelligible racing jargon, and so on.
From 3 to 4 it slows down again. Then there's likely to be a flurry of women trying to call up stores before they close, or in time to catch the last deliveries.
At 5, wives begin to call up to know if husbands are coming home, and if not, why not? Apologetic replies from offices as business men attempt to explain. Or, if he's coming, "Be sure to bring home a steak or a lobster." He (in disgust): "Why couldn't you have ordered them this morning?"
From 6 till 7 everybody seems to be too busy to call up, except the younger people, girls and youths, who joke and [plan to meet later]. This is a good hour, too, for the obsequious underling, the club hallboy or the clerk of a garage, who has taken orders and been respectful all day, to talk down to the telephone operator. Now, along toward 8, comes the nervous maiden, calling up her men, too uncertain of their reception to bully Central as she usually does.
From 9 on not many calls.
After 10:30 come the calls [for taxis and chauffeurs] and the hotel private exchanges begin to get busy.
Then, at 11 and on through till 2, the reporters with strange tales.
I hate the reporters. They always have the most thrillingly interesting conversations, but if I listen on the line they always know it and get mad. " Get off the line, Central," they say, "or I'll stop talking!" No matter how softly I press back my listening key, they seem to know I'm listening, and then they talk so horridly that I simply have to shut the key.
With automation replacing most phone operators, there are far fewer people to eavesdrop on your conversation. Besides, the whole idea of private phone conversations seem quaint in an age of cell phones. You don't need to become an eavesdropping operator when callers walk through airports and stores handing out free samples of their private lives.


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As you'll see in the video, the lenders consider your debt-to-income ratio, which is a comparison of your gross (pre-tax) income to housing and non-housing expenses.
Non-housing expenses include such long-term debts as car or student loan payments, alimony, or child support.
According to the FHA, monthly mortgage payments should be no more than 29% of gross income, while the mortgage payment, combined with non-housing expenses, should total no more than 41% of income.
Lenders also consider cash available for down payment and closing costs credit history and the rest of your financial picture when determining your maximum loan amount.


text:
Notice Number: NOT-OD-13-071
Update: The following update relating to this announcement has been issued:
Key Dates
Release Date: May 30, 2013
Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
The PHS 2013-2 Omnibus Solicitation of the NIH, CDC, FDA, and ACF for SBIR/STTR Grant Applications and SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide for SBIR/STTR Grant Applications are now reissued. The reissued solicitation consists of: (1) re-issued parent funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for SBIR, (2) re-issued parent FOA for STTR, and (3) narrative descriptions of the programs and research topics (in PDF - 1 MB and MS Word - 1 MB formats). The remaining due dates for CY 2013 are August 5 and December 5, 2013. AIDS and AIDS-related applications are due September 7, 2013 and January 7, 2014.
The original SBIR and STTR Omnibus solicitations, PA-13-088 (SBIR) and PA-13-089 (STTR) are now expired. Applications can no longer be submitted to these FOAs, applicants will receive an error in their submission if these expired FOAs are used. Applicants must download and use the reissued FOAs, PA-13-234 (SBIR) and PA-13-235 (STTR), for ALL SBIR and STTR Omnibus submissions for the remaining due dates listed above. This includes resubmissions ('-A1s').
HHS is committed to implementing all the provisions of the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-81). NIH has set up a new website to keep the small business research community abreast of its implementation plan for the many changes resulting from the reauthorization. The site will be updated as the implementation process moves forward. SBA's released the revised, final size rule on December 27, 2012, with a 30-day implementation window effective January 28, 2013.
This re-issuance implements two additional provisions of the Reauthorization Act: 1) majority venture-capital owned companies may now apply to the NIH SBIR program and 2) all small business concerns must register in the SBA Company Registry.
1. NIH SBIR Application Certification for small business concerns majority-owned by multiple venture capital operating companies, hedge funds, or private equity firms.
The eligibility requirements for all small business concerns have been revised to be compliant with the issuance of revised size rules issued by the SBA and in effect for solicitation issued after 1/28/2013.
With this re-issuance small business concerns that are majority-owned by multiple venture capital operating companies (VCOCs), hedge funds and/or private equity firms ARE NOW ELIGIBLE to apply to the NIH SBIR program and compete for up to 25% of NIH's SBIR set-aside.
Implementation of this 'VCOC provision' is only available to applicants to the NIH SBIR program through this Omnibus FOA and any other NIH SBIR Funding Opportunity Announcement issued after January 28, 2013.
CDC, FDA, and ACF will not accept SBIR applications from majority-owned VCOC small business concerns.
NIH will not accept STTR applications from majority-owned VCOC small business concerns.
Instructions are provided within all NIH SBIR FOAs issued after January 28, 2013 pertaining to applicant certification requirements for majority-owned VCOC small business concerns.
2. SBA Company registry
With this re-issuance and for all SBIR and STTR FOAs issued after January 28, 2013, all applicants to the SBIR and STTR programs are required to register at the SBA Company Registry prior to application submission and attach proof of registration. If applicants have previously registered, you are still required to attach proof of registration.
Instructions are provided within all SBIR and STTR FOAs issued after January 28, 2013 pertaining to SBA Company Registry requirements.
The below provisions are still implemented with current Omnibus re-issuance and include:
HHS will implement the provisions below as guidance from SBA is received and electronic system and form updates at NIH and SBA are realized, however at this time, the reissued Omnibus FOAs DO NOT currently allow the following:
NIH is currently updating its electronic systems and forms to allow applicants to switch programs at Phase II. Only NIH participates in the STTR program; CDC, FDA, and ACF do not.
Per the reauthorization, this provision will only be available to NIH SBIR applicants once implemented. NIH is currently updating its electronic systems and forms to allow applicants to apply for a Direct Phase II SBIR award. Additionally, this provision will be piloted by NIH by issuing targeted FOA/s and will not be available on the Omnibus FOAs. When issued, Direct to Phase II FOA/s may be found here.
NIH has many SBIR and STTR FOAs available for the community, many of which were issued prior to January 28, 2013. Applicants are advised to read solicitations very carefully, as eligibility and budget requirements may differ, depending on when the FOA was issued. Applicants are required to follow the guidance and instructions within the FOA they choose to apply for.
Applicants are always strongly encouraged to contact program officials prior to submitting any SBIR or STTR application for guidance.
Please direct all inquiries to:
NIH SBIR/STTR Program Office
Telephone: 301-435-2688
Fax: 301-480-0146
Email: email@example.com
Website: http://sbir.nih.gov


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I just got off of the phone with a person at a marketing agency. Her and a few of her colleauges have been checking out HubSpot quite frequently. Unfortunately, she told me that her principle will never really adapt to online marketing.
I'd suggest getting a new job if you're in that situation.
Here's a great post by Paul Roetzer at PR 20/20, a HubSpot client and agency for many HubSpot clients about how PR is changing because of the web.
Paul talks about 3 big trends affecting PR which presents 3 significant opportunities for firms that are willing to transition from traditional agency to traditional+online agency.
- Social Media
- Self Publishing.
How Social Media & SEO can be supported by Public Relations - are 'talked to death' topics. However, I particularly like his paragraph on Self Publishing:
Press Releases, blogs, eBooks, white papers, by-lined articles, newsletters and online magazines are now being written with keyword-rich content and distributed with the goal of building Website traffic, inbound links and leads.
If you're in PR and you're not practicing PR this way, you should probably get a job elsewhere. Maybe you should send your resume to Paul.


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- Partners
- SMB Affiliate Program
As a Trend Micro SMB Affiliate you'll earn a 20% commission when you sell our award-winning small and medium business products. You can earn easy cash, provide your site visitors up-to-date virus information, and sell them our award-winning Worry-Free™ Security solutions for SMB and Home & Home Office security:
When you are approved, you'll receive special banners and text links to place on your website. When your visitors click on any one of these links and buy Trend Micro products online, you can earn 20% in referral fees. We track the sales you refer to us and then send you a check every month when the total commissions meet or exceed $50. You will also receive new promotions that can help maximize your effectiveness with your site visitors.
It's very simple. Just fill out a one-page form and submit your application. Once you are approved, you will receive an email with instructions on how to get your affiliate program links and start earning your commissions.