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The Fringe, Part 2
Presidential candidates you've never heard of.
The Fringe, Part 2: This is the second entry in "The Fringe," a periodic look at the lesser-known candidates for president. You can find the first entry on Dr. Jack Shepard here.
Dr. Mark Klein shares at least one presidential tic with the rest of the mainstream candidates—he has a tagline. "We need a grown-up in the White House," Klein proudly told me earlier today. He wants that grown-up to be him.
Klein is a retired psychiatrist from Oakland, Calif., who woke up one morning in 2005 and felt like running for president. So that he did. Armed with $20,000 of his own money—Klein doesn't do any fund raising of his own—he started a field office in West Des Moines, Iowa, and says he has a dozen volunteers who believe in his message. "Instead of in my retirement buying a fancy Mercedes, I decided to run for the White House," he told me.
Klein's main goal is to strengthen the middle class. That means stemming the flow of illegal immigrants, imposing banking regulations, and re-evaluating free-trade policies. "What passes for the free market today is basically socialism for the very rich," he said. He added that even though he lives an admittedly "prosperous" lifestyle and lives off stock dividends, he considers himself middle class, since he has a net worth less than $10 million. He's less focused on foreign policy (his campaign materials say it would play "second fiddle" to domestic policy), but says he wants to withdraw all troops and supports the Bidenback strategy of dividing Iraq into three countries.
As if running for president wasn't hard enough, Klein is convinced the GOP doesn't like him. He claims the Iowa Republicans ignored his requests to be included in the Ames Straw Poll because they're anti-Semitic (Klein is Jewish). Mary Tiffany of the Iowa GOP told me his discrimination claims were baseless. He just didn't pass muster when the State Central Committee chose whom to put on the ballot in Ames. "Mark Klein isn't even a formidable candidate," she said, adding that she was surprised I was giving him the time of day. If Klein had more press coverage and bigger events, she said, they might have listed him as a candidate. (Eleven candidates were on the ballot, including John Cox and the then-unannounced Fred Thompson.)
All of this creates a presidential Catch-22: Outsider candidates can't raise their profile at major events because they don't have enough of an infrastructure, but they can't get the infrastructure they need because they don't have the medium to spread their message.
Of course, Klein could have gotten around this by running for some office other than president. But those small-time positions didn't interest him. "I don't waste my time," he said.
Face value: Another religious Romney endorsement, this one coming from the former president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. Good timing, too: Romney will be speaking at the Values Voters Summit this evening, and it's fair to say he's got some repenting to do.
Two gentlemen from the Log Cabin Republicans were passing out fliers outside the main ballroom including Mitt Romney's now-famous endorsement during his failed 1994 run for U.S. Senate. "If we are to achieve the goals we share," Romney wrote, "we must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern." The group also released a sarcastically fawning anti-Romney ad a few weeks ago, praising his "pro-choice record" and "Massachusetts values."
Romney's rebuttal is that he has changed. "I get tired of people that are holier-than-thou because they've been pro-life longer than I have," he said to Sam Brownback at a debate in August. But tonight he'll be facing a largely skeptical audience and will need all the endorsements he can get.
As for the Log Cabin Republicans, the group isn't planning to endorse a candidate in the primaries, they told me. Right now, they're just making sure voters know about Romney's past positions. "The only thing consistent is his ambition," one of them said.
Sleep talking: Fred Thompson doesn't know what he'd do as president, but he will know once God tells him. That's what he told the Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C. today: "Someone asked me what I'd do in my first 100 days as president. I said I don't know what I would do in my first 100 days. But I know what I'd do in the first hour. I'd go into the Oval office, close the door, and pray to know what was right."
It says a lot about Thompson's candidacy that this line got more applause than all his promises of judicial restraint, vetoes for abortion legislation, and smaller government. No one I talked to after the speech raved about Thompson's policies. They were drawn to his style. A man from Tennessee (whose wife was a cheerleader for Thompson's high-school football team) told me he admired Fred's authenticity, because he sounds like he "means what he says." He's just a regular guy like you and me.
The problem is, regular guys like you and me would have no idea what we're doing as president of the United States. Onstage, Thompson does little to suggest he'd be any different. Whereas Mitt Romney sometimes seems androidlike, Thompson comes off as all too human. He punctuated his speech with "um," and his voice never rose out of its cordial, soporific cadence. He could have been sitting on a porch, not standing on a stage. The ballroom seemed to swallow him. The speech didn't really have any laugh lines, either, except a canned quip about not needing to "call his lawyers to know a good judge from a bad one." Coming on the snappy heels of Tom Tancredo, his speech sounded like a eulogy.
At the end, as Johnny Cash started to play over the speakers, a group of Fred supporters shook signs and chanted, "Go, Fred, go!" It quickly became clear the audience wasn't going to join them, and the chant faded away.
Obama, where art thou?: The big story on liberal blogs today has been Sen. Chris Dodd's decision to put a "hold" on the new surveillance bill, since it would grant immunity to telecom companies that helped the government spy on people without warrants. It started this morning when a blogger at MyDD called on Dodd to hold the bill—a procedural move that denies the party leadership the unanimous consent they need to bring a bill to the floor. In the afternoon, Dodd released a statement announcing his "hold" and promising "no telecom amnesty."
But it makes you wonder: Why ask Dodd? Why not Obama or Hillary or someone whose opposition would bring more attention to the issue? For one thing, Dodd had already promised to "do what I can to see to it that no telecommunications giant that was complicit in this Administration's assault on the Constitution is given a get-out-of-jail-free card."
But the calls for Dodd also reflect a growing disillusionment with Obama on the left. (See here and here to read some frustrated venting.) Obama's promises to discard the ways of Washington are bumping up against the pragmatism and party loyalty necessary to win an election. He's caught between reinventing politics and having to practice it. He probably would oppose the FISA bill, but he knows it could cost him.
Dodd, on the other hand, has very little to lose. He's barely registering in polls (the ones that he said "don't mean spit"), and his third-quarter fund-raising wasn't stellar. Taking a firm stance on wiretapping is both consistent with his support for civil liberties and a good way to distinguish himself from his opponents.
Even if he can't hoist himself out of the second tier, Dodd at least has a chance to influence the debate. Just as Bill Richardson can say to Hillary, I won't leave residual troops in Iraq—why will you?, Dodd can now ask Obama, I stood my ground on wiretapping—why didn't you?
Also: In case you're curious, Daily Kos has a useful guide to how a "hold" works.
Fortunate nephew: Jeb Bush Jr., son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of President George W. Bush, will be joining Rudy Giuliani's Florida team, the campaign announced today. That's just a week after Elizabeth Cheney joined Fred Thompson's campaign as co-chair.
So, if Bush's nephew and Cheney's daughter—the straight one, of course—are supporting different candidates, does that mean there's a rift in the White House?
So far, Giuliani seems to have a lock on the administration's (tacit) support. He's been much less critical of Bush than, say, Romney has, and based on his comments about national security and Iran—"the military option is not off the table"—he may even outhawk the current brass. And just look at some of his advisers: Norman Podhoretz, Stephen Rosen, Daniel Pipes. These guys make the Iraq war architects look like Cindy Sheehan. The White House doesn't do endorsements—which in this cycle is probably a good thing—but if it did, Giuliani could probably count on it.
But who knows, if Jeb Bush Jr.'s personal history is any indication, he might not be doing much to clean up Rudy's image.
Bye-Bye Brownback: Mr. Brownback, we barely knew ye. The Associated Press is reporting that Sam Brownback has decided to end his bid for the Republican nomination because he couldn't raise enough money. His low poll numbers and lack of support among the Christian right were most likely a factor, as well. Brownback's momentum stalled when he finished behind Mike Huckabee in the Ames Straw Poll in August. He never found his footing after that.
In honor of the Kansas senator's achievements, Trailhead created this lasting tribute to his campaign. Sam, may you rest in political peace. We can only hope other, more sincere retrospectives will follow.
Clinton, Iowa: I know hokey symbolism is the lifeblood of campaigns, but the candidates are having way too much fun with this:
The former Massachusetts governor and White House hopeful began by attacking Hillary Clinton's tax plan, health care proposal, poll numbers and her husband's presidency at a speech in -- where else? -- the town of Clinton.
It's also where Obama gave a major anti-war speech in September. Best of all, it gives media the chance to drop coy references to "Clinton Republicans."
Luckily, there are plenty more opportunities for ham-fisted geographical metaphors. Candidates might consider campaigning in any or all of the following cities and towns, depending on their message:
And if anyone really wants to go after Fred in the Hawkeye State, there's always the town of Thompson, Iowa—population 600.
Bad dates: All signs suggest that Rudy Giuliani is paying less attention to Iowa than to later states. For him, the big day isn't Jan. 3, when Iowa's social conservatives will turn out for the caucus. He's focused on Feb. 5, when a boatload of larger states hold their primaries. That, according to reports and campaign documents, is when he'll look to clinch the nomination.
But with Iowa and now possibly New Hampshire pushing their dates earlier and earlier, Feb. 5 is looking rather distant. If Romney dominates in Iowa (recent polls show him beating Giuliani by a factor of two) and uses that momentum to finish solidly in New Hampshire (where the two candidates are currently neck and neck), there's more time than ever for those victories to sink in. If New Hampshire—and therefore Iowa—somehow gets pushed into December, an early win could be all but calcified by February.
Of course, he's not the only candidate affected by the primary-date arms race. A superearly Iowa caucus could hurt Barack Obama if the legions of Iowa students he plans to mobilize are still on winter break. On the other hand, early primaries give the front-runners—right now Hillary and Giuliani—less time to regain their footing against a last-minute insurgency. If Obama manages to get a boost just before the caucus, Hillary might not have time to recover. Same goes for Romney against Giuliani: If he deals a last-minute blow to Rudy's lead in the national polls before the primaries, a subsequent victory in Iowa could become more significant than just a mere early jab.
Oct. 17, 2007
With friends like these ...: The parade of half-assed endorsements continues!
First, Christian fundamentalist and university president Bob Jones announced his support for Mitt Romney, despite being "completely opposed" to Romney's religion. Now comes conservative Texas Gov. Richard Perry's equally lukewarm endorsement of Rudy Giuliani. Perry opposes abortion rights but said he supports Giuliani anyway because he believes the mayor will appoint conservative judges:
"Let me tell you, I can live with that," Perry said.
Easy there, governor. Don't get too excited now. From the same article:
Perry likened the choice to buying a new pickup truck, saying he would not reject a good model because it had one option he did not like.
Can't he at least pretend to like the person he's endorsing? We know social conservatives aren't too enthused about the current batch of GOP candidates, but this is just absurd. It reminds me of the Web site that appeared during the 2004 race, www.JohnKerryIsaDouchebagButImVotingForHimAnyway.com. Their motto: "He'll do."
The Fringe: In honor of Stephen Colbert's presidential run and the beginning of the filing period for the New Hampshire primaries, Trailhead is introducing its first regular feature: the Fringe. We'll profile the über-long shots who have come out of the woodwork armed with limited cash, delusions of grandeur, and blind faith to seek residency in the White House.
Our inaugural candidate is Dr. Jack Shepard, a dentist from Minnesota—no, not that Jack Shephard. He has lived in Rome for the past 25 years but still thinks he's the Republican who can protect America and bring peace to the Middle East. Oh, I almost forgot, he's a convicted felon who is wanted on arson charges back home.
Shepard left the country in 1982, after serving eight months in jail for possessing narcotics—he says he was permitted to have them because of a license obtained for his dentistry practice *—and after Minnesota authorities claimed he burned down his house and dentistry office. Since moving to Italy, he says he routinely speaks with high-level Syrian, Iranian, and Hamas officials to assist America's foreign-policy efforts. He believes he is still serving in the armed forces at the age of 60 because his ID card doesn't have an expiration date. He claims he can't come home because he's still serving his country abroad. When I asked for specifics, he said that was all he was allowed to tell me.
If Shepard's platform has a fulcrum, it's full diplomacy with leaders in the Middle East, especially Iran. When I asked him about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's aggressive anti-Israel comments, he blamed them on a mistranslation. He would section off Palestine within Israel (he offered no specifics) and veto any pro-Israel bill that came across his desk. He also offered this: "The votes that I get will be votes from peace people," he said, "I'm curious how many people are actually after a person who really has dialogue with the evil of axis, as it's called." That was not a typo.
If Shepard sounds like he's a peace-loving Democrat, that's because he used to be. He became a "born-again Republican" in 2000 after a convoluted episode involving racial bias. Nevertheless, he wants the Rev. Jesse Jackson to be his ambassador to the United Nations.
He wouldn't tell me much about his domestic policy despite specific questions on health care, abortion, and gay rights. But he did say he wanted to reform the prison system, using personal examples from his own incarceration as evidence of its shortcomings.
To run for president, all Shepard had to do was send $1,000 check to New Hampshire's secretary of state and sign some papers saying he wanted to run. In South Carolina, you have to pony up $2,500 or 3,000 signatures to get on the primary ballot. Nobody does a background check, and he can't get pulled off the ballot in New Hampshire unless somebody files a complaint. This means Shepard will almost certainly remain a diplomatic vigilante.
Even if he were to garner a delegate, it's doubtful he'd be able to attend the GOP national convention in Minnesota, since that's the state where he's wanted for arson. Ever the optimist, Shepard ended an e-mail he sent me with this: "It would be the greatest and happiness moment of my life to return to St. Paul, Minnesota the city of my birth to get the Republican Nomination for President there." After all, aren't all politicians just talkative people looking for a little redemption?
Fourth and goal: Ron Paul surprised everyone—including himself, most likely—when he raised $5 million in the third quarter. But that's just the beginning, says his campaign. They're now shooting to raise another $12 million by January, which would put him in the major leagues among the GOP candidates.
That's a lot of cash, but Paul's fund-raising director is optimistic. He said at a press conference today that only 3 percent of Paul's donors have given the maximum amount, which means that well is far from dry. Also, roughly 35,000 donors gave to Paul in the third quarter—a respectable number, given that Romney had 23,000 new third-quarter donors. Plus, he says, Paul has been more frugal than his opponents. (An indication of the way they'll behave in office, surely.) He's "the only top-tier candidate who carried no debt into the fourth quarter," according to the campaign. Top-tier being their words, not mine.
The $12 million figure is notable not just for its size, but also for being mentioned at all. It's uncommon for a campaign to state its fund-raising goals at the outset, given that things could get ugly. But Paul is taking the transparency a step further: His Web site has a donation "thermometer," which lets you see how close they are to achieving the goal. Every time a new person donates, their name flashes on-screen. (There's an opt-out feature in case a member of, say, the Giuliani family wants to chip in.) Barack Obama has a similar "Closing the Gap" feature on his site now to motivate donors, intended to help him catch Hillary. But that's only a two-day project. If things slow down for Paul later this quarter, the whole world will know about it.
As for where all this cash will go, Paul will soon start spending on radio and TV ads in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa, and Nevada. More details here.
Choir Boy: Barack Obama has announced his "Embrace the Change" gospel tour, a three-day concert series around South Carolina at the end of October, featuring Mighty Clouds of Joy and a handful of other gospel stars.
The concerts are clearly meant to boost Obama's God cred. For one thing, a lot of people still believe Obama is a Muslim—a notion that was buttressed by a Fox News report last January that he was educated at a radical Muslim madrassa. Plus, South Carolina voters often say they plan to use prayer to decide which candidate to vote for. If Obama is lucky, their ears will still be ringing in January.
But more importantly, Obama now gets to one-up Hillary on the musical front. Hillary held a fund-raising event last week in Boston with the Goo Goo Dolls. She also plans to have Elvis Costello play at her 60th birthday party in New York. She's been using Celine Dion's "You and I" as her campaign theme song—let's hope they stick to the recorded version.
There's a good case for electing the candidate with the best musical taste. It will decide whether we spend the next four years listening to over-the-hill boomer tunes—Fleetwood Mac was just the beginning—or these guys, who are old but still more fun to watch than John Rzeznik. (As a general rule, appeals to youth culture are a no-no. The Black Eyed Peas' performance at the 2004 DNC still haunts me.)
Family doesn't matter: Lynne Cheney told MSNBC Tuesday that her husband, Dick, and Barack Obama are eighth cousins. "Think about this," Cheney said. "This is such an amazing American story that one ancestor, a man that came to Maryland, could be responsible down the family line for lives that have taken such different and varied paths as Dick's and Barack Obama's."
Blogs are calling it "strange news"—a "bizarre revelation" "[f]rom the WTF file." "Are you sitting down?" asks the New York Times' Caucus blog. Well, I don't know, should I be?
Not really, says Utah genealogist Chip Hughes. Eighth cousins is nothing to get excited about. "If you told me that, I'd go, 'Oh, OK.' I wouldn't go, 'What?'" he says. "You think about it, there's only about 30 years per generation. If you go back to the Revolutionary War, that's eight generations. With the amount of people living then versus now, it's just not that unusual."
Hughes said you can't put an exact number on odds of two people being distant cousins. But chances are, everyone's got a famous relative. Descendants of the pilgrims who sailed over on the Mayflower currently number in the hundreds of thousands. Obama is also apparently related to President Bush. "My ninth great grandfather was Roger Williams," founder of Rhode Island, Hughes said. "There's horse thieves and heroes in everybody's line."
Losing his religion: Check out Bob Jones' official "endorsement" of Mitt Romney:
Asked whether Romney's religion was a stumbling block for him, Jones replied, "What is the alternative, Hillary's lack of religion or an erroneous religion?"
"As a Christian I am completely opposed to the doctrines of Mormonism," he said. "But I'm not voting for a preacher. I'm voting for a president. It boils down to who can best represent conservative American beliefs, not religious beliefs."
Wait, what? I thought the whole point of an endorsement from Bob Jones was that he—or any other fundamentalist Christian university president, for that matter—does pick based on religious beliefs. No one cares what Bob Jones thinks of the health-care plan or tax cuts or plan for Iraq. They want to know who worships the best God! It's like a master chef recommending a restaurant even though he hates the food.
People always discuss Romney's beliefs as a weak spot. Who knew he'd be our nation's last defense against a pagan Giuliani or Clinton administration?
Blunt instrument: Rudy Giuliani knows how to tailor an anecdote to his audience. At today's Republican Jewish Coalition forum in Washington, D.C., he was introduced as the man who had Yasser Arafat thrown out of the United Nations. Giuliani later clarified: "I actually threw him out of the U.N. concert at Lincoln Center. [Applause] … It bothered me that he came to that peace concert. But what really bothered me was, he didn't have a ticket. He's a freeloader." I was half expecting him to say schnorrer.
On the subjects of the day—national security, nukes, Iran—Rudy was in his element. Maybe it's his ability to say anything, no matter how mundane, with utter conviction. "We've seen what Iran will do with ordinary weapons. If I'm president, we will never find out what they will do with nuclear weapons because I guarantee they will never get nuclear weapons." And just in case he wasn't clear: "The military option is not off the table."
You can understand why, after Hillary and Mitt Romney's alleged vagaries about how they'd respond to a threat from Iran, Giuliani's bluntness distinguishes him. "You can't negotiate with people who want to kill you and your children," he said at one point. "What are you gong to negotiate? How many kids they're going to kill?" Same goes for throwing Arafat out of concerts: "I didn't call for a team of lawyers to tell me, 'On the one hand, you can throw him out, but on the other hand you can't. Maybe you can partially throw him out. Or make him sit further up.' " For Rudy, it's never about compromise. "Weakness invites attack. Strength keeps you safe," he said. As does a total lack of nuance, apparently.
He wasn't just blunt about policy, either. One questioner seemed to say that George Soros was in the audience and asked what Giuliani thought of the liberal billionaire. "I'd suggest uninviting him if he's here in the room." Giuliani also put a Republican spin on Lloyd Bentsen's famous insult: "Barack Obama says Ronald Reagan negotiated with the Russians. ... I say this most respectfully, but you're not Ronald Reagan." Something tells me Obama wouldn't dispute that.
Hair pieces: Every so often, two major newspapers will publish the exact same evergreen feature at the exact same time, confirming suspicions that the media is one giant, pulsating organism that thinks and moves as a unit.
The latest evidence: two pieces in the Sunday editions of the New York Times and Washington Post about South Carolina beauty salons and the African-American women who frequent them. As Barron YoungSmith pointed out yesterday in "Today's Papers," "both pieces follow a twentysomething Obama staffer and both meditate on the identity politics that rend black women choosing between a black man and a white woman." The salon makes a useful framing device, since both Hillary and Obama have dispatched staffers to salons to court black women. (A nasty tactic, if you ask me. Haircuts are already stressful enough.)
The most interesting quotes in both pieces come from women concerned about Barack Obama. "I think basically white people won't vote for him," one salon owner tells the Post. Others fear for his life. "I don't feel the country is ready for an African American," says a woman interviewed in the Times. "He would be killed."
So, have the Times and the Post been peeking over each other's shoulders? Not at all, say the two writers. "I was totally surprised," said Katherine Seelye, who wrote the Times piece. "I had no idea they were doing it." Seelye had wanted to write something about black women voters for a while, and only learned about the other piece on Saturday, when it appeared online. "I think it's kind of serendipitous," said Krissah Williams, the Post's reporter.
At Your Service:The Service Employee International Union's Iowa state council is endorsing John Edwards today. But to hear the campaign talk about it, you'd think he'd won the union's full endorsement. (He didn't; they decided last week against a nationwide endorsement.)
A spokesman called it "great, great news" for Edwards and a "huge defeat for the Clinton campaign" in a conference call with reporters. He even said it proves Edwards' electability—a point the Edwards camp has been pushing for some time but that still falls just short of persuasive.
The endorsement is a victory, no doubt. But it's unclear whether it will have the huge effect Edwards seems to expect. In 2004, Howard Dean slipped in Iowa despite getting the much-touted AFSCME endorsement, not to mention the SEIU's. (A spokesman said Edwards' ground organization is much better than Dean's was.) And the campaign's point about electability is ironic, considering that many SEIU members lean toward Hillary and Obama because they perceived Edwards to be less electable. Hence Edwards' failure to get the whole union's endorsement last week. They were likely wary of a replay of 2004, when Dean's campaign imploded soon after getting the SEIU stamp of approval.
An Edwards campaign spokesman had a different take on why Edwards didn't get the full endorsement: Obama and Clinton represent states with strong SEIU membership—more than 250,000 in New York and 100,000 in Illinois. Therefore, he argued, it was hard for Edwards to command the 60 percent supermajority he needed to win the union's nationwide backing.
The Iowa SEIU has only 2,000 members, but 2,000 dedicated people (and their families) can make a big difference in the caucuses. Plus, SEIU rules allow volunteers from other states who endorse Edwards to work on the Iowa campaign. This influx could give Edwards a much-needed tool against the Obama and Clinton juggernauts in Iowa, especially if he wins California, which has more SEIU members than any other state.
Update, Oct. 16, 2007: Edwards also managed to rope in endorsements from nine other states' SEIU groups Monday, including California, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Ohio, and Washington. Their memberships total over a million—more than half the SEIU's total membership of 1.9 million. If significant numbers of volunteers pitch in in Iowa, this could make a big difference. A student organizer from the University of Iowa writes in: "I heard a couple people call this the most important Edwards event of the entire cycle, and I'm not sure that's overshooting too far. The amount of paid professional organizing staff in just this area has basically doubled. ... The local Coralville office (that's the SEIU 199 home base) has completely automated computer call-filtering, whereas the local and regional presidential offices are still doing voter contact calls with spreadsheet printouts and a pen. ... Edwards staff and volunteers now have access to tons of resources that they wouldn't have had otherwise." Maybe spending limits won't hurt him as much as we thought.
Friday, Oct. 12, 2007
No Contest: In a move that's likely to sink the Dodd campaign, Major League Baseball nixed the contest to win tickets to a Red Sox ALCS game with Sen. Chris Dodd. Which is a shame, seeing as it was easily the best contest any of the campaigns has offered. So far we've seen:
Win a dinner for four with Barack Obama.
Win a trip to hurricane-ravaged New Orleans with John Edwards.
Win a date with Bill Clinton and a bowl of chips.
It's not too late for the other campaigns to climb on board. What are some contests we're likely to see?
Win a wedding with Rudy Giuliani.
Win a nap with Fred Thompson.
Win a meal with John McCain--your treat.
Win a Romney brother. (You can keep him.)
Win a Guitar Hero duet in Bill Richardson's basement.
Win a Rio Grande "hunting trip" with Tom Tancredo.
Win a séance with Dennis Kucinich.
Win a Ron Paul bobblehead.
Win a Greyhound bus ride with Mike Gravel.
Coulter Endorses! Doesn't Ann Coulter just say the darndest things? In her mindless, anti-Semitic rantto CNBC's Donny Deutsch this week, Coulter may have said something even crazier than the now infamous "[Christians] just want Jews to be perfected" remark. Ann Coulter endorsed Duncan Hunter for president.
When asked what America would look like if all of her dreams came true, she said, "The Democratic party would look like Joe Lieberman. The Republican party would look like Duncan Hunter." Considering Hunter's nonexistent presence in the polls, it doesn't seem like she's tapped into the cultural zeitgeist on that one. (Coulter also said she thought heaven looks like "New York City during the Republican National Convention.")
I called up Hunter's spokesperson, Roy Tyler, for a reaction, and he said little to distance the campaign from Coulter. "Ann has always been a fan of his," he told me. "And we certainly can't fault her for that." He made no mention of the potential ridicule a Coulter endorsement would bring, even though the love fest came in the same five-minute span as an attack on Jews.
But when I asked if they were planning on asking Coulter to make her endorsement official, he said that wasn't in the cards. This doesn't make much sense—Hunter's campaign is squandering a chance to court ultra-right wingers and grab badly needed headlines. Coulter is clearly not a bandwagon supporter (if there's even a bandwagon to jump onto) as she's professed her support before. But supposedly Hunter has never even spoken to Coulter on the phone (but he has defended her on MSNBC). Some advice for Duncan: She's practically begging; just give her a call.
Frowny Face: The cover of today's Wall Street Journal has perhaps the saddest-looking stipple portrait ever. It shows George W. Bush, eyes downcast, lips pursed, frowning slightly—the image of a president who has seen better days.
As it turns out, the Journal's hedcuts tell a fascinating story about Bush's fortunes over the past couple of years. (This site lets you look up old drawings and their publication dates.) In April 2006, he was still sunny and confident. In January 2007, as the surge began, his face showed doubt and concern. Now the man is downright gloomy.
So, is this story arc intentional? An e-mail sent to WSJ's press office this afternoon hasn't been returned. But Kevin Sprouls, the artist who pioneered the stipple portrait style for the Journal 20 years ago, said he doubts it. Back when he worked on the art desk, "we'd try not to editorialize," he said. "We'd go with the image that was the best likeness."
Today's drawing accompanies an interview with Bush about free trade and executive pay. Maybe they picked the glum face because voter support for free-trade initiatives is down? "There's no way to find out," Sprouls said. "I'm sure even if they were editorializing, they would deny it."
Gee-had: Romney has a new ad in his series of backyard heart-to-hearts, this time telling us about jihadism—"This century's nightmare." He sound serious, but I still feel like I'm learning about the birds, the bees, and the coming of the 12th Imam.
As far as strategy, Romney is doing his best to unseat Giuliani as the national security candidate. Talking about the terrorists' plans to "unite the world under a single jihadist caliphate" might help. (Notice that he doesn't mention a "global war on terror"—a good way to distance himself from Bush.) But no matter how many soldiers Romney pledges to add to the military, no matter how hawkish he waxes on Iran, he still doesn't have a good rebuttal if Giuliani decides to ask him, "Where were you on Sept. 11?"
Here's the spot:
Correction, Oct. 18, 2007: An earlier version of this post misstated that Dr. Shepard was convicted for selling narcotics. A judge ruled that he had violated his parole and convicted him of illegally possessing narcotics. (Return to the corrected sentence.)


text:
Shop >> Books >> Young Reader
William Joyce
William Joyce
Release Date: 10/2/2012
Don't miss The Rise of the Guardians, soon to be a major motion picture in theaters November 2012.
Beware a tooth fairy queen scorned in this, the third chapter book of Academy-Award winner William Joyce's The Guardians series. There's a lot more to this tooth-swiping sprite than meets the eye!
Now that the back story of Nicholas St. North has been told, and the mysteries of E. Aster Bunnymund have been revealed, we can permit you to meet one of the most riveting, mysterious Guardians of all time: the Tooth Fairy.
Do you want in on a few of her secrets? Well—she can spin herself into a multitude of selves, all depending on nightly teeth-placed-under-pillows rates. And her diminutive size is not at all indicative of how fierce a warrior she can be—Pitch, the Nightmare King, that nefarious villain and the Guardians' nemesis, who loathes all things good, has no idea what he's up against. And be forewarned: If you try to stay up to spy on her nocturnal pursuits, there'll be Spell to pay.
We present to you Her Serene Royal Highness, Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairies, The third Guardian.
""The whimsical details and elaborate, old-fashioned illustrations continue to charm.""

subset: commoncrawl


text: Find this wine Find this wine Dancing Bull Merlot 2009 OK Merlot. Soft bouquet, fruity taste (a tad sharp), finishes nicely. At $5 it has to be the Best Buy grocery store red. Pin It Tweet 7 years ago by Chuckmeyersiphone More posts Dancing Bull Merlot 2010 Rosie and John 6 years ago by Brown V. Dancing Bull Merlot 2009 Light and fruity! Very good! 6 years ago by Hkmervis Dancing Bull Merlot 2009 Really good, had a friends house. 7 years ago by Tammiknapp Dancing Bull Merlot 2009 So-So Merlot. Soft Bouquet, slightly sweet berry taste, but a pretty good finish. ($5.00) Pretty good buy in California! 7 years ago by Chuckmeyersiphone


text:
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In stock for Fall 2019
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Achillea are perfect for that hard-to-grow spot in your garden. Tolerant of drought, wind and heat; these selections grow well in almost any soil type. They do spread, so give them room to fill in. Long blooming carefree plant.
Yarrows are low maintenance and best in full sun with well-drained soil. Remove spent blossoms to promote continuous flowering. Plants can be cleaned up in spring or fall. Leave any fresh fall foliage to overwinter. Divide in spring or fall every 4-5 years.
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and hope you'll join us in the garden! –Your Friends at Bluestone


text:
USA Made Pens With Glow In The Dark Designs
Description: Made in the USA by Pen Company of America, these pens feature Glow in the Dark designs that are fun for kids and adults. Each pen comes with a great design: Aliens, Fairies, Sports, or Hearts and Peace. Turn off the lights and you will see these designs glow. Since the pen writes with black ink, you can still use it for school, work or around the house. Each pens comes in a reusable tube, so it is perfect as an add-on gift. These pens are all molded, assembled and decorated in our New Jersey facility.
Price: $2.50 to $3.00


text:
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- While Sen. Hillary Clinton is trying to soften her image on the campaign, she is allowing her pit bull -- Bill Clinton -- to go on the attack.
Sen. Hillary Clinton speaks to black religious leaders in Compton, California, Thursday.
In a version of "good cop/bad cop" the couple has gone after the senator's closest rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama.
The former president aggressively interjected himself into a debate Wednesday when he became visibly combative with a reporter after being questioned about a lawsuit in Nevada that sought to ban caucus meetings in nine casinos on the Las Vegas strip.
The lawsuit, filed by a teachers union that has endorsed Hillary Clinton, claims the at-large caucus sites were unfairly allotted more delegates than other caucuses in the state. The lawsuit also took issue with caucuses being held midday at those sites -- which could make it easier for casino workers to caucus than it will be for other Nevadans.
Supporters of Sen. Barack Obama, Clinton's chief rival for the Democratic nomination, say the lawsuit was an attempt to suppress the vote of the members of the Culinary Workers Union, many of whom work at the casinos and hotels. The union had endorsed Obama just days before suit was filed.
A judge Thursday ruled against the teachers union and said the casino caucuses could go forward.
When asked by a reporter about the lawsuit Wednesday, Bill Clinton angrily said his wife's campaign had no involvement in the suit being filed and claimed the reporter had taken an "accusatory tone." Watch Bill Clinton lash out »
"Get on your television station and say, 'I don't care about the home mortgage crisis; all I care about is making sure that some voters have it easier than others ... and when they do vote ... their vote should count five times as much as others," Clinton said in a raised voice.
"If you want to make that your position get on the television and take it. Don't be accusatory with me. I had nothing to do with this lawsuit," he said.
The Democratic presidential candidate herself took a much different approach when she was asked whether the case would help Obama -- she ignored the question.
Instead, she responded "I hope that it can be resolved by the courts and by the state party because obviously we want as many people as possible to be able to participate."
And, reacting to the judge's decision to allow the casino caucuses to proceed, the Clinton campaign remained positive.
"While we were not involved in this lawsuit, and have always said that we would play by the rules that we're given, it has always been our hope that every Nevadan should have equal access and opportunity to participate in the caucus," the campaign said in a statement. "The Obama campaign has been clear in its belief that whoever wins the culinary union endorsement will win Nevada. We will leave it up to the people of Nevada to make that decision."
While speaking at an event with Magic Johnson and his daughter, Chelsea Clinton, in north Las Vegas, Nevada, Thursday, Bill Clinton continued to criticize how the media treated his wife compared to other candidates.
"But the girl's doing pretty good isn't she?" Clinton said. "She's still doing pretty well."
On Wednesday night the presidential candidate welcomed the press on the maiden voyage of a charter jet her campaign has dubbed "Hill Force 1." Watch Clinton play flight attendant »
"Hi my name is Hillary, and I am pleased to have most of you on board," she chirped over the PA system in her most cheerful flight attendant voice.
She ended her welcome by saying, "We know you have a choice when you fly, so we are grateful that you have chosen the plane with the most experienced candidate."
The couple's strategy is becoming routine, with Sen. Clinton playing the "good cop" and Bill Clinton bringing the heavy artillery.
For example, Hillary often takes a subtle dig at Obama's limited time on the national stage by saying "there is not a contradiction between experience and change."
Bill Clinton, on the other hand, is often much more direct. Before the New Hampshire primary for example, the former president blasted Obama for saying he opposed Iraq from the beginning, saying "Give me a break -- This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen."
The comment drew protests from the Obama camp and some prominent African-American Democrats.
Earlier in the campaign, the two would travel together, but, now, the couple operates more like a tag team. While she debated in Nevada Tuesday night, he was revving up voters in California. On Thursday, the roles switched. While she's in California, he picked up the slack in Nevada.
The approach may help the New York senator's chances. For Democrats, Bill Clinton reminds them of the good economy in the 1990, and 89 percent of Democrats view him favorably.
Fond memories of the Clinton years force Obama and former Sen. John Edwards, the other major Democratic nominee competing against Clinton, to tread lightly but the two are pressing their case, arguing mostly that the country needs a sea change.
"I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not," Obama told the Reno Gazette-Journal's editorial board this week.
But attacking the Clinton legacy can be tricky business. In New Hampshire exit polls, 49 percent of Democrats had a strongly favorable opinion of Bill Clinton, and a majority of them voted for his wife. E-mail to a friend
CNN's Mike Roselli contributed to this report
All About Bill Clinton • Hillary Clinton • Barack Obama


text:
Neo Classic Youth 7-Piece Bedroom Set with Chest, Nightstand, Dresser and Mirror
Click to change image.
Pick-up from Value City Furniture - Falls Church on or after Thursday, September 26th
Get it how and when you want it. Preferred scheduling and delivery costs available at checkout.
- Prep and assembly of your furniture. Except on "Ready to Assemble" merchandise.
- Professional set-up and placement in your home.
- In-home service for repair or replacement of defective items for one year.
- Free shipping to local stores. Option selected at checkout.
- Convenient pick-up times.
- Ability to designate a friend or family member to pick up for you.
New Again. The simple, sturdy lines and dark wood of Louis Philippe-style furnishings are brought to bear in the Neo Classic Cherry collection ... see more
Neo Classic Dresser and Mirror$299.00
Dimensions: Width: 59 '' Height: 76 '' Depth: 18 ''
Neo Classic Youth Bed$159.98
Dimensions: Width: 42 '' Height: 47 '' Depth: 87 ''
Neo Classic Nightstand$199.00
Dimensions: Width: 26 '' Height: 27 '' Depth: 16 ''
Neo Classic 5-Drawer Chest$329.00
Dimensions: Width: 33 '' Height: 48 '' Depth: 18 ''
Timeless mirror is crowned with elegant, all-wood moulding.
The sleigh bed is made more lovely with four antiqued metal decorative medallions.
Classically antiqued drop-bail hardware enhances the traditional Louis Philippe styling.


text:
Locked vs Unlocked
IMHO most uses wouldn't know the difference between a Locked Phone and an unlocked one apart from the network branding.
I have both an Android (HTC Desire, unlocked, personal) and an iPhone (4g, locked, company). I have less than 10 apps installed in total and only one of those is one that I have paid for.
The app that gets most use?
Yell.com on the iPhone that seems to work pretty well. Uses the GPS location pretty well.
Yet I've seen people with dozens & dozens of apps installed.
When asked do thay use it?
Nope. Don't know how to delete it though
Which makes calls better?
I'm afraid to say, the iPhone. Side by side and on the same network the iPhone wins hands down. But hey, what is one user's experience.
The iPhone is also smother in operation than the Desire.
Locked vs unlocked?
It don't mean a lot to most people.
Off down the boozer for a pint of Fullers.


text:
NFL Player's Union Files Grievance Over New National Anthem Policy
The NFL Players Association has filed a grievance against the NFL's new national anthem policy that league officials hoped would put an end to the public backlash resulting from players taking a knee during The Star-Spangled Banner.
The NFLPA released a statement saying the policy, which allows players to remain in the locker room during the national anthem but requires all players and staff members who remain on the sidelines to stand, "is inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement and infringes on player rights."
"Our union filed its non-injury grievance today on behalf of all players challenging the NFL's recently imposed anthem policy. The union's claim is that this new policy, imposed by the NFL's governing body without consultation with the NFLPA, is inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement and infringes on player rights."
The NFLPA Executive Committee is hoping to avoid litigation and said the NFL has agreed to "confidential discussions" to come up with a solution that can put an end to the controversy which has embroiled the league since 2016.
"In advance of our filing today, we proposed to the NFL to begin confidential discussions with the NFLPA Executive Committee to find a solution to this issue instead of immediately proceeding with litigation. The NFL has agreed to proceed with those discussions and we look forward to starting them soon."
Photo: Getty Images


text:
Mass Effect 3 (Xbox 360) review
"Fans have been railing on BioWare for phasing out certain elements the side quests are virtually nonexistent at this point, and dialog options are more limited as Shepard speaks quite a bit on his own yet in my mind, Mass Effect 3 is where all of the things that I truly love about this series come together."
Freelance review by Mike Suskie (March 14, 2012)
Mike Suskie is a freelance writer who has contributed to GamesRadar and has a blog. He can usually be found on Twitter at @MikeSuskie.
More Reviews by Mike Suskie [+]
If you enjoyed this Mass Effect 3 review, you're encouraged to discuss it with the author and with other members of the site's community. If you don't already have an HonestGamers account, you can sign up for one in a snap. Thank you for reading!
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text:
Workshop Your Next Film Project with "Sessions"/
Now accepting submissions for a new 6 month workshop called "Sessions".
This workshop will primarily focus on developing producers, directors, and actors.
The groups will spend three months producing each other's films in a workshopping environment, and then three months producing their own film based on the feedback from the prior workshopping process. Additionally there will be a four-part lecture series consisting of guest lecturers who are members of the Film Community.
We will be selecting 5 groups to participate in this workshop series. Each group will consist of one director, two actors, and one producer. Each group will submit a short script or a section of a feature that they feel is compelling enough to stand alone.
The cost of submission is $20 per group.
The submission period will begin November 1st and run through December 15th with the chosen groups announced the first week in January and the workshop kicking off in mid-January running through mid-June.
COSTS: If chosen, the cost of this six month workshop series is $480 per group (or $120 per person), which breaks down to $20/person/per month. This fee is due in full at the time of selection.
ADDITIONAL BENEFIT: All four participants in each group will receive a Creative Conference pass from the Atlanta Film Festival to participate in a panel discussion at the festival about the process and to help recruit additional cast and crew. These passes will allow each group to attend the Creative Conference in full, as well as other networking events during the festival.
The workshop participants will meet four times a month for the first two to three months for lectures, screenings, and talk backs, and then once a month during the final three months to discuss production issues and view rough cuts, with a red carpet premiere screening of the final work in June.
There will be an informational meeting on November 19th at Manual's Tavern during Atlanta Film Festival's Eat, Drink and B-Indie to explain the process in full and answer any questions relating to this workshop series run by Nick Hiltgen, who successfully ran the Sessions workshops at PushPush Theater.
Interested parties may submit using this form.
Submission fees may be paid through Eventbrite.
The Sessions Workshop, run by the Atlanta Film Festival, is designed to encourage the growth and development of established artists within the Atlanta film community. Our mission is to serve as an incubator for local filmmakers by providing a forum within which they can develop their skills through experimentation and rigorous peer-to-peer critique.


text:
It's no secret that our policy makers are scrambling to figure out how to slow down the massive growth of our national debt, which at the time of writing clocked in at $16.25 trillion and counting.
If you ask Republicans how they would balance the budget the answer is easy: Cut spending in every corner of big government – everywhere except defense.
But Tom Coburn, the Republican senator from Oklahoma, sees things a little differently from his colleagues on the right. He thinks the Department of Defense could save at least $67.9 billion over a decade by making cuts to DOD expenses that actually have very little to do with defense.
Think beef jerky. And red balloons. And peace through fish. Yes, fish.
On Thursday, Coburn released a report titled "The Department of Everything," which looks at the "non-defense" spending that he says could save taxpayer dollars and reduce our deficit "without cutting any Army brigade combat teams, Navy combat ships, or Air Force fighter squadrons."
The oversight report found $6 billion that went to non-military research and development, $15.2 billion went to education, $700 million went to alternative energy, $9 billion to grocery stores, and $37 billion to overhead, support and supply services.
But the strangest findings of the report come from the Pentagon's expenses in research and development.
"The federal government will spend about $138.9 billion on research and development in 2012," the report states. "The Department of Defense (DOD) will spend nearly $73 billion, which is more than the combined total of every other federal agency and department."
Coburn isn't convinced that we're spending our money wisely, and after taking a look at the report, we aren't either.
Here's a look at some of the kookier places we're sending our funds.
'Koo' Use of Slang in Twitter Messages Reveals 'Suttin'
The Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Office of Naval Research funded an analysis of 380,000 tweets by 9,500 Twitter users in March 2010. Using the GPS locations of the tweets, researchers at the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science looked at regional slang and dialects.
Here is what they found:
"Postings on Twitter reflect some well-known regionalisms, such as Southerners' 'y'all,' and Pittsburghers' 'yinz,' and the usual regional divides in references to soda, pop and Coke," according to the study. "In northern California, something that's cool is 'koo' in tweets, while in southern California, it's 'coo.' In many cities, something is 'sumthin,' but tweets in New York City favor 'suttin.' While many of us might complain in tweets of being 'very' tired, people in northern California tend to be 'hella' tired."
Coburn argues in his report that although this information may be interesting to linguists, the study of slang and dialect by the Pentagon is a waste of taxpayer dollars.
Pentagon Researchers Study Fish to Determine if Ignorance Can Save Democracy
Yes, you read that right. Researchers at the Pentagon and Princeton are studying the ignorance of fish in order to save our highly polarized nation.
The study looked at the color preferences of golden shiner fish to determine whether animals with "no prior knowledge or strong feelings on a situation's outcome" will side with the majority or minority opinion.
They trained fish to swim towards a blue target while a "strongly 'opinionated' minority group" "driven by a natural attraction to the color yellow."
The results found that the minority group won when uninformed individuals were not present, but lost when untrained fish added to the experiment sided more consistently with the trained majority. In other words, undecided voters are more likely to be swayed by the majority opinion of their community than a more outspoken minority.
In bold-faced type, Coburn writes:
"How is this study comparing fish to democracy and politics possibly linked to the defense of this nation? How can this study be considered as necessary to help our military fight and win the nation's wars?"
Pentagon Raids Weapons Program to Develop Beef Jerky Roll-ups
The Foreign Comparative Testing program is cooking up a new brand of beef jerky that "will shock and awe your taste buds," Coburn writes.
The FCT has spent over $1.5 million on its jerky which the Department of Defense describes as "a meat roll-up that can be consumed as a savory snack or used as a filling for a shelf stable sandwich."
This is all well and good, but the Oklahoman points out that the FCT's funding is supposed to go towards testing weapons and technologies for our soldiers.
DOD Hunts Ten Red Balloons
Playing off of the 1982 Nena song, "99 Red Balloons," the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency hosted a Red Balloon Challenge, a techno-treasure hunt during which participating teams explored "how the Internet and social networking can be used to solve a distributed, time-critical, geo-location problem."
DARPA awarded $40,000 to the first team to find one of 10 red balloons hidden across the country.
The English version of the song is about two children who release 99 red balloons into the air, sending governments into red alert and triggering a nuclear war.
In a statement, Coburn said:
"I believe in peace through strength but we cannot be strong militarily unless we are strong economically. And we cannot be strong economically if we treat politically-sensitive areas of the budget as sacrosanct. At a time when our own military leaders are calling our debt our greatest national security threat we need to look at every area of the budget for potential savings. No part of the budget can be taken off the table. Achieving peace through strength, and getting our debt under control, must involve refocusing the Pentagon on its core mission."
According to Coburn's 73 page report, other areas of research and development include robots as playmates for children, the color of the first bird's feathers, and a mobile app to tell users when to take their next coffee break.
Read the full report here.


text: Rio de Janeiro the state is, of course, home to one of the most popular destinations in all of Brazil. But if you ever get tired of the hustle and glitz of Rio, consider trekking outside of the metropolitan area. From mountain climbing at Itatiaia to exploring the islands of the Green Coast, you won't be wanting for action. The Lakes Region is home to smaller, sophisticated coastal cities such as Búzios, if you love the urban feel but would like to get away from the tourism of Rio.


text:
Manhunt 2 was supposed to be the return of one of the more violent franchises in gaming history. The original was already controversial, but when the sequel was banned in multiple places and then was slapped with an AO rating things were looking bad. When Sony and Nintendo reiterated their stance against releasing AO games on their systems, Manhunt 2 looked dead on arrival. Now Rockstar was responded: the game is shelved while the company works out its next move.
"Take-Two Interactive Software has temporarily suspended plans to distribute Manhunt 2 for the Wii or PlayStation platforms while it reviews its options with regard to the recent decisions made by the British Board of Film Classification and Entertainment Software Rating Board. We continue to stand behind this extraordinary game. We believe in freedom of creative expression, as well as responsible marketing, both of which are essential to our business of making great entertainment," a representative told Gamespot, but it's unclear what that will mean.
The most likely scenario involves the game being reedited in an effort to achieve the commercially viable Mature rating, but I'm holding out in hope of a PC release of the full unedited version of the game. If nothing else, I'm curious as to what was so bad about the game to warrant this level of attention, when so many other games already have nearly unspeakable imagery.
We'll continue following this story.


text:
Subscribe To Could The First Ant-Man Trailer Be On The Way Soon? Updates
I've already subscribed
Last summer at San Diego Comic Con, director Edgar Wright and Marvel Studios provided a very special treat for the crowds packed into Hall H: the first ever look at Ant-Man. A month prior to the convention Wright had announced that they had shot some test footage for the upcoming superhero movie - which has since been confirmed with a November 6, 2015 release date - and that's what was shown to the geek audience. As I noted in my recap, not all of the effects shots had been completed, and missing gaps were filled with storyboards and pre-visulization material - but has the footage since been finished as the movie's first teaser trailer?
A YouTube user recently uploaded the Ant-Man footage that was shown by Edgar Wright during a presentation in London called The Best of BUG, and while the footage itself is the exact same as what was shown to fans at San Diego Comic Con, one thing that struck me about it was how improved the effects were. In the scene, Ant-Man is shown hiding out in a grate waiting for his chance to attack two armed guards that are protecting an elevator. When shown at SDCC, the shot of the hero jumping down to the floor from his perch was very rough, but in the bootlegged footage it appears to be 100% complete. It's entirely possible that Wright has spent the last few months working on the footage and getting it prepared to be officially released.
If this is the case, the big remaining question becomes, "When?" All logic points to early May, when Shane Black's Iron Man 3 arrives in theaters and introduces the world to Marvel Studios Phase Two. But would the studios be up for debuting a trailer for a movie that's still more than two years away? Considering that Wright has been attached to make Ant-Man since 2006 and has kept fans waiting this long, I think it's only fair that we get our first look sooner rather than later.


text:
"Thanks for
all your
advice on
the 'HHO Super Pack' Website. I
able to
get the 16 extra MPG
that you
achieved, but
I did get an extra 6 MPG in my diesel
which is
impressive, considering I'm not a mechanic. My truck was getting 7 MPG before HHO, now im getting 13 MPG total."
Click Here To Find
Out A Little More
I've been working as a general mechanic since
1983 and although I'm not a specialist in any field, I know quite a lot about how vehicles work. I may not be a scientist or physics professor, but I do know that if you increase cylinder pressure or flame speed in an engine.... it will increase gas mileage.
Since I began my mechanics career
all those years ago, I have always wondered why other technologies seem to advance rapidly, while cars are still getting the same crappy MPG they did 40 years ago. I've seen hundreds of fuel saving devices hit the market, and 99% of them have been total scams. To make things worse, if one of them happens to work.... it suddenly disappears from the market, never to be seen again.
Back when gas prices hit $4.50
per gallon, I got angry and put a lot of time into researching "water
for gas" info (also called HHO
Technology) while desperatly looking for ways to save on fuel
costs. But when gas prices suddenly dropped, I almost decided to put my
research on the backburner.
My wife Karen convinced me to go ahead with it by explaining that virtually no one is betting gas prices will stay low,
so I continued with more research on these "Do-It-Yourself" water
hybrid systems. HHO conversion plans basically show you how to build
and install a small device into your vehicle called an HHO Generator. These systems use
electricity to release hydrogen based gas from water called "HHO". The
HHO gas is then directed into your vehicle's air intake system.
A few weeks ago I sent an email to my subscribers advising them on which system to use....and in the next few
moments, I can hopefully advise
you on the same!
Here's The Problem...
See, nowadays, trying to save money on gas is even more
difficult and confusing than it
used to be. There are so many
products on the market to choose
from and unless you have the
time and money to test them out,
you're basically going to go
round in circles....and
potentially lose a lot of
And this is the exact reason why last month, (after continually being asked to do so
by subscribers!) I decided to test 14 of the most popular "Water Fuel" conversion guides to
see which ones actually work!
What Happened...
The truth was, most were total rubbish and a few could even
be described as 'scams'. In
fact, out of the 14 that I
tested, only two actually worked to improve my car's gas mileage. In
fact, one device in particular worked SO well, I
managed to make an extra $650 last week installing these kits from my garage.
Here's an overview of both...
and make sure you read my
conclusion at the end...
I had already read good
things about HHOSuperPack in Popular Science magazine, and after I downloaded
the package from the product delivery page, I kinda realised why....
This package includes 12 different HHO Generator designs, 18
Step-by-Step instructional videos, HHO Enhancer plans and much more.
With over 20 eBooks, it is by
far the BEST set of
HHO conversion plans on the market today.
I decided to install the 11 Plate Dry Cell in my '07 Nissan Xterra. It took me around 4 hours to build the device, and half an hour to install the system in my vehicle. I found everything needed to build it at my local hardware store. The parts were fairly cheap at around $75 total.
The device built worked very well, increasing my gas mileage by almost 65% over the two weeks following the installation. Specifically, gas mileage improved from 21 MPG to 37 MPG. At current gas prices I am now saving over $950 per year with my new HHO system. I can and will tell
you is this: It works!
'HHO Super Pack' is a great product... the best out of the 14 HHO products I tested and I highly
recommend it.
Click Here To Find Out A
Little More
...and you can see my
conclusions below...
This design was a
little more difficult to build. A table saw was require to build this
HHO generator and the parts were quite expensive at $155 total. I'm not much of a carpenter so I had a hard time cutting the plexi-glass to fit properly, although if you have experience using a table saw it should be fairly easy.
I removed the previous
system from my Nissan and installed the Gas4Free system in its place.
As expected, the system caused my "check engine" light to come on, so I
implemented a few extra techniques that I learned from the
HHOSuperPack manuals to deal with this issue.
I managed to gain 7 extra MPG with this device, and once again I noticed improvements in torque, better acceleration, throttle response, smoother gear shifts and lower emissions, although the performance improvements were slightly less than they had been during the previous installation. Overall, it's a good design
Gas4Free does work but I'd advise you to read my conclusion
below before taking action.
Gas4Free has stopped offering customer support for their product. If
you decide to purchase this product, be aware that YOU WILL NOT receive
any support at all.
get me wrong, the Gas4Free system DOES work... although you will have to spend a little extra time trying to build the device and implement everything. Even though I have oodles of experience working with vehicles, the real reason why I was able to get 16 extra MPG was because I used the extra techniques and information provided in the HHOSuperPack ebooks and instruction videos.
that's it. If you could use an extra $75-$100 per month
(who can't?), and you have a few hours to spare this weekend, then go ahead and give HHOSuperPack shot.
Check out the HHOSuperPack - Click here.


text:
Unless something happens to change it, Northorp Grumman will �permanently terminate the employment� of 89 employees at the Cherry Point's Tactical Training Range.
Unless something happens to change it, Northorp Grumman will �permanently terminate the employment� of 89 employees at the Cherry Point's Tactical Training Range.
Northrop Grumman Technical Services Inc. warned in a May 24 letter to the North Carolina Department of Commerce that �based on the best information to the company at this time,� it plans terminations at the facility at 6th Avenue, MCAS Cherry Point.�
In the certified letter received Thursday by the Governor's Rapid Response Team Manager Russell Doles, Northrop Grumman Program Director Wes Jarmulowicz said, �Specifically, we anticipate that approximately 89 employees at the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point Combined Tactical Training Range Contract will experience a permanent employment loss beginning on or about July 22, 2013.�
�The company does not recognize 'bumping rights' that would allow an employee to displace another employee based on seniority,� Jarmulowicz said, calling the terminations part of �organizational restructuring.�
N.C. Department of Commerce's Assistant Secretary Roger Shackleford also received a �WARN Notice� required in the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act advising him of layoffs with the letter attached.
Sources said the range will still be operating and it is unclear whether or not another company has the contract for part of the activities.
A copy of the letter was also sent to state and regional workforce development personnel including those at Eastern Carolina Workforce Development Board.
N.C. Department of Commerce WARN Notices from companies in April advised the state of 459 layoffs and so far for May of 1,252 impending job losses. They include the 89 in Craven County at Northrop Grumman and 1,060 at House of Raeford Farms Inc. in Hoke County and 103 in Gaston County with the permanent closure of BCP Home Inc.
Sue Book can be reached at 252-635-5665 or email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter@SueJBook.


text:
Event: 400mH
Height: 6-2
Weight: 165
Born: March 22, 1984 in Detroit, Mi.
Current Residence: North Hollywood, Calif.
High School: Mumford HS (Detroit, Mi)
College: South Carolina 06
Coach: John Smith
Agent: Emanuel Hudson
Club: adidas
Career Highlights: 2003 USA Junior 110m & 400m hurdles champion; Three-time 2003 Junior Pan Am Games gold medalist (110mH, 400mH, 4 x 400m); 2003 SEC Outdoor Freshman of the Year; 2003 SEC Outdoor 400m Hurdles Champion; 2002 World Junior 4 x 400m champion; 2002 World Junior Championships 400m hurdles silver medalist
Ferguson enjoyed his finest season in 2007, which featured a best-ever fourth place finish at the USA Outdoor Championships, and the first Track & Field News world ranking (#7) of his career. His win at the 2007 adidas Track Classic in Carson, Calif., lowered his personal best time in the 400m hurdles to 48.15 seconds. In 2005, Ferguson had a strong season as an elite athlete following a stellar career in the junior ranks. His 2005 campaign was highlighted by a personal best (48.51) at the adidas track Classic and a sixth-place finish at the USA Outdoor Championships. In 2003, Ferguson set a Pan American Junior Championships record in winning the men's 110m at the Barbados National Stadium in Waterford, St. Michael in a time of 13.60 seconds. Ferguson continued his winning streak after striking gold in the 400m hurdles with a time of 50.07 seconds. The Detroit, Mich., native ran the third leg on the 4x400m relay team that set a Pan American Junior Championships record of 3:02.88. At the 2003 USA Junior Championships, Ferguson won the 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles in a single day. The South Carolina freshman first won the high hurdles in a time of 13.60. Exactly three hours later, Ferguson won the 400m hurdles in an even more impressive performance. The Southeastern Conference champion dominated the field before jogging across the finish line in 50.70 seconds – more than a full second ahead of second-place Adrian Walker of Illinois (51.73). Ferguson is the high school state record holder in the indoor 60m hurdles (7.75), 110m hurdles (13.61), the 300m hurdles (35.90) and with the 4x400m relay (3:13.70). Ferguson was ranked fourth nationally all-time in the college hurdles as a high schooler (13.83). He and his girl friend Allyson Felix team up with 400m Olympic bronze medalist David Neville and his wife Arial in a bowling league in Santa Clarita, Calif., on a team called 'The Four By Four."
29th at Olympic Trials quarter-finals (53.13)
2007:4th at USA Outdoors (48.65)…1st at adidas Track Classic (48.15PR)…2nd in Reebok Grand Prix (48.99)…2nd at Athens GP (48.16)…ranked #7 in world, #5 U.S. by T&FN…best of 48.15.
2006: 7th at AT&T USA Outdoors (50.76)…7th at adidas Classic (50.26)…8th at Reebok Grand Prix (50.20)…4th at London Grand Prix (48.90)…1st at Santo Domingo (48.80)…#5 in U.S. at 400m hurdles…best of 48.15.
2005: 6th at USA Outdoor Championships (49.48)1st at Mt SAC (49.07)1st at Forte-de-France (48.69)2nd at adidas Track Classic (48.51PR)3rd at Thales (49.68)4th at Paris (48.84)7th at Roma (48.80)ranked #5 in the U.S. by T&FNbest of 48.51.
2004: did not compete
2003: Junior Pan Am 110mH, 400mH, and 4 x 400m champion (13.60, 50.07, 3:02.88)USA Outdoor Junior 110mH and 400mH Champion (13.60, 50.70)SEC 400mH and 4 x 400m Champion (48.79, 3:04.66)2nd in 110mH at SEC Championships (13.53)8th in 60mH at NCAA Indoor Championships (7.75)3rd in 4 x 400m at NCAA Championships (3:05.10)1st at 55mH and 400m at SEC Indoor Championships (7.30, 47.76)1st in 400mH and 2nd in 110mH at Penn Relays (49.63, 13.86)ranked #6 in the U.S. in 400mHbests of 13.53 in 100mH and 48.78 in 400mH.
2002: World Junior 4 x 400m champion (3:03.71)2nd in 400mH at World Junior Championships (49.38)5th in 100mH at World Junior Championships (13.91)USA Junior Olympic 110mH champion and 400mH runner-up ( 13.82,49.83)best of 13.89w in 110mH and 49.38 in 400mH.


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More than just about any other major American filmmaker working today, writer-director Wes Anderson doesn't so much make movies as create worlds. Each of his films takes place in its own strange sovereignty, whether the Texas prep school of "Rushmore," the train running through India in "The Darjeeling Limited" or the island hideaway for a pair of adolescent lovers in "Moonrise Kingdom."
His latest, "The Grand Budapest Hotel," is set in the fictional country of Zubrowka. Though the story skips through multiple time periods, the main action is set in the 1930s against the backdrop of impending war, as a meticulous yet rambunctious concierge known as Monsieur Gustav H. (Ralph Fiennes) takes on a young refugee named Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori) as lobby boy and protégé. The cast also features F. Murray Abraham as an older Moustafa, Tom Wilkinson and Jude Law as an author at different ages and an impressive ensemble including Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Owen Wilson, Saoirse Ronan, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Mathieu Amalric and Léa Seydoux.
Along the way there is a contested inheritance, a missing painting, a brief imprisonment, a few separate chases, a secret society and the impending menace of an invading army, giving the film an air at times of a farcical caper. Fiennes in particular conjures a surprising spirit of screwball grace.
GRAPHIC: Wes Anderson's recurring cast
The film, which opens March 7 in Los Angeles, has a rather complicated framing structure that creates a story within a story within a story within a story. (Anderson, a two-time Oscar nominee for screenwriting, shares story credit with his friend, the artist Hugo Guinness.) The film is, among other concerns, about mentorship, the end of eras and how the traumas of youth can be carried forward through adulthood. Also, pastries.
Themes of mortality, the fragility of romance and the importance of approaching life with a sense of adventure have also pulsed through Anderson's previous films — frequently seen through the prism of naive and then pained youth. The films are swathed in his bedrock style of deadpan comedy and aching melancholy within meticulously constructed visuals. Anderson and his longtime cinematographer Robert Yeoman shot "Budapest" on 35-millimeter film and switched aspect ratios to signal changes in time periods. For Anderson, each film is "starting from scratch," meant as a renewed exploration both for him as a filmmaker and audiences too.
"To me each one is just a completely new ball of wax, if I'm using that expression properly. I'm not really using that expression properly. But anyway, you get the idea," said Anderson recently by phone from his home in New York.
"I just don't know what doesn't keep them distinctive," he added. "I know often people see my movies linked to each other, which I totally understand why they see that, but for me I'm just doing a completely different story. I make no effort to make them anything like each other. I just do 'em the way I like to do 'em."
The film, shot in Germany, recently premiered as the opening-night film of the Berlin International Film Festival. Variety declared it "Anderson's most ambitious and deeply felt movie to date" while the Village Voice derided it as little more than "a meticulously appointed dollhouse." Anderson, 44, has become an unlikely lightning rod and a polarizing figure, both revered and derided (and sometimes a bit of both at once).
REVIEW: Wes Anderson makes 'Grand Budapest' a four-star delight
"I don't want to try to guess why people don't respond to his work, but some people don't. One theory might be that his works can be very confusing to people who expect movies to be one way," said Matt Zoller Seitz, author of the recently published "The Wes Anderson Collection," a career survey including extended interviews with the filmmaker covering all his previous work.
"His movies look like they're going to be very light, superficial sort of concoctions, but they often contain an element of melancholy or darkness or even perversity. I can't think of another director who has quite done it in that way," Seitz added. "It's like if Luis Buñuel adapted Charlie Brown it might look like Wes Anderson."
Anderson's cultural impact in many ways overmatches his box office returns. (Though "Moonrise Kingdom" did reach a wider audience than his prior few pictures, becoming his most successful film behind only "The Royal Tenenbaums.") Walk through the youth-oriented neighborhoods of most any American city and you will find people who look to have stepped from one of Anderson's films. The recent move toward the artisanal and handcrafted could even be seen as in line with his aesthetic.
The sensibility lends itself toward the specific. An embroidered handkerchief seen briefly as a title card in "Budapest" is credited to Olympia Le-Tan, the designer best known for her evening bags made to look like novels, and there are additional credits for makers of chocolate, porcelain, paintings and other assorted ephemera. Likely few filmmakers could inspire an online list of "the most overlooked costumes" in their films, as was recently done of Anderson. In the wrong hands or a less watchful and studied eye, it all easily tips over into the type of twee fussiness satirized in the "Portlandia" sketch "Put A Bird On It." Both "Saturday Night Live" and Conan O'Brien have created Anderson-inspired parody films.
PHOTOS: Scenes from 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'
As for Anderson himself, he has no time for haters. Texas born with an air of old-world politeness about him, he has a typically implacable demeanor that breaks just a bit at a question as to why some people find his work annoying.
"What is there to say? Would I want to modify my work based on somebody telling me they're annoyed by it? It would be ludicrous, I think," he said. "You know, these movies are my life."
Anderson has long had an eye for unknown young talent, giving Jason Schwartzman his breakthrough role as the star of "Rushmore" and centering "Moonrise Kingdom" around untested young performers Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman. Through their fresh eyes, both as characters and performers, Anderson frequently captures an air of innocence that makes his films seem childlike even as they aren't for kids. "Budapest" is rated R, as have been all his films save "Moonrise" and the animated Roald Dahl adaptation "The Fantastic Mr. Fox."
The posters for "Grand Budapest" included the line "introducing Tony Revolori," and that is a bit of flourish worthy of the character of Gustav H. himself. The young actor, now 17 but 16 when the film was shot, is from Anaheim and has been acting since age 2, though this is by far his biggest film and the first time he has adopted the stage name of Revolori. (It is a family name from his father's mother's side.)
Revolori was already an Anderson fan before the project came up. Though Anderson has been recently referencing the influence of the Austrian author Stefan Zweig, particularly regarding the story-in-story structure of his "Hotel," the filmmaker never mentioned it to the actor, instead giving him the Ernst Lubitsch films "The Shop Around the Corner" and "To Be Or Not to Be" to get some sense for the setting and comic tone. On-set Anderson shot take after take, as is his style, to get just what he wanted.
BEST MOVIES OF 2013: Turan | Sharkey | Olsen
"He tweaks you bit by bit by bit while still letting you feel alive in the world. He gets you to that point without you even noticing it," noted Revolori of finding the just-so perfection of what he called Anderson's "musical" style. "When you're finally there you don't even realize it."
Saoirse Ronan, who plays Zero's love interest, the young pastry maker Agatha, was likewise already an Anderson fan when the project came to her. For her a source of inspiration was the film's elaborate hotel lobby set, created by production designer Adam Stockhausen, a previous Anderson collaborator and recen Oscar nominee for his work on "12 Years a Slave," in a former department store in the storybook German town of Görlitz, near the border with Poland and the Czech Republic.
"I remember when I was on set the first time it was so surreal because it feels very Wes Anderson," said Ronan. "It doesn't feel like any other experience you've ever had on a set before."
Where both Revolori and Ronan were entering Anderson's world for the first time, for Schwartzman, who has collaborated with Anderson on numerous projects since "Rushmore," there was a feeling of both the familiar and continually pushing onward.
"Wes, his whole way of working, and this is what I've noticed from when I first met him, he gets so much joy out of the work," said Schwartzman. "That is like his favorite thing to do, is to work."
For Anderson, the wide-eyed excitement of seeing his young charges experience things for the first time, both in shooting and even in promoting the films, amplifies his enthusiasm too. For all the constructed artifice of his created worlds, Anderson said he wants the emotions of the performers to come through unalloyed, "to make it feel authentic, make the most realistic sounding version of whatever it is I've done. And that's really all I'm ever looking for. I'm not looking for them to be like each other or like something else I've done, I just want them to bring it to life and make it feel real."
PHOTOS: Faces to watch 2014 | Movies
ENVELOPE: The latest awards buzz
DOCUMENTARIES: 10 best of 2013, and a new crop in 2014


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Michael Biega has four goals and four assists in the last five games (photo courtesy Steve Babineau).
HANOVER, N.H.—Andrew Owsiak scored 97 seconds into overtime to clinch a 2-1 win for No. 18 Dartmouth Saturday night at Thompson Arena, keeping the Big Green alive in its ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinal series against the Harvard men's hockey team.
Owsiak's goal countered Michael Biega's third-period, game-tying tally, snapped Harvard's six-game win streak and spoiled a 25-save performance by Ryan Carroll for the 10th-seeded Crimson (12-20-1). James Mello made 25 saves for the third-seeded Big Green (17-11-3). The teams will meet in a deciding third game Sunday at 4 p.m.
Dartmouth's Adam Estoclet scored the only goal of the first two periods, but Michael Biega netted the equalizer at 11:12 of the third. Playing with a man advantage, Chris Huxley fired a shot from the point, and Alex Killorn tipped it off the right post. Biega hopped on the rebound, waited for his chance and beat Mello low.
The Crimson got off to the better start in overtime, with Killorn ripping a wrist shot over the crossbar on the first shift and Conor Morrison logging the first shot of the overtime. Mello covered the rebound, and Dartmouth won the ensuing faceoff. Owsiak rushed up ice and sent a shot toward net from wide on the right side. The puck hit a skate and found the top right corner.
Dartmouth owned a 27-25 shots edge and was scoreless on five power plays. Harvard was 1 for 4.
Harvard registered five of the game's first seven shots and threatened on the power play, when Killorn's redirection of a Huxley shot forced a glove save and a defender blocked Daniel Moriarty's shot from right in front. Later in the period, Mello got a blocker on Marshall Everson's shot from a two-on-one rush.
Dartmouth failed to score on its lone power play of the frame, with Carroll saving Connor Goggin's point shot through traffic. Estoclet would later strike at even strength, putting a wrist shot from the right circle into the top left corner at 13:56. Each team logged nine first-period shots.
Neither team found the back of the net in the second period. Harvard's best chance came nearly seven minutes into the frame. Mello stopped Luke Greiner after a feed from Danny Fick and then got in front of Moriarty's rebound attempt at the left post. Carroll, meanwhile, made 11 second-period saves as the Big Green held an 11-9 shots advantage in the frame.
Dartmouth got off to a strong start in the third period, notching the first five shots of the frame. Carroll held the Big Green at bay, and the Crimson outshot the Big Green, 6-1, over the rest of regulation.


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Mammoth or Alpha Potentiometer
Reverse Log (C)
16mm Single Gang
Solder Lug
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What does the "K" stand for?
250,000 ohms = 250 Kilo ohms = 0.250 Mega ohms
The standard measurement of resistance is ohms, which is symbolized either with the Greek letter Omega, Ω, or by the letter "E." stands for kilo, which means 1000 or alternatively and simply written as 10^3. So the on potentiometers represents 1000 ohms. You will also run across M.
M is the equivalent of 1000 kilos or 1,000,000 ohms, and can also be written as 10^6.
The letter before the value corresponds to the taper of the potentiometer. The taper is the relationship between the rotation of the potentiometer's shaft to the changing resistance.A - Audio Taper, also know as Logarithmic, or sometimes shortened to Log
An audio taper potentiometer increases slowly at first and then increases more quickly the further you turn it. An example of the relationship between an audio taper potentiometer's rotation and resistance, starting from the furthest left position and rotating towards the right, would be: a 1/4 turn would be ~ 5% of the total resistance, a 1/2 turn would be ~ 10% of the total, and then the rest of the rotation would be a rapid increase towards the total resistance of the potentiometer. To the human ear in order to hear twice the volume there needs to be an increase of ten times. This type of potentiometer is designed to match the human ears' logarithmic nature of hearing volume and provide a smoother transition from low volume to high volume when compared to a linear taper.B - Linear Taper
A linear taper potentiometer increases in a linear manner as you would expect (i.e., 1, 2, 3, 4) as you rotate the potentiometer to the right. This means if we start with the potentiometer in the utmost left hand position and rotate it rightward we would get a relationship as follows: a 1/4 turn is equivalent to a 1/4 of the total resistance, a 1/2 turn is equal to 1/2 the total resistance, and a full turn is equal to the total amount of resistance.
C- Reverse Audio Taper
A reverse audio taper potentiometer also increases logarithmically, but backwards compared to a regular audio taper. The resistance increases very quickly on this type of potentiometer until you reach the halfway point, from which it increases very slowly. A 1/4 turn on the potentiometer would be ~ 75% of the total resistance, a 1/2 of turn would ~ 95% of the total resistance, and a full turn would be the total resistance.
This is special type of potentiometer used for the tone circuit in Tube Screamer overdrives.


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First, though, a word about realism. On the one hand, in order for this to work, we have to pretend this whole exercise is taking place in a fantasyland where the people who run the NHL are actually open to fixing anything, as opposed to being an old boys' club too paralyzed by tradition and turf protection to make common-sense changes.
But on the other, we have to be at least somewhat realistic here. So before we get to the fixes, let's lay out a few key ground rules:
• We can't fire Gary Bettman. Two reasons for this one. First, nobody wants to read a "How to Fix the NHL" post that's three words long. And more importantly, Bettman is under contract through at least 2015, and the owners seem to love him. He's not going anywhere until he decides he wants to, and we may as well just accept that.
• No contracting teams. Proposals for improving the league always seem to end up involving contraction, based on the assumption that there are too many teams in bad markets watering down the talent level. But again, we have to defer to reality here. There is no chance that a league as focused on growth as the NHL is suddenly going to reverse course and start dropping teams. If anything, we should expect another round of expansion soon...
These articles are usually pretty good I'm in the middle of reading it and it is interesting.


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In the news
As Texas lawmakers on the House Committee on Public Health and the House Committee on Insurance meet to discuss state implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) today, a broad coalition of organizations working to implement the legislation are touting several provisions already in effect that are helping Texans gain access to affordable coverage and updating members on the additional benefits health reform will bring in 2014.
"Over six million Texans have been helped by the prevention coverage improvements in the Affordable Care Act, so there's no question health care reform is working in Texas," said Matt Glazer, Executive Director of Progress Texas.
Committee members have been charged with monitoring implementation of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act during the interim session. The joint hearing between the House Public Health and Insurance committees will be taking both invited and public testimony about the progress Texas has already made to implement some of the most popular provisions in the new law as well as the work that still needs to be done so that Texans can benefit from the additional provisions coming in 2014. Thousands of Texans across the state signed a petition in advance of the hearing, signaling their support for the Affordable Care Act. Families, business owners and other individuals affected by the law prepared testimony about the benefits of the ACA.
"Many states are creating health exchanges to deliver better value for consumers, and Texas should follow their lead," said TexPIRG Advocate Melissa Cubria, a member of the coalition.
Health exchanges are competitive marketplaces that can empower individuals and small businesses with better, more affordable options for coverage. Under the federal health reform law, each state has the opportunity to create a state exchange that meets the unique needs of the state's health care system. The exchange must be up and running in 2014. Texas lawmakers failed to pass legislation during the 82nd Legislative session and as a result, the state risks losing federal planning grants as well as the critical opportunity to design a Texas exchange.
According to Laura Guerra-Cardus, associate director of Children's Defense Fund, "The ACA's new competitive health insurance exchange will allow parents to cover even more of our kids through a private marketplace that's easier to use, offers coverage for the care kids actually need, and options parents and small businesses can afford. But that promise of better, more affordable care for Texas children only happens if Texas makes the right choices in implementing the ACA."
"The ACA is already delivering wins for our kids by blocking insurance companies from denying them coverage, helping 2.5 million young adults get the care they need through their parent's health plan and providing tax credits that are already making it easier for small businesses to cover families," Guerra-Cardus added.
ACA provisions already in effect and helping Texans right now:
- The Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan provides quality coverage for people with pre-existing conditions who have been uninsured for six months or longer. To date, over 4,000 Texans access coverage through the Federally funded program.
- Young adults can stay on their parent's policy until their 26th birthday, already covering 2.5 million Americans 19-25.
- More than 120 of Texas' largest employers—e.g., AT&T, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and Texas Instruments—have received over $425 million in federal support to cut make early retiree health coverage affordable.
- Insurers cannot deny coverage to a child based on the child's pre-existing condition.
- The Consumer Health Assistance Program (CHAP) at the Texas Department of Insurance has helped thousands of Texans looking for health coverage or needing help with health plan denials.
- Small Employer tax credits of up to 35 percent of a small employer's cost of coverage are available.
- Year-to-year health premium hikes now are subject to state and federal review to make sure they are reasonable.
- Health Plans must spend 80 to 85 cents of every premium dollar on health care. Employers and individuals will get rebates estimated at as much as $160 million starting in summer of 2012.
- Over 1.4 million Texans in Medicare got a check-up or preventive services with no deductible or co-pay.
- Over 103,000 Texans in Medicare got discounts worth $58.6 million on brand-name drugs in the Medicare Part D coverage gap (the "donut hole") from January to August 2011, an average savings of $565 per person.
- Medicare Advantage and Part D drug plans' prices dropped for the second year in a row.
What Texans Can Expect from Health Reform in 2014:
- Large-scale coverage solutions under the ACA are set to launch in January 2014:
- Uninsured Texans with incomes up to 4 times the poverty level ($88,400 for family of four) will be able to buy private insurance through a new health insurance exchange, with sliding-scale help for premiums and out-of-pocket costs and no state budget dollars required.
- Insurers will not be able to deny coverage to any individual or small business—nor charge them more based on health history, pre-existing conditions, group size, or kind of work they do. Small employers with 50 or fewer full-time workers will not have to provide coverage, and will not be subject to any penalties.
- Medicaid will cover U.S.-citizen adults up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level ($29,726/year for a family of four). Parents of kids on Texas Medicaid and other poor adults will qualify for coverage for the first time in 2014.
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Topic: Flip the Classroom with Adobe Presenter Video Creator!
Date and time: Thursday, 9th May, 2013 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM US/Pacific
Description: So you've been reading and hearing about flipped classrooms for quite some time, but not sure how implement it in your organization. Worry no more! Join Dr. Pooja Jaisingh as she takes you through an amazing journey of flipping the classroom with Adobe Presenter Video Creator. You will learn about the fundamental principles behind the flipped classroom, and how to easily migrate your lessons and lectures into online modules. You will also see a short demonstration on how to record video lectures in three simple steps using Presenter Video Creator which will equip you with the technology needs of the flipped classrooms.
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Certificate Program in Las Vegas, Oct 2nd, 2019