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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Best Practice Guide
Econsultancy's SEO Best Practice Guide contains everything you need to know about search engine optimization, whether you work for an in-house client-side team, independently or for an agency.
Built on the foundations of our previous, highly-renowned report, this document will help you understand search marketing like never before.
The SEO Best Practice Guide is invaluable for anybody working in digital marketing, looking to appoint an SEO agency or simply trying to secure better search engine rankings.
It has been created with the help of globally-esteemed SEO practitioners, in order to provide front-line insight and give you the edge in your natural search marketing strategy.
The guide will help both beginners and experts to plan, create, launch and optimize organic search campaigns and maximize their return on investment.
Topics covered
Inside the guide, you will find:
- Best practice success factors
- Key recommendations
- SEO tips for success
These sit across 12 main areas:
- The Fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization
- Guidelines and Compliance
- Changes in SEO Since the Last Report
- Benchmarking and Auditing
- Measurement and Reporting for SEO
- Audience Analysis and Keyphrase Selection
- Technical SEO
- On-Page Optimization
- Landing Page Optimization
- Link Strategy and Tactics
- Social and Online PR: The Influence on Search
- International SEO
The guide is also available as individual reports covering each of the above separate areas of search engine optimization, enabling you to quickly access the information you need to start improving your marketing efforts.
Contributing authors
This guide has been put together and updated with the assistance of leading agencies and practitioners working at the coal face of search engine optimization. They have kindly contributed their time and effort in producing this guide.
Contributors to the report include:
- Will Critchlow, Founder and CEO, Distilled
- Joe Friedlein, Founding Director, Browser Media
- Andrew Girdwood, Head of Media Technology, Cello Signal
- James Gurd, Owner and Lead Consultant, Digital Juggler
- Emily Mace, Head of SEO, Oban International
- Lisa Myers, CEO and Owner, Verve Search (with contributions from Sohai Siddique, SEO Consultant and Suhail Abood, Web Developer)
- Kelvin Newman, Strategy Director, Site Visibility
- Jeremy Spiller, Founder and MD, Fitz Digital
- Chris Evans, Director, Semetrical
Download a copy of the report to learn more.
A free sample is available for those who want more detail about what is in the report.
Table of contents
- 1. Introduction to Our Guides
- 2. The Fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization
- 3. Guidelines and Compliance
- 4. Changes in SEO Since the Last Report
- 5. Benchmarking and Auditing
- 6. Measurement and Reporting for SEO
- 7. Audience Analysis and Keyphrase Selection
- 8. Technical SEO
- 9. On-Page Optimization
- 10. Landing Page Optimization
- 11. Link Strategy and Tactics
- 12. Social and Online PR: The Influence on Search
- 13. International SEO
- 14. Acknowledgements
1. Introduction to Our Guides
- Key features of our guides
- Features of this guide
- About Econsultancy
2. The Fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization
- What is search engine optimization?
- Why search engine optimization?
- The evolution of search engine optimization
- Regional variations
- Understanding some of the 'language' and key concepts of SEO
- Understanding the structure of a SERP
- Organic results
- Other types of SERP
- SEO challenges
3. Guidelines and Compliance
- Best practice and what to avoid
- Understanding Google penalties
- Manual penalties
- Algorithmic penalties
- Site inclusion and reinclusion requests
4. Changes in SEO Since the Last Report
- Updates from the search engines
- Algorithm update: Payday Loans
- Algorithm update: Pirate
- Algorithm update: Pigeon
- Algorithm update: Mobilegeddon
- Algorithm update: Quality
- Algorithm update: Panda and Penguins
- RankBrain
- Interface updates
- Paid search results
- Knowledge Graph
- Real time
- Destinations – travel guides
- Authorship
- Updates from the SEO industry
- Data, data, data
- Legal
- Content
5. Benchmarking and Auditing
- Key elements
- Run an onsite SEO audit
- Check your site speed
- Run competitor analysis
- Link and domain popularity
- Other factors
- Acting on benchmarking and auditing
- Setting a realistic strategy
- Setting realistic goals
- Monitoring and measurement
6. Measurement and Reporting for SEO
- SEO measurement
- The role of web analytics
- Identifying goals, objectives and KPIs
- Defining data needs
- Ecommerce and non-ecommerce tracking
- Ensuring data is validated
- Metrics for SEO
- Using campaign tracking parameters
- SEO reporting
- Defining requirements
- Essential SEO reports
- Using segmentation
- Role of dashboards
- Custom reports
- Importance of goals and event tracking
- SEO analysis
- Importance of context
- Questioning data
- Role of voice-of-customer data
- Multi-channel funnels and attribution analysis
- Universal analytics and SEO
- Role of testing and optimization
- What can you test?
- Creating a testing plan
- Case study
- Known data anomalies for SEO
- (not provided)
- iOS search
- Tools of the trade
- Web analytics platforms
- Market analysis tools
- Website performance tools
- SEO performance tools
- Browser extensions
- Technical performance tools
- Voice-of-customer tools
- Page engagement tools
- AB and MVT testing tools
- Key dos and don'ts for SEO measurement and reporting
7. Audience Analysis and Keyphrase Selection
- Audience analysis
- The importance in timing for keyphrase use
- Understanding different types of keyphrases
- Grouping and categorizing keyphrases
- Keyphrase identification and selection
- Stage 1: Identifying main themes
- Stage 2: Explore potential keyphrases for each theme
- Stage 3: Determining priority
- Stage 4: Audience and keyphrase group selection
8. Technical SEO
- Why technical SEO is important
- Considerations when building a website
- Site architecture
- Categorization
- Use of sub-domains
- URL formats
- Using Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools)
- Sitemaps
- Telling the search engine about your sitemap
- URL parameter management
- The 'robots' meta tag
- The robot exclusion standard (robots.txt)
- Mod-rewrite and URL rewrite
- Use cases for URL rewrite
- URL Rewrite 2.0
- Canonicalization
- Why does canonicalization cause problems?
- Quick tips for canonicalization
- Pagination
- Website cannibalization
- Geo-targeting
- Crawling, server behaviour and response codes
- Viewing headers
- HTTP request headers
- User agent
- Accept-encoding (compression)
- Referrer
- HTTP response headers
- Response status codes
- HTTP compression
- ETag
- X-Robots-Tag
- Canonical URLs
- Vary HTTP header
- Web crawler detection
- URL discovery
- Links
- Sitemaps
- Toolbars and analytics
- Web crawling optimization
- Crawl budgets
- XML sitemaps
- Expired/deleted content
- Crawl optimization checklist
- Redirection
- Geographic redirection
- Language redirection
- Mobile/device redirection
- Site availability and speed
- Availability
- Site speed
- Optimizing site speed
- Server response time
- HTML size
- Page structure
- AJAX/client-side asynchronous technologies
- Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
- Site speed checklist
- Vertical technical SEO
- Image search
- News
- Video search
- Shopping search
- HTML markup
- Open Graph
- Twitter Card
- Language/hreflang
- Title and description tags
- Header tags
- Structured data
- Breadcrumbs
- Pagination
- Testing
- HTML 5 elements
- Domain migration and site redevelopment
- Domain migrations
- Site redevelopment
- Technical auditing for SEO
- Technical SEO monitoring
- Monitoring checklist
- Monitoring tools
9. On-Page Optimization
- Introduction
- The importance of targeting keywords
- Selecting keyphrases for optimization
- Page markup factors
- Page <titles>
- Content headings
- Body content
- Meta description
- Image optimization
- Rich snippets
- Social sharing
- Document level factors
- Keyphrase(s) within domain name
- Keywords in URLs
- Non-HTML document types
- Internal linking
- User-generated content
10. Landing Page Optimization
- Setting objectives
- Conversion strategy
- Macro conversions
- Measuring effectiveness
- Success factors
- Copywriting for SEO
- Different types of SEO landing pages
- Landing page as part of the existing structure
- Specific campaign landing pages
- Microsite (different domain)
- Optimizing and improving landing pages
- Key dos and don'ts
11. Link Strategy and Tactics
- Context
- What makes a good link?
- Earning links and the rise of content marketing
- Creating unique and valuable content
- Blogger outreach
- Guest blogging
- Directories
- Business partnerships
- Other marketing channels and link treatment
- Affiliate marketing
- Advertorial
- Manipulated links: identifying, cleaning and avoiding
- Why are manipulated links problematic?
- How to identify unnatural links
- Link tools to help with analysis
- Cleaning a backlink profile: link removal or disavowal?
- Future-proofing your link building strategy
12. Social and Online PR: The Influence on Search
- Changes in algorithms and the impact on the role of social and PR
- Google Panda update
- Google Penguin update
- The link schemes document update
- Online PR
- The role of the influencer
- Online PR distribution services
- Understanding the motivations of journalists and writers
- Key PR skills that support SEO
- Social media and SEO
- Why is social media relevant to SEO?
- What does this mean for SEO?
- Social leads to links
- Social content ranks in its own right
- On-page social signals
13. International SEO
- The global search engine market
- Getting started
- Auditing current international organic search status
- Auditing current international search activity
- Developing an internationally optimized web presence
- Crawlable international content
- Choosing a domain strategy
- Language considerations
- Language or country targeting?
- Translation techniques
- What pages to localize?
- On-page language and country targeting
- Hreflang tags
- Content-language meta tag
- Local search engine considerations
- Baidu
- Naver
- Yandex
- Off-page considerations
- Measuring success and ROI
14. Acknowledgements
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Best Practice Guide (9.88 MB PDF)
Reports included in this bundle
- SEO Best Practice: The Fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization
- SEO Best Practice: Guidelines and Compliance
- SEO Best Practice: Changes in SEO Since the Last Report
- SEO Best Practice: Benchmarking and Auditing
- SEO Best Practice: Measurement and Reporting for SEO
- SEO Best Practice: Audience Analysis and Keyphrase Selection
- SEO Best Practice: Technical SEO
- SEO Best Practice: On-Page Optimization
- SEO Best Practice: Landing Page Optimization
- SEO Best Practice: Link Strategy and Tactics
- SEO Best Practice: Social and Online PR - The Influence on Search
- SEO Best Practice: International SEO
Related Reports
Related Training


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Sunday, October 28, 2012, 9:00 A.M.
Jewish Community Center Staenberg Family Complex
2 Millstone Campus Drive
St. Louis, MO 63146
The program begins with a continental breakfast followed by a presentation by Eric Fusfield about "Global Anti-Semitism and the Demoralization of Israel." Fusfield, from Washington, D.C., has served as Deputy Director of the B'nai B'rith Center for Human Rights and Public Policy since 2007, and as Director of Legislative Affairs for B'nai B'rith International since 2003.
A dairy buffet lunch will be served when Karen Aroesty, Executive Director of the Anti-Defamation League of Missouri and Southern Illinois, will speak on anti-Semitism in St. Louis. Lunch will be followed by Fusfield's second presentation, "Jewish Policy Priorities for 2013: The View from Washington." The evening will conclude with cocktails and a nosh. Registration is $45 per person for the whole day.
For more information, to register or to receive an invitation, contact Diane Maier at 314-442-3190 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Sapphires, the September birthstone, are available in a large variety of styles and prices.
Find the perfect gift for her birthday from our birthstone collection.
Wonders of nature, craftsmanship and style.
Define tradition or start a new one.


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Business briefs: Lundbeck and Otsuka; Omnicom; Vivus
Otsuka is partnering with Lundbeck on an Alzheimer's drug, LU AE58054, a selective 5-HT6 receptor antagonist entering Phase III clinical trials. Otsuka agreed to pay $150 million upfront and $675 million in benchmarked payments if the drug progresses. It's an evolution of an alliance on CNS drugs, including Abilify, that the companies formed in 2011.
Omnicom said Tom Harrison, longtime head of its Diversified Agencies Services unit which houses the holding company's healthcare agencies, will become chairman emeritus of the division April 1. Harrison, whose namesake agency Harrison & Star was acquired by Omnicom in 1992, has headed DAS, as it is known, for 16 years. Dale Adams succeeded Harrison as CEO in 2011, and Harrison continued as chairman of the group.The Street's Adam Feuerstein is not a fan of how weight-loss drug maker Vivus has framed its most recent financial strategy—a $110 million "non equity financing" deal with Pharmakon Advisors—as something other than debt. According to the deal Vivus announced Tuesday, Pharmakon is providing it with a tranche that will be divided into an initial payment of $50 million, and the balance being chipped away at in increments as needed, in exchange for quarterly repayments that will kick in during next year's second quarter. Payments will be pegged to Qsymia sales. Among the problems Feurstein has with the deal include that Vivus will end up paying almost $70 million for that first $50 million, putting the interest rate at around 13%. Further, he wrote that the company's Qsymia patent and trademarks are among the loan's collateral and "if Vivus defaults, Pharmakon gets basically everything of value." Although Qsymia is the first new prescription weight-loss drug to hit the market in decades, the California company has been struggling with low sales which have been partially attributed to costs: according to Bloomberg, patients could end up paying around $200 a month for the medication, which is taken like a chronic medication, instead of a short-term therapy. Recent attempts to boost sales have included a free trial offer, a weight-loss app marketed to healthcare providers and an attempt to go beyond mail-order to retail-level distribution. The FDA is expected to decide on the retail option in April.


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I think very highly of this website. I really liked the "room-mail" service. As a woman it made me feel more secure than giving out my email address to whoever wanted it. I had been searching for over a month before I signed up, and after I did I found my roommate in 2 days. Thank you so much. I will be referring my friends in the future. - Alice
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ESLT nature outing at Crowley this weekend
Members of the Eastern Sierra Land Trust will host a family exploration of the nature in and around the ESLT's Crowley Hilltop Preserve tomorrow (Saturday).
The event is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
The property hosts five different species of conifer tree species, great views, and important wildlife habitat for bears, deer, and many other animals.
Learn the plants, play games, look for animal tracks and signs, drink pine needle tea, and make nature art.
"All members of the family will find something exciting to learn about the ecosystem of the preserve and the land conservation mission of ESLT," said a spokesperson.
More info at 760-873-4554 or www.eslt.org.


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Matthew Mcconaughey has opened up his wedding album for a new magazine feature, just days after marrying model Camila Alves.
The actor has given fans a sneak peek into his big day by sharing pictures of his nuptials at the couple's home in Austin, Texas on Saturday (09Jun12).
In the cover shot for People magazine, a tuxedo-clad McConaughey gazes lovingly at his Brazilian bride in her white bridal gown.
The couple has also shared details about the Catholic ceremony, which included its son Levi as ring bearer and daughter Vida as flower girl.
Alves says, "Somehow they both seem to understand what we are doing on a spiritual level."
Reese Witherspoon, Kenny Chesney and Woody Harrelson were among the 120 guests who attended the three-day celebration.


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Following are excerpts from The Unchosen Path: Reflections from the Inner Journey of Illness by Laurie Hope. For more information about the book and author, visit www.theunchosenpath.com.
Everyone seeks to be happy. But when we physically feel lousy, our external sources for happiness are not so easily accessible. Sometimes the suffering of illness lies not so much in its accompanying physical sensations, but in the personal sense of diminishment and the social isolation and separation it brings. As the body contracts, life contracts as well. Nothing is left unchanged—our relationship to ourselves, our families, and our social world. Because of this, illness causes us to reprioritize our lives, separating the nonessential from the essential. Basic questions of life's purpose and meaning take on new poignancy as we question the very value of our time here.
Illness can be a gentle nudge or a jolting wake-up call that motivates us to reexamine our lives and lifestyles. Because illness exposes our imbalances and weaknesses, it acts as a psychological magnifier that may uncover unacknowledged but deep-rooted feelings that our previously busy lives may have effectively masked. Some of these feelings may appear to be caused by the illness, but really they were there all along. Because they can no longer be denied, they can finally be attended to and healed.
Whether we accept the challenge to heal willingly or go down the path kicking and screaming, illness takes us on a descent to our depths. The path to the underworld is opened. It may not be a path we have consciously chosen, but it is the one on which we find ourselves. Here we have the opportunity to mine the gems that can only be found in the deep and dark places.
So many spiritual paths have certain austerities or sacrifices that are prescribed. Why do they do this? Maybe to cause us to wrestle with the will of the ego—to develop a spiritual muscle that will be a worthy adversary for the ego's tenacity. A chronic illness can serve this same function. It motivates us to explore the edge between personal responsibility and divine will. It demands sacrifice. The ego's wishes are impersonally ignored by the dysfunctions of the body. Illness insists that we let go of innumerable desires and gives us the opportunity to develop the generosity of heart that can become our salvation.
Just as we in the West have developed material technology, for centuries meditation masters have applied themselves to a technology of the mind, exploring the full range of the human experience, and learning to tune in to capabilities that bring not only extraordinary perceptual abilities, but access to a joyful and natural state that transcends suffering. We know by the example of many saints and spiritual masters that they are not immune to the afflictions of the body. But they also show us that there can be joy and divine realization despite the body.
The open, enlightened mind is cultivated by withdrawing from the distractions of worldly life and retreating. In some ways, an illness provides the perfect opportunity for such spiritual training: removal from ordinary society, solitude, quiet, turning inward, self-examination. If we're lucky enough to be able to take time off from the demands of the outer world, we can use this time to learn to free ourselves from the personal patterns that contribute to much of our suffering. As our perceptions shift and our worldview opens, how we relate to our bodies and their illnesses also shifts. As we discover that our essential wholeness exists independent of the body and mind, we see that eventually all paths converge.
The road to spiritual mastery is similar to the road to healing—both present switchbacks and alternating stretches of difficulty and ease, both require us to question our conditioned limitations, both ask us to stretch and grow. How we struggle with illness often reflects our spiritual struggle. When we ask, Why can't I permanently sustain those precious moments of clarity, bliss, or health? we must remember that just as illness requires infinite patience, so does spiritual progress. As one of my teachers said, "The true spiritual path is arduous and demanding, involving one insult after another."
Illness does not necessarily teach us anything. It can be viewed as a mere annoyance or a great tragedy. But it can also be a great teacher and provider of endless opportunities to understand the nature of reality and to develop compassion for ourselves and all others. Through unexpected discoveries I have found that the path of illness, though arduous, can be a rich and honorable one.
I used to think that I could enlighten myself out of feeling depressed. If depression is the result of a negative belief system, then it is alterable. But if depression is the by-product of the imbalanced brain chemistry of a disease process, then all my letting go and great perspective and egolessness may not change the tendency toward sadness and negative thinking. Since the enlightened transcendence of depression doesn't seem to be my present fate, I've decided to practice "enlightened depression"—depression coexisting with everything else that is here; depression free from self-blame; depression free from shame; depression that does not separate me from others but rather reminds me of my common humanity. I am not depressed because I hate life—I am depressed because I love life and long for a more energetic involvement with it. This perception takes me to a more fundamental identification—myself as a life-loving creature—connected, involved, part of the unfathomable drama.
One day I was inwardly asking for guidance about what was needed for my healing and I heard a wise voice saying, "Rest." Gently, but imperatively. Well, that's usually the first and most obvious advice that's given to a sick person, but not exactly what I wanted to hear. I hate resting—it feels like a waste of time. I should be engaging in acts of charity and kindness, be fighting for justice and world peace or be alleviating the suffering of others. Where's the rest in all that? Then I realized that "rest" didn't necessarily refer to my worldly activities. What needed rest was my mind. A good, long rest. Rest from the demands of an ego that wants to do and be good. The mind that thinks it has to be doing something is not at rest. And yet the rested mind is effortlessly inspired to right action. It may turn out that resting could be my greatest contribution.
I've added a second Golden Rule: Thou shalt not compare thyself. Doing so is always deadly. Even if I come out on top of the comparison, the top dog position needs to be maintained and defended. No one is always on top. In addition, the sense of separation that results is inherently painful. Not only is it disastrous to compare myself to others, but also to compare myself to a memory of my former healthy self or to an image of my idealized future self. When I catch myself comparing, I know it's because I'm having a hard time accepting things as they are. When I remember that comparison is only a matter of relative perspective that depends on your vantage point, it becomes easier to embrace all the seeming inequities of life.
It is in the moment of the full accepting of my brokenness that my essential wholeness becomes apparent, and then it is clear that nothing needs fixing. The wholeness includes the brokenness. Not the thought that "I will be whole someday when I have improved myself or become more loving or gotten healthy." I am whole now. As I am. Like this. And so are you. Just like you are now. When we can love our own broken or even rotten places, we can love one another as ourselves.
Pain usually involves contraction. Therefore, visualize expansion and limitless space. Illness involves stagnation. Therefore, visualize movement and flow. Anxiety chokes the breath, therefore, breathe deeply. Notice when and with whom you are most relaxed and choose that circumstance as often as possible.
Healing Circle Meditation:
Think of four to six people who you'd like to imagine loving you. You can include family, friends, pets, famous people, saints, enlightened beings, angels, and so on. It is not necessary that you know them, but it is necessary that they possess the ability to send loving energy to you. Imagine yourself in the center of a circle and feel yourself surrounded by these loved ones. Tell them exactly what you're needing and ask each one if they are willing to help you. Imagine what it would be like if you were completely receptive to the understanding, compassion, and acceptance that these beings are offering. Imagine what it would be like to be completely surrounded with love. Feel it penetrating your heart, and as it does, feel your fear, discouragement, and sorrow melting away. Continue receiving as long as you need to. To finish, let the images of your helpers dissolve, while the quality of love that you received from them remains.
LAURIE HOPE is a psychotherapist in Ojai, CA. For many years she taught Death and Dying courses and as director of S.A.G.E. Inc. she led hundreds of Creative Aging seminars and support groups.
Her journey with ME/FMS and migraines began in 1982 at the age of 28 and continues. With a background in psychology, comparative religion, Buddhist meditation, and qigong, she is interested in healing not only the body, but the psyche, mind, and spirit as well.
She has created several relaxation and healing audio meditations available for free download on her website www.laurie-hope.com. Her book The Unchosen Path: Reflections from the Inner Journey of Illness is a collection of short writings from a variety of authors who explore issues common to all those who live with illness and pain.


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Wendy Zellner
Senior DirectorTelephone: 412-586-9777
PITTSBURGH, Jan. 27, 2010 – UPMC has received $460,000 in funding from Autism Speaks to continue its participation as an Autism Treatment Network (ATN) site. The three-year foundation grant supports comprehensive diagnosis and medical evaluation for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The local site is a collaboration among the Center for Autism and Developmental Disorders at UPMC, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh Center for Excellence in Autism Research.
"We are extremely pleased that Autism Speaks has recognized the past efforts of the Pittsburgh ATN site by awarding our program with an additional three years of funding," said Benjamin Handen, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry, pediatrics, psychology and education at Pitt and principal investigator of the Pittsburgh site. "Over 230 families have enrolled locally, which attests to the level of interest that the ATN has generated."
The ATN is a group of 17 hospitals and medical centers in the U.S. and Canada, dedicated to improving medical care for children and adolescents with ASD and to standardizing the care those individuals receive. The ATN's multi-disciplinary approach includes collaboration among specialists in areas including neurology, developmental pediatrics, child psychiatry, psychology, gastroenterology, genetics, metabolic disorders and sleep disorders. The network aims to develop common clinical standards for medical care for individuals with ASD and to increase the pool of autism medical specialists through trainee mentorship and outreach to community-based physicians. As part of this effort, families receiving care at the sites can participate in a data registry that tracks children and adolescents receiving ongoing care. The information is a crucial part of developing the evidence to create and substantiate clinical standards. The ATN has enrolled more than 3,200 families during the past three years.
The Pittsburgh site will be led by Dr. Handen, in partnership with Cynthia Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics, psychiatry and education at Pitt and director of the Autism Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, and Nancy Minshew, M.D., professor of psychiatry and neurology at Pitt and director of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Excellence in Autism Research.
Autism is a complex brain disorder that disrupts a person's ability to communicate and develop social relationships, often accompanied by extreme behavioral challenges. Like most non-acquired brain disorders, autism is a multi-organ system disorder. Sleep disorders, gastrointestinal dysfunction and seizures occur in 30 to 40 percent of individuals with ASD. Detection and accurate diagnosis, though much improved, still vary widely by geographic area, socioeconomic status and ethnic origin. Currently, treatments help but fall considerably short of a cure. Those in rural areas and those who are poor often have little access to high-quality services for ASD.
Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC (WPIC) is considered to be one of the nation's foremost university-based psychiatric care facilities and one of the world's leading centers for research and treatment of mental health disorders. WPIC houses the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and is the flagship of UPMC Behavioral Health, the psychiatric specialty division of UPMC.
Autism Speaks is dedicated to increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders, to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and cure for autism, and to advocating for the needs of affected families. It was founded in February 2005 by Suzanne and Bob Wright, the grandparents of a child with autism. Bob Wright is vice chairman, General Electric, and served as chief executive officer of NBC for more than 20 years. Autism Speaks has merged with the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) and Cure Autism Now (CAN), bringing together the nation's leading autism advocacy organizations. To learn more about Autism Speaks, please visit http://www.autismspeaks.org/.
Affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences
Supplemental content provided by Healthwise, Incorporated. To learn more, visit www.healthwise.org
For help in finding a doctor or health service that suits your needs, call the UPMC Referral Service at 412-647-UPMC (8762) or 1-800-533-UPMC (8762). Select option 1.
UPMC is an equal opportunity employer. UPMC policy prohibits discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, sex, genetics, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, familial status, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected group status. Further, UPMC will continue to support and promote equal employment opportunity, human dignity, and racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity. This policy applies to admissions, employment, and access to and treatment in UPMC programs and activities. This commitment is made by UPMC in accordance with federal, state, and/or local laws and regulations.
Medical information made available on UPMC.com is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. You should not rely entirely on this information for your health care needs. Ask your own doctor or health care provider any specific medical questions that you have. Further, UPMC.com is not a tool to be used in the case of an emergency. If an emergency arises, you should seek appropriate emergency medical services.
Pittsburgh, PA, USA | UPMC.com


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Podiatry & Physiotherapy
The Team
Heel Pain
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Friday, March 23, 2018
Ahilles Tendonopathy
Have you ever experienced pain at the back of your ankle? If you have it is most likely due to injury of your achilles tendon. The achilles tendon is a tough band of fibrous tissue that connects your calf muscles to your heel bone. This is the largest and strongest tendon in the body, and allows us to run, walk, jump and rise onto our toes. Despite its strength, the achilles tendon is particularly prone to injury due to the high tensions placed upon it and its lack of blood supply. Achilles
Heel pain
What is the cause of my heel pain? One of the most common complaints that we see in the clinic is heel pain. Heel pain can be the result of many different pathologies, such as fat pad contusion, stress fracture of the calcaneus or achilles tendinopathy, however majority of the time is related to a condition known as Plantar Fasciitis. Plantar fasciitis is an overuse injury, which results in inflammation of the plantar fascia. The plantar fascia is a thick band of fibrous tissue that runs from
How muscular imbalances can result in injury
Muscle balance and postural alignment is the foundation of proper movement and performance. To facilitate movement muscles must work in groups referred to as an agonist and antagonist. The agonist initiates movement by contracting, while the antagonist works in the opposite direction to control movement. Muscle imbalance occurs when a certain muscle or muscle group becomes stronger than other muscles around them. This results in the stronger muscles overcompensating for the weaker ones, and
Cold feet?
Chilblains We are well and truly into the winter months now, which means chilblain season is upon us! We have had so many patients coming in complaining of painful burning sensations at the ends of their toes. The cardiovascular system is extremely important for foot health. When we experience colder temperatures, 'vasoconstriction' occurs. That is the blood vessels close to the skin constrict to allow more blood flow to the vital organs. When this happens, blood flow to the extremities, e.g.
Injection Technique
Over the weekend our staff had the privilege of running a workshop on injections of the foot and ankle (led by podiatric surgeon Dr. Omar Baarini). Our podiatrists and physiotherapists got some hands on experience injecting foot models while learning about how different injection techniques can be used to treat different conditions that we commonly see in the clinic. The foot and ankle is susceptible to many injuries and pathologies that respond well to diagnostic and therapeutic injection. As
Night cramps
Have you ever been woken in the middle of the night by a painful leg cramp? Don't worry you're not alone! Night leg cramps are a sudden, painful involuntary contraction or spasm of muscle that usually occurs when you are in bed. Night leg cramps can involve your feet or thighs, however most commonly affects the calf muscles and can last from seconds to minutes with pain sometimes lasting for up to 24 hours. In most cases the cause of leg cramps is unknown, however it is likely to be related to
Ingrown Nails
Ingrown toenails, also known as Onychocryptosis, can lead to severe pain and functional impairment if left untreated. In the early stages, an ingrown toenail may present as redness and discomfort at the edge of the nail. This may worsen when wearing tight socks or footwear. If left untreated, the ingrown toenail site may develop an infection. When infected, ingrown toenails can be extremely painful. They may form 'hypergranulation tissue', meaning skin grows over the top of the nail edge,
Neuromuscular Retraining - The Golden Standard Path To Returning Stronger
Neuromuscular retraining and injury prevention The brain has many reflexes that are protective in nature. For example, your body will shiver in the cold to try and warm up by increasing blood flow. Neuromuscular reflexes however, are a specific sort of reflex important in preventing injury. Neuromuscular reflexes refer to the automatic response of a muscle to a stimulus. One example of a neuromuscular reflex occurs around the knee. The knee is a hinge joint, meaning that it is only made to
Osgood-Schlatter Disease (Knee Pain)
Osgood-Schlatter Disease (Knee Pain) Osgood-Schlatter Disease is a common pathology in growing adolescents. It causes knee pain generally from inflammation of the area just below the knee where the tendon from the kneecap (patellar tendon) attaches to the shinbone (tibia). Osgood-Schlatters is an overuse injury of the knee and usually presents during a large growth spurt in children. Physical stress and frequent use causes inflammation at the tendinous junction of the patella and tibia.
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Sorrell Blomley isn't allowed much in her 9-by-12-foot cell at Dwight Correctional Center. A bed, a toilet and some photographs kept neatly in an album.
But for the past four years, Blomley also has shared the cramped space with a succession of fluffy golden retrievers as she serves a 10-year sentence at the women's prison. And that, she says, has made her a different person.
"Before, I was very shy. I was afraid to step out of my shell and didn't have any people skills," said Blomley, 26, whose dog Phoebe is the most recent. "Now I feel like I can work with people."
Since 2001, inmates at Dwight Correctional Center have clamored for the chance to be round-the-clock dog trainers while serving their time behind bars. The prison's highly praised Dog Apprentice Program — the only one of its kind in the state — was designed to help these women develop interpersonal and career skills while preparing dogs for charity work.
But as plans proceed to close Dwight amid the state's budget crisis and move 1,100 inmates to a facility in Lincoln, officials say they must discontinue the apprenticeship program. While the loss of an effective rehabilitation opportunity is lamented, a charity that has dispatched inmate-trained dogs to churches, retirement homes and even to help victims of Hurricane Sandy also is feeling the pain.
"It will be a loss to us, definitely," said Tim Hetzner, president of Addison-based Lutheran Church Charities, which administers the K-9 Comfort Dog Program. "We'll be very sad from it, and we're still praying it doesn't happen."
Without Dwight's program, he said, the organization expects to see its pool of comfort dogs reduced by as much as half.
Administrators at Lake Land College based in Mattoon, which has inmate education programs across the state, worked with the Illinois Department of Corrections to introduce dog training programs at Dwight after seeing similar programs succeed at women's prisons across the U.S.
The community college offers other training opportunities to inmates — cooking, career technology, GED completion — but prison and school officials saw dog training programs as a way to reach inmates in a different and more personal way.
"The dogs show unconditional love, and many women have never experienced that," said Jeanne Moore, vocational dog trainer and instructor for Lake Land College. "Ladies will get bad news from home, and just feeling those warm fuzzy bodies …. It is a privilege."
In the early days, Lake Land College officials used money from their own pockets to pay for the veterinarian bills and dog food so the program could keep going. But when Lutheran Church Charities announced plans to start training comfort dogs for use by nonprofits, a new partnership was formed.
For the past two years, the charity has turned over as many as four puppies at a time to be trained at Dwight.
Inmates accepted into the apprenticeship program must not be serving time for violent crimes, have a high school diploma and have completed a basic dog training program offered at the prison, said Alan Mortensen, associate dean of Lake Land College.
The program is so popular that some inmates wait two to three years to participate, he added.
Apprentices teach the dogs to sit, stay, keep quiet and refuse food in social settings. They help the dogs master comforting skills such as "visit," when the dog rests its chin on a knee, or "lap," when the dog sprawls out to offer a canine hug.
The dogs get some early training by visiting mental health units at the prison to cheer occupants.
The animals relieve themselves outdoors according to the inmates' strict schedules and sleep in small kennels allowed near inmates' beds.
"It's definitely a place that's prone to negativity, a lot of people not thinking of bettering themselves," Blomley said of the prison. "With the dog, it just takes people away from here. … It definitely keeps me away from any trouble I'd be around."
Sheryl Thompson, Dwight's warden, said she and other prison officials have high hopes for women who complete the program.
"So many of our ladies have lived just for themselves and lived from high to high," Thompson said. "So they come here, and for the first time they're clean and thinking, 'What am I going to do?'"
The dogs who complete training at Dwight move on to big expectations, as well.
To date, Lutheran Church Charities has placed comfort dogs at 52 parishes, schools, retirement homes and other nonprofits in six states. Fifteen of those dogs were trained by inmates at Dwight, Hetzner said.
Chloe was adopted by Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Elburn, Ill., last summer after growing up at Dwight. The dog routinely visits patients with Alzheimer's disease, children with disabilities and children at school.
"I've never had a dog this well-behaved," the Rev. Phil Ressler said. "When I have the dog, I don't need to go to people. People just come to me, and they start sharing."
Dwight officials are still waiting for official word on when the prison's doors will close. With no community colleges in the Lincoln area offering dog training courses — much less to prisoners — the apprenticeship program will have to end, Thompson said.
Meanwhile, Hetzner said, the Chicago-area charity will need to find new people to make up for the training lost when Dwight shuts down. Lutheran Church Services has kept in touch with several former inmates who have gone on to become dog trainers. Other former inmates have kept in touch with dogs trained at Dwight through each comfort dog's Facebook page.
Hopeful, he's still not sure the charity will be able to replicate the unique partnership.
"People appreciate that we're working with prisoners in developing a skill so that when they get out ... they're not going to prison," Hetzner said. "It was a win-win."


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Shop for Thousands of Medical Device Components from Qosina
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20 August 2018 11:18 am
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There have been several times of late that I have urged the government to step in and support this industry, and unfortunately this week is no exception.
The Drapers Independent Awards celebrate the most influential brands and highly-respected independent retailers, and reward those businesses that are changing the landscape of fashion. Book your place at the event now to make sure you don't miss out
20 August 2018 7:00 am
17 August 2018 1:17 am
16 August 2018 1:34 pm
Adidas Group has redesigned its UK headquarters to boost the performance and well-being of its staff
This year's Drapers Fashion Forum will put productivity at its heart and investigate how retailers can future-proof their businesses to survive and thrive. Don't miss out, and apply for your ticket now!
14 August 2018 3:40 pm
14 August 2018 3:06 pm
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Marcus Fairfax Fountaine and Felix Favor Parker always wanted to work together, and took the chance to create their own luxury footwear brand
14 August 2018 2:17 pm
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8 August 2018 1:01 pm
A sustained appetite for sneakers is fuelling a comfort-focused shift in the footwear market.
The Drapers Awards 2018 are now open for entries! The event on 29 November recognises and celebrates the best of the best in the fashion sector. Book your table now before it's too late
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10 December 2008
The rescue of womenswear retailer Ghost catapulted Touker Suleyman into the Top 100.
EMAP Publishing Limited Company number
7880758 (England & Wales) Registered address:
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Brentford, United Kingdom, TW8 9AG
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text:
Country star Taylor Swift enjoyed a long lunch with a cancer-stricken fan in Michigan on Saturday (19Jan13) after hearing about the teenager's tragic plight.
The Love Story hitmaker became aware of 17-year-old Kayla Kincannon's year-long battle with brain cancer and her burning ambition to meet the star after her family and friends launched an online campaign to get the singer's attention.
Swift and her mother spent the afternoon with Kayla and her family before presenting the teen with a gift basket and signed photos.
Kayla's father Brad Kincannon took to the family's official blog to describe "how awesome" the get-together was and post snaps of the pair.
He writes, "You guys have no idea how awesome this lunch was! This was no quick meet and greet photo opp (sic). We sat and talked to Taylor and her mom for two hours, had lunch and Kayla received a gift basket, then she signed pictures!
"She is the sweetest, most down to earth person I have ever met! This was more than we ever expected! I'm so thankful to team Kayla... and everyone who made her dream come true! This was the best day ever for her and all of us!"
The teen also took to her Twitter.com page to post more about the eventful meeting, writing, "Can not believe I just had lunch w (with) Taylor Swift today, I was enchanted to meet you!"


text:
Lintallchecks -- Uses MARC::Lint, MARC::Lintadditions, and MARC::Errorchecks to look for MARC21, AACR2/LCRI coding problems in a file of MARC21 records.
Lint test program prompts for input file of MARC records. Compares the records against coding definitions in Lint module. Also checks against added checks in MARC::Lintadditions. Also checks for errors in multiple fields (vs. individual fields covered by Lint/Lintadditions. Writes out one file: lintwarnings.txt (reported warnings and associated control numbers and titles, tab separation) Differs from linttest.pl (lintcheck.txt) by not outputting raw MARC. Differs from lintcheck2.pl by outputting only one file (vs. separate warnings and control no files), and in checking additional conditions given in Lintadditions.pm. Differs from lintwithadditions.pl in that it incorporates checks which cross multiple fields (such as validation of 008, which requires access to the leader). This code is based on Example V3 of the MARC::Doc::Tutorial, and incorporates code from the following (available on my Web site):
003cleanupscript.pl 008checker.pl 010cleanup.pl checkcipforstockno.pl findmultiplespacesafter010.pl
It uses the MARC::Errorchecks module for checking code not covered in MARC::Lint or MARC::Lintadditions.
MARC::Record MARC::Lintadditions MARC::Errorchecks MARC::BBMARC (for interface--timing code)
Improve interface, particularly file name input.
For users of this script: Modify section on which errors not to report.
This code may be distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.
Please note that this code is not a product of or supported by the employers of the various contributors to the code.
Bryan Baldus email@example.com
Copyright (c) 2003-2004


text:
April 2018
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text:
Poteau girls, Spiro boys third at Friday's Hilldale Invitational
MUSKOGEE — The Poteau Lady Pirates and Spiro Bulldogs track teams were third at Friday's Hilldale Invitational.In the girls' division, the Lady Pirates scored 71 points, finishing behind champion Vinita (167 points) and McALester (82). The Spiro Lady Bulldogs scored 42 points.While Poteau did not have any event champions, Spiro did. Tyeecha Hawkins won the 200-meter dash (26.37 seconds), while Kanisha Hutchinson took first in the long jump (13-6). Hawkins was runner-up in the 100-meter dash (12.5) and third in the 400-meter dash (1:00.19).The Lady Pirates had several runners-up. Latifah Harris was second in the 400-meter dash (59.61 seconds), Deven Bond was second in the 800-meter dash (2:35.51) and Bond, Jazmine Warren, Sheridan Hoyer and Colleen Peterson were second in the 3,200-meter relay.Brianna Steele was third in the 200-meter dash (28.31 seconds), Harris, Warren, Hoyer and Peterson were third in the 1,600-meter relay (4:19.93) and Paitton Callery was third in the pole vault (8-0).Harris was fourth in the 100-meter dash (12.65 seconds), Peterson was fourth in the 400-meter dash (1:04.56) and Bond was fourth in the 1,600-meter run (5:48.03).Skyler Webster was fifth in the 100-meter hurdles (19.26 seconds) and sixth in the 300-meter hurdles (58.71).For Spiro, Meochea McKesson was fourth in the shot put (35-1), while Hawkins, Hutchinson, Kaili Norwood and Philicea Mack were fifth in the 400-meter relay (53.12 seconds).For the Bulldogs, they scored 59 points, finishing behind Vinita (141 points) and Beggs (131).Todd Whitfield won the 110-meter hurdles (16.44 seconds) to bring home Spiro's only gold medal. He was also second in the long jump, while McKinley Whitfield was fourth in the same event (18-4).Tyh Hawkins was runner-up in the 200-meter dash (23.17 seconds) and third in the 100-meter dash (11.22), Devon Perry was fourth in the 110-meter hurdles (16.92) and Dante' Guidry was sixth in the 300-meter hurdles (46.95).As for relays, Malik Walker, Perry, Knighe Rhoden and Hawkins were third in the 400-meter relay (44.57 seconds); McKinley Whitfield, Walker, Perry and Hawkins were third in the 1,600-meter relay (3:34.44); Elon Hawkins, Alex Zorzoli and Matt Jones were sixth in the 3,200-meter relay (9:58.61).


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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — While a trumpeter blared, "When the Saints Go Marching In," New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton paraded into the governor's parlor Thursday and touted The Greenbrier resort as the NFL team's new training camp home.
Sporting a diamond-encrusted Super Bowl ring, Payton praised the move that will keep the Saints training at The Greenbrier at least through 2016. Payton said West Virginia offers a cooler climate, as the team splits training camp with humid summertime Metairie, La.
Payton appeared after Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed a tourism bill with tax breaks for The Greenbrier's training camp, its new medical facility and other statewide projects. Jim Justice, The Greenbrier's billionaire owner, is pouring $20 million to $25 million into new training grounds that he expects to be ready for Saints camp in July.
"I think, more than anything else, it's a chance for us to go outside just of our region and make an impression on a state like West Virginia, especially a state that doesn't have an NFL team," Payton told reporters Thursday.
Though widely separated on a map, the Saints have looked at The Greenbrier for years. They also had ventured out of Louisiana for camp, having trained in locations from Vero Beach, Fla., to southern California.
Payton said the team's executive vice-president/general manager, Mickey Loomis, first looked at The Greenbrier about three years ago. Talks with owner Jim Justice stirred up again about six months ago, and Payton said he started talking with Justice every other day.
Payton also caddied for pro golfer Ryan Palmer at the PGA Tour's Greenbrier Classic at the resort last July.
"I don't know. I bit off more than I can chew," Payton said. "That was hard work."
Justice said two natural grass practice fields and one synthetic field are being built at the resort, in addition to a 55,000-square-foot building with kitchen and dining facilities, meeting rooms, weight and locker rooms, training and physical therapy accommodations.
The tourism bill would offer a break on some new sales tax from Saints camp.
"This investment tax credit was surely entered into my decision making as to whether to have them come or not," Justice said.
Justice has estimated the Saints would train at the resort from July 18 to Aug. 16. Admission will be free.
The tourism bill Tomblin signed Thursday provides a separate carve-out for The Greenbrier's proposed medical institute. The medical center breaks on corporate income tax could total up to $25 million over 10 years. The $86 million facility will likely open next year, and Justice expects to draw top doctors for professional athletes.
One of the physicians, Birmingham, Ala.-based Dr. James Andrews, worked on Payton after a knee injury.
"He's second-to-none when it comes to those type of procedures," Payton said. "Hopefully, none of us have to visit."
Justice said he has more projects in the works. Including training camp and the medical center, he plans to spend $400 million on tourism projects he expects to create more than 1,000 jobs.
Justice, who ranks 362nd on Forbes magazine's list of the country's wealthiest people, bought the Greenbrier out of bankruptcy in 2009 for $20.1 million. The resort in White Sulphur Springs dates to 1778 and has hosted presidents and royalty.
It features a hotel, casino, spa, dozens of amenities and a once-secret underground bunker built for Congress in case of nuclear attack during the Cold War.


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Both major political parties may have their fingerprints on long-simmering problems in the federal budget, but just one created the current crisis known as the fiscal cliff.
Blame them or thank them, it was the Republicans who forced a series of budget moves over the last decade that now are bringing the government to a breaking point that threatens sweeping tax increases and indiscriminate spending cuts that could plunge the country back into recession.
Part of it was a political gimmick, working the rules of the Senate to push through sweeping tax cuts in a way Republicans later would lambaste when President Barack Obama's Democrats used the same tactic to enact the new health care law. The legislative gimmick got the tax cuts through Congress, but it made them the first such tax cuts with an expiration date. Those temporary tax cuts are expiring.
And part of the Republican approach was by design, risking the first-ever default on U.S. debt to force a change in Washington and rein in runaway deficits. That 2011 showdown led to the automatic spending cuts that will start going into effect Jan. 2 – and which none really wants in their current form.
It started in 2001, when the government was running its fourth straight year of surplus and President George W. Bush moved to cut taxes as he'd promised in his campaign. He faced a serious hurdle, a Senate split 50-50, far short of the 60 votes needed to clear Senate rules and enact his sweeping tax reduction.
There was a way out, but it was a tactic that the staid Senate was reluctant to use, called reconciliation.
Created to make it easier to deal with budgets, it also became a tool for skirting the 60-vote threshold since only 51 votes were needed. There was a major catch: Any such bill could only make changes in federal revenue for a maximum of 10 years.
With support from some Democrats, the Bush tax cuts passed the Senate with 58 votes. They were temporary.
The precedent was set, and when Bush came back with a new, more controversial round of cuts in 2003, the Republicans used the reconciliation rule again. This time, the bill passed with 51 votes, as Vice President Dick Cheney broke a 50-50 tie.
In May 2001, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was confident the cuts would be extended forever. "To do anything other than that is to raise taxes on the American people," he said.
Republicans miscalculated.
The tax cuts contributed to a decade of record deficits and debt, aided by rising spending on a new Medicare benefit and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The national debt, $5.7 trillion when Bush took office in January 2001, had grown to $10.6 trillion by the time he left eight years later. It grew more under Obama.
"Republicans set up the deadlines feeling voters would move in their direction. But in the last election, they didn't move in that direction," said Steven Schier, an author of books on budget politics and a political scientist at Carleton College in Minnesota.
The deficits topped $1 trillion a year as the country suffered through the Great Recession spanning the Bush and Obama administrations, and they have stayed at that level since.
Attempts to curb that debt were stymied in part by the tax cuts. When they first were to expire at the end of 2010, Obama backed a two-year extension, despite opposing the lower rates for the wealthy, because he feared a tax increase would threaten the still-fragile economic recovery.
"My sense here is that the GOP was hoisted on its own petard, in that Bush and congressional Republicans constructed the end date of the tax cuts to kick in after the end of the Bush administration, so that Republicans could either continue them or Democrats would be 'forced' to raise taxes," said Burdett Loomis, a professor of political science and congressional expert at the University of Kansas.
"To a large extent the strategy has worked re taxes, but has clearly helped to produce a huge structural deficit," he said.
Republicans had a bold idea to bring down that deficit. As the debt limit approached its legal ceiling of $14.3 trillion in 2011, party leaders saw the need to raise the limit as a way of forcing massive spending cuts.
"There hadn't exactly been much restraint in spending, and Bush had a lot to do with that," said Michael Franc, vice president of government studies at the conservative Heritage Foundation and a former top aide to House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas.
By 2011, with the government running trillion-dollar annual deficits, Republicans were emboldened. They won control of the House of Representatives in 2010 with support of the grassroots tea party movement, which pledged tough action to slash spending. The party had modest success in winning cuts early in 2011 and by summer saw a bigger prize: Give us massive cuts, its leaders said, or we'll resist efforts to increase the debt limit.
"We need to have a showdown at this point that we are not going to increase our debt ceiling anymore. We are going to cut (spending) necessary to stay within the current levels. . . . This needs to be a big showdown," Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., told Human Events, a conservative magazine, as the 2011 congressional session began.
The conservative stand led to White House-congressional negotiations in the summer of 2011. They eventually agreed to raise the debt ceiling – avoiding default – but only with the promise that a congressional "supercommittee" would seek $1.2 trillion in reductions from projected deficits.
As a hammer to force that committee to produce the promised savings, the deal set automatic spending cuts as the alternative.
The committee failed, and the automatic cuts now are set to start on Jan. 2.


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The truth is, with all those puppet voices in my head, there was no room for my voice. Puppets have little to say on their own.
I was a 19-year-old ministerial student at Baylor University when I accepted an invitation from a rural Texas Baptist church to preach my very first sermon.
Even though the invitation was to preach to the much smaller Sunday night crowd, I came with extensive preparation. I felt confident that my studies of all the great orators, such as Paul Harvey, Martin Luther King and, of course, Billy Graham, would keep me in good stead.
I arrived to find a disappointingly small group of parishioners that was likely diminished by the prospect of hearing a student speaking. I felt my preparation demanded more like a multitude, but I still gave it my all.
Like Harvey, I spoke with dramatic tones. Like King, I employed vivid quotes. Like Graham, I held my Bible wide open in my extended hand while simultaneously slicing the humid Texas air in exaggerated gestures.
I was convinced that my sermon went well until the church's veteran pastor laid a hand on my shoulder and asked, "Son, do you mind if I offer you some constructive criticism?"
Blood filled my reddening cheeks, but I managed a quiet nod.
He told me he would spell out a three-letter word and he would like to hear me pronounce it.
"OK," I said, despite his approach sounding much like a parent quizzing a preschooler.
How do you pronounce G-o-d?" he asked.
"God," I answered with something sounding like a question.
"Exactly," he said. "It's just one syllable, so why are using two?"
Before I could rebut, he asked, "Do you watch Billy Graham?"
I nodded that I did and added that Paul Harvey was another favorite.
"Graham is a Southerner who pronounces God with the dual-syllable of a Southern drawl. 'Gu-ahhd.'
Didn't you say you're from California?"
My Yankee confidence fell as I realized I had mimicked Graham during my entire sermon.
Of course, the veteran preacher was giving me more than a speech lesson. He was telling me my pulpit voice had tragically become a puppet voice. I had mastered Graham's enunciation and Harvey's dramatic pause, but where was Norris?
The truth is, with all those puppet voices in my head, there was no room for my voice. That's because puppets depend on the voice of their handler and have little to say on their own.
But worse still, there was no room for God's creative voice in mine. Speaking with the voice of another was not being true to who God called me to be. I was not only trying to steal the fame of others, I was also robbing people of the chance to hear the voice that God gave me.
I promised the old preacher that I'd work toward some improvement, but as I walked across the darkened church parking lot to my borrowed car, I must have done so with a dejected gate.
"Hey, Norris," the preacher called out. "Look up 1 Corinthians 1:21." Then he turned and walked into the darkness toward his car, no doubt smiling.
When I got to my dorm room, I opened my Bible to the passage. I smiled then, as I smile now reading it in the modern translation, "The Message."
"God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb — preaching, of all things! — to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation."
As the old radio commentator Paul Harvey used to say, "Now you know the rest of the story."
[ Norris Burkes is a syndicated columnist, national speaker and author. He also serves as an Air National Guard chaplain and is board certified in the Association of Professional Chaplains. E-mail him at firstname.lastname@example.com. ]


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Moylan stars in Panthers' win
Matt Moylan admits he still has a lot to learn about playing in the NRL, but the second year fullback again showed why he shapes as a key figure in Penrith's assault on the finals series, starring in their 26-10 over Wests Tigers.
Moylan scored one try and had a hand in three others at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday before 16,698 fans but not before revisiting a nightmare play from the week before.
Cornered in his ingoal Moylan threw a risky pass that went to ground before being pounced on by Kevin Naiqama, an almost identical error that resulted in a Warriors try in their loss last week.
But with playmaker Peter Wallace sidelined early with an ankle injury, Moylan stepped up from then on to score one try and have a hand in three others as Penrith surged to the top of the NRL ladder alongside Manly and Penrith but ahead on for and against.
With Wallace possibly sidelined for the rest of the season, Moylan looms as a key figure in the Panthers' run-in to the finals.
"When I threw that pass I just though `oh, here we go again', but luckily it turned out OK," he said.
"(Coach) Ivan (Cleary) had a word to me about it during the week ... he didn't say anything at halftime but he might again. I certainly won't do it again."
Moylan broke the game open early for the visitors when he jinked his way through the Tigers' line in the 16th minute with Wallace down in backplay.
The rookie No.1 then threw the final pass for Dean Whare's first try in the 26th minute that pushed them out to a 12-0 halftime lead on the back of their forward dominance.
Penrith continued to enjoy the better of field position after the break for Kevin Naqaima to cross out wide in the 57th minute, with Moylan again throwing the last pass.
The Tigers finally scored in the 53rd minute when Blake Austin stepped his way over to give the raucous home crowd some hope.
But that was dashed just three minutes later when Jamal Idris strode over out wide and Whare scored his double six minutes later.
Brent Kite toiled away strongly up front all day for the Panthers in his 300th NRL game and five-eighth Jamie Soward led the team well without Wallace.
In contrast the Tigers were largely directionless without their skipper and NSW rake Robbie Farah, with youngsters Mitchell Moses and Matt Lodge making solid NRL debuts.
Panthers duo Elijah Taylor and Adam Docker left the field late for the Panthers with concussion, while Tigers pivot Braith Anasta suffered an arm injury.
Anasta was placed on report for a dangerous throw on Idris, his teammate Bodene Thompson earning the same with a late first half hit on Jamie Soward.
Cleary praised Moylan's contribution.
"He has been a big part of what we have done in every game this year," he said.
"He is getting better every week."
Tigers coach Mick Potter lamented his side's ability to get into the game.
"We made far too many errors and just couldn't get out of second gear," he said.
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The comments came Wednesday as House and Senate negotiators resolved differences in a $396 billion spending bill, which would include an extra $3.1 billion for disaster relief for farmers. The extra money, however, would come from cuts in the farm bill.
Top farm-state lawmakers were instructed to quickly resolve remaining differences over where those savings would come from and how the aid would be distributed.
Reopening the farm bill is "simply not in the best interests of the American farming community," says BobGoodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Ag Committee.
Goodlatte says, "The farm bill was a very carefully negotiated agreement, and once you reopen it, it essentially becomes a piggy bank susceptible to the whims of others."
The Virginia representative says Republicans in the House Ag Committee remain united behind the idea that drought relief be targeted to farmers who are "hurting the most."
Disaster assistance that comes at the expense of the farm bill and isn't targeted to farmers who suffered losses would call into question whether or not producers are ultimately going to benefit, Goodlatte says.
"We continue to work with the Senate and the White House to find a solution to assist farmers who have suffered a severe drought loss," Goodlatte says.


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YES! Music Picks: Fall 2011
A Man Under the Influence & By the Hand of the Father
This is Alejandro Escovedo at his most fiery and most graceful. "Wave," "Rosalie," and "Across the River" are from his powerful theater piece, By the Hand of the Father, a musical dialog between first generation Mexican immigrants and their American-born children, a soundtrack of lives.
Little Joy
Listen to this sweet and breezy album outside on a warm evening under a string of glowing lights. Rodrigo Amarante adds Brazilian texture— "Evaporar" is in Portuguese. Imaginative instrumentation—glockenspiel, ukulele, bassoon—gives an overall vintage quality, like happy music from a long time ago.
Delivery Boy
The husband-wife duo Truckstop Honeymoon takes a page from Johnny and June Carter Cash but mixes in punk and playful humor. The pair's edgy song lyrics run the gamut from an anti-war anthem to a romance in a waffle house.


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It's been almost a quarter of a century since Lisa Whelchel played vain rich girl Blair on The Facts of Life. But while tackling the challenges of Survivor: Philippines, Whelchel learned she still has some of her image-conscious, girly girl alter-ego left in her.
"I was really nervous about things like wearing a bathing suit on television or the fact that, depending on how long I lasted, that I couldn't wash my hair and couldn't wear make-up," Whelchel tells TVGuide.com. "All of those things were definite fears."
Check out photos of this season's Survivor contestants
She may still long for her blow dryer, but when the CBS reality show premieres (Wednesday at 8/7c), fans will see a very different side of the former sitcom star. Since leaving Hollywood more than a decade ago, Whelchel has raised and home-schooled three children, written 10 books, including The Facts of Life (and Other Lessons My Father Taught Me) and The Busy Mom's Guide to Prayer, and spoken at Women in Faith conferences across the country. Although Survivor seems a departure from her current lifestyle, Whelchel says she's a "superfan" of the show, partly because of her deeply religious background.
"So much of my life — from the time that I was an itty- bitty girl — was wanting to be good and wanting to be perfect. Anything that was considered to be bad was to be banished," she says. "Survivor was a way for me to live vicariously through the people who did things that I would never allow myself to do in real life."
Go behind the scenes of Survivor's 25th season with TV Guide Network
However, Whelchel always had dreams of living out the fantasy and competing on the show herself. She finally found the opportunity to do so this past year, when her children left for college and she suffered a surprising setback in her public speaking career. "My contract was rescinded which felt really devastating because that meant I didn't have a year's worth of work lined up," Whelchel says. "After I got over the devastation, I realized the opportunity presented to me, which was time to audition and try to be on Survivor."
Whelchel is one of a very small group of celebrities who have played the game. Former NFL coach and commentator Jimmy Johnson competed in Season 21, and Whelchel will play alongside MLB pitcher Jeff Kent. But she says she was the one who got starstruck during the auditions. "When I walked into the room with Jeff Probst and Mark Burnett, there was just this added dimension," Whelchel says. "[I thought,] 'Not only are you the producers and I really want to be on your show, but, oh my gosh! I'm your biggest fan! Can I have your autograph?'"
Facts of Life star among new Survivor: Philippines castaways
As an avid viewer of the show, Whelchel knew she didn't have to sweat her celebrity status too much when it came time to play the game. "I know there are a lot of young people on the show typically, and I thought they probably [wouldn't] recognize me," she says. On the flip side, she acknowledges her age — she is the oldest female player this season — could very well be her downfall. "I've watched this show long enough to know that you want to have a strong team to win the challenges, so you're going to get rid of your weaker players earliest," she says. "And if you don't have time to find out the players' strengths, than you're going to take the easy way out and send home the oldest first."
However, the biggest hurdle Whelchel had to overcome was how to play the game without abandoning her morals. "I knew that to play the game and to play it well you needed to lie, break trust, talk about people and all those things that I've spent my life trying not to do," she says. "And yet, I really wanted to win this game. So my strategy going in was to be me, yet play the game the best I could and hopefully find a course that had not been charted before."
To quote The Facts of Life theme song, Whelchel learned in the end to take the good and take the bad. "The cameras catch you off guard and it's one of the things that helped me to come to peace with my imperfections, which I prefer to call my humanity," she says. "If I can come to peace with it, then I don't have to worry about what other people would think."
Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on CBS. Are you excited to see Whelchel back on the small screen? How far do you think she'll go?


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Robert Pattinson: Don't Forget Kristen Stewart On Valentine's Day
Rob, we know you're having a trial separation from Kristen while you're in Australia shooting 'The Rover', but don't forget all that you and Kristen have shared for all these years and send her some love today.
Robert Pattinson — you may still be reflecting on whether you want to continue your romance with Kristen Stewart, but it wouldn't be right to just ignore her on Valentine's Day.
Even if you're still hurting after Kristen's cheating mistake with Rupert Sanders, you shouldn't be insensitive to Kristen.
Kristen Stewart Doesn't Deserve To Be Ignored On Valentine's Day
You know how much she regrets her terrible mistake. You know how much she's begged for your forgiveness. She's tried for months to prove that she loves you more than ever and that she would never cheat again.
She really believes you are her "soulmate," a source close to Kristen told HollywoodLife.com. She's also been laying low since you went to Australia. She clearly hasn't wanted to give you anything to worry about while you've been gone.
She's been hanging out with her brother, Cameron, a source reports to HollywoodLife.com, she's been baking pies with her mom Jules, who tweeted "Lasagna cook-off this past weekend with Kristen — we had judges and everything — She won. Damn, that girl can cook! Love you babe" on Feb. 13, and she's been working out to get into the best shape of her life, another source tells us.
When she's been out, it's been with close friends — to go to an Ellie Goulding concert on Feb. 9 and to help BFF Taylor Lautner celebrate his 21st birthday at the Lucky Strike bowling alley, also the same night.
What she hasn't done is been seen out with any guy who could in any way be construed as a date.
No — she's been loyal even though you really have left her dangling. The trial separation was your idea, not hers and a source tells us that she was "blindsided" when you told her that that was what you wanted.
Robert Pattinson — Get K-Stew SOMETHING
So Rob, now that it's Valentine's Day don't "forget" Kristen. She's back home in LA and I bet she will really feel hurt if you let the day go by without doing anything.
Flowers, a phone call, a text, some lingerie — something. Send Kristen something. Call her or Skype her.
Just let her know that you're thinking about her and that you're remembering all the great and romantic times that you two have had together.
Listen, even if you ultimately end up breaking up with Kristen, you shouldn't do that long distance and you never know — you may change your mind about going your separate ways.
You two haven't just been lovers — you've also been best friends. You built a wonderful life together. You have Bear, you have mutual good friends. You both love music, books, and living a low-key life together. You will no doubt stay close no matter what happens, so don't hurt your friend by "forgetting" Valentine's Day.
There's still time to call or send a little romantic something. Do it Rob! Do you agree, HollywoodLifers? Should Rob remember Valentine's Day for Kristen? Let me know!


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Browse Past Blog Posts
In Remembrance: September 11, 2001Aug 24 2011
September 11, 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. When does the recent past become history? [...] »
Film Review: Gods and GeneralsAug 17 2011
What view of the Civil War does Gods and Generals present? Historian Steven E. Woodworth critiques the film. [...] »
Film Review: The AviatorJul 31 2011
Historical films like The Aviator sacrifice historical context to create character portraits, says historian David Courtwright. [...] »
Elizabeth Schaefer on a New Approach to President LincolnJul 25 2011
Summer is the time for professional development! Eighth-grade teacher Elizabeth Schaefer reports on her professional development experiences at DC's Lincoln's Cottage. [...] »
The Nation's Report Card: U.S. History, 2010Jul 18 2011
On June 14th, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released the Nation's Report Card: U.S. History 2010, Grades 4, 8, and 12. But what is the Report Card? [...] »
Michael Yell on Using DVDs/Video Segments in the History ClassroomJul 13 2011
What student doesn't love a "movie day"? The question is, how much are they learning from it? [...] »
Comic Books in the History ClassroomJul 9 2011
Comic books as primary sources? Bring superheroes into the classroom with these six historical themes. [...] »
Ron Gorr on Imagining the Great Depression: Mixing Primary Documents and Student CreativityJul 6 2011
Use primary sources to tell stories and discover what the stories you create say about historical bias. [...] »
Amy Trenkle on Glogging Class GreatsJul 5 2011
Posterboard and rubber cement may work for some projects, but students can also avoid the mess—and incorporate audiovisuals—by making glogs (virtual posters) online. [...] »
An Ear for the Past: The National JukeboxJul 2 2011
Catchy primary sources? You bet! With the Library of Congress's National Jukebox, get your students humming history. [...] »


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Sunday, 28 September 2008
Dispatches - Monday night
14 comments:
- Devil's Kitchen said...
I really don't think that any of the three main parties are in any position to criticise the sources of each other's donations, do you? I would say that all three of you are on a very sticky wicket in this regard.
For instance, how much have the unions donated to Labour over the last ten years (over and above the taxpayers' money laundered through the "union restructuring fund", of course), and what concessions a) have they demanded, and b) been given?
In terms of policy being up for sale, few governments have indulged their donors quite as much as NuLabour. Can anyone say, "Bernie Ecclestone"? Or "Lakshmi Mittal"? Or "the Hinduja Brothers"?
Yes, I would recommend being very quiet on this issue...
- Sun Sep 28, 11:19:00 pm
- Kerry said...
That's a convenient way of getting them off the hook. I don't accept the charge that Labour policy is, or has been, 'up for sale' - but leaving that to one side... isn't it better that the spotlight is shone on all parties, rather than none?
As for the unions, they are an integral part of the Labour party, including its policy-making processes. It's transparent, and open - policies are debated at union conferences, the TUC and Labour conference, and the National Policy Forum documents are published. It may come as a surprise to you, but Labour politicians accept much of the union agenda because we believe in the same ideals and share the same view of what sort of society we want to live in. Surely the Conservatives should be as open too, and not hide behind these 'dinner clubs'?
- Mon Sep 29, 12:11:00 am
- angelin said...
We believe the comments made in the film speak for themselves - several speakers were clearly shown making abhorrent and extreme comments. All the speakers featured in the film were offered a right to reply and none denied making these comments, nor have any of them complained to Ofcom to our knowledge.
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- Mon Sep 29, 10:37:00 am
- Glenn Vowles said...
The spotlight is falling on the Tories. Good, I welcome that! I understand that the C4 Dispatches program says that certain hedge fund managers who have participated in short-selling, a practice much blamed for making the financial crisis even worse, are giving large amounts of money to the Tories.
The spotlight should also be on the Labour Govt however. They have been more than happy with the capitalist system and its short-termist banking practices. Sleeping regulators have not be seen as a problem by them. They have sucked-up to markets and basked in the glow of short-term 'success', and allowed a small number of people to take the profit whilst society pays the costs. Like the Tories, Labour too celebrate and advocate debt-funded mass consumerism, the belief that the more we consume the better off we are.
- Mon Sep 29, 02:15:00 pm
- Paul said...
I would like to see one quote that says Labour encourages people to get into debt, this is tory spin. Also it is fair to say that the Government of any country has to work within the international market - that only leaves capitalism. Its not about being happy with it but having to deal with it - a green government would have to work within the same constraints.
As for sleeping regulators the tories have fought us on every introduction of regulation as they believe that it constrains the free market. Indeed the plans they drew up last year were to reduce regulation even further.
The spotlight is already on the Government, quite rightly because they are the Government, it is the opposition parties including the greens that can criticise without any media focus on their policies.
- Mon Sep 29, 03:11:00 pm
- Glenn Vowles said...
Paul, no alternative to capitalism (?) - from a Labour supporter! At this time of massive trouble in the capitalist system of all times! No wonder people get turned off from politics.
There are alternatives and no better time to pursue them than now. Just look at where the approach of govts around the world has taken us: huge economic problems; social division; environmental degradation. We need fresh politics badly.
Time to propose and work for a better economic model based on sustainability, security and stability I'd say.
The Labour Govt have overseen an economy where regulation has been light and there are many incentives for short-termism.They've had the majority to do what they like for ten years now. Far from reluctantly working within constraints imposed by international capitalism Labour have positively embraced it.
Models of development and 'regeneration' like Bristol's Cabot Circus fully embrace, advocate and celebrate mass consumerism, which does the maximum it can to get people to spend - including money they dont have (ie they get stuff on credit). Council leader helen Holland called Cabot Circus a 'quantum leap' beyond our wildest dreams (Can she see nothing better than spend, spend, spend ???)!
I certainly wouldn't mind more media focus on the policies of the Greens! Try as we might we are often ignored, except perhaps on some blogs. I'm often shouting green policies from the rooftops and hopefully new leader Caroline Lucas MEP will do a better job for us! See Green New deal plans details here:
- Mon Sep 29, 05:42:00 pm
The Labour Party criticising the Tories for taking money from hedge funds is absurd.
The Labour Party, for starters, takes money from Paul Myners, a director of GLG a £25bn hedge fund. He's also chair of the Guardian Media Group and - locals might be interested to hear this - Land Securities, owners of Carboot Circus!
Now why might local Labour politicians be praising this piece of overblown speculative real estate to the high heavens?
- Mon Sep 29, 10:14:00 pm
- Kerry said...
I had no idea of any connection between Cabot Circus and this particular donor. I just think people will like shopping there.
You owe me an apology.
- Tue Sep 30, 09:44:00 pm
I should apologise to you because you haven't got the foggiest idea what's being done to my city by your wealthy supporters?
Shall I apologise for the credit crunch too? I think I've got £500 outstanding on my credit card still.
- Tue Sep 30, 11:39:00 pm
- Kerry said...
You've more or less accused me and my colleagues of corruption - of supporting Cabot Circus because some guy connected to it gave money to my party. You can't just throw round such accusations.
- Tue Sep 30, 11:48:00 pm
No, I'm saying you have an undeclared conflict of interest.
Do you not think there is one here?
- Wed Oct 01, 07:41:00 pm
- Kerry said...
No, I don't.
- Wed Oct 01, 08:24:00 pm
- Glenn Vowles said...
Do you object to the source of the money from this donor to Labour Kerry?
- Wed Oct 01, 09:48:00 pm
- Kerry said...
- Wed Oct 01, 10:22:00 pm