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Special Election Edition: Your Vote Can Determine Your Economic Future
Aired November 2, 2008 - 15:00 ET
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: Welcome to this special edition of YOUR MONEY. I'm Christine Romans. ALI VELSHI, CNN HOST: The special election edition we've got. I'm Ali Velshi. The presidential election is just days away and you have a vote to help you determine your own economic future. ROMANS: Make no mistake. Your money depends on how America votes, your ballot will help determine what health care coverage for your family will look alike, what you pay in taxes, and which candidate gets to enact their plan to help the economy get going to stem job loss and create now jobs. VELSHI: We begin with a look at the future. Specifically, what each candidate is promising to do to stimulate the economy if they take office. Up first is John McCain's plan. To help Americans recover from the economic crises, McCain suggests a $52 billion stimulus plan. He proposes reducing the tax on retirement funds to 10 percent in 2008 and 2009. He relaxed the rule that forces seniors above 70 and a half to start selling off a portion of their 401(k) s and IRAs. McCain also wants to increase the amount that can be claimed as a tax loss from selling homes or stocks. He's also temporarily cut the capital gains tax in half and repeals the tax on unemployment benefits. ROMANS: So, what does the McCain plan mean for your bottom line? Here to help us better understand the candidates, their economic plan and how effects your money, we are joined by Lakshman Achuthan managing editor of the Economic Cycle Research Institute an independent research group focusing on business cycle indicators. VELSHI: Republican analyst Leslie Sanchez joins us as well, a Democratic analyst. Hilary Rosen both of whom are CNN contributes and Avery Jafers (ph) joins us from Washington as well. Let's start with you, Lakshman, you follow business cycles. We are in a business cycle that's negative at the moment. Does anything in McCain's plan help us get out of this in any way that was going to change the way we were going get out of it anyway? LAKSHMAN ACHUTHAN, MANAGING EDITOR ECONOMIC CYCLE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: Well, that depends, OK? First, we are definitely in a recession. It's not going to end any time soon. You can't wave a wand and get rid of it. What would be very important is the timing of when any of these initiatives hits the economy. If it hits the economy when it's in a strong downturn it will be a flash in the pan at best. It won't generate a recovery. On the other hand if you hang onto it for a second and have a stimulus ready and hit it on the economy at a specific time when the economy is starting to turn on its own, it has a huge impact and it can take kind of what we call a very soft u-shaped recovery and make it a v-shaped recovery. That's what you want. ROMANS: From the middle of the road perspective on the politics of this what does the McCain plan look like? You know, it started out pretty typical, governments hands-off, but then he kind of -- as this crises got moving he's endorsing a $300 billion plan to help people refinance their houses and some other things that aren't necessarily what you would expect. ACHUTHAN: Right. I think John McCain has been caught the way a lot of Washington leaders have been caught is flat footed and surprised by the scale of the downturn that we've seen and he's moved toward embracing some maneuvers that he never would have embraced in the past, but so have a lot of other folks in Washington because they've been caught so surprised here. So the key, I think, in looking at this additional stimulus question. The leaders in Congress are talking about after the election, bringing Congress back and putting together more stimulus, I mean, we did stimulus earlier this year and it didn't really work. The question is why leaders in Washington think that stimulus is going to work this time around or is this just an excuse to spend money on some of the things that they've always wanted to spend money on and now here is their political chance to do that. VELSHI: This stimulus is different from the one we talked about earlier last year which would be giving checks directly to people as you're right, aiming this one involves spending money and there will be sharp differences about how Democrats and Republicans approach the idea of another stimulus package. Leslie, what's your take on that because we've heard from some Republicans that that's a non-starter? LESLIE SANCHEZ, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well you know if you look back to the last stimulus package, a lot of that was about consumer confidence. Was to make sure people felt that the government was responsive and I think that's why you saw a tremendous amount of support and people responded so rapidly. VELSHI: (INAUDIBLE) Coming together of the parties and getting something done. SANCHEZ: Exactly. Well in the sense that it wasn't Herbert Hoover. He wasn't going to repeat this dramatic call for action and there is no action. That being said when it comes to spending yes, we want government to be effective and responsive, but we don't want to see it running amok in terms of spending what we don't have. Increasing these deficits on something that's met more to be something for confidence than actually having an economic impact. VELSHI: That's a good point. Hillary lets bring you in. Hilary Rosen, Democrat strategist. Hilary, John McCain is hitting hard on this idea that if it is a Democratic president, a Democratic house and a Democrat senate running amok with spending might be the future. What do Democrats say about that? HILARY ROSEN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think you have a worse problem if you have either a Republican president and a Democratic Congress. What we've seen for the last several years is really gridlock where you had a Republican president and a senate that can't -- Republican that filibustered every significant piece of legislation. I think what you need is a very holistic approach and you need it to happen quickly and the only way you're going get that, really s if you have a strong Democratic Congress and a Democratic president. You have Barack Obama, number one, on this ridiculous charge of crazy liberal spending committing to stick with the pay as you go system that the House and Senate Democrats have stuck with over the last several years. The only thing that's busted that budget has been the president's spending on the war. So -- and on the tax cut, so when you look at Obama's healthcare plan, when you look at his stimulus package, when you look at his tax cut, those are all paid for under the Obama plan. So I think the key thing is to get it moving and to get it moving quickly which won't happen unless you have a strong Democratic president. ROMANS: I don't mean to interrupt, but I want to talk quickly while we can about the war spending because we are looking at a $454 billion deficit this year, $700 billion to maybe a trillion next year. Where does the war spending fit into that? ACHUTHAN: Well, in the very big picture and I don't mean to sound very crass here, but in the big picture it's not that much of a percentage of the budget or of the size of our economy. If you look over decades over of our big wars that we've had. I'm not minimizing at all the expense of life and everything else here. ROMANS: Of course. ACHUTHAN: However, in all these policies including the war spending and other things that are on the table here, from a business cycle perspective, forget the politics for a second, there are a couple of just factual things to think about. One is that we're in a recession that's getting worse. It's really right now starting to hit state and local governments. Right. That right now when you're having states and even I saw a story, I can't believe this, but the post office is thinking of laying off people for the first time in its history, when that starts happening in the midst of a deepening downturn, very dangerous, so for the federal government to get some support there could be useful, but then whoever is in the White House and has a stimulus package and there will be one, it is the timing which means whether or not it will be effective or not if it's McCain or Obama. If you time it right you can get a v-shaped economy which gives you jobs. ROMANS: Everybody stick with this. Everything you need to know about Barack Obama's plan for the economy, what he says, what Barack Obama says on healthcare on jobs and how much you would or would not be paying in taxes in an Obama administration. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: Welcome back to the election edition of YOUR MONEY. We just talked about John McCain's plan and now it's time to take a look at Barack Obama's plan to turn this economy around. In the short-term Obama favors a $450 plan to jump-start the economy and calls for a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures and it's all about jobs and Obama favors a $3,000 tax credit for each new job the company creates in the United States. Like John McCain, he wants to eliminate taxes on unemployment benefits and allow temporary, penalty-free withdrawals from retirement funds and there are hardship exemptions that this could encourage people to raise their retirement savings. VELSHI: The two candidates have very different plans for the economy and that's where you come in, you get to go to the polls to decide which direction we are going to head in for the next four years and possibly longer. We'll turn back to our analyst Lakshman Achuthan with the Economic Cycle Research Institute, right? Leslie Sanchez, a Republican strategist and CNN contributor. Hilary Rosen a Democratic strategist and CNN contributor and Emond Javers, Javers who joins us as well and he's with Politico. Emond lets start with you. It starts to get fuzzy because as you mentioned, John McCain has to on come into territory that he wouldn't typically get into. The two candidates have almost started a matching program on some of the things while they differ at the edges; fundamentally they're both saying similar things about mortgages or benefits for unemployment. Fundamentally, if a voter is watching this wanting to make a difference, wanting to vote for somebody who is going to make take a difference of their bottom line who is clearer here on the difference? ACHUTHAN: It's very tricky. It depends on what your perspective is, it depends if your think that we ought to have corporate tax rate cut which John McCain favors or whether you think that the Bush tax cuts from the past administration ought to be repealed which is what Barack Obama favors. You can't really answer that question unless you decide what kind of things you as a voter prefer. Both of these candidates have terrific Web sites which is detail exactly what they would do in almost every one of these cases, but as a voter you have to remember that there's almost nothing the United States president can do to affect the big issues. One thing that is really on people's minds is home values. Home values have been sliding and most Americans have the majority of their wealth stored in the equity in their house. There's almost nothing a president can do that's going bring your house value back up to where it was a couple of years ago. They can start to mitigate the pain on foreclosures and other things, but bringing that entire housing market back to where it was, that's just not going happen and it's very tricky for a president to do or to promise. ROMANS: Hilary, as a Democratic strategist let me ask you quick because I'm wondering what does Barack Obama want to do about so many desperate problems in the economy right now and does he have the ability to do that, if he's ham strung by these deficits and by the financial crises that has basically the response has been dictated by the current administration so far. ROSEN: That's why I think Ayman is so wrong because there's a widespread view that had the administration been more interventionist 18 months ago when these bad signs started occurring we might not be in the situation we're in. A couple of key things, is when you look at people's homes and when you look at housing values and you look at communities those are affected by several things. They're affected by jobs and they're affected by property taxes, they are effected by you know overall household income. So look at the places where Barack Obama addresses that. When he says let's give money to cities and states for infrastructure project, that's money that they're having to raise property taxes for now. When he says things like let's put a moratorium on foreclosures and let's regulate the kind of leverages and reserves that banks and other companies need to have for savings that ends up affecting credit availability and whether people can get loans and reasonable loans. So there are a host of areas here where a president that's actually interventionist, that focuses and pays attention to the holistic problem can make a huge different. VELSHI: Let's take up that point with Lakshman. We've been talking about this for a very, very long time. GDP comes out, it came out this week for the third quarter and it was negative. ACHUTHAN: Right. VELSHI: And back when GDP was positive, because when it came out the previous three quarters even though it was negative at the end of 2007 it didn't come out the first time as negative and the White House was out there. They didn't skip a beat saying we're not in a recession. Now Ed says I don't want to use the word recession. I don't want to call it. I don't want to label it. Hillary's right. Timing was everything here. This administration and this Federal Reserve took way too long to come around to the fact that this is serious. Now, to that point, is that the effect that the president can have by saying this is how serious it is and we're going to take a very close look at this as the show goes on, how serious it is and then saying this is what we do at the right time? ACHUTHAN: Exactly. I mean, look, there's a lot of water under the bridge that we can't go back and re-write history. So we are where we are which is we are in a recession. VELSHI: You can get yourself out of it. ACHUTHAN: Oh, no, no, no. There's critical issues on timing and policy. Regardless of the content of the policy of either Republicans or Democrats, it can be timed much more effectively if you understand where the wind is coming from. Is it at your back or in front of you and it's just like when you're in the playground and you are pushing someone on the swing. You don't push them in the middle it doesn't work, you push them when they're at the back and they get a good swing the other way. Same thing here with the timing of stimulus. The stimulus that was sent out whatever in May or June into the economy, too late. It was a flash in the pan. There's going to be another stimulus regardless of who is in the White House and that stimulus needs to be timed properly in order to get the v-shaped recovery because now we're going back. The epicenter of all of this is home prices and you might be able to do something to keep people in their homes to slow down the foreclosures, but the fundamental thing is jobs where we lost nine months -- ROSAN: It's worth noting that the reason the stimulus ended up taking so long is because the White House for six months resisted doing a stimulus package which is why the point Lakshman makes about going forward, it is so critically important to have a Congress and a president that addresses this in more lockstep. VELSHI: I want to hear from Leslie from this one, but we need to take a quick break. But I think the point we are all agreed on is whatever has to happen has to happen in an orderly and expeditious fashion. So we are going to have to discuss it, but hold that thought because we want to come back and continue this discussion. Two candidates and two completely different approaches to health care coverage. We're going to listen that debate and decide which one might be better for you and we want to get Leslie Sanchez's take on what is going on. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: OK, both presidential candidates agree that the healthcare system has got to be over hauled. But they disagree sharply over how to do it. Senator McCain wants to give Americas a tax credit so they can go out and find the health care plan that bests suits their families needs. Senator Obama believes the government should play a bigger role and supports a national insurance program called Universal Healthcare. ROMANS: A pretty wide gulp between the two candidates on this issue. To break down what all this means for your bottom line we are joined again by Lakshman Achuthan, Leslie Sanchez, Hilary Rosen and Emond Javers. ROMANS: Leslie, let's start with you; the health care plan of McCain is very, very different than Barack Obama. SANCHEZ: Absolutely. He's basically empowering the consumer versus empowering the government with federal mandates to go out and get this tucked in shirt. He's saying here's $5,000 in terms of refundable tax credit you go out and choose what you need. Critics are going to say look it costs upward of $12,000 annually for families to buy the coverage they need. There's a patchwork of systems to what health care is in America. There's no easy fix. He is looking at chose, someone that continues to allow people to have choice of doctors to continue to increase the quality of care and there's a lot of concern about nationalizing health care which disincentitising a lot of people to keep investing in research and development and what it does to healthcare overall. VELSHI: Hillary Rosen, what do you think? ROSEN: Well, two things. I think first of all, we're mischaracterizing the Obama plan which is not nationalizing health insurance. If you have employer-based health insurance you will still retain it. What he does is for those people who are uninsured there is a national healthcare system based on the one that government employees have that will allow more coverage for people who are currently uninsured. The big difference is that the Obama plan actually works more effectively in fixing the problems with the current system. Right now companies who don't pay health care costs or who minimize health care costs do so because their catastrophic insurance costs are so high. So the Obama health care plan helps companies deal with the catastrophic cost. Doctors -- ROMANS: Hillary it is Christine quickly, how does it address the skyrocketing cost of health care because one of the things that health affairs magazine or the health journal health affairs magazine found is they didn't feel there was a real addressing of the skyrocketing cost of healthcare. ROSEN: Well costs containment is a problem, I think, in general in the country and neither plan deals with it directly, but the Obama plan gets at that time more creatively, I think, which is that it says all right, what are the biggest costs. For doctors, the biggest costs are malpractice insurance. What the Obama plan does is it tries to assist doctors on guaranteeing on the malpractice insurance side so that when there's cost containment requirement put into the system doctors are more likely to cooperate. The McCain plan really is sitting out there by itself. No Republicans other than John McCain is even campaigning on this plan because it does more than just give a tax credit. What it does is it undoes a system of employer-based healthcare coverage that has been, you know, the cornerstone of health insurance in this country and it takes away the tax incentives for an employee's ability to have employer support that. SANCHEZ: I don't think we should mischaracterize that. It does impose a tax on employers that are providing this type of coverage, but there are also incentives for them to continue to be able to meet those needs. I don't think we should -- Yes, there are, but I don't think we should so easily say this will be a quick fix in this. Because there are a lot of questions about cost. There is a lot of questions, you know, it is interesting you're talking about malpractice, but it's also -- nobody's talking about tort reform and the protections that you need on that side. I just think that there is no easy fix when it comes to the health care problem. ROSEN: There's an easier fix than what Leslie is saying. The biggest problem right now in healthcare cost is accessibility; 43 million people do not have health insurance. The McCain plan does not address that in any substantive way. The Obama plan does, directly and quickly. ROMANS: We will leave that subject there for a moment, forget Wall Street, it's your job, your home, your savings, millions of people will be hurt by this economic crises. How to make sure you are not one of them. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. Food and water arrived today at an overcrowded refugee camp in Congo. A shaky cease-fire between government and rebel forces is holding. An estimated one million people have been displaced. Police confirm that they've found the gun used in the killings of actress Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and young nephew. It was found in a vacant lot near where the boy's body was found on Chicago's west side. Nobody has been charged in the killings. The government is warning nearly 400 passport applicants that a security breach may have left him open to identity theft. Most of the applicants live in the Washington, D.C., area. I'm Fredericka Whitfield. Now back to more of YOUR MONEY. VELSHI: Measuring the economy might be a science, but what makes the economy tick isn't. The U.S. economy, more so than any other worldwide economy, is based on how investors and ultimately consumers feel. We've taken a long, hard look at five measures of the economy that reflect how things really are out there to see if your fears and concerns are justified. We charted them on a scale of zero to ten, zero being the worst each of them have been since 1980, ten being the best. Here's what we found. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) VELSHI: One of the most important measures of how the economy is faring is if you have a job or not. The lowest unemployment rate since 1980 was in April of 2000, unemployment was at 3.8 percent. The highest unemployment rate since 1980 was November of 1982, 10.8 percent. On our scale, today's unemployment rate of 6.1 percent makes it a 6.8. Simply having a job is a start, but if your wages don't keep pace with inflation, you feel that, too. In 1980, the average income for a man in his 30s was about $39,000. In 1993, the average man in his 30s was making about $32,600 a year. Today according to a study by the Pew Charitable Trust Economic Mobility Project, the same man is making under $35,000, making it a relatively low 3.2 on our scale. Personal savings is the amount of money an individual holds on to after all their bills are paid. Back in 2005 the personal savings rate was negative 0.7 percent, but way back in 1981, the personal savings rate was as high as 12.2 percent. Right now we save a paltry 1.3 percent of our income, that's an unimpressive 1.6 on our scale. Industrial production measures the output of tangible goods, a car is made, and a gallon of oil is produced. Back in the fourth quarter of 1997 industrial production saw a quarterly increase of 10.7 percent. That is the high point on our scale. The low point was in the first quarter of 1991 when it was down 7.5 percent. Right now on our scale, industrial production is right near the bottom .82 and then we come to home prices. Midway through this year home price were down 4.8 percent from the same time last year. The high end of our scale was in 2005, home prices were up about 9.7 percent from the same time the year before. The low point is now. On our scale, home price appreciation is a zero. (END VIDEOTAPE) VELSHI: You can look at those numbers, those five measures of how the economy feels to you and you can see if you're feeling bad about it is most of it is clustered down by the low end. ROMANS: For more, you can check out Ali's companion story the gallery which is live on CNNMONEY.com. October was a cruel month for the economy and consumer confidence plunged to an all-time low, voters head to the polls on Tuesday scared stiff about recession and what that means for their jobs and their money, but could that sentiment improve after we elect our next president. For that, we turn to Brit Beemer, founder and chairman of America's Research Group and author of the new book "The Customer Rules." Brit there are so many reasons why the consumer is feeling pretty shaky right now. Once the election is out of the way is that one uncertainty they will get them to spend again or is this the beginning for the consumer? BRIT BEEMER, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, AMERICA RESEARCH GROUP: Don't hold your breath. You'll see in some impact after the election, but the situation is going to change, and if you look at the fact that most consumers out there don't see any light at the end of tunnel anywhere. They don't have home equity, they've watched their IRA go down and they have watched their stocks go down and the only thing they're holding on to is their job security, there won't be any bonuses and there is not going to be any raises next year for most people. So, when all of these things are put into play, keep in mind that most consumers will not get into a spending mode until next March, April or May because that's when they'll get the next income tax refund check. It's not a pretty picture. ROMANS: They're not about to go out there spending the borrowed money because they can't borrow money. BEEMER: They can't borrow money. Many banks are now lowering credit their limits that consumer had a $10,000 limit and now reduced to $7500, they had a $5,000 balance where before they could spend $5,000 and now they'll spend $2,500 before they're at their limits. So as banks are lowering more credit limits these consumers are even in a tighter crunch. VELSHI: Think back to 2001 after the attacks, the president came out and said go out, it's your responsibility, spend the money, show that we're not defeated and Americans largely did. It wasn't a bad year, but they did. Then we had the economic stimulus package earlier this year. Similar message a little bit more toned down but go out and spend that money, it doesn't entirely work either. At this point I've had callers call me and say I feel like I'm told not to spend money right now to save because things are so bad, but it is not going to hurt the economy if I save. I mean what should the consumer be thinking? It is going hurt the economy, but they need to. BEEMER: They have got to save is because one reason we can't afford these debt levels. The irony is all the old government data on debts is a question. They won't consider if you or I invest in the market they don't have that in savings, that's always investment. The whole calculation, 20 years ago people would buy stocks. We would buy CDs and that was a clear way to be able -- that was considered to be saving. If you go buy stock and they say that's not saving, because that's investing. VELSHI: Things may not be as grim as that chart indicated when it comes on the personal savings. BEEMER: Exactly. But the bigger issue is today -- let's look at the Christmas retail season. Retailers more concerned about Wall Street than Main Street and that's why I write a chapter of it in my book because if they'd have more people working in the stores and they'd have better deals. We'll have this huge crowd out on Black Friday. Our numbers say as many as 61 percent consumers will be shopping on Black Friday. Last year 48 percent of them shopped on Black Friday. A normal year is 33 percent because the consumers know that the best deals last season happened on Black Friday. VELSHI: Brit, lots of good advice and great stuff. I'm looking forward to the read, "The Customer Service Rules" because in the end good customer service is what does well for companies. ROMANS: All right. So, we're going to tell you how Senator Barack Obama is like Geico. You heard us. Stick around and find out. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: The Beatles once wrote that money can't buy love, but can it buy votes. You're looking at the amounts that Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have spent on TV ads in the general election. VELSHI: How does that translate into winning? Evan Tracey joins us now he is the founder and president of Campaign Media an analysis group. A media research company for political advertising and he's a CNN consultant. Evan thanks for being with us. Rough math here is this Obama is close to double on spending on TV ads than McCain. What do you look at and see how does that translate? Is it just more expensive because he buys ads in different places? Are we seeing twice the number of ads or twice as long? What are we seeing for double the money? EVAN TRACEY, PRESIDENT, CAMPAIGN MEDIA: Well, I mean look he's doing a little bit of everything. They're all in the same states right now, the battleground states and Barack Obama we saw this week was able to do 30-minute roadblock buys on network TV and he's had ads that are two-minutes long and he has ads in video games. It's a huge advantage to have this much more money than your opponent and you put a big message in balance. ROMANS: We will talk about that. You paid for 30 minutes and how much does something like that cost? He got more than 30 minutes didn't he? Didn't he kind of control the news cycle? That was a smart play or were people who were on the fence about him think it might have been overkill. TRACEY: There's some risk of that, but the reality was this was a smart play because it did take all the oxygen away from Senator McCain for about 24 hours with the new cycle. Basically the pre-game analysis, post game. This really took a lot of time away from the McCain campaign and that's the two things they're running out of is money and time. To lock up this much time for the event itself and the coverage around it is a really big advantage for Senator Obama. ROMANS: What does he achieve in that 30 minutes? TRACEY: Well, look, it's a pep talk for his supporters. This is the ultimate closing argument. You can take 30 minutes. You're going out and basically your people are watching this, but there are also some undecided voters right now that are getting a really in-depth closing argument as well as you're firing up your supporters to remind them to go out and vote and take nothing for granted. VELSHI: From your perspective, who has been more effective, never mind the spending, but the type of ads they're putting out there. TRACEY: The Obama campaign has been very effective, what they've done is they've used the money to their advantage in essence have a tiered campaign in these battleground states. In other words, they've matched John McCain dollar for dollar or probably more in just negative ads, but on top of that they've had a very effective healthcare campaign, telling voters when and where to vote and they've been able to mix in bio spots and respond to expenditure ads so they've been able basically to do everything. I kind of like it, they have the cavemen. VELSHI: Nobody has really had the ad that everybody talks about. TRACEY: The closest we've come to that in this election was McCain celebrity spots and that really scored high on both the timing and the message. The Obama campaign what they've done is they've layered in a bunch of different messages and they have not oversaturated any one particular message and everything ends with change. It's like a very good brand argument. ROMANS: A final thought about the McCain strategy. They have less money to spend and they're spending less, are they spending it well? TRACEY: Well they've really gained the system very well, with McCain/Feingold. They've used money from the RNC, they've had some independent expenditures, they have used their federal matching funds check and all in all they're getting blown out of the water as far as dollars go and that's made their message almost exclusively negative down the stretch so the perception of the voters is that McCain was much more negative than Barack Obama. VELSHI: Evan, good to talk to you. Evan is with the Campaign Media Analysis Group. If I were running one of the campaigns, I would have a game changer ad. ROMANS: What would it be? VELSHI: I would use the Etrade baby. ROMANS: Ooh! That's a good idea. VELSHI: I can't stop watching those ads. For a few weeks I stopped watching them because I was watching all the YouTube stuff of Sarah Palin and Tina Fey. Leslie, it sounds like the Republican campaign and the McCain campaign has, you know, they haven't been able to spend as much money. Do you think it's been entirely effective? What's been the game changer in your view? SANCHEZ: I don't know how it cannot be effective. I wrote a piece several months ago saying this could be Barack Obama, the $5 million man, you can run campaigns in Spanish, urban media and he can run media anywhere and that's what he did. You could have Goodyear blimps with signs. You're seeing just about everything, what a gross abuse of fund raising can do in political campaigns. I think two things are going to happen. One after this election they'll go back and review what kind of money is really fair in the process. We don't know where some of the smaller contributions came from. I think there will be a reevaluation of this process. The second part of that is despite the fact there's a tremendous air advantage on the air and ground advantage in terms of grassroots folks it's still a competitive race and that is because people fundamentally, those undecided voters aren't 100 percent committed yet and they'll tip-in their way. ROMANS: Hilary, how does it apply to people who might be on the fence about Barack Obama, if they see those huge numbers and think, wow! He's not the underdog. He's spending an awful lot of money and he's looking presidential in a 30-minute radio address, but he's not the president yet. ROSEN: Well, I think the idea of the 30-minute ad was as much about people's comfort level. I mean, you know, one of the things that's been trending very interestingly with this race is that since the start of the general election people want change. The Democratic message resonated but people weren't sure they were comfortable with Barack Obama. I think, you know, in a nutshell, that's what this -- that's what this media campaign has been about. The panoply of issues that he's been able to address and the intensity with which they've been able to spread the message. I think has given people a comfort level that is going result in him winning on Tuesday because they see him enough now in enough different settings with enough different messages. As Leslie said, addressing their niche issues in a way that John McCain just hasn't been able to do. ROMANS: We'll leave it there. We have a lot to get through so that you have all of the information you need to cast your vote. We keep urging you to take charge on Election Day. Your savings could hang in the balance. We'll reveal what the candidates have in store for your investments next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: How could Tuesday's election affect your investments? Senator Barack Obama wants to make it easier for you to make early withdrawals from your retirement savings. Senator McCain wants a 10 percent tax on 401(k) and IRA withdrawals for the next year. He was to take it down to that. And both candidates want to suspend the rule on seniors taking required annual distribution from their retirement accounts. ROMANS: We brought in Paul La Monica from CNNMONEY to talk about the investment strategy that voters should be looking at when they go into the voting booths. Paul, how do these two gentlemen differ on your money, your investments? PAUL LA MONICA, EDITOR AT LARGE, CNNMONEY.COM: In the case of the early withdrawals and for retirees they don't really differ that much. They both clearly want to make it easier for investors to get money out if they need to and a lot of people clearly need to in these uncertain times. I think what will be interesting is that because of the possible different policies that you might have under those two administrations there are already some people starting to make bets on what particular stops or sectors could be worth buying in the event of a President Obama or a President McCain. ROMANS: Let's look at places where they are similar. You mentioned no taxes on jobless benefits and also your not forcing seniors to have to start pulling stuff out of their retirement. Those are in response to the crises right now. Those are not long-term views. VELSHI: Right. ROMANS: Those are responsive to the crises right now. What about the sectors then? Are there sectors that do better under President McCain -- VELSHI: And does that even matter in this environment? LA MONICA: I think going forward it will matter. The credit crises will not remain with us hopefully forever. People I've spoken to have suggested that are different alternative energy stocks, particularly solar, wind that could do well under Obama. With McCain you could see coal stocks do well because he's been a proponent for liquid coal, clean coal, turning to defense, it's kind of the obvious one, but the usual knee-jerk reaction is a Republican will increase defense spending and possibly less under a Democrat. So, if Obama wins that might not be as favorable for defense contractors as it would be under McCain. ROMANS: Interesting on the energy front because you've had energy prices come down so much that you wonder what kind of heat there will be next year going into the fire burning underneath -- I'm sorry. Gas prices have come down more than a dollar just in the most recent months, but people at home aren't feeling the -- VELSHI: The same pressures that we were. ROMANS: Right. VELSHI: It's a bit of a stimulus. Its money that you didn't think you would have because the last stimulus got eaten up in large part in because of increased energy costs and indebt creased debt cost. LA MONICA: And right now most likely that's going into the savings rate starting to rise. So what they're saving on at the gas tank they're putting away for a rainy day until they feel more confident. Right now consumers are pulling back and you're seeing that in all of the data. But what you see during this downturn you see home prices plunging and you see industrial prices plunging, you see gas prices cut, you see interest rates falling. These are all the things that are happening in the context of a recession, looking ahead, on the recovery side, all of those things at some point will turn around and go back up. So those could be good longer term plays once the recovery gets here. One of the things is take advantage of the low interest rate. It's not only for the household; it's an opportunity for the government itself. Right now, U.S. Treasury debt is hovering around 4 percent. We are sitting on trillions of dollars of national debt. Why not refinance that stuff? For the U.S. government budget that's an opportunity. Put out a -- you could have a 50-year U.S. treasury bond. ROMANS: Let me bring in the energy question again. I'm interested in this idea of prices coming down that somehow all of those grand plans of the campaign trail about energy independence in the next ten years and these changes to the economy; maybe they don't have the political will for that anymore. LA MONICA: What you have to remember about this is that voters are not always a leading indicator, they don't sort of respond as the price goes up and down penny by penny. Voters got the enormous shock of the high gas prices over the summer. They're still shocked and they are going to go under the voting booth still feeling the reserverations of that even if the prices has actually come down as much as a dollar as we've seen. The rhetoric on the campaign trail still works and people will be thinking that when they go into vote. VELSHI: Yeah I think you are right. I don't think people are going to run back to their SUVs and things like that. Hang on to all of you. We are going to get your final thoughts of what is going to happen on Tuesday. But first here is this week's "Right on Your Money." (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SHEIRESA MCRAE, CONSUMERS AFFAIRS EDITOR, BLACK ENTERPRISE: Generally, Americans aren't great savers. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Americans save less than three percent of their disposable income. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And many cash strapped consumers are now wondering about their financial future. MCRAE: The economy has greatly affected how people are saving with tomorrow in mind as opposed to three from now. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You should have money put away to cover at least three to six months of expenses. MCRAE: This is very important to build a savings. Especially if you come into a point in your life where you have an economic crises. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Before you start to save, put it down and create a budget. MCRAE: Keep track of everything that you spend every day. This will help you decide what's going toward needs and how much is going toward wants. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then make saving money a habit. MCRAE: One way to build your savings is by treating your deposits as if it were a bill and staying committed to that deposit, paying that amount in full each month. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that's this week's "Right on Your Money." (END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: This is the information that you need to have to figure out what's best for your money in the voting booth. VELSHI: What we want to do is we want to ask our guests to give us a brief of what you want our viewers to take away and take it to that voting booth when they get there. Hilary lets start with you. ROSEN: I think that so much of this is about people's gut instinct about change. We have seen two candidates on the campaign trail for a long time talking about their commitment to doing things differently, but one has been around a really long time and had a lot of chances on the issues that matter. And to take leadership roles and votes that will make a difference and John McCain didn't. Barack Obama is fresh enough. He understands, in a very specific and organic way, the needs of American families and the economic crisis we're in. That's why I think he's going to win on Tuesday. ROMANS: Leslie, 45 seconds. SANCHEZ: Despite the voter fatigue and that this should be a Democratic year for everything else; the race is still very competitive. Part of it has to do with as fabulous an inspiring message that Senator Barack Obama has, just doesn't have the leadership and experience that makes people feel comfortable to go to Hilary's point. I think part of the closing of the gap; McCain has done it on taxes and spending. This idea of spreading the wealth will hurt small business; it is really going to have an impact in hiring and growing those jobs in 2009 particularly in the most immediate time and also cutting in defense spending. VELSHI: Let's go to -- Eamon, you have to give me 30 seconds and not use the word depends. Which one of these is better for the American voter when it comes to their money? ROMANS: And no on the one hand. EMOND JAFERS: It depends. Call me a horrible cynic, but what I would say is this look at the plan that both of these politicians and take them with a large grain of salt. They are both offering up a lot of promises on the campaign trail, but what they would actually be able to do in the White House may be very different. It may be curtailed dramatically by the economy and by negotiations with Congress. So look at these promises as sort of the ideal direction each candidate would like to go, but lower your expectations because that's where the rubber meets the road and that's where they'll hit the reality wall in 2009. ROMANS: Actually, we said that over and over again, I mean if both of them got everything that they wanted, they couldn't, right? ACHUTHAN: And we're still in, no matter what happens on November 4th, we're still in a global recession. We haven't had this since the early 80's. It's a bit of a tough time. We don't have an upturn in sight. The hallmark of the rescission is the weak job market. Also an understanding the business cycle is continuing to go down. VELSHI: All right and because Paul La Monica, our editor at large at CNNMONEY.com, he's going to write a lot over the next few days. He has his coffee cup there on the Web site. One thing we don't need a vote for, the majority of you out there say the economy is issue number one and we here at CNN are committed to covering it for you. ROMANS: E-mail us your thoughts, your questions, your concerns at firstname.lastname@example.com. VELSHI: And make sure you stick with CNN for the best political team in television. ROMANS: Election Day coverage starting on Monday, "AMERICAN MORNING" at 6:00 am Eastern and going non-stop live until the vote determines who the next president of the United States will be. VELSHI: We will see you back here next weekend. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)


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(Click on the book art above to purchase.)
For centuries homosexuals have been vilified and persecuted by the Catholic Church, but throughout all of its history the Church has had a very inconvenient secret. Many of its clergy and religious men and women, even those in the highest echelons of the Church, were and are homosexual. Little was known of the lives these religious people live until the publication, in 1981, of the groundbreaking, Gay Catholic Priests; A Study of Cognitive and Affective Dissonance.
I am the author of that study and I am a gay priest. But the media firestorm that erupted after its publication and the backlash within my religious community because of its publication eventually destroyed my public priesthood. The story of my 13-year battle with the Church to save my ministry exemplifies the spiritual isolation, emotional distress and ecclesiastical reprisals every gay priest most fears.
A Brief Description
Secrecy, Sophistry And Gay Sex In The Catholic Church provides an intimate and disturbing look into the unseemly inner-workings the Catholic Church. It is primarily a story about how this institution deals with dissent in its midst, but it also shows to what lengths the Church will go to silence a whistle-blower. What I am about to recount happened between 1981 and 1994. It involves the highest levels of the Vatican bureaucracy, secret documents, corporate incompetence, canonical corruption, and institutionalized homophobia on an epic scale.
The publication of my dissertation broke the seal on the Vatican's gay secret. The press dubbed me "The Gay Priest," but my research and what it implies made patently clear that I wasn't the only gay priest. In fact, there is a sizable segment of the clergy population that is gay and these men are forced to live duplicitous lives of repression in secret.
The Church's single-minded effort to quash the emerging story and silence me showed that I needed to be "dealt with" in the most severe fashion; an example had to be made of me. If other priests started coming out of the closet, demanding to be treated with dignity and respect it would certainly undercut the entirety of Catholic sexual moral theology—there is no place for non-reproductive sexuality in that paradigm.
The irony is that at the same time my story was unfolding an unimaginable scandal, involving hundreds of Catholic priests across the globe, was also brewing. Cardinals, bishops and provincials worldwide were, and still are, furtively shuffling pedophile priest from one crime scene to another. They were, and still are, involved in a massive corporate cover up of their own crimes and those of their brother clergy.
While I am being singled out for 13 years of Church vitriol, public character assassination and communal shunning—my superiors claim that they are simply trying to protect the Church from scandal—these same Church leaders and others are lying, prevaricating and sabotaging any effort to uncover the burgeoning clergy sexual abuse scandal that would soon rock the front pages of newspapers all over the world.
The public panic, among Church officials, exhibited toward me—a single up-front gay priest in their midst—is in stark contrast to their apathetic and anemic response to the systemic clergy sexual abuse that engulfs them.
I am confident making the comparison between my struggle and the clergy sex abuse scandal, because I have first-hand knowledge of this abuse criminality. I was repeatedly sexually molested as a 14-year-old boy in an Oblate seminary in southern Illinois.
My story is the story of a Church that will go to any length, even to violate its core principles—Gospel values that form the fundamental tenets of faith—to protect its public image. In other words, this is a story of a Church out of control.
Secrecy, Sophistry And Gay Sex In The Catholic Church: The Systematic Destruction Of An Oblate Priest, is presented in two distinct parts.
- Part 1 is a detailed account of my 13-year struggle with the religious community I once belonged to, The Missionary Oblates Of Mary Immaculate, to preserve my priesthood. It reads like an ecclesiastical who-done-it.
- Part 2 is my complete doctoral thesis, Gay Catholic Priests; A Study of Cognitive and Affective Dissonance. I included it in this volume, because this is precisely what set this controversy in motion. It illustrates and reveals the plight of gay Catholic clergy and the fierce repression the Vatican imposes upon them. It is also the 30th anniversary of its limited publication as a monograph before the Vatican silenced me. It's been out of print for well over 25 years.
I invite you to "Like" us on Facebook HERE, "Follow" us on Twitter HERE and visit our new site and blog HERE.

subset: commoncrawl


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Tag: 'lunch in paris'
February 8, 2010 at 1:20 pm
I enjoyed hot chocolate, a great table, and good conversation with Elizabeth Bard at Angelina's near the Louvre on my trip to Paris last year Look, there are her fingers!
Elizabeth came to Paris almost a decade ago and never really left. While she was studying abroad, she fell in love with a Frenchman, eventually married him, and slowly learned how to make a life in the city of lights. Her story is told in her new book Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes which includes dozens of recipes that marked special moments during her transition. These include recipes for seduction, meals to warm you up when your apartment doesn't have central heat, and slimming summer recipes for the bikini days of French vacation.
I talked to Elizabeth about her book and particularly about what anyone can do to make their kitchen more "Frenchie." You can catch up with her on the Lunch in Paris Facebook fan page.
Q: One of the most obvious traits of French cooking that I noticed in your book was the […]


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Is functional but ugly Craigslist trying to ditch its terribly outdated layout for something prettier? A job listing on Craigslist (where else?) for Craigslist is looking for hands-on Senior UI/Front-End/Usability Engineers to improve the Craigslist user experience and develop new products and features that'll make users swoon.
That's literally what the job listing says. But would you want a redesign to Craigslist? Probably not. The layout is stupid minimal and efficient to a fault sometimes but it's also the magic behind the classifieds website too. It's unlikely Craigslist would do anything dramatic but it'd be nice to see some new features for a more polished experience. Maybe they'll fix the spam and bring back personals! [ via TechCrunch]


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Here you can download full episodes of Flip or Flop season 3 tv series in high quality and low size. We will update this page with direct download links and complete tv packs. On this page you will find download links to Flip or Flop season 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 television show.WATCH NOW
The first episode of the Reality, series Flip or Flop season 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 was released in 2014-10-07 by HGTV. The TV show was created by and directed by . Actors in the cast include Tarek El Moussa, Christina El Moussa. The avarenge rating on IMDB: is / 10. Series awards - .
Other seasons of the show
Series info


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0 Programs with Gregory Weyandt Starting with "E"
Gregory Weyandt focuses his practice on Alternative Dispute Resolution. His trial experience includes health, disability, fiduciary, securities, tax and trust, products liability, construction, insurance, personal injury, banking and trade secret issues. He tried over 150 cases to juries in Minnesota, Wisconsin and federal courts. He is the recipient of the 2008 David Graven Public Service Award. Mr. Weyandt is a past Fellow of the Academy of Court Appointed Masters, Past President of the Minnesota Chapter of ABOTA, and a past Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Previously a partner at Dorsey and Whitney and before that at Rider Bennett, he is of-counsel with Briol & Associates, PLLC in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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Former head of education to lead CAMFED Zambia [8 March 2007]
FT.com: All in a good cause (external link)
CAMBRIDGE, UK, 2 March 2007 CAMFED International, a Cambridge, UK-based organization that supports girls education in rural communities in Africa, announced today that it has raised more than $1.2 million through the Financial Times Seasonal Appeal.
The Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) was honored to be the first organization selected for the Seasonal Appeal. The Financial Times ran articles every week from the beginning of December through mid-January highlighting CAMFEDs work and featuring graduates who have been empowered by the organizations programs. The special series encouraged readers to donate to the organization and greatly increased awareness of the importance of girls education worldwide.
"The Financial Times was proud to support CAMFED as the beneficiary of our Seasonal Appeal, and the response from our readers was extremely generous," said Lionel Barber, the editor of the Financial Times. Their giving will enable CAMFED to support more than 2,000 girls in Africa through to the end of their secondary education."
Since its founding in 1993, CAMFED has helped over 300,000 children in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana and Tanzania to go to school. CAMFED empowers girls from impoverished backgrounds to live economically independent lives and protect themselves from HIV by supporting them through secondary school. CAMFED makes a minimum four-year financial commitment to each girl. The organization pays for all educational costs, including school clothing, fees, shoes and stationery.
Girls education is recognized as the most effective weapon in the global fight against HIV/AIDS and securing education for girls in Africa promises unparalleled economic and social benefits, said Ann Cotton, Executive Director of CAMFED International. CAMFED thanks the Financial Times and its readers for their remarkable generosity.
Research from international agencies including the United Nations and the UK Department for International Development has shown that for each additional year of education a woman in Africa obtains beyond elementary school, her income increases by 15 percent, her vulnerability to HIV/AIDS drops significantly, and her risk of dying in childbirth greatly decreases. An estimated 121 million children worldwide are not receiving an education; 24 million of those are girls from sub-Saharan Africa.
More information on CAMFED International and the Financial Times Seasonal Appeal can be found at http://www.ft.com/appeal and http://www.camfed.org.
Brooke Hutchinson
E: firstname.lastname@example.com
Joe Streng
E: email@example.com
About CAMFED
The Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) is an international organization working since 1993 to solve long-term health, economic and social issues in Africa by investing in girls education. In 2006, more than 300,000 children in some of the poorest regions of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana and Tanzania benefited from CAMFEDs education program. CAMFED is co-chair of the United Nations Girls Education Initiative, advises the UK governments Department for International Development, and their founder and Executive Director, Ann Cotton, was the UK Social Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004 and a Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship winner in 2005. www.camfed.org


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Value Line is regarded as the best independent research available. More than just recommendations, Value Line provides the rationale behind its picks for greater understanding.
The Automotive Industry has come a long way in its recovery from the downturn in 2008-2009. Industry production/sales and earnings accelerated sharply in 2010 and 2011, with many original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and auto parts suppliers posting record results. However, the industry began facing some challenges in late 2011, with increased pressure heading into 2012. Automotive companies maintained relatively decent results through the first half of 2012, despite notable headwinds from weakness in Europe and some softening in emerging markets. However, the overall environment became more difficult in the second half of 2012, with further deterioration in the European market.
Indeed, although automotive OEM and supplier results were mixed, with some better performers, the overall sector showed increased signs of weakness in the back half of 2012.
One of the core industry themes in 2012, which should remain highly relevant in 2013, has been the contrast between strength in the North American market and weakness in Europe. On the one hand, the U.S. automotive industry strengthened over the course of 2012. The domestic market has continued to perform very well as it remains in the midst of a cyclical recovery, with an overall upward trend. Strong sales results in the later part of 2012 have helped reinforce investor confidence in the domestic market. Indeed, the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of light vehicle sales eclipsed the 14 million level at the start of 2012, and stayed above this range throughout the year, with the exception of a slight dip in May (13.7 million). Notably, the September SAAR reached 14.9 million, which at that point represented the highest level since 2008. This was followed by an impressive November result, as SAAR climbed to 15.6 million, boosted by Hurricane Sandy-driven demand.
In contrast to the strengthening U.S. automotive industry, the European market continues to deteriorate. The weak environment in Europe has been a significant headwind for automotive companies, though some have managed better than others. The outlook for the region remains highly uncertain, as production/sales declines haven't shown any signs of slowing. In fact, European sales trends continued to decelerate near the end of 2012. Moreover, the weakness has spread across Europe to regional markets that had previously held up better. The production cuts have resulted in excess capacity across the industry, and most OEMs and suppliers have been forced to undertake substantial restructuring, with a focus on capacity reduction.
Investors have become increasingly cautious regarding the automotive industry. Both OEM and supplier stocks were among the strongest performing sectors in 2011, and maintained solid overall momentum in the earlier part of 2012. However, volatility picked up for the broader group of stocks throughout the course of 2012, with most of these shares underperforming the market for the full year. Although there is plenty of uncertainty, both in the domestic market and abroad, we look for similar trends in 2013. The domestic market should continue to perform well, but with more moderate results. Both sales growth and profitability should decelerate, with SAAR likely stabilizing near the recent high-14 million range. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen at what point the European market will bottom out, but clearly it's still on the decline. Even with the sharp decline in 2012, European sales will still probably drop in the low-to-mid single digit range in 2013. Moreover, additional capacity reduction may be needed, which should weigh on the bottom lines of automotive companies. In addition to production and sales declines, profitability may take a hit from a weaker sales mix. Indeed, there were already signs in the later part of 2012 of a mix shift away from premium vehicles in many European markets. This mix shift could affect both the OEMs, in terms of pricing/profitability, and suppliers, with lower average content value per vehicle. Meanwhile, results from emerging markets have been mixed, but softer overall. Stimulus initiatives have helped to a degree in some of these regions, like Brazil, but underlying demand appears to have weakened. Latin America, which has become an increasingly important market, should face pressure in 2013.
Although the near-term industry outlook will likely be more challenging, there should be opportunities for investors. Valuations are pretty attractive across the industry, so investors can focus on companies that are better positioned to perform in this challenging environment. Notably, there was a greater divergence in sector stock performance in 2012, and we expect this trend to persist in 2013, with a clear separation between better positioned and weaker positioned OEMs and suppliers. Companies with strong global diversity, and balanced exposure to emerging markets should perform better. In the auto parts group, there are many suppliers that have exposure to secular growth themes, including clean technology and safety, which make them stand out as investment candidates in the current environment.
At the time of this article's writing, the author did not have positions in any of the companies mentioned.


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BlackBerry COO, Kristian Tear speaks at the BlackBerry 10 launch in Mexico
Since January 30th we've launched BlackBerry 10 in a number of regions all around the world. One of the top questions I'm getting online is "When can I get my hands on a shiny new BlackBerry 10 device?" Well – if you haven't already, your first step should be to register here for the latest updates in your region. Your next step is to keep reading!
To help keep you looped in, I've decided to compile a list of where and when you can purchase your very own BlackBerry 10 smartphone. With more and more markets launching each week, I'll be sure to update you with new information, as it becomes available. As soon as we confirm dates with our carriers and are ready to announce them you'll be able to find them here. We can't wait to welcome new BlackBerry 10 owners from around the world.
BlackBerry 10 is available for purchase in the following countries:
As of March 26, 2013 the complete list now includes:
- Australia
- Austria
- Bahrain
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Dominican Republic
- Egypt
- France
- Germany
- Hong Kong
- India
- Indonesia
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Italy
- Jordan
- Kuwait
- Lebanon
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- Nigeria
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Poland
- Puerto Rico
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia (KSA)
- Singapore
- South Africa
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- United Arab Emirates (UAE)
- United States
The rollout is continuing with a number of other countries planning to release the BlackBerry Z10 in the near future. Stay tuned for future launch dates in regions around the world.
Have you picked up your BlackBerry 10 smartphone? Share your favorite features with us in the comments below.


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Bike Lanes Coming to Downtown in New Plan
Bicycles and a bike path are a vital part of the Downtown Master Plan that city officials are working on.
Axel Doulph, co-owner of Yakima's Revolution Cycles on Fruitvale Blvd, says if more safe pathways were constructed in Yakima more people might park the car and pedal to work.
"There are few bicycle lanes in the area ... especially those that bring people downtown. If more safe lanes were constructed yeah, more people would probably feel comfortable to ride bikes."
Doulph says currently the cycling community in Yakima is small and many people ride mountain bikes, But if the city puts an emphasis on safe bicycle lanes around town more people may choose peddling over commuting in the car.


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Find schools and get information on the program that's right for you.
Powered by Campus Explorer
Artists and designers are directly responsible for our ideals of feminine beauty. Today we blame designers for dictating that every woman should be six-foot tall and barely tip the scales at 120. However the further we go back into art history, the more responsibility artists, particularly painters, have to bear. Before men even began painting the female nude, they began to make value judgements, often sexual in nature, as to the ideal model. And having chosen her, they continued to mould her by pushing paint this way and that until they arrived at their ideal Venus, Aphrodite, Eve, or Odalisque. Whether goddess or prostitute, their images had an effect upon all those who viewed them. Women took their "looks" based upon what these artists dictated because men chose their women based upon these ideals.
One of the most grossly dictatorial artists along this line was Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres (pronounced Ang). Born in 1780, he lived to the ripe old age of 87 and during much of this time he was such a powerful influence upon both French painting and high society few had the nerve to dispute his elegantly drawn female figures whether clothed or otherwise. The most prodigious student of Jacques-Louis David, (pronounced Da-veed), Ingres emphasised drawing over painting, mass over colour. His Grande Odalisque, painted in 1814, is perhaps his best-known work, and certainly a prime example of the lengths to which an artist will go to bend, shape, fold and mutilate the female figure into his ideal of feminine beauty. Everything about the Turkish harem mistress is elegantly boneless. There is a contorted quality to the pose, and her arms, her legs, even her fingers remind one not so much of limbs but tentacles. Even her feet seem to lack any anatomical structure. Everything is serpentine. Her torso is elongated to the point Ingres seems to have added at least two or three extra vertebrae, yet her hips are generous to a fault. Though a master of drapery, textures, and painting technique, he would put to shame today's fashion designers in his single-minded subjugation of the female figure.
Contributed by Lane, Jim20 June 1998


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Selecting your vehicle's make, model, and year allows us to display only parts and items specific to your car's model and year.
Part# CH24325
Mfg# 641150
Be the First to Review
OPGI Price: $74.99
Part Type: (P) High Performance, designed to improve performance
Years: 1961-1972
Sold As: KIT
2018 Skylark Catalog Page: 315
For -8 "Dual Inlet Kit" for Dual-Feed Holley without gauge (except 4010/4011), -8 "ProFlex" stainless steel braided hose and a "Full Flow Hose Ends". Includes -8 male inlet, 1/8" female pipe port for optional fuel pressure gauge and fuel bowl washers.


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Takers and The Last Exorcism delivered sizable debuts in a near photo finish for the weekend top spot, while Avatar's Special Edtion relaunch yielded modest numbers. Overall weekend business was off eight percent from the same timeframe last year, when The Final Destination led.
In Sunday's studio estimates, The Last Exorcism was barely ahead with $21.3 million versus Takers' $21 million, propped up by its $9.4 million Friday. But Takers led on Saturday and gained the overall weekend lead when Sunday's returns were counted. Both pictures, though, were overestimated, as were most movies.
Takers wound up bagging $21 million on approximately 2,600 screens at 2,206 locations. The heist thriller tripled the start of Armored, and it came in only a bit behind last summer's higher-profile The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. Its initial attendance was also nearly 50 percent greater than similar titles like Dead Presidents, ATL and Street Kings. Distributor Sony Pictures' research showed that 52 percent of Takers' audience was female and 51 percent under 25 years old.
Claiming $20.4 million on around 3,500 screens at 2,874 locations, The Last Exorcism reinforced the seemingly perennial popularity of supernatural horror movies, particularly serious ones about hauntings or exorcisms. Its opening ranked well above average for the sub-genre, grossing more than Exorcist: The Beginning and The Unborn (2009). The last expressly exorcism-themed movie, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, though, had a much bigger start, making $30.1 million out of the gate in 2005. Last Exorcism's estimated attendance also trailed such titles as The Amityville Horror (2005), Stigmata and The Haunting in Connecticut. Distributor Lionsgate's exit polling indicated that 52 percent of Last Exorcism's audience was female, 65 percent was under 25 years old and 54 percent was Latino, a segment that usually responds to this type of picture.
Avatar: Special Edition landed in 12th for the weekend with $4 million at 812 3D locations. That wasn't too shabby for a picture that's been universally available on home video for the past few months and that was nearly universally seen in theaters to begin with. However, it did not chart among the top re-issue openings, despite a prominent new marketing campaign. Avatar's lifetime gross finally pushed past the $750 million mark and stands at a mighty $753.8 million.
For more Last Exorcism and Takers analysis, click here to read the Weekend Briefing.
Last weekend's champion, The Expendables, fell 44 percent to $9.5 million, lifting its total to a solid $82 million in 17 days. It lost further ground to Inglourious Basterds, the "men on a mission" title from last August, which had $91.8 million through its 17th day.
Eat Pray Love wilted further compared to its analogue from last August, Julie & Julia. Eat slipped 44 percent to $6.8 million, increasing its sum to $60.5 million in 17 days. Julie was down 27 percent to $8.8 million at the same point, though Eat maintained a slight edge in total gross.
The Other Guys had a strong fourth weekend hold for a Will Ferrell movie. The action comedy eased 38 percent to $6.3 million and has accumulated $99 million in 24 days. It held much better than Step Brothers and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy in their fourth weekends, though overall estimated attendance was about the same for all three.
Inception was still firmly in the mix as well, edging out The Other Guys for smallest percentage drop among nationwide holdovers. Off 38 percent, the mind-bending caper nabbed $4.9 million for a tremendous $270.5 million total in 45 days.
The second weekend holdovers had little to offer. Vampires Suck bled profusely as this type of spoof often does, tumbling 57 percent to $5.2 million and upping its sum to $27.8 million in 12 days. Nanny McPhee Returns held worse than its predecessor, dropping 44 percent to $4.7 million for a $17 million total in ten days.
The Switch continued to track similarly to Love Happens and was down 46 percent to $4.6 million, growing its total to $16.4 million in ten days. Piranha 3D lost its teeth just like an ordinary creature feature, off 57 percent to $4.3 million for a $18.3 million tally in ten days. Lottery Ticket scratched off 64 percent, collecting $3.9 million for a $17.3 million total in ten days.
Related Story� Weekend Briefing: 'Last Exorcism,' 'Takers,' 'Avatar' Shoot for Late Summer Action
Last Weekend� 'Expendables' Battle On, 'Vampires,' 'Piranha' Settle for Scraps
This Timeframe in Past Years:� 2009 - 'Final Destination' Rips Into Top Spot� 2008 - 'Tropic Thunder' Leads Quiet Summer Close� 2007 - 'Halloween' Severs Labor Day Record� 2006 - 'Illusionist' Impresses on Labor Day Weekend� 2005 - 'Transporter 2' Drives to Labor Day Record
Related Charts� Weekend Box Office Results� 2010 Grosses
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text: We will keep you at the head of the pack with our high performance 350Mhz CAT5e custom patch cables. Category 5 Enhanced high speed cabling is a pre-requisite for today's performance demanding Ethernet and gigabit networks. Our CAT5e Custom Patch Cables are well constructed using Enhanced Cat5e bulk cable, which consists of 4 unshielded twisted pairs, 24 AWG, stranded conductors, and a PVC jacket. Our Enhanced Cat5e custom 350Mhz patch cables easily handle bandwidth intensive applications and more. Our UL certified patch cables meet all the TIA/EIA standards. We terminate the non-booted Enhanced Cat5e cables with plugs, which are staggered and are plated with 50 microns of gold plating per contact. We terminate the snag less booted Enhanced Cat5e cables with short body RJ45 plugs, which are plated with 50 microns of gold plating per contact. Constructed with high-quality wire and a shortened body plug will keep Near-end Crosstalk (NEXT) levels to a minimum. Our snag less boot prevents unwanted cable snags during installation/maintenance and provides extra strain-relief.


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5:00 pm
Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman "Blossom Bawls While Ruff Has A Ball with Balls" Ruff is trying to market "Ruffball," a brand new game that's supposed to sweep the nation! Unfortunately, Ruffball is interesting for only about six seconds. Ruff sends Talia and Liza to meet with a physics teacher to learn how to make Ruffball a little more exciting; and he sends Sterling to a stadium to learn how to broadcast a baseball game on the radio. D
5:30 pm
Nightly Business Report Tonight on Nightly Business Report, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hints at when the central bank may start reeling in all the stimulus and it could be sooner than many think. NBR talks to JPMorgan Chief Economist Bruce Kasman about what it could mean for your money. And, a game changer in health care. D
5:56 pm
NewsHour Promo NULL
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7:00 pm
Nature "The White Lions" Deprived of protective coloring on Africa's grasslands, the rare white lions born there seldom live to maturity. In South Africa's Kruger National Park, two white sister cubs seem to be beating the odds as cameras follow their family group consisting of their mother, aunt and the aunt's cubs. The two adult females must be extra vigilant and wily to raise their offspring without a male to protect them.G
8:00 pm
NOVA "Hunt for the Supertwister" A NOVA camera team chases storms across the Midwest to capture hair-raising footage of destructive twisters in action. The show focuses on the multi-pronged efforts of two University of Oklahoma scientists to improve the forecasting of twisters - one that uses supercomputers to model virtual tornadoes, another that sends out storm-chasers to gather live data from real storms.G
9:00 pm
Secrets of the Dead "Airmen and the Headhunters" Dayak tribesmen of Borneo, known for taking the heads of their enemies, rescue a U.S. bomber crew, shot down over the Japanese-occupied island during World War II. The tribe feeds and protects the crewmen, then leads them to the base of a British special ops officer and Australian commandos. The program features interviews with a surviving crew member, Dayak tribespeople, and Japanese and Australian veterans.G
10:00 pm
Life In Cold Blood "Dragons of the Dry" From iguanas emerging from a tropical swamp to a face-to-face encounter with a monitor lizard in the Australian desert, David Attenborough traces lizards' colonization of the Earth. The first step was the evolution of hard-shelled eggs, and he searches out examples around the world of how lizards protect their eggs and young. Part 3 of 5G
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Charlie Rose NULL


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Spirit HD iPad Review
We play a lot of HD versions of games that don't include any new content. Some aren't worth your time, but others are actually more enjoyable due to the larger screen, and that's how we'd describe Spirit HD. With more space to move you spirit around, this casual title will haunt your iPad for a while.
Spirit HD is quite original. You must circle around enemies in order to create a dimensional flux and suck them in. Circling many enemies at once, or multiple enemies of the same type in succession, gives you bonus points. The goal is to clear out as many enemies as possible without losing all three of your lives.
As you progress through the game, more challenging enemies will appear. Some of these shoot lasers, move quickly back and forth, or sporadically start and stop. There are also enemies that have a captured spirit trailing behind them. Encircling just the baddie without getting the captured spirit caught in the fray will set it free, after which you can consume it for an extra life.
All it's missing are the pyrotechnics.
From the get-go you can access two game modes: Normal and Extreme. They are pretty much self-explanatory, the latter being a hard mode that starts off with tons of enemies on the screen. Both have separate online leaderboards through OpenFeint that tell you each person's high score and the round they reached in that run.
The difficulty curve of Spirit HD is a little daunting to newcomers. You'll certainly die a lot before learning the ins and outs. A nice feature to remedy this is adjustable sensitivity for the touch controls. You'll want to test each of these out until you find the setting that best fits you.
If you don't own an iPad, you can also check out the iPhone version of the game for the same $1.99 price tag. It's an enjoyable action game that you'll want to keep coming back to.


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Hillcrest Manor & Rehabilitation Center in Sunnyside held its annual Care Partner Appreciation Tea yesterday to recognize its employees and all their efforts in providing quality care for the residents of the home.
Featured speakers included Elizabeth Emery-Osborn, resident Don Coleman, resident Anna Omlin and registered nurse Marsha Van de Graaf.
Emery-Osborn represented the families of residents. She spoke about her grandmother's care at Hillcrest.
"We (our family) appreciate all of you for taking care of my grandmother, Ardis Emery," she said.
She said she and her family has felt welcome at the manor and the staff members have provided them a comfortable setting for Emery.
"You have shown us how much you really care. I know grandma is in good hands. Hillcrest is grandma's home now," she stated. "My children are comfortable here. They love you and we love you.
"Speaking from the heart, I know bringing grandma to Hillcrest was the right decision."
Coleman said he wanted to thank the staff "from the heart" because they are very caring, and he wanted them to know his appreciation.
"Everybody here has been just wonderful...all the care, all the love...Thank you very much," said Omlin.
Hillcrest Manor was awarded Facility of the Year honors by Eagle Healthcare, the manor's parent company, according to Van de Graaf.
She said 2007 is the third time the facility has been given this award and it was due in part to the perfect surveys and the teamwork demonstrated by staff.
"The good news is there is five thousand dollars we can give back to the community as a part of this recognition," Van de Graaf announced.
Hillcrest Manor also rewarded employees who have served its elders for five, 10, 15 and 20 years, with an anniversary pin.
To conclude the afternoon program Cruz Hall was recognized as the 2007 Employee of the Year for her compassion, smile and her willingness to help boost employee morale.
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Location and General Characteristics
The Wenonah neighborhood is located on the southern edge of Minneapolis. Highway 62 is the southern border and 54th Street is its northern extent. Beyond the main southern border, a small piece of the neighborhood extends into Richfield. The neighborhood is bordered by Cedar Avenue and Lake Nokomis on the west and 34th Avenue on the east. Wenonah neighborhood is named after Hiawatha's mother, the daughter of Nokomis, from a legend that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow attributes to Ojibwe people in his poem, The Song of Hiawatha. Before 1900 the neighborhood was a major American Indian center. The majority of the existing single-family homes were built between the 1920s and the 1960s. A large reason for the development in Wenonah during this time was the availability of streetcar routes and rail lines that date back to 1865. Today, Wenonah is part of the Nokomis community and the Nokomis East Neighborhood Association (NENA). NENA encompasses a total of four neighborhoods, including Keewaydin, Minnehaha and Morris Park. Public and shopping amenities abound for Wenonah and the NENA neighborhoods with parks, lakes, a post office, a library and shops either in Wenonah or other NENA neighborhoods.
During the winter Lake Nokomis looks like an open field, covered with a sheet of ice and snow. From the shores of the lake and across Woodlawn Boulevard, downtown Minneapolis can be seen. The lake's name honors Nokomis, the grandmother of Hiawatha. Hiawatha is the legendary Ojibwe hero of Longfellow's poem, The Song of Hiawatha.
Last updated Sep 27, 2011


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Report — From the July 2018 issue
The Death of a Once Great City
The fall of New York and the urban crisis of affluence
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Report — From the July 2018 issue
The fall of New York and the urban crisis of affluence
Letter from Alabama — From the July 2018 issue
History haunts, but Alabama changes
Easy Chair — From the March 2018 issue
Essay — From the March 2018 issue
How Twitter feminism is bad for women
From the Archive — From the March 2018 issue
Letter from Kashmir — From the March 2018 issue
Traveling by rail through India's disputed north
Within about fifteen years, China's economy will surpass America's and become the largest in the world. As this moment approaches, meanwhile, a consensus has formed in Washington that China poses a significant threat to American interests and well-being. General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), has said that "China probably poses the greatest threat to our nation by about 2025." The summary of America's 2018 National Defense Strategy claims that China and Russia are "revisionist powers" seeking to "shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model—gaining veto authority over other nations' economic, diplomatic, and security decisions." Christopher Wray, the FBI director, has said, "One of the things we're trying to do is view the China threat as not just a whole-of-government threat, but a whole-of-society threat . . . and I think it's going to take a whole-of-society response by us." So widespread is this notion that when Donald Trump launched his trade war against China, in January 2018, he received support even from moderate figures such as Democratic senator Chuck Schumer.
In December 2015, a twenty-two-year-old man named Masood Hotak left his home in Kabul, Afghanistan, and set out for Europe. For several weeks, he made his way through the mountains of Iran and the rolling plateaus of Turkey. When he reached the city of Izmir, on the Turkish coast, Masood sent a text message to his elder brother Javed, saying he was preparing to board a boat to Greece. Since the start of the journey, Javed, who was living in England, had been keeping tabs on his younger brother's progress. As Masood got closer to the sea, Javed had felt increasingly anxious. Winter weather on the Aegean was unpredictable, and the ramshackle crafts used by the smugglers often sank. Javed had even suggested Masood take the longer, overland route, through Bulgaria, but his brother had dismissed the plan as excessively cautious.
Finally, on January 3, 2016, to Javed's immense relief, Masood sent a series of celebratory Facebook messages announcing his arrival in Europe. "I reached Greece bro," he wrote. "Safe. Even my shoes didn't get wet." Masood reported that his boat had come ashore on the island of Samos. In a few days, he planned to take a ferry to the Greek mainland, after which he would proceed across the European continent to Germany.
But then, silence. Masood stopped writing. At first, Javed was unworried. His brother, he assumed, was in the island's detention facility, waiting to be sent to Athens with hundreds of other migrants. Days turned into weeks. Every time Javed tried Masood's phone, the call went straight to voicemail. After a month passed with no word, it dawned on Javed that his brother was missing.
When Philip Benight awoke on January 26, 2017, he saw a bright glow. "Son of a bitch, there is a light," he thought. He hoped it meant he had died. His mind turned to his wife, Becky: "Where are you?" he thought. "We have to go to the light." He hoped Becky had died, too. Then he lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes again, Philip realized he wasn't seeing heaven but overhead fluorescents at Lancaster General Hospital. He was on a hospital bed, with his arms restrained and a tube down his throat, surrounded by staff telling him to relax. He passed out again. The next time he came to, his arms and legs were free, but a drugged heaviness made it hard to move. A nurse told him that his wife was at another hospital—"for her safety"—even though she was also at Lancaster General. Soon after, two police officers arrived. They wanted to know why Becky was in a coma.
Three days earlier, Philip, who was sixty, tall and lanky, with owlish glasses and mustache, had picked up his wife from an HCR ManorCare nursing home. Becky had been admitted to the facility recently at the age of seventy-two after yet another series of strokes. They drove to Darrenkamp's grocery store and Philip bought their dinner, a special turkey sandwich for Becky, with the meat shaved extra thin. They ate in the car. Then, like every other night, they got ice cream from Burger King and drove to their home in Conestoga, a sparse hamlet in southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Philip parked in the driveway, and they sat in the car looking out at the fields that roll down to the Susquehanna River.
They listened to the radio until there was nothing more to do. Philip went into the house and retrieved a container of Kraft vanilla pudding, which he'd mixed with all the drugs he could find in the house—Valium, Klonopin, Percocet, and so on. He opened the passenger-side door and knelt beside Becky. He held a spoon, and she guided it to her mouth. When Becky had eaten all the pudding, he got back into the driver's seat and swallowed a handful of pills. Philip asked her how the pudding tasted. "Like freedom," she said. As they lost consciousness, the winter chill seeped into their clothes and skin.
America in the Middle East: learning curves are for pussies.
—Jon Stewart, The Daily Show, June 2, 2015
In January 2017, following Donald Trump's inauguration, his national security staffers entered their White House offices for the first time. One told me that when he searched for the previous administration's Middle East policy files, the cupboard was bare. "There wasn't an overarching strategy document for anywhere in the Middle East," the senior official, who insisted on anonymity, told me in a coffee shop near the White House. "Not even on the ISIS campaign, so there wasn't a cross-governmental game plan."
Ratio of the size of an Amazonian "paradoxical frog" to that of its tadpole:
Dr. Roger Downie, University of Glasgow (U.K.)
Storybooks for Chinese children emphasize purpose, while American storybooks emphasize happiness.
The Transportation Security Administration, which held a "fast-track" hiring event at the Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport over the weekend, reported that 10 percent of its agents, who have not been paid for the past 33 days, have called out sick.
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"Nowadays, most states let just about anybody who wants a concealed-handgun permit have one; in seventeen states, you don't even have to be a resident. Nobody knows exactly how many Americans carry guns, because not all states release their numbers, and even if they did, not all permit holders carry all the time. But it's safe to assume that as many as 6 million Americans are walking around with firearms under their clothes."