Author: Serkadis

Just as we were seeing doctors who were embracing social media to do more for patients, it appears that some are trying to clamp down. As in the legal profession, it appears some old-timers are over-reacting to things like Facebook. mhh5 points us to the news that an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics is suggesting doctors avoid social networks altogether:

“I would discourage doctors from participating in any form of social networking, but if they do, I would encourage them to privatize their information.”

The other big concern is that doctors are told not to look up info on patients on social networking sites or to friend patients. While there are obvious pitfalls there, my guess is that the younger generation of doctors will figure out a more balanced means of still using social networking sites without causing serious ethical problems.

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To replace the Dakota, which ends production in 2011, Chrysler may develop a uni-body compact pickup positioned below the outgoing model.

“We’re thinking of something that will separate itself from the full-sized truck more than what happens today, both in capability, price and size,” said Joe Veltri, Chrysler Group vice president of product planning. “The Ram brand has room to expand into a compact-truck segment.”

Veltri said that Chrysler has abandoned plans to produce a mid-sized truck on a uni-body platform.

He pointed out that in the 1980s, compact pickups had annual sales of about 1.5 million units, more than full-sized pickups. Last year, compact pickup sales were down 31 percent compared with 2008 to 270,348.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: AutoWeek

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Ferrari

If you are a die-hard, old-school driving enthusiast who still prefers operating three pedals with your own two feet, we’ve got some news for you. As has been reported off and on for the past few years, Ferrari – in as vivid a sign of the times as when Kodak stopped selling film cameras – is phasing out the use of manual transmissions. That is, not before one last hurrah, though having a manual-equipped Ferrari comes with some drawbacks these days.

The California is slated to be the last Ferrari available with a traditional manual transmission. It’s been over a year since the car’s market introduction, during which time only the seven-speed dual clutch transmission has been available. But purists can now order the California with a real six-speed manual, complete with clutch pedal, double-cone synchros with multiple pawl asymmetric geometry and an oil bath fork and lever system.

It’ll cost you though, if not in price then both performance and fuel economy. Compared to the sub-four second sprint to 60 miles per hour and the 17.8-mpg rating that the California achieves with its seven-speed DSG transmission, the manual-equipped model takes even the most skilled hands 4.2 seconds to get up to highway hustle while returning 15.8 miles per gallon.

[Source: Autopareri via Motor Authority]

Manual Labor: 3-pedal Ferrari California slower, less efficient originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FoMoCo’s CEO Alan Mulally received a total compensation package in 2009 that totaled nearly $18 million, including cash, stock options and grants.

Mulally, who voluntarily took a 30 percent reduction in his cash salary, received a total of $1.4 million in cash – down from $2 million in 2008. While Mulally didn’t receive a bonus, his total compensation increased to more than $17.9 million from just under $17 million in 2008.

Executive Chairman Bill Ford continued to work without compensation – he has received no compensation since 2005. His total compensation for 2009, including stock options and grants totaled $16.8 million.

Ford’s Americas President Mark Fields earned $1.3 million last year with a total compensation package coming out to just under $4 million. CFO Lewis Booth was paid $1.2 million with his total compensation coming out to $3.8 million. Ford of Europe Chairman John Fleming earned $750,000 in cash. His total compensation was $3.8 million.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Detroit News

The final piece of the God of War Trilogy has come and Kratos has gone to exact his revenge on the gods that betrayed him. Expectations have run high for God of War III, and with two

Según afirma Adrean Formica (Vicepresidente Senior de Toyota Motor Europa), el nuevo Toyota FT-86 se pondrá a la venta en el segundo trimestre del año 2012. Como es habitual, primero estará disponible en Japón y más adelante veremos si es exportado a Europa.

Por otra parte, acaba de ser publicado un vídeo en el que podemos ver el diseño de este nuevo vehículo desde diferentes angulos. Además, ya os podemos confirmar que hará uso de un motor 2.0 litros asociado a una caja de cambios manual de seis velocidades.

A continuación os dejo con el vídeo del nuevo modeo de Toyota:

Related posts:

1. Toyota FT-86, vídeo disponible
2. Reveladas las líneas del Toyota Etios gracias a un nuevo vídeo
3. Toyota FT-86 disponible en 2012

Edward Chancellor of GMO has put out an excellent piece on the Chinese market and the “red flags” for investors.

The paper addresses how to identify the proper “speculative manias” and associated financial crises in the country. Chancellor sums it into key points, breaking down the bare essentials:

1. Great investment debacles generally start out with a compelling growth story.

2. A blind faith in the competence of the authorities is another typical feature of a classic mania. In other words, you can’t always trust the numbers that a government is putting out.

3. A general increase in investment is another leading indicator of financial distress. Capital is generally misspent during periods of euphoria.

4. Great booms are invariably accompanied by a surge in corruption. Countrywide, anyone?

5. Strong growth in the money supply is another robust leading indicator of financial fragility. Easy money lies behind all great episodes of speculation from the Tulip Mania of the 1630s – which was funded with IOUs – onward.

6. Fixed currency regimes often produce inappropriately low interest rates, which are liable to feed booms and end in busts.

7. Crises generally follow a period of rampant credit growth. In the boom, liabilities are contracted that cannot subsequently be repaid. The U.S. will ultimately be a perfect example of this.

8. Moral hazard is another common feature of great speculative manias. Greed isn’t necessarily good and we tend to act irresponsible during intense periods of speculation.

9. A rising stock of debt is not the only cause for concern. Investments financed with borrowed money don’t generate enough income to either service or repay the loan (what Minsky called “Ponzi finance”).

10. Dodgy loans are generally secured against collateral, most commonly real estate. Thus, a combination of strong credit growth and rapidly rising property prices are a reliable leading indicator of very painful busts.

If you think this sounds like China, believes Chancellor, you’re right.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• If Chanos Thinks China Is Dubai ‘Times One Thousand’, Then Who Will Be Their Abu Dhabi?
• The Complete 60-Second Guide To The Chinese Real Estate Market
• Suddenly, Everyone’s Waking Up To China’s HUGE Public-Sector Debt

Ya es oficial, el nuevo Peugeot RCZ aterrizará en el mercado español el próximo mes de Abril. Por el momento, la gama estará compuesta por dos motorizaciones, un 1.6 THP de 156 CV y un 2.0 HDI FAP de 163 CV.

Más adelante, Peugeot introducirá un motor 1.6 THP de 200 CV asociado a una caja de cambios manual de seis velocidades. En lo que respecta al equipamiento del vehículo, dispondrá de serie ESP, TCS, airbag frontales y laterales, cortinillas, equipo de audio, llantas de aleación, ordenador de viaje, Hill Holder y faros bi-xenón.

En resumen, los precios serán los siguientes:

• Peugeot RCZ 1.6 THP 156 CV — 27.400€.
• Peugeot RCZ 2.0 HDI FAP 163 CV — 29.900€.

Por último, os dejo con un vídeo sobre este modelo:

Related posts:

1. Peugeot muestra el 207 RC 2010
2. Peugeot i0n, disponible la pre-reserva
3. Peugeot RCZ, nuevos datos oficiales

Doug Kass, the man who famously nailed the market bottom, is acknowledging that since then his timing hasn’t been spot-on.

This is too his credit — so many so-called gurus can’t acknowledge that their forecasts and trades are anything but 100%.

Reuters:

Hedge fund manager Doug Kass on Monday said his bearish calls in recent months that the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index .SPX would decline in the double-digits are proving to be wrong.

Kass, the widely followed founder and president of Seabreeze Partners Management, told clients in a note: “I have been wrong — at least, Mr. Market has been saying so!”

In September, Kass told Reuters he was betting the S&P would end 2009 at about 920 and was shorting U.S. equities because “we are facing a period of disappointing economic and corporate growth.”

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Doug Kass: I Have Inside Information And Know Without Question That Tiger Is Coming Back For The Masters
• Doug Kass: The US Consumer Is Sick And You Should Go Short Retail With Impunity
• Doug Kass: Here’s How To Trade Tonight’s State Of The Union

Required Materials:

Course Description:

Surveys the role of the nonprofit and voluntary organizations in American society including the history, theory and challenges of the third sector. Includes a service learning project where students serve as philanthropists to their local community through the Students4Giving Project. Prerequisites: WR 115, RD 115 and MTH 20 or equivalent placement test scores. Recommended: BA 101.

Please note: This course qualifies as a business elective at PCC and PSU and as a PCC social science general education elective.

Course Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will:

1. Apply their knowledge of the nonprofit sector and its interrelationships with government and business to frame their perspectives on social issues
2. Appropriately respond to basic legal, governing and ethical issues faced by nonprofit organizations
3. Critically evaluate factors impacting the efficiency and effectiveness of nonprofit organizations around them
4. Appreciate the diversity of social issues served by the nonprofit community
5. Participate in civil society using various tools including philanthropy, volunteer service or nonprofit employment
6. Appropriately respond to issues and potential conflicts involving international work performed by American nonprofits.

Course Website on Blackboard:

We will be using the course website on Blackboard extensively during the term to submit homework, share information, and download reading material and documents. You should be in the habit of checking your email and the discussion board several times a week in this course. Please go to this website and locate the syllabus. Also, post your introduction on the discussion board as a response to my introduction. This is your first assignment and is worth 5 points!

Attendance and Participation:

This course is not recommended for students who expect to miss more than one or two class sessions. Because attendance is so critical for participation in the group decisions made in this course, each of the 20 class sessions is worth 3 points, for a total of 60 points for the term. You can be forgiven for only two missed class sessions. Most importantly, you can only miss 4 classes and pass the course. You should be an active learner in the course and are expected to participate fully in class discussions. This course will involve the discussion of contentious and sometimes emotional topics and it will be important for us to maintain our critical thinking skills. We will cover some basics rules for maintaining a respectful and productive learning environment. Degrading comments towards anyone in the classroom or any group of people will not be tolerated under any circumstances. You will probably find that it is usually better to consider ideas than to state conclusions!

Students with documented disabilities who may need accommodations, who have any emergency medical information the instructor should know of, or who need special arrangements in the event of evacuation, should contact the instructor as early as possible, no later than the first week of the term.

Homework Assignments:

All homework will be submitted online in Blackboard. Readings and homework assignment are shown on the attached Course Schedule. You are encouraged to discuss all assignments with your classmates, but the actual preparation of individual homework assignments must be done by each student. Because the entire class will be relying on your input for the Students4Giving project it is critical that all homework assignments be completed on a timely basis. Late homework will only be worth half credit and must be completed within one week of the original due date.

Term Paper:

A term paper will be due at the end of the term covering the concepts learned in this class and including your reflections on the Students4Giving project. Guidelines for this paper will be discussed later in the term.

Midterm Examination:

There will be one open-note exam during the term as shown in the course schedule. This exam will cover homework assignments, reading material and concepts covered by the guest speakers. If you are going to miss an exam, you must contact the instructor before the exam to schedule an alternate date. Failure to do this will result in a score of zero for the missed exam.

Academic Integrity Policy:

Students of Portland Community College are expected to behave as responsible members of the college community and to be honest and ethical in their academic work. PCC strives to provide students with the knowledge, skills, judgment, and wisdom they need to function in society as educated adults. To falsify or fabricate the results of one’s research; to present the words, ideas, data, or work of another as one’s own; or to cheat on an examination corrupts the essential process of higher education.

Students4Giving Philanthropy Project:

In September 2007 Campus Compact and the Fidelity® Charitable Gift Fund announced an alliance to educate and inspire a future generation of philanthropists in a new era of giving. Portland Community College was one of five academic institutions in the nation to receive $15,000 to create a donor advised fund to offer grants to non-profit organizations within their communities. This project has continued its funding through student fundraising efforts including online auctions and faculty textbook drives. As Students4Giving participants learn about the non-profit world from their regular course curriculum they identify a specific community need for that term’s Students4Giving project. They identify nonprofits serving this community need in the Portland Metro area and ask these nonprofits to submit a request for proposal (grant application). The students evaluate these grants using criteria learned in class, conduct site visits to the nonprofit organizations and select the grant recipients. Students4Giving emphasizes the importance of understanding social issues, the grant-making process, and the role played by philanthropists and nonprofit organizations in meeting the needs of our community. Please visit www.pcc.edu/students4giving for more information.

Course Grade:

Your grade in this course will be based on the material covered.

Complete Mandatory Pre-Survey in Blackboard (available through Introduction, Syllabus or Survey Module), 5

Introduction on Blackboard discussion board,  5

Selecting Community Needs Assignment (Blackboard assignment), 10

Finding Nonprofits Assignment (Blackboard assignment), 10

Accounting and Form 990 Assignment (Blackboard assignment), 10

Midterm, 20

Grant Reviews – Round 1 (Blackboard assignment), 15

Site Visit Narratives (posted to Blackboard discussion board), 15

Select Final Grant Recipient (Blackboard assignment), 15

Attendance

(20 class sessions & 2 absences forgiven with less than 5 to pass), 60

Term Paper (Blackboard assignment), 20

Complete Mandatory Post-Survey in Blackboard, 5

Awards Ceremony (required attendance & participation), 10

Total points 200

A = 90%

B = 80%

C = 70%

D = 60%

Assignments and due dates:

5/10

• Select site visits and start scheduling
• Read Site Visit materials
• Complete site visits & post narratives on discussion board
• Post by night of 5/19

5/12

• Site Visits
• Complete site visits & post narratives on discussion board
• Post by night of 5/19

5/17

• Site Visits
• Complete site visits & post narratives on discussion board
• Read Mercy Corps material
• Post by night of 5/19

5/19

• Discuss progress of site visits
• International Perspective
• Speaker: Nick MacDonald, MercyCorps
• Select Students4Giving grant recipients assignment
• (please note special due date) 5/23

5/24

• Start discussion of final selection Reread proposals based on class discussion 5 / 2 6

5/26

• Finish final selection
• Read Idealist: Ch’s 12-13 & Conclusion
• Due 6/2

5/31

• Memorial Day No classes

6/2

• Nonprofit Employment
• Speaker: Glenna Barrick-Harwood
• Complete mandatory post-survey and submit term papers in Blackboard and get ready for awards ceremony by 6/7

6/7

• Papers due on Blackboard
• Awards Ceremony (Required attendance & participation)
• Enjoy your summer!

Filed under: SUV, Land Rover, Reviews, Luxury, Off-Road

Wanting to sample the latest iteration of Land Rover’s middle-management cruiser, we set off in search of the 2010 LR4’s natural environment. Minutes later, the Rover’s new 5.0-liter, 375-horsepower V8 led us to Nordstrom. What? You expected Monument Valley?

With the wallet-denting expedition complete, we took solace in the luxuriously updated interior during the homeward jaunt. Sybaritic pleasures and tried-and-true off-roading abilities are the extremes of its range, so how does the LR4 fare in the middle?

Photos by Dan Roth / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading Review: 2010 Land Rover LR4 makes a better boxy SUV

Review: 2010 Land Rover LR4 makes a better boxy SUV originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dear Mark,

The time change pretty hit me hard this year. I’ve noticed that as I age I value my sleep more and more. When I was in my 20s and 30s I use to be able to get by on about 6 hours of sleep each night. Now if I don’t get at least 8 hours I pay for it. What’s the deal? Is this just part of getting older?

Shari

What’s one lost hour of sleep when getting over the hump of daylight savings time? It might not seem like much, but as I’ve noted before, time changes wreak a special havoc over everything from traffic accidents to workman’s comp filings. (Add the stock market and heart attack rates to this inspiring picture.) Truth be told, however, many of us were delinquent long before the recent changeover. Maybe the switch was simply the last straw in a long term bout of sleep deprivation. Anyone? (You know who you are.) We know we feel like hell warmed over when we make a habit of skipping out on zzzzs. We justify it, minimize it, though, by telling ourselves that it can’t be so bad if caffeine and a shower can cure us before we walk out the door in the morning. Some latest research says different. When we do without solid sleep, we decrease our ability to process even moderate levels of oxidative stress – the arch enemy of the Primal Blueprint of course. The impact, as observed by Oregon State University researchers, leads to faster aging and measurable neurological decline.

The key here is a so-called “period” gene, one of four genes primarily responsible for the body’s circadian rhythm, the internal clock related to day and night cycles and the essential biochemical pattern that helps govern major physiological processes. Studies have long shown that messing with the body’s biological clock can impair cognitive function in the short term and over the long term impacts cardiovascular and kidney function, since sleep aids the body in organ renewal. Now there’s more systemic-focused evidence for sleep deprivation/disruption’s ominous reach.

The Oregon State researchers compared fruit flies of different ages whose period gene was either intact or not. “Middle age” and older flies without the intact gene fared progressively worse and showed significant damage when subjected to moderate levels of induced stress. Flies without the period gene “lost some of their motor ability to climb” and sustained “neuronal degeneration” reflective of neurological damage seen in Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, a singular application of moderate stress was enough to cut a middle aged fruit fly’s lifespan by 12% and an older fly’s by 20%, when compared to both normal (gene-intact) flies and younger mutant flies, which didn’t show significant damage from the induced stress. Based on their results, the researchers suggest that the period gene plays a significant role in regulating the cleanup of oxidative damage in the body and is subject to gradual decline as we age. The older we are, the more we physically benefit from following our body’s natural circadian rhythm – and the more we put ourselves at risk when we ignore it.

As much as we’d like to chalk up this study to the particulars of the insect world, researchers believe that these genes work much the same in humans and in fact operate in nearly every cell of the human body. Despite all the years and achievements of civilization, we humans are still subject to the basic natural rhythms of the wild. When we live in denial of this correlation, it inevitably comes back to bite us in the backside.

Eating and exercising Primally both diminishes our overall oxidative stress levels and bolsters our body’s ability to eradicate the oxidative damage that is an unavoidable part of living. This study underscores how we can either support or undermine our Primal efforts by cheating our bodies out of sleep. If we’re religious about working in our meat/veggies or our supplements throughout the day, why undo the good once the sun goes down? If we wouldn’t dream of skipping a workout, why give up the crucial biological defense of a decent night’s sleep?

We mostly have good intentions when we shortchange ourselves on sleep. Maybe we’re up paying bills, reading a great novel, spending quality time with the spouse, putting the finishing touches on tomorrow’s presentation – or little Suzy’s costume for the class play. When we look at the results from the lens of continual damage and Primal backsliding, however, we might see sleep in a new light – and be more likely to declare “lights out” when our primal rhythms rather than modern life dictate.

Your comments and feedback on the study? Let me know your thoughts. And come back tomorrow when I’ll be publishing a brand new Definitive Guide.

Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox

Related posts:

1. The Primal Blueprint for Busy People – Part 1: Sleep and Stress
2. Sleep More to Forget Less
3. Study Finds Frequent Sleep Disruption Increases Risk of Kidney, Heart Disease

So, the MPAA’s latest target for crackdowns on camcording appears to be India. You may remember that it went through a series of questionable claims about camcording in Canada and the US, where if you looked at the math, none of it added up. Apparently, the same thing is happening in India and the reporters at the Associated Press don’t feel the need to investigate bogus Hollywood numbers. In this AP report about the MPAA’s new “crackdown” on camcording in India, the reporter says that camcording is to blame for 90% of “pirated” movies:

A year in the making, the coalition to fight film piracy in India will work with movie theaters to crack down on camcorder piracy — the source of 90 percent of all pirated DVDs — with police to tighten enforcement, with Internet service providers to fight Internet piracy and with politicians to create more effective laws.

With these big professional reporters, you might think they would try to fact check a claim like “90% of all “pirated” DVDs come from camcorded movies.” They might have trouble doing that, because the actual research suggests something quite different. A study that we wrote about a few years ago found otherwise. Specifically, it found that “77% appear to have been leaked originally by industry insiders.”

But, of course, we need to save the AP, because they do real fact checking, right?

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The Haiti earthquake may not be the hottest piece of news at the moment as the world has moved to the next headline grabbing tragedy, but for the people there the disaster is as fresh as always. Faced with the task of rebuilding an entire country, things aren’t looking good in Haiti, already the poorest country in the region, even with all the outside hel… (read more)

Healthcare Reform Passes

by Ron Paul

Following months of heated public debate and aggressive closed-door negotiations, Congress finally cast a historic vote on healthcare late Sunday evening. It was truly a sad weekend on the House floor as we witnessed further dismantling of the Constitution, disregard of the will of the people, explosive expansion of the reach of government, unprecedented corporate favoritism, and the impending end of quality healthcare as we know it.

Those in favor of this bill touted their good intentions of ensuring quality healthcare for all Americans, as if those of us against the bill are against good medical care. They cite fanciful statistics of deficit reduction, while simultaneously planning to expand the already struggling medical welfare programs we currently have. They somehow think that healthcare in this country will be improved by swelling our welfare rolls and cutting reimbursement payments to doctors who are already losing money. It is estimated that thousands of doctors will be economically forced out of the profession should this government fuzzy math actually try to become healthcare reality. No one has thought to ask what good mandatory health insurance will be if people can’t find a doctor.

Legislative hopes and dreams don’t always stand up well against economic realities.

Frustratingly, this legislation does not deal at all with the real reasons access to healthcare is a struggle for so many – the astronomical costs. If tort reform was seriously discussed, if the massive regulatory burden on healthcare was reduced and reformed, if the free market was allowed to function and apply downward pressure on healthcare costs as it does with everything else, perhaps people wouldn’t be so beholden to insurance companies in the first place. If costs were lowered, more people could simply pay for what they need out of pocket, as they were able to do before government got so involved. Instead, in the name of going after greedy insurance companies, the federal government is going to make people even more beholden to them by mandating that everyone buy their product! Hefty fines are due from anyone found to have committed the heinous crime of not being a customer of a health insurance company. We will need to hire some 16,500 new IRS agents to police compliance with all these new mandates and administer various fines. So in government terms, this is also a jobs bill. Never mind that this program is also likely to cost the private sector some 5 million jobs.

Of course, the most troubling aspect of this bill is that it is so blatantly unconstitutional and contrary to the ideals of liberty. Nowhere in the constitution is there anything approaching authority for the Federal government to do any of this. The founders would have been horrified at the idea of government forcing citizens to become consumers of a particular product from certain government approved companies. 38 states are said to already be preparing legal and constitutional challenges to this legislation, and if the courts stand by their oaths, they will win. Protecting the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, should be the court’s responsibility. Citizens have a responsibility over their own life, but they also have the liberty to choose how they will live and protect their lives. Healthcare choices are a part of liberty, another part that is being stripped away. Government interference in healthcare has already infringed on choices available to people, but rather than getting out of the way, it is entrenching itself, and its corporatist cronies, even more deeply.

Related posts:

1. Returning to a Free Market in Healthcare In his latest column Ron Paul points out that a…
2. Ron Paul: Obama’s Healthcare Plan Will Make Things Much Worse Channel: CNN Show: American Morning Host: Kiran Chetry Date:…
3. Swine Flu: Is The Cure Worse Than The Illness? In his latest column Ron Paul points out that fears…

SOS Rally Day – April 21, 2010

On April 21, 2010 we will be holding our SOS Lobby Day at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield.   The Responsible Budget Coalition is a group of diverse organizations that have come together to support comprehensive tax reform and a revenue increase to support school funding, among other things.  This is our opportunity to display our collective strength and to voice our concerns about the issues we care about directly to our legislators.

To generate member participation in the SOS Rally Day in Springfield, IPACE is providing funding and logistical assistance to locals and regions that desire to travel via bus. Each regional office will have an office contact by March 1st who will help locals and regions secure transportation to and from Springfield.

Requests for buses must be funneled through these individuals by calling the appropriate IEA Regional office and asking for the Rally Day Office Contacts, or by directly contacting Donna Proefrock at 217-544-0706 ext. 2232.

To ensure the best possible coordination and efficiency, please reach out to the regional office contact.

SOS Rally Day Goal:

We hope each region can bring a minimum of 30 members. A region or local wishing to bring more will be accommodated. The goal is to have 3,000 – 5,000 IEA members attend. Having more members than that would be welcomed!

Bus information can be found here. We hope that locals and regions will consolidate to fill buses. Coordination through the Lobby Day Office Contacts will assist with this.

Logistics:

Due to the higher-than-average attendance expected at this year’s SOS Rally Day, some logistical details are still being arranged. Information regarding parking and bus routes will be updated here soon.

The tentative schedule of events for the day is:

9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.           Buses arrive at IEA Headquarters

11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.         Walk to rally staging point at 2^nd and Capitol

11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.         SOS rally speakers at 2^nd and Capitol

12:15 p.m.                                     Beginning of march

1:00 p.m.                                       Visit legislators (time permitting)

(Lunch will be available at Noon, and members may eat at their leisure)

Issue information:

This will be disseminated closer to the actual SOS Rally Day, as legislative issues continue to change during the legislative process. Bill information will be provided soon. Currently, issues like school funding, pension funding, the threat of two-tier pensions, and others that are proceeding through the legislature. For legislative updates, please go to the IEA website to sign up for the Capitol Report.

Build Local Relationships:

Building the local relationship with your legislator is a key to success on Lobby Day. To find your legislator, please look at your voter registration card, or input your home address on the IEA website to find your legislators. To be connected to your legislators’ Springfield Office, please call 217/782-2000 (Legislative Switchboard) and ask to be connected to your legislator’s office.

1. Members should try to meet with their legislators in their regional areas before coming to Springfield.
2. Members need to set up their SOS Rally Day meetings with their legislators at that initial regional meeting and before they leave to come to Springfield. This will aid in their effectiveness with their elected officials as they start to develop a relationship with their Senator or Representative.

We need IEA members to stress to these decision makers that their votes in Springfield impact just about every aspect of our career.

Substitutes:

IEA locals can use their local IPACE rebate money to pay for substitutes. Instructions on how local presidents can request their local’s IPACE rebate can be found under the IPACE section of the IEA website.

Resources

• Lobby Day Office Contacts
• Lobbying Decision Makers
• Ten Golden Rules of Lobbying
• IPACE Bus Request Form-2010 Lobby Day
• What is a Lobby Day video

SOS Rally Day Flyer

SOS Rally Day 2010 Flyer

“In the end, there will be only chaos,” goes the game’s tagline, but for now, there will be only sales! God of War III has powered its way not only to the top of Olympus, but to

Britons may have gotten more than they bargained for when Google recently let loose a huge batch of Street View imagery in the country. Between 95 to 99 percent of the country’s roads are now available in Street View, depending on who you choose to believe. But along with pleasant villages and stately castles, it looks like top secret … (read more)

Quem deu essa declaração foi o diretor executivo da BMW, Norbert Reithofer, durante a apresentação dos resultados financeiros da companhia. Ele disse que os modelos menores da marca terão, em breve, tração nas rodas da frente, uma novidade na história da companhia. Reithofer diz o seguinte:

“Pretendemos lançar mais modelos compactos da BMW e Mini. Os futuros modelos da BMW terão tração dianteira. Encaramos o novo ano com otimismo e queremos ficar bem acima do nível alcançado em 2009.”

A montadora alemã já estaria trabalhando em uma nova plataforma, que segundo o CEO da companhia, será usada em mais de 20 modelos diferentes, tanto do BMW quanto do Mini. Embora não hajam objetivos divulgados para 2010, sabe-se que a marca pretende vender mais de 1,3 milhões de veículos emo 2010, depois dos problemas das vendas do ano passado, uma queda de 10,4%.

Via | Autoportal

Let’s lighten things up.  I would not normally blog about a cartoon, but Angela Bassett provides the voice of FLOTUS while Mrs. Obama’s cartoon character provides some “girl-power” to Lisa Simpson.  Pay attention to FLOTUS when she flashes her “guns” and does the job that the soldiers could not do.  Take a look. What do you think? Is this portrayal acceptable/respectful? 

Posted by Bridgette.