But that was before Voyages of Discovery came onto the scene. From $0 Night Gone2Korea offers overseas teaching opportunities for adventerous university graduates. Sponsored by Looking for free and purchased upgrades, 2-for-1s and a fast-track to elite status strategies? This time of year in the city has been sung about and sighed about, so the only thing left for you to do is get there and sing and or sigh about it in person. If it is, it will be worse than some Mac World magazine and contain 75% ads whose pages stick together, a total pain! Secrets of first-class air travel are revealed every month in Mr. Jump to the full entry & travel map Singapore, Singapore came back into singapore on a hot bus. the only thing good was that i didn’t crawl underneath the brown sheets this time. Pretty please with pink sprinkles on top. Forty Questions from Anansi I’ve been feeling a trifle guilty over the recent tags which I’ve been putting off doing and now I see I have two more of even earlier vintage. As someone who has to rely on Northwest (A.K.A. for American business (its American office i. Back in 2006 when Guy Kawasaki listed his Ultimate Mommy Blog List and I found both Mommy Needs Coffee and Mommybloggers on it, I was overjoyed. It was a fairly serious threat, to go with him or without him. In the American cruise market, the small ships (Regent, Seabourn, Silversea) charge whopping prices, and only the giant behemoths (Carnival, Royal Caribbean, MSC, Norwegian, etc.) have cheap rates. DJ’s: A very awesome special guests from San Fran, name’s a secret you dj’s, so don’t tell just yet!

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I picked London because it seemed like the shortest flight that would get me off this continent. Send newsletter feedback to Today’s Top Story Woman dies on flight to JFK, plane’s oxygen tank empty A 44-year-old woman who had trouble breathing died Friday on a. Length of Stay Cost: 2-4 weeks $795-$2195, w o airfare.

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If you want to increase repeat purchases of your information products, boost word-of-mouth publicity for them and reduce refund requests, here’s a simple thing to do that takes less than two minutes and costs next to nothing: Include a cover letter welcoming the customer, reiterating the benefits they’ll receive from consuming the material and telling them where and how to dig into the content.

Called a “stick letter” (because it makes the purchase “stick”) and preached about by experienced infomarketers as a necessity, this simple, practically free addition to an information marketing shipment seems to be as elusive as an FBI Most Wanted thug. Not one of the multimedia courses I’ve purchased in the last two years arrived at my house with a stick letter – even those from experts who make their living by information marketing.

So that you can understand the impact of omitting a stick letter, here’s what happened when I opened the shipment of the latest infocourse I ordered. It consisted of 14 items in two boxes. Without seeing any kind of cover note, I had a multitude of questions as I looked through the contents:

* Which pieces do I have resell rights to and which do I not have resell rights to? I remembered from the sales letter that there are some resell rights involved, but as I looked at all the pieces, I was not sure which ones.

* Are the 12 DVDs a repeat of the content on the 22 CDs?

* Where is the best starting point for absorbing the information?

* Why did I receive an item that wasn’t listed anywhere on the sales page? Was that a mistake or an unannounced bonus?

* And what about this other bunch of CDs that have a different but related title to what I remember being the main item that I bought – are those also a mistake or an unannounced bonus?

Tempering my excitement about the product, you can see, is confusion. I’m stalled instead of instantly digging in at the point that is likeliest to turn me into a quickly satisfied customer. Confusion stands in the way of getting started, and therefore it heightens the urge to send the whole thing back.

Another multimedia course I purchased for $649 also arrived in two boxes, neither one of which included any notes about where to get started. Looking at the five CD, DVD and looseleaf printed material binders, I had to decide where to get started, and I chose the DVDs, which I found weak and uninformative. When I eventually found my way to the CDs, I heard a rich, well-organized and systematic presentation, but starting with what I later realized was a bonus gave me a poor impression of what I had bought.

This course also looked like it had been tossed carelessly into boxes. Not cushioned by any packing materials, the binders banged around during shipping with such force that several CDs came loose from their snap-in insets. The message conveyed was, “We already got your money. Who cares what you think or feel now?”

Instead of intimidating or annoying your buyer, include a pleasant, brief orientation to what’s in the package and clear, obvious advice about how and where to dig in. Something as simple as a sticky note saying “Start Here” would help. Even better is a little booklet clearly labeled “Your Fast-Start Guide” or an envelope saying “Open Me First” and containing the instructions. Your stick letter prevents negative reactions to the product delivery and helps create a satisfied, long-term customer.

Author of 11 books and 5 multimedia home-study courses, Marcia Yudkin has been selling information since 1981. Download a free recording of her answers to commonly asked questions about information marketing by entering your information in the box at http://www.yudkin.com/informationempire.htm

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), India’s largest life insurer, said the company would be able to meet the current financial year’s target of Rs 48,000 crore in new business premium (NBP) income. The corporation has already met 51 per cent of its target by December-end.

DK Mehrotra, managing director, LIC, who was here to inaugurate a sales training centre of LIC said the corporation had already collected Rs 25,000 crore by December-end.

“We already achieved our 51 per cent of the target. The remaining target will be achieved in the last three months of the financial year, which is peak period for any insurer,” he said.

LIC’s market share is around 65-66 per cent in the life insurance business, and it would focus on training to maintain it. “We currently invest around Rs 60-70 crore each year to train our agents and will look at increasing this budget,” he said. Currently, the corporation had around 14 lakh agents across the country and would add 20 per cent more, said Mehrotra.

To stay competitive in the insurance business, one of the key focus area and differentiator were knowledge and empowerment of agents, he added. Currently, the corporation has 33 sales training centres, including the new centre at Chennai.

Commenting on the credit card business, Mehrotra said, the corporation was planning a pan-India presence by the end of December 2010 with more offerings, including health insurance, using the card for any payment and would also offer loan service. As of December, the corporation has offered 10,000 credit cards. “We don’t want to go aggressive at this point of time, before we offer all the service,” he said.

“Training would also help the corporation to bring down attrition, which is currently around 10-12 per cent,” he added.

To boost sales, the public sector life insurer recently adopted a direct marketing model, said Mehrotra. “We started the model three months back and so far we got good response and will look at expanding it,” he said. The corporation has 500 people working under this model.

Working with a WRS Info India Pvt Ltd.

Have you ever thought how to become an accountant? do you think it is easy? Well I don’t think it is that easy. Because the road is long and it never really  ends. 

The best time for you to decide is really from high school the last two years of high school is critical. Ideally from year nine you need to take some applicable subjects such as social science including business related subjects.

If you make it to year eleven then you need to take up business study and legal study. A big myth is “if you are an accountant do you really need to be good at maths?” Well not really because mathematics is really for science and engineering. Advance mathematics subject is not required and may not help you with accounting, accounting is really a concept and rules which required basic algebra. Therefore advance mathematic is not really required.

Once you make to uni then what? Well you well need to enrol in a commerce course with university such as Sydney Uni, and you must major in accounting. The course structure is as below.

Core units of study

Junior units of study (42 credit points):

ACCT1001 Accounting 1A ACCT1002 Accounting 1B ECMT1010 Business and Economic Statistics A ECON1001 Introductory Microeconomics ECON1002 Introductory Macroeconomics INFS1000 Business Information Systems Foundations MKTG1001 Marketing Principles

Senior units of study (24 credit points):

CISS2001 Business in the Global Environment * FINC2011 Corporate Finance I WORK2218 People and Organisations ECOF3001 Business Strategy

Bachelor of Commerce (generic program of study)

Year / Semester

Unit of study 1

Unit of study 2

Unit of study 3

Unit of study 4

Total credit points

Year 1

Semester 1

junior core

junior core

junior core

junior elective or requirement for major

24

Year 1

Semester 2

junior core

junior core

junior core

junior elective or requirement for major

24

Year 2

Semester 1

junior core

senior core

major I

major II or elective

24

Year 2

Semester 2

senior core

senior core

major I

major II or elective

24

Year 3

Semester 1

major I

major I

major I

major II or elective

24

Year 3

Semester 2

Business Strategy

major I

major II or elective

major II or elective

24

If you did not make to university then don’t pancake you can join TAFE course which is only 2 year offering advanced diploma in accounting, Diploma in accounting, certificates in accounting, and when graduate you may continue with your study at University, if you do good you will be eligible for exemptions. However you can still be working as accountants associate.

A good idea is to apply for jobs during university holiday to take some experience and when you graduate you will need to apply for accounting jobs.

To gain a job in accounting you need to apply through internet such as seek, or my career web sites, or try directly with accounting firms. You look for job within  business services.

When you receive few years of business services experience within any accounting firm then you may continue with professional accounting qualifications such as CA or CPA. Then you will be like other qualified tax accountants. Do you think this the end? No you will always need to update your self with new rules and regulations.

Just imagine how long and how hard is to go all that? Do you still think it is easy? I will leave that for you to decide.

Sargon Odisho, Marketing & IT Manager

Tax Accounting Sydney, Sydney accountants , Accountants Sydney Wide

Kitchen gadgets or tools are necessary for today’s busy cooks.  They are able to help ensure that you are able to do all necessary tasks in a way that makes running a kitchen efficient and effective.

They are affordable, easy to use and clean and are constructed from high quality modern materials that ensure a long life span.

Storage Solutions

Many cooks today take advantage of storage solutions, as they are able to store foods safely while keeping them fresh and isolated from cross contamination.  Such as the air-tight Dome Containers which are designed to trap freshness.  They are able to keep moisture out in order to preserve lettuces or other fresh goods yet at the same time prevent discoloration.

This prompts many to bulk prepare and in doing so ensure that their family’s are served meals quickly and efficiently.  It is vital that the correct food storage containers are selected for the right application.

Apart from storing fresh foods there is always a demand for containers that store dry goods such as spices, flour or sugar within arms reach.  Storage accessories at times also need to be attractive enough to be displayed.  In this instance you will find the Spice Organizer particularly helpful.  It offers a practical way to store full sized bottles of spices and offers 3 fold down and easy to use drawers and non skid feet.  The Spice Organizer comes with versatile matching glass bottles and labels and it attractive enough to sit out in full view.

Stacking Organizer Bins offer a versatile means to store a multitude of items stacked one on top of the other.  Yet you are still able to easily identify what is being stored.  Constructed out of stylish heavy duty resin and standing 7 ¼” high and slightly wider across the Stacking Organizer Bin will take your storage to new heights.

Cooking tools and gadgets

Many kitchen tools and gadgets are designed to make your life in the kitchen easier by offering alternative ways to carry out tasks.  Without the right tools we often end up throwing foods away or wasting them.  Everyone one knows what a time consuming task it is to filter oil after use.  First oil needs to cool down and then carefully filtered through a funnel in a bottle. However there is a far easier way to complete this messy task. It is the Stoneware Grease Keeper.  Attractive enough to sit out on the counter as it includes a fine mesh strainer hidden in the lid when not in use.

Another almost indispensable tool is the Infusion Roaster Turkey Cannon.  This ingenious gadget is perfect for any poultry bird that need slow roasting and particularly the Turkey.  Turkey is traditionally left to Thanksgiving which is fraught with activities and a thousand tasks one of which is remembering to baste the bird.   With its built-in cylinder you won’t need to spend precious time on this task.

Healthy and fat free cooking is what everyone is after yet is not often possible as some dishes don’t allow for fat free cooking.  The Meatball Baker offers a way out of greasy frying without compromising on taste.  The unique design of the baking pan provides sets of row that hold the meatballs in place while allowing the fats to drip into the pan below.  This cooking tool is also the perfect solution for fatty sausages too.

Cleaning Tools

Every cook will agree that being able to keep a kitchen clean and hygienic is a never ending chore. Yet with the right tools it is an easy task. Prevention is part of solving the problem. Being able to prevent the need for scrubbing greasy stovetops is one such task.  This is possible with ceramic Drip Pans that catch drips or spills.  They are easily fitted and once removed can be put straight into the dishwasher.

Yet the cook needs to maintain personal hygiene too.  Most cooks find it necessary to keep a container of hand wash close at hand. With a touch free and motion activated soap dispenser a cook is able to ensure complete hygiene while eliminating food transfer.

The list of gadgets, tools and accessories covers a wide variety of applications.  Many experts have put their knowledge into creating the ideal tools that ensure a kitchen is not only neat, tidy and hygienic yet are also able to make cooking more interesting.

Cheryl Lewisson is a freelance writer who writes about cooking and other home products, often discussing particular types of items such as cooking accessories.

Caring for schoolchildren is a tremendous responsibility resting not just with teachers, but also with other personnel, like school bus drivers, foster care parents, day care providers and other schoolhouse employees. Even if for a long time there was no nationwide plan for background checks for any of these classes of employees interacting with kids, it’s quite a time since some states and counties started implementing such programs, and some worth experience started to build up towards creating and adopting standards for bigger scale school employees background check programs.

Prime case comes from Ohio. Since the summer of 2007, gratuitous criminal background checks for school bus drivers censure Tenacious Domain Clerk of Courts records started being offered by the Office of Active Province Clerk of Courts. The program capacity provides to cover 23 public school districts and up 100 private schools across the rule, and if criminal erudition concerning an personal background bus driving for a school is detected, whole story is released directly to the useful school district. These background checks drive street beyond the existing state constitution providing for a mild search of driving and DUI records database. A companion program previously was implemented with grand slam by the initiative of Well-built Sphere Clerk of Courts pike foster parents.

On the state even, solidly funded bus drivers licensing Program, providing for binding background check for school bus drivers, is currently deployed influence Unskilled York. According to the provisions of this Rule, neoteric school bus drivers demand be learned fingerprinting and bid to a criminal history check. Humans with history of certain grim criminal offenses are not allowed to drive a school bus. From the other hand, the Unusual York state jurisprudence allows school bus drivers to stress life span their background history is in conclusion being checked.

The general setback of the majority of the existing local background checking plans lies magnetism them normally awning school bus drivers who are just now slaving, week the FBI believes the greatest threat may impersonate expected from the newest applicants. Just project a chunk of terrorist system acceptance employment of the sort aiming to seize a school bus full of pupils. FBI is expected to launch its own pre employment screening program for bus driver applicants money Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ropes spring 2009. Anyway, screening each untrodden school bus driver with this aerial reliability criminal background check program will typify bewitching up to 90 days, which poses substantive affair. A criminal driving a school bus with kids even during 3 min restraint started put their lives at risk, not to announce 3 months. Digital fingermark scanning technology could hasten the push, if implemented.

Read more: http://starkcountyclerkofcourts.net

In today’s world a huge part of business success is actually down to presenting a face that presents trust and confidence to both the market and the consumer world. The devil truly is within the details, and it boils down to corporate branding, how members of the company present their selves, their EDM’s, corporate brochures, ad campaigns and press releases. It is a multi billion dollar industry in some parts of the world to build the correct perception of a company. This applies even to those who are just starting out. Being cost effective is one thing but compromising on quality is quite another. Starting out a business from the cradle of your home is a good thing, but stagnating there and using your home address as your primary office mailing address could be the wrong step that will lead to a whole host of problems later on. The importance of a registered office address lies in its ability to define the company that is using it and gives the persona of professionalism that every business need.

A mailing address that originates from a home address already instils a lack of confidence in the end user. It is like a very well furbished website, detailing all the businesses and backed up by an incredible client base – only to be tarnished by a contact list that reads from some universal mail provider. There is an inherent drop in levels of trust in the company straight away and confidence is removed from the equation. These are two things that are extremely important in a purchasing decision, especially when you are not there to personally seal the deal yourself. This is about the same when it comes to the registered office address, every business needs to present an image of professionalism. You might have a killer product, you might have great presentation skills – but all these can be outdone by a shoddy mailing address that happens to be in every flyer, brochure and book that you give out. The bottom line is branding and a key component in a successful brand are the intangibles – trust, believability, confidence, history. Once you lose that confidence , then your brand recognition among your clients and soon among the rest of the consumer populations will go down the drain and you will slowly see those profit margin figures follow it dutifully. Think about hiring the services of a virtual office provider and some of them have packages which are cheap and offer basic services like a registered office address and simple mail collection, which is the first step in building reputation.

There you have it, an integral reason why anyone with the need to succeed in a business should own a registered office address. The cost is low and the benefits far outweigh the tiny investment that you have to put in to start you on the road to financial freedom and business success. This is the importance of a registered office address; it can make or break your business.

Cut your business rental costs and use a virtual-office instead. Sign up today at this singapore virtual office or compare virtual office space plans.

Fascism is a word tossed around much by those of us on the left side of politics. Dr. Lawrence Britt examined the fascist regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto, and several Latin American regimes. Through his examination Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each regime. Does America have any of the characteristics Britt discovered? I believe elements of each characteristic can be found in America now, and I will cite examples of each characteristic.

14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

Ever since 9/11 there has been a plethora of American flags. Drive down any given street in suburban America, or small towns for that matter, and you will see flags flying from houses. There are flags on mailboxes, cars, and t-shirts. The Bush administration considers someone patriotic if they fly the flag, but not if they ask questions and dissent.

As folk singer David Rovics asks in one of his songs, “Is there a flag upon your house, and a flag upon your car? Is there a ribbon upon your mailbox with stars and bars? Do you support the president in his war for oil? Do you think your sons belong there on someone else’s soil? How far is to here from Nuremburg?”

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

The U.S. will not be present when the U.N. General Assembly meets mid-May to elect new members to the Human Rights Council (HRC). The Bush administration says it will not be attending because the HRC lost its “credibility.” Michael Ratner, the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, stated, “The United States does not have a shred of moral authority left; its only authority is the big stick…It is the United States that has lost its credibility, and that is why it would never be elected.” When the U.S. ran for a seat on the HRC in 2001 it ended up being kicked out. Clearly the world believes the U.S. violates the human rights of detainees.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause – The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

During the run-up to invading Iraq Saddam Hussein was linked to al-Qaida by President Bush and members of his administration. In President Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address he claimed Iraq and al-Qaida “have had high-level contacts that go back a decade. In a letter to Congress a few months later, Bush asserted that using force against Iraq “and other countries… including those nations, organizations or person who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.”

President Bush and his administration also claimed Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). During a 2002 speech in Cincinnati, Ohio Bush claimed that surveillance photos showed Saddam Hussein’s regime were rebuilding factories where it had once produced WMDs. Vice-President Dick Cheney appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” claiming Hussein was “out trying once again to produce nuclear weapons.”

4. Supremacy of the Military – Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

The US military budget for the year 2007 is $439.3 Billion, which is larger than the combined military budgets of the next fourteen largest spenders. It is eight times larger than China’s military budget. Meanwhile millions of Americans lack access to affordable healthcare. America is the only country in the ‘developed’ world that does not have a tax-payer funded healthcare system. Instead Americans pay for the military to invade and occupy sovereign nations.

5. Rampant Sexism – The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion, and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

The Supreme Court banned an abortion method called “intact dilation and extraction” on April 18. Anti-reproductive rights critics refer to the procedure by the misnomer “partial-birth” abortion. It was used in only 0.17 percent of all U.S. abortions in 2000. “Not since Bush v. Gore has the Supreme Court made such a political decision, or one that so completely distorts and disregards the U.S. Constitution,” declared the National Organization for Women (NOW) President Kim Gandy.

President Bush recently warned Democratic leaders in Congress via letters not to attempt to weaken federal policies restricting abortion. When the Congress was controlled by Republicans federal funding of abortions was prohibited except to save the mother’s life, or cases of rape or incest. The religious fundamentalist James Dobson, founder and leader of Focus on the Family, declared with approval, “President Bush is not the first man to occupy the Oval Office who talked about valuing pre-born life, but no administration has backed up those words with as much consistent policy support as his has.”

6. Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

The main stream media is owned by a handful of corporations. Media critic Ben Bagdikian pointed out in his book The Media Monopoly in 1983 that only 50 corporations controlled the U.S. news media. With each new edition of the book the number shrinks. In 1992 less than two dozen corporations controlled the news media, and by 2000 only six. By 2004 the number shrunk to five.

Given the state of the MSM, it is not surprising that during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq the MSM kept repeating the lies of the Bush administration as if they were facts. For example:

• CBS Evening News, November 9, 2002: “But as U.N. weapons inspectors prepare to return to Iraq for the first time since Saddam kicked them out in 1998, the U.S. faces a delicate balancing act: transforming the international consensus for disarmament into a consensus for war.”

• The Washington Times, November 14, 2002: “Iraq kicked out U.N. inspectors four years ago.”

• Bob Woodward in the Washington Post, November 17, 2002: “The speech assailed the United Nations for not enforcing the weapons inspections in Iraq, specifically for the four years since they had kicked them out.”

7. Obsession with National Security – Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer interviewed Condoleeza Rice on September 8, 2002. When he asked her about Saddam Hussein’s nuclear weapons capabilities, she replied, “We know that he has the infrastructure, nuclear scientists to make a nuclear weapon…And we know that when the inspectors assessed this after the Gulf War, he was far, far closer to a crude nuclear device than anybody thought — maybe six months from a crude nuclear device…The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined – Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.

President Bush is a product of what I like to term “Bible-belting fundamentalism.” He invokes the name of God, co-opting Christian imagery and biblical text while ignoring the warnings against using violence which Jesus taught. For instance, during his 2002 address in Cincinnati he stated, “The time for denying, deceiving, and delaying has come to an end. Saddam Hussein must disarm himself — or, for the sake of peace, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.” However, Bush failed to mention that the majority of the intelligence community did not believe Hussein possessed WMDs. Bush ended his Cincinnati speech with the words, “May God bless America.”

9. Corporate Power is Protected – The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

Due to the state of campaign financing, and the huge cost it takes to run for a political office, corporate money plays a huge role in US congressional and presidential elections. The 2004 presidential and congressional elections cost $4 billion. The 2000 presidential and congressional elections cost $3 billion. The cost for television and radio ads, not to mention political consultants, is enormous. As a result, elected officials are in the proverbial back pockets of corporations.

General Electric (GE) is a good example. The CEO of General Electric, Jeffrey Immelt contributed to both Bush’s presidential campaigns, and gave donations to the Republican National Committee. In 2003 GE was awarded a $10,600,007,101 no-bid contract in Iraq, and is ranked number seven in the list of 100 biggest defense contractors. During the 1990s the Pentagon created an investigations office for GE, which resulted in the company being indicted on 22 criminal counts.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed – Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

During the immigrant rights rally on May Day at MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, the police tried to break up a peaceful demonstration. On the website la.indymedia.org an observer described what happened when the police began firing at the crowd and attacking them with batons. According to the article, police officers began to push a protestor, a crowd gathered around as a result, and “a protestor was shown the true force of a police baton in blunt force trauma to the head… LAPD was now fully mobilizing at this point getting riot gear ready and forming a defensive block. Bear in mind; this all started with LAPD attacking peaceful protestors.”

Members of the media were injured, including Fox TV Camerawoman Patti Ballaz, who sustained severe injuries after members of the LAPD struck her with batons. Ballaz filed a lawsuit against the LAPD. A Telemundo reporter was injured by the LAPD, as well a Los Angeles area television news reporter, four employees of a news station, a camerawoman, and a reporter for a radio station.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts – Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

A 46 page report compiled by over 60 scientists accused the Bush administration of censoring scientific reports for political purposes. The report accused the administration of “suppressing, distorting, or manipulating the work done by scientists at federal agencies.” The scientists claim the administration ordered “massive changes” about the findings on global warming in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2003 Report on the Environment. According to the report a fact sheet for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention was replaced with a warning on the failure rate of condoms.

An Inspector General report accused Julie MacDonald, deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, of altering scientific reports in order to limit the number of species classified as endangered, according to a March 29 Washington Post article bearing the title “Official Allegedly Tampered with Data.” The report found that MacDonald violated federal rules by sending internal agency documents to lobbyists, but did not accuse her of a crime.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment – Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

In 2002 the Congress authorized the Patriot Act. Under the Patriot Act law enforcement has an expanded ability to gain access to personal medical, financial, mental health, medical records. Law enforcement can conduct secret searches. The FBI can conduct criminal investigations on American citizens without probable cause if it is for “intelligence purposes.” Non-citizens can be arrested based on suspicion.

The Patriot Act was reauthorized in 2005. The best commentary on the Patriot Act occurred during an episode of the crime procedural Law & Order: Criminal Intent, when actor Christopher Noth’s character remarked, “I’ve read the Patriot Act in its original form: 1984.”

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption – Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

Private contractors are used more now than ever. According to a New York Times article the “most successful” contracts are given not to “those doing the best work” but to those who have the right connections within the Bush administration. The Bush administration has outsourced everything from the emergency preparation and evacuation of New Orleans to the maintenance of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and private contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq. In Iraq alone there are 100,000 contractors, almost the number of U.S. forces, according to a military census.

14. Fraudulent Elections – Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

The 2000 presidential election came down to votes in Florida. Al Gore won the popular vote. The race in Florida was too close to call which triggered an automatic state-wide recount. Democrats wanted a hand count of votes in counties that used the “butterfly” ballot. The Bush campaign went to federal court to block the hand recounts. The court refused to block the recounts, but the Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, a Bush supporter, oversaw the certification process. State law required the election results to be certified within seven days, and Harris refused to extend the deadline, which would allow the manual recounts to be included.

The case ended up going before the Florida Supreme Court which granted a five-day extension. The Bush campaign asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal, and the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in December. The recount process itself ended up being disputed as each county had a different way to evaluate the ballots. Republican protestors on November 22 pounded on the doors and windows of the building where Miami’s Dade county officials were counting the ballots. As a result the county canvassing board stopped the recount, although they denied the protests were responsible for their decision. Palm Beach County asked Harris to extend the deadline as they did not have enough time to recount all the ballots, but she refused, and that evening certified Bush the winner. The Supreme Court in December ruled recounts in Florida would stop.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights investigated allegations of voting fraud in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. The Commission found that approximately 54 percent of the 180,000 “spoiled ballots” in Florida were cast by African-Americans, who make up about 11 percent of Florida voters, and are largely registered as Democrats.

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Here is a list of top 10 websites which any small business can use to its advantage and to conduct business in the post web 2.0 world.

Twitter: Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Twitter is an amazing tool that can expand your reach to customers and potential customers. It can allow you to stay in touch and connect with thousands and thousands of people instantly. It can help drive your brand and communicate with customers in a way that you’ve never been able to before, and so much more.

Google: Google offers a wide variety of products aimed at small business owners, and many of them are free or very low-cost. Google is the top most global website in the world which enables users to search the Web, Usenet, and images. Features include Page Rank, caching and translation of results, and an option to find similar pages. The company’s focus is developing search technology.

AdsGlobe.com: Adsglobe is the popular free classifieds website around the globe. Adsglobe serves variety of users ranging from individuals to all types & sizes of business entities addressing their unique advertising needs. Adsglobe is featuring free online classified advertisement site with sections devoted to Real Estate/Rentals, Local Events, Yellow Pages, Jobs, Autos, Items for Sale, Dating/Personals, Services, Pets and Travel where users can search or post free ads.

Amazon: Amazon.com seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. The new e-tailer’s all Business Center will be targeted at helping entrepreneurs find the products they need to service their small- and medium-sized businesses. Amazon’s new offering will include quick and easy access to small- and medium-business products. Site has numerous personalization features and services including one-click buying, gift certificates, wish lists, travel, and photo processing.

Wikipedia: Wikipedia is a popular Web site that allows users to create entries in a massive online encyclopedia, can be collaboratively created and maintained by thousands of users worldwide. Any article contributed to Wikipedia becomes free content that may be used, edited, copied and redistributed by users. All materials contributed to Wikipedia must be verifiable by other users.

Facebook pages: Anyone with a Facebook profile has had the ability to add something called a Page to extend some content beyond the profile page. This was a smart thing for businesses to do as you could control the content and fans could subscribe to the content. The functionality, however, was pretty limited and these pages were more like static web page brochures than anything else.

Alibaba.com: Alibaba.com Limited is the global leader in business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce and the flagship company of Alibaba Group. Alibaba.com makes it easy for millions of buyers and suppliers around the world to do business online through three marketplaces: a global trade marketplace for importers and exporters, a Chinese marketplace for domestic trade in China, and, through an associated company, a Japanese marketplace facilitating trade to and from Japan.

DealsGlobe.com: Any small business can find cool deals and coupons on DealsGlobe.com and save lot of time and money. DealsGlobe.com allows to find hot online deals and coupons from top online merchants in many countries around the globe. DealsGlobe.com also presents latest sales that are going with various merchants.

EBay: EBay offers small businesses a way to buy or sell practically anything to anyone, anywhere. EBay is The World’s Online Marketplace, enabling trade on a local, national and international basis. With a diverse and passionate community of individuals and small businesses, eBay offers an online platform where millions of items are traded each day. International person to person auction site with products sorted into categories.

Craigslist: Craigslist is a prevailing tool featuring classified ads about almost anything and everything. Craigslist provides local classifieds and forums for jobs, housing, for sale, personals, services, local community, and events almost everything, whatever you can think of, not only this but also discussion on local current events. This is a website where you can advertise to buy and sell things.

This article is sponsored by ForumsGlobe.com

Forumsglobe.com is a free forum site where everybody has an opportunity to express their views or ideas, share their thoughts or concerns, seek opinion or help from others.

Short sale approval can be a lengthy and complex process. Obtaining approval for short sales must be processed through the lender’s Loss Mitigation Department. There are many steps involved with a trail of paperwork.

When lenders engage in short sale approval transactions they agree to accept a lesser amount than is owed on the mortgage note. Typically, a Loss Mitigator is assigned to the Borrower’s account and reviews their situation to determine if they are eligible for this type of real estate transaction.

Short sale approval eligibility requirements include the following:

1) The Borrower must provide proof their home is worth less than the unpaid balance. Generally, this is accomplished by obtaining comparable home sale prices in the area where the Borrower’s home is located. Comp reports can be obtained through Realtors or by conducting research via the Internet.

2) The Borrower must be default on their mortgage note by a minimum of three months. Additionally, the majority of lenders only consider short sales when the Borrower has no equity in their home. If the Borrower has equity or other financial assets, chances are high the lender will not agree to a short sale approval.

3) The Borrower must provide proof they are facing financial distress due to hardships such as extended unemployment, chronic health problems, bankruptcy, death or divorce.

4) The Borrower has no financial assets they can draw from to maintain mortgage payments.

Before granting a short sale approval, the lender generally offers the Borrower a variety of options such as a Loan Modification or Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure. Some lenders will suggest loan modifications which allow the Borrower to roll over the delinquent mortgage payments to the end of the loan. Other lenders will reduce mortgage payments for an extended period of time.

There are multiple options available to homeowners who want to keep their home out of foreclosure. Each comes with their own set of pros and cons. Therefore, it’s vital to investigate all options and determine the best financial decision for you and your family.

Once the decision has been made to pursue short sale approval, certain elements must be in place. Generally, the lender will require the homeowner to have a Buyer lined up. This is best accomplished by working with a Realtor qualified to handle short sale transactions.

Finally, a short sale package must be provided to the lender. Although requirements vary from lender to lender, most lenders require the following information:

• Detailed financial statement outlining income and expenses

• Short sale hardship letter explaining the events that caused you to become delinquent in mortgage payments

• Current bank and investment statements

• Current year tax return

• Realtor listing agreement

• Signed sales contract

• Estimate settlement statement (HUD-1)

• Proof of buyer’s financing

The short sale approval process is not for the faint of heart. It requires patience, tenacity, organizational skills and multiple phone conversations. However, short sales are far less damaging to your credit and less traumatic than the foreclosure process.

It is highly recommended to thoroughly educate yourself about the short sale approval process and work with qualified individuals who are well-versed in this type of real estate transaction. Short sale experts include Realtors, Real Estate Attorneys, Short Sale Specialists and Private Real Estate Investors.

Obtain short sale approval and foreclosure tips from real estate investing expert Simon Volkov. Access a library of informative articles on real estate investing and creative selling techniques at http://www.SimonVolkov.com.