After winning a Heisman trophy and the expected number two pick for quarterback this year, with Robert Griffin, football player, explains his next move.
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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46543078/
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Training in martial arts is known to impart several benefits to practitioners. Aside from fitness and wellness benefits, martial arts exercises contribute mental soundness, boosts self-confidence, spiritual and emotional well-being. Various martial arts schools then focus on therapeutic aspects rather than emphasize on self defense and combat. Martial arts courses on jiu jitsu, taekwondo and muay thai kickboxing are popularly offered in many schools since these are known to cater emotional communication and expression.
Grappling and ground fighting with Jiu Jitsu
Considered as the most modified version of Japanese Jujutsu and modern day Judo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the most popular ground-based fighting style. This fighting tactic emphasizes on chokes, positioning and joint locks. The unique style of this martial art dwells mainly on self defense, grappling and mixed martial arts. With focus on competition and gaining dominant positions, this martial arts fighting technique is aimed to force opponent to submit. This art of fighting began with the teachings of Mitsuyo Maeda, a Japanese master who immigrated to Brazil. He then taught to different students his techniques and found Carlos Gracie who excelled at the practice and martial art theories. After years of teaching this fighting technique, the Gracie family bring the Brazilian Jiu-jitsu throughout the 20th century.
Taekwondo as hard-style martial arts
Although recognized as the national sport of South Korea, Taekwondo has been influenced by the martial arts of China and Japan. This fighting style is considered hard-style martial arts that mainly focus on defense style, sport, combative technique, exercise and philosophy. The term ?taekwondo? is translated as ?the way of the foot and the fist? since this includes powerful hand-strikes, blocks, jumps, kicks and spins. During the summer Olympics in 2000, sparring system of taekwondo has become one of the sports. Sparring is recognized to be acceptable to all practitioners while grappling techniques are only performed by higher practiced individuals with higher belt levels. Modern teachings of this martial art support the idea that anyone can learn this art regardless of age, sex or size. Many students are enthusiastic to participate in taekwondo practices because it develops stamina, flexibility, speed and helps strengthen muscles. Aside from being a popular sport, techniques in taekwondo can be used effectively as self defense.
Muay Thai- striking foundation in MMA
Known as the ?art of eight limbs?, Muay Thai kickboxing originated in Thailand. This is referred as such because of the use of legs, elbows, knees and fists. Thus, a Muay Thai practitioner known as a nak muay uses eight points of contact as opposed to ?two points? in boxing and ?four points? in other combat sports. This is also a fighting art of attrition where opponents exchange blows with one another. Muay Thai has become the foundation of countless mixed martial artists. Its techniques are used predominantly as effective stand-up fighting technique in MMA fights. This consists of stand-up striking and sprawls are usually employed to defend against takedowns. Often MMA fighters focus on studying submission to avoid being forced into submission.
These are just three of the various types of martial arts that have become part of the world of sports. Students including adults, kids and teens have enrolled to martial arts schools to be at least physically fit or learn techniques on how to protect oneself in times of adversity. Training methods dwell mostly on self-preservation methods by teaching famous hand-to-hand combat, boxing techniques and self-defense stances.
Ross is author of this article on Martial Arts. Find more information about Self Defense here.
Source: http://list-of-directory.com/recreation-sports/introduction-to-jiu-jitsu-taekwondo-and-muay-thai/
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Affirmations are certainly powerful instruments that could be type in causing change that you experienced, whether it be such as personalized change or taking new conditions to you. Self-positive affirmations are recovery, confident communications for you to acquire for yourself to counter-top your bad communications. Positive affirmations appear like visualization with psychological images but words are employed as a substitute. Words and phrases you say loudly, read or produce daily that will help internalize what you need to generally be and what you want to obtain. Positive affirmations are self improvement prophecies that when avast visualized and advocated will happen legitimate.
Just repeating what is just not plenty of. Positive affirmations are not sensational paragraphs that are reported only a couple of moments and after that make like a charm. For positive affirmations to produce benefits, correctly repeated typically with emotion and indictment.
Affirmations have been demonstrated beginning from what: I am, I can, and I will. An We are proof is actually a affirmation of what you do like at all like me smart or We are creative. An I will proof is actually a affirmation of one?s probable and chance to change for example ccleaner I will be powerful or I can be quite a victorious one. An I?m going to proof is actually a affirmation of positive change you want to complete for example I?m going to control my temper or I?m going to tackle economical concerns prudently today. Positive affirmations ought to always be produced in a positive manner. A great way to use positive affirmations is usually to all the way down 30 of those, each one using a distinct index chart card. Every single day in the 30 days center on one proof. Maintain the card along exhibited within your look games and study against eachother loud in the daytime.
Affirmations allow you to enhance all by yourself since obviously humans are forced to check out what you believe in. What provokes you is the notion in the long run end result. In case you frequently say to all by yourself something, your inner do-it-yourself can make it come to be legitimate. Positive affirmations reinforce desire, make new remedies and activate the depths of the mind so as to make your proof becoming reality. The positive affirmations you repeat becomes an optimistic practice that can result in self improvement of one?s brain, physique and heart and soul.
Source: http://www.marmablogs.com/2012/02/personal-development-with-affirmations/
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Belly fat exercise is definitely just regarding the most widespread varieties a huge number of folks have engaged in. many other people have got broadly researched the subject to make successful methods by which fat can be lowered within the belly.
Whoever has been recently dissatisfied by what the common exercise and wellness and fitness equipment promised to provide are falling returning to the very good earlier approaches of typical workout routines. Clear evidence towards the slide back could be observed on common on the web video world wide web streaming internet sites such as Metacafe, in which you will have use of numerous do it yourself video tutorials on belly far workout routines.
Inside the classic nights, folding and also sit ups have been believed to become the actual belly fat exercise. The age to adhere to together with received most close up and private with well being and fitness models that the entire array of machinery arrived towards the sector, puzzling laymen about what to choose. As a result, the layman would own 2-3 exercise models at property, that they?ve only beneficial for a couple of occasions. As the take care of machinery relating to belly fat exercise ceased to herald positive outcomes, folks started frequenting fitness gyms.
But again, with the aid of models together with the company relating to individual assistance, a person would engage in belly fat exercise, with no good results. Precisely why? Once they get property, they?d ingest foodstuff excessively that erases off day?s physical exercise that has been supposed to become geared towards belly fat exercise. This will grow to be clear that models aren?t genuinely necessary for losing fat. What precisely is generally needed is in fact assistance coming from fellow humans. Beyond this idea commences the journey relating to aerobic workouts and numerous forms of comparable party courses in which likeminded folks, have a fantastic time once they try to eliminate fat. Consequently, belly fat workout routines from aerobic workouts courses would target belly fat reduction at the same time.
The most recent craze all through belly fat exercise even so is 1 factor even more exciting that could be carried out in the convenience of one?s own property. These are video chat video games that produces a person sweat!? that?s right? as opposed to understanding to be a inactive despite the fact that playing video games that could allow you to stay filled for an day, staying actually associated with irrespective of what exercise inside the game permits you to slim down! A number of young children and adults are now shifting inside the direction of utilizing these exciting in addition to active video games to shed pounds although wearing exciting in the convenience of their very own homes. What?s a lot a lot more waiting for you in case you have to participate in belly fat exercise? Nicely, basically period may possibly tell? inside the meantime, there?s lots to preserve a person filled to shed that may fat!
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Source: http://newhealthandfitness.org/2012/02/24/belly-fat-diet-exercise/
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Personal injury claims are legal cases in which the actions or negligence of one person or entity causes another person to be physically injured or to experience mental anguish. If a person is suffering because of another person's carelessness, than the person who is suffering can take the careless party to court by filing a personal injury claim and suing for damages and compensation.
Personal injury cases can involve medical malpractice, defamation of character, automobile accidents, and product defects, as well as other forms of physical injury or mental anguish. It's unfortunate that most people who are hurt are not aware of the benefits that filing a personal injury claim could potentially offer them.
If you are thinking about filing a personal injury claim, you should meet with a personal injury attorney to determine the validity of your case. Determining if a personal injury case possesses any legal merit is an important step for a law firm to take because, in most cases, personal injury lawyers work on a contingency basis. If they don't win your case they won't get paid. Both parties (you and them) agree to those terms when a lawyer agrees to represent you.
Since personal injury laws do vary from one state to another, you may want to get in touch with a personal injury attorney who practices law in your state. He or she will have the experience and knowledge to help you to determine if it's likely that the judgment for your claim would be in your favor.
When the case goes to court, it will be determined if the accident or harm was primarily caused by the other party's negligence.
Sometimes cases are settled out of court. But a lot of times they do go through the entire legal process.
If you pursue a personal injury lawsuit, you should be prepared to face the insurance company. However, you should not let this intimidate you. Although insurance companies are huge corporations with huge resources, you have your legal rights to back you up.
Naturally, you will want to receive equitable compensation for your injury. An experienced personal injury attorney will probably have a much more successful approach to winning your case than if you went to court and tried to present a case on your own.
Article Added on Friday, February 24, 2012
Source: http://www.bharatbhasha.net/legal.php/345927
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Source: http://osekymubago.posterous.com/legal-personal-injury-claims-what-to-look-for
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Copyright ? 2012 by Mark Gabrish Conlan for Zenger?s Newsmagazine ? All rights reserved
I could probably have lived my life quite comfortably without knowing or caring who Cynthia Nixon was, but when I read that she ? an actress who made her reputation on the Sex and the City TV show ? was being raked over the coals for having said somewhere or other that being Queer was a ?choice? for her, I immediately got interested and wanted to see exactly what she?d had to say.
It began when Alex Witchel interviewed her for a New York Times Magazine article published January 19, 2012. After Witchel gave a history of Nixon?s professional career ? her start as a child actor, her ability to make the leap to adult roles with stymies a lot of showbiz kids, her appearances in major Broadway productions with the likes of William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Irons and Christine Baranski, and her leap into cable TV with what Witchel called ?the global success of Sex and the City? ? the writer started to describe Nixon?s personal life.
He mentioned that Nixon had been married to a man, Daniel Mozes ? who went to Hunter College High School with her and now teaches there ? and they had had two children. Then, Witchel wrote, ?As Nixon has grown older, she has allowed herself to start coloring outside the lines.? What that meant in plain English was that in 2004, a year after she broke up with Mozes, she started a relationship with Christine Marinoni, who ?with the help of a male friend whom Nixon will not identify? gave birth to a son, Max Ellington Nixon-Marinoni, whom Nixon and Marinoni are raising as a couple.
Witchel quoted Nixon as saying ?I totally reject? the skepticism many Queer activists showed towards her middle-age change in sexual orientation. ?I gave a speech recently, an empowerment speech to a Gay audience, and it included the line, ?I?ve been straight and I?ve been Gay, and Gay is better,?? Nixon told Witchel. ?They tried to get me to change it, because they said it implies that homosexuality can be a choice. And for me, it is a choice. I understand that for many people it?s not, but for me it?s a choice, and you don?t get to define my Gayness for me. A certain section of our community is very concerned that it not be seen as a choice, because if it?s a choice, then we could opt out. I say it doesn?t matter if we flew here or we swam here, it matters that we are here and we are one group and let us stop trying to make a litmus test for who is considered Gay and who is not.?
Nixon didn?t stop there. Witchel described her as waving her arms and turning red in the face as she expressed her antagonism towards the ?born this way? orthodoxy of the Queer community. ?Why can?t it be a choice?? she said. ?Why is that any less legitimate? It seems we?re just ceding this point to bigots who are demanding it, and I don?t think that they should define the terms of the debate. I also feel like people think I was walking around in a cloud and didn?t realize I was Gay, which I find really offensive. I find it offensive to me, but I also find it offensive to all the men I?ve been out with.?
Needless to say, the Queer Thought Police came down on Nixon like the proverbial ton of bricks. Wayne Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out ? an organization designed to expose the abuses so-called ?reparative therapy? programs aimed at turning Queer people straight ? said, ?Cynthia did not put adequate thought into the ramifications of her words, and it is going to be used when some kid comes out and their parents force them into some ?ex-Gay? camp while she?s off drinking cocktails at fancy parties. When people say it?s a choice, they are green-lighting an enormous amount of abuse because if it?s a choice, people will try to influence and guide young people to what they perceive as the ?right? choice.?
Under the lash of the criticism, Nixon backtracked ? a bit ? when she gave an interview to the Daily Beast Web site and identified herself as Bisexual. (Duh.) ?I believe we all have different ways we came to the Gay community, and we can?t and shouldn?t be pigeon-holed into one cultural narrative which can be uninclusive and disempowering,? she said. ?However, to the extent that anyone wishes to interpret my words in a strictly legal context, I would like to clarify: while I don?t often use the word, the technically precise term for my orientation is Bisexual. I believe bisexuality is not a choice, it is a fact. What I have ?chosen? is to be in a Gay relationship.?
Why on earth can?t we acknowledge at least some element of ?choice? in how we express our sexual desires? No Gay man is equally attracted to all men, nor is any Lesbian equally attracted to all women, any more than any straight person is attracted to everyone of the opposite sex. If we can pick and choose our partners based on height, weight, age, hair color, tastes in politics or music, or whatever weird and beautiful criteria that guide us, why can?t we pick their gender, too? Why do we have to make some hard-and-fast decision, once we?ve had our first experience with a same-sex partner, that we have to identify as Gay or Lesbian for life?
In fact, for reasons that ? like much of the science of sexual orientation ? aren?t very well researched, known or understood, women seem more able to have sex, or form relationships, with other women and not feel that makes them Queer forever than men are with other men. UC Davis psychologist Gregory Herek did a survey that found that 16 percent of self-identified Lesbians said they?d had ?a fair amount of choice? in their sexual orientation, versus only 5 percent of self-identified Gay men. Among self-identified Bisexuals, the figure was 45 percent for women and 40 percent for men.
Another study, actually an analysis of nine studies by researchers at the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School, said that 8 million Americans (3.5 percent of the population ? not Alfred Kinsey?s much-vaunted ?10 percent,? which only applied to men and included Bisexuals) identify as Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual. In eight of the nine surveys Williams studied, Bisexual women outnumbered Lesbians, while Gay men outnumbered Bi men.
What this says to me is that women are far less likely than men to regard sexual orientation as an either-or choice ? either straight or Gay ? and more likely to be able to experiment with Lesbian experiences or relationships without having to make a hard-and-fast decision that they can?t go back to dating the opposite gender. I?m not sure why that is, but my guess would be that for a man to have sex with men means identifying with the supposedly ?inferior? female role and is therefore, in the context of a homophobic society with rigid notions of ?proper? gender identification and behavior, a more wrenching psychological change and a more direct challenge to one?s own sense of identity.
Coming out as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Queer or what have you isn?t made any easier by the demands of the Queer orthodoxy and the ?born that way? mythology that once you?ve ventured into Queerdom, you can?t go back. It has to do with the metaphor, at the root of much Queer organizing and activism since the founding of the Mattachine Society in 1950, that sexual orientation is an ?immutable characteristic? comparable to race, and therefore discrimination against Queer people is as wrong ? and wrong for the same reasons ? as discrimination against African-Americans or other people of color.
It?s a metaphor that?s getting harder and harder to sustain as the Queer community comes to grips with the existence of Bisexual and Transgender people and tries to figure out how to integrate them within an essentialist, biologically determined concept of sexual orientation. The reality of Bisexuals ? people who can, depending on the circumstances, fulfill themselves romantically or sexually with both males and females ? already makes it virtually impossible to sustain a limited (and limiting) understanding of people as ?born? straight or Queer.
And the reality of Transgender people drives the final nail into the coffin of the idea of sexual orientation as immutable. After all, it?s hard to think of a more ?immutable characteristic? someone could have than the physical or genetic configuration of their body as male or female ? and yet the Transgender community has shown us that physical or genetic gender is not destiny, that one can be physically one sex and psychologically and spiritually the other. Indeed, an increasing number of Transgender people don?t buy into the notion that there are just two genders; instead they claim one or more of a dizzying array of gender identities which is going to take a while for those of us who don?t share their gender ambiguity fully to understand.
I?ve long felt that we as a community have reached the limit of race as an appropriate metaphor for our movement?s struggle against discrimination and prejudice. Indeed, ironically enough, the growing number of mixed-race people in the U.S. (including our current President) has weakened the ?born this way? racial metaphor even among the people for whom it was invented; more and more mixed-race people are sounding like Bisexual and Transgender people in their refusal to settle on one racial identity and insistence that the people around them accept the totality of their heritage, not just characterize them on the basis that they look ?more? like one of their ancestral races than another.
I think religion is a better metaphor for our community than race now. One can accept the religion into which one is born, one can change to a different one ? either a different denomination or a totally different belief system. One can not believe for years and then suddenly decide there is a God, or one can believe for years and then suddenly decide there isn?t. One can accept a particular faith pretty much ?as is,? or one can pick and choose among the elements of different ones. Or one can make up a belief system of one?s own. All these choices are, or at least should be, protected under the broad two-part guarantee of religious freedom in the First Amendment ? government can neither play favorites for one religion or another, or stop you from believing and practicing whatever faith (or non-faith) you want.
Likewise, instead of telling people they have to fit themselves, their experiences and their desires into boxes neatly labeled ?straight,? ?Gay,? ?Lesbian? or ?Bisexual,? we as a community should be fighting for the right to express yourself sexually any way you like, as long as you don?t force yourself on someone else or otherwise cause harm to others. ?Our community is not a monolith, thank goodness, any more than America itself is,? said Cynthia Nixon ? who, let?s face it, would have got the Queer Thought Police even angrier if her first partner had been a woman and her second one a man, instead of the other way around.
?I met Christine and I fell in love and lust with her,? Nixon said. ?I am completely the same person and I was not walking around in some kind of fog. I just responded to the people in front of me the way I truly felt.? That?s the sort of freedom we as a Queer movement should be working for all people to have. It?s the openness to experience, to love, to power, to ? dare I say it? ? choice that will liberate us, not some crabbed orthodoxy about being ?born this way? which makes a great Lady Gaga lyric but a lousy prescription for other people?s lives.
Source: http://zengersmag.blogspot.com/2012/02/cynthia-nixon-bi-heroine-tells-it-like.html
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Bad consumer debt management is at an all-time high. More and more people are having a lot more financial problems than ever before. Bankruptcy reaches an all time large. Financial stress is tearing family members apart.
Lots of people think consolidation is the response to all their economic problems. Think? you get one particular loan to settle all your financial obligations. Then, you should only have to deal with one particular company and something payment. You must admit, it sounds very good.
However, getting a consolidation loan will not likely resolve current financial problems until or perhaps unless one particular learns the way to manage the money they owe. Financial misuse can get uncontrollable. It can turn into additive exactly like drugs or alcohol. Usually, financial mismanagement occurs because of lack of knowledge.
Some pin the consequence on easy credit rating as the method to obtain their problems. Although it is easy to obtain effortless credit, that doesn?t determine how people choose to invest their money. Fiscal responsibility along with accountability will be the path to a debt free existence.
Bankruptcy causes a lot more stress, wipes out your credit rating and haunts you for years. With dedication, education along with application of proper money ideas, you can regain control of your financial existence and quickly get on the road to a debt free life.
Taking care of ones debts are critical. Debt management teaches you purchasing your personal financial situation. Here are five important ideas to use to learn how to best handle your finances.
1. Talk to a Reputable Managing debt Counselor
Sometimes we can?t begin to see the forest to the trees. This concept is particularly accurate with respect to our personal finances. Getting an outside, aim view of your current financial standing is very important.
A great debt management psychologist will take a look at current economic circumstances along with help you build a plan to pay back your debts. You may expect honest along with frank feedback. Anything less would not allow you to.
Your relationship with a personal debt counselor is essential. If you feel at ease in speaking, you?re more prone to openly talk about your needs and personal problems. However, keep in mind that you might not like whatever you hear. Nevertheless, when you know he/she offers your best interest as the primary goal, you?re more prone to follow the guidance you get.
You ought to talk with many different counselors. Understand as much as you can. Find someone that basically listens. Whenever possible, talk with somebody that has worked with all the counselor. Find information on exactly what the counselor is doing to help people. Don?t be scared to ask specific questions: After that the psychologist will do? After that you be anticipated to do? Simply how much it will cost? Just how long will it get?
Once you?ve found a good managing debt counselor which has a proven track file, commit yourself for you to listening to along with applying the guidance you receive.
2. Create Debt Reduction like a Priority
Each and every debt is diverse. You have diverse amounts to shell out. The interest charges vary. May possibly not make any difference on what you decide to deal with your debt. The most crucial point is basically that you focus on settling your debt.
Once you?ve gotten some really good advice from a consumer debt management counselor, with each other you can decide the best way to pay back your debts. You ought to feel good about your financial plan. Each time you pay off a debt, you are going to feel better. Each time you pay a debt, you might be one step closer to financial liberty.
Make settling your debts the biggest priority and you may soon always be on the road to a debt free existence.
3. Follow Your allowance Plan
A single major secret weapon to success in debt supervision is setting up and following a budget. Your allowance should permit you enough funds to pay your debts and still have your necessary cost of living. The nearer you comply with your budget, the more likely you will reach your goals in becoming debt free.
Success will come by consistently paying your debts. If you shell out your debts first, then you know exactly how much money you have to live on.
Be sure you record along with document every transaction. Whatever method you employ to keep an eye on your payments. You?ll be able to write these questions checkbook journal, put cash in envelopes for each budget classification or get into each financial transaction into a computer program. The real key would be to know exactly how much you spend within each of your allocated spending budget categories. When you?ve spent the money for a given category, you?re done for the actual month.
4. Rip Up Your credit Cards
One of the greatest reasons people accumulate much debt is the usage of credit cards. It?s not hard to charge one thing. You don?t have to shell out cash. It?s like the old saying ?Out of look, Out of mind?. If you don?t see the funds going out, you aren?t as mindful of you paying.
Your debt supervision counselor has numerous more assets than you are doing. They can create financial preparations with your credit card companies to lower your payments and interest rate. In most cases, you will have to agree to never accumulate anymore debt.
Ripping up your credit cards takes away the actual temptation to raise your debt. It?s not hard to say one thing doesn?t charge that much, so a little demand here and there will not hurt. Never deceive on your own. That?s just how people enter financial problems in the first place? Eliminate the credit cards. Pay cash or perhaps pay nothing.
5. Become More Alert to Your Bills
When you turn into acutely aware of wherever your money should go, you can begin to cut back or eradicate unnecessary bills. You?ll commence to develop new and improved upon spending habits. Ask yourself. What?s my most costly bill? Would it be heating? Would it be air conditioning? Would it be water?
Next, become aware of what you do each day. Do you abandon the lamps on when you leave a space? What do you do when you leave the house for a lot of hours? It may seem that converting down the high temperature or listed the air will not save much. That is true. Nevertheless, if you do this everyday, those little financial savings begin to add together. Just think of becoming your personal financial savings plan. The particular less you make payment for, the more you have to spend somewhere else.
Small costs reductions after a while add up to large savings. Are more conscious of wherever your money is certainly going.
Learning along with applying great debt management skills will make all the difference in your life. After you have paid off your debts, you?ll be as a whole control once again. You?ll never want to repeat the feeling again. Say goodbye to bad consumer debt management forever.
Source: http://www.indyarticles.com/other-2/several-recommendations-defeating-poor-consumer-debt-management/
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| June 27, 2012 | to | July 1, 2012 |
Starting off with a bang, the USSSA Global Sports Baseball World Series 1 will begin with an exciting ?Opening Ceremonies? on June 27th with the competition heating up from June 28th through July 1st.? With more than 160 elite youth baseball teams competing, it is sure to be an exciting tournament! Games will be taking place at both the Gulf Shores Sportsplex and Orange Beach Sportsplex.
Looking for more information on this event? Visit the USSSA of Alabama?s Website.
Make this summertime event even better by booking your stay in a Gulf front beach home or condo today! Browse through our selection of properties at www.KaiserRealty.com or call one of our expert Reservation Professionals at (877) 405-5587 and let them match you with the perfect place!
Source: http://seegulfshores.kaiserrealty.com/5023/2012-usssa-global-sports-baseball-world-series-1/
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Unions say they are gearing up to spend more than $400 million to help re-elect President Barack Obama and lift Democrats this election year in a fight for labor's survival.
Under siege in state legislatures around the country ? and fearing the consequences of a Republican in the White House ? union leaders say they have little choice as they try to beat back GOP efforts to curb collective bargaining rights or limit their ability to collect dues.
"People are digging deeper," said Larry Scanlon, political director of the country's largest public workers union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "If Republicans take over the presidency, Congress and enough state legislatures, unions will be out of business, pure and simple."
Scanlon's union was the biggest overall spender in the 2010 midterm elections, doling out about $93 million to help state and federal candidates, mostly Democrats. This year, AFSCME is expected to spend at least $100 million or more on political action, including television advertising, phone banks and member canvassing. The effort is to help the president, Democrats running for the House and Senate, gubernatorial candidates and key state lawmakers.
With increased spending planned by other labor groups, including the powerful Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO, unions are likely to top the $400 million they spent to help elect Obama four years ago.
Not all union expenditures on political action are publicly disclosed, so some numbers are based on self-reporting. But unions have long been known as one of the most reliable supporters of Democratic candidates and their efforts have increased with every election as the threats to organized labor grow.
Unions already spent more than $40 million last year to successfully repeal an Ohio law that restricted collective bargaining rights and to recall lawmakers who backed a similar measure in Wisconsin. They are spending millions more in a bid to recall Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who led the charge to curb public employee union rights as a way to balance the state's budget.
But unions are being spread thin as they deal with a new wave of measures they say are designed to weaken their clout. Indiana passed a right-to-work measure earlier this month, and Republicans in New Hampshire are pushing a similar bill. Legislatures in Arizona and Utah are weighing measures to limit bargaining rights for their public employees.
"Part of the Republican strategy is to try to bleed us," said Mike Podhorzer, political director of the AFL-CIO. "There are certainly more union members now who understand the importance of political engagement and are willing to go door-to-door and make phone calls and do campaigns."
Tim Phillips, president of the conservative anti-tax and anti-regulation group Americans for Prosperity, denied any grand strategy to weaken unions. His group, founded with the support of billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, spends millions on anti-Obama and anti-union ads across the country.
"It's not accurate to say there's some master plan to drain resources," Phillips said. "These are genuine public policy efforts."
But Phillips said he thinks that, for the first time, unions have to confront organized grassroots opposition in a number of states.
"And Americans for Prosperity is absolutely a key component in that," Phillips said. "The unions have always had the advantage and we are now matching them."
The stakes are even higher for unions this year, as GOP presidential hopefuls seeking conservative support have made unions a regular punching bag. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney says he would support states pursuing right-to-work laws and seek to ban unions from using automatic dues deductions for politics. He would also reverse Obama's executive order encouraging the use of union labor in large government construction projects.
AFSCME, the 1.6-million member union, started early this year, spending $1 million on television ads during Florida's GOP presidential primary to weaken Romney, the candidate organized labor presumes will emerge as the Republican nominee.
The SEIU teamed up with Priorities USA Action, the major super PAC backing Obama, to buy ads in Florida and Nevada accusing Romney of flip-flopping on immigration policy. SEIU is the single largest contributor to Priorities USA after making a $500,000 contribution in December.
The 2.1 million-member union is expected to spend at least $85 million to help Obama win, similar to what it spent in 2008, spokeswoman Jennifer Farmer said.
So far, unions are finding a way to pay for all the political spending. Union members are contributing more to political action committees, agreeing to special assessments and spending more time working on political causes.
The AFL-CIO is following a new strategy outlined last summer to contribute less money to specific candidates and spend more on building its infrastructure. The goal is to lay a foundation for year-round mobilization that keeps going in the months following an election. Competing for the union money are the various races, from president to state lawmaker.
"We have to use 2012 not just to win for its own sake, but to use as a springboard for 2014 when the governors in all these states are up," Podhorzer said.
The new strategy emerged after some unions grew frustrated last year that Democrats in Congress were not doing enough to stand up for labor's agenda.
The AFL-CIO also started its own labor super PAC, which allows it to raise unlimited amounts of money and mobilize support beyond its traditional base. The new super PAC has already pulled in $3.7 million.
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Most of the times, it is observed that people find it quite intriguing when their online business does not pay off the expected results. This even after all the efforts were put in by them. But what people often overlook is the fact that running an online business successfully requires not only good efforts and strategies but also the right custom web development. In fact, good custom website development is imperative and the first step towards online success. A good business web design guarantees that your business runs smoothly and grows at a steady pace by drawing maximum benefits in terms of traffic, sales, and ROI.
It is a fact well know that a business requires a positive approach, a good strategy and a visually appealing interface in order to attract maximum visitors. All these features are guaranteed by a custom design. For online success, a business should have two most important features. First, ability to draw relevant traffic and, second, capability to attain good search engine ranking. A custom design promises both these features. It involves the complete overhauling of the site including its design, layout, navigation etc. so, as to provide a user friendly, interactive and a very appealing site. All this guarantees that more and more visitors flock your site which ultimately helps in improving the conversion rate as well as the sales rate of your business. This is not all. A customizes solution also guarantees good search engine ranking. Search engines rank websites on the basis of certain parameters. Among these parameters, a user friendly site with a relevant and fresh content is very important. A customized solution makes a site more user friendly and hence it gets indexed by major search engines.
Sometimes, it is observed that the reason behind the bad performance of a business is the lack of features in the site. With a custom design solution, you can change the look and feel of your site as per your your specific requirements. It gives you the complete control of the look, design, and feel of your site. Therefore, you can get it customized in a manner that will prove to be more conducive for your business. A custom web design strengthens a website?s ability to perform better by drawing more visitors and making it getting indexed by search engines easily. It also facilitates a better growth for the business by providing long term benefits.
Thus it is evident that a custom web design solution guarantees online success and is the first step towards it. If you are frustrated with the under performance of your online business, then it is high time that you started using a customized solution. There is no dearth of companies providing custom web development solutions. But you should select a company carefully. It is important to hire a reliable and professional web design company that is capable of providing cutting edge customized solutions. Therefore, it is in your best interest to research well and then hire a company.
Source: http://articlegoes.com/custom-web-development-first-step-towards-online-success.html
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BEIJING (AP) ? Ms. Zhang, a schoolteacher in the central city of Anyang, lent $43,000 last year to entrepreneurs who couldn't get loans from state banks. Now as growth cools and Beijing cracks down on informal credit, Zhang and thousands of other small lenders are unpaid and angry.
Underground lending by ordinary Chinese like Zhang flourished over the past decade, providing trillions of yuan (hundreds of billions of dollars) needed by private companies that create China's new jobs and wealth.
Its popularity reflects public desperation for an alternative to China's banks, which pay low deposit rates that fail to keep up with inflation and channel savings to government companies.
But the high cost of underground credit ? interest rates of 70 percent a year or higher ? and a slump in global demand caused a wave of business failures last year, prompting owners in cities such as Wenzhou in the southeast to flee.
The shockwave is now hitting the Chinese savers who put up money for those loans. Protests erupted in Anyang and other areas as lenders demanded officials get back their money.
"We have no other investment options and bank interest rates are too low," said Zhang, who asked not to be identified further. Hopes of getting back the 270,000 yuan ($43,000) she lent are pinned on the courts so long as the government is willing to let a case proceed.
Rising defaults threaten to aggravate social tensions as the Communist Party tries to enforce calm ahead of a once-a-decade handover of power to a younger generation of leaders due late this year. The public already is fuming over inflation, corruption, product safety scandals and pollution.
Leaders including Premier Wen Jiabao, the top economic official, have repeatedly promised more credit for small companies. But most loans still go to state enterprises that have close ties with banks and form the power base of officials. Experts say there have been slight improvements but the situation hasn't changed fundamentally.
"It always has been hard for small Chinese companies to borrow money from banks," said Guo Tianyong, director of the Banking Research Center at Beijing's Central University of Finance and Economics. He said the situation has worsened in the past year.
Entrepreneurs were struggling with slumping global demand when Beijing clamped down on a credit boom to cool its overheated economy. State banks cut the small amount of private sector lending they were doing while continuing support to state industry. Private companies failed and the survivors cut payrolls.
Only 19 percent of bank lending last year went to small businesses, while total loans fell 6 percent from 2010 to 7.5 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion), according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
The underground credit market is estimated by China's central bank and private sector analysts at 2 to 4 trillion yuan ($325 to $650 billion), or as much as 7 percent of total lending. In some areas, informal lending exceeds that of official banks.
The communist government allowed it to grow over the past decade, apparently seeing it as necessary to support entrepreneurs.
Borrowers range from manufacturers and traders to real estate developers who want to evade credit curbs imposed to cool surging housing prices. Middlemen, some of them state companies, put borrowers in touch with lenders for a fee.
Yao Yafei, a manager of a chemical company with 20 employees in the central city of Linfen in Shanxi province, said it has used informal lenders since 2004. He said that in its latest round, the company borrowed 500,000 yuan ($80,000) in July and repaid it two months later with 2 percent monthly interest.
"Underground banking is popular here," Yao said. "They offer really good service and send the money to you just one minute after you ask. They even send the cash to your place if you want.
Beijing launched a crackdown as it tightened economic controls after the 2008 crisis.
Regulators started to worry about underground lending after high returns drew state companies and civil servants into the business, blurring the line between banks and informal lending, according to Guo.
"They could easily borrow from banks and earn a profit by re-lending the money," he said. "If a problem happened, it would become destructive."
In Zhejiang province on the southeast coast, an export center hit by an avalanche of bankruptcies, 11 people have been sentenced to death since 2009 on charges of "illegal fundraising," according to news reports.
Among them was a 31-year-old woman, Wu Ying, who once was praised by state media as one of China's most successful businesswomen.
The penalty prompted an outcry on Internet bulletin boards by people who said it was too severe. All death sentences must be confirmed by China's supreme court, but in an apparent effort to mollify critics, the court took the unusual step of announcing it was reviewing Wu's penalty "with care."
Across the country, borrowers have been arrested after failing to repay loans running to billions of yuan (hundreds of millions of dollars).
Ordinary Chinese savers still have powerful incentives to take part.
Banks pay 3.5 percent on deposits, while inflation stood at 4.5 percent in January and was as high as 7.1 percent in July. Food prices are rising by double digits, adding to the urgency of earning a better return.
Zhang, the schoolteacher in Anyang in the central province of Henan, said she lent money last March to five local companies after friends put her in touch with the owners. She said such arrangements have been routine in Anyang for more than 10 years.
"There were no problems in the past two or three years, so people believed they could make money from it," she said by phone from Anyang.
The borrowers paid 4 percent interest each month but when the six-month loan came due in September, they said they had no money left, she said.
"It was just gone," Zhang said.
Thousands of frustrated lenders in Anyang took to the streets on New Year's Day, demanding the government recover their money, according to Hong Kong news reports.
Police blocked some who tried to board trains to Beijing to complain to the central government and authorities in Anyang are investigating hundreds of people suspected of involvement in investment schemes.
The propaganda department of Anyang's Communist Party branch said investigators have detained 160 people and recovered 1.8 billion yuan ($290 million) out of 4.6 billion yuan ($741 million) sought by lenders.
Chinese experts and state media say small-scale informal lending is legal and the limits of what is prohibited are fuzzy.
Xinhua said in a Dec. 16 report that making a private loan directly to a borrower is legal, though courts will not enforce interest more than four times the rate charged by official banks.
"There were differences between illegal fundraising and private lending, but no distinct boundaries were drawn," said Guo. "It's still not clear where the boundary is."
___
AP researchers Fu Ting, Yu Bing and Zhao Liang contributed.
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Arnova launches 8b G2 slate, hopes to keep it cheap originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue reading LG Optimus Vu officially revealed ahead of MWC with stylus, 1.5GHz CPU (Updated)
LG Optimus Vu officially revealed ahead of MWC with stylus, 1.5GHz CPU (Updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Feb 2012 01:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Live Telecast of boxing match between Chisora vs Klitschko now easily available online.
KLITSCHKO VS CHISORA LIVE
Internet boxing fight is now available on your personal computers from where you can record the stunning acts and can replay the awesome actions perform by the boxer. All this is available to you at free of cost and you can easily enjoy the live performances without breaks and intermission. There are numerous websites and software available where you can easily watch the fight. The fight has become more interesting because the best boxers are in the ring this time.
KLITSCHKO VS CHISORA LIVE
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Source: http://www.short-articles.net/watch-klitschko-vs-chisora-boxing-online-internet-coverage/
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Indeed?it truly is likely! The phrase ?addiction? give us pictures of persons in dark rooms, listening to lousy songs and sticking needles in their arms, but countless addicts can be observed in the gym or on the neighborhood school track, finding just as addictive a deal with. In inescapable fact, the positive naturel of the phrase ?healthy and balanced? tends to make wellness and health and fitness addiction all the much more alluring. Even with the impressive press, overall health addicts have carried out as significantly injury to their families and lives as any other type of addict. In this short article, we?ll look below the area of health and wellbeing and health and fitness addiction and come across a route to recovery.
How Can One thing So Beneficial Be Negative? In our fashionable Western culture, all those willing to spend the cost for physical fitness are to be applauded. There are just so several temptations to do in any other case. Exercising is primarily tedious, distressing and smelly, so the ones who endure it for about an hour, 3-5 times a week, have reached a stage of discipline most only dream of.
Health and fitness and physical fitness addiction is not about wellness or health and fitness?you?ll find it about a compulsion to use healthy things to do to fill a void we see in ourselves. Addicts are compelled, not disciplined. The addictive chemical substances involved in exercising are a lot the identical as those in sex and porn addiction. This may possibly reveal why several individuals undergo from each sexual addictions and wellbeing addictions.
Kinds Of Health and fitness And Health and fitness Addiction: These are addictions to the things to do of health and wellbeing and health and fitness, as opposed to the Tv, World-wide-web and searching addictions which could involve overall health themes. Health and fitness and health and fitness addictions are compulsions to engage in ?wholesome? activities, like working out, dieting, etcetera. In fact, anorexia and bulimia nervosa have equally been described as significant health and health and fitness addictions. Two vital signs of these mental disorders are work out and dietary management to a compulsive and too much serious. The specified physical fitness or weight loss plan strategy isn?t going to make a difference. It happens to be an addiction when you think compelled to do it.
How Do I Know I?m Addicted? We addicts will not frequently realize addiction because a standard symptom of addiction is denial, which is even much simpler to have about well being. That is why it is simplier and easier to obtain out from a companion or cherished a person if you have a dilemma in this location. For wellbeing addiction involving eating, see Anorexia Nervosa Quiz. Below are some items to look at out for regarding physical fitness training addiction:
1. Do you consistently invest alot more than eight hrs a week performing exercises and is the time you pay out improving?
two. Does your exercise timetable interfere with ordinary household actions, your home or function duties?
three. Do pals or relatives members complain about the time or income you shell out on conditioning?
four. Have you wondered if you happen to be remaining very compulsive about your conditioning plan?
five. Have you lied to your loved ones, pals, or employers about the time you devote in health and fitness pursuits?
six. Do you frequently see fitness as a way to obtain acceptance or praise from some others?
seven. Have you ever pushed so challenging in your physical fitness program you harm oneself?
If you answered yes to any of these thoughts, you have to think of all by yourself at risk of addiction. If you answered certainly to three or even more, you are likely addicted.
How Do I Recover From Overall health And Conditioning Addiction? This is created by a negative self-picture, like any other addiction. Rather of booze, you use training to fill a void you really feel in you. Considering the relief created by activity is only short term and you turn out to be conditioned, you need to have ordinary increases in the action to develop the same relief. Not like alcohol, a several total of conditioning action is requested for wellness, so, you are not able to just give up. In its place, we have to hold ourselves to no much more than an hour a day, three-5 times a week.
Commit the rest of the time you applied to activity going to AA or other addiction conferences and engaging in self-advancement pursuits. You could look over, go again to college, join a volunteer group. You could get up a pastime, like gardening or establishing type airplanes. To help in creating oneself up, stay away from bad psychological inputs, like the reports, drama, negative, insulting associates. Switch many with great audio or reading through or other activities that assemble you up. Press all the destructive, self-defeating, limiting thoughts out of your mind with favourable, uplifting, encouraging thoughts.
Simply because there are hazards that wellbeing and fitness addiction could build into whole-blown anorexia, if you experiment with and fail to get a take care of on your addiction, be sure to see a medical doctor. Oftentimes healthcare and psychological remedy can prevent an extra serious problem from creating, and let you the mental energies you have to have to get handle of by yourself.
Health and fitness and physical fitness addiction can be just as intense as any other addiction. It can imprison us into destructive, compulsive pursuits. We can put our family members, our careers, even, ironically, our health and wellbeing at danger via addiction to working out and other physical fitness actions. The superior reports is, there is hope for anyone eager to dwell in and operate on recovery.
Searching for extra information health articles?Pay a visit to our internet site for added facts.
Source: http://www.es5.org/overall-health-and-health-and-fitness-addiction/
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Question by jodi w : Can tax deductions help you qualify for earned income credit
I usually get earned income credit, but this year I am a couple thousand dollars above the limit. I have lots of deductions and was wondering if this would help. So want to know if turbo tax is as easy as they make it out to be? Best answer:
Answer by v b No
.EIC is deterministic mined by looking up both the amount for your earned income and the amount for your AGI and you get whichever amount results in the smallest EIC. IF your income is already above the limits, you would get $ 0
Add your own answer in the comments!
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Juggle Fire If it Draws a Crowd: On the internet PR and Internet Advertising and marketing Crucial to Achievement In spite of the Economy Says Social Media Professional
30 Days to On the internet PR & Marketing Good results
Charlotte, NC (PRWEB) November 21, 2011
Free of charge on the internet publicity and targeted, inexpensive online advertising are the keys to little business success, in spite of cautious consumer spending, says Gail Z. Martin, social media/on the internet advertising specialist and internationally bestselling author.
In ?30 Days to Online PR and Advertising and marketing Success?, Martin shares the verified marketing technique she created to sell over 300,000 of her own books, produce an international clientele and see a 55 percent growth since the beginning of the recession. Short chapters are designed to let busy individuals read and apply the data in less than an hour a day.
?I teach people how to save time, make much more income and live their dream by using social media and on the internet advertising/PR,? says Martin. ?A little organization can use on the web PR and advertising and marketing to locate customers anywhere in the country or anyplace in the globe, no matter what the neighborhood economic climate is like. The Net puts you where individuals have income to devote.?
And the component about juggling fire? ?Well, that may be an extreme example,? laughs Martin. ?But you?ve got to get people?s attention, make them look. For PR, it?s about a catchy headline. For a free YouTube video or a paid online marketing and advertising ad, you need to have a thing eye-catching, perhaps a little funny. Feel about those ?dancing shadow? World wide web ads, or the Geico guinea pigs. They?re created to break via the clutter with a thing different.?
Martin shows organization owners and solo specialists her distinctive 30 Day Accomplishment System to attract more media attention and win new clients in ?30 Days to Online PR and Advertising Accomplishment: The 30 Day Results Guide to Creating the Most of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Blogging to Grab Headlines and Get Clients? (Profession Press, Nov. 2011). Martin shares her step-by-step strategic method to help companies land a lot more media interviews and connect with their perfect prospects in just 30 minutes a day over 30 days.
In 2011, Martin has traveled all through the U.S. and Canada speaking to sell-out crowds and sharing how to apply her unique 30 Day Achievement Technique to get more profitable results by way of social media, on the web PR and Internet-based marketing and advertising.
30 Days to On the internet PR and Advertising and marketing Success has its personal 30 Day Results Guide Facebook Enterprise Page and a Meetup.com group at The 30 Day Marketing Good results Network.
Topics consist of:
How to generate a no-wasted-effort master strategy that gets much more exposure in just 30 days
How to find the Best on the internet PR and Web advertising tools (like the ones you haven?t heard of!)????
How to cease leaving thousands of dollars on the table in the untapped possible of membership sites
How to use online PR and advertising and marketing to fill seats, snag far more media exposure, and create opt-in
How to go international or personal the local marketplace to sell more product, make much more cash
Says Martin: ?Business owners want a lot more media focus and they require to get a lot more clientele, no 1 tells them how to use online marketing and advertising and PR to truly get results. I show them how to generate a strategic, outcomes-oriented publicity and company networking plan and get it up and operating in just 30 days, 30 minutes a day.?
?30 Days to On the web PR and Marketing and advertising Success? takes the mystery out of Net promotion and assists readers save time and money while making more useful connections. The book explores dozens of on the internet publicity and promotion tools?along with excellent internet sites that aren?t as well known?always focused on how to get more clientele and do more company.
Says Martin: ?Online PR and Marketing makes it affordable for firms to reach clients across the country and about the globe, consumers they couldn?t meet any other way. In today?s economy, that could be the difference in between thriving?or bankruptcy.?
Company owners and solo professionals could employ a PR business or on the web marketing and advertising firm for $ 7,000 a month, or save income and do their own strategic promotion with ?30 Days to On-line PR and Marketing and advertising Achievement: The 30 Day Results Guide to Producing the Most of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Blogging?. ?30 Days to Online PR and Marketing and advertising Success? is available on Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, and in bookstores nationwide for just $ 13.99.
For a free sample chapter, go to http://www.gailmartinmarketing.com/books.html
About Gail Z. Martin
Gail Z. Martin is a marketing and advertising specialist, international speaker and is also the author of ?30 Days to Social Media Achievement: The 30 Day Guide to Generating the Most of Twitter, Blogging, LinkedIn and Facebook?. Other new books by Martin, ?The Thrifty Author?s Guide to Launching Your Book Without having Losing Your Mind? and ?The Thrifty Author?s Guide to Selling and Promoting Your Book Online? focus on book advertising techniques. She also writes the internationally bestselling fantasy adventure series, ?The Chronicles of the Necromancer? from Solaris Books, and ?The Fallen Kings Cycle? from Orbit Books. A series of Martin?s columns are featured in Book Advertising Matters, the newsletter by net advertising and marketing guru, Brian Jud, and she is a normal columnist for Saathee Magazine.
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WASHINGTON ? Under fierce election-year fire, President Barack Obama on Friday abruptly abandoned his stand that religious organizations must pay for birth control for workers, scrambling to end a furor raging from the Catholic Church to Congress to his re-election foes. He demanded that insurance companies step in to provide the coverage instead.
Obama's compromise means ultimately that women would still get birth control without having to pay for it, no matter where they work. The president insisted he had stuck by that driving principle even in switching his approach, and the White House vehemently rejected any characterization that Obama had retreated under pressure.
Yet there was no doubt that Obama had found himself in an untenable position. He needed to walk back fast and find another route to his goal.
The controversy over contraception and religious liberty was overshadowing his agenda, threatening to alienate key voters and giving ammunition to the Republicans running for his job. It was a mess that knocked the White House off its message and vision for a second term.
Leaders from opposite sides of the divisive debate said they supported the outcome ? or at least suggested they probably could live with it. Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York, the head of the nation's Roman Catholic bishops and a fierce critic of the original rule covering hospitals and other employers, said the bishops were reserving judgment but that Obama's move was a good first step.
The bishops' organization later issued a far more skeptical critique contending that the new approach offered insufficient protections for religious employers and calling that unacceptable.
Republicans hoping to oust Obama from the White House were conceding nothing. Though not mentioning the birth control issue, Newt Gingrich assailed the president's views of religious rights and said "I frankly don't care what deal he tries to cut. ... If he wins re-election, he will wage war on the Catholic Church the morning after he's re-elected."
Mitt Romney, the front-runner in the campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, said the decision didn't change anything.
"Today he did the classic Obama retreat, all right, and what I mean by that is it wasn't a retreat at all. It's another deception," Romney said while campaigning in Portland, Maine.
Obama, acknowledging he wanted a resolution to the controversy, ordered advisers to find a middle ground in days, not within a year as had been the plan before the uproar. He said he spoke as a Christian who cherishes religious freedom and as a president unwilling to give up on free contraceptive care.
"I've been confident from the start that we could work out a sensible approach here, just as I promised," Obama said. "I understand some folks in Washington may want to treat this as another political wedge issue, but it shouldn't be. I certainly never saw it that way."
Under the new plan, religious employers such as charities, universities and hospitals will not have to offer contraception and will not have to refer their employees to places that provide it. If an employer opts out of the requirement, its insurance company must provide birth control for free in a separate arrangement with workers who want it.
"Very pleased," was how Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, reacted in a statement distributed by the White House. Her trade group represents Catholic hospitals that had fought against the birth control requirement, and Keehan said the new arrangement addresses the concerns it had.
In searching for a way out of the crisis, Obama also had to be mindful not to anger many women and fellow Democrats.
Planned Parenthood, a prominent women's health organization, said Obama had reaffirmed his commitment to birth control coverage. The group's president, Cecile Richards, added, though, that it would be monitoring for "rigorous, fair and consistent" enforcement so women get the promised coverage.
Before announcing his decision to reporters, Obama telephoned Keehan, Richards and Dolan.
At the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, where Gingrich made his comments, many said the White House rewrite did not change anything.
"It's an accounting trick," said Mike Gonzales of the Heritage Foundation. "Do they think people are stupid?"
The debate within the White House was intense even before the Jan. 20 decision was announced to exempt only churches and other houses of worships from the requirement that employers must cover free contraception. Other religious organizations were given an extra year to comply, but that concession didn't do enough.
First in a rumble, and then in a roar, critics formed a movement to overturn what they considered to be an egregious violation. Bishops assailed the policy in Sunday Masses and Republican leaders in Congress pledged to push a legislative repeal.
The White House seemed to be caught flatfooted.
"The past three weeks have witnessed a remarkable unity of Americans from all religions, or none at all, worried about the erosion of religious freedom and government intrusion into issues of faith and morals," said Dolan, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The turmoil, in turn, prompted advocates from other sides to get vocal in the battle for public opinion. They defended the rights of women and the need for preventive health care, including contraception, to be provided without fee for people of all faiths, no matter where they work.
Officials said Obama has the power under his health law to compel insurance companies to provide free contraception coverage directly to workers.
The health insurance industry voiced concern that putting the burden on them could set a precedent of shifting cost its way. The insurance companies will weigh in later as Obama's new policy undergoes review, said Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for the America's Health Insurance Plans trade group.
Administration officials say providing birth control won't cost insurers any more in the long run, because it's less expensive than the costs of maternal care and delivery. But insurers say they'll have to pay drug companies for pills and doctors for prescriptions, so it won't be free to them. The costs probably will be passed on to policyholders, as is happening already with other requirements of the health care law, such as allowing young adults to stay under their parents' coverage until age 26.
By keeping free contraception for employers at religious workplaces ? but providing a different way to do it ? Obama was able to assert he had found "a solution that works for everyone." Unclear was why the White House had not come up with the idea in the first place.
While Obama in 2008 won the total Catholic vote, 54 percent to Sen. John McCain's 45 percent, he lost the white Catholic vote, 52 percent to 47 percent, according to exit polls. Once reliably Democratic, Catholics are now swing voters, with white Catholics making up the majority of the group.
The Rev. Joel C. Hunter, a moderate evangelical leader and a spiritual adviser to the president, said he thinks Obama responded quickly enough to heal the rifts with many of his religious allies. "I think it's simple enough that most people will say, `Oh good, we can get to other things now,'" said Hunter.
Yet the change just led to more criticism from some of Obama's opponents.
A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said that that initial response indicated church leaders were not yet convinced the mandate respected religious freedom. Boehner has said he believes the original measure violates First Amendment rights, and his office said Friday that he would seek legislation.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., an ardent support of the original measure, offered a restrained response. Focusing on the benefits of health care, she said: "I appreciate the president's unifying approach."
___
Associated Press writers Julie Pace, Erica Werner, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Jim Kuhnhenn, Laurie Kellman, Rachel Zoll, Jay Lindsay and Steve Peoples contributed to this report.
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