GOP governors walk balance beam on health law

FILE - In this May 16, 2012 file photo, Florida Gov. Rick Scott speaks in Fort Lauderdale. Florida Gov. Rick Scott, long opposed President Barack Obama's remake of the health insurance market. After President Obama won re-election, the Republican governor softened his tone. He said he wanted to "have a conversation" with the administration about implementing the 2010 law. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter, File)

FILE - In this May 16, 2012 file photo, Florida Gov. Rick Scott speaks in Fort Lauderdale. Florida Gov. Rick Scott, long opposed President Barack Obama's remake of the health insurance market. After President Obama won re-election, the Republican governor softened his tone. He said he wanted to "have a conversation" with the administration about implementing the 2010 law. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter, File)

FILE - This Dec. 20, 2012 file photo shows New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie listens to a question in Belmar, N.J. Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who made a fortune as a health care executive, long opposed President Barack Obama's remake of the health insurance market. After the Democratic president won re-election, the Republican governor softened his tone. In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie also has walked a careful line. Both Republican governors face re-election in states that Obama won twice, Christie in 2013 and Scott in 2014. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)

ATLANTA (AP) ? Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who made a fortune as a health care executive, long opposed President Barack Obama's remake of the health insurance market. After the Democratic president won re-election, the Republican governor softened his tone. He said he wanted to "have a conversation" with the administration about implementing the 2010 law. With a federal deadline approaching, he also said while Florida won't set up the exchange for individuals to buy private insurance policies, the feds can do it.

In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie held his cards before saying he won't set up his own exchange, but he's avoided absolute language and says he could change his mind. He's also leaving his options open to accept federal money to expand Medicaid insurance for people who aren't covered. The caveat, Christie says, is whether Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius can "answer my questions" about its operations and expense.

Both Republican governors face re-election in states that Obama won twice, Christie in 2013 and Scott in 2014. And both will encounter well-financed Democrats.

Their apparent struggles on the issue, along with other postures by their GOP colleagues elsewhere, suggest political uncertainty for Republicans as the Affordable Care Act starts to go into effect two years after clearing Congress without a single Republican vote. The risks also are acute for governors in Democratic-leaning or swing-voting states or who know their records will be parsed should they seek the presidency in 2016 or beyond.

"It's a tough call for many Republican governors who want to do the best thing for their state but don't want to be seen as advancing an overhaul that many Republicans continue to detest," said Whit Ayers, a consultant in Virginia whose clients include Gov. Bill Haslam of Tennessee, a Republican who didn't announce his rejection of a state exchange until days before Sebelius's Dec. 14 deadline.

Indeed, cracks keep growing in the near-unanimous Republican rejection of Obama's health care law that characterized the GOP's political messaging for the last two years. Five GOP-led states ? Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah ? are pressing ahead with state insurance exchanges. Ongoing monitoring by The Associated Press shows that another five Republican-led states are pursuing or seriously a partnership with Washington to help run the new markets.

Democrats, meanwhile, hope to use the law and Republican inflexibility to their advantage, betting that more Americans will embrace the law once it expands coverage. The calculus for voters, Democrats assume, will become more about the policy and less about a polarizing president.

"It shouldn't be complicated at all," said John Anzalone, an Obama pollster who assists Democrats in federal races across the country. Anzalone said Republicans could use their own states-rights argument to justify running exchanges. Instead, he said, "They are blinded by Obama-hatred rather than seeing what's good for their citizens."

Governors can set up their own exchanges, partner with Sebelius' agency or let the federal government do it. The exchanges are set to open Jan. 1, 2014, allowing individuals and businesses to shop online for individual policies from private insurers. Low- and middle-income individuals will get federal premium subsidies calculated on a sliding income scale. Eighteen states plus Washington, DC, most led by Democrats, have committed to opening their own exchanges.

The law also calls for raising the income threshold for Medicaid eligibility to cover people making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line, or about $15,400 a year for an individual. That could add more than 10 million people, most of them childless adults, to the joint state-federal insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans. Together, the exchanges and the Medicaid expansion are expected to reduce the number of uninsured by about 30 million people within the next decade.

A Supreme Court ruling last summer made the Medicaid expansion voluntary, rather than mandatory for states. At least eight governors, all of them Republicans, have already said they have no plans to expand Medicaid.

The complexity is obvious.

National exit polls from last month's election showed that 49 percent of voters wanted some or all of Obama's signature legislative achievement rolled back. Among self-identified independents, that number was 58 percent. Among Republicans, it spiked to 81 percent. When asked about the role of government, half of respondents said the notion that government is doing too much fits their views more closely than the idea that government should do more.

Before the election, a national AP-GfK poll suggested that 63 percent of respondents preferred their states to run insurance exchanges, almost double the 32 percent who wanted the federal government to take that role. And the same electorate that tilts toward repealing some or all of the new law clearly re-elected its champion.

That's not the most important consideration for governors who face re-election in Republican states. Georgia's Nathan Deal and Alabama's Robert Bentley, who also face 2014 campaigns, initially set up advisory commissions to consider how to carry out the health care law, but they've since jumped ship. But, unlike others, Deal and Bentley aren't eyeing national office.

Three Republicans who are viewed as potential national candidates ? Rick Perry of Texas, Nikki Haley of South Carolina and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana ? were full-throated opponents. Jindal, the only one of the three who is term-limited, is the incoming chairman of the Republican Governors Association. In that role, he has co-signed more conciliatory letters to Sebelius asking questions to flesh out how the designs might work.

Republican governors also are feeling quiet pressure from hospitals and other providers.

Deal, the Georgia governor, offers the typical argument for saying no: "We can't afford it." But the law envisions the new Medicaid coverage more or less as a replacement of an existing financing situation that pays hospitals to treat the uninsured. The law contemplates cuts in that program, which already requires state seed money. The idea was that expanding Medicaid coverage would reduce "uncompensated care" costs.

"Some of those cuts were made with the expectation that Medicaid would be expanded and that hospitals would be paid for portions of business that we are not being paid for now," said Don Dalton of the North Carolina Hospital Association.

Dalton's Governor-elect, Republican Pat McCrory, said as a candidate that he opposed Medicaid expansion. Dalton said his industry is leaning on McCrory and legislative leaders, though he commended "their deliberate approach." Similar efforts are underway in South Carolina, Georgia, Missouri and elsewhere.

For Democrats, Anzalone said the framing will be simpler: "You don't want to take a 9-to-1 match? That's a pretty easy investment. These governors who aren't expanding Medicaid, they're basically giving taxpayer money to the states that do."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-30-Governors-Health%20Care/id-619c515b94b44696bcafd05d1d81dcbe

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How To Find A High Quality Commercial Real Estate ... - Maynas Eric

Investing in commercial properties is not the same game as home buying. Keep reading to discover strategies on how to come out ahead in the commercial real estate buying market.

You need to do this to ensure that your profits match up to the previous owner?s figures. If you fail to check out the terms, you might find something that is at odds with the rent roll and make the pro forma unreliable.

Use detailed photos to create this documentation. In the ?before? photos, especially, make sure that the pictures clearly show defects such as stains on the carpet, discolorations in the tub and sink, and holes in the walls.

TIP! Before you start, find the right financing for your needs. Loans for commercial properties are not the same as home loans.

Learn how the firm you?re thinking about hiring measures their results. Learn how they determine how much space is needed, the property selection criteria, the negotiation methods, and other details that can affect you. You can benefit a lot if you know things like this.

You will probably have to put a lot of effort into your new investment at the beginning. Finding a good opportunity, going through the transaction and making any necessary repairs to the property takes time. Do not give up because this process takes too much of your time. You will be rewarded later.

Regarding commercial loans, it is the borrower?s responsibility to obtain an appraisal. The bank won?t let you make use of it later. Be properly prepared by ordering the appraisal directly.

TIP! Use your blog to establish an expert reputation. You will then have a better chance of locating people who want to purchase your properties or lease space from you.

Be aware that not all commercial brokers are alike. Choose the real estate broker who will best help you meet your needs. Real estate agents will work with landlords and tenants, but there are also some that only work with tenants. If you are a tenant, you may be much better off by using a broker who only works with tenants as they have a lot more experience with successful tenant representation.

Try to keep your properties occupied. If no one is paying you rent, you?ll be the one footing the bills. If you have multiple properties open, figure out why, and try to correct the issue that could be causing a loss of tenants.

TIP! Just focus on one specific investment and narrow your time to that if you?re new to investing. Select one type of property that appeals to you, and devote your undivided attention to it.

Create a real estate newsletter or blog that is regularly updated, and stay active on relevant social networking sites. Keep your online presence updated and active, as it will often be a good source of referrals, connections and updates from important sources.

Ensure that the amount of money you want for your commercial property makes sense, given local market conditions. The value of your property is determined by an entire series of different factors.

Always stay on the lookout for sellers who are motivated to sell. Locate the ones with eager ambitions, who could possibly let a property go beneath the current value on the open market. You will achieve nothing in commercial real estate unless you get your hands on a good deal, and that most often will happen as a result of an offer made by an eager seller.

TIP! Find out more about net operating income. Success is about staying in the green.

If you have the intention of offering your commercial real estate for rent, look for buildings that are simple and solid in construction. Tenants are more likely to move in when they know the property is well taken care of. These properties are also more cost effective for you and your tenants due to the fact that they only require minimal upkeep and repairs.

Now you have learned the basics of commercial real estate investment and a few helpful tips. Keep this advice in mind so that you may get better deals when searching for the location of your business.

Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/how-to-find-a-high-quality-commercial-real-estate-agent-4

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End of the year news | Orcas Animal Protection Society

Dogs:
Coon Hound Walter will have his adoption finalized this week. ?This gentle giant made himself quite at home with his new family and seems to be quite the elegant gentleman.

High energy Lucy needs to be spayed when Dr. Joe is with us next. ?We?ve discovered she has a strong herding instinct but needs to learn a more gentle way to use this innate talent. ?Since she?s only a little over a year old, Lucy has a lot of useful years if she becomes someone?s working dog.

Cats:
The kitten room is now empty, clean and awaiting potential new arrivals. ?The lobby also has a different look with Sofia no longer in residence. ?She?s adjusting to life with one of our wonderful surgery night helpers plus two male cats. ?Initial reports are favorable and we know she?ll have the best of care to help her ear heal.

We?ve added senior cat Iggy to the lobby. ?He?s been in quarantine for a bit and is happy to be in the middle of whatever is happening in the office. ?Iggy is 17 years old, blind in one eye and probably deaf. ?He tries to help with the vacuum cleaner. ?Not many cats handle the noise like he does. ?To review our lobby gang, we have Fowler and Noodle (both 17-ish), Daisy (6) and Iggy.

Misc.:
Might anyone be going to Bellingham for a day trip this week? ?There?s one cat to bring back from our shelter partner.

January 2013 marks the 10 year anniversary of the shelter?s official opening. ?Thanks to wonderful support from all of you and the Orcas community, we?ve been able to continue our mission with great success. ?Almost 2,000 cats and dogs have passed through our doors and been returned to their owners or re-homed. ?The number of animals saved from mainland shelters continues to grow each year. ?We can?t save them all but we?re certainly doing our share.

Happy New Year,
Marsha

Source: http://www.orcaspets.org/end-of-the-year-news/

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Temple Israel Releases Cookbook of Traditional Jewish Recipes

Have you ever wondered how to prepare matzo ball soup, challah, beef brisket, chopped liver, or potato knishes?

All are featured in "Eat! Something Already," a new cookbook published by Duluth's Temple Israel. The 190-page booklet features more than 100 traditional recipes from members of the Twin Ports Jewish community, including appetizers, desserts, side dishes, main courses, soups and salads, breads, and holiday specialties.

Temple Israel says the cookbook features easy-to-follow directions that will gide even the most novice cook in preparing meals that have been handed down from the ?old country.?

Copies are available for purchase at $20 each, plus $6 for postage and handling. Cookbook orders should be sent to: Cookbooks, Temple Israel, 1602 East Second Street, Duluth, Minnesota 55812.
?

Source: http://twinports.wdio.com/news/home-garden/52918-temple-israel-releases-cookbook-traditional-jewish-recipes

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Russian parliament endorses anti-US adoption bill

A protester argues with police officers outside the Federation Council on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Several protesters were detained Wednesday morning outside the upper chamber of Russia's parliament as it prepared to vote on a controversial measure banning Americans from adopting Russian children. The poster held by the protester reads: ?Children get frozen in the Cold War.? (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

A protester argues with police officers outside the Federation Council on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Several protesters were detained Wednesday morning outside the upper chamber of Russia's parliament as it prepared to vote on a controversial measure banning Americans from adopting Russian children. The poster held by the protester reads: ?Children get frozen in the Cold War.? (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russian police officers detain a protester outside the Federation Council Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Several protesters were detained Wednesday morning outside the upper chamber of Russia?s parliament which is set to vote on a measure banning Americans from adopting Russian children. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

A demonstrator holds a poster reading "We are for Dima Yakovlev Bill" outside the Federation Council on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Several protesters were detained Wednesday morning outside the upper chamber of Russia's parliament as it prepared to vote on a controversial measure banning Americans from adopting Russian children. The bill is named in honor of Dima Yakovlev, a Russian toddler who was adopted by Americans and then died in 2008 after his father left him in a car in broiling heat for hours. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, presents a state award to famous Russian actor Konstantin Khabensky wearing a badge that reads "Children are outisde politics!" during an award ceremony in the Kremlin in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. The upper chamber of Russia's parliament on Wednesday unanimously voted in favor of a measure banning Americans from adopting Russian children. It now goes to President Vladimir Putin to sign or turn down. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Presidential Press Service)

MOSCOW (AP) ? Defying a storm of domestic and international criticism, Russia moved toward finalizing a ban on Americans adopting Russian children, as Parliament's upper house voted unanimously Wednesday in favor of a measure that President Vladimir Putin has indicated he will sign into law.

The bill is widely seen as the Kremlin's retaliation against an American law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators. It comes as Putin takes an increasingly confrontational attitude toward the West, brushing aside concerns about a crackdown on dissent and democratic freedoms.

Dozens of Russian children close to being adopted by American families now will almost certainly be blocked from leaving the country. The law also cuts off the main international adoption route for Russian children stuck in often dismal orphanages: More than 60,000 Russian youngsters have been adopted in the United States in the past 20 years. There are about 740,000 children without parental care in Russia, according to UNICEF.

All 143 members of the Federation Council present voted to support the bill, which has sparked criticism from both the United States and Russian officials, activists and artists, who say it victimizes children by depriving them of the chance to escape the squalor of orphanage life. The vote comes days after Parliament's lower house overwhelmingly approved the ban.

Seven people with posters protesting the bill were detained outside the Council before Wednesday's vote. "Children get frozen in the Cold War," one poster read. Some 60 people rallied in St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city.

The bill is part of larger legislation by Putin-allied lawmakers retaliating against a recently signed U.S. law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators. Although Putin has not explicitly committed to signing the bill, he strongly defended it in a press conference last week as "a sufficient response" to the new U.S. law.

Originally Russia's lawmakers cobbled together a more or less a tit-for-tat response to the U.S. law, providing for travel sanctions and the seizure of financial assets in Russia of Americans determined to have violated the rights of Russians.

But it was expanded to include the adoption measure and call for a ban on any organizations that are engaged in political activities if they receive funding from U.S. citizens or are determined to be a threat to Russia's interests.

Russian children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov told the Interfax news agency that 46 children who were on the verge of being adopted by Americans would stay in Russia if the bill is approved ? despite court rulings in some of these cases authorizing the adoptions.

The ombudsman supported the bill, saying that foreign adoptions discourage Russians from adopting children. "A foreigner who has paid for an adoption always gets a priority compared to potential Russian adoptive parents," Astakhov was quoted as saying. "A great country like Russia cannot sell its children."

Russian law allows foreigners to adopt only if a Russian family has not expressed interest in a child being considered for adoption.

Some top government officials, including the foreign minister, have spoken flatly against the adoption law, arguing that the measure would be in violation of Russia's constitution and international obligations.

But Senator Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the Council's foreign affairs committee, referred to the bill as "a natural and a long overdue response" to the U.S. legislation. "Children must be placed in Russian families, and this is a cornerstone issue for us," he said.

Margelov said that a bilateral Russian-U.S. agreement binds Russia to give notice of a halt to adoptions 12 months in advance. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies that the president would consider the bill within the next two weeks.

The measure has become one of the most debated topics in Russia.

By Tuesday, more than 100,000 Russians had signed an online petition urging the Kremlin to scrap the bill.

Over the weekend, dozens of Muscovites placed toys and lit candles in front of the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament after it approved the bill on Friday, but security guards promptly removed them. Opposition groups said they will rally against the bill on Jan. 13, and several popular artists publicly voiced their concern about the legislation.

While receiving a state award from Putin on Wednesday, film actor Konstantin Khabensky wore a badge saying "Children Are Beyond Politics." Veteran rock musician Andrey Makarevich called on Putin Monday to stop "killing children."

During a marathon Putin press conference Thursday, eight of the 60 questions the president answered focused on the bill. Responding angrily, Putin claimed that Americans routinely mistreat children from Russia.

The bill is named in honor of Dima Yakovlev, a Russian toddler who was adopted by Americans and then died in 2008 after his father left him in a car in broiling heat for hours. The father was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Russian lawmakers argue that by banning adoptions to the U.S. they would be protecting children and encouraging adoptions inside Russia.

In a measure of the virulent anti-U.S. sentiment that has gripped parts of Russian society, a few lawmakers went even further, claiming that some Russian children were adopted by Americans only to be used for organ transplants and become sex toys or cannon fodder for the U.S. Army.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-26-Russia-US-Adoptions/id-20fa1ca0b93342de921e047f91b5d650

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The Most Powerful Marketing You Can Use In Your Business - An ...

Posted by James in Interview, Podcast, Product launch, Video

Podcast: Play in new window

Brenton Ford is not your typical Internet marketer. He has diligently applied James Schramko?s news blog process called OTR to his unique field of business with great results. Listen in and learn how Effortless Swimming improved sales and popularity by owning the racecourse.

Featured in the podcast:

00:23 ? Not the typical Internet marketing business
00:51 ? Applying Internet marketing to swimming
01:06 ? Website and digital products based on Own The Racecourse principles
02:32 ? News blogging strategy works even for non-Internet marketing industries
02:48 ? Weekly video with tips and news about Effortless Swimming
03:59 ? Increased email communication
06:22 ? Typical OTR process for Brenton
07:25 ? A single video a week already gets great results
09:46 ? Challenges encountered in the process
12:10 ? Essentials for an online business

Leverage your business,?Get OwnTheRacecourse and learn how

James:??????????????????James Schramko here with Internet Marketing Speed and my guest today is Brenton Ford, welcome Brenton.

Brenton:????????????? Thanks James thanks for having me on.

James:??????????????????It?s my pleasure. Now I?m interested in talking to you and I?m doing this beside my pool today and there?s a reason for that. It?s because of your business. You?re not in the typical internet marketing space. You?re in a different industry all together. Would you like to tell us a bit about what you?ve been doing online?

Brenton:????????????? Yeah, well last 3 ? 4 years I?ve built an online based business around swimming and teaching trackletes and swimmers how to swim faster. So it?s not your typical internet marketing, make more money online, type of business I guess.

James:??????????????????Right. You?ve been applying some of the things that we talk about on Internet Marketing Speed such as video marketing and podcasting and membership sites. Can you give us a little helicopter view of what your business looks like at the moment?

Brenton:????????????? Yeah well I started out with one product, one website and not much of an idea of what a business looked like. I had a website but it wasn?t a business. But meeting you a couple of years ago, you taught me how to build a business from my knowledge and what I knew so I?ve sort of built this thing out to encompass a lot of things but based around the?Own the Racecourse?thing that you?re teaching at the moment so I?ve got a number of different products. They?re digital products, they?re not DVDs, they?re not physical, they?re all digital download. I?ve got a membership site. I?ve got another recurring product as well. A lot of similar stuff to what you?re doing I guess. It?s just building up the whole business with an email list, a blog and doing weekly videos and having more than just a website I guess and having a proper business.

James:??????????????????Alright so with Own the Racecourse, you?ve referenced that as a course that I put out and you actually attended a workshop that we did where we stepped through how I was applying that to my business. Would you say that the strategy that I?ve deployed there with the news blogging is suitable to non-internet marketing industries?

Brenton:????????????? Yeah, absolutely. I?d say it works tremendously well in industries that aren?t internet marketing. What I started 3 or 4 months ago after I saw you doing it and you made a suggestion to try it was every week, on a Monday, I film a video where I give away a few tips about swimming and I talk about what?s going on with?Effortless Swimming?which is my business and I let people know about any new products or clinics or it?s just basic news about what?s happening in the business and in October the business had its biggest month by 45% largely because of this Own the Racecourse system. So I?ve been doing that for the last 3 ? 4 months and the email list has grown tremendously. I?m not sure exactly how much but it?s up to 4 ? 5,000 subscribers, the Facebook fan page is up from 4,000 about 2 months ago to about 15,000 and I?m getting a lot of people email me asking for coaching services and getting a lot more sales and that sort of thing and it?s all by building my personal swimming coaching brand through these videos and through these weekly videos that I?m putting out.

James:??????????????????Are you contacting your customers more than you used to contact them?

Brenton:????????????? Earlier this year I don?t think I sent out an email for 3 or 4 months. Because I didn?t want to bother my customers or bother the people on my email list. But in hindsight that probably wasn?t the best move and I?ve been sending out an email ever week or every couple of days depending on what list they?re subscribed to. But the amount of replies I get to my emails has increased because people are thanking me for the videos, they?re asking me questions about their technique and about the products. I haven?t had 1 person say to me that you?re emailing me too much. They?ve all thanked me and told me that they?re looking forward to these videos coming out each week. It?s counter intuitive to what I thought would be the case where people were sick of hearing from me but because I?m not sort of pushing things on people, I?m just giving them some helpful tips that they can implement for the week. It?s really been a different result to what I was expecting.

James:??????????????????Right, so if I?m reading between the lines here, you have overcome your trepidation to email your customers and you no longer fear that they?re going to leave your list because you can feel good about giving them more and more value. Like the more often you contact them, the more good stuff you?re teaching them that?s going to help them with their swimming.

Brenton:????????????? Yeah that?s the thing, because I was used to all these internet marketers who every week or every day it?s a different offer for a different product. And that?s not the type of business I want to be running. I was sort of thinking, well that?s the only way that you can email customers every day but turn that around. Give them something that they can use, not something that they should buy. Just give them free tips, free news and they?ll appreciate it.

James:??????????????????Well word on the street is that some of these internet marketers have been adopting the?Own the Racecourse strategy?in the last few months. So it should be interesting to see these patterns crop up. So just for a listener who might not be familiar with an Own the Racecourse strategy, could you just step us through like your typical weekly schedule. Like what do you actually do once a week with your blog or your news outlet? Like what are the steps for them?

Brenton:????????????? If I was to do nothing but the Own the Racecourse model which is every Monday, I will get out my camera, I?ll take it out to the kitchen and I?ll plug in my microphone, I?ll grab the whiteboard, I write down 4, 5 or 6 points that I want to talk about and then I hit record, I?ll go through those couple of points, I?ll stop the recording, take out the SD card, put it in my computer and edit the video and then upload it to YouTube. Then I?ll send that off to my assistant over in the Philippines, Gwen. Hello Gwen out there, I?ll send her this recording. What she?ll do is she?ll get it transcribed, she?ll put together bullet points, and then she?ll upload it to the blog and then she?ll send that to me and then I?ll send that out to my email list. I?ll post it to Facebook, to Twitter, to Google+. If I did nothing but that for the week, I?d still get 80-90% of the results for the week I?d say just from doing that 1 video on a Monday. It really is the 10% work and 90% results.

James:??????????????????I?m glad you said that because some people say to me, ?Gosh that sounds like a lot of work but it makes so much sense.? Then I ask them, ?What other marketing they do to drive their business and really where I?ve got it to and where it sounds like you?ve got it to is if you do nothing other than pop out a video here and there, that that will actually continue to drive your business and not just drive it but grow your business bigger and it?s probably going to have a compound effect I imagine if the same thing that?s happened to me is you?ll build your audience and you start getting more comments and people find you in the different channels as well. You?re tapping into a few different places. Sounds like Facebook?s really kicking and your YouTube channel I imagine would get embedded and shared occasionally by other people.

Brenton:????????????? Yeah that was the thing. I got off the phone to someone who I did a podcast with today and he said to me, ?How on earth have you got this video onto so many different websites?? because he must have come across it on some triathlon or swimming websites. And all that is is other people are embedding the content onto their own websites. Because it?s good content, they want to share it and they want to I guess add things to their blog. So it?s not rocket science. But just doing the day in and day out things and doing this video every week, it?s really having a compound effect on sales, on the email list, on building authority and getting the (inaudible 09:09). It?s not hard. I wouldn?t call it work either. I enjoy making the videos. Every day I?m thinking of new things to talk about in the video and I?m kind of scratching to, itching to get out there in front of the camera to get this stuff in front of the people who watch the videos because I know it?s good stuff.

James:??????????????????What sort of challenges have you had in setting up this new system apart from your own fear that people might say, ?Hey look, you?re sending me too many emails but have you had any technical challenges or major fears or obstacles to overcome?

Brenton:????????????? Nothing too major. I mean, I was pretty rubbish in front of the camera to start with. I was pretty serious. I got told by someone that I looked like I was in front of a firing squad. So maybe smile a bit more. Yeah, that was good advice. I tried to smile more since then. But it?s gotten a lot easier and initially when I started my business, you see the internet marketing business where it?s a guy sitting behind his computer making all this money and no one knows who he is. So he?s this underground type of guy. That?s sort of what I wanted to set up, in the beginning that?s what I thought was the way to go because I didn?t want to? I was afraid of being known out there. I?ve sort of changed that around and now I?m really putting my face out there and getting my name out there and people can relate that way. They?d rather deal with a person than a business especially in the swimming triathlon market. I had those sort of issues at the start. There are always technical issues like you might forget to turn the microphone, the SD card might be full so you need to record the video again, but just get it done and these technical issues become less and less as you get more experienced with it. But it?s nothing major. If the video quality is not that great at the start, I would just put out some not great quality videos, the content?s been good but the quality?s not great, but people would rather get the content than not receive it I think. It might look ugly but it does the job.

James:??????????????????Yeah, I?ve definitely put out my half-done videos before but I think people forgive you when you?re starting out on this and besides that, you don?t have as big an audience when you start but certainly as the audience grows, you can refine your technique.

????????????????????????????????You?ve been really generous sharing your story there, Brenton. I wanted to ask you, can you give the listeners some action steps. What can they take away from this? If they?ve got a website or they have a business, it may not be in the internet marketing space, maybe it?s a normal sort of business or they have customers who are in a traditional sort of business, what are the things that they should focus on first?

Brenton:????????????? If I looked at my business and I had to keep only a handful of things; it would be my website, so?EffortlessSwimming.com?which is the main website where I add these videos to each week. It would be my email auto responder. I use Office Autopilot but it doesn?t matter too much what system you?re using as long as you?ve got somewhere where you can collect people?s email addresses and keep in contact with them. It would be a Facebook fan page, it would be a camera, and a YouTube account. If I had just those things, I think I could do pretty well with the business. So if someone?s looking to increase their business or increase their revenue, get their name out there, build more authority in the market. Then just start recording a video once a week. Just write down a couple of points on a whiteboard, film yourself, put it out there, put it on your website, put it under Facebook and just start building this following because if you?ve got something to say, and you know what your market is looking for then they want to hear this kind of stuff. I was going on Facebook today and I saw a friend of mine who?s in financial planning. She put out an article that was on one of the websites that she writes for and I was just browsing on Facebook and I looked at this thing and I thought this is great so I sort of saved it to read for later because people want to consume content that they?re interested in. Put your fears aside, if you don?t want to get on camera and just do it. It might be painful at the start but it?s been so worth it for me and my business.

James:??????????????????Awesome. Now if people want to see what you?ve got going there and check out the swimming videos, learn how to swim better and eat better and get that sportsman brain, where can they go and have a look at your stuff?

Brenton:????????????? When you?ve got the million dollar house and the pool at the backyard from your internet marketing then head to?EffortlessSwimming.com?and that?s where I put all my content. You can check out what I?m doing in terms of the marketing side of things. If you?re a swimmer or triathlete then get in touch and we?ll improve your swimming so you?re not left behind on the swimming leg of your triathlons.

James:??????????????????Fantastic. Now I?ve just got another question. Actually I hadn?t planned this but what would you say to someone thinking about coming on board with SilverCircle?

Brenton:????????????? As you know I?ve been part of SilverCircle for, well I?m kind of thinking how long now, but it?s been over 12 months and what I get out of it is the accountability is great because every week we say what we?re going to do and then we reference that the next week to actually see what we?ve been through and then just your experience has sort of guided my business in the right direction and it?s kind of pushed me to do more than I would just by myself. For example running freestyle clinics and workshops. The very first one I ran I was so nervous about having 20-30 people in a room where I?m talking about swimming. But you just kind of encouraged me to go ahead with it and that was awesome. It got me over my fear of talking in front of 20-30 people about swimming and then also the other business owners in there and the forum. There are a lot of different businesses and a lot of experience in there. And you can throw around ideas and people will get back to you with what they know and what they?ve been through. It?s been responsible for driving my business tremendously and there?s no way I?m leaving it any time soon.

James:??????????????????Nice, well thanks Brenton I hope people go and check out your swimming videos. This is definitely the sportiest episode I?ve ever recorded. I can see a racing bicycle in the background there and the pool over here. Hopefully you?ve inspired some athletic? and it?s Christmas in Australia as well, for our overseas listeners. There?s the surf board for all the people in the snow right now. Thanks mate. Have a great week. I?ll catch up with you on the next call.

Brenton:????????????? Great! Thanks James.

James:??????????????????See ya!

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Source: http://www.internetmarketingspeed.com/product-launch/brenton-ford-interview/

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War Z Trademark Issues: The Game Will Have To Be Renamed ...

reading: Home ? News ? War Z Trademark Issues: The Game Will Have To Be Renamed

By Francesco De MeoPublished: 24 December 2012 6:02 AM UTC

Posted in: News

Tags: controversy, francesco de meo, News, PC, Steam, trademark issue, war z

War Z is an open world zombie horror game developed by Hammerpoint Interactive. The game was recently released on Steam on December 17 to a decent reception.

You probably have heard about this game for some controversy which arose for the team?s policies: there were accusations that they were trying to sell the game outside of the Steam platform by saying that they would otherwise increase the place on Steam itself.

And that?s not only the only strange thing going on with the game: it presents an almost free to play structure, with players having to buy in game credits to unlock some key features which were advertised as being in the game for only the initial cost.

Troubles are not yet over for the game: as reported by warzscam, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has suspended the trademark for the game because its name is too similar to the Paramount Movie World War Z. This situation actually shows how the game itself has only been in development for like 6 months since the trademark was filed on July 2012 and the suspension of the trademark actually dates back to November 2012, so it?s been over a month. What does this mean for War Z? They will have to change name and, with all the backlash, the team?s reputation has been completely ruined.

Article from Gamersyndrome.com

Related posts:

1. Circle of Mana- A New Square Enix Trademark
2. Mass Effect 3 on Wii U Suffering Technical Issues
3. Microsoft Renews Killer Instinct Trademark
4. Splinter Cell Movie Incoming, Courtesy Of New Regency
5. Rumor: A Capcom All Stars Fighting Game Incoming?

Source: http://gamersyndrome.com/2012/news/war-z-trademark-issues-the-game-will-have-be-renamed/

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Borrowing jumps higher while the Olympic boost on growth falls ...

The Chancellor received a double dose of bad news yesterday after it was revealed that the summer boost to the economy was more modest than previously believed, and that government borrowing has continued to rise.

The economy eked out growth of only 0.9 per cent between July and September, down from the previous estimate of 1 per cent despite a boost from the London Olympics.

At the same time, figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed that, excluding financial interventions, the Government borrowed ?17.5 billion last month as income tax receipts dwindled and spending rose. This was ?1.2 billion

Source: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/economics/article3638823.ece

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Oswego County Recreation Trail - Fishing & Hunting in Oswego ...

By Spider Rybaak
Central New York played a key role in the economic development of our nation. Today, the original routes that carried the Industrial Revolution to every corner of the country have been covered over by pavement, submerged under the Empire State?s canal system, or left to nature. Fortunately, the builders of this massive ancient infrastructure did their jobs well--so well, in fact, it?s gonna take natural succession a long time to hide the evidence in the portions that were simply abandoned.

And while that might goad the sensibilities of purist environmentalists who feel smug sitting around thinking and talking a lot, it?s a God-send for average folks looking for cheap ways to recreate and exercise in the open air. You see, nowadays these forgotten routes etch the state in a web of paths lined in natural splendor, offering folks scenic avenues through the historical record.

Take the Oswego County Recreation Trail, for instance. ?Running the bed of the New York Ontario & Western Railroad (abandoned in 1957), it?s the easiest, most convenient path you can take through our past. Stretching for roughly 26 miles, from Maple Avenue in Fulton to a little east of North Street in Cleveland, its gentle grade is ideal for hiking, biking and snowmobiling.

The OCRT is actually two trails: the western arm reaches from Fulton to Central Square, where it?s blocked by Interstate 81 (the highway was built after the railroad was abandoned, and no one thought of tunneling the trail under it); the eastern stem picks up on the other side of the interstate, about 1000 feet west of CR 37, and runs all the way to the county line in Cleveland, beyond which it becomes rutted and beat as it continues for a short distance into Oneida County.

In Oswego County, the well-maintained path slices through a patchwork of developed and natural areas. And while the scenery along its entire length is worth the trip, the eastern section is longest and offers the most diverse habitats.

Spawned on its west end at a dented guardrail preventing vehicles from going over the edge of the demolished railroad bridge over Little Big Bay Creek, the east branch cuts through agricultural fields and pastures, skirts woods and small parks and crosses creeks and brooks, offering a menu of splendid scenery, including golf courses, Toad Harbor Swamp, the dam on Scriba Creek, (just upstream of the Oneida Lake Fish Hatchery), thick, dark forests, scenic back-country beaver meadows, even a backyard pond in Cleveland that sports its own bridge over a feeder brook, and a cannon protecting it.

Access is easy. From CR 37 to the edge of Constantia, roads heading south off NY 49 cross the OCRT; and there?s parking at the shoulder of Toad Harbor Road. On the east side of the village, the trail crosses NY 49 and, from here to its end, is accessible by all roads heading north from the highway.

In Constantia, shoulder parking for about 10 cars is off Hatchery Road, a few hundred feet north of the NY 49 intersection. East of the hamlet, parking is allowed on the shoulder of some cross-roads and North Street.

The trail gets a little tricky in Cleveland. On the east side of its junction with Center Street, the OCRT widens, turning into Sand Street. But a few hundred feet later, on the other side of North Street, it assumes the charm of a trail agaiin.

Snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and horseback riding are also allowed on the trail. ?Motor vehicles, other than snowmobiles, trail groomers, Oswego County highway equipment, and authorized emergency vehicles, are prohibited from the trail. ATVs are only allowed on the eastern-most section of the trail between Toad Harbor Road and the Oswego-Oneida county line.

At press time, coils of gray and white rolled over the barren, late autumn landscape lining the OCRT. Soon, hopefully before Christmas, winter will shroud this natural canvas in sparkling snow

Merry Christmas.

Source: http://fishingandhuntinginoswego.blogspot.com/2012/12/oswego-county-recreation-trail.html

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Marilyn Monroe subway grate photo on view in NYC

A commuter inspects the Sam Shaw's photographs during the "Marilyn in New York" exhibit at the 42nd St. subway station for the B,D,F,M and 7 lines, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012 in New York. The exhibit is part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's ?Arts for Transit? program. The show opened Thursday and will be up for a year. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

A commuter inspects the Sam Shaw's photographs during the "Marilyn in New York" exhibit at the 42nd St. subway station for the B,D,F,M and 7 lines, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012 in New York. The exhibit is part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's ?Arts for Transit? program. The show opened Thursday and will be up for a year. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Sam Shaw's photographs are on display during the "Marilyn in New York" exhibit at the 42nd St. subway station for the B,D,F,M and 7 lines, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012 in New York. The exhibit is part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's ?Arts for Transit? program. The show opened Thursday and will be up for a year. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

A commuter inspects the Sam Shaw's photographs during the "Marilyn in New York" exhibit at the 42nd St. subway station for the B,D,F,M and 7 lines, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012 in New York. The exhibit is part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's ?Arts for Transit? program. The show opened Thursday and will be up for a year. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A famous image of Marilyn Monroe with her skirt billowing atop a New York City subway grate is on display in a picture-perfect spot: outside the Times Square subway station.

The supersized version of Sam Shaw's well-known picture is part of an exhibit. The exhibit also features eight of Shaw's other Monroe pictures, on view inside the 42nd Street-Bryant Park station on the B, D, F, M and 7 lines.

The show opened Thursday. It'll be up for a year.

Shaw shot the subway grate photo for the 1955 film "The Seven Year Itch." He took the other pictures in 1957.

The exhibit is part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Arts for Transit program. Manager Lester Burg says matching a mass transit setting with a popular figure from mass culture seemed a good fit.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-12-20-Marilyn%20And%20The%20Subway/id-04404fb323ae4128a6aa89766f3c22ce

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Obesity growth rates slow

?

Rarely has a small decline in the rate of an increase caused so much commotion. But the news, confirmed this past week, that obesity rates are not growing in certain cities, is an essential and necessary moment for public policy. The dirty little secret amongobesity researchers is that many of them will tell you in private that no intervention short of the type of government intrusiveness that is intolerable for most Americans would actually have an impact on the problem. In that, they sound a lot like climate change researchers who despair that the damage done so far so the mechanisms of climate is beyond repair and that mitigation of future problems, rather than anything prophylactic, is called for.

So what's working? Nothing specifically but everything together. Obesity is defined in so many ways on so many levels; there is a physiological definition, a psychological definition, a social definition and a systems biology definition, all describing the same

thing but using different metrics to measure it and figure out what to do about it. On each level, there has been progress. Individual medical interventions, ranging from hormone therapy to bariatric surgery, are much more common and more effective. Support for obese people of all ages extends from Medicare to online support groups.

Companies are voluntarily reducing the bad stuff they sell to kids. State and local governments are experimenting with a bunch of different approaches, some of them intrusive, others more passive.

With a few notable exceptions, though, getting better at treating obesity and extending the lifespan of those who are obese will not lower the growth rates of obesity among young children.

We know that a bunch of things contribute to early on-set obesity, but we don't really know in what proportion they contribute, and it probably varies considerably from individual to individual. For a plurality, though, obesity appears to be locked in to a lot of kids?by the they are three years old. Think about that. If you believe, as I do, that obesity is a problem that implicates all of us, and therefore requires some sort of a collective solution, that?in and of itself is cause for despair. What it means is that smaller surgically-small changes like expanding recess or building more public parks or adding fruit to a diet won't amount to anything.?

We then fall back on the research that tells us that television commercials aimed at small children and their parents have significant obesogenic effects; that?social and chronic stress among poor parents in certain chaotic neighborhoods correlates significantly with early onset obesity; that the quality of food eaten by the parental generation of these?kids may be toxic. ?What to do? The solutions aren't very easily digested: banning certain types of commercials, spending billions to ensure that kids under the age of 3, especially those from at-risk communities, are taken care by mothers and fathers who know how to parent and who themselves have health care and pre-and-post natal medical care; eliminating corn subsidies and increasing fruit and vegetable subsidies.

A solve-able problem, a head start, a slowdown of an increase -- this provides an access point for discussions about the big interventions that ought to be tried to see if they work. (It is certainly less expensive than guaranteeing free gastric bypass surgeries for everyone, I'll say that.)

I am aware that the best chances we have to significantly reduce the rate of childhood obesity require Big Government interventions. I am also aware that no amount of forced empathy, or scientific evidence or even sound judgment will convince a lot of people who think that individual parents ought to be left to their own devices entirely, even if it means raising miserable children who are destined for shorter, miserable lives as obese adults; it's a "choice," you see,?a "choice" that black and brown and American Indian people and Appalachian whites just happen to make more than you and I. Eat less! Exercise more! Will power!?

I worry a bit about the middle ground between these approaches: nutritional labeling and soda size bans and such -- somewhat passive solutions -- will lure policy makers because although unpopular, they are relatively harmless and require not a lot of lifting from the folks involved, like restaurants and grocery concerns. There really isn't much evidence that these things work in a vacuum. As much as I admire the NFL for its efforts to encourage?exercise or Wal-Mart for stocking healthier foods, the seductive power of these rather cosmetic changes might mean that these small but statistically significant down-tick in obesity rates is all there is.?

I want to pose a question to my readers. Let's assume you've become convinced that obesity isn't a choice, and that there IS a way to reduce childhood obesity AND that it requires government intervention. I know I'm asking you to take my point of view, but I also want to hear what you have to say about what degree of government intervention is permissible, feasible, or something that you'd even experience yourself to help others less fortunate.

?

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Source: http://theweek.com/article/index/237653/obesity-growth-rates-slow

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'Angry Birds' Movie Arrives in 2016 From Producer of 'Despicable Me'

Rovio Entertainment celebrated the three-year anniversary of the Angry Birds franchise Tuesday by releasing 30 new levels for the game and announcing details for the Angry Birds movie.

The still untitled 3D computer generated feature film will debut in mid-2016 with Despicable Me producer John Cohen taking the production helm. Former Marvel Studios chairman David Maisel, a senior adviser to Rovio, will remain as executive producer. . "With John's hands-on producer background and David's expertise in establishing and running his own successful studio, these two are the dream team for making a movie outside the studio system," Rovio's CEO Mikael Hed said in a statement. "Both professionals have the ideal skills and vision to achieve incredible things.?

[More from Mashable: 7 Kid-Friendly Games for the Holidays]

Cohen -- who also lent his talents to such movies as Hop, Ice Age, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who, Robots and Ice Age: The Meltdown -- touts Rovio for "trailblazing terrific new ways for Angry Birds fans to interact with these characters."

[More from Mashable: Big Boi: Music Piracy Produces ?Bullsh-t? Records]

No plot details about the movie have been revealed, but Rovio plans to produce and finance the movie to avoid losing "creative control" at the hands of a movie studio.

1. Torchlight 2

The fantasy-RPG sequel to the wildly popular 2009 game Torchlight, Runic Games' latest installment in the franchise, doesn't mess with its recipe too much. And in this case, that's a big positive. Part steam-punk treasure hunt, part magic-heavy flight of fancy, Torchlight 2 capitalizes on the fast-paced, action-filled environment crafted by the designers of Diablo, Diablo 2 and Fate. Expect a lot of loot-grabbing from this game, as a bulk of the fun takes place in expansive and randomly generated cave systems practically filled to the brim with treasure and fancy equipment for your specific character class. Torchlight 2 really gilds the lily with a long-awaited and happily embraced local LAN option ? meaning you can raid dungeons with three of your closest friends. This makes the experience, for the first time, a cooperative one, and has been one of the best new features. This game is really a continuation of that old-school play style seen in the previous Diablo installments, so if solo (or small group) hunting is your thing, download away. Price: $19.99 on Steam Platform: Windows

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/angry-birds-movie-arrives-2016-producer-despicable-165025757.html

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Kids' dental clinic fields new complaints - TODAY Health

By Talesha Reynolds and Lisa Myers, NBC News

Visits to the dentist can be upsetting for little children, but when Autum Archuleta took her son Nathan to a Small Smiles dental clinic in February 2010, it was beyond anything she could have imagined. The dentist gave Nathan, then almost 3, three crowns, two baby root canals and six silver fillings in 25 minutes.

While in the waiting room, Archuleta says she heard her son screaming and burst into the treatment room. She says Nathan was crying and struggling to move while being held down by three clinic employees and wrapped from his head to his feet in a stabilization device called a papoose board. She thinks he wasn't properly numbed.

"He wasn't the same for a long time after we brought him home," Archuleta said. "He cried a lot...He wasn't my little boy. He didn't smile...The night terrors were the worst. I mean it was a lot of sleepless nights."

A dentist who later reviewed Nathan's records said the work was shoddy and many procedures unnecessary. A dentist who saw Nathan the following year wrote that he had "severe situational trauma."

"To me I think they did it for the money," Archuleta said of Small Smiles. "Flat-out did it for the money. Because it was Medicaid and Medicaid would pay them."

An NBC News investigation of the performance of Small Smiles' 63 dental clinics over the last three years found repeated allegations of substandard work and unnecessary procedures which drove up the cost to taxpayers. The allegations came from anguished parents, government investigators and former employees around the country.

Such practices violate a settlement the company reached with the Justice Department in January 2010, following allegations that it was bilking taxpayers by doing unnecessary and substandard procedures on low-income children. ?

At the time, Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice said, "We have zero tolerance for those who break the law to exploit children in need."

Dr. Warren Brill, President-elect of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry talks about dental chains and how to make sure children receive the best care.

The company that managed Small Smiles and affiliated clinics agreed to significantly alter its practices and subject itself to independent monitoring. It also agreed to pay $24 million, without admitting wrongdoing.

But three years later, records show the company has not cleaned up its act. ?

"This company sees dollar signs in the eyes of every child they bring in," Senator Chuck Grassley told NBC News. Grassley has been investigating dental organizations whose primary source of revenue is Medicaid. He says Small Smiles practices assembly-line treatment, focused more on quantity than quality.

"This whole investigation kind of leads us to two things. To a conclusion that the tax payers are being fleeced, and children are being abused." Grassley said.

Small Smiles clinics are managed by a private corporation called CSHM, LLC, which was until June called Church Street Health Management.?

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS OIG) is responsible for monitoring the clinics and rendering penalties when appropriate.

Lisa Re, a branch chief who heads an HHS OIG team of attorneys, says CSHM is improving since it emerged from bankruptcy in June 2012 with a new CEO and leadership.

"Recently, under new management, I would say that it is getting much better."

But according to letters from HHS OIG to Church Street, the compliance has been inconsistent and sometimes alarming.

In May, the office required CSHM to temporarily close a facility in Oxon Hill, Maryland to train staff on "the appropriate use of mouth props, patient stabilization practices, appropriate use and administration of anesthesia," among other things. Nine of 30 records the independent monitor reviewed "did not provide any documentation or radiographic evidence to support the medical necessity for the treatment provided. Six of those nine records showed baby root canals were performed "without medical necessity."

The OIG required the company to divest from a location in Manassas, VA in March because of "flagrant violations." A 2011 audit at that clinic found 104 of 244 baby root canals performed by the lead dentist to be medically unnecessary. In a sample of 34 records, 20 patients were restrained and given baby root canals with insufficient anesthesia. The monitor expressed concern that the children "were resisting treatment because they were being hurt."

In June the office fined CSHM 100,000 dollars after an audit found multiple breaches at an Ohio clinic, including treatments performed without medical necessity, incomplete or poorly done root canals, crowns places on "non-restorable" teeth and "poor techniques of administering local anesthesia." Six of seven dentists performed root canals on children that were not needed.

Last year, the agency issued a 230,000 dollar penalty, the largest it has ever levied, for multiple failures to comply with provisions of the government agreement. Among the breaches, the company failed to meet training and education requirements.

Still, Small Smiles continues to rake in millions in Medicaid dollars. Despite multiple threats to exclude the company from receiving federal funds, it made 150 million dollars in revenue from Medicaid in 2011.

The HHS OIG has given Church Street multiple chances to keep the clinics in business, levying penalties against the company and threatening to exclude them from receiving federal dollars. But the threats generally come with an out ? a way to repair the breaches and avoid being exclusion.

Senator Grassley believes that cycle should come to an end.

"The inspector general has given this group a lot of second chances. Every time they get their hand in the cookie jar. All sorts of excuses. So you get back to how long can this go on ? the fleecing of the tax payers, the abuse of children? And you get back to the point that maybe it's about time for the inspector general to disqualify this company from Medicaid."

DENTAL CARE VACUUMS CREATE LIMITED OPTIONS IN LOW-INCOME NEIGHBORHOODS

Small Smiles treats about 500,000 children a year. Jamier Brown, 4, was one of them. His mother Jasmine brought him to Small Smiles in Dayton, Ohio at the end of 2011 because she couldn't afford her other options.?

"I knew that his mouth needed attention. And he was complaining that his teeth were hurting, so I just couldn't wait around to see when I could get the money. I had to go as soon as I could," she said.

Jamier received caps and fillings in most of his mouth in January.? Months later, he is still in pain.? The gum line is discolored where his front teeth we capped and Jamier says, "It hurts all the time."

Two dentists who reviewed Jamier's records said he should have been treated by a pediatric dentist, most likely in the hospital under general anesthesia. One called the treatment on his front teeth "inadequate."

At the time Jamier was treated, Jasmine was in Job Corps and living with her mother. She blames herself for what happened to her son.?

"It's kinda my fault," she said as tears rolled down her face, "Because if I would have had the money, he probably wouldn't have felt any of that pain that he had to go through."

The guilt Brown feels is common among parents who spoke with NBC News and claimed their children were hurt at Small Smiles. They all said they didn?t know where else to go.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 31.5 million children were eligible for dental coverage through Medicaid in fiscal year 2011, but only 14.7 million children utilized a dental or oral health service.

Four out of five dentists don't take Medicaid, some because they just don't treat children but others complain of low reimbursement rates. Dr. Warren Brill is the president elect of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD). He has his own practice in Baltimore, MD and 85 percent of his patients are on Medicaid.?

"Reimbursement rates are a large factor in terms of dentists not accepting children on Medicaid, because the fees that they get are often times lower than the cost of providing the care," he said.

According to AAPD 70 percent of its members accept Medicaid. But only 3.5 percent of all professionally active dentists practice that specialty. ??

Nevertheless, Dr. Brill says parents of children on public insurance can find quality care.

"It's a question of learning how to make the appointment, getting referrals from state health departments, from dental associations, from friends and relatives. Parents that find those avenues should be able to find a dentist for their children."

DOES PROFIT MODEL PUT CHILDREN AT RISK?

Because Medicaid reimbursement rates are lower than what dentists charge other patients, critics say to make a profit, the clinics rely on volume.

Dr. Kianor Shah worked for Small Smiles briefly in 2011.? He says he left after witnessing disturbing practices. The dentist showed NBC News notes he took about treatments he observed during his time there. Scattered across several pages were words like "restraint brutal," "unnecessary" and "no way."

"I observed excessive use of the papoose board and excessive use of force to restrain children as well as overtreatment for procedures that could have been done with much less invasive approach."

Shah claims dentists were coerced into abusing children and overcharging Medicaid by the promise of bonuses and pressure from management.?

"I was advised, quote unquote, 'The dentists eat what they kill.' That means that they're gonna get paid for as much work as they do on those Medicaid kids. And that was about the last straw for me."

Senator Grassley's investigation involves dental management companies that are controlled by corporate investors. Many states require dentists to own the clinics but the management companies, like CSHM, effectively control the operations.

"Our investigation has found a lot of private equity money being invested in companies that are doing everything they can in the most sophisticated way to take as much money out of Medicaid as they can. And in the process of just milking the Medicaid program, we're finding a lot of abuse of children."

PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT AT SMALL SMILES

The Inspector General's office says the Small Smiles clinics have progressively improved, and while that improvement has been "uneven," the company is providing essential care to a vulnerable population. The agency maintains that it is better to aggressively monitor the company than to shutter it. ?

"If we had closed down Small Smiles last year, there would have been an uncontrolled shut down of this company leaving half a million kids scrambling for dental care," said Lisa Re.

The issue is further complicated by the states, which are responsible for administering Medicaid. The OIG surveyed states about the impact of closing the clinics and got a strong reaction.

"Some of the states were alarmed that we were even considering closing any of the clinics because they simply didn't have enough dentists to provide any care to these kids," said Re.

The attorney said in the last couple of years the office found five clinics to have the most significant problems.

"It's important to understand that not every clinic is providing bad care. If that were the case, this is an easy decision."

According to an affidavit in the Church Street bankruptcy filing earlier this year, "more than 1.5 million patients have been served during the past five years, improving overall dental health and access to care in many low-income areas in the 22 states in which the Company has had a?presence."

Chris and Loretta Trujillo are grateful for the care the Small Smiles in Denver provides their children. They say it is very difficult to find dentists who take Medicaid and their children, Jordan, Jazmin and Faith, have never had a bad experience.

"My kids have never been scared coming here," said mom Loretta. "They're excited to come."

The Inspector General's office is taking on Small Smiles on a clinic-by-clinic basis, vigorously monitoring them and assessing penalties when appropriate.

"We have taken targeted and aggressive action against the clinics that provided bad care while allowing the company to provide good necessary care at the other clinics," she said, adding that the clinics are showing marked improvements since a new CEO, David Wilson, came on in June.

"The company as it operates today is simply not the same as the company that was repeatedly violating the agreement," Re insists.

In a statement to NBC News, CSHM's Wilson wrote, "Patients are at the center of everything we do at CSHM. CSHM LLC supports our affiliated dental centers so that they can continue to provide access to quality dental care. Our dental centers serve approximately one million patient visits per year, primarily to children in communities with under-served access to dental care."?

Following an alarming audit of the Small Smiles clinic in Youngstown, Ohio that found substandard and unnecessary care, the new management company, which had just been formed, fired nine dentists there. The Inspector General's office called that action encouraging.

CSHM stressed its commitment to quality care. "Under the new management team, more than 50 new dentists have joined CSHM affiliated centers and the company continues to support their ongoing efforts to recruit qualified dentists."

That is simply not enough for Jasmine Brown. "I don't want anybody else's child to have to go through what my son went through, especially being that young. That's traumatic. That's something that could follow him the rest of his life."

Jasmine is now holding down two jobs ? one as a pharmacy tech at CVS, the other as a security guard at a men and women's shelter. She says she can now afford to get Jamier the care he needs.?

More:
Dad of missing cancer patient, 11: She's in very good hands?
Backlash builds over Gilda's Club name change?
Restaurant fires waiter who wrote 'fat girls' on receipt?
Mayor Cory Booker on $33 food stamp challenge?
Madonna Badger: My daughters talk to me in my dreams?

Source: http://todayhealth.today.com/_news/2012/12/11/15839314-kids-dental-clinic-fields-new-complaints

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Facebook 'back to 100 percent' after outage

3 hrs.

Devin Coldewey , NBC News

A number of Facebook users found themselves unable to access the social network Monday for a short time, but things are now back to normal, the company said.

The outage started in the early afternoon and lasted, for some, at least an hour. For many, the site was down completely, while others saw only missing images. Subdomains like beta.facebook.com worked correctly, allowing people to access the site even when www.facebook.com would not load.

Frustrated users took to blogs and services like Twitter to vent, also demonstrating the the outage, while fairly short, occurred in a number of countries worldwide.

An unrelated issue caused Gmail and Google Drive?to be unavailable this morning, making it something of a rocky day for those who rely heavily on the Web apps.

A Facebook spokesperson issued the following statement to NBC News in an email:

Earlier today we made a change to our DNS infrastructure and that change resulted in some people being temporarily unable to reach the site. We detected and resolved the issue quickly, and we are now back to 100 percent. We apologize for any inconvenience.

DNS is the system by which clients and servers on the Web keep track of each other, and is occasionally the source of short outages like this one. It can also be deliberately disrupted?by hackers, but that's not what happened Monday.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC?News Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/facebook-back-100-percent-after-outage-1C7537954

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A deliberate language barrier

THE United States and Britain are two countries "divided by a common language", George Bernard Shaw allegedly quipped.

This statement, amusingly paradoxical on the face of it, might be more accurate than it seems. On "War of words: The language paradox explained", evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel argues that languages proliferate to differentiate competing groups.

If so, a shared tongue is not what the transatlantic rivals would have wanted. Sure enough, they quickly diverged; some of the differences between US and British spellings seem to have arisen as part of a knowing attempt to widen the gulf.

So perhaps it was Shaw's fellow wit Oscar Wilde who got closer to the mark when he observed in his 1887 story The Canterville Ghost that "we have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language".

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