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Virtual Worlds Report News

virtual worlds report

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - June 18, 2009) - The Social Gaming Summit ( http://www.socialgamingsummit2009.com ), an event showcasing new social gaming technologies and innovations, will hold a one-day conference highlighting the social gaming ...

Social Gaming Summit Takes Over San Francisco - Market Wire

BOSTON - (Business Wire) Strategy Analytics today released its forecast for worldwide social virtual worlds, noting a 23% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2009-2015. The fastest growing demographic, represented by kids between the ages of 5 ...

Strategy Analytics: Virtual Worlds Forecast to Grow at 23% Through ... - Earthtimes

The NAI held a strategic science initiative workshop in Tempe, AZ on May 13-15, to identify areas where increased collaboration between the funded NAI teams could lead to greater scientific insights and productivity. One of the initiative areas ...

Strategic Science Initiatives in the Origins of Life Report from the ... - SpaceRef

"Jason Jones inIran: Access of Evil" explored the vast gulf betweenthe United States andIran with Jones and producer Tim Greenberg visiting cities and sites across the Republic includingTehran, Qom and the Imam Mosque in Esfahan. In addition to ...

'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' Presents 'Jason Jones in Iran ... - Newsblaze.com

SEATTLE, June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- NetMotion Wireless, a leading provider of mobile productivity and management software, today released version 8.51 of Mobility XE(TM), the company's award-winning Mobile Virtual Private Network (VPN) software. The new ...

NetMotion Wireless Enhances Mobile Virtual Private Network for ... - PR Newswire

The annual publication Australia - Digital Media - Online Interactive Services profiles the market sectors in the online interactive services market. The report provides market statistics and analysis on the services and companies involved in the ...

Australia - Digital Media - Online Interactive Services - New Company ... - PR Inside

Policymakers continue to view the economy through rose-colored glasses, with the repetitive phrases of slight improvements and hopeful signs. The realist appraisal of the U.S. and world economy can only be described as bleak. Current trends indicate ...

U.S. and world economy bleak - Iowa City Press-Citizen

OptiCon (OPCN) Begins Building Relationships and Introducing Its Software to India ST. PETERSBURG, FL - OptiCon Systems, Inc. announced today that ... LeadPoint Announces Beta Launch of LeadClass in Mortgage LOS ANGELES - LeadPoint (http://www ...

Latest News - dBusinessNews.com

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 06/17/09 -- Getfugu, Inc. (OTCBB: GFGU ), the next generation mobile search tool, has entered into a strategic partnership with Interpublic's (IPG) Emerging Media Lab, a leading center for consumer research, to ...

Getfugu Partners With Interpublic's Emerging Media Lab to Introduce ... - StreetInsider.com

SCHIPHOL , Netherlands, June 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Elephant Talk Communications, Inc. (OTCBulletinBoard: ETAK) , an international telecom and multimedia content distributor, specializing in carrier grade mobile delivery platforms, today ...

Virtual Worlds Report Search Links

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Resolved Question: World History please help 9 questons?

23. Establishing _____ by January 1, 2002, was one of the European Union's first goals. (1 point) a common European import tax a common European currency a common language a unified European military 24. Which book led to the movement to protect the environment? (1 point) Silent Spring A Wild Sheep Chase Little Red Book One Hundred Years of Solitude 25. Which view does Pan–Africanism promote? (1 point) African nations should enter a common treaty alliance. African nations should share a common language. African nations should adopt western–style capitalist economic systems. Black Africans share a common identity. 26. "Green Revolution" means (1 point) the development of new virtual strains of grains that do not require chemical fertilizers. the development of new strains of grains that have higher yields. the deforestation of rain forest areas to create new farmlands. the development of new strains of grains that do not require pesticides. 27. Serbia refused to allow _____ to remain an autonomous province after its war with Bosnia, and new tensions between the two arose. (1 point) Herzegovia Kosovo Greece Croatia 28. As Gorbachev sought to reform the Soviet Union, one of the most serious problems he faced was (1 point) ongoing tensions between the leaders of the Warsaw Pact nations. Russia's Silent Spring. the multiethnic nature of the Soviet Union. the ongoing war in Pakistan. 29. Iran and Iraq tensions are fueled by (1 point) disagreements over the use of OPEC funds. disagreements about U.S.–Arab relations. disputes over territory. disputes over the sovereignty of Kashmir. 30. Increasing demand for _____ leads to deforestation. (1 point) raw materials to produce shoes new sources of oil new sources of chemical fertilizer new farmlands 31. In November 1917, the _____ stated Britain's intention to make Palestine the national home of the Jews. (1 point) Balfour Declaration Lawrence Doctrine Churchill Report McPherson Papers more

Resolved Question: Had a truly odd day today ... a visit from a Secret Service Agent?

I'm roomies with a dear old friend of 30 years, Jim. It's a miracle we can be friends because we are total opposites in political and social philosophies. I am a moderate liberal [which he describes as a 'flaming ass liberal' - lol] and he is a staunch conservative [which I often describe as 'nazi' - lol]. Today a very nice gentleman knocked at our door and introduced himself as [his name] from the Secret Service. We live in a a mid-sized north Alabama town and to describe this gentleman as an exotic in the neighborhood would be an understatement. He proceeded to explain his purpose in the visit was to ask a few questions regarding my roomie/dear friend, who had apparently been reported as having made chronic and routine death threats against our President. My friend is an aged, frail blustery old man. I admit he has said horrid things about conservatives, especially Mr Barack and Ms Pelosi [and EVERY ONE in California - oh, and the entire country of France]! He's just an old redneck, a product of his times and environment - but mainly just a helpless, bitter, mouthy old cripple. I phoned his work and told him he had to come home, and why. He did, and this very nice man apparently from the Secret Service said that someone had reported that someone had been reporting almost weekly that he was making death threats against the President! I am still stunned and just can't believe this. Actually, this is the second such visit he has had this year - I wasn't here the last time. I talk to Jim all the time, but he has never said anything that would really make me worry - but then I know he just likes to bark, like some toothless threatened old dog. He is a virtual recluse - so I know he's not going places, such as bars, and blathering carelessly .... How in the world could this happen in America? And I wonder who in the world might be so threatened by this poor old man that they would make weekly calls to some 800-number to report stupid blathering by an old redneck? I don't condone him at all, and it personally drives me nuts - but who would want to bother with an impotent crippled old man when there are real dangers in this world? umm, for the illiterates among us I want to add that I used 'impotent' in the globally, not sexual, way http://www.answers.com/topic/impotent ... Lacking physical strength or vigor; weak. Lacking in power, as to act effectively; helpless: “Technology without morality is barbarous; morality without technology is impotent” (Freeman J. Dyson). more

Resolved Question: Can someone tell me how i can report a site, possibly have it shut down?

How many parents out their have been victims of the virtual world VSIDE? This site announces FREE, but the catch is that once you join, you would need to earn the VBUX in order to have any VIRTUAL goods. Most children are not fully aware of what they need to do to earn these VBUX, so their willing to do anything just to impress their friends, if that means being pimped out by actually showing their privates on web cams to others to get paid, hacking from others account, or stealing from the parents to get what they need. In my case, my child has taken upon to steal my debit card and buy $210.00 worth of VBUX to get virtual goods. I never had a liking to this site, as it is more then just a site to get on and make friends. This site says that it monitors, but does not like it should. My opinion is that VSIDE uses these children as a money engine to benefit for their gain in such times when the parents are fully unaware of when the children gets in desperate times of need with VBUX spending, that they are perhaps are being used. I contacted VSIDE about the situation of what my child did, and their analogy was like a child stealing candy from a shop and eating it. I replied how can you compare it to that when the candy is not even real. These people make a killing off of virtual crap knowing that the parents are the ones that fall victims, and then do nothing about it. This site is nothing more then a money hungry site that allows sexual behavior to go on. Basically this site uses our kids hoping that sooner or later kids will steal from their parents, and all they have to say pretty much is oh well, your kid done it, so what. They don't care how they get their money once they get it, or what goes on on their site! This site needs to be shut down for good!!!! Can anyone tell me if this has ever happened to them, or what can i do to get my money back and have this site shut down? Thanks!!!!! My child used the numbers on my debit card, no pin was needed. My card is like a credit card basically. Mitch, my child didn't make a purchase with ebay. I love ebay, would never even consider shutting ebay down. more

Resolved Question: here's my problem, this is my assignment.?

Critical Analysis Assignment Length: 8 pages minimum Required Research: 6 outside sources minimum (at least 4 of which must be non-internet) Proposal due: Monday 3/30, at the start of class, via the Blackboard Essay Dropoff Draft Day: Wednesday 4/8, on the Blackboard message board Due Date: Monday 4/13, at the start of class, via the Blackboard Essay Dropoff —this deadline is absolute So far this semester, we have studied technology in the world of the Natural Sciences, as well as covering the social impact of the world of work in our Social Sciences section. Both technology and employment play great roles in our lives, influence us in numerous ways, and are in many ways central to our existence. But what role do they play in our stories? While technology and the workplace are frequent subjects in much of our fiction, they particularly appear in science fiction stories. For this assignment, then, you will critically analyze (that is, make a critical argument which you will support with evidence) the depiction of technology, employment, or both in one of the following science fiction texts:  Gattaca  V for Vendetta (graphic novel)  Minority Report  Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (novel)  Wall-E  Iron Man (film) As well as critically analyzing the text in question, this assignment also requires you tie the depiction of technology and/or employment (as portrayed in the text) to real life research; for instance, if one were analyzing The Matrix, that analysis could also include research on artificial intelligence or on virtual reality. As such, one of the guiding principles of this assignment is the question “how does our fiction differ from our more scientific narratives, and what accounts for that difference?” i don't know what I'm supposed to do, this is incredibly confusing. more

Resolved Question: Looking for a Good Horse SIM Game? I have one for you?

Looking for a good horse game to play online for FREE? Well, look NO further! Ponybox.com is a site that has four servers based towards horse-lovers and all people. 1. Morgan Morgan is the first and oldest of the four servers. It is also, the largest, ranging from 200-300 players on at a time. Morgan is an English based discipline server. 2. Paint Paint is the second oldest and the second largest. Paint deals mainly with Western Disciplines 3. Pegasus [knicknamed Peggi] Pegasus is the third oldest, but has the fewest number of players. This server has the smallest things to offer, but the players are the nicest on this one. This server deals with mythical horses and mythical disciplines. 4. Nokota The newest, but has almost as many players as paint. Deals with Indian themed horses and disciplines. Things about ponybox: 1. Training Each server has disciplines in which to train your pixel horses. You can compete your horses in shows and get them to win 1-3 place prizes and if your horse scores high enough, it will be placed on the Stats Board 2. Jumping You can jump your horses on two of the servers [morgan &paint] and race the world on peggi and do round ups on nokota. 3. Forums and Groups on all four servers there is an active forum that you can use to chat with friends, ask questions, learn about the game, and more! There are 10 groups that you can pick to be a member of. They deal from religion, to photography, to controversial topics, and more! 4. Your Barn You can create your own barn. Buy golden carrots to get level four training in all disciplines, plant crops to harvest feed, make some boarding, get on the Stats page for rescue/retired horses or even page views. Buy a registry and you can register horses to make them better. Buy Show license's to create shows and earn money. 5. Items Virtual items are placed through out the site that "pop" onto your screen. They can be very tricky so keep an eye out for them. Can't find the one you want? Buy it from a different member. 6. Horses You can raise and breed your own line of horses. Just pick a breed and get started! you can also breed horses from your mares and sell them to people, place your horses for stud, etc. 7. MODS Each server has an elite group of people that keep the site clean. They actively report you for cursing, spamming, inappropriate content. They are for the most part a friendly group of people. 8. Digi's/Manip's If you are an aspiring artist, this is a great site to join. All the players are extremely friendly and will give you open critique that will help you get better. Plus while you are learning, sell them for game money and get a reputation around you as a great Artist. Before you know it, you will have commissions out your virtual mailbox. Well, HOW DO I JOIN? All you need is an email. None of the admin on the site use it for anything, except storing it in their database in case you forget your username or password, that way they can email it to you. AND.... There is a virtual store where you can buy REAL things, such as shirts! or you can spend your REAL money to buy things for the virtual game, such as items, and foundational horses, and sell them to get money! These are only A FEW OF THE REASONS! Sign up and say hi to me! i'm Wind Riders on the morgan server. You won't regret joining, it is an awesome site. plus Ponybox.com is a FREE horse Sim game. It costs NOTHING to sign up. more

Resolved Question: how can be more charismatic, witty, and cocky?

i want to be be able to respond to people quickly and intelligently like Michael Westen from burn notice the guy is full of use full information and he always cool and collected and knows how to play different roles i was thinking about watching episodes and repeat whatever he says would this work should i watch more dramas like house, scrubs, stand up comedies, Colbert report, i don't read allot either how can i make it a passion im a very isolated person in real life but for some reason when i play in the virtual world (xbox 360) im more open but at times i notice that i lose my intelligence like id mess up when i speak i don't want a respond like i cant i have to be born with it cause i know its in me it Just needs to be waken more

Resolved Question: how can be more charismatic and witty?

Resolved Question: What has happened to poetry section,poems are getting reported?

lot of my poems are getting reported even though there is nothing offensive about them.and i am hearing talks of gangs operating in this poetry section,i thought gangs were limited to real world ,never thought they could be part of virtual world. why form gangs and report poems. more

Resolved Question: ideas for virtual worlds?

i want ideas for virtual worlds for kids ages 10-13. not club penguin but i want to be able to chat,play games to earn coins and have avatars not animals. i want to be able to report players if they offend you or say something bad. i want a website where you can buy clothes and change them, make rooms, and be able to do things real humans can. more

Resolved Question: paper editing need help?

this paper is due tomorrow and i need it to be perfect my grade is riding on this paper: Reasons Why Voter Turn Out Was So High in 2008 Voter turn out was exceptionally high this year due to minority candidates, new utilization of media and an unprecedented level of dissatisfaction with the incumbent regime. The presence of candidates outside the realm of white male allowed a greater percentage of the electorate to identify with the major party candidates. Minorities went heavily into the Obama camp. African Americans voted 96 towards Obama while only a measly 3 percent went to McCain. No big surprise. Hispanic Americans also voted high for Obama giving him a whopping 67 percent while only 30 percent voted for McCain. Asians voted Obama 63 percent to 34 percent for McCain; McCain obviously wasn’t too popular in the minority section. Women's votes were a significant factor in Obama's victory, with a sizable gender gap evident in the election results. Women strongly preferred Obama to McCain, giving Obama a nice 56 percent for Obama, and 43 percent for McCain. Not a huge difference, one reason so many might have voted for McCain was that they were disappointed with Obama taking Hillary’s place as the democratic representative. White males however split their vote almost exactly even for the two presidential candidates giving Obama 49 percent while 48 percent voted for McCain. Age had a big part to play in the election Obama destroyed McCain Voters in the 18 to 24 age group voted 68 percent for Obama and 30 percent for John McCain, according to the exit polling. Those in the 25 to 29 age bracket went 69 percent to 29 percent in Obama's favor. Another reason I think that many people voted for Obama was that people like to be the first at things, they like to be able to say “ I was someone who helped get the first black president into office”. People like the feeling of having been apart of something people will remember if you say “I voted republican AGAIN” you don’t get the same feeling as knowing you voted for the first black president. Obama’s use of new media allowed him to increase visibility, awareness of policy and the amount of money he was able to raise. One of the many things Obama used to advertise, I think the most effective was the Internet. Obama was all over the Internet he sent out e-flyers and had his campaign advertised on myspace, facebook, yahoo and other common web pages. In addition to that he sent out a bunch of emails to people asking if they would like to help support their cause and send them money. This was helpful because he could reach unregistered voters or aliens and get their support in other ways than voting. McCain jumped on the Internet train a little late and Obama had won most of the people who would be off the Internet. Obama had the support of Americas youth while McCain had the seniors, most seniors do not go on the Internet and browse myspace. Needless to say barrack mopped up in virtual America just as much, if not more, as in real America. Obama was also all over the television; he even had his own half hour of power called “The Obama Show” which postponed the World Series. On several comedy shows Obama was a big line so was McCain. The daily show, SNL and the Colbert report all focused on the election very closely on the election and its candidates. Many also commenting on George W Bush. Speaking of Bush, at the time of the election the level of disapproval toward him was so great that a majority of the electorate wanted to be apart of the new and different president. In April of 2008 Bush had a disapproval rating of 69 percent, the highest it has ever been in American history. At the time of Nixon’s resignation he had a disapproval rating of 67 percent. When he was first elected there was a fifty, fifty approval rating. When he was elected a second time a lot of people still thought we needed him due to the Iraq war. At the time of the election Bush was approved by less that one quarter of America. McCain tried to distance himself from Bush but people were tired of the republican ticket and they wanted change. McCain’s ideas were just to close to Bush’s. This election was very historical and the people who witnessed it were very lucky people who will someday be able to say “I was alive when Obama was elected”. This paper was simply meant to inform you about some reasons why voter turn out was so extremely high this year, all views and comments are my own and I’m not saying they are correct. more

Resolved Question: would you divorced your husband or wife?

if you find out that he or she already married online read this article do you think the wife is overreacting with this one i think she is its only a game its not like he is cheating on her 'Second Life' ends couples' first marriage 16 hours ago LONDON (AFP) — A woman is to divorce her husband after discovering he was having a virtual affair within the online game "Second Life," newspapers reported Friday. Amy Taylor, 28, met her husband David Pollard within the game in May 2003, and six months later, she moved into his home in Cornwall. The couple married in July 2005, while their "Second Life" avatars Dave Barmy and Laura Skye -- younger, slimmer versions of their real-life selves -- also held an online ceremony for their virtual friends. After a rare break from the computer, however, Taylor returned to find her 40-year-old husband in an intimate, albeit virtual, position with an online prostitute within "Second Life", which she said was the "ultimate betrayal". "I was so hurt," she was quoted as saying in The Times, adding that theirs was a "very serious marriage". "I just couldn't believe what he'd done. It's cheating as far as I'm concerned, but he didn't see it as a problem and couldn't see why I was so upset. "He said I was just making a big fuss and tried to make out it was my fault for not giving him enough attention." Second Life is an online role-playing game with more than 15 million users, in which players can create virtual avatars and interact with other gamers, or the environment. The game has its own virtual economy, in which online currency can be exchanged for real-world US dollars, and several major businesses have set up "branches" within the game, while others operate entirely within it. According to the Daily Telegraph, Taylor claims that Pollard is now engaged to the woman he was having an online tryst with, despite never having met her. She has, meanwhile, found a new love, through fantasy online role-playing game "World of Warcraft". more

Voting Question: what is the "who, what, when, where, how" of this article?

who was involved what happened when did this happen (not needed) where did this happen and how does it EFFECT YOUR LIFE link to article... http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/06/pakistan.airstrike.ap/index.html KHAR, Pakistan (AP) -- Two separate suicide attacks targeting pro-government tribesmen and security forces killed at least 19 people and wounded dozens Thursday in areas of Pakistan's northwest where the military has pursued anti-insurgent offensives, officials said. The attacks were the latest in a wave of militant violence that has rocked Pakistan in recent months as it tries to bring the northwest under control. The U.S. has praised Pakistan for getting tougher on militants, many of whom are involved in attacks on American and NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan, but the military offensives have also led to bloodshed in the Muslim nation where anti-American sentiment runs deep. In the Bajur tribal region, a suicide attacker killed 17 local tribesmen who, with government backing, had formed a militia to combat insurgents. Another 40 people were hurt, government and hospital officials said. A purported spokesman for a Taliban-linked group claimed responsibility for that attack. In the northwest's Swat Valley later Thursday, a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a checkpoint manned by security forces near a police compound, killing at least two paramilitary troops and wounding at least 20 other people, officials said. Pakistan launched an offensive in Bajur three months ago to dismantle what it said was a virtual Taliban mini-state from where militants were flowing into Afghanistan. The Salarzai tribesmen were preparing to stage an assault on local militant hide-outs when the blast occurred, said Iqbal Khattak, a government official. Malik Rahimullah, a tribal elder, said the bomb exploded as soon as armed contingents began to move. He and officials initially said it appeared that a remote-controlled bomb was used, but later Khattak said mutilated body parts of an apparent suicide bomber were found, and that witnesses said they saw a young man rushing into the crowd before the explosion. Amir Khan, a tribesman, said the scene was littered with severed limbs and that several tribal elders who were instrumental in starting the militia were among the dead. Khattak said 11 bodies were taken to the main hospital in the Bajur city of Khar. Mohammad Kareem, a hospital official, said later that at least six of some 45 wounded people had died and that more than a dozen were in serious condition. Late Thursday, a man who said he was a spokesman for a Taliban-linked group, Caravan-e-Naimatullah, claimed it was behind the bombing. Little is known about the group but earlier this year it briefly took over a handful of schools in the region. The man, who identified himself as Abdul Rehman, called an Associated Press reporter and other local journalists with the claim. The main Pakistani Taliban spokesman, Maulvi Umar, could not immediately be reached for comment. The army claims to have killed some 1,500 insurgents in the Bajur offensive. At least 73 troops and 95 civilians have also died, it says. Lack of security and government restrictions mean accounts of the fighting cannot be verified. The army also has carried out stop-start operations over many months in the Swat Valley, a once-popular tourist destination that has fallen victim to militant violence. The suicide car bombing rocked the Mingora area in Swat. Officials initially reported a huge explosion and said there was extensive damage followed by a firefight that made it difficult for authorities to search the area. Senior police official Dilawar Bangash said two paramiliary troops were killed, while Abdullah Khan, an official at a hospital nearby, said at least 20 wounded people came in. Besides staging suicide attacks on security and government forces, militants have gone after the tribal militias, including beheading some of the elders involved. A suicide attack in October in the nearby Orakzai tribal region against another such militia left dozens dead. Also Thursday, airstrikes on militant hide-outs elsewhere in Bajur killed 19 suspected insurgents, the military said. more

Resolved Question: how does this sort of information get ignored by democrats?

However, the underlying (more important issues) are verifiably true. In August and September 2006, Senator Barack Obama traveled to South Africa, Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Chad and Kenya as a congressional delegation of one (Codel Obama) (“Codel Obama” The Hill 9/7/2006) While in Kenya, Obama consistently appeared at the side of fellow Luo Raila Odinga (“your agent for change’), who was running for President. (“Senator Rebukes Kenya’s Corruption” Chicago Sun Times 8/29/2006) Because of his African heritage, Obama was treated as a virtual “Head of State” in Kenya While campaigning with Odinga, Obama was openly critical of governmental corruption under President Mibaki –usually a fair, if undiplomatic, criticism from an objective observer. However, Kibaki’s government has been better than most—and Odinga has his own corruption issues.( “Loud and Populist, But No Political Outsider” The Guardian 12/29/2007) Obama’s partisan support for Odinga was considered so transparent, that the Kenyan Government spokesman, Alfred Matua, complained of political posturing to aid Odinga’s election chances: “It is very clear that the senator has been used as a puppet to perpetuate opposition politics,”(“Walking The World Stage” Newsweek 9/11/06) And, “…we earlier thought he was mature in his assessment of Kenyan and African politics,” Mutua told AFP.”We forgive him because it is his first time in the Senate and he is yet to mature into understanding issues of foreign policy,” he said.”(“Obama’s Kenya Honeymoon Ends Abruptly After Graft Rebuke” 8/29/06) Subsequently, Ambassador Ogingo Ogego made a public complaint to the US.(“Kenyan Envoy Kicks Off Diplomatic Row” My Africa 9/27/2006) Raila Odinga subsequently lost the controversial (probably rigged) presidential election. In what appeared to many—including Human Rights Watch– as a coordinated strategy from the top, (“Violence We Fled was Planned, Say Kenyan Refugees” Reuters 1/26/2008 and “Kenya: Violence Planned Before Poll, Says Report” The Nation 3/18/2008) his Luo supporters (a core of whom call themselves The Taliban”(“Ethnic Gangs Rile Kenyan Slums” Newsweek 1/10/08)) engaged in what US Envoy Jendayi Frazer called “clear ethnic cleansing” (“US Envoy Calls Violence in Kenya ‘Ethnic Cleansing’” USA Today 1/30/2008) of the Kikuyu opposition. Odinga’s supporters went on a rampage—burning Kikuyu homes and businesses, (“Ethnic Cleansing in Luoland” The Economist 2/7/2008) raping Kikuyu women, and murdering everyone in their path—including at least 50 Christian Kikuyu woman & children who had sought refuge in a church. They burned them alive. (“Mob Burns Kenyans Seeking Refuge In Church” CNN 1/10/2008) “We have evidence that ODM [Odinga’s party] politicians and local leaders actively fomented some post-election violence,” Georgette Gagnon, acting Africa director for the New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said on Thursday.” (Violence We Fled was Planned, Say Kenyan Refugees” Ibid) So: who is Raila Odinga that Senator Obama would expend his political capital and risk the goodwill of half the population of Kenya? Their relationship is unclear. The BBC initially reported that Obama and Odinga were first cousins.(“Odinga Says Obama is His Cousin” 1/8/2008) The Obama campaign has since denied a familial relationship. Raila Odinga’s father Oginga Odinga was leader of the “Kenya People’s Union” and perceived as a “committed socialist” (“Oginga Odinga: Kenya’s Most Persecuted Politician” Kenya: Key Issues 8/21.2002). Odinga Sr. was also the political ally of fellow Luo; Barack Obama Sr.(The Risks of Knowledge (Ohio University Press, 2004) p. 182) What we do know about Odinga is not good. A former Minister of Energy, Odinga is reported to have been set up in the oil business by the al Bakri Group and Muammar Quaddafi (“How Rich is Raila-The ODM Kenya Presidential Aspirant?” African Press 4/26/2007) Abdel Qader Bakri (or- Abdulkader al Bakri) was listed on the infamous “Golden Chain”–an internal Al-Queda list of wealthy Saudi financial sponsors seized by Bosnian police in a Islamic “charity” raid in 2001. (“Terrorist Financing Staff Monograph 9/11 Commission and “The Golden Chain”) According to his website, Odinga was educated in Communist East Germany, (Herder Institute, Leipzig & Otto von Guericke Tech. Institute, Magdeburg) (http://www.raila07.com) Odinga’s eldest son is named “Fidel” (http://www.raila07.com) Perhaps most troubling is Odinga’s links to Islamic extremists in Kenya. According to Voice of America and the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, on 8/29/07, Odinga signed a secret agreement (exposed 11/27) with Sheikh Abdullah Abdi of the National Muslim Leaders Forum (NAMLEF) in which he agreed to institute Islamic law in exchange for Abdi’s support (eakenya.org)–thereby potentially disenfranchising and curtailing the liberties of millions of Christian Kenyan women. Further, he promised that Muslims suspected of terrorism would be safe from ex sweetjan, i deleted that part of the article at the top, for exactly this sort of response. if you go read the article, it addresses your "pants on fire" rating....nice try though. no, tony, you racist, i'm from Illinois. I got to see osama..er obama close up before any of you did, and I KNOW he's a criminal. Avro, i'm a libertarian. not a republican. I didn't even vote for Mccain. don't like him either, but at least he's not a criminal, like obama. I voted early, for Barr. what a shock. BOSTONIA.. it's an article from African Press International- yes i understand that your kneejerk is Everyone who doesn't worship obama is a neocon. IM (for the last time) A LIBERTARIAN AND I VOTED FOR BARR! But, I do live right under chitcago in illinois and happen to KNOW obama is a criminal. I'm just providing the warning, so that you cant say later "i didnt know" more

Resolved Question: Is this a good mission statement?

i want to make sure this sound good. Can you all help me? Any thoughts ideas? ect... I just changed it so I want to make sure I changed it for the better.... Thanks ---- How many times have you caught yourself jumping from site to site looking for the information that you needed, and wanting more? The internet is a vast virtual library of information, and just like a library has many books, the internet has many websites. Imagine yourself in a library and finding a book that had everything you were looking for all in that one book. Tough to imagine right? The same problem has been present on the internet. All the information you are looking for is out there, and before now, it was scattered among the millions of websites. Now you can come to AnglersResource.org and find all the information that you need to be a successful angler. No more jumping from website to website to find all the information that you need. From California to New York, fishermen can come to AnglersResource.org and get the most up-to-date information on the internet. AnglersResource.org is the original all inclusive fishing resource guide. Other websites have come out since the launch of AnglersResource.org in November of 2007, however none capture the essence of connecting with the fishing community as we do. Our main goal is to provide the fishing world with a FREE service that has revolutionized the net effect on fishing. The reason why we are able to get all of this information, is because we do the research for you. We go out to all the different sources of information and gather everything fishermen need all to one website - AnglersResource.org. We go out on location to film video tips that cover the most asked questions in the industry. Our members also provide crucial up-to-date reports, product reviews, tips, and vast amounts of first-hand information from all over the world. The fishing products that we get from our sponsors, we give away ever month for free just to say thank you for using the website. Our goal is to take average fishermen, and teach them how to hone in their skills to advance them to the next level of fishing. This rule applies to all levels of fishermen, from beginners to experts. We have information that will advance any level fishermen to their own next level. You can even talk directly to Professional Fishermen to get the answers to the your fishing questions. We strive to have the most, and the most reputable, information for all fishermen all on one site. We are passionate about getting you your much needed information because AnglersResource.org is created by fishermen for fishermen. Even professional anglers use AnglersResource.org to get their fishing information. Jimmy Houston, Mark Goines, Charlie Ingram, Justin Lucas, Sondra Rankin are just a few pros that rely on AnglersResource.org for their up-to-date information. You will even see them giving their own tips and tactics to members throughout the website. AnglersResource.org has appeared on Fishing TV show Hooked On Fishin’ with Mark Goines, and is due to appear on Charlie Ingram’s Fishing University in 2009. We have traveled to the 2008 BassMaster Classic, 2008 ICAST show, and many other fishing events to get you the most up-to-date information on the internet. We are here to work for you to get you everything that you need to advance yourself to the next level of fishing. We have a unique sponsorship program for the average tournament angler. We now give dozens of starting tournament anglers the opportunity for sponsorship. With our sponsorship program an angler is able to get their name out on the market, as well as hone in on their marketing skills. Any tournament angler will tell you that before you can get sponsorship you must learn how to market yourself. How can you sell your sponsors ideas, if you cannot even sell yourself? We work with our field staff in order to build their fishing resume and to empower themselves to launch their own fishing careers. So take a few minutes to look around, see how we can take you to the next level, and I will see you out on the water! what do yout hink? lol thanks but this is not an advertisement.. DO NOT feel like you have to go see the site.. I just want feedback on the statement So maybe I should summerize it and put the whole thing on the about us section? This way gets them interested but wanting more... more

Resolved Question: Fullscreen ok, windowed mode mega slow...?

Resolved Question: fullscreen ok, windowed mode mega slow...?

Resolved Question: Senator Obama... a little presumptuous?

Ever since the earliest stages of the presidential campaign, we have been told that this year is the best opportunity for a Democrat to be elected president. A struggling economy and a very unpopular two term president should see Senator Obama well ahead in the polls, but he’s not. Instead, we see him and Senator McCain in a virtual dead heat. Meanwhile, we see Obama speaking and acting as if he were already president. In a closed door meeting with House Democrats, Obama reportedly described his recent trip to Europe in a “lyrical” way, according to the Washington Post, and ended the description with, “this is the moment, as Nancy [Pelosi] noted, that the world is waiting for.” The Post also reports he said, “I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions." We see him giving whirlwind speeches, apologizing for a country that hasn’t even elected him yet. Isn’t this all a little too much for a candidate in a dead heat with his opponent? more

Resolved Question: Computer noob needs help with drivers?

Resolved Question: ok i wanna know wtf is wrong with my computer?

i don't really know much about computers but i installed this online game called Kaneva and i have bin on for months and until Monday i had to install it again cause they made a new version of Kaneva.ever since i went on it started having glitches and some times when i went on it restarted the computer?i asked other members if it could be some thing they been through but they had no clue what i was talking about.now when i try to log in the virtual world of kaneva it says an error has occurred and i send the error report but it keeps popping up the next time i try to log in.now it says (no game servers are available,please try later?)what wrong with it?it wont let me in it? more

Resolved Question: Movie Clichés I Never Want to See Again. Can Anyone Suggest Any More?

“I’m Getting Too Old For This Sh!t!” Movie Clichés I Never Want to See Again •The opening of film on water, panning up to distant cityscape as we fly towards city. So overdone, so lazy, please establish your location in a more original way. •In an effort to show what a loser/how lonely a character is, they come home and go to the answering machine and instead of reading the digital # readout like we all do, they press the button and we hear the female voice announce “You have no messages.” •Person being chased reaches car or home. Door is locked, retrieves keys and drops them. •One character has something important to say, something that will change everything but when they are about to say what they need to say, the other person will interrupt but then will say, “Sorry, go ahead.” But will be told “No, you go ahead.” And as a result, whatever it is the other person says will result in main character not saying what they were about to say. Even worse if afterwards the other person says, “I’m sorry, you were going to say something.” •If the driver is speaking to the passenger, they will spend an impossibly long time staring at the passenger instead of at the road. Somehow they NEVER rear end the car in front of them. •“I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you.” Seriously, can everyone PLEASE agree to delete this phrase from our collective consciousness? •The person who notices some wet substance on the ground or wherever and bends down to run a finger through it, look at the finger (often rubbing two fingers together) and usually realize it’s blood. •If you’re a woman and there is a killer on the loose, just take a relaxing bath and he will find you. •If a person with important information to reveal tells the detective to come by at such and such a time and he will tell him all the info, he will be dead when the detective arrives. •If a person good person dies with his eyes open, a friend will close them, and they will remain closed. If a villain dies with his eyes open, no one will close them, and the camera will linger on his face. •All characters keep detailed newsclippings of important events in their lives, particularly those events that must be painful to recall, such as the loss of the character’s immediate family due to their own negligence. NB: If the news report would have come out while the character was in jail or on the run, all the more reason for the character to have kept it intact. •If a person’s clothes get snagged on something, they tear very easily and leave a large, noticeable chunk behind. The Person trying to not be found never seems to realize this has occurred. •If the movie is animated, one of the kid’s parents will be dead. This is almost always the mother. •If there are three or more sisters in the movie, one of the sisters will be extremely neurotic and married to a lawyer/doctor/shrink, one will be single and looking for love (the lead) and one will be a mother with at least two kids (a boy and a girl or two girls, never two boys). •Every sword/knife pulled from a holder always makes a metal against metal sound •All movie mothers will prepare a breakfast, usually consisting of scrambled eggs, bacon, etc. Dad and the kids will invariably arrive at the table 30 seconds before Dad has to leave for the office and the kids have to catch the school bus. Each will have time only for a sip of coffee/juice and/or one bite of toast. There must be enough food left over in these homes to feed a third world nation! •Beverages are served either half full or completely empty (especially coffee). •Coffee is never served steaming hot unless it is for comedic reasons •When a helicopter is hit by a bullet or rocket, it’ll explode immediately if it contains a villain, but if the hero is on board, it will loose power, smoke will come out of the doors, and it’ll just reach the ground in time for the hero to get clear then duck just at the moment it explodes. •Whenever a hero enters a dark room where he feels confident in being alone, someone (villain) will be sitting in a chair waiting for hero to turn on the lights before speaking. Sometimes intruder will be the one to turn on the light. •The hero will always refuse the assistance of friends or medical personnel after a fight. If the hero gets into a second fight, his most injured body part will always be punched or kicked. •A hero will show no pain even during the most terrific beating, yet he will wince if a women attempts to clean a facial wound. •The bad guy has the good guy in his sights, his trigger finger poised to squeeze off a life-ending round. A shot rings out, and we shudder—but the hero does not fall. As he frantically checks his body for the mortal wound he must have sustained, a dazed look overcomes the villain’s face, and he slumps to the floor. Then, and only then, the camera reveals a gun-toting savior who blew away the baddie before he could kill our protagonist. •Like above, only hero and villain are in a life and death struggle with gun, it goes off, who got hit? The same with a struggle over a knife. Any close up struggle with a pointy object will result in death. •Walking toward the camera in slow motion as a massive explosion happens in the background, without flinching, and miraculously not being hit by any shrapnel •In a scary movie, if someone is looking in the refrigerator for a late night snack, when they close the refrigerator/freezer door, the killer will be standing there OR a friend/parent will be standing there, startling them. •Surprise cat appearances. Almost always shrieking for no good reason. •Character in vehicle, glances in rear view mirror, nothing suspicious, character reaches for something (radio), sits back up, eyes go back to rear view mirror, killer’s eyes looking back. •Character stepping lightly past killer’s body only to have him reach out and grab their ankle •Any movie in New Orleans takes place during Maudi Gras •The super-sped up cityscape. This scene requires shots of a moving and setting sun, buildings lighting up, and people zipping around. •Eight to ten-year-old kids are the best computer hackers on earth and can break into any system. •Anytime anybody picks up pieces of a broken glass they will ALWAYS cut their finger. They will also always suck their breath in through their teeth and stick the injured finger in their mouth. •When someone, usually the hero, appears to be shot fatally but a few minutes later, when the camera goes back to them -What’s This!- they aren’t dead after all. They will ALWAYS groan, reach up with both hands and rip open their shirt (nobody cares about buttons in the movies!) revealing the –SHOCKER!- bullet-proof vest (even though the obvious bulge from a bullet-proof vest was never visible under their clothes in the previous scene). They will then pluck the bullet from the indentation, stare at it and drop it to the ground. Occasionally the person will do something that defies all reason; they will REMOVE THE VEST and go after the bad guy. Because, as everyone knows, when a bullet-proof vest takes a hit or two they are rendered useless. Again, I have two words for all bad guys: HEAD SHOT! •When ever a person is being chased on foot, regardless of the time of year or city, there will be some sort of parade to try and loose your pursuer in. •Any time a secret tracking device is used so the bad guy can track the good guy, the tracking device will have a blinking red light AND when the camera gets a close up we can hear it beeping. An AUDIBLE secret tracking device? Really? See Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls. •When the power plant/missile site/whatever overheats, all the control panels will explode, as will the entire building. •When the tech guy is given a blurry, extremely pixilated part of an image (i.e. license plate) and they are able to clear it up to crystal clear, easily readable condition •Making hacking look cool by making the computer’s mainframe look like some sweet virtual world of colorful corridors and cubes you need to click on. •If it’s a tavern in a western, some grizzled old f*ck will spit tobacco juice in response to our hero entering. I have a site archiving every movie cliché I could think of/find at: http://movieclichearchive.wordpress.com/ Please feel free to stop by and if you can think of one I haven’t listed, there is a section at the bottom of each category to leave a suggestion. Enjoy! more

Resolved Question: please answer my question about the constitutional convention?

TeachingAmericanHistory.org Homepage Register Online About Us Search Site Seminars & Institutes Historical Documents Library Audio Lectures & Discussions Constitutional Convention Home > Constitutional Convention > Introduction to the Constitutional Convention by Gordon Lloyd Introduction to the Constitutional Convention by Gordon Lloyd See Also: Convention: Introduction to this Site | Introduction to the Convention | Four Act Drama | Day by Day Summary | Major Themes | Madison's Notes | Selected Correspondence Delegates: Age of Framers in 1787 | Educational Backgrounds | Continental Experiences | Delegates by State | Alphabetical List | Interactive Scene at the Signing of the Constitution | Interactive Map of Philadelphia | Entertainment of George Washington at the City Tavern The Call for a Grand Convention On May 15, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, is so can you answer my question? more

Resolved Question: Is yahoo answers a threat to the American way of life?

In that the way in which it is set up with the thumbs up and thumbs down, and the reporting aspect of this forum it is in effect educating and ingraining an anti first amendment mentality with these 2 generations that are coming of age. Add this with the fact that the newly adopted patriot act is out there waiting with open arms, the patriot act is written in such a way that as time goes on, more of it's provisions unfold over time. The patriot act incorporates the word terrorist to existing laws, at the same time, As of now, a bar fight, a domestic disturbance, or a mere heated verbal exchange are now, after the signing of this new law some of which now are considered acts of terrorism.As time goes on, this generation coming up drifting back and forth between this virtual world ~ y/a ~and the real world is being indoctrinated with this notion that if 1 does not like what another say's, report them.1 day very soon in the future, a post such as this 1 might just be considered terrorism! Hmm, that's strange, not sure why some of you are offended, it was just an observation afterall. And sparto, for your information, people are,..are being charged for verbal threats, that is very common now, terrorist verbal threat, it is very common in domestic abuse cases.Regarding the patriot act, the way I see it, with a stroke of a pen in the signing of that law, it turned average americans into terrorists. It is aimed at us, not foriegners, it incorporated the word terrorist into existing U.S laws. A bar fight,between two americans is now considered " criminial terrorist disruption in a public place " I do not go to bars, and never fight with g/f's, so I have nothing to worry about, but I do worry about our right to voice our opinion. And it seems to me that Yahoo answers is getting away with violating free speech. I, like that girl butterfly, never report others, but notice others in here complaining about being reported all the time. Anyway,it's no big deal,Peace to one and all! Sensible: ~ smile~ oh god, first of all, thank you so much for the recommendation on the reading material, I am sure that the Yahoo community guidelines make for fascinating reading, but, to be honest, I think I will take a pass on it, I tend to prefer true crime books, and bios of people that interest me when it comes to reading, but thanks for the suggestion. btw, whatever compelled you to capitolize the word 'rant ' in your post? ~lmao~:P, Where you upset, is that it? Guess you being a top contributer and all, means you take this all pretty serious, huh? You have a poctor protecter coming your way this xmas from yours truly here, k? :P tshnobodysfool: < funny screename, esp coming from you, you must be in comedy, right? Anyway, first of all, what's with all the " Sir" talk? ~ how old are you anyway, you talk like an old man, and do you wear one of those old stove top hats? :P~ Anyway, I am intrigued,in that you stated " And you sir are no gentleman " well, something like that, anyway, where is the correlation between my post, and my being a gentleman, your message is the strangest one that I have ever seen on here, if you are going to dizz me, that's fine, but your dizz makes no sense, your Abraham Lincoln talk makes you look stupid, No offense to Abe either, but for real, you drop in my room, and leave that crazy message. It's just wierd. Butterfly: Thanks, I actually agree with you, I have,..have noticed that, but to be honest, I hate labels, even when it pertains to 'that' side, thanks for the smile. Jarrod: Thanks buddy, there might be some truth to your words, who knows. Peace. more

Resolved Question: I ask Democrates, are we going to stand for the Left wing doing what the are doing?Glenn Greenwald?

Resolved Question: Did you know that the Mexican Army is involved in helping illegals commit crimes in USA?

Resolved Question: Someone please help?!?

I love runescape the virtual world but someone reported me when i was cursing and then i used up my appeals to lie and now they've found out and have permanently muted me. :(. What do i do? will they lift this mute or what? what do i do??? more

Resolved Question: My final fantasy 8 can't work on windows vista, please reply ASAP!?

there was another guy who reported exactly the same problem on this website, and it goes like this. When the main game is set up, the screen goes black and it hangs there until you turn on the task manager which says it is not responding. Chocobo world works fine, it's just the stupid main game that's eating away at my patience. i heard that you have to download a patch of some sort to make it work, or maybe even download windows xp onto a virtual pc or something. i even tried the compatibility modes the other guy suggested, but when you got to windows 98, it would say that ff8.exe is not working. I would sincerely appreciate it if you could give a good answer to troubleshoot this headache of mine. Thanks! i would appreciate it if any of you could give me a link, and not give me some brainless advice on whether or not to see the doctor. more

Resolved Question: How many blocked users do you have? I have far too many, unfortunately.?

I use an abundance of caution and have 87 currently. I don't like to operate this way, but, such is the (virtual) world we live in. I was noticing today that I get less diversity in responses because of all the blocks, but there are too many reporting trolls around, so I guess I have to live with the trade off. I'm even asking this question on my other account as an added layer of protection. I wonder what group has, on average, more blocked users...I'm thinking atheists. more

Resolved Question: O.K. I've heard about trolls... Who are they, and why should we be frightened of them?

People tell me I can be reported by them. Will that mean that I am cast out of this virtual world I have come to love so much? I don't know how I would deal with that! more

Resolved Question: Have you play : Second Life ? Economy ?

The Coming Second Life Business Cycle By Matthew Beller Posted on 8/2/2007 | Subscribe or Tell Others | Matthew Beller's Second Life avatar, designed to resemble Ludwig von Mises Ludwig von Mises once wrote that an economist "must be conversant with mathematics, physics, biology, history, and jurisprudence, lest he confuse the tasks and the methods of the theory of human action with the tasks and the methods of any of these other branches of knowledge." In modern times, with the increasing popularity of computer-based interactive virtual worlds, it may soon be necessary for economists to familiarize themselves with the intricacies of virtual reality, lest they confuse the tasks and the methods of real-world economics with those that apply to virtual reality. Some economists might dismiss virtual worlds as an application for economics, given that they do not contain any resources that are traditionally considered scarce (lumber, steel, oil, etc.), but a closer inspection reveals that some virtual worlds contain real market economies complete with scarce resources, property rights, entrepreneurship, and exchange. Furthermore, real people underlie the inhabitants of virtual worlds, so we can therefore analyze their economies using Austrian economics and the science of human action. One virtual world that is currently popular is called Second Life. Second Life was created by the San Francisco-based company Linden Research, Inc. and opened in 2003. It is an Internet-based three-dimensional virtual world where its 8 million unique residents can interact with one another.[1] Residents can create virtual clothing, hairdos, houses, airplanes, concert halls, video games, and endless other items by using an infinite supply of "primitives," which are atomistic objects that can be shaped, colored, combined, and programmed to behave in a particular way. Residents can then replicate their creations and sell the copies to one another at whatever price they set. Second Life has attracted attention from Wired Magazine, The Economist, and other media with stories of a burgeoning economy and entrepreneurs earning their sole incomes by selling virtual goods and services. Accordingly, real-world economists and Second Life's residents alike could benefit from a closer look into the actual workings of its economy, and the effects of economic intervention. Second Life's economy could reasonably be compared to that of a small foreign country dependent on tourism. Consumers are inhabitants of the real world who take what are essentially pleasure trips to Second Life, perhaps to meet new people at a dance club, shop for virtual clothing, attend a conference, or gamble at a casino. Like real tourists, consumers exchange their real US dollars for Second Life's currency, the Linden Dollar (L$), typically on a currency exchange run by Linden, called the LindeX. They then use their L$ to purchase goods and services created by other Second Life residents, and if they have extra L$ when they're done, they can sell their L$ for US$ on the LindeX. Linden, essentially representing the state in Second Life's economy, does not generally interfere with economic activity. The Economist reports on Linden founder Philip Rosedale's attitude toward intervention, "Mr. Rosedale prefers to rule Second Life with Adam Smith's 'invisible hand' only. To him that means treating every resident the same, whether it happens to be Toyota or 'an 80-year-old woman from India.' Both will pay the same price for their [virtual land]; what they do with it is up to them." Proponents of private property and non-intervention would certainly laud such a hands-off policy. If Linden's goal is to create a setting for a stable, growing economy that will provide the most satisfaction to the most residents, it must avoid the pitfalls of interventionism that plague real-world economies. As Ludwig von Mises and others have shown, one interventionist policy creates distortions that must be fixed by other interventionist policies, which lead to problems that require further intervention, and so on, until the state controls every aspect of the economy. Unfortunately, despite Mr. Rosedale's free-market rhetoric, a look at Linden's actual practices reveals that it has already started down the path of intervening in the economy. One critical example of Linden's intervention is that it has granted itself the ability to manipulate the single-most important commodity in any economy: money. In the Terms of Service, the L$ is defined as "a limited license right available for purchase or free distribution at Linden Lab's discretion, and is not redeemable for monetary value from Linden Lab." By defining the L$ in such a way, Linden has granted itself the power of a central bank in managing Second Life's equivalent of a fiat currency. Linden can create as many new L$ as it wants, whenever it wants, and spend them or give them away at its own discretion. Also, because Linden maintains a peg of about L$270=US$1 on the LindeX, it gives the appearance that the L$ is as good as real-world money. Fiat currencies are subject to much criticism, particularly by Austrians. However, they are not criticized because they cause undesirable economic distortions in and of themselves. Rather, they are criticized because, unlike commodity monies such as gold, they can be created from nothing, so are highly susceptible to artificial expansion and manipulation. This expansion, as the Austrian theory of the business cycle shows us, is the source of economic distortions that lead to unsustainable booms, followed by inevitable busts. To establish whether Linden has in fact been manipulating the L$ supply and determine if Second Life is susceptible to bust, we can examine historical economic statistics published by Linden for signs of artificial growth in the L$ supply. The graph below shows Second Life's L$ supply since September of 2005, as well as the two consolidated sources of month-to-month changes in the money supply. Your eye might be drawn to the sudden acceleration in L$ growth at the end of 2006 coincident with a significant increase in LindeX sales (where Linden is creating new L$ and selling them for US$), but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Ignoring the problems with the US$, LindeX sales represent inflows of real wealth into Second Life. When residents purchase L$ on the LindeX using US$ that they have earned in the real world, they are foregoing consumption in the real world in order to spend or invest their newly purchased L$ in Second Life. It is actually the small, perpetual budget deficit that reveals something quite sinister. Unlike L$ sales on the LindeX, they do not reflect a flow of real wealth into Second Life. Instead, they are created by Linden to represent wealth, but no economic production was involved in creating them. These deficits occur when the weekly L$ stipends Linden pays to premium residents exceed its revenues from land rentals and other administrative services it provides to residents. In order to fund the deficits, Linden creates new L$ and injects them into Second Life. In the United States, the Federal Reserve's primary mechanism for increasing the US$ supply involves purchasing debt securities issued by the US Treasury. Linden's process slightly differs in that it creates exactly as many L$ as are needed to make up for its budgetary shortfalls without ever issuing any debt. Every time Linden runs a deficit, the L$ supply instantly increases by an equivalent amount. Linden's monthly budget deficit might appear insignificant in the graph, but in fact Linden has been increasing the money supply by an average of 6% per month this way. Annualized, it is more than doubling it each year. During the past year and a half, Linden created L$876 million through its deficits, which makes up over 33% of today's L$ supply. These figures certainly suggest that Linden has been artificially expanding the L$ supply, but there is one possible argument that would indicate otherwise. Premium members who receive weekly L$ stipends pay Linden US$9.95 per month for that privilege. One could argue that this US$9.95 represents an inflow of real wealth into Second Life to make up for the L$ created through deficits, but this argument is tenuous. These US$ revenues are presumably used by Linden to pay its employees, maintain its servers, and pay other operating and financing costs, with the remaining profit or loss passed on to its shareholders. Unfortunately, as the graph below shows, there have been months when Linden's US$ revenues would not have been enough to cover the new L$ creations. In September of 2005, Linden collected as much as US$98,000[2] from premium members, which is equivalent to about L$26 million at the L$'s current exchange rate. But during that month, it created L$36 million in order to fund its fiscal deficit. That means that even if Linden had not allocated a single US$ to its employees or incurred any real-world costs whatsoever, it still would not have collected enough US$ to match its newly created L$. $25 "Second Life's residents could benefit from a closer look into the actual workings of its economy, and the effects of economic intervention." Given the strong evidence that Linden has unnaturally inflated the L$ supply, Austrian economics tells us that there are a couple of potential outcomes that are likely to occur. In the first, Linden will stop running significant deficits at some point. With less L$ available to spend, residents will demand fewer goods and services, leading to lower prices and reduced profits. Previously profitable enterprises will go out of business and the wealth of many residents will decrease, slowing overall economic activity. The other possibility is that Linden will continue running deficits to the point that a sufficient number of residents and speculators will recognize the L$'s frailty. In what Ludwig von Mises referred to as a "crack-up boom," everyone will scramble to redeem his L$ for "real goods," which, in the case of Second Life, is probably the US$. As more and more people sell their L$ on the LindeX, Linden might choose to maintain its L$270=US$1 peg for some amount of time, but operating under the assumption that it has not maintained 100% US$ reserves, it will eventually run out of US$ or decide to stop selling them, and the L$ will depreciate rapidly. In either outcome, residents will discover that they possess less wealth than they perceived they had during the time leading up to the crash. To summarize, it appears very likely that Second Life will experience at least some form of economic recession. Depending on its severity, it might result in Linden's losing many of its customers. If Linden wants to prevent this from happening and foster a stable, growing economy within Second Life, it should apply the lessons of Austrian economics to its policies: abolish restrictions on content, strengthen the ability of residents to enforce their property rights, and, most important, tie the L$ to a real-world commodity money backed by 100% reserves. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matthew Beller is a former employee of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and currently works for the Securities and Exchange Commission in Los Angeles. Send him mail. Comment on the blog. The Securities and Exchange Commission disclaims responsibility for any private publication or statement of any SEC employee or Commissioner. This article expresses the author's views and does not necessarily reflect those of the Commission, the Commissioners, or other members of the staff. Notes [1] SecondLife.com/ more

Resolved Question: RON PAUL leads in Polls of people who have heard him ? take a look :?

Ron Paul Leads in Polls of People Who Have Heard Him Speak by Jennifer Haman by Jennifer Haman DIGG THIS After the first three debates on National television, three mainstream news channels featured polls asking the American people who won. After the first debate on May 3rd, MSNBC ran a poll obtaining over 72,000 responses showing Ron Paul was the most convincing candidate receiving 45% of the vote. His nearest competitor was Mitt Romney who received 18%. Fox news ran its own poll after the second debates on May 15, and with over 40,000 votes Ron Paul came in second with 25% of the vote. Watching Sean Hannity's face was priceless as while he was saying that Ron Paul's chances were over in this election, Fox's polling numbers flashed across the screen and had Ron Paul in the lead. He immediately did his best spin to claim the polls had been rigged. MSNBC also ran a poll about that debate and discovered Ron Paul was, again, the most convincing candidate with 64% of the over 25,000 responses. After the third debate on June 5, CNN's poll of over 25,000 respondents showed Ron Paul won with 60% of the vote. One would think with such a strong showing on the online polls for a "second tier" candidate that the mainstream media (MSM) would have discussed this phenomenon at length and on the front page. However, no such stories appeared. In fact, MSM pundits did their best to ignore these figures and instead focused mainly on who they deemed to be the top three choices; effectively, taking control of the election and deciding quite undemocratically who was a "real" candidate. Even though the MSM is largely ignoring him, Ron Paul is taking the Internet by storm. His name leads in searched terms ahead of even Paris Hilton, his YouTube videos have been viewed over one million times and he has more Meetup groups than all other GOP candidates combined. Poll after poll conducted on the Internet shows Ron Paul winning or at least in the top three. Yet, these polls are completely discounted and Ron Paul's tremendous Internet support is sloughed off by the MSM. Occasionally, the MSM will grant some notice of the huge grassroots support online but then discount it by saying "he may be doing well online but he is only polling at 1 or 2 percent." Doesn't anyone see a disconnect between those two clauses? Who do they think is on the Internet? Pet mice running around in tubes? The Internet, for those who seem confused, is a link of people who write things and have ideas and OPINIONS. The 300-plus Meetup groups he has across the country are also attended by people. The MSM is trying to get us to believe that Ron Paul is only polling at 1% because that is what was said on a few polls and the fact that he is polling much higher on the Internet does not count. It is as if they believe that the people on the Internet are not real, their opinions do not count, and the Internet polls could not possibly be correct. The argument is absurd, insulting and designed to keep Ron Paul out of the mainstream public's eye. The MSM ignores his success because of the misguided concept that people do not want to "waste" a vote. It is never a waste to vote for what you want: indeed, nothing could be more wasteful than voting for what you do not want because you think it the lesser of two evils. Voting for evil is always a bad idea. Not only is the MSM staying mum to keep you from seeing Ron Paul as a legitimate candidate but there have been active attempts to hide information about his successes. After the third debate CNN not only ran a poll, but also asked viewers to voice their opinions about the debates. Comments started pouring in supporting Ron Paul, along with all the votes. The next day CNN removed the comments from their webpage. Clever supporters found these lost comments through Google's cache (a technology that takes a virtual picture of a webpage on a certain date, so you can see if it has changed). When silence does not work, biased pundits accuse Ron Paul supporters of "spamming" the votes (that is voting over and over for their candidate) and claim that this huge show of support is really being done by a few campaigners. This claim is specious for several reasons. First, if it was so easy to spam the polls, all the candidates would do it and online polling numbers would look more like an American Idol session with tens of millions of votes cast. Second, anyone, who understands that the Internet is not a series of tubes, knows that it is easy for a web designer to develop a poll that prohibits more than one vote per person. In fact, most of the online polls do restrict you to voting only once and if you attempt to vote again, even weeks later, you get a polite message that your vote will not count. Finally, along with the polls themselves, people leave comments, thousands of individual comments. So let's look at these polls and their methodologies. Many online polls have tens of thousands of responses, especially the ones done by the MSM immediately after the debates, while old-fashioned telephone pollsters only get responses from hundreds. Yet, only the old telephone polls are reported on by the MSM. We are asked to accept that a poll with 600 persons responding is more accurate than a poll with 70,000 respondents. For example, a much-cited Zogby poll admits that they only targeted 500 interviews and drew their samples randomly from telephone CD's of a national listed sample. (In that poll Ron Paul has a 3% lead). A recent Washington Post article cited its own telephone poll that only reached 1205 adults, and that was used to say Ron Paul is only receiving 1% support. Instead of citing polls that have 70 to 100 times more respondents, the MSM still sticks to old-fashioned telephone-polling methods. The world has changed. We no longer need to depend on poor polls that only call a few hundred people, nor should we be relying on them to tell the whole story. Some say random telephone sampling is more effective just because of its randomness and therefore there is no self-selection bias as in the online polls in which one chooses to partake. However, elections are also based on self-selection and are only won and lost by those who choose to go to the polls: so shouldn't the self-selected polling methods be more accurate? The good news is that of those who have heard Ron Paul speak (if only for the 5 minutes or so he gets in the debates) he is leading by a landslide; unfortunately, not enough people are getting to hear about him. This race would look much different if the leading headlines the days following the GOP debates were (in order of the debates): 1. Ron Paul takes GOP by surprise and WINS the debate. 2. Ron Paul once again a leading contender in second debate, comes in second. 3. Ron Paul wins third debate hands down: other candidates struggling to keep up. If the people were told Ron Paul won the debates, more would learn about him and his support would grow exponentially. In all fairness, the polls that show that Ron Paul is ahead with 98% of the vote are just as inaccurate as the polls that show he is only polling at 1% and the truth lies somewhere in the middle. But the largest online polls, the ones taken after the debates, have him receiving somewhere between 45% and 60% of the votes. So, why the big disparity in polling numbers? Some have suggested that Ron Paul has a lot of young supporters who do not own landlines and thus are not being polled. Other explanations come to mind as well: 1. Typical polls will only call a certain type of voter e.g. people who voted Republican in the last election and this will leave out a lot of Ron Paul supporters. Ron Paul's message of liberty and freedom reaches across the aisle and a lot of previously registered Democrats are switching parties to vote for him in this election. For the same reason, many Libertarians and Independents are also going to be voting as Republicans this election. Much of his support also comes from young people who are voting in their first Presidential election and thus would have no previous voting record. 2. Ron Paul's message of freedom and liberty is so exciting that people who have decided not to vote in past elections have decided that finally they have someone for whom to vote. 3. Some polls are so biased they do not even list Ron Paul as a choice (coincidentally, in a few of those "other" is leading the pack): Hard to win a poll when your name is not on the list. 4. Ron Paul fights for the individual, not the government, and his message appeals to those who like to be left alone. During this election many individuals have caller ID and often choose to avoid telemarketers and callers they do not know. 5. Some of these polls begin with intrusive questions about a person's gender, religious affiliation, annual income, and other information some see as none of anyone's business. If you refuse to answer the initial questions they will not continue with the questions. The type of person that likes Ron Paul, also tends to like privacy. 6. Sadly, not enough people are getting to hear about his policies. Once they hear him, Ron Paul's supporters are very passionate about his message. A search of Internet "blogs" shows people writing zealously about him. Nothing could be more thrilling than to see an 18-year-old excited about the election process, shouting out support for Ron Paul, begging to hear more information about the Federal Reserve and its implications for the country. Through his campaign, Ron Paul is teaching many the benefits of limited government. There should be no surprise that his message is so well received; it is the one taught to us by Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and other founding fathers. It is the message of liberty, freedom, with the basis of a republic, not a democracy. We have been lied to so often, and our Constitution ripped apart at the seams, that when a person comes along speaking basic truths and principles, it awakens a part of us buried for so long. When ignoring Ron Paul does not work, and removing messages about him receives backlash, the next stage is to call his supporters rabid, nuts, crazy, unstable. If you cannot attack the man, attack his supporters. Yet who can blame people who get upset when a life-saving message comes along and the MSM tries to keep it from the public. Ron Paul's message is life-saving. He wants to end the war, he wants to help ease poverty by eliminating the Federal Reserve and its ability to steal through monetary inflation. He wants to end the Income Tax and give those who need it most their entire salaries. The anger you hear is frustration by his supporters at being marginalized, just as they are by so many government actions these days, and fury when all this support is discounted. Of course people are getting upset. They do not like being manipulated and they especially do not like it when a Presidential campaign is being hijacked. The worst part about the MSM treatment of Ron Paul, is that finally the people have a candidate they really love, and a man who would get this country back on the proper course. They have a man who will follow the Constitutional course that served this country so well for so long. Instead of rejoicing and helping the country and the people find their way, corporate media giants are trying to silence his message by ignoring him completely or reporting on only the most obscure, misleading and slanderous articles (could this be because Ron Paul is also against corporate welfare?). Most recently, even the Associated Press got into the "let's lead with misleading statements" game. In reporting on how Dr. Paul decided to hold his own rally after being the only candidate in the debates to not be invited to a Presidential Forum in Iowa, the AP's first line in the article was that Ron Paul has added "party crashing" to his debate tactics. As any ten-year-old knows, to crash a party you have to attend the party. Ron Paul had not announced he would attend the Presidential forum. Instead, he decided to hold a completely separate event immediately following the forum in the same venue. That is not party crashing, that is called campaigning. The article went on to tell the truth about the situation, but that catch phrase was repeated as a headline across the country impugning Dr. Paul's character. See for example this ABC News headline: Republican Ron Paul to Crash Iowa Forum. Just as Ron Paul spoke of blowback in the context of military interference in foreign affairs, unless the mainstream media ends the Ron Paul blackout and misinformation drive, they will lose the next generation who is seeing it as a biased, manipulating, election-fixing force not to be trusted. When Ron Paul gets heard or seen, he is liked. As soon as people who do not own computers are able to see him or read his message his numbers in the national polls will rise just as they have done on the Internet. In general, the American people are saying they want liberty and freedom: Now, if only the MSM would listen. "Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." ~ John Quincy Adams July 16, 2007 Jennifer Haman more

Resolved Question: Is it possible that there could be a secular afterlife provided by science?

In the Steven Spielberg movie AI a race of highly evolved robots could take a DNA sample and revive the long dead human. It brings up intriguing notions. There was once a report that when someone died they lost about a half an ounce of mass. This claim sounds profoundly stupid, unless sentient beings, possibly future humans had a way to remove all the dendrites in our nervous systems to take them somewhere else. The more I write the more Dianetic this sounds and I’m not arguing for any specific scenario. I’m just asking do you think it could be possible that science may find a way to bring everyone back, perhaps to live in virtual worlds. I know you will anyway but please don’t tell us about rapture and revelations and crap. Really we already know your opinion, and we’ve ALL heard it before. Thank you and Blessed Be! I knew I screwed up when I put in the weight loss junk, because I know it's BS. I take comfort knowing that DNA has no death genes. So there's no genetic requirment to age and die. It's realy not the age, it's the milage. more

Resolved Question: Will you help me stop the Socialist's from lying to American's?

ALERT: Did you know there's a "global concert" taking place tomorrow? Yeah, we didn't either. Until we got an email from the socialist-wannabe's at MoveOn.org, saying, "On July 7th, 2 billion people will watch the Live Earth concerts for a climate in crisis." Two billion people? That's hard to believe (in fact, news articles are starting to report that the "turnout" will be a LOT lower than anticipated). But MoveOn.org and their leftist buddies at Avaaz.org (which MoveOn co-founded) want to take full advantage of this audience to spread their propaganda at "house parties" around the world. Why? So that then they can "take action" to advance their pro-socialist, anti-free market agenda -- or, as they put it, "reverse Bush policies on climate change." So this Saturday, especially in America, leftists are going to drive their big SUVs to get together in electric-air-conditioned living rooms all over the country, watch the anti-capitalist concert on big-screen plasma televisions, sign up for email lists to discuss the "next steps" to take on their anti-American economy agenda, and start "seriously mobilizing people" to get countries to pass legislation that's based on disputed and discredited "junk science." They'll even get a chance to hear Al Gore answer some tough questions like "if we don't stop evil American capitalism, will the planet be destroyed next year or the year after?" It's amazing anyone takes these people seriously -- but unfortunately, these people are the ones now in the majority in Congress. Is there any way to counter the propaganda they'll be spreading all over America -- and the world -- at these "house parties"? YES -- we've got an easy way for YOU to get the TRUTH out instead! TAKE ACTION: Thanks to the support of groups like MoveOn.org and their allies in the liberal media, "Live Earth" has already enabled MoveOn to organize "house parties" in over 115 countries. We MUST do something to counter this "globaloney" propaganda -- and now we CAN. We can have our own "virtual house parties" all across America, and around the world -- all at the click of the "Send" button! There are several GREAT videos that show what utter BUNK the whole "man-caused global warming" junk science is -- and the best thing is, they're all available for FREE on the internet! You can watch them streaming online, download them to your computer to watch later, burn them onto disks and hand them out to everyone you know... or even actually invite them all over to your house to watch together! Click here for a streaming video of one of the best one-hour documentaries ever done on this issue, The Greenhouse Conspiracy, which was released over a decade ago... and STILL has never been refuted! The free RealPlayer from real.com is required to view. If you'd like to download this documentary to your computer, it's available here in two parts: Part one Part two Also, a group of scientists "north of the border" at the "Friends of Science Society" have put together a five-part documentary titled "Climate Catastrophe Cancelled: What You're Not Being Told About the Science of Climate Change" and you can view or download all five parts (25 minutes total, in Windows Media or Quicktime formats) at their website by clicking here: http://www.friendsofscience.org/index.php?ide=3 Finally, our friend Marlo Lewis, Jr., a Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, has put together a specific, point-by-point rebuttal to Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, in the form of a FREE downloadable book, a FREE "YouTube" online video, and a FREE downloadable PowerPoint presentation, titled "Inconvenient Truths for Al Gore." Get all three for FREE at the CEI website by clicking here: http://www.cei.org/pages/ait_response.cfm. Can you help us get the word out across America and around the world, to counter the wannabe-socialists at MoveOn.org and Avaaz.org? more

Resolved Question: is virtual sex taken as a crime - if the person is a minor? how to report the crime???

How to report Evidence needed Anywhere in the Net [anywhere in the world] more

Resolved Question: Liberals are followers and Bush is a leader. Its better to be right than popular?

President Bush's Accomplishments Abortion & Traditional Values 1. Banned Partial Birth Abortion — by far the most significant roll-back of abortion on demand since Roe v. Wade. 2. Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy. 3. By Executive Order (EO), reversed Clinton's policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act. 4. By EO, prohibited federal funds for international family planning groups that provide abortions and related services. 5. Upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals. 6. Made $33 million available for abstinence education programs in 2004. 7. Supports the Defense of Marriage Act — and a Constitutional amendment saying marriage is between one man and one woman. 8. Requires states to conduct criminal background checks on prospective foster and adoptive parents. 9. Requires districts to let students transfer out of dangerous schools. 10. Requires schools to have a zero-tolerance policy for classroom disruption (reintroducing discipline into classrooms). 11. Signed the Teacher Protection Act, which protects teachers from lawsuits related to student discipline. 12. Expanded the role of faith-based and community organizations in after-school programs. Budget, Taxes & Economy 1. Signed two income tax cuts, one of which was the largest dollar-value tax cut in world history. 2. Supports permanent elimination of the death tax. 3. Turned around an inherited economy that was in recession, and deeply shocked as a result of the 9/11 attacks. 4. Is seeking legislation to amend the Constitution to give the president line-item veto authority. 5. In process of permanently eliminating IRS marriage penalty. 6. Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people. 7. Initiated discussion on privatizing Social Security and individual investment accounts. 8. Killed Clinton's "ergonomic" rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules would have shut down every home business in America. 9. Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals. 10. Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains. 11. Signed trade promotion authority. 12. Reduced and is working to ultimately eliminate the estate tax for family farms and ranches. 13. Fight Europe's ban on importing biotech crops from the United States. 14. Exempt food from unilateral trade sanctions and embargoes. 15. Provided $20 million to states to help people with disabilities work from home. 16. Created a fund to encourage technologies that help the disabled. 17. Increased the annual contribution limit on Education IRA's from $500 to $2,000 per child. 18. Make permanent the $5,000 adoption tax credit and provide $1 billion over five years to increase the credit to $10,000. 19. Grant a complete tax exemption for prepaid or college tuition savings plans. 20. Reduced H1B visas from a high of 195,000 per year to 66,000 per year. Character & Conduct as President 1. Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the presidency. 2. Has reintroduced the mention of God and faith into public discourse. 3. Handled himself with enormous courage, dignity, grace, determination, and leadership in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 hijackings and anthrax attacks. He almost single-handedly held this country together during those searing days: Just three days after the attacks, in his address at the National Cathedral, the President reassured the nation when he said: "War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing." On Friday, September 14, 2001, President Bush visited Ground Zero. Standing on a crushed and burned fire engine atop the smoldering pile at Ground Zero, he put his arm around a retired firefighter who had volunteered to help, and began speaking to the crowd. Rescue workers shouted that they could not hear him. Someone handed him a small American flag and bullhorn. The President spontaneously shouted: "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." The crowd roared with cheers and chants of "USA! USA! USA!" Then he raised that American flag and rallied a nation. Education & Employment Training 1. Signed the No Child Left Behind Act, delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations). The very liberal California Teachers union is currently running radio ads against the accountability provisions of this Act. 2. Announced "Jobs for the 21st Century," a comprehensive plan to better prepare workers for jobs in the new millennium by strengthening post-secondary education and job training, and by improving high school education. 3. Is working to provide vouchers to low-income students in persistently failing schools to help with costs of attending private schools. (Blocked in the Senate.) 4. Requires annual reading and math tests in grades three through eight. 5. Requires states to participate in the National Assessment of Education Progress, or an equivalent program, to establish a national benchmark for academic performance. 6. Requires school-by-school accountability report cards. 7. Established a $2.4 billion fund to help states implement teacher accountability systems. 8. Increased funding for the Troops-to-Teachers program, which recruits former military personnel to become teachers. Environment & Energy 1. Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty. 2. Submitted a comprehensive Energy Plan (awaits Congressional action). The plan works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, improve national grid, etc. 3. Established a $10 million grant program to promote private conservation initiatives. 4. Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops. 5. Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary cleanup of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger. 6. Part of national forests cleanup: Restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges), and removed the need for an Environmental Impact Statement before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger. 7. Killed Clinton's CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California. 8. Provided matching grants for state programs that help private landowners protect rare species. Defense & Foreign Policy 1. Successfully executed two wars in the aftermath of 9/11/01: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom. 2. Saddam Hussein is now in prison. His two murderous sons are dead. All but a handful of the regime's senior members were killed or captured. 3. Leader by leader and member by member, al Maida is being hunted down in dozens of countries around the world. Of the senior al Qaeda leaders, operational managers, and key facilitators the U.S. Government has been tracking, nearly two-thirds have been taken into custody or killed. The detentions or deaths of senior al Qaeda leaders, including Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, the mastermind of 9/11, and Muhammad Atef, Osama bin Laden's second-in-command until his death in late 2001, have been important in the War on Terror. 4. Disarmed Libya of its chemical, nuclear and biological WMD's without bribes or bloodshed. 5. Continues to execute the War On Terror, getting worldwide cooperation to track funds/terrorists. Has cut off much of the terrorists' funding, and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network. 6. Initiated a comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, and which accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE capabilities were critical in the 21st Century. 7. Killed the old US/Soviet Union ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses. 8. Has been one of the strongest, if not THE strongest friend Israel has ever hand in the U.S. presidency. 9. Part of the coalition for an Israeli/Palestinian "Roadmap to Peace," along with Great Britain, Russia and the EU. 10. Pushed through THREE raises for our military. Increased military pay by more than $1 billion a year. 11. Signed the LARGEST nuclear arms reduction in world history with Russia. 12. Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia, and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ. 13. Prohibited putting U.S. troops under U.N. command. 14. Paid back UN dues only in return for reforms and reduction of U.S. share of the costs. 15. Earmarked at least 20 percent of the Defense procurement budget for next-generation weaponry. 16. Increased defense research and development spending by at least $20 billion from fiscal 2002 to 2006. 17. Ordered a comprehensive review of military weapons and strategy. 18. Ordered a review of overseas deployments. 19. Ordered renovation of military housing. The military has already upgraded about 10 percent of its inventory and expects to modernize 76,000 additional homes this year. 20. Is working to tighten restrictions on military-technology exports. 21. Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed. Globalization & Internationalism 1. Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become another League of Nations (in other words, showed the UN to be completely irrelevant). 2. Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court. 3. Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control (i.e., the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty).* 4. The only President since the founding of the UN to essentially tell that organization it is irrelevant. He said: "The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations, and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of UN demands with a decade of defiance. All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?" We all know the outcome and the answer. 5. Told the Congress and the world, "America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country." Government Reform 1. Improved government efficiency by putting hundreds of thousands of jobs put up for bid. This weakens public-sector unions and cuts undeserved pay raises. 2. Initiated review of all federal agencies with the goal of eliminating federal jobs (completed September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of the federal government while increasing private sector jobs. 3. Led the most extensive reorganization the Federal bureaucracy in over 50 years: After 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency, the Department of Homeland Security.* 4. Ordered each agency to draft a five-year plan to restructure itself, with fewer managers. 5. Converted federal service contracts to performance-based contracts wherever possible so that the contractor has measurable performance goals. Health 1. Strengthen the National Health Service Corps to put more physicians in the neediest areas, and make its scholarship funds tax-free. 2. Double the research budget of the National Institutes of Health. 3. Signed Medicare Reform, which includes: A 10-year privatization option. Prescription drug benefits: Prior to this reform, Medicare paid for extended hospital stays for ulcer surgery, for example, at a cost of about $28,000 per patient. Yet Medicare would not pay for the drugs that eliminate the cause of most ulcers, drugs that cost about $500 a year. Now, drug coverage under Medicare will allow seniors to replace more expensive surgeries and hospitalizations with less expensive prescription medicine. More health care choices: As President Bush stated, "…when seniors have the ability to make choices, health care plans within Medicare will have to compete for their business by offering higher quality service [at lower cost]. For the seniors of America, more choices and more control will mean better health care. These are the kinds of health care options we give to the members of Congress and federal employees. What's good for members of Congress is also good for seniors. New Health Savings Accounts: Effective January 1, 2004, Americans can set aside up to $4,500 every year, tax free, to save for medical expenses. Depending on your tax bracket, that means you'll save between 10 to 35 percent on any costs covered by money in your account. Every year, the money not spent would stay in the account and gain interest tax-free, just like an IRA. These accounts will be good for small business owners, and employees. More businesses can focus on covering workers for major medical problems, such as hospitalization for an injury or illness. At the same time, employees and their families will use these accounts to cover doctors visits, or lab tests, or other smaller costs. Some employers will contribute to employee health accounts. This will help more American families get the health care they need at the price they can afford. Homeland Security, Border Enforcement & Immigration 1. *See Government Reform above. Under President Bush's leadership, America has made an unprecedented commitment to homeland security. 2. Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the first 10 ABM silos in Alaska so that America will have a defense against North Korean nukes. Has ordered national and theater ballistic missile defenses to be deployed by 2004. 3. Announced a 9.7% increase in government-wide homeland security funding in his FY 2005 budget, nearly tripling the FY 2001 levels (excluding the Department of Defense and Project BioShield). 4. Before DHS was created, there were inspectors from three different agencies of the Federal Government and Border Patrol officers protecting our borders. Through DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) now consolidates all border activities into a single agency to create "one face at the border." This not only better secures the borders of the United States, but it also eliminates many of the inefficiencies that occurred under the old system. With over 18,000 CBP inspectors and 11,000 Border Patrol agents, CBP has 29,000 uniformed officers on our borders. 5. The Border Patrol is continuing installation of monitoring devices along the borders to detect illegal activity. 6. Launched Operation Tarmac to investigate businesses and workers in the secure areas of domestic airports and ensure immigration law compliance. Since 9/11, DHS has audited 3,640 businesses, examined 259,037 employee records, arrested 1,030 unauthorized workers, and participated in the criminal indictment of 774 individuals. 7. Since September 11, 2001, the Coast Guard has conducted more than 124,000 port security patrols, 13,000 air patrols, boarded more than 92,000 vessels, interdicted over 14,000 individuals attempting to enter the United States illegally, and created and maintained more than 90 Maritime Security Zones. 8. Announced the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), an internet-based system that is improving America's ability to track and monitor foreign students and exchange visitors. Over 870,000 students are registered in SEVIS. Of 285 completed field investigations, 71 aliens were arrested. 9. This week, the US-VISIT program began to digitally collect biometric identifiers to record the entry and exit of aliens who travel into the U.S on a visa. Together with the standard information, this new program will confirm compliance with visa and immigration policies. 10. Eliminated INS bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability. 11. Split the Immigration and Naturalization Service into two agencies: one to protect the border and interior, the other to deal with naturalization. 12. Signed the workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal aliens. 13. Established a six-month deadline for processing immigration applications. 14. Information regarding nearly 100% of all containerized cargo is carefully screened by DHS before it arrives in the United States. Higher risk shipments are physically inspected for terrorist weapons and contraband prior to being released from the port of entry. Advanced technologies are being deployed to identify warning signs of chemical, biological, or radiological attacks. Since September 11, 2001, hundreds of thousands of first responders across America have been trained to recognize and respond to the effects of a WMD attack. Judiciary & Tort Reform 1. Is urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits. 2. Killed the liberal ABA's unconstitutional role in vetting federal judges. The Senate is supposed to advise and consent, not the ABA. 3. Is nominating strong, conservative judges to the judiciary. 4. Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims. Politics 1. His leadership resulted in Republican gains in the House and Senate, solidifying Republican control of both houses of Congress and the presidency. 2. Signed an EO enforcing the Supreme Court's Beck decision regarding union dues being used for political campaigns against individual's wishes. Second Amendment 1. Ordered Attorney General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, and is NOT a Leftist-imagined "collective" right. 2. Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit. 3. Currently pushing for full immunity from lawsuits for our national gun manufacturers. 4. *See Globalization & Internationalism. Traditional Values, Compassion & Volunteerism 1. Endorses and promotes "The Responsibility Era." President Bush often speaks of the necessity of personal responsibility and civic volunteerism. He said, "In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you've got a problem, blame somebody else — to one in which every single American understands that he or she is responsible for the decisions that you make; you're responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you're responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you're responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you're responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself." 2. Started the USA Freedom Corps, the most comprehensive clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities ever offered. For the first time in history, Americans can enter geographic information about where they want to get involved, such as state or zip code, as well as areas of interest ranging from education to the environment, and they can access volunteer opportunities offered by more than 50,000 organizations across the country and around the world. 3. Established the The White House Office and the Centers for the Faith-Based and Community Initiative — located in seven Federal agencies. The faith-based initiative supports the essential work of these important organizations. The goal is to make sure that grassroots leaders can compete on an equal footing for federal dollars, receive greater private support, and face fewer bureaucratic barriers. Work focuses on at-risk youth, ex-offenders, the homeless and hungry, substance abusers, those with HIV/AIDS, and welfare-to-work families. 4. The White House released a guidebook fully describing the Administration's belief that faith-based groups have a Constitutionally-protected right to maintain their religious identity through hiring — even when Federal funds are involved. 5. Issued an EO implementing the Supreme Court's Olmstead ruling, which requires moving disabled people from institutions to community-based facilities when possible. 6. Increased funding for low-interest loan programs to help people with disabilities purchase devices to assist them. 7. Revised the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 rent subsidies to disabled people, permitting them to use up to a year's worth of vouchers to finance down payments on homes. HUD has started pilot programs in 11 states. 8. Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men, women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa. 9. Heeding the words of our own Declaration of Independence, the president laid out the non-negotiable demands of human dignity for all people everywhere. On January 29, 2002, he said, "No nation owns these aspirations, and no nation is exempt from them. We have no intention of imposing our culture. But America will always stand firm for the non-negotiable demands of human dignity." As stated by the President, they are a virtual manifesto of conservative principles: Equal Justice Freedom of Speech Limited Government Power Private Property Rights Religious Tolerance Respect for Women Rule of Law more

Resolved Question: Where can I find information on how many virtual worlds, social networking site there are on the net?

I am fascinated and wish to write a report about this craze, so if anyone can point me in the direction where I can find out how many sites there are I would be grateful more

Resolved Question: Why do libs avoid President Bush's Accomplishments?

President Bush's Accomplishments Spotted at Rightnation.us and GOPUSA.com reprinted here for your pleasure. I encourage people who support Bush to learn how effective our President has been, and liberals ought to browse this too. Just remember, the liberal media can't cover up the truth of his accomplishments. The Bush Administration 2001-2004 Abortion & Traditional Values 1. Banned Partial Birth Abortion — by far the most significant roll-back of abortion on demand since Roe v. Wade. 2. Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy. 3. By Executive Order (EO), reversed Clinton's policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act. 4. By EO, prohibited federal funds for international family planning groups that provide abortions and related services. 5. Upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals. 6. Made $33 million available for abstinence education programs in 2004. 7. Supports the Defense of Marriage Act — and a Constitutional amendment saying marriage is between one man and one woman. 8. Requires states to conduct criminal background checks on prospective foster and adoptive parents. 9. Requires districts to let students transfer out of dangerous schools. 10. Requires schools to have a zero-tolerance policy for classroom disruption (reintroducing discipline into classrooms). 11. Signed the Teacher Protection Act, which protects teachers from lawsuits related to student discipline. 12. Expanded the role of faith-based and community organizations in after-school programs. Budget, Taxes & Economy 1. Signed two income tax cuts, one of which was the largest dollar-value tax cut in world history. 2. Supports permanent elimination of the death tax. 3. Turned around an inherited economy that was in recession, and deeply shocked as a result of the 9/11 attacks. 4. Is seeking legislation to amend the Constitution to give the president line-item veto authority. 5. In process of permanently eliminating IRS marriage penalty. 6. Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people. 7. Initiated discussion on privatizing Social Security and individual investment accounts. 8. Killed Clinton's "ergonomic" rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules would have shut down every home business in America. 9. Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals. 10. Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains. 11. Signed trade promotion authority. 12. Reduced and is working to ultimately eliminate the estate tax for family farms and ranches. 13. Fight Europe's ban on importing biotech crops from the United States. 14. Exempt food from unilateral trade sanctions and embargoes. 15. Provided $20 million to states to help people with disabilities work from home. 16. Created a fund to encourage technologies that help the disabled. 17. Increased the annual contribution limit on Education IRA's from $500 to $2,000 per child. 18. Make permanent the $5,000 adoption tax credit and provide $1 billion over five years to increase the credit to $10,000. 19. Grant a complete tax exemption for prepaid or college tuition savings plans. 20. Reduced H1B visas from a high of 195,000 per year to 66,000 per year. Character & Conduct as President 1. Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the presidency. 2. Has reintroduced the mention of God and faith into public discourse. 3. Handled himself with enormous courage, dignity, grace, determination, and leadership in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 hijackings and anthrax attacks. He almost single-handedly held this country together during those searing days: Just three days after the attacks, in his address at the National Cathedral, the President reassured the nation when he said: "War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing." On Friday, September 14, 2001, President Bush visited Ground Zero. Standing on a crushed and burned fire engine atop the smoldering pile at Ground Zero, he put his arm around a retired firefighter who had volunteered to help, and began speaking to the crowd. Rescue workers shouted that they could not hear him. Someone handed him a small American flag and bullhorn. The President spontaneously shouted: "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." The crowd roared with cheers and chants of "USA! USA! USA!" Then he raised that American flag and rallied a nation. Education & Employment Training 1. Signed the No Child Left Behind Act, delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations). The very liberal California Teachers union is currently running radio ads against the accountability provisions of this Act. 2. Announced "Jobs for the 21st Century," a comprehensive plan to better prepare workers for jobs in the new millennium by strengthening post-secondary education and job training, and by improving high school education. 3. Is working to provide vouchers to low-income students in persistently failing schools to help with costs of attending private schools. (Blocked in the Senate.) 4. Requires annual reading and math tests in grades three through eight. 5. Requires states to participate in the National Assessment of Education Progress, or an equivalent program, to establish a national benchmark for academic performance. 6. Requires school-by-school accountability report cards. 7. Established a $2.4 billion fund to help states implement teacher accountability systems. 8. Increased funding for the Troops-to-Teachers program, which recruits former military personnel to become teachers. Environment & Energy 1. Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty. 2. Submitted a comprehensive Energy Plan (awaits Congressional action). The plan works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, improve national grid, etc. 3. Established a $10 million grant program to promote private conservation initiatives. 4. Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops. 5. Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary cleanup of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger. 6. Part of national forests cleanup: Restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges), and removed the need for an Environmental Impact Statement before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger. 7. Killed Clinton's CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California. 8. Provided matching grants for state programs that help private landowners protect rare species. Defense & Foreign Policy 1. Successfully executed two wars in the aftermath of 9/11/01: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom. 2. Saddam Hussein is now in prison. His two murderous sons are dead. All but a handful of the regime's senior members were killed or captured. 3. Leader by leader and member by member, al Maida is being hunted down in dozens of countries around the world. Of the senior al Qaeda leaders, operational managers, and key facilitators the U.S. Government has been tracking, nearly two-thirds have been taken into custody or killed. The detentions or deaths of senior al Qaeda leaders, including Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, the mastermind of 9/11, and Muhammad Atef, Osama bin Laden's second-in-command until his death in late 2001, have been important in the War on Terror. 4. Disarmed Libya of its chemical, nuclear and biological WMD's without bribes or bloodshed. 5. Continues to execute the War On Terror, getting worldwide cooperation to track funds/terrorists. Has cut off much of the terrorists' funding, and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network. 6. Initiated a comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, and which accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE capabilities were critical in the 21st Century. 7. Killed the old US/Soviet Union ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses. 8. Has been one of the strongest, if not THE strongest friend Israel has ever hand in the U.S. presidency. 9. Part of the coalition for an Israeli/Palestinian "Roadmap to Peace," along with Great Britain, Russia and the EU. 10. Pushed through THREE raises for our military. Increased military pay by more than $1 billion a year. 11. Signed the LARGEST nuclear arms reduction in world history with Russia. 12. Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia, and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ. 13. Prohibited putting U.S. troops under U.N. command. 14. Paid back UN dues only in return for reforms and reduction of U.S. share of the costs. 15. Earmarked at least 20 percent of the Defense procurement budget for next-generation weaponry. 16. Increased defense research and development spending by at least $20 billion from fiscal 2002 to 2006. 17. Ordered a comprehensive review of military weapons and strategy. 18. Ordered a review of overseas deployments. 19. Ordered renovation of military housing. The military has already upgraded about 10 percent of its inventory and expects to modernize 76,000 additional homes this year. 20. Is working to tighten restrictions on military-technology exports. 21. Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed. Globalization & Internationalism 1. Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become another League of Nations (in other words, showed the UN to be completely irrelevant). 2. Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court. 3. Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control (i.e., the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty).* 4. The only President since the founding of the UN to essentially tell that organization it is irrelevant. He said: "The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations, and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of UN demands with a decade of defiance. All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?" We all know the outcome and the answer. 5. Told the Congress and the world, "America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country." Government Reform 1. Improved government efficiency by putting hundreds of thousands of jobs put up for bid. This weakens public-sector unions and cuts undeserved pay raises. 2. Initiated review of all federal agencies with the goal of eliminating federal jobs (completed September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of the federal government while increasing private sector jobs. 3. Led the most extensive reorganization the Federal bureaucracy in over 50 years: After 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency, the Department of Homeland Security.* 4. Ordered each agency to draft a five-year plan to restructure itself, with fewer managers. 5. Converted federal service contracts to performance-based contracts wherever possible so that the contractor has measurable performance goals. Health 1. Strengthen the National Health Service Corps to put more physicians in the neediest areas, and make its scholarship funds tax-free. 2. Double the research budget of the National Institutes of Health. 3. Signed Medicare Reform, which includes: A 10-year privatization option. Prescription drug benefits: Prior to this reform, Medicare paid for extended hospital stays for ulcer surgery, for example, at a cost of about $28,000 per patient. Yet Medicare would not pay for the drugs that eliminate the cause of most ulcers, drugs that cost about $500 a year. Now, drug coverage under Medicare will allow seniors to replace more expensive surgeries and hospitalizations with less expensive prescription medicine. More health care choices: As President Bush stated, "…when seniors have the ability to make choices, health care plans within Medicare will have to compete for their business by offering higher quality service [at lower cost]. For the seniors of America, more choices and more control will mean better health care. These are the kinds of health care options we give to the members of Congress and federal employees. What's good for members of Congress is also good for seniors. New Health Savings Accounts: Effective January 1, 2004, Americans can set aside up to $4,500 every year, tax free, to save for medical expenses. Depending on your tax bracket, that means you'll save between 10 to 35 percent on any costs covered by money in your account. Every year, the money not spent would stay in the account and gain interest tax-free, just like an IRA. These accounts will be good for small business owners, and employees. More businesses can focus on covering workers for major medical problems, such as hospitalization for an injury or illness. At the same time, employees and their families will use these accounts to cover doctors visits, or lab tests, or other smaller costs. Some employers will contribute to employee health accounts. This will help more American families get the health care they need at the price they can afford. Homeland Security, Border Enforcement & Immigration 1. *See Government Reform above. Under President Bush's leadership, America has made an unprecedented commitment to homeland security. 2. Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the first 10 ABM silos in Alaska so that America will have a defense against North Korean nukes. Has ordered national and theater ballistic missile defenses to be deployed by 2004. 3. Announced a 9.7% increase in government-wide homeland security funding in his FY 2005 budget, nearly tripling the FY 2001 levels (excluding the Department of Defense and Project BioShield). 4. Before DHS was created, there were inspectors from three different agencies of the Federal Government and Border Patrol officers protecting our borders. Through DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) now consolidates all border activities into a single agency to create "one face at the border." This not only better secures the borders of the United States, but it also eliminates many of the inefficiencies that occurred under the old system. With over 18,000 CBP inspectors and 11,000 Border Patrol agents, CBP has 29,000 uniformed officers on our borders. 5. The Border Patrol is continuing installation of monitoring devices along the borders to detect illegal activity. 6. Launched Operation Tarmac to investigate businesses and workers in the secure areas of domestic airports and ensure immigration law compliance. Since 9/11, DHS has audited 3,640 businesses, examined 259,037 employee records, arrested 1,030 unauthorized workers, and participated in the criminal indictment of 774 individuals. 7. Since September 11, 2001, the Coast Guard has conducted more than 124,000 port security patrols, 13,000 air patrols, boarded more than 92,000 vessels, interdicted over 14,000 individuals attempting to enter the United States illegally, and created and maintained more than 90 Maritime Security Zones. 8. Announced the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), an internet-based system that is improving America's ability to track and monitor foreign students and exchange visitors. Over 870,000 students are registered in SEVIS. Of 285 completed field investigations, 71 aliens were arrested. 9. This week, the US-VISIT program began to digitally collect biometric identifiers to record the entry and exit of aliens who travel into the U.S on a visa. Together with the standard information, this new program will confirm compliance with visa and immigration policies. 10. Eliminated INS bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability. 11. Split the Immigration and Naturalization Service into two agencies: one to protect the border and interior, the other to deal with naturalization. 12. Signed the workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal aliens. 13. Established a six-month deadline for processing immigration applications. 14. Information regarding nearly 100% of all containerized cargo is carefully screened by DHS before it arrives in the United States. Higher risk shipments are physically inspected for terrorist weapons and contraband prior to being released from the port of entry. Advanced technologies are being deployed to identify warning signs of chemical, biological, or radiological attacks. Since September 11, 2001, hundreds of thousands of first responders across America have been trained to recognize and respond to the effects of a WMD attack. Judiciary & Tort Reform 1. Is urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits. 2. Killed the liberal ABA's unconstitutional role in vetting federal judges. The Senate is supposed to advise and consent, not the ABA. 3. Is nominating strong, conservative judges to the judiciary. 4. Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims. Politics 1. His leadership resulted in Republican gains in the House and Senate, solidifying Republican control of both houses of Congress and the presidency. 2. Signed an EO enforcing the Supreme Court's Beck decision regarding union dues being used for political campaigns against individual's wishes. Second Amendment 1. Ordered Attorney General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, and is NOT a Leftist-imagined "collective" right. 2. Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit. 3. Currently pushing for full immunity from lawsuits for our national gun manufacturers. 4. *See Globalization & Internationalism. Traditional Values, Compassion & Volunteerism 1. Endorses and promotes "The Responsibility Era." President Bush often speaks of the necessity of personal responsibility and civic volunteerism. He said, "In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you've got a problem, blame somebody else — to one in which every single American understands that he or she is responsible for the decisions that you make; you're responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you're responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you're responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you're responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself." 2. Started the USA Freedom Corps, the most comprehensive clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities ever offered. For the first time in history, Americans can enter geographic information about where they want to get involved, such as state or zip code, as well as areas of interest ranging from education to the environment, and they can access volunteer opportunities offered by more than 50,000 organizations across the country and around the world. 3. Established the The White House Office and the Centers for the Faith-Based and Community Initiative — located in seven Federal agencies. The faith-based initiative supports the essential work of these important organizations. The goal is to make sure that grassroots leaders can compete on an equal footing for federal dollars, receive greater private support, and face fewer bureaucratic barriers. Work focuses on at-risk youth, ex-offenders, the homeless and hungry, substance abusers, those with HIV/AIDS, and welfare-to-work families. 4. The White House released a guidebook fully describing the Administration's belief that faith-based groups have a Constitutionally-protected right to maintain their religious identity through hiring — even when Federal funds are involved. 5. Issued an EO implementing the Supreme Court's Olmstead ruling, which requires moving disabled people from institutions to community-based facilities when possible. 6. Increased funding for low-interest loan programs to help people with disabilities purchase devices to assist them. 7. Revised the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 rent subsidies to disabled people, permitting them to use up to a year's worth of vouchers to finance down payments on homes. HUD has started pilot programs in 11 states. 8. Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men, women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa. 9. Heeding the words of our own Declaration of Independence, the president laid out the non-negotiable demands of human dignity for all people everywhere. On January 29, 2002, he said, "No nation owns these aspirations, and no nation is exempt from them. We have no intention of imposing our culture. But America will always stand firm for the non-negotiable demands of human dignity." As stated by the President, they are a virtual manifesto of conservative principles: Equal Justice Freedom of Speech Limited Government Power Private Property Rights Religious Tolerance Respect for Women Rule of Law more

Resolved Question: Is this why the libs hate BUSH?

Resolved Question: If Bush is sooo against abortion, why did this black woman died after refusing to abort Bush's child?

In the western world, only one newspaper reports the suicide of the woman who accused George W Bush of rape by Simon Aronowitz Saturday 13th December 2003 Despite the enormity of the story, a virtual news blackout has remained in place since Margie Schoedinger first filed charges against George W Bush in 2002. Schoedinger had accused Bush of rape and other sexual crimes against both her and her husband, only one publication in the USA saw fit to print anything about her or her allegations. That publication was her local newspaper. Her subsequent suicide earlier this year raised many eyebrows amongst those who learned of her death via the internet. Even though the sequence of events was bizarre, again the American media ignored Schoedinger completely. However, the US press were not alone. Both the (London) Times newspaper and the BBC as well as other major news organisations in the UK were furnished with the story and sources for the original court filings. ..." more

Resolved Question: Well it's now 0010 hours ( UK ) and I'm well into a bottle of cava brut ...?

and thank you so much to everyone from here and away for your greetings to my previous new year wishes ..... and someone is bound to report me for not actually asking a question and simply chatting ... well bollocks to the authorities ,,,, I am happy for the new year and the world and have some new year ( virtual ) kisses and hugs on me ....... oh my, back to soddin' work on Tuesday ....... I hope we all have a great New Years Day and more importantly keep a smile on our faces for 2007 .... it's been a tough year for most people I believe .... let's have a new year where we care a bit more about those around us ..... I know we live in a cold, calculating world so lets start to thaw it out a bit, eh? And I know there are a lot of depressed people out there on their own ... I have been there as well .... so to you people, a special warm hi .... people do care you know, just reach out and ask ..... okay. Sleep well people ...... here and across the golden pond ...... nite! more

Resolved Question: Can you handle the truth?

recently have been filled with scenes of huge crowds carrying the colorful green and red flag of Mexico viewers could well have thought it was a national holiday in Mexico City. It was instead, downtown Los Angeles, Calif., although the scene was recreated in numerous other cities around the country with substantial Mexican populations. Hordes of Mexican expatriates, many here illegally, were protesting the very U.S. immigration laws they were violating with impunity. They found it offensive and a violation of their rights that the U.S. dared to have immigration laws to begin with. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa mounted the podium, but any hopes that he would quiet the crowds and defend the law were soon dashed. Villaraigosa, himself, has spent a lifetime opposing U.S. immigration law. For law-abiding Americans without knowledge of the dark side of our current illegal immigration crisis, all this is unfathomable. For those who know the truth about the "La Raza" movement, these demonstrations were a prophecy fulfilled. It is past time for all Americans to know what is at the root of this outrageous behavior, and the extent to which the nation is at risk because of "La Raza" -- The Race. There are many immigrant groups joined in the overall "La Raza" movement. The most prominent and mainstream organization is the National Council de La Raza -- the Council of "The Race". To most of the mainstream media, most members of Congress, and even many of their own members, the National Council of La Raza is no more than a Hispanic Rotary Club. But the National Council of La Raza succeeded in raking in over $15.2 million in federal grants last year alone, of which $7.9 million was in U.S. Department of Education grants for Charter Schools, and undisclosed amounts were for get-out-the-vote efforts supporting La Raza political positions. The Council of La Raza succeeded in having itself added to congressional hearings by Republican House and Senate leaders. And an anonymous senator even gave the Council of La Raza an extra $4 million in earmarked taxpayer money, supposedly for "housing reform," while La Raza continues to lobby the Senate for virtual open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens. The Mexican flag flew over a crowd of pro-amnesty marchers in New York. Marches like this across the U.S. have been supported by the “La Raza” movement. (Reuters/Seth Wenig) Radical 'Reconquista' Agenda Behind the respectable front of the National Council of La Raza lies the real agenda of the La Raza movement, the agenda that led to those thousands of illegal immigrants in the streets of American cities, waving Mexican flags, brazenly defying our laws, and demanding concessions. Key among the secondary organizations is the radical racist group Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan (MEChA), one of the most anti-American groups in the country, which has permeated U.S. campuses since the 1960s, and continues its push to carve a racist nation out of the American West. One of America's greatest strengths has always been taking in immigrants from cultures around the world, and assimilating them into our country as Americans. By being citizens of the U.S. we are Americans first, and only, in our national loyalties. This is totally opposed by MEChA for the hordes of illegal immigrants pouring across our borders, to whom they say: "Chicano is our identity; it defines who we are as people. It rejects the notion that we...should assimilate into the Anglo-American melting pot...Aztlan was the legendary homeland of the Aztecas ... It became synonymous with the vast territories of the Southwest, brutally stolen from a Mexican people marginalized and betrayed by the hostile custodians of the Manifest Destiny." (Statement on University of Oregon MEChA Website, Jan. 3, 2006) MEChA isn't at all shy about their goals, or their views of other races. Their founding principles are contained in these words in "El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan" (The Spiritual Plan for Aztlan): "In the spirit of a new people that is conscious not only of its proud historical heritage but also of the brutal gringo invasion of our territories, we, the Chicano inhabitants and civilizers of the northern land of Aztlan from whence came our forefathers, reclaiming the land of their birth and consecrating the determination of our people of the sun, declare that the call of our blood is our power, our responsibility, and our inevitable destiny. ... Aztlan belongs to those who plant the seeds, water the fields, and gather the crops and not to the foreign Europeans. ... We are a bronze people with a bronze culture. Before the world, before all of North America, before all our brothers in the bronze continent, we are a nation, we are a union of free pueblos, we are Aztlan. For La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada." That closing two-sentence motto is chilling to everyone who values equal rights for all. It says: "For The Race everything. Outside The Race, nothing." If these morally sickening MEChA quotes were coming from some fringe website, Americans could at least console themselves that it was just a small group of nuts behind it. Nearly every racial and ethnic group has some shady characters and positions in its past and some unbalanced individuals today claiming racial superiority and demanding separatism. But this is coming straight from the official MEChA sites at Georgetown University, the University of Texas, UCLA, University of Michigan, University of Colorado, University of Oregon, and many other colleges and universities around the country. MEChA was in fact reported to be one of the main organizers of those street demonstrations we witnessed over the past weeks. That helps explain why those hordes of illegal immigrants weren't asking for amnesty -- they were demanding an end to U.S. law, period. Unlike past waves of immigrants who sought to become responsible members of American society, these protesters reject American society altogether, because they have been taught that America rightfully belongs to them. MEChA and the La Raza movement teach that Colorado, California, Arizona, Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Oregon and parts of Washington State make up an area known as "Aztlan" -- a fictional ancestral homeland of the Aztecs before Europeans arrived in North America. As such, it belongs to the followers of MEChA. These are all areas America should surrender to "La Raza" once enough immigrants, legal or illegal, enter to claim a majority, as in Los Angeles. The current borders of the United States will simply be extinguished. This plan is what is referred to as the "Reconquista" or reconquest, of the Western U.S. But it won't end with territorial occupation and secession. The final plan for the La Raza movement includes the ethnic cleansing of Americans of European, African, and Asian descent out of "Aztlan." As Miguel Perez of Cal State-Northridge's MEChA chapter has been quoted as saying: "The ultimate ideology is the liberation of Aztlan. Communism would be closest [to it]. Once Aztlan is established, ethnic cleansing would commence: Non-Chicanos would have to be expelled -- opposition groups would be quashed because you have to keep power." MEChA Plants Members of these radical, anti-American, racist organizations are frequently smoothly polished into public respectability by the National Council of La Raza. Former MEChA members include Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was officially endorsed by La Raza for mayor and was awarded La Raza's Graciela Olivarez Award. Now we know why he refuses to condemn a sea of foreign flags in his city. California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante is also a former MEChA member. He delivered the keynote address at La Raza's 2002 Annual Convention. The National Council of La Raza and its allies in public office make no repudiation of the radical MEChA and its positions. In fact, as recently as 2003, La Raza was actively funding MEChA, according to federal tax records. Imagine Robert Byrd's refusing to disavow the views of the KKK, or if Strom Thurmond had failed to admit segregation was wrong. Imagine Heritage or Brookings Foundation making grants to the American Nazi Party. Is the National Council of La Raza itself a racist organization? Regardless of the organization's suspect ties, the majority of its members are not. When one examines all the organization's activities, they are commendable non-profit projects, such as education and housing programs. But even these defensible efforts raise the question of whether education and housing programs funded with federal tax dollars should be used in programs specifically targeted to benefit just one ethnic group. La Raza defenders usually respond by calling anyone making these allegations "a racist" for having called attention to La Raza's racist links. All the groups and public officials with ties to the La Raza movement can take a big step towards disproving these allegations by simply following the examples of Senators Byrd and Thurmond and repenting of their past ways. If they are unwilling to admit past misdeeds, they can at least state -- unequivocally -- that they officially oppose the racist and anti-American positions of MEChA, and any other groups that espouse similar views. Through public appearances, written statements, and on their respective websites, La Raza groups and allies must: 1. Denounce the motto "For La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada," as repugnant, racist, and totally incompatible with American society or citizenship. 2. Acknowledge the right of all Americans to live wherever they choose in the U.S. without segregation. 3. Commit to sponsorship of nationwide educational programs to combat racism and anti-Semitism in the Hispanic community. 4. Denounce and sever all ties with MEChA and any other organizations with which they have ever been associated which held to the racist doctrines held by MEChA. 5. Acknowledge the internationally recognized borders of the U.S., the right of the citizens of the U.S. to determine immigration policy through the democratic process, and the right of the U.S. to undertake any and all necessary steps to effectively enforce immigration law and defend its border against unauthorized entry. 6. Repudiate all claims that current American territory rightfully belongs to Mexico. If the National Council of La Raza, other La Raza groups, and local and national political leaders with past ties and associations with the radical elements of the La Raza movement can publicly issue such a statement and live by every one of these principles, they should be welcomed into the American public policy arena, with past sins -- real or imaginary -- forgiven. If they cannot publicly and fully support these principles, Congress needs to take appropriate steps and immediately bar any group refusing to comply from receiving any future federal funds. Both the House and Senate should strike these groups from testifying before any committees, and the White House should sever all ties. Both political parties should disengage from any further contact with these groups and individuals. There are plenty of decent, patriotic Hispanic organizations and elected officials to provide Congress with necessary feedback on specific issues confronting Americans of Latino heritage. Any group or individual who can agree with the simple six points should be welcomed into that fold. If not, the American people will know there's a wolf in their midst, and take the necessary precautions to defend our Republic against an enemy. more

Resolved Question: Does any one need world of warcraft gold?

Igametc Company Igametc is a professional virtual currency network which is a buying and selling site for massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) virtual currency on the Internet. It is one of the world’s largest virtual currency trade companies that have been reported by YAHOO and GOOGLE. Igametc is able to support the game currency for WoW, Guild Wars, DDO, EQ2, FF XI., and Runescape, and it also provides pretty professional WoW powerleveling. Igametc has been an industry trailblazer and market steward. In meeting the demand of game players to buy, sell and trade game currency, Igametc provides gamers with fast transactions, 24-hour customer service and guaranteed transactional security. Igametc is dedicated to improving gamer services and fostering a more enjoyable gaming experience www.igametc.com more

Resolved Question: Do you need wow gold?

Igametc company Igametc is a professional virtual currency network which is a buying and selling site for massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) virtual currency on the Internet. It is one of the world’s largest virtual currency trade companies that have been reported by YAHOO. Igametc is able to support the game currency for WoW, Guild Wars, DDO, EQ2, and FF XI.，and it also provides pretty professional WoW powerleveling. Igametc has been an industry trailblazer and market steward. In meeting the demand of game players to buy, sell and trade game currency, Igametc provides gamers with fast transactions, 24-hour customer service and guaranteed transactional security. Igametc is dedicated to improving gamer services and fostering a more enjoyable gaming experience www.igametc.com more

Resolved Question: Igametc company?

Igametc company Igametc is a professional virtual currency network which is a buying and selling site for massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) virtual currency on the Internet. It is one of the world’s ten largest virtual currency trade companies that have been reported by YAHOO and GOOGLE. Igametc is able to support the game currency for WoW, Guild Wars, DDO, EQ2, RS and FF XI.，and it also provides pretty professional powerleveling. Igametc has been an outstanding industry player and market steward. In meeting the demand of game players to buy and trade game currency, Igametc provides gamers with fast transactions, 24-hour customer service and guaranteed transactional security. Igametc is dedicated to improving gamer services and fostering a more enjoyable gaming experience. www.igametc.com more

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Making millions from virtual worlds

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