Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos Talks AWS, Innovation, Customer ...

Jeff Bezos, Amazon?s founder and CEO, took the stage at the company?s re: Invent developer conference for a wide-ranging discussion with the company?s CTO Werner Vogels about?Amazon?s web service and retail business, as well as his view about entrepreneurship and his personal projects, such as the 10,000 year clock and the Blue Origin space program.

Bezos On AWS

Amazon Web Services, Bezos argued, is similar to the company?s Kindle Device business in that ?we make money when people use the Kindle, not when they buy it.? AWS, too, is a pay-as-you-go service after all, and just like owners of an early Kindle can still use it to read books, AWS has helped businesses to get off the ?upgrade treadmill.? Most importantly, though, Amazon?s interests in both its retail and AWS business, have to be aligned with its customers,?he said.

Bezos also noted that he is often asked about what?s going to change in the next 10 years, but the more important questions, he thinks, are about what?s not going to change in the next 10 years. For the most part, you build a business around what?s stable. ?Retail customers,? he said, ?want cheap prices and fast delivery? and AWS customers want reliability and speed. ?The effort that we put into those things will continue to pay dividends in the long term. It?s impossible to imagine that people would say: I love AWS, but I wish it were a little less reliable.?

All of these big ideas, Bezos acknowledged, are often very obvious, but for many businesses, ?it?s hard to retain a firm grasp of what?s obvious over time.?

Bezos On Innovation

Asked about his thoughts about innovation, Bezos said that one of the most important factors that allow a company to stay innovative is to find the right employees ? the kind of people that want to improve things. Innovators, he also said, ?have to be willing to fail and to be misunderstood.? Your critics may want the best outcome, but they may also be afraid of change or have a vested interested in sticking with the old traditional ways. ?If you never want to be criticized, for goodness? sake, don?t do anything new.?

If you are willing to fail, though, you will also be able to ramp up your rate of innovation, and AWS has allowed many businesses to do just that, as Vogels pointed out, by allowing companies to ramp up the rate at which they experiment.

Being an entrepreneur, he argued, is often about eliminating risk at the beginning. To be successful, you need luck and you need to eliminate risk. Later on, as a company grows, you can take risks again. Founders, however, should never try to ?chase the hot thing. You?ll never catch the wave that way, but you have to position yourself so you can catch it.? Founders also have to be passionate about their ideas. ?I?d pick a missionary over a mercenary every day.?

Bezos On Customer Service

One of the most interesting anecdotes from the conversation was Bezos? account of a customer training session he participated in a few years ago. A smart company, in his view, manages to reduce waste wherever possible, and that often means preventing defects from moving downstream.

Bezos? trainer in this training session already knew that when a customer called the service center after buying a particular table, chances were that customer was going to return that table because they always arrived scratched. The customer service agents knew this, but had no way to relay this information to the rest of the company. Today, however, every Amazon service agent can pull a product of the website if there are problems.

In a low-margin business like Amazon?s, reducing this kind of waste is very important, but Bezos noted that ?it takes a certain point of view to do things this way.? The further downstream a problem moves, however, the harder and more expensive it becomes to fix.

?I sometimes have waking dreams that one day I may operate a high-margin business,? he said, but if you have high margins, ?it?s hard to be efficient ? because you don?t need to be.?

Clocks And Space Ships

Toward the end of the chat, Vogels also asked Bezos about two of his personal projects: the 10,000 Year Clock and his Blue Origin space venture. Bezos, for the most part, did not have anything new to announce here, but he did stress the engineering challenges of the clock project and argued that a reusable space ship like Blue Origin has a number of advantages over more traditional, fixed-wing shuttles that some of the project?s competitors are working on. Sadly, though, he also said that ?Amazon Prime shipping to Mars is still a ways out.?

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), is a leading global Internet company and one of the most trafficked Internet retail destinations worldwide. Amazon is one of the first companies to sell products deep into the long tail by housing them in numerous warehouses and distributing products from many partner companies. Amazon directly sells or acts as a platform for the sale of a broad range of products. These include books, music, videos, consumer electronics, clothing and household products. The majority of Amazon?s...

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Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/29/amazon-founder-jeff-bezos-talks-aws-innovation-customer-service-space-travel-at-re-invent/

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Dr. Phil is a Fascist Dictator, Staffer Claims!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/11/dr-phil-is-a-fascist-dictator-staffer-claims/

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Care Partners Are Awesome

By Dr. Bill Thomas, ChangingAging.org on November 29, 2012

AARP?s Susan Rheinhard is a rock star of aging research. Her latest album? ummm I mean study? explores the incredible creativity and resolve that families and friends use to support each other in times of need.

Susan and her team found that?

Almost half (46%) of family caregivers performed medical/nursing tasks for care recipients with multiple chronic physical and cognitive conditions

Three out of four (78%) family caregivers who provided medical/nursing tasks were managing medications, including administering intravenous fluids and injections

Caregivers found wound care very challenging, more than a third (38%) wanted more training

Most family caregivers who provided help with medical/nursing tasks believed they were helping their family member avoid institutionalization

Read More HERE

Family caregivers are America?s barefoot doctors. They are a GIGANTIC addition to our health care labor force and they are doing incredible things almost always without clinical training or experience.

It is also worth noting that most of them do this with the explicit goal of ?helping their family member avoid institutionalization.?

Over the past ten years the Eden Alternative has been working to strengthen and support these family care-partners. We call our approach Eden at Home and it is changing people?s lives.

What is Eden at Home????

The Eden at Home Series applies the power of the Eden Alternative?s ten principles to improving quality of life for Elder(s) living at home and their care partners. By our definition, care partners include family, friends, neighbors, volunteers, home health professionals, and the Elder herself. With an eye for changing the culture of care at the grassroots level, EAH emphasizes building creative and collaborative care partner teams empowered by concepts central to person-directed care. We promote a culture of meaningful care in our communities that does not see the needs of caregivers as separate from the needs of care receivers, but rather advocates for the well being of the whole care partnership. Working together, empowered care partner teams help to ensure the independence, dignity, and continued growth and development of our Elder care partners and each other. With this in mind, Eden at Home operates on three levels:

? As an inspiring philosophy that offers a sense of renewal ? care partners need to experience renewal on a daily basis;
? As a source for practical, hands-on tools for improving quality of life for all involved in the care partnership; and
? As a motivational model for shifting both how we care for one another and how our communities perceive what our Elders have to offer.

Read More HERE

Posted in Caregiving, ChangingAging, Elderhood, Generations |

Source: http://changingaging.org/blog/care-partners-are-awesome/

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Leveson Inquiry Results To Come Tomorrow - Business Insider

Tomorrow, after months and months of waiting, the UK's Leveson Inquiry will finally release its recommendations for UK press regulation.

The inquiry was called after 2011's huge scandal over widespread phone hacking by Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper the News of the World, but soon spread to evaluate more widely the link between the UK press, police and government (especially embarrassing for PM David Cameron, who had private texts with Murdoch's right hand woman Rebekah Brooks splashed over the tabloids multiple times).

This evening a dozen copies of the report have been carted over to Prime Minister, and rumors say that the report may end up being 2,000 pages long.

If the Prime Minister agrees to recommendations, as he has indicated he would, it looks like it might be a major shake-up. The BBC reports that "some form of statutory press regulation overseen by an independent body" is expected, as well as a whole bunch of other recommendations about how the press and the state work together (a good round up of questions likely to be raised by the report has been published by the Guardian).

Yes, if reports are to be believed well be the end of the UK's scoop-hungry, paparazzi-exporting, endlessly combative tabloid press as we know it.

But it's not just the tabloids that are concerned ? Mid-market Daily Mail published an article today that pointed towards the French system of government regulation with disdain, while the weekly magazine the Spectator has said it will flat-out refuse to abide by any centralized government regulation.

John Gapper of the FT today wrote an op-ed criticizing the momentum towards regulation:

We are thus at a vital, scary moment in British constitutional history. If it is mishandled by Mr Cameron and other politicians, the UK could be returned to the days of state licensing of the press, which was abolished in 1694. Nearly 100 years later, the US adopted the First Amendment to its new constitution, barring Congress from limiting free speech or press freedom.

Coupled with the twin scandals that the BBC is currently wrapped up in (one involving an apparent refusal to investigate sex abuse allegations against a BBC star, another for falsely accusing a senior politician of being a pedophile), it must be a confusing time to be a journalist in the UK right now.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/leveson-inquiry-results-to-come-tomorrow-2012-11

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GOP: White House proposes $1.6T tax increase, payroll tax cut extension (Star Tribune)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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This Calvin and Hobbes Search Engine Just Made the World a Much Better Place

Rejoice, humans, for life just got a lot better thanks to a new wonder of the internet: the Calvin & Hobbes search engine! More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/4XjBf-gzwTQ/this-calvin-and-hobbes-search-engine-just-made-the-world-a-much-better-place

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Oil below $87 after OECD cuts growth forecasts

The price of oil fell below $87 a barrel Wednesday after the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cut its growth outlook for the U.S. and the 17 European Union countries that use the euro currency.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for January delivery was down 73 cents to $86.45 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 56 cents to finish at $87.18 a barrel on the Nymex on Tuesday.

The Paris-based OECD said Tuesday that the combined economy of the 17 euro countries will contract by 0.4 percent this year, worse than May's 0.1 percent forecast. For 2013, it is expected to contract a further 0.1 percent.

The OECD also downgraded its forecasts for the U.S. economy. Even if the White House and Congress strike a budget deal before Jan. 1 and avoid the so-called fiscal cliff of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts, the OECD said the U.S. will grow by only 2 percent next year, down from May's forecast of 2.6 percent.

Traders said weak economic growth would likely hurt demand for energy.

Michael Hewson, senior market analyst of CMC Markets, said the OECD report refocused concerns on "the toxic effect the European crisis continues to have on global growth prospects."

Statistics from the Association of the German Petroleum Industry quoted in a report by JBC Energy in Vienna showed that German gasoline consumption in September fell around 11 percent on the year.

"German gasoline demand has been shrinking over the past decade on the back of efficiency gains, dieselization, but ultimately this year growing pump prices are the key factor driving this downfall with the impact of a slowing economy," JBC said.

The budget dispute known as the "fiscal cliff" faced by the United States was also weighing on markets.

"If Democrats and Republicans fail to reach any agreement by year's end, automatic tax hikes and expenditure cuts worth a total of $600 billion will come into force at the beginning of 2013, which could push the US economy into recession," said a report from Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

Brent crude, which is used to set prices for many international varieties of oil, fell 64 cents to $109.26 a barrel on London's ICE Futures exchange.

In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:

? Wholesale gasoline lost 1.36 cents at $2.682.

? Natural gas was down 4.1 cents to $3.728 per 1,000 cubic feet.

? Heating oil fell 0.78 cent to $3.0169 a gallon.

___

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-below-87-oecd-cuts-growth-forecasts-092159839--finance.html

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BBC drama 'The Hour' back to make the 1950s sexy

LONDON (AP) ? The media are under fire, celebrities are under the microscope. Welcome to Britain in 2012 ? or in the 1950s, the setting for the BBC drama "The Hour."

A newsroom drama/political thriller about the staff of a current affairs TV program, "The Hour" gained attention last year when it debuted for its resonant story lines and distinctive retro style. The latter aspect ? all mid-century modern interiors, sensuous silk dresses and slim suits ? prompted the show to be dubbed, inevitably, a British "Mad Men."

The second six-episode season ? in the middle of its run in Britain and starting Wednesday on BBC America ? stays focused on the tempestuous trio of battling producer Bel Rowley (Romola Garai), combative reporter Freddie Lyon (Ben Whishaw, tech-master Q in the Bond film "Skyfall") and smooth anchorman Hector Madden ("The Wire" alumnus Dominic West) as they confront meddling management, murky maneuvers in high places and tensions between work and their private lives.

They also must deal with the consequences of their show's rising profile ? especially the impulsive Hector, who finds that fame comes at a cost.

Series writer Abi Morgan, whose work includes screenplays for "The Iron Lady" and "Shame," said she was drawn to the period's sense of style ? "a certain kind of 'La Dolce Vita' glamour that I really love." She also wanted to explore the birth of modern culture in a decade often seen as staid and conformist.

"What we know about history is inherently, it repeats itself," said Morgan, counting off the show's modern themes: "Immigration, women trying to have it all, the sense of a kind of greater global threat (because of the Cold War) ... the rise of capitalism and consumerism in Britain, the birth of celebrity, and the vulnerability of celebrity."

"The Hour" has been hailed for recasting a time usually remembered in Britain as a gray era of postwar austerity. Prosperity took a long time to arrive in Britain, which emerged from World War II victorious but broke ? wartime food rationing continued until the 1950s.

But by 1957, when the second series of "The Hour" opens, wages were rising, the economy was growing, new consumer goods were available and the tempting devil of rock 'n' roll was washing up on Britain's shores.

The series introduces the BBC's brash rival ITV, which launched in 1955 as Britain's first commercial TV network, and takes excursions to seedy Soho nightclubs, where journalists and politicians mingled with denizens of the London underworld.

Garai, whose television roles include the title role in Jane Austen's "Emma" and an ambitious Victorian prostitute in "The Crimson Petal and the White," said "The Hour" helped correct "the idea that somehow the '60s was the sea-change."

"The '60s was born out of the '50s," she said. "In this series, we talk a bit about Ginsberg and Kerouac. The birth of everything we identify as 'modern' was definitely seeded in the '50s and the Beat Generation."

Like Aaron Sorkin's "The Newsroom," the show is also a love letter to journalism ? a much-needed one in Britain, where the profession's image has plunged after revelations of tabloid phone hacking, and where even the august BBC has been tarred by its bungled response to a sex abuse scandal.

"I still believe in the nobility of journalism," Morgan said. "I still love good journalism, and I wanted to hark back to an age when you didn't instantly tweet and you didn't instantly blog and you didn't videophone an event. The slow burn of building a story and nurturing a story and investigating a story is still fascinating to me."

"The Hour" continues a run of strong female characters for Morgan, who dared to depict the divisive former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady."

In Bel, she has created something still too rare on television ? a sympathetic, competent woman in a position of power. Garai said it was a delight to play a strong women who is "not seen as being bossy or controlling."

Her only qualm is the show's luscious costumes, which have made Garai and her co-stars the subject of glossy magazine spreads about '50s fashion.

The real-life Bel, she says, would have worn "a tweed suit and brogues."

"You sort of think, could Bel really afford a silk two-piece on a BBC producer's salary?" Garai said. "And then everyone goes, 'Oh shut up, Romola.' So I say 'OK, OK, yes. I'll wear the beautiful suits. And breathe in.'"

Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bbc-drama-hour-back-1950s-sexy-160541018.html

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Water Your Dreams With Optimism ? The Positive Pear

?Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream.? ?~Lao Tzu~

Source: http://thepositivepear.com/2012/11/26/water-your-dreams-with-optimism/

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Garber says Beckham 'overdelivered' to MLS

By RONALD BLUM

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 9:57 a.m. ET Nov. 27, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) -David Beckham did everything Major League Soccer asked of him to grow football in the United States during his 5 1/2 seasons with the Los Angeles Galaxy, league commissioner Don Garber said on Monday.

Beckham plays his final competitive match for the Galaxy on Saturday in the MLS Cup final against Houston.

When Beckham left Real Madrid in 2007 to sign a $32.5 million, five-year deal with the Galaxy, he said he wanted to win and increase the league's popularity both domestically and abroad. The Galaxy won last year's title and are in the final for the third time in four years.

"I don't think anybody would doubt that he has overdelivered on every one of those measures," Garber said during a telephone conference call, his annual state of the league session as commissioner. "There's arguably not a soccer fan on this planet that doesn't know the LA Galaxy and Major League Soccer, and David played a significant role in helping us make that happen. He was an unbelievable ambassador for the league, for the Galaxy."

The league's regular season attendance average increased from 15,504 in 2006 to 17,872 in 2011 and a record 18,807 this year. After Beckham's arrival, the league announced expansion teams that started play in San Jose (2008), Seattle (2009), Philadelphia (2010), Vancouver and Portland (2011), and Montreal (2012), increasing the total to 19.

Ground was also broken for football-specific stadiums in Houston, Kansas City and Philadelphia, the long-delayed venue in New Jersey was completed, and extensive renovations took place in Montreal, Portland and Vancouver. Television exposure improved, but only slightly.

"We needed David Beckham in 2007 to help drive our credibility, to help grow our popularity and to show the world really that the United States ... was ready to support a division-one league," Garber said. "We don't need anything today to get us to the next level. It's a wide variety of initiatives, from player development, from continued investment in our overall player pool, to better and more focused marketing, to smart expansion to a transformation into a digital world where our games are even more available than they are today."

Thierry Henry, Rafa Marquez, Robbie Keane and Tim Cahill have followed Beckham to MLS. Given a chance to leave, Beckham stayed for 2013 in a deal that guaranteed him another $4 million. The 37-year-old former England captain said last week he was departing "to experience one last challenge."

"I don't believe we're going to be hurting when David leaves," Garber said. "The Michael Jordans and Wayne Gretzkys of the world, the Magic Johnsons, they have a great impact on taking a league to a higher level. And then if managed properly, the league and the clubs and the players that are still in the league are able to take that mantle and take it even higher."

Beckham's deal included the right to buy a future expansion team at a discounted price. Garber said only the New York market was excluded.

Denver-based Anschutz Co. said in September it was starting a process to sell its Anschutz Entertainment Group subsidiary, which owns the Galaxy and several other sports properties.

"There is a possibility for him to work with the league office to find ways to transfer, I guess, that option into an opportunity in LA," Garber said. "Way too premature to talk about that or even speculate about what that would look like, but that opportunity does exist if it meets the approval of the league, who in essence holds that value; David, who holds the option; and the Los Angeles Galaxy, who would have to be part of that discussion."

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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MLS names Best XI ? no surprises

??PST: For the first time in 10 years, the team has 3 forwards, but positions have always been a loose thing when it comes to recognizing the season?s best.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45365871/ns/sports-soccer/

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Daytrading, Stock Trading, Investing and Forex Trading ? Securities ...

Many stocks are at record low costs and are ready for the picking, making it one of the very best times to speculate in decades. With the recession practically now formally over and grinding down to a halt, the recovery period starts. To distinguish between which stocks have absolutely bottomed out and which continue to fall, you ought to use an automatic stockmarket trading system which is specially built to use logical, algorithmic tools to decode market information and find profit-making trading prospects. An automatic securities dealing systems particularly works by taking the full breadth of the market into account each time it researches realtime market info. Learn as much as practicable about the stockmarket prior to making any investments. An illiterate financier risks losing hard earned money and pointlessly spending time. Focus upon learning investing techniques which will permit you to reach your money goals. Make smaller goals initially, then work up to more aspiring goals.

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Source: http://traders101.com/2012/11/25/securities-investing-penny-shares/

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Video: Family business: Putting Mom on the payroll

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Saxby Chambliss: One more Republican breaks ranks over anti-tax pledge

Republicans are grappling with growing rifts in their ranks over a no-new-tax pledge that has been rock solid for more than 20 years. That quiet debate within the GOP could determine how Congress deals with its looming 'fiscal cliff.'

By Gail Russell Chaddock,?Staff writer / November 24, 2012

President Obama, accompanied by House Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio, speaks to reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House as he hosted a meeting of the bipartisan, bicameral leadership of Congress to discuss the deficit and economy in Washington at a Nov. 16 meeting.

Carolyn Kaster/AP/File

Enlarge

The sharpest struggle in the lame-duck session of Congress, which picks up again on Monday, may well be within GOP ranks, as Republicans grapple with whether to relax a no-new-tax pledge that has been fixed party orthodoxy for nearly a generation.

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Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) of Georgia is the latest lawmaker to formally renege on the pledge. In a television interview on Wednesday, he said that he's no longer supporting the pledge because "times have changed significantly, and I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge."

Such breaks in GOP ranks could become decisive as GOP leaders negotiate with Democrats and the White House over how to resolve the "fiscal cliff," or some $600 billion in mandatory spending cuts and tax increases set to take effect in 2013.

Breaking a no-new-tax pledge can be toxic at the polls. President George H. W. Bush lost his bid for a second term after bypassing his 1988 "Read my lips: no new taxes" pledge in his budget agreement with a Democrat-controlled Congress in 1990. Since then, most GOP members of Congress and even a few Democrats have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge by Americans for Tax Reform, an anti-tax group.

After Senator Chambliss's announcement, ATR President Grover Norquist shot back in a statement on Friday: "Raising taxes on the people of Georgia to pay for Obama's reckless spending is not the right thing to do for America or Georgia."

"We have a problem because Washington spends too much, not because Sen. Chambliss has failed so far to raise taxes on the hard-working men and women of Georgia," he added.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D) of Nebraska broke his no-new-tax pledge and soon after announced his retirement from the Senate in 2012. "[Senator Nelson] withdrew because polling showed he could not win a general election having both lied to his state and raised their taxes," Mr. Norquist said in Friday's statement.

Heading into the 2012 elections, 279 incumbent lawmakers in Congress had signed the pledge, up from 208 in 2010, according to the ATR website.? In addition, 286 challengers had taken the pledge, up from 241 in 2010. (The ATR site does not expunge the names of those who have since repudiated the pledge.)

But critics say that the pledge's influence is waning. Freshman Rep. Scott Rigell (R) of Virginia, who signed the pledge when he first ran for office in 2010, campaigned against the pledge in 2012 in a state with a strong tea party presence, yet won back? his seat with 54 percent of the vote.

Nine-term Rep. Steven LaTourette (R) of Ohio, one of the first House Republicans to publicly repudiate the pledge, notes that when he first signed on in May 1994, the national debt was nearing $4.7 trillion. Now, the nation is on track to owe $20 trillion. "To be beholden to some pledge when the future of the country is at stake is kind of silly," told the Monitor in November 2011. (Mr. LaTourette also declined to run for reelection in 2012, but appeared to be in no danger of losing his seat.)

In addition to Senator Chambliss, Sens. Tom Coburn (R) of Oklahoma, John McCain (R) of Arizona, Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina, Mike Crapo (R) of Idaho, and Lamar Alexander (R) of Tennessee have publicly repudiated elements of the pledge, especially its call to oppose eliminating tax breaks, unless offset by tax cuts elsewhere. Those six dissenters may mean that Republicans no longer have the votes to sustain a filibuster of any deal that includes tax hikes.

After a White House meeting on Nov. 16, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky said: "We're prepared to put revenue on the table, provided we fix the real problem," that is: a $16 trillion national debt and unsustainable entitlement spending. House Speaker John Boehner says that he is open to revenue as part of a solution to the fiscal cliff, but not to raising tax rates on "job creators."

President Obama, claiming a mandate on tax hikes for the wealthiest Americans in the 2012 vote, says he won't budge on the need to raise taxes on the richest Americans, that is individuals with incomes over $200,000 or? families with incomes over $250,000.

Norquist says that, in the end, Republicans won't blink either. "No one is caving," he said told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Saturday. "For 20 years Democrats have tried over and over to trick Republicans into breaking the pledge," he added. "It hasn't happened."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/jBc2yscYWu4/Saxby-Chambliss-One-more-Republican-breaks-ranks-over-anti-tax-pledge

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Getting poor students to college isn't just about affordability. It's about access. (+video)

Students from low-income communities need the same mentoring, leadership opportunities, and support through the college application process as their higher-income peers. Strategic partnerships between K-12 schools and local colleges are a key part of this exposure.

By Rick Dalton / November 23, 2012

Allan Grimes, a senior from Central High School, turns in his paperwork for an upcoming tour of colleges organized by The Village Initiative Project, in Bridgeport, Conn., Oct. 10. Op-ed contributor Rick Dalton says 'millions of high-paying jobs are going unfilled because there aren?t enough people with the skills and education to do them.' Solving this mismatch means, '[h]elping talented students from low-income backgrounds access college.'

Ned Gerard/Connecticut Post/AP

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Even with seesawing reports on whether the economy is getting better or worse, one factor remains constant. Many people assume the persistently high unemployment rates mean America needs more job creation. That may be partly true, but here?s a surprising fact: Millions of Americans need good jobs, but millions of high-paying jobs are going unfilled because there aren?t enough people with the skills and education to do them.

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Commentary: Joshua Goodman outlines the challenges facing American schools, and compares them to more successful school systems in other countries.

Much of the discussion about how to address this mismatch revolves around how to make higher education more affordable for children from low-income families, who represent one of the fastest growing demographics in the country.

But affordability is only part of the battle. Too many of America?s children aren?t worried about the cost of higher education because they can?t even imagine attending college in the first place. To improve educational access, students from low-income communities need the same mentoring, leadership opportunities, and support through the college application process as their higher-income peers. Strategic partnerships between K-12 schools and local colleges are a key part of this exposure.

Think of the way the typical college search and admissions process happens for children from upper income households. By 9th grade, most of these young people are already aware of Advanced Placement courses, extracurricular activities, recommendation letters, and other factors that lead to college acceptance. In the next year or so, they begin receiving direct mail publications from colleges that target full-pay applicants. Their parents and other family members see higher education as a given, and work closely with them throughout the admissions process to make sure they look as good as possible to prospective colleges.

The situation is starkly different for students from low-income families. Due to economic factors, many attend schools with fewer resources, where fewer opportunities are offered to them, and less may be expected of them. Those who do manage to excel academically are still often confounded by the college entrance process ? from taking the SAT or ACT, to understanding how to get financial aid, to simply being able to visit colleges to understand what they have to offer. Many live in neighborhoods with few adults who attended college, and without direct guidance, many of these talented students end up tracked for low-skill, low-wage employment for the rest of their lives.

The impact on our nation is staggering. Three decades ago America was ranked No. 1 worldwide in the proportion of citizens with college degrees. Today we rank 12th, and the college-going and college-graduation gaps between students from middle and upper income households and their lower income peers have widened every year since 1980. In 10 years, 20 million jobs will go unfilled because there aren?t enough workers qualified to do them.

Helping talented students from low-income backgrounds access college requires multi-faceted support. Our program, College for Every Student, has forged a partnership between 200 K-12 schools and 210 colleges in 24 states to help these students realize a different future than the one they might have otherwise found. The partnership has engaged 20,000 students from economically challenged rural and urban communities in an effort to boost college readiness, college going, and college graduation. Most students participating in the program do not have parents who attended college.

We begin working with these students as early as the beginning grades of elementary school and support students up through the college application process to college graduation.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/kEbizIsTB5A/Getting-poor-students-to-college-isn-t-just-about-affordability.-It-s-about-access.-video

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S&P confirms France's AA+ rating, warns on deficit

PARIS (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's rating agency confirmed France's long-term rating of AA+ on Friday and negative outlook but warned the government was likely to miss its public deficit target next year.

Days after rival Moody's stripped France of its Aaa rating, S&P applauded the Socialist government's plans to help restore France's competitiveness largely with tax credits to companies.

However, the ratings agency warned that the public deficit was set to miss the government's target of 3 percent of national output next year, estimating a budget shortfall of 3.5 percent.

"The affirmation reflects our opinion that the French government remains committed to budgetary and structural reforms that would build on the measures it has proposed so far and improve the country's growth potential," it said in a statement.

Moody's downgraded France one notch to Aa1 on Monday from its to Aaa grade, taking a more skeptical view that reforms undertaken so far by the government would be sufficient to restore the country's waning international competitiveness.

That move, which followed a downgraded by S&P in January, added pressure on President Francois Hollande's government on the economy as it struggles to rein in surging unemployment.

In a break with a steady stream of negative economic data, figures published on Friday showed industrial morale rose more sharply than expected in November, rebounding from a more than two year low in October.

National statistics institute INSEE said its indicator for morale in the manufacturing sector rose to 88 from 85 in October, beating a Reuters forecast for a reading of 86.

Business morale has been steadily declining in recent months as Hollande hiked corporate taxes on big companies as part of France's toughest belt-tightening drive in at least three decades.

However, Hollande unveiled plans this month to improve firms' international competitiveness by with 20 billion euros of tax credits to companies and wants to launch a labour market reform early next year.

"Our baseline expectation is that the government will press ahead with further important structural reforms, despite opposition from vested interests which benefit from long-entrenched entitlements," S&P said.

"Substantial reforms would underpin the government's fiscal consolidation strategy, in our view, and improve economic growth prospects," it added.

France's benchmark 10-year bond yields are holding at just over a historically low rate of two percent, giving Hollande crucial access to cheap borrowing.

The government has stressed it will stick to the 3 percent deficit target for next year. However S&P's forecast that it will fall short of that target matches expectations by the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and a number of financial analysts.

(Editing by Mark John)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/p-confirms-frances-aa-rating-warns-deficit-080556918--business.html

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Egypt's Morsi: Powers aimed at ex-regime 'weevils'

In this Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012 photo, former Egyptian presidential candidate, Hamdeen Sabahi, left, speaks to former director of the U.N.'s nuclear agency and Nobel peace laureate, Mohamed El Baradei, during a news conference flanked by other prominent politicians, not shown, from outside the Muslim Brotherhood, to decry what was interpreted as a de facto declaration of emergency law by Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, in Cairo Egypt. Egypt's Islamist president unilaterally decreed greater authorities for himself Thursday and effectively neutralized a judicial system that had emerged as a key opponent by declaring that the courts are barred from challenging his decisions. (AP Photo/Mostafa El Shemy)

In this Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012 photo, former Egyptian presidential candidate, Hamdeen Sabahi, left, speaks to former director of the U.N.'s nuclear agency and Nobel peace laureate, Mohamed El Baradei, during a news conference flanked by other prominent politicians, not shown, from outside the Muslim Brotherhood, to decry what was interpreted as a de facto declaration of emergency law by Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, in Cairo Egypt. Egypt's Islamist president unilaterally decreed greater authorities for himself Thursday and effectively neutralized a judicial system that had emerged as a key opponent by declaring that the courts are barred from challenging his decisions. (AP Photo/Mostafa El Shemy)

In this photo released by the Egyptian Presidency, President Mohammed Morsi, right, poses for a photograph with his new Prosecutor General, Talaat Abdullah, left, in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. Egypt's president on Thursday issued constitutional amendments granting himself far-reaching powers and ordering the retrial of leaders of Hosni Mubarak's regime for the killing of protesters in last year's uprising. Morsi also on Thursday fired the country's top prosecutor by decreeing with immediate effect that he could only stay in office for four years and replacing him with Talaat Abdullah. Morsi fired Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud for the first time in October, but had to rescind his decision when he found that the powers of his office do not empower him to do so. (AP Photo/Egyptian Presidency)

CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi told thousands of supporters that his latest decisions granting himself sweeping powers were meant to stop "weevils" from the former regime from stopping progress.

Morsi's speech Friday came while thousands of opponents and supporters clashed in the streets over the decree that critics fear allows him to be a virtual dictator.

The decrees exempt him and other bodies from judicial review.

Morsi's supporters have cast the decrees as temporary measures through the transitional period to prevent supporters of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, including judicial officials, of blocking reform.

"There are weevils eating away at Egypt's nation," he said, accusing some judges of planning to disband the upper house of parliament.

Tens of thousands of anti-Morsi protesters rallied miles away in Tahrir Square.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-11-23-Egypt/id-a317af49335b499b8ab81400f1db6561

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Health Effects Of Childhood Obesity Your Health Journal | Your ...

From The CDC?..

Childhood obesity has both immediate and long-term effects on health and well-being.

Immediate health effects:

? Obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure. In a population-based sample of 5- to 17-year-olds, 70% of obese youth had at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

? Obese adolescents are more likely to have prediabetes, a condition in which blood glucose levels indicate a high risk for development of diabetes.

? Children and adolescents who are obese are at greater risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem.

Long-term health effects:

? Children and adolescents who are obese are likely to be obese as adults11-14 and are therefore more at risk for adult health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.6 One study showed that children who became obese as early as age 2 were more likely to be obese as adults.

? Overweight and obesity are associated with increased risk for many types of cancer, including cancer of the breast, colon, endometrium, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, gall bladder, thyroid, ovary, cervix, and prostate, as well as multiple myeloma and Hodgkin?s lymphoma.

To read more?..Click here

Source: http://www.lensaunders.com/wp/?p=7253

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2000 Ford C-MAX plug in hybrids for General Electric Company ...

Show Your Love By Sharing

General Electric Company is set to buy 2000 C-MAX plug in hybrids to convert half of their global fleet to alternative fuel vehicles. C-MAX Energi is most fuel efficient plug-in hybrid with 108 MPGe in city limit ratings and 620 miles on a single tank full of fuel which will be advantageous to GE sales and service professions who have to travel over long distances as compared to average commuters. This additional purchase of 2000 Ford vehicles will take the total alternative fuel vehicles of General Electric to 5000 which is still a long way to go to their goal of 25,000 vehicles. C-MAX Energi is expected to be America's most affordable plug-in hybrid available at a starting price of $29,995 including destination and delivery costs.

Ford and General Electric will also be working on enhancing ways to beat fuel price rise, increase energy saving, support advanced technology and increase demand for advanced fuel efficient vehicles. Ford will be launching six new electrified vehicles while GE is committed to providing customers and fleet with economically and environmentally efficient vehicles and hence look forward to adding Ford C-MAX Energi plug in hybrids to their fleet of alternative fuel vehicles.

Ford and GE are also working along with researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology to study GE employee driving habits in a bid to augment all electric driving and charging. These researchers will be using Ford MyFord Mobile app with real time battery charge status that automatically recharges at lower costs.

Liked This Story? Submit to following networks.

Source: http://www.rushlane.com/2000-ford-c-max-plug-in-hybrids-for-general-electric-company-1252335.html

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Computers and Technology Windows PC Registry Cleaner And Tool ...

Computers are similar to cabinets; as time goes on of usage it acquires dust and dirt from environment plus the issues you insert at the same time. In computers, as time moves of usage it acquire unnecessary clutters, needless file extension and possible malware that plays a role in the slowness in the computer. These memory clutters are from things that one does using the pc like downloads, applications, uninstalled programs, internet files and many other. Memory clutters burns the computer?s memory which does nothing for that computer and results in common computer problems for instance hang ups, blue screen errors, error messages, freezing up, and slowness in system. It?s all regulated an annoyance and needs to rid removed from the machine. One solution for this issue is a performance software.

A performance software pursue detecting unnecessary and harmful files which could create problems on my pc. After tracking down the many files and clutters about the system, the consumer comes with a substitute for delete these files and cleanup it of the memory clutters. You will find different brands of registry scanner software that particular will use for computers. PC Registry scanner reviews and registry scanning and cleaning comparison are ways of knowing which might be more ideal for usage for one?s computer. It is also opportinity for the patron to recognise which is the best product and what are things other users say and still have experienced when using the specific registry scanner software.

To give additional information on performance software, in most cases used registry cleaners adjusted date are CCleaner, RegCure, and Reg Mechanic. In line with some reviews, CCleaner is just about the most favored software as it may be used and downloaded gratis. Its trial version has registry cleaner and memory clutter files cleaner which will eliminate all the unnecessary and risky files on the computer deleting them permanently. CCleaner when fully purchased also offers cache clearing, and cleansing old pre-fetch data. CCleaner has tools that will serve users expectorate selected cookies, uninstall programs and do system restore.

Another performance software that is noted for its reputation as outlined by some software comparison is Registry Mechanic. Registry Mechanic by PC-tools functions mostly to wash out trash and clutters on system, repair windows error problems, detect harmful files that might cause further damage on system, possibly at duration optimize and speed the performance from the computer. In addition , it saves the previous registry in dire cases of unexpected crashes. Your personal computer tool is available for free but to use it fully, user must pick the whole software to unlock its capabilities.
The superior Tool On PC Registry scanner Reviews

One other popular manufactured goods is recognized for it performance as outlined by PC registry scanner reviews is RegCure. RegCure is really a tool that gives manual repair and back ups on system. Additionally , it detects wrong application paths that triggers some applications to crash and automatically corrects them. RegCure may serve as a supreme PC doctor and is well worth the money in the event that.

Source: http://www.professorratzhole.com/windows-pc-registry-cleaner-and-tool-reviews.html

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Source: http://lyons7166.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/computers-and-technology-windows-pc-registry-cleaner-and-tool.html

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Russian farmer takes on corrupt officials

YARABAIKASY, Russia (AP) ? When Eduard Mochalov tried to have the people who stole his cattle and pig farm brought to justice, he spent eight months in jail on charges he says were cooked up. He appealed to Vladimir Putin and even set himself on fire outside the Kremlin in protest, but still couldn't draw attention to his cause as his farm slowly fell into disrepair.

Now, Mochalov has found a new life as a crusading journalist investigating corruption in his native region, fueled by tips from disgruntled businessmen and government workers. Undeterred by a system where the law is selectively used to protect the powerful and crack down on critics, Mochalov has quickly earned cult status ? not to mention the ire of countless local officials ? throughout the small province of Chuvashia.

Roughly once a month, he publishes a free newspaper called Vzyatka, or The Bribe, which rails against what it calls "Chuvash kingpins" who steal from the province's budget. Headlines include "The governor of Chuvashia's family business" and "If nobody's been found guilty, that means they're already in power." The paper has proved so popular that with a print run of 20,000 he has trouble meeting demand.

While official corruption has been rife in Russia since czarist times, frustrations over such graft have skyrocketed under President Putin's rule. Twenty-nine percent of Russians believe that civil servants only care about using public funds to enrich themselves, a more than nine-fold increase since Putin took power in 2000, according to the Levada Center, an independent polling agency.

Corruption was a key motivation behind the unprecedented series of huge protests against Putin in Moscow last winter and spring, and remains a key rallying point for the opposition. Recently, the Kremlin has attempted to siphon off popular anger by launching a major crackdown on corruption, which has cost several high-level officials their jobs.

In Chuvashia, a sleepy rural region 650 kilometers (400 miles) east of Moscow best known for its felt boots, Mochalov devotes all his energy to campaigning against local corruption. That makes him unusual in Russia, especially in the provinces, where few journalists seriously investigate officials and those who do frequently face violent reprisal.

Chuvashia is one of the three most corrupt regions in Russia, according to the country's top investigative agency, but few cases make it to court. Officials in Chuvashia did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this story.

"If they brought charges based on my investigations, they'd have to arrest the entire provincial government," said Mochalov, as what remained of his abandoned hog barn's roof crumbled around him.

What started as an attempt to end the legal struggles over his farm has become an all-consuming mission. The newspaper's high costs ? each print run costs 100,000 rubles ($3,150) ? have essentially forced Mochalov to give up his farm: He sold all his livestock and equipment years ago, and rents out some of the buildings to local services like banks and post offices.

The rest lack heat and electricity, if they are still standing at all. One barn is filled with rotting bales of hay; a corrugated iron shed next to it has nearly collapsed.

The change was a dramatic one for Mochalov, who left school at 16 and now at 38 sports the thickly callused hands of a provincial farmer, and has a gap-toothed grin. He once employed 150 workers from 11 surrounding villages and ran a thriving concern trading in pigs, cows, sheep and horses.

But seven years ago, Mochalov says, he failed to pay a policeman as big a bribe as he wanted. Shortly afterward, men burst into his office with armed guards and presented tax papers supposedly showing that Mochalov had sold them the farm. When he filed a legal appeal, prosecutors filed charges against him instead, accusing him of having obtained credit illegally to buy the farm.

After spending eight months in jail awaiting trial, Mochalov was released on time served and later succeeded in restoring his legal ownership. By then, however, the farm had already fallen into disrepair.

Mochalov set about trying to bring the raiders to justice. First he tried the legal route, but to no avail. Appeals to Putin and the government also produced nothing. Then he staged protests, including the 2007 Kremlin fire stunt, which caused little physical harm aside from a few scars on his hands. The disused barn where he stores newspapers is full of banners left over from demonstrations imploring pro-Kremlin political parties to "help us fight corruption."

He put his faith in Dmitry Medvedev, who served as president from 2004 to 2008 when Putin had to step aside because of term limits ? but was soon disappointed.

"He promised to crack down on corruption when he was elected, and I believed him!" laughs Mochalov. "I've never considered myself a member of the opposition. It's about sorting out what's wrong with our country ? it's plagued by corruption."

Russia is considered to be one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Russia 143rd out of 183 countries, level with Nigeria and below Pakistan.

The Levada survey that showed a dramatic jump in public perceptions of official greed polled 1,559 people in person over five days in June; it had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percent.

Mochalov puts the newspaper together in a pokey office smelling of stale varnish at the back of a truck repair shop. He prints it in a neighboring province, since no printer in Chuvashia will go near it. He has only two colleagues, a journalist and a village woman who helps hand the paper out at factories, and he writes many of the articles himself under pseudonyms.

To his frustration, however, no charges have been filed against the officials exposed in The Bribe. Russian officials frequently turn a blind eye to corruption stories in the press.

The Bribe has nonetheless struck a chord in Chuvashia, whose president earlier this year proposed creating a blacklist of print media "that write untruths." Several officials mentioned in the newspaper have sued him for damaging their reputation. In court, Mochalov, who says he cannot afford a lawyer, defends himself by insisting proceedings be carried out in his native Chuvash language and storming out.

"All of the government knows about what he's writing," Alexei Glukhov, a local human rights activist, said. "So they try to make him look like a crazy village person who sets himself on fire, and Eduard favors the poetic aspect over the legal side. He has his own, idiosyncratic way of doing things."

In a sense, Mochalov has always been something of a performer. He began his campaign to get his farm back by blocking off a highway with tractors. Earlier this year he spent 15 days in jail for throwing eggs at government buildings at a protest.

That unusual style is earning him fans far and wide. Last month, he traveled to Moscow to meet Alexei Navalny, one of the main leaders of the opposition, who made his name through his own efforts to expose corruption in the government and state-owned companies. In messages posted on Twitter, Navalny described Mochalov and his journalist assistant as "incredibly cool people" and "real heroes," and wondered how he has "managed not to get whacked yet."

Mochalov says he is undeterred by any possible reprisal, legal or otherwise. Recently, prosecutors began to investigate a seemingly innocuous article about the Chuvash language for allegedly inciting racial hatred, although no charges have been filed. He also shrugs off the threat of physical violence. Russia is the ninth most dangerous country in the world to be a journalist, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based watchdog. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, 53 journalists have been murdered.

More importantly for Mochalov, however, is the newspaper's continued popularity. Demand has been so great that he is considering charging to help cover its increasing costs. When he set up a makeshift stall at a market on a recent snowy afternoon, he was quickly surrounded by people who made off with several copies at a time. After 15 minutes he had given away several hundred.

"The people have had it with all these corrupt people in power," Mochalov said, grinning. "They want to know the truth."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-farmer-takes-corrupt-officials-071917323.html

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EU leaders stake out positions over budget

British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks with journalists as he arrives for an EU summit at the EU Council building in Brussels on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. EU leaders begin what is expected to be a marathon summit on the budget for the years 2014-2020. The meeting could last through Saturday and break up with no result and lots of finger-pointing. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks with journalists as he arrives for an EU summit at the EU Council building in Brussels on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. EU leaders begin what is expected to be a marathon summit on the budget for the years 2014-2020. The meeting could last through Saturday and break up with no result and lots of finger-pointing. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso jestures toward journalists as he arrives for an EU summit at the EU Council building in Brussels on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. EU leaders begin what is expected to be a marathon summit on the budget for the years 2014-2020. The meeting could last through Saturday and break up with no result and lots of finger-pointing. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

CORRECTS DESCRIPTION IN CAPTION A giant chocolate euro coin is seen in a shop in Brussels on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. EU leaders begin what is expected to be a marathon summit on the budget for the years 2014-2020. The meeting could last through Saturday and break up with no result and lots of finger-pointing. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

People walk in front of an information office outside of an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. Leaders from around Europe are arriving in Brussels Thursday for what promises to be a turbulent summit on the budget for the 27-country European Union. And for once, Britain will be at the heart of the debate. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

BRUSSELS (AP) ? European leaders were staking out their strong positions as they gathered Thursday for what promises to be a turbulent and lengthy summit on the 7-year budget for the 27-country European Union.

In a battle pitting several wealthy member states against those seeking a bigger aid budget, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron led the charge for those demanding a reduction in the financial clout ? and political sway ? of the EU's institutions.

As he arrived for a preliminary meeting with Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council of the 27 heads of state and government, Cameron said he was not happy with the latest budget proposals.

"These are very important negotiations," Cameron said. "And clearly, at a time when we're making difficult decisions at home over public spending, it would be quite wrong ? it is quite wrong ? for there to be proposals for this increased extra spending in the EU. So we're going to be negotiating very hard for a good deal for Britain's taxpayers and for Europe's taxpayers, and to keep the British rebate."

Facing an ever more vocal Euroskeptic electorate at home, Cameron is under huge pressure to veto any seven-year deal which would exceed the old 2007-2013 ?1 trillion ($1.28 trillion) budget.

The budget primarily funds programs to spur growth in the bloc's less developed regions and farming and amounts to about 1 percent of the EU's gross domestic product.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, backs more spending, arguing that cross-border initiatives will help to create the economic growth and jobs that the bloc of a half-billion people needs.

Cameron is the main proponent ? alongside the Netherlands, Sweden and, to a certain extent Germany ? for imposing limits on EU spending. He will demand a real cut in the EU budget, claiming that is the only justifiable outcome at a time when almost every member state has to cut its budget to lower debt.

Those opposing cuts to the budget say that European institutions need the means to implement their policies, which include creating jobs and economic growth, helping development in many southern and eastern nations, and closing the wealth gap between member states.

"Certain countries want to make drastic reductions in the budget. That's a big mistake," said Elio Di Rupo, Belgium's prime minister.

Sixteen of the EU's most financially and economically vulnerable countries have joined forces to oppose cuts to funds earmarked for economic growth and development. These countries include not only traditionally poorer member states, many in Eastern Europe, but also those hit hardest by the financial crisis, like Greece, Portugal and Spain.

Going into the open-ended summit, which might well stretch into Saturday, Van Rompuy made a first compromise proposal that leaned toward Cameron's demands. It proposes a cut of between ?3 billion ($4 billion) and ?24 billion ($31 billion), depending on how the figures are read.

"With less money, we cannot do the same as before," Van Rompuy wrote in the invitation letter he sent to the 27 leaders.

Since each of the 27 member states has veto power over the budget, the outcome is a cliffhanger.

Leaders from Denmark in the north to Spain and Italy down south have already threatened vetoes, sometimes for opposing reasons.

If the summit fails to find a compromise, the issue could spill over into a new meeting next month, or into next year. There is no set deadline for a deal but the closer it gets to 2014, the tougher it will be for a smooth introduction of new programs. If there is no deal up to 2014, there would be a rollover of the 2013 budget plus a 2 percent increase accounting for inflation.

___

Don Melvin and Carlo Piovano contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-11-22-EU-Budget%20Summit/id-04c8c1f3e88e452db6c85d78459ddd11

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