Which Emotions Have the Most Impact on Voters? | Psychology Today

Most Voters Are Driven by Emotions, Which Include Emotional Reactions to the Issues.

I often hear complaints about the fact that so many voters are deciding who to vote for based on emotion rather than rational responses to the issues. However, this is not an all-or-nothing situation with some voters making decisions purely for rational reasons while others decide only for emotional reasons. The truth is that just about all voters, including the most well-informed amongst us, have emotional responses to issues. If we didn?t, we probably wouldn?t bother to vote.

If You Care Deeply About an Issue, You are Also Emotional About It!

When we think about the issues that matter most to us, we are likely to have intense emotional reactions to different stances on these topics. If you care about gay marriage, you will be happy imagining a time where any gay couple has the same legal rights as any straight couple. If you are against gay marriage, you probably smile at the thought of a world where no gay couple can get married. However, emotions may be even stronger on the negative side. For example, if you are pro-life, the idea of legalized abortions being available to anyone with an unwanted pregnancy probably infuriates you. In contrast, if you are pro-choice, hearing politicians talking about abolishing Roe v. Wade is likely to make you very upset. You can take just about any issue you are care deeply about, and thinking about an outcome that goes against what you hope for will likely get you very upset. That is not so bad as emotions, and particularly negative emotions like fear and anger are what drive many people to volunteer, make donations and, of course, vote!

Negative Emotional Reactions May Have the Most Influence. Why?

Generally, avoiding pain motivates people more than seeking pleasure (Tversky and Kahneman 1991). Most voters find it intensely painful to imagine their least favorite candidate winning the election.They could experience disappointment, worry, fear, sadness, anger or any combination of these if the candidate they don't want in the White House wins the election. Such emotions are very effective in motivating people to vote. Indeed, when I hear people on both sides talk about the candidates, I notice that people seem far more heated and passionate when they talk about the candidate they do not plan to vote for than when they talk about preferred candidate. The candidates themselves both seem to be aware of this. My favorite example of using negative feelings about the opponent to encourage voting came from a speech President Obama gave in late August, after crowds had just booed something about his opponent, Obama famously said, ?Don?t boo. Vote!" (click to see video clip from speech).

The Media Often Stresses the Negatives More Than The Positives.

A recent New York Times article repoted that 80% of ads put out for Obama and 85% of ads put out for Romney have been negative. If we pay attention to social media, partucularly Facebook, Twitter and Google+, there seem to be far more negative comments about each candidate than positive comments. Similarly, in the mainstream media, it seems that we hear far more criticism of Obama than praise for Romney on Fox News and far more negative comments on Romney than praise for Obama on MSNBC. Even CNN (considered to be relatively neutral) seems to pay more attention to the political gaffes of each candidate than to their political triumphs. It could be that the gaffes are more interesting, or perhaps there are more gaffes than triumphs to cover. However, if you add to the mix the many comedians who have either covered the election or impersonated one or more of the candidates, you end up with a strong sense that we are paying more attention to the perceived weaknesses and even failings of each candidate than to their strengths or successes. That may not be a bad thing. Indeed, since avoiding pain is a stronger motivator than seeking pleasure, a focus on the negative side of each candidate may mean more people actually show up to vote!

Emotions Aren?t Always About Self-Interest!

When we think about the issues that matter most to us, we are likely to have intense emotional reactions to different stances on these topics. It is important to note that many of us get emotional about issues, even if we are not personally affected by them. For example, quite a few voters who are no longer fertile are still very committed to female reproductive rights. There are also many heterosexual voters who are passionate about promoting equal rights for gay Americans, and white males who are committed to affirmative action. There are even very wealthy Americans making donations to political candidates who will increase their own taxes. This includes the two wealthiest people in the country, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. Similarly, many voters have secure jobs with excellent health insurance benefits, but are still very emotionally committed to public options for healthcare.

On the other side of the political divide, there are Americans without health insurance who are passionately against having a public option or any other type of healthcare reform (e.g. ?ObamaCare?). In short, when Americans vote, volunteer or make contributions to a campaign, it is often for emotional reasons, not because it will improve their personal bottom line.

So Embrace All Your Emotions, Even the Negative Ones! Then, Go Vote!

Emotion often gets a bad rap. The fact that emotion drives much of voting is not a bad thing. Emotion drives the passion that leads people to volunteer, make personal donations to causes they care about, and deal with the hassle of voting. So don?t feel bad about not being purely rational. Get emotional, get involved, and vote!

References

Tversky Amos and Kahneman Daniel (1991), "Loss Aversion in Riskless Choice: A Reference-Dependent Model." The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 106, No. 4 (November), pp. 1039-1061.

Hunt, Albert R. (October 14, 2012). "Media Share Blame for Negative Ads," The New York Times (Bloomberg News).

Prior Posts on the Psychology of the 2012 Presidential Election (click to view)

The Upside of Voter Irrationality: Irrational Voters Can be a Good Thing

Which Debates Have the Most Impact & Why We Watch Debates

Why Romney was Wrong about that 47%. Some May Actually Vote For Him

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Source: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-money-and-your-heart/201210/which-emotions-have-the-most-impact-voters

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In 2 murder cases, mothers turn in their own sons

This booking photo provided by the Westminster, Colo., Police Department shows Austin Reed Sigg, 17, who has been arrested in the abduction and killing of a 10-year-old girl and the attempted kidnapping of a runner. Police say they arrested Sigg at his Westminster home Tuesday night, about five miles from the home of Jessica Ridgeway, who disappeared Oct. 5. Her body was found five days later in a field at a park. The break comes two days after police said Jessica's abduction was linked to the attempted abduction in May of a 22-year-old runner at another park. (AP Photo/Westminster Police Department)

This booking photo provided by the Westminster, Colo., Police Department shows Austin Reed Sigg, 17, who has been arrested in the abduction and killing of a 10-year-old girl and the attempted kidnapping of a runner. Police say they arrested Sigg at his Westminster home Tuesday night, about five miles from the home of Jessica Ridgeway, who disappeared Oct. 5. Her body was found five days later in a field at a park. The break comes two days after police said Jessica's abduction was linked to the attempted abduction in May of a 22-year-old runner at another park. (AP Photo/Westminster Police Department)

This image provided by the Westminster Colorado Police Department shows Jessica Ridgeway, who went missing on her way to school on Oct. 5. A body found in a suburban Denver park was identified Friday, Oct. 12, 2012, as that of the missing 10-year-old girl, as anxious parents kept close watch over their children because of the potential presence of a predator in their midst, authorities said. (AP Photo/Westminster Colorado Police Department)

Public Defenders Mitch Ahnstedt, left, Ryan Loewer, Katherine Spengler and investigator Megan McKinlay, right, leave the courtroom after a hearing for Austin Reed Sigg, 17, the suspect in connection with the death of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Golden, Colo., on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012. Ridgeway disappeared Oct. 5 after leaving home for school. Her remains were found 5 days later. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

Forensic team members look for evidence as Westminster police serve a search warrant at the home of Austin Reed Sigg related to the kidnapping and murder of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway in Westminster, Colo., Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Police in Westminster say a Tuesday phone call led them to the home of 17-year-old Sigg. Police took Sigg into custody Tuesday night and officially arrested him Wednesday Jessica's death and in a May attack on a 22-year-old woman. (AP Photo/The Denver Post, Joe Amon) MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT

A Westminster Police Officer is surrounded by police vehicles at the home of Austin Reed Sigg, 17, where investigators spent the second day gathering evidence in Westminster, Colo., on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012. Sigg is the suspect arrested in connection with the death of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway who disappeared Oct. 5 after leaving home for school. Her remains were found 5 days later. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) ? Mindy Sigg sat sobbing, listening to prosecutors tell a court that her 17-year-old son had confessed to the abduction and killing of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway.

While any mother would be devastated, there was an even more heartbreaking wrinkle for Sigg: She was the one who called police.

It was not the only high-profile case this week in which a mother made that painful choice. In New Jersey, Anita Saunders saw something on a Facebook page that led her to call police.

Her two sons, ages 15 and 17, are now charged with murdering 12-year-old Autumn Pasquale, a bike-lover who authorities said was lured to their home with the promise of new parts.

What does it feel like to turn in your child, knowing they could be sentenced to many years in prison? Surely, no one knows but those who've done it.

But a main motivation, according to one criminologist, is simply a desire to do the right thing.

"These are law-abiding people, pro-social people," said Kathleen Heide, professor of criminology at the University of South Florida. "And besides doing the right thing, the parents often want to get their children help."

What they often aren't aware of, though, are the full ramifications in terms of likely punishment.

"If these are cases of first- or second-degree murder, in most cases the kids will be charged as adults," Heide said. "This means they can be sentenced to life in prison."

In both cases, authorities are deciding whether to prosecute the suspects as adults.

Certainly not all parents are ready to turn in their kids. One high-profile case from the 1990s, in fact, resulted in strains between the United States and Israel, when a father helped his teenage son escape this country after a particularly brutal murder in Maryland. The son, Samuel Sheinbein, confessed and is now serving a 24-year sentence in Israel ? a lighter term than he likely would have gotten in the United States.

Mindy Sigg made a different decision. Reached by phone on Wednesday, she told The Associated Press: "I made the phone call, and he turned himself in. That's all I have to say." Then she broke down in tears.

Her son Austin Reed Sigg made his first court appearance Thursday in the death of Jessica and in a separate attack on a 22-year-old runner, who managed to break free, in May.

Prosecutors say he has confessed in both cases, and investigators have overwhelming DNA evidence against him. He was ordered held without bail; prosecutors are expected to formally charge him next week.

Sigg's father, Rob Sigg, issued a written statement Thursday commending his ex-wife's decision and asking for prayers and support for the Ridgeway family.

"This horrible event is a tragedy for both the families, as well as the community. I ask also for your prayers and support for Austin's mother, whose courageous act ? unimaginably painful for any parent ? has put this tragedy on the path to resolution," he said. "I am hopeful that as the legal process unfolds, the Ridgeway family may come to know peace."

Peg Claspell, who lives near the Siggs, said she was grateful to the mother for her decision and called it the "most loving, difficult thing."

"I can't imagine the pain for her, and she's in my prayers," Claspell said. "She has a long and difficult time ahead of her."

Claspell's husband, Tom, struggled when asked if he would turn in a child. "I can say yes, but I don't know if I would. It would be a very hard thing to do," he said, explaining it would depend on the severity of the crime.

In a case like this, "I probably would," he said.

In the New Jersey case, Justin Robinson, 15, and Dante Robinson, 17, have been charged with murder and other counts in the death of 12-year-old Autumn, whose body was found Monday stuffed in a recycling bin only blocks from her home in Clayton.

An autopsy found the seventh-grader suffered blunt force trauma consistent with strangulation.

The boys are due in court Friday for a hearing to determine if they will remain in custody.

What's rare about both cases, said Heide, the criminologist, is that boys of this age rarely kill girls, especially girls so young. "Usually boys this age kill other males, and in their own age cohort," she said.

Jessica disappeared three weeks ago after leaving her home in the Denver suburb of Westminster to walk to school. She never arrived. Her remains were found on Oct. 10. Sigg was taken into custody late Tuesday after police received the mother's phone call. He lived about a mile from Jessica.

Sigg wore a blue-green jail uniform and had a light goatee when he appeared in a heavily guarded courtroom in Golden.

Four of his family members were seated in the court, and they sobbed at times during the hearing.

When District Judge Ann Gail Meinster asked Sigg if a parent was present, he said "Yes" and looked toward his relatives. He then mostly sat with his head bowed.

Seven of Jessica's family members sat in the courtroom with their arms around each other. Sigg glanced in their direction just once.

Public defender Ryan Loewer had argued for setting bail for Sigg, saying he has no prior criminal history. Prosecutor Hal Sargent said Sigg had confessed and investigators had a strong case.

"There's DNA evidence, and the evidence is overwhelming," he said.

After the hearing, Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey said prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty for Sigg because he is a minor.

Storey said the law is unclear on whether Sigg could be sentenced to life in prison.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that the death penalty was unconstitutional for minors. Colorado law allows for life sentences for juveniles convicted of serious crimes, but it would be up to a judge to determine whether that's appropriate, Storey said.

Storey declined to discuss the possibility that Sigg might enter an insanity plea.

Former high school classmates painted a picture of Sigg as an intelligent teen who often wore black and complained about school but who would stay late sometimes to work on computers. Sigg was interested in mortuary science and was taking forensics classes, said Rachel Bradley, 17, who attended Standley Lake High School with him.

Sigg enrolled in August at Arapahoe Community College, which offers the state's only accredited mortuary science program. He didn't have enough credits yet to apply to that program.

Sigg had left Standley Lake High in July after finishing the 11th grade and later earned a GED. School officials don't know why he left.

Former schoolmate Sarah Morevec said Sigg had been bullied for having a high voice.

___

Noveck contributed from New York. Associated Press writers Dan Elliott and Kristen Wyatt in Denver contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-10-26-School%20Girl%20Slain-Court/id-1d55ad4a4d6743f6a6db4255f1b0b862

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Media Release 6 ? Social Security Bill Will Punish Responsible ...

Media Release ? Social Security Bill Will Punish Responsible Parents Who ?Can?t Be Bought?

October 25, 2012

Palmerston North, NZ ? The Home Education Foundation (HEF) of New Zealand is calling on politicians to reject the onerous ?social obligations? contained in the new Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill. The Bill, which is currently being considered by a select committee, threatens to slash benefits by 50% and instigate CYFS involvement and fraud investigation for parents who fail to comply with the obligations.

?The social obligations will force beneficiary parents to send their children to an approved Early Childhood Education (ECE) provider from the age of three, prohibit home education unless it?s ?unreasonable? for the child to attend school, and compel registration of children with a GP and attendance at all the core Well Child checks,? says HEF National Director Barbara Smith.

?Even worse, the sanctions for parents who refuse to comply will involve a 50% benefit sanction followed by ?intensified case management support? which according to the Ministry of Social Development means CYFS involvement and fraud investigation.?

Mrs Smith believes that the new requirements will affect only those parents who are committed to making independent, responsible choices for their families.

?There is nothing more valuable on this planet than children. And most parents understand what a responsibility this is. They know their children are made in God?s image and that they have a duty to make the right decisions for them.?

This means making informed decisions, even unpopular decisions. But in forcing parents to choose between benefit money and the government?s child-rearing programme, the new bill rewards mindless conformity.

?This new bill has it totally backwards. It is the parents who value their money more than their children that everyone should be and claims to be concerned about. Because that kind of parent can be bought. They don?t really care about their children at all.

?Yet this is precisely the kind of parent that the government wants to have and reward, while claiming the opposite. They are specifically and unapologetically targeting those parents who refuse to be bought with government benefits, who are willing to take a 50% benefit cut in order to retain the right to make their own decisions.?

This will only promote irresponsible parenting, Mrs Smith argues. ?Instead of investigating parents who refuse to sell their children to the government for the sake of a little extra money, the Ministry for Social Development ought to investigate those parents who are willing to conform. Those parents who refuse to sell their children become the ?criminals?, while those who sell their children are the good guys.

?It is diabolically hypocritical.

?God gave my children to me, not to the government. I will not sell them for a bowl of soup. Let them keep their money.?

Mrs Smith encourages all concerned Kiwis to make a submission to the Select Committee by the deadline on November 1. Ms Bennett?s letter and materials for writing a submission can be found at www.hef.org.nz.

About the Home Education Foundation

The Home Education Foundation has been informing parents for 27 years about the fantastic opportunity to de-institutionalise our sons and daughters and to embrace the spiritual, intellectual and academic freedom that is ours for the taking. Through conferences, journals, newsletters and all kinds of personal communications, we explain the vision of handcrafting each child into a unique individual, complete with virtuous character, a hunger for service to others, academic acumen and a strong work ethic. For more information, please visit www.hef.org.nz or more specifically hef.org.nz/2012/make-a-submission-reject-compulsory-early-education-for-3-year-olds/

Already appeared:

Scoop: Social Security Bill Will Punish Responsible Parents

Voxy: Social Security Bill will ?punish responsible parents?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related Links:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Needing help for your home schooling journey:

http://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

http://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

http://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational:
http://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

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Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill

http://hef.org.nz/2012/make-a-submission-reject-compulsory-early-education-for-3-year-olds/

Source: http://hef.org.nz/2012/media-release-6-social-security-bill-will-punish-responsible-parents-who-cant-be-bought/

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The Thredbo Mountain Bike Boom Begins. | Thredbo ...

The Thredbo Mountain Bike Boom Begins.

Mountain Biking in Thredbo has just turned the corner. Until now the resort operator Kosciusko Thredbo (KT), ?has only had an?arms-length?involvement with mountain biking, providing the chairlift access and direction on where and how people can ride on the mountain. ?The ?daily operation and much of the trail?development?has been left to?independent?operators like South East Mountain Biking and before them Raw NRG. ?These operators have done some great things with the sport in Thredbo but they have never had the resources or the capacity to take the trail development to the next level. ? That all changed this week when ?KT officially took over the operation of Mountain Bike activities in the resort and they have big plans. ?Operating as Thredbo MTB ?they have already engaged ?a world renowned Mountain Bike trail builder, ??World Trails? to produce ?a Mountain Bike Concept ?plan for the resort ?that will see the ?trail network expand dramatically ?into a world class trail network that make Thredbo an Iconic Mountain Bike destination. ? ? This summer we will see the first wave of this new trail?development?with the opening of ?a brand new ??Flow? track. ?The Flow track will make it ? possible for any competent mountain biker to ride the Chairlift and enjoy downhill riding on the mountain without having to face some of the more technical challenges that have kept the experts coming back. Thredbo MTB will continue to the run ?Mountain bike events ?in the village as well as the services needed to keep bikes rolling so ?South East Mountain Biking?s ?Dynamic Duo Tim Windshuttle and Danny Taliana ?will be ?back to run these operations for ?Thredbo MTB and ensure that the new venture gets off to a great start. ?Thredbo MTB already has the following ?events locked in for the coming season:

1. ?Round #5 ?of the NSW State Championships; 17th & 18th Nov
2. Round #2 National MTB Series Championships; 8th ? 10th Feb 2013
3. Australian MTB Interschool?s; 15th ? 17th Mar 2013

Back to Lantern News

Source: http://www.lanternapartments.com.au/2012/10/24/the-thredbo-mountain-bike-boom-begins/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-thredbo-mountain-bike-boom-begins

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Looking At Different Business Home Internet Marketing Opportunities

Looking At Different Business Home Internet Marketing Opportunities

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Summary:
If you are interested in making money from home, you should know that there are many different business home internet marketing opportunity factors that should come into play. First of all, when you are looking for home business or internet marketing opportunities that you are interested in, you should keep several things in mind. The first thing that you should keep in mind is that not every business/home internet marketing opportunity is going to be the same, because there ...

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Article Body:
If you are interested in making money from home, you should know that there are many different business home internet marketing opportunity factors that should come into play. First of all, when you are looking for home business or internet marketing opportunities that you are interested in, you should keep several things in mind. The first thing that you should keep in mind is that not every business/home internet marketing opportunity is going to be the same, because there are many different opportunities that you might want to thing about in many different areas.

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You want to make sure that your business home internet marketing opportunity is one that you could stand to do for quite some time. This is because as you et the chance to do more and more, you internet marketing business is going to grow, and you are going to have to keep in going. This means that the business home internet marketing opportunity that you are starting up has to be something that you want to do for the long term.

The other thing that you should keep in mind when you are talking about a business home internet marketing opportunity is that you have to be able to have a way to make money.? Your business home internet marketing opportunity has to be something that you want to do but also that will make you money.

There are also other things that you should keep in mind when you are thinking about different business home internet marketing opportunity propositions that you might come across. The most important is that you can find something to do that is interesting to you. It has to be something that you are interested in because it cannot be something that will bore you or make you uninterested.

So, when you are looking at the business home internet marketing opportunity that comes your way, you have to be sure that you first of all are interested in the proposition. You also have to be sure that you have a way to make money from the business home internet marking opportunity, and also you have to be sure that you are willing to do the internet marketing business for quite some time.

When you have brought all of these things in to play, there are many chances for you to find a home internet marketing opportunity of a business. There will be many chances for you to find these online, and they can be chances that you might want to take because they will give you money and they will give you security for the future. These are all things that you should keep in mind when you are looking at the different business home internet marketing opportunities that might come your way. Remember that this could be something you do for a long time.

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Source: http://articulosdenegocios.blogspot.com/2012/10/looking-at-different-business-home.html

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New super-camera turned on enigmatic ancient writing

Joanne Carver, reporter

(Images: University of Oxford)

High-definition imaging still has a cutting-edge ring to it, but it could bring us the solution to a mystery that's been puzzling scholars for nearly as long as scholars have existed. With the newly developed Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) system, we can examine ancient artefacts better than ever before - which means there's a chance at deciphering at last an engimatic script from 5000 years ago.

Proto-Elamite is the world's oldest undeciphered script, used between 3200 and 3000 BC in what is now Iran. Although it has some similarities with Mesopotamian, 80 to 90 per cent of it isn't understood.

"I have spent the past 10 years trying to decipher the proto-Elamite writing system and, with this new technology, I think we are finally on the point of making a breathrough," said Jacob Dahl of the University of Oxford, a co-leader of the Cuneiform Digital Library.

The RTI, developed by researchers at the University of Oxford and the University of Southampton, UK, is essentially a dome with 76 lights and a camera at the top (see above). After placing a manuscript or artefact in the centre, the object is photographed 76 times, each time with just one of the lights on. Afterward, the images are merged and uploaded to the Cuneiform Digital Library website for free access. The finished image allows observers to virtually move light across the object and better see the subtle differences hidden by shadow or light in ordinary photographs.

"The quality of the images captured is incredible," Dali said. "And it is important to remember that you cannot decipher a writing system without having reliable images because you will, for example, overlook differences barely visible to the naked eye which may have meaning."

The Louvre museum in Paris, France, has allowed the RTI team access to its 1100 proto-Elamite tablets. More scholars will now be able to access and study them, and the hope is that they will crack the code. Then, we'll all be forced to admit that high definition has advanced the human race.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/24cb48b6/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cshortsharpscience0C20A120C10A0Cnew0Esuper0Ecamera0Eturned0Eon0Eeni0Bhtml0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

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Draghi enters lion's den to sell bond-buying plan

BERLIN (Reuters) - European Central Bank President Mario Draghi faces a two-hour grilling on Wednesday from German lawmakers who fear his bond-buying plan to ease the region's debt crisis could fuel inflation and undermine the ECB's cherished independence.

Unveiled in early September, Draghi's Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) program is designed to prop up wobbling euro states such as Spain by reducing their borrowing costs.

It has already contributed to an easing of the euro zone's crippling three-year crisis, but German critics say it violates an ECB taboo on financing governments, taking the bank into dangerous new territory.

"What the ECB is doing at the moment has nothing to do with its mandate," said Klaus-Peter Willsch, a lawmaker from Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), who will attend Draghi's closed-door appearance before members of the Finance, Budget and European affairs committees of the Bundestag.

"I want to hear from Mr. Draghi how he can reconcile unlimited bond purchases with the bank's price stability objective," said Willsch, a leading critic of Europe's bailouts.

Draghi is not the first ECB president to appear in Germany's lower house of parliament. His French predecessor Jean-Claude Trichet, along with former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, briefed lawmakers in April 2010 on the details of the first financial bailout for Greece.

But the session, which will include 10-minute introductory remarks from Draghi followed by a lengthy Q&A and then short public statements from Draghi and Bundestag President Norbert Lammert, is a rarity.

The ECB was designed to be fully independent, and its president is not answerable to politicians. Wednesday's briefing is only taking place because Draghi offered to explain his policies in Berlin after they triggered uproar at the end of the summer.

His appearance underscores how important it is for him to keep politicians in Europe's biggest economy on-side amid the broader German backlash.

Jens Weidmann, the head of Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, opposed his plan, as did Germany's conservative media. One ally of Merkel's dismissed Draghi as a "Falschmuenzer", or forger, after he went public with OMT.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

The exchanges are likely to be more polite on Wednesday. Merkel, many of her conservative allies and opposition parties like the Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens have voiced support for the Italian ECB chief's program, but there are still many unanswered questions he will be pressed on.

"Mr. Draghi has made clear that bond purchases can only take place under certain conditions," said Priska Hinz, a budget expert for the Greens. "We will want to know what kind of aid program and conditionality he sees as prerequisites."

This is crucial for Spain, which has resisted putting in a formal request for state aid, in part because of concerns it will be forced to put in place painful new economic reforms in exchange.

Many of Merkel's allies are resistant to a Spanish rescue because they fear it would trigger "unlimited" bond buys by Draghi's ECB.

"I expect the big questions to be about Spain," said Guntram Wolff, deputy director of the Brussels-based Bruegel think-tank and a former Bundesbank economist.

"There is a lot of opposition to a program for Spain. They are against it because they fear it would open the floodgates at the ECB. The concerns run very deep, also in the SPD."

Norbert Barthle, a budget expert for Merkel's CDU, said his colleagues were also likely to press Draghi about plans to give the ECB new responsibilities for supervising banks across Europe. Many lawmakers want assurances that this will not interfere with the bank's core monetary policy task.

But amid the concerns, there was general agreement that Draghi had done the right thing in offering to explain his policies at a time when many citizens in Europe feel momentous decisions are being taken without their input.

"One of the big problems of Europe is that European institutions only talk to voters through national governments," said Wolff. "So it's important to have a direct link to the people, and this is a step in that direction."

(Reporting by Noah Barkin; Editing by Will Waterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/draghi-enters-lions-den-sell-bond-buying-plan-000344341--business.html

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Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt's Kids Cast in 'Maleficent'

It sounds like Angelina Jolie's star vehicle Maleficent is becoming a true family affair. First Jolie and Brad Pitt's 4-year-old daughter Vivienne Jolie-Pitt was cast as the young Aurora (teen Aurora will be played by Elle Fanning), and now two more of the couple's famous brood will be in the ensemble as well.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/angelina-jolie-and-brad-pitts-children-cast-maleficent/1-a-496142?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Aangelina-jolie-and-brad-pitts-children-cast-maleficent-496142

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5 Lessons of Benghazi

Communication failed (and is still failing).

The Obama Administration has been under attack by the Romney campaign and others who?ve alleged that the government misinformed the public by claiming the attacks ware part of a spontaneous demonstration against an anti-Islamic film rather than a "terrorist attack." But more recent accounts seem to demonstrate that administration officials, like Ambassador Susan Rice, weren?t aware of some intelligence intercepts until several days after her initial remarks. And that?s the really troubling fact: that the intelligence community reportedly needed days to vet those intercepts, which revealed the true nature of the attacks. Why isn?t such information passed on immediately? It was lack of information sharing among federal agencies that was highlighted as one of the reasons behind the failure of the U.S. government to prevent attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Eleven years later, Benghazi illustrates that information sharing is still far from perfect.

There should always be a contingency plan.

Press reports now say that a Predator drone was sent to Benghazi during the attack, and was even able to capture live video of the latter part of the battle. While the U.S. military was able to rush those reconnaissance assets to the vicinity, there was apparently no immediate plan for a rescue force. An administration official told ABC News that there were options for getting a military rescue mission to the scene "within 24 hours," but that was apparently not fast enough to prevent the four Americans from being killed.

The consulate didn?t have enough security.

A diplomatic security agent has told Congress that requests for more security at the consulate in Benghazi were rebuffed, a claim denied by a higher-ranking official. "[W]e had the correct number of assets in Benghazi at the time of 9/11 for what had been agreed upon," Charlene Lamb, the deputy assistant secretary of sate, told Congress, in defending the security situation. That answer misses a larger point: whatever had been agreed upon, the embassy clearly did not have the needed level of security. If it had, the attack would likely not have been as deadly.

Prediction is imperfect, but forecasting is possible.

"If people don?t behave, emit a behavior or talk or something else ahead of time to be detected, it?s going to be very hard to predict an exact attack and come up with an exact attack," Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told an audience at a conference earlier this month. Clapper, who blasted the "rehashing" of Benghazi for political purposes, argues that it was impossible to predict the attack. Yet even as more facts come out to support the assertion that the attacks were opportunistic, they also paint a clearer picture of the chaos that consumed Benghazi in the months leading up to the attack. The State Department?s own cables, including those written by Ambassador Stevens, point to a tenuous security situation. It may have been impossible to predict an attack, but it was clearly possible to forecast the likelihood of a major incident.

"Expeditionary diplomacy" has risks.

The idea of sending diplomats, government officials, and experts to areas outside of fortified embassies to further U.S. foreign policy goals has been promoted in recent years as an important part of U.S. presence abroad. But sending representatives of the U.S. government into unstable areas comes with obvious risks. "We need to protect our embassies, consulates, and military advisory groups, but we cannot afford to turn them in to fortresses that lock our diplomats, aid teams, and military on the scene away from events and the people they are trying to influence," wrote Anthony Cordesman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, following the attack on the consulate in Benghazi. Stevens, Cordesman says, was "a man who clearly knew that America?s success required risk taking and action in the field."

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/5-lessons-of-benghazi-14003813?src=rss

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More BBC staff probed on sex claims post-Savile

LONDON (AP) ? A sexual abuse scandal shaking the BBC broadened Tuesday, with the broadcaster's chief saying the corporation was investigating claims of abuse and harassment against as many as 10 former and current staff.

The BBC has been rocked by allegations that longtime children's host Jimmy Savile, who died last year, abused underage teens over several decades, sometimes on BBC premises. Some of the alleged victims have accused other entertainers and BBC staff of participating in abuse during the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

Director-general George Entwistle told British lawmakers Tuesday that the BBC is looking into historical allegations of sexual abuse or harassment against "between eight and 10" past and present employees.

Separately, the BBC press office said it was aware of "nine allegations of sexual harassment, assault or inappropriate conduct" involving current staff or contributors to the BBC, which employs some 20,000 people.

Entwistle said it was too early to say whether sexual abuse had been endemic within Britain's publicly funded national broadcaster, but insisted the BBC would assist police if detectives chose to investigate whether there had been a pedophile ring at the corporation.

Entwistle acknowledged there had been "a problem of culture within the BBC ... a broader cultural problem" that allowed Savile's behavior to go unchecked.

"There is no question that what Jimmy Savile did and the way the BBC behaved ... will raise questions of trust for us and reputation for us," Entwistle said. "This is a gravely serious matter, and one cannot look back at it with anything other than horror."

Entwistle's testimony before the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport committee came a day after the BBC aired a powerful documentary about the corporation's role in the expanding sex abuse scandal involving Savile, who died a year ago at age 84.

Since Savile's death, scores of women and several men have come forward to say the entertainer ? a longtime host of music and children's programs including "Top of the Pops" and "Jim'll Fix It" ? abused them when they were children or teenagers. Police have identified more than 200 potential victims.

The BBC, one of the world's largest and most respected broadcasters, is under fire for failing to stop the abuse and for pulling an expose on Savile from TV schedules at the last minute in December. The sex allegations were later aired on the rival ITV network.

The head of the BBC's "Newsnight" program, Peter Rippon, has been suspended pending an investigation of his decision to scrap the Savile story.

Monday's documentary, which was watched by more than 5 million people, presented the unusual spectacle of BBC journalists grilling their own bosses about why the piece had been dropped.

In an attempt to get to the bottom of the story, the parliamentary committee spent two hours Tuesday questioning Entwistle, who has been in the BBC's top job for just a month, after years in senior news and current affairs roles.

It may also want to question his predecessor, Mark Thompson, who led the organization at the time the "Newsnight" report was yanked. Thompson was appointed chief executive of the New York Times Co. in August and is due to take up the post next month.

He told ITV News that if "the police inquiry or the select committee want to hear from me, of course I'll help in any way I can."

Few public figures have had as spectacular a fall from grace as the cigar-chomping, platinum-haired Savile, who was knighted for his charity fundraising and praised on his death as a popular if eccentric entertainer.

Since the ITV report aired earlier this month, his family has removed and destroyed his gravestone, and two charities named after him have announced they will close.

It is not just the BBC that is under fire. Schools and hospitals associated with Savile's charity work stand accused of letting him abuse young people during visits. And state prosecutors have acknowledged they investigated four abuse allegations against him in 2009, but did not press charges.

Child welfare experts say there is a sadly familiar pattern? seen also in the case of child-molesting Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky or pedophile priests in the Roman Catholic church ? of large organizations failing to act on claims of abuse from young people.

One of the revelations of Monday's documentary was that Rippon had sent an email expressing doubts about the Savile documentary because "our sources so far are just the women" ? Savile's accusers.

Entwistle insisted the BBC was not complacent about sexism, and had hired a senior lawyer to look at how it handles sexual harassment cases.

"I do believe the culture has changed since the '70s and '80s," Entwistle said. "But I'm not convinced it has changed as much as it should have."

He said Savile had been "a very skillful and successful sexual predator who covered his tracks."

"These things are institutionally, it seems, very difficult to deal with," he said.

__________

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

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/more-bbc-staff-probed-sex-claims-post-savile-152927336--finance.html

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South Koreans unhappy that Japan doesn?t adore ?Gangnam Style?

Apparently, not everyone is in love with South Korean singer Psy?s internet smash hit ?Gangnam Style?. While the song has reached epic proportions worldwide, particularly in the US, UK and other parts of Asia, Japan has not embraced the phenomenon and some South Koreans are not too happy about this ?snub?.

It?s not like the Japanese don?t like Korean music. In fact, K-pop is one of the most popular genres in Japan. But the Gangnam fever that has swept through the world (it?s currently No 2 in the Billboard US charts and has topped the UK charts as well) has barely made an impact in Japan. It barely made the Top 30 of the Japanese iTunes chart.

But more than indifference, some Japanese have even treated it with disdain. Some claim that the 530 million YouTube views (and counting) of Psy?s horse-galloping musical romp is actually generated by bots or automated viewing programmes. It has been playfully called ?F5 Style?, in reference to the refresh button on the keyboard.

The Koreans are hitting back though. The Korean Wave Research Institute (KWRI) whose mission is to ?aggressively? promote Korean popular culture worldwide has denounced the ?conspiracy theories? going around. Its president Han Koo-Hyun said they are ?tantamount to doubting a world record in an Olympics marathon?.

There are many theories as to why Gangnam Style hasn?t been well received in Japan. One is that Psy didn?t release a Japanese-language version of the song, which is what K-pop artists usually do to make it big in Japan. For the more political theory, some assume it?s a result of the ongoing territorial dispute between Japan and South Korea over the Takeshima/Dokdo Islands. Well, if it?s the latter, surely there must be bigger problems than a chart-topping dance craze right?

[ via Menafn.com ]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JapanDailyPress/~3/s0m_27yIW7k/south-koreans-unhappy-that-japan-doesnt-adore-gangnam-style-2317100

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McGovern's political career only part of legacy

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) ? George McGovern never slowed down, never stopped working ? not even after losing the 1972 presidential race in a historic landslide that would have politically felled many others.

Instead, he met defeat with humor, once joking that he had wanted to run for president in the worst way ? and that he had done exactly that.

And after he eventually lost his U.S. Senate seat, he still refused to slink away, rather refocusing on his passion for feeding the hungry at home and abroad. He became ambassador to the United Nations' food and agriculture agency, was appointed the first UN Global Ambassador on World Hunger, and co-founded with former Sen. Bob Dole the Food for Education program for children in poverty-stricken countries.

An unapologetic liberal Democrat, he inspired countless others to embrace public service and to care. When his library and museum was dedicated in South Dakota in 2006, McGovern characteristically talked about his work to provide food to poverty-stricken children around the world.

"I want to live long enough to see all of the 300 million school-age kids around the world who are not being fed be given a good nutritional lunch every day," he said.

McGovern never reached that dream, but he inspired others to take up the cause.

"I believe no other presidential candidate ever has had such an enduring impact in defeat," former President Bill Clinton said at the dedication of McGovern's library in Mitchell, S.D. "Senator, the fires you lit then still burn in countless hearts."

A proud liberal who had argued fervently against the Vietnam War as a Democratic senator from South Dakota and three-time candidate for president, McGovern died at 5:15 a.m. Sunday at a Sioux Falls hospice, family spokesman Steve Hildebrand told The Associated Press. McGovern was 90.

McGovern's family said late last week that he had become unresponsive while in hospice care. He died surrounded by relatives and lifelong friends, Hildebrand said.

"We are blessed to know that our father lived a long, successful and productive life advocating for the hungry, being a progressive voice for millions and fighting for peace. He continued giving speeches, writing and advising all the way up to and past his 90th birthday, which he celebrated this summer," the family said in a statement.

A public viewing is planned Thursday at First United Methodist Church in Sioux Falls. Funeral services will be Friday at Mary Sommervold Hall at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science in Sioux Falls.

His daughter, Ann McGovern, has said that she and her family repeatedly suggested that her father lighten his schedule but he refused, insisting on giving talks, working as an adviser and writing even as he entered his ninth decade.

McGovern's candidacy in the 1972 election will forever tie him to the righteous side of Watergate, a scandal that fully unfurled too late to knock Republican President Richard M. Nixon from his place as a commanding favorite for re-election. The South Dakota senator tried to make an issue out of the bungled attempt to wiretap the offices of the Democratic National Committee, calling Nixon the most corrupt president in history.

But McGovern could not escape the embarrassing missteps of his own campaign. The most torturous was the selection of Missouri Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton as the vice presidential nominee and the decision to drop him from the ticket 18 days later, following the disclosure that Eagleton had undergone electroshock therapy for depression. McGovern let his running mate go despite having pledged to back him "1,000 percent."

It was at once the most memorable and the most damaging line of his campaign, and called "possibly the most single damaging faux pas ever made by a presidential candidate" by the late political writer Theodore H. White.

After a hard day's campaigning ? Nixon did virtually none ? McGovern would complain to those around him that nobody was paying attention. With R. Sargent Shriver as his running mate, he went on to carry only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, winning just 38 percent of the popular vote in one of the biggest losses in American presidential history.

"Tom and I ran into a little snag back in 1972 that in the light of my much advanced wisdom today, I think was vastly exaggerated," McGovern said at an event with Eagleton in 2005. Noting that Nixon and his running mate, Spiro Agnew, would both ultimately resign, he joked, "If we had run in '74 instead of '72, it would have been a piece of cake."

A decorated World War II bomber pilot, McGovern said he learned to hate war by waging it. In his disastrous race against Nixon, he promised to end the Vietnam War and cut defense spending by billions of dollars. He helped create the Food for Peace program and spent much of his career believing the United States should be more accommodating to the former Soviet Union.

Never a showman, he made his case with a style as plain as the prairies where he grew up, often sounding more like the Methodist minister he once studied to become than the longtime U.S. senator and three-time candidate for president he became.

And he never shied from the word "liberal," even as other Democrats blanched at the word and Republicans used it as an epithet.

"I am a liberal and always have been," McGovern said in 2001. "Just not the wild-eyed character the Republicans made me out to be."

McGovern's campaign, nevertheless, left a lasting imprint on American politics. Determined not to make the same mistake, presidential nominees have since interviewed and intensely investigated their choices for vice president. Clinton got his start in politics when he signed on as a campaign worker for McGovern in 1972 and is among the legion of Democrats who credit him with inspiring them to pursue public service.

President Barack Obama remembered McGovern in a statement Sunday as "a statesman of great conscience and conviction."

"He signed up to fight in World War II, and became a decorated bomber pilot over the battlefields of Europe," the president said. "When the people of South Dakota sent him to Washington, this hero of war became a champion for peace. And after his career in Congress, he became a leading voice in the fight against hunger."

George Stanley McGovern was born on July 19, 1922, in the small farm town of Avon, S.D, the son of a Methodist pastor. He was raised in Mitchell, shy and quiet until he was recruited for the high school debate team and found his niche. He enrolled at Dakota Wesleyan University in his hometown and, already a private pilot, volunteered for the Army Air Force soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Army didn't have enough airfields or training planes to take him until 1943. He married his wife, Eleanor Stegeberg, and arrived in Italy the next year. That would be his base for the 35 missions he flew in the B-24 Liberator christened the "Dakota Queen" after his new bride.

In a December 1944 bombing raid on the Czech city of Pilsen, McGovern's plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire that disabled one engine and set fire to another. He nursed the B-24 back to a British airfield on an island in the Adriatic Sea, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. On his final mission, his plane was hit several times, but he managed to get it back to safety ? one of the actions for which he received the Air Medal.

McGovern returned to Mitchell and graduated from Dakota Wesleyan after the war's end, and following a year of divinity school, shifted to the study of history and political science at Northwestern University. He earned his master's and doctoral degrees, returned to Dakota Wesleyan to teach history and government, and switched from his family's Republican roots to the Democratic Party.

"I think it was my study of history that convinced me that the Democratic Party was more on the side of the average American," he said.

In the early 1950s, Democrats held no major offices in South Dakota and only a handful of legislative seats. McGovern, who had gotten into Democratic politics as a campaign volunteer, left teaching in 1953 to become executive secretary of the South Dakota Democratic Party. Three years later, he won an upset election to the House; he served two terms and left to run for Senate.

Challenging conservative Republican Sen. Karl Mundt in 1960, he lost what he called his "worst campaign." He said later that he'd hated Mundt so much that he lost his sense of balance.

President John F. Kennedy named McGovern head of the Food for Peace program, which sends U.S. commodities to deprived areas around the world. He made a second Senate bid in 1962, unseating Sen. Joe Bottum by just 597 votes. He was the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from South Dakota since 1930.

In his first year in office, McGovern took to the Senate floor to say that the Vietnam War was a trap that would haunt the United States ? a speech that drew little notice. He voted the following August in favor of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution under which President Lyndon B. Johnson escalated the U.S. war in the southeast Asian nation.

While McGovern continued to vote to pay for the war, he did so while speaking against it. As the war escalated, so did his opposition. Late in 1969, McGovern called for a cease-fire in Vietnam and the withdrawal of all U.S. troops within a year. He later co-sponsored a Senate amendment to cut off appropriations for the war by the end of 1971. It failed, but not before McGovern had taken the floor to declare "this chamber reeks of blood" and to demand an end to "this damnable war."

McGovern first sought the Democratic presidential nomination late in the 1968 campaign, saying he would take up the cause of the assassinated Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. He finished far behind Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, who won the nomination, and Minnesota Sen. Eugene McCarthy, who had led the anti-war challenge to Johnson in the primaries earlier in the year. McGovern later called his bid an "anti-organization" effort against the Humphrey steamroller.

"At least I have precluded the possibility of peaking too early," McGovern quipped at the time.

The following year, McGovern led a Democratic Party reform commission that took power previously held by party leaders and bosses at the national conventions and gave it to voters instead. The result was the system of presidential primary elections and caucuses that now selects the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees.

In 1972, McGovern ran under the rules he had helped write. Initially considered a longshot against Sen. Edmund S. Muskie of Maine, McGovern built a bottom-up campaign organization and went to the Democratic national convention in command. He was the first candidate to gain a nominating majority in the primaries before the convention.

It was a meeting filled with intramural wrangling and speeches that verged on filibusters. By the time McGovern delivered his climactic speech accepting the nomination, it was 2:48 a.m., and with most of America asleep, he lost his last and best chance to make his case to a nationwide audience.

Before selecting Eagleton, McGovern did not know of his running mate's mental health woes and, after dropping him from the ticket, he struggled to find a replacement. Several Democrats said no, and a joke made the rounds that there was a signup sheet in the Senate cloakroom. Shriver, a member of the Kennedy family, finally agreed.

The campaign limped into the fall on a platform advocating withdrawal from Vietnam in exchange for the release of POWs, cutting defense spending by a third and establishing an income floor for all Americans. McGovern had dropped an early proposal to give every American $1,000 a year, but the Republicans continued to ridicule it as "the demogrant." They painted McGovern as an extreme leftist and Democrats as the party of "amnesty, abortion and acid."

While McGovern said little about his decorated service in World War II, Republicans depicted him as a weak peace activist. At one point, McGovern was forced to defend himself against assertions he had shirked combat.

He'd had enough when a young man at the airport fence in Battle Creek, Mich., taunted that Nixon would clobber him. McGovern leaned in and said quietly: "I've got a secret for you. Kiss my ass." A conservative Senate colleague later told McGovern it was his best line of the campaign.

Defeated by Nixon, McGovern returned to the Senate and pressed there to end the Vietnam War while championing agriculture, anti-hunger and food stamp programs in the United States and food programs abroad. He won re-election to the Senate in 1974, by which point he could make wry jokes about his presidential defeat.

"For many years, I wanted to run for the presidency in the worst possible way ? and last year, I sure did," he told a formal press dinner in Washington.

After losing his bid for a fourth Senate term in the 1980 Republican landslide that made Ronald Reagan president, McGovern went on to teach and lecture at universities, and found a liberal political action committee. He made a longshot bid in the 1984 presidential race with a call to end U.S. military involvement in Lebanon and Central America and open arms talks with the Soviets. Former Vice President Walter Mondale won the Democratic nomination and went on to lose to Reagan by an even bigger margin in electoral votes than McGovern had to Nixon.

McGovern talked of running a final time for president in 1992, but decided it was time for somebody younger and with fewer political scars.

After his career in office ended, McGovern served as U.S. ambassador to the Rome-based United Nation's food agencies from 1998 to 2001 and spent his later years working to feed needy children around the world. He and former Republican Sen. Dole collaborated to create an international food for education and child nutrition program, for which they shared the 2008 World Food Prize.

Clinton and his wife, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said in a statement Sunday that while McGovern was "a tireless advocate for human rights and dignity," his greatest passion was helping feed the hungry.

"The programs he created helped feed millions of people, including food stamps in the 1960s and the international school feeding program in the 90's, both of which he co-sponsored with Senator Bob Dole," they said, adding, "We must continue to draw inspiration from his example and build the world he fought for."

McGovern's opposition to armed conflict remained a constant long after he retired. Shortly before Iowa's caucuses in 2004, McGovern endorsed retired Gen. Wesley Clark, and compared his own opposition to the Vietnam War to Clark's criticism of President George W. Bush's decision to wage war in Iraq. One of McGovern's 10 books was 2006's "Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now," which he wrote with William R. Polk.

In early 2002, George and Eleanor McGovern returned to Mitchell, where they helped raise money for a library bearing their names. Eleanor McGovern died there in 2007 at age 85; they had been married 64 years, and had four daughters and a son.

"I don't know what kind of president I would have been, but Eleanor would have been a great first lady," he said after his wife's death in 2007.

One of their daughters, Teresa, was found dead in a Madison, Wis., snowdrift in 1994 after battling alcoholism for years. He recounted her struggle in his 1996 book "Terry," and described the writing of it as "the most painful undertaking in my life." It was briefly a best-seller and he used the proceeds to help set up a treatment center for victims of alcoholism and mental illness in Madison.

Before the 2008 presidential campaign, McGovern endorsed then-Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination but switched to Obama that May. He called the future president "a moderate," cautious in his ways, who wouldn't waste money or do "anything reckless."

"I think Barack will emerge as one of our great ones," he said in a 2009 interview with The Associated Press. "It will be a victory for moderate liberalism."

___

Associated Press writer Chet Brokaw contributed from Pierre, S.D.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Walter R. Mears, who reported on government and politics for The Associated Press in Washington for 40 years, covered George McGovern in the Senate and in his 1972 presidential campaign.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mcgoverns-political-career-only-part-legacy-064013913.html

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Taxes go up in 2013 for 163 million workers

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama isn't talking about it and neither is Mitt Romney. But come January, 163 million workers can expect to feel the pinch of a big tax increase regardless of who wins the election.

A temporary reduction in Social Security payroll taxes is due to expire at the end of the year and hardly anyone in Washington is pushing to extend it. Neither Obama nor Romney has proposed an extension, and it probably wouldn't get through Congress anyway, with lawmakers in both parties down on the idea.

Even Republicans who have sworn off tax increases have little appetite to prevent one that will cost a typical worker about $1,000 a year, and two-earner family with six-figure incomes as much as $4,500.

Why are so many politicians sour on continuing the payroll tax break?

Republicans question whether reducing the tax two years ago has done much to stimulate the sluggish economy. Politicians from both parties say they are concerned that it threatens the independent revenue stream that funds Social Security.

They are backed by powerful advocates for seniors, including AARP, who adamantly oppose any extension.

"The payroll tax holiday was intended to be temporary and there is strong bipartisan support to let that tax provision expire," said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. "The continued extension of a temporary payroll tax holiday has serious long-term implications for Social Security and, frankly, it's not even clear that it has helped to boost our ailing economy."

The question of renewing the payroll tax cut has been overshadowed by the expiration of a much bigger package of tax cuts first enacted under President George W. Bush. The Bush-era tax cuts also expire at the end of the year, and Congress is expected to try to address them after the election, in a lame-duck session.

The payroll tax cut could become part of the mix in negotiations that could go in many directions. But lawmakers in both political parties say they doubt it.

"I think there's a growing consensus that Congress and the president can't continue to divert such a critical revenue stream from Social Security," said Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, a senior Republican on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. "I think more and more Americans understand that that payroll tax cut, while politically appealing, is endangering Social Security."

Before he was named as Romney's running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., disparaged the payroll tax cut, calling it "sugar-high economics" that wouldn't promote long-term growth.

Social Security is funded by a 12.4 percent tax on wages up to $110,100, rising to $113,700 in 2013. Half is paid by employers and the other half is paid by workers. For 2011 and 2012, Congress and Obama cut the share paid by workers from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent.

A worker making $50,000 saved $1,000 a year, or a little more than $19 a week. A worker making $100,000 saved $2,000 a year.

The beauty of the tax cut is that is shows up in weekly paychecks, giving workers more money to spend or save. The downside is that some workers may not notice a $19-a-week increase in pay, making them unlikely to credit the politicians who made it happen.

Under the law, Congress is reimbursing Social Security for the lost revenue, estimated at $103 billion in 2011 and $112 billion in 2012. But Congress didn't cut spending or raise other taxes to offset the lost revenue, so the payroll tax cut is being financed with borrowed money, adding to the national debt.

Democrats are more willing to defend the tax cut, saying it helped prop up the economy during a rough stretch while providing what amounted to a 2 percent pay increase to millions of middle-income workers. But they, too, are concerned about maintaining Social Security's source of revenue.

"I think people realize that was a temporary thing," said Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska.

Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, a senior Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, said he thinks there is evidence that the tax cut helped the economy. But, he added, "I'm not sure that it met expectations."

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said she, too, wants to let the tax cut expire.

Larry Summers, Obama's former economic adviser, is a lonely voice in Washington calling to extend the payroll tax cut. He said in a recent speech that the economy is too fragile to reduce workers' incomes.

Obama pushed for the tax cut in late 2010 as a way to increase workers' take-home pay to help boost consumer spending and provide a spark for the economy. Economists were divided on the economic benefits. Many said it probably helped increase consumer spending but there was no consensus on the magnitude.

The initial tax cut was for only a year, and many Republicans in Congress wanted to let it lapse at the end of 2011. But Obama and Democratic lawmakers successfully fought to extend it through 2012.

Obama, however, didn't include the tax cut in his 2013 budget proposal, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congress this year that he saw no reason to extend it again.

White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage wouldn't rule out an extension but wouldn't commit to one, either.

"The president fought extremely hard last year in the face of Republican opposition to ensure that the payroll tax cut was extended," Brundage said. "There are a number of tax issues that Congress will have to deal with at the end of the year, this being one of them, and we will continue to evaluate all of the options available to us at that time."

Romney's campaign hammers Obama almost every day for proposing to let Bush-era tax cuts expire for individuals making more than $200,000 and married couples making more than $250,000. But Romney's tax plan would let the payroll tax cut expire, an issue he doesn't mention on the stump.

Romney's campaign declined to discuss the issue.

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/psst-taxes-2013-163-million-workers-134512956--election.html

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Breaking Views: Mike Butler: Te reo, funding, and hurt feelings

A report on kohanga reo released by the Waitangi Tribunal has already been snubbed by the government so any serious consideration of its contents is unlikely. Since few are likely to have the time or inclination to wade through the 424-page report, here is what it is all about --- a never-ending story about funding and some hurt feelings.

The first point to make is that although kohanga reo look like early childhood education centres, they are in fact language nests in which children are intended to learn and speak Maori to revitalise the language. The movement puts the survival of the language above the interests of the children at the centres.

If kohanga reo and Maori immersion schools aim to revitalise the language, have they succeeded? Census results point to a decline in the proportion of Maori speakers among Maori children aged under 10, from 21 .9 per cent in 1996 to 18 .2 per cent in 2006 in the under-five age band, and from 22 .1 per cent to 18 .8 per cent in the five-to-nine-years band.

However, these figures are a dramatic improvement on 1975, when fewer than 5 percent of children could speak Maori, according to the Waitangi Tribunal?s Te Reo report.

Kohanga reo are early childhood education centres for children from birth to five years of age and their families which involve a total immersion in the Maori language. Close to 9000 children and members of their wider family attended the 471 kohanga reo across the country in 2012.

The first kohanga reo opened at Pukeatua Marae in Wainuiomata in April 1982, and by 1985 the number was approaching 400, taking in more than 6000 children. By 1990, there were 616 kohanga reo with 10,108 students.

Kohanga numbers have declined. The kohanga reo share of total M?ori enrolment in early childhood education dropped from 33 percent in 2002 to 26 per cent in 2007 and 22 per cent in 2011. In contrast, the share of Maori children enrolled in education and care centres rose from 32 per cent to 47 per cent over the decade.

The question remains whether this decline is a result of parents deciding general education is better for their children, or, as kohanga claimants argue, as a result of failures on the part of the government.

Matua Rautia: The Report on the Kohanga Reo Claim alleges that the Crown has acted in a manner inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi with respect to a range of issues affecting the relationship between the Crown and kohanga reo and the ability of k?hanga reo to operate effectively in ensuring the transmission of te reo me ng? tikanga . The report upholds the claimants? view that actions and omissions of the Crown, have led to a decline in the number of kohanga reo and the number of children enrolled in kohanga reo.

Unsurprising is the fact that the Waitangi Tribunal demands that the government appoints an interim independent advisor of sufficient standing, treaty knowledge, reo, and policy acumen to oversee the implementation of the tribunal?s recommendations; complete a policy framework, participation targets, quality improvement, supportive funding, a more appropriate (ie less demanding) regulatory and licensing framework, and collaboration on policy development for kohanga reo; research how kohanga reo contribute to language transmission; promote kohanga reo to Maori families; and apologise to kohanga reo and its trust for its failures.

Does the tribunal?s reasoning have a treaty basis? Good question! The link to the treaty is tenuous at best. There is no reference to the Maori language in the treaty because in an environment where everyone had to speak and understand Maori, it was inconceivable that at some stage, government support and funding would be demanded.

Therefore, the Waitangi Tribunal summons up its distorted and self-serving interpretation of the treaty, in which sovereignty is ceded and not ceded, to argue that protection for the language would derive from the Article 2 promise to guarantee Maori rangatiratanga plus the obligation to actively protect taonga (all their valued possessions).

Mai Chen for the claimants puts the case, complete with tortured logic, that the government was ?obliged to actively protect kohanga reo, to enable Maori to exercise of rangatiratanga over these taonga, to formulate good, wise and efficient policy, to make informed decisions about k?hanga reo, to give an effective remedy for any past breaches of the treaty.?

It is worth reading Chapter 3 of the report to see the depth and breadth of this ?we have rights but no responsibilities, someone else is to blame, and we are entitled to unlimited government funding? claim.

Aside from the high-sounding rhetoric of the report, the relationship between the Kohanga Reo Trust and the government broke down after Education Minister Anne Tolley said that an independent early childhood eduction taskforce would consult the trust, and neither the taskforce nor the Ministry consulted the trust before the taskforce?s final report, An Agenda for Amazing Children, was published in June 2011.

To make matters worse, the trust was thus neither informed nor afforded the opportunity to respond to the strongly critical remarks made by the taskforce in its report.

The report, from page 69, quoted the taskforce report thus: "The kohanga reo movement, it asserted 'has, for some time, been viewed as too hot a political issue to touch'. It questioned the quality of ECE provision in kohanga reo and 'national body leadership for all children who attend kohanga reo, and whether the trust is a key barrier or contributor to the original aspiration of the movement'."

The taskforce continued: "In its view, 'meaningful change is overdue and must be addressed'. Having pointed to the high incidence of ERO supplementary reviews as an indicator of poor quality in kohanga reo, it exhorted the Government to 'think seriously about the way it invests in kohanga reo', highlighted the amount of ECE subsidy expended on kohanga reo subject to supplementary reviews, and recommended generally 'that a service without a satisfactory performance report not be able to access Government funding'.?

Criticism and demands for more funding, it appears, are behind the row that has escalated into more full-blown Waitangi Tribunal pressure on the government.

Source: http://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2012/10/mike-butler-te-reo-funding-and-hurt.html

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Strategizing your company's giving strategy ? An introduction | RI ...

Michelle Lantini | Oct 21, 2012 | Comments 0

It is well known that the benefits a company reaps for their acts of corporate giving far exceed the high five offered in mid air from its chosen non-profit organization.? While non-profits fervently seek corporate partners to assist in reaching fundraising goals to carry out their mission, it is arguably just as important that companies seek non-profit organizations to complement their company?s values.? In a decade filled with layoffs, budget cuts and overall reduced spending, how reasonable is it to expect that corporate giving be a top priority in a company?s overall strategy?

Corporate philanthropy refers to the act of a for-profit company donating their money, time or resources to a non-profit organization or charity. ??While the act of corporate giving is typically abundant in sincerity and warmth by both the recipient organization and from the folks responsible for the gifting, let?s consider another celebrated aspect to giving: the thriving pulse behind what?s in it for your company from a PR perspective.? Being socially responsible builds the goodwill positioning of your company?s brand.? Trust, honor and integrity are some of your company?s most significant assets.? What better way is there to build your corporate image than by aligning with a non-profit organization that is committed to making the world a better place? ?While supporting these organizations, your company has the opportunity to be included in press releases, advertisements and other media channels, online and social media outlets and possibly an entire collection of additional cause marketing benefits.?? All of these things help to demonstrate that your company is socially responsible, while solidifying the public?s perception of value added to your brand.? As your company strives to overcome its competition, remember that in general, people like to do business with people with a firm adherence to strong values.? The question isn?t ?Should my company give?? it?s ?Where should my company give?? followed by a quizzically zealous, ?How should my company give??

If you don?t already have one in mind, find an organization that aligns with your company?s business objectives.? Or, choose to support an organization that is important to your employees. Visit www.guidestar.org to ensure the organization is registered with the IRS and meets tax exemption criteria.? When you choose to support a non-profit that is linked with your company?s objectives, you?re immediately relevant.? For example, Dave?s Marketplace and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital have recently adopted the American Diabetes Association of New England as a non-profit partner. It makes a lot of sense for Dave?s Marketplace to partner with the ADA (an organization that encourages healthy eating habits to prevent or better manage diabetes) because one of their goals is to provide quality food and resources to encourage healthy eating habits.? Certified Diabetes Educators and Registered Dietitians from Our Lady of Fatima Hospital have also joined this relationship and will be hosting free diabetes education classes at Dave?s Marketplace once per quarter.? Dave?s Marketplace will be collecting donations at the register and will reward customers with valuable store coupons upon making a minimum $1 donation to the ADA of New England.? Through this alliance, both Dave?s and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital have developed ways to support a non-profit that is relevant to both of their business goals.

Some companies choose to support organizations that speak directly to the personal interests of their employees.? For example, Staples focuses a large percentage of their charitable giving to causes related to academics and career development.? But the company also recognizes that by inviting their employees to weigh in on which causes or organizations are important to them, they have developed another way to value the bond with their employees.? When an employee suggests a non-profit for their employer to support and it comes to fruition, another layer of employee loyalty has been developed.

Corporate giving comes in many forms.? Do your homework and investigate which organizations, causes or charities would be a good fit for your company.? While the benefits of corporate giving begin with helping an important organization carry out mission delivery, they certainly don?t end there.

Related posts:

1. Dave?s Marketplace to Partner with American Diabetes Association in Year Long Health and Wellness Alliance
2. Challenge of an Early Stage Company
3. When Wellness Becomes Part of a Company?s Culture
4. RISBJ Issue 6 Featured Company ? FarSounder
5. Wishes at Work

Filed Under: Featured Articles ? Small Business

Source: http://isupportsmallbusiness.com/blog/2012/10/21/strategizing-your-companys-giving-strategy-an-introduction/

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