Preview of 60 Minutes Episode "Congo Gold"

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Preview of 60 Minutes episode on "Congo Gold" airing tonight.  Gold mined in central Africa is being sold to fund wars among the militias.  One way to make sure we do not support the wars is to track the source of mined gold.  According to 60 Minutes, Tiffany and Co. is the only company that tracks the source of all gold they purchase.  Wal-Mart, which sells the most gold in the US, will start tracking 10% of the gold it purchases next year.

I saw the full episode this evening and it seemed quite comprehensive on the issue.  I like finding issues in our world that need our attention and finding out what we can do about them.  Since our companies can impact the issue, we, as consumers, can show these companies we support tracking the source of gold.



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How to Get Paid to Blog: Amazon Kindle

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There is a new way to get paid for writing blogs and it is offered by Amazon. Kindle ® is Amazon’s new wireless reading device that is able to download entire books in just 60 seconds. But books are not the only thing Kindle can download, blog authors can create an account with Amazon and make their own blog also available to the world for download.


If you are a blog author, visit the following link to create a new Amazon account and upload your blog: https://kindlepublishing.amazon.com/gp/vendor/sign-in

When someone wants to purchase a subscription to your blog, they can visit the Amazon Kindle store. Currently Amazon pays blog authors 30% of the subscription price when someone purchases a subscription.  Furthermore, Kindle currently offers access to about 7,000 blogs.  Technorati's 2008 report states there are over 133 Million blogs in the internet.  This gives your blog an advantage since you are only competing with the rest of the 7,000 blogs offered on Kindle.

Link for more information on Amazon’s Kindle device:

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Wireless-Reading-Display-Generation/dp/B0015T963C/ref=amb_link_86172951_2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0A654H5NX8ZR32YB3MXT&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=501372471&pf_rd_i=507846#kindle-features

For more information on the advantages and opportunities available to bloggers, please visit our blog and click on the labels “blogging secrets” or “how to blog” and check out our post below:

http://practicalmanifestations.blogspot.com/2009/06/small-biz-individual-opportunities.html

Link for Technorati's State of the Blogosphere Report for years 2004 through 2009: http://technorati.com/state-of-the-blogosphere/

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Email to My US Senator on Government Transparency and Health Care Reform

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I wrote to my local senator, Jack Reed, about a week ago asking if he had a blog and if not, if he was thinking of starting one.  I referred him to the blog the senator of a neighboring state was hosting http://dodd.senate.gov/index.php?q=blog/1 He responded that he did not have a blog, but would add me to his email list to keep me up to date with the work he was doing.  You can read my previous email here: http://practicalmanifestations.blogspot.com/2009/11/copy-of-my-email-to-ri-senator-jack.html
Below is my follow-up email asking first if my senator hosts or participates in any online forums so people can comment on and support his work and second a few questions on America's Health Care Reform Bill.

My senator is a great guy, I met him years ago when I was in Boy Scouts.

START EMAIL

Dear Senator Reed


I thank you for your quick response to my email and for adding me to your email list to receive updates on the work you are doing, I think this is a big step in the right direction. Along those lines I was wondering if there was some sort of online forum where people were allowed to discuss political issues on their mind. Perhaps you participate in a forum and fellow citizens of Rhode Island and maybe even other states are able to show their support for your work. I cannot imagine the amount of correspondence you must receive via email, telephone, mail, faxes, etc. I would think an open discussion among all citizens of Rhode Island might be more effective in resolving some of the major issues we are facing today, as opposed to each of us corresponding with you individually. I was just wondering if something like this already existed or if you were considering doing something in the future. I’m sure there would be many legalities involved, censorship, review of the censorship, and so on, however I would think the benefits would out-weigh the frustrations of setting up and managing such a forum.

The second reason I am writing to you is on my concern about the health care bill. I was wondering if provisions were being made for uncollectible debts. I would think that sizable amount of people are not going to be reimbursing the government for the health care they receive. When it comes to accounting and the federal government’s accounts receivable department, the reason behind the debts not being paid is important, but it does not pay back the debt. Assuming the federal government is reimbursed for the costs of health care through the collection of taxes, the debt could come from otherwise good tax-payers that recently started having trouble paying taxes, from people that never paid taxes and are just hoping the government never catches up with them, or from people that are here illegally, therefore not paying taxes. I would think that if everyone is being afforded health care, there will be no way to prevent a person from creating a debt in the first year and compounding it each year thereafter. The federal government’s only means for collecting the debt would be to 1) take legal action, which could have the following results a) the debt being paid, or b) putting the person in jail, which would only add to the debt. In either case certainly more debt would be incurred from legal fees. 2) attaching the debt to the person’s social security pension. Given the projections for the social security program, social security may not be around much longer, so the second option may not be viable.

So my question is: is this additional debt being carried in the budget and are provisions being made to create a cost-effective way of collecting it?

Secondly I would hope that when a person participating in the federal health care plan receives treatment, there would be a co-pay comparable to that of the insurance companies we have now. If a person incurs no immediate out-of-pocket expense at the time of treatment, there would be no incentive for the person to avoid going to the hospital for even the smallest ailment.

Finally I was wondering what checks and balances would be put into place to make sure the cost of medications and various other medical costs do not skyrocket. What is keeping the cost of medical products and services from becoming completely absurd is the fact that a few people are actually paying for them out of their own pocket, without any assistance from insurance. When we set up a program where a third party is paying for all products and services, we leave it up to the discretion of the companies to keep their prices reasonable. From past experience we know that the honor system does not work with so much money involved. Granted there will be some competition between drug companies on similar products, but this will be significantly dampened by patents.

I thank you for reading my email and I look forward to your response.
END EMAIL
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Church Feeds 5000 People in Charlotte, North Carolina

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Great video I found on the internet after hearing the story on the Sirius/XM Radio.  I left a comment below the video, "Great video, looking forward to more news like this :)".  They need to approve my comment before the rest of the world can see it.



Link to video and story on FoxCharlotte.com: http://www.foxcharlotte.com/dpp/news/feeding_five_thousand_111309

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A Weekend Full of Helping People

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This past weekend was a lot of fun, we were able to help a lot of people in different ways. Throughout this entire month we had been helping to promote the concerts our friends of Col’ Areo String Quartet were putting on at the Music School Carter Center in East Providence, Rhode Island. I contacted the Providence Journal Newspaper, Television Channel 10, Television Channel 12, and whofish.org and each one posted the event on their respective web site. We walked down Wickenden Street in Providence, Rhode Island and hung up flyers for the event in 4 coffee shops. I was asked to introduce the quartet at the concert and I gladly did so. Proceeds from the concert went to the Rhode Island Food Bank. We collected a fair amount of cash and canned goods and are bringing them to the Food Bank tomorrow.


One of the best parts of the concert was the fact that a new friend of ours, Paul of Supreme Coffee and Donuts of East Providence, RI on Route 6 about 1 mile east of Seekonk Speedway donated enough coffee, donuts, and muffins for 50 to 60 people to snack on during intermission. Everyone loved the coffee and donuts and we left the left-over pastries for the teachers to snack on the following day. Everything had the coffee shop name on it, so it gave the shop great publicity. I included a thank-you to the shop in my introduction. When I returned the coffee dispenser and equipment, we got to talking about how the owner of the shop was taking a collection of worn-out American flags, is doing a canned food drive to help poor people in the area, and is having Santa come on November 28th to entertain the kids. I asked Paul if they had created a FaceBook.com or MySpace.com profile yet. They said it was on their to-do list, but they were going to wait until winter to get going on the computer. We exchanged contact information and agreed to stay in touch.  I told him about the Practical Manifestations project and he seemed pretty interested.

Our friend Conrad Ferla of Mass Mutual Financial Services out of the Providence office made a contribution on the behalf of his company too. We were able to let him set up an information booth at the concert hall entrance. It was a nice way of incorporating a friend in the event we were holding and maybe send a little business his way.

Next, a friend of mine was having some back pain, so I went over their house and showed them some stretching exercises and muscle massage techniques that would help. They were thrilled to know there was something they could do about the aches and pains. It was my pleasure to share the information I had learned.

Then another friend of mine was having some money troubles. We talked for a little while about some options that were available for them. It turned out that she had a few items to sell on Ebay but was unsure where to start. I told her about a store in the area that actually puts things their customers bring in on Ebay and when they sell, the shop gets a commission on the sale. I’ll be going up that way again this coming weekend, so we’ll take a ride to the Ebay shop to see what they have to say. She is also handy with carpentry so we are putting her in contact with people that need some work done on their houses.

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Copy of My Email to RI Senator Jack Reed on Blogging to Create Transparency in Government

Below is a copy of the email I sent to my the sentator for my state, Rhode Island, USA.  I look forward to his response and to other U.S. senators and House representatives one day writing maybe a weekly blog post.  In this way we can communicate with them more effectively and perhaps give them better-informed suggestions on resolutions to current issues.

BEGIN EMAIL
Dear Senator Reed,


I was wondering if you had considered starting a blog. If you are unfamiliar with blogging, it is sort of like hosting a web site, only you update the web page as often as you like and it only takes about 5 or 10 minutes to do. It is a great way to keep your supporters up to date with your official activities and elaborate on the work you are doing to improve our state and the nation. You can visit Senator Chris Dodd's blog at http://dodd.senate.gov/index.php?q=blog/1 to see the advantage it gives him and his supporters.

As a Rhode Island resident, I would like to see more transparency in our governing bodies. I believe our officials are being called on to make decisions that will have a drastic effect on the citizens of this country both today and for many years to come. With more transparency, it will make it easier for people to give educated suggestions to their respective representatives.

I appreciate you taking a moment to read my email and I look forward to one day reading your blog.

Tommorow's The Big Day for Col’ Areo String Quartet

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Tomorrow, Sunday, November 15th, our friends of Col’ Areo String Quartet are putting on a concert at the Music School in East Providence, Rhode Island, USA. They have been practicing their hearts out and I’m sure the audience will be pleased with the performance.


I made a few phone calls to local coffee shops and found one that was interested in donating coffee and pastry, Supreme Coffee and Donuts of Seekonk, Massachusetts (about 4 miles down the street from the Music School). The ladies of the quartet were thrilled when we told them about the coffee shop donating the coffee and pastry.

So we got a few boxes to collect the canned good donations to bring to the Rhode Island Food Bank. We’re guessing the Food Bank is not open on Sunday, we’ll have to store the goods until Monday. Pam made up the concert programs. She has a bunch of her business cards referring people to her web site. We just have to pick up a music recorder so we can later offer a recording of the concert through the web site.

We already contacted the local newspapers and television stations. It will be exciting to see how it all goes together. It will be a great time for everyone that comes and I’m sure there will be many more concerts to come!

You can check out Pam Lowell’s Col’ Areo event page on FaceBook to confirm your attendance: http://www.facebook.com/pamela.lowell#/event.php?eid=318579155146&ref=mf

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Wal*Mart The High Cost of Low Prices Clip of Chinese Factory Worker Conditions

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I watched the movie "Wal*Mart The High Cost of Low Prices" last night.  It covers all aspects of the effects of the company both domestic and abroad.  Small businesses are terrified when a new Wal*Mart moves into town, it is extremely difficult to compete with them.  One of the most moving parts of the film was footage from the conditions they provide their workers in the factories in China.  You always hear about the wages and conditions companies like Wal*Mart and Nike provide their workers, but to see it is just heart-wrenching.

Both the movie clip and link to the clip on YouTube are below.



Link to video clip on YouTube.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CzbT1hGwmM

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Col’ Areo’s Concert to Benefit the Food Bank Is On November 15th, 2009, Almost A Week Away

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With Pam Lowell’s string quartet Col’ Areo’s concert fast-approaching, it seems like there are a lot of things we would like to get done in a short time. I offered to help advertise for them and do whatever I could to get the word out.  The Practical Manifestations Project is about helping people in the community in whatever ways we can.

Kate of the group made up some great colorful flyers and we are handing those out and putting them up in public places, so that is progressing well.


One thing I still would like to do is to contact some of the coffee shops in the area of the Carter Center for Music, where the concert is happening (see below for full details on the location and time). My friend Conrad gave me the idea of asking local coffee shops if they would be interested in donating coffee and pastry for the event. Now that we are getting down to the wire, I think I will call a few places first and then visit the ones that might be interested to close the deal. Otherwise there just might not be enough time.

I started contacting the television stations, but I have more to contact, plus the radio stations need notification as well.



A lot goes in to promoting an event. Luckily playing the instruments is all up to the members of the quartet, so I don’t have to worry about practicing too. There have been a good number of people responding that they will attend the event on the FaceBook.com event page at http://www.facebook.com/pamela.lowell?ref=ts#/event.php?eid=318579155146&ref=mf

The event is open to the public and proceeds will benefit the Rhode Island Food Bank. Entrance is with $10 or a non-perishable food donation for the Food Bank. It will be on Sunday, November 15th at 3pm at the Carter Center for Music at 667 Waterman Avenue, East Providence, Rhode Island.

Follow-up information on Col’ Areo concerts and cd’s can be found on Pamela’s web site at http://www.expressivestrings.com/

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American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009

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Below is a link to a video on CSpan interviewing US Senator Lisa Murkowski where Richard Cowen of Reuters asks her a question on the US paying developing countries under the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 as well as a copy of H.R. 2454 - American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 from the official US Congress web site GoveTrak.us. 

Video Link: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/289504-1 (start at 22:00/32:00)

This bill is interesting to read through/  Although it is dry and full of legal language, it has a major impact on how the US will be in the future.  To me, the most interesting portion of the bill is Paragraph 4.  Note: the bill is not actually broken into paragraphs, I added notes for paragraph headings between the direct quotes to make it a little easier to read and so I could refer to a specific section.

"5/15/2009--Introduced."


PARAGRAPH 1
"American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 - Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) to establish a combined efficiency and renewable electricity standard that requires utilities to supply an increasing percentage of their demand from a combination of energy efficiency savings and renewable energy (6% in 2012, 9.5% in 2014, 13% in 2016, 16.5% in 2018, and 20% in 2021-2039). Provides for: (1) issuing, trading, banking, retiring, and verifying renewable electricity credits; and (2) prescribing standards to define and measure electricity savings from energy efficiency and energy conservation measures. Amends the Clean Air Act (CAA) to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to: (1) set forth a national strategy to address barriers to the commercial-scale deployment of carbon capture and sequestration; (2) establish an approach to certify and permit geologic sequestration; and (3) promulgate regulations to minimize the risk of escape to the atmosphere of carbon dioxide injected for purposes of geological sequestration. Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to require the Administrator to promulgate regulations for sequestration wells. Sets forth: (1) a process to establish a Carbon Storage Research Corporation to collect assessments from distribution utilities of fossil fuel-based electricity delivered directly to consumers; and (2) performance standards for new coal-fired power plants. Amends PURPA to provide for the development of electric vehicle infrastructure. Requires the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to establish: (1) a large-scale vehicle electrification program; and (2) a program to provide financial assistance for the manufacture of plug-in electric drive vehicles. Requires the Administrator to establish a program under which a state may create a State Energy and Environment Development Account. Sets forth provisions concerning the development of a smart grid, including provisions: (1) amending the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to provide for the inclusion of smart grid capability information on appliance energy guide labels; (2) requiring the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to support load-serving entities in developing their peak demand reduction goals; (3) amending the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to reauthorize the energy efficiency public information program and to include smart grid information in it; and (4) reauthorizing the energy efficient and smart appliance rebate program and revising it to include smart-grid features. Amends the Federal Power Act to require FERC to adopt electricity grid planning principles derived from a federal policy (established by this Act) on electric grid planning that facilitates the deployment of renewable and other zero-carbon energy sources for generating electricity to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) while ensuring reliability, reducing congestion, ensuring cyber-security, and providing for cost-effective electricity services."
 
PARAGRAPH 2
"Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to revise: (1) rules regarding improving energy efficiency in industrial equipment; (2) efficiency standards for electric motors; (3) conservation standards for lighting and appliances; and (4) the Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products Other Than Automobiles. Requires the Secretary to establish Clean Energy Innovation Centers to promote commercial deployment of clean, indigenous energy alternatives to fossil fuels, to reduce GHG emissions, and to ensure that the United States maintains a lead in developing and deploying state-of-the-art energy technologies. Amends the Energy Conservation and Production Act to revise energy conservation standards for new buildings. Requires the Administrator to establish: (1) standards for a national energy and environmental building retrofit policy for residences; and (2) a building energy performance labeling program. Establishes a rebate program to assist low-income households residing in pre-1976 manufactured homes in purchasing new Energy Star qualified manufactured homes. Requires the Secretary to establish a Best-in-Class Appliances Deployment Program. Requires the President to use statutory authorities to set motor vehicle emissions standards. Amends the CAA to require the Administrator to promulgate standards applicable to GHG emissions from specified mobile sources, including heavy-duty vehicles and engines, new marine vessels, locomotives, and aircraft."
 
PARAGRAPH 3
"Establishes within EPA a SmartWay Transport Program, a SmartWay Transport Partnership program, and a SmartWay Financing Program. Requires the Secretary to establish a program to make monetary awards to encourage owners and operators of electric energy generation facilities or thermal energy production facilities using fossil or nuclear fuel to use innovative means of recovering any thermal energy that is a potentially useful byproduct of their processes to: (1) generate additional electric energy; or (2) make sales of thermal energy not used for electric generation, in the form of steam, hot water, chilled water, or desiccant regeneration, or for other commercially valid purposes. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to community development organizations to provide financing to businesses and projects that improve energy efficiency, develop alternative, renewable, and distributed energy supplies, provide technical assistance and promote job and business opportunities for low-income residents, and increase energy conservation in low income rural and urban communities. Safe Climate Act - Amends the CAA to require the Administrator to promulgate regulations to: (1) cap and reduce GHG emissions, annually, so that GHG emissions from capped sources are reduced to 97% of 2005 levels by 2012, 83% by 2020, 58% by 2030, and 17% by 2050; and (2) establish a federal GHG registry. Designates carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) from a chemical manufacturing process at an industrial stationary source, perfluorocarbons, and nitrogen trifluoride as GHGs and establishes a carbon dioxide equivalent value for each gas. Prohibits any person from manufacturing, introducing into interstate commerce, or emitting a significant quantity of certain fluorinated gas that is generated as a byproduct during the production or use of another fluorinated gas. Requires the Administrator to establish specified emission allowances (annual tonnage limits) for: (1) each of 2012-2049; and (2) 2050 and thereafter. Provides for the establishment and distribution of compensatory allowances for the destruction and conversionary use of fluorinated gases and the nonemissive use of petroleum-based or coal-based liquid or gaseous fuel, petroleum coke, natural gas liquid, or natural gas as a feedstock. Phases in prohibitions against covered entities (including electricity sources, fuel producers and importers, industrial gas producers and importers, geological sequestration sites, industrial stationary sources, industrial fossil fuel-fired combustion devices, natural gas local distribution companies, nitrogen trifluoride sources, algae-based fuels, and fugitive emissions) exceeding allowable emission levels. Requires covered entities to demonstrate compliance through: (1) holding emission allowances (including international emission or compensatory allowances) at least as great as attributable emissions (as specified); or (2) using offset credits. Sets forth penalties for noncompliance. Provides for trading, banking and borrowing, auctioning, selling, exchanging, transferring, holding, or retiring emission allowances. Requires the Administrator to: (1) establish a strategic reserve account and place into that account specified amounts (ranging from 1% to 3%) of the emission allowances for each of calendar years 2012-2050; and (2) auction such strategic reserve allowances once each quarter of each of such years. Requires stationary sources subject to the CAA to have permits that require the covered entity to hold a number of emission allowances at least equal to the total annual amount of carbon dioxide equivalents for its combined emissions and attributable GHG emissions."
 
PARAGRAPH 4
"Authorizes the Administrator to designate an international climate change program as a qualifying international program for purposes of international emission allowances provisions, if certain conditions are met. Establishes the Offsets Integrity Advisory Board. Requires the Administrator, considering the Board's recommendations, to promulgate regulations establishing a program for the issuance of offset credits. Requires the Administrator to promulgate regulations concerning reducing GHG emissions from deforestation in developing countries. Sets forth provisions governing the disposition of emission allowances, including specifying allocations: (1) for supplemental emissions reductions from reduced deforestation; (2) for the benefit of electricity, natural gas, and/or home heating oil and propane consumers; (3) for auction, with proceeds for the benefit of low income consumers and worker investment; (4) to energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries; (5) for the deployment of carbon capture and sequestration technology; (6) to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy; (7) to be distributed to Clean Energy Innovation Centers; (8) to invest in the development and deployment of clean vehicles; (9) to domestic refiners; (10) for domestic and international adaptation; (11) for domestic wildlife and natural resource adaptation; and (12) for international clean technology deployment. Requires the Administrator to auction off certain unused allowances and to deposit the proceeds for 2012-2025 into the Treasury and for 2026-2050 into the Climate Change Dividend Fund. Requires the President to distribute funds in the Consumer Climate Change Rebate Fund (established by this Act) to U.S. households."
 
PARAGRAPH 5
"Amends the CAA to require the Administrator to promulgate GHG emission performance standards for specified categories of stationary sources that: (1) have uncapped GHG emissions greater than 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent and are responsible for emitting at least 20% of the uncapped GHG gas emission annually; or (2) are responsible for at least 10% of the uncapped methane emissions. Requires the Administrator to promulgate regulations to phase down the consumption of and regulate the production of HFCs. Specifies consumption allowances for: (1) each of 2012-2032; and (2) 2033 and thereafter. Provides for: (1) the distribution, auction, banking, exchange, and international transfer of such allowances; and (2) the issuance of offset credits for the destruction of chlorofluorocarbons. Establishes the Stratospheric Ozone and Climate Protection Fund, into which the Administrator shall deposit all proceeds from the sale of such allowances. Requires the Administrator to promulgate regulations to reduce emissions of black carbon (light absorbing component of carbonaceous aerosols) or propose a finding that existing CAA regulations adequately regulate such emissions. Prohibits states from implementing a cap and trade program that covers any capped emissions emitted during 2012-2017. Amends the Federal Power Act to require FERC to promulgate regulations for the establishment, operation, and oversight of markets for regulated allowances. Requires the President to establish an interagency working group on carbon market oversight. Amends the Commodity Exchange Act to provide for transactions in derivatives that involve energy commodities. Gives the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) jurisdiction over the establishment, operations, and oversight of markets for regulated allowance derivatives. Amends the CAA to require the Administrator to: (1) distribute emission allowance rebates to eligible industrial sectors (with eligibility based on specified energy, GHG, or trade intensity criteria); and (2) provide for the sale of and require submission of international reserve allowances by U.S. importers of products of industrial sectors that the President determines have suffered certain negative impacts from compliance with GHG emission requirements. Sets forth provisions concerning green jobs and worker transition, including: (1) authorizing the Secretary of Education to award grants to eligible partnerships to develop programs of study focused on emerging careers and jobs in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate change mitigation; and (2) providing climate change adjustment assistance to adversely affected workers. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow certain low income taxpayers a refundable energy tax credit to compensate such taxpayers for reductions in their purchasing power, as identified and calculated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), resulting from regulation of GHGs."
 
PARAGRAPH 6
"Requires: (1) the Administrator to implement the Energy Refund Program to give low-income households a monthly cash energy refund equal to the estimated loss in purchasing power resulting from this Act; (2) the Secretary of State to oversee distributions of allowances from the International Clean Technology Account; (3) the President to establish within the United States Global Change Research Program a National Climate Change Adaptation Program; (4) the Secretary of Commerce to establish within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) a National Climate Service; (5) the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to publish a strategic action plan to assist health professionals in preparing for and responding to the impacts of climate change; (6) the President to develop a Natural Resources Climate Change Adaptation Strategy; and (7) the Secretary of State to establish an International Climate Change Adaptation Program." (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2454&tab=summary)
 
For more videos on this and related topics, visit http://www.c-spanvideo.org/ and search climate developing countries.
 
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Social Networking Strategy Video

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This is a great video on building a social networking strategy for business purposes that I found today:



If you are having trouble viewing the video, please follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQdDdf5RzCg

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Helping A Friend Drop Off Job Applications

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A couple weeks ago I was helping my friend find work by driving him to various stores in the shopping district in my area. He lives in another town and his car needs repairs so he has no other way of accessing stores that are not within walking distance or near a bus stop.


I like to broadcast when I hear of people doing good turns, including anecdotes of my own activities, because I believe it helps to inspire others to be helpful and giving.  It's one of my favorite parts of the Practical Manifestations project.

It’s always good to make personal appearances at the places one is applying for jobs, although it can be time consuming. He went in to about 20 different businesses a couple weeks ago and I’ll take him to those same businesses to drop off the applications letting the owners know he is really interested and outgoing.

Christmas season is coming up and we are figuring at least some businesses will be hiring more people to accommodate the customer demand. I’m figuring on helping my friend every couple weeks until a business hires him. It’s just a nice thing to do each week and he really appreciates it. Plus it gives me something positive to add to the conversation when people talk to me about the economy being bad.

Here are links to previous stories on this topic:

http://practicalmanifestations.blogspot.com/2009/10/driving-friend-to-fill-out-job.html
http://practicalmanifestations.blogspot.com/2009/10/helping-friend-find-job.html

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Practical Manifestations Helps Businesses Expand

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When I started the Practical Manifestations Project, I wanted it to make a difference people could see and touch, as well as feel in their hearts. I wanted it to be real to people in every way possible. I also did not want it to be limited by religious affiliation. One way to do this was to incorporate a business aspect to the project. We have created a community at our blog and on FaceBook.com of people interested in helping others. What this means for businesses is that owners can network with other helpful people which may lead to business associates or even partners.


What is great about the project is that it can be integrated into any business. All businesses can benefit from exposure and contacts and there is nothing quite like working with people that enjoy helping others.  We are able to advertise our book in the side columns, but other companies can advertise whatever merchandise or services they offer in the respective columns of their blogs.  I would not suggest directly advertising merchandise or services in the blog posts.  It is usually better to use the posts to establish reputation and to tell how our business is helping people each day.

Perhaps even more importantly, this project can be adopted by just about anyone that has access to an internet connection. Anyone that can write about how they are helping people and making a real difference can turn those writings into a blog. Once a person has a blog, they can allow Google to advertise through their blog, which will start turning a profit at zero cost the instant someone starts clicking on their ads. They create traffic through their FaceBook.com updates on how they are helping people and through FaceBook.com’s NetworkedBlogs and Google Follower widget.



In this tough economy, it is a great way to help one’s business grow. The blog establishes reputation and lets people that enjoy helping others that you are on board with the project too. Will it instantly end everyone’s money troubles? Probably not, but then again what would. What it will do is start the ball rolling and eventually, who knows what could come of it?



Well I hope other people get as much out of this project as I do. It has given me insight into incorporating a purpose into each day. Sometimes I try to imagine the world without this project just to see what it would be like, but I cannot even fathom it.

For more information on how to blog, blogging secrets, and search engine optimization, please click on the labels (in right hand column at our blog site).

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Trip to Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween

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My wife and I took a nice drive up to Salem, MA yesterday for Halloween. Like most holidays, Halloween falls on a Saturday once every seven years, so we figured it would be great to visit the place where witches and wizards were most recognized years ago.


The actual history is very sad. Several years ago, many people were burned at the stake for accusations of being involved in witchcraft. Today most believe that the women accused of being witches were actually prominent land-owners. Other people in the town did not believe women should own land so they came up with a plan to get rid of them.

When you visit Salem on Halloween these days, it seems like the whole world is up there to celebrate the holiday. People get all dressed up in costumes and they walk around the downtown shopping square. They have movies and a tour of the courthouse famous for convicting the accused witches. On top of the people wearing costumes, I’m sure many people that actually practice some witchcraft were there. Last year there were even some out-going Christians condoning the celebration.

It was great to spend the day with my wife doing something fun. We got to take a drive and do some people-watching together. Some of the costumes were really funny and we had a good time. We left at about 4pm and you could tell it was going to get pretty crazy as the night wore on. I’m sure a lot of people had fun there and I hope everyone stayed safe. I would definitely recommend the trip to anyone that gets a kick out of Halloween :)

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The Unheard Warning of Fraud on Wall Street (US Stock Market)

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Fascinating story on the US government's acceptance of fraud on Wall Street in 1999, preview video clip below.  Click on the link for the full length video: http://video.pbs.org/video/1302794657/chapter/5/

Preview:


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Driving a Friend to Fill out Job Applications

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Saturday was a great day. A friend of mine has been looking for a second job for a couple months now to no avail. Jeff, himself, has two children that he pays child support for from a previous relationship. He recently started dating a new girl and she was struggling to pay the rent with three kids of her own. He agreed to move in with her to help pay the bills. A couple months ago Jeff told me he was starting to look for a second job to make ends meet.

I see him a few times a month and I would ask him how the job search is going. He told me it was rough since he did not have a car so he was limited to places close to bus stops or within biking distance. I’m guessing he was competing with a lot of people in a similar situation. A couple weeks ago I told Jeff that I could take him around on the following Saturday to any downtown or business district he wanted, so last Saturday he took me up on my offer.

He took the bus to the mall down the street from me and I picked him up with my car. I took him to over 20 different businesses at my local shopping district, an area that is doing fairly well considering the economy. He filled out a few job applications right on the spot and he took the rest to fill out afterwards. We did it all in about 3 hours and then I drove him back to his apartment about 30 miles away. Jeff is in sort of a Catch-22 since he has a decent car, but it needs repairs before he can drive it to go to work or even look for a job…but he does not have the money to repair the car until he starts receiving a second pay check. He takes his bike to his present work place.
Jeff will then send in all the job applications and call the businesses he applied to every few days to follow up. In a week or so I’ll ask him if he wants me to pick him up so he can make a personal appearance at each business he applied to and apply at a few more businesses. He is a hard worker. He’s willing to work from 11pm to 7am during the week and double-shifts on the weekend. I think the business owners will see his ambition and want to give him a chance to prove what he can do for them. He is looking for just entry-level positions and has work experience in tons of areas.

We’ll be checking in again soon with our friend Jeff to see how he is making out. Helping people in the real world is what the Practical Manifestations Project is all about and it is inspiring to be a part of it, sharing our stories helping and listing to the stories of other people.

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Law of Attraction Common Sense

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It’s funny because I used to sort of categorize Law of Attraction stuff with superstition, thinking people were reading more into life than what was really there. I see Law of Attraction very differently now. Not as some hocus pocus of snapping your fingers and stuff appears right before your eyes, but rather a way of life where you stop hindering what you want to happen by thinking it can’t. To me, it’s very simple and straightforward, there is no magic to it.


I went to dinner with my wife, my brother, and my mother and father. My wife and I rode with my parents to a restaurant. As soon as my father drove into the parking garage he said those ominous words “I’m always good at finding a parking spot.” Now my father is no Merlin, he’s your typical guy that worked hard all his life for everything he has. He just thinks that he is lucky when it comes to finding parking spaces. What happened? We found a parking spot right on the first floor of the parking garage just a stone’s throw away from the restaurant. There were tons of vehicles on that floor. There was no magic to it. Assessing what he did differently, he was more patient, knowing what he was looking for would come to him in time. He drove up and down the aisles a little slower than the average person and a lot slower than that frustrated person that says, “Damn it, I never can find a good parking spot,” and ends up parking in the one furthest from the restaurant. That’s what I mean by the common sense of LOA (continued below).




We can further empower ourselves by including in our lives some power greater than we. As a Christian, I believed there was only one power greater than us and it was removed from me, there was no way of me doing all the regular real-world things I do, better and more efficiently be incorporating the Christian God in those activities. But the truth is that everything can be done better and more efficiently when we are doing it to help others, and that is because we are serving something greater than ourselves with gratitude.




We can move the obstacles that we were powerless against when we were serving ourselves. We were trying to bring more money, power, love, etc. into our lives but were limiting our strength to get those things by not incorporating the power greater than ourselves. As we incorporate that greater power we realize that all areas of our life, including money, power, and love, etc., improve by doing things to help others. We are no longer trapped into trying to be the person in the world with the most money…because we recognize that having too much money is an imbalance of life, just as having too little money. When there is an imbalance in one area of life, the other areas need to compensate, and we feel out of whack. Too much money seems like a nice problem to have, but the reality is that we lack strong relationships, our health suffers, maybe we are so famous we cannot even walk down the street, and so on.



We then realize that the power to move all obstacles is with us in the present moment. Perhaps the obstacle was the inability to recognize that what was perceived as an obstacle was only something in the way of a path we are no longer on. That is how I view the Law of Attraction and I like writing blogs to help others, but it also helps to clarify the thoughts in my own mind. With a solid structure to my beliefs, I am able to help others even more because it gives me conviction when tested. I hope you have enjoyed this piece and I look forward to continuing on my life path in your company.

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Where’s My Senator’s Blog or Forum?

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What struck me the other day is that I have a lot of issues that I would like to discuss with my local and state representatives and I wondered what the best way to contact them was. I typed into the Google search engine “best way to contact senator” and it lead me to pages about writing them letters, emails, and placing phone calls. They were informative on how to formulate the letter or email and basically said to keep it brief and to the point.


The more I thought about it though, it seemed to me that letters, emails, and phone calls were a rather arcane way discussing the big issues with these representatives. How do I know my letter is going to get read? I live in the smallest state in the US and even we have a population of over 2 million people. I can just imagine the amount of correspondence that crosses my representatives’ desks. Assistants to the representatives must go through the mail and answer the phone and just tally up the number of correspondences on each topic for the rep. to review. Otherwise the guy or girl would never get anything done.

Furthermore, I know what my opinion is on each topic, but how do I know that I have all of the relevant information to formulate an opinion? Do I need to meet with the representative and be told the facts I was missing? That doesn’t seem very efficient either.

So I typed into Google “my senator’s blog”. One of the results was the blog for Senator Chris Dodd: http://dodd.senate.gov/?q=blog/1

This senator actually has his own blog right at the .gov site. I am able to readily see the issues that he is focused on and what he is doing about them. I see that he took a break from July to August, but every 15 days he writes what he’s up to. I would like to see him allow comments or have a forum linked to the site so I could read other people’s views on the issues he is talking about. I think this would be a much more efficient way of getting our voices heard. Granted the comments would probably need to be reviewed and approved by the representative’s staff to ensure there were no curse words or spam buried in the content. I continued to check out a few sites for the other senators at http://senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm but could not find others with blogs. I was pretty disappointed.

Going forward, I think it is important for all of our local and state representatives to have either blogs or forums. Otherwise it seems we are just adding paper to the giant paper mill. Who knows if it was read by the rep. and if it was even accurate enough to be worth reading? Writing letters and meeting with my rep. would take up a lot time for both parties to cover all of the issues. And even if he seems to understand my opinion and agrees that action needs to be taken, how do I know if he acted on it or not? I would have to put in a follow-up phone call and have his assistant ask him what he did about each of the issues we had discussed. I think a much better approach is to let him know that I would like to see him start a blog and allow people to post comments. We could each comment on his recent actions in office and maybe he agrees with us or maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he disagrees with us on a certain issue but then realizes that he is actually disagreeing with the majority of the population he is representing. To me, that would be the best scenario because the actions of our representative start to really represent the opinions of the populous. And that is something that tallying up letters, emails and phone calls can’t do. You might get an idea of what issues people feel strongly about, but you would not know if you were truly representing the consensus of the people you are representing.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll set up appointments with my representatives and ask them if they could start a blog and allow comments. I would like to see a change in strategy rather than getting into an argument about one issue or another, or worse, he agrees with me and tells me that there are just too many people on the opposing party to get anything done on that issue so we’ll have to wait 2 or 4 years before we can do anything about it. Hopefully representatives of other states would also start blogging and we could create some real transparency. Right now, the public votes in their representatives based on political affiliation, looks, and maybe a summary of their position on various issues. But we need more from our representatives than that. We are making major changes to our policies both foreign and domestic. Guessing our rep’s are representing us just is not going to cut it any more.

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Microsoft's Vision of the Future

Microsoft's vision of the future



Link to Microsoft's Video: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8C7EA2FCDDE88894&search_query=microsoft%27s+vision+of+the+future

and the parody video for a couple laughs

… Continue

Practical Manifestations Progress Update

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We launched the web site back in March of 2009 and the blog site one month later. It is now October, 2009 and we have a steady stream of visitors to both sites. We update the blog at least every-other day and we get positive feedback on our posts both at the blog site and on our FaceBook page.  We have many followers through FaceBook's NetworkedBlogs and Google plus a lot of people receive blog post updates right in their email box.


Income is earned through advertising and by selling our book on Amazon.com, and both have been doing pretty well considering the short period of time we have been running. Both of our sites appear on the second page of the Google search “how to manifest anything” and the blog site has a Google Page Rank of 2. Our Alexa traffic rank is a little over 2 million. When we started it was at about 8 million, so we have shown significant improvement in this area. Income is a critical part of any online business. Although it is crucial for survival of a business, it should not be the driving force. We try to use our business to improve the lives of others and the environment.

Our book on Amazon.com has received some pretty great reviews. I need to talk to the administrators at Amazon to see how to post an “editorial review” to liven up the Amazon.com sales page a little.

On FaceBook.com we have over 2400 friends. Our blog is linked to our FaceBook profile so our friends see all of our blog updates. The blog is also linked to our Twitter page where we have about 1500 followers.

In the real world we are connecting with businesses and helping people find jobs. We are working with the quartet “Col Areo” and are looking forward to their concert on November 15th to support the Rhode Island Food Bank. We are also working with Conrad Ferla of Mass Mutual Insurance. Conrad was interested in representing his company at the concert so we are helping to facilitate this. Conrad had some great ideas on how to advertise the concert, finding sponsors, and getting businesses to donate goods. When it comes to helping people find jobs, we think it is especially important today since almost 1 out of 8 people are unemployed here in the US. We meet with our friends looking for jobs each week and see how we can help. One friend found a great job and it will help to support his girlfriend who recently hurt her back and so is out of work for a couple weeks or so. We are meeting another friend of ours to drive him to a few stores to pick up job applications since he does not have a vehicle.



All the time people tell us how inspired they are to be a part of this project. Being a part of the project is as simple as doing a good turn and telling us about it. We are meeting thousands of inspirational people and we can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring.  There is still much work to be done, but our progress so far is really encouraging.

Link to our book “Abundance and the Secret Law of Attraction” on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Abundance-Secret-Attraction-David-Lowell/dp/B002CC67HY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256204036&sr=8-1

Link to our FaceBook.com page: http://www.facebook.com/practicalmanifestations

Link to our Twitter.com page http://www.twitter.com/practicalmanife

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