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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

2012 Washington Nationals Pitching Preview


Ever since moving to the capital city in 2005, the Washington Nationals haven't had a lot to get excited about. But there are a lot of people who think that the Nationals are finally primed to become a serious contender in the NL East after finishing third in its division with an 80-81 record. Washington is expecting their ace, Stephen Strasburg, to come out and play for them for a full season. Aside from that, they went and acquired Gio Gonzalez to give them another young and potent arm in the top of their rotation. Here is the projected starting rotation and closer situation for the Nationals in 2012.

Projected Rotation

Stephen Strasburg (RHP) - Strasburg suffered an injury to his elbow that limited him to five starts at the end of the season. He went 1-1 in the stretch, but had a 1.50 ERA and 0.71 WHIP. What was impressive was that he had just two walks in those five starts. When healthy, Strasburg has the talent and the drive to be one of the best starters the NL has to offer.

Gio Gonzalez (LHP) - Washington traded away four players in order to land Gonzalez, and he was worth it so long as he pitches like he has in his last two seasons in Oakland. The 26-year-old went 16-12 with a 3.12 ERA and 1.32 WHIP in 32 starts last year, following up his strong 2010 season where he went 15-9 with a 3.23 ERA and 1.31 WHIP. He is still relatively young and his best years are still ahead of him.

Jordan Zimmerman (RHP) - Don't discount Zimmerman just yet, even with the addition of Gonzalez and the return of Strasburg, Zimmerman still has what it takes to produce at a high level. The 23-year-old righty produced solid numbers of 3.18 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 26 starts, despite returning from Tommy John Surgery.

John Lannan (LHP) - After a sub-par 2010, Lannan bounced back to perform in arguably his best season to date, when he posted a career-low 3.70 ERA and a career-high with 10 wins.

Chien-Ming Wang (RHP) - After signing with the Nationals prior to the 2010 season, Wang finally made his Nationals debut last year. He went 4-3 with a 4.04 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in 11 starts. Provided that he is healthy, he has the potential to win 10+ games and really make the Nationals' staff one of the best the NL has to offer.

Projected Closer

Drew Storen (RHP) - Storen really surprised a lot of people when he saved 43 games in his first season as the Nationals' closer. The expectations for him going forward are off-the-charts as the 24-year-old also posted a 2.75 ERA and 1.02 WHIP with 74 strikeouts in just over 75 innings of work.




Be sure to visit us for help beating the baseball odds this season with expert free MLB picks from the top handicappers in the industry.




ISAIAH 9:10 JUDGMENT - Video Review and Interview With Producer Joseph Farah


In 1970 even the churches were not regularly taught the doctrine of the second coming of Christ more commonly known as premillennial prophecy. Then along came Hal Lindsey's block buster best seller, "The Late Great Planet Earth."

The nation and the world were catapulted into a revival of knowledge that even the Prophet Daniel proclaimed would not be well known or revealed until the last days. A few great works have been added to Lindsey's book and those who had only Clarence Larkin's 1918 version of "Dispensational Truth" were reinvigorated to begin again to start studying the subject of eschatology. (The last things)

Certain signs have been fulfilled in this generation that make it impossible to miss that the generation Jesus spoke of as the one sure to precede the second coming of Christ, is as the Bible says, "at hand."

Of all the latest signs and the greatest teachings and discoveries about Christ's imminent return in power that have graced this generation, none is more specific to America than the parallel Israel and America share in the passages of Isaiah 9: 10 and following.

Since online journalism often falls prey to the speed of surfing and the new lightning speed of digital browsers, I will state both early and emphatically; the Isaiah 9:10 prophecy/parallel is, without doubt, the most important and impressive discovery in this decade. It is a wakeup call that we can only ignore at our own peril.

It was apparent from the beginning that reviewing this documentary would not be easy and the standard review techniques would need to be suspended in lieu of some other means of elucidation. Joseph Farah is an articulate man who in this interview manages to touch on many of the questions anyone may think to ask, but to begin with we will use the four P's to introduce the production.

PRIMARY - In both Old and New Testament days the Lord made it clear to his apostles and prophets and servants that if they went unheard and subsequently unheeded that it was God that was being rejected not the servant. Under inspiration of God's Holy Spirit, God, his message and the messenger stand as one. That being said the primary here is Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. Jonathan is what is known as a, Messianic Rabbi, (Christian) whose message is heard daily on hundreds of radio stations across the nation.

President of the 'Hope of the World Ministries' Cahn is also the Senior Pastor of the 'Jerusalem Center/ Beth Israel located in Wayne, New Jersey. Cahn has ministered to thousands across the globe. He is the author of the bestselling book 'The Harbinger' which is subtitled "The Ancient Mystery that Holds the Secret of America's Future"

In a normal review we would hail the long list of accomplishments and roles the principle has played to accent his career. In God's economy he was only looking for someone to be obedient to what they saw or heard and in that vein Jonathan Cahn is best described.

What was spoken of about Cahn's ancient Father Abraham may also be said about him. Little more needs to be said for those whose pleasure it is to serve the living God. To Wit: "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." (Gal 3: 6)

PRODUCER - Joseph Farah is the producer of the documentary and he is a man who hardly needs an introduction. As the founder and CEO of WND.com (Formerly- World Net Daily) a website that has recently been ranked among the top 500 sites in the world, he is well known for his journalism and his untiring pursuit of the truth.

Like many Christians Farah knows that Jesus said "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (Jn 8: 32) When Farah decided that he would not hoard the truth to himself, but make it known to the entire world he became as Jonathan Cahn, a servant. Nothing speaks more about him than that. In the perspective of the Biblical worldview, that title, is the greatest he has ever been granted.

PREMISE - The documentary is used to show the parallel between ancient Israel and America. We are without doubt producing the same behaviors that Israel did before it began to fall under the judgment of God. Since both Israel and America were chosen to represent God's works and his message in our world it might seem apropos that we should both choose a similar path, but since it is a path to our own demise, it is anything but desirable.

In the last 24 hours before Christ's life leading up to and including his crucifixion he fulfilled some 25 major Messianic prophecies (Prophecies related to the first coming of Christ) against the odds of approximately 53,000,000 to one. The parallels between Israel's behaviors and America's reactions to the events of 9/11 have not yet been calculated in the math of compound probabilities, but if it were the odds would also be astronomical.

In the simplest terms - we are repeating the same behaviors as ancient Israel. The video fully explains these parallels, but much more than that, it indicates what we can do as individuals and as a nation to avoid the product of our behavior.

PRODUCT - All great portents are pretty much useless if all they do is entertain. The curiosity of the prophecies of Nostradamus, the sighting of UFOs, the pursuit of missing gospels and 'doomsday' predictions all have entertainment value, but they cannot be used to edify, guide or redeem anyone, thus they begin and end on the lower echelon of human influence we know as entertainment.

When signs or burning bushes are granted by God they have a much higher value. They are known as 'revelation' which means they are God's way of speaking to man. God doesn't just want to be heard like someone shouting over the crowd, he has no opinions or viewpoints. He is the author and finisher of all things, but he does want to make it clear that we play a role in the outcome of all that happens in our lives as individuals and collectively as a nation. This then, is the very heart of this documentary. It is a view of the terrible event we call 9/11 that when seen correctly, will serve to awaken us to our role, subsequent to that event.

It is God's way of saying - 'Now, what are you going to do about it!'

Bresciani - This is Rev Michael Bresciani of the American Prophet.org website and I'm interviewing Mr. Joseph Farah, the Chief Executive Officer of World Net Daily on his production of the movie 'Isaiah 9: 10 Judgment.' Welcome.

Farah - Before you get started I just want to say that, World Net Daily is the name of the website that most people are familiar with, on January first we changed it to WND, and officially we don't use World Net Daily anymore.

Bresciani - You know I should know that because I have a link to your site and a little logo on ours and it does say, simply, WND.

Farah - Old habits are hard to break.

Bresciani - The nine 'harbingers' are broken down into these categories, if I could say them quickly. 1. The Breach, 2. The Terrorist, 3. The Bricks, 4. The Tower, 5. The Gazit Stone, 6. The Sycamore, 7. The Erez Tree, 8. The Utterance, 9. The Prophecy. The first question I have is - it was the Rabbi, Jonathan Cahn who seems the be the person best versed in these harbingers, was he the one that discovered these or did somebody else find them with him, was there a collaboration or did he just come upon them - how did he discover them?

Farah - It is my understanding, although I never specifically asked that question of Jonathan, is that these were things he discovered, and I think I would be accurate in saying that he was led to these discoveries, by the Holy Spirit. He is a great student of the Bible and he is a student of the Bible in original languages and he sees a lot of deeper meanings, much more than the average English speaking Bible student and I think that certainly helps, for instance, knowing the difference between when you read in the King James Version of the bible that the sycamores were replaced by cedars. Well, cedar is not actually the word in Hebrew, it's erez tree, Erez is something, it includes the cedar, but it can be something, it's more generic than cedar and so when you see the sycamore tree in New York City being replaced by an erez tree, then you see the fulfillment of what appears to be prophecy repeating itself. So I think Jonathan is uniquely gifted and studied to be able to have made these discoveries.

The movie itself is a different kind of telling of the book he wrote, The Harbinger, and the Harbinger is a terrific book, but it is actually classified as fiction because it involves fictional characters. It's the telling of a real historical story. He does it in a way, a narrative form, that when I read it as a journalist, I said to myself, wait a minute, I'm afraid people are going to read this and think it's a nice book, but not get the fact that - its real, that its true.

I felt compelled to make this into a video documentary where we could actually show these events that took place because - seeing- is believing - for people. We increasingly live in a world where the visual is much more powerful for some people than the written word. So that was the genesis of the Isaiah 9: 10 Judgment. I knew the 'Harbinger' was going to be an incredibly successful book, which it has been and continues to be the number one Christian book in America this year.

Bresciani - That leads me into the second question I was going to ask you. How is it (The Harbinger) doing in the marketplace? I understand its rising again?

Farah - Yes, it's been consistently on the New York Times best seller list and it's really just a question of whether it's in the top ten or the top twenty five and that sort of depends on the exposure he (Jonathan Cahn) he is able to give it in media.

Bresciani - I had the feeling as I watched the documentary that it wasn't trying to be a 'prophecy,' it was being shown as a parallel, that we (America) are repeating a pattern, and no one could argue with that.

Farah - Well no, and if your familiar with the bible, you know that the bible is a book of patterns. And so it only makes sense that those patterns would continue into the future and to me this story, whether you read it in book form or watch the video, I have yet to see anybody come away with, well that's all coincidence.

Bresciani - Another question that came up is, I wondered if anyone involved like Sen. Daschle, Jon Edwards, Mayor Bloomberg, and the Governor of New York or anyone that's part of the documentary has been exposed to the video and have they made any statements or thrown back any reflections?

Farah - No, not to my knowledge, however, I will say this because this is the journalist in me, I have asked my team, my staff, to make every effort to try to reach out, particularly to Daschle and Edwards. I want to find out from Tom Daschle, who gave the first speech on September 12 and cited Isaiah 9: 10. I wanted to get somebody to talk to him or the aide or the speech writer that came up with that verse as the inspiration for his talk that day.

SUMMARY - The full length audio of the interview with Joseph Farah is 43 minutes in length and a great deal more depth and detail can be found in it, I strongly advise anyone considering the purchase of this video to listen to the entire presentation. It is totally free.

Everybody who watches this video will be impacted. Whether you are just curious about prophecies and how America fits into the biblical scheme of things, or if you are a solid student of prophecy you will be moved and enlightened and challenged by the obviously important message Jonathan Cahn is making in this powerful video presentation.

As a person with both a prophetic calling on my life and as a journalist I feel that our nation is sliding fast toward the place of no return, anything that serves to alert the nation to this misguided race to our own demise rates high on my list as important enough to declare and make known to other Americans.

I like to rate every film or production I review on a scale of 1 to 10. In all three categories, message, production and prophetic value I would be remiss if I did not give Joseph Farah's production of 'Isaiah 9: 10 Judgment,' a very strong - ten.




http://www.americanprophet.org has since 2005 featured the articles of columnist Rev Michael Bresciani along with news and reviews that have earned this site the title of The Website for Insight. Millions have read his timely reports and articles in online journals and print publications across the nation and the globe.




Southland Region New Zealand - Home of the Fiordland National Park


The Southland Region of New Zealand is sparsely populated but contains some of the most majestic natural wonders in a country which is full of spectacular nature. The region lies at the southern tip of the South Island of New Zealand and includes Stewart Island or Rakiura as it is more commonly known. The two largest cities are Invercargill with about 50,000 inhabitants and Gore with around 12,000 citizens in the area. A large swath of the region is covered by protected national parks with some of the most magnificent sights in the whole country.

Fiordland National Park is the largest national park in New Zealand, covering 7,860 square kilometers and in dramatic fashion. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the Southern Alps, with two of the most visited areas being Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound which are fjords formed by the powerful glacial activity here thousands of years ago. Milford Sound is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the country with rocky peaks in the shape of an elephant head and crouching lion towering over the waters below. The area also contains Browne Falls which are (depending on the measurement 619 or 836 meters) the highest waterfall in New Zealand and the equally impressive Sutherland Falls at 580 meters. Boat tours are one of the best ways to see the fjords and temporary waterfalls are often seen in this, one of the rainiest areas on the planet with 6,813 mm of rain on average per year. The region also contains numerous lakes, among them the deepest lakes in New Zealand and the deepest of all is Lake Hauroko at 463 meters in depth.

Rakiura National Park covers over 80% of Stewart Island or Rakiura. The island lies just to the south and is administered by the Southland Region. Due to the absence of any large predators this is a great place to view kiwi in the wild as well as some other rare native birds. The island is well known for its gorgeous sunsets and sunrises along with the Aurora Australis or Southern Lights which is spectacular here. The endangered Yellow-eyed penguin has several breeding sites here and the Southern Brown Kiwi is found here as well along with a number of endangered flightless birds that were recently moved to smaller islands offshore for protection.

Invercargill is the region's largest city and one of the southernmost cities in the world. The rich farmland surrounding the area provides much of its economic activity centered on the dairy industry and the Southern Institute of Technology rejuvenated the city with its zero fees scheme. Oreti Beach is 10 km to the west and was featured in the film World's Fastest Indian which was the story of the local hero Burt Munro who set several speed records on this wide, flat swath of sand. The only indoor velodrome (cycling racetrack) in New Zealand is located here and there are several other sport stadiums as well.

Gore is the second most populated town in the region and is mostly a service town for the surrounding farming areas. The area is well known for its connection to country music and hosts the New Zealand country music awards ceremony every year. The most famous local building is the Creamoata Mill, with the porridge they produced once being considered the national breakfast. Local legends arose from the era of alcohol prohibition when the nearby Hokonui Hills produced Hokonui moonshine, which made Gore more well known to New Zealanders.

The Southland region is mostly mountainous and the similarities to the climate of the British Isles brought a large contingent of Scottish settlers here. Outside of the two largest towns, the area is sparsely populated with mountains and farmland covering the majority of the region. The Fiordland National Park is a must see destination for anyone visiting New Zealand with its fjords, lakes, and waterfalls giving it a unique beauty. As unique as some of the destinations in New Zealand are, the national parks here in Southland will rival and top that of any in the country based on their sheer grandeur. So be sure not to miss the opportunity to at least take a boat ride through either Milford Sound or Doubtful Sound when visiting here.




Lucky Rentals offers campervan rental in Auckland and Christchurch, New Zealand. Campervans are an excellent way to check out the country on the open road, and to sleep out in the beautiful natural surroundings that make New Zealand so great.




Friday, September 21, 2012

More Jobs, Fewer and Lower Taxes - Applying the KISS Principle


Over the past 30 years Federal Tax receipts (Corporate, Personal, Estate, Excise, Gift, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, et al) have averaged less than 20% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Read that again, and don't think for a minute that it's not a large number.

But it's not nearly large enough to pay the bills, reduce the national debt, grow the economy, and come to the aid of all of the people in the world who need us. Why, because nearly half of us (some legally, some not so) pay little or no federal income taxes at all--- and because our elected representatives have no financial management skills.

The only taxes that always get paid are those that reduce the amount of spending money in our pockets and which raise the cost of the goods and services we purchase --- thus retarding economic growth.

There is no doubt that a Federal Sales Tax on consumption by final consumers would produce more revenue than all of the other taxes combined --- but how much, and is it OK to single out things like cigarettes and gas guzzlers for extra taxes?

We need to give it a try, and there would be added benefits: (a) we would be collecting taxes from all of those folk who earn incomes that are just not reported at all, (b) the products we try to sell in world markets would be more competitive, and (c) all of us would have more money to spend on stuff that could actually become lower in price.

There are no purely economic problems with making the shift to a consumption tax --- just political ones. The legislation has been "on the hill", and summarily ignored for decades. We need to apply cool economic sense to the elimination of the Internal Revenue Code and the Social Security Ponzi scheme.

First KISS: Create Jobs Right Now

Create jobs immediately by eliminating the corporate income tax (and all other fees, local taxes, assessments, ad nauseum) for any corporation that adds 10% to its permanent workforce and/or 20% to its total workforce.

Corporations are not the bad guys, it's the over-paid greedy dogs at the top that need to be leashed and disciplined by their employers --- the shareholders, theoretically anyway. How about this for a start: all salaries above $1 million are paid in the form of dividends on common stock; all bonuses are "divvied up" dollar for dollar between all employees, full time or part time; there are no stock option programs.

Offset the Federal tax revenue loss by outlawing all forms of "earmarks" on any legislation ever; limiting all lobbying efforts to legitimate industry, employee, and public interest associations; and by enacting a 2% Federal Sales Tax on everything purchased by final consumers--- no exceptions, period.

Create "Green Energy Bonds", sold to investors with full federal guarantees, and used to help start up a Green Energy Investment Bank chartered only to provide low interest loans for developmental private sector projects. While we're at it, bring back the distinctions between, commercial banks, savings and loans, and investment banks.

Second KISS: Lower and Eliminate Taxes

Lower taxes immediately by phasing in a mandated private SSRIA* program for all workers, private and public, from 1st day mailroom clerk to President of the US of A. Reduce Social Security Taxes to 3% over a five-year period and use that money to create a deferred, fixed-income, life-annuity for every worker.

Seventy percent of SSRIA investments would include US Government Bonds, state and local Municipal Securities, with the balance managed in non-derivative, individual equity investments regarded as Investment Grade Value Stocks*. No investment income of any kind would ever be taxable by any government.

SSRIAs would be created and managed by fixed-annuity experienced private sector companies, and the annuity contracts would "travel" with the employee until retirement. All SSRIAs would have identical provisions, no sales commissions or marketing expenses, and slightly below industry level investment management fees.

Employees would be assigned randomly to providor companies, and each contract would include "return of premium" term life insurance until annuitized. Add an additional 3% to the Federal Sales Tax to replace the reduction in Federal tax revenue.

Third KISS: Produce Sustainable Economic Growth

Now that we've become more competitive in world markets, assured retirement benefits for all workers, and helped to save the planet, it's time to provide equal opportunity for all of us to attain the American Dream without big brother's assistance.

Replace the personal income tax side of the Internal Revenue Code with a 5% flat tax and an additional 10% sales tax --- maybe even a mandated 2% insurance premium for universal basic medical coverage. But at the end of the process, all reported income pays a 5% income tax --- no exclusions, deductions, adjustments, minimums, period, and done!

Every purchase for final consumption generates a 15% contribution to support what we hope will become a smaller, less corrupt, more creative group of term-limited politicians. And, once the budget becomes balanced, further tax reductions will ensue.

Hey, write your congressperson, make some noise, Tweet, Digg, whatever. Now this is capital "c" change we can deal with --- or at least dream about.




Steve Selengut

[http://www.kiawahgolfinvestmentseminars.com/]

http://www.sancoservices.com

Professional Portfolio Management since 1979

Author of: "The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The Book that Wall Street Does Not Want YOU to Read"




Smoking and Global Warming


From a hotel room in Central Jakarta, Indonesia news agency Pena's final report describes the development of the tobacco industry today. This report in the form of 65 pages thick magazine with the headline on the front page "Hypocrisy & Myths Behind the Tobacco Industry".

Pena Indonesia claims this report is based on investigative reports on various search tobacco industry documents. Also includes two CD or compact disk that contains thousands of documents multinational industries in Indonesia. As the documents from British American Tobacco or BAT, Philips Morris and others.

The workshop was attended among journalists and health activists. Aim to provide insight into the existence of secret documents related to the coming of the giants of the world tobacco industry and its relationship with Indonesia.

This workshop also received support from the world health agency WHO's Indonesia representative, IAKMI-Public Health Specialist Association of Indonesia and SEATCA-The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance.

Pena Indonesia to work for three months and glared through the computer. Digging thousands of documents online from seven giant cigarette recorded in the period 1960 until the early 2000s. At least there are about 28,000 of thousands more documents from British American Tobacco or BAT Indonesia is stored in digital libraries of the University of California, San Francisco, United States.

Walk through also take place in the site's Legacy Tobacco Documents Library that contains an internal document of Philips Morris, RJ Reynolds, Lorillard and Brown & Williamson. The result is reported and written by Farid Gaban and Alfian Hamzah from Pena Indonesia news agency and Mardiyah Chamim of Tempo Magazine. Coverage and support in the form of grant funding from Essential Action Global Partnership for Tobacco Control, based in Washington.

This story began in 1998. This year may be spelled out in the most unfortunate for the cigarette industry in America. Attorney General State of Minnesota, United States, Hubert Humphrey III blew the whistle loud warning to cigarette industry. Attorney General asked the seven smoking industry giants to open all their secret documents to the public. Aim to find the truth.

These documents are internal documents containing various letters to the authorities, scientists, media tricks to boost the tobacco business. Seven giant companies, among others, from Philip Morris Incorporated, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, British American Tobacco (BAT), Brown and Williamson, the Ligget Group and The Tobacco Institute and The Council for Tobacco Research and the Lorillard Tobacco Company.

American courts have six million documents with 35 million pages. Each page is a seal and code number of lawyers the industry to ensure its authenticity. The court also requires the tobacco industry parties in order to deposit the documents until the year 2008.

While in England, the mountains of British American Tobacco documents typically stored in the warehouse Guilford, Surrey, England. BAT archiving online documents is done by the University of California, San Francisco, United States.

There are seven million documents in the form of scanned documents. And spent about four years to make efforts for their hard work. Unfortunately, according to Duncan Cambell, an American investigative journalist who helped search smoking industry documents, the claim that there are about 181 file that contains thousands of pages of documents had been lost. These missing documents are not clear and it is possible rimbanya associated with regions of other countries, like Indonesia.

One of the investigations of this American smoking industry had contrived movie "The Insider" that tell about the search an American television journalist uncover fraud in the levels toxins. Media in the United States to encourage and influence the people that smoking is a threat. Cigarettes became citizen issues and then encouraging the birth of a strict smoking regulations and basic.

Tobacco industry should be controlled and strictly controlled. For owners in the U.S. tobacco industry is not a condition of a good climate. And ask the American government to the strict rules that only apply in the United States alone. And does not apply to international business networks in different parts of other countries. Post-1998 invasion was in progress. And objectives that cigarette owners are the countries that enter the third country groups.

How to countries in the region, especially Indonesia in association with the document? Indonesia belonged to a third country is not it? Indonesia is a land tender and a haven for the global tobacco industry of the world. Tobacco industry in Indonesia incarnate and was like a "kingdom" of its own. He played many roles and automatic movements do not get a lot of obstacles and barriers.

Either statutory, economic, social to the political path. The smoking industry in Indonesia grew rapidly and slippery. Borrowing the term's largest daily newspaper in West Java, the People's Mind, the tobacco industry as "Spreads and entrenched". Not a lot of media in Indonesia to criticism, preaching especially to make a profound statement relating cigarette industry is. Indonesia received with open field every movement, ideas, and the influence of the tobacco industry in developing its business extensively.

We can learn many things from the tobacco industry documents. Learn how they work, determine the position and influence policy makers, economic, media until the "buy-sell" research. The document gives a clear and detailed. We just need to work hard, carefully detailing, and built of sheets of documents to obtain a complete picture of the building of the world tobacco industry as a whole.

According to the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA)-based institutions in Thailand, in its report Profiting from Death: Exposing the Tobacco Industry Tactics in ASEAN Countries, October 2007, explained that until now the region cigarette consumption of about 50 per cent of world tobacco consumption. And Asia considered as an important market future of the world tobacco industry.

While 10 countries joined to the ASEAN approximately 31 percent or 125.8 million ASEAN youth population are smokers. Or about 10 percent-1, 25 billion-from the number of young smokers smokers of the world continue to increase and the country joined ASEAN contributed to the death rate from smoking as much as 20 percent!

SEATCA is a partnership network of state agencies that merged into the ASEAN which undertakes research, advocacy and capacity building in each of its members. SEATCA work and build advocacy mission to its members who have made ratification of the WHO convention, tobacco control over the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) - including Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam. While Indonesia is the only country in Asia which until this moment has not ratified these conventions.

WHO convention on tobacco control is essential to apply in the cigarette industry in Indonesia. This Convention will regulate and control the tobacco industry. There are about 38 articles in the convention and aims to improve the quality of global health.

Business development to move the tobacco industry is not in the form of a single strategic one. Business strategy will follow the situation in each area of development. He worked to organize and determine the target groups, facilitate the political policies that support good business that comes from the government or the people's representatives, to work with anyone to make promotional efforts and form a fully market.

Tobacco industry to build its image through a variety of ways. From the ad creates a direct communication with consumers by placing cigarette products through billboards, print ads and electronic media, posters, accessories, colors and logo outlets that causes the image of tobacco products.

Promotional activities by distributing free cigarette samples, offers coupons, contests, lotteries, tickets to watch sports games and racing, music concerts, fund a film, talk shows, street party to its activities in the form of corporate social responsibility or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR ) which supports scholarships, environmental aid projects and other activities under the company name or the name of the tobacco industry products. Including providing scholarships to journalists and school children are achievers.

SEATCA survey research on the control status of the rules about promotion, advertising, CSR and sponsorship in seven ASEAN countries in 2007. Including in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Five countries have quite strict rules to regulate the issue ads, prmosi, sponsorship and CSR.

These five countries include Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand. Of these five countries, Thailand has very strict rules against tobacco industry and conduct strict limits. Two of the most free, no rules, no control and no restrictions are Cambodia and Indonesia!

Cambodia and Indonesia is a paradise for the tobacco industry. The two countries are relatively poor country is not it? Indonesia is estimated to have poverty rates of 49 percent with the cost of living average of two dollars per day for America. Both do not have rules and restrictions governing tobacco control issues closely.

For the tobacco industry is the most profitable opportunities. Cigarette industry has any power and capital to boost its business and profit maximization. The industry offers a dream potion and promotional advertising to the public to climb out of poverty.

And offer words suggestive ads and interesting success. This is a dream and the dream for all people. Tobacco industry's success by offering a cigarette. Giving up tobacco are one of the main way for each person to climb out of poverty and live success quickly.

Poverty became the land for profit. And the industry was well aware of this condition. Poverty, lack of regional representation and the role of government, lack of political consciousness, and the role of the media who are helpless in cigarette advertising.

AC Nielsen figures show the year 2006 tobacco sector advertising expenditure of Rp 1.6 trillion. Which moron media would lose and the offer of money for it? One media in Indonesia may be conscious and choose not to accept tobacco ads. But the question is the extent to which the power of this medium will survive? And refrain from the onslaught of cigarette advertising.

Cigarettes became the main consumption for the poor. Cigarette consumption throughout the year reached 225 billion sticks. Cigarettes have a 4000 toxic chemicals. And cigarettes are the leading cause of cancer-causing disease, heart and other diseases that cause death in the long run. Every year people die as indicated by the cigarette causes as many as 400 thousand in Indonesia!

The number of smokers Indonesia increased sharply. Based on the national economic survey Statistic The Central Bureau in the period 2001-2004, there has been surge in novice smokers and under the age of 10 years rose 0.4 percent to 2.8 percent. National Commission on Child Protection also get a number that 90 percent of teenagers smoke because of advertising Indonesia. Teenagers became the main target for the tobacco industry.

This figure is worrying, and then in February 2007 several members of the legislature moved to make some rules to restrict smoking. These rules are expected to restrict, control and restrict tobacco issues involving the activities of young children. This rule also requires an increase in cigarette excise tax by 60 percent to minimize people buy cigarettes. And encouraged to expand research on the impact of smoking on health.

In 1999, Indonesia has issued Government Regulation 81 / 1999 concerning Security Cigarettes For Health, Government Regulation 38/1999 on Procedures for the Tobacco Product Advertising Media and Government Regulation 19/2003 regarding the obligations of cigarette manufacturers to include warnings on product packaging.

Indonesia also benefited from this condition. From the cigarette industry sector contribution in the form of tax revenue amounting to Rp 38.5 trillion last year. And this year is expected to increase to Rp 42 trillion.

Cigarette business in Indonesia is very sweet. Two Indonesian families who do business in the ranks of cigarettes in the world's richest list of Forbes Magazine. Rachman Halim family including Gudang Garam owners with assets of U.S. $ 1.9 billion and occupies 538 warning. Budi Hartono and family of the order of Djarum 664 with assets of U.S. $ 1.5 billion.

Indonesia's cigarette tax mostly cheap compared with other countries. Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore set the cigarette tax by 70 percent. While in Indonesia, just set the highest cigarette tax by 40 percent. With this tax rate retail price of cigarettes in Indonesia is the fifth of the price compared to the price of cigarettes in Malaysia.

The price of cheap cigarettes is boosting consumer smokers in Indonesia. Access to cigarettes is very easy. Based on the last survey the WHO and the American Cancer Society, about 70 percent of Indonesian smokers are male. And 3 percent of women smokers Indonesia.

Indonesia plays a dual role misleading. One side of the income he earned from cigarette but on the other hand many of Indonesia will lose its human resources because of damage caused by cigarettes. But health insurance companies in Indonesia which would warranty his client about the consequences of smoking?

Anti-smoking campaign world continues to strengthen. Rich countries and educated aware of the dangers from smoking. Anti-smoking movement harder and try to campaign on this issue at the level of the global movement. Federation of Football Association (FIFA) and even signed an agreement with WHO to regulate and prohibit tobacco sponsorship in the football field.

MTV supports anti-smoking campaign and urged teenagers not to smoke. Countries in Europe and other Asian and ratify the convention followed tobacco control (FCTC).

But resistance to the cigarette industry in Indonesia is still very weak. Anti-smoking movement both from citizens, communities, doctors, including from the media yet strong. WHO Indonesia chose a few names of artists and athletes for the national sports anti-smoking campaign. Among tennis champion Angelique Widjaja, bodybuilder Ade Rai, and model Tracy Trinita.

But not enough to represent all three and move the people of Indonesia to establish anti-smoking movement. Indonesia needs a great figure and steady for anti-smoking movement. Not just a slogan anti-smoking course. But the anti-smoking movement is broad and strategic.

In short, the anti-smoking movement in Indonesia is still classified as impotent. He needs power and a strong force to stem the solid and aggressive opposition from the tobacco industry. And the journalist is to write the movement and continue to oversee the expansion of logging from the cigarette industry.

Advertising and propaganda war going on in the struggle of black smoke world. And Indonesia is a powerful combat areas to map the world of today's global cigarette. This is also related to the local cigarette industry in Indonesia. As the local industry in the Spirit, Malang, Jember and Kediri. Local cigarette industry in Indonesia has also played an important role in influencing the smoking community.

In Indonesia, known as clove cigarettes while smoking outside the product known as white smoke. Local cigarette industry is small kings tobacco and many are in Java. Expansion of the world tobacco industry bosses squirm with aggressive and strong and try to master the current market share. White cigarettes clove cigarettes fight.

Who is most powerful? The smoking industry to build myths, facts and misleading research about smoking. And we know that the victims of the battle is the health of everyday citizens will decline. Indonesia and countries allow their citizens health downfall.

The facts of the dangers of cigarettes and dark tobacco industry's propaganda is clear. Cigarettes are not for compromise but should be controlled and regulated by the government and the legislature. Indonesian society should be aware that cigarettes are now become an alarming epidemic.

The event will end in 2007 Indonesia was elected to conduct a global discussion about global warming. Took place in December in Bali. Global discussions is very important to discuss and take strategic steps related to the issue of global warming and the environment. Indonesia is also classified as bad in the environmental area.

Indonesia, including the red-prone areas in environmental issues such as illegal logging, mining, industrial pollution and waste emissions from motor vehicles. This global discussion will produce decisions and policies are very important. The result will encourage each state leaders and citizens to support and implement strategic measures to curb global warming today.

I was shocked when he read a daily newspaper, the National Journal. At the bottom of the column main page newspaper ads plastered on the implementation of a global warming in Bali later. With a dominant ads with light green color close to the color icon environmental issues.

This print ad includes a statement or countdown days in December 2007. These ads also put the name of a cigarette company, Sampoerna and have the word "Green" which could also be interpreted to refer to one of the main products of the Sampoerna cigarette.

I am sad to see the discussion of global warming will have to obtain sponsorship from the tobacco industry. The business and its profits are the majority coming from Indonesia's poor. Perhaps the sadness I continue to dissolve and be a voice lost and forgotten in the noisy turmoil of global warming event later.

This should be an important note, the mirror itself and becomes a question of us all. Environmental issues are common issues. He departed from his conscience and our common sense. What is worthy of global warming event comes from a tobacco company? Cigarettes, however, the toxin and one of the main causes of death. Is not nothing wrong that the global warming program would come from the tobacco industry?

A pile of tobacco industry internal documents they provided a clear answer. Problem tactics, plans, strategies, political lobbying and build awareness about the error and dirty cigarettes.

I am very sorry critical discussion of global warming there are stains and thorns. This becomes a wedge and a slap on the cliches of the world. As if life and life is going on and started from a cigarette.

Cigarette slogan is not lip service. And strength in the cigarette industry in Indonesia indicate that fact. And this is not true. Tobacco industry is seen to make traps and myths. Cigarettes are an important issue of humanity. Life of the cigarette world full of compromise power, deceit and dark strategy.

And it is probably true in the world struggle of cigarettes, as he had been written by Ben Jonson long ago in The Alchemist (The Alchemist) that "Alchemy was a kind of game, Like a card trick, to deceive man, with great charm".




Conrad really loves his home and family and lives life to the full and has been writing about his knowledge and experience. Feel free to see some of his material at Lawn Tractor Attachments and juice Dispenser [http://juicedispenser.net].




Musings of an American Refugee in New Zealand


Despite my unusual name, I happen to be a woman. I am also an American child and adolescent psychiatrist with more than 30 years of practice under my belt. Seven years ago I emigrated from the US to New Zealand, mainly for political reasons. I describe the unusual events leading up to this momentous decision in my upcoming book - The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee.

Obviously a lot has happened in seven years. I have learned I am not alone in deciding to emigrate out of frustration with the Bush administration. It turns out tens of thousands of Americans emigrated between 2000 and 2008. Polls show most of them were liberals and progressives. In November 2003 expatriate Americans led the London demonstrations protesting Bush's London visit and the war in Iraq. Expatriates also formed major voting blocs for Kerry in 2004 and for Obama in 2008. An unexpected result of creating a new life for myself as an expatriate is the unique perspective it has provided on my former life in the US.

An Awakening: Militarism is the US Government's Number One Priority

Ironically it is only in coming to a remote South Pacific nation, whose population has just exceeded four million, that I can fully appreciate the way military domination and control of the third world takes precedence over all other US foreign and domestic policy. Owing to vigorous censorship that occurs in the corporate controlled media, much of this information isn't readily available to US residents. Prior to the mid-nineties the US relied on economic dominance over smaller countries to extract a continuous supply of cheap resources they couldn't produce domestically - such as gasoline, coffee, sugar, chocolate, nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers and platinum, nickel, chromium, cobalt and other strategic metals. With the decline in US economic strength over the past 15 years, the government has come to rely on its military might to acquire the resources it needs to guarantee Americans' continued high standard of living. It seems to be common knowledge among many New Zealand intellectuals that this is the primary US government agenda.

An Awakening: the News Media Keeps Americans in the Dark about Their Government

It was only on leaving the US that I recognized how successfully the US media monopoly censors and sanitizes public information about international events and government activities. Although Rupert Murdoch's News Corp controls much of New Zealand's access to international news, we still have independent media outlets that regularly challenge and embarrass our government. Presently this type of investigative reporting is extremely rare in the American mainstream media.

An Awakening: the Price Americans Pay for Global Domination

The first thing that hit me on waking up in a new country was the enormous personal cost, in terms of quality life, that Americans pay as citizens of a regime intent on establishing and maintaining a global military empire. For example, although New Zealand ranks as one of the poorer countries in the OECD (22nd out of 30), Kiwis take for granted that their government will use their hard earned tax dollars to provide free health care for all New Zealand residents, a program the public considers essential for the long term well being and sustainability of their country.

In New Zealand it is fairly easy to support universal health care and the taxes that fund it, because this country doesn't invade or occupy other countries and bans the use of nuclear materials as weapons or for energy production. In the US, on the other hand, reaching consensus on joining the rest of the developed world in providing universal government sponsored health care is next to impossible. There is enormous resistance to increasing federal tax to pay for such a program, given that Americans are so heavily taxed already to pay for wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and to maintain a US military presence in more than 50 foreign countries it considers strategic to its interests. In the past five years the number of overseas military bases has increased from 700 to 1,000, as the US military expands into Eastern Europe, Pakistan, North and West Africa (owing to the strategic importance of African oil reserves) and Columbia (owing to the threat posed by left leaning governments in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia).

An Awakening: the US is Less Democratic than Other Developed Countries

More importantly Americans seem to have no say in the decisions resulting in the allocation of nearly 50 cents of every tax dollar for military related spending. In fact in many ways the US is far less democratic than other developed countries. Although polling shows Americans don't want to spend their tax dollars spent on escalating the war in Afghanistan - that they want to spend them on government sponsored health care - the Obama administration does just the opposite. Obama sends 35,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and persuades congressional Democrats to drop the public option and Medicare expansion from his health care reform bill.

The New Zealand government would face massive street protests for enacting legislation opposed by the majority of New Zealanders. Yet for some reason Americans seem to take for granted that they have no say in decisions that are fundamental, not only to their own personal welfare, but to the long term economic viability and sustainability of their country. It is only in living abroad that I have become aware of this a deep resignation and apathy in the American public. It's a mindset I believe stems from deep and pervasive political repression - which is essential to maintain order in a society dedicated to global military dominance.

An Awakening: the Planet's Newest Third World Country

Obviously there are other important reasons why the US doesn't have publicly sponsored health care like Zealand and all other industrialized countries. The channeling of hundreds of billions of tax dollars into military expansion is only part of the problem. There happen to be other powerful corporate interests - led by the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies - who invested billions of dollars in the 2008 election to ensure that the Democrats and Obama refrained from enacting publicly sponsored health care. However the prioritization of the military conquest and occupation over the all domestic spending and the secrecy and deliberate misinformation over the phenomenal cost of war - an extremely unpopular public policy to begin with - make it very difficult for Americans to understand much less have a voice in how their tax dollars are spent.

The reality is that exponential increases in US military spending over the past thirty years have resulted in deep cuts in domestic spending for education and important social programs. Most of the developed world understands and accepts that unmet social problems, such as homelessness, mental illness and drug and alcohol abuse, illiteracy, unemployment, child poverty and child abuse seriously compromise the quality of life for the entire society. Yet here, too, the US is more like a third world country than an advanced industrialized society. I only saw this clearly after moving abroad.

As the military budget has increased exponentially over the past thirty years, the commitment to universal education, job training, housing and full employment as essential to meaningful participation in an advanced industrial democracy has vanished from public consciousness. The only "antipoverty" programs that persist are federal and state prisons. The US now exceeds China in its incarceration rate. Which represents an extremely uneconomical use of government funds in a recession. At an average cost of $29,000 each (totaling nearly 100 billion dollars annually), there is no question that locking people up is the most expensive way to address social problems that lead to criminal behavior.

An Awakening: the Loss of Civil Liberties in the US

The negative effect of our government's drive for global military domination is not limited to negative economic consequences - namely our inability to meet basic health, education, housing and social welfare needs. The loss of civil liberties over the last eight years is also more typical of a third world military dictatorship than the participatory democracies enjoyed by most of the developed world. This, too, was something I only fully appreciated after moving abroad.

Most of the covert activities I describe in my book - the monitoring of my calls, emails and financial transactions, the theft of business and personal mail and even the clandestine break-ins - was illegal in the late eighties. However the US government engages in all these activities legally now, thanks to successive versions of the Patriot Act.

Worse still Obama has left most of these laws, which violate basic Constitutional rights, essentially intact. He has also preserved the right of police and federal authorities to arrest and hold US citizens without charge - a violation of the right of habeas corpus guaranteed in the Bill of Rights - an fundamental feature of civilized society dating back to the 1215 Magna Carta.

This loss of civil liberties also occurred in Rome, when its leaders were forced to abandon their democratic form of government to pursue the wars of conquest that resulted in the formation of a vast Roman Empire. In most cases, military conquest and occupation of foreign territory only benefits a tiny elite at the highest level of society. Ordinary people are naturally repulsed by the idea of war and almost universally expect their hard earned tax dollars to be spent on public programs that directly benefit them.

If allowed any meaningful input, they rarely willingly agree to squander government funds on military expansion. This is why a campaign of military expansion can only succeed if the government is effective at suppressing dissent in the ruling country.

An Awakening: How US Militarism Affects the Way Americans Think

The most alarming discovery I made in acculturating myself to a new country was the extent to which I unconsciously bought into all the brainwashing and propaganda I was exposed to as a child in school and as an adult via the mainstream media. When I first arrived in New Zealand I genuinely believed that the US was not only the strongest military and economic power in the world - it was also the best at nearly everything else.

I write about this discovery in my book. Obviously New Zealand has no military ambitions, and Kiwis would feel pretty silly about promoting their country as the most democratic, productive, efficient, cleanest, healthiest, transparent, just and scientifically advanced nation in the world.

I myself feel pretty silly that as a committed leftist I continued to believe - as recently as five years ago - that the US was way ahead of other countries in these areas, as well as in military and economic strength. At some level I have known for at least 20 years that the US was less democratic than other industrialized countries. I also knew that US corporations had significantly weakened American economic influence by moving its industrial base to sweat shops overseas. Likewise I knew that air and water are seriously polluted in the US and its food supply one of the most contaminated in the world - with its reliance on toxic sludge fertilizers, as well as infestation with Mad Cow, E Coli and other illness-causing organisms that the powerful food lobby prevents the government from regulating.

I knew from my own research into alternative AIDS treatments that the US lags far behind other industrialized countries in scientific research. Mainly because it gives powerful corporations the power to dictate most of research Americans scientists engage in and to suppress any negative findings that might impact corporate profitability.

Ironically the US can no longer claim to be the most powerful economic force in the world, a fact rarely acknowledged by the US media. Although they still represent the world's largest economy, the US has less and less sway over the Asian economic powerhouse represented by China, India, Japan and South Korea. The world media frequently reports on examples of the US government caving in to China and India during trade and climate change negotiations.

The loss of American economic influence should be obvious from the steady drop in the US dollar in relation to international currencies. However because the mainstream media never makes this connection, it is rare for most Americans to make it. It never occurs to them that the main reason for the surge in the price of gasoline, food and other imported commodities is the dollar's loss in value on the world markets.




Dr Bramhall is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who emigrated to New Zealand in October 2002 for political reasons. She currently works for the New Zealand National Health Service. She is a long time activist and serves on the National Executive of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. She blogs at http://stuartbramhall.aegauthorblogs.com




Cheap TV Ads


For those entrepreneurs just starting out with a new business, advertising costs can seem astronomical. This is often the reason why many start-ups forgo traditional television advertising. The cost of a television spot is simply cost prohibitive for a shoestring budget. Finding a company that can produce and distribute cheap TV ads is a great way to begin a television advertising campaign.

As business owners begin their search for the ideal production company, many come across what seems like a steal. Companies offering to produce cheap TV ads for prices that are extraordinarily low are not quite the bargain they seem to be. In some cases, these companies produce generic, robotic or 'canned' television spots. If a business has opted to include television spots in their advertising campaign, these companies are simply a waste of money and time. Instead, entrepreneurs need to find companies that can produce unique, original and exciting spots inexpensively.

The driving force behind any television ad should be an emphasis on what is unique and true about you, your company and your products or services. Building an honest campaign, based on your core values is often the best way to convince potential customers to give you a try. The prefab, canned ads produced by some 'bargain' advertisement companies simply do not allow you to tap into this phenomenon.

Almost as important as the ability to produce original ads is the ability to place them. Professional advertising companies can place your advertisement in markets across the country. By working closely with you on a budget, they can often place ads on national stations for less than you might expect. Only work with companies who are able to promise placement on a variety of spots that are targeted.

Remember that when it comes to placement of a television ad, it comes down to the time of day, the channel and the show. By avoiding top dollar slots, it is often possible to place ads that will still be seen by a large audience. By selecting a channel and programming that is attractive to your target demographic, you will increase the chance of conversion significantly.

When it comes time to design your television ad it is important to pick an advertising company that has the talent, creativity and connections to produce top quality advertisements. The development of animation technology has enabled advertisers to avoid high costs of Ad Production. You can get a very attractive animated TV Ad for the fraction of the cost of a so-called professional production. Here are some important points to consider;

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Establish Offer: You definitely must have a call to action at the end of the TV Commercial. Provide the viewer with a clear offer such as a "Free 30 minute consultation valued at $500" You have about 5 seconds to make the user act.

Track: Make sure that you can track your conversions by tracking the call to action. This is the most essential step of advertisement; to calculate your ROI.

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