Mediaboss Marketing

"Outrageous." That's the word on everyone's lips these days. At a White House press conference last Wednesday, President Barack Obama told reporters "Obviously, the whole issue of AIG and these bonuses that have been paid out have been consuming a lot of attention ... But what I think is also important and just as outrageous is the fact that we find ourselves in a situation where we're having to clean up after AIG's mess." Making the rounds on the television yak shows last week, Lawrence Summers, the director of the National Economic Council said, "There are a lot of terrible things that have happened in the last 18 months, but what's happened at AIG is the most outrageous."

"Partisan backbiting may make for good copy, but it's lousy journalism."

Meanwhile, on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Blanche Lincoln (D-Nebraska) said, "It is absolutely, unequivocally, totally unacceptable for failed financial institutions that have received taxpayers' assistance to be rewarding its employees with bonus payments at this time. It is outrageous, and it will not be allowed." Tempering his remarks for the Christian Science Monitor, Senate Finance Committee member Charles Grasley (R-Iowa) opined, "It's outrageous. My people ask: 'When are these people going to be put in jail?'" Naturally, the chattering classes have picked up on this latest outrage. Stoking populist rage against the machine, the press and the punditocracy have been venting their special blend of (self-) righteous indignation. After all, it's good for business. Outrageous. It's the phrase that pays. Don't get me wrong. AIG doesn't deserve anyone's pity, let alone the taxpayers' money. But $165 million dollars is chump change compared to the billions of dollars the banking and financial services industry have been siphoning from the U.S. Treasury. Besides, anyone who thinks that this den of thieves would be shamed by any of this is missing the point. Like their fellow architects of economic catastrophe, the executives at AIG don't take it personal. As Michael Corleone might say, "It's strictly business." And what a business! While the Democrats and Republicans start with the finger pointing, the press dutifully records the bickering. Partisan backbiting may make for good copy, but it's lousy journalism. More to the point, political theater of this sort distracts the American people from far more egregious behaviors that demand public attention and media scrutiny.

"$165 million dollars is chump change compared to the billions of dollars the banking and financial services industry have been siphoning from the U.S. Treasury."

In no particular order, then, I offer my top five outrages that the press and the political class just as soon keep quiet about. Re-branding the occupation of Iraq Obama ran on a platform to end the occupation of Iraq. His latest gambit, embraced by the press corps and much of the political establishment, would withdraw two-thirds of the existing forces, leaving some 50,000 troops in Iraq until 2011. The thinking here is that if we don't call them "combat troops" the Iraqis won't mind. More troubling, perhaps, Obama is content to allow Xe -- the private military contractors formerly known as Blackwater -- to continue operating in Iraq, despite vehement objections of the Iraqi government. The crisis of (financial) journalism Notwithstanding the hullabaloo surrounding the "media wars" between Jon Stewart and CNBC, it's quite an indictment of the state of U.S. journalism when a fake newscast, The Daily Show, offers the most trenchant analysis of the failures of financial news networks. Stewart seems to be the only one in the mainstream media who is alarmed by the fact that the financial news journalists are in bed with the very same industries and CEO's they are supposed to be covering. Israeli war crimes Israel's policy of collective punishment in Gaza constitutes a war crime. Through billions in foreign aid, military support and political cover in the United Nations, the United States is complicit in all of this. In January 2009 both the House and Senate passed resolutions in support of Israel's aggression by wide margins. Only five courageous House members voted against the resolution: Ron Paul (R-Texas), Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Nick Rahall (D-W.V.), and Gwen Moore (D-Wis.). The Obama administration has yet to demonstrate that it can be an honest broker in the Middle East. And U.S. press coverage of Israeli atrocities is virtually non-existent.

"Stoking populist rage against the machine, the press and the punditocracy have been venting their special blend of (self-) righteous indignation." - source

Single-payer health care "off the table" Earlier this month, President Obama hosted a "health care summit" that brought together medical professionals, industry representatives and lawmakers to discuss reform of the nation's health care system. Advocates for single-payer health care plan -- including Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), the California Nurses Association (CNA) and Healthcare-NOW! -- were all but ignored. And despite the fact that a majority of Americans favor such a plan, there is still a press blackout on HR 676, Congressman John Conyers' (D-Mich.) bill supporting a single-payer plan. The "other" war The March 19 edition of the International Herald Tribune reported the following: "A plan awaiting final approval by the president would set a goal of about 400,000 troops and national police officers, more than twice the forces' current size, and more than three times the size that American officials believed would be adequate for Afghanistan in 2002, when the Taliban and Al Qaeda appeared to have been routed." Expanding the war in Afghanistan, and even more ominously into volatile regions of Pakistan, is bound to please the hawks -- but it is an affront to those who supported Obama's "anti-war candidacy." Whether Afghanistan turns out to be Obama's Vietnam remains to be seen. What is clear is this: for all his talk of diplomacy and constructive engagement, Obama's foreign policy is more Bush-like than not. Where is the outrage? Kevin Howley is associate professor of media studies at DePauw University. He can be reached at khowley@depauw.edu.

More here:
What's really outrageous

June 6, 2012, 12:01 AM PDT

Takeaway: User forms make data entry more efficient, reduce errors, and ensure consistency. This walk-through will show your users how easy it is to set up their own forms.

Input forms are a good way to guide users and control input. Most of the time, youll use them to generate routine forms, where the user supplies information to complete some process. This article will show your users how to create these input forms using content controls themselves removing you from the loop! Most input forms dont require any code or specialized knowledge beyond choosing the best control for the job.

Word 2007 introduced content controls, which replace form fields in earlier versions. Although you can use 2003 form fields to collect data, theyre a more complex tool and not interchangeable with content control behaviors. This article doesnt include instructions for using Word 2003 form fields.

The first step is always about design. Take a minute to consider the forms purpose and the type of information that will be entered. If the form is complex, you might want to sketch a quick design. This step wont take much time, and it will help you produce the right form the first time.

In this context, the term shell refers to the permanent labels and formats that wont change with usage. For instance, in this example, well work with the simple order form shown in Figure A. It contains a few descriptive labels and simple formatting.

Most of the time, youll want to save the shell as a template. After entering the descriptive labels and applying formatting, save the form as follows:

You dont have to save these forms as templates, but doing so is consistent with most usage conventions.

More here:
10 steps to creating a Word input form

by Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio

June 4, 2012

MINNEAPOLIS Payments to a little-known fund intended to expand Internet access in Minneapolis have all but dried up.

The company that created the citywide Wi-Fi network was required to establish the fund as part of its contract. USI Wireless was expected to replenish the fund every year as profits grew. But that hasn't happened, and critics say it's just one example of how the Wi-Fi network has fallen short of early hopes.

The Minneapolis Digital Inclusion Fund was set up five years ago to help low-income people, seniors, displaced workers, and others harness the power of the Internet.

And for a couple of years, the fund doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to dozens of community organizations that applied for grants. The programs taught digital literacy to immigrants at libraries and built a computer lab at a center serving homeless youth. A half-million dollars from USI Wireless gave the fund its early momentum.

But more than a year ago, the Twin Cities-based company stopped annual payments to the fund. Critics, including Chris Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, say the lack of support for the fund has been disappointing.

"The problem of digital inclusion, to make sure everyone has access, is a very hard problem," Mitchell said. "I don't think the digital inclusion fund was ever going to solve all of these problems, but it was a tiny step in the right direction, and it's frustrating that even that tiny step turned out not to be a tiny step."

The Wi-Fi network was meant to give Minneapolis residents a low-cost option to access the Internet. It also aimed to provide service to roaming city workers, from the drivers of sanding trucks to police officers in squad cars.

When the city decided to invest in public Wi-Fi, it promised some collective perks for the community, including the digital inclusion fund. Minneapolis is paying USI Wireless $12.5 million over 10 years.

Read the original post:
Payments to Minneapolis digital fund dry up

by Philip Wain

With two days and three races held so far at the Isle of Man TT races, James Hillier and the Bournemouth Kawasaki Pr1mo Racing team have been excelling and with three top seven finishes, the 27-year old has posted his best ever TT results, including a brilliant fifth in Monday's Supersport TT. After being on the leaderboard in all his classes during practice week, particularly the Lightweight where he was second quickest, race week got underway for James on Saturday with the 6-lap Superbike TT. Fifth through Glen Helen, the first timing point, James completed the opening lap in sixth place with a lap of 127.811mph and although he got shuffled back to seventh a lap later by William Dunlop, he was still comfortably ahead of eighth placed rider Ian Hutchinson. Consistently lapping in excess of 126mph, James was able to consolidate his position for the remainder of the race to claim a strong seventh. The week got even better on Monday with his best ever TT result, fifth in the first Supersport TT race and again the first Kawasaki rider home. Despite not getting many laps on the bike during practice week, a strong opening lap of 121.829mph placed James in ninth place. Although he dropped back to 12th on lap two, he was still only two seconds off ninth such was the closeness of the race and combined with Michael Dunlop retiring, Daniel Kneen crashing (fortunately without serious injury), and his own strong lap he moved up to seventh. The gap he now held over Dan Stewart, Roy Richardson and Ian Lougher was up to eleven seconds and with the final lap seeing Ryan Farquhar and Gary Johnson both retire, James took a brilliant fifth at the chequered flag. Later that same evening, there was the 4-lap Superstock race and a fantastic start saw James lie in second place at Glen Helen, nine miles into the lap, just half a second behind John McGuinness. At the end of the lap James had slipped back to sixth but it was again very close with just a handful of seconds covering the riders in third to eighth. For the remainder of the race, James enjoyed a good dice on the roads with Michael Rutter and Dan Stewart and the battle meant that James closed in on Bruce Anstey and Guy Martin who were battling for fourth. At the end of over 150 miles, James finished in a very strong sixth place, just four seconds behind Martin and five behind Anstey. Speaking on Tuesday, team owner Pete Extance said; "What can I say, the week's going really, really well and after being strong throughout practice week, James has carried that good form into race week. A solid seventh got the races underway in fine style and even though the Supersport race is our weakest class, it's ended up giving James and the team our best result so far. Due to only having one engine left, James didn't get many laps on it during practice and although there were a few retirements in the race, the name of the game is to get to the finish and that's what James did. He was always in the top ten and the lap times were good so we were delighted with the result and also being the first Kawasaki home." "It set us up for the evening's Superstock race and James set off at a fantastic pace, running in second at Glen Helen. The gaps between the top half dozen riders was always close and the second half of the race saw James comfortably in the top six and right on the tail of Guy Martin and Bruce Anstey. He was able to consolidate his position and had a great dice on the roads with Michael and Dan and the end result was another good sixth place. Even more pleasing was the fact that he was just five seconds off fourth place and multiple race winner Bruce Anstey. That made it three top seven finishes out of three starts and we're all now really looking forward to the rest of the week, especially the Lightweight TT race on Friday where James has a really good chance of a dream debut victory." The next race is Wednesday's second 4-lap Supersport race with Friday seeing the 3-lap Lightweight and 6-lap Senior races. Picture by Paul Woodlock.

- Ends -

If you'd like to send any information or news releases to us then please feel free to do so and we would be more than happy to consider sharing your news with the Isle of Man!

Send your Isle of Man news to:webmaster@manx.net

Manx Telecom Ltd 2012

Manx Telecom Ltd, Isle of Man Business Park, Cooil Road, Braddan, Isle of Man IM99 1HX Registered in the Isle of Man Reg no.5629V Vat Reg no GB 003-2919-12

View original post here:
Hillier enjoying superb week on the Island

29 May 2012 Last updated at 09:15 ET

The Isle of Man is located in the Irish Sea between Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales.

The island is not part of the United Kingdom or European Union, but is a possession of the British Crown with an independent administration. Its inhabitants are British citizens.

The Isle of Man was permanently settled by Celts and fell under Viking control in 1079. The Viking legacy is seen in many place names and the title of the Tynwald parliament, although the Celtic Manx language predominated until the 19th century.

Man passed to the Scottish crown in 1266, and then to the feudal lordship of the Stanley family under the English crown. The British crown acquired the lordship in 1764, but never incorporated the island into the United Kingdom.

Profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring

The Tynwald parliament was granted autonomy in 1866, and steadily advanced to democracy in step with the United Kingdom. Established no later than 979, it is one of various assemblies that claim to be the oldest parliament in the world. The Tynwald elects the Council of Ministers, presided over since 1986 by a chief minister. Most members of the Tynwald are independents.

Native-born people make up 47.6 per cent of the population, with the rest almost entirely accounted for by immigrants from the United Kingdom. People born in England make up 37.2 per cent alone.

As a Crown Dependency, the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom or European Union. The Tynwald passes its own legislation with the assent of the Crown granted in the Privy Council. The Crown is responsible for defence and diplomatic representation, and acts on the advice of the UK Ministry of Justice. The Isle of Man has its own controls on immigration and housing.

The Isle of Man has relatively low taxes and this has encouraged a major offshore financial sector that accounts for most of GDP. Over recent years the Manx government has made a concerted effort to cast off the island's reputation as a tax haven, signing tax information exchange deals with over a dozen countries.

Read more:
Isle of Man profile