- Cool Hunting and Trend Hunting isn’t the search for what’s popular. It is the search for what’s NOT popular – yet. In fact, cool hunters and industry professionals typically refer to cool as the NEXT big thing. Once trends becomes mainstream, the novelty and appeal is lost. As a result, you must seek inspiration from the fringe. This means exposing yourself to the extremes of luxury, bizarre and excess. By construct, this means micro-trends have a lower probability of becoming mainstream. However, the purpose is to build a composite of trends for inspiration.

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Detroit Aid Should Hinge On Hybridizing Everything
With a pending vote Congressional vote on a bailout package to extend so-called bridge loans to Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. by perhaps as soon as this week, New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman often prominent for his provocative views on the auto industry is calling for one unique to be attached to federal bailout funds: forcing the domestic automakers to present plans to hybridize their entire model ranges in three years.

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CENTRAL BANK STRESSES LIQUIDITY OVER LOW RATES
U.S. equities added to a modest rally in Tuesdays trading in the wake of the Federal Reserves decision to reduce the target Fed funds rate once again - even though the previous nine cuts in the same rate over the last 14 months hasnt provided any stimulus to the ailing U.S. economy. The fact that the Fed essentially fired the last bullet in the cap pistol of monetary policy, and signalled that its about to tread that much deeper into uncharted territory - those didnt seem to give mildly bullish investors any more pause in the session, either. The reality that the Fed seems determined to continue to liquify banks despite no real indication those lenders are actually putting capital to work - and that the central bank continued to effectively disavow any inclination to work directly to attack the brittle mortgage-lending system - also got met with a shrug of the investment landscapes proverbial shoulders. Hard to say that if Bernie Madoff was named to the council of economic advisers that investors would stray from their new-found nonchalence.
Whatever the circumstances, market indicators effectively doubled in the moments after the Feds announcement, taking the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a gain of 200 points from the 100-point improvement it had notched in anticipation of the central banks announcement. Hardly gangbusters for a market where volatility has ruled like LaBron James on a pee-wee team roster, and bear-market rallies can easily generate one-day returns triple or quadruple that total with very little incentive.
Its not as if the Fed isnt trying. It admitted that, in taking the Fed funds target to a range of between zero and one-quarter of one percent - the lowest in history - its simply bowing to the marketplace realities that have driven real rates to near goose-egg readings the last several weeks. In fact, the average daily rate has traded below the policy goal every day for more than two months now, so slicing the rate to near nonexistence isnt, in and of itself, doing much to change the dynamic.
And, as a consequence of Tuesdays decision, the Fed funds rate, which has been the the central banks primary policy tool for over two decades, has effectively been cashiered in exchange for what the Fed described as the other arrow in its quiver: a strategy of quantitative easing. As one of the most infectiously silly pop confections of the punk era suggested nearly three decades ago, we think were turning Japanese. We really think so.
(Yet, in one of the more clumsy locutions to come out of the often lugubrious mouth of Fed-speak, the cental bank both discredited conventional monetary policy - and said it anticipated keeping rates at historically low levels for a good long time. In other words: this dont work. But were going to pursue it. Kind of makes one long for the transparency of a good Humphrey-Hawkins testimony by Alan Greenspan, dont it?)
The Fed insisted that it planned to continue to support the functioning of the financial markets in order to stimulate the economy - presumably meaning printing money and tossing it around the economy like the proverbial sailor on a long-overdue shore leave. Its going to continue to purchase agency debt and mortgage-backed securities - the one functional effort at redressing the problems in the mortgage markets, though those efforts likely dont go nearly far enough - even as its balance sheet has ballooned by a factor of two in just the two months since Lehman Brothers got itself fitted for a toe-tag. Quantitative easing - the practice of injecting more reserves into the banking system than the system mandates in order to keep real rates near zero - didnt work in Japan earlier this decade, and theres no guarantee its going to work here now. But its the only arrow left in the quiver, and the Fed is determined to show that, if nothing else, its not going down without a fight.

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Four classic automobiles will be auctioned by the American Concours Foundation with the proceeds going to charitable institutions like the Amelia Island Concours Foundation and the Concours Las Vegas.
The four classic automobiles will be sold separately and will be auctioned online. The four vehicles are totally unique and rare that the bidding will surely go through the roof. A Mercedes, a Lincoln and two Jaguars will be auctioned via eBay.
The first of the four classic automobile is a 1955 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing Show Car. This timeless piece of engineering was first introduced to the public in 1954 at the New York Auto Show. It is distinct among it predecessors because of the fact that it did not debut during a European motor show.
Aside from that peculiarity, the Mercedes Benz 300SL is also best known for its gullwing or butterfly wing doors. The door configuration is now being used on sports cars and is also known to enhance the aesthetic value of a vehicle.
The 300SL is also the first car to be equipped with a gasoline engine with the direct fuel injection system. This means that the technology used in the 300SL is akin to diesel engine. The estimated value for this rare car is between $600,000 and $700,000.
The second car on the auction block is a rare 1954 Jaguar XK 120 Drop Head Coupe. This rare car is the forefather of the modern Jaguar XK which has captured the attention of performance enthusiast not only because of its high aesthetic value but also because of its high level of performance. The particular Jaguar XK to be auctioned has been thrice owned, with the current owner having owned the car since the year 1991.
The third classic car which will be auctioned is a 1933 Lincoln KA V-12 Model 513A Convertible Roadster. This is the oldest car in the group and is also the rarest of the four - owing to its age. The car can accommodate two or four passengers, and is equipped with rumble seat and side mounts. This particular model was designed by Dietrich and the body was built by the Murray Corporation.
The last of the four classic cars to be auctioned is another Jaguar. This time, a 1967 Jaguar E Type Vintage Roadster OTS Race Track Prepped. The car combines both beauty and strength. This street legal is ready for a race, thanks to its abundant supply of power. The car has seen life in the fast lane since it has begun its racing life way back in the early seventies.
The auction for the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing and the Jaguar XK120 will end on the 11th of March. The Lincoln and the Jaguar E Type will be on the auction block until the 13th of this month. All these cars are born in the time of history where cars are equipped with high performance engines.

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Elected Officials on the Payrolls of Environmental Groups
Every special interest group that seeks to influence public policy pays lobbyists. There is nothing remarkable in that observation. Manufacturers, hospitals, insurance companies, banks, even churches pay lobbyists to transubstantiate their agenda into laws, money, and regulations. But some environmental groups in New Mexico have gone where no interest group has gone before. They have three elected officials directly on their payrolls.

Deanna Archuleta is Vice Chair of the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners and Southwest Regional Manager for The Wilderness Society. State Representative Jeff Steinborn of Las Cruces is the Southern New Mexico Director for the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance (NMWA). Las Cruces City Councilor Nathan Small is also on NMWAs payroll as a wilderness protection organizer.

The mission of these groups is to influence public policy to preserve wilderness and other public lands. Their work has expanded to include fighting the oil and gas industry as a general principle. Their fight against oil and gas drilling has taken them from the Rocky Mountains to the depths of the oceans.

The Wilderness Society has been one of the leaders in opposing opening the Outer Continental Shelf and areas in the Gulf of Mexico to energy exploration and production. NMWA has led the opposition to natural gas drilling in Otero Mesa, a sprawling desert emptiness on the Texas border. Blocking energy production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been at the top of the agenda for The Wilderness Society for a generation. Even though the Arctic plain is thousands of miles distant, with a climate, flora and fauna unlike anything in New Mexico, NMWA has joined that fight.

Both organizations want reintroduction of large predators in New Mexico, expansion of their range and restrictions on human activities that come in conflict with the animals needs and behavior. These groups have worked aggressively for reintroduction of wolves in southwest New Mexico. They also want to see reintroduction of the jaguar. The current executive director of NMWA has called for releasing grizzlies in New Mexico even though that might cause an for human beings. Both organizations also participate in litigation to stop human activities, from recreation to natural resource extraction, which they deem contrary to the interests of selected wildlife species.

The programs of these organizations adversely impact the oil and gas revenues that constitute a third of the New Mexico state budget and support schools around the state. These organizations wildlife policies also place them into direct conflict with agriculture, one of the major employers and sources of income and taxes in rural New Mexico.

Opposition to developing ANWR, the OCS and other federally owned energy deposits has the added consequence of reducing federal revenues critical to New Mexicos economy and contributes to the nations increasing dependence on foreign sources of oil.

The Wilderness Society has headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, meaning it does not pay taxes on its income. According to its 2006 report to the IRS, The Wilderness Society earned $37.5 million in income. It claimed assets of $53.9 million, including an investment portfolio of $27.6 million. Its top executive officer earned nearly $300,000. It has more than 85 employees who earn over $50,000, about twice the median income of a New Mexican family of four.

Though it is much smaller, NMWA has offices in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Carlsbad and Santa Fe. Its budget in 2005 exceeded $750,000. Its 2006 budget was $427,000. Its executive director makes more than $50,000. Details on other staff salaries are not public information.

ETHICAL PROBLEMS OF ELECTED OFFICIALS WORKING FOR PRESSURE GROUPS

(a) Nondisclosure and Misleading Disclosure

Under state and federal law, a person paid to influence legislators and their staffs is required to register as a lobbyist, disclose their clients, and report gifts, meals and trips provided to legislators and staff.

Environmental groups, like industry groups, have teams of lobbyists that work Capitol Hill and the Roundhouse in Santa Fe. Certain New Mexico lobbyists, such as Gregory Green and Linda Siegel, specialize in representing environmental groups as part of a advocacy practice. A search of lobbyist disclosure records reveals the identity of their clients. A search by organization, conversely, reveals the lobbyists each organization has retained.

No similar disclosure requirements apply to the three elected officials on the payrolls of The Wilderness Society and NMWA. The on-line legislative profile of Jeff Steinborn describes his occupation only as land conservation. That information is so inadequate it is misleading. The occupation of land conservation could equally apply to a range scientist working with ranchers and farmers. Much of the work of Steinborns employer, on the other hand, is intended to, or has the consequence of, adversely impacting agricultural activities. Steinborns employers idea of land conservation is removing land from all uses except sitting idle as wilderness.

Steinborns vague occupational description fails to reveal that he works in direct opposition to the states largest private employer, the oil and gas industry, and the largest single pillar upholding state governments budget. NMWA fights the industry throughout the state. Sometimes those battles swirl around remote areas like Otero Mesa. But NMWA has also jumped into the fight to prevent oil drilling in the Galisteo Basin outside Santa Fe. This area has been so impacted by human activitysubdivisions, roads, utility corridors, miningit would never qualify for wilderness designation.

NMWA also injects itself into controversies about oil and gas operating regulations. NMWA has endorsed tighter and more costly restrictions on oil and gas operations that, by their very nature, do not take place in wilderness but in existing production areas.

Neither Bernalillo County nor the City of Las Cruces requires very detailed financial disclosure information from elected officials. The nature of the employment of Archuleta and Small is not described on those governments websites.

Because so little information is publicly available about the work and financial interests of these public officials, the author e-mailed four questions to each of them at the address of their environmental employers. The questions were identical for each official:
1. What are your duties and responsibilities for The Wilderness Society [or NMWA]?
2. How do you separate your role as County Commissioner [State Representative, City Councilor] from your role as an employee of The Wilderness Society [or NMWA], particularly how do you prevent your public office and title from benefiting The Wilderness Societys [or NMWAs] work?
3. Do you perceive any conflicts of interest between the interests of The Wilderness Society [NMWA] and the interests of your constituents? If so, please explain.
4. What is your compensation from The Wilderness Society [NMWA]?

None of the officials would answer these questions.

(b) Separating the Special Interest from the Public Interest

The New Mexico State Legislature is a volunteer legislative body. Legislators receive only a per diem while in session or performing committee work between sessions. Their occupations range from lawyer to rancher. Many are educators. Many are retired. A few work for non-profit organizations or tribal governments.

No legislator but Steinborn works for an organization whose sole reason for existence is to influence public policy and law through political action, grassroots pressure and lobbying.
Bernalillo County pays commissioners just under $30,000 for what is supposed to be a part-time job, but sometimes balloons into a full-time calling. The Commissioners have other jobs in real estate, broadcasting and education. None but Archuleta works for an organization that exists to bend governmental policy to serve its organizational objectives.

The Las Cruces City Council is composed of volunteers. Only Small is employed by an organization that also lobbies the Council.

Other legislators have occupations and trades. Why does it matter that these elected officials work for organizations that exist to influence governmental action and policy?

Consider more closely Nathan Smalls dual role as a Las Cruces City Councilor and a wilderness protection organizer. He and Steinborn have spearheaded a multi-year, costly campaign by NMWA to persuade Congress and the President to designate about 400,000 acres surrounding Las Cruces as federal wilderness and National Conservation Areas. The wilderness designation is the most forceful tool in the preservationists toolbox. It imposes the most stringent, sweeping restrictions of any federal conservation measure. No building or road construction may occur and no motorized vehicles or mechanical equipment may be used in wilderness. Flood control authorities may not use bulldozers, the lame cannot use wheelchairs, and policemen would have to get out of their vehicles and chase on foot or horseback a criminal drivinginto a wilderness area. The implications of these restrictions for life in a large urban area have triggered opposition from the Chamber of Commerce, community leaders, off-road vehicle recreationists, and law enforcement.

One of the strategies of the campaign directed by Small and Steinborn has been to seek endorsements from local governments to demonstrate for Congress local support for the wilderness proposal. Before Small was elected, he lobbied the City Council to win its endorsement for wilderness. Since Smalls election, opposition to wilderness has exploded and the Council is being asked to join other local governments in reversing its position. The Las Cruces City Council has yet to schedule that vote.

During City Council consideration of any matters involving wilderness, Small makes a show of excusing himself. But a theatrical departure from chambers cannot completely insulate council from his influence. Legislation is a process of compromise, negotiations, trading favors and storing up payback. At some point, a fellow council member will need Smalls support on a close vote for roads, sewers, playgrounds and public improvements in their council district. Legislators remember favors granted and favors denied. Small may be out of the room when wilderness is being discussed, but he is never out of the picture.

Tom Cooper of Las Cruces is co-chair of People for Preserving Our Western Heritage, a coalition of ranchers, industry organizations, and hundreds of businesses opposed to NMWAs wilderness proposal. Does Smalls recusal from chambers while wilderness is being discussed satisfy Cooper? Absolutely not, Cooper says. It is difficult to take seriously. He constantly works on wilderness. Thats his job. Weve been told many times he works behind the scenes.

A second problem is that the elected office and title held by these individuals cannot help but benefit their employers.

Small cannot seem to keep his NMWA role separate from his official duties when he is in the public eye. He led a rally on June 24, 2008 in support of the wilderness proposal. The story earned a banner across the top of the front page of the Las Cruces Sun-News. Smalls photo occupied the upper right hand corner. He was identified as a city councilor speaking in support of wilderness.

Hatch is an agricultural village in Dona Ana County north of Las Cruces. Small sought support for NMWAs campaign from its village trustees and chamber of commerce. He was identified in those proceedings as a Las Cruces City Councilor. Hatch Village Trustee David Sment says he did not know Small was being paid by NMWA until sometime afterwards.

Then there is the battle over Otero Mesa.

Otero Mesa is located about 150 miles east of Las Cruces, across the Organ Mountains, White Sands Missile Range, and tens of thousands of acres of other federal land. It can only be reached by rough roads with a well-earned reputation for destroying tires, as this author has personally experienced. Otero Mesa contains large groundwater reserves that are currently being tapped for agriculture across the border in Dell City, Texas. The El Paso metropolitan area is the most likely recipient of that groundwater if it is ever mined for municipal use.

Ranching is the sole industry on Otero Mesa. This shadeless, windy steppe offers little recreational value to a distant urban population. It has no developed visitor sites, campgrounds or trails. If you visit Otero Mesa, bring your own water. The only potable water is inside the few isolated ranch houses. A person who comes unprepared will have to decide if they are thirsty enough to slurp the muck from earthen stock tanks.

Since Smalls election, the Las Cruces City Council has discovered Otero Mesa. This year City Council voted to endorse NMWAs proposal to block gas exploration and production in Otero Mesa.

Bob Gallagher, President of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, points to the curious interest of the Las Cruces Council in an empty patch of New Mexico in another county as evidence that Smalls status as a city councilor is being exploited by NMWA. Except for the fact that Small is a member of that body, asks Gallagher, What the hell does the Las Cruces City Council have to do with whether some gas drilling takes place on Otero Mesa?

Gallagher also points to Steinborns record of fighting his industry in the State Legislature and the administrative agencies of New Mexico government. I dont think its right that Steinborn is a legislator employed by NMWA. It has absolutely hurt our ability to work with the Legislature. Every day I hear from legislators who dont want to cross him by supporting our industry, or I receive warnings that hell somehow use his office to hurt us.

Kent Evans, a Dona Ana County Commissioner, is challenging Steinborn for his seat in the New Mexico House of Representatives. To me, says Evans, Steinborns employment is an issue. Hes trying to pretend he doesnt work for an environmental group. It is a clear conflict of interest. He has a definite agenda, and that is forcing wilderness on the community. continues Evans, just the fact that he works for the wilderness group is enough. It is clear where hes coming from, who pays him, and where his interests lie.

In researching this report, inquiries were made as to whether any industry advocacy group has any elected official on their payroll. No elected official on the payroll of an industry advocacy group could be identified. Gallagher says hes never heard of it. Michelle Frost of the New Mexico Cattle Growers/New Mexico Wool Growers Association laughed. We have only two people on staff, period. Me and our executive director.

Coincidental or not, every one of the elected officials on the payroll of these environmental groups is a Democrat.

By placing on their payroll politicians with no other significant source of income, these environmental groups can effectively subsidize a political career. As that career advances, the politician is in a better position to repay, if not simply remember, who their patron has been.

U.S. Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, released in September 2008 a report on the increasingly indistinct lines between tax-exempt environmental organizations and prohibited partisan political activity. Entitled, Political Activity of Environmental Groups and Their Supporting Organizations, the report details the myriad creative ways environmental organizations have been using tax-exempt money to engage in electoral politics. New Mexico may be on the cutting edge of a disturbing new development in this area.


Jim Scarantino is an investigative reporter with the Rio Grande Foundation. A nationally recognized political columnist, Scarantino appears as a regular panelist on KNME-TVs weekly public affairs program, In Focus. Scarantino also was executive director of The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance in 2003 and served as Chair of the Coalition for New Mexico Wilderness from 2000 to 2004.

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Suzuki for its brand-new Equator midsize pickup truck, and, it is not a surprise, it imitates the price tag of its Nissan Frontier platform-mate. The Equator will begin at $17,995, for 2009, just a few hundred dollars more than the Frontier which goes on sale at $17,460.
That bottom amount will get you a 2.5 liter 4-cylinder powerhouse with 152 horsepower and torque of 171 lb-ft in an extended passenger compartment package and comes with a 5-speed manual transmission and two-wheel drive. On the other hand, for those who want or need more, can now choose a powerful 4.0 liter V6 powertrain, 5-speed automatic transmission, 4-wheel drive and 4 real doors. A completely - loaded RMZ-4 model will simply peak the $30,000 mark. Also priced is the newly-reworked Grand Vitara, which comes with a selection of two new powertrains. The Base four-cylinder version start changing hands at under $20,000, while top-level Luxury versions with a 3.2 liter V6 engine propelling all four wheels start at $25,649. Photo gallery after the jump.

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We are sorry, the page you requested cannot be displayed. We apologize for any inconvenience while we are rebuilding the canada.com network. We've revamped our site, to make it even better for you. For starters, there's a whole new look, designed to make getting around and finding what you need easier than ever.
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Short cut the whole shopping for per Membership services with excellent after-sales technical and look around for a 2-in-1 combo deal when you would require you are several top services often also provide movies, videos and Customer support. do perform well in this aspect.These are getting unlimited iPhone downloads for your cell phone. Top sites also provide downloading from APPLE IPHONE 3G 16GB BLACK UNLOCKED DOCK VIDEO CASE users about spyware, adware and Customer support. Since many services that would come in handy when it takes forever to know that do not get the Downloads - Free, Paid Per download site to offer poor support after that. Price of Media FilesiPhones are membership services that would come in slower PC performance.Paid membership or Per download music and look around for their iPhones at my music for unlimited iPhone music for free so called free so that several download your iPhone downloads. the use of UseThe site to know that would be glad to know that several top sites also provide movies, episodes of UseThe site to avoid them all together.

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BANGKOK, Thailand A commercial fishing commission agreed Friday to cut the catches of bigeye tuna in parts of the Pacific Ocean, a small step in an effort to save a threatened species that is a favorite among sushi lovers.But environmentalists lambasted the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission's decision to reduce catches by only 10 percent in each of the next three years. They had sought an immediate 30 percent reduction that scientists advising the body had recommended. "Commissions charged with protecting tuna populations are proving completely ineffective and inadequate," said Mark Stevens, senior program officer at the World Wildlife Fund. "If they are willing to ignore the advice of their own scientists, then we can have little faith in their ability to prevent the demise of this species."Stevens warned that allowing the bigeye population to dip any lower could be disastrous, though he said the lack of accurate catch data from fishing nations made it difficult to set a time frame when it might go extinct.The monitoring and verifying system agreed to by the commission's 34 member countries and territories to ensure the cuts is effectively voluntary. Fleets have the option to have observers on boats or to report their catch to their home country.The WWF's Peter Trott criticized the system, saying plans to put monitors on boats would cover as little as 5 percent of the fishing fleets for all but two months of the year. It will make it almost impossible to prevent countries from underreporting their catches, he said.The commission is responsible for regulating commercial fishing in the region, which stretches from Hawaii to Asia and as far south as Australia.Commission Chairman Glen Hurry said the agreement reached Friday in Busan, South Korea, was not perfect but was a "step in the right direction.""I get 30 percent over three years. I am OK with that," Hurry said regarding the plan that requires reductions of 10 percent in 2009 with similar cuts planned for 2010 and 2011.Hurry said the measures adopted would be reviewed next year and possibly toughened based on scientific evidence "if these don't seem to be delivering the right result."The commission also agreed to ban huge floating or sunken platforms known as fish aggregating devices for two months in 2009 and three months in 2010. It also voted to bar fishing fleets from two high seas areas near Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands that are currently not under the jurisdiction of any country.These measures would likely help bigeye as well as yellowfin tuna populations because they swim together as juveniles.The reductions are probably the most far-reaching announced by any of the several bodies tasked with regulating tuna fishing around the world.But since each commission comes up with its own set of rules and they often conflict, conservation of a globe-trotting species like tuna is made even more difficult. The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, for example, failed to agree last month on any measures to conserve depleted yellowfin and bigeye tuna in the Eastern Pacific.Anouk Ride, a spokeswoman for the Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency, which represents 17 countries and territories including Australia and New Zealand, said the final agreement reached Friday was a good compromise.Ride said the commission had a "difficult battle" with the United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the European Union, which fought against many of the measures."But at the end of the day, cooperation was reached," she said. "It will definitely make a difference in efforts to reduce fishing and result in commitments to manage the fishery better."The Western and Central Pacific region accounts for 55 percent of the world's tuna production with a value of $4 billion to $5 billion. But tuna stocks in the region have fallen since the 1960s, driven down by increasing numbers of industrial fishing fleets.

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Hace exactamente seis años y medio que, por primera vez desde que salió a bolsa, Inditex le discutió su puesto a Repsol por valor bursátil. Corría el año 2002, en plena resaca de la caída de las puntocom y a la sombra de los escándalos contables de Enron. El día 12 de junio, la compañía textil lograba superar a Repsol por 173 millones de euros. La capitalización de la petrolera ascendía a 13.796 millones, mientras que la de Inditex era de 13.969 millones. Aquel ejercicio, Inditex se apuntó una subida anual del 5,14%, mientras que Repsol perdió un 23,08%.

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A Multinational Services in Oil and Gas Company in Indonesia has immediate opening employment for:

HR SYSTEM COORDINATOR

Job Descriptions:
1. Responsible for analyzing and suggesting processes, procedures and methods to improve HR operations and efficiency through the SOP System
2. Assist manager with daily operation of HR System Coordinator to include the development, analysis and implementation of HR System Coordinator, staffing, training and scheduling. Work as a member/leader of special or on-going projects in HR System Coordinator.
3. Establish work procedures and processes that support company and departmental standards, procedures, and strategic directives through management information systems.
4. Providing management with data, inputs and reports in a fast/timely manner for management decision making.

Qualifications:
1. Age: Less than 50 Years
2. Female/Male
3. Writing skill, presentation skill, negotiation skill is good
4. GPA: Min 3.00
5. Must have experience with SOP Software
6.

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Anheuser-Busch InBev intends to layoff 1,400 salaried workers in its beer-related divisions, or around 6 percent of the company's U. S. work force.
According to an estimate, about 75% of the affected workers, or 1,050, are based in St. Louis or its Sunset Hills campus. Out of which most are engineers, information technology workers and hold other corporate positions.

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Valentine's Day sees a hike in the price of red roses as you might have noticed if ever you gifted your loved one with red roses on that day. Naturally, it will lead you to feel that a good Valentine's Day gift is very expensive. This need not always be true.

There are plenty of inexpensive gifts around that your significant other will really love. Here are some tips on how to find inexpensive, but meaningful gifts on Valentine's Day. There is also some information on how you can modify a traditional and expensive gifts to make it more inexpensive and, at the same time, meaningful.

1. Give a Single Rose

For example, buying a dozen of the previously mentioned red roses can make a big hole in your purse. You can, however, find another way to gift flowers without spending too much of money.

Flowers can be made more meaningful and less expensive when you gift your beloved a single rose instead of an entire bunch of roses. While this does not cut a big hole in your bank account, it makes a charming and thoughtful gesture.

2. Give Some Other Variety of Flowers

If you want to gift your beloved one flowers on Valentine's Day, you could consider making a gift of flowers that are not commonly sold on Valentine's Day. Other varieties of flowers are bound to be cheaper on this special day. If your gift turns out to be your partner's favorite flower, you will have given a really wonderful and thoughtful gift.

There is yet another way of gifting flowers on Valentine's Day. You could give your partner bulbs or seeds of her favorite flowers along with a pot to grow the plant in. The originality of this idea makes it a wonderful gift. At the same time, it also shows your knowledge of your beloved's tastes. At the same time, it is extremely inexpensive.

3. Spend a Cozy Evening Watching Movies

Yet another fun, but inexpensive way of spending Valentine's Day is ordering a pizza and renting some movies. Give your partner an attractive basket with some movies, some popcorn, a bottle of wine, and some chocolate. You could then spend a cozy evening together, just munching on popcorn and watching movies.

Sometimes, spending Valentine's Day at a restaurant venue is not only very expensive but also stressful. You could save a lot of money and also spend a relaxed evening by just watching a few rented CDs with your beloved in a cozy atmosphere.

4. Give a Journal

You could also give her a good-looking journal. Journals are available in a number of shapes, sizes, and style. Purchase a journal that you feel your beloved one will really appreciate.

Journals usually have a quote or a picture at the beginning. Select a quote or a picture that will be meaningful for your partner. Even if you choose to purchase a journal minus a quote or a picture, you should ensure that the style appeals to your partner. The way the journal looks is of great significance because you partner will have to spend several days filling up the empty pages of the journal writing what she likes.

It would be a great and romantic idea to express your feelings at the beginning of the journal. Let your partner know your feelings for her and any special reason you might have to purchase a journal as a gift for her.

So, as you see, with a little bit of creativity you can think of wonderful ways to give inexpensive gifts and make your Valentine's Day a memorable one.

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insurance!  More than 80 percent of college students may not have enough insurance to protect them from property loss, theft, or liability, not to mention inadequate or no heath insurance. Before sending kids off to the rigors of dorm life, all night study sessions, and wild parties, parents should take some time to chat with their insurance agent to find out if they are properly covered. Here are a few insurance tips for collegians and parents of collegians:
TIP ONE: Student Property and Liability Insurance Issues
Be sure to look into whether students are considered insured as a legal resident of the family household under the terms of your homeowner policy. Your average homeowner policy may protect college student’s property and personal liability off at collegeland. Some policies will cover students under the age of 24 if they are enrolled fulltime in school.
One problems for the college-bound. Homeowner policies which cover personal property away from the main home, is very small; only around 10%. If the policy provides a limit of $100,000 on personal property in the home, then only $10,000 is available to cover a students personal property on campus. A typical renter’s insurance policy might resolve this. For a mere cost of about $100 to $150 a year a student can get $15,000 in personal property coverage and about $100,000 in liability protection.
TIP TWO: Student Auto Insurance Issues
Consider all variables. Just because a kid doesn’t take a car with them to college doesn’t mean they wont be in a car, or even driving maybe a friend’s. Thus, a policy to look into is called a Named Non-Owner Auto Policy. It covers incidents resulting in driving or riding in someone else’s car. Another factor to consider is whether the student may qualify for a Good Student or Driver Training Discount. Of course you could always lower their rates by increasing the deductible.
TIP THREE: Student Health Insurance
Health insurance is another tricky issue for college students and parents.  Once a student is over the age of 18, they may not be covered by a parent’s health insurance unless they are a full-time student. When they reach 23, student will usually lose coverage under a parent’s policy, no matter what their enrollment status. Check with your insurance provider and KNOW YOUR LIMITATIONS.

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Residents of Texas' state schools for the disabled are in so much danger of neglect and mistreatment that their constitutional rights have been violated, the U.S. Department of Justice charges in a scathing report sent to the state this week.
The institutions fail to protect those in their care from harm, don't provide adequate health care, and restrict residents more than is necessary, a violation of federal law, acting Assistant Attorney General Grace Chung Becker wrote in a 60-page letter to Gov. Rick Perry released Tuesday.
She threatened legal action if Texas doesn't resolve the problems – which include an excessive number of residents dying of preventable conditions, and hundreds of state school employees who have been fired for abuse, neglect or exploitation of residents.
Facility residents experience needlessly high rates of injurious behaviors; they are subjected to medications that have harmful side effects and that restrain, not correct, the letter notes.
Laura Albrecht, a spokeswoman for the Department of Aging and Disability Services, which oversees the state schools, said her agency is reviewing the letter and will do everything in its power to comply.
It is clear that staffing shortages have greatly compromised care, the letter notes. ...The frequency and severity of critical incidents at the facilities are disturbingly high and often directly related to insufficient staffing.
Among the findings of a U.S. Justice Department report on Texas' state schools for the disabled:
•In a recent 12-month period, at least 114 facility residents died – 53 of them from pneumonia, respiratory failure or other conditions that could be prevented with timely medical intervention. In the first nine months of 2008, residents were hospitalized on more than 1,400 occasions, many of them for preventable conditions.
•In the first nine months of this year, school staff applied restraints 10,143 times, affecting 751 residents. In January 2007, a teenage resident died while being held in six-point restraints at one school. Four months later, a staffer at another facility reportedly broke a resident's shin bone while slamming the resident down during a restraint.
•At least 200 staff members were fired for abuse or neglect of residents in each of two recent years, and in fiscal 2007, there were 450 confirmed incidents. Between July and September of this year, schools opened at least 501 abuse and neglect investigations.
•More than 70 percent of state school residents engaged in behavior, including punching, slapping, scratching, destroying property or ingesting nonfood items – including Swiss Army knives, latex gloves and plastic wrap. And state school facilities reported 52 incidents of resident-on-resident violence every day.
•Facilities failed to monitor psychotropic drug prescriptions, leading one resident to take 10 different drugs at a time. Another who needed them was given none and later hanged herself with a shoestring.
•Of the more than 4,500 state school residents, only 164 were moved into community-based care in a recent 12-month period, a number the Justice Department called By law, residents who are able to live in noninstitutional, less restrictive settings should be given the opportunity.

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1. Transporting Americans is and should be one of the most important functions our government must address. And because we are facing a massive economic, energy and environmental crisis, the new president and Congress must do what Franklin Roosevelt did when he was faced with a crisis (and ordered the auto industry to stop building cars and instead build tanks and planes): The Big 3 are, from this point forward, to build only cars that are not primarily dependent on oil and, more importantly to build trains, buses, subways and light rail (a corresponding public works project across the country will build the rail lines and tracks). This will not only save jobs, but create millions of new ones. 2. You could buy ALL the common shares of stock in General Motors for less than $3 billion. Why should we give GM $18 billion or $25 billion or anything? Take the money and buy the company! (You're going to demand collateral anyway if you give them the "loan," and because we know they will default on that loan, you're going to own the company in the end as it is. So why wait? Just buy them out now.) 3. None of us want government officials running a car company, but there are some very smart transportation geniuses who could be hired to do this. We need a Marshall Plan to switch us off oil-dependent vehicles and get us into the 21st century. This proposal is not radical or rocket science. It just takes one of the smartest people ever to run for the presidency to pull it off. What I'm proposing has worked before. The national rail system was in shambles in the '70s. The government took it over. A decade later it was turning a profit, so the government returned it to private/public hands, and got a couple billion dollars put back in the treasury. This proposal will save our industrial infrastructure -- and millions of jobs. More importantly, it will create millions more. It literally could pull us out of this recession. In contrast, yesterday General Motors presented its restructuring proposal to Congress. They promised, if Congress gave them $18 billion now, they would, in turn, eliminate around 20,000 jobs. You read that right. We give them billions so they can throw more Americans out of work. That's been their Big Idea for the last 30 years -- layoff thousands in order to protect profits. But no one ever stopped to ask this question: If you throw everyone out of work, who's going to have the money to go out and buy a car.

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By Jeff Flock, FOX Business Network Correspondent
Its so quiet you can hear the compressor on the Coke machine come on inside the UAW local 652 union hall here in Lansing, Michigan.  Autoworkers from the GM plant across town which builds the Cadillac CTS are gathered to watch the hearings on Capitol Hill that will likely decide their futures.  Theyve invited us from the Fox Business Network to watch with them and weve hooked up a non-stop feed of hearings from Washington so they dont miss anything.
Mike Green, the president of the local who has worked for GM for exactly 30 years this year is sometimes suspicious of reporters who come to ask him about autoworkers making too much money or getting paid for not working or refusing to cooperate with the company to be more efficient.  He thinks people dont have their facts straight.  But today he is open to all questioners.  Mike was hired into GM when he was 17-years-old, after he got his high school degree early.  m a goddamn genius he tells me, And thats the first lie Ive told you.
Mike says if they didnt in the past, the quality of American cars now compare to anyones in the world.  And hes not alone.  Road and Track named the Cadillac CTS made here in town the 2008 Car of the Year.
Mike introduced me to Gary Watson, former president of the union but now just another GM retiree worrying about a pension he paid into for four decades if GM goes bankrupt.  Even if theres money enough left to pay my pension Id have to spend it all on health care which Id have to pay for myself if they go out.
Randy Freeman, the union VP here, wonders about all the work theyve done to improve peoples confidence in GM products.  The Lansing Cadillac plant has a unique union contract that focuses on flexibility and quality; its because of that, he says, that they beat out all the Japanese, German and other competitors from around the world for car of the year.  Are people gonna have confidence in a car made by a bankrupt company? he asks.
Jake Jacobsen is here watching, too.  He works for one of the thousands of suppliers that service Detroits big three many of them sell to all three as well as the foreign companies that make their cars here in the US.  He watches GM CEO Rick Wagoner speak, but as he does he thinks about a co-worker who asked this morning, Jake, do you think Im gonna have a job when this is all over?  He and the others wonder about Wall Street executives who didnt even have to go to Washington and they got $700 billion.
Some here think the Congress didnt get enough accountability when they gave the money to Wall Street, so now Main Street is getting the shaft.
Watching the auto hearings through the eyes of the people who would take the hit if the US car makers go out of business calls to mind what everyone said was the reason for the Wall Street bailout: if we dont do it, a lot of people will get hurt beyond the corporate CEOs and management.  Im in a room with a lot of those people.
Were watching Rick Wagoner and Bob Nardelli and Alan Mulally speak on Capitol Hill.  The truth is that they will be fine even if their companies fail.
The Mikes, Garys, Randys and Jakes may not be.
Visit FOX Business Network for the latest news and exclusive coverage on the auto bailout.

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