Monday, December 31, 2012

Barack Obama On 'Meet the Press': President Addresses Guns, Fiscal Cliff

Obama spoke less than 48 hours before the deadline for the U.S. government to find a way to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff," and thusly the ongoing fight in Washington over the crucial issue consumed much of the pre-recorded conversation with David Gregory.

"I remain an optimist," Obama said when asked if he believed a deal could be reached on the fiscal cliff, but he tempered that by stating that "the fact that it's not happening is an indication of how far some factions in the Republican Party have gone" away from popular centrist positions like support for tax cuts for the middle class.

Obama predicted that one of two things will happen in regard to the fiscal cliff. The first possibility, he said, is that "we're going to see an agreement within the next 48 hours" that will keep the country from going over the fiscal cliff, therefore allowing for the continuation the tax breaks, unemployment benefits and other economy-boosting measures that will lapse if a deal is not reached by the end of the year.

The second possibility Obama laid out is that Congress will not be able to come to an agreement that satisfies both sides of the aisle, and the nation will go over the cliff. But even that should not be a source of too much despair, the President said, as if it indeed does not pass in time, then next year "the first bill will be to cut taxes on middle-class families."

Speaking on the topic of gun control, Obama drove home just how much he was personally moved by the shocking display of violence that left 20 schoolchildren and six adults dead earlier this month when 20-year-old Adam Lanza went on a shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

"That was the worst day of my presidency," he told Gregory.

He went on to explain that he supports a range of gun control proposals including an assault weapons ban, bans on oversized clips, and background checks for gun purchasers. But Obama declined to outright denounce the NRA's proposal to put an armed security guard in every American school, though he said he does not believe that such a move would alone be enough to solve the issue of gun violence in the United States.

He added that he believes that if Americans were "shook up enough" by the Newtown massacre, then the will and public support will be there to do big things to address gun violence.

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/barack-obama-meet-press-president-addresses-guns-fiscal-cliff-981282

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Network Marketing Tips That Get You Inspired | Jim McGilvary's ...

Mistakes Are Costing You! Learn To Stop?Making ALL 189 Of Them!

Struggling With WordPress? 100+ Step-By-Step Videos Now Available!

Posted by Administrator on Dec 30, 2012 in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Steer clear of fads and erroneous information, and rely only on solid resources. This article is full of useful tips you should use to design a multilevel marketing campaign.

When writing content for your multilevel marketing website, ebooks or seminars, make sure to go outside of the box. Be sure to hit every point.

The top players in your industry have valuable skills that you can learn from. Learning from the leaders helps you to side-pass the common mistakes other fledgling marketers are making.

TIP! When it comes to network marketing, demonstrate leadership in all that you do. Be creative with unique offerings from your company.

Treat network marketing like a business. A lot of people fail due to the fact that they don?t take it seriously. There is a ton of work involved in MLM and it will become a full time job when you dedicate enough time to it. Before you begin to develop your skills, do your homework and learn as much as possible.

Social arenas such as online forums are great places to learn through participation. These forums can provide valuable tips and information on MLM, and as a bonus, they are free. Do a quick search online, and scroll through until you find a forum you like. To find useful tips, read a few posts each day and ask any questions you have.

There isn?t a person alive who doesn?t enjoy a great deal! Consider partnering up with a company that allows you to distribute some of their coupons to your customers. There are several marketing strategies you can use that involve coupons. For example, you can distribute them to loyal customers, or start a raffle with coupon prizes. You can increase consumer interest in your product by offering it at a reduced price.

TIP! Double your successes whenever you can! Look for inspiration in your organization or industry. Try to adopt a similar approach and attitude, while following their success.

Business Books

If you want to see more growth from your multi-level marketing efforts, you have to constantly learn new things. Spend time daily reading business books, social media books, business books and other literature designed to inspire success. You can learn a lot from webinars featuring successful online marketing businessmen. The greater your arsenal of marketing knowledge and techniques, the greater your success.

A great piece of advice in helping you improve your network marketing success is to keep an open mind. Always having an open-mind will increase your chances for business success.

TIP! Having an e-mail list, and using it consistently is a fundamental part of successful network marketing. A large email list is essential, whether it is compiled yourself or purchased from a service.

When you create your MLM website, design it as a tutorial. By structuring your website in this way, you are likely to see increased traffic. Also, your visitors will spend more time on your site. Each of these factors can increase the likelihood that your network will attract new members; it also brings in additional income from advertisements.

Always leave time for your friends and family. This keeps you happy and stress-free. You may find that you must schedule more time for business initially. However, this time will pay off in profits and flexibility later on down the line.

Starting off with a well thought out business plan can help you make your multi-level marketing endeavors more successful more quickly. Write down your goals and the methods to achieving them. Have an idea of how much business you will need to turn a profit, your monthly sales goals and what your marketing plans are.

TIP! Creating a blog on your website can help you keep your clients up-to-date with the happenings of your business. This effort to connect with your customers will be appreciated and may lead them to make more purchases from you.

You should aim to draw prospects to your page. Without paying customers, your business will fail. Once you have lured a viewer to your page, you have a better opportunity to sell your products, and make this person aware of just how valuable your service is to him or her.

Business Plan

While it is important to have a business plan in place, ensure that there is flexibility to deal with any surprising occasions that arise. You don?t need the extra pressure if the unexpected occurs and you miss a self imposed deadline. Be aware of what needs to be done each month, and then adjust this according to what you are actually capable of doing. A good business plan should reflect how you can turn a profit based on these two factors.

TIP! Always treat your network marketing projects as a business. When it comes to your networking profit potential, you get what you give.

Make use of the advice and suggestions you have seen here and you will be on your way to a successful campaign in MLM. If you can implement these tactics, you can be successful.

Are you ready to have success in the home based business industry and build it on autopilot? Click below to register for free today. See how it works here. Also check out our team benefits here

Source: http://leucabiz.com/blog/network-marketing-tips-that-get-you-inspired/

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Apple must pay $165,000 to Chinese writers

Latest news

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Pinterest, the popular virtual pinboard, has received its first lawsuit. Theodore F. Schroeder of Ocean City, N.J., has sued the site this week, claiming misappropriation, unjust enrichment ....
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Source: http://feeds.afterdawn.com/~r/afterdawn/~3/ImvpBhRx_4I/apple_must_pay_165_000_to_chinese_writers

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

RT @udayfoundation: Delhi's chilly winters: tales of despair, debt and hope on the streets http://t.co/rnxuGzbf We need more and more blankets ...

Sonia Singh wrote a status message :

Sonia Singh

RT @udayfoundation: Delhi's chilly winters: tales of despair, debt and hope on the streets http://t.co/rnxuGzbf We need more and more blankets ... 5 hours ago

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Source: http://social.ndtv.com/soniasingh/permalink/121677

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Organist's widow addresses church after his murder

Maureen Greaves, a Christian outreach worker, thanked the congregation for their support at the couple's church in Sheffield where Mr Greaves had been due to worship when he was assaulted.

The 68-year-old grandfather, a lay preacher and organist at the church, was discovered by a member of the public, badly beaten, just yards from St Saviour's in High Green on Monday, but died from his head injuries in hospital on Thursday night.

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

During the service, Mrs Greaves told the congregation at St Saviour's: "I won't be able to contact you over the next few days, but I want to thank you for the support you have given me.

"I have prayed constantly for Alan and I know you have too. I have not stopped crying for him and I know you have not stopped either.

"I have wept over the evil that has been done. I have prayed for you and I know you have prayed for me. You were Alan's Christian family and he loved belonging to this church. I have felt your love towards me."

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/534871/s/270ebd27/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cnews0Cuknews0Ccrime0C977160A60COrganists0Ewidow0Eaddresses0Echurch0Eafter0Ehis0Emurder0Bhtml/story01.htm

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Of course: David Gregory granted interview with Obama (Michellemalkin)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/273786770?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Worst CEO of 2012: Best Buy's Brian Dunn | Daily ... - Yahoo! Finance

As 2012 comes to a close, it's that time of year again to list some of the best and worst CEOs over the past 12 months.

Sydney Finkelstein, a professor of management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and author of ?Why Smart Executives Fail? and ?Think Again," shared his annual "Worst CEOs" list with The Daily Ticker.

Two of the CEOs were so bad they are no longer on the job. For the CEOs who remain on the payroll, watch out. All of the CEOs on Finkelstein?s 2011 list have been shown the door.

While stock price is an important part of Finkelstein's criteria, it is not the only determining factor. The lack of corporate governance also plays an important part.

Without further ado, the top two ?Worst CEOs of 2012? are Brian Dunn of Best Buy (BBY) and Audrey McClendon of Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK). Honorable mentions also go to Facebook?s (FB) Mark Zuckerberg and Groupon?s (GRPN) Andrew Mason.

1. Brian Dunn, former CEO, Best Buy (resigned April 2012)

?Brian Dunn...there is really not a lot of great things to say,? says Finkelstein in the accompanying interview. ?You have a company that is in a virtual free fall. The stock is down something like 50% this year; cash is down; EPS is down; same-store-sales are down. You name it?s down.?

Dunn resigned this past spring; during his tenure Best Buy stock has fallen 80% in five years.

The electronics retailer's competitors ? like Amazon (AMZN), Wal-Mart (WMT) and Apple (AAPL) ?have been breathing down its neck for years and Dunn did little to fight back, says Finkelstein. Dunn also deserves blame for not improving Best Buy?s customer service, Finkelstein adds. Dunn also "completely wasted" $6.4 billion in company cash on stock repurchases, says Finkelstein. Dunn was also accused of dating a 29-year-old female employee.

2. Aubrey McClendon, CEO, Chesapeake Energy (resigned as chairman, still CEO)

?Aubrey McClendon is a classic entrepreneur who breaks all the rules,? says Finkelstein.

While he was a visionary in his line of work, he also pushed the envelope when it came to mixing business finances with personal finances. For example, McClendon used the corporate jet for his personal use and he cut a corporate sponsorship deal with a sports team he privately owned.

According to Finkelstein, McClendon's inappropriate behavior includes:

  • Documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show that several major Wall Street banks lent McClendon money and then received lucrative work as public-offering underwriters or financial advisers to Chesapeake.
  • Personally borrowed $500 million from EIG Global Energy Partners, which had also been a large financer for Chesapeake. In securing personal loans from his company's business associate, McClendon exposed himself to a potential conflict of interest, as it's reasonable to expect him to feel pressure to serve EIG's interests in future corporate transactions, potentially at the expense of the best interests of shareholders.
  • Reuters exposed a $200 million hedge fund trading oil and gas McClendon ran at the same time he was CEO of Chesapeake -- an obvious conflict of interest.

?Nothing is illegal, everything is disclosed (as far as we know) but it sure doesn?t look good,? says Finkelstein.

3. Andrea Jung, Avon, Chairman of Board (resigned as CEO April 2012)

Andrea Jung of Avon (AVP) made this year?s list of worst CEOs due to a long string of poor performance and her inability to remedy operational issues, says Finkelstein.

Avon?s stock price is down 18% in 2012 and was down more than 80% in the last quarter.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are also looking into Avon's potential bribery of foreign officials. The investigation has been ongoing since 2011 and to date Avon has spent $300 million in legal fees.

4. Mark Pincus, CEO, Zynga

Mark Pincus of Zynga (ZNGA) made the list because of the huge declines in Zynga's stock price.

Zynga?s stock price is down 75% in 2012. Even though the number of users is increasing, the number of paying customers is shrinking, notes Finkelstein.

On top of that, there has been an ?incredible exodus of top executive talent, always one of the biggest warning signs for impending disaster," says Finkelstein.

Another foreboding sign is the fact that the gaming company is dependent upon Facebook for 90% of its revenues.

5. Rodrigo Rato, President, Bankia (Spain)

Rato became the chief executive officer in 2010 and resigned this year after wrongfully promoting the health of the bank and its shares. The Spanish government had to step in and bail out the financial institution.

Tell us what you think!

Who do you think was the worst CEO of 2012? Tell us in the comments section below.

Got a topic you?d like covered? Have a guest you?d like to see interviewed? We?d love to hear from you! Send us an email at thedailyticker@yahoo.com.

You can also look us up on Twitter and Facebook. Follow Aaron Task on Twitter at @aarontask.

Check out these other videos from The Daily Ticker:

January's Highlights (and Lowlights) in Executive Compensation

Footnoted.com: February's Highlights (and Lowlights) in Executive Compensation

March Highlights (and Lowlights) in Executive Compensation

April's Highlights (and Lowlights) in Executive Compensation

Outrageous CEO Compensation: Wynn, Adelson, Dell and Abercrombie Shockers

June's Highlights (and Lowlights) in Executive Compensation

Zynga, Ralph Lauren: Most Outrageous Acts of Corporate America

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/worst-ceo-2012-best-buy-brian-dunn-124535841.html

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Saturday, December 29, 2012

Texas 'Hurricane Dome' In Edna To Serve As High School Gymnasium And Storm Shelter

EDNA, Texas (AP) ? Most of the time, the windowless building with the dome-shaped roof will be a typical high school gymnasium filled with cheering fans watching basketball and volleyball games.

But come hurricane season, the structure that resembles a miniature version of the famed Astrodome will double as a hurricane shelter, part of an ambitious storm-defense system that is taking shape along hundreds of miles of the Texas Gulf Coast.

Its brawny design ? including double-layer cinder-block walls reinforced by heavy duty steel bars and cement piers that plunge 30 feet into the ground ? should allow it to withstand winds up to 200 mph.

"There is nothing standard" about the building, said Bob Wells, superintendent of the Edna school district, as he stood inside the $2.5 million gym, which is set to be completed by March. "The only standard stuff is going to be the stuff we do inside."

The Edna dome is one of 28 such buildings planned to protect sick, elderly and special-needs residents who might be unable to evacuate ahead of a hurricane. First-responders and local leaders will also be able to take refuge in the domes, allowing them to begin recovery efforts faster after a storm has passed.

Storm-defense structures are getting increased attention in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which inflicted heavy damage on the East Coast in October. The city of New York, for instance, is considering a multi-billion-dollar system of sea barriers.

For Texas, a state always in danger during hurricane season, the domes offer the extra benefit of serving as recreation or community centers when not needed as shelters. They are being erected with help from the federal Emergency Management Agency.

"I think it's good for FEMA, and I think it's good for us. And I think it's good for the taxpayers," Wells said.

The gym in Edna, a town of 5,500 people about 100 miles southwest of Houston, is the second hurricane dome in Texas. The first was built in 2011 in Woodsboro, near Corpus Christi. Most of the domes will be around 20,000 square feet.

The plan calls for structures in 11 counties in the Rio Grande Valley, around Corpus Christi and along the coast from Victoria to Newton counties, said Tom Vinger, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

So far, $34.5 million has been awarded. This month, FEMA approved funds for a hurricane dome that will serve as a community center in Brownsville, one that will serve as a wellness center and physical rehabilitation facility in Bay City and two that will serve as multi-purpose training centers in Kingsville.

Inside the gym in Edna, Wells' voice echoed as he pointed to the ceiling, which has layers of sprayed-on concrete, insulation and rebar, all of which are under a heavy duty fabric that gives the structure its distinctive wind-resistant shape.

The doorways are covered by awnings of heavy gauge metal and supported by concrete girders that go 15 feet into the ground.

FEMA is paying for 75 percent of the dome structures, with local communities picking up the remaining cost.

The funding is part of the agency's initiative to help homeowners and communities build hardened shelters that provide protection from extreme weather.

Nationwide, more than $683 million has been awarded in 18 states, including Texas, Alabama, Michigan and South Carolina.

Walking around the gym, Wells said it reminded him of when, as a teenager, he first walked into the Astrodome after it opened in 1965 in Houston.

"It was like, 'Oh, wow, this is so cool,'" he said. "I'm still kind of in the 'oh, wow' stage with this."

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: www.twitter.com/juanlozano70

Its brawny design ? including double-layer cinder-block walls reinforced by heavy duty steel bars and cement piers that plunge 30 feet into the ground ? should allow it to withstand winds up to 200 mph.

"There is nothing standard" about the building, said Bob Wells, superintendent of the Edna school district, as he stood inside the $2.5 million gym, which is set to be completed by March. "The only standard stuff is going to be the stuff we do inside."

The Edna dome is one of 28 such buildings planned to protect sick, elderly and special-needs residents who might be unable to evacuate ahead of a hurricane. First-responders and local leaders will also be able to take refuge in the domes, allowing them to begin recovery efforts faster after a storm has passed.

Storm-defense structures are getting increased attention in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which inflicted heavy damage on the East Coast in October. The city of New York, for instance, is considering a multi-billion-dollar system of sea barriers.

For Texas, a state always in danger during hurricane season, the domes offer the extra benefit of serving as recreation or community centers when not needed as shelters. They are being erected with help from the federal Emergency Management Agency.

"I think it's good for FEMA, and I think it's good for us. And I think it's good for the taxpayers," Wells said.

The gym in Edna, a town of 5,500 people about 100 miles southwest of Houston, is the second hurricane dome in Texas. The first was built in 2011 in Woodsboro, near Corpus Christi. Most of the domes will be around 20,000 square feet.

The plan calls for structures in 11 counties in the Rio Grande Valley, around Corpus Christi and along the coast from Victoria to Newton counties, said Tom Vinger, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

So far, $34.5 million has been awarded. This month, FEMA approved funds for a hurricane dome that will serve as a community center in Brownsville, one that will serve as a wellness center and physical rehabilitation facility in Bay City and two that will serve as multi-purpose training centers in Kingsville.

Inside the gym in Edna, Wells' voice echoed as he pointed to the ceiling, which has layers of sprayed-on concrete, insulation and rebar, all of which are under a heavy duty fabric that gives the structure its distinctive wind-resistant shape.

The doorways are covered by awnings of heavy gauge metal and supported by concrete girders that go 15 feet into the ground.

FEMA is paying for 75 percent of the dome structures, with local communities picking up the remaining cost.

The funding is part of the agency's initiative to help homeowners and communities build hardened shelters that provide protection from extreme weather.

Nationwide, more than $683 million has been awarded in 18 states, including Texas, Alabama, Michigan and South Carolina.

Walking around the gym, Wells said it reminded him of when, as a teenager, he first walked into the Astrodome after it opened in 1965 in Houston.

"It was like, `Oh, wow, this is so cool,'" he said. "I'm still kind of in the `oh, wow' stage with this."

___

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/28/texas-hurricane-dome_n_2377184.html

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Source: http://forums.ferra.ru/index.php?showtopic=53742

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Nonprofit briefs | Long Island Business News

by Bernadette Starzee
Long Island Business News Published: December 28, 2012
Tags: animal shelters, awards, children's hospital, Finance, food, gifts, hockey, Island Harvest, nonprofits, not-for-profit organizations, Not-for-Profits, Retail, Sandy, small business disaster relief, The Community Development Corp. of Long Island, Walmart

1:06 pm Fri, December 28, 2012 News briefs, current events and projects involving various Long Island nonprofits and nonprofit organizations.

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Source: http://libn.com/2012/12/28/nonprofit-briefs-for-dec-28-2012/

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Friday, December 28, 2012

Social media and pr - UK Business Forums

Our distribution is in musical instruments and accessories.

We want to utilise social media to promote the products we distribute to muscicians so in turn the dealers get feedback and possible sales.

What im unclear about is with our facebook and twitter pages, do we hand over the username and password to the PR company for them to post on our behalf and try to attract not only more fans anf followers but more interest and possible sales for our dealers or does the PR company basically tell US what to post, how to post what images work, what engagment to have ect.

Its just an area im unclear with as I dont really know what a PR company does regarding a social media campaign.

Any examples of what they do would be great and if they (the pr) do it or if we do from what they suggest to us.

Source: http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=282004

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Video: Reid, McConnell react to fiscal cliff meeting

Why do some men get grouchier as they age?

Some call it ?grumpy old man complex.? Other experts label it: ?irritable male syndrome,? a spike in the outward crankiness of guys of a certain age. As more baby boomers hit 60? be ready for more grouchy outbursts, like a Donald Trump rant set to explode.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/hardball/50314528/

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Lame duck season | nwLaborPress

By Tom Chamberlain, Oregon AFL-CIO president

Lame duck, like the Senate filibuster, has moved from an alien term to the center of political conversations. A lame duck session is the time between an election and when new members of Congress, state, or local governments, are sworn into office. A lame duck session, though short in duration, is time when out-going electeds who chose not to run or were defeated are freed from the accountability of constituents.

A lame duck session is what allowed the Michigan Legislature to pass so-called ?right-to-work? legislation. Such legislation allows workers who are represented by a union not to pay union dues. Think about it, workers get all the benefits of union representation ? wages, fringe benefits, political power, and a voice in the work place. In fact, if these workers get in trouble at work the union is required to represent them. But they can choose to not pay dues.

Imagine if Oregonians could elect not to pay taxes, but were still allowed to send their children to public schools, drive on Oregon roads, use the library, and receive unemployment insurance, workers? compensation benefits, and a host of other services. As more and more Oregonians elected not to pay their taxes, services would erode to the point of collapse. That is exactly the corporate strategy of right to work: to bankrupt America?s unions.

Twenty-four states have passed right-to-work laws. In 1957, Indiana passed such a law, and eight years later repealed it. This year we saw right-to-work once again pass in Indiana.

The negative impact of a right-to-work (RTW) law on workers is well documented:

  • Wages in RTW states are 3.2 percent lower. Using the average wage in non-RTW states as the base ($22.11), the average full-time, full-year worker in a RTW state makes about $1,500 less annually than a similar worker in a non-RTW state.
  • The rate of employer-funded health insurance is 2.6 percent lower in RTW states compared with non-RTW states. If workers in non-RTW states were to receive health insurance at work at this lower rate, 2 million workers nationally would not have health insurance.
  • The rate of employer-sponsored pensions is 4.8 percent lower in RTW states when you compare similar workplaces. If workers in non-RTW states were to receive pensions at this lower rate, 3.8 million fewer workers nationally would have pensions.

De-funding unions removes the major power base in state after right-to-work state that could stand up for workers and progressive interests.? After a right-to-work law is implemented, right-wing conservatives and corporate CEOs have free rein to implement a corporate agenda at the expense of the middle class and poor. That?s why we see profit-motivated experiments like private-for-profit prisons in right-to-work states such as Texas and Arizona.

We?re no longer just seeing this in traditionally conservative states. In Michigan, 26 percent of workers belong to a union (compared to 17.3 percent in Oregon). It is one of the most unionized states in the country.? If Michigan can become a right-to-work state, every state is in jeopardy.? Our nation is in jeopardy.

As a movement, unions and union members must forget about old wrongs and grudges that separate us.? Competition for members that pit one union against another burn up resources, and more often than not, deny a confused workforce any union representation at all. As a movement, we need to understand that until private and public unions, AFL-CIO and independent unions, come together as one force, one voice, we will continue to be engaged in a defensive battle that results in more Michigans.

Source: http://nwlaborpress.org/2012/12/lame-duck-season/

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Stanford Students And Professors Are Bridging The CS Gender Gap One Student At A Time

558472_336193506472545_2073907048_nAt Stanford, just under 21 percent of undergraduate CS majors, the school?s most popular major, are women. Surrounding the school, Silicon Valley is starved for talented engineers, with companies aggressively recruiting Stanford undergrads with coding skills for high paying internships and full time jobs. ?Getting more girls involved in CS is probably the most impactful thing we can do to address the talent shortage,? Sequoia Capital?s Jim Goetz tells me.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/r3xbgqeCJrE/

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

Self-Improvement Affirmations with Self-Hypnosis Audios Deal! | Self ...

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Source: http://selfhelphypnosis.co.uk/self-improvement-affirmations-with-self-hypnosis-audios-deal

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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Mind: Understanding the Effects of Social Environment on Trauma Victims

[unable to retrieve full-text content]A significant body of work suggests that what a person experiences just after a traumatic event, particularly other people?s responses, may be just as crucial as the event itself.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/science/understanding-the-effects-of-social-environment-on-trauma-victims.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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How to get rid of eczema ? Treatment for eczema | Learn the Secrets ...

To watch the entire video ? Web : bit.ly Imagine now, how wonderful your life will be once you are eczema free? Your self-confidence will increase. No longer will you be hiding your face and body to avoid embarrassment? Your ?social life? will definitely improve? Most importantly, you will no longer tear your skin open trying to stop the constant itching. LIFE will be so much BETTER! Get Rid of Your Severe Eczema Itching! No More Scratching Endlessly! No More Need To Resist The Unbearable Urge To scratch! No More Hiding Your Eczema Scars! Sleep Well at Night! Wake Up Feeling Refreshed and Not Having To Look at The Consequences of Scratching! Have Clear and Beautiful Skin Now! Walk Around Feeling and Looking Great! Feel The Freedom Finally! Be Healthy and Happy! Be Eczema Free Now? Not Tomorrow? Not Next Month! The 14 Days Eczema Cure can help you to banish your eczema once and for all. It will guide you step by step and show you everything you need to do to get clear skin and be eczema free. These are simple changes that anyone can make easily. You don?t need to be a doctor or health expert; you just need to have a strong desire to be eczema free for good? Inside The 14 Days To Cure Eczema Guide, you will discover: A strategy on how to get rid of eczema. How to stop the severe itching from eczema. How to eliminate dry and scaly skin once and for all. How to attack the root cause and not just the symptoms. How to sleep at night without the discomfort of eczema ?

Source: YouTube

This entry was posted in Health Tutorials and tagged Health, Health Videos, Videos. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://health-ful-hints.com/2012/12/25/how_to_get_rid_of_eczema_-_treatment_for_eczema/

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Gmail phone calls remain free of charge in 2013 for US and Canada

Gmail phone calls remain free of charge in 2013 for US and Canada

It may be an expected holiday gift, but it's still a nice one: Google's VoIP service in Gmail will remain free of charge for calls within the United States and Canada in 2013. A note on the Gmail Blog announced as much today; the news ushers in a thrilling third year of free Google Voice service for US and Canadian customers, right through the standard Gmail interface. Of course, we prefer the retro-inspired phone booth that Google showed off back in 2010 when the service was first announced, but free is free. Now, what to get for the megacorporation that has everything. We're thinking ... Furby? Probably a Furby.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/26/gmail-google-voice-free-2013/

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Main Course Staying in Stellenbosch | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robwallace/8306724147/

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How to Get Your Car's Stuck Shifter Unstuck

Let me quell your fears: This problem is not the end of the world ... probably. Your Passat could have a couple of things going on, though. The shifter in your car is not rigidly connected to the transmission. Like most front-wheel-drive cars, it uses push?pull cables to snake around to the front of the car and control the transverse-mounted transmission. A tube around the two cables protects them from binding and allows each to be cleanly clamped to the body of the car. At the factory the cables and shift mechanism are lubricated, but over time that lubricant breaks down or can become contaminated and will actually make shifting a bit more difficult. This effect is amplified in cold weather, when the viscosity of the lubricant goes way up, making things stickier.

The cheap but labor-intensive fix is to take apart the center console and extract the cables, hang them up on a wall, and spray some penetrating fluid down the insides, followed by a shot of brake cleaner and then white lithium grease. Clean and lube the shift mechanism in a similar manner. The easier but more expensive alternative would be to buy and install shift cables and clean just the shifter.

There are two other possible root causes of sticky shifting, and I'll list them in order of escalating expense. On one hand, the transmission fluid could be breaking down, especially if you're driving the car hard and have never changed the fluid. Alternatively, your synchronizers may be getting worn. These are responsible for aligning the gears to the shafts and making the shifting process smoother. Worn synchros in cold weather make shifting trickier. If this is the case, you'll find shifting gets more and more difficult over time, even in warm months. You could live with it, spend a thousand bucks or more on a transmission rebuild, or put money toward a new car.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/repair/how-to-get-your-cars-stuck-shifter-unstuck-14886230?src=rss

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Good Reads: Mexico?s rise, Lincoln?s precedence, and tomorrow?s truth

A round-up of this week's long-form good reads include a look at Mexico's competitive growth, the virtues of compromise in multiple administrations, and how facts 'decay.'

By Marshall Ingwerson,?Managing editor / December 14, 2012

Shipping trucks in Veracruz, Mexico, a major port city on the Gulf of Mexico.

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Which country produces the biggest share of America?s flat-screen TVs? You know it can?t be China, or we wouldn?t bother asking.

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Three years ago, a Pentagon report warned that Mexico was on the brink of becoming a failed state, notes a special report in The Economist. Instead, Mexico?s economic growth has overtaken and surpassed that of Brazil. And as Chinese wages have quintupled in the past 10 years, Mexico?s competitiveness is rising to match its great field position next door to the US Sun Belt. The flat-screen TVs are the least of it. What?s amazing to The Economist is how little Americans know about the progress of their southern neighbor. It estimates that nearly a tenth of current US residents, or their children, are Mexican citizens. But as the Monitor has noted, net migration from Mexico has dropped to zero or lower as opportunities there have expanded.

Many Americans have heard, if vaguely, of Mayan calendars that seem to predict the end of the world coming in a few weeks. But few have heard that recent translations revise that apocalypse into something more like a renewal or fresh start. And that, the magazine argues, looks to be where Mexico is heading.

Lincoln?s example for today?s mess

In these times of winter winds whipping across the ?fiscal cliff? at Americans? feet, compromise is suddenly in again. What was scorned in the tea party upswell of 2010 as caving in to bad Washington habits, is lauded in late 2012 as adult behavior and getting something done.

History, of course, stands on both sides of the compromise question. Abraham Lincoln may have been the self-effacing pragmatist who could hold together a diverse ?team of rivals.? But he was not about compromise. This is something the new Steven Spielberg film on Lincoln gets right, says The New Yorker?s Adam Gopnik. The United States had been straddling various compromises over slavery for years, he says, and there are still arguments over whether Lincoln could have avoided the unprecedented human suffering of the war. But Lincoln instead stood at the end of the line for compromise. His position was absolute, both on union and on slavery.

?Lincoln was an uncompromising man who sponsored violence on a hitherto unimaginable scale; that he paid the highest price himself for the noble but hugely costly morality in which he believed is one of the things that makes his story still so fateful and, in its way, uncompromised.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/t5BGfdRTR9k/Good-Reads-Mexico-s-rise-Lincoln-s-precedence-and-tomorrow-s-truth

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Monday, December 24, 2012

Requesting funding for business Advertising. - Classified Ad

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My name is Alphonso McDowell with Expense Reduction Unlimited. We are requesting advertising cost for a division within our company. We need advertising funds for our company logowear apparel division. We are linked with a company that has 58 embriodery machines. The investor would recieve a 50/50 split on advertising profits. For example: Lets say that a company wishes to purchase 5,000 pcs of logowear apparel. 5,000 x $7.00 equals $35,000 profit. The investor would receive $17,500. The $7.00 amount is the base profit on?one apparel item.?This profit could be much more if the apparel material is a higher grade. For more information on this great investment contact Mr. McDowell at 832-877-9261. Thanks for your consideration.?

Source: http://www.classifiedads.com/advertising-ad23905598.htm

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Sunday, December 23, 2012

Building A Site Promotion- Ways To Promote Your Site On The ...

Sunday, December 23rd, 2012

There are myriad methods to promote a website. An online entrepreneur is faced with so many choices that it?s hard to commit to a decision that will result in an effective and informative campaign. There are so many factors to take into consideration: target market, startup costs, budget, minimum and maximum traffic capabilities, and more.

And whoever said that any publicity is good publicity clearly wasn?t in the business of online business. Bad word-of-mouth is to good word-of-mouth what the hare was to the tortoiseexcept bad word-of-mouth ensures your site will never see the end of the race. Determining which method of site promotion will best fit your business

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Source: http://www.thmg.com/promotion/building-a-site-promotion-ways-to-promote-your-site-on-the-internet/

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The Dilemmas of a Hybrid Peace - e-International Relations

By Oliver Richmond on December 23, 2012

Hybrid forms of peace and hybrid forms of politics are emerging in post-conflict locations around the world as has been noted, from Timor Leste to Afghanistan (Mac Ginty 2010). These hybrid forms mediate between local and international norms, institutions, law, right, needs, and interests. A hybrid form of peace implies that legitimacy and agency rest partly at the local level, meaning both state and society. It is plausible that more sophisticated and contextual versions of peace may gradually emerge through political contestation between a range of local actors and transversally between local and international actors as a result. They develop through a tense process of hybrid politics, whereby various local factions and international norms and interests remain opposed until an accommodation is reached that maintains both local and international legitimacy. This is at least partly representative of a post-colonial process, whereby pre-colonial pasts are re-imagined, and colonial disruption and injustice is addressed. Local, everyday forms of peace and politics encounter the state and its elites, and the liberal peace system in various ways, often despite the incapable or predatory states in which they develop. Though hybrid forms of politics may still maintain structural or overt violence they represent an encounter between international and local norms, law, institutions, and practices.

Some significant issues have arisen as a consequence. Do hybrid forms of peace reiterate colonial epistemologies or localised conflicts in an ever more subtle fashion (Richmond 2009: 562)? Or do they offer an understanding of a range of local and international agencies that may constitute more legitimate forms of peace? Does this imply ?going local? so the state disappears, or new forms of state reflecting alternative, non-western, post-colonial patterns of legitimacy? Does this imply a new type of local- international relationship (bearing in mind the blurred lines between ?local? and ?international?)? What impact may these processes have on international institutions and organisations, law, and norms? Does a compromise over generally agreed ?cosmopolitan? standards and norms result in a post-liberal escape from rights frameworks? Or does it mean a post-liberal accommodation between the local and liberal forms of politics and peace?

Differentiating Between Hybrid Peace and Hybrid Politics

Hybridity might be seen as somewhat overloaded as a conceptual framework, being ?all things to all people?. It also represents the contingent and complex nature of the reality of peacemaking, and the dynamics of power, agency, and identity it involves. Hybrid forms of peace have been born out of a combination of international blueprints for a liberal or neoliberal form of state, development, rule of law, political institutions, and local socio-historical dynamics of conflict. Elite and state predation or partial reform in context, the emerging role of the ?BRICS plus? (Nel 2010) and even the ?G7+? (Wyeth 2011: 11) in development and peacebuilding, as well local agency and resistance, have recently all contributed to this mix. A hybrid peace or form of politics brings together localised forms of peace (Richmond 2011; See also Mac Ginty 2008), the use of aid and development for national interest, and the liberal humanitarian impulse of the international community, which emerged during the brief period of a peacebuilding consensus from the end of the Cold War to interventions in Kosovo, and later Afghanistan and Iraq (Paris 2004; Bellamy and Williams 2005).

This has produced a new politics of peacebuilding, development, and statebuilding. ?In response innovations in IR and peace and conflict theory are emerging. These affect both existing donor and liberal institutional contexts, and provide new pressures for reforming the tools and practices of peacebuilding and statebuilding. These dynamics have evoked various reactions from within the UN system, as well as donors, and international policy makers who are now involved in the project of [neo]liberal statebuilding (See especially Chandler 2010; For a defence see also Paris 2010). Often grassroots level actors are more understanding of these shifts than those who work in the political and bureaucratic frameworks in mainly metropolitan centres (at least in private transcripts) (Confidential Source 2010a: 2010b).

Hybrid forms of peace and politics comprise contradictory and often paradoxical dynamics. They seek the reconstruction of a predominantly liberal understanding of emancipation (meaning that an individual is constituted by property rights, human rights, free trade and democracy). Simultaneously they involve the recognition of alternative norms, interests, standards, institutions, as well as culture, identity, and custom, politics, economics, and society. They bring together, albeit in a tense relationship, the local, regional, and global.

These dynamics include a wide range socio-political organisation, from the local and customary (Boege, Brown, Clements, and Nolan 2008) local elites? project of state and economy, the liberal peace and neoliberal state, and the liberal internationalist and institutionalist architecture of peace, security and global governance. The clash between the modern neoliberal state and customary praxis, law or institutions in Timor-Leste, the Solomon Islands, Afghanistan, or Liberia, or tension over the governance and sovereignties of the various entities, states, and self-declared states in the Balkans, hints at potential hybridities to come. In the all of these cases international statebuilding and liberal peacebuilding provided a blueprint for the donor-led construction of institutions, law, and civil society, but historical practices, customary law, religion and identity provided a basis by which these were locally resisted and subsequently converted in a hybrid incorporating aspects of the local political and social milieu as well as the liberal peace. The contestation of political power in these cases has meant hybrid forms of politics are playing themselves out. They also offer the potential of a hybrid form of peace, however.

Hybrid forms of peace and hybrid forms of politics and order are interwoven, but they are not the same (For a variety of perspectives see Spivak 1988: 75; Bhabha 1994: 33; Kapoor 2008: 568). Nor do they necessarily represent the institutional, sovereign, and territorial rigidity of modern liberal political order. Recognition of hybridity makes it far easier to understand the difference between peacebuilding and statebuilding and also highlights the intimate and complex relationship between peace and politics, in its negative and positive aspects. Hybridity represents the attempt of the liberal, developed world, to evolve interventionary practices designed to end conflict and poverty, as exemplified by Agenda for Peace, the MDGs, and R2P and subsequent documentation. It is also meant to maintain the legitimacy of the liberal self, state, and international organisation (See for example UN 2008; 2009b; 2009c; 2011). It indicates the juxtaposition of local forms of agency, authority, legitimacy, and alterity in other contexts, bringing together a shifting range of conflicting capacities (in the context of the liberal, western exhortation to ?do no harm? and observe norms of local ownership) (OECD 2010; OECD 2007; Anderson 1999; Donais 2009).

Towards a Hybrid Peace

Hybridity, according to post-colonial literatures is an outcome of attempts to decolonise peoples, territories, and knowledge, and to recognise the strategies of those who resist overt and subtle forms of colonisation (Kapoor 2003: 568). Such historical processes have also been recognised in various UN documents, including in the General Assembly and Security Council, as well as by various Agencies, including the World Bank and IMF. Documents make reference to the need for self-determination, local legitimacy, ownership, and partnership, as well as the preservation of a range of rights, whether indigenous or for minorities (variously understood in terms of their contribution to international political, legal, and economic architecture) (UN 1945; 1960; 1966a; 1966b).

Often radical transformations have evolved via a confrontation between elite and grass-roots agency, whether aimed at emancipation, reform or even revolution. It also emerges from the relationships, oppositional or cooperative of local and international actors. Hybrid forms of peace emerge from local agency and its attempts to mitigate conflict in everyday life, elite conflict, or to resist external prescriptions for the nature of the polity that emerges from peacebuilding. Such processes arise sometimes through passive or hidden forms of resistance, often mainly of a discursive nature, sometimes through open demonstration or violence, complete rejection and refusal, partial reform, co-optation, or political counter-organisation. Such agency tends to contest the legitimacy of hegemony in a way that it cannot respond without appearing authoritarian. This is a common but under-appreciated tactic against structures of oppression (De Certau 1984; Lefebvre 1991; Bhabha 1994: 330; Foucault 2009). Local agency is an essential part of the emergence of a hybrid form of peace and politics, which ultimately is driven by a series of local to global encounters in the fields of security, institutional reform, law, development, and civil society.

Liberal understandings of peace and political organisation have proven to be fairly responsive to such dynamics given their focus on rights and representation, though governmental dynamics also emerge (Foucault 1991). Much of the architecture of development, peacebuilding, and now statebuilding, while driven by democratic states and reflecting their values also contends with a bureaucratic culture and the difficulties of understanding the needs and rights of post-conflict actors in emerging polities after conflict. This has been well illustrated by statebuilding praxis in both Afghanistan and Iraq more recently.

Often the goal of resistance to international or elite policy narratives, whether of liberal peace or elite control, is to induce a type of hybridity even if this is still very much in favour of hegemony. Through resistance it is at least slightly subverted. Or at least a private space is preserved whereby the weak can maintain a degree of autonomy to be devoted to more localised understandings of politics, peace, needs, rights, and custom. Such approaches maintain to some degree that the private is political, and that actors, however subaltern may have peace formation agency even if indirect and not a product of public mobilisation (Spivak 1988; On this concept see Richmond 2013).

A good example of the characteristics of such local agency, and its potential in shaping peace, the state, norms, and institutions, even despite elite power of international prescriptions, is the widespread emergence in post-conflict sites around the world of what has been called ?local infrastructures for peace? (Odendaal 2010: 2). These involve local groups, NGOs, customary organisations, civil society organisations, and a range of government ministries and agencies, spanning locations as diverse as Nicaragua and South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, and many of the more recent UN peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions around the world. In this way contextual institutional mechanisms, often based on national or local peace councils, provide a platform or an encounter between a range of local, state, and international agencies. They facilitate formal and informal debates about the security, institutional, legal, and material dimensions of peace and embed them in the state, so producing local ownership and legitimacy if successful. UNDP has played a role in supporting these infrastructures in many countries around the world, including in Kenya, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nepal, Timor Leste and others, meaning that such encounters also influence international narratives (Kumar 2011). This might be termed peace formation, emanating from a range of grass roots and bottom-up sources that do not necessarily follow the western understanding of political agency and mobilisation. They may be informal and operate in a very limited context, or they may become part of the constitutional structure of the state. In different ways they enter into the discourses of international peacebuilding and statebuilding.

The Dilemmas of Hybridity

There are two main sets of dilemmas to consider arising from an encounter between local peace formation agency and the apparatus of the liberal peace. From the perspective of the international actor agency revolves around how to use its capacity to legitimately induce a top-down liberal peace, so addressing the local causes of conflict. From the perspective of its local subjects agency revolves around how to both learn from peacebuilding or statebuilding in order to address root causes, and how to merge international support or prescriptions with local political frameworks necessary for localised autonomy and identity.

The range of dilemmas entailed by post-liberal and hybrid forms of peace may be summarised as follows:

  1. Which comes first: local consent and legitimacy, or those inherent in either the state or international norms, law, and community? Can all be attended to simultaneously, or should some take precedence?
  2. Which comes first: rights or needs, and how are these defined differently by local actors and internationals?
  3. What are the conflicts and concurrences inherent in the array of local and international forms of legitimacy, legality, agencies and institutions?
  4. Do power imbalances, resistance, and legitimacy deficits, lead to an order in which normative and strategic compromises must be made for international or local legitimacy to be sustained?
  5. Where, why, and how might local and international actors compromise on their norms and standards relating to rights, needs, and identity in order to achieve sustainable peace?
  6. Which form of ownership, at which level, and which local interests should be seen as representative of an ?authentic? and sustainably peaceful polity?
  7. Who bears material responsibility for peace: international or local actors (or both)? Should peace or order arise though either or both external intervention or enablement of local agency? Which mix of these factors is required?
  8. What is the priority of peace in hybrid or liberal form: the local community level, the state, regional or international order, or all? A liberal peace prioritises international peace with the state?s role in mediating between conflicting local interests following closely behind. Local forms of peace would reverse this balance and focus on local, community, and perhaps national issues;
  9. The diffusion of power, identity, sovereignty, and international capacity, inherent in hybrid forms of peace appears to weaken or undermine the claims made for the state as the sole basis for local sustainable, peace. It also weakens the international community?s credibility in making peace especially where peacebuilding is occurring in a post-colonial context. International/state level peace seems to depend on distant governance, directive donors, and alien processes, norms, and institutions. Local level peace is small scale, socially oriented, sometimes hidden from the liberal gaze, and often fragile. A combination of both requires the mediation of different forms of polity, norms, identities, understandings of society and economics. Material power seems to outweigh local legitimacy but hybridity suggests this is not so clear-cut.
  10. Thus, some peace agency lies in the hands of the least obviously powerful; local political agency may be asserted by those who do not want an emancipatory peace;
  11. Legitimacy and agency in local terms may be hard to trace and formal political peace processes are often ineffective due to the participation of predatory or corrupt actors, or because informal actors were left out;
  12. A liberal state provides some support and limited pluralism internally, as well as regional stability. However, it also creates normative obstacles for alterity and local agency to emerge and create hybridity. This undermines local legitimacy in favour of international legitimacy. A neoliberal state provides few material resources to enable weak actors to assert their rights. A localised form of state may engender structural or historical bias or not have the capacity that liberal statebuilders require or the strength to engage in global markets.

These dilemmas arise because of different interests, norms, differences in diplomatic, national, and local cultures and identities, and the grander structures of the international system. A hybrid peace would entail the gradual resolution of these dilemmas.

The Politics of a Post-Liberal Peace

To move from hybrid politics to peace requires an empathetic and emancipatory approach as defined by its subjects rather than external actors. This means that oppressive social, economic, political, or military structures cannot be termed hybrid forms of peace (as has been the fear with the role of the Taliban in an Afghan peace, for example) (See Boerger and Boone 2010). They may be called hybrid politics or order. The attempt to include the Taliban in a peace process in Afghanistan cannot be emancipatory or empathetic if gender issues are not addressed or any ?high peace council? results in an oppressive framework for other groups, unable to provide them both rights or needs. The status quo in Cyprus cannot be termed a hybrid peace if it means inequalities and injustices in representation, freedom of movement, rights, property and law are not addressed. The situation after the defeat of the LTTE in Sri Lanka cannot be termed a hybrid peace given the level of destruction, injustice, disruption of everyday life, not to mention illegality it has entailed. Situations as in Rwanda, Mozambique, Liberia, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Guatemala engender a level of discrimination, violence, inequality and marginalisation, which mean ?peace? is far from empathetic or emancipatory. These situations represent conflict management where elite or certain group interests are maintained, even if mitigated by wider societal interests. These are indicative of hybrid forms of politics, and the crucial next step is to see how hybrid peace might be enabled.

The emergence of hybrid forms of peace evokes various reactions from within the UN system, major donors, and international policymakers. Some see it as beneficial for building more sustainable and locally owned peace processes in which there is reconciliation rather than exclusion. Others see it as a compromise on liberal norms or on the responsibility of international actors to assist those in need.[1]

A hybrid form of peace may arise where legitimacy is local, regional, and international, in which all subjects agree even if grudgingly, and the nature of the polity reflects contextual, national, regional, and global political and economic interactions and interests. It may be post-colonial and probably post-territorial. This process offers an emancipatory praxis to all of its constituencies in a framework that enables representation, needs, rights, law, and security. It is complex but fundamental to any self-sustaining, emancipatory.

Hybrid forms of peace may emerge not just from local-liberal dynamics of interaction, but also from a broader range of post-western, post-colonial relations with the newly emerging donors, peacekeepers, and development actors (providing assistance or seeking profit), including many ?non traditional? actors. What is crucial is how far these new forms of peace are both emancipatory and empathetic in their hybrid and post-liberal form, and whether they are an advancement on liberal peace thinking or more orthodox statebuilding approaches. Of course, it is also important to hold them up to the standards offered by localised and customary praxes of peace and politics as well as international standards.

This should not romanticise local capacities of course; peace is a mutual endeavour of support, empathy and transformation. This means more than mere participation or local ownership as externalised praxis of intervention seeking local support. This is not to reinscribe the international, national or local with new forms of colonialism or with local power dynamics posing as ?local knowledge? leading to relativist and mutual incomprehension (Giles 2001: 153).

This does not mean a post-liberal escape from rights frameworks. This rests on a conflation between liberalism and superiority, and a reluctance to see the local as part of the international. The necessary task lies in realising the post-liberal accommodation between local and international processes of politics and peace. Or if ?post-liberal peace? can now be unpacked, it lies in understanding how to redress causal factors of conflict, provide for needs, offer contextual rights and dignity, facilitate the creation of political and social structures that resonate widely and support reconciliation, while also facilitating the evolution of international law, norms, the state, and post- territorial sovereignty. This may reflect the breadth of the post-colonial, post-liberal moment that has arisen.

This process needs to be very careful of the dilemma that colonial administration recognised in Africa and India. Colonial administrators were often aware of the possibilities inherent in hybrid political structures, and indeed saw the task of colonial administration as reconciling the local with the colonial (Citing Malinowski 1945; James 1973: 17). This is not the point of a hybrid peace, which is more focused on the emancipatory potential of the international frameworks as well as the autonomous but networked and related agencies and dynamics of peace formation on the ground, whereby the two should develop a complementary relationship rather than a paternalistic or hegemonic and top-down one (Asad 1973: 114).[2]

What emerges from the above analysis is that there are two main categories of hybridity, both for peace and politics. The first is a hegemonic form that is predicated on superficial mimicry and compliance with the liberal peace system but with modifications around its fringes, mostly dependent on local, critical forms of agency. The second is a more radical form of hybridity where such critical agency might mobilise on a grander scale to take the lead in producing forms of peace that are more local than liberal but still offer an emancipatory framework (Sabaratnam 2011).

Conclusion

Hybrid forms of peace do not fit neatly with state sovereignty or nationalistic understandings of political order, though hybrid forms of politics and order might. Peace cannot solely be liberal and hybrid at the same time. Though liberalism is a ?broad church? it lacks global reach and instead operates as a model of exclusion for many in development settings in the global south. A hybrid peace transcends state borders and formal levels of analysis, reaching into an informal and social sphere. It also indicates a loss of control on the part of international planners and a potentially a letting go of neo-colonial mindsets (even if unintended).[3] Some international and local actors may now be deliberately pursuing hybrid forms of peace given a general realisation of the limitations of both the liberal peace and local agency. Thus hybrid forms of peace are both pragmatic and prosaic, while also offering a thought experiment for more suitable and legitimate engagements between local peace ?formers? and international actors. They represent (to some degree at least) an escape from governmentality, and from the fixed and hegemonic categories of the local and the international. They show how peace agencies, both local and international, are instrumental in building hybrid and legitimate forms of peace.

Hybrid forms of politics result from the local/international encounter, resulting in a possible typology of several possibilities, which has implications for the resultant hybrid forms of peace.[4] Some hybrid permutations may be regressive, some may have little chance of achieving a breakthrough, some may be defensive of exclusive identities or limited resources, and some may merely accommodate power. Some may aspire to liberal or neoliberal outcomes while others may be emancipatory as defined in post-colonial terms.

?

Oliver Richmond?is a Research Professor in the Humanitarian and Conflict Research Institute and the Department of Politics and IR, University of Manchester, UK. He is also International Professor, School of International Studies, Kyung Hee University, Korea. His publications include?A Post Liberal Peace?(Routledge, 2011),?Liberal Peace Transitions, (with Jason Franks, Edinburgh University Press, 2009), Peace in IR (Routledge, 2008), and?The Transformation of Peace?(Palgrave, 2005/7). He is the editor of the Palgrave book series,?Rethinking Conflict Studies.

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[1]Such a range of views were expressed at a recent workshop I helped organise at the UN in 2011. ?From Rhetoric to Practice: Operationalizing National Ownership in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding, A Policy Workshop?, New York: UN Peacebuilding Support Office, March 14, 2011.

[2] Even more ambivalent is that fact that it is probably the case that liberal interventionism has made fieldwork more viable.

[3] This is something which many, particularly some foreign policy establishments are unwilling to do: it even reaches as far as some quarters of the UN. It is often disguised by a paternalistic discourse of trusteeship, or a focus on counter-factual securitisation: i.e. on what security threats may arise if intervention does not occur?

[4]Thanks to Neil Cooper for refining this preliminary typology.

Tags: Peace Studies, post conflict

Source: http://www.e-ir.info/2012/12/23/the-dilemmas-of-a-hybrid-peace/

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