"According to a representative for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the US can seize the domains because the root infrastructure of those top-level domains is controlled by the US-based Verisign. The government intends to do it from the root on its home turf because it doesn't trust the authorities in foreign countries to comply with its desire"
blog maverick: Some Olympic Thoughts
"The Olympics are a business, plain and simple. A tax-free juggernaut called the International Olympic Committee that generates revenues, on average, of over $1.4 billion a year. In fact, the IOC’s 2010 tax return shows a $1.4 billion net balance — as in cash in the bank.
And if Wade, and other Olympians don’t ask for and get a share, then who does?"
Say What??? Governor of Illinois Calls This Week's Events "Epic"
Started with a paid by the government of Illinois visit from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. According to the article, "Walker, who faces a recall election this summer, earned renown and notoriety by spearheading the end of collective bargaining for Wisconsin’s public-sector unions last year. Walker’s visit was sponsored by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and National Federation of Independent Business. His appearance drew throngs of pro-union protesters, while Quinn used the opportunity to ask for campaign donations via email."
Another 'epic' event was the return of indicted state Rep. Derrick Smith's return to the Illinois House today for the first time since his arrest on a federal bribery charge.
The State of Illinois is also working at scrapping a scholarship program:
"Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno on Wednesday questioned why three proposals to eliminate the state’s legislative scholarship program are bottled up in a subcommittee — despite a majority of senators being co-sponsors on the bill."
Governor Quinn’s is also proposing to generate $2.7 billion through savings and reductions to prevent the collapse of the state’s Medicaid program, on which 2.7 million Illinoisans rely. His suggestions include:
Cutting 58 Medicaid line items totaling $1.35 billion
Reducing rates to Medicaid providers totaling $675 million
Increasing the state’s cigarette tax by $1 per pack, to $1.98, raising $337.5 million, plus a federal match of the revenue from the cigarette tax increase — $337.5 million
Ending the Illinois Cares Rx prescription program for 180,000 people, eliminating adult dental care for 172,000 patients and a moratorium on new admissions to intermediate care nursing facilities are among the 58 items Quinn targeted for cuts and reductions.
I find it interesting that "his plan, the product of a Medicaid working group he assembled earlier this year, does not address the $1.9 billion in overdue Medicaid bills the state is pushing off until next year."
He also is making changes to retirement plans which according to public worker's union officials say violate the Illinois Constitution.
I'm not a political expert, but it sounds as if he is laying the foundation for some more 'epic' weeks in Illinois government.
Community activists who brought public artistic expression to areas as diverse as a skateboard park, the back alleys of urban neighborhoods and a passageway near City Hall plan to renew their call for young people to become involved in “street art'' projects this spring.
The controlled painting on public buildings began a few years ago as a way to both channel youthful expression and behavior into a positive format and to create a type of street art distinguished from the malicious defacing of property by vandals.
This jazz mural is located on Litchfield Lane in Manchester.
THOMASROY/UNIONLEADER
"The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, working with the Education Department, will announce a plan Monday to infuse art, music, dance, theater and other forms of creative expression into the schools over a two-year period.
"Officials involved in the project want to prove a theory: Robust art, music, dance and theater can set failing schools on a path to academic success....
"New research indicates that students from low-income families who attend arts-rich schools are three times more likely to earn a college degree, and those who earn arts credits in high school are five times more likely to graduate than those who took few or no arts classes."
"That use of corporal punishment is rooted in a strong Bible Belt belief in the proverbial "spare the rod and spoil the child," says George Holden, a Southern Methodist University psychology professor. It's reinforced by Southern sensibilities that favor obedience and respect for authority, he says. "Most people were spanked when they were kids, and they think that's the proper way to discipline," says Holden, chairman of the 2011 Global Summit on Ending Corporal Punishment and Promoting Positive Discipline. "They make the erroneous correlation that spanking equals good discipline and if a child isn't behaving, he must not have been spanked enough — that's fallacious." "
"Separate studies of urban middle schoolers in California and in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., schools suggest that placing struggling math students in algebra class does not improve their test performance on state math tests, and significantly hurts their grade point averages and the likelihood of their taking and passing higher math courses in high school."
