A Guide On Choosing Reliable Plumbers : The Wise Directory

Plumbing issues are dreaded by many homeowners, whether it is a simple faucet leak or a water line that is broken. Thinking of locating a good plumber is not pleasant as well. In fact, locating good a plumber is at times very challenging but if you do your homework well, you will get a reliable expert. You should get good plumbers in Jacksonville FL whether you want a simple repair or a major installation in the plumbing network.

Establish what your specific needs are before you start looking for a plumber. Plumbers are in two categories. There are those who fix small issues in the plumbing systems and others who deal with installations. You should choose an appropriate plumber depending with your needs.

Contact trusted sources such as your working colleagues, family members or friends who might have used the services of a plumber before. Using the advice of these people, you will know which plumber you should hire and one you should keep away from. You will also know the type of services a particular contractor offers and at which price.

Local real estate agents can also recommend able experts in the area. You can visit home improvement stores to get more referrals. A search in the internet will also help you get good experts. While on various websites, read client review and comments on different plumbing contractors.

Once you have a list of able experts in your area, schedule meetings with each of them for more evaluation. Experience of the plumber is essential. Ask how many years each expert has been in this business. You should engage experts who are well experienced as they have the required skills.

Excellent plumbers in Jacksonville Fl should not only be trained but should also have licenses and be insured as well. When hiring any contractor you should choose one who has these qualities. The plumber should show you documents that support these claims. For quality services, therefore hire a qualified contractor.

We have a lot more helpful information about How To Choose Good Plumbers .

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Source: http://www.wisedir.com/a-guide-on-choosing-reliable-plumbers?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-guide-on-choosing-reliable-plumbers

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Microsoft's Xbox Live service is down ... for some

2 hrs.

Microsoft has confirmed that its Xbox Live?online gaming and video service is down ... at least for some Xbox owners.

According to the Xbox Support Twitter account and this Xbox Live Service Status page, as of?10:30 a.m. PST?some users may be having trouble signing into Xbox Live as well as the Zune marketplace.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBCUniversal.)

The Xbox Support Twitter account confirmed?that, as of 9:30, Microsoft was aware of the problem and looking into the issues. The company has not said what the cause of the problem is.

The problems do not seem to be affecting all users, however. As of this writing, I am not?having any issues with Xbox Live connectivity and other users are reporting similar smooth sailing.

Check back here at In-Game. We'll keep you updated with information as it is made available. Meanwhile, let us know:?Are you having issues connecting to Xbox Live?

Winda Benedetti writes about video?games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things?on Twitter?here?@WindaBenedetti?and you?follow her?on Google+. Meanwhile, be sure to check?out the?IN-GAME?FACEBOOK PAGE?to discuss the day's?gaming news and reviews.?

Source: http://www.ingame.msnbc.msn.com/technology/ingame/microsofts-xbox-live-service-down-some-866801

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Church of Scientology asks followers to censor web comments

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[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/church-scientology-asks-followers-censor-comments-160104800.html

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Bullbear Buffett Stock Investing Notes: My 18 points guide to ...

My 18 points guide to Successfully compounding your money in Stocks


  1. Be a good
stock picker.??
  • Think as a
  • business owner.
  • Always
  • look at value rather than the price.? Do the homework.
  • Buy and hold is alright for selected stocks.
  • Compounding is your friend, get this to work the magic for you.
  • Mr. Market is there to be taken advantage of.? Do not be the sucker instead.? BFS;STS.
  • Always buy a lot when the price is low.? Doing so locks in a higher potential return and minimise the potential loss.? But then, if you have confidence in your stock picking, you would have picked a winner - it is only how much return it will deliver over time.
  • Never buy when the stock is overpriced.? Not observing this rule will result in loss in your investing.? This strategy is critical as it protects against loss.
  • It is
  • alright to buy when the selected stock is at a fair price.
  • Phasing in or dollar cost averaging is safe for such stocks during a downtrend, unless the the price is still obviously too high.
  • Do not time the market for such or any stocks.?? Timing can increase returns and similarly harms the returns from your investment. It is impossible to predict the short term volatility of the stock, therefore, it is better to bet on the long-term business prospect of the company which is more predictable.?
  • By keeping to the above strategy, the
  • returns will be delivered through the growth of the company's business.?
  • So,
  • when do you sell the stock?? Almost never, as long as the fundamentals remain sound and the future prospects intact. ???
  • The
  • downside risk is protected through only buying when the price is low or fairly priced.? Therefore, when the price is trending downwards and when it is obviously below intrinsic value, do not harm your portfolio by selling to "protect your gains" or "to minimise your loss."? Instead, you should be brave and courageous (this can be very difficult for those not properly wired)? to add more to your portfolio through dollar cost averaging or phasing in your new purchases.? This strategy is very safe for selected high quality stocks as long as you are confident and know your valuation.? It has the same effect of averaging down the cost of your purchase price.? However, unlike selling your shares to do so, buying more below intrinsic value ensures that your money will always be invested to capture the long term returns offered by the business of the selected stock.
  • Tactical dynamic asset allocation or rebalancing based on valuation can be employed but this sounds easier than is practical, except in extreme market situations.? Tactical dynamic asset allocation or rebalancing involves selling at the right price and buying at the right price based on valuation.? Assuming you can get your buying and your selling correct 80% of the time;, to get both of them right for a profitable transaction is only slightly better than chance (80% x 80% = 64%).? Except for the extremes of the market, for most (perhaps, almost all of the time), for such stocks, it is better to stay invested (buy, hold, accumulate more) for the long haul.
  • Sell urgently when the company business fundamental has deteriorated irreversibly. (Reminder:??Transmile)
  • You may also wish to
  • sell? should the growth of the company has obviously slowed and you can reinvest into another company with greater growth potential of similar quality.? However, unlike point 14, you can do so leisurely.
  • In conclusion,
  • a critical key to successful investing is in your stock picking ability.? To be able to do so, you will need to acquire the following skills:
    • To
    formulate an investing philosophy and strategy suitable for your investing time horizon, risk tolerance profile and investment objectives.
  • The
  • knowledge to value the business of the company.??
  • The
  • discipline to always focus on value.
  • The
  • willingness to do your homework diligently.
  • A
  • good grasp of behavioural finance to understand your internal and external responses to the price fluctuations of the stock in the stock market.
  • A
  • good rational thinking regarding the risks (dangers) and rewards (opportunities) generated by the price fluctuations of the stock in the stock market. Is it not true, that?the really big fortunes from common stocks have been garnered by those?
    • who?made a?substantial commitment?in the?early years?of a company in whose?future they had great confidence?and?
    • who?held their original shares unwaveringly?while they increased 10-fold or 100-fold or more in value?

    The answer is?"Yes." ?

    Source: http://myinvestingnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-18-points-guide-to-successfully.html

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    Romney says high unemployment is "kick in the gut"

    [ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

    [ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/romney-pounces-june-jobs-report-denounces-obama-policies-142108866.html

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    Silva family history in the Pocket began more than a century ago ...

    Editor?s Note: This is part one of a two-part series regarding the history of the Antone ?Tony? Luiz Silva and Joao ?John? Luiz Silva families and their descendents.

    Among the many early Portuguese families of the Pocket area were the Antone ?Tony? Luiz Silva and Joao ?John? Luiz Silva families.

    Both Tony and John, who were brothers, immigrated to the United States from Topo, Sao Jorge Island in the Azores Islands of Portugal. The brothers? original surname was Avila, but they acquired the surname, Silva, after arriving in the U.S.

    Tony was the first to arrive
    The first of these immigrants was Tony, who arrived in America at the age of 17, and joined his brother, Joseph, who was herding sheep in Inyo County, around Lone Pine and Bishop.

    In that county, Tony worked for two separate wages. One of these wages was $1 per day and for another employer, he was paid with food. However, Tony was not content working for food and after three days, using his broken English, he asked to be paid $3. The employer responded by giving Tony three kicks in his rear and ordering him off his property.

    After leaving Inyo County, Tony, who was known to sign his name, ?A.L. Silva,? because of his illiteracy in English, went to Sacramento County and became employed at the Elk Grove Winery in Elk Grove.

    He then went to the Grant area in today?s Carmichael area and worked on a hay bailing press and farmed hay and grain.

    Tony and Mary meet
    While in the Grant area, Tony met his future wife, Maria ?Mary? Nevis, who was born in the Azorean island of Terceira on Aug. 5, 1881. Mary had then-recently immigrated to the Pocket with her cousin, Vera Bettencourt, and lived with one of the two Costa families of that area.

    Tony and Mary were married ? most likely at the St. Joseph Church in Freeport/today?s Clarksburg ? in April 1899.

    In about 1902, Tony and Mary moved to the Freeport area, where Tony farmed and had a small dairy, adjacent to where John also farmed and operated a dairy.

    Together Tony and Mary had seven children, Mary, Joseph L., Olive, Rose, Hazel, Anthony and the first-born Rose, who died in infancy. As a father, Tony acquired the nickname, ?Lavafraldas,? which indicated the ?washing of diapers.?

    One day, one of Tony?s friends was driving by his home and observed Tony hanging up his children?s diapers on the outside line next to his house. The friend rolled down the window of his vehicle and shouted, ?Oh, Antone Lavafraldas.? This name became Tony?s nickname and remained with him for the rest of his life.

    Tony and Mary settle down in Pocket
    Sometime after the 1904 Edwards Break, which flooded the Sacramento side of the Sacramento River, mostly south of Sutterville Road, Tony purchased 102 acres of swamp land in the Pocket.

    Before Tony could even begin to farm this land, the property had to be drained of its river water seepage and cleared of tules and brush.

    It was also on this property that, in 1909, Tony had a 10-room Victorian constructed for him by Manuel Valine, a contractor who was known as ?Calisto.? As a protection against flooding, Calisto built the home on a knoll.

    In order to continue his work as a dairyman, Tony established a dairy on his Pocket property. The property also included a large orchard and a family vegetable plot.

    In about the early 1920s, Japanese families began residing in the Pocket area and, in many cases, leased land from Portuguese farmers. It was during this early period that Tony leased his Pocket property to Saichi Hironaka, who was an American citizen. Hironaka then subleased the property in three parts to the Tanaka, Ishimoto and Shirai families.

    In 1934, Tony acquired an additional 100 acres from Joe Rico.

    Tony passed away on Jan. 30, 1945 and his entire property remained with his family in the ownership of his widow.

    What became of the property
    From the early 1960s through the mid-1980s, Tony?s former property was sold at different times in individual sections for the residential redevelopment of the Pocket.

    Twelve acres of Tony?s former Pocket property was donated in 1960 to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento for the construction of a new church and parochial school. These 12 acres were exchanged for a 5-acre site on Florin Road, where the church was built and named St. Anthony Church in memory of Tony.

    John immigrates to America
    Tony?s previously mentioned brother, John, who was born on Jan. 10, 1879, immigrated to America in 1896. He arrived in New Bedford, Mass., where two of his sisters resided and then lived with them there for some time before joining Tony in California.

    John was later hired to work at the Sacramento Brick Co. on Riverside Road (now Riverside Boulevard). He maintained this employment for several years.

    On Dec. 17, 1904, John married a 20-year-old, Faial, Azores Islands-born woman named Inacia ?Nancy? Silva at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. For their honeymoon, the couple traveled on a riverboat to San Francisco.

    After returning to the Sacramento area, John and Nancy settled on rented property that was owned by the Glide family on Babel Slough in Yolo County. On this property, John operated a dairy with his brother, Tony.

    The brothers grew alfalfa for feeding their cows and potato and beans to feed their families, which included John and Inacia?s eight children who were born on this property. Altogether, John and Inacia?s family included nine children: Mary, John L., Jr., Madeline, Tony, Anna, Joaquim (?King?), Manuel, Dolores and Emily.

    In 1916, John purchased about 100 acres in the Pocket area from Frank Rico. Included with this purchase were two houses, three barns and a large orchard, which was located between the houses. Orange trees were among the trees of this orchard.

    Also within John?s Pocket property were various crops, including alfalfa, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, sugar beets, spinach and milo.

    John farmed his property into the 1950s, at which time he retired and his sons continued the operation of the farm.

    Just prior to John?s death on July 7, 1970, part of his acreage was sold to developers.
    Nancy died on Dec. 3, 1976, and the remaining part of the property was sold by her family in 1979.

    Source: http://www.valcomnews.com/?p=7655

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    How An SEO Company Can Help Your ... - Reference and Education

    If you run a small business on-line, you?ll certainly know of the necessity to have a continual flow of visitors to your internet site. Additional prospects means more sales, and without having them you may as well just finish off and go back home. In these competitive times, however, it is no longer a question of merely uploading your website and hanging around for the customers to turn up. Levels of competition in many markets is ferocious, and it?s sure to be true that your competition are working hard to bring in the clients straight into their websites. Being a website operator, you?ve got a variety of choices readily available to you for gaining new enquiries or sales via your internet site. The most typical types of online marketing are paid search and organic search engine optimisation, where your site shows up in the main search results primarily based on the worth and usefulness of the site.

    Paid search, or pay-per-click advertising and marketing is usually pricy and has the serious drawback that a continual investment is needed to keep your adverts showing. If you?re not generating the gain on that investment, then paid search can rapidly become unprofitable. A far better solution is to invest in the services of an SEO company to make sure that you appear in the organic search results, where no per-visitor fees apply.

    Deciding upon an?SEO agency?to deal with can be a very difficult job. There are lots of crooks and disreputable suppliers intent to tricking customers into shelling out far too much money for not much in return. Done properly, SEO will makea massive difference to your business and locating the right provider is much easier when you are able to effectively evaluate their proposed tactics and ideas. It is consequently essential to ask the appropriate questions when you employ an SEO firm.
    Firstly, you need to make certain that you ask for case studies and referrals. SEO is much easier to talk about than to execute effectively. Make sure that the company has a lineup of happy clients and a decent track record.

    Secondly, the?SEO company?must understand your marketplace and your company. The specialist ought to be asking lots of questions about you, your products and solutions and your customers. Only when a true understanding of your company is gained can an SEO consultant build an effective plan that will repay.

    Thirdly, make sure that the SEO consultant is up-to-date with the most up-to-date developments in the SEO world. The vast majority of techniques that did wonders a few years ago are less powerful, or even totally unsuccessful, now. If the consultant isn?t up to date with the present-day state of the market you?re not likely to obtain the end results you ?need.

    SEO Leeds

    Source: http://phrenesia.com/how-an-seo-company-can-help-your-business/

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    Shaky System | Constructor Magazine

    shutterstock_47422651

    BY ANGELLE BERGERON

    The federal government?s current, tiered system for counting small business participation on federal projects places an unfair burden on the construction industry, and doesn?t accurately reflect how well construction is doing in getting dollars to small, minority, and disadvantaged businesses. The AGC of America and its members want to change the U.S. Small Business Administration?s (SBA?s) formula for calculating small business participation in federal construction projects, which they say would allow prime contractors increased flexibility in selection of small subcontractors, and more accurately demonstrate how much the construction industry truly supports and is dependent upon small businesses.

    ?More than 80 percent of AGC?s 33,000 members are small businesses,? says Jimmy Christianson, AGC?s director of government affairs, federal & heavy construction division. A typical definition of a small construction business is one that employs fewer than 20 people. For SBA?s purposes, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) uses average annual earnings. For general and heavy construction (except dredging), NAICS says that threshold is $33.5 million. The annual earnings cap for specialty trade contractors to be considered a small business is $14 million.

    The dependence upon small businesses to deliver construction projects seems obvious to those in the industry. ?The process of construction depends on and requires small businesses because so many of the specialty trades ? from bricklayers, to carpenters, to installers ? are inherently small businesses,? says Joel P. Zingeser, vice president of planning and business development, Grunley Construction Company, Inc., Rockville, MD, and vice chairman of AGC?s federal & heavy construction division.

    Yet, according to the way the SBA calculates small business participation, the federal government hasn?t met its goals in years. ?The current, federal government-wide small business contracting goal for prime awards is 23 percent,? Christianson says. ?I can?t remember the last time the federal government reached that 23 percent goal.?

    THE PROBLEM: COUNTING ONLY FIRST-TIER SUBCONTRACTORS
    The primary reason construction is consistently not meeting the SBA?s 23 percent goal is the way small businesses are counted. ?The SBA only counts first-tier subs as small businesses toward their goals,? Christianson says. ?Think of a food pyramid with meats and dairies at the top as the prime contractor. The next level is the first tier of subcontractors, with each level below designated as the second tier, third tier, and so forth.?

    Counting only the first tier does not accurately capture the true amount of money that flows down to subcontractors who hire second- and third-tier firms, who actually perform the bulk of the work, Zingeser says. ?The current system leaves prime contractors with subcontractor choices for larger projects that are beyond the capacity (especially bonding capacity) of small businesses, even though it is well understood that much of the work will flow down to small businesses.?

    For example, if the federal government lets a $100 million project that has a $30 million mechanical component, a mechanical company capable of handling that is not likely going to be a small business, Zingeser says. Even though that contractor doesn?t satisfy credits for small business participation, he likely will farm out a large portion of that work to what the SBA considers third- and fourth-tier subcontractors. ?If you follow the money, you will see that many more small business dollars are accounted for than the SBA is keeping score,? Zingeser says. ?That means that full credit is not taken by the contracting government agencies or their construction contractors.?

    The SBA?s failure to count that participation below the first tier often puts subcontractors in the position of assuming the role of general contractor and then bringing generals under them to complete projects, Zingeser says. ?It becomes a charade. It isn?t a real viable business model,? he says. ?It?s a relationship that doesn?t meet the real goal of the program, which is to grow small business.?

    Allowing prime contractors to report small business subcontracting at all tiers would demonstrate true small business participation on a federal contract, and would show more accurately how the construction industry supports and is dependent upon small businesses, Zingeser says. ?Changing the scoring system will also let prime contractors determine the best mix of large and small subcontractors, according to capacity and availability.?

    Since most contracting firms are regionally based, it often happens that there may not be enough qualified small businesses in certain regions or sparsely populated areas to fulfill the SBA mandates, Christianson says. ?If you have one contractor who can bring in someone from the outside to do the work, that contractor will have the advantage, to the detriment of the local workforce.?

    ADMINISTRATIVE HURDLE
    For many in the industry, it?s simply a frustrating, fruitless endeavor to attempt to meet goals that everyone knows are not truly representative of reality. ?Since the results entered into the government system are not including all the small businesses that are actually participating, we are not showing the results that we are actually achieving,? says Nigel Cary, former president, Cox Construction Co. of San Diego, Calif. and chairman of AGC?s U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Committee. By counting only first-tier subs, the SBA is creating misleading record keeping for contractors doing federal work, Cary says. ?When only a portion of what is subcontracted is being counted, federal contractors have to go to greater efforts to meet the goal,? he says ?It?s a record-keeping thing. If more tiers were counted, it would reduce their workload and make it easier to show they have met the goals.?

    Cox is a small business this year, and therefore not currently burdened with this responsibility. However, since 80 percent of the firm?s work is federal, Cary is quite familiar with the failings of the first-tier-only system. ?It is costing more to break up subcontracting packages to meet goals, rather than what works best for the project,? he says. ?Breaking the work up into packages that are artificial or not the most efficient way to do business is less productive and costs more.?

    DISPROPORTIONATE REPRESENTATION
    What makes the SBA?s 23 percent participation even more onerous for construction is the disproportionate burden placed on the industry to meet across-the-board government quotas. ?Government contracting is not just construction, but construction is often called upon to meet goals when other sectors fall short,? Christianson says.

    John W. Barotti, senior vice president, Skanska USA Building, Inc., of Parsippany, N.J. and chairman of AGC?s federal & heavy construction division, says that the burden on construction to produce higher small business participation is dictated by the requirements of the various government agencies letting the contracts. ?If the Army and Navy are buying airplanes and battleships and they can?t contract with small businesses to do that, agencies have to make up that quota shortfall with construction,? Barotti says. ?When they are buying $60 billion worth of F-18s in a given year, and doing it from some huge airline company, all of a sudden, that big dollar value is out of the [small business] equation. All of a sudden, construction has a 70 percent goal to meet, and that is unrealistic.?

    Barotti says the Army released a statement this year that he believes is one of the best comments he?s heard on the first-tier accounting system. ?The Army said, rather than count lower tiers, which may add administrative burden, let?s just lower the percentage goal,? Barotti says.

    ?After five years of tracking project performance for first-tier contracting for small businesses, the Army has never gone over 40 percent, even though their goal is 70 percent.?

    In 2009, Zingeser presented AGC?s arguments against the current system of goals for small, minority and disadvantaged businesses to the U.S. House of Representatives? Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management Subcommittee to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. He suggested then that the federal government?s shift to Electronic Subcontractor Reporting System (eSRS) a few years ago provides the opportunity to easily track and report small business subcontractors on multiple tiers. ?Everyone has routinely used eSRS for a few years, so it would be fairly simple to incorporate lower tiers,? Zingeser says.

    But the Feds say that changing the first-tier-only system will require new legislation. ?Subcontracting plans are required from large business prime contractors and large business subcontractors where the value of the subcontract exceeds the subcontracting plan threshold,? says Tiffani Shea Clements, public affairs specialist for the SBA.??By law, small business prime and subcontractors are not required to have a subcontracting plan. To capture all subcontracting data, at every tier, regardless of value, would require legislation, system changes and would significantly increase the recordkeeping and reporting requirements for both large and small businesses.?

    WHAT NEXT?
    Despite persistent failure to meet the 23 percent goal, the House Small Business Committee passed legislation in what is now included in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2013 to increase that goal to 25 percent. The House approved the NDAA May 18. Notably, President Obama opposed raising the small business goal to 25 percent in the following, official, White House statement that concurs with AGC?s position.

    ?The Administration strongly supports efforts to increase federal contracting with small businesses, but opposes section 1631, which would establish a laudable but overly ambitious government-wide small business procurement goal and unrealistic individual agency goals that could undermine the goals process and take away the government?s ability to focus its efforts where opportunities for small business contractors are greatest.?

    However, if Congress wants to increase small business goals, it can do so most expediently by accurately accounting for small business participation. That means counting subcontractors below the first tier, Christianson reiterates. ?Our next step, and probably our best bet for correcting the problem during this current session of Congress, is to work for inclusion of lower tiers in a conference committee for NDAA,? Christianson says. ?That probably won?t happen until after the election, in the lame duck session of Congress.?

    For contractors who perform federal work, the first-tier system is a frustrating, fruitless, political loophole, and an unnecessary farce that requires everyone involved expending needless energy. ?The problem has been that someone says you have to have 70 percent participation on a project when everybody in the room knows it?s impossible at the first tier,? Barotti says. ?We don?t like having to acknowledge something and proceed forward when we know it?s unrealistic. Something should be done to fix it. We?ve been telling the king he has no clothes on, but no one is willing to make a change.?

    Source: http://www.constructormagazine.com/index.php/2012/07/05/shaky-system/

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    Didn't send your kid to war? Maybe you can send $$

    WASHINGTON (AP) ? If you have military-age children who have not served in this decade's wars, then you owe a debt ? meaning money ? to those who did. That's the premise of a new fundraising effort by three wealthy American families who want to help U.S. veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Every non-military family should give something, they said. The affluent should give large sums. No one should think of it as charity, but rather a moral obligation, an alternative way to serve, perhaps the price of being spared the anxiety that comes with having a loved one in a war zone.

    "We have three able-bodied, wonderful, wonderful children, all of whom are devoted to doing very, very good things around social justice; and we could not be more proud of them," said Philip Green, a local businessman who devised the fundraising idea. "We're also delighted that none of them had to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan."

    Green says he and his wife came to look at that as unfair: "I realized that there were parents just like me down the street, down the block ... who did not have that luxury" and were suffering sleepless nights and anxiety, "which I was able to avoid."

    Green, president of health care consultancy PDG Consulting, and his wife Dr. Elizabeth Cobbs, head of geriatrics at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, teamed with two other couples to start the fund-raising. Together, they donated a total of $1.1 million. Contributing with Green and Cobbs were Glenn Garland, head of Texas-based CLEAResult energy consultancy, and wife, Laurie, and Jim Stimmel, CLEAResult's executive vice president, and wife, Patty.

    They hope to raise $30 million for five organizations they say are among the best at providing medical, financial and other help to veterans, active duty troops and their families. With the Fourth of July celebration approaching, they held a news conference with one of the five organizations, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).

    "Millions of Americans and their families have sacrificed so much in the conflicts and they have such needs," Stimmel said. "By contrast, so many affluent Americans have not made a commensurate sacrifice; and they should."

    The issue of unequal national sacrifice has been a recurring theme during current and past conflicts and it always touches on at least two questions: Who serves in America and who doesn't? What's the responsibility of those who don't?

    Most people aren't interested in joining the military. A recent Pentagon survey shows only 18 percent of American youths say they'll definitely or probably join, very low compared to decades ago. The culture surrounding service was transformed in part by the end of conscription and mandatory service.

    "Clearly, young people would prefer to be doing other things," said Beth Asch, a senior economist at RAND Corporation who specializes in defense manpower issues.

    The military also doesn't want most Americans. It says 75 percent of the target recruit-age population of 17-24 year-olds is unqualified due to health problems (mostly related to obesity), drug or alcohol histories, or too little education (no high school diploma).

    In the end, the Pentagon says it has assembled an armed force pretty much mirroring the society it defends. That is, major racial and ethnic groups make up about the same percentage of the military as they do the society at large. The same goes for income, with one exception, Asch says: "The 20 percent (of society) with the lowest income are the least likely to serve." They're generally unqualified due to lower education and aptitude ratings. Recruits from neighborhoods where the average household income is over $100,000 also are rare, making up roughly 3 percent of the total, studies have shown.

    Asch believes that not requiring all qualified people to serve makes the system inherently unfair. That today's force is all-volunteer takes some of the edge off of that but doesn't speak to inequity.

    The families starting the new fundraising noted their lack of service.

    Stimmel and Green didn't go to Vietnam; their sons and daughters didn't join the military during the latest conflicts. Green was disqualified during Vietnam because of health issues. Stimmel never was called because he drew a high number in that era's draft lottery. Garland watched older friends go and come home unappreciated and says he now has enormous appreciation for military families.

    "We feel that supporting our troops is more than sticking a yellow sticker on the back of your car that says 'Support the Troops'," Stimmel said.

    "Patty and I are challenging at least 1,000 affluent families out there to contribute 1 percent of their net worth to do their part," he said.

    Every successful business person in America "has enjoyed that success because of the sacrifice of someone else's sons and daughters" in uniform, Garland said. The argument echoes a concern repeated often over the decade: War efforts have fallen on the shoulders of the few, while the lives of the many went largely unencumbered. Or as some troops have been fond of saying: "We went to war, America went to the mall."

    But it's also true that there's widespread support shown today's troops and vets, especially compared to the vitriol heaped on those in uniform during Vietnam. Thousands of support groups now have sprung up around the nation ? one study estimates there are some 40,000. They provide welcoming parties as troops arrive home at airports, free housing, telephone cards, children's camps, employment help, airline miles, "nights out" for wives caring for their wounded husbands, counseling, cash and more.

    Some long-established organizations have added new missions. The United Service Organization (USO), known for decades for sending entertainers to lighten the hearts of troops on the battlefield, focuses more now on care for the wounded. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sponsors job fairs.

    What it all amounts to in giving and spending is not known.

    Officials and military families fear that as more troops arrive home from the ongoing drawdown in Afghanistan, Americans will lose interest or consider the problem solved.

    "The veteran space (in giving) is kind of similar to the AIDS space 35 years ago," said Paul Rieckhoff, a former infantryman who served in Iraq and founded the IAVA. "You have an explosion of public health need that's impacting a small percentage of the population that most Americans don't feel."

    "And in many ways the country kind of thought that AIDS was just a problem for the gay community in the same way many Americans think that veterans (are) just a problem for the military community," he said.

    Many also assume the government will handle it ? something experts in the field say isn't possible as needs spiral in a struggling economy.

    Rieckhoff said there's a group of donors dedicated to veteran issues, but few who give six- and seven-figure sums. The new fundraising aims not only to attract large donations, but recast the giving as a moral obligation rather than an option.

    "It's not a question of, Is there money out there'," Green said. "And it's not a question of whether people should give the money. It's only a question of finding them and convincing them to give it."

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/didnt-send-kid-war-maybe-send-132015141.html

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    Angola silencing protests ahead of August vote: HRW

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    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/angola-silencing-protests-ahead-august-vote-hrw-191623327.html

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