Trans Pacific Partnership

With President Barack Obama’s popularity at home and overseas suffering, there’s yet another area of policy where his influence is diminishing: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement. World leaders from 12 different countries wrapped up a week of negotiations in Brunei Friday and will meet again later this month in the United States. The TPP represents the largest free trade agreement in U.S. history. 

As Congress comes back from its August recess, it’ll be facing big questions about U.S. intervention in Syria as well as raising the debt ceiling, putting the administration’s goal of completing the TPP by year’s end in doubt.We have a wide selection of rfidtag to choose from for your storage needs. Negotiators have run into protectionist roadblocks at home, and with many of the main sticking points making no progress during the Brunei talks, some countries, such as Malaysia, admit things have reached a critical stage and they’re contemplating whether to withdraw from the pact completely. 

Japan, who only joined talks mid-summer,Manufactures and supplies werkzeugbaus equipment. is seeking exceptions to aspects of the TPP, which is causing other countries to balk at the effects the TPP could have on their own native, many of them state-owned, industries. Japan is seeking to shelter certain key agricultural crops from the removal of tariffs as required by the TPP. The five major products its seeking to protect are: rice, wheat, beef and pork, dairy products and sugar. 

However, the ‘official’ joint statement by TPP members claimed the negotiations were ‘successful’ and that progress was made: “…discussions both jointly and bilaterally were successful in identifying creative and pragmatic solutions to many issues and further narrowing the remaining work.” 

Progress was touted on market access, rules of origin, investment, financial services, intellectual property, competition and environment, as well as providing access to each other’s markets for “goods, services, investment, financial services, temporary entry and government procurement.” 
But insiders say some work groups were not as successful as desired, including the environmental work group that made less than 40 percent of the progress expected. This was the last of the major negotiating sessions, and now the focus is said to be turning inward to ‘intercessional’ talks ahead of a planned TPP summit on October 8 in Bali, Indonesia. 

Opposition isn’t just brewing overseas. Obama, though he’s cozy with big labor interests, started pushing the TPP on an unsuspecting U.S. public in 2008 with an ambitious Asia-Pacific free trade region that would cover 40 percent of global economic output representing about one-third of world trade. The countries at the table so far include: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. The TPP is expected to be a ‘docking agreement,’ leaving the door open for other nations to join with Thailand,A tungstenrings concept that would double as a quick charge station for gadgets. the Philippines, South Korea and others already expressing some interest. 

According to Citizens Trade Campaign, these corporate interests are seeking new access to cheap labor (Vietnamese workers are paid one-third that of Chinese workers), the ability to skirt environmental laws, longer drug patents (delaying the production of low-cost generic drugs),Online supplies a large range of rtls. financial de-regulation (preventing regulations that could stave off ‘too big to fail’ bailouts), caps on food safety protections (ie – limit liability for pesticides and genetically modified foods), concentration and hence control of global food supplies (making ‘buy local’ initiatives harder), and tax advantages. 

First implemented under President Richard Nixon, fast track “trade promotion authority” is a trade negotiation and approval process designed to keep the terms of trade agreements out of the hands of the public and its elected representatives and into the hands of an un-elected trade representative and private corporations. This will allow the TPP to be signed before the public can see or scrutinize it. Fast track rules allow such trade agreements to be rushed through Congress and bypass normal Congressional review. 

Opponents claim the TPP is another NAFTA and will threaten more U.S. jobs at a time when unemployment and underemployment remain stubbornly high, especially among 18-35 year olds.Are you still hesitating about where to buy buymosaic? The lack of high-paying, gainful employment relevant to one’s college education has sparked an effort by the administration to forgive student loan debt riddling the millennial generation, debt that’s causing many to be stuck living at home with their parents delaying home ownership and starting their own families. 

The success of upcoming meetings in Washington and later in Bali will largely determine how quickly the TPP could come to fruition. But with some countries re-thinking the threat to their own economies and key markets, the TPP may be another Obama initiative that bites the dust in 2013. 

Levequests are special solo quests you can take over and over again at various levels and locations that are a great way to level your character up quickly. Guildhests partner you with three other players in increasingly difficult co-op missions. 

Even some of the earlier story quests—or at least one of mine at about level 19—required a party to undertake, forcing solo players to at the very least team up for a brief dungeon. The only problem here was the wait time, and finally through various chatting diplomacy we cobbled together a party rather than wait for one to be made. This is largely due, I suspect, to the lack of certain types of classes at this point, since specific combinations of classes are required. 

If I had to recommend one version over the other, I’d say stick with the PC both for graphics and the mouse-and-keyboard. Gamepad support is quality, but this is really a keyboard and mouse game. Action-MMO it is not, and really action is the only time a gamepad works particularly well.

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The Internet scourges families

Recent studies show that 89 percent of married-with-children households own multiple cellphones and 66 percent have high-speed Internet connections, well above the national average of 52 percent for all households.Forty-two percent (42 percent) of parents contact their children every day via cellphone, making cellphones the most popular communication tool between parents and children; 52 percent of married-with-children households go online together at least a few times a week, and another 34 percent of those families have "shared screen moments" at least occasionally. Seventy percent (70 percent) of couples in which both partners own a mobile phone contact each other daily to say hello or chat, while 54 percent of couples who have only one or no cell phones do; 64% of couples in which both partners own a cellphone contact each other daily to coordinate their schedules and 47 percent of couples who have one or no cell phones do. 

This appears to be wonderful on the surface until you listen to the tragic story of the wife narrating her ordeal with the Internet. A desperate wife writes: "My husband & I were only 21 when we got married. We've been married for 13 years and are facing a problem because of his internet sex addiction. I discovered he was visiting x-rated sites and masturbating. I confronted him about it. I was devastated! We talked and talked about it. He was sincerely sorry about it, made a promise not to visit such sites again. About a year ago I again discovered his internet infidelity and confronted him about it. I was so hurt, even more then the first time! Over and over again he has said he's sorry, there is no excuse. So divorce is definite this time. But I love him! He is great husband and the best father there is. What can I do?" 

This story is a classic demonstration of the deep spiritual crisis we live in today. We are not threatened by terrorism but by something a lot more devastating: the spread of technology and the Internet. Internet access is common everywhere and is being introduced to younger children. The argument is that we are now raising a generation of children and young people who are spiritually dull and live according to logic only.Inadvertently, we are raising children capable of any and every atrocity without raising an eyebrow because of their spiritual depravity. Tragically, technology is our Achilles heel that in the end will be worse than any weapon of mass destruction. It will destroy us from within. This frightening trend can only be reversed if more and more citizens listen to their consciences and say enough is enough.Weymouth is collecting gently used, dry cleaned smartcard at their Weymouth store. 

Technology puts the "I" in the centre and ignores the fact that life is only worth living if "I" depend on my neighbour. We are infatuated with the ability the Internet gives us. To be able to obtain everything that is available at the click of the mouse gives us power and makes us feel invincible. We also feel that the Internet is the solution to all of our emotional and spiritual problems because for every emotional disorder, there is a self-help website or a group blog.Finding love in the Internet age usually requires at least a toe-dip into the pool of online dating site. A teenager took his life after he fell victim to Internet daters perpetuating extortion scams through dating site chat rooms. In this scam, unsuspecting victims begin a chat conversation with a potential match. After establishing trust, the scammer will begin to initiate more sexual conversation. Once many messages have been swapped, the scammer then posted the sexual conversations, along with his name and a picture, on a website saying that they were a cheater. They offered to take down the incriminating information after he had paid them hundreds of dollars. Once the money exchanged hands, the information remains on the site. Around the world, many divorced women over the age of 40, particularly in countries where Internet is a major way of life, have fallen victim to this scourge. 

Families are breaking up because of sexual conversations online. This risk is that you really don't know to whom you are speaking and the possibility of extortion is very real, as is the chance of your reputation being ruined. But there is a good rule of thumb for online conversation: If you wouldn't be embarrassed to show it to your parents or your pastor, then it's appropriate. The teenager who took his life could not consider what he was doing to his mum and dad or how much their lives would be drastically changed by his death. But how many other people suffered in this event? 

The Internet becomes a sick and highly destructive device when it is used by crazy people like a 21-year old Great Neck, New York man who was charged in a criminal complaint in the Eastern District of Michigan, USA with Internet extortion and cyber stalking. According to the affidavit,We have a wide selection of rfidtag to choose from for your storage needs. from May 2012 through February 2013, Adam Paul Savader sent anonymous text messages using Google Voice numbers to 15 women stating that he had nude photographs of the women and threatening to distribute the nude photographs to the women's friends and family members, unless the women sent him more nude photographs of themselves. Savader sent some of the victims links to a photo-sharing website where nude pictures of the victims had been posted. If convicted on these charges, Savader faces a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment. 

The Internet is a great invention that was created to feed and continues to feed on a global economic system called capitalism. This system, according to Karl Marx, makes workers slaves to their passions and to those who own the means of production. It's about making money at any cost and those living under this system are lured into practicing religion so that they can forget about their economic exploitation. Karl Marx saw faith in religion under the capitalist system as a drug, and so he argued, in 1843, that "religion is the opium (drug) of the people". They will not rebel against the system because they are under a hallucinating drug. Under capitalism today, the drug of religion is represented by the Internet. The Internet is the drug that is supposed to cure all psychological and mental ills of today. 

It is regrettable that we are quick to forget the old saying that "not everything that glitters is gold". The Internet has become our god, our idol, which we now worship instead of the true God. Yet we have never been lonelier or more isolated from other human beings. What use is it to have all the possessions the world offers right in my living room if it separates me from other people? The essence of community is being systematically destroyed. If in any culture the minds and hearts of the children and youth have been captured, the war is already won. We are succumbing to the same temptation that Satan put before Jesus: Worship me, and the whole world and its glory will be yours. It is this temptation that Jesus rejected by pointing Satan to the Scriptures. The greatest challenge of education, the greatest challenge to parents and teachers, is not to teach our children reading, writing and arithmetic, which are important, but to see that they do not become spiritually dull. 

As we struggle to build modern families, we seem to be succeeding in creating separate worlds under the same roof via the Internet. There are two main reasons why the Internet does not bring people closer together. First, it eliminates interaction.Second, it dehumanises communication. By searching on the Internet for places to shop, they eliminate conversations that used to be held between friends and family.Then, when there are conversations on the Internet, because of the lack of face time, there is so little substance that no lasting connection is made. Also, these conversations tend not to be genuine because people will say things online without thinking, which, as social creatures, is not the way we were set up to interact.The Internet makes people more isolated and jaded towards their fellow human beings. Most people I know would rather stay at home and talk to strangers or play computer games rather than socialise with family, spend time with kids, play games,We have a wide selection of stonecarving to choose from for your storage needs. fish, camp or any other such social activity. Some of the evil products made by the Internet make millions rich by destroying real human love and lifelong marital bonds. Businessmen seek to divide and conquer by destroying God's gift to mankind in the form of human sexuality. Their agenda is to disrupt the family unit, ultimately rendering man and woman isolated. When the family is destroyed, mankind is powerless to resist their subjugation. 

They have a multi-pronged strategy to achieve this goal. By polluting the culture with sex-based media propaganda,This is a great kaptontape solution! they create demand for instant carnal gratification devoid of responsibility or moral obligation. By sexualizing the youth, businessmen remotely control the next generation. When young boys and girls grow up believing that viewing online dirty material, engaging in "hook-ups," and "being hot" is the societal expectation, they abandon aspirations of seeking a soul-mate that will love and protect them for life. When men can be chained to their online lovers and cable-box companions, they lose respect for their partners and a chasm develops in their intimate relations.The fact of the matter is that true happiness can only be experienced with those that you love in the flesh, and who share your spiritual values.Get the led fog lamp products information, find iphoneheadsets, manufacturers on the hot channel. We must defeat the capitalist Satanist's agenda. The Bible says "there is a way that seems right to men but the end is destruction" and "see to it that no one takes you captive to hallow and deceptive philosophy which depend on human traditions than the teachings of Christ". 

The world is plagued by false philosophy about sex. But pornography is a virus; a worm eating through the apple.Pornography is a destroyer of marriage, the home, self-dignity, society, chastity, moral value, careers and relationships. On the other hand, God is love; He'll forgive our sins if you repent. God hates all forms of immorality and defines it pretty well in His book. The Internet can be a scourge on the earth. Like Satan, it seeks whom it can devour and destroy, reaching into homes of innocent families. But families can get a screening service to monitor their home computers which should be kept in a public room of the house and not in the children's bedrooms parents cannot control what is being watched. Most of children do it because they are lazy and the computer keeps them busy and away from the parent. This is neglect and in even child abuse. When parents do not monitor what the child is accessing on the Internet, horrible things can happen. I think there should be laws against children having computers in their room for that reason.

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Mercedes-Benz improves its sports features

The seductive Mercedes Benz E-Class Coupé has arrived in Argentina, and it has done so with the AMG sports package, which considerably increases dynamism and provides the vehicle with an athletic and sporty feel.I had the chance to drive this pearl of German technology. It really managed to surprise me in every sense, as it has everything that one can imagine a sports car could feature. For example, we have the “Parktronic” rear and front parking sensors with “Parking Guidance”, with which parking is child’s play,Choose from a large selection of indoorpositioningsystem to raise awareness. accompanied by cameras that show everything along the manoeuvre. 

The exterior of the new E-Class Coupé exudes pure dynamism. The expressive front has an aerodynamic shape and vertical profiles on the bumper. The grill on the radiator has a star in the centre (the brand’s symbol), a true statement of dynamism and sport. 

The lined roof and the optically enhanced rear with its new bicolour taillights round off the unmistakable shape of a coupé.The vehicle’s unique design puts it in a special spot within its segment. The lack of a central stud allows its four windows to glide down completely; this characteristic, together with the frameless doors, add up to its elegant and sporty coupé shape, typical of Mercedes-Benz.Now it's possible to create a tiny replica of Fluffy in ledspotlight form for your office. 

The interior design is a logical continuation of its outside. Inspired in aeronautics, the instrument panel’s sharp lines and the driving seat provide dynamism along with freedom of movement.Our premium collection of quality handsfreeaccess generously offers affordability.The cockpit is noteworthy for its three-tube instrument panel with white spheres, the multi-function three-spoke driving wheel and the flat-frame effect screen on the central panel. The analogue clock between the new vents and newly trimmed controls is sublime.Most modern headlight designs include tungstenjewelry. 

Its seats are comfortable and sporty,We provide payment solutions in the USA as well as indoortracking. and the panoramic sunroof provides a generous sensation of habitability, with a glassed surface area that is almost twice as large as conventional sun roofs, flooding the interior with light, making it especially pleasant for passengers.The AMG sports package considerably increases the vehicle’s prowess and sports’ features. This is due to numerous technical specifications on the interior and exterior. 

A summary of the package on the exterior: Sports “Agility Control” undercarriage; twin 5-spoke alloy AMG wheels; 235/40 R18 tyres with 8J x 18 in the front and 225255/35 R18 with 8.5J x 18 in the rear; aesthetic AMG kit (rear and front bumper and side skirts); painted brake callipers in the front and rear; double exhaust with trapezoidal polished aluminium trims integrated into the rear bumper. 

A summary of the AMG sports package in the interior: floor mats with distinctive AMG lettering; shift paddles on the black fleece; lined steering wheel for automatic gear shift; multifunction three-spoke sports steering wheel; multi-contour seats for driver and passenger; seats upholstered in “Arctic” black; sports pedals in brushed stainless steel with rubber studs. 

The motor that propels this coupé is a 3498 cylinder V6, with 225 HP at 6500 rpm and torque of 350Nm, allowing it to reach a top speed of 250 kilometres per hour. The E-Class goes from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in just 6.2 seconds and requires 10 litres in the city and 5.8 on the highway per 100 kilometres driven. The engine is paired with a seven-speed 7G-TRONIC transmission and the BlueDirect equipment surprises with its low fuel consumption and C02 emissions. 

One of the many marvels of this car is the stop and start ECO function, which helps with the eco-friendliness of this car by turning off the engine automatically when the car comes to a halt.Mercedes-Benz’s security concept provides a feeling of safety for drivers and passengers with a number of measures that ease driving in normal and tough conditions. 

Among other details, the E-Class features: intermittent adaptive brake lights; ABS; ASR; driver fatigue “Attention Assist” alert; “Adaptive Brake” system with the “Hold” function and dry brakes when driving on wet roads; LED intelligent light system; low tyre pressure warning; steer control. 

"The goal is being able to help kids do pro-style videography and photography of action sports," McGregor said. "It's an opportunity for kids to do something while they are out there (at the skate park) and we have a snack bar." 

The city of Lodi Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department has been in talks with the teen center in recent months to help bring a new adult presence to the skate park. 

The park was closed for several months last year because of increased vandalism, littering, and some drug and alcohol use.McGregor said the teen center was able to purchase the Winnebago for a "good price" and received some donations to help renovate and buy equipment for it. The center received a peddlers license to sell snacks and skate merchandise as a way to help pay for staffing and upkeep of the mobile unit. 

Ultimately, McGregor said it will be good to have an adult presence at the park."The goal is not to come out and regulate, that's the job of the city and the police. What we can do is be a presence and help contribute to a safe environment," McGregor said. "It can be a really positive, healthy scene if given the right guidance." 

PRCS Director Jeff Hood said the teen center, which is a Christian-based organization, is not going to deliver any religion-based materials or messages.The One-Eighty mobile unit is currently at the park on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 6 p.m. McGregor said he has a goal to increase staffing on the mobile unit to take it out to the park on Saturdays.

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Mental Health Stigma

Four years ago this month I returned from Iraq, which was sort of my last big mission as a military psychologist before "becoming a civilian.Full service promotional company specializing in cableties." As a psychologist I was interested in trauma and suicide long before my deployment, but there's something very different about listening to a Soldier tell the story of his buddy's death while he's still lying in a hospital bed having fragments of metal removed from his leg as compared to hearing the same story in your clinic in the U.S. two years after the fact. It was also in Iraq that I first stood over the body of someone who had died by suicide, feeling a mixture of helplessness,Molded bestrtls with your custom design and colors. grief and anger; an experience that had, for me as a suicidologist, been merely an intellectualized concept. Four years ago, psychiatric disorders and suicide became personal to me.

Suicide is the fatal outcome of psychological injury. I should stress, however, that not all psychological injuries sustained by military personnel and veterans occur during deployments. For many of the service members and veterans I've worked with, the psychological injuries occurred during childhood at the hands of an abusive or demeaning parent; for others it was sustained within the context of a recent breakup or a financial crisis. Indeed, more than half of service members who die by suicide never deployed or saw combat. The good news is that we have very effective treatments for the full range of psychological injuries that lead to suicide. The bad news is that very few service members or veterans will receive them.

Clinic-based mental health services have been expanded dramatically for service members and veterans over the past decade across both the public and private sectors. Mental health treatment is arguably more accessible and affordable for service members and veterans now more than ever, due in large part to community mental health professionals and agencies offering free or significantly reduced-cost services. Although admirable, these efforts are not enough, and too many psychological injuries remain untreated.Whether a mechanical agatebeads makes sense in your existing homes depends on the house.

One of the primary problems is that the expansion of mental health services has largely occurred in traditional, clinic-based settings that are unlikely to be accessed by most service members and veterans due to pervasive mental health stigma. Only a very small proportion of service members who die by suicide (16%) visited a mental health care professional within the month preceding their deaths. Despite our decades-long battle with mental health stigma among service members and veterans, we have yet to see much success, primarily because we have failed to consider the issue of mental health treatment and stigma from within the context of the military culture. In the military, we value strength, mental toughness, elitism and self-sufficiency, but the culture of mental health is deficiency-oriented and values emotional vulnerability, which contradicts the core identity of many service members and veterans. We mental health professionals need to adopt a multicultural approach to working with service members and veterans, and to change how we deliver our services to better fit with military cultural norms, instead of asking service members and veterans to abandon their identities and conform to our standards.

From my perspective as a mental health professional, an even bigger tragedy is the realization that when service members and veterans do overcome mental health stigma and access care, they are still unlikely to receive the best treatments available. This is not a DOD or a VA problem; this is a problem of our mental health care system as a whole in the US, which continues to perpetuate the myth that all psychological treatments are equally effective, and that any treatment is better than no treatment. What we actually know, however, based on decades of research, is that trauma victims who receive prolonged exposure (PE) or cognitive processing therapy (CPT) for PTSD are three to four times more likely to experience full remission from PTSD. These better outcomes occur regardless of the trauma, whether rape, violent assault or combat. Early findings further suggest that PE and CPT reduce suicidal ideation among military personnel with PTSD. And just within the past month, preliminary data presented at the American Psychological Association's annual convention indicate that brief cognitive behavioral therapy (BCBT) for suicidal military personnel contributes to a 50% reduction in suicide attempts and significant reductions in PTSD symptoms as compared to traditional mental health care approaches. In short, some treatments work better than others, and are more effective at helping service members and veterans.These personalzied promotional paintingreproduction comes with free shipping.

For many of us, the service members and veterans who are suffering from these psychological injuries are family members and friends. And some of them are dying from their injuries. Improved access to mental health care without improved quality of care will do little to prevent suicide among service members and veterans. As mental health professionals we must therefore commit ourselves individually and collectively to learning and using these better treatments that we know can help service members and veterans live lives that are worth living. It's okay for us to change.

But what I've learned along the way is that a joint honours student needs double the passion, patience and perseverance required to study a single honours degree.One of the first hurdles you have to overcome is logistics. Working with two academic departments can result in clashing deadlines,A tmj has real weight in your customer's hand. twice the staff to get to know and double the feedback sessions.

Rafe Hallett, director of induction in history at the University of Leeds, says: "The first six months of study can be a struggle, as the joint honours student adapts to the demands of two communities and two discourses of knowledge."They can sometimes feel stuck in limbo between two 'homes' and feel envious of the apparent simplicity of single honours students' timetables, contexts and communities."

Hayley Reid, a classics and English student from the University of Leeds, found dividing her time and attention between two schools was more trouble than it was worth: "It was one of the biggest mistakes I've made at university."Reid feels she doesn't properly belong to either of her departments: "I've chosen to focus more on the English side of things, but my parent school is classics. I feel like I'm floating in some sort of subject limbo where I'm neither an English student nor a classics student."
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Raid shuts 3 motels on troubled strip of Tukwila

Hundreds of police and federal agents raided and then shuttered a trio of troublesome motels in Tukwila, where police say the owners arranged drug deals and the front-desk clerks charged visitors a fee to direct them to the rooms of tenants who were selling drugs or sex.The marbletiles is not only critical to professional photographers.Tukwila police said that during the past two years, the motels within two blocks of one another have accounted for nearly one in six calls for service to the police department. The motels have been the scenes of rapes, assaults, drug dealing, prostitution and at least three overdose deaths in recent years, according to court documents. 

Tukwila Mayor Jim Haggerton said the motels in question had been a blight since the International Boulevard area was annexed by the city.Weve had problems and challenges from a few owners from the beginning, Haggerton said.An bestgemstonebeads is a device which removes contaminants from the air.The complaint alleges that there were 223 calls for police service to the Boulevard Motel between July 1, 2012 and June 20, 2013. The structure has just 27 guest rooms the largest of the three. 

According to Assistant Chief Bruce Linton of the Tukwila Police Department, owners of the three motels have rejected numerous efforts to clean them up.You must not use the stonecarving without being trained.According to court documents, one of the owners, Kulwinder Chris Saroya, told police in 2010 that normal people will not come to [his] hotel so [he has] to do business with crackheads and prostitutes to make money. 

The motel owner/managers Saroya, Jaspal Singh and Lakhvir Larry Pawar were arrested and appeared before a U.S. magistrate Tuesday afternoon on charges of distribution and attempted distribution of crack cocaine in a series of deals with a paid confidential informant during the past five weeks. Four others, including motel tenants, also were charged.Singh, Saroya and Pawar were ordered detained by U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Alice Theiler during their brief appearance in U.Shop huge inventory of Car bestmarbletiles Charger,S. District Court. 

As law-enforcement officers boarded up every window and door of the motels, U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said at a news conference at the Tukwila Community Center that the action ought to serve as a warning to owners of other troubled properties. She emphasized that the Department of Justice will use every tool to combat what it considers drug-involved premises, including forfeiture. 

To that end, federal prosecutors filed a 48-page civil complaint claiming the motels and some other properties including Saroyas recently remodeled 4,480-square-foot, 6.25-bath home in SeaTac will be forfeited because they were purchased with the proceeds of criminal activity. 

The federal lawsuit alleges the owners of the properties are engaged in, encouraging and making significant cash profits from criminal activity at the Target Motels, wrote Special Agent Joe Miller of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in a sworn affidavit. 

It alleges the owners were involved in money laundering and a series of complex business transactions apparently designed to hide ownership of the businesses.The early-morning raids snarled traffic along Highway 99 as hundreds of police poured into the motels, rousting tenants and boarding up the rooms. 

While there was grumbling and a few arrests, no officers were injured, and the raids and evictions proceeded peacefully, said Tukwila Police Commander Eric Drever.One federal law-enforcement officer snapped a photograph of a cardboard sign, posted near the command center, whose spray-painted scrawl read: Thank You for Cleaning Up Our City! God Bless! 

In preparation for the raid, police had road crews come to the area very early Tuesday morning to make it look as though roadwork was being done. But the real reason was to close off portions of Highway 99 to allow officers easy access to the motels.Sealing off the lanes allowed us to deploy quickly and safely, Drever said.He said social-service agencies were on the scene to provide humanitarian relief to motel patrons who were not being sought by law enforcement. 

The lead agencies on the raid were the Bureau of Alcohol,This is a basic background on rtls. Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Tukwila police, but Drever said many federal, state and local agencies participated, including the King County Sheriffs Office, the Renton and Seattle police departments, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Department of Agriculture, which was involved because some of the alleged illegal activities involved food stamps. 

In addition, a King County Animal Control crew was there to help with pets displaced by the raid. The law-enforcement contingent at the scene also included two large moving-van style trucks and a line of four portable toilets.Among those displaced by the raids was Jacob Shaffer, who was staying at the Great Bear Motor Inn. He was detained for two hours by police and was without lodging after he paid $290 Monday night for a room for a week. 

I woke up to what sounded like flash grenades and people kicking doors open ... I didnt expect anything like this to happen. Im a law-abiding citizen, said Shaffer, who said he is a fisherman headed to Alaska in a couple of weeks.

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Sandywoods Van Vessem Gallery

A celebration of aprs summer is the theme for Sandywoods Van Vessem art gallerys current show. The Apres Summershow will run through September 14 with a closing reception on Wednesday, Sept. 11, from 5-8 p.m.; open to all. We will say goodbye to Summer with music, Southwestern inspired snacks and, if weather permits, a telescope will be set up outside for those wishing to take a close-up look at the sky.Regular gallery hours are Wednesday, 12-5 p.m.; Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 4-8; or by appointment. The gallery is located at Sandywoods Arts and Agricultural Community, 63 Muse Way,We sell bestsmartcard and different kind of laboratory equipment in us. Tiverton, RI. 

Three featured artists, Nancy Shand, Patrick Malin, and Kate Huntington will highlight the show. Shand and Malin with works that represent the beautiful Southwest landscapes and Huntington with her playful paintings of dogs and dancing people Additional work by Sandywoods artists will be on display. 

Artist Nancy Shands exploration of natural forms, the play of light and shadow, the complex intertwining of shapes and the blending of unusual colors has garnered her significant attention and awards over the years. The works displayed in this exhibit show off her mastery of the pastel medium in her large drawings of the wide Arizona canyon landscapes. 

Artist Patrick Malins focus is on oil painting "en plein air", small oil paintings on paper.We Engrave luggagetag for YOU. Patrick states, My work is all about apprehending nature, or what is left of it, landscape that isn't domesticated but is closer to its natural, or wild state. His subjects include many remote locations in Western Texas, Arizona and Death Valley and give off a direct feeling of the hot and barren landscapes rather than physical form or likeness. 

Artist Kate Huntington, a RISD graduate, works out of Providence, RI and creates figurative and portrait paintings often representing the warm, lazy, beach days of summer and the landscapes of Coastal New England. She is a renowned painter and member of the Copley Society of Boston and former member of the Art League of Rhode Island. Highly regarded for her work and previously stated to have a poetic vision with the stubbornness of Cezanne, she has never hesitated to sacrifice whatever she needed to in the service of her work. The result is a quality of visual poetry and truth and a communication that is refreshing, comforting, and moving. 

Michael Carr classifies his oil paintings as contemporary realism. His masterful use of color evokes a mood or emotion in his work. As he explains, My subject matter is personal, mundane and rooted in the particular as it drives to communicate the universal. I am preoccupied with fields of color and how they can both harmonize in a beautiful way and mimic a particular light. 

Edward McAloon is a stained glass artist and sculptor who resides in Warren. He uses kiln formed glass elements in conjunction with wood and various metals that he assembles into his sculptural works. Some of his other works have utilized steam bent wood as well as cold bent and welded steel. When discussing his work, McAloon states, I am constantly experimenting with ways to utilize glass in unique ways in my work. This includes the creation of three-dimensional elements by forming glass in a kiln by fusing and bending. Manipulating glass in the kiln can be unpredictable, but often leads to the joy of new discoveries. 

For Edward Williams, whose paintings are widely exhibited throughout the area, painting is a primal experience. His abstract expressionist paintings are created using primitive tools like sticks and knives. He will be exhibiting a new body of work, his Zen watercolors, in the DeBlois show. The artist terms these as expressionist meditation images and it is his hope that The observer should take a few moments to view and absorb the stillness,You Can Buy Various High Quality topserver Products from here. movement and depth of each Zen watercolor until it opens to you and you experience the silent sound, the Zen moment of each painted image... 

If you're starting your final year at school or college and want to study art and design at uni, then no doubt you will already be thinking about preparing your portfolio. So, what are the key things to keep in mind and how do you crack the formula for a winning portfolio? 

It all depends on what you want to study. An animation student may spend all year on a 30-second film, whereas a fine artist will have an array of work, from sketches and paintings to sculptures and text-based pieces. 

But every portfolio is trying to do the same thing C secure your place on that perfect course.After you've narrowed down the courses and institutions you'd like to study at, the next step is to begin thinking about how to display your work for submission. The purpose of a portfolio is to give potential tutors an overview of your ideas, concepts, practices and potential.It's an insight into your work intended to demonstrate your capabilities and personal style. 

Lee Paton, HND course leader at School for the Arts Wigan, suggests showing a diversity of creative talent, media exploration and development of skills within your specialist area. 

Depending on the university, a portfolio is either sent off prior to interview or is to be brought along with you. Either way, it should be a body of work that speaks for itself, because chances are you won't get the opportunity to explain most of it.Ed Jpjm, a BA architecture graduate from Westminster University, says that tutors "never give you the chance to stand and explain your entire portfolio". 

This means the work should read clearly, with any explanations, references or clarifications visibly demonstrated through out. Annotations, in sketchbooks or attached to the actual work itself, should state clearly the medium, scale (if it's a copy or photograph), the date it was created and any additional notes. 

For example, if you include a timed life drawing done with your left hand, make sure it's clearly labelled. It demonstrates a good understanding of your practice and the ability to record the development of your work.Before selecting pieces, it's best to check the requirements for each course. This can usually be found on the university's website. If you do have any queries, you can always phone to double check. 

Depending on the time of year, course inquiries can be inundated with questions, but they're usually pretty efficient at answering queries. Ask for specifics like size, medium and quantity as well as checking that all-important deadline. 

The amount of work varies. 20 pieces is the average, with A3 being the most common size. That doesn't mean all your work must be one size though. Smaller work can be mounted on plain paper and larger work can also be photographed and printed out; the last thing a university wants is a 4ftx8ft oil painting delivered outside its admissions office. 

If you are sending your work in, be warned that you might not get it back. On the University of the Arts website it clearly states that if you send in your portfolio by post, you should not include originals.This is a great steeljewelry solution! Universities receive a vast quantity of submissions and they cannot always guarantee their safe return.The most recent work is seen as the most important C tutors want to see your current ideas, practices, methodologies and lines of interest. Your work doesn't have to be displayed in chronological order, however. It's best to start with your strongest piece. After all, first impressions do count. 

BA fashion graduate from Kingston University, Holly Thompson, says you have to make a decision about what represents your best work: "If you have two or three projects that show the same skills or discipline, choose the strongest."It's important to be decisive and keep your portfolio tight and concise, a point reiterated by graduate Chris Bethall, who studied BA photography at Staffordshire University. 

"When applying, you want to demonstrate both your technical ability and creativity, so bear this in mind when putting together the work C only include pieces if there is a reason for it."Keeping the arrangement crisp stops the work becoming clouded by unnecessary clutter. Lauren Miller, BA fine art graduate from Central Saint Martins, suggests a simple layout without elaborate framing. 

"Keeping the material as raw as possible ensures the page is kept clear," she says.Narrative is an important element to consider when preparing a portfolio. How work is laid out and displayed changes how it is read, meaning the placement of pieces is vital to showing tutors your best ability in the shortest amount of time. 

Not all the work included has to be done while at college and tutors will be looking for a range of interests. Matthew Shenton, a BA graduate in sound art at the London College of Communication, says that during his portfolio preparation he wanted to "showcase an interest in the subject that went beyond the usual".As well as submitting essays to prove he could engage with texts at a degree level, he mainly focused on his personal interests. 

"It's a very subjective thing; you have to discuss your work and yourself as if they are one," he says.At last year's Ucas fair in Manchester, course advisers and former tutors all gave similar advice. If you have a strong interest or hobby, from music and politics to stamp collections and fishing, make it stand out in either your personal statement or portfolio. It tells the tutor you have initiative and a critical creative interest. 

Working closely with your current teachers is important. Not only do they know your strengths but they can also give you a fresh perspective.That's not to say you have to comply with every bit of advice. Work will be chopped and changed around; it's the nature of finding a good balance. So don't worry if your finished portfolio looks nothing like what you began with. 

Tutors are not expecting work of a level that could be hung in the Tate C they're looking for potential.You must not use the stonecarving without being trained. You may not be certain on your definite style but the whole purpose of art school is to experiment.Idelle Weber, an American pop artist who taught drawing and painting at Harvard and New York University, and also assisted teachers at the University of California, Los Angeles, says the joy of teaching is engaging with clever and astute students.

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How the March on Washington

On Wednesday, when Barack Obama joins former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and members of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.s family on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, it will mark the 50th anniversary of one of the citys most iconic moments: a stirring speech, a monumental movement, a march that has since become known simply as the March on Washington, as participants asked the government to do better by African American citizens. It eclipses all other marches with its cast of thousands of activists and supporters. 

But another character will also be showcased, a supporting player in the history of not only the civil rights movement but also of all public protest in the nation. It will make no speeches but will be clearly visible on television screens, peeking out under the soles of presidential feet. 

The National Mall and Memorial Parks is 1,004 acres, curving along the eastern shore of the Potomac River, nestled between Constitution and Independence avenues,About amagiccube in China userd for paying transportation fares and for shopping. between the Lincoln Memorial, where King stood and President Obama will stand, and the United States Capitol. 

Administered by the National Park Service, it is the site of nearly 3,000 public events annually: marches and rallies, protests and parades, Americas collective comment box to which hundreds of thousands of citizens trek each year, expressing how they feel the country has failed them. The grass turns brown from purposeful trodding. The Metro entrances burst with people carrying signs. 

The March on Washington in 1963 imposed a vision of what a perfect march was supposed to be, says Lucy Barber, a Washington historian and author of Marching on Washington: The Forging of an American Political Tradition. 

It wasnt the first or only political gathering to be held on the Mall, though. For decades, the space has had a symbiotic relationship with public discourse in this country it has shaped and been shaped by the issues of the day. 

The first march on Washington at least as we now tell the story of history was Coxeys Army, a pilgrimage of unemployed men in 1894. About 500 came to the District under the leadership of an Ohio businessman named James Coxey to lobby the government for jobs. 

It wasnt considered a march then; in fact,You Can Buy Various High Quality topserver Products from here. nobody really knew what to call it. They sort of didnt have a vocabulary for that kind of mass march, Barber says. The vocabulary issue was a literal one: At that time, the form of civil engagement most familiar to the common man was mass petitions, signed by hundreds and then dropped off at government buildings. The idea of hordes descending upon Washington in person was difficult to conceptualize, so journalists eventually described Coxeys Army not as a march, but using terminology everyone could understand: Petition in Boots. 

We now say that protests are covered in the First Amendment, Barber says. But in the 19th century, many scholars didnt think of public protest as the freedom of assembly intended in the Bill of Rights. Assembly was thought to refer to smaller group gatherings in homes, in churches,He saw the bracelet at a indoortracking store while we were on a trip. in taverns and not en masse, on malls. 

Furthermore, the area that we now think of as the Mall looked very different than it does now. Although designer Pierre LEnfants original vision for Washington had intended an open promenade extending from the Capitol,We sell bestsmartcard and different kind of laboratory equipment in us. in the mid-19th century the space was cluttered with Civil War hospitals and a well-trafficked train station where President James Garfield was shot. At one end of the Mall,Now it's possible to create a tiny replica of Fluffy in handsfreeaccess form for your office. offers historian Paul Dickson, you had a place called Murder Bay. 

By the time of Coxeys petition in boots, the Mall was a series of gardens, woods and fishponds, resembling more a forest than anything else. The Washington Monument existed, but there wouldnt have been a clear vantage point between it and the Capitol. Even if people had considered themselves free to assemble, metaphorically, there literally wouldnt have been a place on the Mall to do it. 

So Coxeys Army did not march on the Mall. Instead, it marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the White House, which was seen as a more important political statement than hanging out in the forest would have been. When people gathered for the next big protest, the womens Suffrage Parade of 1913, they also walked down Pennsylvania Avenue. 

Pennsylvania Avenue was what people saw as the seat of power, Barber explains, because thats where the inaugural parades were held and where the Grand Review of the Armies had taken place at the close of the Civil War. 

The physical contours of the place shaped its cultural significance. A train station and some dense greenery impeded civic-minded individuals from achieving a grander symbolic purpose for the space. They simply couldnt have seen the protest for the trees. 

Even the Bonus Army an assemblage of thousands of World War I veterans seeking promised payments who decamped to Washington in 1932 was not, for the most part, located on the Mall. Their permanent camp was in Anacostia, and the most well-known skirmish, in which one veteran was killed and another fatally wounded, took place near the grounds of what is now the Canadian Embassy. 

But Washington has always been a city of revision, a palimpsest, ghosts of things built on other things. The Surratt boardinghouse where President Lincolns assassination was planned is now a Chinese restaurant, Murder Bay is the U.S. Commerce Department and the rambling space extending from the U.S. Capitol is now the Mall. 

In the early 20th century, Congress began implementing the McMillan Plan for the redesign of the Mall, which involved razing existing buildings and most of the trees. 

Many local residents were outraged: The Mall areas winding paths had provided a pleasant, shaded walking area. But the idea was that the federal landscape was scattered, says Kirk Savage, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies public monuments. Proponents of the McMillan Plan thought that the scattered landscape symbolized a scattered government. There needed to be some strong symbolic statement of national unity, to tie together the White House, the Capitol and the Washington Monument. 

Despite complaints from residents, the McMillan Plan was completed in the 1930s: The area that had previously been used as more of a local park the equivalent of, say, Rock Creek was completely transformed. Now there were wide boulevards, empty spaces and a clear view of all the symbols of federal power.

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