On July, 13 2009 President Obama introduced the new surgeon general Doctor Regina Benjamin. President Obama then went on to say:

We are now closer to the goal of Health Care Reform than we have ever been. Over the last several weeks key committee in the House and the Senate have made an important and unprecedented progress on a plan that will lower cost, provide better care for patients, and curve the worst practices of the insurance companies. It is a plan that will not add to our deficits over the next decade. And eventually will help lower our deficits by slowing the skyrocketing cost of Medicaid and Medicare.

President Obama Announces Dr. Regina Benjamin the next Surgeon General

Dr. Regina Benjamin Qualifications

She has a dedicated record in providing health care for her rural community. President Obama describes Regina Benjamin as an “excellent candidate” to be Americans leading spoken person on issues of public health.

• Regina Benjamin was in the 2nd class of Moore House School of Medicine — she went on to earn an MD from the University of Alabama.
• Regina Benjamin has served as Associated Dean of Health at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine.
• In 1995, Regina Benjamin became the first physician under 40 years of age, and the first African American women to be named to the American Medical Associations board of trustees.
• In 2002, Regina Benjamin became President of Alabama State Medical Associations.

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$787 billion in stimulus money is already floating around and President Obama wants to see it put to use before thinking about a 2nd stimulus package. Although, nerves are running high over the latest unemployment numbers (9.5 %) Obama is very clear that we need time to dig ourselves out of this economy crises.

To see what was included in the 1st Stimulus Package go to : President Obama’s Stimulus Package. This was an article I published back on 2/16/09. The article “President Obama’s Stimulus Package” includes amounts and goals of that stimulus package.

Do you think now is a good time for a 2nd Stimulus package?

Earlier this week Warren Buffett said, he thinks we need a 2nd stimulus package and he is not along. Ed Rendell, the Governor from Pennsylvania has urged the House to consider another stimulus package as well.

The drums are starting the beat for a 2nd stimulus package — Will Obama back down and give in to a 2nd stimulus package.

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Delaware Plans To Cut Cost By Not Writing Checks

In efforts to save over $150k per year, Governor, Jack Markell announced a statewide “fewer checks” mandate. The measure of writing fewer checks will cut the cost of materials (checks) and postage expenses. The State (Delaware) will also be earning money from cash back incentives for use of state credit cards to the tune of $600k per year.

In the past, Delaware (State Government) has issued approximately 58K checks per year that was under $50. Per the order from Governor, Markell the state is only allowed to write 100K checks per year. To achieve this order, state employees will be reimbursed by direct deposit, and top vendors will by switched to credit card or electronic fund payments.

If this plan works the State (Delaware) could save up to $793K in administrative cost per year.

Read More about the new Delaware Plan to write fewer Check at DelawareOnline.com

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Recovery and the jobs of the Future - President Obama Weekly Address July 11, 2009

This week, we’ve made important progress towards the goal of bringing about change abroad and change at home. during my visit to Russia, we began the process of resetting relations so that we can address key national priorities like the threat of nuclear weapons and extremism. At the G8 summit, leaders from nearly 30 nations met to discuss how we’ll collectively confront the urgent challenges of our time, from managing the global recession to fighting global warming to addressing global hunger and poverty. And in Ghana, I laid out my agenda for supporting democracy and development in Africa and around the world.

But even as we make progress on these challenges abroad, my thoughts are on the state of our economy at home. And that’s what I want to talk to you about today. We came into office facing the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. At the time, we were losing, on average 700K jobs a month. And many feared that our financial system was on the verge of collapse. As a result of the swift and aggressive action we took in the first few months of this year, we’ve been able to pull our financial system and our economy back from the brink. We took steps to re-start lending to families and businesses, stabilize our major financial institutions, and help homeowners stay in their homes and pay their mortgages. We also passed the largest and most sweeping economic recovery plan in our nation’s history.

The Recovery Act wasn’t designed to restore the economy to full health on its own, but to provide the boost necessary to stop the free fall. It was designed to spur demand and get people spending again and cushion those who had borne the brunt of the crisis. And it was designed to save jobs and create new ones.

In a little over 100 days, this Recovery Act has worked as intended. It’s already extended unemployment insurance and health insurance to those who have lost their jobs in this recession. It’s delivered $43 billion in tax relief to American working families and businesses. Without the help the Recovery Act has provided to struggling states, its estimated that state deficits would be nearly twice as large as they are now, resulting in tens of thousands of additional layoffs — layoffs that would affect police officers, teachers, and firefighters.

The Recovery Act’s allowed small businesses and clean energy companies to hire new workers or scrap their plans for eliminating current jobs. and it’s lead to new jobs building roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects, thousands of which are only beginning now. In the months to come, thousands more projects will begin, leading to additional jobs.

Now, I realize that when we passed this Recovery Act, there were those who felt that doing nothing was somehow an answer. Today, some of those same critics are already judging the effort a failure although they haven’t yet offered a plausible alternative. Others believed that the recovery plan should have been even larger, and they’re already calling for a second recovery plan. But, as I made clear at the time it was passed, the Recovery Act was not designed to work in four months — it was designed to work over two years. We also knew that it would take some time for the money to get out the door, because we’re committed to spending it in a way that’s effective and transparent.

Crucially, this is a plan that will also accelerate greatly through the summer and the fall. We must let it work the way it’s supposed to, with the understanding that in any recession, unemployment tends to recover more slowly than other measures of economic activity.

Now, I’m confident that the United States of America will weather this economic storm. But once we clear away the wreckage, the real question is what we will build in its place. Even as we rescue this economy from a full blown crisis, I’ve insisted that we must rebuild it better than before. Without serious reforms, we’re destined to either see more crises, or suffer stagnant growth rates for the foreseeable future, or a combination of the two. That’s a future I absolutely reject. And that’s why we’re laying a new foundation that’s not only strong enough to withstand the challenges of the 21st century, but one that will allow us to thrive and compete in a global economy. That means investing in the jobs of the future, training our workers to compete for those jobs, and controlling the health care costs that are driving us into debt.

Through the clean energy investment we’ve made in the Recovery Act, we’re already seeing the start-up and small businesses make plans to create thousands of new jobs. In California, 3,000 people wil be employed to build a new solar plant. In Michigan, investments in wind turbines and wind technology is expected to create over 2,600 jobs. And a few weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed historic legislation that would finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy, leading to whole new industries and jobs that can’t be outsourced. To give our workers the skills and education they need to compete for the high-tech, high-wage jobs of the future, we’re working on reforms that will close achievement gaps, ensure that our schools meet high standards, reward our teachers for performance and give then new pathways to advancement.

Finally, we’ve made important progress in the last few weeks on health care reform that will control the costs that are driving our families, our businesses, and our government into debt. Both the Senate and the House have now produced legislation that will bring down costs, provide better care for patients, and curb the worst practices of insurance companies, so that they can no longer deny Americans coverage based on a pre-existing medical condition. It’s a plan that would also allow Americans to keep their health insurance if they lose their job or if they change their job. And it would set up a health insurance exchange — a marketplace that will allow families and small businesses to access one-stop-shopping for quality, affordable coverage, and help them compare prices and choose the plan that best suits their needs.

One such choice would be a public option that would make health care more affordable through competition that keeps the insurance companies honest. One other point, part of what makes our current economic situation so challenging is that we already had massive deficits as the recession gathered force. and although the Recovery Act represents just a small fraction of our long term debt, people have legitimate questions as to whether we can afford reform without making our deficits much worse. So let me be clear — I have been firm in insisting that both health care reform and clean energy legislation cannot add to our deficit. and I intend to continue the work of reducing waste, eliminating programs that don’t work, and reforming our entitlement programs to ensure that our long term deficits are brought under control.

I said when I took office that it would take many months to move our economy from recession to recovery and ultimately to prosperity. We’re not there yet, and I continue to believe that even one American out of work is one too many. But we’re moving in the right direction. We’re cleaning up the wreckage of this storm. And we are laying a firmer, stronger foundation so that we may better weather whatever future storms may come.

This year has been and will continue to be a year of rescuing our economy from disaster. But just as important will be the work of rebuilding a long term engine for economic growth. It won’t be easy, and there will continue to be those who argue that we have to put off hard decisions that we have already deferred for far too long. But earlier generations of Americans didn’t build this great country by fearing that future and shrinking our dreams. This generation — our generation — has to show that same courage and determination. I believe we will.

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Federal Minimum Wage Will Increase to $7.25

On July 24, 2009 the minimum wage will be raised to $7.25 from $6.55 per hour. The hike will take affect in 29 states. The minimum wage increase is due to a bill passed back in 2007, when the minimum wage was just $5.15 per hour.

Some state minimum wages are already above the federal mandated minimum wage. Below is a list of states with the highest minimum wages.

• Washington $8.55
• Oregon $8.40
• Vermont $8.06
• California $8.00
• Connecticut $8.00
• Illinois $8.00
• Massachusetts $8.00
• Nevada $7.55
• Washington, D.C $7.55
• New Mexico $7.50
• Michigan $7.40
• Rhode Island $7.40
• Ohio $7.30
• Colorado $7.28

Workers earning the new minimum wage of $7.25 per hour at 33 hours per week will earn approximately $12,441 per year. The new minimum wage will set many people above the poverty level. The government poverty level for one person is at $10,830 per year.

To Your State’s Minimum Wage (Check Here)

Will the new minimum wage help or hurt people?  10,830 per year is not a lot of money — will the new minimum wage cause more people to be decline public assistance.

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The University of Delaware (UD) have increased it tuition rates up to nearly 9 percent (9%). Reports from UD indicate the tuition increased was caused by the demands on financial aid.

It’s going to cost more this fall to attend UD (University of Delaware). In state UD students tuition has nearly double over the last decade.

For Delaware Residents - Tuition for the 2009-2010 Year

• Tuition $8,540
• Room $5,466
• Board $3,600
• Health Service $484
• Comprehensive Student $234
• Student Center $228

That is a grand total of $18,552 or $356 per/credit

For Non-Delaware Residents - Tuition for the 2009-2010 Year

• Tuition $22,240
• Room $5,466
• Board $3,600
• Health Service $484
• Comprehensive Student $234
• Student Center $228

That is a grad total of $32,252 or $927 per/credit

Having a hard time paying for college? Here are some additional resources:

Ways to Pay For College

Great Graduation Gifts For High School Students

Living Frugal

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What is a Market?

A market describes the people that are willing to buy your products or services. These people are your consumers. The people in your market must have the ability to buy your products or services to be considered as a consumer.

What is a Niche Market?

A niche market follows the same definition above with one exception — Niche. A Niche can be described as a segment of your overall market. Let’s use Hair for example. Hair “Products and Care” is a huge market. Your niche market into the hair market could be natural hair. You can go a step further — Dredlocs. In the example above Hair is the market, Natural hair is your Mega niche, and Dredlocs is your Micro niche.

Micro Niche Marketing with Keywords

All keywords are not made equal. That is a very important phrase to remember. Using Google Keyword tools you can see that some keywords or keywords phrase have more traffic and/or more competition. Some keywords have a product value and some do not. When choose your niche market try selecting keywords with large volumes of traffic, less competition, and has a product value.

Product value describes a market that is willing to purchase an item. For example — You could choose “Housewives of Atlanta”, but how many products are actual available for you to sell. A better choice would be Dredlocs — How Tos. There are plenty of books, DVDs and advertiser on Amazon, eBay and other affiliate programs waiting for you to sell their products to your market.

Note — you can sell affiliate products on your websites and blog. You can also try services like Hubpages.

After you have selected your micro niche keyword — test it. Testing your micro niche keyword is not rocket science. Simply Google the keyword or keyword phrase. For the purposes of this article, we are only focusing on the organic search results. Your micro niche keyword should not result more than 30k results to be considered as a good micro niche keyword or keyword phrase. Having less than 30k results means you have a chance (less competition). Now that you have selected a micro niche keyword with less than 30k resulting pages you now need to check the traffic. Use Google Keyword tools to find out the traffic volume for your selected micro niche keyword or keyword phrase.

Traffic volume is important. Traffic volume shows you how many people (equal to your micro niche market) are search for your term. Your micro niche keyword should fall between 70 - 110 daily search volume.

Note — Google Keyword tools give monthly volume. To get the daily search volume divide the monthly number by 30. Also, selected to show the estimated average CPC (Cost Per Click). Now you can see how much that word is worth.

Taking everything in to account you should:

• Selected a Micro Niche keyword or keyword phrase with less than 30k organic search results.
• Selected a Micro Niche keyword or keyword phrase with a high CPC (Cost Per Click).
• Selected a Micro Niche keyword or keyword phrase with a daily search volume between 70-110.
• Write original and unique content.
• Write at least 2 articles a day for 60 days.

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Here are some of the increases you may find on your Verizon bill (these are all value added services):

• *69 the old rate was $4.55 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $4.95
• Busy Redial old rate was $3.50 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $3.80
• Call Blocking old rate was $5.65 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $6.15
• Call Forwarding old rate was $4.05 the new rate  on your Verizon bill is $4.35
• Call Gate old rate was $5.40 the new rate  on your Verizon bill is $5.80
• Fixed Call Forwarding old rate was $2.00 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $2.20
• Call Manager old rate was $12.37 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $13.42
• Call Waiting old rate was $6.75 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $7.25
• Distinctive ring old rate was $5.15 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $5.45
• Priority call old rate was $2.20 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $2.40
• Select Call Forwarding old rate was $4.55 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $4.95
• Speed Dial 8 old rate was $1.80 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $1.90
• Speed Dial 30 old rate was $2.40 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $2.60
• Ultra Forward old rate was $5.70 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $6.20
• Call Intercept old rate was $5.00 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $5.40
• Caller ID old rate was $6.50 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $7.00
• Caller ID Name old rate was $7.50 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $8.10
• 3 Way Calling old rate was $3.00 the new rate on your Verizon bill is $3.20

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We have tried for decades to fix a broken system and we have never, in my tenure in public life, been this close. We have never been as close as we are today, and things remain on track. We have hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, doctors, nurses, health care providers working with us; and the American people behind us. And everyone sees that we need change and in my view we are going to get that change. And we are going to get it this year. (The greatest wealth is health — a quote).

Well, we are here today to make our health care system healthy again. A strong commitment from these hospitals represented here and others will be a big part of making that happen (health care reform). All around the country, people that have health insurance are still struggling to pay their bills, because they are under insured or their out-of-pocket expenses are rising so rapidly that they are have trouble keeping up. And those who don’t have insurance, because they have lose their jobs or have been denied coverage because of a pre-existing illness are throwing themselves at the mercer of the people who represent the major hospitals in the United States.

As a result, our hospitals are cracking under the weight of providing quality health care for Americans who lack insurance. The hospital industry knows, the people who are with me here today know, and the President knows that the status quo simply is unacceptable. Let me say that again, the status quo is simply unacceptable. Rising cost are crushing us. They are crushing families, businesses, state budgets, and it is crushing the health care industry itself.

Hospitals have acknowledge at significantly health care cost savings can be achieved by improving ineffective, and red lining incentives to improve the quality of care vs. quantity of procedures. And in the last several weeks, hospitals have been working with several important and key people to come up with a proposal to produce real savings (health care savings) in federal health care spending. Savings that will be applied towards the President’s firm goal of enacted “Health Care Reform” that is deficit neutral.

As part of the agreement (or, health care reform package) hospitals are committed to contributing $155 billion dollars in Medicare and Medicaid savings over 10 years to cover health care cost reform. These reductions will be achieved through a combinations of “delivery system reform”, and additional reductions in hospital’s annual updates.

All of these savings are based on policies that the administration has proposed and budgeted for “Health Care Reform“. As our system becomes more efficient, thanks to innovation, technology, and electric records we will slow increases to Medicare and Medicaid payments to hospitals.

To hear more from VP, Biden please review the video — Hospital Health Care Reform

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What is the HTC Hero?

HTC Hero is the first Android smartphone operating on platform 5. It has many features like Palm’s Pre — enabling you to fully integrate your local data with social media sites. The developers of the HTC Hero built the smartphone on 3 principles:

1. Make it Yours
2. Staying Close
3. Discovering the Unexpected

HTC Hero - The First Android Smartphone Demo

HTC Hero - Make It Yours

From the home screen of the HTC Hero you can display widgets to have easy access to your information. You have the option to personalize the widgets to suit your desire needs.

HTC Hero - Staying Close

HTC Hero makes it easy to stay connected with your friends and family. It also lets you view all your interactions with your friends like emails …

HTC Hero - Discovering the Unexpected

HTC Hero features intuitive features like completing the telephone number you’re dialing. You can also view many things with a different perspectives.

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