World News: July 2009

The Swine flu scare hit the global airline market with a huge thump. The airline industry has increased efforts to ensure that passengers avoid health risks especially on international flights.  Most carriers in Asia are scared of another SARS episode and have increased their cabin cleaning, installed state-of-the-art air filters and are allowing in-flight staff to wear face masks.  The carrier Cathay Pacific is  replacing all used pillows, blankets, headset covers and headrest covers, for each flight, according to its spokeswoman Carolyn Leung.  China Southern Airlines is disinfecting all of its aircraft cabins.  Flight attendants on China Eastern Airlines must now wear disposable facial masks, gloves, hats and overcoats during flights to and from select locations.  Mexicana Airlines has implemented efficiency air filters that trap particles normally in constant recirculation during flights.  according to its spokesman Adolfo Crespo.  Reports from June 2009 have 20,000 cases of the H1N1 flu virus in 68 countries; the virus has killed at least 126 people, reports the World Health Organization. 

 

Two U.S. journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, of U.S. media outlet Current TV,  who were detained in North Korea are set to go on trial at one of North Korea’s highest courts.  Allegations say the two women illegally entered the country with “hostile intent” in a explosive  case that comes on the heels of Pyongyang facing international anger for the nuclear testing in May.  According to experts who are keeping a close eye on the arrests, a guilty verdict is predicted for the two women arrested on North Korea’s border with China in March.  It seems likely that the journalists will become bargaining chips in high-stake negotiations with the United States which has fought to bring an end to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.  North Korean law states that anyone convicted of highly hostile acts could be forced into hard labor for a period of 10 years or more.

 

Poland’s leaders, accompanied by foreign dignitaries celebrate the 20th anniversary of the country’s free elections.  Prime Minister Donald and a party of Polish officials gathered in Krakow with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania and Ukraine who attended the ceremonies in the Wawel Castle Cathedral.  Former Polish President Lech Walesa, former leader of the Solidarity movement that help to topple the communist regime was also there.

 

Cuba says, “NO THANKS” to rejoin the Organization of American States, then says the group’s decision to lift a 47-year suspension against it is a “major victory.”  Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon told journalists in Havana that the organization’s decision to lift the 1962 suspension doesn’t make a difference as Cuba has no interest in resuming its membership.  The OAS said Cuba’s re-entry would be the result of a “process of dialogue” under the OAS group’s “practices, proposals and principles” referencing human-rights protections and democracy.  The 34-member group made its decision on the second and final day of its General Assembly in Honduras.  Cuba was initially suspended because of its communist government and Soviet bloc ties.  Former Cuban President Fidel Castro said that OAS was an accomplice to crimes committed against his country.  Before leaving Honduras to join President Obama in Cairo, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on the assembled OAS members to restore Cuba’s member- ship rights only if political prisoners are released and basic human rights are improved. 

 

The U.S. and Iraqi militaries have tentatively agreed to keep a joint base on the edge of Baghdad’s Shiite slum of Sadr City, maintaining an American presence in a strategic area even after the June 30 deadline for U.S. troops to pull out of the capital.  The base: Joint Security Station Commanche is one of 14 joint facilities that U.S. officials want to keep alive in the neighborhoods. Commanche controls the area where Shiite militants pounded rocket fire onto the Green Zone during the last big fight in the city in 2008.  Militants are thought to be regrouping in the area. The idea to keep some joint bases open helps achieve withdrawal plans without giving Shiite and Sunni extremists a full reign to take over. 

The day before President Obama delivered a speech speaking of peace and goodwill with the Islamic world, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden did his best in a speech to Muslims saying that they should hate him.  This was the second message from al-Qaida in a matter of days criticizing Obama.  It’s a sure sign says officials that al-Qaida

is worried that the new president is making headway bringing countries together, improving America’s image in the Muslim world. Obama met with Saudi King Abdullah during his Mideast tour and gave a speech at the Cairo University as a goodwill message.  Al-Qaida did its best to deter  well wishes from the crowds by countering that Obama and Bush have the same agenda.  On Al-Jazeera TV bin Laden said Obama promoted hate  toward the U.S. by ordering Pakistan to crack down on militants and block Islamic law there.

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP), has delivered more than $1 billion in food aid to North Korea since 2000.  Hopes are high that the organization can deliver a half-billion dollars more before the year is out.  To date donor nations have given WFP $75.4 million toward a 2009 goal of $503 million; half of that amount — $38.8 million is food aid that was not delivered in 2008.  The reluctance stems from bad behavior of the North Korean dictatorship of Kim Jong-Il, which sent off a multi-kiloton nuclear explosion, the second in three years.

North Korea continues to threaten South Korea with war by blasting off nuclear missils.

 

The final decision to take over Adam Opel AG stayed open and Germany’s Economy Ministry said it would not  close talks with other bidders to Magna International Inc. (MGA), the Canadian auto parts supplier that the German government referred to its “preferred bidder.” Then the German government picked on the Magna’s consortium stating that it will give EUR1.5 billion in funds to help the Ruesselsheim-based auto firm stay up and running following the bankruptcy filing of parent General Motors Corp.

Magna says it will seal the deal in four to five weeks and aims for Opel entry in September.  The Economics Ministry State Secretary Jochen Homann said that the government can’t rule out the possible failure of Magna’s offer.

 

Florida deep-sea explorers who raised around $500 million in treasure from the 200-year-old wreck of a Spanish galleon should give the loot to Spain, stated a federal magistrate.  This two-year struggle over the 17 tons of silver coins and artifacts is believed to come from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes y las Animas.  Sources say Odyssey Marine Exploration will oppose any written recommendation by the U.S. Odyssey CEO Greg Stemm said that the company will keep fighting.  ”This case addresses some very significant legal issues, so in the beginning it became fairly clear it was going to go to the appellate court level.”  The Mercedes, sank in the Atlantic Ocean west of Portugal in 1804.

Ralph Nader: It’s Time For Renewable Energy

 

After years of opposing or ridiculing renewable energy, the giant oil companies are using a new approach.  A recent ExxonMobil advertising campaign put it this way:

“Oil, gas, coal, biofuels, nuclear, wind, solar….to fuel the future we need them all.”

Not an unexpected maneuver from a fossil fuel company that has owned Washington and received subsidies and tax breaks for decades.  What is unfortunate is that this is the exact kind of energy pitch coming out of the Obama Administration and most Congressional Democrats.  Indeed it is right out of candidate Obama’s 2008 campaign rhetoric last year.

Back then, Senator Obama gave every energy source its due although he spent an inordinate amount of time pushing the mirage of “clean coal” while keeping nuclear energy on the table. 

The problem is that all energy sources are not created equal for purposes of efficiency, and the well being of consumers, workers, the environment and posterity. Regardless of the BTU production, different kinds of energy produce different levels of harms and benefits, short and long term.

Take atomic power.  Wall Street financiers have been adamant for years that lending billions of dollars to utilities to construct a

single nuclear plant requires a 100% U.S. government loan guarantee.  A 90% loan guarantee by taxpayers is rejected by the Wall Streeters.

 

They want a 100% guarantee on the barrelhead. 

The well-known environmentalist and physicist, Amory Lovins argues against nuclear energy just on economic grounds.  He says that he doesn’t even have to get to safety issues to recommend rejection.  I know no one of prominence on the other side willing to debate him.  If you do, let me know.

But the safety issues surrounding the nuclear option will not go away. Neither the unresolved permanent storage of deadly radioactive waste, nor the national security problems, nor risk of a class nine meltdown that could contaminate, in the words of the old Atomic Energy Agency (of the U.S. government), an area the size of Pennsylvania, are going away.

Then there is the missing “source” of energy from the Exxon ad.  This is energy efficiency. Reducing waste. A thousand megawatts you don’t 

waste is a thousand megawatts you don’t have to produce. The same goes for not having to waste a gallon of gasoline in gas guzzling motor vehicles.  Nothing can compete with the payback ratios of energy conservation that includes building and engine construction and use.  Yet again and again it’s not at the top of the list or on many lists at all.

Then there are the renewables—wind, geothermal, water and all the wondrous varieties of solar. A few days ago, the Sustainable Energy Coalition had its 12th annual Congressional renewable energy and energy efficiency EXPO + Forum at the Cannon House Office Building in the U.S. House of Representatives.  This year’s EXPO featured more than 50 businesses, trade associations, government agencies and non-profit policy organizations to hear some members of Congress regale them and converse with visitors. 

I found the exhibits and their  personable exhibitors to be specific, comprehensive and seemingly convinced that renewables are finally, after some failed starts, on an irreversible road to greater market share.  It was not only the advanced hardware and the use of tax credits feeding their optimism. Renewables are branching out in ways that are bringing them nearer to a level playing field with their heavily subsidized and coddled fossil fuel and nuclear “competitors.” More venture capital, better tax credits, rebates and various state and local proposals exist to facilitate  financing for users. 

One spreading incentive comes from my home state of Connecticut which offers a special solar energy leasing plan for homeowners. The Nutmeg State claims it is leading “the way with the nation’s first rate payer supporter residential leasing program for solar energy.”  Catch the details by visiting ctsolarlease.com or phone 888-232-3477.

The point of this column is to demand thoughtful discrimination by our policy makers between different kinds of energy.  Some are clearly better than others.  From the federal government on down to the state and local level, a discriminatory approach is a must if the conversion to renewables and energy conservation from fossils and nuclear is to accelerate.

The old energy lobbies are very stubborn and have their hooks into too many politicians who mouth the ExxonMobil party line.  There are far more jobs in the new energy economy with far more health, efficiency, and security benefits than there are in staying with hydro- carbons and radioactive atoms.   www.nader.org

Business News: July 2009

General Motors and Chrysler higher-ups defended their strategy for down sizing dealerships during a Senate hearing calling it, “a painful but necessary part of creating leaner, more competitive companies.”  Fritz Henderson, chief executive of General Motors, and James E. Press, vice chairman of Chrysler, stated that dealerships selling small numbers of vehicles were weighing down their companies.  They cited a need for more streamlined  dealers that would work toward the survival of their struggling companies.  “Does my heart go out to the dealers who will not be part of the new company? Absolutely,” Mr. Press said in his prepared testimony.  “But we’ve had to make many hard choices to create a viable business and preserve jobs for tens of thousands of people.”  Unfortunately, Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, chairman of the Senate Commerce committee, didn’t agree with their thinking saying that the blame for the auto industry’s  problems should not be blamed on  the dealers.  “Let me be very clear,” Mr. Rockefeller, Democrat of West Virginia, said. “I don’t believe that companies should be allowed to take taxpayer funds for a bailout, and then leave the local dealers and their customers to fend for themselves with no real notice and no real help.”  Chrysler will  close 800-plus dealerships in June and General Motors reduces its 6,000 dealerships to about 3,500 by the end of next year. 

 

Reports have the U.S. deficit at about $1.8 trillion this year as the country spends and spends and spends on financial bailouts, a sweeping stimulus package, additional lending programs, and funds for the auto industry. This will be the highest deficit incurred since World War II.

 

Bing.com takes top honors as the place to go for every search category you can name—from news, to videos, shopping, maps, and travel. Tabs help its users to locate bonus features including Microsoft’s Cashback search rewards program and links to pages for developers and Webmasters.

Microsoft designed Bing as a one-stop site where users can make purchases and engage in other related activities.

 

Stats have the U.S. labor market in bad shape as cities throughout 93 metropolitan areas report unemploy- ment rates of near 10 percent in April.

This comes down to more than 13 times the number reported last year.

Currently, the national unemployment rate is 8.9 percent, and in 150 cities, numbers showed more residents out of work earlier this spring.  Cities posting unemployment rates below 7 percent accounted for 117—less than half of the 347 cities who recorded lower rates last year.  The Labor Department reported nine of the 13 metropolitan areas with jobless rates of at least 15 percent were in California.  El Centro, a  California city half an hour drive from the Mexican border, had the highest rate in the country at 26.9 percent. Detroit had the highest unemployment of 13.6 percent out of 49 metropolitan areas with more than one million population.  

 

A tech industry insider told Reuters that the U.S. Justice Department is investigating allegations by big tech businesses not to poach on each other.  Search engine giants/competitors Google and Yahoo, computer/music player maker Apple and the biotech company Genentech (owned by Roche Holding AG) were put on notice that the Justice Department has a formal probe going to investigate any possible illegal or unethical crossovers among the companies.  Genentech says that it would accommodate any investigation.  ”Our understanding is that a number of companies received this request for information from the U.S. Department of Justice.  Genentech is cooperating and will respond to the request in due course,” the company said in a state- ment.  Reps from Google and Yahoo said they were contacted by the Justice Department and would cooperate.

 

According to reports, two senior U.S. Senate Republicans are drafting legislation that will require the government to hand over to the American taxpayers its controlling stake in the General Motors Corp.

In order for this legislation to pass, the Republicans need a lot of extra help in the form of Democrat supporters, plus  the backing of President Obama.  The bill if passed would widen the debate on the president’s unprecedented action to take a 60 percent ownership stake in GM.  Under the planned bill,  the Treasury Department would handover  the  stock certificates to 154 million Americans who pay federal taxes. Thinking is: Taxpayers financed the government’s $60 billion-plus  investment in GM, who incidentally filed for bankruptcy protection in June.

 

Fewer U.S. workers filed new claims for jobless benefits for a third week and productivity rose faster-than-expected in the first quarter, data showed.  The Labor Department said first-time applications for unemployment insurance benefits fell 4,000 to 621,000 in the week ending May 30, 2009.  In addition, it said the number of people still on the benefit rolls after an initial filing fell for the first time since the start of the year in the prior week.

 

Oil rose to a seven-month high and gas surged after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said prices may reach $85 by the end of the year as demand recovers and supplies shrink.  Oil jumped five percent when the bank increased its year-end forecast from $65 a barrel and held off on its prediction that prices will dip. The acceleration came after reports showed that less Americans filed claims for unemployment than in prior weeks.  “There seems to be a growing realization that oil will end the year in the $80 area, and this is spurring some buying,” stated John Kilduff, senior VP of energy at MF Global in New York. “The market is taking a little bit of solace from today’s unemployment numbers.”  Crude oil delivery in July rose $3.26 (4.9 percent) to $69.38 a barrel. The trend is moving toward the biggest gain since April 9. Futures climbed as much as $3.48 (5.3 percent) to $69.60, the highest since Nov. 5, 2008.  Prices are up 56 percent this year.  Gasoline for July delivery rose 7.74 cents (4.1 percent) to $1.979 a gallon in New York.  Prices reached $1.9836, highest since Oct. 14, 2008

Initial jobless claims fell by 4,000 to 621,000 in the week ended May 30, in line with forecasts, from a revised said the U.S. Labor Department.  The number collecting unemployment insurance fell for the first time in almost five months, breaking 17 consecutive records.

 

The IRS brings forth new standards for tax return preparers by the end of this year.  The changes could affect chain tax preparation companies like H&R Block Inc. (HRB), Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. (JTX) and Liberty Tax Service, as well as tax software makers like Intuit Inc. (INTU).  Around 80% of Americans use a tax return preparer or tax return preparation software to file their taxes.  The IRS will recommend its plan at the end of the year to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, which could include regulatory or legislative changes.  Recommendations will cover the groups of unlicensed tax preparers and tax software providers.

 

U.S. mortgage rates surged to their highest in almost six months despite government efforts to help curb the floundering struggling market.  The interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages jumped to 5.29 percent for the week ending June 4, up from 4.91 percent the previous week, according to a survey by Freddie Mac.  Higher rates showed an increase in returns on U.S. government bonds, which act as a benchmark for the mortgage market. “Any additional rate increases will significantly hurt the home purchase power and refinance markets, which will really hurt the economic recovery,” stated Alan Rosenbaum, the president of Guardhill Financial, a New York City-based mortgage banker and brokerage company.  The last time that rates exceeded the current levels was the week ending December 11, 2008, when the 30-year rate was at 5.47 percent.  The latest week marked the biggest jump since a 0.42 percentage point rise in the week that ended October 30, 2008, when interest rates hit 6.46 percent.

Dr. Kourosh Maddahi, DDS Harmony-Balance & Creating Healthy & Beautiful Smiles

 

For 21 years, Dr. Kourosh Maddahi has dedicated himself to building a practice based on excellent service, state-of-the-art procedure and commit- ment to the well being of his patients.  From CNN to Oprah, FOX 11, TLC’s-10 years Younger, Entertainment Tonight, ITV, Extreme Makeover, to People magazine and beyond—Maddahi oversees one of the most successful dental practices in the world.  

Although it’s Maddahi’s celebrity patients who tout his praises in the press; it’s his 4,000-plus non-celebrity patients whose lives he changes with a healthy, mega-watt smile who fill him with overwhelming pride.  Maddahi and his staff are not just well trained in high-tech, advanced procedure, but patient comfort as well.  The office operates under one mantra: ’people are not just patients…they are like our friends.’  Inside Maddahi’s plush Beverly Hills office, no expense has been spared to make certain that all who enter are comfortable and relaxed in the tranquil environment provided.

ST: You have a calming bedside manner, pain free treatments and your office is not reflective of a dental office—art filled walls and spa-like atmosphere…

KM: I interviewed many architects and interior designers when I built this office.  I wanted a homey feel where people could enjoy the surroundings, not feel they were in a dental office.  I went to great lengths to make certain our office does not have the smell of a dental office.  The materials we use are odorless.  This allows patients to relax and not anticipate the worst.  When you are aware of what is not right, you tend to look for a way that will make it right.  Another instance; the sharp instruments dentists use to examine patients pokes the gums and is uncomfortable.  I found an alternative—the Diagnodent System—a laser light that does the same job, but it’s pain and anxiety free for my patients.

A member of American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, Academy of Osseointegration, and several others, Maddahi’s practice is built on educational excellence.  He looks for ways to advance treatment programs.  Every year he attends  training courses that teach break- throughs on gums, teeth and mouth. 

ST: One noted credit in your practice is that you are a biocompatible dentist.  

KM: Most dental offices carry around 7,000 products for patients—some they’ve never been exposed to before.  The majority of patients never have a problem, but a small percentage do.  When I see a patient with unusual inflammation or recession around the gums, it’s a signal something may be wrong.  Blood is drawn from the patient and send to a lab in Colorado.  They test dental material against patient blood type to determine what is suitable or not for that patient.  One patient had crowns done by another dentist and  there was inflammation around them.  Coming to find out she was allergic to metals.  We removed the metal crowns, replacing them with porcelain.  She had a rash on her arm for 4-5 years that wouldn’t go away.  With metal crowns gone the rash faded.  She had no idea the rash was caused from metal.

ST: Let’s talk about your eco-friendly, holistic approach to dentistry.

KM: Our office is X-ray film free.  No biohazard developers or fixers.  We use digital.  We don’t use mercury fillings and when we remove mercury fillings we use an oxygen mask to cover the patient’s nose and under the mouth is a special filter that sucks up the bacteria as it comes out.  My staff and I wear gas masks. Throughout our office is an air filter that purifies, and on top of that we have an Amalgam Separator which separates any mercury from going into the sewer water and ending up in the ocean.  We are also a paperless office.  We don’t use charts.  Every- thing is on computers.  I am very much on board to do whatever it takes to protect our environment.

Maddahi‘s eco-approach spills to his personal life as well.  He’s involved with community organizations where he and his children donate time to clean up trash from streets and parks.  He is also pledged to plant one tree a week.  It’s about taking responsibility he says. Out of the country Maddahi’s concern for human rights continue in Africa, India and Israel.  Maddahi appears on TLC’s-’10 years Younger’ show where makeovers are performed without surgery to make people look 10 years younger without spending a fortune.  Maddahi says it’s astounding how many sign up for makeovers.  Apparently in their countries medical/dental care is at a minimum, or outdated in comparison to what we have in the U.S.

KM: In September I’m going to London to discuss advancements in dentistry and speak about a clinic that will offer a range of medical and dental programs under one roof.  Ireland and Scotland are also on the agenda.  In November I go to Dubai to introduce the same medical and dental clinic program.  We want to bring people in many countries the same opportunity for up-to-date, advanced health and dental care available in the United States.

 

 

Kourosh Maddahi, DDS

436 North Roxbury Drive, Suite 202 

Beverly Hills, California 90210

800.278.1415  or  310.888.7797

www.drmaddahi.com 

State & U.S. News: July 2009

Four men accused of attempting to blow up two New York synagogues and shoot down military planes plead “not guilty” to the charges in a White Plains, New York City court. 

A federal grand jury indictment accused the men of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-air craft missiles.  U.S. citizens James Cromitie, David Williams and Onta Williams, along with Laguerre Payen, a Haitian national, were also indicted on charges of conspiring and attempting to kill officers and employees of the U.S.  The men (Muslims) face life in prison if convicted.  

 

Immigrant rights activists hope to counter efforts by a national Latino clergy group wanting to persuade one million illegal immigrants to boycott the 2010 U.S. census.  If successful, it affects California’s federal funding as well as political representation. The Washington, D.C. National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders, says it represents 20,000 Latino churches in 34 states, and a quarter of its four million members will join the boycott to put pressure for legalization and protect themselves from government scrutiny.  Not all Latino organizations are in on the boycott wagon, however.  La Opinión, a highly read Latin news- paper in an editorial called the effort, “dangerous mistake” and for Latinos it “verges on political suicide.”   

 

California could become the first state in the economic downturn to eliminate student financial aid if  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is successful in dismantling the Cal Grant program. The governor’s proposal would end all new Cal Grants, eliminating the state’s main financial aid program for college students, and prevent existing awards from increasing. Grants awarded to 118,000 freshmen starting college in the fall would be canceled, as well as hikes in 82,255 continuing awards promised when University of California and California State University raised fees this month by 10% and 9.3%, respectively.  At the University of California, among other options, students with university grants could see some of their money shifted to those who have lost their Cal Grants, say officials. California State University and schools in California Community Colleges System have yet to decide how to respond to the potentially devastating aid cuts. The proposal would save an estimated $173 million in 2009-10 and $450 million in 2010-11, state officials reported.

 

The overseer of healthcare in state prisons will dramatically scale back an $8-billion plan to build inmate medical facilities.  The controversial construction plan led to a battle with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Attorney General Jerry Brown and legislators over how much to spend on healthcare for prisoners while the state is out of money.  On the agenda now are plans to build two new facilities, one in the northern and southern part of California, each with 3,400 beds for sick and mentally ill inmates.  Originally, funds were sought for seven projects and 10,000 beds.

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson seized control of the prison medical system in 2006, saying inmates died because the care they received was so poor it violated their rights.

 

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger readies a proposal to cut the state worker salaries by an additional 5% as local officials criticize his aim to take $2 billion from counties and cities to help the state deficit.  The  reduction affects 235,000 state workers must  take unpaid furloughs because of the state’s $24.3 billion budget gap.  The proposed cut reduces wages by 15%, and won’t affect state Legislature or court system employees.

 

The California Supreme Court seems unlikely to OK employers to spy on their workers with hidden cameras.

However, state high court members were skeptical of two women who said they discovered a surveillance camera in their office and because of it had suffered serious harm.  The court considered a lawsuit brought by the women against their employer for installing a hidden camera in their office.  Court justices’ noted that they thought workers had a right to expect some privacy in their offices, but did question whether these two women who were suing had enough evidence of wrongdoing to win their case.  The employer of the women stated that the camera never recorded a view of the women.  A state appeals court in Los Angeles ruled that the women had a viable lawsuit. The court said employees need not show they were actually viewed or recorded by a hidden camera to prevail in an invasion of privacy lawsuit.

 

Car companies race to the finish line to offer electric vehicles to the public.  One company is forgoing any high-tech electronics, and making its cars energy source out of the air.  Zero Pollution Motors hopes to bring a car to the U.S. roads by 2011 that will be powered by compressed air and a small conventional engine.  ZPM Chief Executive Shiva Vencat reported that  their price range goal ranges between $18,000 and $20,000, with a fuel economy of 100 miles per gallon. Some car authorities are skeptical.  ”Air compressors are one of the least efficient machines to convert electricity to work,” says Harold Kung, professor of chemical/biological engineering at Northwestern University. “Why not use electricity directly as in electric cars? From an energy utilization point of view, the compressed (air) car does not make sense.”

 

Hundreds of same-sex couples march through California farm towns to protest the battle over gay marriage.

Days after California’s highest court upheld the ban on gay marriages, gay advocates refused to give up their fight and hope to win over objectors to their side.   The march into rural towns brought out well-known activists and a huge group of celebrities including Charlize Theron.  The organizer of the march was a lesbian mother in Fresno, California who was removed from her son’s Catholic school parent-teacher association because she had publically spoken out against the gay marriage ban.

 

Democratic leaders in the House put major environmental legislation on a fast-track, boosting a climate change  bill. Sources said the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill reducing industrial emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050, from 2005 levels.  The climate bill, in addition to other healthcare reform, have become top priorities of President Barack Obama, and House Democrats and are looking to pass them before the August recess.  The legislation would be a big success for activists hoping to halt the accelerating global warming that is occurring.

 

Lawmakers in New Hampshire approve a gay marriage bill to legalize same-sex marriage. But the ongoing 

debate in New York rages on.  Senator Rev. Ruben Diaz, an opponent of the bill, stated that Senator Tom Duane “should release the names of Senators who are supporting the bill.  If not, he should shut up.” Diaz accused the undecided and undeclared politicians of being “ashamed to be publicly associated with the gay community.”

New York Governor Paterson said he’s still optimistic the bill will pass.

BAI LING

 

Los Angeles World Affairs Council Luncheon With Speaker Ricardo B. Salinas Pliego

 

 

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the Los Angeles World affairs Council hosted an invitation only luncheon, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel, in Century City.  The topic of the business luncheon: The Bottom of the Pyramid to the Rescue of the Global Economy.

Could a “trickle-up recovery” be the solution to the current global crisis?  If you were to ask Ricardo B. Salinas, one of Latin America’s leading corporate figures and entrepreneurs you would most definitely get an intriguing, carefully considered and well-informed answer.

Salinas, took a small family-owned business and transformed in into a national corporation.  Salinas has profoundly made a mark on Latin America’s economic system and encouraged the progress of the country of Mexico to move toward modernization, by creating new markets among its working classes.  

As chairman and founder of Grupo Salinas—which includes several of the largest companies in Mexico—Salinas successfully spearheaded the promotion of the country’s free trade, government deregulation, and foreign investment.  

In 1906, Grupo Salinas began as a family-owned furniture manufacturing company, Salinas & Rocha.  In 1950, Salinas’ grandfather created Grupo Elektra, and in 1987, Ricardo Salinas took over the helm as its CEO.  As the devaluation of the peso began to spiral Mexico’s economy downward, Salinas successfully averted Elektra‘s financial distress by refocusing on basic products such as appliances, electronics and furniture.

By developing Elektra as a vast new consumer market among Mexico’s lower middle income consumers, Salinas was able to provide credit sales, diverse financial products and services.  Grupo Elektra further expanded to become Mexico’s biggest consumer-finance company when, in 2002, it won the first banking license granted to any Mexican institution in nearly a decade. The strategy was to build new consumer markets by creating new buying power among classes of people, who until then, had been largely ignored by the majority of other major Mexican businesses.

Salinas is listed in Forbes magazine  as one of the world’s richest Billionaires.  

In 1997, he formed the non-profit  Fundación Azteca, to address a broad range of problems such as healthcare, nutrition, education and protection of the environment.

Salinas serves as the chairman of TV Azteca, one of the world’s two largest producers of the Spanish- language TV programming.  It is also one of  two nationwide broadcasters in Mexico, and now considered to be the most profitable integrated broad- caster in the world. Under Salinas, TV Azteca broke through barriers of Mexico’s long- standing television monopoly with the  networks Azteca 13 and Azteca 7.

In 2001, TV Azteca launched Azteca America, a Spanish-language broadcasting network that  focuses on 40 million-plus Hispanics in the U.S., with affiliates in 62 markets like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami, and Houston.  Azteca America reaches 89 percent of the Hispanic population in the U.S.   Unefon, another Grupo Salinas telecommunications company has around 1.4 million subscribers and hits 19 cities with its own network and an additional 23,000 urban areas through a capacity exchange and roaming agreement it has with Grupo Iusacell—a company that Salinas purchased from Verizon  and Vodafone in 2003.  Started by Salinas in 2000, Telecosmo has now become Mexico’s first wireless broadband ISP.

By Suzanne Takowsky

Beverly Hills BMW

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