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Grooming and care tips for pet parents

2012-02-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

CHECK out the "Grooming" Issue of BOW & WOW TIMES, and learn what it takes to make pet parenting (including keeping pets healthy & clean) a whole lot easier. Whether all you can do is brush your dog’s coat and feed dental treats, or have become adept in safely removing build-up around the eyes and ears of your pooch, among other grooming essentials, you can keep in mind many useful suggestions and insights contained within the pages of the premier issue for 2012 of Bow & Wow Times. The handy informational guide for pet parents can be found at Bow & Wow stores located at Level 5, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong City; and at the lower ground floor of Greenbelt 5, Makati.

Grooming a pet for the first time may be a chaotic moment, but with practice, and lots of tips from the experts, grooming time can be hassle-free. It can be a precious and wonderful time to bond with your furry baby. By paying attention to your pet’s coat and behavior, you can prevent a great deal of discomforts and ensure good pet health and happy existence.

Browse the article on "Health Benefits of Grooming a Pet" and know why regular grooming is crucial to preventing pet problems before they even develop. Get pointers for bathing, brushing, cleaning the eyes & ears, or trimming the nails of your pooch or kitty in "Pet Grooming 101".

Is your feline friend showing signs of severe itching, scratching, hair loss, and skin scabs? Constant itching may be triggered by parasites, allergies and dietary problems. Itching is a telltale sign of pet skin health problem. Pets who experience itching so badly need extra care and professional help. The culprit may be fleas. Peruse the article, "Flea Control in Cats" and know more about symptoms of flea bite hypersensitivity or flea allergic dermatitis, and what you can do to kill fleas on your cat.

Also featured in the Pet Health section is Pyoderma, a bacterial skin infection in dogs that can cause intense itching, painful skin lesions, pustules and sores requiring veterinary attention. Update your knowledge by reading about the canine bacterial infection in Bow & Wow Times.

If your pooch have stinking doggie breath, it may be a sign of dental disease. Just like humans, pets will benefit from a proper nutritious diet, veterinarian approved treats, daily brushing and annual dental visits to the veterinary clinic at an early age. Flip the pages of Bow & Wow Times to the Pet Care section, which features the article "Dental Care for Cats & Dogs".

The Bow & Wow Times premier `grooming’ issue is filled with lots of other useful feature articles that can guide pet lovers, including "Choosing the Right Shampoo for Your Pet," and "Pet Massage: The Touch That Heals".

In "Ask the Vet," Bow & Wow resident veterinarian Dr. Mylene Maranan enlightens pet owners on specific concerns, like what brush to use for problem fur, what to do about stinky dog smell, excessive scratching and hair fall of cats, and other pet problems. Bow & Wow Times also features "How to Find a Groomer For Your Baby".

In Breed Spotlight, the devoted, spirited, amusing, obedient, and fearless Jack Russell Terrier takes the spotlight. Find out more about the dominant traits and temperament of the dog. Equally interesting is a feature about actress and pet parent Rita Avila who shares her experiences in running a household with four dogs and five cats, and her discovery of the all-natural pet products store in the Philippines.

Source http://www.malaya.com.ph/02062012/liv3.html

Android scare: percentages do not tell the real tale

2011-11-28T00:34:00.000-08:00

In its eagerness to put a computer running its software on every desk, Microsoft has spawned a number of ancillary industries, the most pernicious of which is the anti-virus group. McAfee is a major force in this industry.

Anti-virus companies operate on the Chicken Little principle: the sky is going to fall on your head unless you use A-V software to protect your computer; you might as well buy from us. Politicians use the same principle but are much less successful than the A-V crowd.

With Windows being the insecure platform that it is, A-V companies have built up businesses worth billions and, understandably, are keen to guard their terrain.

Hence, when Microsoft decides that it is going to provide dedicated A-V software as a core part of its next operating system, Windows 8, A-V companies know that their slice of the pie is going to decrease. This seems like the ultimate definition of the word chutzpah - create a problem and then provide a solution - but Microsoft, no longer under the restrictions of a consent decree, probably knows it will get away with it.

Thus it is not surprising that A-V companies are looking for new markets into which they can sell their software. And the new kid on the block is Android, a rapidly spreading mobile operating system which is attracting some interest from malware writers. The headlines that are being generated are, thus, not surprising.

McAfee issued a press release last week that, in its very first paragraph, said Android malware was up by 37 percent. Looks impressive until you ask McAfee for the actual numbers. Michael Sentonas, chief technical officer for Australia and New Zealand, said they were unable to provide numbers - I wonder why - and then referred me to a graph in the 21-page report (PDF) that accompanied the press release.

According to said graph, there were 60 samples of unique Android malware collected in the second quarter. That number grew to 82 in the third quarter. There you have the 37 percent growth. Sounds like a declamation from a prophet of doom when you use the percentage instead of the actual numbers.

The word Windows was mentioned once in that 21-page report. Once. And yet on probing, Sentonas admitted that of the 75 million unique malware samples McAfee expected to collect in 2011, more than 95 per cent would attack only one platform. No prizes for guessing the platform in question.

In my book, the second fact would be the headline. It is much more shocking, after all these years of development, that every form of malware just continues to increase when it comes to Windows. One can understand if these were early days. Windows, remember, has been around for 26 years in one form or another.

Android is a baby in terms of development. And in the haste to add new features and make it do more than its competitors, Google is disregarding the basic principles that underlie the security of any UNIX-like operating sytem. The Mac people are streets ahead because they have been using a UNIX-like base for many, many years. Google will take some time to catch up.

Source http://www.itwire.com/opinion-and-analysis/open-sauce/51382-android-scare-percentages-do-not-tell-the-real-tale

Latest golf rankings

2011-10-03T02:36:00.001-07:00

1 Luke Donald 10.70
2 Lee Westwood 7.79
3 Rory McIlroy 7.35
4 Steve Stricker 6.56
5 Dustin Johnson 6.49
6 Martin Kaymer 6.34
7 Jason Day 5.94
8 Adam Scott 5.69
9 Matt Kuchar 5.61
10 Phil Mickelson 5.59
11 Nick Watney 5.37
12 Charl Schwartzel 4.93
13 Webb Simpson 4.91
14 Graeme McDowell 4.73
15 KJ Choi 4.70
16 Bubba Watson 4.38
17 Justin Rose 4.23
18 David Toms 4.16
19 Hunter Mahan 4.14
20 Paul Casey 3.96.

Republican senator presses Obama on trade deals

2011-07-21T01:36:00.000-07:00

Senator Rob Portman on Wednesday urged President Barack Obama to quickly send three long-delayed free-trade pacts to Congress for approval, rather than wait until after the August congressional recess.

Portman, a former U.S. trade representative under President George W. Bush, also said 12 Republican senators have agreed to support an extension of Trade Adjustment Assistance, a worker retraining program that Obama has insisted be approved along with the pacts.

That, combined with the 53 votes in the Democratic caucus, would be enough to ensure that Republican opponents of Trade Adjustment Assistance in the Senate can not block it, he said.

"Mr. President, please tear down these walls. Send these agreements forward," Portman said, echoing late President Ronald Reagan's call for the Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.

"If we don't (pass the agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama) now, my fear is that over the August break there will be additional pressure from those who oppose the agreements," said Portman, an Ohio Republican.

The administration has hoped to win approval of the three trade deals before the August recess but with each passing day that looks increasingly doubtful, due in large part to intense negotiations on a deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling by August 2 that is occupying both the White House and Congress.

While Portman may have enough votes to overcome an initial procedural effort to kill Trade Adjustment Assistance, Democratic sources said a Senate leadership deal is needed to give the White House confidence the program will survive a prolonged Senate debate.

Trade Adjustment Assistance, known as TAA, is a nearly 50-year-old retraining and income assistance program to help workers who have lost their jobs due to foreign competition.

Republicans have objected to a White House plan to include an extension of the TAA program in the implementing legislation for the South Korea trade deal and have demanded a separate vote on the legislation. But Democrats fear the program will be killed if not shielded by the South Korea pact.

Democrats view TAA as a vital part of the U.S. social safety net. Many Republicans question the program's cost and effectiveness. The White House has negotiated a bipartisan deal to reform TAA but it has not reached a deal with Republicans on how Congress will consider the package.

Early on Wednesday, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said he hoped a deal would be struck soon with Senate leaders on a path to consider both TAA and the pacts.

"I am still confident we are going to get these agreements passed and we're going to get them passed sooner rather than later," Kirk said.

But a business lobbyist, speaking on condition that he not be identified, said his organization was told on Tuesday that the administration would not submit the agreements until September. Kirk's office has not confirmed that.

A Senate Democratic aide, also speaking on condition he not be identified, said the only way the pacts could be passed quickly was if Republicans agreed to let TAA remain in the legislation to implement the Korea pact.

Given the tight floor schedule, the demand for a separate vote on TAA makes it impractical the pacts could be passed before September, he said.

Still, Republican Representative Kevin Brady, who chairs a key trade subcommittee in the House of Representatives, urged the administration and Senate leaders to reach an agreement allowing the pacts to be approved in coming weeks.

"If the White House is considering not sending them, I hope they'll reconsider," Brady said.

The United States risks losing sales to competitors in Europe and Canada, which have negotiated their own agreements with the countries, Brady said.

The South Korean parliament also needs to pass the U.S.-Korea agreement for it to go into force. South Korea's ruling Grand National Party chief repeated a pledge to see the deal ratified in August.

South Korea's opposition Democratic Party has issued 10 points it wants revised, including a delay in the opening of the beef market, before it can agree on ratifying the deal.

Source http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/21/us-usa-trade-deals-idUSTRE76K0HH20110721

Congress, Barack Obama, and the Malia-Sasha middle school test

2011-06-30T03:20:00.000-07:00

While complaining about Congress’s failure to raise the debt ceiling, Barack Obama noted: “Malia and Sasha generally finish their homework a day ahead of time. Malia is 13, Sasha’s 10.”

He continued: “It is impressive. They don’t wait until the night before. They’re not pulling all-nighters. They’re 13 and 10. You know, Congress can do the same thing.”

First of all, I hope D.C.’s most intrepid reporters are fact-checking this! Assuming it’s true, though, why are Malia and Sasha doing their homework a day ahead of time? I don’t know anyone who does that, except for maybe the Chua children, and that is only so they can have more spare time to lovingly decorate their pianos with bite marks.

I would describe myself in middle and high school as somewhere between “cheerfully scrupulous” and “an obnoxious, insufferable workaholic” and even I did not do my homework a day ahead of time. I knew someone who did, but she also color-coded all her notes using a complicated system of multiple highlighters. As a consequence, her only friends were people like me. And I wore the same shirt in different colors every day.

I am not saying that Malia and Sasha should not be doing their homework. Although, if they have enough time for that, they clearly are not extracurricularly involved enough. Don’t they realize that their futures hang in the balance? They should be out teaching catfish about self-expression, or something.

But whether or not it’s accurate, this comment concerns me on a number of levels.

Telling Congress to be more like Malia and Sasha is a slippery slope. First we say Congress should do its homework like middle-school-aged girls, then the next thing we know they’ll be curled up on a couch watching the Teen Choice Awards.

Congress is already too much like middle school. There are the ill-advised sexts. There’s the constant need for attention. The desire to avoid doing the assigned reading. The flights of enthusiasm at the sighting of a putative celebrity. The craving to seem cool and fit in that leads to doing what everyone else wants you to do. The over-dramatized desire to stalk from the room rolling your eyes rather than having a productive discussion. “I’m not going to vote to raise the debt ceiling!” you yell. “And you can’t make me!”

So even if Malia and Sasha are paragons of studiousness who actually do everything a night ahead of time, I hope Congress doesn’t listen to this advice. If it’s this bad when they aren’t trying to be like middle-schoolers, imagine what would happen if they were.

Source http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/congress-barack-obama-and-the-malia-sasha-middle-school-test/2011/06/29/AGXsEDrH_blog.html

Michelle Obama heads to Africa next week

2011-06-15T22:55:00.000-07:00

First lady Michelle Obama’s official visit to South Africa and Botswana next week will focus on engaging African youth and paying tribute to the cultural heritage and political struggles of both countries.

Obama’s schedule — which includes a hearty mix of public events, visits with local consulate officials and tourism — was released by White House officials Wednesday afternoon. She will be accompanied by her daughters, Malia and Sasha, her mother, Marian Robinson, and her niece and nephew, Leslie and Avery Robinson, on the five-day goodwill tour.

Their trip will begin June 20 in Pretoria, where Obama will meet with South African President Jacob Zuma’s wife Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma at Zuma’s official residence. The meeting will highlight one significant cultural difference: Zuma is a Zulu traditionalist and polygamist. Reports conflict on how many wives he has.

In Johannesburg, Obama and her entourage will visit the Nelson Mandela Foundation, where the anti-apartheid movement’s archives are housed. A visit with Mandela, who is 92 and battled a difficult respiratory infection earlier this year, is not on her schedule, but his wife, Graca Machel, the former first lady of Mozambique, will lead the family’s tour of the archives.

As in past trips, Obama will spend much of her time with children and young leaders, focusing her talks on education and wellness. Last year, in her first solo official visit overseas, Obama held a roundtable discussion with young adults in Mexico, hugged schoolchildren and visited earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

Obama’s itinerary in South Africa similarly includes a visit to Soweto, the most populous black urban residential area in the country, where she will give a keynote address to 75 young women selected by U.S. officials for their leadership skills and lead them in a community service project.

During the latter part of the trip, Obama will visit Cape Town. She will meet with students at the University of Cape Town, visit an HIV/AIDS project that educates children about the virus, and travel to Robben Island, where Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists were held during the country’s years of racial oppression.

The family’s trip ends with a visit to Gabarone in Botswana and a safari in that country.

Both countries, which are democracies and have made progress on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, are well placed to be showcased with a visit by the first lady, said John Campbell, a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, who has also served in South Africa.

“If you want to showcase countries that are moving in a democratic direction with a track record of credible elections and with governments that are actively wrestling with real issues that impact on their citizens, Botswana and South Africa are the right ones,” Campbell said.

Source http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/michelle-obama-heads-to-africa-next-week/2011/06/15/AGbmyMWH_story.html

Obama says U.S. freedom comes at 'dear cost'

2011-05-31T23:02:00.000-07:00

The United States as a free people and free society remain thanks to the 'dear cost' of soldiers who have given their lives, President Barack Obama said on Monday at Arlington National Cemetery at a Memorial Day Service.

"We remember that the blessings we enjoy as Americans came at a dear cost; that our very presence here today, as free people in a free society, bears testimony to their enduring legacy," Obama said.

Obama was in Arlington, Virgina, where he attended a morning Memorial Day service. He also visited a section of the cemetery set aside for those soldiers who have died since September 11, 2001.

Earlier he visited the 'Tomb of the Unknowns' and presented a wreath of red and white flowers.

Obama said Americans can and must honor the sacrifice of fallen soldiers by "holding their memories close to our hearts, and heeding the example they set."

He said the U.S. would keep searching for missing soldiers and those held as prisoners of war, as well as serving them "as well as they serve us -- from the moment they enter the military, to the moment they leave it, to the moment they are laid to rest."

Obama recalled soldiers who fell in the Revolutionary War, Civil War and "battlefields of our times."

Citing members of a family who mailed him a story of their son, Obama quoted a verse from the biblical Book of Isaiah where the prophet says he has been called to deliver stern words to his people.

"When I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here I am Send me!"

"That's what we memorialize today. That spirit that says, send me, no matter the mission. Send me, no matter the risk. Send me, no matter how great the sacrifice I am called to make," Obama said.

"It's natural, when we lose someone we care about, to ask why it had to be them," he said.

"These are questions that cannot be answered by us. But on this day we remember that it is on our behalf that that they ... gave their lives."

Obama recalled a pair of friends that were more "like brothers" that met at the U.S. naval Academy. One was killed by a sniper in Iraq in 2007 while attempting to rescue his fellow Marines from danger. The other deployed to Afghanistan last year and "gave his own life, along with eight others" in a helicopter crash.

Their families decided to move one of the friends from his grave in Pennsylvania to lay him in a grave next to his friend at Arlington.

"Warriors for freedom," reads the epitaph, "brothers forever."

Their friendship "reflects the meaning of Memorial Day. Brotherhood. Sacrifice. Love of country. And it is my fervent prayer that we may honor the memory of the fallen by living out those ideals every day of our lives, in the military and beyond. May God bless the souls of the venerable warriors we've lost, and the country for which they died."

Source http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/155012/20110531/obama-freedom-dear-cost-memorial-day-arlington-national-cemetary.htm

Obama calls world 'safer' after bin Laden death

2011-05-03T01:08:00.001-07:00

Calling it a "good day for America," President Barack Obama said Monday that the death of Osama bin Laden had made the world "a better place," as new details emerged about the daring overnight raid in Pakistan that killed him.

"The world is safer," Obama said as he appeared at a White House ceremony bestowing the Medal of Honor to two soldiers killed in the Korean War. "It is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden."

Bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida and the most hunted man in the world, was found not in the remote tribal areas along the Pakistani-Afghan border where he has long been presumed to be sheltered, but in a large compound in the city of Abbottabad, about an hour's drive north from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

The compound, only about a third of a mile from a military academy of the Pakistani army, is at the end of a narrow dirt road and is roughly eight times the size of other homes in the area. It has no telephone or Internet connections. When American operatives converged on the residence early Monday morning, bin Laden "resisted the assault force" and was shot in the head and killed near the end of an intense 40-minute gunbattle, senior administration officials said.

Words of caution

The raid carried extraordinary risks -- and not just from bin Laden and those with him in the compound. As the sound of battle shook the night, Pakistan scrambled

Quantcast

jets to respond to a military operation that its military had not been informed was taking place.

"They had no idea about who might have been on there, whether it be U.S. or somebody else," John Brennan, Obama's counterterrorism adviser, said in a briefing Monday. "So we were watching and making sure that our people and our aircraft were able to get out of the Pakistani airspace, and, thankfully, there was no engagement with Pakistani forces."

The reaction in Washington the day after was ebullient. Obama recalled the sense of unity and purpose that immediately followed the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon nearly a decade ago. "Today we are reminded that as a nation there's nothing we can't do when we put our shoulders to the wheel, when we remember the sense of unity that defines us as Americans," he said.

There were words of caution, too. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised Pakistan for its cooperation in fighting al-Qaida, even as some analysts and officials voiced disbelief that bin Laden could have lived where he did without the knowledge of Pakistani officials.

"Continued cooperation will be just as important in the days ahead," she said, "because even as we mark this milestone, we should not forget that the battle to stop al-Qaida and its syndicate of terror will not end with the death of bin Laden."

Bin Laden's demise is a defining moment in the U.S.-led fight against terrorism, a symbolic stroke affirming the relentlessness of the pursuit of those who attacked New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. What remains to be seen, however, is whether it galvanizes bin Laden's followers by turning him into a martyr or serves as a turning of the page in the war in Afghanistan and gives further impetus to Obama to bring U.S. troops home.

How much bin Laden's death will affect al-Qaida itself remains unclear. For years, as they failed to find him, U.S. leaders have said he was more symbolically important than operationally significant because he was on the run and hindered in any meaningful leadership role. Yet he remained the most potent face of terrorism around the world, and some of those who played down his role in recent years nonetheless celebrated his death.

Tension in Pakistan

Given bin Laden's status among radicals, the U.S. government braced for possible retaliation. A senior Pentagon official said late Sunday that military bases in the U.S. and around the world were ordered to a higher state of readiness. The State Department issued a worldwide travel warning, urging Americans in volatile areas "to limit their travel outside of their homes and hotels and avoid mass gatherings and demonstrations."

The strike could deepen tensions with Pakistan, which has periodically bristled at U.S. counterterrorism efforts even as bin Laden evidently found safe refuge on its territory for nearly a decade. Since taking office, Obama has ordered significantly more drone strikes on suspected terrorist targets in Pakistan, stirring public anger there and prompting the Pakistani government to protest.

Brennan, like Clinton, defended Pakistan, even as he acknowledged the tensions between the two countries over fighting terrorism.

"We've had differences of view with the Pakistani government on counterterrorism cooperation and areas of cooperation and what we think they should and shouldn't be doing," he said. "At the same time, I'll say that Pakistan has been responsible for capturing and killing more terrorists inside of Pakistan than any country, and it's by a wide margin."

Source http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_17979283?source=rss&nclick_check=1

Obama and Biden release tax returns. Will Trump, Palin, and other contenders?

2011-04-19T00:34:00.000-07:00

President Obama said last week that he doesn’t need a tax cut if that would mean cutting Medicare benefits for seniors or Head Start programs for children. Now the president's tax return, released Monday, lets you judge whether the commander in chief could use a tax break.

He and Michelle Obama paid $453,770 in federal taxes last year, out of a combined $1,728,096 income. Most of that income came from sales of the president’s books.

The tax return also reveals that the first couple donated $245,075 to charity – about 14 percent of their income. The single biggest recipient was the Fisher House Foundation, which manages a scholarship fund for the children of killed or disabled soldiers. Fisher House received $131,075 in royalties from Mr. Obama’s children’s book, “Of Thee I Sing.”

In 2009, the first family reported an income of $5.5 million, thanks to a post-election surge in book sales.

What about Vice President Joe Biden, who in 2008 called himself the second-poorest member of Congress? His fortunes have improved. For 2008, he and Jill Biden reported an adjusted gross income of $269,256, which looked rather modest when compared with those of Mr. Biden's congressional colleagues, nearly half of whom were millionaires.

In 2010, the Bidens reported $379,178 in adjusted gross income, thanks in part to the higher salary ($230,000) that goes along with Mr. Biden’s new job. The couple paid about $87,000 in federal income taxes and almost $20,000 in state income taxes in Delaware and Virginia. They donated $5,350 to charity, almost 1.5 percent of their income.

Tax returns from potential 2012 candidates?

Nothing requires presidents or presidential candidates to disclose tax returns – it’s just a tradition, one of the many legacies of President Richard Nixon. As the race for the 2012 Republican nomination draws nearer, Tax Day reminds us that the Republican field is full of candidates with potentially fascinating finances, which could make for some interesting disclosures around election time next year.

Billionare and possible presidential contender Donald Trump has not only been talking up his smarts, but also his massive wealth. On Sunday, Mr. Trump boasted he had a “much, much bigger net worth” than former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, another possible contender. No one really knows how much Trump is worth, though, so the chance to pore over his tax return surely has pundits chomping at the bit. Also, The Donald might not be particularly charitable, at least by billionaire standards.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s tax return might also provide for interesting fodder. She released one in 2008 when she ran for vice president, revealing that she and husband Todd reported nearly $170,000 in income – but that that was before she inked various book, television, and speaking deals. Even daughter Bristol Palin made more than $250,000 last year as an abstinence advocate, so one can only imagine what Palin family tax returns would look like today.

If your appetite for presidential finances isn't satiated, you can pore over the Obama and Biden family returns yourself at the White House website.

Source http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2011/0418/Obama-and-Biden-release-tax-returns.-Will-Trump-Palin-and-other-contenders

Obama Praised, Pummeled on Gitmo and KSM

2011-04-04T23:45:00.001-07:00

President Obama took a long-awaited drubbing on his broken campaign promise of closing the detainee prison facility at Guantanamo Bay after news broke Monday that Attorney General Eric Holder had reversed plans to try 9/11 conspirators in federal court in New York City and will instead have them stand trial before military commissions at the U.S. base in Cuba.

The administration's decision is a 180-degree about-face from earlier plans announced in November 2009.

The White House press corp immediately declared Obama's campaign promise of closing Guantanamo Bay a failure and pummeled Obama spokesman Jay Carney with question after question during a White House briefing about Holder's anticipated reversal, wondering why it had come the same day Obama kicked off his re-election campaign with a low-key e-mail and video to supporters.

Carney refused to answer pointed questions about Holder's decision, saying only that the President agreed with it, and referred reporters to the Justice Department.

"The President's primary concern is that the perpetrators of that attack be brought to justice as swiftly as possible," Carney repeated several times during his daily briefing with reporters when asked what Obama supporters would think about his broken campaign promise.

Critics in Congress of the efforts to try alleged co-conspirator Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in federal courts in New York City, including prominent New York Democrats, weren't so reticent and quickly declared victory on the divisive issue. After Holder announced his intention to try KSM in New York, Congress erupted with opponents of the plans arguing that New York would give KSM a platform to spew anti-American rhetoric and make the city a target for more terrorist attacks.

"This means with certainty that the trial will not be in New York. While not unexpected, this is the final nail in the coffin of that wrong-headed idea," Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement. "I have always said that the perpetrators of this horrible crime should get the ultimate penalty, and I believe this proposal by the administration can make that happen."

Republicans said the decision was too long in the making and called on the administration to rethink it's entire detainee policy. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX), a vocal critic of the administration's previous plans to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, he was glad that KSM would be treated as an enemy combatant rather than a common criminal.

"It's unfortunate that it took the Obama administration more than two years to figure out what the majority of Americans already know: that 9-11 conspirator Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is not a common criminal, he's a war criminal," Smith said in a release. "Ten years is too long to wait for justice. I hope that this trial will give some solace to the families of the victims of 9-11. And I hope the Obama administration will stop playing politics with our national security and start treating foreign terrorists like enemy combatants."

Smith will hold an already-scheduled hearing on the issue of military commissions versus civilian courts on Tuesday morning.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the main author of legislation creating military commissions in 2006 and 2009, applauded the move and said military prosecutors would operate in a fair and transparent way.

"Military commissions have been used in wars throughout our history, and they should be used in this war," he said. "The commission trials will be transparent, conducted by the same judges and jurors who administer justice to our own troops, and subject to civilian review. In addition, the military commissions system balances the interest of the accused with the safety of our nation as a whole in this time of war."

Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) issued a joint statement giving Obama credit for coming around on the issue and ultimately determining that military tribunals are the right place to try 9/11 conspirators.

"While we know this was a difficult step for the President and is not what the Attorney General intended when he first announced that KSM and his cohorts would be tried in a civilian criminal court in New York in November 2009, it is the right decision and we strongly commend the President and the Attorney General for reaching this decision, as we and many others have called for," they said.

Other prominent Senate Democrats who had loyally supported Obama's efforts to shutter Guantanamo Bay, such as Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), expressed disappointment after Holder's U-turn.

"I am disappointed with the decision not to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a Federal court," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT). "I believe that our justice system, which is the envy of the world, is more than capable of trying high-profile terrorism and national security cases. Federal courts have convicted hundreds of terrorists. The record in military commissions pales in comparison, with only a handful of convictions, and the ground rules still in flux."

Source http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/obama-praised-pummeled-on-gitmo-and-ksm.php

Obama Calls Biden on Libya

2011-03-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

Vice President Joe Biden was 45 minutes late for an education event in Washington Tuesday morning, and he blamed President Barack Obama. Mr. Biden said the president, who is on the last leg of a trip to South and Central America, surprised him with a call from Air Force One to discuss the military operation in Libya.

The vice president said Mr. Obama, who was en route to El Salvador from Chile, convened the previously unscheduled conference call with his national security team to discuss the U.S.-led operation, which is drawing criticism from Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Mr. Obama has said he wants to hand off leadership of military operations in Libya within a matter of days.

Mr. Biden apologized to the audience at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, explaining that when the president calls from Air Force One, “you take the call.”

Source http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/03/22/obama-calls-biden-on-libya/

Romney aims direct hits against Obama

2011-03-08T01:45:00.000-08:00

Speaking Saturday evening in the key primary state, New Hampshire, Mitt Romney showed that his presumptive campaign for the Republican presidential nomination is getting underway in earnest as he relentlessly attacked President Obama's performance in office.

He described Mr. Obama as "a president that is unprepared and unequal to the task of leading the free world."

He further criticized the Obama administration's handling of turmoil in the Middle East:

"And now, with the entire Middle East in turmoil, he and his administration were caught off guard. The President and his team look like deer in the headlights. Instead of leading the world, the President has been tiptoeing behind the Europeans. Newsweek magazine this week said that he hasn't just lost his foreign policy map for the Middle East--he doesn't even have one. This is the first time in a quarter of a century that America has had no discernible foreign policy. Not since the days of Jimmy Carter have we had such a foreign policy vacuum in Washington. And it could not have come at a worse time."

Romney, who has not yet declared that he will seek the nomination, also hit Mr. Obama on the economy and health care. He remarked on the trillion dollar debt that the U.S. has amassed since Obama went into office.

"Senator Obama campaigned hard in New Hampshire, but he apparently didn't like what he saw," Romney says in prepared remarks. "He certainly didn't learn from it. Instead of lowering taxes, he raised them. He wrapped businesses in red tape, he grew government, he borrowed trillions of dollars, and he made it clear that he doesn't like business people very much."

He blamed the soaring numbers of unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies on Obama, calling it the "Obama Misery Index".

"He created a deeper recession, and delayed the recovery. The consequence is soaring numbers of Americans enduring unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies. This is the Obama Misery Index, and it is at a record high. It's going to take more than new rhetoric to put Americans back to work -- it's going to take a new president," said Romney.

Romney also said he would repeal the health care bill passed by Congress.

"I would repeal Obamacare, if I were ever in a position to do so. My experience has taught me that states are where healthcare programs for the uninsured should be crafted, just as the Constitution provides. Obamacare is bad law, bad policy, and it is bad for America's families," he said.

Source http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20039718-503544.html

The irony of Obama’s ‘help’ for Wisconsin teachers

2011-02-21T23:37:00.000-08:00

For two years, President Obama has been pushing school reform that has demonized public school teachers. Now he has injected himself on the side of teachers into the confrontation in Wisconsin, where the new Republican governor is trying to pass emergency legislation that would drastically cut collective bargaining rights.

Obama’s support is ironic, given that teachers’ collective bargaining rights have already been undermined by his education reform policies.

Obama, a few days ago, threw his political machine onto the side of teachers who are helping to lead a protest movement in Wisconsin over Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to cut benefits and take away collective bargaining rights from labor. Madison public schools have been closed for several days because teachers called in sick, and the state Capitol building has been filled with protesters.

The public rationale for the assault on collective bargaining rights -- which is moving to other states as well -- is based on the premise that unions are at least partly responsible for the fiscal problems states find themselves in. My Post colleague Ezra Klein shows how untrue this is in this post: “Blame the banks. Blame global capital flows. Blame lax regulation of Wall Street. Blame home buyers, or home sellers. But don’t blame the unions. Not for this recession.”

The thing is that it has become all too easy to blame public school teachers. They and their unions have become the chief villain in the “what went wrong with public education” narrative under the Obama administration. It matters not that the problems in public education found in union states are identical to the problems found in non-union states (which you can read about here in a post that looks in depth at this).

In a number of ways, Obama’s education policies have gone a long way toward undermining the position of public school teachers and, separately, their unions.

The Obama administration, through its Race to the Top competition, dangled federal money to encourage the expansion of charter schools, which are largely non-union. It has provided verbal and cash support for teacher training programs that have as their distinguishing feature not the fact that they are anti-union (which they are) but that they believe a young person with little training is “highly qualified” to teach the neediest students.

And it has made standardized tests the main measurement of students, schools and, now, teachers. This obsession has bastardized the entire learning process, narrowing curriculum, fostering cheating scandals, harming real student achievement and putting teachers in a position of being blamed for things for which they are not responsible.

The administration has squeezed unions into accepting assessment schemes that link student standardized test scores to a varying but significant percentage of a teacher’s pay -- even though research shows that outside influences play at least as much a role in how a student does on a test as a teacher. Also ignored: Research showing the unreliability of systems that use scores to evaluate how much “value” a teacher has brought to a student.

What Obama’s policies have not done to any serious degree is provide support so that teachers are properly trained and developed, and so that teacher assessments fairly evaluate whether a teacher belongs in a classroom.

The popular perception of unions is that they have flat-out fought the administration at every turn. Not true. Local unions have in fact worked with management around the country to experiment with such “value-added” systems in an effort to cooperate with management and to avoid being seen as opposing modern reform.

Such cooperation was praised by Education Secretary Arne Duncan at a conference he convened in Denver to showcase cooperation between teachers unions and management in districts around the country.

Why anyone thinks it is a positive for local unions to cooperate on an assessment model shown to have serious flaws is a mystery to me.

If Obama can help teachers unions keep their collective bargaining rights from disappearing under Republican assault, good for him and them. That doesn’t eliminate the harm his policies have done already to teachers and their profession.

Source http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/race-to-the-top/the-irony-of-obamas-help-for-w.html

That brief time out from heated discourse? No more

2011-02-13T23:51:00.000-08:00

President Barack Obama? Weak, a socialist and a liar. Liberals? Monsters and a cancer. Former Vice President Dick Cheney? Called a war criminal, "murdering scum" and a draft dodger — by people in his own party.

Just a month after the Arizona shooting rampage led to bipartisan calls for toned-down political discourse, incivility suffused the year's largest gathering of conservatives. Just like at most partisan get-togethers on either end of the ideological spectrum.

The brief political time out is over — if it ever really existed.

"All right, sit down and shut up," Cheney said after being greeted by hecklers when he made a surprise appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Supporters shouted down the insults with a "U.S.A." chant, and a visibly annoyed Cheney brushed off the outbursts.

Such incivility didn't overwhelm the conference, which is a rite of passage for presidential contenders, right-leaning media personalities and grass-roots activists. But it kept popping up throughout the three-day affair in speeches by names big and not so big.

That's not to say liberals would have been any more civil at their own event, and the tone at the conservative gathering was arguably no different from what it's been in the past. After all, it's what these events are for.

On both the left and the right, hard-core ideologues are the ones who attend such conferences, and agendas are set with that audience in mind. Verbal bomb-throwing is the norm from speakers who serve up political red meat to highly partisan crowds that devour it.

This weekend's conference was a sign of a return to normalcy in the wake of the shootings that wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and killed six in January. That attack touched off a national debate about overheated political rhetoric. Politicians of all stripes, Obama included, pleaded for a more civil discourse.

The GOP's top elected leaders — House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — set a respectful tone in their speeches to the conservative gathering.

So did many of the Republicans likely to run for president.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who referred to Obama only once, confronted the issue of "the venomous, petty, often ad hominem political discourse of the day." He urged conservatives to be more thoughtful in their rhetoric.

Yet even as he invoked Ronald Reagan's admonishment, "Remember, we have no enemies, only opponents," Daniels slapped at Democrats: "Our opponents are better at nastiness than we will ever be. It comes naturally." He also told conservatives to embrace a nicer approach — for political gain.

"The public is increasingly disgusted with a steady diet of defamation, and prepared to reward those who refrain from it," he said. "It would help if they liked us, just a bit."

Other likely presidential contenders openly denigrated Obama — his policies, his politics, his ability to lead.

Ex-Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum suggested the president lies. "This is someone who doesn't believe in truth and evil in America," he said.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann said the country has seen Obama "usher in socialism" and she branded his health care law "the crown jewel of socialism."

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said that under Obama, "an uncertain world has been made more dangerous by the lack of clear direction from a weak president."

It wasn't all personal; some was just business. Yet much of the criticism relief on words and phrases that liberals tend to find offensive and conservatives wield specifically to score political points.

The false rumors about Obama's heritage surfaced.

"I'm not one who questions the president's birth certificate and the existence of his birth certificate," said former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. "But when you listen to his policies, don't you at least wonder what planet he's from?"

Laughter and applause followed that. And after Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador's quip that he "was fortunate enough to be an American citizen by birth, and I have the birth certificate to prove it."

The most pointed attacks came from sharp-tongued commentators, as is usually the case.

Andrew Breitbart, an activist who runs a conservative media company, assailed people from liberal groups such as ACORN, Code Pink and unions. "Hate-filled, racist sheep," he called them.

"These people I've confronted are monsters," he said.

Pundit Ann Coulter took aim at Obama using Democrats' poor fortunes in November's congressional elections. "The way things are going, Obama may want to look into becoming the president of Egypt. Nobody would complain about him being a Muslim then," she said to cheers. Obama was born in Hawaii and is a Christian.

Like previous years, insults dotted Coulter's speech.

"In honor of the new spirit of civility, I thought I would point out that under mean, divisive George Bush a nuclear sub was named after Jimmy Carter," she said sarcastically — and then proceed to bash the former Democratic president.

She lumped Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in with "overbearing, out-of-touch, despots."

Asked about her least favorite Democrat, she said: "That's like asking my least favorite disease ... Cancer."

In the end, modern politics is predictable — two parties, drawing distinctions, each saying it's better because the alternative is worse. If this weekend showed anything, it was that the 2012 presidential campaign has begun — no better than usual, but perhaps no worse, either.

Source http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h6GoDxIJjmNGgD-lKm8N-z17FWQA?docId=2f805f1e9cb341df9865a73989ca74fb

Obama Beer

2011-02-07T23:33:00.000-08:00

Craft beer and home brewing are quite the rage right now, and it seems the First Family has caught the fever.

At their Super Bowl party last night (we here Obama was rooting for the Steelers), the President and First Lady served White House Honey Ale, a beer brewed specially by a staff chef with one pound of honey harvested this year from the White House bee hive.

Also on tap, Yuengling Lager and Light (really?), and Hinterland Pale and Amber ales and a Luna Stout. The Yuengling hails from Pennsylvania while the Hinterland is from Wisconsin. Very diplomatic. The guest list included J. Lo and her husband Mark Anthony and the menu was chock full of typical grub: chili, buffalo wings, brats and kielbasa, cheeseburgers, deep dish pizza, potato salad, chips, pretzels, plenty of dip, ice cream and of course, the Mrs. O-approved salad.

“It’s awesome that they’re home brewing,” Suzanne Schalow, co-owner with Kate Baker of the Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont, said by phone this morning. “The White House is home brewing!”

Baker - she and Schalow met and worked together at beer heaven Cambridge Common before opening this suburban shop last year - agreed. “I think (the Obamas) really hit the mark,” she said, saying the beer would have paired well with the game day menu, especially the wings.”

And - if the first couple liked the flavor of their honey beer - Baker and Schalow had another, local recommendation: Brother Adam’s Honey Bragget Ale. Put out by Maine’s Atlantic Brewing Company, it features local honey and is cellared for up to a year before it’s bottled.

Source http://bostonherald.com/blogs/lifestyle/fork_lift/?p=3784

Tips to cut salt but keep flavor in New Year dishes

2011-02-01T21:40:00.000-08:00

With the Lunar New Year drawing closer, the public was urged by the Bureau of Health Promotion (BHP) TO use less seasoning in festive food, as part of efforts to promote healthy eating during the holiday period.

The BHP released a series of online tips on how to reduce the amount of sodium used in cooking.

The bureau promoted the substitution of fresh, natural ingredients for traditionally popular preserved foods such as pickled cabbage and ham.

Popular high-sodium dressings such as barbecue sauce, bean paste and black vinegar can be replaced with fresh fruit juice like lemon, pineapple and tomato, which adds acidity and flavor to food, according to the BHP.

Chin Hui-min, a health nutritionist, said that since the tongue responds to different tastes, such as salt, sour, bitter, sweet and savory, one strategy for making a dish tasty without using salt is to highlight sweetness using vegetables and fruit.

For example, Chin said, when cooking braised pork, green onions, garlic, ginger and other low-cost vegetables are great alternatives for giving flavor to dishes.

The maximum amount of sodium intake per person per day should not exceed 2400 milligrams, which is equal to about 6 grams, or one teaspoon, of culinary salt, according to the bureau's website.

Source http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aLIV&ID=201101310014

Healthy Foods: 7 Ways to Be a Healthier Shopper

2011-01-27T00:19:00.000-08:00

When you read a nutrition label, what do you look for first? If you're like many Americans, you answered "calories."

Calories are important, but what if you turned around two labels without knowledge of the products and realized that per serving, each had only 100 calories. Both seem pretty harmless. But consider that 18 large strawberries and 11 small gummy bears each have about 100 calories. The strawberries are full of fiber, potassium, folate and vitamin C -- nutrients that will enhance your health. The gummy bears are full of sugar, and other than a few gel stabilizers, nothing else. Although both are 100 calories, the quality of those calories isn't even comparable. Understanding the 100-calorie example and adapting a few other rules may be all you need to be savvy grocery store shopper.

If the ingredients are whole and understandable to the average individual (not a scientist) then you can assess the numbers and make your decision on whether to buy the product or not. The more ingredients the product has, the more likely it's not a great option for you. I see this all time with energy/protein bars.

A popular brand that many of my clients purchase has about 53 ingredients in it, many of which I can't even pronounce. The bar I choose to keep at my desk has three ingredients -- dates, almonds and unsweetened cherries. It tastes great, has about the same calories as the other bar (and even a little more healthy fat).

Source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristin-kirkpatrick-ms-rd-ld/healthy-foods-7ways_b_813050.html?ir=Food#s228894&title=Its_More_About

Senior Health: Tips for healthy skin in winter

2011-01-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

As age increases, people are more prone to dry and itchy skin, bruises in odd places, wrinkles, age spots, skin tags and abnormal moles. While aging cannot be reversed, maintaining proper care equals healthy skin and, more importantly, healthy people.

Cynthia Fleck is a registered nurse and vice president of clinical marketing for Advanced Skin and Wound Care at Medline, which manufactures and distributes skin care products for seniors. Fleck suggests:

Avoid a daily shower or bath, which contributes to dry skin.
Moisturize on a daily basis with advanced skin care products.
Take care to avoid injuries that can tear or disrupt the skin.
Stay out of the sun as much as possible. Wear protective clothing, wide-brimmed hats and sunscreen when outside.
Be aware of special skin care needs that often accompany some common diseases, such as diabetes.
Avoid strong antibacterial soaps with a high pH level, astringents and products that contain alcohol.
Moisturize your hands after using a sanitizer or soap.

Source http://www.bcdemocratonline.com/lifestyle/x471098859/Senior-Health-Tips-for-healthy-skin-in-winter

Health and Wellness in the New Year

2011-01-09T22:47:00.000-08:00

Folks are joining gyms and starting those new diets, but you can also make sure you are informed about how to lead a healthy life.

A Health and Wellness Expo in Clear Lake showed folks the different ways they can take care of themselves.

There are almost 30 vendors informing visitors about everything from financial wellness, to diet and exercise, even beauty tips.

Organizers say this is something everyone is the community can benefit from.

The obesity rate of adults over twenty in the united states is 34 percent.

Event Organizer Dalena Barz says that's something this event is aiming to help.

Barz says, "we hear a lot about how the health and wellness of the country is not that good. So we are just trying to facilitate a way for people to come in and find out some ways they can improve their health and wellness."

Barz says they wanted to do it around this time so they could help people keep those New Year's resolutions.

As many as forty five percent of Americans make resolutions and many of those are to lose weight or exercise.

Source http://www.kimt.com/content/localnews/story/Health-and-Wellness-in-the-New-Year/NqrogEsp2U-0dQjLT4C4Uw.cspx

Oracle Prepping for Server OS Domination

2010-12-08T02:17:00.001-08:00

Oracle is planning to take over the world. Or, at the very least, the server OS world. That's the logical conclusion to reach after hearing the recent comments of Larry Ellison, Oracle's bombastic CEO. "Solaris is clearly the No. 1 Unix, and we're working very hard at making Oracle Enterprise Linux the number one Linux," InfoWorld reported he said at a company event last week.

Being the "No. 1 Unix" is a deliberately vague claim, and it's perhaps not surprising that HP, for one, took issue with it. Noises from HP's UNIX camp are that there's been a steady flow of defections from Solaris to HP-UX, HP's own-label UNIX server OS, for some time, and it shows no signs of stopping.

As HP wrote in its response last week:

HP is the No. 1 provider of enterprise servers in the world ... Larry Ellison bought a money-losing business that had steady market share declines for years, and which still ranks at the bottom of the market. Customers aren't fooled by outdated benchmarks, no matter what Oracle says. HP's market share results prove it. Sun customers are running to HP in droves because they recognize we deliver superior technology, performance and pricing,

Clearly the state of uncertainty over the future of Sun for the past year or two contributed to these defections, but it looks like Oracle believes it is now ready to fight back with the new, beefed-up Solaris 11 UNIX server OS it was touting last week and which is slated for release some time next year.

According to John Fowler, Oracle's vice president of systems, Solaris 11 will be "a complete reworking of the enterprise OS," with improvements in availability, security and virtualization. And that's not to mention the scalability and performance enhancements: Solaris 11 will support hundreds of processors and thousands of cores as well as the ability to run entire databases in memory.

Availability enhancements will include the ability to boot a Solaris server in a matter of seconds, and to update the server in many circumstances with the need for a reboot. The server OS will also have fault and application service management facilities that will enable failed applications and services to be quickly restarted.

When it comes to security, the upgraded Unix server OS will include secure boot, so applications and data are secure as they start. The OS will also enforce role-based root access and encrypt ZFS datasets to provide extra security to stored data.

As far as virtualization is concerned, Fowler said network virtualization would be included along with storage (and server) virtualization.

Given that Oracle acquired Sun less than a year ago, it would be hard to argue that Oracle has not pulled out all the stops to "completely rework" Solaris so quickly. Of course, Oracle does have plenty of engineers (and cash) at its disposal, and much of the work may have been done by Sun engineers before Oracle acquired it. That's assuming, of course, Oracle wasn't already working on Solaris source code on the sly before it got its mitts on Solaris.

Still, HP is not exactly quaking in its boots following the announcement of Solaris 11 -- or, if it is, it's not letting on. One can also suspect that Red Hat is not exactly looking around for clean trousers either, despite Oracle's avowed aim to make Oracle Enterprise Linux the No. 1 penguin.

But Oracle clearly means business, and it has an impressive track record. When a company like that aims to dominate the server OS space, it behooves the likes of HP and Red Hat to sit up and start thinking very seriously about what they are going to do about it.

Source http://www.serverwatch.com/eur/article.php/3916056/Oracle-Prepping-for-Server-OS-Domination.htm

Obama suffers basketball injury; Gets 12 stitches

2010-11-30T23:08:00.000-08:00

The White House says President Barack Obama has received 12 stitches in his lip after being hit during a pick up basketball game.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says the president was inadvertently struck by someone's elbow Friday.

The president received the stitches in the doctor's office on the ground floor of the White House. Obama had traveled to Fort McNair with a group of family and friends for an early morning game of basketball.

Obama is a sports fan, roots for his hometown Chicago teams and has often gone golfing in addition to playing basketball.

Source http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/nov/30/us-obama/

Antalya to host International Golf Travel Market 2011

2010-11-25T00:19:00.000-08:00

International Golf Travel Market (IGTM) announced that Belek, in the Antalya region of Turkey, will host the 14th edition of the world's premier global event for golf tourism suppliers, buyers and media, from November 14-17, 2011.

Belek, one of the fastest growing and most successful golf destinations in the world, close to the cosmopolitan city of Antalya on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, boasts 14 world-class golf venues, featuring signature designed golf courses by Sir Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie, among others, plus a wealth of high quality hotels.

Öner Uygun of Millennium Golf, commented: "We are delighted to be selected as the host of IGTM, which is a globally important event, and look forward to welcoming the industry's leading golf tourism suppliers, buyers, official dignitaries and media from across the globe to Belek and Antalya.

"Since the opening of Belek's first golf course, The National Golf Course, and the establishment of the Turkish Golf Association, in the early 1990s, Belek has benefited from huge investment with 14 top golf courses attracting a large and growing number of international visitors. In 2009, 349,000 rounds of golf were played, while 400,000 rounds were played in the first ten months of 2010.

Belek, on the Mediterranean coast, just 30 kilometres from Antalya airport, is at the heart of Turkish golf. The hotels are all 4 and 5-star standard and offer an excellent range of leisure facilities, with plenty to explore in the surrounding area.

"The climate has proven to be a clear attraction to Turkey, with people first visiting the country for its sun, sand and sea, as well as its historical and cultural appeal," added Öner Uygun. "With the added benefits of high standards of service and accommodation, good value for money, and of course, a fantastic range of international standard golf courses, we are confident that visitors to Turkey and next year's IGTM will have a great experience."

Mark Walsh, Group Exhibition Director of Reed Travel Exhibitions, said: "Turkey, the 2008 IAGTO Best Golf Destination winner, and Belek Antalya, in particular, has enjoyed spectacular recent success and now is the right time to host the world's largest gathering of golf tourism professionals in this exciting destination.

"The quality of the golf courses and resorts in Belek is outstanding, and combined with an excellent conference facility, The Antalya Expo Centre, we have all the necessary logistics to make IGTM 2011 a global success."

Antalya boasts the world's 26th busiest international airport with nearly 10 million passengers in 2010, an increase of more than 23% year-on-year.

IGTM will take place November 14-17, 2011, the week after the World Travel Market, London, also a Reed Travel Exhibitions event.

For more information about IGTM, please visit: www.igtm.co.uk or visit www.iagto.com

Source http://www.ftnnews.com/content/view/10925/33/