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- Venezuelan legislators allied with President Hugo Chavez showed a videotape today they said is evidence the CIA was working with dissidents to overthrow the government of the oil-rich South American country. The video, shown at a news conference at Venezuela's... |
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- Venezuelan legislators allied with President Hugo Chavez showed a videotape today they said is evidence the CIA was working with dissidents to overthrow the government of the oil-rich South American country. The video, shown at a news conference at Venezuela's Congress, featured three men speaking in Spanish about espionage, making contacts with an unspecified embassy, and avoiding detection. The identities of those on the tape were unknown. Governing party legislator Nicolas Maduro said the video showed U.S. |
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- Excerpt: "The guidance does not forbid applying the ruling to lodging expenses, but it also does not mention them in the same manner as it does travel and entertainment expenses. David Fuller, a partner at the Washington, D.C. office of McDermott, Will & Emery ... |
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- Excerpt: "Officials at Drugstore.com, the largest online pharmacy in the United States, on Thursday announced plans to launch a new public education campaign, called 'Safe Shopper,' to warn consumers about 'rogue' Web sites that 'specialize in selling painkillers and other dangerous drugs' and help them to identify legitimate online pharmacies, the Washington Post reports." (KaiserNetwork.org) |
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- Excerpt: "Presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) on Thursday announced a 10-year, $3. |
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- Excerpt: "A group of Democratic senators on Thursday called for an 'immediate vote' on a mental health parity bill (S 486) supported by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), who died last October in a plane crash, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports ..." (KaiserNetwork. |
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- Excerpt: "MetLife ... bolsters the case for life insurance with a recent study analyzing the long-term financial impact for surviving spouses after a mate's premature death." (BenefitNews.com) |
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- Excerpt: "The United States needs a policy to address the 'anticipated heavy costs' of providing long-term care to a growing population of older individuals and people with disabilities, AARP officials said Wednesday during an international forum on long-term care sponsored by AARP, CongressDaily/AM reports." (KaiserNetwork.org) |
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- 18 pages; summary at http://www. gao. gov/highlights/d04191thigh. |
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- Excerpt: "The report, conducted by the Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute, states co-payments have increased in both mail and retail segments. Average mail co-payments for first-tier drugs rose 16% from 2001 to 2002, second-tier witnessed a 20% increase and third-tier a 10% jolt. In the retail category, co-payments rose by approximately 10% overall." (BenefitNews. |
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- Excerpt: "Answer: Yes. Regardless of whether annual open enrollment is offered under your plan, there are special enrollment rules under HIPAA that generally apply (with some exceptions) to group health plans like your insured major medical plan. These rules require group health plans to permit mid-year enrollment of employees and their dependents in certain circumstances. |
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- Excerpt: "Like France and Germany, Italy is trying to reform its pensions system which swallows about 15 percent of gross domestic product. That proportion is set to grow as low birth rates and longer life expectancy age the country's population." (Reuters via Yahoo! News) |
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- 12 pages. Excerpt: "On August 14 and 15, 2003, 47 public and private sector professionals convened for the roundtable discussion entitled 'Prevention and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity: Toward a Roadmap for Advocacy and Action.' The roundtable was jointly sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Association of Health Plans, HealthPartners, and the Washington Business Group on Health. |
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- Excerpt: "While Kroger clerks vote on a contract offer, the grocer is advertising in Indianapolis for temporary help in case of a strike. Employees at Kroger stores throughout Indiana began voting Thursday on a contract providing more limited health care benefits than previous labor agreements." (IndyStar.com) |
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- Excerpt: "If Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons succeed at mimicking the Wal-Mart approach, it will pull down America's middle-class standard of living and signal other companies, whether unionized or not, that it's time to go to war against working families." (Kelly Candaele & Peter Dreier in The Nation) |
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- Excerpt: "The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to block the Treasury from issuing regulations allowing companies to convert from traditional pensions to cash balance plans in a way that hurts older workers. The voice vote follows a similar move in the House of Representatives ... |
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- He deserves "extreme facial distress." Let's see if I have this straight: freak stalks Britney, Britney gets restraining order, freak... |
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- Topic Exchange <--> WebOutliner. I made some changes to the topic listings page on the Topic Exchange yesterday, and now Marc Barrot has got the WebOutliner to display recent posts. To check it out, go to the WebOutliner and click on the 'World' tab in the box on the right-hand side. You'll get a menu - pick one of the Topic Exchange items to get an outline containing the top 50 topics (ranked by the criteria you selected). |
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- Wired: "The notion of Amazon scanning all of its books but allowing users to search only those they own is a clever way around the central barrier to creating a digital archive: Copyrights are distributed among tens of thousands of publishers and authors. But when Manber told Bezos his idea, he found the Amazon founder ready to work on a grander scale. Bezos wanted his customers to be able to search everything. |
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- Phone wars 2 - Nokia plans attack on Microsoft's PocketPC turf. Revenge of the Javi? [The Register] |
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- Three R's: Reading, Writing, RFID. Undeterred by fretful privacy advocates, a charter school in Buffalo has adopted RFID technology to track student attendance. The school's chief says it's all in the name of safety and efficiency. By Julia Scheeres. |
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- Earth put on solar storm alert. A huge cloud of superhot gas from the Sun is expected to strike Earth and could affect satellites, communications and power systems. [BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition] |
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- My Bible God-log for today is given at this link, titled God Revives You! God's might to you today. Another God-log, Bible-blog by Joe ______________________________ |
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blogs (Oct 24 2003 16:58 GMT) - Topic Exchange <--> WebOutliner. I made some changes to the topic listings page on the Topic Exchange yesterday, and now Marc Barrot has got the WebOutliner to display recent posts. To check it out, go to the WebOutliner and click on the 'World' tab in the box on the right-hand side. |
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- Yesterday, antiwar protester Larry Purcell started serving a 45-day jail term as punishment for his role in a non-violent protest... |
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- Gabe: PA reader Glaximus recently had the opportunity to attend a PR presentation for the Phantom console in Florida. He was kind enough to write up his thoughts on the event for us. Here is a little clip... |
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- Last post by tim_e on 17:50 24/Oct/03 - http://www. |
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- Last post by tim_e on 17:44 24/Oct/03 - Isn't the annual festival of moaning by tedious wankers, denouncement of it all as "rubbish" |
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- Last post by Ray Rumkee on 16:01 24/Oct/03 - --------------------- htt bbc. |
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heavy (Oct 24 2003 16:58 GMT) - Last post by chris r on 11:28 24/Oct/03 - http://story. |
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- Caroline Glick has a cogent analysis of Mahathir Mohamad's speech to the Organization of the Islamic Conference: |
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- Excerpt: " The Senate agreed Thursday to block the Treasury Department from permitting companies to convert from traditional pensions to 'cash balance' plans in a way that hurts older workers." (Reuters via New York Times; one-time registration required) |
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- Excerpt: "Population changes alone will likely drive private health plans to get more involved with the federal Medicare program for the elderly and disabled, the head of one of the nation's largest health insurers said Wednesday." (Reuters via Yahoo! News) |
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- Excerpt: "[I]n reforming the health care system, about 4 in 10 respondents say that 'making health care more affordable' should be the top priority, followed by 'providing basic health insurance coverage to all Americans' (34%)." (The United States Chamber of Commerce) |
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- Excerpt: "Part 1: A Vast, Unregulated Shadow Market; Part 2: How the Internet Became a Pipeline for Deadly Drugs; |
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- Excerpt: "Although U.S. law bans nearly all imports of foreign medications, Americans are bringing in those drugs in record numbers. Mexico, Canada and other countries have become the discount pharmacies for many Americans, those looking simply to save money as well as the uninsured struggling to pay for their medications. |
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- Excerpt: "A powerful congressman heading House-Senate negotiations over Medicare has drawn up the outlines of a legislative plan embracing several polarizing changes that House conservatives want. The most contentious proposal eventually would force Medicare to compete for patients directly against private health plans." (Washington Post) |
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- Excerpt: "[A] senior Food and Drug Administration official said yesterday that the agency won't sue cities and states that set up plans to bring in the unapproved drugs." (Boston Globe) |
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- Excerpt: "The most vehement protests centered on an aspect of the House bill that eventually would require the traditional version of the program to compete with private health plans based on price. Proponents of that competitive arrangement, known as premium support, say that it would encourage people to join private health plans and drive down costs; critics predict it would end up costing more for patients who remain in the traditional fee-for-service program ..." (Washington Post) |
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- Bruce Schneir is unimpressed by the "Total Information Awareness " initiative. Several companies I've recently seen have described their involvement in this programme. |
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- Failing hard disks, new media toy, and more.... |
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