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One of the very best things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. And what a pleasure it must be to be able to touch peoples lives and please them with our cooking.

Now gourmet cooking does not really mean complicated dishes presented with extravagant grandeur. The beauty of gourmet recipes is in their simplicity, their freshness and of course presentation. It incorporates creating a subtle balance of flavours and taking your guests on a culinary experience that they will never forget.

I know you may feel that that gourmet meals are beyond your reach, what with all the skill involved in preparing the food and the fast paced lifestyle that we are now resigned to follow. Where will you find the time to learn the art that is gourmet cooking and then to prepare meals that require such careful preparation and precision in the jam packed schedule that you have?

So here’s something that will make you feel a lot better. ITS NOT ALL THAT DIFFICULT!

Daunting as it may seem, gourmet cooking is essentially making use of the best possible ingredients, creating a dish that pleases your senses (even if it is as simple as mashed potatoes) and presenting it with flair. There is a history behind every dish waiting to be explored. Every corner of this world, every culture, every country has something new to contribute to your food adventure. And knowing and exploring this uniqueness of each cuisine, understanding the key ingredients of every dish and just experimenting and trying new recipes is what makes you a gourmet cook. It doesn’t have to be about complicated techniques, expensive ingredients and pretentious plating. Regional specialties cooked slowly with care and attention are gourmet cooking. When most food is fast food, slow food is gourmet food.

You can join a course to learn the basic skills, or refer cook-books that will offer a wide variety of content on techniques, skills and recipes, but in the end just like any other art form, gourmet cooking is instinctive. You just need to widen your horizon in term of your food experience and begin your culinary adventure that will last a lifetime. In the end cooking is about the heart. It’s about love and pleasing people. It’s about your passion for food. And eventually its all about YOU.

For more of Mishi’s recipe picks, cooking tips and food thoughts visit her blog at http://cooking-gourmet.com/

Technorati estimates in its recent State of the Blogosphere that it has indexed 133 million blogs since 2002. And yet there are thousands of new blogs born daily. Some of them last and some of them don’t. They don’t last because the blog publisher gives up before they even really get started. Or they die a fast death due to the blogger not doing what is needed to make sure their blog succeeds.

Many, if not most of the people I talk to about blogging ask the same question, “how can I compete with 133 million blogs and get traffic on mine?” First of all, you are not competing with 133 million. Yes, there may be 133 million blogs being indexed by Technorati. The question you need to consider, how many of those blogs are even active. Do they post any longer and did they ever post to them. I would venture the guess the answer is no. Yes, there are a lot of blogs out there. But there are ways to make sure your blog will be successful.

The first thing you need to do is to make sure your blog does not fail before it even gets started. And you need to be aware of why blogs fail.

Here are some of the reasons blogs fail

1. Not setting clearly defined goals

There are a number of reasons you might want to start a blog for your business. However, before you start, what are you wanting to accomplish with your blog. Is it to reach out and connect with your customers and/or clients. Carry on a conversation with them about your products or services. Give your customers and/or clients a way to give you feedback or input on your business. Do you want a blog so you can have a way to “advertise” your wares or services? Or are you wanting a way to market by using an educational based marketing tool where you provide information to your audience so they are better informed. Are you wanting to drive traffic to your business Web site, increase subscriptions to a newsletter or other company publication. Or are you wanting to get people to talk about you either in the press or on other blogs.

No matter what the goal of your blog might be, the key is to set some and make sure they are clearly defined. You want you and your team to know exactly what you are wanting to accomplish by investing your time and resources in this type of marketing tool. Having clearly defined goals is also a must, if you ever expect to be able to calculate your return on your investment in doing a blog.

Recently on Altitude Branding, Amber had a great post called, ROI Begins At The End. In the post she makes this statement:

You cannot calculate a return on anything unless you know whether or not your goals – and your definitions of both Return and Investment – are the right ones. As a marketer or a communicator, you may determine that you want to drive traffic to your site, increase subscriptions to your newsletter, get people to blog about you.

We’ve often measured success in marketing based on eyeballs. Awareness. These things are measurable. But sometimes they’re based in our own corporate egos. Is that what makes your customers do business with you? Do you know for sure that those 25 blog post mentions are moving them closer to you? Is it enough to increase their affinity to your brand, or is a sale the only metric that “really counts”? What about the journey toward that sale? Does that have value?

You have to have clearly defined goals if you ever expect to know if you are getting a return on your investment. So many, no make that too many bloggers are so hung up on the numbers, they are completely missing what is truly important when measuring ROI. Does what I am doing matter to the customer? The secret of good marketing is about one thing – your customers. Nothing else matters.

That quote comes from one of the best post I have read in a long time about content, Creating Relevant Content Is About One Thing. They go on to give four questions you should be asking yourself:

o What keeps your customer up at night?

o How do they keep themselves educated in order to do their jobs better?

o What channels (online, print, in-person, mobile, etc.) do they use to get their information?

o How do they engage with each channel? When you are considering the goals you have for your business blog, you have to ask yourself those 4 questions. And you need to ask whether your own goals match up with all four of them. If they don’t, your blog is going to fail before it even gets started.

2. Unrealistic demands and expectations for your blog.

I am not going to sugar coat it one bit. To have a successful blog which is meeting your goals and getting noticed takes work. You are going to have to make the time to post to it a lot. If you can’t do it daily, you should be setting as your goal to post to it at least 3 or 4 times a week. The frequency of how many times you post also depends on how long the post are.

If you are doing short post which don’t take a lot of time, you should be able to crank those out pretty easy. If they are long, like this one (maybe a bit too long) you are going to have to set aside some time to sit down, research and write. If you don’t post to your blog, it is going to fail. You are not going to get the “ROI” you feel you should be getting and you will let it rot on a vine.  I am serious.

If you are not serious about making the time to post to your blog, don’t even start one. Go out and buy Yellow Page ads and put up a static Web site. Then when no calls come in, you can blame the Yellow Book and your web developer. But if you are serious about giving your customers and/or clients a way to get their hands on up to date, relevant content, do a blog. If you want to market and not just advertise, do a blog. If you want to develop a relationship with your visitors so they become readers and later customers and/or clients, do a blog.

A successful blog takes time and work. But it is well worth every bit of the effort and resources you allocated to it.

3. Not being prepared to doing research on what you should blog about and being consistent in your posting frequency.

Next to the claim that I don’t have time to blog, not knowing what to write about is the next reason I see business blogs fail. I have already talked about many ways you can keep on top of what to write about on your blog. Here are some ideas you can use to help you have things to write about.

o Read other blogs in your niche

o Blog about conferences you might go to

o Take client questions and make them a blog post

o Do some Keyword Research

o Invite guest bloggers or someone from inside your own organization to blog

o Do a book or product review

o Talk about new products or developments in your own business

o Do a reader poll and post about the results

o Tutorials on how to use your product

o FAQ’s you hear every single day in your business

These are just a few and I know you can think of more. You have to have a ready source of post ideas so your blog doesn’t fail for another reason and that is consistency in the frequency of your post. If you don’t post on a regular basis, you are not going to increase your readership and your blog will not last. You will loose interest in your blog almost as fast as your readers will.

4. Not having a way for your readers to communicate with you.

If you want to get my blood pressure up there are at least a couple of things you can do on your blog. One, not having comments and/or trackbacks at all. Two, making me login or register to leave a comment.

You have to give your readers some mechanism whereby they can give you feedback. You must give them a way to comment about a blog post or to give you feedback about you, your company and/or products. If you don’t, you are not blogging. In fact, I have always been of the position that a blog without commenting on it is not a blog at all. It is just an ego stroking tool for the blogger. It is a conversation, but only a one way conversation. That type of blog is not accomplishing as far as educating your audience in a way they feel they can participate in that education.

Most bloggers who don’t allow comments usually don’t out of fear. Fear that something may be said which they may not like or may harm them. I am not saying you should not moderate comments. What I am saying is you have to allow comments on your blog. Feedback or comments from your readers, good or bad creates a conversation and relationship between the reader and the business. Keep one thing in mind, the conversation and/or feedback is taking place somewhere, why not take the necessary steps so it takes place on your business’ blog?

5. Try to go at it on your own.

I would be the first one to admit, it is easy to setup a basic blog with such tools as TypePad, Blogger or WordPress. It is also easy to see how many of these DIY blogs are now dead and no longer serving any purpose but taking up good cyberspace.

The problem is that designing, launching and implementing a blog is not what you do for a living. You are in your particular business and you are good at it. You most likely don’t understand what potential complication there might be. You are not in a position to anticipate all of the contingencies or dependencies which might happen.

And are you in the position to know what you can do as far as taking the steps to increase your search engine placement? Do you want to spend four hours online trying to find the answer to a question which you could get answered by spending a half-hour or hour with a good blog coach?

If you are serious about your marketing and making sure you have a successful blog, I urge you to hire a blog consultant/coach and a design firm which makes this their business. Whether you hire me as your blog coach or my firm as your design firm, that is up to you. There are other great ones out there who do this type of work. The key is to hire one.

Finally, before you get too far in the process of setting up your blog, consider the above mentioned reasons why a business blog might fail. Consider in your own mind if you can set the necessary goals and stick to them or whether you may not be the right fit for a blog. Not every business should have a blog. However, if you are serious about using this type of marketing tool, and you use it right, I know you will have a successful blog. A blog which will get you results.

Grant Griffiths, G² Web Media president and founder used a niche specific blog to promote his law practice. His blog was so successful as a marketing tool that he stopped all other marketing, including using the Yellow Pages. Blogging enabled him to bring in new business on a weekly basis. In fact, Grant is so sold on the power of blogging, he formed G² Web Media to provide a complete blogging package for others who need such a marketing tool. He’s also a driving force behind numerous online resource sites including the popular Blog for Profit

Fashion designers help create the billions of clothing articles, shoes, and accessories purchased every year by consumers. Fashion designers working for apparel wholesalers or manufacturers create designs for the mass market. Fashion designers are the people who create the elegant, whimsical, fun, silly, and often expensive clothes we see parading down runways twice a year. Fashion designers design and create clothing and accessories for men, women and children. Some high-fashion designers are self-employed and design for individual clients. Other high-fashion designers cater to specialty stores or high-fashion department stores.

Fashion

Fashion design is the applied art dedicated to the design of clothing and lifestyle accessories created within the cultural and social influences of a specific time. Fashion designers have brought about a storm in this glamour world with their commendably fabulous variety. Fashion industry has always welcomed new talent giving rise to the budding stars of tomorrow. While all articles of clothing from any time period are studied by academics as costume design, only clothing created after 1858 could be considered as fashion design.

Before the former draper set up his maison couture (fashion house) in Paris, clothing design and creation was handled by largely anonymous seamstresses, and high fashion descended from that worn at royal courts. Throughout the early 20th century, practically all high fashion originated in Paris, and to a lesser extent London. At this time in fashion history the division between haute couture and ready-to-wear was not sharply defined.

Designers

Designers know they have this power, and will continue to use it to influence global fashions throughout the eras. These designers create original garments, as well as those that follow established fashion trends. Most fashion designers, however, work for apparel manufacturers, creating designs of men’s, women’s, and children’s fashions for the mass market. Designer brands which have a ‘name’ as their brand such as Calvin Klein or Ralph Lauren are likely to be designed by a team of individual designers under the direction of a designer director. Thus, the tradition of designers sketching out garment designs instead of presenting completed garments on models to customers began as an economy.

Popular Western styles were adopted all over the world, and many designers from outside of the West had a profound impact on fashion. Currently, modern fashion has seen a reference to technology such as designers Hussein Chalayan and Miuccia Prada who have introduced industrial textiles and modern technology into their fall collections. Mass market designers generally adapt the trends set by the famous names in fashion. Increasingly, many modern high-end designers are now beginning to turn to mass market retailers to produce lower-priced merchandise, and to broaden their customer base. Perhaps most importantly, designers use their imaginations to come up with new ideas.

There are a number of well known fashion design schools worldwide. Most fashion design courses last for three years. As well as teaching students about the artistic and technical side of the subject, some courses include a year working in the fashion industry, to give students a taste of commercial fashion design. Others offer the chance to visit fashion houses abroad.

Trishia Lopez is a successful Webmaster and publisher of www.TheFashionGurus.com. She provides more information about Fashion and fashion issues that you can research in your pajamas on her website.

Fly fishing is very different than fishing with a lure or worm type baits. The fly fisherman uses a artificial fly consisting of bites of feathers, foam, hide, fur, yarn, and other materials to be tried on to a hook that make it appealing to the type of fish you are catching.

Every fly fisherman has his own type of flies he like to use some purchase them and then some of us like to tie our own. Fly tying is more of an art with basic training which most people can learn over a short period of time.

Dry fly fishing is the best classic form of fishing. The artificial fly is cast so that it floats on the surface of the water. As the fly passes over the fish it will rise to the surface and strike or take the fly.

With the fly rod you will attempt to stop the fish from spitting out the fly and get it tired enough so you can land it in your net. With fly fishing you will see all the action as you cast the fly and play the fish for a strike. The fly is very visible on the surface to the fish. You will see the fish take the fly on the surface however trout and other fish tend to feed under water so if you see the fish rising to the surface it is time to use a dry fly.

Wet flies will sink under the surface of the water an may be passed in front of the fish there bye causing the fish too strike at the fly,

Nymph fishing is very popular after the flies lay eggs on lakes or in streams and they hatch out as nymphs. As the nymphs make their way to the surface the fish will take them. When they get to the surface they will hatch into a flies.

When nymph fishing the imitation nymphs you us will be weighted to stay below the surface of the water. This will be far more of a challenge for you as the action all take place under the surface of the water and you will not be able to see if a fish is about to strike.

Most fish can be caught on a fly but the most common are trout, salmon, chars, and most game fish. In most areas the trout are the most popular and you will find them feeding mostly on small insects in shallow water. If you live on the coast you find salmon fishing with a fly rod a very rewarding challenge. Hooking a 30 or 40 pound salmon on a fly rod will give you a work out running up and down the beach trying to play the fish out to land it .

The fly fishing sport has gained ever increasing popularity over the years. Most will agree it just not about catching the fish but in the delivery of the fly and the skill and knowledge in the pursuit.

Some fly fisherman regard fly fishing as the holy grail of fishing. It is more relaxing and some say a better past time than golf. The sport of fly fishing see people from all walks of life. Some say it is more environmentally friends than the other type of fishing because it does less harm to the fish then other styles of fishing.

The art of fly fishing will get in to your blood and you will peruse the quite of the streams or the solitude of the ocean beaches to capture you prey. Most anglers will catch and release if they are fly fishing.

Sammy Salmon has been having fun fishing for years and wants to share all his knowledge with you so be sure to visit him at Fishing-For-Fun [http://www.fishing-for-fun.net/]

Picture that you’re dining out with a date at a fine French restaurant. The menu may as well be Greek to you with its a les crèmes and en sauses beurres; and all you can think about is how to lose weight when you don’t know what to choose. Well, when it comes to knowing how to lose weight while dining out, for most people the menu may as well be in French. You see, restaurants are in the business of money, even if it comes at the cost of your waistline. If you want to eat healthy while dining out, read on and take notes. This simple guide will let you in on some common practices restaurants use to sell you fatty foods and sneak you those hefty extra calories.

Fast Food: Fried Onions and Tacos and Burgers, Oh My!

When you’re at the office or on the road, sometimes fast food is a necessary evil. Aside from staying away from the tempting treats, here are a few things that will keep your waist shrinking as you order up. Before you take a bite of that Mexican Salad, know what you are eating and if it fits into your particular dietary regiment. As restaurants are required by law to show the content of the food that they provide, most fast food restaurants chains will have this data available on their websites. Usually fast foods restaurants will have healthy choices available that you can pick from, such as salads, wraps, or food that was grilled or broiled, instead of fried. Request that high-fat and high-calorie dressings and condiments be replaced with a healthier choice or left out entirely; requesting mustard instead of mayo for instance. Remember to always choose the diet drinks over their sugary counterparts. Opting for a diet coke rather than a regular one will end up saving you a whole whopping 210 calories!

The Fatty Truth of Fine Dining

When eating at a fine restaurant, there are a few things that you should know about food preparation. One of the most important things to keep in mind about restaurant dining is the portion size. Restaurants have found that by increasing the portion size they can charge exponentially more for the meal. To avoid being served too much, ask the server for the portion size of the particular dish, or better yet, simply order from your menu’s appetizers. A soup as your entrée is an excellent choice, as it is very filling. Just be sure to stick to broth-based soups, and avoid those that are cream-based. When ordering meat, such as steak or port, be sure to ask your server what cut of meat is being served. Restaurants generally prefer fatty cuts of meat to lean cuts, because not only are they cheaper, but they taste better as well, thus allowing them to charge more.

Always ask the server how the food is prepared. Frying foods, or butter and oil-heavy cooking allows the restaurant to charge higher prices while saving money on the preparation. Don’t be fooled; if you don’t notice it on the menu, request specifically for your food to be cooked in a healthy manner such as broiled, steamed, grilled, baked, or roasted. Limit yourself to one drink per meal. Alcohol is very calorie heavy, and it lowers your inhibitions, which is the last thing you want to do while dieting. Give yourself ten to twenty minutes before ordering desert for your food to digest, so that you will be fuller and order less. Offer to split a dish with your companion, or look for healthy choices such as yogurts, light sorbets, or fruit bowls.

Things to Remember

When you’re dining out, try to keep in mind your diet and how to lose weight. Be it fast food, or wining and dining out on the town, remember that you can still make healthy choices. Pick the grilled chicken sandwich instead of the triple bacon cheeseburger, or choose a grilled salmon salad with vinaigrette instead of filet minion. Plan ahead of time, and make sure your other two meals of the day are smaller to compensate for the increase in calories during your later meal. Avoid those tempting cheese cakes and mega surf-and-turf platters. Stick to your guns, and order yourself the small or kid size serving. Treat yourself to fresh fruits after dinner. Most important, remember that eating healthy and losing weight is far from impossible, because it is up to you.

Please make sure to check out my website for easy to follow fat loss tips as well as new and exciting ways to start losing weight today.

How to Lose Weight Fast Naturally

Good luck and I wish you all the success in your weight loss goals.

Jamie

As a father of a 5 year old and a 7 year old, this is my first summer watching my boys play team sports. They played T Ball earlier in the summer and they play flag football now. Its great that they are able to play on the same team for logistics, but I’m sure that ends in the next couple of years. I’ve watched our boys take a lot from their team sports experience and I’d like to share with other parents what I’ve seen:

10. Teaches kids to “be on time” – both coaching staffs were very adamant that practice started at a certain time and held all kids and parents accountable. As the seasons progress, I’ve noticed our boys getting themselves ready for practice at the appropriate time.

9. Builds friendships – This is an easy one as we’ve seen our boys make lots of new friends, attend birthday parties, and basically just smile when they see their friends outside of practice/games.

8. Hand/Eye Coordination – Too many children are perfecting their hand/eye coordination by means of video games. Simple activities such as throwing a ball, catching a ball, and hitting a baseball do wonders for motor skills.

7. Creates self pride – When our kids got their jerseys with their own name on the back, the smile on their face was unforgettable. They really felt important and it created confidence.

6. Teaches kids that bullying is unacceptable – In both football and baseball this season, there were a few cases of some of the “alpha players” trying to assert themselves at the expense of the younger/smaller players. Both coaching staffs immediately addressed this with both the kids and the parents and the problem went away. Bullying is a terrible problem in schools and the more kids that can be turned off this path at an early age, the better.

5. Coaches are more like teachers than parents are. – As much as we try, we always see our children in a different light as an outsider….and that’s a good thing. Coaches, like teachers tend to treat the kids equally and hold them all accountable for their actions and responsibilities.

4. Kids are learning Math and don’t even realize it! – For all of you former football players out there, you’ll likely remember that each “hole” (gap between lineman) is assigned a number telling the running back where to run the ball and the rest of the team how to block a play. As the kids learned this, I watched several kindergarten level students now able to count by 2’s as that is the way the football numbering system works. Also, when coaches teach defensive players to run at an angle where the player with the ball is going to be, not where he is at….kids are getting introduced to geometry. As per my earlier blog entry…physics is everywhere as well!

3. Respecting elders – Talking back and yelling at coaches and other parents is not tolerated in most team sport environments and at the young ages of the players, this tends to stick with them away from the game field.

2. Teamwork – Team sports are a great way to teach kids how to work together for a common goal. Specifically, our kid’s football coach requires all kids to run their laps as a group (emphasizing that this is not a race, but rather teaching them to do things together) and has them chant and do their warmups together as a group.

1. Exercise – Above all else, in the video game/tv dominated world we live in, I’m elated watching my kids get a couple hours of outside activity including cardio work, stretching, fun games, agility tasks, etc. Remember when we used to spend every summer day outside? This is a great way to show our kids what was great about our childhood and keep them in shape at the same time.

My weekly updated blog features tips for science teachers, laboratory professionals, and lab supply resellers. I’ll often share helpful hints on travel, share new products, and promote professional growth events and trade shows in the scientific industry. Visit my blog at http://www.fischertechnical.blogspot.com

You can also follow me on twitter to be the first to know when we’ve updated the blog, debuted a new product, or have something helpful to add to the scientific community. Follow me at http://www.twitter.com/johngura

If you are searching for one location on the planet where fly fishing reigns supreme; Bozeman, Montana should be your destination of choice. It is physically impossible to walk three blocks in Bozeman without running into fly fishing references. Gift shops are overrun with fly fishing Santas, royal coachman bed sheets and carved wooden trout. The town is literally surrounded by its five fly shops and four outdoor sporting goods stores. It seems like one out of 4 locals owns a boat and many of them make their living as fishing guides. Bozeman has the highest concentration of fly fishing and wildlife photographers of any town on earth: flip open your TU calendar or the newest issue of fly fisherman magazine and half of the photos are from Gallatin Valley shutter flies.

Realtors’ business cards are adorned with grip and grin portraits of the large fish they have caught on local waters. Montana State University is the de facto institution of higher learning to focus on trout ecology. The Federation of Fly Fishers is located across the pass in Livingston with its International Fly Fishing Museum. The local breweries malted beverages have names like Hopper Pale Ale and Trout Slayer. Want a drift boat?…the best in the world are made at the edge of town at RO drift boats. Want the best waders on the planet?… you guessed it, they’re made by Simms here in Bozeman. Where do the wave of hip, Warren Miller-esque, fly fishing movies make their debuts?…right here in Bozeman to an always packed house of frothing, fishing crazed locals. Where does Orvis hold its annual Guide Rendezvous? Bozeman of course… seemingly half of the world’s top fly fishing guides live in driving distance.

So if you want to live on the cutting edge of art, go to Paris. If you want to hang with the world’s best rock climbers: live in your van in Yosemite. Beach volleyball and Rio De Janeiro, Big wave surfing and Hawaii, baseball and Yankee stadium, pheasant hunting and South Dakota….you get the picture. If you have caught the fly fishing bug, and want to not only experience great fishing, but want to fully immerse yourself in the vibrant culture of modern day fly fishing then you absolutely must spend some time marinating in Bozeman’s angling culture.

Perhaps the greatest aspect that impresses me the most is the shear quantity of expert fly fisherman and fly fishing guides that call Bozeman their home. The area literally attracts the best of the angling world’s best. The sheer density of world class anglers promotes a vibrant exchange of all ideas related to catching trout on flies. Unless you live life with your head buried in the sand, you cannot help but to learn by simple osmosis when you are surrounded by so many great fly fishing minds when in Bozeman.

So what serves as the keystone of the fly fishing culture so strongly immersed in this hip western town? The fishing of course. Bozeman is blessed with an amazing number of the world’s best trout rivers within an hour and a half drive. I honestly have a very difficult time traveling two hours from town to fish, because you literally have to drive by so much quality fishing along the way that the urge to pull over and wet a line becomes to great. Seriously, to fish the Kootenai (a blue ribbon river in Northern Montana), I have to pass up the Gallatin, Madison, Jefferson, Missouri, Big Hole, Clark Fork, Black Foot, Bitteroot….not to mention countless small spring creeks, stillwaters, and fantastic stream fishing. Let me tell you, it isn’t easy!

Bozeman is an amazing location because you can actually fly fish some of the small creeks right in town and have off the hook fly fishing, stop by one of the pubs in town to wet your whistle in your waders and continue ripping lips upstream afterwards. Drive 10 minutes out of town and you are on the world famous Gallatin river, 20 minutes and you are on the Madison, and 30 minutes gets you to the Yellowstone.

It’s a no-brainer that Bozeman has become a Mecca for some of the world’s best fly fishing guides. Expert fisherman realize that being at the right place at the right time far surpasses all of the advance casting tips a lifetime subscription to Fly Fisherman magazine can provide. The beauty of basing fishing trips out of Bozeman is the amazing diversity that our guides have at their fingertips for finding quality water that is “on fire”. Another perk to the Gallatin Valley is the density of fishing options for guided trips is that we are able to play match maker with our guests to find the best fishing scenario that matches what folks are looking for.

If we have beginner anglers we can do a nice float trip on one of the stretches of the Madison or Yellowstone that has uncomplicated drift lines or maybe a wade trip on the Gallatin that is loaded with eager rainbows. Adventurous guests may want to combine some white water with their fishing to experience the frenetic pace of casting into roiling pocket water or perhaps make a hike into the bottom of a wilderness canyon. With such amazing fisheries as the Madison, Yellowstone, Boulder, Missouri, Jefferson, Ruby, Gallatin, East Gallatin, Spring Creeks, small streams, Private ranches and large lakes with a short drive away it is no wonder that Bozeman attracts fly fisherman from around the world!

Montana Angler Fly Fishing is a full service fly fishing guide service based in Bozeman, Montana. Our guides specialize in fishing both the famous rivers in our area such as the Madison, Yellowstone, Missouri, and Gallatin as well as many lesser known fisheries. Montana Angler partners with several of the regions world class fly fishing lodges. Many of our guides row both drift boats and rafts and are uniquely trained to row white water rivers. By using specialized equipment and expert rowers, our guests are able to access remote canyons of famous rivers that are seldom fished. Trout in these remote areas do not see the fishing pressure that trout in more accessible areas do and as a result often strike flies with reckless abandon. Brian McGeehan is a Montana fly fishing outfitter and works with severl of the top Bozeman fishing guides in the region.

For far too long, college students have spent money that doesn’t have to be spent. Now, with the economy faltering and the cost of college at an all time high, more students are dropping out of college for financial reasons. Other students are leaving college with huge debts and a twinge of fear. That’s why wise students are aggressively looking for every possible way to cut their costs and increase their income.

Here are a few ideas for students and parents to consider.

Seek Out Grants, Scholarships And Financial Aid, Not Loans – Over the past thirty years, colleges have lulled parents and students into thinking that loans are financial aid. They are not. Loans have to be paid back. They place a large and immediate financial burden on graduates and often last for more than twenty years. True financial aid is money that doesn’t have to be paid back. Since it exists in many forms, students and parents should start looking for aid in the junior year of high school. This doesn’t mean that students won’t end up with some loans. However, if good students start early and work diligently, more true financial aid will flow their way.

Start Off At A Community College – Students can dramatically cut their costs by attending a well respected community college for the first two years of college. At the same time, if they seek financial aid, work at a part-time job while in college and also work summers, they can completely avoid taking out loans. In this way, students can get through the first two years nearly debt free. Caution: Identify the two colleges to which you are most likely to transfer. Then, make certain that you take only courses that will be accepted by those colleges. Also, keep your grades up. Transfer colleges won’t accept poor grades.

Start Off At A Lower Cost Four Year College – The same advice about Community Colleges will apply to lower cost, four year colleges. Choose wisely and you will benefit.

Attend A College That Offers An Accelerated Degree Program – Some colleges offer you the opportunity to complete your college degree in less that four years. If you have the temperament and work ethic, you can save time and money. However, only highly motivated and dedicated students are usually suitable for such a commitment.

Increase or Decrease The Credits You Take – At some colleges, students pay the same tuition whether they take 15 or 18 credits. If the student is both willing and capable, why not take 18 credits and get one course at no extra cost. By doing that, some students can cut out a full semester and graduate in three and a half years. For students who work full time and even for some part-timers, taking six or nine credits may be a way to get through college without college loans. This will greatly depend on your income.

Seek Out And Work For An Employer That Offers An Educational Assistance Program – A number of employers still offer educational assistance programs for their full-time employees. Investigate their requirements. Most require at least one year of service and pursuit of a degree that is job related. Many reimburse a percentage of your costs for tuition and books based on the grades you achieve.

Attend A Local College And Live At Home – At many colleges, room and board will represent around 20% of your costs, sometimes more. By attending a local college, you can nearly eliminate these costs. In some cases, the local college may also be less expensive. When you eat your meals at home and take a brown bag lunch, additional savings, however small, will result.

Sell Your Car and Ride A Bike – If you live at home, you can achieve a dramatic savings by eliminating your car during the college years. Yes, for many students, this is a psychological and emotional issue. However, a car can be a money pit (purchase price, maintenance, repairs, fuel and insurance). If you make the sacrifice and find other less expensive means of transportation, this action can pay off.

Take Some Online Courses – Many colleges now offer online courses. They eliminate your transportation needs and offer greater convenience. Furthermore, some of these courses can be taken as you have time because classes can be viewed at your convenience. This approach is expedient and a cost effective alternative for people with busy lives.

Cut Up Your Credit Cards – If you don’t have the cash to pay for something, don’t buy it now. Wait until you have the money. Too many young adults graduate from college not only with college loans, they also owe money on their credit cards. Some owe more than $5,000.

Evaluate Your Spending – Some students have difficulty understanding the difference between needs and wants. However, almost anyone can chart their monthly spending to see where their money is going. Armed with that information, many students can cut their spending by 10 – 20%.

Get A Part-Time Job – If you are attending college on a full-time basis, you should be able to find a part-time job that will cover some of your weekly expenses. When money is tight, a part-time job is more than an option.

A Campus-Wide Lawn Sale – With permission from the college, any student or student group can take the initiative and arrange for a campus-wide lawn sale/tag sale/street festival during the semester. Individual students and student groups will then have the opportunity to reserve lawn blanket space for the sale of their used Electronic Equipment, CD’s, DVD’s, Books, Clothing, and anything else that may be relevant. As appropriate, Entertainment and Food items may also be provided to attract buyers. For the most enterprising and businesslike students, this kind of campus event can result in a substantial amount of income.

When money is tight, there are only two prudent things that students can do. One is to reduce expenses; the other is to increase income. Since a college education is a requirement for many good jobs, serious students must face their financial challenges with a willingness to make the sacrifices that will get them through the tough times. It’s those sacrifices that will strengthen their resolve and lead to greater success.

Visit Bob’s web site: http://www.The4Realities.com . Bob Roth is the author of The 4 Realities Of Success During and After College -and- The College Student’s Guide To Landing A Great Job.

by Bob Roth The “College & Career Success” Coach

Bob Roth is the author of The College Student’s Guide To Landing A Great Job -and- The 4 Realities Of Success During and After College. He also write articles for more than 175 college career services offices and campus newspapers. Additionally, Bob has developed 15 self-scoring learning tool that help college students find success. http://www.The4Realities.com Bob Roth, a former campus recruiter, is the author of The College Student’s Guide To Landing A Great Job -and- The 4 Realities Of Success During and After College. Known as The “College & Career Success” Coach, Bob also writes articles for more than 200 College Career Services Offices, Campus Newspapers, Parent Associations and Employment Web Sites. Additionally, Bob has developed 20 Self-Scoring Learning Tools that help college students find success. He has been interviewed on numerous radio programs across the country and also by many newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal. Lastly, Bob has served as an Adjunct at Marist College, teaching a course in Career Development. The4Realities.com

In Part 1, we detailed the first five strategies on how to cut your car insurance costs. In Part 2, we show you the second five.

STEP 6 – Review, Change or Cancel No Fault & PIP (Personal Injury Protection)

No-Fault Coverage, and it’s Twin – PIP – started out as great idea’s. Your premiums were actually going to be lowered. Then, your State Politicians got involved (at the urging of Insurance Lobbyists, of course) and mucked it up.

You see, no-fault insurance coverage was originally intended to have each individual’s losses, covered by their own car insurance company – no matter who was at fault.

Today, in many States, car insurance companies are making a ton of money on no-fault because the insurance companies convinced State law-makers to make “modifications.”

Today, because of the these changes, car insurance companies have actually used the no-fault laws to reduce payments on a claim made by a customer, instead of reducing car insurance premiums as it was supposed to do.

So, premiums keep going up-and-up and insurance companies end up paying less for claims – Someone’s getting rich on that deal….and it’s not you.

And to make matters worse, some States (with really, really talented Insurance Lobbyist’s) also require an additional premium be paid on top of the no-fault premium. This beauty is called Personal Injury Protection (PIP).

PIP is a “wide-blanket” of coverage and can provide Collision Coverage, Hospitalization, Social Security Disability, Workers Comp, Personal Disability Insurance & Life Insurance.

The problem with PIP and what it covers is….

You already gave most, if not all, of these coverage’s anyway, don’t you? So, you’re paying twice!

So, you need to do a couple of things:

Google “minimum levels of required auto insurance” to see if No-Fault Insurance and/or PIP Is required in your State;

Then, check your policy. If it’s not required by your State to have No-Fault/PIP Coverage and it’s on your policy – cancel it. If No-Fault/PIP is required by your State….take the absolute minimum. Here’s how.

If you must have No-Fault/PIP, ask for and get a deductible from your car insurance company.

STEP 7 – Cancel Medical Coverage.

Medical Coverage, on most car insurance policies, is a promise to pay “reasonable” medical expenses for anyone who is riding in your car should you have an accident…as well as anyone in your car should it get hit by someone else.

Cancel it. You don’t need it.

Why is that you say? Well, medical coverage as part of your car insurance policy is a duplicate of your own:

- Medical Plan; – Any Life Insurance Coverage you might have, as well as; – The Liability Sections of almost every car insurance policy written in the U.S.

Think of it this way….Do you have a Health/Medical/Hospitalization Plan thru work or an Association you belong to?

Then why are you paying premiums for Medical/Hospitalization Coverage on your Car Insurance Policy?

Here’s what’s going to happen when you tell the car insurance company or Agent that you “Don’t want the Hospitalization/Medical Coverage.” You’re going to hear very slick “scare tactics” to help change your mind.

The insurance company employee will say “Well, if you’re in an accident, and it’s your fault, who’s going to cover the medical bills for any injured passengers in your car?”

Here’s your answer. Your family is already covered by your Health/Hospitalization Plan. If anybody else is in the car and they’re injured – they’re covered by your Bodily Injury Liability coverage that you’re already paying for….and their own Health/Hospitalization Plan.

So go ahead – save some more money and get rid of this coverage.

STEP 8 – Cancel Death, Dismemberment & Loss of Sight.

Do you have any of these coverage’s on your existing car insurance policy? If so – cancel them.

And if you’re a first time car insurance buyer or, just looking at getting several car insurance quotes, don’t let anyone talk you into them!

Why?

Because, these coverage’s are an absolute waste of money. Most of these optional coverage’s are simply “glorified” life insurance policies with ridiculous provisions and horribly overpriced premiums. If you need life insurance, make it a separate Insurance Policy.

STEP 9 – Cancel The Extras

Do you have “Roadside Assistance” or “Rental Car Reimbursement” on your policy? If so, cancel them.

And again, if you’re a first time insurance buyer or getting a few car insurance quotes, don’t bother with these coverage’s.

Why? Because they’re severely overpriced, are rarely ever used, and limit what you can and cannot do.

For instance, some rental car reimbursement” coverage is almost $100 a year for each vehicle on your policy. So if you have two cars, you’ll spend almost $2,000 on rental car coverage in the next 10 years – and likely never even use it.

And roadside assistance? The piece-of-mind it offers gets trampled by the premiums the car insurance companies want for this coverage. Roadside assistance is a good idea. But use AAA for a cheaper solution.

STEP 10 – Terminate Comprehensive & Collision Coverage On Older Cars.

If you have an older car – by that I mean one that’s worth less than $2,000 wholesale (the amount a car dealer would give you if you were trading it in) cancel any Comprehensive and Collision Coverage you have or decline that option when getting a car insurance quote.

Here’s why. If an 8 year-old car and a brand new car have identical damage, the cost to repair both will be identical as well, even though the 8 year-old car is worth next-to-nothing.

You see the cost of a bumper and fender are the same – whether it’s for a brand new car, or one that is 8 years-old. That’s why your premiums don’t go down as the value of the car goes down. Your payments remain almost the same, year-after-year-after-year.

But, the bottom drops-out of what you’ll be able to collect on that older car. For instance, if your car is “totaled”, your insurance company will only pay you the wholesale value of your car.

So, let’s say your car is worth $1,000, but the total damage is more than $4,000, the insurance company is only going to give you a check for $1,000….minus your deductible, of course.

So you might end up getting $500 back. Sounds like a lousy deal….but that’s how it works.

So, the rule-of-thumb is this – cancel your comp & collision coverage when your vehicles value is less than $2,000….or you’ll be throwing your money away.

Okay – you’ve jotted down some notes and are ready to make some changes to your car insurance policy. So pick up the phone and start slashing your premiums!

Tom O’Leary is an Automotive Portfolio Analyst based in Cincinnati, Ohio and Publisher of http://www.mynewcarpurchase.com, a consumer focused web site that assists with buying a new or used car, cheap car insurance quotes and finding cheaper car & truck financing.

Barbie doll clothes are an important part of the fun of playing with

the Barbie doll. When Barbie first came out, the clothes were

fashion model outfits. Since then, however, outfits can be worn for

almost any occasion or situation. The only limit is the imagination.

Children love to play with the exquisite little Barbie clothes and the

fun accessories that came with each outfit.

Close attention was paid to the design and creation of these tiny

clothes. Barbie Doll clothes have hems, zippers, minute buttons

and even linings. &nbspThe quality finish of these dolls clothes was

achieved by hand finishing.

The fasteners used on the Barbie doll clothes were miniscule.

Mattel had these custom made in Japan. A company called YKK was

founded and managed by Yoshida Kogig. This was dedicated to

manufacturing fasteners and other miniature accessories which

accompanied each set of Barbie clothing. For example, the “Nighty-

Negligee Set” #965 1959-1964 contained a baby-doll set of a night

gown with a matching robe in the traditional pink. The accessories

included pom-pom slippers, a toy stuffed dog, an alarm clock, diary,

and an apple for a midnight snack.

There are certainly plenty of Barbie clothes to choose from to dress

your Barbie doll.

Where can you find Barbie doll clothes?

Obviously you will easily be able to find Barbie doll clothes at retail

stores. These stores will certainly have the latest clothes available.

However this isn’t the only place to find &nbspdoll outfits for

Barbie.

A great source to pick up bargains of doll clothes for Barbie is on

eBay. Usually the approximate age of the clothes is indicated. You

can find vintage or modern Barbie clothes, and they are auctioned

in different quantities as well.

Another place to look for Barbie doll clothes is in local garage and

yard sales and also thrift stores. You can often find some great

bargains, as people’s children have out grown them, and will sell

them very reasonably priced.

Barbie doll clothes are an important part of the fun of playing with the Barbie doll. When Barbie first came out, the clothes were fashion model outfits. Since then, however, outfits can be worn for almost any occasion or situation. The only limit is the imagination.

Children love to play with the exquisite little Barbie clothes and the fun accessories that came with each outfit.

Close attention was paid to the design and creation of these tiny clothes. Barbie Doll clothes have hems, zippers, minute buttons and even linings. &nbspThe quality finish of these dolls clothes was achieved by hand finishing.

The fasteners used on the Barbie doll clothes were miniscule. Mattel had these custom made in Japan. A company called YKK was founded and managed by Yoshida Kogig. This was dedicated to manufacturing fasteners and other miniature accessories which accompanied each set of Barbie clothing. For example, the “Nighty-Negligee Set” #965 1959-1964 contained a baby-doll set of a night gown with a matching robe in the traditional pink. The accessories included pom-pom slippers, a toy stuffed dog, an alarm clock, diary, and an apple for a midnight snack.

There are certainly plenty of Barbie clothes to choose from to dress your Barbie doll.

Where can you find Barbie doll clothes?

Obviously you will easily be able to find Barbie doll clothes at retail stores. These stores will certainly have the latest clothes available. However this isn’t the only place to find &nbspdoll outfits for Barbie.

A great source to pick up bargains of doll clothes for Barbie is on eBay. Usually the approximate age of the clothes is indicated. You can find vintage or modern Barbie clothes, and they are auctioned in different quantities as well.

Another place to look for Barbie doll clothes is in local garage and yard sales and also thrift stores. You can often find some great bargains, as people’s children have out grown them, and will sell them very reasonably priced.

Barbara enjoys writing about Barbie dolls and Barbie doll clothes [http://www.barbiworld.com/barbie_doll_clothes/barbie-doll-clothes.html] at Barbiworld.com Check out her Everything Barbie Blog [http://www.barbiworld.com/blog]

Many families across the country own at least one pet. Regardless of what type of pet it is the pet in a way becomes a member of the family. There are some families that take extra care of their pets with pampering them with pet gifts or pet supplies. Pet owners have a number of options when it comes to buying pet supplies.

Perhaps the most common way that a pet owner purchases pet supplies for their family pet is by visiting their local pet store. Most cities in America have a pet store and large cities may even be home to multiple pet stores. One of the reasons why pet stores are so popular is because a shopper can physically examine each item before purchasing it. This gives many pet owners the opportunity to study the quality of an item before bringing it into their home.

While storefront pet stores are a great place to purchase pet supplies there is another option that may be more convenient for many pet owners. Online pet stores are similar to storefront locations; however, they do not require leaving home. There are millions of Americans who currently purchase their pet supplies over the internet and there is absolutely no reason why more shouldn’t be because purchasing pet supplies online has an unlimited number of benefits.

As previously mentioned online shoppers looking to purchase pet supplies do not have to leave their home if they are shopping at an online pet store. Purchasing pet supplies online is all about convenience. Pet owners can purchase their much needed pet supplies all in a matter of minutes. This option is very convenient for pet owners or families who may not have the time to regularly visit a pet store.

In addition to convenience, purchasing pet supplies online can also save pet owners money. America has recently been experiencing a major problem with the increase in gasoline prices. Many shoppers are finding it to expensive to drive to their local pet store. This problem is being especially felt in country areas where a large number of pet owners are located. Many cities have a pet store; however, not all towns do. This may mean that a pet owner living in a rural area could be driving a half an hour or more to their local pet store which could cost a decent amount of money in gasoline.

Online shoppers will have to pay shipping costs on the pet supplies that they purchase. This shipping cost can easily be lower than the cost of gas for a trip to a pet store. There are many shoppers who are successful at finding online pet stores who offer free shipping or reduced price shipping on all of their pet supplies. This would make online shopping for pet supplies even more beneficial.

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits to purchasing pet supplies online is the selection of products available. Most retail stores are limited on the amount of floor space that they have which limits the amount of product that they can carry. Online pet stores do not have the same problem because they do not have to physically display all of the pet supplies that they are selling. Most pet owners find it easier to purchase pet supplies online especially when looking for hard to find products.

Of course pet owners can shop wherever they want to; however, pet owners are encouraged to at least give online shopping a try. The selection of pet supplies that can be purchased online for a low cost is amazing and to top it off those items can be delivered directly to your door.

Grant Morrison is a writer for Brothers Pets where you can find more information about pet supplies [http://www.brotherspets.com/sitemap.htm]

Pets can get very expensive and as a pet owner you need all the help you can get. You don?t have to spend too much to get the best for your darling animals – with a little perseverance and a lot of research, you can save big on quality brands of pet medicines, food and other supplies. Here are some tips to get you started.

Get pet supply coupons. Clip them off pet magazines, get them online, or ask for them from pet supply stores. Coupons will get you huge discounts on pet medications, toys and basic accessories such as collars and leads. Some of these coupons also allow you to get freebies if you buy a minimum amount.

Join consumer and shopping clubs. Membership in these organizations entitles you to cumulative discounts on pet supplies. Some clubs even allow you to use the “points” you accumulate from buying other things (such as furniture and clothes) to get freebies, huge markdowns and even cash back on pet supplies.

Try the Internet. There are hundreds of online coupons you can use if you are buying from participating online pet supply stores. Or, you can enter contests and win prizes for your pets.

Some notes. Pet experts say that while it is always nice to get discounts on pet supplies, you should not scrimp on pet food. Remember that a lot of pet ailments are caused by dietary imbalances that can be prevented if you just feed your pet premium food. Good quality pet food promotes better pet health, which you can readily see in your pet’s increased energy and more attractive appearance (a shinier coat in the case of dogs). You will end up saving a lot of money if your pet is healthy, because you don’t have to buy expensive medications and go to the vet as often.

Pet Supplies provides detailed information on Pet Supplies, Pet Supply Stores, Discount Pet Supplies, Online Pet Supplies and more. Pet Supplies is affiliated with Wholesale Pet Products [http://www.i-PetProducts.com].

As their children grow up, every set of parents has a different idea as to what should be the main focus of their upbringing and how they should spend their free time, especially when it comes to extra-curricular activities.  Some parents place a huge emphasis on academics and want their children doing extra reading or working with a tutor.  Other parents are heavily into sports and want their children to focus on sports.  Some parents simply want their children to be children and don’t push them in any particular direction at all.

In most cases, schools give children at least some opportunity to participate in a team sport.  Along with the team sports that are taught during physical education classes, there are usually a few varsity sports teams that will represent the school while competing against other schools in the area.  In addition to this, most communities have a few organized sports leagues that children can be active in.

In my opinion, participation in team sports is vital to healthy social, physical and emotional development.  Participating in a sports team exposes children to a range of challenges in a team environment where they are forced to work with others, rely on others at times and also to encourage or root for others on their team.  All of this leads to the development of a cooperative mindset.  Now although all of this sounds ideal, I am aware that it does not always work out this way.  Some times a child might be a ‘ball hog’ and refuse to pass the ball, or want to score all of the goals themselves.  But with time, even this child learns at some point that they must work with others if they want to see true success.

Some kids just love sports and have a natural tendency towards them.  There is very little that a parent could do to stop a child like this from participating in sports.  Other children are quite nonchalant about sports, and some children even hate sports.  A variety of factors can influence the way that children feel about sports.  Sometimes they are shy or insecure about the abilities yet with a little encouragement they will get out there and do fine.  At times, a child may have a physical attribute that they are conscious or overly conscious about that stops them from doing a sporting activity they would love.  I encourage parents to find at least one team sport that their children can become involved in.  Not all team sports have to be high impact activities or ‘popular’ sports.  A swim team is great for a child that is not boisterous or overly physical.  Some schools have sailing as an extra curricular activity which again falls outside of the typical team sport.

I believe that team sports teach children not only how to compete, but how to compete fairly within structured boundaries.  This is an important life lesson and the skills and the disciplines that they learn in sports will definitely last them a lifetime.  Team sports will teach children how to communicate, since most team sports require children not only to talk to each other while the activity is taking place but also how to plan strategies for an upcoming event and how to debrief or review things that have happened in a game.  Perhaps most importantly, team sports teach children how to succeed and how to fail since inevitably throughout each season of their sport their team will do both.  With every win and loss, children learn coping skills.  These again are important skills to develop in a child and they will last them throughout life. 

Susan Roberts writes freelance for a number of different companies including KS Child Locate on locate child mobile [http://www.kschildlocate.co.uk/how-we-can-help/locate-child-mobile/]. She has many years experience working with teens and families and also publishes on HubPages on subjects such as “My Childhood and my Children’s Childhood“.

If you are not a college football fan and could care less if you never see a bowl game in your life, you might wonder what all of the fuss is about. If you have a red-blooded male in your life, just ask him.

There will be 34 NCAA bowl games this year and the fuss in each one will be about prestige and money, big money, as in more than a collective $139 million for the participating teams and their respective conferences.

The actual bowl payouts reflected below add up to $127+ million, but the actual $139+ million figure arises because of some additional payouts for participating teams beyond the automatic qualifiers from the 6 major BCS conferences-the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-10 and Southeastern.

A team must win 6 games to be bowl-eligible, according to NCAA standards. Some of the qualifying teams automatically receive bowl bids, and others are asked to participate in the less significant bowl games.

Just about every news organization that publishes the bowl-game lineups does so by the date of the contest, the first (on December 19th) to the last (the Bowl Championship Series title game on January 7th).

I choose to do it this year by the importance of the bowl based on its payout first, and then the prominence of the game based on its participants. The first 5 bowl games listed comprise the prestigious BCS super-contests with the biggest payouts.

Here is the complete lineup for the 2009 season (which stretches into 2010).

1) $17 million – The BCS National Championship Game between Alabama (13-0) and Texas (13-0) on Jan. 7.

2) $17 million – Sugar Bowl with Florida (12-1) and Cincinnati (12-0) on Jan. 1.

3) $17 million – Fiesta Bowl with Texas Christian (12-0) and Boise State (13-0) on Jan. 4.

4) $17 million – Rose Bowl with Oregon (10-2) and Ohio State (10-2) on Jan. 1.

5) $17 million – Orange Bowl with Georgia Tech (11-2) and Iowa (10-2) on Jan. 5.

6) $4.25 million – Capital One Bowl with Penn State (10-2) and Louisiana State (9-3) on Jan. 1.

7) $3.3 million – Outback Bowl with Northwestern (8-4) and Auburn (7-5) on Jan. 1.

$3.005 million – Chick-fil-A Bowl with Virginia Tech (9-3) and Tennessee (7-5) on Dec. 31.

9) $3 million – Cotton Bowl with Oklahoma State (9-3) and Mississippi (8-4) on Jan. 2.

10) $2.5 million – Gator Bowl with West Virginia (9-3) and Florida State (6-6) on Jan. 1.

11) $2.35 million – Holiday Bowl with Nebraska (9-4) and Arizona (8-4) on Dec. 30.

12) $2.25 million – Champs Sports Bowl with Miami, FL (9-3) and Wisconsin (9-3) on Dec. 29.

13) $2.25 million – Alamo Bowl with Texas Tech (8-4) and Michigan State (6-6) on Jan. 2.

14) $1.9 million – Sun Bowl with Stanford (8-4) and Oklahoma (7-5) on Dec. 31.

15) $1.7 million – Liberty Bowl with East Carolina (9-4) and Arkansas (7-5) on Jan. 2.

16) $1.6 million – Music City Bowl with Clemson (8-5) and Kentucky (7-5) on Dec. 27.

17) $1.35 million – Insight Bowl with Iowa State (6-6) and Minnesota (6-6) on Dec.31.

18) $1.1 million – Independence Bowl with Georgia (7-5) and Texas A&M (6-6) on Dec. 28.

19) $1 million – Las Vegas Bowl with Brigham Young (10-2) and Oregon State (8-4) on Dec. 22.

20) $1 million – Meineke Car Care Bowl with Pittsburgh (9-3) and North Carolina (8-4) on Dec. 26.

21) $1 million – St. Petersburg Bowl with Rutgers (8-4) and Central Florida (8-4) on Dec. 19.

22) $1 million – EagleBank Bowl with Temple (9-3) and UCLA (6-6) on Dec. 29.

23) $850,000 – Emerald Bowl with Southern California (8-4) and Boston College (8-4) on Dec. 26.

24) $750,000 – GMAC Bowl with Central Michigan (11-2) and Troy (9-3) on Jan. 6.

25) $750,000 – Poinsettia Bowl with Utah (9-3) and California (8-4) on Dec. 23.

26) $750,000 – Little Caesars Pizza Bowl with Ohio (9-4) and Marshall (6-6) on Dec. 26.

27) $750,000 – New Mexico Bowl with Fresno State (8-4) and Wyoming (6-6) on Dec. 19.

28) $750,000 – Humanitarian Bowl with Idaho (7-5) and Bowling Green (7-5) on Dec. 30.

29) $750,000 – International Bowl with South Florida (7-5) and Northern Illinois (7-5) on Jan. 2.

30) $700,000 – Texas Bowl with Missouri (8-4) and Navy (8-4) on Dec. 31.

31) $600,000 – Armed Forces Bowl with Houston (10-3) and Air Force (7-5) on Dec. 31.

32) $398,000 – Hawaii Bowl with Nevada (8-4) and Southern Methodist (7-5) on Dec. 24.

33) $325,000 – New Orleans Bowl with Middle Tennessee (9-3) an Southern Mississippi (7-5) on Dec. 20.

34) $300,000 – Papjohns.com Bowl with South Carolina (7-5) and Connecticut (7-5) on Jan. 2.

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

Read more of my football coverage, including:

“Ed Bagley’s Top 25 Poll” for Week 14-you get rankings plus humor. Would you believe that Florida is ranked 6th and Southern California 23rd? Don’t laugh, find out why.

“Why Bowl Games Are Such a Big Deal: They Bring Prestige and $139+ Million”

http://www.edbagleyblog.com

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Introducing a new fish to your aquarium does not need to be difficult. Most of them that are commercially available have already been moved a number of times in their lives and are adept at quickly adapting to a new environment. Before the process of introducing a new fish even begins, one must research a fish’s natural environment. Only if this environment is in line with the conditions in your tank can the introduction be successful. There is no amount of preparation that will enable one to live outside its preferred temperature range or lighting conditions.

Freshwater fish tank fish require the least amount of time for acclimation. When adding them to a tank that already contains a number of fish, one must simply allow the bag in which they are transported to float for 10-20 minutes in your tank’s water. This will enable them to gradually adjust to the ambient temperature of the tank and avoid drastic temperature changes that could be potentially harmful. As the fish will be floating near the top of the tank, be sure to turn off tank lights to avoid heating the bag and reduce the amount of stress on the fish.

After the water within the bag has had a few minutes to adjust, begin adding small amounts of aquarium water to the bag in which your tropical fish is swimming. Each addition should be followed by more adjustment time. This will give the fish time to get used to the water quality of a tank. Another 10-15 minutes or so and the fish will be ready to be introduced to the tank and the rest of the fish population.

Do not dump the bag containing the fish tank tropical fish into an aquarium. The fish should be removed from the bag with a net designed for this purpose, and quickly deposited into the tank. The water in the bag should be discarded to avoid affecting the water quality of the tank.

Salt water fish tank fish can be introduced with the same methods, but the amount of time they are allowed for acclimation should be much longer. When adding water to the bag in which they were transported, the water should be added very gradually. They should be given as much as an hour to adjust to each addition. Through this may seem painstaking, it is vital to ensuring a successful transition.

Be wary of adding too many new fish at a time. Beginners should only add two or three fish every few weeks to maintain tank stability and fish health.

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When shopping for a pair of hiking boots, it is important to know how they are made. No, you don’t need to know how to make your own, but you have to understand what goes into them and how it affects the comfort and durability – the overall quality – of the hiking boots. In this article I will describe the parts of a hiking boot, what they are made of, and how they come together to form the ideal hiking boot for you.

Like any shoe, a hiking boot consists of an upper and a sole joined together by a welt and with an inlet at the front covered by a tongue, and the whole is lined with various pads and cushions. I will discuss each of those parts in detail, in terms of what they are made of and what to look for in various types of hiking boots.

Sole and Welt

Let’s start at the bottom. The soul of the hiking boot is the sole.

Soles are usually made of synthetic rubber in varying degrees of hardness. A harder sole will last longer, but generally will have poorer traction on hard surfaces (such as bare rock) and will provide less cushioning. A softer sole gives you the cushioning you need for long hikes and the traction you need on rough ground, but it will wear out faster.

Manufacturers have made their trade-offs in choosing the materials to make their boots out of. The final choice is up to you when you choose which boot to buy. If you expect to do most of your hiking on soft surfaces, such as desert sand or bare soil, you might lean more toward harder soles. But most of us hike on fairly rugged trails with a good deal of bare rock, and we need the traction of a softer sole.

Inside the sole is a shank. It is a stiffening structure, either fiberglass or steel, that prevents the sole of the boot from twisting and that provides arch support. Shanks may be only three-quarter or half-length. Hiking shoes generally have no shank at all, deriving all their stiffness from the molded rubber sole. Good day-hiking boots may have a full-length fiberglass shank. High-quality backpacking boots will give you the choice of fiberglass or steel. It will depend on how strong you need your hiking boots to be, and how heavy.

Look for deep, knobby tread. Deep cuts in the sole allow water and mud to flow out so you can get traction. “Fake” hiking boots, designed to look like hiking boots but not to perform like them, may have thinner soles and shallow tread. Working boots also may have shallow tread, and they generally have harder soles than hiking boots have.

The welt is the connection between the sole and the upper. Virtually all hiking boots these days are glued together rather than sewn. If you are buying a very expensive pair of backpacking boots, give preference to a sewn welt. Boots with a sewn welt will be easier to resole when the original sole wears out. For hiking shoes or day-hiking boots, when the sole wears out, the upper is not worth salvaging, either, so a glued welt is just fine.

Upper

The upper of the hiking boot provides warmth, protects the sides of your feet from rocks and brush, and repels water. It must also allow your feet to “breathe,” so that moisture from perspiration will not build up inside the boots and cause blisters.

Uppers of hiking boots are usually at least partially made of leather. High-quality backpacking boots are often made of full-grain leather (leather that has not been split). Lighter boots may be made of split-grain leather (leather that has been split or sueded on one side), or a combination of split-grain leather with various fabrics.

Fabrics that are combined with leather are usually some type of nylon. Heavy nylon wears nearly as well as leather, and it is much lighter and cheaper than leather.

In any hiking boot, especially those made of combinations of leather and fabric, there will be seams. Seams are bad. Seams are points of failure. Seams are points of wear, as one panel of the boot rubs against another. Seams are penetrations that are difficult to waterproof.

The uppers of backpacking boots are sometimes made of a single piece of full-grain leather with only one seam at the back. This is good, for all the reasons that seams are bad, but it is expensive.

You’re going to have to deal with seams. But as you shop for hiking boots, look for customer reviews that mention failure or undue wearing of the seams, and avoid those brands.

Inlet and Tongue

There are two things to look for in the inlet and the tongue:

1. How the laces are attached and adjusted

2. How the tongue is attached to the sides of the inlet

The inlet may be provided with eyelets, D-rings, hooks, and webbing, alone or in combination. They each have these advantages and disadvantages:

* Eyelets: Simplest and most durable way to lace a boot. Not so easily adjusted.

* D-rings: Easier to adjust than eyelets, more durable than hooks. More failure-prone than eyelets. (They can break, and they can tear out of the leather.)

* Hooks: Easiest to adjust of all lace attachments. Subject to getting hooked on brush, or bent or broken in impacts with boulders, main cause of breakage of laces.

* Webbing: Cause less chafing of laces, slightly easier to adjust than eyelets, slightly more durable than D-rings. More failure-prone than eyelets.

The most common lace attachment of any hiking boot is eyelets below ankle-level and hooks above. You may see eyelets all the way up, as in classic military-style combat boots, or a combination of either D-rings or webbing with hooks.

The attachment of the tongue is a critical factor in how waterproof the hiking boots are. Provided the leather and/or fabric and seams of the upper are waterproof, water will not get into the boots until it gets higher than the attachment point of the tongue.

Most hiking shoes and day-hiking boots have the tongue attached all the way to the top. If the tongue is not fully attached, consider carefully whether you will need that extra inch or two of waterproofing.

High-rise backpacking boots have the tongue attached only partway up, but that still reaches higher than most day-hiking boots. It’s difficult to get the boot on and off if the tongue is attached very high.

Linings and Pads

There are many pieces that go into the lining and padding of a hiking boot, but two in particular you need to pay attention to:

1. The sole lining

2. The scree collar

The sole lining must be appropriately cushioned. You want a firm, durable surface in immediate contact with your socks, but enough cushioning below that to absorb impact.

The scree collar is a cushion around the top of most hiking boots. It enables you to pull the boots tight enough to keep out loose rocks (“scree”) but without chafing against your ankle and Achilles tendon. This is the thickest and softest cushion in the whole hiking boot. It must be soft enough to conform to your ankle and Achilles tendon as they move, and still keep close enough contact with your leg to keep the rocks out.

Very high hiking boots, such as military-style combat boots, may have no scree collar at all. The height of the boot is what keeps the rocks out.

Throughout, the lining and padding of the hiking boots must be thick enough to provide warmth, durable enough to last, and smooth enough that it will not cause chafing and blisters.

Conclusion

So, these are the things you need to pay attention to when choosing a pair of hiking boots. Be prepared to compromise, and pay attention to which features are really important to the style of hiking you intend to do.

Chuck Bonner is a lifelong hiker and amateur naturalist, and webmaster of http://www.HikingWithChuck.com. For more information about hiking boots and other hiking equipment based on many years on the trail, visit [http://www.hikingwithchuck.com/Gear/HikingGear.htm].

According to the United States Department of Education, 92 million adults took part in some type of formal education to accommodate new job requirements, earn an advanced degree, keep their skills current or simply to attain a higher education. The education specialist degree program is intended for teachers, supervisors, administrators and counselors in elementary and secondary schools. This degree program offers specialization for teachers who have completed their master’s degree, along with in-depth opportunities for enhanced professional growth.

The minimum educational requirement to pursue an education specialist degree is 60 hours of graduate credit, which might include a master’s degree. A candidate for the program should have a minimum 3.0 grade point average on their previous graduate work. Furthermore, many educational specialist programs require at least three years of successful teaching in the field, standardized test scores, writing samples and recommendations. Since a specialist level teacher is considered an instructional leader, the education specialist degree program builds upon the teacher’s prior education and professional experiences to accomplish this. The specialist program ensures that a teacher who completes the course is particularly knowledgeable about current theory and practice in education.

Specific areas of study can be pursued within the education specialist degree program. Such areas of include curriculum and instruction, administration and counseling.

Curriculum and instruction: Teachers pursuing an education specialist degree with a concentration in curriculum and instruction are involved with the teaching, supervision and curriculum of discipline-centered areas of study.

Administration: Those educators seeking an education specialist degree with a concentration in administration can seek licenses for advanced administrative positions within public and private schools, such as building administrator, administrative specialist, vocational director and district administrator.

Counseling: Teachers taking the education specialist degree program with a concentration in counseling have the opportunity for advanced training and study in specialized areas of interest, such as individual, group or family clinical counseling.

Specializations within each of the three segments of the education specialist degree include literature, art, English, foreign language, science, social education, mathematics and special education. The education specialist degree program encompasses 30 semester hours.

An education specialist degree is intended to develop proficiency and professional among teachers already in service. By earning an education specialist degree online, working teachers are afforded the flexibility to attend classes around their own schedule. Online education makes it easier for teachers to pursue higher education while keeping their current positions and maintaining tenure. Thus, attending an education specialist degree program online enables teachers to remain in the classroom with students while they learn how to enhance the educational experience. Teachers who attain an education specialist degree are useful in imparting leadership skills to other teachers, administrators, colleagues and students. Many such teachers implement school improvement plans, developing and using unique teaching practices right in their own classroom.

So are the longterm benefits of pursuing an education specialist degree online worth balancing time between earning and learning? The U.S. Department of Labor, Career Guide to Industries, 2006-07 Edition states that 1 in 4 Americans are enrolled in educational institutions; this makes the educational services the second largest industry in America. About 13 million jobs exist in education services today and most of them require at least a bachelor’s degree. The Guide further offers that, “Wage and salary employment growth of 17 percent is expected in the educational services industry over the 2004-14 period, higher than the 14 percent increase projected for all industries combined. The number of teachers retiring is expected to remain a record high over the 2004-2014 period, so there may be a lack of students graduating with education degrees to meet this growing industry’s needs. This makes job opportunities for graduates in many education fields good to excellent.”

Education remains an important part of life and school attendance is compulsory the United States, so there are numerous educational establishments to teach at. As technology expands and the economy changes, there will be an increased need for skilled teachers with an innovative approach to dynamic classroom situations. People holding an education specialist degree will have increased opportunities to advance into positions as administrators, specialized counselors or even assist in developing cutting edge curriculum for students. In a Report released in July 2006, The U.S. Department of Labor reveals that school districts report difficulties in recruiting qualified administrators and teachers, especially in urban and rural areas.

According to the Distance Education and Training Council, over 4 million students are enrolled in online universities and schools and that number is growing by 30 percent each year. The convenience of pursuing an education specialist degree online enables teachers to learn while they earn, as well implement the skills they attain in their own classrooms as they go. Thus, education specialist degree online programs are beneficial to both teachers and their students.

SummitLearners.com [http://www.summitlearners.com] is the leading website for people looking to learn online. We have resources for people looking to get an Early Childhood Education Online Degree [http://www.summitlearners.com/early-childhood-education-online-degree]

Hyper text preprocessor (PHP) and Active-server-pages (ASP) are the two standard programming languages for website application development and more significantly when it comes to produce database-driven websites to interrelating hugely with databases. PHP is an open-source programming language which is derived from lots of different languages. On the other hand ASP is such kind of programming languages which preferring Microsoft product mostly.

Both programming languages PHP and ASP are used to develop dynamic database oriented websites. Active Server Pages (ASP) is normally from Microsoft and is used only with Internet Information Server (I.I.S.) that runs on Microsoft Servers also. But on the other hand you can say PHP is platform independent programming languages and can connect with several kinds of databases.

There are a lot of differences between ASP and PHP.

Expenditure

To run ASP.net programs first need to install I.I.S. on a Windows server platform, this is not a free package. PHP programs can run on Linux, which is free package. Even the database connectivity is expensive for ASP, because it require ms-S.Q.L product of Microsoft that needs to be acquired. Same time on the other hand PHP generally uses My-S.Q.L for database connectivity, which is freely accessible.

The Simplicity in Coding

PHP codes itself are very light in weight, a contract programmer who begins his career into PHP, does not felt any pressure to look the source code to understand. Whereas In ASP codes are not so easy to quick understand.

Database Compatibility

PHP generally being extremely flexible as it uses My-S.Q.L for database connectivity, which is freely accessible. Same time on the other hand Database compatibility is expensive for ASP, because it require MS-S.Q.L product of Microsoft that needs to be acquired.

General Run Time

If we evaluate the running speed of PHP and ASP then PHP should gets the upper hand. Normally it is viewed that PHP code runs quicker than ASP code. Due to COM based architecture, ASP uses server space to run while PHP code runs on its own inbuilt memory space.

Background Language Support

ASP has a similar like Visual Basic type of syntax that also linked to Microsoft products as well. On the other hand PHP codes are based on generally C++ language and the syntax, which is used in PHP, is quite similar to C/C++ syntax. C/C++ is still considered by maximum software programmer is the finest programming language and people who love C++ language would certainly feel more relaxed with the PHP syntax.

Running Platform Connectivity

PHP codes can run on different platforms like UNIX, Linux, and Windows whereas ASP codes are mostly linked with Windows platforms. Though, ASP programs can run on a Linux platform with the help of ASP-Apache installed on the server.

Further Tools Cost

Several tools used in PHP are mostly free of cost in the market and as PHP is open source a lot of codes can be available in open source forums and blogs. PHP has inbuilt attributes like ftp, encryption methods, even email also from a web page but in ASP such attributes are not obtainable and for this reason only some more features are required which are not free that increase the total cost as well.

Larger Applications Support

PHP is just as protected as ASP from coding level. The main difference is only for private data like “social security numbers”; “PIN numbers” etc. ASP is more practicable option. Organizations like government firms normally don’t have much stipulated commercial budgets and looking for required security, they really helpful ASP.net.

At the end, we can make a conclusion that both programming languages have their advantages and disadvantages specific to user requirement. It can be said that both the programming languages have their own significance depending upon the users requirements and budgets. It is viewed that in any discussion board, ASP.net is similarly capable but many of them suggesting PHP for small business owners those who have a fixed budget and does not required superb security support. PHP cannot provide e-commerce application development, only for them ASP.net will be the best choice.

Joanna Gadel is working as a freelance programmer for GetAProgrammer.com.au. She gathers years of knowledge by handling programmer jobs and system administration for the “Get a Programmer” support team.

The car tax is the last vestige of an abusive and long ago discarded tax system. It’s the old personal property tax – when the tax assessor pawed through your belongings and told you how much you had to pay to keep them. The USA and European Commission are currently calling for significant changes in the way passenger cars are taxed. The intention is to gradually apply the user pays principle to motorized transport. According to DG TAXUD, the envisioned taxation system will ensure a more appropriate internalization of the external costs of private cars – an important principle for which T&E has long been arguing. Taxing the actual use of private cars is an important step towards sustainable transport. But charges on car user ship ought to complement the already existing taxation of car ownership, and not just replace it. A full internalization of all environmental costs of cars must recognize the problems that result from the still growing sum total of cars on national and international roads. Road capacity in many regions has reached its limits – a fact that is most illustratively expressed by the continuous congestions on national highways and trunk roads. Capacity limits are reached as well in almost all urban areas, where evermore space is consumed by car-infrastructure such as parking spaces, car-dealers or car repair-, maintenance- and washing-facilities – not to mention streets themselves. Therefore a taxation system is needed that restricts both private user- and ownership by making sure that road passenger transport pays for its external costs. The positive response with which carmakers have welcomed (and had lobbied for) the abolition of registration taxes illustrates how auto-friendly the proposed legislation eventually may be. This, however, means that transport in general will not become more expensive – but that the sector will just pay differently and still not properly.

Thus to create harmonization it will make the economy more efficient, but does not automatically entail environmental improvement. As they stand now, the plans of the Commission to replace Registration Taxes by Annual Circulation Taxes may partially reduce private car use and thus lower the annual emissions of a single car. However, they will not provide any incentive at all to refrain from owning a car. In fact, the opposite is the case, because abandoning registration taxes will further stimulate the production and consumption of cars. This will be most tangible in countries like Denmark that were able to limit the growth of motorization rates and maintain a “greener” modal split by ways of higher registration rates.

It is to be noted that The Government has announced that with effect from 6 April 2002, the basis of taxation on cars provided by employers for employees’ business and private use, will be changed to an emissions based system. Pool cars, provided for business use only, and which are returned to site at the end of the working day are currently not liable to benefit in kind taxation, and this will continue to be so. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions will be used as the measure to calculate benefit in kind taxation on company cars from that date. A tax discourages economic activity, such as work or investment. The tax is cut, leading to increased economic activity. Liberals then assume that previous rates of tax would still be collected at the higher rate of activity — which, of course, only came about because of the lower tax rate — thus depriving the government of vast revenues it is justly entitled to. It makes no difference to them that economic activity often expands by more than tax rates are cut, thus increasing total revenues. Liberals always still believe that even more would have been collected if only tax rates had not been cut. In the case of the car tax, liberals assume that additional cars would have been purchased anyway, without any change in the tax. And by multiplying the old car tax rate times the larger number of cars registered, they come up with mythical revenues that could pay for more teachers, police, and roads.

Thus, in this paper, we discuss the abolition of car taxes rule in context of California – one of the major and highly populated city of United States of America.

History: In 1935, the Motor Vehicle License Fee Act established a state car tax of 1.75 percent of the value of an automobile in lieu of the personal property tax then assessed on all personal property. The taxes collected under this act were limited to state purposes, including highways. The personal property tax was subsequently abolished, but the car tax remained. In 1948, the fee was raised to two percent. In 1957, the law was clarified to limit the use of these funds for law enforcement, regulation and control of highway traffic, and other state purposes.

In 1988, the law was amended to allow the use of car taxes for any purpose, and in 1993, 25 percent of the funds were earmarked for realignment of health and social services programs. Thus, any linkage between the car tax and roads was obliterated. Worse for taxpayers, in 1991 California’s car tax was radically restructured to provide additional tax resources to balance the state budget as part of an $8.2 billion increase in taxes and fees that year. Prior to 1991, automobile owners were charged on a ten-year depreciation schedule, based on the original purchase price of the automobile. The 1991 legislation made three dramatic changes. First, the depreciation schedule was stretched from ten to eleven years. Second, the act provided for a permanent tax on fully depreciated automobiles amounting to 0.3 percent of the price in perpetuity beginning in the 11th year. Third, the new law triggered a restarting of the depreciation schedule, virtually assuring that very few cars would ever reach the bottom of the schedule. The net effect was a $60 per year increase in the VLF paid for an average car.

Another historical note about the 1991 tax increase is also relevant to this discussion. The overall tax increase that year was the largest by any state in the history of the nation. According to revenue estimates made at the time, the entire package amounted to $8.2 billion in additional taxes and fees, or roughly $1,100 per family. The tax increase, enacted in the midst of a recession, broke the back of California’s economy. Although some of those taxes were repealed or expired, many are still on the books. Thus, California’s Vehicle License Fee began as a substitute for the personal property tax. When the personal property tax was abolished, the tax was maintained under a new name. It was originally limited to state purposes, principally for highways and highway-related services. Today, it is devoted to purposes entirely unrelated to highways. It now consumes $3.3 billion of California family earnings, at a time when they are paying $3.6 billion more than they would have paid without the 1991 tax increases.

Meanwhile, the onerous and outdated automobile tax has proven to be highly unpopular across the country. In the 1997 Virginia gubernatorial campaign, Republican James Gilmore’s campaign was stalled until he unveiled a proposal to abolish Virginia’s car tax. Gilmore won a dramatic victory for Governor and swept a majority of Republicans into the Virginia state Senate. He has now set about to fulfill his signature campaign promise, backed by an overwhelming mandate from Virginia voters. Meanwhile, in Texas, Democrat Gary Mauro is campaigning against Republican Gov. George Bush, Jr., on a platform to abolish the state’s sales tax on motor vehicles. Bush opposes the plan. In Georgia, Republican Guy Millner has proposed ending that state’s car tax for a saving to taxpayers of $475 million. In South Carolina, Gov. David Beasley proposed in his State of the State address last month to phase out the car tax over a period of six years.

Abolishing the Car Tax: AB 1776

A car represents security of transport. Even if public transport is adequate for most journeys, people still want a car for the odd occasion or emergency. There will always be places and times when public transport doesn’t run. The Government could make a contribution immediately by abolishing car tax and increasing fuel taxes to offset the loss of revenue. This would have the added benefit of doing away with an absolutely pointless and tedious administration system. The point is that public transport will never be able to emulate the flexibility of private transport and that at present the car has so many advantages.

The Virginia experience makes a strong case for California to abolish its car tax. By doing so, California could reduce the overall level of taxation to what it would have been without the tax increases imposed during the 1990’s, while still providing for some $14 billion in additional general fund revenues in the last eight years. It would abolish a tax that long ago ceased to bear any resemblance to its original purpose and intention. It would remove a strong disincentive in current law that keeps motorists from shedding older, higher polluting automobiles. It would provide a significant spur to economic activity by reducing the cost of new vehicles in California. It would reduce costs to California families of what is a practical necessity in the Golden State: the family car. The problem in doing so is the built-in special interests that depend on the tax. A $4 billion saving to taxpayers is also a $4 billion cut in the governor’s proposed budget. In this case, the beneficiaries are local government budgets, which are still recovering from a multi-billion dollar raid by the state government in 1992 and 1993. In order to back-fill this amount, reductions in the proposed state budget would have to be taken from non-education funds under constitutional provisions enacted by Proposition 98. The “non-98″ side of the budget also funds the Department of Corrections, a sacred legislative cow.

In abolishing California’s car tax, it would be a desirable policy and a practical necessity:

 To hold local governments harmless by back-filling their losses with state funds

 To work within the revenue projections of the Department of Finance

 Not to affect Proposition 98 funds for schools

 Not to affect the administration’s proposed funding for state prisons

 Not to affect the administration’s proposed budget reserve.

The next question is how the funds should be preserved, protected and restored to local governments to replace the VLF taxes they will be losing. This is a particularly important question, since Proposition 47 of 1986 constitutionally earmarked VLF subventions for local governments, providing a relatively tamper-proof and expanding source of local revenues. Even though VLF subventions could be redirected away from local governments in future budgets simply by using them to supplant other sources of local funding, a suitable replacement to the VLF is an understandably important objective of local government.

AB 1776 establishes a strong protection against state government raids by phasing in a dedicated portion of future sales tax revenues to replace the lost VLF subventions. To protect against anomalies occurring between high-sales tax and low sales tax communities, the replacement revenues are placed into a dedicated state sales and use tax account that will replace lost VLF subventions on a dollar-for-dollar basis. When fully phased in, the sales tax rate required to replace the lost revenues will lock, and the subventions from the fund will naturally expand as the economy expands. Indeed, this reform greatly enhances the flexibility of local governments to use these funds by eliminating the straightjacket effect of the 1991 re-alignment legislation. Furthermore, to provide additional protection for local governments, the sales tax provisions of AB 1776 will be placed in a “Local Government Independence Act,” a constitutional amendment to be introduced in the Assembly later this month.

Californians pay the third highest combination of automobile taxes in the nation, and they pay $3.6 billion more in overall taxes than they would have without the net tax increases of the 1990’s. The largest portion of the automobile taxes is the Vehicle License Fee, also called the “car tax,” accounting for an average of $185 per automobile annually. None of this money is used for highways or highway-related services. It goes instead to local government general funds and local health and social services programs. Abolishing California’s car tax would make California families whole for the massive tax increases they suffered in 1991. In this period of economic growth, abolition of the car tax could be done while protecting local government from any revenue loss, preserving state funding for schools and prisons, and maintaining the proposed budget reserve. It would require an overall reduction in the 1998-99 proposed general fund budget of just 9/10ths of one percent, or no budget reductions at all if additional revenues materialize in the May Revise.

The state’s booming economy makes it possible to abolish the tax without touching the state’s school budgets or even the growth rate in the schools’ funding guarantee. The bill to abolish the tax even protects local governments from any revenue loss; it replaces every dollar lost through the car tax with an equal amount from the state’s share of existing sales tax revenues. To answer local government concerns that the replacement fund might be reduced in future years, a constitutional amendment has been proposed to protect against raids by future legislatures. In response, on 1997 Virginia voters just delivered a resounding mandate for abolishing the car tax in that state by electing James Gilmore, who made that objective the signature theme of his campaign. The support for abolishing the car tax from an impressive coalition of taxpayer groups suggests that strong organizational structure exists for taxpayers to channel their outrage at California’s abusive car tax.

Putting the real cost of using a car before the commuter might change a lot of minds and, incidentally, is a lot more democratic than road pricing where a flat rate will have to be paid to get into the city center. The good news is that California is enjoying a period of economic expansion. A combination of projected revenue growth and a one-year postponement of new social spending while meeting all of the above criteria can accommodate a five-year phase-out on the car-taxation. It is now established that even a much reduced rate of economic growth than California is currently experiencing would be more than enough to cover the phase-out of the car tax, without affecting Proposition 98 funding guarantees.

Holly Odom is a freelance writer working for essaymart.com – on line Custom Writing/Research company. She specializes in Social sciences, Arts, History and English literature. During 2005, earned became one of 10 best writers at essaymart.com.