Colleges caught in obsession over rankings

When US News & World Report debuted its list of "America's Best Colleges" nearly 30 years ago, the magazine hoped its college rankings would be a game-changer for students and families. But arguably, they've had a much bigger effect on colleges themselves.

Yes, students and families still buy the guide and its less famous competitors by the hundreds of thousands, and still care about a college's reputation. But it isn't students who obsess over every incremental shift on the rankings scoreboard, and who regularly embarrass themselves in the process. It's colleges.

It's colleges that have spent billions on financial aid for high-scoring students who don't actually need the money, motivated at least partly by the quest for rankings glory.

It was a college, Baylor University, that paid students it had already accepted to retake the SAT exam in a transparent ploy to boost the average scores it could report. It's colleges that have awarded bonuses to presidents who lift their school a few slots.

And it's colleges that occasionally get caught in the kind of cheating you might expect in sports or on Wall Street, but which seems especially ignominious coming from professional educators.

The latest example came last week at Claremont McKenna, a highly regarded California liberal arts college where a senior administrator resigned after acknowledging he falsified college entrance exam scores for years to rankings publications such as US News.

The scale was small: submitting scores just 10 or 20 points higher on the 1,600-point SAT math and reading exams. Average test scores account for just 7.5 percent of the US News rankings formula. Still, the magazine acknowledged the effect could have been to move the college up a slot or two in its rankings of top liberal arts colleges. And so it was hard not to notice Claremont McKenna stood at No. 9 in this year's rankings, which to people who care about such things sounds much sweeter than No. 11.

"For Claremont, there is I would think a psychologically large difference between being 9th and 11th," said Bob Schaeffer of the group FairTest and a rankings critic. "We're a top 10 school,' (or) 'we're 11th or 12th' ? that's a big psychological difference. It's a bragging rights difference."

If it was an effort to gain an edge, it backfired badly. Another popular list, Kiplinger's "Best College Values," said Friday it was removing Claremont McKenna from its 2011-12 rankings entirely because of the false reporting. The college had been No. 18 on its list of best-value liberal arts colleges.

Competitiveness may be naturally human, but to many who work with students, such behavior among fellow educators is mystifying. Contrary to widespread perceptions, they say, students typically use the rankings as a source of data and pay little attention to a school's number.

"When I started in this business, I thought, 'the rankings are terrible,'" said Brad MacGowan, a 21-year-veteran college counselor at Newton North High School outside Boston. "But spending all this time with students, I just don't hear that much about them. I'm sure it's colleges that are perpetuating it."

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It's hard to know how common cheating like that reported at Claremont McKenna is, given that while US News cross-checks some data with other sources, it relies largely on colleges themselves to provide it. Modest forms of fudging through data selection are undeniably common, especially in law school rankings. The most high-profile case of outright cheating involved Iona University in New York, which acknowledged last fall submitting years of false data that boosted its ranking from around 50th in its category to 30th.

But most rankings critics say by far the most pernicious failure of colleges isn't blatant cheating, but what they do more openly ? allowing the rankings formula to drive their goals and policies.

Colleges, they argue, have caved to the rankings pressure in a range of ways. A big one is recruiting as many students as they can to apply, even if they're not likely to be a good fit, just to boost their selectivity numbers. And they've showered shower financial aid on high-achieving, and often wealthy, kids with high SAT scores.

In the mid-1990s, roughly one-third of grant aid, or scholarships colleges of all types awarded with their own money, was given on grounds other than need (typically called "merit aid'). A decade later, they gave away three times as much money ? but well over half was based on merit.

Yes, some colleges recruited better students, but there was a price to be paid. Consider a 2008 study by The Institute for College Access and Success that examined the $11.2 billion annually four-year colleges were awarding in grant aid. Of that, $3.35 billion was awarded as merit aid. That would have easily covered the $2.4 billion in unmet need-based aid that the colleges said their low-income students still faced.

Rankings critic Lloyd Thacker, founder of the group Education Conservancy, calls that a shift in financial aid from "charitable acts to competitive weapons." Or, as Schaeffer describes it, "they end up giving the money to rich white kids."

The vast majority of students attend college within three hours of home, so national rankings have little meaning. What matters? Usually more mundane or subjective concerns. One student who went to MacGowan's office last week for a college planning meeting, junior Bridget Gillis, said she'd yet to even see a college ranking guide. Her criteria: "If they have my major, if it's a nice campus, how big it is, if they have the sport I want to play in college (field hockey)."

The latest version of a huge national survey of college freshman conducted annually by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute asked students to list various factors affecting their choice of college. Rankings in national magazines were No. 11 for current college freshmen, with roughly one in six calling them very important, well behind factors such as cost, size and location.

Those findings may be somewhat misleading. The leading factor cited, by almost two-thirds of students, was their college's "academic reputation," which can be hard to disentangle from its ranking. A reputational survey ranking accounts for 25 percent of a college's score in US News, and fame from a high US News rankings contributes to reputation, even if students say the ranking itself wasn't a factor. Such circularity is one of many things critics dislike about the US News methodology.

But the survey data do suggest students generally heed the magazine's advice not to use the rankings to make fine-grained distinctions between schools.

"As someone who is asked every year to comment on the rankings, it seems to me that who cares most is the media," John Pryor, who directs the UCLA survey, wrote in a blog post last year. "Second would be college presidents and development officers. Way down the list seem to be those who are actually trying to decide where to go to college."

Thacker says the rankings do have negative psychological effects on students, though usually only the top 10 to 15 percent who are applying to competitive colleges. But it has affected a much broader swath of colleges that have been unable to suppress their competitive urges for the educational common good.

"It has more an impact on colleges, presidents and trustees than it does on students," Thacker said. "The colleges have shifted resources and changed practices and policies that were once governed by educational values to serve prestige and rank and status."

That effect, he says, is dishonorable, even if some colleges at least feel guilty about it. More than 80 percent of college admissions officers surveyed for a report last fall by the National Association for College Admission Counseling felt the US News rankings offered students misleading conclusions, and roughly the same proportion agreed they caused counter-productive behavior by colleges. Yet more than 70 percent said their schools promoted their ranking in marketing materials.

The fact that the highly regarded dean apparently involved in the scandal at Claremont McKenna may have been driven to submit inflated test scores is an indicator of the scale of pressure that surrounds the rankings, said David Hawkins, director of public policy and research at NACAC, the counseling group. That pressure comes from all corners of the university ? trustees, alumni, presidents, even politicians,

"It's clear from the (Claremont McKenna) story that admission offices are under pressure," he said. "The key question is, how do you stop the madness?"

Bob Morse, who oversees the US News rankings as director of data research, says many of the behaviors the rankings have incentivized in colleges are benign. He points to universities like Northeastern and Southern California that have moved up in recent years through concerted efforts to improve their stats in variables that go into the formula ? but which also are good for students. Things like more small classes, programs to boost retention, higher faculty-to-student ratios. And why, Morse asks, should colleges be criticized for casting a wider recruiting net?

But even Morse, who says colleges paid the rankings little attention when they debuted in 1983, says he's been shocked by how seriously they now take their standing, and the lengths they go to move up.

"None of those things when we first started we had in mind would even happen or even could happen," he said. "It's evolved in ways that have taken on a life of their own. To us, it's proof people are paying attention."

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46272142/ns/us_news-life/

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News and Society -Crime News Blog: Mobsters, Gangs - Vito ...

Racket-buster and future New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey called him the "King of the Racketeers." And there is no doubt Vito Genovese was one of the most vicious, conniving, and treacherous bosses in Mafia history.

Genovese was born on November 27, 1897 in the tiny town of Risigliano, located in the Province of Naples in Italy. He reached the equivalent of a fifth grade education in Italy, when in 1913 he traveled to New York City to hook up with his father, who had come to America a few years earlier. The Genovese family settled in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan, and soon Genovese was working for an young up-and-coming gangster named Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Genovese also became tight with Mafia thugs like Frank Costello, Joe "Adonis" Doto, and Albert Anastasia. But he didn't particularly like to associate with Jewish gangsters like Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel.

The first time Costello introduced Genovese to Lansky and Siegel as their partners in various criminal enterprises, Genovese said, "What are you tying to do. Load us up with a bunch of Hebes?"

Costello snapped back, "Take it easy, Don Vitone? You're nothing but a foreigner yourself."

Because of the inclusion of criminal mastermind Lansky and the muscle provided by Siegel, the Prohibition era of the Roaring Twenties was very profitable for the Italians mobsters. They also hooked up with Irish mobsters Owney "The Killer" Madden and his partner Big Bill Dwyer, who was known as the "King of the Rum Runners," and was the biggest distributor of illegal booze in the entire United Sates of America.

During the mid 1920's, the biggest Italian mob boss in New York City was Joe "The Boss" Masseria, a porcine-looking thug, barely five feet tall, who was said to have the table manners of a "drooling mastiff." Masseria took Luciano, Costello, and Genovese under his wings, and he inserted Luciano as his second in charge, or "Underboss." The problem was, Masseria didn't like his men associating with anyone who wasn't a Sicilian, specifically mentioning Lansky, Siegel, Madden, and Dwyer. Masseria was not too fond either of Genovese, who was from Naples, and Costello (real name Castiglia), who from Calabria. However, Masseria tolerated both men because, after all, they were Italians. But Masseria would not elevate Genovese and Costello to anything above being a mere Mafia soldier. And this did not set too well with Luciano and his pals, Italian or otherwise.

In 1927, Benito Mussolini basically chased the Mafia out of Sicily; jailing some and killing others. Salvatore Maranzano, from the area around the Bay of Castellammare in Sicily, escaped to the United States with another group of Mafia exiles. Maranzano's boss Don Vito Cascio Ferro had been imprisoned for life by Mussolini and his Chief of Police Caesar Mori. So Maranzano, figuring the American Mafia was inferior to the Sicilian brand, decided he would be able to take over all the rackets of Masseria and his cohorts without too many problems. Or at least, problems he couldn't handle. This led to what historians called the "Castellamarese War."

A mobster who met Maranzano soon after Maranzano arrived in America later said, "When we arrived it was very dark. We were brought before before Maranzano, who seemed absolutely majestic, with two pistols stuck in his waist, and about ninety boys who were also armed to the teeth surrounding him. I thought I was in the presence of Pancho Villa."

From 1927 to 1930, the Castellamarese War raged all over New York City. Men were killed in and in front of pool rooms, Italian members-only clubs, all-night diners, bars and restaurants, and even in the streets as they emerged from their cars. The killers fired their guns from moving cars, roof tops, and darkened doorways. When the dust cleared, 50 bodies were piled up in the streets, which made Luciano consider the wiseness of his allegiance to Masseria. Lansky, who was the closest to Luciano, cautioned Luciano to "Wait the war out. Let the bosses kill each other, then we can step in and take over."

It is not clear who's idea it was first, but in the spring 1931, Luciano and Lansky had a secret meeting with Maranzano in Maranzano's midtown office. At this meeting it was decided that Luciano and his cohorts would switch sides in the Castellamarese War and back Maranzano. Of course, this meant taking out Masseria, which Luciano had no compunction doing.

Luciano figured the best set-up was to entice Masseria into a situation the usually-cagey Masseria would feel totally comfortable with. And this, of course was scarfing down food in a four-star Italian restaurant.

According to Rick Cohen's fine book on Jewish mobsters Tough Jews, on April 15, 1931, Luciano asked Masseria out to lunch in Brooklyn, far away from Masseria's stronghold in Manhattan's Little Italy. Luciano told Masseria, "We'll go over to Scarpato's in Brooklyn. Scarpato fixes sauce like in the old country, with the clams and the good olive oil."

The mere mention of food caused drool to flow down Masseria's lips, so he readily agreed to Luciano's request. The two men took Masseria's bullet-proof limousine from the lower east side of Manhattan to Brooklyn, and sat at a table in the back of Scarpato's. In just a few short hours, Masseria consumed more food than the average man could eat in two days. When his belly was full, Masseria requested a deck of cards so that he and his best pal Luciano could play a little poker.

At around 3 p.m., Luciano excused himself and went into the men room. Seconds later, four men burst through the front door of the restaurant. They were comprised of the eclectic group of Genovese, Anastasia, Siegel, and a very capable Jewish killer named Red Levine. They reportedly fired 20 bullets at Masseria; some of them actually connecting with their intended target. Masseria rolled flat on his back, as dead as the card hand he was holding. In photos in the next day newspapers, all that was visible was Masseria's right bloody hand, palm up, holding the ace of diamonds. From that point on, mobsters considered the ace of diamonds a curse. Some even sent the ace of diamonds to an enemy, warning him he was about to join Masseria in that hot place downstairs with no air conditioning.

With Masseria now quite dead, the four gunmen rushed to a waiting car, with the very nervous Ciro Terranova behind the wheel. Terranova was shaking so hard, he was unable to get the car into gear. Siegel angrily pushed Terranova aside, and drove the getaway car himself. A few years later, Terranova was banished from Luciano's mob, because Luciano agreed with Siegel, Levine, and Genovese that Terranova had no guts.

When Luciano finally exited the men's room, he found several nervous waiters, bullet holes in the walls and tables, and a dead Masseria on the floor. When the police arrived soon after, Luciano told the law that he didn't see anything because, "I was in the bathroom, I didn't hear anything."

Since the waiters clammed up, and the police themselves had an extreme dislike for Masseria, no one was ever arrested for Masseria's murder, and it is doubtful that the police ever even looked for his killer.

When Maranzano heard about Masseria's demise, he was beside himself with glee. Maranzano immediately named himself the winner of the Castellamarese War and the new boss of the Mafia. He immediately made Luciano his right-hand man.

A few weeks after Masseria's demise, Maranzano called a meeting of every Mafioso in New York City, reportedly to be over 500 made men. The meeting took place in a large warehouse in the Bronx, near the Harlem River. At this meeting Maranzano divided these men into five separate crime families. As the five bosses of these families, Maranzano named Lucky Luciano, Albert Anastasia, Tommy Luchese, Joe Profaci, and Joe Bonnano. Maranzano also appointed each family a second-in-command, or "Underboss," and he named Genovese as the "Underboss" of the Luciano Family.

Of course, Maranzano also named himself the "Boss of All Bosses," or the" Capi de Tuti Capi," and this was not palatable to Luciano and the other Mafia leaders, who were tired of always having someone lording over them, taking a big piece of their pies.

Even though Maranzano promised that his new organization, which he dubbed "Cosa Nostra," or "Our Thing," would keep peace and prosperity in the forefront of their operation, Maranzano secretly felt quite differently. He immediately drew up a list of people he wanted dead, because he felt their ambition was a threat to his leadership. Luciano, Costello, and Genovese were on that list. Maranzano invited Luciano, Costello and Genovese to a meeting in Maranzano's midtown office. At this meeting, Maranzano planned to have Vincent "Mad Dog" Cole, an especially vicious Irish killer, execute all three men. Maranzano paid Cole $25,000 in advance, with another $25,000 payable after the dirty deed was done.

However, Luciano had a mole inside Maranzano's inner circle, allegedly Tommy Luchese, and Luchese tipped Luciano as to the set-up. On the day of their intended demise, neither Luciano, Costello, nor Genovese were anywhere near Maranzano's office. Instead, Luciano sent four Jewish gangsters, selected by Meyer Lansky and headed by Red Levine (who was also one of the shooters in the Masseria killing) to Maranzano's office. The four killers posing as police detectives, bullied their way past Maranzano's bodyguards in the outer office, and busted into Maranzano's inner office, where they shot and stabbed Maranzano to death.

The four killers then hurried out of Maranzano's office, followed by Maranzano's ex-bodyguards, who were now looking for new jobs. The men sprinted down the stairs and barreled right into "Mad Dog" Cole, who was carrying a machine gun in a violin case. They told Cole that Maranzano was already dead, and to beat it before the cops showed up. Cole did an about face and followed the killers out of the building, having just received a $25,000 pay day without firing a shot.

With Masseria and now Maranzano out of the way, the five Mafia families thrived. However, Genovese, along with Anastasia the most vicious killers of the bunch, began an out-of-control killing spree.

First, Genovese's wife (name unknown) suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth. The word on the streets was that Genovese had killed his wife and made her body disappear, because he had fallen in love with a woman named Anna. The only problem was, Anna was already married to a man named Gerard Vernotico. Now this was merely a small obstacle to Genovese, who killed Vernotico on a tenement rooftop, then married Anna two weeks later, on March 30, 1932.

In 1934, things started falling apart for Genovese, when he was involved in an extortion plot gone awry. One of his co-conspirators in the plot was Ferdinand Boccia. Genovese, fearful that Boccia was the weak link and would squeal, murdered Boccia himself. This would later come back to haunt Genovese.

In 1936, special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey set his sights on organized crime, and on Luciano and Genovese in particular. After Luciano was convicted on a trumped-up charge of prostitution, allegedly orchestrated by Dewey himself, Luciano was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison. Before he left to do his time, Luciano named Genovese as the boss of Luciano's family. But in 1937, Genovese was indicted for the murder of Boccia that had happened three years earlier. Instead of being fed the same fate as his pal Luciano, Genovese escaped to Sicily, one year after Genovese had become an American naturalized citizen. With Genovese unable to supervise the Luciano family, Luciano, from prison, degreed that Frank Costello was now the head of the Luciano Family.

While Genovese was in Sicily he was a very busy man indeed. Having reportedly taking $750,000 in cash with him, Genovese put this money to work for him on the streets. Of course this was impossible to do without the friendship and cooperation of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who was intimately involved in Word War II, as an enemy of the United States. Genovese paid for the construction of a power plant for Mussolini in Nola, located in Southern Italy. Then Genovese contributed $250,000 for the construction of a Municipal building that Mussolini wanted built. Whenever Genovese got a little short of cash, he contacted his wife Anna in America, who was handling Genovese's business operations while he was in his self-imposed exile. During this time, Anna Genovese made frequent trips to Italy to replenish her husband coffers.

To show his gratitude for Genovese's largess, Mussolini awarded Genovese the Order of the Crown of Italy, a high civilian honor. And because one good turn deserves another, in 1943, Genovese arranged for the murder in New York City of Mussolini's chief nemeses, Italian newspaper editor Carlo Tresa, who was stirring up the pot against Mussolini in his radical Italian newspaper Il Martello, which was sold in Italian communities in America. The hit was allegedly done by up-and-coming mobster Carmine Galente, who shot Tresa in the back of the head as Tresa was strolling down Fifth Avenue near 13th Street.

In 1944, Mussolini's empire was crumbling. Genovese, seeing the handwriting on the wall, switched sides and began working for the United States Army, basically as an informer, who led the Army to a slew of black market operators, whom Genovese had been doing business with. Soon, the Army got wise to why Genovese was working with them so readily. It seemed that every time the Army shut down a black market operation that Genovese had led them too, Don Vitone took over that operation himself.

With the war over, and all of the witnesses against Genovese either dead or disappeared, Genovese made his way back into the United States. With no evidence against Genovese, the prosecutors simply dropped the Boccia murder case against him.

Genovese immediately tried to gain back control of the Luciano family, but Costello, with the help of Lansky and Anastasia, was too firmly entrenched. So Genovese bided his time. He moved with his wife to a luxurious house in Atlantic Highland in New Jersey and took the guise of a civic-minded businessman who gave heavily to numerous charities, including the Boy Scouts of America. In fact, Genovese was heavily involved in the narcotics business, raking in millions and building up his war chest to fight his way back to the top.

Genovese had a minor setback, when in 1953, Anna Genovese, claiming physical and emotional distress, sued Genovese for divorce. During their divorce trial, which was reported daily in the press, Anna Genovese said that her husband had stashed millions of dollars in European accounts, and that he grossed between $20,000-$30,000 a week from the Italian lottery games. This caused Genovese much dishonor amongst his Mafia cohorts, and delayed his planned coup d'?tat for control of the Mafia families.

Genovese waited until 1957 to make his attack. Since his return from Italy, it was estimated that Genovese, through drug dealing, Italian lotteries, and his activities with corrupt labor unions, had accumulated about $30 million of "play money" to invest in treachery. His three main obstacles to achieve his mission of Mafia control were Frank Costello, Albert Anastasia, and Meyer Lansky. Since Lansky was Jewish and therefore not eligible to be in the Mafia, Genovese figured if he took out Costello and Anastasia, Lansky would have no other choice but to fall in line.

Genovese tried to take the first bite of the apple, when in 1957, he sent hulking ex-boxer Vincent "The Chin" Gigante to ambush Costello in the lobby of Costello's Park Avenue apartment building. Gigante pointed his gun and said, "This is for you, Frank!" But the bulled Gigante fired simply grazed Costello's head. A quick rush to the hospital emergency room and Costello was back in his own bed that same night. True to the code of omerta, when Gigante was captured and brought to trial, Costello refused to identify Gigante as his attempted assassin.

Genovese's second upwardly mobile move was more successful. On October 25, 1957, Genovese arranged for the murder of Anastasia, who was filled with lead by two men as he sat in the barber chair in the Park Sheridan Hotel. Genovese originally gave the murder contract to his ally Joe Profaci, the head of one of the Mafia five families, and Profaci allegedly subcontracted out the hit to Crazy Joe Gallo's Red Hook Brooklyn crew. Anastasia's murder was never solved and over the years several men have privately took credit for the hit, including Gallo.

With Genovese still angling for his Mafia takeover, Costello and Lansky, with the approval of Luciano who was now exiled in Italy, devised a scheme whereby they could put Genovese out of commission for good without killing him. They enlisted the aid of an ambitious mobster named Carlo Gambino, who was looking for a rise to the top himself. Gambino approached Genovese about a proposed mutimillion international drug deal that would net them tons of money. Even though Genovese had outlawed drug dealing in his own crew, Don Vitone didn't figure this ban extended to him, so he greedily agreed. Then Gambino, though his crooked connections in law enforcement, arranged for Genovese to be arrested on a drug conspiracy charge. However, the Feds needed proof before they could try and convict Genovese.

The wily Gambino knew a convicted minor drug dealer rotting in Sing Sing Prison named Nelson Cantellops. He approached Cantellops though an intermediary and suggested if Cantellops would testify in court that he had witnessed Genovese involved in several big money drug deals, Gambino would arrange for Cantellops to be paid the whopping sum of $100,000, a suspended sentence, and a release from prison. To accomplish this, Costello, Lansky, and Luciano would contribute $50,000, and Gambino would kick in the other $50,000.

Luciano later said about the sting, "We had to pay him (Cantellops) pretty good."

Cantellops thought about the proposition for about two seconds and he agreed to take the bribe.

Then an anonymous tip was called in to the New York Narcotic Bureau saying that Cantellops would be willing to trade information on Genovese for his freedom. With Genovese being such a big fish, and Cantellops hardly a minnow, the government readily agreed.

In 1958, Genovese and twenty four member of his crew were arrested for violating the new Narcotics Control Act.

In 1959, at Genovese's trial, Cantellops was the star witness for a full four weeks. Cantellops said under oath that he had personally witnessed Genovese and his underlings over the years making numerous drug buys. He also said that for two years he had acted as a courier for Genovese, carrying heroin from New York City to various other cities around the country. Cantellops testified that on one occasion he had accompanied Genovese to a meeting in the Bronx where it was discussed how to divvy up the heroin-selling territories.

Based almost exclusively on the testimony of Nelson Cantellops, Genovese and all 24 of his cohorts were found guilty. Genovese was sentenced to 15 years in prison, to be served at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia.

While in prison, Genovese continued to run his crime family though intermediaries. Mobster Joe Valachi later testified before the John L. McClellan's Subcommittee that while in jail Genovese, because he knew he had been framed, became extremely paranoid. Genovese trusted no one, and even ordered the execution of his top aide Tony Bender, just because he suspected Bender, wrongfully of course, in being involved in the set-up.

In prison, Genovese developed nervous symptoms and severe heart problems. Vito Genovese died of a heart attack on February 14, 1969, while still in prison. He is buried in Saint John's Cemetery in Queens.

In the 1972 movie The Valachi Papers, staring Charles Bronson, Genovese was portrayed by actor Lino Ventura. And in the 2001 TV movie Boss of Bosses, Genovese's part was played by actor Steven Bauer.

You can view my Author website with all my fiction and non fiction writings at: http://josephbrunowriter.com.

You can view my blog Joe Bruno on the Mob at: http://joebrunoonthemob.wordpress.com/

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Source: http://newsandsociety-crimenews.blogspot.com/2012/02/mobsters-gangs-vito-genovese.html

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The reason Are Physical Silver and gold Underweighted within ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The far more tangible you can take your sterling silver investing, silver investing, and physical gold ira investing as a rule, the healthier. The fact that long phrase savings, irrelevant of how suitable the securities, bonds as well ...

Source: http://www.biovedaofbethlehem.com/the-reason-are-physical-silver-and-gold-underweighted-within-investors-portfolios

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Blog interview no.269 with writer Jean Harrington ? Morgen Bailey's ...

Welcome to the two hundred and sixty-ninth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today?s is with murder mystery and historical author Jean Harrington. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello Jean. I?ll jump straight in and ask you what you have had published to date, and can you remember where you saw your first book on the shelves?

Jean: I?ve had two historical novels published, both set in 17th century Ireland: The Barefoot Queen and In the Lion?s Mouth, and a recent release, a murder mystery, Designed for Death.?? I did have the pleasure of seeing the historicals at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, here in Naples, Florida.? A related thrill was seeing The Barefoot Queen sitting on my local library?s shelf.? Imagine me, there with famous authors.? The thrill is still new!? My current release, Designed for Death, has been published in e-book and audio format, so I won?t see it on a shelf, so to speak.? But other thrills await as the e-book market implodes.

Morgen: As an eBook-only author I can only imagine how exciting it is to see your actual books out, especially if you waited until someone picked them up although I do sit and clap every time I get a ?review notification? or ?purchase notification? email. How much of the marketing do you do?

Jean:? For the historicals, I?ve done a good deal of public speaking and book signings here in Florida and also in Chicago.? For my new Murders by Design Mystery Series, I?m endeavoring to strengthen my social networking persona with blogs such as your own.?? And with personal on-site marketing.? This, I?m finding, is more difficult than writing the book.? Other authors have told me the same.? I guess the reason maybe we?re imaginers not marketers.

Morgen: Absolutely. I have a friend (married to an American, living in Washington) who?s a brilliant saleswoman and I?ve always said I?m hopeless. I?m of the ?oh, you don?t want it? Oh, OK then? camp. It?s finding the thin line between very little (me) and touting (some who shall remain nameless but they know who they are ). Do you have an agent?? Do you think they?re vital to an author?s success?

Jean: Although I have worked with an agent in the past, at the moment I don?t have one.? While an agent isn?t vital to a writing career, having one does make it easier to get editors / publishers to read your work.? I?ve been fortunate that Carina Press, the digital arm of Harlequin Publishing, accepted my novels on the basis of my own query.

Morgen: Oh wow, well done. I understand Harlequin are huge Are your books available as eBooks?? If so what was your experience of that process?? Do you have any plan to write any eBook-only stories?? And do you read eBooks?

Jean: Aha!? Yes, indeed to all of these questions.? And I have found it?s easy going green.? Here in the States, digital books capture a larger portion of the market each year.??? Perhaps the secret is that electronic publishing offers instant gratification.? No matter where you find yourself?in a car, in a plane, on a beach, virtually any book of any kind is only a click away.

Morgen: Exactly. Even before I bought my Kindle (two weeks ago!) I thought paper books for home and electronic for away. Paper books will never go away, there?ll just be less of them ? perhaps quality vs quantity. Did you have any say in the title of your books?? How important do you think they are?

Jean: I?m happy to say I?ve named all of my published books.? And yes, the title, because it is a sales tool, is very important and should hint at the book?s content.? One amusing story?I was asked to suggest names for my murder mystery series which features an interior designer as the amateur sleuth.? I suggested The Rooms To Die for Murder Mysteries.? That, however, was turned down in favor of The Murders by Design Mystery Series.? More dignified for sure!

Morgen: Do any of your books have dedications?? If so, to whom and why?

Jean: They all do.?? The first historical I dedicated to my late Irish mother-in-law whose voice is the one I tried to capture in the telling of that tale.?? The other books are dedicated to family and friends.?? Dedications are very special and each person chosen is selected with care.? I love the opportunity to be able to do so.

Morgen: Who designed your book covers?

Jean: I don?t know specifically.? The art departments of the publishers.? Each time, at first glimpse of them, my heart pounded.? Would they capture the spirit of the novel?? I?m pleased to say each one does.

Morgen: It?s so important for the author to like it. I?ve heard of some author (with mainstream publishers) who haven?t liked the covers, and they?re best-placed to know, but have had no say in it. Have you had any rejections?? If so, how do you deal with them?

Jean: Mountains of rejections!? Enough to paper a loo.? How to deal with them?? Ignore the impersonal ones.? Learn from the ones that mention a particular weakness or reason for rejecting that manuscript.

Morgen: Good plan. What are you working on at the moment?

Jean: The third in my Murders by Design Mystery Series.? I?ve tentatively titled it Killer Kitchens.? We?ll see if that name is retained.

Morgen: I like it. Do you write every day?? What?s the most you?ve written in a day?

Jean: Every single day.? For one to two hours of new material.? Then several hours of revision and editing.? I don?t count pages per day, so I can?t give a count.? But the old adage holds true:? Write one page a day and at the end of a year you have a book.

Morgen: You will. 300 words a day is a 100,000 word novel ? astounding but true. Do you write short stories, Jean?? If so, apart from the word count, what do you see at the differences between them and novels?

Jean: I have written short stories but prefer the novel form.? Short stories might well be termed the ?poetry? of fiction in that they distill a single experience into its essence.? They present a slice of life not the whole world.? Maybe today people want to escape into another universe and leave their daily troubles behind.? The novel with its breath allows for that in a way no other literary form does.

Morgen: What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person?

Jean: The late Leslie Waller (Dog Day Afternoon, Strange Encounters of the Third Kind) once said to me that first person is the most dynamic.? There?s a lot of truth in that statement.? But to be dynamic, that character, Waller said, must be charming.? And he isn?t the smartest person in the book.? Leave that up to another character and then your protagonist will remain sympathetic.? In addition, if your protag can exhibit self-deprecating humor, so much the better.? This will keep him super likeable.

Third person, of course, offers even wider scope to the writer.? What one loses in intimacy with the first person point of view is gained by being able to enter many minds and express multiple viewpoints.? So both first and third points of view have different strengths.

Morgen: It?s so important to like the characters? for a reader especially. In one of my recent reads I really struggled to like the main character. I much preferred a minor one and felt that was a shame, as it gave me an excuse to put it down and move on to something else. What do you like to read?? Do you have any favourite author?

Jean: Several.? For sheer sassiness and wit, Nelson DeMille is tops.? And P.D. James also comes to mind.? Her voice is so cool, so distinguished, and, may I say? so English.

Morgen: Absolutely, you can.

Jean: She?s a master of nuance, so important to writing a mystery.? I can only worship her as I use my American voice in the person of Deva Dunne, the amateur sleuth of Designed for Death.? Deva utilizes her interior designer?s eye for detail to discover the identity of the killer?only to discover the killer has designs on her.? What fun!

Morgen: It sounds like it. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?

Jean: One my husband used during conversation the other day. ??All great writers have an Iago.?

Morgen: Thank you, Jean. Lovely to meet you.

Jean Harrington?is the author of two historical romances and the recent e-Book and audio release, Designed for Death.? The novel is?the first in her Murders by Design Mystery Series featuring an interior designer as the?amateur sleuth.? A former teacher of college English, Jean?talks less these days and writes far, far more.??Currently she lives in Naples, Florida with husband John and?is enjoying?being awash in fictional dead bodies. You can find out more about Jean?s writing at her website: www.jeanharrington.com. She?d also love it if you liked her on Facebook.

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking ?ooh, I?d like to do this? then you can? just email me and I?ll send you the questions. You complete them, I tweak them where appropriate (if necessary to reflect the blog ?clean and light? rating) and then they get posted. When that?s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me? let me know. You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don?t miss anything? and follow me on Twitter?where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can?t review books but if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you?d like critiqued and don?t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them) on my ?Bailey?s Writing Tips? podcast,?then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays.

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Source: http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/blog-interview-no-269-with-writer-jean-harrington/

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World Cancer Day: How You Can Help

Last year alone saw an estimated 1,596,670 new cancer diagnoses and 571,950 cancer-related deaths, the Cancer Journal for Clinicians reports.

But this crippling disease is bigger than these figures. It has names, faces and families irreversibly affected by cancer's impact. But it's victims and survivors aren't powerless. They've come together with the mission to forever put an end to this disease.

Each year on World Cancer Day activists host campaigns, events, and fundraisers around the globe to raise awareness -- and funds -- to find a cure.

Dylan Moser, is an example of one cancer hero who has joined the fight. He overcame acute lymphoblastic leukemia before his third birthday, and celebrated his 12th by giving money to Penn State's THON, the organization that had helped his family.

Lance Kopplin, who at 6-years-old was told he had weeks to live, is now a popular, confident and healthy 12-year-old, despite having had his right eye removed. His parents continue to donate to the Ronald McDonald House, the organization that pitched in when the Kopplins needed the organization most.

"There should always be hope," Lance's mother, Jolene, told the Huffington Post. "Hope is what keeps anyone going. I don't care if it's false hope. It keeps you going until the end."

To get involved in the mission to fight back against cancer, consider supporting the organizations leading the battle.

Stand Up To Cancer
Since launching in 2008, Stand Up To Cancer has raised more than $80 million for cancer research, and helped bring new treatments to patients of all types of cancer-- all while advocating policy-change and awareness.

To get involved, click here.

World Cancer Day
This organization brings together advocacy, prevention, and awareness through educating the public and lobbying congress.

To find out more, click here.

CURE Childhood Cancer
CURE has raised millions for work that focuses on improving the care, quality of life and survival rate of children with cancer through education and support for patients and families.

To get involved, click here.

American Cancer Society
With the support of millions, ACS works hard to save lives and celebrate more birthdays through cancer prevention, research and help for those suffering from cancer.

To get involved, click here.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Internationally recognized for its pioneering research and treatment of pediatric cancer patients, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is ranked one of the best pediatric cancer hospitals in the country. It is the first, and only, national cancer institute devoted solely to children.

To donate to St. Jude's, click here.

Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer
Honoring the memory of Alexandra Scott, a 4-year-old cancer patient who set up a lemonade stand to raise money for cancer research, the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer has now raised thousands for cancer research. The foundation is one of the only national charities that funds pediatric oncology nursing research and grants, designed to improve the quality of life and care of children battle cancer.

To get involved, click here.

Ronald McDonald House Charities
Besides just the disease, medical expenses can pile up and burden a family for years to follow. Ronald McDonald House Charities provids free or low-cost places to stay for families who are traveling to get the medical attention they need. The organization is centered on the focus that families are stronger when they are together, helping them face the fight against illness.

To get involved, click here.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/04/world-cancer-day-help_n_1253026.html

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Holiday Travel Insurance | Tuff India

by Jerry Lan on February 5, 2012

in Finance

Is traveling intended only for people of consequence? Most travelers are young people who are mostly not so moneyed and usually scout for cheap medical travel insurance.That is only bettered by the huge discounts one gets from early bookings, discounts on group or package, and such. What is perhaps missing is the one that is frequently consciously overlooked is the holiday travel insurance. There are those who would claim how a holiday travel insurance saved the vacation of a certain traveler, yet its affinity is lost as it is taken hypothetically.

And let us not forget those who are into extreme sports who get entangled in accidents as they tempt fate all the time.Pre-need is anchored on the so many ?what ifs? that travelers contend with; along side is the safety that one is promised with. That is exactly the reason for paying an insurance company for holiday travel insurance.

Can one get away without holiday travel insurance when traveling out of the country? What scenario are you looking at if you do this and a misfortune hits? What if you reach your destination and got down with an epidemic of some sort? What If you need to cancel a flight because something prevented you from getting on that plane like an illness or a situation in the family or business? What if the flight is delayed or cancelled and you are stranded in an airport?

This can happen especially in cases of advanced bookings to be able to qualify for big discounts and rebates. In case some violent turmoil embroils the country you are vacationing, is repatriation a part of your insurance coverage? Who would want to be in such kind of troubles? No one wants to spoil a holiday, but these things happen.While travel insurance is not legally mandated, it is not safe to go on a long trip without the security of holiday travel insurance.

This, if covered by the medical travel insurance, can be dealt with ease as treatment is sought in accordance to the traveler?s own preferences.Medical and emergency provisions are always important particularly for senior citizens. Early bookings for travel tickets and accommodation provide huge discounts but may face cancellation due to unplanned problems. Those who are always traveling with frequency may want to consider options other than a single-trip insurance.Getting on that long-planned break? Guard yourself with a holiday travel insurance.

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Tagged as: Finance

Source: http://www.tuffindia.com/holiday-travel-insurance.html

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