Cheap Family Nights With Redbox! Redbox Giveaway ...

We love having family fun nights and we do all sorts of things from watching a kid friendly movie to playing board games or letting the kids pick what we should do. We like to have family nights on a regular basis so our kids get some focused time with the whole family spending quality time together. It's a great tradition to start. This past month we did family movie and Wii game nights! It was so much fun.
The kids had a blast doing Just Dance 3 and my hubby had a great time making fun of my dancing :) Thanks honey! All in all it was a great time! Family nights don't have to be expensive! Think of fun ideas that don't cost much. Pop microwave popcorn, let the kids decorate with inexpensive streamers, save money on game and movie rentals by getting them from Redbox or have an outdoor picnic! The options are endless.
To celebrate family night around here we want to hear your ideas for family fun! What's your favorite way to spend time together as a whole family? Leave your comment with your idea for your chance to win! Good luck! (If the Rafflecopter giveaway doesn't appear below then please click the post title to be taken to a dedicated page where the giveaway will appear.)

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Sarah

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Obama sees 'emerging consensus' on economic fix

World leaders attend the first working session of the G-8 Summit at Camp David, Md,, Saturday, May 19, 2012. From left are French President Francois Hollande, U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev. (AP Photo/Philippe Wojazer, Pool)

World leaders attend the first working session of the G-8 Summit at Camp David, Md,, Saturday, May 19, 2012. From left are French President Francois Hollande, U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev. (AP Photo/Philippe Wojazer, Pool)

French President Francois Hollande, left, listens as U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the start of the first working session of the G8 Summit at Camp David, Md., Saturday May 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Philippe Wojazer, Pool)

World leaders attend the family photo session during the G-8 Summit at Camp David, Md., Saturday, May 19, 2012. From left are European Commission President Jose' Manuel Barroso, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, French President Francois Hollande, U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minster David Cameron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy. (AP Photo/Philippe Wojazer, Pool)

(AP) ? Confronting an economic crisis that threatens them all, President Barack Obama and leaders of other world powers on Saturday declared that their governments must both spark growth and cut the debt that has crippled the European continent and put investors worldwide on edge.

"There's now an emerging consensus that more must be done to promote growth and job creation right now," Obama proclaimed after hosting unprecedented economic talks at Camp David, his secluded and highly secure mountaintop retreat. Seeking a second term amid hard economic times, Obama hailed a debate heading in the direction he likes, with nations now talking of ways to spark their economies instead of just slashing spending.

Yet there were no bold prescriptions at hand. Instead, leaders seemed intent on trying to inspire confidence by agreeing on a broad strategy no matter their differences. With all of them facing their own difficult political realities, they built some sovereign wiggle room into their pledge to take all necessary steps, saying "the right measures are not the same for each of us."

Obama played international host as Europe's debt crisis threatens to drag down the U.S. recovery and his own political future, underscoring the stakes for him in getting allies abroad to rally around some answers.

Much of the new emphasis on government-led growth seemed aimed at German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who came to the summit as the European leader who had demanded austerity as the most important step toward easing the eurozone's debt crisis. But the election of Socialist Francois Hollande as president of France, and Greek elections that created political chaos in the country were clear rejections of the belt-tightening Merkel represented.

Coping with shaky oil markets, the leaders set the stage for a united release of world oil reserves to balance any disruption in world markets when tough new sanctions are imposed on Iran's exports because of its disputed nuclear program. The leaders said they were ready to take "appropriate action" to meet any shortages.

The mere preparation to release oil reserves could help calm markets and ensure that oil prices, which have been dropping, don't climb again and anger consumers as U.S. elections approach.

The Group of Eight summit includes leaders of the United States, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Russia.

A joint summit statement reflected how urgently the countries must contain a financial crisis that could spread from the eurozone to the United States and infect the rest of the global economy. They declared unanimity in ensuring that Greece, which is crippled in debt and politically gridlocked, remains as part of the 17-member euro currency union.

"The leaders here understand the stakes," Obama said in summing up a packed, unusually intimate day of world talks. "They know the magnitude of the choices they have to make and the enormous political and economic and social costs if they don't."

Merkel said growth and deficit-cutting reinforced each other and that everyone around the table agreed. "That is great progress," she said. As for promoting growth, she said investments under consideration include research and development, Internet networks and infrastructure. But she said "this doesn't mean stimulus in the usual sense."

U.S. officials agreed, saying growth measures that the Europeans might pursue don't all require outright public spending, and could be in the form of public-private partnerships or in initiatives designed to loosen credit. And the leaders stayed away entirely from the world "stimulus," which has taken on an unpopular political connotation, including in the United States.

"The global economic recovery shows signs of promise, but significant headwinds persist," said G-8 leaders said.

The tension between austerity and growth ? whether to slash debt by cutting budgets or use public money and other means to help spur economic growth ? was the backdrop as Obama welcomed an emerging push for a balance between the two.

He seized the opportunity to cast the debate in terms favorable to his own re-election, closing the summit with the steps he took to right the U.S. economy and his economic vision for a second term. He said he was confident Europe could get on a path to recovery as has the United States.

"We know it is possible in part based on our own experience here," he said. "In my earliest days in office, we took decisive steps to confront our own financial crisis."

Obama chose Camp David in part to encourage a freewheeling discussion out of sight of most media and potential protests, allowing the leaders to sit around a cabin table to negotiate terms, or stroll through the leafy paths for chats that seemed a world away from the typical summit convention-hall setting.

It all came before Obama was to lead a much larger NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday and Monday that will be heavily focused on the Afghanistan war.

The drag of a eurozone crisis comes as joblessness and doubts about a life of better opportunities are already the chief concerns for American voters.

In their united view, the leaders conceded some points about Merkel's push for austerity, saying budget deficits must close.

But their joint statement added that budget cutting should "take into account countries' evolving economic conditions and underpin confidence and economic recovery." That suggested a willingness to let indebted countries take more time to reduce their deficits in line with eurozone rules in order to lessen the deadening impact of cuts on the economy.

It also called for "investments in education and in modern infrastructure," which would involve more government spending. That approach also meshes exactly with Obama's campaign-year strategy for accelerated economic growth, which is to keep spending money on core priorities while taking on the debt through cuts and higher taxes.

The statement of support for Greece remaining in the euro underlines the unpredictable damage to the global financial system that could come from a Greece departure. It follows a week of increasing speculation that Greece might not be able to stay the course, and in which a top European Union official said officials were working on emergency plans in case of a Greek exit. That country is facing the most acute financial crisis of the eurozone and is set to hold elections June 17 to end political deadlock.

At issue is whether Greece abandons the euro to escape austerity measures. Meanwhile, Europe's woes have given shudders to Wall Street.

The Fitch ratings agency dropped Greece to the lowest possible grade for a country not in default Thursday. Fitch said Greece's departure from the euro "would be probable" if elections next month do not reverse political trends there, which have brought in politicians opposed to the terms of Europe's bailout.

___

Associated Press writers David McHugh, Jamey Keaten, Nancy Benac and Anne Gearan contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Blind Chinese activist leaves for US

BEIJING (AP) ? A blind Chinese activist was hurriedly taken from a hospital Saturday and boarded a plane that took off for the United States, closing a nearly monthlong diplomatic tussle that had tested U.S.-China relations.

Chen Guangcheng, his wife and their two children were on United Airlines Flight 88, which took off late Saturday afternoon from the Beijing airport. The flight was scheduled to arrive in Newark, N.J., Saturday evening.

Earlier Saturday, Chen spoke to The Associated Press by phone from the airport, saying that he had left the hospital where he'd been staying and expected to leave for Newark, outside New York City.

"Thousands of thoughts are surging to my mind," Chen said, sounding hurried but calm. To his supporters and others in the activist community, Chen expressed gratitude and indicated that he hoped to return.

"I am requesting a leave of absence, and I hope that they will understand," he said.

Chen and his family were driven up to the plane in a vehicle resembling a minibus, and Chen could be seen being pushed in a wheelchair on the tarmac and then onto an elevator that took them up to a sky bridge that was connected to the plane.

Chen and his family's departure to the United States marks the conclusion of nearly a month of uncertainty and years of mistreatment by local authorities for the self-taught legal activist who made a daring escape from abusive house arrest in his village last month.

His supporters welcomed his departure. "I think this is great progress. We are happy about it," said U.S.-based rights activist Bob Fu. "It's a victory for freedom fighters."

Chen sought the protection of U.S. diplomats at the American Embassy in Beijing, triggering a diplomatic standoff days ahead of unrelated high-level talks on global hotspots and economic imbalances led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. After days of negotiations, the sides announced an agreement in which he and his family would be allowed to travel to the United States for him to study.

The departure of Chen, his wife and two children seemed hastily arranged and entirely orchestrated by Chinese and American officials with no apparent input from the activist.

Chen said he was informed at the hospital just before noon Saturday to pack his bags and get ready to leave. Officials did not give him and his family passports or inform them of their flight details until after they got to the airport.

Seeming ambivalent, Chen said that he was "not happy" about leaving and that he had a lot on his mind, including worries about retaliation against his extended family back home.

"I hope that the government will fulfill the promises it made to me, all of its promises," Chen said. Such promises included launching an investigation into abuses against him and his family in Shandong province, he said before the phone call was cut off.

Chen and other activists fear authorities in Shandong province will punish Chen's extended family for his audacious escape. Chen's nephew, Chen Kegui, is accused of attempted murder after he allegedly used a kitchen knife to attack officials who stormed his house after discovering Chen Guangcheng was missing.

Chen Guangcheng had been awaiting permission to travel to the U.S. to take up an invitation to study law at New York University after he left the embassy on May 2 and was hospitalized for treatment of injuries sustained during his escape.

The State Department has said that U.S. visas for Chen, his wife and children were ready for them to travel to America. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Saturday that it had no comment on Chen's planned departure.

The 40-year-old Chen is emblematic of a new breed of activists that the Communist Party finds threatening. Often from rural and working-class families, these "rights defenders," as they are called, are unlike the students and intellectuals from the elite academies and major cities who led the Tiananmen Square democracy movement.

A self-taught legal activist, Chen gained recognition for crusading for the disabled and fighting against forced abortions in his rural community. But he angered local officials and was convicted in 2006 on what his supporters say were fabricated charges. After serving four years in prison, he then faced an abusive and illegal house arrest.

Nanjing activist blogger He Peirong, who was instrumental in helping Chen escape from house arrest, said she was "very happy" to hear that Chen and his family were on their way to the United States.

"I hope that this will be a good beginning," said He, who was detained for several days by police for helping Chen. "I hope that they will all be well and safe."

___

Associated Press writer Charles Hutzler contributed to this report.

___

Follow Didi Tang on Twitter at https: //twitter.com/tangdidi and Gillian Wong at http://twitter.com/gillianwong

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Home Build ? Week 7 ? Keith and Kinsey's Real Estate Update

Home Build ? Week?7

Last weekend we got to do a little work on the house ourselves. We ran some speaker wires for surround sound and cat5 cables for data. Thanks to the guys at Isthmus electric for being flexible with my requests for audio, video, and data provisions! They ran tubing so we can pull cables between the TV, DVR and receiver?later. They also ran HDMI cables in the wall, and prepped our office for a wall mounted?monitor/TV. Isthmus even set things up so we could install a heater in the garage and run a compressor or welder circuit later.

Also near the end of last week we signed off on having our lender?release money to the builder for partial construction. Since we are carrying our own construction financing, the bank splits up payments to the builder based on the phase of construction. The lender sends out an inspector to ensure that construction has been completed to the extent that they?d expect for the amount of money that they will release.

Mid week the walls were insulated and all the penetrations got filled with foam (houses are so much better insulated these days than they use to be). Late this week the driveway was poured and siding and drywall began.

In addition to all the excitement listed above, we had our first three change orders. This means that we asked for some changes from the original plans and specs. So, the builder had to add to his fees. Our changes were; countertop edging, a gas line to the garage, and a wider than standard driveway. None of these were absolutely necessary, but we?ve been pinching pennies thus far and we decided to spring for a few more wants rather than wish we had later. No more changes though, hold us to it!

sealed holes between floors (this wouldn?t have been done just a few years ago).

Insulation completed, drywall starting.

siding in progress

Day 49 ? 71 days and counting.

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Candidate for Medical marijuana? | Health and Fitness

Question by Hanna A: Candidate for Medical marijuana?
Im 13 years old and I have been stressed out for a very long time. It started I think three years ago and kept getting worse. If I went into detail It would take me hours to finish writing. But I have been prescribed anti depressants because I have suffered through lots of stress and panic attacks. The anti depressants didn?t work so I stopped using them. Nothing seems to lessen my stress and I was wondering if I would be a candidate for medical marijuana. I?m just asking I don?t know if I would actually do it. I was just wondering if they would let me at this age. I think people that smoke pot are stupid but if it would help me then maybe it would be worth it.
Stupid was a bad word to use. But my opinion is that it?s not right to use it for non medical reasons. I?ve seen people get really messed up for abusing it.

Best answer:

Answer by Adam
No, you must be 18.
Also F*CK you, for Judging the MILLIONS of people who consume cannabis, and labeling them as STUPID.
Your 13, and don?t know shit.

Give your answer to this question below!


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Political vulnerabilities in Sen. Rubio's past?

MIAMI (AP) ? For freshman Sen. Marco Rubio, a rising GOP figure seen as a possible Mitt Romney running mate, there are questions about whether potential vulnerabilities in his personal and political background might hold him back.

The 40-year-old Florida lawmaker has close ties to a colleague accused of questionable financial dealings. He once was enmeshed in a controversy over the use of the state party's credit card for his personal expenses. Since emerging on the national political scene, he has faced increased personal scrutiny. There are conflicting details about his parents' immigration from Cuba and his recently disclosed ties to the Mormon faith.

The effect of those issues on his political fortunes is the subject of debate in Republican circles in Washington, Florida and elsewhere as the Cuban-American senator with solid conservative credentials works to raise his profile beyond his home state and possibly position himself for a national role.

"Marco Rubio is a huge star in the Republican Party in much the same way that Barack Obama was in the Democratic Party between his convention speech in 2004 and his candidacy for the president," said Steve Schmidt, a top adviser to GOP Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. "There are a lot of pluses when you look at Marco Rubio as a potential vice presidential candidate, but there are also unknowns."

Rubio frequently is mentioned by Republican insiders as an attractive candidate to be Romney's vice presidential pick, partly because the GOP needs to attract Hispanic voters in pivotal states such as Nevada and Florida.

Rubio denies any interest in the No. 2 spot this year, but he's working hard to stay in the national spotlight. He recently gave a major foreign policy address in Washington. He's talking about writing a bill to allow some young illegal immigrants to remain and work in the country without citizenship. Next month, he'll release a memoir.

The country is only just starting to get to know Rubio and his political vulnerabilities, though Florida residents know both well.

Both Rubio's ties with U.S. Rep. David Rivera, a fellow GOP freshman who now is facing a federal probe into tax evasion, and the state party credit card matter surfaced during Rubio's 2010 Senate campaign. While they didn't have much effect, that doesn't mean they would get a pass on the national stage.

"Floridians may be numb to these hits because of the rough-and-tumble nature of politics in the state, when it's looked at by a national audience it may not be as palatable," said Abe Dyk, a political strategist who managed the 2010 Senate campaign of Rubio's Democratic challenger.

Rubio and Rivera met in 1992, during the campaign of former Republican Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a fellow South Florida Cuban-American. The two rose through the ranks in the Statehouse with Rivera oftentimes playing bad cop to the more congenial Rubio.

During the legislative session, they shared a Tallahassee town house, which a bank began foreclosure proceedings on in 2010. Rubio and Rivera made only partial payments on that mortgage for five months in 2010; at that time, he held jobs as a consultant and professor. Rubio has said the missed payments were due to a dispute over the terms of the mortgage.

State officials closed a criminal probe into Rivera's personal financial dealings without filing charges but didn't clear him entirely. They cited Florida's brief statute of limitations and its lax campaign finance laws for not charging him with living off of his campaign funds and failing to disclose his income.

In the last year, Rubio has publicly kept some distance from Rivera and has said that his friend has some issues he must address on the campaign trail. Still, Rubio threw a small Washington fundraiser for Rivera last week. So far, Rubio hasn't faced blowback from his friendship with Rivera.

"It's tough to say how that will play out," says Emilio Gonzalez, a consultant who served in the Bush administration and sees Rubio as a potentially formidable presidential candidate in 2016.

If Rubio were to end up on the GOP presidential ticket or mount his own national campaign in the coming years, he all but certainly would face questions about the scandal over the use of state GOP funds when he was the speaker of the Florida House.

The head of the party, Jim Greer, was forced to resign following revelations he and his second-in-command charged $1.5 million on party credit cards, much of it on luxurious hotels, fancy restaurants, chauffeured sedans and lavish entertaining. Greer's trial is set to start July 30, just ahead of the Republican convention, and many Republican observers anticipate he will detail unethical use of party money by other high-ranking GOP officials.

Rubio spent more than $100,000 on the party card between 2006 and 2008, paying off about $16,000 in personal expenses and claiming the rest as official party business. His records from 2005, when he was lobbying to become Florida House speaker, never were released. When asked about using the party card for personal expenses, Rubio has said he sometimes just pulled the wrong card out of his wallet and he has called it a "lesson learned."

He also has had to answer criticism for how he spent money donated to two political committees he formed - including payments to relatives. He has acknowledged the bookkeeping for at least one of the accounts was sloppy.

Then there's his family's background.

Rubio long claimed his parents fled Fidel Castro's rule. But it was recently disclosed that they arrived several years before Castro took power, although they quickly embraced the Cuban exile community as Castro turned toward communism. Rubio has said the dates he gave were based on his parents' recollections.

There's another part of Rubio's upbringing that long had gone undisclosed, and the revelation is one that could turn off evangelicals who make up the base of the GOP.

Rubio was baptized as Mormon when his family lived for a few years in Las Vegas, thanks to the influence of cousins who belonged to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Rubio returned to the Catholic Church as a young teen, and as an adult he has also frequently attended Baptist services.

When it comes to the vice presidency, Rubio's greatest liability may be one only time can resolve.

"I suspect that the Romney campaign is going to pick someone who is viewed as unquestionably qualified for the office," said Schmidt, who was intimately involved in McCain's selection of Sarah Palin. "To the extent that (Rubio's) in his first term, he's in the first two years of his term and he's 40 years old probably doesn't help him."

___

Farrington reported from Tallahassee, Fla.

___

Online:

Rubio biography: http://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/biography

___

Follow Laura Wides-Munoz on Twitter: (at)lwmunoz

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West African ministers tackle Mali, Guinea-Bissau crises

West African ministers met Saturday to try to resolve the crisis gripping Mali and speed up the return to constitutional rule in Guinea-Bissau, both struggling to recover from recent military coups.

The one-day meeting of foreign ministers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abidjan comes a day after United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it was "critical" that they "send a clear and principled message against unconstitutional seizures of power."

In a statement released after the UN Security Council unanimously ordered sanctions Friday against the Guinea-Bissau coup leaders, Ban called on the military in both countries to "return to their barracks... and respect civilian authority and the rule of law."

ECOWAS has accused the leaders of the March 22 coup in Mali of blocking its efforts to steer the country back to constitutional rule.

The regional bloc successfully mediated a transition agreement and convinced the junta to hand power to interim president Dioncounda Traore on April 12.

But the mid-level army officers who overthrew then-president Amadou Toumani Toure's government are refusing to let Traore stay in office beyond Tuesday -- the 40 days set down in the constitution as the maximum length of an interim government.

The ECOWAS deal envisioned a 12-month transition that would lead to new elections.

The regional bloc had sharp words for the coup leaders Friday after the latest round of talks failed to resolve the impasse.

"The junta itself created (this) blockage," Ivory Coast Foreign Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan, whose country holds the rotating ECOWAS presidency, told a regional ministerial meeting.

Two lead mediators for the crisis, Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Djibrill Bassole and Ivory Coast Minister for African Integration Adama Bictogo, arrived late Saturday in the Malian capital Bamako for further talks.

They declined to immediately talk to reporters.

On Friday, Mali's parliament unanimously passed a bill granting amnesty to the coup leaders.

The bill, which must be signed by the president before becoming law, was part of the ECOWAS-mediated transition deal.

Both opponents and supporters of the coup have welcomed the amnesty.

"It's proof that everyone wants peace," Adama Kante, a leader in the United Front for the Defence of the Republic and Democracy (FDR), a party opposed to the coup, told AFP.

But the putschists have been ostracised by much of the international community. The spokesman for the junta, Lieutenant Amadou Konare, and his wife were denied French visas recently, a Malian diplomatic source said.

While the junta justified the coup saying the government was not doing enough to fight a rebellion by ethnic Tuareg rebels in the north, the power vacuum in Bamako has enabled Islamist and Tuareg fighters to seize most of the vast desert north, effectively splitting the country in two.

In Guinea-Bissau, ECOWAS this week deployed the first 70 troops of a force that will eventually comprise more than 600 to oversee implementation of a one-year transition agreement to take the country to new elections after its April 12 coup.

The UN Security Council on Friday ordered a travel ban against five top military officers in the West African nation, including the powerful coup mastermind General Antonio Indjai.

Despite handing power over to a civilian government, the coup leaders are still influential, and hand-picked transitional president Manuel Serifo Mhamadjo.

Since independence from Portugal in 1974, the country's army and state have remained in constant conflict, and no president has ever completed a full term in office.

Guinea-Bissau has also become a hub for drug-running between South America and Europe.

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Candidates fight for "change" vote in Dominican election

SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - Voters in the Dominican Republic's presidential election on Sunday will choose between two candidates vying to be seen as agents of change, even though one represents the ruling party and the other is a former president.

Making the choice even harder, both candidates represent center-left political parties in a race devoid of major ideological differences and lacking a conservative option.

Polls show Danilo Medina, 60, of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), leading by a comfortable margin of 5 to 10 percentage points over Hipolito Mejia, 70, who is hoping to return to power for the opposition Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) eight years after a failed re-election bid.

"There isn't a young, fresh, new voice," said Eric Farnsworth, a Latin America expert at the Council of the Americas in New York. "So what you have is both candidates trying to position themselves as the one who is most competent and trustworthy to run the government."

While the Dominican Republic is far wealthier than Haiti, its poor neighbor on the island of Hispaniola, many Dominicans still struggle to satisfy basic needs, prompting some to seek a better life by slipping in to nearby Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory.

The Dominican Republic is a popular resort spot, famous for its white sandy beaches and golf courses, but it also is the leading Caribbean transshipment point for South American drugs destined for the United States and Europe.

FIRST LADY RUNNING FOR VP

Medina, a chemical engineer and co-founder of the PLD, is a former minister of the presidency of the current administration of President Leonel Fernandez, 58, a New York-raised lawyer and academic who is barred from running again after serving two consecutive four-year terms.

Fernandez's wife, Margarita Cedeno, is running as Medina's vice president. Popular with women voters, Cedeno, a 44-year-old mother of two young daughters, used her position as first lady to work for poverty reduction and children and women's issues.

"She's a strong and independent woman and her support cuts across all ages and classes," said Eduardo Gamarra, a professor at Florida International University in Miami who also serves as Fernandez's political consultant. Medina enjoyed a 20 percent advantage over Mejia among women voters, he said.

Mejia established a large lead early in the race, in part due to government austerity measures in the face of the global economic recession that hit the Caribbean hard.

Mejia burnished his message of change with a populist campaign slogan, "Llego Papa" (Daddy's Here), that promised a better future "for everyone."

Medina hit back with a campaign slogan promising "Cambio Seguro" (Change With Certainty), attacking Mejia's record as president from 2000 to 2004, when a major banking scandal rocked the nation's economy.

While both candidates talk of change, their proposals are vague, referring to the importance of improvements in education and investment in tourism.

REFERENDUM ON CURRENT PRESIDENT

With little to distinguish the two candidates ideologically, the election had turned into a referendum on Fernandez's presidency, Farnsworth said.

"The question is do voters want change, mixed in with a bit more of the same," he added, noting that Medina and Fernandez have worked closely together for decades as disciples of PLD founder Juan Bosch.

Fernandez's popularity sank during the recession as living standards fell but he has bounced back strongly this year, Gamarra said, crediting that in part to the start of a series of public works, including a major expansion of the metro system in the capital, Santo Domingo, inaugurated in February.

Mejia has accused the Fernandez government of using public money for political advantage by over-spending on expensive public works projects in the major cities.

Mejia's campaign repeatedly has attacked alleged government corruption, accusing the PLD of abandoning agriculture in favor of massive food imports to benefit businessmen linked to the ruling party.

Notoriously loose-tongued, Mejia saw his campaign lose steam in recent weeks after a series of gaffes, undermining his working-class support base. In a news conference two weeks ago he said corruption in the country was so bad that housemaids had become so untrustworthy they were capable of stealing food off their employers' dinner tables to take home to their boyfriends.

He also insulted the PRD's president, Miguel Vargas, who he beat in a March primary that Vargas denounced as fraudulent, causing a split in the party.

In April, Mejia declined an invitation to face Medina in what was supposed to the first of two scheduled debates between the leading candidates.

His jokes and musings during TV interviews were a feature of the campaign during which Mejia largely refrained from discussing his policies. He referred journalists to a campaign manifesto booklet, saying, "Read them, they're all in there."

The campaign, which draws to a close Friday, has been relatively peaceful campaign compared to previous ones with two deaths and six injuries reported in clashes between government supporters and the opposition.

Four other minor party candidates are in the election but they drew less than 3 percent in polling.

About 5 percent of the nation's 6.5 million eligible voters live abroad, including 220,000 registered voters in the United States, mostly in the New York area.

(Additional reporting by David Adams; Editing by David Adams, Tom Brown and Bill Trott)

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If your company was worth $104 billion, what would your Facebook status be?

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Colombia-US: Free Trade Agreement and Intellectual Property ...

May 18th, 2012 by Research & Comm. BRLatinamerica

Source: Portal de Carga

On may 15th 2012, the FTA between Colombia and the US entered into force. The negotiations of this FTA were characterized by strong discussions on Intellectual Property issues and deep modifications for Colombian IP Law. This is a brief of the most important of these modifications and their implications for our IP market.

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Chapter 16th of the FTA, dedicated to IP, is the lengthiest of the agreement, and its negotiations had to deal with profound differences between US and Andean law. Many of the clauses agreed upon will have to be carefully examined and legal disputes will surely arise as these legal systems collide on patent, trademark and copyright issues.

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International legal frame.

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The first issue regulated by the FTA is the international legal frame for the agreement. Article 16.1 contains an obligation for the parties to approve several WIPO treaties, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Trademark Law Treaty, the Patent Law Treaty and the Madrid Protocol; among many others.

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These were conditions established by the US, since it is already party to most of these instruments. Colombia has started fulfilling such requirements by approving the Madrid Protocol (which has not yet entered into force) and reforming its regulation on procedures to abide by international standards, mainly through Resolution 21447 of the national PTO. Many other instruments had already been approved by Colombia.

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Other conditions set on this section, are the national treatment for all IP protection, the non-retroactivity of the FTA conditions and the voluntary expansion of the protection rules set in the agreement.

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Trademarks and distinctive signs.

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On this issue, several of the FTA?s rules were already fulfilled by both parties. Modifications on these issues include:

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-The requirement for an electronic application system for most procedures, and the creation of a public database for applications and registered trademarks. Resolution 21447 of the national PTO has already adopted many of these requirements in easing the procedures for filing documents through electronic means.

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-The permission of licensing without previous registry of the trademark. Such article is conflicted with decision 486 and 291 of the Andean Community; such conflict is yet to be resolved.

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-Geographical Indications will not have primacy over trademarks, the first distinctive sign will prevail over the other on a first registered basis. Issues were also raise about the registration of geographical indications as certification or collective trademarks; the FTA states that Colombia and Peru will have to accommodate to such situation, registering G.I. as trademarks when necessary.

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Patents.

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-The US advocated for an expansion on patent law, increasing the possibilities for what?s patentable. Specifically, the US wanted to make plants, animals, uses of known substances (Second-use patents) and medical treatments patentable. This goal was only partially accomplished, since Colombia and Peru only agreed to make reasonable efforts on patents for plants.

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-Rules were established for the ?Unreasonable delay in granting a patent?. According to negotiations conducted in 2006, the parties had to ?restore? the patent?s time when the PTO Office took more than 5 years in granting or rejecting a patent. Modifications to this agreement, made this article a voluntary measure for both parties since 2007.

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This same ?softened- rule will be applied to pharmaceutical products when the sanitary inspection was unreasonably delayed in approving or rejecting a product.

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-Some agreements remain unclear, such as the one referring to the necessary divulgation of the invention when application for patentability is filed. The standard adopted to determine what is considered to be ?sufficient divulgation? is ambiguous and different from both the American and Colombian regulation.

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This requirement is established to ensure that the applicant was in ?full possession? of the patentable matter at the moment of filing, and to allow other inventors to take advantage of the technical improvements brought about by the patented invention.
Under the FTA, sufficient divulgation will be met when an expert in the same field would consider the applicant to be in possession of the invention at the time of the filing. This is a standard hard to accommodate to both national legislation and its practical application is yet to be seen.

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-Other changes to requirements for patentability include the ?usefulness of the invention?. Colombian regulation required the invention to have an industrial application. The US required the invention to be ?useful?, even if the use was not yet known. And Andean Community regulations required an industrial application and to be ?useful?.
The FTA has adopted the American standard, requiring the usefulness of the invention as criteria to establish its industrial application.

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-Additional modifications include changes to the grounds for the annulment of patents, exceptions to patent rights, and issues with commercialization licenses when patent rights were violated.

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Copyright and author?s rights.

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Copyright and Author?s right issues were the most publicized and controversial topics in public forums. Colombia?s legislative reforms to fulfill the obligations of this FTA usually extended protection beyond what was demanded by the bilateral agreement and were faced with strong opposition from citizen organizations and the Academia.

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The most important of these modifications are:

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-The protection for works when the owner is a corporation was extended to 70 years since the date of publication (20 years more than the Andean Community standard).

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-The owner of related-rights will have an exclusive right on the publication of their work through digital means. The same exclusive right is established for the re-transmission of TV signals on the internet (which is a higher protection standard than that of the US).

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-The temporal storage in electronic form of copyrighted works may be prohibited by the author. This raises questions about the enforcement of copyright in ?digital lockers? such as MediaFire and RapidShare, but it also concerns other services for online storage of files, such as Box, Dropbox, and the recently launched Google Drive. Experience in copyright issues says that these enforcement issues will be neglected or simply impossible to apply (since anybody could be a potential infringer), but Colombia is sure to have a greater pressure from the US to prosecute infringement of copyright through digital means.

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-The owners of any economic right in a work, performance or phonogram may freely and separately transfer their rights, and they also have the possibility to actively enforce their rights on the work.
-Regulation is established for technological measures protecting IP rights and including new exceptions allowing the breaking of such measures.

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-A presumption was established for litigation, in favor of the person who appears as the owner of the work and the owners of different parts of the work (such as artists, editors and broadcasting companies).

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-The obligation to regulate the use of software by the government, making sure that no illegal software is used by government agencies.

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Since many of the clauses agreed upon in the FTA are openly opposed to Andean Community regulations, the implementation of the Agreement is sure to be controversial and to raise interesting questions for IP Experts from both countries.

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B&R Latin America will be reporting on developments on this FTA, and will advise its clients accordingly. This is a both exciting and challenging issue for this Latin American economy, and will surely impact the Andean Community market on IP.

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Sources:
?El tema Propiedad Intelectual las negociaciones del TLC Colombia ? Estados Unidos? ? Universidad Sergio Arboleda.
Full text of the FTA in English.
Full text of the FTA in Spanish.
?Colombia and the United States: A Successful Trade Alliance? ? Embassy of Colombia in Washington D.C.
FTA?s web page of the Ministry for Commerce, Industry and Tourism.

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