Obama gets green-carpet treatment in Boston, as dollars roll in

The president raked in at least $3 million for his reelection bid during a trip to Boston on Monday. Though Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts, Obama leads him there in fundraising and in the polls.

By Mike Eckel,?Contributor / June 26, 2012

Standing under the massive pipe organ at Boston's Symphony Hall, President Barack Obama addresses supporters during a campaign fundraiser on Monday, June 25, 2012.

Stephan Savoia/AP

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No, that wasn?t a rock concert rattling the rafters and raising the roof at Boston?s august Symphony Hall.

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Nor was it a religious revival shaking the 112-year-old hall?s gilded balconies and snarling the city?s already notorious rush-hour traffic.

It was merely Barack Obama storming through town Monday evening to rake in some cash for his reelection campaign and to bask in a rapturous reception from supporters and donors, deep-pocketed and not.

The president?s star quality may have dimmed since 2008, but it hadn?t among the adoring 1,800 people who ponied up between $250 to $2,500 to see the Democratic incumbent offer up grist on Republicans, taxes, immigration, job creation, and even a barb on the Red Sox that got boos. (This is sports-mad Boston, don?t forget.)

On a day when the US Supreme Court offered a mixed bag of fraught judicial opinions, the thunderous ovations and millions of dollars he pulled in gave affirmation that for now Mr. Obama doesn?t have much to worry about in the blue-state Bay State.

?The debate in this election is not whether we have more work to do. Of course, the economy is not what it needs to be. Of course, there are too many folks still struggling. Of course, things should be better. These challenges were built up over years. They weren?t created overnight. They won?t be solved overnight,? he said.

?But the big thing is with this election is how do we grow the economy back together? How do we create more jobs? Moving forward, how do we find more opportunities? How do we pay down our debt? How do we reclaim that basic bargain that makes America the greatest nation on Earth? How do we do it?? he asked.

Both Obama and his likely Republican challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, have raised substantial amounts of money in the state, though neither has spent much time campaigning here.?Obama has netted more than $7.7 million in contributions this election cycle, as of the end of May, according to federal campaign filings. Monday's visit brought in at least $3 million more. By contrast, Romney has collected nearly $4.9 million in direct contributions from state residents.?

Monday?s visit most likely will be Obama?s last before November. Polls show Obama with a solid lead over Romney here.

So while stumping votes wasn?t the priority during the one-day visit, stumping for dollars was. The Symphony Hall event was bracketed by an even more elite pair of gathering in the Boston area: one at a posh bistro in the city?s swanky South End with 25 supporters who reportedly paid $40,000 each to attend, and later on, a fundraising dinner with 100 people at a private home in one of the state?s wealthiest towns. Tickets reportedly cost $17,900 per person and $35,800 per couple.

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I'm Sorry for Cursing - Colon / rectal cancer: Scan Day

I've been at the cancer center pretty much all day.? I actually got home around 3pm and would have updated right away, but I needed some time and Eli needed some attention.? Sometimes I need a little space from results.

The results of the scan weren't terrible, but they weren't super good either.? 10% growth, a couple of millimeters in some of the tumors in my lungs, which is considered within the margins of error.? The doc said he wasn't worried, but he didn't call this scan stable either.? Everyone is assuring me that it could be as simple as the person doing the measuring being a different person this time.? The plan is to keep on the same chemo and wait and see.

So it's kind of medium news.? I guess.? Honestly, I'm disappointed.? I pitched a bit of a fit in the car before leaving the cancer center.? I feel like I'm a good person, I have a nice family who needs me, and why do I have to keep going through this?? Deep down, and once I got some space, I know that this has nothing to do with how good of a person I am.?

I'm feeling really down right now.? That's not really a good mindset to go into chemo with, but what can you do?? This isn't all sunshine and roses, it's real and sometimes real is ugly.? Please pray that I can lean on God to help me straighten my head out and get ready for tomorrow.

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Euro zone turmoil may prolong London's Olympic revamp

LONDON (Reuters) - When Bill Hanway began designing a 20-25 year blueprint to revamp the area of east London that will host this summer's Olympic Games, he factored two to three recessions into his plans.

What the Aecom executive failed to foresee back in August 2003 was the failure of Lehman Brothers, or any possible euro zone implosion.

But now the severity of the downturn which began in 2007 means the revamp timeline may be extended, Hanway said. He declined to say by how much, but one source familiar with the situation said it could be five to 10 years.

"What happened in 2007 was an aberration," said the serene, shaven-headed New Yorker, who is also the brains behind a post-Olympics revamp in south-west Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian city hosting the Games in 2016.

"No masterplan project could claim to accommodate or predict this range of economic fluctuation," Aecom's executive director of operations said, emphasising the flexibility needed to plan the 741-acre site in London's Lower Lea Valley.

In July 2005, London beat rivals including Paris and New York to host the Games, its winning bid built around the regeneration of an area of east London more famous for its noxious industries, slaughterhouses and polluted waterways.

The post-Games plan is an increasingly important factor when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) selects a host city. The now-derelict and graffiti-covered venues of Athens, which held the Games in 2004, are a reminder of why.

FINAL GREEN LIGHT

The London plan is due to receive its final green light by planners on Tuesday.

Development of the east London site, the majority of which is publicly-owned, will be overseen by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), which will let venues to new operators once the Games are over and oversee the phased sale of leasehold land to housing developers.

The biggest impact of the financial crisis on the 9.3 billion pound ($14.6 billion) London Olympics project to date was a 2009 decision by the British government to fund development of the athlete's village itself rather than sell to developer Lend Lease, a deal that came with the associated risk of debt finance.

The 11 tower blocks housing 16,000 athletes and officials will be turned into 2,818 homes after the Games, work that requires the installation of kitchens, as competitors eat in communal dining halls. The site was bought by a joint venture that includes the development arm of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund for 557 million pounds in August.

Other changes enforced by the unexpectedly harsher economic climate will include a greater emphasis on job creation when the LLDC selects the future tenant for the media centre once the world's press have left town, Hanway said.

The contract to operate the aquatics centre and the multi-use arena as leisure venues after the Games was also packaged into a single, more financially viable, deal.

Otherwise the message was "don't panic", said Jason Prior, chief executive of planning, design and development at Aecom who oversaw the London project. "We had a long-term view and couldn't over-react to the collapse of Lehman Brothers."

REAL-LIFE SIMCITY

"We've always talked about the Olympic Park as another of London's great estates," he said, referring to the city's aristocratic landowners who have guarded their ancestral good fortune by taking a long-term view of real estate over several hundred years.

Like a real-life version of the computer simulation game SimCity, Aecom uses software to calculate each square metre of housing, schools, dental surgeries and outdoor parks for the area's 14,000 future inhabitants, in addition to the number of swimming pool lanes, police officers and fire stations.

The aim is to attract and retain a mixed group of residents, including the middle classes, to a wider area that is one of the most socially deprived in Britain.

"We knew this wouldn't be the next Mayfair or Kensington," said Prior. "If we create a 'nappy valley' in east London we will have succeeded," he said, referring to the popular description of areas attractive to affluent young parents.

Two primary schools, one secondary school and nine nurseries will play a crucial role in ensuring wealthier families stay. "Bluntly, parents move to be near decent schools and they act as massively important glue in communities," Prior said.

Striking a balance between housing that residents can both afford and aspire to live in was also important. There will be up to 6,870 new homes and the target is 35 percent affordable and social housing and 65 percent private housing, which includes four bedroom townhouses.

"One of the big complaints from the Mayor of Newham at the outset was that once people could afford to, they left the area," Hanway said.

"What will be interesting is what happens in 10 to 15 years when the children of young families leave home or go to university," said Sarah Elliott, Aecom's head of planning in Europe.

GEORGIAN ARCHITECTURE

She is responsible for the software the company developed several years ago to plan such large-scale regeneration projects, which has also been used in Abu Dhabi and Australia, and will monitor population changes through regular surveys.

"We have calculated the floor space people will need right through from nursery schools to sheltered accommodation for old aged people," she said.

There was human input too. Prior and Hanway began work on the Olympic plan in an office in the north London borough of Islington, a neighbourhood they took inspiration from for its Georgian architecture, leafy squares and the gentrification it underwent when affluent people, including former British prime minister Tony Blair, moved in after the 1960s.

"One of the lessons of Islington was that although it has a high proportion of social housing it became a very desirable place to live because of the quality of its housing stock and its accessibility," Prior said, referring to the myriad transport links around the Olympic site.

Masterplanning a 300 acre area of Rio de Janeiro faces the challenge of a Brazilian economy and middle class that are growing at high speed, Hanway said. Discussions about striking the delicate balance between low and higher-cost housing are still underway.

The only certainty around both projects is that the lessons of Athens have been learned, Hanway said, a plan in which Aecom had no involvement.

"We probably won't ever see that level of disuse after the Games again."

($1 = 0.6354 British pounds)

(Editing by Ossian Shine)

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Real Estate As An Investment ? Discover the ... - Green Real Estate

Real Estate will undoubtedly become a part of an entrepreneur?s portfolio.

In fact, the advantages of real estate make it the largest investment vehicle for most entrepreneurs who have reached a net worth exceeding $1 Million.

Leverage

Property is an Asset. Banks love to lend money to purchase assets.

Real estate investment financing is a big business for the banking industry. You cannot borrow money from the bank to buy stocks and bonds or invest into other ?Paper assets?.

If you want to buy $100,000 worth of stock, you will need $100,000, no question.

However, if you want to buy an investment property for $100,000, chances are you can put down 10% ? $10,000 and borrow the rest. You now control a $100,000 investment without actually having to part with that much money.

If you then sell that property later on and net $110,000, you have received a 100% ROI. You invested $10,000; you netted an additional $10,000, effectively doubling your investment.

If you purchase $100,000 worth of stock and sell it for $110,000, you have only achieved a 10% ROI, with a $100,000 of capital, which theoretically could have bought 10 houses at or below $100,000.

Paper assets such as stocks definitely are vehicles for wealth, but this illustrates one of the many advantages of real estate.

Appreciation

One of the other advantages of real estate is appreciation. In the long term real estate generally appreciates. If you currently own investment property and have owned it for at least the last 20 years, historically the value of that real estate will have grown significantly.

Real estate markets can vary from one metropolis to another, and within those markets are smaller markets that show higher cap rates and profit margins.

I can say from my position here in Chicago as being a relatively stable market in relation to other parts of the US. Even with a modest average of 5-6% appreciation annually in the Windy City, the equity and value of property exponentially adds up.

Passive Income

Income is one of everyone?s favorite advantages of real estate.

Income-producing assets are the cornerstone of long-term financial stability. If you are forced into an early retirement or otherwise suffer a loss of earned income, it is nice to have a source of passive income.

In the best of times it builds your cash reserves while also growing in equity value.

Passive or residual income through real estate has-been and always will-be a reliable income stream for many people.

Depreciation and Tax Advantages

Through depreciation, value is received in the form of lower taxes.

As a self employed professional or business owner, you essentially make your money first, then pay taxes later, ?writing off? your various expenses to reduce your tax liability.

Depreciation is a major write-off on one?s tax returns, leaving more money working for you at the end of the year.

Additionally, the interest you pay on any mortgages is another write off which helps maximize value.

Even for ?W-2? income earners these are two major advantages of real estate.

Deferred-Tax Advantages

Finally, one of the most unknown benefits of investment property is through deferring capital gains with the 1031 Tax Exchange.

When you sell an investment property you pay capital gains taxes.
With a 1031 Tax Exchange, as long as you are buying real estate equal-to or greater than the previous property, you can do it without paying capital gains tax.

So if you?re selling an investment property for $500,000, you?ll need to buy another ?like-kind? property at $500,000, or higher.

It?s the Monopoly strategy.

Remember the last time you played Monopoly? First you build 1 green house and then two, then three and finally three green houses are all lined up.

Instead of building a fourth house, you ?sell? all the green houses and trade-up to a big red Hotel and really rake in the dough.

What you have done is leveraged the total value of the houses, without paying 10?s or 100?s of thousands of dollars in capital gains taxes, to ?trade up? to a larger piece of real estate that can ultimately more generate more profit while incorporating economies of scale by managing more units with less resources.

Beyond these all these advantages of investing in real estate, it is fundamentally a sound investment. Investing in the life?s necessities is usually wise and people will always need a place to live and populations will continue to grow.

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Slow-moving Debby hits Fla., spawns tornadoes

Tropical Storm Debby has hammered more than 300 miles of Florida, where there have also been three reported tornadoes. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.

By Weather.com, msnbc.com staff and news services

Updated at 11:43 p.m. ET --?Tropical Storm Debby whipped Florida with bands of drenching rain Monday while its center was nearly stationary in the Gulf of Mexico. Its slow progress meant the most pressing threat from the storm was flooding, not wind.

Florida governor Rick Scott declared a statewide emergency, and a tropical storm warning was in effect for most of the state's Gulf Coast, as the storm parked offshore.

A tropical storm warning for the coast of Alabama was discontinued early Monday.?Yet even with the storm's center far from land, it lashed Florida with heavy rains and spawned isolated tornadoes that killed at least one person. Another person was missing in rough surf off Alabama.

---

Residents in several counties near the crook of Florida's elbow were urged to leave low-lying neighborhoods because of the threat of flooding.

Offshore oil and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico are also evacuating more than 30 percent of production platforms and rigs that are in the path of Debby. The storm is moving slowly, allowing its clouds more time to unload rain.

Tropical Storm Debby is expected to move north throughout the week with as many as 15 inches of rain expected in the state. Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore reports.

The Coast Guard rescued a family Sunday, who were stranded on a small island on the northwestern Florida Gulf coast due to inclement weather caused by the storm.

Officials at the Coast Guard watch center in Mobile, Ala., received a call around 12:30 p.m. from a man reporting his family of five adults, four children and two dogs were stranded in a vacation house on Dog Island, south of Carrabelle, Fla.

Water was reportedly surrounding the house, and there was no way for them to evacuate to higher ground. The ship that brought them to the island would not return for them due to rough conditions.

Rescue crews from the Coast Guard Aviation Training Center deployed a helicopter to the family?s location. The crew hoisted and transported the family, including the dogs, to Carrabelle Airport. No injuries or medical concerns were reported.?

'Heavy rain'
High winds forced the closure of an interstate bridge that spans Tampa Bay and links St. Petersburg with areas to the southeast. In several locations, homes and businesses were damaged by high winds authorities believe were from tornadoes.

Practically parked off Florida's Gulf Coast since the weekend, Debby raked the Tampa Bay area with high wind and heavy rain Monday in a drenching that could top 2 feet over the next few days and has already led to flooding.

Weather.com severe weather expert Dr. Greg Forbes warned that?Debby could spawn isolated tornadoes in Florida through Monday.

A tropical storm warning remained in effect for the Florida Gulf Coast from Mexico Beach in the Panhandle to Englewood, south of Sarasota.? "Storm surge flooding?is also a significant threat along the Florida Panhandle coast and the western coast of Florida since Debby's circulation is embedded in a rather large wind field," Weather.com reported.

Brad Mcclenny / The Gainesville Sun via AP

Cedar Key Fire Chief Robert Robinson walks on a section of a floating dock that broke loose during a storm surge from Tropical Storm Debby in Cedar Key, Fla., on Sunday.

Forecasters said late Monday that the storm was still in the Gulf of Mexico, 35 miles south of Apalachicola, with sustained winds around 45 mph. It was moving northeast at 2 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. The forecast map indicated the storm could inch forward through the week, eventually coming ashore over the Panhandle. However, a storm's path is difficult to discern days in advance.

Underscoring the unpredictable nature of tropical storms, forecasters discontinued a tropical storm warning Sunday afternoon for Louisiana after forecast models indicated Debby wasn't likely to turn west. At one point, forecasters expected the storm to come ashore in that state.

"There are always going to be errors in making predictions. There is never going to be a perfect forecast," said Chris Landsea, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center.

The Highlands County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that several tornadoes moved through the area southeast of Tampa, damaging homes.

Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Nell Hays said a woman was found dead in a house in Venus that was destroyed in the storm. A child found in the same house was taken to the hospital. No further information was available on the child's condition or either person's age.

Marina's roof torn off
Authorities urged residents to leave low-lying neighborhoods in Franklin, Taylor and Wakulla counties because of flooding. Shelters were open in the area.

Wind tore the roof off a marina in St. Pete Beach, and a pier was heavily damaged, said Tom Iovino, a Pinellas County government spokesman. He said no injuries were reported.

In Orange Beach, Ala., a 32-year-old man disappeared Sunday in rough surf kicked up by the storm, a Coast Guard official said. Further information wasn't immediately available.

As of Sunday, 23 percent of oil and gas production in the region had been suspended, according to a government hurricane response team. Employees have been evacuated from 13 drilling rigs and 61 production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The storm was not expected to result in higher oil and gas prices.

"It's largely a non-event for oil," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.

Weather.com, msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Health & Fitness: Self Improvement

The goal setting theory of motivation states that the behavior of people is determined by the different goals that they set for themselves. It further asserts that the efforts people make towards the achievement of a goal are affected by the feedback that these people get. Whether these feedbacks are positive or negative, they do affect the performance of a person. This, in a nutshell, explains the use of performance dialogues in goal setting.

The use of performance dialogues in goal setting lies in 5 different activities:

1) Highlighting accomplishments : this involves an examination of past goals and achievements. Goal setting performance dialogues allow people to take stock of the things that they have accomplished. Dialogues are used because people are only able to see things from one perspective. Through a dialogue, people can make sure that no accomplishments go unnoticed.

This part of the goal setting performance dialogue allows people to see just how much they have accomplished in terms of another goal. This shows them the possibilities of accomplishing another goal. By knowing that they were able to accomplish so much, people are encouraged to set more goals.

2) Identifying any need for improvement : This part of the performance dialogue in goal setting allows people to see any aspect of former goals which needs improvement. By examining these areas, people are able to set better goals and thus, be more successful in achieving them.

3) Showing clear expectations : in this part of a goal setting performance dialogue, people are able to know what to expect when setting the next goal. Because of the first two parts of the goal setting performance dialogue, people know have a clear picture regarding the next goal to come. Because of this, people are able to eliminate any goal that is shown to be a waste of time.

4) Setting the goal : This is the main part of a goal setting performance dialogue. The whole purpose of evaluating past performances is to set new goals. Thus, we can consider this part the application of the performance dialogue in goal setting. In this part, people are expected to apply what they have learned from the dialogue into setting a goal that?s:

a) specific
b) attainable
c) challenging

5) Making plans : the setting of a goal gives people a general idea of the direction to take when they want to accomplish that goal. However, part of the process of a goal setting performance dialogue is actually planning the specific steps to take in order to accomplish an objective. This means that people can apply any improvements that they have made and they can try to avoid any mistakes that they have made in the past.

As you can see, there are a lot of advantages offered by performance dialogues in goal setting. A dialogue can happen either internally or externally. An internal dialogue occurs within a person in which he or she evaluates his or her performance objectively and changes his or her goal based on this evaluation. An external dialogue occurs between a person and his or her superior. The superior gives an evaluation of the person?s performance regarding his or her goals and thus, paves the way for new goals to be made and accomplished. Because of performance dialogues in goal setting, people can direct their efforts efficiently.

Related posts:

1. How to Create a Performance Dialog in Goal Setting and Feedback for Your Organization
2. Setting Performance Goals for Success
3. The Importance of Family Literacy Goal Setting

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EU fiscal pact clears another hurdle in Germany

In this photo provided by the Italian Prime Minister Office, Italian Premier Mario Monti, left, talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a meeting in Rome, Friday, June 22, 2012. The leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain gathered in Rome on Friday to seek agreement on ways to pull Europe out of its crippling debt crisis. Merkel, Hollande, Rajoy and host Mario Monti got together to push for consensus to give momentum to a crucial summit of European Union leaders in Brussels on June 28 and 29. (AP Photo/Cristiano Laruffa, Italian Prime Minister Office, ho)

In this photo provided by the Italian Prime Minister Office, Italian Premier Mario Monti, left, talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a meeting in Rome, Friday, June 22, 2012. The leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain gathered in Rome on Friday to seek agreement on ways to pull Europe out of its crippling debt crisis. Merkel, Hollande, Rajoy and host Mario Monti got together to push for consensus to give momentum to a crucial summit of European Union leaders in Brussels on June 28 and 29. (AP Photo/Cristiano Laruffa, Italian Prime Minister Office, ho)

BERLIN (AP) ? Chancellor Angela Merkel's government says it has reached a deal with Germany's 16 states to secure the timely ratification of the European Union's new treaty enshrining fiscal discipline.

The agreement struck during talks at Berlin's Chancellery on Sunday paves the way for a vote by both houses of parliament on the legislation Friday.

Merkel's government needs the opposition's and the states' support to garner the necessary two-thirds majority for the treaty's ratification. To win over the opposition, Merkel has agreed to push for the introduction of a financial transaction tax and measures to promote growth in Europe.

Saxony-Anhalt state governor Reiner Haseloff said the government agreed, among other steps, to grant the states more money for child care centers and public transportation projects. He did not specify an amount.

Associated Press

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