Unity08. A people's movement to take our country back.

Jennifer wrote good stuff. I could not find her address.

My address is john.gelles@gmail.com and my wiki is where you'll land if you click on my name at the top of this message.

We know "CENTRISM" is hardly what Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt sought. They were serious and they were not kidding.

I asked a friend today he thought this movement was for real.

I mentioned the goals they had for: energy; middle class prosperity; health care; moving up the underclass to the middle class standards; American leadership like Zakaria talks of (thanks to our leaders here for linking to his Newsweek piece -- it's also copied to my site at http://www.tiea.us ); etc.

And I said to him each of these goals will take trillions of dollars to make a difference in current trends (all of which look lousy).

So if our leaders are not kidding, they better talk about where the trillions can be found.

Taxes are a non-starter. We need Bush's policy on taxing the rich -- don't do it: we need their investments and we do not want their opposition.

We need Edwards' policy on taxing you and me -- don;t do it: we need you and me to save not pay taxes, and we need us to spend some money to allow workers to keep their jobs catering to our needs.

So, taxes are a non-starter; that leaves financial and accounting smarts -- like we had in WW II.

In that war (I was there) the Treasury and the Fed got together and we doubled our industrial base in 4 years!

Let's hear it for some smart thinking -- some robots to support us when we're old (like I am already); enough immigration smarts to make bona fide science students welcome; enough new games from Hollywood to teach math and engineering as though they're cool and fun, etc., etc.

Get optimistic. There's time to get dull and boring when you're dead.

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Thank Goodness there are many still out there who believe being an AMERICAN is more important then being Democrat or Republican, a conservative or a liberal. It will require give and take on all of our particular issues and agendas and the debate must kept civil and open. As those Heros on Flt.#93 stated so simply "Lets roll!!"

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Everything I have read on this page has made me happy! A friend and I started a club at school with the very same ideals; how wonderful that the ideas are actually coming to be! I'll do what I can to get these ideas out. America isn't living up to its own ideals because of the intense partisan ship. Thank you Unity08!!

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What America needs is representatives in the House, Senate and White House who have the intellectual freedom to debate all issues without being beholding to a larger political party or corporations that helped them be elected.

The intrusion of national party money and corporate money in local elections has created the problems we have in Washington now -- party politics instead of people politics.

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For generations, bosses have profited by dividing working people on the basis of race, religion, gender, national origin, and political beliefs. Rather than creating enough jobs, they force us to fight among ourselves for the few good ones that remain. Rather than creating enough opportunities for higher education, they force us and our children to quarrel over the available spots. We can curb corporate power only if we unite around a commission of economic justice and fairness. Real democracy includes all of us. We work in all kinds of occupations, and come from all racial and ethnic backgrounds. We are women as well as men. Every time an employer pays a woman less for the same or comparable work, we are all paid less. Every time a minority worker is denied a decent job or promotion, we are all denied promotion. When immigrants are scapegoated and denied full labor rights and civil rights, we are all scapegoated and denied our rights. We favor full rights for all, and we will tolerate no discrimination or other form of injustice based on race, religion, gender, ethnicity, disability, national origin, age, creed, sexual orientation, language, or political beliefs. We favor amending Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect all these categories from discrimination. We oppose all forms of terrorism and hate crimes, including attacks against African American churches, synagogues, or other places of worship. We also oppose police brutality and other forms of the criminalization of dissent and poverty. We support affirmative action and anti-discrimination programs to take away the bosses' power to divide and conquer. We support an immigration policy that does not discriminate on any basis; and a trade policy that supports international fair labor standards and works to alleviate the conditions that send people moving around the globe in search of opportunity. We also support comparable worth initiatives and strong sanctions against sexual harassment to make the workplace safe and fair for women workers. Unity08 stands against current efforts to dismantle these programs. From the shop floor to the executive suite, we believe the workforce should reflect the wonderfully diverse face of our nation. We stand for justice and the end to discrimination.

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In my view both political parties serve lobbists,special interest, corporate America and mega Donner's but not the average american. Its has been that way and always will be until the system is changed.
On capitol hill you can count the independent thinkers on one hand and where being truthful is a lost art. I watch c-span when the house and senate are in session some times and in my view to much time is wasted and not much is accomplished.
I have cast my vote in 13 presidential elections and for the first time I am concerned about the way the present administration is governing our nation.
I hope "Unity08" will have the ability to solve some of these problems.

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This spans beyond Unity08, but I'd like to see an open primary system, where individuals could vote for anyone they wanted, and the top two vote-getters nationally run against each other in the final election, regardless of party. Just imagine if candidates actually had to have broad national appeal rather than targeting an extreme base during the primary season.

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You may have noticed Jennifer and John are both anxious for easier dialog and collaboration on issues than the blogs on this site allow.

If you feel we need something easier to aggregate opinion please get in touch with john.gelles@gmail.com

I'll tell Jennifer and maybe you can join us in an easy to use forum that will allow issues to be easy to find and easy to follow as many voices are heard.

We may be able to form a ring of sites (wikis or whatever) that will link and aggregate opinion from thousands of grass roots voices.

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We should have a commonly accepted central thyme around which we can “UNIFY”
- All the specific “issues” (Platform Planks) should be developed in support of this overall goal.

Have any been advanced or was there an unstated one developed by the organizing team?

I’m for the concept of:
“America First, for Americans First”

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I've seen a lot of smart, dare I say enlightened, people responding to this site. But still, many of the same politically polarizing issues are coming up.

Oil may be "less polarizing" than others, and these things must be discusses at a unified level, but I feel there are also new and essential things people must be able to agree on.

Network Neutrality
To me, this issue of network neutrality is a unifying issue. Network neutrality isn't appealing to people politically, it's basically a struggle against an open medium by a small number of vested corporate interests.

Patent/Copyright Reform
Another of these issues is patent/copyright reform. I don't see this issue as one affecting people politically (as in polarizing politics) but rather affecting people in general… especially those in the technology field. I myself am a software developer, and I feel the biggest single threat to myself, or any future company, is this absurd patent->lawsuit, copyright->lawsuit (etc->lawsuit) business model.
What the RIAA/MPAA and others are doing to American citizens is absolutely absurd.
Now they are even going after people posting videos where music just happens to be playing in the background. It’s just gotten absurd.
This issue needs to be contained…soon!

While I agree about some of the other issues being major topics of global importance, I feel that the Unity party will best succeed if it doesn’t play to this polarizing political dialogue. Rather, it should unite people by the issues addressing people/humanity, not the issues of our political past.

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It is clear any government that is manipulated by religious forces is not capable of rational decision making and that goes for ours as well! Therfore morality is no place for government and government is no place for religion... A marriage license is a document of the state so another document must be created for homosexual long term relationships, or special contracts in each instance.... http://www.appyp.com/fix_main.html

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We are all extremists in one way or another. Isolationists are not racists and enviornmentalists are not terrorists! Again, the enemy is now trying to bring racism into the border issue to split the people apart! Stand strong and know immigration is a different issue from border protection but the two headed beast is creating gridlock by combining these issues so nothing happens! No more humans with guns! ... Its not hard to see whats going on, legislative manipulation by both political parties to stop reform.... WHAT'S NEW! http://www.appyp.com/fix_main.html

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Sending Immigrants and their children born here back to mexico? Let me think with a clear mind for a minute? Hmmm - Mexico is part of the American continent so are they not somewhat considered Americans more so than those from other continents? Am I simply talking logistics or is this kinda like the Indians not recognizing land ownership and we all know what happen to those American natives....

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Help Wanted - Seeking qualified individual not on social security to provide basic computer 101 to the Cabinet of the President of the United States. Other duties include helping senior staff members with e-mails and intelligence matters.

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For 150 years everything was going fine until television and radio created propoganda control which led to out of control campaign finance that eventually took over both political parties that now force elected officals to adhere to party politics or be starved from party funds. We can bitch all we want but to level them back out we must change are registered party to Independent, because as long as we are registered as either we legitimize them and keep their hot air on the news!.... http://www.appyp.com/fix_main.html

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Nobody is at fault! The founding fathers were riding around on horses and their news was a week late! They had no idea of communications technology and did not protect us from the propoganda control and campaign finance corruption it would create - THEY DID NOT KNOW AND DID NOT PROTECT US FROM IT ... so stop blaming it on any group, person or political party! The system was infultrated because none of our past leader had the brains to realize this and define it...

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Earn Snyder wrote:
Sending Immigrants and their children born here back to mexico? Let me think with a clear mind for a minute? Hmmm - Mexico is part of the American continent so are they not somewhat considered Americans more so than those from other continents? Am I simply talking logistics or is this kinda like the Indians not recognizing land ownership and we all know what happen to those American natives....

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

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I think so... If I'm not mistaken we should give mexican americans different constitutional rights simply because they were born on the american continent... also natural expansion issues play when you start talking about which nation has the most rights of expansionism and/or immigration... which is another can of worms as we are already into mexico with texas....

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The right wing is skating on thin ice trying to blame Americans for migrating to America... saying its Americans fault nobody stopped them at the "American" border? Note the unified word "American"... We must reach toward the Supreme Court on this one for the constitutional violations of 3 million americans by the legislative branch of government to stop legistation for the building of a wall which is required for national security and economic reasons... the two party system and legislative gridlock at it's finest! Please help us Supreme Court! http://www.appyp.com/fix_main.html

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Because any mexican americans that gets here undetected gets constitutional rights because of being mexican americans, we must build a very, very high wall with state-of-the-art technology so that humans with guns are not required along our borders and none, zero, nobody, ever again will we have any illegals from mexico or canada that don't enter through a port of entry.... those already here is a Supreme Court Issue and should not be included in the same legislation as border protection.... yes, I'm pretty sure....

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Today the executive branch is playing supreme court while congress is dealing in international corporate slavery, meanwhile foreign interest own most of our stock market and play manipulate the stock market each day... I don't know folks if I can save it or not! Just kidding - NO PROBLEM..... http://www.appyp.com/fix_main.html

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Considering the borders of the US were drawn a long time ago, we are not really debating whose land is whose anymore. Furthermore, the laws of the United States apply to those in the country, legal or illegal. Constitutional rights do not apply to individuals who are not legal citizens. We cannot cross the border into Canada and start demanding fair and equal treatment just as their citizens receive. To talk about logistics, you really need to understand the meaning of the word.

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Re: "Issues like gay marriage and abortion, which rile up the base voters of each party, are both important and worthy of debate; but most voters do not see them as crucial to America’s future. "

Nice speech. Now where does this party stand on those issues of marriage and abortion?

Will you or won't you stand up for the right of gays to marry? Will you or won't you protect a woman's right to choose?

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Abortion is a right in a society that says it is OK. Like homosexuality, it is a matter of social acceptance that dicates behavior not the laws of the land. When we come back to reality, realizing the mother and her child are the most important thing in our lives... then the rest will follow.... the problem is how far south will we go first....

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in regards...
---
Question: Considering the borders of the US were drawn a long time ago, we are not really debating whose land is whose anymore so whats the logistics problem?
---
The logistics I speak of is the natural growth and expansion of the mexican people. They have more kids and are "naturally" pushing north... maybe mexico should surrender and become a state of the United States... but restricting their expansion and natural migration, or worse, throwing the natural migration into reverse will resort in violence and drug lords taking over mexico's fragile government....

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I'm mostly encouraged by my three young adult kids - when I share with kids they are like Sponge Bob and make great decisions for themselves when given the right information! Yes, I'm very encouraged that we can relax knowing that we are dinasours and the next generation is evolution in hyper speed... don't freakout when they tell us what they are going to do... they mean it!

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Just like "conventional" marriage, "gay" marriage is a commitment between god and two people. The marriage license is a legal binding contract that in many cases has stipulations written into it, thus "gay" marriage is the same - a legal contract. So to argue the issue seems to be futile, whats the problem the legal contract or the commitment with God? Write it up and notorize it? What's the problem here?

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Centrisim would tame the power of the extremes in our body politic. It's an idea whose time has come.

Our culture war between elites and the less fortunate (who are exploited by replacing their economic interest with wedge issues to confound their voting loyalties,) has given the Money Power dominion over government-- no longer of, by and for the people.

So we have got to take America back from the Money Power -- we must, in fact, tame the Money Power -- but HOW?

Lincoln did it with government issue money, (mixed in with bank issued money we are used to).

GI money, or greenbacks, have not fared well in politics -- because if there is too much, money will not motivate work.

With today's Information Tech revolution, we can compute limits for GI money. Within such limits, we can tame the Money Power: that is, put Congress back in charge of national priorities in fact.

Do we really want to destroy the middle class?

To stop the destruction, we must take the hate of taxes, that is universal in all nations, off the back of reform movements trying to change the law.

Taxes have only one honest justification -- to prevent too much circulating money from wrecking the will to work -- to prevent price from reflecting money that no longer works.

Income and death taxes have no place in a scheme of honest taxes.

It is certain spending, (of money that should be saved for a period of time), that must be the only thing taxed.

If that were the law, the poor and middle class would never be taxed; they only spend what they have to.

With government able to spend for satisfaction of national priorities, without taxing poor and middle class spending, Congress could begin to try to tame the Money Power.

This would not be a panacea. The system of production (beneath the taxable structure) would still have to be effective to turn sweat and decentralized industry into engines of supply for our material needs.

The Money Power to fix the law in favor of corruption would be broken; but the money system to fix what's broke in favor of the people's welfare, would still have to be honest, fair and accurate.

If not, incompetence would make things worse than they were under corrupt but not totally ignorant exploiters.

All these thoughts belong under Campaign Finance Reform, an issue I believe will surface very soon.

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Women should have the right to choose. Same as men. The right to choose not to have sex, the right to choose to use contraception, the right to choose to use the morning after pill to prevent conception... and then it should stop. The woman had three choices already. Now it is time to live with the consequences of those decisions and give birth to the human being you created.

Gays can have a civil union all they want. We should have never called the state-sanctioned union marriage in the first place. That would solve all of it.

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Adopt an anti-choice, homophobic platform and we might as well vote Republican. The zealots already have a home in the GOP. Welcome them in for tea, but don't welcome them into the family.

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Earn Snyder said, "Abortion is a right in a society that says it is OK" followed by, "When we come back to reality, realizing the mother and her child are the most important thing in our lives"

Does 'moderate' mean holding two such irreconciliable positions? If so then I want no part of it.

An important child is not aborted, while an aborted child is not important. Choose one or the other, you can't support both.

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Adopt an anti-life, homophilic platform and we might as well vote Democrat. The zealots already have a home in the DNC. Welcome them in for tea, but don't welcome them into the family.

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I say we have a pro-choice candidate against partial-birth abortion or someone for the morning-after bill. We shouldn't support either extreme, but focus on moderation. I think socially liberal and financially conservative is the what America needs. Not to mention a complete revamping of our foreign policy and some more attention to global warming.

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What would you guys think of a Gore campaign? Biden? Chafee?

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I became interested in this idea of a unified third party because of the bickering and partisan politics in Washington. But more importantly Because I'm sick of seeing well funded groups and lobbiests create the law, elect our officials and hijack the constitution.

I'm hoping to see both sides of the fringe issues like gay marriage and abortion and room for both voices. But most importantly the real issues have to be stessed; education, health care, the middle east, the environment, immigration, outsourcing and how we plan to position ourselves in a global ecomony.

I'll be interested to see if this group (I guess it's we)can come up with a unified platform and candidates that are willing to represent it. If it ends up being hijacked by special interests then it'll be more of the same and a waste of all our time.

I'm not afraid of compromise and ideas that are differnet than my own as long as they are based in fact or sound theory. Those of you who are interested in only emphasing the Hot Button issues like abortion, gay marriage and protecting the flag please go back to your respective corners on the left or the right.

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You should check out the Shoutbox post about the pros and cons of certain candidates:
http://unity08.com/node/49

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Hello! Your organization sounds enticing. The American Centrist Party is almost 2 years old, and we have a growing membership, as well as a fairly comprehensive slate of platforms. Our membership drives our platforms, NOT jsut a few senior leaders.

We pride ourselves on representing all those who wish to be heard and do not feel represented by the two "major" parties.

We would be very interested in working with Unity08 to see what can be accomplished. While we are centering on starting at the local and state levels of influence (where most of the legislation that affects 80% of Americans is made) we are of course looking towards Washington one day. 2024 is as good a place to start as any though!

Feel free to contact me or peruse our website: http://www.americancentristparty.com

Thank you for your time!

Matt Unger
Founder & National Chairman
American Centrist Party

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Yes, Let's all join together. We've been alone all of this time. Now is the time for unity. I founded UNIDAD USA at BYU (Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah) in 1988 and now , we are just starting this June a newspaper called; UNIDAD USA. Do you know the translation of UNIDAD into English?: UNITY!!! and I've been planning to organize a Party for the near future called: "UNITED PARTY OF AMERICA", but why wait? Now we have one, we can identify ourselves with UNITY 08, and unite all together in one. Why not? I'm all for anything that is UNITY, like being a centrist, and no more polarization. I like you all. I can even provide my website and have it accesible for anybody who is interested, mainly to UNITY 08. Let's help them. They need us, and we need them. Hey people from UNITY 08. Did you hear this? I'm willing to let you use now, or for a near future, the name of our Party and this website: UNITED PARTY OF AMERICA.COM Please let me know. I'm excited for you.

I'm with you now, no matter what.

Sincerely,

Fred D'Esposorio
Founder
UNIDAD USA

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44 Million Caregivers for Unity08.com

by Janine M Lodato

LodatoClan@aol.com

There are 44 million informal caregivers (family and friends) in the USA who attend to the 100 million people in need of caregiving. They need political support and the independent third party unity08.com is just perfect. Of course the small businesses who employ caregivers would also support Unity08.

We need a tax break for businesses, especially for small businesses, when they hire and retain an informal caregiver as an employee. Businesses already have a tax break when they employ a disabled person. The same or similar tax break should be given to the business which hires informal caregivers or who already employ such caregivers.

There are 44 million informal caregivers in the USA. These informal caregivers are members of the family or friends of the person in need of caregiving. There are 100 million people in the USA who are in need of an informal caregiver. These are the frail elderly, chronically ill and the disabled. This population sector is the fastest growing segment due to the aging of the baby boomer population.

If an independent third party politician or candidate for political office would create and push through the legislation which would provide a tax break to the employers of caregivers, it would assure that such politician or candidate certainly would be supported by much of the above 144 million population segment: the combination of the informal caregivers and the people who are in need of care.

What a campaign issue, indeed!

The US Department of Labor predicts that by 2024, 54 percent of the work force will be involved in caring just for an elderly person making doctors' appointments, handling emergencies, giving transportation, buying and cooking food, all the basic functions of life the elderly person has difficulties to perform.

But the informal caregivers who are also full time employed have a major problem; not everyone is able to manage the conflicting demands of working and caregiving.

A MetLife study reported that 16 percent of employees who perform as caregivers quit their jobs and 13 percent retired early in order that they could provide caregiving to the people in need. This study found that the average life-time loss per such person was an estimated $ 566 thousand in lost wages, $ 67 thousand in lower pension benefits plus $ 25 thousand loss of Soc. Sec. benefits.

Also, many of the employees who are caregivers get passed over for promotions and are the first ones who are eliminated when a downsizing of the business takes place.

These problems of the employees, who are also serving as caregivers, could be almost eradicated if the employers of caregivers would let their caregiving employees to perform telework style for some or much of their workload. About only one in four businesses offers employees who are caregivers such advantages as flexible hours, telecommuting, paid leave in case of emergencies and compassionate understanding.

The legislation which would support the employers of the caregivers could also include a double or increased tax break for the employer if the business would allow the employees, who are involved in caregiving, to perform most of their work with great degree of flexibility such as telecommuting and flexible time.

So let us organize a strong campaign for the independent third party online convention followed by an election campaign in each of the 50 states and then onto the Presidential elections, which could include in their platforms the special tax break for the businesses who employ and appreciate employees who are also dedicated caregivers.

References:

National Family Caregivers Association
NFCA: National Family Caregivers Association. Dedicated to making life better for America's family caregivers. Includes information on NFC Month, ...http://www.nfcacares.org/

FCA: Family Caregiver Alliance Home
Handbook for Long-Distance Caregivers · A Physician's View of Caregiver Health ... Caregivers at Risk · Updated Fact Sheet: Selected Caregiver Statistics ...http://www.caregiver.org/

Empowering Caregivers - Choices, Healing, Love
A rich, safe nurturing site for all caregivers focused on providing practical emotional and spiritual support with tools for self-empowerment and a strong ...http://www.care-givers.com/

MedlinePlus: Caregivers
Caregivers. ... Financial Issues; Financial Steps for Caregivers: What You Need to Know about Money and Retirement (Administration on Aging) - Links to PDF ...http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/caregivers.html

The AgeNet Eldercare Network
http://www.caregivers.com/

CareGiver :: Information Source for CareGivers for Those in Need .....
CareGiver.com is a leading provider of support and information for those caring for the elderly, heart attack survivors, diabetes care, ...http://www.caregiver.com/

National Family Caregiver Support Program
The report, Young Caregivers in the US, can be downloaded from: http://www.caregiving.org/data/youngcaregivers.pdf. *, Financial Steps for Caregivers ...http://www.aoa.gov/prof/aoaprog/caregiver/caregiver.asp

Coalition of Essential Schools National Office
For over twenty years, CES has been a national leader in public education transformation. Guided by the Common Principles, CES strives to create and sustain ...http://www.essentialschools.org/

CareGivers-USA Help that's close to home
CareGivers-USA Finding help at home. ... CareGivers-USA is a nationwide, non-commercial directory of community-based caregiver support services -- intended ...http://caregivers-usa.org/

ALZwell Alzheimer's Caregivers Page
Information and support for people caring for elderly with Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of dementia.http://www.alzwell.com/

Janine M. Lodato
P.O.Box 838
SAN ANDREAS, CA.
95249-838
~|__
( o )\_
http://www.publishedauthors.net/janinemlodato/bio.html
http://journals.aol.com/lodatoclan/StemCellResearch/
http://www.publishamerica.com/greetingcardpro/createcard1.asp?PostCardID=10026
http://www.disabilityworld.org/09-11_04/access/weblish.shtml
http://e-bility.com/articles/weblish.shtml
http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~liao/cokesymbol.html
http://www.funlist.com/www/coke/lib/symbol.html
http://www.eclicktick.com/voicerecognition.htm
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/futurist/?ts=1103041565
http://www.telenovela-world.com/~spade/linux/lg/authors/lodato.html

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