Target sells shirts to help pro-gay marriage group

This undated photo provided June 1, 2012, by Target Corp. shows one of the T-shirts target is selling to raise money for a group working to defeat a gay marriage ban in Minnesota. The Minneapolis-based retailer is taking heat from same-sex marriage opponents in its home state, where voters will decide this November whether to put a gay marriage ban into the state constitution. (AP Photo/Target Corp., Paul Weber)

This undated photo provided June 1, 2012, by Target Corp. shows one of the T-shirts target is selling to raise money for a group working to defeat a gay marriage ban in Minnesota. The Minneapolis-based retailer is taking heat from same-sex marriage opponents in its home state, where voters will decide this November whether to put a gay marriage ban into the state constitution. (AP Photo/Target Corp., Paul Weber)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) ? Two years after Target Corp. angered gay marriage supporters with a political donation that benefited a fiery gay marriage opponent seeking the governor's office, the retailer is now upsetting same-sex marriage opponents by selling T-shirts to raise money for a group working to defeat a gay marriage ban in Minnesota.

The Minneapolis-based retailer is taking heat in its home state, where voters will decide this November whether to put a gay marriage ban into the state constitution. One organizer of gay marriage opponents warned that their displeasure could spread to 32 other states where voters have banned gay marriage.

"Target is attacking traditional marriage, which is an incredibly misguided thing for them to have done," said Chuck Darrell, spokesman for Minnesota for Marriage, a group campaigning to pass the constitutional marriage amendment. "It's an insult to the overwhelming majority of their customers."

Target's move comes two years after it endured a backlash from gay rights supporters for giving $150,000 to a campaign group backing the conservative Republican candidate for Minnesota governor, Tom Emmer, who narrowly lost to Democrat Mark Dayton in a race that went to an automatic recount. The donation set off protests and calls for a boycott from a constituency that had seen Target as an ally.

Supporters of gay marriage see Minnesota as having the potential to halt their long losing streak in statewide votes.

The T-shirt promotion will raise up to $120,000 for the Family Equality Council, a Washington-based group that is part of a Minnesota coalition pushing to defeat the constitutional amendment. The $12.99 shirts will be sold on Target's website through June, or while supplies last. They come in four designs, emblazoned with words such as "harmony" and "pride." Singer Gwen Stefani designed one shirt featuring a rainbow and a cloud that says, "LOVE IS LOVE."

Target hasn't taken a position on Minnesota's ballot question. Spokeswoman Molly Snyder said the T-shirt promotion was organized by a group of gay Target employees and their allies. She said it is Target's second promotion to benefit a specific group. The first, during last year's holiday season, raised money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital through the sale of limited-edition plush dogs.

"Target is pleased to be able to bring our guests products they want while, in turn, helping support the LGBT community through the donation of 100 percent of the purchase price to the Family Equality Council," the company said in a statement noting its long-standing support of the gay community.

Another statement from the retailer notes "a broad range of strongly held views" on the marriage issue and urges employees to vote.

Family Equality Council director Jennifer Chrisler said the T-shirt proceeds will fund her group's work around the country, ranging from community building to political advocacy. She added that Target, a longtime sponsor of the Twin Cities gay pride festival, is now sponsoring Family Equality Council retreats for gay families in Massachusetts and California.

"I know and understand what a big reaction that donation had two years ago, and I think they have taken steps, serious steps, to show that they understood that reaction," Chrisler said. "But I really think this is an extension of the longtime partnership we have had and their commitment to family."

Minnesota for Marriage doesn't plan to organize action against Target because of its focus on the November vote, Darrell said. Instead, he is asking supporters of the constitutional amendment to counter the Target promotion by donating $12.99 on his group's website. He said donations are up since Target started selling the T-shirts.

Darrell also urged Target to get out of the marriage issue ? and stay out.

"Just get out of this debate and do what they're good at," Darrell said. "Get out of the business of trying to redefine marriage."

___

Follow Martiga Lohn at http://www.twitter.com/martigal

Associated Press

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Sheep free of Chernobyl controls

1 June 2012 Last updated at 10:56 ET

Restrictions covering sheep movements after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster have finally been lifted from all farms in England and Wales after 26 years.

After the 1986 disaster, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) placed controls on 9,800 UK farms, but these were gradually removed.

The final eight in Cumbria and the last 327 in Wales are now free of them.

Adam Briggs, from the NFU, said it meant an end to the "sorry situation" of the Chernobyl legacy.

As a result of the explosion, radioactive particles became locked in upland peat and accumulated in grazing sheep.

'Eat with confidence'

Under the "mark and release" restrictions, the animals had to be tested for levels of Caesium-137 prior to being moved down from the fells for sales.

Farmers were paid ?1.30 per animal, to compensate for the cost of holding them before monitoring.

The controls were lifted in Northern Ireland in 2000 and in Scotland in 2010.

Adam Briggs, policy advisor for the NFU in the North West, said: "I've spoken to a number of farmers in the area and they are all very happy with the decision.

"It gives them a bit of flexibility of when they can market the stock.

"The main thing is that research shows the meat is safe.

"People can now eat Cumbrian lamb with confidence."

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Local Search Marketing ? Detroit - Target Marketing Solutions

Local search marketing is more important for local companies than ever before with the ever increasing Internet usage -from mobile devices to the desktop.?

Target Marketing Solutions, located in Howell, MI (Metro Detroit, MI) has? created many, many successful local?search marketing campaigns for?local Detroit area companies whose market is a limited area, perhaps no more than 20 miles radius to their location. The research that is done to determine how searchers search and the way that your web pages are structured to this research will determine the fate of your pages in Google?s local search results.? This is true local SEO. ?Your website will either be invisible to searchers or will appear in Google page one search results for a variety of local searches.

Here?s a short snippet of one such local client testimonial using our local search engine marketing strategy, Gary?s Catering, Wixom, Michigan:

Our partnership with Target Marketing? has been the most successful alliance in our history. The online marketing programs designed and managed by the Target Marketing team has been the most effective driver of new customers to our website. Since our affiliation with Target Marketing?our online presence has grown tenfold! more

Our local search marketing strategy is very different from a national or international search marketing strategy because your website content and imagery must mirror your target geography for maximum sales effect and for high search engine rankings.

For the best rankings in the Google local search results pages, it?s critical to know that searchers tend to search with their product or service plus a combination of city, state, county, country or even zip code keywords when conducting searches.

Large media companies, whose business it is to get massive amounts of traffic to their websites, know this fact very well.? For example, business to business directories such as the Yellow Pages, Yellow Book, use title tags and urls on their website pages to match the keyword phrases that local searchers search with. ?Newspapers, and various media outlets, and most directories know that Google needs this information to properly identify what the individual page content is about and to rank the pages for display to the searcher.?

Yellow Pages Title Tag Example: Detroit Carpet rug cleaners | Carpet rug cleaners in Detroit, MI ? YP.com??????????? (The title tag appears at the top of your browser, in blue, for every page that you click on the web.? You essentially click on the title tag on every search result that you click on)

Yellow Pages URL Example: www.yellowpages.com/detroit-mi/carpet-rug-cleaners

Note the keyword phrases combined with the target region keywords.? This combination is vital for your local search marketing success. ??It?s also good for the searcher, good for Google, and good for the directories and websites structuring their web pages this way.??

Need local help and consulting services for an effective and profitable local search marketing campaign for your small business in the Detroit area? We?re available for in-person, no-obligation meetings in Michigan (Detroit, MI, Grand Rapids, MI, Lansing, MI, Flint, MI, Ann Arbor, MI, Port Huron, MI, Kalamazoo, MI, Battle Creek, Saginaw, MI,?Bay City).? A more customized local Internet marketing plan for your business can be discussed in detail at that time. Call 1-888-239-0332.

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GOP stands down on social issues, focuses on jobs

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio meets with reporters following a GOP strategy session on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 31, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio meets with reporters following a GOP strategy session on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 31, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? What "religious freedom" bill?

Republicans stung by the culture wars that dominated the nation's political discourse this year are standing down on social issues, acutely aware that the presidential and congressional elections five months off are expected to turn on a thin margin of cash-strapped independent voters neither party can afford to alienate.

How about House Speaker John Boehner's vow to reverse President Barack Obama's birth control policy? There's no sign of any such legislation. The Ohio Republican reminds people daily that he is focused on jobs now.

Obama's revelation that he supports gay marriage? Told ya so, said social conservatives at the core of the GOP ? before they turned back to assailing the president's stewardship of the economy.

And what happened to the GOP's efforts to curb abortion? House Republican leaders made it go away by offering a vote on a bill to ban gender-based abortions Thursday ? under special rules that guaranteed it would fail.

There is a growing sense among Republicans that, with Mitt Romney all but crowned as their presidential nominee, social issues generally are losers for the party at a time when the GOP is trying to appeal to swing voters. Through a searing primary season that erupted repeatedly over gender politics to the general election now under way, polls have consistently shown that voters remain most concerned about jobs and the economy.

"I'm not trying to dismiss the social issues ... they are important to a lot of people," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, one of Romney's liaisons to Congress. "But we must stay focused on the jobs and the economy. That does more to affect people's social (policy) than anything else."

Polls and the party's recent experience suggest the strategy also is smart politics.

The GOP took a drubbing over the winter after picking a fight over a provision in Obama's health care law that required employers to provide workers access to contraception, even when religious views prohibit its use. In a coordinated effort, Republicans on both sides of the Capitol denounced the policy as a violation of the Constitution's guarantee of religious liberty and vowed to reverse Obama's rule. Democrats fired back that Republicans were trying to limit access to contraception as part of a "Republican war against women."

Polls showed that the Democrats won that early round, key to their mission to retain Obama's wide lead among women, who account for a majority of voters in presidential election years. Republicans were slow to respond, and Romney never engaged in the debate over contraception, convinced then as now that all Americans view the election as referendum on Obama's stewardship of the recovering economy.

Recent voter research offers support for the move away from the sort of "culture war" that conservative Patrick Buchanan called for from the podium of the Republican National Convention in 1992. Many Republicans viewed that approach as one that alienated moderates. Two decades later, as the candidates battle over that same voting bloc, polling suggests that social issues are a motivating factor for female voters ? but not in the Republicans' favor.

An AP-GfK poll conducted earlier this month showed Obama holding a 53 percent to 32 percent advantage over Romney as the candidate who would do a better job handling social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.

And while a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Wednesday showed Republican women warming to Romney, other surveys suggest he still faces a broad gap on issues of concern to women.

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll also released Wednesday found that 4 in 10 women have taken some political action as a result of things they've heard, read or seen recently about women's reproductive health choices and services. Among liberal women, 51 percent said they had taken action, compared with 41 percent among conservative women.

Social issues change minds, notably among independent women, the survey found. Thirteen percent of women who identified themselves as independents said they had changed their mind about who to vote for as a result of news on reproductive issues, compared with 9 percent of Republican women and 7 percent of Democratic women.

Social issues have great emotional resonance in political campaigns and are thus risky subjects for emphasis in close elections. That's why House Republican leaders last month struck a deal with Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., to bring up the gender-based anti-abortion bill for a vote on its own, rather than attach it to the controversial Violence Against Women Act.

On Thursday, Frank's bill got a vote ? under a rule that required the support of two-thirds of the House. It failed by 30 votes. A leadership aide said there were no plans to bring it up for passage by a simple majority. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss strategy.

Steering away from social issues doesn't sit easily with some conservatives. Buchanan, for example, is still advocating on his blog for a culture war. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a leader of the House's most conservative members, said he hopes House GOP leaders will bring back Franks' anti-abortion bill for passage with a simple majority.

"I think there's an understanding among everyone about how serious the fiscal situation is, that under President Obama, our economy is not growing the way we want it to grow," said Jordan, who like Boehner is from swing state Ohio. "But just because we understand that doesn't mean we have abandoned or forgotten the idea that there are certain fundamental principles and values that are worth defending."

First things first, countered another swing-state Republican, Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri.

"I truly believe that those things will shake out in a more positive way if we can just deal with the issues that we really need to deal with, on the economy and fiscal side," Emerson said. "And shame on us if we can't do it."

___

Associated Press Deputy Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Diffbot Startup Can Help Computers Recognize Web Pages

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Recorded Statements in Workers' Compensation Claims in Illinois ...

Posted: June 1st, 2012 | Author: The Illinois Injured Worker | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Illinois Workers' Compensation, notice of work injury, recorded statements

We are frequently asked the question: ?Can the insurance company take a recorded statement from me before benefits are paid in my work injury claim?? The answer is very simple, of course the insurance company representative may record your statement?IF YOU LET THEM! The Illinois Worker?s compensation Act requires that the injured worker notify the employer of the time, place and cause of the injury with in forty five days of the accident. There is NO requirement that a recorded statement be given by the injured worker to obtain workers? compensation benefits.

Often, we hear our clients tell us they gave a recorded statement because they ?have nothing to hide.? Frankly, that is not the point of our advice to refuse to submit to a recorded statement. The point of our advice is grounded in our belief that the Illinois Workers? Compensation law is design to protect the injured worker and provide benefits for lost time, medical bills and a settlement for the permanent injury caused by the accident. Insurance companies exist to make a profit and making a profit is possible if the insurance company can limit the benefits paid to injured workers. This is an obvious conflict of interest between the motives of the insurance adjustor and the needs of the injured worker. A recorded statement can only benefit the insurance company. The injured worker has likely never given or taken a recorded statement and the insurance adjustor has a script designed to ask questions that severely limit the claim of the injured worker.

The fact is that in Illinois, it is ILLEGAL to record a person?s conversation without their consent. So, the injured worker?s inherent right is to NOT be recorded. Also, these recorded statements are taken at a time early in the claim when the full effects of the injury may not be known to the injured worker or the doctor! We advise that the injured worker comply with the law and provide information to the insurance company that enables the insurance company to investigate and defend the claim, but there is absolutely NO REASON to permit a recorded statement. If you have any questions about this subject or any other issue regarding your rights under Illinois Workers? Compensation Law, feel free to telephone us at 1-800-444-1525 or 312-263-6330 or visit us on the web at www.kfeej.com.

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The Press Focused Too Much on Obama's Bio Back in 2008, Not Too Little (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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