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Source: www.nytimes.com --- Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Northeastern University, based in Boston, opened its first satellite campus, which combines virtual and in-person instruction, this year in Charlotte, N.C. Seattle is next. ...
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=1cd842debac3f4a70cd418531e7b8764
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MOSCOW ? A Russian court decided Wednesday not to ban a religious text central to the global Hare Krishna movement, rejecting claims that the text is "extremist" and ending a case that has angered Hindus around the world.
Prosecutors in the Siberian city of Tomsk had argued that the Russian translation of "Bhagavad Gita As It Is" promotes "social discord" and hatred toward nonbelievers, causing an outcry in India, where many considered the proposed ban a violation of the rights of Hindus in Russia.
The text is a combination of the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism's holiest scriptures, and commentary by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which is often called the Hare Krishna movement.
The prosecutors had asked the court to include the book on the Federal List of Extremist Materials, which bans more than 1,000 texts, including Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and books distributed by the Jehovah's Witness and Scientology movements.
Alexander Shakhov, a lawyer for Hare Krishna devotees in Tomsk, said the group is satisfied with the court's decision.
"This judge's decision shows that Russia is becoming a truly democratic society," Shakhov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "We are very excited about this victory."
Yury Pleshakov, a spokesman for the group in Moscow, said the book in question has existed in Russia for 25 years and has never inspired violence or extremist activity.
"On the contrary, this book teaches humane attitude towards all living beings," Pleshakov said.
The trial, which began in June, followed this year's ban on the construction of a Hare Krishna village in Tomsk and was based on an assessment by professors at Tomsk University, who concluded that "Bhagavad Gita As It Is" includes strong language against nonbelievers and promotes religious hatred and discrimination on the basis of gender, race, nationality and language.
The ruling came a day after Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna met with Alexander Kadakin, Russia's ambassador to India, and urged the Russian government to resolve the issue. Indian officials had last week appealed to high-level Russian authorities to intervene.
The Tomsk court had postponed the decision from Dec. 19, when protesters gathered outside the Russian consulate in Kolkata, and the speaker of India's lower house of parliament adjourned the body for several hours after members began shouting in anger over the proposed ban.
After hearing further testimony from academic experts on Wednesday, the judge ruled that the prosecutors' claims were unfounded.
The Bhagavad Gita "is not merely a religious text, but one of the defining treatises of Indian thought," said Indian Ambassador to Russia Ajai Malhotra in a statement. "The Bhagavad Gita has circulated freely across the world for centuries and there is not a single instance of it having encouraged extremism."
The Russian Foreign Ministry insisted the Tomsk court was not taking issue with core Hindu scripture itself, but rather with the author's commentary and poor translation in "Bhagavad Gita As It Is."
"I would like to emphasize that this is not about 'Bhagavad Gita,' a religious philosophical poem, which forms part of the great Indian epic Mahabharata and is one of the most famous pieces of the ancient Hindu literature," ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said at a briefing in Moscow last week, adding that the book was first published in Russian in 1788.
Still, followers of the Hare Krishna movement in Russia saw the proposed ban as a result of continued intolerance of minority religions by the Russian Orthodox Church. Pleshakov estimates there are at least 150,000 Hare Krishna devotees in Russia.
"The current problem is, above all, the misuse of the law on combating extremism," Pleshakov said. "It is used to search for enemies where they can not even be defined."
In 2005, a Russian Orthodox archbishop asked the mayor of Moscow to ban the construction of a proposed Hare Krishna temple, calling the Hindu deity Krishna "an evil demon, the personified power of hell opposing God," according to Interfax. The temple was later allowed in a Moscow suburb.
(This version corrects spelling of Pleshakov.)
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ATLANTA ? Just as Medicaid prepares for a vast expansion under the federal health care overhaul, the 47-year-old entitlement program for the poor is under increasing pressure as deficit-burdened states chip away at benefits and cut payments to doctors.
Nearly every state has proposed or implemented a plan in its current budget to rein in costs, and many are considering additional cuts in the year ahead.
For the tens of millions of poor and disabled who rely on the program ? approaching nearly one in five Americans ? the cuts translate into longer waits for doctors, restrictions on prescription drugs, a halt to vision and dental care, staff cuts at nursing homes and dwindling access to home health care.
Ruth Wohlforth, 70, is among those feeling the effects.
Her $700 monthly income qualifies her for both Medicare and Medicaid, but she says her benefits have been reduced, she's being forced her to make co-pays for the first time on prescription drugs, and she now has to drive about 30 minutes from her home near the southern tip of New Jersey to see a doctor. Some of her friends have been assigned to doctors in Philadelphia.
She said she feels lawmakers are not aware of the real-world consequences of their spending cuts.
"I've seen so many people in tears, and they don't know what to do," Wohlforth said. "People that are older than I am, and are in worse shape, they get befuddled by the whole thing. They don't know where to go for help; they just feel they're not being listened to."
States are reshaping the Medicaid landscape even as the need has grown along with joblessness during the recession.
The $427 billion-a-year program, a combination of state and federal funding, also had been targeted for additional cuts at the federal level this year as members of Congress sparred over how to reduce the nation's debt. But funding seems safe for now after a special committee failed last month to reach an agreement on how to cut overall spending.
Already, many changes at the state level have been dramatic and are testing the legal bounds of what Medicaid must provide:
? Arizona, for a time, eliminated life-saving transplants for Medicaid patients, and hospital officials in the state blame at least one death on the halt in coverage. Gov. Jan Brewer restored transplants but is prohibiting thousands of low-income, childless adults from entering the program and has added fees on those who smoke and the obese.
? New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is pushing a plan under which only the poorest would qualify. A parent of two making more than $103 per week would no longer be eligible for coverage.
? The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether California has the right to continue cutting payments to physicians and other Medicaid providers to help close the state's ongoing budget deficit.
Cuts to provider fees, as in California, have been the most frequently used tactic by states to save Medicaid costs. A recent survey by the National Association of State Budget Officers found that 33 states wanted to reduce provider rates and another 16 sought to freeze them.
California was granted permission by federal officials to make broad cuts to reimbursement rates to its Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, in October. The cuts include a 10 percent reduction to payments for outpatient services for doctors, clinics, optometrists, dental services, medical equipment and pharmacy. They are intended to save the state an estimated $623 million.
A coalition of trade associations representing doctors, pharmacists and chain drug stores has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the cuts. Doctors who care for Medi-Cal patients say they already have been subjected to multiple pay cuts, and some say they no longer will be able to serve the state's neediest patients.
About 70 percent of Dr. Douglas Tolley's practice in Yuba County is covered by Medi-Cal. The 64-year-old obstetrician, who practices in a largely agricultural region about 40 minutes north of the state capital, said he is the old-school sort of doctor who "was brought up in a time when doctors took care of all comers."
Yet he has seen his income steadily drop over the last 18 years ? down one-third from what it was when he started.
"Everybody understands that doctors are basically small business people, and we have to meet our cost plus make a living." Tolley said. "Just meeting our cost doesn't mean staying in business."
Even more state cuts could be on the horizon. In Maine, Gov. Paul LePage recently proposed removing 65,000 residents from the program, citing a state Medicaid shortfall estimated to reach $221 million through mid-2013. The Republican governor says he will not consider tax increases to make up the difference.
State officials, who are required to balance their budgets, argue they have no choice but to cut into Medicaid after four straight years of budget deficits. With state and federal funds combined, Medicaid makes up 22 percent of total state spending, the largest single portion of most state budgets, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers.
Critics say the moves are shortsighted.
Joan Alker, co-executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University, said slashing Medicaid will not stop the sick from seeking care, sending them to emergency rooms and ultimately inflating private medical insurance premiums.
"At the end of the day, for the children, the individuals with disabilities, the seniors in nursing homes, their health care needs are not going to go away just because someone cuts the Medicaid program," Alker said.
Jerry Kemmer, a former Democratic state assemblyman in New York, said Medicaid has long been an issue lawmakers did not want to touch. Now, they simply have no choice.
"It's ballooned to the extent that it's just become a budget-buster," he said.
Six million people have joined the Medicaid rolls since the recession began in late 2007. Enrollment nationally topped 50 million for the first time in June 2010, a number that is projected to keep rising, especially as the nation's unemployment rate remains high.
Billions of dollars from the federal stimulus program helped avoid deep Medicaid cuts through the worst of the recession, but the last of that money dried up this year.
In Florida, Medicaid reimbursement rates were reduced this year by 12 percent for most hospitals, although rural and children's hospitals were cut just 3 percent, and rates for nursing homes were cut 6.5 percent.
But the start of the next legislative session in January already has some people worried about additional cuts.
Debra St. Fleur, 25, of Miami, is covered by Medicaid, along with her 1-year-old son. Many of her neighbors in the city's Little Haiti section are on Medicaid, too, and she worries what would happen if services continue to be eroded.
"It's really scary," she said. "If they can't get their medicine, what's going to happen? They're going to die."
The Obama administration is concerned enough about the widespread Medicaid provider cuts that it has introduced a rule that would make it harder for states to slash the rates. The move is designed to ensure that those eligible for Medicaid are not denied access due to a shortage of health care resources.
Medicaid reimbursement rates already trail those physicians receive for treating Medicare patients and those with private insurance. A study by the nonpartisan Center for Studying Health System Change found that on, average, Medicaid would reimburse a doctor $39 for 45 minutes for a new patient hospital visit, compared to $63 for Medicare.
Physician groups say that has left more and more doctors declining to see Medicaid clients. Some providers are trying to find other ways to make up for the cuts.
In Columbia, S.C., Julie Ann Avin, executive director of the private, nonprofit Mental Illness Recovery Center Inc., has decided not to fill staff vacancies and also cut back on some rehab services because of Medicaid's new authorization process. The center serves about 650 people annually, close to 60 percent of whom are on Medicaid.
"We accept folks regardless," Avin said. "Everything that we do is not based just on a reimbursement."
Molly Collins Offner, director of policy development for the American Hospital Association, said emergency rooms must accept Medicaid clients, as well as those without insurance.
"More and more, you are seeing ER's becoming primary care docs," she said.
She said deep cuts rippling through the Medicaid system will only exacerbate that.
___
Associated Press writers Samantha Henry in Newark, N.J., Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., Shaya Tayefe Mohajer in Los Angeles and Matt Sedensky in Miami contributed to this report.
___
Follow Shannon McCaffrey at http://www.twitter.com(backslash)smccaffrey13
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ESCONDIDO, Calif. - Police in California will soon stop towing cars from unlicensed drivers at sobriety checkpoints.
A state law that takes effect Jan. 1 is a major victory for advocates who say the vehicle impounds enrich cities and towing companies at the expense of illegal immigrants. Like most states, California denies drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants. Under the new law, they will get to keep their cars if stopped at the checkpoints as long as they are sober and can find a licensed driver.
The tows have been controversial in California, which allows police to impound vehicles for up to 30 days. That can easily rack up fees topping $1,000. Many unlicensed drivers surrender their vehicles to towing companies, who auction them off.
Source: http://www.startribune.com/nation/136204253.html
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ABUJA?? Islamist sect Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a wave of Christmas Day bombings on Sunday, including an attack on a Catholic church that killed at least 35 people.
Boko Haram spokesman Abu Qaqa claimed the bombings in a statement to the journalists' association of Maiduguri, capital of the group's heartland.
The Christmas Day attacks show the growing national ambition of Boko Haram, which is responsible for at least 491 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count. The assaults come a year after a series of Christmas Eve bombings in Jos claimed by the militants left at least 32 dead and 74 wounded.
The first explosion on Sunday struck St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, a town in Niger state close to the capital, Abuja, authorities said.
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The first explosion on Sunday struck St. Theresa Catholic Church just after 8 a.m. The attack killed 35 people and wounded another 52, said Slaku Luguard, a coordinator with Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency.
"We were in the church with my family when we heard the explosion. I just ran out. Now I don't even know where my children or my wife are,'' Timothy Onyekwere told Reuters. "I don't know how many were killed but there were many dead.''
"I want to know if my wife is dead or alive," a man yelled as he tried to enter the area holding dead and wounded.
Story: Clashes between sect, police kill 61 in NigeriaNigeria's National Emergency Management Agency already has acknowledged it didn't have enough ambulances immediately on hand to help the wounded. Luguard also said an angry crowd that gathered at the blast site hampered rescue efforts as they refused to allow workers inside.
"We're trying to calm the situation," Luguard said. "There are some angry people around trying to cause problems."
President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south who is struggling to contain the threat of Islamist militancy, called the incident "unfortunate" but said Boko Haram would "not be (around) for ever. It will end one day."
The White House condemned the violent attacks, which it said appeared to be acts of terrorism.
"We condemn this senseless violence and tragic loss of life on Christmas Day," the White House said in a statement released from Hawaii, where President Barack Obama is vacationing.
"We have been in contact with Nigerian officials about what initially appear to be terrorist acts and pledge to assist them in bringing those responsible to justice," it said.
Jos, Yobe attacks
In Jos, a second explosion struck near a Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church, government spokesman Pam Ayuba said. Ayuba said gunmen later opened fire on police guarding the area, killing one police officer. Two other locally made explosives were found in a nearby building and disarmed, he said.
"The military are here on ground and have taken control over the entire place," Ayuba said.
The city of Jos is located on the dividing line between Nigeria's predominantly Christian south and Muslim north. Thousands have died in communal clashes there over the last decade.
There were also three attacks targeting a church, the police and army in Yobe in the north of the country, BBC News reported. Yobe has been at the center of clashes between militants and Nigeria's security forces, according to the BBC.
The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria's capital of Abuja had issued a warning Friday to citizens to be "particularly vigilant" around churches, large crowds and areas where foreigners congregate.
Residents of the northeastern city of Damaturu also reported two blasts but there were no details immediately available.
Several days of fighting in and around Damaturu between the sect and security forces already had killed at least 61 people, authorities said.
On Sunday, local police commissioner Tanko Lawan said two explosions had struck Damaturu, including a suicide car bombing. Lawan said that blast happened around noon, targeting the headquarters of Nigeria's secret police in the area. There was no immediate information about casualties, he said.
Video: Suicide bomber strikes U.N. in Nigeria (on this page)In the last year, Boko Haram has carried out increasingly bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people.
Boko Haram, which is loosely modeled on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for a Nov. 4 attack on Damaturu, Yobe state's capital, that killed more than 100 people. The group also claimed the Aug. 24 suicide car bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Nigeria's capital that killed 24 people and wounded 116 others.
The sect came to national prominence in 2009, when its members rioted and burned police stations near its base of Maiduguri, a dusty northeastern city on the cusp of the Sahara Desert. Nigeria's military violently put down the attack, crushing the sect's mosque into shards as its leader was arrested and died in police custody. About 700 people died during the violence.
While initially targeting enemies via hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes after the 2009 riot, violence by Boko Haram now has a new sophistication and apparent planning that includes high-profile attacks with greater casualties.
Boko Haram has splintered into three factions, with one wing increasingly willing to kill as it maintains contact with terror groups in North Africa and Somalia, diplomats and security sources say.
Sect members are scattered throughout northern Nigeria and nearby Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45786378/ns/world_news-africa/
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Lighter planes means less fuel, means less money and, hopefully, lower ticket prices. Carbon fiber reinforcements are a major part of this plan; both Boeing's latest bird and the double-decker Airbus make liberal use of the light and strong composite. However, they're not without their own dangers; minute amounts of water can get into the carbon fibers, which then form ice at high altitude, damaging the fiber structures. This sort of miniature damage is -- unlike aluminum versions -- very difficult to spot. Embarrassingly, the engineers' best bet to detect the ruined fibers until recently was to tap on the composite structures with a small hammer and listen for a hollow noise that would signpost water damage.
EADS, which depends on carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) for its own Airbus fuselage, has now created an ultrasonic gun that can detect this damage. This sonic screwdriver is able to detect and visualize these invisible problems by bouncing sound off the plane's surface and, well, it's like that hammer test, but a heck of a lot more precise. The company hopes to ready the device for regular use by the end of next year.
Ultrasonic screwdriver sniffs out carbon fiber damage, planes book a check-up with The Doctor originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Dec 2011 01:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Nearly a year away from the 2012 election, we?ll talk to the president?s 2008 campaign manager, now White House Senior Adviser, David Plouffe. Then author of the definitive new biography on the late Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson; Author of the new book ?The Time of Our Lives,? NBC News Special Correspondent, Tom Brokaw; Former Governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm; and Republican strategist, Mike Murphy.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/45787089#45787089
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Caltech physicist Kenneth Libbrecht, who studies the crystalline structure of snowflakes and has published seven books of snowflake photographs, talked to The Times about what we do, and don't, know about them.
What's so strange about snowflakes?
If you grow ice crystals ? snowflakes ? just below freezing, then you get thin, plate-like crystals. These include the canonical snowflakes, the star-like crystals. But if you get a little colder (around 5 degrees Celsius below freezing), then instead of plates, you get long thin columns ? which is really almost the opposite of a plate. Think wooden pencils, little hexagonal columns, as opposed to a hexagonal plate. In the star type, the faces grow slowly and the edges grow quickly, and in the pencil type, the edges grow slowly and the faces grow quickly.
And so in just a few degrees of temperature change, the growth changes from plate-like to columnar. And as you go colder, to 15 degrees below zero, it changes back to plate-like.
At even lower temperatures, below 30 degrees below zero, the shape changes back to columnar.
So there are these transitions as a function of temperature, and that's really hard to explain. It's been a puzzle for 75 years, and it's still really not known what causes this.
There are also variations in humidity. And the higher the humidity in the clouds, the faster the crystals grow and the more structure they develop and the bigger they get. So at low humidities, you get simple, small crystals, and at high humidities, they're more complex.
In your lab experiments, what have you been able to find out?
What I found is that there's what I call a "sharpening effect." When the edge of an ice crystal gets sharp, actually the molecular structure of its edge changes, and it makes it grow faster, which makes it sharper, which makes it grow faster, and which sharpens it more ? so you end up with a very thin plate as sharp as a razor blade. That sharpening effect is why the crystals are so thin and flat.
So if you change the temperature, all you're doing is changing the way the sharpening effect works. If the sharpening effect goes in the edge direction, it'll make a thin plate. If the sharpening effect goes in the upward direction, you get a hollow column. A very small temperature change can make it flip directions. The sharpening effect amplifies that small change.
Why is every snowflake different?
As an ice crystal falls, it will move from one part of the cloud to another, and the temperature and the humidity will be changing as it falls. Every time there are these small changes in the conditions, the growth of the arms changes. So you get all these branches and facets and all these different shapes ? and by the time it lands on the ground, it's had a very complicated history because of all these changes in temperature and humidity. And because no two crystals follow exactly the same path as they fall, they all look a little different.
So snowflakes come in more shapes than your garden-variety hexagon. Which is your favorite?
One of my favorites is the capped column. That's a crystal that first forms as a column, and later on it changes and has plates on the ends of a column. So it's an odd looking thing ? like two wheels on an axle.
When I started reading the literature on the subject, I found pictures of these capped columns and just found them really interesting. I mean, I grew up in North Dakota ? how come I've never seen one of these before? On a trip to visit family at Christmastime, I took along my magnifying glass and I went outside and looked and the falling snow ? and there they were, capped columns all over, and these other shapes too. You just don't notice if you don't pay any attention.
That's what got me into popularizing the science of it, because it seemed like if you live in snow country you ought to know a little a bit about what's falling out of the sky.
Are there advantages to studying ice crystals rather than other, perhaps more exotic, materials?
Not only is the physics of ice crystals particularly rich, but experiments are pretty cheap and easy. As you can imagine, ice doesn't have a lot of safety issues. For almost anything else you can think of growing, experiments are confounded by safety issues. Just about any chemical has hazards, so you have to spend a lot of money and time worrying about that.
I just love the ability to be able to pour your experiment down the drain or just evaporate it into the air without any thought of safety.
And the fun part is, in the end, it's not like some esoteric thing that nobody ever sees. Most physicists study black holes or Higgs bosons ? things that that never appear in ordinary experience ? whereas this stuff falls out of the sky, literally. So it's kind of fun to think about the puzzles surrounding it.
This interview has been edited for space and clarity.
amina.khan@latimes.com
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Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia And RIM To Battle Google Over Indoor Location Market - Forbes onforb.es/vJ5KK8 
readyState Jeff Gilfelt
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From Stark
Well-wishers packed Bellingham City Council chambers Wednesday, Dec. 21 to salute Mayor Dan Pike, whose four-year term ends Dec. 31 after a narrow defeat at the polls in November.
The testimonials offered to Pike were pretty standard stuff, but City Attorney Joan Hoisington turned the event into a roast, briefly.
She took the microphone to recognize Pike?s ?extraordinary aptitude for developing new and novel legal theories,? adding, ?Surprisingly, we have often prevailed.?
She then presented Pike with an honorary, tongue-in-cheek law degree on behalf of her staff, and urged him not to try to use it.
Pike told his audience that he has accepted a short-term assignment with Sightline Institute of Seattle, where he expects to be working on a project related to rail transportation issues, coal shipments and public policy.
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AUSTIN (Reuters) ? ESPN analyst and former professional football player Craig James filed as a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate on Monday, entering a Texas race already packed with well-financed and high-profile contenders.
James is seeking the Senate seat being vacated by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Texas Republican, who is retiring.
Several prominent Texas Republicans have been campaigning and raising money for months including Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, and former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, a Tea Party favorite.
Also on Monday, former Texas state representative Paul Sadler filed to run for the seat as a Democrat. Ricardo Sanchez, the retired Army lieutenant general who had been the only prominent Democrat in the running, withdrew from the race on Friday.
James filed with the Republican Party of Texas in Austin on Monday afternoon, according to the party.
James, 50, lives in a Dallas suburb. In the 1980s, he played for Southern Methodist University, the Washington Federals and the New England Patriots.
In 2009, he was involved in the controversy surrounding the firing of Texas Tech University football coach Mike Leach when he said his son, who played for the team, was mistreated after an injury.
"He is no longer working for ESPN," Rachel Margolis, a spokeswoman for the sports network told Reuters.
James serves on the board of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an influential conservative think tank in Austin, and founded Texans for a Better America to promote conservative policies.
(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Greg McCune)
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The corporate logo for Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011 in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
The corporate logo for Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011 in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
"Farmville" by Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
The corporate logo for Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
The corporate logo for Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
The corporate logo for Zynga, center, is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Investors will get the chance to reap "Farmville's" harvest on Friday, as shares of online game developer Zynga Inc. start trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
The San Francisco company, which specializes in Facebook games, priced its initial public offering late Thursday at $10 per share, raising $1 billion. That makes it the largest Internet-related IPO since Google Inc. went public in 2004, raising $1.4 billion.
The price was at the top of its expected range, a sign that investors are eager to dig into the latest in a series of high-profile technology IPOs this year. It values the company at about $7 billion.
Zynga charges small amounts of money ? a few cents, sometimes a couple of dollars ? for virtual items in online games. The games are free to play. Players can aquire items that range from crops in "Farmville" to buildings in "CityVille," its most popular Facebook game.
With its huge player base and a few loyal spenders, Zynga earned a net income of $90.6 million in 2010, an unusual pre-IPO money maker in the sector.
Cowen & Co. analyst Doug Creutz, however, initiated coverage Friday with a "Neutral" rating on the stock. While Zynga is the leader in Facebook gaming, he's concerned that it won't be able to grow fast enough to justify its stock price. Growth in Facebook gaming has slowed, and Zynga's market share has declined from 50 percent to 38 percent of daily active users, he wrote.
He's also concerned that Zynga's famously aggressive and hard-charging culture may not be the best field to grow good games in. Others have raised concerns that the focus on deadlines and profits might be squeezing out creativity and talent.
In November, online coupon company Groupon Inc. raised $700 million in its IPO. The granddaddy of all Internet IPOs might happen next year, as Facebook Inc. is expected to raise as much as $10 billion.
Zyna will trade under the ticker "ZNGA" on Friday.
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LONDON ? Fitch Ratings on Wednesday downgraded the debt ratings for five major European commercial banks and cooperative banking groups, citing the eurozone crisis and stronger headwinds facing the banking sector.
The ratings firm lowered the long-term issuer-default and viability ratings by one notch for French banks Banque Federative du Credit Mutuel and Credit Agricole, Danish lender Danske Bank, and Finland's OP Pohjola Group and The Netherlands' Rabobank Group.
The move follows a review by Fitch of large European banks.
Fitch said the downgrades of Danske Bank and Credit Agricole reflect their subsidiaries' exposure to troubled eurozone countries.
The firm noted that the eurozone crisis also is also hurting other lenders indirectly. Capital markets are not functioning effectively and the crisis is driving economic slowdown.
Uncertainty over how the eurozone crisis will be resolved, in addition to austerity measures being taken by some European governments, will affect commercial banking negatively, particularly in southern Europe and Ireland, Fitch said.
European banks are under mounting pressure. The German government announced Wednesday it is reactivating its financial-sector rescue fund. And the European Banking Authority said last week that the continent's banks need to raise about euro115 billion ($149 billion) to protect lenders against market turmoil, including bad government debt.
Fitch said that the five lenders have improved their capital and liquidity positions, which is a positive for their credit ratings. That has helped keep their viability ratings from dropping by more than one notch, Fitch said.
"However, the general developments in the global economy and a notable shift in market confidence towards the banking sector as a whole outweigh the positives and have been the primary drivers of today's downgrades," the firm said.
Fitch lowered the long-term issuer default ratings for Banque Federative du Credit Mutuel, Credit Agricole and OP Pohjola Group to "A+" from "AA-."
It cut Danske Bank to "A" from "A+," and Rabobank Group to "AA" from "AA+."
Concerns that governments are less likely to come to the rescue of financial institutions prompted Fitch to downgrade its outlook and ratings for Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, Lloyds Banking Group and Swiss lender UBS AG in October.
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Is small business getting more optimistic? Yes, it may be true. Take a look at the post from the NFIB?s small business survey to learn more about what other small business owners just like you are thinking. Then read the rest of the tips and news in our small business roundup just for you at Small Business Trends.
Be an optimist! The NFIB?s Index of Small Business Optimism showed a 1.8% increase this month, hopefully forecasting a much-needed shift in mood and expectation in the face of economic recovery. But while this seems hopeful, do these results really matter in the small business climate? Why is this important, and what conclusions can we draw for the coming year? National Federation of Independent Business
Is your niche getting crowded? You used to have your specialty market all sewed up, but now, in this increasingly competitive economy, the big guys are inching their tentacles into your territory. What can you do to stay competitive yet true to your mission and business model? Or is it time to evolve? See how one small business handles its heavyweight competitors with finesse and fortitude. The New York Times
E-mail marketing still topping the charts for 2012. It?s not really too much of a surprise that marketers are upping their budgets for this tried-and-true technique, but increasingly you?ll see it paired with other social media spending as companies seek to enhance their Facebook and Twitter presences and look into what it means to ?go viral?. See where the marketing money is going for 2012 and whether you?re on track with what?s trending now. Small Business Trends
Going mobile, like it or not! That?s what customers are saying. Expectations of a seamless smart-phone shopping experience are high, however many SMB?s would love to sweep the whole crazy, complex mobile thing under the rug. But since studies show this type of shopping is here to stay, wouldn?t it be better to admit that mastering mobile marketing is a challenge, and one your business is prepared to face? Smallbiz Technology
Google rules may make honest bloggers of us all. At least that seems to be the objective of the search giant?s algorithmic changes this year. Many bloggers got hit hard by Google?s Panda and Freshness updates, but take an in-depth look at these changes and you?ll see why they might just pave the way for bloggers on the up and up. Basic Blog Tips
Is your Website too pretty to succeed? Your Website is a work of art, but you?ve noticed that online sales are still down. The problem may be that your audience is confounded by the beauty of your site and stuck in the appreciation phase. Learn how visual cues and an unmistakable e-commerce site design will dispel their confusion and help them shift gears into buying mode. Scott Fox
It is said that we never really know other people. But when you?re looking to hire a virtual assistant for the first time, there?s a lot you can do to make sure you get the best candidate, even in the face of uncertainty. This simple checklist will help you prepare for the worst so you can hire the best. CreateHYPE
Cut to the chase. In movies it?s great to skip forward to an action-packed chase scene, but it?s not practical (and it?s sure not fun) to spend valuable time chasing down business prospects or their responses to your phone calls. Here are some practical techniques to make returning your call their top priority and turn phone tag into a game of the past. LeapZone Strategies
Make it worth their while. With the advent of social media, marketing has turned the corner from push to pull. It?s definitely more important to provide useful content and information that could be the breadcrumbs leading to sales rather than clubbing your audience over the head with hype or traditional media messages. Learn about the power of content marketing and how you can create an environment where organic sales become a natural extension of your valuable and useful content. Todaymade
Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2011/12/is-small-business-getting-more-optimistic.html
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New York ? Rather unbelievably, liberal writers are bashing a former AIPAC spokesman for keeping a tally of their obnoxious anti-Israel comments?
A blogosphere spat is revealing an important fracture in the Democratic Party and liberal institutions.
The spat erupted nearly a week ago. The website Salon.com published a story reporting that Josh Block, a former spokesman for AIPAC, America's pro-Israel lobby, had collected a trove of provocative quotes from anti-Israel bloggers.
SEE MORE: In defense of Jon Corzine
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Here's Justin Elliott's breathless Salon lead:
The former spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is shopping a 3,000-word trove of opposition research against bloggers critical of Israel to friendly neoconservative journalists.
I've obtained an email sent by Josh Block to a private listserv called the Freedom Community, in which he throws around accusations of anti-Semitism against liberal bloggers and calls on other list members to "echo" and "amplify" his assault and "use the below [research] to attack the bad guys."
This is a referendum on whether it is more unacceptable inside today's liberal Washington to use the language of anti-Semitism ? or to protest the language of anti-Semitism.
SEE MORE: Tuesday's 'surprising' elections: 3 lessons
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You might wonder: Where's the story here? AIPAC exists to support Israel and refute attacks on Israel. In order to refute attacks, you have to keep tally of those attacks. As for "throwing around" accusations of anti-Semitism ? well, here's what Salon goes on to say. (Some of the references will be a little obscure, but we'll circle back and clarify as the story unfolds.)
He [Block] wasted no time throwing around more accusations of anti-Semitism.
"This kind of anti-Israel sentiment is so fringe it's support by CAP is outrageous, but at least it is out in the open now ? as is their goal ? clearly applauded by revolting allies like the pro-HAMAS and anti-Zionist/One State Solution advocate Ali Abunumiah and those who accuse pro-Israel Americans of having 'dual loyalties' or being 'Israel-Firsters' ? to shape the minds of future generations of Democrats," Block writes. "These are the words of anti-Semites, not Democratic political players."
If charges of "dual loyalty" and "Israel first" do not count as anti-Semitic tropes, what does? To get ahead of our story a little, the nonpartisan Simon Wiesenthal Center made just this point in a statement released Tuesday:
The Middle East is a dangerous place ? and not merely for people who live there. Unfortunately, it's becoming increasingly difficult in this country to take a position sympathetic to the Jewish state and in favor of the continuation of America's historic strong alliance with Israel without being called "an Israel Firster" and charged with "dual loyalties."...?
These odious charges have been around since Henry Ford in 1920 said "wars are the Jews' harvest," Charles Lindbergh in 1940 condemned Jews for conspiring to plunge America into World War II, and "Jewish neocons" were charged with colluding with Israel to cause the 2003 Iraq War.
Nonetheless, the reporting of Block's communication triggered anger and outrage among those whose words he quoted. Matt Duss, who heads the Middle East program at the Center for American Progress ? the "CAP" mentioned by Block in his email ? posted an angry riposte on Dec. 9, including these words:
As for Josh's outrageous anti-Semitism smear, I'm not going to bother responding, because I'm quite confident Josh knows that it isn't true.
Here are some samples of the comments to which Block took exception.
SEE MORE: Barney Frank's retirement: Proof Dems are scared of 2012?
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From Zaid Jilani, a blogger at CAP:?
-"Israel Firsters fighting each other over whose position on the middle east conflict is more unreasonable."
SEE MORE: Barney Frank's planned retirement: 'The end of an era'
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-"Waiting 4 hack pro-Dem blogger to use this:?bit.ly/qT9eH2?2 sho Obama is still beloved by Israel-firsters and getting lots of their $$"
(CAP has since ruefully repudiated the use of the term "Israel Firster," and blogger Jilani has scrubbed his Twitter feed of the offending items, professing that he was "unaware" of the connotations of the term.)
SEE MORE: Election Day 2011: 4 key questions
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From MJ Rosenberg, a blogger at Media Matters for America:
-"Another good reason not to visit?here)?raises the question: What are such groups doing trafficking in such stuff? Even more incredibly, when the story broke, it was not CAP and Media Matters that expressed remorse and offered corrective action. No, if The Washington Post is to be believed, the person in political trouble after the online spat is Josh Block ? not the bloggers who trafficked in the "dual loyalty" tropes, but the person who protested the use of those "dual loyalty" tropes.
Here's Greg Sargent reporting in the online edition of The Washington Post:
Two top think tanks in Washington are mulling whether to sever ties with a controversial former AIPAC spokesman after it emerged that he was encouraging conservative writers to echo charges that critics of Israel are guilty of anti-Semitism, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
The fate of the former AIPAC spokesman, Josh Block, will be a big deal to people in left-leaning foreign policy circles in Washington. For them, the question of whether the think tanks will remain affiliated with Block will be seen as a referendum on the larger issue of whether demeaning Israel critics as anti-Semitic will be considered acceptable discourse among foreign policy experts.
The two think tanks in question are prominent centrist Democratic organizations: the Progressive Policy Institute and the Truman National Security Project. Block, a lifelong Democrat, has a part-time relationship with the two groups, although he now earns most of his living as a successful D.C. communications consultant.
Both PPI and the Truman Project adamantly refuse to comment on the Sargent story. But if the story is true, then Sargent's interpretation of it is exactly correct ? if upside down.
As Sargent phrases it, the Josh Block story constitutes?"a referendum on the larger issue of whether demeaning Israel critics as anti-Semitic will be considered acceptable discourse among foreign policy experts."
It would be more to the point to think of the Josh Block controversy this way: as a referendum on whether it is more unacceptable inside today's liberal Washington to?use?the language of anti-Semitism ? or to?protest?the language of anti-Semitism.?
View this article on TheWeek.com
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In this Dec. 2, 2011, photo, Alejandro Contreras applies a layer of shock-absorbing cork during the production of a pair of Allen Edmonds high-end shoes at the company?s headquarters in Port Washington, Wis. The Allen Edmonds Shoe Corp. announced Tuesday, Dec. 6, that it plans to open stores in China next year, with all the manufacturing jobs staying in America. (AP Photo/ Dinesh Ramde)
In this Dec. 2, 2011, photo, Alejandro Contreras applies a layer of shock-absorbing cork during the production of a pair of Allen Edmonds high-end shoes at the company?s headquarters in Port Washington, Wis. The Allen Edmonds Shoe Corp. announced Tuesday, Dec. 6, that it plans to open stores in China next year, with all the manufacturing jobs staying in America. (AP Photo/ Dinesh Ramde)
In this Dec. 2, 2011, photo, Clarence Cheese burnishes the leather on a pair of Allen Edmonds shoes high-end shoes at the company?s headquarters in Port Washington, Wis. The Allen Edmonds Shoe Corp. announced Tuesday, Dec. 6, that it plans to open stores in China next year, with all the manufacturing jobs staying in America. (AP Photo/Dinesh Ramde)
In this Dec. 2, 2011, photo, Florencio Bravo burnishes the leather on a pair of Allen Edmonds high-end shoes at the company?s headquarters in Port Washington, Wis. The Allen Edmonds Shoe Corp. announced Tuesday, Dec. 6, that it plans to open stores in China next year, with all the manufacturing jobs staying in America. (AP Photo/Dinesh Ramde)
PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. (AP) ? There's a good chance the shoes you're wearing right now were made in China. Now an American shoemaker wants to put the shoe on the other foot, by persuading the Chinese to wear shoes made in the USA.
The Allen Edmonds Shoe Corp., whose high-end shoes have been worn by U.S. presidents for generations, is preparing to open stores in China while keeping the manufacturing work at home. The plan marks a reversal of sorts in a footwear industry that has flowed almost entirely from East to West.
Nearly 99 percent of shoes sold in the U.S. are imported, with China accounting for about 88 percent of the total, according to a report by the American Apparel & Footwear Association.
Allen Edmonds is hoping to become a larger player in the world market. So the Wisconsin-based shoe company announced Tuesday it has signed a licensing agreement with a Shanghai-based company to sell its shoes in China, Hong Kong and Macau. The first store is slated to open in Shanghai by the end of June.
Conventional wisdom might suggest that the cheapest way to sell to the Chinese is to assemble the products in China, thereby minimizing labor and shipping costs. But Paul Grangaard, Allen Edmonds' top executive, wouldn't hear of it. He said a significant part of his company's appeal is that its products are U.S.-made.
"We sometimes forget in this country what a strong reputation 'Made in America' has around the world," said Grangaard, the president and CEO of the privately held firm. "If we started making shoes in China, we'd be just like any other company."
Allen Edmonds shoes are handmade at the company headquarters in Port Washington, about 30 miles north of Milwaukee. Its 330 production workers crank out 2,000 pairs of shoes a day, and Grangaard predicted that if sales in Asia take off, the manufacturing staff could double in the next 10 years.
There's room for his optimism. China has about 1.3 billion people ? or, as Grangaard sees the market, 2.6 billion feet ? and its expanding upper and middle classes can increasingly afford pricey shoes.
Capturing even a small fraction of that market could be lucrative. The company thinks it's possible to do so, given recent trends in the U.S.
Allen Edmond shoes range in price from $120 to $600, with the more popular styles in the $300 range. That might be out of the price range of many Americans, especially during a recession, yet Grangaard said domestic demand has surged within the last year or so.
He attributed the trend to several factors. Men are dressing better, he said, trading in the beat-up tennis shoes they might wear on weekends for a pair of comfortable, classy business-casual shoes.
Customers also want quality, preferring to spend $300 on a pair of shoes that last five to 10 years rather than pay half that price for a pair that has to be replaced in a year or two, he said.
He credits those factors with putting Allen Edmonds on pace for $100 million in sales this year. That would be about a 20 percent increase over last year. It would also mirror a national trend, as U.S. sales of footwear jumped 14 percent from 2009 to 2010.
But some of the company's most notable customers have been loyal for years.
Every U.S. president from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush wore Allen Edmonds on the dais for their inauguration ceremony, Grangaard said. Although that trend ended with Barack Obama in 2008, Grangaard said the current commander-in-chief has been spotted wearing them since then and even bought two pairs in recent months.
While Allen Edmonds has always touted its American workmanship, Grangaard said the message didn't resonate as much as customers stopped looking for "Made in the USA" tags. But with renewed demand for U.S.-made products, the company is now being rewarded for keeping all its jobs on U.S. soil, he added.
"It took dogged determination to stay an American manufacturer during the '90s and the first decade of this century," Grangaard said. "Now the pendulum is coming back."
___
Online:
Allen Edmonds: http://www.allenedmonds.com
___
Dinesh Ramde can be reached at dramde(at)ap.org.
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WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama and his Republican opponents are clashing over U.S. policy toward Israel as each side jockeys for support from Jewish voters, who could be critical in the 2012 election.
Aiming to cast Obama as unfairly harsh toward Israel and soft on the Palestinians, Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have called on the president to fire his ambassador to Belgium. The envoy, Howard Gutman, had said that some anti-Semitism stemmed from tensions between Israel and the Palestinians; Romney and Gingrich say his remarks unfairly blamed Israel.
The White House says Obama has a strong record on support for Israel, and quickly fired back with a statement condemning "anti-Semitism in all its forms." The State Department said Gutman would remain in his job.
Republicans also challenged Obama's assertion at a fundraiser last week that "this administration has done more in terms of the security of the state of Israel than any previous administration." Romney said Obama has "repeatedly thrown Israel under the bus" ? an accusation the Republican National Committee repeated Monday.
Firing back, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz called Romney's comments "outrageous" and questioned his own policies. The White House cited military aid to Israel and support at the United Nations, and pointed to statements from Israeli officials backing up Obama's assertion.
The fiery debate will likely continue Wednesday when the GOP presidential candidates attend a Washington forum hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Obama campaign officials say they will be ready to respond. And the next day, Jewish leaders will be at the White House for briefings on Israel and a Hanukkah party, followed by an Obama speech next week to an expected audience of nearly 6,000 at a conference of the Union for Reform Judaism.
Such attention is all being paid in recognition that Jewish voters, though comprising only 2 percent of the electorate nationwide, are an important part of Obama's base and could make the difference in battleground states including Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nevada in a close election. Moreover, the Jewish community is an important source of donations, and Obama campaign supporters want to maintain that support as much as Republicans want to chip away at it.
"This campaign takes the Jewish vote very, very seriously," said Ira Forman, the Obama campaign Jewish outreach director. "I'm confident this will be the most comprehensive effort in presidential campaign history."
The White House outreach has increased since May when Obama caused a furor by calling for Israel's 1967 borders, with agreed-upon land swaps, as a basis for resuming negotiations toward a two-state solution with the Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the `67 borders as indefensible and largely disregarded Obama's emphasis on land swaps to account for current conditions.
Republicans seized on the dispute. And while Obama supporters say his argument was widely mischaracterized, damage was done. Now the Obama campaign and its backers say they are determined to respond rapidly to such criticism in future.
"We are trying to responsibly respond to all of these unsubstantiated or false allegations, but there are so many of them, and they are so frequently recited despite the fact that the people who are spreading them have to know that they're false, that it's hard to keep up with them," said Alan Solow, an Obama fundraiser and longtime associate.
The effort involves using surrogates including Vice President Joe Biden, and use of the president's own time in public appearances and private talks with donors and religious leaders, such as a conference call between Obama and rabbis ahead of the Jewish New Year this fall.
The Obama campaign also is going on the offense against Republicans. In conversations about the Jewish vote, Obama backers are quick to bring up comments by Romney, Gingrich and Rick Perry at a debate last month suggesting they would start foreign aid for all countries at zero. Obama supporters say would imperil funding for Israel, even though the candidates also sought to affirm their support for the Jewish state.
Democratic candidates typically enjoy a big electoral advantage among Jewish voters. Obama won 78 percent of the Jewish vote in 2008, compared with 21 percent for Republican John McCain.
But Gallup has found that Obama's approval rating among Jews has fallen from 83 percent in January 2009 to 54 percent in late summer and early fall of this year. Still, that figure is much higher than his overall 41 percent approval rating, and the drop-off in support was about in line with other voter groups.
Sid Dinerstein, chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party in Florida, predicted that Obama would be limited to around 60 percent of the Jewish vote in 2012. Obama backers say that won't happen, but it could mean a potentially decisive difference of tens of thousands of votes in key states.
A candidate's position on Israel may not be the top issue for most Jewish voters, who like others are more motivated by jobs and the economy. But it's important to many, and Republicans see an opening, given the consternation over Obama's 1967 borders speech, his administration's rebukes of Israel for building settlements in disputed areas, and a recent incident in which Obama was overheard appearing to endorse criticism of Netanyahu from French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
"The reality is that the Jewish community understands that on a number of critical issues this administration has undermined not only the U.S.-Israel relationship, but has made Israel more vulnerable," said Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Brooks points to the recent upset in New York's special election to replace Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, in which Republican Bob Turner won in the heavily Jewish district. Brooks says this was a warning sign to Obama on his stance on Israel. Obama supporters say other factors were at play, including the heavily Orthodox and more conservative makeup of the district.
But even strong supporters are disappointed that Obama has not yet traveled to Israel in his capacity as president, after delivering a major speech in Cairo early in his administration. An Israel trip had been rumored to be in the works but seems unlikely to happen prior to the 2012 election.
Democratic Rep. Steve Rothman said he remains hopeful a trip will happen in the next year.
"No president has been perfect on every subject, though history will record that Obama has been the best president for Israel when it comes to military and intelligence support," said Rothman of New Jersey.
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Hollywood is trying to figure out how to get people to buy more movies instead of renting them. Sony might have an answer: Sell the flicks on iTunes, Amazon and other digital outlets before viewers can buy or rent them anywhere else.
Sony tried doing this with ?Bad Teacher? last month, and the results sound encouraging for the studio. It says its ?windowing? experiment boosted digital unit sales by 60 percent, and overall digital revenue by 24 percent.
That is: Most people prefer to rent a movie than buy it outright. But when offered the chance to pay for a download or wait a couple weeks to rent the movie, some folks paid up.
Digital sales of ?Bad Teacher? make up a small percentage of the movie?s overall digital revenue (Sony won?t release actual sales numbers), but there?s a lot more profit in each transaction for the studio. Rentals via iTunes run from $3.99 to $4.99 for the Cameron Diaz vehicle, but sales run from $14.99 to $19.99 a pop.
More good news for Sony: It says demand for digital rentals didn?t seem to drop once they became available two weeks after digital sales started. And physical sales ? still the most important source of income for the studio ? don?t seem to have suffered, either.
That last point is crucial for Sony?s relationships with the retailers it counts on to move old-fashioned discs while stepping into digital at the same time. Retailers like Wal-Mart and Best Buy are selling Sony?s movies via digital outlets, like Wal-Mart?s Vudu, but they won?t do it at the expense of their brick-and-mortar business (yet.)
?The good news that encourages us is that the physical retailers, those are the guys that are playing well and getting good results out of this,? says John Calkins, who heads up digital for Sony?s home video unit. Calkins figures that the promotion for the early digital sales ended up working as marketing for all of the movie?s sales, and thinks that will work with other films, too.
Calkins just tried the experiment again, with ?30 Minutes Or Less,? and says that comedy saw similar results. Calkins says he?ll try it one more time in 2011, with a movie he won?t disclose.
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By Dan Carney
A Chevrolet Volt electric is shown at GM's Flint, Mich., plant. The car is wildly popular among owners.
The Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car is the most popular among owners, topping a perennial favorite that costs twice as much,?the Porsche 911,?and a recent addition, the Dodge Challenger, according to an annual survey published Thursday by Consumer Reports.
The magazine was?careful to specify that?only the Challenger equipped with the ?That thang got a Hemi innit?? V8 engine was named to the list, and not the girly-man fuel-sipping V6 version.
But I digress.? The Volt is the overall winner of the owner?satisfaction survey, with the announcement coming at a time when the Volt is in the news for a less-good reason: fires in crash-tested vehicles days or weeks after the crash.? Ninety-three percent of owners surveyed said they would buy the Volt again, compared with 91 percent of 911 and Challenger buyers.
The Volt has a starting list price of $41,000, compared with $82,100 for the Porsche and about $30,000 for the Challenger.
Porsche via AP
The 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera is due out in February. The current edition of the car, which came in second in Consumer Reports' annual owner satisfaction survey, sells for $82,000 and up.
Chevy also grabbed the last spot on the list with the Aveo minicar, which would only retain 37 percent of its owners.? The Aveo has since been replaced by the Sonic (see review here), ensuring, at least, that the Aveo will not be last again next year. (See the full list here. Subscription required.)
Volt drivers are happy with their cars for a couple reasons.? Firstly, they are electric vehicle?zealots, and they would be happy with an EZ-Go golf cart as long as it was fully charged.? EV zealotry even tops sports car zealotry, as seen by the Volt?s defeat of the 911, which is popular among sports car zealots despite its high price, useless back seat and thirst for fuel.
?These models reflect a larger trend we?ve seen in recent years: sporty cars and fuel-efficient cars with alternative drivetrains tend to generate more enthusiasm and loyalty than most other types of vehicles,? said Rik Paul, Consumer Reports automotive editor.
The second reason for Volt owners? satisfaction is the dedicated manservant Volt adviser issued by Chevrolet who talks with owners daily about the Volt?s awesomeness.?? ?From the very beginning we?ve tried to provide an extraordinary customer experience to go with the technology,? said GM spokesman Greg Martin.
The combination of engaged owners and continuous discussion between GM and Volt owners has stemmed any rush to the exits even since the reports?of?post-crash-test fires.? For the record, these fires took place days or weeks after extreme crash testing in which the Volt successfully protected occupants and earned the highest possible safety scores.
Following the tests, the cars? batteries were left fully charged, and because the car were also rolled over and because the battery coolant system was damaged in the tests, coolant leaked onto the charged batteries and eventually sparked fires.
The lesson here is to get out of a crashed car within a few days, and be sure to turn off the lights when exiting.? A gasoline car might not be as obliging in providing an opportunity to climb out before combusting.
Despite recent safety concerns about the Chevy Volt's battery, the popularity of electric cars is picking up traction, with CNBC's Phil LeBeau.
In the real world, ?five or six? Volts have been totaled in severe crashes, with no fires resulting, Martin said.
To mollify any potential concerns while GM undertakes its investigation into how best to prevent post-crash fires, the company is offering a free loaner car to Volt owners who prefer to park their electric car for now. GM CEO Daniel Akerson even has offered to?buy back the Volts of anyone who is concerned about the fire hazard, according to The Associated Press.
The number of drivers asking for a loaner car is ?a handful,? according to Martin.? Hmm, that?s suspiciously similar to the number who have already crashed their cars.? Is anyone checking to see if the people asking for loaners have already totaled their Volt?
Which car would you most like to own?
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