Virtual Advocacy Day 2024 is on Thursday, March 28, 2024: How will Barack be compared to Bush for exercising Executive orders?

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How will Barack be compared to Bush for exercising Executive orders?

Obama has put a task force together to determine which executive orders should be canceled on day one of his presidency.

Obama Positioned to Quickly Reverse Bush Actions

Stem Cell, Climate Rules Among Targets of President-Elect's Team

By Ceci Connolly and R. Jeffrey Smith

Washington Post Staff Writers

Sunday, November 9, 2008; A16

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.

A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.

In some instances, Obama would be quickly delivering on promises he made during his two-year campaign, while in others he would be embracing Clinton-era policies upended by President Bush during his eight years in office.

"The kind of regulations they are looking at" are those imposed by Bush for "overtly political" reasons, in pursuit of what Democrats say was a partisan Republican agenda, said Dan Mendelson, a former associate administrator for health in the Clinton administration's Office of Management and Budget. The list of executive orders targeted by Obama's team could well get longer in the coming days, as Bush's appointees rush to enact a number of last-minute policies in an effort to extend his legacy.

Neopets - Are they safe?

Neopets - Are they safe?

Neopets’ success hasn’t come without controversy.

Some of the things that have made the site a successful business—its “stickiness” (how long users stay on the site), its use of what it calls “immersive advertising” (the site’s equivalent of film or TV product placement) and games that involve virtual gambling—have alarmed some parents, critics and even Neopets users.

“The computer and the Internet are not the greatest social interaction instruments,” says Ivor Weiner, an assistant professor at Cal State Northridge, who specializes in examining the effects of media on children.

Weiner, like some parents, worries that kids using Neopets excessively would be better off playing with their peers face to face, rather than spending time with virtual pets.

There are also those, including Ralph Nader’s Commercial Alert consumer advocacy group, who find the site’s not-so-subliminal advertising offensive.

On Neopets, users and their pets can visit a virtual McDonald’s or a Disney Theatre and purchase virtual versions of real products with their Neopoints or play advertiser-sponsored games.

Neopets isn’t only for kids. In fact, according to the company’s research, 21% of its users are 18 or older.

Irene Potter, a 33-year-old teacher from Burbank, is among that group. Three years ago, she applied for a market research position with Neopets.

She visited the site, created an account and explored it in preparation for her interview. Although she didn’t get the job, she continues to regularly visit the site, even after making a career change to education.

“Neopets has games that are sort of mindless, innocuous, fun diversions,” she says.

Though Potter enjoys the site, she wonders if some of the virtual gambling games and Neomail functions are appropriate for children.

“The games can be really addictive,” she says.

When she received a Neomail from one user, asking her to be her Neofriend, she became a little uncomfortable.

“I just thought, if I was a little kid, without adult supervision, this could be a little scary or weird,” she says.

Neopets executives point out that users must be 13 or older to use the site’s Neomail or message boards unless they have written parental permission.

“In addition to that, we have several mechanisms in place just to make sure the site stays safe and family-friendly,” says Stephanie Yost Cameron, Neopets’ general counsel and executive vice president of business and legal affairs.

Those mechanisms include 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week monitoring of the site as well as proprietary filtering software that searches and weeds out potentially offensive language.

The site also encourages users to report inappropriate behavior.

A mother of three children, Cameron understands the concerns that some parents have about their children spending too much time in front of the computer, but she says Neopets offers a more interactive and educational experience than television.

“It’s a place where they have to think, they have to use their minds,” she says.

“They’re playing math games and drawing pictures, writing stories and learning to be a shopkeeper.”

Regarding advertising, Cameron says the site has far less than television “when you compare a kids’ half-hour TV show, which has eight to 10 minutes of advertising out of 30, versus millions of pages of content where far less than 1% has any advertising on it at all.”

Micah’s mother, Merrill Simon, doesn’t have any problem with the content or advertising on Neopets.

“I think it’s more innocent and less violent than ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!,’ “ she says, referring to the animated TV series and card game. “And the advertising I’ve seen on it is pretty low-key compared to other sites.”

Even Cal State Northridge’s Weiner, who has mild concerns about younger children being exposed to words such as “evil,” “cheat” and “destruction,” says that Neopets can be used in a positive manner and as a teaching tool or motivator.

“There are far worse things happening on television that kids are watching that concern me,” Weiner says. “If kids are really interested in them, then we as adults should turn it around on them and begin using these Neopets to teach them something.”

Obama’s presidential campaign was about change

Obama's presidential campaign was about change. Now that he is trying to change how the US functions, people..?

WOW Not Renewing the Bush Tax Cuts that the Cons still to This Day think create Jobs Obviously were Bush Voters because you got to be Ignorant to think they created any thing But Debt got till Jan when they Expire where are the Jobs

Holidays also on this date Thursday, March 28, 2024...