publiceducation

In a survey conducted through a random sampling of 4,269 MerchantCircle members 44% of small business owners say the $700 billion dollar financial bailout will not help them and 35% are not sure.
Despite White House and Congressional efforts to persuade Main Street America the bailout is needed, Nearly 80% of Small Business Owners Remain Unconvinced The survey was sent in an email participating merchants, 31.4% of the sampling had one , 48.2% had 2 to 5 employees, 11.1% had 6 to 10 employees, 5.1% had 11 to 20 employees, and 4.2% 21+ employees.
Results of the complete MerchantCircle survey will appear on it’s blog on October 7, 2008. The questions range from which candidate would help out small businesses the most, whether race or age would play a part in their decision, and which candidate they planned on voting for in November. For the complete survey results on October 7, check the MerchantCircle blog at http://www.merchantcircle.com/corporate/blog/ or email Support@MerchantCircle.com for an emailed copy and alert.

Founded in 2005, MerchantCircle is the largest social network of local business owners in the nation with over 625,000 members. MerchantCircle is located on Main St. in downtown Los Altos, California.

Conservationist Wayland known as the “Marine Michelangelo” is being honored today at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in celebration the installation of Wyland’s monumental mural “Hands across the Ocean“, which spans a half-mile, seven-block length on the National Mall.

Wyland created “Hands Across The Ocean” in Beijing during the 2008 summer Olympics with the participation of over 3,000 children from 110 countries. This is the largest final piece in Wyland’s epic “Whaling Wall” series, which he began 27 years ago with the goal of eventually donating his time to paint and install 100 life-sized marine life murals worldwide.

The biggest environmentally themed public art project in history, Wyland’s “Whaling Walls” is the biggest environmental themed art project in history and an estimated one billion people on four continents see his work every year. Wyland seeks to inspire greater awareness about preserving the planet’s oceans.

Wayland’s past projects are:
1993
The Wyland Foundation Founded in
Laguna Beach, California

EAST COAST MURAL TOUR 1993
17 murals in 17 cities in 17 weeks
from Portland, Maine to Key West, Florida

SEPTEMBER 16, 1993
Whaling Wall 50: “Atlanta’s Right Whales” Atlanta, Georgia
450 feet long x 50 feet high

WEST COAST MURAL TOUR 1994
13 murals in 8 cities in 8 weeks
from Alaska to Mexico City

MIDWEST MURAL TOUR 1997
7 murals in 7 cities in 7 weeks
in and around the Great Lakes

SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER 1998
Wyland Ocean Challenge of America Tour
50 states in 50 days Reaching over 120,000 public and private schools and 67 million students

APRIL 22, 1999 • EARTH DAY
Wyland Foundation Awards
Celebrates student achievement
Directors Guild, Los Angeles, California

1999
40,000 “Whale Tail” License Plates
Created by Wyland are sold raising money to help maintain the pristine quality of our coastline.

OCTOBER 17, 2001
1,000,000 students have taken part
in a Wyland Foundation event

FEBRUARY 18, 2003
Whaling Wall 90 • “Palau’s Blue Corner,”
Republic of Palau 170 feet long x 22 feet high

OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2003
October to November 2003 Wyland Foundation “Underwater Village” Educational Tour

AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2004
17-State East Coast Cleanup Tour
from Portland, Maine to Key West, Florida

JUNE-AUGUST 2005
West Coast Cleanup Tour
Invited communities in four states and three
countries to “Lend a Hand and Learn”

April 2006
Wyland Ocean Challenge: Clean Water for the 21st Century
An educational curriculum launched at the National Science Teachers Association Annual Conference.

October 2006
Barging Down the Mississippi Clean Water Tour
From Minneapolis, MN to New Orleans, LA

All the talking heads are out, giving their spin on why the Bailout failed. One interesting note is that the stock market kept taking a nosedive the entire time the Democrats were on TV continuing the never-ending food fight with the Republicans. What none of the politicians realizes that we are tired of paying for debts and situations we did not incur? We also need our politicians to step up to the plate and tell us why; the bailout bill is held to our head like gun.

Why weren’t we told about this before?

Why isn’t anyone taking responsibility for failure to inform the public earlier?

Why is no one taking responsibility for the crisis?

Why were mortgages given to people who should not have qualified for the monies in the first place?

Who made money and how much was it?

How can we as citizens be in favor of something, when we have no guarantee it will not happen again?

No one has stepped up to the plate and said “The Buck Stops Here.” They only have their hand out saying. “Stop and Give Me a Buck.”

That is why the majority of folks are saying Buck You.

Remember all the warnings about Y2K?  The government warned us that we had to be prepared for limited services, food shortages, power outages and an array of other problems.  Nothing happened.  It was all hyped up.

But did the government ever tell you about al Qaeda.  A quick google search for news stories on al Queda for the years 1995-2000 came up empty.  I remember wondering “Why haven’t I heard of this group before?” when news reports attributed the attack to this group.

In January of 2004 we were told by experts ” Bird Flu Could Kill Millions.”  Again we were warned that we could suffer food shortages, power failure, banking problems and any other tragic scenios.  This cry of doom went on for over a year and suddenly it is no longer mentioned, except for break through in vacines or death of some birds in Africa or other countries.

Now we get an S.O.S. warning that if a deal is not made for the $700 billion dollars bailout for Wall Street, we will have credit, bank, and all kinds of problem world wide.   This is after Barney Franks assured everyone for years that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in good shape.

I don’t care what party you belong to…. they are all at fault for misinformation and not being transparent with the public. Why couldn’t the recent finance meeting be telecast?  What are they afraid of?

Franks Fiasco

Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan is challenging Nancy Pelosi for her seat in California’s 8th Congressional District. On Friday Sheehan called on Americans across the country to protest the $700 billion proposed “bailout for Corporate America.”

Sheehan stated that Pelosi has half a million dollars in stock invested in AIG. According to Sheehan’s campaign Pelosi is one of more than 50 members of Congress with investments in the companies embroiled in the current financial quagmire.

In a soon to be released Zogby poll, 41% of registered voters in Pelosi’s district think that they now are worse off financially than they were two years ago. Forty-three percent oppose the federal government’s $85 billion bailout for AIG.