Barack Obama's Church of Choice

November 26, 2008 02:55 PM ET | Robert Schlesinger | Permanent Link | Print

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

MSNBC is doing a segment right now about where the Obamas should worship, and are reporting that churches around town are angling to host the (sigh) first worshippers. Seriously? "What church?" is like "what school?"—barring a really crazy Obama decision (sending the kids to a Pakistani madrassa in the one case or bringing Jeremiah Wright to town for special Oval Office sermons in the other) people should lay off and let them make what are ultimately personal decisions without the benefit of excessive public scrutiny. As Sam said the other day: Butt out.

Source: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2008/11/26/barack-obamas-church-of-choice.html

If We Bail out Citicorp, Why Not Bail Out GM, Too?

November 26, 2008 02:02 PM ET | Bonnie Erbe | Permanent Link | Print

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

It will be years before we know whether government bailouts of financial and other institutions were a good idea or not. My Thomas Jefferson Street colleague Michael Barone has some crackling commentary on the topic.

While we're in the midst of bailing out the planet (or so it seems) one question comes to mind. If Citicorp, why not GM? Congress will hear from the big three automakers this coming Tuesday on whether to bail out the auto giants and their executives, meanwhile are devising a business plan to explain to members of the House and Senate how taxpayers' dollars will keep the companies, including GM, alive. But if the U.S. government is going to bail out Citicorp, the once-largest bank in the country, why not do the same for GM, the once-largest automaker in the world?

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich has some riveting thoughts on the topic. In a commentary for Marketplace he notes Citicorp has lost a huge chunk of market valuation, which hurts the company's executives, shareholders and creditors. But if it went into Chapter 11, mutual fund shareholders and people holding Citicorp CDs would have their assets protected. If GM tanks, on the other hand:

...General Motors has a far greater impact on jobs and communities than Citigroup. Add parts suppliers and their employees, and the number of middle-class and blue-collar jobs dependent on GM is many multiples of Citi. And the potential social cost of GM's demise, or even major shrinkage, is much larger—including entire communities whose infrastructure and housing may become nearly worthless.

As we have heard by now, the ramifications through the U.S. economy would be massive if GM were to collapse. Jobs—high-paying factory jobs—would leave our now service-oriented economy never to return to the United States. Job losses, with parts suppliers and other subcontractors included, would number more than 2 million. Those jobs would be resurrected in developing nations where labor is much cheaper. Why help other countries to feast on the carcass of our once-strong manufacturing sector?

Source:http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2008/11/26/if-we-bail-out-citicorp-why-not-bail-out-gm-too.html

One Word for New Auto Industry Business Plan: Green

November 26, 2008 03:58 PM ET | Bonnie Erbe | Permanent Link | Print

Congress should not go easy on GM if it does approve a bailout, but Congress has shown no sign of going easy on the auto giant. The idea of setting auto executives scurrying to produce a business plan is nothing short of brilliant. I've got suggestions for what such a plan should include. But first and foremost, it should be focused on one word and one word alone: green.

No more SUVs and gas guzzlers. Even in the truck division, GM could make its heavy-duty vehicles much more fuel efficient and price them so that they could only be purchased by commercial ventures. Private citizens who want to drive guzzlers should be priced out of the market and should instead be forced into low-mileage cars. GM got into this mess because instead of leading the consumer market in the right (read that: green) direction, it catered to America's sick addiction to gas guzzlers. Now's the time to lead, not cave in.

Dan Beuke of BusinessWeek writes:

End of discussion about higher mileage rules. For years, honest efforts to boost fuel efficiency were snuffed out in Washington by Detroit and its fellow travelers in Congress. Enough. I say we build right into bailout legislation a 40-mpg average for cars by 2020. That's up from 27.5 today, and a big step up from the 35 mpg goal that Detroit is supposed to achieve. I don't care how they get there: Build cars that burn corn cobs—or For Sale signs, for that matter. Just get there.

America cannot afford to have GM go under any more than it can afford to lose Citicorp and AIG and all the rest. And the market seemed to understand that on the day before Thanksgiving, when GM stock was up by about a third in midday trading on hints that Congress was closer to acceding to GM's come hither pleas. I know there's no such thing as fairness when it comes to business and money, but what's sauce for Citicorp ought to be sauce for GM, too.

Source: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2008/11/26/one-word-for-new-auto-industry-business-plan-green.html

VOIP industry On Rollercoaster Ride

VOIP industry On Rollercoaster Ride

On this blog we discuss about free Voip Calls. Lets discuss some of the future aspects of the same in today's scenario.

Let me tell you the breakdowns and shutdowns in the VOIP industry has started to gain momentum. This VOIP industry back set is far from over unless and until plans and operations are made to set it in a proper track. If i was the decision maker I would have suggested creating awareness about VOIP using other mediums like media, newspapers and mobile advertising.

People using VOIP often say that VOIP has nothing more in it where more users can be created; also there is a great possibility that the present users of VOIP can shift themselves from it as they find it no more interesting. If this is the trend that is gaining momentum then definitely the day is not far when the companies will have to lock their shutters to the business which once dreamt of replacing the telephone industry.

So what and where is the problem and what and where is the solution. There should be at least a solution for the backlash of the VOIP industry which once saw many takeovers, many mergers, money poring in terms of investments. Where is the capital market which once was happy and interested in the growth of this industry and where is the money gone.

In this world of investment and mergers, one can say that a lot depends on the sensex. If one says that there is no money in the market then I do agree but this condition is same for all. If one say that industries balance can be maintained by making cost cutting at the cost of cutting down employees than where is the question of providing better service. There is also a great need of well experienced professionals but if the present employers are removed then later it might be that any professional would not prefer to opt for such career which has minimum security for the employees. Also the cost of training the fresh recruits will add up towards the company’s expenditure. If one will shy away from advertising and marketing then the brand will loose its brand value which takes a good time to be created. If this current trend is followed than once can blindly be sure that there will be many fallouts in this industry.

I think to avoid this fallout the VOIP industry should help themselves by promoting and increasing its brand value even at this time of crises. They should help themselves by making their operations better and by increasing their technology which for tomorrow will reward them with good market capitalization.

Accordingly the VOIP industry also tries to completely focus on the enhancement of the technology and up gradation of the marketing techniques which will help this industry to flourish and help make communication easy and affordable and helping the world to be a smaller and closer place.

SOURCE: http://free-pc-to-international-phone-calls.blogspot.com/search/label/Voip%20Future

VoipCheap - Free Net to Phone Calls To Malaysia, Denmark, Netherlands & Many More

VoipCheap - Free Net to Phone Calls To Malaysia, Denmark, Netherlands & Many More

In this post we will see one more Free Voip Calls resource to make free calls to more then 30 countries all over the world. Adding in the list of companies from Betamax, VoipCheap is one more Voip company who offers free and cheap international calls.

From VoipCheap you can make free calls in two ways:

1) You can freely talk with your online friends by downloading their software and by inviting and adding him in your talk list given in VoipCheap software. Install it on your PC and make hassle free PC To PC Calls worldwide. For more information see their instruction page.

2) If you want to call your friends mobile/landline number who lives in free countries indicated on VoipCheap free countries list, first get registred with VoipCheap by an unique user name and password. Then you have to enter your phone number and destination phone number in the textbox given in the Voipcheap software.


Now click on the Dial button. It will dial the destination number and then ring your number, dont disconnect the call and hold for some moment and then our call will be connected to the destination number.




Always remember your dialed and destination phone/mobile/landline numbers should belong to the listed free countries by VoipCheap. If you fulfill this demand you will not be charged a single penny for calling. For all the other calls you have to buy credits. Please note that when you call a number (even if it's local) you should always dial 00 + country code + area code + subscriber number).

This calls are limited for trail only. After the trail period is over if you want to enjoy longer unlimited free calls to these free destinations, just top up your account by buying credit.

Buying credit allows you to make 90 free days of calling. This means 90 days free calls at no cost.
After this period is over again top it up and make free calls.

Let me quickly list the free countries list by VoipCheap for your convenience.

Andorra
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Chile
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
France
Germany
Hong Kong (+mobile)
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Monaco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Russian Federation
Singapore (+mobile)
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States (+mobile)

You can make calls from your own sip device to Voip Cheap see this link. VoIPCheap has selected, tested and certified various USB phones, headsets, routers and other hardware for your convenience. You can see how you can use them on their site.

Please let us know more about VoipCheap a net to phone calls provider, if you have used it in past or will try this in future, in our comments section.

SOURCE: http://free-pc-to-international-phone-calls.blogspot.com/search/label/Free%20calls%20Voipcheap

Free Calls - Free calling minutes from Vyke

Free Calls - Free calling minutes from Vyke

I just come across Vyke, who are giving away Free Minutes of Free Calling.

What You Have To Do?

Just sign up for a Vyke account and follow the instructions to redeem their free introductory offer.

So What are you waiting for?
Free calling minutes may be used with any Vyke service. Free calling time will vary by destination. Offer redeemable once per customer.

You can also download their PC To phone calling software for calling worldwide from your computer at cheap rates..

SOURCE: http://free-pc-to-international-phone-calls.blogspot.com/search/label/free%20calls%20from%20Vyke

Free Internet Calls With VoipBuster

Free Internet Calls With VoipBuster

Today one more site inspires me to write one more post on this free calls blog. It is one more Betamax release. In the past Betamax has released many voip sites in competition to Skype rates. This is one more addition to it.



Voipbuster is free program that uses latest voip technology to connect people all over the world and to bring free and cheap calls with high voice quality. While using Voipbuster you can call many popular destination in the world free of charge or at an incredible low rates. Its free software always allows you to make free internet calls to your friends while the are in your list and online at the same time. To make free calls to the countries listed on the website of Voipbuster you have to credit your account and you can avail 120 days free calls. You can read more on their instruction page.

New users can try Voipbuster free for 60 minutes (one hour). This is a free trail calls offered by Voipbuster to its new users. Please note that only people staying in the free listed countries mentioned in the site can avail this service.

All the other conditions are same as we see on most of the Betamax sites. I will posting more free calls sites from Betamax in my upcoming posts and hope it will include some more countries like India, Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh etc. to become more famous.

Oh, you can also avail free sms services in the same mentioned condition with this site. You can use your sip, local phones, mobiles to make free calls through this site.

SOURCE: http://free-pc-to-international-phone-calls.blogspot.com/search/label/free%2060%20minutes%20calls

Free 30 Minutes To Pakistan, Saudi Arabia & Other 30 Countries

Free 30 Minutes To Pakistan, Saudi Arabia & Other 30 Countries

Last time we have seen how you can get free 10 minutes on all mobile & international calls. Today we will see how Rebtel is celebrating Ramzan while giving away free 30 minutes calls to more then 30 Islamic countries. Ramzan is most respectful and significant month in the Islamic calender. Many Muslims eager to talk with their relatives and friends who stays in other countries, seeing this Rebtel has come up with this great offer.

As Rebtel has an reputed name in Voip industry, they always come up with unique marketing strategies to make free Voip calls to make new customers and market presence. With the same thinking Rebtel is offering free 30 minutes talktime to its new customers. As I said before this free 30 minutes can used in 32 countries which are listed below.

Albania, Chad, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia (KSA), Algeria, Indonesia, Lebanon, Senegal,
Azerbaijan, Republic Iran, Malaysia, Sudan,Bahrain, Iraq, Maldives, Tajikistan,
Bangladesh, Jordan, Niger, Turkey,Bosnia, and Herzegovina, Qatar, Nigeria, Turkmenistan, Brunei, Darussalam, Kazakhstan, Oman, United Arab Emirates(UAE), Burkina, Faso, Kuwait, Pakistan, Uzbekistan.



Some Quick Points Before You Sign Up With Rebtel:

a) Only new users can enjoy this free 30 minutes signup (sign up with new user name)

b) This offer is valid from 1st of September 2008 until the 1st of October 2008 (00:00 GMT)

c) That means bonus can be used from 1st of September 2008 to 1st of October 2008 (00:00 GMT)

d) You can't transfer your given free accounts to any other accounts.

Just click on following banner or use voucher code : " rebtelramadan " while registering with Rebtel. ( In the voucher code field as shown in above figure).






I hope you will find this free calling offer best of your use and contact your nearest and dearest in this Ramzam.

SOURCE: http://free-pc-to-international-phone-calls.blogspot.com/search/label/free%2030%20minutes%20calls%20to%20Saudi%20Arabia%20(KSA)

DingaLing - Offers 5 Free Minutes Within North America

DingaLing - Offers 5 Free Minutes Within North America

Lets see Dingaling, a Canada based voip call company, which is offering free 5 minutes within North America upon every new signup. So if you are living within any north American region you avail this benefit. This service uses web-activated VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), to initiate local or international long distance telephone calls. Unlike any other voip services and systems this doest not require any spacial software or device.



Dingaling offers cheap or low cost voip calls all over the world. At a first glance it almost looks like Jajah services. Dingaling though didn't offer you free voip calls but it offers very low idd or calling cost. You can call as low as 1 cent per minute with this service.

If you want to make a call from Dingaling, you dont need a broadband or internet connection, or even an microphone, you can directly insert your number and destination number on the site, this will first deliver your call to your city and then to your number through plain telephone connection. So no extra hardware requires. One more thing only one register member required for calling and only one has to pay for this.

With many free voip companies in the market one must wonder how this kind of services will survive in the market. But thinking of skype rate one should think about the completion with the prices. This brings more options to the voip world and customers.

Source: http://free-pc-to-international-phone-calls.blogspot.com/search/label/DingaLing%20voip%20call

Free Calls - Free Unlimited Calls To USA, Canada - Mpingi

Free Calls - Free Unlimited Calls To USA, Canada - Mpingi

Voip technology is taken a great leap in the world of callings. It also decreased the phone bills tremendously. Today we will see yet another voip service for cheap unlimited calls to India.

This service is yet another Voip service called Mpingi. Mpingi has some really good cheap unlimited calling plans to India, USA and Canada.



What are their calling plans?

They have three plans.

1) Freedom: In this plan you can call Unlimited anytime minutes to US, Canada & Puerto Rico. Unlimited calls to a single home country number (Which could be INDIA). Monthly rate is 34.95$ for this plan. In this plan you can also call mobiles. You will get voice mails, and call conferencing.

2) American : It is 24.95$ monthly. In this plan you can get unlimited anytime minutes to US, Canada.

3) Economy : This plan costs 15.95$ and you can call 1000 minutes in USA and Canada.

In this lot freedom plan looks best for USA, Canada residence and want to talk to their Parents, or wife living in India.
Some Silent features of Mpingi.

• One Month Risk Free Trial.
  
• you can tell your friend about it. You can sign up 2 friends and get one month free. Remember, the more friends you sign up the more free months you get !
• Low international rates and they do not charge any connection fees.
• You can retain your existing phone number.
• Virtual Phone Number.
• Thirty (30) day money back guarantee from the date of activation of your Service.

Source: http://free-pc-to-international-phone-calls.blogspot.com/search/label/cheap%20international%20calls

Pingo Calling Cards - Free International Talktime Bonus

Pingo Calling Cards - Free International Talktime Bonus

Pingo Calling Cards - Free International Talktime Bonus - Double Your Money Offer

Today we will go through Pingo calling cards, which are one of the world's leading international long-distance carriers. They work around iBasis network which is assurance of superior quality and reliability— in addition to the most competitive rates in calling.

Pingo provides reliable, high quality international long distance phone calling service with the savings of international calling cards.

Pingo offers many calling facilities, its just not there for international calls, but also for domestic calls, Whether its India, Canada, USA etc. You can check this out on their site. Similarly for calling other destinations like Dominican Republic, Kenya, Bangladesh, Philippines, UAE, Saudi Arabia etc. Pingo calling card is a very cheap option. and they charge no additional fees -- just a 98 cents USD per month account maintenance fee.



What's the offer?

Pingo has introduced an offer of get double what you invest against your money. It means, if you purchase a 10$ calling card you will get 10$ free bonus. Not only this if you Sign up for Pingo you will get $5 in FREE calls.

How to Call From Pingo?

1. You have to dial the local or toll-free access number provided by Pingo.
2. At the voice prompt, enter your account number and PIN.
(Use PINpass and skip step # 2!)
3. For all calls, dial the country code and number you want to call and press #. (With Pingo Speed Dial, you can shorten this step to just one or two numbers!)
4. If you want to place another call, don't hang up—just wait two seconds after the other party has hung up and dial the new number and press #.


So if you are the one who don't mind spending few bucks and were looking for cheap international calls, Pingo calling card offer always looks like a cheap and good calling package.
Source: http://free-pc-to-international-phone-calls.blogspot.com/search/label/cheap%20calls%20to%20india

Adphone - Free IP Calls - Free Calls Anywhere Including India

Adphone - Free IP Calls - Free Calls Anywhere Including India

In my previous posts I have mentioned about many free calling and free calling minutes methods, though there are lots of more still pending to bring in front of my readers. In the same process lets go through one more Voip telephony through which you can make Free IP Calls.

Adphone, a leading Voip company which gives its users free pc to pc calls also called as free Ip Calls, through their Adphone software. You can also make free 30 minutes calls to various mentioned countries, and low rate mobile calls to all over the world.

Let me guide you through how you can call freely from Adphone to many popular destination such as NORWAY, PANAMA, PERU, POLAND, PORTUGAL, PUERTO RICO, SINGAPORE, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, TAIWAN etc. I will also tell you that how you can call your friends and relatives who are not in Adphone free country list, still you can talk to them via Facebook application.

Lets first go through how you can get free 30 minutes from Adphone.

1) First Sign Up with Adphone. An email will sent to verify your account. Verify it.

2) Download their free softphone and install it on your Windows PC.

3) Now start Adphone softphone and put on the the head set and dial a number through it.

4) With this softphone you can call 30 minutes free each day if your dialing to landline numbers and to the countries which is mentioned as free on their site.

5) This calls are free because they get paid for displaying ads on the software. Also note that you can call only 2 minutes for every new number you dial. That means you can call 15 different numbers daily for free for 2 minutes.

Now let me tell you about how to make free calls to India and other non voip countries through Adphone.

1) Get registered with Adphone.

2) If you have account in Facebook, log in otherwise get registered with them.



3) In the bottom of Adphone softphone you will see a link called Earn Credit, click on it. Now click on Facebook Fan bonus tab.

4. Follow the steps mentioned. (You just have to become Adphone fan in Facebook).

5) Now with the units earned through this method you can call any countries in the world including India, pakistan etc through Adphone softphone.

6) You can make multiple accounts with different emails in Adphone and Facebook and can earn lots of Units to make calls.

By the way if some of my readers not gone through free 10 minutes from Rebtel site, please follow this link and get free 10 minutes from Rebtel.
Source: http://free-pc-to-international-phone-calls.blogspot.com/search/label/30%20minutes%20calls

Free Calls - Free Internet Voip Calls - Free Calls Minutes

Free Calls - Free Internet Voip Calls - Free Calls Minutes

Free Calls - Free Internet Voip Calls - Free Calls Minutes - 12Voip.com

Dear Readers,

12voip.com is one more link for calling free to your relatives and friends.



They are allowing you free calling minutes before you buy their credit, they allow you to test their service to various popular destinations for FREE. There is one limitation; - you can call a maximum of 60 minutes.

Not only this after having bought your credit you can call their FREE destinations for 3 months.

Minimum System Requirements for free calls:

* PC running Windows Vista, XP, 2000 (with SP2)
* 300 MHz processor
* 128 MB RAM
* 10 MB free disk space on your hard drive
* Sound Card and a headset
* Internet Connection broadband: Cable, DSL, with minimum 64 kbit/s up/downstream)


How to do it?

1) Just download their required software from HERE.

2) Read further instructions and enjoy free voip on internet.

Tricks

You can register with with several different email ids and account and every time you can enjoy free 60 minutes talk.

Enjoy free Voip Free Calls!!!
Source: http://free-pc-to-international-phone-calls.blogspot.com/search/label/12Voip.com

Rebtel's Free 10$ Credit And Double Your Money Offer

Rebtel's Free 10$ Credit And Double Your Money Offer

Many of our readers have enjoy my post about Rebtel's 10 minutes free offer upon signup. Many of them liked there services and purchased there calling services. Let me tell you that this was one the famous posts on this blogs.

Many are loving rebtel for various reasons, here are some points why they are:

• High-quality calls
• Low rates
• Excellent customer service

Now for those who have already been registered and tried there services by purchasing some credit, there is good news from Rebtel on this festive season. If you want to talk to your friends and relatives anywhere in the world with Rebtel, just purchase any amount of talktime and double your purchased amount. This offer will be running by Rebtel till November 1st. That means till the Diwali festival gets over in India. Let me clear you that this offer is valid for all the customers in the world and not only for India.

You can also get 10 minutes of free calls by inviting any of your friend or relative to join Rebtel. You will also get 10$ free credit in your account for joining every new friends after this.

Those who have not join Rebtel yet and want to get this offer working for them join it right away.

Source: http://free-pc-to-international-phone-calls.blogspot.com/search/label/10%20free%20minutes