7 percent according to last month's reports

Written for professionals in socialwork, disability, and geriatric care as well as for families, People PlanningAhead is published by the American Association on Intellectual andDevelopmental Disabilities (AAIDD). "Given that more and more people are now experiencing chronic and sometimesterminal illnesses that come with advancing age, it is imperative we know howto plan around healthcare decisions and end-of-life issues," explains authorLeigh Ann Creaney Kingsbury, an experienced gerontologist and disabilityservices planner. "People Planning Ahead helps caregivers create a basic planbased on the person's values, goals, and what matters most to them aboutliving." People Planning Ahead is unique because it is based on the principles ofEssential Lifestyle Planning, an approach that ensures that the person remainsthe chief focus not their medical condition or other extraneous matters. People Planning Ahead comes with a CD-ROM with electronicforms from the manual to help record and store information on the personreceiving care. To view reviews and purchase People Planning Ahead, visit For information on AAIDD training programs fororganizations providing healthcare and end-of-life services, or 202-387-1968 To learn more about AAIDD, visit AAIDD promotes progressive policies, sound research, effective practices anduniversal human rights for people with intellectual and developmentaldisabilities.SOURCEAmerican Association on Intellectual and Developmental DisabilitiesAnna Prabhala of AAIDD, 1-202-387-1968, Ext 203, .

Generally, I would not make it a habit to pass judgement on others or condemn people for the personal choices that they make in this life. After all, everyone makes mistakes and nobody is perfect (especially yours truly). Far be it for me to stand high upon my soap box, casting stones at the masses.It wouldnt take very long for someone to throw one right back and knock me off as well (its happened).But with that being said, I do have one small issue that has recently been giving me a lot of trouble and concern: the use of anabolic steroids in athletic competition and the message that it is sending to our young children.Now, before I go on and on about how steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) shouldnt have a place in sports, let me just say that I am not a naive person. I am already quite aware of the problem that exists in todays sporting culture, which is that anabolic steroids are far more common than most people either realize or care (I have heard it from both sides of the fence).The issue of morality can be very tricky, but thats typically because those who declare their opposition as having immoral behaviours are almost always measuring other people by their own personal standards. Not everyone believes in the same thing (using religion as an example) and just because someone doesnt agree with my view that steroids should not have a place in athletic competition does not automatically make them an immoral person if their opinion differs from mine.We would just have to agree to disagree.Like most of you, I learned my values from my parents. They did their best to teach me the difference between what was right and what was wrong. Many of the opinions and feelings that I now have about certain things in this world are as a result of those teachings. Luckily for me, I had the benefit of two wonderfully loving and educated parents who always let me make my own mistakes. Often, I would fall down before my parents would attempt to help me back up again, which almost ensured that I would have learned my well-needed lessonwhich I did, many times over.Quick Breakdown:Values are the qualities or ideas which each of us cares about. It is how we base our actions.Morality is one's individual perception of right and wrong and does not directly affect others. Someone who is moral is someone who makes decisions based on what he or she feels is right (based on their own values).Ethics are a product of society. Someone who is ethical is someone who struggles with his or her decision, trying to decide if their actions will have a negative effect on others.This may sound crazy, but a person can be unethical (perceived anyway) without being immoral. A person who takes steroids may believe that it is their right to take them and genuinely feels that they are not doing anything wrong. In this case, they are not being immoral (but of course, there are always exceptions).Society says that by taking performance enhancing drugs, it is giving an athlete an unfair advantage over his competition (although in some sports, steroids have become the standardnot to give an athlete an advantagebut to simply allow them to keep up to all of the other athletes who they believe to be using PEDs as well). The sale and use of steroids for personal use is illegal and as such, society says that anyone who uses anabolic steroids is being unethicaland in this particular case, society would be correct.Do you think that when Ben Johnson (1988 Olympic sprinter) or Jose Canseco (MLB baseball player) decided to take steroids, they knew that it was wrong to take them Of course they did. But did they believe it to be wrong because they knew deep down in their souls that it was wrong or only because society said so Johnson and hundreds of other athletes have long complained that they used doping in order to remain on an equal footing with the other top athletes on drugs they had to compete against.His claim bears some weight in light of the revelations since 1988. Including Johnson, four of the top five finishers of the 100-meter race have all tested positive for banned drugs at some point in their careers.Of these, only Johnson was forced to give up his records and his medals. He was the only one of the four who tested positive or admitted using drugs during a medal-winning performance.Johnson's coach, Charlie Francis, a vocal critic of the IOC testing procedures, is the author of Speed Trap , which features Johnson heavily. WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - If the U.S. Congress does notpass an economic stimulus plan soon the country will loseanother 3 million jobs in 2009, former U.S Labor SecretaryRobert Reich said on Wednesday.

Regulatory News Bonds "Unemployment will rise to 10 percent of the workforce bythe end of this year, and under-employment including peopleworking part-time who would rather be working full time, andthose too discouraged even to look for work will reach 15percent," said Reich, who served under former President BillClinton and has consulted with President-elect Barack Obamaabout correcting the current downturn. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release data on Fridayon how many jobs the country lost in December. In November itlost 533,000 jobs, helping to bring the unemployment rate up to6.7 percent, according to last month's reports. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy , toldthe same forum that he expects Friday's report to show 500,000more Americans were put out of work last month. Reich, who is currently a public policy professor at theUniversity of California at Berkeley, called for a stimuluspackage of at least $900 billion spent over two years muchlarger than the proposals currently being discussed. Along with promoting expanded jobless benefits, Reich saidthe federal government should help state and local governments,but he warned that there may be pitfalls to boostinginfrastructure spending.

"The challenge will be to do it quickly," he said, andsuggested that some public works projects be earmarked for thelong-term unemployed, minorities and women Reich said the U.S. Congress should not be wary ofborrowing to pay for economic stimulus, pointing out that atthe end of World War 2 the country's debt was more than 100percent of gross domestic product Currently, Reich said, the debt ratio is below 50 percent. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Leslie Adler) Regulatory News Bonds. A number of Canadian media outlets are reporting that the Anaheim Ducks, who are currently in last place in the Western Conference, are looking to become active in the trade market.Because of their poor performance so far this year, the Ducks appear to be ready to make some bold moves.Perhaps the Chicago Blackhawks should give Ducks GM (and former Blackhawks player) Bob Murray a call.Though the most popular names being rumored around Anaheim are Scott Niedermayer and Bobby Ryan, one deal that could make sense for both teams would include bringing a fan favorite back to Chicago.James Wisniewski, who the Blackhawks dealt to Anaheim for Sami Pahlsson last year at the deadline, is having a career year already in southern California.