Thursday Feb. 9, 2012
 

What to do about growing numbers of neglected and abandoned horses in the US is an ethical conundrum that Congress and President Obama quietly addressed this month via a spending bill: bring back the slaughterhouses.

A Department of Agriculture bill, signed into law Nov. 18, reinstates federal funding for USDA inspection of horse meat intended for human consumption, which Congress had withheld since 2006. That de facto ban on horse slaughter has now come to an end, to the outrage of the animal rights community, amid reports that US horse owners were simply shipping their animals to Mexico and Canada for slaughter and processing.

 
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In Steve Denning's Forbes commentary this week, he mentions a presentation made by author and Harvard business professor Clayton Christensen decrying U.S. business schools' focus on numbers-above-all, saying the pursuit of profit is killing innovation and the US economy.

The pursuit of profit is not the problem.

 
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COLUMBIA FALLS — Gary Byers became an inventor for a rather old-fashioned reason: he would see a need and come up with a simple solution. Small trees or plants slumping over? He created a brace. Laptop computers overheating and uncomfortable to type on? He developed a stand. Knives, scissors or pruners becoming dull? He invented an all-in-one sharpener.

In Byers’ mind, where there’s a need, there’s an inventive solution.

 
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More Americans hunted for bargains over the weekend than ever before as retailers lured them online and into stores with big discounts and an earlier-than-usual start to the holiday shopping season.

A record 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites during the four-day holiday weekend starting on Thanksgiving Day, up from 212 million last year, according to early estimates by The National Retail Federation released on Sunday. Americans spent more, too: The average holiday shopper spent $398.62 over the weekend, up from $365.34 a year ago.

 
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WHITEFISH – In the same way flowers are a constant presence at almost every celebratory occasion, from weddings to birthdays, Mum’s Flowers has been a part of Whitefish for almost 50 years.

That tradition is intact and has been relocated and revitalized by an unlikely florist, 24-year-old Cara Finch.

 
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A shopper in Los Angeles pepper-sprayed her competition for an Xbox and scuffles broke out elsewhere around the U.S. as bargain-hunters crowded malls and big-box stores in an earlier-than-usual start to the madness known as Black Friday.

For the first time, chains such as Target, Best Buy and Kohl's opened their doors at midnight on the most anticipated shopping day of the year. Toys R Us opened for the second straight year on Thanksgiving itself. And some shoppers arrived with sharp elbows.

 
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HELENA – A Chinese company is telling Gov. Brian Schweitzer that it is considering buying coal from Montana.

Representatives of Bejing-based Manyuan Coal told the governor during a meeting Wednesday that it has been discussing the idea with Montana-based coal mines. The coal would be sent on train to the West coast for shipment to China.

 
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On numerous occasions, I have advised you to offer higher-priced, higher-value products and services because they focus you on high-lifetime-value customers whose loyalty extends beyond what's on sale this week.

Likewise, we've talked about using those higher-priced products and services to "subsidize" the value-priced part of your business so that you can identify more high-lifetime-value clients from that group. What I've been urging you to do is construct a customer ascension ladder.

Whatever you sell, you can usually sell more by designing an ascension ladder for your customers. It isn't just about selling more, more, more. It's about matching what your customers want to what you sell.

 
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