Some Details About Restaurant Supplies

The food service industry is a very challenging one. Restaurant Supplies play an essential role in enhancing the business. It thus becomes important to have them appropriately, to excel in the industry. No matter whether one is starting a new restaurant or renovating the old one, all the required equipments need to be purchased.

Many things need to be taken into consideration, when the required supplies are being purchased. The supplies include a vast variety of things from the equipments needed for cooking to other accessories required on the table. Equipments meant for cooking, serving, cutlery, etc are several things that are included in this category.

Restaurant supplies are usually categorized into numerous types. Some of them are table supplies, kitchen supplies and dining supplies. The various equipments that are needed in the kitchen include the burners, stoves, fryers, etc Other things that come under this category are the several types of serving spoons, chef\?s knives and ladles. The manner in which the food is served is also essential, along with the preparation of food. The food becomes much more presentable when it is served in containers of good quality. Therefore the need for the various equipments like buffet serving utensils and beverage dispensers exists.

The furniture required in the restaurant usually falls under the category of dining supplies. Things that are usually present on the table like the tissue holders and the sand and pepper mills are also considered to fall in this category. This category also includes things like candle holders, that helps make the atmosphere of dining a pleasant one. Serving plates and glassware are also very essential.

Once the decision of buying the required supplies is made, it is not advisable to just go and buy them. A thorough research needs to be done on the places in which they are available. It is always preferable to buy things from a store which has all of the essentials stocked. The cost at various places may also be different. By gaining the entire information one can get the best deal.

A store that consists of all the required equipments can also be visited. The employees of the store will also be able to give assistance in selecting some of the best things. As they have been in the business since a long duration, their advice is certainly valuable. A person who is new in the business is particularly benefited by this.

One of the other options to buy the essentials is by purchasing them online. This option is particularly the most popular. This is because one can buy the essentials at their own convenience from the place where they work or even from home. Additionally it becomes easy to place bulk orders. Bulk orders are often delivered free of charge by many dealers.

Having a large number of satisfied customers is the aspiration of every restaurant owner. A satisfied customer is likely to come back to the restaurant. This makes the business grow to a large extent. The thing that counts the most in satisfying a customer is the availability of good restaurant supplies.

RedStone is the leading online supplier of catering equipment. In only a short period of time, a strong distribution base has been created and thousands of satisfied customers trust us to deliver in the UK.

Tags: Beverages, business, Catering, Drink, food, health, internet, marketing, news, online business, Online News, Restaurant, Supplies

Source: http://www.ukwhat.com/2011/09/03/some-details-about-restaurant-supplies/

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Financial Professional Designations: Decoding the Alphabet Soup

by admin on September 4, 2011

Financial Professional Designations: Decoding th? Alphabet Soup??

Article b? Joel Magruder

Financial Professional designations many era demonstrate a commitment t? study, culture ?nd ongoing continuing culture. Though, ?t becomes confusing t? know th? lexicon ?f th? financial industry. Th?? tip sheet ?? meant t? provide a very brief, abbreviated definition ?f various financial services designations. Please note being licensed ?n fastidious area ?r field d??? n?t constitute ?n advanced designation. It merely means th?t th? state ?n wh??h th? license ?? held allows th?t individual t? participate ?n th? areas th?t th?? ?r? appropriately licensed.

*Th?? ?? ?nl? a partial list ?f designations available t? financial professionals.

Designations:

CAP: Chartered Advisor ?n Philanthropy provides graduate level culture ?n charitable giving. Those wh? h??? earned th?? credential m?? provide h?l? w?th ?l?tt?ng tools ?nd strategies t? achieve philanthropic ?nd wealth management goals through contributions ?f personal property, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, pooled income funds, charitable annuities, life insurance uses, etc

Source: http://mutualfundtraders.co/financial-professional-designations-decoding-the-alphabet-soup%C2%A0%C2%A0/

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Horse Racing ... - Online Betting Sites | Casino | Sports | Horse Racing

by Online Betting Sites on September 4, 2011


Correctly select the First 4 runners at www.thetote.com.au in order on nominated races at selected race meetings covered by The TOTE. A First 4 is similar to a Trifecta as it allows you to box your selections or select multiple runners to finish in each position. Visit http for a better online sports betting experience, for thoroughbred racing, harness racing, greyhound racing, ALF betting, NRL, betting odds, and more.

Tags: betting odds, greyhound racing, First 4 runners, Finishes, horse racing, thoroughbred racing, online sports betting experience

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Source: http://www.ha88888.com/videos/horse-racing-betting-select-the-first-4-finishes-to-win/

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Amazon reworks website before offering new tablet (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Amazon.com Inc is rolling out a major redesign of its familiar website as it prepares to offer a new $250 tablet device to rival Apple Inc's iPad.

The changes in Amazon's online store "practically scream 'tablet-optimized'," TechCrunch blogger Sarah Perez wrote over the weekend after her site reported seeing a prototype of the company's new device.

The new web pages show a bigger search bar and less clutter to better highlight music, e-books, digital games and applications from the Amazon Appstore using Google's Android operating system, the blog said.

Amazon started rolling out the new design in the last days of August, spokeswoman Sally Fouts said in an email on Sunday.

"We are continuing to roll out the new design to additional customers, but I can't speculate on when the new design will be live for everyone," Fouts wrote.

Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, is introducing the new site and tablet device as the company goes beyond its roots selling through personal computers to reaching customers via the kind of mobile connections they increasingly use.

Getting more mobile devices into the hands of Amazon customers is important, too, because it may enable more impulse buying and increased regular purchases.

The device Amazon is developing sports a back-lit, 7-inch (17.8-cm) screen -- smaller than the iPad's and about the same as Research in Motion's PlayBook, TechCrunch reported earlier. The Amazon tablet is geared toward playing music and movies off the Internet.

TechCrunch, which said it had played with a testing prototype, reported that the plan was for Amazon to offer Amazon Prime -- its $79-a-year Internet streaming service -- for free along with the gadget.

The Internet retailer's first entry in the tablet computing arena -- its Kindle functions more like an electronic-book reader -- has been touted as a strong contender to Apple, whose iPad2 starts at $499, according to the company's website.

Amazon's tablet will be Wi-Fi only and come with a color touchscreen but a limited 6 gigabytes of memory, the tech blog said.

Motorola and Samsung have only chipped away at Apple's three-quarters share of the market, while Hewlett Packard threw in the towel by announcing it would kill off its TouchPad after a final production run.

This past week, Sony Corp leapt into the field with its own poorly reviewed device.

Analysts have been upbeat on Amazon's gadget, particularly if it beats the iPad on price. It may sell as many as 5 million tablets in the fourth quarter, becoming the top rival to Apple, Forrester Research estimates.

Apple sells between 7 million and 9 million tablets a quarter.

(Reporting by David Henry, Alistair Barr and Edwin Chan; Editing by Dale Hudson)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110904/wr_nm/us_amazon_redesign

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New Japan PM gets approval rating of 63 percent (AP)

TOKYO ? Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his Cabinet received an initial support rating of 62.8 percent, a Kyodo News agency poll showed Saturday, a day after he announced his Cabinet and promised to guide the nation through its disaster recovery.

New prime ministers typically start out with relatively high approval ratings, but usually see them decline steadily after an initial honeymoon as the public grows impatient.

Noda's predecessor, Naoto Kan, started out with an approval rating of just over 60 percent, but that had fallen to below 20 percent near the end of his 15-month tenure amid widespread criticism of his administration's handling of the tsunami disaster and nuclear crisis.

The poll also found that respondents were divided over a possible hike in Japan's 5 percent sales tax, with 49.7 percent favoring the idea and 47 percent saying they opposed it.

A fiscal conservative, Noda is viewed as a supporter of raising the tax to help rein in Japan's bloated national debt and pay for disaster reconstruction, although he has made no specific commitments about tax policy so far.

Noda chose two relatively young, unknown lawmakers for key posts in his Cabinet: 49-year-old Jun Azumi as finance minister and 47-year-old Koichiro Gemba as foreign minister.

Azumi will have little time to settle into his new office. He travels to France next week to represent Japan at a Group of Seven meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors.

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan received far from a ringing endorsement in the poll, with just 27.2 percent backing Noda's party. The main opposition, the conservative-leaning Liberal Democratic Party, which had led Japan for most of the post-war period until it was toppled by the Democrats in 2009, won approval from 23.6 percent, the Kyodo poll showed.

Japanese closely watch public opinion surveys, which are compiled regularly by the Japanese press. Some experts argue that such polls ? and by extension the media ? wield too much influence in determining a prime minister's longevity. Many say that once a leader's approval rating falls below 30 percent, it seldom recovers and it is only a matter of time before the leader resigns.

Recent history bears that out, and, as such, experts say these polls have been a contributing factor in the rapid turnover in Japanese politics.

The absolute nature of the poll's top question ? do you approve of the job the prime minister is doing, yes or no ? makes it very hard for leaders to stay popular. If people are the least bit dissatisfied with the government, it's easy to respond in the negative.

"Public opinion polls, the way they word questions here, seem more or less designed to discredit whoever is in power," said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University's Tokyo campus. "I'm not sure it's an accurate reflection of popular opinion. But it becomes self-fulfilling because the questions are designed to elicit strong anti-prime minister views."

The poll surveyed just over 1,000 people on Friday and Saturday. A poll of that size would have a margin of error of 5 percent.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110903/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_politics

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ECB gives Italy stiff warning (AP)

CERNOBBIO, Italy ? Italy's government, waffling for weeks on an emergency austerity plan, received a stern warning Saturday from the European central bank chief to promptly implement the deficit-fighting measures and to stay on target.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi is caught between trying to placate allies and satisfying both nervous markets and worried European Union officials.

Italy's Parliament is preparing to take up approval of the package of spending cuts and new taxes which Berlusconi promised will add up to a euro45.5 billion ($64.86 billion) austerity package. But every few days has seen some measures ? including new levies on high-earners and reform of a generous pension system ? dropped to appease coalition partners.

With Italy's uncertainty, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet urged Rome to keep to its word and push the package, announced in early August, toward completion.

"It is essential that the target which was announced to diminish the deficit will be fully confirmed and implemented," Trichet said at an annual economics forum at a Lake Como resort. "This is absolutely decisive to consolidate and reinforce the quality and the credibility of the Italian strategy and its credit worthiness."

Italy got a boost last month by the ECB when Rome's borrowing costs dipped, thanks to the central bank's program of buying peripheral bonds. The intervention helped stem the widening debt costs.

The Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, told reporters as he arrived late Saturday at the forum that his government will insist that the ECB keep buying the bonds, the Italian agency LaPresse reported from Cernobbio.

The outgoing central banker deemed as "extremely important" all measures to improve the "flexibility" of Italy's economy. Both industrialists and union leaders have denounced the austerity plan as relying too much on slashed spending and new taxes and offering little to stimulate the country's practically flat growth or to encourage job creation.

But the ECB's own policies were being taken to task on the sidelines of the annual Ambrosetti forum.

"We need more stimulus, we need a weaker euro," which could spur exports, said New York University economist Nouriel Roubini. "You can't just talk about austerity." He urged the ECB to "at least send a signal there is going to be monetary easing" soon.

Asked by The Associated Press to respond to Roubini's criticism, Trichet, during a brief stroll of the posh lakeside Villa d'Este grounds at lunch time, declined to comment, saying he wouldn't talk about matters related to policy.

With Berlusconi widely considered to be distracted by a sex scandal linked to his self-acknowledged penchant for young, beautiful women, Roubini expressed concern that whatever the measures are, markets won't be reassured.

"Italy is always bickering," the economist, who has warned of a possible double-dip recession in some European countries, told reporters during a break in the closed-door forum sessions.

"Investors have lost credibility in this government," Roubini added, noting the repeated widening of the spread between Italy's bond interest rates and that of benchmark German rates.

The latest Berlusconi government proposal to achieve several billion euros in deficit reduction through a crackdown on widespread tax evasion could also rattle the markets since it's impossible to predict just how much revenue that strategy could achieve.

Earlier in the day, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano echoed Trichet's call to his country, saying the proposed measures must be quickly "translated into concrete terms" to achieve Berlusconi's goal of balancing the budget by 2013.

"In effect, we need now and in the near future from Italy clarity and certainty of intentions and of results," said Napolitano, who noted that an earlier austerity plan in July failed to placate nervous markets.

Napolitano urged Berlusconi's bickering government to be "coherent and courageous" in meeting the economic crisis. He recalled that Italy, suffering from lackluster productivity, already was lagging before the latest global economic crisis.

"There is no doubt that in general the political (arena) is struggling, in the face of the tensions of the crisis and the risks to which the eurozone is exposed, and that the internal political and social equilibrium of individual countries are being put to a tough test," Napolitano said in a video hookup from the presidential palace in Rome.

Austria's former chancellor, Wolfgang Schuessel, went further in characterizing the effects of the crisis on citizens.

"This loss of confidence and trust is much more damaging than any economic data," he said.

The three-day meeting of bankers, economists and politicians began on Friday and has been marked by generally gloomy assessments of global economic prospects.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110903/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_italy_financial_crisis

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Odd Words

Posted by Mark Folse in books, New Orleans, Odd Words, Poetry, Toulouse Street.
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Let?s say you have most of a degree in English literature, with a major in the college newspaper and a minor in the nearby bar that launched the Radiators and Little Queenie. You are about to be laid of with a generous severance package, but your lack of a bachelors and the need to conserve money prelude going back to school.

How do you craft your own MFA like experience? Assume you manage to stretch six months severance out to a year by free-lance writing and anything else this side of the corner you have to do. How to go about crafting a program, and keeping yourself to it, with the goal of taking your writing to the next level?

You can skim the internet for syllabi, mostly reading lists, but without instructors how do you learn to take apart the bits of craft and learn from them? Perhaps the same way you took that not quite a degree in English and managed to make yourself an IT worker, and later an IT project manager. Identify the most important books of criticism, both general to the genre and specific to the writers on your reading list, and books on craft in general, and add them to your syllabus. Read them first then set writing tasks they suggest, tied to the writers you have selected for your syllabus.

To a generation raised on classes and degrees in creative writing this probably seems madness, but creative writing programs are a recent innovation in the history of literature. Somehow all the generations of writers between the bardic times of apprenticeship and the creation of the M.F.A in creative writing managed this.

The other night on TheRumpus.net poetry chat with Aracelis Girmay she spoke of circulating the draft of her last book to family members, afraid that the poems on family history might be ?dangerous and irresponsible.? All the best writing is dangerous and irresponsible, calls up the author?s demons for a chat not so much to exorcise them but to tame them and make them the servants of Prospero. My last post was dangerous and irresponsible, to spread my life out like the leaves of a book but I started down this path long before I discovered that creative non-fiction and memoir were among the hot products of our generation?s literature.

Dangerous and irresponsible. I will eventually have to find another job, and risk time best spent looking given my difficult to get hired middle age. I have one child in college and another on the way. Responsibilities. The very idea of this project is dangerous and irresponsible. And irresistible. Turned out of my good corporate job, why not take my exile and turn to a study of the alchemic mysteries of the craft of writing, my library dukedom enough>? Call it the Prospero Project.

And so to the listings:

& Speaking of major undertakings: tonight Dave Brinks? and Megan Burns? 17 Poets! will mount a massive display of New Orleans literary publications from the 1940s to the present at the Goldmine Saloon, 701 Dauphine Street at the corner of St. Peter. The event will feature an open discussion by New Orleans most prominent poets and publishers, incuding KALAMU YA SALAAM, LEE MEITZEN GRUE, DENNIS FORMENTO, DR. JERRY W. WARD, RODGER KAMENETZ, MONA LISA SALOY, JOHN CLARK, NANCY HARRIS, JOHN TRAVIS, RALPH ADAMO, BILL LAVENDER, NANCY DIXON, JIM CASS and many others from the New Orleans community.

This event will be followed by poetry reading featuring GINA FERRARA (celebrating her d-day!) and OPEN MIC hosted by Jimmy Ross. Sign-up for Open Mic begins at 7:00 p.m. For more info please visit 17 Poets! Literary & Performance Series website: www.17poets.com. The catalog of works to be exhibited is so long I?m going to put them in a separate post. If you already have plans for tonight, you ought to reconsider them. 17 Poets at the Goldmine Saloon, Thursday Sept. 1 at 7:30 p.m.

&Before I make it downtown, first stop will be at Octavia Books to see George Pelecanos read from, discuss, and sign his new book, THE CUT. Pelecanos is an independent film producer, an essayist, the recipient of numerous international writing awards, a producer and an Emmy-nominated writer on the HBO hit series The Wire, and the author of a bestselling series of novels set in and around Washington, D.C. He currently writes for the acclaimed HBO series Treme. I spent most of a decade in Washington, D.C. at the height of the crack wars, so esides his ties to Treme, the focus of his crime novels on Washington is a plus for me. I know only his film work, and it?s time I dived into his novels.If you missed Pelecanos on Susan Laron?s The Reading Life on WWNO-FM on Tuesday, check the podcast or tun in 12:30 pm on Saturday. Octavia Books, Thursday, Sept. 1 at 6 p.m.

& Speaking of Gothic, Garden District Books will host debut novelist Chris Buehlman for a Reading & Signing of his new novel THOSE ACROSS THE RIVER on Friday. Failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife, Eudora, have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family?s old estate-the Savoyard Plantation- and the horrors that occurred there. At first, the quaint, rural ways of their new neighbors seem to be everything they wanted. But there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice. Friday, Sept. 9 at 5:30 p.m.

& On Wednesday,Sept. 9 Octavia will host a reading and signing with native Louisiana author Jenny Wingfield featuring her debut novel, THE HOMECOMING OF SAMUEL LAKE, an ?Indie Next? pick for July. Fannie Flagg calls it ??Raw, dark, and powerful. Southern Gothic at it?s best. Puts one in mind of Erskine Caldwell and Flannery O?Connor.? That?s some pretty high praise. [Sigh]. Another book in the pile, and probably a hardcover at that.

&A continuing Wednesday event is the spoken word open mic at VASO on Frenchman Street, hosted by Carl SMUT DA POET Smothers. There is a $5 cover, drink specials, and free admission for all participating artists. ?All Poets, Singers, Musician?s And Anyone With Something To Express Are Welcome.? Doors at nine, show at 10 p.m. Wednesday, VASO Ultra Lounge, 500 Frenchman St.

& Next Thursday at Ogden After Hours, John Swenson will sign NEW ATLANTIS: MUSICIANS BATTLE FOR THE SURVIVAL OF NEW ORLEANS. The book chronicles the struggles of musicians in the aftermath of Katrina to restore New Orleans musical culture. Rolling Stone calls the book ?a fast-moving hybrid of richly detailed journalism and compelling partisan memoir.? $10 admission for non-members, but you can attend the booksigning for free. Ogden After Hours will also feature cellist Helen Gillet, access to the exhibits and a cash bar (and no, you can?t take your drinks in the exhibits) Ogden Museum of Art, Thursday Sept. 8 at 6 p.m.

Down the road a bit, mark your calendars for Happy Birthday, Mr. Faulkner!, the Pirate?s Alley Faulkner Society?s celebration of the birthday of its namesake, Nobel laureate William Faulkner and toast concurrently the birthday of one of the Society?s co-founders, author and scholar in Southern literature, W. Kenneth Holditch. Dr. Holditch will give a talk on Faulkner and Tennessee Williams and their importance on contemporary writing and sign his new book
on Tennessee Williams. Co-presented by The Louisiana State Museum, the event is free to the general public with advance reservations. To reserve, contact Faulkner Society at Faulkhouse@aol.com or call (504) 524-2940 to reserve or reserve copies of books in advance. For more details on authors, visit www.wordsandmusic.org. Free refreshments.

& The Loyola Writing Institute Fall 2011 Writing Workshop: Writing Well-Crafted Fiction will be led by Stephen Rea, author of FINN MCCOOL?S FOOTBALL CLUB. The class will run eight weeks starting Tuesday, Sept. 27. Cost is $250 and you can register here. Deadline to sign up is Sept. 13.

That is, as folks are want to say in the piney hills to our north, all she wrote.

If you are reading this and your event is not on here, that?s because you didn?t drop me a line to odd.words.nola@gmail.com.

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Source: http://toulousestreet.wordpress.com/2011/09/01/odd-words-91/

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Spain Caps Its Debt -- Rest of the Euro Zone Be Warned (Time.com)

Anyone who witnessed the protracted slugfest that was the U.S. government's attempt to agree on a debt ceiling might marvel at Spain's relatively peaceful efforts to do the same. After all, Prime Minister Jos? Luis Rodr?guez Zapatero announced an agreement to constitutionally limit the deficit on Aug. 23, and on Friday, just ten days later, the Spanish Congress of Deputies approved the measure by a vote of 316 to 5 (the Senate is expected to do the same on Sept. 7). But as both the public protests and the debate in the congress prove, all is not resolved. And therein lies a lesson for Europe.

At their Aug. 16 summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy encouraged every member of the 17-state euro zone to work a debt ceiling into its constitution. Within a week, Zapatero had become the first leader to take their words to heart. He negotiated a pact with the lead opposition Popular Party (PP) that would reform the Spanish constitution to require every level of government - national, regional, and municipal - to limit its deficit. A separate law will allow the national government to accrue only 0.4% debt.

"It's a signal designed to calm the markets, calm Europe, and show that Spain is committed to not being a problem for Europe," says Antonio Lop?z-Ist?riz, secretary general of the PP's European Parliament arm,whose own party has long made a legally balanced budget part of its platform. "Europe needs reassuring signs from Spain, and this is a big one." (See photos of Pope Benedict in Spain.)

No one doubts the symbolic impact that the amendment will have, and Zapatero has already received support for the gesture from the OECD and ratings companies like Moody's. But many analysts suggest that its real impact on the economy will be limited, not least because it allows governments to supersede the debt limits in times of crisis or other unusual circumstances. "There are a lot of 'buts'," says Soledad Pell?n, market strategist for the Spanish branch of IG Markets, an international trading company. "It's a very flexible piece of legislation, so I think it's logical to expect that it will only be applied in years when the economy is doing okay."

The pact, coming just three months before elections that Zapatero's Socialist Party (PSOE) is widely expected to lose, took many by surprise. For one thing, the prime minister did not even consult members of his own party before agreeing to the reform. Even more surprising was the decision to rush the amendment - the first major change to the Spanish constitution since its creation in 1978 - through parliament.

"He really didn't have a choice," explains strategist Pell?n. "In the past few weeks the Central European Bank has been buying up Spanish debt, which is a form of semi-rescue. And rescue packages always come with obligations." (See if there's a strategy behind Spain's early elections.)

Perhaps so, but today several sectors of Spanish society are wondering if it was necessary to meet those obligations quite so quickly. On the floor of the congress and in the streets of Madrid, many of the smaller political parties, unions and members of the broad protest movement known as "The Indignant" are vociferously objecting to restrictions on regional autonomy and to the cuts in social welfare spending that will likely result from a stabilized budget. And more than anything they are rejecting the rapid imposition of the amendment without a referendum.

Before the vote on Friday, Rosa Diez, of the Union of Progress and Democracy party, addressed her fellow members of parliament with barely contained outrage. Referring to the Socialist-PP pact, which refused to admit other parties' amendments to the bill, she demanded, "Who do you think you are? You have plundered Spanish democracy. We need constitutional reform, all right. We need constitutional reform to keep you guys from manipulating the constitution." So annoyed were three other minority parties that their members walked out of the legislature before the vote; two others stayed, but abstained.

Their outrage is echoed by protests that began last week and are expected to culminate on Sept. 6, with a march organized by Spain's two main labor syndicates. Holding signs etched with the words "Referendum Now," several hundred protestors maintained a vigil outside Congress this morning. (See photos of the global financial crisis.)

Why didn't Zapatero give his citizens a chance to vote on so momentous a piece of legislation? On Thursday, government spokesman Jos? Blanco said that the prime minister would have liked to submit the amendment to referendum but that the "grave economic situation demanded a fast response." L?pez-Ist?riz finds that argument disingenuous, however. "Maybe there's not time now, but Zapatero should have implemented this change a year ago," the European parliamentarian says. "If he had done that, then there would have been time for a referendum."

Of course, limiting the deficit is hardly the normal purview of a Socialist government, and Zapatero may have held off as long as he could for fear of the move's political fallout. If that's the case, this constitutional rush job is unlikely to help his party in November. "The Socialists have been acting very neo-liberal recently, and there's some thought that to have a chance in these elections, they need to turn back to the left," says Pablo O?ate, executive secretary of the Spanish Political Science Association. "But the Indignant movement is already reproaching [Socialist candidate Alfredo Perez] Rubalcaba for adapting to the PP's platform. This could make them feel even more betrayed."

Certainly the scene outside Congress on Friday could give pause to other European member states considering the same sort of constitutional reform. As the angrily scribbled poster of one demonstrator declared, "We won't forget this."

See what Europe's downfall means for the world.

See five drivers of today's stock market decline.

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