American Communications Network Inc (ACN) was founded in 1992 by Robert Stevanovski, Greg Provenzano, Tony and Mike Cupisz in Farmington Hills Michigan. They opened for business with twenty distributors. In its first year it achieved revenues of two million dollars. ACN's initial business was as a marketing arm for LCI Communications, who were a long-distance reseller. Five years later Qwest Communications acquired LCI. By 1998, ACN were listed in Inc. Magazine's Top 500 as No. 22 of the fastest growing private companies in America, with an annual revenue of $98.1 million. They currently operate in 20 countries spanning America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

The products

ACN provide a digital phone service, high speed Internet access, a wireless service, local and long distance calls, satellite TV, video phone, and home security services.

The compensation plan

There are two starting levels and three earned levels. You have to pay an entry fee to join one of the starting levels, either $99 or $499. To qualify for the levels, and to be eligible to receive bonuses you have to get and maintain at least 6 "connected" long distance customers or 8 customers using any ACN service. If you get to the earned levels, additional qualifications must be met.

You earn money based on your customer's service, and through the bonuses if you're qualified. You can earn between 2% and 8% on the customers you have acquired, and residuals as follows: 1/4% on levels 1 through 5 inclusive, 1% on level six, and 6% on level 7. You have to meet the qualifications detailed on the Compensation Plan to qualify for this.

Conclusion

The company have longevity, which is an important factor for some people. Like many network marketing companies you will need to come up with lists of friends and family, and attend meetings. Because the telecommunications arena is so competitive, and the margins small, you would have to recruit a lot of people to earn a substantial income. You would need to have an arsenal of marketing tactics and strategies to really get ahead with this opportunity. 

As an action film, "Rogue Assassin" (or as the DVD states in some countries, it's also called "War") doesn't disappoint. It's packed to the hilt with some excellent action sequences, and with two big action stars in Jet Li and Jason Statham delivering them, there's a lot of fun to be had as you watch them do their thing. As a story, this film tries really hard to be a cut above the rest, but director Philip Atwell never rises above the stock standard action template and as a result, the film entertains but with some more finesse and work it could have really knocked you out of the park, especially with its fascinating ending. Jet Li is arguably never better in his role as "Rogue"; Jason Statham is quite cool and tough as FBI agent Crawford, and the supporting cast do a decent, if two-dimensional job with their characters (particularly some of the Asian Triad characters who never really rise above stereotypes). In the end, "Rogue Assassin" plays out like a B-grade action film; good as a DVD rental on a Friday night with the boys but nothing so special that you'd ever miss anything if you don't see it, or have any desire to watch it again once you have.

The opening sequence is very well done. Choosing to begin in the aftermath of a shootout rather than the beginning of one, we find Crawford and his partner having a chat, deciding whether or not to take a look at what's going on behind them. In an amusing line, Crawford says, "okay, as long as we just have a look", and then proceeds to pull out a massive pump action shot gun and gets ready for business. After interfering with the triads, Crawford's partner in a later scene gets brutally murdered by "Rogue", assassin sent by the Triads. Crawford is angered (although Statham's acting ability doesn't seem to extend beyond bending over and breathing heavily when he finds out the news - it's also convenient that he puts on a pair of sunglasses to cover his eyes for that scene), and vows vengeance. The action picks up three years later when Rogue re-surfaces, but this time killing members of the organisation he used to work for. Crawford now sees his chance to get even, but in the process, he gets embroiled in a plot of war between the triads, being puppet mastered by someone he never expected. We also learn that Crawford is not who he appears to be either, and perhaps the most interesting part of this whole story is that the motivations and loyalties of these main characters actually twist and shift throughout the film until you're left wondering exactly who is the good guy and who is the bad guy.

You can really tell they were going for a "Usual Suspects" kind of delivery with this story, especially towards the end when it's revealed who Rogue really is. I definitely started to like the film more in the last fifteen minutes when the story actually presented a more fascinating through line than what it was suggesting up until that point. I do think however that something was missing in the second act to truly build up the idea that nothing was as it seems. Unlike "The Usual Suspects" for example which developed its tricky plot line quite successfully resulting in a "wow" conclusion, the twist ending in this film seems more tacked on and arbitrary because there wasn't really anything tricky or mysterious in the story line leading up to it to deliver on that point. That's a shame because the script only needed a little bit more work in order for that to happen. Either that or director Atwell was concentrating more on the action sequences and didn't allow the story to develop properly as he was telling it.

The action is first rate; the film plays out like a combination of an 80's action film where you see blood, bones cracking, big hits and big guns, and a Hong Kong martial arts movie. On this point the film succeeds brilliantly, mixing the two styles very well. In today's cinema where these types of action films aren't as prevalent as they used to be, I just had a feeling of nostalgia of the fun you can have watching a film like this. Sure, violence is bad, but when it's done like a cartoon like this is there's a certain unbelievable fun to it all. Sure, some of the bloodier aspects are a bit over the top, with everything from axes to Samurai swords being used (a rather nasty sequence in the end shows one of the triads sawing in to Jet Li's arm while they fight!). Jet Li is top notch as the martial arts assassin and there are plenty of opportunities on show for him to do some spectacular moves. Jason Statham is also good when he only he has to play the tough guy (one scene where he confronts a corrupt Police Captain is very cool). There's also a nice blend between the American and Asian genres in many departments; a nice touch is having all the titles throughout the film appear in Asian typography and then morphing in to English.

"Rogue Assassin" is a fun, entertaining, if unremarkable action film.

Given that many Generation Xers were latchkey kids whose working parents often got divorced, many of these children were forced to seek a sense of family among their peers; alas they grew up not trusting, not respecting authority figures. You might be a proud card holding member of this demographic. Or maybe you know them in the workplace. If you are a job-hopper in defiance of authority and seeking employment within the Department of State you may be headed for a train wreck.

Foreign Service officer Alan Roecks, an information technology specialist, has served at numerous overseas embassies and is presently completing senior training at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. According to Roecks' disturbing article State's Generation X Work Force in the May 2006 Foreign Service Journal Magazine, the thirty-five-year and younger age group of newly minted State Department specialists are hip, cynical computer whizzes that have no respect for their superiors or the basic work principles inherent in the hierarchal structure of the State Department. Preferring to do things their own way, Roecks says they lack basic people skills and do not integrate well into the workplace.

I can't imagine meeting former Secretary of State Albright and calling her Madeleine! Addressing a woman by her first name instead of "Madame Ambassador" or "Madame Secretary" is an example of what Roecks has encountered in supervising Gen Xers overseas. What might be acceptable in an advertising agency or less formal structured corporate environment is not considered cool in an embassy.

Roecks' laundry list of "Animal House" behavior includes showing up at the office in jeans and T-shirts, refusing to follow the boss's orders unless you know what you get out of it, demanding instant feedback on job performance, demanding written referrals for future private sector jobs, refusing to work overtime, refusing to attend official functions because there are " ... better things to do."

Most people would agree that official functions, even in the private sector, are a pain in the butt. We'd rather kick back and relax, or Google and relax, or do anything but stand around for two hours. Yet more deals are struck between the glass and the lip while standing around than sitting around a stuffy highly polished ebony table.

Boomers will soon be retiring and they will have to be replaced. A graduate with a Masters degree who seeks to represent his or her country abroad in any capacity may possess exceptional technical expertise, but mature adult behavior-those social skills most senior officers learned in high school-trumps brilliance. The Department of State has to maintain global computer and communications networks. While in a less formal corporate world technical ability might take precedence over behavior, resistance to following instructions is at odds with the success and security of a close-knit community such as an embassy. It impedes integration into the workplace and is especially non-productive when the workplace is a war zone, or any number of politically sensitive or geographically difficult assignments.

In his article Alan Roecks offers some suggestions for what he thinks will help resolve the Generation X dilemma within State. Doubtless it exists in other agencies. As an alumnus of State and the Agency For International Development, it saddens me to witness the slow erosion, by this and other means, of what historically has been this country's first line of defense-quiet effective diplomacy.

Americans at home are judged by whom they send abroad. Every American serving abroad in an official capacity is in a sense an ambassador. There isn't much we can do about disrespectful loutish behavior by some people here at home except to avoid them. But young Foreign Service officers should know before raising their right hands to swear allegiance that passing the exam is only the beginning. Mature adult behavior should be a prerequisite to the privilege of representing the United States overseas.

In the 1960s Noel Coward wrote a song for the show "Sail Away" in which Elaine Stritch sang: "Why do the wrong people travel, and the right people always stay home?" Those who disagree have a perfect right to wear their hats backwards and for cryin' out loud stay home.

"Simplicity-Courage-Humor-Soul"®

Across the land the bells are tolling: for marines from Camp Pendleton, California, helicopter pilots from Ft. Rucker Alabama, the 101st Airborne from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Our National Guard are needed at home. Our armed forces are stretched thin and the bells keep tolling.

But where were the congressmen and congresswomen and senators-democrats and republicans-and White House Administration officials when Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Veterans Administration (VA) medical centers were allowing their facilities to rot into vermin infested rat holes in which severely wounded American veterans are housed? One general said the vets were leaving food in their rooms, which attracted the little critters. Excuse me, but how is a man with no legs, or half his mind blown away, supposed to dispose of his trash? The only reason a few heads are rolling now is because two Pulitzer Prize-worthy Washington Post reporters blew the lid off "a grateful nation's" dirty little secret.

It has been my experience that when the American people are told the truth, they stand up and make their voices heard. The Administration asks a befuddled congress for billions to put more men and women into a nightmare civil war between barbarians whose reasons to fight most Americans do not understand or give a rat's ass. And yet, when it comes to caring for these brave kids who are severely wounded inside and out, maimed and disfigured for the rest of their lives: Show Me The Money!

ABC newsman Bob Woodruff has made a miraculous recovery from his brain injuries suffered in Iraq. Miraculous doesn't describe it. He has said that he received the absolute best treatment anyone could want from day one in Iraq, to Germany, to Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. Apparently ABC paid for trips for his family to visit, and many other expenses. Concurrently, he has an extremely supportive wife and family. Anyone who has seen Woodruff's amazing documentary has to be deeply affected by it. But Woodruff almost died, or had died briefly. In the documentary he relates that after first being hit, he opened his eyes, there was light and he was looking down on his own body.

Lots of people recall these types of phenomena, termed near death experiences (NDE). Whatever they are, I like to think that Mr. Woodruff lived for good reason. He has something very important to do and he is one who can do it. He has been chosen, with his wife Lee, to bring to the attention of as many Americans as possible, the dismal neglect of our wounded veterans. There are hundreds of thousands of these veterans, from World War II to the present that are languishing in VA hospitals around the country, or desperately trying to find their way through the labyrinth of indifference within the greatest bureaucracy ever created-the American Military.

Woodruff is very careful to point out, as are countless others who have been under direct military care, that we have the finest and the bravest doctors and nurses in the world. In fact, as an embassy civilian in Vietnam, I was in a military hospital for a while and I can attest to that. But once these wounded soldiers leave their doctors and therapists, and enter a military or VA medical facility in the United States, there is a breakdown between patient and patient care. The Administration is contracting out for employees to care for patients. What a disgrace. These "employees" are cheaper to hire and sub-standard. I would not hire them to sweep my driveway.

In the 1990s I wrote a series of stories on veterans from the Vietnam era for VFW Magazine. One story was about women veterans that suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I visited VA facilities around the country to see how these women were coping in their recoveries. Because women typically made themselves invisible by blending in to private life, marrying and having families, I called the story "America's Invisible Veterans." Conditioned to being the caregivers, to recognizing the needs of others and ignoring their own, these women tended to bury their nightmares in a trunk in the basement.

Dr. Jessica Wolfe, then assistant professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine, had first worked with returning Vietnam male veterans with symptoms of PTSD. I worked closely with Dr. Wolfe who had just started a new program at the Boston VA Medical Center to treat former women officers that had served in Vietnam as nurses. I interviewed some of these nurses; they had witnessed the most horrific battles and treated the most horrendous casualties. Afflicted with marked anxiety and elements of panic disorder, the women asked to meet on the first floor to avoid elevators where they might encounter patients in wheelchairs.

Like war photographers, some nurses were able to distance themselves from the blood and gore of the battlefield through the lens of a camera. One former nurse had stored her slides in trunk, away from her children, and not looked at them in 25 years. After considerable group therapy with Dr. Wolfe she was able to look at the color slides dispassionately, and admit it was a part of her life that was over. My purpose in relating this is to emphasize what is possible for our recovering veterans. We have excellent medical practitioners in this country. If anybody is entitled to them, it's our veterans. That the Veterans Administration has suffered a loss in funding over the years is no secret. It's just that nobody talks about it. That present facilities are unacceptable and a bloated bureaucracy is indifferent is disgraceful. And the bells keep tolling.

Food and clothes are my all time favorites. I remember dressing up as a kid and throwing fancy dinner parties for my dolls, inviting friends for brunch, making a shopping break with my mom to get hot chocolate and a piece of pie. The two have become so intertwined for me that to this day I hardly ever go shopping without stopping for a snack or go out to eat without dressing appropriately. I also made sure to involve my friends in the dress and dine extravaganza that is my life.

My book club meets once a month and it's a potluck kind of gathering where each of us brings something to the party. The only condition is that the food has to be somehow connected to the book. If we're reading a book taking place in Italy, of course Italian food is on the menu; a book about travel means snacks that do well on the road; a life story of a diabetic involves no sweets and pita bread certified for diabetics; geisha and samurai stories are not discussed without sushi, and so on. This sort of correlation between books and food makes for great book club meetings.

That's not the only way we connect art and eating. We try to go to museums and galleries, theater and free performances, opera and ballet. It's not something we can do on a regular basis because of time restrictions, but whenever we get a chance, we go the whole nine yards. For a night at the opera house we all wear couture dresses and afterward go to some exclusive restaurant for dinner; museum trips mean pretending we're tourists, so we dress up in suburban mom clothes, talk loud and end up in the most crowded restaurants for lunch; alternative art shows have us wearing black and go for drinks only so not to disturb out aura with calories.

Of course to be able to go places and do things like this we need to have clothes, and for that we have to do some serious shopping. Any trip to the mall I just have to get a soft pretzel and a glass of juice to keep my strength up, and I usually stop somewhere for a meal on the way home. When I'm with my friends, we pick a restaurant based on the clothes we get. For example, if we end up with jeans and t-shirts, it's all-American burgers; lots of florals begs for fresh salads; designer shoes need designer interior of a posh restaurant; and good sales always mean fast food, so we can hit some more stores after we eat.

We all need food and clothes, but a lot of people treat them as just another necessary thing in their busy life. And it's enough to just have some fun with one or the other to make one's day more colorful and interesting. So if you've had enough of bland style and food, try dressing according to what your dinner plans are, for example a colorful poncho to a Mexican restaurant, a simple silk dress to a Japanese one, or eat something that resembles your clothes, like blueberry muffin when you're wearing purple blouse or a chocolate chip cookie when you've got a pair of brown slacks and a chocolate top on. Just looking for an interesting item to wear to an Indian restaurant or finding something to eat when you're wearing powder blue is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Getting the facts straight
 

Recently, I was checking the sales ranking for my book on Amazon.com, when I noticed I have finally received a customer review on Amazon. After reading the review, I found myself humbled and dumb founded. The customer who reviewed my book on military knife and hand to hand combat was obviously a practicing martial artist.

He appeared to be one of the "Know it all" types as well. Although much of his review on the layout of my book may be spot on; I was amazed at his blatant ignorance in not knowing the difference between combative training and martial arts. In his own words,"Though the author may know what he is doing in this book, you may already as well. If you took some sort of M.A. class for any period of time that was worth anything, then you would have learned most if not half of these techniques for knife fighting. " I must agree with him on this.

If you take some sort of  martial arts class for any period of time; that is worth anything; eventually you may learn half of the techniques in the book. Although I clearly state in the book that my attempt is not to teach specific techniques, but use techniques as a vehicle to drive home principles; and  I admit that there are countless numbers of techniques one can learn, not simply limited to my book. This guy  "Cliff" is the example of how many can not distinguish the difference between martial art and combative training.

Distinguishing the difference  

Before one can truly distinguish between a martial art or combative training, they must reflect upon the origin of today's practiced martial arts. The term "martial art", refers to a war like art; with martial referring to war. It is true that ages ago during the conception of today's martial arts, the countless numbers of systems and styles were born from military drills and close quarters battle of the time. During the ancient times without the aid of today's modern weaponry and fire power, soldiers were forced to engage in battle with clubs, swords, daggers, spears and often hand to hand. Warriors of those times began to develop tried and true systems of both armed and unarmed combat, much like today. They understood that military units must gain muscle memory in their tactics of choice and saw the need for regimented systems of combat. The methods and techniques of their day required ways to dismount riders off horse back and break or penetrate wooden armor. It is quite obvious that in today's combat environment those techniques would be obsolete. Through out generations and over the centuries the ancient arts have been passed from master to student and master to student. The once effective and powerful combative training of the ancients has become an antiquity.

Today the ancient techniques of Samurai and  the fighting monks of China can be seen being practiced through training hall windows all over the world. The ancient forms and techniques that were once practical battle tactics have been manipulated by popular media and business ideology. Many practice the ancient martial arts for a plethora of reasons. Some of their reasons are for the very same reasons that the training was developed. People practice for fitness, protection and hobby. Others train simply to preserve the art. 

After World War II, the west was introduced to the Asian martial art craze. Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen were exposed to the Asian fighting arts of the Japanese and Philippines and wanted to learn. Many of the indigenous instructors or gurus realized the opportunity to make a buck from the naive westerners and began teaching watered down versions of the fighting arts. Often masters would draw out the training and add flashy, intricate and complicated techniques to the curriculum. It was the flash that would sell to the new western market. Soon even Hollywood would make movies with actors such as Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris demonstrating their athleticism and prowess on screen.

Belt ranking systems were added to help new students feel as if they were progressing and not quit. The once effective techniques for ancient combat were reduced to nothing more than acrobatics with some self protection value. Many of the hidden techniques which were the pride of warriors of old were lost through the simple process of supply and demand. Modern technology and weapons only aided in losing the practical fighting techniques and turning the martial arts into a lucrative but provocative industry. Today there are martial art companies that place their clients on programs known as "black belt plans."

People are forced into contracts that they can not afford to breach for a certain amount of time until they receive their black belts. During the early 20th century the "black belt" rank was respected by many for holding fighting prowess. Today that rank has lost much of that respect. All too often we hear about the black belt who got beat up by a boxer or street fighter. All too often a white belt student can completely annihilate their "black belt" Karate  or Kung Fu master during sparring in the training hall. Today the sport of Mixed Martial Arts has proven that the martial arts of old are obsolete to even today's modern training methods. The MMA athletes of today , that hold no belt in any martial art would dominate over more than half of the practitioners of traditional martial arts.

Traditional martial artists often rely on archaic training methods and spiritual philosophies of a much more primitive time. Where MMA athletes rely on the most up to date drilling and scientific training ideologies. Much more is known today by the general populous on the matters of psychology, physiology, anatomy, physics and the economy of motion. It is the lack of the most up to date sciences that make much of the traditional fighting arts obsolete and inefficient. In essence it is the tradition itself that makes many martial arts training methods in effective and inefficient. Now that we have identified the martial arts, we should compare it to today's modern combatives.

The combative training of today is a product of the military machine. Today's military is more efficient and productive than any in history. The philosophy of doing the most with the least drives the war machine. In World War II Colonels Eric Anthony Sykes and William Fairbairn began to develop a new type of training for soldiers  based from their experience in Shanghai and the trenches of World War I. Close Quarter Battle (CQB) or Hand to Hand Combat was the norm in trench warfare and the soldiers fighting it needed to be able to quickly and efficiently kill and immobilize their adversaries. The two men realized that they needed to develop a system for training or ideology of training that would enable masses of troops with no prior experience in martial arts to learn hand to hand combat quickly in a matter of days, not the years often required by martial arts training. This training had to not only be learned quickly, but retained and trained quickly as well. Soldiers on the front and behind the lines needed to be able to react without thinking, relying on muscle memory. In combat the heart rate exceeds 180  beats per minute and all fine motor skills go out the window.

Sykes and Fairbairn realized that many of the extravagant "pressure points" used in traditional martial arts  would not be effective. They realized that pressure points were not effective for two reasons. One, the enemy may not feel it under the influence of adrenaline and two; the soldier will more than likely not have the ability of fine motor skills needed in order to strike the target. Therefore the modern combative training was simple easy to retain and concentrated on gross motor skill movement. Because in combat soldiers are all too often sleep deprived and under nourished the techniques taught needed to not rely on physical strength or athletic prowess. Today's combatives are often known for the dirty fighting aspect, not found in traditional martial arts. The warrior codes from long ago no longer apply today, chivalry is dead. Because the combative techniques are taught to such a variety of fighting men who's bodies are not conditioned to desensitizing training; the trainees are taught to strike with only the most structurally stable weapons of the body. A soldier can not afford  broken hands and feet on the battle field. It is for many of these reasons that combative training stands far apart from traditional martial arts.

In summary  
 
The traditional martial arts, practiced today  was actually the combative training for the military of it's time. Just as time changes, so did the training. Societies became more educated; moral values and codes have been altered. The world is not as spiritually guided or involved with mysticism as it was during the time traditional martial arts were conceived. The once effective combative techniques of their time, have evolved into an art form surrounded in mystique and the legends of old; enhanced by modern media. Today's combative training is based completely on modern science and need for efficiency. It is of the utmost importance for combative training to adhere to these rules.

 - Simple general Principles  must be taught

 - Must not rely on power or athleticism

 - The focus is on destroying whatever the principal comes into contact with

 - Efficiency and economy of motion

 - Be able to be learned and applied in a very limited amount of time (Days or weeks)

In conclusion
 

 Combatives training today most definitely contains many of the techniques that one will learn in the traditional martial arts if they attend classes for any period of time. One might think of the two types of training as steak. One is chuck full of fat that is unnecessary and could clog your arteries, the other is a lean hybrid, that contains only the necessary nutrients to keep you going. After reading the review from this guy "Cliff" I immediately went to his profile to learn more about his point of view, so I could see where hes coming from. I wanted to know if his bashing of my book came from arrogance or ignorance. Where he was asked to type a blurb about his interests, contained one phrase.This was his interest"Wing Chun and the variety of ways it is spelled." I immediately realized by this and the number of books with titles like "Kung Fu of Caine" Referring to the Caine from the TV series (Kung Fu), that this fellow was not completely familiar with the differences between martial arts and combative training. Therefore I wanted to write this article, with my best effort to demonstrate that when comparing martial arts training to combative training; it is like comparing apples to oranges.