thank you explora and its good to see you back. you should get that (learn one spanish word a day thread) back again

I'd have to pass that to you. I'm going to be too busy, sorry.

lol ok explora, i'm out for tonight ,you take care and good to see you back again. good night

Here's a story we could all learn a bit from:

Last wish: Feed homeless

Feeding the homeless is a Washington state 11-year-old's last wish.

quote:

Originally posted by Brit4064:
Here's a story we could all learn a bit from:

Last wish: Feed homeless

Feeding the homeless is a Washington state 11-year-old's last wish.

Breathless story Brit. thank you. and god bless Brandon . So sad

great story brit ,thnx for posting it

How Ex-Presidents & Prime Ministers Make Their Money
by Ethan Trex - November 8, 2008 - 6:45 AM
Upon taking up residency in the White House, a president also assumes a tidy salary of $400,000 a year, plus extra cash for expenses. That's certainly not the kind of change you'd find under most couch cushions, but it's not such a princely sum that the president will be set for life when leaving office. While many leaders are either independently rich enough or old enough that they just retire after leaving office, others are desperate to make a buck or a pound. So how do ex-presidents and other former world leaders support themselves as they while away the autumn of their years?When Truman's presidency ended in 1953, he headed home to Independence, Missouri, but there was a nagging problem: he didn't have any money. His business interests from prior to his political life hadn't generated any sort of savings for him, and he thought that taken a corporate position or endorsing products would cheapen the presidency. His only income was a $112-a-month army pension, so he did what former presidents now do without thinking: he sold his memoirs. Truman received a $670,000 deal for the two-volume memoirs, but after taxes and paying his assistants, he only netted a few thousand dollars on the project. Things got so dire that Congress passed the Former Presidents Act in 1958, which gave retired commanders in chief pensions of $25,000 a year. At least his health insurance was eventually covered; when Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare into law in 1965, he presented President Truman and his wife, Bess, with the first two Medicare cards.
Jimmy Carter:
Carter famously rose to the presidency from humble roots as a Georgia peanut farmer, but when he assumed office he placed his business and farming issues in a blind trust to avoid any potential conflicts of interest. It was a noble act, but it didn't play out so well for Carter; when he resumed control of his assets, he was a million dollars in debt. He needed dough, so he started writing. And writing. Although he's known for his work with Habitat for Humanity and his willingness to go on global diplomatic missions, Carter is a shockingly prolific author of over 20 books. Some of his tomes are standard memoirs and political texts, but Carter's also penned children's books, a volume of poetry, a historical novel, and Bible-study guides.
Bill Clinton:
Hillary Clinton may not have won the Democratic presidential nomination, but the Clinton family shouldn't be standing in any bread lines in the foreseeable future. Bill Clinton pulls in $250,000 to give a speech, which has been a fairly lucrative racket for him. A 2007 report in the British newspaper The Independent estimated Clinton's earnings from speeches alone at somewhere in the neighborhood of $40 million since he left office six years earlier. Clinton also sold his memoir My Life to Knopf for $15 million, and he serves as an advisor for the private equity firm Yucaipa Companies, a post that has pulled in at least $12.6 million. When the Clintons released their tax data in April as part of Hillary's campaign disclosures, they showed income of $109 million since leaving the White House.
Margaret Thatcher:
Although declining health has slowed her down lately, Thatcher was fairly busy after stepping down as Prime Minister in 1990. She remained in the House of Commons until 1992. She received the title Baroness Thatcher that year, which got her a spot in the House of Lords. Thatcher also penned a two-volume memoir, The Path to Power and The Downing Street Years, which hit the New York Times' best-seller lists in 1993 and 1994. On top of that, she served as Chancellor of the College of William and Mary from 1993 to 2000 and penned the international relations text Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World in 2002. All of this work must have left Thatcher pretty set; after all, she has given Cambridge two million pounds to endow a chair in her name.
John Major:
Thatcher's successor as Prime Minister has had a decidedly more low-key life since leaving the post in 1997. As an avid cricket fan, he served as the president of the Surrey County Cricket Club from 2000 to 2001 and has been on the Committee of the Marylebone Cricket Club since 2005. He also joined the private equity firm the Carlyle Group's European Advisory Board in 1998 and supposedly rakes in 25,000 pounds for each speech he gives on the lecture circuit.

Tony Blair
Like Bill Clinton, Blair got a book advance that ensured he wouldn't have to hit up any of his friends for a pound or two from time to time. In October 2007 the New York Times reported that Random House purchased Blair's memoir for a staggering $9 million. Or rather, they purchased the rights to the memoir once it's written; despite receiving the gigantic advance, Blair's spokesman admitted that the former Prime Minister hadn't gotten a chance to "put pen to paper" when he signed the deal. On top of the sweet advance, Blair's also pulling in cash as an advisor on climate change for Zurich Insurance and as a senior advisor for JPMorgan, both of which have been reported as six-figure-a-year jobs. He's also making 500,000 pounds for a series of speeches and will teach a course on faith and globalization at Yale this year.

AP – The mother of an 18 year-old daughter, who asked not to be named to protect the identity of her child, ...
Slideshow: Neb. Safe-Haven Law Play Video Video: Kids Being Abandoned in Nebraska ABC News LINCOLN, Neb. – The mother was running out of more than patience when she abandoned her 18-year-old daughter at a hospital over the weekend under Nebraska's safe-haven law. She was also running out of time: She knew that state lawmakers would soon meet in a special session to amend the ill-fated law so that it would apply to newborns only.

"Where am I going to get help if they change the law?" said the mother, who lives in Lincoln and asked to not be identified by name to protect her adopted child.

To the state's surprise and embarrassment, more than half of the 31 children legally abandoned under the safe-haven law since it took effect in mid-July have been teenagers.

But state officials may have inadvertently made things worse with their hesitant response to the problem: The number of drop-offs has almost tripled to about three a week since Gov. Dave Heineman announced on Oct. 29 that lawmakers would rewrite the law.

With legislators set to convene on Friday, weary parents like the Lincoln mother have been racing to drop off their children while they still can.

On Thursday, authorities searched for two ***** "” a boy and girl, ages 14 and 17 "” who fled an Omaha hospital as their mother tried to abandon them. The mother was trying to take them from the car to the emergency room when they took off.

Child welfare experts said the late deluge of drop-offs was probably inevitable. After all, they said, some date had to be picked to begin changing the law.

But some of them said lawmakers and the governor missed chances to change the law early because they underestimated the number of desperate families looking for help. Heineman called the special session only after a spate of five drop-offs in eight days.

Reluctance to pull senators away from their jobs and election campaigns, along with the estimated $70,000 to $80,000 cost of a special session, were among the reasons Heineman's office cited in holding off on calling a special session sooner.

"I think there was a fair amount of denial on the part of legislators that it would snowball," said Karen Authier, executive director of the Nebraska Children's Home Society.

The safe-haven law was intended to save "Dumpster babies" by allowing desperate young mothers to abandon their newborns at a hospital without fear of prosecution. But lawmakers could not agree on an age limit, and the law as passed uses only the word "child."

All states have safe-haven laws, but in every state but Nebraska, the law applies to infants only.

Authier said her group and others had warned senators after the law passed early this year that there could be problems, but the lawmakers did not believe it.

"It wasn't like talking to a stone wall," Authier said. "It was just that people who aren't in the business of dealing with families, they aren't aware how desperate some of these families are."

Sure enough, 18 teenagers "” five 17-year-olds, two 16-year-olds, six 15-year-olds, two 14-year-olds, three 13-year-olds "” have been abandoned, along with eight children who were 11 or 12. Five of the children dropped off have been from out of state.

The Lincoln mother who dropped off her 18-year-old daughter said she was repeatedly turned down when she sought help from police, state social services authorities and the girl's school. The woman said her daughter had been diagnosed with a mental illness when she was 12 and had deep psychological scars from childhood abuse and from being left alone with her dead biological mother for a week.

The woman said she felt she had no choice but to leave her daughter at the hospital after a recent flurry of assault, stealing, sleeping around and cutting school.

"I thought she would get help" through the safe-haven law, the mother said.

However, state authorities refused to take the young woman into custody, saying Nebraska law regarding juveniles does not let authorities take in anyone older than 17. The woman left with her daughter.

Fourteen children in all have been left at three hospitals operated by Alegent Health in the Omaha area.

"These are largely families at a point of incredible desperation," said Wayne Sensor, chief executive of Alegent Health. "They aren't bad parents or bad kids. They simply don't know what services are available out there."

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AP
Banks say they're using bailout money for loans
Thursday November 13, 5:20 pm ET
By John Dunbar, Associated Press Writer
Bank executives saying their using federal bailout money for loans, reducing mortgages


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Some of the nation's largest banks sharing in the $700 billion government bailout of the financial industry tried to assure lawmakers Thursday they are using the money to make more loans and help financially strapped homeowners avoid foreclosure.
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Barry L. Zubrow, chief risk officer with JP Morgan Chase & Co., told the Senate Banking Committee that a portion of the $25 billion capital infusion it received from the Treasury Department was being deployed to "expand the flow of credit" and to assist with rewriting residential mortgages for up to 400,000 families.

Zubrow and executives with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. told the committee that none of the $75 billion they have received collectively from the government is being used to pay salaries or bonuses.

"The committee has asked whether (bailout) funds would be spent on executive compensation," said Jon Campbell, regional banking president for Wells Fargo & Co. in his testimony. "The answer is no. Wells Fargo doesn't need the government investment to pay for bonuses or compensation."

Some of the executives said bonuses this year will be lower because of the economic downturn.

"Employee compensation will be dramatically affected by changes in the overall economic and financial environment and our performance for the full year, but it certainly will not increase as a result of receiving TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) funds," said Gregory Palm, general counsel for Goldman Sachs.

Bank of America's board has decided that this year's bonus compensation pool will be reduced by more than 50 percent, Anne Finucane, a marketing and corporate affairs executive, told the committee.

Finucane said Bank of America originated more than $50 billion in mortgage loans in the third quarter of 2008 but acknowledged that "we are lending less than we were a year ago."

Campbell said Wells Fargo's commercial real estate loans are 37 percent above a year ago.

Despite the reassuring words, lawmakers pressed hard for commitments to more lending.

"Let me say as clearly as I can," said committee chairman Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. "Hoarding capital and acquiring healthy banks are not -- I repeat are not -- reasons why Congress authorized $700 billion in emergency funding."

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said he and other lawmakers are looking at requiring banks to make more loans as a condition for taking part in the $350 billion second half of the bailout. Congress can block release of the second $350 billion. It also can rewrite the law to put new conditions on its use.

"Any new capital injections must come with tougher requirements," he said.

Treasury already has lent or committed $290 billion of the first half. Democrats are working on a bill they hope to pass next week that would devote another $25 billion to the beleaguered auto industry, with the specific intent of helping General Motors Corp. avoid bankruptcy.

The banking executives also were questioned about using bailout money to acquire other banks.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, noted that Cleveland-based National City Bank was denied Treasury funds, only to be taken over by PNC Financial Services Group Inc. of Pittsburgh on the same day that PNC was approved for $7.7 billion in bailout money.

"The taxpayer funds that would have been allocated to National City were instead allotted to PNC," Brown said.

The executives said their banks have no new acquisitions planned beyond the spate of mergers that occurred before Congress passed the bailout bill.

B.S.!!! Tricky, Tricky, Tricky!!!! PROOF?????

AP
Democrats hunt for support for auto bailout
Thursday November 13, 8:43 pm ET
By Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Associated Press Writer
Democrats press emergency loans for Big 3 as top senator says car bailout is stalled


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats pressed ahead on Thursday with plans to vote next week on a $25 billion emergency loan plan for U.S. carmakers as the auto industry and business groups readied a lobbying onslaught to overcome GOP opposition.
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Senior Democrats are drafting legislation that would carve out part of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout for loans to the three major U.S. auto companies in exchange for a government ownership stake in the companies.

They hope to push the measure through during a postelection session of Congress that begins Monday. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC are lobbying feverishly for Congress to approve the aid, citing an economic downturn that has choked off sales and frozen credit.

But the idea is running into resistance from Republicans and President George W. Bush, who are reluctant to back any additional money for the struggling industry. House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio issued a statement Thursday promising to oppose any new auto industry loans.

"Spending billions of additional federal tax dollars with no promises to reform the root causes crippling automakers' competitiveness around the world is neither fair to taxpayers nor sound fiscal policy," Boehner said.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky -- home to a General Motors and two Ford plants -- has been noncommittal about new aid. His office says Congress should instead speed release of $25 billion in loans approved by Congress last month to help automakers develop more fuel-efficient vehicles.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has yet to schedule a legislative session to consider the new loans as Democrats keep hunting for the votes to pass it.

"Right now, I don't think there are the votes," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. While supporting the proposal, Dodd cautioned against "bringing up a proposition that might fail." He suggested that Congress wait until President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in on Jan. 20 to provide further help to the carmakers.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., rejected that idea. His office said he would press forward with a still-unwritten measure next week.

"While we continue to work out the best way forward, we expect the Senate to consider legislation during next week's lame-duck session," said Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley. "But we cannot do it without the support of Senate Republicans."

With feelings still raw from the election and the public outraged about the Wall Street rescue, the auto proposal remains a tough sell. Some Senate Republicans have expressed skepticism that the aid would lead to changes for the companies that could make them viable in the long run.

Still, supporters of the auto bailout hope they can snag 12 to 15 Republicans to join with Democrats in pushing it through. They are targeting lawmakers who represent states with auto plants and auto suppliers, as well as Republicans in states with high unemployment rates.

Sen. Carl M. Levin, D-Mich., an architect of the carmaker aid, said he was "confident that there will be bipartisan support for legislation to support the U.S. auto industry."

Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich of Ohio pledged has pledged his support. "Helping the automakers remain viable is truly putting Main Street over Wall Street," Voinovich said through a spokesman.

Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, R-Mo., left open the possibility that he could be persuaded to back a carmaker rescue. "While I have real concerns with another taxpayer funded bailout, there are also thousands of workers in Missouri whose jobs are on the line so the devil will be in the details," Bond said in a statement.

Auto dealers, who have major political clout because their operations are spread across every congressional district, are preparing a major lobbying effort, as well as asking for additional help from Congress, such as new tax breaks for buying cars.

"We've put them on a high state of readiness," said Andy Koblenz, an executive at the National Auto Dealers Association, said of the car retailers. "We're expecting to activate that network within the next few days."

Auto suppliers that employ about 800,000 workers -- with a big presence in states including Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee -- say they should get a piece of any new emergency loan package.

The legislation could set up a showdown during the president's final days in office. Bush is open to helping the industry, the White House says, but the administration has expressed reservations about doling out more federal dollars to help the auto industry, or using the bailout money to do so.

The bill Democrats are writing would insert the government squarely into the car companies' operations. It would require that the companies submit a plan for long-term viability in exchange for the loans, share a portion of future profits with the government and reimburse taxpayers before any other shareholder, according to aides familiar with it.

"We certainly want to make sure that there's a plan how are you going to get out of this mess," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y.

The car companies also would face tougher restrictions on awarding pay packages to executives and dividends to their shareholders than the financial companies that get a piece of the original bailout.

Associated Press writers Ken Thomas and Sam Hananel contributed to this report

AP
Foreclosure rates up 25 percent year-over-year
Thursday November 13, 8:12 am ET
By Adrian Sainz, AP Real Estate Writer
Nation's foreclosure rate in October increases 25 percent year-over-year, with Nevada on top


MIAMI (AP) -- The number of homeowners caught in the wave of foreclosures in October grew 25 percent nationally over the same month in 2007, data released Thursday showed.
More than 279,500 U.S. homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in October, an increase of 5 percent over September, according to RealtyTrac Inc. One in every 452 housing units received a foreclosure filing, such as a default notice, auction sale notice or bank repossession.

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More than 84,000 properties were repossessed in October, RealtyTrac said.

A nasty brew of strict lending standards, falling home values and a tough economy is filtering through the housing market. By the end of the year, the company expects more than a million bank-owned properties to have piled up on the market, representing around a third of all properties for sale in the U.S.

The collateral damage in the financial markets forced the government to pass a $700 billion financial rescue package last month. The plan was initially to buy bad assets from banks, but Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Wednesday that the rescue package won't purchase those troubled assets.

That plan would have taken too much time, he said, so instead the Treasury will rely on buying stakes in banks and encouraging them to resume more normal lending.

Also Wednesday, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston said the government may let more borrowers qualify for a $300 billion program designed to let troubled homeowners swap risky loans for more affordable ones. The program was launched Oct. 1, but there are concerns that lenders won't participate because they have to voluntarily reduce the value of a loan and take a loss.

In RealtyTrac's report, three states -- Nevada, Arizona, Florida -- had the nation's top foreclosure rates. Nevada posted the nation's highest rate for the 22nd consecutive month in October.

In Nevada, one in every 74 homes received a foreclosure filing last month. Arizona saw one in every 149 housing units receive a foreclosure filing, and in Florida it was one in every 157 homes.

Other states in the top 10 were California, Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, Illinois and Ohio.

However, RealtyTrac noted that, while California had the highest total number of foreclosures in October, the rate in that state was down 18 percent from the previous month.

James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said new laws requiring delays in the foreclosure process have reduced the volume of foreclosure filings in several states. In California, lenders are now required to contact borrowers at least 30 days before filing a default notice. A similar law in North Carolina gives borrowers an extra 45 days.

"While the intention behind this legislation -- to prevent more foreclosures -- is admirable, without a more integrated approach that includes significant loan modifications, the net effect may be merely delaying inevitable foreclosures," Saccacio said. "And in the meantime, the apparent slowing of foreclosure activity understates the severity of the foreclosure problem in these states."

Among cities, Las Vegas had the highest October foreclosure rate among the 230 metro areas tracked in the report, with one in every 62 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Four Florida metro areas ranked in top 10 -- Cape Coral-Fort Myers was second, Miami third, Fort Lauderdale eighth and Orlando 10th. California also had four metro areas in the top 10: Stockton fourth, Merced fifth, Riverside-San Bernardino seventh and Modesto ninth.

The remaining member of the top 10 was Phoenix, which came in sixth.

First female four-star general to be promoted Friday

FORT BELVOIR, Va. (AMC News Service, Nov. 7, 2008) - Lt. Gen. (promotable) Ann E. Dunwoody will become the first female four-star general in U.S. military history Friday, and later that day will assume command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command from Gen. Benjamin S. Griffin in a 2 p.m. ceremony at the AMC headquarters parade field.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. will preside over the ceremony, which will include a 17-gun salute, the AMC Band and the AMC ceremonial color guard.

Dunwoody will be promoted as the first woman four-star general in the U.S. military in a ceremony at the Pentagon earlier in the day.

In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held at the Wood Theater here.

The U.S. Army Materiel Command is the Army's premier provider of materiel readiness - technology, acquisition support, materiel development, logistics, power projection and sustainment - to the total force, across the spectrum of joint military operations. If a Soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it or eats it, AMC provides it.

http://www.army.mil/-news/2008/11/12/14101-first-female...-be-promoted-friday/

This is really cool, men and women being judged on their merits only. Finally, this is great news!

Not so fast. The military is one of the biggest promoters of affirmitive action.

Well, in the fifties, the cops here administered many an extrajudicial punishment and it kept the U.S. crime free for many years until the commie Earl Warren.

Supremacist: Too many blacks on grand jury

A self-described white supremacist charged with plotting to kill President-elect Obama claims in court filings that his indictment should be thrown out because there were too many African-Americans on the grand jury.


Paul Schlesselman, left, and Daniel Cowart are accused of planning to kill more than 100 African-Americans.

Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tennessee, was indicted earlier this month on charges of illegally possessing a sawed-off shotgun, conspiracy to rob a federally licensed gun dealer and making threats against a presidential candidate.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/11/14/obama.plot.indictment/index.html

Group: Murder suspect has long history with Klan

he suspect in the shooting of a woman killed during a Ku Klux Klan initiation has at least a seven-year history of Klan activity, according to an organization that tracks hate groups nationwide.


Relatives describe Cynthia Lynch as having a deep need to feel wanted and eager to join groups.
1 of 3

Raymond "Chuck" Foster, 44, was the founding Imperial Wizard, or national leader, of the Southern White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a Klan faction formed January 1, 2001, in Watson, Louisiana, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"During the next three years, the group developed chapters in three other states while maintaining a low profile," the Montgomery, Alabama-based center said on its Web site.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/11/14/klan.slaying/index.html

Eight arrested in Klan-related killing, police say

(CNN) -- Eight people were arrested Tuesday, one on a charge of murder, in connection with the fatal shooting of a woman at a remote Louisiana campsite during what police say was an initiation ceremony for the Ku Klux Klan.


Chuck Foster is charged with second-degree murder in the woman's death.
1 of 2

The woman, whose identity has not been confirmed, was recruited over the Internet to join the Klan by the suspects, said Capt. George Bonnett of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/11/11/klan.slaying/index.html

Now, to my knowledge, the KKK is not an islamic group, yet still they are engaged in domestic terror. Wonder why nobody cares about this.... Not interesting? Just white people? Terrorists are terrorists, don't matter much what color they are, what kind of passport they hold, and what religion they practice.

These criminals belong in jail!

How about this Exalted Cyclops. Jail em all, ok.

Yeah, you can find KKK members everywhere... like, GOP's mighty chief Trent Lott! lol

"...Lott gave the keynote address at a 1992 national executive board meeting of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a successor organization to the old white Citizens Councils, segregation-era groups the Southern Poverty Law Center refers to as "the white-collar Ku Klux Klan. The C of CC may have changed its name, but it remains a passionate "white racialist" group that condemns intermarriage, integration and immigration by non-whites."

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/208