By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer Mark Stevenson, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 41 mins ago
LOS CABOS, Mexico – Extremely dangerous and strengthening Hurricane Jimena roared toward Mexico's resort-studded Baja California Peninsula on Monday, prompting emergency workers to set up makeshift shelters and chasing away an international finance conference.
Jimena, just short of Category 5 status, could rake the harsh desert region fringed with picturesque beaches and fishing villages by Tuesday evening, forecasters said.
At least 10,000 families will be evacuated from potential flood zones, said Francisco Cota, the local director of Civil Protection. He said 60 shelters would be set up.
A spokesman for the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information said it decided Monday to move the conference — including more than 170 representatives from 54 countries — to Mexico City, even though some delegates had already arrived in Los Cabos.
"The meeting has been planned for two months and the meteorological conditions, by their very nature, are unpredictable," said conference spokesman Anthony Gooch.
Los Cabos Mayor Oscar Nunez said people in poorly constructed homes face "a huge potential risk" right now and they may be forced to evacuate.
Brenda Munoz, who lost her home to a 2001 hurricane, was taking no chances and stocking up on food this time.
"I remember when Hurricane Juliette hit with a lot of intensity. It flattened our home, lots of flooding, lots of disaster," Munoz said in Cabo San Lucas. "We're already prepared with food and everything so it won't catch us off guard."
As rain started falling Monday morning, Mitch Williams of Orange County, California, waited at the airport to fly home from his vacation.
"I know that it's getting closer. ... The hurricane can do a lot of damage if it hits at that strength," he said.
Williams said poorer residents who live in shacks in this vacation town are not well prepared. "It will wipe them out," he said.
His advice for tourists was simple: "Get out."
But on Cabo's famous beaches, some tourists were doing just the opposite, getting into the Pacific to play in the hurricane's big waves.
Although city officials shut down the port, lifeguard Roman Dominguez with the Cabo San Lucas Fire Department said there's no feasible way to close a beach.
"We struggle a lot with surfers," he said. "They're looking for waves."
Lifeguards perched in a tower looked on Monday as two women, one with her boogie board, another on a surf board, paddled into pounding surf under cloudy skies.
Farther south, Jimena kicked up surf along Mexico's mainland western coast and generated strong winds that bent and uprooted trees in the resort town of Zihuatanejo.
By midday Monday, Jimena was a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds near 150 mph (240 kph) and was moving northwest near 8 mph (13 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.
It was centered about 340 miles (545 kilometers) south of Cabo San Lucas.
Hurricanes reach Category 5 — the top danger rating for a hurricane — at 156 mph (250 kph).
Ironically, the entire peninsula is grappling with a severe drought.
Martin Rozendaal who moved to Los Cabos in 1992 to run the Hotel Club Cabo, said residents have a "love-hate relationship" with harsh storms that flood the region almost every summer.
"We need a lot of rain but we don't need the destruction," he said.
Authorities in Cabo Corrientes were setting up shelters in case of heavier winds and rain, said Arturo Garcia, an official with Jalisco's Civil Protection agency.
The U.S. hurricane center issued a public advisory for residents in western Mexico and the southern part of the Baja peninsula to keep tabs on Jimena.
Farther out in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Kevin weakened to a tropical depression with top winds of 35 mph (55 kph). It was centered 880 miles (1,415 kilometers) west-southwest of the Baja peninsula's southern tip.
Listen to audio! Witnesses contend interpreter tried to change her answer to 'Hawaii'
Posted: August 24, 2009
9:16 pm Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
Barack Obama and his step-grandmother Sarah Hussein Obama
|
Although no other evidence has surfaced placing Barack Obama's mother in Kenya at the time of the president's birth, a taped telephone conversation in which his Kenyan step-grandmother purportedly claims he was born in the coastal city of Mombasa has become an Internet hit since its submission as evidence in a lawsuit challenging the president's eligibility.
Philip J. Berg, a former Pennsylvania deputy attorney general, included a transcript of the tape and sworn affidavits in a filing with the U.S. Supreme Court after lower courts dismissed as frivolous his Aug. 21, 2008, complaint alleging Obama was born in Mombasa.
The Oct. 16, 2008, telephone interview was conducted by American Christian minister Ron McRae, who describes himself in his affidavit as an overseer of the Anabaptist Churches in North America and a "Presiding Elder on the African Presbytery."
McRae, who called from Detroit, says Sarah Obama was in a public setting with several hundred people listening to the telephone call on a speakerphone. The interpreter was Vitalis Akech Ogombe, the community chairman of Sarah Obama's village of Nyang'oma Kogelo in Western Kenya, 30 miles west of the Lake Victoria-city of Kisumu.
"In the ensuing public conversation, I asked Ms. Obama specifically, 'Were you present when your grandson was born in Kenya?'" McRae testified in his sworn statement. "This was asked to her in translation twice, and both times she replied, "Yes! Yes she was! She was present when Obama was born."
Critics point out many reasons to be skeptical of the claim, including the possibility something was lost in the translation between an American minister who presupposed Obama was born in Kenya and an elderly African woman who reportedly knows no English. Amid cross-talk in a combination of English, Swahili and the local Luo tribal dialect, could she have understood McRae simply to be asking where she was when Barack Obama Jr. was born?
Moreover, the critics argue, her interpreter immediately clarified that her famous grandson was born in Hawaii, not Kenya.
Many versions of the tape posted by bloggers who contend it is evidence Obama was born in Kenya are cut off immediately after the point where the grandmother apparently affirms her presence at the birth. The truncated versions leave out the section in which the interpreter insists she actually meant the birth took place in the U.S.
In addition, a March 27, 2007, story by Tim Jones of the Tribune News Service recounts how Sarah Obama received a letter from Barack Obama Sr. telling of his plan to marry Stanley Ann Dunham. Sarah Hussein's husband, Hussein Onyango Obama, was said to be angered by the news. Six months later, Jones reported, the Kenyan family received a letter announcing the Aug. 4, 1961, birth. The Tribune reporter noted an interview with Sarah Obama in which she said she was "so happy to have a grandchild in the U.S."
Aside from the inference that the grandmother first learned of the birth through a letter, the Kenyan patriarch's anger over the marriage makes it even more unlikely Ann Dunham would have traveled to Kenya during her pregnancy.
Nevertheless, two members of Sarah Hussein Obama's Luo tribe who are fluent in the local Luo dialect, Swahlili and English told WND that after carefully listening to the tape they believe she declared Barack Obama Jr. was born in Mombasa, Kenya, and that she was present at the birth.
Tale of the tape
Sarah Hussein Obama, who is not a blood relative of the president, is the third wife of Obama's paternal grandfather. According to New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who visited her village during the presidential campaign, the grandmother is illiterate and doesn't know when she was born. Several news reports say she was born in 1922.
The controversy over the tape centers on the interpreter, who at the end interjects repeatedly that the grandmother said Obama was born in Hawaii.
One of the WND sources who listened to the tape knows Sarah Obama and has met with her in her home village. The other holds a respected position in the Kenyan government.
The source who knows the grandmother declared: "I have keenly and attentively listened to the tape over and over again, and I can confirm from Sarah's own confession that Barack Obama was born in Kenya in her presence."
The source said that while Sarah Obama' voice is hard to hear on the recording, "she admits of actually having been there at his birth."
He said that while the people in the room with Sarah Obama "tried as much as they [could] to change the tone of the whole story … to me it seems someone is coaching her from the background and seemingly trying to guide her on what to say."
The Kenyan government source agreed.
"I have listened to the tape," he said. "The preacher asked whether Barack Obama was born in Mombasa, and the translator asked the same. When she said Mombasa, it was like a surprise, and those there thought she could not have meant to say Mombasa."
The source said that at that point "they began insisting Hawaii was where Barack Obama was born."
Sarah Obama can be heard uttering "Mombasa" in response to McRae's question about where Obama was born.
The audio tape of the interview can be heard here:
At this point a confused discussion erupts in the background in Kogelo.
McRae explained the disruption as follows:
Though, some few younger relatives, including Mr. Ogombe, have obviously been versed to counter such facts with the purported information from the American news media that Obama was born in Hawaii, Ms. Sarah Hussein Obama was very adamant that her grandson, Senator Barack Huseein Obama, was born in Kenya, and that she was present and witnessed his birth in Kenya, not the United States.
When Mr. Ogombe attempted to counter Sarah Obama's clear responses to the question, verifying the birth of Senator Obama in Kenya, I asked Mr. Ogombe, how she could be present at Barack Obama's birth if the Senator was born in Hawaii, but Ogombe would not answer the question, instead he repeatedly tried to insert that, "No, No, No. He was born in the United States!
But during the conversation, Ms. Sarah Hussein Obama never changed her reply that she was indeed present when Senator Barack Obama was born in Kenya," McRae concluded.
A second affidavit was sworn by Kenyan Anabaptist minister Rev. Kweli Shuhubia, a pseudonym chosen to protect his safety.
Shuhubia, a native evangelist and translator for the Anabaptist churches in Kenya, was present in Kogelo during the taped telephone conversation.
Shuhubia's recollection of the conversation agrees with McRae's and the interpretation of the interview by WND's sources in Kenya.
Bishop McRae asked Ms. Obama specifically, "Were you present when your grandson Barack Obama was born in Kenya?" This was asked to here in translation twice, and both times she specifically replied, "Yes."
It appeared Ms. Obama's relatives and her grandson, handling the translation, had obviously been versed to counter such facts with the purported information from the American news media that Obama was born in Hawaii. Despite this, Ms. Sarah Hussein Obama was very adamant that her grandson, Senator Barack Hussein Obama, was born in Kenya, and that she was present and witnessed his birth in Kenya, not the United States.
When Ms. Obama's grandson attempted to counter his grandmother's clear responses to the question, verifying the birth of Senator Obama in Kenya, Bishop McRae asked her grandson, how she could be present at Barack Obama's birth if the Senator was born in Hawaii, but the grandson would not answer the question, instead he repeatedly tried to insert that, "No, No, No. He was born in the United States!"
Shuhubia also testified in his affidavit that Sarah Obama "never changed her reply" that she was present in person when Senator Obama was born in Kenya.
He further testified that he traveled to Mombasa, Kenya, where he interviewed personnel at Coast Provincial Hospital
"I then had meetings with the Provincial Civil Registrar," he swore. "I learned there were records of Ann Dunham giving birth to Barack Hussein Obama, III, in Mombasa, Kenya, on Aug. 4, 1961.
"I spoke directly with an Official, the Principal Registrar, who openly confirmed the birthing records of Senator Barack H. Obama Jr. and his mother were present, however the file on Barack H. Obama Jr.'s birth in Kenya is top secret," he stated.
I think this is an exceptional idea! I’ve signed the petition on
Congressman Fleming’s website and encourage you to do likewise. Why
should politicians be excluded from the healthcare they are trying to
force off on us???
The Senate health committee voted 12-11 in favor of a two-page
amendment courtesy of Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn that would require
all Members and their staffs to enroll in any new government-run health
plan. Yet all Democrats with the exceptions of acting chairman Chris Dodd, Barbara
Mikulski and Ted Kennedy via proxy voted nay.
It took me less than a minute to sign up to require our congressmen and
senators to drink at the same trough! Three cheers for Congressman John
Fleming of Louisiana!
Congressman John Fleming (Louisiana physician) has proposed an amendment
that would require congressmen and senators to take the same healthcare
plan they force on us (under proposed legislation they are curiously
exempt).
Congressman Fleming is encouraging people to go on his Website and sign
his petition (very simple - just first, last and email). I have immediately
done just that at:
http://fleming.house.gov/in...
Please urge as many people as you can to do the same!
If Congress forces this on the American people, the Congressmen should
have to accept the same level of health care for themselves and their
families.
A Marine Vet speaks his mind.
By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer Toby Sterling, Associated Press Writer – Thu Aug 27, 11:35 am ET
AMSTERDAM – It's not green cheese, but it might as well be.
The Dutch national museum said Thursday that one of its prized possessions, a rock supposedly brought back from the moon by U.S. astronauts, is just a piece of petrified wood.
Rijksmuseum spokeswoman Xandra van Gelder, who oversaw the investigation that proved the piece was a fake, said the museum will keep it anyway as a curiosity.
"It's a good story, with some questions that are still unanswered," she said. "We can laugh about it."
The museum acquired the rock after the death of former Prime Minister Willem Drees in 1988. Drees received it as a private gift on Oct. 9, 1969 from then-U.S. ambassador J. William Middendorf during a visit by the three Apollo 11 astronauts, part of their "Giant Leap" goodwill tour after the first moon landing.
Middendorf, who lives in Rhode Island, told Dutch broadcaster NOS news that he had gotten it from the U.S. State Department, but couldn't recall the exact details.
"I do remember that (Drees) was very interested in the little piece of stone," the NOS quoted Middendorf as saying. "But that it's not real, I don't know anything about that."
He could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
The U.S. Embassy in the Hague said it was investigating the matter.
The museum had vetted the moon rock with a phone call to NASA, Van Gelder said.
She said the space agency told the museum then that it was possible the Netherlands had received a rock: NASA gave moon rocks to more than 100 countries in the early 1970s, but those were from later missions.
"Apparently no one thought to doubt it, since it came from the prime minister's collection," Van Gelder said.
The rock is not usually on display; the museum is primarily known for its paintings and other works of fine art by masters such as Rembrandt.
A jagged fist-size stone with reddish tints, it was mounted and placed above a plaque that said, "With the compliments of the Ambassador of the United States of America ... to commemorate the visit to The Netherlands of the Apollo-11 astronauts." The plaque does not specify that the rock came from the moon's surface
It was given at the opening of an exhibition on space exploration.
It was on show in 2006 and a space expert informed the museum it was unlikely NASA would have given away any moon rocks three months after Apollo returned to Earth.
Researchers from Amsterdam's Free University said they could see at a glance the rock was probably not from the moon. They followed the initial appraisal up with extensive testing.
"It's a nondescript, pretty-much-worthless stone," Geologist Frank Beunk concluded in an article published by the museum.
He said the rock, which the museum at one point insured for more than half a million dollars, was worth no more than euro50 ($70).
Van Gelder said one important unanswered question is why Drees was given the stone. He was 83 years old in 1969 and had been out of office for 11 years. On the other hand, he was the country's elder statesman, the prime minister who helped the Netherlands rebuild after World War II.
Middendorf was treasurer of the Republic National Committee from 1965 until 1969, when President Richard Nixon dispatched him to the Netherlands.
OK guys heres something everyone can do together and still stay out of punchin distance..its Karaoke TV
http://www.blogtv.com/Peopl...
you will have to signup for a free membership to participate or watch..dont sweat it
http://www.livescience.com/...>LiveScience Staff
livescience.com –
Tue Aug 25, 5:06 pm ET
Heat waves out West are getting worse as the climate changes, a new study finds.
One example: From mid July to early August 2006, a heat wave swept through the southwestern United States. Temperature records were broken at many locations and unusually high humidity levels were recorded.
The event included extreme muggy heat that is part of a trend of increasing nighttime heat wave activity observed over the last six decades, the researchers said in a statement today. This trend has accelerated since the 1980s and has become especially prevalent in this decade, they conclude.
The results are not isolated, and they fit with predictions that a warmer world will produce greater extremes.
A study in 2007 found European heat waves are http://www.livescience.com/...>nearly twice as long as they were a century ago and the number of hot summer days there have tripled.
Why it matters: Other studies show http://www.livescience.com/...>heat waves are deadlier than hurricanes or tornadoes, and they have been so throughout modern history. Climate experts have warned that the sort of serious http://www.livescience.com/...>heat wave that is now possible given current climate conditions, but which has not struck yet, could kill thousands of U.S. residents.
And there's some irony in the problem:
As heat waves worsen, more energy is used to run air conditioners. If the electricity is generated using fossil fuels, this could also mean even more emissions of heat-trapping gases that cause climate change, scientists wrote in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology last year.
"Electricity demand for industrial and home cooling increases near linearly with temperature," said the leader of that study, Norman Miller, an earth scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and geography professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
"In the future, widespread http://www.livescience.com/...>climate warming across the western U.S. could further strain the electricity grid, making brownouts or even rolling blackouts more frequent," Miller said.
The nighttime heat waves of 2001, 2003 and 2006 were each unprecedented on record when they occurred. The source of the moisture that propelled the heat waves was an area of the eastern Pacific Ocean where a strong increase in sea surface temperatures has been observed and linked to global-scale trends of human-induced warming of the upper oceans, the new study found.
"Water vapor is the main greenhouse gas. During the night in humid environments, air doesn't cool nearly as much as it does in dry conditions," said study leader Alexander Gershunov of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.
"Elevated humidity also causes heat waves to last longer," Gershunov explained. "Hotter nights pre-condition hotter days and the cycle feeds on itself until the winds change. The weather pattern that traditionally causes heat waves in California is tending to bring with it more humidity, changing the character of heat waves from the dry daytime heat and cool nights typical for this region, to the muggy heat around the clock that locals are simply not accustomed to."
The 2006 event in particular stressed the state's emergency services programs and killed so many dairy cows that milk production fell 10 percent.
A preliminary version of the study was published July 27 in the online edition of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate.
Miller's team, in last year's study, also looked at the increase in heat-wave severity.
In 2008, California experienced an unusually early heat wave in May, they noted: Some 119 new daily high temperature records were set during the May heat wave, including the earliest day in the year in which Death Valley temperatures reached 120 degrees Fahrenheit (on May 19, beating the old record of May 25 set in 1913).
There's been no letup in the Southwest this year. In Phoenix, this July was the hottest on record, with the average of all highs and lows for the month being 98.3 degrees. One reason, meteorologists said: Overnight lows were much warmer than normal.
As far as Christianlty losing its place on planet earth..looks like you liberals might very well get your wish. Trouble is you will suffer right along with the rest of us..
Who would have ever thunk 'One World Order'
really meant
'Muslim Domination'
Oh thats right O has Muslim ties..ain't that freakin *AMAZING*
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, a major figure in the Democratic Party who took the helm of one of America's most fabled political families after two older brothers were assassinated, died late on Tuesday, CNN said. He was 77.
One of the most influential and longest-serving senators in U.S. history -- a liberal standard-bearer who was also known as a consummate congressional dealmaker -- Kennedy had been battling brain cancer, which was diagnosed in May 2008.
Known as "Teddy," he was the brother of President John Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, Senator Robert Kennedy, fatally shot while campaigning for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination, and Joe Kennedy, a pilot killed in World War Two.
Tell me this doesnt make your mouth water. would be great for the upcoming holiday feasts too.
When Kristin Faure’s Patriot Elementary kindergarten class grew from 20 to 30 students last year, she was continually surprised by how little she had to change.
Aside from space issues, like purchasing another half a rug for kids to sit on, Faure said it wasn’t as difficult as one would think to accommodate 10 extra students.
And test scores stayed the same — indicating the larger class size didn’t affect the students’ ability to learn.
“Teachers are usually pretty flexible by nature, so we were able to teach our core curriculum in a little bit different manner, but it wasn’t completely out of the question,” said Faure, whose school is in the Rosedale Union School District.
In fact, several other teachers contacted said they’re not too worried about the class-size increases coming to some local schools as a result of budget cuts.
Sure, they’d rather teach fewer kids, they say, but they’ll make it work.
Before and after
Cathy Barnett, a first-grade teacher in the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District, has instructed kids both before and during class-size reduction.
When she started teaching 22 years ago, 27 or 28 students per class was the average. Her largest class was 33 students.
Last year she had only 18.
Barnett said she’s confident that with good planning and organization in the classroom she can handle any number of students.
“I just feel that teachers are so resourceful and so proactive and so caring about their students — they will find a way, regardless of circumstances, to meet the needs of their pupils,” Barnett said.
Other than purchasing a few extra supply boxes, Reagan Elementary kindergarten teacher Jeff Maberry said he doesn’t need to do much to prepare for a bigger class.
He’s taught for 17 years, and his largest class was 29 students before class-size reduction took effect.
The key to success in a bigger class is organization and creativity, like dividing students into small groups and inviting parents or other teachers to help with the rotating stations.
Maberry said there actually are advantages to larger classes: more diversity and more opportunity for parent volunteers.
“Kids are kids, whether there are 20 or 30,” he said. “I’ve done clay and painting projects with 29 kids before — it’s just going to take more time and preparation on my part.”
In Rosedale, some classes are actually getting smaller. Patriot kindergarten teacher Stephanie Hughes said even though she handled 30 students just fine, she’s looking forward to the drop to 24.
“They still got the one-on-one (individual attention), they just didn’t get as much,” Hughes said.
One teacher’s concerns
There are dissenting views.
As a parent and a teacher in the Bakersfield City School District, Shun Yee Florence Flesche said class size does affect student achievement. Not only do kids need individual attention from teachers academically, many need emotional support, she said.
And in a large class, Flesche said, students are unable to get that extra help and attention.
“We need to listen to their needs and set aside time to listen to them,” Flesche said. “If they are being bothered and they are not able to talk about it, learning really cannot take place if you are bothered emotionally or mentally.”
What studies say
A study by the Public Policy Institute of California showed there’s a double-edged sword to class-size reduction.
Smaller classes raise student achievement and increase test scores in grades K-3, it found. The effects were pronounced in schools serving predominately lower-income students.
But the study also found class-size reduction led to a dramatic increase in the percentages of inexperienced and uncertified teachers.
According to the California Teachers Association Web site, small classes improve student learning. It cited a June 2002 study by the Public Policy Institute of California that found five of the state’s largest school districts reported significant test score gains since the program began in 1996.
Test scores for third-grade students increased by 14 percent in math and 9 percent in reading in schools with mostly low-income students, according to the study.
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer – Sun Aug 23, 7:14 pm ET
WASHINGTON – Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise. The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won't be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn't happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1975.
By law, Social Security benefits cannot go down. Nevertheless, monthly payments would drop for millions of people in the Medicare prescription drug program because the premiums, which often are deducted from Social Security payments, are scheduled to go up slightly.
"I will promise you, they count on that COLA," said Barbara Kennelly, a former Democratic congresswoman from Connecticut who now heads the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. "To some people, it might not be a big deal. But to seniors, especially with their health care costs, it is a big deal."
Cost of living adjustments are pegged to inflation, which has been negative this year, largely because energy prices are below 2008 levels.
Advocates say older people still face higher prices because they spend a disproportionate amount of their income on health care, where costs rise faster than inflation. Many also have suffered from declining home values and shrinking stock portfolios just as they are relying on those assets for income.
"For many elderly, they don't feel that inflation is low because their expenses are still going up," said David Certner, legislative policy director for AARP. "Anyone who has savings and investments has seen some serious losses."
About 50 million retired and disabled Americans receive Social Security benefits. The average monthly benefit for retirees is $1,153 this year. All beneficiaries received a 5.8 percent increase in January, the largest since 1982.
More than 32 million people are in the Medicare prescription drug program. Average monthly premiums are set to go from $28 this year to $30 next year, though they vary by plan. About 6 million people in the program have premiums deducted from their monthly Social Security payments, according to the Social Security Administration.
Millions of people with Medicare Part B coverage for doctors' visits also have their premiums deducted from Social Security payments. Part B premiums are expected to rise as well. But under the law, the increase cannot be larger than the increase in Social Security benefits for most recipients.
There is no such hold-harmless provision for drug premiums.
Kennelly's group wants Congress to increase Social Security benefits next year, even though the formula doesn't call for it. She would like to see either a 1 percent increase in monthly payments or a one-time payment of $150.
The cost of a one-time payment, a little less than $8 billion, could be covered by increasing the amount of income subjected to Social Security taxes, Kennelly said. Workers only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,800 of income, a limit that rises each year with the average national wage.
But the limit only increases if monthly benefits increase.
Critics argue that Social Security recipients shouldn't get an increase when inflation is negative. They note that recipients got a big increase in January — after energy prices had started to fall. They also note that Social Security recipients received one-time $250 payments in the spring as part of the government's economic stimulus package.
Consumer prices are down from 2008 levels, giving Social Security recipients more purchasing power, even if their benefits stay the same, said Andrew G. Biggs, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.
"Seniors may perceive that they are being hurt because there is no COLA, but they are in fact not getting hurt," Biggs said. "Congress has to be able to tell people they are not getting everything they want."
Social Security is also facing long-term financial problems. The retirement program is projected to start paying out more money than it receives in 2016. Without changes, the retirement fund will be depleted in 2037, according to the Social Security trustees' annual report this year.
President Barack Obama has said he would like tackle Social Security next year, after Congress finishes work on health care, climate change and new financial regulations.
Lawmakers are preoccupied by health care, making it difficult to address other tough issues. Advocates for older people hope their efforts will get a boost in October, when the Social Security Administration officially announces that there will not be an increase in benefits next year.
"I think a lot of seniors do not know what's coming down the pike, and I believe that when they hear that, they're going to be upset," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who is working on a proposal for one-time payments for Social Security recipients.
"It is my view that seniors are going to need help this year, and it would not be acceptable for Congress to simply turn its back," he said.
By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 43 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Hurricane Bill blew out in time for the Obama family to blow in to Martha's Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast for the president's first vacation since taking office.
The National Hurricane Center on early Sunday lifted a tropical storm warning that had included the small island where the first family plans a weeklong break. The hurricane, moving away from the New England coast offshore and closer to Nova Scotia, forced the president to delay his departure from Andrews Air Force Base by a few hours to midafternoon.
Some Obama friends, including White House adviser Valerie Jarrett and Chicago physician Eric Whitaker, planned to accompany the family. The president has no official events scheduled in the week ahead. Don't be surprised if he finds time to tee it up on the golf course.
Then there are the likely trips for ice cream and salt water taffy, possibly a bike ride and plenty of quiet time at a secluded 28-acre private estate that rents for $35,000 a week.
Ahead of the trip, Obama and his aides asked for privacy for his daughters, 8-year-old Sasha and 11-year-old Malia.
"It is our strong hope and desire that you all, during this family vacation, will respect the privacy of Sasha and Malia Obama. This is a strong request by the first family," press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters, conveying a direct appeal from the Oval Office.
There's talk that Obama may visit ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy at his vacation home in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod. A visit with Kennedy, who has brain cancer, could provide a rallying point for Democrats as Obama seeks to achieve one of Kennedy's career goals: overhauling the nation's health insurance system to provide near-universal coverage.
Vendors on Martha's Vineyard are selling T-shirts with the first family's pictures and even promoting Bo, the first dog who will join the Obamas. There are cupcakes and ice creams named for the Obamas and cardboard cutouts of the president in storefront windows.
The Vineyard is just 23 miles long with a year-round population of about 15,000. Any motorcade is certain to draw attention on an island already crowded with summer visitors.
The playground for the rich was a vacation spot for President Bill Clinton and President Ulysses S. Grant. Obama has visited twice before. More typically he has vacationed in Hawaii, where he was born and spent time as a child.
Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton were island regulars through the highs and lows of Clinton's presidency. On their first presidential vacation there in 1993, they were photographed happily sailing, golfing and exploring the island's restaurants and scenery together.
Five years later, it was a different story. The Clintons headed for the island just hours after the president publicly confessed to an inappropriate relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky.
NOW IT'S OFFICIAL! After spending $950,000 on attorneys to fend off releasing ANYTHING
to prove he is a citizen of USA
Obama recently released his Hawaii birth certificate......and I hope, once and for all the matter will be dropped and I will not have five or six emails eachday from all you ultra-right-wingers with a different conspiracy angle...
He was elected as our President and we need to get ver the fact we lost... !! So please stop stirring up things and trying to discredit him with all these stupid and groundless rumors.....
Attached is a copy of his birth certificate and I hope this will put the matter to rest once and for all!
A gala event has occurred in Gaza.
Hamas sponsored a mass wedding for four hundred and fifty couples. Most of the grooms were in their mid to late twenties; most of brides were under ten.
Muslim dignitaries including Mahmud Zahar, a leader of Hamas, were on hand to congratulate the couples who took part in the carefully staged celebration.
“We are saying to the world and to America that you cannot deny us joy and happiness,” Zahar told the grooms, all of whom were dressed in identical black suits and hailed from the nearby Jabalia refugee camp.
Each groom received a gift of 500 dollars from Hamas.
The pre-pubescent girls, dressed in white gowns and adorned with garish make-up, received bridal bouquets.
“We are presenting this wedding as a gift to our people who stood firm in the face of the siege and the war,” local Hamas strongman Ibrahim Salaf said in a speech.
The wedding photos tell the rest of the sordid tale.
The International Center for Research on Women now estimates that there are 51 million child brides now living on planet earth and almost all in Muslim countries.
Twenty-nine percent of these child brides are regularly beaten and molested by their husbands in Egypt; twenty six percent receive similar abuse in Jordan.
Every year, three million Muslim girls are subjected to genital mutilation, according to UNICEF. This practice has not been outlawed in many parts of America.
The Islamic practice of pedophilia dates back to the prophet Muhammad, who amassed eleven wives and many concubines after the death of his furst wife Khadijah in 619 A.D.
After Muhammad’s elderly wife, Khadijah, died in 619 A.D., he amassed eleven wives. He arranged the visits to the tents of his women around their menstrual cycles. His capacity for sexual congress seemed to be boundless. Sahih Bukhari, one of the most revered Islamic texts, recounts: “The Prophet used to visit his wives in a round, during the day and night, and they were eleven in number. I asked Anas, “Had the Prophet the strength for it?’ Anas replied, ‘We used to say that the Prophet had the [sexual] stamina of thirty [men].’”
For in-between treats, the Prophet kept a stable of concubines, including Reihana, his Jewish captive. His wives and mistresses were compelled by Islamic law to satisfy his sexual needs at any time of the day or night, and the Prophet reserved the right to enjoy them “from the top of their heads to the bottom of their feet.”[2]
This might not appear shocking to students of the Kinsley Report, except for the case of Aisha, Muhammad’s favorite wife. Aisha was the daughter of Abu Bakr, the Prophet’s closest friend and most faithful follower. As soon as Muhammad laid eyes on Aisha, he became to fantasize of having sex with her. There was a problem with this fantasy. Aisha, at that time, was a small child of four or five, while Muhammad was a middle-aged man of fifty.[3]
Still and all, the Prophet wasted no time in making his fantasy a reality. When Aisha turned six, Muhammad asked Abu Bakr for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Abu Bakr thought that such a union would be improper – - not because Aisha was a mere child but rather because he considered himself Muhammad’s brother. The Prophet quickly brushed aside this objection by saying that the union was perfectly right in the eyes of Allah. Abu Bakr consented. And Muhammad took the little girl as his new bride.
When they were married, Muhammad, in his mercy, permitted Aisha to take her toys, including her dolls, to their new tent.[4] The marriage was consummated when Aisha was nine, and the Prophet fifty-three.
The three year waiting period was not caused by Muhammad’s concern of sexually molesting a child but rather by the fact that Aisha contracted some disease which caused her to lose her hair.
Pedophilia was not only practiced by Muhammad but also sanctioned by the Quran. In its discussion of the waiting period required to determine if a wife is pregnant before divorce, the sacred text says, “If you are in doubt concerning those of your wives who have ceased menstruating, know that their waiting period shall be three months. The same shall apply to those who have not yet menstruated”(65:4). Those who think that modern Muslims have abandoned this teaching should study the pictures and videos that accompany this article and recall the words of Ayatollah Khomeini, the most famous Islamic cleric of the 20th Century:
A man can have sexual pleasure from a child as young as a baby. However, he should not penetrate; sodomizing the child is OK. If a man penetrates and damages the child, then he should be responsible for her subsistence all her life. This girl, however, does not count as one of his four permanent wives. The man will not be eligible to marry the girl’s sister. . . It is better for a girl to marry in such a time when she would begin menstruation at her husband’s house rather than her father’s house. Any father marrying his daughter so young will have a permanent place in heaven
heres an MSNBC video on the abuse on more of the women there. count yourselves lucky ladys
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/...
These are the things we're supposed to do to remove the cholesterol around our brain and try to slow up Alzheimer's Disease..
A great test, do it until you get 100%!
Bet you can't get 100% on the first try! But I'm rootin' for ya...
This is pretty neat! See how you do with the colors!
Have fun!
It takes an average of 5 tries to get to 100%.
Follow the directions!
It's harder than it seems, as it should be!
A brain waker-upper for today!
Click here to start
By TIM MARTIN, Associated Press Writer Tim Martin, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 36 mins ago
LANSING, Mich. – Obama administration officials plan on Thursday to tour a soon-to-be-shuttered Michigan state prison considered an option to hold terrorism suspects now detained at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Two government officials said representatives of the Defense, Justice and Homeland Security departments would visit a state prison in Standish. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the visit.
An Obama administration official said the visit was intended to gather information about the facility and no decisions had been made about where to move the detainees. Multiple options are being considered, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.
The maximum-security prison about 145 miles northwest of Detroit and the military penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., are among the sites being considered to house the detainees if the prison in Cuba is closed by early 2010, as ordered by President Barack Obama.
Public pressure is mounting to do something to save the Standish prison, the region's largest employer with about 340 workers. Arenac County's unemployment rate already is 17.3 percent and the prison could soon close in a round of state budget cuts.
"If Standish Max becomes vacant, the impact would be devastating," said state Rep. Tim Moore, a Republican who represents the region in the Michigan Legislature. "Arenac County would be a ghost town."
California, Pennsylvania and possibly some other states have talked with Michigan officials about paying to house some of their prisoners in Standish. That appears to be the preferred option, but many in the area would be open to taking Guantanamo prisoners if everything else fails.
Local residents want the prison to remain open, but some are skittish about the prospects of suspected terrorists being housed in their small, relatively rural town.
"There's a difference between a homegrown criminal and a jihadist," said Dave Munson, a Standish restaurant and bar owner. "I think we're going to be a target. They like 'soft' targets so they're going to come after us if their people are there."
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has said she would rather take in prisoners from other states, such as California, than the Guantanamo detainees.
1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.
2. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.
3. No one expects you to run--anywhere.
4. People call at 9 pm and ask, did I wake you?
5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.
6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
7. Things you buy now won't wear out.
8. You can eat supper at 4 pm.
9. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
10. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room.
11. You sing along with elevator music.
12.. Your eyes won't get much worse.
13. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service.
14. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.
15. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.
16. You can't remember who sent you this list.
17. And Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
I'm planning to move my family and extended family (18-20 mouths) into Mexico for my health, and I would like to ask you to assist me.
We're planning to simply walk across the border from the U.S. into Mexico , and we'll need your help to make a few arrangements.
We plan to skip all the legal stuff like visas, passports, immigration quotas and laws. I'm sure they handle those things the same way you do here.
So, would you mind telling your buddy, President Calderon, that I'm on my way over? Please let him know that I will be expecting the following:
1. Free medical care for my entire family. 2. English-speaking government bureaucrats for all services I might need, whether I use them or not.
3. All Mexico government forms need to also be printed in English.
4. I want my kids to be taught Spanish by English-speaking (bi-lingual) teachers.
5. Schools need to include classes on American culture and history.
6. I want my kids to see the American flag on one of the flag poles at their school.
7. Please plan to feed my kids at school for both breakfast and lunch.
8. I will need a local Mexican driver's license so I can get easy access to government services.
9. I do plan to get a car and drive in Mexico, but, I don't plan to purchase car insurance, and I probably won't make any special effort to learn local traffic laws.
10. In case one of the Mexican police officers does not get the memo from their president to leave me alone, please be sure that every patrol car has at least one English-speaking officer.
11. I plan to fly the U.S. flag from my house top, put U S. flag decals on my car, and have a gigantic celebration on July 4th.
I do not want any complaints or negative comments from the locals.
12. I would also like to have a nice job without paying any taxes, or have any labor or tax laws enforced on any business I may start.
13. Please have the president tell all the Mexican people to be extremely nice and never say a critical things about me or my family, or about the strain we might place on their economy.
I know this is an easy request because you already do all these things for all his people who come to the U.S. from Mexico . I am sure that President Calderon won't mind returning the favor if you ask him nicely.
Oh come on that last one was funny
now this could wake you up in the morning.
in the long version he gets blown off in the mud and rips the rearend out of his britches..they show his bleedin hinney in typical Jack Arse video style... abit too much cussin for TBC's policy so heres the short form..still looks like fun..
we could all learn from our animal friends...
In researching Medi-Cal procedures and rules yesterday, I came across these two items that can effect us as Californians
You tell me what you think about this! As far as I know it hasnt been addressed in a public forum yet and its a really Big Issue being overlooked if you are a home owner or plan to be.
B. Transfer Assets to Spouse, Children or Family Members
Medi-Cal considers its payments of medical bills and nursing home costs to be loans. After the ill person dies, Medi-Cal will collect its payments from the ill person's remaining assets. An important exception is that Medi-Cal will delay collecting against a home the ill person owned or partly owned at death until a spouse still living in the home has also died. At that time, Medi-Cal will collect against the estate up to the value of the interest that was transferred to the spouse by will, living trust, joint tenancy, or other means of inheritance when the ill person died. But if the ill person's minor or disabled child was living in the home when the ill person died, Medi-Cal is forever barred from making a claim.
1. Transfer of home to spouse. The home can be transferred into the name of the at-home spouse while the ill person is still alive. The home then belongs only to the spouse, and Medi-Cal cannot later collect a claim from it. The spouse can even sell the home and use the proceeds for his or her own benefit with no effect on the ill person's Medi-Cal eligibility, or transfer the home to a child or family member. In a sale or transfer, the at-home spouse will have to renegotiate, refinance, or pay off any mortgage on the home.
Perpetuum Jazzile is an acappella jazz choir from 'Slovenia'. It’s hard to think of something further from an ‘80s rock band. But their version of Africa may be better than the original.
The beginning of this video is really striking. Group members simulate an African thunderstorm with their hands.
It’s really something to see and hear.(Don't turn up your sound - the sound of raindrops begins really soft.)
this past week we have been awarded the task of placing my mother in law into a skilled nursing facility..We are trying to sort out the finances this morning and a question has risen I hope some one can answer. We've been looking all morning on the net to find a legal answer and time is running out..she goes in this afternoon and having our ducks in a row when we go talk to administration would be great..
She has a mercedes in her name and our nieces name. She also cosigned on our nieces honda car. Both cars are paid for..Can Medicare/medical confiscate those automobiles to help cover her care costs?
JERUSALEM (Aug 5) -- A horse took to the highway and trampled an oncoming car in an encounter captured on video by a group of tourists in northern Israel.
One of the tourists turned on a camera when three horses came onto the highway and began to canter alongside their car, but the scene took a bizarre turn when an oncoming car came on the scene.
The first two horses moved out of the sedan's path, but the third took it head-on, smashing through its windshield with its hooves before leaping over the car and continuing on its way.
The video captured the impact as well as the passengers hollering "Oh God" and "Whoa."
Israel's Channel 2 TV showed the video Tuesday and said the driver suffered minor cuts from smashed glass and the horse was lightly injured.
a very interesting discussion about the Cash for Clunkers program...your gonna freak when you see this. well most of you..I know of atleast one person on TBC that wouldnt have a problem with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
THANK YOU JASON
its painfully obvious that the single payer system is designed to allow the very ill a chance to die before they get their much needed health care..
WAKE UP America!!!!
Want to know how to order a pizza in 2010? Click the link and see. Turn up the volume, listen closely and watch the pointer!
http://aclu.org/pizza/image...
and the media drug sarah through the mud for buying a few clothes..this is outragious to even think about doing something like this little lone actually doing it
July 7, 2009
Dr. Paul L. Williams
“In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much,” she said. “See, that’s why I left a job at a big law firm for a career in public service, “ Michelle Obama
No, Michele Obama does not get paid to serve as the First Lady and she doesn’t perform any official duties. But this hasn’t deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession. Just think Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War. And Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary.
How things have changed! If you’re one of the tens of millions of Americans facing certain destitution, earning less than subsistence wages stocking the shelves at Wal-Mart or serving up McDonald cheeseburgers, prepare to scream and then come to realize that the benefit package for these servants of Miz Michelle are the same as members of the national security and defense departments and the bill for these assorted lackeys is paid by John Q. Public:
1. $172,2000 - Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff)
2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Policy And Projects For The First Lady)
3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary)
4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the First Lady)
5. Winter, Melissa E. (Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
6. $90,000 - Medina, David S. (Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
7. $84,000 - Lelyveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First Lady)
8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady)
9. $70,000 -=2 0Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady)
10 $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
11. Reinstein, Joseph B. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
12. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (Deputy Director of Scheduling and Events Coordinator For The First Lady)
13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for the First Lady)
14. Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First Lady)
15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (Associate Director and Deputy Press Secretary To The First Lady)
16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (Special Assistant for Scheduling and Traveling Aide To The First Lady)
17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Associate Director of Correspondence For The First Lady)
18. Tubman, Samantha (Deputy Associate Director, Social Office)
19. $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (Executive Assistant to the Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary)
21. Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant)
22. Jackson, Deilia A. (Deputy Associate Director of Correspondence for the First Lady)
Copyright 2009 Canada Free Press.Com
canadafreepress.com/index.php /article/12652
Dr. Paul L. Williams Most recent columns
Paul L. Williams, Ph.D., is the author of such best-selling books as The Day of Islam, The Al Qaeda Connection, Osama’s Revenge: The Next 9/11, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Crusades and The Vatican Exposed. An award-winning journalist, he is a frequent guest on such national news networks as ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, MSNBC, and NPR. Williams operates from his blog
There has never been anyone in the White House at any time that has created such an army of staffers whose sole duties are the facilitation of the First Lady's social life. One wonders why she needs so much help, at taxpayer expense, when even Hillary, only had three; Jackie Kennedy one; Laura Bush one; and prior to Mamie Eisenhower social help came from the President's own pocket.
Note: This does not include makeup artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles, 49, and "First Hairstylist" Johnny Wright, 31, both of whom travelled aboard Air Force One to Europe.
Rescently Homeless Young Family Will Work For Shelter
Date: 2009-08-01, 7:05PM PDT
Reply to: sale-khxay-1301208619@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
My Wife And I, ages 22, Are Rescently homeless with our two kids, ages 2 & 9 months, we need a temperary/permanent place to stay and will barter any kind of work/services
- it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 1301208619
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