Using Bad Real Estate News to Her Advantage

We have a friend - let's call her Carol, primarily because that's her name - who decided a couple of years ago to quit her teaching career to go into the lucrative business of selling homes. She has one son in college, another finishing high school and two more younger children, so you can understand why she made the change in professions.

Following her training and subsequent licensing she went to work for a broker and did fairly well - earning about what she made in the classroom while having enough time to attend to her family.

The came the bad real estate news. The subprime mortgage industry was going belly-up, foreclosures were rising and the market was being flooded with unsold homes.

Suddenly, her decision to become a real estate agent didn't look so promising. But she didn't panic or throw her ands up in despair everytime she turned on the news channels.

She changed her focus and began finding homes that were on the verge of foreclosure and paired the owners with investors she had cultivated over the years through her social and school contacts.

Today, the news for our intrepid real estate friend is rosier than it's been in some time.

She told us recently that not only is she making a decent living from her real estate business, but she gets some satisfaction from helping people who have found themselves in a tight spot.

Carol has even been able to fully fund her oldest son's college expenses and save enough to assist her other cildren when they are ready to leave the nest.

Now that's really good news.

These Folks Call Themselves Christians?

Picture this: an elementary school in Wisconsin has a tradition called Wacky Week where the students dress up in costumes all week. One day the students can opt to dress up as an older person or a member of the opposite sex - boy could dress as girls, or girls could dress as boys.

Just some good clean fun, right?

Wrong. At least in the eyes of a group called the Voice of Christian Youth America. It Seems these wackos fit right in with Wacky Week.

Here's what they had to say:

"We believe it's the wrong message to send to elementary students," said Jim Schneider, the network's program director. "Our station is one that promotes traditional family values. It concerns us when a school district strikes at the heart and core of the Biblical values. To promote this to elementary-school students is a great error."

Can someone please explain to us what "traditional family value" says elementary school kids can't dress up for fun? And what alleged Biblical value is being violated?

Hell, what are Biblical values, anyway?

Oh, and get this:

"We became aware of this from constituents in your area. Anything that concerns the populace is important enough to talk about," Eliason said. "This is tax-funded� This is not a dress-up party in somebody's house. There are parents, taxpayers who do not appreciate the imposition of a particular lifestyle being portrayed as a normal lifestyle for the kids."

What lifestyle are they talking about? Do they imagine there is a secret cabal of cross-dressing school administrators in Reedsburg, WI, trying to warp children's minds?

We bet the kids had no idea what a cross-dresser was until the meddling Christians got their panties in a wad.

Media Love Affair with McCain Continues

He's a United States Senator running for president. He has a house paid for by his wife's money. He's a Vietnam Vet now worth millions of dollars. He was against the Bush Tax cuts.

He's John McCain.

Surprised? Well, why wouldn't you be when the media refuses to treat the Republican running for the presidency with the same microscope the use on the Democratic candidates.

Here's what Jamison Foser at Media Matters for America has to say:

In 2001, John McCain voted against President Bush's tax cuts, noting that they were skewed toward the wealthy. In a Senate floor statement, McCain explained that he could not "in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle class Americans who most need tax relief."

But now, John McCain supports making the Bush tax cuts permanent rather than allowing them to expire, as they are scheduled to do under current law. Now, John McCain runs around saying things like, "The Democrats have already ... told us they will increase our taxes."

Who do you think McCain means when he says "our"?

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have both made clear that they would roll back the Bush tax cuts only for the super-wealthy; Obama has said only "the top 1 percent" would be affected, and Clinton has said she would roll back the tax cuts only for "people making more than $250,000 a year."

So, for the overwhelming majority of Americans -- those making less than about $250,000 per year -- Clinton and Obama would not roll back the Bush tax cuts.

Indeed, McCain himself has previously acknowledged that the Bush tax cuts unfairly benefited the wealthy. So, when he says the Democrats would "increase our taxes," maybe that's who he is referring to. Indeed, Money magazine estimates John McCain's net worth at $40 million.

If you are not afraid of being totally disgusted, read Foser's entire piece, Media ignore McCain's finances after obsessing over Dems'

Justin Timberlake với vai trò mới

Công ty sản xuất Reveille Studios cho hay ca sĩ Justin Timberlake mới kiếm được công việc là nhà sản xuất cho một chương trình truyền hình thử nghiệm tại Mỹ có tên là ‘My Problem with Women’ hay ‘Vấn đề của tôi với Phụ nữ’.

Chương trình truyền hình này dựa vào nguyên mẫu từ một chương trình hài kịch trên TV của Peru, nói về một anh chàng độc thân muốn tìm hiểu những thất bại về chuyện tình cảm bằng cách tham gia các liệu pháp.

Timberlake, năm nay 27 tuổi, bắt đầu sự nghiệp ca hát với ban nhạc N’Sync và ra mắt album hát riêng đầu tay vào năm 2002.

Anh cũng tham gia diễn xuất trong một số phim, trong đó có phim ‘Alpha Dog’.

Gần đây, Timberlake còn đóng chung với Samuel L Jackson và Christina Ricci trong phim ‘Black Snake Moan’. Năm ngoái, anh tham gia lồng tiếng cho phim hoạt hình Shrek tập ba.

Ngôi sao từng đoạt giải Grammy này năm ngoái còn tung ra một nhãn đĩa thu thanh và đứng ra đồng sáng lập nhãn hiệu thời trang William Rast với người bạn là Trace Ayala.

Letter From Robert Wexler, American Hero

Received this letter from Congressman Robert Wexler who is trying to hold the Bush administration responsible for its criminal behavior.

Two weeks ago, the House took a bold step demanding accountability for the Bush/Cheney Administration by holding former White House Council Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten in Contempt of Congress for blatantly ignoring congressional subpoenas for over 8 months.

Though it was not a surprise, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, wrote a letter to the House of Representatives stating that he refuses to call a Grand Jury to enforce those contempt citations.

The Attorney General's letter, effectively claiming that members of the executive branch are immune from congressional subpoenas, calls for quick action.

Click HERE to watch my latest video discussing Mukasey's outrageous response.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Judiciary Chairman Conyers have smartly decided to pursue a civil lawsuit to force Bolton and Miers to appear before Congress. We should pursue a lawsuit – but I think we can do even more.

While a court may order – months from now –that Miers and Bolten must appear before Congress, by then George Bush and Dick Cheney will have largely accomplished their goal of running out the clock on the investigation into this Administration's politicization of the Justice Department. Even a successful outcome in federal court might only mandate that they appear, at which time the witnesses are likely simply to continue their obfuscation by claiming executive privilege of the 5th Amendment in person.

The House of Representatives must re-establish its legitimate rights as a co-equal branch of government. Congress cannot allow its power to be summarily ignored and justice delayed.

The House was correct to hold these renegade White House officials in contempt, and much credit should be given to Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Conyers for pushing for that outcome. Now, we must go further: The House must immediately consider taking the following actions:

- Initiating impeachment hearings that would likely break through the reckless claims of executive privilege made by the Bush Administration.

- Approve a resolution that calls for an inherent contempt citation which would give the House Sergeant at Arms the power to bring Miers and Bolton before Congress.

As you may know, 17 of my colleagues, including four of my fellow members of the Judiciary Committee have joined my call for impeachment hearings.

This is not an issue between Democrats and Republicans. As members of Congress, we have an absolute duty to enforce the checks and balances prescribed by our Constitution.

We have ceded too much for too long, enabling George W. Bush to assume a unitary imperial Presidency. It is long past time to secure accountability for those who have, by all appearances, committed significant breaches of our laws and trust.

Mukasey's claims are simply the latest in a long line of outlandish legal arguments ranging from the idea that we can selectively cherry-pick from torture laws to the concept that the Vice President is no longer part of the Executive Branch (except, of course, when he needs to claim Executive Privilege).

Over the past months, I have received tens of thousands of emails and letters from you expressing your great support for my efforts. Your encouragement and activism on these causes are much appreciated. I continue to work hard on your behalf and hope you feel these updates are valuable.

With kind regards,

Congressman Robert Wexler
www.WexlerForCongress.com

Participatory Journalists: Use a Grammar Checker

We are all for the new "participatory journalism."

We like the idea of the Average Joe out there writing about current events, putting their own personal spin on things, keeping public servants honest.

But, good grief, would it hurt them to take advantage of a grammar checker so they don't look like complete morons? Seems that some of them relish the idea of bad grammar - subject-verb disagreement, improper pronoun reference, bad verb tense choices, and modifier out of place.

They may think they are avant-garde, but all they are really doing is showing their ignorance. No wonder some of the "citizen journalists" are upset because they feel their messages are being ignored.

Well, listen up, bad grammar is not cool.

Do yourselves, and your readers (if you have any) a favor and write in such a way that makes sense.

Or shut the hell up!

Making Life Easier with Requirements Management Software

Human nature being what it is, we all seem to be looking for shortcuts, anything to make our jobs easier and to make us more efficient.

Now, if you are a product manager responsible for gathering and managing requirements and feature requests for the products and services you oversee, a company called Accompa has just the thing for you.?

Managing these requirements eats up a lot of your time and resources, and on a daily basis you face a lot of
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Accompa's Requirements Management Software will make your professional life easier by freeing up your time. And because it is web-based, any member of your team can access the project from any available computer.

You will no longer be dependent on emails, Post-It notes and chance encounters in the hallway to get the information to track the progress, your team members can enter it themselves and with a click or two of the mouse you can make sure the requirements are complete and on time.

The program is also fully customizable so adding fields, such as priority or dependencies, doing so is simple.

If you are a try-it-before-you-buy-it kind of guy, Accompa offers a 30-day free trial period. So you have nothing to lose and a lot of time to gain.