I relate to today’s comic strip very well. As a former buyer and purchasing agent I can remember the overwhelming number of “friendors” I had. Amazing how quickly they forgot me once I no longer had the power to give them a sale.
Click strip to enlarge
The New York Times reports Keith Olbermann has left his MSNBC program. “In a closing statement on his show, Mr. Olbermann said simply that it would be the last edition of the program. He offered no explanation other than on occasion, the show had become too much for him.”
I never liked Keith Olbermann. I also don’t like most of the hosts on Fox News. The reason is I am a moderate. Their bombastic attacks are outrageous. That is the difficulty us moderates face. There just aren’t many middle of the roaders appearing on radio or television. Right now I can only identify two commentators who are relatively moderate. John Avlon who appears as a guest commentator on CNN and Michael Smerconish, a Philadelphia talk radio host that is broadcast in other markets and an occasional host on MSNBC. Perhaps that is because being sensible is just not as entertaining. That is the duty of all television and radio programs. It’s all about ratings.
Perhaps this is a first act by Comcast now that they own MSNBC. If that is the case then say goodbye to Ed Shultz and Chris Matthews.
None of this is accurate information according to Snopes.com and truthorfiction.com. However it is entertaining.
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Judy Wallman, a professional genealogy researcher in southern California , was doing some personal work on her own family tree.. She discovered that Senator Harry Reid’s great-great uncle, Remus Reid, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889. Both Judy and Harry Reid share this common ancestor.
The only known photograph of Remus shows him standing on the gallows in Montana territory: On the back of the picture Judy obtained during her research is this inscription: ‘Remus Reid, horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison 1885, escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged in 1889.’ So Judy recently e-mailed Senator Harry Reid for information about their great-great uncle. Harry Reid: Believe it or not, Harry Reid’s staff sent back the following biographical sketch for her genealogy research: NOW THAT’s how it’s done, Folks! |
Young people often disregard wills because they lack assets of significant value. Nevertheless, preparing a will while in your twenties or thirties is the one of the most unselfish acts you can do for the people you leave behind.
Jeanette Brox, a Certified Financial Planner, has heard countless stories of families battling over the possessions of deceased relatives. She has even seen family members fight over teacups. By having a will in place, you help reduce potential family feuds over property. In turn, this will make the grieving process a little easier.
According to California law, if you die without a will, a court-appointed trustee will decide how your estate is distributed. But every American state and Canadian province has its own set of rules, so make sure you do your homework.
For example, I own a condo with my girlfriend. Legally, she is not considered my spouse, so if I die without having prepared a will, my share of the property will be awarded to my parents and not my girlfriend.
If you don’t want to pay for a professionally prepared will a hand written will (called a holographic will) is acceptable in most states and provinces. While it is generally recommended to have a legal service or lawyer prepare your will, a holographic will may be worth considering if funds are tight.
Holographic wills: the free will
A holographic will is a handwritten letter, created and signed by the person who wrote it – the testator — and has no costs. To make a holographic will, write out by hand how you want your possessions to be handled after your death. You should consider documenting who receives specific items, and who receives any remaining, unmentioned items. You must then sign and date the document.
Try to be as specific as possible will and avoid using any blanket statements. This will help prevent confusion and arguments down the road.
The professional route
You may also choose to have your will professionally drafted and notarized by a lawyer for a fee. Not all states and provinces require notarization. To minimize costs it is recommended you do the following before meeting with a lawyer:
– Create an inventory of your assets and liabilities
– Decide what you want to leave and to whom
– Think about how you want your loved ones to use your assets. If an asset is going to someone young and irresponsible, consider putting it in trust so it is awarded when they are older.
– Consider that items received through an estate may be subject to tax. Consult a Certified Financial Planner for more information.
This article was prompted by Adam Goodman of the Toronto Star newspaper.
Success has been defined as 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. Without that inspiration no amount of perspiration can make a significant success.
Apple’s Steve Jobs announced today that he will be taking medical leave to address health concerns but will stay on as the company’s CEO . Jobs has been the inspiration for Apple’s success. Although the company is not likely to immediately fall on hard times, everyone can wonder who will be the person to lead the company in its quest for leading edge technology?
Other companies have faced the same dilemma. Microsoft has not been a leader after it developed Windows and the office programs that interface with that operating system. Bill Gates is no longer actively involved in the company. AIG was a worldwide success when it was lead by Maurice Greenberg. The first recorded attempt at building a digital camera was in 1975 by Steven Sasson, an engineer at Eastman Kodak. Kodak is not the leading digital camera manufacturer today.
There have been companies that lost their inspiring leaders and went through difficult times only to re-emerge once they found a new strong leader. The Walt Disney Company is a good example. That company languished for years until Michael Eisner became CEO.
There are many books written about leadership. One of my favorites is Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. While it may be well written and easy to read it does not discuss inspiration.
Inspiration cannot be taught and cannot be learned. It is the mystical stuff that differentiates effective people from the really extraordinary.
Tucson Victim Arrested at Town Hall
Arizona gun law allows for concealed weapons. Gabrielle Giffords district includes Tombstone, Arizona. You may remember the town for the infamous Earp-Clanton battle, fought near the rear entrance of the O.K. Corral, on October 26, 1881. It was even made into a movie.
Tombstone, Arizona – Allen Street in 2008
‘You’re dead!’ victim yells at Tea Party spokesman
David Gregory asked in today’s Meet the Press round table, “Could the events in Arizona change our attitudes about security and civility in politics?”
Well, this isn’t what anyone hoped would happen next: A week after the deadly shooting in Tucson, Arizona, a man who had been shot at the scene made a death threat against a Tea Party spokesman at a town hall event sponsored by ABC News. The man, J. Eric Fuller, was reportedly irritated by the remarks of two of the event’s speakers, Republican Rep. Terri Proud and Tucson Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries. He snapped a picture of Humphries and said, “You’re dead.” Police immediately escorted him from the room and charged him with threats, intimidation, and disorderly conduct. The event, hosted by Christiane Amanpour and taped for an ABC News special, was titled, After the Tragedy: An American Conversation Continued.
Americans, it appears, have not learned anything. Conservative talk show hosts and their like thinking guests continue to speak in the same way as do the liberal hosts. Of course both sides claim the mantle of civility.
Congresswoman Giffords is not the first representative in recent years to be impacted by the use of guns. California Senator Dianne Feinstein was in her office as president of San Francisco County when she heard the gun shots that killed Mayor George Moscone in 1978.
The use of weapons is nothing new in America. It’s been going on since the America won its freedom from Great Britain. Remember the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr? In just a few days or weeks we will all have moved on to the next issue.
There was a festive atmosphere at U.S. Chamber of Commerce headquarters Tuesday morning as the corporate lobby delivered its annual “State of American Business” address.
Margaret Spellings, the former Bush Cabinet officer who cashed out and joined the business group, made the introductions, telling members that despite “the worst economic climate since the Great Depression,” the chamber had scored a “number of legislative victories, tremendous success in the elections and another strong year of fundraising.”
Thanks to the chamber, Spellings boasted, “the American business community always has a seat at the table.”
A seat? Business has just about all the seats at the table – and more on back order.
Fifteen million Americans are out of work, thanks in part to reckless Wall Street activities. Yet corporate profits are at record highs, companies are sitting on vast amounts of cash, and, after a tough two years, business interests are again atop the Washington power structure.
This return of corporate power comes in part because the revolving door between government influence and corporate paydays has begun to turn anew. Even President Obama has submitted to its centrifugal force. His new White House chief of staff, William Daley, comes directly from J.P. Morgan Chase. Daley scored that lucrative gig after serving as commerce secretary during Bill Clinton’s second term.
As Daley came in through the revolving door, OMB Director Peter Orszag had just gone out. He cashed out to become a vice chairman of Citigroup, where his government expertise should be worth seven figures annually. One of Orszag’s partners on Obama’s economics team, Larry Summers, is returning to Harvard – but that won’t stop him from delivering the keynote address to the Global Hedge Fund Summit in Bermuda.
At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, corporate interests are becoming increasingly brazen. Lobbyists have snagged key staff jobs in the new GOP House leadership and chief-of-staff positions in many new lawmakers’ offices. On the day John Boehner was elected speaker last week, lobbyists were literally strutting their stuff on the House floor.
Bob Livingston, the former Republican congressman, was buttonholing members; he’s the head of a lobbying firm that advertises Livingston as “the only practicing former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.” Also on the floor, Marty Russo, the longtime Democratic congressman who had just stepped down as head of the lobbying giant Cassidy and Associates, shook Boehner’s hand.
A House Republican source says Livingston left when informed that, as a registered lobbyist, he was not allowed to be on the House floor.
Such behavior by lobbyists – both registered lobbyists and unregistered corporate “advisers” – has become more common. At last year’s State of the Union address, Post congressional correspondent Paul Kane observed, on the House floor, former members Mike Ferguson, who runs a lobbying firm, and Jim Greenwood, CEO of the biotech lobby. Kane has also spotted former senator Bill Cohen, who runs a big lobbying and consulting firm, on the Senate floor; former representative Sherry Boehlert, now a lobbyist, in the Speaker’s Lobby off the House floor; and lawmaker-turned-lobbyist Al Wynn entertaining clients in the members’ dining room.
The Center for Responsive Politics has identified more than 340 former members of Congress, and 3,665 former staffers, in lobbying or related fields. The few rules to slow the revolving door do little, both because of the routine granting of waivers and because of loose registration requirements for lobbying.
All of this gave the business lobby much to celebrate as chamber members discussed the State of American Business over mini-muffins and banana bread Tuesday morning. Tom Donohue, the chamber’s white-maned CEO, hailed the “new tone coming from the White House” since the elections – which the chamber influenced by spending tens of millions of dollars from donors kept anonymous, Donohue explained, so opponents couldn’t “demagogue them.” Donohue said he’s “absolutely convinced” that the new business-friendly White House will move his way on regulation and trade.
A reporter asked Donohue for a suggestion of what corporate America, with its record profits, should do to put people back to work. “I got to think about this for a minute,” Donohue said, then added: “I think the most important thing to tell a company is to return a reasonable return to their investors.”
Sarah Palin’s on-line video defending herself for her over the top words and postings rather than calling for a period of less rhetoric and more unification of our nation was PATHETIC and REPREHENSIBLE.
Back on November 18, 2009 I called Sarah Palin a fruitcake. I am sorry I wrote that. It was an insult to fruitcake. I believe Sarah Palin’s ambition to become president of the United States will never materialize. Doyle McManus’ opinion piece in today’s Los Angeles Times seems to agree with me. Her defense of her words and actions means that Barack Obama may have a worthwhile G.O.P. candidate running against him in 2012.
As much as I consider Barack Obama a poor choice for president, he is beyond a doubt superior to Sarah Palin.
I had never heard the words “blood libel” until she used them. I had to search for the meaning. I know of the accusations that Jews killed Christian children and used their blood in cooking and that such stories still exist in 2011. What that nonsense has to do with accusations that Palin’s words and actions incite people to murderous actions escapes me. Is she relating herself to the Jews who were murdered by their Christian neighbors during the Middle Ages?
As to watching the video, you can find it elsewhere on the net. I won’t waste the space here. I hope that the news media simply stops reporting on Sarah Palin. They are to blame for her rise in public awareness.
For those who may be interested here is a history of ‘blood libel’ I have scanned the following from the Los Angeles Times.
In saying her critics “manufactured a blood libel,” Sarah Palin deployed a phrase linked to the false accusations made for centuries against Jews, often to malign them as child-killers who coveted the blood of Christian children.
Blood libel has been a central fable of anti-Semitism in which Jews have been accused of using the blood of gentile children for medicinal purposes or to mix in with matzo, the unleavened bread traditionally eaten at Passover.
The spreading of the blood libel dates to the Middle Ages – and perhaps earlier – and those allegations have led to massacres of Jewish communities for just as long.
The term blood libel carries particular power in the Jewish community, though it has taken on other shades of meaning. Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Wednesday that “while the term blood libel has become part of the events of the English parlance to refer to someone being falsely accused, we wish that Palin had used another phrase, instead of one so fraught with pain in Jewish history.”
One of the first recorded tragedies attributed to blood libel occurred in the 12th century, when a boy named William in Norwich, England, was found dead with stab wounds. Local Jews were accused of killing the child in a ritual fashion and, according to several histories on religion, most of the Jewish population there was subsequently wiped out.
Such charges continued for centuries, with Jews often assigned blame in the unsolved killings of children. Many of the dead children were considered martyrs; several were elevated to sainthood by the Roman Catholic or Orthodox churches.
Allegations of blood libel spread during the Holocaust and persist today.
-RICK ROJAS
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