Suggestion
ALERT
As Friday evening is Halloween, and there is usually much mischief, please take down your campaign signs (especially the McCain/Palin signs) for the evening and put them back up Saturday morning.
This may help save some of our signs and therefore some money.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Economy's Silent and Heavy Toll on Children
Homeless Rates Among Children on the Rise
By JUSTIN ROOD
October 27, 2008—
In once-booming Northern Virginia suburbs, children who never had to worry about having a roof over their head don't know where they will sleep tonight.
In Cincinnati , newly-homeless families are splitting their children up among relatives because they can't find shelter together, much less feed everyone.
In Las Vegas , sons and daughters of the city's housekeepers and kitchen workers -- already living on the margin of the American economy increasingly rely on "weekend food bags" from their school in order to feed themselves from Friday afternoon to Monday morning, when they can eat a subsidized school breakfast.
Welcome to the economic crisis for thousands of Americans too young to have a mortgage, a retirement account, or the right to vote.
"Normally we would get a few calls now, our phones are ringing all day long," says Kathi Sheffel, coordinator for homeless services for Fairfax County Public Schools.
In Fairfax as in many other school areas, homelessness among students is up about 25 percent from last year and last year's figures were a sad increase from the year before, according to First Focus, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan group which pushes to improve public policies that affect children. The group is conducting its second annual survey on homelessness among students.
"We now have families that are more middle-class, that have run into issues they didn't expect and have become homeless," explains Fairfax 's Sheffel. Some families lost their home after defaulting on a home loan or a parent lost a job, she says, but many became homeless because the home they rented was foreclosed upon when their landlord didn't pay the mortgage.
When children lose a home, their health and studies suffer. "Kids in greater number are coming to school who probably haven't eaten breakfast. Who don't have access to a washer and a dryer. Who live with fear," explains Karen Fessler, a school official in Cincinnati , Ohio . "How important is a long division problem when they don't know where they're going to sleep tonight?"
The New Homeless
In Cincinnati , homelessness among students is also up more than 25 percent from last year, according to Fessler, the homeless education liaison for the city's schools. Families are having to split up to survive, she explains.
"It reminds me of stories my mom told me about the Depression," says Fessler. "People with three, four, five children are having to farm their children out" because it is financially or logistically impossible to stay together, she says.
The new homeless in Cincinnati , says Fessler, aren't from the ranks of the chronically poor, but are families whose tenuous livelihoods are being crushed by the fallout of the economic crisis.
"We're seeing that more families who were living on the edge, paycheck to paycheck, who can't make it anymore," she says. "Families who were just barely hanging on, now. . . can't hold it together."
"It's alarming," says Phillip Lovell, a policy expert at First Focus, discussing how the economic meltdown is hitting kids. But just as alarming, he says, is that no one is talking about the plight of children when they talk about the troubled economy.
"You'll hear next to nothing from most politicians about how this is effecting kids and what they're going to do about it," says Lovell.
In Las Vegas , many of the 600 children who attend Whitney Elementary call home the "daily-weekly-monthly" hotels that ring its small campus -- including the massive Sportsman's Royal Manor, whose medieval-themed architecture led the schoolchildren to call it "The Castle."
Lunchtime at Whitney is where you can see the real effects of the economic crisis, says school counselor Vicki Bustos. At Whitney, 85 percent of her students now qualify for a free or reduced-price meal.
"It's tremendously worse we can see the hunger in the lunchroom," Bustos says. "There's less food for them at home now. For a lot of them, lunch is their only meal."
The foreclosure crisis has battered Las Vegas , and the economic meltdown it triggered has kept the Strip in the worst business slump it's seen in at least a quarter century. That means fewer jobs for the parents of Whitney's Elementary's students, says Bustos. Some leave town. Others double-up in other families' apartments. For most, resources to feed, clothe and care for their sons and daughters is stretched to breaking.
Weekend Food Bags
Three years ago, Whitney officials realized many students had no food to eat over the weekend -- in fact, were taking ketchup packets home from the school cafeteria to eat for dinner. Rounding up donations from local businesses, they started putting together "weekend food bags" of pop-top canned goods, Slim Jims, and other food that needs no preparation, since most of the families' short-term apartments have no kitchens.
Last year, says Bustos, they handed out 120 or so bags each week. This year, they're up to 161 a week, and expect to be giving out 250 per week by Christmas.
Of course, the economic downturn also hits those trying to stave off its impact. While many of Whitney Elementary's programs rely on private donations, the Clark County, Nev. school district is worried its tax-funded homeless aid programs will face cuts soon.
In Cincinnati , the nonprofit which supports the school system's homeless services has struggled to raise money to meet the students' needs.
That frustrates youth advocates, who see hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars going to bail out financial giants, while children are suffering.
"The bailout and everything how is it really going to cycle back down to the individual person?" asks Fessler in Cincinnati . "When are we going to see the impact of that on an individual, human being level?"
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
By JUSTIN ROOD
October 27, 2008—
In once-booming Northern Virginia suburbs, children who never had to worry about having a roof over their head don't know where they will sleep tonight.
In Cincinnati , newly-homeless families are splitting their children up among relatives because they can't find shelter together, much less feed everyone.
In Las Vegas , sons and daughters of the city's housekeepers and kitchen workers -- already living on the margin of the American economy increasingly rely on "weekend food bags" from their school in order to feed themselves from Friday afternoon to Monday morning, when they can eat a subsidized school breakfast.
Welcome to the economic crisis for thousands of Americans too young to have a mortgage, a retirement account, or the right to vote.
"Normally we would get a few calls now, our phones are ringing all day long," says Kathi Sheffel, coordinator for homeless services for Fairfax County Public Schools.
In Fairfax as in many other school areas, homelessness among students is up about 25 percent from last year and last year's figures were a sad increase from the year before, according to First Focus, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan group which pushes to improve public policies that affect children. The group is conducting its second annual survey on homelessness among students.
"We now have families that are more middle-class, that have run into issues they didn't expect and have become homeless," explains Fairfax 's Sheffel. Some families lost their home after defaulting on a home loan or a parent lost a job, she says, but many became homeless because the home they rented was foreclosed upon when their landlord didn't pay the mortgage.
When children lose a home, their health and studies suffer. "Kids in greater number are coming to school who probably haven't eaten breakfast. Who don't have access to a washer and a dryer. Who live with fear," explains Karen Fessler, a school official in Cincinnati , Ohio . "How important is a long division problem when they don't know where they're going to sleep tonight?"
The New Homeless
In Cincinnati , homelessness among students is also up more than 25 percent from last year, according to Fessler, the homeless education liaison for the city's schools. Families are having to split up to survive, she explains.
"It reminds me of stories my mom told me about the Depression," says Fessler. "People with three, four, five children are having to farm their children out" because it is financially or logistically impossible to stay together, she says.
The new homeless in Cincinnati , says Fessler, aren't from the ranks of the chronically poor, but are families whose tenuous livelihoods are being crushed by the fallout of the economic crisis.
"We're seeing that more families who were living on the edge, paycheck to paycheck, who can't make it anymore," she says. "Families who were just barely hanging on, now. . . can't hold it together."
"It's alarming," says Phillip Lovell, a policy expert at First Focus, discussing how the economic meltdown is hitting kids. But just as alarming, he says, is that no one is talking about the plight of children when they talk about the troubled economy.
"You'll hear next to nothing from most politicians about how this is effecting kids and what they're going to do about it," says Lovell.
In Las Vegas , many of the 600 children who attend Whitney Elementary call home the "daily-weekly-monthly" hotels that ring its small campus -- including the massive Sportsman's Royal Manor, whose medieval-themed architecture led the schoolchildren to call it "The Castle."
Lunchtime at Whitney is where you can see the real effects of the economic crisis, says school counselor Vicki Bustos. At Whitney, 85 percent of her students now qualify for a free or reduced-price meal.
"It's tremendously worse we can see the hunger in the lunchroom," Bustos says. "There's less food for them at home now. For a lot of them, lunch is their only meal."
The foreclosure crisis has battered Las Vegas , and the economic meltdown it triggered has kept the Strip in the worst business slump it's seen in at least a quarter century. That means fewer jobs for the parents of Whitney's Elementary's students, says Bustos. Some leave town. Others double-up in other families' apartments. For most, resources to feed, clothe and care for their sons and daughters is stretched to breaking.
Weekend Food Bags
Three years ago, Whitney officials realized many students had no food to eat over the weekend -- in fact, were taking ketchup packets home from the school cafeteria to eat for dinner. Rounding up donations from local businesses, they started putting together "weekend food bags" of pop-top canned goods, Slim Jims, and other food that needs no preparation, since most of the families' short-term apartments have no kitchens.
Last year, says Bustos, they handed out 120 or so bags each week. This year, they're up to 161 a week, and expect to be giving out 250 per week by Christmas.
Of course, the economic downturn also hits those trying to stave off its impact. While many of Whitney Elementary's programs rely on private donations, the Clark County, Nev. school district is worried its tax-funded homeless aid programs will face cuts soon.
In Cincinnati , the nonprofit which supports the school system's homeless services has struggled to raise money to meet the students' needs.
That frustrates youth advocates, who see hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars going to bail out financial giants, while children are suffering.
"The bailout and everything how is it really going to cycle back down to the individual person?" asks Fessler in Cincinnati . "When are we going to see the impact of that on an individual, human being level?"
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
MS Outlook / Internet Explorer script error when printing
I repaired my MS Outlook and MS Office a couple of times today and yesterday. (Don't ask.)
When trying to print a receipt email in html format that contained animated graphics (java I believe) I got the following error popup window:
It says the following:
! An error has occurred in a script on this page
Line: 2233
Char: 1
Error: Unspecified error
Code: 0
URL: res://ieframe.dll/preview.js (I think it could also refer to preview.dlg)
I searched on the internet for the solution and most of them involved some sophisticated editing of the registry, adding/deleting printers, adding/deleing add-ons and on and on.
I went so far as to reinstall my outlook which wiped out my email account settings. I even reinstalled IE8 (b2.) Nothing worked.
Then I found a post with this simple command line:
Go to Start/Run and enter the command:
regsvr32 ole32.dll
I did it and guess what....IT WORKED!
Sometimes the simplest solutions are the ones that work after all. Thanks to whoever found this!
When trying to print a receipt email in html format that contained animated graphics (java I believe) I got the following error popup window:
It says the following:
! An error has occurred in a script on this page
Line: 2233
Char: 1
Error: Unspecified error
Code: 0
URL: res://ieframe.dll/preview.js (I think it could also refer to preview.dlg)
I searched on the internet for the solution and most of them involved some sophisticated editing of the registry, adding/deleting printers, adding/deleing add-ons and on and on.
I went so far as to reinstall my outlook which wiped out my email account settings. I even reinstalled IE8 (b2.) Nothing worked.
Then I found a post with this simple command line:
Go to Start/Run and enter the command:
regsvr32 ole32.dll
I did it and guess what....IT WORKED!
Sometimes the simplest solutions are the ones that work after all. Thanks to whoever found this!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
My attempt at a Late Night Comedy Joke
I don’t know about you but my mailbox is getting bombarded with fundraising requests from all sorts of charities that are struggling and desperate. Why just today I got an urgent letter from Sarah Palin!
Evolutionary History of Liberals and Conservatives
Humans existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters and gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in winter.
The 2 most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundations of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into 2 distinct subgroups: Liberals and Conservatives.
Once beer was discovered it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early human ancestors were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.
Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as "the Conservative movement."
Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching and hair dressing! This was the beginning of the Liberal movement. Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as 'girlie-men.'
Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy and group hugs and the concept of democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.
Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.
Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare.
Another interesting revolutionary side note about liberals: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't "fair" to make the pitcher also bat.
Conservatives drink domestic beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, Marines, athletes and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.
Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to "govern" the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America . They crept in after the Wild West was tame and created a business of trying to get MORE for nothing.
Here ends today's lesson in world history:
It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to respond to the above and a guilt feeling before simply laughing, denying and forwarding it. A Conservative will be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately
The 2 most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundations of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into 2 distinct subgroups: Liberals and Conservatives.
Once beer was discovered it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early human ancestors were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.
Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as "the Conservative movement."
Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching and hair dressing! This was the beginning of the Liberal movement. Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as 'girlie-men.'
Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy and group hugs and the concept of democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.
Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.
Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare.
Another interesting revolutionary side note about liberals: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't "fair" to make the pitcher also bat.
Conservatives drink domestic beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, Marines, athletes and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.
Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to "govern" the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America . They crept in after the Wild West was tame and created a business of trying to get MORE for nothing.
Here ends today's lesson in world history:
It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to respond to the above and a guilt feeling before simply laughing, denying and forwarding it. A Conservative will be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Where's the outrage???
Gas prices have finally fallen below $3 a gallon in response to the worldwide demand reduction. Now OPEC ministers want to have an emergency meeting to cut production by 2 million barrels a day. They want the price per barrel to be up around $100. This will allow them to continue building their monuments and edifices to excess.
What have we heard from our politicians? Nothing.
What have we heard from our politicians? Nothing.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Deja-News
And now from the "Haven't we heard this before files" comes one of today's top stories: "US troops kill No. 2 leader of al-Qaida in Iraq"
How many times have we killed the number two guy in either Iraq or Afghanistan? I guess they reshuffle the deck every time so I'm sure #2 will be killed again in a few months.
I really just have 1 burning question....Why can't we kill #1?
In news from the "It's about time" files, Casey Anthony was finally formally charged with her daughter's murder. What a tragedy all around. First, for little Caylee, who never had a chance. Second, for Casey's parents. I can only imagine the heartbreak at losing first their granddaughter and now their daughter. It's maddening to hear Casey's attorney predict vindication and all that but I guess that's his job. If only he could persuade Casey to finally tell the truth.
Her is his exact prediction for the trial's outcome. Let's see in about a year how prescient he was. By that time the publicity from this trial will have catapaulted him to celebrity status.
"I sincerely believe that when we have finally spoken, everyone, and I mean everyone, will sit back and say, 'Now, I understand. That explains it,'" Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, said Tuesday as he stood next to his client before the indictment was issued.
Now if only they could get that other smug, cold-hearted son of a B, Drew Peterson.
How many times have we killed the number two guy in either Iraq or Afghanistan? I guess they reshuffle the deck every time so I'm sure #2 will be killed again in a few months.
I really just have 1 burning question....Why can't we kill #1?
In news from the "It's about time" files, Casey Anthony was finally formally charged with her daughter's murder. What a tragedy all around. First, for little Caylee, who never had a chance. Second, for Casey's parents. I can only imagine the heartbreak at losing first their granddaughter and now their daughter. It's maddening to hear Casey's attorney predict vindication and all that but I guess that's his job. If only he could persuade Casey to finally tell the truth.
Her is his exact prediction for the trial's outcome. Let's see in about a year how prescient he was. By that time the publicity from this trial will have catapaulted him to celebrity status.
"I sincerely believe that when we have finally spoken, everyone, and I mean everyone, will sit back and say, 'Now, I understand. That explains it,'" Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, said Tuesday as he stood next to his client before the indictment was issued.
Now if only they could get that other smug, cold-hearted son of a B, Drew Peterson.
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