Saturday, September 22, 2007

Weights & Measures

This post has been one in the waiting; but, it is better late than never. Do not worry- it has nothing to do with neither math nor education. I just want to put some thoughts on cyberpaper.

In regards to the weights, I am happy to announce that I am now down to 204 pounds, as of earlier today. This is not bad at all, considering that I tipped the scales at 235 on New Year's Day. My goal is to be at 200 by the end of this year. Right now, it definitely looks reachable. I hate to say it, but I really have no secrets on how I did it.

I am not on one of those advertised diets you hear or read about in any mass media. The only aid I have taken throughout this is a spoonful of Evercleanse. For the first month I had it, I took it according to instructions. Yes, the love handles have disappeared, and most of the spare tire has gone, too. If I was able to do stomach crunches, then the abdomen section would like tighter. However, since I have osteoarthritis in my neck, right shoulder, and right clavicle, I will err on the side of caution and not do them, at least he way we did them in school.

I have tried to practice common sense throughout the weight loss process, which I will share. I am going to post them as they come off of my head. I am not a nutritionist, so you may also want to ask your doctor.

1. I usually drink, at least, one 32-ounce sport bottle of ice cold water. I literally pack the bottle with ice, and then fill it with the water. This helped to catalyze my metabolism.,

2. I limit my trips to fast-food joints like McDonald's, and have a pizza once a week. As far as the pizza goes, a lot of it depends on the toppings. If I order from a chain store like Papa John's, I usually will gun for the grilled chicken. It depends on my mood. If I order from a mom-and-pop shop, I almost always order a white pizza with broccoli. Since I am considered at-risk for hypothyroidism, the less salt I have in my diet, the better.

3. For breakfast, I try to alternate between cereal, oatmeal, and scrambled eggs. You really can't go wrong with any of these. I usually will mix maple syrup with the oatmeal. If I should a slice or two of toast, I will spread peanut butter instead of butter/margerine.,

4. The only time I really snack is getting something out of the vending machine at work. Granted, all of the products are either sweet or salty, but I just pick my battles with it. I do have microwavable popcorn here at home, but I rarely get the craving to munch it down., and

5. For my lunch break at work, I almost always eat something that is either home-cooked or is as simple as the great American staple, PB&J.

For the record, I do have a subscription to Men's Health magazine. If I have a girl over and she wants to read, BE MY GUEST! Every issue tends to have something for everybody. Their magic formula for weight management success is the acronym ABSDIETPOWER. I will have to get back to you later as to what each means, because I honestly do not remember all of them at this time. Besides, I want to get into the "measures".

I just got done watching the Busch Sereis race on ESPN2. I would not be surprised if the ratings are less than expected. Why? For most of the race, it seem like they were waving the caution flag every ten laps. I kid you not- I was dozing off, even tough Jamie Little was one of the pit reporters. Denny Hamlin won the race despite battling the flu. Jersey boy Martin Truex, Jr. finished second.

Sorry for that tangent, but I wanted to get it off while it was still fresh in my mind. The measure I wanted to reveal is that I am in the early stages of trying to find a job closer to home. I do the papers on the overnight, which I deliver in my current hometown. It is also part of the reason as to why I have lost the weight I have mentioned earlier. My full time job is in Pennsylvania, and the commute has been starting to take a toll on me, physically, besides me busting my hump on a daily basis. Yes, you can include the $10.00 a week for tolls, on top of the mileage and fuel. I know my father has suggested that I ask for a transfer; however, it would be more of the same. Yes, I would be a mile or two closer to home, but there are other issues involved, which I will not mention in this domain.

Besides security, I do have some experience in the following: Customer Service, Data Entry, Retail, Accounts Receivable, and stocking shelves at a supermarket. Yes, I do have my resume posted on a job website (won't mention it here), so I will keep both my eyes and ears open. If I could find something in which I could do it from home on my PC, the better. (I know I am not the only one who thinks such.) I have a great work ethic,a nd I am able to work independently. I will say that I do not work well with a micromanageable type. To me, it means that an individual like that has issues of some degree.

I apologize for making this post as long as NJ 101.5 Meteorologist Alan Kasper's weather forecasts, but I had a lot to share. Thank you for reading. Take care, and have a great day!

Bill

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Another dirty Democrat fundraiser: William Lerach pleads guilty to conspiracy By Michelle Malkin

Source: http://michellemalkin.com/2007/09/17/another-dirty-democrat-fundraiser-william-lerach-pleads-guilty-to-conpsiracy/

September 17, 2007 11:00 PM

William Lerach.


Does the name ring a bell? He was a deep-pocketed plaintiff lawyer who cozied up to the Clintons and donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrats. And he got his money’s worth. Left-wing magazine Mother Jones recounted more than a decade ago:


Attendees at a private White House dinner on December 15 may have seen Bill Clinton and William Lerach speaking and shaking hands. What they probably didn’t notice was Lerach twisting the president’s arm.


Four days later, the president vetoed the Securities Litigation Reform Act. The bill, which makes it more difficult for shareholders to sue their own companies for securities fraud, enjoyed wide bipartisan support, but Clinton startled his party with a last-minute veto. (In late December, Congress overrode the veto handily.)


Clinton’s veto seems to have been a “good faith” gesture to Lerach, head of the San Diego office of law firm Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach. Milberg Weiss, the acknowledged leader in shareholder class-action litigation, secures annual settlements estimated at $225 million from this type of suit, according to the newsletter Securities Class Action Alert…


…Lerach, wife Star Soltan, and other associates of Milberg Weiss…have poured more than $1 million into Democratic coffers since 1990. According to Forbes, Lerach is among the nations’ top-paid trial attorneys, taking home an estimated $7 million per year. He is also among the most loathed men in Silicon Valley, where vacillating stock prices open the door for shareholders to sue companies if executives make incorrect predictions of corporate success. Milberg Weiss has filed such suits agains the likes of Apple, Silicon Graphics, and Intel (five times in 1994 alone). “The high-tech industry needs someone to demonize,” Lerach once told the San Francisco Examiner. “I’m the Willie Horton of securities law.”


Well, now Lerach may be headed to jail. The Washington Post reports tonight:


William S. Lerach, one of the nation’s best known and wealthiest plaintiff lawyers, is preparing to plead guilty as early as today to a single criminal conspiracy charge that could send him to prison for up to two years, according to sources familiar with the case.


Lerach, 61, resigned from his California law firm last month after intense speculation about his personal exposure in a lengthy federal criminal investigation. At the time, he said he wanted “to focus single-mindedly on putting the matter behind me once and for all.”


During his heyday, Lerach won settlements worth billions of dollars from major companies, including a record $7.3 billion payout from firms that helped Enron disguise its financial problems.


For seven years, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have been probing allegations that Lerach and his former partners at the Milberg Weiss law firm enlisted people to buy shares in big corporations and then paid them to serve as plaintiffs in lawsuits. Government lawyers said that the payments, totaling more than $11 million, were not disclosed to judges or other investors and allowed Lerach and his team to arrive first at the courthouse to seize control of the class-action cases and to collect bigger slices of settlements or court victories.


Lerach is to plead guilty in court papers to be released as early as this week, with a court appearance following over the next several days, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.


I know you won’t be surprised that there is no mention of Lerach’s political affiliation and prime benefactors in the WaPo piece.


Another Lerach beneficiary? Yup, Silky Pony:


[John] Edwards, a former trial lawyer and senator from North Carolina, led all other candidates in contributions from lawyers, with $4.9 million. One of the firms whose employees contributed significantly to his campaign was Lerach Coughlin, one of the most feared class action law firms on Wall Street. The firm, led by William S. Lerach, has filed hundreds of high-profile lawsuits on behalf of investors.


Via Opensecrets.org, here’s Lerach’s 2008 donor record:


lerach081.jpg


Lerach’s 2004 and 2006 donations totaled $93,569…including 3 checks worth $3,100 to Hillary Clinton.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Manilow's Skewed View of Hasselbeck by Josh Grossberg

Source: http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=7930a03e-1707-41fe-a3e2-74bd0b0dc540

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 04:17:19 PM PDT

We're not sure about the smiling, laughing and singing, but Barry Manilow is finding it hard to do The View without you, Rosie O'Donnell.

In a message posted on his Website Monday, the pop icon announced he has scuttled a Tuesday appearance on The View because he did not want to take a seat next to Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

"I wanted to let you know that I will no longer be on The View tomorrow as scheduled. I had made a request that I be interviewed by Joy [Behar], Barbara [Walters] or Whoopi [Goldberg] but not Elisabeth Hasselbeck," he wrote. "Unfortunately, the show was not willing to accommodate this simple request, so I bowed out."

A spokesperson for the chatfest declined to comment on Manilow's exit.

Manilow had appeared on ABC's daytime talker twice in the past year without any such requirements, most recently last November. Of course, that was before his pal Rosie O'Donnell blew up at Hasselbeck over the war in Iraq and exited the show in May.

Said Manilow: "It's really too bad, because I've always been a big supporter of the show, but I cannot compromise my beliefs. The good news is I will be on a whole slew of other shows promoting the new album, so I hope you can catch me on those."

Manilow, 64, has been making the promotional rounds for his latest release, The Greatest Songs of the Seventies, which hits stores on Tuesday and features new acoustic renditions of some his best-known hits, including "Mandy," "Weekend in New England," "Copacabana" and "I Write the Songs," as well as a duet with O'Donnell on Elton John's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart."

An avid Democratic supporter and contributor for years, Manilow has already maxed out his contributions this year, donating $2,300 each to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, Joseph Biden and John Edwards. (He also wrote a similar check to Republican contrarian Ron Paul.)

He has portrayed his View adieu as a philosophical clash with the conservative Hasselbeck. TMZ quoted Manilow as saying, "I strongly disagree with her views. I think she's dangerous and offensive. I will not be on the same stage as her."

However, a show insider disputed the crooner's characterization, saying it was View producers who "canceled him" when they learned of his objections to Hasselbeck, and not the other way around.

"It's a show with five cohosts, and it's about having different perspectives. I mean, it's called The View," the source told E! Online. "Elisabeth has acted the consummate professional she is. It's very bizarre he would call her 'dangerous.' "

The insider noted that during Manilow's appearances last year, everyone got along just fine. "They sang, they danced, they laughed."

The source speculated that Manilow, who had been booked on The View since July, made his demands out of loyalty to O'Donnell.

"[His request] is kind of like wanting to be booked on [Live with] Regis and Kelly and not having Kelly on. I don't know if he's grandstanding on behalf of Rosie, but the hypocrisy is outrageous," the insider said. "He appeared twice before, and all of a sudden he has a problem with Elisabeth."

Manilow has seen a huge resurgence in popularity in the past year. His The Greatest Songs of the Fifties debuted at number one on the Billboard charts in January 2006, his first number one in 29 years, and has sold more than 3 million copies. Last October, his Greatest Songs of the Sixties, debuted at number two.

To the chagrin of Stephen Colbert, Manilow also earned an Emmy last year for his PBS special Manilow: Music and Passion.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Unpatriotic, Un-American Hollywood by Longstreet

Source: http://csadispatch.blogspot.com/2007/08/unpatriotic-un-american-hollywood.html

Back in the days when Americans had a sense of shame, Hollywood, a part of the political left in America, had the common decency to refrain from attacking the US military, and America, while the country was at war. It just wasn’t done! Why? Because people who love their country don’t do that sort of thing. It’s called “patriotism”. For those of you on the left… you can find the definition of patriotism in any dictionary. But, then, if you have to look it up… what does that say about you?

Now comes word that Hollywood is churning out a number of anti-war, anti US military, anti conservative, and anti Bush Administration films… just in time for the ’08 election cycle. Will wonders never cease??? Who would have thought that Hollywood had so little class? The answer: Just about anyone who has seen Hollywood’s products of the past 20 years, or so.


Well, Conservatives are fed-up with Hollywood’s self-appointed expertise in diplomacy, and in politics in general. Their slobbering after the Clinton Administration was the beginning of their fall. Their rabid attacks of the current administration has underscored their vacuous, brainless, emotion-based hate of anything even approaching Conservative. Their hedonism is held up to the light for all to see, and they attack the light because the truth of who, and what, they are, nearly destroys them. They live in a close-knit environment of fellow leftists and they have come to believe that their view is the view of all Americans. How wrong they are! Yet, their limited intelligence shields them from the truth of their foolish image as seen by sane, intelligent, people. They make spectacles of themselves revolting to Americans who believe in their God, their families, and their country.

So, what motivates them? Fear motivates them. Fear that their Godless existence will tarnish their carefully molded personas and mark them with the “Mark of the Beast”.

No single community in America has done more to destroy this nation than Hollywood. None. Their efforts have lowered the morals of America’s youth to the lowest common denominator… and then lowered it some more.

No longer does the public believe they create movies for the sake of the art of entertainment. Now we know they create movies as propaganda, as “How To” instruction for all sorts of crime and debauchery.

Their utter disregard for morality is disgusting. When we think they have sunk as low as it is possible for one to sink, they sink even lower.

And now… they want to dictate, to average Americans, how their government should conduct the people’s business. They call into question the veracity of a President, and a government, duly elected by the people of the US, and undermine the war efforts of this country by propping up dictators and publicly slandering the US while visiting other countries abroad. They slander their own country while bowing at the feet of some of the world’s worst dictators.

While many of the top tier actors, and actresses, haven’t even a high school diploma, they know they are smarter than you and I because they can ACT AS IF THEY ARE. They have come to believe their own press releases!

Their disgusting, degrading, products have polluted the minds of our youth long enough. But they are not finished. Oh, no!

Now they are going after their own country, with renewed vigor, in a reinvigorated effort to exchange our democratic government for a socialist regime. The vast propaganda machine of the left is churning out the anti-American propaganda, which is coming to a screen near you very soon. Watch for it! And avoid it like the plague!

Longstreet