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MSN groups are closing. The service will close on February 21, 2009. Windows Live Groups launch 17th November 2008. If the format is the same or similar to MSN groups I will move everything over. If it is more like a blog (as the rumours suggest) then I cannot see this being possible, but we will have to wait and see. (Message from MSN Tech) Thank you for writing to MSN Groups Technical Support. My name is Zaida. I understand that you want to know if it is true that MSN Groups will be closing on February 2009. I realize the importance of addressing this matter. It is true that we are planning to close the MSN Groups service on February 21, 2009 and will offer you the opportunity to move your group to our new partner service, Multiply. We want you to be able to keep your group together, so we partnered with Multiply to create a migration process that moves your group to their service to preserve your online community and its history. The migration method that Multiply has built for you will be ready next week. Once the service is ready we will send all of our users an email and will post notices within the MSN Groups site with more information, including instructions for beginning the migration process. In the meantime you can visit http://Multiply.com to get to know the service and see some of the thousands of groups they host already. Many users are asking why we are closing MSN Groups. We want to provide our customers with the most current and user friendly technology available today and we made the difficult decision to close the MSN Groups service as part of our overall investment in updating and re-aligning our online services with Windows Live. In the long term we believe that closing the service is the best way to continue to offer innovative, best of breed services that help you stay in touch with the people you care about. It is very important to us that you still have access to your group and its data and that is why we have partnered with Multiply, so you can keep your group going into the future despite the closure of MSN Groups. Between today and February 21, 2009 nothing will change about the MSN Groups service except that we will remove the option to add more storage to your group. Other features will remain until the service is shut down and you can use it the same way you do today until the date of closure. Watch the site and your email inbox over the next week as we will post updated information there, including a more detailed outline of your options and next steps. We appreciate your continued support as we strive to provide you with the highest quality service available. Thank you for using MSN Groups. Sincerely, Zaida MSN Groups Technical Support
Tags: Message From MSN Tech Support
I haven't had much time to get in NOTH lately and when I did get in I didn't take the time to read the past Post. Sometimes I am working 24/7 and my e-box gets so full and there were so many good things in it not to pass on to the Members and friends in here as well as my e-mail friends that I just started Posting after I answered my comments and messages. I apologize if I duplicated any one's Post. I of all people should realize that I am not the only one that gets certain e-mails and there is no such thing as a one of a kind e-mail unless it is personal. From now on if I haven't time to read the past Post I will not Post anything until I have the time to read them. If I have duplicated your Post please let me know which one/s and I will delete mine. I do not want to step on any one's toes and I certainly don't mean to offend anyone.
&nb sp;
When in England, at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush.
He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'
You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?'
A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in
transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?'
You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries.
Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?'
Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'
You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...
Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. 'You have been to France before, monsieur?' the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. 'Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.'
The American said, "'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it.
"Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France!' stated the customs officer. The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, "'Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to.'
You could have heard a pin drop.
Tags: A Canadian Friend
Baseball teaches us, or has taught most of us, how to deal with failure. We learn at a very young age that failure is the norm in baseball and ... errors [are] part of the game, part of its rigorous truth.
--Francis T. Vincent, Jr.
Of course we will make mistakes. We are born with the right to make mistakes. There is no shame in that. Perfection is a false ideal for a real human being. We learn by trial and error. If we try to be perfect, we will meet dead ends and roadblocks because we will inevitably fall short.
Instead, there is wisdom in the motto, "Keep coming back." In this instance, the motto refers to returning to our standards. Rather than to strive constantly for higher and higher perfection, our goal is to always return to the rules we live by. Of course we will veer off the path. When we do, we make repairs, pay our dues, and hold our place as full-fledged members of the human race.
 The campaign seal Obama should be using THE FOUNDATION: TRUTH “It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth—and listen to the song of that syren, till she transforms us into beasts.” —Patrick Henry THE DEMO-GOGUES Nothing like broken promises: “We’ve made the decision not to participate in the public-financing system for the general election. This means we’ll be forgoing more than $80 million in public funds during the final months of this election. It’s not an easy decision, especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections. The public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken, and we face opponents who have become masters at gaming this broken system. John McCain’s campaign and the Republican National Committee are fueled by contributions from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs. We’ve already seen that he’s not going to stop the smears and attacks from his allies running so-called 527 groups, who will spend millions and millions of dollars in unlimited donations.” —Barack Obama, taking the high road
Campaign victimitis: “We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black? He’s got a feisty wife.” —Barack Hussein Obama, who, speaking of race, happens to be half white
More victimitis: “I’m a victim of sexism myself all the time, but I just think it goes with the territory.” —the most powerful woman in America, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Speaking of heads in the sand: “The president has a tin ear to the voice of the American people. They spoke. He didn’t care. He has a blind eye to what’s happening on the ground in Iraq. He’s got his head in the sand. ... It’s the main issue. Everything else is eclipsed by the war. All of our accomplishments are eclipsed by the war, because we didn’t end the war. And the war has an impact on other issues.” —Nancy Pelosi DEZINFORMATSIA Nailing Obama for his broken promise: “In late November, Obama responded to, and then signed, a questionnaire stating, ‘I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly-financed general election.’ John McCain... does have a political issue. Barack Obama has flip-flopped on public campaign financing.” —CNN’s Candy Crowley  Defending Obama’s broken promise: “[Barack Obama is] opting out of the [public financing] system to have enough money to fight the unlimited spending and what he called the ‘smears’ from unregulated Republican-allied organizations.” —CBS’s Dean Reynolds
Race bait: “[Barack Obama] bluntly says Republicans will try to make an issue of his race... Have you ever heard him talk out on the campaign trail about race like this?” —CNN’s Wolf Blitzer to Candy Crowley **No! A Democrat would never make race an issue!
Gender bait: “[Y]ou’ve got some weak men on the conservative side who, frankly, don’t like strong women. I mean, we saw the exact same thing take place for Hillary Clinton back in 1992... All of a sudden... Michelle Obama is this angry black woman, when in fact, she’s an accomplished woman, a mother, a wife. And so, they are trying to define her in that way, because they don’t want to deal with the reality.” —CNN’s Roland Martin
From the Leftmedia sycophant files: “The most important reason [Al] Gore should be vice president is that he’s suffered and learned. He has the temperament some of us reach on our death beds. ... If there’s anything we need to rescue us from the last eight years, it’s brains, good judgment and experience. Obama has the first two. Gore has all three.” —Bloomberg columnist Margaret Carlson
Keen Sense of the Obvious: “The conventional view that women embrace commitment more eagerly than men is playing out in the unconventional new world of same-sex matrimony, judging from the growing stack of marriage licenses in Sacramento County...60 percent of the same-sex newlyweds this week are lesbians and 40 percent are gay men. Among heterosexual couples—to no one’s surprise—the gender breakdown is 50-50.” —The Sacramento Bee
Tags: Patriots Post US
I've always thought Lee was down to earth, and this is too good not to share. Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from its death throes? He's now 82 years old and has a new book, and here are some excerpts.
Lee Iacocca Says:
'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the heck is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car.
But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course'
Stay the course? You've got to be kiddin g. This is America , not the damned 'Titanic'. I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'
You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.
The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning
and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the' America ' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?
I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The Biggest 'C' is Crisis ! (Iacocca elaborates on nine Cs of leadership, crisis being the first.)
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forg ed in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A heck of a Mess So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a
bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies
are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. ; Our schools are in
trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the
people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.
Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a singl e day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.
Everyone's hunkering down, fingers cros sed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have new s for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough?
Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope I believe in America . In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: the 'Great Depression', 'World War II', the 'Korean War', the 'Kennedy Assassination', the 'Vietnam War', the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: 'You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting fo r somebody el se to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to 'Action' for people who, like m e, believe in America . It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough.'
Make your own contribution by sending this to everyone you know and care about. It's our country, folks; and it's our future. Our future is at stake!
It's summertime, and the living should be easy. Someone should write a song along those lines. But until someone does, it's up to me to suggest that we should turn the tables on this sweaty season and make it work for us. We should think of the heat as a friend rather than an enemy, a ready-made excuse for all of our various shortcomings. OK, maybe some of you don't believe you have any shortcomings and therefore don't need an excuse for them. You are also probably the same people who believe that pigs fly and there is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow.
But for the rest of us, these lazy, hazy, crazy days that the great Nat King Cole sang about are ideal cover for a multitude of faults. Intellectual faults, for example. Say you are far behind in your mentally stimulating reading. Say you haven't been mentally stimulated since about 1982. Summer is not the time to start reading "War and Peace" or even Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." Your intellectually challenging exploration of Russian literature and global warming issues can definitely wait until the arrival of cooler autumn days. In the summer, you're supposed to indulge in superficial beach reading (usually involving books with a picture of Fabio on the cover) even if you are nowhere near a beach. I won't tell the Russians or Mr. Gore, if you won't.
Maybe your faults include irritability and overall orneriness. Maybe you are not treating your fellow humans in a humane way. At any other time of year, this kind of behavior would demand serious self-examination and remorseful repentance. But not when you are sweltering in the heat. It is summer that is making you cranky. It is not your fault. You will surely return to your sweet self after Labor Day.
Summer is also the perfect time to cut yourself some slack in the style department. You are no longer an underdressed, wrinkled slob. You are a seasonally appropriate, laid-back dude or dudette. Only the uptight and Al Gore (oops, redundancy there) wear fitted clothes that require ironing and nice shoes in the summer.
These dog days can also help to rationalize the fact that you eat like a hog. In the spring, the media is full of reminders that you need to be getting your body beach-ready. In the winter, you are bludgeoned with advice on avoiding holiday weight gain. But in the summer, the members of the food police seem to temporarily neglect their nagging. They're probably off being mentally stimulated. This leaves you free to eat heat-helping fare like ice cream. You can even assist a needy Starbucks executive to buy another vacation home by consuming a variety of complicated and expensive iced drinks, and no one will be the wiser.
If you happen to notice after all this high-calorie intake that your backside looks broader, and if you should suddenly feel the need to exercise, the summer heat will prevent you from doing so for safety's sake. You can take credit for your good intentions and let it go at that. And what a boon to the lazy are these weeks of warm weather. Spend eight hours a day lying in the sand or by a pool in January, and you'll probably be sent to a shrink. Do the same thing in June, July or August, and you are a sensible person who knows how to relax. So, my friend, there's no need to suffer from the summertime blues. No need to raise a fuss, no need to raise a holler - even though most of us are working this summer to try to raise a dollar. (Hmm...someone should write a song with those lines in it, too.) There's plenty of time in the fall to focus once again on our faults, assuming we have any. For now, let's have a great summer of '08. I won't tell the Russians or Mr. Gore, if you won't.
-----------------------------
Jackie's official website:
http://www.JackiePapandrew.com
============================
A job at the nursery can lead to a budding career.
Tags: Mickey's Funnies
Fred Reed was a police reporter for one of the large Washington newspapers... He now writes a column which can be googled 'Fred on Everything'. Fred published a weekly online column in which he got to say the things his editors would never, ever have let him write in the paper. His stuff is iconoclastic and various articles have probably offended everyone regardless of political orientation. So, with the warning that 'This is definitely not politically correct,' here comes Fred. The following is an essay regarding the failings of a system and a culture. Please note that he elegantly describes the mood of many Americans, and he does so without prejudice.
Slavery Reparations ... by Fred Reed! On the Web I find that Henry Louis Gates Jr., the chairman of Afro-American Studies at Harvard, is demanding that whites pay reparations to blacks. It's because of slavery, see. He is joined in this endeavor by a gaggle of other professional blacks. I guess he'll send me a bill, huh? I feel like saying, 'Let me get this straight, Hank. I'm slow. Be patient. You want free money because of slavery, right? I don't blame you.' I'd like free money too. Tell you what. I believe in justice. I'll give you a million dollars for every slave I own, and another million for every year you were a slave. Fair enough? But tell me, how many slaves do you suppose I have? In round numbers, I mean...Say to the nearest dozen. And how long were you a slave? Oh. In other words, I owe you reparations for something that I didn't do and didn't happen to you. That makes sense. Like lug nuts on a birthday cake. Personally, I think you owe me reparations for things you didn't do and never happened to me. I've never been coated in Dutch chocolate and thrown from the Eiffel Tower . I'll bet you've never done it to anyone. I want reparations. Kind of silly, isn't it? But if we're going to talk about reparations, that's a street that runs in two directions. You want money from me for what some other whites did to some other blacks in another century. How about you guys paying whites reparations for current expenses caused by blacks? Not long ago blacks burned down half of Los Angeles , a city in my country. Cities are expensive, Hank. Build one sometime and you'll see what I mean. Whites had to pay taxes to repair Los Angeles for you. You can send m e a check. Now, yes, I know you burned LA because you didn't like the verdict in the trial of those police officers. Well, I didn't like the verdict in the Simpson trial. But I didn't burn my house and loot Korean grocers. Over the years blacks have burned a lot of American cities: Newark , Detroit , Watts , on and on. Now add in the fantastic cost over the years of welfare in all its forms, of large police forces, for cells and jails and security systems in department stores. I can't live in the capital city of my own country because of crime committed by blacks. Toss in the cultural cost of lowering standards in everything for the benefit of blacks. See what I mean? Now, I'd view things differently if you said, 'Fred, blacks can't get anywhere in a modern country without education. We know that. We need better schools, smarter teachers, harder courses, books with smaller pictures and bigger words. Can you help us?' I'd say, 'Hallelujah! Hoo-ahh! Not just yes, but heck yes. Let's sell an aircraft carrier and get these folks some real schools and get them into the economic main-stream.' I'd say it partly because it would be the right thing to do, and partly, because I'd like to add you guys to the tax base. The current custodial state is expensive. I'd just love for blacks to study and learn to compete and stop burning places. But is it going to happen? You may not believe it, but I, and most whites, don't like seeing blacks as miserable and screwed up as they are. I spend a fair amount of time in the projects. Those places are ugly. It's no fun watching perfectly good kids turn into semi-literate dope dealers who barely speak English. It just plain ain't right. But, Hank, what am I supposed to do about it? I can't do your children's homework. At some point, people have to do things for themselves, or they don't get done. Maybe it's time. I'll tell you what I see out in the world, Hank... I think blacks are too accustomed to getting anything they want by just demanding it. True, it has worked for over half a century. Get a few hundred people in the street, implicitly threaten to loot and burn, holler about slavery, and the Great White Cash Spigot turns on. Thing is, whites don't much buy it any longer. Most recognize that what once was a civil-rights movement has become a shakedown game. Few people still feel responsible for the failings and inadequacies of blacks. Political correctness keeps the lid on -- but everyone knows the score. Which scares me, Hank. On one hand, blacks hate whites and incline toward looting and Burning. (The whites you hate are the ones who marched in the civil-rights movement. Ever think about that?) On the other hand, whites quietly grow wearier and wearier of it. Not good. On the third hand (allow me three hands, for rhetorical convenience), blacks keep demanding things. As I write, you demand reparations for slavery. Blacks in Oklahoma (I think it was) want money for some ancient race riot. Other blacks reject the Declaration of Independence , blacks in New York hint broadly at burning and looting over a trial, yet more demand the elimination of the Confederate flag, and the federal equal opportunity apparatus, which means blacks, wants to sue Silicon Valley for not hiring nonexistent black engineers. That's a lot of demanding for one month, Hank. What happens if whites ever s ay, 'No' ? Now, how about you? You've got a cushy job up there at Harvard, and you can hoot and holler about what swine and bandits whites are. I guess it's lots of fun, and you get a salary for it. But don't you think you might do blacks more good if you told them to complain less and study more? For example, if you want blacks to work in Silicon Gulch, the best approach might be to find some really smart black guys, and get them to study digital design, not Black Studies. That's how everybody else does it. It works. Then blacks wouldn't feel left out, and racial tensions would decline. Sound like a plan? Just out of curiosity, how many hours a week do professors of Afro-American Studies spend in the projects, encouraging poor black kids to study real life sho-nuf subjects?
Tags: Google
A birth certificate shows that we were born; a death
certificate shows that we died; pictures show that we
lived! Have a seat . Relax. And read this slowly.
I believe - That just because two people argue, it
doesn't mean they don't love each other. And just
because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.
I believe - That we don't have to change friends if we
understand that friends change.
I believe - That no matter how good a friend is,
they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you
must be ready to forgive them for that.
I believe - That true friendship continues to grow, even
over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.
I believe - That you can do something in an instant that
will give you heartache for life.
I believe - That it's taking me a long time to become
the person I want to be.
I believe - That you should always leave loved ones with
loving words. It may be the last time you see them.
I believe - That you can keep going long after you think
you can't.
I believe - That we are responsible for what we do, no
matter how we feel.
I believe - That either you control your attitude or it
controls you.
I believe - That heroes are the people who do what has to
be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the
consequences.
I believe - That money is a lousy way of keeping score.
I believe - That sometimes the people you expect to kick
you when you're down will be the ones to help you get
back up.
I believe - That sometimes when I'm angry I have the
right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right
to be cruel.
I believe - That maturity has more to do with what types
of experiences you've had and what you've learned
from them and less to do with how many birthdays
you've celebrated.
I believe - That it isn't always enough to be forgiven
by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.
I believe - That no matter how bad your heart is broken,
the world doesn't stop for your grief.
I believe - That our background and circumstances may have
influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we
become.
I believe - Two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.
I believe - That your life can be changed in a matter of
hours by people who don't even know you.
I believe - That even when you think you have no more to
give, when a friend cries out to you - you will find the
strength to help.
I believe - That credentials on the wall do not make you a
decent human being.
I believe - That the people you care about most in life
are taken from you too soon.
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