MisSpelling Dictionary

Despite Tough Economy PLM Investments Continue

Cited: Apparel News

Many apparel manufacturers have decided to proceed with their product lifecycle management (PLM) incentives despite the rough economy.  In fact, a couple of IT providers have been signing on some big clients like Madura Garments in India has installed Minneapolis-based Lawson Software, Lawson Fashion PLM.  This is a web-based software application that helps manage preproduction items.  Labels such as Allen Solly, Van Heusen, and Louis Philippe produced by Madura Garments which has been a challenge for the company in managing brands over a large supply chain.  This helps the company with various collections and across multiple seasons to deal with hundreds or thousands of points of information

In addition, the company has been on a growth track, so it was looking for PLM to help it become more efficient in gaining access to information.

“We are already deriving value from the added capabilities [of Lawson PLM] that help us better manage our products from the time we begin designing an item until it’s ready for the retail shelves,” said Neeraj Pal Singh, Madera’s vice president of information systems.  Up to three weeks have been saved for fabric-sample request cycles, company officials said.

The implementation process also gave Madura an opportunity to re-engineer its business processes and help structure systems to provide better transparency of information across the company’s supply chain. In addition, the new system enables product- development activities to work simultaneously, which helps reduce product-development timelines for new collections and reduce time-to-market, Singh added.

Meanwhile, Campbell, Calif.–based Centric Software Inc. is also making inroads on the PLM front, having signed Rigby, Idaho–based Klim USA to use its Centric 8 PLM and sourcing applications to manage Klim’s technical motorcycle- and snowmobile-gear business.

Klim’s suppliers are spread throughout Canada, Sweden and Asia, and the company is looking to product lifecycle management to put everyone on the same page during the sample-making process, explained Blake Summers, director of information technology at Klim.

“This will enable us to maintain our high-quality standards while reducing costs and bringing products to market more quickly,” he said.  Summers said he was drawn to the collaboration aspects of PLM so that crossed signals between various suppliers would not be an issue during sample-making.

Summer is also said that there is compromising on the quality Klim is known for.  The technical equipment used by some of the best dirt-bike and snowmobile riders in the country is produced by Klim.  This is the reason that the collaboration aspects of PLM for keeping communication open between for suppliers.

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My Take: You have to spend money to make money when you own a business.  It seems that there is always something to help business owners expand and grow in the field of technology.  The downside of this is that they pass that expense on to the consumer.

Any company that can expand through technology without passing that expense on to their customers would probably make more money than they would if they did pass on the expense.  That goes a long with an economic studies theory that if you reduce the retail price of an item you will sell more and make more money in the long run.  However, not many business owners like this theory.

There is one business that could possibly do this and make tons of money doing it.  That is the fashion industry!  One thing is definitely sure; everybody needs clothes, unless I lived in a nudist colony.  Let’s take the most popular piece of clothing in America, cool T shirts.  Everybody wears T-shirts!  Whether they are funny T-shirts, offensive T-shirts or the rude offensive tees somebody is wearing one.

There are so many different T-shirt designs on the market today that people have a large for rioting to choose from and yet the price of a T-shirt is outrageous.  That means even if the price were lower you would still be a little find cool T-shirt designs that you would love.  It also means that you would probably buy more than your normal would.

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Pilates Workout

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Fight Credit Harassment

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Travolta Extortion Trial Begins

Cited: AP

According to prosecutors on September 22 a paramedic who had treated John Travolta’s son in the Bahamas before he died, tried to blackmail his star by threatening to release private information unless a star paid $25 million.  Travolta did not appear in the court room on the first day of testimony in the island chain off the Florida coast but is expected to take the stand during the trial at some point.

“Contact was made with certain persons to communicate a threat to John Travolta,” Bernard Turner, chief prosecutor in the Bahamas, said in his opening argument.

Ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne and former Bahamas senator Pleasant Bridgewater, a co-defendant who allegedly acted as an intermediary, have pleaded innocent to extortion charges.  Defense lawyers had not yet presented opening arguments.

Police say the alleged scheme involved a document related to the treatment of Jett Travolta, a chronically ill teenager who died Jan. 2 following a seizure at a family vacation home on Grand Bahamas Island. It would have released emergency responders from liability if the family refused an ambulance but police said that did not happen.

The first trial witness, police inspector Andrew Wells, testified that after 16-year-old Jett was loaded into an ambulance, Lightbourne told him that Travolta wanted his son taken directly to the local airport instead of the hospital. Wells said Travolta signed a release form.

It was unclear why Jett Travolta was not taken to the airport and why the defendants allegedly believed the actor would pay to keep the document secret.  Another paramedic, Derrex Rolle, testified September 22 that Jett was unresponsive and showed no signs of life when he arrived at the actor’s home inside a resort community.

Travolta, who has kept a low profile since his son’s death, is on a list of 14 witnesses who could be called to testify. Prosecutors have not said when the actor might take the stand. The other potential witnesses include lawyers and friends of Travolta as well as five police inspectors and detectives.  A jury of six women and three men was seated in the Supreme Court case.

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According to Fox News, conflicting reports have emerged over the timeline of events leading up to the death of Travolta’s 16-year-old son Jett.  Police forces in the Bahamas say that Jett was left unattended for more than 10 hours — a claim which the Travolta camp is vehemently denying — according to TMZ.com.

Jett, who suffered from seizures due to Kawasaki Syndrome, reportedly fell in his hotel bathroom and hit his head sometime between Jan. 1 and 2 while on vacation with his family.  Though the cause of death has yet to be determined, it is widely suspected that the head trauma suffered in the fall killed him.

Jett, his family, and two nannies took a boating trip before returning to the hotel around 6 p.m. on Jan. 1. After the outing, Jett reportedly went to his bedroom to sleep. Police said that he was last seen at around 11:30 p.m. on the night of Jan. 1.  His body was later discovered by the caretaker, Jeff Michael Kathrein, at 10 a.m. on Jan. 2.

According to Michael McDermott, John Travolta’s lawyer and close friend, Jett often slept for 12 — sometimes 16 — hours a day. McDermott said Jett’s absence from the family’s activity was therefore not unusual, TMZ reported.  McDermott also said that a nanny or caretaker may have entered the bathroom during the middle of the night, possibly making the time frame even smaller.

The Travolta camp has claimed that few minutes passed between the time Jett hit his head and the time of his death, according to TMZ. McDermott also said that there were attempts to revive Jett at the scene.

“With lots of emotion that goes through a family in a time like this, it’s understandable to come to your own ideas or terms, but we have an obligation to assure and convey with our public that the information we give is solid. The investigation is ongoing, but we stand by what we have said,” police in the Bahamas told TMZ on Sunday.

There have also been several reports that suggest Travolta, a scientologist, refused to give his son anti-seizure medication.  But Travolta reportedly gave his son Depakote — an anti-seizure medication — for years, TMZ reported. The family eventually stopped administering the drug after it lost its effectiveness, because it caused Jett “serious physical damage,” McDermott told TMZ.

The grand mal seizures from which Jett suffered were as frequent as once every four days and were considered “extremely serious.”

Travolta, 54, and his wife, actress Kelly Preston, 46, also have an 8-year-old daughter, Ella Bleu. The family had arrived in the Bahamas on a private plane and was vacationing at their home in the Old Bahama Bay resort community.

Travolta, who gained fame as Vinnie Barbarino on the 1970s television show “Welcome Back, Kotter” and the 1977 film “Saturday Night Fever,” went on to become one of Hollywood’s biggest names. He married Preston in 1991.  A television actress, Preston appeared with Travolta in the 2000 film “Battlefield Earth,” based on a novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

In a statement posted on Preston’s Web site, the family thanked fans and friends for sending their love and condolences.  Calling Jett “the most wonderful son that two parents could ever ask for,” Preston and Travolta said they were “heartbroken that our time with him was so brief. We will cherish the time we had with him for the rest of our lives.”

We’ve learned John Travolta will be the first witness called in the extortion trial over his son’s death — and after John steps down from the stand, there will be a legal dogfight in the courtroom over what could be the smoking gun in the case.

Sources say Travolta will testify for less than two hours. When he finishes, we’re told defense lawyers will mount an objection to the introduction of a secret videotape which allegedly shows the attempted extortion played out.  The video was shot by authorities in the Bahamas. It shows Travolta’s lawyers’ listening attentively as the alleged $25 million extortion demand was laid out on the table.

According to prosecutors, an essentially irrelevant document connected to Jett’s death is at the center of the supposed that the extortion demand by former state Senator Pleasant Bridgewater and paramedic Tarino Lightbourne who threatened to release that document if Travolta did not pay $25 million.

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My Take: I feel sorry for John Travolta and the loss of his son.  Of course, like many fans, I can only go by what I have read in the newspapers and heard on TV about his relationship with his son.  There have been some candid shots that seemed to show how much he loved his son.  I cannot imagine him being involved in any way in his son’s death.

As for the document that he signed to get his son’s body back to the United States, I really do not see a problem with that.  The only problem that I could see is that his son’s death was ruled anything but an accident.  I think he just wanted to get his son home so that he can bury him.  And the people who tried to use that situation to get money were stupid.

The fact that John Travolta turned them in to be prosecuted tells me that he has nothing to hide about his son’s death.  I cannot imagine what it would take for a man to testify in a trial after his son died.  Yet, Travolta is doing just that.  He said should be proud of him!

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Attorneys Fees

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Relaxation

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Being a Landlord is Simple

Cited: Reality Times

Many people who become a landlord do not have the experience and they discover difficulties and troubles that slowly arise.  That is when they start to believe the horror stories that they have heard from former landlords.  Many of these people are becoming accidental landlords due to the current market conditions and they are looking to others to simplify the rental process.  And one company has stepped up to the plate to help by turning the old process of snail mail checks into electronic checks using the Internet.

A new site called PayYourRent.com aims to ease the process, eliminate the headaches for landlords, property managers, and tenants, and help facilitate rents payments. “What we do is we set up a merchant account that will send funds directly from the tenant’s account right into the owner’s account. It’s all completely electronic. The owner will receive an email that the payment has been made and the money will be deposited into the account,” says Kevin Eberly, CEO of PayYourRent.com.

“It really takes a lot of the frustration away for the homeowners who want to rent their homes but don’t know anything about property management,” says Eberly.

It also simplifies and provides a track record of repair work as well. “We provide a portal and Web site for the owner and tenant to submit maintenance requests, rental applications, online monthly recurring payments, and even connect the entire tenant’s utilities — all on one Web site,” says Eberly.

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Eberly says that some landlords who don’t have much experience may feel that some of the tasks of being a landlord are “out of their comfort zone” or simply too time consuming and that’s where he says his site can come to the rescue. The site helps tenants to make necessary changes quickly and easily online, alleviating the landlord from having to handle a constant stream of questions from tenants. “It’s one Web site where tenants can go to set up their water, power, gas, phone, cable, Internet, renter’s insurance, change of address form—everything is right there on one Web site and it compares prices from the local and the national brand for their area. And it has a best price guarantee,” says Eberly.

Another benefit is the roommate split-payment option. “The original tenant who registers on the site has the ability to add a roommate. So that roommate can go in with a secure username and password and submit payments toward the same property.

What about repairs? Eberly says the site is a great way to track exactly what needs to be done and what repairs have already been completed. The tenant logs in and submits a repair. An email is sent to the property owner or the person who the property owner has designated to receive it. A confirmation email is sent to the tenant. The site provides access 24/7 so that pending repair requests can be viewed by the property owner. Once the property owner marks the repair as completed it is removed from the property owner’s page on the site but PayYourRent.com keeps a back-log of all the previous maintenance requests so that in the event of litigation and the property owner wants proof that the repair was completed, a back-log is available.

“The idea is to make it a one-stop shop for property managers, owners and tenants.”  According to Eberly, the website is constantly improving because of feedback from those using it.  There is a monthly service fee of $15 for fewer than 10 units registered plus a $3.95 per check fee for those registered with the company.

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My Take: This seems like a fantastic service for management companies and landlords as well as tenants.  The only problem I can see is that there are some tenants who do not have Internet access.  However, the option to have the money taken directly from your checking account or credit card could alleviate that problem.

I like the idea that it can keep track of repairs and maintenance.  That would definitely come in handy if an owner wanted to replace the granite countertops in the home or apartment.  Sometimes tenants can be a little rough on the tile countertops requiring that they be replaced.  That is one of the plights of renting your property.  It definitely would help relieve the headaches of maintenance or repairs.

On the other hand, I am someone who does not like giving access to my checking account for my credit card to anybody for automatic payments.  Now if the process would allow me to set up the automatic payments, which would allow me to retain control over those payments, I would probably agree to it.

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Designated Driver

Everyone who goes out on Friday or Saturday night to party should have a designated driver.  It would be even better if the designated driver had gone to academy driving school NY.  This would avoid any DUIs and possibly lower insurance rates if it is an approved course by the NY DMV.  You can never learn too much about driving and how to be safe on the road.  In fact, there is a NJ defensive driving course available online for anyone to take.  The same school even offers in NY insurance rate reduction course that is meant to reduce your insurance rates.

Home Security

Home security should be important to everyone whether you live in a house or an apartment.  There are far more homes than there are police officers, not to mention a lot of experienced thieves, so it is very important for you to do everything possible to make your home secure rather than just relying on others for home security solutions.

Ivy League for Dogs

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Does a Tough Market Create More Business?

Cited: Reality Times

Many real estate agents often wonder how they can meet more prospects and get more business.  As with any business professional, they want to know what they need to do to increase their business and meet new prospects.  However, there is something that is more important than just acquiring new business or meeting new prospects.  That is earning the respect of the prospects that you meet to encourage them to do business with you.

You see, as agents we can’t control a lot of things when it comes to having a person buy or sell a home with us. We can’t control their job situation, their credit rating, or even the timing of their desire to move.

But what we can do is significantly impact their desire to want to work with us when it comes to facilitating the buying or selling of their largest personal asset. And if you’re able to do that on a consistent basis with a majority of the prospects you meet, then you’ll have a much better chance of getting more business, simply because it’s a byproduct of their desire to want to work with you.

So with that said, how can you increase your credibility – in their eyes – so that more prospects make you their Realtor of Choice? Here are a couple of my favorites.

Ask the right questions. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people mess this up. Asking the right questions is less about your desire to want to close a deal, and more about developing an understanding of your prospect’s situation.

Some examples include:

Why are you thinking about making a move?

What do you want to see in your ideal neighborhood?

Name a feature in your old house that you want to see in your new home?

What kind of commute do you have now and what’s your tolerance going forward?

Those are all good questions because they focus on your prospects and their situation. From there, you’ll want to provide some ideas and options of different neighborhoods that fit their criteria.

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Obviously, you’ll want to do a more comprehensive search on MLS to make sure you’re getting everything that’s out there, but saying something like, “Ok, so you don’t want more than a 30 minute commute from downtown and you’re looking for a quiet neighborhood where you can raise a family, right? Have you taken a look at the XYZ subdivision lately? I was showing that to a client the other day, and it really looks like they’ve got some good deals on some nice homes. It’s located about 20 minutes from downtown, and from what I’ve seen, it looks like a really nice neighborhood to raise a family.”

You see how that automatically increases your credibility in the mind of that other person? You gave them information that they probably didn’t know, and you related it to their specific situation.  If you do that enough times, you see how it’s almost impossible for this prospect to not at least consider working with you?  Take my word for it: If you want to get more business in today’s tough market, asking the right questions (and providing insightful points) is always a great start.

Become a Problem Solver. A lot of times you’ll run into situations where a person wants to buy or sell a home, but there are some roadblocks standing in the way. I’m talking about things like credit rating, curb appeal or anything else that impacts your ability to facilitate their purchase, but falls outside of the traditional “Realtor” role.

If you want prospects to really want to work with you, then becoming a problem solver to handle those situations is the way to go. Instead of just saying, “Well it looks like you’ll need some help on getting your credit back into shape”, how about actually having a person – that you already know – who helps people out with these situations.

Instead of saying, “Boy, you really want to consider some landscaping work on the yard before we can even think about selling this house for top dollar”, how about having the name of a handyman or landscaper whose work you’ve personally seen, who can help out with some loose ends around the house.

You see how you identified the problem and provided an option for solving it?  Any Realtor can say, “Do this and do that”, but you’re now coming with options and solutions…which is exactly what you want to do when it comes to earning their respect.

For most people, buying or selling a house is one of the most stressful times in their lot and that is the bottom line.  You want to be the person who can ask the right questions, write the right answers and give options for moving things forward when challenges begin to pile up as they usually do.  You want to be there “go to” person.

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My Take: I believe in the old phrase, “The customer is always right!”  However, as we all know, the customer is also sometimes wrong.  That is why you should always be able to offer a client an alternative solution.  Of course, that does not mean the client will take the advice that you give, but at least you gave it.

For example, let us say that you have a client that is moving to Houston and you have some Houston homes for sale even though the client is not interested in Houston real estate.  They actually want to live on the outskirts of Houston in Cloverleaf, Galena Park or even Bellaire.  However, you have information on foreclosures in Houston that could save your client thousands of dollars.  This is the type of information that clients like and can earn you referrals.

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Arizona Foreclosures

The key to your success in avoiding foreclosure is to get the facts and make an informed decision.  One company knows that earning your trust is the only way they will have the opportunity to do business with you.    Phoenix Arizona foreclosures are becoming more and more common in today’s difficult market, but the key to avoiding them is a loan modification or a short sale AZ, which this company is happy to provide because they are an Arizona loan modification company.

Home Improvements

With distinctive wood front entry doors, research has proven that an attractive front entry can considerably increase a home’s perceived value.  The research also shows how important a exterior wood door is to a home buyer’s first impression. Most improvements for a home’s market value show a return of less than 90 cents to the dollar, costing much more than a brand new front entrance. Research shows that an entry upgrade improves four to five times the investment.

Rental Solutions

One Minnesota property management company offers expert tenant placement services, including a thorough screening process, and full-service property management.  They will care for your property as if it were their own, giving you freedom and peace of mind.  They also handle many Maple Grove home rentals for their clients as well as an excellent tenant screening service.

New Counters

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Obama on the ‘Late Show’

Cited: LA Times

The day before his appearance on the “Late Show with David Letterman”, Pres. Obama hardly revealed anything about his personal life.  However, with David Letterman he were real but for some information about his charter schooling and social life as well as a recent date night with his wife.  He also talked about some politics as well.

He let slip a few personal details about his daughters, an off-limits topic elsewhere. He disclosed the name of a movie he saw recently with his wife. And he managed to talk a little about healthcare and Afghanistan too.  The information wasn’t exactly breaking news, but the president has been busy hammering home an old message about the overhaul of the healthcare system.

And, in fact, Letterman let him talk about his favorite topic for a good stretch of the show. Letterman was content to listen as Obama talked about the plight of the uninsured and about his ideas for making things better.

In a more personal moment, Obama talked about how tough the homework load is at Sidwell Friends School, the Quaker school his daughters, Sasha and Malia, attend in Washington.

“We decided there weren’t going to be any fancy camps during the summer,” Obama said. “They basically just goofed off during the summer . . . which I couldn’t do.”

“Others have,” Letterman said, a possible reference to the previous administration, drawing only a laugh from the president.

Obama also offered some insight into date nights with the first lady when shown a picture of the two of them wearing 3D glasses. They were watching the movie “Up” at the time, he said.  He also divulged that the Obama girls have slumber parties at the White House and go to sleepovers at their friends’ houses, which requires that parents get “frisked” by the Secret Service.

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In a serious moment, the president showed a hint of agreement with some points in a new report from the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who believes that the mission in Afghanistan could fail without more troops and a different strategy for tamping down the insurgency, according to a document that was revealed in the Washington Post.

Over the last seven years, Obama said, “our strategy drifted. . . . We didn’t have a clear sense of what it was we were trying to accomplish.”

Obama also weighed in with a brief, but sharp, point about race, another subject he typically avoids.

Is all the vitriol about his domestic agenda really about race? Letterman asked the first black president.

“It’s important to realize that I was actually black before the election,” Obama pointed out. “That tells you a lot, I think, about where the country is at.”

President Barack Obama, who has faced a lot of criticism from some quarters which former President Jimmy Carter views as racially motivated, had an answer for that in his talk with the Late Show’s David Letterman today.

Asked by Letterman in the taping of tonight’s show today if his opponents are motivated by racial hatred, Obama said:

“It’s important to realize that I was actually black before the election… This is true.”

“How long have you been a black man?” Letterman replied.

“The American people, I think, gave me this extraordinary honor and that tells you, I think, a lot about where the country’s at,” Obama said. “I actually think that what’s happened is that whenever a president tries to bring about significant changes, particularly during times of economic unease, then there is a certain segment of the population that gets very riled up.

“And it happened – FDR was called a socialist and a communist; JFK, there were all kinds of names hurled at him; Ronald Reagan, when he came into office, he was moving in a different direction and people were sure that he was bringing the country down.”

Letterman, who was stood up by Obama’s rival, Sen. John McCain, during the presidential campaign, and let him know about it on air, made a few jokes about the president’s arrival, the first sitting president to appear on the Late Show – though this was Obama’s own personal sixth stop on Letterman’s set.

The president let slip a few personal details about his daughters, an off-limits topic elsewhere. He disclosed the name of a movie he saw recently with his wife. And he confessed that yes, he is still crazy about nurses.

The Late Show band played Hail to the Chief with timpani drums. The president strode out in a navy suit, white shirt, blue tie.

“I like the cup,” Obama said, sitting down… “The main reason I’m here… I want to see that heart shaped potato.”

At which prompt Letterman walked over to a woman from Missouri who had been on the show two years before with the spud. Letterman collected it and handed it over to Obama. The president put the potato in his pocket.

“Family is doing wonderfully,” Obama said. “Poor Sash, she was in second grade, and in this new school, she had homework, we decided there wasn’t going to be any fancy camps during the summer. They basically just goofed off during the summer…

Lettermen asked about all the stress of having men with guns around the place. “They actually go over to other kids houses,” Obama said. “The parents get frisked.”

They shared some photographs, including one of the president running his Portuguese water dog, Bo, with a football.

And they talked about that “vitriol” in the public debate these days which Obama mentioned in his Sunday news show talks over the weekend. ” Whenever a president tries to bring about significant change, .there is a certain segment of the population that gets very riled up.” Obama said. “FDR was called a socialist and a communist; Ronald Reagan, whenhe came into office — people were sure that he was bringing the country down.

“What has been missing from the conversation is that the overwhelming majority of people, Republicans and Democrats, they just want to see some common sense,” the president said. “I think they are turned off by the shouting and the yelling.”

The crowd applauded.

Obama started in on health care.

“If I’m not feeling well, I go to the CBS nurse,” Letterman said.

” Everybody should have a CBS nurse,” Obama said. “I’m sure the nurse is a wonderful person. What we have right now is at least 30 million who don’t have any insurance… If we are on the same path that we are right now…5-10 years … far more Americans are not going to have health insurance .”

“Your job is more difficult than my job,” Letterman suggested. “That’s what I’ve learned here tonight.”

“Whenever you invoke Great Britain or Canada …people shudder,” Letterman said. “I’m not a socialist, but it doesn’t sound that bad to me. ”

“It doesn’t sound bad to Canadians, they are perfectly happy with their system,” Obama said. “But each country is different… Every other advanced nation provides coverage for all their folks. We can find a uniquely American way of accomplishing this.”

Letterman asked about Afghanistan.

“Our troops are performing at an extraordinary level in both Iraq and Afghanistan,” Obama said. “Look Iraq will not be perfect, but thanks to the sacrifice of those who fought, the Iraqis will have a chance to create the kind of functioning democracy…

“The folks who killed 3,000 Americans, they were based in Afghanistan. They have been driven into the foothills…but they are still there. Although they are weakened…they are still there …

“The country is weary of the war,” Obama said. “What I’m trying to do at this point is to make sure that …. all these elements, that we have got a coherent strategy that can work… I’ve got to make sure that the policy in place was worthy of their sacrifice. that’s something that we’re going to worth through systematically. Not going to make a decision about any further troop deployments.

“What we can’t lose sight of is that the reason we went there in the first place and the number one threat that we continue to face,” the president said. “Extremists who are willing to slaughter innocents… make sure they are destroyed, their networks are dismantled.”

Letterman was ready with his “Top Ten reasons why President Obama agreed to appear on the show.

• 10. Heard the lady with the heart shaped potato was gonna be here.
• 9. Thought it would be fun to watch someone else get heckled.
• 8. Something to do with that whole cash for clunkers deal
• 7. Every president since Teddy Roosevelt has done it
• 6. Someone offers you 600 bucks, you take it ladies and gentlemen
• 5. We told him Megan Fox would be here.
• 4. Needed some time to hang out before check in time at his hotel
• 3. I have no idea.
• 2. Said yes, without thinking, like Bush did with Iraq.
• 1. Wanted to congratulate Dave on the big Emmy win.

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My Take: One thing is definitely sure, Obama is not camera shy!  He seems to embrace the public, which most of the previous presidents did not do once they were elected.  The ones who did, like JFK and FDR, did great things for this country.  Hopefully, Obama will continue that trend.

I do believe that Obama is correct in stating that we need some type of health insurance coverage for all Americans.  We do have in place a system for people who are in low income to get medical care, but what about those people who are just above that income limit?  They do not have the money to get health insurance and they make too much to get assistance.

One thing people do need to consider is that Obama did not walk into an easy presidency.  There were a lot of things going on that Bush had not concluded.  Iraq and Afghanistan are only two of the big ones.  Think I will stop now before I get started on these.

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Terrorizing LA Street Gang Raided after Sheriff’s Deputy Killed

Cited:  AP

Notorious LA street gang members were accused of terrorizing a neighborhood for years as well as killing a sheriff’s deputy when targeted for a raid by hundreds of law enforcement officials on September 22.  A series of early-morning raids conducted by local police and federal agents were conducted to find key members of the Avenues street gang.  The gang claims a section of northeast Los Angeles as its “territory”.  This resulted in a massive federal racketeering indictment detailing criminal activities for more than decade of 90 suspects.

Officers in full body armor were seen at dawn, September 22, at a blocked-off staging area at the Dodger Stadium parking lot, where suspects were being processed at a portable booking area as media helicopters hovered overhead.  Scores of search warrants were served at 4 a.m. from Los Angeles to Kern County, and almost all suspects were in custody within three hours, said Los Angeles police Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz.

There is “ironclad evidence of the crimes,” Diaz said at the staging area.  “Our goal is to … move these people out, occupy this community and support the law-abiding people that deserve to live in dignity here.”

Aside from murdering rivals, dealing drugs, graffiti tagging and other crimes, the gang is accused of making threats and carrying out acts of violence against police officers, culminating in two attacks that rocked the law enforcement community last year.

The first of these, on Feb. 21, 2008, saw Avenues gang members open fire with handguns and an AK-47 on Los Angeles police officers. Police shot back, killing 20-year-old Daniel Leon, whose nickname was ‘Clever,’ and injuring another man.  Then on Aug. 2, 2008, off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Juan Escalante was shot dead in front of his parents’ home northeast of downtown.

Even before the killing, authorities were investigating the Avenues, but his death increased the urgency of the operation. Earlier this year, police charged three men in Escalante’s death and a fourth suspect remains at large.

The indictment details several possible motives for the murder. Carlos Velasquez, one of the men accused of killing the deputy, was heard in a wire-tapped telephone conversation telling another Avenues gang member that he killed Escalante in retribution for the death of Leon, nicknamed “Clever.”

“Clever took one with him,” the indictment states Velasquez said.

The 222-page indictment also alleges Avenues members posted inflammatory remarks on Web sites, including “Avenidas don’t get chased by the cops. We chase them,” and, “Avenidas don’t just hurt people. We kill them.”  Members of the largely Hispanic gang would also spray paint racist threats around neighborhoods to intimidate black people, according to prosecutors.

“This indictment attacks a criminal organization that has terrorized a community for generations,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Brunwin, the lead prosecutor in the case. “With all of the information collected over the past year, we assembled an indictment that led to dozens of arrests this morning and will make a significant difference in the neighborhoods in northeastern Los Angeles.”

The September 22 operation marks an ongoing focus on the Avenues gang, which gets its name from a series of streets running through the area.

In June 2008, another federal indictment took aim at the Drew Street clique of the gang. Prosecutors said Drew Street was the most active and violent clique within the Avenues and it produced significant drug-sale revenues for the Mexican Mafia, a prison-based gang that oversees much of Southern California’s street gang activity.

Several of the clique’s alleged leaders were arrested as a result of the investigation.  However, according to the indictment, the Mexican Mafia attempted to reorganize the Avenues’ control of northeast Los Angeles by stopping the rivalry within the gang and appointing new leaders.  The prison system is unable to prevent incarcerated Mexican Mafia leaders from communicating with street gangs on cell phones that are smuggled into the prisons or the passing of folded notes to visitors.

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My Take: The police will never get rid of street gangs as long as the community ignores the children who need family support.  The young men and women who join gangs do so because it gives them a sense of family and belonging.  It gives them people home they can trust and rely on.

Every city and community in the country and around the world will continue to have gangs until we can alleviate this ‘simple’ problem.  A Los Angeles court reporter can easily tell you what they have heard in trials involving gang members.  They are usually between the ages of 12 and 17 and they come from broken homes.  Those broken homes have drugs, alcohol and violence in them.  Right now, the SoCal court reporting system should have plenty of information on who came from a broken home and who did not.

Of course, it will not happen overnight or even the next year or two.  It will take years for people to realize that we cannot “not get involved” with those who live around us.  Getting involved can be dangerous, but it can also be very rewarding.  You could save somebody’s life!

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US Senior Citizens Returning to Work Due to Recession

Cited: Reuters and CBS News

Senior Citizens are being forced out of retirement and back to work by the worst US economic recession in 70 years, leaving them fighting for jobs against younger people or risk homelessness, according to a private study.  The study released on September 20 by Experience Works, indicated that out of a group of 2000, over 55 people, 46% needed to find work to keep their homes.  The study also indicated that for almost a year they have been looking for work.

Experience Works is the nation’s largest nonprofit provider of community service, training and employment opportunities for older workers. The study was conducted in the past two months and covered 30 states and Puerto Rico.

“These people are at the age where they understandably thought their job-searching years were behind them,” said Cynthia Metzler, president and CEO of Experience Works.  “But here they are, many in their 60s, 70s and beyond, desperate to find work so they can keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.”

According to the study, many of the participants had no intention of working past their 60th birthday, but had to change plans after being laid off or following the death of a spouse. Over a third of the participants had retired.  Also, 90% of respondents 76 years and older planned to continue working for the next five years.

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Huge medical bills due to a personal illness or that of a spouse were also reasons for coming out of retirement, the survey found. The longest and deepest economic slump since the 1930s is making finding a job for the low-income elderly workers a difficult challenge.

According to Labor Department data, there were 2 million unemployed workers over the age of 55 in August, an increase of 69% from the same period last year. Between August 2008 and August this year, the number of unemployed workers 75 years and older increased by 33%.  The unemployment rate among workers 55 years and older was 6.7% in August after shooting to a record 7.1% in July. The national unemployment rate was at 9.7% in August, the highest in 26 years.

The Experience Works study found that 46% of the elderly jobseekers were sometimes forced to choose between paying rent, buying food or medication. Almost three-quarters believed their age made it harder to compete for jobs with younger workers.

“This study underscores the need to create policies that remove barriers to employment for older workers and provide additional programs and services specifically aimed at helping older people re-enter the work force or remain working,” said Metzler.

For many older Americans, retirement is not a viable option; many are postponing retirement, while others are going back into the work force, driven by personal or financial reasons.  The trend is evident in the number of older workers — the number of people 55 and above in the work force rose to 22.7 million in May, up from 22 million in 2003 and 20.7 million the year before that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The increase in older workers coincides with a shift in employers’ attitudes — while there has long been an aversion in corporate America to hiring seniors, who were deemed expensive or difficult to train, that view is changing somewhat at a time when the government is forecasting a significant labor shortage by the end of the decade.

The AARP estimates that 1-10 Americans age 65 and older lives below the poverty level.  In part, this explains the need to work because of the need of money.  This does not mean that most seniors are poor, they may have limited savings, expensive medications or loss of a spouse that maybe the reason for a lack of funds.

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My Take: I will never understand why people cannot understand that Social Security does not pay enough!  It makes no difference whether it is retirement, disability or widow’s pension; it is never enough to truly live on especially if you have health issues.  They take out $150 a month for Medicare and then Medicare does not pay for everything.

I also do not understand why companies will not hire an older person.  If they are qualified for the position and they have the right amount of experience, it seems that they would be of benefit to the company.  There may be a problem in training because an older person is set in their ways, but that could also highlight problems in the company.  That means the company would improve because of them.

And the reason that Social Security does not provide enough is simply because the cost of living keeps rising and the benefits are only about 75% of what you were earning the last three months of work.  Then those same benefits do not increase as much as they should put the cost of living.  That increase is only about .02% or about $20 a month on average.  It depends on how much you get per month.

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Cardiac Patients Remain Healthy with the Help of EHRs

Cited: On the Record Magazine

A program that cut cardiac deaths by 73% by linking coronary artery disease patients and teams of pharmacists, nurses, primary care doctors and cardiologists with an EHR has kept patients healthy two years after they left the program by keeping them in touch with their caregivers and counselors, according to a randomized study by Kaiser Permanente (KP) published in The American Journal of Managed Care.

This is the first randomized study to evaluate a follow-up system for patients discharged from a cardiovascular risk reduction service, according to researchers.  The Clinical Pharmacy Cardiac Risk Service at KP Colorado combines the KP Healthconnect EHR with proactive patient outreach, education, lifestyle adjustments and effective medication management. The two-year randomized trial of 421 patients found that patients discharged from the program kept their lipid and blood pressure levels at controlled, healthy levels by receiving electronic reminder letters.

“Because of lack of adherence to medications and failure to maintain treatment goals are so high among heart disease patients, we wanted to find out what would happen to the patients after they were discharged from the program but remained in contact with the healthcare system through our electronic health record,” says study lead author Kari L. Olson, PharmD, a clinical pharmacy specialist with KP Colorado is Cardiac Risk Reduction Program. “The takeaway message here is that we can help support patients in maintaining treatment goals and medication adherence, which is often a challenge with most chronic conditions. Using technology and integrated systems already in place, we can help keep patients healthy for longer and deliver continuity of care in a cost-effective manner.”

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In the study, 421 patients in the Clinical Pharmacy Cardiac Risk Service with well-controlled blood pressure and cholesterol levels were randomized so that 214 continued in the program to receive intensive direct counseling from the control team. The other 207 patients were discharged from the program back to their primary care physician. The mean age of the trial participants was 72 and 74% were male.

The patients who were discharged from the program had electronic reminders and nurture it to ensure it their lipid panels were ordered annually, with the results sent directly to their primary care physician. The discharged patients also received reminder letters, generated by KP HealthConnect, indicating they were due for a lab test. The study found that patients discharged from the program maintain control of their risk factors with the help of electronic reminder letters. The EHR intervention was as effective as keeping cholesterol and blood pressure in check compared to the more intensive counseling approach offered to those patients who stayed enrolled in the program.

The program also achieved the following results:

• Patients have an 88% reduced risk of dying of a cardiac related cause when enrolled within 90 days of a heart attack compared to those not in the program.
• The number of patients needing their cholesterol goal went from 26% to 73%.
• The number of patients screened for cholesterol went from 55% to 97%.

The coordinated, evidence-based care, enabled by KP HealthConnect and an electronic care registries increase the survival rate dramatically among patients enrolled in the service. It is estimated that more than 135 deaths and 260 costly emergency interventions were prevented annually as a result of improved care. Now, the latest study results suggest that once a program has helped get risk factors under control, patients can then be discharged and followed virtually with the same success.

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My Take: I think this research hits the nail on the head!  The era of the EHR is here to stay.  The faster we can get implemented and in use, the healthier people will be.  It makes it possible for someone who has a chronic condition to travel because a doctor can easily check their medical records within minutes.  This is even more important in an emergency situation.

The EHR is the best thing that could happen to the healthcare industry.  For example, you are deathly allergic to penicillin, however the accident you were just in makes it impossible to determine this.  The EHR allows the emergency room doctors to discover your allergy before prescribing penicillin for your actions, whereby saving your life.

An electronic health record also makes it easier when you move.  You do not have a bunch of paperwork to carry around with you, which could easily get lost in all the stuff and move.  Then you have to go through the process of contacting your old doctors and requesting a copy of their work records and possibly paying out a copy fee.

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Apparel and Textile Inspections Increased by Customs

Cited: Apparel News

The Long Beach and Los Angeles US customs inspectors have begun examining apparel and textile imports from Asia to determine if the goods are undervaluing or misclassified as well as whether they should be slapped with higher terror.  As a result, landed-duty paid or LDP goods shipped by manufacturers and retailers are paying thousands of dollars more in duties and senior shipments held up for days or weeks for inspection.  Consequently, this is raised a red flag.

“The [customs] textile staff used to spend 95 percent of their time on apparel and textile quotas, which have expired. Now they have time to focus on other issues, including that proper duties are being paid,” said Los Angeles customs attorney Richard Wortman, who is with Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt.

According to Wortman, collecting proper duties has become a priority trade issue this year for the Customs and Border Protection team, in charge of inspecting cargo passing through the U.S. borders.

Because the port complex in Los Angeles and Long Beach receives about 45 percent of all the container cargo coming into the United States, these inspections, which have been limited to apparel and textiles, are concentrated here.

Apparel and textiles are a highly lucrative category for customs officials because the tariffs levied on clothing and fabric brought into the United States are some of the highest. Tariffs can run as much as 32 percent on a synthetic shirt. In 2008, apparel and textile importers paid 42 percent of the $26.2 billion in duties collected by customs, government officials said.

For more than two years, Janet Labuda, customs’ director of textile enforcement and operations, has been warning that LDP shipments—where the overseas factory arranges for shipment, customs inspection, duties, fees and transportation to an importer’s warehouse—would come under intense examination. Free on board (FOB) shipments—in which the U.S. importer arranges for the goods’ shipment, transportation and customs clearance—are not being tagged for eagle-eye review.

In her various warnings, Labuda explained that LDP shipping is frequently used for smuggling counterfeit items, transshipping goods to other countries with apparel quotas, or skirting duties by undervaluing goods or mislabeling them.  Labuda made these warnings several times at gatherings organized by the California Fashion Association, headed by Ilse Metchek.

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These days, however, Labuda is keeping mum about customs’ latest campaign to ferret out illegal and undervalued shipments. “I can’t comment at this time,” she said from her Washington, D.C., office.  It was around last December that customs brokers and freight forwarders got wind that the ports’ customs teams would finally be readying their magnifying glasses to examine LDP shipping documents, making sure they matched the contents and value of goods inside the box.

Tom Gould, president of Tom Gould Customs Consulting, who works with a number of apparel importers, said he was at a holiday luncheon with several port and customs officials last year when he asked what was on customs’ agenda now that safeguard measures, or temporary quotas, on 34 categories of Chinese apparel and textiles were expiring at midnight on Dec. 31, 2008. “‘Well, we haven’t looked at the value of apparel shipments for a while,’ was their reply,” he said.  Customs’ new direction started a few months ago, but it became more intense at the beginning of August.

“This is something that customs has always been concerned about,’ noted Brian Murphy, a customs attorney with Stein Shostak, Shostak Pollack & O’Hara LLP, in Los Angeles. “It’s just an issue that has gotten a lot more focused recently.”

Murphy said customs first concentrates on whether the importer of record—such as a freight forwarder, customs broker or agent—has the “right to make entry.” Customs has certain rules and regulations about this. Qualified importers are either the owners or purchasers of the apparel or a consignee, such as a licensed customs broker.

But this is where it gets sticky. Often, Chinese factories designate their own agents as the importer of record even though they have no financial link to the shipment. The agents receive a fee to get the goods through customs and onto a truck headed for a warehouse. There have been accusations that these agents don’t care about what is inside the boxes or whether they are misclassified.

If customs suspects the importer of rec­ord is not valid, officials will start inspecting the goods and looking at their value. Or they will suggest the apparel importer hire a licensed customs broker, who is licensed by customs, to bring the goods through.

“There is a ‘right to make entry’ issue, and then there is a ‘value’ issue, and they dovetail,” Murphy said. “This can add a few days, a couple of weeks or even 30 days on getting goods through. It depends on how quickly the problem is resolved.”

Richard Wortman has been seeing the same thing. “The bottom line is customs has been scrutinizing whether these parties have the right to make entry. If they don’t have the right to make entry, they have been refusing and rejecting the entries and requiring either that the ultimate consignee [the importer] make entry, or, in some cases, a broker has made entry on behalf of the customer,” he said.

Shipping goods on an LDP basis has become increasingly popular among apparel importers. It eliminates importing staffs, and importers incur less risk.  All they do is pay the LDP price to the foreign factory, which takes care of everything, and the goods land in the importer’s warehouse.

Not only do apparel importers have fewer hassles, they don’t have to pay for the goods until they arrive. “LDP has become more common in the last couple of years because of financing,” said John Salvo, president of Carmichael International Service, a Los Angeles freight forwarder and customs brokerage firm that has a large apparel clientele. “Importers don’t want to pay until the goods get to their warehouses.”

Oftentimes, shipping FOB sets the payment clock ticking from the time the apparel leaves the factory. By shipping FOB, the U.S. apparel importer is responsible for trucking the garments from the foreign factory to the ship, getting it on the ship, through customs and trucking it to the warehouse. But there is less room for fudging import documents.

“Some [apparel] companies just don’t want the responsibility of shipping FOB,” Salvo said.

There has been no indication of when this wave of inspections would in, it probably will not be too soon.  Trade is finally beginning to gain attention with the Obama administration which has been concentrating on fixing the economy and pushing health care reform.  The Obama administration imposed a 35% punitive Tara on Chinese tires believed to be dumped in the US market on September 11.  Since the safeguard on tires as a percentage, apparel importers here that US textile factories may lobby for the same measures.

“I think the Obama administration has been asleep at the wheel on trade issues while they focus on other things,” said Robert Krieger, president of Krieger Worldwide, an international freight forwarder and customs brokerage firm in the Los Angeles area. “And now trade is starting to become an issue.”

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My Take: I think they should tax stuff being imported into the country!  Raise those taxes!  Maybe people would be buying American more and putting money into America.  However, everything from China or Taiwan is always cheaper.  Not only is it cheaper, it is usually of lower quality.

I think if people bought more American-made items, like clothing, not only would they get a better product but it would also help the economy more.  Yeah, things from Taiwan and China are cheaper but their quality is lower and the only reason they are cheaper is because they can pay their workers less.  Did you ever see where some of those workers live?

So yes, I think they should raise the tariff taxes on any and all imported items.  I guess that I’m just one of those people were tired of seeing “Made in China” or “Made in Taiwan” on the items that I purchase.  I bought an item the other day, toothpicks of all things and when I got home and put them in the cupboard I saw the little sticker that said “Made in America”.  I think I stood there for 10 minutes before I put it down.  I was in utter shock.

There is only one thing I know for sure that is made in America are party invites.  The paper may not be but those birthday party invitations are printed right here in America.  Of course, some invitations are ordered from overseas.  But you can find various invitations are printed right here in the United States for bridal showers or baby showers.

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Celtic Fashion

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Denim with Style

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Homecoming Tradition

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Stocks Highs and Lows Put Wall Street on Seesaw

Cited: CNNMoney.com

Investors are keeping an eye on the housing market, falling dollar and higher commodities as Wall Street rides a seesaw.  The question on everybody’s mind is if Wall Street collapses will panic prevail.  That is the same question they were asking themselves September 15, 2008 when Lehman Brothers fell.

Stocks struggled at the end of September, as strength in global markets and U.S. commodities vied with some investor caution after the recent rally.  The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) was little changed more than an hour into the session. The S&P 500 (SPX) index added a few points. The NASDAQ composite (COMP) was barely changed.

Stocks were mixed, with only the NASDAQ managing a fresh one-year high, as investors showed some caution after a more than six-month rally.  That hesitation continued, with investors looking to the Federal Reserve meeting, the series of housing reports this week and the Dow’s climb toward 10,000. Although 10,000 is not a key technical level, it is a significant psychological level.

Since bottoming at a 12-year low March 9, the S&P 500 has gained 57.4% and the Dow has gained 49%, as of Monday’s close. After hitting a six-year low, the NASDAQ has gained 68.5%.  Stocks have risen during those 6-1/2 months on signs that the economy is starting to recover — and extraordinary amounts of fiscal and monetary stimulus.

Among early stock movers, financial shares rose, including Dow components American Express (AXP, Fortune 500), Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500).  Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) rose after Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC said it sold half of its stake in the company. GIC had bought a 9% stake in Citigroup at its lows and opted to cash in on the recent market rally to earn $1.6 billion.

Fed: The central bank began its two-day policy meeting Tuesday with an announcement expected Wednesday afternoon. The Fed is expected to hold short-term interest rates unchanged at levels near zero.  Fed chief Ben Bernanke said last week that the recession is likely over, but the labor market still has a long way to go.

Economy: July home prices rose 0.3%, according to a report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released shortly after the start of trading. That was short of forecasts for a rise of 0.5%, according to Briefing.com survey of economists. Home prices rose a revised 0.1% in June.

World markets: Global markets rallied. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100, France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX all advanced. Asian markets ended higher.

Forecast: Record low rates hold

Currency and commodities: The dollar fell against the yen and euro, after having advanced for the past few sessions.  The falling greenback lifted dollar-traded commodities such as oil and gold.

U.S. light crude oil for October delivery rose $1.32 to $71.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. COMEX gold for December delivery rose $10.90 to $1,015.80 an ounce. Gold closed at a record high of $1,020.20 last week.

Bonds: Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.46% from 3.48% Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

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My Take: I never was much of a stock market person.  However, I have heard the recent recession compared to the “Great Depression”.  When I heard was that it was almost as bad.  The only difference I can see is that people were not jumping out of windows because of it.

I truly believe that there was in so many greedy people in the financial world, this problem would not have happened.  People like Medoff lied, cheated and stole millions of dollars from people.  There are probably more like him running around, but they have just been lucky enough not to be caught.

One thing is for sure; all those businesses would not need a commercial loan workout if they had not been lied to.  Instead, they would be looking for more commercial real estate loans so they could make more money.  As the saying goes, hindsight is always 20/20.

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Office Investment

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No Fee Lawsuit

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