Lofty Matters

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45 spellers advanced into semifinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee Friday, thus earning a spot on national television. Ten year old Veronica Penny (right) looks like she is going to cry, but this is her method of thinking before spelling a word. She did this three times on stage and correctly spelled each word.

The 81st edition of the bee began with a record 288 spellers in the competition. ESPN will broadcast the semifinals and Friday’s two-hour finals will be aired live in prime time on ABC. Thursday began with the preliminary round and all the spellers who made it to Washington received their one guaranteed moment in the spotlight.

A New York town successfully repealed a ban on clotheslines this week. The ban had stood since 2002 and prevented homeowners from hanging clothes outside to dry (or they risked a possible $1,000 fine or six-month jail term). Obviously, hanging clothes outside instead of using a dryer will save electricity, which is a great way to cut down on expenses.

After the people and the pets were put out of harms way, approximately 6,000 tons of salmon were moved away from the threatening volcanic eruption in southern Chile. Approximately 600,000 salmon were being moved by boats from a fish farm eight miles from the Chaiten volcano. The volcano began erupting on May 2 and all 4,500 residents of the town of Chaiten have been evacuated. Then hundreds of pets were rescued eight days after the eruption and thousands of heads of livestock have been removed. Finally, the salmon were removed.

Shopping the Black Friday sales is a great way to save money. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving and has come to be known to be one of the biggest shopping days and the best day to shop if you are looking for savings on practically anything.

Instead of waking up while it’s still dark out, braving the cold, braving the lines, and braving the crowds I suggest that shopping online is a much better alternative in every way possible.

Thanksgiving deals can easily be found online and this site will even send you email alerts to let you know when new ads are posted. They have gone out of their way to make this site completely user friendly. Using this site for planning all of your shopping needs is a great idea for just about anyone.

A quick perusal of the site confirmed that they have included all of the great names in shopping. Best Buy, Amazon, Dicks, ToysRUs, Home Depot, Walmart, KMart, JCPenney - this is just naming a small sampling of all of the stores they offer on their site.

You really can’t go wrong with taking a look at this - it is a completely win-win proposition!

The Pentagon has made a misguided decision concerning America’s national security.

It recently awarded one of the biggest defense contracts in history (for the Air Force’s fleet of next-generation refueling tankers) to a consortium composed of European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) and Northrop Grumman over the US-based Boeing Company.

Northrop serves as the public face for the consortium but it is in reality a modified version of the French Airbus A330, which is a commercial airliner assembled in Europe by Airbus (a subsidiary of EADS).

In assigning this critical weapons contract to a European-built system from a European corporation, our government has just outsourced part of our national security to a company that is owned (at least in part) by governments that have recently opposed US foreign and military policies.

Can we really trust these countries to support us and provide us with critical military components when we need them most — during a national security crisis?

Consider these critical facts:

• The governments of France, Germany and Russia have all opposed US foreign and military policy in Iraq and elsewhere and are all partial owners of EADS and are represented on its board. These foreign governments could feasibly hold American security policy hostage by ordering delivery of the tanker withheld in the event of future disagreements over security issues.

• Awarding the $35-billion tanker contract to EADS and Airbus drains resources from our own defense manufacturing base. This is a key component of our long-term national security capability and America’s strategic edge.

• This decision undermines the US’s economic security by exporting American jobs! Compare Boeing’s KC-767 (designed and built in the United States and comprised of 85 percent U.S. content) to the KC-30 (designed and manufactured in Europe and will contain at least 40-50% foreign content).

Our elected officials should not be oursourcing our National Security!

Attending the Wimbledon Tennis tournament would be an exciting experience. I am not the greatest tennis player but I do love to watch it. My mother-in-law and her husband love the game and play several times a week. Watching the pros live at Wimbledon would be an amazing thing to do and some year I hope to be able to attend.

There are still some great Wimbledon debenture tickets available on this site to be had. If you have the opportunity to go, this would be a great place to find tickets.

In Wimbledon 2007 Roger Federer won his fifth title in a row and Venus Williams was the ladies champion for the fourth time in eight years. The total attendance for last years tournament was 444,810. A record was set for the day on July 7. It was 30,173.

Wimbledon 2008 is coming up soon (June 23 through July 6) so it looks like I won’t be attending this year. Perhaps you may be more fortunate! Anyone who loves this game would love to attend Wimbledon in person, I am sure.

If you go, would you let me know how great it was? I?d love to hear all about it.

An ancient gold cup is expected to sell for close to a million dollars at auction after hiding for years in a shoe box under its current owner’s bed.

Owner John Webber says his grandfather gave him the mug to play with when he was a child in 1945.

He assumed the cup was made from brass. It is decorated with the heads of two women facing in opposite directions. Their foreheads are garlanded with two knotted snakes.

He decided to get it appraised when he was moving last year and was told then that it was a rare piece of ancient Persian treasure.

Experts said the method of manufacture and the composition of the gold was “consistent with Achaemenid gold and gold smithing” and date it back to the third or fourth century BC.

The Achaemenid empire was the first of the Persian empires to rule over significant portions of Greater Iran and was wiped out by Alexander the Great in 330 BC.

Auction house Duke’s will auction the cup on June 5 and it’s estimated it will sell for 500,000 pounds (630,000-euro, $988,000-dollars).

Vitamin B12 is a popular new energy booster. It?s being toted among celebrities and other high profile people as a very effective option for improving your energy level and general sense of wellbeing. In fact, I recently read something about Madonna carrying around hypodermic doses of B12 with her and even administering them to other people if they aren?t feeling well.

How about getting all the same great benefits without painful shots? Take a look at this site. Click here to get your own box of Trivita Sublingual B 12. It seems to have merit and is worth looking into if you are wanting to give this a try.

Sublingual B12 is a safe and affordable option and the best part is it isn?t an injection. This is a painless B12 shot alternative. Many people with health issues such as diabetes, dementia, or gastric bypass need to supplement their diets with B12. It?s even recommended that vegans think about supplementing as well. I would imagine if you are trying to lose weight it might be a good thing to think about.

This company, Trivita, has sold over 10 million boxes of their Sublingual B12. Why you may ask? Because, very simply, it works.

The American Policy Center (APC) has just concluded a survey of one million American households. The survey called ?Do Americans Support a North American Union? asked questions concerning the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) and the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC). Included in the survey was a fact sheet containing information and explanations of these programs and their proposed implementation.

The survey questions were:

1. Have you heard of the Security and Prosperity Partnership? 58% answered no

2. Do you think private corporations should have the power to enforce trade policy that may adversely affect our national sovereignty and independence? 95% opposed this policy

3. Do you think this would be a threat to U.S. sovereignty? 91% said yes

4. Do you think it would strengthen U.S. security to expand our borders to the outer borders of Canada and Mexico? 87% answered no

5. Do you think it will strengthen U.S. Border security to allow trucks from Mexico and Canada to travel, free of inspection, up a corridor which has been built and is controlled by foreign corporations into the heartland of the United States? 95% opposed the Mexican truck project

6. Would you support efforts to replace the U.S. dollar with a common North American currency some call the ?Amero?? 92% said they would not support this currency

7. Do you believe there should be public hearings and debate on this policy before it is allowed to move forward? 95% answered yes

8. Should the Bush Administration be allowed to move forward with its plans to create a ?North American Community? without Congressional approval? 97% said no

9. Do you believe the United States should be ?harmonized? or merged into a union with Mexico and Canada? 88% said no to this idea

10. Respondents were asked to provide comments and thoughts on the SPP. Treason and horrifying destruction were words frequently used to describe thoughts and feelings.

The Bush Administration continues to deny that anything is being planned. Obviously, we know why. The responses to APC?s survey show us that when Americans understand the truth, they say a resounding NO.

I have been looking at a website today that offers video conferencing for business users, system administrators and IT managers.

Not only is this a great website for any business that needs to purchase video conferencing software and online services; but this site has a great deal of useful information. For example, find information about flash movies, multiparty conferencing, business video applications, as well as even screenshots about video cameras.

E/pop’s products provide a complete online meeting software solution for any challenging communications needs. From web and desktop video conferencing to secure IM and alert messaging. The simple interface and number of options will enhance your sales, training, collaboration and online meetings.

If you are an IT professional, you’ll love its security, scalability, and the powerful management controls.

They have obviously designed their website with a lot of thought to ease and effectiveness. Navigation is simple and it is full of great information. There is even a forum for information and expertise exchange and from the looks of this forum, it is a great source of support and help.

E/pop has won many industry awards and has installed systems in well over 3,500 organizations. E/pop has proven themselves worthy of a closer look among all of the companies in this challenging industry.

Have Americans forgotten how to celebrate Memorial Day? It seems that many Americans no longer have the proper reverence for this day. Civics is not taught in the public schools anymore, God has been removed from official government proceedings, and more and more it seems that the popular way to remember Memorial Day is with big sales at K-Mart and Sears.

Question: Is Memorial Day supposed to be fun?

Really…no, I don’t think so. Meaningful, respectful, solemn, thoughtful…yes. Fun? Not so much.

On this day, we need to acknowledge, honor, and thank those who have made great sacrifices for our continued freedom and liberty.

?I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means…?

~~John Adams

Did you know that
boating operating under the influence is just as dangerous and every bit as illegal as operating a motor vehicle under the influence? The legal limit for both is .08%. Penalties are also similar.

Here is the difference. There is not usually education required to operate a boat the way there is to operate a motor vehicle. An educated boater is 70% less likely to be involved in an accident, however.

Every year in Arizona alcohol is directly related to fatal boating accidents. 50% of all fatal Arizona boating accidents were alcohol related in 2007 and 1/3 of all fatal boating accidents nationwide are alcohol related.

Classes are offered in Arizona statewide, or you can obtain boating education online.