"Nobody
will benefit from dropping the public option except for health
insurance companies," said Blumenthal. "The fact that the public option
is now on the chopping block is not a reflection of public opinion --
it is a reflection of the power of health insurance lobbyists."
from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
For many people, organization may be a problem (If you are not a neat freak). This article will inform you about the process of decluttering your home; and your life.
Steps
Decide how often you are going to declutter a zone. Do a little every day - use a timer. But be warned - this can become compulsive! Once you get started you will want to clean like a banshee! Don't burn yourself out! Only do small amount at a time. The house did not get dirty overnight and it will not get clean overnight. When you set the timer you can only do two sessions at a time. This goal may seem unattainable right now, but you can do it in little pieces. In a couple of months, the whole house will be decluttered.
Gather together your decluttering Equipment: You will need garbage bags, boxes, magic markers, and a dust rag. Label the boxes "Give Away", "Throw Away", and "Put Away". Line the "Throw Away" box with a plastic garbage bag.
Start at the entrance to the room: Then, work your way around the room clockwise. Do not skip a spot. Whatever happens to be next, just do it.
Declutter Away! With boxes at your feet and dust rag in your waistband, start off by cleaning out and getting rid of the things that do not belong in this room. Put garbage in the "Throw Away" box, donations in the "Give Away" box, and stuff that goes somewhere else in the "Put Away" box. Don't worry that you do not have a place for everything right now. By the time you finish you will.
Ask yourself as you get rid of your clutter:Do I love this item? Have I used it in the past year? Is it really garbage? Do I have another one that is better? Should I really keep two? Does it have sentimental value that causes me to love it? Or does it give me guilt and make me sad when I see the item?
Get rid of the garbage! When the "Throw Away" box gets full, pull out the garbage bag, close it, and put it in the trash can, the pickup truck, or wherever you keep your garbage. Put a new garbage bag in the "Throw Away" box and keep on Flying until the timer goes off.
Donate! When the "Give Away" box gets full, seal it off, and put it in your car. The next time you are out, you can donate to the area thrift shop. Do not save your clutter for a yard or garage sale, you will be blessed by giving it away. The value can be deducted on your income tax. Remember you are trying to get rid of clutter - not relocate it somewhere else in your home. Now, grab another box, label it "Give Away", and get back to work.
"Put Away" Stuff: When the "Put Away" box gets full, take the box in your arms and run around the house and put the items in the room where they belong. If they have a place, put them there, if not put them in the room where they logically belong. By the time you have finished you will have a place for everything and everything will be in it's place.
Tips
Rubbermaid or Sterilite plastic containers with lids are great for storing items. They can be stacked with the lids taped shut in the garage or shed.
Don't spend more on a storage unit than what you are storing is worth. Many people spend $30 a month for years, only to one day clean out the unit or abandon the contents.
Give yourself a few extra days before making the final discard - so as not to have any regrets or need for future repurchase.
Warnings
Only set aside a group of things to sell (garage sale, eBay, etc.) if you know you will sell it, and not have it sit in a box for years. If you're a procrastinator, think twice about this.
What you throw away today may end up the find of a lifetime in a garage sale or flea market later.
How to Declutter - Original source of this page. Shared with permission
Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Declutter. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.
"I was about to follow up with other questions when Condi cut me off. "You can save your breath, Richard. The president has already made up his mind on Iraq." The way she said it made clear that he had decided to go to war.
This was eight months before the March 2003 start of the conflict.
I was taken aback by the blunt substance and tone of her answer. Policy had gone much further than I had realized--and feared. I did not argue at that moment, for several reasons. As in previous conversations when I had voiced my views on Iraq, Condi's response made it clear that any more conversation at that point would be a waste of time. It is always important to pick your moments to make an unwelcome case, and this did not appear to be a promising one. I figured as well that there would be additional opportunities to argue my stance, if not with Condi, then with others in a position to make a difference."
A critique on WAMC public radio by Samuel Clayborne said Mr. Haas should have resigned or leaked info to the papers instead of 'doing his job' once he knew there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the war had been pre-planned.
According to Time, McCain campaign staffers
in Virginia are teaching volunteers to see Barack Obama as having
terrorist 'friends,' and then providing these volunteers with arguments
for persuading voters that Sen. Obama, like Osama Bin Laden, shares
responsibility for bombings of the Pentagon.
Georgia congressman and Civil Rights leader John Lewis, reacting to the increasingly incendiary atmosphere at McCain-Palin campaign rallies,
condemned the GOP for using tactics that are creating a mood not unlike
the one created by George Wallace, the former segregationist governor
and presidential candidate. Lewis accused the Republicans of "sowing the seeds of hatred and division," and warned the McCain campaign that they are "playing with fire:"
When lawmakers in Albany cut $427 million from the state budget this summer, an unlikely group of New Yorkers took a hit.Reduced payments to blind war veterans accounted for roughly $233,000 of savings.
Budget
cutters left the blind vets' with monthly annuity payments of $88.42,
down from $94.06. New York's roughly 4,500 blind veterans received the
news in a late-September letter from James D. McDonough Jr., director
of the state's Division of Veterans' Affairs.
"The
6 percent cut in the blind annuity was a specific line item reduction
approved by state lawmakers," the division said in a statement. "The
Division of Veterans' Affairs has no discretion in implementing this
reduction."
Many of the 161 blind veterans
who live in Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties have decried the move.
Veterans said the small cut won't hurt their wallets much; they'll go
on without the five bucks. It's the principle that bothers them,
especially during the tenure of Gov. David Paterson, who is legally
blind....
For its part, Paterson's office said the cut is an unfortunate effect of the national and statewide economic crisis.
"The
governor recognizes the critical needs of our veterans who have served
our nation with such valor," a spokesman for Paterson said.
"Unfortunately, despite our best intentions, the national fiscal crisis
continues to take a toll on every area of state spending and will
require more across-the-board reductions to ensure a balanced state
budget."
Paterson has called lawmakers back to Albany on Nov. 18 for another round of cuts.
A New York City police lieutenant who gave the order to fire a Taser stun gun at an emotionally disturbed man who then fell to his death in Brooklyn committed suicide early on Thursday, law enforcement officials said.
Skip to next paragraph
Related
Times Topics: Stun Guns
Lt. Michael W. Pigott, a 21-year veteran of the force, was found in a police locker room at a former airfield in Brooklyn, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, said Paul Browne, the police department's deputy commissioner for public information.
In a note found near the body, the lieutenant said he was concerned about his children seeing him charged with professional misconduct and did not want to disgrace his family, a police source said. Lieutenant Pigott had been placed on modified assignment without his gun and badge after he gave the order to a sergeant to fire the Taser at a Bedford-Stuyvesant man, Iman Morales, on Sept. 24.
MIDDLETOWN -- The ball went spiraling into the
air and Middletown junior receiver Frankie Molina ran his hardest to
get under it. There was never a more important football moment for him
than right here, scoreless tie, Middies-Port Jervis for the Erie Bell,
a month removed from horrific tragedy.
The
ball finally came down from the sky and Molina extended his arms far as
they could reach, watching the ball, thinking of mom, making her proud
every step of the way. The football stuck to his fingertips and Molina
was in the end zone, a 31-yard touchdown reception 8:00 before
halftime, a catch that would represent the game-winning points and end
Middletown's losing streak to Port at 11 games.
His
name came over the loudspeaker and you could almost hear whispers from
the Middletown fans. Hey, that was Frankie Molina. And then it hit home
to everyone who knew his story and instantly became Frankie Molina
fans, didn't matter if you ever met him.
Oh my God. Did you see who caught that ball?
He
wasn't supposed to be on any football field, no less Middletown's plush
new surface being christened for the storied rivalry game against Port
Jervis. A month ago, Frankie Molina's mother, Gloria, was killed in her
home, her ex-boyfriend charged in the stabbing.
Frankie
was going to quit football. Couldn't do it. Not now. But his family
talked him into staying on the team. They told him how proud mom was of
him. They told him how much she'd want him on that football field. And
so he kept going, kept running patterns and catching balls from old
buddy Jon Villafane, the Middies quarterback.
"I
told him I'm going to get the ball to him as much as I could,''
Villafane said. "I've been working with him since we were little kids.
I knew when I threw it up, he was going to get it.''
The
team helped hold Molina together. They attended his mom's funeral in
their jersey tops. They held him. They told him they loved him.
And
on Saturday night before an electric crowd of more than 4,000, Frankie
Molina returned the favor. His interception gave Middletown the ball at
Port Jervis' 46, and six plays later Molina was running down the right
sideline, Middletown side, a defender on his hip.
He
caught the ball at the goal line. He went into the end zone and looked
up at the sky. Molina pointed upward, pointed to mom. "Before I even
caught the ball,'' he said later, "I was thinking of mom. I looked up
at the sky. I looked right at her. And she looked at me. I love her.''
The
final second ticked off and Middletown celebrated its 7-3 win. The
Middies jumped up and down on the sideline. They hugged. They cried.
And then they sprinted toward the far goal line where a shiny trophy
sat peacefully. The Erie Bell was theirs.
Molina
was one of the first players to touch the hardware. He and teammates
raced back to midfield to shake hands with Port Jervis. Then Molina was
needed for a TV interview. He had dreamed of this moment, too, when
he'd be the one talking to the press and being written up.
Molina hugged his coach, Steve Barone, hugged Middletown athletic director David Coates.
"The kid has gone through so much,'' Coates said. "I couldn't be prouder of him.''
Molina
finished another interview on the field and suddenly his teammates
appeared as one. They lifted him up and carried him off the field.
"Frankie ... Frankie ...'' they chanted.
Frankie Molina held onto his wonderful smile of teenage innocence. This was his night. This was for mom.
MIDDLETOWN
-- Police have released the name of a suspect in the killing of a
47-year-old woman Thursday night at the Tall Oaks apartments.
Julio
Valle-Santos, 51, of Warwick is charged with second-degree murder. He's
accused of stabbing Gloria Molina Rivera multiple times and slashing
her throat.
Further details are being released at a 1:30 p.m. news conference.
Police responded to a reported homicide at 7:17
p.m. Thursday. The initial reports were that a man had slashed and
killed a woman at the complex off Monhagen Avenue and then sped away in
a black pickup truck.
Police reported a suspect and the vehicle had been located at 7:53 p.m.
Thursday night, residents chatted to one another around the yellow tape that surrounded a section of the apartment complex.
Some said the woman's boyfriend had threatened her.
Robin Matthews, who lives a few doors down, said the woman "kept to herself and her kids were well respected."
Two teenage girls said they knew the victim's youngest son.
"She always let us eat over her house," one of them said. "She didn't have no problems with anyone."
The other teen sobbed and trembled as she talked about the victim.
"I don't see how anyone would do that," she said, through tears. "She was nice to everyone she knew."...
My neighbors were discussing the stock market crash of September 16.
One said "that only affects the big people who have stocks".
I don't think so. My electric bill, fuel bill, food bill, clothing bill
are all higher than last year.
from Plato, Republic, Book 4
"our aim in
founding the State was not the disproportionate happiness of any one
class, but the greatest happiness of the whole; we thought that in a State
which is ordered with a view to the good of the whole we should be most
likely to find Justice, and in the ill-ordered State injustice: and,
having found them, we might then decide which of the two is the happier."
Yesterday morning gunshots woke me at 5 am. It was not dangerous, though. I had heard gunshots in the cornfield one evening last week and asked a farmer who was driving by about it. He said 'the birds eat the corn, so we set off shots to scare them away'.
