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September 2009

Records put spotlight on Jack the Ripper victims (AP)

Tue, 09/15/2009 - 10:05 — admin

LONDON – The world is endlessly fascinated with Jack the Ripper — but what about his victims?
On Tuesday an online genealogy company published census information that casts light on the lives of the women murdered by the Victorian serial killer.
The company findmypast.com trawled records of Britain's 1881 census for information on the five women generally accepted as victims of the Ripper: Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly.
All were killed between Aug. 31 and Dec. 20, 1888, in London's East End, where they worked as prostitutes. Their bodies were horribly mutilated.
The firm said the census data — available on its site and elsewhere online — provides "a small window onto the past" and dispels an image some people may have of the victims as teenage streetwalkers. Most were formerly married women with children who resorted to prostitution when their lives took a turn for the worse.
There is no record of Nichols or Kelly in the census, taken on April 3, 1881, suggesting they may already have been working the streets at that time.
Stride was recorded as 37 and living with her husband, a carpenter. Eddowes was 38, living with her husband and two children, her occupation listed as "charwoman."
Chapman was 40, married but living with her parents. She later moved out of London to live with her husband, a stud groom.
The women appear to have turned to prostitution after their marriages broke up. According to newspaper reports of the time, none of the victims was living with their husbands at the time of their deaths.
"Some people treat the Jack the Ripper story as a bit of a game," said Alex Werner, a Museum of London historian who curated a recent Jack the Ripper exhibition. "It wasn't a game. It was against real people in the East End, people who had fallen on really hard times, who had gravitated to the East End as a place where they could earn some kind of living as a prostitute."
Newspaper accounts at the time, which helped the Ripper's fame spread, touched on the women's fall from respectability.
The Star newspaper's report on Sept. 27, 1888, on the death of Chapman, struck a sympathetic tone, describing how a woman who "had perhaps a happy and innocent girlhood, and was once a wife, had to turn out and seek the sale of her body for the price of a bed."
"A few hours later," the newspaper said, "she was found a corpse."
The murderer's infamy spread quickly around the world. London newspapers reveled in the gore, which was spread across the country and to distant lands by telegraph. The killer was dubbed "Jack the Ripper" after a man using that pseudonym claimed responsibility in letters to the media and police.
No one was ever prosecuted for the murders, helping to fuel speculation about his identity that continues to this day. Among the suspects identified at various times are Francis Tumblety, an American quack doctor; Sir William Gull, physician to Queen Victoria; Victoria's grandson, Prince Albert Victor; and the artist Walter Sickert.
Andrew Cook, author of the recent book "Jack the Ripper," thinks the Ripper has always been a media creation. He argues that the crime could not have been committed by a single person.
Cook said the Ripper myth has been constructed from "layer upon layer of sediment, nonsense and crazy theories."
"It has become an industry," he said. "What really was a terrible scenario of events has almost become over-commercialized."

Werner doubts we will ever know the Ripper's true identity.

"My feeling is we'll never know for certain," said Werner. "We are too far away now to make sense of the different candidates."

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On the Net:

Historical census records: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/census

Police question woman in Blago fundraiser's death (AP)

Tue, 09/15/2009 - 03:47 — admin

CHICAGO – Police investigating the death of ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich's chief fundraiser questioned his girlfriend for more than an hour Monday, saying afterward she had cooperated but refusing to say in detail what was discussed.
Clarissa Flores-Buhelos, 30, a real estate agent and former standout basketball player at Northwestern University, answered questions at the offices of prominent Chicago defense attorney Terence P. Gillespie.
"The witness was cooperating, the investigation is continuing," Country Club Hills chief of police Regina Evans told reporters as she left the law offices. She declined to say any more about what she and police had discussed.
Christopher Kelly, 51, was found slumped in his car Friday night, the day he was supposed to report to prison to start serving time for tax fraud. He died Saturday morning at a Chicago hospital. Drugs were found in the vehicle and authorities have said the case is being treated as a possible suicide.
Kelly had raised millions of dollars for Blagojevich's campaigns and had emerged as a trusted adviser — but became snared in the federal investigation of corruption swirling around the administration of the now-impeached governor.
An admitted high-stakes gambler who dropped large sums at the tables in Las Vegas and with bookies, Kelly was due to go on trial on corruption charges with Blagojevich, the impeached governor's brother and three other men on June 3.
Kelly, a roofing contractor from Chicago's southern suburbs, had already pleaded guilty to $1.3 million in tax fraud and swindling two airlines in connection with $8.5 million in contracts for work on their hangars at O'Hare International Airport. He had been sentenced to three years on the tax charge and had signed a plea agreement under which he was to be sentenced to five years in the O'Hare contracts case. Those were to be served consecutively.
On Friday night, Kelly apparently contacted Flores-Buhelos and asked her to meet him in the suburb of Country Club Hills, the community's mayor said. Mayor Dwight Welch said Flores-Buhelos found him sick in his black Cadillac Escalade and drove him to a nearby hospital.
After the questioning session Monday, Gillespie sent word that Flores-Buhelos had "answered questions fully and truthfully for an hour" but declined to provide any details of what was said.
"She answered every question she was asked," he said. "She cooperated fully, she answered truthfully, the police seemed pleased."
Flores-Buhelos eluded reporters clustered around the front and rear of the building by leaving through a cigar shop on the side.
Gillespie had said earlier Monday that Flores-Buhelos called him Friday night and told him that police wanted to question her. He said he agreed to meet with her and the police in his office on Saturday morning.
But when she called police back to set up the appointment, they said Saturday morning would be inconvenient and suggested meeting on Monday.
Welch told reporters on Sunday that Flores-Buhelos had "lawyered up" and was no longer cooperating with the police — something Gillespie challenged. She was always willing to cooperate, Gillespie said, but merely wanted to be accompanied by her lawyer when questioned.
Gillespie also criticized Welch for holding up Flores-Buhelos' driver's license at a news conference over the weekend and suggesting she was unwilling to cooperate.
"It's outrageous — I've never seen anything like this in 30 years," Gillespie said.
The FBI said Monday that it is not involved in the investigation. "We have no jurisdiction," said Cynthia Yates, a spokeswoman at the FBI's Chicago office. "It's a local matter."

Obama to push health care plan at Minnesota rally (AP)

Sat, 09/12/2009 - 03:31 — admin

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama, citing new government data showing that nearly half of all Americans live without health insurance in a 10-year period, says the situation will only worsen without the overhaul legislation he wants Congress to send him.
Obama was testing his message — that losing health insurance can happen to anyone — at a rally Saturday in Minneapolis. A new Treasury Department analysis found that 48 percent of all Americans under age 65 go without health coverage at some point in a 10-year period. The data came from a study that tracked the insurance status of a sample of Americans from 1997-2006.
The report also found that more than half, or 57 percent, of people under age 21 will find themselves without insurance at some point during a span of 10 years and that more than one-third of Americans will be without coverage for a year or more.
"I refuse to allow that future to happen," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet message. "In the United States of America, no one should have to worry that they'll go without health insurance — not for one year, not for one month, not for one day.
"And once I sign my health reform plan into law, they won't," he added.
In the Republican address, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said Obama has paid lip service to bipartisanship, rejected ideas that would bring the parties together around overhauling the system and ignored the American people's wishes. He criticized the cost and its long-term effect on the budget deficit, saying one of the House bills works out to $2.4 trillion over 10 years, beginning in 2013.
Obama puts the cost of his plan at $900 billion over the period.
"President Obama should work with Republicans on a bottom-up solution that the American people can support," Cornyn said.
The Minneapolis rally set for the Target Center is the latest move in the "full-court press" Obama promised as he seeks to overhaul a costly health care system he says will bankrupt the country and leave millions more people without needed coverage if left unchanged.
He followed Wednesday night's nationally televised health care speech with a day of events at the White House, including more remarks on health care, a Cabinet meeting dominated by the topic and a meeting with moderate Senate Democrats.
On Friday, he sat down with CBS' "60 Minutes" for an interview to be broadcast Sunday.
He continues the health care focus next week, speaking Tuesday in Pittsburgh at the AFL-CIO convention, where the need for health care overhaul will be an overriding theme, and holding another rally Thursday in College Park, Md., a Washington suburb.
In his televised speech to the nation, Obama spelled out what he'd like to see in the health overhaul bill he wants: coverage expanded to most of the nearly 50 million uninsured, new requirements for people to get insurance, new prohibitions against insurance company practices like denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition and creation of a new marketplace, or exchange, where consumers could shop for coverage.
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Associated Press writer Martiga Lohn in St. Paul, Minn., contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
Obama address: http://www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: http://www.youtube.com/user/gopweeklyaddress

Cap Cana Villa

Sat, 09/12/2009 - 01:13 — admin

Cap Cana is located in the Eastern region of the Dominican Republic known as Juanillo. The site was founded as a new and more ambitious touristic site with contributions from international investors and strategic partners such as Ritz-Carlton, Sotogrande, Donald Trump and many others. The site has a Marina, Large resorts, beaches, and many others. Primarily founded as a site to attract international visitors. The Cap Cana Championship, a Champions Tour golf tournament, is held at Punta Espada Golf Club in Cap Cana, a course designed by Jack Nicklaus.

Cap Cana's area includes more than one-hundred and twenty millon square meters of land, of which twenty-five million will be developed in its first phase. It also includes 8 kilometers of beach and coasts, 5 of which are considered to be among the most spectacular in the Caribbean, locally considered to be neck-in-neck to the beaches of Bahia de Las Aguilas (literally, Bay of the Eagles) located in the southwestern municipality of Perdernales- often referred by past visitors as some of the most beautiful in the world.

Cap Cana Villa

Rockies rally to beat Padres 4-1 (AP)

Fri, 09/11/2009 - 23:51 — admin

SAN DIEGO – Yorvit Torrealba hit a three-run double in the ninth inning off closer Heath Bell to lift the Colorado Rockies to a 4-1 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday night.
Torrealba's bases-loaded hit into the left-center field gap allowed the Rockies to pull out a comeback win and stay two games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. Los Angeles beat the Giants 10-3 at San Francisco.
Colorado had just three hits off five Padres pitchers before they reached Bell, the NL co-leader with 37 saves, for four runs on three hits and two walks.
San Diego was on the verge of handing the Rockies a tough loss in their playoff chase with 20 games left in the season after Jorge De La Rosa walked in the game's only run in the first inning.
But Colorado rebounded for its eighth straight win as the Rockies raised their record to a major-league best 10-1 in September. Colorado stretched its lead in the wild-card race to 5 1/2 games over the Giants.
Bell (5-3), who has four blown saves, gave up a leadoff walk to Todd Helton, who was replaced by Mike McCoy. Brad Hawpe singled with one out before pinch-hitter Jason Giambi walked to load the bases.
Bell struck out pinch hitter Matt Murton before Torrealba drove a ball into the gap to clear the bases. Paul Phillips added an RBI single off Bell.
Rafael Betancourt (3-1) got two outs for the win and Franklin Morales pitched the ninth inning for his sixth save in seven chances.
De La Rosa allowed one run on five hits in seven innings. He walked four and struck out eight to set the club single-season record for strikeouts by a left-hander with 170.
Edward Mujica made his first career start and allowed two hits in four scoreless innings.
The Rockies' only scoring threat before the ninth came in the seventh when they loaded the bases. But Luke Gregerson struck out pinch hitter Ryan Spilborghs.
San Diego loaded the bases in the first inning on David Eckstein's one-out double, a walk to Adrian Gonzalez and Chase Headley's bloop single that hit off the glove of second baseman Clint Barmes in short right field. Barmes had the ball in his glove before it popped out as he hit into sliding right fielder Brad Hawpe.
De La Rosa then walked Salazar on four consecutive pitches to force in a run. De La Rosa got out of the inning by getting Will Venable to ground into a double play.
Mujica's first major league start came after 116 career appearances out of the bullpen. The right-hander drew the start in place of rookie Mat Latos, who has been shut down for the season due to the number of innings he's thrown.
NOTES: Rockies RHP Jose Contreras, who left Thursday's 5-1 win over Cincinnati with right quadriceps strain, will probably not make his next start, Colorado manager Jim Tracy. ... De La Rosa broke the Rockies' single-season strikeout mark by lefties set by Jeff Francis in 2007. ... The Padres will honor the Park View All-Stars, who recently won the Little League World Series, before Saturday's game against the Rockies. Park View, from nearby Chula Vista, will take batting practice with San Diego's last group.
(This version CORRECTS Rockies 4, Padres 1. SUBS 3rd graf to correct Bell's runs and hits.)

House plans to admonish Rep. Wilson over outburst (AP)

Fri, 09/11/2009 - 22:18 — admin

WASHINGTON – Democratic leaders are planning a House vote early next week to admonish Republican Rep. Joe Wilson if he does not apologize on the House floor for yelling "You lie!" during President Barack Obama's health care address to Congress.
National attention from the heckling episode has money pouring into Wilson's campaign treasury and that of his 2010 Democratic challenger. Wilson had raised more than $700,000 since the incident as of Friday, according to the National Republican Congressional Committee. His opponent, Rob Miller, had received more than $1 million from 25,000 donors nationwide, said his campaign manager, Lindsay Zoeller.
Democratic leaders initially showed mixed interest in punishing Wilson. But they decided at a meeting late Thursday that they probably will propose a resolution of disapproval early next week if he doesn't apologize to Congress, said Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
While not a formal censure or reprimand, the resolution, if passed as expected, would put Congress on record as condemning Wilson's conduct.
Wilson, who was criticized by Republicans and Democrats for his outburst, told Obama he was sorry shortly after the incident Wednesday night. But he has refused requests from both parties to apologize on the House floor. Wilson's office says the congressman considers his initial apology sufficient.
Obama said Thursday he accepted Wilson's apology, telling reporters that "we all make mistakes." The White House said it considered the matter over, and Pelosi, D-Calif., initially said she wanted move on.
But many Democrats remain angry and have pressed for further action. They say Wilson clearly violated House rules.
"This is about how elected officials should be conducting themselves in the well of the U.S. House of Representatives," Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking House Democrat, said in an interview Friday.
The White House had no comment on the plan for a House resolution.
Wilson also has taken a more combative tone since his apology.
In a video posted on his campaign Web site, he said he let his emotions get away from him during Obama's speech but added, "I will not be muzzled. I will speak up and speak loudly."
Wilson said his critics want to use the incident to silence opponents of health care reform.
"I need your help now," he said, soliciting donations.
In 2008, Wilson took 54 percent of the vote in beating Miller, a former Marine.
For their rematch next year, Miller already has raised more money in the past two days than the roughly $625,000 he spent for that race.
Wilson spent nearly $1.3 million for the 2008 cycle. The health care industry — among South Carolina's largest economic sectors — has traditionally been his top contributor.
His top 20 career donors include the American Hospital Association, the Lexington Medical Center and the American Dental Association, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Wilson shouted "You lie!" after Obama said in his address to Congress that illegal immigrants would not be eligible for low-cost health care.

The Democratic proposals explicitly prohibit spending any federal money to help illegal immigrants get health care. Still, Republicans say there aren't sufficient citizenship verification requirements to ensure illegal immigrants are excluded.

Wilson, a former state senator elected to Congress in 2001, is known as a mild-mannered lawmaker with hard-line conservative views. But he has been confrontational in the past.

In 2003, Wilson called it "unseemly" and a "smear" for the mixed-race daughter of Sen. Strom Thurmond, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, to identify the longtime South Carolina senator as her father after his death. After a public outcry, he said he had the utmost respect for Washington-Williams.

Wilson returned to South Carolina on Friday morning and doesn't plan to make any public appearances Friday or Saturday, his spokesman said.

About 40 people gathered Friday evening outside Wilson's West Columbia office for a rally promoted on blogs. Wilson did not attend. But those gathered said they wanted to show support amid what they called attacks on Wilson's character, and praised him as a hero.

Attendees wore shirts that read "Palin 2012" and "Dare to say NO to Obama and Socialism!"

"Joe's my hero. He said what we all wanted to say to Barack Obama," said William Browning, 55.

"Maybe Joe shouldn't have said it in that venue, but he's apologized," Browning said. "I hope he sticks to his guns. If they reprimand him, so be it."

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Adcox reported from Columbia, S.C.

Obama faces skeptics in Congress over Afghan war (AFP)

Fri, 09/11/2009 - 20:18 — admin

WASHINGTON (AFP) –
A powerful US senator warned against sending more American troops to Afghanistan, signalling growing skepticism over the war within President Barack Obama's own party.

Carl Levin, the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was the latest top Democrat in Congress to voice opposition to a fresh military build-up in Afghanistan, as the White House weighs deploying yet more troop combat troops.

But his comments came as the Pentagon confirmed it intended to send more troops to Afghanistan to tackle a growing threat from improvised explosive devices.

Levin called for redoubling efforts to bolster Afghan security forces before any further expansion in US troops, which are set to reach 68,000 by the end of the year.

"We should increase and accelerate our efforts to support the Afghan security forces in their efforts to become self-sufficient in delivering security to their nation -- before we consider whether to increase US combat forces above the levels already planned for the next few months," said Levin, who returned last week from a trip to Afghanistan.

Levin's comments came a day after a blunt warning from Obama's top Democratic ally in the House of Representatives, speaker Nancy Pelosi, who suggested lawmakers and American voters are growing weary of a war that has dragged on for eight years.

"I don't think there's a great deal of support for sending more troops to Afghanistan in the country or in the Congress," Pelosi told reporters.

The White House meanwhile said there would be no decision on the sensitive issue of more troops for "many, many weeks," avoiding a confrontation with fellow Democrats for the moment.

"I will reiterate again that there hasn't been a plan for and there isn't an imminent decision on increased resources to Afghanistan," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.

However, the Pentagon said Friday that a deployment of forces to counter the growing threat posed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) was likely.

"We see a growing IED threat in Afghanistan and therefore the secretary is determined to dedicate more resources there to protect against that growing threat," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told AFP.

"We are trying to figure out how we get these capabilities over there."

Morrell said it was not yet certain whether the deployment would affect the overall number of US troops in Afghanistan.

"We don't know if it impacts the 68,000 figure, it may stay within it, it may not."

General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, recently delivered a classified assessment of war strategy and is widely expected to request more US forces to try to turn the tide against the Taliban and allied insurgents.

While military commanders appear to be preparing the ground for a troop request, casualties among NATO-led troops are mounting and recent polls show US public opinion turning against the war.

Disputes over alleged vote-rigging in Afghanistan's election have raised fresh doubts in the West about the legitimacy of the corruption-plagued Kabul government and the course of the war launched in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Obama faces less resistance on Afghanistan from his customary opponents in the Republican party, who are generally more hawkish on the war and more willing to commit more troops.

While some Republicans have called on Obama to publicly defend the US mission in a more forceful way, Senator John McCain rejected Levin's argument that more Afghan security forces could prevail without added US troops.

"Obviously we need to increase the number of the Afghan military," McCain told AFP.

But he said experience in Iraq showed such an effort had to be accompanied by an increase in US troops as well.

"We've seen this movie before, it didn't work in Iraq and it won't work in Afghanistan."

Levin argued for first increasing the size of the Afghan army and police "much faster than presently planned" and providing them with more trainers and equipment at an accelerated pace.

And he called for wooing elements of the insurgency to side with the central government "as we did in Iraq."

The Afghan army currently has some 90,000 soldiers, and the US plans to increase the force to 134,000 by October of 2010.

Levin proposed raising that number to 240,000 by 2012, one year earlier than planned by McChrystal. He also proposed increasing the number of Afghan soldiers to 160,000 by 2012.

"We need to obtain on an urgent basis a list of the basic equipment needs of the Afghan forces and a list of how those needs could be met in a major program to transfer equipment leaving Iraq," Levin said.

US officials have said dramatically expanding the Afghan security forces would require more troops to train soldiers and police and a bigger financial commitment from NATO states.

Census Bureau severs ties with ACORN in 2010 count (AP)

Fri, 09/11/2009 - 17:36 — admin

WASHINGTON – The Census Bureau on Friday severed its ties with ACORN, a community organization that has been hit with Republican accusations of voter-registration fraud. "We do not come to this decision lightly," Census director Robert Groves wrote in a letter to ACORN, which was obtained by The Associated Press.
In splitting with ACORN, Groves sought to tamp down GOP concerns and negative publicity that the partnership will taint the 2010 head count.
"It is clear that ACORN's affiliation with the 2010 census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 census efforts," Groves wrote.
Stephen Buckner, a census spokesman, confirmed the letter, but declined additional comment.
ACORN spokesman Scott Levenson did not immediately return a request for comment.
In recent months, Republicans have become increasingly critical of the census' ties with ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The group, which advocates for poor people, conducted a massive voter registration effort last year and became a target of conservatives when some employees were accused of submitting false registration forms with names such as "Mickey Mouse."
ACORN has said only a handful of employees submitted false registration forms and did so in a bid to boost their pay.
Partly citing ACORN's role, Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and David Vitter, R-La., earlier this year blocked a full confirmation vote of Groves for several weeks. Rep. Michelle Bachman, R-Minn., also has been calling for a census boycott because of her concerns about whether the group would tamper with the high-stakes population count.
Up to now, the Census Bureau had defended ACORN's involvement, explaining it was one of 80,000 unpaid volunteer groups that the bureau hoped would be able to raise local awareness. But in his letter, Groves said it no longer had confidence that ACORN was effectively managing its partnership.
ACORN fired two employees who were seen on hidden-camera video giving tax advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman who pretended to be a prostitute. Fox News Channel broadcast excerpts from the video on Thursday. On the video, a man and woman visiting ACORN's Baltimore office asked about buying a house and how to account on tax forms for the woman's income. An ACORN employee advised the woman to list her occupation as "performance artist."
In a statement, ACORN Maryland board member Margaret Williams said the video was an attempt to smear ACORN, and that undercover teams attempted similar setups in at least three other ACORN offices. Williams said no tax returns were filed and no assistance was provided.

Obama urges kids to stay in school (AFP)

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 14:17 — admin

WASHINGTON, Sept 7, 2009 (AFP) –
President Barack Obama planned to urge children to study hard and stay in school in a back-to-school address Tuesday that had some conservatives seeing red.

"Every single one of you has something you?re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is," Obama said Monday in remarks prepared for delivery.

"That's the opportunity an education can provide."

The president was to make the back-to-school speech at a high school in Arlington, Virginia, and it was to be aired in schools throughout the country.

Some school districts decided not to air the speech, others said they would leave the decision to teachers and school principals, and some offered opt-outs for children whose parents do not want them to see or hear the address.

"You can't drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You?ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it," Obama warned, adding "this isn't just important for your own life and your own future.

"What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said a text of the speech was posted on the White House website in advance for all of those with doubts about it to see.

"I think it's a sad, sad day that the political back and forth has intruded on anyone speaking to schoolchildren and teachers and parents about the responsibilities that they have as we enter a new school year," he told reporters.

Some conservative critics feared that the aim of the speech was to recruit US kids to the liberal cause and brainwash them with socialism.

Their ire was sparked in part by a "Menu of Classroom Activities" which the Department of Education sent to schools around the country when the speech was announced. One of the activities suggested that school children write about "how they could help the president."

"That's Obama-centric. It's not focused on education but on the worship of Barack Obama," Michael Leahy, spokesman for the conservative grassroots Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, told AFP.

"This is indoctrination, pure and simple, into the cult of Barack Obama, and we are opposed to that," he said.

Jim Greer, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, raged that "Pied Piper Obama" was going "into the American classroom" to spread socialist ideology.

But Obama's speech merely drew a link between personal responsibility and patriotism.

"What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future," the president said in a text of the speech released by the White House.

"You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment.

"You'll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free," Obama continued.

"You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy."

"If you quit on school -- you?re not just quitting on yourself, you?re quitting on your country," Obama said.

"At the end of the day, the circumstances of your life -- what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you?ve got going on at home -- that's no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude," he said.

"That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That's no excuse for not trying.

"Where you are right now doesn?t have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future," he said.

Cabinet Knobs

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 12:41 — admin

A cabinet is usually a box-shaped furniture, either standing alone as a piece of furniture or built into or attached to a wall (such as a medicine cabinet) typically made of wood but now often made of synthetic materials, and used for storage of miscellaneous items.

A cabinet intended for clothing storage is usually called a wardrobe or an armoire (or a closet if built-in). In previous centuries, such a cabinet was also known as a linen-press. In British usage, a wardrobe occasionally was referred to as an oakley, because of the oak wood used in its construction. In India, a cabinet is often referred to as an Almari.

Cabinet Knobs



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