| Pelosi and Reid Deliver the Democratic View of the State of Our Union
Economy / Stimulus Package "Yesterday, House Democrats and Republicans reached a bipartisan agreement to immediately jumpstart the slowing economy. "The plan provides working Americans who are struggling in these difficult economic times with timely, targeted and temporary relief. Because of this effort, more than 100 million American families will soon receive, what I call, 'recovery rebates.' "The package also gives families a second chance at the American dream of homeownership by helping them refinance and avoid foreclosure. "The House will move quickly to approve this package which will provide broad-based help to the middle class and those aspiring to it, will create jobs, and will stimulate the economy. "If there is any doubt of the need for immediate action on our stimulus package to strengthen middle-class families, consider the story of Floreese Feaster of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Symphony falls short of celestial height in performances of Messiaen ...
Technical difficulties arose immediately, during the first movement of the Messiaen. This is an extended, very slow chorale for brass that unfolds in discrete phrases separated by silences. And although the sound of the brass playing itself was resplendent, not one phrase in the entire movement - not one! - began together. The last of the work's four movements is an answering chordal rhapsody, this time from the strings, and although the lapses in coordination were less marked, it was obvious again that the players were simply guessing about the rhythms. And so what should be a radiant tapestry of sound became something more like a slippery throw rug, sliding this way and that as the music wore on. There were greater pleasures to be had in the two central movements, especially the woodwind-driven second movement with its sinuous echoes of Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun." But here too a veil of tentativeness hung over the entire proceedings.
Kerhaghan wins three more Golden Guitars
NEWLY-crowned Australian of the Year Lee Kernaghan's charity work has been acknowledged for the second time in two days, winning three Golden Guitars for his fund-raising song 'Spirit of the Bush'. Kernaghan was last night named Australian of the Year for his years of charity work that has raised more than $1 million for drought-affected farmers, and his ongoing contribution to country music. And tonight his song 'Spirit of the Bush', recorded with Adam Brand and Steve Forde, took out three top gongs at Australian country music's night of nights including single of the year, vocal collaboration of the year and video clip of the year. Kernaghan has now won 27 Golden Guitars, officially called the Country Music Awards of Australia. Tonight's haul takes him closer to the record number of 37 Golden Guitars won by late country music legend Slim Dusty. Dusty was also named Senior Australian of the Year in 1999.
SPCA reveals details about disgraced Atlanta Falcons quarterback ...
In December, Vick, who'd been a starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons before this season, was sentenced to up to 23 months in prison for running a dogfighting operation.
SPCA Shelter Supervisor Justin Phillips was a member of the nine-person team that evaluated the dogs in September.
As part of the team, Phillips traveled to Virginia and performed high-level, pit bull-specific evaluations of each individual dog.
"We are extremely proud that Justin was selected to be a part of the evaluation team," says Gary Tiscornia, executive director with the local SPCA. "We are pleased to have Justin, an expert in his field, as part of our SPCA team making a profound difference in the lives of animals both in the Vick case and for all animals in our community."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Shorey plans to prove his worth
Whenever they need me I will be there. It is a huge privilege to play for England and that disappointment will just drive me on. "I would like to get back to playing my best football. So far this season, I think I have had some good games, but some poor ones as well. "I know it is possible for players to play to their potential every single game, but you have to make sure you do the fundamentals right and hopefully I can get back to playing the way I know I can. "I want to show people I am one the best left-backs about - that is my aim. "I am concentrating on hard work every day in training and it is important to show that I deserve to be playing for Reading and for England." McClaren will use Friday's friendly against Austria in Vienna as part of the build-up to the visit of Group E leaders Croatia next week.
February 2007
In that sense, the value of Z outweighs the value of A. (The board game Scrabble will back me up on this.) There are "obvious" groupings of letters - well, obvious in my mind - letters which belong together as if they exist as subsets of the whole. I group them as such: A thru D (subset 1), E & F (subset 2), G & H (subset 3), I thru K (subset 4), L thru N (subset 5), O thru R (subset 6), S & T (subset 7), U thru W (subset 8), and X thru Z (subset 9). Does any of this make sense? Or by now have I completely lost my readership ... and my mind? I envision life as sort of like the alphabet. A, of course, is birth (A for Adam, the first man). Z is death (Z for Zzzzzz, the eternal sleep). I would say that at age 44 my life has entered the letter L stage - based on my plan to live to 100.
SLM Corporation (NYSE: SLM) Announces Dividends
RESTON, Va., Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SLM Corporation (NYSE: SLM) , commonly known as Sallie Mae, today announced a 2008 first-quarter dividend on its Preferred Stock Series A of $0.87125 per share. The dividend on the Preferred Stock Series A will be paid on Jan. 31, 2008 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Jan. 21, 2008. In addition, the company announced a 2007 fourth-quarter dividend on its Preferred Stock Series B of $1.6041910 per share. The dividend on the Preferred Stock Series B will be paid on Dec. 17, 2007 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Dec. 7, 2007. On Sept 30, 2007, SLM Corporation had 414 million shares of voting common stock, 3.3 million shares of Preferred Stock Series A and 4 million shares of Preferred Stock Series B outstanding.
|
