An article by George Anders in PARADE magazine recently discussed how much people earn. It gave examples of at least 50 different job positions and how much each earned.
I always find that interesting because it includes quite a few Americans in a variety of jobs and how much the jobs pay. A dance instructor in Dayton, OH, for example, earns just $10,000 a year whereas a motel owner in Watford City, ND, earns $440,000.
Those who aren’t making a lot, the article says, probably need to redefine themselves. This seems to be one of the worst economic slumps since the Great Depression. Unemployment reached 10 percent last October. Some people are learning new skills, taking some extra classes and cutting their spending.
“In Illinois, community college enrollment this spring has jumped 8 percent,” Anders said. “In Connecticut, it’s up 12 percent.”
Elizabeth Fisher, a forensic-autopsy technician, said that “people will always die,” so this type of occupation will really be needed. Fisher earned $39,000 last year, but said she enjoys her work.
I was surprised to find out that each year about 500,000 Americans start their own business. One popular program is “Work Sharing,” where employers cut back on hours and wges but the program enables workers to qualify for unemployment.
In 1973 Barry White recorded a song entitled, I’ve got so much to give. This was a very passionate song that has an indebt meaning. Although it was a ballad intended to express his devotion to a significant person in his life, it was not limited to this idea. When we lost one of the greatest entertainer the world has ever seen in the person of the late great Micheal Jackson, the world in a state of shock. I wonder why? Was it because many of his millions of fans really thought he was indisposable? Was it because they could imagine that death would come to him. Maybe the thought he was immortal. Many of his fans thought of him in that light. Not only was he an amazing entertaining but he was a great philanthropist. Micheal continued to fill the lives of his fans with great music and show-stopping entertainment. His choreography many times was breath taking as he stunned his audiences leaving them in a state of awe! The most admirable thing about him in my opinion, is charitable acts. Jackson is noted for giving, his list of charities is numerous, which proves that he had a lot to give. He will be missed but his legacy will live forever.
Michael Jackson wrote “We Are The World” with Lionel Richie in 1985 and performed it as part of an all-star single to raise money for Africa in 1985.
The Millennium-Issue of the “Guinness Book Of Records” names Michael as the “Pop Star who supports the most charity organizations”, according to JacksonAction.com, which has an extensive timeline of Jackson’s charity work.
In 1984, Jackson equiped a 19-bed-unit at Mount Senai New York Medical Center. This center is part of the T.J. Martell-Foundation for leukemia and cancer research. Later in the year, he visited the Brotman Memorial Hospital, where he had been treated when he was burned very badly during the producing of a Pepsi commercial. He donated all the money he received from Pepsi, $1.5 million, to the Michael Jackson Burn Center for Children.
In 1986, he set up the “Michael Jackson United Negro College Fund Endowed Scholarship Fund”. This $1.5 million fund is aimed towards students majoring in performance art and communications, with money given each year to students attending a UNCF member college or university.
He donated the proceeds from the sales of The Man In The Mirror to Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, a camp for children who suffer from cancer.
Jackson donated tickets to shows in is 1989 Bad Tour to underprivileged children. The proceeds from one of his shows in Los Angeles were donated to Childhelp USA, the biggest charity-organization against child-abuse. Childhelp of Southern California then established the “Michael Jackson International Institute for Research On Child Abuse”.
In 1992, he established the Heal The World Foundation, whose work has included airlifting 6 tons of supplies to Sarajevo, instituting drug and alcohol abuse education and donating millions of dollars to less fortunate children.
Read more: http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/113-michael-jackson#ixzz0ledkXCkv
If you go to www.balancedpolitics.org, you will find plenty of information on this “free” universal health care bill. I’ve picked out a few items on the list which I felt are most important. One is the actual number of uninsured U. S. residents. We’ve heard that it’s 45 million, but that number is questionnable. The article says that includes illegal immigrants, people making over $75,000 per year, those who choose not to buy coverage and others who have the option to buy, but don’t. The true number is closer to 15 million.
I don’t like the term, “free health insurance.” How can it be “free” when taxpayers are footing the bill for everyone who doesn’t have it? If our taxes are going up drastically, how is this helping anyone? What programs are we going to have to cut out in order to pay for all this “free” health care everyone is supposed to get.There’s a danger over time that insurance companies won’t be able to keep up with the demand. If everyone gets health care with pre-existing conditions, insurance companies will be forced to either raise their rates or go out of business. And guess what? That’s one more thing the government can take control of.
Another issue I have with this health care bill is - if you do get a serious illness, who’s going to decide if and how much treatment you get? If I get cancer, for example, I want to start treatment immediately, not wait several months for somebody to OK it. Who’s going to decide which patients get treatment first and who must wait and how fair is that process going to be? That could result in life or death for those who are seriously ill.
I see only one possible good coming out of this right now and that is that there could be more walk-in clinics for those who have minor illnesses. Perhaps they won’t go to Parkland for treatment. But even at that, how good will this treatment be at these minor clinics?
I think the Supreme Court should repeal this bill and start over - with a much simpler plan.
When I first took the Audio/Radio Production class and started my radio show, I originally planned to actually put my own show, with comedy skits of characters i know how to voice, unfortunately due to the assignments and work of my other classes, I only had one show with comedy skit and original music, the problem was what to put in the radio shows that i had, so to stall time while i try to write a story and produce the audio show skit, which takes weeks literally with all the other classes going on, I decided to run a Music show in which i play all the classic 1990s to early 2000s songs from old school hip hop to parody music. Eventually this is what i’ve been doing for the past 5 shows lately, but the good thing is I managed to post my own music as well into the show, including a work my friend and I did(songs from a mixed genre album of pop, hiphop, even techno style that we did). regarding the radio show, I still feel bad that I didn’t get much time or chance to create my own things like I usually do, But hopefully in this semester’s last show I will probably have something original ready for people to enjoy before the springmester is over.
Early yesterday morning over 20,000 people gathered in the parking lots, and the surrounding areas around Texas
Stadium to witness the historic stadium come down. The stadium was scheduled to be imploded after the Mayor of
Irving decided that it would be demolished once the Cowboys moved to their new stadium in Arlington. The stadium
was the official home of the Dallas Cowboys for 38 years. The implosion went off without a hitch, but there were
still many people who definitely had mixed feelings about seeing the historic stadium come down. I myself didn’t
agree with the decision to implode the stadium. I didn’t want it to happen. Texas Stadium had so much history
attached to it with Super Bowls, and rushing titles, and stuff like that, that it just isn’t right for them to simply
destroy the stadium, and the history that goes with it. Even though some people thought the stadium had
become really worn down over the years, i really didn’t see anything wrong with it, and it looked fine to me. Even
if the stadium is worn down a little bit that is not a reason to implode it, they can simply renovate it. I don’t agree
with destroying historic landmarks, i think that you should do whatever you can to preserve them. I was planning
on watching it live, but i fell asleep and missed it, so i watched the replay of it later on, and i was very
disappointed to see Texas Stadium go.
A column in The Dallas Morning News April 4 caught my eye concerning religious views of the Generation Y population and how it could affect the future of churches. Generation Y is that section of young Americans born after 1980. The question-and-answer session was conducted and edited by an editorial columnist, William McKenzie. The columnist, SMU political scientist, Matthew Wilson, said that during religious holidays, like Easter and Passover, attendance may be high, but this trend may not continue.
Wilson seems to think that this particular generation (Y) has “no religious affiliation.” While many young people believe as their parents do, they don’t care for formal religious institutions. Therefore, Wilson says, churches have to work that much harder to retain their congregations. Not only does this phenomenon reflect churches, it also reflects the cynicism young people have about institutions in general. That includes “politics, the media and even sports.”
The article suggested that religious institutions are too tied up with money, but that’s debatable. There are always going to be some religious leaders who screw people and become wealthy, but money will always be a part of religious services. Churches need it to help the needy and to keep their buildings in good shape.
Religious conflicts, such as the abuse by Catholic priests over the last several years, has not helped either, I think. Since the press has been on them and brought it out in the open, people are definitely concerned, as they should be. What’s really important is to not become so fanatical about any religion that you think it’s the only possible one that could exist.
I am a single dad with a 13 and 15 year old. Thier mother lives an hour away. Anyway, they are good boys, yet are normal teens. Don’t get me wrong, I was no saint, but I didn’t give my own mom much grief, maybe some back talk and a refusal to do chores or get up for church every now and then, sometimes with a result of water thrown on me to go worship the All mighty. I was a jock not a stand out, but that is where I got my identity in my small school in Palestine, Texas in the 80’s.
My point is my sons go to Lake Highlands Jr and Senior high school, a large, competitive Dallas school. My youngest plays football, but is just one of 50 on the team. I hope he sticks with it, but even if not, I am proud of him for trying. My oldest is a mystery to me, not involved in activities and does his own thing. I say, in a school system that big there are just so many choices, unlike what we had in Palestine. So I am not that concerned that he wont leave a mark in high school. These things mean nothing 10-15 years down the road. Rebel, jock, cheerleader, geek, rich, poor ( Breakfast Club reference) whatever, we all grow up and have to pay bills, get a job and be an adult. Life is the great equalizer. So, boys, Jeffy and Christain, I am proud of you for even going to school and facing the large numbers and finding friends and getting the work done. You guys have it way harder than I did growing up. You have so many clicks and all kinds of people to be around in school. Just hang in there and soon school, it happens to everyone, will all be a memory.
This is not suprising to me at all. I am still trying to figure out why would anyone want that many kids? Of couse I wouldn’t want to see anyone without a home, but this really concerns me. I wonder how did she expect to care for so many kids. I am a mom and I know what is involved with caring for children. You don’t just have to feed them, they need everything. I really don’t think she thought about the challege that she would eventually be faced with. I think if it were me and I thank God that it’s not, I would put them up for adoption. I would do it for my sake and theirs. I wouldn’t want to deprive these poor kids of a quality of life. I think they would be better if they had other parents to help care for them. I really think this was another publicity stunt, and I must admit it worked. She recieve a lot of front page press for whatever it’s worth.
Many generations before my time, it was considered normal for a business to close down for the day every Sunday. This was mainly because people wanted to go to church and take the rest of the day off. That tradition became less and less customary over the years. Today, it’s rare to find a business completely closed down on a Sunday. Some places still keep up with this tradition, like banks and KFC. However, there’s a higher need for 24 hour service, which has led many businesses to stay open seven days a week. So, for someone who is working part time and going to school full-time, it’s difficult to find a job that doesn’t require you to be able to work on weekends. My former job was more flexible with me. I told my managers from the beginning that I couldn’t work on Sunday mornings because I had church, which they were fine with. I worked at a restaurant so there were plenty of other employees who could work if I couldn’t. Besides, I was practically the only employee who requested that time off, so they weren’t at a big loss. When I got a new job, I mentioned that I went to church, but there are only a few people who can do my job and a few weeks later I was scheduled to work a Sunday morning. Now this annoyed me a little but I didn’t complain at the time. Later I asked one of my supervisors if he would be flexible with me going to church. He said that most of the time it wouldn’t be a problem, and I was fine missing an occasional Sunday service so that I could earn money. However, an occasional Sunday morning turned into missing church every other week. This, again, only annoyed me a bit until I was scheduled to work Easter Sunday. Then I was angry. I couldn’t believe that I would even be required to work on such a significant holiday. I was so upset and contemplated about what I should do. Finally, instead of arguing with my boss, I decided to look for another church to go to on Easter. You see, my church has only one service at 10 am, which is usually when I’m scheduled to work. If I could find a church that had an earlier service, then I could go to church and work. Thankfully, I found a church that I love with an 8 am service so I can go to church on Easter and any other Sunday I’m working. But the question remains. What would I have done if I hadn’t found a church I liked with an early service? I could ask to change my schedule, but if I was given an ultimatum, would I choose work or church? My religion takes priority in my life, but my paycheck pays for so many things. In a perfect world, I wouldn’t have to choose. This is a problem many people face in today’s society. If you were faced with the same situation, what would you do?
Erykay Ba”Fool”
I must admit I was very disturbed yet not surprised at Erykah’s video. I have always known that celebrities will do whatever it takes to achieve more attention and notoriety. They act as if their fans purchasing their music and aiding them to achieve a certain quality of life is not enough. They are constantly demanding more from their fans. Although I must admit, I saw this coming along time ago, because we as a society are embracing any and everything nowadays. If we are not trying to legalize two men or two women conduction themselves as though this were natural, we allow celebrities to shoot nude videos. Who would have known what Erykah was up to when she decided that everyone in downtown Dallas wanted to see her naked bottom? The truth of the matter is that she clearly didn’t care. It wasn’t even about President JFK’s Assignation. It was about her showing off what she thinks is a nice body. A nice body, in my opinion belongs to the “lady” who understands that here nakedness is sacred. It was a complete mockery. We live in world where people just don’t care. They don’t care if you are on vacation with your daughter and low and behold you see a naked woman on the street. Needless to say the decision was made for the nine year old child. Whether she wanted to see Erykah’s butt or not, there it was. My question is: How far we are going to go with our lack of morals? How far will we stoop for front page press? Will we abandon all of the values, standards and principals that our parents instilled in us? I seriously believe that we are going even farther than naked people in public places. I truly believe that people will start marrying their beasts, after all some already kiss them.
My advice to Erykah is to accept Christ while He will still accept her.
Just a thought.
Anything of interest to community college students; please blog with care and common sense. Pretend your teachers are reading this - they probably are!
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