~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

5 Steps to a Rich-Enough Retirement

10/11/2010 Nativegrl77

By Comcast Finance
For What it’s Worth

Editor’s Note: This post by Jennie L. Phipps originally appeared on September 23 on WalletPop.com.

If you drive a car without knowing where you want to go, who knows where you’ll end up? The same thing applies to retirement. If you head out into the unexplored wilderness of later life with no plan, chances are you’ll find yourself in a place where you don’t want to be.

Money magazine offers 7 Steps to a Richer Retirement. It’s a little long, but if you’ve got lots of time, read it. If your schedule’s tight, take a quick look at these 5 Steps to a Rich-Enough Retirement, gleaned from folks who have good retirement road maps and concise advice.

Related stories at WalletPop.com
• 25 Best Places to Retire • Worst States to Retire • Women Fall Short in Retirement

Step 1: Find something you love to do. 88-year-old Mort Walker, who has been creating the cartoon strip Beetle Bailey for the last 60 years, says cartooning is his passion and he has no reason to quit. Beetle can be read in 1,800 newspapers worldwide. Walker and three other people meet once a month to come up with ideas for the perpetual army private and his boss Sarge, then Walker takes the 30 best ideas, polishes them and turns them into cartoons. “You have to keep being creative,” he says. “How could I retire and stop giving people their daily cartoon fix?”

Step 2: Have a solid financial blueprint. Lee Eisenberg, former editor-in-chief of Esquire, and author of The Number, a best-selling book about retirement, says when it comes to figuring out a retirement financial plan, too many Baby Boomers suffer from “IDD – “inspiration deficit disorder.” So they are headed into retirement with no plan. “Unless they really want to spend the last days of their lives in government-run nursing homes, they should get off the dime and put some kind of plan in place,” he says

Step 3: Don’t quit earning money early. It costs too much. 114-year-old Walter Breuning of Great Falls, Mont., was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest living man on his birthday, Sept. 21. Breuning’s advice on retirement: “Stay working as long as you can and don’t retire too early because you’ll find out you need a little more money than what Social Security pays.”

Step 4: Stay healthy. Exercise guru Jack LaLanne, who will turn 96 on Sept. 26, has this to say about retirement: “When you slow down too much, you come to a stop. So many older people, they just sit around all day long and they don’t get any exercise. Their muscles atrophy, and they lose their strength, their energy and vitality by inactivity.”

Step 5: Have a good fallback plan. As 58-year-old country singer George Strait croons, “If you’re headed down a one-way street and you’re not sure it’s the way you wanna go; In money or love or all the above … you’ve got to have an ace in the hole.”

Do you have any retirement tips? Share them here.

WalletPop.com is one of the leading consumer finance sites on the Web. Find the latest deals, bargains, consumer protection and personal finance information quickly. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

a message from Mitch Stewart

10/11/2010 Nativegrl77

The path this country takes after November 2nd will be determined by what we do over the next 22 days.

That’s the message the President is delivering on the stump across the country, but he’ll be the first to tell you: he needs you at his side.

We want to thank and recognize the people who are driving this grassroots campaign — organizing house meetings, talking to voters, and funding this effort one small donation at a time.

The extreme candidates on the other side aren’t just intent on bringing our progress to a halt, they want to take us backward, well beyond the failed policies of the last administration.

They envision an America where Social Security is privatized and left to the whims of the market. They picture an America where education programs get cut to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and corporations. And they look forward to an America where the insurance companies once again have the right to deny coverage to anyone they want.

This election is about choosing the direction this country takes.

On one side is the millions from undisclosed donors attacking our candidates. On the other is us. And each and every one of us who is committed to this struggle for change has a role to play.

That’s why we all need to be knocking on doors, making phone calls, and spreading the word from here through Election Day. The President is doing all he can, and he’s counting on all of us to take that next step today.
https://donate.barackobama.com/Backstage

Thanks,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Arizona sheriff known for law-and-order style accused of abuse of power (via Anderson Cooper 360)

10/11/2010 Nativegrl77

Ismael Estrada AC360° Producer Editor’s note: Watch Anderson Cooper 360° Monday beginning at 10 pm ET to learn more about the allegations against Arpaio. (CNN) — Make no mistake about it: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is tough on crime. The popular lawman has built a reputation for taking a strong-handed approach to those who break the law in his county. Whether it’s a DUI, a violent crime or being an undocumented immigrant: commit a crime … Read More

via Anderson Cooper 360

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

How to earn the resentment of the Right

10/10/2010 Nativegrl77

Thanks to all of you who responded to my recent email and who have given generously to my campaign.

My Republican opponent – a Tea Party favorite – just boasted to the Wall Street Journal that he had received $400,000 in contributions during the month of September from out-of-state people seeking to remove me from Congress because the right-wing regards me as such an irritant.

For those of you who have not yet given but would like to support my fight against the right, I will be truly grateful for your help.

It pains me to say that modern elections cannot be fought without money, and until we change that system, good candidates will have to count of the generosity of many thousands of engaged Americans in order to have a chance against powerful, richly-endowed, right-wing forces.

Thank you for joining the battle. I hope it will be some compensation to you for your generosity to know that some of the most obnoxious — and dangerous — people in the country will very much resent you for doing so.

Barney Frank

~ my 2cents ...

Weekend reviews &some News

10/10/2010 Nativegrl77

I forgot to add that President Obama and VP Biden will be in Philadelphia today campaigning…reports of it being broadcast are great … so left coast be aware …the Band Roots will entertain…love them …FYI!!!The president spoke to more than 17,000 voters last week in Madison, Wis., where many more thousands watched on screens in an overflow area.

Weekend buzz … and rants include “the Media” screaming to all that will listen that it’s a tidal wave coming but if you are listening to the way the poll questions are configured and or how the hosts or commentators talk you start to get the sense that people have not been getting all the information so that they can make an intelligent decision when it is time to vote or maybe the question is skewed. Some days i want to wipe my nose with the stuff i hear from Political Pundits yet because i am not an insider some of it has to have some foundation and that is troubling. We are in the final weeks leading to the midterm elections and some interesting stories are coming out of the woodwork regarding a few candidates clearly on the extreme right and while it seems we cannot boot them out for their extreme ideology it is important to expose them on as many levels as possible: The fact that Meg Whitman or any other candidate would employ an undocumented worker while talking the political hard line against immigration is practicing hypocrisy at its worst…to be honest the whole wh**e comment does not bother me because Brown did not say it and why it was said proves Whitman is in fact buying votes and or endorsements which she is against right… sigh. The story about the guy who used to play Nazi dress up on weekends who is now running for a Public Service job is so outrageous as well the story about Governor Christie trying to dump the Hudson Tunnel Project which did not get enough airplay and it epitomizes why its likely we are not improving …how many other Republican officials have or are trying to lay people off or dumping projects and if so what do we assume their intent is and should they be responsible for paying back the money they took from the stimulus fund —that is a Hell yes! To continue …After the latest comments from Senator DeMint i wonder what his constituents are saying and what seems even clearer for me is DeMint definitely is telling Americans to do as we (Republican Tea Party) say not as we do and that truly is un-American. I am still trying to get over how DeMint was able to implement Universal Health Care but managed to give the rest of us the proverbial finger. I know that even though the people in Massachusetts hated the process, hated who was implementing HCR, some even protested what they call the sausage making yet while Congress was putting HCR together Massachusetts voted for a tea party guy into Congress complaining about HCR, but when you asked them 80% stated they wouldn’t give up the Universal Health Care that DeMint and others implemented but I guess they did not want the rest of us to have it. I believe the current dissent in the country is not just class warfare, race, religion so on and so forth it is because this Congress did not take a hard left and while that might be what we all want it is not what the office of President is all about. Unfortunately, Republicans refuse to let President Obama govern, refuse to be apart of the solution and well here we are – I blame the Republican Tea Party

I admit it …I feel tense when I listen to the opinion news but because I am listening closely they do fail to convince me that Congress will have a new look after Nov.2nd but if the scream of a tidal wave helps people do their civic duty -Vote for DEMS; then by all means scare us but with folks like ab stoddard all you get is democratic gloom and doom and that is tiring. I have faith that people will come to their senses even those in “the Media” because though they seem to exclude themselves from the inevitable …they too are apart of the voting consortium and should be concerned that crazy people actually have a chance to represent Americans. In the end do we blame “the Media” for what happens in November or the obvious side of the issues they seem to take because money does talk and what with major corporations owning all the cable and main stream stations can we expect them to tell the truth …food for thought eh? the comment below is from our President while at the Chicago rally.

“Sometimes I feel as if we had such a high on election night, and then there was the inauguration and Bono was singing and Beyonce,” Obama said at a fundraiser in Chicago last week. “That was the start, not the finish, of the journey. And it made each of you a shareholder in the mission of rebuilding our country and reclaiming our future.” -President barack obama -source: charles babington -AP

Saturday …For sure the 206 will be raining, cloudy with frequent bouts of wind… sigh it’s all good this weather could be worse right. The News Tribune reports heavier-than-normal traffic is expected for a holiday weekend at the U.S. -Canada border crossings because Monday is Columbus Day in the United States and Thanksgiving Day in Canada.

My rant today is about the extreme and somewhat silly behavior of the Republican Tea Party. If you are watching the news it is hard to look away from the ugly behavior but now they are becoming downright desperate and oh boy does Meg Whitman symbolize that on so many levels. The rumors that she has been buying votes seems to have become a reality …first of all it was an aid to not the next Gov Jerry Brown and while Whitman has been unleashing the conversation with out the full context or the entire conversation i would like Jeanne and Whitman to know that given the facts behind the comment i agree with the aid. It proves that you madam are definitely buying votes. The comment was bad for anyone to make but all we heard is what it meant on the surface and a lot of people in “the Media” came out saying oh no he did not say that on all sides of the aisle the facts remained undercover and by late last night most of us heard how and why the aid would say such a thing. My take is those quiet meetings, backroom deals if you will and include, if the talk is real – a sum of 45million dollars. It does prove once and for all that Meg Whitman indeed is engaging in desperate moves to get ahead of the competition by buying votes from at least the Police in California but then someone from the Police must have gotten greedy and called Brown’s camp … and i paraphrase -were giving Meg our endorsement unless you deal with our union pensions. bad behavior gone ugly

Last … some days you just have to share right maybe ask did that strike you as weird too but then i have this need to respond because the comment seemed extreme, the writer seemingly gothic and then again it could be all about sarcasm with a little bit or splash of threatening behavior at the same time. I have a choice of taking what the writer says seriously or decide that what the writer is sharing is that right of center love or rhetoric that so many of the Republican Tea Party members seem to engage in and spew at any given moment …always lurking under the surface. Well, i decided to share it with everyone, heck this blog is on the interwebs right …Anyway, the article Tattoo is getting some attention, actually the article from Speaker Pelosi received quite a few comments, most were nice and because we do have 1st Amendment rights folks use it and i choose to share it. The article is about the need for the Democratic Party to help support our candidates attack their opponents because clearly the Republican Tea Party has big maybe foreign Corporations funding their party not to mention the rhetoric is ugly at best, it is also filled with mis-information or their truths and should be challenged now more than ever. I have absolutely no problem with someone who wants to use their 1st Amendment rights, share their view or ideology but let’s keep it nice, play fair and don’t throw jabs that seem like threats eh? And btw stay away from my lady parts…. so …below is a comment in response to the article Tattoo

thank you for the comment from

… jonolan

Yes, Americans and American industry has arrayed themselves against the Leftist filth who want to destroy America.

Be thankful that, so far, it’s being handled through elections. Keep to your treasonous ways and we’ll have neither reason or desire to refrain from exterminating your ilk unto the last misborn crotch-dropping of unknown paternity.

For myself, I hope you continue; I look forward to the purge.

————————————————————

Other News …

**NOW has chosen to back Jerry Brown instead Meg Whitman -i am proud

**Queen of Gospel’ Albertina Walker dies at age 81

** Greenlake mtg w/ officials at library 10/16

**NYC/Fed charged tried and sentenced bungled time sq bomber to life in prison

**Tumwater -A 45million dollar prison sits empty due to budget cuts,lack of inmates and employee layoffs -yes they are trying to figure out what it can be used for in the interim

**The Federal home improvement Rebate will be over at the end of the year

**Did anyone hear Bill Maher say President Obama may get impeached -reckless use of time or does bill have an agenda?he certainly has the platform …people please remember he is a Pundit of fun, jokes ,sarcasm and a whole lot of mean barbs …the Prez

**Mercedes recalls 85thousand cars

**BofA stops home foreclosure activity for all 50 states

**Job employment 9.6% 95thousand govt jobs lost 80% due to temp census and i guess 20%layoffs, 64thousand Private Sector jobs gained –I would like to know the states and companies that laid folks off

**Asst Mgr Jeanne Cumming from Politico got on cable and stated how offended she was to hear about the Jerry Brown wh–e comment.

**Hurricane Otto is forming in the Atlantic Ocean

**John Lennon a music icon would be 70 this weekend

**Solomon Burke -king of soul/rock dead at 70

**Chile…drill reaches 33 trapped miners

**NRA supporting at least 58 democratic candidates …as well as Repubicans

CSPAN …