I am so sorry you are going through so much right now.
By time I was 26 I had 4 children myself and divorced. I managed to raise my children and had a job. Wasn't easy but it can be done.
A year later, when I was 27 I met wonderful man who loved me as well as my children. We were together for 7 wonderful years before he died of a heart attack. During this time I was blessed with my fifth child thanks to this man. I have no regrets about it either.
Bottom line is this, when you least expect it that special someone will come along. In the meantime...enjoy being a mom and take good care of raising your children.
High court rejects quick review of health care law By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press The Associated Press Monday, April 25, 2011 10:54 AM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court rejected a call Monday from Virginia's attorney general to depart from its usual practice and put review of the health care law on a fast track. Instead, judicial review of President Barack Obama's signature legislation will continue in federal appeals courts.
The justices turned down a request by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a leading opponent of the law, to resolve questions about its constitutionality quickly. The Obama administration opposed Cuccinelli's plea.
Only rarely, in wartime or a constitutional crisis, does the court step into a legal fight before the issues are aired in appellate courts. Hearings already are scheduled in May and June in three appeals courts.
The case still could reach the high court in time for a decision by early summer 2012.
Cuccinelli said he asked for speedy review to end "crippling and costly uncertainty" about the law.
"Expediting our case would have been the exception and so, although disappointing, this is not surprising," he said.
Justice Elena Kagan apparently took part in the court's order Monday, as there was no announcement that any justice sat out. There had been questions about whether she would participate because she served as Obama's solicitor general when the law was passed. Kagan indicated in Senate testimony last year that she played no role in the administration's planning and handling of challenges to the law.
So far, five federal judges have ruled on challenges to the law. Two Republican appointees, in Florida and Virginia, have declared it unconstitutional in whole or in part. Three Democratic appointees, in Michigan, Virginia and Washington, D.C., have upheld it.
Cuccinelli filed suit on behalf of Virginia, while 26 states joined in a separate lawsuit in Florida claiming that Congress exceeded its authority in requiring citizens to buy health insurance or pay a penalty starting in 2014.
In December, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson in Richmond declared that the individual mandate, the heart of the sweeping legislation, is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson of Florida came to the same conclusion in January in striking down the law in its entirety.
Both rulings have been put on hold pending appeals.
In the meantime, the federal and state governments have begun to put in place other parts of the law, including changes in payment rates under the Medicare system for older and disabled Americans and a provision allowing children up to age 26 to remain on the parents' health insurance policies.
US treads warily in Syria, considers sanctions MATTHEW LEE Associated Press The Associated Press Monday, April 25, 2011 7:14 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite a ruthless crackdown on pro-reform demonstrators, there is no international appetite for a warlike approach to Syria — a crucial Mideast playmaker with ties to Iran and a say in any eventual Arab peace with Israel.
In contrast with the quick international decision to launch an air campaign in nearby Libya, the United States is responding cautiously to mounting civilian deaths in Syria, preparing steps such as slapping new travel limits and financial penalties on Syrian leaders.
As violence escalated anew on Monday, the White House stepped up its condemnation of President Bashar Assad's regime, but stopped well short of demanding the ouster of a leader some U.S. Democrats had considered a potential reformer and peace broker.
U.S. officials said Washington has begun drawing up targeted sanctions against Assad, his family and inner circle to boost pressure on them to halt the repression. Meanwhile, the U.S. also was conferring with European countries and with the United Nations about options for Syria, where more than 350 people have been killed in weeks of protests and government attempts to quell them.
Thousands of soldiers backed by tanks poured Monday into the city where the five-week-old uprising began, opening fire indiscriminately on civilians before dawn and killing at least 11 people, witnesses said. Bodies were scattered in the streets. Widespread arrests — often of men along with their families — appear to be an attempt to intimidate protesters and set an example for the rest of the country.
The offensive was planned in detail with electricity, water and mobile phone services cut off and knife-wielding security agents conducted house-to-house sweeps.
President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan voiced their concern Monday during a telephone call over what the White House called "the Syrian government's unacceptable use of violence against its own people."
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney deplored the latest developments in Syria and said that sanctions against the Assad regime were a possible response "to make clear to the Syrian government that we believe it needs to cease and desist from the violence it's been perpetrating against its own citizens."
Obama says new task force will examine gas prices By JULIE PACE Associated Press The Associated Press Friday, April 22, 2011 2:09 AM EDT
LOS ANGELES (AP) — President Barack Obama said Thursday that the Justice Department will try to "root out" cases of fraud or manipulation in oil markets, even as Attorney General Eric Holder suggested a variety of legal reasons may be behind gasoline's surge to $4 a gallon.
"We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of the American people for their own short-term gain," Obama said at a town-hall style meeting at a renewable energy plant in Reno, Nev.
The town hall was sandwiched in between Obama's four fundraising events in California on Thursday — one in San Francisco and three in Los Angeles. The president was holding six fundraisers over the course of his three-day West Coast trip, aimed at high-dollar donors and young people, both of whom will be integral to a campaign that could set fundraising records.
"This is going to just as hard, if not harder, than 2008," he said of his re-election bid during a small fundraiser at Sony Pictures Studios.
With the 2012 campaign in mind, the White House is anxious to show the public it's taking action to address rising gasoline prices. The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.84 on Thursday, about 30 cents higher than a month ago and almost a dollar higher than a year ago.
Obama, decrying such levels as yet another hardship "at a time when things were already pretty tough," said Holder was forming the Financial Fraud Enforcement Working Group.
The task force will focus some of its investigation on "the role of traders and speculators" in the oil-price surge, Obama said, and will include several Cabinet department officials, federal regulators and the National Association of Attorneys General.
In Washington, Holder said he would press ahead with the investigation, even though he did not cite any current evidence of intentional manipulation of oil and gas prices or fraud.
"Based upon our work and research to date, it is evident that there are regional differences in gasoline prices, as well as differences in the statutory and other legal tools at the government's disposal," Holder said in a memo accompanying a statement announcing the task force. "It is also clear that there are lawful reasons for increases in gas prices, given supply and demand."
Dude, sometimes I do vote for rupublicans and sometimes for Democrats. However, with all the comments you make on your Obummer threads, you have yet to piss me off.
Since when is Obama a 9-11 hero? Dude, what is really the problem? For someone who is not an American you sure are acting childish about things. Throwing tantrums, insulting Americans, name calling..... Is that how things get settled in Denmark? Because that is the picture you are painting of you and your country.
Obama again won't call Armenian deaths 'genocide' By MARK S. SMITH Associated Press The Associated Press Saturday, April 23, 2011 6:25 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Saturday marked the anniversary of the massacre of Armenians in Turkey nearly a century ago by calling it a "horrific" slaughter, but once again stopped short of branding it genocide.
In a written statement, Obama said the 1915 killings of some 1.5 million Armenians represent "one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century." But for the third straight year, he failed to use the word genocide to describe it.
As a candidate for president, Obama repeatedly vowed to recognize the genocide once in office, vowing "a principled commitment to commemorating and ending genocide."
But since 2009, Obama has declined to use the word in the face of furious resistance from Turkey, a key NATO ally.
Most historians see the killings as the first genocide of the 20th century, and accept the figure of 1.5 million Armenian deaths. However, Turkish leaders have long rejected the term, contending the figures are inflated and saying there were many deaths on both sides as the Ottoman Empire collapsed during World War I.
In his statement, Obama said "contested history destabilizes the present and stains the memory of those whose lives were taken." He said America knows this from the dark chapters in its own history.
He praised efforts in Armenia and Turkey "to foster a dialogue that acknowledges their common history. "
But Obama confined himself to using the Armenian name for the slaughter, Meds Yeghern, and paying tribute "to the memories of those who perished."
He said his view of what took place hasn't changed since the campaign, adding, "A full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all our interests."
Why should you get upset when a woman doesn't wear make up? Why would you want her to hide her natural beauty? Another thought also. What is the woman is allergic to make and cannot wear it for health reasons?
Dude, it is impossible for me to hate anyone. I have a hard time with the fact that my tax dollars are going to pay someone to be president of the USA who lies and isn't a man of his word.
Blame game: BP, Gulf spill partners sue each other By CURT ANDERSON AP Legal Affairs Writer The Associated Press Thursday, April 21, 2011 6:49 PM EDT
MIAMI (AP) — After being hammered for a year over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP is going on the offensive with multibillion-dollar lawsuits seeking to shift at least part of the blame to those who owned the ill-fated rig or designed a failed safety device or supplied cement that didn't hold.
Those companies — Transocean, Cameron International and Halliburton — each filed lawsuits of their own, and it will now be up to the courts to divvy up fault.
BP, which has rebounded remarkably in the year since the April 20, 2010, disaster, will face an uphill battle in trying to shed the albatross of the Gulf oil spill. The lawsuits filed late Wednesday were likely just opening salvos in what's expected to become lengthy negotiations over assigning responsibility and, more importantly, liability. And experts said the companies in the end will most likely reach deals to divide the responsibility and costs.
But the perception that the companies were seeking to dodge blame did not sit well with many of those most affected by the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
"On this end, they haven't taken care of us. I don't care who gets the blame," said Melissa Lacoste, working Thursday at her brother's shrimp business in Theriot, La. and voicing a familiar complaint about the slow process for getting compensated for spill-related losses. "I think it's all of them."
And Darryl Malek-Wiley, a field organizer for the Sierra Club, called BP's lawsuits a public relations ploy.
"I think BP has from day one thought more about its public image and PR than about doing what's right," he said.
In its lawsuits, BP sued rig-owner Transocean for more than $40 billion because "every single safety system and device and well control procedure" failed on the Deepwater Horizon rig.
That's a remarkable figure because it more or less matches what BP estimates will be its entire liability for paying claims and cleaning up in the wake of the spill. However, its ultimate liability could be even higher, especially if its officials are found to be criminally negligent in pending trials and investigations.
He added, "Naturally, when the government takes control, do you think that freedom of speech is always going to be there?"
"The tide is bringing in a control that will indeed attempt to silence the truth and will attempt to squash the religious devotion and worship of the people of God."
That tide began creeping in many years ago, he noted, when the government and the courts began banning prayer at schools and removing references to Jesus, God and the Ten Commandments from the public square, Stanley noted.
"It is an attempt to destroy the Christian spirit in America," he said.
"There is a war going on against Jesus," he declared. "It's part of the strategy. The primary reason for this war against Him is He is interfering with the plan to make this a socialist nation. Mark it down. It is the truth."
Among the other elements of the dangerous tide are: terrorism, turning our backs on Israel, the announcement that the United States is not a Christian nation, increasing national disasters, a departure from the biblical view of marriage, and support for killing the unborn, Stanley listed.
"Mark this down for socialism because these three groups of people who do not contribute to the state ... are of no value: unborn babies, the elderly and those who are disabled," said the Atlanta pastor.
With the tide moving fast, Stanley issued a charge to Christians to turn it around.
He called believers to join him in 140 days of humbling themselves, repenting of sins and praying to God.
"The Bible says judgment begins at the house of God. We're not expecting lost people to do all this because this is the work of the people of God; it is our responsibility," he stressed. "A lot of where we are is because of our apathy. We haven't prayed for these men who are making decisions."
"Do you want this nation to keep going where it's going or do you want us to get back on track?" he posed.
Prayer, he said, is the one thing he knows that works.
"Do you believe God answers prayer?" he asked. "Pray for God to change the direction of this tide."
He added that those prayers have to be backed up with righteousness and a godly life if they are to be effective and nation-altering.
"There has never been a nation like these United States. We do not want it to fail or to fall."
|Sat, Jul. 03 2010 12:05 PM EDT Influential Pastor Warns of Socialism, Departure from God By Lillian Kwon|Christian Post Reporter
"We know the truth, we know the principles of God. In spite of all that, we find ourselves as a nation violating the laws of God, heading in a direction that is going to be disastrous for us, for our children and the generations that are to come unless there is a change," he said.
Speaking to thousands at First Baptist Church of Atlanta and to a live Web audience on Friday, Stanley delivered a sobering 4th of July message about a dangerous spiritual tide that is engulfing the country and the crucial need for prayer.
"There is a tide that has touched the shores of our land and reached the heart of our nation," he said against the backdrop of the U.S. flag. "It is a tide that is bringing with it ideas and philosophies, actions and attitudes that will ultimately destroy the way of life that you and I have."
The influential pastor and founder of In Touch Ministries listed 12 things involved in the tide. Among them are the financial crisis and the move toward socialism.
With the national debt rising by the billions every day and increasing taxation, future generations will likely be left with a debt so heavy that they'll never be able to spend most of what they make, he said.
Addressing the idea of spreading the wealth, Stanley emphasized, "It is not the government's responsibility to take care of us. It is to protect us.
"We're responsible for taking care of ourselves."
Socialism, he pointed out, is opposed primarily to Christianity and Judaism.
"In Christianity, we're taught to do our best because we've been gifted by God. So there's motivation, willingness and we cooperate," he explained. "We use our spiritual gifts for the good of everyone."
But under a socialist society, in which the government controls all means of production and distribution, there is no motivation for diligence and creativity is stifled, he said.
When there is less reward, there is less to give. And as evidenced in the recent downturn, what suffers first is supporting missionary work.
"You see, it affects every single aspect of society," Stanley warned.
Boehner-Obama Deal Leaves FY11 Spending $773B Above FY08 Level—About as Big an Increase as Obama’s Stimulus Tuesday, April 12, 2011 By Terence P. Jeffrey
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., after meeting with President Obama at the White House to discuss the Fiscal 2011 budget impasse on Wednesday night, April 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
(CNSNews.com) - The budget deal cut late Friday by President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R.-Ohio) will allow $3.7555 trillion in federal spending in this fiscal year.
That is $773 billion more than federal spending was in fiscal year 2008--the fiscal year before Congress enacted a bailout for the banking industry requested by President George W. Bush and a $787-billion economic stimulus law request by President Barack Obama.
On Friday night, Boehner and Reid released a joint press statement saying that together with President Obama they had reached an agreement to cut spending in fiscal year 2011 to a level $78.5 billion below the president’s original budget request. “We will cut $78.5 billion below the President’s 2011 budget proposal,” they said.
President Obama’s 2011 budget proposal asked for $3.834 trillion in spending. Subtracting $78.5 billion from that leaves $3.7555 trillion in spending.
In fiscal 2008, according to the Office of Management and Budget, the federal government spent $2.982544 trillion--or $772.95 billion less than the $3.7555 trillion the Boehner-Obama deal will allow the federal government to spend this year.
That $773 billion in spending that the federal government will do this year over and above the federal spending level of 2008 equals 98 percent of the $787 billion stimulus signed by President Obama in February 2000—on the premise that it was a one-time, short-term spending escalation needed to pump up the economy in a time of recession.
“It is a travesty,” said Cantor. “The writing is on the wall. Congress needs to wake up and realize that the future of American prosperity is in dire straits, mortal danger. As Americans hunker down to weather the economic storm, Democrats in Congress boosted Federal spending by 12 percent.”
Cantor also argued in his speech that day that Democrats were wrong to argue for increasing taxes as means to offset their spending increases.
“We have heard a lot about the majority's PAYGO scheme, but this will not affect any spending that has already happened,” said Cantor. “In fact, it will perpetuate the problem by locking in that spending going forward. And the majority's solution to offset all of their spending is more tax increases, which will kill jobs at the time we need them most.
“Supporters of this legislation will pull the wool over the American people's eyes and claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility, but the American people aren't buying it,” Cantor said. “By voting in favor of this PAYGO bill, the majority will be increasing the debt burden on our children and grandchildren by $1.9 trillion. Strip away the sweet-sounding rhetoric, and that's what this bill is all about.”
The final vote on Feb. 4, 1010 to lift the debt ceiling to $14.294 trillion was 233 to 187 (with 8 Democrats and 6 Republicans not casting any vote on the measure). Not a single House Republican voted for lifting the debt ceiling that day and 15 Democrats crossed party lines and voted against it.
Cantor in 2010: ‘Beyond Comprehension’ To Lift Debt Limit to $14.294 Trillion Wednesday, April 13, 2011 By Terence P. Jeffrey
(CNSNews.com) - On Feb. 4, 2010, when the House of Representatives voted to increase the legal limit on the national debt by another $1.9 trillion (lifting the limit from $12.394 trillion to $14.294 trillion), not one Republican voted for the increase.
Then-Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R.-Va.) rose on the House floor that day and declared that it was “beyond comprehension” and “a travesty” to talk about raising the legal debt limit to $14.294 trillion.
Last week, the Republican House leadership agreed to a deal with President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) to spend $3.7555 trillion in this fiscal year--even though at the close of business Friday, as the deal was being struck, the Treasury reported that it could borrow only an additional $80.85 billion before hitting the $14.294-trillion debt limit Congress set last year. In the first six months of this fiscal year (Oct-March), according to the Treasury, the debt increased $708.492 billion. Even if you subtract $38.5 billion from that number—to account for the $38.5 billion Republicans say the new spending deal will cut from the current annual federal spending level—the federal government would still be on a pace to increase the debt by about another $670 billion in the remaining six months of this fiscal year.
Simply put: To consummate the spending deal the Republican House leaders cut with Obama and Reid on Friday, the Republicans would need to lift the debt ceiling by hundreds of billions just to let the government borrow the money the Republicans have already agreed to let the government spend between now and Sept. 30.
Back in February 2010, when the then-Democrat-controlled House of Representatives voted to lift the debt ceiling to $14.294 trillion, then-Minority Whip Cantor delivered a scathing speech against the measure.
“It would be recklessly naive to go about our business in Washington pretending there won't be severe consequences for the mountains of debt we are piling up,” Cantor said on the House floor. “Yet today it is evident that this kind of willful ignorance is sweeping across Washington. We are set to lift our Nation's debt burden to $14 trillion.”
“I would ask my colleagues in this chamber if they know how many zeroes 14 trillion has,” said Cantor. “I would ask the American people if they know how many zeroes are in 14 trillion. It is 14 trillion. It is beyond comprehension to be talking about numbers this big. More precisely, the limit is 1, 4, 2, 9, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0.”
Faithfulness Forum Posts (1,056)
RE: Obama should not be elected to a 2nd term
No worse than the democratic socialist/fascist we have as president right now. LOL