Help The Middle ClassNews and Information For The Heart Of America
15 Money Rules Your Children Should Know (The Wall Street Journal)
It’s a simple calculus, kids and money: From birth until college graduation, children consume dollars like they’re chicken nuggets.
For those of us who aren’t independently wealthy, that puts unrelenting pressure on the family pocketbook. The financial demands of raising a child require that money you otherwise might use to prepare for retirement, or to save [...]
States Are Striking Gold In New Cigarette Taxes (USA Today)
Cash-strapped states are hitting smokers hard in the pocketbook, raising cigarette taxes to help plug budget shortfalls.
So far this year, legislators have voted to raise cigarette taxes by $1 per pack in Utah and 75 cents a pack in New Mexico. At least a half dozen other states have been considering increases, including tobacco-growing South [...]
Seven Proven Ways to Live A Happy Life (Joyful Days)
There has been a lot of research into how to live a happy life, and these are just some findings I came across.
“Proven ways” refers to generalised results suggested by these studies and until you try each one out for yourself, it remains unproven for you as an individual.
So why not try a few and [...]
Bridges Finally Wins Best Actor – The Hurt Locker Makes History: The 82nd Annual Academy Awards® (Yahoo! Movies)
LOS ANGELES – The Iraq War drama “The Hurt Locker” won best picture and five other prizes Sunday at the Academy Awards, its haul including best director for Kathryn Bigelow.
Bigelow is the first woman in the 82-year history of the Oscars to earn Hollywood’s top prize for filmmakers.
“There’s no other way to describe it. It’s [...]
Bubba Update: Former President Bill Clinton offers a Lesson In mortality For Baby-Boomer Generation (New York Daily News)
Hang in there, Bubba, hang in there.
That was the prayer of Bill Clinton fans everywhere when the ex-President checked into New York-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia – leaving it momentarily unclear when and whether Elvis would leave the building.
He did, of course, the next morning, with all his usual rock-star swagger and a couple of new stents [...]
GOOD NEWS STORY OF THE DAY: Man Embraces History – Breaks World’s All-Time Hugging Record! (Salon)
A 51-year-old Ohio man has embraced the Valentine’s Day spirit faster than anyone before, giving 7,777 hugs in 24 hours for a new world record.
Jeff Ondash, who sought the squeezes under the costumed alter ego Teddy McHuggin, broke the record Saturday night outside the Paris Las Vegas hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
Ondash says he [...]
Fred Morrison, Inventor Of The Frisbee Dies Age 90 (Wall Street Journal)
Fred Morrison put his World War II experience as a fighter pilot to peaceful use by inventing what became known as the Frisbee.
Mr. Morrison, who died Tuesday at age 90, called his earliest flying disks “Whirlo-Way” and “Pluto Platter,” to capitalize on the flying saucer craze of the 1950s.
But it wasn’t until he licensed the [...]
JOE CONASON/PROFILE: The Never Ending Quest Of Bill Clinton (Salon)
Often since his first heart surgery in 2004, Bill Clinton has alluded to an increased awareness of his own life’s limitations; it is a sense that must have enveloped him again on Thursday, when chest pains sent him into the operating room at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan for a new pair of stents in [...]
HISTORY: The Civil Rights Movemment – How It Started 50 Years Ago (USA Today)
NASHVILLE — Fifth Avenue downtown bustles with activity on a blustery recent afternoon. People of all races mingle: This could be any midsize city in the United States, circa 2010.
Fifty years ago, things were different. The stores along Fifth — specifically, their lunch counters — and the city itself were the site of a battle [...]
PROFILE IN COURAGE: The Real Frank Serpico Resurfaces (The New York Times)
He looked like some sort of fur trapper, this bearded man walking through the snowy woods here in upstate New York. But then, Frank Serpico has always been known for his disguises.
Anyone who has seen the celebrated 1973 film “Serpico” knows that he often dressed up — bum, butcher, rabbi — to catch criminals. His [...]
