My bright ideal to make money on the Internet

Two years ago I came up with this bright ideal that I was going to make money on the Internet. So little did I know at the time, that making money online is not easy. Joel Comm was my introduction to making money with Adsense. Joel gave a wonderful spill how he made it and how easy it would be if you followed his plan, hey he even had testimonies! Of course I figured if he could make money like that, I could do it as well. Now I've learned a couple of things over the years from guys who market on the net, when they are ready to share with you their secrets to success, it really is not a secret any more. Please understand they will help you to succeed but they share old secrets and when they figure out another technique they are always willing to give you the older technique a cut rate price. Some people have made money going at it that way. I did not want to follow old techniques, I knew that my ideals would help me rise to the top. You never know how foolish you are until you come up with a plan and realize that 10,000 other people have already thought of that ideal and you are late! I have learned that when you make your first internet dime that will be the hardest money that you will ever earn in your life. I worked 6 or 8 hours a day for 6 months before I made sixty cents. I worked hard and would email my friends to look at my site. Believe this, I did generate traffic, but it was not paying any bills. I was disappointed after my first week and I understand why people fail so miserably. Through all the success stories that you hear, none give you the true grit of what they had to go through to make it to the top! So that is where I come in at, its not easy and believe me when I say this that only the Strong survive in this business!
So just like a carpenter needs tools to become success, so do you... These are the tools that you will need to create successful on the net.

1. You need to have knowledge. There will be terms and abbreviations that you need to understand to make it in the blogger world or the online selling world. Now I recommend that you dedicate time and effort to not only study terms but understand how it effects you, or you will never achieve your goal on the net, to make money! Please realize that search engine optimization is very important!

2. Now you have to understand that traffic is the key to your success on the net. The more traffic that you generate the greater opportunity for you to make a steady income online. The more relevant the material the more likely you will have an opportunity to have someone start following you.

3. The Realization that there is no topic in the world that has not been introduced to the Internet. What does that have to do with you, picture this you want to blog about "ducks unlimited". So before you start blogging about the ducks, first go to Google and type in "ducks unlimited" Now what that tells you is this, 781,000 have written on that topic. So what you say? Let me break it down so that you can understand, If I could click 3,000 times in a day guess where I would never get to???

4. With out patience in the Internet world you will do what many people do, they give up and try something else... You need thick skin and all the attributes listed above to succeed. Remember that Rome was not built in a day, and if you were going to eat a whale how would you do it? One bite at a time! Take your time, learn while you go and the rest will happen for you!

A Tale of Two Pebbles

Think About This

In a small village a farmer owed a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The moneylender was old and ornery and fancied the farmer's beautiful daughter.

He said he would forgo the farmer's debt if he could marry the daughter. He suggested they let providence decide the matter. He would put a black and white pebble into an empty bag. Then the daughter would have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she drew the back pebble she would become his wife and her father's debt would be forgiven. But if she drew the white pebble she would not have to marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven.

And if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown in jail.

As they were standing on a pebbled path the moneylender bent over and picked up two pebbles. The sharp-eyed daughter noticed that he picked up two black pebbles and placed them in the bag. He then asked her to pick a pebble.

She drew out a pebble. Without looking at it she let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path, where it became lost among the other pebbles.

"How clumsy of me, but never mind. If you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked," she said to the moneylender.

The remaining pebble is black, so it must be assumed she picked the white one. The moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, and the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an advantageous one.

Moral? Most complex problems do have a solution. We must think, "What are my options?"

What are you waiting for?

Think About This
Are you waiting for the economy to turn around before you start that business you've always wanted?

Waiting for the right circumstances so you can go back to school and get the advanced degree you'd like to have?

Waiting for things to slow down at work or for the children to get older so you can write the book that's inside of you?

Waiting for (fill in the blank) before you do something about your weight and health?

Wait. Wait. Wait.

Now is NOT the time to WAIT!

The sooner you take positive action the faster you'll be on the road to rising above the recession or anything else that's holding you back.

Things are tough for some people right now, and they may be getting even tougher.

But that's EXACTLY why today, more than ever, you need a little something extra. You need an edge... you need an advantage unlike anything you've ever had before.

We've got that edge --- and a chance to put it to work in your life!

The year is only half over, which means you've got a full half year ahead of you to make some big things happen IF you don't wait any longer!

Finance Beyond Success works, try it... If it does not cost anything, what are you waiting for? You determine your destiny, It will not happen unless you step out on faith and believe!. http://tinyurl.com/yg4v2rn

Girl Sells sex to get money to go shopping

Girls sell sex in Hong Kong to earn shopping money

Most girls who engage in compensated dating don't view themselves as prostitutes, a social worker says.

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- She doesn't want to be identified, except by her nickname "Sze," and she has a secret past. Her father doesn't know what she did as a 16-year-old, and she hopes he never finds out. But Sze, now 19, wants young girls to hear her story so they never make the same mistake.

"My first customer was an ordinary man in his 40s. We skipped the dinner part and went straight to the guest house for sex," Sze recalled. "Actually, I was a bit scared, but I knew this was the only way I could get money. This customer wasn't bad, though. We just had sex, he paid, and then he left. I thought this was easy money, and that's why I continued doing this kind of thing."

For a year and a half, Sze was part of a growing social phenomenon among teens in Hong Kong called "compensated dating," a practice in which a young woman agrees to go on a date with a man for a fee. More often than not, the date involves sex.

Sze said she started compensated dating because many of her classmates at an all-girls school were doing it. She says she became jealous when she saw the designer clothes, bags and cosmetics they bought with the money they earned through compensated dating. Sze wanted the same for herself, so her classmates introduced her to Internet chat forums where she met male customers.

The practice can have deadly consequences. Last year, a 16-year-old Hong Kong girl was killed in a gruesome murder after she went to a 24-year-old man's apartment for a compensated date. The man, Ting Kai-Tai, killed the teenager, dismembered her body and flushed the remains down the toilet. A jury convicted him of murder and sentenced him to life in prison.

Sze told CNN she knew a compensated date could go horribly wrong. She would set ground rules with clients on the phone first. She charged them $350 for a date and clarified how many times she would have sex with them.

She said sometimes the customers would stray from the rules, asking for more sex or refusing to wear a condom.

"Sometimes, I did feel shame. I kept asking myself why I had to do this kind of thing to make money. But the feeling didn't stay long. I would relax when I wanted to buy something. I just thought I could always quit after a short time or whenever I wanted," Sze said.

Most girls who engage in compensated dating don't view themselves as prostitutes, said social worker Chiu Tak-Choi.

"For the girls, they don't think so because they think they can quit anytime. The girls -- even though they post their details on the Internet -- they think they can quit. Even if they encounter the guys, if he is not good-looking, she can quit and say 'I don't do it.' They think they have a lot of power to control whether they do it or not, so they think of it very differently from prostitution."

Chiu, the social worker, is currently working with about 20 girls who are trying to leave the world of compensated dating. It is hard to quantify how big the problem is in Hong Kong because the business is conducted under the radar, he said.

Chiu believes the problem is getting worse because his caseload has doubled in the past two years.

Prostitution is illegal in Hong Kong, and legal experts say that compensated dating is a form of prostitution. "The law prohibits soliciting for immoral purpose," said Stephen Hung, a criminal litigator with Pang, Wan & Choi. "When a court looks at sentencing, the greater the age difference, the more serious it (the sentence) is."

Why do young girls get involved in compensated dating? The reasons vary from an unstable home life to a desire for material goods, Chiu said.

One 14-year-old girl told him she started compensated dating when she lost her cell phone. She said her parents wouldn't buy her a new one, so she thought she could earn some fast money with paid sex. She had her eye on an expensive cell phone. When the money from the first compensated date didn't cover the cost for the new phone, she went on a second paid date.

Girls involved in compensated dating don't necessarily come from poor families, Chiu said. They are from all levels of socioeconomic classes, he said. Improved family communication is one solution to preventing girls from becoming involved in compensated dating, Chiu said.

"The family has to do its part. I think caring for children is very important. Whenever they have problems, they can ask someone for help."

Sze said she was saved by a social worker who stepped in on her behalf. After a pregnancy scare and a number of unpredictable customers, Sze said her self-esteem plummeted. The social worker helped her get back on track.

"She helped me understand that making money respectably is actually not that hard in Hong Kong. I finally realized that it was wrong to make money by selling my body. It just wasn't worth it."

Sze now works at a hair salon to earn a living. She has tried to talk her old friends out of compensated dating, but they are not listening, she said.

"They felt annoyed when I talked to them about this. I'm now reluctant to get in touch with them. They just tell me they're different. Maybe they have more serious family problems or some other burdens. I know I can't control their thinking, so I just stopped trying to help them."

NAS; Open Letter to Young Warriors.

What a shame that he had to see a death to realize that what he used to rap about created death! The Reality is this plain and simple, if no one steps up, how do you expect to step in? We were fortunate enough to have a cell phone that recorded the death, but why does no one really want to stand for whats right?

Violence Condemned at Funeral of Beaten Teen

If you have no passion from this, you are probably not fogging up the glass.

New Born Baby Raped And Beaten By Father

Unbelievable that this young sicko would do such a thing. I don't think that the time of a trial should be wasted on this low life. I mean they should castrate this individual and leave him jail for the rest of his natural life...

Family Needs Assistance

Family Needs Assistance

I am the only one working, my wife's job closed. She is currently drawing unemployment but still cannot afford to buy medication or go to the doctor. Since then she has had to go to the emergency room twice, between the two trips we have added $1,200 dollars more to our debt. We applied for assistance and was told we made to much money. We are a family of five(5) and we are barely making it. We are job hunting, but to add insult to injury one of the cars is broke down.

We asked the church for help and they did give us a small donation. I am glad I work at pizza place so we do eat every night

We are days away from foreclosure and to be we need help. Please help if you can.

Video helps police capture the boys that committed the beating

CHICAGO (CBS/AP) Fenger High School honor student Albert Derrion's beating death was brutal. But the murder is made all the more painful for family and friends by the presence of a cell phone video which captures Derrion's final moments.


Photos: Derrion Albert Beating Death Video

Albert's grandfather Joshua Walker said he hasn't seen it and never will. "I don't think I'll ever watch it," Walker told CBS' The Early Show. "I wasn't there to protect my grandson so I'll never watch that tape."

Even the mother of one of the alleged killers refuses to see it, even though she has defended her son, Silvonus Shannon's, alleged role.

"Silvonus is not a bad kid," Tamaray Shannon told the Chicago Tribune. "He was protecting himself. Silvonus is not what they are making him out to be."

Screen Cap Shows Beating Death of Derrion Albert.

The cell phone footage, which has been distributed widely across the Web and television, clearly shows a group of teens viciously kicking and striking 16-year-old Albert with wooden planks. When Albert tries to get up he is hit again with wooden plank. Then a crowd of young men gathers around him, delivering vicious blows.

Albert was dragged away from the melee, but too much damage had been done. He died in the hospital.

As painful as the video is to watch, it has been a boon to investigators, who have now arrested who they believe are the four teens directly responsible for Albert's death.

Prosecutors charged Silvonus Shannon, 19, Eugene Riley, 18, Eric Carson, 16, and Eugene Bailey, 18, with first-degree murder, said Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office.

The violence stemmed from a shooting early Thursday morning involving two groups of students from different neighborhoods, said Simonton.


So disappointing that a fight leads to death. Unfortunately these Einsteins of the world had no ideal when giving someone a beat down, does have a limit! To beat someone to death is over the top. The extreme violence that is associated with most games is what fuels the passion for violence with our kids today... When is enough going to be enough? If its not the cowardly actions of a drive by shooting, now its this??? To be honest I don't think that these kids really grasp the true concepts of death. To make matters worse when they are going to be sentenced to 60 or 70 years in jail, and several will have a dumbfounded look on their face, "like what did I do to get this"?

The Law of the Garbage Truck

Think About This

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of the parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the Hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so... Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't.

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a blessed, garbage-free day!

Married man refuses to pay prostitute child support

No support ... the accidental dad said he'd had "a consumer transaction" with the child's mother.

• Man paid prostitute for sex
• She gave birth to his baby
• He is refusing to pay child support

A MAN who paid a woman for sex is resisting child support requests after the prostitute had his baby.

The married Melbourne man argues the child is potentially a breach of the Trade Practices Act.

He told a federal magistrate he shouldn't have to pay for the inadvertent offspring given the circumstances of the conception, the Herald Sun reports.

The accidental dad - who can be referred to only by the pseudonym Mr Lilley - told magistrate Grant Riethmuller he'd had "a consumer transaction" with the child's mother.

Mr Lilley argued an implied term of the "contract" between clients and sex workers was that women would take measures to avoid pregnancy.

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Mr Lilley told the court he was not disputing paternity.

The prostitute - known only by the pseudonym Ms Logan - did not appear in court, and details of her employer were not publicly revealed.

The magistrate heard Mr Lilley initially contributed about $100 a week towards the infant's upkeep under an informal arrangement with Ms Logan. The matter spilled into court in June after he lost his $140,000-a-year job and fell behind in the payments.

Mr Riethmuller heard the man already had a child with his ill wife, and was struggling to support his family financially after taking a hefty pay cut in a new job.

The man used the legal action to question whether the sex worker and the Federal Government's Child Support Agency had any right to chase him for money.

In an affidavit, he argued the woman's basis for seeking support was "fundamentally flawed" given her job.

But in a ruling issued this week, the magistrate said the circumstances of the conception made no difference to the child's entitlements under the Child Support Scheme.

The man was ordered to keep paying $100 a week until a likely appeal to the Social Securities Appeal Tribunal.

The magistrate noted the door might be open for the dad to launch legal action against the owners of the brothel or escort service - or the mother individually - for damages.

Sex without a condom is illegal in licensed Victorian brothels and escort agencies.

I totally agree with the concept of a contractual agreement for sex and only sex. Think of it like this, if you jumped into a taxi cab and paid to go out of town, completed the journey and paid the fee, and the car broke down. It would not be your responsibility to fix that car. When you paid the fee to get to your destination you released hired that individual and the car getting fixed is his obligation! The exchange of money for sex terminates all rights of a woman to make a claim.

To make a man pay for this child opens up Pandora's box. Which in turn creates more problems for the man and woman in the long wrong. There would always be a situations where women would be getting pregnant on purpose. With the intent on getting what she can get.

Think About This

Think About This

Give Some Happiness

"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up." Mark Twain

"A laugh is the shortest distance between two people." Victor Borge

"A smile is a curved line that sets things straight." Unknown Author

"Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important." Janet Lane

"There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness." Lady Blessington

"The best vitamin to be a happy person is B1." Author Unknown

"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." Buddha

"Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half sorrow." Swedish proverb

"Whoever is happy will make others happy, too." Mark Twain

Man pleads not guilty in 24 charges of mortgage fraud

SACRAMENTO, California—A federal judge has denied bail for a 28-year-old Sacramento man who was returned to California after an international manhunt.

Garret Griffith Gililland III remains behind bars after pleading not guilty to 24 charges alleging he participated in a $100 million mortgage fraud ring.

Gililland had requested bail, even though authorities said he fled the country with at least $250,000 in cash in June 2008.

He fought extradition after his arrest in Spain for a year until he was returned to Sacramento last week.

His bail request was denied after a hearing Wednesday in Sacramento federal court.

The Internal Revenue Service says Gililland and two others defrauded investors and mortgage companies in deals involving 500 homes and condominiums in California and other states.

Mother charged with abuse after son escapes from closet

Larhonda Marie McCall, 37, is shown in Oklahoma City."
(AP) A woman was arrested after her 14-year-son told authorities he escaped from a home where he'd been kept for 4 1/2 years, spending most of his time locked in a bedroom closet, police said Monday.

A security guard at a National Guard facility in Oklahoma City called police on Friday after the teen showed up malnourished and with numerous scars and other signs of abuse, police Sgt. Gary Knight said.

"He was hungry. He was dirty. He had numerous scars on his body," Knight said. "It was very sad."

The boy was taken to a hospital to be examined and then turned over to the custody of the Department of Human Services, Knight said.

After police interviews, officers on Saturday arrested the boy's mother, 37-year-old LaRhonda Marie McCall, and a friend, 38-year-old Steve Vern Hamilton, on 20 complaints each of child abuse and child neglect. Formal charges have not been filed, and both were being held on $400,000 bond, according to jail records.

Jail officials were not sure whether either had retained an attorney, and no one answered the phone at McCall's home. A police report listed McCall as a pharmaceutical company employee and Hamilton as a cab driver.

The teen, wearing only a pair of over sized shorts held up by a belt, walked up to a security guard at the Guard facility around 5 p.m. Friday and asked where a police station was located so he could report being abused, according to a police report.

He told police that scars on his stomach and torso were from where alcohol had been poured on him and set on fire. Other scars were from being tied up, hit with an extension cord and choked, the boy told police.

"He had scars covering most of his body," Knight said. "They were basically from head to foot."

The teen told police he moved to the Oklahoma City area from New Jersey about 4 1/2 years ago after his mother was released from jail. Since arriving in Oklahoma, he said, he had never been to school and spent most of his time locked in a bedroom closet.

He told police the closet door was mostly blocked with a stepladder or a bed and that he managed to push the door open enough to escape and leave the house.

Knight said six other children living at the home were taken into DHS custody, but none showed signs of abuse. McCall had lived at several different addresses in the Oklahoma City area, he said.

A DHS spokeswoman said she could not discuss specific cases but generally an investigation would be conducted before any of the children are returned to the home or placed with other family members.

"There may be family members, but we do a diligent search, and we're very careful about placing kids in a safe environment," DHS spokeswoman Beth Scott said.

101 year-old attorney still practing

(CNN) -- Jack Borden would like you to consider working well past retirement age. As a 101-year-old attorney, he has the credibility to encourage it.

Attorney Jack Borden, 101, says he's never thought about not working. "What would I do?" he said.

Borden, who has been practicing law for the better part of 70 years, still spends about 40 hours a week at his office in Weatherford, Texas, handling estate planning, probate and real estate matters.

Retire? Not while he's able to help folks.

"As long as you are capable, you ought to use what God gave you. He left me here for a reason, and with enough of a mind to do what it is I'm supposed to be doing," said Borden, who also has been a district attorney and Weatherford's mayor.

He arrives at the practice he shares with his nephew at 6:30 a.m. He goes home for lunch at 10:45 a.m., rests in bed for 45 minutes -- doctor's orders after pneumonia a few years back -- returns to work by 12:45 p.m. and stays until at least 4.

Not everyone who works past 65 does so because they want to. In a survey completed last month, 38 percent of respondents working past the age of 62 said they may have to delay retirement even further because of the recession, according to the Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends project.

But in answer to another question in the same survey, 54 percent of workers 65 or older said they're working now mainly because they want to. Seventeen percent said their main reason was money, and 27 percent said both factors motivated them.

"Some of them enjoy it, and some of them need the money. But even if they need the money, they also enjoy the work," said Cynthia Metzler, president of Experience Works, a nonprofit that helps low-income workers ages 55 and older acquire new job skills.

The group, which operates in 30 states and also uses federal funds to pay participants a minimum wage to work community service jobs while they look for other work, last month named Borden as America's Outstanding Oldest Worker -- a title it bestows annually to a worker over 100.

Last week, Borden was in Washington to participate in events the group was holding to mark National Employ Older Workers Week.

When it comes to putting off retirement out of desire, Borden is hardly alone.

Preston Brown, 70, is a police officer in Yakima, Washington. He's enjoying the challenges that come with patrolling streets full time, and the experiences are relatively fresh: The former marketing worker and real estate broker didn't join the force until he was 51.

He was attracted to law enforcement as a teen but was told he was too short. The height requirements eventually changed, and after some friends persuaded him to go on a patrol ride-along, he began a process that landed him a job with Yakima police in 1990.

Whatever is required, from report-taking to chases, he's up for it.

"From time to time there will be a physical confrontation ... and we can get involved in foot chases and vehicle chases. Usually the vast quantity is on night shift more than [my daytime shift], but still I'm involved in those," Brown said.

Nineteen years later and still in good shape, he has no plans to stop. He likes the pay but he doesn't have to work: His wife of 53 years has a pension. He could be doing other things, such as playing racquetball and motorcycling with friends, but because he gets four days off after working five roughly 11-hour days, he already has time for that.

"When I wake up and prepare to leave for work, I'm looking forward to it," he said. "It's challenging and exciting."

In Anderson, South Carolina, customers at a Chick-fil-A restaurant might see 88-year-old Frank Childers fixing a door. His wife, Gertrude Childers, 88, might be carrying a tray to a table or refreshing someone's beverage.

When Frank Childers retired from his insurance sales job in 1985, he looked forward to free time and fishing.

"I stayed retired for five years. I got tired of sitting around," he said.

Frank Childers, who had some mechanical experience before working in insurance, took some jobs to stay busy. In 1998, Jon Holmes, the owner-operator of three Anderson Chick-fil-As, asked him to lead his maintenance staff, and Childers has been working there since.

Gertrude Childers, a former mill worker, also was hired in 1998 to be a dining room hostess at one of the restaurants. She works 20 hours a week; her husband works about 30.

They each said they enjoy the work and the people they've met. They don't have to work for the money, they said, but the pay doesn't hurt.

"It's nice to have your own money, because when I want to go shopping, I don't have to ask nobody," Gertrude Childers said, laughing.

Experience Works says many low-income workers 55 and older need to find jobs but can't, in part because of the recession. It points to the age group's unemployment rate: It was 6.8 percent in August, up from 2.9 percent three years earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's still better than the rate for all age groups, 9.7 percent in August.

Lynn Dusenbery, 62, faces many more years of work out of necessity. The Ashland, Wisconsin, resident sold her floral business four years ago to cover medical bills. Once hoping to retire at 65, she now has no savings, is uninsured, and -- living in a rural area with perennially high unemployment -- still hasn't found full-time work.

"I was a florist for 40 years. I came out with no skills that would get me by in the outside world," Dusenbery said.

Dusenbery enrolled with Experience Works three years ago and has picked up computer skills and other training and part-time jobs with the group. She's looking for full-time work.

As for Borden, work is still energizing and rewarding.

"If I were to quit, I might last a year, but probably not over six months," said Borden. "I have to use a walker because of old age, so there's not much else I could do except sit in my house. Why do that when I can not only enjoy life, but help some people?"

Repo Man Visits an Illinois Police Dept.

• Play CBS Video Video Cops Feel Heat of Economy

  Some Florida counties have come to the aid of an Illinois police dept. forced to give up most of its cruisers. As Dean Reynolds reports, the cars were repossessed due to the county's economic hardship.

• Photo

  (CBS)

(CBS) To say that Cairo, the seat of Alexander County, Ill., has seen better days is a cruel understatement. The county of 8,000 people is half-a-million dollars in the red, and the recession has made a bad situation worse.

Cairo's police department has just had most of its cruisers repossessed, reports CBS News National Correspondent Dean Reynolds. The recession has reduced tax revenues all over the country, forcing government agencies to cut their budgets. A survey of police departments found 66 percent of them were facing cuts this year.

"God willing, we're going to protect these people and we're gonna continue with what we got. We're used to struggling. We're used to struggling," said Sheriff David Barkett with a laugh.

The situation got so bad this month that the bank repossessed five of his seven cruisers. Four of them sit in the bank parking lot now, shorn of their emergency lights, antennas and seals. In addition to losing his cruisers, the sheriff lost three-fourths of his staff, most of them deputies,
to budget cuts. At its peak, the staff had 29 full and part timers. Now there are five.

"I'd say it's very extreme when it effects the protection of lives and property," said Barkett.

Barkett patrols in an SUV the governor loaned him. He works extra-long hours with help from volunteers and Ill. state troopers.

"Altogether it's about a 92 to 93 mile round-trip. It's a big area for just four or five people to cover," said Barkett.

Things look a little brighter today thanks to a couple of Florida counties who heard about Barkett's problems. They had older cruisers they didn't need and are shipping them to their car-needy colleague.

"I couldn't imagine that so that's why I felt it was so important to reach out and offer him what we could," said Sheriff Ken Mascara, of St. Lucie County, Fla.

Getting the cruisers is a step in the right direction for Barkett. Now all the sheriff needs is to get his deputies back to drive them.

Seizing the opportunity

Upper Marlboro Woman Charge

GREENBELT, Md. -- Federal prosecutors say a woman has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for her role in a mortgage fraud scheme.

Fifty-two-year-old Cheryl Brooke of Upper Marlboro also had a preliminary forfeiture judgment of more than $2 million entered against her on Wednesday.

Prosecutors say Brooke and others aired television advertisements that offered to help people improve their credit, and save their homes from foreclosure. However, the defendants took control of the homes and then failed to pay mortgages on them, causing the original owners to default.

This is becoming the norm where someone figures out a way to take advantage of the unsuspecting. Bernie Madoff Day showed America with a perfect scheme that any thing can be done with a diabolical plan. My heart goes out to the thousands of people who have been bamboozled out of their money and lost their home simply from a scam. Now that we have the culprit what do we really do with them? The fact is the money is gone, and its not coming back. Even though she will be sentenced, what is that really going to do? I mean it will ease the pain for a few minutes but what about the lifetime of damage that was created by the schemer.

The damage that these elite criminals have created is nothing short of a natural disaster, you never no it coming and after it does you wonder how are you going to regroup. No one should be left in the cold but realistically speaking after the damage is done, what do they really do?

Many of people are sitting with their hands in their pockets wondering how will I make it.

Elderly bank robbery suspect in San Diego says mortgage drove him to crime

A 69-year-old man with severe medical problems has apologized for robbing a San Diego bank and says he needed money to pay his mortgage to prevent him and his 73-year-old wife from becoming homeless.

In a jailhouse interview with NBC 7/39, Michael Casey Wilson said he needed $50,000 to pay off a 17% mortgage when he walked into the Bank of America branch in the City Heights neighborhood on Monday.

Wilson told a teller he would detonate a bomb in a briefcase unless she handed over money, authorities said. He walked out with more than $100,000 but was arrested a few blocks away on the porch of a house, apparently exhausted.

"I've never done a bad thing in my life," Wilson told a television reporter. "But you get desperate; I guess you throw all that ... out the window."

Wilson, 5 feet 8 and 250 pounds, walks with a cane. His attorney said in a brief appearance in court that Wilson suffers from "major" ailments. Wilson listed those for the TV station as severe arthritis, sleep apnea, heart problems and an emotional issue.

Wilson pleaded not guilty to three charges Thursday in San Diego County Superior Court. He remains in jail on $50,000 bail. No explosive was found in the briefcase.

Wilson said his scheme was to kidnap the bank manager, take a cab to the San Diego airport, drop the manager there and then take a cab to his home. He said he had considered what would happen if he got caught.

Kanye West InterruptsTaylor Swift's, what gives

When I watched the VMA and witnessed Kanye actions, I was shocked... The rumor was that he had been drinking. Sometime alcohol gives you a fantastic and original ideal. I think that he is realizing that maybe his Epiphany was not such a good thing. I think that just escorting you out of the show was not enough. Maybe they should give you the ass hole of the year award for your stupid behavior!

Snake with foot found in China

A snake with a single clawed foot has been discovered in China, according to reports.

Snake that grew a foot out of its body Photo: CEN/Europics

Dean Qiongxiu, 66, said she discovered the reptile clinging to the wall of her bedroom with its talons in the middle of the night.

"I woke up and heard a strange scratching sound. I turned on the light and saw this monster working its way along the wall using his claw," said Mrs Duan of Suining, southwest China.

Mrs Duan said she was so scared she grabbed a shoe and beat the snake to death before preserving its body in a bottle of alcohol.

The snake – 16 inches long and the thickness of a little finger – is now being studied at the Life Sciences Department at China's West Normal University in Nanchang.

Snake expert Long Shuai said: "It is truly shocking but we won't know the cause until we've conducted an autopsy."

A more common mutation among snakes is the growth of a second head, which occurs in a similar way to the formation of Siamese twins in humans.

Such animals are often caught and preserved as lucky tokens but have very little chance of surviving in the wild anyway, especially as the heads have a tendency to attack each other.

Indian teen tossed from train loses leg

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Doctors had to amputate the leg of a 13-year-old snack vendor who was thrown off a moving train after he reportedly did not have money to bribe a guard, authorities said Sunday.

Part of Mohammed Salahuddin's leg was removed below the knee after it was badly damaged after the fall, said Amit Lodha, a railway police superintendent.

According to published reports, the suspect allegedly hurled Salahuddin off the train on Thursday in anger because he did not have Rs 10 (20 cents) to pay in bribes for selling snacks on board.

"The (arrested) constable has denied these allegations. But he indeed has been found to have thrown the boy out of the train," Lodha told CNN.

The guard was sent to jail Sunday for the incident, which took place in India's Bihar state, officials said. He faces attempted murder among other charges.

In August, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh admitted his country was faced with "pervasive corruption".

"The malaise of corruption, so sapping of our efforts to march ahead as a nation, should be treated immediately and effectively," Singh warned

Police found body of missing girl in wall

Police in Conn. say a body has been found in a building where a Yale University graduate student Annie Le, vanished.

The human remains were found inside a wall in a Yale laboratory by Connecticut State Police just after 5 p.m., reports CBS affiliate WFSB - Hartford. It was in an area holding utility cables that run between floors. More than




100 police officials have been searching for Le since Tuesday, when she was last seen.

New Haven's assistant police chief says officials presume the body is that of the missing doctoral student. He says Le's family has been told. Police also say the missing persons investigation is now being treated as a homicide.

New Haven Assistant Police Chief Peter Reichard says the body has not been identified as doctoral student Annie Le, who has been the focus of a massive police search since she vanished in the building on Tuesday.

Le swiped her identification card to enter the building that morning, but there was no record of her leaving, despite some 75 surveillance cameras that cover the complex. Investigators pored over blueprints and surveillance video footage while searching for her.

Le was from Placerville, California. She was set to get married Sunday in Syosset, N.Y., on Long Island's north shore.

Caster Semenya is a woman right? Or really a Man?

The South African government has said it is considering legal action against the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) over its handling of a gender verification test on South African runner Caster Semenya.

Speaking at a news conference in Pretoria on Friday, Sport and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile said he was "shocked and disgusted" at the treatment that Semenya has received from both the international media and the IAAF. He said lawyers were being consulted over possible human rights violations amid concerns that Semenya was tested without her consent. (See pictures of Caster Semenya's triumph and trials.)

The press conference came after an Australian newspaper reported that a gender test revealed that Semenya has an intersex condition. In a story published on Friday, the Daily Telegraph said that the test shows the 18-year-old has no ovaries, but rather internal male testes. Semenya came to the world's attention after winning the African Junior Championships in Mauritius in August and then the 800 meters at last month's World Championships in Berlin by an amazing 2 seconds. Her extraordinary times and masculine appearance led the IAAF to request gender verification tests. (Read: "Is a Female Track Star a Man? No Simple Answer.")

South African athletic officials say they have not received results from the tests — and the IAAF has refused to confirm the Telegraph's story. But Stofile said the results are irrelevant: "She may be a hermaphrodite, but so what? She is still a girl ... a young girl enjoying growing up." Stofile added that if Semenya is ruled ineligible for further competition by the IAAF, "it will be a third world war."

On Friday, the IAAF issued a statement confirming that it had results from the tests in hand but urging caution over the Australian reports. "We would like to emphasize that these [reports] should not be considered as official statements by the IAAF," the federation said. "We can officially confirm that gender verification test results will be examined by a group of medical experts. We do not expect to make a final decision on this case before the next meeting of the IAAF Council which takes place in Monaco on November 20-21." (See pictures of the Beijing Olympics.)

Concerns over Semenya's understanding of the gender verification process first surfaced earlier this week, when Wilfred Daniels, her coach at the time of her World Championships victory, told a British paper that Semenya had undergone gender testing before leaving for Berlin with the mistaken belief that they were anti-doping investigations. But that assertion contradicts claims by Athletics South Africa president Leonard Chuene, who has insisted that no gender tests were carried out on Semenya prior to her departure for Berlin. (IAAF spokesman Nick Davies could not be reached for comment on the South African government's possible lawsuit against the federation over human rights abuses.)

In its story, The Daily Telegraph did not say which intersex condition the test has revealed Semenya has. But if the paper's report is accurate, it is possible that she has partial androgen-insensitivity syndrome (AIS), a condition in which a genetic male is partially resistant to androgens, the male sex hormones that include testosterone. In many cases of partial AIS, the testes never descend from the abdomen, the genitalia may resemble female genitalia, and the individual will display both female and male characteristics. People with AIS often have high levels of testosterone as the body produces more to try to exert its actions. Last month, a British paper reported that Semenya's testosterone levels were three times as high as normally expected in a female, which could be in keeping with an AIS diagnosis. (Read a TIME postcard from the home of South Africa's gender bending runner.)

Athletes with AIS and similar intersex conditions are often allowed to compete in international athletics. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, seven genetically male athletes with AIS were allowed to compete as women. On Friday, the IAAF emphasized that Semenya's gender verification tests were a medical issue, not a doping one, and there were no insinuations that the athlete — whose family in South Africa insist she is female — cheated.

IAAF spokesman Davies told the Associated Press on Friday that, whatever the test reveals, Semenya would probably keep her world championship medal. "Our legal advice is that if she proves to have an advantage because of the male hormones, then it will be extremely difficult to strip the medal off her, since she has not cheated," he said. "She was naturally made that way, and she was entered in Berlin by her team and accepted by the IAAF." (See pictures of South Africa.)

The report in the Daily Telegraph and South Africa's response only serve to keep in the public sphere that which is a very private matter. Semenya, at least, seems to be displaying the same gritty fortitude that propelled her to victory in Berlin. When asked by South African magazine You about the gender issue, she reportedly said: "I see it all as a joke, it doesn't upset me. God made me the way I am and I accept myself. I am who I am and I'm proud of myself. I don't want to talk about the tests — I'm not even thinking about them."

Okay when you look at the pictures she realyy does not look much like a woman and to make matters worse when she talks, she sounds like a man...So if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, its a duck right? You tell me, although I am sure that their is some man out their claiming this young lady.

18-foot-long Burmese python was removed from the owners home.

APOPKA - Delilah, an 18-foot-long, 400-plus-pound Burmese python who had enjoyed a swell existence in an Apopka-area backyard feeding on rabbits, has a new home -- for now.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials removed the Burmese python from a home on Section Drive on Friday due to concerns about Delilah's size and whether the chain-link cage she was in was secure enough to contain her.

A complaint prompted wildlife officials to visit the home and check out the snake, which some officials called the largest python they had ever seen.

The snake was removed from her enclosure and brought to a caregiver with a permit for reptiles of concern. Officials were trying to determine if the Burmese python's owner had the proper permit for Delilah.

"To me it's a Goliath. It's a monster of a snake," Lt. Rick Brown with Fish and Wildlife's Investigations section said, adding it is the "largest I've ever seen."

Recently, the snake was being cared for by Melvin Cheever of Apopka, the brother of her owner.

Cheever said his brother was moving to West Virginia and left the snake behind to prepare her new accommodations. Cheever said his brother has owned the snake for 16 years.

"I fed her this morning, gave her seven rabbits," Cheever said soon after the snake was placed in a container and prepared to move Friday from the small community alongside Lake Apopka. "She is as docile as can be. She's as happy as can be."

Cheever acknowledged the snake, which measures 30 inches around, had escaped its enclosure in the past.

The snake's discovery comes at a time when Burmese pythons are being hunted in South Florida and state lawmakers are looking at legislation to make laws governing python owners tougher.

Fears about the snakes escalated following the early July death of a 2-year-old girl in Sumter County killed by her family's pet python.

Cheever said that snake was maltreated and blamed its owners. Delilah, meanwhile, was well fed and not aggressive, he said.

But her history of wandering out of her cage and her immense size caused wildlife officials to investigate Friday in the small community alongside Lake Apopka. The snake was kept in a chain-link cage behind a duplex-style home.

Charlene Boush, 39, who lives in the home where the snake was living, said she had reservations about letting her two dogs near Delilah.

"She got out just last week. They had to put her back in," she said.

"I don't let them go back there at all."

Don't fall for the scam.

I generally get 3 to 4 emails like this one below a week. What makes this so odd is I hear about people falling for these scams and loosing their life savings. I am sure that everyone that I am in contact are aware of scams but, if you are not this is the general layout. It sad but true many millions of American dollars go over seas each year for suckers who don't get it... Lets stop the madness, and shut these con artist down.

THIS IS THE LAYOUT OF THE EMAIL!

Dearest Friend, How are you today together with your family I hope all is well?.This is to inform you that your ATM MASTER CARD which you will be withdrawing $5,000.00USD per day till your overdue payment of 2.5millionUSD is completed has been credited, and it is ready for use.You are required to provide the ATM department with your information such as, Your full Name:-------- Address:---------- Age:-------------- Country:---------- City:----------- Phone number:----------- Contact the ATM department with this information below, name of the director DR wilson Eze email (atmmaster_cardcenter@yahoo.fr) phone nmber+229 985 065 71 for the release of your ATM CARD. Congratulations onces again. Regards, Mr.James Emma

Ellen DeGeneres is the fourth American Idol Judge

Extra: No joke! Ellen DeGeneres will tickle the funny bone of millions of "American Idol" viewers -- she's replacing Paula Abdul! The funny gal made the announcement while taping an episode of her show, which airs Sept. 10.

We've been dealing with this for the last couple of weeks and I've been dying to tell everyone," she told the audience. "It's just been so hard to keep it a secret and we just finally got the okay and I'm so excited. It is going to be so much fun."

As to what "Idol" fans can expect, she said, "Hopefully I'm the people's point of view because I'm just like you. I sit at home and I watch it and I don't have that technical... So I'm hopefully going to be that voice of what we're all doing at home."

"I could not be more excited to have Ellen join the 'American Idol' family," said creator and executive producer Simon Fuller. "Ellen has been a fan of the show for many years, and her love of music and understanding of the American public will bring a unique human touch to our judging panel. I can't wait for this next season to begin."

In May, Ellen chatted with Simon Cowell about the addition of Kara DioGuardi to the judging table, and even called Simon "mean"!

The ninth season of "American Idol" premieres January 2010. Meet the "Idol" guest judges.

As for Paula, she has other plans. Still, Simon says he "misses" Paula -- and says the chemistry of the show is different without her.