Every day, we wake up with a choice. We can choose to embrace the day as a new opportunity to learn, grow, and make a positive impact on the world, or we can let fear, doubt, and negativity hold us back. It's easy to get caught up in the challenges and obstacles we face, but it's important to remember that these challenges are what shape us into who we are. Each obstacle is a chance to learn something new, to become stronger, more resilient, and more capable than we were before.
But we don't hav
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A Florida jury on Thursday ordered cigarette maker Philip Morris USA to pay $300 million in damages to a 61-year-old ex-smoker named Cindy Naugle who is wheelchair-bound by emphysema.
The Broward Circuit Court jury assessed $56.6 million in past and future medical expenses against the company, part of Altria Group Inc, as well as $244 million in punitive damages.
The case is one of 8,000 lawsuits filed against tobacco companies by Florida smokers and their families.
Attorneys for Naugle, the sister of a former Fort Lauderdale mayor, said it's the largest Florida tobacco verdict to date.
"The jury saw her condition," Todd Falzone, who also represented Naugle, said in a statement. "We think that they felt it. She needed to rest for five minutes to catch her breath after making the 7 step walk to the witness stand."
Naugle started smoking in 1968 when she was 20 because she thought they "made her look older." After several attempts to quit, she stopped smoking in 1993 with the aid of a nicotine patch.
She requires 24-hour oxygen and must travel in a wheelchair because walking leaves her exhausted, her attorneys said.
I am not sure what to feel for this woman considering that her life has been restricted to a wheelchair. Now she was the one who put the cigarette to her lips and keep puffing on those death sticks. When did reality kick in 10, 20, or 3o years later? Don't get me wrong, the company should not have put nicotine in the cigarette to keep that level of addiction to the product. Although since they created that monster and now they have to pay the piper. I have a problem with a person getting hooked on a product and then wants someone to pay for their mistake... She created this issue in 1968 when she wanted to look older, now years later she wants someone to pay for her trying to look cute. I am sorry but my compassion level is low for one simple reason, she created her own monster. If second hand smoke was the cause tax the company and make them pay!
Uncontrolled hunger and overeating can make even the best weight loss plans go awry. One way to reduce the risk of overeating and help keep hunger at bay is to eat frequent, small, meals throughout the day. This not only keeps the metabolism primed, but also reduces hunger that can lead to poor food choices. One option to reduce the risk of overeating is to eat foods that suppress hunger naturally. When it comes to controlling appetite, eating certain foods can help to reduce hunger cravings so that fewer overall calories are consumed throughout the day. What are some of these foods that suppress hunger naturally?
Almonds
To suppress hunger naturally, avoid high carb treats and snack on a handful of almonds instead. A study published in the journal Obesity showed that overweight women who ate two servings of almonds a day ended up consuming fewer overall calories. Although almonds are high in calories and fat, they’re also a good source of protein and fiber which helps to naturally suppress hunger. It’s also thought that some of the fat in almonds is not absorbed by the body, so the calories may not be completely utilized
Apples
Another way to get full without overloading on calories is to snack on an apple. A medium-sized apple has only seventy calories, and is a rich source of fiber. Apples are also a good source of pectin, an indigestible fiber that slows down the rate of stomach emptying – leading to a greater sense of satiety. To get the hunger suppressing benefit of an apple, eat it whole rather than as a juice so you can get less calories and more fiber.
Pine Nuts
Pine nuts are a good source of polyunsaturated fatty acids which cause secretion of two hormones that suppress hunger naturally – CCK and glucagons-like peptide. One study showed that women who ate pine nuts experienced twenty-nine percent less hunger. Because this effect lasted for up to four hours, these women took in fewer calories overall throughout the day.
Oatmeal
Eating a healthy breakfast is important for weight control and one of the best breakfast foods for naturally suppressing appetite is oatmeal. Oatmeal is fiber-rich and a good source of complex carbohydrates which help to stabilize insulin levels.Fiber-rich foods like oatmeal are slowly digested which means they reduce hunger cravings for longer periods of time. For greater benefits, choose old-fashioned oats or steel oats and avoid packets of instant oatmeal that are often loaded with sugar and calories.
Eggs
An egg has only sixty calories and its high protein content makes it a natural appetite suppressant. Studies have shown that people who eat eggs for breakfast, take in fewer overall calories. High protein foods such as eggs increase secretion of a peptide known as PYY which helps to suppress hunger naturally. Whether they’re scrambled, boiled, or poached, eggs are a good choice for breakfast or even a mid-day snack.The bottom line: add some of these foods to your daily diet and you’ll take in fewer calories overall, while still feeling full and satisfied.
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Most people like to earn money from home, but they simply cannot understand which home base business pay well really. These people also feel scared of being scammed by the companies that promise to make them rich quickly. However, if you really want earn money from home by getting involved in a genuine system, then MLM business is the best option. You can really get success from home. People can easily get into this business. It can be done for low investment in most of the cases. Moreover, there is not so much in it which really needs to be understood or studied.
MLM business is multi level marketing. This business is a legitimate way which companies often use for selling some of their own products and it should be remembered that MLM business isn't a pyramid scheme. MLM is also known as network marketing.
The structure of MLM creates sales and marketing force by compensating the company's promoters not only for sales that is generated by them personally but also for introducing other promoters to the company for selling their products. As a result a downline of distributors are created. The company along with its products is promoted to business partners and consumers straight away by word of mouth and relationship referrals marketing. MLM business offers direct sales. A biggest myth of MLM or network marketing is pyramid scheme. According to the researches, network marketing sells legitimate product and people who find in their business make money. In this business work needs to be done and this isn't a small or scheme which promises to make millionaires instantly out of all people who work with particular company or try out the program. Home base business is one where money can be made in reality is very important. Careful research is necessary to point out these types of business and the entrepreneur will find many possibilities with this type of work from home business opportunity.
This MLM lead generation system will produce for each user 10,000 double opt in subscribers and the potential for even more. On top of that the compensation plan to go along with this system is even more amazing. Along with the streamline concept that is being used where one person is being placed underneath the other the income opportunity is amazing.
The Insanity views of a wage earner are the thoughts of a person who believes that he can work a 40 hr job and one day become a millionaire. You see Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again knowing what the outcome will be, but expecting to get a different result. Lets face it, as long as you work for someone, you limit your chance for ever achieving that pinnacle point of success!
Through the determination that allows you to wake up each morning and get to work on time is the same determination that you need to have when you decided to go in to business for yourself!
Here is something that you need to know as a wage earner, that you receive 3 tax breaks. These Deductions are:
1) Kids 2) Charitable Contributions 3) Interest on Your Home.
Lets face it 60 percent of the public is renting and they loose part of their tax break and if they do not have kids well they loose out period.
Now if you are a Small Business Owner with a business online you can claim over 150 deductions!
As a business minded individual you have to believe in you and your ability to earn. Invest your time wisely and follow your heart and your mind for it will not lead you wrong. Always look for a mentor to help you in business. A mentor is a person that shares ideals concepts and view points to help you open up your mind and expand your horizon.
Heather Ellis of Kennett, Mo., has quite a story to tell. It all started nearly three years ago in a local Wal-Mart.
Ellis was shopping in the store with a cousin, and the two temporarily parted ways to find the shortest line. Seeing that the other line was moving faster, Ellis went to get in line with her cousin.
She was accused of cutting the line by a store employee, who then notified the security guard. According to Ellis, she was shoved by another customer, had her items pushed to the side and was shortchanged when she finally checked out. The police affidavit states that Ellis was belligerent, loud, abusive and cursing when she was told to leave the store by the assistant manager.
Ellis' aunt, Lily Blackmon, received a frantic call from her son and claims that when she arrived, her daughter's head was being repeatedly banged against the police car as she told officers that she wasn't resisting arrest. Blackmon, who was a probation officer in the town for 11 years, asked the officers why her niece was getting such rough treatment.
"I said, 'What is going on?' And all [the officer] could say was, 'She cursed,'" said Blackmon.
Ellis was charged with disturbing the peace, trespassing, resisting arrest and two counts of assaulting a police officer. She was then offered a plea deal by Dunklin County Prosecutor Stephen Sokoloff. The prosecutor offered to drop the felony counts to one misdemeanor of disturbing the peace, as long as Ellis signed the plea deal. Her aunt claims that the deal was offered so their family wouldn't file a lawsuit.
Ellis refused to take the plea deal, claiming that she wasn't willing to admit to something she didn't do; however, 11 months later, the misdemeanor counts were dropped, which seemed to be good news. The good news, though, was replaced with something even more disturbing.
It turned out that the misdemeanor counts had been replaced by felonies. Ellis now faces 15 years in prison if convicted. When her aunt went to prosecutor Sokoloff to find out what happened, Sokoloff allegedly told her, "Mrs. Ellis, when you get through, I don't care what you say. You may as well take my way out. My way was the plea bargain. If you don't take that way, I can assure you, you'll never win in here."
Ellis claims that her pending convictions have cost her two jobs and the chance to enter medical school, but she still refuses to sign the plea deal. Racism recently entered in to the story when Ellis was handed KKK cards from a Kennett police officer warning her about her actions. The cards stated, "You've just been paid a social visit by the Ku Klux Klan; the next visit will not be social." The officer claims that he only showed the family the cards to make them aware of the situation. Since that time, and after a dramatic plea for support, people have come to help Heather. The site www.SaveHeatherEllis.com has emerged, and her father appeared on CNN on the 15th of October to tell her story.
All I can say is not again... We finally got Jena 6 cleared up, now this crap pops up. Everyday when I am listening to talk show radio I hear about how so many blacks in the US are racist. Now when something racial pops up that is truly racist, guess who refuses to talk about it, that's right you guessed it the Limbaugh's of America. These talk show millionaires refuse to keep it real and choose to hide behind the constant attacks of blaming Obama for everything that is wrong with the US.
I think that every time this crap keeps floating to the top we have to ban together and fight it tooth and nail. You see if we won't stand for something we will fall for everything. We should be tired of the banana in the tail pipe. Through history I have saw much racial injustice that has been subjected to minorities in our country. To be honest people I just want it to end, no fogged mirrors or slight of hand just down to earth shoot straight and keep it real. If you give absolutely nothing then you can expect to get exactly what you give. Nothing!!!
I was browsing the web a few days ago when I ran across the following headline: "16yr old gets life in prison for killing her pimp." Perhaps my considerable awareness of the way the internet works--Shock and Awe = Traffic--was what led to initial skepticism; but once I clicked the YouTube video link, all ambiguity vacated.
I was introduced to the story of Sarah Kruzan, 29, a female inmate in California. Filmed by the National Center for Youth Law, an advocacy group assisting her, Sarah tells in full detail her background, and the path leading up to the prison cell she resides in today.
She grew up in Riverside, California, in the home of a drug-addicted mother who frequently abused her. Nonetheless, this "over-achiever" excelled in school, making the principal's Honor Roll consistently, running track, winning a Young Author's Award for a book on the effects of drugs. It all seemed like the perfect Horatio Alger mythology come true, until she met a 31-year-old man, G.G.
The missing "father figure" vacuum in her life was happily filled by G.G. who would take her and her friends skating and to the mall. "G.G. was there at some times," she says, "and he would talk to me, take me out, and give me all these lavish gifts... and then he would tell me, sex-wise, 'you don't need to give it up for free'." G.G. was a skilled manipulator who knew what he wanted, and just how to get it. When Sarah turned 13, he raped her.
"He uses his manhood to hurt--like break you in," Sarah recounts. The break-you-in allusion is a mere euphemism for prostitution. At that same age, Sarah was put on the streets, working 12-hour shifts (6P.M.-6.A.M.) for G.G. Sarah saw none of the money she worked for. "Everything was his," she reports.
Three years later, fed up and frustrated, Sarah snapped and killed G.G., and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Plus four years.
She recounts the court proceedings: "I remember my lawyer saying that he wanted to ask for me to be sentenced as a Juvenile because Y.A. [California Youth Authority] had found me amenable and susceptible to the treatment; but the judge said that because of my crime--and he said it was well thought-out--that I deserved life without."
"That means I'm gonna die here," she heartbreakingly reflects. And with tears soaking up her eyes, admits all wrongdoing: "I definitely know I deserve punishment: I mean, you don't just take somebody's life and think that it's okay; so, yes, definitely, I deserve punishment." But then she asks, and answers, a question the judge who sentenced her should have pondered more carefully: "How much? I don't know."
Even while the possibility of life beyond bars looks gloomy for Sarah, she's tried to "educate" herself, "reading books," though admits it's hard to "excel in prison."
Perhaps this was what her judge imagined when he condemned her for lack of "moral scruples." But given the opportunity at a parole hearing, Sarah would like to tell the board: "first of all, I've learned what moral scruples are; second, that every day is a challenge ... that I've found the ability to believe in myself, and that I have a lot of good to offer, now--the person who I am today, at 29: I believe that I could set a positive example. I'm very determined to show that no matter what you've done, or where you've come from, or what you've experienced in life, it's up to you to change."
This is California, a state with 150,000 inmates, 70% recidivism, 200% capacity, and $10 billion for its prison industrial complex budget. So, it makes sense that even harmless offenders like Sarah Kruzan, whose action while unlawful seem reasonable, are condemned as irredeemable, thus deserving of an existence devoid of any shot at redemption.
But there's another side to it: There's the pervasive sexism and misogyny of the justice system that fails to receive sufficient address even in the most progressive of circles. While the disproportionate incarceration of Black males is in need of all legal, moral, and financial challenge available, the booming of an incarcerated female population is in dire need of an equally ferocious amount of intervention. For instance, the Women In Prison Project, a non-profit social group, reported in March last year that "[f]rom 1995 to 2006, the number of women inmates in state and federal prisons nationwide increased by 64%." And that the "growth rate for women in state and federal prisons in 2006 (4.5%) was higher than the average annual rate of growth in each of the previous five years (2.9%)."
In all the years Sarah Kruzan was being abused, tortured, manhandled, and molested, it's hard to imagine no one who mattered was unaware. But it also has to do with "public attitudes," as PBS reported last year in a short exposé, Fighting Child Prostitution. Using the Atlanta prostitution market as a case study, it revealed several instances where teenage prostitutes were "going to jail while their pimps and johns ran free." Alesia Adams, a renowned social worker on issues around sexual exploitation, explained: "Very few people see these children as victims. And they don't understand the ... victimization of this child and the dynamics of what has happened to her."
In short, more than a legal matter, it reflects the priorities and presuppositions of a society morally bankrupt. It explains why the 2005 Academy Award for Best Original Song was awarded to "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," a commercial Rap tale about the hardships of "making change off these women."
Chances are if G.G. had survived that day, it's unlikely any charges would have been filed against him for conducting a prostitution ring, or for robbing young girls of their innocence. The more likely outcome is what developed after his death: The transformation of an assailant into a victim, and of a victim into an assailant.
In such a sexually involved case as this, punishing the victim to redeem the assailant is nothing new. The story of Lena Baker, a Black maid denied clemency and afterward executed in 1945 for killing her White male pimp/captor, rips the veil off a society, and its justice system, in bed with Patriarchy. ("What I done, I did in self-defense or I would have been killed myself. Where I was, I could not overcome it.")
Of course, beyond the criminalization of Youth and the pervasiveness of sexism in the legal system, it also grants evidence to the militarized surrounding enveloping all segments of our lives.
We all know the case of two Pennsylvania judges exposed earlier this year for receiving $2.6 million in kickbacks by sending teenagers to a privately run juvenile detention center--sometimes for crimes such as building spoof MySpace pages to satirize a school principal. But even with the aid of such opportune revelation, mainstream press still fell short of broadening the discourse to include concerns about the school-to-prison pipeline, or the penitentiary privatization schemes that bank on the missteps of human beings.
Acclaimed playwright Wallace Shawn touched on this with grace in his latest text, Essays. [Haymarket Books, 2009, p. 20.] He wrote: "We actually have a large army as well, and a navy and an air force, plus the F.B.I., Coast Guard, Central Intelligence Agency, and marine--oy. It turned out that simply in order to be secure and protect our neighborhood, we needed an empire."
This is the empire that greed built. And its captives include anyone as young as 5 and as old as 84.
A group of African-American firefighters in Philadelphia has gone to federal court, alleging that the firefighters' union openly discriminates against its black members."The union's response is that there is no discrimination."
The lawsuit claims that members of firefighters' Local 22 has been racially hostile and at times abusive toward African-American members, including in comments on the union web site.
Attorney Brian Mildenberg is representing the black firefighters:
"There's just a constant teasing and taunting of African-American firefighters. That's on the Internet, and unfortunately it's spilling over as well into the actual union hall and union meetings."
Bob Bedard, spokesman for Local 22, denies the charges:
Mildenberg wants a federal judge to appoint a civil rights monitor.
The firefighters' case is similar to one filed about a year ago by black Philadelphia police officers who cited rampant discrimination and harassment in the department, including on an unofficial police web site called dome lights.com. That web site has since gone out of operation.
Why does so many people in the United States think that because a black president was elected that discrimination was going to magically disappeared? Unfortunately the bigotry and shallow minded thinking of some people still exist. I think that one could argue that my statement is false, but the KKK and skin heads are just 2 of the 926 hate groups scattered over the United States. America has came along way in how they treat people of color. Lets face it, people of color help to construct America and make it what it is. Discrimination is not what it was 20 years ago but it still is a way of life for some. Lets face it all you have to do is listen to some and watch others to figure out that discrimination, still is in full effect and it shows in how they act and how they act and treat people.. The number of discrimination cases in America has significantly dropped but lets face it, it is not over today, tomorrow and it will not end in the next 20 years. So don't be surprised that you will see more cases like this in the near future. As some people say " It is what it is".
