Monday, June 13, 2011
Pics: Scotty McCreery & Lauren Alaina Performing at CMA music Fest
Liz Weston 50/30/20 budget Provided by Bravorecovery.com
It’s the 50/30/20 budget. Here’s how it works:
You start with your after-tax income. That’s your gross pay minus any wage-based taxes, such as withheld income tax, Social Security and Medicare taxes, and disability taxes. If your employer deducts other expenses from your paycheck, such as 401k contributions, health insurance premiums and union dues, add those back into your net pay to get your after-tax income.
You aim to limit your “must-have” expenses to 50% of that after-tax figure. “Must-haves” include all the basic expenditures you really need to make each month: outlays for housing, utilities, transportation, food, insurance, child care, tuition and minimum loan payments. If you can delay a purchase for a few months with no serious consequences — for example, clothing or dining out — it’s not a must-have. If you’re contractually obligated to pay something (a credit card minimum, child support or a cell phone bill), it’s a must-have, at least for now.
Your “wants” can consume 30% of your after-tax pay. Vacations, gifts, entertainment, clothes, eating out and other expenses are all “wants.” Some bills you pay might overlap the two categories. For example, basic phone service is a must-have. But features such as call waiting or unlimited long distance are wants. Internet access and pay television are two other expenditures that can feel like must-haves but usually are wants, unless you’re on some kind of long-term contract.
Shopping by the calendar
Savings and debt repayment make up the final 20% of your budget. Warren’s a bankruptcy expert, remember, and she knows the devastation that results from too much debt and too little savings. To achieve financial independence and minimize the chances of disaster, you need to get rid of consumer debt, save for retirement and build your emergency fund. Any loan payments you make above the minimum belong in this category, as do contributions to your retirement and emergency funds.
(If you pay your credit cards in full every month, by the way, your credit card bills aren’t debt. You don’t assign the credit card payments themselves to categories; instead, you allocate each individual expenditure on the bill to its appropriate category, that’s it.)
I said earlier that this budget plan isn’t easy, and it’s not. Limiting your must-haves to 50%, especially, is flat tough for most of us.
My husband and I make a generous income, and we have affordable mortgage payments and no other debt. But the first time I did this exercise, our must-haves consumed more than 60% of our after-tax income. It took a year of trimming, and some more income, to get us to the 50% mark.
We were lucky. I’ve heard from other people whose must-haves consumed 75%, 80% or even more of their after-tax pay. Fixing that can take a while.
You may be discouraged by how far you are from the ideal. But running the numbers can help you understand why your money isn’t working for you. If basic overhead consumes so much of your paycheck, it’s no wonder you have trouble saving, paying off debt and
You start with your after-tax income. That’s your gross pay minus any wage-based taxes, such as withheld income tax, Social Security and Medicare taxes, and disability taxes. If your employer deducts other expenses from your paycheck, such as 401k contributions, health insurance premiums and union dues, add those back into your net pay to get your after-tax income.
You aim to limit your “must-have” expenses to 50% of that after-tax figure. “Must-haves” include all the basic expenditures you really need to make each month: outlays for housing, utilities, transportation, food, insurance, child care, tuition and minimum loan payments. If you can delay a purchase for a few months with no serious consequences — for example, clothing or dining out — it’s not a must-have. If you’re contractually obligated to pay something (a credit card minimum, child support or a cell phone bill), it’s a must-have, at least for now.
Your “wants” can consume 30% of your after-tax pay. Vacations, gifts, entertainment, clothes, eating out and other expenses are all “wants.” Some bills you pay might overlap the two categories. For example, basic phone service is a must-have. But features such as call waiting or unlimited long distance are wants. Internet access and pay television are two other expenditures that can feel like must-haves but usually are wants, unless you’re on some kind of long-term contract.
Shopping by the calendar
Savings and debt repayment make up the final 20% of your budget. Warren’s a bankruptcy expert, remember, and she knows the devastation that results from too much debt and too little savings. To achieve financial independence and minimize the chances of disaster, you need to get rid of consumer debt, save for retirement and build your emergency fund. Any loan payments you make above the minimum belong in this category, as do contributions to your retirement and emergency funds.
(If you pay your credit cards in full every month, by the way, your credit card bills aren’t debt. You don’t assign the credit card payments themselves to categories; instead, you allocate each individual expenditure on the bill to its appropriate category, that’s it.)
I said earlier that this budget plan isn’t easy, and it’s not. Limiting your must-haves to 50%, especially, is flat tough for most of us.
My husband and I make a generous income, and we have affordable mortgage payments and no other debt. But the first time I did this exercise, our must-haves consumed more than 60% of our after-tax income. It took a year of trimming, and some more income, to get us to the 50% mark.
We were lucky. I’ve heard from other people whose must-haves consumed 75%, 80% or even more of their after-tax pay. Fixing that can take a while.
You may be discouraged by how far you are from the ideal. But running the numbers can help you understand why your money isn’t working for you. If basic overhead consumes so much of your paycheck, it’s no wonder you have trouble saving, paying off debt and
Casey Anthony Trial: Tot's Bone Evidence Reveled
Watch: Trial Evidence Reveled Video
**Warning, THIS VIDEO MAY CONTAIN IMAGES THAT ME BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWERS**
This week starts the 4th week of trial for Casey Anthony in the death of her daughter Caylee Anthony. Over the last week in trial, there was evidence reveled to show that Caylee's body may have been moved. Although they were unable to the cause of death, they were able to conclude that this was a homicide. Dr. G took the stand last week to go over some of the evidence and stated why she believes this is a homicide.
Fact 1- The body was hidden
Fact 2- The body was wrapped
Face 3- There was duck tape around the head of the child
For these reasons Dr. G stated that she could conclude this was not an accident, she stated there is NEVER a reason for a child to require duck tape to the head after death.
Casey Anthony murder trial experts describe tot's bones
(Warning: This video is RAW and contains images that may be disturbing)
Garavaglia is the star of the Discovery Channel reality show "Dr. G: Medical Examiner." She also is the official in charge of determining the cause and manner of questionable deaths in central Florida, including Orlando where Casey is on trial for first-degree murder in Caylee's death.
Garavaglia was expected to tell the jury her conclusions after a lunch break. Prosecutors have said duct tape wrapped three times around Caylee's head, nose and mouth is the only evidence indicating cause of death.
Prosecutors say Casey killed her toddler on June 16, 2008 so she could "live the good life," free of the responsibility of parenthood. Casey's attorney told jurors Caylee accidentally drowned in the Anthony family's backyard swimming pool and no one reported her death.
By the time Caylee's body was found on December 11, 2008, after a nationwide search, only her skeleton remained.
Friday marked the second day of testimony dominated by graphic descriptions about the condition of the child's remains. Thursday's court session adjourned early after Casey fell ill.
The 25-year-old defendant was back in court first thing Friday morning. She kept her head down and dabbed her eyes and nose with tissues during testimony by John Schultz, a forensic anthropologist and archeologist who helped recover most of Caylee's bones from the crime scene.
From what he found, Schulz concluded Caylee's body was mostly intact inside layers of bags when it was dumped in a wooded area. Over time, he testified, the body was pulled apart and dragged by animals to other spots nearby.
As Schulz testified about a bone he said showed signs of having been "chewed on by an animal," Casey appeared to slump toward one of her lawyers, who wrapped an arm around her.
Schulz said he found that plant roots had grown through the matted hair surrounding Caylee's skull and through her bones.
One pelvic bone was partially buried in sediment. Schulz said the sediment indicated to him that the area had been underwater for a time and that silt suspended in the water had settled on and around the bone as the ground dried out.
That detail helps explain why the body was missed in searches of the area in August 2008.
Meter reader Roy Kronk first reported seeing something suspicious in the woods that August, about one month after Caylee was reported missing. Kronk has stated that the area was wet and harbored snakes. Although deputies responded to the scene, they failed to find the body.
Defense attorney Jose Baez, in his opening statement to the jury, suggested Kronk had some role in placing Caylee's body where it was found.
Casey Anthony: Watch: Caylee Grave
Caylee Anthony grave found.
Watch the raw video footage
*Images may be disturbing to some views*
Casey Anthony trial enters 4th week: Watch Live Trial Here 9am-4pm CST
Watch Live Trial: Click HERE
**BE ADVISED THIS IS A LIVE TRIAL AND SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWS**
The murder trial of Casey Anthony, who's accused of killing her young daughter, enters its fourth week today when testimony resumes in Orlando.
Anthony is charged with first-degree murder. Prosecutors say she used duct tape to suffocate her daughter in the summer of 2008. The defense contends that the little girl drowned in her grandparents' pool. The child's remains were found about six months later.
The 25-year-old Anthony, who has pleaded not guilty, faces the death penalty if convicted.
Jurors have so far heard from witnesses ranging from Anthony's family members and friends to law enforcement officials and forensics experts.
Evidence of decomposition?
On Saturday, forensic entomology consultant Neal Haskell testified that bugs found in the trunk of Anthony's car were possible signs that a decomposing body had been in the vehicle.
On Saturday, forensic entomology consultant Neal Haskell testified that bugs found in the trunk of Anthony's car were possible signs that a decomposing body had been in the vehicle.
According to the report, Haskell said fluids from a body that likely spent three to five days in the car attracted insects that fed on human decomposition.Haskell testified that flies and fly larvae were found among the items left in the vehicle.
On Thursday, Anthony cried, dabbed her eyes with a tissue and looked away as pictures of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee's skull were displayed in the courtroom.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Apple Announces iCloud, iTunes Match At WWDC 2011
Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled several new Apple services, including iCloud, that underscore a major shift taking place in the tech world as users' information moves from gadgets to the cloud, where it is stored on remote servers and accessible from any device with an Internet connection.
"We're going to demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device," said Jobs, according to a live blog of his remarks at the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote. "We're going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud."
Apple described iCloud as a service that is integrated with apps and "stores your content, and wirelessly pushes it to all your devices." In essence, it will provide a way to ensure that users' data, whether contacts, photos, appointments, or apps, is consistent and equally accessible across Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and PC.
Jobs highlighted how iCloud will work with several different apps, including iBooks, the App Store, and iWork. For example, contacts that are added to an iPhone will be sent to the cloud, then synced across all other Apple devices a user has. Likewise, a Calendar update will be pushed across multiple devices, automatically. Jobs noted that iCloud will regularly back up certain information, via WiFi, such as purchased music, device settings, and photos, then push this data across a user's devices. A photo taken on an iPhone will instantly be accessible on a user's iPad and Mac.
iCloud will be available for free and there will be no ads on the service, as had been rumored. The cloud-based storage system will work on iOS devices (the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch), as well as on Macs.
Jobs also announced iTunes in the Cloud, a service that will download any song a customer has purchased on iTunes on all of her devices without additional cost.
The CEO's trademark "one more thing" announcement focused on iTunes Match, a $24.99 per year service that will help users put any music they've uploaded to their computer (but not purchased via iTunes) on the cloud by scanning and matching the songs (more about it here).
"We're going to demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device," said Jobs, according to a live blog of his remarks at the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote. "We're going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud."
Apple described iCloud as a service that is integrated with apps and "stores your content, and wirelessly pushes it to all your devices." In essence, it will provide a way to ensure that users' data, whether contacts, photos, appointments, or apps, is consistent and equally accessible across Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and PC.
Jobs highlighted how iCloud will work with several different apps, including iBooks, the App Store, and iWork. For example, contacts that are added to an iPhone will be sent to the cloud, then synced across all other Apple devices a user has. Likewise, a Calendar update will be pushed across multiple devices, automatically. Jobs noted that iCloud will regularly back up certain information, via WiFi, such as purchased music, device settings, and photos, then push this data across a user's devices. A photo taken on an iPhone will instantly be accessible on a user's iPad and Mac.
iCloud will be available for free and there will be no ads on the service, as had been rumored. The cloud-based storage system will work on iOS devices (the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch), as well as on Macs.
Jobs also announced iTunes in the Cloud, a service that will download any song a customer has purchased on iTunes on all of her devices without additional cost.
The CEO's trademark "one more thing" announcement focused on iTunes Match, a $24.99 per year service that will help users put any music they've uploaded to their computer (but not purchased via iTunes) on the cloud by scanning and matching the songs (more about it here).
Sarah Palin: Think before you Speak...PLEASE!
Lately, it seems that the history of the American Revolution is not the strong suit of the two most well-known Republican women who could decide to run for president. Back in March, Michele Bachmann stated that "the shot heard 'round the world" at Lexington and Concord was fired in New Hampshire. Then yesterday Sarah Palin made a history error of her own: Stopping in Boston on her bus tour, she stated that Paul Revere warned the British about the American arms locations.
ABC News has her comment: "He who warned, uh, the ... the British that they weren't gonna be taking away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells and, um, by making sure that as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that, uh, we were gonna be secure and we were gonna be free ... and we were gonna be armed."
Casey Anthony Trial: Experts discuss HIGH TRACES of CHLOROFORM
Casey Anthony Trial: Experts discuss HIGH TRACES of CHLOROFORM
Dr. Arpad Vass, a scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee said he and his research team were “shocked” about the “unusually high” choroform levels from an air sample related to a piece of carpet from her Pontiac.
Arnold Admits He Fathered A Child With Household Staffer LOVECHILD PIC
The news shocked everyone and no one.
Days after reporting that former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, were separating, The Los Angeles Times dropped another bombshell on Tuesday: Arnold fathered a child more than ten years ago with a member of his family's household staff--before he ran for governor. He 'fessed up to Shriver recently, prompting her, it appears, to move out of their Brentwood mansion.
The sensational report, which withheld the names of the staff member and the child citing privacy concerns, came a week after the paper revealed that one of America's most high-profile political couples were splitting after 25 years. The reasons offered then were mundane: they both struggled to make the transition from political life and needed time apart.
But the closely-guarded secret about the child never came out -- not through two gubernatorial campaigns and a movie career plagued by rampant rumors of Schwarzenegger's infidelity.
In the weeks before the 2003 election, a Times report on accusations that Schwarzenegger had groped more than a dozen women on movie sets over the years came under fierce criticism from his supporters, who called it a hit piece.
On Monday night, the Times got one of its biggest scoops. Schwarzenegger said in a statement to the paper:
"After leaving the governor's office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago, I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses, and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry."
And Shriver's statement on the matter came Tuesday morning, as first reported by People Magazine:
"This is a painful and heartbreaking time," said Shriver, 55. "As a mother, my concern is for the children. I ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and I try to rebuild our lives and heal. I will have no further comment."
The woman with whom Schwarzenegger had the child more than ten years ago is not commenting either. She had previously told the Times that her then-husband was the child's father. But when the paper informed her of Schwarzenegger's admission, she declined to comment.
The woman left her position in the Schwarzenegger-Shriver household earlier this year. "I wanted to achieve my 20 years, then I asked to retire," she told the Times. She also said she received a severance payment and "left on good terms with them."
Days after reporting that former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, were separating, The Los Angeles Times dropped another bombshell on Tuesday: Arnold fathered a child more than ten years ago with a member of his family's household staff--before he ran for governor. He 'fessed up to Shriver recently, prompting her, it appears, to move out of their Brentwood mansion.
The sensational report, which withheld the names of the staff member and the child citing privacy concerns, came a week after the paper revealed that one of America's most high-profile political couples were splitting after 25 years. The reasons offered then were mundane: they both struggled to make the transition from political life and needed time apart.
But the closely-guarded secret about the child never came out -- not through two gubernatorial campaigns and a movie career plagued by rampant rumors of Schwarzenegger's infidelity.
In the weeks before the 2003 election, a Times report on accusations that Schwarzenegger had groped more than a dozen women on movie sets over the years came under fierce criticism from his supporters, who called it a hit piece.
On Monday night, the Times got one of its biggest scoops. Schwarzenegger said in a statement to the paper:
"After leaving the governor's office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago, I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses, and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry."
And Shriver's statement on the matter came Tuesday morning, as first reported by People Magazine:
"This is a painful and heartbreaking time," said Shriver, 55. "As a mother, my concern is for the children. I ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and I try to rebuild our lives and heal. I will have no further comment."
The woman with whom Schwarzenegger had the child more than ten years ago is not commenting either. She had previously told the Times that her then-husband was the child's father. But when the paper informed her of Schwarzenegger's admission, she declined to comment.
The woman left her position in the Schwarzenegger-Shriver household earlier this year. "I wanted to achieve my 20 years, then I asked to retire," she told the Times. She also said she received a severance payment and "left on good terms with them."
Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/12rzg)
Watch: Casey Anthony Jailhouse Video
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Watch Casey Anthony jailhouse video. Casey Anthony talks about she has had everything taken away from her. She tells her parents that she loves her little girl, and just wants her to come home. She tells her parents this after being in jail for 30 days. You can hear in the voices of her parents the agony of their loss but Casey seems more interested in herself….surprise, suprise! Watch her jailhouse taped visits and listen to comment in regards to her tapes.
Watch her Jailhouse Tapes Watch The Trial Live
Watch: Palin: I didn’t `mess up’ Paul Revere history
Palin: I didn’t `mess up’ Paul Revere history
Click Here for Video
WASHINGTON – Sarah Palin insisted Sunday that history was on her side when she claimed that Paul Revere’s famous ride was intended to warn both British soldiers and his fellow colonists.
“You realize that you messed up about Paul Revere, don’t you?” “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace asked the potential 2012 presidential candidate.
“I didn’t mess up about Paul Revere,” replied Palin, a paid contributor to the network.
“Part of his ride was to warn the British that were already there. That, hey, you’re not going to succeed. You’re not going to take American arms. You are not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual, private militia that we have,” she added. “He did warn the British.”
Palin, who again said she has not decided whether to run for president, was asked about the Revolutionary War hero during a stop Thursday in Boston on her East Coast bus tour.
Click Here for Video
“He who warned the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms by ringing those bells, and makin’ sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.”
Palin’s brush with the nation’s history came toward the end of her “One Nation” bus tour that generated intense interest as she traveled from Washington to New England. Along the way, she steadfastly refused “a million times” to say whether she was running for president.
“I’m publicizing Americana and our foundation and how important it is that we learn about our past and our challenges and victories throughout American history, so that we can successfully proceed forward,” Palin said in the broadcast interview. “It’s not a campaign tour.”
And was she leaning toward or against running, Palin was asked?
“Still right there in the middle,” she said.
There’s no ambiguity about the interest Palin generates, a point that doesn’t sit comfortably in some quarters of a party without a clear front-runner to face President Barack Obama next year.
Palin’s closely watched bus trip is a key example. Its camera-ready events competed for coverage in the same week and region as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s formal entry into the race. His candidacy is perhaps the most formidable of the emerging field.
Asked Sunday whether he could envision supporting Palin for president, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a former hopeful, told “Face the Nation” on CBS: “If Barack Obama was the head of the other ticket, I could.”
For her part, Palin was contrite.
“I apologize if I stepped on any, any of that PR that Mitt Romney needed or wanted that day,” Palin said. “I do sincerely apologize. I didn’t mean to step on anybody’s toes.”
While she continued to insist that she wasn’t competing for anything in particular, Palin said she would welcome Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, another Republican with tea party appeal, to the race.
“More competition, the better,” Palin said.
For now, Palin is clearly grappling with the downside of celebrity.
Even her otherwise successful media events can leave lingering questions about Palin’s grasp of — and interest in — history, public policy and other subjects of substance.
On Sunday, Palin insisted she was right about the purpose of Revere’s famous “midnight ride.”
“I know my American history,” she told Wallace.
The colonists at the time of Revere’s ride were British subjects, with American independence still in the future. But Revere’s own writing and other historical accounts leave little doubt that secrecy was vital to his mission.
The Paul Revere House’s website says that on April 18, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren, a patriot leader in the Boston area, instructed Revere to ride to Lexington, Mass., to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were marching to arrest them.
In an undated letter posted by the Massachusetts Historical Society, Revere later wrote of the need to keep his activities secret and his suspicion that a member of his tight circle of planners had become a British informant. According to the letter, believed to have been written around 1798, Revere did provide some details of the plan to the soldiers that night, but after he had notified other colonists and under questioning by the Redcoats.
Intercepted and surrounded by British soldiers on his way from Lexington to Concord, Revere revealed “there would be five hundred Americans there in a short time, for I had alarmed the country all the way up,” he wrote.
Revere was probably bluffing the soldiers about the size of any advancing militia, since he had no way of knowing, according to Joel J. Miller, author of “The Revolutionary Paul Revere.” And while he made bells, Revere would never have rung any on that famous night because the Redcoats were under orders to round up people just like him.
“He was riding off as quickly and as quietly as possible,” Miller said. “Paul Revere did not want the Redcoats to know of his mission at all.”
More downside for Palin: Nothing is private.
Looming in the week ahead is Alaska’s release of 24,000 pages of emails sent and received by Palin during her time as governor. They will provide an inside look into her rise from obscurity to a spot on the national stage.
The emails cover a majority of her short term as governor and could provide the most insight into how she governed the nation’s largest state. Her only other elected office was as a two-term mayor of her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, which has a population of about 7,000.
The emails cover the first 21 months of Palin’s tenure, ending in September 2008, after GOP presidential nominee John McCain selected her to be his running mate.
Palin resigned partway through her term, in July 2009.
“Every rock in the Palin household that could ever be kicked over and uncovered anything, it’s already been kicked over,” Palin said, noting that a lot of the emails are between staff and family members and were not meant for public consumption. The letters, she said, “won’t distract me.”
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