Valentine's Day with all its charisma and magnetism brings love in the air, scarlet color of roses painting the town with the vibrancy of love and romance make every heart eager to say it loud, 'I Love You' coz'...it's the Valentine's Day. This is a perfect occasion that marks the sharing of numerous symbols of loves as Valentine gifts among the lovers. We have come with myriad expressions of love with our romantic proposals, dating tips, Valentine gifts, love letters, love poems, relationship guide, love coupons, love horoscope, valentine history and many more.
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14th February has been known as Valentine's Day, a time beloved of romantics. This is the perfect occasion for romantic proposals and dating. On this day, gift your sweetheart with flowers (especially roses), soft toys, candles, diamonds, chocolates, gift baskets, perfume, books, watches, jewelry and others. Shower love and enjoy the day with your beloved. During this marvelous day loving heart's come closer and romance fills the air.
BEST PICTURE The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Frost/Nixon Milk The Reader Slumdog Millionaire
BEST ACTOR Richard Jenkins - The Visitor Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon Sean Penn - Milk Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
BEST ACTRESS Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married Angelina Jolie - Changeling Melissa Leo - Frozen River Meryl Streep - Doubt Kate Winslet - The Reader
SUPPORTING ACTOR Josh Brolin - Milk Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Amy Adams - Doubt Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona Viola Davis - Doubt Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
DIRECTOR David Fincher Ron Howard Gus Van Sant Stephen Daldry Danny Boyle
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Courtney Hunt - Frozen River Mike Leigh - Happy-Go-Lucky Martin - In Bruges Dustin Lance Black - Milk Andrew Stanton - WALL-E
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Eric Roth and Robin Swicord - Benjamin Button John Patrick Shanley - Doubt Peter Morgan - Frost/Nixon David Hare - The Reader Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire
FOREIGN LANGUAGE Der Baader Meinhof Komplex The Class Departures Revanche Waltz with Bashir
Breaking news that Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) has collapsed at the luncheon for President Obama. Paramedics have responded, no word yet on his condition. Early indications are that he may have had a seizure and it does not seem yet that he has been taken to a hospital.
Given his health and the stress of the day it is not unusual for a seizure to have happened and we can hope that his recovery will be quick. But we are hearing both good and bad reports.
Also possible word that Senator Byrd also collapsed (Now Capitol Police state that Byrd is fine.
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor - who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men -- yes, black men as well as white men -- would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check that has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice. We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end but a beginning. Those who hoped that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. ****
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for whites only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today my friends -- so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father's died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!"
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi -- from every mountainside.
Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring -- when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children -- black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics -- will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
John Muir was born in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland. Arriving in San Francisco in March 1868, Muir immediately left for a place he had only read about called Yosemite. After seeing Yosemite Valley for the first time he was captivated, and wrote, “No temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite,” and “[Yosemite is] the grandest of all special temples of Nature.” After his initial eight-day visit, he returned to the Sierra foothills and became a ferry operator, sheepherder and bronco buster.
John Muir (1838–914) was one of the first modern preservationists. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, and wildlife, especially in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, were read by millions and are still popular today. Muir’s activism helped to save the Yosemite Valley and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is now one of the most important conservation organizations in the United States. His writings and philosophy strongly influenced the formation of the modern environmental movement.
The John Muir Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded occasionally by the John Muir Trust for outstanding contributions to wildland conservation.
El Perro del Mar (literaly "The Dog from the Sea" in Spanish) is a musical project that was founded in December 2003 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The sole member of El Perro del Mar, Sarah Assbring, initially started as an MP3/CD-R artist and released her first songs through Hybris Records. Her music could be described as m elancholic lo-fitwee pop.
From 2004 to late 2005, her records had only been released by the Swedish label, Hybris, but in 2006, Sarah experienced a host of new found success when her self-titled album El Perro del Mar was picked up by UK-based label, Memphis Industries, under which Dungen and The Go! Team also release. Prior to the self-titled album, Sarah had recorded and released Look! It's El Perro del Mar! and the EP You Gotta Give to Get, in Spring 2005 and November 2005 respectively.
In early 2007, El Perro del Mar ended her relationship with Scandinavian label Hybris and began a new relationship with The Concretes label Licking Fingers. Her second full-length album titled From the Valley to the Stars was released in Spring 2008.
Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy (born January 11, 1965), also known as Max Kennedy, is an American author. He was born in New York, New York. He is the ninth child of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. Maxwell Kennedy was baptized by Monsignor William McCormack in Manhattan's St. Patrick's Cathedral, in front of a crowd of 200 people. He is named after General Maxwell Taylor, who was then in Saigon serving as the American Ambassador to VietNam, and did not attend the baptism.[1] General Taylor was a WWII hero who commanded the 101st Airborne Division, and developed the deterrence policy known as flexible response.[2]
Mr. Kennedy spoke with WGN Chicago about the role of suicide in asymmetrical warfare and his book Danger’s Hour in the Fall of 2008.[6] Kennedy addressed the 2008 Miami book fair, speaking about the America’s shared purpose during the second World War.[7] Kennedy claimed that with a new leadership “Americans can live, even comfortably, with danger.”[8]
He is also writing, producing, and directing a documentary on the use of suicide as a weapon of war with Harvard documentary filmmaker Randolph Bell. His articles have appeared in DoubleTake Magazine, Conde Nast Traveller, and Escape. He began his law career in July 1992 by serving for three years as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia.
Mr. Kennedy co-founded the Urban Ecology Institute at Boston College, where he taught in the Biology and English Departments, with the goal of forcing change through community action and education. Since its founding, UEI has developed an array of programs that fall within its Education Division which engage students in hands-on, inquiry-based science learning, especially at the middle school and high school levels.[9] In response to the considerable ecological and economic challenges in the city of Boston, the Urban Ecology Institute studies the emerging field of urban ecology to help residents understand the natural resources in their communities and take action to protect them.[10]
Mr. Kennedy, an avid civil rights and environmental rights advocate spoke at the Loyola Marymount University Bellarmine Forum in 2006 about the importance of urban ecology. Kennedy claimed that the Jesuit colleges should be more involved in their local communities, and that scientists, educators and attorneys must work with middle and high school youth to improve science and civic education, and to protect and transform natural resources before they are lost forever.[11]
Mr. Kennedy is working with the Pearl Coalition to build a museum of remembrance and recognition of the greatest African American Slave escape in American History.
Max Kennedy managed Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s re-election campaign in 2000, and has volunteered on a number of other campaigns, including the presidential campaigns of Edward M. Kennedy in 1980, Al Gore in 2000, John Kerry in 2004 and as a surrogate for Barack Obama in 2008. Maxwell Kennedy endorsed then-Senator Obama early in the primary season. [12]Kennedy campaigned for Senator Obama throughout 2008 at approximately 200 events in crucial swing states, including Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Kennedy campaigned hard for Senator Obama especially in Scranton where field organizer Gillian Bergeron created a hard-core field organization, and had Kennedy hitting diners and doughnut shops at six AM. Kennedy resorted to old-school politicking, leading senior citizens singing old Irish ballads at lunch centers.[13] Kennedy campaigned in Indiana on Dr. King’s birthday[14] and again during the Jefferson-Jackson dinnerJefferson-Jackson DinnerHe campaigned across Texas from Austin to Dallas and Fort Worth through San Antonio.[15] He phone-banked for Senator Obama[16] and spoke at several Rock the Vote Bus Tour events.[17]Kennedy introduced Senator Obama at a dinner at Hickory Hill.[18] A nice video produced by the Obama campaign shows Max and his mother Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy campaigning in Southwest Virginia. Speaking about Senator Obama on Morning Joe, Max Kennedy spoke about the shared courage, moral authority and willingness to take on tough issues, of Senator Obama, and his father Robert Kennedy.[19]
His wife Vicki was a Cabot Fellow and taught for several years as a Fellow at Harvard College. Vicki is now an educational consultant at Loyola Marymount. She is devoted to being a parent within a political family.[20]
Mr. Kennedy has served as a Director of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, where he led human rights missions to Haiti, South Africa, and Kenya.
At Georgetown University, he concentrated on Latin-American history, and has made dozens of trips through Central and Latin America, spending time in nearly every country in South America. He joined a Venezuelan mapping team to attempt to create the first detailed maps of the upper reaches of the Rio Caroni. He co-led in an expedition to locate the sunken French fleet of Admiral D`Estress in Las Aves Archipelago and participated in the subsequent filming of the BBC/Discovery Channel Documentary about the lost fleet. Max Kennedy partially financed and produced two Venezuelan historical long featured films about Manuela Saenz in 2000 (Lover of Simon Bolivar and Coronel of the Venezuelan Independence Army) and Francisco de Miranda in 2005 (Leader of the Venezuelan Independence). His name appears on the credits of both films and other Venezuelan films to which he has contributed. Mr Kennedy has toured the Venezuelan Barrios, and was successfully involved in the fundraising of donations from the U.S. to the homeless children’s shelter run by Fundacion Atenea in Caracas. Mr Kennedy has had extensive meetings with the Leopoldo Lopez, Mayor of Chacao, one of the only elected opposition figures in Caracas, and with Henrique Capriles, Mayor of Baruta and now the opposition candidate for Governor of the State of Miranda. He has been a personal friend for more than 15 years of Maria Corina Machado, the head of SUMATE, a Venezuelan NGO that promotes clean elections and who has been indicted by the Government under several criminal charges for that reason. While studying law at the University of Virginia, Mr. Kennedy was elected President of the Student Legal Forum.
Maxwell Kennedy organized an expedition with Barry Clifford to search for, and successfully located the lost fleet of the Counte D’Estrees, at Las Aves off the coast of Venezuela. The fleet had sunk in 1678 while attempting to sack the Dutch at Curacao.[22]
PT-109
When Max and Edward Kennedy Jr. were small, grandmother Rose would tell them the story of how their uncle, President John F. Kennedy, saved a member of his PT boat crew in World War II by towing him to an island.[23] Max would in return continue the legacy of his uncle by visiting Solomon Islands with Robert Ballard in 2002 to revisit the scene of the story of John F. Kennedy's PT-109. He presented a bust of the late president to Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana who were the native coastwatcher scouts who found the missing Kennedy and his crew.
Since this year’s Horrorfest is providing yet another flap of the feeble Butterfly Effect wings in the third installment of the series, it’s only right that fans get a new trailer and poster to help ring in the New Year and start early Horrorfest celebration! Over at Horror-Movies.ca, they’ve scored a new poster from the flick and after the jump we’ve got the trailer! Butterfly Effect 3, stars Rachel Miner and last year’s Miss Horrorfest, and follows a young man with the power to time travel as he attempts to solve the mystery of his girlfriend's death but instead unleashes a serial killer. In any case, FEARnet correspondent, Spider, caught up with 2008 Miss Horrorfest and she told him ALL about her role. Her topless role. We’re just sayin’...
Natalie Dylan, a twenty two year old women's study student, is not the first woman to try to auction off her virginity for money. But Natalie Dylan, which is a pseudonym, appears to be the most successful so far in running up the bidding.
The highest bid for a night of passion with Natalie Dylan has come to $2.5 million. At least ten thousand men have out in bids to relieve Natalie Dylan, a cute brunette, of her virginity.
Natalie Dylan decided to auction her virginity off when she learned that her sister had worked for three weeks as a prostitute in order to pay for college. When she started the bidding about three or so months ago, Natalie Dylan had hoped that she would get a bid of a million dollars. That she now has the bidding up to two and a half times that number seems incredible.
The winning bidder will get to enjoy Natalie Dylan's favors at the famous Bunny Ranch brothel in Nevada, where prostitution is legal. She has undergone a polygraph test and is willing to undergo a medical exam to prove her sexual status to the satisfaction of the winning bidder.
Now the question arises when seeing this story again, what kind of guy is going to shell out two and a half million dollars for a one night stand with someone who is not, after all, experienced? To be sure some of the bidders, according to Natalie Dylan, are men with questionable morals and taste, even by the standards of men who would bid on such an auction. But others seem to be polite businessmen who want to show Natalie Dylan a good time.
A night with a high class call girl, we are informed, might cost a few thousand dollars and might include the kind of kinks that Natalie Dylan is unwilling to participate in. So it is a mystery how Natalie Dylan's virginity is suddenly worth two and a half million dollars. Remember, the price is one night, not to keep Natalie Dylan for any length of time after that.
Abbie Noah is Fargo’s latest reality TV winner as the hairstylist ended VH1’s “Real Chance of Love” hugging, kissing and smiling with “her man.”
Monday night’s finale featured Noah as one of the final four women vying for the hearts of two men – Real and Chance, two brothers who call themselves “The Stallionaires.” The show’s premise featured each brother choosing his prospective “love” from a group of women.
As the show started Monday night, each brother had two final women to choose from.
Noah, who was known on the show was “Corn Fed,” was up against a woman dubbed “Bay Bay Bay” for the love of Real. Early in the episode, Noah and Bay Bay Bay argued during a poolside dinner in a Puerto Rico resort. Noah left the table crying after Bay Bay Bay and Real each wondered if the polite, sweet Fargo woman could handle the honest, harsh lifestyle of Los Angeles and the celebrity scene following Real.
“I’d feel absolutely devastated if Real doesn’t pick me,” Noah said early on.
During the show’s final selection, Real again questioned Noah’s ability to handle his lifestyle in Los Angeles.
“L.A. is not Fargo,” he said.
The statement brought tears to Noah’s eyes as she turned away in agony, unable to face the possibility she couldn’t be with Real.
But as Real turned to Bay Bay Bay he said he came to the show to find a relationship that had “fireworks.” And, he said, he didn’t feel the explosions with Bay Bay Bay.
Looking at Noah, Real said, “I believe you fell in love with me. I fell in love with you too.”
After an embrace, the show switched to a post-interview with Noah and she said, “I have been waiting this entire time to hear Real say he fell in love with me, and he said it. … I am absolutely in love with Real.”
She was the only woman on the show who found love. In a surprising move, Chance dismissed both of his final women saying he wasn’t truly in love with either of them.
The “Real Chance of Love” finale will be followed in two weeks with a reunion episode on VH1.
Fargo's previous reality show champion was Caridee English, who won the seventh cycle - or season - "America's Next Top Model."
Eddy Curry Jr. (born December 5, 1982) is an American professional basketball player in the NBA currently with the New York Knicks. He was born in Harvey, Illinois. He is 6'11" (2.11 m) and 285 lb (130 kg), and has a wingspan of 7'6½" (2.30 m).[1]
High school
Prior to becoming considered one of the best high school basketball players in the nation as a senior at Thornwood High School in South Holland, Illinois, Curry aspired to be a gymnast and did not pick up basketball until the seventh grade when he reluctantly went out for the school team. In 2001, Curry led his team to second place in the IHSA State Playoffs. He was named to the 1998, 1999 and 2000 State Farm Holiday Classic all-tournament teams.
Curry had signed a letter of intent to play at DePaul University but declared himself eligible for the 2001 NBA Draft in which the Chicago Bulls made him the fourth overall pick. The decision to draft Curry and pair him alongside fellow rookie Tyson Chandler was a major surprise to many basketball fans[who?] given that both players were high school seniors. In trying to rebuild from the Michael Jordan era, both Curry and Chandler wore uniform numbers that when put together read 23; Curry wore number 2, and Chandler number 3.
Professional career
Curry's contribution was limited during his rookie year due to limited minutes. Curry improved in his second year, leading the NBA in field goal percentage (58.5%) and becoming the first Bull to lead the league in a major statistical category since Michael Jordan in 1998. His 2002-03 season was widely considered a disappointment as he failed to live up to expectations after a strong finish to the previous year. In the 2004-05 season the Bulls improved by 28 wins and made the playoffs as the 22-year-old Curry led the team in scoring before being hospitalized with an irregular heartbeat. This caused him to miss the last 13 games of the regular season and the entire playoffs. On June 24, 2005, heart specialists cleared Curry to resume practice. On October 3, 2005, after refusing on privacy grounds to submit to a DNA test, as requested by Bulls management, to assess whether he has a congenital heart condition, Curry was traded to the New York Knicks. The trade included the Bulls' Antonio Davis, as well as the Knicks' Mike Sweetney, Tim Thomas, and Jermaine Jackson.[2] First-round draft picks were also exchanged in the trade - which later came back to haunt the Knicks as they had a poor 2005-06 season in which Curry averaged 13.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game (numbers that were significantly down from the previous season). Curry's inability to defend and rebound was a source of frustration for former coaches Scott Skiles and Larry Brown. When asked by a reporter in 2003 what Curry needed to do to become a better rebounder, Skiles simply replied: "Jump."[3] The 2006-07 season saw a resurgence in Curry's performance under new coach Isiah Thomas, with Curry anointed the team's primary offensive option, averaging career highs in points (19.6), rebounds (7.1), and minutes (34.9) per game. On April 7, 2007 Curry scored a career-best 43 points in an overtime win over the Milwaukee Bucks; his first three-pointer of the season forcing the game into the extra period.[4] Curry is 2 for 2 (100%) from three-point range in his NBA career.[4] In the 2007–2008 season, Curry was expected to form a great frontcourt with Zach Randolph, however both of them saw a regression in their games. Curry showed up to training camp in October 2008 out of shape for the second year in a row, incensing new head coach Mike D'Antoni. Curry not only lost his job, but was not even in D'Antoni's rotation at the beginning of the 2008–2009 season. Curry played his first game of the season on January 8, 2009 against the Dallas Mavericks.
Cardiac problems
Several prominent cardiologists cleared Curry to play, but Barry Maron, a world-renowned specialist in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, suggested the DNA test.[5] During the team's media day, Bulls General Manager John Paxson said he understood the privacy issues involved but insisted the Bulls did not have an ulterior motive; they simply do not want a situation similar to those of former Boston Celtics guard Reggie Lewis or Loyola Marymount star Hank Gathers—players with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who collapsed and died.
MVP of the McDonald's All-American game after scoring 28 points with 8 rebounds and 4 blocked shots in leading the West to a 131-125 victory
Led Thornwood High School to the Illinois State Championship game, averaging 22.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 6.0 blocked shots, shooting .640 from the floor, including 25.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in the state tournament. Averaged 24.6 points and 11.2 rebounds, along with 4.8 blocks, as a junior.
Was selected to the State Farm Holiday Classic all-tournament team in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
Alvin Cullum York was born to an impoverished farming family in Tennessee on December 13, 1887, the third of eleven children.[2] Up until a few years before the war, York was a hard drinker and prone to fighting in saloons. His mother, a member of a pacifist Christian denomination, tried to convince York to change his ways to no avail. Then during a night of heavy drinking when he and a friend got into a fight with other saloon patrons, York's friend was killed. The event shook York so much that he finally followed his mother and became a Christian, no longer fighting or drinking. On June 5, 1917, at the age of 29, Alvin York received a notice to register for the draft. From that day until he arrived back from the War on May 29, 1919, he kept a diary of his activities.[3]
During a mission to secure the German Decauville rail-line on October 8, 1918, York's actions earned him the Medal of Honor. He recalled:
"The Germans got us, and they got us right smart. They just stopped us dead in our tracks. Their machine guns were up there on the heights overlooking us and well hidden, and we couldn’t tell for certain where the terrible heavy fire was coming from… And I'm telling you they were shooting straight. Our boys just went down like the long grass before the mowing machine at home. Our attack just faded out… And there we were, lying down, about halfway across [the valley] and those German machine guns and big shells getting us hard."[5]
Seventeen men under the command of Sergeant Bernard Early (which included York) infiltrated behind the German lines to take out the machine guns. The group worked their way behind the Germans and overran the headquarters of a German unit, capturing a large group of German soldiers who were preparing to counter-attack against the US troops. Early’s men were contending with the prisoners when machine gun fire suddenly peppered the area, killing six Americans, Corp. Murray Savage, and Pvts. Maryan E. Dymowski, Ralph E. Weiler, Fred Waring, William Wins and Walter E. Swanson, and wounding three others, Sgt. Early, Corp. William S. Cutting (AKA Otis B. Merrithew) and Pvt. Mario Muzzi. The fire came from German machine guns on the ridge, which turned their weapons on the US soldiers. The loss of the nine put Corporal York in charge of the seven remaining U.S. soldiers, Privates Joseph Konotski (Kornacki), Percy Beardsley, Feodor Sok, Thomas C. Johnson, Michael A. Saccina, Patrick Donohue and George W. Wills. As his men remained under cover, and guarding the prisoners, York worked his way into position to silence the German machine guns. York recalled:
"And those machine guns were spitting fire and cutting down the undergrowth all around me something awful. And the Germans were yelling orders. You never heard such a racket in all of your life. I didn't have time to dodge behind a tree or dive into the brush… As soon as the machine guns opened fire on me, I began to exchange shots with them. There were over thirty of them in continuous action, and all I could do was touch the Germans off just as fast as I could. I was sharp shooting… All the time I kept yelling at them to come down. I didn't want to kill any more than I had to. But it was they or I. And I was giving them the best I had."[6]
One of York’s prisoners, German first lieutenant Paul Jürgen Vollmer of 1st Battalion, 120th Württemberg Landwehr Regiment[1], emptied his pistol trying to kill York while he was contending with the machine guns. Failing to injure York, and seeing his mounting losses, he offered to surrender the unit to York, which was gladly accepted. By the end of the engagement, York and his seven men marched 132 German prisoners back to the American lines. His actions silenced the German machine guns and were responsible for enabling the 328th Infantry Regiment to renew the offensive to capture the Decauville Railroad.[7]
York was a corporal during the action. His promotion to sergeant was part of the honor for his valor. Of his deeds York said to his division commander, General Duncan, in 1919: "A higher power than man power guided and watched over me and told me what to do."
Medal of Honor citation
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, Company G, 328th Infantry, 82nd Division.
After his platoon suffered heavy casualties and 3 other noncommissioned officers had become casualties, Cpl. York assumed command. Fearlessly leading 7 men, he charged with great daring a machine gun nest which was pouring deadly and incessant fire upon his platoon. In this heroic feat the machine gun nest was taken, together with 4 officers and 128 men and several guns.[8]
Post-war life
On June 7, 1919, York married Gracie Williams. They had 7 children, all of whom were named after famous American historical figures which are five sons (Alvin C. Junior, Edward Buxton, Woodrow Wilson, Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson) and two daughters (Betsy Ross and Mary Alice).[citation needed]
York founded the Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute, a private agricultural school in Jamestown, Tennessee, that was eventually turned over to the State of Tennessee. The school, now known as Alvin C. York Institute, is the only fully state-funded public high school in the State of Tennessee. The school is a nationally recognized school of excellence and boasts the highest high school graduation percentage in the state. It is home to almost 800 students.
York also opened a Bible School, and later operated a mill in Pall Mall on the Wolf River.
During World War II he attempted to re-enlist in the Infantry but was denied due to age. Instead he went on bond tours and made personal appearances to support the war effort. He convinced the state of the need for a reserve force at home and was active in the creation of the Tennessee State Guard in 1941, in which he served as a Colonel and Commanding Officer of the 7th Infantry Regiment. He was also involved with recruiting and war bond drives as well as inspection tours of American soldiers in training.
Founded as a private agricultural high school in 1926 by Alvin York and residents of Fentress County, the school became public in 1937 due to the Depression and continues to serve as Jamestown's high school.
1941 film
York's story was told in the 1941movieSergeant York, with Gary Cooper in the title role. York refused to authorize a film version of his life story unless he received a contractual guarantee that Cooper would be the actor to portray him. Cooper won the Academy Award for Best Actor.
In the 1980s, the United States Army named its DIVAD weapon system "Sergeant York"; the project was cancelled due to technical problems and massive cost overruns.[11]
"The Sergeant York Historic Trail is being constructed under the supervision of LTC Douglas Mastriano and the Sergeant York Discovery Expedition in the Argonne, so that all visitors to the Argonne can walk where York walked. Boy Scout troops have already started work on the trail. All French officials in the region approved the trail and the locations of markers. A large dedication ceremony will be done on the spot of York's feat in a date TBD. A large contingent from the French military and the US Army are expected."[16][17]
The 229th US Army Military Intelligence Battalion, Alpha Company, Monterey California, dedicated their soldier's hall in honor of SGT York. COL Gerald York (US Army, retired, grandson of Alvin York) officiated at the dedication ceremony.[citation needed]
A modest bronze helmet rests atop a stone flag on the grounds of East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. A poem on this monument is dedicated to York.
Valentine's Day with all its charisma and magnetism brings love in the air, scarlet color of roses painting the town with the vibrancy of love and romance make every heart eager to say it loud, 'I Love You' coz'...it's the Valentine's Day. This is a perfect occasion that marks the sharing of numerous symbols of loves as Valentine gifts among the lovers. We have come with myriad expressions of love with our romantic proposals, dating tips, Valentine gifts, love letters, love poems, relationship guide, love coupons, love horoscope, valentine history and many more.
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