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Tom Laughlin: One Tin Soldier Rides Away

Published on Dec 16, 2013 In 2011 I (Adrian Esposito) Interviewed Tom Laughlin and his wife Delores Taylor stars of the Billy Jack films. In my interview with them they talked about the history behind Billy Jack and what Inspired them to make the film. I have releases for the material used in this tribute interview. R.I.P my friend Tom Laughlin. Purchase “Billy Jack” (Amazon.com) Category Film & Animation License Standard YouTube License

A preacher wanted to raise money for his church

Today’s Joke – Sat, 13 Jun 2015 A preacher wanted to raise money for his church and on being told that there was a fortune in horse racing, decided to purchase a horse and enter it in the races. However, at the local auction, the going price for horses was so high that he ended up buying a donkey instead. He figured that since he had it, he might as well go ahead and enter it in the races. To his surprise, the donkey came in third! The next day the local paper carried this headline: PREACHER’S ASS SHOWS. The preacher was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and this time it won. The paper read: PREACHER’S ASS OUT IN FRONT. The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the preacher not to enter the donkey in another race. The paper headline read: BISHOP SCRATCHES PREACHER’S ASS. This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the preacher to get rid of the donkey. The preacher decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent. The paper headline the next day read: NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN. The Bishop fainted. He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10.00. The next day the headline read: NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.00. This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey, lead it to the plains, and let it go. Next day, the headline in the paper read: NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE. The Bishop was buried the next day.  

ABC – Stossel – 17,000,000,000,000 Problems – National Debt Special

NFriction 11 months ago aarondavid826, saying “cut the war machine and tax the rich” is as wise of a statement as saying “give women the right to vote”! Are you from the distant past or future? They ALREADY “tax the rich”! In fact, the top 5% pay MORE THAN HALF of all federal taxes collected. About 43% of Americans (the non-“rich”) pay ZERO federal taxes. So, lucky you, your wish has already been granted, surprise! Now, please tell us how your grand solution has solved everything, because your tax plan has been in place for A LONG TIME & Obama has ALREADY reduced our military to pre-WWII levels, yet our national debt is climbing faster than ever before! Economists have determined that if you taxed those “evil 1%ers” at a rate of 100% of their income, it would not cover Obama’s spending. So unless you gave the extremely wealthy a MASSIVE pay raise, “taxing the rich” at ANY percentage, even 100%, will not pay for the extreme spending of Obama. The only thing you could say that would exhibit any grasp of current reality is to say “tax everybody, not just the rich”. As far as “cut the war machine”, which we’ve already done, keep in mind that China’s military has started rapidly expanding, they’ve changed their military’s stance from a primarily defensive one to an offensive one & they’ve recently been showing aggression towards our planes in international airspace, Russia has started testing new nuclear missiles, breaking long-standing treaties, they’ve been intentionally provoking us & testing our limits lately & Iran is very close to having nuclear weapons, which most of the world agrees would be an extremely dangerous development. But, I guess we won’t have to worry about our national debt or extremely high taxes if we’re all dead, so your military-shrinking solution might actually be brilliant! pretorious700 2 months ago You could tax the top 1% at 100% and it wouldn’t make a difference. Wel, actually, it would…..Businesses would flee overseas, and who could blake them?   NFriction 1 year ago Some clown just tried to post: “funny how fox never criticized bush for raising the debt more than obama” Well, they also never criticized him for cheating on Hillary or for Watergate. Why? Because those are also things that he never did! Hey, Brainiac, A. Bush added $4.9trillion to the debt in his full 8 years. Obama has added about $7trillion in just his first 4 1/2 years! You may have dropped out of school before getting a firm grasp on math, so I’ll assist you on this one: 4.9 is NOT “more than” 7!  B. If you’re foolishly trying to imply that Fox never criticized Bush, it just shows you never watched Fox. He’s clearly getting his “news” from liberal cocktail parties or just making up his own set of “facts” while smoking or injecting something questionable.. If you’re going to post something, exhibit at least an ounce of intelligence. heyitsablackguy 3 weeks ago If I can balance my money, I’m pretty sure these idiot politicians can. Vladimir Lenin 3 months ago Federal reserve loans money to everyone including the government federal reserve is a private organization The ‘Pelagato’ 1 month ago hey, last time I check up the info… The debt is at 18.1 Trillions lol…!!!! It just keeps growing! Americans Are Greedy 4 months ago We should cut all welfare, we should cut all spending on drug wars, we should cut all spending on any military that doesn’t have to do with protecting America and I don’t mean retarded preventive nonsense. All wars should be suspended, and the only war that is allowed is on American Soil, protecting from a invader. We should cap all money any public servant gets to what ever the nation average is.  So even the president only gets around 50k. End of story. pretorious700 2 months ago 18 trillion and growing. elaleyo 1 month ago come on Stossel don’t get into economics, your over generalization will not give you edge in this topic, ask the subprime mortgage fiasco makers they should know better how to push government into debt MrZ4X5C6V7 3 months ago Elect Dr. Ben Carson Americans Are Greedy 4 months ago I got it, we just stop paying taxes all at once, for 1 year. Lets see them lock us all in jail. Ahhhh, never mind, go watch your foot ball game, and be mad at your neighbor for liking the other team. Keith Moriyama 10 months ago If the country is 17Trillion in debt and most of the population is in debt….then where did all that money go?  If they just gave everyone that 17T then every American would receive 51 million dollars each.   Somebody got that money. T Oadaly 8 months ago …it recently passed $18 trillion Americans Are Greedy 4 months ago O yeah, pay my food bill, internet bill, phone bill, heat bill, car, btw I am gonna go have 15 more kids, so I can get 40 grand back on my taxes, when I make 100 bucks a year haha. bvoe9843 9 months ago Bernie Madoff is in Jail for his Ponzi scheme.  He is a piker compared to the Federal Government!  The Social Security Trust fund was raided in 1964 and that money was replaced with Federal Treasury notes that are now part of the National Debt!  Face the problem!  If the Trust fund were left alone back 1964 The politicians wouldn’t have been able to conduct the Viet Nam war, (Heaven Forbid!)  Nobody would miss that pile of money growing within the Federal debt!   Social Security is not a retirement program as it exists today!  Nobody can live on Social Security, it was to be an assist to the public so they wouldn’t starve to death when they could no longer work.  if you don’t plan to for retirement which will happen to every American eventually, then you will have to live on Social Security which will barely cover food and lodging.  Why?  should those who plan for

ABC – John Stossel – Government’s Ponzi Scheme

  QueenlySweetpea 11 months ago Why doesn’t the American public demand an iquiery into that missing 3 trillion that dick cheyny announced is missing ?? We want accountability NOW!! Flynn88MN 1 year ago Free MArket Democracy? Didn’t he mean free market republic? TacWaffles 1 year ago @Greg London: Are you aware of a term called “inflation”? Because we are losing money due to inflation. jbezohm 3 years ago in reply to 1Archie11 The only issue with that comparison is that SS isn’t set up like an insurance company in terms of incentives and budget/terms control. First off their service is forcibly coerced upon every member of our country, with no legal competition. Meaning they have little incentive to improve their service or reduce costs in any way (artificial demand). Second, insurance companies adjust their terms and rates based on actuarial research to prevent loss and also control their surplus, SS can’t do either C Warren 2 years ago This will be the first time I’ve disagreed with Stossel but Paul Ryan’s budget won’t do diddly to reduce the deficit . XCritonX 5 years ago After the hockey stick incident I didn’t like graphs. But these were spot on. Dont turn America into Europe. With out a productive America to protect Europe and create 90% of the worlds innovation we will all suffer. Vote4RonPaulLiberty 3 years ago First of all Social Security was never meant to supply people with money to live on it was a SUPPLEMENT only! Secondly, the government has already looted it. That same government is now being asked to continue controlling YOUR money? This actually makes sense to some of you? Really? Those who have already paid during their working lifetime should continue to receive it but we need to wean ourselves from it after that. SquashDog01 4 years ago in reply to HoGraz @HoGraz Free markets? as in free trade? As in lack of government oversite? As in lack of trade barriers such as tarifs? how does that make sense? How does unfettered, unregulated markets have anything to do with war? go back to the leftest rock you crawled out from under. and Trillions requires more than 1. 1.5 doesn’t mean trillions. its 1.5 TRILLION. Learn 2 English. Greg London 2 years ago SS and all other entitlements, even healthcare isn’t a ponzi scheme. If you know that the federal government can print money (it’s the issuer of it’s own currency and not an individual household) to infinity based on a percentage of GDP, they definitely will not let these entitlements go unfunded in the future. If you’re still skeptical about my comment, take a look at Japan. Look how much money they’ve printed as a percentage of GDP. We are nowhere near that yet. juliachan1987 2 years ago Congress doesn’t want to raise taxes, but Americans want their entitlements and will protest any cuts. Yep, pretty much the whole system is going to collapse. Might as well ask the Federal Reserve to print more money since its the only option they have. In fact, they are already doing it Classical Libertarianism 2 years ago Government should have to pay employer payroll tax. darris321 3 years ago I like how they say “It’s not a ponzi scheme because everyone pays” uh… that doesn’t disqualify ponzi scheme lol MrRossT1 2 years ago in reply to sdfkjllshadflhadfshl Politics doesn’t pay enough! :D Madoff had the right idea! The private sector! :D Henry Hazlitt 2 years ago Government does a really good job at making everything suck Tigerfire75 2 years ago The Government lied from the begining about Social Security. They called it insurance to sell it to American citizens. In reality it was a tax and you aren’t entitled to it. They admitted it in a case before the Supreme court. Of course they called it a insurance plan even after it. Dabba23 5 years ago in reply to James Daggs @ballajd Yet he voted for the bailout. He makes it seem like he’s a true conservative, but one must look at his voting record before deciding that. wayne johnson 2 years ago its paul ryans mate george spent a lot of our money wars Greg Belcher 5 years ago Every individual’s share of the total debt right now is $500,000.00, this moment… yes, all 308 million of US. MrJamesdegouveia 5 years ago I just wont have children. Because what is the solution??? It is unfortunate that even the majority of the public will not vote the latter, but we should keep trying.

Idea – How To Fix Congress In 2016

Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to share this with everyone we know and tell them to share it. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around. I REPORT, YOU DECIDE. The BUFFETT Rule We must support this – pass it on and let’s see if these idiots understand what people pressure is all about. Salary of retired US Presidents .. . . . .. . . . . .. . $180,000 FOR LIFE Salary of House/Senate members .. . . . .. . . . $174,000 FOR LIFE This is stupid Salary of Speaker of the House .. . . . .. . . . . $223,500 FOR LIFE This is really stupid Salary of Majority/Minority Leaders . . .. . . . . $193,400 FOR LIFE Ditto last line Average Salary of a teacher . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. .. $40,065 Average Salary of a deployed Soldier . . .. . . .. $38,000 I think we found where the cuts should be made! If you agree pass it on, as I just did. Warren Buffet, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling: “I could end the deficit in five minutes,” he told CNBC. “You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election”. The 26th Amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only three months and eight days to be ratified!  Why?  Simple!  The people demanded it. That was in 1971 – before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land – all because of public pressure. Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around. Congressional Reform Act of 2015 1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they’re out of office. 2. Congress (past, present, & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. 3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do. 4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. 5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people. 6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. 7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 12/1/15. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and go back to work. If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people, then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Don’t you think it’s time? THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!

The economy’s big mystery: Why workers are disappearing from the job market

The economy’s big mystery: Why workers are disappearing from the job market -The W… Hot Stock Pick – TAYO thirdavenuedevelopment.com Oil Booms Property Value in West Texas. Invest Today! Wonkblog The economy’s big mystery: Why workers are disappearing from the job market By Zachary A. GoldfarbJuly 17  Follow Follow @Goldfarb @Goldfarb Ever since the job market began to recover in 2010, the decline in the unemployment rate has come with a big fat asterisk. The unemployment rate has been going down, the argument goes, but largely because people have stopped looking for work. That’s why the labor force participation rate — the percentage of the population looking for a job or employed — stands at 62.8 percent, down from 66 percent before the recession. The joblessness rate, as a reminder, stands at 6.1 percent. Advertisement http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/07/17/the-economys-big-myster… Page 1 of 8 8/7/2014 The economy’s big mystery: Why workers are disappearing from the job market -The W… Now comes a new White House report, prepared by the Council of Economic Advisers, that offers fascinating insights into what might be happening in the job market. The biggest headline in the report is the least surprising. It finds that about half of the decline in participation is the result of the baby-boomer generation beginning to retire. Economists have known — and predicted — this would happen for years. It should be no reason to worry. The report also finds that a sliver of the decline in participation is simply due to the elevated unemployment rate, which is still half-a-point or so above normal. In all recoveries, some people opt out of looking for work while the unemployment rate is higher than normal. This, thus, is “cyclical,” and also offers little reason for concern. But the most interesting and alarming part of the report examines what White House economists call the “residual” — the factors beyond aging and cyclicality that explain why people are disappearing from the labor force. This is what we should worry most about. It’s these people who may never return to jobs. The report finds that about a third of the decline in participation is attributable to these disappearing workers. If their exit from the labor force proves permanent, the nation’s economy could suffer for years, never achieving the growth and prosperity it once could. (Council of Economic Advisers) http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/07/17/the-economys-big-myster… Page 2 of 8 8/7/2014 The economy’s big mystery: Why workers are disappearing from the job market -The W… What’s behind this residual is one of the big mysteries in economics today. As is why, according to the report, it only emerged in 2012. That’s right: For the first two years of the recovery, the decline in labor force participation appears to have been normal, driven by aging and temporary effects from the recession. Only later on — as the unemployment came down and the economic recovery continued — did an unusually large number of workers start to abandon the labor force. Two theories to explain what’s going on The report has no definitive answers for why workers appear to be disappearing, but it has two overarching theories: The first theory is that higher levels of long-term unemployment as a result of the Great Recession are causing more workers to exit and remain outside the labor force. A well-chronicled feature of the economic recovery has been the very large numbers of Americans unemployed for more than six months — 3.1 million in June. The report highlights other economic research that has shown that jobless Americans have lower odds of finding a job the longer they’re unemployed. And a big part of the reason is http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/07/17/the-economys-big-myster… Page 3 of 8 8/7/2014 The economy’s big mystery: Why workers are disappearing from the job market -The W… that employers discriminate against those with long spells of joblessness. But the line between long-term unemployed, who still technically are searching for work, and out-of-the-labor force can be blurry. In this sense, much of the decline in participation could be represented by the “shadow unemployed,” as my colleague Matt O’Brien (and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen) have called them: People who aren’t looking for work, but would return if offered a job.   A study cited by the White House report has a few theories about why fewer people than expected are transitioning back into the job market given the improving economy. The main idea is that people outside of the labor force might suffer from the same discrimination as the long-term unemployed. The economists used the gloriously wonky term “negative duration dependence” to describe this effect, but it basically means that people outside the labor force also have a harder time getting a job the longer they’re not working. (Kroft et. al.) Advertisement Some have speculated that workers have who have exited the labor force may have lost their skills and therefore can’t find suitable jobs. Others have http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/07/17/the-economys-big-myster… Page 4 of 8 8/7/2014 The economy’s big mystery: Why workers are disappearing from the job market -The W… suggested they are stuck on government disability insurance or have enrolled in school. The White House report rejects those explanations. The report’s second theory essentially boils down to the idea that the participation rate is lower because when the recession started, the labor market was already much weaker than was widely recognized. Nearly every demographic group saw labor force participation declines ahead of the recession. It was especially problematic for men, who have been beaten down by declines in manufacturing, advances in workplace automation and expanding trade. The report does not specify how exactly the Great Recession would have led to an intensification in those trends. But it’s not hard to imagine that the severe economic contraction would have kicked out many workers, particularly men, who were just hanging on to the labor force before the economic decline even began. It’s startling to think about, but as a percentage of the population there are far fewer men working today than at any point in the past 50 years. (Council of Economic Advisers) The report also has concerns about the more recent decline in participation by women and by young men of color.

UROKO: The True History of the Banking Cartels and the Federal Reserve

Published on Aug 6, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/user/urokomovie Uroko is the Japanese word for ‘scale’, as in the scale of a fish or serpent. The Japanese expression elihu el via Google+ 2 months ago THIS IS MONEY 101. FOR ALL THE LABOR, BLOOD, SWEAT, AND TEARS WE SACRIFICE FOR MONEY, WE SHOULD HAVE A DOCTORITE UNDERSTANDING ON WHAT IT IS, HOW ITS USED FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE, AND MOST OF ALL HOW TODAYS CURRENCY GOT TO BE WHAT IT IS TODAY. THE FIRST THING EVERYONE MUST KNOW IS…MONEY IS DEBT. NO MATTER HOW MUCH OR LITTLE. EVERYONE WHO IS NOT ROTHSCHILD BLUEBLOOD IS A SLAVE VIA OF MONEY, UNTIL YOU BECOME SOVREIGN AND SELF SUSTAINING. LIKE A ECOSYSTEM.

Manager or a Leader

5 Ways to Tell if You are a Manager or a Leader  It’s a professional reality that all bosses are not great bosses. Anyone can become a manager, but to become a leader, other behaviors become distinguishing factors. Anyone can report to a manager, but only a leader will have followers. One such distinction is the role that leaders play in individual career development, something that some managers don’t prioritize or ignore altogether. MORE FROM DESIGN NEWS: Do Good Engineers Make Good Engineering Managers? When it comes to career development, here are five distinguishing factors in separating leaders from managers. If these indicators were on a sliding scale with leader on one end and manager on the polar opposite end, where would you fall? Go to www.nspe.org to check out the list, as compiled by Austin Lin on the site’s Young Engineers Blog, and then come back to Design News and tell us how you rank. February 22-28 is Engineers Week

Yes – Awaken (Symphonic Live 2003)

 Yes are one of the most innovative and successful rock bands of all time with a career that now spans five decades. In 2003 the band made their first appearance at the Montreux Festival.  A triumphant night regarded by both the band members and fans as probably the finest Yes gig. When the world has you caught up in all that makes you wonder where is our global consciousness, think of and visualize GOD holding you in his hands surrounding you with a warmth so heart felt through your soul and physical being. When you feel such a feeling of love share it with others. Here I share with you this video. Listen to it, hear it, feel it, imagine it, sense it, when you feel the warmth in your heart release it, to let others experience it around the globe. Help send this awakening to those who need to awaken their souls to heal. GOD speaks to our hearts if you just invite this spirit in, AMEN!  

Networking groups job hunt in packs

By: Claude Solnik August 5, 2009 After hovering around 7 percent all year, the Nassau-Suffolk employment rate hit 7.5 percent in June, swelling the ranks of job-search networking groups. The Long Island Breakfast Club, which caters to the middle-aged unemployed, has seen its ranks swell to about 170. “A lot of people don’t know how to network,” said Dr. Juliana Opatich, a gynecologist who recently got a job at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine with the help of the Long Island Breakfast Club, whose meetings she still sometimes attends. “They were tunneled through college. They took a job, held onto a job for life. That’s not the case anymore.” Bob Simmons, facilitator of the Job Guide Club in Plainview, said the unemployed aren’t the only ones attending networking groups for job seekers. He said 30 people attend his group’s meetings, including some working in jobs for which they feel overqualified. Groups targeting particular industries also are gaining in popularity as the economy worsens. “I started meeting a lot of marketing people. I said other job groups are good. But I need to be around people in my discipline going through the same thing as I am,” said Larry Drago, founder and chairman of the Long Island Marketing Job Seeker Group, which grew from a handful to 35. “We share information, strategies on job searching, where the job market is going.” And groups targeting particular regions such as the Massapequa Jobs Club are attracting members. While job search groups can’t always help people find work, they can provide encouragement. “We support each other,” said Stephanie Carlino, vice president of the Long Island Breakfast Club and meeting and event planner. “We’ve all been in the same experience.” And Steve Woloschin, a former Breakfast Club member who has since found a job as a software engineering manager at Motorola, said groups keep you from becoming isolated. “It’s good to connect with other people when you’re in that situation for networking, morale and camaraderie,” Woloschin said. “You talk to people, find that there are other people in similar situations. You’re not alone.” Valentina Janek, president of the Long Island Breakfast Club, said members who obtain jobs become helpful as advisors, examples and sources of leads. “They stay even if they get a job, and they help other people get a job,” Janek said. “If someone says they have a job for a health care person, that person goes to the well, lets us know. It’s about paying it forward.” Simmons said he’s built a Rolodex of about 1,600 people who went through his group and are a resource for current members. “There’s all the network support,” Simmons added. “The majority of these people have landed new positions.” But even if groups can help, Drago said there’s a danger that they can become complaining sessions dominated by jaded job seekers. “It can depend on the crowd, whether it’s negative or positive,” he said. And Drago said people in job-seeking groups typically are from the same region, which could limit their opportunities if they are solely focused on getting a job on Long Island. “Some people in my group are looking at New York City and the East Coast (in general). Some are looking nationwide for positions,” said Drago. “It takes so much longer to get a job when you’re at a higher level. That’s why people expanded their geographic base.” Woloschin, who worked for IBM for more than 20 years, said job seekers need to focus on improving themselves – and not simply finding people who share their situation. “Some people, especially when they get into their 50s, just blame everybody for their demise,” he said. “I understood that you have to keep trying. You have to be persistent. You have to reinvent yourself.” Woloschin went back to school for a master’s degree in technological systems management at Stony Brook University. Education, not consolation, made the bigger difference in the end. “I had the best time of my life. Got a 4.0 GPA,” he said. “I got along with the department chairman, who told me he knows exactly why I’m there and can see it. A lot of the younger ones are there because they have to be there. He knew I wanted to be there.” Read more: http://libn.com/2009/08/05/networking-groups-job-hunt-in-packs/#ixzz3PEo6QMLm

Charlotte man keeps Jesus Christ in Christmas with 15,000 lights

  By Tim Funk tfunk@charlotteobserver.com By Tim Funk The Charlotte Observer Posted: Friday, Nov. 28, 2014 Modified: Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014 Full Slideshow « Prev of 2 Next » MARK HAMES – mhames@charlotteobserver.com With Thanksgiving past, the season of decorating houses with lights and all manner of Christmas figures has begun. Brothers Bryant and Marshall Stallings are way ahead of most everybody else: They’ve already adorned the Charlotte house they inherited from their parents with a epic array of holiday sights. Lit-up Santas, toy soldiers, angels, Christmas trees, candy canes, and — spelled out in giant letters atop the roof — ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS.” Buy Photo | Store MARK HAMES – mhames@charlotteobserver.com With Thanksgiving past, the season of decorating houses with lights and all manner of Christmas figures has begun. Brothers Bryant and Marshall Stallings are way ahead of most everybody else: They’ve already adorned the Charlotte house they inherited from their parents with a epic array of holiday sights. Lit-up Santas, toy soldiers, angels, Christmas trees, candy canes, and — spelled out in giant letters atop the roof — ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS.” Buy Photo | Store More Information “Happy Birthday Jesus” 11.28.14 Area Christmas parades, festivals, tree-lightings Holiday Guide: Events, ideas With Thanksgiving over, many Charlotte area homeowners spent Friday not at the mall but on the roof and in the yard, fiddling with light bulbs, plastic Santas and Nativity scenes. And few are as serious – or as ambitious – about this annual holiday decorating tradition as Bryant Stallings. For 10 years now, he’s dressed up the Charlotte house he and brother Marshall grew up in with lights galore – he estimated 15,000 bulbs – and an epic array of Christmas figures. He’s following a family tradition that goes back to the 1970s. The lit-up lineup for Christmas season 2014: Santas, angels, toy soldiers, candy canes, reindeer, polar bears, snowmen, icicles, Noel candles, a train, a star, Christmas trees, a wooden cross and a fully populated Nativity scene. Even the baby Jesus has a bulb inside that makes him shine in the dark. But the main attraction in Stallings’ show is the giant rooftop message, spelled out with 18 white letters and lit up with 200 red bulbs: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS. “I just love Christmas and I’m trying to get the real meaning of it out there,” said Stallings, 56, a member of First Baptist Church of Charlotte. “I have to put up all these other decorations up to get people to also see what Christmas is really about.” When the sun goes down, the thousands of blinking red, white and green lights go on. That’s also when the carloads of decoration tourists find their way to the Stallings house at 215 N. Linwood Ave. in Charlotte’s Hoskins community. (The house is just off Brookshire Boulevard, immediately north of Interstate 85.) Stallings’ older brother, Marshall, who lives in the house, said he gets a light show, too, most nights as he looks out at all the passersby taking pictures of all the decorations. “All I can see sometimes is flashing lights,” Marshall said. “They’ll take pictures from one end to the other.” A family tradition Bryant lives across the street from the house he decorates. This year, he applied the finishing touches – and flipped the switch – on Thanksgiving Day. He plans to keep the decorations up and lighted through Dec. 28, between 5:30 and 10 p.m. (10:30 p.m. on the weekends). By going all out at Christmas, Bryant is following a family tradition. It began in the 1970s, when he would help his father, a carpenter, light up the house and nearby trees. Bryant has inherited not only his father’s knack for lighting up the sky, but also the religious fervor that prompted his parents to include a large Nativity scene in their Christmas tableau. Bryant added one likeness of a camel to the small barn-like structure that is now home to still but lighted figures of Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus, three wise men, and a menagerie of camels, cows, sheep and donkeys. There’s even a musical component: Bells hanging along the entrance to the barn ring out Christmas carols. There are other links to the past. A cedar tree that was four-foot high when Bryant planted it in the 1970s is now about 36 feet high, and lit up with 2,150 lights. Over the years, Bryant has added a host of features – a merry-go-round he bought for 75 percent off at Home Depot, a Ferris wheel from Kmart, a rope train from a yard sale. It takes him about three weeks to set everything up. And he estimated it costs him an extra $250 a year in electricity bills. To keep it affordable, he uses LED bulbs whenever he can. Showing his faith Bryant also invests a lot of sweat. He personally made the “Happy Birthday Jesus” sign. It took him and a co-worker about 100 hours to cut the letters from plywood, sand them to smoothness, apply layers of primer and white paint, buy the red bulbs, and then space them four inches apart on the H, the A, the P and so on. Marshall said his brother Bryant had hoped their mother would live to see the big sign that debuted just before Christmas 2006. But she died “before she got to see it – on earth anyway,” said Bryant. He’s sure she’s looking down and smiling at her son’s determination to keep Christ in Christmas with his flair for decorations. Besides the “Happy Birthday Jesus” sign and the Nativity scene, Bryant added a jutting white cross with red bulbs last year. “I do it because of Jesus. He’s my Lord and Savior,” he said. “No, I’m not a preacher or a public speaker with a Bible.” “But,” he added, looking around at all the lights and decorations that put so many in the Christmas spirit, “I do express my feelings this way.” Copyright 2014 The Charlotte Observer. All rights

Sliding Oil and Gas Prices Give Americans More Money to Spend

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ, CLIFFORD KRAUSS and DIONNE SEARCEYNOV. 13, 2014 “If oil prices stay between $75 and $95 a barrel, we would see the kind of stimulus package that the Federal Reserve or Congress could never do,” said Douglas R. Oberhelman, the chief executive of Caterpillar, the multinational maker of heavy construction equipment. Photo Jillian Clark refueled her car in Ventura, Calif., on Thursday. Credit Monica Almeida/The New York Times The impact is especially significant for low- and middle-income Americans, who have been largely left behind by the anemic economic recovery that began in the middle of 2009. Even as the job market has improved, most workers have received only modest wage increases. Median income remains roughly 5 percent below the peak it hit in 2007.

Launch Of new paint boutique at longislandbreakfastclub.org

Chris Fidis Of SEO Business Solutions – December 1st 2017 Launch Of new paint boutique at longislandbreakfastclub.org Chris Fidis Of SEO Business Solutions – Syntelsys.com Announces Launch of a new angelus paint boutique at longislandbreakfastclub.org New York 516-308-2291 Announcing the launch of a new online e-commerce business http://longislandbreakfastclub.org. Please visit this new start-up company with much excitement to follow. The CEO and founder will soon have a clothing and custom designed sneaker line. If you want to just paint your own sneakers with a glitter, pearl, neon, metallic, or standard color paints, call 516-308-2291 or visit us at longislandbreakfastclub.org . We have a great selection of Angelus brand paints to chose from. We also sell a line of cleaners and color dyes for leather and suede shoe products. The launch date is December 1st 2017, see you all there. The Long Island Breakfast Club will be seeking the help of artists and graphic design creative individuals to sell their expertise with the help of the LIBC. Call us at 516.308.2291 and ask for CF.