---

To: shephardfamilyenterprise@yahoogroups.com
From: hippymidget@...
Date: Wed, 9 May 2007 12:07:26 -0700
Subject: Re: [shephardfamilyenterprise] May 15th Is Consumer Stand-Off Day!!!!!!!

Well, I buy gas once a week. I didn't used to be so particular about where I purchase my gas. So ... I'll do the Exxon thing as well as this. Nothin like a double whammy!

Nicholas Shephard <shephardfamilyenterprise@hotmail.com> wrote:

Yes, I have heard about that..... We just need to focus on the total picture and move forward based on what really is. Gas prices are going higher and our incomes are decreasing as consumers. But what are we to do? Just sit here and wait? Well, we all must make a difference so let's start here.....

Shephard Family Enterprise

Business Administration and Information Systems Consultants

P.O. Box 02118

Detroit, Michigan 48202

ShephardFamilyEnterprise@hotmail.com

Support Minority Businesses

 ^^^^^^^______  || _____
 |SHEPHARD FAMILY ENT. | ||'|"\,__
 |_..._...______________-|=||_|SF|..;]
 "(@)'(@) " " " " |(@)(@)   (@)***(@)

 

Want To Know More About Me? Let`s Get Closer!!!!!!

 

New Website for Adults and Business Professionals

 

I have created a new forum site for older adults and would like for you to join and start topics, plus, encourage others to participate. Let me know what you think? Also, let some of your friends and family members know so that they also join in some of our discussions.

Thanks.

New website for adults: http://s13.invisionfree.com/ShephardFamily/index.php?act=idx/

 

 

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More photos, more messages, more storage—get 2GB with Windows Live Hotmail.

Debbie

---

Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
Check out new cars at Yahoo! Autos.

Have you aquired a Assume Names form and filled it out?

Have you aquired a P.O. Box?

Have you aquired a Business Checking Account?

Have you aquired Business Cards?

Do you have a Website? Or Forum site?

Enter your vote today!  A new poll has been created for the
shephardfamilyenterprise group:

What are some good ideas to get inter-city businesses to work together?

   o Incorporate Youths.
   o Participant in church functions.
   o Hand out business forums or letters.
   o Attend functions that closely relate to your overall goals.
   o Wait until something good comes your way then join in and help.


To vote, please visit the following web page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shephardfamilyenterprise/surveys?id=2506878

Note: Please do not reply to this message. Poll votes are
not collected via email. To vote, you must go to the Yahoo! Groups
web site listed above.

Thanks!

Why It Is Very Important To Wear Life Vest While On Any Water Craft…..


I went to Belle Isle Park this weekend to chill with a friend and
noticed that two water craft zooming through the Detroit River when
one of the Jet skiers hit a big wave made by passing boat. The Jet
Skier that hit the wave flipped and went into the River. I noticed
that it was a young girl and she tried to get back on the Skier but
was unable to get back on and started to panic. As everyone watched
on the shoreline the girl tried to swim but began to struggle
flopping her arms as if she was going to drown. At that moment as I
watched I said to myself "I know that she didn't get into the river
without a life vest....." The young man who was riding the other
water craft came back to her and noticed her flopping in the water in
a full panic and started yelling for help..... He then tried to pull
her onto his water craft and fell into the river himself.... I
thought to myself this can't be happening right in front of my eyes
and there is nothing I can do about it..... By this time people as
well as myself was calling 911 for the police to inform them that
someone was in distress in the Detroit River and another had fell in
trying to save her..... Again, I thought...why would they get into
the water riding that craft without a life vest? At that moment I
seen the young man get back on his craft and try to pull her onto his
craft and fell back in... By this time the young lady stopped
panicking and began to relax..... I said thank God she does have a
vest but doesn't know how to swim or just don't trust the vest which
she was wearing......... The young man seemed to comfort her.... as
she floated in the water calmer than before..... Everyone was yelling
for other boaters who were passing by but couldn't see what was going
on..... Then the Border Patrol came by and the people on the shore
yelled pointing to the water craft and saying that someone needed
help in the water....The Border Patrol craft looped around to the
distressed victims and pulled the young lady out of the water.....
This is why it is very necessary to wear life vest while enjoying
yourself on any water craft it will save your life!!!!




Something to remember before you go out for summer water fun:

1. Ensure that you have a properly fitted life vest that will
support your weight and size.

2. Test your vest in shallow water while you are wearing it to
gain comfort in your vest and to make any adjustments to your vest if
needed. You can do this by either going to your community pool or by
going to your city or state park beach.

3. Practice emergency situations encase you fall into the water
or have to jump in and pull someone out of the water. Ensure you are
completely comfortable with your vest and trust that it will support
you while wearing it if you fall into the water. The vest is made to
keep you afloat until someone can rescue you or you can reach safety.

4. Don't Panic!!!! By panicking will only exhaust you and cause
you to cramp up!! Relax and let the vest do what it was made to do…
SAVE YOUR LIFE!!!!! Swim toward safety or to a location that is safe
or until you can gain your strengthen and or confidence to swim
toward safer ground or area.

Zodiac Sign and Label ( A Must Read !!!)
Once you have opened this e-mail, there's no turning back. Below are
true
descriptions of zodiac signs, with traits from a book written 35
years ago by
an astrologist predictions. Read your sign, then forward it on, with
your
zodiac sign and label on the subject line.

This is real deal, try ignoring it, and the first thing you'll notice

is having a horrible day starting tomorrow morning - and it only gets
worse
from there.

ARIES - The Liar

Outgoing. Lovable. Spontaneous. Not one to mess with. Funny.
Excellent kisser
EXTREMELY adorable. Loves relationships, Addictive. Loud. 16 years of
bad luck
if you do not forward.

TAURUS - The Tramp

Aggressive. Loves being in long relationships. Likes to give a good

fight for what they want. Extremely outgoing. Loves to help people in
times of
need. Good kisser. Good personality. Stubborn. A caring person. One
of a
kind. Not one to mess with. Are the most attractive people on earth!
15 years
of bad luck if you do not forward.

GEMINI - Irresistible

Nice. Love is one of a kind. Great listeners Very Good in the you
know
where... Lover not a fighter, but will still knock you out.

Trustworthy. Always happy. Loud. Talkative. Outgoing VERY FORGIVING.
Loves to
make out. Has a beautiful smile. Generous. Strong. THE MOST
IRRESISTIBLE. 9
years of bad luck if you do not forward.

CANCER - The Cutie

MOST AMAZING KISSER. Very high appeal. Love is one of a kind. Very
romantic.
Most caring person you will ever meet! Entirely creative. Extremely
random
and proud of it. Freak.

Spontaneous. Great telling stories. Not a Fighter, But will Knock
your lights
out if it comes down to it. Someone you should hold on to. 12 years
of bad
luck if you do not forward.


LEO - The Lion

Great talker. Attractive and passionate. Laid back. Knows how to have
fun. Is
really good at almost anything. Great kisser. Unpredictable.
Outgoing. Down
to earth. Addictive. Attractive. Loud. Loves being in long
relationships.
Talkative. Not one to mess with. Rare to find. Good when found. 7
years of bad
luck if you do not forward.

VIRGO - The One that Waits

Dominant in relationships. Someone loves them right now. Always wants
the last
word. Caring. Smart. Loud. Loyal. Easy to talk to. Everything you
ever wanted.
Easy to please. The one and only. 7 years of bad luck if you do not
forward.

LIBRA - The Lame One

Nice to everyone they meet. Their Love is one of a kind. Silly, fun
and sweet.
Have own unique appeal. Most caring person you will ever meet!
However, not
the kind of person you want to mess with... you might end up
crying... 9 years
of bad luck if you do not forward.

SCORPIO - The Addict

EXTREMELY adorable. Intelligent. Loves to joke. Very Good sense of
humor.
Energetic. Predict future. GREAT kisser. Always get what they want.
Attractive. Easy going.

Loves being in long relationships. Talkative. Romantic. Caring. 4
years of bad luck if you do not forward.

SAGITTARIUS - The Promiscuous One

Spontaneous. High appeal. Rare to find. Great when found. Loves being
in long
relationships. So much love to give. Not one to mess with. Very
pretty. Very
romantic. Nice to everyone they meet. Their Love is one of a kind.
Silly, fun
and sweet. Have own unique appeal. Most caring person you will ever
meet!
Amazing in the you know where..!!! Not the kind of person you want to
mess
with- you might end up crying. 4 years of bad luck if you do not
forward.

CAPRICORN - The Passionate Lover

Love to bust. Nice. Sassy. Intelligent. Sexy. Predict future.

Irresistible. Loves being in long relationships. Great talker. Always

gets what he or she wants. Cool. Loves to own Gemini's in sports.

Extremely fun. Loves to joke. Smart. 24 years of bad luck if you do
not
forward.

AQUARIUS - Does It In The Water

Trustworthy. Attractive. Great kisser. One of a kind. Loves being in

long-term relationships. Extremely energetic. Unpredictable. Will
exceed your
expectations. Not a Fighter, But will Knock your lights out. 2 years
of bad
luck if you do not forward

PISCES - The Partner for Life

Caring and kind. Smart. Center of attention. High appeal. Has the
last word.
Good to find, hard to keep. Fun to be around. Extremely weird but in
a good
way. Good Sense of Humor!!! Thoughtful. Always lets what he or she
wants.
Loves to joke. Very popular. Silly, fun and sweet. 5 years of bad
luck if you
do not forward.

OK here's the thing you cant send this to the person who sent this to
you so
good luck! the other hard part is that last one with this is the
loser.

Ready .......... Set............ GO!

Hospitals to screen for risky bacteria: Some Metro Detroit facilities
hope checks for drug-resistant infections will save lives and money.
The Detroit News
August 13, 2007
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007708130312

Some Metro Detroit hospitals will start swabbing the noses of
arriving patients to test them for one of the most problematic
bacteria, in response to the growing threat of drug-resistant
infections.

Those patients found carrying Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus (MRSA) -- even if they don't have infections -- will be
isolated in rooms where hospital staff take special precautions (such
as wearing gowns and gloves) to keep the organism from spreading.

"We know that isolation works," said Paula Keller, technical director
of epidemiology at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. "It limits
transmission, or reduces it."

Keller and doctors at other health systems say they are aggressively
screening in light of the increased rates of MRSA infections and the
results of recent studies that show early screening and isolation
works.

Faced with a rise in hospital-acquired infections that risk the lives
of patients and cost billions of dollars annually to treat, hospitals
across the country are aggressively trying to lower infection rates.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health
care-associated infections account for an estimated 1.7 million
infections and 99,000 associated deaths each year in American
hospitals. Hospitals are particularly concerned about containing the
spread of infections by drug-resistant bacteria like MRSA, which
first emerged in the U.S. in 1968 and is especially difficult and
costly to treat because of its resistance to antibiotics.

Veterans Affairs hospitals in Ann Arbor and Detroit must start
screening every patient for MRSA by September, in response to a
mandate from the Department of Veterans Affairs this spring that
requires all 155 VA medical centers in the U.S. test for the
bacteria. VA hospitals have been phasing in testing since the spring
in intensive care units, said Dr. Carol Kauffman, chief of infectious
diseases at the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System.

Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak started screening open-heart surgery
patients for MRSA in July, and in September will begin testing
patients deemed a high risk for carrying MRSA and another organism
called Vanocomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE). High-risk patients
include those transferred from other hospitals and patients who live
in nursing homes or assisted living facilities.

Henry Ford Health System has been screening patients in intensive
care units for MRSA for about three months, and will begin testing
surgical patients in September. The health system is planning to
screen more high-risk patients in the future.

The infection is costly for hospitals. Each case of a MRSA infection
adds about 10 days to hospital stays and $30,000 to $60,000 in direct
costs per patient, said Dr. Marcus Zervos, division head for
infectious disease and director of infection control for the Henry
Ford Health System.

Many people carry bacteria like MRSA normally in their nose and
throat. Most of the time the bacteria aren't a problem to the person
carrying it or the people around them, unless they are undergoing
surgery or are ill.

Most efforts to prevent the spread of infections in hospitals have
focused on making contact with patients more sterile, like with
judicious hand-washing. But more hospitals across the country are
screening patients with no symptoms of infections.

The process has generated a national debate over whether it's really
necessary and actually works.

"Strict hand hygiene is what prevents infection," said Dr. George
Alangaden, infectious disease specialist at Harper University and
Karmanos Cancer hospitals. He notes the science is still undecided
about the benefits of aggressive screening of MRSA, and says it has a
number of downsides.

Focusing on one organism can mean missing others that could cause
infection, Alangaden said, and testing and isolating patients
carrying MRSA costs hospitals a lot of money. At the VA in Ann Arbor,
it will reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for
the test and the extra gowns and gloves for patients in isolation,
Kauffman said.

The Nazarene Way of Essenic Studies
  Yeshua or Jesus?
The Mis-Transliteration of a Greek Mis-Transliteration.


Yeshua is the original Aramaic proper name for Jesus the Nazarene,
who lived from about 6 B.C.E. to 27 C.E. (A.D.)  The word "Jesus" is
actually a mis-transliteration of a Greek mis-transliteration. The
Emperor Constatine even mistook Jesus for Apollo, the son of the
Greek god Zeus. In Hebrew Yeshua means Salvation while the name Jesus
has no intrinsic meaning in English whatsoever.

Yeshua Ben Yosef


It is most proper to call Him Yeshua. It was indeed his proper name,
given to him by his parents, and only in Hebrew does this name have
any meaning. In Hebrew Yeshua means both "Salvation," and the
concatenated form of Yahoshua, is "Lord who is Salvation." The name
Jesus has no intrinsic meaning in English whatsoever.

There are many Yeshuas that we read about in Biblical text and many
are confused with the Yeshua who would later become the "Christ". The
name Yeshua appears 29 times in the Tanach. Yehoshua (Joshua) of Nun
is called Yeshua in Nechemyah (Nehemiah) 8:17. Yeshua is the name of
the Cohain HaGadol (the high priest) in the time of Zerubavel in Ezra
3:2. It is the name of a Levite under King Hizkiyah (Hezekiah) in 2
Chronicles 31:15. There is even a city called Yeshua in the negev of
Yehudah in Nechemyah11:26. Yeshua is also a shortened version of the
word Yehoshua much like Bill is for William.

There are 7 other Yeshuas (Jesuses) in the Brit Chadashah. There is
Elymas bar Yeshua in Acts 13:6. There is an ancestor of Yeshua
HaMashiach: the son of Eliezar, the father of Er in Luke 3:29. In Rav
Shaul's letter to the Colossians in chapter 4, verse 11, there is a
Justus called Yeshua a fellow worker of Shaul. Josephus, the famous
Jewish historian mentions 20 different Yeshuas (Jesuses), 10 of which
are contemporary with Yeshua HaMashiach. All together, at least 50
Yeshuas from his time plus about 9 in the Tanach have been revealed
from Biblical text and other literary sources.

Mis-Translating the Mis-Translation


Yeshua is a Hebrew name which has been transliterated into Greek as
Iesous (IhsouV: pronounced "ee-ay-SUS"). The English "Jesus" comes
from the Latin transliteration of the Greek name into the Latin
Iesus. Now Greek has no "y" sound, but the Latin "i" is both an "i"
and a "j" (i.e., it can have a consonantal force in front of other
vowels), the latter of which is properly pronounced like the
English "y" (which explains the German Jesu, "YAY-su")That is why we
spell Jesus as we do, taking it straight from Latin, but we pronounce
the name with a soft "j" sound because that is what we do in English
with the consonantal "j".

The first letter in the name Yeshua ("Jesus") is the yod. Yod
represents the "Y" sound in Hebrew. Many names in the Bible that
begin with yod are mispronounced by English speakers because the yod
in these names was transliterated in English Bibles with the
letter "J" rather than "Y". This came about because in early English
the letter "J" was pronounced the way we pronounce "Y" today. All
proper names in the Old Testament were transliterated into English
according to their Hebrew pronunciation via the Latin, but when
English pronunciation shifted to what we know today, these
transliterations were not altered. Thus, such Hebrew place names as
ye-ru-sha-LA-yim, ye-ri-HO, and yar-DEN have become known to us as
Jerusalem, Jericho, and Jordan; and Hebrew personal names such as yo-
NA, yi-SHAI, and ye-SHU-a have become known to us as Jonah, Jesse,
and Jesus. To further complicate matters, there was no letter "J" in
the old English alphabet and the letter "I" was often used in its
place. Often in early texts of the time, Jesus or Jerusalem would be
spelled Iesus or Ierusalem.

The second sound in Yeshua's name is called tse-RE, and is pronounced
almost like the letter "e" in the word "net". Just as the "Y" sound
of the first letter is mispronounced in today's English, so too the
first vowel sound in "Jesus". Before the Hebrew name "Yeshua" was
transliterated into English, it was first transliterated into Greek.
There was no difficulty in transliterating the tse-RE sound since the
ancient Greek language had an equivalent letter which represented
this sound. And there was no real difficulty in transcribing this
same first vowel into English. The translators of the earliest
versions of the English Bible transliterated the tse-RE in Yeshua
with an "e". Unfortunately, later English speakers guessed wrongly
that this "e" should be pronounced as in "me," and thus the first
syllable of the English version of Yeshua came to be pronounced "Jee"
instead of "Yeh". It is this pronunciation which produced such
euphemistic profanities as "Gee" and "Geez".

Since Yeshua is spelled "Jeshua" and not "Jesus" in most English
versions of the Old Testament (for example in Ezra 2:2 and 2
Chronicles 31:15), one easily gets the impression that the name is
never mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures. Yet 'Yeshua' appears there
twenty-nine times, and is the name of at least five different persons
and one village in the southern part of Yehudah ("Judah").

In contrast to the early biblical period, there were relatively few
different names in use among the Jewish population of the Land of
Israel at the time of the Second Temple. The name Yeshua was one of
the most common male names in that period, tied with Eleazer for
fifth place behind Simon, Joseph, Judah, and John. Nearly one out of
ten persons known from the period was named Yeshua.

The first sound of the second syllable of Yeshua is the "sh" sound.
It is represented by the Hebrew letter shin. However Greek, like many
other languages, has no "sh" sound. Instead, the closest
approximation, the Greek sigma, was used when transcribing "Yeshua"
as "Iesus". Translators of English versions of the New Testament
transliterated the Greek transcription of a Hebrew name, instead of
returning to the original Hebrew. This was doubly unfortunate, first
because the "sh" sound exists in English, and second because in
English the "s" sound can shift to the "z" sound, which is what
happened in the case of the pronunciation of "Jesus".

The fourth sound one hears in the name Yeshua is the "u" sound, as in
the word "true". Like the first three sounds, this also has come to
be mispronounced but in this case it is not the fault of the
translators. They transcribed this sound accurately, but English is
not a phonetic language and "u" can be pronounced in more than one
way. At some point the "u" in "Jesus" came to be pronounced as
in "cut," and so we say "Jee-zuhs."

The "a" sound, as in the word "father," is the fifth sound in Jesus'
name. It is followed by a guttural produced by contracting the lower
throat muscles and retracting the tongue root- an unfamiliar task for
English speakers. In an exception to the rule, the vowel sound "a"
associated with the last letter "ayin" (the guttural) is pronounced
before it, not after. While there is no equivalent in English or any
other Indo-European language, it is somewhat similar to the last
sound in the name of the composer, "Bach." In this position it is
almost inaudible to the western ear. Some Israelis pronounce this
last sound and some don't, depending on what part of the dispersion
their families returned from. The Hebrew Language Academy, guardian
of the purity of the language, has ruled that it should be sounded,
and Israeli radio and television announcers are required to pronounce
it correctly. There was no letter to represent them, and so these
fifth and sixth sounds were dropped from the Greek transcription
of "Yeshua," -the transcription from which the English "Jesus" is
derived.

So where did the final "s" of "Jesus" come from? Masculine names in
Greek ordinarily end with a consonant, usually with an "s" sound, and
less frequently with an "n" or "r" sound. In the case of "Iesus," the
Greeks added a sigma, the "s" sound, to close the word. The same is
true for the names Nicodemus, Judas, Lazarus, and others.

English speakers make one final change from the original
pronunciation of Jesus' name. English places the accent on "Je,"
rather than on "sus." For this reason, the "u" has been shortened in
its English pronunciation to "uh."

In Jesus' Name


Today's tradition of pronouncing His completely hellenized name
as "Jesus" has indeed obscured His true name, "Yeshua," and has
shifted its perceived meaning much like most of His original
teachings.

As with all things Essene however, there is always the exoteric and
the esoteric philosophies and functions. That is, those ideas and
teachings suitable to be imparted to the public, and those designed
for or understood by the specially initiated alone.

Even His name, it would seem, became a part of this understanding.
The name Jesus or Jesus Christ is often used in everything from idle
conversation, to bumper stickers and jewelry, to enforcing false
teachings, to justifying wars and political agendas, and is even used
as a profanity. The name Yeshua however, has remained pure and holy,
known and used only by those who would uphold His name and teachings
in the highest regard and thus reserving His holy name for use only
in spiritual matters and the most humbled and sincere of prayer and
obeisances.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------

Special Note: In an effort to keep the integrity of the manuscripts
within The Nazarene Way site and its archives intact, and for the
purposes of study, correspondence and for future theological
reference, the name Jesus does appear in many of our texts, files and
manuscripts. To the devout student, the proper name Yeshua is always
implied.

It is our intention to reproduce all texts as they were originally
written or, as they were originally translated. We feel it is
important that no text is ever arbitrarily or intentionally changed,
altered, added to, replaced or corrected, to include spelling,
punctuation or grammatical error. The word Jesus is also used on our
main menu and index pages for general public recognition and for
common browser and search engine purposes.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your
pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and
turn again and rend you. ~Matt 7.6

Return to The Nazarene Way main menu

The Nazarene Way of Essenic Studies
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Brokerage says hackers stole contact info for over 6.3 million
customers, but that more sensitive info appears safe.
September 14 2007: 11:43 AM EDT


OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. said Friday one of
its databases was hacked and contact information for more than 6.3
million customers was stolen.

A spokeswoman for the Omaha-based brokerage firm said more sensitive
information in the same database, including Social Security numbers
and account data, does not appear to have been taken.

Beware of cellphone snoops
Video
More video
Data Doctors' Ken Colburn talks to Veronica De La Cruz about
encrypting flash drives.
Play video

The company would not share many details of its investigation,
including when the hack took place, because it is still looking into
the theft and is cooperating with investigators from the FBI.

Ameritrade's customers have received unwanted e-mail ads because of
the data theft. Spokeswoman Katrina Becker said there is no evidence
that any customer suffered financial losses or was a victim of
identity theft.

Ameritrade (down $0.03 to $17.81, Charts) plans to notify its
customers about the data theft Friday, and the brokerage firm posted
information on its Web site.

"While the financial assets our clients hold with us were never
touched, and there is no evidence that our clients' Social Security
Numbers were taken, we understand that this issue has increased
unwanted SPAM, which is annoying and inconvenient for them," Chief
Executive Joe Moglia said in a statement.

"We sincerely apologize for that and any added concern this may have
caused."

Ameritrade said it is confident that it identified how this
information was taken and has changed its computer code enough to
prevent the theft from recurring. It added that any new client

Perfect your fatherhood technique by thinking like a ballplayer

By: Hugh O'Neill
Aug 1, 2007 - 2:21:58 PM
You may be more useful to your children on the ground than on a
pedestal.
  I'd had a bad Dad day. No need to gnaw details. Let's leave it at
this: By the time I had fled to the den for the sanctuary of Mets–
Phillies, I not only regretted ever having children, but wondered how
my once promising life had come to this dark place. As usual,
baseball was balm.

The instant I heard the familiar announcer voices, I felt the
pressure in my carotids easing down. After just a few moments of
balls and strikes, I actually had a tender thought about my wretched
kids. As the game ambled on, my anger evolved into introspection.
How, I despaired in uncharacteristic self-critique, had I managed to
learn so little about fatherhood? After 15 years, I made the same
rookie mistakes three or four times a week. Then, just as the game
climaxed, including a happy result for the home team, everything
about fatherhood was perfectly clear: Baseball was the answer. Since
that night, these wisdoms have helped me have much better at-bats as
Dad.

Just hit the center of the ball. Ever since Ruth invented the home
run, the idea of it has been nestled in the male psyche. Sure, we
have a grudging admiration for the high-average Gwynns and Ichiros,
but most guys aspire to hit those moon shots into the October night.
And that hyperbolic taste for the big blow seeps into our fatherhood
ambitions. We long to be heroic figures in our kids' lives, and so we
often overswing, thwarting the ­technique that always trumps thump. I
share a regret I've heard from several fathers, a sense of having
been too big a presence, of having intruded into moments when the
kids might have learned more had Dad been a little smaller, a little
less.

Consider Derek Jeter, who until 2005 had the most at-bats of any
active player without hitting a grand slam. When asked about the
stat, the Yankee captain averred that he was actually a little proud,
because when he came up with the bases juiced, he reminded himself
not to hit a home run. The temptation to be The Man, to muscle up,
can wreck your rhythm, went his thinking, and his goal was just to
hit the center of the ball with the center of the bat. If a dad has
the discipline to stay modest and stick to fundamentals, guess what
happens? Not only will his kids find their way out of his shadow, but
every now and then the old man will surprise them with a moon shot
into the night.

Let the kid have his ups. When some pint-size third-grade sociopath
is taunting your boy, your instincts are to (1) deploy the 82nd
Airborne, (2) explore legal remedies against the school district, and
(3) challenge the dad of said thug to a throw down. Wrong. Send your
son into the game. Offer a word of encouragement and a few tips for
defusing the situation, and see if he doesn't work his own way out of
the jam. Too often, I made the mistake of trying to fix everything,
and I ended up ­disrespecting my kids' power in the world, denying
their 11-year-old realities with what I imagined was my wiser view.

Take the out at first. A baseball team gets into trouble when it
forgets a fundamental truth of the game: Baseball favors the defense.
Fly balls tend to be caught, grounders tend to find the shortstop's
glove, even belt-high fastballs turn into easy chances for the left
fielder far more often than they become homers. Things get sticky
when a rookie pitcher panics and tries for the force at third, and
suddenly, what could have been a manageable second-and-third-one-down
situation is now, yikes, a bases-loaded-nobody-out mess. The dad
analog is this: Just as baseball is inclined toward outs, kids are
inclined toward their families. Even in adolescence, when they seem
to value only eye rolling and contempt, I'm telling you, underneath
the surging hormones, your kids want to be part of your tribe.
Remember that inclination when the call comes from the principal's
office, and subdue the adrenal, confrontational impulses that are the
default for so many men. Try a gentler response that trusts the
child's attachment. To be sure, there will be times when tough love
is the only kind that is useful. But you're playing with the lead. So
nobody is going to be kicked out of the house—not tonight anyway. The
morning is always calmer. Think damage control. Love wants to find a
way. Behind your anger, reassert the bonds—a dinner together at home
or at the local pizza place, a DVD. An affectionate shoulder squeeze
can actually go with a stern reproach.

Aim for a .300 average. In A League of Their Own, a movie about the
women's professional baseball league during World War II, one player
whimpers that "It's too hard" and threatens to quit. To which the
grizzled manager replies in stupefaction: "Too hard? The hard is what
makes it great!" Baseball is about coping with failure. The best
batters fail two-thirds of the time. Knowledge of this fact could
come in handy for a kid who thinks failure is abject and that he's
the only one who screws up. So, Dad, feel free to admit how inept you
were as a child—at whatever. Your kid thinks you're cooler than he
is, and you know you're not. You may be more useful to him down on
the ground than up on that pedestal.

Remember, it's a long season. Baseball is ruthless and generous. Few
spotlights are harsher than the batter's box with the game on the
line in the eighth. Strike out with the tying run on third and you're
alone at center stage with 43,000 witnesses to your incompetence. But
suddenly the batting order has turned over, and the batter is digging
in again in the ninth with an opportunity for redemption. Parenthood
indicts you and forgives you too. Sure, three hours ago you were
careless with a brokenhearted 12-year-old or you treated Mom with
less respect than she deserves. But there's another game tomorrow or
even later today. From this moment forward, you can be a wonderful
father. Seize the opportunity of this at-bat, right now.

As much as I have cherished the wisdoms gleaned from spending 20
percent of my life watching base­ball, I've savored the tranquilities
of playing the game even more. On many evenings in my life as Dad,
the only thing I wanted to do was crack open a beer, sit down, and
chat with my wife. Or even better, sit down, crack open a beer, and
be quiet. But I didn't. Instead, driven by obligation or guilt or
some yuppie sense that my children are entitled to the last erg of
energy in my tank, I went outside and played ball with the kids. And
every time, the gentle rocking of pitch and catch calmed the clatter
in my mind. It was as if my autonomic nervous system, that web of
unconscious impulses that manages my heartbeat and breath, muffled
the part of my brain that worries about roads not taken, about should-
haves and better-nots, about anything other than pretending to fall
down just before I could tag a giggling child. Baseball with my kids
commended me to what Thoreau called "the gospel according to this
moment." A man couldn't ask for a ­better pastime.

Career Training

Does the "Reverse Glass Ceiling" Exist?
by Jennifer Merritt

We've all heard about the trials and tribulations of women rising
through the ranks of male-dominated fields such as technology and
finance. The successful ones are celebrated for having "broken
through the glass ceiling," meaning they've maneuvered through gender-
based workplace limitations.

In fact, the idea of the glass ceiling is such a phenomenon that the
U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) formed a "Glass Ceiling" commission in
1991. But what about the men who succeed in what tend to be female-
dominated careers, including nursing, travel, marketing, and
childcare? Is there such a thing as a reverse glass ceiling for men?

Licensed psychotherapist Stacy Kaiser--who has offered her
professional opinion for both MSNBC and CNN--says she sees more men
popping up in female-dominated careers. "I don't know if it's a trend
yet, because it's a more recent development, but it's definitely
something that's happening and people are becoming more and more
aware of it," she says.
It may seem like a strange concept to grasp, considering that men are
rarely cast as being victims of discrimination. An examination of why
women tend to gravitate toward certain fields more so than men is a
good starting point for exploring whether a glass ceiling exists for
men.

Psychologist Warren Farrell, Ph.D., the San Francisco-based author of
such books as Why Men Earn More and The Liberated Man, has a specific
take on the equation. "Women enter into those areas because they are
the most fulfilling," he says. "Men don't because they feel they need
to take on the responsibility of providing for the family, and the
way they earn love is to earn money."

That's not to say careers in nursing, travel, marketing, and
childcare can't be lucrative, but more often than not, they are far
surpassed by salaries in male-dominated fields such as finance and
technology.
Plus, in today's world of double incomes, men are free to pursue
career paths they find interesting rather than ones they solely see
as financially viable, Kaiser says. "In the past decade, more careers
have opened up to women," she notes. "They're becoming lawyers and
doctors and scientists, and leaving openings in other areas that men
are now filling."

Men face a different set of challenges than women in choosing to
pursue a career dominated by the opposite sex, since for men, passion
for the work is often not as powerful a motivator as the bottom line:
salary. What many men in traditionally female careers find, however,
is that it is possible to have the best of both worlds.
A novelty in the nursing world
Take, for example, how pursuing a career in nursing allows Mark
Liwoch the best way to provide for his family and feel satisfied in
his job. Liwoch admittedly was a bit of a drifter after high school
graduation, taking on odd jobs in restaurants, landscaping, and even
a chicken farm.

He eventually found himself intrigued by a career in nursing
because "it was a hot career that guaranteed a livable wage upon
graduation once you passed the boards," he says. So he pursued a
bachelor's degree in nursing from Stockton University in Pomona, New
Jersey, and a master's degree in health administration from St.
Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Liwoch now feels he has found the job satisfaction he had been
pursuing all those years working odd jobs. "Nursing is a very high-
satisfaction job as far as knowing that you're doing good for
others," he says, "and it also helps that you realize you're going to
have job security and a good wage."

And while nursing staffs may mostly consist of women, that is
starting to change, says Liwoch's colleague, Tom Keating, director of
the emergency room at Shore Memorial Hospital in Atlantic County, New
Jersey. "Some men probably at first felt embarrassed doing something
that is considered a female-oriented job," Keating says. "But I think
you're starting to see more guys get into it because they see the
opportunities."
Statistics indicate Keating's instinct is right, though the
progression of men into the field has been slow. Since 1983, the
percentage of men employed as registered nurses has risen from just
under 5 percent to over 8 percent in 2003, according to the most
recent data available from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Liwoch certainly did. He now has a high-level job as administrative
director at Shore Memorial Hospital.

While Liwoch admits to being a novelty in the nursing world, he says
his gender was never an issue as he rose through the ranks. "My
organization is such that they promote education, so within three
months of graduating with my bachelor's degree, I was approached by
my nurse manager to become a clinical supervisor, which is a front-
line manager role where you're still in scrubs," Liwoch says. "At
that time, I became the sole provider for my children, so I knew the
9-to-5, Monday-to-Friday role would fit my lifestyle as a single
dad."

More and more men would love to have a fulfilling career that also
allows ample family time, says Farrell. "When I ask men in my
workshops to fantasize about what they would do if they didn't have
to worry about money, about 95 percent of them come up with things
like spending more time with their children, and doing something in
art, music, or literature," he says. "They would love to do something
that involves interacting with people more so than formulas,
machines, or technology."

Traveling the world

From the start, John Clifford knew he wanted to work with people
rather than machines. Even so, he wasn't sure what his calling was,
so at the age of 18, he took a career- and life-planning course at a
local community college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. "The one that kept
landing at the top of the list was travel agent. It was puzzling,
because I didn't have a real understanding of it, but I thought it
would be a great way to make some money, see the world, and get out
of Santa Fe," Clifford says.

He took a travel agent course in Albuquerque and graduated at the top
of a class filled mostly with women. He worked at various agencies
before striking out on his own, catering to upscale clients like
Giorgio Armani Corporation and Fortune 500 executives. Clifford even
landed on Condé Nast Traveler's "A-list of Agents," becoming the
youngest man to get on the magazine's "A-list All Stars" in 2004--a
list that, to this day, comprises mostly women.

"The agency I affiliated with is 90 percent women," Clifford
says, "and sometimes I feel it's hard to get the recognition and
respect I feel I deserve and have earned, just as women in the
corporate world may feel it is hard to break into the old boy's club.
I face that every day in the travel trade. Whether or not we like to
say a 'women's club' exists, it does. It's just as hard for a man to
break through that."

PLS SEND THIS MSG TO OTHERS ABOUT HOLY QUARN


Please send this message to every one you know.


If you dont.... A Muslim(s) around the world could be receiving false
information about Islam which you know about, so I would send this
messages as soon as u have read it.


Beware of the following websites:



1. www.answering-islam.org


2. www.aboutislam.com


3. www.thequran.com


4. www.allahassurance.com



These sites have been developed by the unauthentic and unreliable
sources


Who Intentionally spread wrong information about the QURAN , the
HADITH and the Islam


Please spread this information To all the Muslim brothers and sisters
around the world.


You Cant Ignore this, send it to as many muslims as u can.

The new AMERICAN Quran: a dangerous trick A new Quran is being
distributed in Kuwait, titled 'The True Furqan'. It is being
described as the ayats of the Shaytan and Al-Furqan weekly magazine
has found out that the two American printing companies;'Omega 2001'
and 'Wine Press' are involved in the publishing of 'The True Furqan',
a book which has also been titled 'The 21st Century Quran'! It is
over 366 pages and is in both the Arabic and English languages...it
is being distributed to our children in Kuwait in the private English
schools! The book contains 77 Surats, which include Al-Fatiha, Al-
Jana and Al-Injil. Instead of Bismillah, each Surat begins with a
longer vesion of this incorporating the Christian belief of the three
spirits.

And

this so! called Quran opposes many Islamic
beliefs. in one of its ayats it describes having more
than one wife as fornication, divorce being non-permissable and it
uses a new system for the
sharing out of the will, opposing the current one. It states that
Jihad is HARAAM. This book even goes as far as attacking Allah,
Subhanahu wa Tahala!

All this is poisoning our children at approx. $3.

Brothers and Sisters please make sure you forward this email to as
many people as possible so that we can stop this dangerous trick.

Please tell everyone you know and may Allah rewa

We Are Going To Bogotá, Colombia!!!!!!

We are planning a trip to Bogotá, Colombia next fall and will venture
into a world of beautiful beaches, exotic animals and exotic plants,
gifts items including souvenir's, and other gifts and remembrances
that I know will last for a life time.

Have anyone been there as of yet? Would anyone want to come and share
in this wonderful group tour experience so that we can make this a
one in a life time 360 experience?

The flight is around $700.00 round trip depending on where you are
flying from, not including hotel and food costs plus other expenses.
I suspect that the total trip will cost around $2,500 to $3,500 for a
total of 11 days and ten nights.

We most likely can get the whole trip for cheaper if we book a group
package of more than ten (10) people. We will be staying in the
beautiful capital of Bogotá and will move around the city as guest
visiting clubs, eateries, and souvenir shops.

I will put together an agenda so that a more detail outline of what
will be going on throughout our tour.

So, if you would like to join us on this trip go to my forum site at:
http://z13.invisionfree.com/ShephardFamily...hp?showforum=69

and sign up and let me know if you plan to go. We will need at least
ten (10) people or more to get a group rate traveling together. We
may be able to travel with less and receive the same rate but it may
depend on the travel peek time of travel. I would like to have the
needed information before August 1st 2008.


More information: http://bogota.usembassy.gov/

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/samerica/co.htm


Tour:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/south-
america/colombia/

http://www.mantarayakayak.com/

Try this site: http://z13.invisionfree.com/ShephardFamily/index.php?
showtopic=216

--- In shephardfamilyenterprise@yahoogroups.com, "Nicholas W.
Shephard Sr." <shephardfamilyenterprise@...> wrote:
>
> We Are Going To Bogotá, Colombia!!!!!!
>
> We are planning a trip to Bogotá, Colombia next fall and will
venture
> into a world of beautiful beaches, exotic animals and exotic
plants,
> gifts items including souvenir's, and other gifts and remembrances
> that I know will last for a life time.
>
> Have anyone been there as of yet? Would anyone want to come and
share
> in this wonderful group tour experience so that we can make this a
> one in a life time 360 experience?
>
> The flight is around $700.00 round trip depending on where you are
> flying from, not including hotel and food costs plus other
expenses.
> I suspect that the total trip will cost around $2,500 to $3,500 for
a
> total of 11 days and ten nights.
>
> We most likely can get the whole trip for cheaper if we book a
group
> package of more than ten (10) people. We will be staying in the
> beautiful capital of Bogotá and will move around the city as guest
> visiting clubs, eateries, and souvenir shops.
>
> I will put together an agenda so that a more detail outline of what
> will be going on throughout our tour.
>
> So, if you would like to join us on this trip go to my forum site
at:
> http://z13.invisionfree.com/ShephardFamily/index.php?showtopic=216
>
> and sign up and let me know if you plan to go. We will need at
least
> ten (10) people or more to get a group rate traveling together. We
> may be able to travel with less and receive the same rate but it
may
> depend on the travel peek time of travel. I would like to have the
> needed information before August 1st 2008.
>
>
> More information: http://bogota.usembassy.gov/
>
> http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/samerica/co.htm
>
>
> Tour:
>
> http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/south-
> america/colombia/
>
> http://www.mantarayakayak.com/
>

Go into this site and register:

http://z13.invisionfree.com/ShephardFamily/index.php?showtopic=216

--- In shephardfamilyenterprise@yahoogroups.com, "Nicholas W.
Shephard Sr." <shephardfamilyenterprise@...> wrote:
>
> We Are Going To Bogotá, Colombia!!!!!!
>
> We are planning a trip to Bogotá, Colombia next fall and will
venture
> into a world of beautiful beaches, exotic animals and exotic
plants,
> gifts items including souvenir's, and other gifts and remembrances
> that I know will last for a life time.
>
> Have anyone been there as of yet? Would anyone want to come and
share
> in this wonderful group tour experience so that we can make this a
> one in a life time 360 experience?
>
> The flight is around $700.00 round trip depending on where you are
> flying from, not including hotel and food costs plus other
expenses.
> I suspect that the total trip will cost around $2,500 to $3,500 for
a
> total of 11 days and ten nights.
>
> We most likely can get the whole trip for cheaper if we book a
group
> package of more than ten (10) people. We will be staying in the
> beautiful capital of Bogotá and will move around the city as guest
> visiting clubs, eateries, and souvenir shops.
>
> I will put together an agenda so that a more detail outline of what
> will be going on throughout our tour.
>
> So, if you would like to join us on this trip go to my forum site
at:
> http://z13.invisionfree.com/ShephardFamily...hp?showforum=69
>
> and sign up and let me know if you plan to go. We will need at
least
> ten (10) people or more to get a group rate traveling together. We
> may be able to travel with less and receive the same rate but it
may
> depend on the travel peek time of travel. I would like to have the
> needed information before August 1st 2008.
>
>
> More information: http://bogota.usembassy.gov/
>
> http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/samerica/co.htm
>
>
> Tour:
>
> http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/south-
> america/colombia/
>
> http://www.mantarayakayak.com/
>

---

To: shephardfamilyenterprise@yahoogroups.com
From: shephardfamilyenterprise@...
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 17:35:40 +0000
Subject: [shephardfamilyenterprise] Re: We Are Going To Bogotá, Colombia!!!!!! 360 Experience Get Together!!!

Try this site: http://z13.invisionfree.com/ShephardFamily/index.php?
showtopic=216

--- In shephardfamilyenterprise@yahoogroups.com, "Nicholas W.
Shephard Sr." <shephardfamilyenterprise@...> wrote:
>
> We Are Going To Bogotá, Colombia!!!!!!
>
> We are planning a trip to Bogotá, Colombia next fall and will
venture
> into a world of beautiful beaches, exotic animals and exotic
plants,
> gifts items including souvenir's, and other gifts and remembrances
> that I know will last for a life time.
>
> Have anyone been there as of yet? Would anyone want to come and
share
> in this wonderful group tour experience so that we can make this a
> one in a life time 360 experience?
>
> The flight is around $700.00 round trip depending on where you are
> flying from, not including hotel and food costs plus other
expenses.
> I suspect that the total trip will cost around $2,500 to $3,500 for
a
> total of 11 days and ten nights.
>
> We most likely can get the whole trip for cheaper if we book a
group
> package of more than ten (10) people. We will be staying in the
> beautiful capital of Bogotá and will move around the city as guest
> visiting clubs, eateries, and souvenir shops.
>
> I will put together an agenda so that a more detail outline of what
> will be going on throughout our tour.
>
> So, if you would like to join us on this trip go to my forum site
at:
> http://z13.invisionfree.com/ShephardFamily/index.php?showtopic=216
>
> and sign up and let me know if you plan to go. We will need at
least
> ten (10) people or more to get a group rate traveling together. We
> may be able to travel with less and receive the same rate but it
may
> depend on the travel peek time of travel. I would like to have the
> needed information before August 1st 2008.
>
>
> More information: http://bogota.usembassy.gov/
>
> http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/samerica/co.htm
>
>
> Tour:
>
> http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/south-
> america/colombia/
>
> http://www.mantarayakayak.com/
>

---

To: shephardfamilyenterprise@yahoogroups.com
From: shephardfamilyenterprise@...
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 17:35:40 +0000
Subject: [shephardfamilyenterprise] Re: We Are Going To Bogotá, Colombia!!!!!! 360 Experience Get Together!!!

Try this site: http://z13.invisionfree.com/ShephardFamily/index.php?
showtopic=216

--- In shephardfamilyenterprise@yahoogroups.com, 'Nicholas W.
Shephard Sr.' <shephardfamilyenterprise@...> wrote:
>
> We Are Going To Bogotá, Colombia!!!!!!
>
> We are planning a trip to Bogotá, Colombia next fall and will
venture
> into a world of beautiful beaches, exotic animals and exotic
plants,
> gifts items including souvenir's, and other gifts and remembrances
> that I know will last for a life time.
>
> Have anyone been there as of yet? Would anyone want to come and
share
> in this wonderful group tour experience so that we can make this a
> one in a life time 360 experience?
>
> The flight is around $700.00 round trip depending on where you are
> flying from, not including hotel and food costs plus other
expenses.
> I suspect that the total trip will cost around $2,500 to $3,500 for
a
> total of 11 days and ten nights.
>
> We most likely can get the whole trip for cheaper if we book a
group
> package of more than ten (10) people. We will be staying in the
> beautiful capital of Bogotá and will move around the city as guest
> visiting clubs, eateries, and souvenir shops.
>
> I will put together an agenda so that a more detail outline of what
> will be going on throughout our tour.
>
> So, if you would like to join us on this trip go to my forum site
at:
> http://z13.invisionfree.com/ShephardFamily/index.php?showtopic=216
>
> and sign up and let me know if you plan to go. We will need at
least
> ten (10) people or more to get a group rate traveling together. We
> may be able to travel with less and receive the same rate but it
may
> depend on the travel peek time of travel. I would like to have the
> needed information before August 1st 2008.
>
>
> More information: http://bogota.usembassy.gov/
>
> http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/samerica/co.htm
>
>
> Tour:
>
> http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/south-
> america/colombia/
>
> http://www.mantarayakayak.com/
>

Tips for International Travel

• Passport, Visa & Health Requirements

Advanced Passenger Information

• U.S. Aviation and Transportation Security Act

• New U.S.-VISIT Program, Department of Homeland Security
• Machine Readable Passport Requirements for Travelers to the U.S.
• Countries Eligible for U.S. Visa Waiver Program

• U.S. Citizens Traveling to Canada from the U.S.
• New U.S. Passport Requirements for U.S., Canadian, Mexican, Caribbean Travel 

Return to top

U.S. Entry/Exit Requirements For Non-U.S. Citizens 
As of October 1, 2004, all travelers to the U.S. not in possession of a U.S. passport or U.S. permanent resident card (Green Card) are required to participate in the US-VISIT program. Most Canadian visitors are exempt from this requirement.  The US-VISIT program collects biometric identifiers (an inkless fingerprint scan and a digital photograph) from the visitor upon arrival and departure from the U.S.  The US-VISIT procedures are expected to add only a short time to the Entry and Exit process. Together with standard passport and itinerary information gathered from passengers, the new program will verify the visitor's identity and compliance with U.S. visa and immigration policies. 

The US-VISIT Entry program was implemented in 2004 as part of the immigration process upon arrival in the U.S. Effective May 6, 2007, international travelers are no longer required to checkout at a US-VISIT Exit kiosk. All other exit procedures remain the same. International passengers who received a CBP Form I-94 (arrival/departure record upon arrival) must still return it to an airline representative when departing the US.
For further information, please visit: http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/content_multi_image/content_multi_image_0006.xml

Machine-readable and Biometric passport requirement for travelers to the U.S. 
Effective June 26th, 2005 - All visa-waiver nationals need a machine-readable passport (MRP) in order to enter the U.S.. Citizens of VWP countries arriving in the U.S. without an MRP will need to obtain a U.S. visa before commencing their trip. Visa and MRP requirements apply equally whether transiting or visiting the U.S. If you plan to make an incidental trip to Canada, Mexico or the adjacent islands as part of your trip to the U.S., once you leave the U.S. you may not be allowed to reenter without an MRP. Citizens of all VWP countries who have an MRP are allowed to visit the U.S. for general business or tourist purposes for a maximum of 90 days.

MRPs contain standardized characters recognized by optical readers when swiped in government and airline devices. Please note that an MRP is different than a biometric or electronic passport which has a digital photo or an e-passport chip, which governments may also require in the future. Each passenger must have an MRP to visit the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP).

Countries Eligible for U.S. Visa Waiver Program with MRP are listed below:

US government regulations prohibit airlines serving the U.S. from boarding visa-waiver nationals who do not have a machine readable passport or visa.
To learn more, or to apply for a non-immigrant visa, please visit the U.S. Department of State web site at www.travel.state.gov.
Return to top
 
Travel within U.S./Canada/Mexico/Caribbean

• U.S. Citizens Traveling to Canada from the U.S.
  You will need a valid U.S. passport to return to the U.S. (information on how to obtain a U.S. passport)
  • Original or certified copy of your birth certificate, plus photo identification.

Visas are not required for U.S. tourists entering Canada from the U.S. for stays up to 180 days.

All U.S. citizens entering Canada should have a valid passport, as this is a requirement to return back to the U.S.  Alien permanent residents of the U.S. must present their Permanent Resident, or Alien Registration Card, commonly called the Green Card. If you are a dual U.S./Canadian citizen you should always present yourself as a Canadian citizen when entering Canada. U.S. citizens should use their U.S. passports when entering or leaving the U.S. Please contact the Canadian Embassy at http://www.canadianembassy.org/ for further information.

• New U.S. Passport Requirements for U.S., Canadian, Mexican, Caribbean Travel
  U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has implemented a mandate (The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative) that phases in new passport requirements for all travelers to and from the Americas (including Mexico, Panama, and Canada), the Caribbean, and Bermuda. This will require a passport or other accepted form of documentation (U.S. Permanent Resident Card, DHS Travel Document/Refugee Document or Re-entry Permit, or other passport-replacing document) when entering the United States. This initiative has been implemented in phases:
  • Effective January 23, 2007 - All passengers including U.S., Canadian and Bermudian nationals are required to hold a valid passport to enter the United States if entering by air. This requirement applies to all air and sea travel to or from the U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean, and Canada. View full text of announcement 

For more information please visit: www.travel.state.gov or www.dhs.gov

Return to top

Top 10 Things to Do and See in Bogota, Colombia
From Bonnie Hamre,

Your Guide to South America for Visitors.

FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!Bogota has much to offer the visitor,
from the center of the historic district, to ample parks and
amusement centers, shopping, churches, museums, walks, and of course,
restaurants and nightlife.

1) Cerro de Monserrate
Take the cable car, the funicular railway or walk to the top of the
hill for a spectacular view of the city.

2) Amusement Parks
Mundo Aventura park has mechanical games such as sky-coaster, roller
coaster, hammer, and other adult amusements plus children's rides and
a feeding zoo.
Salitre Mágico park offers rides and entertainment for all ages while
Jaime Duque park has rides, a giant map, exhibitions and a zoo. A big
hand holding the world symbolizes God, and a reproduction of the Taj
Mahal dipslays reproductions of famous paintings. The park now is
more famous for its raves and parties with renowned DJ's.

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3) Soccer
Bogotá's best known and most popular soccer clubs are Millonarios and
Independiente Santa Fe. You'll find plenty of socce/futbol action in
the parks.

4) Carnaval de Bogotá
Held on August 5-6 to celebrate Bogota's founding, the carnival is a
festive event honoring Colombia's diversity with Comparsas, parades
of folkloric groups, dances and music that represent the cultural
manifestations from different regions and cultures of the country and
Verbenas, celebrations in suburban streets with dances, music, games
and gastronomy from different regions of the country.

5) Expoartesanias
"Expoartesanías is the place to find the best traditional and modern
Indian and Afro-Colombian handcrafts. It offers products made of
different natural raw materials like: fibers, fabrics, wood, silver,
gold, ceramic and stone, among others. From the beginning in 1991,
the main objective of 'Expoartesanias' has been to lead handcraft
product trends in the market."

6) Bullfights - Plaza de Toros la Santamaria
While these might not be to everybody's taste, Colombians love a good
challenge between bullfighter, the torero, matador, and the bull.
Bullfighting season is January through February, but small displays
are held throughout the year.

7) Shopping
Emeralds! Other jewels, antiques, clothing, leather goods and other
desirable goods.

8) Palacio de San Francisco
"The Palace of San Francisco is an example of the Republican style
that was fashionable in the beginning of the 20th century in the
capital of Colombia...In 1984, it was declared a national monument
and is currently occupied by one of the biggest schools in the city,
Nuestra Senora del Rosario."

9) Enjoy the City Parks
Bogotá has one of the largest urban parks of the world, the Simón
Bolívar Metropolitan Park, center of a recreational area that
includes the Botanical Gardens of Bogotá, the headquarters of
Coldeportes (the national sports authority), and the recently
finished Virgilio Barco Library.
"El Tunal" park hosts the annual Rock al Parque, a free festival in
which new and popular latin rock bands show their talent.

10) Museo de Oro
View the fabled collections of gold artifacts in the Gold Museum, and
tour other museums: Museo Arqueologico, Museo de Artes y Tradiciones
Populares, Museo de Arte Colonial, Museo de Arte Religioso, Museo
Nacional, Museo de Arte Moderno, and Quinta de Bolivar for a glimpse
of Colombian patrimony, art and cultural influences.

Suggested Reading
BogotaPlan Your Trip to BogotaBogota, ColombiaEmeralds of Colombia

I heard through the grapevine about a remark made on an episode of
  "Desperate Housewives" last night. The scene entailed Teri Hatcher's
character (Susan) at a hospital, being told by her gynecologist that
she might be hitting menopause. Susan replied, "Can I just check
those
diplomas because I just want to make sure that they are not from some
med school in the Philippines." If you go to  abc.com, you watch the
full episode and witness the scene at about 18:50 minutes into the
episode.

This type of derogatory remark is not only unnecessary and hurtful,
but is also unfounded, considering the presence of Filipinos and
Filipino Americans in the health care industry. Filipinos are the
second largest immigrant population in the United States, with many
entering the U.S. and passing their U.S. licensing boards as doctors,
nurses, and medical technicians. In fact, the Philippines produces
more  U.S. nurses than any other country in the world. So, to belittle
the education, experience, or value of Filipino Americans in health
care is disrespectful and plain and simply ignorant.

As Filipino Americans, we need to band together to ensure that this
type of hateful message is not allowed to continue on our television
and radio airwaves. Given the recent amounts of media attention that
has been given to Michael Richards (against African Americans), Isaiah
   Washington (against gays), and Rosie O'Donnell (against Asian/
Chinese
Americans), it is ridiculous that this type of hateful speech made it
through various screenwriters, the show's producers, the show's
actors, and ABC itself. Yet, this isn't the first time that negative
remarks have been made about the Philippines or Filipinos in the past.
In recent years, we've heard one too many "dogeater" comments by
"comedian" Joan Rivers on the red carpet or in her standup act, and I
believe that it is about time that we stand up for ourselves, so that
this type of hateful speech never happens again.

Please join me in expressing your concern, disappointment, and/or
disgust to the producers of ABC.com. You can sign the petition at
  http://www.petitiononline.com/FilABC/ or you can reach them directly
abc7@....

Latin Flavors: A Fusion of Culture & Cuisine

By Michelle Moran

APRIL 01, 2007 --
The influence of Latin cuisine and culture on the American lifestyle
is evident not only in our music, dress and décor, but in our
culinary direction, too. Latin-inspiration has brought a fusion of
flavors to the professional chef for decades. Still, these flavors
are relatively new for the whole of America. Foodies, ready to move
beyond the mainstream Mexican and Spanish fare, are embracing
regional Spanish and Mexican. And they're moving even beyond these
familiar regional cuisines to embrace South American temptations from
countries such as Ecuador, Chile, Brazil and Peru.

Home chefs are searching out ways to recreate magnificent Latin
dishes they experience during travels or restaurant visits. These
desires are fueled further by travel and food articles, as well as by
celebrity chefs.

Mintel Menu Insights, a resource that tracks national restaurant
trends, identified five key flavor movements that are positioned to
take the restaurant industry in new directions in 2007. One of these
was the continued growth of Latin flavors.

"There are many other flavor elements that are moving us beyond the
magic of chipotle and pomegranate," said Maria Caranfa, director of
Mintel Menu Insights.

"We're seeing more daring flavor experiences based on the infinite
ingredient offerings that currently exist. Restaurants are looking to
identify the next big thing, and they are serving up bolder options
as they move along their path to discovery."

According to Mintel Menu Insights, Mexican cuisine became the third
most popular cuisine on menus following traditional American and
Italian last year. Its popularity brought about an increase in
regional Mexican cuisine (including Oaxacan, Jalisco-style, and
Mazatlan), and this trend will continue in the upcoming year.
Mainstream acceptance of these flavors has opened doors for more
Latin-influenced flavors to flood restaurant menus. Spanish flavors
and ingredients will also emerge, as well as new Peruvian influences.

The Latin Pantry
Latin cuisine boasts an untapped wealth of culinary diversity from
Central and South America, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Spanish
Caribbean, as well as an easy adaptability to European and Asian
cuisines. Due in part to centuries of conquerors, immigrants and
explorers mixing with the natives, cuisines from these regions are
diverse and familiar.

The Latin pantry overflows with tropical fruits and vegetables,
intriguing herbs and spices, healthy grains, and fresh seafood. The
big, bold, spicy flavors characteristic of Latino cuisine are widely
appealing to today's adventurous consumers. The ingredients have been
around in the U.S. for decades, mainly relegated to ethnic markets in
immigrant areas. Latino immigrants created bodegas (ethnic grocery
stores) to bring in foods like yucca, plantains, masa harina (corn
flour) and guascas (a Colombian herb similar to parsley but with a
smoky flavor). Cheap and filling, it was the comfort food of the
working immigrants and kept mainly in the tight-knit communities.

In the late 1980s, a handful of innovative chefs from Miami began
recreating traditional dishes from Cuba, Peru, Chile and other
countries with a tropical spin. Now, these "Latin" ingredients are
more mainstream with availability in specialty food markets as well
as some traditional grocery channels. In restaurants across the
country, chefs the likes of Douglas Rodgriguez, Rick Bayless, José
Garcés, Enrique Sánchez, Aarón Sanchez and Priscila Satkoff continue
to build momentum for what has become known as Nuevo Latino cuisine.

Some items typical of Latin American cuisine include maize-based
dishes such as tortillas, tamales, pupusas, and various salsas and
condiments like guacamole, pico de gallo, and mole.

The common staple of all these cuisines is rice and beans — a dish so
previously overlooked in America, it's now being celebrated with the
introduction of wonderful varieties of legumes and specialty rices.

Every region in every Latin country has its own favorite. Traveling
in Brazil, you'll discover black beans are prepared in Rio, rajadinho
or carioquinha (brown) beans in São Paulo, and either in Minas
Gerais. Beans appear on the tables daily, in many forms and colors.
Other regional varieties include fradinho beans, used in the
traditional Bahian recipe Acarajé; white beans, consumed in Santa
Catarina; and even some variations of chili beans, consumed in Pará.

Cubans also favor rice and beans as part of a typical meal usually
cooked together, in a recipe called Moros y Cristianos, although they
are sometimes served separately, with the beans in a dark, rich soup
known as frijoles colorado on the side.

The Latin Beat
The recent explosion of Latino cuisine is only one of many signs that
America is fascinated with Latin culture. Our radios rock to the
rhythm of a Latin beat, Spanish-speaking television shows run on 24-
hour cable stations, and Hispanic superstars the likes of Jennifer
Lopez, Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias and Daisy Fuentes have also
emerged, not to mention a slew of Latino sports figures.

The Hispanic population comprises the largest race or ethnic minority
in the United States, and is the fastest growing demographic in the
nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2050, Hispanics will
constitute 24 percent of the U.S. population, or 102.6 million
people. In the shorter term, Hispanics will number nearly 50 million
people in just four years and have $1 trillion in buying power. This
expanding minority already has money to spend: disposable income
among Hispanics is up 29 percent since 2001, twice the growth rate of
the general U.S. consumer.

The diverse Hispanic population represents people from more than 20
different countries including Colombia, Venezuela, the Dominican
Republic, Uruguay and Guatemala. While Mexicans comprise almost 60
percent of the Hispanic population in the U.S., consumers from other
nations make up almost one third of all Hispanics. Retailers can
expect the continued focus on cuisines from specific Latin American
regions to grow as this demographic explosion continues.

The Caribbean
The Caribbean is a jewel of culinary diversity. Far beyond its
trademark jerk spices and potent rums, the Caribbean is home to a
group of islands that share extraordinary cultural and culinary ties
to worlds far beyond their island shores.
"Caribbean fare is shaped by a mélange of influences," writes Nirmala
Narine in her cookbook In Nirmala's Kitchen (2006, Lake Isle
Press). "Its pantry offers a taste of the world, both old and new,
beginning with the indigenous Arawak Indians. Their staple of crops,
yucca, sweet potato, pumpkin, chilis, tomatoes and corn were grown in
abundance, and continue to be widely cultivated today. In the 15th
century, the Spaniards arrived and brought with them goats, cattle,
chickens and pigs, as well as oranges, cumin, saffron, and exotic
fruits."

Along with the Spaniards, island cuisines were influenced by African
slaves and Portuguese explorers, among others. Cuban cuisine is a
fusion of Spanish, African and Caribbean cuisines. Their recipes
share spices and techniques with Spanish and African cooking, with
some Caribbean influence in spice and flavor. Eastern Cuban cuisine
forms the basis of criollo cooking (the term criollo stands
for "creole"), which shares a great deal with other Caribbean
cuisines, but has the distinctive difference of making almost no use
of peppers. Other spices are, however, an important ingredient, the
most dominant being garlic, cumin, onion, Cuban oregano and bay
leaves. Equally popular are tamales, although not exactly similar to
their Mexican counterparts, they are made with corn flour, shortening
and pieces of pork meat. In Cuba, tamales are wrapped in corn leaves
and tied, boiled in salted water, and served in a number of different
ways.

Other common Cuban dishes include croquetas (small cylinders of paste
made with a heavy bechamel sauce and ground beef, ham, chicken, fish,
or cheese, covered with breadcrumbs and deep fried), papas rellenas
(fried potato balls filled with ground beef), picadillo a la Habanera
(ground beef with alcaparrado, served with white rice and fried
banana), and niños envueltos (beef filled with alcaparrado and served
in pepper sauce).

Western Cuban cuisine offers more elaborate desserts, especially
puddings, pastries and cakes. Most of these are of Spanish origin,
such as flan (crème caramel), tocino del cielo ("angel's bacon"),
brazo gitano (literally "gipsy's arm", a rolled cake base with
several toppings), and turrones (Cuban nougats are usually made with
peanuts, whereas Spanish nougats mainly use almonds). Another dessert
imported from Spain is the churro, a sweet, fried-dough pastry-based
snack. Cuban churros are typically small, curved and covered in sugar
(as opposed to Mexican churros, which are straight, thicker, longer
and covered in cinnamon), much how they originated in Spain. They are
commonly enjoyed with Cuban hot chocolate, which is made with a small
amount of corn meal for a slight thickness.

Regional Mexican
Rick Bayless is perhaps the most well-know U.S. ambassador for
authentic Mexican cuisine, rescuing it from the mediocre abyss of
homogenized Mexican-styled American translations.

Mexican cuisine is rich with flavors both intense and varied. It is a
colorful cuisine with a diversity of appealing tastes and textures,
and is one of the richest in the world in proteins, vitamins, and
minerals. Mexican food varies by region, due to local climate,
geography and ethnic differences among the indigenous inhabitants,
and because these different populations were influenced by the
Spaniards in varying degrees. The north of Mexico is known for its
beef production and meat dishes; southeastern Mexico, on the other
hand, is known for its spicy vegetable- and chicken-based dishes.
Veracruz-style is a common method of preparing seafood.

Most of today's Mexican cuisine is based on pre-Hispanic traditions,
including the Aztecs and Maya, combined with culinary trends
introduced by Spanish colonists. When Spanish conquistadores arrived
in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (on the ruins of which Mexico City
was built), they found that the common people's diet consisted
largely of corn-based dishes with chilis and herbs, usually
complemented with beans and squash. Later on, the conquistadores
added to their original diet of rice, beef, pork, chicken, wine,
garlic and onions that they brought with them from Spain the
indigenous foods of pre-Columbian Mexico (including chocolate, maize,
tomato, vanilla, avocado, papaya, pineapple, chili pepper, beans,
squash, sweet potato, peanut and turkey). There is also a sprinkling
of Caribbean influence in Mexican cuisine, particularly in some
regional dishes from the states of Veracruz and Yucatan.

South America
The cultural and geographic diversity of the nations to our south has
shaped their cuisine. Brazil, for example, is a racial mix of native
Amerindians, Portuguese, Africans, Italians, Spaniards, Germans,
Syrians, Lebanese and Japanese, among others, creating a national
cooking style marked by the preservation of regional differences.

With an incredible influx of conquerors, immigrants and slaves mixing
with indigenous peoples, it is amazing to discover the differences in
similar foods popular in each country's cuisine.

Ceviche is a good example of this regional adaptation. While it is a
familiar Caribbean style of cooking seafood, its origin is credited
to the Viceroyalty of Peru. One theory suggests that it got its name
from the Quechua "siwichi;" another suggests the name is derived from
the Arabic term "sibesh" (acidic aromatic food) due to the
participation of Moorish women that came to Peru during the
viceroyalty.

As both Chile and modern-day Peru were part of the former Viceroyalty
of Peru, both countries claim the origin. The popularity of ceviche
spread internationally in the latter part of the 20th century, and is
now a significant part of the Mexican cuisine, as well as those of
Central America and other parts of South America, especially Ecuador.

Ceviche, often spelled "cebiche" in Peru, is the quintessence of
fusion: Andean chili peppers, onions and acidic aromatic lime, of a
species imported by the Spanish, though with origins in Northern
Africa ("limon" in Spanish). A spicy dish, it consists generally of
bite-size pieces of white fish (such as corvina or white sea bass)
marinated raw in lime or lemon juice mixed with chilis. Ceviche is
served with raw onions, boiled sweet potatoes (camote), toasted corn
(cancha), and sometimes a local green seaweed (yuyo). Leche de tigre
(tiger's milk) is the Peruvian colloquial name for the juice produced
from the ingredients of ceviche. Unlike ceviche from Mexico and
Ecuador, it does not have tomatoes, and unlike that of Tahiti, it
does not use coconut milk, though both are abundant in Peru.

Cebiche de Conchas Negras (ceviche with black clams), a dish of Piura
and Tumbes, is also popular along the southern coast of Ecuador. In
this version, the seafood used in the dish should be black clams
accompanied by popcorn and/or toasted corn.

Empandas are another example of a Latin staple with liberal
translations. Empanadas peruanas — Peruvian pastries/meat pies — are
not to be confused with the meat pies found in many northern Western
countries. They can be filled either with chicken, beef, cheese or be
strictly vegetarian. They have a unique taste due to the addition of
olives, and sometimes hard boiled eggs and raisins.

Similar to Cuban tamales, Peruvian tamales are boiled corn with meat
or cheese, wrapped in a banana leaf. They are a common breakfast
food, often served with lime and/or salsa criolla. You can also find
humitas in Peru, which consist of corn mixed with spices, sugar,
onions, filled with pork and olives, and finally wrapped in the
leaves of corn husks.

Dulce de Leche is a signature dessert in all of these countries, but
varies from region to region and border to border.

The Cuisines
It is nearly impossible to capture all of the flavors of South
America in one short essay. Although the cuisines of many of these
countries is the result of the divergent populations that have come
to occupy the lands, these countries have also served to provide the
world a rich diet of unique grains, vegetables, spices and fruits.

From Peru, the Spanish brought back to Europe foods which would
become staples for many peoples around the world. Potatoes,
originally from Peru, were considered livestock feed in Europe until
French chemist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier began serving dishes made
from the tubers at his lavish banquets. His guests were immediately
convinced that potatoes were fit for human consumption. Parmentier's
introduction of the potato is still discussed in Europe today.

Peruvian cuisine is considered one of the most diverse in the world
and is on par with French, Chinese and Indian cuisine. In January
2004, The Economist said, "Peru can lay claim to one of the world's
dozen or so great cuisines." Thanks to its pre-Inca and Inca
heritage, and to Spanish, Basque, African, Sino-Cantonese, Japanese
and finally Italian immigration (mainly throughout the 19th century),
Peruvian cuisine combines the flavors of four continents. With an
eclectic variety of traditional dishes, the Peruvian culinary arts
are in constant evolution, and impossible to list in their entirety.
Suffice it to mention that along the Peruvian coast alone there are
more than two thousand different types of soups, and that there are
more than 250 traditional desserts.

Fine Peruvian cuisine emphasizes the mix of colors and ingredients,
and is often made spicy by means of ají pepper, a basic ingredient. A
popular Peruvian dish is lomo saltado, sliced beef sauteed with
onion, tomato, soy sauce, vinegar, aji, served or mixed with French-
fried potatoes, and accompanied with rice. Other interesting Peruvian
dishes include escabeche criollo (pickled fish) and crema de
tarwi. "Escabeche," when the word is used alone, normally refers to
escabeche of fish. Other varieties can use duck or chicken. The
escabeche dishes rely on the heavy use of vinegar and onions together
with other spices, and chili. Tarwi is a vegetable native to the
mountains of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. In addition to its use in
soup, tarwi is used in much of Peruvian cuisine, including
sancochado. Fresh tarwi can be used in stews, purees, sauces,
desserts and in a variation of cebiche.

Almost exclusive to Peru is the fruit known as "lucuma." Lucuma
juice, ice cream and corresponding lucuma shakes are very popular
throughout Peru. This exotic fruit, grown in quantity only in its
native Peru, has only in recent years been exported in very limited
quantities as a gourmet flavor for ice cream and savory sauces to the
United States.

Traditional Salvadoran cuisine combines the foods of Spain and the
American Indians, especially the relatives of the Maya, Lenca and
Pipil natives. Pupusas (tiny stuffed tortillas filled with beans,
cheese or pork meat) are the most popular traditional dish (and are
the most Salvadoran of any food) and are sold at restaurants and
foodstands all over the country. The pupusa is to El Salvador as the
hamburger is to the United States.

Soups are popular among Salvadorans of every social level. Sopa de
pata is a soup made from patas de res (cow's feet) and sometimes
tripe, locally a delicacy. Gallo en chicha is a soup made with
rooster in fermented corn liquid, flavored with raisins and sometimes
other things.

Chilean cuisine is also rich with legumes and rice. Delicious
temptations for Americans include an item they use for breakfast to
top their breads called manjar, a caramel-like topping. As in many
Latin cultures, the largest meal of the day is usually lunch followed
by "Once" (pronounced own-say), a light meal that is eaten between 4
and 7 in the afternoon. Traditional Chilean dishes include cazuela (a
stew), pastel de choclo (similar to shepherd's pie), or a wide
variety of bean dishes.

Brazil and Argentina both hold steadfast claims to the barbecue.
Brazil's gaucho contributed to the national cuisine with dishes made
with sun- or salt-dried meats and churrasco (a Brazilian counterpart
of the barbecue), a meal of flame-grilled fresh meats.

Argentina is also a major producer of meat. Red meat is an especially
common part of the Argentine diet (in many periods of Argentine
history, the annual consumption of beef has been over 100 kg per
capita, and during the 19th century, neared 180 kg per capita.) This
mainstay has spread far beyond its borders, making Argentinean
steakhouses popular the world over. Grilled meat (parrilla) from the
asado is a staple, with steak and beef ribs especially common.
Chorizo (pork sausage), morcilla (blood sausage), chinchulines
(chitterlings), mollejas (sweetbread), and other parts of the animal
are enjoyed, too. Chimichurri, a sauce of herbs and chili, finds its
roots in Argentina, and is usually the only seasoning for steak and
chorizo.

Probably the most familiar styles of Brazilian cooking come from the
Southeastern region. Here, several distinctive cooking styles
emerged, including the Minas Gerais regional dishes made with maize,
pork, beans and local soft-ripened cheeses. Minas Gerais is known for
such cheeses as queijo Minas, a soft, mild-flavored fresh white
cheese usually sold packaged in water; requeijão, a mildly salty,
silky-textured, fluid cheese sold in glass jars and eaten as a spread
on bread; and catupiry, a soft processed cheese sold in a distinctive
round wooden box.

Argentine cuisine evolved distinctly from the rest of Latin American
cuisine because of the heavy influence of Italian, Spanish, French
and other European cuisines which make the typical Argentine diet a
variation on what is often called the Mediterranean diet.

Argentina's Italian influences can be witnessed in its translations
of pizza and pasta. Polenta comes from Northern Italy and is very
common throughout Argentina. But unlike in Italy, this cornmeal is
eaten as a main dish, with sauce and melted cheese.

So, the next time you're yearning to showcase the exotic quinoa, the
perfect white bean, or protein-packed amaranth you've stocked on your
shelves, or if you want to illustrate the many uses for a cazuela or
tortilla press, look to the south for cuisines to sample and recipes
to demonstrate. You just soon may discover your own Latin rhythm.

SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR |  RSS | REPRINTS

Copyright 2005 Gourmet Retailer

INSPIRING THOUGHTS

Anger is a condition in which
the tongue works faster than the mind.
You can't change the past,
but you can ruin the present
by worrying over the future.
Love...and you shall be loved.
God always gives His best to those
who leave the choice with Him.
All people smile in the same language.
A hug is a great gift... one size fits all.
It can be given for any occasion
and it's easy to exchange.
Everyone needs to be loved...
especially when they do not deserve it.
The real measure of a man's wealth
is what he has invested in eternity.
Laughter is God's sunshine.
Everyone has beauty
but not everyone sees it.
It's important for parents to live
the same things they teach.
Thank God for what you have,
TRUST GOD for what you need.
If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday
and the worries of tomorrow,
you have no today to be thankful for.
Man looks at outward appearance
but the Lord looks within.
The choice you make today
will usually affect tomorrow.
Take time to laugh, for it is
the music of the soul.
If anyone speaks badly of you,
live so none will believe it.
Patience is the ability to idle your motor
when you feel like stripping your gears.
Love is strengthened by working
through conflicts together.
The best thing parents can do
for their children is to love each other.
Harsh words break no bones
but they do break hearts.
To get out of a difficulty,
one usually must go through it.
We take for granted the things
that we should be giving thanks for.
Love is the only thing that can be
divided without being diminished.
Happiness is enhanced by others
but does not depend upon others.
For every minute you are angry with someone,
you lose 60 seconds of happiness
that you can never get back.
Do what you can, for who you can,
with what you have, and where you are.

Staph Fatalities May Exceed AIDS Deaths ( October 18, 2007:Pt.2)

   Staph Fatalities May Exceed AIDS Deaths

Tue Oct 16, 2007 4:00 PM EDThealth, infections, staph-
infectionsLindsey Tanner, AP Medical Writer

CHICAGO — More than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly
infections each year from a drug-resistant staph "superbug," the
government reported in its first overall estimate of invasive disease
caused by the germ.

Deaths tied to these infections may exceed those caused by AIDS, said
one public health expert commenting on the new study. Tuesdays report
shows just how far one form of the staph germ has spread beyond its
traditional hospital setting.

The overall incidence rate was about 32 invasive infections per
100,000 people. That's an "astounding" figure, said an editorial in
Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, which
published the study.

Most drug-resistant staph cases are mild skin infections. But this
study focused on invasive infections — those that enter the
bloodstream or destroy flesh and can turn deadly.

Researchers found that only about one-quarter involved hospitalized
patients. However, more than half were in the health care system —
people who had recently had surgery or were on kidney dialysis, for
example. Open wounds and exposure to medical equipment are major ways
the bug spreads.

In recent years, the resistant germ has become more common in
hospitals and it has been spreading through prisons, gyms and locker
rooms, and in poor urban neighborhoods.

The new study offers the broadest look yet at the pervasiveness of
the most severe infections caused by the bug, called methicillin-
resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. These bacteria can be
carried by healthy people, living on their skin or in their noses.

An invasive form of the disease is being blamed for the death Monday
of a 17-year-old Virginia high school senior. Doctors said the germ
had spread to his kidneys, liver, lungs and muscles around his heart.

The researchers' estimates are extrapolated from 2005 surveillance
data from nine mostly urban regions considered representative of the
country. There were 5,287 invasive infections reported that year in
people living in those regions, which would translate to an estimated
94,360 cases nationally, the researchers said.

Most cases were life-threatening bloodstream infections. However,
about 10 percent involved so-called flesh-eating disease, according
to the study led by researchers at the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.

There were 988 reported deaths among infected people in the study,
for a rate of 6.3 per 100,000. That would translate to 18,650 deaths
annually, although the researchers don't know if MRSA was the cause
in all cases.

If these deaths all were related to staph infections, the total would
exceed other better-known causes of death including AIDS — which
killed an estimated 17,011 Americans in 2005 — said Dr. Elizabeth
Bancroft of the Los Angeles County Health Department, the editorial
author.

The results underscore the need for better prevention measures. That
includes curbing the overuse of antibiotics and improving hand-
washing and other hygiene procedures among hospital workers, said the
CDC's Dr. Scott Fridkin, a study co-author.

Some hospitals have drastically cut infections by first isolating new
patients until they are screened for MRSA.

The bacteria don't respond to penicillin-related antibiotics once
commonly used to treat them, partly because of overuse. They can be
treated with other drugs but health officials worry that their
overuse could cause the germ to become resistant to those, too.

A survey earlier this year suggested that MRSA infections, including
noninvasive mild forms, affect 46 out of every 1,000 U.S. hospital
and nursing home patients — or as many as 5 percent. These patients
are vulnerable because of open wounds and invasive medical equipment
that can help the germ spread.

Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt
University, said the JAMA study emphasizes the broad scope of the
drug-resistant staph "epidemic," and highlights the need for a
vaccine, which he called "the holy grail of staphylococcal research."

The regions studied were: the Atlanta metropolitan area; Baltimore,
Connecticut; Davidson County, Tenn.; the Denver metropolitan area;
Monroe County, NY; the Portland, Ore. metropolitan area; Ramsey
County, Minn.; and the San Francisco metropolitan area.

____

On the Net:

JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Why Do Kids Grow Up This Way?????



Friday, October 19th 2007 around 4:00pm my son's 65 year old
Grandfather was shot 5 times in Detroit in Palmer Park by a Youngman
trying to rob him of money that he didn't have. Two of the shots were
from him trying to grab the gun from the assailant. No major arteries
or organs were hit. He was shot in the stomach, in the back, in the
shoulder, in the hand ( when he tried to grab the robber) and in the
arm….. Pray for him and his speedy recovery. I don't know why youths
grow up this way and expect not to get punished for what they have
done. What the United States should be doing is for repeated
offenders of violent crimes instead of sending them to jail and using
our tax dollars to support them while in jail for long periods of
time they should take their right as a United States citizen. Send
them away to a violent third world country to fend for themselves
just to live the life of unruliness and hardships, no support from a
government, put them in a place where citizens of that country do not
care anything about what the criminal does or how they live….. Plus,
not allow them to return banding them from the United States
forever…… Citizens of the United States should abide by the laws of
this country and not forsake the rights of the law abiding citizens
who try to live a good life here. Those who abuse their citizenship
by hazardous behavior to others and well-beings of United States
citizens should be rejected as citizens and banished to a third world
country who tolerate this form of behavior…



What do you think?

The Black Mafia Family (BMF)


Sixteen more members of the Atlanta based gang The Black Mafia Family
(BMF) were indicted yesterday (July 25) for participating in a
nationwide cocaine distribution.

  According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, federal authorities
claim BMF engaged in violence and trafficked thousands of pounds of
cocaine, earning the gang over $270 million.

The gang gained notoriety by flaunting their diamonds, holding
extravagant parties, and rubbing shoulders with various rappers,
including Young Jeezy, while trying to develop a record label.

BMF's leaders, Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory and his brother
Terry "Southwest T" Flenory, along with seven other members were
indicted and arrested on drug trafficking in October 2005.

Federal authorities say the Flenory brothers went from selling $50
bags of crack in high schools throughout southwest Detroit in the mid-
1980s to masterminding a criminal enterprise operating in eleven
states.

"The government is one step closer to eradicating one of today's most
violent and notorious drug trafficking organizations," said DEA
Special Agent, Rodney G. Benson. "The Black Mafia Family wreaked
havoc from coast to coast. Their bold image and in-your-face
reputation once propelled them into the media spotlight. Today, we
are proud to cast an ominous cloud over this once-thriving criminal
network."


The indictment charges carry a penalty of between 10 years and life
in prison and up to a $4 million fine.

"The Black Mafia Family once had billboards towering over Atlanta
boldly proclaiming that the world was theirs," U.S. Attorney David
Nahmias told The Journal. "This indictment is a rejection of that
claim. First in Detroit and Orlando, and now here, the government is
shutting down the BMF's once-flourishing drug empire."


Federal authorities are still searching for several associates whose
names were blacked out on the indictment.


As SOHH previously reported, Jacob The Jeweler, well known for
providing hip-hop's biggest names with high-end custom jewelry, was
indicted for money laundering by a Michigan District Attorney last
May for allegedly accepting money from Black Mafia Family and giving
them jewelry in return without reporting the transactions.


2007 indictments
On July 25, 2007, the U.S. Attorney for the United States District
Court for the Northern District of Georgia unveiled an indictment of
16 more members of the Black Mafia Family. [3] "The government is one
step closer to eradicating one of today's most violent and notorious
drug trafficking organizations," said Special Agent in Charge Rodney
G. Benson of the DEA Atlanta office. The indictment charged all
defendants with participating in the nationwide cocaine distribution
conspiracy, which carries a penalty of between 10 years and life in
prison, and up to a $4 million fine. "The Black Mafia Family once had
billboards towering over Atlanta boldly proclaiming that the world
was theirs," U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said. "This indictment is a
rejection of that claim. First in Detroit and Orlando, and now here,
the government is shutting down the BMF's once-flourishing drug
empire." The defendants in the new indictment are: Lamar Fields, 39,
of Atlanta; Nathan Camacho, 18, of San Francisco,CA; Victor Hammonds,
42, of Conyers; Franklin Nash, 56, of Decatur; Darryl Taylor, 46, of
Stockbridge; Ramon Dobson, 27, of Lithonia; James Mitchell, 38, of
East Orange, N.J.; and Dionne Beverly, 35, of Hurricane, W.Va.
Already in custody in other jurisdictions are Fleming Daniels, 34, of
Roswell; and Derrek Pitts, 33, of Newark, N.J.

Black Mafia Family trial set for late summer

List of defendants shrinks as suspects plea — and become state
witnesses

BY MARA SHALHOUP

Published 02.21.07


DeKalb County Sheriff's Office

ALLEGED DON: According to the feds, Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory is
one of two leaders of the Black Mafia Family crime ring.

An August trial date has been set in the 41-defendant federal
prosecution of the Black Mafia Family, an alleged multistate cocaine
ring whose operation spanned more than two decades and generated an
estimated $270 million.

The storied BMF crew, which is said to have run a central hub in
Atlanta and has publicly aligned itself with such hip-hop stars as
Young Jeezy, was nabbed in October 2005 after a years-long
investigation. The investigation was the subject of a three-part
series published in December by CL.

The ring's Atlanta enterprise was allegedly led by Demetrius "Big
Meech" Flenory, a flashy Atlanta-based hip-hop entrepreneur who is
accused of using his record label and glossy magazine as a front for
drug money. Meech's brother, Terry "Southwest T" Flenory, allegedly
led the organization's L.A. hub.

At times, the probe was complicated by a code of silence that
blanketed crew members. The silence, however, has been broken by
several alleged witnesses -- many of whom recently were identified in
court documents for the first time. The documents, filed last month
in federal court, offer the most detailed view to date of the
government's case against BMF.

Two of the 12 potential witnesses who are identified by name --
Charles Parson and Arnold Boyd -- are defendants who've pleaded
guilty and are now cooperating in the federal investigation. Parson
and Boyd are described as couriers who ran drugs and cash for the
crew. (Three additional defendants have pleaded guilty as well,
though their plea agreements do not reference any willingness to
cooperate.) At least three other defendants who have yet to enter a
guilty plea also are cooperating with the feds.

A document filed Jan. 16 describes Boyd's visits to a sprawling
Lithonia home where the Flenory brothers allegedly lived. The crew
called it the "White House." On one occasion, in the basement of the
house, Boyd claims to have spotted seven alleged BMF members --
including Terry Flenory -- and 100 kilos of coke.

The document also states that a contractor doing work on the house
occasionally observed people sleeping on the floor "with guns, money,
and jewelry at their sides."

"The jewelry he recalled seeing included 'BMF' medallions," according
to the document. "He asked a couple of these individuals what 'BMF'
stood for. One told him that 'BMF' ... stood for 'Black Mafia
Family.' [He] was told that if [he] had not yet heard of the 'Black
Mafia Family,' 'he soon would.'"

The most damning statements to surface in the court file point to
Terry Flenory. There is little in the witnesses' statements that
directly implicates Terry's brother of running drugs or laundering
cash -- aside from one witness who claimed Big Meech supplied him
with cocaine in the late '80s and early '90s, and another who said
Meech gave him $125,000 cash to write a check for jewelry.

Demetrius Flenory's attorney, Drew Findling, has said in court
filings and in interviews with CL that the evidence against his
client is weak. "Ninety-nine percent is Terry," Findling says. "We
got a few names [of witnesses], but they just make general
statements. That's it. There is no specificity."

Terry Flenory's attorney, William B. Daniel, of Detroit, was not
available for comment. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit did not
return CL's phone calls.

Perhaps the most illuminating of the witnesses' accusations are the
ones offering new details on the crew's alleged ties to luminaries
such as Jeezy; New York diamond purveyor to the stars Jacob "the
Jeweler" Arabov; Grammy-nominated songwriter and Dreamgirls
soundtrack producer Damon Thomas; and former son-in-law of Mayor
Shirley Franklin, Tremayne Graham.

Defendant-turned-witness Boyd recalled a 2003 transaction in Atlanta
between Terry Flenory and Graham. "Graham picked up $250,000 from
Terry Flenory while Terry Flenory was at the 'White House,'"
according to the court document. Boyd described the money as Terry
Flenory's investment as a silent owner in 404 Motorsports, a high-end
car dealership that Graham co-owned. "Boyd helped Tremayne Graham
load the cash in Graham's vehicle, which was equipped with hidden
compartments," the document states. Graham later pleaded guilty, in a
separate federal case, to running drugs for BMF.

Another document, also filed in January, includes statements from
Parson, the other defendant to sign a cooperation agreement. Parson
described his frequent trips to New York with Terry Flenory: "Parson
said that when Flenory traveled to New York City, he would always
meet with 'Jacob the Jeweler' to drop off money for jewelry."

Another "cooperating defendant," Eric Bivens, described a 2005
traffic stop outside Cleveland during which he, Terry Flenory and
other alleged BMF members were interrogated, and police seized $5
million in Arabov-designed jewelry. Terry had planned to take the
jewels to Young Jeezy so that Jeezy could use them in a video that
was supposed to be shot in St. Louis, according to Bivens. But the
shoot never took place.

Shortly after the traffic stop, investigators -- who had a wire up on
Terry Flenory's phone -- listened as he called Thomas, the music
producer, and asked him to claim the jewels as his own. Thomas
complied, and Arabov allegedly facilitated that and other fraud at
BMF's request.

Several months after the BMF indictment was unsealed, Arabov -- one
of the world's best-known jewelers, whose name is often invoked in
hip-hop songs -- was added as a co-defendant and charged with money
laundering. The government recently agreed to separately try Arabov
and the five other defendants who face only money-laundering charges.
A trial date for the alleged money launderers has not been set.

The trial for the other defendants is scheduled to begin Aug. 6 in
the U.S. District Court in Detroit, the city where the Flenory
brothers were born and raised -- and allegedly birthed one of the
nation's largest cocaine rings of recent years.

If the case does go to trial in August, it will take place nearly two
years after the Flenorys were arrested and the indictment against
them unsealed.

MORE BMF: To read CL's three-part series on the Black Mafia Family,
visit atlanta.creativeloafing.com/bmf.

13th-Century Koran sells for more than $2.3 million in London
October 24, 2007

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON — A Koran written in 1203, believed to be the oldest known
complete copy, has sold for more than $2.3 million at an auction.

The holy book, which had been estimated to sell for up to $715,000,
fetched $2,327,300 at Tuesday's auction in London, Christie's said.




That was a record auction price for a Koran or any type of Islamic
manuscript, the auctioneer Christie's said.

A nearly complete, 10th-century Kufic Koran, thought to be from North
Africa or the near East, sold $1,870,000.

Both were offered for sale by the Hispanic Society of America, and
were purchased by trade buyers in London, Christie's said.

The record-setting Koran was signed by Yahya bin Muhammad ibn 'Umar,
dated 17 Ramadan 599 (June 1203).

It was acquired in Cairo in 1905 by Archer Milton Huntington, who
founded the Hispanic Society in New York City in 1904. Huntington,
the adopted son of railroad and ship-building magnate Collis P.
Huntington, died in 1955.

Hi Nick,

Here you need some clarification.
There are four holy books  ( Psalm, Torah, Bible and Quran) and
probably 50 over mini-scriptures that Allah has sent down at
different stages and eras for the guidance of Human Being. He made
responsible the people of individual eras to protect their respected
divine revelations except the Holy Quran (that He Himself took this
responsibility to protect).

He has given a very special ability (to Muslims) to memorize the
whole Quran (around 1000 over pages). In this way there are thousands
and thousands of such honored people (we call them Huffaz) in almost
every Muslim country. So even some notorious nation try to destroy
all the physical Quran from this world, then it can be reproduce from
the memory of such people. Also if some notorious people/ gang /
nation try to make amendments/changes in the physical Quran then
these Huffaz can check and correct them. That is how Quran has been
preserved in it's original state since revelation.

So point is that  please do not get carried away with these kind of
rumors of 12th century Quran or 13th century Quran. The revelation of
Quran had completed  about 1400 years ago and I have 7 - 8 copies of
very same Quran (that was revealed to Prophet Mohammad, and  I
purchased them at different times). In other words there is no
concept of Old or New Testament associated with Quran. There is only
one Quran right from the beginning till today and it will stay the
same till the day of resurrection (final day) becuase Allah is
protecting it Himself.

Thanks
Anis


--- In shephardfamilyenterprise@yahoogroups.com, "Nicholas W.
Shephard Sr." <shephardfamilyenterprise@...> wrote:
>
> 13th-Century Koran sells for more than $2.3 million in London
> October 24, 2007
>
> ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
> LONDON — A Koran written in 1203, believed to be the oldest known
> complete copy, has sold for more than $2.3 million at an auction.
>
> The holy book, which had been estimated to sell for up to $715,000,
> fetched $2,327,300 at Tuesday's auction in London, Christie's said.
>
>
>
>
> That was a record auction price for a Koran or any type of Islamic
> manuscript, the auctioneer Christie's said.
>
> A nearly complete, 10th-century Kufic Koran, thought to be from
North
> Africa or the near East, sold $1,870,000.
>
> Both were offered for sale by the Hispanic Society of America, and
> were purchased by trade buyers in London, Christie's said.
>
> The record-setting Koran was signed by Yahya bin Muhammad
ibn 'Umar,
> dated 17 Ramadan 599 (June 1203).
>
> It was acquired in Cairo in 1905 by Archer Milton Huntington, who
> founded the Hispanic Society in New York City in 1904. Huntington,
> the adopted son of railroad and ship-building magnate Collis P.
> Huntington, died in 1955.
>

What do you think about this?

Hebrews 5:7-14

7 During His earthly life, He offered prayers and appeals, with loud
cries and tears, to the One who was able to save Him from death, and
He was heard because of His reverence. 8 Though a Son, He learned
obedience through what He suffered. 9 After He was perfected, He
became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, 10 and He
was declared by God a high priest "in the order of Melchizedek."
  11 We have a great deal to say about this, and it's difficult to
explain, since you have become slow to understand. 12 For though by
this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you
again the basic principles of God's revelation. You need milk, not
solid food. 13 Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with
the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. 14 But
solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained
to distinguish between good and evil.

Name and titles
Melchizedek's name can be translated (from Hebrew) either as Zedek is
my king or as My king is righteous. The former, which treats Zedek as
a proper noun, is the translation favoured by most biblical scholars,
[citation needed] and refers to a Canaanite deity with that name. In
Genesis, Melchizedek is also referred to as king of Salem (generally
believed to be ancient Jerusalem), and priest of El Elyon. Though
traditionally El-Elyon is translated as most high God, and
interpreted as a reference to Yahweh (by tradition) or El (by some
scholars), other scholars believe that it refers to Zedek - regarding
El Elyon as referring to the most high god, and using Melchizedek's
name as the indicator of who the deity was. [1]
If the majority of scholars are right in taking the name as a
reference to Zedek, then it would imply that Zedek was the main deity
worshipped at Salem at that time. Jerusalem is plausibly referred to
as city of Zedek (ir ha-zedek) in the Book of Isaiah[2], as well as
home of Zedek (neweh zedek) in the Book of Jeremiah[3] and as gates
of Zedek (sha'are zedek) in the Book of Psalms[4], though it is also
true that in each of these cases zedek is traditionally translated as
righteous (as in city of righteousness).[5]

Our tractate thus presents a number of challenging features of
special interest to the historian of religions; it is indeed a
mélange of traditions of Jewish, Christian, and Gnostic stamp. Its
presentation of the figure of Melchizedek is a case in point: he is
not only the ancient "priest of God Most High" known to us from the
Bible, but he also returns as an eschatological "high-priest"
and "holy warrior." Such Jewish apocalyptic material as the
Melchizedek fragments form Qumran (11QMelch) and 2 (Slavonic) Enoch
shed considerable light on these features.

Bogota, Colombia

From Bonnie Hamre,
Your Guide to South America for Visitors.

FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

City of contrasts, city of history

Nestled high in the Andes at 2620 m. (8646 ft), Santafé de Bogotá is
a city of contrasts. It's a city of highrise buildings standing next
to colonial churches; a city of universities, theaters and
shantytowns. It is a mixture of influences, Spanish and English and
Indian; a city of great wealth and material well being and abject
poverty. It is a city of wild traffic and calm oases reflecting a
bygone day. It is a modern city with futuristic architecture,
graffiti and congestion; restaurants, bookstores and street vendors
peddling emeralds, thieves, beggars, street people and drug dealers
wrapped around the inner core of the old city.
Santa Fé de Bogotá was founded in 1538. The name was shortened to
Bogotá after independence from Spain in 1824 and was called that
until recently when the original name was reinstated as Santafé de
Bogotá.

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Until the middle of the 1900's, the city was quite provincial, the
bureaucratic home of government and intellectual pursuits. The main
industries were breweries, woolen textiles, and candlemaking. The
residents or Bogotanos were viewed by the rest of the country as
taciturn, cold and aloof. The Bogotanos saw themselves as
intellectually superior to their countrymen. Despite these
perceptions, the city has grown to be today an industrial and
commercial center and the main offices of most coffee producing and
exporting firms and flower growers.
In addition to being the capital, Bogotá is Colombia's largest
economic center. Most companies in Colombia have their headquarters
in Bogotá, as it is home to most foreign companies doing business in
Colombia as well as Colombia's main stock market. The emerald trade
is a huge business in Bogotá. In downtown Bogotá, millions of dollars
in domestically produced rough and cut emeralds are bought and sold
daily.
Bogotá is divided into zones, each with its own characteristics:
• Zona 1 Norte. This is the most modern upscale zone. The
highest income bracket neighborhoods, important commercial centers,
the best restaurants, shopping centers, and nightlife are in the zona
rosa.
• Zona 2 Noroccidente. The city is growing out in this
direction.
• Zona 3 Occidente. This western sector contains industrial
areas, parks, the National University and El Dorado Airport.
• Zona 4 Sur. The industrial zones and large labor barrios are
located in the south.
• Zona 5 Centro. The central sector is the city's chief and
most important commercial, cultural, governmental and financial zone.
• Zona 6 Surrounding areas.
• Zona 7 Other cities.

Most of the places of interest to visitors are in the central and
northern zones. The city expanded from the colonial center, thus most
of the great churches are here. To the east of the city, the
mountains provide a constant backdrop. The most famous peak is the
Cerro de Montserrat at 3030 m. (10,000 ft) and a favorite with
Bogoteños who go there for the spectacular view, the park, the bull
ring, restaurants and the famous religious site. The church here with
the statue of the Señor Caído Fallen Christ, is claimed to be a place
of miracles. The top is accessible by climbing hundreds of stairs
(not recommended,) by the cable car which runs from 9AM to 11PM daily
or by the funicular which runs only on Sunday between 5:30AM and 6PM.

Check flights from your area. From this page, you can also browse
hotels, rental cars, and special deals.

Getting around in the city is simplified by the naming convention of
the streets. Most of the older streets are named carreras running
north - south or calles running east - west and are numbered. The
newer streets may be avenidas circularesortransversales. Bus
transportation is excellent. Large busses, called bus, smaller busses
called busetas and buseta, smaller buses and the microbus or
colectivo van size, travel the city streets, while the Transmilenio
modern articulated buses operates now on selected main streets, but
is expected to cover the entire city in the next decade.

In addition to taxis, bicycles abound in the city. The ciclorrutas is
an extensive bike path serving all points of the compass.

Suggested Reading:
ColombiaBogotaPlan Your Trip To Bogota


Things to Do and See:

Santafé de Bogotá has a rich colonial tradition with a number of
landmarks from that period preserved as historical landmarks. Most of
these are in the La Candelaria, the oldest district in the city. The
Capitol Municipal Palace and several churches are worth a visit.
You'll want to check out these Things to Do and See in Bogota,
Colombia, including
• San Francisco - built in 1567 elaborately decorated with a
huge wooden altar columns covered with gold leaf/
• Santa Clara - built early in the 17th century this single
nave church has wonderful frescos completely restored and now a
museum. The once cloistered convent of nuns now dismantled had an
exceptional screen used to hide the nun's choir.
• San Ignacio - inspired by the Church of San Jesús de Roma,
this sumptuously decorated church has very high naves, Baroque altars
and sculpture by Pedro de Laboria.
•  San Agustín - one of the oldest churches built in 1637 and
recently restored.

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Most notable are the Baroque altars the choir and the beautiful
proportiones.
•  La Tercera, la Veracruz, la Catedral, la Capilla del Sagrario, la
Candelaria la Concepción, Santa Bárbara and San Diego churches are
worthy of a visit if time allows.

The city has a number of great museums most of which can be seen in
an hour or two but be sure to schedule plenty of time for the Museo
del Oro the home of more than 30,000 objects of pre-Colombian
goldwork. The museum is like a fort protecting the treasures within
such as the tiny Muisca boat depicting the ritual of throwing gold
into Lake Guatavita to appease the gods or the emerald and diamond
studded crosses from the colonial period.

You might be interested in the model of the Ciudad Perdida the Lost
City of Taironas that was found near Santa Marta in 1975. The
discovery of the city larger than Machu Picchu is one of the most
important archaeological finds in South America. The highlight of any
visit to the Gold Museum is the strong room where small groups of
visitors enter a darkened room and then audibly gasp when the lights
reveal the 12,000 pieces in the room.

The Museo Nacional de Colombia has a broader range of display of
archaeological ethnic and historical importance. The museum is housed
in a prison designed by an American Thomas

Reed so that all cells would be visible from a single observation
point. Other museums of interest:

• Museo Colonial - housed in the old Jesuit monastery built
about 1640 the museum displays the life and times of the Viceroyalty
period.
• Museo de Arte Religioso - collection of religious art popular
in colonial times.
• Museo de Arte Moderno - houses the work of contemporary
artists.
• Quinta de Bolívar - on display at the magnificent country
home of Simon Bolívar at the base of Cerro Montserrate are his
furniture documents and items of personal use of the
Liberator and his mistress Manuela Sáenz. Don't miss a stroll through
the lawns and gardens.

• Other museums of note are the Museo Arqueológico Museo de
Artes y Tradiciones Populares Museo del Siglo XIX Museo de
Numismática and the Museo de los Niños.

Consider these tour suggestions.

There is enough to see in Bogotá for a several day visit. When
museums and churches pall there is an active nightlife with
restaurants theaters and more. Plan to visit the elegant Teatro Colón
during a performance which is the only time the theater is open.
Not in the city proper but well worth a two hour drive north is the
Cathedral of Zipaquira, the cathedral of salt. This is built in a
salt mine working long before the Spaniards arrived which by the
1920's had created a cavern so large the Banco de la Republica built
a cathedral there. The cathedral is 23 m. high (75 ft) and has held
10,000 people. Colombians will tell you that there is still enough
salt in the mine to supply the world for a hundred years.
If you plan to tour other areas of the country, you'll find this map
of Colombia (direct buy).



Safe and Sensible Tips:

While the level of violence is decreasing in Bogota and other large
cities of Colombia, please be aware that outside the city limits,
there is still the potential for acts of terrorism by various
factions rebelling against the government, the curtailment of the
drug trade, and US assistance in eradicating the coca fields. Please
be aware of the United States Department of State Travel Warnings for
Colombia.

Fieldings Guide to Dangerous Places says:

"Colombia is currently the most dangerous place in the Western
Hemisphere and perhaps the world because it is not considered a war
zone.... If you travel to Colombia you could be the target of
thieves, kidnappers and murderers. In 1996 there were 1337 terrorist
crimes committed.

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Civilians and soldiers are routinely stopped at roadblocks, dragged
out of their cars and summarily executed in Antioquia Department.
Tourists are drugged in bars and discos then robbed and murdered.
Expats missionaries and other foreigners are favorite targets of
terrorist groups who kidnap them for outrageous ransom amounts that
climb into the millions of dollars."

Other people might scoff at these warnings. If you travel to Santafé
de Bogotá or anyplace in Colombia, please be very careful. In
addition to the precautions you'd take in any large city to avoid
being robbed, please observe the following cautions:


• Let your consulate know you are there and what your travel
plans are.
• Carry your passport with you at all times. You may be asked
for it at any time. If you are ask to see the documents of the person
asking you before showing your documents. If in doubt, call any
uniformed police officer for assistance.
• Carry your money only as much as you'll need right then next
to your skin.
• Do not wear valuable jewelry or watches.
• Do not walk alone at night or in slum areas. Avoid any
dubious looking areas.
• Do not accept candy, cigarets, drinks or food from strangers.
It may be drugged with Burundanga, a drug which will take away your
will and memory and cause unconsciousness. An overdose may be fatal.
• Be aware of local news and events. Stay away from trouble
areas.
• If you are a woman, do not walk alone or get into a taxi
alone.
• Do not walk up to Cerro Montserrate.
Be aware, be cautious and be safe to enjoy your trip!.

---

Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:06:33 -0400
From: nshephar@...
To: youthhelp@...; shephardfamilyenterprise.shephardfamily@...; shephardfamilyenterprise@...; shephardfamilyenterprise_consultants@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Shack In The Back Blues Affair

Sha

 

Here are 12 of the finest double-entendres that were aired on British
TV & Radio



1. Pat Glenn, weightlifting commentator - "And this is Gregoriava
from Bulgaria. I saw her snatch this morning and it was amazing!"


2. New Zealand Rugby Commentator - "Andrew Mehrtens loves it when
Daryl Gibson comes inside of him."


3. Ted Walsh - Horse Racing Commentator - "This is really a lovely
horse. I once rode her mother."


4. Harry Carpenter at the Oxford-Cambridge boat race 1977 - "Ah,
isn't that nice. The wife of the Cambridge President is kissing the
Cox of the Oxford crew."


5. US PGA Commentator - "One of the reasons Arnie (Arnold Palmer) is
playing so well is that, before each tee shot, his wife takes out his
balls and kisses them ..... Oh my god!!!!! What have I just said?!!!!"


6. Carenza Lewis about finding food in the Middle Ages on 'Time Team
Live' said: "You'd eat beaver if you could get it."


7. A female news anchor who, the day after it was supposed to have
snowed and didn't, turned to the weatherman and asked, "So Bob,
where's that eight inches you promised me last night?" Not only did
HE have to leave the set, but half the crew did too, because they
were laughing so hard!


8. Steve Ryder covering the US Masters: "Ballesteros felt much better
today after a 69 yesterday."


9. Clair Frisby talking about a jumbo hot dog on Look North said:

"There's nothing like a big hot sausage inside you on a cold night
like this."


10 Mike Hallett discussing missed snooker shots on Sky
Sports: "Stephen Hendry jumps on Steve Davis's misses every chance he
gets."


11. Michael Buerk on watching Phillipa Forrester cuddle up to a male
astronomer for warmth during BBC1's UK eclipse coverage remarked:
They seem cold out there, they're rubbing each other and he's only
come in his shorts."


12. Ken Brown commentating on golfer Nick Faldo and his caddie Fanny
Sunneson lining-up shots at the Scottish Open: "Some weeks Nick likes
to use Fanny, other weeks he prefers to do it by himself."