Several thousand dollars have rolled in for an Oak Park family who feared they were going to lose the home whose renovation was viewed by millions of TV viewers in 2004.
Judy and Larry Vardon say the money should help them avoid foreclosure on the Oakland County home that was refurbished to better accommodate their blind, autistic son. The deaf couple was featured on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”
The Macomb Daily and The Daily Tribune report Sunday the couple didn’t request money, but donations started coming after media outlets this month reported on their plight.
The Vardons said they were weighed down by a mortgage payment that almost doubled since the makeover and medical insurance that hasn’t covered autism treatment for 16-year-old Lance.
I don’t much favor bailouts and the like. But this is one family that did really need the help. I am quite happy to see that good in Michigan come out for a change.
Fire officials are investigating a suspicious blaze at one of the biggest churches in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The pastor is estimating damage at more than $1 million.
No one was injured in the fire at the Wasilla Bible Church, which started late Friday. About a half dozen church members were in the building doing crafts when the fire began but were able to get out safely after the building’s fire alarm sounded, pastor Larry Kroon said.
“This fire is definitely suspicious,” said Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele.
The church, located off the Parks Highway on the north end of town, is one of the biggest in the Valley with a typical Sunday service drawing up to a 1,000 people.
Several well-known Valley residents attend the church, including Gov. Sarah Palin and Rep. Wes Keller, R-Wasilla.
Kroon, reached at home Saturday morning, said he’d been up all night and was still in a state of disbelief.
He said the church was only in its second winter in the three-story building and he estimated damage at more than $1 million.
“It’s one of those things, it feels surreal,” he said.
The pastor said he was especially disturbed someone would set the fire while people were inside. There were about a half dozen women inside doing crafts when the fire broke out, he said. He said he had talked to fire officials, but didn’t know of any specific leads.
“The possibilities are so wide and variable,” he said. “Someone intentionally did it, but we don’t know who and why.”
The pastor declined to speculate whether the fire was politically based or directed at Palin, the failed Republican vice presidential candidate. He also declined to say whether the church has received any recent threats.
Palin stopped by the church Saturday morning. Her spokesman, Bill McAllister, said in a statement that Palin told an assistant pastor she apologizes if the fire was connected to the “undeserved negative attention” the church has received since she became the vice presidential candidate on Aug. 29.
“Whatever the motives of the arsonist, the governor has faith in the scriptural passage that what was intended for evil will in some way be used for good,” McAllister said.
Kroon was at home when he got a call from the husband of one of the women who had been in the building. By the time he arrived, smoke was pouring from the windows of a back corner of the building.
The building is equipped with a fire sprinkler system, Kroon said, but the fire was burning in the walls and took hours to put out. Most of the damage was limited to the back corner of the building where four offices and a classroom are located, he said. There is also water damage and the entire building smells like smoke, he said. He said Sunday services are currently scheduled to be held at Wasilla Middle School.
Fire officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Megan Peters, spokeswoman for the Alaska State Troopers, said she could not answer questions about the fire.
This is War! The Liberals have declared war on the Christian Right, of which I am a part of.
It is no secret, that during the 2008 election, that I was not too impressed by Sarah Palin, nor her choice for candidate for Vice President of the United States of America. However, for a group of Communist Liberals to attack a defenseless building, in which the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ is exalted and held in regard; is in the opinion of this writer an act of aggression against the Christian community.
I ask you, as Christians, As Americans, as Human Beings; Will we stand and Fight or accept defeat and possible extinction?
Honda Motor Co. is reducing production in North America by a further 119,000 vehicles in its fiscal year ending March 31, the company said Friday. Honda previously had announced output cuts of 56,000 vehicles for the year.
The Japanese automaker now expects its full-year output in the region to dip to 1.29 million cars and light trucks, from its original target of 1.47 million.
Production is being cut across the board, with output reductions planned for small as well as larger vehicles, company spokesman Ed Miller said. “Showroom traffic is down for everyone,” he said. “The dealers just aren’t in a position to order the number of cars they had been ordering.”
Production cuts are scheduled for Honda’s plants in Alabama, Ohio, Indiana and Canada, but the company does not plan to lay off any workers.
So much for the idea that the big three are causing their own problems. Looks like the Japanese are feeling the pinch too. I would be willing to bet that you will not be seeing this blogged on any other Conservative Blogs. Because that would mess up the message that it is the Unions fault that G.M. and Chrysler are in the shape that they are in.
Of course they are not going to lay anyone off, the Japanese have all that extra money laying around, they can pay those people to work. They have made it by stealing market share away from the America Workers.
It truly is a pity, those bastards bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. We defeated them, but they really won the long war, by stealing our jobs and market share, aided and abetted by Globalist Neo-Conservatives, who’s only concern was to make a quick buck.
Well, Hannity is not one to be insulted and responded:
Jon Stewart addressed Colmes’ departure on The Daily Show Thursday night (video below), recruiting washed-up 80s pop duo Darryl Hall and John Oates to offer a farewell ditty to the departing Colmes set to the tune of “She’s gone.” The lyrics included this verse: “Alan please don’t go. You’re the only non-douche bag on that show!”
Said Hannity: “I was actually thinking of Jon [Stewart] as a co-host but I needed someone who could be smart and funny without 50 writers and two has-been rockers who are badly in need of Botox.”
Meeeeeooowwwww! Nothing like a bunch of guys acting like women. Nothing at all. 😀
So, I am giving you, the other side of the story, from the horses mouth; without commentary from me.
I did not ask that you agree, I simply ask that you listen and hear this man out. Now I am almost sure, that the Blogs, that I have linked to, will remove my trackback, like the Neo-Con Fascists that they are. I mean, it is all about controlling the message with those guys. 🙄
Here we go:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Media Q & A:
Media Q & A Part 2:
Media Q & A Part 3:
There you have it. The other side of the story. You decide.
New claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected last week, exceeding even gloomy expectations for an economy stuck in a recession that seems to be deepening.The Labor Department reported Thursday that initial applications for jobless benefits in the week ending Dec. 6 rose to a seasonally adjusted 573,000 from an upwardly revised figure of 515,000 in the previous week. That was far more than the 525,000 claims Wall Street economists expected.
Elsewhere, the U.S. trade deficit rose unexpectedly in October as a spreading global recession dampened the once-strong sales of American exports and the volume of oil imports surged by a record amount, the Commerce Department said.
More layoffs were announced Thursday. New Britain, Conn.-based tool maker Stanley Works said it plans to cut 2,000 jobs and close three manufacturing facilities, while Sara Lee Corp., known for food brands such as Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farm, said it will cut 700 jobs as the Downers Grove, Ill.-based company outsources parts of its business.
New jobless claims last week reached their highest level since November 1982, though the labor force has grown by about half since then.
I have one thing to say about this; “Welcome to my World!” I’m glad to see that the rest of America has caught up with Michigan. 😀
However, I will say this, that there are people out there who are in worse shape then me. I have people to rely on, and some of them do not. Most, if not all, have mortgages to pay, mouths to feed and so on. So, while it might be easy to be flippant and write with snark about it, the reality is that this economic downturn is going to affect many people. 🙁
While some that read this Blog, especially those over at certain forum, which I will never link to, might think that I do not appreciate the situation I am in. The truth is, that nothing could be further from the truth. It is not lost on me how fortunate that I am. Never has been. I am very blessed, I really do know this. As I have written many, many times on this Blog, if were not for my parents, I would be living under a viaduct somewhere.
I am just hoping that things do turn around, with a new President and Congress, maybe, just maybe, jobs can come back to this area. I am hoping. I really am.
I wrote about it Yesterday. I’m already sick of hearing about it. 🙄
If you want to go read that Soap Opera. Click here, as for me and this Blog. I’ve got better things to write about, than some man made scandal. When the justice Dept annouces that they are going to implicate Obama. I’ll write more about it. Otherwise, it’s simply specualtion and gossip. Something I just do not want to be a part of.
Another Sign of the times. Sad, but very true. Ever since google got traction on the internet, Yahoo.com never was able to keep up. Sometimes being second does have it’s bad points.
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