I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

:-/

I would be more than willing to come out of retirement to mismanage a company into bankruptcy for a few million dollars.  Where do they post those jobs???  Maybe you have to sell your soul to the devil first to be considered.

From what I read the Hostess employees actually had payroll deductions to pay into their pension fund.  Not to say that the news media always gets it right.  But there are obviously loopholes in the law.  My BIL's steel mill fell victim to a group of vulture capitalists who gutted the company and stole their pension money the same way and nobody was ever prosecuted.  Luckily for him a company from India bought it and is now running it profitably.   

I am ready for Christmas!  All done ... at least until I remember that I forgot something. 

Hope your hubby gets 'boring' results alexandria!  And I really can't blame him for grumbling in the meantime ... my sympathies to you both. 

We have compulsory superannuation here (your 401k I think) - money is taken from our wages and deposited in a fund. We personally own that account and the employer has no access to it except for paying in the contribution. We can also salary sacrifice pretax to increase our contribution. The compulsory amout is 9% and I contribute an extra 3%. It is not possible to do what those Hostess people did in this country - sounds like your laws need to be changed.

We can choose what investment funds our money is put in here. You can be in a balanced option (low yield) or be more agressive and have it invested in shares.

Hi all,

     Trying to get back into the writing mode this morning.  Decided to share the first page of my novel.  You may note that my name on this board is the same ( except for the number which was my age at time of diagnosis) as the name of my main character.  I had written a novel with her and several other characters in this novel in 2006 that is a prequel to this one and that almost sold, and when it came to choosing an on-line identity, I always liked the name.  I will say that my character and I are very different, I am not as smart, not as good an attorney, not as brave, nor as generous as my character.  I do have better romantic luck and taste.

     I don't have a full synopsis at this point, since the one I did two months ago no longer tracks the story. 

    Anyway, the basic story involves an attorney, a breast cancer survivor, who is trying to help a young mother get her baby back from the State Child Protection Services.  This  is complicated by a corrupt caseworker who sells babies, the young mother's ex-byfriend, an inept neo-Nazi  trying to link up with a more sinister neo-Nazi group, and the attorney's former fiance, who works for an intelligence agency. 

    First chapter is essentially an intro of the main character.

Chapter One

            “That is your e-mail, correct?”

Alexandria Silver handed Mike Patton, former assistant prosecutor for Mercer County, a copy of the e-mail that her investigator had found eight months earlier on Patton’s hard drive. It had formed the basis for her successful appeal of Clayton Star’s ten year old conviction for murder.  

            “I don’t know.” The words were a growl. Mike Patton stared fixedly at the floor in front of the witness box.

            Ten years earlier, Mike Patton had been a handsome young man, according to the photos and news stories, hoping to propel himself up the political ladder to Congress or the governorship. But ten years had seen the end of both his looks and his ambition. He had lost his sole political campaign for a vacant seat in Congress, lost most of his hair, and gained a hundred pounds.

            “This is your e-mail address, isn’t it?”  Alex pointed to the document. “And you sent it to your boss at the time, didn’t you? I can call him, if you prefer.”

            “It’s mine.” The words were low.

Alex nodded. She could have proved that he sent the e-mail, but it was better to have him admit it. “Could you read that to the court, please?” She stepped back to counsel table and waited. She was starting to feel uncomfortable in the tight jacket. Should have worn something looser, something that wouldn’t press against the still sore areas of her chest, five months after the surgery to remove her breasts.

But an attorney showing weakness or pain in a courtroom was never a good idea. She could soldier through it; she’d done it before. She owed it to her client.

Seated at the defense table, hands clasped in front of him, in a suit that Alex had bought for him, was Clayton Star, a six foot African American and former honors student from Trenton High School who had hoped to defy the odds and make it into college, until he had been convicted of the gang shooting of a 16 year old Princeton girl, ten years earlier.

Page 2, please!

It's a pretty complex story with intertwinings of relationships, action, and characters.  I doubt anyone can steal my novel from one page and the snippet of plot summary that I've put up.  I'm really not all that worried.

I'm not putting up more than one page, though, not as much from fear of it being stolen as not wanting it to be "published."  I know that publishers want to buy rights to first publication, and publication can include putting it up on the web.   One page as a teaser should be ok.  I don't want to risk putting too much more up.  Besides, I want all of you to buy a copy when I finally finally get published.

Calling E - how are them guv'mint rads treating you these days??

Has the IRS sent a squad car to pick up the tax on the coffee voucher??

blue,

What an incredibly patient and wonderful cat!

Hi Gals,

Please keep my BFF Brenda in your thoughts tomorrow.  She is having a titanium rod put inside her femur for stabilization.  They are concerned the femur is going to shatter during surgery due to all the bone mets.

She's really scared ... I am too.

I'll be driving down to North Carolina to stay with her in the hospital on Saturday.  They are having some construction work at their home that day, so her husband will have to leave early.  I'll be with her until one of her family members arrives in the late afternoon.

To make matters even worse, they discovered a blood clot in her brachial vein yesterday when she was at the hospital for her pre-op appointment.  They are waiting until after the surgery to start her on blood thinners.  It's the kind where you get an injection in the belly.

Anyway ... I'm freakin' out.  I love her ... and I'm so nervous about this surgery tomorrow.  Please keep her in your thoughts that it goes okay.

hugs,
Bren

Thoughts and prayers for you both, Bren. Of course you're both scared-I hope all goes well for her and her pain gets under control.

Mary

Bren, positive thoughts and prayers for dear Brenda, you and her family.

Don't forget to breathe.  Best wishes. You're both in my thoughts.

Question. As many know I feed squirrels on my deck. One, who I call Peanut, is very tame. When I walk onto the deck she just looks at me and keeps chomping away. BUT, a bobcat has discovered this squirrel feeding station, and has actually been on our deck, pooping. I've cleaned up several disgusting piles of bobcat poop. Today I used Pine Sol thinking the smell would discourage said resident bobcat. Any other suggestions? I want my widdle squirrel babies, especially Peanut, to be safe! Gotta leave instruction with our house sitter also. We leave tomorrow.