If you need to eliminate some clutter consider transferring your dusty old VHS tapes to DVDs. Not only will this save you some storage space it will also provide for longer term viewing pleasure and make for convenient sharing with friends and family.

You aren’t tech savvy, so how do you accomplish this? Why not try Honestech’s VHS to DVD 3.0 Deluxe available through honestch.com for a mere $79.99. This unit will put most everything you need in one box letting you connect a VCR or camcorder directly to a USB port on a computer. Once you have accomplished this feat the machine itself will allow you to play a tape while your PC records and converts the video into a digital file ready to burn to a DVD. This amazing unit also includes software that will allow you to add transitions and/or edit the video tape prior to re-recording it.

However, if you were one of the VHS collectors of Disney or other movies you may wish to consider asking Santa for Sony’s DVDirect VRDMC5 player available at sonystyle.com for $229.00.  With this unit you can connect your camcorder or VCR to the unit (no PC needed). This unit is so flexible and user friendly that you can even use the included multi-format media-card into the slot to transfer images and videos from a digital camera to DVD. While a little costly the ease of use makes this machine unbeatable for transferring those treasure VHS tapes to DVD.

Tags: sony, vhs tapes, dvd, videotape, honestech, vhs to dvd, video-capture, transfer vhs to dvd, sony, sony dvdirect

While denying knowledge of his whereabouts on November 22, 1963, the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, a November 29, 1963 lawsuit memo proves that President George H. W. Bush was a member of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and was indeed a recipient of a full briefing on that day.

At the TomFlocco.com Web site you can see an actual photo of an individual circled that appears to prove that the former president was in Dallas on the day of JFK’s assassination and can apparently be verified by the intelligence operatives who took the picture and would testify if subpoenaed, according to U.S. intelligence expert Thomas Heneghan. Given this damning evidence how could anyone forget they were in Dallas on the day the President was shot, especially if they were in the group of officials looking for Lee Harvey Oswald? Additional evidence linking Bush directly to the scene of the crime is available and has been circulating the Internet over the past few days.

Unbelievably, the conspiracy has taken on enough merit to warrant a new probe into the assassination since there is no statute of limitations on the murder of a sitting president. Also according to the above named Web site, the memo written regarding the Bush Sr. briefing was written on the night before Kennedy arrived in Dallas by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. According to retired Army Brigadier General William Penn Jones the meeting where the briefing was held occurred at the Dallas ranch of Texas oil baron and Dallas Cowboys owner Colin J. “Clint” Murchison, Jr.

Other incidents regarding the cover-up include the October 1992 poisoning death (timing was just before the Bush/Clinton November election) of Frank Sturgis who before his murder was the alleged Kennedy co-conspirator and spotter who attended the above meeting with George H.W. Bush and Richard Nixon. Perhaps it is also not surprising that in September of 1992 alleged Bush crime family money launderer, Leonard Millman, was arrested (in an attempt to silence him), serving an eleven month incarceration, after supposedly making threatening phone calls to his father-in-law only to have all charges dropped after the election. Also to note is that Savings and Loan scandal whistleblower Stewart Webb talked with Frank Sturgis in August 1992 regarding JFK’s murder, confirming similar allegations by Brigadier General Russell Bowen.

While these allegations may be thought of as just another round of trumped up unconfirmable lies meant to discredit the president these same allegations about Bush and Nixon can still be confirmed today by a living witness who worked for Clint Murchison Jr. at the time of the assassination, and incredibly, the witness swears that the meeting took place before the assassination, and also that a second gathering involving alleged conspirators (including the assassins and their spotters) toasted to Kennedy’s death as they watched television reports that night. This unidentified witness according to Stew Webb has also identified a photograph of George Bush Sr.’s White House Counsel C. Boyden Gray as a regular visitor at Murchison’s Dallas ranch during the time period while allegedly working as a conduit between the CIA and the FBI regarding illegal black operations. Both Webb and this witness are available to testify before a grand jury.

Not surprising is that the cover-up did not end here since it is apparently what was the apparent motive, behind Nixon’s ordered Watergate break-in. This break-in was intended to locate and remove incriminating photographs taken during the Kennedy assassination.

In his book The Immaculate Deception — The Bush Crime Family Exposed [1991, America West Publishers, pp. 31-39], retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Russell Bowen refers to the Hoover memo, in which an FBI report verified that on November 22, 1963, a Mr. George H.W. Bush, 5535 Briar, Houston, Texas telephoned the FBI’s Houston office within hours of Kennedy’s death to report that one James Parrott had been talking of killing the President when he came to Houston.

In the same book General Bowen alleges (pages 33-36) that a government effort to misidentify George H. W. Bush as George William Bush in an effort to cover up the future president’s role in the events of November 22, 1963.

General Bowen continues to incriminate the former president by linking him to a “smoking gun” tape transcript the was released on August 5, 1974, in which Bush is tied to a “money laundering operation in which Richard Nixon requested that the FBI and the CIA stop the investigation into the transfer of funds from Texas and Minnesota through Mexico City into the coffers of the Committee to Re-Elect the President and from there into the Watergate building. Within this Smoking gun tape Nixon flags the Texans’, most notably Bush and the Cubans to the Bay of Pigs. While the individual names listed are repeatedly referred to in the Watergate tapes Frank Sturgis reasons that it was the photos of Bush that was at the heart of the Watergate break-in.

In yet another book, The Mafia, CIA and George Bush, Pete Brewton claims that George DeMohrenschildt was a White Russian count with extensive ties to the CIA who lived in Texas. The same DeMohrenschildt had ties to Clint Murchison’s meat-packing business and cattle ranches around Dallas but more importantly Congress later discovered that DeMohrenschildt’s personal address book contained the name and Midland, Texas address of George H.W. Bush providing further evidence of Bush’s complicity in the murder of former President JFK.

General Bowen was an original member of Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during the 1940s with George H. W. Bush, and reportedly told Webb that Kissinger served as a duel agent for Germany and Russia during WWII before later becoming U.S. Secretary of State under President Nixon; and as of today, General Bowen and Stewart Webb are still alive to testify and allege that an individual with mixed allegiances can hold high U.S. office, the public none the wiser.

Given the above information one can’t help but question why Bush denied bieng in the CIA on November 22, 1963? Why did he receive a full briefing on JFK’s assassination on the day after the event? What does he know about Hoover’s meeting in Dallas on the night before the assassination? Who else was at the meeting? What did they discuss? Why did Hoover specifically name Bush in the FBI memo? No one seems to have the answers but it makes this citizen question the integrity of the federal government which appears to be run by powerful members of the mob or secret societies within the United States. Why is it that the same families tend to keep power while many citizens, who are more trustworthy can’t get the funds necessary to get their points to the public? Once again I put in a call to consider Ron Paul as our next president. He is a man who is not owned by the lobbyist or mob connection and who will fight according to his conscience.

Tags: george h.w. bush, richard nixon, john f. kennedy, assasination, ron paul, federal government, presidency, watergate, mob, money laundering, cia, fbi, general bowen, oss, stewart webb, kissinger, demohrenschildt, clint murchinson, hoover memo, c.boyden gray, the immaculate deception, the mafia, cia, and george bush

According to Patricia Barry, writing for AARP magazine, the centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have issued new rules aimed at ensuring that salespeople give honest, accurate information to enrollees. However, the new legislation does not address the underlying issues that gave rise to it in the first place.

This alleged abuse came to light in early 2007 when the insurance commissioners of 37 states reported that thousands of their Medicare constituents had become the prey of unscrupulous marketers who were using illegal or unethical hard-sell tactics to get the elderly to sign up for Medicare Advantage plans. According to the author some of these agents targeted dementia patients, signing them into inappropriate plans, while other convinced uninformed clients that the original Medicare was being permanently shut down and that their only option was to join a Medicare Advantage plan. Still others were led to believe that they were enrolling in a Medicare supplement plan only to find out later that they had actually been enrolled in a full coverage plan that covered all of their medical care at a much larger expense.

One major negative of the Medicare HMO is that they often only cover hospitals and doctors in their network so that if you have emergency or other special needs that are treated elsewhere you may have to fight for coverage or find that you are not covered at all.

To protect yourself from being tricked or pressured you should know the following:

• It is illegal for a salesperson to come to your home uninvited.
• For impartial information on your Medicare Insurance options check out medicare.gov or call the Medicare help line at 1-800-633-4227. If you opt to use an insurance agent, try to choose one who is not paid to sell just one plan.
• Don’t let the agent rush you into making a decision.
• Do not sign anything before you check out the carrier thoroughly by calling the Medicare help line where you can insert the plan’s name and ID number to learn if Medicare has approved that plan for your area. Additionally, check with your preferred doctor and hospital, etc. to make sure that they will accept this plan.
• Finally, if you find yourself enrolled in a Medicare plan that does not suit your needs due to misrepresentation by the provider call the Medicare help line and ask to be reenrolled in original Medicare or switched to another Medicare Advantage plan. If you have accumulated medical bills due to this misunderstanding ask to be reenrolled retroactively, so Medicare can pay the bulls at its usual rate.

Be aware that the majority of complaints about marketing abuses have been directed at a new Medicare Advantage product, private-fee-for-service plans. The main advantage of these plans according to representatives is that you can choose any doctor or hospital, anywhere in the country. However, many people have found that many of providers will not accept these plans.

So overall, one must acknowledge that the original Medicare program provides a great service of retirees and if you can supplement it with a gap coverage insurance such as is offered by AARP you will find your needs well met. I for one can attest to the fact that AARP supplemental insurance pays. I had called for enrollment in April to become effective June 1, 2007, but due to a mix up in their office had not received my confirmation as of June 15 when I was taken by ambulance to our nearest hospital. I was hospitalized for 5 days and had surgery. I wondered if AARP would meet their obligation and to their benefit I had no problem with them paying the $10,000 in bills that were not covered by Medicare. While I hope to never need such assistance again I will always be thankful for my choice of AARP for my supplemental insurance.

Tags: paticia barry, aarp magazine, aarp insurance, medicare advantage plans, fee for service plans, original medicare, medicare, retiree abuse, insurance, supplemental insurance, gap insurance, medicare hmo

Meticulous research by William Mann, whose late great-uncle was a Supreme Grand Master of the Knights Templar of Canada shares In The Templar Meridians new insights into some of the key Templar trade secrets from what they discovered in the Holy Land that was the key to their power to the enduring mystery concerning the nature and whereabouts of this great treasure. Many believe this lost treasure contains knowledge of the bloodline of Christ and the whereabouts of its descendents, but the author shows that it actually consists of an ancient science developed before the Great Flood. This knowledge was purportedly discovered by the Templars in the Holy Land during the Crusades and is still extant today in Templar / Masonic ritual.

The knowledge or science that the Templars discovered and employed enabled the Order to establish accurate latitudinal and longitudinal positions long before the foundations of the current science were laid in the seventeenth century thus allowing them to cross the Atlantic where they established secret settlements and mining operations that gave them a limitless supply of precious metals and a military edge over their opponents. However, these opponents eventually drove the Templars further into the interior of the North American continent forcing them to leave behind artifacts, relics and information caches at key sites so that future initiates could use their understanding of the science of meridians to locate them. Some of these Templars became the future masons and included such notables as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington who used this science as the basis for their designs of Monticello and Washington D.C.

One important note of interest was the Templars motive behind the Lewis and Clark expedition. In reality it was the meridians who mapped out the desired route that the explorers were to follow with their goal being to search out the final resting place of Prince Henry Sinclair where it was believed that the Templars great treasure was also buried.

So while historians would have us believe that we know all there is to know about our history they leave much out as is seen in this wonderful piece of work by Mann. Mann is in a remarkable position to enlighten us since he is linked through descent and family history to the events he describes in this book. Using his connections to the past he opens up a new dimension to our understanding of the powerful economic, political and personal forces that shaped North American history.  

Overall, I found this provocative book with its astounding conclusions to generate a greater curiosity regarding our country’s origins and to reveal a much greater mystery at work than even the one that Mann suggests. If you are interested in the Holy Grail Mystery, or in pre-Columbian exploration of the North American continent you will find Mann’s offering both enjoyable, as well as, provocative reading material. Be prepared, however, for the inclusion of ancient evidence to support its controversial theories that can be somewhat tedious and difficult to comprehend unless you have read previous books on the Holy Grail. Another problem I found with the book was that many of the diagrams and pictures of ancient maps were really hard to read. Many times they have to be taken at face value that the document is what Mann claims it to be. This is especially true of the maps where some of the symbols are supposedly crucial to what Mann is saying.  Is it worth the read? Definitely, it is worth your time if you have any interest in discovering the power base behind our country and why certain people seem to be in power. 

Tags: templar meridians, william mann, non-fiction, holy grail, new world, lewis and clark, holy land, templar secrets, prince henry sinclair, free masons, templar/masonic ritual, bloodline of christ, science, hidden treasure

Retirement planning requires that you consider life expectancy when determining how to invest your money. According to the Society of Actuaries Annuity 2000 Mortality Table, this could easily mean that many people will outlive their own life expectancy making it necessary for them to have access to additional income for up to 50 years after retirement. This means most people ought to think long and hard about longevity risk and the very real possibility that the funds they have set aside for their golden years may come up drastically short.

The actual figures indicate that a healthy 65-year-old man who has a life expectancy of age 81, has a 50 percent probability of reaching age 85 and a 25 percent probability of reaching age 92. For a woman age 65, the odds rise to a 50 percent chance of reaching 88 and a one-in-four chance of reaching age 94. For married couples the odds further show that at least one member of a 65-year-old couple has a 50 percent probability of reaching 92, and at least a 25 percent chance of one of them reaching 97.

There has never been a generation in history that has been faced with a challenge of the magnitude and scope that faces you today. What happens if you live to be 95, 100, or beyond? If you retire at 60, you may need income for another 35, 40, or possibly even 50 years. Will your income last as long as you do?

What this all means is that each of us who is nearing retirement must take a good hard look at our financial future to determine if our needs will be met when we are too old or sick to work at WalMart as a greeter. To do that it is wise to consult an expert who specializes in working with retirees so that you can maximize the earnings you currently have access to.

Tags: retirement planning, financial future, life expectancy, actuaries, morality table

According to Grand Times magazine’s member news published by the Hilton Grand Vacations Club resort they have just recently launched a new Web site found at behospitable.com.

I found their first article to be an invaluable site for those of us who are starting to entertain guests in our homes, as well as, a mighty resource for the professional host and hostess who desires to make their clients feel wanted and at home. It is truly remarkable that they have managed to include an interactive United States map that even highlights the different customs of certain areas so that the host/hostess will be aware of what might be expected, such as welcoming leis in
Hawaii or slippers in the north for those visitors whose shoes are muddy. To further enhance their site they include an index that allows visitors to share their hospitable anecdotes and to share and collect new ideas for encouraging hospitality in their families and communities.

One of the site’s features is the be hospitable show, a video-cast with Brooke Channon, host of HGTV’s “Sensible Chic.” The show spotlights courteous acts in a series of short vignettes, which can be found on the home page.

One of the things I like the most about the site was the area dedicated to kids and families where the reader can learn some tips that included:

• Smile at and talk to elderly people, they know a lot that you don’t.
• Always close every door gently.
• Take the smaller piece of cake/pie/candy, sometimes.
• Choose a family charity and donate to it every year.
• Make sure you know the mane of your mail person and garbage collector.
• Put heart stickers on the bills you mail out, because even the people who open your bills are human beings.
• Bring flowers to your local library.

The site even offers coloring pages for kids that show hospitable acts, like sharing a blanket, singing a song, asking someone to dance, or applauding and holding the door open.

Of course like all web sites you may find yourself listening to a speech from Conrad Hilton which is a plug for his hotels and resorts but overall the site is quite well done. This includes their discussion of the role that they are playing in the be hospitable that includes a rundown of each Hilton branch’s involvement in numerous programs from the “Grow a School Garden” program to support for the National Coalition for the Homeless and a concern for global warming.

In general, however, I really appreciated what I found on this web site so if you want to make your family and the world more hospitable you can take the first step by clicking on behospitable.com and reading what it has to offer.

Tags: hilton grand vacation resorts, hospitality, web-site, family, children, global warming, conrad hilton, embassy suites, hawaii, grow a school garden, national coalition for the homeless, sensible chic, brooke channon, grand times magazine

Microsoft’s Calendar Wizard is built in to your Microsoft Word software making it easy for you to create monthly calendars for scheduling purposes or just to keep track of what day it is. With this unique program you can add your own picture files (like those of your grandchildren or a special place) and even insert reoccurring appointments and other text.

If you are using an older version of Word (Word 2000 or before) you should be able to go straight to the Templates window. If you have a newer version of Word then follow the directions below.

To locate the Calendar Wizard, open Microsoft Word and follow these simple step-by-step instructions:

1. Click on the file option from the menu bar.
2. From that drop down menu click on the New option (Ctrl + N accomplishes this task too)
3. Select General Templates.
4. Click on the Other Documents tab
5. Double-click on the Calendar Wizard icon.

If you do not see the Calendar Wizard icon in the list provided on the Other Documents tab you made need to re-install it from the Word program. If you are running a newer version of Word you will need to download the Wizard from the Word Web site.

Once it is downloaded, choose file, new and the New Document task pane will open.

In this task pane you’re looking for the New from template section, Choose the General Templates choice.

This should in turn take you to the Templates window.

From this dialog box select the Other Documents tab.

Locate and double-click on the Calendar Wizard icon.

(At this juncture - if you are re-loading the wizard or have just installed it - you will be prompted to complete the installation.)

The Wizard will begin and walk you step-by-step through the process of creating your calendar beginning with picking a calendar style. It will further ask you for your preference regarding page layout, pictures, and the date range you need to work with.

When you have finished answering all of the Wizard’s questions click on the Finish button. From here Word will do all the work and you will have a beautiful calendar ready for your customization.

To use the calendar you simply click on the date to enter text and scroll from page to page to work on various months.

In the event that your schedule becomes to hectic and your calendar cannot hold all your data you have the option of installing Microsoft Publisher which offers an even wider range of calendar designs to choose from.

Once your calendar is finished you in actuality have a Word table which you can use your table modification skills to make any further adjustments you might want.

You can select the rows in the usual fashion and then hit Ctrl/L to align the dates. While the rows are selected you can also add grid lines to your calendar to make viewing easier. If so, click Format/Borders and Shading and select the Grid. This will insert both horizontal and vertical lines throughout the date cells.

When you have the cells borders inserted you can select individual cells to add shading to for special dates or to add notes about important meetings. If you need to add a lot of text and make the font smaller push Ctrl/Shift/< . This shortcut keystroke will allow you to squish a lot of notes into the small space.

Once you are finished - print out your new calendar and you are all set.

Upon completion of the basic calendar it is also possible to insert photos or special photos to create a personalized or gift type calendar.

To add pictures click on the insert a picture when prompted by the Wizard. A dummy picture will appear in the space you selected. Click on the dummy picture to delete it.

Keeping the Calendar window open, click on the My Pictures folder. Open the picture that you want to include. Click on File on the Menu Bar, click on Copy, and close the My Pictures folder screen. The Calendar window appears on the screen. Insert the cursor where the dummy picture was. Click on the Paste icon located on the Toolbar and the picture you chose will appear.

Good luck and happy computering.

Tags: calendar, calendar wizard, microsoft calendar wizard, free download, download calendar, install calendar wizard, insert pictures, add calendar text, add calendar graphics, create a calendar, adding grid lines, microsoft tables, free instruction on how to use calendar wizard, free download site, scheduling calendar, create own schedule