Blind Core goes to Turkey

I wish to bring this effort to your attention and request you consider making a donation to their work. As a person who loves to travel I always marvel at how interesting other countries are- yet at the end of every trip I say there is no better place in the world to be a blind person then North America.

Dear Friend,
It’s winter! You just can’t get around, at least if you’re anywhere like Omaha, Nebraska. We have had 2 blizzards in the last 3 weeks. Transportation, at times has been nearly impossible, schools and businesses have been closed. This has been some of the foulest weather in this region for years, with freezing rain, wind, ice, snow, and no sign of this pattern letting up. With the low temps and piles and piles of snow everywhere, most of us are being very selective in where we choose when traveling away from our homes. Yet people have the choice. Imagine if you had no such choice. Or what if your choices were just as limited, round the clock, day long, week in and out, month after month, life-long? What would that be like?
It would be like the lives of blind people in developing nations, with no hope of receiving the basic training they need to live full independent lives. But this kind of training is available in the U. S. A. every single day. Now, the veteran rehabilitation professionals of non-profit Blind Corps provide this kind of U. S.-developed training to blind people and their teachers where it has never been provided before.
You can help to thaw the ice and make it possible for blind persons of developing nations, struggling to be free and equal, to achieve their dreams of independence. For the cost of a $10 Braille slate, a $25 white cane, a $50 Braille watch, or the donation of used but serviceable equipment or technology you can make a difference.
On May 25, 2010 our team of eight, including myself, will be leaving for Istanbul for our third Blind Corps mission. We’ll be providing training to teachers from the 16 schools for the blind scattered across Turkey, as well as direct contact with individual blind persons. If you’d like to join us, as well as the Turkish Ministry of Education, the City of Istanbul, and Bey Az Ay, the leading non-profit organization of the blind in Turkey in supporting this project, please contact me directly or donate securely online with the Paypal link below.
All of us of the Blind Corps team appreciate your consideration and generosity.

Yours respectfully,
Robert Leslie Newman, Board Member, Blind Corps

(To use Paypal, please click or paste):
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=10485686

BLIND CORPS, since November 2005, an IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt Corporation

Robert Leslie Newman
Email- newmanrl@cox.net
THOUGHT PROVOKER Website-
Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info

Government Motors and Tarp

The article above speaks about GM paying back its loans to the government way before it needs to- and yet, the objective observers say it seems insanely obtimistic to believe that the tax payers will get properly paid back. This just goes to show you that although government has its perks, when it tries to be a business it totally fails. Do we really want the people who can't manage to handle a simple bankruptcy to run everyone's health care?

The Laviathan grows- here's voting for more sushi!

Braille Readers Are Leaders

I have joined the Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest and will begin my reading today. I hope to have read at least 150 pages by the end of the contest. If you are interested in forming a team with me please E mail me.

Who Says American Frugality is Dead?

As I study more about personal finance I am constantly looking for additional means to improve my financial fitness. I have found that throughout a good chunck of American history our forefathers (and mothers) were extremely frugal people. Little or no debt, personal responsability, and SAVE! I had thought that with the 70s this great American trate had died, but this puts that thought to rest.

Back to the GOP

For those unaware last November with my extreme vexation with then President Bush chucking his free market principles under the bus and the GOP in general becoming standard want-to-be Dems I decided to join the Libertarian Party.

As of yesterday I have rejoined the GOP, though as a Libertarian Republican. If you click on the link and look at the philosophers who have inspired Libertarian Republicans you will be reading the list of those authors who have a profound impact on my political thinking of late. I particularly recommend Hayek, Rand, and Mill.

I have also been posting political articles of interest via Twitter. If I find anything interesting I tend to tweet it, though since this blog and my Twitter feed are linked to my Facebook page I tend to like to keep my traffic to a fairly small volume. I hope you will find them interesting, and if this is nothing more then my personal echo chamber I will have an excellent archive of political articles I have enjoyed.

Financial Armor and the Battle Plan

I recently read this post providing a public method of keeping oneself on task with one's finances. I began to do this last month, and wish to continue. Since the finances have cleared up a bit I figure why not continue?

The discription in Ephesians 6:10-18 is one of my favorites in the entire Bible. This post subsequently had a great impact on me; thus, the title of my public records- the battle plan.

Debt:

The ever present foe. *Much* work has been done on this front this past month or so.

Car loan: $0.00- Blown out of the sky- and there was much rejoicing.

Credit Cards: $0.00- Paid off and plan to keep it that way.

Primary mortgage on Colorado: $137,600 (5.1% variable capped at 5.9%).

Chipping away at this beast. Thinking about re-fiing, but not sure the 5.9% cap can be beat in today's climate. The fixed nature of the following loan would be helpful, but not sure it's worth it particularly if I sell in the next two or three years. Regardless knocking this one out of the park is solidly on the to-do list.

Second on Colorado: $28,900 (6.5% fixed)

Lumping this baby with el grande would be useful but again not sure the costs of closing the deal and probable subsequent intrest rise would be worth it. Top priority if re-fi doesn't happen for long term debt elimination.

Student Loans: $30,000- Since Sueanne is probably going to teach she will have to opportunity to have these paid off. If not they will become #1 target on the debt elimination list.

Goals:

*- Have $12,500 in the bank as an emergancy fund.

So everyone knows an emergancy fund means no touchy unless there is a missing limb or blood. The latest Braille display, offering from Apple, or the "need" for a meal out does not count as a reason to use this fund. We basically have this fund and totally leave it alone. If we do use it we then funnel funds right back into it to raise it to the proper level.

Statis: Long way to go on this one. Only $1,600 in the bank as of now, but will work on it.

*- $5,000 in I Bonds.

Although the rate on I Bonds isn't great at this point I am extremely concerned about inflation in the long term. Plus every dollar in an I Bond isn't one I can easily get to. Thus it serves a duel purpose of protecting the funds from inflation and myself.

Statis: Long way on this as well. Currently only $200, but $50 is added every month and I am working on saving up additional funds to shovel into I Bonds in December.

*- $5,000 in Savings Bonds

A little less save then the I Bonds but still a great way of keeping my money from myself. Plus if these ever go bad I shall have far more to worry about then the loss of a few thousand dollars.

Statis: $100 as of now. Once I get the funds squirled away in I Bonds Savings Bonds are next on the list.

*- $10,000 in Municiple Bonds

Tax free (at least on the Federal level) and unable to be touched without great trouble. Seems like a winner to me.

Statis: $1,600 thus far. Adding $100 per month.

Well that's the start of the battle plan. Any thoughts are appreciated.

I follow with the iced coffee...

9-11

My comemoration of that day. Let us never forget that liberty comes with a high price.