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Friday, December 28, 2007

Thank you for your donations to the Salvation Army

Headlines---

Classified ads—Syndicator
    GE buying most of Merrill Finance-up-date
        Cartoon---Money
Dennis Brown to Ken Bentsen: November Survey
    Looking Ahead by Christopher Menkin
        Classified Ads---Help Wanted
LEAF calling on your customers
    Mortgage demand dips to lowest in 2007
        Citigroup may write down up to $18.7B
    Home Prices declining at faster pace
News Briefs---
    You May have Missed---
        California Nuts Brief---
Sports Briefs---
    "Gimme that Wine"
        Calendar Events
Snapple Real Facts
    Today's Top Event in History
        This Day in American History
Football Poem
    SuDoku
        Daily Puzzle
    GasBuddy
News on Line---Internet Newspapers
The Newsroom

######## surrounding the article denotes it is a “press release”

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Classified ads—Syndicator

Overland Park, KS
Top Syndicator from single deal to portfolios. 20+ yrs exp. Available for contract work or full time position. Nationwide contacts.
E-mail: FFLLeasing@aol.com

To place a free “job wanted” ad here, please go to:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Jwanted/Jwanted-post.htm

For a full listing of all “job wanted” ads, please go to:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Jwanted/Jwanted.htm

[headlines]

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GE buying most of Merrill Finance--- up-date

Part of the story on Monday about Merrill-Lynch selling to GE most of their Commercial Finance Lease division was to raise liquidity. Merrill also raised up to $6.2 billion in a private placement with Singapore's Temasek Holdings and Davis Selected Advisers. Those watching the stock market saw Temasek Holdings making an immediate profit, buying in at $48/ share with Merrill closing Thursday
at $53.20.

Temasek controls some of Asia's best-known companies including Singapore Airlines, Neptune Orient Lines and Singapore Telecommunications.

Merrill-Lynch announced yesterday that it is also cutting approximately 1,600 jobs. The term was "mid-level" managers; 10% of their total 16,000 employees. The cuts are to come from every area except investment banking and the private client group. Merrill’s venture into commercial and consumer finance appears over, or at the very best, quite diminished.

It also does not look like the key Commercial Finance crew will be going back to GE, where many of them originally worked before joining Merrill-Lynch. The list includes Robert Radway, President and Managing Director, formerly at Heller, bought out by GE; Michael Litwin, Credit and Risk Officer, formerly ex.vp. credit at Heller, bought out by GE; Daniel Marszalek, Managing Director, formerly at Heller, bought out by GE; Howard Widra, Managing Director of the Healthcare Finance Group, formerly with GE; Richard J. Remiker, Managing Director and Group Head of Merrill Lynch Capital Equipment Finance, formerly pres. & COO at Key Equipment Finance, also a director of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association: Richard Doherty, Director and National Sales Manager; John Settano, formerly of US Leasing and the last employee left at GE from US Leasing, (he said in an interview. editor) Maybe they will join Rick Wolfert, who was at CIT, “Since 2001,Wolfert has served as President and CEO of GE Healthcare Finance. Prior to joining GE, he was President and Chief Operating Officer of Heller Financial Corporation and was Chairman, President and CEO of KeyBank USA and of KeyCorp Leasing Ltd. Prior to joining KeyCorp in 1988; he was employed by U.S. Leasing Corporation as Vice President, Business Development.”

Readers should not feel sorry for these officers, as it appears they will employed through the first quarter of 2008, plus most likely have a good parachute to their departure agreement
(One of the advantages of being an executive, having an attorney who specializes in employment agreements or an executive recruiting specialist who wants you to return as certainly repeat business
is their best annuity. Look for them to either start a new company or find a better position than they had at Merrill.)

Readers who are not on our mailing list and missed the story sent Monday, please go here:
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202007/12-24-07a.htm

[headlines]

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[headlines]

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Dennis Brown to Ken Bentsen: November Survey

Equipment Leasing and Finance Association MLFI-25

Please note September, 2007 was $7.2 billion, followed by October, 2007, $7.2 billion,
then November, $6.3 billion.

There does not seem to be a tightening of credit as the credit approval percentage ratio’s appear not to have changed much in these three last months: 79.1%. 78%, 78.3%

Compared to 2006, September was down, but October and November slightly up. You will read in other media the spin in comparing 2006 to 2007. They seem to take the press release “word for word”
and it definitely has a “chamber of commerce” spin, comparing a month last year to a month this year.

Despite the effort to compare November 2006 to November 2007,
the equipment leasing volume continues its downward trend from the high in the second quarter, as evidenced by the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association MLFI-25 New Business Volume as taken from 25 equipment leasing firms on a consistent basis. What may be the final blow will be December, 2007: doubling the previous month as what happened in December, 2006 is very likely not going to occur again. It came from some very large transactions added into the average of the 25 leasing companies.

Despite the inconsistencies, the MLFI is somewhat accurate, although lumping 25 companies with different marketplaces, dollar transactions, and trying to gauge the climate is like putting one foot in a bucket of ice and the other in a raging fire: on the average, the temperature is comfortable.

The real indicator is perhaps not the business volume but the employment statistics, which was growing in 2006, but today is down from 13,300 last year to 10,700 in November; that’s over a 20% decline to today’s total of the 25 leasing companies.

ELFA MLFI-25 Participants

ADP Credit Corporation
Bank of America
Bank of the West
Canon Financial Services
Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation
CIT
Citicapital
De Lage Landen Financial Services
First American Equipment Finance
GreatAmerica
Hitachi Credit America
HP Financial Services
Irwin Financial
John Deere Credit Corporation
Key Equipment Finance
LaSalle National Leasing Corporation
Marlin Leasing Corporation
National City Commercial Corp.
RBS Asset Finance
Regions Equipment Finance
Siemens Financial Services
US Bancorp
US Express Leasing
Verizon Capital Corp
Volvo Financial Services
Wells Fargo Equipment Finance

[headlines]

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Looking Ahead

by Christopher Menkin

How does 2008 look? Better for the independents and companies who have a low overhead. Attorneys, auditors, and collectors should have a better year. Those expanding overseas will be in front
to get the first arrows and rewards from a new era.

Airplane, train, and container lessors seems to be in very good shape.
The market to small ticket up to middle market reflects a media barrage that the economy is headed into a recession, so you better be careful. My advice, don’t read the newspapers!!!

For the leasing industry, 2008 should be a very good year, especially if you are smart and aggressive. LEAF believes that way, as does CIT and GE.

The full picture of 2007 will not look as poor as this last quarter. Overall, 2007 was a good year, despite what the New York Times writes.

I personally like what Wells Fargo & Co. Chairman Richard Kovacevich
said that today many more people own houses now who couldn’t before, that employment is good, more have health plans, more going to college, and if we could ignore Wall Street, the media would be reporting that the economy wasn’t in as bad a shape as Wall Street makes it out to be.

He said Wells erred by loosening its standards for home equity loans, which are tied to the value of a home and don't have as strong a claim as a first mortgage after a default, he added. Wells Fargo on Nov. 27 said it will take a $1.4 billion pretax charge because of losses linked to the company's $83 billion home equity loan business.

``We made mistakes and we shouldn't have made mistakes,'' Kovacevich said. ``So we give ourselves 20 lashes and remind people for the next 10 years not to do it again. That's why this is such a tough business, because when you get out on the edge, you get a $1.4 billion hit.''

The world's biggest financial companies have taken about $77 billion in write-downs and other charges tied to subprime mortgages, which are made to people with the weakest credit. Many of them would not have had an opportunity. Many of the defaults come from those amateurs who entered the market to flip houses in the booming price marketplace. The houses are not being demolished, but hopefully sold and re-financed again.

``All we want is more cracks at the bat,'' Kovacevich concluded.
``Prospects are now wanting to take us out to lunch.''

Now that is the type of person you need at your company. Wells Fargo still has a lot to offer, as Kovacevich pointed out, as do most of the banks, finance institutions, and leasing companies.

[headlines]

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Leasing Industry Help Wanted

Collectors

Collectors
Wrentham, Mass.

Growing Leasing Collection Division for 25+ year estab. business. Must have exceptional, creative negotiation skills,  ability to thrive in high volume, fast paced environment. Click here for more info:

Lease Officer

LEASE OFFICER

SMALL TICKET LESSOR, providing superior service for 35+years Transactions- $10Kto $1MM, Seeks seasoned sales professionals To learn more: sandyspringbank.tms or contact Scott Wheeler at
SWheeler@SandySpringBank.com

[headlines]

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LEAF calling on your customers

Readers are telling Leasing News that LEAF Financial is actively calling their customers from UCC filings they purchased. This sales technique has been going on for years. It appears this is a "direct sales unit" from LEAF Financial trying the old technique of calling UCC contacts.

Other firms has mailing lists with corporate officers, but the UCC
has the person who signed the actual lease contracts.

Paul Witte,CEO, First Federal Leasing,V.P., First Bank Richmond, says his brokers are letting him know about the calls:

"The information I received is that LEAF is not offering anything special; they are just trying to see if the customer would be interested in using them as a funding source.

"It’s always a good time to call your customers regarding their business, but it may be an especially good time to do so, " he advises his brokers. Maintaining your current relationships is much easier than developing new ones.

"First Federal Leasing will never call a broker's customers to solicit business," Witte concluded. " 100% of our business comes directly from brokers. We are a 100% indirect funding source."

Many funders who work with brokers have made a similar pledge. Perhaps LEAF in buying Alco, Dolphin, Pacific Capital, NetBank Business Finance, have become more aggressive in their direct sales.

Insiders tell Leasing News:

"These folks are trying to develop a direct sales force in OC (Orange County, California. editor) with ex-CapitalWerks folks running their direct sales outfit. Using UCC scripts from 1998, and put a drill sergeant (yet successful, in his own mind) in charge of the office."

"By no means are they doing bad business. Their products are great, but this man's mission is to 'take all brokers out of business.' Which will never happen, because these guys are so big, they may not hear the tree fall in the woods. It won't spread as they never cross lines with current relationships."

"LEAF runs a great operation, and their products are very tough to beat (I saw a legitimate $95M Corp Only approval in 15 secs) They are very conscious of doing above the board business, so there is no worry there...but the issue was the mudslinging of every other shop in town (any US broker) is not. That doesn't help our cause, or the independent. There is plenty of business for everyone. I guess it's just Leasing 101, down & dirty."

[headlines]

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News Briefs----

Mortgage demand dips to lowest in 2007 even as rates fall
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2007-12-27-mortgage-apps_N.htm

Citigroup may write down up to $18.7B
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2007-12-27-banks-writeoffs_N.htm

Home Prices declining at faster pace
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12272007/business/home_prices_declining_at_f
aster_pace_915317.htm

China Construction Bank, Bank of America start leasing JV
http://www.reuters.com/article/tnBasicIndustries-SP/idUSHKG23150520071228

Boeing 787 Orders Reach 790
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-boeing-orders,0,1406319.story

U.S. factory orders for big-ticket goods edged up only 0.1 percent in November
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20071227-1343-economy.html

IRS: Late Tax Fix Delays Refunds
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jU7U-o4AyoCjk9tJVAZUxjivwA2AD8TQ3DC8L

[headlines]

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You May have Missed---

Classic acts rule over concert sales http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117978145.html?categoryid=16&cs=1

[headlines]

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Sports Briefs----

History but Little Mystery as NFL Winds Down
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/27/
AR2007122702143.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR

Opportunity knocks for Dallas Cowboys' reserves
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/football/cowboys/stories/
122807dnspoarcher.590b87e4.html

Patience paying off for Redskins' Collins
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/redskins/2007-12-27-collins_N.htm

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California Nuts Briefs---

Tiger grotto wall shorter than thought, may have contributed to escape and fatal attack
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/27/MNFFU5G80.DTL

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“Gimme that Wine”

Blind tasting of French and California sparklers shows once-distinct wines now increasingly alike
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20071226/LIFESTYLE/712260305/-1/
SPECIAL&THEMES=FOODWINE

A Tempest in a Champagne Flute
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/dining/26cham.html?_r=1&ref=dining&oref=slogin

Christie's Wine Sales Rise 22% This Year; Sotheby's Climb 32%
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=abFtba_AkzWU&refer=muse

Fine wines beat stock market with 39% gains
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article3273204.ece

Wine Prices by vintage
http://www.winezap.com
http://www.wine-searcher.com/
US/International Wine Events
http://www.localwineevents.com/
Winery Atlas
http://www.carterhouse.com/atlas
Leasing News Wine & Spirits Page
http://two.leasingnews.org/Recommendations/wnensprts.htm
The London International Vintners Exchange (Liv-ex) is an electronic exchange for fine wine.
http://www.liv-ex.com/

[headlines]

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Calendar Events This Day

Australia: Proclamation Day
Observed in South Australia.

Card Playing Day
http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/December/cardplayingday.htm

Holy Innocents Day (Childermas)
Commemoration of the massacre of children at Bethlehem, ordered by King Herod who wanted to destroy, among them, the infant Savior. Early and medieval accounts claimed as many as 144,000 victims, but more recent writers, noting that Bethlehem was a very small town, have revised the estimates of the number of children killed to between 6 and 20.

Iowa: Admission Day.
Became 29th state in 1846.

No Interruptions Day
Turn off all devices that will interrupt your work or play.

National Chocolate Candy Day

Saint feast Days

http://www.catholic.org/saints/f_day/dec.php

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The San Francisco Cable cars and the St. Charles streetcar line in New Orleans are the nation's only mobile National Monuments.

[headlines]

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Today's Top Event in History

1846- Iowa becomes 29th state. The 29th state’s name is derived from an American Indian word meaning ‘the beautiful land’. It is widely thought that Iowa’s nickname, the Hawkeye State, is in honor of Black Hawk, the famous Indian chief who led the Sauk and Fox tribes against the Iowa area settlers in the Black Hawk War of 1832. Iowa City was the first capital of Iowa. 11 years later, Des Moines, the state’s largest city, became the permanent capital. The Iowa state bird is the eastern goldfinch, the state flower, the wild rose, and the state motto: “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.”

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This Day in American History

    1722--Birthday of Elizabeth Lucas Pinckney . Left to manage her father's three plantations in the Carolinas when he was called back to Antigua as military lieutenant general. Not only did she experiment with various crops trying to produce one that would increase the plantations' income - plantations being agricultural businesses, not family farms - she developed a method whereby the touchy indigo plant could be raised in the harsher Carolina climate. The English government was enthusiastic and subsidized its growing as the U.S. government would later subsidize tobacco. Export reached in excess of one million pounds and was a major income source for the entire region. After her marriage, she developed a method for growing silkworms in the Charleston area and manufacturing silk. As a widow she would return to her family's plantations and manage them - successfully, as usual. Two of her sons were prominent in the new United States politics. Her first shipment of 17 pounds of indigo dye caused a furor in London as merchants found it equal to the dye from the French colonies. The English Parliament gave the South Carolina growers a subsidy. France made it a major crime to export indigo seeds but it was too late. Then ELP did the most unusual thing ... and perhaps the most feminist thing: she distributed the seeds from her crop to any colonist planter who wanted them instead of keeping the magic seeds to herself for her other gain. Within five years, the 17 pounds of dye had increased to 40,000 pounds. This output increased in time and became a major source of income for the fledgling United States that desperately needed cash. President George Washington served as one of the pallbearers at her funeral.
    1732 -- The Pennsylvania Gazette carried the first known advertisement for the first issue of Poor Richard's Almanack by Richard Saunders (Benjamin Franklin) for the year 1733. The advertisement promised "many pleasant and witty verses, jests and sayings . . . new fashions, games for kisses . . . men and melons . . . breakfast in bed, &c." America's most famous almanac, Poor Richard's was published through the year 1758 and has been imitated many times since. From The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: "In 1732 I first publish'd my Almanack, under the name of Richard Saunders; it was continu'd by me about twenty-five years, commonly call'd Poor Richard's Almanack. I endeavor'd to make it both entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came to be in such demand, that I reap'd considerable profit from it, vending annually near ten thousand. And observing that it was generally read, scarce any neighborhood in the province being without it, I consider'd it as a proper vehicle for conveying instruction among the common people, who bought scarcely any other books; I therefore filled all the little spaces that occurr'd between the remarkable days in the calendar with proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality, as the means of procuring wealth, and thereby securing virtue; it being more difficult for a man in want, to act always honestly, as, to use here one of those proverbs, it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright."
    1832- The first vice-president of the United States to resign was the famous John C. Calhoun, who had served as vice-president of the US under two presidents (John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson ) Mar 4-1825-December 28,1832). Finding himself in growing disagreement with President Jackson, he resigned the office of vice president to fill the vacancy in the Senate caused by the resignation of Robert Young Hayne, senator from South Carolina. He spent most of his subsequent political life as a US Senator from South Carolina, a strong states right and pro-slavery, where he felt he was more effective than being a vice-president under a man he “despised.” advocate.
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000044
http://www.studyworld.com/john_c_calhoun.htm
    1832- In Missouri, St. Louis Academy (founded in 1818) was chartered as St. Louis University. It was the first Catholic university established in the U.S. west of the Allegheny Mountains.
    1837- John A. Pitts and Hiram Abial Pitts of Winthrop, ME, received a patent for a “ machine for threshing or cleaning grain” employing steam. the machine separated grain from the straw and chaff.
    1846- Iowa becomes 29th state. The 29th state’s name is derived from an American Indian word meaning ‘the beautiful land’. It is widely thought that Iowa’s nickname, the Hawkeye State, is in honor of Black Hawk, the famous Indian chief who led the Sauk and Fox tribes against the Iowa area settlers in the Black Hawk War of 1832. Iowa City was the first capital of Iowa. 11 years later, Des Moines, the state’s largest city, became the permanent capital. The Iowa state bird is the eastern goldfinch, the state flower, the wild rose, and the state motto: “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.”
    1848- Gaslight was turned on in the White House. James Knox Polk was the president.
    1851- The Young Men’s Christian Association was organized in the United States in Boston, MA. It was patented after a similar organization started in London on June 6, 1844. The first gymnasium was opened in New York City in 1869, and in the same year, the first separate boys’ department was opened in Salem, MA. The first YMCA branch for African-American members was organized in Washington, DC, in 1853 by Anthony Bowen and Jerome Johnson, who served respectively as president and secretary.
    1856-(Thomas) Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the US was born at Staunton, Virginia. Twice elected president (1912 and 1916,) it was Wilson who said, “The world must be made safe for democracy, “as he asked the Congress to declare war on Germany, April 2, 1917. His first wife, Ellen, died August 6, 1914, and married Edith Bolling Galt, December 18, 1915. He suffered a paralytic stroke, September 16, 1919, never regaining his health. There were many speculations about who (possibly Mrs. Wilson?) was running the government during his illness. His second term of office ended March 3, 1921, and he died at Washington, DC, Feb. 3, 1924. Wilson was the last president to be born in Virginia, the state where the most presidents of the US were from: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and Woodrow Wilson.
    1867- David Groesbeck and Company, a member of the New York Stock Exchange, became the first stock brokerage to use a telegraph ticker. It was installed by the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company, New York City, on a lease of $6 a week from Daniel Drew, who also provided maintenance. It is considered the first “maintenance lease” in America. ( no option to purchase).
    1869-Labor Day was inaugurated by the Knights of Labor, a workers’ organization formed in Philadelphia, PA. the first states to declare Labor Day a state holiday were Oregon, In February 1887; Colorado, in March 1887; and New York, in May 1887. The annual nationwide observance of Labor Day was sponsored by the American Federation of Labor, which resolved in convention at Chicago, IL, On October 7, 1884, “ that the first Monday in September be set aside as a laborer’s national holiday.” On June 28, 1894, Congress designed the first Monday in September a legal holiday for federal employees and for the District of Columbia. The first Labor Day parade was held in New York City on September 5, 1882, under the auspices of the Central Labor Union. It featured musical bans and 10,000marchers who carried placards reading “ Less Work and More Pay,” “Less Hours, More Pay.” “Labor Pays All Taxes, “ “Labor creates All Wealth,” “To the Workers Should Belong the Wealth,” and “The Laborer Must Receive and Enjoy the Full Fruit of his Labor.”
    1881- Jess Willard, Boxer born at Pottawatomie County, KS. The towering Willard, 6’ 6 ¼” tall, took the heavyweight title from Jack Johnson in a fight oat Havana, Cuba on April 5, 1915. He defended his title only once in four years and then lost it to Jack Dempsey on July 4, 19191. Died at Los Angeles, CA. December 15, 1968.
    1891- Thomas Alva Edison of Menlo Park, New Jersey, received a patent for a “means of transmitting signals electrically.” In the patent, he stated that “signaling between distant points can be carried on by induction without the use of wires connecting such distant points.” Marconi in 1894 experimented with hertzian waves to communicate wireless telegraph and Nathan Stubblefield, claimed he invented it earlier
http://www.nathanstubblefield.com/
    1896--Birthday of American Composer Roger Huntington Sessions, born New York, died March 16, 1985.
    1897 - The temperature at Dayville, OR, hit 81 degrees to establish a state record for December
    1903—Pianist/composer Earl “Fatha” Hines Birthday
http://www.redhotjazz.com/hines.html
    1903-Birthday of, Fanny "Bobbie" Rosenfeld - celebrated Canadian track and field athlete, named Canada’s woman athlete of the half-century. In the 1928 Olympics, she won a silver and gold. She excelled in almost every sport from hockey to softball and did it on her own since there were no coaches for women at the time. She became a sports columnist.
    1908- Otto Zachow and William Besserdick of Clintonville, WI obtained a patent for a four wheel brake for cars, calling it a “power applying mechanism”, quickly adopted by the car industry who were employing a hand brake against one wheel..
    1912- guitarist Billy Markel born Baltimore, MD
    1921--Singer/Band Leader/Disc Jockey/Musician/Politician Johnny Otis was born in Vallejo, California. I listed to him with "Willie and the Hand Jive" as a disc jockey as I grew up in West Los Angeles,
California, saw many of his small and large bank performances, the last at the San Jose Fairmont Hotel. He is a painter/sculptor, and still plays music and appears as on radio every Saturday.
http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=162
http://lyrics.blueaudio.com/song/07260
    1924 - Iowa experienced it coldest December morning of record. Morning lows averaged 25 degrees below zero for the 104 weather stations across the state.
    1932--Birthday of Nichelle Nichols, actor, first black woman regularly featured on a weekly TV show, activist of great force in NASA's first recruitment drive of minorities and women, but better known to Trekkies as Uhura of the Star Trek series, the first interracial kiss
on television. Whoopi Goldberg in the eulogy of Star Trek originator Gene Roddenberry's funeral said that 25 years earlier she was a kid from the projects who saw Uhura as "The only vision of black people in the future," autobiography Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories (1995).
    1938- Ziggy Elman cuts “Fralich in Swing.”
    1940- Herb Jefferies cuts “Flamingo” with Duke Ellington Band, Chicago
    1944 - About 1200 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, escorted by 700 fighters, attacked Coblenz and other targets. Late in the day, Bomber Command bombs Cologne.
    1945- The US Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance and urged its frequent recitation in America’s schools. The pledge was composed in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister. At the time, Bellamy, was chairman of a committee of state school superintendents of education, and several public schools adopted his pledge that year as part of the Columbus Day quadricentennial celebration that year. In 1955, the Knights of Columbus persuaded Congress to add the words “under God” to the pledge.
    1949- Top Hits
I Can Dream, Can’t I? - The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (vocal: Jack Leonard)
A Dreamer’s Holiday - Perry Como
Dear Hearts and Gentle People - Bing Crosby
Mule Train - Tennessee Ernie Ford
    1950--Birthday of American Composer Daniel Leo Simpson, born Ft. Monmouth.
    1952- The Sonotone Corporation, Elmsford, NY, offered for sale a hearing aid using transistors. It weighed 3.5 ounces and was three inches long.
    1954-Denzel Washington actor ("St. Elsewhere," Glory, Malcolm X), born Mount Vernon, NY.
    1955 - Anchorage, AK, was buried under 17.7 inches of snow in 24 hours, a record for that location. 1958 - Albuquerque, NM, received 14.2 inches of snow to establish a 24 hour record.
    1957--Top Hits
Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley
At the Hop - Danny & the Juniors
Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
My Special Angel - Bobby Helms
    1958-- Chipmunks (Alvin, Simon & Theodore with David Seville) hit #1
    1958 — Alan Ameche's 1-yard plunge gives Baltimore a 23-17 NFL Championship victory over the New York Giants in "sudden death" overtime.
    1961-The first airline to carry 100 million passengers was American Airlines, New York City, which selected pioneering aviator Lieutenant General James Harold Doolittle, chairman of the board of Space Technology Laboratories, Los Angeles, as the national symbol of the 100,000,000th passenger and presented him with a crystal bowl this
day.
    1965--Top Hits
Over and Over - The Dave Clark Five
I Got You (I Feel Good) - James Brown
The Sounds of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
Buckaroo - Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
    1967-- Muriel Siebert pays $445,000 plus $7515 initiation fee to become the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.
    1968 - The (double) album named "The Beatles" (called by most, "The White Album") was #1 in the U.S. It was the Beatles’ first album on their own Apple label and was #1 for nine weeks. The tracks: "Back in the U.S.S.R.", "Dear Prudence", "Glass Onion", "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da", "Wild Honey Pie", "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Happiness is a Warm Gun", "Martha My Dear", "I’m So Tired", "Blackbird", "Piggies", "Rocky Raccoon", "Don’t Pass Me By", "Why Don’t We Do It in the Road", "I Will", "Julia", "Birthday", "Yer Blues", "Mother Nature’s Son", "Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey", "Sexy Sadie", "Helter Skelter", "Long, Long, Long", "Revolution I", "Honey Pie", "Savoy Truffle", "Cry Baby Cry", "Revolution 9", and "Good Night".
    1973--Top Hits
The Most Beautiful Girl - Charlie Rich
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
Time in a Bottle - Jim Croce
If We Make It Through December - Merle Haggard
    1975 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: ``Saturday Night,'' Bay City Rollers.
    1978- Ohio State University football coach Woody Hayes punched a player from Clemson University during Clemson’s 19-15 victory in the Gator Bowl. Hayes was upset that the Buckeyes were losing, but OSU official were upset, too. They fired Hayes for the incident.
    1978--- 30th hat trick in Islander history (Mike Bossy
    1981-The first child born in the United States through in vitro fertilization was Elizabeth Jordan Carr, born at Norfolk Hospital,
Norfolk, VA.
    1981--Top Hits
Physical - Olivia Newton-John
Waiting for a Girl like You - Foreigner
Let’s Groove - Earth, Wind & Fire
Love in the First Degree – Alabama
    1987 - A winter storm produced heavy snow in the Upper Mississippi Valley and the Upper Great Lakes Region. Up to twenty inches of snow buried southern Minnesota, and 20 to 40 mph northwesterly winds produced snow drifts six feet high, and reduced visibilities to near zero at times in blowing snow. There were a thousand traffic accidents in Michigan during the storm, resulting in thirty-five injuries.
    1989--Top Hits
Another Day in Paradise - Phil Collins
Don’t Know Much - Linda Ronstadt (featuring Aaron Neville)
Rhythm Nation - Janet Jackson
A Woman in Love - Ronnie Milsap

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Football Poem

Oh how mad I was
One Week Ago
When my beloved Colts Failed
To go 14-0

And then a pro Bowl Error
Ruined my day
Not to mention some injuries
Along the way

But I would take any of those moments
In place of Today
A great leader is hurting
As a nation gathers to Pray

I hear you can tell a lot about a man
By what other people say
And when it comes to Mr. Dungy
You will hear nothing but praise

SO my heart goes out
During your time of Loss
And please allow the Lord
To help carry this cross

Heb. 13:6 "The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man can do unto me!"

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SuDoku

The object is to insert the numbers in the boxes to satisfy only one condition: each row, column and 3x3 box must contain the digits 1 through 9 exactly once. What could be simpler?

http://leasingnews.org/Soduku/soduko-main.htm

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Daily Puzzle

How to play:
http://www.setgame.com/set/puzzle_frame.htm

Refresh for current date:
http://www.setgame.com/set/puzzle_frame.htm

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http://www.gasbuddy.com/
http://www.gasbuddy.com/GB_Map_Gas_Prices.aspx
http://www.gasbuddy.com/GB_Mobile_Instructions.aspx

[headlines]

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News on Line---Internet Newspapers

The News Room

http://www.thenewsroom.com/categories

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