RAFA NADAL - US OPEN 2011

UPDATED September 12, 2011, 10:30 p.m.

FINAL ~ US OPEN 2011
Novak Djokovic unfortunately defeated Rafa Nadal
6-2, 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-1
Monday, September 12, 2011

Arthur Ashe Stadium
Various TV Carriers will carry the Final
For me it will be aired on Cox Cable's Channel 1015
Weather for NewYork

Final US Open 2011 Rafa Nadal Zimbio Pictures

LIVE Streaming Opportunities
u s open
espn3
fromsport

The US Open website states that CBS will air the final on Monday, September 12, 2011, but according to the crawl on CBS on Saturday September 9, 2011, THAT IS NOT TRUE...
TV Schedule for US Open

The Tennis Channel Schedule may re-air the FINAL match

Semi Final
Rafa Nadal defeated Andy Murray
6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Zimbio pictures of Rafael Nadal Semi Final

Semi Final
Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer
6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Arthur Ashe Stadium

U.S. Open 2011
Singles ~ Men
Round 1
Rafa Nadal defeated Andrey Golubev
6-3, 7-6(7-1), 7-5
Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Round 2
Rafa Nadal defeated Nicolas Mahut
6-2, 6-2, Mahut retired
Friday, September 2, 2011

Round 3
Rafa Nadal defeated David Nalbandian
7-6(5), 6-1, 7-5
Sunday, September 4, 2011

Round 4 ~ Round of 16
Rafa Nadal defeated Gilles Muller
7-6(1), 6-1, 6-2
Thursday, September 7, 2011
At the link (quick before it's taken down), many uploads of Round 4 match...in case you were away, like me and didn't get to see Rafa on fire. Parts 3 - 13

Rafa fields questions from Press people

Quarter Final
Rafa Nadal defeated Andy Roddick
6-2, 6-1, 6-3
on Arthur Ashe Stadium
Friday, September 9, 2011

Semi Final
Rafa Nadal defeated Andy Murray
6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Arthur Ashe Stadium

Semi Final
Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer
6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Arthur Ashe Stadium

FINAL ~ US OPEN 2011
Novak Djokovic unfortunately defeated Rafa Nadal
6-2, 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-1
Monday, September 12, 2011

LIVE Streaming Opportunities
u s open
espn3
fromsport

TV USA
ESPN2 and The Tennis Channel
TV Schedule for US Open

Great Links at the US Open site
Click the link and check out all the options at the tab Video and Radio
interactive video

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 27: Rafael Nadal of Spain talks to the media during previews at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 27, 2011 in New York City.

My previous post ~
Rafa Nadal days before US Open - 2011

Draws

Schedule

Completed match scores

Live scores

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 25: Rafael Nadal attends the 12th Annual BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis at W New York Hotel on August 25, 2011 in New York City.

Pictures

Zimbio ~ Rafael Nadal Unveils New Armani Jeans Campaign

Daylife

U.S. Open pictures of Rafa

U.S. Open website photos

Round 1 pictures at Zimbio

Round 2 - Better than Round 1's outfit, for sure

Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts against Nicolas Mahut of France during Day Five of the 2011 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 2, 2011 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Photo by Nick Laham

Rafael Nadal of Spain serves against Nicolas Mahut of France during Day Five of the 2011 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 2, 2011 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images North America

Rafael Nadal of Spain returns a shot against Nicolas Mahut of France during Day Five of the 2011 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 2, 2011 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images North America

More Round 2 at Zimbio

Round 3

Rafael Nadal of Spain returns a shot against David Nalbandian of Argentina during Day Seven of the 2011 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 4, 2011 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images North America

More Round 3 Zimbio Pictures of Rafael Nadal

Round 4 - Round of 16 Zimbio Pictures of Rafael Nadal

Quarter Final Zimbio Pictures Rafael Nadal

Semi Final Pictures

Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts after he won his match point against Andy Murray of Great Britain during Day Thirteen of the 2011 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 10, 2011 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (September 9, 2011 - Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images North America

Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts after he won his match point against Andy Murray of Great Britain during Day Thirteen of the 2011 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 10, 2011 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.

Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts against Andy Murray of Great Britain during Day Thirteen of the 2011 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 10, 2011 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images North America

Rafael Nadal of Spain reaches for a return against Andy Murray of Great Britain during Day Thirteen of the 2011 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 10, 2011 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images North America

Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a return against Andy Murray of Great Britain during Day Thirteen of the 2011 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 10, 2011 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images North America

Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts after he won his match point against Andy Murray of Great Britain during Day Thirteen of the 2011 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 10, 2011 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images North America

Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts after he won match point against Andy Murray of Great Britain during Day Thirteen of the 2011 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 10, 2011 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. September 9, 2011 - Photo by Al Bello

More Semi Final Zimbio Pictures of Rafael Nadal

Final US Open 2011 Rafa Nadal Zimbio Pictures

Davis Cup.com
Davis Cup Spain/ESP

Fan Support Sites ~ Great sources of information

Vamos Brigade

Rafa's Babolat-sponsored Forum

Facebook RAFA-NADAL-BRING-BACK-LONG-PANTS-SLEEVELESS-TOPS

Rafa's Facebook
www.facebook.com/Nadal

Rafa's Website
rafaelnadal.com

Rafael Nadal (R) unveils his new Armani Jeans campaign at Macy's Herald Square on August 25, 2011 in New York City. Photo by Thos Robinson/Getty Images North America

AFTER WE KILL THE FISH, POLLUTE OUR BODIES WITH TOXINS AND GENETICALLY CHANGE GENDERS WITH CHEMICAL POLLUTIONS, WILL WE AGREE WE WERE WRONG?

WILL WE AGREE THAT CORPORATIONS DON'T REGULATE THEMSELVES? AND WE DO NEED GOVERNMENT TO CONTROL AND FUND REGULATIONS FOR THE HEALTHY WATERWAYS, SOIL, AIR?

Photo source

Only when the last tree has died

and the last river been poisoned

and the last fish been caught

will we ever realize we cannot eat money.

Cree Native American Proverb

Waterlife ~ A documentary film
This film concentrates on The Great Lakes of the USA and Canada. At the documentary website
Waterlife (see the very bottom for links to click), read the Director's Statement, About the Film, Resources/Community Action, dates and locations of screenings of the film and more.

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From the Waterlife website:
There are supposed to be 51 % boy babies to 49% girl babies...two girls to one boy are now being born....
Male frogs are losing their penis size and have been having ovaries.
There used to be fish, big fish, nice lake trout. Now, there is no fish.

When I was a kid, there was a lot of fisherman. It was right toward the middle of the 60's...that the lampreys wiped things out.


The following Lamprey information is from dnr.wi.gov/org

Evidence: Lampreys attach themselves to other fish and suck on their blood and body fluids. They leave rounded scars on the fish. When they first arrived on the Great Lakes scene, they killed large numbers of predatory sport fish. People began to notice the lack of large fish and the scars on others. Lampreys preyed on whitefish, lake trout and chub populations in lakes Superior and Michigan. The lamprey invasion made it hard on the people who fished the Great Lakes to make a living.

One sea lamprey can upset an ecosystem and food chain by eating an estimated 40 pounds of fish or more in its lifetime. Multiply that times 22,000 lamprey found in just one river and you have a lot of dead fish. Because of lower large fish populations, small fish, like the alewife, were able to increase in numbers. Alewives are also invader species which compete with native fish for food and habitat.

Invaded Territory: the Great Lakes and clear, cold streams throughout the Great Lakes region. Construction and improvements on the Erie and Welland Canal (between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie) around 1921 allowed sea lampreys to get through the canal to the next lake. Here's a list of their arrival dates in each lake:

• Lake Erie, 1921
• Lake Huron, 1932
• Lake Ontario, 1835
• Lake Michigan, 1936
• Lake Superior, 1938

Sea lampreys will lay over 100,000 eggs when spawning, much more than the native lamprey species.

RAFA NADAL ~ THE DAYS BEFORE THE U.S. OPEN 2011

The days running up to the U.S. Open tennis tournament has had some Rafa citings....

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More pictures at zimbio

Even more pictures at zimbio with Rafa arriving at Letterman show

Rafael Nadal attends Bacardi USA President Robert Furniss-Roe hosts Rafael Nadal at "Champions Drink Responsibly"event on August 23, 2011 in New York City. (August 22, 2011 - Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images North America
More pictures of Champions Drink Responsibly" at zimbio

U.S. Open 2011
Singles ~ Men
Round 1
Rafa Nadal versus Andrey Golubev

I will do a separate post with updates of the U.S. Open, as long as Rafa is in it.

Draws

Schedule

Completed match scores

Live scores

U.S. Open pictures of Rafa

U.S. Open website photos

LIVE Streaming
www.fromsportcom

Fan Support Sites ~ Great sources of information

Vamos Brigade

Rafa's Babolat-sponsored Forum

Facebook RAFA-NADAL-BRING-BACK-LONG-PANTS-SLEEVELESS-TOPS

Rafa's Facebook
www.facebook.com/Nadal

Rafa's Website
rafaelnadal.com

THE REASON I BLOG FOR PEACE ~ #7

This video is a reason to blog for peace.....

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RAFA NADAL IN CINCINNATI ~ 2011

Cincinnati ~ Singles
cincytennis.com
Round 1
Rafa Nadal ~ Bye

Round 2
Rafa Nadal defeated Julien Benneteau
6-4, 7-5
August 17, 2011

Round 3
Rafa Nadal defeated Fernando Verdasco
7-6(5), 6-7(4), 7-6(9)
Thursday, August 18, 2011

At the LINK, watch Round 3/Round of 16 match of Rafa Nadal vs. (defeat) Fernando Verdasco with three sets, with three tie breaks.

Quarter Final
Mardy Fish defeated Rafa Nadal
6-3, 6-4
Friday, August 19, 2011

TV

ESPN2
Watch online at espn3

Doubles
Round 1
Rafa Nadal and Marc Lopez defeated Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki
7-6(4), 6-7 (2), 10-5

Round 2
Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes defeat ed Rafa Nadal and Marc Lopez
6-4, 6-2
Thursday, August 18, 2011

TV USA
Schedule
The Tennis Channel
ESPN2
CBS

Watch Online
espn3
This has LIVE and matches that are online after the LIVE action (See the Replay tab)
fromsportcom.com

Rafa in Pictures
Zimbio
Daylife
www.cincytennis.com/photos

Fan Support Sites ~ Great sources of information

Vamos Brigade

Rafa's Babolat-sponsored Forum

Facebook RAFA-NADAL-BRING-BACK-LONG-PANTS-SLEEVELESS-TOPS

Rafa's Facebook
www.facebook.com/Nadal

Rafa's Website
Rafa's Facebook
rafaelnadal.com

THE REASON I BLOG FOR PEACE ~ #6 ~ Monsanto verus World Justice

Because we matter. Justice matters.

ENGINEERED ELEMENTS ARE YOUR FOOD TODAY ~ and it is not new and improved as corporate food producers want us to believe.

Do you remember when ketchup (also known as catsup) couldn't be called ketchup legally because the healthier types of ketchup, had different elements/ingredients than the brand Heinz ketchup was made of? So the healthier ketchup, had to be called imitation ketchup. If not, you probably are too young to remember this. Or it just didn't get under your radar of information gathering.
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Uploaded by crston7

One reason I blog for Peace
is to spotlight how the "food" growing methods have changed for the worse and therefore what we eat is killing us. One way to decrease the need for health care dollars would be for our politicians and the US Supreme Court to protect us from the sicknesses and deaths brought to us by Corporations who sell our food contaminated and far from wholesome and healthy.

If you haven't seen the documentary movie, Food Inc, check it out (in the USA) for free at your public library, go to youtube where much of it is posted, rent it, buy it. Please, for your own information, yours and your loved ones' sake, do see it.

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Uploaded by TheyDidThis

Corporations who control the farmers, our environment, how our food is prepared and grown have the politicians and some members of the US Supreme Court on speed dial. Money can buy your government and has. Many of our elected politicians are whores for the Corporate farming businesses. Not just in the USA, but all over the world. Small farmers who want to remain small farms have been denied this freedom. They have been pushed out based on laws that are pro corporate farming, they have been intimidated with lawyers and lawsuits, they have drained farmers dry with legal costs to try to save their rights to farm their own farms their own way. Farmers are not even allowed to save their own seeds. They have spent millions, if not billions on lobbying your elected representative government.

If you aren't aware of this and it has happened while you are busy with your life, I suggest you do some google searching, reading, educate yourself. Because this way of operating our food supply is killing us. And killing our environment. And those who gain monetarily from this, don't care that the people they get rich on are getting sick from the food and dying. Some day, they may very likely have less people to feed as they kill us off. Then what will they do? Who will they lobby to get rich? And what will they lobby about?


Interview by the makers of the documentary movie of FOOD INC

Watch the entire 20 minute documentary online Notes on Milk
Online viewing available through April 21, 2014.

Ariana Gerstein and Monteith McCollum, whose Hybrid aired on POV in 2002, take a quirky and poetic look at some lesser-known aspects of America’s favorite drink: the industry’s spiritual underpinnings, politics and the struggle of independent farmers.

Notes on Milk is being aired on TV following airings of Food, Inc.

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Who Controls Our Food? part 11 of 11
Uploaded by EdjeBos

Monsanto owns the world...

Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear

Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination.

by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele

READ the full article at Vanity Fair 2008/05

Click post title for another blogger's post on Food Inc.

THE REASON I BLOG FOR PEACE ❧ POST #5

Corporations, such as Monsanto, have proven that they don't care about the human race and the planet. Corporations own our politicians in the USA. And we fight to have rights that we won years ago, such as rights to have unions.

Another reason that I blog for peace is that I think common sense solutions by one or more human beings - no matter where they live on the planet Earth - should not be obstructed by politicians, should be allowed to happen and let the elements of the planet decide from there the result(s).

Yesterday, I saw a documentary film on POV (Point of View), Independent Lens, that lasted less than an hour. The title is Taking Root - The Vision of Wangari Maathai. An inspiring story that benefits the people, the families, the community, the environment, the planet. They claimed back land that had been damaged and planted trees on it. And common sense proved how uncommon it is. The healing of the land began and the people reaped from the healed earth a life-giving source to sustain their lives.

And yet, in so many places the common sense of planting trees would run into government blocks in the name of protecting corporate development which is "sold" as a point of being beneficial. But we all know that is usually a lie. If corporations get to decide, the people of the community and the planet's environment and safety... looses, more often, than not. And so do we all. So, a story like this is simply uplifting.

Spread goodness, kindness, heal the planet and we will begin to heal ourselves.

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Hummingbird

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Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy—a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration.
takingrootfilm.com

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you, not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson in Return to Love

The following information is from takingrootfilm.com

Planting trees for fuel, shade, and food is not something that anyone would imagine as the first step toward winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet with that simple act Wangari Maathai, a woman born in rural Kenya, started down the path that reclaimed her country’s land from 100 years of deforestation, provided new sources of food and income to rural communities, gave previously impoverished and powerless women a vital political role in their country, and ultimately helped to bring down Kenya's twenty-four-year dictatorship.

TAKING ROOT weaves a compelling and dramatic narrative of one woman's personal journey in the context of the turbulent political and environmental history of her country. Raised in the rural highlands of Kenya, educated in the United States during the 1960s civil rights era, and the first female to receive a PhD in East Africa, Maathai discovered the heart of her life's work by reconnecting with the rural women with whom she had grown up. They told her that their daily lives had become intolerable: they were walking longer distances for firewood, clean water had become scarce, the soil was disappearing from their fields, and their children were suffering from malnutrition. Maathai thought to herself, "Well, why not plant trees?" Trees provide shade, prevent soil erosion, supply firewood and building materials, and produce nutritious fruit to combat malnutrition. With this realization Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization encouraging rural women to plant trees.

A seemingly innocuous idea, Maathai soon discovered that tree planting had a ripple effect of empowering change. In the mid 1980s, Kenya was under the repressive regime of Daniel arap Moi under whose dictatorship group gatherings were outlawed. In tending their nurseries women had a legitimate reason to gather outside their homes and discuss the roots of their problems. These grassroots women soon found themselves working successively against deforestation, poverty, ignorance, embedded economic interests, and political oppression, until they became a national political force.

As the trees and the Green Belt Movement grew, a spirit of hope and confidence also grew in ordinary citizens – especially in women – only to be met with violent opposition from the government. Maathai and her colleagues soon found themselves victims of President Moi's political oppression. In response, Maathai’s political activism only grew. At great risk she lead numerous confrontations in defense of the environment and social justice each of which brought her country closer to democracy.

Through TV footage, newspaper headlines, and chilling first person accounts, TAKING ROOT documents these dramatic confrontations of the 1980s and 1990s and captures Maathai's infectious determination and unwavering courage. Through perseverance and widespread grassroots organization, Kenya's fight for democracy finally prevailed. In 2002 a new democratically elected government replaced Moi's, and Maathai became a member of the new Parliament and Assistant Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources.

And the trees continue to grow. Today there are more than 6,000 Green Belt nurseries throughout Kenya that generate income for 150,000 people, and thirty-five million trees have deeply altered the physical and social landscape of the country. The Green Belt Movement has also started programs teaching women about indigenous foods, income generating activities, AIDS, and self-empowerment. Through cinema verité footage of the tree nurseries and the women and children who tend them, TAKING ROOT brings to life the confidence and joy of people working to improve their own lives while also ensuring the future and vitality of their land.

Through intimate conversations with Maathai, whose warm, powerful, and luminous presence imbues much of the film, TAKING ROOT captures a world-view in which nothing is perceived as impossible, presenting an awe-inspiring profile of one woman's thirty-year journey of courage to protect the environment, ensure equality between men and women, defend human rights, and promote democracy--all sprouting from the achievable act of planting trees.

THE REASON I BLOG FOR PEACE ❧ POST #4

SEE THE VIDEO AT THE LINK:

House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing on Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan | C-SPAN

The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa held a hearing on ethnic cleansing and the continuing humanitarian crisis in Southern Sudan. The hearing comes one day after Southern Sudan’s largest rebel group declared a cease fire. Southern Sudan voted in January to split from the north, but rebel forces continued to fight with government in the new country.

At 14:50 US NJ Representative Donald Payne speaks of Darfur.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Link to CSPAN youtube channel by clicking the post title.

SALARIES OF US CONGRESS PERSONS IS $174,000+, ANNUAL COLA, HEALTH INSURANCE, RETIREMENT PENSION AFTER 5 YEARS IN OFFICE

OBSTRUCTIONISM NOT WORKING FOR US
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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Salaries of US Representatives

As of January 2010, the annual salary of each Representative is $174,000.[17] The Speaker of the House and the Majority and Minority Leaders earn more: $223,500 for the Speaker and $193,400 for their party leaders (the same as Senate leaders). A cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) increase takes effect annually unless Congress votes to not accept it. Congress sets members' salaries; however, the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits a change in salary (but not COLA[18]) from taking effect until after the next general election. Representatives are eligible for lifetime benefits after serving for five years, including a pension, health benefits, and social security benefits.

Those politicians who like to support the rich ("no tax increase" comment today means for the top 1% of USA) and take away our rights to unionize (Wisconsin, is one example), also can vote on their own salary amount, retirement benefits, health care benefits. Can you say the same about your career, job?

US Senators Salaries since 1789 until 2011

1789-1815 -- $6.00 per diem

1815-1817 -- $1,500 per annum

1817-1855 -- $8.00 per diem

1855-1865 -- $3,000 per annum

1865-1871 -- $5,000 per annum

1871-1873 -- $7,500 per annum

1873-1907 -- $5,000 per annum

1907-1925 -- $7,500 per annum

1925-1932 -- $10,000 per annum

1932-1933 -- $9,000 per annum

1933-1935 -- $8,500 per annum

1935-1947 -- $10,000 per annum

1947-1955 -- $12,500 per annum

1955-1965 -- $22,500 per annum

1965-1969 -- $30,000 per annum

1969-1975 -- $42,500 per annum

1975-1977 -- $44,600 per annum

1977-1978 -- $57,500 per annum

1979-1983 -- $60,662.50 per annum

1983 -- $69,800 per annum

1984 -- $72,600 per annum

1985-1986 -- $75,100 per annum

1987 (1/1-2/3) -- $77,400 per annum

1987 (2/4) -- $89,500 per annum

1990 (2/1) -- $98,400 per annum

1991 -- $101,900 per annum

1991 (8/15) -- $125,100 per annum

1992 -- $129,500 per annum

1993 -- $133,600 per annum

1994 -- $133,600 per annum

1995 -- $133,600 per annum

1996 -- $133,600 per annum

1997 -- $133,600 per annum

1998 -- $136,700 per annum

1999 -- $136,700 per annum

2000 -- $141,300 per annum

2001 -- $145,100 per annum

2002 -- $150,000 per annum

2003 -- $154,700 per annum

2004 -- $158,100 per annum

2005 -- $162,100 per annum

2006 -- $165,200 per annum

2007 -- $165,200 per annum

2008 -- $169,300 per annum

2009 -- $174,000 per annum

2010 -- $174,000 per annum

2011 -- $174,000 per annum

Below information is from US government for Congress persons pay and more

U.S. Congress salaries and benefits have been the source of taxpayer unhappiness and myths over the years. Here are some facts for your consideration.

Also See: The 10 Wealthiest Members of Congress

Rank-and-File Members:
The current salary (2011) for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate is $174,000 per year.

• Members are free to turn down pay increase and some choose to do so.
  
• In a complex system of calculations, administered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, congressional pay rates also affect the salaries for federal judges and other senior government executives.
  
• During the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin considered proposing that elected government officials not be paid for their service. Other Founding Fathers, however, decided otherwise.
  
• From 1789 to 1855, members of Congress received only a per diem (daily payment) of $6.00 while in session, except for a period from December 1815 to March 1817, when they received $1,500 a year. Members began receiving an annual salary in 1855, when they were paid $3,000 per year.

Congress: Leadership Members' Salary (2011)
Leaders of the House and Senate are paid a higher salary than rank-and-file members.

Senate Leadership
Majority Party Leader - $193,400
Minority Party Leader - $193,400

House Leadership
Speaker of the House - $223,500
Majority Leader - $193,400
Minority Leader - $193,400

A cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) increase takes effect annually unless Congress votes to not accept it.

Benefits Paid to Members of Congress

You may have read that Members of Congress do not pay into Social Security. Well, that's a myth.

Prior to 1984, neither Members of Congress nor any other federal civil service employee paid Social Security taxes. Of course, they were also not eligible to receive Social Security benefits. Members of Congress and other federal employees were instead covered by a separate pension plan called the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). The 1983 amendments to the Social Security Act required federal employees first hired after 1983 to participate in Social Security. These amendments also required all Members of Congress to participate in Social Security as of January 1, 1984, regardless of when they first entered Congress. Because the CSRS was not designed to coordinate with Social Security, Congress directed the development of a new retirement plan for federal workers. The result was the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986.

Members of Congress receive retirement and health benefits under the same plans available to other federal employees. They become vested after five years of full participation.

Members elected since 1984 are covered by the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS). Those elected prior to 1984 were covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). In 1984 all members were given the option of remaining with CSRS or switching to FERS.

As it is for all other federal employees, congressional retirement is funded through taxes and the participants' contributions. Members of Congress under FERS contribute 1.3 percent of their salary into the FERS retirement plan and pay 6.2 percent of their salary in Social Security taxes.

Members of Congress are not eligible for a pension until they reach the age of 50, but only if they've completed 20 years of service. Members are eligible at any age after completing 25 years of service or after they reach the age of 62. Please also note that Members of Congress have to serve at least 5 years to even receive a pension.

The amount of a congressperson's pension depends on the years of service and the average of the highest 3 years of his or her salary. By law, the starting amount of a Member's retirement annuity may not exceed 80% of his or her final salary.

According to the Congressional Research Service, 413 retired Members of Congress were receiving federal pensions based fully or in part on their congressional service as of Oct. 1, 2006. Of this number, 290 had retired under CSRS and were receiving an average annual pension of $60,972. A total of 123 Members had retired with service under both CSRS and FERS or with service under FERS only. Their average annual pension was $35,952 in 2006.

THE REASON I BLOG FOR PEACE ❧ POST #3

Created by Michelle Yd Frost in Scotland for the 2011 Blog For Peace campaign.

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I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

There are those who use their energy
to spread negativity, meanness, active hatred, bring heaviness to the space they carry around them.

There are those who use their energy
to spread positive feelings, kindness, active love, bring a lightness and grace to the space they carry around them.

There are those who fall between and contribute a blah attitude.

I want my space to be positive, kind, loving, compassionate, empathetic with a lightness and grace. It is healthier for me. It is better for those who come in my presence. It is better for the universe.

THE REASON I BLOG FOR PEACE ❧ POST #2

The reason I blog for Peace ❧

The peace I feel while hearing and watching this video ❧ to help spread the goodness in our human nature.
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Quote today: Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Click the post title for more quotes by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

BLOG FOR PEACE ~ OUR SILENCE IS A GENOCIDAL REGIME'S BEST WEAPON

Mimi Lenox eplains about the Blogging for Peace
Choose your Blog Blast for Peace stuff at mimilenox.com

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Peace Globe choices

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Martin Luther King Jr.

VINTAGE FAMILY MOVIE CLIPS FROM MARK O HAMMEL ❧ 1950's

VINTAGE FAMILY MOVIE CLIPS FROM MARK O HAMMEL ❧ 1950's

I made the video at the link from the movie cameras' footage that our family had when I was growing up.

Ferne Jane Wiles Hammel
My Dad's Mother
My Grandma Hammel
Grandma had a disease that enlarged her bones after my Dad was born

It is so special to have these videos, though no sound was available in those days. I love seeing Grandma Hammel laugh, dry glasses in the Michigan home's kitchen, just as I remember seeing her do at the Gragg Street homestead. I love seeing Grandpa Hammel put his arm around Grandma Hammel while laughing like jello - the way my Dad also laughed. I love seeing Grandpa Hammel take the Sunday dinner roast out of the oven - and in his hat - as I saw him do more than once. I love seeing myself chew on one of Grandma Hammel's cookies, while sitting beside her. I love that Dad caught all of this through the lens of his camera....Grandma hoeing, Grandpa with his fire, Grandpa laughing behind a pole thinking my Dad was actually shooting the camera at his wife.

I love the Ring-around the Rosie with Nannette and Heidi. I love the picture of Nannette and Heidi in the red cart pulled my the pony Tony. I love all the family get together meals at Gragg Street. Just some special gems. I hope others do find some joy in watching these little clips, as I certainly do.

HAMMELofHuntingtonIN Youtube channel
My Dad's birthday was August 3rd and the Hammel Reunion would have been tomorrow (cancelled due to the Indiana heat index), August 7 ~ so how fitting to have this ready to share now. I hope everyone is okay that I made it "public". I explain below why I did that, instead of making the video "unlisted".

This is the text that I included with the video at the youtube page:

I am Sandra "Sandy" Kay Hammel. This video is a tribute. A tribute to my father Mark O'Keith Hammel (August 3, 1924 ~ May 10, 2007), third child of five that Audry Harold and Ferne Jane Wiles Hammel raised in Huntington, Indiana on Gragg Street. A tribute to Ferne Jane Wiles Hammel, a wonderful mother and grandmother. A tribute to my first cousin Nannette Hammel Stump, who I always felt a spirit kind of connection, although our actual encounters have been rare. Really a tribute to all the Hammel descendants and ancestors of which I am one. This has been a labor of love over three weeks plus. After making the video and being rejected because I was a little over the 15 minute youtube limit, I edited out some of the original and here you have what I now present.

I combed through our disorganized family movies (which my mother and brother had transferred to dvds) and edited as a whole for the extended Hammel Family. I hope you enjoy. And I hope you are okay with my including you in this little family movie. I originally made this "unlisted" so that it wasn't "public", but it wouldn't show up on the "HAMMEL of Huntington IN" channel page, unless is was accessible as a "public" youtube video. If others want to upload a video to this channel, contact me.

In this video, you will see featured the August 1, 1999 Hammel Reunion at what was the home of Vic and Freida Hammel. The photos that I shot of the grave stones were taken in late August or early September of 2005. You will also see the home of Audry and Ferne Hammel when they lived a short time in Michigan. I don't remember the town. They eventually moved back to Gragg Street where they raised 5 children beside Audry's parents' home.

The house I was born in at 910 Ray Street, Huntington, IN is down the hill from their house which is included in many shots. Featured are the five siblings of my father oldest to youngest: Ted, Jed, (Mark, my father), Dick and Evalyn and their children, my first cousins. Also, you will see brothers of my dad's father, Stanton, Victor, Meredith (Byno), Stanton's wife, Melba, their daughter Diana, their son, Rex, and maybe Stan "Bub", Meredith (Byno) and Marian's boys, Ron, Terry, Steve and Brent. (I need some help on who is at the Rook card game on our front yard in Columbia City, Indiana to be able to name more precisely the children pictured), Vic and Freida's children: Karen, Kendal, Duane, Royce, Jolene. Nannette Hammel and Gerald Stump and their children, Tara and Reggie sometime in the 1970's I believe it must be - when they lived in Colorado. My son is also pictured, Jonathan M Erickson Hammel. He just graduated May 6, 2011 from Northeastern University with Bachelors and Masters in Engineering.

See Connie Evans work of listing our ancestors and descendants at familytreemaker.genealogy.com

The pdf files of family members, pictures and stories are well worth time to look through.

The HAMMELofHuntingtonIN Youtube channel's logo picture is of my dad's parents and siblings. See below the Video Credits for the names.

❧ Video Credits ❧
❧ Music ❧
"From Here"
Written and Performed by Sandra Kay Hammel
"Did Trouble Me"
"May I Suggest"
"Help Somebody"
Written and Performed by Susan Werner
Used by permission
Susan's music at susanwerner.com, itunes & amazon

❧ Photo Credits ❧
Sandra Kay Hammel
Harold Theodore "Ted" Hammel
Contributors to familytreemaker.genealogy.com

❧ Video Credits ❧
Sandra Kay Hammel
Mark O'Keith Hammel
August 3, 1924 ~ May 10, 2007
Evelyn Viola Mickley (Michelet) Hammel
And anyone who held our camera

❧ Editing ❧
Sandra Kay Hammel

❧ Special Thanks ❧
Mark O'Keith Hammel
Evelyn Viola Mickley (Michelet) Hammel
Gregory M Hammel
Connie Evans

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Audry and Ferne Hammel's Five Children and their children:

Harold Theodore "Ted" Hammel and Dorothy King children:
Nannette Hammel
Heidi Hammel

Jerald Hammel and Freda Richards children:
Michael DeWayne Hammel
Patricia Alice Hammel
Ralph Edwin Hammel

Mark Hammel and Evelyn Mickley children:
Greg M Hammel
Sandra Kay Hammel
Nancy Jo Hammel

Richard Hammel and Arlene Funk children:
Terry Lee Hammel
Crystal Ann Hammel, born 21 Sep 1947 in Huntington, IN; died 01 Apr 1952.
Rodney DeWayne Hammel
Brenda Sue Hammel
Lynette Ann Hammel, born 21 Jan 1965 in Huntington, IN; died 27 Jan 1997 in Columbia City, IN.

Evalyn Hammel and Charles Wohlford children:
Sharon Lee Wohlford
Eric Lane Wohlford

ROGERS CUP IN MONTREAL 2011 ~ RAFA NADAL

Updated
Wednesday, August 10, 2011, 10:55 p.m.

Rogers Cup ~ Montreal

August 5 - 14, 2011

Singles

Round 1

Rafa Nadal ~ Bye

Rafa Nadal
Round 2
Photo credit: Reuters

Round 2

Ivan Dodig defeated Rafa Nadal

6-1, 6-7(5), 6-7(5)

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Nice article about Rafa practicing to prep for Round 2 match: We're talking about practice

Order of Play

Doubles

Round 1

Tomas Berdych & Florian Mayer defeated Rafa Nadal & Marc Lopez

3-6, 6-7(5)

Monday, August 8, 2011

TV Viewing

The Tennis Channel - Schedule at the link for each day - see the calendar

Tuesday ~ August 10, 2011

1:00 p.m. LIVE

9:00 p.m. Rebroadcast

5:00 a.m. Rebroadcast

Online Viewing

espn3

Monday, August 8, Noon and 5:30 p.m.

No promise this will have Rafa's Rogers Cup matches

But you can try

fromsportcom.com

Rafa in Pictures
Daylife
Zimbio


Fan Support Sites ~ Great sources of information

Vamos Brigade

Rafa's Babolat-sponsored Forum

Facebook RAFA-NADAL-BRING-BACK-LONG-PANTS-SLEEVELESS-TOPS

Rafa's Facebook
www.facebook.com/Nadal

Rafa's Website
Rafa's Facebook
rafaelnadal.com

ONCE IT WAS "BANK ROBBERS" - NOW IT IS CORPORATE BANKS AND INVESTORS WHO HAVE ROBBED US

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS, NOW, UNITED CORPORATIONS OF AMERICA. THIS is okay(?), but unions are not okay?

The Starz television channel now has the documentary movie Inside Job by Charles Ferguson, as an "on demand" premiere offering through August 16, 2011 It is not only a worthwhile use of an hour and 50 minutes, it is a "must see". While we lower and middle income people go about surviving, these corporate big wigs have bought their way into owning the politicians, we supposedly have elected. The lobbyists for these firms number 5 per congressperson. Who do you think our elected politicians listen to? For years, they have had the laws written in their favor - so that the top 1 per cent can have their millions and billions protected, while we the low and middle income people are the metaphorical dirt they walk on.

Only we can change this. They own our politicians. The Tea Party is not going to save the rest of us from this fast moving direction to kill our rights to unionize, have decent wages, protective work places and clean air, water and dirt.

Inside Job trailer and 5 clips from the movie

Inside Job site

"Must see" Inside Job links

Those who declined to be interviewed for Inside Job

Inside Job

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Other "on demand" viewing that I highly recommend are
*HBO documentary Triangle: Remembering the Fire (40 minutes) through August 8, 2011
*HBO documentary Mann v Ford (1 hour and 46 minutes) through September 12, 2011.