Obama Interviewed Elena Kagan for Supreme Court
Posted by Michelle Moquin on May 2nd, 2010
Well, I guess it is a weekend to honor women. Here’s another woman that deserves maybe not the full monte (yet), but a definite mention is in order:
Exclusive: Obama Interviewed Elena Kagan for Supreme Court on Friday
NEWSWEEK has learned that President Obama interviewed Solicitor General Elena Kagan at the White House on Friday for the open seat on the Supreme Court created by Justice John Paul Stevens’s impending retirement. Two senior White House officials confirmed Kagan’s visit to NEWSWEEK.
Kagan was interviewed last year for the position that ultimately went to Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Kagan, a former dean of Harvard Law School who is seen as easily confirmable due to her warm relations with conservative colleagues at Harvard, is considered a leading contender for the current vacancy. Judge Merrick Garland and Judge Sidney Thomas are the other candidates known to have been interviewed by Obama thus far.
You can read NEWSWEEK’s ongoing coverage of the positioning of leading contenders for the Supreme Court vacancy at Race for the Robe.
You also can read our package of arguments for various candidates for the Supreme Court vacancy, and Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree’s case for Elena Kagan here.
Readers: Okay, so she has not been appointed yet, but she ran against Sotomayor last year, and was in the top three. And now Obama interviewed her again. Could this be her shot? I’ll admit I don’t know anything about Ms. Kagan, (yet), but I’m just excited that another woman will hopefully be gracing the court.
For those of you more in the know than I am with respect to Ms. Kagan, what do you think? Blog me your thoughts on this…or anything else you desire.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the ‘Donate’ button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my ‘Donate’ page)
May 2nd, 2010 at 11:52 am
The Stairway to Higher Returns
Sheryl Garrett, CFP
Garrett Planning Network
Sometimes investors expect financial advisers to recommend complicated strategies that reflect the complex world we live in today.
But often the best solutions are simple, old-fashioned ones. That’s especially true at a time when supposedly sophisticated approaches frequently fall flat and when low interest rates and high market volatility threaten our nest eggs.
Example of a simple but effective solution: A corporate manager in his early 60s came to me on the verge of retirement.
He planned to rely on $3,000 a month from Social Security payments and a pension plus another $1,000 from investment income generated by his $300,000 IRA.
To achieve that goal, his IRA would have to earn a 4% annual yield. But he didn’t want to bet on risky investments.
I recommended a strategy called a “bond ladder.”
How it works: In his $300,000 IRA, my client purchased a variety of high-quality corporate bonds that would mature at staggered intervals.
They included three-year bonds rated AAA with yields of nearly 4% and four-, five-, six-, seven- and eight-year bonds with yields ranging as high as 6%.
When each bond matures, my client can roll over the proceeds into a new bond with an eight-year maturity, thereby continuing the ladder.
That way, if interest rates spike up, he can reinvest money from the newly maturing bonds at higher rates, pushing up his overall returns.
If interest rates decline, his overall returns won’t plunge, because he’ll still receive higher yields for at least several years.
Shrewd steps to keep in mind…
Bonds bought for ladders should typically mature in no more than 10 years because the additional yields from longer maturities usually don’t justify tying up your money for that many more years.
Avoid using US Treasury securities now. Yields are still close to historic lows.
Alternative: Consider a bank certificate of deposit or the highest-rated corporate bonds.
Don’t try to build a bond ladder with bond mutual funds. You have no control over when the bonds in those funds mature and when they are bought and sold, all of which affect your returns.
Instead, call the fixed-income desk at a discount brokerage firm, such as Fidelity Investments (800-
544-9797, http://www.fidelity.com) or Vanguard (800-992-8327, http://www.vanguard.com). Tell a fixed-income expert that you want to build a bond ladder.
Make sure that you are paying a fair price for your bonds. Shopping for bonds is a bit tricky because you aren’t told how much commission or markup the bond broker is taking –
it’s included in the price of the bond. You can check what others are paying for the same bond at a large, online bond supermarket, such as http://www.bondsonline.com or http://www.bonds.com.
Bottom Line/Wealth interviewed Sheryl Garrett, CFP, founder of Garrett Planning Network, an international network of fee-only planners based in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, http://www.garrettplanningnetwork.com. She is author of Just Give Me the Answer$: Expert Advisors Address Your Most Pressing Financial Questions (Kaplan Business) and Investing in an Uncertain Economy for Dummies (Wiley). Garrett was recognized by Investment Advisor as one of the 25 most influential people in financial planning.
May 2nd, 2010 at 11:59 am
I think this is the latest on the child medicine recall.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Children’s and Infants’ Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl Recalled
Sunday May 2, 2010
McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the manufacturer of Children’s and Infants’ Tylenol, Motrin,
Benadryl and Zyrtec have voluntarily recalled several dozen over-the-counter products which parents worldwide have purchased for their children for pain relief and allergies.
The recall is in effect in at least 13 countries, including the United States, Canada, Guam and Puerto Rico.
They’ve initiated the recall because “these products may not meet required quality standards.” According to their press release,
it’s only cautionary, and no adverse events have occurred (meaning – no babies or children sicker or hurt.)
These products may contain a higher concentration of the active ingredients than they are supposed to, and others “may contain tiny particles.”
Seriously? Tiny particles of what?
The list of recalled products includes drops, suspensions and liquids (including one cold medicine which, confusing to me, I thought they were no longer allowed to sell anyway?)
Questions for McNeil:
What’s the difference between this recall and the one you issued in September 2009? Or the moldy smelling Tylenol products that were recalled in late 2009?
Why did you wait until millions of these products were delivered to stores – and sold to unsuspecting parents for their children -
before you decided to check their quality? It makes me wonder about other products you manufacture. When do you check their quality?
Just where is this manufacturing taking place? Are these products being manufactured in the United States?
Or somewhere, like China, where we hear about other food and drug manufacturing problems?
Steps for parents and grandparents who probably purchased have some of this medicine for your little ones:
Check the list of recalled products against those you have in your home.
If you do have one or more: Email McNeil or phone them at 1-888-222-6036– they will send you a refund or a coupon.
And one other caution: do NOT try to give your little ones smaller doses of adult medicines just because you can’t use these.
Instead, ask your pharmacist for his or her recommendation on the best substitute.
Finally — if you believe your child has suffered a problem from any of these medicines — or any medicines at all — you should report the problem to the FDA, through its MEDWATCH program.
When you report any problem you ever have with any drug, you may be preventing someone else from having a problem, too.
May 2nd, 2010 at 12:14 pm
Leroy, going to keep it brief: FRO. Instill that.
- Zen Lill
PS everyone else, have a beautiful day : )
May 2nd, 2010 at 1:09 pm
I live in Nashville, Tennessee. This flooding has me doubting my belief in God. I can not understand why true God fearing people are being tested this way.
Why hasn’t God punished the states that allow gay marriages? Good white people are dying here. Tennessee is a God fearing state.
We are part of God’s Bible belt. We are antiabortion. We keep our niggers under control, but we treat them with compassion.
Where is God’s compassion for us? A flood followed by a hurricane?
Minnie
May 2nd, 2010 at 2:48 pm
i’ve learned that regardless of ho hot and steamy a relationship is at first, The passion fades,
and there had better be a lot of money to take its place!
May 2nd, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Minnie
I’m in Memphis darling, and I feel your pain. How can this be happening to good white people.
I think it is because we as a nation has sinned in the eyes of God. We allowed a nigger to be President.
Leroy
Leroy
May 2nd, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Howie
Are you still with us?
May 2nd, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Michelle
You need to bite the bullet and screen this blog. We don’t need to hear the vitriol of sick people like Leroy.
Zen Lill what does “FRO” mean? i looked it up at netlingo.com but I coulldn’t find it.
Vince
May 2nd, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Minnie
All our lives are controlled by forces we no longer control. It’s just that most of us don’t call it god anymore.
Besides I don’t think God would punish the innocent for the sins of others.
Helena
May 2nd, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Sorry Vince, I often abrevuate what I think is obvious.
I shouldve written ut out: FUCK RIGHT OFF
-ZL
May 2nd, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Leroy and Minnie,
Perhaps you might wake up and realize that your god is punishing you for your hatred to others, and not abiding by his rule of love to others. Just because you live in an area that is defined by humans, as the “bible belt” you think that god has some divine presence in this region? That is as asinine as the radical Taliban and their rules based on their interpretations of their god.
It was a white man named McVeigh who took down the Oklahoma building, and Bush/Cheney who helped orchestrate the destruction of 911. The son of your god was not white, and he was a Jew. Wake up and smell your shit.
May 2nd, 2010 at 6:55 pm
I’m from the Bible belt too. I am sitting in New Orleans drinking a Hurricane and reading the blogs. Oh, first Minnie, darling, it was a flood followed by a tornado.
I guess you have proved Doug even more right that he suspects. You appear to be as dumb as the proverbial box of rocks.
Leroy, I could go off on whites if I was as bigoted and as ignorant as you appear to be. But, as a Creole boy, who by the way has dibs on New Orleans long before it was sold to America, I know that it is not the color of ones skin that makes the individual, it’s what’s in the heart, soul and mind of that individual.
You heart guides you to treat others as you wish to be treated. Your soul moves you towards a superior being called by any name you wish to call it. and your mind tells you that life is not all about you, it must include the environment you occupy as a visitor.
And as a good visitor, you are obligated to leave it better than you found it. That means you don’t pollute it, or harm the other creatures that are its visitors too.
So take it from an ole Creole boy. Lighten up and let God come to you.
Floyd
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:30 am
Q: Is it smart to avoid salt as a general rule even if my blood pressure is fine?
A: Most people don’t need to give up salt entirely, but would be wise to limit intake. Sodium does contribute to high blood pressure and fluid retention, which force your heart to work harder and increase risk for heart attack and stroke.
For healthy young adults, the recommended daily limit is 2,300 mg of sodium — that’s just one teaspoon of salt. African-Americans, who are more prone to high blood pressure, and anyone who is middle-aged or older (or who already has high blood pressure) should stay under 1,500 mg — about two-thirds of a teaspoon per day.
Strategies: Avoid processed and canned foods unless labeled “low sodium.” Use herbs instead of salt to add flavor to foods. Ban the saltshaker — or at least fill it with a mix of salt, pepper and other seasonings.
Our inside source: Lisa R. Young, PhD, RD, an adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University in New York City and author of The Portion Teller Plan (Broadway). http://www.portionteller.com
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:42 am
Who’s kidding who.
We all know that some tiny weenie white boy like Mcveigh planted that bomb in New York. Let’s see if New York decides to profile white boys parking cars by the side of the road in New York.
May 3rd, 2010 at 9:22 am
Flloyd, nicely stated. Thank you. I was a bit vulgar but Leroy was attempting to tell me about me, homegirl over here : ) hates that. -ZL