I have been listening a lot lately and some days the callers are even frustrating to me! So I came up with this little poem, I hope you think it's cute! Keep nagging! More >>

How Not To Protect Your Personal Assests From Lawsuits By Cliff Ennico www.creators.com "I am just beginning to recover from very near destitution after my wife's serious health problems and her death. I will finally be getting some money soon and I'm planning to buy a Wyoming shelf corporation under which I will run a Web-based retail business. During the past few years I have read books, listened to CD's and watched DVD's about corporations and revocable living trusts. I was unaware of the possibility of being personally liable while working for my corporation. It is my understanding that if my corporation owns my house that all the expenses are tax deductible, such as lights, telephone, heating and cooling. And the same is true of my automobile. If my trust (not formed yet) owns my car and I use it exclusively for business and I have an accident in which I am charged with negligence, can my trust be sued?" E-mail messages like this always make me wonder what kinds of books are out there that people are reading.  While this reader was obviously distracted by personal tragedy, he has picked up a lot of misinformation that will need to be straightened out, so here goes. A "revocable living trust" does not protect your assets from lawsuits.  It is merely a device to avoid probate.  When you die, any assets put in the trust bypass your will and go directly to the trust beneficiaries (your children or other relatives) without going through the long and stressful probate process. Since you are usually the "trustee" of the living trust as long as you live, and have considerable control over the trust assets, the trust will not be considered a separate entity for purposes of lawsuits.  Anyone suing you will be able to reach the trust assets.  The only way to avoid that is to have someone else - someone totally independent from you and your family, such as the trust department of a local bank - act as the trustee of the trust.  While that will protect the trust assets from legal liability, it also means that the trustee, not you, decides what to do with the assets as long as you're living.  Now let's talk about that Wyoming corporation.  Unless you are a resident of Wyoming and will be conducting your business there, a Wyoming corporation does you absolutely no good.  You will have to register the Wyoming corporation as a "foreign" corporation in your home state, and will have to register for state and local taxes there.  You do not avoid those by incorporating in Wyoming or anywhere else.  Your corporation or LLC should be formed in the state where you reside and do business.  Period. Putting assets into a corporation which you control will not protect them from lawsuits.  While the assets belong to the corporation, your shares in the corporation are still a personal asset and can be seized by your creditors.  Attaching shares of stock in a lawsuit is usually a lot easier than putting a lien on real estate, so by doing this you are actually making it easier for your creditors to get hold of those assets. Also, putting real estate in a corporation, especially a regular or "C" corporation, is a very bad idea tax-wise.  Talk to your accountant or tax advisor about that. Having your corporation lease a car to you gives you some tax benefits, but it does not protect you from liability if you are involved in a traffic accident.  The injured person is legally entitled to sue not only your corporation, as the owner of the vehicle, but you personally, because you were the driver whose negligence caused the accident.  Even with a corporation, you will need auto insurance on you personally, although the corporation may be able to pay the premiums and take a deduction if you are a W-2 employee of the corporation.  Ask your accountant or tax advisor about that. So what can you do to protect your personal assets from legal liability?  Here are some suggestions to discuss with your attorney and/or accountant: form a corporation or LLC in your home state (not Wyoming), and make sure you use it when conducting business online - that should protect your personal assets against lawsuits without your having to set up a separate trust; consider transferring title to your house and other key assets to a friendly relative (such as your mother), but be sure that person changes his or her will so that you get those assets back if he or she dies prematurely - also be sure to have a written lease with that person allowing you to live in the house rent-free (or One Dollar a year) until you die; and if you are working out of your home, consider taking the "home office deduction" on your tax return - you may find that will give you better tax benefits than forming a corporation and "living through the company". Cliff Ennico ( crennico@gmail.com ) is a syndicated columnist, author and former host of the PBS television series "Money Hunt." This column is no substitute for legal, tax or financial advice, which can be furnished only by a qualified professional licensed in your state. To find out more about Cliff Ennico and other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit our Web page at www.creators.com . COPYRIGHT 2010 CLIFFORD R. ENNICO.  DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM.  Permission Granted for use on Dr.Laura.com. More >>

Your Body is Not Disneyland - Part II By Erik Fisher, PhD, AKA Dr. E' www.ErikFisher.com Welcome back. In my first installment, I discussed the nature of our relaxed attitudes toward sex. I feel that we are in a precarious position, and our children are in danger of suffering from our lack of self-respect. So let's pick it up from here. What I always tell people is that even though we may have roots that connect us to the animal world, we also have a brain that functions at a higher level. The gift of our frontal lobe is that we can use our ability to reason to help manage our unavoidable more primal and animalistic tendencies. The goal of this article series is not to become moralistic and judgmental, it is to challenge people to consider their intentions, values, emotions, attitudes, and choices. I hope you will evaluate yours. How Do I Love Thee??? Let's first look at our concept of love. We have one word that describes so many different emotional states, and this lack of attention to detail to this very important concept is a major problem in our culture, IMHO. There is a popular urban legend that says that Eskimos have more than one-hundred words for snow, and while the figure has been grossly exaggerated, the idea is that concepts that are important to a culture will have much more specificity than those that aren't as important. So, just how do we "love" things, let me count the ways' You can love your mom, your dad, your kids, your sister, your brother, your friend, your uncle, your aunt, your cousin, your teacher, your boss, your student, your country, your team, your school' You can also love a sunny day, an ice cream cone, the beach, skiing, baseball, football, as well as your pets. Some even say that they love sex. The question is, even with this short list of things we may say that we love, do we love them the same way? I think not. Yet we use the same word to describe so many states of emotion. Do we have some words that describe different states of love? Yes, but our use of the word love is somewhat careless and leads to a lot of confusion that I firmly believe affects our relationships and attitudes toward intimacy and sex. It has been said that Sanskrit had 96 words for love and ancient Persian had 80. Greek has three: Agape, Philos, and Eros. I will explain those, because it takes a takes a lot less time to convey the point. Agape is considered to be a more spiritual love. It is described in the Bible as to how God loves man, and I would describe it as our admiration and connection to people on their journey in life. Philos or philia is a brotherly type of love and overlaps into how parents love their children, how siblings love each other, friends love each other, and even how some people may love their pets. As you can see only three words is already getting a bit sticky. The third type of love is eros, which describes a romantic type of love. It involves the attraction between two people that is sexual and ranges from physical attraction to blind infatuation. Well, what happens when we only have one word to describe so many states? It leads to emotional confusion and a great deal of discomfort. Let's say that a girl loves a boy in a philos way, but the boy feels eros? They both love each other, but the boy is feel that he wants to take the relationship to the next level, while the girl is enjoying the closeness with the boy. She may then feel pressured by him to take the relationship where he wants to go or fear losing him and the love she feels from him. They both "love" each other don't they? But does it mean the same thing, and are either of them ready for sex? Age Is A Relative Term What I try to teach people, as young as twelve years old through adulthood, is that in order for any intimate long-term relationship to survive, both people have to feel all three components as the relationship develops and grows. Too many times, people in our culture believe that feeling that eros attraction, which is often as strong as a mind-altering high, is enough to take a relationship to the next level. Eros will always wear off, because that is, in part, a neurophysiological experience (I will explain more about that later). The problem is that when the eros wears off, what are the two people left with? Too many times they are left with nothing, and the relationship dies. What happens when either person wakes up and one finds themselves pregnant or they find themselves married? Developing a deep friendship (philos) and admiring the person (agape) that you are in a relationship are crucial to a successful relationship. It is easy to open ourselves up to our more primal urges and let emotion take over only to find ourselves in the walk of shame the next morning, but I feel that we were born with the ability to reason beyond our more primal self and learn to respect ourselves and those we relate to. We owe that to ourselves. In my next installment, we will discuss "The Ultimate High'" About the author:  Erik Fisher , PhD, aka Dr. E', is a licensed psychologist and author who has been featured on NBC, CBS, FOX and CNN. Visit him at  www.ErikFisher.com  to learn more about his books "The Art of Empowered Parenting" and "The Art of Managing Everyday Conflict" or to check out his blog. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com. More >>

Thank you for speaking about these jerks that don't want to see T shirts with the Greatest American flag worn by somebody else in the 5 de mayo celebrations. More >>

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A few weeks ago, the news replayed and replayed the hotel surveillance video tape of a scene out of Law and Order.  A woman was attacked by some creep, and a homeless man went to her rescue.  The creep ran away, the woman ran away, and the homeless man lay bleeding to death on the pavement, with at least a dozed people (caught on video) just walking by.  One man turned him over, examined him, and then walked away.  The homeless man died.  He died alone - ignored - and yet, he was a hero for rescuing the woman who was attacked.I am unaware of any follow-up regarding this hero - who he was, his background, his circumstance.  There was probably little media interest in a homeless man.Then, soon after, a Vietnam veteran alerted police to a suspicious car in New York City's Times Square.  The policeman checked the car and recognized that it was likely a car bomb.  The dominoes fell appropriately, with the bomb squad alerted, and everyone evacuated from Times Square.A Pakistani man who got American citizenship decided to kill as many American citizens as possible, because of his radical Muslim beliefs that infidels need eradication.  Nice family guy, I'm sure.He failed in his attempt to mass murder American citizens, because a military vet used his training well (many years after the fact), and a policeman did his duty.This story had a happier ending than the first one, because of the training and commitment of those who serve us. More >>

Recently, on a Friday afternoon, I had an experience which challenged my fears and comfort level.' I went out sailing in 20-30 knots of wind, with 6 - 8 foot swells, in a very, very narrow boat only 41 feet long.' I have five experienced crew with me.' And I was nervous.Believe you me, it is an intimidating experience when a little sailboat is planing at over 20 knots with gusts and crazy waves.' You don't have a lot of opportunity to think things through or to hesitate - a five degree wrong move and....WIPEOUT!' In the cold water and sloppy big waves, that could mean "man overboard" with the boat temporarily out of control. ( Watch the experience .)I am learning to skipper a boat under these conditions, where you have to run on "feel" and not so much on thinking things through.' I have lots to learn and practice, but whoo hoo!' What a ride!In doing this, I faced rational fear and was out of my comfort zone.' It took 48 hours for me to come down from that exhilaration.' It changes you.' I feel proud of myself; I know I'm getting better and better.' Facing fears and limitations, while scary, leads to such acceleration in joy of life and a growing self-confidence, that it is more than worth the scary moments.As I keep nagging at you folks, things are scary until they become familiar .' Practice and forcing yourself to face the experience time and again gives you familiarity which gives you confidence, and a natural, free, and legal "high." More >>

Last week, I attended an event in the beautiful city of Huntington Beach, California.' It was the second annual "Battle Shark Challenge" hosted by the United States Army.' The Army invited new enlistees from southern California to come to the beach to compete in small groups in such activities as:' push ups, sit ups, tug of war, football, Frisbee, rock wall climbing, a 2 mile run, throwing grenades (fake ones, of course) and carrying a "wounded" soldier through a mine field (blindfolded).I participated in everything except Frisbee and football.' My team of 6 won the push up and sit up contests, and we also won the activity where you had to carry a "wounded" soldier through a mine field.' Everyone was blindfolded except the leader who had to give instructions.' The first time I played the wounded soldier; the second time I was the leader and we beat the previous best time by over a minute.' We lost the tug of war, and I wasn't able to throw my grenade further than the closest-in target.' I did the run, however, in less time than that required to qualify for enlisting in the Army, but they still wouldn't take me!It was an amazing experience to meet about 1500 young men and women who are willing to put their lives on the line for you and me.' I was impressed by their spirit, tenacity, good humor, self-respect, hard work, and commitment.' These are certainly NOT the types of kids who spend their days on Facebook or Twitter.' You have to be awed by how unique and special they are.Families came out to show their support, although it was very sad to me when one young woman came up to ask me how to handle her parents, who won't talk to her since she enlisted.' They didn't show up for this event either.' Shame on them and shame for them.' They missed an opportunity to see their child elevated in her own spirit and in our eyes.' I told her that I'd be her surrogate mother, and that she now owed me a Mother's Day card.' We hugged a lot.Frankly, I just wanted to hug them all.' I AM the proud mother of an American combat infantryman...very proud.' I am saddened for any parent who chooses to shun their child because they've made the selfless choice to defend all Americans.That's why we have to support them all.' Whenever you see anybody in uniform, shake their hands, buy them lunch, and/or tell them you're grateful.' It DOES mean a lot to them. More >>

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How can your life be better in an instant?Believe it or not, I have the answer to that question.Think about something lousy you're experiencing today.' Frown.Now, think about something wonderful you're experiencing today.' Smile!At any one moment, you get to choose how you're going to react.Here's something to try:Get together with a friend today, and talk ONLY about things that elevate both your souls and your spirits.' No whining about your lives, no talking smack about other people, no complaining about relatives or politics.' Just say the things that elevate both of you and your collective sense of well-being.And guess what?' Your life becomes better instantaneously. More >>