Corporate Real Estate

Cap & Trade Bill

Want to know what is in the Cap & Trade Bill before Congress?  Read it here.

Ronald Reagan: What July 4 Means To Me

For one who was born and grew up in the small towns of the Midwest, there is a special kind of nostalgia about the Fourth of July.

I remember it as a day almost as long-anticipated as Christmas. This was helped along by the appearance in store windows of all kinds of fireworks and colorful posters advertising them with vivid pictures.

No later than the third of July – sometimes earlier – Dad would bring home what he felt he could afford to see go up in smoke and flame. We'd count and recount the number of firecrackers, display pieces and other things and go to bed determined to be up with the sun so as to offer the first, thunderous notice of the Fourth of July.

I'm afraid we didn't give too much thought to the meaning of the day. And, yes, there were tragic accidents to mar it, resulting from careless handling of the fireworks. I'm sure we're better off today with fireworks largely handled by professionals. Yet there was a thrill never to be forgotten in seeing a tin can blown 30 feet in the air by a giant "cracker" – giant meaning it was about 4 inches long. But enough of nostalgia.

Somewhere in our growing up we began to be aware of the meaning of days and with that awareness came the birth of patriotism. July Fourth is the birthday of our nation. I believed as a boy, and believe even more today, that it is the birthday of the greatest nation on earth.

There is a legend about the day of our nation's birth in the little hall in Philadelphia, a day on which debate had raged for hours. The men gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign the Declaration of Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the words "treason, the gallows, the headsman's axe," and the issue remained in doubt.

The legend says that at that point a man rose and spoke. He is described as not a young man, but one who had to summon all his energy for an impassioned plea. He cited the grievances that had brought them to this moment and finally, his voice falling, he said, "They may turn every tree into a gallows, every hole into a grave, and yet the words of that parchment can never die. To the mechanic in the workshop, they will speak hope; to the slave in the mines, freedom. Sign that parchment. Sign if the next moment the noose is around your neck, for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the Bible of the rights of man forever."

He fell back exhausted. The 56 delegates, swept up by his eloquence, rushed forward and signed that document destined to be as immortal as a work of man can be. When they turned to thank him for his timely oratory, he was not to be found, nor could any be found who knew who he was or how he had come in or gone out through the locked and guarded doors.

Well, that is the legend. But we do know for certain that 56 men, a little band so unique we have never seen their like since, had pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Some gave their lives in the war that followed, most gave their fortunes, and all preserved their sacred honor.

What manner of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists, 11 were merchants and tradesmen, and nine were farmers. They were soft-spoken men of means and education; they were not an unwashed rabble. They had achieved security but valued freedom more. Their stories have not been told nearly enough.

John Hart was driven from the side of his desperately ill wife. For more than a year he lived in the forest and in caves before he returned to find his wife dead, his children vanished, his property destroyed. He died of exhaustion and a broken heart.

Carter Braxton of Virginia lost all his ships, sold his home to pay his debts, and died in rags. And so it was with Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Rutledge, Morris, Livingston and Middleton. Nelson personally urged Washington to fire on his home and destroy it when it became the headquarters for General Cornwallis. Nelson died bankrupt.

But they sired a nation that grew from sea to shining sea. Five million farms, quiet villages, cities that never sleep, 3 million square miles of forest, field, mountain and desert, 227 million people with a pedigree that includes the bloodlines of all the world. In recent years, however, I've come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation.

It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history.

Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government.

Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people.

We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.

Ronald Reagan
President of the United States

From NewsMax

Marcus Buckingham Press Articles » Blog Archive » Top 10 Things To Do If You Become Unemployed

Marcus Buckingham Press Articles » Blog Archive » Top 10 Things To Do If You Become Unemployed.

by Marcus Buckingham for The View April 14th, 2009

Losing one's job is never easy. Act your way into a new way of thinking. Don't get down, get a plan.

USGBC considering LEED for Data Centers program- 6/17/2009 9:11:00 AM - Building Design & Construction

USGBC considering LEED for Data Centers program- 6/17/2009 9:11:00 AM - Building Design & Construction.

In a blog post this morning on Earth2Tech, Justin Moresco writes that the U.S. Green Building Council is giving strong consideration to developing a version of its LEED green building rating system for data centers. Moresco writes: "While LEED rating systems currently can be used to certify data centers—or almost any other building for that matter—none of LEED’s systems take into account the special circumstances of those dedicated to computing power. That means the criteria often are inadequate."

We all got greedy as good times kept rolling -- OrlandoSentinel.com

We all got greedy as good times kept rolling -- OrlandoSentinel.com.

Like you, I am fed up with the greed and excess of the thieves on Wall Street and the gluttonous CEOs who have grown fat on unearned salaries. But let's not leave ourselves off the list of those who have turned the American dream into a nightmare. How much blame do we share?

Home Depot to cut 7,000 jobs, close Expo chain - Yahoo! News

Home Depot to cut 7,000 jobs, close Expo chain - Yahoo! News.

CHICAGO – Home Depot Inc. plans to eliminate 7,000 jobs while closing four dozen stores under its smaller home improvement brands as the recession continues to batter the nation's housing market. Its shares climbed more than 5 percent in morning trading.

The nation's biggest home improvement retailer said Monday the cuts will affect about 2 percent of its 300,000 workers and cause the Atlanta-based chain to record a $532 million pretax charge, most of which will be recorded in the fourth quarter.

Most of the cuts affect workers at Home Depot's 34 Expo Design Centers, five YardBIRDS, two Design Centers and HD Bath, a bath remodeling business with seven sites.

Those stores will close in the next two months.

Syms Reportedly Looking to Move Some of its Real Estate

Syms Reportedly Looking to Move Some of its Real Estate.

Off-price clothing retailer Syms has quietly moved to sell or rent some of its real estate to other businesses, The Post has learned. The Secaucus, NJ-based chain is looking to sell or lease properties it owns in Long Island, New Jersey and Florida, real-estate listings show. That, in turn, has prompted speculation that the company is either looking to raise cash amid a brutal retail climate or pursue a new strategy to unlock the value of its land holdings.

Studying for the LEED AP Examination

A few helpful links provided by the Leed 2009 Study Group on Facebook:

http://www.ppi2pass.com/forums/posts/list/1155077973.page

http://www.archinect.com/forum/threads.php?id=43210_0_42_0_C156

http://www.2dinnovations.com/tips.html

http://www.leedlately.com/category/leed-online/

http://s3.amazonaws.com/webtools-template/e49d5c00-a47e-4af5-b8aa-b8c96aedbd35/greenspaces-handbook.pdf

http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/quizview.php?title=leed-practice-exam

http://www.leedlately.com/category/leed-ap-exam/

http://www.ehow.com/how_4443658_prepare-leed-ap-exam.html

http://www.intheleed.com/leed-pretest-braindump/

Trammell Crow Dies at Age 94 - CoStar Group

Trammell Crow Dies at Age 94 - CoStar Group.

Trammell Crow, renown developer and founder of the company that bears his name, passed away Wednesday night at his East Texas farm. He was 94.

ImagePoint terminates all 450 employees

Update: ImagePoint terminates all 450 employees. From WBIR:

Hundreds of workers packed up their things and left their downtown Knoxville offices Friday, as ImagePoint, Incorporated announced it is closing.

"It stinks for everybody, really. I think everybody is going through a tough time right now," said professional engineer Tim Abshagen, as he left work for the last time.

ImagePoint started as a sign maker 65 years ago, and grew to be the country's largest sign and image products manufacturer.

Workers had some idea bad news was coming. The company laid off some workers this fall, and Monday told employees they had cash flow issues and were looking for more capital.

In the end, ImagePoint just could not find a way to keep going.