That helped make Mayweather the world’s highest-paid athlete over the past year, unseating Tiger Woods, who has been the top-earner since 2001. Woods ranks third this year with earnings of $59.4 million.

Mayweather maximizes his earnings by also acting as his own fight promoter through his company Mayweather Promotions. He collects all of the revenue from tickets, pay-per-view and sponsorships and covers the costs, including the purse for his opponent. His take home per fight is typically at least 50% higher than what his rival Manny Pacquiao earns.

Being a wildly polarizing figure doesn’t seem to have hurt his earnings. He charmed old ladies as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars in 2007 and provoked outrage with his racially charged, hate-filled rant against Pacquiao in 2010. His antics create buzz, and the result is both boxing fans and people who are normally indifferent to the sport pay up for his bouts. He has been a part of the four biggest non-heavyweight PPV events in boxing's history. The Cotto fight generated $94 million in PPV receipts.

Pacquiao ranks second with earnings of $62 million. Over the past 12 months he fought Juan Manuel Marquez and Tim Bradley. The bouts netted him $56 million, including money he gets from their broadcast in the Philippines. He also made an estimated $6 million over the past year outside the ring through endorsements with Nike, Hewlett-Packard, Monster Energy and Hennessy.

Woods’ total earnings dropped $16 million from last year to $59.4 million and have been sliced in half since their peak in 2009. Despite his collapse in this year’s U.S. Open, Woods is playing much better on the course and his prize money doubled from the prior 12 months. But the $2 million bump in prize money does not offset the loss of sponsors like Tag Heuer and Gillette.

Tiger Woods' golf course design business has struggled like his game. (AP)

Woods’ golf course design business has also struggled. Development of his Dubai course was shut down last year and the developer of his North Carolina course, Cliffs Club & Hospitality, filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

LeBron James leads the 13 basketball players that made the cut. James ranks fourth overall with earnings of $53 million. James, like all NBA players, had his salary sliced 20% by the NBA lockout, but he continues to make a mint off the court from sponsors like Nike, Coca-Cola, State Farm and McDonald’s. James’ income also got a boost when he received cash as part of his marketing partnership with Fenway Sports Group last year, through which James received a stake in the soccer club Liverpool.

Thirty football players rank among the 100 highest-paid athletes, which is more than any other sport. Many NFL players had bonuses delayed until the summer of 2011 that normally would have been paid in March due to the NFL lockout. Several players, like No. 30 Eli Manning, had their 2012 salaries converted into signing bonuses and paid out in March to alleviate team’s salary cap issues, which further goosed the number of NFL players in the top 100. Peyton Manning is the NFL’s highest-paid player with earnings of $42.4 million, which ranks 10th overall. The Indianapolis Colts paid Manning $26.4 million in 2011 even though he missed the season recovering from neck surgery. Manning joined the Denver Broncos as a free agent in March, when he inked a five-year, $96 million contract that paid him a $6 million advance on his 2012 Broncos’ salary. Manning continues to be the NFL’s top pitchman, earning $10 million annually off the field from Reebok, Gatorade, Sony, DirecTV, Wheaties and Papa John’s.

Athletes from 11 different sports qualified for the top 100, including two cricket legends (Mahendra Singh Dhoni at No. 31 and Sachin Tendulkar at No. 78), as well as track star Usain Bolt, who ranks No. 63 with earnings of $20.3 million. The 100 highest earners made $2.6 billion collectively during the past 12 months.

Our earnings figures include salaries, bonuses, prize money, appearance fees, as well as licensing and endorsement income for the 12 months between June 2011 and June 2012. We do not deduct for taxes or agents’ fees.

Two women made the top 100 (the cut-off was $16.6 million). Maria Sharapova ranks No. 26 with earnings of $27.9 million. She has long had a coveted portfolio of sponsors that now includes Nike, Head, Samsung, Tag Heuer and Evian. Sales for the Maria Sharapova Collection, her line of products at Nike subsidiary Cole Haan, doubled last year. Her ballet flat is the best selling female shoe for Cole Haan. Sharapova has stepped up her play on the court over the past year and is now the No. 1 ranked tennis player in the world. She completed a career Grand Slam with her French Open title and earned $5.9 million in prize money over the past 12 months.

Li Na ranks No. 81 overall with earnings of $18.4 million. She was a mildly successful pro with three career WTA victories before 2011, when she reached two Grand Slam finals and won the French Open title. The win in Paris made her the first Asian-born player ever to win a singles Grand Slam event. She signed seven multimillion-dollar endorsement deals after the historic win, in spite of the sluggish overall sponsorship market. Li shills for Babolat, Haagan-Daaz, Nike, Samsung and Mercedes, as well as multiple Chinese companies.

The List:

1. Floyd Mayweather ($85 million)

2. Manny Pacquiao ($62 million)

3. Tiger Woods ($59.4 million)

4. Lebron James ($53 million)

5. Roger Federer ($52.7 million)

6. Kobe Bryant ($52.3 million)

7. Phil Mickelson ($47.8 million)

8. David Beckham ($46 million)

9. Cristiano Ronaldo ($42.5 million)

10. Peyton Manning ($42.4 million)

Do you want to go back to school and earn a degree that employers actually want?

In their "Job Outlook 2012" report, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) uncovered which college degrees are most wanted by employers in 2012.

The report also noted that the surveyed employers said that they plan to hire 9.5 percent more new graduates between 2011 and 2012 than they did between 2010 and 2011.

New York career expert and psychologist, Eileen Sharaga, is not surprised by these numbers. "Economic reports indicate that employers are starting to hire," says Sharaga, noting that industries like accounting, finance, and computer science are seeing a bright hiring outlook.

So, how exactly do you get these employers to come after you? While there are no guarantees that a specific degree will lead to a job, it might help to know which degrees they are currently targeting.

Keep reading to learn more...

#1 Degree - Finance

If numerical equations don't intimidate you, you might want to consider earning an in-demand bachelor's degree in finance.

Most Wanted: This facts and figures degree is definitely on employers' radar, with the 2012 NACE job outlook report finding that 61.3 percent of surveyed respondents intend to hire finance degree grads.

Typical Coursework: "Finance majors learn how to make financial decisions for organizations" with help from courses that cover topics like planning, raising funds, making wise investments, and controlling costs, notes the College Board, an educational organization that administers aptitude tests like the SAT.

Click to Find the Right Finance Program.

Potential Careers & Average Annual Salaries: It's no surprise this degree is in demand with employers. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, you could take a variety of career paths with this degree, including financial analyst ($87,740), personal financial advisor ($90,900), and insurance underwriter ($67,520).*

#2 Degree - Accounting

Do you like to keep an eye on your budgets and finances? Then consider studying accounting, an area that employers have their eyes on.

Most Wanted: With 59.3 percent of surveyed employers planning to hire accounting grads in 2012, according to the NACE report, accounting majors would do well to keep their calculators and spreadsheets handy after graduation.

Typical Coursework: "Accounting majors learn how to gather, record, analyze, interpret, and communicate information about an individual's or organization's financial performance and risks," says the College Board. To get a handle on these skills, you'll likely take commonly offered courses like business law, auditing, and tax accounting.

Click to Find the Right Accounting Program.

Potential Careers & Average Annual Salaries: With a bachelor's degree in accounting, you could learn the skills needed to help you pursue a career as an accountant ($70,130), auditor ($55,430), or budget analyst ($71,450).*

#3 Degree - Computer and Information Sciences

Computers, smartphones, and tech gadgets have become necessities in both our personal and professional lives. That might explain why so many employers are after techies with a degree in computer and information sciences.

Most Wanted: In fact, according to the NACE report, 59.3 percent of surveyed employers have plans to hire computer and information science grads this year.

Typical Coursework: With this degree, you'll likely learn about areas like "robotics, natural language recognition programs, artificial intelligence, programming languages, numerical analysis, and gaming technology," notes the Princeton Review's "Top 10 College Majors" list on their website. The Princeton Review is a leading provider of education support and college preparation services.

Click to Find the Right Computer and Information Sciences Program.

Potential Careers & Average Annual Salaries: With a bachelor's degree in this tech-savvy area, you could prepare to go after careers like network and computer systems administrator ($74,270), computer programmer ($76,010), and computer systems analyst ($82,320).* Earning a "most wanted" degree never sounded so good.

#4 Degree - Engineering, Electrical and Mechanical

When you think of robots and roller coasters, what comes to mind? Fun, excitement, innovation, and engineering... Okay, engineering might not have been your first thought, but did you know that without talented engineers and the in-demand degrees linked with them, robots and roller coasters might not exist?

Most Wanted: Finding people to help build and purpose these types of thrilling devices and machines is a high priority for employers - at least that's what stats from the NACE report seem to indicate. The report found that 51.5 and 50 percent of surveyed employers plan to hire electrical and mechanical engineers in 2012, respectively.

Typical Coursework: Electrical engineering majors "study electricity: how it works, how it's generated, and how it's used to power everything from light bulbs and radios to cell phones and robots," says the College Board. Mechanical engineering majors, on the other hand, "learn about the machines that bring convenience and excitement to our lives. They study the physics that make roller coasters loop and planes fly."

Click to Find the Right Engineering Program.

Potential Careers & Average Annual Salaries: It's no surprise that employers are after engineering grads. Depending on which bachelor's in engineering you earn - electrical or mechanical - you could be prepped to pursue careers like electrical engineer ($89,200), mechanical engineer ($83,550), and sales engineer ($97,320).*

#5 Degree - Business Administration

Leader, ambitious, problem-solver...if these are words that describe you, or terms you want to be associated with - a degree in business administration might be worth considering. And more importantly, it's a degree that employers want.

Most Wanted: Employers have their sights on students with this business degree background, notes the NACE report. To get into specifics, 48.5 percent of surveyed employers said they plan to snatch business grads to join their companies this year.

Typical Coursework: "This program prepares students to plan, organize, direct, and control an organization's activities," notes the College Board. And just how do students pick up this expertise? Probably from commonly offered courses that could include accounting, business communication, and management.

Click to Find the Right Business Administration Program.

Potential Careers & Average Annual Salaries: With this "most wanted" degree, students could prepare to pursue careers like human resources specialist ($58,890), market research analyst ($67,130), and personal financial advisor ($90,900).*

Fans will continue to get their fill of the Kardashians. E! Network announced that it has inked a $40 million deal for three more seasons of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians."

TMZ reports that the multimillion-dollar contract makes the deal the richest in reality TV history, and that family members Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe, as well as parents Kris and Bruce Jenner, will earn equal pay, and they'll receive most of the money.

Lesser stars Kendall, Kylie, and Rob will be paid equally but less than the others. Scott Disick and son Mason, as well as Khloe's husband, Lamar Odom, will pocket separate fees.

Young adults with bachelor's degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wage jobs — waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or receptionist, for example — and that's confounding their hopes a degree would pay off despite higher tuition and mounting student loans.

An analysis of government data conducted for The Associated Press lays bare the highly uneven prospects for holders of bachelor's degrees.

Opportunities for college graduates vary widely.

While there's strong demand in science, education and health fields, arts and humanities flounder. Median wages for those with bachelor's degrees are down from 2000, hit by technological changes that are eliminating midlevel jobs such as bank tellers. Most future job openings are projected to be in lower-skilled positions such as home health aides, who can provide personalized attention as the U.S. population ages.

Taking underemployment into consideration, the job prospects for bachelor's degree holders fell last year to the lowest level in more than a decade.

"I don't even know what I'm looking for," says Michael Bledsoe, who described months of fruitless job searches as he served customers at a Seattle coffeehouse. The 23-year-old graduated in 2010 with a creative writing degree.

Initially hopeful that his college education would create opportunities, Bledsoe languished for three months before finally taking a job as a barista, a position he has held for the last two years. In the beginning he sent three or four resumes day. But, Bledsoe said, employers questioned his lack of experience or the practical worth of his major. Now he sends a resume once every two weeks or so.

Bledsoe, currently making just above minimum wage, says he got financial help from his parents to help pay off student loans. He is now mulling whether to go to graduate school, seeing few other options to advance his career. "There is not much out there, it seems," he said.

His situation highlights a widening but little-discussed labor problem. Perhaps more than ever, the choices that young adults make earlier in life — level of schooling, academic field and training, where to attend college, how to pay for it — are having long-lasting financial impact.

"You can make more money on average if you go to college, but it's not true for everybody," says Harvard economist Richard Freeman, noting the growing risk of a debt bubble with total U.S. student loan debt surpassing $1 trillion. "If you're not sure what you're going to be doing, it probably bodes well to take some job, if you can get one, and get a sense first of what you want from college."

Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University who analyzed the numbers, said many people with a bachelor's degree face a double whammy of rising tuition and poor job outcomes. "Simply put, we're failing kids coming out of college," he said, emphasizing that when it comes to jobs, a college major can make all the difference. "We're going to need a lot better job growth and connections to the labor market, otherwise college debt will grow."

By region, the Mountain West was most likely to have young college graduates jobless or underemployed — roughly 3 in 5. It was followed by the more rural southeastern U.S., including Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. The Pacific region, including Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, also was high on the list.

On the other end of the scale, the southern U.S., anchored by Texas, was most likely to have young college graduates in higher-skill jobs.

The figures are based on an analysis of 2011 Current Population Survey data by Northeastern University researchers and supplemented with material from Paul Harrington, an economist at Drexel University, and the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. They rely on Labor Department assessments of the level of education required to do the job in 900-plus U.S. occupations, which were used to calculate the shares of young adults with bachelor's degrees who were "underemployed."

About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor's degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years. In 2000, the share was at a low of 41 percent, before the dot-com bust erased job gains for college graduates in the telecommunications and IT fields.

Out of the 1.5 million who languished in the job market, about half were underemployed, an increase from the previous year.

Broken down by occupation, young college graduates were heavily represented in jobs that require a high school diploma or less.

In the last year, they were more likely to be employed as waiters, waitresses, bartenders and food-service helpers than as engineers, physicists, chemists and mathematicians combined (100,000 versus 90,000). There were more working in office-related jobs such as receptionist or payroll clerk than in all computer professional jobs (163,000 versus 100,000). More also were employed as cashiers, retail clerks and customer representatives than engineers (125,000 versus 80,000).

According to government projections released last month, only three of the 30 occupations with the largest projected number of job openings by 2020 will require a bachelor's degree or higher to fill the position — teachers, college professors and accountants. Most job openings are in professions such as retail sales, fast food and truck driving, jobs which aren't easily replaced by computers.

College graduates who majored in zoology, anthropology, philosophy, art history and humanities were among the least likely to find jobs appropriate to their education level; those with nursing, teaching, accounting or computer science degrees were among the most likely.

In Nevada, where unemployment is the highest in the nation, Class of 2012 college seniors recently expressed feelings ranging from anxiety and fear to cautious optimism about what lies ahead.

With the state's economy languishing in an extended housing bust, a lot of young graduates have shown up at job placement centers in tears. Many have been squeezed out of jobs by more experienced workers, job counselors said, and are now having to explain to prospective employers the time gaps in their resumes.

"It's kind of scary," said Cameron Bawden, 22, who is graduating from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in December with a business degree. His family has warned him for years about the job market, so he has been building his resume by working part time on the Las Vegas Strip as a food runner and doing a marketing internship with a local airline.

Bawden said his friends who have graduated are either unemployed or working along the Vegas Strip in service jobs that don't require degrees. "There are so few jobs and it's a small city," he said. "It's all about who you know."

Any job gains are going mostly to workers at the top and bottom of the wage scale, at the expense of middle-income jobs commonly held by bachelor's degree holders. By some studies, up to 95 percent of positions lost during the economic recovery occurred in middle-income occupations such as bank tellers, the type of job not expected to return in a more high-tech age.

David Neumark, an economist at the University of California-Irvine, said a bachelor's degree can have benefits that aren't fully reflected in the government's labor data. He said even for lower-skilled jobs such as waitress or cashier, employers tend to value bachelor's degree-holders more highly than high-school graduates, paying them more for the same work and offering promotions.

In addition, U.S. workers increasingly may need to consider their position in a global economy, where they must compete with educated foreign-born residents for jobs. Longer-term government projections also may fail to consider "degree inflation," a growing ubiquity of bachelor's degrees that could make them more commonplace in lower-wage jobs but inadequate for higher-wage ones.

That future may be now for Kelman Edwards Jr., 24, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., who is waiting to see the returns on his college education.

After earning a biology degree last May, the only job he could find was as a construction worker for five months before he quit to focus on finding a job in his academic field. He applied for positions in laboratories but was told they were looking for people with specialized certifications.

"I thought that me having a biology degree was a gold ticket for me getting into places, but every other job wants you to have previous history in the field," he said. Edwards, who has about $5,500 in student debt, recently met with a career counselor at Middle Tennessee State University. The counselor's main advice: Pursue further education.

"Everyone is always telling you, 'Go to college,'" Edwards said. "But when you graduate, it's kind of an empty cliff."

___

Associated Press writers Manuel Valdes in Seattle; Travis Loller in Nashville, Tenn.; Cristina Silva in Las Vegas; and Sandra Chereb in Carson City, Nev., contributed to this report.

George Zimmerman Is Charged With 2nd-Degree Murder In Trayvon Martin shooting

George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot Florida teenager Trayvon Martin 45 days ago, was charged with second-degree murder Wednesday, marking a turning point in a case that has provoked nationwide debate over racial profiling. 

Florida special prosecutor Angela B, Corey. who annonced the charge in Jacksonville, said that “the search for justice has brought us to this moment.” Zimmerman turned himself in and was brought Wednesday evening to the Seminole County jail.

  Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey announces that she is charging George Zimmerman with second-degree murder for the shooting of Trayvon Martin.

Washington Post-ABC News Poll: Public reactions to the Trayvon Martin shooting

Criminal justice lawyers said Corey faces an uphill battle in persuading a jury to convict Zimmerman of second-degree murder. Zimmerman told police he was fighting for his life in an altercation with Martin, who was 17 and unarmed, before he fired in self-defense.

Murder in the second degree, under Florida law, refers to a killing carried out without premeditation but with “a depraved mind regardless of human life.” If convicted, Zimmerman faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. His attorney, Mark O’Mara, said Wednesday that Zimmerman will plead not guilty.

Martin’s parents applauded Corey’s decision to take Zimmerman into custody, calling it a first step toward justice.

“We simply wanted an arrest,” said Sybrina Fulton, Martin’s mother. “Thank you, Lord.”

His father, Tracy Martin, said: “We got a long way to go, and we have faith. . . . We will continue to hold hands on this journey — white, black and Latino.”

Corey said she had personally informed Martin’s parents of the outcome of her investigation.

“It was less than three weeks ago that we told those sweet parents that we would get answers to all of their questions no matter where our quest for the truth led us,” she said.

Martin was fatally shot Feb. 26 while walking in the Retreat at Twin Lakes, a complex of about 260 peach-colored townhouses in Sanford, Fla. Martin was staying with his father and his father’s fiancee in her townhouse, and he had left briefly to walk to a nearby 7-Eleven to buy a bottle of iced tea and a bag of Skittles.

Zimmerman, 28, who worked at a fraud-detection company, was driving to Target, according to his father. Zimmerman spotted Martin and called 911, saying that there had been a rash of burglaries in the area and that there was “a guy . . . walking around, looking about.”

“This guy looks like . . . he’s on drugs or something,” Zimmerman said.

Before police arrived, Zimmerman and Martin encountered each other in a grassy area between the back yards of two rows of townhouses. Zimmerman says Martin punched him in the face, knocked him down and slammed his head against the pavement.

He has maintained that he was defending himself when he pulled a black Kel-Tec 9mm and shot Martin at close range in the chest after the teenager tried to take the gun. When officers arrived, they found Martin dead in a pool of blood in the grass and Zimmerman bleeding from his nose and the back of his head.

‘Stand your ground’ law

Authorities in Sanford decided not to charge Zimmerman, citing Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which allows a person to use deadly force in self-defense when there is a reasonable belief of a threat and which does not require people to retreat.

Lower My Car Insurance Rate

STEP 1:  Back Up Documents, Photos and Videos.
Save your important data to an external drive. Be sure to scan this drive and its contents after you remove the virus; you don't want to re-infect your computer after the clean-up.

[Related: Five ways to help your PC help you]

STEP 2: Reboot in Safe Mode
You have to prevent the virus from running when you try to remove it. To do this, reboot in safe mode.  Safe mode runs only the Windows operating system and a few key programs. It's a way to limit any malware from launching. Restart your computer and hit the F8 key on the keyboard repeatedly until you get to a black screen with the option of restarting in Safe Mode.  Choose "Safe Mode with Networking" so that you can still get on the Internet.

STEP 3: Download Virus Scanner/Removal Tools
I recommend downloading two to three different programs to find and remove the malware. One may do the job, but three will almost certainly do the job. These three have worked for me and come highly recommended by PC Magazine and CNET:
Malwarebytes
SuperAntispyware
PC Tools

STEP 4: Run Virus Scanners
Download, double-click to install, accept all the defaults they recommend, and then run each. This will take a while. When the programs locate a virus or any suspicious items, allow the programs to delete the files.

STEP 5: Reboot Normally
Reboot your computer normally; no need for safe mode. You should be back to normal now.


If you have files backed up on an external drive, plug it in and use the security programs you downloaded to scan that drive before you open or transfer any files.  If the virus is gone, go to step 6.

**IF YOU STILL HAVE THE VIRUS**
Many people will recommend you reinstall Windows or try system restore or download a registry cleaner. I say that at this point, most people should take the computer to a local PC repair shop. Where I live, it costs about $120 to get the virus removed and a clean version of Windows installed. It is a personal decision how you proceed from here, but take into account the value of your time.

STEP 6: Add Security
How did you get that virus in the first place? Even if you don't know, it's clear you need more protection.  PC Tools is a real-time virus scanner that you can use as your ongoing protection, or install something like Avast or AVG.  All three are very good, free, anti-virus programs. Also Microsoft's Security Essentials comes well recommended.

You should also go to the Control Panel of your computer, and in the security section click Windows Update. Make sure that it's set up to regularly update.  And if you think someone else accidentally installed malware on your computer, it's a good idea to give other members of the family their own sign-on accounts that don't have admin privileges. This way, if the kids try to download software that could harbor viruses, they won't be allowed to.


And yes, this means you should keep your admin password private.  (Also, if they've installed any file-sharing programs, now would be a good time to remove them. P-2-P music and movie sites do expose you to a lot of junk.

14 million Social Security disability applications were denied in a single decade, between 2000 and 2010, while the percentage of denials escalated from 34 percent to 65 percent. Is this the wrong time to be disabled in America?

Note the following headlines:

Federal Disability Traffic Jam The Washington Times

Soldiers risk ruin while awaiting benefit checks Associated Press

Disability Claims can be tough to collect Wall Street Journal

It's time to stop billions of dollars of disability benefits from being denied, unnecessarily.

Does the Disability Safety Net have holes in it? If more than 60 percent of Social Security disability claims are denied initially, then why are 63 percent approved at the hearing stage? What causes the turn around? Unfortunately 39 percent of claimants give up before determining if they would be successful going through the appeal process!!

1.2 million Social Security Disability applications were filed in 1999 (48 percent of 579,000 were declined). In 2009, ten years later, 2.8 million Social Security Disability applications were filed (and 65 percent or 1,830,530 were declined). The number of disability applications more than doubled while denials more than tripled. In one year, more than $23 TRILLION dollars of annualized benefits were lost. That's 1.8 million Americans who won't collect benefits they thought they were entitled to.

Based on the 2010 average payment to those who qualify, that represents more than $19.5 million of monthly benefits that won't be paid. Annualized, $23+ trillion dollars per year is an overwhelming amount of disappointment.

Many initial disability claims are denied for simple mistakes and omissions which have absolutely nothing to do with the claimant's disability status. Think about what it is like to wait 17 months to hear you didn't answer one question. Then you can wait another 17 months after you've added one simple answer. There must be a better way. Those facing claim denials are filing an unprecedented number of appeals burdening the already damaged system even more. With an average of nearly 17 months waiting for a judge to hear their appeal, what's happening in the meantime?

Currently there's three-quarters of a million Americans stuck in the Social Security disability backlog. Not being able to pay their bills causes the man of the house enormous mental anguish. The state of marital relationships in these situations deteriorates rapidly. Soon our divorce courts will be experiencing the same type of backlog the Social Security Administration is now facing.

Is this the wrong time to be disabled in America? Tens of millions of dollars in disability benefits go unpaid by private insurers. Over 40 states jointly investigated how one insurer handles their disability claims. Another state set up a system to scrutinize the handling of every rejected claim. What led to the dramatic change in the handling of disability claims? Or has anything changed at all and there's just more adverse publicity?

As reported in USA Today... 22,500 Veteran's PTDS disability claims denied as personality disorders. How is it possible that a personality disorder, assuming it existed prior to military service, is diagnosed when psychological evaluations aren't done prior to induction?

According to the data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, more than 25 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan vets seeking care at the VA have PTSD. And this statistic doesn't include the mentally ill vets who haven't had treatment at the VA due to the stigma associated with PTSD. In the meantime, families go on welfare and food stamps. Homes are being foreclosed. Drugs and alcohol disrupts any hope for family harmony. Homelessness occurs! Suicides begin to take lives that the battlefield didn't.

One very simple yet insurmountable obstacle is the application process itself. The VA has a long history of bureaucracy. The disability claim form itself is a 23 page document. How many vets are accustomed to 23 pages of paperwork? The word "intimidation" comes to mind as a reason many veterans will never file a claim. A claim for benefits they were eligible for.

Each year TRILLONS of dollars in Insurer, Social Security and Veterans Administration disability claims WILL continue to be denied. It's imperative the claimants understand how to correctly file a Long Term Disability claim, "doing it right" the first time and dramatically improving the likelihood of collecting benefits.

The U.S. Census Bureau recently projected a 75 percent increase in the age 65+ population by 2030. That will increase the number of age 65+ Americans to 69 million, more than 20 percent of the entire population. An aging population brings with it an automatic growth in the disability "TSUNAMI". Since the Americans with Disability Act forces disability insurers to continue disability coverage to those over age 65, an older workforce guarantees more claims.

We haven't seen any valid creditable source that has identified any reason for the escalating rate of claim denials or what we'll call disability claim "deterioration". Hence, I can offer what I believe is happening in the backrooms of the insurers claims departments.

Americans currently face the highest unemployment level we've experienced over the last three decades. The current state of the economy has impacted our American workforce in disastrous proportions. There's a natural escalation of disability claims incidence with increasing unemployment.

Mortgages are being foreclosed at an unprecedented rate. Several states have begun to deny previously valid claims as Medicaid budgets have become overwhelmed.



 Is it any wonder that the cost of medical care, and not being able to pay for it, is the largest cause of mortgage foreclosures?

To continue, we now have causes of disability that didn't exist two decades ago. Carpel tunnel and chronic fatigue syndrome are being diagnosed more than at any other time in our history. When we add fibromyalgia to the new list, we have an evolving problem that's creating a nightmare for the disability insurers. These are known as "self reported" disabilities in that there's no specific medical testing that can diagnose these conditions. It's easy to understand how disability claim examiners can mistrust "self reported" symptoms. This makes it an onerous process for those who are truly adversely effective by one of these conditions from collecting benefits they're entitled to.

In summary, we now face a dramatic increase in the 20 percent of the population in an older age group. They're still working with an increasing incidence of disability. Unemployment compounds the problem even more. And adding new causes of disability and our litigious society results in more PROMISES UNKEPT.

Allan Checkoway

Copyright 2011

In today's society, black dating has changed tremendously since the last decade. Back in the days you would meet someone, exchange numbers and talk on the phone while possible setting up a date. Nowadays, black online dating is very popular and on the rise. Now conversations are taking place in chat rooms online. Text messages and emails are replacing talking on the phone. You can now find that black beauty any where in the world with the touch of a button.You Can Meet Black Men. Dating online is also safer and you could save money without going on dates.

Black dating online gives you the opportunity to get into contact with people you never had access to such as business owners and executives. It makes things much easier when you can find your perfect match at the comfort of your home. Black men can now approach the women of their dreams without the fear of rejection. There are millions of black singles online to choose from. Black singles are dating online in record numbers for safety and to save time. Going out to clubs and bars can get expensive so online dating is very convenient.


 Single black men and women come together in an online atmosphere and build lasting relationships. An online dating site is a place to start your search for your perfect partner.

Black dating sites are to help the interested people to slim down their search. People have different preferences and online dating lets you choose that specific black man or women you desire. White women have this perception that black men are chivalrous and excellent sex masters. On the other hand, black women are submissive to men. White men above 60 years old are now embracing relationships with young black girls and older white women are in relationships with young black men. The African American dating is popular because of romance for money kind of relationship. Since the aged Whites are wealthy, the blacks exchange romance for money.

If you are going to start dating online, you should look for dating sites with good reviews. Some very popular sites are black people meet, singlesnet, blackscene, and blacksingles.com.

Life insurance pricing is as variable as every other type of insurance available through several different companies via numerous venues. Because of the many different companies, it raises a question regarding the vast difference in pricing for what is essentially the same product, the only difference being the company that owns the policy. While customers are generally at the mercy of the companies when it comes to costs of services or items, insurance policies do not have stagnant pricing, and therefore, there are things consumers can do to ensure they get the best price quotes available for policies that meet their needs.

The advancements of Internet speed and social networking have made the task of obtaining insurance quotes faster and easier than they have ever been. There are websites dedicated to obtaining life insurance quotes from up to ninety different companies with the customer only needing to fill out one relatively simple form. The quotes are generated via computer information and census information, using age, health, occupation and habits as ways to price a life insurance policy for a single individual.  
 Most of the questionnaires, particularly those for individuals under the age of forty, are generalized to enhance the speed of the quote returns and to keep costs low as well. This is done by the websites that have larger groups of insurance companies on their rosters because they have enough capital to subsidize the one or two percent of the applicants in any given age and price range who might become ill or suffer an unforeseen health misfortune.

Because the companies that use the quote websites know they will be in stiff competition, they are likely to quote prices that are quite a bit lower than prices that an individual might get from a private insurance agent. This is mainly due to the fact that the agent gets paid from commission made from the sale of the life insurance policy, so the higher the premium, the higher the commission.

Basically, getting a good insurance quote depends on the number of applications that a person submits. If a person gets several dozen quotes, he or she should have a good idea about the general pricing of a life insurance policy that suits their individual needs. As mentioned previously, the easiest way for a person to obtain numerous quotes in a fraction of the time it would take to meet one insurance agent is to go to one of the many specialized websites available on the Internet. The more quotes a person gets for a policy, the more ammunition he or she has in their arsenal of information.

Most of the background information on the companies that advertise and offer free quotes through these specialized websites has been done by the website, so customers need not worry about the veracity of the insurance company themselves. The top rated quote websites will not only supply the policy seeker a quote, but most will also include the national business rating of the company as well, to give the customer deeper insight into the company with whom their beneficiaries futures could be entrusted.   Get A Free Private Insurance Quotes Here.

ORLANDO, Fla. – What used to seem inevitable now comes as a revelation: Tiger Woods has won a golf tournament.

What used to be so familiar has turned into something refreshing: Tiger Woods haemphaticalls y vanquished a field on a Sunday.

And what used to be so rote now comes as a feeling of déjà vu: Tiger Woods is heading to the Masters with a head of steam and a look of triumph.

Woods turned a precarious one-stroke lead entering Sunday’s final round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational into a five-stroke statement for his first PGA Tour win since the BMW Championship in September 2009. That victory came two months before a minor car accident, at his home only miles from this Bay Hill course, which turned into one of the biggest sports scandals in history. A Pandora’s Box of past philandering and poor behavior opened for the world to see, and Woods’ reputation was permanently besotted. He won six tournaments earlier that year, but in the insular world of the sport he played, there were both whispers and shouts that the imperturbable assassin of Sundays never would be the same.

On this Sunday, he absolutely was.

There was a clear turning point in the final round – a moment of grave concern. And it came early. On the second green, Woods mishit a 28-foot lag putt and left himself a tricky 5-footer. These were the putts he always used to make in final rounds. Especially on Sunday. Especially on this course on Sunday, where he has won three times on the 72nd green.

He missed. Bogey.

While the gallery and his caddie moved ahead to the next tee, Woods lined up the putt again – without the ball. He stared at the hole for a good five seconds. Then he stormed off. And as he approached the third tee, his eyes were wide and unblinking in shock. He looked spooked.

Here is where the old Tiger would seize control of his emotions and his game. Here is where the new Tiger might spiral. Who would we see on Sunday? The man who came into this event 37-2 when he had the outright lead after 54 holes? Or the man who had lost control of his driver and couldn’t make the clutch putt when a round depended on it?

In that moment, it looked like the old Tiger was long gone.

But on the very next hole, faced with a difficult iron shot over water with a strong wind crossing through the fairway, Woods dropped the ball within five feet of the hole. He made birdie to get that lost shot right back. On his walk to the next tee, he let out a huge breath of air.

He then birdied Nos. 4, 6, and 8 to finish the front nine with a four-shot lead. On the back, the key moment came on the 15th green, when playing partner Graeme McDowell had a birdie putt and Woods had 20 feet just to save par. The four-shot lead could have dropped to two with three holes to play.

But this was the Tiger of old. He watched McDowell leave his putt an inch high and then drained his own, throwing that iconic fist pump as the ball fell.

By that point it was clear: Tiger was back. At least for a day.

This win is even more impressive considering Woods withdrew from the last tournament he played, at Doral in Miami, with a leg injury. And in the weeks since, he has faced tough questions about former coach Hank Haney’s tell-all book, “The Big Miss,” which painted the golfer as rude, cheap, cold and reckless with his rehab from recurring knee injuries.

But much like a superstar from another generation, Michael Jordan, Woods is at his best when he feels slighted. And he was publicly slighted in “The Big Miss” in a way he never had been slighted before. Haney ripped Woods as a golfer, friend and husband. Woods, when asked about the book in a recent press conference, almost looked ready to choke up with anger.

But on Sunday, he was laser-focused, unwilling to let anyone topple him. When the gallery broke up with laughter on the fourth hole after an errant approach dribbled to within inches of a stuffed tiger on the ropeline, Tiger the golfer barely noticed. He recovered with a near-perfect chip and made a 12-foot birdie putt to widen his lead. He never looked back from that moment, slowly squelching the hope out of the field with every made putt and saved par. McDowell never got within three strokes of the lead. And no one else was within sniffing distance.

It might be a turning point for Woods – the month the anti-Tiger venom reached another crescendo with a vicious book, and this week he finally wrote an on-course rebuttal of his own. He played as if aware this is a course where he has always been great. He played as if he knew the big test – Augusta National – is just two weeks away. Woods spoke rarely throughout Sunday’s final round to anyone and showed little emotion. The fairway rage from years past was gone. But he wasn’t ebullient.

At least for this one Sunday, Tiger was squarely in between. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right. Just Tiger. And just the way he used to be.

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