| Cash becoming a thing of the past
BLOOMINGTON — Mina Aitelhadj had about $8 and some change — less than the $10 she needed to renew her driver's license — when she went to the Secretary of State's office in Bloomington recently.The Normal resident wasn't caught off guard by an unexpected fee; she expected to pay with her credit card. But after waiting in line and handing it over, she found out the agency only accepts Discover, cash and check.“That was a bit of a problem," Aitelhadj said. “I had to run and get some cash at the ATM."Aitelhadj doesn't carry more than $20 in her wallet and rarely spends cash, just for the emergency cup of coffee or gasoline. She prefers to use her debit card for most purchases.The 26-year-old graduate student at Illinois State University is like a growing number of Americans.Nationwide, 45 percent of consumers use cash less often than they did two years ago, according to the American Bankers Association's 2005-2006 Study of Consumer Payment Preferences.
Home Equity Safety Net - Line of Credit Mortgage Loans
A looming layoff, a business breakdown, a black hole of bills, at some point, the initial shock of a financial dilemma turns to more rational thoughts of how to manage your monetary misfortune. If you happen to be a homeowner, tapping into your home equity is on the list as an option, but that includes the pain of having to get a loan and making payments, so you may put it off while contemplating another solution. Tick tock, as the game clock winds down, your home equity loan option may be in jeopardy of a penalty flag. Consider the following procrastination penalties: If you are anticipating a potential loss of income from a job layoff or business slowdown, there is a possibility of not qualifying for a home equity loan if lenders are not able to verify a stable source of income to meet the debt ratio requirement.
Falwell's Ministry of Hate
NEVER SPEAK ill of the dead, goes the old saying. But in the case of conservative evangelical Rev. Jerry Falwell--who died last week at the age of 73--his lengthy record of bigotry and intolerance speaks for itself. Even the mainstream media coverage of Falwell's death couldn't avoid sounding like a "worst of" list of his narrow-minded prejudice--from his proud embrace of anti-gay, anti-feminist and anti-choice bigotry, to his avowed hatred of public education, the ACLU and, of course, a certain purple Teletubbie. Falwell came to prominence with the rise of right-wing Christian evangelicals during the 1980s. Earlier on in his career, Falwell was an ardent segregationist, preaching against what he called the "civil wrongs movement." Calling segregation the "Lord's will," he said of the 1954 Brown v.
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