Do you ever wonder if the injury attorneys you see on television and billboards across the country are actually the people you speak to when you call the number posted? Most people would assume the answer is no. Certainly it depends on your prior perspective about attorneys in general. An educational guess would leave most people shaking their heads in disbelief that anyone would entertain the idea of actually calling one of these injury attorneys in the first place.

Not to be naming names or making judgment where none was asked to be presented, but there is some part of the whole “injury law” that frightens the general public. Most private citizens have justifiable trepidation towards being on either end of a lawsuit. However there seems to be a demand for these particular attorneys. Advertising on television, on the cover of phone books and on billboards is an expensive means of advertising. Should this type of flamboyant advertising lead you to believe those particular injury attorneys are better at their jobs than ones at a less noticeable firm?

Certainly if you were to secure legal counsel you would gravitate toward a firm that adequately presented themselves. You would also be wise to acquire counsel that has successfully argued the specific type of legal situation at hand. The main objective in a successful injury lawsuit is having a successful attorney that knows the ins and outs of injury law.

Paying for or even retaining an injury attorney is a unique situation. As with any lawsuit there is a plan to recover compensation for pain, suffering, and lost wages. Injury lawsuits are no different. Within an injury lawsuit, compensation is always monetary.

Injury attorneys most usually will not ask for payment from their clients unless there is a settlement. They most usually won’t take a high-risk case either. They most usually take thirty percent of the entire settlement. And they take it right off the top.

In the case of a lawsuit that surrounds an injury, there is no better attorney to handle the case than one who understands the laws. There is no better attorney than one who is compassionate to the long-term prognosis, and repercussions of certain accidents.

Jeff Lakie is the founder of Injury Attorney Resources a website providing information on Injury Attorneys

You may need the ultimate in patience, but photographing groups can bring rewards for the photographer and even lead you to be asked to do more work.

There are some simple rules to remember:

Always fill the frame with groups. Don’t let people be cut off the sides of the viewfinder or let their heads be chopped off the top of the screen. Similarly, you don’t want too much space at either side. However, don’t exclude the background completely as this gives a sense of “where” for your group. People always like to identify their environment.

Make the group informal in position - they are not soldiers - different heights and postures is what you are looking for. This adds interest for the viewer and avoids the formal look.

If you have 2 or 3 in the group, get their heads at different heights and try getting your subjects to tilt their heads to the side (towards each other) slightly - it will make for a more pleasing effect.

If you are going to use flash, make sure it is powerful enough (small cameras will have weaker flashes) otherwise some people will be illuminated and others not.

Go outside if you can. The light is more diffuse even on a sunny day and you may not need flash. You can use reflectors if necessary to lighten shadows. Avoid the hottest part of the day - early or mid-morning or towards the late afternoon will be fine.

Make sure your subjects are not looking at the sun otherwise they will squint. Use fill in flash if you have to and have the sun behind the subjects.

Don’t forget props - chairs and benches are great. They immediately add a mixture of height and interest. Some of your subjects can stand whilst others sit or kneel.

You will take longer than you think to get the pictures you want. Some in your group will lose interest and this can get out of control. Be in charge! Talk to your subjects and tell them what you are doing. Keep it light-hearted and jovial but try to work quickly.

Always prepare beforehand if you can and tell the group what you want from them. Don’t be shy. Take more pictures than you need - there will ALWAYS be someone with their eyes closed or in mid-yawn!

Eric Hartwell is an enthusiastic photographer and owner of teh photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and discussion forums http://www.theshutter.co.uk/forums.

Montana Child Support

How do you know if you qualify for child support? Child support is available to all single parents in need of financial assistance from the non-custodial parent. In order to receive child support services, you must first fill out an application with the state of Montana. When apply for child support, there will be a non-refundable application fee. The state will then locate and notify the non-custodial parent. If the allege father denies any claims of the child, you are able to have a paternity test performed. If you or the non-custodial parent do not reside in the state of Montana, you may still qualify for assistance.

There are several different services that are available when applying for Montana child support. For Instance, you have financial support and medical support available to you when applying for child support services. In the state of Montana, child support cases must be modified every several years. The reason for the modifications is to keep up with the non-custodial parent’s pay. If the parent receives a raise or any promotions, the Montana child support must modify to see if the child support payments need to be raised. The opposite happens when the non-custodial parent takes a cut in pay or loses their job. When applying for child support, you will also receive medical coverage for your child/children from the non-custodial parent. The non-custodial parent is required to provide medical assistance and is factored in to the amount of child support that is paid.

Montana child support enforcement ensures that a non-custodial parent pays child support on a regular basis. There are many methods to enforcing child support, here are a few of those methods: seizure of cash assets, passport denials, and tax refund interceptions. There are many more methods that will be enforced if the non-custodial parent refuses to pay child support.

In today’s time there many children who are raised with only one parent. Assistance from the non-custodial parents must be provided in order for the child/children to live a decent life. As a parent you must located and establish paternity so that the courts can order child support from the other parent. Because with support from the other parent, you will be sure that your child will live a life that they deserve.

For more information on Montana child support please click the links below.

www.child-support-laws-state-by-state.com/montana-child-support.html

www.child-support-laws-state-by-state.com

American Airlines is sponsoring a “Why You Fly” contest. The grand prize is a year’s worth of flying, and most anyone could use that. You enter by submitting a photo, an essay or a video.

On the contest website, you get to the page that is titled, “Legal Terms and Conditions.” You have to scan down to read the entire text. While most folks might “accept” the terms without reading them, this has some fine print that a photographer should read.

The terms state in part: “For good and valuable consideration . . . I hereby assign and transfer in perpetuity to American Airlines . . . all world-wide rights, title, and interest in . . . to all: . . . photographs . . . copyrights (including the right to register the copyright and any renewals or reversions thereof) . . . derivative works, and any other material and/or intellectual property embodied in the material created and submitted by me (”Work”) for the American Airlines We Know Why You Fly Contest (the “Contest”).”

If you agree to this, you have just transferred your copyright to American Airlines, regardless of whether you win a prize.

Similar events are occurring elsewhere. The license for AOL’s instant messaging product, “AIM,” gives AOL “all right, title and interest in any compilation, collective work or other derivative work created by AOL using or incorporating [the] . . . content. You grant AOL . . . the irrevocable, perpetual worldwide rights to reproduce, display . . . this content . . . .”

This gives AOL a liberal, free license to use any photo transmitted using “AIM.” To AOL’s defense, such license may be necessary to protect itself from copyright infringement. On the contrary, a transfer of copyright is not necessary for American Airlines to run its contest.

While you might think that you are safe because a copyright transfer must be in writing and signed by the copyright owner, the law has caught up with technology. You now can “sign” a document by responding electronically. A contract may be in any memorandum form, including electronic mail. It is “signed” by any mark, written, stamped or engraved, that demonstrates the intent to agree to the contract.

So read the fine print to protect your copyrights.

Copyright 2005 Carolyn E. Wright

— ABOUT THE AUTHOR —

Carolyn E. Wright, Esq., has a unique legal practice aimed squarely at the needs of photographers. A pro photographer herself, Carolyn has the credentials and the experience to protect photographers. She’s represented clients in multimillion dollar litigations, but also has the desire to help new photographers just starting their careers. Carolyn graduated from Emory University School of Law with a Juris Doctor, and from Tennessee Tech University with a Masters of Business Administration degree and a Bachelor of Science degree in music.

She wrote the book on photography law. “88 Secrets to the Law for Photographers,” by Carolyn and well-known professional photographer, Scott Bourne, is scheduled for fall 2005 release by Olympic Mountain School Press. Carolyn also is a columnist for PhotoFocus Magazine and teaches for Olympic Mountain School of Photography.

Carolyn specializes in wildlife and portrait/event photography. Her law website is http://www.photoattorney.com

A wrongful death lawsuit alleges that the decedent was killed as a result of the negligence (or other liability) on the part of the defendant’s), and that the surviving dependents or beneficiaries are entitled to monetary damages as a result of the defendant’s conduct. Different states have their individual statutes that tackle the issues with regards to wrongful death. Moreover, many states do not follow the same guidelines when it comes to wrongful death cases.

As mentioned above, there is a variation in the laws enacted by each state pertaining to wrongful death. Two types of lawsuit are being adopted in hearing cases namely the “true” and the “survival acts.” Legalwolf.com offers this in-depth explanation of the two. Some states have “true” wrongful death acts in which the next of kin are entitled to bring a cause of action in their own names as a result of damages sustained following the decedent’s death. Other states have acts that are more properly called “survival acts,” which preserve the rights that vested in the decedent at the moment of death, expand those rights to include the right of the survivors to bring a claim based on the decedent’s rights, and include claims for damages resulting from the actual death itself. Finally, some states recognize both types of lawsuits, but generally have a provision that limits the right of the survivors in order to prevent a double recovery under the two different theories. Other states have acts that are more properly called “survival acts,” which preserve the rights that vested in the decedent at the moment of death, expand those rights to include the right of the survivors to bring a claim based on the decedent’s rights, and include claims for damages resulting from the actual death itself. Finally, some states recognize both types of lawsuits, but generally have a provision that limits the right of the survivors in order to prevent a double recovery under the two different theories.

When a defendant is found legally liable for the death of another, the types of damages that may be recovered can also vary greatly. For example, the plaintiffs may be able to recover the costs of the deceased’s medical care and treatment related to the negligent conduct, the funeral expenses incurred for the deceased’s burial, the loss of future earnings of the deceased, the value of the loss of the deceased’s benefits (such as pension benefits or medical and health insurance coverage), the value of the loss of consortium, and general damages. Additionally, in a few states, the plaintiffs may be able to recover damages for pain and suffering or mental anguish that they experienced as a result of the death, as well as punitive damages.

About the Author

Reading is an essential part of his life and this has lent a considerable influence in his writing. He loves learning more about people and their ways. Always ready for new opportunities to learn and have a great deal of interest in different fields of expertise.

For comments you may contact The Personal Injury Site Moderator at their website http://www.personalinjurylawyersinc.com

As we all know that the legal industry is one of the most competitive industry today. Larger law firms often invest good portion in their marketing department to make sure that they are always in the public eye. Now with the help of Internet, Small law firms can reach out to public and give a good impression about their firm.

Here are some of the marketing tips that could be useful:

1. Create a website with your own domain name (i.e. www.yourname.com). Do not go for a one page profile that many sites offer with sub domain name (i.e. yourname.somesite.com). These days creating and maintain a small site is cheaper than ever. You could have someone create your site for $100-$300 and host it for $5-$10 per month.

2. Make sure the site looks professional and user friendly. I recommend studying some of the related sites on the Internet before having someone create yours.

3. Submit your site to all major search engines such as Google, MSN, AOL, Yahoo, iWon, Ask.com, Excite. Most traffic come from these top Search Engines. You don’t have to submit your site to thousands of search engines. Try to do manual submit to these Search Engines.

4. Make sure your business card has your website address (URL) and your email address (you@yoursite.com).

5. Try Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising campaign on Google or Overture (Yahoo) with as low as $0.10 per click. Make sure to use targeted keywords in these campaigns rather than generic. For Immigration services in Los Angeles, CA, “Immigration lawyer in Los Angeles” keyword would be more effective than “Immigration” or “Lawyer” keywords.

6. Find local community websites and advertise your banner on their website. These sites are cheaper and more effective since most people visiting the sites are local.

7. Make sure to keep your site up-to-date with the current information. List your achievements on your website. Ask your clients to give feedback and ask them if it is ok post them on the website.

About the Author

Sarfaraz Nasir is the founder of http://www.CoolLawSites.com - Home of best legal resources. The site provides links to informative legal sites and free legal classifieds where anyone can post their ads.

Two things comes up when I think about money, the colour might fade but it never changes. Imagine a crisp new note, the ink so fresh you almost smell it. Do not try and put this into any slot machine for it will simply be spat out.This is not an evergreenbrown!

The slotmachine wants evergreenbrowns. Insert a not too used note and voile! You have credits! Evergreenbrowns are unique. The look new but they are not. They stay the same all year round. So it is evergreen, in brown. Evergreenbrowns is the jacket your dad wore when you were small. Looking at it now brings back the memories of joy, holding his hand, the smell that says : This is my dad.

Evergreenbrowns are the pictures you rediscover when you do spring cleaning. It might fade but it brings an evergreen memory to you, a smile, a tear, a wish. Evergreenbrowns are the thoughts you have when you play a slotmachine that has rewarded you with more cash than what you put in.

Evergreenbrowns is when your life partner brings you coffee whilst you hammer away at the keys of your pc. The coffee is not evergreen. The action is. It brings memories of feeling loved, feeling safe, feeling wanted. Evergreen emotions in a soft earthly brown.

We are all looking for the evergreenbrowns in our life. What are yours?

Evergreenbrowns come when your daughter in law tells you that you will be a grandmother. It is not the thought of new life that is evergreen. The evergreenbrowns come with memory of giving birth to your own firstborn.

Hope you have loads of evergreenbrowns today!

the soccer pick of the day (26.10.05) the best from the best ecobika

gyors pontos egyszerű

Deportivo La Coruna - Real Madrid

You all know that neither team is good nowadays, the forms are awful, the results are awful, the plays were awful. Unfortunately both teams are among ecobika’s favorite teams, so this is a very sad situation: what to bet?

The possible lineups:

Depor: Molina - Coloccini Juanma M. Pablo Capdevila -Duscher Sergio Rubén Munitis Valern - Diego Tristn

Real: Iker Casillas- S. Ramos, Woodgate, Diogo, R. Carlos Pablo Garca, Ivn Helguera, Beckham, Robinho, Guti, Ral

Not the best Real. Meantime you think about the bet, can play winner blackjack.

My bet is OVER - which means that I want to see a good clash at least - with the the favorite bookie ecobika moves the lines and the odds

Your Prep

• Create a present-day carefully typed curriculum vitae tailor-made for the company to leave with the panel member.
• Have a colleague with a critical eye proofread your CV.
• Develop interview answers to common interview questions about yourself (review your strengths and weaknesses).
• Obtain permission in advance from people you intend to employ as reference.
• Study about the community in which the company is located.
• Understand a bit about the business, what they do, their troubles and future plans (annual reports, organizational charts, policies and procedures, staff manual, and post description of the position being interviewed for).

Preparing a Good curriculum vitae

A resume is your sales pitch for the post screening out committee, and it should create a statement that expresses you and the merits of your application. Since there is no standard way to prepare a curriculum vitae, your CV must be able to indicate what you can do for the employer and show your overall preparedness for the company. A resume should contain the following pieces of information but it need not be in the order listed:

• Your name, address, and telephone number(s).
• Employment objective. Designate the class of job you are looking for. The objective should be relevant to the position you are looking for.
• Training: school name and location, graduation date or dates of attendance, degree obtained or highest grade completed.
• Experience: indicate post title, name and address of business, dates of employment, and description of post responsibilities.
• Special skills possessed: computer skills, languages, awards received, any accomplishment that is worth mentioning etc.
• Indicate availability of references (usually upon request).

Prepare for the Day of the Interview

• Dress for the position.
• Be conservative but not prudish.
• Be neat. Check for missing buttons, dragging hems, soiled clothes, etc.
• Avoid noisy jewelry or “avant-garde” fashion.
• Appear fresh and rested, involved and vigilant.
• Arrive promptly for your appointment.
• Take with you ID (social security card, drivers license).

Your Behavior During the Interview or the Selling Game

• Be assured when talking about your qualifications.
• Avoid judgmental observations about your historic jobs or bosses.
• Find the names of the interview panel and their post titles in the business.
• Signal areas of the position to which you can apply previous experience and training.
• Be creative in describing your skills and relating them to a new job.

Note that the company needs answers to the following classic interview questions:

• Why are you here?
• What will you do for the employer (special skills, background)?
• How much might it cost to employ you?

The Curtain Call or Closing the Deal

Send Off a follow-up letter giving thanks to the interview panel members for their time and interest in you. Repeat your desire for the post and the organisation.

For more information about ST interviews go to the website

If I told you this, would you believe me? Try doing so, because it’s the truth. And also, in this strange and perverse world, young men and women are busy killing each other at an alarming rate. Do we really need something like a pseudo Mafia causing the same sorts of problems? Gangsterism, in other words, on our children’s beloved video games?

According to Wikipedia, the Web’s foremost online encyclopedia, ever since 9/11 the FBI hasn’t had much in time or resources to handle organized crime, and there has been a sudden resurgence in its activities.

Right now, the online game “The Sims Online”– which is labeled a “T for Teens” game — has been overrun by several obviously Mafia named “families.” These people don’t seem to have enough imagination to be Mexican Mafia, Chinese Mafia or Japanese Mafia (yet), which also exist in real life. They are very aggressive and very obvious.

Whether or not they are the real Mafia is a question which I cannot answer. They may be a bunch of “errant” teenage boys and girls - but ones with some very eclectic adult tastes and also many violent and weird high tech tendencies. You should see the Playboy style icons they paste on top of their houses from certain views of the TSO video game. I can’t tell who’s to blame for that, adults or kids. And that sort of thing is not something you can ordinarily get as a regular player of that particular video game. Something is up with that, something way too mysterious.

And one thing these kids, if they are kids, really do, even though it is to virtual and not real houses: they trash people’s paid-for beautiful properties. The kind of properties that people would like to build, taking a lifetime to achieve. Beautiful, sprawling mansions you can’t own in real life, the kind that are totally out of reach for the vast majority of people.

Some people have been playing The Sims Online for years. Maybe you think they’re weird, maybe you think they’re no one to feel sorry for. Maybe you’re even rooting for the “pseudo Mafia.” But not me. I had real friends going on that game, and slowly but surely “they” began destroying our Sims houses, and all of our prized possessions on that game. To the point where no one could tell if it was part of the game, or something far worse.

I happen to have another friend (an entirely different situation) who was screwed over for $15,000 real life dollars when he tried to sell some photographs and they were more or less taken from him. Is that a good thing to do to someone? And is it a good thing to interrupt some high tech “decent” game involving minor adult activity and corrupt it still further? So far as I can tell, some money is going out that way on TSO too–in real life.

I am so tired, I don’t know. Values are very hard to gauge in life, anyway.

To “green up” on The Sims Online at all, or to keep your simulated character going, it forces you to do interactions that are rather similar to having sex with animals (wrestle with your dog, but you should see what it looks like if you really see it) and that’s bad enough, but rather bearable. Sigmund Freud would have told us that such behavior is relatively normal, that having an “orgy session” involving “heavy petting” with your own puppy where it loves you and licks your face and you are all over each other, is fun. Also, there is sexy dancing, heavy kissing and hugging, and so forth, which works for most people — including twelve year old kids. This is done with your fellow “characters,” real life people in the game whom you can become acquainted with, work with, and even “marry.” The marriages are not legal of course, and tend to dissolve fairly quickly.

It is not fun, however, to come home one day to having your hard won, worked for skills, games, store or money house trashed by unknown people — while your town is crawling with “De Corleoni Territori,” the “Italian Mafia Empire,” “The Vito Family Territory” and so forth. I am not talking Anti-Italian Defamation. I had several Italian friends on the game, whom I now am stuck missing in my daily life. I am talking about a bunch of people either acting like the Mafia, or worse yet, actually being connected with them somehow and taking over a children’s video game. Possibly, several children’s video games. Or were they involved in the first place, and is Maxis a Mafia held game company? Look at the names.

Maxis, Mafia. Why doesn’t Entertainment Arts do something about the house trashing problem, for example, even though people have repeatedly complained about it? What is it exactly that they are trying to hide? Apparently not much; you can easily find “the Mob” everywhere on that game. And their version of “the cops” does absolutely nothing at all.

It is true the game is labeled “T for Teens” and is connected with what looks like some harmless fake gambling. The money being exchanged seems to be Simoleans at first. Fake money, which you get by working at odd jobs on the game, and you may also acquire skills so you can make more of the fake money. But there are “payoffs,” and you can also buy blocks of the money on EBay, roughly $15-25 for 1 million Simoleans. And you can buy “rares,” which people barter and pay for, such as Mystic Trees, tigers and cheetahs. Makes it looks like you’re not spending money, like the gambling is harmless.

But is this what you want your teenager to be doing? For 6-10 hours a day, five-seven days a week? Eventually, obviously, after I spent about a month on the game, it was so that the money was swiftly turning real.

Okay, video addiction is bad enough, but we’re talking about Organized Crime here as well. Remember a little place called Columbine High School? What if there’s some sort of eerie connection to that sort of business? I had to join this game to find out, kind of as a lark, but I did some real exploring too.

And the Mafia is in and roughly controlling every town that I’ve visited on The Sims Online, and I’ve reasonably checked them all over. Dan’s Grove, Jolly Pines, Blazing Falls, Alphaville. The Mafia is…everywhere.

I have talked to these “Mafia” gentlemen and ladies, and visited their houses. They don’t have very much to do at them but the usual Sims stuff. I’m afraid they have discovered game “cheats” and, being bored, are using them to destroy other game players’ properties. And yes, I have evidence, not hard unfortunately, that they have watched people play the game from a distance. One of them knew about something he shouldn’t have known. And another friend of mine who regularly plays video games has noticed these tendencies toward having strange “game powers” that other players don’t have in yet other video games. He says it’s pretty common. Hackers, he calls it, but in the TSO case, it’s hitting a little too close to home.

For example, a gay bashing was set up right in front of me. I rode it out, but I had to comfort the “gay” being bashed. Of course, it was his simulated character, not “he” who was hurt. TSO is real people playing games. I’m not gay, but it was getting a little peculiar that such stuff is allowable on a “T for Teens” video game. I was more than a little confused.

A “lady” in fun fired a game Civil War cannon at me, in private, and this Mafia guy named “Riccardo” knew that it had happened. I don’t think she told him about it. How did he know? She did it just for laughs, and it was a harmless game event (I peed my pants as the game character, and it seemed okay), but it’s not very funny that he knew about it. I didn’t exactly care, and it was sort of humorous. He couldn’t have known about it unless he’d seen it happen, in all probability. And he wasn’t anywhere on the property or onscreen at the time. He had a private view of it going on.

The same Mafia dude, who kept denying he was Mafia — while dressed in an obvious game-style Mafia suit and with the name “Riccardo” — also told me you can’t trash houses unless you’re a roommate or the home owner. This should indeed be the case; it involves “building permissions.” But one of the house trashing victims had no roommates whatsoever. And she wasn’t motivated to trash her house…no insurance money is involved.

Game players on this game can be quite friendly. I made a lot of good friends doing things like making pizzas, opening up my own skills house business, doing minor gambling (legal for adults and I’m over 40) and in general — partying. You can play high tech, beautiful looking musical instruments and feel like you’re there. It’s a great game. You should see some of the wild and crazy characters on this game! Or should you?

Except that I can’t play it anymore. I quit the game solely because of the extremely heavy Mafia presence that was starting to visit my house and breathe hotly down my neck. That, and the game was cutting into my work routine as a full-time writer quite a little bit, too.

First, “Riccardo” showed up. Out of nowhere, after I had used the Maxis device to screen all apparent “Mafia” members out of my “house.” He showed up at my house. The same day my friend’s house was trashed. It was the second such trashing since I had started playing there. Obvious Mafia guy, obviously scouting me. Denied everything completely. This was after two of my friends’ houses had been trashed.

Want to know anything about terrorism? Now I know what it is. A little too thoroughly for my tastes. The Mob was making it obvious that I could be next. Why is that exactly? And what sort of “next” would it be–real, or simulated game activity? These people looked capable of tracking down my actual computer’s IP address, my ISP and finally my real life house.

“Yeah, they’re just a bunch of teenagers who like to trash houses…” “They’re not the real Mafia, they’re just kids.” I heard a lot of that from people both on and off the game, even my fellow writers. Harmless kids.

Like the ones at Columbine?

Boredom with what the Sims had to offer, or a lack of desire to wait for the further events? We had chat rooms going, and Eminem (might be the real one from rap music, somebody on the game claimed it actually is that very real rapper dude–who knows) was there, helping to build a SimBall stadium. So people could play SimBall on the game. Some guy called Eminem, and he wanted to build us a ball stadium. What if the pseudo “Mafia” decides to trash that, too? “Em” there might have been trying to do something real and good for a change. Dunno. And I heard about a man’s house also being trashed, so it’s obvious they don’t do it “just to women.”

And all I could do was flee. I quit playing the game for good. I don’t feel much “like a man” after that. I feel rather like an inebriated cipher.

Parents, watch the video games your teenagers are playing. You might turn around and suddenly find you have a genuine Neo Mafia member for a teenage daughter or son, in your Real Life. I know that now. You might think I’m crazy, but I’m not. A man told me recently he’s been finding kids that stay all day on those games. I’m not the only “nutty” parent here who’s getting worried. I think something like Columbine could swallow our kids alive, alarmist as that may sound, through video games.

The Sims Online is conceivably the haven for a slinking beast with no better name than the Neo Mafia: “My New Family.” And for the last time, if you’re Italian, I am not picking on you. I’m worried about you instead. And do you need to be affiliated with these mysterious strangers, who maybe think all organized crime is still from Italy? Are you, like me, a parent? Ma fia? Neo ma fia? Oy gevaldt, as the Jews say, on such a New Family.

Yes, parents, that is what it means in Italian-American. My new family.

Still feel comfortable with the concept?

News items like France and the recent riots belittle this pretty much. But that’s somebody else’s problem. The Federal Bureau of Investigation should be looking into at least our nation’s video games. You can buy money on EBay to sell on that TSO game, kids are on that game, and they are being threatened into being recruited into the, I would assume, mostly “swarthy white people Mafia”…right now…since they keep mentioning the Italian one so much…

…the real one or the virtual one?

Who knows?