Carrie Prejean

Caroline Michelle "Carrie" Prejean (born May 13, 1987) is an American model and former beauty queen from Vista, California. She held the title of Miss California USA 2009, and placed first runner up in the Miss USA 2009 pageant. She gained nationwide attention over her answer to a question about same-sex marriage. She was eventually dethroned on June 10, 2009, with the producers of the Miss California USA pageant citing continued breach of contract issues as the reason.

Prejean has appeared as a model for Target, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's, and Nordstrom. She has also appeared in Bliss magazine, as a model for E!: Entertainment Television, at the 81st Academy Awards, and in an interactive model search competition for the NBC game show Deal or No Deal.

In 2005, Prejean competed in the Miss California Teen USA pageant and placed first runner-up to Stephanie Brink. In 2007, she competed in the Miss California USA 2008 pageant and initially placed third runner-up; later a judging error was discovered and she was promoted to first runner-up.

Prejean returned the following year and won the Miss California USA 2009 title, succeeding Raquel Beezley as California's representative to the Miss USA pageant. She had received breast implants paid for by the Miss California Pageant a few weeks before Prejean competed at the nationally televised Miss USA 2009 pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 19, 2009, and placed first runner-up. Prejean's answer to her final question during the pageant became the subject of controversy.

Prejean attracted nationwide attention with her response to a question about same-sex marriage during the 2009 Miss USA pageant. Prejean was asked by pageant judge Perez Hilton whether she believed every U.S. state should legalize same-sex marriage. She responded,

Well I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. You know what, in my country, in my family, I do believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there. But that’s how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman.

The media attention intensified after Hilton posted a video blog on his website, where he called Prejean a "dumb bitch" and said her answer was the worst in pageant history. "She gave an awful, awful answer that alienated so many people." He also told ABC News that she lost the crown because of how she answered the question. adding that "There are various other ways she could have answered that question and still stayed true to herself without alienating millions of people." Prejean has also stated that she believes that her answer cost her the crown.

Prejean stated that she was told by Miss California USA pageant officials that she "need to not talk about" her faith and was pressured to apologize for her statement.

Donald Trump, who owns most of the Miss Universe Organization, defended Prejean's answer, saying that "Miss California has done a wonderful job" and that "It wasn't a bad answer, that was simply her belief." He then added that the question was "a bit unlucky" and that no matter which way she answered the question "she was going to get killed". Several elected officials, including Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco and a prominent supporter of same-sex marriage, and political pundits criticized Hilton and defended Prejean for honestly stating her personal beliefs.

On June 15, 2009, the Empowering Spirits Foundation, a national LGBT civil rights organization issued a press release asking for the LGBT community to "move forward and engage in respectful dialogue." A. Latham Staples, the foundation's executive director, was quoted as saying, "Demeaning Carrie Prejean or others by using terms such as bigot will not advance our cause of civil rights and social justice. The LGBT community must use this period of heightened attention on LGBT issues by engaging others in positive ways.” Staples went on to wish Prejean "much success in her future endeavors."

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The Frederick's of Hollywood

Frederick's of Hollywood is a well known retailer of lingerie in the United States, with stores in many modern shopping malls across the USA.

The business was started by Frederick Mellinger (inventor of the push-up bra) in 1946. The original flagship store was a landmark on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. In September 2005, after 59 years, the store moved to a larger, more modern, and tastefully designed space a few blocks away, near the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue.

Here, in addition to the selection of bras and panties, there are corsets, including their famous "Hollywood Dream" corset, bedroom slippers, a vast array of hosiery, bridal lingerie, special occasion lingerie, and even more high-end seduction pieces. The store no longer houses The Lingerie Museum featuring The Celebrity Lingerie Hall of Fame which exhibited a collection of underwear worn by Hollywood movie stars, such as one of Madonna's pointy-breasted corsets. However, this flagship Hollywood store does display corsets and bras designed by celebrities for charity.


In 1992, Frederick's lingerie museum drew national media attention when it was looted during the Los Angeles riots. One repentant looter delivered a bag of pilfered celebrity lingerie, including Ava Gardner's "bloomers" and a push-up bra once worn by TV actress Katey Sagal, to the pastor at nearby Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Hollywood. An Austin newspaper noted that Blessed Sacrament's pastor "may be the only priest in America to ever comfort a man who felt guilty about stealing celebrity bloomers." In an article titled "Support Is Generous for Bra Museum," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that such an "uplifting story could only happen in Hollywood."

Some of the lingerie worn by the 1950s pin-up and bondage model Bettie Page was from Frederick's of Hollywood.

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West Palm Beach, Florida

Palm Beach gained its signature trees almost by happenstance, thanks to a 19th century shipwreck that dispersed coconuts on the beach. When tycoon Henry Morrison Flagler surveyed the area's beauty, he was inspired to transform the island into an exclusive resort. West Palm Beach, set on the opposite shore of Lake Worth, was established as a community of workers who would support Palm Beach's elite lifestyle. When the fortunes of WPB declined in the 1970s and 80s, the city's future was dim, until good civic management restored the city's prominence in culture, shopping, dining, and affluence. The revitalization of Clematis Street and the success of CityPlace also earned it respect as a model of urban renewal. With the prestige of old-money Palm Beach and the excitement of new-money WPB, the area is a mecca for tourism, leisure, and business. Culture, as always, remains a huge draw, whether in Kravis Center programs, Meyer Amphitheatre concerts, or Norton Museum exhibitions. Incredible galleries, amazing shopping, and a host of fabulous restaurants give further credence to the city's appeal. Its prominence waxing again, the Palm Beach area almost forces the question, "Mickey who?"

The city of West Palm Beach is home to sunny palm-lined streets, breathtaking waterfront views, quaint shopping districts, historic and scenic neighborhoods, exciting year-round outdoor festivals, surpassing elegance, luxury, and comfort; all are the hallmarks of this slice of paradise.

Downtown West Palm Beach is home to a retail and entertainment district. This vibrant piece of West Palm Beach is lined with fashionable martini bars, trendy nightclubs, elite boutiques and fine dining establishments. When the sun sets on West Palm Beach, you can indulge the most epicurean of tastes by candlelight at one of the many lovely West Palm Beach restaurants.

Every Thursday evening, West Palm Beach's already animated nightlife offers even more in the way of exciting entertainment with the award winning, Clematis by Night free fountainside concert series. While there, visitors and locals have the opportunity to mingle among arts and crafts vendors, while enjoying the live entertainment. West Palm Beach is definitely one of the country's more popular nighttime hotspots. Cozy pubs, vibrant dance clubs, concert halls and movie theaters abound throughout the downtown area, offering revelers ample choice as to how their evening will be spent.

If you have an interest in the theater and the performing arts, the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts is the premier location in West Palm Beach to spend an evening. For museum enthusiasts, the Norton Museum of Art houses a world-renowned collection of European, American, Chinese and contemporary art. The museum also features rotating exhibitions.

West Palm Beach offers fun for the whole family as well. The Palm Beach Zoo at Dreher Park, the South Florida Science Museum and easy-to-reach world-class beaches and fishing can all provide hours of entertainment for parents and kids alike. For anyone interested in seasonal attractions, SunFest is Florida's largest waterfront music and art festival and takes place in West Palm Beach each May.

Whether it's the shining sun, the sparkling storefronts, or the spirited nightlife that lures you to West Palm Beach, the city's subdued elegance is sure to make you glad you came.

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YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

Yosemite National Park is a national park located in the eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of 761,266 acres or 1,189 square miles (3,081 km²) and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain. Yosemite is visited by over 3.5 million people each year, many of whom only spend time in the seven square miles (18 km²) of Yosemite Valley.


Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness. Although not the first designated national park, Yosemite was a focal point in the development of the national park idea, largely owing to the work of people like John Muir and Galen Clark.


Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and the park supports a diversity of plants and animals. The park has an elevation range from 2,000 to 13,114 feet (600 to 4,000 m) and contains five major vegetation zones: chaparral/oak woodland, lower montane, upper montane, subalpine, and alpine. Of California's 7,000 plant species, about 50% occur in the Sierra Nevada and more than 20% within Yosemite. There is suitable habitat or documentation for more than 160 rare plants in the park, with rare local geologic formations and unique soils characterizing the restricted ranges many of these plants occupy.


The geology of the Yosemite area is characterized by granitic rocks and remnants of older rock. About 10 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and then tilted to form its relatively gentle western slopes and the more dramatic eastern slopes. The uplift increased the steepness of stream and river beds, resulting in formation of deep, narrow canyons. About 1 million years ago, snow and ice accumulated, forming glaciers at the higher alpine meadows that moved down the river valleys. Ice thickness in Yosemite Valley may have reached 4,000 feet (1200 m) during the early glacial episode. The downslope movement of the ice masses cut and sculpted the U-shaped valley that attracts so many visitors to its scenic vistas today.

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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

Yellowstone, the world’s first national park, is still one of the most visited despite its out-of-the-way position in the northern Rocky Mountains. And there is good reason for its continued popularity. With 2,222,080 acres (899,244 ha) of lakes, canyons, mountains and rivers, Yellowstone is one of the country’s largest parks–second only to Denali–and also one of its most unique. Teeming with geological features, wildlife and spectacular vistas, Yellowstone is a sensory experience like no other.

Situated in the corners of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, the park is home to half of the world’s geothermal features and two thirds of its geysers. This hydrothermal area, created by an enormous collapsed volcanic cone, is considered to hold the planet’s most diverse collection of brightly colored hot springs, steaming fumaroles, gurgling mud pots and spurting geysers–the most famous of which is Old Faithful.


The geyser spurts water and steam from under the earth’s crust to over a hundred feet in the air and while it is not the park’s largest geyser, it is its most predictable and erupts almost hourly.


Living between and around these bubbling hot spots are an abundance of bison, elk, mountain goats, bears and, more recently, re-introduced wolves. Visitors can experience Yellowstone simply by driving its many loop roads or can hike, camp, fish and cycle in summer or tour by snowmobile and snowcat in winter.

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Barack Obama Picture

Barack Obama and LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Barack Obama with Michelle on Inauguration day

Barack Obama makes a point in Denver Colorado

Barack Obama Inauguration

Barack Obama holds a baby in Denver Colorado

Barack Obama

Barack Obama address the crowd in Leesburg Virginia

Barack Obama greets supporters at the University of New Mexico

Barack Obama campaigns in Ohio

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Vin Diesel

New York City’s Famous Celebrities

Vin Diesel

Vin Diesel (born Mark Sinclair Vincent; July 18, 1967) is an American actor, writer, director, and producer.

Vin Diesel was then cast in Steven Spielberg’s 1998 Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan on the poignancy of his performance in Multi-Facial. Vin Diesel then earned critical acclaim for voice work as the title character in the animation film The Iron Giant (1999). Vin Diesel followed it up with a major role in Boiler Room (2000) and then got his breakthrough role as the anti-hero Riddick in Pitch Black (2000). Vin Diesel then attained action hero super stardom with the box office hits The Fast and the Furious (2001) and xXx (2002).

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The Statue of Liberty National Monument

The Statue of Liberty was a gift of the people of France to the people of the United States of America in 1886. It stands for the declaration and belief that it is "Liberty Enlightening the World" or in French "La liberté éclairant le monde". Set near the harbor of New York, it is an image that gives a warmth welcome to all visitors, immigrants and american alike. In it is an engraving that states:

"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The Statue of Liberty stands 151 ft (46 m) tall. It is currently located at the Liberty Island, New York with an area of 12 Acres.

The Statue of Liberty is known to be one of the Major Tourist Destination on the USA. In 2005, there are about 4 million tourist who visited the statue.



See also:

• Mount Rushmore National Memorial
• The Liberty Bell
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Western New York Wineries
• New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street
• The Hollywood Sign
• Brooklyn Bridge
• New York: Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
• Golden Gate Bridge

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Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is located near Pennington County, South Dakota, USA. It is a monumental symbol of the 1st 150 years of United States of America's History. Sculpted in it are the faces of former American Presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Each face height is about 18meters tall. It is sculpted in granite stone by an American artist named Gutzon Borglum.

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial was established on March 3, 1925. It has an area of 1,278.45 acres.

It is known that the Mount Rushmore was owned and thrived by the Native American Tribe Cheyenne. The Natives considered the mountain as Sacred Hills. It was also named by the Natives as The Mount Crazy Horse.

Even now, Mount Rushmore has a good wild life in it. The whole ecosystem is being preserved. Its flowers and trees are very similar to that of Black Hills in South Dakota. The Mount Rushmore is likewise home for the wild birds and wild animals that freely inhabit the sacred place.

Every year, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial is visited by more than 2 million tourists from around the world. Tourism in the area is already cottage industry for the people. The influx of visitors is more than sufficient for all other industries in the State to be sustained upon. It is currently known as one of the greatest tourist destination in the USA.

See also:

• The Statue of Liberty National Monument
• The Liberty Bell
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Western New York Wineries
• New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street
• The Hollywood Sign
• Brooklyn Bridge
• New York: Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
• Golden Gate Bridge

Read more »

The Liberty Bell

The Liberty Bell is the undying symbol of American Independence. It is likewise the symbol of the American Revolutionary War. Revisiting the American History, the Liberty Bell was ringed on July 8, 1776 in order to call the citizens of Philadelphia for the monumental event of America which is the Reading of the Declaration of Independence.

The Liberty Bell has a engraving which read “Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” The engraving was taken from the Bible in the book of Leviticus 25:10. It reads: "And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family."

In March 1753, while the Liberty Bell was hang temporarily outside the State House, the bell suddenly cracked. To the dismay of the people, Sir Isaac Newton wrote: "I had the mortification to hear that it was cracked by a stroke of the clapper without any other violence as it was hung up to try the sound."

Today, the Liberty Bell is located for tourists visit at 500 Market Street

Philadelphia, PA 19106. It is open for visitors during Tuesdays to Sundays.


See also:

• The Statue of Liberty National Monument
• Mount Rushmore National Memorial
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Western New York Wineries
• New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street
• The Hollywood Sign
• Brooklyn Bridge
• New York: Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
• Golden Gate Bridge

Read more »