Husband gave life to save wife from tornado He was my hero

As a tornado tore his Joplin, Mo., home apart, Don Lansaw did what came naturally: He threw himself on top of his wife Bethany to protect her. And in doing so, he gave his life for her.

Lansaw's is just one of several tales of heroism, heartbreak, and amazing escapes that have emerged from the spate of violent weather events that swept the center of the country this week. As many as 125 people are thought to have been killed by the Joplin tornado alone.

"The house was ripping apart, it all happened so fast," Bethany Lansaw told NBC News. "All the pillows were flying off of us, the only thing I managed to do was keep one in front of my face."

You can watch the report on Don Lansaw's heroic sacrifice in this video

Once the wind died down, Bethany recounted, she looked over to see that her husband was turning blue. He died before she could find an ambulance to get him to the hospital.

Don, 31, was a former high-school football star, and owned a machine shop. Bethany, 25, worked at a local university. The couple had been married six years and planned to start a family.

"You know, people kept saying he wouldn't have wanted it any other way, but if I could have taken twice as much damage just to have him alive, I would have," Bethany said.

"He did what he could to protect his family," she added. "He's my hero."

Also in Joplin, Will Norton was driving home from his graduation ceremony with his dad when the tornado struck. Norton, 18, looked to have a bright future: A YouTube channel he created called "Wildabeast," in which he posted comedy routines, had almost 1.5 million hits:
As the Hummer H3 started to flip, Norton's seat-belt snapped, and he went flying through the roof of the vehicle, as his dad tried in vain to catch him. Afterward, the only trace of him was his cellphone and graduation cap.

Meanwhile, in Oklahoma's Canadian County, Hank Hamil cried at a news conference after his 3-year old son Ryan was found dead, floating in a lake. Hamil's other son, 15-month old Cole, was also killed by Tuesday night's violent storm.

"I lost both of my boys," Hamil said through tears. "Ryan was my little buddy. Cole was too. I loved them both." You can watch the report on the Hamil's tragic loss here

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Sarah Palin goes behind enemy lines

The bus tour that stands to return her to the 2012 spotlight is taking her to the part of the country that’s the least friendly to her — the northeastern U.S.

It’s a part of the country she’s mostly avoided since 2008, conspicuously not setting foot in early presidential state New Hampshire at all during her two book tours and her 2010 tea party campaign swings. Now, however, with her luster dimmed and her national relevance in question, she has chosen to venture into the belly of the beast.

“There’s no doubt in my mind the northeast is the least favorable area of the country to Sarah Palin,” said Terry Madonna, a longtime Pennsylvania pollster and analyst who directs the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College. “But she has to show she can broaden her appeal. She can’t just go to where she’s already won voters.”

Nevertheless, it’s clear Palin is picking her spots carefully.

Though the tour begins Sunday in Washington, D.C. — home to the political establishment with which Palin has a well-documented relationship of mutual loathing — it’s at a motorcycle rally, the annual Rolling Thunder bikerfest that streams over the Memorial Bridge en route to the Vietnam Memorial.

In Maryland, where the candidate Palin endorsed in the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary got less than a quarter of the vote, she’s going to the Civil War battle site of Antietam, in the rural western arm of the state — far from the coastal population centers of Annapolis and Baltimore.

In Pennsylvania, where America’s most famous hockey mom was booed in 2008 when she dropped the puck at a Philadelphia Flyers game, she’ll visit another small-town Civil War battlefield, Gettysburg. She’ll also make a return foray into Philadelphia — a stop at the Liberty Bell.

Palin is wrapping herself in American history, tapping into the hyper-patriotism that is her hallmark. Her destinations are historic islands, refuges amid the most urbanized and Democratic territory in the nation.

This is the way the itinerary is described on her political action committee’s website: “This Sunday, May 29th, Governor Palin and the SarahPAC team will begin a trip through our nation’s rich historical sites, starting from Washington, DC and going up through New England,” it states. “The ‘One Nation Tour’ is part of our new campaign to educate and energize Americans about our nation’s founding principles, in order to promote the Fundamental Restoration of America.”

Below that, there’s a donation button, and below that is a Google map of the U.S. — with no stops marked on it.

Palin’s plans, details of which are still hazy, will also take her to New Hampshire for the first time since she was on the GOP ticket with John McCain.

But after all her time away, Granite Staters aren’t feeling particularly warm about her.

A CNN/WMUR poll of New Hampshire Republican voters last week found Palin had the support of just 5 percent, good for fifth place and trailing non-candidate Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who has dipped his toe in the presidential waters of late

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30 Tips Make Girls Smile

1. Do not hug her friends or your friends where they can feel left out.
2. Hold hands at every opportunity ... although only a second.
3. Hug her from behind.
4. Leave her voice messages to wake him up.
5. Joke-joke with him.
6.Jangan go for a walk with the ex if she was not with you, you may not know how painful it was for him.
7. If you're talking to another girl another, after you're done talking, walk over and hug her and kiss her ... Let her know he's yours and they are nothing.
8. Write her a note or call her just to say hello ... and not just at night after you've traveled with other Girl-Girl.
9. Introduce him to your friends ... as a lover.
10. Playing with her hair.
11. Hold him.
12. Guys get upset if there is another holding, holding him and he did not like it.
13. Make her laugh, if you can make her laugh. you can make her do anything.
14. Let him fast asleep in your arms.
15. If he's mad at you, kiss her.
16. If you love him, say.
17. Every guy should give their girl 3 things: a stuffed animal (she'll take him and hug him every time he would sleep), jewelry (she'll treasure forever-well), and one of the Guys (he'll wear it to bed) .
18. Treat her as usual, although they gather with friends.
19. Look at his eyes and smile at him.
20. Go for a walk with him every weekend.
21. Kiss her in the rain
22. If you're listening to music, let her listen too.
23. Remember her birthday and get her something, even though it's simple and inexpensive, it came from YOU. It meant everything to HIM.
24. When she gives you a present on your birthday, or at times, take it and tell her you love it, even if you do not (it'll make her happy).
25. Girl do not need long conversations and many hours each night, the most important being able to hear your voice even just for a quick 'hello?'.
26. Give him what he wants.
27. Recognize the small things ... it usually means big.
28. Tell her she 's beautiful, she needs to know that dressed not in vain.
29. Go for a walk with him every time you are unemployed and you should be ready to invite your boyfriend streets anytime.
30. If you focus on him ... SHOW!

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