Isn’t It Terrible?

What the press is doing to poor Sarah Palin is just terrible, don’t you think? Now they're attacking her for charging necessary expenses to the state. What are they thinking?

In another scurrilous attack by the obviously biased liberal press, The Washington Post claims that Palin billed the state of Alaska for nights she spent at home, to the tune of 312 nights during her first 19 months in office. They also make the dastardly claim that taxpayers funded her family's travel. The governor's daughters and husband charged the state $43,490 to travel, and many of the trips were between their house in Wasilla and Juneau, the capital city 600 miles away, the documents show. Other expenses are listed in the Post, in an obvious attempt to discredit the GOP vice-presidential pick. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Gustav brings back memories of both happy and sad times

It had to be Karma. "New Orleans Ladies...They sashay by, they sashay by." This song played on my car radio, on the third anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Katrina.

I chuckled as the tears flowed. I think my friend Nell would have too.

Nellyn Davis was one of the uncounted victims of Hurricane Katrina. I think she would have thought it a hoot to have had this music played as her pall-decked coffin left the church after her funeral: Her final move. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Capitalism...Not!

The enduring myth repeated ad naseum in the main stream press is that we are a Capitalist society. Of course, that's a lie. The bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, is proof that the US is not now and has not been a Capitalist nation since at least sixties.

As reported in Bloomberg, Freddie, Fannie Failure Could Be World `Catastrophe'. That is big stuff, world catastrophe I mean. What Yu Yongding, former adviser to China's central bank, really said was: CONTINUED & COMMENT

What is McCain’s Game?

It has been an interesting, and tiring campaign, to date. We saw the Democratic Party tearing itself to ribbons while Senator Hillary Clinton and gang tore after Senator Barack Obama like a hungry dog after some good, raw meat. All to no avail. Whatever Senator Clinton did not do to embarrass her campaign and leave the “Political Observer” stunned by her actions, Former President Bill Clinton did.

Thankfully, that very uncomfortable 17 month debacle is over, and Senator Barack Obama is now the presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee. Senator John McCain has been the presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee for some time. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Swimming in Cocytus...

I get busy, raising kids, going to school, working, and watching with horripilation as the as the stock market, housing prices, and the economy plunge the foundation of my life down to Cocytus. So its been a while since I posted anything. I imagine myself now swimming in Cocytus, that bottomless frozen sea, constrained by the giants on the rim of Malebolge, waiting for the next shoe to drop. Cocytus is a special place. Traitors, as distinguished from the "merely" fraudulent in that their acts, are frozen here. This betrayal is not the type we associate with the selling of national secrets, or merely being a liberal in a nation that the minority defines as Conservative. To be frozen on Cocytus involves betraying one in a special relationship to the betrayer. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Beating the Heat!

Growing up, my family didn't have air conditioning, so we were pretty inventive when it came to beating the heat and trying to stay cool. Where I lived in southern California, the summer temperatures would be in the high eighties and nineties, with some hundred degree days thrown in for good measure.

Each room would have it's own fan-box fans in the bedrooms, and oscillating ones in the family and living rooms. Sometimes, my parents would put a large pan containing a block of ice in front of the fans. CONTINUED & COMMENT

How Biased I Am

I am not a racist. But I do have biases and prejudices. Most people do.

A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll concludes that 3 in 10 Americans admit to race bias. I think that ratio is unrealistically low. Only 51 percent of those surveyed called race relations in this country "good" or "excellent". The other 20 percent must come under the heading of "I've got this friend...." My junior-year high school history teacher used to test our acceptance of other races ("Some of my best friends are....") with the question, "But would you want your sister to marry one?" CONTINUED & COMMENT

Polar Bears: Threatened or Endangered?

Polar bears are threatened because of the shrinking of the polar ice cap Vanishing Ice Cap Map. They need the ice to survive. So far they have been unable to adapt to changing circumstances, and so they are starving or drowning in increasing numbers. Polar bears need ice to survive! CONTINUED & COMMENT

When Governments Lie

The AP, via Yahoo, brought a lie to my attention this morning. No, they are not exposing the lies of some government official trying to cover his six in the face of some impropriety. They are not exposing another lie with the intent of taking America to war. No, this morning they are lying about bread and butter issues, literally. But lets look at the headline and the story and break it down: CONTINUED & COMMENT

But do They Really Mean It?

This evening on the AP Wire I saw "Evangelicals say faith is now too political." My first thought was, what they hell took you so long? The second thought is more cynical, "Do they Really Mean it?"

Yes, I'm skeptical. For two elections cycles, the religious right actually preached for Bush from their pulpits, put out voter guides to vote for Republicans, and now they are afraid they might have gone too far. Where did this come from? Do they really feel some sense of remorse for the failed course of the nation? Has the emergence of a Christian left put the fear of diluting their message and loosing their influence with the White House with the seats of power into their souls? CONTINUED & COMMENT

Racism Recurrent

It came to me as breaking news from the American Jewish Committee (AJC), “AJC Deplores Desecration of Muslim Graves in France.”¹ In this small story, the AJC condemned this act in the harshest possible language.

So I googled “148 Muslim graves desecrated” searching for a fuller accounting of this event. A fuller account wasn’t hard to find. From the BBC news, “French Muslim war graves defaced²” tells a story of a World War I cemetery where Muslims battling the Germans in that war 90 years ago were interred with honor by a grateful French nation. I learned that “78,000 colonial subjects of France, including many Muslims from North Africa, died in the war².” I learned that such desecrations have happened before, in April of 2007². I could not help but wonder what those heroic dead from the time of our grandfathers, great grandfathers, and great-great grandfathers could have done to arouse such vicious and cowardly hate. CONTINUED & COMMENT

The Dinner Table

It seems like the the family gathering for dinner at the end of the day is becoming a lost art, what with our busy schedules. Commuting home from work, only to have to load up someone to transport them to an activity, meeting or lessons. This has a lot of us on the Drive-Thru track for meals, and without time to converse and inquire of one another of the day's events.

When I was a young girl, television was expressly forbidden during dinner time, and everyone was encouraged to contribute to the table talk. It bonded us as a family with ties that last to this day, even though we are approaching our 50's. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Senator John McCain, Candidate for President, or a Nursing Home?

I've just been listening to MSNBC. They have been reporting, and adding commentary on the General Petraeus Hearings in the Senate that took place today.

Much can be discussed and opined about the General's testimony before the three Senatorial Candidates; Senator John McCain, Senator Hillary Clinton, and Senator Barak Obama.

I wish to discuss only one "facet" of today's "show". That facet is the mental ability of Senator John McCain to answer that "3:00 AM" phone call. CONTINUED & COMMENT

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

My sister-in-law after years of neglecting nagging small symptoms finally went to the doctor. The ultra-sound revealed large mass in both ovaries and beyond the ovary walls.

The march of medicine is slow and it took a while for them to get an appointment with a oncologist at the M.D. Anderson branch in Orlando.

The medical doctor that my sister-in-law saw was very blunt. He told my sister-in-law (from now on I'll just say Pat, it's shorter) that she has a one in four chance of being alive in five years. CONTINUED & COMMENT

1.20.2009 - The End of an Error

I saw this on a bumper sticker, and thought "how times do change!" This area of upstate NY is so Republican that the Democrats don't even run a candidate for office about 1/4 of the time. It thus was amazing to see this bumper sticker.

Then I realized that even the staunchest Republican had heard Bush admit that Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Hidin' had nothing to do with the war in Iraq, which has , by the way, now cost us untold billions of dollars (owed to Communist China, no less!), 4,000+ lives, and God only knows how many wounded, both physically and mentally. CONTINUED & COMMENT

The Old Double Standard

It now has become painfully obvious that in the media the old double standard is at work. Ministers, from opposite sides of the political spectrum and different races say that God is punishing America with 9/11 and Katrina, but only one of them called un-American. What kind of un-American horse trash would say that god was punishing America with 9/11 or Katrina? That would be Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and John Hagee, of course. But somehow their vile hate speech is not being broadcast 24/7. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Is It Just Me? -- A Work In Progress

Is it just me or is the population getting older? Is it just me or are others like me getting older? Is it just me or is there just so much a person can accumulate?

Two things have happened in the last week that have caused me to pause. My mother-in-law died about a week ago. I know that she felt very close to her "things." She hated the fact that people not sympathetic with her possession would go through her possessions, discarding those that had a special meaning and putting them outside below a giant "Yard Sale" sign. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Darbe’s Fixation on President Bush

Perhaps the most valuable use of the Internet is the ability to use it as a tool for self-evaluation and self-exploration. Since it has been suggested that I might have a “Fixation on President Bush” it seems a good time to explore what that means. Being a person who greatly enjoys words, I don’t think that I could discuss my “Fixation” without at least defining the word. The best place to start is with the definition form the handy-dandy Internet dictionary.

First, and you will have to take my word on this, I do not have a strong attachment to George Bush formed in childhood or infancy. I was born in Blackwell Oklahoma on March 12, 1952. Bush was born in Born in New Haven, Connecticut on July 6, 1946. I grew up in Oklahoma and Bush Grew up in Texas, Washington, Connecticut, China and other places. To the best of my recollection, we never met. I possessed little awareness of him during the administration of his father, and, like most Americans, only became aware of him when he erupted on the stage as a possible Presidential candidate in 1998. That whole attachment formed in Childhood or infancy thing is out, along with the rest of the Psychology of Fixation. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Immature Consumers

There is no mystery about today's economic situation. The only surprise is the time that it took to happen. Want it now? Why wait? Buy on credit!

Americans long ago forgot fundamental rules about saving as they set out upon a ruinous path of borrowing, prompted along the way by the offers of irresponsible lenders, the siren calls for luxury automobiles, houses, electronics, and such, and by envy of the lifestyle excesses of the rich. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Other People's Eyes

We spend most of our lives trying to validate and justify our point of view though the lens of our own malice. The farther we move from our own worldview, the stranger the vision, the less we understand, and the more we revile what we see. The greater the divergence from our worldview, the less we try to understand that other’s point of view, and the greater our malice grows. At some point it becomes an “us” and “them” situation. Our minds are wired to view them as wrong. This natural wiring comes out in all sorts of ways, even language. In Apache the word for enemy and stranger is exactly the same. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Flip-flopping Away

It has become popular sport in some circles to dismiss the importance of a politician with an accusation of “flip-flopping”. Someone takes a certain position on an issue, then later takes a divergent position on the same issue. “He’s flip-flopping,” they say. There goes his credibility!

Monday’s edition of The Washington Post listed the top Barack Obama flip-flops and the top flip-flops by Hillary Clinton. Obama has alledgedly changed his tune on Special Interests, Public Financing, the Cuba Embargo, Illegal Immigration, and the Decriminalization of Marijuana. Hillary’s flip-flops are said to include NAFTA, No Child Left Behind, Ending the War, Driver’s Licenses for Illegal Immigrants, and the Florida and Michigan Delegates. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Well, I’ll Be Damned!

Well shiver me timbers, matey! I never thought I’d say it. In tonight’s (February 21, 2008) Texas Democratic Debate I saw the first true example of Hillary Clinton exhibiting “Class”!

The end of the debate witnessed Hillary Clinton genuinely telling Barak Obama that she felt privileged to be on the same debating platform with Barak Obama. I admit, I never thought I’d see the day.

While Hillary “pulled that crap” about Barak Obama plagiarizing his comments from a previous candidate’s speeches (even though his comments were not paragraphs, but a few simple sentences that had been suggested he use by the previous candidate, I.e., not plagiarizing), her words not ringing “true”, she ended the debate on a very positive note that I would never have expected. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Partisan!!!

Get in a tense political discussion and there is one thing I guarantee, at some point in the discussion, one or both sides will resort to calling the other “PARTISAN.” This usually happens when one or both sides reach the point of intractability where they have either nothing constructive to say or could not find a decent argument with both hands and a roadmap if the argument was tattooed to their keister. It is not the word, Partisan, that bothers me. It is what these users means by Partisan. In common political parlance, Partisan has come to mean that the person with whom you are discussing politics simply fails to agree with everything you are saying and refuses to bow down and salaam the righteous truth that you and your side represent. NON-PARTISAN has come to mean that the person with whom you are discussing politics agrees with absolutely everything you are saying and is willing to bow down and salaam your vast and prescient wisdom. CONTINUED & COMMENT

In Defense of Fox News

There is nothing worse than having no voice.

I admit it. I watch Fox News. I also watch Charlie Gibson and Keith Oberman; however, I think I get most of my news from “The Daily Show,” “Bill Maher,” and “The Colbert Report.”

I wrote an article in our local newspaper last week about voting. In the article I stated that my mother never, ever told anyone how she voted. She listened to a lot of points of view, never getting in arguments, most of the time finding a shred of something in a heated conversation with which to agree. She had a voice. She often exercised her right not to use it. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Lying, Arrogant, Puling, Sacks of Feculence

Why is it that Drudge,other conservative right wing bloggers like Jake Trapper, and even ABC News are such lying, arrogant, puling, sacks of feculence? What is it that makes them so inherently dishonest? What is it about the people who read and listen to them that they will take these voluminous scat piles and never bother to check things out? Why am I upset, you ask? Well, once again, Drudge and his close porcine intellectual relatives have chosen to foist a lie on the public.

The Drudge headline reads:

%#34;Bill Clinton: 'We Just Have to Slow Down Our Economy' to Fight Global Warming...%#34; CONTINUED & COMMENT

Stepin-Init

Stepin-init is an Oklahomaism for the action that intentionally opens a enormous and contentions can of worms. It is short, of course, for %#34;stepping in a pile of shit,%#34; not by accident or inattention, but on purpose. It is the California Equivalent of walking into a Biker Bar and asking %#34;Who owns that bunch of Pussy Motor bikes out front that I just backed over.%#34; It is the same as walking into a Christian Republican Convention wearing a %#34;N.A.M.B.L.A. for Hillary T-Shirt.%#34; I am Stepin-Init because I am asking of those here if Israel just committed a crime against humanity, a war crime in accordance with the Geneva Convention. CONTINUED & COMMENT

IF

If I had ever had a mother like I AM or if I had ever had a husband like I AM, would I be LIKE I AM?

Alex is my second son. He lives in Atlanta and works as a clerk in a store. I figure that he makes about $400 less than it takes for him to live a simple life.

If the boy had decided to live on the fringes of poverty, it looks as if God would have given Alex good eyesight. It wasn't the case. His myopia and astigmatism cause him to be almost blind. CONTINUED & COMMENT

A New Year and New Beginnings

It is January 1st, 2008. We are beginning a new year. Some cultures and countries also consider New Year%#39;s Day to be analogous with a new birth, such as Australia, which celebrates New Year%#39;s Day as Australia%#39;s Birthday (ABC Australia ).

New Year%#39;s Day is often associated with %#34;New Beginnings%#34;. Resolutions are made, some to be kept, some not. %#34;This year I%#39;m going to lose weight!%#34; %#34;This year I am going to stop drinking booze!%#34; %#34;This year I%#39;m going to quit smoking!%#34; %#34;This year I am going to get healthy!%#34; %#34;This year I am going to listen to my spouse when they are talking!%#34; %#34;This year I%#39;m going to learn to be more sensitive to other%#39;s feelings!%#34; CONTINUED & COMMENT

Delusion, an Antidote for Reality

Another New Year begins. A time for many, of personal resolutions, promises to one own self and letting go of those things and ideas that are out-dated or simply don%#39;t work anymore. It%#39;s an attempt at an emotional and psychological housecleaning, of sorts, in order to cleanse the mind and psyche of all the rubbish we collect during our travels through life.

Does it work? More often than not; I suspect it doesn%#39;t. As a random example, we resolve to lose weight but, buy and/or prepare the same foods, in the same portions and frequent the same fast-food drive-thru and pizza delivery service as always, and soon, the resolution ends up in the dust bin again, to be back on the list to be resolved away anew next year. CONTINUED & COMMENT

A Time To Look Ahead

A new year has come. We%#39;ve certainly heard and seen a lot of gloom and doom during 2007. But instead of being down about it, we need to resolve to making 2008 better. And I don%#39;t mean by just complaining or playing the "Woe is me" card.

We cannot sit back on our collective asses, just complaining and expect things to improve. We need to galvanize our communities into action to make this place better for ourselves and future generations. CONTINUED & COMMENT

2008 Dreaming

I have a dream.

No, I haven%#39;t been to the mountain. And I haven%#39;t encountered a burning bush. Nor did an angel of the Lord appear unto me. But I do have a dream.

Others have dreamt it before me, in whole or in part. My dream has Jewish, Christian, and Islamic roots. But it is not tied exclusively to any one of those groups, or even to all of them together. At the risk of being called megalomaniacal, I would say my dream is bigger than that. It is also smaller, and much less complex. CONTINUED & COMMENT

A Wish for 2008

It never fails, when “Miss America” contestants are asked their wish for the future, one can bet the farm that they will answer that they wish for world peace and an end to world hunger.

Duh?

Of course that is the wish of us all; except perhaps some money grubbing radicals in DC and some in select regions of the Middle East.

I wish for those things too but I have another wish. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Let%#39;s Hear It for the Caregivers

It is the Christmas/Seasonal Celebration of Giving. At this time of year, we often pray and help those who are facing circumstances beyond their control. Let’s not forget the caregivers who help those facing some very serious illnesses. I personally think we should also pause to find humor wherever we can in whatever situation.

I, myself , find it ironic that two of the precious few that saved me from my own self-destruction after a near-death experience from a staph infection both have advanced cases of MS. I did not seek out to find sick people. They did not seek out to find me. It just seems they found me in MY time of need. Stories need telling. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Latest Ayatollah on the Right

It is just conceivable that Gov. Mike Huckabee is the most dangerous man in America. Yes, that statement just oozes hyperbole. That jovial, mild mannered governor, and Baptist minister is funny, enjoyable to watch, and seems so full of charm and good nature that he couldn’t be a danger to our very way of life, could he? The problem, of course, is that his generally expressed tolerance on the campaign trail is a typical, election year, chuck and jive. Like other politicians, he plays a monstrous game of three-card-monte with electorate. He talks about better more open government and the will of the people, all dressed up like as the Queen of Spades, shuffles the three cards, and then fleeces us. Certainly, the game is not new, because every person on the campaign trail plays some version of the con. The problem is that what Huckabee really stands for is the antithesis of good open government. He is not looking for answers in his interpretation of the Constitution. The only answers he finds are in the bible.
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette quotes Huckabee as saying:

CONTINUED & COMMENT

The Inanity of it all

It appears that the Bush Administration, in its infinite wisdom, is contemplating the idea of freezing all adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) resets (to the higher rates) to stave off further collapses in the financial sector. Well, excuse me but...but...how does something that smells and sounds like wage and price controls correlate with what we laughingly refer to as a FREE MARKET ECONOMY? CONTINUED & COMMENT

Black Ku Klux Klan

Did my ears hear correctly? Jason Whitlock while being interviewed on the Jim Rome Show questioned Miami police reports that the murder of Washington Redskins%#39; Strong Safety, Sean Taylor, was a random act of violence. Whitlock said that there is a movement afoot that he calls “The Black Ku Klux Klan.” Tow the line or pay a punishment.”

The question of athletes facing the dilemma of maintaining street creds while receiving huge salaries and moving into mainstream society first came up when the antics of Michael Vick became public. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Dear Santa,

I’m looking forward to this Christmas. My two sons who live in cities hours away are coming home. One has to work Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas so his visit will be short. The other son is arriving on a jet plane December 24. Both of my boys have given me lists of things that they want. The older son even sent specific instructions, not just a digital camera but a particular make and model. The younger son asked for only one practical thing, a pair of glasses and an eye exam that he cannot afford on his meager salary. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Divided We Fall

CToday I took part in the New York State kick-off of “Divided We Fail”. It’s a new, non-partisan effort, spearheaded by AARP, to address the issues of financial security and healthcare. It was an interesting adventure.
It is a fact of life these days in America that quite a large number of citizens are just one illness away from bankruptcy. Millions have no health coverage whatsoever, because they simply can’t afford it. Millions of others have health coverage that is grossly inadequate. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Porch Sitting

I think that we are losing the fine art of porch sitting. In the housing development where I live, almost all of the houses have a front porch. Usually it is furnished with a bench or a nice set of chairs and a table. My front porch has the latter.

I like to have a cup of coffee and read the papers on my front porch. Nice, strong aromatic freshly brewed black coffee, the Los angeles times and the Daily Bulletin on my lap. Sometimes I’ll make some toast or biscuits with butter and jam, too. CONTINUED & COMMENT

One Man, No Vote

Chris Matthews opined today that a major difference between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party is that Republicans are looking for a leader who will make the decisions and tell everybody what to do, so they can get back to their businesses and their golf game. Democrats, according to Mr. Matthews, are more inclined to gather together and discuss the issues so that they can come up with “group” solutions; they want to work things out together. CONTINUED & COMMENT

"Double Speak" Clinton Style

[This Essay is about Hillary Clinton. It could be about any of the candidates from whom we must choose a President in 2008. The "disgruntlement" felt by most Americans (over 70% at the last count) about the current crop of Presidential Wannabees causes me to wonder why we are not given the choice on our voter%#39;s ballots of "None of the Above", to reflect an accurate reporting of election returns and the voting public%#39;s real thoughts.]

The term “Undocumented Workers” is nothing more or less than a nice sounding euphemism for Illegal Aliens, period. It is no different than saying “Medicaid is a nicer sounding word than Welfare", which is exactly what Medicaid is. Further, not all Illegal Aliens are “Workers”, so using that term to be synonymous with Illegal Aliens, in and of itself, is very misleading. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Life’s Twists and Turns

As a 20%#39;s something we all begin to discover the reality that life IS Transition. A constantly evolving transition. What you were isn%#39;t what you are and what you’ll eventually become in the future is yet to be determined by inexplicable forces, totally beyond our control. Shit happens and things change. Particularly when you least expect it. Sometimes for the good; sometimes bad. Life%#39;s a bitch, money or no, degrees or not, then you die. CONTINUED & COMMENT

In General Don%#39;t Disrespect Another%#39;s House

"Stay off the concrete hill says it all." I’m not one to complain about someone else’s house; but Ole Miss should have never used Mississippi State-trained architects to design their stadium.

The Ole Miss Stadium is the only one in the United States that has three different looks from three sides. The final leg of the square (not rectangle – square) is composed of bleachers of the high school kind. I know; that was where I was unfortunate enough to be assigned seating. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Americans, Take Back America

I have no love for Rudy Giuliani. I will admit that up front.
I checked at least nine different sources on Google, including CNN, FOX, Political Ticker, The Huffington Post and others and each reported the same.
Not one of the sources said anything had come from the Giuliani Campaign regarding his denouncing this brazen attempt to play on 9/11, giving back the money raised from this disgusting display of arrogance (my opinion), or any other comments except for the comment given by Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella. CONTINUED & COMMENT

LET IT GO

O.J. Simpson is all in the news again. It’s not just that the father of one of O.J.’s alleged victims, Fred Goldman, is publishing a book. O.J. has placed himself in a sticky situation with regard to his going into a hotel room, guns drawn, demanding his “stuff” back.

The face of revenge for the last thirteen years has been on the father of one of O.J. Simpson’s victims, Fred Goldman. That face is not one of a person at peace. When Goldman’s son was killed, he lost much more than his son, it seems he also lost himself. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Scattergun Change

The quote above, like the title, is what you call a setup. Together they raise expectations that I am going to write about global warming, the extinction of species, the end of life on earth as we know it. I am, I guess, in a way. They are all tied together, along with a lot of more personal events that affect more the end of my world as I know it. I have to ask if I am facing a change as momentous and destructive as global warming.

First, my mother is dieing. There have been two trips to the hospital with life threatening illnesses in less than six months. She is wheel chair bound, and hating it. CONTINUED & COMMENT

What%#39;s Happening

For the beginnings of all these recent screams for Islamic jihads and Christian crusades we have to look as far back as the Carter administration. The Shah, our man in Iran, had been overthrown, our embassy seized; hostages taken and in the hands of the Islamic fundamentalists. The glorious days of western hemisphere oil companies sucking cheap oil from under Iranian soil is history. CONTINUED & COMMENT

You Had Me At Roll Tide

Bama football fans always speak of football in the terms of tradition.

There is so much in that tradition that I find to love. It includes my favorite play: taking a knee at the end of a game instead of scoring just to insure betting public make the point spread. Gene Stallings must have been one of the most hated football coaches by gambling sorts. He would never, ever run up a score. When asked why his players on 2nd or 3rd and inches would take a knee rather than step across a goal line, he always responded that the opposing team was composed of men who had mamas and papas and it was not his intention as a coach to grant to the bookmakers earned income by humiliating student athletes. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Pluck and Grit

From the players themselves:

CONTINUED & COMMENT

Another Time; Another Place

I remember those years...as a youngster…the pre-Civil Rights years...until the 60%#39;s hit us square between the eyes and we saw ourselves, and our prejudices, staring back at us in the news reels, particularly from Alabama and Mississippi, as they were splashed onto the TV screen in our front rooms. And, emotionally trying to find a way, in the dark recesses of our minds, to separate ourselves from that reality. But, in the end, flat out denial usually worked the best. Then we could get on with our day without the guilt. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Three Things I Love About College Football: Part One

There are really only three things I love about college football: 1) before the game, 2) every snap of every play of the game, 3) the post game.

I love to get to the stadium early. Home or away, the faithful line up to welcome the busses bringing players to the stadium complex. From far away one can hear the sirens of the approaching police escorts. The big busses roll up to a stop. Each bus has in its front lower right window the unit assigned to that particular bus. The players get off the bus and walk into the stadium amid cheering fans. The dress of the players has varied over the years. Bear Bryant always insisted that his players be dressed in Sunday-go-to-meeting dress. More recent coaches have required warm-up suits. Although for this first game I could only get a glimpse of the 2007 team, I’m pretty certain the dress was of the business variety. CONTINUED & COMMENT

American Education

The sad state of American education is appallingly apparent. Day after day, we are confronted by those who cannot construct a coherent sentence, or speak without injecting “you know” and “like” after every other word. Reading the job applications and resumes of these people has become a mind-numbing nightmare. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Long Term Care, Part Four

In Part Three of this series we discussed the venues in which Long Term Care is delivered, and the costs associated with that type of care. In Part Four we will discuss from whom you should purchase coverage (a Captive or Independent Agent), the benefits available under a good Long Term Care insurance (LTCi) policy, and the formulas I recommend in determining which benefits should be considered in order to keep the Plan of Insurance affordable. In Part Five we will discuss the approximate costs for coverage, both Group and Individual, assuming different ages at purchase. In Part Six we will discuss Underwriting Considerations (Medical History and how it can affect your ability to purchase coverage), and in Part Seven we will discuss the multitude of regulations governing Long Term Care insurance, on a Federal level. Hopefully, we can cover the plethora of considerations in researching a LTCi policy in these upcoming Parts of the Series. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Busy, Busy, Busy

You don’t hear much from me recently. Life interferes with passion at times, and this has been one of those times. My boys are off for summer break, and since I am the work at home dad, I get to take care of them from 6 to 6.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy spending time with my boys. They are a great joy to watch and to play with. But the energy possessed by a 4 and 2 year old boy is limitless, and my own energy is in deficit.

Also, the economy has my wife and I deeply concerned. We don’t owe much on our house, and the current crises has led us both to believe that paying that small amount off as quickly as possible is critical. So my work hours run late. I find myself hooting with the owls and soaring with the eagles, all at the same time. I spend a lot of time blurry eyed, watching life through a lens of coffee. CONTINUED & COMMENT

WHY I BELIEVE IN GOD

Everyone has their own reasons for believing or not believing in God. So, I figured, why not start an uproar by telling my reasons for believing in Him?

Actually, there are several reasons that I believe there is something beyond this lifetime, and some of them are why I believe in God,

1. Judy and I were living in the Hasidic section of Brooklyn in 1963, and had a ground-floor apartment. The cockroaches were terrible, but one expects that in NYC. The building was constructed around a central courtyard that no one used. As you came into the apartment, the bathroom was immediately on the left, with no fan/exhaust, but with a window overlooking the courtyard. We kept this window closed except for emergencies, if you catch my not-too-subtle drift. This time the window was closed, and it was a still day anyway. Suddenly we heard a crash of breaking glass, and we entered the bathroom - whose door had been also shut - to find that a vase of artificial flowers had managed to fly across the length of the room, from the still - closed window to be shattered against the door which had also been shut. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Nature, Nurture, and What Are Our Obligations?

My husband and I accidentally ran into friends this weekend and joined them for lunch. We started talking about scouting since both Bill and my husband had been scout leaders.

The conversation got specific when Bill mentioned that only two scouts made it all the way to Eagle Scout. I’ve mentioned a favorite of mine, Mark, before in previous writings. This is not about Mark, and I will use an alias.

Felix* made the following speech upon receiving his Eagle Scout award, “Why did I become a scout?” he rhetorically asked, “It certainly wasn’t because any of these people were my friends. I had no friends.” CONTINUED & COMMENT

More Thoughts

My mother is almost 91 (August 3rd, 2007). I just turned 62. Mom can’t believe she has a son who just applied for his Social Security Benefits (neither can he), and her son can’t believe that his mother is about to turn 91.
We are, and have always been very close (excepting those moments of estrangement we all experience…I have thought of mom as strange, and she me, from time to time). Mom is sharing with me her thoughts in rhyme, her life, then and now, and I am sharing them with you, with mom’s knowledge and approval. I hope that you find these to be humorous (in certain rhymes) and touching (in all of them) as do I. CONTINUED & COMMENT

It%#39;s All Your Fault Lance Walk!

A comment by Lance Walk, made me wax poetic.

He responded to my sorrow that my son might have retinas pitmentosa, with his angst facing loss of vision due to cataracts. CONTINUED & COMMENT

The Cringe Factor

Judicial Filings On Michael Vick

Atlanta Quarterback, Michael Vick, has been charged in a federal indictment that charges him with sponsoring a dog fighting operation. Let’s give him that at this point he has only been charged.

Let’s ONLY give him that. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Nutjobs

Recently this word “Nutjob” appeared in the context of a discussion about the President and his policies. The word was used to refer to the President. After some thought, I decided to seek out a definition of the word, which I’ve included below.

This is not a rant against people who use disrespectful language toward the man or the office. This is not a plea for political correctness. My problem with the use of “Nutjob”, or any word that pretends to take a complex issue or behavior and focus down to a pithy sound bite, is in its intellectual dishonesty and its cowardice. CONTINUED & COMMENT

TAM Disaster

I flew in and out of Sao Paulo four times within this last month, each time on TAM Airlines. I was actually supposed to fly in and out of one or both of these airports today.

It is said that if one hears the sound of a fire engine coming into one’s neighborhood, that he should not pray, “Please Lord, don’t let those trucks be coming to my house.” Because, of course, if you pray that prayer, you are actually praying that the cause of the alarm may to the detriment of a person, other than yourself. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Protecting Our Borders: Is Anybody There?

A few days ago, three young men were picked up by Buffalo Police and charged with fifth-degree conspiracy and graffiti charges. They had painted their “tags” on several homes and businesses on Buffalo’s West Side, and earlier had done the same on a water intake station in the middle of the Niagara River as well as on a Peace Bridge support beam. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Age of Unreason

The Age of Reason is dead. The zeitgeist of the age of reason, that reason can be applied to humanities social constructs to determine their inner workings and diagnose their failures, and the understanding gained through reason allows uses the Idealism to improve society, no longer applies. We now live in a new age, a more frightening age, which I call the Age of Unreason, though other names such as “Age of Sacred Terror” have been applied. I prefer “Age of Unreason” because other names focus the onus of our current cycle on one aspect, “Sacred Terror” being synonymous with “terrorism,” which aims an accusatory finger at Islam. I am not an Islamic apologist. Islam bears some of the burden of this age, but only in so much as fundamentalist Islam is a symptom of a worldwide societal disease. Humans have turned their back on reason and returned to a simpler world where belief hinges on constructs of myth and magic, choosing to return to the more aptly named “Age of Faith” to deal with an increasingly complex world and society. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Predator or Prey

Getting old isn’t for sissies. Getting old also isn’t for those who never took the time to school themselves in the art of some form of financial knowledge and investing focused on securing a cash flow and/or income of some sort over and above the basic Social Security benefits at eventual retirement time – which will come for all of us. CONTINUED & COMMENT

A Declaration of Our Independence

Happy 4th of July! Many of us will be celebrating with picnics, parades, BBQs and fireworks to honor the 231st Birthday of the United States of America. We%#39;ll wave our flags, eat lots of food and listen to patriotic speeches. In all this hoopla, we should be remembering that our country was founded on the principles of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness-at great cost and peril. Many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence gave up their families, fortunes and lives for daring to put their names to this document. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Concerned?

Car being checked for a car bomb. Two Car bombs found in two different cars.
We have now been told that this was an Islamic Terrorist act.
Should we care? Is this simply MSM trying to “scare us”? MSM in London?

Should we accept that Muslims, especially those in the US, are for the most part, mainstream and do not believe in terrorism? CONTINUED & COMMENT

Hedging Your Bets

Or, people go mad in herds and only regain their senses one at a time.

Corporations are always looking to hedge their business and investment bets. If you have a strong competitor that is taking a considerable portion of your market share, you try to either buy him out or impugn his credibility in that marketplace. If the raw materials you use in your business appear to have the possibility of being in future short supply, you either stockpile raw materials or buy a raw material supplier outright. That’s a form of hedging your bets. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Why Won’t They Report on the News?

It seems that there’s this Policeman Bobby Lee Cutts Jr.%#39;s charged with killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend Jessie Marie Davis. He’s been charged with two counts of murder, one against her and one against her 9 month old unborn fetus in Canton Ohio. How do I know this? Well its seems that every media outlet is running coverage 24/7 to tell me about a simple homicide. This homicide did not happen in my home town, here on the Wrest coast. It didn’t even happen in my state, but it is a matter now of national importance. That has blocked out other stories.” CONTINUED & COMMENT

Elitist class distinctions

Are they small town folks, country folks or, just plain Rednecks?

It depends entirely on the elitist strata one circulates within but, most everyone who considers themselves as a big city dwelling urbanite tend to see themselves and their big city co-inhabitants as being higher on the elitist food chain – while, at the same time, vehemently denying any elitist proclivities whatsoever. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Long Term Care, Part Three

Long Term Care can be very expensive. A lifetime of savings and investments can be wiped out, quickly.
In this part of the series on long term care we’ll discuss the costs associated with the various venues where long term care is given, how much it can be expected to cost, and who is responsible for paying for those costs. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Immigration Impacts - Myths and Statistics

As most of you know the Wall Street Journal (from this time on symbolized as WSJ) is very conservative. I would like to thank my husband, who is also very conservative, for bringing these amazing statistics from a conservative point of view to my attention. New Orleans Lady [turn on the music and read the rest while the music plays.] CONTINUED & COMMENT

CAMELS AND GNATS

New Passport Rules Bring Worry Over Tourism at Niagara Falls

The NY TIMES isn%#39;t the only one covering this developing story. WNED, an NPR station in Buffalo aired the story this morning, citing the hit some tour companies are already taking because many people think the passport rules are already in effect. Some tour-bus businesses report sales being down by as much as 50%. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Thoughts

Following are the thoughts of a 90 year old woman, my mother.
These are just some of her thoughts, I%#39;ll print more later. I know that we all go through this at one time or another...my mother happens to have an unusual ability to articulate her thoughts, even if she%#39;s experiencing the sad stages of advanced senility. I hope that we can all benefit from her words! CONTINUED & COMMENT

Justifying One’s Existence

Since the beginning of recorded history man has gone to great lengths, including war and genocide, to legitimize specific religious belief systems. The early centuries could probably be best described as the “Convert or die!” era. All of those religions promise, in one way or another, a happy, content afterlife in a better place. Subscribing to one belief system over another makes one an outcast in some competing religious circles, in others an infidel but, to not subscribe to any of these accepted religious belief systems makes one an outcast in all social circles of the faithful. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Equals?

Each of the three major religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, take certain attitudes toward women. One can find these positions outlined in the Bible and the Q%#39;uran. I wish I knew all three religions well, when it comes to marriage, but unfortunately I only know the Christian attitude. CONTINUED & COMMENT

06.07.2007

Wisdom, Knowledge and Courage

In a western society where youth is being marketed as life’s ideal, aging is regarded by many as a burdensome and deteriorating activity.

Many, influenced by Madison Avenue’s distorted view of aging, struggle daily to retain or recapture the testosterone filled images of the self that adorn old family photo albums. CONTINUED & COMMENT

The Boys of Summer

You just never know who you’re living next door to, especially when you’re eleven years old. You’re all kids though; some a little older, some a little younger. Every neighborhood had an empty lot and that lot was almost always full of kids playing some kind of ball, until it got so cold that everyone stayed inside or went down to the local YMCA to swim or play basketball inside where it was warmer. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Chickens or Foxes? Or Foxes in the Chicken House?

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both voted “no” on the Emergency Funding bill. I applaud them for that. They waited until the vote was decided before they cast their own individual votes. I seriously question them for that. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Memorial To My Dad

My dad was born in China in 1930. Due to the invasion of China by the Japanese, it was decided, to preserve the family heritage, that my father, as the oldest son, would immigrate to the United States with his grandfather. He was 10 years old. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Does the Star Spangled Banner Still Wave?

The other day I was watching TV, and I saw a clip of Faith Hill singing the National Anthem. I’d seen it before. It’s my favorite. I’m one of those people who gets goosebumps every time they hear it. This time, the words made me think. I remembered that it was a song about brave people outnumbered, outgunned, facing near-certain death, and yet, they held their ground. They resisted. They didn’t run. They didn’t give up. They didn’t accept the idea that if they left the battlefield, things would be better; things would just work themselves out. They stayed and endured the bombs, the rockets, the shrapnel, and the blood. The next morning, the flag was still flying. And I wonder: CONTINUED & COMMENT

05.23.2007

A corrupt elitist compromise

I am not a critic of the Right and yet I oppose amnesty for Mexican illegals for as we note Spain went that route but it did not stop the influx of illegals that are still coming in. A similar result will occur in the US.

The proposal ignores the fundamental root cause of the problem and the enabler of this law violation process, the indolent and corrupt Mexican Government. CONTINUED & COMMENT

I Wonder?

I%#39;ve wondered for some time why so few Muslims seem to be speaking up and against their Radical Muslim Brethren, I.e. Al-Qaeda.

Should we accept that Muslims, especially those in the US, are for the most part, mainstream and do not believe in terrorism? CONTINUED & COMMENT

05.16.2007

Revising our elections a la American Idol

It has been reported that participation in the American Idol voting process has far eclipsed the number of participants in our national election.

The process is a simple one where candidates demonstrate their talents and qualifications, or lack of; are subjected to harsh criticism for poor performance followed by a phone vote requiring the voters to pay as small fee to cast their selection. You can%#39;t get more democratic than that! CONTINUED & COMMENT

Sex Kills

Giving credit where credit is due: In 1994 Joni Mitchell released an album entitled Turbulent Indigo. It’s a beautiful piece in work in many ways, dark in others. The second cut on that album is titled, Sex Kills. Listening to it this morning sent my mind racing back to….

One steamy summer afternoon back in 1986 I’m sitting in a service station out on St. Petersburg Beach, FL, waiting to have a muffler clamp installed. I’m late for an appointment to bid on a siding job and I’m antsy and impatient as I sit in the waiting room thumbing through old newspapers and magazines. I happen to pick up a six month old copy of Readers Digest and an article catches my eye. It’s about a British doctor of some note in Great Britain, who had been working with a super-secret group of doctors and scientists under contract and sworn to silence, the last ten years prior. The express purpose of their work, and what they were charged with developing for their employer, was new “killer” viruses – AKA, biological weapons of mass destruction. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Long Term Care (Part Two)

In Part One of this series we discussed the meaning of long term care, and covered the definitions of Activities of Daily Living, which comprise the major components of Long Term Care.
In Part Two we’ll discuss the venues that can comprise the settings for long term care delivery, and the risks of needing long term care.
Why is long term care such an important part of Health Care Delivery? Health Care is delivered in several settings: A hospital, a doctor’s office, in a Long Term Care Facility of one form or another, or in one’s home. CONTINUED & COMMENT

The Death of Innocence

I’m sure that there are those among us that have never, for one second, stood in front of the mirror in the morning while brushing their teeth and questioned the path their life took and the reasons it turned out the way it did. To my chagrin, I’m not one of those people. This isn’t to say I didn’t want to be one of those people, rather I just drew the short straw in the game of life and wasn’t privy to the safety and security that financial wealth provides when it comes to the arenas of education, job security and a preordained life path. This, however, does not mean that in my youth I didn’t believe in Manifest Destiny. After all, it was good enough for our forefathers. Their Manifest Destiny was to civilize this continent so we could pursue our credo of; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, even if we had to annihilate the Red Man in the process. Of course, we never equated that with Hitler’s “final solution” regarding the Jewish “question”. CONTINUED & COMMENT

A Possible Way Out of the Oil Crisis

There are many different ideas for how to make energy from other things besides oil. One is to mix ethanol made from corn with gasoline.
But what is the logical result of using corn to produce ethanol, which is mixed into gasoline at a ratio of 85%ethanol and 15% gasoline? Farmers who switch to growing corn, using ethanol and gasoline mixture as a fuel for their tractors and other equipment. This removes land from production of foodstuffs for both humans and animals. It does,in case you hadn%#39;t considered it, take a lot of corn to produce that beef in your hamburger, roast, etc. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Long Term Care (Part One)

Long Term Care. What is it? When does it happen? How does it happen? Who gets it? Who gives it? What does it cost? Who pays for it?
These questions and more may not have come to your mind, yet, however if they haven’t, one day they will. Long term care is a primary component of our health care delivery system, which is a fancy way of saying that long term care is a major part of health care. It is complex, convoluted, and confusing. This series will hopefully help to clear up much of that confusion, and leave you understanding what long term care is, what it means, and what it costs. This first part of the series will address the Activities of Daily Living. We’ll get into the many other components that comprise long term care in successive articles. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Senior Notes

To my Memory Book: (dated March 3, 1929)

Is it the necessity of the "well regulated militia" that is the primary concern here, or is it the right to "keep and bear arms"?

I have had a great pleasure in going thru these pages today and thinking and laughing at some of the incidents that may seem silly to others but to me I hold every thing in this book as dearly as any treasure. The little tokens here and incidents are not the dearest and sweetest to me but they merely represent some of the fun and sadness I have had. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Gas Pains and the price of antacids

Of late, the average city dweller is generally quite ecstatic over the possibility of lower gasoline prices at their local Gas-n’-Go as a result of all the fervor about the coming Ethanol “Boom.” Much like the stock market%#39;s tech sector “dot-com” boom and the most recent of booms, the housing boom, by their very nature, all have unintended consequences – and, most of us have heard, at one time or another, about that ol’ Law of Unintended Consequences. CONTINUED & COMMENT

Reweaving the Social Fabric

It’s happening constantly. We just don’t often notice it, simply because we’re in the middle of the loom. The Dark Ages, The Renaissance, The Industrial Revolution and legislatively protected Organized Union Labor all played a part in reweaving the collective