Last to Know Department- News Flash

Anderson.... Gay?  Wow, can you imagine? The next thing you know we will find out Liberace was gay too.

You mean he is? I mean, was? I mean, like, sheesh, what is the world coming to? I thought it was bad enough that under Obamacare we will be forced to marry gay doctors. Or is that Let gay doctors get married? Hell, I don't know. It would be nice to marry a doctor anyway. Best way to get free healthcare.

What is the world coming to? Andy Griffith is dead, Mayberry was an imaginary town.

Happy Freaking July Fourth!

The Sunday Morning Muse, January 15, 2012

The sun is shining brightly on this mid January morning as a cold blast these past few days shocked us back into the reality of winter. Musing over some of the headlines of the past few days, can you imagine the panic of those aboard that cruise ship off the coast of Italy as it made it's Titanic-like descent into the water and people scrambled for lifeboats? Terrible situation there.

In other news, I hear the company that makes Twinkies is filing for bankruptcy. This hardly seems possible. Is everyone quietly converting to bean sprouts and health foods and I am one of the few hold outs reaching for the snack cakes? Doubtful when you look around, everyone is still fat. Though I haven't eaten a Twinkie for a long time. I do like HoHo's and Little Debbies. HoHo's make me think of my childhood lunchbox. We always had them in the house back then. Though Hostess Cupcakes are the ones to beat. Yum.

 Newt Gingrich Grilled at Black Church  is a headline that caught my eye this morning. I know he is courting votes in South Carolina, but the headline makes you wonder if they served him with a side of fries and coleslaw.  Especially after those remarks a few weeks ago that poor kids, as young as 9 years old should clean their school for money.

I get more disgusted when I think about it actually. He is heartless. There are child labor laws for good reasons. Childhood is so short, and the at-risk kids already have so many problems they don't have the ideal childhood to begin with. Let them feel safe in their school. Do all we can to prevent bullying.  These are good steps. A "worth" ethic is just as important as a "work" ethic in my opinion. We have to teach these children that just because they are here, they matter.  That they are special and can do anything. It is not their fault they are poor.
But the answer is not turning schools into workhouses. We can do better than that for kids.

So Long Andy

When those waiters ask me if I want some fresh ground pepper, I ask if they have any aged pepper.
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Andy Rooney

Nice...If You are a CEO

The Centrist View has a great post on this. Here's a snippet.

Well, the greatest thing the republicans ever did was to convince 14% of the american population that protecting the rights of the rich was somehow good for poor and middle-income people. The reason I say 14% is that one-third of eligible voters (33%) actually vote and one half of them ( 16% or so) vote republican. Take out the top earning 2% and you’re left with 14% of the population that have been brainwashed into protecting rich people contrary to their own self interest. It’s like these people are saying to themselves, “Maybe I’ll be rich someday so I’m not going to vote for things that are against the interests of other rich people.”

Insert Weiner Joke Here

I'm tired of hearing about Anthony Weiner's sex-ting problem on the news, and I certainly am not clicking on the headline MARK FOLEY ON WEINER on Yahoo. The reporters are having too much fun with this. Joke's over. Teenage boys are the only ones still snickering. The ones who like Beavis and Butthead.

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I'm declaring this a WEINER free Zone.

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Let's move onward.

Midweek Quick Hits

It may be time for a "news" vacation this summer. It's the same thing every night anyway. First, the tornado coverage. (insert state here)

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Then it is on to whatever the hell Sarah Palin is doing travelling around on a bus. (today she was eating pizza with Donald Trump)

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Next it's the latest budget battle hype. Republicans are still cutting programs for the poor and cutting taxes for the rich, and the Democrats are trying to put back programs for the poor and put back more taxes on the rich. Same basic thing everyday.

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Insert Pro Israel story here.

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Next is on to the war....the war? Yes there are still wars going on, but who is winning? What will winning even look like?

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Gas price story goes here.

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Latest cell phone-cancer non-story here. Or latest coffee...good or bad....story.

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Then a "feel good" story. Something with school kids. Puppies. You get the idea.

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And that's the way it is.... good night.

Sister of the Bride...

Pondering....how would it feel to be the sister of the bride today? Does she get a title? Anything?

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I hope so. I know I'd hate to be the sister of a future queen if all I got to do is hold her skirt, and try to make everyone believe it was just wonderful that she gets the title, the man, the tiara, the castle, etc.

Pray for Good, Look for Worse

And thou shalt own a gun and shoot to kill if someone tries to steal your television set. So sayeth the Lord.
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New Booty Newty was at the NRA convention today pandering to the gun faithful-making the contorted argument that gun rights come from God.
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Hmm. The same one with the commandments? Thou shall not kill? Probably a loophole in there somewhere I don't see. I don't have a problem with the self defense arguments. I don't care if you want to own a gun. But tying the whole religion thing with it...God? Really? A God given right? What about "turn the other cheek?" I'm just sayin'. Howzat all fit in with this argument?

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Tornadoes in Alabama destroy homes and businesses and kill hundreds of people. The first interview I see is with an old woman who crawled into a hole and survived, and is now praising the Lord she is alive. (Kind of unfair the woman's dead neighbors can't be interviewed to hear what they thought of the Lord's decision on their behalf.) Either the Lord heard their prayers too and killed them anyway, or He had no choice in the matter at all. So some died and some lived. Can't have it both ways. I honestly don't know what good prayer does at this point. People suffer. People lose everything they have. People die. Some people don't. It seems awful random to me. Aunt Millie always said "pray for good, look for worse." There was 80 years of wisdom behind those thoughts. She was onto something.

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Finally...the beautiful wedding of William and Kate. A happy occasion and a good time had by all.

Blessed by the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. I don't really know what the Holy Ghost is, even though I had to spend all those days in Sunday School. It was a three in one thing. That's all I remember. All three... in one.

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Where Would You Go?

Got this image from an NPR story about images from the Atomic Age. At the radio station I used to work for there was one of these signs on the basement door. The basement was a scary place back then. Probably still is. Filled with mold. It had become a graveyard of sorts for old radio parts clear from the Marconi days I would bet.

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I don't know where I would go if we had a nuclear event but it most certainly would NOT be that basement.

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Quick Hits Today...

Just "observations." No indepth news watching or reading today. A list of things that seeped into my world and my reaction to them:
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Kid Won't Wrestle Girl- Religious reasons my butt. He's afraid she would win and he would never live it down. Period.
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Rahm Wins- May the sexiest man win. Can he dress well or what?
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John Wayne Bobbitt- Who cares? Loser guy plus 20 years.
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Wisconsin Situation- I worked in the private sector for a million years before I was able to join a union. The first generation of people depending only on 401k's is doomed. Now I'm living on the cusp of a potentially sustainable lifestyle. Middle class people are not the problem with this country. The people who try to paint that picture have their own agenda. I did read Reg's column today...and he makes a good point:

In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker's idea of history is apparently the presidency of Ronald Reagan and the idea that if you get tough with the union movement and also cut taxes, then deficits will disappear -- except in Reagan's case, they didn't.

Just Too Much to be Stressed About

Okay, it's time to draw the line. I have to limit my stress somewhere, so in the name of peace and tranquility and running out of stomach pills, I see an immediate need to start cutting back on the news.

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It's beyond ridiculous. How can people not be affected seeing the soon to be all out civil war in Libya, the uncertainty in the rest of the mideast, the endless drumbeat of stories about rising

gas prices, the New Zealand earthquake, the Phillippines volcano... and the "feel good" story at the end of the news was actually a study on whether cell phone use causes cancer.

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Maybe my mom has the right idea immersing herself in TV Land. It's just too much.

Rolling Pin and Hot Water

Watching the news coverage on NBC tonight in Egypt was compelling television. A big change from last night's prance through the square, cameras rolling, reporting on tea being made and served in the streets, and civilians policing themselves for weapons not permitted on the streets.
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Today was violence and tear gas. Mobs and rocks. A struggle amidst the uprising.
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But what brought it all home to me was at the tail end of the newscast. A phone call...audio only of a 76 year old American woman living in an apartment alone in the Square. No family. She was terrified that men tried to bust open her door, but she was not leaving. She said she has a rolling pin and hot water and a sharp knife.
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I feel sad for that poor woman and all those people living over there.
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Kate Bush- Egypt

"I cannot stop to comfort them.... I'm busy chasing out my demons...oh I'm in love with Egypt."- Kate Bush, Egypt,Never for Ever album, 1980.

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Watching the news coverage of the power struggle in Egypt. This is the only other song I know of about Egypt other than Walk like an Egyptian. Kate Bush is such a visionary. This was 30 years ago! I still have this album in a crate somewhere here.
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But seriously, the people of the country have suffered long enough. Things reach a tipping point I guess. I hope the relics and "antiquities" don't get raided like in Iraq. People can show a very ugly side during times like this. So much culture and beauty at risk.

Would I Marry Big Ben? Like, No. Duh.

Who wants cooties?

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Some talking heads on the radio made me laugh today. One in particular was twisting himself into a pretzel trying to reduce the Big Ben engagement into a case for believing in redemption, or just being a "hater."

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It's a set up.

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I don't hate Big Ben. But I don't see him as marriage material. As for the redemption he is attempting for his lapses in judgment, well, IMHO, that's just work in progress. Time will tell if this egotistic oaf will fly the straight and narrow path to keep his superiors signing his paychecks.

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In the meantime, I can't imagine what would possess a woman to walk down an aisle and make promises to him. Unless the pre-nup has a lotta cash. Insurance dontcha know for that whole redemption thing.

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I'm just sayin'.

Bye Bye Blackbird

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In honor of the thousands of dead birds in Arkansas, and now Louisiana, I bring you Ringo Starr.

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Hold on to your Tin Hats. Is it the End of Times? Heck, I never took the Apocalypse doom and gloom stuff all that seriously, but...all these dead birds do get your attention. And why just the black birds?
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What about the tufted titmouses? (tit mice?) Who knew they were such hardy stock?

Happy New Year

Pittsburgh Survived the G-20

Well, the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh is just about over. Whew! Luckily, it didn't get near as crazy as it could have, and I must say the city looked really nice. I hope the participants appreciated all the effort. Not just the big Redd Up campaign, but all the security that had to be put in place, all the police protection, etc. Was it worth it? Who knows. Most of the protesters were peaceful people, walking the street or assembling in the parks. Yeah, some anarchists got out of hand and smashed a few windows in Oakland, but it wasn't Armegeddon.

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My favorite part was the Greenpeace crew putting up the banner over the West End Bridge. Yeah, it was against the law, but at least they didn't break anything and no one got hurt. They sure got a lot of publicity for an event that only lasted a few hours.

I love Bill Clinton Edition

Isn't he just amazing? I am in awe of this whole thing with him flying to North Korea and coming home with those two women who have been kept there since March...sentenced to 12 years hard labor under that horribly repressive regime. YOU DID IT BILL!

Put Up or Shut Up

Amen. Republicans were against Medicare 44 years ago. Hindsight is 20/20. I hope
it's there when I need it. And I hope that the 47 million people who do not have health care in this country and the countless people who are under-insured finally get covered. The Republicans, and some Democrats are so far in bed with the insurance industry that they fail to represent the people who elected them. They play smoke and mirrors and throw around "key" words and scare people. No, we are not "rationing" health care. No, bureaucrats are not coming between you and your doctor. But you know who *is* between you and your Doctor right now? Wall Street. The insurance companies are profit driven. They answer to Wall Street. Not you. It is in their best interest NOT to pay your claim.

We need CHANGE. Now.

Born Identity- Jon Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Born Identity
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

Too many nutcase conspiracy theorists getting coverage these days.