If you thought that HEALTH CARE REFORM was tough – wait until debate starts on Immigration Reform!
On December 15, 2009, Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced legislation titled: The Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP).
According to Immigration Attorney Sheela Murthy’s law firm:
The bill addresses a wide range of key immigration areas. Comprehensive Immigration Reform is intended as an overarching rewrite of a laundry list of pervasive immigration problem areas.
It is an effort to address these issues in a cohesive manner, rather than in a piecemeal fashion. This includes many matters of concern to our readers, such as enhancements to the legal immigration system, as well as revisions to the H1B and L-1 programs.
Some of these areas of interest:
-- The bill would allow family- and employment-based immigrant visa numbers that went unused between 1992 and 2008 to be "recaptured." It would prevent future loss of numbers by allowing them to roll over to the next year.
-- The bill also proposes to increase the percentage of immigrant visa numbers that may be used each year by a given country. Some categories of highly-skilled workers would be exempt from the numerical limits.
-- The bill also proposes to permit nonimmigrant skilled workers to file applications for adjustment of status (I-485s), if otherwise eligible, even if their priority dates are not yet current.
• This would have significant ramifications...like the ability to obtain the employment authorization document (EAD) and possibly enjoying AC21 portability benefits.
-- The bill contains significant revisions to the current H1B, H2B, and L-1 temporary worker programs. It proposes establishing a Commission on Immigration and Labor Markets to research and provide recommendations on the flow of workers into the United States.
-- Included in the H1B changes would be requirements for recruitment of U.S. workers. The U.S. Department of Labor would be given additional enforcement authority. There would be audit authority given to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in connection with L-1 employers.
-- Finally, the bill contains proposals to improve the process of naturalization to U.S. citizenship, and to encourage naturalization. This would include grants to community-based programs in English-training and legal support aimed at facilitating naturalization.
Gutierrez chairs the Democratic Caucus Task Force on Immigration. Here is the release:
On Tuesday, December 15, Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) will introduce new legislation, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP), to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Gutierrez will be joined by members of many different faiths and backgrounds, including the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Black Caucus, Asian Pacific American Caucus and Progressive Caucus.
Who:
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (IL-4), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Immigration Task Force
Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-12), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (NY-11), Whip of the Congressional Black Caucus
Rep. Mike Honda (CA-15), Chair of Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
Rep. Silvestre Reyes (TX-16), Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (CA-6), Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
Rep. Joe Baca (CA-43)
Rep. Xavier Becerra (CA-31)
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30)
Rep. Judy Chu (CA-32)
Rep. Joseph Crowley (NY-7)
Rep. Sam Farr (CA-17)
Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (TX-20)
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34)
Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15)
Rep. Grace Napolitano (CA-38)
Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz (TX-27)
Rep. Pedro R. Pierluisi (PR-At large)
Rep. Jared Polis (CO-2)
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL-9)
Rep. Jose E. Serrano (NY-16)
Rep. Anthony Weiner (NY-9)
Other Members of Congress
What:
Introduction of Comprehensive Immigration Reform Legislation
When:
12:30 pm, Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Where:
Room 2261, Rayburn House Office Building
"We have waited patiently for a workable solution to our immigration crisis to be taken up by this Congress and our President," said Rep. Gutierrez. "The time for waiting is over. This bill will be presented before Congress recesses for the holidays so that there is no excuse for inaction in the New Year.
It is the product of months of collaboration with civil rights advocates, labor organizations, and members of Congress. It is an answer to too many years of pain —mothers separated from their children, workers exploited and undermined security at the border— all caused at the hands of a broken immigration system.
This bill says 'enough,' and presents a solution to our broken system that we as a nation of immigrants can be proud of."
Now we’ve been through this before. Last time a similar effort at Comprehensive Immigration Reform was shot down, largely by republicans.
What’s going to happen this time around?
When President Obama was campaigning for office, he placed Health Care Reform and Immigration Reform among his TOP priorities.
He’s had to deal with the economy which was tanking when he took office. He’s had to deal with Afghanistan. He’s also taken on Health Care.
Many of his supporters are NOT too happy that he decided to send MORE troops to Afghanistan.
Others are NOT pleased that the PUBLIC OPTION is NOT included in the Health Care Bill. Yet more remain unhappy with his administration’s handling of Wall Street excesses...not that there’s much he can do about that!
However, IMMIGRATION REFORM gives the president an opportunity to mobilize and energize the growingly influential Hispanic base and pacify Unions/Labor Leaders who are lukewarm at best over the Health Care Bill they’re getting.
DEMOCRATS – let this be a warning!
FAIL ON IMMIGRATION REFORM AND COME 2010 - YOU WILL BE THE ONES LOOKING FOR STATUS…AND PACKING UP TO GO HOME.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Opinion - Tiger Roars…shows, er - stripes?
I’m tired of hearing about Tiger Woods and his mistresses…
I really don’t care if he was having sex with the maid, the PTA chairman or the CEO.
The KANSAS CITY STAR has an interesting article on the Tiger Woods affair…
It’s titled: Media should be ashamed of Tiger Woods ‘coverage’. The writer says:
We’re no better than the gossip rags, tabloids and blogs, and we will no longer strive to be.
The high road no longer pays our bills. So, like TMZ, the National Enquirer and all the rest, we will pick through the personal lives of celebrity athletes, and when we turn up dirt, we will shout they owe us a televised, remorseful, ratings-driving explanation.
I disagree with this approach. But I’m willing to accept it, as long as we’re honest about it and enthusiastically accept the consequences of our decision.
Media houses are NOT honest about their decisions to cover these types of stories. And of course, it IS a decision. Stories don’t just walk into the newsroom and jump onto the screen. Editors, anchors and managers decide WHICH stories to pursue, what angles to take and when to run them.
News has been so trivialized to feed the ratings game…that media houses now have WE The People actually thinking, heck demanding, that WE have a “right” to know about the personal lives of prominent people. The Media will even find “experts” to tell us why we need to know!
Meantime, the media, the fourth estate that is supposed to act as a counter balance to the pressing authority of politics and religion - fiddled while the government planned a useless, distracting, ill-conceived war in Iraq.
A war based on lies and false premises that will (if not forever, then for a very long time), affect us and this country. They didn’t think we had a right to know how much it would cost – or whether there were weapons of mass destruction, etc.
No, our right to know revolves around how many mistresses that Tiger Woods has!
Why do we care where Tiger prowls when we are sending thousands of soldiers (who hopefully are not texting mistresses from the trenches) to Afghanistan?
Why do we care who Tiger sleeps with when our infrastructure is so worn thin, we are closing bridges?
Why do we care about Tiger’s crash – instead of the stock market crash? Did we not see what happened after Dubai’s loan default - or is that NOT as important as Tiger Woods and his shenanigans?
As I see it, THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO SHOULD CARE ARE: Tiger, his family/relatives, the women involved (and apparently THEY don’t care), the PGA (maybe) and sponsors.
Outside of that, apart from the: Tiger did What? moment (why Tiger, I didn’t know you lived up to your name off the links, too) - drop it! There are too many issues of substance to be focusing on a golfer's sexploits!
There was even a doctor on TV saying Tiger is displaying all the symptoms of a “Sex Addict”. We only want to know, though – when it involves OTHER people. Our own lover/spouse/better half could be having their own Tiger moments and we would NOT want the neighbors to know, much less the world!
Heck, some people even KNOW, but pretend they don’t know…
Others don’t want to know…
The Star also says that:
Had Elin been found barefoot, floating in and out of consciousness, with facial lacerations and Tiger hovering over her, the tone of media commentary would be quite different regardless of whatever alleged actions Elin might’ve taken to provoke Tiger.
I agree. Tiger would have been labeled another star athlete who is a wife beater; a pampered, self absorbed jerk of a jock!
So, why do these highly paid, high profile men lack the ability to see through women they should steer clear of? WARNING: If you see BOOBS first, before you see the person – RUN! Don’t look back or you will be turned into a pillar of shame! (Biblical reference to Lot’s wife.)
Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski?
Don’t these men understand that they should start running soon as they smell these women coming?
How is it that men are not caught gallivanting with female professors or nuclear engineers or head teachers or even nurses? Well, except for that NASA astronaut and the media did NOT portray HER as sexy.
Notice how the news reports made her look crazy? However, she is NOT out there, though, arranging press conferences to sell sexy emails (Or whatever types of communication they use) between earth and space! Well, not yet!
High profile men/athletes seem to marry professional, supportive girl next door (in most cases) then gravitate towards bar workers, nannies and hostesses. Are these women MORE attractive? Is it that the personality types who gravitate towards these jobs are different? Is it the educational level? (Some bar hostesses/nannies have degrees, too.) Can somebody explain?
I’m confused because there are many highly attractive, sexy female PHDS with an abundance of boobs – and brains! Or is it that they have the presence of mind to keep their mouths shut, so we never find out!
According to the Star:
Look at what we’ve done to Tiger in a week. We’ve convinced the public, among other things, that Tiger was wrong for exercising his right to remain silent with the police. We did this while young Americans are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan in protection of this most American freedom.
Remember when Dick Cheney and other White House officials refused – refused to talk about the leaking of emails and information pertaining to the outing of a CIA spy? We’ve already forgotten? There was NO sex involved. (That we know of!)
One woman is on TV saying: Tiger’s wife should leave him!
Really?
I have a neighbor whose boyfriend beats her up! They have two kids. The apartment is in her name – it's a constant domestic abuse saga of tears, police and drama.
Why doesn’t SHE leave him? He’s no Tiger – if he was a book, he would not even be in the same library as Tiger. He has no education, no looks, no money – yet SHE is standing by her thug!
All across America women are standing by men who cheat (see politics) lie, even KILL!
I’d NOT worry about Tigers wife, Elin Nordegren. She can apparently take care of herself! Go Sistah! Maybe YOU should take up professional golf, Elin! You apparently know how to use that iron. Birdie to you – or is it eagle?
And as for those women saying Elin Nordegren should leave...do YOU think they would turn Tiger down if he called them and said: "Elin left me, I want to marry you"!?
You believe they’d say: "No Thanks Tiger - I'm waiting for a man who doesn't cheat"?
About this bridge in Brooklyn…
I really don’t care if he was having sex with the maid, the PTA chairman or the CEO.
The KANSAS CITY STAR has an interesting article on the Tiger Woods affair…
It’s titled: Media should be ashamed of Tiger Woods ‘coverage’. The writer says:
We’re no better than the gossip rags, tabloids and blogs, and we will no longer strive to be.
The high road no longer pays our bills. So, like TMZ, the National Enquirer and all the rest, we will pick through the personal lives of celebrity athletes, and when we turn up dirt, we will shout they owe us a televised, remorseful, ratings-driving explanation.
I disagree with this approach. But I’m willing to accept it, as long as we’re honest about it and enthusiastically accept the consequences of our decision.
Media houses are NOT honest about their decisions to cover these types of stories. And of course, it IS a decision. Stories don’t just walk into the newsroom and jump onto the screen. Editors, anchors and managers decide WHICH stories to pursue, what angles to take and when to run them.
News has been so trivialized to feed the ratings game…that media houses now have WE The People actually thinking, heck demanding, that WE have a “right” to know about the personal lives of prominent people. The Media will even find “experts” to tell us why we need to know!
Meantime, the media, the fourth estate that is supposed to act as a counter balance to the pressing authority of politics and religion - fiddled while the government planned a useless, distracting, ill-conceived war in Iraq.
A war based on lies and false premises that will (if not forever, then for a very long time), affect us and this country. They didn’t think we had a right to know how much it would cost – or whether there were weapons of mass destruction, etc.
No, our right to know revolves around how many mistresses that Tiger Woods has!
Why do we care where Tiger prowls when we are sending thousands of soldiers (who hopefully are not texting mistresses from the trenches) to Afghanistan?
Why do we care who Tiger sleeps with when our infrastructure is so worn thin, we are closing bridges?
Why do we care about Tiger’s crash – instead of the stock market crash? Did we not see what happened after Dubai’s loan default - or is that NOT as important as Tiger Woods and his shenanigans?
As I see it, THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO SHOULD CARE ARE: Tiger, his family/relatives, the women involved (and apparently THEY don’t care), the PGA (maybe) and sponsors.
Outside of that, apart from the: Tiger did What? moment (why Tiger, I didn’t know you lived up to your name off the links, too) - drop it! There are too many issues of substance to be focusing on a golfer's sexploits!
There was even a doctor on TV saying Tiger is displaying all the symptoms of a “Sex Addict”. We only want to know, though – when it involves OTHER people. Our own lover/spouse/better half could be having their own Tiger moments and we would NOT want the neighbors to know, much less the world!
Heck, some people even KNOW, but pretend they don’t know…
Others don’t want to know…
The Star also says that:
Had Elin been found barefoot, floating in and out of consciousness, with facial lacerations and Tiger hovering over her, the tone of media commentary would be quite different regardless of whatever alleged actions Elin might’ve taken to provoke Tiger.
I agree. Tiger would have been labeled another star athlete who is a wife beater; a pampered, self absorbed jerk of a jock!
So, why do these highly paid, high profile men lack the ability to see through women they should steer clear of? WARNING: If you see BOOBS first, before you see the person – RUN! Don’t look back or you will be turned into a pillar of shame! (Biblical reference to Lot’s wife.)
Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski?
Don’t these men understand that they should start running soon as they smell these women coming?
How is it that men are not caught gallivanting with female professors or nuclear engineers or head teachers or even nurses? Well, except for that NASA astronaut and the media did NOT portray HER as sexy.
Notice how the news reports made her look crazy? However, she is NOT out there, though, arranging press conferences to sell sexy emails (Or whatever types of communication they use) between earth and space! Well, not yet!
High profile men/athletes seem to marry professional, supportive girl next door (in most cases) then gravitate towards bar workers, nannies and hostesses. Are these women MORE attractive? Is it that the personality types who gravitate towards these jobs are different? Is it the educational level? (Some bar hostesses/nannies have degrees, too.) Can somebody explain?
I’m confused because there are many highly attractive, sexy female PHDS with an abundance of boobs – and brains! Or is it that they have the presence of mind to keep their mouths shut, so we never find out!
According to the Star:
Look at what we’ve done to Tiger in a week. We’ve convinced the public, among other things, that Tiger was wrong for exercising his right to remain silent with the police. We did this while young Americans are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan in protection of this most American freedom.
Remember when Dick Cheney and other White House officials refused – refused to talk about the leaking of emails and information pertaining to the outing of a CIA spy? We’ve already forgotten? There was NO sex involved. (That we know of!)
One woman is on TV saying: Tiger’s wife should leave him!
Really?
I have a neighbor whose boyfriend beats her up! They have two kids. The apartment is in her name – it's a constant domestic abuse saga of tears, police and drama.
Why doesn’t SHE leave him? He’s no Tiger – if he was a book, he would not even be in the same library as Tiger. He has no education, no looks, no money – yet SHE is standing by her thug!
All across America women are standing by men who cheat (see politics) lie, even KILL!
I’d NOT worry about Tigers wife, Elin Nordegren. She can apparently take care of herself! Go Sistah! Maybe YOU should take up professional golf, Elin! You apparently know how to use that iron. Birdie to you – or is it eagle?
And as for those women saying Elin Nordegren should leave...do YOU think they would turn Tiger down if he called them and said: "Elin left me, I want to marry you"!?
You believe they’d say: "No Thanks Tiger - I'm waiting for a man who doesn't cheat"?
About this bridge in Brooklyn…
Sunday, November 29, 2009
From Success To Failure In Just One Year…
I guess you’ve heard the news about Dubai – the oil rich, over-spending tiny Arab Emirate that tried to rebuild “The world” is now drowning in debt!
The country can’t pay some 60 billion-dollars it owes to mostly European banks. The news sent European stock markets plunging, which in turn dragged American markets down with them.
(I hope the protectionist people see a lesson in there. When America sneezes the world catches a cold. And when the world is down with that cold…the virus finds its way back to the US!)
I feel sorry for President Obama…
The poor guy DID NOT create any of the messes he now has to deal with. How do you fix Dubai or the next Dubai? How do you insulate the US from these economic meltdowns…and can we?
I guess these are questions for FED Chairman Ben Bernanke…and Treasury Secretary, Tim Geitner.
Bernanke is one of the few people I have confidence in on the economy. I don’t particularly care for Geitner. I’ve always thought that HE should NOT have been appointed…after his tax debacle came to light.
Geitner did not pay 34-thousand-dollars in self-employment taxes when he worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It is supposedly a common “mistake” that Geitner conveniently realized around the time he was being nominated for Treasury Secretary.
How can a banker, and a prominent one at that, or anyone in the financial industry, especially the top dogs, NOT know they have to pay taxes…and on what?
That is a question that should flummox me; NOT the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
If you don’t understand a simple thing like that, HOW CAN YOU UNDERSTAND THE CONSIDERABLY MORE COMPLICATED US ECONOMY?
Still, the IRS did NOT go after Geitner. But it comes after me…and YOU - ordinary Joe (NOT John McCain’s Joe the non-plumber – the IRS went after him! That poor Joe!).
Do you know auditors sent me a letter over my withholding for a couple hundred dollars? Even though I stapled a COPY of the bank forms to my return?
Yep. But Tim Geitner slipped through the cracks. I guess our tax guys are more efficient here in Massachusetts.
Anyway, back to Dubai!
In August 2008, CBS'S 60 Minutes ran a story on Dubai entitled: A visit to Dubai Inc. Steve Kroft reports on a Success Story In The Middle East.
News headline this past week: Debt crisis in millionaires' playground could herald new phase in global financial meltdown
I feel sorry for people who are near retirement and have invested in the Stock Market…
Heck, I feel sorry for myself. But I don’t feel sorry for Dubai!
60 Minutes opened its Dubai piece by saying: Dubai is a tiny sheikdom nestled along the Persian Gulf on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula and part of a tiny, oil-rich country called the United Arab Emirates. Over the course of just a few decades, it has transformed itself from a spit of sand about the size of Rhode Island into the Singapore of the Middle East.
Kroft described the transformation as: the vision of one man, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum.
According to 60 Minutes: One project, called by some the "largest construction site on earth," was just desert several years ago. The site employs half a million laborers, working 12-hour shifts on a reported $300 billion worth of projects, building Sheikh Mohammed's dream of a modern, efficient and tolerant Arab city with fine restaurants, a vibrant nightlife, that is both the playground and business capital of a new Middle East.
Sheikh Mohammed came up with the idea of turning Dubai into an international center for finance and media. He set up a series of free trade zones, promising no taxes, minimal regulation, and special incentive to corporations willing to locate to the emirate.
Since it opened three years ago, the Dubai International Finance Center has attracted banks, investment firms, and capital from around the world
According to the Sheik: Five years from now you're gonna see towers on your right, towers on your left. You're gonna see a kilometer-and-a-half garden where you can exercise. And if you're bored of that, you can go underneath it for a kilo-and-a-half shopping mall...and it is not the largest shopping center in the world. Because that's next door…
The Sheik was referring to The Burj Dubai development, where the largest shopping center in the world is under construction at the base what will become the world's tallest building.
The building includes the first Giorgio Armani hotel with floor after floor of million dollar apartments. It was already nearly a mile high, and when it is finished it will be twice as tall as the Empire State Building.
60 Minuets reported that: With no environmental regulations to stop him, Sultan began dredging a hundred million cubic yards of sand from the Persian Gulf, along with seven million tons of rock to form a man-made Island in the shape of a palm. It more the doubled the coastline of Dubai, and created waterfront condos and homes for 150,000 people, not including 35 hotels.
The palm island project sold out in less than a week, and houses that initially went for $1 million are being resold by original investors and real estate speculators for five times that.
Three more off-shore developments are underway, including a chain of 300 man-made islands, some of which will be private. They are shaped and situated to resemble a map of the world, which is what the project is called.
That was in 2008.
And coming from a real island, when I saw those low-lying sandbars they were referring to as Palm “islands” I thought of a tsunami…
This past week (ending 11/28/2009), Dubai World set off its own financial tsunami when it announced it needed more time to pay back some of its 60 billion-dollar debt.
The country can’t pay some 60 billion-dollars it owes to mostly European banks. The news sent European stock markets plunging, which in turn dragged American markets down with them.
(I hope the protectionist people see a lesson in there. When America sneezes the world catches a cold. And when the world is down with that cold…the virus finds its way back to the US!)
I feel sorry for President Obama…
The poor guy DID NOT create any of the messes he now has to deal with. How do you fix Dubai or the next Dubai? How do you insulate the US from these economic meltdowns…and can we?
I guess these are questions for FED Chairman Ben Bernanke…and Treasury Secretary, Tim Geitner.
Bernanke is one of the few people I have confidence in on the economy. I don’t particularly care for Geitner. I’ve always thought that HE should NOT have been appointed…after his tax debacle came to light.
Geitner did not pay 34-thousand-dollars in self-employment taxes when he worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It is supposedly a common “mistake” that Geitner conveniently realized around the time he was being nominated for Treasury Secretary.
How can a banker, and a prominent one at that, or anyone in the financial industry, especially the top dogs, NOT know they have to pay taxes…and on what?
That is a question that should flummox me; NOT the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
If you don’t understand a simple thing like that, HOW CAN YOU UNDERSTAND THE CONSIDERABLY MORE COMPLICATED US ECONOMY?
Still, the IRS did NOT go after Geitner. But it comes after me…and YOU - ordinary Joe (NOT John McCain’s Joe the non-plumber – the IRS went after him! That poor Joe!).
Do you know auditors sent me a letter over my withholding for a couple hundred dollars? Even though I stapled a COPY of the bank forms to my return?
Yep. But Tim Geitner slipped through the cracks. I guess our tax guys are more efficient here in Massachusetts.
Anyway, back to Dubai!
In August 2008, CBS'S 60 Minutes ran a story on Dubai entitled: A visit to Dubai Inc. Steve Kroft reports on a Success Story In The Middle East.
News headline this past week: Debt crisis in millionaires' playground could herald new phase in global financial meltdown
I feel sorry for people who are near retirement and have invested in the Stock Market…
Heck, I feel sorry for myself. But I don’t feel sorry for Dubai!
60 Minutes opened its Dubai piece by saying: Dubai is a tiny sheikdom nestled along the Persian Gulf on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula and part of a tiny, oil-rich country called the United Arab Emirates. Over the course of just a few decades, it has transformed itself from a spit of sand about the size of Rhode Island into the Singapore of the Middle East.
Kroft described the transformation as: the vision of one man, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum.
According to 60 Minutes: One project, called by some the "largest construction site on earth," was just desert several years ago. The site employs half a million laborers, working 12-hour shifts on a reported $300 billion worth of projects, building Sheikh Mohammed's dream of a modern, efficient and tolerant Arab city with fine restaurants, a vibrant nightlife, that is both the playground and business capital of a new Middle East.
Sheikh Mohammed came up with the idea of turning Dubai into an international center for finance and media. He set up a series of free trade zones, promising no taxes, minimal regulation, and special incentive to corporations willing to locate to the emirate.
Since it opened three years ago, the Dubai International Finance Center has attracted banks, investment firms, and capital from around the world
According to the Sheik: Five years from now you're gonna see towers on your right, towers on your left. You're gonna see a kilometer-and-a-half garden where you can exercise. And if you're bored of that, you can go underneath it for a kilo-and-a-half shopping mall...and it is not the largest shopping center in the world. Because that's next door…
The Sheik was referring to The Burj Dubai development, where the largest shopping center in the world is under construction at the base what will become the world's tallest building.
The building includes the first Giorgio Armani hotel with floor after floor of million dollar apartments. It was already nearly a mile high, and when it is finished it will be twice as tall as the Empire State Building.
60 Minuets reported that: With no environmental regulations to stop him, Sultan began dredging a hundred million cubic yards of sand from the Persian Gulf, along with seven million tons of rock to form a man-made Island in the shape of a palm. It more the doubled the coastline of Dubai, and created waterfront condos and homes for 150,000 people, not including 35 hotels.
The palm island project sold out in less than a week, and houses that initially went for $1 million are being resold by original investors and real estate speculators for five times that.
Three more off-shore developments are underway, including a chain of 300 man-made islands, some of which will be private. They are shaped and situated to resemble a map of the world, which is what the project is called.
That was in 2008.
And coming from a real island, when I saw those low-lying sandbars they were referring to as Palm “islands” I thought of a tsunami…
This past week (ending 11/28/2009), Dubai World set off its own financial tsunami when it announced it needed more time to pay back some of its 60 billion-dollar debt.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sarah Palin...plus Economic Anger
This past week (Nov. 15 to Nov. 21, 2009) Sarah Palin was all over the news – the way she likes it!
Here was Sarah on the cover of Newsweek – and there was Sarah on Oprah and ABC's 20/20 and other places that I don’t watch.
And there was the phony controversy that both Sarah and the media promote. She was complaining all the way to the bank – about Newsweek putting a cutesy photo of her in her snug shorts on their cover.
Now Sarah – did Newsweek make YOU pose for that flirty photo? NO!
Why did YOU choose that particular pose for that photo? I don’t think we’ll see the Queen in shorts in that pose any time soon. So obviously, YOU posed, for your own reasons and liked the photo enough to let another publication run it.
So if it wasn’t sexist when YOU posed, then it’s not sexist now.
It’s like taking nude photos for playboy and saying Newsweek shouldn’t run them when the poser decides to run for president of the church guild!
However, Newsweek too is playing games. I mean, come on – of all the photos of Miss Palin in your archive; of her in suits that she paid for, suits the campaign paid for – you could have gotten a different (note I didn’t say better, just different) one to put on the cover.
So both Newsweek and Sarah Palin are playing games with the rest of us – the dummies who they think won’t notice.
Palin is generating publicity for her book and she will do whatever…
Newsweek is trying to sell magazines, and it will do whatever…
Play your games, but don’t try to fudge the score.
Americans are angry over the economy…
Apparently “the economy” resides in Washington, in the White House basement, and President Obama is just sitting on it.
We forget that we, yes WE affect the economy every day with our purchasing and other choices
When we buy cheap whatever from China, WE are affecting the economy.
When you buy those expensive jeans you cannot afford and charge them to your credit card, then pay off the minimum each month, YOU are affecting the economy.
When people buy houses and cars they can and cannot afford, THEY are affecting the economy.
When we eat out, WE are affecting the economy.
When we don’t go to see a movie, WE are affecting the economy.
Buy a car or take the bus; go overseas on vacation or stay home; invest and pay taxes or stash our money overseas - all this affects the economy.
Was I the ONLY person who heard all the warning heads who were saying that the US economy is under pressure and something has to give?
That speculative housing was straining the market?
That our trade deficit was/is too large?
Why did some take note, while so many others did not?
Why did they disregard their own expenses and go on spending?
Why did people NOT save for the proverbial rainy day?
Now we are railing at the government for not providing more unemployment benefits…did the government ask you to overload your credit card?
Did the government prevent you from balancing your resources and allocating them efficiently?
So why do the prudent people who wear their shoes to the soles and buy things on sale now have to pay for your stupidity – instead of you?
AND MOST IMPORTANLY, WHEN OR RATHER IF PEOPLE GET OUT OF THEIR SELF-IMPOSED BLACK HOLE, WILL THEY HAVE LEARNT A LESSON – OR CONTINUE SPENDING AS IF THERE’S NO TOMORROW? Because we just learnt: TODAY IS TOMORROW'S...TOMORROW!
Now I understand that the government bailed out the banks. Well, you’re NOT a bank, even if you spent like you were a bank! So there!
You will never be treated as equitably as those big Wall Street guys. Not under a democrat, especially NOT under a republican, double especially NOT under a capitalist system! And not under communism either!
So basically, what all this long rambling tirade means is: We should be angry at OURselves for TURNING OUR BACKS on the old principles of saving and being thrifty and to hell with the Joneses.
But of course, that’s painful and inconvenient for us to blame ourselves, so let’s take our anger out on the government...and the banks and whomever. (Not that they’re blameless, either!) But if we blame somebody ELSE, then we can feel better about our poor/lack of planning.
You think that’s bad?
Wait until you’re ready to retire and you didn’t plan, set NOTHING aside because it’s not your responsibility or your fault or your decision - NO ROTH IRA, NO 401K, NO PENSION…and find out there’s NO social security or a leaner payout!
America has become a country where IT IS ALWAYS SOMEONE ELSE’S FAULT.
I’m just waiting for the case where a pregnant woman sues because nobody warned her that sex leads to pregnancy. I’m sure it’s already happened. I just haven’t heard. Let me know…
Did you see Republican lawmakers and some Democrats too, talking about spending?
The same ones who were there before AND during eight years of Bush, who helped spend, spend, spend…who gave Mr. Bush carte blanche to finance two losing wars?
Now those hypocrites want us to believe that the “economy” just turned sour overnight. That things started going downhill last January. That you sent them to Washington to enjoy a cozy incestuous relationships with their pals in the insurance industry and the auto industry and the housing industry…
And you agree - because YOU keep sending them back. Don’t you?
Here was Sarah on the cover of Newsweek – and there was Sarah on Oprah and ABC's 20/20 and other places that I don’t watch.
And there was the phony controversy that both Sarah and the media promote. She was complaining all the way to the bank – about Newsweek putting a cutesy photo of her in her snug shorts on their cover.
Now Sarah – did Newsweek make YOU pose for that flirty photo? NO!
Why did YOU choose that particular pose for that photo? I don’t think we’ll see the Queen in shorts in that pose any time soon. So obviously, YOU posed, for your own reasons and liked the photo enough to let another publication run it.
So if it wasn’t sexist when YOU posed, then it’s not sexist now.
It’s like taking nude photos for playboy and saying Newsweek shouldn’t run them when the poser decides to run for president of the church guild!
However, Newsweek too is playing games. I mean, come on – of all the photos of Miss Palin in your archive; of her in suits that she paid for, suits the campaign paid for – you could have gotten a different (note I didn’t say better, just different) one to put on the cover.
So both Newsweek and Sarah Palin are playing games with the rest of us – the dummies who they think won’t notice.
Palin is generating publicity for her book and she will do whatever…
Newsweek is trying to sell magazines, and it will do whatever…
Play your games, but don’t try to fudge the score.
Americans are angry over the economy…
Apparently “the economy” resides in Washington, in the White House basement, and President Obama is just sitting on it.
We forget that we, yes WE affect the economy every day with our purchasing and other choices
When we buy cheap whatever from China, WE are affecting the economy.
When you buy those expensive jeans you cannot afford and charge them to your credit card, then pay off the minimum each month, YOU are affecting the economy.
When people buy houses and cars they can and cannot afford, THEY are affecting the economy.
When we eat out, WE are affecting the economy.
When we don’t go to see a movie, WE are affecting the economy.
Buy a car or take the bus; go overseas on vacation or stay home; invest and pay taxes or stash our money overseas - all this affects the economy.
Was I the ONLY person who heard all the warning heads who were saying that the US economy is under pressure and something has to give?
That speculative housing was straining the market?
That our trade deficit was/is too large?
Why did some take note, while so many others did not?
Why did they disregard their own expenses and go on spending?
Why did people NOT save for the proverbial rainy day?
Now we are railing at the government for not providing more unemployment benefits…did the government ask you to overload your credit card?
Did the government prevent you from balancing your resources and allocating them efficiently?
So why do the prudent people who wear their shoes to the soles and buy things on sale now have to pay for your stupidity – instead of you?
AND MOST IMPORTANLY, WHEN OR RATHER IF PEOPLE GET OUT OF THEIR SELF-IMPOSED BLACK HOLE, WILL THEY HAVE LEARNT A LESSON – OR CONTINUE SPENDING AS IF THERE’S NO TOMORROW? Because we just learnt: TODAY IS TOMORROW'S...TOMORROW!
Now I understand that the government bailed out the banks. Well, you’re NOT a bank, even if you spent like you were a bank! So there!
You will never be treated as equitably as those big Wall Street guys. Not under a democrat, especially NOT under a republican, double especially NOT under a capitalist system! And not under communism either!
So basically, what all this long rambling tirade means is: We should be angry at OURselves for TURNING OUR BACKS on the old principles of saving and being thrifty and to hell with the Joneses.
But of course, that’s painful and inconvenient for us to blame ourselves, so let’s take our anger out on the government...and the banks and whomever. (Not that they’re blameless, either!) But if we blame somebody ELSE, then we can feel better about our poor/lack of planning.
You think that’s bad?
Wait until you’re ready to retire and you didn’t plan, set NOTHING aside because it’s not your responsibility or your fault or your decision - NO ROTH IRA, NO 401K, NO PENSION…and find out there’s NO social security or a leaner payout!
America has become a country where IT IS ALWAYS SOMEONE ELSE’S FAULT.
I’m just waiting for the case where a pregnant woman sues because nobody warned her that sex leads to pregnancy. I’m sure it’s already happened. I just haven’t heard. Let me know…
Did you see Republican lawmakers and some Democrats too, talking about spending?
The same ones who were there before AND during eight years of Bush, who helped spend, spend, spend…who gave Mr. Bush carte blanche to finance two losing wars?
Now those hypocrites want us to believe that the “economy” just turned sour overnight. That things started going downhill last January. That you sent them to Washington to enjoy a cozy incestuous relationships with their pals in the insurance industry and the auto industry and the housing industry…
And you agree - because YOU keep sending them back. Don’t you?
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Gays, Maine and Flu Shots
People from Maine are coming here to Massachusetts to get flu shots.
They just showed on the news, a few minutes ago, a woman from Maine who drove all the way to a FREE FLU CLINIC in Dorchester.
Apparently, the fact that Massachusetts allows gays to marry has not “tainted” the HINI vaccine here. Hopefully, the good folks up in Maine who are coming to The Bay State for flu shots are NOT the ones who were so busy agitating to outlaw gay marriage…they had no time to agitate for free flu shots IN their area.
Naturally, securing flu shots for their area is obviously NOT as important as stopping gays from getting married. I understand that. What I don’t get is why come to Massachusetts? Why not go to Texas or some other gay-hating place where the vaccines are gay-free?
I’ve been living here BEFORE and since gays won the right to marry - and so far I’ve NOT noticed a difference in my life that I can attribute to gays.
Well, maybe I spoke too soon. I noticed that as soon as we gave gays the go-ahead to marry, my teenage son decided that he should NOT be asked to wash dishes and that if he does, he should ONLY be made to wash those that HE used!
Our unemployment rate has climbed. I am sure that is somehow the fault of gays. I just can’t figure out the connection, but I’m sure there are people who can. Because I am convinced that we would have weathered the economic crash…if only WE HAD NOT ALLOWED GAYS TO MARRY.
I still see people getting divorced and others shacking up together with NO intention of marrying. I BLAME GAYS FOR THAT! If we had NOT allowed gays to marry, Massachusetts would be the land of June Cleaver.
Indeed, we were well on our way with the Romney’s. Stay-home mom. Cute brood of kids. Bevy of groomed grandkids. But no, we had to go and let gays get married. The Romney’s left!
Now what do we have? Divorces, alimony battles, neglected kids, an overburdened foster care system. That’s what you get when you let gays marry!
Failing schools. Another repercussion from gays getting married. Need I explain how that happens? Gay teachers suddenly started coming out and openly dating kids. Kids start exploring gay lifestyles and say: to heck with school and studies. Our MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) scores headed to damnation.
From the moment we decided to let gays marry, people started having abortions in alleyways. Yep…even animals had more abortions! Heterosexual couples reasoned: if gays can’t have kids – why should we? So they started aborting their pregnancies.
In fact, so many things went wrong in Massachusetts since we let gays start marrying that dwelling on them are just … too painful.
So I tell the good folks up in Maine: thank God, YOU saw the light. You decided to uphold the sanctity of marriage. And so, there will be NO more kids born out of wedlock in Maine. No more abortions. No more divorces. No fornication. No ads from people in Maine looking for unusual sexual liaisons…
Every person will marry. Couples will be enfolded in a loving relationship for life, produce healthy, well-adjusted kids…who are likely to become missionaries who will then come down to Massachusetts and convert us.
96 percent of Maine’s population is white…and the few non-whites will leave.
Kids up there will no longer live in poverty…and life will be just loverly!
According to the 1999 US Census figures for Maine:
10-percent of Maine’s population earned less than 10-thousand dollars. That will change dramatically. In the new world of no-gay-marriage Maine, by the 2010 census, that figure will dramatically drop to just 2-percent.
1 percent of Mainers make 200-thousand-dollars or more. More people will now rapidly join that group…now that gays can no longer marry and break the family structures that prevented them from achieving and earning.
7.8 percent of families live below the poverty level. That will drop.
28 percent of families with female householder, no husband present, live below the poverty level. No husband present? Maine has households with NO husband present? The only explanation is that these women must be gay!
11 percent of individuals live below the poverty level. They’re gay too. Otherwise they would all be millionaires.
Here are some figures for MAINE from the National Center for Children in Poverty:
15% (40,952) of children live in poor families
33% (13,532) of children in poor families do not have an employed parent
57% (6,512) of children whose parents don't have a high school diploma live in poor families.
65% (26,788) of children in poor families live with a single parent.
18% (14,762) of children, under age 6, live in poor families.
13% (26,190) of children, age 6 or older, live in poor families
5% (1,937) of poor children live in families with no parent present.
2% (4,074) of children (who are not poor) live in families with no parent present.
Now that MAINERS HAVE VOTED TO STOP GAYS FROM MARRYING, that state will now rapidly begin to prosper and change for the better.
Just sit back and watch their GDP shoot past ours. And then all you LIBERAL MASSACHUSETTS denizens will rue the day – yes, sackcloth and ashes – you let gays marry here!
They just showed on the news, a few minutes ago, a woman from Maine who drove all the way to a FREE FLU CLINIC in Dorchester.
Apparently, the fact that Massachusetts allows gays to marry has not “tainted” the HINI vaccine here. Hopefully, the good folks up in Maine who are coming to The Bay State for flu shots are NOT the ones who were so busy agitating to outlaw gay marriage…they had no time to agitate for free flu shots IN their area.
Naturally, securing flu shots for their area is obviously NOT as important as stopping gays from getting married. I understand that. What I don’t get is why come to Massachusetts? Why not go to Texas or some other gay-hating place where the vaccines are gay-free?
I’ve been living here BEFORE and since gays won the right to marry - and so far I’ve NOT noticed a difference in my life that I can attribute to gays.
Well, maybe I spoke too soon. I noticed that as soon as we gave gays the go-ahead to marry, my teenage son decided that he should NOT be asked to wash dishes and that if he does, he should ONLY be made to wash those that HE used!
Our unemployment rate has climbed. I am sure that is somehow the fault of gays. I just can’t figure out the connection, but I’m sure there are people who can. Because I am convinced that we would have weathered the economic crash…if only WE HAD NOT ALLOWED GAYS TO MARRY.
I still see people getting divorced and others shacking up together with NO intention of marrying. I BLAME GAYS FOR THAT! If we had NOT allowed gays to marry, Massachusetts would be the land of June Cleaver.
Indeed, we were well on our way with the Romney’s. Stay-home mom. Cute brood of kids. Bevy of groomed grandkids. But no, we had to go and let gays get married. The Romney’s left!
Now what do we have? Divorces, alimony battles, neglected kids, an overburdened foster care system. That’s what you get when you let gays marry!
Failing schools. Another repercussion from gays getting married. Need I explain how that happens? Gay teachers suddenly started coming out and openly dating kids. Kids start exploring gay lifestyles and say: to heck with school and studies. Our MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) scores headed to damnation.
From the moment we decided to let gays marry, people started having abortions in alleyways. Yep…even animals had more abortions! Heterosexual couples reasoned: if gays can’t have kids – why should we? So they started aborting their pregnancies.
In fact, so many things went wrong in Massachusetts since we let gays start marrying that dwelling on them are just … too painful.
So I tell the good folks up in Maine: thank God, YOU saw the light. You decided to uphold the sanctity of marriage. And so, there will be NO more kids born out of wedlock in Maine. No more abortions. No more divorces. No fornication. No ads from people in Maine looking for unusual sexual liaisons…
Every person will marry. Couples will be enfolded in a loving relationship for life, produce healthy, well-adjusted kids…who are likely to become missionaries who will then come down to Massachusetts and convert us.
96 percent of Maine’s population is white…and the few non-whites will leave.
Kids up there will no longer live in poverty…and life will be just loverly!
According to the 1999 US Census figures for Maine:
10-percent of Maine’s population earned less than 10-thousand dollars. That will change dramatically. In the new world of no-gay-marriage Maine, by the 2010 census, that figure will dramatically drop to just 2-percent.
1 percent of Mainers make 200-thousand-dollars or more. More people will now rapidly join that group…now that gays can no longer marry and break the family structures that prevented them from achieving and earning.
7.8 percent of families live below the poverty level. That will drop.
28 percent of families with female householder, no husband present, live below the poverty level. No husband present? Maine has households with NO husband present? The only explanation is that these women must be gay!
11 percent of individuals live below the poverty level. They’re gay too. Otherwise they would all be millionaires.
Here are some figures for MAINE from the National Center for Children in Poverty:
15% (40,952) of children live in poor families
33% (13,532) of children in poor families do not have an employed parent
57% (6,512) of children whose parents don't have a high school diploma live in poor families.
65% (26,788) of children in poor families live with a single parent.
18% (14,762) of children, under age 6, live in poor families.
13% (26,190) of children, age 6 or older, live in poor families
5% (1,937) of poor children live in families with no parent present.
2% (4,074) of children (who are not poor) live in families with no parent present.
Now that MAINERS HAVE VOTED TO STOP GAYS FROM MARRYING, that state will now rapidly begin to prosper and change for the better.
Just sit back and watch their GDP shoot past ours. And then all you LIBERAL MASSACHUSETTS denizens will rue the day – yes, sackcloth and ashes – you let gays marry here!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Thanks for the interest...
I appreciate all the comments about the informative nature of my posts.
I would have liked to keep blogging daily, but it takes up too much of my time...right now.
I will blog on Sundays- if I miss one, it doesn't mean I won't post next time.
I don't like people to give opinion and pass it of as fact. Fact is fact (even if that too can be subjective) but while I can have an opinion on anything...I can't just change facts to suit me.
That does not mean that my opinion is one that everybody should subscribe to or that because others don't - they are wrong.
People feel that if you're a democrat and President Obama decides to invade Mexico, for no good reason, then all democrats should say: yeah!? Not so.
Good democrats should say Mr. President, with all due respect, I think you are making a mistake.
All republicans are not bad - and every issue they raise is not to be disregarded, either.
Of course this current batch of republican leaders are a sad joke, and the more acrimonious they are, the more they jockey to posture on TV!
But that, hopefully, will adjust itself with time. America needs an opposition party that comes up with constructive ideas for the better good.
We don't need destabilization to achieve our ends. At the end of the day, when a president fails, America fails.
And when he wins, we all win.
Presidents come and go, but the economy remains with us, and so do issues like: job creation, health care, education, crime, poverty, excessive wealth etc.
When President Obama leaves the White House he will be set for life...whatever his legacy.
Will you...? If he or any president fails at job creation, fails at health care, fails at establishing green technologies/industries, fails at immigration reform - will you be better off?
If he (any president) creates more jobs, lowers crime, improves America's image overseas - do you benefit?
I rest my case.
Thanks for the comments/emails. Keep tuning in.
I would have liked to keep blogging daily, but it takes up too much of my time...right now.
I will blog on Sundays- if I miss one, it doesn't mean I won't post next time.
I don't like people to give opinion and pass it of as fact. Fact is fact (even if that too can be subjective) but while I can have an opinion on anything...I can't just change facts to suit me.
That does not mean that my opinion is one that everybody should subscribe to or that because others don't - they are wrong.
People feel that if you're a democrat and President Obama decides to invade Mexico, for no good reason, then all democrats should say: yeah!? Not so.
Good democrats should say Mr. President, with all due respect, I think you are making a mistake.
All republicans are not bad - and every issue they raise is not to be disregarded, either.
Of course this current batch of republican leaders are a sad joke, and the more acrimonious they are, the more they jockey to posture on TV!
But that, hopefully, will adjust itself with time. America needs an opposition party that comes up with constructive ideas for the better good.
We don't need destabilization to achieve our ends. At the end of the day, when a president fails, America fails.
And when he wins, we all win.
Presidents come and go, but the economy remains with us, and so do issues like: job creation, health care, education, crime, poverty, excessive wealth etc.
When President Obama leaves the White House he will be set for life...whatever his legacy.
Will you...? If he or any president fails at job creation, fails at health care, fails at establishing green technologies/industries, fails at immigration reform - will you be better off?
If he (any president) creates more jobs, lowers crime, improves America's image overseas - do you benefit?
I rest my case.
Thanks for the comments/emails. Keep tuning in.
Workplace Shootings Double Standards
Here’s a quick quiz for you:
There were 5, 071 workplace fatalities in the U.S. last year. 517 of them were workplace homicides.
I am going to give you a list of Work Place Shooters and I’d like you to tell me what their Religion was:
March 20, 2000: Fired employee Robert Harris, 28, fatally shoots five people at a Dallas, Texas area car wash.
HIS RELIGION..?
December 30, 1999: Authorities say housekeeper Silvio Izquierdo-Leyva, 36, fatally shoots five co-workers at Tampa’s Radisson Bay Harbor hotel in Florida.
HIS RELIGION..?
November 2, 1999: Copier repairman Byran Uyesugi, 40, fatally shoots seven people at the Xerox Corporation in Honolulu, Hawaii.
HIS RELIGION…?
August 5, 1999: Truck driver Alan E. Miller, 35, fatally shoots two co-workers at Pelham, Alabama. office, then kills former co-worker.
HIS RELIGION…?
July 29, 1999: Former day trader Mark Barton, 44, kills nine people at two Atlanta brokerage offices and later commits suicide.
HIS RELIGION…?
March 6, 1998: Former Connecticut Lottery accountant Matthew Beck, 35, fatally shoots four lottery executives, then himself.
HIS RELIGION…?
December. 18, 1997: Fired employee Arturo R. Torres, 43, kills four former co-workers at maintenance yard in Orange, California and is shot to death by police.
HIS RELIGION…?
September 15, 1997: Fired assembly line worker Arthur H. Wise, 43, allegedly opens fire at Aiken, South Carolina parts plant, killing four.
HIS RELIGION…?
April 24, 1996: Firefighter Kenneth Tornes kills four superiors at a Jackson, Mississippi firehouse.
HIS RELIGION…?
April 3, 1995: Former employee James Simpson, 28, fatally shoots five people at refinery inspection station in Corpus Christi, Texas, then kills himself.
HIS RELIGION…?
July 19, 1995: City electrician Willie Woods fatally shoots four supervisors at the C. Erwin Piper Technical Center in Los Angeles, California.
HIS RELIGION…?
February 2001: William D. Baker, 66, killed four people and himself at a Navistar International engine plant in Chicago area suburb, Melrose Park.
HIS RELIGION…?
July 2003: New York City councilman Othniel Askew, 81, opened fire at City hall in killing one person – a fellow councilman and political rival.
HIS RELIGION…?
August 2003: Salvador Tapia, 36, opened fire at a Chicago, Illinois auto supply warehouse where he used to work, killing six of its nine employees, including two of the company's principals.
HIS RELIGION…?
September 2009: Researcher Annie Le’s body is found strangled, stuffed in the wall of a research center at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Her fellow Lab technician, Raymond Clark, 24, is arrested for her murder.
HIS RELIGION…?
November, 2009: Jason Rodriguez, 40, a former employee of the engineering firm killed one person dead and injured five.
HIS RELIGION…?
We don't know, do we! WE SHALL ASSUME THEY WERE ALL ATHEISTS!
November, 2009: Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, opens fire at Fort Hood, Texas killing 13 and injuring about 30.
His RELIGION: Muslim.
We know that! It’s been repeated over and over and over. Why…?
Because he is a Muslim and that fits into our stereotype of Muslims as violent and terrorists? What else could make him snap except for his religion?
I’m not saying his religion is NOT a factor. I’m just saying until we know it’s a factor…we should leave it out.
We continuously try to distance ourselves from people in our stereotype who do unsocial things.
Nobody in the suburbs wants to be associated with the group of kids who spray Nazi symbols on a Synagogue…
I, as a black person, definitely do not want to be associated with gang bangers…
Yet we label ALL Muslims terrorists because a minority of Muslims subscribe to a terrorist ideology. Were Muslims behind the bombings in the UK/Northern Ireland conflict? Nope - just Protestants and Catholics fighting.
Is Pope Sylvester II a terrorist? At the end of the tenth century he "entreated the church universal to succor the church of Jerusalem, and to redeem a sepulcher which the prophet Isaiah had said should be a glorious one, and which the sons of the destroyer Satan were making inglorious.
The Turks were apparently pillaging the Holy Land…and this could not be allowed. So we got the Crusades, and of course these soldiers of religion went over to the Middle East and planted flowers…
The Muslims did not enslave thousands of blacks in the New World and try to Christianize the natives with whips and bondage! The people who were throwing shackled slaves overboard in the Atlantic to lighten their ships were NOT Muslims either!
Muslims did not rule South Africa under apartheid…
I believe all these atrocities were perpetrated by Christians...with a Bible in one hand!
Yet when these Bible loving souls open fire and kill people, we don’t say they are Baptists or Catholics, DO WE?
Fanatics occur in every religion…and Christianity has had and still has its fair share!
One British newspaper reports Hasan once gave a lecture to other doctors in which he said non-believers should be beheaded and have boiling oil poured down their throats. According to the paper Hasan also told colleagues at America's top military hospital that non-Muslims were infidels condemned to hell who should be set on fire.
Thanks Britain. The Inca, the Maya, Native people in Australia, China and wherever you ventured during your “Conquests” think you were as bad, if not worse. I don’t think anyone will argue that you did not “terrorize” them…us. My Caribbean island was enslaved by you, too.
By the way, according to government figures, workplace killings are trending downwards. But apparently the current weak economy has boosted stress levels in many workplaces. Add to this the normal or abnormal levels of combat stress among the military, and we get incidents like the Fort Hood shooting.
It might be easier to blame Islam than taking a retrospective look at a military super-macho culture where admitting to stress is considered weak; a military that does not have enough avenues to deal with and recognize combat stress; an army that is overstretched/over-deployed…where commanders do not listen to soldiers who say they don’t want to return to combat situations, but will deploy you regardless.
(People try to kill themselves to get out of deployments or the military - but the military deploys them anyway. How many red, green, yellow, purple flags do you need?)
Easier to simply blame Islam (which may or may not be blameless)!
I suppose those soldiers who come home and kill their spouses/lovers were all Muslims, too?
I know nothing about ISLAM except what I too see/hear in the media. It is not a religion I want to follow. But it's not the only one I don't want to follow!
There were 5, 071 workplace fatalities in the U.S. last year. 517 of them were workplace homicides.
I am going to give you a list of Work Place Shooters and I’d like you to tell me what their Religion was:
March 20, 2000: Fired employee Robert Harris, 28, fatally shoots five people at a Dallas, Texas area car wash.
HIS RELIGION..?
December 30, 1999: Authorities say housekeeper Silvio Izquierdo-Leyva, 36, fatally shoots five co-workers at Tampa’s Radisson Bay Harbor hotel in Florida.
HIS RELIGION..?
November 2, 1999: Copier repairman Byran Uyesugi, 40, fatally shoots seven people at the Xerox Corporation in Honolulu, Hawaii.
HIS RELIGION…?
August 5, 1999: Truck driver Alan E. Miller, 35, fatally shoots two co-workers at Pelham, Alabama. office, then kills former co-worker.
HIS RELIGION…?
July 29, 1999: Former day trader Mark Barton, 44, kills nine people at two Atlanta brokerage offices and later commits suicide.
HIS RELIGION…?
March 6, 1998: Former Connecticut Lottery accountant Matthew Beck, 35, fatally shoots four lottery executives, then himself.
HIS RELIGION…?
December. 18, 1997: Fired employee Arturo R. Torres, 43, kills four former co-workers at maintenance yard in Orange, California and is shot to death by police.
HIS RELIGION…?
September 15, 1997: Fired assembly line worker Arthur H. Wise, 43, allegedly opens fire at Aiken, South Carolina parts plant, killing four.
HIS RELIGION…?
April 24, 1996: Firefighter Kenneth Tornes kills four superiors at a Jackson, Mississippi firehouse.
HIS RELIGION…?
April 3, 1995: Former employee James Simpson, 28, fatally shoots five people at refinery inspection station in Corpus Christi, Texas, then kills himself.
HIS RELIGION…?
July 19, 1995: City electrician Willie Woods fatally shoots four supervisors at the C. Erwin Piper Technical Center in Los Angeles, California.
HIS RELIGION…?
February 2001: William D. Baker, 66, killed four people and himself at a Navistar International engine plant in Chicago area suburb, Melrose Park.
HIS RELIGION…?
July 2003: New York City councilman Othniel Askew, 81, opened fire at City hall in killing one person – a fellow councilman and political rival.
HIS RELIGION…?
August 2003: Salvador Tapia, 36, opened fire at a Chicago, Illinois auto supply warehouse where he used to work, killing six of its nine employees, including two of the company's principals.
HIS RELIGION…?
September 2009: Researcher Annie Le’s body is found strangled, stuffed in the wall of a research center at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Her fellow Lab technician, Raymond Clark, 24, is arrested for her murder.
HIS RELIGION…?
November, 2009: Jason Rodriguez, 40, a former employee of the engineering firm killed one person dead and injured five.
HIS RELIGION…?
We don't know, do we! WE SHALL ASSUME THEY WERE ALL ATHEISTS!
November, 2009: Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, opens fire at Fort Hood, Texas killing 13 and injuring about 30.
His RELIGION: Muslim.
We know that! It’s been repeated over and over and over. Why…?
Because he is a Muslim and that fits into our stereotype of Muslims as violent and terrorists? What else could make him snap except for his religion?
I’m not saying his religion is NOT a factor. I’m just saying until we know it’s a factor…we should leave it out.
We continuously try to distance ourselves from people in our stereotype who do unsocial things.
Nobody in the suburbs wants to be associated with the group of kids who spray Nazi symbols on a Synagogue…
I, as a black person, definitely do not want to be associated with gang bangers…
Yet we label ALL Muslims terrorists because a minority of Muslims subscribe to a terrorist ideology. Were Muslims behind the bombings in the UK/Northern Ireland conflict? Nope - just Protestants and Catholics fighting.
Is Pope Sylvester II a terrorist? At the end of the tenth century he "entreated the church universal to succor the church of Jerusalem, and to redeem a sepulcher which the prophet Isaiah had said should be a glorious one, and which the sons of the destroyer Satan were making inglorious.
The Turks were apparently pillaging the Holy Land…and this could not be allowed. So we got the Crusades, and of course these soldiers of religion went over to the Middle East and planted flowers…
The Muslims did not enslave thousands of blacks in the New World and try to Christianize the natives with whips and bondage! The people who were throwing shackled slaves overboard in the Atlantic to lighten their ships were NOT Muslims either!
Muslims did not rule South Africa under apartheid…
I believe all these atrocities were perpetrated by Christians...with a Bible in one hand!
Yet when these Bible loving souls open fire and kill people, we don’t say they are Baptists or Catholics, DO WE?
Fanatics occur in every religion…and Christianity has had and still has its fair share!
One British newspaper reports Hasan once gave a lecture to other doctors in which he said non-believers should be beheaded and have boiling oil poured down their throats. According to the paper Hasan also told colleagues at America's top military hospital that non-Muslims were infidels condemned to hell who should be set on fire.
Thanks Britain. The Inca, the Maya, Native people in Australia, China and wherever you ventured during your “Conquests” think you were as bad, if not worse. I don’t think anyone will argue that you did not “terrorize” them…us. My Caribbean island was enslaved by you, too.
By the way, according to government figures, workplace killings are trending downwards. But apparently the current weak economy has boosted stress levels in many workplaces. Add to this the normal or abnormal levels of combat stress among the military, and we get incidents like the Fort Hood shooting.
It might be easier to blame Islam than taking a retrospective look at a military super-macho culture where admitting to stress is considered weak; a military that does not have enough avenues to deal with and recognize combat stress; an army that is overstretched/over-deployed…where commanders do not listen to soldiers who say they don’t want to return to combat situations, but will deploy you regardless.
(People try to kill themselves to get out of deployments or the military - but the military deploys them anyway. How many red, green, yellow, purple flags do you need?)
Easier to simply blame Islam (which may or may not be blameless)!
I suppose those soldiers who come home and kill their spouses/lovers were all Muslims, too?
I know nothing about ISLAM except what I too see/hear in the media. It is not a religion I want to follow. But it's not the only one I don't want to follow!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Pilot Fatigue
When I heard about that North West Airlines flight that bypassed the Minneapolis airport and kept on going…for another 150 miles, two thoughts immediately flashed through my mind:
1. What if they didn’t have enough fuel?
2. Pilot Fatigue?
Now those pilots say they were having a “heated discussion” about airline policy. Some people think they were sleeping. Whatever they were doing, that was scary!
I’ve been really afraid of flying since Lockerbie, because I was in London, and had just passed through Frankfurt around that time. Since then, airplane crashes and near misses have only reinforced my fear.
Hearing about that incident where pilots, TWO pilots, just let the plane fly itself to wherever on a straight line is not very reassuring.
I decided to look into Pilot Fatigue...and found a report from NASA (America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration). The NASA report outlines the findings from a study the agency did on pilot fatigue and its implications for aviation safety.
The Deputy Associate Administrator in the Office of Aero-Space Technology at NASA testified at a Congressional Hearing on Pilot Fatigue in August, 1999. 10 Years ago!
He told the Aviation Subcommittee of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, United States House of Representatives, that Pilot Fatigue is a significant safety issue in aviation.
He testified that: “Rather than simply being a mental state that can be willed away or overcome through motivation or discipline, fatigue is rooted in physiological mechanisms related to sleep, sleep loss, and circadian rhythms. These mechanisms are at work in flight crews no less than others who need to remain vigilant despite long duty days, transmeridien travel, and working at night when the body is programmed for sleep”.
According to the NASA official: “Flight crews routinely respond that fatigue is a concern, often admitting to having nodded off during a flight and/or arranging for one pilot to nap in the cockpit seat”.
• The crewmembers napped one-at-a-time in a three-person cockpit with minimal disruption to normal flight operations and no reported or identified concerns regarding safety. The benefits of the nap were observed throughout the critical descent and landing phases of flight. The planned nap appeared to provide effective and acute relief from significant sleepiness experienced by crews in three-person nonaugmented flight operations.
• He told Congres: The Fatigue Countermeasures Program submitted a draft advisory circular to the FAA in January 1993 on "Controlled Rest on the Flight Deck." Regulatory provisions that would sanction the appropriate use of planned cockpit rest remain under review. Several non-U.S. air carriers have already implemented the procedure.
Congress apparently asked NASA to conduct the Study. NASA’s Ames Research Center created a program to examine whether "there is a safety problem of uncertain magnitude, due to transmeridian flying and a potential problem due to fatigue in association with various factors found in air transport operations."
Researchers came up with a number of recommendations and countermeasures to address Pilot Fatigue in the cockpit.
Is anyone (Sixty Minutes, Oprah?) asking if the FAA implemented those measures and how many US CARRIERS HAVE SIGNED ON?
Do I have to stop blogging and go do some investigative journalism (which I was trained to do)? I'm sleeping - blogging is much easier! Just like Networks/Media Outlets are sleeping - because it's also much easier to hire bloviates who promulgate spin, opinion and bull - instead of dealing with FACTS – which by the way are inconvenient things!
If they were indeed arguing, or "heatedly discussing" - maybe those two should NOT work together anymore? Please argue while having a drink (preferably orange juice) at a club – NOT up in the air where it causes you to go 150 miles off course.
I also found this article that appeared in USA TODAY in JUNE. 2009.
Airlines, pilot unions and federal officials have until September first to develop new rules to limit fatigue among pilots, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday in an unusually aggressive move to reach agreement on one of the industry's most contentious safety issues.
The National Transportation Safety Board has cited fatigue as a factor in several recent crashes, including a February crash near Buffalo that killed 50 people.
The board revealed last month that both pilots on that flight had not gotten a full night's sleep before the accident.
The NTSB lists combating fatigue as one of its "Most Wanted" safety improvements.
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt called on airlines and pilot unions to begin meeting with federal officials by July 15 to come up with recommendations on how long pilots can work each day.
The committee will have until September to present their findings, Babbitt said in a news release. "Now is the time to push these initiatives forward," he said.
An effort to get unions and airlines to reach a compromise in the 1990s failed, leaving 50-year-old rules that scientists who study fatigue say do little to promote safety.
Under current rules, pilots generally can fly up to eight hours a day. Their workday, which includes time on the ground between flights, can extend up to 16 hours. There are no restrictions on flying during the middle of the night or making numerous takeoffs and landings.
Curtis Graeber, a scientist who has studied pilot fatigue for nearly 30 years, said that research can better predict how long pilots should work than simple hourly limits.
Factors such as how many days in a row a pilot has worked and whether rest periods allow for a good night's sleep should be used to limit flying time, Graeber said.
Airlines in Europe, Australia and New Zealand have begun adopting such rules. Graeber said he is not hopeful that the groups can reach agreement in this country.
"Getting that kind of consensus has proved challenging in the past," he said.
Pilots have rejected attempts to extend the amount of time they can fly and airlines oppose changes that would restrict scheduling.
Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Association say they support the government's effort.
DO YOU NOTE THE SENTENCE BEFORE THE LAST? > Pilots have rejected attempts to extend the amount of time they can fly and airlines oppose changes that would restrict scheduling.
Why not just put a squadron of fighter jets on standby - to escort runaway planes…and bill the airlines/Pilots Union?!
That would get somebody’s attention!
(Please remember: I'm ONLY posting on SUNDAY'S now, due to other commitments).
1. What if they didn’t have enough fuel?
2. Pilot Fatigue?
Now those pilots say they were having a “heated discussion” about airline policy. Some people think they were sleeping. Whatever they were doing, that was scary!
I’ve been really afraid of flying since Lockerbie, because I was in London, and had just passed through Frankfurt around that time. Since then, airplane crashes and near misses have only reinforced my fear.
Hearing about that incident where pilots, TWO pilots, just let the plane fly itself to wherever on a straight line is not very reassuring.
I decided to look into Pilot Fatigue...and found a report from NASA (America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration). The NASA report outlines the findings from a study the agency did on pilot fatigue and its implications for aviation safety.
The Deputy Associate Administrator in the Office of Aero-Space Technology at NASA testified at a Congressional Hearing on Pilot Fatigue in August, 1999. 10 Years ago!
He told the Aviation Subcommittee of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, United States House of Representatives, that Pilot Fatigue is a significant safety issue in aviation.
He testified that: “Rather than simply being a mental state that can be willed away or overcome through motivation or discipline, fatigue is rooted in physiological mechanisms related to sleep, sleep loss, and circadian rhythms. These mechanisms are at work in flight crews no less than others who need to remain vigilant despite long duty days, transmeridien travel, and working at night when the body is programmed for sleep”.
According to the NASA official: “Flight crews routinely respond that fatigue is a concern, often admitting to having nodded off during a flight and/or arranging for one pilot to nap in the cockpit seat”.
• The crewmembers napped one-at-a-time in a three-person cockpit with minimal disruption to normal flight operations and no reported or identified concerns regarding safety. The benefits of the nap were observed throughout the critical descent and landing phases of flight. The planned nap appeared to provide effective and acute relief from significant sleepiness experienced by crews in three-person nonaugmented flight operations.
• He told Congres: The Fatigue Countermeasures Program submitted a draft advisory circular to the FAA in January 1993 on "Controlled Rest on the Flight Deck." Regulatory provisions that would sanction the appropriate use of planned cockpit rest remain under review. Several non-U.S. air carriers have already implemented the procedure.
Congress apparently asked NASA to conduct the Study. NASA’s Ames Research Center created a program to examine whether "there is a safety problem of uncertain magnitude, due to transmeridian flying and a potential problem due to fatigue in association with various factors found in air transport operations."
Researchers came up with a number of recommendations and countermeasures to address Pilot Fatigue in the cockpit.
Is anyone (Sixty Minutes, Oprah?) asking if the FAA implemented those measures and how many US CARRIERS HAVE SIGNED ON?
Do I have to stop blogging and go do some investigative journalism (which I was trained to do)? I'm sleeping - blogging is much easier! Just like Networks/Media Outlets are sleeping - because it's also much easier to hire bloviates who promulgate spin, opinion and bull - instead of dealing with FACTS – which by the way are inconvenient things!
If they were indeed arguing, or "heatedly discussing" - maybe those two should NOT work together anymore? Please argue while having a drink (preferably orange juice) at a club – NOT up in the air where it causes you to go 150 miles off course.
I also found this article that appeared in USA TODAY in JUNE. 2009.
Airlines, pilot unions and federal officials have until September first to develop new rules to limit fatigue among pilots, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday in an unusually aggressive move to reach agreement on one of the industry's most contentious safety issues.
The National Transportation Safety Board has cited fatigue as a factor in several recent crashes, including a February crash near Buffalo that killed 50 people.
The board revealed last month that both pilots on that flight had not gotten a full night's sleep before the accident.
The NTSB lists combating fatigue as one of its "Most Wanted" safety improvements.
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt called on airlines and pilot unions to begin meeting with federal officials by July 15 to come up with recommendations on how long pilots can work each day.
The committee will have until September to present their findings, Babbitt said in a news release. "Now is the time to push these initiatives forward," he said.
An effort to get unions and airlines to reach a compromise in the 1990s failed, leaving 50-year-old rules that scientists who study fatigue say do little to promote safety.
Under current rules, pilots generally can fly up to eight hours a day. Their workday, which includes time on the ground between flights, can extend up to 16 hours. There are no restrictions on flying during the middle of the night or making numerous takeoffs and landings.
Curtis Graeber, a scientist who has studied pilot fatigue for nearly 30 years, said that research can better predict how long pilots should work than simple hourly limits.
Factors such as how many days in a row a pilot has worked and whether rest periods allow for a good night's sleep should be used to limit flying time, Graeber said.
Airlines in Europe, Australia and New Zealand have begun adopting such rules. Graeber said he is not hopeful that the groups can reach agreement in this country.
"Getting that kind of consensus has proved challenging in the past," he said.
Pilots have rejected attempts to extend the amount of time they can fly and airlines oppose changes that would restrict scheduling.
Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Association say they support the government's effort.
DO YOU NOTE THE SENTENCE BEFORE THE LAST? > Pilots have rejected attempts to extend the amount of time they can fly and airlines oppose changes that would restrict scheduling.
Why not just put a squadron of fighter jets on standby - to escort runaway planes…and bill the airlines/Pilots Union?!
That would get somebody’s attention!
(Please remember: I'm ONLY posting on SUNDAY'S now, due to other commitments).
Sunday, October 18, 2009
First Sunday Post – Parenting
I always thought that I would not be a good parent because I have a Type A plus personality - quick temper, no patience (notice how many media types have this similar type of personality, with a super big ego?).
However, I struggled along. I have dreams of becoming a Top Model or winning Survivor (TV reality show) and writing that winning screenplay. But although none of these have happened (yet!) I have managed to not live vicariously through my son.
Well, confession: I used a mixture of threats, cajoling and bribes to get him to take an instrument at school. I wanted piano, he’s going for drums. But so far, I have not paraded him on national T.V…and there’s been no vomiting. Again, not yet!
I’m not one of those people who think that parents should not profit off their kids. The little buggers profit off us for decades, sometimes forever! Go ahead, profit off them. Raising a kid is not easy and if that kid has a particular talent or skill that can help take that family off difficult times into the good life. I say, GO for it.
However, please parents, DO NOT USE THESE KIDS AS YOUR MEAL TICKET, even if he/she/they...is/are that meal ticket.
I cannot stand to see parents parade their little girls on stage pushing them to do things the kids don’t want to do. Some do like it, some do have a natural bent for it and for them it’s OK. But many kids don’t, yet these parents push these kids into the limelight or on stage, because they are blinded by dollar signs.
I used to take my son to auditions and I would overhear the coaching, the handling, and the managing - the prodding and the bullying and the cautioning: Say this. (You can tell from the parent's tone/attitude and the child's reaction which ones are being coerced.) Do this. Don’t do that it will ruin your hair/costume, whatever…and I’d feel sorry for those kids.
Yes, sorry for those kids. We see what happens to child stars when they are not grounded, and even to some that are grounded.
We forget that Einstein was not an actor or a basketball player. But he’s more famous and respected and honored than any sports star or Hollywood celebrity will ever be.
(Please let me know if I am wrong, but:) Bill Gates was not a child star.
Mother Theresa was not a child star.
Jay Leno was not a child star.
Marie Curie was not a child star.
Do you remember the name of that cute little girl who played Bill Cosby’s youngest daughter on the Cosby show?
Do you know who Bill Clinton is? HE was not a child star, but she (Keshia Knight Pulliam) was. Which person (not character) do you remember offhand? Would you recognize her in the street today? Would you recognize Clinton? Does she have Secret Service protection?
I’m just throwing out names at random to show that our kids DO NOT NEED TO BECOME YOUNG CELEBRITIES AND OVERACHIEVERS to leave their mark on the world.
However, in the race for fame, celebrity, money and book deals (which is apparently ALL that counts these days) some of us, parents, seem to be seeing our kids as cash cows that we reckon we should milk every few hours!
What set me off? The balloon story out of Colorado!
I came home Thursday afternoon (Oct. 15, 2009) and there was this hot air balloon (home made) drifting in the sky. According to news reports, there is/was a 6-year-old inside and now he’s not, and maybe the kid fell out!
What! A 6-year-old in a hot air balloon! What was he doing in the balloon, I’m asking my son? Why was he in the balloon in the first place? Was an adult with him? Did he fall out? What if he did fall out?
I have visions of a broken body in a tree somewhere…
And then…and then…we learn the kid was safe, hiding in his attic all along.
Wow! Ok, that’s good. But…?
Then I listen to the emergency calls and I learn the dad calls a local TV station and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) first, before calling 911. BEFORE calling 911?
Your 6-year-old son is drifting off in a hot air balloon and 911 is your third call?
Did he want to ensure that the government did NOT blast the balloon out of the air? Then the best thing would be to call 911, wouldn't it?
If my son doesn’t get home from the school bus within minutes I’m calling him – where are you? And if for some reason I can’t reach him, I’m already thinking of what to tell the police to convince them that no, he didn’t run away and has never done this sort of thing before.
So am I going to say it’s a hoax? Nope, can’t say that because for one, I’m afraid of lawsuits. This family seems to have a lot more money than I do. (Plus I make cookies; they make hot-air balloons!) They have an attic atop their garage – I don’t even have a garage! Or a parking spot!
Police plan an announcement…I’m waiting to hear it.
In the meantime, please parents, (I think) it is better to have an emotionally secure, stable, well-adjusted kid who is not a celebrity, but doing well at school and has friends etc…than one who is getting chased by paparazzi or is paraded on live T.V. and has their embarrassing bodily malfunctions televised worldwide.
And (in an unrelated incident) would I have let my kid sit on the floor at an awards show just to hold Pamela Anderson’s train? According to news reports, the 9-year-old girl did not have her own seat - she had to sit at Pamela's feet all night!
Too much to say about this one...but WE are the sanctimonious finger-waggers who criticize child labor in India and other developing countries, where these kids work TO SURVIVE...AND SUPPORT ENTIRE FAMILIES.
See Why I Rave About Hypocrisy!
What do you think?
However, I struggled along. I have dreams of becoming a Top Model or winning Survivor (TV reality show) and writing that winning screenplay. But although none of these have happened (yet!) I have managed to not live vicariously through my son.
Well, confession: I used a mixture of threats, cajoling and bribes to get him to take an instrument at school. I wanted piano, he’s going for drums. But so far, I have not paraded him on national T.V…and there’s been no vomiting. Again, not yet!
I’m not one of those people who think that parents should not profit off their kids. The little buggers profit off us for decades, sometimes forever! Go ahead, profit off them. Raising a kid is not easy and if that kid has a particular talent or skill that can help take that family off difficult times into the good life. I say, GO for it.
However, please parents, DO NOT USE THESE KIDS AS YOUR MEAL TICKET, even if he/she/they...is/are that meal ticket.
I cannot stand to see parents parade their little girls on stage pushing them to do things the kids don’t want to do. Some do like it, some do have a natural bent for it and for them it’s OK. But many kids don’t, yet these parents push these kids into the limelight or on stage, because they are blinded by dollar signs.
I used to take my son to auditions and I would overhear the coaching, the handling, and the managing - the prodding and the bullying and the cautioning: Say this. (You can tell from the parent's tone/attitude and the child's reaction which ones are being coerced.) Do this. Don’t do that it will ruin your hair/costume, whatever…and I’d feel sorry for those kids.
Yes, sorry for those kids. We see what happens to child stars when they are not grounded, and even to some that are grounded.
We forget that Einstein was not an actor or a basketball player. But he’s more famous and respected and honored than any sports star or Hollywood celebrity will ever be.
(Please let me know if I am wrong, but:) Bill Gates was not a child star.
Mother Theresa was not a child star.
Jay Leno was not a child star.
Marie Curie was not a child star.
Do you remember the name of that cute little girl who played Bill Cosby’s youngest daughter on the Cosby show?
Do you know who Bill Clinton is? HE was not a child star, but she (Keshia Knight Pulliam) was. Which person (not character) do you remember offhand? Would you recognize her in the street today? Would you recognize Clinton? Does she have Secret Service protection?
I’m just throwing out names at random to show that our kids DO NOT NEED TO BECOME YOUNG CELEBRITIES AND OVERACHIEVERS to leave their mark on the world.
However, in the race for fame, celebrity, money and book deals (which is apparently ALL that counts these days) some of us, parents, seem to be seeing our kids as cash cows that we reckon we should milk every few hours!
What set me off? The balloon story out of Colorado!
I came home Thursday afternoon (Oct. 15, 2009) and there was this hot air balloon (home made) drifting in the sky. According to news reports, there is/was a 6-year-old inside and now he’s not, and maybe the kid fell out!
What! A 6-year-old in a hot air balloon! What was he doing in the balloon, I’m asking my son? Why was he in the balloon in the first place? Was an adult with him? Did he fall out? What if he did fall out?
I have visions of a broken body in a tree somewhere…
And then…and then…we learn the kid was safe, hiding in his attic all along.
Wow! Ok, that’s good. But…?
Then I listen to the emergency calls and I learn the dad calls a local TV station and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) first, before calling 911. BEFORE calling 911?
Your 6-year-old son is drifting off in a hot air balloon and 911 is your third call?
Did he want to ensure that the government did NOT blast the balloon out of the air? Then the best thing would be to call 911, wouldn't it?
If my son doesn’t get home from the school bus within minutes I’m calling him – where are you? And if for some reason I can’t reach him, I’m already thinking of what to tell the police to convince them that no, he didn’t run away and has never done this sort of thing before.
So am I going to say it’s a hoax? Nope, can’t say that because for one, I’m afraid of lawsuits. This family seems to have a lot more money than I do. (Plus I make cookies; they make hot-air balloons!) They have an attic atop their garage – I don’t even have a garage! Or a parking spot!
Police plan an announcement…I’m waiting to hear it.
In the meantime, please parents, (I think) it is better to have an emotionally secure, stable, well-adjusted kid who is not a celebrity, but doing well at school and has friends etc…than one who is getting chased by paparazzi or is paraded on live T.V. and has their embarrassing bodily malfunctions televised worldwide.
And (in an unrelated incident) would I have let my kid sit on the floor at an awards show just to hold Pamela Anderson’s train? According to news reports, the 9-year-old girl did not have her own seat - she had to sit at Pamela's feet all night!
Too much to say about this one...but WE are the sanctimonious finger-waggers who criticize child labor in India and other developing countries, where these kids work TO SURVIVE...AND SUPPORT ENTIRE FAMILIES.
See Why I Rave About Hypocrisy!
What do you think?
Friday, October 16, 2009
Sunday Blogger
Hello there…
I just launched an online endeavor.
I’ve wanted to do it for more than a year, but I was dragging my feet. I got the paperwork, set things up and was afraid to take the plunge.
I finally launched this week and it’s looking promising. But it takes a lot of my time. And I won’t be able to blog every day like I used to.
So I’ve decided to bcome a Sunday Blogger.
I got the idea from a report I saw on TV about a woman who only blogs on Sundays. I thought – perfect! I don’t have to give up blogging – and I can use my weekdays to focus on my enterprise!
I will have a new post on Sunday.
Please come back. I still have lots of opinions…on everything, and I’m still NOT afraid to say them – well, most of them!
Thanks,
Conlibe.
I just launched an online endeavor.
I’ve wanted to do it for more than a year, but I was dragging my feet. I got the paperwork, set things up and was afraid to take the plunge.
I finally launched this week and it’s looking promising. But it takes a lot of my time. And I won’t be able to blog every day like I used to.
So I’ve decided to bcome a Sunday Blogger.
I got the idea from a report I saw on TV about a woman who only blogs on Sundays. I thought – perfect! I don’t have to give up blogging – and I can use my weekdays to focus on my enterprise!
I will have a new post on Sunday.
Please come back. I still have lots of opinions…on everything, and I’m still NOT afraid to say them – well, most of them!
Thanks,
Conlibe.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
In the Land of the Gullible…
Say I commission a group of army families to conduct a study on the impact it will have on them, their families and that area… if their base is closed:
Their Study would probably conclude that if the government closed that base, it would be gloom and doom:
People would lose their jobs and livelihoods.
That area and its economy would be devastated.
The nation’s security will be compromised.
Contracts would be lost, etc.
Accusations that the base is polluting groundwater are unfounded – so far, only one case has been actually linked to groundwater contamination, and it’s yet to be proved that the base is the source.
Ask the affluent neighboring community that’s been agitating to close the base for years, and the results are likely to be completely different:
Only a few people would lose their jobs and livelihoods, most will be transferred elsewhere.
That area and its economy would be NOT devastated, other industries will move in.
The nation’s security won't be compromised – there is another base in the area.
The army should not be conducting tests in that area – and they will have statistics to prove how the base is harming the groundwater.
So which poll do you believe?
Now I’ve used a rather silly example to make my point, but studies, like polls, can be manipulated and sometimes are. It all depends on who is doing it…why they’re doing it.
So when the insurance industry comes out with its “Poll” about how expensive health Care reform will be to the nation...I take that with a grain of salt, or in this modern age, a dose of aspirin!
The last thing we need is an insurance company trying to convince us that when we are sick, don't worry, they will BE there!
They just refused to cover that really huge, 17-pound baby in Colorado.
They looked ahead and saw a possible lifetime of complaints and complications and told that bay and its family: Oh no – you’re very likely to be sick, you’re on your own, sorry!
Rocky Mountain Health Plans caved in after the public outcry. The company CEO says that policy is appropriate for adults who may be overweight, not for that baby!
So the rest of us are screwed! I’m not overweight, but I’m sure they’d find something to hold over me!
He also says they fixed the situation “without getting all emotional about it…and Washington could take a page out of their book.” Don’t even head to that library!
Yet insurance companies are trying to convince the rest of us that they will hold our hand all the way to the grave. Yep, Mr. nice, caring, sympathetic insurance company…I’m sure you can’t even spell “pre-existing condition!”
The Insurance Study found that: If the legislation the Senate Finance Committee voted (14-9) on yesterday (October 13, 2009) became law, health insurance premiums for the average family (which is what?) would increase by approximately 4-thousand-dollars a year.
They claim that premiums for a single person would go up by another 600 dollars.
Now the accounting firm (PricewaterhouseCoopers) that conducted the study says there are deficiencies in the data it prepared for America’s Health Insurance Plans.
Montana Democrat, Max Baucus, chairs the Senate Finance Committee. It cobbled together the latest Health Care Reform version.
(Baucus's involvement in efforts to reform health care amuse me. HE’s number four on the list of Washington congressmen getting donations from the health care industry and the top democrat.)
He called the report “a health insurance company hatchet job." Guess he was keeping his toes crossed - we'd see his fingers, or would we?
The Finance Committee's version seeks to expand insurance coverage to 29 million people who wouldn't otherwise be covered. Under that plan, nearly everyone would have to buy a policy and low- and moderate-income families will get subsidies to help them afford premiums.
The full Senate is slated to begin debate on the Bill the week of October 26.
Look for more studies … coming soon from self-interested parties around the country!
Their Study would probably conclude that if the government closed that base, it would be gloom and doom:
People would lose their jobs and livelihoods.
That area and its economy would be devastated.
The nation’s security will be compromised.
Contracts would be lost, etc.
Accusations that the base is polluting groundwater are unfounded – so far, only one case has been actually linked to groundwater contamination, and it’s yet to be proved that the base is the source.
Ask the affluent neighboring community that’s been agitating to close the base for years, and the results are likely to be completely different:
Only a few people would lose their jobs and livelihoods, most will be transferred elsewhere.
That area and its economy would be NOT devastated, other industries will move in.
The nation’s security won't be compromised – there is another base in the area.
The army should not be conducting tests in that area – and they will have statistics to prove how the base is harming the groundwater.
So which poll do you believe?
Now I’ve used a rather silly example to make my point, but studies, like polls, can be manipulated and sometimes are. It all depends on who is doing it…why they’re doing it.
So when the insurance industry comes out with its “Poll” about how expensive health Care reform will be to the nation...I take that with a grain of salt, or in this modern age, a dose of aspirin!
The last thing we need is an insurance company trying to convince us that when we are sick, don't worry, they will BE there!
They just refused to cover that really huge, 17-pound baby in Colorado.
They looked ahead and saw a possible lifetime of complaints and complications and told that bay and its family: Oh no – you’re very likely to be sick, you’re on your own, sorry!
Rocky Mountain Health Plans caved in after the public outcry. The company CEO says that policy is appropriate for adults who may be overweight, not for that baby!
So the rest of us are screwed! I’m not overweight, but I’m sure they’d find something to hold over me!
He also says they fixed the situation “without getting all emotional about it…and Washington could take a page out of their book.” Don’t even head to that library!
Yet insurance companies are trying to convince the rest of us that they will hold our hand all the way to the grave. Yep, Mr. nice, caring, sympathetic insurance company…I’m sure you can’t even spell “pre-existing condition!”
The Insurance Study found that: If the legislation the Senate Finance Committee voted (14-9) on yesterday (October 13, 2009) became law, health insurance premiums for the average family (which is what?) would increase by approximately 4-thousand-dollars a year.
They claim that premiums for a single person would go up by another 600 dollars.
Now the accounting firm (PricewaterhouseCoopers) that conducted the study says there are deficiencies in the data it prepared for America’s Health Insurance Plans.
Montana Democrat, Max Baucus, chairs the Senate Finance Committee. It cobbled together the latest Health Care Reform version.
(Baucus's involvement in efforts to reform health care amuse me. HE’s number four on the list of Washington congressmen getting donations from the health care industry and the top democrat.)
He called the report “a health insurance company hatchet job." Guess he was keeping his toes crossed - we'd see his fingers, or would we?
The Finance Committee's version seeks to expand insurance coverage to 29 million people who wouldn't otherwise be covered. Under that plan, nearly everyone would have to buy a policy and low- and moderate-income families will get subsidies to help them afford premiums.
The full Senate is slated to begin debate on the Bill the week of October 26.
Look for more studies … coming soon from self-interested parties around the country!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Crying Time Again…
If you are a Boston Red Sox fan and you know this song…please sing along, if you can. Then look for my “Disappointed Fan Version” below…
CRYING TIME
(Owens)
Ray Charles - 1966
Oh, it's crying time again, you're gonna leave me
I can see that far away look in your eyes
I can tell by the way you hold me darling Oooh
That it won't be long before it's crying time
Now they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder (fonder)
And that tears are only rain to make love grow
Well my love for you could never grow no stronger (stronger)
If I lived to be a hundred years old
Oh, it's crying time again, you're gonna leave me
I can see that far away look in your eyes
I can tell by the way you hold me darling. Yeah now
That it won't be long before it's crying time
Now you say you've found someone that you love better (better)
That's the way it's happened every time before
And as sure as the sun comes up tomorrow ('morrow)
Crying time will start when you walk out the door
Oh, it's crying time again, you're gonna leave me
I can see that far away look in your eyes
I can tell by the way you hold me darling. Alright now
That it won't be long before it's crying time (2x)
“Disappointed Fan Version”
Conlibe - 2009
Oh it’s Crying Time again…
Angels swept Sox from Playoffs
I can see that look of despair in our eyes
I could tell…by the way the Sox were playing
That it wouldn’t be long before the Crying Time….
Now they say that there’s next year and the year after
And our tears will only make Big Papi strong
‘cause our love for him could never grow no stronger
If we lived to be a hundred years or more
Oh, it's crying time again, the Yankees made it
And they'll taunt us the next season opener
I could tell - by the way that team was playing
There'd be NO wet tissues on their floor this year
Some fans say they’ve found a team that they love better
That's the way it's happened every time before
But if the PATS win each and every game tomorrow
Crying time won’t stop till Red Sox win some more
Oh, it's crying time again, no AL East games hyah!
Fenway Park will now be shuttered, silent, dark
We all know that Papelbon will not be dancing
And the Swan Boats won’t be parading this year!
Oh well…can’t be all serious and talking about Health Care Reform. Can we? Let’s take time off for some fun…or despair!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Hypocrisy and Enclave Politics
There are many issues to blog about.
War, Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Economy – to stimulate or not to stimulate? Health Care…Boston Red Sox out of the playoffs (Angels?) and Boston fans' new chapter of “Keeping Hope Alive” (which reminds me of Jesse Jackson – why is he so quiet? What's HE is up to, I wonder!?
I’ll probably touch those topics at some point….
However, to me, the story that slipped under the radar occurred in California.
Does the name: Tom Ammiano ring a bell? Probably won’t to most people.
Does the name: Joe Wilson ring a bell? Probably does.
U.S. Congressman Wilson, (Republican from South Carolina) became a household name after he shouted “You lie” to President Obama during a nationally televised joint session of Congress in September, 2009.
Ammiano is a Democrat, a state assemblyman from California. He shouted "You lie!" to California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who dropped in on a Democratic fundraiser in San Francisco Wednesday night, (Oct. 07, 2009).
Schwarzenegger who can be gracious (when he’s NOT castigating gays or immigrants, he’d probably want me to say illegal immigrants, which is more convenient) laughed it off by saying that: He got an even rougher ride when he decided to marry his wife, a member of the Kennedy clan. (His wife's mom was sister to U.S. President John F. Kennedy).
What has happened to graciousness, politeness and courtesy? Here you have a moderate republican like Arnold Schwarzenegger, (don’t we all have our flaws?) who was brave enough (he’s the Terminator, after all) to drop in at a Democratic fundraiser and speak…
And instead of listening to what HE has to say and engaging him in discourse and dialog, the morons there were booing and disrespectful.
So if George Bush comes to a function here in Boston, do we shout: The English are coming back!? Is that it?
I thought it was extremely rude of Mr. Ammiano (and I use the Mister with reserve) to shout “you lie” to the California governor. You dummy!
And that’s NOT all. According to published reports (I’ve never heard of Ammiano and know nothing about him) Ammiano is a veteran gay rights campaigner. Schwarzenegger's stance that marriage is between a man and a woman is unacceptable to gays.
However, instead of cornering the governor after the function and talking to him, which would be too much of a polite thing to do in today’s America, Ammiano reportedly walked out, shouting as he left: "Kiss my gay ass."
I doubt governor Schwarzenegger wants to kiss your gay ass, Ammiano. For that you may need to see another republican…the one who was hiding in the airport bathroom stall…
The event’s host, former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, invited Schwarzenegger, INVITED him, to the event.
So why is nobody outraged?
• Is it because it was NOT president Obama, whom I admire and adore?
• Is it because Schwarzenegger is just a governor, and too low down the Totem Pole – he’s NOT president or a U.S Representative or Senator?
• Is it because Schwarzenegger is a Republican? They’re dissing everybody so let’s diss them too?
• Or do we not care anymore?
Hypocrisy at work!
How clearly can we see through the thick haze of “enclave politics” (have I just coined a term?) that’s now permeating this country?
Ammiano’s reasons for disagreeing with the governor may be sound and valid. Apart from their sexual preferences, there’s also the legislative feuding between California’s republican governor and its legislature.
Schwarzenegger wants lawmakers to agree on a plan to upgrade the state’s aging water system and was threatening to veto everything. (He lifted his veto threat today, Oct. 12, 2009.)
Ammiano is a stand-up comedian. But while many of us will agree that politics and politicians these days are becoming a joke, this is NOT funny!
This “New Rudeness Deal” started with the republicans (well, rudeness didn’t start WITH them) but they do propagate it and nurture it to suit their ends.
Hillary Clinton was a bitch? Remember? A former first lady…of the country - but because they don’t like her, they feel no compunction to be respectful?
Just as now they see Obama as a little black boy…and they’ll be damned if they will respect him.
Democrats, people of good sense, Americans…don’t go down that path…tempting as it may seem.
Remember, what you sow…as the Bible they supposedly read says…is what you reap. (Supposedly read, in between having their adulterous flings … and corrupt dealings … and planning new strategies to screw working people and poor people so their rich friends can buy another yacht).
U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson’s infamous "You lie!" outburst has reportedly paid off for him, big time.
And he’s poised to have the most lucrative fundraising quarter of any member of Congress.
Hey, rudeness pays. Don’t you dare tell your kids NOT to tell that person who could use that shower that junior won’t kiss him/her because said person doesn’t smell good. Don’t you dare!!
Encourage them, urge them to go on…say it! Then give the kid a treat! Good job!!!
War, Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Economy – to stimulate or not to stimulate? Health Care…Boston Red Sox out of the playoffs (Angels?) and Boston fans' new chapter of “Keeping Hope Alive” (which reminds me of Jesse Jackson – why is he so quiet? What's HE is up to, I wonder!?
I’ll probably touch those topics at some point….
However, to me, the story that slipped under the radar occurred in California.
Does the name: Tom Ammiano ring a bell? Probably won’t to most people.
Does the name: Joe Wilson ring a bell? Probably does.
U.S. Congressman Wilson, (Republican from South Carolina) became a household name after he shouted “You lie” to President Obama during a nationally televised joint session of Congress in September, 2009.
Ammiano is a Democrat, a state assemblyman from California. He shouted "You lie!" to California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who dropped in on a Democratic fundraiser in San Francisco Wednesday night, (Oct. 07, 2009).
Schwarzenegger who can be gracious (when he’s NOT castigating gays or immigrants, he’d probably want me to say illegal immigrants, which is more convenient) laughed it off by saying that: He got an even rougher ride when he decided to marry his wife, a member of the Kennedy clan. (His wife's mom was sister to U.S. President John F. Kennedy).
What has happened to graciousness, politeness and courtesy? Here you have a moderate republican like Arnold Schwarzenegger, (don’t we all have our flaws?) who was brave enough (he’s the Terminator, after all) to drop in at a Democratic fundraiser and speak…
And instead of listening to what HE has to say and engaging him in discourse and dialog, the morons there were booing and disrespectful.
So if George Bush comes to a function here in Boston, do we shout: The English are coming back!? Is that it?
I thought it was extremely rude of Mr. Ammiano (and I use the Mister with reserve) to shout “you lie” to the California governor. You dummy!
And that’s NOT all. According to published reports (I’ve never heard of Ammiano and know nothing about him) Ammiano is a veteran gay rights campaigner. Schwarzenegger's stance that marriage is between a man and a woman is unacceptable to gays.
However, instead of cornering the governor after the function and talking to him, which would be too much of a polite thing to do in today’s America, Ammiano reportedly walked out, shouting as he left: "Kiss my gay ass."
I doubt governor Schwarzenegger wants to kiss your gay ass, Ammiano. For that you may need to see another republican…the one who was hiding in the airport bathroom stall…
The event’s host, former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, invited Schwarzenegger, INVITED him, to the event.
So why is nobody outraged?
• Is it because it was NOT president Obama, whom I admire and adore?
• Is it because Schwarzenegger is just a governor, and too low down the Totem Pole – he’s NOT president or a U.S Representative or Senator?
• Is it because Schwarzenegger is a Republican? They’re dissing everybody so let’s diss them too?
• Or do we not care anymore?
Hypocrisy at work!
How clearly can we see through the thick haze of “enclave politics” (have I just coined a term?) that’s now permeating this country?
Ammiano’s reasons for disagreeing with the governor may be sound and valid. Apart from their sexual preferences, there’s also the legislative feuding between California’s republican governor and its legislature.
Schwarzenegger wants lawmakers to agree on a plan to upgrade the state’s aging water system and was threatening to veto everything. (He lifted his veto threat today, Oct. 12, 2009.)
Ammiano is a stand-up comedian. But while many of us will agree that politics and politicians these days are becoming a joke, this is NOT funny!
This “New Rudeness Deal” started with the republicans (well, rudeness didn’t start WITH them) but they do propagate it and nurture it to suit their ends.
Hillary Clinton was a bitch? Remember? A former first lady…of the country - but because they don’t like her, they feel no compunction to be respectful?
Just as now they see Obama as a little black boy…and they’ll be damned if they will respect him.
Democrats, people of good sense, Americans…don’t go down that path…tempting as it may seem.
Remember, what you sow…as the Bible they supposedly read says…is what you reap. (Supposedly read, in between having their adulterous flings … and corrupt dealings … and planning new strategies to screw working people and poor people so their rich friends can buy another yacht).
U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson’s infamous "You lie!" outburst has reportedly paid off for him, big time.
And he’s poised to have the most lucrative fundraising quarter of any member of Congress.
Hey, rudeness pays. Don’t you dare tell your kids NOT to tell that person who could use that shower that junior won’t kiss him/her because said person doesn’t smell good. Don’t you dare!!
Encourage them, urge them to go on…say it! Then give the kid a treat! Good job!!!
Friday, October 9, 2009
Good Lover/Bad Lover
Shortly before news broke about the sexual shenanigans of one David Letterman, CBS’s resident Don Juan (forgive me, I studied Keats); I came across this article about a “bad lovers” poll.
Seems some countries have good lovers, others have great lovers and some, like America, have bad lovers!
You heard right. Americans are bad lovers. Nothing was said about the number of lovers that one has – just the quality of the loving.
Here’s how it breaks down:
Latin lovers are the best. Seems those hot-blooded Spaniards take the cake, literally.
U.K. marketing firm, OnePoll, put Spanish lovers on top – followed by Brazil, Italy and France.
Remember gentle peoples, 20 million Frenchmen cannot be wrong! And for the cartoon lovers, think Pepe Le Phew! The love-struck, over-aggressive skunk that’s into white stripes! Perpetually chasing Le pussy ferocious! La belle femme skunk fatale!!
Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and Canada round out the Top Ten BEST Lovers List.
I wonder if there’s something in olive oil, virgin olive oil that people are missing out on here in America?
In the bad lover category, Germans are number one. They’re described as unhygienic – too smelly; and the worst in bed.
Ironic, I guess, that the perfume style called Cologne or Eau de Cologne originated from the great German city of: Cologne! An Italian perfumer launched the fragrance there in 1709.
The poll of 15-hundred women from 20 countries rate English men second on the Worst Lovers List. Seems English chaps are too prim and proper…and lazy. Hey Simon Cowell – how about that?
Swedes are criticized for being too quick. My aunt is married to a Swede. Have you ever been to Sweden – in the winter? It is cold! Who wants to be uncovered that long?
Number four on the bad lovers list is Holland: Too dominating. Maybe they’re gotten too used to conquering...dams-els?
Which takes us to number five: Americans. Now usually when referring to Americans, I say us and we. Not this time. Sorry. In this instance I’m from the Caribbean.
According to the poll, Americans, YOU - are uncomfortably rough. Please guys; you have already conquered the West! OK.
Greeks – too annoyingly lovey-dovey! Aristotle…lovey- dovey?
The Welsh are too selfish. Now we understand why Princess Diana…never mind! We'll keep that low down to ourselves!
Scots too loud – MY OH MY!
Turks are too sweaty…
And Russians are too hairy. Hey I’ve seen Putin in shorts (only on TV - Russian secrets are safe) and he looks grrreat!
I notice they didn’t poll in black countries. (I bet South Africa was white South Africa). They didn’t go to Soweto! Come on!
(The saying about black men - and women: Once you go black, no looking back!)
Having bitten the good lovin’ bug, I wanted to know more. So I...Googled, of course...and this came up.
When it comes to sex, seems sports are a game stopper. According to website areyouromantic.com: (Well, are you?)
One in four men would give up sex for at least a month to ensure that his favorite team wins the Super Bowl!
15-percent would give it up for the entire season. 11 percent would give it up for however long it takes.
17-percent of men think their team’s performance on the field affects their performance in bed.
Nearly 30-percent of men think they have better sex after their team wins!
And about one in five sports fans delay sex until after the game is over!
I don’t know the nationality of these men. But based on the previous poll, I’d say they are not Spanish!
The Germans (Visigoths) invaded and occupied Spain in the 5th to 8th centuries. However: as History tells us, they did NOT leave much of a permanent mark on Hispanic culture. Otherwise, Spanish men would probably be up there with Germans on the Worst Lovers List.
Coming soon: "The Art of Seduction" by David Letterman.
Oops, I forgot. He's American. Sorry Dave…
Seems some countries have good lovers, others have great lovers and some, like America, have bad lovers!
You heard right. Americans are bad lovers. Nothing was said about the number of lovers that one has – just the quality of the loving.
Here’s how it breaks down:
Latin lovers are the best. Seems those hot-blooded Spaniards take the cake, literally.
U.K. marketing firm, OnePoll, put Spanish lovers on top – followed by Brazil, Italy and France.
Remember gentle peoples, 20 million Frenchmen cannot be wrong! And for the cartoon lovers, think Pepe Le Phew! The love-struck, over-aggressive skunk that’s into white stripes! Perpetually chasing Le pussy ferocious! La belle femme skunk fatale!!
Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and Canada round out the Top Ten BEST Lovers List.
I wonder if there’s something in olive oil, virgin olive oil that people are missing out on here in America?
In the bad lover category, Germans are number one. They’re described as unhygienic – too smelly; and the worst in bed.
Ironic, I guess, that the perfume style called Cologne or Eau de Cologne originated from the great German city of: Cologne! An Italian perfumer launched the fragrance there in 1709.
The poll of 15-hundred women from 20 countries rate English men second on the Worst Lovers List. Seems English chaps are too prim and proper…and lazy. Hey Simon Cowell – how about that?
Swedes are criticized for being too quick. My aunt is married to a Swede. Have you ever been to Sweden – in the winter? It is cold! Who wants to be uncovered that long?
Number four on the bad lovers list is Holland: Too dominating. Maybe they’re gotten too used to conquering...dams-els?
Which takes us to number five: Americans. Now usually when referring to Americans, I say us and we. Not this time. Sorry. In this instance I’m from the Caribbean.
According to the poll, Americans, YOU - are uncomfortably rough. Please guys; you have already conquered the West! OK.
Greeks – too annoyingly lovey-dovey! Aristotle…lovey- dovey?
The Welsh are too selfish. Now we understand why Princess Diana…never mind! We'll keep that low down to ourselves!
Scots too loud – MY OH MY!
Turks are too sweaty…
And Russians are too hairy. Hey I’ve seen Putin in shorts (only on TV - Russian secrets are safe) and he looks grrreat!
I notice they didn’t poll in black countries. (I bet South Africa was white South Africa). They didn’t go to Soweto! Come on!
(The saying about black men - and women: Once you go black, no looking back!)
Having bitten the good lovin’ bug, I wanted to know more. So I...Googled, of course...and this came up.
When it comes to sex, seems sports are a game stopper. According to website areyouromantic.com: (Well, are you?)
One in four men would give up sex for at least a month to ensure that his favorite team wins the Super Bowl!
15-percent would give it up for the entire season. 11 percent would give it up for however long it takes.
17-percent of men think their team’s performance on the field affects their performance in bed.
Nearly 30-percent of men think they have better sex after their team wins!
And about one in five sports fans delay sex until after the game is over!
I don’t know the nationality of these men. But based on the previous poll, I’d say they are not Spanish!
The Germans (Visigoths) invaded and occupied Spain in the 5th to 8th centuries. However: as History tells us, they did NOT leave much of a permanent mark on Hispanic culture. Otherwise, Spanish men would probably be up there with Germans on the Worst Lovers List.
Coming soon: "The Art of Seduction" by David Letterman.
Oops, I forgot. He's American. Sorry Dave…
Thursday, October 8, 2009
SEX AND THE (Arlington, MA) SCHOOL DISTRICT
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Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Afghanistan Conundrum
The Soviets invaded and occupied Afghanistan but it was such a headache - they packed up and left. Well they didn’t pack up that much – they just left!
The Soviets started moving into Afghanistan December 24, 1979. The last Soviet troops started withdrawing in 1988 and by February 1989, they were all gone.
The U.S was best friends with the "resistance" then - the Mujahideen. The CIA armed/supplied and trained the Mujahideen to the tune of 600 million dollars per year. (Multiply that by 10 and tell me again why we can’t fund Health Care for Americans?).
Is yesterday’s Mujahideen today’s Taliban?
Over a million Afghans were killed in that war. Millions were displaced within their own country and millions more sought refuge in neighboring countries like Pakistan and Iran…
Millions more were maimed or wounded and according to Wikipedia: In the 1980s, one out of two refugees in the world was an Afghan.
Today, when we talk about the Afghan War, we’re not talking about the Soviet’s Viet Nam – we’re talking about our current quagmire.
In October 2001, a U.S. led invasion ousted Afghanistan’s Taliban government. The al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the September Eleven terror attacks were Taliban protégés.
But instead of focusing on Afghanistan, President George W. Bush invaded Iraq.
That wild goose chase was a mistake, a distraction, a dead end, a regional destabilizer and anti-American incubator.
Now President Obama’s top Afghanistan commander is asking for as many as 40-thousand more soldiers. Congressional Republicans are also pushing for more troops. No surprise there – these people would send troops to fight Polar Bears in Iceland!
But there is division among the ranks. The Pentagon’s top three military commanders overseeing the war want to accept McChrystal's recommendations. Others, like Vice President Joe Biden, want the U.S focus on counterterrorism. That would involve using unmanned drones and Special Forces to target top Taliban and al-Qaida leaders…without involving more troops.
So which can we afford or are willing to pay for? More troops and more war – or Health Care?
It would have been easier to decide if things were quiet. But a fierce Taliban attack over the October 4 weekend killed eight U.S. soldiers - and added to the pressure.
So what can America do? What can President Obama do?
There are at least three things that He/America CAN do.
1. He/we can pack up and leave.
Either tell the Afghans to heck with you…
I’ve had enough of your corruption, your flawed elections, your infighting and your traditions that don’t make sense to me. In short, I’ve had enough of you.
Or:
Thank you very much. But I don't want any more dead soldiers. I don’t think Afghanistan will ever be “safe” and “secure” and “democratic” - whatever that means.
I/We tried. We really, really wanted to help. But this war is too expensive and we, regrettably, have to leave now.
To which the Afghans will say: You’re screwing us (would they say screwing? maybe not) deserting us again.
And we say: Sorry!
Or:
A combination of the above where we say: To heck with you. We tried and we
got nowhere.
2. He/We can say: I AM sending more troops. I am NOT leaving until I am sure that the elements of the Taliban I’m after are completely routed from Afghanistan AND Pakistan! Not only will I send more troops, if you kill those troops, I will keep on sending troops until that corner of The Axis of Evil is no longer evil!
Or:
He/We can keep the status quo – no new troops and limp along.
I’m just happy I’m not making that decision, but if I was, I’d pack up, call the Soviets, ask them the easiest way out of Afghanistan, then get the hell out! Fast!
Leaving would be sad. We’ve poured billions of dollars into that war and have little, if anything, to show for it. Yet we can’t afford health Care Reform.
America – are you listening – and deciding? Or are you too busy returning to your old shopping ways to bother about trivial things like the Afghan war or Health Care Reform? No demonstrations, no phone calls to representatives, no town-hall style denunciations - Nada?
According to White House press secretary Robert Gibbs:
"I don't think we have the option to leave. That's quite clear." Sometimes I wonder about Gibbs! You don’t have the option to leave? Why? We started off with it, I hope? So where did that option go?
When President Obama installed Stanley McChrystal as commander in Afghanistan earlier this year, Obama asked the general to assess the war. McChrystal told the President that if America did not significantly increase its troop strength in Afghanistan, the U.S. would NOT be able to gain the upper hand over the Taliban and Al-Qaida.
Supposing he's right and we rout out current Taliban elements, what are the guarantees that future elements will not appear?
White House officials say the President is likely to take weeks before making a decision.
So here we are, back at Square One. President Obama could of course take the middle road and say: I don’t support sending more troops, but since the general is there on the ground and HE wants more troops, I’m going to send some more. If things don’t turn around by a set date, I’m pulling the plug.
Let us remember, though, that bombs are not necessarily the way to go, these days. The new century calls for a new kind of war. Schnitzel has become more potent than shrapnel. Détente is more embraced than detonations.
…..Meantime, A new poll finds 42-percent of Americans now think we made "a mistake" in sending military forces to Afghanistan”.
A similar poll in January 2002 found only 6-percent of Americans thought the Afghan war was "a mistake.
The Soviets started moving into Afghanistan December 24, 1979. The last Soviet troops started withdrawing in 1988 and by February 1989, they were all gone.
The U.S was best friends with the "resistance" then - the Mujahideen. The CIA armed/supplied and trained the Mujahideen to the tune of 600 million dollars per year. (Multiply that by 10 and tell me again why we can’t fund Health Care for Americans?).
Is yesterday’s Mujahideen today’s Taliban?
Over a million Afghans were killed in that war. Millions were displaced within their own country and millions more sought refuge in neighboring countries like Pakistan and Iran…
Millions more were maimed or wounded and according to Wikipedia: In the 1980s, one out of two refugees in the world was an Afghan.
Today, when we talk about the Afghan War, we’re not talking about the Soviet’s Viet Nam – we’re talking about our current quagmire.
In October 2001, a U.S. led invasion ousted Afghanistan’s Taliban government. The al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the September Eleven terror attacks were Taliban protégés.
But instead of focusing on Afghanistan, President George W. Bush invaded Iraq.
That wild goose chase was a mistake, a distraction, a dead end, a regional destabilizer and anti-American incubator.
Now President Obama’s top Afghanistan commander is asking for as many as 40-thousand more soldiers. Congressional Republicans are also pushing for more troops. No surprise there – these people would send troops to fight Polar Bears in Iceland!
But there is division among the ranks. The Pentagon’s top three military commanders overseeing the war want to accept McChrystal's recommendations. Others, like Vice President Joe Biden, want the U.S focus on counterterrorism. That would involve using unmanned drones and Special Forces to target top Taliban and al-Qaida leaders…without involving more troops.
So which can we afford or are willing to pay for? More troops and more war – or Health Care?
It would have been easier to decide if things were quiet. But a fierce Taliban attack over the October 4 weekend killed eight U.S. soldiers - and added to the pressure.
So what can America do? What can President Obama do?
There are at least three things that He/America CAN do.
1. He/we can pack up and leave.
Either tell the Afghans to heck with you…
I’ve had enough of your corruption, your flawed elections, your infighting and your traditions that don’t make sense to me. In short, I’ve had enough of you.
Or:
Thank you very much. But I don't want any more dead soldiers. I don’t think Afghanistan will ever be “safe” and “secure” and “democratic” - whatever that means.
I/We tried. We really, really wanted to help. But this war is too expensive and we, regrettably, have to leave now.
To which the Afghans will say: You’re screwing us (would they say screwing? maybe not) deserting us again.
And we say: Sorry!
Or:
A combination of the above where we say: To heck with you. We tried and we
got nowhere.
2. He/We can say: I AM sending more troops. I am NOT leaving until I am sure that the elements of the Taliban I’m after are completely routed from Afghanistan AND Pakistan! Not only will I send more troops, if you kill those troops, I will keep on sending troops until that corner of The Axis of Evil is no longer evil!
Or:
He/We can keep the status quo – no new troops and limp along.
I’m just happy I’m not making that decision, but if I was, I’d pack up, call the Soviets, ask them the easiest way out of Afghanistan, then get the hell out! Fast!
Leaving would be sad. We’ve poured billions of dollars into that war and have little, if anything, to show for it. Yet we can’t afford health Care Reform.
America – are you listening – and deciding? Or are you too busy returning to your old shopping ways to bother about trivial things like the Afghan war or Health Care Reform? No demonstrations, no phone calls to representatives, no town-hall style denunciations - Nada?
According to White House press secretary Robert Gibbs:
"I don't think we have the option to leave. That's quite clear." Sometimes I wonder about Gibbs! You don’t have the option to leave? Why? We started off with it, I hope? So where did that option go?
When President Obama installed Stanley McChrystal as commander in Afghanistan earlier this year, Obama asked the general to assess the war. McChrystal told the President that if America did not significantly increase its troop strength in Afghanistan, the U.S. would NOT be able to gain the upper hand over the Taliban and Al-Qaida.
Supposing he's right and we rout out current Taliban elements, what are the guarantees that future elements will not appear?
White House officials say the President is likely to take weeks before making a decision.
So here we are, back at Square One. President Obama could of course take the middle road and say: I don’t support sending more troops, but since the general is there on the ground and HE wants more troops, I’m going to send some more. If things don’t turn around by a set date, I’m pulling the plug.
Let us remember, though, that bombs are not necessarily the way to go, these days. The new century calls for a new kind of war. Schnitzel has become more potent than shrapnel. Détente is more embraced than detonations.
…..Meantime, A new poll finds 42-percent of Americans now think we made "a mistake" in sending military forces to Afghanistan”.
A similar poll in January 2002 found only 6-percent of Americans thought the Afghan war was "a mistake.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Top Ten Things David Letterman Should Do!
1. Rent out that bachelor pad atop his studio – you are not a bachelor anymore
2. Do not meet Bill Clinton for drinks
3. Call his ex-lovers and ask them to get rid of their diaries, pronto
4. Change the name of his production company to: Faithful Overalls
5. Stop trying to make the unfunny funny - only funny is funny and this is NOT funny!
6. Stop confessing to the audience. Go see a shrink
7. Start a company in Hollywood titled: Beating Losers At Their Own Game
8. Get a contract stipulation that all future assistants be gay females
9. Do not ever crack any more jokes about aging philanderers
10. Hold on dearly to that lawyer of his
I have never really watched either the David Letterman Show (CBS) or The Tonight Show with or without Jay Leno (NBC) – and I don’t intend to start now.
Whenever I’m up late and these shows come on, I usually switch to a news/sports channel.
On Monday night, I was a bit lazy to get up immediately, because I was just a few minutes away from finishing what I was doing, so Letterman came on.
I must admit, I was a bit curious as to what HE would say, given the revelations about his alleged Sexual Liaisons Room – or Bachelor Pad – or bedroom, whatever above his set in the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway.
Monday's show was Letterman’s first show since announcing, Thursday that a CBS producer had tried to blackmail him for 2-million-dollars over the late night host’s sexual relationships with women who worked for him.
The producer pleaded not guilty to extortion charges, last week.
Scandals seem to be good for ratings. Letterman got a lot of applause when he came on. The gist of Letterman’s comments are in italics, not necessarily verbatim. He started off (his monologue?) by asking the audience about their weekend:
His weekend?: It just flew by…and that he’d give anything right now to be hiking on the Appalachian Trail. (Reference to South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford who was visiting his mistress in Argentina. An aide said the governor was hiking along the Appalachian Trail "to kind of clear his head after the legislative session.”) Lots of applause.
He got into the car in the morning and the navigation lady wasn’t talking to him (applause) ouch! Lots more applause…there’s a possibility that he will be the first talk-show host to be impeached…applause…it’s fall in New York City…he spent the weekend raking his hate mail…applause…cold too, chilly outside my house, chilly inside my house…more laughter.
I turned my T.V. off at this point. In the past, whenever I spoke about Mr. Letterman before, it was usually to refer to his salary.
According to a 2002 Forbes article (The Celebrity 100: The Producer, by Peter Kafka), Letterman’s five year contract renewal with CBS for The Late Show, was worth some 350-million-dollars; more than $155 million of was slated to go straight to Letterman
CBS pays Letterman a $31 million salary on top of the license fees it pays to his production company: Worldwide Pants. CBS even lets Letterman's people run the shows as they wish, from staffing decisions to celebrity bookings.
According to Forbes, Letterman’s contract with CBS included:
1. Letterman, rather than the network, would own Late Show (11:30 p.m.)
2. Letterman would also have the opportunity to control and own a show in the time period that followed it
3. He would have a development deal funded by CBS.
Jay Leno did not own a stake in the Tonight Show.
Months before Letterman’s contract was set to expire in August 2007, Letterman inked a contract extension with CBS that expires next year, 2010. He is currently paid 40-million-dollars (according to Forbes; others say $31 million) a year.
40 million a year breaks down to: 3.3 million a month. Just under 800-thousand-dollars a week.
Letterman’s company Worldwide Pants does own the program that follows Letterman’s Late Show: It's called: “The Late Late Show.” Worldwide Pants is also behind hits like Everybody Loves Raymond.
With a production company called: Worldwide Pants, I’m not shocked he can’t keep his pants on.
Isn’t there some subliminal significance there?
Monday, October 5, 2009
Michael Capuano
As a relatively recent Massachusetts resident, I know about Mike Dukakis. I have heard about Mayor Kevin White. I could have recognized Ted Kennedy anywhere.
John Kerry, Mitt Romney, Deval Patrick are household names. I’ve seen Martha Coakley so much on TV; I’d probably know her anywhere.
How can I not know about Barney Frank or the intrepid Steven Lynch.
(Lynch, in my opinion and in the eyes of many others) embarrassed himself before America by chastising Edward Liddy, the new CEO of A.I.G, American International Group. AIG and its convoluted deal-making was the catalyst behind the financial meltdown.
Mr. Libby left retirement because the government asked him to come and help unravel the AIG mess and help clean house…a job Libby decided to do for a dollar-a-year!
But at a Congressional Hearing, our representative, Mr. Lynch, decided to live up to his name and lynch Libby for paying out huge bonuses after AIG’s bailout.
Libby, who was just one cog on a bigger wheel of blame, took offense at Mr. Lynch’s statement. To which our congressman replied, with a mixture of pomp, sarcasm and Shakespearean drama: “Well, offense was intended…so you take it rightfully, sir.” At least he was polite!
Yes, I know about Mr. Lynch. He made his mark with this one!
I even know about Sheriff Andrea Cabral, the die-hard Hillary Clinton supporter and of course Mayor Menino and challengers Michael Flaherty, Sam Yoon and even Kevin McCrea. But who is Mike Capuano?
He’s running for Ted Kennedy’s vacant seat, but I had to Google him. I don’t know whom it says more about – Capuano, or me?!
According to his website, Michael Everett Capuano is serving his sixth term as a Representative in Congress for Massachusetts' Eighth District, which includes Cambridge, Chelsea, Somerville and approximately 70-percent of Boston.
Boston? Really? Where have I been?
Mr. Capuano is a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the House Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on House Administration. He is chair of the Subcommittee on Capitol Security.
In November of 2006, Capuano was appointed to head the Transition by then Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi as Democrats prepared for a majority role in the 110th Congress. In January of 2007, Speaker Pelosi appointed Capuano to chair the Special Task Force on Ethics Enforcement.
The current congressman was Mayor (1990-1998) of Boston’s neighboring city of Somerville, MA and holds a law degree from Boston College Law School.
I have heard the name Capuano before in connection with politics. But I knew nothing about him. And for somebody who’s serving his sixth term in congress, I find that odd.
But now, I shall not forget congressman Capuano. Just like Congressman Stephen Lynch, he burned his id on me (Can that happen?) on Sunday (October 4, 2009).
Boston’s local ABC affiliate, WCVB, started a new Sunday morning show called: “On The Record”. It’s a bit like "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" meets the Jim Braude Show (NECN).
According to WCVB, the weekly show (hosts Ed Harding and political reporter Janet Wu) aims to ask some of the tough questions of politicians in the Bay State, getting candidates to speak about the issues On The Record.
Sunday’s guest was U.S. Representative Michael Capuano…and boy, did he go On My Record.
Mr. Capuano is running for senate on the premise that HE can best carry on Ted Kennedy’s legacy.
In the question segment Harding suggested that since Capuano wants to be the Senator from Massachusetts, should he win, these questions on current events are likely to cross his desk at some point.
1. Who is the PRIME MINISTER OF PAKISTAN?
Mr. Capuano didn’t know.
Answer: Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani (56)
(Not that I know either. But I’m not running for the senate and so I can Google the answer.)
2. Next question: Since 2001, what’s the cost of the Afghanistan war?
Mr. Capuano didn’t know. Harding said: 227.9 million. Capuano said he’d have guessed lower; about 180 million. Harding said, not million, Billion – with a B! I can’t figure out if Harding made an honest mistake!
3. Question number 3: What is HR3200?
Capuano didn’t know. Even I know that one. Hello? Angry town hall meetings? Public Option? It’s The Health Care Bill.
4. Question number four (multiple choice): How many kids/teens in the U.S. are obese: 1 in 3, one in 30, one in 300, one in 3-thousand?. Capuano got it.
Yes!
I don’t know what else they talked about – I tuned out after that.
Really congressman Capuano..? What if Harding had asked you about the viability of Ireland’s Technology Industry and whether it was siphoning jobs away from Massachusetts?
Oh well, what can I say?
Clearly, Mike Capuano is NO Ted Kennedy!
John Kerry, Mitt Romney, Deval Patrick are household names. I’ve seen Martha Coakley so much on TV; I’d probably know her anywhere.
How can I not know about Barney Frank or the intrepid Steven Lynch.
(Lynch, in my opinion and in the eyes of many others) embarrassed himself before America by chastising Edward Liddy, the new CEO of A.I.G, American International Group. AIG and its convoluted deal-making was the catalyst behind the financial meltdown.
Mr. Libby left retirement because the government asked him to come and help unravel the AIG mess and help clean house…a job Libby decided to do for a dollar-a-year!
But at a Congressional Hearing, our representative, Mr. Lynch, decided to live up to his name and lynch Libby for paying out huge bonuses after AIG’s bailout.
Libby, who was just one cog on a bigger wheel of blame, took offense at Mr. Lynch’s statement. To which our congressman replied, with a mixture of pomp, sarcasm and Shakespearean drama: “Well, offense was intended…so you take it rightfully, sir.” At least he was polite!
Yes, I know about Mr. Lynch. He made his mark with this one!
I even know about Sheriff Andrea Cabral, the die-hard Hillary Clinton supporter and of course Mayor Menino and challengers Michael Flaherty, Sam Yoon and even Kevin McCrea. But who is Mike Capuano?
He’s running for Ted Kennedy’s vacant seat, but I had to Google him. I don’t know whom it says more about – Capuano, or me?!
According to his website, Michael Everett Capuano is serving his sixth term as a Representative in Congress for Massachusetts' Eighth District, which includes Cambridge, Chelsea, Somerville and approximately 70-percent of Boston.
Boston? Really? Where have I been?
Mr. Capuano is a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the House Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on House Administration. He is chair of the Subcommittee on Capitol Security.
In November of 2006, Capuano was appointed to head the Transition by then Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi as Democrats prepared for a majority role in the 110th Congress. In January of 2007, Speaker Pelosi appointed Capuano to chair the Special Task Force on Ethics Enforcement.
The current congressman was Mayor (1990-1998) of Boston’s neighboring city of Somerville, MA and holds a law degree from Boston College Law School.
I have heard the name Capuano before in connection with politics. But I knew nothing about him. And for somebody who’s serving his sixth term in congress, I find that odd.
But now, I shall not forget congressman Capuano. Just like Congressman Stephen Lynch, he burned his id on me (Can that happen?) on Sunday (October 4, 2009).
Boston’s local ABC affiliate, WCVB, started a new Sunday morning show called: “On The Record”. It’s a bit like "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" meets the Jim Braude Show (NECN).
According to WCVB, the weekly show (hosts Ed Harding and political reporter Janet Wu) aims to ask some of the tough questions of politicians in the Bay State, getting candidates to speak about the issues On The Record.
Sunday’s guest was U.S. Representative Michael Capuano…and boy, did he go On My Record.
Mr. Capuano is running for senate on the premise that HE can best carry on Ted Kennedy’s legacy.
In the question segment Harding suggested that since Capuano wants to be the Senator from Massachusetts, should he win, these questions on current events are likely to cross his desk at some point.
1. Who is the PRIME MINISTER OF PAKISTAN?
Mr. Capuano didn’t know.
Answer: Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani (56)
(Not that I know either. But I’m not running for the senate and so I can Google the answer.)
2. Next question: Since 2001, what’s the cost of the Afghanistan war?
Mr. Capuano didn’t know. Harding said: 227.9 million. Capuano said he’d have guessed lower; about 180 million. Harding said, not million, Billion – with a B! I can’t figure out if Harding made an honest mistake!
3. Question number 3: What is HR3200?
Capuano didn’t know. Even I know that one. Hello? Angry town hall meetings? Public Option? It’s The Health Care Bill.
4. Question number four (multiple choice): How many kids/teens in the U.S. are obese: 1 in 3, one in 30, one in 300, one in 3-thousand?. Capuano got it.
Yes!
I don’t know what else they talked about – I tuned out after that.
Really congressman Capuano..? What if Harding had asked you about the viability of Ireland’s Technology Industry and whether it was siphoning jobs away from Massachusetts?
Oh well, what can I say?
Clearly, Mike Capuano is NO Ted Kennedy!
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