Friday, September 30, 2005

Bill Bennett Says Something Stupid Like........WHAT?

Yesterday on his radio show Bill Bennett said something which offends many people based on the buzz I'm hearing.

You read the reports. This has happened before. Remember when Bill Cosby said the same thing? The liberal news media (Village Voice) had a fit over that too.

Pat Buchanan came to Cosby's defense and asked why it's improper to ask these questions. I guess it is as long as the questions or comments don't cross some politically correct line. It's better if you are black. You get a bit more leeway. Sunshine on any problem makes our nations flaws so evident. Keep it in the dark, let's not talk about it. Yeh, that's the ticket.

We are still a racist country. If Bill Bennett had just been born black he might have been forgiven for rehearsing back one of the premises of the best-selling book Freakonomics by a couple professors from the University of Chicago.

Remember Jack Nicolson in "A Few Good Men"?

Col. Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I think I'm entitled.
Col. Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I want the truth.
Col. Jessep: You can't handle the truth.

That's where we are now, the Liberal Media thinks the truth is too painful to handle.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Finally, someone in Government Tells The Truth About the impending Avian Flu Pandemic in the USA

Senator Frist, a Physician, a U S Senator, is bringing some light to this coming Pandemic. 
 
I think the media silence is akin to asking the question, "if you knew an Atom Bomb was heading for Chicago and it would obliterate the city in the next 15 minutes, should you alert the residents or not"?
 
Some say no.  I think they are editing the news on this one too.

I heard this on Paul Harvey

My depressing side roots in genetics from Norway. My "Lets Conquer Belgium" side comes from my German Genes. I have always known that the Norwegian side was one of hard work, frugality, good sense, ergo prosperity and that finding prosperity doesn't satisfy, = depression. People ask me all the time. How ya doing? My normal answer is (and you know this if you talk to me) "Oh, I'm OK".

That's what the Norwegian side of me talking.

So it was with little surprise that I heard from Paul Harvey that the richest country in the World, Norway is the most depressed. Money doesn't even RENT happiness.

That's really depressing.

German Lost in America

An intern at the Chicago Tribune from Berlin wrote this. He is writing observations of America from his perspective. This is his first submission. It's particularly amusing to me because there was a time I would have written the mirror image of this when I moved to Germany to work. And, His English. It's like my German when I write. Deutsclish. I have to keep reminding myself, there is no article, there is no article.......
His Follows:

Dining: We don't get service like this back home

By Christian Thiele

September 28, 2005

Back home in Berlin, going to a restaurant is like volunteering to become a hostage: a hostage to the moods of waiters and cooks.

"Could I have vinaigrette dressing with the salad instead of Italian?" If I'm lucky, the waiter will make a sour face, take a deep sigh and say: "I'll go ask in the kitchen and see what I can do." If I'm not lucky, he'll tell me: "On the table comes what's on the menu." He won't care about me tipping him lousily, because he'll get his $10 an hour, fixed by the union he probably doesn't bother to pay membership fees to, anyway.

In American restaurants, it's way different: I am the ruler -- cooks, waiters and all the other exploited staff are my servants. They depend on my mood -- because they depend on my tip. So they're being attentive: Which kind of dressing with the salad? Baked potatoes or french fries? The meat well-done, medium, medium-rare or rare? So many choices, even at the hot dog stand. Sometimes I think: "I'm hungry, just get me whatever you consider to be appropriate." But I don't want to be impolite, so I virtuously assume my royal duties as King Customer and make my decisions.

And the American waiter is so quick! Barely have I taken my seat, I get the menu. Barely have I taken a look at the menu, I get some (free!) water. Barely have I taken the first sip, he's ready to take my order. Barely have I placed my order, food's there. Barely have I finished half of my plate, the check arrives.

Actually, most of the time I'm only able to finish half of my plate. I'm doing sports, I'm 6 foot 1 inches tall, and I consider myself a good eater -- but here, I often just can't finish it all up. You might think that we Germans are used to heaping mountains of bratwurst and rivers of beer into our bellies. But those days are over, so in Germany I actually have to have soup or salad -- or both -- before my main course in order not to starve. Here, even the salad plate is a challenge for me.

So, usually, I come home from the restaurant with a bad conscience. Because I was brought up with the saying: "Eat up, or the weather will be bad." So should I start ordering children's plates? Or does taking home your food in a doggie bag and eating it up a couple of days later count weatherwise?

Plus, I'm amazed by the fact that from pretty much every table at pretty much every restaurant, I can follow the Bears against the Bees or the Hedgehogs against the Hornets or whatever: There are TV sets all over the place -- at this fancy Asian place west of Michigan Avenue, at this after-work hangout east of Michigan Avenue, even at the students' cafeteria at the Illinois Institute of Technology. In Germany, we expect people to at least be able to talk to each other when they go to a restaurant together. But I have to admit that this is a very optimistic assumption. So actually, in this respect, the American way is much more honest.

The other day, though, my friend took me to this vegan restaurant on the South Side. Maybe it was the way we looked, maybe she just had a bad hair day -- but the waitress treated us like few people would treat their dog.

We asked, "Could we have the sprouts on the side?"

She groaned.

"Could we get a second plate to share the salad?"

She moaned.

"Could we have forks?"

She banged the silverware on the table.

My friend got more and more irritated by this horrible waitress.

But I was happy and told her not to worry. It felt just like home.

**Christian Thiele, who lives in Berlin, has spent the last two months working at the Chicago Tribune as the newspaper's Arthur F. Burns fellow. You can reach him at: cthiele@tribune.com.

Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune

All I know is what I see on the Cable News Networks

-Because President Bush gave tax incentives to all Americans, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans.

-New Orleans was devastated and no other city was affected by the hurricane.

- No wealthy Americans lost their homes or were otherwise affected by Hurricane Katrina.

-Mississippi is reported to have a tree blown down.

- Vice President Dick Cheney once held a position at Halliburton and received a salary; because of that, the streets of New Orleans have flooded.

- President Bush should have sent troops and supplies in June; after all he is the only person who was expected to foresee this tragedy in advance.

- Having troops and supplies in place at the epicenter of a hurricane is a good thing.

- The mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana are without fault and preformed flawlessly in this crisis.

- When the government learned that there were poor people in need, the government slowed down relief efforts.

-When you are hungry and homless after a hurricane, steal a big screen TV.

-The hurricane blew a limb off a tree in the yard of an Alabama resident.

- The New Orleans city employees were not expected to help with relief efforts.

- President Bill Clinton never would have allowed a hurricane on his watch.

-The GOP is responsible for New Orleans being built in a delta basin on silt as opposed to inland on bedrock.

 

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

EB the CAT

It’s been 4 years since Eb short for Ebner short for Ebenezer went to cat heaven. I can’t sing Come thou fount of many blessings and not think of him as we sing “Now I raise my Ebenezer”

I traded Ebner for a bushel of Sweet Corn from some people who were going to get rid of him because he didn’t get along with their other cats. Get rid for you city folks is KILL. I saved him.


I picked Eb up and he nuzzled me, purred and kneaded me. I know that has to do with weaning issues. But I liked it. That was in 1984. He moved in with us and became family until Eb died in 2001. He was a full-grown “Male” consultant cat (neutered) when we got him. Tabby Gray. Clawless but not clueless. My guess is he was near 20 yrs old when he died. I thought of that because of this cartoon, Get Fuzzy, in today’s paper:
Note that it says cats have a language of 100 sounds. I don’t know if this is factual but I will say that Eb could talk. More than that, he taught us to understand his language. He was quite clear. There was OUT for when he wanted to go outside.
He could say UP when he wanted to be held.
OUWCH when he was in pain.

MOROW when he was hungry
MYEUW when he was happy and playful
MOREW when you stop doing to him what you were doing
MYRREREW when he was locked in a room he wanted out of
YROROWW if a dog or unfriendly cat was present


And lots of others.
As he got older and arthritic he could complain in cat. DROWRER meant, “those democrats” (I think). I miss him but not enough to get another cat.

I give my heart away too easily and don’t want to have it broken. Parting is not that sweet a sorrow.

In Praise of Firefox

If you are reading this right now you have some kind of internet browser. Statistics say it's most likely Microsoft's internet explorer. BOOOO

In horticulture we have a saying, friends don't let friends plant annuals. In browserland I want to go on record as saying friends don't let friends use IE.

Right now I have a few tabs open in Firefox. I'm busy doing this. Meanwhile other things are happening.
Firefox is the best internet browser I have ever tried. I've been using it for 8 months. I stopped subscribing to Norton Virus protection a few months after I switched since it had the net effect of internet user prevention. I now use Ad Aware to block spyware AVG to screen viruses out. BOTH ARE FREE.

When I was using IE I would get on average of 30 viruses per week. I scanned 3 times a week. It was painful. What was really painful was when a virus would infect so badly that my computer would shut down and I would have to take it to the computer priest for exorcism. Unlike real priests he charged me $85 for this "Service"


I have had TWO Trojan horses and NO viruses at all since moving to Firefox. None in 8 months. I have had a few from attachments I opened in email but the email I use has a pretty robust virus cruncher. They never made it out of the gate.

So, friends, relatives and anyone else reading this, get FIREFOX.

If I wasn't so darn lazy I would have linked all this for you, AVG, Ad Aware and how to get Firefox for free.

LEARN TO FIND STUFF ON GOOGLE, or keep allowing your computer to become slower, and sllloower and Slooooowwweeerrr.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Don Adams Dies and Barney Fife Lives

Yesterday I heard that Get Smart the TV show's star Don Adams died.  I always enjoyed that show.  I have a suspicion that some of our national Intelligence agencies are right at as dim bulb as Max was.
 
But, never fear, Barney Fife is alive and well.  At least the poor imitation for police that exists in New York City and where I live.  Look at this.  Woman gets ticket for sitting on park bench.  How dumb can you get and still breath.
 
Yesterday in our local mega grocery chain (not Wal-Mart) there was a parking lot fender bender.  Somebody backing out was bumped by someone driving by. 
 
It took 5 cop cars and lots of standing around to deal with this tragedy. 
 
I'm telling you, they have nothing to do.  Unlike president Clintons desire for 100,000 cops on the street I think a few less might be alright. 
 
The Barney Fife syndrome might be reduced a bit if they actually had something could keep themselves busy and not fiddle around eating doughnuts or harassing poor folk on the park bench.
 
I'll bet during the floods in New Orleans they weren't arresting people for sitting on park benches. 
 
 
 

More on Bird Flu

For those of you who hate frank and practical information (Tim) that makes your world a little less comfortable, please take this as a warning. The following could shake your world. Read no farther.

Everything is about to change. The Bird Flu is under mutation. When (not if) it invades and spreads it will be devastation, maybe even decimating. There is a source that is updated daily with information regarding this pandemic possibllity. The reason you are hearing NOTHING about this in the Mainstream Media is because there is nothing you can do about this other than take care of yourself and your family.

Love your family while you have them with you. Life is precious.

Monday, September 26, 2005

This is Just WRONG

I know its hard for women.  It's really hard for women in the armed forces.  Unfortunately when they were making these policies regarding unisex military they didn't call me. 
 
If they had I wouldn't even have sent them a bill. I would'a said, don do it.
 
 
Stupid, yes.  Deluded, yes. 
 
But, you have all kinds of hormones, drives, desires, and a hundred other things going on.  We laugh at Desperate Housewives on ABC.  So, let me get this straight,  I put on a uniform and all that weirdness of the Male Female dynamic goes away.  Is that right?  NOT!
 
Let Ms England off.  She's stupid.  Sometimes I am too.  There is no victory in this.
 
I don't know who to holler at.  You're it.

Dakota What a State

It was reported that in this space a discouraging word was heard. Even though that's seldom.

That report has been politically corrected as follows:

Hoven is going back to being Governor for life and Conrad, Dorgan and Pomeroy are firmly ensconced as Dakota's national representatives, all is well all is well.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Failure of an Idea -- And a People

In his 1935 State of the Union Address, FDR spoke to a  nation mired in
the Depression, but still marinated in  conservative values:

"Continued dependence" upon welfare, said FDR, "induces a  spiritual
disintegration fundamentally destructive to the  national fiber. To dole
out relief in this way is to administer a  narcotic, a subtle destroyer
of the human spirit."

Behind FDR's statement was the conviction that, while the  government
must step in in an emergency, in normal times,  men provide the food,
clothing and shelter for their families.

And we did, until the war pulled us out of the Depression and  a postwar
boom made us, in John K. Galbraith's phrase, The  Affluent Society. By
the 1960s, America, the richest country  on earth, was growing ever more
prosperous. But with the  1964 landslide of LBJ, liberalism triumphed
and began its  great experiment.

Behind the Great Society was a great idea: to lift America's  poor out
of poverty, government should now take care of all  their basic needs.
By giving the poor welfare, subsidized food,  public housing and free
medical care, government will end  poverty in America.

At the Superdome and New Orleans Convention Center, we  saw the failureof 40 years of the Great Society. No sooner  had Katrina passed by andthe 17th Street levee broke than  hundreds of young men who should have taken charge in  helping the aged, the sick and the women with babies to safety  took to the streets to shoot, loot and rape. The New Orleans police, their numbers cut by deserters who left their posts to  look
after their families, engaged in running gun battles all day  long to
stay alive and protect people.

It was the character and conduct of its people that makes the  New
Orleans disaster unique. After a hurricane, people's  needs are simple:
food, water, shelter, medical attention. But  they can be hard to meet.
People buried in rubble or hiding in  attics of flooded homes are tough
to get to. But, even with the  incompetence of the mayor and governor,
and the torpor of  federal officials, this was possible.

Coast Guard helicopters were operating Tuesday. There were  roads open
into the city for SUVs, buses and trucks. While  New Orleans was
flooded, the water was stagnant. People  walked through to the
convention center and Superdome. The flimsiest boat could navigate.

Even if government dithered for days -- what else is new --  this does
not explain the failure of the people themselves.

Between 1865 and 1940, the South -- having lost a fourth of  its best
and bravest in battle, devastated by war, mired in  poverty -- was
famous for the hardy self-reliance of her  people, black and white.

In 1940, hundreds of British fishermen and yachtsmen sailed  back and
forth daily under fire across a turbulent 23-mile  Channel to rescue
300,000 soldiers from Dunkirk How do we  explain to the world that a
tenth that number of Americans  could not be reached in four days from
across a stagnant  pond?

The real disaster of Katrina was that society broke down. An  entire
community could not cope. Liberalism, the idea that  good intentions and
government programs can build a Great  Society, was exposed as fraud.
After trillions of tax dollars for  welfare, food stamps, public housing, job training and  education have poured out since 1965, poverty remains  pandemic. But today, when the police vanish, the community disappears and men take to the streets to prey on women and  the weak.

Stranded for days in a pool of fetid water, almost everyone  waited for
the government to come save them. They screamed  into the cameras for
help, and the reporters screamed into the  cameras for help, and the
"civil rights leaders" screamed into  the cameras that Bush was
responsible and Bush was a racist.

Americans were once famous for taking the initiative, for  having young
leaders rise up to take command in a crisis. See  any of that at the
Superdome? Sri Lankans and Indonesians,  far poorer than we, did not
behave like this in a tsunami that  took 400 times as many lives as
Katrina has thus far.

We are the descendants of men and women who braved the  North Atlantic in wooden boats to build a country in a strange  land. Our ancestors traveled thousands of miles in covered  wagons, fighting off Indians far braver than those cowards  preying on New Orleans' poor.

Watching that performance in the Crescent City, it seems  clear: We are
not the people our parents were. And what are  all our Lords Temporal
now howling for? Though government  failed at every level, they want
more government.

FDR was right. A "spiritual disintegration" has overtaken us.
Government-as-first provider, the big idea of the Great  Society, has
proven to be "a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the  human spirit."

Either we get off this narcotic, or it kills us.
Author Unknown
 

An Eyewitness Katrina Report

I didn't write this, It's source allegedly is a person who has lived thru Katrina and it's aftermath.

From a Mc Comb, Mississippi Resident

What I have seen since Katrina:

The poor and the wealthy hurt by the storm.

Black, white, Hispanic, Oriental and Indian all hurt by the storm.

Christian people giving, giving, giving.

Churches going all out to minister in Jesus' name.

Neighbors going door to door helping one another.

Thugs and hoodlums going door to door looking for someone vulnerable.

Ice and water being fought over as police tried to keep the peace.

People coming up from New Orleans taking over empty houses because shelters are full.

Out of town volunteers coming with food and staying for now a week still serving it.

The Churches all over this part of the country doing what Christians do in a crisis.

The Red Cross doing a job in the shelters.

The Salvation Army doing a great job in the community.

Four Hundred crewman from everywhere bring back the power to our homes, churches and businesses.

Lines at service stations a block to a mile long.

National Guardsman patrolling the streets of McComb along with Kentucky policemen protecting us from the hoodlums and thugs of Mc Comb, Pike County and New Orleans (the most dangerous city in the world before Katrina).

Drug dealers working outside shelters.

Doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel working tirelessly, even sleeping in the hospital to do the job God called them to do.



________WHAT I HAVE NOT SEEN: ___________

The ACLU setting up a feeding line.

People for the American Way helping in the shelters.

The NAACP doing any work whatsoever.

The ! American Atheist organization serving meals in the shelters.

Jesse Jackson directing traffic at the gas stations.

I could go on but you get my message. It is the Christian people who do the work, with love and compassion.

The gripers in Congress should come on down and get in line to pass the water and the ice. Are you listening ,Senators and Congressmen? They don't have a clue as to what this life is all about here on the Gulf Coast.

Boy I feel better now.
Please keep the prayers going....God bless and have a great day!