Totally Incomprehensible

OK, today we the people of the United States Of America have gone completely off the deep end.

We have gone beyond just plain stupid. We have passed the bend in the road and on to where the road ends.

You couldn’t make up this kind of craziness if it didn’t exist.

What am I talking about you ask?

Rachael Ray's 'Terrorist' Ad Yanked

NEW YORK - Dunkin' Donuts has pulled an ad featuring the celebrity chef dressed in what some critics say looks like a scarf commonly worn by terrorists.

In a picture taken from the pulled ad, Rachael Ray is seen wearing a black and white scarf around her neck that was said to resemble a kiffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men.

The scarf has enraged conservative Fox News pundit Michelle Malkin and some others.

Critics say it's also the scarf of choice of "murderous" Middle Eastern terrorists.

Michelle Malkin saw this:

The rest of the normal people saw this.





At first, Dunkin' Donuts ignored the complaints.

But after seeing criticism grow on the Internet, including calls for a boycott, the company officials decided to pull the ad.

In a statement released by the company, Dunkin' Donuts officials said they did not want the ad to misrepresent Ray as a terrorist sympathizer.

Rachael Ray has been called many things -- loud, brash, elementary, and so forth -- but we're pretty sure this is the first time we've heard her name and "terrorist" in the same conversation.

The scarf had a paisley design and no one disputes that.

Malkin took the removal of the ad as a chest-thumping victory for herself, and terrorist-hating Americans. "It's refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists."

AOL survey:

The Rachael Ray/'terrorist' scarf controversy is:

Completely ridiculous 92%
Completely deserved 8%

Total Votes: 248,812

Should Dunkin Donuts have yanked the ad?

No 88%
Yes 12%

Total Votes: 227,232

In an AOL survey , it clearly shows that 8% of the 246,812 people that voted and 12% of the 227,232 are completely stupid.


Amahl Bishara, an anthropology lecturer at the University of Chicago who specializes in media matters relating to the Middle East, said complaints about the scarf’s use in the ad demonstrate misunderstandings of Arab culture and the multiple meanings that symbols can take on depending on someone’s perspective.

“I think that a right-wing blogger making an association between a kaffiyeh and terrorism is just an example of how so much of the complexity of Arab culture has been reduced to a very narrow vision of the Arab world on the part of some people in the U.S.,” Bishara said in a phone interview.

“Kaffiyehs are worn every day on the street by Palestinians and other people in the Middle East — by people going to work, going to school, taking care of their families, and just trying to keep warm.”

While some extremists and terrorists may wear kaffiyehs, “To reduce their meaning to support for terrorism has a tacit racist tone to it,” Bishara said.

I was visiting with two cowboys the other day and one had a red bandana around his neck the other a blue one.

I became very concerned the one wearing the red one might be mistaken for a "Blood" gang banger and the one wearing blue might be mistaken for a "Crip" gang banger.

You get my point? Where do we draw the line?

I have seen pictures of terrorists wearing camouflage pants and shirts and also Nike shoes. Should we ban those as well?

Michelle Malkin is a hypocrite!

A lot of people feel the Hell's Angels are a type of terrorist organization. In the following picture she gives the impression she approves of motorcycle gangs.


Here she is on a motorcycle, holding a gun and wearing a leather jacket which outrages me that she is promoting a motorcycle gang.

And this:

Which appears to me to be Communist Vietnamese attire.

With all the problems we have here in the United States, I am dismayed to see one of our major concerns is what Rachael Ray is wearing in a donut commercial.

Interesting, Very Interesting

A wise person once told me "Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled."

He was 20 years old, little did he know how hard it will be for him to hear those words when he is 50.


Next:

Did you ever do anything that was rewarding but you were embarrassed after you did it?

Israeli tourist strips naked in anger at New Zealand men's whistles

WELLINGTON, New Zealand- An Israeli tourist who felt harassed when New Zealand road workers whistled at her Thursday stripped naked in response.

Workmen in the small northern farming town of Kerikeri were repairing the main street when the young woman took offense at their attention.

On a balmy late-autumn day, she calmly stripped bare to use an ATM - bringing an abrupt halt to both the whistles and the road work - then put her clothes back on and walked away.

Sgt. Peter Masters said the woman told police she didn't take kindly to the men's wolf-whistles.

"She said she had thought `... I'll show them what I've got,' " as the men whistled at her, he said.

"She gave the explanation that she had been ... pestered by New Zealand men. She's not an unattractive-looking lady," he said.

Embarrassing, but great results.


Speaking of women:

The other night I couldn't be home for one of the basketball playoff games between the Los Angles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs so I asked my wife to TIVO it for me.

On my way home I purposely had the radio turned off so I didn't hear anything about the game.

When I got home I asked her to turn it on for me and said please don't tell me the score.

She said sure and added it was a good game, the Lakers won!!


Love From Above:

They say "God works in mysterious ways" but based on the following it looks He was busy so He told his kid to handle it.

Pilots run out of fuel, pray, land near Jesus sign

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - It seemed like an almost literal answer to their prayers. When two New Zealand pilots ran out of fuel in a microlight airplane they offered prayers and were able to make an emergency landing in a field - coming to rest right next to a sign reading, "Jesus is Lord."

Grant Stubbs and Owen Wilson, both from the town of Blenheim on the country's South Island, were flying up the sloping valley of Pelorus Sound when the engine spluttered, coughed and died.
"My friend and I are both Christians so our immediate reaction in a life-threatening situation was to ask for God's help," Stubbs said.

He said he prayed during the ill-fated flight that the tiny craft would get over the top of a ridge and that they would find a landing site that was not too steep - or in the nearby sea.

Wilson said that the pair would have been in deep trouble if the fuel had run out five minutes earlier.

"If it had to run out, that was the place to be," he said. "There was an instantaneous answer to prayer as we crossed the ridge and there was an airfield - I didn't know it existed till then."

After Wilson glided the powerless craft to a landing on the grassy strip, the pair noticed they were beside a 20-foot-tall sign that read, "Jesus is Lord - The Bible."

It was a sign, yes a sign.


Wives:

I'm the kind of guy that refuses to buy clothes for myself let alone throw out or give my old clothes to the thrift shop.

My wife has mentioned on more than one occasion that she thought I should come into the modern world and update my wardrobe.

When I asked her what was wrong with the clothes I had in my closet, she told me they were so old the tags said made in the U.S.A.



Talk about an assault:

Mexican donkey freed from jail.

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico - A Mexican donkey has been freed from jail after doing time for assault and battery.

The Televisa network on Wednesday showed "Blacky" gobbling food from a bucket after spending three days in a jail that normally holds people for public drunkenness and other disturbances.

Blacky was jailed for biting and kicking two men near a ranch outside Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas state.

Another wise man once said, "Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you."

No Matter How You Slice It

OK it is amazing what happened after the invention of women, matches, wine and beer.

I often look at a recipe and wonder who was so smart to try mixing things and cooking them thus creating something delicious.

Think about this:


Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods, dating back to the Neolithic era.

Neolithic era is the "New" Stone Age, which was a period in the development of human technology that is traditionally the last part of the Stone Age.





The first breads produced were probably cooked versions of a grain-paste, made from ground cereal grains and water, and may have been developed by accidental cooking or deliberate experimentation with water and grain flour.




The development of leavened bread can probably also be traced to prehistoric times. Yeast spores occur everywhere, including the surface of cereal grains, so any dough left to rest will become naturally leavened. Although leavening is likely of prehistoric origin, the earliest archaeological evidence is from ancient Egypt. Scanning electron microscopy has detected yeast cells in some ancient Egyptian loaves. However, ancient Egyptian bread was made from emmer wheat and has a dense crumb. In cases where yeast cells are not visible, it is difficult, by visual examination, to determine whether the bread was leavened. As a result, the extent to which bread was leavened in ancient Egypt remains uncertain.



There were multiple sources of leavening available for early bread. Airborne yeasts could be harnessed by leaving uncooked dough exposed to air for some time before cooking. Pliny the Elder reported that the Gauls and Iberians used the foam skimmed from beer to produce "a lighter kind of bread than other peoples." Parts of the ancient world that drank wine instead of beer used a paste composed of grape juice and flour that was allowed to begin fermenting, or wheat bran steeped in wine, as a source for yeast. The most common source of leavening however was to retain a piece of dough from the previous day to utilize as a form of sourdough starter.

Otto Frederick Rohwedder is considered to be the father of sliced bread. In 1912 Rohwedder started work on inventing a machine that sliced bread, but bakeries were reluctant to use it since they were concerned the sliced bread would go stale. It was not until 1928, when Rohwedder invented a machine that both sliced and wrapped the bread, that sliced bread caught on. A bakery in Chillicothe, Missouri was the first to use this machine to produce sliced bread.

For generations, white bread was the preferred bread of the rich while the poor ate dark bread.
However, in most western societies, the connotations reversed in the late 20th century with dark (whole grain) bread becoming preferred as having superior nutritional value while white bread became associated with lower-class ignorance of nutrition.

Another major advance happened in 1961 with the development of the Chorleywood Bread Process which used the intense mechanical working of dough to dramatically reduce the fermentation period and the time taken to produce a loaf. This process is now widely used around the world in large factories.

.
More recently, and especially in smaller retail bakeries, chemical additives are used that both speed up mixing time and reduce necessary fermentation time, so that a batch of bread may be mixed, made up, risen, and baked in less than 3 hours. Dough that does not require fermentation because of chemical additives is called "no-time bread" by commercial bakers. Common additives include reducing agents such as L-cysteine or sodium metabisulfite, and oxidants such as potassium bromate or ascorbic acid. Often these chemicals are added to dough in the form of a prepackaged base, which also contains most or all of the dough's non-flour ingredients. Using bases and sophisticated chemistry, commercial bakers have made possible the fresh production of imitation artisan and sourdough breads by semi-skilled labor working in smaller shops.

As a foodstuff of great historical and contemporary importance, in many cultures, bread has a significance beyond mere nutrition. The Lord's Prayer, for example, contains the line 'Give us today our daily bread'; here, 'bread' is commonly understood to mean necessities in general.

During the 1950s, the beatnik community used the term bread as a euphemism for money. The word bread is now commonly used around the world in English speaking countries as a synonym for money (as also is the case with the word dough.)

The cultural importance of 'bread' goes beyond slang, however, to serve as a metaphor for basic necessities and living conditions in general. A 'bread-winner' is a household's main economic contributor and has little to do with actual bread-provision, for example. This also goes along with the phrase "putting bread on the table." A remarkable or revolutionary innovation is often referred to as "the greatest thing since sliced bread. " The term "breadbasket" is often used to denote the stomach.



In the United States, the most popular bread is soft-textured, usually made with milk and slightly sweet, with a thin crust; this is the type that is generally sold ready-sliced in packages. It is usually eaten with the crust, but some eaters or preparers may remove the crust due to a personal preference or style of serving, as for afternoon tea. Though this "sandwich bread" is the most popular, many other native bread varieties exist in the US, including scali (an Italian-style bread made in New England), San Francisco sourdough, Native American frybread (a product of hardship, developed during the Indian resettlements of the 19th century), Jewish rye (a mix of wheat and rye flours is used, and the bread is commonly associated with delicatessen cuisine), as well as numerous whole-grain styles. In addition, many foreign styles of bread, particularly the French baguette, the Ashkenazi Jewish bagel and the Middle Eastern pita bread, have become naturalized in the United States

Women invented the bread recipes and learned to make the bread; men invented the match, the wine and the beer.

From those humble beginnings men and women have lived in harmony forever after.

Please pass the butter.

Bread is the king of the table and all else is merely the court that surrounds the king.
--Louis Bromfield

Filtering The Mind

As a kid growing up I lived at the most 50 feet from the railroad tracks.

Trains came by my house all hours of the day and night at various speeds, some crawling to a stop, others actually reached 70 miles per hour.

This was normal to me, however when we had visitors they all would comment on the noise the trains created and wonder how we dealt with it.

Some of our visitors, who would spend the night, would complain that they awakened during the night fearing an earthquake only to realize the noise was from one of the trains passing in front of our house.

The next morning at breakfast they would say "We didn't sleep much because you had three trains come through last night and we don't know how you stand it," to which our response was "Three, really, we didn't hear any of them."

Now some 45 years after moving away, I just learned why the trains never bothered my sleep.

My wife is reading a book and she shared a passage she came across referring to the exact same thing about living next to the railroad tracks and sleeping through the noise.

What I learned is our brains possess a fascinating function known as the "Reticular Activating System."

It's a function through which our minds eliminate the thoughts and the impulses deemed unnecessary.

The reticular activating system in my mind processed the sounds of the trains going by and allowed me to sleep through it.

Another example of how the Reticular Activating System, or RAS, works:

Imagine that you're walking through a busy noisy airport passenger terminal. Think of all the noise - hundreds of people talking, music, announcements, luggage carriers.

How much of this noise is brought to your attention? Not a lot.

True, you can hear a general background noise, but not many of us bother to listen to each individual sound.

But then a new announcement comes over the public address system, saying your name or maybe your flight. Suddenly your attention is full on.

Your RAS is the automatic mechanism inside your brain that brings relevant information to your attention.

Your reticular activating system is like a filter between your conscious mind and your subconscious mind.

It takes instructions from your conscious mind and passes them on to your subconscious.

For example, the instruction might be, "listen out for anyone saying my name."

I always wondered why I could sleep through the deafening sounds of the trains rumbling through the silence of the night and now I know.

Memorial Day

"...that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God, ...and that government of the people by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth." --Abraham Lincoln


"...gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime....let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the Nation's gratitude,--the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan." --General John Logan, General Order No. 11, 5 May 1868

"Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of free and undivided republic." -- General John Logan, General Order No. 11, 5 May 1868


Soldier, rest! Thy warfare o'er,
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Dream of battled fields no more.
Days of danger, nights of waking. -Sir Walter Scott






"God, lift the hearts of those, for whom this holiday is not just diversion, but painful memory and continued deprivation." -- Rev. D. Kozelka (ret)





"The muffled drum's sad roll has beat / The soldier's last tattoo! / No more on life's parade shall meet / That brave and fallen few. / On Fame's eternal camping ground / Their silent tents are spread, / And Glory guards, with solemn round, / The bivouac of the dead. - Theodore O'Hara.













"There are some who keep up a tradition of pride in service to the United States of America and remember all those who had fallen, and rejoice in the ones who still live and remember. Let none of us ever forget what Memorial Day really is." Kathlena Peebles, May 1996

To all the fallen heroes and all past and present service members who have unselfishly given their lives and continue to put themselves in harm's way in order that we can be free.

Thank you

America Oh America

OK this political year has really put a scare in me.

I think I have developed Alzheimer’s and did not know it.

I listened to Barack Hussein Obama the other day and he said he had campaigned in all 57 states.

I racked my brain and wrote down all the states I remembered and came up with:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

If I remember how to count, that is a total 50 states.

I'm not sure when I missed the addition of 7 more states. I wish someone would fill me in on the names and location of our newest states.

I had learned not to care. I blew a few smoke rings, remembering those years. Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though. ..." -- Barack Obama
Ya think?

Barack Obama is a great speaker!

"I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain
has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002." -- Hillary Clinton



And so it begins, plant the seed:

According to her father Bill, Chelsea Clinton Shows Knack for Politics.

Would Chelsea Clinton ever consider a role in politics?













In an exclusive new interview with People magazine, Bill Clinton weighs in. "If you asked me (if Chelsea would run for office) before Iowa, I would have said, 'No way.

"She is too allergic to anything we do. But she is really good at it," the former president told the magazine.

After Sen. Hillary Clinton lost the Iowa caucuses, her daughter became an important figure in her campaign, regularly speaking at colleges and tackling some tough questions head on.

In the People interview, Clinton called his daughter's "emergence" the "second best thing" of the campaign, after his wife's resiliency.

Of Chelsea's political skills, her dad said, "It all changed after Iowa. She realized her mother lost Iowa 100 percent because of younger voters.

She was upset, bawled, went to her employer and said, 'Look, you got to let me go or give me an indefinite leave of absence. I'm not letting my mother go down like this.'"

Notice the phrase 'She went to her employer and said, 'Look, you got to let me go or give me an indefinite leave of absence. ''

She did not ask her employer, she told them what they had to do. Yeah she has definitely learned well from her parents. Typical Clinton, always changing the rules and demanding special treatment.

Don't forget when she runs for office all the experience she will have because she was right there as was Hillary making the key decisions when Bill was president and she has been there when Senator Hillary made the tough decisions as well.

That 3 A.M. phone call for Chelsea will be no problem except she may not have as much makeup and jewelry on as her mom did in her commercial.

Chelsea is good at campaigning too. She campaigns for Hillary around the country but has steadfastly refused all questions from the press therefore she makes campaign speeches without any accountability.

Nice job if you can get it. Oh speaking of jobs, Chelsea gets paid a salary from Clinton campaign donations.

Also Bill has moved on to his next intern ticket as he also knows Hillary can't win.



Oh he's a John!!

Before John McCain's tour of duty in Vietnam, he married Carol Shepp, a model from Philadelphia. On his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam in 1967, McCain was shot down and captured.

While he was imprisoned, Carol was in an auto wreck (1969), thrown through her car's windshield and left seriously injured. Despite her injures, she refused to allow her POW husband to be notified about her condition, fearing that such news would not be good for him while he was being held prisoner.

When McCain returned to the United States in 1973 after more than five years as a prisoner of war, he found his wife was a different person. The accident "left her 4 inches shorter and on crutches, and she had gained a good deal of weight."

In 1979 at a military reception in Honolulu, McCain met Cindy Hensley, an attractive 25-year-old woman from a very wealthy politically-connected Arizona family. Cindy's father, Jim, founded the Hensley and Company, the nation's third-largest Anheuser-Busch distributor.

Beer equals love at first drink.














McCain described their first meeting, "She was lovely, intelligent and charming, 17 years my junior but poised and confident. I monopolized her attention the entire time, taking care to prevent anyone else from intruding on our conversation. When it came time to leave the party, I persuaded her to join me for drinks at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. By the evening's end, I was in love."

While still married to Carol, McCain began an adulterous relationship with Cindy. He married Cindy in May 1980 -- just a month after dumping Carol and securing a divorce. The newlyweds honeymooned in Hawaii.

And he has a temper!!!

Maybe Alzheimer’s wouldn't be as bad as one thinks.

Wind Power

OK I've had it. That's it. I'm going "Green."

It seems to be the right time as we have had wind at least 366 days this year.

Wind - do you know what creates wind?

I'll tell you what creates wind and the reason I can answer that question is because I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express once.


The long version:

The Earth is unevenly heated by the sun resulting in the poles receiving less energy from the sun than the equator does.

Also the dry land heats up (and cools down) more quickly than the seas do.

The differential heating drives a global atmospheric convection system reaching from the Earth's surface to the stratosphere which acts as a virtual ceiling.

Most of the energy stored in these wind movements can be found at high altitudes where continuous wind speeds of over 160 km/h (100 mph) occur.

Eventually, the wind energy is converted through friction into diffuse heat throughout the Earth's surface and the atmosphere.



The short version:

Wind is created when the sun's rays cause temperature and air density differences between two or more air masses on the earth's surface.

To equalize these pressure differences, air is drawn to a new location, creating wind.

That is an impressive scientific answer for sure.

So what's that got to do with me going "Green" you ask?

Harnessing the power of the wind using modern wind generators is one of the most popular sources for "Green" power.

Well I'll tell you, I am going to harness the wind right in my back yard.

I am going to coin a new phrase "Turn On The Lights The Party Is Just Beginning."

The only down side to this is that windmills can be noisy because blade tips can approach the speed of sound. I will have to wash the blades to avoid impairment of aerodynamic efficiency and the rotor blades could possibly kill or injure migratory birds. (Aerodynamics is a branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air, particularly when it interacts with a moving object. Holiday Inn Express 2007.)

Sure my wind farm may create a little noise and my wind towers with their turbines may be a little offensive to my neighbors but they can't stop me. I am going to stop global warming by going "Green" which means the law is on my side.

If any one of my neighbors utters a complaint I will have Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore knocking on their door faster than the blades on my turbine's turn.









And if my neighbors keep complaining I will pull out all the stops. Al Gore invented the Internet so he can sure as heck shut down my neighbors if I ask him to.

I think I may really be on to something here. The Government will throw money at me for going "Green" and as side income I can charge admission for people to get their pictures taken next to my towers.

Our World Today

OK what's up with people in the airline industry today?





















Pilot's Gun Fires on US Airways Flight

A gun belonging to the pilot of a US Airways plane accidentally discharges as the jet prepares to land in North Carolina.

No one was injured in the weekend incident, and authorities say the plane was never in any danger.

I guess a pilot shooting a gun in the cockpit would not put the plane in any kind of danger!!




Flight Attendant Accused of Setting Fire

FARGO, North Dakota - A 19-year-old flight attendant angry at having to work a route set a fire in an airplane bathroom, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing, authorities say.

Eder Rojas, of Woodbury, Minn., was arrested in Minneapolis on Wednesday. He is being prosecuted in Fargo, where the Compass Airlines flight with 72 passengers and four crew members landed safely on May 7, after smoke filled the back. No injuries were reported.

So when you get angry with your employeer, rather than quit, do something that will put you in jail for a long period of time.

Ah the human mind!!




Naked pilot, flight attendant arrested in woods.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - An airline pilot was found hiding behind a shed wearing only flip-flops and a wristwatch as a nighttime romp in the woods with a flight attendant ended with both under arrest, police said.

Jeffrey Paul Bradford, 24, and Adrianna Grace Connor, 24, both employees of Pinnacle Airlines Inc., were at a diner on the outskirts of Harrisburg on Sunday night before they apparently decided to walk into the woods, police said.

"They told the officer they wanted to go do it in the woods, essentially," said Lower Swatara Township police Sgt. Richard Brandt. "That's the best answer they had."

I wonder if they ever heard of poison ivy?




In closing I will leave you with a little of Wag's wisdom:

"TRUST NO ONE"

Trust is both important and dangerous.

It is important because trust allows us to form relationships with others.

It is dangerous because trust always involves the risk of being betrayed.

Not One But Two

To many, a person attending college and graduating may not seem like a big deal.

To my wife Vicki and I who encouraged our two boys to attend and graduate from college, it is a big deal and a dream come true. Our son Stacey previously graduated with a degree from the University Of Nevada Reno.

On Saturday May 17th, 2008, our second son Tyler also graduated with a degree from the University Of Nevada Reno.

It is hard to put into words as to how proud and excited we were Saturday when Tyler walked and had his name announced as a graduate of the University Of Nevada Reno.



There was quite a crowd observing Tyler's Graduation.


Two of Tyler's best friends shared his graduation celebration with him, his brother Stacey on the right and his friend Eric to the left in the picture.

To Tyler, Graduate of the UNR class of 2008, you make us so proud.

WE LOVE YOU!!!

College Graduation

This weekend we made a trip to Reno to see our son, Tyler, graduate from the University Of Nevada.



The excitement of that along with a long drive home has convinced me to take the day off from the blog.



Stay tuned for more about the graduation.

Special Tribute

Since I don't normally post on Saturday I will put this post up a day early.

In the United States, Armed Forces Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in May. The day was created in 1949, and was a result of the consolidation of the military services in the Department of Defense. It was intended to replace the separate Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Days, but observance of these days, especially within each particular service, continues to this day.

On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy and Air Force Days. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under one department -- the Department of Defense. Each of the military leagues and orders was asked to drop sponsorship of its specific service day in order to celebrate the newly announced Armed Forces Day. The Army, Navy and Air Force leagues adopted the newly formed day. The Marine Corps League declined to drop support for Marine Corps Day but supports Armed Forces Day, too.

In a speech announcing the formation of the day, President Truman "praised the work of the military services at home and across the seas" and said, "it is vital to the security of the nation and to the establishment of a desirable peace." In an excerpt from the Presidential Proclamation of Feb. 27, 1950, Mr. Truman stated:

Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 20, 1950, marks the first combined demonstration by America's defense team of its progress, under the National Security Act, towards the goal of readiness for any eventuality. It is the first parade of preparedness by the unified forces of our land, sea, and air defense.

The theme of the first Armed Forces Day was "Teamed for Defense." It was chosen as a means of expressing the unification of all the military forces under a single department of the government. Although this was the theme for the day, there were several other purposes for holding Armed Forces Day. It was a type of "educational program for civilians," one in which there would be an increased awareness of the Armed Forces. It was designed to expand public understanding of what type of job is performed and the role of the military in civilian life. It was a day for the military to show "state-of-the-art" equipment to the civilian population they were protecting. And it was a day to honor and acknowledge the people of the Armed Forces of the United States.

According to a New York Times article published on May 17, 1952: "This is the day on which we have the welcome opportunity to pay special tribute to the men and women of the Armed Forces ... to all the individuals who are in the service of their country all over the world. Armed Forces Day won't be a matter of parades and receptions for a good many of them. They will all be in line of duty and some of them may give their lives in that duty."

The first Armed Forces Day was celebrated by parades, open houses, receptions, and air shows. In Washington D.C., 10,000 troops of all branches of the military, cadets, and veterans marched pass the President and his party. In Berlin, 1,000 U.S. troops paraded for the German citizens at Templehof Airfield. In New York City, an estimated 33,000 participants initiated Armed Forces Day "under an air cover of 250 military planes of all types." In the harbors across the country were the famed mothballed "battlewagons" of World War II, the Missouri, the New Jersey, the North Carolina, and the Iowa, all open for public inspection. Precision flying teams dominated the skies as tracking radar were exhibited on the ground. All across the country, the American people joined together to honor the Armed Forces.

As the people gathered to honor the Armed Forces on this occasion, so too did the country's leaders. Some of the more notable of these leaders' quotes are stated below:

"Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 20, 1950, marks the first combined demonstration by America's defense team of its progress, under the National Security Act, towards the goal of readiness for any eventuality. It is the first parade of preparedness by the unified forces of our land, sea, and air defense."

Former Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson

"The heritage of freedom must be guarded as carefully in peace as it was in war. Faith, not suspicion, must be the key to our relationships. Sacrifice, not selfishness, must be the eternal price of liberty. Vigilance, not appeasement, is the byword of living freedoms. Our Armed Forces in 1950--protecting the peace, building for security with freedom--are "Teamed for Defense ..."

General Omar N. Bradley
Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

"Real security lies in the prevention of war--and today that hope can come only through adequate preparedness."

General Omar N. Bradley, 1951
Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

"Armed Forces Day this year should serve to emphasize the practical application of unification in action, and to remind us of the continued need for unity in our Armed Forces and among all of our citizens in the interests of security and peace."

Robert D. Lovett, Former Secretary of Defense

"It is fitting and proper that we devote one day each year to paying special tribute to those whose constancy and courage constitute one of the bulwarks guarding the freedom of this nation and the peace of the free world."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953

"Today let us, as Americans, honor the American fighting man. For it is he--the soldier, the sailor, the Airman, the Marine--who has fought to preserve freedom. It is his valor that has given renewed hope to the free world that by working together in discipline and faith our ideals of freedom will always prevail."

Admiral Forrest P. Sherman

"Our Armed Forces and our national defense system represent a judicious investment of the nation's resources in the cause of peace. The return on this investment, in terms of national strength, shows the determination of the American people to preserve our way of life and to give hope to all who seek peace with freedom and justice. "

The Honorable Neil McElroy, 1959
Former Secretary of Defense

"Close understanding between members of our Armed Forces and members of civilian communities is most important to preserve the high level of national readiness necessary for safeguarding the free world."

General Nathan F. Twining, 1959
Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

"We cannot, in this day of exploding world competition on all fronts, be content to maintain the status quo. We must also realize that the preservation of our freedom in the years ahead may require greater sacrifices from us than those made by Americans who have walked before us."

General Nathan F. Twining, 1960
Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

"Today we are strong enough to meet today's challenge. But the very fact that we are strong may put off the challenge to another day. The Soviets think that time is on their side. We believe otherwise. But meanwhile we cannot afford to lower our guard."

The Honorable Robert S. McNamara, 1961
Former Secretary of Defense

"...Word to the Nation: Guard zealously your right to serve in the Armed Forces, for without them, there will be no other rights to guard."

President John F. Kennedy, 1962

"Only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed."

President John F. Kennedy, 1962

"The support of an informed American people is increasingly important to the Armed Forces in these days of rapid technological advance, quick reaction time, and grave threat to our freedom. I, therefore, encourage members of the DoD to observe Armed Forces Day by informing the American people of our 'Power for Peace' and by confirming their faith that in our strength we will remain free."

The Honorable Robert S. McNamara, 1962
Former Secretary of Defense

"... Our Servicemen and women are serving throughout the world as guardians of peace--many of them away from their homes, their friends and their families. They are visible evidence of our determination to meet any threat to the peace with measured strength and high resolve. They are also evidence of a harsh but inescapable truth--that the survival of freedom requires great cost and commitment, and great personal sacrifice."

President John F. Kennedy, 1963

"...Their contribution to our freedom and safety is measureless. Our national security depends on the maintenance of alert military forces as a deterrent to any possible aggressor."

President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964

"Armed Forces Day, above all, honors the dedicated individuals who wear the uniforms of their country. Each serviceman, wherever he may be, whatever his task, contributes directly and importantly to the defense of the nation. The task of each one is the task of all the Armed Forces: to protect the freedoms which underlie the greatness of America."

General Earle G. Wheeler, 1967
Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

"Our servicemen and women shoulder the burden of defense as one of the responsibilities of citizenship in this free country. Having participated in protecting our rights and having met oppression on the battlegrounds of the world, they are able to appreciate and savor the blessings of citizenship in the country they serve."

The Honorable Melvin Laird, 1970
Former Secretary of Defense

"At home and abroad, military men and women are showing purpose and dedication in defending American ideas. They are performing in our country's best traditions under circumstances both difficult and complex. Thanks to their determined spirit of patriotism and professionalism, our country has a powerful and unified defense team, employing its forces in the constant quest for peace and freedom."

The Honorable Melvin Laird, 1972
Former Secretary of Defense

from the May 17, 1952, New York Times article: "It is our most earnest hope that those who are in positions of peril, that those who have made exceptional sacrifices, yes, and those who are afflicted with plain drudgery and boredom, may somehow know that we hold them in exceptional esteem. Perhaps if we are a little more conscious of our debt of honored affection they may be a little more aware of how much we think of them."


Thank you to all the past and present armed forces personnel and their families.

Plain Citizen Wag
Current Author Wags Blog 2008

Sunrise Cries from Ten Year Old Tears

Roaming alone in the dark, I embarked to carve a spark, from inside my mother’s arc, I arched and parched apart. And out of her I came, in pain, no Novocain, while tears of joy they rained, atop a bloody mane. Became the name of Jane, both first and last, insane, how very far from plain, a choice so dang arcane.
I was chained up in a crib, where I did what babies did, I fussed I fought I fibbed; dripped drool stains on my bib. I had no other sibs, just me so what I did, was crawl and call for kids, to play with me on ribs. But my calls were not returned, and my mom was unconcerned, because my dad was not around, skipped town and left us spurned.
I learned a lesson then, my mom was without friends, so she’d travel down to Ben’s, and throw down some Benjamin’s. Her spending knew no end, when it came to Jack and Henn, and time and time again, I witnessed investments spent, on booze and cigarettes, lit up to ease the stress, drank down the Coke and Crown, to drown out distant sounds. Of love that got away, at night I’d hear her say, come back to me my Chris, I miss you everyday. Once bliss now disarray, once kissed her lips decay; once missed now M.I.A., once rinsed now washed away.
The months and years passed by, I arrived at birthday five, so deprived but I survived, always strived to clear my eyes, of all that I had seen, a throat like gasoline, on fire from the pain that drained amphetamine. No tears from her I’d seen, in years I feared Maureen, my mom, had lost her gleam, for life it went unseen.
So surprised in my own home, I condoned my mother’s gloam, three more years I saw her roam, all about without a bone, of decency inside, now eight without a guide, my pride was worn and dried, my innocence denied.
But still I kept the fight, on the wall I marked my height, every inch grown shown in sight, to my mom I’d calmly cite, that I was making it alright, even though she took delight, rinsing whiskey down with sprite. Every night I tucked her in, after rounds of tonic gin, while her world swirled in sin, next day at it again.
I’d lend my life to her, a ten year old chauffeur, expected to mature, at a rate that was obscure. I’m sure to her she thought, that all I brought was snot, and spit and bits of thought, that said I’m fed with squat.
So she bought a whipping stick, and struck me with its thick, and rusty wooden bow, to me she’d surely show, that she’s the one in charge, so broke but living large, up in a trailer home, took all I could condone. Until the day I ran, away without a plan. I ran until I found, crisp whispers all around.
And soon I realized, I was lost and crossed with eyes, which cried with silent fear, and I wished my mom was near. Even with her hurtful hate, she could guide me left or straight, take a right into the night and catch sight of interstate. But my mother wasn’t here, just me out in the clear, relentless desert heat, while darkness kissed my feet. I’d been alone before, ten years if keeping score, but never quite like this, no time to reminisce. I’ve got to make a choice, erupt in screams of voice, which surely will be heard, I’m lost so spread the word. But when I scream I’m hoarse, of course, of course, of course, this can’t be happening, what will the daylight bring?

Written by Tyler Wagner

Mindless Midweek

OK I guess by now you have all heard there is a tax rebate or, as some call it, a stimulus rebate check, that is soon to be in the mail.

Well, I assume you have been thinking of how you are going to spend it as have I.

The bride and I have been doing a lot of talking about how we should put it to the best use.

Our first idea was to pay off the car.

Our second was to pay all the bills.

The third was maybe take a trip around the United States to see places we have never seen.

The fourth was to take the Alaska cruise with return by rail using the left over money for souvenirs from the trip.

The fifth was to pay off our house.

Last night we reached an agreement on how we will spend our rebate/ stimulus check. We decided to put some cash with it and we are going to buy a tank of gas for the Denali.



Fresh off the news wire;

All of the Wal-Mart store shelves are bare. Upon learning of the earthquake in China, the loyal Wal-Mart shoppers flooded the stores in fear of shortages of merchandise.




Have you heard of the Darwin Awards? Here is a candidate for one who actually lives in Darwin Australia.

Australian fined for buckling in beer, not child

DARWIN, Australia - An Australian man has been fined after buckling in a case of beer with a seat belt but leaving a 5-year-old child to sit on the car's floor.

The 30-can beer case was strapped in between two adults sitting in the back seat of the car. The child was also in back, but on the car's floor. The child was sitting in the lump in the center and unrestrained.

The beer has taken priority over a child.




Fashion tip: For the women out there that may want the Muslim look, may I recommend a nice little burqa shop downtown?









One of my loyal readers read one of my previous posts about the Chicken Ranch bordello and decided to check it out.

He forwarded me a picture of a sign he spotted in the restroom.














And there you go for a Wednesday.

Craziness

OK enough is enough from China. Now we can't even find a stone sculptor in the United States.

I think there has to be a stone sculptor in our country, but evidently some group doesn't think so.












WASHINGTON - The centerpiece for the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on the National Mall has drawn criticism from a federal arts panel, which says the proposed statue looks "confrontational" and resembles the head of a socialist state more than a civil rights leader.

Last year, many criticized the decision of hiring Lei Yixin, who is known for his sculptures of Mao Zedong, to create the King statue. Critics said an African-American or at least an American should have been selected as the sculptor.












Lei has made a full-size clay model in China but has not yet carved the granite statue.

How stupid is that? One more import from China.


New Postal Rates
Post Cards
Old price: 26 cents
New price: 27 cents




I'm shocked. So now is the proper wording a 27 cent penny post card? When did it change from a penny postcard?



Wow I just found a really trick way for my garage to always look organized.










OK everyone is yawning so I will close for today.













Just remember this:

LIFE IS A JOURNEY.
ROLL DOWN THE WINDOW AND ENJOY THE BREEZE.

California Orange

The other night my friends, Wally and his lovely bride Pat, and I were reminiscing about a great Pop, or as some call it a Soda Pop, from the past.



Our conversation immediately turned to Nesbitt's Orange Soda. Ask 100 people that were around in those days as to which Orange Soda was the best, and I would venture to say 100 people will answer Nesbitt's.






The Nesbitt Fruit Products Company was founded in 1924 by Hugh S. Nesbitt. Nesbitt, born in Illinois in 1897, led a colorful, albeit short, life. He came to be known as a wealthy “sportsman” and “ladies’ man.”

He died Nov. 19, 1943, of a skull fracture about six hours after he was knocked down in a fight in the lobby of a St. Louis, Mo. hotel.

Nesbitt, who was 46, was in that city attending a convention of soft drink bottlers. The confrontation apparently began in the hotel night club after Nesbitt, who was intoxicated, picked up a drink from the table where one Bernard Oonk, a stranger to him, was sitting, apparently intending to gulp down the purloined highball. AP, UP, and INS carried differing accounts of the sequence of events that followed, but it is certain that Oonk, soon after in the lobby, delivered the fatal blow.

A quickly convened coroner’s jury ruled the homicide to have been justifiable.



In 1927 the company began producing Nesbitt's Orange for distribution to soda fountains where it was mixed with 5 parts water. When they started bottling it in 1938-39 it was distinguished by the fact that it was made from 10% California orange juice. The brand was franchised to independent bottling companies all over the United States and around the world. Besides Orange, other flavors bottled included: Creme Soda, Grape, Strawberry, Root Beer, and Lemon-Lime, to name a few.

How many of you recognize the lady in the ad who went on to be one of the most recognizable people and names in America?


If you guessed Marilyn Monroe you are correct.

In 1957, the "Nesbitt's Orange Special" dragster set a 1/4 mile speed record of 9.445 seconds (159.02 mph). It is believed that this was the first "commercially sponsored" dragster.








It is said that Elvis Presley loved Nesbitt's Orange. "He always had the weirdest eating habits I ever saw," a friend was quoted as saying at the time (1960's). "Burnt bacon, olives, vegetable soup and peanut-butter and banana sandwiches." He'd wash all this down with Pepsi or Nesbitt's Orange soda."


Nesbitt's Orange was the "Official Orange Drink" for Disneyland from the time it opened in 1955 into the 1960's. It was the only orange drink sold in the Park.

There you have a little trip down memory lane with one of the finest Orange Sodas to ever cross one's palate.