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Sunday, May 25, 2008

Failure to Launch

We watched a funny movie this morning called failure to lauch . It's about a middle aged retired couple who hire a woman (Sara jessica Parker) to get their35 year old son to leave home (Matthew McConnahey).

We just got our kids out this last month. I never thought it was going to happen, but it did. Their Dad told me I cant' do anything with their rooms yet, just in case they come back. But i'm really hoping its true.

I love them and miss them a lot, but I don't miss the drama and bickering.

Do you have an adult child at home? And what will be the age that you say 'You gotta go'!

NASA Spacecraft Lands On Mars

NASA's Phoenix spacecraft has successfully landed on Mars.

This spacecraft will be the first spacecraft to study the Martian Arctic plains. Unlike NASA's mobile twin rovers, the lander will stay in one location. It will use its robotic arm to dig into the surface to determine if the polar environment has the ingredients needed for life.

BREAKING NEWS






Four men went fishing today on Johnson Pond on the dam. One of them fell over the edge and a second went in after him. A search went out for the two men but was called off because of the lack of visibility and thew search for their bodies will continue tomorrow. The other two men, (shown in the last two photos) were clearly upset and did not want to speak to the Press. I'll have more to share tomorrow morning.

I did not see the Daily Times there but Wayne Barrall from Fire in the Hole was there and he does work for them on the photos end. I'd expect him to have additional photos up on his Site this evening or tomorrow.

Breaking News

CNN reports that gas stations will start showing PORN movies on the screens of the pumps so that you can see someone else get screwed at the same time you do!

When is Enough ENOUGH?

Today's Washington Post featured a front page article about the trailers provided to Hurricane Katrina victims by FEMA supposedly being substandard, and causing health problems for thousands and these thousands are embarking on a major class action suit against the government the trailer manufacturers, and anyone else involved in the process.
According to the article, FEMA placed an order for the trailers with several mobile home companies to fill the need and fill it fast.

2.7 Billion worth of trailers and mobile homes were ordered all with a 'single page of specifications'. This single page of specifications is where health officials and defense attorneys say lies the problem. They claim that more specification needed to be in place to protect the potential occupants of the trailers.

It turns out that Trailers and Mobile homes safety standards are not the same as those in a permanent home or stick built homes.

Formaldehyde seems to be the culprit in this issue.
Formaldehyde (embalming fluid) is a preservative. It is used as a wood preservative and is also found in construction adhesives.

Formaldehyde is one of those chemicals that when exposed to heat and moisture; emanates it's harmful gases. When thinking of Louisianan and Mississippi; heat and moisture are two words that are the first that come to my mind. However, according to the government there is no regulation on the amount of formaldehyde laden wood products that can be used in a RV or Trailer, because they are considered to be 'temporary' and that long term exposure to these chemicals would not be a factor.

Additionally, much of the wood used in these structures is imported from guess where????
China of course, and they use so much formaldehyde in their wood that if an American Plywood plant tried to put out products such as these; their plants would be deemed an EPA Superfund sight.

Where does the blame game end?

Tens of thousands of people live in an area that everyone on the planet knows is below sea level.

Hundreds of Millions in government money has been poured into this same place over the last century to try and make the Levey's storm proof.

Hundreds of millions of dollars were given to the victims in the form of debit cards so that they could relocate.

Then the people who refused to leave were given a home, made from the same stuff that these home and RV manufacturers make their products out of every day.

Our government signed a bill in the 90's opening up trade with China, a country that we know doesn't give a rip about it's people, but we sign a trade agreement with them, and end up cutting the carotid artery to our country's economy, as there is absolutely know way that we can compete with their prices because they use slave labor.

Self Righteous Politicians stand before us every day telling us of they are going to make it all better.

When the truth of the matter is that our government is promoting racism and slavery by trading with these countries.

We are not humanitarian. There is no regulation on the trailers because poor people live in them. There is no regulation on the imports from China and India and all of the other places we import from because we want stuff cheap and we want it in one store and we want it now.

Our country is so different than it was the last time the Mississippi devastated as much as it did after Katrina.

My Grandfather was a child during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. He lived in Tennessee on the Cumberland River and the flood was sooooo great that it backed up adjoining rivers over several states. Over a million people lost their homes and were displaced. Well over 1000 people died, but probably many more because there were so many people unaccounted for because we didn't have the luxury of communication the way that we do now.

My point in sharing this about the flood of 27 is because there was no FEMA then, there were no debit cards sent out to the victims. The military was not dispatched to help rebuild the cities.

People got sick and died and no companies were sued because the river flooded.
Communities came together and helped as much as they could. My Grandfather told me that they were already so poor they didn't really notice much of a difference in their lives after the flood except that their house washed away, and they stayed with his Grandfather for a while until they found another house that they could live in. It wasn't big enough, and my Great Grandmother asked a wealthy childless couple if they would be willing to raise my Grandfather and in return he would do all of the work that they needed to be done around their farm.

Her only request was that he be allowed to go to school and get his education. They agreed and when he was twelve he went to live with this couple. He rose every morning before dawn and milked the cows, gathered the eggs, and slopped the hogs, before school. After school he went fishing. The fish he caught was to be brought to the house and the lady of the house would pick which fish she wanted then he took the mule into town and was to sell the rest. The money made was given to the lady. He planted the couples garden and the vegetables and flowers were also taken into town and sold, with the money made going back to the lady.

My Grandfather was an indentured servant here in America.

He graduated high school, which happened to be right in the middle of the Great Depression, and he thanked the couple for their care and walked to town, hopped on a freight train and went looking for work. He became an iron worker and followed building booms around the country.

He was one of the men who built many of the bridges along the east coast including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It was on this bridge that he lost his eye. He was shot in the head with a hot rivet out of a rivet gun. He didn't fall off. He climbed down and was taken to the hospital. A week after being released from the hospital, he went back to work. He didn't sue his company, he didn't sue the bridge authority, he didn't sue the rivet gun manufacturer. He did at some point run into the guy who accidentally shot him. The man profusely apologized, and said what a horrible mistake he had made. My Granddad accepted his apology and that was that.

This is the way it used to be.
This is the kind of character that made our country great.
This is the kind of life our forefathers led.


These are the examples that have been set before us and at some point in time we stopped listening to them and stopped watching them.

No one takes responsibility for anything anymore, the buck is passed and passed and it stops with no one.
It is time for each of us to take responsibility. It is time for our government officials to take responsibility.

It is time to stop teaching our kids that some one else is going to take care of them.

Let's stop supporting and perpetuating the things that we know are wrong.

Life happens and life is sometimes dangerous. We do what we have to do, and others do what they do.

Poverty isn't a crime, it is a state of your wallet, or lack thereof.

Wealth doesn't make you a better person, it makes your wallet fatter.

The victims of Hurricane Katrina were victims of a storm, and they unlike any other victims on the face of the earth have received more attention, aide, money and help.

Is it not yet enough?

Today's Sunday Daily Times

Ladies & Gentlemen, if you don't get the Daily Times any more you certainly didn't miss anything in today's paper. As a matter of fact, the Daily Times covered news today, (their biggest day) on news I produced more than a week ago!

Nevertheless, for those of you who do get the Daily Times, was today's SUNDAY paper the thinnest you've seen in a very long time, or what? If it wasn't for sale ads you could complete the paper in 10 minutes flat!

I guess it is interesting reading week old article featured on Salisbury News in a different format, right? It's kind of like watching 47 & 16 News on TV, it's mainly Salisbury News pieces on TV. The events I've gone to recently there was no Daily Times at all and I wondered if they were going to be "sent" pictures from the people in these events because they fired 50% of their photographers? Looks like I was wrong. They're just not going to cover these events at all.

The Wife and I are debating our subscription once again and trying to decide if it's worth paying for any more? How many of you have cancelled your subscription so far? Also, how many will be cancelling their subscription after they were ripped off this week from OLD NEWS?

Question of the Day, Sun 5/25

Today is National Neighbor Day.
Do you like your neighbors? Are you neighborly? Have you had neighbors that you haven't liked? Have you had to move due to bad neighbors?

BREAKING NEWS!


Fernando Guerrero gets a 1st Round Knock Out Saturday night making him now 7 - 0, all by way of knock out!

He came out of his corner and clobbered the guy with a wicked hook and knocked him down to the canvas in which his opponent barely got up before the 10 count was given. Fernando proceeded to knock him down 4 times in the 1st Round and he could not get back up after the 4th knock down.

This kid is just something else Ladies & Gentlemen. I am working on arrangements to travel perhaps to his next fight and be there live blogging away and calling the fight from ring side. It may be a short post but I truly enjoy this young man and want to offer all the support I can from Salisbury.

Congratulations Fernando and Hal. Thanks for the update and safe home.

Have a great Memorial Day!

Memorial Day Weekend is here , and summer has officially kicked off but while we are running around buying food and beer, or outdoors grilling, or paying through the nose for gas in order to drive somewhere, let us not forget what the Holiday means. While we are enjoying a three-day weekend, there are many members of our US Military who are halfway around the world, away from their families and friends, risking their own lives.There will be many cookouts and other gatherings this weekend across Delmarva and the entire country who will be missing one or more family members, because they are in Iraq, or Germany, or out at sea.
There are also many others who lost their lives who have proudly served their country in the past. That, my fellow Americans, is what this Holiday is truly about.
I also wanted to mention that forty years ago this week, the USS Scorpion disappeared with 99 men aboard and was later officially listed as missing in June by the Navy. About six months later the Skipjack class nuclear submarine and her crews remains were found deep in the Atlantic Ocean.the submersible was based in Norfolk,, Virginia.
Let us all take the time this weekend to remember these brave sailors and others who lost their lives serving their country.