IS THERE ANY GOOD NEWS

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

DID YOU REMEMBER

IT'LL BE A ICE BLUE CHRISTMAS AROUND HERE

Well today I got my heating bill, I heat with natural gas. It's the last one of the summer, although it's a bit higher this year than last. I guess it's been a little cooler in Sept-Oct.

Anyway in with my bill was a notice that a rate increase (they call it an adjustment) had been approved. According to the notice I get a 25.3 % increase, man when I was working I would have loved to gotten half that much in a raise.

This notice also estimated I'd see about a $14.20 increase in my monthly bill. WRONG. I keep track of my monthly payments always have and I can tell you it's going to be about double that or $25.48 per month.

I thought that we had tons of Natural GAS in this country. Where did I hear that?

HOW TO PREPARE FOR ONE REALLY QUICK GETAWAY

A quick foot note (can foot notes be at the top of an article). I think if you decide to follow the ideas and suggestions as I am, you should include PIN #, Password and User ID's. Having said that you need to consider they type of SanDisk you buy.

Also I think this is aproject that requires more than just a weekend. This is important stuff and as long as your going to do it for god's sake why not do it right. Ok Mick, I didn't mean to piss you off.

Here is what else you have to do to protect your records and yourself:

RECORD: Once you have made your basic list, save it on a U.S.B. flash drive. A 256-megabyte drive, which you can buy for $20 or even less if you catch a store promotion, gives you enough space for that file and all the other suggestions mentioned below.

Several of the big flash drive makers, like SanDisk and Lexar Media, are now selling more advanced drives that allow you to encrypt the data so others cannot read it without knowing the alphanumeric key that unlocks the code. Some are even shock proofed with heavier rubber and plastic coatings. Those will cost about $10 to $20 more, but are certainly worth it when you consider the sensitivity of the data on them.

It is also a good idea to copy the contents onto additional drives for backup and for other members of the family.

BONUS: When you are listing the credit cards, also note the credit limits so you will know how much you could spend in an emergency. If your credit cards are at their limits now, you are not going to have any cushion to fall back on. So start paying off balances, beginning with the card carrying the highest interest rate.

SCAN: Some important documents are on paper and you will want copies of them with you: tax returns for the last three years (Form 1040 is all you will need in an emergency), a recent pay stub, birth certificates, marriage license, the deed to your home and insurance policy pages that list your coverage. If you do not have a scanner or a printer with a flat scanner, take the pile of documents down to a copy center like Kinko's to scan. Record the image files on the U.S.B. drive.

BONUS: Take the opportunity to check your insurance coverage for potential disasters like flooding. With homes appreciating in value, you may also find you need to increase coverage.

Part 3 tomorrow.

OTHERS ARE WONDERING TOO

Oh what a tangled web we weave,

When first we practice to deceive!

. . .Sir Walter Scott

Last night on Tim Russert Show on CNBC he had a round table discussion on the CIA LEAK. For one of the few times in all this mess I heard a quit, reasonable discussion on what had happened, including the one question that has been on my mind for months. In fact I talked about it here on 10/27/5.

Tim came back from break and asked the following question "What's the big deal if Joe Wilson's wife is involved in sending him on this trip." The answer they came up with is the kind you might expect and is probably right, but I still feel it shows something else and that is these guys are childish.

I get the feeling that one of the panelist, Pete Williams is a bit of a Bush apologist. I don't have any video of it but that's my take on how he talked about Joe Wilson.

Click to watch. <----( watch the video here )

HE'S ONCE, TWICE, THREE, FOUR, FIVE TIMES A LIAR

Is Libby an influential White House adviser who lied? Or is he a man with a hectic schedule who happens to remember events differently from the reporters and administration figures who will eventually be called to testify against him?

"As lawyers, we recognize that a person's recollection and memory of events will not always match those of other people, particularly when they are asked to testify months after the events occurred," Libby's lawyer, Joseph Tate, said in a statement.

A busy schedule is no reason to lie.

ONE DAY TO GO

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* "I made a wrong mistake." . . . Yogi Berra

THIS IS NO JOKE

October 29, 2005

TAKING CHARGE

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

FALL BACKWARD

Remember Day light savings time end tonight. Set your clock back. Also now id the time to change the batteries in your Smoke Alarms.

HOW TO PREPARE FOR ONE REALLY QUICK GETAWAY

I saw this article awhile ago and kept it so that I could post it one day down the road, well that day has come.

This will be a 3-4 part series and I hope people will find it as useful as I have. I'll be adding additional info and resources that I have come across and will pass on. I see this project as being a three part process.

The first part comes out of what happened in the Terri Shiavo incident of last spring. It points out the need to get your final wishes in order. You should want to control how you will be taken care of should you not be able to make those discussions. That goes for your property as well.

The second part deals with being prepared in the event of an emergency, for you and for your families health and subsistence during a disaster.

And finally the third leg is the part that I'll start with, what you need to get together for a quick getaway. By following this and using it as a guide you will build something that will give you piece of mind and more importantly help your family in ways that are hard to measure.

So with that here we go on Part 1 of 4

By DAMON DARLIN

What is the first thing you will grab from your home if your house floods, catches on fire or comes tumbling down in an earthquake? Family photos? The pets? The Hummel figurines?

It probably will not be your financial and medical records, the very things you will need to rebuild your life after a disaster. If you are like most people, you have documents stashed in various places throughout your home, perhaps some under lock and key. And with your mind racing as danger hits, you are not going to have the time or wherewithal to figure out which ones you need.

In any case, your financial and medical records would be such a large and unwieldy pile that you would just say forget about it, grab Fluffy and scramble out of there. Indeed, that is probably your reaction any time someone suggests you get your records organized.

But wait. Do not run away yet. New technology is making this tedious task less odious, and surprisingly, it is not that expensive.

All told, you can secure your records in a weekend afternoon. Even better, doing all this has a wonderful side effect: it can put you in better financial shape to survive a disaster because you will end up a lot smarter about how you spend and save money. For instance, one of the first things to do is compile a list of where everything is - account numbers and the locations of important documents. The list will help you or anyone in your family locate things you need for the insurance adjuster or relief worker.

This is really the "if hit by a bus" list that financial planners have been recommending you compile for your heirs. If you think of the list that way, you will be reminded of your mortality and you will not want to write it. But think of the families displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita or by California wildfires, and the psychological barrier collapses. The list becomes a much easier sell now, said Brent Neiser, a director for the National Endowment for Financial Education. "It forces you to think," he said.

Part 2 tomorrow.

BAD DAY, WEEK, MONTH OR YEAR

CHARLIE BROWN

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* "This is like deja vu all over again.". . . Yogi Berra

Posted by thebscorner at 10:25 AM | Daily Dose |

October 28, 2005

QUICK NOTES

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

SEC SUBPOENAS GM

General Motors Corp. confirmed Wednesday evening that the Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed records from it about its accounting practices, creating further headaches for the already embattled automaker.

It also disclosed its finance unit, GMAC, has received subpoenas in a separate probe of insurance industry practices related to use of products such as finite risk insurance to control reported losses.

Hmmmmm, very interesting. . .

REAL ESTATE: WHY ARE YOU PAYING 6%?

The real estate industry strives to keep the commission rates high. Here's how.

You save by buying prescriptions and contacts via the Internet. You can now trade stocks for just $10. You purchase airline tickets, rent cars, and book hotel rooms with no transaction fees on the Web.

Yet sell your house and you still pay a 6 percent commission -- a whopping $12,000 or so on an average U.S. house.

Why hasn't the Internet age ushered in lower real-estate costs?

House prices are going up yet the commission has stayed the same.

LIES AND CONSEQUENCES

Liberal humorist Al Franken is out with a new book, "The Truth (with Jokes)," a sequel to his previous book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right." The book is a serious (with laughs) lefty political analysis of the Bush campaign and administration.

But it might be the title that sells it. Franken has the same knack for a picking title as New York Times reporter-celeb Judy Miller whose book "Germs" about biological weapons and terrorism, just happened to hit the stands in the midst of the anthrax scare following 9/11.

For some reason, the crime of perjury, of lying under oath, became a minor offense. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison test-drove some White House spin Sunday, as she tried to play down what kind of jeopardy administration officials might be facing.

"I certainly hope," said the Texas Republican, "that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars."

Honesty is still the only policy, for politicians and for journalists. Those who lie need to know there is a price to pay.

Let the trial begain.

"FINNEGAN" THE SQUIRREL

SAVING DAVIS-BACON

It was announced today that the President will overturn his Gulf Coast wage cut on November 8. This was a direct result of intense pressure from Democrats and labor and religious leaders.

With the support of every House Democrat and 37 House Republicans, we would have won that vote. Boxed in by that embarrassing scenario, the White House chose to reverse itself.

This wage cut was a mistake from the beginning and never should have been ordered. But today's news is a victory for workers in the Gulf Coast and all over America. The President chose to undermine workers' wages at a time when they needed the most help. Democrats had a better idea: pay people a decent wage for the hard work they do.

This was a bad idea from the start. Helps you understand why the presidents poll numbers are as low as they are.

THE GREAT PUMPKIN

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

Things People Said Anecdotes of Stupidity Overheard this on a London bus: First Woman: "I don't know what to get Fred for his birthday." Second Woman: "Why don't you get him a book?" First Woman: (after a moment's thought) "Nah, he's already got a book."

Posted by thebscorner at 01:35 PM | Daily Dose |

October 27, 2005

WORKING HARD TODAY

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 88

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

THIS JUST IN

Looks like the nutzzz on the right win.

CAN YOU FIGURE THIS STUFF OUT

Why does big business deserve a pass when they go bankrupt and dump their retirement plans on the Government.

It seems to me they signed a contract over the years just as I do when I get a credit card. If I run up my credit card debt and then decide I want the Government to pay it off, how far would I get? That is exactly what is happening with the airlines and now GM and others as well.

I don't get it. How can they sign these agreements over the years and just walk away. It seems to me congress needs to pass a law that says if you hire someone and agree to some pension plan than whatever amount of money they agree to put aside for that plan MUST BE PUT ASIDE in a trust. They can't touch it remember it's a pension.

WHY DID THEY DO IT

This whole big thing with Rove and Scooter is crazy. What the hell where they thinking. Forget the law that they may or may not have broken. In fact say they didn't brake any law. Can adults be any more childish than these guys when they out some ones wife because they disagree with his politics.

Explain how that makes him less creditable. It's just nuts.

WHY CAN'T THEY PAY FOR IT THEMSELVES

NASCAR wants to build a NASCAR Race Track here in Kitsap County. On 60 Minutes a few weeks ago they did a thing on the owners of NASCAR.

NASCAR is also one of the biggest businesses in the country still owned and run by the family that founded it.

Third generation Brian France is the CEO and he says that annual revenues for the industry are currently "north of $3 billion" and going up. "We're trying to make sure it goes up. Expand NASCAR, expand our fan base."

Most of that money comes from America's largest companies. A NASCAR race is a constant blur of corporate logos, hawking everything from beer, booze, soldiers and sex.

So my question is the same question I ask about any major league sports event, WHY DO THEY NEED COUNTY DOLLARS to build this track. With 3 billion annual income it just doesn't make sense.

WAL*MART - DEVIL IN THE DETAILS

Back on 10-24-5 I talked about WAL*MART doing the right thing by expanding their Health Plan for workers. In that POST I said "The Devil is in the Details."

Well turns out I was right. Today I come across a WAL*MART Memo. Here in part are some of the main points.

An internal memo sent to Wal-Mart's board of directors proposes numerous ways to hold down spending on health care and other benefits while seeking to minimize damage to the retailer's reputation. Among the recommendations are hiring more part-time workers and discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart.

In the memorandum, M. Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, also recommends reducing 401(k) contributions and wooing younger, and presumably healthier, workers by offering education benefits. The memo voices concern that workers with seven years' seniority earn more than workers with one year's seniority, but are no more productive.

To discourage unhealthy job applicants, Ms. Chambers suggests that Wal-Mart arrange for "all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart-gathering)."

The memo acknowledged that Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, had to walk a fine line in restraining benefit costs because critics had attacked it for being stingy on wages and health coverage. Ms. Chambers acknowledged that 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart's 1.33 million United States employees were uninsured or on Medicaid.

You just can't trust'em.

STILL COUNTING

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* Once, Yogi's wife Carmen asked, "Yogi, you are from St. Louis, we live in New Jersey, and you played ball in New York. If you go before I do, where would you like me to have you buried?" Yogi replied, "Surprise me." . . . Yogi Berra

THINK ABOUT IT

Posted by thebscorner at 06:25 AM | Daily Dose |

October 26, 2005

WHAT'S WRONG WITH PEACE

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 87

He made it coast to coast, see his post.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

I'M SO TIRED OF THIS

I'm so tired of this BULLSHIT. I'm tired of hearing the president say we will continue to sacrifice in order to win this war. What sacrifice? We haven't made one damn sacrifice to fight this war.

I'm so tired of the SUPPORT THE TROOPS BULLSHIT it makes me sick. These guys came back from the war and can't get a job. There medical treatment is cut back. They are not being taken care of as they should be. But oh yes we can build that damn bridge to nowhere in Alaska. If congress had any balls (which they don't) they would have cut the bridge and let that crazy bastard Senator Ted Stevens resign. You don't really think he would do you.

I've said it before that people put the flag on their car or truck, buy bumper strips and ribbons that say SUPPORT THE TROOPS and they think they are. It's nuts. This WAR was not needed the one in Afghanistan to hunt down Osama Ben Laden was.

What does winning the war in Iraq mean? We have beat terrorism? I don't think so. John Kerry was right fighting terrorists is more like a police action. Yes I remember how that was twisted and distorted by the republicans during the last campaign, but think about this.

Let's say we drive all the terrorist out of Iraq. Do we then declare victory? Will all the terrorist in the world say OK you win, we'll never do anything bad again. I don't think so. That's why this is closer to a police action than a war.

Fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here is a nice slogan, but it's just BULLSHIT. These are terrorist and they don't fight by the same old rules of the past. We will be fighting them here as well as overthere and around the world. It's going to require police action not troops fighting these thugs.

Getting back to the sacrifice that President Bush keeps talking about. Have you sacrificed anything? Have I? The answer is no we haven't. In fact we are borrowing money from China to pay for this war so our kids or their kids will end up being the ones that pay for this war. At the very least we should have raised taxes to pay for this damn war and at least we would be doing something to support the troops.

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

For everything there is a season,

And a time for every matter under heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to seek, and a time to lose;

A time to keep, and a time to throw away;

A time to tear, and a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate,

A time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Posted by thebscorner at 06:57 AM | Daily Dose |

October 25, 2005

MORE THINGS TO GET DONE

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 86

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

SHE WAS RIGHT, SHE WAS STRONG, SHE WAS COURAGEOUS

Rosa Parks smiles during a Capitol Hill ceremony where Mrs. Parks was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal Tuesday, June 15, 1999, in Washington. Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the modern civil rights movement, died Monday Oct. 24, 2005. She was 92.

IS SHE NUTZZZZ

Kay Bailey Hutchison in 1999 talking about the Clinton Impeachment and the standard set has set.

Now her tune has changed. . .

SEN. HUTCHISON: Tim, you know, I think we have to remember something here. An indictment of any kind is not a guilty verdict, and I do think we have in this country the right to go to court and have due process and be innocent until proven guilty. And secondly, I certainly hope that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars. So they go to something that trips someone up because they said something in the first grand jury and then maybe they found new information or they forgot something and they tried to correct that in a second grand jury.

I think we should be very careful here, especially as we are dealing with something very public and people's lives in the public arena. I do not think we should prejudge. I think it is unfair to drag people through the newspapers week after week after week, and let's just see what the charges are. Let's tone down the rhetoric and let's make sure that if there are indictments that we don't prejudge.

Isn't it funny how we look at things when it matches our belief system.

THIS IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

On Bush and the Iraq war:

"I don't know if he's the worst president ever. I do know that the Iraq war was one of the most egregious mistakes we've ever made.". . . jon stewart

Here is Jon Stewart talking to Bill Kristol on his show last night. Man if Stewart could have been involved in the discussion on whether or not to go to war in Iraq we wouldn't be there today.

Even in his comedy he make sense while most of the politicians and so called leaders are just a joke and make no sense what so ever.

Click to watch. <----( watch the video here )

FOUR DAYS LEFT

IS THAT COAL OR POOP

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* "You can observe a lot just by watching.". . . Yogi Berra

Posted by thebscorner at 07:22 AM | Daily Dose |

October 24, 2005

IS THIS THE WEEK THAT WAS

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 85

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

THE ARROGANCE OF POWER

I don't know what is going to happen this week when the Special prosecutor Fitzgerald closes out his Grand Jury investigation but I think it's important to remind everyone about some of lies surrounding it.

The list below came from Media Matters talking about MSNBC's Hardball but these claims have been repeated on almost every cable TV show and most likely every right leaning Talk Radio show on the air today.

Claim #1: Former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV claimed Vice President Cheney sent him to Niger.

But as Media Matters has documented, this claim echoes a false RNC talking point that misrepresented Wilson's July 6, 2003, New York Times op-ed and his August 3, 2003, interview on CNN's Late Edition. Wilson did not claim that the vice president sent him to Niger; rather, Wilson stated that the CIA sent him to Niger to answer the vice president's office's questions regarding the purported Iraq-Niger uranium deal.

Claim #2: Wilson was unqualified for his mission to Niger.

But as Media Matters noted, Wilson's qualifications for the Niger mission included diplomatic credentials (he specialized in Africa for the majority of his diplomatic career), as well as past experience investigating sales of Niger uranium in 1999. Moreover, it is unclear how, according to Toensing's and O'Beirne's criticisms, Wilson's alleged lack of experience with weapons of mass destruction would prevent him from properly investigating the sale of yellowcake uranium, which is a commodity, not a weapon, and must undergo several refining and enriching procedures before it is considered weapons-grade.

Claim #3: Wilson's wife got him the job investigating the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal.

But as Media Matters noted, this assertion is disputed by CIA officials cited in The Washington Post and by unnamed intelligence officials quoted in the press. It is also unsupported by the findings of the Senate Intelligence Committee report.

Claim #4: Special prosecutor Fitzgerald's investigation is limited to the Intelligence Identities Protection act, which will make it very difficult to charge anyone with a crime.

But as Media Matters noted, Fitzgerald was given broad authority to investigate the CIA leak, including but not restricted to possible violations of the IIPA.

Claim #5: The leaks were simply part of Washington politics as usual, so no crime could have been committed.

But as Media Matters noted, the very fact that Plame worked at the CIA was itself reportedly classified information. So the question of whether, in the process of those conversations, administration officials leaked that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA -- a potential violation of federal laws.

Claim #6: The New York Times and The Washington Post offered different accounts of the Miller-Libby conversations.

But as Media Matters noted, although the two articles differed slightly in structure, they agreed on the major facts of the Miller-Libby conversations -- both reporting that Libby told Miller that Plame played a role in Wilson's selection for the trip.

Media Matters does a very good job of Fact Checking and it always amazes me when I hear these claims repeated time after time. It as though the person making the claim is the only source. I also can't believe that after all this time they will still repeat these baseless claims.

Well I guess we'll know more this week.

Click to read. <----( read the whole story here )

SOME LESSONS ARE HARD TO LEARN

Wal-Mart to Expand Health Plan for Workers

Wal-Mart, which has long been criticized for the benefits it offers to its workers, is introducing a cheaper health insurance plan, with monthly premiums as low as $11, that the company hopes will greatly increase the number of its employees who can afford coverage.

Jumping into a new area, Wal-Mart is also offering health savings accounts, which the federal government introduced last year. Few employers offer them.

The new benefits, which Wal-Mart calls the Value Plan, follow years of complaints that at Wal-Mart, the nation's largest employer, health insurance is out of reach for many of its 1.2 million workers in the United States, forcing thousands of them to turn to state-sponsored programs or forgo health coverage altogether.

The devil is in the details.

Health insurance specialists generally praised the new plan, saying its lower premiums were likely to attract more employees and thereby reduce the ranks of the uninsured. They also noted, however, that the plan's $1,000 deductible would be high for Wal-Mart workers, particularly older employees who are likely to visit doctors more often, and might not cover expensive treatments, particularly in its first year.

Let's just say it's a start.

SALES JOB

DON'T YOU LOVE THESE KIDS

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* "I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early.". . . Yogi Berra

DON'T MAKE ME MAD

Posted by thebscorner at 08:40 AM | Daily Dose |

October 23, 2005

JUST STUFF

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 84

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

GLOBAL WARMING MAYBE

The most ever recorded and there is still November to go. What is going go on? Is there something we can do? Is it part of the Global warming that is in such debate?

I sure don't know but if I lived in that part of the world I'd consider my options.

IT'S CALLED RESPECT

The more I see and listen to David Gergen the better I like him. He seems to be one of the few talking heads that not only makes sense but comes across as honest and fair.

A MAN OF MUCH DIGNITY

Tab Hunter has a book out and so he has been making the rounds. I was never a big fan although I did like his singing. I just didn't think much about him one way or the other.

I do remember the rumors but it didn't make a difference in my life so who cares. He seemed to keep his private life private.

Now he is 75 years old and talking about his life. As I remember he was not a person that was very public but I guess considering his age he can do and say pretty much what he wants.

I admire the man he has lived his life well and has now hurt or demonized anyone. Good job Tab.

WHAT "WE" WORRY?

INTO THE COUNT DOWN (9)

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* At least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols. . . Aldous Huxley

Posted by thebscorner at 10:12 AM | Daily Dose |

October 22, 2005

LATE AGAIN

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 83

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

SO MUCH FOR NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND

High school dropout rate reaches highest in 14 years. Many who leave faced poverty, language issue.

The Massachusetts high school dropout rate reached 3.7 percent in 2004, the highest rate in 14 years, prompting Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll to call on school officials to work harder at making sure that students earn a diploma.

VOTE

Kitsap County has gone all mail in ballot. I voted yesterday. I voted NO on I-900, I-912 I-330 & I-336. I voted YES on I-901 and Senate Joint Resolution 8207.

There was two reasons I voted against I-900, first it was a Tim Eyman initiative and second the state has already done this. I-901 has to do with limits to smoking in buildings and vehicles open to the public. I-912 is the vehicle fuel tax. This is the initiative that has been run by KVI radio with Kirby and Carlson. They are still mad that Rossi lost the last election.

I-330 and I-336 deal with medical malpractice, insurance, licensing and lawsuits. This issue needs to be thought out and some how come together that protects the doctors and the patients and still have a place for the lawyers. I hope both of these go down.

The senate joint resolution deals with some procedural matters and I voted for it.

I've been voting by mail for years now and I love it. I sit down with a cup of coffee and read my voters pamphlet and make my decision. It's great. But there is a small group of vocal folks that don't like it. They say it leads to cheating and votes not counting. I say BS. I works.

Don't forget to vote!

ARE THEY LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT WEEK

LITTLE OVER A WEEK TO GO

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* I've always said that in politics, your enemies can't hurt you, but your friends will kill you. . . Ann Richards

Posted by thebscorner at 12:34 PM | Daily Dose |

October 21, 2005

BACK ON SCHEDULE

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 82

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

WHAT HAS BEEN OVER LOOKED

The possible violations under consideration by Mr. Fitzgerald are peripheral to the issue he was appointed in December 2003 to investigate: whether anyone in the administration broke a federal law that makes it a crime, under certain circumstances, to reveal the identity of a covert intelligence officer.

What is not being talked about is what could have been the results of the outing Valerie Plame.

Today on IMUS he had as a guest Christopher Whitcomb, a Terrorism Expert talking about the Rove/Libby case. He talked about what is missing in all of this investigation.

He said that this has been an awful process from the beginning and that people can bat around Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson names as if they are some pawns in some political scheme. But I can tell you from first hand perspective that Valerie Plame doesn't think so.

Anyone that works in a covert roll for the US Government puts their life on the line and when their identity is compromised by people in some political game, it could mean someone dies. I think it's very possible someone has died overseas right now. I think that gets lost in this discussion.

I still don't get it. These guys are so well educated yet they need to play these stupid games with people's lives. How does outing Valerie Plame make Joe Wilson and his report untrue? These folks think like little children that don't get their way. I hope they get what's coming to them for being so damn arrogant.

What a bunch of fools.

THE NEW DRESS CODE

I'm not sure about the new NBA dress code. I think they have a right to define one after all it seems to be an employer, employee thing.

I don't ware the Bling, Bling stuff nor do I care for it very much but the fact is I don't have to ware it and so I don't.

Most of the older guys in the NBA have moved on to suits and look pretty dare good. The young guys will do the same as they grow older.

I'm thinking this is not needed. How about you.

IT HAD TO HAPPEN

I FORGOT THESE YESTERDAY

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow. . . Anais Nin

WORTH REPEATING

Posted by thebscorner at 08:25 AM | Daily Dose |

October 20, 2005

Took the day off

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 81

Brett has a new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

GOT SIDETRACKED TODAY

So I'll just post a couple of images just for fun and to keep the daily posting record going.

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. . . Aesop

HAMMER NAILED

THE IRISH

Slaney phoned the maternity ward at the hospital. "Quick!" He said. "Send an ambulance, my wife is goin' to have a baby!" "Tell me, is this her first baby?" the intern asked. "No, this is her husband, Kevin, speakin'."

Posted by thebscorner at 04:19 PM | Daily Dose |

October 19, 2005

FORGOT TO PUT A TITLE HERE

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 80

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

WHAT'S GOING ON WITH PENSIONS

Pension plan troubles have been making the news again. United Airlines recently reached a deal to offload its pension plans on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The plan may be nearly $10 billion dollars underfunded. Industry analysts fear that automobile manufacturers' pensions will follow the airlines into deep trouble. Indeed, according to THE NEW YORK TIMES, "The federal government contends that General Motors' pension fund is $31 billion short of what it owes its work force, according to closely held government data, a figure in stark contrast to G.M.'s assurances that its pension plans are "fully funded." What is the problem with pensions? Find out about the changing pension scene below.

For more on pensions and what is going on visit the PBS Now site by clicking on the link below.

Click to visit the site. <----( click here to go to the site )

FORGET NASCAR

Click to read. <----( read the story here )

COST OF LIVING VS. BEST PLACE TO LIVE

Click to read. <----( read the story here )

NEED A JOB MOVE TO INDIA

ARE YOU HAPPY

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* "Please excuse Jennifer for missing school yesterday. We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch, and when we found it Monday, we thought it was Sunday."

THE IRISH

Finnegin: My wife has a terrible habit of staying up 'til two o'clock in the morning. I can't break her of it. Keenan: What on earth is she doin' at that time? Finnegin: Waitin' for me to come home.

Posted by thebscorner at 07:59 AM | Daily Dose |

October 18, 2005

LOOKING BACK

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 79

Brett has a new post today, check it out.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

GETTING READY TO VOTE

I received my Voter Pamphlet last week and spent some time this weekend reading it. As you may know there are 5 Initiatives and 1 Joint Resolution.

I know how I'm going to vote on I-900, I-901 and I-912. I'm voting NO on I-912.

I saw Kirby Wilber on "Upfront with Robert Mak" on Sunday defending I-912 and swear I don't understand how he and John Carlson have been so successful in moving this along as far as they have. He said nothing that made any sense. The other guest (I didn't catch his name) did a very good job of making Wilber look foolish.

So that leaves just Initiative 330 and 336. I haven't a clue as to which of these I should vote for. To be honest I think if they had merged these two into one it might make for a good Initiative.

For example I think it would be a good thing to be able to find out if a Doctor had Malpractice Settlement on his record and how many and for what. I think the Insurance Companies can do that right now on my driving record. Why can't I do that when it comes to picking a doctor.

On the other hand I think that perhaps some limits on awards might be in order but I would want to be certain that the injured party is not deprived of any health, rehabilitation or care they need to get them back on their feet.

I'd like to see the Attorney fees reduced. I'm not sure what the number should be but I think it could be worked out.

SOME GREATER GOOD

Man last night I tuned into The American Experience on PBS a little after the show had started. It was a film called Two Days In October. One of the turning points in the War in Viet Nam and an incident that started the protests on collage campus's.

I remember those days and this film was so powerful I found it hard to not cry. As is true today in Iraq the men dying over there were so young, so very, very young.

I've included some pictures of people that were a part of this story. Even today all these many years later there is such sadness their eyes and how they feel about that time.

It was truly an awful time and though they don't like comparing Viet Nam with Iraq I can't help but see the similarities. We need to come home.

THE WALL

Later on PBS had a film about the design of the Viet Nam Memorial Wall. I was able to only watch a little of this film and while I remember there was some controversy over the Memorial I guess I thought it had to do with the age of the designer because as I remember there were some big names that had submitted plans.

The film pointed out that it went much deeper than what I remembered. I wish I had been able to watch it and will look for it in the future.

BILL O'REILLY IS NUTS

STILL HAVE A FEW LEFT

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* "Please excuse Lisa for being absent. She was sick, and I had her shot."

Posted by thebscorner at 07:30 AM | Daily Dose |

October 17, 2005

THE DAWN OF A NEW WEEK

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 78

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

FINDING MOM AND DAD

I'm going to be working on gathering family Ancestral data and find I really don't know that much about my family. There is no family history so I think I'm going to try and develop one, or at least as I see it. I'm hoping I can get my brother and sisters to give me a brief history of the Horan family as they know it.

Anyway this is one of the few pictures I have of my mom and dad. It was taken back in the early 30's I guess.

I think I'll put status on how I'm doing here on the Blog but it will be random as opposed to weekly or monthly status.

WE WILL BURY OURSELVES

Was it Nikita Khrushchev who said "We will bury you!". Well it turns out he doesn't have to. . . we will do it to ourselves.

This country needs to stop spending money an Bridges to nowhere and start saving. We need to cut the debt.

OR WE WILL BURY OURSELVES.

GOP IN TROUBLE. . .BIG TIME

MY PUMPKIN PATCH IS RUNNING OUT

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. . . Benjamin Franklin

DOESN'T LOOK GOOD

Posted by thebscorner at 06:57 AM | Daily Dose |

October 16, 2005

IT'S A BUSY DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 77

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

CAN YOU TELL A LIE BY OMISSION?

An open letter to Mr. Bill O'Reilly,

On your Friday (10/14/5) show during your Talking Points Memo segment at the start you said what is "holding the democrats" back.

You say that "You would think that the democrats would be looking better to Americans because the republican administration is having so many problems."

You cite a Pew Poll as proof of your assertion. And yes I know that you said they like them LESS than President Bush (a favorite trick of yours of not telling the whole story to make your point).

I call it LYING by OMISSION.

In that same Poll, and you know it's true the republicans have a HIGHER disapproval number of 52% vs the 48% for the democrats. And guess what they are the party in POWER.

You being the good Libertarian that you claim and the fact that you work on that FAIR AND BALANCED Network this OBVIOUS OMISSION shows what a standup guy you really are. Franken was right all along, a Lying Liar even by Omission.

Click to listen. <----( listen to the audio here )

I JUST DON'T GET IT

TOLEDO, Ohio (CNN) -- A neo-Nazi group's scheduled march against "black crime" in Toledo, Ohio, sparked rioting Saturday afternoon.

Police and SWAT teams moved in, and about two dozen rioters were arrested, Toledo Police Chief Michael Navarre said. He said he expected 30 to 40 arrests by the end of the day.

Toledo Mayor Jack Ford declared a state of emergency and asked for 50 highway patrol officers to reinforce Toledo police. A curfew came into effect at 8 p.m. for people "roaming around the streets," he said.(Watch neo-Nazi protests turn violent)

He also blamed gang members for the violence, saying it turned into "exactly what they wanted," referring to the Nazi group. Ford said he had appealed to the community Friday night to ignore the Nazi march.

Most of the violence happened when residents, who had pelted the Nazi marchers with bottles and rocks, took out their anger on police, said Brian Jagodzinski, chief news photographer for CNN affiliate WTVG.

Video showed crowds at around 2:25 p.m. using bats to bring down a wooden fence as looters broke into a small grocery store.

"The crowd was very ... extremely agitated at the police ... for doing this [making arrests in] the community when they should be doing this to the Nazis," Jagodzinski said.

Around 3 p.m., crowds of young men pelted the outside of a two-story residence with rocks, smashed out the windows with wooden crates, ran inside and threw out the furniture and lamps from the upper-level windows to the sidewalk below. No police were on the scene.

About 10 minutes later, the building's second story was in flames as a crowd of people watched.

When police arrived, they used pepper spray on counter-demonstrators and shot tear gas containers into the crowd, Jagodzinski said.

What's with these people. I watched it and it looked to me like most of the rioting was done by kids . . . NO MAKE THAT THUGS.

When you have a beef Rioting and violence isn't the answer as was demonstrated during the Million More March that was held in Washington while they were rioting in Toledo.

THANKS A MILLION

Today I woke up a millionaire. Yes you may be reading on of my last Blog postings. You see I got an email with an offer so sweet I can't refuse.

Click here to see the offer. <----( read the Transcript here )

My share is about $2,512,000.00 so I'll have enough to hire someone to do my Blogging, how sweet is that.

On a serious note it's hard for me to believe anyone would fall for this crap. But I guess they do.

DO YOU KNOW

What happens if both I-330 and I-336 pass?

These are the two initiatives that are being promoted by the Doctors and Lawyers in Washington State.

TIME FOR A PHOTO-OP

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts. . . Albert Einstein.

Posted by thebscorner at 06:40 AM | Daily Dose |

October 15, 2005

OFF TO A GOOD START

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 76

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

MILLION MORE MARCH

I might be called racist but damn I'd sure like us to drop the HYPHEN in this country.

To me it's a small thing but it's just one thing that continues to remind us that we live in a devided America. What we need is a UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

That's what Tom Brokaw wrote about when he talked about the GREATEST GENERATION. AMERICANS working together for the common good. It started with the depression and continued with the 2nd World War. I've talked about this in the past it was a shared experence all Americans working together for America. Do you feel that way today with this IRAQ war and with this Million More March? I don't. I don't feel any connection to either event. How sad is that.

Hurricane Katrina turned over the stone of what poverty can do. But it doesn't have a HYPHEN in it. John Edwards was talking about TWO AMERICAS but he didn't use the HYPHEN, he was talking about Americans. . . period.

GOD BLESS AMERICA

TIMELESS MUSIC

Imus had Don McLean on his show yesterday where he sang some of his songs over the three hours of the show. He did American Pie, Crying and Starry Starry Night and others. The words to Starry Starry Night are awesome. I hadn't paid that close attention until this morning as I was working on my Blog. It a great poem listen to the song here by clicking on the link below as you read the words.

"Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)"

• Starry, starry night
• Paint your palette blue and grey
• Look out on a summer's day
• With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
• Shadows on the hills
• Sketch the trees and daffodils
• Catch the breeze and the winter chills
• In colours on the snowy linen land

• Now I understand
• What you tried to say to me
• And how you suffered for your sanity
• And how you tried to set them free
• They would not listen
• They did not know how
• Perhaps they'll listen now

• Starry, starry night
• Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
• Swirling clouds and violet haze
• Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue
• Colours changing hue
• Morning fields of amber grain
• Weathered faces lined in pain
• Are soothed beneath the artists' loving hand

• Now I understand
• What you tried to say to me
• And how you suffered for your sanity
• And how you tried to set them free
• They would not listen
• They did not know how
• Perhaps they'll listen now

• For they could not love you
• But still your love was true
• And when no hope was left inside
• On that starry, starry night
• You took your life as lovers often do
• But I could have told you Vincent
• This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you

• Starry, starry night.
• Portraits hung in empty halls,
• Frameless head on nameless walls,
• With eyes that watch the world and can't forget.
• Like the strangers that you've met
• The ragged men in ragged clothes
• The silver thorn of bloody rose
• Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

• Now I think I know
• What you tried to say to me
• And how you suffered for your sanity
• And how you tried to set them free
• They would not listen
• They're not listening still
• Perhaps they never will...

Don McLean

Watch the Music-VIDEO.

Click to watch. <----( watch the video here )

Visit the SITE.

Click to visit his Web site. <----( click here to go to the site )

TIME FOR PUMPKIN PIE

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* Old age is no place for sissies. . . Bette Davis

COURTROOM QUOTATIONS

Lawyer: "What is your date of birth?"

Witness: "July 15th."

Lawyer: "What year?"

Witness: "Every year."

Posted by thebscorner at 07:08 AM | Daily Dose |

October 14, 2005

BACK ON TRACK (I HOPE)

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 75

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

STAGED AND STUPID, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON

It was billed as a conversation with U.S. troops, but the questions President Bush asked on a teleconference call Thursday were choreographed to match his goals for the war in Iraq and Saturday's vote on a new Iraqi constitution.

"This is an important time," Allison Barber, deputy assistant defense secretary, said, coaching the soldiers before Bush arrived. "The president is looking forward to having just a conversation with you."

She then went on to conduct a brief rehearsal. Such things as who answers the first question who hands the mike of to whom.

And so it went.

"If the question comes up about partnering - how often do we train with the Iraqi military - who does he go to?" Barber asked.

"And then if we're going to talk a little bit about the folks in Tikrit - the hometown - and how they're handling the political process. . .

Before he took questions, Bush thanked the soldiers for serving and reassured them that the U.S. would not pull out of Iraq until the mission was complete.

"So long as I'm the president, we're never going to back down, we're never going to give in, we'll never accept anything less than total victory," Bush said.

"You've got tremendous support here at home," Bush said.

Less than 40 percent in an AP-Ipsos poll taken in October said they approved of the way Bush was handling Iraq. Just over half of the public now say the Iraq war was a mistake.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Thursday's event was coordinated with the Defense Department but that the troops were expressing their own thoughts. With satellite feeds, coordination often is needed to overcome technological challenges, such as delays, he said.

"I think all they were doing was talking to the troops and letting them know what to expect," he said, adding that the president wanted to talk with troops on the ground who have firsthand knowledge about the situation.

The soldiers all gave Bush an upbeat view of the situation.

The president also got praise from the Iraqi soldier who was part of the chat.

"Thank you very much for everything," he gushed. "I like you."

Paul Rieckhoff, director of the New York-based Operation Truth, an advocacy group for U.S. veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, denounced the event as a "carefully scripted publicity stunt." Five of the 10 U.S. troops involved were officers, he said.

"If he wants the real opinions of the troops, he can't do it in a nationally televised teleconference," Rieckhoff said. "He needs to be talking to the boots on the ground and that's not a bunch of captains."

So there it is in a thumbnail of what went on. It just seems to me that these folks can't handle the truth GOOD or BAD and so they muck it up with their need to CONTROL the situation.

How sad is that.

EX-CHIEF OF REFCO IS CHARGED BY U.S.

The executive, Phillip R. Bennett, 57, of Gladstone, N.J., was arrested Tuesday night and charged in a criminal complaint yesterday by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

The former chairman and chief executive of one of the world's largest commodities brokerage firms, Refco, has been charged with securities fraud, accused of hiding $435 million in the months before the company was taken public.

MAN THEY JUST DON'T GET IT.

THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM

Can they be more foolish?

SICK OF PUMPKINS

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* Traffic signals in New York are just rough guidelines. David Letterman

THE IRISH

Q. What do you call an Irishman who knows how to control a wife?

A. A bachelor.

Posted by thebscorner at 07:50 AM | Daily Dose |

October 13, 2005

MY BLOG IS BACK I HOPE

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 74

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

MAY HAVE MISSED THE LOW RATES

WHAT THE HELL ELSE DO THESE PEOPLE DO

WHY IS THIS GUY A VOICE IN POLITICS

GETTING IT RIGHT

GETTING CLOSER EVERY DAY

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* LIGHT TRAVELS FASTER THAN SOUND, WHICH IS WHY SOME PEOPLE APPEAR BRIGHT UNTIL YOU HEAR THEM SPEAK

THE IRISH

Mrs. Feeney shouted from the kitchen, "Is that you I hear spittin' in the vase on the mantle piece?" "No," said himself, "but I'm gettin' closer all the time."

Posted by thebscorner at 04:18 PM | Daily Dose |

October 12, 2005

STILL WAITING ON MY UPGRADE

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 73

Brett has a new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

(to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic)

• Mine Eyes have seen the bungling of that stumbling moron Bush;
• He has blathered all the drivel that the neo-cons can push;
• He has lost sight of all reason 'cause his head is up his tush;
• The Doofus marches on.

• I have heard him butcher syntax like a kindergarten fool;
• There is warranted suspicion that he never went to school;
• Should we fault him for the policies -- or is he just their tool?
• The lies keep piling on.

• Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
• Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
• Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
• His wreckage will live on.

• I have seen him cut the taxes of the billionaires' lone heir;
• As he spends another zillion on an aircraft carrier;
• Let the smokestacks keep polluting -- do we really need clean air?
• The surplus is now gone.

• Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
• Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
• Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
• Your safety net is gone!

• Now he's got a mighty hankerin' to bomb a prostrate state;
• Though the whole world knows its crazy -- and the U.N. says to wait;
• When he doesn't have the evidence, "We must prevaricate."
• Diplomacy is done!

• Oh, a trumped-up war is excellent; we have no moral bounds;
• Should the reasons be disputed, we'll just make up other grounds;
• Enraging several billions -- to his brainlessness redounds;
• The Doofus marches on!

• Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
• Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
• Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!
• THIS...DOO...FUS...MAR...CHES...ON

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* JUST REMEMBER - IF THE WORLD DID NOT SUCK, WE WOULD ALL FALL OFF.

THE IRISH

Irish lass customer: "Could I be trying on that dress in the window?" Shopkeeper: "I'd prefer that you use the dressing room."

Posted by thebscorner at 04:10 AM | Daily Dose |

October 11, 2005

BLOGGIN LIKE CRAZY

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 72

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE

Winning the WAR in IRAQ seems like it's un-winnable using the current strategy. I heard that about half the attacks (45%) and about 75% of the injuries and deaths in Iraq are caused by Improvised explosive device (IED).

So tell me again how you fight something you can't see until it blows up.

I think we need to rethink this policy of putting our troops out in front in this war.

We need more local civilians to provided Soldiers with information about the possible IED makers responsible of these devices.

I LOVE JESUS

I just don't like the Christians who don't believe in what he says.

. . . Bill Maher

I'll say AMEN to that.

PLAYING BELOW THEIR PAY GRADE

Those late-1990s championship Yankees seemed to be a collection of warriors who played above their talent in the postseason. But lately, the Yankees seem to be more a collection of high-priced mercenaries who play below their talent.

Thank God it takes more than money to win a Baseball game. Yankee go home.

ARE WE WATCHING A TREND HERE

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The chances that General Motors will file for bankruptcy are now about 30 percent, according to one industry analyst, following the bankruptcy filing by the company's former parts unit, Delphi.

These guys pay big bucks to their CEO and yet they can figure out how to make a car that can compete with the Japanese. They want the BIG SUV's that make money today but do nothing for the future or during a gas increase like we have today.

But what I really wonder is this just a way to dump their pension plans, just as the airlines and others have done.

Think about it.

MY DEAR CLOSE FRIEND

JUST LIKE THE ONES I REMEMBER

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* INSIDE EVERY OLDER PERSON IS A YOUNGER PERSON WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED?

THE IRISH

Reilly went to trial for armed robbery. The jury foreman came out and announced, "Not guilty." "That's grand!" shouted Reilly. "Does that mean I can keep the money?"

Posted by thebscorner at 04:52 AM | Daily Dose |

October 10, 2005

CAME CLOSE TO NO POST TODAY

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 71

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

WAITING ON A UPGRADE

I have spent so much time deleteing what are called TrackBack Pings, for example this morning I deleted over 1200. These items are SPAM and usually from XXX sites. So with this upgrade I'm hoping this will make it easier and maybe I won't even have to do anything the system will take care of it.

That's why I'm not doning my normal posts just in case I have a problem.

We shall see.

BILLY, BILLY, BILLY

GETTING CLOSER

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* WHY DO PSYCHICS HAVE TO ASK YOU FOR YOUR NAME AND NUMBER?

THE IRISH

Question - Why are Irish jokes so simple? Answer - So the English can understand them.

Posted by thebscorner at 04:04 PM | Daily Dose |

October 09, 2005

YOU GOT TO WATCH THEM ALL THE TIME

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 70

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

WHAT THE HELL DID WE EVER DO TO THESE GUYS

I saw this in yesterdays Kitsap Sun. It was on about page 3 or 4. It's looks like the they want to take away a benny that will hit the middle class once again. Now isn't that special.

The damn energy bill that they recently pass gave a hand out to the oil companies. The pork that they gave themselves to make sure they get re-elected isn't enough.

They did us in with the Credit card legislation and the Bankruptcy bill and now they want to do it again with this Mortgage Interest thing.

MORTGAGE DEDUCTION CHANGE CONSIDERED

By DAVID STREITFELD LOS ANGELES TIMES

Just as the u.s. housing boom appears to be slowing, debate is starting among policy-makers about reining in one of the most sacred cows of American public policy: the mortgage-interest deduction and other generous tax benefits granted to homeowners.

A presidential commission on tax reform will take up the subject for the first time Tuesday.

The mortgage-interest deduction will save homeowners $61.5 billion this year. No one expects the commission to recommend its elimination. Instead, the panel is likely to consider scaling back the deduction for mortgage interest on second homes or home equity loans.

The stakes in such a discussion are huge.

Changing the tax benefits for homeowners, even if done slowly, could-cause short-term convulsions in the market as buyers recalculated what they could afford. In the long term, however, housing could ultimately become more affordable as some of the stimulus that has sent prices soaring is removed.

Keep an eye on this baby.

HAS CBS DONE IT AGAIN

Tonight 60 Minutes will air an explosive charge being made on tonight's program by former FBI director Louis J. Freeh.

Freeh says that Clinton failed to press then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to cooperate with an investigation of the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, and used the occasion to ask for a contribution to his presidential library. The Saudis made such a donation last year -- six years after the 1998 meeting.

Sandy Berger, who was at the meeting, said: "The president strongly raised the need for Saudi officials to cooperate with us on the investigation into the attack on Khobar Towers at the time when the FBI was attempting to gain access to the suspects. The president did not raise in any fashion the issue of his library."

Clinton spokesman Jay Carson said he told CBS's Mike Wallace that he had supportive accounts from five other former officials who were at the meeting, including those briefed about a private conversation between Clinton and Abdullah. Freeh was not there, and Carson said Wallace told him he had not spoken to the source upon whom Freeh relied for his account.

Carson, who called the Freeh book "a total work of fiction," said Clinton aides were not aware that CBS would report Freeh's charge about the Abdullah meeting until a Washington Post article Friday.

"From the very beginning, '60 Minutes' was clear that the only response they would take to this story was from President Clinton. . . . They could not have been more vague about the actual allegations," Carson said.

Sure they want President Clinton it's about ratings. They haven't learned much from the Dan Rather problem some time back.

AND THE WHINNING ROBOT IS . . .

Stanley, a robotic vehicle designed by a Stanford University team, appeared to earn its creators a $2 million prize on Saturday by being the fastest finisher on a 132-mile course through the Nevada desert.

The race, called the Grand Challenge, was a Pentagon project meant to promote the development of technologies for 21st-century automated warfare. The car was not immediately declared the winner because officials were doing final calculations, but race times on the event's Web site indicated that it had come in several minutes ahead of two entries from Carnegie Mellon University.

The three finishers were the survivors from a starting group of 23 teams fielded by alliances of computer, automotive and aerospace firms, university researchers and others.

I MISSED YESTERDAY

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* I COULDN'T REPAIR YOUR BRAKES, SO I MADE YOUR HORN LOUDER.

THE IRISH

An American lawyer asked, "Paddy, why is it that whenever you ask an Irishman a question, he answers with another question? "Who told you that?" asked Paddy.

Posted by thebscorner at 08:03 AM | Daily Dose |

October 08, 2005

SO LATE SO LONG

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 69

No new post today but still some pictures to look at.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

ALL TOON DAY

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* I USED TO HAVE AN OPEN MIND BUT MY BRAIN KEPT FALLING OUT.

THE IRISH

The late Bishop Sheen stated that the reason the Irish fight so often among themselves is that they're always assured of having a worthy opponent.

Posted by thebscorner at 12:18 PM | Daily Dose |

October 07, 2005

WHO NEEDS THE WORK

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 68

Brett has a new post with a bunch of pictures like the one here.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

SHOW ME THE MONEY

Man with Bush's numbers down as low as they are and the kind of stuff that has been going on all around him you would think he would jump on this problem with both feet. But I guess that's the why it goes a day late and a dollar short.

The money and job need to go to the people in the area first. . . period. If there is something that requires special traing or expertise than maybe they need to look else where for help but give me a break these folks need the work FIRST.

Can you hear me now Mr President.

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS

THE COUNT DOWN CONTINUES

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU GET SCARED HALF TO DEATH TWICE?

IRISH JOKE:

Murphy told Quinn that his wife was driving him to drink. Quinn thinks he's very lucky because his own wife makes him walk.

Posted by thebscorner at 07:14 AM | Daily Dose |

October 06, 2005

WHAT MAKES THIS SO

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 67

Brett is in the other Washington today. Read his new post. Almost home.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

THE CLOCK IS TICKING

Well where are we. In this last part David Sirota tells it like it is. He's talking about the democrats but it also applies to the republicans. They are not interested in the average American.

The choice is becoming clear and I think in not to long we will see a movement for a third party. America wants to see things get done. They want positive changes and fairness, the Bankruptcy and Credit card laws won't cut it. The prescription drugs law is a joke, who the hell can understand it and who does it help. Not the folks that need it.

Bookmark this entry. You heard it here first, there will be a Third Party movement.

Why the public believes Democrats stand for nothing - Part 3 of 3

From David Sirota:

Now, it is true - there continues to be a core group of committed progressives in Congress who fight everyday to bring the party back to its roots. And, there have been recent signs that these courageous leaders are having some success: namely votes to reforming the Patriot Act, and end massive corporate subsidies; the introduction of lobbying/ethics reform legislation; the roll out of the Progressive Promise platform; the tenacious opposition to CAFTA in the House; and the support of a bill to prevent Big Business from testing hazardous chemicals on humans.

But those successes are sill clearly overshadowed by this giant list of core sellouts, and Republican-lite capitulations. If the party really wants America to believe it stands for something, then the party has to actually stand for something - not just talk about standing for something. Americans aren't stupid - they know the difference between lip service, and action.

The arrogant and timid Democratic operative/adviser/elite class still arrogantly believes they can fool Americans with hollow rhetoric that makes it seem as if Democrats care about the middle-class. But that rhetoric is consistently undercut by actual votes - meaning the rhetoric ultimately becomes an insult to Americans' intelligence, because it shows Democrats think that ordinary people are so stupid, they don't know what's really going on. Newsflash: ordinary people DO know what's going on, and they don't like it when slick political hacks in Washington try to fool them.

And that leads us to the bottom line that the GOP knows so well: no amount of rhetoric can outweigh authenticity and conviction. This is not about embracing a more "liberal" agenda - it is about actually making principles dictate policy decisions, instead of continuing to be a party that is about nothing other than thumb-in-the-wind political calculation. The sooner our side learns that, the sooner we will really be headed back to the majority.

A NEW COIN

Lou Dobbs suggest that maybe Don Imus was used as the model for the new nickel.

ONE MORE OUTRAGE

View this short video and learn how bad your Tax dollar is being spent in wake of Katrina.

Click to watch. <----( watch the video here )

LETTERMANS TOP TEN

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* EAGLES MAY SOAR, BUT WEASELS DO NOT GET SUCKED INTO JET ENGINES.

Posted by thebscorner at 07:14 AM | Daily Dose |

October 05, 2005

GETTING IT DONE

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 66

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

AMERICANS WILL BELIEVE YOU STAND FOR NOTHING

Today David Sirota tells it like it is. To me he makes some of the main points why a THIRD PARTY might be in the offing. These democrats just don't get it.

As I said in the past the democrats and republicans are like a coin with both sides binging heads, to matter how it lands it will always be heads. There is no difference.

Sure there is more to this than just these points but they point out the problem and it doesn't look like it's changing. Read on.

Why the public believes Democrats stand for nothing - Part 2 of 3

From David Sirota:

So in the interest in boiling it down for these people, let's make it very clear as to why America still thinks Democrats stand for nothing:

- When you vote with Republicans for an energy bill that showers huge oil/gas companies with massive tax breaks at a time of record deficits, and that energy bill won't lower the cost of gasoline, Americans will believe you stand for nothing.

- When you ignore public demands for a withdrawal/exit strategy from Iraq, and instead vote against legislation requesting the President to explain an exit strategy from the war, Americans will believe you stand for nothing.

- When you say you are for economic fairness, and then your top leaders start negotiating the elimination of the Estate Tax that falls on the wealthiest 2 percent of citizens, Americans will believe you stand for nothing.

- When you deride the fact that the Bush administration lied to the country about the war and about its behavior before 9/11, and then vote to confirm chief liar Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State, Americans will believe you stand for nothing.

- When you claim to care about protecting ordinary citizens' economic rights, and then corral corporate lobbyists to help pass a bill allowing credit card companies to gouge those same ordinary citizens, Americans will believe you stand for nothing.

- When you say you want workers to be protected in their workplace, and then vote to limit workers' ability to fight for their rights in court, Americans will believe you stand for nothing.

- When you say you oppose unfair trade deals that sell workers out, and then refuse to voice any opposition to the latest corporate-written trade deal that sells workers out, Americans will believe you stand for nothing.

DOES ANYBODY AT THE WHITE HOUSE GET E-MAIL

Here is Jon Stewarts upddate on Iraq.

Click to watch. <----( watch the video here )

NO COMMENT

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Posted by thebscorner at 04:52 AM | Daily Dose |

October 04, 2005

TIME FOR A CHANGE

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 65

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

IS IT TIME FOR A THIRD PARTY

I can't remember where I got this, email or the web but I've had it for a little while and I think it has a message that I've thought about for some time all the way to the point that I'm wondering if it's time for a NEW third party. I just don't see a dimes worth of difference between the two parties.

I look at myself as being in the big middle on a Bell Curve scale. I sometimes will drift to the left or to the right on some issues, but always coming back to that big middle area. I get the feeling that the only people that have a voice are the folks on the extreme left and extreme right on that Bell Curve. They seem to be well funded and can shout the loudest, while the big middle is simply ignored.

With that I'm starting this three part series that talks about some of the problems with the democrats. If they don't change than I think a Third Party could be a real possibility.

Why the public believes Democrats stand for nothing - Part 1 of 3

From David Sirota:

A new poll out tells us what we already know: though 56 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, more voters have positive feelings about Republicans than Democrats. As pollster Stan Greenberg notes, "Republicans weakened in this poll... but it shows Democrats weakening more" and that decline by Democrats is because people believe Democrats have "no core set of convictions or point of view."

Most likely, the entrenched Democratic elites in Washington are shocked at this, especially with all the scandals surrounding top Republicans. But then again, these same elites are the ones who have helped run the party into the ground over the last decade - we shouldn't expect them to understand much more than how to protect their own careers in the Establishment.

IN GOOD COMPANY

TODAYS PUNKINS

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

Posted by thebscorner at 08:12 AM | Daily Dose |

October 03, 2005

MONDAY MONDAY FEELS SO GOOD

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 64

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

ANDY HAS IT RIGHT. . . AGAIN

This is what some other countries are spending on defence. Together they spend $89 billion while we spend $455 billion.

We have 1 Officer for every 5 enlistedman. That's over kill.

Watch Andy here.

Click to watch. <----( watch the video here )

COULD THEY HAVE MADE IT HARDER TO UNDERSTAND THIS PROGRAM

Starting on Saturday October 1st, millions of Medicare beneficiaries will be flooded with advertising and solicitations from insurance companies inviting them to sign up for dozens of prescription drug plans with different premiums and benefits.

More than 40 options will be available in almost every state.

Medicare beneficiaries - 42 million people who are 65 and older or disabled - will have a veritable supermarket of prescription drug plans from which to choose. As an alternative in most states, they can obtain drug coverage through managed-care plans, which also cover doctors' services and hospital care.

The number of choices offers something for nearly everyone on Medicare, but also increases the potential for confusion. In Oregon, 20 companies will offer 45 stand-alone drug plans, with monthly premiums ranging from $6.93 to $64.99.

"It's mind-boggling," said the Oregon Medicare coordinator, Cindy Becker. "If you try to explain the whole program at one time, people will be shell shocked. You have to give it to them in small doses."

The premiums for free-standing drug coverage start as low as $1.87 a month, under a plan offered by Humana in a seven-state region made up of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. The monthly premiums range from $13.58 to $99.90 under three drug plans offered in the same region by a consortium of Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.

Angela Feig, a spokeswoman for Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Des Moines, said its $99.90 plan provided "Cadillac coverage," with no deductible and no coverage gap. In addition, Ms. Feig said, it covers many more brand-name drugs than the low-cost plan. In New York, federal officials said, the monthly premiums range from $4.10, under the Humana low-cost plan, to $85.02, under a plan offered by HealthNow New York, based in Buffalo.

Under the standard' coverage, a beneficiary will be responsible for a $250 annual deductible, 25 percent of the costs from $251 to $2,250 and all of the next $2,850. The gap in coverage, also known as a doughnut hole, lasts until the beneficiary incurs total drug costs of $5,100 next year. Beyond that point, Medicare will pay about 95 percent of the cost of each prescription in 2006.

"The jury is out in terms of enrollment and public acceptance". . . WONDER WHY.

HEY IT'S OCTOBER

SOMETIMES YOU JUST WANT TO THROW UP YOUR HANDS OR MAYBE JUST THROW UP

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* Only in America do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

A man woke up in a hospital after a serious accident. He shouted, "Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my legs!"

The doctor replied, "I know you can't - I've cut off your arms".

Posted by thebscorner at 06:56 AM | Daily Dose |

October 02, 2005

SWEET SUNDAY AFTERNOON

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 63

He has a short post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

DUH! ! !

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 - Federal auditors said on Friday that the Bush administration violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party.

In a blistering report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the administration had disseminated "covert propaganda" in the United States, in violation of a statutory ban.

The contract with Mr. Williams and the general contours of the public relations campaign had been known for months. The report Friday provided the first definitive ruling on the legality of the activities.

Lawyers from the accountability office, an independent nonpartisan arm of Congress, found that the administration systematically analyzed news articles to see if they carried the message, "The Bush administration/the G.O.P. is committed to education."

The auditors declared: "We see no use for such information except for partisan political purposes. Engaging in a purely political activity such as this is not a proper use of appropriated funds."

I'm sure this will lead to someone being fired. . .right!

JUST DOING MY PART

If Costco can put up Christmas stuff in July I can put up Halloween stuff in October.

I herad on the news the other day that American spend between 3 and 5 billion dollars on Halloween so I thoughtI'd do my part to help continue the trend by listing several fun Halloween sites.

ben and jerry

Click to visit the site. <----( click here to go to the site )

better homes and gardens

Click to visit the site. <----( click here to go to the site )

everything halloween

Click to visit the site. <----( click here to go to the site )

halloween ghost stories

Click to visit the site. <----( click here to go to the site )



haunted attraction magazine

Click to visit the site. <----( click here to go to the site )

 

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* Only in America...do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

Posted by thebscorner at 02:04 PM | Daily Dose |

October 01, 2005

SOME THOUGHTS AND RESOURCES

BRETT'S EXCELLENT JOURNEY DAY 62

No new post today.

Visit his site here. He has maps, info on how you can help. Background information and much more. He will be updating his site daily.

COME ON AMERICA SHOW YOUR STUFF NOW

Call the American Red Cross NOW!

The Red Cross is a great place to start:


You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:

Instant Expert: Climate Change

Climate change is with us. A decade ago, it was conjecture. Now the future is unfolding before our eyes. Canada's Inuit see it in disappearing Arctic ice and permafrost (see the pictures above). The shantytown dwellers of Latin America and Southern Asia see it in lethal storms and floods. Europeans see it in disappearing glaciers, forest fires and fatal heat waves.

Scientists see it in tree rings, ancient coral and bubbles trapped in ice cores. These reveal that the world has not been as warm as it is now for a millennium or more. The three warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998; 19 of the warmest 20 since 1980. And Earth has probably never warmed as fast as in the past 30 years - a period when natural influences on global temperatures, such as solar cycles and volcanoes should have cooled us down.

I found this site on the web "NewScientist.com" that has a large number of articles covering everything from Climate to Dinosaurs to Computer Viruses. It's a great resource check it out.

Click to visit the site. <----( click here to go to the site )

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH FEMA

I found this on PBS's message board and thought it summed up last nights PBS show NOW very well.

By: ciudadana

This evening's NOW was good but all too brief. FEMA employees, former and CURRENT speak out about the mess in which the agency now finds itself. They cited the shocking cronyism, the ill-conceived reorganization under DHS, the elimination of proven and effective programs (for ideological reasons), the myopic earmarking of funds for "terrorism" and the fiscal and organizational neglect of other kinds of emergencies (despite the fact that most emergencies are of a non-terrorist nature).

One employee said that after the elections they expected a republican to be appointed to FEMA in 2000 and had no problem with that. They were career public employees and understood it was a political appointment. What was shocking for them was that they appointed someone with NO emergency experience at all! Under Bush's political cronyism, experienced emergency management people who had once been proud to be a part of FEMA began leaving in droves. By the time 'Brownie" came on board there were nearly 500 positions in FEMA that needed to be filled but weren't going to be filled because the funding was quickly being diverted to DHS.

What a frickin' mess. I've worked overseas and have always shaken my head at the stupidity of cronyism and corruption because it breeds ineptitude and government inefficiency and ineffectiveness. While here in the US I might disagree with an administration's policies, for the most part I've usually thought "the other party" would be appointing competent people into key positions (even if their policy decisions sucked). Under this administration, basic competency is at issue! It is the classic symptom of CORRUPTION!

I've said before that some jobs need to be held up to a higher standard and SHOULD NOT BY LAW be filled by friends or supporters. Our lives may depend on it.

Emergency Response Resource Map

Below is a state-by-state listing of emergency response departments and helth agencies. Use these state web sites to find the names of your local officials and other important information about emergency procedures. For example, The California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment maintains lists of "hot spots" for chemical hazards and air pollutants. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has a special Web page dedicated to emergency preparedness.

You can also find great information about the environment right in your neighborhood at Scorecard.org. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has extensive databases and fact sheets on toxic chemicals. The Environmental Protection Agency web site has a community search function. The EPA also provides a special service that tracks the "vulnerable zones" around chemical plants. Enter your street address and receive an email about your neighborhood's chemical safety.

Click to visit the site. <----( click here to go to the site )

PRETTY GOOD JOKE

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?

Posted by thebscorner at 06:08 AM | Daily Dose |