This photo almost says it.....but the caption needs a little editing since I think Lieberman is drunk with his new found power...It worked for Olympia for awhile.
ABOUT HOW JOE LIEBERMAN IS USING THE SENATE HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL IN ORDER TO WIELD POWER AND INFLUENCE (and will he ever show his upper teeth?)
I'd be willing to bet nobody but me remembers "Tailspin Tommy!" In the late 1930's movie serials around fifteen minutes long were a regular part of the movie fare .... an addition to the regular feature length film. I suppose they were a carry-over of the old time "cliff hangers" designed to keep you coming back for the next weekly episode. They served their purpose well indeed.
Back in 1939 and 1940 I had a crush on "Tailspin Tommy," a young virile and very handsome and dashing pilot who stole my heart while keeping me on the edge of my seat. He wore a leather helmet with goggles and a very long white scarf which billowed out in back of him while he flew in the open cockpit bi-wing airplane. He also wore jodphurs with knee high leather boots.
I loved Tailspin Tommy a lot more than Johnny Mack Brown, the cowboy star who was often in the featured film. How I worried about Tailspin Tommy's inability to pull out of that nosedive each week! It didn't dawn on me at eight years of age that he might just be a rather poor excuse of a pilot....to go into that spinning nosedive weekly.
The last few minutes of the film always showed the earth spinning around and around as Tommy fought to bring up the nose of his plane by pulling back with all his might on that stubborn, seemingly stuck small half-wheel or joystick...whatever it is called. The weekly film would end with all of us gasping seeing the plane just inches away from the ground.....and then the words "To be continued" would flash across the screen. Of course he always managed to pull out of the dive but it took an entire week to do it! His bi-wing plane never showed any sign of damage but we all were kept on pins and needles for the week between episodes.
Every once in awhile I'd ask people my age if they remembered this serial; and to my dismay, nobody ever did. However, with the coming of Google, I find there now are DVD's of Tailspin Tommy episodes for sale on the internet. I wonder if he is still trying to pull out of that nosedive after all these years....or did he finally crash? For $5.95 I could maybe find out.
Here we are....my three daughters plus my older granddaughter and I all starring in a Halloween video 
(link below) which was created by mad scientist math teacher youngest daughter. Eldest daughter is the vampire, middle daughter the werewolf, granddaughter the mummy and Gma Joyce the witch. There is such a lot of technological fun available for us amateur geeks nowadays! One can use this site to make their own Halloween "Monster Mash" video.
Happy Halloween!
I've been "busier than a mess of monkeys" as my dad used to say....working late hours on the computer to get this year's AAUW yearbook done for our branch. Several times during the past two weeks I thought I had the "final revision" and sent each "final revision" as an email attachment to board members who then kept making suggestions for more things to include. Then after the 4th or 5th "final revision," I found out the university's print shop department now requires all print jobs (from the public anyway) to be submitted as PDF files instead of Microsoft Word document files. I tried downloading a free "converter file" and received an email all in German with my name (didn't have to translate that) and a password and directions for using it ..... all in German! Never did figure out how that happened when I registered. This volunteer job was turning out to be harder than climbing a peeled sapling heels upwards! (Another of Dad's favorite sayings.)
But, like the "Little Engine That Could" I labored on and on and finally googled to see if there were some converter programs in my native tongue! I always learn something when I agree to do these assignments. I finally discovered this Sunday evening that there is a free "Add-in" 2007 Microsoft Office application program that allows the user to save any MS Word file as a PDF or XPS file. Ureka! I have MS Office so it should work for me! It was so easy to download and after installation "PDF" shows up as an option in the "Save As" menu. The PDF files have been sent with instructions to the university's print department as email attachments as was requested.
So life is wonderful again. The files looked perfect tho' I'm sure one of the board members will find something to change....but it's too late now. I'll be able to sleep well tonight! I've had too many late night sessions on the laptop trying for perfection with the yearbook and new brochure. And I'm not even getting paid for this. But, getting it done well is a reward at my age, and I would have never discovered that free PDF file creator if I hadn't volunteered (for the 4th year) to do the yearbook again!
A few days ago I wrote a "Challenge to Become Informed" about the health care debate going on. One fellow commenting on it expressed his distrust of government and said it is time for a "second revolution." Could he be a a fan of Sarah Palin and Minnesota's crazy Michelle Bachmann? From what he said I assume he also would want to privatize all the government run medical/health care programs which would include, of course, the care for our veterans which then would force them to find care in the private sector and be covered by an HMO or something no matter what their problems or injuries are! I suppose, with his disdain for and low opinion of our government, that he is also in favor of doing away with the government run Medicare, Medicaid, and the SCHIP programs.
One of my daughters (younger sister of "murisopsis") works as an audiologist for the V.A., and her large medical center provides really excellent care for men (and women too) who served our country as members of the military. They are always working very hard to improve their standard of service for their area's veterans. Her V.A. center also cares for homeless veterans and has a residents' hospital/home for those who need long term or permanent medical services.
It's really rather ironic that we always can find the money for bombs and weapons to wage war but can't seem to find enough for helping people to stay healthy or cure them when sick...go figure! Of course everyone is entitled to his own opinion. For me, health care for all is a moral, ethical and a faith issue.
Since WE the people ARE the government I want to make sure those we elect remember they work for us and NOT for the "profit first--people last" health insurance industry. In the end it all depends on whether we believe health care is a right for all people (like fire and police protection and decent roads)......or should it be a privilege for only those people who can afford to buy insurance coverage or are rich enough to pay for their own care if the insurance company drops them or refuses to pay for service.....it happens!
It's too bad this fellow hates our government so much that he talks about "time for second revolution." Where was the anger before Obama became president? Rooting for Bush's war = patriotism? Rooting for any government involvement in health care = Time for a revolution???? Wow! I bet your sweet bippy a lot of these angry people have been getting most of their news and forming their anti-government, anti-Obama views from Savage, Limbaugh, Malkin, Coulter, Hannity, O'Reilly, plus the crybaby Beck and Fox News.....these entertainers are NOT journalists.....but have to admit they're more hillariously entertaining than C-span.
If I had only one more phone call, I'd make it a conference call to my daughters and talk with all three of them at the same time for I could never choose just one and leave out the other two!
I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!
One of my cousins (a rather distant one to be truthful), Jack St. Clair Kilby, won the Nobel Prize some years ago for the invention of the integrated circuit: the micro or silicon chip. His discovery led us into the modern computer and internet age and changed everyone's lives. Jack shared a lot of family genealogical records with me that his father had done. I'd written him about our shared ancestors since another "genealogy cousin" had given me his address and also had informed me that Jack was an inventor. I asked him just what he'd invented, so he sent me a large envelope not only with family records and charts but also a copy of the Texas Monthly with his photo on the cover with the caption "The Texas Edison" and a copy of a Newsweek or Time Magazine with articles featuring his discovery and photo. Jack Kilby died back in 2005. He was very generous with his help to me....a really nice man. The piece below was sent by another cousin and is about another very talented fellow. I thought you might enjoy it as much as I did.
John the farmer was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called “pullets”, and ten roosters, whose job it was to fertilize the eggs (for you city folks).
The farmer kept records and any rooster that didn’t perform went into the soup pot and was replaced. That took an awful lot of his time, so he bought a set of ten tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different tone so John could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing. Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report simply by listening to the bells.
The farmer’s favorite rooster was old Butch, and a very fine specimen he was, too. But on this particular morning John noticed old Butch’s bell hadn’t rung at all! John went to investigate. The other roosters were chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing. The pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover. But to Farmer John’s amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so It couldn’t ring. He would sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one. John was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.
The result: The judges not only awarded old Butch the “No Bell Piece Prize” but they also awarded him the “PulletSurprise” as well.
Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making. Who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them when they weren’t paying attention?
I feel the basic values in this creed are shared by all people who love their fellow human beings and believe in social justice whether or not they subscribe to any particular religion or any denomination within that religion. Caring about one another is part of what makes us human. We need to wake up and realize we are all in this together!
From Sojourners online magazine and petition:
In the face of negative ads, partisan rhetoric, and a news cycle filled with fear and half-truths about health-care reform, Christians must affirm that we believe in: quality, affordable access to life-giving services for all people.
As one of God's children, I believe that protecting the health of each human being is a profoundly important personal and communal responsibility for people of faith.
I believe God created each person in the divine image to be spiritually and physically healthy. I feel the pain of sickness and disease in our broken world (Genesis 1:27, Romans 8:22).
I believe life and healing are core tenets of the Christian life. Christ's ministry included physical healing, and we are called to participate in God's new creation as instruments of healing and redemption (Matthew 4:23, Luke 9:1-6; Mark 7:32-35, Acts 10:38). Our nation should strive to ensure all people have access to life-giving treatments and care.
I believe, as taught by the Hebrew prophets and Jesus, that the measure of a society is seen in how it treats the most vulnerable. The current discussion about health-care reform is important for the United States to move toward a more just system of providing care to all people (Isaiah 1:16-17, Jeremiah 7:5-7, Matthew 25:31-45).
I believe that all people have a moral obligation to tell the truth. To serve the common good of our entire nation, all parties debating reform should tell the truth and refrain from distorting facts or using fear-based messaging (Leviticus 19:11; Ephesians 4:14-15, 25; Proverbs 6:16-19).
I believe that Christians should seek to bring health and well-being (shalom) to the society into which God has placed us, for a healthy society benefits all members (Jeremiah 29:7).
I believe in a time when all will live long and healthy lives, from infancy to old age (Isaiah 65:20), and "mourning and crying and pain will be no more" (Revelation 21:4). My heart breaks for my brothers and sisters who watch their loved ones suffer, or who suffer themselves, because they cannot afford a trip to the doctor. I stand with them in their suffering.
I believe health-care reform must rest on a foundation of values that affirm each and every life as a sacred gift from the Creator (Genesis 2:7).
Amen.
[The mission of Sojourners is to articulate the biblical call to social justice, inspiring hope and building a movement to transform individuals, communities, the church, and the world.]
Recent Comments